Random Access

Friday – 29 June 2007
The week finally draws to an end. Selah.

Today’s been good, aside from the slight… I’m not really sure how to explain it… feeling that I’ve had since waking up. Light-headed? Swimmy? At first, I attributed it to the differences between wearing my glasses, as opposed to my contact lenses – it was the same kind of distortion/perception. But, it didn’t go away when I reinstalled the integrated secondary optical enhancers.

More studying. Today: Networking – specifically, DNS & BIND. I’m going through a book by O’Reilly & Associates. I believe that this is the first time that I have actually read an O’Reilly book. It’s not bad. Not bad at all.

For “lunch” today, I went to Dr. Volt’s. I picked up my four-color shwag… and my Legion Heroclix. Mm-hmm, that’s right!

Stray Toasters

• I talked with Mom earlier; she’s doing well.
• I tried out WordPress’ “Import” feature. It’s not bad; it’s a little slower than I had expected, but it works… and that’s the key thing here.
• The iPhone launched today. Beware first-gen tech. Consider that your only warning.
• Coworker Dave(SLC) pointed me in the direction of: Chaco. He apparently used to live not far from here.
• Grand Funkmaster Dis
• showed us Sexy Back (Kirk/Spock) at Game Night on Monday… I forgot to post it. Until now.
• Dasks.

Quotes of the Day
Two quotes today. First up, from a conversation with :

(6/29/2007 3:02:09 PM): is Adobe ActiveX alright to install without worry?
(6/29/2007 3:02:32 PM): yes
(6/29/2007 3:04:08 PM): is www.canadanbeerhookersattheborder.ca.org alright too, then?
(6/29/2007 3:04:30 PM): Oh, of course!
(6/29/2007 3:04:46 PM): I’m surprised that it’s not on your usual bookmark list.
(6/29/2007 3:05:01 PM): well, I hate to lie to you Rob….but……..
(6/29/2007 3:05:23 PM): yes, I have that site hooked into my t.v. in the bedroom to fall asleep to/wake up to every day
(6/29/2007 3:05:28 PM): I just get hooked, man
(6/29/2007 3:05:41 PM): Oh, it’s easy to do.
(6/29/2007 3:05:42 PM): *nod*
(6/29/2007 3:05:50 PM): Canadan women with floppy jahoobies and BEER?!?!
(6/29/2007 3:05:54 PM): I mean, c’mon!!!
(6/29/2007 3:06:33 PM): look… give me my vices, alright?

And the second, from a conversation with Derek:

(6/29/2007 3:17:35 PM): Take Konnie mini-golfing.
(6/29/2007 3:17:38 PM): Or to the batting cages.
(6/29/2007 3:17:45 PM): Or to Boondocks.
Derek (6/29/2007 3:20:24 PM): we will probably do something of that nature
Derek (6/29/2007 3:20:33 PM): I want to get a wii bowling tournement going sometime
Derek (6/29/2007 3:20:39 PM): oh and she hates stufffed animals
Derek (6/29/2007 3:20:42 PM):
(6/29/2007 3:23:28 PM): Reeeeally?
(6/29/2007 3:23:36 PM): Bad experience as a child with one?
(6/29/2007 3:23:48 PM): …or is she afraid of becoming a plushie?
Derek (6/29/2007 3:24:11 PM): she just finds them pointless
Derek (6/29/2007 3:24:20 PM): haha when I went to moab I got her a souvenir
Derek (6/29/2007 3:24:26 PM): I got her a rock from the side of the road
Derek (6/29/2007 3:24:36 PM): and just said, “I got you a rock”
Derek (6/29/2007 3:25:04 PM): then I told her that I meant to carve a cool petroglyph on it, and she said she wanted me to do that before I gave it to her.
Derek (6/29/2007 3:25:06 PM): so ya
Derek (6/29/2007 3:25:11 PM): she has a rock instead of a stuffed animal
(6/29/2007 3:25:15 PM): Nice.
(6/29/2007 3:28:40 PM): You should get her an action figure.
Derek (6/29/2007 3:28:46 PM): lmao
(6/29/2007 3:28:55 PM): When she goes “What’s this?” you can say “Not a stuffed animal.”
Derek (6/29/2007 3:29:02 PM): lmao
Derek (6/29/2007 3:29:06 PM): I am SOOOOO doing that
Derek (6/29/2007 3:29:09 PM): you win
(6/29/2007 3:29:16 PM): I always win.
(6/29/2007 3:29:19 PM): That’s why I’m the Pope.
(6/29/2007 3:29:52 PM): Or General Zod.
(6/29/2007 3:29:59 PM): I get them confused sometimes.

Namaste.

Thursday: coda
The post-work day found me in the Garden of Sweden. Again. This time, I went with the intent of checking on a coffee table, some picture frames for my concert tourbooks and… what in theory should be curtains, but I think will be used as wall treatments. *blink blink* Did I just say… “wall treatments?!” *sigh* I think that is unequivocal proof that I am my mother’s son. But… “I found things to hang on the wall.” I also discovered that a couple of pieces of furniture don’t come in the color I want. Oh, well. I can deal.

Home for a bit and then back out again for coffee with Liz. Then, home again, home again. Jiggety-jig.

Stray Toasters

• I got some potentially really good news from Perry this afternoon; I just have to wait to see how it pans out.
• I don’t know how I missed this announcement. Hopefully, it will be better – MUCH better – than the adaptation of Johnny Mnemonic… which was an excellent short story, but a shitty movie.
• And speaking of Mr. Gibson’s work (with a few other items thrown in, for good measure): The Matrix has you – Second Earth
• Using the Wii Remote as a wireless 3D interface device
• Catch a falling star an’ put it in your pocket
  Never let it fade away!
  Catch a falling star an’ put it in your pocket,
  Save it for a rainy day!
  (This was one of the first – if not the first – songs that Mom taught me to play on the piano.)

• Cyberpunk cinema
• 
• “Peace, be still.”
• Steampunk Workshop
• : DIE Another DAY.
• Jake Van Slatt’s Steampunk Creations
• I don’t need no one to tell me about heaven
  I look at my daughter, and I believe.
  I don’t need no proof when it comes to God and truth
  I can see the sunset and I perceive

Namaste.

Thursday – 28 June 2007
So far, NBN Thursday has gone well.

I woke up this morning, but was a little slow getting out of the gate. Not horribly so, but a little. As I was getting ready, I had a song run through my head… a song that I don’t think I’ve heard since I was in Kindergarten:

There was a man named Michaeal Finnegan
Who grew whiskers on his chin-igan
Shaved them off, but they grew back in again
Poor old Michael Finnegnan…
Begin again!

And the song would repeat. Simple, basic kids’ song.

I could understand it if the song had run through my head while I was shaving. That would actually… make… sense. But, no. I had finished shaving and was ironing the day’s outfit when it burst onto the scene. Fortunately, it came and went fairly quickly; but the thought of it has amused me for the better portion of the day.

Stray Toasters

• I have discovered that WordPress has a built-in (as of its last version) import function. Coupled with LiveJournal’s XML/CSV export function, I can export all of my entries from LJ and set them up in Random Access. I will be testing this out.
• I also discovered that I had somehow set user registration on Random Access so that I was the only one who could register users to leave comments. I don’t remember doing it, but that’s not the point. The point is: I changed the setting so that anyone can register. (Of course, this could prove an interesting test for the spam filter plugin that I use.)
• Acolyte Derek sent me a link to The Peoples’ Mario. Interesting.
• I have a Fat Boy ice cream sandwich! Tasty iced creams…. Mmm.
• Eric sent me a link to Balancing Points. This is pretty cool, as well.
• There’s a nasty rumour that Valarinne put in an appearance in Paragon City last night.

More later. Maybe. If you’re good.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 27 June 2007
Middle of the week and all’s well.

Last night was game night. Nominally. We had a hard time staying focused and keeping the game on-track. Hopefully, the (few) things we learned will be helpful and we didn’t neglect to ask something whose answer could wind up biting us in the collective ass.

Today, I have… huh… what have I done? Oh, wait: I went back and tracked down a problem with one of the systems I installed yesterday. And gone over more documentation for software. And stuff.

I recently got an email about a task that was supposed to take place a couple of weeks ago… but was decided against at the time. There was a rumour that it might still go through, but nothing definite. Until today. *sigh*

Let the monkeys hit the floor!
Let the monkeys hit the floor!
Let the monkeys hit the floor!
Let the monkeys hit the FLOOOOOOOOOR!

Stray Toasters

• Because I haven’t mentioned this enough…
• I haven’t listened to Snakes & Arrows nearly as much as I should have. I must rectify this.
• I have, however, started listening to each Rush CD as complete works. I have been toying with the idea of reviewing each CD: Highlight. Lowlight. Limelight.
• By way of ESPN.com: Philbrick: Lights, camera, graduation – Page 2’s ultimate commencement address
• Man spends 18 years making miniature garden castle
• 
• First Annual LEGO Creativity Awards
• – Video gaming is not an addiction, yet
• “Do you have a low tolerance for pain?”
• – Ann Coulter vs. Elizabeth Edwards

Namaste.

Tuesday – 26 June 2007
You know that it’s going to be an interesting day when it takes you at least fifteen seconds to remember what day it is. Seriously. The alarm went off and I couldn’t remember if it was Sunday, Monday or possibly Tuesday. Slowly, clarity – or some semblence of it – made its way into the dark recesses of my brain and I came up with “It’s Tuesday.” The rest of the morning prep went fairly well after that.

Into the SLC office to finish up a task that I had started on Friday. I had planned to finish it yesterday, but I was in AF all day. From what I could gather, it would take an hour-and-a-half or so to wrap up. Wrong. Try almost four hours, thanks to a couple of hardware issues and the fact that there are parts of the process that I am completely unfamiliar. Wrapped it up and headed down to AF…

…just in time to head to the gym. Today’s workout shouldn’t have been overly taxing, but it was work – Eric agreed. But, we muddled out way through it.

Back to the ranch for the back half of the workday. Whoop.

Stray Toasters

• I need a nap.
• The new LSH ‘Clix come out tomorrow.
  …as does the new Avengers set.
• …and, since we’re on the topic of The Avengers: New Iron Man movie photo
• Dirty Microbe – “World’s best funny t-shirts and stuff.”
• Video Ga-Ga (Neither is exactly work-safe.)
  • You’ve probably seen or heard Hey There, Delilah by The Plain White T’s. A coworker sent me this parody.
  • Dwim sent me a link to an SNL sketch starring Christopher Walken: Colonel Angus
• Have dinner with Joss Whedon, help a good cause.
• It’s sad how accurate this is…
  
• “The Baby Jesus” meat product
• …and Supreme Court-approved drugs for Jesus
• 
• GoogleTalk and Safari don’t mix well.
• Instructables
• So… are they bringing Magik back?

Quote of the Day

From a conversation with earlier this afternoon:

[14:54] : you have 5 minutes to reach minimum safe distance.
[15:13] : Um.
[15:13] : That’s not a good sign.
[15:14] : sorry. you were vaporized about 5 minutes ago.
[15:14] : Sweet.
[15:14] : I am a vapor trail!
[15:15] : you’re awfully talkative for someone who was recently vaporized. maybe it was a dud. is there an ICBM in the parking lot there?
[15:15] : You mean that big, shiny metal thing that crashed about 15 minutes ago?
[15:16] : no no.. that’s just a busload full of nuns.
[15:16] : Oh.
[15:16] : Then…. no.

Namaste.

Sunday (coda)
Jazz.

Not the Utah variety.
The New Orleans variety.

And, for the record: I know that the Utah Jazz were the New Orleans Jazz before the move.
That doesn’t change the fact that they are still not what I’m talking about.

Jazz music is what I’m talking about here.
Dixieland jazz.

Brass. Banjo. Drum. Bass. And a piano.
Even more specifically: The Preservation Hall Jazz Band. To borrow a quote from Drumline: “One band, one sound.” In this case, it was: Seven men. Seven instrumnents. One mood.

And the mood was: Fun.

Not only did they come to Salt Lake and play up a storm, they redeemed the 2007 Utah Arts Festival. At least, they redeemed it for me. They played their brand of music and lit up the place. There were people dancing in front of the stage. Around/among the crowd. And, when they did their “Second Line” piece, Joe Avery, they led a line of people through the performance area and up on the stage. They turned a performance into an interactive experience. And it was wonderful. You could tell that the band was having a good time. You see it. You could hear it. You could feel it. And, looking around the crowd, you could tell that the people were having just as good a time. In fact, I think that my three bellwethers were:

• A little girl – she couldn’t have been more than three – who walked past me with her family. She danced as she walked by… no prodding from her parents, no insistence from anyone. She just… danced. And she was into it, too.
• A young lady who danced past me in the Second Line. She was dancing in the moment. You could see it in the look on her face and the way that she moved as the line snaked through the crowd. The mood and the spirit seemed to be infectious to her; she seemed powerless to resist it. And, quite frankly, she seemed very happy and willing to give in to it.
• An older gentleman (in his… late 60s/early70s, maybe) who, at one point, was dancing near the stage… and then decided to let the music move him around the crowd. Not too far from me, he put his drink down and seriously got his dance on. A few moments later, he returned to his cup, picked it up and grooved his way through the rest of the crowd.

I think that I’ve loved hearing the saxophone in jazz since I could pronounce the word “saxophone.” A low, moaning sax can tell you about heartbreak and pain. A high, wailing sax can make you fly. And it can hit just about every emotion in between. Tonight, however, I was forced to reconsider its position in the instrumental pantheon. Don’t get me wrong, Darryl Adams did it right. He was all over it: High. Low. Running the scales. He was on. But… Lucien Barbarin (I think it was him, I didn’t get a good look at him… and I know that it wasn’t Frank Demond) turned it out… on the trombone. That’s right: The trombone. And it was gooood. This isn’t to say that the other instruments didn’t swing, too. They did. Mightily. But, these two… *nod*… they had the stuff tonight.

So, while the Kimball Arts Festival still holds a little more appeal to me, tonight restored my faith in the Utah Arts Festival.

Namaste.

Sunday – 24 June 2007
It’s been a pretty decent day… even though I haven’t done a lot.

The day started with brunch at Ruth’s Diner with , , Carrie Kelly and Dina. From there, I drove up Emigration Canyon and down Parley’s back into the valley. I decided to take Wasatch Blvd. back rather than 215. A quick stop at B&B and then back home. and Dina got their gear and – after we exchanged a few videos on YouTube – headed for the northlands.

came over a little while later and picked up the kids. It’s going to be a bit more quiet (esp. around 4 in the morning) without them here.

I decided to have Nefer-Tem spend a little time in Paragon City. Shortly after logging in, I was invited to a team – comprised of a few Peacebringers, Tanks and Blasters. Usually, I’m a bit leery of teams like this, as I prefer teams with a Defender or Controller to help with the healing. But, I ventured on. And it was a pretty good team. I did die once, but only once; and that was despite us taking on some rather healthy-sized groups of The Council and The Freakshow.

Now… I think that I’m going to head downtown again. There is jazz at the Arts Festival. The temperature is cooling off and it will be a nice way to wind down the evening. Something that I neglected to mention last night: I was a little… disappointed in this year’s festival. It seemed “smaller,” with respect to the number of artists’ booths. I think that I walked through pretty much all of them in about an hour. If hadn’t spotted me – and I hadn’t sat around to chat with her and a few others, I would have been out of the gates after that hour. But, that’s okay… The Kimball Arts Festival in Park City is just around the corner.

I just got a message from saying that she made it home safely. Selah.

Namaste.

Friday (coda)
Post-work, I did some straightening (and even threw in a little cleaning, for good measure). I played with the cats in between bouts of “I don’t feel like dealing with [insert cleaning task] just yet.” Then, a shower and out the door fo Clitorati.

Tonight’s gathering was smallish, but good. , and two of her teammates, arrived a little after 9:00 PM. After introductions were bandied about, we sat, chatted and drank our beverages of choice. Then, it was on to dinner.

Tomorrow is Derby Day. In light of that, here is a simple list of the positions and rules (1, 2) for the bout. And it seems as though more people than I thought are interested in sitting in the “Suicide Seats.” It should be fun.

Stray Toasters

• “Common sense, unfortunately, isn’t.” I came up with this a few months ago. When I look at the number of times/cases when it’s been applicable, I almost get the urge to trademark it.
• For …
  “Did you see the new Batman costume for The Dark Knight?”
  
• What do you get when you mix math and rock music? Questionable Content has the answer.
• loves me (or at least tolerates me). How do I know? She sent me a link to this and this.
• sent me a link to this story yesterday.
• By way of comes a link to this t-shirt.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 20 June 2007
This morning has gotten off to a slow start. I apparently didn’t sleep well last night. When I got up this morning to turn off Nomad (I use it as a secondary alarm), I stretched out on the couch… for an hour. I felt a bit better after that, so I figured that it was about time to get the day started. I also have a frozen mocha, so hopefully that will thin out the blood in my caffeinestream.

The work day hasn’t been bad. A little work in the server room. Some research. Rush in Rio. And a nice constitutional… with a discussion about guns.

Stray Toasters

• I was listening to Piccadilly Collection, by Squeeze, last night. One of my particular favorite songs of theirs is Hourglass – a song that makes NO sense (as far as I can tell) and whose video makes even less sense… but is a fun, bounce-around-like-an-idiot tune.
• comes: Endless Zombie Rampage
• …and while we’re on the subject of zombies: Monster by Mail
• From Coworker Dave W. (I swear… I’m going to have to start numbering the Daves at this rate): Overheard in New York
• So you wanted to meet the wizard?
  Let me tell you that you’ve come to the right place!
  Shall I make you a frog or a lizard?
  You should see the strained expression on your face
  If the way I come on is fright’ning
  That’s the way I felt like coming on today
  Have you ever been kissed by lightning?
  Let me tell you, that will make you go away
• Star Wars AT-AT stroller mod
• Titanic lamp (the only thing missing is the guy bouncing off the propeller)
• Computer programs… hidden on your old LPs? Yep.
• 

Namaste.