Random Access

Friday – 30 November 2007
The end of the week is at hand.

Dinner last night was a lot of fun. We went to Sampan. Tasty beef lo mein… with enough left over to make a decent post-workout lunch. After dinner, most of us headed to Barnes & Noble for coffee and conversation. I also picked up a new Windows Server 2003 book, that is perfect for some of the things that I’m going to need to know for work.

After the group broke up, came over to take pictures for my Christmas card. She took many pictures. MANY. So I’ll have a good number of options from which to select. It was nice to see – and hang out with – her this past week.

This morning, I overslept a little. Only by half an hour. And I was happy that it was “only” a half-hour, as I didn’t get to bed until somewhere around 3:30. So, while I didn’t get as early a start on the day as I could have, I wasn’t as far off the mark as I could have been. Today’s workout was a good way to wrap up the week:

• Leg Raises: 3 sets / 20 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets / 8 reps at 225 lbs.
• Nautilus Fly: 3 sets / 10 reps at 95 lbs, with a ten-second hold on the last rep of each set
• Decline Dumbbell Press: 3 sets / 10 reps at 50 lbs.
• Bench Dips: 3 sets / 20 reps – all sets with a 35 lb plate
• Dips: 1 sets / 10 reps
• Lower Back Raises: 3 sets / 15 reps

Stray Toasters

• I have too much blood in my caffeinestream. Not even the coffee I brewed seems to be changing the ratio, or it’s failing to do so at a satisfactory rate.
• I found this site last night: DonorsChoose.org It looks like an interesting way to give.
• 
• Incognegro
• I haven’t made a successful pilgrimage to the Garden of Sweden this week, but I still had a couple of IKEA cinnamon roll for breakfast this morning. Selah.
• Best Moments of 2007 (DC)
• Best Moments of 2007 (Marvel)
• The morning constitutional helped with the “getting the blood moving” factor. This is a good thing.
• shockpuppet now refers to me as “W&W,” which I have been informed is pronounced “dub ‘n’ dub”
• 
• By way of CNet: Holiday Tech Gifts We Don’t Recommend
• Justice League of America #15 (preview)
• Rabid comics fans are/can be scary. Marvel is changing the cover style for Fantastic Four… and some of the responses made me think of this sound bite.
• Phables

Quotes of the Day
Today’s quotes come from last night’s coffee gathering:

• (after seeing an ad in Lürzer’s Archive): I want to be able to shit cupcakes! I’d be []’ best friend!
• (referring to… an acquaintance): She’s the Amazing Expando-Girl!

And that’s a wrap!

See you on the other side of Juab County.

Namaste.

Sunday – 25 November 2007
Another Salt Lake Valley Sunda-a-ay…

With the exception of the Ravens’ loss to the Chargers, today’s been a good day. Slept in. Went to SaraRules’ parents for football, dinner, Mojitos and Hogfather. No, that was not a typo. And, no, it’s not a porcine remake of The Godfather. It was a movie based on a Terry Prachett book (set in/on the Discworld) of the same name. It wasn’t your typical holiday movie… but in a way it was. Yeah, it was like that. It was a British production and, according to SaraRules’ father, was fairly faithful to the book. A tip of the hat and a wave of the cane to for making a note of this broadcast.

Football Update
As I mentioned above, the Ravens took one on the chin, thanks to the Chargers. Go team.

Congrats to and for the Bengals’ win.
Congrats to for the Browns’ win
Congrats to for the Vikings’ win

Commiserations to and on the Eagles’ and Panthers’ losses, respectively.

Stray Toasters

• I used iPhoto to make a web gallery of photos that have been sitting on my hard drive for months. MANY months. Once I got the hang of “what goes where,” it was a VERY fast and easy process. I still want to play around with the settings, to see what customization – if any – is available, as I don’t have a .mac account to upload it to and it seems set for .mac integration. But, I was pretty happy with the results.
• Last night, after tracking down a copy of it, SaraRules and I watched The Lady Eve, starring Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck. It was fun and a nice change of pace.
• Absinthe, a Potent Potable Makes a Comeback
• 
• I learned today, by way of SaraRules, that Shel Silverstein wrote the Johnny Cash song, A Boy Named Sue
• Related sidenote: I need to acquire a copy of the Uncle Shelby’s ABZ Book
• Defiant‘s new memory should be here Monday… sometime, according to the FedEx site.
• Anatomical heart made from candy hearts

And that, as they say, is a wrap.Namaste.

Saturday – 24 November 2007
A quiet, lazy day in the valley. The morning started off with an odd dream: I was back in school and taking a mid-term… and couldn’t remember any of the answers. Very frustrating and a little disconcerting. That was followed up by episodes of Legion of Super-Heroes and The Batman – reruns, but episodes nonetheless. While SaraRules continues work on her project, I have been watching bits of Armageddon and Lethal Weapon 3. I think that I’m going to switch over to Madden 2005, in a little bit.

Last night’s Clitorati was fun – it was nice to hang out with the usual suspects. Borders also had a couple of deals that I couldn’t pass up: The West Wing – The Complete Second Season and Firefly: The Complete Series, both for $19.99. And I also picked up a book, Guards! Guards!, that SaraRules’ father mentioned to me at Thanksgiving dinner. Post-Clitorati, SaraRules and I broke out Trivial Pursuit: Warner Brothers Edition. After the way that she pwned me at backgammon, there was no way that I was going to lose at Trivial Pursuit. I mean, it’s trivia. And pop culture. HOW could I possibly lose!? For a while I wasn’t sure that I was going to be able to pull it off – the “Classics” category kept kicking my ass. Fortunately, I hit a question when going for the Classics wedge that I knew. I won. I like to win. Go figure.

Stray Toasters

• I have been sorting some of my plastic crack into bins by teams. Gaming: the Addiction. Who knew?
• A Steampunk’s Guide to the Apocalpyse (pdf)
• 
• PS2 controller cuff links and Wiimote earrings
• Steampunk mp3 player
  
• What happens when the designers at Chrysler spend too much time playing Halo 3? Something like this.

Time to find some trouble to get into.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 21 November 2007
Sweet Big Butter Jesus… it was 19°F when I woke up this morning. NINETEEN! (N-n-n-nineteen! Nineteen!) But, at least it is Sushi Wednesday; at least, it is according to shockpuppet.

I am in the SLC office and just met a new coworker. He looked at me and recognized me… from the gym. But, it was the gym in American Fork. We used to workout at roughly the same time. “Curiouser and curiouser,” said little Alice…

Stray Toasters

• I opted to go with a Cafe Mocha, rather than a frozen mocha, this morning.
• Sneakiest Uses for Everyday Objects
• I like this LEGO ad:

  

• Because of (who should click here), I am craving Krispy Kreme doughnuts.
• I need Dream Girl, Supergirl (this one, because I already have this one), Triplicate Girl and Colossal Boy (Micro Lad!) to complete my plastic crack Legion of Super-Heroes. I think that I already have a Shvaughn Erin… otherwise, I need one’a her, too.
• The art of Adam Koford.
• Girl to have arm taken off back
• Is Brian Michael Bendis just writing everything for Marvel now?
• Speaking of Marvel, here’s another look at the new Captain America

  

For those who will be traveling today/this weekend: Good luck against the masses and may you arrive safely at your destination.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Namaste.

Monday – 19 November 2007
Another work week begins… but it’s a short week. I like to shake it, shake it short weeks. They’re nice. And this one has the added bonus of: SaraRules will be in town tomorrow.

Yesterday was full of football and general laziness. SaraRules and I watched the Browns-Ravens game… until it went to overtime – I was Ivory Soap-sure that I knew what the outcome would be. (I was right, by the way. Congratulations, .) After the game, we headed to St. George. I stopped in Old Navy, intent on picking up a few turtlenecks or mock turtlenecks, as the weather is starting to turn a bit chilly. No go, Flight. The only sizes they had were for toddlers. I’m short, but not quite that short. Guess that I’ll have to check Eddie Bauer. Next stop: ColdStone. We tried the Mud Pie Mojo, a coffee ice cream-based flavor. It was very good. Next: Best Buy. I’ve been mulling over an Xbox 360 for a while, and decided that if they had the right package, I’d probably go ahead and pick one up. When I looked around, all I saw was the “Arcade” package. Definitely not what I wanted. SaraRules tapped me on the shoulder and pointed me in the direction of a stack of Xboxes about 20 feet away. VARIETY!!! Yes!!! For those who don’t know, Micro$oft has multiple “versions” of the Xbox:

• Arcade: This is the base model. No frills, no bells, no whistles.
• Core System: Includes a 20 GB hard drive and two games.
• Halo 3 Special Edition: Basically a Core System that, for an extra $50, has been painted green and orange, just like everyone’s favorite Spartan. (No, not these Spartans… this Spartan.) And, did I mention that this does NOT include a copy of Halo 3? It doesn’t.
• Elite: If Microsoft was going to have “sexy black hotness,” this would be it. Where the other Xboxes are white with grey accents – or Halo 3 green – and plastic, the Elite is shiny black metal. Or, at least the original limited edition ones were. It comes with a 120 GB hard drive and two games. And all for only $100 more than the Core System.

I went with the Core System. And I’m good with that.

The end of the evening held a trip to the grocery store, me cooking dinner (with an assist from Steve, who did the garlic bread), wine, football and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Fun movie. Quirky, even. I went into it expecting something else, so I was a little thrown-off… but I enjoyed it. I found out afterward that SaraRules is a big Robert Downey, Jr. fan, so I showed her the trailer for Iron Man. Her reaction: “We are so there.”

This morning’s drive wasn’t bad. I played intermittent leap-frog with an SUV from Beaver up to Spanish Fork. It reminded me of Smokey and the Bandit in a way: One vehicle would lead (and make sure that the path was clear, the other would drive “a little” faster than the posted limit. To my knowledge, though, neither of us had a trunk full of Coors. (At least, I didn’t.) There wasn’t any construction on the northbound side of I-15; there was a little… something… going on that forced the southbound side to one lane, just north of Cove Fort, though. And, of course, there was general monkey-rifficness almost as soon as I crossed into Utah County. Go figure.

I thought about something this morning – that I first thought about Friday night, on the way to Cedar City: I have an eclectic mix of music on my iPod. No news there. From The Powerpuff Girls theme to Nine Inch Nails’ The Perfect Drug. I also have a tendency to sing along with whatever song strikes my fancy while driving. My car is equipped with the OnStar service; I don’t subscribe to it, but it’s there. I remember hearing about cases where the FBI used OnStar to eavesdrop on suspects. It made me wonder if a bored OnStar advisor ever listened while I was singing away… and what they thought of the rather odd assortment of songs to which I listened and/or sang.

Work hasn’t been bad. I’ve had a couple of issues to forward to other people and a few small equipment needs to fill, but otherwise the natives have been quiet. Which means that I was actually able to get some reading done.

Stray Toasters

• I think that Chris is coming over to play a little Marvel Ultimate Alliance later.
• What about the teachers? (An op-ed commentary from Marketplace.)
• Marketing. *snicker*

  

• Do Not Open: An Encyclopedia of the World’s Best-Kept Secrets
• , you might want to check this out.
• The Dangers of World of Warcraft
• By way of : Steampunk iPod Skin
• Update: Chris did come over. And we did play MUA… after I figured out how to connect the #*@&^@! second wireless controller to the #*@&^@! Xbox.
• Food Banks: Less supply, more demand

I should start thinking about prepping my things for tomorning.

Namaste.

Saturday – 17 November 2007
As Bobby Darin sang, “What a difference a day makes…”

Last night’s drive to Cedar City was relatively uneventful, although long. I left SLC a little later than I had planned, thanks to some office monkeydom. Nature of the beast, I guess. Leaving late meant that I got caught in the Great I-15/I-215 Southbound Exodus crunch. It’s great when it takes you 20 minutes to go four miles. Once I got past 106th South, traffic wasn’t bad… until I got to Orem. At UVSC, I-15 turned into a parking lot again. A monkey-filled parking lot. And, that had barely cleared up when there was another clot around Center Street in Provo. Not so amazingly, when I got out of Utah County, traffic was (for the most part) fine. Although, there seemed to be more southbound traffic than I am used to seeing. *shrug*

When I got here, aside from seeing SaraRules, I was also reunited with my work ID badge, which had decided to stay here on holiday. SaraRules, Roommate Kim and I ate take-out from Wendy’s and watched Batman Begins, which made for a good way to end the day/week.

So far, today has been quiet and lazy. In true Saturday fashion, the morning started with breakfast and coffee and cartoons – a new episode of Legion; a rerun of The Batman. Now, SaraRules is knocking out some homework and I’m playing around on the Interweb. And deciding if I want to play around with Parallels. Tonight, I’m either going to a basketball game – which will get me back on track for my “Year of Sports” goal – or going to a Gershwin… opera-type-thingamabob.

Stray Toasters

• I have a taste for something sweet, but I haven’t pegged “what” yet.
• posted a link to this: Elise Hendrick’s piece Fuck Euphemisms. Go read it.
• LEGO Master Working on 100,000-piec, 21 foot long Battleship Yamato model
• I was showing a coworker the video for Weapon of Choice (which he had never seen) yesterday. That led me to look up Christopher Walken’s IMDb page. I noted that he had also appeared in Madonna’s Bad Girl video, which I had never seen.
• iStat menus
• 
• Automata for Sale – papercraft, DIY and wooden
• Typing of the Dead shall be played today (or tonight)!
• Best book covers of 2007
• Does anyone remember the game Marble Madness? Of course you do. You know that you spent quarter after quarter trying to get the damned marble to the bottom of the track/maze without getting eaten or crushed by the Steelie or just running it off the edge. But, I digress… check this out.

Time to find some trouble to get into…

Namaste.

Thursday – 15 November 2007
Three down, one in the chamber and one to go.

Today has been pretty good. There were a couple of small fires (tiny things, really) to put out when I got in. Other than that, it’s been pretty quiet here in the south forty. Today’s workout was a bit painful – I apparently tweaked my shoulder in the past day or two:

• Bench Press: 225 lbs / 2 sets, 8 reps; 205 lbs / 1 set, 12 reps
• Standing Curls (dumbbell, hammer grip): 25 lbs / 3 sets, 10 reps
• Decline Press: 155 lbs / 1 set, 12 reps; 165 lbs / 2 sets, reps
• Cable Fly (Nautilus): 95 lbs / 3 sets, 10 reps
• Reclined Curls (dumbbell): 20 lbs / 1 sets, 10 reps; 25 lbs / 2 sets, 10 reps; 20 lbs / 1 sets, 10 reps
• Bench Dips: 3 sets / 15 reps

Eric and I tried to do a rep at 300 lbs today – neither of us made it – and we noted something about Tuesday’s workout: We left two (2) ten-pound weights off the bar, so we only did 280 lbs. I also neglected to list the Decline Press in Tuesday’s workout. We did three sets of 12 reps at 135 lbs.

Stray Toasters

• I found out that a coworker was worried – for weeks – that I would be horribly offended by something he said. I remember the situation, total case of “no blood, no foul.”
• Of course, that didn’t stop me from toying with him this morning.
• Drew Barrymore as Edie Beale
• I brought in Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word for Eric. I’ve had two other people ask if they can read it when he’s done.
• To err on the side of caution, I told the mangers about it… so that if someone saw the book and came to one of them, freaking out about it, they would already know the score.
• This happened at the V.I. where we usually go for late-night breakfast.
• By way of : The Real Voice of Darth Vader
• A coworker asked if I had a version of The Girl from Ipanema in my mp3 collection. I told him that I had three. He browsed my mp3s and found them. He told me, a little later, that he wasn’t aware that Sammy Davis, Jr. had been anything other than a comedian. *jawdrop* He had never heard of The Rat Pack, either. *FLOOR*
• Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, one of my all-time favorite movies.
• I want to drive this.

Namaste.

Thursday – 08 November 2007
Another NBN Thursday draws to a close. Work was good. Today was “Sushi Wednesday.” (Yes, I know it was Thursday. Deal with it.) I picked up this week’s four-color goodness. And, I have brand-spankin-new sexy black hotness.

Human of the Day
There are actually three HotDs today: Joanne, from the laundry where I get my clothes done and Jerry and an unnamed manager at the Apple Store.

I decided to kill two avians with a single piece of silicate tonight and get my laundry done while I was exchanging my MacBook. (Sidenote: One of the Coworker Daves, misheard Code Monkey and me talking about the laptop and thought that we had referred to it as my BlacBook. That amused me.) So, off I went in search of adventure to swap my BlacBook MacBook and to get some clean drawers…

• Joanne: I got to the laundry a little later than planned, but was still hopeful that I could get same-day service. Couldn’t hurt to ask, after all. So, I walked in… got up to the counter… and posed the question. Joanne looked at the clock, thought about it and said yes. When I went back later to pick up the clothes, she said that she basically did it because I’ve been a fairly regular customer and that she knew that if I said I needed them tonight, that I’d be back for them. (Truth be told, Joanne has consistently been the easiest-to-deal with person at that laundry in all of the time that I have been going there; I think I actually sigh in relief whenever I see that she’s working.)
• Jerry and the unnamed Apple Store manager: While waiting on the laundry, I took the old and busted MacBook to the Apple Store to trade it in for new hotness. An associate named Jerry came up to help me. Bang. Zoom. I summarized last night’s call to the store and told him with whom I had spoken. He said that he could take care of it; he took the receipt and the MacBook and headed to the Genius Bar. A couple of minutes later, he came back – he needed my password to get into the system. And then, he was off again. He returned with the old MacBook and a fresh-in-the-box new one.There was a slight problem in matching the receipt to the MacBook – there had been some arcane workings in getting proper credit applied when the purchase was made. Enter: Unnamed manager. She came over, sussed out the deal and got the proper ducks in a row. A few minutes later, Jerry returned and told me how much it would cost to complete the exchange.

  Cost? Huh…wha?!?

  When I called last night, that was one of the things that I specifically asked. The associate said that his manager had authorized a waiving of any restocking fee. Jerry disappeared again. While he and Managerette were trying to hammer out the particulars, I wandered about the store. I also made a discovery: Battlefield 2142 has been ported to the Mac. I wandered back to the front of the store, just as they were trying to figure out where another discount had been taken in purchasing the old MacBook. I tried, unsuccessfully to call (who picked up the MacBook for me) to help sort things out. But, Managerette came up with a solution and… no more than three minutes after that, I was walking out the door with the new system.

Stray Toasters

• I picked up a copy of Peaceful Warrior this evening. It was a good adaptation of the book.
• Ou.
• Apparently, the Chasing Amy “What’s a Nubian?” clip has been removed from YouTube. But, I found a link to a similar clip of it (minus about 30 seconds) on MySpace.
• Tesla Coils Playing the Mario Bros. Theme Are Unsurprisingly Awesome
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Teen Gets Strippergram at School
• Gawker Artists
• Zombeatles’ Hard Day’s Night of the Living Dead
• By way of Maddox: Fashion tips for women from a guy who knows dick about fashion and 9 things I learned about the world from anonymous stock photo models

Namaste.

Wednesday – 07 November 2007
*WHEW* That’s really the best way to describe the past 36 or so hours, they’ve been something of a whirlwind.

Monday night, after football, I stopped to borrow a cooler from , more on the “why” below. I got to see and play with the cats for a bit. Lightning and Presto were moderate attention whores, go figure; Sissy was a little more low-key.

Tuesday was a quiet day in Cubeville. I didn’t have anything new in my task list, so I plowed through some more reading. Yay, reading! Actually, I really can’t complain: I am learning a lot (as dry as some of it may be…) and improving my skill set.

After work, the fun began…

I headed to Scandia, to pick up the cake that I had ordered for SaraRules’ birthday. A raspberry marzipan cake. A cake that needed to be kept cool/cold, hence the need for the cooler. I had ice. I had gel packs. As far as I knew, I was ready to rcok. Unfortunately, the cake box was significantly larger than the cooler. *grblsnrkx* This meant that some creative adaptation was in order. I wound up adding a half-gallon of ice cream to help with the cooling process. Grabbed a bag o’ clothes and headed out. Next, a stop to pick up to pick up some decorations and fill up the tank… then it was time to burn the breeze. Until I went to get onto I-15 South. Drive-time gridlock. yay (lower case intentional). I got through that and made it to Provo… only to hit two more pockets of resistance. >.< But, once I got down to Springville, things moved at a steady pace. Next stop: Cedar City.

One thing about the drive between SLC/AF and Cedar City, you have time to kill. A LOT of time. Last night and this morning, I listened to the (abridged) audiobook version of John Hodgman’s The Areas of My Expertise (iTunes Music Store link). It’s a fun read. Um, “listen.” Whatever. And, it features Jonathan Coulton, as well. Win-win! (All that and you learn about the 51st U.S. state!)

I made it to Cedar without any problems. And the cake survived the trip intact. Sara wasn’t in, which I was counting on – she was in a rehearsal for an upcoming production at the school. Perfect. I had conspired with her roommates to keep this trip a secret and so far, it was working out well.

That’s when I remembered that I had neglected to pick up birthday cards before I hit the road. Greeeat.

We put up the decorations and I made a mad dash to the store for cards. I got back to the apartment and signed the cards with plenty of time to spare – the rehearsal started late. Fortunately. So, I hung out with the roommates. Sara got in, saw the decorations and was met/accosted by her roommates; I was reading a couple of articles in GQ, in her bedroom (i.e.: “hiding”). The look on her face when she got to her door was well worth the trip. (And, of course, none of us thought to take any pictures.) We all went back into the kitchen. We sang “Happy Birthday.” We ate cake (which was quite good, I must say). And everyone went to bed.

This morning, back on the road and on to work. There have been a few questions/problems to deal with, but it’s been pretty quiet, overall. (Translation: “More reading!”) Today’s workout was short, but painful (in a more-or-less good way):

• Leg Raises: 3 sets / 20 reps
• Dip: 3 sets / 20 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets / 15 reps, 155 lbs.
• Lat Pull-downs: 3 sets / 15 reps (sets 1 and 3 at 120 lbs., set 2 at 100 lbs.)
• Incline Press: 3 sets / 15 reps, 95 lbs.

Stray Toasters

• I had somehow managed to forget that I had Butterscotch Krimpets in my desk drawer.
• Dastardly pounce!
• William Gibson: The Rolling Stone interview
• Tyranist recently acquired Infernal Contraption. It seems like a “Rube Goldberg meets Munchkin” kind of game, from the information.
• That reminded me of – and I decided to show Tyranist – Sim City: The Card Game. I went to the Mayfair site, but didn’t find a link to it. I tried Google. Bingo. First result. And it was on… the… Mayfair site. *blink blink* Apparently, they didn’t remove it, they just buried it. Bizarre.
• Top Marathoner Collapses and Dies in Olympic Trials
• Wow. From BBC News: Girl separation surgery a success
• Georgia under state of emergency (The country, not the state)
• SaraRules and : Prince fan sites face legal threats
• Rune Olsen’s Twisting Sculptures
• Spooler. Processor. Monitor.
• Jason is buying an iMac… ostensibly, for his wife. (One of us… One of us…)
• City of Heroes “Thank You” goodies.

Like I said: *WHEW*

Namaste.

Friday – 19 October 2007
And so the week winds down.

Last night, I had dinner with lj user=”khayla”. Sushi. Tsunami. But, they were out of Ika. (KHAAAAAAAAN!) Oh, well, another time, perhaps. After that, I went to visit Kate and Perry. Then, a couple of errands and then home to try and make a little sense of the chaos before Ms. SaraRules got in.

This morning, I turned off the alarm… and turned off consciousness for an extra hour and some change. As I drifted in and out of sleep for the next little while, I phased in and out of The Dreaming. During my last excursion, I dreamed that I was playing basketball – I don’t remember with whom, though. Whomever the other guard was, we were approaching the half-court line when he lost control of the ball. I dove and stretched out for the ball…

…instead, I wound up nearly knocking my lamp off the nightstand. Fortunately, I found, I didn’t dive off the bed.

That was my cue to actually get out of bed and start the day.

Stray Toasters

• I chatted with Kris for a bit yesterday. It was a pleasant surprise.
• I enjoy Instructables. I’ve found many interesting and fun things on there. However, I think that this item has to be one of the most creative articles on there.
• Whatis.com Word of the Day: Unconference
• I Got Six
• Hmm… I found a non-Rockapella version of Zombie Jamboree on YouTube, done by The Kingston Trio.
• Zombie wedding cake topper
• SaraRules and I are making a sojourn to the Garden of Sweden this afternoon.  *genuflect*
• Darth Vader Rules Hot-Air Balloon Event
• “Did I say ‘overlords?’  I meant ‘protectors.'”
• God’s Mechanics: Vatican astronomer reconciles religion and science
• Prophet 60091…

Namaste.

Wednesday – 17 October 2007
Midweek. Grey. Rainy.

Last night was D&D game night. We… kind of, sort of accomplished some things. In the grand scheme of things. We managed to uncover at least one new mystery. (We would have gotten away with it, if it hadn’t been for you meddling kids and your dog!) And, in the words of Jerry Reed, “We got a long way to go, and a short time to get there.” So, we’ll see how things progress.

I wasn’t in the mood to make a trip to Paragon City or the Rogue Isles, so I opted for a hot – and relaxing – bath, with a glass of Pinot Noir and Black Seas of Infinity. It was a good way to end the day.

Stray Toasters

• This morning, for the first time since God was a boy, I had breakfast from McDinkle’s: an Egg McMuffin. It wasn’t hellish.
• Marvel unveiled the new look of the new Captain America. Wizard also had a couple of items about it: 1, 2.
• 
• pointed me in the direction of this: Georgia Russel’s Book Sculptures.
• I have found a new – and horrible – new toy/distraction: IKEA Room Planner.
• Time Bandits map replication
• Sex, Nazi, Burrito and Viagra: Who Googles What?
• I found a community called Mock the Stupid, by way of . Holy monkeys on parade, Batman!
• 10 Wacky Wii Accessories
• “i think i just threw up my appendix”

Wheeeee!

Namaste.

Tuesday: 16 October 2007
The Monday work day ended without any monkey-rifficness. I like days like that.

I came home, after a brief stop at the store to pick up a few things. And I did a whoooole lot of nothing. And I liked it. In fact, about the most productive thing that I’ve done is hang a picture in the dining room. And processed the pictures from Saturday’s bowling excursion, including the ones that Darillyn took.

Then I realized something: I had no idea of what I want for dinner.

Papa Johns to the rescue. Amen. Although, online ordering will be my downfall, I fear. It just makes it too easy. Too, too easy. Point. Click. Wait. Eat. Not only that, it even remembers the last couple of things that you ordered. Hello, Seven Deadly Sins…? Yes, I’d like to call-in an order of Sloth, please. Thank you. Can I get that with a side order of Gluttony? Wonderful. Thanks.

Sleep brought odd dreams. Not “bad,” but they definitely scored at least an 8.3 on the weired-shit-o-meter. I woke up from one of them thinking “Nah… I couldn’t have dreamed that. Not even my head is that screwed up.” But, apparently it is. How bizarre was the dream? It had my dad, two sibs, three coworkers, Ludacris and a couple of Harry Potter characters in it. And that’s just the faces that I remember.

This morning started off with a pleasant surprise: An email from my Godmother. The email was a response to a “Reply-All” that I sent in response to one of my mother’s emails, but I definitely wasn’t expecting this. I haven’t heard from her in a while (and I allowed her to slip off my radar), so this was a wonderful way to start the morning.

Stray Toasters

• I talked with Adam last night. He originally called to complain about what he thought was the ending of HALO 3. We wound up talking about a few other things, too. He also wished me an early “Happy Birthday,” as he might not be able to call me on my birthday.
• “Fires burn not so brightly nor as hot. Nor as long.”
• The Grief That Made Peanuts Good
• 
• pinged me; we did some abbreviated catching-up.
• Mind gyms for cognitive fitness
  …which makes me think of:
  Siam’s gonna be the witness
  To the ultimate test of cerebral fitness
• Timbuk2 – Build your own.
• 
• By now, the odds are better than even that you’ve seen at least a few pictures of the LEGO® Church. The odds are less likely that you knew (many of) the details about it or its creator/artist. You can read about them here. (And I also like how most people assume that since it’s a LEGO creation, the artist has to be a man. *buzzer* Oh, sorry… wrong answer. Thank you for playing. Here’s some Rice-A-Roni.)
• Has the Gospel according to Goosie returned?!
• 

Hi-ho, hi-ho and all that.

Namaste.

Thursday – 11 October 2007
Last night, I stayed at work a little later than I had originally planned. I spent the time hanging out and talking with a coworker; it was cool.

When I finally decided to head home, I remembered that I still needed milk. So, a quick jaunt to the local Super Target was in order. Of course, I completely spaced off the fact that I need soap, as my in-house supply is running low. *sigh* Oh, well… there’s always tomorrow.

When I got home, I tried calling Kris. No answer, so I left a message. No sooner than I hung up… the phone rings. Kris’ number – she was picking Mom up from the airport. So, I got to talk with both of them. Bonus.

While trying to decide what to have for dinner, I chatted with (not Sara), and … who found a sushi restaurant with 95 different rolls on the menu, including one called “Dracula Killer.” I finally settled on spaghetti – quick, easy and there would be a little something left over for Thursday’s lunch.

While eating, I indulged in a few episodes of Legion of Super Heroes and Justice League Unlimited, courtesy of Perry’s early birthday gift. Of the JLU episodes, I watched Kid Stuff, For the Man Who Has Everything and a couple of minutes of This Little Piggy. I had forgotten how incredibly well-written these episodes were.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
“Without direction is not the same as without purpose.”

Four-Color Coverage
I finished reading the V for Vendetta graphic novel, upon which the movie was based.

I would definitely say that I’m glad that I read this after I saw the movie. The movie captured and adapted the story very well, but there’s only so much that can be put into two hours’ worth of film. That said, I can understand why omissions and changes were made in the screenplay and that they didn’t detract from the telling of the overall story. But, there was something about reading the whole story that makes the experience more complete.

“Thank you,” to for allowing me to borrow his copy of the book.

Stray Toasters

• While in Target, I made the mistake of walking through the toy section. I was able to muster the willpower to resist purchasing anything.
• “You have 22 Seconds. Go!”
• 20×200
• The hate-powered Red Lantern Corps will apparently make their debut in the Green Lantern #25.
• Matthew Vaughn: The Brit who’s making the stars shine
• , Lightning Lass gets introduced on this weekend’s episode of LSH.
• Wal-Mart’s total area larger than Manhattan’s
• Rob Zombie was a production assistant on Pee Wee’s Playhouse.

And now, off to work. Hi-ho, hi-ho and all that.

Namaste.

Saturday – 06 October 2007
Today’s my father’s birthday. I called him this morning to congratulate him on avoiding the embrace of the Dark Lady for another year. He laughed at that. When I asked what he had on-tap for the day, he said nothing, other than enjoying the day. I told him that sounded like a good way to spend the day.

Today is also ‘s birthday:

…and tomorrow is ‘s birthday:

So far, the day has been lazy. I’m waiting for Legion of Super Heroes to come on so I can do some premium couch-surfing, while enjoying a nice bowl of Honeycomb.

After, I can get “right on to the friction of the day” and do things like running errands and cleaning and getting on the road.

::: cartoon break :::

Four-Color Coverage: Animated
Today’s Legion episode was “Cry Wolf.” It spotlighted Timber Wolf, who had been convicted of murdering his father – the man responsible for turning him into an ordinary young man into the feral Timber Wolf. The episode had a good deal of “inner monologue” voiceover, which was used rather effectively. Secondary characters in this episode were Phantom Girl and Chameleon Boy, the only Legionnaires who refused to believe the charges against TW. There was an interesting moment between Timber Wolf and Superman-X (Kell-El) where ‘Wolf challenged Superman about doing what he thought/knew was right versus blindly following Cosmic Boy’s orders. Another scene, between Timber Wolf and Phantom Girl reminded me of a few panels from “A Cold and Lonely Corner of Hell.”

I followed up the LSH by watching today’s episode of The Batman, “Vertigo.” The episode introduced Green Arrow and Count Vetigo to this version of the DCAU. There were a couple of minor tweaks to the Green Arrow origin, but they stayed fairly faithful to the original story. I liked the way that they portrayed Green Arrow and his civilian identity, Oliver Queen – the once-proud, now-humbled rich guy looking out for the “common man.” The interaction between Batman, Robin and Green Arrow was also handled well… especially as Green Arrow began to piece together Batman’s secret identity.

Stray Toasters

• I need to get moving… but the motivation isn’t fully there yet. Given the state of disarray around here, you would think that the motivation would be kicking me squarely in the tuckus. Repeatedly.
• James Sturm on Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow
  My father actually saw Satchel Paige play. I’m going to have to track down a copy and get it sent to him.
• Acolyte Derek has been promoted to “Deacon.” Selah and groove on.
• Blog Action Day
• From the XXXenophile card game: Oh No, There Goes Tokyo!



• While looking through CYMK, I saw the following ad for a drink called Sinalco:

  

• 6
• Click for art.
• From the Scrubs musical episode: Everything Comes Down to Poo
• It appears as though the Stepford Cuckoos are going to be a part of the upcoming HeroClix “Mutations and Monsters” set.

Quotes of the Day
From last night’s Clitorati gathering came the following:

1. You hit the jerky spot… and I don’t mean “beef.”
2. Speaking of “third time,” did you have the three-way?!

Okay, time to get a move on.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 02 October 2007
Road monkeys. Fast lane, slow car. Days like this make me (somewhat) glad that I wasn’t granted infinite cosmic power at birth (or by being visited by a fiery cosmic force as I piloted a space shuttle from a space station). Although, the idea of displacing the driver in question to midtown Manhattan at rush hour does hold more than “a little” appeal.

Reeling by on Celluoid: The Punisher
Last night, I watched the 2003 version of The Punisher, starring Thomas Jane and John Travolta. It was definitely “an adaptation” of the origin of the Marvel Comics character.

This isn’t to say that the movie was entirely “bad,” but let’s just say that there was room for some improvement. The characterizations were good – you understood what drove Frank Castle (Jane) to pursue his brand of justice, just as you understand what drove Howard Saint (Travolta). Yes, there was some over-acting. And the fight scene with The Russian…? Um, let’s just say that it was more over-the-top than it needed to be, but c’mon… you’re talking about a scene with a WWF/WWE wrestler – over-the-top is par for the course.

I might it on the Cool World–Long Kiss Goodnight Scale, but all things considered, it was a decent distraction. I might even call it “mindless fun.”

Four-Color Coverage
I started in on some of my four-color haul from the weekend. I’m up-to-date on Countdown and “The Sinestro Corps War,” as well as a few other titles, but there are still things in my hold box at the shop.

Stray Toasters

• I should reread Inferno, the one by Dante Aligheri, not the 80s Marvel X-book crossover.
• Coworker John “The Flash” Fox (hero to millions) pointed me in the direction of this video: Amazing Grace – Wintley Phipps. Not only does he sing the song; first, he gives an interesting background lesson in the song’s history and a little music theory, as well. I knew the story of John Newton, so that didn’t surprise me. What I didn’t know was that most Negro spirituals were written in the pentatonic scale. And, I like his rendition; I might even have to add this to “The Best” list.
• Don’t use the magical
  Mysterious, intoxicating, joy fantastic
  Fascinating word called love
  Unless u love me 2 the 9s
• Herbie Hancock Talks Math, Music and Mastering the Tech Toolbox
• From Computerworld: Five free Web apps we can’t live without
• I need to finish Season 2 of Coupling.
• Charlie Stross’ Halting State: Heist novel about an MMORPG
• 
• 7 Deadly Sins,7 Heavenly Virtues
• Said Superman had come to town to see who he could rock
  He blew away every crew he faced until he reached our block
  His speakers were three stories high with woofers made of steel
  And when we brought our set outside, he said “Ha! Be for real!”
  He said, “I’m faster than a speedin’ bullet when I’m on the set,
  I don’t need no fans to cool my amps, I just use my super breath.
  I could fly three times around the world without missin’ a beat
  I socialize with X-ray eyes, and ladies think it’s sweet.”
  And then he turned his power on and the ground began to move
  And all the buildings for miles around were swayin’ to the groove
  And just when he had pulled a crowd and swore he won the fight…
  We rocked his boat with a 12 inch cut called Disco Kryptonite
• Things you shouldn’t do in science fiction/fantasy fiction writing
• Do you have any idea how amusing it is to have people stop to look at comics I posted (start with that link and read the next nine or ten) on one of the cube walls… about starting a new religion? In Utah? And the new “religion” is based on video games? Hint: It makes me grin like a fiend.
• Russinovich finds his place at Microsoft

/lunch

Namaste.