Random Access

…and I don’t mean the Mormon Pope, either.

Good work and good scouting to Derek for pointing this out.

His Chocolate Holiness,
Pope Groovalicious

Friday – 27 April 2007
This is it.  The end of the week.  Amen.

So far, the day’s going fairly well.  I am thinning out the blood in my caffeinestream.  I didn’t have to wrangle road monkeys – PoW or otherwise – this morning.  There were people paragliding off Traverse Mountain.  And it’s been quiet here at the ranch.
I spent a portion of last night hanging with Kate, Perry and the kids.  It was a nice way to wind down after work.  Then I went home and vegged.  And it was good.  I even managed to catch the rare and elusive online; we chatted for a bit.  She makes me laugh… even if she did say that the outfit that I (currently) have Dhoruba in makes him look like a gay Mr. T.

Winged Justice
After that, I took Corvus Nox to Paragon City.

You know it’s hard out there for a pimp Level 10 hero.  I couldn’t find anyone from my supergroup online, so it took some time to find a team.  I was invited to join a group for missions in The Hollows.  My big complaint about The Hollows: They expect low level characters to run – RUN – across the zone to a mission… and avoid higher-level bad guys in the process… and not die.  *sigh*  Or in my case: Hover.  We had a member with teleport for one of the missions, that was a boon.  WHen he left, however… it was back to hover-ifficness.  Wa.  Hoo.
The team – actually “teams” – I was on was/were good.  I was worried in a couple of cases because we were heavy with Tankers and Defenders… and only one blaster, at one point.  Typically, you want to have a well-rounded team – especially one with members who can do some ranged damage, hence my concern.  I shouldn’t have been quite so worried – we did pretty well.  Yes, we died a few times, but not as frequently as I had originally feared.

I even managed to add a couple more levels and make it to Security Level 12 before I logged out.

Stray Toasters

• I am craving something.  I think it’s cotton candy.
• Why isn’t the new Legion set of ‘Clix out yet?!?  Oh, wait… it’s not June.  *sigh*
• Super-Ventriloquism.  This may actually push Hover out of the “second most-stupid superpower ever” slot.   Tyranist disagrees; he thinks it is the – and I quote – “Worst. Power. Ever.”
• Speaking of Tyranist, he introduced me to a song from EuroTrip called Scotty Doesn’t Know.  It cracked me up.  Even worse: About halfway through the song, I started picturing Cyclops as the Scotty in the song… and Jean and Logan as Fiona and the lead singer.  That made me laugh even more.
• 301 Useless Facts (not all of which have been verified, so take them with a grain of salt)
  I found these most interesting: 11, 20, 29, 37, 49, 53, 92, 104, 111, 117, 124, 126, 145, 149, 168, 175, 176, 179, 183, 204, 246, 256 and 289.
• By way of Wired: Is ‘Internet Normal’ the New ‘Sex Normal’?
• – Jack Valenti dies at 85
• I was able to find (because I finally remembered to look for) the long video for Janet Jackson’s Alright, featuring Heavy D.
• Chuck Berry’s My Ding-A-Ling makes me laugh.  And sing along.  Every time.
• The 52 Most Important Video Games of All Time

Back to it.

Namaste.

Wrapping up Suit Week with a bang.
Black suit, the black shades, the black shoes
Black tie with the black attitude
New style black ray bans I’m stunning man
New hotness pitch black 600 hundred man

(click for full-sized image)

Show love to the black suit tux…
Cause that’s the Men in…
That’s the Men in…

Wednesday: coda
I spent more time than I really care to admit trying to bend the Wireless Network Connection settings in MicroSquish Vista to my will… and that of ‘s network.  I swear, setting that thing up was like going around your ass to scratch your nose.  I finally got it set up… I think.  Of course, I thought that I had it set up once… and it wound up dropping the connection a short while later.  *braincramp*   I need to take some time and tinker with Vista more.  But it will be a long while before it winds up on any of my boxes as the standard OS.  I may be getting a chocolate cake out of the deal, too.  That ain’t bad.

After Vista-aerobics, I hung out with Liz for coffee.  Unfortunately, B&B was closed so I had to fall back on one of the local embassies of the Seattle Coffee Empire.  Beggars.  Choosers.
Thursday is the last day of Suit Week… because we can’t justify suits on Friday.  Not that we really need to justify them, but we’re talking Friday.  If ever there was a “not a suit day” day, it’s Friday.  So, to cap off Suit Week: Tuxedos.  And, we even talked one of our other coworkers into joining us.  Yowza!
Stray Toasters

• I am taking suggestions for lyrics to use as the basis for my next few drawings.
• I also need to make some time to get in some freehand drawrin’ practice with my Wacom.
• For some reason, Signe – the opening track from Eric Clapton: Unplugged – is running through my head.
• 
• …and we’ll throw in a “Felgercarb,” at no extra charge!
• By way of Slashdot: How Wii Is Creaming the Competition
• 
• , this one’s for you: Amateur Batman movie destined to become cult favorite
• “I… I… I… want the knife!”   *spin prayer wheel*
• – Australia bans Snoop Dog
• Tom’s Diner, the way it was meant to be… and with an introduction by Suzanne Vega

Namaste.

Wednesday – 25 April 2007
The next time I wake up with a headache, I’d really like it to be because I’d been out drinking the night before. These random “Good morning… here’s your friendly, neighborhood headache” things aren’t something I relish. A couple of Aleve – and a cup of coffee – seemed to quash it, though. Today’s suit choice was a bit of a toss-up between my grey and one of my navy double-breasted suits. I decided on the grey, as it would give me a chance to wear my woven leather braces with it. I was buttoning them into the pants when one of the straps decided to break. (You don’t really think of leather as “breaking,” but this did.) So, not only did I opt not to wear the grey suit, I’m in search of a new pair of braces. *sigh* So, today’s outfit is:

• Navy double-breasted suit
• White cotton-blend shirt
• Navy, tan, purple and burgundy tie (with pianos!)
• Cordovan wing-tip oxfords

Then, there were the PoW road monkeys. What is it about people that makes their brains turn of when they drive in the fast lane? Unglaublich!

Stray Toasters

• I was going to meet Perry for lunch… but forgot that we’re having a meeting at noon. At least they’re feeding us.
• If you have to ask why this amuses me, you don’t know me very well…

  

• Coca-Cola lore, from Snopes.com
  (for more amusement, click the link next to the last green dot on the page…)
• This one’s for –
• I can see the message breathing still
  I can hear the voices sounding deep inside
  I can feel the hero rising up above the silence
  Your soul remembers yet
  The path that men forgotI bring the winds to free you from your hesitation
  I call the storms to remind you what you are
  My faith endures for the sake of something less and more in them
  And so I bring the winds, to echo in your heart …
• 
• WHAT would drive someone to do something like this!?
• By way of Wired.com – Lamest Technology Mascots Ever and Happy Birthday, Star Wars
• Slashdot poll: Favorite Sci-fi Ship
• emmet swimming

Namaste.

Tuesday – 23 April 2007
So far, it hasn’t been a bad morning. When the alarm went off, I was up… hit the deck… made it into the kitchen and started my coffee…

…and then went back to the bedroom and laid back down.

The alarm on the iPod – set to music – went off a few minutes later. I listened to it as I faded in and out of sleep for the next forty-five minutes. I got up, observed the hygiene rituals, ironed my shirt, took out the trash, grabbed my gear and headed out.

I had to take some equipment to the north office before making my way to A.F. While there, I talked with , who suggested that I check out two of the stop signs near the parking deck before I left. He said that it would be worth my time. When I got there, this is what I found: 1, 2. Definitely worth it. Then I was on the road.

Along the way, I discovered a new form of road monkey: The PoW monkey. “PoW” being short for “Piece of Work.” I was fortunate enough to see two of them this morning! Both within… a half-mile to a mile of each other. I was coming up the north face of Traverse Mountain when I encountered the first one – a lady in the fast lane… on her cell phone… not looking out the windshied… going about 59 MPH. Did I mention that she was in the fast lane? I did? Okay. She was completely oblivious to the line of cars stacked up behind her. That must have been one HELL of a conversation. A number of us passed her, on the right – we couldn’t get around her fast enough. The second PoW monkey was driving some large, boat-sized car. Also in the fast lane. Also oblivious. This monkey was an older gentleman, so I was willing to cut him a little more slack. Just a little, though.

It’s Day Two of Suit Week. Today’s choice:

• Olive double-breasted suit
• Cream and white cotton/poly blend shirt, long-point collar
• Olive, brown and gold abstract tie
• Tan woven leather tassel loafers.

Brett’s looking rather dapper in a rather nice black-and-white Glen Plaid single-breasted suit, with a black shirt. Once again, there were more comments from coworkers. Although, there have been fewer “Where’s your interview” comments and more “You guys look nice” or “You guys are making us look bad” ones.

Stray Toasters

• Derek has erected a Code Monkey shrine at his desk. It amuses me.
• YouTube has deleted the Code Monkey/Stargate: Atlantis video from its servers. Last night, I discovered that I had… creatively acquired… a copy of it a few weeks ago.
• I found a new way to look at Marvel’s Civil War: It was really a thinly-veiled version of Pokemon. Think about it.
  • Tony Stark (Iron Man) would be Ash (NOT to be confused with Ash from Evil Dead)
  • In Pokemon, the motto is “Gotta catch ’em all” and they capture the creatures in little balls. In Civil War, that’s what Tony and company were trying to do – catch all of the non-registered metahumans… and put them in little cells in the Negative Zone.
  • Pokemon has Team Rocket, the “bad” guys… with that annoying cat. Civil War had the New Avengers, portrayed as the bad guys… with the often-annoying Spider-Man.
  • I’m sure that there are others, but that is a good enough starting and stopping point.
• GamerZ. What in the Nine Hells..?
• This week’s Homestar Runner ‘toon even comes with an NPR reference. (Don’t forget the Easter egg at the end…)

Namaste.

Monday: coda
The rest of the work day was good.  And, for the most part, it was pretty quiet, too.

Home.  Cleaning.  Cooking.  24.  City.

Stray Toasters

• Super Mario Mall
• By way of : National Dance Week and Mother’s Day Celebrations
• Lois Lane please put me in your plan
  Yeah, Lois Lane, you don’t need no Superman
  Come on downtown and stay with me tonight
  I’ve got a pocket full of…. this stuff.
• What Type of Game Cheater Are You?

Closing time.

Namaste.

Monday – 22 April 2007
So far, the day hasn’t been bad.

Today is the first day of Suit Week. Brett and I, for no other reason than “because we can,” are wearing suits. My weapon of choice:

• Black and white houndstooth single-breasted suit
• White cotton shirt, spread collar
• Black, red and white tie
• Black cap-toe lace-up oxfords

Of course this has led to a number of “why are you wearing a suit” questions. Although, I did one exchange was rather amusing:

Dave: Are you trying to upgrade the quality of fashion around here?
Me: I’ve been trying to do that for the past two years.
Ty: After all that time, without any success, he’s still trying.
Me: No. I just got to the point where I don’t care about the rest of you. You can all go float rocks for all I care.

The morning commute wasn’t bad either. The monkeys were fairly well-behaved. I had a large cup of triple-shot laden frozen mocha goodness. And, Nomad found a good selection of songs… and apparently was on a bit of a Will Smith/Men in Black kick, too:

• Duran Duran – Notorious
• Harry Connick, Jr. – Funky Dunky
• Will Smith – Nod Ya Head (remix)
• Will Smith – Men in Black

Back-to-back, although in reverse order, MiB themes. I think that the only thing that could have made it more amusing would have been if the theme from the animated series had made it into the rotation.

Stray Toasters

• I’m tempted to email this article around the office: Esquire’s Guide to Shirts and Ties
• Vindication is a wonderful thing.
• will be on the Treasure Valley Rollergirls team that will be here in June.

Namaste.

Sunday: coda
I need more time on the driving range.

It’s not so much a matter of feeding the newfound addiction as it is that I don’t want to injure, maim or kill anyone.

Out of the 100 balls that I had (105, if you count the one’s gave me out of his bucket), I managed to – somehow – hit four or five of the balls behind me.  Into the area where spectators stand.  With a good amount of force.  While physics and I aren’t necessarily on hanging out terms, we have come to terms and I do have a basic understanding of forces and vectors.  Although, to have seen those balls, you would not have known it.

Despite this, I had a fun time.  I hit a few solid drives.  And a lot of ground-skimmers.

After our time on the live ammunition obstacle course… I mean “driving range,” , Chris and I went to lunch.  Mimi’s Cafe.

The Scales of Justice
After a good afternoon out, it was time hit the mean streets Paragon City.

I was invited to join a team with an old teammate.  After that team broke up, I was invited to join another team.  All in all, it was a productive patrol: I hit Security Level 24… and made it a few bubbles in the direction of Level 25.

Stray Toasters

• I have a bottle of Merlot.
• I do NOT have a corkscrew.
• The above statements, together, both amuse and frustrate me.
• , by way of , sent me a link to the following: Mechs in the II World War   And, all I can say is “Wow.”
• It would be great to learn ASL (American Sign Language).   But, is it bad that part of me wants to learn because of this video?
• I’m liking Thunderbird.  The email client, not the drink.
• The Brave and The Bold #5, featuring….
  
• What happens when you cross Super Mario World with 300?  Something like this…
• …and “a certain movie” and pirates will give you something like this.
• and , in case you don’t already know: Goatse.cx domain is for sale
• This… is not a good thing.
  

  More info here.

• Do you remember the scene in The Incredibles when Bob and Lucius went “bowling” (i.e.: “snuck out to secretly fight crime”)?  And how… “unhappy” with that whole situation Helen was when she found Bob trying to sneak back in the house?

  Well, let’s extrapolate a little… hypothetically, of course.

  What happens when six guys – say these guys – decide to take a pro-active stance in shaping the course of events around the world.  And… what if they got caught “sneaking in the house,” so to speak, by say their respective significant others… like these ladies, for example?

  How much Hell do you think a certain six somebodies are going to have to pay?  Mm-hmm, that’s right.  A LOT.

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Sunday – 21 April 2007
If anyone can explain to me why I was up this morning before 9:00 – even though I couldn’t fall asleep until after 4:00 – I would be very grateful.

So far this morning, I have:

• Chatted with Nyx
• Surfed the Interweb
• Looked up – and watched – videos by Hooverphonic, Jane Child , White Town and The Spice Girls on YouTube
• Installed Thunderbird on Intrepid.  (After years of being a Eudoran, I’m trying an old favorite again.)

Yep, I’m chock full of productivity!  (Nevermind the fact that my office needs a thorough cleaning.)  And now, I’m killing time until , possibly and a few others of us head to the driving range.  *taps vein*

Stray Toasters

• I decided to do a search for “top 100 videos of all time,” for some reason.  The top entry on Google led to a link from Stylus Magazine.  Click here to see what they picked.
• Goldfish.  So… tasty…
• I still have no idea what song to use for my next lyric-to-drawing picture.
• Phoenix vs. Cthulhu…  Hm.

Off to the range.

Namaste.

[16:11] asdf_cat: greetings from miami!
[16:12] shadorunr: Bienvenido a Miami!
[16:13] asdf_cat: I have recently remembered something.  i hate humidity.
[16:13] asdf_cat: 😀
[16:13] shadorunr: Awww….
[16:13] shadorunr: 🙂
[16:13] shadorunr: Welcome to the Right Coast.
[16:13] asdf_cat: yeah.

Saturday – 21 April 2007
This morning started off with “Chain of Command,” today’s episode of Legion of Super Heroes.

In it, Winath – home planet of Legionnaire Lightning Lad – was experiencing severe storms due to a malfunction of their environmental control system.  In comes the Legion to try and avert disaster.  Naturally, the Legion’s resident spark plug was a bit anxious about this mission.  And then, there was yet another monkey wrench thrown into the works: Cosmic Boy, the Legion’s leader, who had been absent from the team for months, showed up.  Not only that, he brought with him a new recruit: Ferro Lad.  Needless to say, Lightning Lad – who had been acting as the “field leader” for the Legion in Cos’ absence – reacted badly to this double whammy.

The episode wasn’t bad… but I wasn’t happy with their portrayal of Lightning Lad.  He, Cos and Saturn Girl are the three founding members of the Legion.  They’ve been friends since before there was a Legion.  (Granted, it was very shortly before there was a Legion, but that’s not the point…)   His attitude towards Cos was downright antagonistic, which was out of character for him.  But, it did work for the story… to a point.  Also, Cosmic Boy was a bit more… overbearing than I’m used to.  Well, with the possible exception of the v5 Cos (in the current Waid/Kitson version of the Legion).
Other highlights of the episode include:

• Colossal Boy and Cosmic Boy’s exchange:  “Hey, CB-1.”   “Hey, CB-2.”  *high fives*
• Ferro Lad’s comment: “I’m doing you a favor.  You don’t want to see what’s behind this mask.”
• Superman (sorry… it really should be “Superboy”) starting to act more… mature.  Which isn’t to say that he hasn’t been written that way before; but there was a moment in the episode where he had been struck down and, after a short respite, put on his “I have to get back in the game” face… and took off.

But, the real stand-out in this episode was Bouncing Boy.  Yeah, I said “Bouncing Boy.”  Long looked at as a secondary character or one who could easily be brushed aside, he actually stepped up and made some noise in this episode.  Even in the various four-color series, he was usually just… there.  Sure, he and Duo Damsel ran the Legion Academy after they resigned from active duty, but he was never really an A-lister.  I was pleasantly surprised with his characterization in this episode and it should be interesting to see how they develop it in the future.

On the whole, I give this episode a thumbs-up.

=====

And, in non-toon related news: I just chatted with .  She and are on their way back to The Land Behind the Zion Curtain.

=====

Attack the day like birds of prey…

Namaste.

Friday (coda)
The work day ended well.  No coworkers were harmed.  No road monkeys were harmed on the way out of Happy Valley.

I headed to Borders directly from work.  I worked on – and finished (for the most part) – the drawing I’ve been working on; this drawing was based on Jim Croce’s You Don’t Mess Around with Jim.  I’m mostly happy with it, but I still want to do some work on the rightmost picture.  Shading mostly.  But, it’s done for now.  And I can move on to the next drawing… if only I had a lyric in mind to work with.  I also realized that I don’t think I posted a link to the last drawing: It was based on Barenaked Ladies’ When I Fall.

The rest of the Clitorati showed up a little while later.  And hilarity ensued.  As usual.  A former coworker, from the REC, joined us tonight.  And, we had a special surprise guest: .  It’s kind of funny: The original groundwork for Clitorati came from the Friday nights that she and I would spend drawing.  Okay… let me amend that: She would draw and she would coach me in developing my drawing skills.  That was… about six years ago.  Then, we started inviting people to come join us and hang out.  And they told two friends.  And so on.  And so on.  And so on.  And now, we’re here.  Roll the bones.
Stray Toasters

• This song came up in the iTunes rotation at work.  It makes me laugh… and sing along.
• Coworker Matt sent me the following, after learning about a new Firefox plugin:
  

  Matt: http://digg.com/software/Firestorm_Adds_BitTorrent_Support_to_Firefox
  Matt: Super hero
  Matt: College student
  Matt: Multiple-personality disorder
  Matt: And now…
  Matt: Firefox developer!

• The 28 Days Later Survival Test
  My results:  The Handyman -  81% Combatives, 71% Survival, 80% Judgement
  I showed the test to Tyranist…

  Me: How’d you do?
  Tyranist: 99% in all three categories.
  Me: …
  Me: Wow.
  Tyranist: Too many horror movies.
  Me: Okay.
  Me: You’re one to keep around.

• Quotes from The Long Kiss Goodnight
• I am about 153% sick of pop-over ads.

Namaste.