Random Access

Monday – 12 January 2009
Another grey workday in the valley begins.
There’s a rumour of snow, too. We shall see…

The weekend was good, but too short… as is the complaint with most weekends. I’m extending next weekend by a day by taking Martin Luther King, Jr Day off.

Last night, SaraRules, Logan and I went to see Gran Torino. It was an amazing bit of cinema.  In trying to find things that it reminded me of, I came up with the following:

• All in the Family
• On Golden Pond and a dash of
• The Karate Kid

The analogies are not perfect, the film was not “just like” any of those, but it seemed to evoke elements of them in different ways. If you have not yet seen it, I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Stray Toasters

• Good: Baltimore is playing in the AFC Championship.
  Bad: The other team is Pittsburgh.
• I just got to pass an equipment request from a couple of our developers up the chain to my boss’ boss… and – after he stopped laughing and then posing questions to which I didn’t have answers – managed to walk out of the room without having to shop for pants with “bottom-enhancing shapewear.”
• Happy Birthday Motown
  • Motown marks its 50th anniversary
  • The tears of a town with no music around
• Top 11 Compounds in US Drinking Water
• 
• Stuff Journalists Like
• Three Rules of the Internet

• By way of The Artclash Collective: Fun-A-Day 5
• HAL’s pals: Top 10 Evil Computers

Time to see what other  kinds of trouble are looming in the wings…. or that I can stir up.

Namaste.

The ‘Clix tournament was fun, Keith came up with a scenario that he called “Dead Clix Walking!” I took a box full of ‘Clix that I thought would be fun to play. I finally settled on a martial artist-themed team:

• Bronze Tiger
• Elektra (Human), with the Infiltrate feat
• Gamora
• Iron Fist
• Ronin and
• Scandal Savage

It turned out to be a good team, despite the lack of figures with Telekinesis, which would have been VERY nice for advancing figures across the board. I went 2-1 for the day (one win, one loss and a bye – for a win) and got the Fellowship prize: Edward Nigma LE figure.

After the tourney, I hurried home to watch…

Baltimore Ravens at Tennessee Titans
13 – 10
The AFC #6 Seed Baltimore Ravens, following a short week – they played on Sunday – went to LP Field to take on the AFC #1 Seed, Tennessee Titans. I missed the first quarter, due to a scheduling conflict with a ‘Clix tournament. Fortunately, there were only two scores: A Titans’ touchdown, followed by a Ravens’ TD. The second quarter saw a little more action, including a helmet-jarring Ray Lewis tackle. Samari Rolle picked off a Kerry Collins pass three minutes into the quarter, but Baltimore wasn’t able to convert and turned the ball overs on downs. The Titans proceeded to march the ball downfield, all the way to the Baltimore 17 yard line… and then fumbled the ball. Baltimore held onto the ball and ended the quarter tied 7-7. After a couple of fruitless drives by both teams early in the third quarter, Titans’ kicker Rob Bironas missed a 51-yard field goal. This gave Baltimore good field position, but they were unable to capitalize on it. Again. The third quarter was also scoreless. The fourth quarter opened with a Ravens’ field goal, which the Titans answered, two drives later. Matt Stover tacked on another three points for the Ravens with 00:57 left in the quarter, putting Baltimore ahead 13-10. The Titans went four-and-out on their final drive, with 00:12 left on the clock, allowing Joe Flacco to take a knee… and the Ravens take home a win. This was fairly typical of a Ravens-Titans game – low score, lots of defense and a LOT of attitude. There were sixteen or seventeen penalties, between the two teams, most of them belonging to Tennessee. With the penalties, miscues and turnovers, the Titans effectively shot themselves in the foot and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. With this win, the Ravens will play in the AFC Championship against the winner of tomorrow’s San Diego-Pittsburgh game.

And now the Panthers are hosting and playing – if you can call it that – the Arizona Cardinals in Bank of America Stadium. I don’t know what happened to them since last week, but this hardly looks like the Panthers team I’ve seen in the past few weeks.

Saturday – 10 January 2009
After work, I came home and purchased and downloaded the CoH Mac edition. I set up the installer and then went off to coffee. When I got home, everything was ready for me to log into City. I opted to watch a little of The Late Late Show… which turned into The Late Late Show watching me. *sigh* I got into bed about 12:30.

And was up at 8:00 this morning.

That’s not an entirely “bad” thing. There’s a tournament this afternoon and this affords me an opportunity to figure out who I want to use in it. And, I can watch Batman: The Brave and the Bold while doing it. Win-Win.

Stray Toasters

• The Ravens-Titans game is at 2:30. I’m going to miss part of it, because of the tourney… but I’ll be watching as much of it as possible. And, I can always record the game, if I choose.
• put in an appearance at Clitorati last night. It was fun hanging out with him. In a not-so-odd twist, we started talking about football, while at coffee… and a guy at the next table joined in the conversation. The odd twist: He was from Cleveland and a Browns fan, too.
• Cars: Inside the Rocket-Proof Obamamobile
• Hotel 747 now boarding

Time for some Honeycomb and cartoonage, methinks.

Namaste.

Friday  – 09 January 2009
The weekend is within sight. Yesterday wasn’t a bad day, in accordance with NBN Thursday bylaws. There were a few issues, mostly resulting from some office/cubicle moves, but those were easy to deal with.

After dinner, Logan came over and watched Hellboy II: The Golden Army with us. Then he mopped the floor with me at Madden 09.

Stray Toasters

• I’ve had a couple people point out that CoH is now available on the Mac. (I don’t recall if I posted anything about it, but I’ve been playing the Open Beta for a few weeks.) The full City of Heroes Special Mac Edition is out… which means that the game is now playable on live servers. I’m still a little torn as to whether I want to spend $20 for the download (which comes with a few exclusive items) or just get the upgrade patch to go from the Beta to the Live version (no exclusive content).  Decisions, decisions…
• sent a link to the “I’m a Hero. I’m a Villain” parody ad:

• (who got it from ) sent a link to this picture and to this xkcd comic.
• Radical cheap: $1000 homes
• also sent a link to Henry Rollins: A Love Letter to Ann Coulter (some of the audio is NSFW)

• Dragon made of cake
• HDMI == good
• Yo-Yo Ma Brings Remix Culture to Music’s Ivory Tower
• EGM Magazine shutting down
• In today’s “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” news:
  • 6-Year-Old Says Grand Theft Auto Taught Him to Drive a
  • US man who gave kidney to wife includes it in divorce claim
  • Electric Batch Duckie

Namaste.

Thursday – 08 January 2009
I don’t think that I have ever been so glad to see the end of a workday as I was yesterday. Getting home, I flopped down on the couch for a couple hours of downtime – and dinner – before taking on more of the living room/dining room cleanup.

Four-Color Coverage
I read yesterday’s comic haul, which was laughably light: Four books. I picked up the Hellblazer: Dangerous Habits TPB, too. This week’s books included:

• Black Lightning: Year One #1 – The character Black Lightning debuted in April of 1977, DC Comics is now going back to look at his origin/history. This issue shows Jefferson Pierce returning to his hometown, a neighborhood of Metropolis… only to find that it has become less the place of his childhood – and the “City of Tomorrow” – and fallen prey to crime, gangs and an apathetic populace. What can one man do to take back his community? Here’s where we find out.
• Incognito #1 – Meet Zach Andersen, a criminal in witness protection who just met his new handler. To say that there is “friction” between them is a gross understatement.  We see what happens when Zach tries to “escape” the drudgery of his day-to-day life… and the possibilities it opens up for him.
• Superman/Supergirl: Maelstrom #5 – This issue wrapped up the mini-series, with the final showdown between Superman and Supergirl vs. Maelstrom and the Female Furies. It also showed some growth in Supergirl’s development from frustrated (though super-powered) teen to someone who wants to do more to protect her new home… even if she can’t save everyone.
• X-Men Noir #2 – I’m enjoying this take on the X-mythos, seeing the Brotherhood as a “secret society” within the NYPD and the X-Men as hoods and thugs. There were nods to a lot of names in the X-universe, even if the characters themselves didn’t appear.

Stray Toasters

• The American Gallery of Juror Art
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: US porn industry seeks multi-billion dollar bailout
• Obama, Bush and ex-presidents have ‘historic moment’
  
• Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators… or, as lj user=”m2ke” put it: Russian. Nuclear. Lighthouses.
• 
• Jan 8, 1790: Father Knows Best — Embrace Science
• America limps along after Bush, by the numbers
• FTC wants to hear from you about DRM
• HOWTO: Make an electrified steampunk Monopoly

NBN Thursday. Selah.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 07 January 2009
Ugh. That’s my description for the day so far. “Ugh.” You’d think that with blue skies and temperatures pushing 50°F, I’d be in a far more positive mood. Maybe tomorrow.

The morning started off well enough. Then, I got a phone call from my boss – two rungs up the ladder – asking how soon I could be in the office. That’s never a good sign. I told him roughly 20 minutes… and set about making it so. I got in to find that the network was down; that’s not a good thing for a tech firm. I made a couple of calls and went about working on the parts of the problem within my skill set. Turns out the problem was out of my depth, so all that I could really do was damage control until the guys who handle that portion of the infrastructure got in. (And, when they got in, they isolated the problem – which was worse than originally surmised – and wrangled it into submission.) Then, came a few other fires to put out.

On the plus side: I went out for lunch to get sushi and pick up this week’s comics. It was a nice oasis of “calm” in an otherwise intermittently turbulent day.

Tonight, there may be a bit of drinking.

Stray Toasters

• Tetris ‘helps to reduce trauma’
• Galactus’ Helmet Just Gets Happier and Happier
• Blue Notes Records Celebrates 70 Years of Jazz
  
• The Ten Worst Comic Book Movies of All Time
  (I’ve seen four of these.. and actually enjoyed two of them.)
• Top Ten Comic Book Character Deaths of 2008
• Secret Service to unveil new presidential limo
• “Citizen videos” spread online showing BART police officer shooting unarmed man to death
• Rise and Fall of Bush’s popularity

Namaste.

Thanks to Beth for the title to this post.

Today was the first day back in the gym in… 2½ weeks.  Wes and I did a short workout, but it was enough to remind me why I enjoy working out:

• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps – 1 set @ 225lbs, 2 sets @ 185 lbs
• Flys: 3 sets/10 reps, 110 lbs
• Back Extension (machine): 3 sets/12 reps – 2 sets @ 120 lbs, 1 set @ 200 lbs
• Curls (dumbbell): 3 sets/10 reps, 30 lbs
• Tricep Extensions (rope): 3 sets/15 reps, 60 lbs

Post-workout weight: 183.4 lbs.
(Not bad, considering all of the holiday snacking I did.)

All-in-all, it wasn’t a bad way to kick of the first workout of the new year. And, maybe someday, I’ll look like this guy:

Yep. Lou Ferrigno.  *nod*

Tuesday – 06 January 2009
Another cold and snowy day in the Land Behind the Zion Curtain. “Snowy” may be a little bit of an exaggeration; there are flurries, though.

Getting back into the swing of things around the office.  And it seems that we’ve acquired a new team member, too.

Stray Toasters

• I’ve started watching – and enjoying – Planet Earth on the Discovery Channel. It looks amazing in HD.
• Understanding Islam Through Virtual Worlds launch in NYC, Jan 29
• MacWorld 2009 Keynote
  • ArsTechnica
  • Engadget
  • Gizmodo
• Atheist bus ads roll in London
• In “What’s Happening with LiveJournal?” news: The Russian Bear Slashes a Social Network
• Shanghai recreated in dice and poker chips
• Golf can be bad for hearing
• By way of – GOP senator wants to tighten alcohol rules

Namaste.

Monday – 05 January 2009
Back to the grind, after a great vacation.

Last night, SaraRules and I put together the dresser and moved it into place. The apartment is starting to look less like a bachelor’s place already. (That’s not a bad thing.)

This morning, the alarm went off. My first reaction was “Huh.. what’s that?” Reality asserted itself and I remembered that it was back-to-work time. The morning prep went smoothly and without issue.

I just finished going through about 125 work emails. YAY!

He gets right on to the friction of the day.

Namaste.

Sunday – 04 January 2008
It’s been a good – and busy – weekend… with a good bit of traveling thrown in, for good measure.

Yesterday, SaraRules went to her quilt club; I slept in a little. Then I remembered that I wanted to take the car in for an oil change and to finally replace the center cap on the front driver’s side wheel. So, off I went. They changed the oil. They replaced a burned-out tail light. They replaced the center cap… the $103 center cap. *blink blink* Wow. Knew it wasn’t going to be cheap, just didn’t expect it to be quite that much.

Back home to pack – we were heading to Cedar City for the wedding reception for Skott (brother of Tom Chandler) and Shannon (fiance of brother of Tom Chandler). It was a small affair, but nice. It was good to see Tom and Jo – the only people I knew there, although I met other members of the family. We also picked up a few more things from SaraRules’ storage unit, before the reception. In the dark. In the COLD. Oh so bitter cold. Something in the neighborhood of 6°F. Yeah…. That cold. We drove back last night.

This morning, we got up and headed to IKEA to pick up a MALM 6-drawer chest (medium brown). We got there about 9:50, thinking that the restaurant opened at 9:30 and the store at 10:00. WRONG. On Sundays, they open at 10:30 and 11:00, respectively. Verdammt!  I wanted to be home for kickoff. *sigh* So, we sat in the car for :40, while waiting for the store to open. We went in, had breakfast and shopped. On the way through the store, I decided to look for a yellow/amber MÄKTA sphere… and found one! That’s right, I’m going to have a Sinestro Corps shelf – as well as the GLC shelf – in one of the display cases. I needed another light, so I got a set of NON lights. They come in a two-pack, but that turns out to be good, as both lights are wired to a single switch – saving the need for another cord/plug. We picked up the chest of drawers and a few other items and headed home for…

Football! The Ravens-Dolphins Wild Card game. We got home about halfway through the second quarter. (Fortunately, Kris was watching the game and was texting me info about it.) The game was amazing:

Baltimore Ravens at Miami Dolphins
27 – 9
The Ravens went on the road to take on the Miami Dolphins in Dolphin Stadium. The last time they played each other this season, the Ravens came away with a 20-3 win. The first quarter was apparently a defensive struggle – both teams only scored one field goal. The second quarter saw a little more action. With 6:56 left in the quarter, FS Ed Reed picked off a Chad Pennington pass and ran it back for a 64-yard TD. Matt Stover kicked another FG, with 21 seconds left in the quarter, to give the Ravens a 13-3 lead going into the half. After a couple of fruitless drives by both teams early in the third quarter, Ravens’ DE Marques Douglas forced a fumble, which was recovered by Terrell Suggs. This wound up leading to RB Le’Ron McLain rushing TD. On Miami’s next drive, Ed Reed picked off another pass. Baltimore wasn’t able to capitalize on this, however. In the fourth, Pennington connected with Ronnie Brown for a spectacular one-handed TD catch. This seemed to put a little more wind in the Dolphins’ sails. Both teams had a couple of three-and-out drives, but Baltimore was able to seal the win when QB Joe Flacco ran in a 5-yd touchdown. With this win, the Ravens move into the fourth AFC playoff spot. Saturday, they take on the Tennessee Titans in Adelphia Stadium.

After the game, we went to the Utah Museam of Fine Arts to see Wrapped in Pride: Kente Cloth. It was a fascinating exhibit.

We went to visit SaraRule’s parents. We watched the end of the Philadelphia-Minnesota game. And then watched Day of the Dead, which I haven’t seen in many moons. SIDENOTE: The music at the beginning of the movie sounded familiar, but I couldn’t really place it… until Miguel started yelling “Hello…?!  Is anybody there?!” Then it clicked for me. Immediately. It is used at the start of Gorillaz’ M1A1, from their debut CD. It had never occured to me to see where it had come from and I hadn’t previously put two and two together.

Four-Color Coverage
Friday, I was chatting with Markyn Time, who recommended that I stop what I was doing, pick up my copy of Justice Society of America #22 and read it. Immediately. Because, in his opinion, it was one of the best JSA arcs he’s read.

I didn’t. Instead, I went to coffee.
I did read it after I got back, though. And he was right.

This issue tied up both the Gog storyline and the Earth-22 Superman storyline. And it did both wonderfully. And… AND… it also had not only a great tie-in to Kingdom Come, but also to what I think was the v2 (“Rebooted“) Legion. All of this… and an amazing last page, too.

I was glad that I saved this book for my last read from this week’s haul.
It was just that good.

Stray Toasters

• Obama Moves to Counter China with Pentagon-NASA Link
• Facebook’s War on Nipples
• The Exact Cause of the Zune Meltdown
• From Wizard: Best of ’08 – Best Hero: Captain America
• Opening titles of B-Movies
• Apple IIe Emulator Released for the Wii

Tomorrow, the grind begins again… but, I still have a few hours of vacation to enjoy.

Namaste.

Friday – 02 January 2008
Today has been a good – and even “productive” – day. I slept poorly last night – first, I couldn’t fall asleep, then… I couldnt stay asleep. On top of that, I started having a rather odd dream, somewhere around 5:00 or so this morning. I woke from that rather disconcerted. After wrestling with sleep for a few more hours, I got up a little after nine.

I spent about an hour or so on the couch, watching TV. Then, I decided to take care of the morning hygiene rituals. Next up: video games. I played a little HALO 3 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance; I made a bit of progress in both.

We met SaraRules’ parents for lunch. We went to Jasmine China Bistro and Sushi Bar. It’s apparently been there for years (many years), but I never knew of it. The food was good, as was the service. I will have to keep it in mind in the future.

Back home. After a little down time, we set about assembling a couple of Billy bookcases. The office is coming along nicely. It’s still a little cluttered – mostly with ‘Clix paraphenalia and things that have moved out of other rooms – but progress is being made.

Stray Toasters

• I recorded a couple of episodes of Batman: The Brave and the Bold the other day. It’s definitely a much lighter take on The Dark Knight than has been seen in the past two decades, but I found it to be a lot of fun.
• The Lion, the Witch and the Wipeout: Disney leaves Narnia franchise
• 

  (click image and scroll down – after page loads -  for more info about the pink bottle)

• First Look at 12 Big Movies Coming in 2009
• Mattel’s DC Action Figures
• …and, coming in 2009: Amanda Waller, as part of the JLU line.
• 
• At 70, Superman has changed through the years
• Blackest Night and the War of Light

Tonight, assuming that the weather doesn’t take a complete nosedive in the next hour: Clitorati.

Namaste.

Thursday – 01 January 2009
I hope that everyone had a safe and fun New Year’s Eve.

Thanks to and and to shockpuppet and for their hospitality. We also got to meet the new addition to the Nox family; she’s a cutie and, as SaraRules put it: “She looks like her father… in all the places that could be covered with a SCUBA mask.” The festivities at shockpuppet and ‘s included “Hats and Ponies,” a Derby race with decorate-them-yourself My Little Ponies.

And, I finally got all of the pictures from the past week uploaded:

• Christmas 2008
• Sara and Rob’s Engagement Dinner
• New Year’s Eve 2008: “Hats and Ponies”

We’re hanging out with SaraRules’ family this afternoon, just hanging out and watching football.

Namaste.