Random Access

Monday – 08 October 2007
Annnnnd, I’m back.

The trip, though short, was good. Saturday, the weather was intermittently craptastic… just the thing for a night-time drive.  Fortunately, there were clear patches on the way, and you could see stars.  LOTS of stars.  I don’t think that I’ve noticed quite so many stars since my last trip along I-80 on the way to Carson City.

Yesterday, Sara and I made a trip into Cedar Canyon, near Kolob Resevoir to the “C” Overlook (pictures to come in a follow-up post).  And, I had yet another encounter in “Why Rob Likes Roads with Guardrails.”  It wasn’t Butterfield Canyon bad, but I had a few moments of “Oh, look! No cars are coming the opposite direction, I can move to the inside a little. “  After that, we headed to a barbecue and I got to hang with some of the grad students I met a few weeks ago; they’re a fun bunch – I think that they’d fit in with the Clitorati gang fairly easily.  And the guy who hosted the barbecue…?  He is apparently very serious about s’mores.  He had at least four kinds of marshmallows, two or three kinds of chocolate, and two types of graham crackers.  Game on!

Last night, we watched the last quarter of the Bears-Packers game.  For 15 minutes, I was a Bears fan.  It was a good fight.  Of course, it’s easier to watch a close game when “your team” isn’t playing.  (And, for the record: The Ravens squeaked past the ‘Niners.)   After the game, we were going to double-feature Batman: Mask of the Phantasm with Shadow of the Vampire, but only made it through Phantasm when two of Sara’s roommates came in.  We decided to fore go Vampire and hang out with them; that turned out to be a fun option.

Today’s commute wasn’t bad.  Blue skies and light traffic.  I had no problems with road monkeys… until I got to Utah County.  Go figure.

Stray Toasters

• I have been receiving text messages from Adam about his exploits in HALO 3.  The boy cracks me up.
• Phone booth.
• Starfish Goldfish and Coffee
• “He’s still wearing his super-pants.”
• Glitter.
• I need to assemble my Stikfas ninjas.

That’s good enough for now.

Namaste.

Saturday – 06 October 2007
Today’s my father’s birthday. I called him this morning to congratulate him on avoiding the embrace of the Dark Lady for another year. He laughed at that. When I asked what he had on-tap for the day, he said nothing, other than enjoying the day. I told him that sounded like a good way to spend the day.

Today is also ‘s birthday:

…and tomorrow is ‘s birthday:

So far, the day has been lazy. I’m waiting for Legion of Super Heroes to come on so I can do some premium couch-surfing, while enjoying a nice bowl of Honeycomb.

After, I can get “right on to the friction of the day” and do things like running errands and cleaning and getting on the road.

::: cartoon break :::

Four-Color Coverage: Animated
Today’s Legion episode was “Cry Wolf.” It spotlighted Timber Wolf, who had been convicted of murdering his father – the man responsible for turning him into an ordinary young man into the feral Timber Wolf. The episode had a good deal of “inner monologue” voiceover, which was used rather effectively. Secondary characters in this episode were Phantom Girl and Chameleon Boy, the only Legionnaires who refused to believe the charges against TW. There was an interesting moment between Timber Wolf and Superman-X (Kell-El) where ‘Wolf challenged Superman about doing what he thought/knew was right versus blindly following Cosmic Boy’s orders. Another scene, between Timber Wolf and Phantom Girl reminded me of a few panels from “A Cold and Lonely Corner of Hell.”

I followed up the LSH by watching today’s episode of The Batman, “Vertigo.” The episode introduced Green Arrow and Count Vetigo to this version of the DCAU. There were a couple of minor tweaks to the Green Arrow origin, but they stayed fairly faithful to the original story. I liked the way that they portrayed Green Arrow and his civilian identity, Oliver Queen – the once-proud, now-humbled rich guy looking out for the “common man.” The interaction between Batman, Robin and Green Arrow was also handled well… especially as Green Arrow began to piece together Batman’s secret identity.

Stray Toasters

• I need to get moving… but the motivation isn’t fully there yet. Given the state of disarray around here, you would think that the motivation would be kicking me squarely in the tuckus. Repeatedly.
• James Sturm on Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow
  My father actually saw Satchel Paige play. I’m going to have to track down a copy and get it sent to him.
• Acolyte Derek has been promoted to “Deacon.” Selah and groove on.
• Blog Action Day
• From the XXXenophile card game: Oh No, There Goes Tokyo!



• While looking through CYMK, I saw the following ad for a drink called Sinalco:

  

• 6
• Click for art.
• From the Scrubs musical episode: Everything Comes Down to Poo
• It appears as though the Stepford Cuckoos are going to be a part of the upcoming HeroClix “Mutations and Monsters” set.

Quotes of the Day
From last night’s Clitorati gathering came the following:

1. You hit the jerky spot… and I don’t mean “beef.”
2. Speaking of “third time,” did you have the three-way?!

Okay, time to get a move on.

Namaste.

I just received this notification in an email and thought I’d share…

On Tuesday, November 13, the two-part Star Trek Remastered version of “The Menagerie” will beam onto the big screen in a special engagement with selected theatres. The screening — a first for episodic Star Trek on this scale — will be seen in nearly 300 venues across the U.S. and Canada. This one-night-only event will also feature a special introduction by Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, plus an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the making of the Remastered series.

In Utah, the screening will be held at Cinemark 24 at Jordan Landing. Check here for listings in your area.

Friday – 05 October 2007
The morning started off about an hour after I had planned on it starting. And even then, I only woke up because the phone rang. *sigh* The rest of the morning has gone well, though. And there was frozen mocha goodness to help speed the day along.

Last night was quiet. I made it to The Garden of Sweden. And I was in and out of there in about 15 minutes. That almost never happens. I guess that’s the way it goes when you go in with a mission to get one specific thing. Only. (Of course, I walked out with two, but why quibble?) When I got home, I had a few grand designs on actually being productive and getting some cleaning done. Instead, I paved a little more of my road to Hell. And I’m okay with that. Besides, there’s always tonight or morrowmorn.

Stray Toasters

• Schoolhouse Rock! is providing the soundtrack – and some video – for the workday, so far.
• goofydopey
• 34-minus
• Someone turned Utah’s thermostat down again.  Yesterday, it was nearly 80°… it’s a hair above 60°.
• Carpe diem!
• After hearing part of this segment of Talk of the Nation yesterday, this comic was even more amusing:

  

• We the people, in order to form a more perfect union…
  (Admit it, you just started singing that.)
• Zero Punctuation review of Halo 3.  (Check out the review of Peggle, too.)

*voop*

Namaste.

04 October 2007
The morning commute started well; actually, most of it was good.

Then, I hit Lehi.

And the traffic slowed to a crawl.

And, just at that point, my technopathic link with Nomad kicked in and the next song that came up was The Tra La La Song (One Banana, Two Banana) by Liz Phair and Material Issue – the theme song from The Banana Splits. With that, I didn’t care about the traffic any more.

Yep… no ordinary moments.

Stray Toasters

• I have a bag of cotton candy to enjoy after going to the gym and eating lunch.
• Where the Great Old Ones Are
• I need to stop at The Garden of Sweden on the way home. (Just some oak and some pine and a handful of Norsemen…)
• Supercalifragisexy
• And, while we’re at it: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
• Doll on a Music Box, not to be confused with Music Box Dancer

Back to it.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 02 October 2007
Road monkeys. Fast lane, slow car. Days like this make me (somewhat) glad that I wasn’t granted infinite cosmic power at birth (or by being visited by a fiery cosmic force as I piloted a space shuttle from a space station). Although, the idea of displacing the driver in question to midtown Manhattan at rush hour does hold more than “a little” appeal.

Reeling by on Celluoid: The Punisher
Last night, I watched the 2003 version of The Punisher, starring Thomas Jane and John Travolta. It was definitely “an adaptation” of the origin of the Marvel Comics character.

This isn’t to say that the movie was entirely “bad,” but let’s just say that there was room for some improvement. The characterizations were good – you understood what drove Frank Castle (Jane) to pursue his brand of justice, just as you understand what drove Howard Saint (Travolta). Yes, there was some over-acting. And the fight scene with The Russian…? Um, let’s just say that it was more over-the-top than it needed to be, but c’mon… you’re talking about a scene with a WWF/WWE wrestler – over-the-top is par for the course.

I might it on the Cool World–Long Kiss Goodnight Scale, but all things considered, it was a decent distraction. I might even call it “mindless fun.”

Four-Color Coverage
I started in on some of my four-color haul from the weekend. I’m up-to-date on Countdown and “The Sinestro Corps War,” as well as a few other titles, but there are still things in my hold box at the shop.

Stray Toasters

• I should reread Inferno, the one by Dante Aligheri, not the 80s Marvel X-book crossover.
• Coworker John “The Flash” Fox (hero to millions) pointed me in the direction of this video: Amazing Grace – Wintley Phipps. Not only does he sing the song; first, he gives an interesting background lesson in the song’s history and a little music theory, as well. I knew the story of John Newton, so that didn’t surprise me. What I didn’t know was that most Negro spirituals were written in the pentatonic scale. And, I like his rendition; I might even have to add this to “The Best” list.
• Don’t use the magical
  Mysterious, intoxicating, joy fantastic
  Fascinating word called love
  Unless u love me 2 the 9s
• Herbie Hancock Talks Math, Music and Mastering the Tech Toolbox
• From Computerworld: Five free Web apps we can’t live without
• I need to finish Season 2 of Coupling.
• Charlie Stross’ Halting State: Heist novel about an MMORPG
• 
• 7 Deadly Sins,7 Heavenly Virtues
• Said Superman had come to town to see who he could rock
  He blew away every crew he faced until he reached our block
  His speakers were three stories high with woofers made of steel
  And when we brought our set outside, he said “Ha! Be for real!”
  He said, “I’m faster than a speedin’ bullet when I’m on the set,
  I don’t need no fans to cool my amps, I just use my super breath.
  I could fly three times around the world without missin’ a beat
  I socialize with X-ray eyes, and ladies think it’s sweet.”
  And then he turned his power on and the ground began to move
  And all the buildings for miles around were swayin’ to the groove
  And just when he had pulled a crowd and swore he won the fight…
  We rocked his boat with a 12 inch cut called Disco Kryptonite
• Things you shouldn’t do in science fiction/fantasy fiction writing
• Do you have any idea how amusing it is to have people stop to look at comics I posted (start with that link and read the next nine or ten) on one of the cube walls… about starting a new religion? In Utah? And the new “religion” is based on video games? Hint: It makes me grin like a fiend.
• Russinovich finds his place at Microsoft

/lunch

Namaste.

Monday – 01 October 2007
New week.
New month.
T-minus 25 and counting.

This morning, after about ten seconds of thinking “I really could just lie here for a while,” I actually rolled out of bed after the alarm went off. Pre-work hygiene rituals went off without a hitch and I was out the door. I picked up a cup of frozen mocha goodness and was in the office by 7:40. Not too shabby.

With one exception, the commute wasn’t bad. Which brings us to the Monkey of the Day: I was heading up Traverse Mountain in the middle lane when a pickup truck, hauling a large horse trailer decided that he wanted to be in my lane. The fact that two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time came to mind. *sigh* Physics, go figure. So, I put on my blinker, gunned it and pulled into the so-called “fast lane.” I apparently forgot that putting on a blinker in Utah means “Hey, I’m trying to move over, so speed up just enough so that I can’t…” to the nearest driver in the lane into which you’re trying to merge. The idiotstick in the lane sped up – but not enough – to try and block me out. Then, he proceeds to dog my six all the way to American Fork. Every lane change and speed variation. Some peoples’ children, I tell you.

Stray Toasters

• I chatted with Sib-2 last night; she’s doing well.
• Shakespeare and coffee. (Not to be confused with Starfish and Coffee.)
• pointed me in the direction of these items.
• M.C. Escher
• Dwim made this over the weekend. His brother, Acolyte Derek, submitted it to Digg. Start the clock on Dwim’s fifteen minutes, please.
• The World’s Languages Are Fast Becoming Extinct
• 
• HOWTO make a robotic ElmoSapien chimera
• What is your email client of choice? I have recently switched (back) to Thunderbird after years of Eudora use.
• Bose Founder Discusses Audio Perfection and Digital Music
• I gained a new-found appreciation for my car’s seat warmers over the weekend. The cold, wet, snowy weekend.
• The Adorkable Nizlee
• The Most Irksome Employee Poll, by way of TechRepublic

/hunger

Namaste.

Sunday – 30 September 2007
Yesterday’s move went well. And quickly. I believe that the “official” time was three (3) hours, start to finish. That doesn’t include unpack and organize time, but still… that’s pretty damned impressive. (And, it covered any “need” for a weekend workout, too.) After the move, we went out for brunch.

And it started to snow. Yes, snow. Not even in October. *grblsnrkx*

Came back home for a much-needed nap.

Sara and I went to see Across the Universe; more on this below. After the movie, we headed to Cheers: South for breakfast. The restaurant was rather busy, which made for some rather “interesting” people-watching.

Today started off lazily. When we finally got in gear, Sara and I met Perry for lunch at Jitterbug. Post-lunch, the three of us headed to Dr. Volt’s to pick up my four-color shwag and a half-brick of plastic crack… and a box of Stikfas that I had forgotten thatI had ordered. Next, a quick stop at REI to make sure that hadn’t fallen off the face of the planet. (He hadn’t.) And then, a trip through Parley’s and Emigration Canyons to see the fall colors. The foliage was making progress towards the red end of the spectrum… but it wasn’t as prevalent nor as vibrant as I had expected. Oh, well.

Reeling by on Celluloid: Across the Universe
Is there anybody going to listen to my story
All about the girl who came to stay?

There’s a saying that goes “Parallel lines meet at infinity.”
There’s a variation of it that says “Parallel lives meet at infinity.”

This movie is about those parallel lives, their meetings and is told through the use of the music of The Beatles. I was pleasantly surprised at how it all came together. I was, likewise, pleased to see that there was more to the movie than the simple “boy meets girl” love story implied by the trailer.

The music, as I mentioned, was by The Beatles, but the songs were deftly re-arranged by Elliot Goldenthal and sung by the characters/actors. Not only that, but the songs also tied-in to the events of the movie, similarly to the way that Orpheus in the Underworld (Can-Can) and Die Another Day, were used in Stardust and Die Another Day, respectively. I believe that my two favorite pieces were Let It Be and Come Together… so much so, that I might have to reconsider my choice for “The Best” from a few weeks ago.

At two hours and twenty-one minutes, the movie is long… without feeling long. The casting was good. The plots/subplots were good. And with one exception, the stories didn’t feel forced or contrived.

I give the movie an enthusiastic “thumbs-up with and okay.” And it has renewed my interest in seeing Cirque de Soliel’s Love.

Football Update
Just a quick hit here: Congrats to on his Browns 2.0’s win over the Ravens today. Operative words: “Beat down.”

Stray Toasters

• I still have three bags of cotton candy. I shall put a dent in that tonight, while I am saving the world.
• “Greenie Weenies”
• Sara’s Deviataion vs. Rob’s Deviation.
• Monkey of the Day: While in Dr. Volt’s, Perry and I were talking about our plastic crack purchase (part of which is supposed to be Kate’s Christmas present to him). We were tossing jibes back and forth when another customer decided to chime in with: “Wow, I can’t believe all the testosterone and posturing being tossed around over here…” I had my back to him, but Perry said that he looked at me and straightened up a bit when I saw my build; then he looked at Perry, who was wearing a his badge and his holster. The guy then said “But, since I don’t know either of you, I think I’ll just keep my mouth shut.” And he walked to another aisle.
• I’m thinking of rearranging the office. I might put my eight-foot table up in there… and possibly throw my LEGO train and the Rokenbok Monorail up on it.
• 

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Friday – 28 September 2007
It’s Friday. Do I really need to say anything more than that?

No? Somehow, I didn’t think so.

Today’s going well. I’ve had my head semi-buried in a textbook for the better part of the morning – buildin’ them job skills! Yay for learning.

Stray Toasters

• I sent a group email this morning; almost immediately, I got a response from someone asking for a clarification of the name, because he almost dumped it into his spam filter without reading it. That, just on general principle, amused me.
• I just finished copying my mp3 library onto my system in the north office.
• Corollary to the above: Damn you, Tyranist.
• By way of : Brian Dettmer – Book Autopsies
• The design below, available on a t-shirt, grew out of this case.

  

• , this might interest you: The Podcast Network Signs John Cleese for Video Podcast

• I’m a goddamn marvel of modern Rob.

  Which movie was this quote from?

  Get your own quotes:
• US Navy calls MySpace kids an “Alien Life Force”
• I am eating cotton candy.
• Apple update shuts down hacked iPhones

Whoosh!

Namaste.

Thursday: Coda
After staying at work far too late in the day, I escaped Happy Valley to run a few errands. Then… home. While I was mulling over what to pick up while grocery shopping, I had an epiphany: I had a few bratwurst left over from last weekend. That would make an exemplary dinner. And it did… along with some fries and one of the last Samuel Adams Summer Ales that lj user=”jennae” bequeathed to me.

While eating dinner, I watched the season premieres of Legion of Super Heroes and The Batman.

I was duly impressed.

Where Season 1 of LoSH was fairly light in tone, this one captured the dark mood of war against Imperiex, seen for the first time in the DCAU; he was last seen in the mainstream DCU a few years back, as a would-be galaxy conqueror in the “Our Worlds at War” crossover maxi-series. In the LoSH toon, he is standing in for Darkseid as the new threat the survival of Earth and the human race. Enter… Superman? But, not the Superman we have come to know. This Superman, cloned from the DNA of the original, comes from the war-torn 41st Century, a time ravaged by Imperiex and his forces. From what I’ve read, this season will span the 31st and 41st Centuries with the Legion and two Supermen leading the fight against Imperiex.

Next up: The Batman. This episode introduced Superman, Lex Luthor, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen to this version of the Batman mythos. Metallo, the man with the Kryptonite heart, even put in an appearance. It was interesting to watch this episode as I mentally juxtaposed it with 1986’s The Man of Steel #3, in which the post-Crisis Superman first met Batman. There was a lack of trust between the two, even though they were working the same case. And I still think that the model that they are using for Clark Kent was based, even loosely, on Brandon Routh.

And, both episodes were “Part 1 of 2,” so we’ll see how the stories conclude.

Stray Toasters

• I may polish off another bag o’ spun sugar confection tonight.
• Hand Soap
• 
• Preschoolers’ Feelings – a Flickr photoset.
• Salt Lick Art
• The Defuser, winner of the second season of Who Wants to be a Superhero, is a City of Heroes player. Go figure. The folks at CoH/CoV even congratulated him on his win. 🙂
  

And that will do it for tonight.

Namaste.

Wednesday: Coda / Thursday – 27 September 2007
Three down, two to go.

I cleared – or at least did some damage to – a few items on my task list today. Productivity = good. I had lunch with Jason (coworker) and Perry at Tres Hombres. It was a little more than I had planned on spending for lunch… especially since I had taken a lunch with me today, but it was good.

As I was winding up the day, Land called and asked if I was free this evening. I was, and told him to swing by the apartment and we could go in search of food-type items. We wound up at Cafe Rio. Dinner and a good conversation later, I wandered over to Office Depot to replace my broken architect’s scale. And then, on to Barnes & Noble, to introduce Land to Way of the Peaceful Warrior. He had heard of, but not seen, the movie; I told him that it was worth the price to purchase the book. He did. Mission: Accomplished.

When I checked the mail, there was a package from my father. Ô.õ I opened it to find sections from The Baltimore Sun about Cal Ripken, Jr.’s induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. There was also a letter in the package. An old letter. 30+ years-old old. And some note card-sized sketches. I didn’t quite get the gist of what they were for… so I called home. Dad said that they were ideas that he and a former coworker of my mother’s had come up with as a proposal for a set of stationery/seals with patriotic themes. They never really did anything with them, but he thought that I might be able to find a use for them. How cool is that?

Stray Toasters

• I still have four bags of cotton candy.
• A word and a movie
• 50 Years of ‘West Side Story’
• 26
• Titan missile silo for sale
• Wizard First Look: Millar and Hitch’s Fantastic Four
  
• 
• Why women read more than men
• A year of following all the rules in The Bible
• From the “Things We Don’t Need” file: NBC Revs Up New Knight
• Kurt Busiek on “The Third Kryptonian” and more
• …and, since we’re on the topic of Superman: Incoming: All-Star DC figures

And, with that… bed.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 26 September 2007
Yesterday was pretty good, all the way around. No real problems. I had to demonstrate my technopathic abilities to a new coworker. And, I had cotton candy. How can you beat a combination like that? You can’t.

Yesterday’s workout was good, too. My sets of 215 (10 – 10 – 9 and a reverse) were decent. My pull-ups (the exercise, not the training pants) are getting better, too: I did two-and-a-half sets (10 pull-ups, each) with no assistance. That’s a nice – and noticeable – improvement. And then, there were the side bends. *urk* Good for the obliques… in theory. I woke up this morning to pain, which is pretty normal the day after doing side bends. I keep trying to convince myself “It’s good training” and “It builds character.”

Last night was zombie-killin’ game night. We came. We saw. We dropped grenades and retreated made a hasty advance to the rear. We lived, which is a good thing… but we returned to base tas it was about to be overrun by the Chaos-infused armies of the damned. Yeah, we are screwed. Who wants to live forever?

Stray Toasters

• I talked with Adam yesterday. He pre-ordered the limited edition of Halo 3. *genuflect* And, as with almost all of the limited edition copies, his was scratched beyond the ability to be played.
• Thirty-eight degrees. That ain’t right.
• Back to the Future: Shooter talks Legion of Super-Heroes
• I’m nearly done reading V for Vendetta. I like the graphic novel, but I can appreciate the cuts that were made in the screenplay. They were necessary, to fit time constraints, and didn’t detract (too much) from the overall story.
• List of the “World’s Weirdest/Stupidest Conspiracy Theories”
• 
• Oliver Sacks explains how your brain does music
• Okay… you’re the Master of the Mystic Arts, do you really need to peep in on women in tanning booths to get your jollies?

Time to go “politely explain” why my someone needs to come take a look at/fix my furnace -  today – to the lovely ladies in the leasing office.  *sigh*  No rest for the wicked, I tell ya.

Namaste.

Monday – 24 September 2007
You know that the week can only get better when you nearly launch yourself out of bed as the morning alarm goes off. And, yes, I do mean “launch.” I don’t usually have a problem with simply reaching over and turning it off. This morning…? I have no idea.

Other than that, the morning prep went fairly easily. I had the forethought of checking weather.com to get an idea of what to wear. It was in the mid 40s. Mid. Forties. *sigh* It’s too damn early in the year.

City of Heroes/Villains: Dhoruba
That’s right, … I took a trip to the Rogue Isles with the gay Mr. T. 😛

had Giroux and his mob o’ zombies running around Sharkhead Island and took me on as a lackey. We ran a mayhem/bank heist mission. I remembered how much I hate rent-a-cops and Longbow (at least on this side of the CoH/V line…) I also remembered how badly I need to get Mr. Dhoruba to level 14 so that I can get a decent travel power. Fortunately, I’m about halfway there… minus some debt.

Stray Toasters

• My left eye (not to be confused with My Left Foot) is being… bothersome… today. So much so that I’m actually wearing my glasses.
• One bedside table down, one to go.
• Superman: Doomsday review, from Comic2Film’s SuperNaut (chock full of spoilers)
• Taxicabs and the ‘bot.
• Copyright and tattoos: Who owns your skin?
• Simpsons scenes and their movie references
• Take a look at this picture of Clark Kent from this weekend’s episode of The Batman. Is it just me or does it look like they tried to make him look a bit like Brandon Routh’s Clark, from Superman Returns? (more stills from the episode)
• Poster of recommended and forbidden words for Chinese store clerks
• 
• Ass-kicking, watercooled steampunk PC

/lunch

Namaste.

Sunday – 23 September 2007
Another weekend draws to a close.

Sara got here as I was winding down cleaning mode yesterday. I finished up and we hung out for a bit before heading to and onlyaly’s, where I met (again, I think) ‘s mom, a very nice woman. I watched as introduced Chris to the joys of the liquor cabinet; I wonder what his head felt like this morning or if she was kind enough to tell him to drink lots of water before hitting the rack. All-in-all, ’twas a good bit of fun. By the way, : Who made that Merlot and the Shiraz?

This morning started lazily, as any good Sunday should. I called Perry to see what he and the family-unit were up to and tossed out the idea of meeting for coffee; he liked the idea and the day was set in motion. Introduced Sara to Perry, Kate and company. It was amusing to watch as the baby nearly leaped out of her high chair to jump into Sara’s lap. Followed very shortly thereafter by the middle boy. We hung out and chatted for a while…

…and when we left, I decided that it was time for a trip to CompUSAirways. I walked out empty-handed, although I was tempted to pick up a few items. One of the items was new memory for Intrepid, since I lobotomized it to up ‘Nine‘s memory. Something told me to hold off a bit, so I did. Then I saw the recently-reduced-in-price Mac mini. Mmmmm, Apple-y goodness. Again, I resisted. I also held off on a set of PC speakers and a secondary iPod speaker system.

From there, it was off to see if one of the seventy-leven area Barnes & Noble stores had a copy of The Prophet of Akhrahn. They didn’t have it. *shakes fist* I know that I saw it in one of their local stores around, I just have to remember which one it was.

Next on the docket: Follow-up ride up Emigration Canyon to see the foliage. There were more hints of reddish tones, but it still hasn’t changed much. It might be a little more vibrant in another week or so. Back down Parley’s and on to Jitterbug for lunch…. where we ran into Spydr and Uriah. Pleasant surprise, that.

Back home. I asked Sara’s opinion on the frames from yesterday’s Garden of Sweden excursion, since I was 50-50 on the matter. She thought the black one looked good with the pictures. I’ll probably wind up exchanging the silver frame for another black one. (And I still need to assemble the bedside tables.) Since, as lj user=”everydave” is fond of saying, I have the metabolism of a ferret on crack, I started getting hungry a short while later, so I started cooking dinner. And, I went at it in a two-birds-one-stone fashion: I grilled chicken thighs and then added some stir-fry vegetables to the pan and fixed rice in chicken broth, while I baked a couple of chicken breasts. Dinner. Lunch. Dinner(s) later in the week. Hoo-AH! Sara headed back to Cedar shortly after dinner…. and the bedside tables have still not taken the initiative to magically assemble themselves.

Football Update

• – Beat the Cardinals. At home. Selah.
• – Took it to the Hawks… in Atlanta.
• – Beat down the Lions. ‘Grats, !
• – Dropped one to the Sea-chickens.
• – Lost to the Raiders. The Raiders! C’mon, , what’s up with that?!
• – Lost to the Chiefs. Sorry, .
• – Scalped the Redskins. ‘Grats, !

Stray Toasters

• I just made a pretty damned good coffee milkshake. Then I spilled it all over the kitchen counter. *grblsnrkx*
• I just made another pretty damned good coffee milkshake. I did not spill this one all over the kitchen counter.
• “Madlessly.” I think this is my new favorite word.
• 
• Dr Volt’s is now open… on… Sunday?!
• “What’s a Nubian?” (NSFW)
• “Shower foul.”
• Someone with way too much free time compiled a list of Legion Action Figures., including HeroClix… although not all of the ‘Clix have been added, yet.
• Naomi Wolf on Colbert Report: 10 Steps to Fascism
• 
• From Worth 1000: Fake It Till You Make It
• HOW TO: Bleach-Stencil a Shirt
• Tyranist: Shaun of the Dead will be The Tower’s midnight movie on 12-13 October 2007.

Since the bedside tables don’t have the gumption to assemble themselves, I guess I’m going to have to do it.

Namaste.

The Best: Under the Boardwalk
The Drifters vs. Bruce Willis with The Drifters vs. Rockapella with True Image

The Drifters.  No contest.

However… there is one version that I didn’t list that always brings a smile to my face: This one.  I just wish that I could find a video of it.

Stray Toasters

• Alexandra and her Uppity Bitch Stick
• Darth Grom
• Yar!
  • Revenge!
  • Tasha!
  • Ishara!
• 
• Fates of real-life advertising icons
• By way of Bunny: IKEA – universal furnishings

Back to it.