Union Pacific's Great Excursion Adventure

“Well, if they wanted his soul, they should have made a deal with a priest.”

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Tuesday – 31 March 2009
It’s hard to believe that March is nearly over already.

Last night, SaraRules and I had “Sunday dinner” with her family. We also watched Quantum of Solace. I still enjoy the movie and, to a lesser degree, the theme song… but the theme still sounds a bit too disjointed and/or like it’s trying too hard to be a Bond theme. *shrug* While there, her father offered me a taste of something new at Whole Foods: Double Cream White Chocolate Milk. Wow. It was good. VERY good, in fact.

Back at home, SaraRules did some quilting and I read last week’s comics. The standouts of the haul were:

  • Captain America #48 – In this issue, Bucky/Winter Soldier/Cap, Namor and Black Widow wrap up a few loose ends from Cap’s time as the Winter Soldier. And, while he’s never been a favorite character of mine, it was nice to see Namor’s wrath directed at a target who deserved it for an actual affront, rather than a perceived one.
  • Fantastic 4: #565 – This was the second part of a holiday story that saw the FF and family on vacation in Scotland. To be honest, the first half of the story didn’t exactly wow me; the finale, however, was good. I was also surprised at how the issue ended: A “thank you” letter from someone the FF saved during the issue’s adventure.
  • R.E.B.E.L.S. #2 – More adventures of Vril Dox (Brainiac 2) and his attempt to wrest control of his L.E.G.I.O.N. operation from his usurpers. Supergirl and the LSH’s Brainiac 5 are on-hand to lend assistance, as well.
  • Wonder Woman #30 – Readers finally meet The Olympian, whose arrival has been hinted at for a while. We also learn just how far Dr. Barbara Minerva, the Cheetah, is willing to go to try and break Diana. (Hint: It’s pretty far.) But, readers also see just how far Diana is willing to let herself be pushed… and how far she’s willing to push back.

Stray Toasters

That’s good for now.

Namaste.

“I turn my back to the wind, to catch my breath before I start off again…”

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Sunday – 29 March 2009
Today has been a quiet and slow day… and that’s good.

<< Rewind <<
Yesterday morning, SaraRules and I got up, picked up her mother and headed to South Towne Expo Center for a bridal show. We stood in a short line to get in and, then, it was “Game On.” The show was smaller than I had expected – far smaller, in fact. There were, maybe… 40 exhibitors in all. I think that we were in and out of the show inside of 30 minutes.  However, in that time, I put a deposit on my tuxedo rentals with Men’s Warehouse; they were running a special that I couldn’t pass up: $30 off each rental. Win.

There was a car show at the other end of the Expo Center, so we checked out the cars they had outside the main hall. That was when I also noted the differences in admission to the events:

  • Bridal Show:
    • Brides: Free
    • Other guests: $5.00
  • Auto Show: $14.50

I began to wonder which show would actually make the most money. I’d like to see the final numbers.

After dropping off SaraRules’ mom, we headed to Oh Sushi for lunch. Tasty, tasty sushi… Next: Dr. Volt’s.  From there, we headed to Wheeler Farm for an afternoon walk. The weather was perfect for it – sunny, a light breeze and high clouds. Next, we headed to Best Buy to pick up a copy of Quantum of Solace. Then, back home for a bit…

…and then off to OnlyAly and ‘s for poker. It was a good crowd and I played in some good games. Despite some decent hands, I got outplayed in both of the tourneys. At least it was fun and a good way to spend the evening.

> Play >
As I mentioned, today has been quiet and relaxing.  I got a good night’s sleep last night, following Friday night’s rather poor-quality sleep. We watched an episode of Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?, featuring Baltimore Ravens’ TE Daniel Wilcox. We also caught an episode Top Gear that featured a Ford Fiesta storming a beach along with the Royal Marines AND being chased – through a mall (video) – by a Chevrolet Corvette . (I swear, they get away with more cool stuff on that show…)

Next up: Errand-running.
(Misson: Accomplished)

This evening, I’m not sure what’s on tap. I believe that we’re doing Date Night tonight, as we aren’t having dinner with SaraRules’ family until tomorrow night.

Stray Toasters

Namaste.

Why doesn’t anything happen when I press this key…?

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Friday – 27 March 2009
Another 9/80 “on” Friday kicked off…

…with me coming into the office to find out that the alarm had been tripped. *grblsnrkx* Turns out that the electricians were the first ones in the office and they don’t have our alarm code. I fired off a quick email to TPTB and let them know what happened.

Next, I discovered that one of the logon scripts on my main PC decided to go on holiday. I had to bug Jim, one of our Windows admins, to help me walk through some steps to try and recover. It looks like Windows has horked itself. Fortunately, I have another Win box that I can just port things over to. It’s just a matter of taking the time to do so. Good thing it’s the slow Friday around here.

Stray Toasters

Namaste.

Post-lunch musings

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The tasting went well.  It was also beneficial for something that I hadn’t considered: Seeing how the space “flowed” when it was full of people. Even with tables set up and people throughout the building, there was a good deal of space in which people could move around. The food was good and we came up with a few ideas for our menu.

Stray Toasters

  • By way of Nyx: Shirts My Way, custom-made men’s dress shirts
  • I’m running a new screen saver on my work PC called Electric Sheep. It’s… interesting, in a good way. I’m just glad that I’ve never been been one who is inclined to partake of “herbal cigarettes” (as Craig Ferguson refers to them). Because doing that and then looking at this would most likely be world-changing. Electric Sheep is available for Windows, Mac and Linux.
  • Gizmodo ran an article about Miniatur Wunderland. After checking it out, I passed it along to a few people. Drew shot back with a video of Madoradam, in Holland.
  • , I know what you mean. I get That Time Is Now (the Superfriends bump) stuck in my head…
  • Inspriation for Super Friends’ Hall of Justice
  • There are far too many of these on The Covet List.
  • Ian McKellen: The Player, by way of
  • Disney hasn’t released Song of the South in the U.S. on DVD or video; it’s been deemed racist. *GASP* A few days ago, I found this site, offering the unedited movie on DVD. I’m leery, but curious. Very curious, indeed…
  • Mafia Wars
  • Komodo dragons kill man

Back to it.

Namaste.

Workout and other randomness…

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Wes and I hit the gym for a long-overdue workout at lunch:

  • Leg Raises: 3 sets/15 reps
  • Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 205 lbs
  • Reverse Fly: 3 sets/10 reps, 80 lbs
  • Lower Back Extensions: 3 sets/15 reps, 160 lbs
  • Curl/Shoulder Press (dumbbell): 3 sets/10 reps, 25 lbs
  • Tricep Extensions (rope): 3 sets/15 reps, 60 lbs
  • Core (plank): 2 sets, 45 secs

Post-workout weight: 185.2 lbs

Not too terrible for the first workout in a week-and-a-half. I’m not sure if I’m going to get a workout in on Thursday, as I may have a meeting.  We shall see…

Stray Toasters

/lunch

“Just some oak and some pine and a handful of Norsemen…”

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Saturday – 21 March 2009
Yesterday was a pretty decent day. I met with Stephanie to choose the type of paint I want used on the GL pony she’s doing for me. After that, I picked up for a late lunch at Jitterbug. Then, we headed out to see .

Next on the agenda: Clitorati.  Tyler, one of the MFAs from SaraRules’ program, was in town and showed up for a while, as did . After dropping Nyx at home, I headed home to watch a little TV before calling it a night. I also started in on Greg Rucka’s Queen & Country, which MarknTyme had recommended to me many moons past.  It was a good pre-bed read.  I’m looking forward to getting back to the story.

This morning, I stopped at Beans & Brews for the first time in… at least three months. When I walked up to the counter, Ellie asked me,”Your usual…?” as if I had just been in a few days ago. That was a bit amusing and surprising, but pleasantly so. Then I came up to ‘s, to hang out for a bit.

Stray Toasters

At some point, I need to head down to The Garden of Sweden today… and tomorrow… to take advantage of their kitchen sale.

Namaste.

Just another lazy Friday off…

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Friday – 20 March 2009
Welcome to the first day of Spring. I think that temps here are supposed to top out around 70ºF. Then, there’s also supposed to drop by Sunday… and I heard something somewhere about a possibility of snow. We’ll see how that goes.

The cable tech showed up around 1430 yesterday. It took him roughly 20 minutes to track down the problems. Yes, plural. The problems were:

  1. A Comcast technician had been out Tuesday, working on a problem for another customer, did a “fix” that did something to adversely affect other customers connected to that junction box.
  2. There was a splitter in one of the connections in the apartment was old and was causing further signal degradation.

He fixed both issues. The whole thing took a little under an hour.

Before heading home, I had coffee with my friend, Frankie. Things seem to be going well for her.

Next, I headed out to ‘s place to hang out with her for a bit.

Today is my “off” Friday. I haven’t really done much, aside from watching a couple of BSG reruns – there’s a marathon on SciFi. Apparently, the series finale is tonight; I guess I’ll have to go back and check out the whole series.

Stray Toasters

Namaste.

“From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea…”

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Tuesday – 17 March 2009
Happy Green Lantern Day!
(Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to the rest of the world.)

After work yesterday, SaraRules and I headed up to Liberty Park for a stroll. (She’s been rather positive in helping me stick to this whole “doing cardio” thing.) We walked the inner loop, which is 1¼ miles, give or take a bit. The weather, mild and comfortable, was quite agreeable. All-in-all, it was a pleasant change of pace.

We got back home and SaraRules decided to try recreating the Pollo Limon Rustica dish that she had the other night at Macaroni Grill. I didn’t have any of the dish then, but last night’s fare was very tasty. After dinner, we watched the new episode of 24. Not too surprisingly, there were a couple of twists… including a one that I didn’t see coming; neither did SaraRules. And it was a pretty good one, in fact. We also watched reruns of The Late Show and The Late Late Show that we taped last week.

This morning, I woke up with The Beach Boys’ Fun Fun Fun running through my head.

Stray Toasters

Quotes of the Day

  • Quote 1
    I posted the following as my status on Facebook:

    Happy Green Lantern Day! Wait… What? St. Patrick’s Day? Really?! Well, that’s just silly.

    To which replied:

    By your powers combined, I am Captain… no wait. These are the other guys with rings. 🙂

  • Quote 2
    Jeff, another coworker, just came over and told a St. Patrick’s Day joke:
  • Why did St. Patrick drive the snakes out of Ireland?

    Because Samuel L. Jackson wouldn’t let them on the plane.

    It made loonybin88, Tom and me laugh.

Namaste.

“Mars… needs… women.”

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Monday – 16 March 2009
Yesterday afternoon, SaraRules and I decided to get in a little shopping. We didn’t find much that made us go “wow.” We stopped by a craft store so that SaraRules could pick up some material for a quilt. While there, I decided to look for some glitter – I had an idea for my Sodam Yat ‘Clix mod.

After that, we headed up to her parents’ place for dinner. During dinner and dessert, we watched Miami Vice. It wasn’t a great movie, but it was entertaining. (There’s another part of my youth that just went *poof*.) No one in the room had seen the TV series other than me, so I had to do a little ‘splaining after the movie was over.

We headed home. As it was still fairly early, we looked for something to watch On Demand. SaraRules picked Ghosts of Mars, which she’d seen before. It was, as she warned me, another “not great, but entertaining” movie.

Human of the Day
W. Neil Berrett earns the honor today for coming up with what has to be the hands-down best resignation letter that I have ever seen.

Stray Toasters

Back to the grindstone.

Namaste.

Afternoon distractions

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There was only one meeting today… and it was done in fairly short order.  This project seems to be moving along fairly well.

The sun is out… but it’s still a tad chilly outside, according to The Weather Channel. I don’t know first-hand – Wes worked out of the AF office today and, thus, we didn’t go to workout at lunch. On the plus side, that’s an hour and change that I don’t have to make up on the back end of the day. All things considered, I guess it’s a good thing that I did last night’s cardio workout.

Stray Toasters

Tonight: ‘Clix at Chris’ place.

Namaste.

Slow-starting Sunday

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Sunday – 08 March 2009
Hopefully everyone remembered to set your clocks ahead last night.

After visiting , SaraRules and I stopped for lunch at Five Guys. I’ve been there a few times before, with coworkers, but she’d never been. I don’t know that I’d necessarily call it an “In-N-Out killer,” but it’s a good place to go for burgers and fries. We then did a bit of running around, including looking at a few… “less than aesthetically pleasing”… dresses at The Perfect Dress. There was one there that no angle nor any amount of light could help. *shakes head*

We did head to Saturday night breakfast. No one else showed up, but we talked with Ted, the night manager. When we got back, we watched the new Wonder Woman animated feature. It was good:

  • Decent origin story
  • Decent plot
  • Good casting and voice work
  • Good animation

All-in-all, it not only adapted the origin well, but also gave it a decent update. (And the fact that there was a “behind the scenes” feature for the upcoming Green Lantern animated feature didn’t hurt, either.)

Today has been quiet and relatively lazy. In a bit, we’re heading over to ‘s, to take a look at her network. Then… who knows?

…he gets right on to the friction of the day.

Namaste.

Sleeping in? On a day off? Apparently not.

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Friday – 06 March 2009
It’s a little after 8:00. (Or, rather, it was when I wrote that…)
On my Friday off.
Why am I already awake?

Could it have something to do with the fact that I slept poorly?
Or the weird dreams I was having?

I wish I knew.  But, there it is. The coffee pot is going, so I should have some liquid motivation in a few minutes. Or, as Dolly Parton put it:

Tumble outta bed and I stumble to the kitchen
Pour myself a cup of ambition
And yawn and stretch and try to come to life

This morning agenda has a couple of items on it:

  1. SaraRules and I are heading back to Heritage Gardens. As it’s on “The Even-Shorter List,” we want to confirm a few things about the venue.
  2. We’re off to see the Wizard Watchmen in a few hours.

This afternoon… who knows? And there’s Clitorati this evening.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
This I Believe: Finding Freedom in Forgiveness

Stray Toasters

  • While I’m avoiding most reviews of Watchmen, I did read ‘s – she saw it last night. She reviewed it favorably, but she did say that someone in her group had not read the graphic novel and was a bit disappointed. She also noted that she didn’t mind the changes that had been made. I’ll take those as good things.
  • By way of MarknTyme: Saturday Morning Watchmen

  • Last night, I read JLA: Earth-2. Again. (I owned a copy years ago…) It was a good read. Again. The book tells the tale of a parallel Earth whose version of the Justice League is the Crime Syndicate of Amerika and whose Alexander Luthor is the world’s only hero. It’s an refreshing take on the classic “good vs. evil” story.
  • In a related note, I ordered the last three (3) ‘Clix I needed to complete my plastic CSA.
  • The Gospel Truth: Sometimes a Little Hazy
  • For :
  • Despair, Inc. is having their annual Retirement Sale.
  • Unemployment Rate Jumps to 8.1 Percent
  • Have any other long-time NPR listeners noticed that Joe Palca and Ira Flatow’s voices sound eerily similar?  Ira’s voice is “just a tad” higher-pitched than Joe’s.
  • Zombie brains hoodie
  • If the weather makes up its mind whether it wants to be hot or cold, it soon might be time to start thinking about getting over to the driving range…

Time to get this day moving along.

Namaste.

“…because it’s loud with the Shop-Vac on.”

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Thursday – 06 March 2009
It’s another NBN Thursday and there’s new snow on the ground. In the past 24 hours we’ve gone from nearly 70°F to nearly half that temperature.

Last night was a relatively quiet night. I got to play with my new Dremel, which I believe is my new second-favorite tool… after a Sawz-All. Law & Order did an interesting episode about teenagers who had escaped and/or been exiled from a polygamist community. I was surprised that they went there and was also a little shocked with how the episode ended. (I was, however, amused that they actually used the term “magic underwear.”)

Chew On This: Food for Thought
I have often mentioned that I enjoy watching The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. For me, it’s a light way to cap the day… much in the way that watching Late Night with David Letterman (back when he was on NBC) used to be when I was in high school. Last night’s episode was a very good – and atypically serious – show; the guest was Archbishop Desmond Tutu. At the top of the show, Craig gave an abbreviated history of South Africa, which was probably one of the best (and most humorous) histories I have ever heard. After a commercial break, he introduced Archbishop Tutu; they talked for the better part of forty minutes. Among other things that he recounted, the Archbishop talked about “good and evil” and how he has been able to keep his faith – and his faith in humanity. Here’s an excerpt:

All-in-all, it was an excellent interview. Other clips are available here.

Four-Color Coverage
Yesterday was a light day at Dr. Volt’s – I only picked up five books:

  • Black Lightning: Year One #5 – The next-to-last issue of this series shows Jefferson Pierce continuing his fight to bring something to the Southside community of Metropolis, not-so-affectionately referred to as “Suicide Slum,” that it had been missing: Hope.  I’ve been surprised by this title – I picked it up on a lark, but have been pleasantly surprised with the story that has unfolded.
  • Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #1 – Reed Richards has a problem: He’s been bothered by the fact that despite all of his calculations, he was wrong in how he set about solving the problems that led to his role in Marvel’s Civil War.  But, he has an idea.  And when Reed Richards has an idea, there is little that can stop him from following up on it. Not repairing damage from the “Secret Invasion.” Not his wife… well, maybe she can. Not even an attack from Norman Osborn and his H.A.M.M.E.R. agents.
  • Dark Reign: New Avengers – The Reunion #1 – Bobbi Morse, ex-Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and (ex-)wife of the Avenger known as Ronin, is trying to re-establish her place in the post-Secret Invasion world. As she sets out to find them, she also finds that she has a partner – and unwanted one, at that: Ronin.
  • Superman: World of Krypton #1 – Superman journeys to New Krypton to live among the Kryptonians from the newly-liberated (and restored to normal size) Kandor. He’s still not sure how he’ll fit in, but attempts to make a go of it. But, how will his aunt, Alura, and one of his worst enemies, General Zod, feel about him being there?
  • X-Men: First Class – Finals #2 – The X-Men go up against a mutant who’s out for a little revenge against a certain “one-eyed” X-Man who dropped him down a mine shaft.  To say that he’s “a little mad” would be something of an understatement. And, someone shows up to lend the X-Men a much needed helping hand… but who is it? And where’d they come from?

As it was a light day, I also picked up Fables (Vol. 8) – Wolves and JLA: Earth 2 to supplement my haul.

Stray Toasters

Namaste.

It’s downhill from here…

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Wednesday – 04 March 2009
Midweek. And only two more days to Watchmen.  And the new Star Trek trailer. Selah.
And, as if that’s not enough, it’s Comics and Sushi Wednesday.
Win-Win.

Last night, I headed to Chris’ for Round Two of our JLA/Injustice League fight. The match started off slowly, but we eventually moved our pieces into position for smacking each other’s teams around… and then both of us had to deal with hot and cold streaks with our dice. In the end, my dice decided to effectively go on holiday and Chris wound up with a win. We both enjoyed the fight with the two teams and may revisit this in the not-too-distant future. I think that our next match will be the (Teen) Titans vs. the X-Men.

Stray Toasters

Quote of the Day
Today’s gem comes from an NPR story about a man fighting court fees for badminton in San Francisco.

Today’s “Last Word in Business” comes from Ed Leong. The former San Francisco Housing Inspector is an avid player of badminton.  He’s been whacking shuttlecocks…. there’s a phrase that I didn’t know you could get away with saying on the radio….

You can find the story – and the audio (RealPlayer, I think) – here.

Namaste.

On a sunny Saturday morning…

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Saturday – 28 February 2009
The end of the month comes with a lazy, sunny morning.

Last night’s Clitorati was good. We had a small turnout, but it was still fun.  Added bonus: Marci (one of my coworkers) showed up and hung out with us. I also picked up a copy of John Hodgman’s The Areas of My Expertise (1, 2, 3) … along with my fifty-somethingth copy of Watchmen.

At some point today, we’re heading up to Red Butte Gardens so that we can render a decision about its viability as a ceremony/reception venue.

Stray Toasters

On to the rest of the day… and breakfast!

Namaste.