Random Access

Tuesday – 27 May 2008
The rain is gone.
The boxes are no longer in my car.
SaraRules is on her way to Colorado for summer camp The Aspen Music Festival.

Today’s going pretty well. For today’s workout, I wanted to do a few back-related exercises, as I feel like we’ve been ignoring that area. So, it went a little something like this:

• Leg raises: 3 sets/20 reps
• Bench press: 3 sets/12 reps, 185 lbs
• Reverse fly: 3 sets/10 reps, 82.5 lbs
• Decline press: 3 sets/12 reps – 135 lbs (first and third sets), 155 lbs (second set)
• Rows (standing, barbell, close grip handle): 3 sets/12 reps – 45 lbs (first set), 70 lbs (second and third sets)
• Leg raises: 3 sets/10 reps
• Back extensions: 2 sets/12 reps

All-in-all it was a good workout. Today’s weigh-in weight: 174.4 lbs.

Stray Toasters

• I’ve been trying to convince a coworker to buy a (at least one) MacBook. He’s considering it.
• Pain Lies on the Riverside
• Do whites need training before raising black children?
• Happy 5th Birthday to WordPress.
• Plants, for your health
• I may have to make a trip to Aspen to attend this.
• If Will Smith had one of these, I Am Legend might have been a (slightly) different movie.
  (Thanks to for pointing this out.)
• Adult balloon-twisters and gospel balloon-twisters battle
• SaraRules just called; she made it to camp Aspen safely and is getting settled in.

Quote of the Day
Just when I think that conversations with can’t get any better, he proves me wrong:

: bot/bit made it to US soil. not to DC yet tho
: Good deal.
They still have about 1:30 to go before they hit DCA, right?
: give or take. she said they were running late but not sure if it was them being late or the planes
: Gotcha.
: How are you this evening/early morning?
: eh…didn’t sleep last night. probably won’t sleep much tonight. frazzled. and in the middle of a packout. no pressure.
: Packout?
: yeah, movers came and started to pack and crate all our stuff
: ah.
: Dude. Condi… on the piano?
In Aspen?
: yeah she’s actually really good
: HAVE to see if SaraRules can score tix for that.
: wait…black person? in aspen?
: *ding*
: is that allowed?
: We’ll find out in 3 weeks.
I’ll send detailed reports.
But… Condi’s there in August. Performing, apparently.
http://www.aspenmusicfestival.com/index.cfm?&swf_plugin=0,9,0
: she going to take over any small countries full of brown people w/oil on her way over?
: No idea.
: there are brown people in texas. maybe we can make arrangements
: True enough.
And there are a FEW in Kansas.
: doubtful. it’s kansas.
: Seen ’em.
Been in a couple of rib joints.
: people see bigfoot too, rob
: But…
*sigh*
FINE.
: lol i think we have the makings of a really offensive comedy sketch
“crikey…i’m on the lookout for a negro…”
: By Jove! Kansas!
: i believe you. really i do
next thing you’ll tell me is that there are black people in utah.
: No.
There aren’t.
Just me.
And I tell people that I just had a really bad sunburn.
: damn. that’s some 4th degree shit
: You’d be amazed what people believe here.
*rimshot*
: dammit. now you have me thinking of ribs.
: 🙂
: http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/05/27/tranracial.adoption.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
: so….moral of the story is that it’s better to leave the little black kids in orphanages/foster homes?
: Apparently.
: i noticed no mention of any white kids being adopted by non-white families
: What self-respecting “person of color” wants to adopt a white kid?
Hell…
Bruce Wayne didn’t even want to.
He just made Dick Grayson a “ward.”
: well if you’re looking for well adjusted, master wayne isn’t the way to go
: I’m just saying…
Mr. Drummond adopted two!
: yes but one of them was a sassy midget
who wouldn’t take that kid?
: Touche.
: he’s the rich man’s webster
: And there’s another case: Webster.
White folk.
Black kid.
Adopt a white kid?
No way, man.
: big fat greek guy.
: I see…
Greek guys want to have black kids.
Is that why you married Bot?
: lol yes, we’re all infected with the fever
: (I’ll allow you to decline to answer that)
: me? decline? please.

Tonight: ‘Clix and Scion.

Namaste.

Monday – 26 May 2008
Once again: Up at 6:00. But, I managed to nod off again until a little after 10:00. So, it wasn’t a complete loss.

SaraRules and I got up, observed the hygiene rituals, had breakfast and then she started packing for summer camp her internship in Colorado. When she was (nearly) done, I asked if she wanted to go with me to run a couple of errands before she took off. She agreed… and we were off:

1. Trip to one of the local Deseret Industries locations to drop off three boxes of clothes. Unfortunately, they were closed for the holiday, so I still have three boxes of clothes in the car.
2. Trip to Expercom to pick up some new memory for SaraRules’ PinkBook. We ran into there. Random. There was a new employee in the store; when he rang up the memory, it came up at FOUR TIMES the price listed Expercom’s website. Needless to say, I was “a little” concerned by this. The more seasoned employee looked over at the screen, pushed a few buttons and the price dropped down to a much more reasonable rate… and so did my blood pressure.

Home again, home again.

SaraRules did more packing and I set about putting more ‘Clix away in their new homes. I still have a plethoric butt-load of them to deal with, but I’ve reclaimed a large portion of the floor. I still need to figure out who I want to use in tomorrow’s tournament.

Speaking of which, tomorrow will be a two-game day: I have the ‘Clix tournament at 5:00 and Scion around 7:30… or whenever I get done with the tourney. This should be interesting.

SaraRules decided that she doesn’t want to deal with the weather, so she’s leaving in the morning. Win-win!

Stray Toasters

• I chatted with a little while ago. Rana and Grace are on their way back to the States; they should arrive tomorrow. He also shared an amusing story:
  

  rana is in full mother hen mode too
  today on the flight to bkk
  some chick went to compliment her on how good grace was the entire flight
  and then the asshole went to touch grace on the face
  rana said she wanted to punch her in the gut
  i would’ve bought her a car if she did that
  talk about an awesome story
  “i had to bail my wife out of a thai jail for punching an asshole in the gut”

  Reason #283794 of “Why is such a cool brother-in-law”

• 
• The original Indiana Jones: Otto Rahn and the temple of doom
• will be able to appreciate this:



• By way of Comics2Film: G.I. Joe‘s bloody Baroness
• Iron Man has grossed over $252 million (USD) since opening almost four weeks ago.
  It had a $140 million (USD) budget.
  If the honchos at Marvel Studios aren’t happy about these numbers, I don’t know what will do it for them.
• New icon:

And now, time to find fixin’s for dinner!

Namaste.

Sunday – 25 May 2008
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was fun.  It wasn’t a “great” film, but it was a nice end piece for the Indiana Jones franchise… if, indeed it is the end of the franchise.

This morning was a sleeping-in morning.
In theory.

I woke up a hair after 6:00.

Fortunately, I was able to go back to sleep.

Until 8:00.

I snuck back into The Dreaming for another hour.  After that, I figured that trying to sleep any longer would just be an exercise in futility.  So, I headed into the living room and surfed the interwebs for a while before  logging into City of Heroes for a bit.  I have forgotten how squishy low-level characters were.  But, I’m enjoying the new guy.

SaraRules, after she woke up,  fixed breakfast – sauteed spaghetti – and we watched a couple of episodes of MythBusters.

Now, we’re going to gallivant about the countryside until it’s time to head to her parents’ for dinner.

Namaste.

Saturday – 24 May 2008
This morning started off with a couple of errands and then a trip to OnlyAly and ‘s. We were helping them move a load o’ stuff to OnlyAly’s mom’s. I think that this was THE fastest moving job in the history of moving – according to , it was three hours from truck rental to truck return. (Of course, having 15 bodies to help move stuff didn’t hurt, either.) Mr. and Mrs. were kind enough to treat us to lunch.

Home for showers and other generally appreciated hygiene rituals.

Off to have coffee with Perry and then Gardner Village.

Next up: Dinner at Tsunami and a viewing of the new Indiana Jones flick with Chris and Mary.

Zoom!

Thursday – 22 May 2008
It’s a wet and rainy morning in the Land Behind the Zion Curtain.
After Tuesday’s 90° high and yesterday’s (possible) 60° high… today’s projected high is 50°.
Fifty. Five-zero.
Unglaublich!

Last night, SaraRules and I watched Poolhall Junkies. Christopher Walken. Rod Steiger. Chazz Palminteri. Lex Luthor Michael Rosenbaum. And where in the world has Carmen Sandiego Ernie Reyes, Jr. been?! Somehow, I had managed never to see this movie. That’s a shame – it’s a good movie. And, although they never overtly say it, it was filmed (and set) in Salt Lake City – you can even see the SLC LDS Temple in an exterior shot. (That, I did know before seeing the movie, though.) Being a film about a young hotshot pool player, it reminded me of The Color of Money. I even considered watching both of them for a better juxtaposition. And, if I do that, I am Ivory Soap sure that I will add The Hustler to the mix, just for good measure.

Not only is it NBN Thursday, it’s also “Sushi Wednesday.
And “Comic Book Day-After-Wednesday.”

Stray Toasters

• I’m not a fan of “reality TV,” generally speaking. I think I’ve made that fairly apparent over the years. However there are two things that have come to my attention this season that are somewhat noteworthy:
  • American Idol. I didn’t watch the show, but I caught a couple of episodes at Kate and Perry’s over the past couple of months. I mentioned David Cook back in March as having caught my attention. And, as of last night, he was chosen as American Idol’s champion for the 2007-2008 season.
  • Deion and Pilar: Prime Time Love. Kris (Sib-2) brought this show to SaraRules and my attention when we were in Florida. This show is… to call it “a trainwreck” doesn’t do it justice. You just can’t help but stare at, mouth agape. And laugh. Doubled-over on the floor, holding your sides laughing. And the opening theme? Comedy. Pure comedy. , I take back (just about) everything I ever said about your fascination with The Anna Nicole Smith Show after watching Deion & Pilar.
• Claire Beale interviews Apple’s Jonathan Ive
• I am looking for suggestions of new musical artists/bands.
• Pirate’s Booty: An ex-Jack Sparrow spills on life at the Magic Kingdom
• Getting ‘Nine back into shape is becoming… tedious. Certain things don’t seem to want to install properly. It’s getting a little annoying, in fact. And, it really is making me give more consideration to picking up a Mac Mini or an iMac this year, maybe as a second birthday present or Christmas present to myself.
• Sushi Jihad!
• The Secret History of Star Wars
• SaraRules left me a message: My friendly, neighborhood Spider-Man letter carrier brought me a package chock full of plastic crack. Selah.

Quote of the Day
Somehow, Christopher Walken always manages to get both some of the most random – and some of the most cool – lines in any movie he’s in:

Mike: You watch those nature documentaries on the cable? You see the one about lions? You got this lion. He’s the king of the jungle, huge mane out to here. He’s laying under a tree, in the middle of Africa. He’s so big, it’s so hot. He doesn’t want to move. Now the little lions come, they start messing with him. Biting his tail, biting his ears. He doesn’t do anything. The lioness, she starts messing with him. Coming over, making trouble. Still nothing. Now the other animals, they notice this. They start to move in. The jackals; hyenas. They’re barking at him, laughing at him. They nip his toes, and eat the food that’s in his domain. They do this, then they get closer and closer, bolder and bolder. Till one day, that lion gets up and tears the shit out of everybody. Runs like the wind, eats everything in his path. Cause every once in a while, the lion has to show the jackals, who he is.

/lunch

Namaste.

Wednesday – 21 May 2008
It’s raining.
It’s currently 49° outside.
Not only that, today’s projected high is 60°F.
Yesterday’s high, according to The Weather Channel, was 92°.

Last night, after dinner, I stretched out on the couch for a bit. What I had intended to be a few moments’ rest turned (almost immediately) into a nap. Go figure. After watching CSI: and L&O:SVU, SaraRules and I watched Kingdom of Heaven. I had not watched it since its theatrical release, but remembered it to be a solid movie; I did not misremember it.

Stray Toasters

• A few minutes ago, a kid getting ready to catch the bus was humming the theme from Super Mario Bros. If you have to pick a theme song for the day, I suppose that’s not a bad one to choose.
• Morpheus has led me into strange corners of The Dreaming lately.
• From CNN: Commentary: Make wearing a flag pin the 28th Amendment
• Does this offend you? Why or why not?
• At lunch yesterday, Naked Eyes’ (There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me played over the sound system. Code Monkey, Scott and I remembered the song… but couldn’t name the band. We mentioned it to and stumped him, too. Wikipedia to the rescue! What none of us knew was that the song was co-written by Burt Bachrach. In the ’60s. And the demo was recorded by Dionne Warwick.
• 
• Yes, the new iPhone will be on sale 09 June.

Time to finish getting ready and get on the way to work.

Namaste.

Monday – 19 May 2008
A new (work) week begins. At least this one is sunny. And it’s supposed to be warm/hot today, too. But, it’s a dry heat.  Should I be… concerned… that Ozzy Osbourne’s Crazy Train just felt like the “right” song to listen to? I mean, that shouldn’t be taken as an omen for the day, should it?

*looks around for Cthulhu cultists*

Last night, SaraRules and I watched Constantine. All-in-all, it wasn’t a horrible adaptation of Hellblazer… although, it would have been nice if they had stayed a little closer to Alan Moore’s vision/version of John Constantine and Hellblazer, but isn’t that the way things seem to go with adaptations of his work? I had forgotten that Shia LeBeouf was in the movie. He’s everywhere these days.

Stray Toasters

• Gewurtztraminer
• A couple of bits of LEGO-related goodness:
  • 5 million-piece LEGO boulder chases Indy, crashes into car
  • Builds LEGO model inside bag without telekinesis
• Just a friendly reminder: Towel Day is coming up!



• DS9 has contracted… something. It will boot in Safe Mode, but I can’t get it to boot in normal mode. It’s not the power supply. It’s not (as best I can tell) a problem with the motherboard. I should just get an iMac and be done with it.
• Hello Kitty comes to Warhammer 40K with the Sisters of Battle
• 
• While flipping channels last night, I saw that The Empire Strikes Back was on TNT. So, we flipped back and forth between that and The Office. One of the scenes we watched was the one in which Han Solo is frozen in Carbonite. I noticed a continuity goof that I had never noticed/overlooked:
  

  Continuity: When Han Solo is lowered into the carbon freezing chamber, his hands are bound by metallic handcuffs. As soon as he’s frozen, his hands are separated in the carbon block. (from IMDb.com)

• Museum of Counterfeit Art
• 

Quote of the Day
When Code Monkey and I went for our morning constitutional, he related a comment that had been attributed to a former coworker of ours:

Code Monkey: Doug’s definition of “perfect democracy” – Two wolves and a sheep deciding on what’s for dinner.

/lunch

Namaste.

Sunday – 18 May 2008
Today has been quite nice. It started off with sleeping in. That’s always a good way to kick off a weekend morning. We had a couple of options of how to start the morning: A trip to the Garden of Sweden or brunch at The Cheesecake Factory.

We opted for The Cheesecake Factory. This time, we actually got in and got seated. The decor, as SaraRules commented, was an odd combination of art deco, Tuscan and Egyptian. It… “works,” but it was a little odd to see all together. I had the French Toast with a side of ham; I thought that it was pretty good. And our waitress, Brandy, was rather attentive and had a pleasant demeanor. All-in-all, I’d give it a thumbs-up.

Next on the docket: Utah Opera’s production of Don Giovanni (1, 2). The production was very good. The principals all did an excellent job, especially Christopher Schaldenbrand, as Don Giovanni – he made the rakish Don both likable and detestable. As added bonuses, we ran into ‘s aunt, a coworker and an ex-coworker of mine.

Next, we stopped in to say “Hi” to SaraRules’ family-unit. Then, home. SaraRules fixed a very tasty lemon chicken, with rice pilaf and broccoli.

Don’t know what’s up for the rest of the evening, but I’m pretty sure that we’ll come up with something.

Stray Toasters

• I stumbled across this on Engadget, it made me laugh:

• How to Pack Everything You Own in One Bag
• I just made a really bad She Talks to Angels joke to SaraRules. She didn’t shake her head at me or pat me patronizingly.
• The new teaser poster for the upcoming Punisher: War Zone movie:



• Pulp Non-Fiction: I don’t care for pulp in my fruit juice.
• If I wanted to do my third Samuel L. Jackson-based Hallowe’en costume in four years (Mace Windu and Neville Flynn, from Snakes on a Plane), I could go as either Nick Fury, from Marvel’s Ultimate line and the recent Iron Man movie or The Octopus, from the upcoming The Spirit movie.



• Donald Soffritti has an amusing look at superheroes in their old age in his blog.

And, that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Saturday – 17 May 2008
One of the great things about the weekend is the ability to sleep in.

Too bad nobody told my body about that.

I’ve been awake since 6:45 this morning.  In an effort not to awaken SaraRules, I headed into the living room and read some of the books that Dave set aside for me during Free Comic Book Day.  When I tired of that, I fired up the XBox 360 and played a bit of Marvel Ultimate Alliance.  I figured that if I couldn’t watch superheroes (since my favorite ‘toons are off the air), I would play superhero.  I haven’t played this game in a LONG time – and the last time I played was on the old XBox… so I was starting over.  From Square One.  But it was fun.

After SaraRules woke up, she made – MADE – a coffee cake.  We also channel-surfed a bit, until settling on The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

Today, we’re going to run some errands and just… hang out.

Tonight, breakfast.

In between… well, we’ll just see what comes up.

Namaste.

Friday – 16 May 2008
Another week draws to a close…

Last night’s (first) CSI: episode was, thankfully, much better than last week’s episode; I didn’t watch the season finale as SaraRules wanted to see The Office season finale. (And, thanks once again to On Demand, I’ll be able to watch the CSI: episode at my leisure.) While she watched The Office, I finished reading this week’s four-color shwag. I’ll come back to that in a few.

I believe that jet lag – and just general weariness – caught up with me last night, too. While watching an episode of L&O: SVU, I started getting tired. With twenty minutes left in the show, I realized that there was pretty much NO way that I was going to make it that long. We got up, got ready for bed and I was out within minutes of my head hitting the pillow…

…which must have been fairly hard, because I woke up with a lovely headache. *blah*

Four-Color Coverage
Part of this week’s comic haul included a couple of books that I didn’t get last week because of the trip to Florida. A few of the books included Secret Invasion tie-ins/crossovers. While I really hope that Marvel isn’t taking a cue from Staples and just pushing the “Easy” button…

…I have to admit that I am finding the storyline rather interesting. So far, we know that:

1. Some heroes are not who they appear to be.
2. The Skrulls have a SERIOUS mad on for Earth.
3. October 12th is important to Hawkeye.
4. Johnny Storm’s ex-wife has some… unresolved issues.
5. Tony Stark is still a jerk (at least in the comics).

I’m waiting to see how this storyline plays out and what it means for the Marvel Universe after the dust clears.

I also read the long overdue Action Comics Annual, which wrapped up the “Last Son” storyline which began over a year ago in Action Comics. Unfortunately, there have been so many problems in getting that story to print that DC had actually gone ahead and run stories that followed the “Last Son” story… which means that we already know how things wound up. Sure, we might not know all of the “hows” and “whys,” but we can connect the dots fairly easily.

I have a similar problem with Astonishing X-Men, by the way. Joss Whedon’s run was supposed to be 24 issues, but because of delays it ran to 25 issues… with the final issue still not on shelves yet. But, once again, we know how things wind up, to some degree; there are just a few loose ends to tie up.

Stray Toasters

• I have been greatly amused by some of the Lil ‘Formers cartoons, including this one:



• BET Struggles to Relate with Black Viewers
• From NPR Music: Esperanza Spalding – Voice of the Bass
• Cracking open the Atari 2600
• When it was introduced, the 2600 was known as the “Atari 2600 VCS.” Bonus points if you know what “VCS” stood for… without having to look it up, of course.
• Fullscreen Multitouch Mac OS X Is Here (but not from Apple)
• I think I’m going to have a go at making a character card for Phoenix.
• Upcoming Star Wars minifigs

Quote of the Day
Quote #1 comes from conversations with shockpuppet and :

Me: If you and shockpuppet ever get to this point, you HAVE to get it on video: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080515/ap_on_fe_st/odd_frying_pan_assault_3
: oh. we do that for fun every friday night.
shockpuppet: totally
shockpuppet: I prefer a panini maker though
Me: Huh.
shockpuppet: it’s a little harder to get swinging
shockpuppet: but

1. it’s heavier
2. it leaves a funny pattern on his face

Me: Best of all possible worlds, huh?
shockpuppet: Well, I’m a believer in efficiency and aesthetics.
Me: I see
: mmm. panini face.

Quote #2 comes from another conversation with :

Me: Did you tell loonybin88 that he’s on point for [project]?
: That’s what I’ve been trying to do.
Me: Is he trying not to hear you?
: Yeah, I think so, actually. But, I figured that I’d go ahead and volunteer him for it and just ask forgiveness later.
Me: What is this… “forgiveness?”
: You wouldn’t understand. It’s like a haircut.

Namaste.

Thursday – 15 May 2008
SaraRules and I had breakfast with her family at Ruth’s Diner this morning.

Sweet Mother Mary…

If you’re in the SLC metro area, go there. Their Sunday brunch is also very good… but be warned: Either get there early or be prepared for a lengthy wait to be seated.

Today has been good, so far. Warm, sunny, a few clouds in a blue sky. Not shabby at all. Work hasn’t been bad either.

Stray Toasters

• Thanks to the joy of Comcast On Demand, SaraRules and I were able to watch last week’s episode of CSI:. I’m not sure that I’m necessarily “better off,” so to speak, for having seen it. It was just… way too over-the-top. I mean, I enjoy a good pun, but you could have set a clock by how often the one-liners and zingers were coming. I hope that tonight’s episode is back to relative “normal” for the show.
• Senator John Edwards endorsed Senator Obama yesterday. Four of the delegates formerly pledged to Edwards have also swung to the Obama camp. The next week, running up to the Kentucky and Oregon primaries, should prove rather interesting.
• The Question of Leadership
• I believe that SaraRules and I are going to see Iron Man again in the next few days. (Must remember to look for Cap’s shield this time…)
• 7 Insane Conspiracies That Actually Happened
• For :



• TorsoPants, by way of …
• …speaking of whom: I saw the Wolverine/Kitty Pryde statue this weekend. If you can get to a comic shop in the area, see if they have a copy of it; pictures of it don’t do it justice.
• Marvel’s universal approach makes it a world apart from DC
• 

/lunch

Namaste.

Wednesday – 14 May 2008
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Check.
Houston Hobby Airport. Check.
McCarran International Airport. Check.
In-N-Out Burger. Check.
Six-hour drive to Salt Lake City. Check.

In other words: We are back behind the Zion Curtain.

The vacation was great. We both had a good time. And, let’s face it: Getting a chance to get out of Utah – and head to the Right Coast – is always a bonus. The chance to hang with the family-unit added a few extra points to the score, too.

We had lunch with Kris at Cracker Barrel before heading to the airport; somehow, SaraRules had never eaten at Cracker Barrel before. Back to her place to pack up and get under way for the Great Western Migration.

The flights weren’t bad. On the FLL-HOU leg, we watched Road to Perdition. Wow. How is it that I have owned – OWNED – this movie for months but not watched it?! Unglaublich! I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, but I thoroughly enjoyed this film. Since my old laptop was… old… I never watched movies on it. (No DVD player in that one.) So, watching movies on Defiant is a relatively “new” thing. Something brand-spanking new was the idea of watching the movie with the subtitles. This made understanding some of the more quiet parts of the movie much easier. While watching Road to Perdition, I think that the young lady sitting next to me was watching/reading the movie with us… but trying not to look like she was. Added bonus: We shared the flight with a polygamist family. (“It’s not a compound. It’s our home.”)

The HOU-LAS leg of the trip wasn’t hellish, even despite the baby that started screaming about halfway through the flight. Screaming. Banshee wailing. The flight was full and as people were boarding, there was an older Vietnamese (I’m Ivory Soap sure) couple that wound up having to sit apart from each other. The gentleman turned to ask if I would mind changing seats with him. I declined as:

1. I had boarded early enough to choose the seat I wanted.
2. I was sitting next to SaraRules
3. While she is willing fly, SaraRules isn’t overly fond of it.

So, I wasn’t about to abandon her. Tough noogies, Mister.

The drive from Vegas to Salt Lake wasn’t bad. We drove past a moderate-sized brush fire just north of St. George. There were a few minutes before we got to Cedar City when I thought that we might have to stop for the night, but after getting out to top off the tank and get something to drink, I was fine for the rest of the drive. And, other than those things, the drive was rather uneventful.

Stray Toasters

• I neglected to mention that we watched Memento a few days ago, a movie which I have only had a couple of weeks, but also had not seen. I also greatly enjoyed that film.
• Hilary Clinton pretty much swept the West-by-God Virginia primary. Who would have expected that?!
• Rotary iPhone Dial
• Darlin’, it’s better down where it’s wetter: Under the sea!
• passed this along to me the other day; it made me chuckle:



• Why I Started Punching Jerks Again
• Who needs (or “needed”) eHarmony when you could just use the 1939 marital rating scale for wives?
• Mormon Church Goes After WikiLeaks
• And another covet-inducing ‘Clix:

  

  

• Prince Ali!
  Mighty is he!
  Ali Ababwa
  Strong as ten regular men, definitely!
  He faced the galloping hordes
  A hundred bad guys with swords
  Who sent those goons to their lords?
  Why, Prince Ali!

/lunch

Namaste.

Sunday – 11 May 2008
Happy Mother’s Day

<< Rewind <<
Yesterday was Kris’ graduation; she received her Master of Law degree from St. Thomas University in Intercultural Human Rights.

(click picture to see the gallery)

The ceremony was nice. There was also a posthumous awarding of a Juris Doctor degree to a student who passed away last year. This was the second time in a week that I have seen this – last week a Bachelor of Arts degree was awarded posthumously to a student at SaraRules’ graduation.

After the ceremony, we went to lunch at Texas de Brazil, a Brazilian steakhouse. Sweet Mary, mother of Christ, it was a meatfest. A few of our party hadn’t been to this style of restaurant before, so they weren’t quite prepared for the onslaught of food. They learned. Oh, how they learned…

Back to Kris’ for random naps. Later, we went to the Seminole Hard Rock Cafe and Casino. (For : As SaraRules pointed out, it’s the one where Anna Nicole Smith died.) The casino was mostly slots. Since neither of us are really fans of slots, SaraRules and I wandered around the area. Lots of shops, tons of restaurants, more clubs than you can shake a stick at and an art gallery. And tons – TONS – of people-watching fun. Too many fashion faux pas to mention. (Ah, the joys of being in South Florida.) All-in-all, it was a nice way to spend the evening.

> Play >
So far, it’s been a quiet day. SaraRules and I watched Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. (I didn’t see Dr. Doom, so I’m feeling a little jipped.) I caught online, who often references the scene where Mola Ram pulls a worker’s heart out through his chest:

Me: Mola Ram just pulled the guy’s heart out.
Me: Thought you’d want to know.
: kalima, yuktitay
: rough translation: this gonna hurt, bitch.

Yep. Favorite brother-in-law for a reason.

Not sure what’s on tap for the rest of the afternoon. There’s a rumor that we may visit a beach at some point. We shall see…

Namaste.

I have forgotten how much of a piece of piece Windows XP can be. Yes, I’ve been spoiled by the simplicity of OSX and program upgrades and installations. I recently had to wipe and reinstall XP on one of my machines in the north office. I forgot about that today when I had to do some online training. Which means that I had to reinstall a number of helper applications in order to use the training modules.

Install.
Reboot.
Install.
Reboot.
Lather.
Rinse.
Repeat.

I got everything installed. I went through the training modules. Life was good. Yay.

Earlier in the afternoon, Code Monkey and I went for a constitutional. We were talking about how temperate it was today. From there we went off on a tangent about skin color and heat absorption. That, in turn, led me onto a tangent about Kryptonians’ (and Daxamites’) ability to absorb energy from yellow solar radiation. Then, came the big tangent:

Where were the Black Kryptonians?!

CM and I then had a couple of other questions:

1. Would the concept of Black Kryptonians work? If high melanin-content in the skin reflects heat, then would the darker-skinned be as “super” under a yellow sun as their light-skinned counterparts?
2. If Krypton was a cold/ice planet, as seen in Superman and Superman II, would there even be any dark-skinned Kryptonians?

Of course, this meant that I had to look up whether or not there had ever been Black Kryptonians in the comics. Lo and behold, there were! Evidence was found here, here and even here.

Still no word on Black Daxamites, though.

Stray Toasters

• Newsarama had a link to Legion of Super-Potatoes. The second page, with the Legion of Substitute Potatoes, nearly made me double over and smack my head on my desk from laughter.
• This is the cover of the first issue of Legion of Super-Heroes that I ever bought:



• Living Between Wednesdays had an amusing look at The Invincible Iron Man #172, featuring a drunken Tony Stark…
• …which makes a perfect segue for this:



• Isabella Rossellini Does Bug Porn
• What if John Byrne had written the X-Men?
• Also, check out the official trailer for Wolverine and the X-Men, the upcoming animated series from Marvel. It looks like an interesting twist on the X-Men mythos.



• Not the droids you’re expecting…
• While watching CNN’s primary coverage, SaraRules mentioned that she was fascinated by the multi-touch interactive display they used to track/follow voting reports. So, I showed her the multi-touch exhibition from TED in 2006:

  Then I showed her an item from Popular Mechanics.com about the Microsoft Milan. That made me wonder when the Milan was going to be available to the public. Apparently, it hits the market on 30 May 2008.

Namaste.

Monday: Coda
I had a quiet night in. I watched a couple of episodes of L&O: TNG L&O: SVU and last week’s episode of CSI:, which included a cameo from MythBusters’ Adam and Jamie. And, I read a bit more of Guards, Guards.

Stray Toasters

• How did I not know that there’s a fourth Terminator movie, starring Christian Bale, coming out next year?
• A tip of the hat to for the inspiration for tonight’s post’s title.
• It’s going to be in the 80s in Florida this weekend.
• , click here.
• 
• Another from the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: The Wii Pole-Dancing Game Is Really Coming
• Hugh Laurie (you know… the guy who plays Dr. House on House) is on The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson. I’m not really sure that I could have pictured him as Perry White in Superman Returns.
• 

Namaste.