Random Access

Sunday – 06 January 2008
It’s snowing. And not just a little bit. It’s supposed to snow through some time tomorrow. That should make the morning commute… interesting. Let’s hope that UDoT gets a handle on the situation early enough to make sure that I-15 is more than just “passable.”

Today has been quiet and relaxed. After sleeping in and coffee, we met up with Steve and went to lunch. After lunch, we headed over to Rachel’s and hung out with her and Tyler. Back to SaraRule’s to return Steve to his truck and then we were off to the grocery store. In the seven minutes that it took to do shopping, the snowstorm started. There was enough snow on the windows that I had to use the snow brush/ice scraper. In seven minutes. Unglaublich! Fortunately, we don’t have anyplace to go this evening.

Four-Color Coverage

• Action Comics #860 – The Superman and the LSH story continues. We are reintroduced to a few more Legionnaires and the Legion takes on the Justice League again. Where’s Brainiac 5? Wasn’t bringing Superman to the 31st Century his idea?! Shouldn’t he be around to explain “why?”
• Green Lantern #26 – The Second New Law of the Book of Oa is written: The Creation of the Alpha Lanterns. Who are they and how is their mission different from the rest of the Corps? Hal Jordan has a talk with an imprisoned – and oddly… smug – Sinestro. We see John Stewart, dealing with the his greatest failure.
• Green Lantern/Sinestro Corps Secret Files #1 – DC updates the information on the Green Lantern Corps, including updating the bios of some of the GLs. One of the updates was John Stewart’s bio, to include his stint in the Marine Corps, as first noted in Justice League.
• House of M: Avengers #3 of 5 – I know… I know… I wouldn’t have expected to ever have something with the words “House of M” to appear in FCC, but here it is. This series focuses not on mutants, but on the humans living in the world of the the House of M. This issue introduced a certain FBI agent named Frank Castle.
• JLA Classified #49 – This was a well-told story called “To Live in Hearts We Leave Behind.” It looks at a day – a busy day – in the life of the Justice League… from the point of view of their loved ones. Lois Lane and Alfred Pennyworth serve as the anchors for this story, in which the League is off-world and the world awaits news of their mission. I don’t usually collect Classified, but this was a nice addition to the collection.
• Legion of Super-Heroes #37 – This issue marked Jim Shooter’s return to the Legion. I think that this was more of a “setting the stage” issue. Lightning Lad deals with the mantle of leadership and Princess Projectra deals with a a blow to her royal status.
• Mythos: Fantastic Four #1 – This is a/another retelling of the FF’s origin… but from the point of view of a congressional inquiry.

Stray Toasters

• We just played a game called Buzzword. Our teams were The Cock Whippers (guys) vs. Pussy Control (girls). The Cock Whippers won.
• Did I mention that it’s snowing?
• 
• The trailer for Will Smith’s upcoming summer movie: Hancock
• National Spelling Bee (YouTube video… NSFW)
• “Your Mom”

  

• Warren Ellis’ angry, profane Three Laws of Robotics

And that’s it.

Namaste.

Thursday – 03 January 2008
Not a bad day for an NBN Thursday. I woke up (more or less) when I had planned to. Getting out of bed was a different matter altogether. I got up after a bit of decided laziness and started the day.

Work was a bit busy. I was trying to track down some hardware information, but kept running into proverbial walls. After a few hours of what felt like spinning my wheels, I think I found a way to get what I needed. I’ll know for sure tomorrow morning.

After work, I came home and had a bite to eat – and watched a little bit of Rio Bravo – before meeting up with Chris and heading to a comic shop near his place to play dolls HeroClix. We played against a few other guys. We played 1000 points per side; which is one of the – if not THE – largest “small” game I’ve played in. I picked a force comprised mostly of the JLA, Teen Titans and one of the X-Men:

• Batman (Red Rain)
• Green Lantern (John Stewart)
• Dmitri Pushkin (Rocket Red)
• Cyborg
• Raven
• Bishop

Chris played with mostly X-Men, along with a different Batman and a paramedic. Healers are a GOOD thing in that game. We started off alright, but hit a string of craptacular dice rolls in the middle of the game. Fortunately, the Luck Lords of Ventura looked upon us fortunately in the waning turns of the game: Chris and I won. I had a lot of fun.

And now there’s Whose Line! (With Robin Williams, even!)

Stray Toasters

• I did it: Boot Camp.
• I did it again: City of Heroes on the Defiant.
• Four Root DNS Servers Go IPv6 on February 4th.
• Four words: LEGO. Indiana Jones. Game.
• Five words: LEGO. Batman and Robin Game.
• Two more words: Coming soon!
• By way of Wizard Entertainment: 2008 Preview – Notable Comic Anniversaries
• Guillermo Del Toro Ready to Unleash Frankenstein’s Monster

Quote of the Day
From a conversation with :

: 12:44 s’ok
spent an hour with my team giving an american civics lesson this morning
was kind of neat, actually
one of those rare moments that take me out of my privileged bubble
: 12:44 Cool.
: 12:45 funniest part of it all was one of my guys asking “but the woman…she is from the clinton caste, so shouldn’t she be next for president?”
i keep forgetting where i am
: 12:47 So, how did you ‘splain it?
: 12:49 i said anybody can be president…response was “but as long as i can remember, only clinton and bush castes have been leaders.”
ok, true
however, if you are over 35 and you were born in the USA, you can run
“but can you win? here anybody can run but only upper castes win”
yes…that’s partially true in USA too
“so this man…this black man…can win?”
: 12:50 HA!
: 12:50 yes, he just won in iowa
“so he is president?”
no, thsi is just the first caucus
“but if he wins many caucuses?”
yes, he can be the nominee, and then maybe be president
“but he is black.”
yes.
“wow.”
yes. wow.
: 12:50 If he wins many caucauses, does that make him Caucasian?
: 12:50 HAHAHA
now that is a quote of the day.
: 12:51 *bow* I do what I can.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 02 January 2008
The year is another day older.
A new work week – and work year – began this morning.

Wahoo.

Yesterday, SaraRules and I headed over to her parents’ to watch the Rose Bowl (Illinois and USC) and just… chill. It was nice. The game, not so nice. The Fighting Illini got their midwestern hindparts handed to them, eight ways from Sunday. TLC would have called it “Unpretty.” (It’d make you feel unpretty, too…) After we turned from the game – somewhere in the third quarter – we watched Resident Evil: Extinction. I had seen it before, but it was a fun way to spend the evening.

We left, and came back to the apartment and decided that we weren’t tired enough to call it night, so we watched Superman: the Movie. At SaraRules’ request, not mine, believe it or not. *jawdrop* Wow. And, again, for two-and-a-half hours, I was a seven-year-old kid.

This morning, I don’t know if the alarm went off. If it did, I turned it off in my sleep. I woke up a little bit later, performed the hygiene rituals and hit the bricks. A week-and-a-half vacation is hard to recover from. But I – and everyone in the office – managed to pull it off. At lunch, SaraRules came to the office (she wanted to say “Hi” to ) and we met shockpuppet, and Joe for lunch. Sushi. Go-Sushi. Post-lunch, I picked up last week’s four-color shwag and then headed back to work.

After work, I came home and hung out with SaraRules before she headed back to Cedar City. After she left, it was time to have a bite to eat and then head to Paragon City with the Hand of Nefer-Tem. I was invited to join a team. We fought the Council of Thorns. And the difficulty level was cranked waaay up – we had our virtual hindparts handed to us, eight ways from Sunday. (It made us feel unpretty, too.) But, the experience was good, so I can’t complain too much.

I just got a call from SaraRules: She made it back to southern Utah without any problems.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
A commercial for Staples just came on and made me think of something: You see all of the ads for “Back to School” buys and whatnot in August. Every August.

And, because every year people apparently forget that they need to by school supplies – until they see those ads – there’s a bit of a rush at the stores to get supplies for little Johnny and Susie.

My question: Why not buy some/all of the supplies sooner? I mean, it makes sense… but it’s not something that you really think about – or want to think about – until you need it.

Kind of like buying a plunger.

Stray Toasters

• I have a taste for… some… kind of dessert, but I’m not sure exactly what.
• 
• Thermochromic Toilet Seat
• The Electric Company. Mm-hmm, that’s right… Easy Reader.
• Proving that he really is 2 Legit 2 Quit – MC Hammer’s Next Act: Tech Entrepreneur
• I’ve been rather vocal – at least to comic-reading friends – about how completely asinine I think the resolution to Marvel’s “One More Day” and “Brand New Day” storyline in the Spider-Man books is/was. (Short version: Joe Quesada and company have retconned Peter Parker and Mary-Jane’s wedding right out of existence. By making a deal with the devil – okay, technically it’s Mephisto, but come on… he’s as close as you’ll get to Old Scratch in the Marvel Universe.) I found a few blogs on Comics2Film that sum things up nicely:
  

  1. One More Day: One Less Reader
  2. One More Day: The Right Way to do a Retcon
  3. One More Day: The Art of the Swerve

• The Men’s Warehouse is having their Winter Sale. Hmm…
• IKEA is also having their Winter Sale. Hmm…
• Goats.
• Bruce Springsteen was right: “57 channels and nothing’s on…”
• Keys to the Kingdom

Namaste.

Sunday – 30 December 2007
An intermittently snowy day in the SL Valley.

Last night, SaraRules and I assembled (and played with) the Rokenbok Monorail that I’ve had, but never assembled, for… four-and-a-half years. We had more fun than should be allowed. I also discovered that my X-Men Minimates are the same size as the Rokenbok figures. (“X-Men Save the Factory” storyboards, here I come!)

This morning started lazily and slowly. As there was not a new shipment of comics this week, I figured that I would not get to partake in the weekly “coffee and comics in bed” ritual.

I was mistaken.

I had forgotten that Meliko had gotten me Ocean for Christmas. And that’s what I read. It was a great story. Science fiction (or “speculative fiction,” if that suits you better). Mystery. Intrigue. And action. All in one story. Correction: All in one well-told story. It made for a great way to start the day. Tyranist: If you haven’t read this, I think that it would be up your alley. While I read Ocean, SaraRules read the Justice mini-series (1, 2, 3).

After we finished reading, it was time for a late breakfast and football. Imagine my surprise to discover that the Steelers-Ravens game was going to air in this market. You could have, happily, bowled me over with the proverbial feather. It was the final game of the season and a division rivalry game… and they broke out the all-black uniforms. The game was good. Really good. “Ravens on top early” good. The team came to play some serious ball. Granted, a lot of starters were out, due to injuries, but their replacements did a great job. Troy Smith looked good in the QB spot. Second-year RB Cory Ross was all over the place. New-to-the-Ravens LB Nick Grieson did a great job of covering the ball on the defensive side of the game. To their credit, with many of the Steelers’ starters out due to injury and/or injury avoidance (as the Steelers made the playoffs), their second-stringers played well. But, in the end, the Ravens came away with the win.

Tonight, SaraRules and I went to visit Chris and Mary for dinner and a couple of movies: Dollman vs. Demonic Toys and The Ice Pirates. Both of these movies were “Cool World-Long Kiss Goodnight” Scale fodder, but they were also fun to watch… especially in the company of friends. A couple of odd bits of IMDb-supported trivia:

1. Tracy Scoggins and Tim Thomerson (both in Dollman vs. Demonic Toys) and Mary Crosby (from The Ice Pirates) were all in episodes of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Scoggins was a regular cast member in the first season; Crosby and Thomerson were guest stars.
2. Crosby and Scoggins were also guest stars on episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

And now, we’re home, sipping hot chocolate and eating biscotti. Huzzah!

Stray Toasters

• I talked with Adam today; all’s well with him and Chelsea.
• My uncle called me in the middle of the second quarter of the Steelers-Ravens game. Just to say “hi” and to commiserate over the fact that the game wasn’t playing in his area.
• Nintendo Wii Hacked
• There’s a new Monorail Metropolis Start Set. *adds to Covet List*
• The Red Balloon has become a dangerous store for me: They carry Rokenbok toys.
• Going to a Go-Go: Hip-Hop repays its debt to Chuck Brown
• 
• What in the Nine Hells has Joe Quesada turned Marvel Comics into!?
• Jon Favreau talks Iron Man
• Three weeks to L.A.

Namaste.

Thursday: Coda
SaraRules and I headed up to Ogden this afternoon. We were going to The Bookshelf… or, if was right, to where it used to be. The store was still there. But, they are in the middle of a “quitting the business” sale. This is a shame, as it is the overall best used book store that I have found, so far, in Utah. (There’s a much smaller, but decent, store in Cedar City called Braun Books.) We went… we looked around… we bought a few things. I may head back up there in a few weeks to see what’s left and if they’ve upped the discount on merchandise; they are currently selling things for 20-25% off and up to 50% on videos (VHS). All-in-all, it was worth the trip up there… and it was nice to get out of SLC for a bit, too.

We came back to town and after an unsuccessful trip to Dr. Volt’s – the new stuff isn’t coming in until tomorrow – we had dinner at Spaghetti Mama’s. Quite good and very filling. And, we got to see Kate, though only for a couple of minutes.

Next, we met , , , Jana and Chris for I Am Legend. It was good. I knew that it had been adapted from a book of the same name, but I had forgotten that it had also been adapted twice before as a movie: The Last Man on Earth and The Omega Man. Will Smith did a very good job. And they did a very believable job of rendering “The City that Never Sleeps” into a quiet, desolate and very lonely place. I definitely recommend the movie.

Thursday – 27 December 2007
Another lovely day in the valley. It’s a tropical 24°F outside, but there are partly cloudy skies, which means that the sun is putting in an appearance.

Last night, SaraRules and I watched Mirrormask. She liked it, overall, but thought that the story was a bit weak. She did like the visualizations, though.

Today, we’re still deciding what to do, but heading up to Ogden and making a pilgrimage to Mecca (known to the locals as “The Bookshelf”) may be on the docket. And there will also be a trip to Dr. Volt’s, as today is new comics day; the shipment is off by a day because of the holiday.

And tonight: I Am Legend.

Stray Toasters

• Benazir Bhutto killed in attack
• 
• Online games battle for top spot
• From the Whiskey Tango Foxtrot file: Jackson has ‘surgery’ after [being] hit by son
  

  Michael Jackson reportedly underwent emergency surgery after his young son accidentally punched him in the face. The Thriller hitmaker – who has undergone multiple cosmetic surgeries on his face in the past – was recently photographed in a Los Angeles bookstore wearing numerous bandages around his mouth. But sources tell Finditt.com the singer’s son, Prince Michael II, caused the injury: “He was whacked in the face accidentally by his younger son Prince Michael II while playing around and part of Jackson’s upper lip collapsed. “That mishap led a hysterical Jacko to make a beeline for the plastic surgeon for a bit of quickie repair work.”

• …and keeping it in the family, somewhat:

  

  (For those who don’t remember: Michael and Lisa Marie Presley were married for almost two years in the 90s)

And that’s a wrap for now.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 26 December 2007
Happy Boxing Day.

Last night, SaraRules and I went to see Aliens versus Predator – Requiem. I had not seen the first movie, so I was a little concerned about coming into this one at a bit of a loss. I had also heard that AvP was… a… less-than-stellar bit of cinema. Despite these items, I had a great time watching this movie. It was definitely a “check your brain at the door” kind of movie, but Ms. SaraRules said that it was “leaps and bounds better than the first one. By far.” The movie, while definitely sci-fi fare, had a bit of a horror movie bent. And it was fun. Additionally, it continued a nominal tradition that I had with and Don: Seeing a movie on Thanksgiving and/or Christmas Day(s).

This morning started lazily. Which, to be quite honest, is a great way to start the day after Christmas.

After observing the hygiene rituals and getting dressed, SaraRules and I headed down to The Bayou to have lunch with , onlyaly and others in celebration of ‘s birthday. I had a rather tasty jamabalya (the only thing I would have added was shrimp). I also had the Rogue Imperial Stout. (Don, if you’re reading this, you need to see if you can find a bottle somewhere in the Triad.) Holy Crap! It was good; filling, but good. I wish I hadn’t loaded up on soup, salad and jambalaya before drinking this. As it was, I was so full that I had to split the stout with . Then he, SaraRules and I shot a few games of pool.

Next was some shopping and an errand or two… and then back home.

City of Heroes: The Hand of Nefer-Tem
I tooled around Paragon City for a couple of hours as part of a pick-up team. We were in our mid-to-upper 30s. We fought The Council, a few members of the Carnival of Shadows and The Freakshow. The XP was good… even though I managed to die a couple of times.

Stray Toasters

• I am sitting here with a bowl of candy next to me because I’m craving something sweet… but not any particular type of candy. So, I’m going with “whatever strikes my fancy.”
• From Broken Frontier: Legend, Legion Reunited
• SaraRules + + = comedy
• offered up a couple of ‘Toaster-ready items
  • Damn Interesting: Raiders of the Lost Lake
  • Goth-o-Matic Poetry Generator
• 
• For : Lee Bermejo’s Joker Sketchbook

Namaste.

Monday: Coda
SaraRules and I have spent the evening at her parents’.  Dinner.  Drinks.  Stardust.

Our game plan for the night was to go to Midnight Mass.   But it’s been snowing and the roads are… nominally okay, but neither of us really wants to risk it.   (And, it’s cold outside.)  So, SaraRules and Logan are playing Guitar Hero (II & III, I think) while Meliko and I watch… and I’m nerding.  For the time being.  Then, we’re all calling it a night.

Tomorrow, is Christmas.   (Well, in about 5 minutes, actually…)  May the peace, joy and happiness of the day find you and your loved ones in good health, good spirits and good company.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 19 December 2007
Mid-week and all is well. The clouds over the valley are breaking up… a little. It’s Sushi Wednesday. And it’s new comic book day.

Last night, I had dinner with SaraRules and her family. Before I jetted off to and ‘s for game night, SaraRules handed me a gift. *blink blink* I looked at her and said,”But… it’s not Christmas, yet.” She smiled and told me that it wasn’t a Christmas gift… so open it! And I did. It was a copy of the DVD for Stardust, the first movie we saw together. It doubly surprised me, as I wasn’t aware that the DVD had been released.

On to game night! The game was a little slow – mostly because we, as a group, weren’t exactly sure how to proceed with a couple of things. But, half of us did manage to get our collective recta beat down and handed to us at one point. Not pretty. And, I was reminded that my character was not built to be a fighter. Not by any stretch of the imagination. My spec is more “the face,” the fast-talking social chameleon. So, getting into combat isn’t exactly in my best interests. But, we survived. And lived to adventure another day.

This morning, letting go of the bed was hard to do. So I put it off as long as possible. So far, it’s been a good day. Can’t complain about that.

Stray Toasters

• I got a message from the action man: “I’m happy, hope you’re happy, too…” my father a little while ago: The present for my stepmom arrived this morning. Now to get Dad and Rana’s presents in the system…
• Coworker Jan told me today’s Sven and Ole joke; he’s my go-to guy for my daily dose of Sven and Ole (and/or Ole and Lena) jokes. I mentioned that I had talked with Adam a few days ago and that he was loving (/sarcasm) his current post… a post that Jan was up for when he was deciding whether or not to join/stay in the Air Force.
• NASA has a Stargate
• I love it when you’re on a tech support call and you’re (in theory) being transferred to another department… and they drop the call. >.<
• When did Trekkies jump the shark?
• Why not Minot?
  Reason: It’s Freezin’.
• Ten Habits of Highly Successful Brains
• 

  (You can watch the new trailer here.)

• Recap of 2007’s “12 Gizmos of Christmas”
• From the “Big Brother is watching you” file: Chicago police ask you to report people using maps or taking notes in public
• There’s a rumour that Marlon Wayans is either up for or interested in the role of Heavy Duty in the upcoming G.I. Joe movie. That scares me. My pick would be Michael Clarke Duncan. Hands down. No, wait… I was thinking of Roadblock. Yeah… MCD for Roadblock, not Heavy Duty. Okay, I’m better now.
• The ten most entertaining tech videos of 2007
• “Server… Server… No… Server…”

Namaste.

Monday – 17 December 2007
A new week begins.

Last night, SaraRules and I had dinner with her family. And watched football. And trimmed their tree. And watched part of Reign of Fire. Okay, to be fair, I should probably say “MST2K-ed part of Reign of Fire.”

Amusing sidenote: We had barely taken off our coats and sat down (my seat wasn’t even warm yet!) when Mother-of-SaraRules asked me: “So what happened to your team!?” Ah, the joys of having your #1 team lose to your #2 team… and having a girlfriend whose family enjoys watching football.

Later, we headed back to the apartment and watched Mallrats, which I had never seen. I liked it. And, being a comic book geek, it spoke my language. Thanks to Tyranist for letting me borrow it.

This morning, I headed to the SLC office and had the quandary of “Do I really want to go to AF today?” Then I remembered that I had a test to set up in the AF office. The “choice” at that point became academic.

Stray Toasters

• I finished arranging the artwork for my Christmas card last night. I would have sent it for online printing then… but the FedEx-Kinkos site only works with Internet Exploder. Bastiches!
• I talked with Rana earlier; she and the tadpole are doing well.
• Congratulations to and Don on the arrival of their new baby!
• God bless the Interweb! Christmas shopping + shipping == hotness!
• Last week, RadioWest rebroadcast an interview with John Ronson, author of Them: Adventures with Extremists.
• I have been trying to find a particular style of hat for the past few months. The search would have been much easier had I known the name of the style of hat. This weekend, I found both the name and a place from which I can order it. Selah.
• 
• I borrowed Cat on a Hot Tin Roof from Coworker Eric. I’ve seen parts of it before; I’m looking forward to seeing it in its entirety.
• I know that it’s geeky as all Hell, but part of me wouldn’t mind having one of these.
• From the “What’s Playing in Rob’s Head” Network:
  • Rock Lobster, from the B52’s
  • 1-2-3-4, from Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine
• Deryni

And that’s that.

Namaste.

Saturday – 15 December 2007
Last night, rather than the usual Clitorati gathering, a few of us headed to and onlyaly’s for “Nightmare before Christmas” movie night. But we didn’t watch The Nightmare Before Christmas – they were just co-opting the name to have a pre-Christmas horror movie night. Instead, we watched Alien and 28 Days Later. (And, watching onlyaly jump at the scary bits was almost as entertaining as watching the movies.)

Another lazy (so far) day in the valley. It’s not going to stay lazy though, I have errands to run and shopping to do, both online and in brick-and-mortar stores. Oh, well… no rest for the wicked. The morning has been nice, though. Despite an early morning tug from the Leash (yep, it’s once again my week to be on-call), the morning has been rather quiet. There were cartoons and coffee and SaraRules made sauteed pasta for breakfast. Today’s episode of LSH was a rerun, but The Batman was new.

Time to get a wiggle on… lots to do and whatnot.

Veni, Scribi, Vroom!
“I came, I wrote, I’m a vapor trail!”

Namaste.

Wednesday – 12 December 2007
Another cold day in the valley.

Last night’s Scion game was fun. And, just for the record: It’s much easier to play a game – or at least to know what your character is capable of doing – when you have your character sheet with you. Last night, I even had a backup: I had the .pdf version and the paper character sheet.

After the game, I went home and fought with technology: ‘Nine has an ATI 9600 All-in-Wonder video card in it. With such a card, I should be able to run a coax line from the cable jack into the card and… watch TV. The operative word in the previous sentence is: “should.” Instead, ‘Nine keeps giving me the finger driver errors. Between uninstalling drivers, downloading drivers, rebooting and testing, I think that I spent a couple of hours trying to find a workable configuration. The operative word in that sentence is: “trying.” But, I have nothing but time and opportunity… and the nigh-limitless knowledge of the Interweb… available to me. I shall prevail.

This morning, I partook of an ancient ritual known as “sleeping in.” It was good. After observing the hygiene rituals and deciding on today’s attire, I was on my way. The way that led to the door of the Giver of Frozen Mocha Goodness. And then, on to work! The day has been good: I put in a suggestion for some test hardware and am putting together a small, two-system network for a Windows Server 2003 test environment.

Tonight, I need to do some cleaning and then I think that I will save the world… or at least Paragon City.

Stray Toasters

• Today == Wednesday
  • A == New Comic Book Day
  • B == Sushi Wednesday
    • I had Ika, California and Seattle rolls today.
  • A + B = C
  • C == Happy Rob
• Chocolate Jesus Crunchies – the official cereal of Pope Groovalicious
• James Bond Films for the George W. Bush Era
• In going between OS X (Defiant) and WinXP (DS9), I keep having to remember on which side of application windows to look for the maxmize, minimize and close buttons.
• Terry Pratchett has rare, early-onset Alzheimer’s
• Catch a falling star and
  Put it in your pocket
  Save it for a rainy day
• US soul pioneer Ike Turner dies
• 
• The 5 Users You’d Meet in Hell
• Stupid Technology Tricks of 2007

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Friday – 07 December 2007
This morning started early. 6:00 early. After getting to bed around 3:30. But, that’s when I had to get up to make the 7:00 service appointment for the car. And it was rainy in the valley… which is better than in the canyons, where it was snow. And it’s supposed to rain and/or snow tonight and tomorrow. Good thing I’m heading south this afternoon.

Last night, I stopped at Dr. Volt’s to feed my four-color and plastic crack addictions. There were some good things in the four-color haul, which I’ll get around to talking about sometime later this weekend. The plastic crack haul was quite good, too. I picked up one box, each, of the Justice League and the Mutations and Monsters sets. Inside were some choice items:

• Justice League
  • Black Canary
  • Firestorm (the third one I’ve gotten)
  • Green Lantern (super-rare in this set)
  • Mr. Mxyzptlk
  • Zatanna

• Mutations and Monsters
  • Chamber
  • Dazzler
  • Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy (rare and there’s a story behind me getting it, below)
  • Iceman (First Class)
  • Mimic

Dave, proprietor of Dr. Volt’s, saw me looking at boxes of ‘Clix and came over to offer suggestions… or so I thought. He took my box and, one at a time, picked up the other eight boxes on the wall, weighing each one against the box that I had selected. Um… okay. He hesitated over the last couple of boxes, but wound up handing me the one that I had originally selected, then he walked back to the register. As he rang up my purchase, he picked up the box of ‘Clix again and attempted to balance it on his index finger, seesaw-style. It dipped heavily to one side. He looked at me and said,”There’s a Devil Dinosaur in that one.” I smiled and nodded and thought how amusing it would be if he was right.

When I got home, I opened the box.

Inside was a Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy figure.

I also played a couple of hours of City last night. This time, I used the Hand of Nefer-Tem. I was checking out a few things when I got a random message asking if I wanted to join a pick-up team. Since I enjoy playing in a group more than running around alone (and dying), I said “yes.” We had a good mix of characters. We ran a few missions before people started leaving the team.

Today’s been good. Aside from the rain, that is. The soundtrack to this morning’s commute was interesting: All of the songs had one-word titles:

• Slam – Onyx
• Changes – Tupac
• Misled – Kool and the Gang (What ever happened to them, anyway?)
• Jaded – Aerosmith
• A – Barenaked Ladies
• Spiderwebs – No Doubt

It wasn’t intentional: Onyx came up first. When that song was done, I skipped songs until I hit something that appealed to me. It wasn’t until I got to Misled that I noticed the one-word “theme.” As I skipped through the mp3 list, the songs that appealed to me happened to be ones with one-word titles. And it didn’t stop there. After I had been in the office for a while, Jason started listening to Hollaback Girl. I decided that I wanted to hear something with a good beat after that. So, rummaged through the videos on my machine and settled on Will Smith’s Switch. Win-Win situation.

Today’s workout was basically a repeat of Wednesday’s workout, with a couple of changes in the weights used.

• Bench Press: 3 sets / 10 reps, 185 lbs (slow, controlled descent)
• Lateral Pull-downs: 3 set / 15 reps (broken into 5-5-5), 110 lbs
  • Wide-grip, behind-the-head (5 reps)
  • Wide-grip, overhand/standard (5 reps)
  • Close-grip, overhand/standard (5 reps)
  • **Close-grip, underhand/reverse-grip (done as an additional 5 reps on the third set)
• Shoulder Press (Dumbbell): 3 sets / 12 reps, 40 lbs
• Seated Curls (Dumbbell): 3 sets / 10 reps, 25 lbs
• Standing Wrist Curls (Barbell):
  • Forward: 3 sets / 15 reps, 35 lbs
  • Reverse: 3 sets / 15 reps, 35 lbs
• Leg Raises: 3 sets / 20 reps

Again, it was short and sweet… but a good workout.

Stray Toasters

• I had a craving for sushi last night. When I left Dr. Volt’s, I went a few doors down, to Go Sushi, and sated my appetite.
• 
• Everything You Need To Know About: Black Tie
• I added Twix and Butterfinger candy bars to my office stash in AF.
• By way of Tyranist: The 8 Most Cringe-Worthy Comic Book Movie Moments
• Sweeping the Clouds Away

  

• February, 2007 (Edited Symptoms): Nine Things Which Appeared on The Muppet Show, But Wouldn’t Make It Onto Family Television These Days
• By way of : 56 Geeks Poster
• Today’s random song that popped into my head for no reason: Men Without Hats’ Pop Goes the World
• From GQ: The Style Guy

Namaste.

Monday – 03 December 2007
Another week begins.

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

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

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

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

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

Stray Toasters

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

/lunch

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

Namaste.

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

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

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

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

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

Football Update

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

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

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

Four-Color Coverage

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

Stray Toasters

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

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

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

Namaste.