Random Access

Thursday – 06 December 2007
Three down, one in the chamber, one to go.

Last night was “Rob’s Errand-Running Night,” apparently. Laundry, groceries… and avoiding making any major electronics or furniture purchases. I was proud of myself on all counts. I rewarded myself by going home and playing City of Heroes.

I’ve noticed something over the past few mornings: I have some… unusual… songs that go through (or get stuck in) my head, first thing in the morning. I don’t recall what some of the past week’s songs have been, but this morning’s song was Oklahoma. Yeah. Weird.

Having decommissioned Intrepid last week, I’ve been wondering what to do with it. The answer came to me yesterday: posted a wish list of things he wants/needs. Among them was “a new computer or parts to build one.” Intrepid will get a new home and I don’t have to worry about it being taken care of. I think that this comes down as a “win-win” situation.

And, realizing how much I’ve come to like love adore my new MacBook BlacBook, I think that its new theme song should be Joan Jett’s I Hate Myself for Loving You. Even though, I don’t really hate myself. Or the MacBook.

City of Heroes: Indigo Bolt
That’s right, I said “Indigo Bolt.”

When I logged in, a couple of members of my supergroup were on. They were telling me that since NCSoft has upped the max size of supergroups, we are moving our 50s back to the original group (from the “senior team” that we had created when they hit 50). I moved Indi back to the old homestead. After this, we teamed up to run a few Ouroboros missions that are new in Issue 11: A Stitch in Time, which went live last week. As these are time travel missions, they will “reset” your powers – and hit points – to keep them in accordance with how far back in the timestream you move.

For example: My first mission was an alternate time line version of “Outbreak,” the very first mission you run. For this mission, my powers and hit points were scaled back to the same as when I first started the game. One caveat: I have a couple of extra “temporary” powers that exist “outside” my normal power sets – they weren’t affected (and were thus usable) by the time jump.

I had forgotten how much fun I had playing with Indi when I first started the game. And, in having not played him in over six months, I forgot how to play him. So, there was a bit of a re-learning curve, but it was a ton of fun. Kudos to NCSoft for adding to the replay value of the game.

Stray Toasters

• It’s been getting a little chilly here in the Land Behind the Zion Curtain. As such, there have been a couple of days when I have broken out my polypropylene shirt and pants, lovingly referred to as my “super suit.” Being cold-weather gear, they keep me warm. Now… being the comic book geek that I am, this somehow started me on the thought-path of: If Clark Kent wears his Superman outfit under his clothes all the time, how does he keep from getting too hot? I was about to apply a few brain cells and synapses to the task when I thought about one (tiny, almost insignificant) thing: We’re talking about the guy who dives into volcanoes – and flies in the cold/vacuum of space – just because he can. The few degrees that his costume adds to his ambient body temperature aren’t going to really be that noticeable.
• Neil Peart speaks about lyrics
• 
• With all of the negative press that video games have gotten in the past few years, it’s nice to see that someone has actually learned something useful from gaming: Swedish boy outthinks angry moose with Warcraft skillz
• For those of you who have/use Wacom graphics tablets: Do you ever use the mouse that came with it? I almost never use mine.
• Cockroaches that turned into zombies can be revived with brain injection
• st00pid servers (computers, not restaurant wait staff)
• Top Ten Super Anti-Heroes
• 

And that’s a wrap.
For now.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 05 December 2007
Tuesday ended better than it started. Chris came over around 8:00 and we played dolls HeroClix. I brought out a squad of Justice Leaguers, Chris used various X-people. We played a time-limited game; he kicked my ass – he took out four of my team to the one of his that I got. But, it was fun. After that, we played Covenant Beatdown… I mean “HALO 3.” *genuflect* Quite fun.

This morning started with a wake-up call from SaraRules. The morning hygiene rituals followed. And then, the monkey-laden commute to the southern compound.

Is it really a radical concept to wipe the snow off of your hood (and roof) when scraping snow and ice from your windows? Does it really take that much more time to do? The Council for Better Driving, through extensive research and simulations, has concluded that it does not. So, next time you’re breaking out the ice scraper to wreck shop on the snow and ice on your windows, take an extra minute or two to knock off the snow and ice on your hood, roof and trunk. The people around you will appreciate it.

So far, the day has been fairly quiet. And, it is the birthday of Derek, my former Acolyte:

Today’s workout was good. Today’s routine:

• Bench Press: 3 sets / 10 reps, 185 lbs (slow, controlled descent)
• Lateral Pull-downs: 3 set / 15 reps (broken into 5-5-5), 100 lbs
  • Wide-grip, behind-the-head (5 reps)
  • Wide-grip, overhand/standard (5 reps)
  • Close-grip, overhand/standard (5 reps)
  • **Close-grip, underhand/reverse-grip (done as an additional 5 reps on the third set)
• Shoulder Press (Dumbbell): 3 sets / 12 reps, 40 lbs
• Seated Curls (Dumbbell): 3 sets / 10 reps, 25 lbs
• Standing Wrist Curls (Barbell):
  • Forward: 3 sets / 15 reps, 40 lbs
  • Reverse: 3 sets / 15 reps, 40 lbs
• Leg Raises: 3 sets / 20 reps

It was a bit short/abbreviated, but I can feel it. That’s a good thing.

Stray Toasters

• I downloaded the new drivers for my Graphire4. I think I’ll start doodling more. That might actually lead to me drawing more often.
• Star Trek: The Tour
• Speaking of which: Avery Brooks was on Talk of the Nation today, promoting the performance of Tamburlaine at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C.
• By way of : Former NFL player gears up for spaceflight
• By way of shockpuppet: Footprints (WoW version) and COLOURlovers
• 
• Have you been looking for a way to integrate your worship of the Old Ones with the trappings and trimmings of the modern holiday season? Well, how about Cthulhumas?
• And what better time to throw in a link to Carol of the Old Ones?
• Happy Holiday from Parallels
• The break room in the south office has been getting stocked with Welch’s Orange-Pineapple Juice. It’s good. (I’m still a Welch’s Grape Juice kid, at heart, though. And, yes, we have that here, too.)
• iBlade

/lunch

Namaste.

Tuesday – 04 December 2007
Oy. That’s really the best way to describe the day. It hasn’t been hellish, but it’s had an… unusual… start for a Tuesday:

• I was in bed before 1:00 AM. Rare, but I was tired.
• I don’t remember shutting off the alarm this morning. But, I apparently did; that led to some oversleeping. Two hours’ worth. But, I was okay with that, as I obviously needed the rest.
• I got up and started to get ready for work… then realized that I wasn’t really ready to get ready for work, if that makes any sense. (Translation: “I was dragging ass.”)
• About forty minutes later, I managed to muster the get-up-and-go to finish pre-work prep.
• I stepped into the master bathroom to find water on the floor around the toilet. Ô.õ Um, okay..
  • No seepage showing on the walls or floor.
  • No apparent bad seals on the toilet.
  • No apparent cracks in the porcelain.

  So, I flushed the toilet. Water seeped out from under the lid. >.< I removed the lid to see if I could figure out where the water was coming from. Yep. Piece of cake. It was, literally, staring me in the face: The refill hose (coming out of the filler valve) had come out of the refill tube.

  
  (clicking will not flush, but will take you to the HowStuffWorks site)

• I placed the hose back into the refill tube and flushed the toilet. Bad idea. Well, not really “bad” but I had neglected to secure the hose, so it flipped out of the tube and sprayed me and part of the wall behind me. *sigh* At least it was the “clean” water. I reseated – and secured – the hose and flushed the toilet again. Success.
• I grabbed my trusty bottle of Pine-Sol, a bucket and a rag and proceeded to mop up the floor.
• I got redressed and headed to work. I headed to – and decided to work in – the SLC office today. The workout will wait until tomorrow.

At least it’s not Thursday.

Monday: Coda
I came home, for a hot second, after work to drop off bags and change into something a little more comfortable for tonight’s game. Then, I was a vapor trail.

I met SaraRules’ parents and for dinner, beer and football. The Patriots vs. the Ravens. I was expecting a blow-out. After all, the Pats are undefeated and the Ravens seem to have found… people… to wear the uniforms, but I haven’t really seen “the team” since last season.

Well, guess who showed up tonight.

That’s right. The Ravens broke out the “Pitch Black” uniforms and came to do some work. On both sides of the ball. I was amazed. This is what I had been wanting to see all season: A game, not the Keystone Kops. And that’s exactly what I got: A game. Not just “a game,” either. A good game. The play – on both sides of the ball – was solid. The defense, as usual, did a good job and the offense stepped up and showed that they knew what to do and how to do it. Unfortunately, penalties (and a lot of them were stupid and very costly) and missed opportunities continued to plague the team. But, they kept marching on.  They lost the game, but I was more than satisfied with the way that they played.

And, I have to give a lot of credit to Kyle Boller. He played one Hell of a game, right down to the last play – an amazing Hail Mary pass completion that was just shy of the goal line. He was poised in the pocket. When he got flushed out of the pocket, he kept his head as well as keeping his eyes on his intended receivers. This is the Kyle Boller that I have been waiting to see for the past four years. The Kyle Boller who is coming into his own as a solid NFL quarterback.

Congratulations on the win – and good luck – to the Patriots as they continue their undefeated season.

Human of the Day: Special Recognition
Ravens Head Coach Brian Billick is being added to today’s Human of the Day list for the following:

After New England made a rather good play, one of the players went over to the Ravens’ sideline and started trash-talking in Coach Billick’s face.

Billick’s response? He blew him kisses.

It. Was. Hysterical.

The guy kept talking. Billick kept blowing kisses.

The whole bar – Ravens and Pats fans, alike – cracked up at it.

Monday – 03 December 2007
Another week begins.

Last night, SaraRules, Darillyn, Vince, Steph, Steve and I headed out for dinner and a movie. We saw Enchanted. It was fun. Quite a bit of fun, actually. Disney poking fun at itself. Sure, a good part of it was over the top, but it seemed as though they writers knew what aspects of Disneyana they wanted to lampoon and then… just… did it. There were many cameos and Easter eggs (IMDb list, Wikipedia list) as well. Post-movie, we headed back to the apartment to hang out. When we got back, one of the other roommates, Kim, and her friend Paige were at the apartment. Kim introduced Vince and me as the unofficial sixth and seventh roommates. Paige, noting the Christmas stockings on the wall, asked where Vince and my stockings were. Vince said that we simply hadn’t had the time to get around to getting/putting up ours yet. I thought of something and left the room…

I had brought a couple of Santa hats with me to Cedar City. I got the black-trimmed hat and tacked it up next to SaraRules’ stocking. This met with resounding approval. Vince asked,”So, what about me…?!” I left the living room again and returned with a white-trimmed Santa hat, which I handed to him. He tacked it up next to Darillyn’s stocking. This was also met with resounding approval.

This morning’s commute wasn’t bad at all. UDoT did a fine job of making sure that the roads were clear. Traffic was fairly light and there wasn’t really anything out of the ordinary to speak of.

I got a call from the Director of the Braithewaite Gallery this morning. It seems as though one of the pieces I am purchasing is not for sale, after all: The artist had mis-entered something on the form that was given to the gallery about the piece. Oh, well, I still have the two other pieces.

Human of the Day
Coworker Mark2. Details in ‘Toasters.

Stray Toasters

• I am having a corned beef sandwich for lunch.
• The Sartorialist, by way of SaraRules
• I picked up a copy of HALO 3 over the weekend. I may have to test drive it tonight, post-football.
• I need to finish HALO 2.
• For those who have been under a rock – or simply haven’t heard: LiveJournal has been purchased from SixApart by Russian firm, SUP
  • LiveJournal notice, from
  • BBC News article
  • The New York Times article
• Also by way of SaraRules: Undercover restorers fix Paris landmark’s clock
• Demented Christmas compilation mixes from Suburban Sprawl
• Business Buddha. Nice.
• Mark2 (yes, I have to number Marks around the office, too) just brought me a Bit-O-Honey candy bar. Out of the blue. Well, I guess there was a reason: Last week, we were talking with some other coworkers about some of our favorite candies; Mark2 and I noted that we both like Bit-O-Honey. That was nice of him. I think I’ll make him Human of the Day (above).

/lunch

Tonight, I will watch the Ravens take on the undefeated Patriots at Fiddler’s Elbow. Joiners welcome. After all, misery loves company and I really don’t see the Ravens chalking this one up in the “W” column.

Namaste.

Sunday – 02 December 2007
The Pillowman was good. I didn’t read the Wikipedia article on it yesterday, aside from when it premiered and some notes on different performances – I wanted to go into the play knowing as little as possible about it, so that I wasn’t prejudiced about what to expect.

The play was performed by SUU’s Stage 2 in the Black Box Theatre, their small – intimate – theatre, there were (maybe) 75 or 80 seats. SaraRules and I were on the second row and were about ten to twelve feet from the stage. The play was dark, thought-provoking and good. It had moments of drama, comedy, with religious – and sacreligious – overtones, a good bit of physical violence and strong language. I liked – and recommend – this play.

This morning started with coffee and comics in bed. Nothin’ like a lazy Sunday morning. This was followed by breakfast and football. The CBS affiliate was showing infomercials, so I watched the Seattle-Philly game. It was wet and cold in Philly and the Eagles stayed close… but couldn’t pull off a win. I also noted that the referees were wearing their black track suit-looking pants, so I decided to look up “why.” The answer: It’s the new cold-weather uniform.

I talked with both of the ‘rents today. All is well in their respective parts of the Right Coast.

This evening, SaraRules and I are heading out on a “triple date” with a couple of her roommates. I think that the overall plan is dinner and a movie, Enchanted, I think.

Football Update

• The Raiders beat the Broncos. ‘Grats, SaraRules
• Carolina beat the 49ers. Congrats to
• The Vikings beat up on the Lions. Congrats,

• Cleveland racked up a loss to the Cardinals. Sorry, . (No, really… REALLY!)
• Philadelphia lost to the Seahawks. Sorry,

Tonight, the Bengals take on the Steelers. Good luck to and .
Tomorrow night, the Ravens go up against the Patriots. Yeah, not exactly expecting a “win” here, but I’ll be watching the game… and hopeful.

Four-Color Coverage

• Countdown: 22 – Mary Marvel’s seduction by the dark side continues. Jimmy Olsen’s “miraculous” escape. And a big change in the Trickster/Pied Piper team.
• Green Lantern Corps #18 – Sodam Yat is the new bearer of the power of Ion. And in this issue, he goes head-to-head with SuperBrat Prime. The Guardians told him about the power of Ion… and “a little” about the benefits of being a Daxamite under a yellow sun, but did they tell him enough?
• Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #37 – The quest for Cosmic Boy continues, but this was mostly a Saturn Girl and Supergirl story. Facing “Evolvo Lad,” the duo – plus Lightning Lad – come upon a strange piece of equipment with strange ties to the 21st Century. But what should they do with – or about – it?
• Superman Annual #18 – The conclusion to the “Camelot Falls” storyline. Superman continues to defy Arion’s allegations that mankind is doomed to extinction… unless Superman dies. Will even the help of the Phantom Stranger be enough to help Superman survive, let alone win? Kurt Busiek also provides a nice short story of a Kent extended family outing.
• Superman/Batman #43 – Dr. Light, with a continuing mad-on for the Justice League goes up against the World’s Finest. Featuring an appearance by the original Teen Titans. Kind of.
• X-Men: First Class #6 – This wasn’t an exemplary story, it was… fun, but nothing “great.” In fact, the most notable thing about this isue is that it was printed out of order – seven pages of the middle of the story were printed as the first seven pages of the book. *blink blink* Gotta love that quality control.

Stray Toasters

• I picked up a copy of Utne Reader for the first time in a while a few days ago. I used to read this magazine regularly; I even had a subscription to it for a while.
• Video game giants in $18 billion merger
• 
• Surfer defies giant waves alert
• By way of BoingBoing: US gov’t to British court: We can kidnap Brits, it’s legal
• Princess Tiana, the ninth official – and first African-American – Disney Princess
• Damn-and-a-half, pistachios are tasty
• The Dark Side of Soy

Quote of the Day
From last night’s post-play hanging-out, Vince was talking about why he’s doing so well in his accounting class:

I’m Jewish – they take the foreskin from your penis and give you an honorary MBA in Accounting.

Namaste.

Saturday – 01 December 2007
It would seem as though I avoided a lot of snow (between 8″ and 12″) by not being in the Salt Lake Valley yesterday.  Sure, I had to drive through some snow last night – and there was about an inch in Cedar, which was mostly slush this morning – but that was fine.  I figure that UDoT should have things under control by now, or will by Monday, at least.

Today saw a slight change in the Saturday morning routine: We got up and went to breakfast with SaraRules’ parents… and then came back and watched ‘toons.  Today’s Legion episode, “Message in a Bottle,” featured the city of Kandor.  I missed some of the beginning of the episode, but – assuming that my complex didn’t lose power during Friday/Saturday’s snow – I set the VCR to tape it.  After cartoons and hanging out with the ‘rents, we went to the Braithwaite Fine Arts Gallery to see the Annual High School Fine Art Competition Exhibit.  The exhibit was very nice and I saw four pieces that I really liked.

I bought three of them.

The fourth had already been purchased.  I will be able to pick up the pieces after the exhibit closes in January.  That should give me enough time to decide where I want to hang them.

This evening, a few of us are going to see Vince (Roommate #1’s boyfriend) in a performance of The Pillowman (Wikipedia entry).  After that, who knows?

Namaste.

Friday: Coda
Sweet frozen zombie monkey-squeezin’ Jesus…

I’m in Cedar City. That’s a good thing. The trip down here was… not entirely hellish, but the Utah’s “It should be Winter now” weather was in rare form. It started drizzling this afternoon, around the time I got done with my workout. It continued through the afternoon. By the time I got between Filmore and Beaver, the rain decided to turn into snow.

<sarcasm> Yay. </sarcasm>

This, of course meant that most of the people on the road slowed down to a bit below the speed limit. The Council for Better Driving considers this a adherence to Rules #1 and #2. Nuff’ said. There were, however, a few monkeys who decided to roll the bones and drive at approximately the same speeds that they would in dry weather. The Fates must have smiled upon them, as I did not see any of them upside-down on the side of the road. After I got a little past Beaver, the snow turned into intermittent rain again.

I got to SaraRules’ around 6:30… and fell almost immediately asleep. Her parents got into town about forty-five minutes later and we went to dinner at Cafe Orleans. Tonight, I tried their crab cakes (they were “okay,” but I’m not sure that I’d order them again), a grilled chicken po’boy and the chicken and sausage gumbo, both of which were good. After dinner, we came back to the apartment and watched Blade: Trinity. It was alright, not “great,” but a nice way to kick back at the end of the day.

Stray Toasters

• I just learned that Evel Knievel died today. He was 69. If you were born after… 1980 or so, that name might not mean a lot; but if you were a kid in the late 60s/early-to-mid 70s, you are probably at least passingly familiar with his exploits. And the toy line that he inspired. (And I had quite a few of those toys, back in the day…)
• Did you know that Kris Kristofferson (yes, the country and gospel singer/actor) is a Rhodes scholar. He was also a helicopter pilot in the U.S. Army. And, he dated Janis Joplin.
• 
• Uranium ore for sale on Amazon.com

*voop*