Random Access

Thursday – 05 January 2017
Welcome to 2017 (five days after the fact…)! So far, my fingers have cooperated in correctly typing/writing “2017,” when writing the date.

Long story, short version: Christmas and New Year were good…

…even though I had to come in to work on the last day of my break to – literally – flip a switch. Twice.

At ridiculous o’clock on 02 Jan, I got a call from our NOC saying that they’d lost the heartbeat for our fax server. (Yes, fax. Yes, 21st Century. *shrug* Don’t ask me.) I said that I’d try to access it remotely… at a reasonable hour. After the sun was up. And the office was closed on the second, anyway.

Sometime later in the morning, I logged in and tried to access the server. No go, Flight. That meant that I had two courses of action:

1. Go in and reset it,
2. Let it swing until Tuesday morning.

The problem with Option 2 (which would have been my preference) was that our finance department actually receives invoices via fax. So… Option 1 it was. I somehow managed to convince Sara and Team DiVa to make an excursion out of it. (This turned out to be a “good” thing.)

Went to the office. Went into server room. Flipped switch. Flipped switch again. Left server room. Called the NOC to confirm that the alert had actually cleared. Got ready to leave.

Got the building lobby and realized I’d apparently left my house and car keys upstairs in the office. *sigh*  Fine. I asked Sara to get the girls in the car while I ran upstairs to retrieve them…

…only to find, once I’d gotten to my office’s elevator lobby, that I’d left my badge in the office, as well.

::: braincramp :::

Fortunately, there were a few people from our finance department in the office; one of them let me in. I went to my desk to get my badge and keys, only to find them suspisciously not… there…

*grblsnrkx*

Yep, I’d locked them – badge-locked, of course – in the server room. Resigned, I headed back downstairs. Fortunately, we’d taken Sara’s car and she had her keys – my car and the key to it were still at home.

Ridiculous, but it makes for a good “At least you didn’t…,” laugh-at-yourself kind of story.

Other than that, things have been kind of quiet. I’m good with that.

Oh, and it snowed last night. About four-ish inches in the valley. It made this morning’s commute “fun.” And by “fun,” I mean “slow and annoying.” On the plus side, it did make the air a little less chewy.

Stray Toasters

• By way of Mike (and supported by the Council for Better Driving): How America Got Addicted to Road Salt – And Why It’s Become a Problem
• After a fitful first attempt many years ago, I’m currently reading the Dragonriders of Pern series.
• #LifeInIT
• I’ve been on a bit of a Crüxshadows kick the past few days. This is not a complaint.
• SR-71s were made to go fast, right…?
  

  • 

    SR-71 “Blackbird” at Hill Aerospace Museum

• It looks as though The Magic School Bus will be returning to screens, via Netflix. Team DiVa will be happy to learn of this.
  • I might have known this at one point, but was recently reminded of it: Little Richard did the theme song for The Magic School Bus.
• Speaking of Team DiVa…
  

  #TeamDiVa2011, doing their best @originalfunko impressions. #Batgirl #WonderWoman #popfigures

  A photo posted by Rob (@shadorunr) on Jan 4, 2017 at 6:06pm PST

• moider
• Watch Justin Lin’s Live-Action ‘Jetsons‘-Inspired Commercial

And, that’s a wrap for now.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 26 October 2016
Today marked my successful completion of another orbit of the sun while, simultaneously, eluding the grasp of The Dark Lady. In accordance with International Robert Neal Days past, I took today off from work. I also took the rest of the week off… because.

The past week was full. I don’t mean that in the sense of “I had so many things going on,” although, that’s not untrue. I mean it in the sense that I got to spend much of the week in the company of some rather fantastic people. The week started with breakfast with my high school classmate, James, and his family…

Breakfast with the Leventhals

…then there was stuff and things in the middle of the week (mostly work)…

…capped off with a co-birthday celebration on Saturday with Alex and some of our friends. And if I want to extrapolate a bit and add this past Sunday, there was dinner with the in-laws AND Sara’s grandmother.

It was a good week. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if there had been members of my side of the family involved. (There’s a tentative “something” in the works for Thanksgiving along those lines…)

Today was a quiet day; Sara and the girls let me sleep in. And I did. Then, I proceeded to spend a leisurely day full of… well… a lot of nothing. And it was perfect. Later, Sara and the girls came home and took me to dinner at the local Outback Steakhouse. We then came home for cake and presents. The ladies got me a humidor and a box of RubySnap cookies. Win-Win!  I wound up the evening (so far) with a cigar, some whiskey, and an episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. There may even be some videogaming to close out the day.

Hello, 46. I look forward to getting to know more about you.

Stray Toasters

• This doesn’t really need an introduction:
  
• Dad Turns His 6-Year-Old Son’s Drawings Into Reality
• The Chicago Cubs won the NL pennant on Saturday, for the first time since 1945. Alex (mentioned above) is from Chicago and a Cubs fan; watching her watch Saturday night’s game was interesting. The win was a wonderful early birthday present for her. But, there are a lot of things that have happened since the Cubs last won the pennant:
  
• Tech’s gender gap is getting worse, not better, report says
• I voted last week. I can officially stop paying attention to campaign pablum.
  • I just confirmed that my ballot has been received.
• Titanfall 2 drops (no pun intended) on Friday. That might be another birthday present to myself. Now, I just need to figure out PC or console…
• Skateboarding in an abandoned nuclear missile silo

Namaste.

Wednesday – 12 October 2016
Stuff and things and whatnot.

Namaste.

Wait. That’s not a proper post. I really should do one of those someday…

I guess that since I’m logged in, I should make like Nike and “just do it.” Now.

*cracks knuckles*
::: deep breath :::

The past few weeks have been good. Work’s been interesting. The company I work for has been (officially) purchased by a larger entity. So far, things are remaining status quo. I also got to spend about 36 hours on the east coast, thanks to a business trip. I was pleasantly surprised at how “green” things still were – I expected to see far more fall colors. Oh, well. That was only a slight disappointment, to be honest.

Team DiVa continues to astound and entertain me.

There was even a seven-year-anniversary in there, too.

Stray Toasters

• Kids really do grow up “so fast…”
• A couple of years ago, I had dinner with a high school classmate of mine. It’s about to happen again, as he and his family will be in town next this week.
• Luke Cage
  
  • Luke Cage Soundtrack Keeps It Real With Vinyl Release
    • Bulletproof Love
  • Misty Knight needs to appear on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Are you listening Marvel?)
• New York Comic Con happened last week. These next few things come from there:
  • Life-sized LEGO Harley Quinn Makes Her Debut at NYCC
  • LEGO Launches DC Superhero Girls Line
  • Marvel Comics Finally Announces a Ms. America Ongoing Series
• This, from woot.com, amused me:
  
• The Ultimate List of Hobbies for Men: 75+ Ideas For Your Free Time
• I built the third iteration of my Raspberry Pi Echo.
  (Actually, I just sat there while it built itself. Thanks, Amazon!)
• Bippity boppity boo.

Namaste.

Friday – 11 March 2016
It’s the end of the week! Of course, I thought that last week and wound up back in the office at 11:30 PM…

Tomorrow is opening night for Aida. If you:

• are in the Salt Lake City metropolitan opera,
• are looking for something different to do on a Saturday evening, and
• like opera,

you should come check it out – ticket information can be found here. It’s pretty amazing. (Personally, it’s even more amazing, having seen what’s been going on behind-the-scenes.) Added bonus, you get to see about 100 more people¹ (other than just Roy and me) dressed up as – and walking like – Egyptians:

AIDA: Captain (me) and Guard (Roy)

sdfklj

Stray Toasters

• Conversations like this are among the many reasons I love Sara:
  • 1:25pm
    Sara
    I apologize, in advance, if I come home with a windmill tonight.1:34pm

    Robert
    I’m sorry…. WHAT!?
    Like garden-sized windmill?1:36pm

    Sara
    Well, I’m going to a vintage market… there’s no telling what I might come home with this time.1:37pm
    Robert
    You bring home a windmill, I’m making a miniature golf course hole in the backyard.
    Just putting that out there.

    1:38pm
    Sara Kelly Neal
    Okay, I accept that gauntlet.

  • Minister Golf
• Does anyone have a recommendation for a good OBD-II diagnostic scanner?
• What is the order of the Gorillaz videos in terms of plot line?
• It seems as though Shohreh Aghdashloo has joined the cast of Star Trek Beyond. That’s just a bonus, right there.

Namaste.

¹ – DISCLAIMER: Not all 100 will be Egyptian; some will be dressed as Ethiopians.

Thursday – 11 February 2016
Today was supposed to be #NoBadNewsThursday. It started that way. About a hour-and-a-half into it, however… not so much. One of the servers at work decided to try a new trick:

• It was powered on.
• It could see – and transmit to – the network.
• NOTHING on the network could see it or any of the traffic it generated.

And, to make things even more interesting: This was tied to a production (as in “manufacturing”) system. So, it was “kind of” important.

To quote Dr. Sam Beckett: “Oh, boy…”

I – and a couple of network engineers – troubleshot it for about an hour before we came to the inescapable conclusion that it was not a network problem. Digging into things a little further, I saw that it was pending a reboot. That didn’t solve things. Next up: Check its updates queue. There were a few sitting there that needed to be run. So I let ’em fly. Reboot 2: Electric Boogaloo. Nothing. Well, that’s not entirely true. It started rolling back the updates. (That’s usually not a good sign.) I checked update error messages when it came back up and saw that they failed because the hard disk was full. As in “Zero. Bytes. Free.” There was a good bit of cursing on my part, to be honest. Then it was a dive into the storage array and VM systems to make space appear. Then present it to the server. That all worked. Then I tried the updates again. Lo and behold, they all went through with no problems. (There may or may not have been a few “Amens” and “Thank yous” that went up at this point.) And, almost automagically, networking traffic all worked again. I verified with one of the network guys and an end user that all was right with the world again… and it was. Selah.

Part of getting through the day included being taken to lunch by networking vendors. It was not only a good change of pace, but it brought my day back from the Precipice of Doom.

After work, I picked up Team DiVa from daycare. Home. Dinner and dessert. They even got in almost 20 minutes of Disney Infinity playtime before it was time to start bedtime prep. Selah.

Carve Away the Stone
I’ve made halting steps at getting back to the gym. Last night, I considered going… then I opted out, because it was damned cold outside. I did, however, still manage to get in a bit of a workout, courtesy of my dumbbells, Swiss ball, and a couple of suggestions from YouTube. Was it quite the same workout I would have gotten at the gym, no. But, I wasn’t just sitting on my duff doing nothing, either. I’ll call that a win.

Stray Toasters

• Every so often, Heaven, by Live works its way into my head. I have to say that it pretty accurately sums up how I feel about these two little ladies: 
  Here’s the second official video… and here’s Ed Kowalczyk doing an acoustic version, as well.
• In “WTF News” from the Land Behind the Zion Curtain: All-male panel in Utah votes to keep sales tax on tampons
  There are so many things wrong with that headline…
• Copyright trolls who claimed to own “Happy Birthday” to pay $14M to their “customers”
• Can you see these freaky dot patterns?
• In case you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the final trailer for Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice
• The History of Marvel’s No-Prize
• I enjoyed The LEGO Movie (as did most people on the planet). It’s common knowledge that I’m a fan of the Legion of Super-Heroes. So, it kind of goes without saying that I’m “most likely” going to wind up watching the next LEGO DC movie that comes out (in a couple weeks), Justice League: Cosmic Clash, as the LSH founders are making an appearance.

Alright, that’s it for now. I think I’m going to catch up on a show or two before calling it a night.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 03 February 2016

Drove to Millcreek in the snow
Nine-thirty on a Tuesday night,
Just to hang with the guys at the
Comic shop.
Call it impulsive
Call it compulsive,
Call it insane;
But when there’s trivia
We just can’t
Stop.

It’s a matter of instinct
It’s a matter of conditioning
It’s a matter of fact.

Call us geeks, nerds, or
Savants.
Ask us dates, names, or publishers,
We’ll answer like that
Lost track of time and I
Wound up losing two hours. Again.

Last night, I
Went to the gym
Got a midnight workout in
So I
Went to the gym
Got a midnight workout in.

With apologies to Barenaked Ladies, that about sums up last night, after Team DiVa went to bed. What was supposed to be a quick trip to the comic shop and the gym turned into a three-plus-hour excursion. But, I can at least take a modicum of comfort in the fact that I did make it to the gym.

On the other hand, I completely bollocksed my sleep schedule. Oh, well… sacrifices.

Stray Toasters

• I’ve been trying to decide what to do about recognizing Black History Month. Fortunately, TED made it easy: Talks to celebrate Black History Month
• The Super Bowl is this Sunday. Go, Panthers!
   versus 
• I’ve spent some of my past evenings building a new computer, rather than, say…. cleaning the train room.
• How Terminator 2 Should Have Ended: xkcd
• I have recently discovered the webcomic Molebashed.
• It’s official: Supergirl is crossing into the Arrowverse.

Monday – 25 January 2016
Another work weeks begins. I woke up this morning with the first verse of Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5 playing on loop in my head. That was a little unexpected.

This past weekend was good and spent mostly around the house. After Team DiVa’s ballet and swim lessons, a lot of the time on Saturday was spent cleaning up. I actually located the rest of the floor in the train room. I should really figure out just “what” I want to call it, since it’s not just my train room, but also my gaming room, and comics-reading room, and home office. And I have a deep dislike for the term “man cave.” I have called similar incarnations of rooms in previous homes the “HALO Command Center,” but I play far more Destiny and Disney Infinity these days than HALO. Perhaps I’ll take a cue from Infinity and call it the “Toy Box.” We’ll see… Speaking of the train room: There are actual trains on the tracks!  I still need to power the inner loop, but trains have been run.

Saturday night, it began snowing in the valley. That continued, off and on, through Sunday. We were expecting company for brunch, so I got up and busted out the shovel. Snow was shoveled. Brunch was had. A good time was had by all.

Later, I watched the Broncos send the Patriots back to Foxboro. I am usually only that happy to see the Pats lose when it’s the Ravens on the field, but this was a suitable proxy. Then, I watched the Panthers take the Cardinals apart. As the Panthers are my #2 team, I was quite pleased with this outcome. Next stop, Super Bowl 50!

Picture (c) NFL.com

Sunday night, we watched the return of The X-Files and wrapped up the evening with Fringe.

All-in-all, a good weekend.

Stray Toasters

• I just learned of this version of the Spider-Man theme today. I like it.
  • A few days ago, Vanessa spontaneously started singing this:
    Spider-Man, Spider-Man
    Does whatever a spider can!
    Spins a web – any size
    Catches leaves just like flies…She then stopped and asked: “Mama, why does Spider-Man catch leaves?”
• Thanks to my friends, Charity and Sean, for introducing me to Friendship is Witchcraft, a dark parody of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
• I’ve made a few trips to the gym this year, so far. That’s better than the prior two-and-a-half months. I also re-learned that taking such an extended “vacation” causes you to lose a lot of progress. So, I’m finding where I can comfortably pick up and restart.
• I had a couple of thoughts about the latest Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice teaser trailers.

That’s good for now.

Namaste.

Friday – 12 June 2015
It’s the end of the (work) week. Amen.

It’s been a good, though tiring week, as Sara! spent Tuesday through Thursday at Altitude Summit… including being a panelist on Wednesday. This means that Team DiVa and I had to fend for ourselves on those days. We all survived the experience. And, we even managed to do an art project and make s’mores in the process. I’d call it an all-around “Win.”

I even made it to the gym five days this week; I haven’t done that in a few years.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
My news feeds have been full of articles about Rachel Dolezal, president of the Spokane Chapter of the NAACP and how it appears that she has lied about being Black. The story apparently came to the national spotlight after her mother outed her. It’s interesting to note that this story is not about someone adopting or borrowing from a culture, but rather has asserted, to no small degree, that she actually is a member of that culture.

What I find curious is that no one has talked about the historical precedent for the reverse of this: Light-skinned Blacks “passing” as White. For decades in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, people of mixed race and fair complexions lived among the general populace, identifying as White… or at least claiming to be, when it benefited them. For a fictional account of such “passing,” I highly recommend reading Mat Johnson‘s Incognegro (1, 2, 3).

I don’t know of any stipulation in the NAACP’s charter that requires members to be “of color.” Hint: There isn’t one. ANYONE is welcome to join.

From the items that I’ve read, no one is calling into question her right to be a member of – or to be president of – the Spokane chapter, which is good. The whole issue seems to stem from her racial identification.

I am most curious to see how this shakes out.

Workout
I should probably log these before I forget. Again.

Monday

• Elliptical: 10 min/1.1 miles
• Lat Pulldown (long bar): 3 x 8 x 80 lbs
• Lat Pulldown (shortg grip): 3 x 8 x 80 lbs
• Row: 3 x 8 x 80
• Tricep Rope Pulldown: 3 x 8 x 70
• Standing Tricep Press: 3 x 8 x 70

Tuesday

• Squats: 3 x 8 x 70 lbs
• Leg Press: 3 x 8 x 100 lbs
• Leg Extensions: 3 x 8 x 70 lbs
• Leg Curls: 3 x 8 x 70 lbs
• Standing Calf Raises: 3 x 8 x 100 lbs
• Standing Calf Raises: 3 x 8 x 80 lbs

Wednesday

• Bench Press: 3 x 8 x 115 lbs
• Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 3 x 8 x 25 lbs
• Dumbbell Fly: 3 x 8 x 25 lbs
• Dumbbell Curls: 3 x 8 x 25 lbs
• Wrist Curls (fwd): 3 x 8 x 40 lbs
• Wrist Curls (rev): 3 x 8 x 40 lbs

Thursday

• Elliptical: 5 min/0.55 mi
• Squats: 3 x 8 x 70 lbs
• Leg Press: 3 x 8 x 100 lbs
• Leg Extensions: 3 x 8 x 70 lbs
• Leg Curls: 3 x 8 x 70 lbs
• Standing Calf Raises: 3 x 8 x 100 lbs
• Standing Calf Raises: 3 x 8 x 80 lbs

Friday

• Lat Pulldown (long bar): 3 x 8 x 80 lbs
• Lat Pulldown (shortg grip): 3 x 8 x 80 lbs
• Row: 3 x 8 x 80 lbs
• Dumbbell Overhead Tricep Extensions: 3 x 8 x 30 lbs
• Tricep Rope Pulldown: 3 x 8 x 70 lbs
• Standing Tricep Press: 3 x 8 x 70 lbs

Stray Toasters

• When this is posted, it will make my 7,000th Tweet.
• I’ve received quite a few comments over this morning’s Twitter post; I am still somewhat amused by the situation. I intend to address it with the appropriate people on Monday morning.
• Superhero Stance
• These Are Some of the Longest Movies Ever Made
• For Second Year in a Row, Female Readers Are a Growing Market
• How hip-hop can teach you to code
• It looks like there’s a new trailer out for Fox’ upcoming Fantastic Four.
• A card game that teaches kids about women in science
• This Chart Compares the Hidden Fees of Major Airlines Reward Programs
• After ‘Avengers’ Uproar, Marvel Planning a ‘Big Focus’ on Products for Girls, Women

I think that’s good for now.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 03 June 2015
It’s a sunny #NBNThursdayEve in the Land Behind the Zion Curtain.

Last night, I was putting Team DiVa to bed and, as they were getting into bed, they reminded me that “…we didn’t do a special story,” which is how I referred to Monday night’s D&D-style story. We spent the next ten minutes spinning a tale of their new adventure. (Yes, this made my inner #geekdad grin like a fiend.) They went to bed; I went to pick up this week’s comics. Win-Win.

I managed to make it to the gym this morning… after oversleeping. But, I went. I had a decent workout. Back home to help get Team DiVa ready for the day and out the door. And to get me ready and out the door, too.

Work’s been good and there haven’t been any major monkey wrenches thrown into my day, so I consider those all positive things.

Workout

• Elliptical: 5 minutes/ 0.55 miles
• Lat pulldown (wide grip): 3 x 8 x 70
• Lat pulldown (short grip): 3 x 8 x 70
• Dorsi Flexor row: 3 x 8 x 75
• Row: 3 x 8 x 70
• Standing tricep pulldown (rope): 3 x 8 x 70
• Standing tricep press: 3 x 8 x 70

Stray Toasters

• The balloon art of Masayoshi Matsumoto
  
  
• Samuel L. Jackson Is Not in ‘Captain America: Civil War’ and He Doesn’t Know Why
  To TPTB at Marvel: Fix. This. Now.
• TIL that Jack Kirby – yes, that Jack Kirby – worked on production design on Thundarr the Barbarian.
  • I also learned that the character was created by Steve Gerber, creator of Howard the Duck and the guy who resurrected the Guardians of the Galaxy property at Marvel.
• The Iceman List: Classic movie antagonists who were actually pretty much right the entire time
• ‘Suit Up’: NASA Documentary Celebrates 50 Years of U.S. Spacewalks

Quote of the Day
I found this quote as part of an interview with Joy Williams, formerly of The Civil Wars:

Moving on doesn’t mean neglecting my past.

I like it. It strikes me as an interesting corollary to a couple lines from Time Stand Still by Rush:

I’m not looking back
But I want to look around me now

Namaste.

Monday – 01 June 2015
It’s Monday. It’s the first of June. And… something something something-or-other.

There’s far too much blood in my caffeinestream for me to be writing a post this early. And it’s already been far too long of a day – I received a lovely wake up call from room service our after-hours monitoring company at 4:15. One issue was a non-issue, according to my manager, the other was… relatively minor in my book, but still needed some attention.

An hour and change later, after getting confirmation that the alerts had cleared, I headed back to bed. In the back of my head was a notion to go to the gym. I pushed it way back. As I laid in bed, I realized a couple of distinct possibilities:

1. I could fall asleep, just in time for my alarm to go off, or
2. I might not fall asleep and just get steadily more irritable at not being able to sleep.

I got up and went to the gym. I have to say that it was more crowded at 6 AM than I expected – the ellipticals were almost all in use and the treadmills appeared to be equally employed. So, I skipped cardio today.

But, I didn’t skip doing my leg workout. One of these days, when I’m a bit more coherent – or, Heaven forbid, I actually plan it out the night before – I’ll add a couple of things to my leg routine. Since I was early (and also because I missed a few days last week with st00pid work issues and/or a sick kid), I went ahead and did my chest and biceps routine.

Back home, started waking up Team DiVa – Vanessa requested We Will Rock You (so she could sing to it) and Diana, much to my surprise, requested Because the Night, by Patti Smith… and to my greater surprise: started singing it! Yep, that’s my kid. After that, it was shower time and I just want to go back to bed getting dressed and ready for the day time.

Let’s see what the day brings.

Workout
Today was a double-workout day:

• Leg Press: 3 x 8 x 100 lbs (because I didn’t think to go do squats on the Smith rack)
• Leg Press: 3 x 8 x 80 lbs
• Leg Extensions: 3 x 8 x 60 lbs
• Leg Curls: 3 x 8 x 65 lbs
• Standing Calf Raises: 3 x 8 x 100 lbs
• Standing Calf Raises: 3 x 8 x 80 lbs
• Bench Press: 3 x 8 x 115 lbs
• Decline Press: 3 x 8 x 95 lbs
• Dumbbell Fly: 3 x 8 x 20 lbs
• Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 3 x 8 x 25 lbs
• Barbell Curls: 3 x 8 x 40 lbs
• Dumbbell Curls: 3 x 8 x 25 lbs
• Wrist Curls (fwd): 3 x 8 x 40
• Wrist Curls (rev): 3 x 8 x 40

And it was good.

Stray Toasters

• Over the weekend, Sara! and I watched John Woo’s The Killer. It made me realize just how long it’s been since I’d watched a John Woo film…
• Confession: I now own all of the currently-available Marvel figures for Disney Infinity.
• Sara introduced Team DiVa to Star Wars, by way of Vader’s Little Princess this weekend.
  
• The Single Ladies – DuckTales mashup makes my inner fiend grin.

I should probably figure out what I want to do for lunch…

Namaste.

Friday – 29 May 2015
“The best laid plans of mice and men…”

That is an excellent quote for the past 36 hours. Wednesday night, thanks to a couple of adorable children, I had a less-then-stellar night of sleep. As I noted yesterday, I figured that I might hit the gym after they went to bed last night.

No go, Flight.

I didn’t get out of the office until nearly 8:30 last night, chasing down what appeared to be a mail server issue. (More on this later.) By the time I got home, all I wanted to do was eat dinner and then do a lot of nothing. I was  highly successful at accomplishing both tasks. Before going to bed, I resolved to hit the gym this morning.

Strike Two!

Last night, Diana started getting a little sick and was up many times in the night. Mostly moaning “Mo-o-o-o-mmy…..” or “Da-a-a-a-a-ddy…..” or both. A couple of times, she came into our room for cuddles and/or to sleep. According to our Sense, either Sara or I (or both of us) were up about seven times last night. That made getting out of bed damn near impossible. I finally dragged my carcass out from the sheets around 7:45… and I felt like a zombie. (But nowhere as perky as Gwen Dylan/Liv Moore from iZombie (1, 2).)

Back in the office a little early – and a couple of cups of coffee later – I was informed that last night’s high-profile, high-priority email emergency was not only non-existent, but also a complete misunderstanding/miscommunication between two parties.

*grblsnrkx*

#ajobaintnuthinbutwork #LifeInIT

Aside from that, it’s been a decent day. It’s been relatively quiet.

It was also coworker Adam’s last day. He got “an offer he couldn’t (and shouldn’t have) refuse.” Fortunately, we only live a couple of miles apart and our daughters like playing together, so I don’t consider this him riding off into the sunset.

Stray Toasters

• Separate & Unequal, an article by my friend, Bryan Young. Read it.
• CHART: The Qatar World Cup Death Toll Is Stunning
• Roland Park Reflections on the Riots
• I may or may not have introduced Shake Your Bon Bon to Team DiVa…
  • They may or may not occasionally change the lyrics to “Chicken Bomb Bomb”
• Miniature LEGO Adventures That I Create in My Spare Time

Okay, there’s a little more work to be plowed through before the day is done.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 19 May 2015
This morning, I managed to get out of bed once again and make it to the gym before work. This is a “good” thing, as Guys’ Night Out was moved to tonight and trying to go to the gym after that would most definitely come under the heading of “bad idea.”

Work has been decent. There’s been nothing to complain about today. I like days like that.

Exactly.

Shortly, I’ll head home to (help) figure out what to feed Team DiVa for dinner and then prepare to bugger off for the aforementioned Guys’ Night Out. On the way home, I might even stop at the comic shop. Because nothing says “adult” like going to the comic shop when you want to.

Workout
While I did get to the gym this morning, I was still a little slow about getting there. Nevertheless, I was there and I did my workout. #neverskipalegday

• Elliptical: 10 min/1.1 miles
• Smith squats: 3 x 8 x 115 (I think, I need to check the weight of the bar)
• Leg press: 3 x 8 x 80
• Leg extensions: 3 x 8 x 60 lbs
• Leg curls: 3 x 8 x 60
• Standing calf raises: 3 x 8 x 80
• Standing calf raises: 3 x 8 x 60

I could tell that it was a leg day when I got to work and my quads complained – just a little – all the way up the stairs. To be honest, I should: A) get to the gym earlier, and B) some lunges to my routine… despite the fact that lunges are of the Devil (…and the Devil is bad.)

Stray Toasters

• Sara shared this with me, a little while ago; it’s a good read.
  United We Parent: Raising Teens and Loving It
• Longinus!
• New Wind Turbine Generates Electricity Without Rotating Blades
• From glassdoor: 25 Best Cities for Jobs

Namaste.

Wednesday – 22 April 2015
Today is Earth Day.

It is also No Bad News Thursday Eve.

But, possibly the most important news of the day is that my coworker, Brad, and I have come up with what could possibly be the best movie concept in the history of concepts that became movies.

We were deciding where to have lunch, when we settled on Five Guys. Then we started mutilating the name in Spanish: Cinco Hombres…

…which then became Cinco Muertes, “Five Deaths,”¹ to our amusement.

At that point, Brad suggested that the Wu Tang Clan should portray the Five Deaths. This was, in my opinion, a great idea. But, I took it one step further:

 Cinco Muertes Silenciosas: The Five Silent Deaths.

In the tradition of only the best kung-fu movies, The Five Silent Deaths set out to avenge the untimely death of their master from a rival clan… each of them taking a vow of silence until their rivals had been destroyed. Brad questioned how well this would work, as it seemed to be counterintuitive to have Wu Tang Clan unable to rap. This was a good point. I posited that they would only communicate by beat-boxing. (There could even be a cameo from Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh. Or even The Fat Boys.)

We let it go for a while and continued our drive to Five Guys.

Over lunch, we were talking about Nic Cage, King of the B Movies. It wasn’t long until our conversation turned towards The Rock – the best Michael Bay movie not to star Will Smith and not The Actor Also Known as Dwayne Johnson. For some reason, I then came to the conclusion that Nic Cage needed to star in a movie with Christopher Lloyd… and just let the crazy happen. Brad thought about this for a few moments and then noted that Crispin Glover should be added to the cast, along with Christopher Walken. I asked why not include Christian Bale, for some added intensity. Brad didn’t disagree.

Then, came the revelation: These five actors should be The Five Silent Deaths and that Wu Tang Clan could provide the soundtrack.

Somebody get me an agent, I have a movie to make.

¹ – Apologies for any horrible bastardization of the Spanish language in this post. I took Latin in high school, so Spanish isn’t exactly my strong suit.

Thursday – 02 April 2015
Another No Bad News Thursday draws to a close and I realize that it’s been a little while since I’ve blown the cobwebs off of here.

Life is good. I really can’t complain. Oh, sure, getting Team DiVa to actually go to sleep when we put them to bed can be… trying, but they’re kids. It’s normal. I just hope that this phase passes relatively quickly. (That’s normal, too, right? I mean, to hope for that as a parent…)

Last weekend, we took the girls up to Antelope Island. (On which, I have never seen antelope…) We did see bison, however. We also flew a kite and the girls threw rocks in the water. What can I say? It’s one of their favorite pastimes. They also touched the Great Salt Lake… and got a little muddy and sandy, which caused a little consternation on their parts/amusement on ours.

I also stopped at a train store not far from the island, Almosta Junction. Although, compared to the last time I was there, it could just as easily be called “Almost a train shop.” It was a bit sad to see how little inventory they had. That store is definitely a labor of love.

Later that evening, I went to hear Jonni Lightfoot and W. James Woods play at a local restaurant.

It was a good evening, until the waitress – not 10 minutes after I had paid – came back to tell me that they had no record of me having done so.

*grblsnrkx*

Fortunately, my bank and its app, had my back. Right there on the screen, big as day and twice as bright, was the charge against my account. Idiotsticks.

Stray Toasters

• We “cut the cord” last week. We bought an HD over-the-air antenna (which has been great) and are just using our Roku (with Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Sling). It’s been good. I do miss the flexibility of having a DVR to catch the things we miss, but I’ve been able to stream those shows, so no major loss.
• This past Sunday was Palm Sunday. Every year, I recall the song Palm Sunday Downpour, as done by a trio of guys I know who used to go by the band name: Hat. On a lark, I decided to see if I could find a copy of the song on the ‘tubes. Lo and behold, I did. Not only that, It’s been updated and redone by one of the original band members, Christian Scott Martin. It’s not quite the version I remember, but it’s pretty damned close.
  
• I’ve been playing – and enjoying the crap out of – Disney Infinity. I just finished the Avengers Play Set a few days ago. The final boss, a Frost Giant monster, took out my entire Avengers lineup. I wound up having to finish it off with Rocket Raccoon, which made me grin like a fiend. God willin’ and the creek don’t rise, I’ll probably get started on the Guardians of the Galaxy set this weekend.
• Boom de yada
  Boom de yada
  Boom de yada
  Boom de yada
• Words that I never thought I’d string together: “Read this insurance company fan-fic.“

That’s good for now. And, I can still get it in under the wire and still call it “today.” Nice.

Namaste.

Friday – 06 February 2015
My niece, Grace, turned seven today:

Team DiVa and I got to talk with her – and her sisters, my sister and brother-in-law, and my dad – over Skype this evening. I believe that it was one of the most engaged conversations that DiVa has had over Skype.

Other things that made today good:

1. Post-work/post-daycare with Team DiVa.
2. An end-of-the-work-day chat with Sara!.
3. Introducing Team DiVa to Undercova Funk before bedtime.
   
4. Learning that Sana Amanat, former editor and co-creator of the new Ms. Marvel, got what are colloquially referred to as “big ups” as she was named Marvel’s new Director of Content and Character Development.
5. Conversations about fashion and style with a trio of coworkers.
6. A discussion with a coworker about my standing desk, her pilgrimage o The Garden of Sweden to acquire one… and the confused looks on the employees’ faces as they showed her their standing desk (much more expensive) and she kept telling them “That’s not it.”

Things that did not make the day good:

1. Yet another email spam/virus outbreak at work. (Fortunately, we caught it quickly and got ahead of it before it became too widespread.)
2. Not getting to eat lunch because of the above.

On the whole, I’d call the day a “Win.”

Stray Toasters

• I am running a nominally Valentine’s Day-themed tournament tomorrow. I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of teams my players bring.
• I should comb through the various and sundry links that I’ve posted here, see if the links are still active, determine if I still care about them, and pin the worthy on Pinterest.
  • I may even move The Covet List from an Amazon Wish List over to Pinterest, as well.
• The Pro Dumpster Diver Who’s Making Thousands Off America’s Biggest Retailers
• It may just be the way I’m wired, but I’m not sure that I entirely agree with How Often You Really Need to Shower (According to Science)
• Speaking of which, how often do you wipe down your kitchen counters?
• Marvel, in other news, also announced a new book, spinning out of the upcoming Secret Wars: An all-female team of Avengers.
• And, before I forget: Someone at DC seems to have had a rectal craniotomy and decided to make Starfire a little more palatable/accessible to readers, including those who mostly/only knew of her from the Teen Titans and Teen Titans Go! cartoons.
• I might actually be one step closer to running a new Shadowrun campaign.

Time to find something to do now that Team DiVa has finally knocked out for the night.

Namaste.