Random Access

Monday – 04 June 2007
One down, four to go.

Today was good. Quiet. No fires. And, I got to start the day in the Salt Lake office. And, I get to do it again tomorning. This evening has been a relaxing night at home with the kids. I ran a recovery mission in Talos Island with Nefer-Tem. And, I did some reading – I now have about sixty pages left in Specter of the Past. Thanks to Eric, I can move right on to the next book, Vision of the Future, when I finish. And, at some point, I need to get back into Pattern Recognition.
Stray Toasters

• Force fields, Underoos^® and datajacks.
• World of Warcraft Language Translations
  
• Dr. Steel
• Tyranist and I were discussing “the Uncanny Valley” today, because of these articles: 1, 2.
• Same Actor, Different Role 2 – A Worth 1000 contest (image heavy)
• Scotty Doesn’t Know (Damn you, Tyranist!)
  
  Okay, okay…. fine. Here’s the actual video for the song. (Can you spot Matt Damon in the video?)
• The 2012 Olympics + London + goatse = something that probably looks like this.
• Anti-DRM t-shirt design contest
• 
• Do the Right Thing recreated with Sesame Street toys

Namaste.

Sunday (coda)
I wound up heading to Jitterbug for a late lunch/early and light dinner and to get some more time with a pencil in my hand. I was successful at both. I didn’t finish the picture because I didn’t have a reference book handy, but I got a lot of other work in on it. I’m probably less than thirty minutes from completing it.

After that, I decided to take a drive. I didn’t want to simply loop the SLC Valley, my usual Parley’s/Emigration run didn’t sound appealing and I didn’t feel like going to Park City. So, I headed north. My thought: I’ll head north until I don’t want to go any farther and turn around and come back. Sounded good in theory, the practical application was a little different: I wound up going to Ogden. And, since I was in Ogden, I decided to stop in and see Dee, Kim and the boys. I’m glad that I did – it was fun to hang out with them for a while.

I headed home. After checking on the cats (they were fine) and determining that I didn’t feel like sitting at home, I decided to take in 28 Weeks Later. Not bad. Not bad at all. It did raise a couple questions that I will throw to and Tyranist, however:

Are all zombie movies inherently apocalyptic/nihilist? Or has there been a movie – other than *ack-thbppt*Undead – where the zombie hordes are defeated/eliminated and the world goes on more or less as it was?

Shortly after it started, 28WL made me think of a question and a similar one popped up about two-thirds of the way through the movie:

1. Could you make the choice to leave a loved one behind in the face of overwhelming odds or would you stick with them and take your chances?
2. Could you make the call to wipe out everyone and everything (and I do mean “everyone and everything”) in order to eliminate an otherwise unstoppable threat?

I enjoyed the movie… even though I noticed, as with Spider-day Night Fever, there were some contrivances/coincidences that without which the movie would have fallen apart. And… it reminded me of Aliens in a number of ways. But, it was a nice way to cap off the weekend.

Stray Toasters

• Is it bad that I want one of these for my desk at work? (At least for the south office.)
• …and one of these wouldn’t be bad, either.
• Heaven help me for the way that I am
  Save me from these evil deeds
  Before I get them done…
  
• Sissy’s taken to growling at the twins again. *sigh*
• While I don’t really need anything from here, my inner LEGO Maniac wouldn’t mind having the Ice Brick Tray, Coaster Set… and even the Plate and Tumbler Sets. Particularly the Ice Brick Tray, though.
• Amazing 3D Scanner Made with LEGO and Milk
• At some point today, I heard John Sugar Melonhead’s Jack and Diane. It got to the refrain, “Oh, yeah, life goes on… Long after the thrill of living is gone” and I almost immediately started laughing: I had a picture of Nefer-Tem fighting a villain and getting blasted/pummelled/whatever to the point of near-death. (Which, since he is technically a mummy, is merely a minor setback.) He gets up, casually tosses out that line… and proceeds to wail the tar out of his opponent.
• iPhone Release Date Confirmed as June 29
• While I’m on the subject of cell phones: Cell phone ‘CSI’
• Have you heard Tori Amos’ cover of Bruce Springsteen’s I’m on Fire? Check it out here, even though this is not the version I was looking for.

I should give more than “a little thought” to calling it a night…

Namaste.

Sunday – 03 June 2007
It’s been a quiet day. The kids are… around. Somewhere. Sissy is curled up and asleep in the chair across the room; I’m going to assume that the twins are napping as well. There’s been some progress: Sissy isn’t hissing madly at the twins (especially Presto) when they cross her DEW Line. In fact, Sissy even let Presto sniff – and possibly lick – her a little while ago. I was shocked, but pleasantly so.

Stray Toasters

• I’ve discovered a new distraction:
• I’ve finished with the major work on ‘s pic; I got some decent time in on it yesterday. If I do the same today, I should be finished with it this afternoon/evening.
• Shoe Box
• 
• We come into the world and take our chances
  Fate is just the weight of circumstances
  That’s the way that lady luck dances
  Roll the bones…
• 
• HOWTO make an Aliens pulse rifle
• Sissy is snoring. Too bad my camera’s outside – the way she’s lying, with her head kind of lopped over, is cute.
• Does Marvel have an analogue for/of either Oracle or The Calculator?
• This looks interesting…
  
• and : Did you know about this contest?

“The night has a thousand saxophones. And nary a clarinet between us.”
(Bonus points for knowing where that comes from…)
Namaste.

Saturday – 02 June 2007
This morning started with another new-to-me episode of Legion of Super Heroes: “Timber Wolf.” From what I recall, they did a decent job in the retelling the basics of his origin; there were a few things that were omitted, but what are you going to do in a 22-minute format?

I’m not sure how much of this was intentional – or just me drawing connections between similar things – but there seemed to be a couple of nods to Legion of Super-Heroes (v1) #289:

Timber Wolf and Saturn Girl, along with three other Legionnaires, were trapped on an asteroid following a botched mission by the Legion Espionage Squad. (No, I didn’t make that name up.) In that issue, Light Lass (sister of Lightning Lad and, at the time, dating Timber Wolf) and a small rescue team found the lost Legionnaires… and found Saturn Girl and Timber Wolf in what seemed like an intimate moment. Shortly thereafter, Light Lass broke up with Timber Wolf.

In this episode, Timber Wolf leaps to Saturn Girl’s rescue a few times and there seems to be something of a bond between the two of them. Again, it could be something that I read into it from having read the comic for many years, but if it was something that the writers threw in there, the ‘toon just added another level of cool in my book.

Stray Toasters

• I continue to be amused by
• 
• 
• …and this one is for :
  

Up, up and… you know the rest.

Namaste.

Friday – 01 June 2007
Night One with the kids went fairly well. All three were a bit skittish, but survived. Lightning came out to explore a bit, followed a little while later by Presto. Sissy was a little less inclined to wander, but finally struck out to see what’s what and what’s where. Sissy is also trying to assert herself as the Alpha. That’s going over well.

This morning, Presto’s been a bit more “clingy” than I’m used to. She’s not always exactly underfoot, but she’s been very close at hand. Old habits apparently die hard, however, as she decided to drape herself across my clothes when I laid them out.

Last night, I went to Target to pick up a cat litter scoop. I found everything but one. I checked the pet aisles. I checked the cleaning aisles. No go, Flight. They didn’t have any, either none in stock or they were cleverly disguised as cat toys and cat clothes. *shrug* Oh, na. I wound up going to the nearby grocery store – they had plenty of ’em.
Stray Toasters

• Intrepid seemed to shit itself. Again. It cleared up after a couple reboots, but it’s something I’ll be keeping an eye on.
• , and the rest of the Treasure Valley Rollergirls, have a bout here over the weekend of 23 June 07. The lovely Ms. J will be staying here while she’s in town.
• Oh No Robot webcomics search
• 
• Steampunk Magazine
• , click here.
• I’d love to post this at work, but I’d have to censor it to keep from offending delicate sensibilities…
  
• Friends of Lulu

Up out.

Namaste.