Random Access

Tuesday: Coda
After work, I headed to Far West Comics. Chris had them hold my Dawnstar (Long Live my tiny plastic Legion!)… along with a Nightwing and Starfire and a new Blue Beetle. Triple-score.

Then I started looking at some of their other figures. And I walked out of there with:

• Cuckoo (one of Emma Frost‘s cloned “daughters“)
• Green Lantern (Mr. 2814.1, himself: Hal Jordan)
• Kyle Rayner
• Martian Manhunter
• Mordru (formerly “just” a Legion villain, he became a major player in the DC Arcana)
• Tempest, the former Teen Titan formerly known as “Aqualad”

…and a Spartan with Dual Plasma Rifles. Just because I didn’t have a Master Chief figure. Until now.

Damn, Chris. *shakes fist*

Next, it was off to ‘ place for Scion. had a surprise for me: This. I was greatly amused by it. and John couldn’t make it, so it was just , and me. We had an abbreviated – but good – session. And no one died. No one on our team, that is. And that’s what counts.

Stray Toaster
pointed me in the direction of this video. She said it would make me smile. She was right.

Namaste.

Monday: Coda
Ten-and-a-half hours.

That’s how long my Monday work day wound up being. Don’t misunderstand me: I’m not complaining. Sure, it was a long day and I had a fairly boring and rote task that took up the back half (or more) of the day, but I was not a bad day by any stretch of the imagination. Just… long. And, on the “plus” side of the equation: That gives me an “extra” two-and-a-half hours to play around with on this week’s schedule, if I want.

After work, I came home for a short bit and then headed back out to take care of a couple of errands before heading over to Mary and Chris’ so that Chris and I could play dolls HeroClix. As usual, he cleaned my clock, but I had a lot of fun. The first game (400 points), I tried a team with something of a Green Lantern focus:

• Green Lantern (John Stewart)
• Sentinel (Alan Scott, the first of Earth’s Green Lanterns)
• Star Sapphire (GL Hal Jordan’s ex-flame… and later arch-enemy)
• Hawkgirl (I needed to fill in the points. Sue me.)

This was something of a war of attrition, but Chris’ tactics and skill wore me down. We decided to play one more game (200 points) before calling it a night. I decided that I wanted a “fun” team, so I went with a Justice League International theme. (I deserved to get my ass kicked just on principle for that one.) This team’s lineup included:

• Blue Beetle
• Booster Gold
• Fire
• Ice
• Rocket Red #7

Chris brought out Nick Fury and agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. And Blade. Between some rather craptacular dice rolls on my part and some pretty good ones on his part, he picked my team apart. It was almost as funny to watch/play as the JLI comic series. Almost. But, again, it was fun.

We loosely talked about getting together again and playing in the not-too-distant future. I had a couple of ideas for themes, based on the point values we decide on: The Earth GLs, The New Mutants or the Captain Marvel family.

Stray Toasters

• By way of SaraRules: Adult Brains Wired to Go Ga-Ga Over Babies
• The 10 Coolest LEGO-Inspired Gadgets
• 
• pointed me in the direction of this article on BoingBoing: Interview with producer of swords and sorcery themed porn…
  • …which led to this article, The Magical World of Warcraft Erotica, in The Village Voice
  • …which included this gallery (some of which is NSFW)
• SIW
• 
• Alex Ross’ Age of TV Heroes cover (first look)
• Toll the bell
  Pay the private eye
  All’s well
  20th Century dies…
• Giant comic collection donated to U of Minnesota

That’s close enough for jazz for tonight.

Namaste.

Sunday – 02 March 2008
It’s been a quiet and lazy day.
And that’s not a bad thing.

The morning didn’t start (for me) with comics and coffee in bed. It did start with coffee – and SaraRules did read the most recent acquisition of The Walking Dead in bed – but we wound up in the living room listening to music and hanging out.

In the afternoon, we headed to Jitterbug for a coffee and a quick bite to eat with . Next stop, Toys R Us. After all, it’s “The World’s Biggest Toy Store.” It wasn’t the longest TRU excursion on record, but it was nevertheless fun. And I managed to find a Justice Lords (1, 2) 3-pack of Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman.

From there, on to SaraRules’ parents’ house for dinner and to hang out. After dinner, we watched 30 Days of Night. During the first third to half of the movie, I multi-tasked and played City of Heroes while watching the movie. By the time I was done, I was three bars closer to Level 46. Not too shabby for 30-40 minutes’ work. After the movie – and talking geek with SaraRules’ dad for a bit – we headed home. Since it was still early, we decided to watch something fairly light before calling it a night. We agreed on Justice League: The New Frontier. SaraRules liked it, especially because of its different spin on the characters; I liked it because… well, yeah.. “just because.” Duh.

This morning came early. Very early. We got up, ready and out the door and had breakfast at Paradise Bakery and Cafe before SaraRules had to head off to pick up one of her roommates and hit the road for southern Utah.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
This I Believe – Leaving Work Early to Watch the Sunset

Stray Toasters

• A tip of the hat to for his considerate gift of a couple of tickets to see Garrison Keillor when he comes to Abravanel Hall in a couple of weeks.
• Thanks to SaraRules for reminding me that Daylight Saving Time starts 09 March 2008.
• Prince Defines Hip in a New Way
• 
• For gamers who want their old-school fix: Genesis emulation comes to the Wii
• Cal State University fires Quaker for inserting “nonviolently” into oath.
• I can actually see downtown – and across the valley – this morning. I have pictures to prove it.
• Steampunk Mac Mini
• And, in other old-school-meets-new(ish)-school news: Serial-mouse-driven Etch-a-Sketch

“…right on to the friction of the day.”

Namaste.

It’s been a long time…

…but it’s back.

Mm-hmm, that’s right – the dance break is back with an old-school, go-go swing:

The Real Roxanne (with Hitman Howie Tee) – Bang Zoom (Let’s Go-Go) (video)

What’s your day sounding like?

Friday – 29 February 2008
Happy Leap Day.

It’s early. I’ve been up since roughly 6:00 and I’m already in the office. Not a bad way to start the day, all things considered. And, hopefully, I’ll be over at Old Mill on the driving range at lunch.

After work last night, I watched CSI: and then headed to Paragon City. I joined an SG-mate on a team for some missions. Unfortunately, he had his missions dialed up to “Unyielding,” so there was a good amount of dying on our side. But, because of the XP we gained in fighting higher-level mobs, I was able to reach Security Level 45.

Stray Toasters

• I have frozen mocha goodness and a bagel sandwich.
• There’s a new trailer for Iron Man.  Check it out here.
• She’s a brick
  And I’m drowning slowly…
• Caffeine-Free Diet Pepsi is the most hideous thing humans have ever created
• Rob Paravonian’s Pachelbel Rant
  
• 

  toothpastefordinner.com

• 400-thread count sheets
• Blue-Ray in laptops could be hard on batteries

Namaste.

Jason sent me a link to this earlier this afternoon.
I’m sharing the love. Or is that “the pain?” Sometimes, it’s hard to tell the difference.

Tuesday: Coda
After work, I stopped at Best Buy to pick up copies of 30 Days of Night and Justice League: The New Frontier. After a stop to pick up some groceries, I came home to have dinner and watch some TV and video.

Four-Color Commentary/Reeling by on Celluloid
I started with Justice League Unlimited: “For the Man Who Has Everything.” This episode was an adaptation of the Alan Moore DC Comics story of the same name. Again, this was an episode that I haven’t watched in a long time. It was just as good to watch tonight as it was in 2004.

Next up: Justice League: The New Frontier. I had read a only few chapters of the graphic novel, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect.

Wow.

It was a good story: It was set in the mid-1950s, in the wake of McCarthyism, in an America in which heroes have been sent into hiding and/or exile by a government that fears them… or wants to control them. The characterizations, writing, the animation and… well… the whole damned thing, to be honest, were spot on. And there were plenty of Easter eggs for long-time comics fans. This movie is rated PG-13, for some language and violent content. But, if you’re looking for a good story and a nice way to spend 75 minutes, this is a good way to go.

Not a bad way to spend an evening.

Monday – 25 February 2008
Back in the saddle again. The commute wasn’t too bad, despite pea-soup fog from Enoch to just south of Beaver and again from Scipio to Mills. They have apparently “fixed” the “NEHPI” sign…

…by covering the “HPI” with a “PHI” banner. Priceless.

Stray Toasters

• I joined LinkedIn this morning. *shrug* At least I still haven’t hopped on the FaceBook bandwagon. Yet.
• Second shot across the bow: I will be moving all commenting for this blog to Random Access as of Saturday, 01 March 2008.
• Justice League: The New Frontier and 30 Days of Night both come out on DVD tomorrow.
  
• Check out the papercraft artwork of Peter Callesen
• I’m diving into PHP again.  And, again, it’s for work.  Can’t beat that.
• Salt Lake City Weekly‘s Best of 2007: Food and Drink
• I was talking with Dwim, a little while ago, about some of the comics that we read.  He was saying how he felt that some heroes shouldn’t have secret identities.  Wonder Woman was one example.  Green Lantern was another.  I mentioned that while Hal Jordan does have a secret identity, John Stewart doesn’t – he hasn’t worn a mask in his GL identity since the 80s, I think.  Besides, would you want to be “that guy” who tried to hassle John Stewart in his civilian ID?  Let’s look at the deterring factors:
  • Ex-Marine.
  • Even more so: Ex-Marine sharpshooter.
  • Wears a ring (let’s call it what it is: “a weapon”) that can create anything he thinks of.  Anything.
  • Trained as an architect, so he can be… creative.  (Granted, Kyle Rayner‘s an artist, so he’s usually a little more creative, but that goes off along an entirely different tangent.)
  • Good knowledge of mechanics and usually “builds” his ring constructs “from the inside out.”
  • Has probably kicked more ass on – and off – Earth than you have.
  • Did I mention “anything he thinks of?”  I did?  Okay, just wanted to be sure.

  And, it’s not like he takes the ring off when he’s not on-duty.

• Visualization: Movie box office data
• 

Namaste.

Wednesday: Coda
I came home and cooked dinner. Not fish fillets and fries. Not ramen. Not soup. Not spaghetti. I actually fired up the stove and the oven. Tonight’s fare:

• Baked chicken
• Rice, cooked in cream of mushroom soup
• Corn
• And a glass of milk. (Milk, it does a body good. Pass it on!)

Not only that, but I watched last week’s CSI: (kind of hard to watch live at 35,000 feet) and tonight’s Law & Order (well, I’m watching it now). AND I read this week’s four-color haul. And I may still make a trip to Paragon City. All-in-all, not a bad evening.

Stray Toasters

• I found the following articles while looking up some completely unrelated information this afternoon…
  • How to Know if You Are Irritating
  • How to Not Be Annoying

  I hung a copy on my wall in SLC; I’m doing the same in AF tomorrow.

• I also want this bumper sticker. Lots of them.

  

• I found a home for Sao Paulo (the laptop formerly known as Defiant): It’s going to my father.
• Are you using Windows? You might want to check this out – Killer Download: The Big Three free security applications
• FAA investigates whether go! Airlines flight crew fell asleep
• Microsoft… makes… action figures. I think my world just collapsed a little.
  (But, you should read some of the character bios. Dear Lord…)
• CNN Fires Producer Over Personal Blog
• Is your King James or New International Bible too boring for you? Give The Manga Bible a try.
• Nautilus-themed steampunk home theatre
• Geek-to-Geek: ‘grats to on your new flying mount.
• Old school:

  

  

  If I need to explain this, you just need to skip on to the next ‘Toaster. Seriously. Right now.

• The Century’s Top Engineering Challenges

Time to go fight some evil.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 19 February 2008
Home again.

I tried getting in touch with Tammy, but didn’t catch her… so Monday was “spend the last few hours of vacation hanging out with the family before getting on a plane” day. We did head out for a bit, so that I could take SaraRules over to Pimlico Race Course, home of the Preakness Stakes… which is only a couple of miles from the house. After getting back from that, we hung out with Bot, Bit and . Pictures were taken. (Granted, these were lumped in with other pictures taken over the course of the weekend – including two with my uncle and one with Bret – but there are pictures nonetheless.) Also, here are pictures of the quilt that SaraRules made for Grace. When the time came to leave, we said our goodbyes, threw our things in the car and headed to BWI. We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. We checked in and made it through security quickly and painlessly. Then… we waited.

We boarded our plane and we were on our way west again. The flight was rather uneventful; to pass the time, SaraRules and I watched Transformers. She hadn’t seen it before, but enjoyed it. An hour and some change later, we were in Las Vegas. Our bags were on the carousel almost by the time we got there. To the car. Out the garage and we were on our way…

…to In-n-Out Burger. After that and a stop for gasoline, we were on the road back to Cedar City. By the time we got in, we were exhausted. So, we crashed.

This morning, we got up, ready and on our respective ways: SaraRules to class; me to work.

The work day wasn’t very eventful, which is not a bad thing. Eric and I had a special guest star for today’s workout: Wes, who in the AF office today. Today’s routine included:

• Leg Raises: 3 sets/20 reps
• Pull-ups: 3 sets/10 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 205 lbs.
• Cable Row: 3 sets/10 reps, 120 lbs.
• Shoulder Press (seated, dumbbells): 3 sets/10 reps, 45 lbs.
• Cable Fly: 3 sets/10 reps, 95 lbs.
• Core Exercises
  • One-leg, with twist: 2 sets
  • Standard (plank): 3 sets – 45 seconds, 30 seconds, 30 seconds

Today’s weight: 172.4 lbs.
It was a good mix. And tiring. It was Wes’ first time really working out in about six months. (Having brain surgery will do that to you, apparently.) He did fine. While he had to back off of some of the weight that Eric and I did, he was still right there with us otherwise.

Post-work, it was Scion game night. We didn’t do very much, as a couple of players weren’t there, but we were able to move the story along a little. And it was fun to hang out with the gaming crew.

Monkey of the Day
On the way home from gaming, I stopped at the grocery store. While I was in the checkout line, a young-ish guy (mid 20s, I would guess) came in, carrying a gallon of milk. He asked to speak to one of the managers. When she came to the front of the store, he told her that he’d purchased the milk at another location, but it was apparently past its “best if used by” date and wanted his money back. The manager offered to exchange the bad milk for a new one. The guy wasn’t having any part of that – he wanted his money. The manager said that she couldn’t just refund his money – as the milk wasn’t purchased at this store – but re-offered to replace the bad milk. His response: “Yes you can! This is all just one big chain. You can give me my money! It’s all the same store!” The manager countered that it was not, in fact, “…all the same store.”

This went around and around a couple of times. The guy finally started cursing at the manager. She walked away, saying, “I’m not going to go on with this if you’re going to speak to me this way.” She never raised her voice. She didn’t get confrontational. The guy just wouldn’t quit. He asked… no… “demanded”… that she get him the general manager’s name and contact information. She politely refused, as the guy was still slinging expletives at her.

He was still arguing (is it right to say “arguing” if he was the only one talking?) after I checked out and left.

Stray Toasters

• SaraRules sent a lovely bouquet of flowers to my parents as a “thank you for your hospitality” gift. Dad replied by text message to her and to me. If I had to guess, I would say that she made a good impression on the folks. (Not that I really had to guess, though.)
• Cherry Hill to Capitol Hill: Barry C. Black marks several ‘firsts’ as U.S. Senate Chaplain
• Senators Obama and McCain both won in Wisconsin.
  And with 51% of precincts reporting, Senator Obama is well ahead of Senator Clinton in Hawai’i.
• 
• D&D Insider Flash Interviews
• By way of Deacon Derek: Subnormality: “Supervillains Anonymous”
  
• 
• Tyranist: Library built into a staircase
• Classic SF movies rendered as Russian folk-art woodcuts

I suppose that I should move from “the theory of sleep” to “the practical application of sleep.”

Namaste.

Tuesday: Coda
Part of today’s lunch break was spent picking up a new sleeve for Defiant. As I don’t want to (and can’t) have eleventy-seven carry-on bags, I wanted to be able to carry the laptop, as well as books and assorted distractions in my backpack. A sleeve seemed the best way to carry and protect Defiant in the backpack. As CompUSA is going out of business, I decided to see if they had any good deals. They did; I wound up getting a Brenthaven Eclipse Sleeve I.

After work, I came home and relaxed for a bit before heading to Kohl’s in search of a new suitcase. I saw online that they had up to 50% off on luggage; how could I pass that up? I wound up buying a complete set, instead: 5 pieces for $60 USD. Not a bad deal.

I was hungry, but indecisive, on the way home, so I meandered my way from West Jordan back to Fort Union. I finally settled on something, picked it up and headed home. While eating, I killed a little time in Paragon City – four more bubbles to Security Level 43.

Stray Toasters

• I went to the Art Asylum site, to see if I could find any information about upcoming releases of Marvel and/or DC MiniMates. Just like U2, I still haven’t found what I’m looking for. But… I did find a couple of other things:
  • 
  • 

  MiniMates movies! and : You both might want to check out New Times. (Here’s a hint: Mark Hamill as The Joker.) I’m just saying.

• Kyle McLachlan: A new Superman for a New Frontier
• I think that I’ve found my new desktop wallpaper for work: This. Of course, I’m thinking that I’ll have to change it and add this picture, instead… but you get the idea.
• The Randall Scott Gallery presents the art of Lori Nix
• Barack Obama swept the Potomac Primaries. Wow.
  (So, who’s Hillary going to fire now?)
• SaraRules sent me a link to this parody of Will.i.am’s Yes We Can: john.he.is
• and Tyranist: I don’t remember whether I pointed this out to you or not: Ultra Cthulhu Statue
• LEGO Indiana Jones Q&A
• How many of you remember The Electric Company?
  How many of you remember Silent E ?
• By way of : Song Titles that Espouse Bad Ideas
• Spore

Time to finish packing (48 hours from now, I’ll be in Bawl’mer) and call it a night.

Namaste.

Monday: Coda
The work day wasn’t too bad. It was fairly quiet, so aside from dousing a couple of small fires, I got some reading done. I also stayed a little later at work than I had originally planned, but that’s not a bad thing. In fact, I may put in a few extra hours tomorrow and Wednesday so that I can shave a few hours off the PTO I am taking.

Workout

• Chin-ups: 3 sets/10 reps
• Leg Raises: 3 sets/20 reps
• Incline Bench Press: 3 sets/12 reps @ 135 lbs.
• Curls (standing, hammer grip): 3 sets/10 reps @ 30 lbs
• Bench Dips: 3 sets/15 reps (with additional 25 lb plate in the lap)
• Decline Bench Press (wide grip): 3 sets/10 reps (1 set @ 135, 2 sets @ 155)
• Pull-overs: 3 sets/10 reps @ 45 lbs.

Today’s weight: 171.0 lbs

Stray Toasters

• I upgraded the back-end of WordPress to 2.3.3 today. It went much more smoothly than the 2.3.2 upgrade/debacle.
• In a related note: Over the past few weeks, I have been weighing the pros and cons of moving all commenting to my main site, rather than splitting it between LiveJournal and my site. At this point, I’m Ivory Soap sure that I’ll be making that move in the next week or two. Consider this your friendly, neighborhood “warning shot across the bow.”
• Tertiary note: I have been relocating some pictures in the gallery in a manner that (hopefully) makes more sense. If you find that a picture is no longer where you once found it, let me know and I’ll (try to) point you in the right direction.
• sent a couple of new pictures of Grace; click here to see them.
• I took a few new pictures of my new display case and its contents.
• 
• The 20 Worst Foods in America
• Newsarama had a few interesting articles today:
  • Geoff Johns re-ups with DC Comics
  • Sterling Gates on the Alpha Lanterns in GLC
  • The Q: What brought you in?
• By way of BoingBoing: Which Book Should Neil Gaiman Post Online for Free?
• ThunderLOLcats

I should have called it a night long ago. Time to rectify that.

Namaste.

Monday – 11 February 2008
This morning started early. 5:10 AM early. And, after a night of not sleeping well, that’s pretty damned early, indeed. But, it was worth it: SaraRules and I had breakfast at Paradise Bakery & Cafe before she headed back to Cedar City. We’ve been trying to go there for a few weeks, but never managed to get there during breakfast hours. It was pretty good and not too terribly priced; more than fast food, but a bit more substantial, too. We also discovered something else: That has to be the safest place in Cottonwood Heights at 6:00 AM — there were six or seven sheriff’s deputies there. And, it’s not the first time that I’ve noticed that.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
I’m willing to bet that this has been tossed around the Internet and other media before, but it just dawned on me: Lost is basically Gilligan’s Island with more people.

Stray Toasters

• SaraRules pointed out Yes We Can (by the Black Eyed Peas’ Will.i.am) to me this weekend. Check it out.
• Barack Obama won a Grammy Award (his second) for “Best Spoken Word Album” for The Audacity of Hope. Among the nominees he beat: former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.
• shockpuppet pointed me in the direction of The Superest. Start at at the bottom and work your way up.
• 
• I don’t have incredibly high hopes for the potentially upcoming live-action Justice League movie, but I think that it’s cool that they cast Common as Green Lantern.
• I like this take on Wonder Woman, even though I’m not crazy about the sandals.
• Collateral damage.
• I picked up Across the Universe, Blazing Saddles and The Invincible Iron Man (animated) this weekend.
• Roy Scheider – possibly best known for his roles in Jaws, All That Jazz, Seaquest DSV or my favorite: Blue Thunder – died this weekend.

Quote of the Day
I received a random text message from Adam yesterday:

I’ll call you when I get back, I just set sail with the Captain.

I haven’t heard from him since. I just hope that it wasn’t one of those proverbial “three-hour tours.”

Friday – 08 February 2008
The weekend steadily approaches. Selah.

I was up on-time this morning. “On-time” meaning that I didn’t ignore the alarm (multiple times). This doesn’t necessarily mean that I didn’t have a leisurely time getting ready… but I was awake and mobile, at least. And, I was still in the office by 8:15… with frozen mocha goodness and a bagel omelette sandwich, no less!

I took a few pictures of the mountains at sunrise. I made the gallery using iWeb, rather than iPhoto. It wasn’t quite as automatically intuitive as iPhoto, but it was still rather easy.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
Coffee, in its various forms, is not something that you buy.
You rent it.

The same holds true for alcohol.

Stray Toasters

• brought in the Dragonlance DVD for me to borrow. This should be… interesting… if not entertaining.
• Thanks to for making sure that I saw Super LEGO Mario.
• By way of Drive Thru RPG: Xpress Core System
• Eric mentioned that Top Gear did a show where the hosts drove a charity “rally” through the southeastern states. Part of the race was through Alabama. Click here to see what they did for this part of the race.
• 72 Tips for Safer Computing
• Martin Scorsese is gearing up to do a Bob Marley documentary.
• 
• At the beginning of A Show of Hands, Rush used The Three Stooges’ “Hello… Hello… Hello… HELLO!” as their introduction. Now, no matter when I hear it, I expect to hear The Big Money immediately afterwards. Every time.
• Millions of peaches, peaches for me
  Millions of peaches, peaches for free
• Compubeaver
• Seeing the root domain name of the Compubeaver site reminded me of Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About.

Namaste.