Random Access

Monday – 20 September 2010
It’s definitely a “Monday” morning.
Following some changes to the office network on Friday, things are… a little wonky… this morning. Yay.

Today’s Musical Interlude: Living Colour – Cult of Personality:

Yesterday, SaraRules and I went to the Utah State Fair for a bit. It was a nice change of pace. A bit of oddness: As we walked past one of the bandstands, I noted that the band was playing – of all things possible – the theme from WKRP in Cincinnati. Odd. On the plus side, I picked up a package of cinnamon almonds.

Later in the evening, Logan and Swiz came over for dinner.  SaraRules fixed a chicken dish, with sides of rice pilaf and zucchini and carrots strips. Then we watched the Manning Bowl Sunday Night Football. SaraRules and I wrapped up the evening with an episode of Mad Men.

Instant Replay: Football

Baltimore Ravens at Cincinnati Bengals
10 – 15
The Ravens traveled to Cincy to take on Batman, Robin and the rest of Marvin Lewis’ Bengals… ..and came away with a loss. Just like last season. Of course, having QB Joe Flacco throw four (4) interceptions didn’t help things, either. This game wasn’t televised here, and I think I’m kind of glad for that. Congrats, janietrain and carefreespirit.

.

St. Louis Rams at Oakland Raiders
14 – 16
The Raiders took down the Rams Congrats, SaraRules and .

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Miami Dolphins at Minnesota Vikings
14 – 10
The ‘Fins took on the Vikings and came away with a win.

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Arizona Cardinals at Atlanta Falcons
7 – 41
In this battle of the birds, the Falcons came away with a BIG win. Sorry, Marr.

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Carolina Panthers
20 – 7
The Bucs skinned the Cats.  ‘Nuff said.

Stray Toasters

• I don’t know what to say, the monkeys won’t do!
• Today’s look: Black suit, pink shirt, pink/grey/black tie and pink pocket square.
• Quadruple Amputee Swims Across English Channel
• Performers Discover the Downside of Twitter
• Just How It Sounds: Reading ‘Playboy’ to the Blind
• 
• Fired teacher fights to clear name after ‘hit’ allegation
• By way of SaraRules and the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Ky. man claims caffeine insanity in wife’s death
• Laura Jernegan: Girl on a Whaleship
• This Too Shall Pass: Avoid Kidney Stones Through Diet

…right on to the friction of the day.

Namaste.

Sunday – 19 September 2010

Yesterday was a good day off. I didn’t get to sleep in, as we had to drop off SaraRules’ car at the shop at 0800. After that, we swung past Pin-up Girl Espresso for some morning go-juice. Back home for a bit before SaraRules headed off for quilting and I met up with Kate, Perry and the kids.  (A visit that included a trip to Toys ‘R’ Us, no less!)

Back at home, we had lunch and tried to figure out the rest of the afternoon. SaraRules had a quilt that she needed to work on, while I headed to Dr. Volt’s for the 20th Anniversary Sale and Signing.  Jake Black, Derek Hunter, Gabriel Hardman and Jeff Parker were in the store for signings and doing sketches. And Kerry Jackson and company were taping an episode of The Geekshow Podcast.  I got a chance to speak with Jake and the other creators and even wound up with a couple of sketches:

Derek Hunter’s GL John Stewart:

Jeff Parker’s Luke Cage (from The New Avengers and Thunderbolts):

Shortly after I returned home, pinged me to see if I wanted to make a quick trip to The Hobby Stop. Hm… trip to another model railroad store…? Yes, thank you.  And we were off. We both found things that piqued our interests, but we both managed to walk out empty-handed. But, we didn’t leave Utah County empty-handed, thanks to a stop at the local Krispy Kreme.

Back home to change and get ready for a night on the town with SaraRules. Last night’s entertainment was seeing Utah Symphony performing with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. It was a great concert.

I was up early this morning (0715) and made my way to the living room. I found Renaissance on IFC. I watched it before heading over to HGTV for an episode of Yard Crashers.  (Imagine that…)

And now, after a hearty breakfast, SaraRules and I are on the way to the Utah State Fair.

Namaste.

Friday – 17 September 2010
It’s my 9/80 day off and I’ve been ready for it since Monday afternoon.
(Fortunately, Tuesday through yesterday weren’t bad.)

I think that I’ve found what I hope is only a temporary measure in getting around the problem that my web host is having with subdomains: I just changed the format of how I access and post links for this blog.  I’ll need to try and do the same for Four-Color Coverage and Game Center. Monkeys.

Last night, SaraRules and I were both having a case of the “I don’t want to cook dinner” lazies. We wound up going to MacCool’s Public House for dinner. They were having another food/beer pairing (with Wasatch Brewery, I believe).  We hadn’t RSVPed for it, but Micheal (the manager) asked us if we wanted to get in on it.  We declined. We sat at a table near the back of the restaurant. Scott, one of the owners, saw us as we walked to our table and said “Hi.”  For dinner, we started with the Finn Skins; for entrees, SaraRules had the Smoked Salmon Chowder and I had the Salmon of Knowledge. Mick, the other owner, from stopped by the table a couple of times and brought samples of the night’s pairing menu. Michael also brought over a couple of the beer samples, including a very tasty “Black and Pumpkin” variation on the traditional Black and Tan. All-in-all, it was one of the best dinner ideas that either of us could have come up with.

Stray Toasters

• Autism’s First Child
• Gather Ye Olde Suburban Knights
• Dr. Volt’s Comic Connection is having their 20th Anniversary Sale tomorrow.
• 
• Rain Level rainboots with depth gauges
• Zombie poster
• By way of Prelate Derek:



• Official BBC DIY Dalek blueprints
• Lady Liberty’s nose and other icons for sale

Time to find some trouble to get into…

Namaste.

Wednesday – 15 September 2010
It’s the middle of the week.
It’s the middle of the month.
And, it’s Sushi and Comics Wednesday.
Triple-score win.

Last night, SaraRules and I went to Kingsbury Hall for an event:

Mr. Lee talked about his background, his introduction to film and his reasons for wanting to get into film. He also discussed how he has used the director’s chair to make films that deal with race relations as well as other subject matter. Following his roughly hour-long talk, he did about forty minutes of Q&A. He prefaced the session by saying that he would entertain “intelligent questions, but wasn’t here to take auditions, screenplays, mix-tapes” or other “Hey, notice me!” fare. His answers to the questions seemed sincere and direct, but were also rather no-nonsense.  It was a great event and a fine way to spend the evening.

We tried a new place for sushi today: Sushi Groove. We liked it. A lot. It had a lot of things going for it: Good atmosphere, good food, and some of the former Oh Sushi staff. It was full of “Win” all around.

Stray Toasters

• Have I mentioned that I have the Coolest Wife in the World lately?  No? Well, I do.
• Today is another suit day: Black suit, light blue shirt, black tie with gold and blue swaths and a gold pocket square.  And, yes, it has raised the obligatory “What’s the occasion?” questions.
• Tyranist was in the north office yesterday. We chatted about a number of things, including our mutual affinity for Cee-Lo’s new song. A short while later, Tyranist told me that I had gotten the song stuck in his head; I told him that was payback for getting Scotty Doesn’t Know stuck in my head a year or two ago. We then noted that the two songs were actually complementary sides of the same figurative coin.
• For the Dishwasher’s Sake, Go Easy on the Detergent
• Awesome Limited Edition Cycling Prints
• 
• Ray Lewis’ son has a 504-yard monster game in Florida
• Rokenbok has updated their website.
• “Elder Spice”
• I’m not sure if I even care about getting the “Buy It By The Brick” figure for Web of Spider-Man…
• A New Name for High Fructose Corn Syrup
• The 20 Worst TV Shows

Namaste.

Tuesday – 14 September 2010
So far, today is starting off about 16347 times better than yesterday. I’m good with that.

Yesterday did wind up being a decent day. Not too surprisingly, the day got (much) better when I left work… which I did early. I headed home to do some straightening and then ran out to pick up some snacks for the game, as I was expecting company for Monday Night Football. Nathan and Wes from work came by, as did , and Josh. It was fun.

Instant Replay: Football

Baltimore Ravens at New York Jets
10 – 9
The Ravens traveled to the New Meadowlands Stadium to take on Rex Ryan’s New York Jets. The game was delayed, due to lightning, but once the kick-off rolled around, it was on. There hasn’t traditionally been a “rivalry” between these teams, but given their history – Jet’s head coach Rex Ryan was the Ravens’ former defensive coordinator – I think that there may be a new match-up on the East Coast. For the past week, there has been a lot of trash talking and posturing… from both sides. Last night it came to a head. The Ravens’ defense was solid, allowing only 74 passing yards and 114 yards on the ground. The offense took a little while to get into gear – the Jets were able to effectively contain the run game – but QB Joe Flacco found new WR Anquan Boldin 7 times for 110 yards (out of a total 278 passing yards). TE Todd Heap put in an impressive performance, as well, snagging 72 passing yards in 6 catches. New addition WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh also pulled in catches for 27 yards. RB Willis McGahee ran in the Ravens’ only TD. On the other side of the ball, the Jets were…very physical, but not everyone seemed to be on the same page.  QB Mark Sanchez looked decent, but couldn’t seem to get his receivers to hold on to passes. Former San Diego Charger LaDainian Tomlinson had a couple rushes, but didn’t get a lot of yards on the ground. The Ravens picked up twenty (20) first downs in the game, compared to the six (6) that the Jets picked up. Penalties also played a large pat in the game: The Jets racked up 10 penalties, for 100 yards, in the first half alone. A lot of them were unnecessary, but did help the Ravens get advantageous field position. All-in-all, it was a tight game… and far closer than I would have liked. But, a win is a win.  Selah.

Yo, Ray..?!  There are some haters out there who say you might be too old to play or that you’ve lost a step or two. What do you have to say about that?

Mmh.  Mmh. MMH!  I know that’s right!

Stray Toasters

• I discovered, late yesterday, that this is National Aerospace Week
• Converse + DC Comics = AWESOME
• I believe that one of SaraRules’ aunts is about to become a member of Improv Everywhere…
  (This makes me smile for a number of reasons.)
• Sukkah vs. Sukkah
• Conservatism does not equal racism. So why do many liberals assume it does?
• 
• Hollywood’s Racism Exposed… by LEGO
• Rumors continue to suggest that Jon Hamm (Don Draper on AMC’s Mad Men) is under consideration to become the next Superman…
• Artificial skins detect the gentlest touch
• Five myths about prostitution
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: School suspends son of murdered man because his eyes were red
• From the “I’ve had it with these motherfucking shuriken on this motherfucking plane” file: Steve Jobs Stopped at Japan Airport over Ninja Stars
• LEGO & Lyrics

Quote of the Day
I was talking with Bill and Scott, a couple of coworkers, a little while ago. Sports came up. Then the distinction between “sports” and “games.” After a few minutes, we hit on motocross. Scott said that he didn’t consider it a sport. Bill and I both countered.  Finally, Bill made this observation:

Anything that causes snot to drip off your chin, I consider a sport.

Amen.

And with that…

Namaste.

Monday – 06 September 2010
Today is Labor Day.
I hope that everyone has a safe – and very enjoyable – end-of-summer whatever it is you choose to do.

In honor of the day, I woke up early… well, “early-ish”… and, with the help of , worked on my sprinkler system. I had a few heads that needed to be replaced, one that needed help and just some general maintenance all around. This involved two (that’s right: TWO) trips to the local Home Depot. But, two-and-a-half hours and some elbow sweat grease later, it was done and things were working the way they were supposed to.

Yesterday was another lazy long-weekend day. We slept in. I played a little CoH: Going Rogue — I created a new character; SaraRules did some quilting. Later in the day, we headed over to SaraRules’ parents for dinner and a movie.  Last night’s fare was Clash of the Titans, the new one. Again, it was a decent action flick. And the in-laws liked it. Win-Win.

Stray Toasters

• The 4th Annual Utah Symphony|Utah Opera Web Sale is under way!  Get big discounts on this season’s upcoming events.
• Hey! That’s My Cape — Too Many Batmen Could Spoil the Cowl
• Speaking of comics, I’m enjoying getting back into Fables.
• How to open a new book
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: 8-Foot Shark Caught in Potomac River
• TRAIN!

Shortly, SaraRules and I will be heading out for lunch with some of the usual suspects and then seeing The Expendables again.

I should probably finish getting ready.

Namaste.

Sunday – 05 September 2010
So far, it’s been a nice and quiet day.

I slept in.
I decided to take a relaxing hot bath.
I finished Fables Vol. 7: Arabian Nights (and Days), which has been languishing on the bookshelf.
All the way around, I think that qualifies as a good way to kick off a Sunday.

Yesterday, SaraRules and I went for a walk along the Jordan River Parkway. We started at the 6400 South entrance and walked up to the 5400 South pavilions. We figured that the round-trip was somewhere between 2.75 and 3.00 miles.

Later in the evening, we met up with OnlyAly, and Jana and went to see the Real Salt Lake match against the New York Red Bulls. (Pictures here) I even ran into Tyranist and his wife, as well as my former coworker, Carilyn, at the stadium. RSL pulled out the win, which tied them for MLS’ longest consecutive home game win streak — 22 games. Added bonus: It looks as though we’ve converted a few more people into soccer fans.

Back at home, SaraRules and I watched Renovation Realities and Family Renovation before calling it a night. Schadenfreude at its finest.

Stray Toasters

• I need to look into replacing a couple of sprinkler heads.
• Mad Men’s glamourous gift to the world
• The Ultimate Casual Shopping Guide for Fall
• During my latest bout with geekiness, I put a couple of WorldWorksGames buildings in the middle of my train layout.
• Demon children want you to eat
• From the “It’s Probably Me…” file: What’s “wrong” with this picture?

  

  (Hint: Compared to the other items displayed, is it really “news” that someone’s not going to be a judge on American Idol next season?  How about if it’s someone that we’d barely heard of before she became an AI judge?!)

• Flying Cars? Conveyor Belts? The Future of I-95
• How to Wear White after Labor Day
• The NFL 2010 season starts on Thursday!

If I’m up early enough, should I go to the driving range tomorrow morning…?

Namaste.

Saturday – 04 September 2010
Day 2 of the 4-day weekend is upon us.
It started out rather lazily – sleeping in and then stretching out on the sitting room sofa and reading comics. I’d pretty much call that a “win-win” start to the day.

Yesterday was a fairly lazy day. The morning was uneventful. A little before lunchtime, I headed down to visit Kate and Perry and the kids (or at least the kids who weren’t in school…). From there, I headed downtown to shoot a spot for an upcoming USUO video for new Thierry Fischer, the symphony’s new Music Director. It was fun. We’ll see if I make it into the final video or wind up on the cutting room floor. Then, I headed over to the USUO offices to say “Hi” to SaraRules.

Then, I did something that I haven’t done in over 25 years: I bought a new train set. (Yes, I do have a LEGO train set, but that was purchased for me.) My new acquisition was the Lionel Chessie System Merger Special Freight Set. Growing up in Maryland, Chessie System was the ‘road that I grew up around. (That and Norfolk and Western, to some degree.) Pictures of the unboxed set can be seen here.

To say that it’s “a little difficult” to find Chessie locomotives and rolling stock around here (Union Pacific territory) would be a minor understatement. Something that I didn’t realize before getting the itch to get back into model railroading – but makes perfect sense – is that hobby shops carry ‘roads that are appropriate to their geographic location. Therefore, I can find UP and BNSF stock with no problem, but finding things that are more common east of the Mississippi is a little more scarce… unless you special order them, in most cases.

Leaving The Train Shoppe, I gave a call to see if he wanted to come over and watch a few episodes of I Love Toy Trains that I’d recorded. He did. And, thus, we did. One of the episodes featured a layout owned by Tony Lash, that takes up over 2,800 square feet.  (Transcript of the show can be read here. You should read the first few paragraphs, at least.)

Two-thousand eight-hundred square feet.

I’ll give you a moment to let that sink in.

Just to put it into a little better perspective: His layout is larger than our house. Yeah, it’s that big. And it was AMAZING. Seriously.

After watching ILTT, it was time to head out for evening entertainment — SaraRules and her dad went off for a “daddy-daughter date” to see Machete (which she said was pretty awesome), while and I headed off to Clitorati. We had a good turnout; by the time we went to get dinner, there were 15 of us.

When we got back home, I unpacked the track, transformer and locomotive from the Chessie set and assembled it in the family room. And I was immediately transformed into an eight-year-old kid again. Yep, just watching the locomotive going around the oval elicited that much nostalgia… and was that much fun.

Stray Toasters

• Death in Space
• Invoice cake sent to People.com
• TRENDING: How Christians spoil sex
• Seven Famous Movie Flaws That Were Explained in Deleted Scenes
• 
• The physics of breaking stuff with your fists
• What are the perils of being a lefty?
• No, Facebook Places Is Not Tracking You
• Best Exploitation Flicks: Machete‘s Over-the-Top Ancestors
• Zombies get “red light camera” tickets, too
• “East Meets West”: flying carpet sofa

And with that, time to find some trouble to get into!

Namaste.

Wednesday – 01 September 2010
A new month begins.

Today is Comics (and maybe Sushi) Wednesday.

Today also marks the 36th anniversary of the The SR-71 Blackbird setting the record for flying from New York to London in the time of 1 hour, 54 minutes and 56.4 seconds… a record it still holds.

Last night, most of the Clitorati crew met at Desert Edge Brewery for dinner with , Michael and Hannah. It was a nice to see her – and meet Michael and Hannah – even if only for a couple hours. I had the Paella-style Chicken and Sausage Pasta, which was very good.

This morning finds me in the south office. I had a meeting with the landlord and the sbuilding manager about some changes that we’d like to make in our server room. I mentioned two ideas that we had considered; they countered with a variation on one of those plans… that might be somewhat less expensive than we had originally thought. We’ll see how their quote looks when it comes in.

Stray Toasters

• I broke out my grey glen-plaid suit this morning. White shirt. Blue/black/white tie. White pocket square. I’ve been getting the usual “Are you bucking for a raise/promotion” questions. I’ve been countering with “No, I have a meeting with my bishop.” The quizzical looks – since pretty much everyone down here knows that I’m not LDS – have been totally worth it.
• knew that I’ll probably never be a Browns or Indians fan… but I can give their home city a warm nod, if for no other reason than this: Cleveland, the True Birthplace of Superman
• Lovecraft is missing, and all R’lyeh breaks loose
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: NFL player Troy Polamalu gets $1m hair insurance
• Chewbacca, Han Solo and R2D2 drawn as if part of A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh
• In New York Ballet Companies, Corps Is a Thrill
• I like how this garage-to-office conversion turned out.
• 
• Wesley Snipes Was Almost Geordi LaForge
• After Years of War, Few Iraqis Have a Clear View of the Future
• The Wilderness Downtown – this comes by way of . It is a very cool blending of technologies. Put in the real address that it asks for – it’s totally worth it. And don’t close any of the windows that pop up!
• 8 Surprising Household Deodorizers
• Method to Grade Teachers Provokes Battles

Namaste.

Tuesday – 31 August 2010
Day Two of the work week.

More importantly, it’s “Dinner with Amy” Day. That’s right. For the first time in far too long, I get to hang out with the force of nature known simply as “Amy.” She’s on a bit of a vacation and is choosing to spend a little of it in the Land Behind the Zion Curtain with the usual suspects. Win-Win.

Last night, SaraRules, , , Matt and I went to see Piranha (not “3D”). It was something.  It wasn’t great… but it wasn’t as horribly atrocious as it could have been. I think that summed it up best in two statements:

I don’t think that I’ve ever laughed that hard at a ‘horror’ movie

and

“Piranha” is totally fun for the whole family! It teaches important object lessons, such as why you should always listen to a cop with a megaphone, never walk on the beach barefoot, the importance and fragility of ecological systems, and why getting naked will always get you killed first. It’s a w1n-w1n!

Yeah. That about sums it up. I would only add that, since we didn’t see it in 3D, that our faces…

…weren’t bombarded with bombastic bulbous boobs, booties and bodies, though there was a bounteous bulk of them.

Okay. NOW, it’s pretty much summed up.
And I still have no idea whether it should get LEGO bricks or lawn darts.

Stray Toasters

• Army Revises Training to Deal With Unfit Recruits
• A Cathedral to the Shrine of Nature
• Nine Women in the Room: A Music Writers Roundtable
• My not-so-inner comic geek approves of this…and slightly covets it: The Music of DC Comics: 75th Anniversary Collection
• Doctors Seek Way to Treat Muscle Loss
• 
• And yet something else for The Covet List: The Pirates of Dark Water (1, 2) has just been released on DVD.
  (I didn’t realize how many notable actors did voices for this series.)
• Restoring Names to Iraq War’s Unknown Casualties
• From the look on her face, someone’s about to catch a beatdown.
• Ninjasaur
• “Hit it, DJ Chocolate Thunder”
  *cracks up*

Namaste.

Monday – 30 August 2010
Today is both a Monday and a rainy day.
I think that the only “win” to be found here is that it’s a short work week. Despite that, here’s Today’s View:

This past weekend was good. It was equal parts fun/productive and lazy. Saturday, I ran a ‘Clix tournament at Dr. Volt’s. (Pictures here) The theme was “Family Reunion,” wherein each team had to have at least two (2) figures that were related to each other. It made for some interesting teams. I went with a Wonder Woman-themed team:

Wonder Woman (Diana Prince)
(gallery bb-figure-018)

Wonder Girl (Donna Troy, Diana’s sister)
(gallery cr-figure-038)

Wonder Woman (Artemis)
(gallery jl-figure-037)

They held up rather well, going 2-1.  (It didn’t really matter too much as I was just playing bye rounds, but it was still fun.) And, I got to use my new WW figure, to boot… which I need to get a good picture of.

Saturday evening, I fired up the grill and cooked burgers. We ate under the gazebo. It was good. Later, we ran a quick errand to Hobby Lobby – we were looking for frames for the artwork we bought at the Park City Arts Festival. We also ran into Sinister and his wife, while at the ‘Lobby. He told me of a possible monkey wrench in our Sunday plans, so we made a contingency plan.

That night, we watched The Dirty Dozen. I’ve seen bits and pieces of it and SaraRules had never seen it, so I added it to my Netflix queue a few weeks ago. Halfway through the movie, we stopped for a snack intermission. While scooping ice cream, I had a niggling suspicion about the movie…

… I went back downstairs to confirm or deny it.

Myth: Confirmed
Yep, I had bought the movie a few months ago.
*facepalm*

We laughed about it, as we started watching the second half of the movie, which was quite awesome.

Sunday, I got a call from Sinister correcting part of the mix-up from Saturday evening’s conversation. The original plans were for he, Jeremiah, and I to meet at Chris’ for a big JLA-Avengers ‘Clix match. Jeremiah wasn’t able to make it, so we had to call for a stunt double…

…and our stunt double had a conflict.

…so we called in a second stunt double, Johnny. He was able to fill in and save the day.

…and, thus, we gamed.  Sinister and Johnny played the JLA – and a well-fielded JLA, at that – while Chris and I played The Avengers. 2,400 point game. There were good (and bad) dice rolls from both sides of the table. When we finished – we had a time limit – Chris and I had managed to beat down most of the JLA’s big guns and were working clean-up duty on the rest; I lost four of my nine figures, while Chris lost no one. Good game.

Back at home, SaraRules had prepared a nice stew-like dish, served over polenta. It was very good and also marked the first time that I’d had polenta, to my knowledge. After dinner, we watched George Romero’s Survival of the Dead. It was… disappointing. Even SaraRules commented,”That sucked.”

We cleansed our entertainment palates by watching a couple of episodes of Mad Men, Season 2. That helped immensely.

Instant Replay: Football
The Ravens took on the Giants on Saturday. I didn’t get to see the game, but I did keep track of it via NFL.com’s Game Center. And the Ravens pulled out a big win over the Giants, 24 -10.

Stray Toasters

• Revisiting Black History on Martha’s Vineyard
• Three months until Burn Notice returns…
• Too Few Women in Tech? Stop Blaming Men
• This kid, at the 2010 Baltimore Comic Con, could be in my Corps any day:



• Original Kermit the Frog puppet donated to Smithsonian
• Hip-Hop History, Recreated by Those Who Invented It
• Parts of the valley are starting to look like locations from Stephen King’s The Mist.
• 
• Protest at military funeral ignites a test of free speech
• Clean People Feel Morally Superior
• 7 Inconsistencies in ‘The Fresh Prince’

Namaste.

Friday – 27 August 2010
It’s (almost) the weekend!  Amen.

To kick it off, here’s a little Tony Toni Tone:

That’s what I’m talkin’ about.

Last night was D&D Game Night. We had to reschedule it from Wednesday because of ‘s birthday. The encounter was good… and no one died. After the game, it was back home for a late dinner (Pad Thai leftovers) and an episode of Burn Notice.

Stray Toasters

• forwarded a link to this picture, which I thought was pretty awesome.
• forwarded a link to this picture, which was also rather awesome
• For SaraRules: Rube Goldberg: The Man Behind the Machines
• Thanks to for sending me the link to AnyRail.
• Scott Pilgrim vs. The Last Airbender
• The Art of Gene Gonzales
• Happy 15th Birthday to Windows 95, the Ugly Duckling that Conquered Your Desktop
• 
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Tiger cub found inside suitcase
• Bananas are radioactive—But they aren’t a good way to explain radiation exposure
• 5 Things to Always Keep in Your Car
• LA Prisons to Use Burning Heat Ray on Unruly Inmates
• SC high school freshmen take junior ROTC
• Nine lives, ten rockets… You do the math.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 25 August 2010
It’s midweek, which means it’s Comics (and maybe Sushi) Day!
The “and maybe” is because the usual suspects all seemed to have punked out today. Oh, well.

Today is also ‘s birthday:

Last night, SaraRules and I had a lazy night about the house. I worked on a HeroClix mod, while she read. After a bit, we gathered to finish up Season one of Mad Men. (Sidebar: I think I may have just had an item from Season 2 or 3 item spoiled for me. Bah!) I went back to working on my figure, but somehow wound up starting to organize the past… year-and-a-half’s comics, which had neither rhyme nor reason to how they were being stored.

NOTE: About two years ago, SaraRules spent nearly a full week organizing my comics. There were something like 2,500 when she did. And that number doesn’t include the nearly… 3,500+… others still on the east coast. (Although, I think that some of those are in some semblance of “order.”) She did a bang-up job, too.

The problem with starting to organize the comics last night was: I started close to midnight and got sidetracked by reading a few. D’oh! And, after calling it quits for the night, I went back to working on my mod. Yeah, it made for a late night/early morning.

Stray Toasters

• I have just run out of my Honey Nut Cheerios stash at work. This must be rectified. But, I was at least able to get a full bowl of cereal before it ran out.
• Vienna Philharmonic’s Summer Night Concert 2010 is being broadcast tonight on PBS. (Check local listings for time)
• After Mozart’s Death, an Endless Coda
• I have found an event I can totally get behind: Saturday is Read Comics in Public Day.



• Here’s another event… but neither I nor my Green Lantern costume will be in L.A. on Friday.
• What your email address says about your computer skills
• The Term Life Insurance Blog has a number of informative – and highly amusing – infographics.
• Exhibit brings Hendrix, Handel together in London
• 
• Eastern States Dominate in Winning School Grants
• The Legacy of Hurricane Katrina
• Digital Devices Deprive Brain of Needed Downtime

Namaste.

Tuesday – 24 August 2010
aLast night, SaraRules and I went to her parents’ house for dinner (homemade chicken pot pie = WIN!) and football: Arizona Cardinals at Tennessee Titans. For a preseason game, it was a pretty good game… if you’re a Tennessee fan. They worked on both sides of the ball. And worked well. Vince Young looked good in the game, much more composed and poised in the pocket and able to make decent connections with his backs and receivers. They’ll be a team to watch this season.

On the other side of the field, the Cardinals still looked like a team trying to figure out who they are without Kurt Warner. Matt Leinart couldn’t get anything going in the three series that he played. Former Cleveland QB Derek Anderson looked decent, but wasn’t able to put together a scoring drive either. Former BYU QB Max Hall looked rather solid and put together the Cards’ only TD-scoring drive. It will be interesting to see how the team fares with their star receiver, Larry Fitzgerald, back in the game after his knee heals.

After the game, SaraRules and I headed home and wound up the evening with a couple of episodes of Mad Men. We are both enjoying the show quite a bit.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
I have had a couple of teachers and administrators in the family and a few of my close friends are teachers, as well. Teachers often get blamed for all of the ills – perceived and actual – in the halls of our schools, but seldom get the credit for trying to do the right thing for their students. (Drive to Overhaul Low-Performing Schools Delayed, NYTimes) I have both heard and seen first-hand how they deal with students and some of their students’ issues.

Case in point: I was talking with one of these friends earlier and he gave me the Cliff’s Notes version of one of the problems a student of his was facing — it was more “mountain” than “mole hill.” He told me that the student wound up literally crying over the situation.

What many people don’t realize is that teachers – at least the ones that I consider “good teachers” – don’t just shut out their students when the afternoon bell rings. They don’t just see their jobs as ending when the last school bus pulls out of the lot. They get involved. They do what they can to be supportive of their students. In short: They care.

If only more people cared about the teachers and administrators who spend time with their children…

Workout
I have no idea what yesterday’s step count was, as I broke the pedometer as I was heading home from work. Bah. I might have to look into getting another one.

Stray Toasters

• I would ask if it’s too early for office monkeys… but I don’t think that there’s such a thing as “too early” where they are concerned. Unfortunately.
• I discovered this song, by Cee Lo yesterday. It’s definitely NSFW, but it is also pretty damned good:
• Scant Progress in Effort on Old Racial Killings
  

  “Everybody put me on the back burner for years and years,” said Mr. Allen’s son, Henry C. Allen, 65. He had hoped the cold case initiative would change things, but said the response has been slow. He said the legwork had been done. “Here’s the people you can contact, here’s their phone number, here’s their address,” he said. “I don’t have the authority to go knock on their door, but you do — and it still don’t get done.”

• By way of Nyx: Koala survives highway ride wedged in car
• Why Coffee Is Getting More Expensive
• Of Mosques and Men: a new Liberty Street message
• lightning != lightening
  • light·ning (noun)
    1: the flashing of light produced by a discharge of atmospheric electricity; also : the discharge itself

    2: a sudden stroke of fortune

  • light·en (verb)
    light·ened | light·en·ing
    1: to make light or clear : illuminate
    2: archaic : enlighten
    3: to make (as a color) lighter
• 
• 1980s T-shirts
• Another addition to The Covet List: WorldWorksGames’ Mayhem: Under Construction
• New Orleans Levees Nearly Ready, but Mistrusted
• A couple of songs about a certain midwestern state:
  • Rockapella: Indiana
  • Jackson Five: Goin’ Back to Indiana
• Nordstrom Links Online Inventory to Real World

Namaste.

Monday – 23 August 2010
Back in the Land Behind the Zion Curtain again.
Back at work again.
And, for some it’s “back to school” day.   (Students, Welcome to College; Parents, Go Home)
(I didn’t encounter any school buses on the morning commute, though.)

We got back from Idaho last night. The trip was fun. (Click here for pictures.) And, it was the warmest and driest of the three trips to Redfish Lake that I’ve taken with the in-laws. I consider that a major win. That… and the fact that we had a cabin this time, rather than just tents. I was especially glad to be indoors when, on the second day, the campground manager was going around telling people that there had been a bear IN the campground the night before.

This year, I also took my bike. (The same bike that’s been languishing, unused, for the past two years.) I went for a short ride on Friday evening – about 3 or 4 miles. It felt pretty good. Saturday, while the family fished on the Yankee Fork River, I decided to take the bike and head further into the canyon. My intention was to head for either the Yankee Fork Gold Dredge or Custer, the town just beyond the dredge.

The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

Just as I started, a snake slithered under my bike. (Most people who know me know that I am NOT a fan of snakes. At. All.) I was proud of myself for not squealing like a little girl. (Very proud, actually.) But, perhaps I should have taken the sign as a portent of how the ride might go…

Part of the way down the road, I realized that my memories of where the dredge was, relative to where the family was fishin, did not coincide with the actual geography. Nor did it jibe with the topography. However, I did come to realize – or at least be strongly reminded of – a few things:

1. I haven’t ridden my bike – or done much cardio – in a long time and thus am “a little” out of shape.
2. I am not fond of uphill rides… especially when I am out of shape.
3. I am not fond of riding into headwinds.

Any of those three things is “not fun.”
All three things together had me sucking wind by the time I hit the first (and not very tall) hill.

I nearly called it quits halfway up. I decided to stick it out and make it up the hill. Once there, I figured that it couldn’t be too much further to the dredge. I was right… more or less. But, that also added another (minor) uphill climb on the return trip. I reached the dredge and turned around; that was a 4.5-mile trek in. The headwind on the way back was not fun. But… I made it.

Saturday, SaraRules and I also visited the nearby Sawtooth Fish Hatchery. That was pretty neat. After that, it was back to the campsite to meet up with the family and decide what to do about dinner.  We opted to go into town; we ate at Sawtooth Luce’s, a pizzeria and sub shop. The pizza was good — the sauce reminded me of Garcia’s pizza back in West Lafayette. After that, it was back to the campsite for roasted marshmallows and general hanging out before heading back to the cabin for bed. And a shower. Oh, blessed indoor running water…

Sunday, we got the cabin and the campsite cleaned up and said our farewells to Redfish Lake and Stanley, ID.  SaraRules and I headed back through Sun Valley (and a brush or forest fire), while the others headed back through Challis and Arco — they wanted to get in a little more fishing.

Last night, SaraRules and I also watched The Losers, based on the DC/Vertigo title of the same name. We both enjoyed it, although I’m curious to read the TPBs and see how the story and/or the characters differed from their four-color print counterparts. (Added Bonus: I’ve noticed that I’ve been enjoying Chris Evans‘ acting, from the Fantastic Four movies to Push to Scott Pilgrim to this.)

All-in-all, it was a good (though brief) vacation.
And, waking up for the alarm – and the return to work – this morning was not exactly “fun.”

Workout
Friday’s step count: 3,600-something.
Saturday’s step count: 9,394
Sunday’s step count: 3203

I’m not sure about the actual counts for Friday and Saturday, as they included bike rides and I’m not sure exactly how well the pedometer tracked motion for those rides.

Stray Toasters

• By way of comes these cute costumes for a set of twins.
• Great documentary films for younger viewers
• Improv Everywhere: Black Tie Beach
• A Hotel Where Some Guests Have Been Dead for Years
• 
• By way of my friend, Peggy: Kirby: Intolerance, not atheism, is dooming America
• The Open Road Wasn’t Quite Open to All
• Saboteur: A fashion makeover for Silicon Valley

Namaste.