Random Access

My Legionnaire code name should be Slow-on-the-Uptake Lad.

Happy Birthday to:

…and…

Wednesday – 15 Oct 2008
I finished reading Watchmen last night. I enjoyed it. It’s a great alternative take on the Cold War. It will be interesting to see how well – and how much – they were able to adapt for the film version.

SaraRules came over for a bit last night. We started watching The DaVinci Code; we got about halfway through it. I have seen it before; she hadn’t. She started getting tired, so we decided to stop the movie for the night. After she left, I watched a little bit of The Late Show and The Late Late Show before calling it a relatively early night.

Stray Toasters

• Every once in a while, you wind up stumbling across something that makes you go,”Wow… I dodged a bullet there…” I had one of those this morning. It was “I Feel Better Than James Brown” great.
• SaraRules pointed out a couple of interesting items:
  • Photo project gives voice to ‘backbone of America’
  • Cheadle replaces Howard in Iron Man sequel
• From Fafblog – Barack Obama: Black?
• 
• Comic Book Characters Grouped by Religious Affiliation
  Some of the affiliations are rather… loose. For example: Neil Gaiman’s Death? (Yes, that one…) She’s Mormon. Who knew?!
• Christina Applegate: Why I got a double mastectomy
• I’m still stunned by the Don Cheadle news. As much as I like Terence Howard, I think that Don Cheadle will add a little harder edge to the character of James Rhodes. And if they go the War Machine route… even better.
• Blog of funny newspaper clippings
• By way of NPR Music:
  • West Coast Cool: The Jazz Sound of ’50s California
  • Songs for a Drab and Unfulfilling Existence
  • 1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die
• I like this illustration, by Harris O’Malley

  

  In case you can’t make it out, the book is Demon Summoning for Dummies

• Ezekiel 25:17… as translated by Quentin Tarantino
• Snake-proof baby crib from the 1900s

Quote of the Day
has been sharing the wisdom of Lao Tzu on Wednesdays. Today’s entry:

Namaste.

Eric pointed out this “Top 10” from woot.com:

10 Big Announcements from Apple Today

1. iPhone now available in three slightly different shades of black; pre-orders crash AT&T’s network yet again
2. New iPod PicoShuffle randomly plays up to three songs
3. Upgrade to OS X takes away some feature you really liked, replaces it with another way to access the iTunes Store
4. MacAir meets cousin Duncan MacAir who has the exact same specs and same release date but was never before mentioned, for some reason
5. Apple to buy up the last functioning remnants of the global finance system
6. New iPod Taste uses proprietary TongueScreen technology
7. Time Machine now allows access to the future, but some timelines are alternate so using it violates warranty
8. The entity known as Apple Inc. is actually a front for the Federation of Light
9. New commemorative black turtleneck that plays mp3s
10. Coming next year: US Festival ‘09

Tuesday – 14 Oct 2008
After a long day in the south forty, it was nice to get to SaraRules’ place and just… veg. We watched Monday Night Football: The Giants at The Browns… and we were all surprised by what we saw: I don’t know WHO it was that showed up in the Browns’ uniforms, but they worked the Giants over. In a BIG way.  I don’t think I’ve seen the Browns play this kind of ball since they moved to Baltimore. (That’s right, … I just went there. Booyah.) They were effective – highly effective, at that – on both sides of the ball:

• They had 454 combined yards
• Derek Anderson threw for 310 yards
• Jamal Lewis ran for 88 yards
• They picked off three of Eli Manning’s passes
• Their punting unit never took the field
• And…AND… they even went for – and made – a two-point conversion.

The Giants, on the other hand…? They, or at least people in their uniforms, were just… there. They did not look like the 4-0, Super Bowl-winning team that we’ve seen over the past few weeks. Maybe they sent in the JV squad. By the end of the third quarter, it looked as though their hearts just weren’t in the game anymore.

All kidding aside: Congrats to on his team’s rather decisive win over the Giants.

After I got home, I opted for a hot bath and reading more of Watchmen. It was a good way to wrap up the evening.

This morning, I decided to wear a tie to work. Just because. And a vest, too. I even opted out of wearing my contact lenses, in favor of my glasses.

Stray Toasters

• Steve Jobs and the Apple Corps will have (a) new MacBook announcement(s) in a couple of hours.
  • A brief history of MacBook Redesigns and Upgrades
• Many Wonder Womans Women to benefit women’s shelter
  Click on the link at the bottom of the article for more information and more images.
• LEGO + Christmas = *COVET* (picture)
• 
• 16 Drawing Contraptions That Are More Artistic Than You
• For some reason, I had the theme from The Streets of San Francisco running through my head while I was brushing my teeth last night.
• Do you prefer self-checkout lines?
• There was a commercial for Robitussin DM Max that came on last night. I wasn’t looking at the television and misheard it as “Robitussin DMX,” and my first thought/question was: “How do you go from rapping to having your own brand of cough syrup?!” Then I looked at the screen… and I was immediately less confused.
• By way of :



• TSA Airport Screener Steals over $200,000 in Gadgets, Almost Gets Away With It
• John Cleese on Sarah Palin: “Monty Python could have written this.”

Attack the day…

Namaste.

Monday – 13 Oct 2008
It was a good – and busy – weekend. After Canadian Thanksgiving, SaraRules, Logan and I went to see Quarantine. There was apparently “an incident” in the showing before ours; we never found out “what” it was. The movie was good. And, to some degree, it finally did something that I have rarely seen in a horror/zombie movie: Contained the situation. Of course, there was still the “No one in a horror movie has ever seen a horror movie” factor, though. On the whole though, I’d give it a definite thumbs-up with an okay.

Sunday, I woke up and looked out the window and saw snow on the ground. Not a lot – it melted by noon or thereabouts – but it was snow, nevertheless. Then, it was time for football and breakfast. Breakfast was good; football, not so good:

• The Ravens lost to the Colts, which I expected… I just didn’t expect the drubbing they took.
• The Fish lost to the Texans.
• The Panthers dropped their game to the Bucs.

After the first round of games were over, we headed over to SaraRules’ parents’ place. We hooked up with Logan and we went a’shopping. Back to the house for dinner and the late games. After the late game, SaraRules and I went back to my place to watch No Country for Old Men. Neither of us had seen it before… Wow. It was a good movie… but it was definitely not a “feel good” movie. I see why it received the acclaim that it did; I heartily recommend it.

Today, I have been in the American Fork office. The original intent was to help rack some server equipment and clear out my AF desk, since I’m never down here. We tagged the equipment, but couldn’t rack it… because the rack is the wrong height. I’ve only been able to gather some of my stuff in sporadic intervals, because of small fires. Actually, there’s been only one fire… but it’s spawned a couple of smaller ones.

Stray Toasters

• By way of SaraRules: Amazing Holocaust Love Story Lives On
• With Software, Artists Put Yet Another Spin on the Presidential Debates
• Has anyone heard of “Presidential Decree 51?”
• American game designer follows father into orbit

Namaste.

Saturday – 11 Oct 2008
Last night’s Clitorati was good and we had a rather decent turnout. Rachel fit in nicely with the usual suspects, also.

This morning, SaraRules, Rachel and I went to the Downtown Farmers’ Market.

It. Was. Cold.

We were (and for the most part, still are) on the leading edge of a stormfront. There is talk of snow, anywhere from ½” to 6″, depending on the path the storm takes. Yay.

After the market, we headed back to my place for a bit. SaraRules and Rachel went shopping, I had a ‘Clix tournament. I said my goodbyes to Rachel before they headed to the mall. I had considered what team I wanted to use last night, so all I had to do this morning was make sure that the correct figures were in my case this morning. I went with the theme of “Spies ‘R’ Us,” which included:

• Dum-Dum Dugan (Human)
• Elektra (Skrull)
• Iron Widow
• Nick Fury and
• Susan Richards (Skrull)

I went 2-1 for the day, which was a nice turnaround from last week’s 1-2. My first game was against a kid named Kasey. Literally, a kid – he couldn’t have been more than 12. He was the nephew of Duane, one of the semi-regular tourney contestants. He fielded:

• Green Scar (Hulk)
• Iron Man
• Spider-Girl

I had planned on taking out Spider-Girl first… until Mr. Banner decided to close ranks. For some reason, taking him out became “Priority: One.” Go figure. After taking him down, it was Ms. Parker’s turn. And finally, Iron Man was sent to the scrap yard. To his credit, he was able to take down my somewhat early in the game. I don’t know what Duane’s been teaching him as far as playing HeroClix goes, but whatever it is, Kasey has been paying attention – with a little more strategy in his gameplay, he will be/become a formidable player.

Next, I fought Duane. I don’t remember who he fielded other than Spider-Girl and a Moloid. And I only remember those because they were the pieces that I KOed. I won that match on points.

Next up: Jerry. His team was a bit eclectic:

• Captain America
• Dr. Doom
• Doctor Strange
• Marvel Girl
• Skrull Infiltrator and
• Spider-Girl

We danced around the map for a bit before the real engagements began. And then, we kept having issues getting the dice rolls we needed. Finally, Jerry started hitting his target numbers. And one-by-one, my team fell by the wayside, until there were none standing. Jerry went 3-0 for the day.

I headed home to meet SaraRules and we went to a quilt show in Holladay. There were a few interesting quilts, but on the whole, I didn’t see much that interested me. We did, however, run into Beth and Jer and their mothers.

And later this evening: Canadian Thanksgiving at Marilyn and Dean’s.

Namaste.

Friday – 10 Oct 2008
Last night, after a summer of waiting, the new season of CSI: started. And it ended a little differently than I expected. But, I was glad to see a show follow through with something that is so rarely done in comics: We’re killing off a character. And we’re not going to punk out and reverse it. (Watch… no sooner than I write this, it will turn out that they’ll pull a Dallas Bobby Ewing shower scene.) I will be interested to see how the new CSIs, played by Laurence Fishburne and Lauren Lee Smith, join/integrate into the team.

After CSI: went off, SaraRules helped me do a little cleaning around the apartment. Rachel, one of the MFAs from SUU, is coming up this afternoon to hang out for the night… and the apartment needed a little love; good progress was made. I have a few things to finish up this afternoon, but that should be easy enough to deal with.

It was 37°F when I woke up this morning.
The forecasters are saying that the chance of snow in the valley this weekend is good.
Whiskey Tango…?!

Chew on This: Food for Thought
Commentary: Hollywood sses world in black and white.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Stray Toasters

• SaraRules pointed out this Rolling Stone article: Make-Believe Maverick
• Five Things Your Mac Won’t Tell You
• DC Comics President Gives Superman Update
• From MightyGodKing.com: Why I Should Write “Legion of Super-Heroes” #45: The Only Line
• Also from Rolling Stone: Q&A: Chrissie Hynde
• DNA test proves it — baby shark has no father
  (Someone needs to test its midichlorians …)
• By way of : Toy Modder Extraordinaire Steampunks Return of the Jedi
• 
• Dream CAPTCHA for spam-free sleep
• A couple of items by way of :
  • Foo Fighters want McCain to stop using song
  • GOP gets no love from musicians
• From the “Everything Old Is New Again” file: Alien lizards set to invade ABC in ‘V’
• Joe Biden Laughs Uncontrollably Over SNL Veep Debate Skit
• From Boingboing: Cool Photoblog: Elders with Style

Live a vapor trail…

Namaste.

Thursday – 09 Oct 2008
Last night was Project Runway night. The four designers who started the show were pared down to the final three designers… and I was a little surprised at who made the final cut. Post-Runway, and after SaraRules headed home, it was new comics night. There were a few good books in yesterday’s haul, including a new issue of Love & Capes.

This morning, I decided to check out an Internet Radio feed on iTunes. I opted to go for a Hip Hop/Rap feed. Scrolling down the list, I saw an entry for WVEE: V-103. This intrigued me, as there was a “V-103” in Baltimore. I clicked on the station and waited for the feed to begin. Turns out that this feed originates from a station in Atlanta. A couple of songs played and then there was a newscast. The reporter was Jean Ross.

*blink blink*

There was a “Jean Ross” who was a reporter on Baltimore’s V-103 many moons past. It struck me as too much of a coincidence to let pass. I did a quick search and came up with a result on the Atlanta station’s website. I clicked through and went to their Bio page. And there it was, big as day and twice as bright: Jean Ross’ bio. Turns out that she is the same Jean Ross I used to listen to back home all those years ago.

Stray Toasters

• By way of SaraRules: Charles Atlas, Wii Fit, Health and Exercise
  (The second paragraph kills me.)
• By way of : Demonic Squirrel Motorcyle Riding Story
• 
• A few political items:
  • John McCain and “my friends”: We counted how many times he said it.
  • John McCain calls Barack Obama ‘that one’ during debate: Was it rude or not?
  • Make-believe Maverick
  • Video: Saturday Night Live‘s take on the Vice-Presidential Debate (featuring Queen Latifah)
• Browse the Artifacts of Geek History in Jay Walker’s Library
• There is a possibility of snow in the valley this weekend. *sigh*
• At last, Google invents something truly brilliant
• 
• Steampunk and the Macabre
• A couple of things you might not know about me:
  1. I don’t practice Santeria
  2. I ain’t got no crystal ball
• The Manga Guide to Databases

Attack the day…

Namaste.

Wednesday – 08 Oct 2008
Middle of the week and all’s well. In the words of the Dave Matthews’ Band, So Much to Say, so let’s get it started…

SaraRules came over after work last night. We ran a couple of errands, including picking up a barbecue chicken pizza from Papa Murphy’s and headed back to my place. We watched Senators Obama and McCain in the second presidential debate. Again, I’m not really sure that either candidate “won” the debate, but if I had to pick a winner, I’d have to go with…

Tom Brokaw.

That’s right: Tom Brokaw, the moderator. Why? He had the best lines – including a couple of snarky jabs at the candidates for not sticking to the agreed format.

After the debacle debate, we headed to the gym. Lo and behold, I still remember how to workout! Unglaublich! SaraRules did cardio; I headed to the machines and free weights:

• Lat Pulldowns: 3 sets @ 100 lbs
• Close-grip pulldowns: 3 sets @ 80 lbs
• Reverse Flys: 3 sets, 1 set @ 60 lbs, 2 sets @ 50 lbs
• Overhead tricep extensions (dumbbell): 3 sets @ 40 lbs
• Side Bends: 3 sets, 25 lbs dumbbells
• Tricep Extenstions (T-Bar): 3 sets, 80 lbs
• Core: 2 sets, 45 seconds

I neglected to weigh myself pre- or post-workout. Oh, well.

We headed back to my place to catch David Letterman’s monologue and Top 10 List before she headed home. She made the comment that it seems like he’s got “…a personal vendetta” against Senator McCain and that it’s rather amusing to see what he’s going to say/do next. She’s right.

The Best: Rocket Man
I think that I first became aware of this song when it appeared on The Greatest American Hero, many moons ago. Since then, it’s been a favorite.

I apparently have four versions of it in iTunes:

1. Elton John – the classic, original version
2. Kate Bush – a synth and bass-rich version, from the “Two Rooms” tribute CD
3. Me First and the Gimme Gimmes – a punk cover
4. Jamie Cullum – a jazzy piano take on the song.

If I had to rate my favorites, it’d go in this order:

1. Elton John
2. Jamie Cullum
3. Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
4. Kate Bush

The rationale (as much as there is for it) is as follows: The Elton John version is, like I said classic. To me, it reminds me a bit of David Bowie’s Space Oddity, in that its protagonist simply seems… resigned to his fate and is trying to make the best of his situation. The Jamie Cullum version seems to put a different, more upbeat spin on it: Here’s a guy who has a secret (I’m not the man they think I am at home…), but is fine with it and he gets to see all kinds of things that no one else gets to see or do. He doesn’t come off as resigned, but kind of “Wow, too bad you guys can’t be here to check this out.” The Me First version is just… frenetic and fun and full of energy. And the Kate Bush version is… Kate Bush. *shrug*

Stray Toasters

• MarkinTyme sent me a link to A Literal Take on Take On Me, in which someone… just take a look at it for yourself. Hilarious… in a “You had WAAAY too much free time on your hands” way. And, yes, it’s work-safe.
• Hey Ensign Redshirt… why don’t you go investigate that odd noise while we talk to the locals?
• It’s been a while since I’ve had a steampunk-related entry, but here we go: Steampunk Keyboard, the Mini-Me version
• Buy a LEGO Life-Sized Replica of Yourself for $60,000
• With Hallowe’en just around the corner:
  • The Zombie Apocalypse Is Less Terrifying in LEGO
  • Dismember-Me Plush Zombie
  • Zombie Brain Jell-O Mold
• 
• Democrats Still Most Tech-Savvy, Rent Digital Billboard to Text Message Sarah Palin at Rally
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: US Customs: Sketching an SUV makes you a copyright infringer
  
• I moved the speakers that I hook up to my laptop at work. It made a noticeable – and greatly improved – difference in the acoustics.
• Yokai Attack: The Japanese Monster Survival Guide
• By way of : Operation Double Y’d Targets Women
  (Um… aren’t women “Double X?”  And XYY Syndrome is a little… rare.  And “male.”  Just sayin’.)

And now, meeting time!

Namaste.

Tuesday – 07 Oct 2008
Happy Birthday to :

Last night, I hung out with SaraRules and her family and watched the rollercoaster (of love… say WHAT!?!) of a game that was Minnesota vs. New Orleans. Wow. There were a LOT of impressive plays in the game:

• Saints QB Drew Brees threw for 330 yards.
• Vikings QB Gus Frerotte threw for 222 yards and engineered a couple of impressive drives, despite taking a beating from the Saints’ defense.
• Saints’ RB Reggie Bush ran for a combined 176 yards, including two (2) punt returns for touchdowns.
• Vikes’ RB Chester Taylor (former Ravens RB) threw a touchdown pass
• And where did Vikings’ CB Antoine Winfield come from?!  He was everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Special teams?  POW!  Defensive line?  BAM!  In the Saints’ backfield?  Yep. He was there, too.

Of course, there were some miscues, too:

• Martin Gramatica’s off-the-mark field goals.
• The Saints’ problems with holding on to the ball.
• Drew Brees’ interceptions.

I just noticed that this week’s NFL passing leaders are Kyle Orton (CHI) with 334 yards and Drew Brees (NO) with 330 yards. Both of them were Boilermakers.

This morning, the alarm went off at 6:20. I did my level best to ignore it. That didn’t work, so I turned off the alarm and laid in bed, pondering the prospect of starting the day.

Somewhere between “pondering” and “starting the day,” I nodded off again.

This is why I have a secondary alarm. It went off. I got up. Yay.

Stray Toasters

• LEGO Eggo waffles.
• WizKids has posted the new Batgirl figure on the Arkham Asylum page, but there’s nothing about it in their news headlines.



• In a rather geeky moment, I realized that 2’x3′ Heroclix maps will fit under the glass top of my living room table.
• 10 IT Power-Saving Myths Debunked
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Monkey waiters at restaurant
• Farewell, Opus; Hello, Pete, the Perfectly Practical Pig

Quote of the Day
Today’s nugget of joy comes from an IRC conversation:

(08:54:52) Ahpuc: When you are sitting on an airplane next to someone who is too chatty, what’s your favorite way to end the conversation?
(09:21:36) : Headphones.
(09:21:55) Xeen: falcon punch
(09:22:37) : Or open up manuals on taxidermy… and tell them you’re looking for test subjects.
(09:25:53) *** scratches their head and goes “hmmm!”.
(09:49:27) Ahpuc: A friend of mine was near a chatty 65-70 year odl woman, she was going around to everyone near here, asking what they did, etc…Like meet-me-get-to-know-me day on the damned airplane.
(09:49:55) Ahpuc: When she got to him and asked what he did he said he ran a porn site, and that they were looking for models for some of the sennior citizen porn.
(09:50:03) Ahpuc: She shut up for the whole flight at that point. 🙂
(09:50:10) : nice. 🙂
(09:50:34) : porn’s a good choice for that. It’s enough to shut people up, but not likely to get you thrown off the plane/mobbed like the other likely answers to those questions.
(09:50:37) : Win.
(09:52:50) Ahpuc: I was thinking of riffing off Fight Club: “Insurance Adjuster for the airlines. Do you know how many of these planes actually crash every year, due to poor maintenance? I mean, if it’s not near a big city, they just cover it up, it never sees the press…This airline in particular is notorious for painting over holes in the cabin. Hmm…Does it feel drafty in here to you?”
(09:54:38) : “No english. Arabic?” *fiddles with a box cutter*
(09:54:50) : CHOSEN WEAPON OF MY PEOPLE, BITCH.
(09:54:52) *** has more coffee.
(09:55:45) ***Ahpuc kicks off the airplane.
(09:56:11) : at 30,000 feet? that’s harsh.
(09:56:24) : That was my other thought – just reply only in Arabic.
(09:57:38) : or Esperanto.
(09:57:49) : or swedish chef?
(09:57:53) : klingon.
(09:58:06) : or KKKKKKKKHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAANNNNN!
(09:58:24) : You could just stare at her. Really up close in her face. Wide eyes. don’t say anything.
(09:58:34) : only reply with direct quotes from Airplane!. “looks like i picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.”
(09:58:49) Ahpuc: Or reply only with Biblical quotations, carefully chosen for effect.
(09:59:13) : naa. just quote ricardo montalban at ’em.
(09:59:48) Ahpuc: Matthew 10:34 – Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

Namaste.

Today is also ‘s birthday:

Stray Toasters

• This morning tried to turn into a full-blown “Monday.” Fortunately, it didn’t.
• I brought waffles this morning. I didn’t get to eat them.
• By way of : The Unspeakable Odyssey of the Motionless Boy
• WikiHow offered the following links today:
  • How to Spot a Gold-digger
  • How to Be a Gold-digger
• One of the Grodd ‘Clix, from the upcoming Arkham Asylum set, is a member of the Sinestro Corps.
• Who is “essential” during a pandemic?

Back to it.

Monday – 06 Oct 2008
Today is my father’s birthday.

His cards have been mailed and I have already called to wish him well today.

Last night, SaraRules and I went over to Chris and Mary’s for (Bad) Horror Movie Night. In SaraRules’ words: The goal isn’t to watch good horror movies, it’s to watch all horror movies. We watched Flight of the Living Dead (Think Day/Dawn/Night/Any-part-of-the-day of the Living Dead meets Snakes on a Plane and you get the idea) and The Shadow Walkers, a “We tried to create genetically engineered warriors and something got out of control… oops” movie. Flight wasn’t horrid; Shadow Walkers was – it was almost like watching Deep Blue Sea, where you started rooting for the shark about halfway through the movie.

Stray Toasters

• This weekend was grey and rainy (until yesterday afternoon, at least).
• This weekend was also LDS General Conference weekend.
• This weekend was also, on a more personally important note, marked my 10th year behind the Zion Curtain.
• By way of SaraRules: Back to black: Phoenix Dance resurrects the race issue
• From NPR: For Pioneering Black Theater, a Season-long Salute
• Sinfest: Damn It Feels Good to Be a Banksta
• By way of NPR Music: Songs for Ill-Advised Office Romances
• Chick Lit that Features Heroines, Not High Heels
  
• Barney Miller
• eBay to Drop 10% of Its Workforce
• Facebook vs. MySpace: Discuss.

Attack the day…

Namaste.

Sunday – 05 Oct 2008
Yesterday morning, I slept in… a little. Until about 8:30. I woke up when SaraRules got ready to head to her quilting club. I needed to get up then because I needed to get a team or two together for a ‘Clix tournament. I came up with a couple of ideas… none of which I wound up using. Instead I went with:

• Batman
• Captain America
• Elektra (Skrull)
• Merlyn
• Psycho-Pirate and
• Susan Richards (Skrull)

It was a good team, but I wound up going 1-2. One guy (not Chris, who had to work yesterday) went 3-0; I think that there was one 2-1 and three of us went 1-2. I liked the overall balance of the team and wound up loosing both matches on points. I also reaffirmed that I am not fond of the prison map – I am getting better need to play on it, but I need more practice with it.

I got home to find that my Kilowog figure had arrived. If it had gotten there earlier, I might have tried an even different team. Who knows? The Shadow knows…

After lunch at Hopper’s, SaraRules and I headed to visit Perry and the kids; Kate was at work. Back home for a bit and then off to breakfast. We tried a new location this week and it was a nice change of pace.

Today started off slowly. I actually managed to sleep in until a little after 9:00. Then it was time for breakfast and coffee… and EPSN’s football pregame show. And then… football. It was a good (2 for 3) day:

• The Ravens lost to the (then) 4-0 Titans.
• The Dolphins won over Sandy Eggo… and looked good doing it, too!
• The Panthers beat the KC Chiefs.

Tonight, after dinner, we’re heading over to Chris and Mary’s for horror movie night.

Stray Toasters

• Who would win: An Imperial Star Destroyer or the USS Enterprise?
• The OS that wouldn’t die: Windows XP Gets Another Six Months to Live
• Huh. I guess that’s it for the ‘Toasters.

Namaste.

Friday – 03 October 2008
SaraRules came over last night and we watched Governor Sarah “Caribou Barbie” Palin take on Senator Joe “Night Train” Biden in the Vice-Presidential Debate (transcript). Let me say that I was expecting it to be much more… entertaining… than it was – Biden is known for running off on long-winded (and not always on the point) diatribes and Gov. Palin… well, we’ve all seen the interviews on the news and YouTube. Both candidates reined in their idiosyncracies and managed to present themselves as rather well-spoken and intelligent. According to a CNN poll:

• 89% thought that Governor Palin did better than expected.
• 64% thought that Senator Biden did better than expected.

That said…

I think that some of my favorite moments came when Gov. Palin was faced with a question that she could not – or did not want to – answer. She seemed to fall back on “John McCain is a maverick… and so am I” far too often. She came off sounding like a cheerleader to me; SaraRules commented that, thanks to Gov. Palin, she was sick of hearing the word “maverick.” I asked if that included times when it was referring to Mel Gibson or James Garner; she said that it didn’t.

I appreciated that there was a question about gay marriage and the rights of same-sex couples. Senator Biden, explained that while he didn’t want to redefine “marriage” but did want same-sex couples to enjoy the same benefits as their heterosexual counterparts. Governor Palin, saying that she was “tolerant” of same-sex couples, came off as condescending to me.

Another curious moment came when Gwen Ifill, PBS news commentator and moderator of the debate, asked the candidates “What do you think your Achilles’ Heel is?” Governor Palin, in an NFL-worthy juke, didn’t come close to answering the question, choosing to talk up her strengths and accomplishments. Senator Biden, on the other hand, drew a little laughter with his response of: “You’re very kind suggesting my only Achilles Heel is my lack of discipline.”

And the closing question of “Can you think of a single issue — and this is to cast light for people who are just trying to get to know you in your final debate, your only debate of this year — can you think of a single issue, policy issue, in which you were forced to change a long-held view in order to accommodate changed circumstances?” Senator Biden drew on an experience fairly early in his career that made him reassess how he voted, his fellow Congressmen and how he formed opinions about their votes. Governor Palin just came off sounding as if she was saying,”I’ve never had to change my opinion.”

On the whole, I’d have to give the debate to Senator Biden, on points, but there was not a clear KO or even a TKO. And, I will once again admit that Governor Palin came off much better than I expected. (Congratulations to her coaches at debate camp this week!)

After the debate – and a stroll to Red Mango for yogurt – we watched Iron Man. It was (at least) my third time seeing it. It’s just… fun. After the movie and after SaraRules went home, I hopped on the nerd and surfed the Interwebs for a bit, while watching The Late Late Show. Lauren Graham, formerly of The Golden Gilmore Girls, was on. She was quite entertaining.

Stray Toasters

• While at the grocery store a few days ago, SaraRules found this card (1, 2). We must have laughed for a minute straight. We knew that it was referring to baptism – and the white garments worn, rather than the skin color – but still… only in Utah.
• Earlier this week, we heard that Citi was moving to buy Wachovia.
  Today, I hear that Wells Fargo is offering to buy them; stockholders seem to prefer the $15 billion (USD) Wells Fargo buyout, as there is no government money/help involved.
• Library celebrates Banned Books Week with window-display featuring volunteers reading banned books



• I enjoyed this photo post from ‘ journal.
• The world is not enough
  But it is such a perfect place to start, my love…
• Hand over controller, girl gamers say
  
• 
• Purdue takes on Penn State tomorrow. I may have to tune in to see how it goes.

Namaste.

Thursday – 02 October 2008
Last night, SaraRules came over and we watched Some Like It Hot before Project Runway. I’d never seen Some Like It Hot before; it was fun. It’s “a bit” dated, but it was a great rollicking way to spend a couple of hours. Checking out the credits, Grace Lee Whitney was in the movie. Fans of obscure trivia will recognize her as Yeoman Janice Rand from Star Trek: TOS.

And, speaking of obscure Star Trek-related trivia, today is Avery Brooks‘ birthday.

After the movie, it was time for the new Project Runway. It was funny – they are down to the final four designers and the moods and bitchiness were amped up. Well, that’s not entirely true: Korto, Leanne and Jerell were fine… towards each other; towards Kenley, however, they were a bit cool and removed. Kenley was… Kenley, as ever. The final designs were mixed – for the most part, there was a lot of good effort that went into them, but some of the execution was off across the board. And there was a surprise ending that neither SaraRules nor I saw coming.

Today: Sushi.
Tonight: VP debate. (It should be interesting, to say the least.)

Stray Toasters

• I neglected to mention this yesterday, but it’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month. As such, Random Access will be going “Pink for October” again this year… as soon as I remember to change the template.
• I had a good eBay experience yesterday: I purchased a Kilowog ‘Clix in a “Buy It Now” auction. Within a couple of hours, I received an email thanking me for my purchase and stating when the figure would ship. I need to remember to do things like that when I sell things on eBay.
• By way of SaraRules: Manolo for the Men
• Rolling Stone presents 11 myths about Sarah Palin
• Hungry Scientist: nerdy cookbook for kitchen hackers
• From the combined “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” and “That’s Ingenious” files: Bank Robber Uses CraigsList to Hire Unsuspecting Accomplices
• By way of Derek: Amazing Stop-Motion Public Wall Painting

Attack the day…

Namaste.