Random Access

Tuesday – 15 September 2009
We’re halfway through the month already. Wow. Where does the time go…?

Last night, I headed over to help and her ‘rents do some painting at her new place. I took my portable SoundDock, so that we’d have something to listen to. What I didn’t take was the remote control. I was under the mistaken impression that I needed the remote to change the volume on it as, unlike my primary SoundDock, the volume controls are not on the face of the unit.

Operative word: “Mistaken.”

I noticed, after I had gotten back home later in the evening, that the portable ‘Dock does have sound controls on it – they’re on the side of the unit. D’oh!

Football
Last night, there was a double-header on Monday Night Football:

Buffalo Bills at New England Patriots
24 – 25

I missed a good portion of this game, as I was helping paint. But, I caught a little of the first quarter and the last five or ten minutes of the fourth quarter. And, I was surprised and impressed with the last couple of drives: The Patriots’ two-minute drill to get the go-ahead score and the Bills’ hook-and-ladder play to try and answer it.

San Diego Chargers at Oakland Raiders
24 – 20

This was a solid game, top to bottom. I was especially impressed with the way the Raiders played – on both sides of the ball. The defense looked reminiscent of the Raiders of the 70s and 80s; the offense was… well… GOOD! They moved the ball, they didn’t make a lot of stupid errors. They played solid football, but in the end, Sandy Eggo took the “Win.”

Stray Toasters

• In honor of the title of this post, I give you Mr. Miyagi
  Once again, Julie (our IT admin… sorry, “Distinguished IT Admin,” as we refer to her) and I dressed alike. Today, we’re both in navy tops and khaki pants. And, once again, we did not plan this.
• It’s official: NECA Acquires WizKids; HeroClix to Continue
  (Hopefully, the legendary – and highly-elusive – “Smoky-Foot” Captain America ‘Clix will see the light of day…)

  

• The greatest papercraft model you’ll ever see
• Groomsmens’ gifts: Check.
• What happened to civility?
• Poll Finds Most Doctors Support Public Option
• I don’t remember how I stumbled across Geek Orthodox, but I found some amusing stuff there:
  • Darth Bat
  • Gamer Shirts
  • 10 Reasons Why Roleplaying Games Are a Positive Force for Kids and Adults Alike
• 
• Wells Fargo fires exec over Malibu house scandal
• By way of and the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: When Getting Beaten by Your Husband Is a Pre-existing Condition

Namaste.

Monday – 14 September 2009
Nothing like having The Leash start going off at 0800… just as you’re getting ready to head to the office. It was alerting me to a problem with an off-site server. Yay. We contacted the appropriate people – who seemed to be having issues of their own – and they handled it. Eventually. Welcome to Monday.

Yesterday was a good day. It was also chock full o’ stuff. Mark and Alex – a member of the SUU Ballroom Dance Team who came up to assist in the dance lessons – came up about 2:30. First, they worked with SaraRules and Steve for the Father/Daughter dance, then it they spent time with SaraRules and me for our first dance. It was more fun and less fearsome than I had expected. (And, we fortunately we have three weeks to practice…)

After that, SaraRules, Alex, Mark and I headed over to the in-laws-to-be for dinner: Bratwurst and football. Excellent combination. More on football in a minute. After dinner, Steve transferred the video of our dance practice to DVD for us – we need to have some kind of reference for practice, after all.

Football Update
Yesterday was the Ravens’ season opener at home.

Kansas City Chiefs at Baltimore Ravens
24 – 38

They tried to give me heart failure in the second and third quarters… and I wasn’t even watching the game, per se. In this market, CBS broadcast the Minnesota-Cleveland game, so I had to “watch” the GameCenter on NFL.com.  Granted, it was nice to see the Vikings hand the Browns a beatdown, but I would have rather seen the Ravens play. Because, let’s face it: Who wouldn’t want to see Ray Lewis break a little something off like this in real time…

…or watch as QB Joe Flacco goes and dials in 303 yards passing and 4 yards rushing, as the Ravens put up a total of 501 yards of total offense!? Crazy. How does that make you feel, Ray?

Yeah, I thought so.

Elsewhere around the league:

Miami Dolphins at Atlanta Falcons
7 – 19
Oh, well.. at least there are 16 more games in the season.

.

Philadelphia Eagles at Carolina Panthers
38 – 10
Ditto.

.

Denver Broncos at Cincinnati Bengals
12 – 7
Sorry, and .

.

Minnesota Vikings at Cleveland Browns
34 – 20
Congrats, … and Congrats Commiserations, .

Stray Toasters

• I’m going to help sling some paint tonight before the Sandy Eggo – Oakland game.
• 10 sure-fire ways to derail your career in IT
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot..?!” file: Philadelphia Free Library System is shutting down
• Get results by social networking with airlines
• Top 50 User-Created Soul Calibur 4 Characters
• Scientists Find Master Gene to Switch on Immune Cells
• Want your own dinosaur? Place your bids

Namaste.

Sunday – 13 September 2009
I was up later than I had planned to be last night/this morning; I was preparing and posting my auctions on eBay. They’ll kick off this evening and hopefully, by the end of the week, I’ll be a few ‘Clix lighter. (One can hope, can’t they…?)

This morning, we’re up and getting ready to meet our…. BUM BUM BUMMMM… dance instructor for our wedding dances. Mark Baker, SaraRules’ former classmate at SUU and the Director of Ballroom Dance at SUU, is choreographing our first dance and the father-daughter dance as our wedding present. (It’s nice to be able to “open” presents before the event!)

And then, there’s football! The Raven’s take on the Chiefs today. I doubt that the game will be broadcast here and we don’t have DirecTV and Sunday Ticket, but I can track the stats on NFL.com, if nothing else.

Stray Toasters

• Norman Borlaug, scientist who ‘saved 245m lives,’ dies aged 95
• From the “Huh… Who knew!?” file: Parallel Processing for Cardiac Simulations Using an Xbox 360
• Short People Got No Reason Not To Be America’s Next Top Models
• 
• How does her U.S. Open implosion affect Serena’s legacy?
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Super Mario fingernails
• 18 Foot Multitouch Wall and New Multitouch Tech Hit the Streets

Right on to the friction of the day…

Namaste.

Friday – 11 September 2009
Today not only marks the end of the (work) week, but it’s the eighth anniversary of the attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.

For my thoughts on the matter, I once again refer readers here.

Today’s an “on” day.
And I have The Leash this week.
Happiness and joy.

That’s right… I just broke out a haiku. Bow down.

Football Update
The NFL 2009 season kicked off with the Tennesee Titans heading to Heinz Field to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Tennessee Titans at Pittsburgh Steelers
10 – 13

It was a good game.  A seriously solid, well-played game. The defenses of both teams definitely earned their paychecks this week. The game was scoreless until late in the second half, when both offenses woke up and remembered what it was they were there to do. Excellent way to start the season… despite the fact that the Steelers won.

Four-Color Coverage
MarknTyme has come down with a case of “Life Happens,” which in this case means that he’s whipping his high school band into fighting shape. Because of this, he won’t be helping out with FCC for the near term. With that in mind, I’ll probably have a new (and solo) FCC to post sometime this weekend.

Stray Toasters

• Twenty-two days.
• I see a red door
  And I want to paint it black…
• As I haven’t posted it in a while: Skippy’s List
• just hooked us up with Irish Creme lollipops. (I know…!) They’re pretty tasty. He got them from Lollyphile.
• What’s that you say..? Craig Ferguson has something to say about South Carolina Congressman Mike Duvall? Tell me more!

  …and…

• PopCultureShock has some nice comic-related wallpapers.
• IAAF urges caution over Semenya intersex claims
  And, I’m Ivory Soap-sure that this line wasn’t intended to be as pun-laden as it appears to me:

  South Africa will fight back if Semenya is excluded from further competition, Stofile said, adding, “It will be a third world war.”

  I don’t know if South Africa (or just parts of it) are considered to have “Third world” status, but is the reporter (unintentionally) saying that it would be a war of third world nations…?

• David Lynch, window-dresser
• Unearthing Solomon Grundy
• 
• Motorola’s comeback attempt rests on software
  Don’t call it a comeback
  [They’ve] been here for years

Tonight: SaraRules and I are attending Utah Symphony’s An Evening of Beethoven.  (Tickets are still available…)

Namaste.

Wednesday – 02 September 2009
Middle of the week, next-to-last day of the work week.

After purchasing both the Himmelveil: Streets and Himmelveil: Sewers sets from WorldWorksGames yesterday, I didn’t do anything with them. It wasn’t for lack of desire or motivation; it was more a case of “the lazies.” I’m okay with that. I’m still looking at making enough pieces over the next week or so to make the Arkham Asylum map.

Last night, SaraRules and I watched the rebroadcast of the NCIS episode, “Legend,” the lead-in to the spin-off show, NCIS: Los Angeles. I’ve also noticed something about the commercials promoting the new series: None of the ads have featured Louise Lombard, who was in “Legend,” as team/office lead Lara Macy.

LL Cool J… Check
Chris O’Donnell… Check
Louise Lombard… Louise Lombard… Bueller… Bueller… Bueller…

I ‘unno what happened – other than her character must not have tested well with audiences – but she’s not on the show. *shrug* Oh, well. Maybe she’ll resurface on CSI:… at least, I don’t think that they killed off her character there.

Stray Toasters

• The menu for the reception has been chosen.
• For SaraRules: Graffiti comes of age in New York
• Great Shades of Elvis Slumdog Millionaire…!
• Coworker Dave posted a link to this gem from the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Kons for Kids
• 
• 32 Heroes Who Must Play a Deadly Game — Or Die!
• IOC questions money issues in Chicago’s 2016 Games bid
• S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Nick Fury (Classic) and Maria Hill to be NPCs in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
• 
• Why Gmail went down

Next on the docket: Taking steps to transform “plain, old Wednesday” into “Comics and Sushi Wednesday!”
Posse, out.

Namaste.

Saturday – 29 August 2009
The morning started earlier than it should have as called this morning. While there was a breach of “The 10 O’Clock Rule,” she was the harbinger of good tidings: Our rings are ready. Earlier than expected, but a nice surprise.

I immediately went back to bed. A few hours later, at a more reasonable hour, I got up. Not sure what I’m doing with the rest of the day, but I’m most likely heading out for poker tonight.

Yesterday, and I headed downtown to pick up copies of Snow Leopard. SaraRules, taking a lunch break, met us at the Apple Store. The three of use went to The Counter for lunch. They offer custom-built burgers, but not just beef, they also offer turkey, veggie and grilled chicken. Between the meat, bun and topping offerings, diners can make over 300,000 combinations. It was a little more pricey than we’d expected, but well worth it.

Stray Toasters

• Great Geek Debates: Stormtrooper vs. Redshirt
• By way of MarknTyme: Classiest Star Wars Action Figure Displays You’ve Ever Seen
• Alien Resurrection is on FX. Not a “great” movie, but they just hit my favorite scene: The body banks in the med-lab, where the failed Ripley clones were kept.
• Io9 Smackdown: Who’s TV’s Biggest Badass of All Time
• NASA’s Most Awesomely Weird Mission Patches
• 
• 10 TV Shows That Should Never, Ever Be Made Into Movies
• From Comic Book Resources: DC Universe Online’s Green Lantern Revealed

  

• Garlic and Herb Pita Chips from Whole Foods == far more addictively tasty than they should be
• A New Look at Brain Control

Namaste.

Tuesday – 18 August 2009
Another day in the mines.

Last night, SaraRules and I went to dinner at El Chihuahua. We ate. We talked. We watched football. After that, we ran a couple of errands – one of which involved a Hostess Fruit Pie (but perhaps I’ve said too much…) – and then headed home for a quiet evening in.

The management at our apartment complex is having some of the roads in the complex repaved. I think that this would be referred to as a “Charlie Foxtrot” in the military.

Football Update
The Panthers traveled to New York to take on the N.Y. Giants for their first preseason game. (GameCenter) They put on a… decent… showing. The first half was primarily the Giants’ half. Somewhere in the second half, the Panthers seemed to remember why they were there.

With under two minutes left in the game, QB Josh McCown executed a rather impressive drive that went in for a touchdown AND two-point conversion to tie the game at 17. The Giants had a chance to drive downfield, but couldn’t. On the first play of the Panthers’ next drive, McCown, setting up a pass play, had the ball knocked from his hand, which was recovered – in the air – by a Giants’ lineman and run back for the go-ahead winning touchdown… just as time ran out.

Carolina: 17
Giants: 24

And, in other gridiron news: Brett Favre is back in Minnesota…

Workout
Marci and I went to the gym this afternoon:

• Calf Raises: 3 sets/10 reps, 100 lbs
• Leg Extensions: 3 sets/10 reps, 70 lbs
• Leg Curls: 3 sets/10 reps, 70 lbs
• Sit-ups (incline): 3 sets/20 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 185 lbs
• Tricep Extensions (bar): 3 sets/12 reps, 80 lbs
• Curls (dumbbell, hammer grip): 3 sets/10 reps, 25 lbs
• Reverse Punches (dumbbell): 3 sets/10 lbs
  • Set 1: 20 reps
  • Set 2: 10 reps

Weight (morning): 184.5 lbs

Stray Toasters

• Last night, I was messaged by someone I haven’t spoken with in nearly five (5) years. It was a bit of a shock, pleasantly so… but surprising, nonetheless.
• By way of : While I Was Away

• IKEA Draper Crayfish Party
• Utah Museum of Fine Arts is holding a film and lecture series, beginning next week.
• Why Is PETA Making Fun of Fat Women?
• I’m a fan of Bobby McFerrin. Check out his rendition of The Pink Panther Theme
• Insanewiches
• Car 54 Jamar Nicholas, Where Are You?
• pointed this out to me: Do You Wanna Date My Avatar?

• Has the Spidey Musical been deep-sixed?
• But we’re never gonna survive
  Unless we are a little crazy…

Quote of the Day
Today’s quote is gleaned from a conversation I had last night with . He wanted to make sure that we were alright with Bit and Pixel being at the wedding ceremony (in the chapel, that is).  Duh – we only get to see them (or at least Bit, to this point) every so often; naturally, we want them there. That led to the following:

9:47:10 PM : aiiight so urchins ok, i’ll load them both up with nyquil.
9:47:21 PM : heh or mountain dew
9:47:24 PM : either way, fun at parties
9:47:26 PM : 🙂
9:47:59 PM : SaraRules: “How about one and one?”
9:48:06 PM : “He gets to pick which one.”
9:48:24 PM : hahaha ok awesome, Bit on mountain dew then.  i’ve been wanting to play with THAT shotgun for months.

Namaste.

Friday – 14 August 2009
The work week draws to a close. Amen.

After work yesterday, SaraRules and I met up with and headed to get fitted for our tuxedos. It was quick and rather painless. On the way home, I realized that I was craving something… I finally figured out what it was: Cake. We had to run by the store anyway, so we picked up some Devil’s Food cake mix and a… tub (?)… container (?)… whatever the unit is called (?)… of Cream Cheese frosting. SaraRules whipped it up after dinner.

This morning, I had the unexpected, but very pleasant, surprise of chatting with Bret for a bit before I had to get ready for work.

Football Update

1. The Ravens opened their preseason against the Washington Redskins last night. They apparently opened up a can o’ Whoop-ass, too, because they not only beat the ‘Skins… they blanked ’em: 23-0.

   

2. SaraRules’ beloved Raiders opened up against the Dallas Cowboys last night. They won. Handily. 31-10.
3. Michael Vick has signed with the Philadelphia Eagles for a one-year contract, with an option on a second year. We know that the man did a phenomenally douchbag thing with his dog-fighting ring a few years ago. But…he paid for it. Can we (finally) stop talking about what a schmuck the guy is – or was – and get on with the football aspect of things?
4. Dante Stallworth. Benched for the season. Sorry, .

Stray Toasters

• This morning, I awoke with the vershluggen music they play on the Lagoon commercials running through my head. I blame for this… for no other reason than “Because I can.”
• After a few misfires, I now have City of Heroes (re-)installed on Defiant.
• The Park City Jazz Festival kicks off next weekend; the closing artist is Al Jarreau. I believe that I shall have to find a way to attend this event.
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Woman Blames eBay for Thwarting Baby Name Auction
• I know you’re not supposed to play with your food, but with plates like this, how can you not?!
• By way of :

  

• Battlestar Galactica Feature Film Confirmed
• I just talked with – it looks like SaraRules and I will have our rings in about three weeks.  We both REALLY like the design she came up with; can’t wait to see the finished product.
• Why Should I Trust My Network Administrator?
• Thanks to ‘s posts about his trip through Indiana, I’ve had Rockapella’s Indiana (mp3) running through my head for the past couple of days.

Right on to the friction of the day…

Namaste.

Tuesday – 04 August 2009
Another work-a-day morning in Paradise. And this is after a 12-hour day yesterday. On the plus side, this means that after logging today’s and tomorrow’s hours, I can trim a bit off the number of hours I need to take for leave on Thursday. I’m not sure that’s a full “Win-Win,” but it’s not bad. Of course, I’m in an all-day meeting, so that should keep me (more or less) out of trouble.

Last night was a low-key evening. That not-so-loosely translates to: “I sat in front of the television and vegged.” And it was good. I also got a little further in cataloguing ‘Clix.

Stray Toasters

• SaraRules pointed me in the direction of: One Super Wedding
• Inverse Spatial Logic Game
• sent me a link to this picture; I nearly fell out of my chair laughing.
• Indian police accused of abuses
• Wow…. Kenneth just used the phrase “money shot” in our meeting. With our CEO and other top brass in it. I think he just scored “Human of the Day” for that.
• US Health Care Debate (infographic)
• 
• 5 Robots that make C3PO look like the Terminator
• 10 Badass Female G.I. Joe Characters
• Also by way of Nyx: Obama’s Birthday Cards from Birthers
• Living in a massive high-rise with no neighbors

Namaste.

Saturday – 01 August 2009
Last night’s sleep was… a little broken. I woke up a few times, for as-yet undetermined reasons. After getting into bed after 0230, I was up around 0730… and thought I might stay up for a bit. I thought better of it and crawled back into bed. I finally woke up and decided to start the day around 0915, which was a much more reasonable hour.

I got dressed and went to have coffee with Perry. It was a very brief get together, as he was on the clock. I came back home and found that SaraRules was already back from quilting. We hit the road again… this time with a two-fold mission:

1. To pick up our invitations from the printer
2. To pick up a new HDD for my MacBook

We were successful in both.

Human of the Day
While at the Best Buy, getting the hard drive, I saw what I’m sure is going to be the most awesome thing I see all day: A guy playing football on what I believe was the PS3 display. That, in and of itself, isn’t so noteworthy. What made it great was that he had pulled up a chair from their office section (a nice brown suede-looking finish), set it up in front of the display, taken off his hat (and put it on the display) and was just… going to town playing video games. It rocked. SaraRules and I decided that only a couple things could have made the scene better:

• If he had a Big Gulp^® and some chips on a little tray next to him and/or
• If he had friends with him, throwing down some game time trash talk.

I completely spaced off getting a phone picture of it, though.

Workout
We also hit the gym for a weekend workout:

• Leg Extensions: 3 sets/10 reps, 70 lbs
• Leg Curls: 3 sets/10 reps, 70 lbs
• Calf Raises (standing): 3 sets/10 reps, 100 lbs
• Bent-over Row (dumbbell): 3 sets/10 reps, 35 lbs
• Sit-ups (decline): 3 sets/20 reps
• Reverse Fly: 3 sets/10 reps, 80 lbs
• Tricep Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 80 lbs
• Tricep Extensions (rope): 3 sets/10 reps, 60 lbs
• Side Bends (dumbbell): 3 sets/10 reps, 30 lbs

Stray Toasters

• Bobby McFerrin hacks your brain with the pentatonic scale
• After Scare, Tempers Flare at La Guardia
• The Le (pronounced “Tee Lee”) sums up what was wrong with Marvel Comics’ last couple of events, World War Hulk and Civil War:
  

  Since the reader has become so attached to Hulk’s cause, this makes the reader a fool too… and that’s really the problem here. The Hulk’s a chump, and we’re also chumps for taking his side.
  
  That’s just bad storytelling. The author, Grek Pak, was clearly trying to pull a fast one on us, and he succeeded. Like the terrible last moments of Civil War before it, we’re left with a great story that is utterly ruined by a pitiful ending.

• America makes nothing except weapons
• 
• From the “Yeah, I want some Cheesy Poofs!” and “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!?” files: Cheezy poofs marketed as “organic carrot stix”
• Also from the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!?” file: Michael Jackson wanted to make ‘Spider-Man’ movie, Stan Lee says

Tomorrow: Off to Park City for the Arts Festival.

Namaste.

Wednesday: Coda
The day turned out better than Tuesday, after all. Selah.

After work, SaraRules and I headed to Kate and Perry’s – I had a few Blackest Night-related comics to hand off. On the way there, we were passed by a couple of scooter riders whose helmets looked… vaguely familiar; I confirmed later that it was and A 400 Lb Gorilla. We hung out with Perry and the Kids for a while. Next, we headed to the nearest Best Buy, where I (finally) found a copy of Green Lantern: First Flight… with the figurine. (More on this later.) I, however, completely forgot to look for a copy of The Middleman. Ah, well, another time.

Back home, SaraRules started in on dinner and I started in on today’s four-color crack. For tonight’s fare, SaraRules made maple chicken, cheesy potatoes, green beans and glasses of Novella Synergy Blanc. Dinner was, as always, quite delicious. During dinner we watched GL:FF. After that, SaraRules went back to work on our wedding quilt and I finished up my four-color shwag.

Reeling by on Celluloid
Green Lantern: First Flight, the latest release from DC Universe Animated Original Movies, is an adaptation of the origin story of the Silver Age Green Lantern, Hal Jordan. The feature hits the ground running and, before the opening credits even roll, you’ve been introduced to Hal and two major supporting characters. Things don’t exactly slow down after the opening credits, either, as Hal meets Sinestro and three other Lanterns and is escorted to Oa, home of the Green Lantern Corps. The story doesn’t retell Hal’s first days as a GL entirely as recounted in comics, but that’s okay – the story that they do tell is a good one. The story makes the characters accessible to viewers who neither watched Justice League/Unlimited nor read the comic book and it even lends itself for more GL features down the road. As an added bonus, one of the special features on the disc is a preview of the upcoming Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. Win-Win.

Four-Color Coverage

Stray Toasters

• Officiant: Check!
• There, I Fixed It
• I read this and thought of :

  

• What do you get when you mix Wu-Tang Clan and LEGO? Something like this.
• Robert Downey, Jr. on Iron Man 2
• PhysicsCentral: Learn How Your World Works

Namaste.

Tuesday – 28 July 2009
Another day kicks off… with me taking my car to the dealership. The “Check Engine” light came on last night, so I figured that getting it looked at would be a good thing.

Yesterday, SaraRules and I headed to Utah County to get our engagement photos taken. I finally had the opportunity to meet Twila, our photographer; SaraRules had told me nothing but good things about her – from their first meeting and from her bridal photos. She was right. Twila was fun to work with and I’m looking forward to seeing how our shoot turned out.

Stray Toasters

• Green Lantern: First Flight hits shelves today.
• Question for the movie fans out there: When you know that [BIG NEW MOVIE] is coming out, how much would you like to know about it beforehand? Do you prefer to know as little as possible, aside from a few sketchy details, or would you prefer to have a decent overview/synopsis – up to, but not necessarily including spoilers – before going in?
• For: SaraRules and
  From: NPR Music - Riverboat Gamblers ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ for 25 Years of ‘Purple Rain’
• Wonder Woman Is Not Lame
• By way of : William Shatner Makes Palin’s Speech into Poetry

• Transitional Care Cuts Hospital Re-Entry Rates, Costs
• Bill Maher Calls America a ‘Stupid Country’
• Reset: How This Crisis Can Restore Our Values and Renew America
• 
• Crows Recognize Human Faces

Namaste.

Monday – 27 July 2009
Back in the saddle again…

Last night, after dinner (and Bocce) with SaraRules’ family, we headed home to wind down the weekend. SaraRules quilted; I worked on the second story of my ‘Clix building. I think that I’ve finally determined the best way to get the top to stay in place when the first story interior isn’t being used. I’ve also discovered that I’m looking forward to making a building using the Shellendrak Manor set, which allows for less unusable/unplayable space in building interiors. While we were working away at our respective crafts, we watched I Am Legend.

Today is SysAdminDay.  (At least, we’re celebrating it today, as people will be off on Friday – and we need something to make Monday less suck-tacular.)

Show your SysAdmin some love. Julie, our “Distinguished IT Admin,” came in with a box this morning. The box contained this:

Aww, yeah…

Stray Toasters

• We’re taking our engagement photos this evening. Given our ideas for them, they will hopefully be as much fun as we are anticipating.
• This item combines two things I love: LEGO and Top Gear: Full-size LEGO House
• Iced coffees: ‘A meal in a drink’
• By way of MarknTyme: Axis of Awesome – 4 Chords

• American eugenics movement archives
• From the “YeahbuhWHAT?!?” file: “I feel it is my duty to avoid the unproductive, typical, politics-as-usual, lame-duck session in one’s last year in office.”
• To prove that it wasn’t just a fluke – and because I had a fun time of it – I’m going camping with SaraRules’ family (again) next week.
• Free online archive of vintage TV commercials
• How to shark a ‘Guess the number of M&M’s in a jar’ contest:

• Russians hear the call of the circus

Namaste.

Friday – 24 July 2009
It’s my 9/80 Friday.
It’s not even 8:30.
So, why am I wide awake? (written when it was still “morning” in Utah.)

Oh, well.

Last night, SaraRules and I had dinner with OnlyAly, , Stephanie and Jason at MacCool’s, an Irish(-style) pub, in Foothill Village. I had been there once before, but not for dinner. I ordered the Finn’s Fries (think “nachos,” then take a left – it’s made with potatoes, rather than tortillas) for an appetizer. Holy cow… They were incredible. I had the Pub Steak for my entree. I was a bit more disappointed here: I asked for it “medium-well,” it came out “medium-rare,” or as might say: “They threatened it with the flame.” They took it back and recooked it; while it did cook through, it made the outer layers a tad tougher. All-in-all, it was a good experience and I’d definitely go back again.

The evening was spent lazily lounging around. Nothing wrong with that.

Today is also Pioneer Day in Utah. (And Missouri and California, according to one joke I’ve heard.)

Stray Toasters
Stray Toasters are preceding Four-Color Coverage today. Why? Because I think that FCC may get to be “a bit” lengthy and I’m going to try using the never-seen-in-this-blog “MORE” tag. Or, for a shorter answer: “Because I can.” So, without further ado:

• Marvin the Martian… made of LEGO bricks.
• I received my Mac pony pegasus from Stephanie last night. It looks great. I’ll take (and post) some pictures of it later.
• iGoogle now has a “Comics” themes category; a tip of the hat to for point this out to me. My home page is now decked out with a snazzy Green Lantern theme.
• Race and book covers: Why is there a white girl on the cover of this book about a black girl?
• I stumbled across this yesterday afternoon: This wedding party entrance had the potential to be disastrous. Instead, I think it was rather cool and looked like everyone had a fun time with it:

• Blackest Night figures (Series 3)  from DC Direct
• Catwoman 1:6 Scale Deluxe Collector Figure
• Expectations != Results, as dx/dy (Laziness) = 0
• Federal agents apprehend fugitive after 15 years
• Homemade AT-AT loft bed
• Hello Kitty + Star Wars = ???
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!” file: Artist takes $190,000 out of bank because they won’t give him a mortgage
• Slap on the wrist for officer who assaulted paramedic

Namaste.

Four-Color Coverage
It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these; hopefully, I remember how it goes. Since it’s been so long, I’m also going to cover some of the highlights from the past weeks, as well. With that in mind, I’m going to use the “MORE” tag to cut the bulk of the text. Hopefully, it will work as expected…

Read More �

Wednesday – 22 July 2009
Last night, after dinner, I crashed on the sofa for about an hour. Crashed. And the fact that I made it through dinner was a feat of willpower in itself. I was that tired. After waking up, I felt better and then proceeded to just lounge around for the rest of the evening.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
In a rare – but not unprecedented – instance, Craig Ferguson had a bit of a rant last night in his… pre-monologue:

Intersting… and rather insightful, too.

Stray Toasters

• I’m giving Firefox a break and taking Safari on an extended test drive. So far, so good.
• From NPR Music: Lee Fields: Soul Survivor
• By way of : World of Warcraft movie: From computer screen to the big screen, with Spider-Man’s Sam Raimi to direct
• The View from the Middle: Javier Grillo-Marxuach
  • Part 2 of the interview was posted this morning.

  

• If advertisers were supervillains, or vice-versa
• The ground floor of my new ‘Clix building is complete. At some point, I’ll finish off the second story.
• Guide to Pirate Parenting
• Sussex cops try to supress publication of damning traffic-cam photos by claiming copyright
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Commissioned paintings using ashes of dead person
• Explain emergency, Musharraf told
• 
• Intergalactic Playground: engrossing, insightful history of sf aimed at kids
• Also from the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: PowerPoint considered militarily harmful

Tonight: High Noon, with Gary Cooper. (“Super duper…!”) ¹

Namaste.

¹ – Bonus points for anyone who can identify this reference.