Random Access

Tuesday – 25 December 2007
So the big man in the red suit with the magickal reindeer apparently showed up and dropped off goodies and whatnot. This year’s haul included:

• The Art of the Japanese Garden
• LEGO Key Rack
• Gift certificate to IKEA
• Gift certificate to Dr. Volt’s
• Metallic dice
• One World, Many Cultures CD
• Ocean graphic novel
• “Grow a Pirate” toy
• Little Flip Book of Crosswords
• Subscriptions to Esquire and GQ
• Green Lantern paperweight (…and it’s even John Stewart!)
• AoA Cyclops HeroClix
• The Superhero Handbook

There are still other goodies to open (they’re back at my place and there are couple of things that are in transit)… but this has already been great.

What did Sanity Clause bring you?

Monday: Coda
SaraRules and I have spent the evening at her parents’.  Dinner.  Drinks.  Stardust.

Our game plan for the night was to go to Midnight Mass.   But it’s been snowing and the roads are… nominally okay, but neither of us really wants to risk it.   (And, it’s cold outside.)  So, SaraRules and Logan are playing Guitar Hero (II & III, I think) while Meliko and I watch… and I’m nerding.  For the time being.  Then, we’re all calling it a night.

Tomorrow, is Christmas.   (Well, in about 5 minutes, actually…)  May the peace, joy and happiness of the day find you and your loved ones in good health, good spirits and good company.

Namaste.

Saturday – 22 December 2007
Last night’s Clitorati gathering was but good. And there was news: Land is moving. To Ohio. A couple of opportunities came up and he decided to dive in and take a chance. Best of luck to him. And, in a pleasant surprise: got my attention and pointed to another patron in the store. I turned, looked… took a moment to process…. and realized that we knew the person: Ghela, who used to work in the bookstore. She came over and chatted with us for a while; there’s a chance that she may join us occasionally.

Today started – as good Saturdays should – with breakfast, coffee and cartoons. Today’s episode of Legion of Super Heroes was the second part of “The Man from the Edge of Tomorrow,” which I hadn’t seen before. “New” episodes kick grass. The Batman was also a rerun, “The Joining, Part One,” which I had not seen all the way through. Win-Win.

After toonage was done, SaraRules and I did a little more shopping. Which included a trip to the Garden of Sweden. Selah. We also stopped to visit Kate, Perry and the kids. And I got to be the kids’ jungle gym for a bit. It was fun.

On to SaraRules’ parents’ place for dinner and to meet her sister, Melissa, who’s in town for Christmas. Dinner was lasagna (vegetarian) and salad. Post-dinner, we had homemade cookies and watched Corner Gas (1, 2) with a couple of friends of the family.

Stray Toasters

• I got a call from both of the ‘rents today:
  • Mom called to say that my gift was on its way
  • Dad called to say that they had received their gifts.
• Darkwood Armory
• 
• Universities with the Best Free Online Courses
• pointed out the Faber-Castell Grip 2001 pencils. Nice.
• How To: Prevent Lost Luggage
• …speaking of which: Sky Shirts

Quote of the Day
From onlyaly, at last night’s Clitorati:

“From wet beaver to hot nuts…”

Namaste.

Wednesday – 19 December 2007
Mid-week and all is well. The clouds over the valley are breaking up… a little. It’s Sushi Wednesday. And it’s new comic book day.

Last night, I had dinner with SaraRules and her family. Before I jetted off to and ‘s for game night, SaraRules handed me a gift. *blink blink* I looked at her and said,”But… it’s not Christmas, yet.” She smiled and told me that it wasn’t a Christmas gift… so open it! And I did. It was a copy of the DVD for Stardust, the first movie we saw together. It doubly surprised me, as I wasn’t aware that the DVD had been released.

On to game night! The game was a little slow – mostly because we, as a group, weren’t exactly sure how to proceed with a couple of things. But, half of us did manage to get our collective recta beat down and handed to us at one point. Not pretty. And, I was reminded that my character was not built to be a fighter. Not by any stretch of the imagination. My spec is more “the face,” the fast-talking social chameleon. So, getting into combat isn’t exactly in my best interests. But, we survived. And lived to adventure another day.

This morning, letting go of the bed was hard to do. So I put it off as long as possible. So far, it’s been a good day. Can’t complain about that.

Stray Toasters

• I got a message from the action man: “I’m happy, hope you’re happy, too…” my father a little while ago: The present for my stepmom arrived this morning. Now to get Dad and Rana’s presents in the system…
• Coworker Jan told me today’s Sven and Ole joke; he’s my go-to guy for my daily dose of Sven and Ole (and/or Ole and Lena) jokes. I mentioned that I had talked with Adam a few days ago and that he was loving (/sarcasm) his current post… a post that Jan was up for when he was deciding whether or not to join/stay in the Air Force.
• NASA has a Stargate
• I love it when you’re on a tech support call and you’re (in theory) being transferred to another department… and they drop the call. >.<
• When did Trekkies jump the shark?
• Why not Minot?
  Reason: It’s Freezin’.
• Ten Habits of Highly Successful Brains
• 

  (You can watch the new trailer here.)

• Recap of 2007’s “12 Gizmos of Christmas”
• From the “Big Brother is watching you” file: Chicago police ask you to report people using maps or taking notes in public
• There’s a rumour that Marlon Wayans is either up for or interested in the role of Heavy Duty in the upcoming G.I. Joe movie. That scares me. My pick would be Michael Clarke Duncan. Hands down. No, wait… I was thinking of Roadblock. Yeah… MCD for Roadblock, not Heavy Duty. Okay, I’m better now.
• The ten most entertaining tech videos of 2007
• “Server… Server… No… Server…”

Namaste.

Tuesday – 18 December 2007
Last night, SaraRules and I had dinner with her family, including an aunt and uncle who stopped by on their way to visit family in Idaho. It was a nice way to spend the evening.

So far, it’s been a good day. In the words of the boys from Liverpool: “Nothing to get hung about.” The lunchtime workout included:

• Bench Pres: 3 sets/8reps, 225 lbs.
• Nautilus Cable Fly: 3 sets/10 reps, 110 lbs (hold for 10 seconds on 10th rep, each set)
• Tricep Extension (Rope): 3 sets/15 reps, 80 lbs
• Tricep Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 6 plates (60 lbs?)
• Overhead Tricep Extension (Dumbbell): 3 sets/12 reps, 35 lbs

I tried – operative word: “tried” – 300 lbs on the bench press again today. The problem was that I tried it after I had already done my three normal sets. Needless to say, the bar didn’t move. Oh, well… there’s always Thursday.
And tonight is game night; we moved it up a week as Christmas is next week.

Stray Toasters

• I have been reading – and enjoying – Hundred Dollar Baby, one of the newer Spenser novels.
• Brisa 2000 Fan Looks Crazy, Does the Job in Steampunk Style
• I managed to catch the Matriarch online… AND chat with her.
• bn.com and amazon.com == online shopping goodness
• PS3 Game Developer Claims to Have Crossed Uncanny Valley
• 
• Woman gropes mall Santa
• : Click here.
• For the Futurama and beer-loving fan in your life: Beer-Brewing Bender
• The Galactically Hot Women of Star Trek: TOS
• 
• I’ve found yet another something to add to the Covet List.

Namaste.

Monday – 17 December 2007
A new week begins.

Last night, SaraRules and I had dinner with her family. And watched football. And trimmed their tree. And watched part of Reign of Fire. Okay, to be fair, I should probably say “MST2K-ed part of Reign of Fire.”

Amusing sidenote: We had barely taken off our coats and sat down (my seat wasn’t even warm yet!) when Mother-of-SaraRules asked me: “So what happened to your team!?” Ah, the joys of having your #1 team lose to your #2 team… and having a girlfriend whose family enjoys watching football.

Later, we headed back to the apartment and watched Mallrats, which I had never seen. I liked it. And, being a comic book geek, it spoke my language. Thanks to Tyranist for letting me borrow it.

This morning, I headed to the SLC office and had the quandary of “Do I really want to go to AF today?” Then I remembered that I had a test to set up in the AF office. The “choice” at that point became academic.

Stray Toasters

• I finished arranging the artwork for my Christmas card last night. I would have sent it for online printing then… but the FedEx-Kinkos site only works with Internet Exploder. Bastiches!
• I talked with Rana earlier; she and the tadpole are doing well.
• Congratulations to and Don on the arrival of their new baby!
• God bless the Interweb! Christmas shopping + shipping == hotness!
• Last week, RadioWest rebroadcast an interview with John Ronson, author of Them: Adventures with Extremists.
• I have been trying to find a particular style of hat for the past few months. The search would have been much easier had I known the name of the style of hat. This weekend, I found both the name and a place from which I can order it. Selah.
• 
• I borrowed Cat on a Hot Tin Roof from Coworker Eric. I’ve seen parts of it before; I’m looking forward to seeing it in its entirety.
• I know that it’s geeky as all Hell, but part of me wouldn’t mind having one of these.
• From the “What’s Playing in Rob’s Head” Network:
  • Rock Lobster, from the B52’s
  • 1-2-3-4, from Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine
• Deryni

And that’s that.

Namaste.

Sunday – 16 December 2007
Yesterday’s errand-running and shopping excursions went well. I knocked a few names off the list and made a few decisions about other gift ideas. After shopping – and some short downtime at home – it was off to breakfast with the usual suspects.

This morning came early.
Very early.

7:00 early.

Why? Because SaraRules and I had tickets to:

We picked up SaraRules’ mother and headed towards downtown.  Getting to the Conference Center was a bit of an adventure: Traffic near Temple Square was horrendous, mostly due to an accident or stalled car blocking one of the lanes of traffic.  We had a pass to park in the structure under the Church Office Building, so that made parking a non-issue.  We met Land outside the Conference Center and headed inside.  Finding seats was also fun; because of the delays in getting to Temple Square, most of the large groups of seats were taken……except for a section at the Plaza Level (near the floor), stage left: We were about six rows from the stage.  However, being so close, the choir seating and parts of the stage were obscured.  Fortunately, there were a couple of video monitors near our seats.  Thus, we had a good view.  Of everything.

The performance was excellent.  When you take into account that this was the fourth live performance in four days (and that part of today’s performance was the broadcast performance), it  gives you a special respect for the quality of these all-volunteer organizations – the only paid positions are the Conductor and the Organist, if I remember correctly.

I have heard of The King’s Singers, but I don’t believe that I have heard them perform before today. They were very good. They sang a capella, with Orchestra at Temple Square and with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.   In addition to the Christmas songs – including a very fun take on Jingle Bells – they closed their performance with a rendition of Danny Boy (Londonderry Air), and  dedicated it to President of the LDS Church, Gordon Hinckley.

Interesting note: I was talking with Coworker DaveM, who plays in the orchestra, about tickets to the event and he related the following to me:

• The Conference Center has 21,000 seats – 20,000 in the main hall and an annex that holds 1,000.
• There were four performances, including this morning’s Music and the Spoken Word (1, 2) and the mini-concert that followed.
• Given the above statistics, there were 84,000 seats/tickets available for this weekend’s concerts.
• There were over 1 million requests for tickets.

Football Update
Baltimore has played the best and worst teams – the Patriots and the Dolphins, respectively – in the NFL.

And lost to both of them.

I didn’t get to watch today’s game, but when I heard the final score, I was stunned. I took a nap this afternoon and when I nodded off, Baltimore was ahead 13 – 3, with a little time left in the first half. When I woke up… Baltimore had lost in overtime, 16 – 22. Amazing.

Having said that, I have to say congratulations to the Dolphins. Long-time readers know that Miami has been my second-favorite AFC for many years. I’m glad to see that they were able to finally win a game… but there’s a (pretty big) part of me that wishes it hadn’t been against the Ravens.

Stray Toasters
I’m sure that I had something I wanted to add here… but I don’t remember what it was.  So,  we’ll come back to this later.  Or something like that.

Namaste.

Saturday – 15 December 2007
Last night, rather than the usual Clitorati gathering, a few of us headed to and onlyaly’s for “Nightmare before Christmas” movie night. But we didn’t watch The Nightmare Before Christmas – they were just co-opting the name to have a pre-Christmas horror movie night. Instead, we watched Alien and 28 Days Later. (And, watching onlyaly jump at the scary bits was almost as entertaining as watching the movies.)

Another lazy (so far) day in the valley. It’s not going to stay lazy though, I have errands to run and shopping to do, both online and in brick-and-mortar stores. Oh, well… no rest for the wicked. The morning has been nice, though. Despite an early morning tug from the Leash (yep, it’s once again my week to be on-call), the morning has been rather quiet. There were cartoons and coffee and SaraRules made sauteed pasta for breakfast. Today’s episode of LSH was a rerun, but The Batman was new.

Time to get a wiggle on… lots to do and whatnot.

Veni, Scribi, Vroom!
“I came, I wrote, I’m a vapor trail!”

Namaste.

Wednesday – 12 December 2007
Another cold day in the valley.

Last night’s Scion game was fun. And, just for the record: It’s much easier to play a game – or at least to know what your character is capable of doing – when you have your character sheet with you. Last night, I even had a backup: I had the .pdf version and the paper character sheet.

After the game, I went home and fought with technology: ‘Nine has an ATI 9600 All-in-Wonder video card in it. With such a card, I should be able to run a coax line from the cable jack into the card and… watch TV. The operative word in the previous sentence is: “should.” Instead, ‘Nine keeps giving me the finger driver errors. Between uninstalling drivers, downloading drivers, rebooting and testing, I think that I spent a couple of hours trying to find a workable configuration. The operative word in that sentence is: “trying.” But, I have nothing but time and opportunity… and the nigh-limitless knowledge of the Interweb… available to me. I shall prevail.

This morning, I partook of an ancient ritual known as “sleeping in.” It was good. After observing the hygiene rituals and deciding on today’s attire, I was on my way. The way that led to the door of the Giver of Frozen Mocha Goodness. And then, on to work! The day has been good: I put in a suggestion for some test hardware and am putting together a small, two-system network for a Windows Server 2003 test environment.

Tonight, I need to do some cleaning and then I think that I will save the world… or at least Paragon City.

Stray Toasters

• Today == Wednesday
  • A == New Comic Book Day
  • B == Sushi Wednesday
    • I had Ika, California and Seattle rolls today.
  • A + B = C
  • C == Happy Rob
• Chocolate Jesus Crunchies – the official cereal of Pope Groovalicious
• James Bond Films for the George W. Bush Era
• In going between OS X (Defiant) and WinXP (DS9), I keep having to remember on which side of application windows to look for the maxmize, minimize and close buttons.
• Terry Pratchett has rare, early-onset Alzheimer’s
• Catch a falling star and
  Put it in your pocket
  Save it for a rainy day
• US soul pioneer Ike Turner dies
• 
• The 5 Users You’d Meet in Hell
• Stupid Technology Tricks of 2007

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Monday – 10 December 2007
One down, four to go.

Last night, after watching the Ravens drop (yet another) one to Indy, SaraRules and I watched Undercover Brother. She had not only seen it before, but liked/likes it… AND… she knows the movie dialogue. Solid!

This morning’s commute was uneventful. I wasn’t sure how the roads would be, especially through the Fillmore-Beaver area (go ahead and insert your own punchlines there) and the higher elevations, as the temp was below freezing. Fortunately, the roads were clear and ice-free. And, I would like to note that I didn’t have to deal with any road monkeys today.

Work wasn’t bad. Not a lot of coworker-monkey doom today. Only one possible incident which could be considered a self-inflicted wound, since I asked the person if the problem he had last week had been adequately fixed. (He prattled on and on about nothing of importance before really answering the question. GAH!) Tomorrow, I have a training class. At 8:00 AM. But, it’s in SLC, so at least it’s a short commute.

After work, I hung out with Land. And, we somehow… mysteriously… wound up at the Garden of Sweden. *genuflect* I picked up a new coffee table.

Stray Toasters

• I just realized that I talked (actual vox conversations!) with Rana (and ) and Adam today.
• It’s officially the Christmas season: I heard Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth while I was in Cedar City.
• Old-time radio Christmas plays — free, public domain mp3s
• I neglected to mention that sent the pictures she shot for my Christmas card. Now I just have to decide which one/ones I want to use. (So many good choices…) I may have to make her Official Photographer of His Chocolate Holiness.
• I need to modify that icon.
• (and I think I’m forgetting another music teacher…): Traveling Music Teacher Keeps Students in Tune
• Offensive/inoffensive tree ornament
• By way of Coworker Drew: Monkey Fluids

  
  (This picture reminded me of this Queen of Wands comic.)

• New style goodness from The Sartorialist

I have a table to assemble.
(Just some oak and some pine and a handful of Norsemen…)

Namaste.

Saturday – 08 December 2007
Ahhh… another lazy Saturday morning.

The drive down was wet and rainy… until I got down near Beaver. It was snowing heading into and out of Beaver, but not in Beaver. Go figure. And, the other drivers actually drove with a modicum of care and common sense. The Council for Better Driving would definitely have approved of their behavior.

Last night, we went to see Steph perform in Student Dance Concert: Breaking Bounds. There were thirteen pieces; Steph danced in six of them. Most of the pieces were good, although there were a few… um… “not so great” ones. After the Concert, SaraRules and I came back and watched Smokin’ Aces. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I enjoyed it.

This morning started with breakfast, coffee and (of course) cartoons. Today’s episode of Legion of Super-Heroes was a rebroadcast of “The Karate Kid.” The Batman, however, was new: “Ring Toss,” featuring Green Lantern (Hal Jordan). The episode also had Sinestro, and they did a good take on him. The addition of The Penguin was, in my opinion, something of a throw-away, but what are you gonna do? Kim and Steph came in and watched ‘toons with us and then we switched over to What Not to Wear: Mail Call. THAT was amusing.

Nothing really on-tap for the afternoon, but we are heading to see A Christmas Carol: On the Air this evening. After that, I believe that we are having a flip cup competition. Should make for a fun and… interesting… night.

Stray Toasters

• I think that I have a potentially viable workaround for Christmas travel. Now to see if the other people involved will comply…
• Well, it’s been rumoured for a while, but it seems as though it’s moved out of the “rumour” category and moved into the “it’s really going to happen” category: End of the Line for CompUSA.
• 
• Steampunk gift guide and Steampunk Anthology
• sent me links to Dog Armor and Squirrel Armor… and the first think that came to mind was: “Man, I bet SCA geeks would love something like this! Now their pets can share in the fun with them!”
• From Something Awful’s Photoshop Phriday: Pop-Up Books
• Dark Horse Comics will present Serenity: Better Days, a 3-issue comic series, in 2008. The story will be written by Joss Whedon.

Quote of the Day
From Stacy London to a participant on this morning’s What Not to Wear:

You look like you’re trying to compete with 18-year-olds… but 18-year-olds always win, because they’re 18!

This met with a lot of laughter from everyone in the room.

Namaste.

Friday – 07 December 2007
This morning started early. 6:00 early. After getting to bed around 3:30. But, that’s when I had to get up to make the 7:00 service appointment for the car. And it was rainy in the valley… which is better than in the canyons, where it was snow. And it’s supposed to rain and/or snow tonight and tomorrow. Good thing I’m heading south this afternoon.

Last night, I stopped at Dr. Volt’s to feed my four-color and plastic crack addictions. There were some good things in the four-color haul, which I’ll get around to talking about sometime later this weekend. The plastic crack haul was quite good, too. I picked up one box, each, of the Justice League and the Mutations and Monsters sets. Inside were some choice items:

• Justice League
  • Black Canary
  • Firestorm (the third one I’ve gotten)
  • Green Lantern (super-rare in this set)
  • Mr. Mxyzptlk
  • Zatanna

• Mutations and Monsters
  • Chamber
  • Dazzler
  • Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy (rare and there’s a story behind me getting it, below)
  • Iceman (First Class)
  • Mimic

Dave, proprietor of Dr. Volt’s, saw me looking at boxes of ‘Clix and came over to offer suggestions… or so I thought. He took my box and, one at a time, picked up the other eight boxes on the wall, weighing each one against the box that I had selected. Um… okay. He hesitated over the last couple of boxes, but wound up handing me the one that I had originally selected, then he walked back to the register. As he rang up my purchase, he picked up the box of ‘Clix again and attempted to balance it on his index finger, seesaw-style. It dipped heavily to one side. He looked at me and said,”There’s a Devil Dinosaur in that one.” I smiled and nodded and thought how amusing it would be if he was right.

When I got home, I opened the box.

Inside was a Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy figure.

I also played a couple of hours of City last night. This time, I used the Hand of Nefer-Tem. I was checking out a few things when I got a random message asking if I wanted to join a pick-up team. Since I enjoy playing in a group more than running around alone (and dying), I said “yes.” We had a good mix of characters. We ran a few missions before people started leaving the team.

Today’s been good. Aside from the rain, that is. The soundtrack to this morning’s commute was interesting: All of the songs had one-word titles:

• Slam – Onyx
• Changes – Tupac
• Misled – Kool and the Gang (What ever happened to them, anyway?)
• Jaded – Aerosmith
• A – Barenaked Ladies
• Spiderwebs – No Doubt

It wasn’t intentional: Onyx came up first. When that song was done, I skipped songs until I hit something that appealed to me. It wasn’t until I got to Misled that I noticed the one-word “theme.” As I skipped through the mp3 list, the songs that appealed to me happened to be ones with one-word titles. And it didn’t stop there. After I had been in the office for a while, Jason started listening to Hollaback Girl. I decided that I wanted to hear something with a good beat after that. So, rummaged through the videos on my machine and settled on Will Smith’s Switch. Win-Win situation.

Today’s workout was basically a repeat of Wednesday’s workout, with a couple of changes in the weights used.

• Bench Press: 3 sets / 10 reps, 185 lbs (slow, controlled descent)
• Lateral Pull-downs: 3 set / 15 reps (broken into 5-5-5), 110 lbs
  • Wide-grip, behind-the-head (5 reps)
  • Wide-grip, overhand/standard (5 reps)
  • Close-grip, overhand/standard (5 reps)
  • **Close-grip, underhand/reverse-grip (done as an additional 5 reps on the third set)
• Shoulder Press (Dumbbell): 3 sets / 12 reps, 40 lbs
• Seated Curls (Dumbbell): 3 sets / 10 reps, 25 lbs
• Standing Wrist Curls (Barbell):
  • Forward: 3 sets / 15 reps, 35 lbs
  • Reverse: 3 sets / 15 reps, 35 lbs
• Leg Raises: 3 sets / 20 reps

Again, it was short and sweet… but a good workout.

Stray Toasters

• I had a craving for sushi last night. When I left Dr. Volt’s, I went a few doors down, to Go Sushi, and sated my appetite.
• 
• Everything You Need To Know About: Black Tie
• I added Twix and Butterfinger candy bars to my office stash in AF.
• By way of Tyranist: The 8 Most Cringe-Worthy Comic Book Movie Moments
• Sweeping the Clouds Away

  

• February, 2007 (Edited Symptoms): Nine Things Which Appeared on The Muppet Show, But Wouldn’t Make It Onto Family Television These Days
• By way of : 56 Geeks Poster
• Today’s random song that popped into my head for no reason: Men Without Hats’ Pop Goes the World
• From GQ: The Style Guy

Namaste.

Thursday – 06 December 2007
Three down, one in the chamber, one to go.

Last night was “Rob’s Errand-Running Night,” apparently. Laundry, groceries… and avoiding making any major electronics or furniture purchases. I was proud of myself on all counts. I rewarded myself by going home and playing City of Heroes.

I’ve noticed something over the past few mornings: I have some… unusual… songs that go through (or get stuck in) my head, first thing in the morning. I don’t recall what some of the past week’s songs have been, but this morning’s song was Oklahoma. Yeah. Weird.

Having decommissioned Intrepid last week, I’ve been wondering what to do with it. The answer came to me yesterday: posted a wish list of things he wants/needs. Among them was “a new computer or parts to build one.” Intrepid will get a new home and I don’t have to worry about it being taken care of. I think that this comes down as a “win-win” situation.

And, realizing how much I’ve come to like love adore my new MacBook BlacBook, I think that its new theme song should be Joan Jett’s I Hate Myself for Loving You. Even though, I don’t really hate myself. Or the MacBook.

City of Heroes: Indigo Bolt
That’s right, I said “Indigo Bolt.”

When I logged in, a couple of members of my supergroup were on. They were telling me that since NCSoft has upped the max size of supergroups, we are moving our 50s back to the original group (from the “senior team” that we had created when they hit 50). I moved Indi back to the old homestead. After this, we teamed up to run a few Ouroboros missions that are new in Issue 11: A Stitch in Time, which went live last week. As these are time travel missions, they will “reset” your powers – and hit points – to keep them in accordance with how far back in the timestream you move.

For example: My first mission was an alternate time line version of “Outbreak,” the very first mission you run. For this mission, my powers and hit points were scaled back to the same as when I first started the game. One caveat: I have a couple of extra “temporary” powers that exist “outside” my normal power sets – they weren’t affected (and were thus usable) by the time jump.

I had forgotten how much fun I had playing with Indi when I first started the game. And, in having not played him in over six months, I forgot how to play him. So, there was a bit of a re-learning curve, but it was a ton of fun. Kudos to NCSoft for adding to the replay value of the game.

Stray Toasters

• It’s been getting a little chilly here in the Land Behind the Zion Curtain. As such, there have been a couple of days when I have broken out my polypropylene shirt and pants, lovingly referred to as my “super suit.” Being cold-weather gear, they keep me warm. Now… being the comic book geek that I am, this somehow started me on the thought-path of: If Clark Kent wears his Superman outfit under his clothes all the time, how does he keep from getting too hot? I was about to apply a few brain cells and synapses to the task when I thought about one (tiny, almost insignificant) thing: We’re talking about the guy who dives into volcanoes – and flies in the cold/vacuum of space – just because he can. The few degrees that his costume adds to his ambient body temperature aren’t going to really be that noticeable.
• Neil Peart speaks about lyrics
• 
• With all of the negative press that video games have gotten in the past few years, it’s nice to see that someone has actually learned something useful from gaming: Swedish boy outthinks angry moose with Warcraft skillz
• For those of you who have/use Wacom graphics tablets: Do you ever use the mouse that came with it? I almost never use mine.
• Cockroaches that turned into zombies can be revived with brain injection
• st00pid servers (computers, not restaurant wait staff)
• Top Ten Super Anti-Heroes
• 

And that’s a wrap.
For now.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 05 December 2007
Tuesday ended better than it started. Chris came over around 8:00 and we played dolls HeroClix. I brought out a squad of Justice Leaguers, Chris used various X-people. We played a time-limited game; he kicked my ass – he took out four of my team to the one of his that I got. But, it was fun. After that, we played Covenant Beatdown… I mean “HALO 3.” *genuflect* Quite fun.

This morning started with a wake-up call from SaraRules. The morning hygiene rituals followed. And then, the monkey-laden commute to the southern compound.

Is it really a radical concept to wipe the snow off of your hood (and roof) when scraping snow and ice from your windows? Does it really take that much more time to do? The Council for Better Driving, through extensive research and simulations, has concluded that it does not. So, next time you’re breaking out the ice scraper to wreck shop on the snow and ice on your windows, take an extra minute or two to knock off the snow and ice on your hood, roof and trunk. The people around you will appreciate it.

So far, the day has been fairly quiet. And, it is the birthday of Derek, my former Acolyte:

Today’s workout was good. Today’s routine:

• Bench Press: 3 sets / 10 reps, 185 lbs (slow, controlled descent)
• Lateral Pull-downs: 3 set / 15 reps (broken into 5-5-5), 100 lbs
  • Wide-grip, behind-the-head (5 reps)
  • Wide-grip, overhand/standard (5 reps)
  • Close-grip, overhand/standard (5 reps)
  • **Close-grip, underhand/reverse-grip (done as an additional 5 reps on the third set)
• Shoulder Press (Dumbbell): 3 sets / 12 reps, 40 lbs
• Seated Curls (Dumbbell): 3 sets / 10 reps, 25 lbs
• Standing Wrist Curls (Barbell):
  • Forward: 3 sets / 15 reps, 40 lbs
  • Reverse: 3 sets / 15 reps, 40 lbs
• Leg Raises: 3 sets / 20 reps

It was a bit short/abbreviated, but I can feel it. That’s a good thing.

Stray Toasters

• I downloaded the new drivers for my Graphire4. I think I’ll start doodling more. That might actually lead to me drawing more often.
• Star Trek: The Tour
• Speaking of which: Avery Brooks was on Talk of the Nation today, promoting the performance of Tamburlaine at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C.
• By way of : Former NFL player gears up for spaceflight
• By way of shockpuppet: Footprints (WoW version) and COLOURlovers
• 
• Have you been looking for a way to integrate your worship of the Old Ones with the trappings and trimmings of the modern holiday season? Well, how about Cthulhumas?
• And what better time to throw in a link to Carol of the Old Ones?
• Happy Holiday from Parallels
• The break room in the south office has been getting stocked with Welch’s Orange-Pineapple Juice. It’s good. (I’m still a Welch’s Grape Juice kid, at heart, though. And, yes, we have that here, too.)
• iBlade

/lunch

Namaste.

Monday – 03 December 2007
Another week begins.

Last night, SaraRules, Darillyn, Vince, Steph, Steve and I headed out for dinner and a movie. We saw Enchanted. It was fun. Quite a bit of fun, actually. Disney poking fun at itself. Sure, a good part of it was over the top, but it seemed as though they writers knew what aspects of Disneyana they wanted to lampoon and then… just… did it. There were many cameos and Easter eggs (IMDb list, Wikipedia list) as well. Post-movie, we headed back to the apartment to hang out. When we got back, one of the other roommates, Kim, and her friend Paige were at the apartment. Kim introduced Vince and me as the unofficial sixth and seventh roommates. Paige, noting the Christmas stockings on the wall, asked where Vince and my stockings were. Vince said that we simply hadn’t had the time to get around to getting/putting up ours yet. I thought of something and left the room…

I had brought a couple of Santa hats with me to Cedar City. I got the black-trimmed hat and tacked it up next to SaraRules’ stocking. This met with resounding approval. Vince asked,”So, what about me…?!” I left the living room again and returned with a white-trimmed Santa hat, which I handed to him. He tacked it up next to Darillyn’s stocking. This was also met with resounding approval.

This morning’s commute wasn’t bad at all. UDoT did a fine job of making sure that the roads were clear. Traffic was fairly light and there wasn’t really anything out of the ordinary to speak of.

I got a call from the Director of the Braithewaite Gallery this morning. It seems as though one of the pieces I am purchasing is not for sale, after all: The artist had mis-entered something on the form that was given to the gallery about the piece. Oh, well, I still have the two other pieces.

Human of the Day
Coworker Mark2. Details in ‘Toasters.

Stray Toasters

• I am having a corned beef sandwich for lunch.
• The Sartorialist, by way of SaraRules
• I picked up a copy of HALO 3 over the weekend. I may have to test drive it tonight, post-football.
• I need to finish HALO 2.
• For those who have been under a rock – or simply haven’t heard: LiveJournal has been purchased from SixApart by Russian firm, SUP
  • LiveJournal notice, from
  • BBC News article
  • The New York Times article
• Also by way of SaraRules: Undercover restorers fix Paris landmark’s clock
• Demented Christmas compilation mixes from Suburban Sprawl
• Business Buddha. Nice.
• Mark2 (yes, I have to number Marks around the office, too) just brought me a Bit-O-Honey candy bar. Out of the blue. Well, I guess there was a reason: Last week, we were talking with some other coworkers about some of our favorite candies; Mark2 and I noted that we both like Bit-O-Honey. That was nice of him. I think I’ll make him Human of the Day (above).

/lunch

Tonight, I will watch the Ravens take on the undefeated Patriots at Fiddler’s Elbow. Joiners welcome. After all, misery loves company and I really don’t see the Ravens chalking this one up in the “W” column.

Namaste.