Random Access

Wednesday – 26 November 2008
First off, congratulations to and on the birth of their daughter.

Last night, I stopped in to see and help sort out a problem with her bed. Fortunately, it seemed to be a fairly easy fix. After that, we headed down to Red Espresso, a new coffee shop at 509 East 300 South. It’s a very small, but quite cozy little shop; it’s been open for about a month. I had a caramel mocha (made with real caramel, not just caramel-flavored syrup), while Nyx had a chai latte – we enjoyed our respective drinks. If you’re downtown and looking for a new place for a coffee drink, give it a try.

After that, SaraRules met me at my place and we traipsed off to Best Buy… who is having a great movie sale. We walked out with something on the order of ten movies for a little over $70, including the new 2-disc Hancock and 24: Redemption (which I missed the other night); the other movies clocked in between $3.99, $4.99 or $6.99. Check out the Best Buy website for titles and prices – as I recall, there are about 520 titles on sale.

Today will hopefully be a relatively quiet day around the office. I have a training module to do and a server fan to replace, but I think that’s pretty much it. Then, I’m Ivory Soap sure that I’m heading to Far West to play a game or two of ‘Clix before heading off to make sweet potato pies for tomorrow.

Stray Toasters

• Cars and Guitars: Autopia’s 10 Best Songs about Cars
• A Pillsbury cookie commercial came on last night and the following question popped into my head: Who would win in a fight between the Pillsbury Dough Boy and the Gingerbread Man (from Shrek)?
• Marine Boy

  As a kid, I think that this was one of my favorite after-school cartoons. And it also piqued my curiosity about boomerangs… thus generating many trips to Toys ‘R’ Us to buy toy boomerangs.

• I just found a bunch of opening credits from cartoons that I used to watch as a kid:
  • Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch
  • Devlin
  • Jonny Quest – which I occasionally catch on Boomerang
  • Hong Kong Phooey
  • The Perils of Penelope Pitstop
  • Star Trek: The Animated Series – which, if I remember correctly, is part of Star Trek canon.

  

  • Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids – look, I didn’t name the show, I just watched it.
  • Valley of the Dinosaurs
• Ann Coulter’s Jaw Wired Shut
• Quietly Terrifying Karl Rove NYT Interview

Quote of the Day
Today’s bit o’ banter comes from yet another IRC chat:

(08:26:43) entered the room.
(08:27:07) : damn dirty market.
(08:27:50) Ahpuc: Dirty, filthy, slutty market
(08:28:27) : YEAH
(08:30:45) : that is all.
(08:30:45) left the room (quit: Leaving).
(08:55:35) Me: O,o
(08:58:32) Me: damn dirty == apes
(08:58:42) Me: damn dirty == market
(08:58:48) Me: So… market == apes?
(09:04:09) Ahpuc: And apes = monkeys – tails
(09:04:18) Ahpuc: So market = monkeys – tails
(09:04:25) Me: Ah…. this shit is bananas.’
(09:04:34) Ahpuc: Therefore monkeys = market + tails !
(09:04:41) Ahpuc: Pin the tail on the market!
(09:04:48) Me: tails = tuxedos
(09:05:00) Me: Therefroe monkeys = market + tuxedos
(09:05:14) Me: apes = monkeys – tuxedos
(09:05:30) Ahpuc: tuxedos = penguins ?
(09:06:13) Me: So, by that rationale: Charleton Heston starred in “Planet of the Monkeys – Penguins”
(09:06:16) left the room (quit: res pls).
(09:06:43) entered the room.
(09:07:01) Ahpuc: apparently does not like our logic.
(09:08:12) Ahpuc: r0b, I just realized the implications here. Charlton Heston could fix the market!
(09:08:15) Ahpuc: Too bad he’s DEAD.

Tuesday – 25 November 2008
Day 2 of 3.  Selah.
It’s been a quiet day. I had a meeting. I have another meeting in less than an hour. WHEEE!

Workout
Marci, Wes and I hit the gym for a lunchtime workout. In the locker room, I had a realization:

I have two (2) pairs of navy blue gym shorts:

• An “around the house” pair (the waistband is a little frayed, has a few holes – that give them character) and
• A “going to the gym” pair – in good all-around condition.

Guess which pair wound up going with me to the gym today.

That didn’t stop us from having a good workout. Wes and I went for max presses today – He’s still a couple of weeks out from hitting 225 lbs; I’m still not back to 300, but I had a good 250 rep. Then we went into the rest of the workout – Marci joined us for everything but bench press:

• Bench press: 3 sets/10 reps – 2 sets @ 200 lbs; 1 set @ 200 lbs (7 reps)/185 lbs (3 reps)
• Fly (machine): 3 sets/10 reps, 120 lbs
• Back Extensions (machine): 3 sets/10 reps, 120 lbs
• Curls (dumbell, “middle block”): 3 sets/10 reps, 15 lbs
• Reverse Punch (dumbbell): 3 sets/10 reps, 15 lbs
• Decline Barbell Press: 3 sets/10 reps – 2 sets @ 40 lbs; 1 set @ 50 lbs
• Tricep Press (bar): 3 sets/15 reps, 80 lbs
• Wrist curls (barbell): 3 sets/15 reps, 45 lbs (forward and reverse)
• Push-ups: 3 sets, 10 reps

Post-workout weight: 181.3 lbs

Stray Toasters

• Three auctions’ of ‘Clix – SHIPPED.
• Polygamist leaders indicted – and jailed
• I ♥ Parallels.
• The Sartorialist and Building Your Perfect Business Wardrobe
• 
• From Slashdot: Arranging Electronic Access for Your Survivors?
• Nanotech clothing fabric ‘never gets wet’
• Mythical Female Snipers Stalking Russia?
  

Namaste.

It’s been a pretty decent day… even for a Monday.

Stray Toasters

• Before the collapse of WizKids, Jake Theis – former Brand and Product Development manager – wrote a series of blogs on “Brand Development and Philosophy.” They were good. Very good. It was supposed to be a ten-part series, but he only got five of them into print before Topps decided to fold the WizKids line. This afternoon, I finally jotted an email to him about my thoughts on the series and whether the rest of it would see print. A short while later, I received a reply. And, it looks as though Parts Six through Ten may see print.
• Jonathan Glancey on why LEGO is the best brick on the block
• Burj Tower: the world’s largest cloud buster
• Because it’s always good for a laugh or twenty-seven: Best of Craigslist
• Despite the fact that you weren’t born to millionaire/billionaire parents AND the fact that you haven’t traveled the world to study martial arts AND the fact that you don’t have the limitless resources of a multinational company at your disposal, have you ever wanted to be Batman? Well, maybe these will help you get one step closer.
• Speaking of billionaire industrialists: Iron Man Children’s Costume Modded to Be Deadly-Cute
• By way of : Mega Man “trailer”

Today’s Challenge
I’m in search of a Mäkta Decorative Sphere, specifically the amber/yellow one. Unfortunately the local IKEA does not seem to have any in stock.

So, my challenge to those of you who live near a Garden of Sweden: Find one.
If you should happen to find one, please let me know in which location you found it.

Namaste.

Sunday – 23 November 2008
Today’s been good on a number of fronts:

• I got to sleep in (a bit).
• I watched football.
• I watched the stats tracking of the Eagles-Ravens game.
• I went to the Garden of Sweden with SaraRules.
• I played City of Heroes. (I know…!)
• I hung out with SaraRules’ family and watched more football.

Pretty much any way you look at it, that’s a day full of goodness and win.

Saturday – 22 November 2008
This morning started off quietly. There was sleeping in and breakfast before the day kicked off.

After all of that, I gathered up my things, picked up Chris and we headed to Far West Comics for a 2000 point HeroClix tournament. Unrestricted. And we had the option of using one (1) colossal figure. I went with:

• Batman (Sinestro Corps)
• Dark Phoenix
• Parallax
• Psycho-Pirate
• Superman (Earth-2)
• Wonder Woman

There were a couple of other guys who brought Dark Phoenix figures, too. I wound up going 1-2 for the day: I lost the first round on points, lost the second round in a pure beatdown and won the third round handily. But, I really didn’t go into the tourney to win; I just wanted to play around with figures that I haven’t had a chance to field test yet: E-2 Supes and Dark Phoenix. And they were fun to play. (Too bad they don’t fit in standard 300 point games.)

After that, I met up with SaraRules. We picked up dinner and headed back to my place.

Tonight, we’re off to the symphony to hear Shostakovich‘ 5th Symphony.

And that’s a wrap.

Friday – 21 November 2008
It’s the end of the week. Finally. Amen.
I seem to be on the downhill slope of this cold. Finally. Amen.

Today hasn’t been bad. I didn’t rush in getting ready this morning, including a thirty-minute Interweb surfing session before heading out the door. I can’t really complain about the workday, so far, either. Or maybe that’s just Friday apathy talking. Who knows?

Stray Toasters

• You’d think that if a vendor/manufacturer sent you a multi-thousand dollar server, they’d include a power cord or two with it.
• I don’t know how long ago they implimented it, but I just discovered that you an schedule your auction start times on eBay. The last that I was aware, you had to buy auction management software to schedule them for you. I like this option much better… even if there is a $0.10 fee for doing it.
• For reasons that I have yet to explain, I had the theme from My Mother, the Car running through my head while I was getting ready for work this morning.
• Cranky Colbert warms up for a heartwarming holiday show
• Ginger snaps. The cookies, not the movie.
• 2000-point unrestricted ‘Clix bash tomorrow. I should really put some thought into who I want to use.
• Guitar Hero as training for bionic arms

Almost… done…

Namaste.

Thursday – 20 November 2008
Another NBN Thursday kicks off.

Last night, after work… and dinner… and a trip to Dr. Volt’s and to the fabric shop… I watched WALL•E with SaraRules and her family.  SaraRules watched some of it – she was busy working on a quilt for my soon-to-be-born nephew. It’s cute. I’ll post pictures of it when she’s done with it. After the movie and the first few minutes of The Late Show, I headed home. I half-watched The Late Late Show while reading through yesterday’s four-color haul. Then I crashed.

Four-Color Coverage
I’ve been reading Tiny Titans since the book started.

It’s part of the Johnny DC line, DC Comics’ young kids series of books, but it’s one of the best – and most consistently funny – books that they publish.

It features the Teen Titans, as elementary school-aged kids, in out-of-continuity (and rather non-sequitur) adventures. Most of them revolve around… being kids: Going to school. Hanging out on the playground or in their treehouse. Getting into “fights” with other kids (usually the Tiny Titans versions of Titans East or The Fearsome Five). This month’s issue features Supergirl and Batgirl trying to find a place to have a tea party; the issue also features Streaky the Super-Cat and Ace the Bat-Hound.

If you’re looking for a light, fast and fun read – or if you have a young reader in your household – I highly recommend this title.

Stray Toasters

• I am sick of this head cold.
• The “miniatures killer” is back on tonight’s CSI:.
• The Wonder Woman animated feature has a release date: 03 March 2009
• 
• From NPR Music: Feeling the Vibes: The Short History of a Long Instrument
• J.J. Abrams previews 30 minutes of Star Trek footage at New York event
• By way of :

And that’s it for now.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 19 November 2008
After work – and after taking SaraRules to pick up her car – we headed to Best Buy. I picked up Wall·E, Season 1 of Smallville and The Illusionist. With my goodies in hand, we headed back to my place, where SaraRules made a rather tasty chicken and spinach gumbo.

Later this morning, I get to make the trek over Point of the Mountain and go to Happy Valley for a bit. Yay. Hopefully, I’ll be back in SLC by or shortly after lunch.

Stray Toasters

• I have to thank Sib-3 for pointing me in the direction of Fringe.
• Speaking of Sib-3, he and my sister-in-law are expecting their first little bundle of joy in a few weeks – it’s a boy.
• It’s fairly common knowledge that if I get to choose how God appears to me, I want him to look like Morgan Freeman. However… last night, I was poking around Amazon.com for Christmas presents and stumbled across The King James Bible, read by James Earl Jones and thought: “That’s awesome!” I mean, how cool would it be to have an audio version of The Bible narrated by Darth Vader… Mufasa… King Jaffe Joffer… Admiral Greer… I mean James Earl Jones?!
• These comics, from Invisible Spiders, amused me: One and Two
• And, on the topic of zombies: 4 Things to Keep in Mind While Killing Zombies in Left 4 Dead

I should probably start getting ready to head to the southlands.

Namaste.

I was assigned a task this afternoon that made no sense to me.

I asked DaveW (on another team) about it – the item looked like something that he might have some insight on. He just rolled his eyes and started on an abbreviated tirade about the complete lack of thinking that some people do when they have a problem.  This culminated in him saying that the task should have never crossed my desk and the person who created it should have known better in the first place. He also suggested that I verify the nature of the problem with the originator and, if necessary, suggest that they reassign it to the proper team.

A few minutes later, the task was out of my queue.

Yay for monkeys!

Stray Toasters

• Stan Lee and Olivia de Havilland Among National Medal of Arts Winners
• Rather’s Lawsuit Shows Role of G.O.P. in Inquiry at CBS
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” and “Eww…” files: Washington prisons, inmate settle disfigured groin case
• Five Gadgets That Were Killed by the Cellphone
• Seven (More) Gadgets Killed by the Cellphone

Namaste.

After reading the story about the man who tried to pay his bill with a drawing of a spider:

SaraRules: Would you accept a drawing of a spider as proof that I love you?
Me: Of course!
SaraRules: Excellent.

Me: Aww… I love you, too.
SaraRules: Sweet action.
Me: *print*
Me: *stick on cube wall*

Three guesses who my “Human of the Day” is for today.

Monday – 17 November 2008
This past weekend was… something of an adventure.

SaraRules wanted to head to Cedar City for the dual purpose of seeing the SUU production of Facing East and to get a few things from her storage unit down there. I’m almost always up for a road trip… or a play… or seeing the other MFAs, so this sounded like a good idea to me. Saturday morning, we got up and under way. We hit the road around 10:00 AM. We neared Scipio around noon.

And that’s when the fun started: Dropping into the valley that Scipio is in (about 2 hours south of SLC), the engine started revving and the RPMs jumped by roughly 2000.  Oh, and there was no acceleration.

Great.

We pulled over to take a look under the hood.
Nothing leaking.
Nothing spewing.
Nothing smoking.

We got back in and started up again.
First gear… good.
Second gear… good.
Third gear… third gear…? Bueller?  Bueller?

So, we dropped it into second gear and rode the shoulder into Scipio. We stopped and the Eagle Landing gas station. There were a couple of tire guys there – we hoped that they’d be able to offer a little insight. Not really. Their best suggestion was to head over to Richfield (40 miles away) and wait for something to open up on Monday. *blink blink* There were a couple of other gas stations on the other side of the freeway; we decided to go for a second opinion.

As we got to the other side of I-15, we noted that the other stations’ garages were closed. But, there was a sign for the Scipio Garage, which was just down the street. And, away we went. We got there and the garage door was open. This was a good sign! We stopped the car and walked into the mini-store that was connected to it.

*cue the theme from Deliverance*

Once the owner decided that neither SaraRules nor I had two heads on our shoulders – and that we really did intend for him to get out of his chair to take a look at the car – he went outside to see what I could discern about our problem. He looked under the hood and found the transmission fluid dipstick. He pulled it out, looked at it and put it back in.

Then he did it again.
And a third time.
And a fourth time.
And, yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus was a fifth time. But this time, he smelled the stick, too.

He said that the transmission fluid didn’t smell burned, but that it was possible that there was air in the pump. His suggestions included getting the car towed or trying to get back to Provo or SLC.

We went with Option #1: Get back to Provo or Salt Lake City.

For those of you who’ve never had to do it, let me just say that driving 30-40 MPH on the shoulder of a nominally busy freeway is not the most fun way to travel. Rumble strips. Road kill. Blow-out debris. But, you do what you have to do. We got to Nephi (formerly home of the Motel 8 “NEHPI” sign) about an hour later. We pulled off the freeway and decided to drive frontage roads/state routes back to the Provo/Orem area.

Scenic, yes.
Slow, yes.
But we made it.
And, we even discovered a Dairy Queen knock-off in Santaquin called… Santa Queen.  (Yes, we had the same images pop into our heads, too.)

We got back to Salt Lake around 4:00 PM. After a quick stop at my apartment for a bite to eat and use of the water closet, we moved the bags into my car and attempted the southern trek once more. We were more successful this time… although we didn’t get to Cedar City until after 8:00, which meant that we missed the play. We did get to go into the theatre for the post-performance talkback, though. We had dinner with the MFAs. And we crashed at Rachel’s.

Yesterday morning, we got up, got ready and headed over to the storage unit. We found the items that SaraRules wanted to bring back, loaded them in the car and got back on the road. We were back in SLC around 2:30 PM. I dropped SaraRules – and her stuff – at her parents’ and headed to go play ‘Clix with Chris and Perry. Chris (of course) schooled us; I came in second and Perry got a nice box of Rice-A-Roni.

This morning, we took SaraRules’ car to the shop. Let the pros figure it out, we figure.

And that’s how I spent my summer vacation weekend.

Stray Toasters

• Since posted this the other day, I figured I’d try it, too:

  39.5 miles per gallon

  Created by The Car Connection

• ‘s stepfather sent me a link to a neat PowerPoint presentation about the SR-71
• By way of and the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Man tries to pay bill with spider drawing
• What do you get when you cross the 44th President-Elect with a videogame? Super Obama World
• For those who haven’t seen it yet: The new Star Trek trailer

Back to it.

Namaste.

Friday – 14 November 2008
And the week is nearly at an end.

Last night was date night… and my night to cook. SaraRules had requested spaghetti and homemade sauce; that’s what she got. We watched a couple episodes of The West Wing and the new episode of CSI: before we fell into channel surfing.

Today we are having a team-building exercise; that exercise is known as Quantum of Solace. ‘Nuff said.

Stray Toasters

• LEGO kitchen crafts
• Sib-2 sent me a link to this article: Man Finds Racial Slur Printed on Receipt
• By way of SaraRules: U.S. To Name First Female 4-Star General
• By way of Drew, a couple of fun items:
  • LEGO, a Flickr set
  • Star Wars, a Flickr set (with the 501st Legion)
• Because style never goes out of fashion:
  • The Return of the Interview Suit, thanks to SaraRules for the link
  • How to Choose a Multi-Occasion Suit
  • Wearing a Sport Coat with Jeans
    

And… that’s all for now, because it’s movie… uh… I mean “team-building” time.

Namaste.

In the mid-80s, ABC had a short-lived (one-half season) show called MacGruder and Loud. It was a police drama. More than that, it was a police drama about two officers who were married… in a department that had strict anti-fraternization rules… so they have to keep their secret from their sergeant (and everyone else in the department). I remember watching a few episodes of the show, but damned if I can tell you anything about the episodes.

But, in the way that I recall/retain obscure pop culture trivia, the name of the show has remained in my head.

This afternoon, I decided to look up the Wikipedia entry on the show, to see if it would exorcise that demon. It helped, but there was also a link to the show’s IMDb entry… which I clicked, of course.

The first thing that jumped out was the tagline: “By night lovers, by day cops.”

That made me chuckle.

Then, I decided to scroll over the plot keywords. The first four – the FIRST FOUR – were not “Secret Marriage. Detective Series.” Had they been, I would have been fine. No, instead, they were:

“Secret Door. Secret Love.”

And that made me laugh.

It was a great – and I’m sure unintentional – way to turn an otherwise innocent series into something bawdy and taboo-sounding…

…said the Actress to the Bishop

Wednesday – 12 November 2008
It’s a grey, rainy morning in the Salt Lake valley. It’s a little foggy to the north; I can’t even see the north end of the valley. I can barely make out the outline of the Oquirrhs, to the west.

Last night, SaraRules and I watched August Rush. There were a few cheesy moments in the film, but overall, it wasn’t bad. And it had some great music in it, as well. The main… um… I guess “theme” is as good a word as any… of the movie was how music can connect people, no matter what the distance or differences. On the whole, I’d give the movie a thumbs-up. One odd note (sorry… bad pun): The “Deleted Scenes” feature doesn’t allow viewers to choose which of the scenes to watch – you get to watch them all, sequentially. There are only six or seven of them – and most of them are decent – but the last one…? Man. They seriously made the right decision by leaving that on the cutting room floor.

Workout
Wes, Marci and I made it to the gym again yesterday:

• Bench press: 3 sets/10 reps, 185 lbs
• Reverse Fly (machine): 3 sets/10 reps, 70 lbs
• Row (machine): 3 sets/10 reps, 70 lbs
• Lateral Raises (with forward fly): 3 sets/10 reps, 10 lbs
• Side bends: 3 sets/10 reps per side, 25 lbs
• Tricep extensions (rope): 3 sets/10 reps, 45 lbs
• Core (plank): 3 sets, 30 sec

Post-workout weight: 181.4 lbs

Wes mentioned that he wants to start working on specific areas. I asked if he wanted to do more focused/targeted workouts; he said yes. So, tomorrow, we’ll start focusing on chest and upper body, I do believe…

Stray Toasters

• I’m still a bit surprised by the whole Topps/WizKids thing.
• …and now: Richard Garriott quits NCSoft
• sent me a link to a post about a steam-powered car. As with most things that she sends, I clicked the link. Upon looking at it, I quipped back to her:
  

  That’s not quite “steampunk.” It’s more… “steamfunk.”

• What could/would George Clinton do with Steamfunk?
• Or, since he already has a song called Steam, would Peter Gabriel be a better choice?
• How about a collaborative effort?
• The premise of the movie Slumdog Millionaire sounds… interesting:
  

  Directed by Danny Boyle (Trainspotting), Slumdog Millionaire is the story of Jamal Malik (Dev Patel), an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is just one question away from winning 20 million rupees on India’s “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” But when the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating. Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slum where he and his brother grew up, of their adventures together, and of the girl he loved and lost. Each chapter of his story reveals the key to the answer to one of the game show’s questions.

• While looking for a couple other videos, I stumbled across this: Lady Marmalade (from Moulin Rouge)
  Christina Aguilera |MTV Music
• …and I eventually found one of my favorite David Bowie songs, Absolute Beginners:
  David Bowie |MTV Music
• Bush: ‘I regret saying some things I shouldn’t have said’

Namaste.

Tuesday – 11 Nov 2008
Yet another in the work-a-day grind.
But, I hit the ground running and got a couple of items off of my task list, right after I got in.

Last night, I watched the 49ers – Cardinals game with SaraRules and her folks. I wasn’t expecting a lot out of the game, to be honest. I was pleasantly surprised that an actual football game broke out. Kurt Warner still looks fairly impressive – it was almost like he couldn’t throw a bad pass if he tried. The receivers and running backs did good jobs. And on the other side of the ball, Shaun Hill (SF’s 3rd string QB) did a good job of leading the team, including an impressive end-of-game drive that very nearly won the game for SF.

Stray Toasters

• Barack Obama: The 50 facts you might not know
• And, in a related note, by way of SaraRules: Michelle Obama’s real-world style
• And, since we’re dealing in style/fashion, sent these two “tasty” items:
  • Chocolate Superhero Costumes
  • Chocolate Show
• Comic Book Resources has a couple of new trailers for Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
• An interesting read: The Comic Book Virgin Reads Watchmen
• If you kids (or are just a big kid), you may be familiar with Marvel’s Super Hero Squad toys. Marvel Comics is now showing the (mis)adventures of the heroes and villains in daily strips (1, 2, 3) on their website:

  

  …and…

  

• Six Real Gadgets Minority Report Predicted Correctly
• Thunder!
  Thunder!
  Thunderpanties HO!
  (Blame/credit to for this link.)
• Djimon Hounsou to voice BET’s Black Panther

And stuff.
And whatnot.

Namaste.