Random Access

Wednesday – 20 December 2006
This morning has started off less than stellarly. This isn’t to say that it’s been total ass, but there have been a couple of “glitches” that made me glad that it’s not NBN Thursday:

1. Taking my laundry to one of the local cleaners only to have the attendant ask “…would you like these back Friday?” *sigh* Um, no… I’m flying out tomorrow. Not an insurmountable problem, just slightly inconvenient.
2. Spilling part of a frozen mocha. Not a life-threatening problem (depending on point of view), but not “great,” either.

Aside from that, the morning is proceeding apace. The inbound commute was relatively painless. The road monkeys were out in force… and so were the zookeepers: In a one-mile stretch of I-15 Northbound, I saw three vehicles that had been pulled over by Highway Patrol. One mile. I saw the fourth and fifth troopers further down the road.

So far, the workday has been quiet. So far. Let’s hope that it continues in that vein…

Yesterday, was good. We played basketball for our lunchtime workout. Six keyboard jockeys playing half-court basketball. It was fun, but we were all sucking wind about ten minutes into the game. Some of us are pretty fit… when it comes to upper body strength and fitness; lower body and endurance, however, left a bit to be desired. Last night, after sitting around at Chris’ game, I started feeling the effects of the basketball game. This morning… yeah. Ow. I talked with Wes and Vince – both of whom also played- this morning; they’re both sore, too.

I also talked with my uncle last night. His birthday was yesterday. I asked him how his day was and he said something that struck me as rather profound:

“Every day is my birthday. Every day that God gives me is a wonderful gift.”

How cool a philosophy is that? We talked for a bit and he told me while that he would be home (at my mother’s, that is) for Christmas, he would not be there for Christmas Eve Midnight Mass. Then he told me why: He was asked to be the Lectern fot the mass in his parish. So, he’ll be there for that and catch an early flight on Christmas morning.

And that’s all the news for now. I should probably get back to work… or something that roughly approximates it.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 19 December 2006
Another work day begins…

Yesterday was a slow day at work.  We had our office-sponsored Christmas dinner… which was followed by an end-of-year speech by our CEO, President and a few other luminaries in the company.  It made me wonder: Why would you feed an office full of workers a meal, featuring turkey (chock full of tryptophan!), and then sit them down for an hour to talk to them?  Oh… and not expect some of them to want to nod off.  That’s the key.  I don’t think that anyone actually nodded off, but I know that I was tempted a couple of times.

Last night was the last D&D night of the year.  We made it to a location to acquire an item and managed to pick up a new NPC party member in the process.  Don’t know how long he’ll stay with us, but he’s damned handy in a fight.  None of our PCs died, which is always a good thing.

Stray Toasters

• I talked with Adam last night; he cracks me up.  All is well in California.
• : Sherlock Holmes vs. Cthulhu
• Animation Legend Joseph Barbera Dies
• Riding a Pale Horse: Broken Frontier takes a look at Death Comes to Dillinger
• Can I just tell you how amusing – and sad – it is to have a CoH character, a winged character, who can’t fly yet?
• 
• Top 10 Real Computer Crimes for 2007 and Beyond
• T-shirt du jour: braiiiiiiiins

Time to make like Big Daddy Kane and get the job done.

Namaste.

Sunday – 17 December 2006
After dealing with the roads last night, I figured that Fuckin’ UDoTâ„¢ would have performed a rectal craniotomy and seen to it that the streets and thoroughfares were sufficiently plowed for Sunday’s faithful to make it to their places of worship in peace (and not in pieces).

I was mistaken, to a degree.

I know this because and I headed down to Utah County to watch the Browns-Ravens game with and . It was slow-going. A trip that would normally take roughly thirty minutes took just shy of an hour. At one point, nearing Point of the Mountain, I was nearly perpendicular in my lane. In traffic. It was lovely.

We made the rest of the trip without (further) incident. We watched the game and hung out with and , who were gracious hosts. makes a delicious German Pancake, by the way.  Thank you, again, to both of them for their kind hospitality.
The trip home was much better: The roads had been nicely plowed and no one attempted to break any land speed records around – or through – us.  We did see a couple of accidents on I-15, both of them between 90th South and 72nd South, but those were the only apparent signs of problems.  We stopped at Hoppers Grill for dinner.  Steak Sandwich and Madame X Stout, with a Colossal O-Ring appetizer.  Can’t go wrong with that combination.

I had considered going out again, but Mother Nature put the kibosh on that as she blanketed the valley once again with her frozen, mocking laughter.  Instead, I grinded through a few more bubbles of Level 47 with Indi.  I need to do the same with Corvus Nox, but I am not sure when I’ll get a chance to do so in the near future.
Football Update

Cleveland at Baltimore
17 – 27
The Dawg Pound came to the Ravens’ roost for another round of a great rivalry match. The Ravens took them on and sent them back to Cleveland with their tails between their legs. It was a good game: Solid performances on both sides of the ball by both teams. Good hits. Good tactical decisions by both QBs. Both squads were on their game today. It was fun to watch this game… and not just because Nox and I got to rub it in to about the win, either. I have to give a lot of credit to Baltimore QB Kyle Boller. He was demoted to backup QB when Steve McNair joined the team this season. My biggest complaint about Kyle in the past was that he, in his first season, didn’t seem “ready” for the step from college into starting QB. For the past couple of seasons, that’s changed… somewhat. He still seemed a little shaky in the first half, but would come out and play well in the second half. Unfortunately, in most cases, it was too late for him to engineer a come-from-behind win. Today, Kyle was on his game from the get-go. Yes, he made a couple of mistakes, but nothing insurmountable. He exhibited all of the qualities that one would expect from an NFL QB. And with this win, the Ravens not only go to 11-3 on the season…  they clinched a playoff berth.

Stray Toasters

• I found in Paragon City tonight.  Then, I chatted with him on the phone for a while.  We did some quick catching up.  There’s a chance – slim, but it’s still a chance – that I might get to see him and his family for a bit this coming weekend.
• Microsoft Turns Up the Heat On Windows 2000 Users
• : I found this on Slashdot – Near-Complete Cure for Diabetes in Two Years?
• The 10 Most Dangerous Play Things of All Time
• If Quentin Tarantino had (re)done Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, would it have looked like this?  Pulp X-mas  (some NSFW audio.)
• : Since you have traveled hither and yon in your unsuccessful quest to acquire a Nintendo Wii, could it be said that you cried “Wii, Wii, Wii…” all the way home?
• 
  
  Purple.  Wombat.  Fuzzies.
• Why Do People Love Horror?
• : Newsarama has a preview of New Avengers: Illuminati #1.
• : Click here.

Namaste.

Saturday (coda)
I just spent 30 minutes driving home from breakfast. It normally takes about ten… IF I’m lollygagging.

One word: Snow.

Apparently “fucking UDoT”â„¢ (yes, that’s a trademarked epithet) has forgotten the following:

1. What a “snowplow” is;
2. that they have a fleet of them in the greater Salt Lake City metropolitan area and
3. how to use them to effectively remove snow and other wintry precipitation from the roads.

Thirty.  Minutes.

And it’s not like all of the weather reporting sources haven’t been saying “Snow is on the way!” for the past few days.

Unglaublich!

Namaste.

Saturday – 16 December 2006
So far, it’s been a lazy day.  Morning.  Post-wake up phase.  Whatever you want to call it, I haven’t done much.  And I’m okay with that.  Although I am starting to feel a bit peckish; I should probably do something about that.

Yesterday ended well.  And that’s despite an extra-long homebound commute.  I’ve discovered that I don’t really get irritated by traffic jams.  I figure that there’s not really a lot that I can do about it – aside from not becoming a part of the problem – so I usually just find something good to listen to and bob my head to the beats.  And sing along.  With the windows up.  For the safety of those in the other cars.

Clitorati was good.  Post-Clitorati dinner was good.  The fact that it snowed last night… *ehn*

Stray Toasters

• Happy Hatching Day, .
• KVM switches are wonderful things.
• Last night’s Clitorati conversation touched on the Rat Pack at one point.  That led us to wonder which of its members were still alive: Joey Bishop.  Shirley MacLaine, Angie Dickinson and Lauren Bacall – who were associated with the group – are also still alive.
• I’m now listening to the theme from S.W.A.T.  The original theme.  From the 70s.  Be jealous.
• Peter Coffee’s 25 Killer Apps of All Time
• : Squidi (creator of A Modest Destiny) has an interesting look at boardgames and tabletop games on his site.  And the current comic storyline features zombies.  So it’s like you’re getting a “2 for 1” deal.
• 
  

And now, it’s time to figure out what kinds of trouble I can get into today…

Namaste.

I located an old CD of music that I made back in the days of my indentured servitude the the USPS.  This morning, it provided the soundtrack for my fight against the southbound road monkeys:

• Theme from Men in Black: the Series
• LL Cool J – The Boomin’ System
• MC Hammer – Addams Groove
• No Doubt – New
• The Cardigans – My Favourite Game
• Bobby Brown – Humpin’ Around
• Tony Toni Tone – If I Had No Loot
• Montel Jordan – This Is How We Do It
• The Counting Crows – Hanginaround

The songs that I didn’t get to this morning:

• Live – Pain Lies on the Riverside
• Mansun ft. 808 State – Skin Up Pin Up
• Better Than Ezra – King of New Orleans
• Ben Folds Five – Underground

…but I’ll most likely hit them on the way home.

I had forgotten how much I liked this CD; it was good for making sure that I stayed awake on those boring days pushing buttons at the REC.

And, it’s pretty damned good as a drivetime CD, too.

Friday – 15 December 2006
Four down, one in the chamber…

Yesterday was good.  There was no monkey doom… except for the road monkeys.   There were no fires.

After work, I picked up my four-color crack and then met for dinner.  Tres Hombres.  After that, I came home and did a lot of “nothing” for a while.  I seem to be good at that.  Maybe I should add “Nothing” to my list of interests or maybe put it in the “Skills” category…  Later, I signed into Battlefield 2142.  I shot people.  I got shot.  I helped capture control points.

As I mentioned the other night, I created an alternate character (does that make it my alter alter ego?) in City of Heroes: Corvus Nox.  I don’t have a background story for him.  Yet.  But, I will… oh, yes, I will.

Stray Toasters

• While Bjork’s Big Time Sensuality was playing on iTunes this after noon, I noticed that it sounded similar to Aretha Franklin’s A Deeper Love.  A mix of the two would be… interesting, nicht wahr?
• Eric showed me a couple of “Vancome Lady” videos (1, 2) from MadTV.  They made me laugh.
• According to Slashdot, there’s a new Stargate series in the works… along with the possibility of a new animated Star Trek series

That’ll do for now.  Coffee, then road monkeys.

Namaste.

Gitchi Gitchi Ya Ya Da Da
Gitchi Gitchi Ya Ya Here
Mocca chocalata Ya Ya
Creole Lady Marmalade
Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir?
Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?

I was listening to an old mix CD on the way to work this morning. I have the All Saints version of Lady Marmalade on it. Granted, this may be the weakest of the three versions of the song of which I am aware:

1. The original, by Labelle
2. The version with Christina Aguilera, Pink, Mya and Li’l Kim (as heard on the Moulin Rouge soundtrack)
3. The All Saints version

…but it’s what I had.And it’s what I nodded my head to as I journeyed with the road monkeys.

Thursday – 14 December 2006
Another NBN Thursday begins…

Yesterday was good. Two frozen mocha good – I bought one on the way to work; brought me one a few hours later. They were good because they also offset a low-sleep night. *sigh* I was fine for the better part of the day, but the tiredness set in once I got home.

I didn’t let that stop me from going to Outback for dinner, though. 12oz. Prime Minister’s… Aussie Cheese Fries… Can you say “Goodbye, hunger. Hello, food coma,” boys and girls? I thought so! After dinner, invited me over to hang out and I did.

Tiredness – along with post-feeding lethargy – kicked in and I was out somewhere around 11:00 or 11:30… and I slept in this morning.

Stray Toasters

• I have discovered a new distraction: My Confined Space. It is not to be confused with MySpace. Some of the amusing things that I found include:
• Calls for Cthulhu
• A Family Circus meets Frank Miller Batman parody
• A recruitment poster for the Empire
• “One does not simply walk into Mordor…”
• And a motivational poster… of sorts.
• I am test driving Ubuntu on Intrepid. I may dive back into Linux.
• and other classical fans, too: Complete Mozart Works Now Free
• 
• I found a couple of videos on YouTube yesterday that made me smile:
• Billy Preston and Eric Clapton (live): Will It Go Round in Circles
• Nothing From Nothing Leaves Nothing – done with Full Metal Alchemist video clips
• “…oh so dramatic emoting…”
• From Newsarama: Talking to Michael Alan Nelson – The Fall of Cthulhu
• Broken Frontier has a sneak peek of a new upcoming series, La Muse
• 
• From boingboing.net: Web Zen – Monkey Day

Namaste.

Tuesday – 12 December 2006
Another day done.

Work was good.  I had one monkey-related issue shortly after I got in: A developer screwed up the login for a database that I set up on Monday.  *sigh*  That was resolved a short while later.  Other than that, it was a pretty easy day.  The lunchtime workout was good, too… but I need to work on increasing the weight that I use for different exercises.

Post-work, called me about grabbing some dinner before tonight’s game.  We did.  Z’s Mandarin Buffet.  Then, back here for game.  The team did well, they gathered information.  They were attacked by some wanna-be ‘runners… whom they didn’t kill.  Sure Chris’ character broke one of the gangers’ arms, but that was incidental collateral damage.  *shrug*  It happens.

Stray Toasters

• I received Christmas card #2 today.  Thanks, .
• – The Best, Worst and Weirdest in Holiday CDs
• Martin Nodell, creator of the Green Lantern, has died at the age of 91.
  
  
• It’s common knowledge that The Juggernaut, Bitch makes me laugh.
  So, it should be easily understandable why this image makes me laugh just as much:
  
• Not just the word “pod,” Apple now owns silhouette ads?
• Peanuts meets Marvel, by way of
• From Premiere: The 20 Most Overrated Movies of All Time
• : Brainiac 5 (animated)
• “Dad is great!  Give us the chocolate cake!”  (video)

Namaste.

Monday – 11 December 2006
Today was a good start to the week. I started the day off by sleeping in. Only an hour, but it was good. I fought the road monkeys on the way to work. I still think that Romulan disruptors should be a dealer-installed option on most cars. Work was good; the morning wasn’t harried and there were just enough things to do in the afternoon to keep me busy.

Tonight was D&D night. We could have – and probably should have – accomplished more, but we did make steps in the right directions. We’re adding a game session next Monday to keep things moving without having to worry about holiday disruptions.

Stray Toasters

• I received my first Christmas card today – it was from Dad and Kitty. It made me smile.
• : It seems as though the airplane-treadmill problem is getting more looks.
• Dragonlance
• Classic Christmas specials dubbed and youtubed
• By way of Slashdot: Sex Offenders to Register Emails in Virginia
• Open Office
• From Fanboy Radio: Interview with Joss Whedon
• 
• Matt Damon: I’d Play Kirk in Trek XI

Namaste.

Sunday – 10 December 2006
Today’s been another lazy one… even moreso than yesterday. The highlights, so far, have been:

• …watching the last half of Over the Hedge,
• …semi-watching the Ravens beat the Chiefs (more on this below),
• … and playing many hours of Battlefield 2142 with and Chris. I’m still not great at the game, but I’m getting better. I even advanced through a few ranks. (Adam, if you’re reading this, I think that you’d like this game. A lot. Call it… “a hunch.”)

This evening, I watched the tail end of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Without a Trace with . Star Trek: TNG‘s Marina Sirtis was a guest star in this episode. She looks… more mature. Her features were fuller… of course, it has been four years since we’ve seen her in anything. And, there was another Star Trek alumn on the episode: Connor Trinneer, Trip Tucker from ST: Enterprise. Later, I helped my friend Georgia with (what I hope are) the final touches on an English paper. Now, I think I’ll make an appearance in Paragon City. Maybe I’ll take down some criminals; maybe I’ll just build my new character. Or, maybe… just maybe… I’ll do both.

Football Update

Baltimore at Kansas City
20 – 10
The Ravens flew into Kansas City to take on the Chiefs – the “undefeated at home in December since 1996 Chiefs,” that is – at Arrowhead Stadium. The Ravens came into the game with a 9 – 3 record; the Chiefs were 7 – 5.The Ravens handed the Chiefs a big loss. Ed Reed, in the first half, had two big interceptions. Steve McNair engineered solid offense drives, both in the air and on the ground. And the defense got in on the act, too – they sacked Chiefs QB Trent Green five times.10 – 3 has a nice ring to it. Granted, it’s not the same as “clinched the division,” but we’re on the way. Next week: Cleveland at Baltimore.
New York Giants at Carolina
27 – 13
The Panthers dropped this one to the Giants. trellie, was this a “win-win” situation for you?
Minnesota at Detroit
30 – 20
Congrats, chromezephyr
Oakland at Cincinnati
10 – 27
Congratulations, janietrain. Sorry, 1silver_seraph.
Philadelphia at Washington
21 – 19
Congratulations, diyeana.
Cleveland at Pittsburgh
7 – 27
Sorry, zeeke.    (And you do know that next week won’t be any better, don’t you?)

Stray Toasters

• I’ve been listening to some music from Parliament over the past few days. I wasn’t aware of just how many loops and lyric samples of theirs people have used.
• , you might be interested in these Kitty Pryde and Batgirl busts. (click on the images for larger pictures)
• , from Friday night: Sometimes as high as 85-90%. But there are times when 51% is “good enough.”
• Guess the Logo
• From today’s Battlefield 2142 action:
  
• Pan’s Labyrinth comes out in a couple of weeks. I want to see this movie.
• By way of Toyfare Magazine: Graphics Novel – Marvel and DC square off to see who has the greatest comic video game ever!
• Dear Lord… it actually looks like there will be more than just talk in Justice League of America #4. Finally.
• 
• How to knit a binary scarf. Make one long enough and it could be like blending The Matrix with Doctor Who.

It’s snowing. Again.

Namaste.

Saturday – 09 December 2006
Today has been relaxed.

I took care of a few errands.  Dropped in to see for a while; he, Chris and I are going to play Battlefield 2142 as a fire team tomorrow.  Hoo-AH!

I also managed to squeeze in a little time in Paragon City.  In the matter of a couple of hours, I worked through three bubbles of XP on the way to Level 48.  That ain’t bad at all.

And now: Breakfast.

Namaste.

Matt, one of my coworkers, showed me The Computer Man earlier this afternoon.

I wasn’t sure if the appropriate response was to laugh, cry, curl up in the fetal position, tear out my hair, go on a bender and try to drink away the memory…

…so, I decided to post the link here and torture you with it as well share it with you.

If it helps clear the palate, so to speak, here are Code Monkey and The System Administrator Song.

Friday – 08 December 2006
Another week approaches the end.

Yesterday was a good day: Work kept me busy.  My team went to Tucanos, a Brazilian grill, for lunch.  Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned… and my sin was gluttony.  *genuflect*  It was very good.  Similar to – and perhaps a little better than – Rodizio Grill.  After lunch, the desire to slump over at my desk and take a nap was a difficult one to resist.
Stray Toasters

• I had the most random thought a few minutes ago.  I was thinking about dry cleaners and laundries.  But wait… there’s more!  I was thinking of two of the dry cleaners I used to frequent back home when I thought how nice it would be to just ‘port home, drop off my clothes at the laundry, have dinner with the family, pick up the clothes and then pop back to SLC.

  That, in turn, got me thinking about something from the bio of Captain Benjamin Sisko: He used transporters to have dinner with his family in New Orleans while he was attending Starfleet Academy in San Francisco.

  That made me wonder: Were there public-use transporters in the Star Trek universe?  Could you just walk down to the local… station/terminal/whatever… and get beamed hither and yon?  Or, were they something that only Starfleet personnel got to use?

  Geeky, I know…

• : If you haven’t already, pick up Justice Society of America #1.  You’ll understand why when you read it.
• Hong Kong Phooey
• : The Bike Tour sounds interesting.
• While driving to work yesterday, I passed a semi.  I thought “Zooom!” as I passed it.  The immediate next thought in my mind was of Colon Blow Zoom cereal.  It made me chuckle and shiver at the same time.
• : 1-0-0-1-0-0-1… S.O.S.
• I’m not sure, but I think that my 2nd LCD might be possessed.  I keep hearing faint traces of… sounds that seem like voices, as if the Vonage adapter was bleeding over into the monitor’s speakers.
• Yahoo! has the new theatrical trailer for 300.
• : Catwoman.

Time to make the doughnuts.

Namaste.