Random Access

Tuesday
Today’s been good.

One of my co-workers lost his father last week. I didn’t get a chance to offer my condolences until this morning. I could have done so yesterday, but I didn’t want to be a person in figurative crowd; so I waited. This morning, I stopped by his desk. He seemed to genuinely appreciate the sentiment. He then went on to talk about one of his fond memories of father and how the way that his father carried himself was the example that he tried to live up to. It was a nice tribute.

and contacted me shortly before I left work and invited and me to dinner and a movie. For dinner, we went to Thai Garden. As usual, the food was very good. Then, the movie: Hitch. It was a fun romantic-comedy. I think that we’ll be picking this one up when it comes to DVD.

Stray Toasters

• Today is – or ” Yesterday was,” I guess, since I’m writing this after midnight – my mother’s birthday.
• I am (not-quite insanely) jealous that I am not going to be in Australia for this.
• Thanks to Nyx for the following…
• National Geographic has interviewed scientists about the feasibility of the science of Star Wars.
• Newsarama has a preview of Alex Ross’ Justice maxi-series for DC Comics.
• What in the blue fuck…?! – That’s someone’s actual LJ icon. (Not work-safe.)
• Geekfight!
• The Great Grape Ape
• Something (of the many) that I miss from the east coast: Lightning bugs.
• More proof that flamethrowers can be your friend –
• So you’re the quick-stepping hot shit among your Dance Dance Revolution-playing friends. Big deal. When you work up to this, then you’ll be onto something.

Namaste.

Monday
Today was relatively quiet, for the most part. This evening, came over and we did his character generation for the Shadowrun game. One down, four to go… Then, we tried using the NetRunner CCG as a substitute/enhancement for the decking portion of the game. It worked, but we and to get it down to the point where it will go a little faster. We’ll work on that. After we were done, Nox even baptized the HCC with Diet Pepsi. It was pretty funny – it wasn’t intentional, but he turned the “bottle of soda” into a “bottle rocket.”

Stray Toasters

• I am eating Cheetos.
• Welcome back, .
• Back to Skataris: Jones Talks Warlord – I think that I first started reading Warlord in… 1980, thanks to a grade-school friend. I collected it sporadically, but I enjoyed the adventures.
• Apple said “Bye-bye” to Big Blue today… or, as RealTechNews put it: Apple Crosses to the Dark Side: Intel Gets Inside
• Brett Ratner, best known for directing Rush Hour and music videos, has been tapped to replace Matthew Vaughn as the director of the third X-Men movie. This should prove interesting…
• It seems they wanna finger print me and gimmie some years
  They’ll only get one finger while I’m shifting gears
  I got suede on my roof. wood grain on the dash
  Sheep skin on the rug, Golden Grain on the stash
  Hydraulics all around so I shake the ride
  We go FRONT, BACK AND SIDE TO SIDE!

• and : NECA have released images of their upcoming 18″ Willy Wonka figure based on the Johnny Depp likeness from the upcoming Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie.
• …and, as an added bonus: Goldie Pinklesweet, from Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (Thanks to one of my co-workers – who could recite most of this from memory.)
• Double Dare (No, not the Marc Summers series.)
• From today’s Dork Tower

It’s clobberin’ bed time.

Namaste.

Sunday
You know, if there was ever a Pleasant Valley Sunday, today would just about be it. I slept in a bit this morning… which is good, considering the fact that I didn’t get to bed until far later than I had planned. I woke up to sunny skies, a nice breeze… and a phone call. It was Patryck, telling me that he was playing a double-header here in Salt Lake and inviting me to watch. And, the call followed all of the guidelines as stipulated in “The 10:00 Rule,” so everything was cool.

I got showered and dressed, put a few final touches on ‘s computer and I was off to start my day. First stop: Beans & Brews. The woman whose coffee I bought on Friday gave me her punch card buying her drink. Her completed punch card, that is. So, today’s frozen mocha was free. *nod* From there, it was on to ‘s to deliver the now-working computer. Turns out that the driver that I found for its video card (Diamond Viper 550 – the video card from the first computer that I built… *sniff*) wasn’t the one that I needed. So, I’ll drop off a new one tomorrow.

From there, I headed into Salt Lake to watch Patryck’s game. I missed the first game, and he wasn’t playing in the second one, so we got to chat during Game 2. His team lost the first game, but they whaled the tar out of the other team in the second one. And, there was almost a fight on the field: The opposing pitcher hit one of Patryck’s teammates in the head with a pitch. The benches cleared. For a minute, I thought that there were going to be team beatdowns. But, cooler heads prevailed and the rest of the game went on without incident.

Back home and then off to Rodizio Grill for dinner with and . Meeeeeats. And chicken hearts. And lime-ade. And roasted pineapple. And a decadently rich piece of chocolate cake. This place definitely lives up to the saying “you get what you pay for.” And it’s well worth it. After dinner, we headed to Nyx and Nox’ place to hang out for a bit.

Stray Toasters

• I’m a big fan of Velcro® cable ties. But, I’m not a big fan of how much most retailers want to charge for six (6) strips. Last week, while I was in Lowe’s, I came across a pack of fifty (50)… for less than $5.00. Fifty. 8-inch ties. In black and grey. For less than $5.00.
• “Boo, dammit! BOO!”
• From comes: Foiled.
• : Penn Jillette’s daughter is named “Moxie CrimeFighter”
• Chibi!
• Batter… up!
• This Year’s Model: How Xbox 360 Works
• : Newsarama has an article that discusses DC’s Batman Panel from Wizard World: Philadephia. There are a few things in it that you might want to check out… including information on the identity of the killer of Bruce Wayne’s parents.
• …and, speaking of Bat-related properties,while this isn’t the greatest picture in the world, it does raise an interesting point: I think that David Hyde Pierce would make a good Riddler.
• Don’t wait for answers
  Just take your chances
  Don’t ask me why

• : Guess who’s coming back in a new mini-series. This guy.
• I stumbled across Worth1000.com this afternoon. There were many things in there that made me smile.
• “…   What?”
  “Just wishing that I wasn’t so positive that you being naked and the Apple store blowing up are related. Because I know they are.”
  

• …and from the One Night in Bangkok Wikipedia file: Chess

Namaste.

<edit>

I just noticed that the dates on my past three entries were incorrect. I had apparently reset the date/time on my computer without being aware of it. Odd. The problem has been corrected and the entries have been restored to their proper chronological places.

</edit>

Saturday
I didn’t do much today. I spent a good portion of the afternoon trying to figure out why the computer I’m working on for is still thumbing its virtual nose at me. I think that I sussed it out. And from this point, I can determine a viable course of action.

I headed to Dr. Volt’s to pick up this week’s allotment of four-color goodness. But, like Mother Hubbard’s cupboard, my hold box was empty. I picked up Uncanny X-Men #460 and X-23 #6. Both were decent reads. I may consider adding them to my “titles to add” list. We’ll see.

I came back to work on the computer… and somewhere around 9:30, I made an impromptu visit to The Dreaming. At my desk. I knew that I was tired, but I didn’t think that I was that out of it. *shrug* I think that I dozed for nearly two hours. Hopefully, that won’t have me staring at the ceiling all night when I go to bed.

Breakfast was good. We had a small turn-out – there were only six of us. But we had fun. We didn’t get to poke fun at The Singles. But, there’s always next week… There were plenty of other options for people-watching, anyway.

I just yawned for the eleventy-billionth time. Maybe I should take that as an indication that I should try out this “sleep” thing that I’ve been hearing so much about. Who knows… I might even like it.

Namaste.

Friday
Another week comes to a close.

This morning came far too soon after closing my eyes for a few hours’ sleep. The fact that I was up before the alarm went off didn’t help matters much. I dragged myself into the bathroom and took a shower. A long shower. I think that I was in there for at least fifteen minutes. And it felt great. Then, it was off to face the day.

My caffeinestream was horribly diluted, so I stopped at the local Beans & Brews for a much-needed cup of frozen mocha goodness. It was there that I did my good deed for the day: The woman ahead of me in line had her card declined, so I told the clerk to add her coffee to mine. Both of them looked a little unsure of how to respond. The woman asked how she could repay me; I told her to just make sure that she had a nice day.

The work day was good and productive. But the best part of the work day was post-lunch. Walking back to my team lead’s car, he asked: “So, are you driving back?” It took me a half-beat to respond,”I guess I am.” And with that, I got behind the wheel of his shiny, red Barchetta BMW 325. (Sorry, Nyx.) BMWs are called “the ultimate driving experience.” After the trip back to the office, I understood why: That had to be one of the best-handling and most responsive vehicles I have ever driven. And, it moved. Quickly. I looked down at one point to see that I was cruising along at 80MPH. I tried to nudge it back down to the other side of 75. No, really, I tried. It wasn’t easy. I think that I got it back down to the high 60s by the time I got to the off-ramp to get to the office.

After work, I hung out with and for a bit. I also renewed my distaste/dislike for UDoT (as in “Fuckin’ UDoT”). They are doing construction on a few of the major east-west roads… during rush hour. Yep… there’s a real genius behind their planning. A cross-town trip from Nyx and Nox’ place takes about fifteen minutes, depending on traffic. Today’s trip took almost forty-five. *braincramp*

Tonight’s Clitorati gathering was good and it made even better by ‘s appearance. I talked to about an idea that I had concerning the various James Bond themes; I think that I gave him an idea for a project of his own. I even remembered to break out my pencil and sketchbook. I just did a couple of quick (read: “rough”) sketches, but I felt good about actually doing something rather than regretting not having done it.

Stray Toasters

• informed me that SprintPCS has Schoolhouse Rock ringtones available. I’ve been looking for something to replace the ringtone that I had on my old phone: The James Bond Theme. This means that I could possibly have Conjunction Junction as (one of) my ringtone(s).
• As I was leaving the office this afternoon, I saw a woman walking through the lobby, dragging a wheeled bag behind her. As she walked away, I noticed something… “odd” …about her bag: There were purple LEDs set into the wheels.
• Wow. According to Marvel’s X-Men Panel, at WizardWorld: Philly, Jean Grey is really dead.
  

  Speaking as to why Marvel seems to continually kill Jean Grey, Quesada joked that she was the Kenny of Marvel’s South Park. On the more serious side, Quesada said that she wasn’t coming back, and that she’s really dead – today. Quesada continued, saying that he still feels that characters should only come back from the dead if the return is part of a great story, and given the poignancy and heart of Greg Pak and Greg Land’s Endsong, it would be a major challenge to tell of her return.

• In something that sounds like a remake of The Core, scientists are attempting to explore the center of the Earth.
• “Welcome back” to , after he trip to Japan.
  And thanks for sharing a few pictures from the trip!

• So, you enjoy playing The Sims or Sim City. Big deal. Think on a larger scale. Much, MUCH larger.
• I saw way too many fashion “don’ts” today.
• There was something that was supposed to go here, but I don’t remember what it was.

I’m beat. Time to hit the rack.

Namaste.

Thursday
I’m up MUCH later than I should be. But, if it comes down to it, I’ll purge the blood my caffeinestream on the way to work.

The day was pretty average. Nothing to write home or “get hung about,” as the boys from Liverpool once put it.

After work, I went to CompUSAirways to pick up a motherboard. Of course, the store that I went to had everything but the one that I wanted/needed. So, I wound up going to their other local location. They had the board, but their price was a little high on memory. After a quick call to to ask him to check prices, I headed to Best Buy to get a stick of memory. They had it. It even has a rebate. I’m happy. After dinner, I set about lobotomizing ‘Nine. Yet again. After all was said and done, she’s ship-shape (or “station-shape,” I guess). Pretty much all that’s left to do is to reinstall some applications.

And with the new core for ‘Nine, I was left with a fully-functional, but not-soon-to-be-used and not-terribly-old motherboard and processor. So, I’m replacing the system that I was building for with that. Which means:

1. I don’t have to finish troubleshooting the original board that I was giving her and
2. I’ll have it all wrapped up and ready to go by tomorrow night.

Stray Toasters

• I’ve been hearing… “something” …off to my left for the past few minutes. When I looked over to see what it was, I was Sissy curled up – and sleeping – in the box that the new motherboard came in. She’s kind of snoring, too. It’s cute.
• , I finally remembered what it was that I wanted to tell you: After our conversation about “The Artist Formerly Known as Ginger Spice,” I remembered I have at least one (other) Geri Halliwell song that you should hear.
• An electric car… that’s… as fast as a Ferrari? Check it out.
• Gamers – and Game History Lovers – of the world, unite! History of the Game Controller
• : I think that you’ll like this Catwoman picture.
• Warning: Bad pun ahead! –
• Looks as though Robert Rodriguez is on a mission to have Sin City 2 ready to start filming in January.
• , you might be able to cull a Backwash Red column out of this: Forget Friendster, Shagster Lets You Rate and Track Your Sex Partners
• …and I don’t know if you can use this one, but: 8 JaPorn titles coming to PSP this summer
• Tonight’s random Wiki page is for (“You’re the best! You’re the best!”): Josh movie

Time to make a mad dash for the gates of The Dreaming.

Namaste.

Wednesday
It was rainy and cool this morning. Those aren’t exactly the most conducive conditions for getting out of bed and going to work. But, I did. Eventually. On the way, I picked up 24 ounces of frozen mocha goodness.

The work day was good. The after-work day wasn’t bad, either. For the most part, it was quiet and relaxing. Just the way to spend a mid-week evening.

Stray Toasters

• I received a text message from Adam this evening. I called him back and chatted with him for while. All seems to be well in mid-America.
• Happy birthday to June ‘Journalers:
  • and
• Why is a Popsicle called a “quiescently frozen confection?”
• “Goldfish”
• Wiki Wiki Wiki Wiki
  Check it out: A reference to both Wikipedia and Newcleus!
  Two birds, one stone.
  Booyah!

• There’s something in the way that Ludacris raps that I like.
• God save us all… from this
• The Tower (a local cinema) is showing Pretty in Pink, starring Molly Ringwald for their midnight movie this weekend. Does anyone remember that she was a cast member on the first season of The Facts of Life?
• The “Have a banana….” line in Copacabana still cracks me up.
• To call this a “tongue-in-cheek” look at Revenge of the Sith is a gross understatement.
  

• “Double, double
  Toil and trouble
  Fire burn and cauldron bubble…”

Namaste.

Tuesday
Today was the first day of the holiday-shortened work week. And it wasn’t bad. I think that I can handle this.

I got a call from a friend from whom I haven’t heard in MONTHS. She was calling to invite and me to her husband’s birthday get-together. Tomorrow night. She had to have known about this for… at least a year, give or take. And she waited until the day before to call? “Bad form, Peter.”

Tomorrow night is also supposed to be the kick-off of ‘ return to the World of Darkness setting – a game that I (and a few others) have been asking him to run for a few months. But, I digress…

I was also told that a couple of our other friends would be there. I called them to verify. Nope. My call was the first that one of them had heard of a party.

::: braincramp :::Sorry, but the track record, so far, is more than “a little” shoddy. Bottom line: I’m not sure whether I’ll head to the party or not. But I’m leaning towards having to “respectfully decline” the invitation.

Stray Toasters

• I received a call from my father this evening. He was calling to let me know that he had made it home from my grandparents’ house in West Virginia. And to vent about some of the moronic things that people (non-family members) had done while he was there.

  He also mentioned a friend of my grandmother’s who passed away several years ago. When he did, it immediately reminded me of my visits to my grandparents’ house in “West-By-God” (as my father calls it) and visits their friend’s house. This friend taught me how to play Uno when I was a young boy. I’d go down to her house and we’d pass hours playing the game. I haven’t played Uno in a long time. I hadn’t thought about those old games in a long time, either.

• “Haven’t you always wanted a monkey!?”
• And since we’re on the topic of simians: Gorillaz in the Mist
• I’m not sure who slipped what into ‘s drink today, but she sent me this. Hallucinogens are the only thing that I can think of that could be the cause.
• …although, she redeemed herself with Hello Cthulhu.
• By way of :
• , relay this to Jeff please: DCI and EPSN to announce deal in June
• When good game systems go bad. (…or, at least, get jealous.)
  

• Does your ice cream need to be put under lock and key? Try this.
• If you live in Utah, odds are better than even that you’ve heard of “Super” Dell Schanze, the owner of Totally Awesome Computers. (If you’re in/near Indiana and remember Don of Don’s Guns fame, he’s the same kind of guy… on crack!) It seems that “Super Dell” did something not-so-super and got some attention from the local authorities and news.
• A little something for . (Last panel.)
• Why am I so fond of tonight’s random Wikipedia page? Figure it out.

Namaste.

Monday
I hope that everyone had a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day.

Today has been very lazy. I woke up late… of course, I got to bed very late, so it all balances out. I even wound up taking a nap. Later in the afternoon, we met up with for coffee. We stopped into Best Buy and CompUSAirways for a bit… but left empty-handed. Although I came dangerously close to buying parts for another rig. Dangerously close – I held the motherboard in my grubby little hands. Of course, I need another case, too. But none of the ones that I saw appealed to me. I’m not a fan of the brightly-glowing, Plexiglass-sided cases that have become so popular. I’m a plain beige (sorry… “ecru”) or black case guy. Although, I wouldn’t mind finding a decent ITX case.

Stray Toasters

• I broke down and took the “Which Superhero Are You” Test. I was a little surprised by the result… especially since I and many of my friends got the same thing.

  Batman Congratulations! You scored a super 75%!

  Cool, calm and powerful. Whilst your actual super abilities may not be anything too dazzling, you have earnt the respect of both friends and enemies in response to your amazing fighting skills, strategic combat and experience. Luckily you have access to the greens which can fund all your majorly cool gadgets, vehicles and weapons! Also, you’re reluctant but still accepting to the idea of having a teammate/side-kick, which just makes everything a whole lotta fun, doesn’t it now! On the down side, you’ve probably suffered some sort of trauma at a young age (that’s why we don’t talk to the old man near the swings, kids). Similar to the Wolverine, your past is a base for your current motivation, undertaking some kind of personal vow in search of justice. All in all though, you’re one tough nut. There’s not a lot of people who have the minerals to go up against you, and you’re experienced enough not to get cocky and let the little things like never finding happiness get you down!

  My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 91% on Heropoints

  Link: The Which SUPER HERO are you Test written by crayzee69 on Ok Cupid

• …speaking of which, , I know that it’s still a little over two weeks away, but I think that you can breathe a little easier about Batman Begins. At least, you can if you believe Sandy Collora’s (you know… the guy behind Batman: Dead End) review on Buzzscope.
• …and, in related news: Why Freeman chose Batman
• Folklore.org: Macintosh Stories
• I have heard the word “curacao” pronounced at least three ways in the past few months. I had always taken it to be “kur-uh-sow” with the “ow” pronounced like the “ou” in “ouch.” I decided to look it up. Here is what Merriam-Webster had to say about it.
• Picturing Women: “An exhibition about how women are figured, fashioned, turned into portraits, and told about in words and pictorial narrative.”
• A little something for : De-Animator: An H.P. Lovecraft Style Shoot-em-up
• Cinescape has an interesting feature on its site: TV Wasteland: The Perils of Success, looking at both the Star Trek and Star Wars franchises past, present… and future.
• How complete is your knowledge of various pantheons? Sure, you might be an ace with the gods of the Maya or the Norse. Maybe even the Egyptians. How about the Australian gods? Or their African counterparts? Or the Oceanic pantheon? Not quite so up-to-scratch? Take a look at Godchecker: “Your guide to the Gods.”
• “…and time! Three insults in nine seconds! A new world elitism record!
  

• The Mischievous Art of Jim Flora

It’s back to the grind tomorning. ‘s schedule has changed, so we won’t be carpooling anymore. So I won’t be going to work quite as early. But, I’ll still go in early-ish; I like being done sometime around 4:00 PM. *shrug* We’ll see how it goes.

Namaste.

Sunday
…or “Saturday II”
…or something like that.

<< Rewind <<
Yesterday was a lazy day.

We slept in. That’s a good start to any weekend. After we had all showered and thinned the blood in our caffeinestreams, we met and for lunch at Cafe Med. Afterwards, we – minus Nyx – headed to Fat Cats, where and I finally had our bowling showdown. Neither of us has bowled in about a month, so we were about even there. I won all three games – the second game was in doubt until the tenth frame.

and Cain hadn’t seen Star Wars: Episode III, so the four of us headed to Larryland: South – which will henceforth be known as: “Larryland: Central” – to see Revenge of the Sith. And, once again, I missed seeing the Millennium Falcon. And a Star Destroyer on Kashyyyk. How in the Nine Hells does one miss a ship THAT big?! Twice!? *GRR*

After the movie, we came back to the house for a bit and then it was on to Cheers for breakfast. The majority of The Singles didn’t show up, but the crowd was still good enough for some prime people-watching. The Machete Guy was there, too. Sans machete. I also made a couple of new shakes: French Silk for me and Peanut Butter Cup for Nyx – she and Nox stopped in for breakfast. I liked mine; she said that hers was good. And all was right with the world.

> Play >

Today started off slowly and lazily. I got up around 11:00, everyone else was still sleeping. Being the magnanimous type, I decided not to blast them out of bed with Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyrie. Instead, I opted to come down the HALO Command Center and chill out for a while. I started hearing sounds of life around 11:30 or 11:45. I didn’t make my appearance until noon-ish. After showers and coffee and sitting around for a bit, we went to get lunch. Tres Hombres. Along the way, we met the Scarecrow picked up Nox. After lunch, we put and Cain on the Yellow Brick Road I-80, in the direction of I-15 North and all things Idaho. We had a fun time with them here. We didn’t do any tourist-related things and that seemed to suit all parties just fine.

After lunch, Nox came back to the house with us and I hosted my first HALO LAN. Technically, it was a HALO 2 LAN, but why nitpick? Chris and Christopher came over and we had H2 running on three machines. We shot the scenery and each other for a few hours. Lots of fun. After that, it was just a quiet evening at home.

Stray Toasters

• I went through some CDs containing some photos that I had forgotten about. It’s good to know where they are.
• The Art of Amanda Morley, by way of
• Sweet Mary, mother of Jesus…. Moonlighting is coming out on DVD this week! Unfortunately, my favorite episode, “Atomic Shakespeare,” was a third season episode.
• Firestorm has been one of my favorite DC Comics characters for… let’s just say “a long time.” I was pretty happy when ABC added him to the Superfriends lineup in 1984 in SuperFriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show… which I’m watching right now (well… when I wrote this). In fact, it’s the first episode of that series: “The Bride of Darkseid (Parts I and II),” which also featured the first appearance of Darkseid. Unfortunately, he was portrayed as a intergalactic crime lord rather than one of the New Gods. Nevertheless, it was fun to watch.
• And now the 1967 Fantastic Four is on. With Galactus and the Silver Surfer.
• is the new “Mr. Dumbass,” by his own admission. (I [heart] my LJ user-in-law.)
• I think that this picture, by Alex Ross, is my new favorite picture of The Shrub:
• Larry Kenney, who provided voices for both Thundercats‘ Lion-O and Silverhawks‘ Bluegrass also provided the commercial voice of General Mills’ Count Chocula.
• Maybe this will make feel a little better about Batman: He gets even with the members of the JLA who erased his memories in this summer’s “Crisis of Conscience” storyline.
• I like the way that uses images as bullet points/paragraph markers in her posts.
• J. Michael Straczynski, best known as the creator of Babylon 5 (and its offspring) and Rising Stars, has been writing Amazing Spider-Man for… at least a year, I think. By all accounts, he has pumped some much-needed life into one of Marvel’s icons. He’ll be turning his hand to the four-color print adventures of the Fantastic Four this summer. But before all of this, he wrote Teen Titans Spotlight #13: Cyborg, featuring the Batman villain Harvey “Two-Face” Dent.
• : This cover’s for you – LSH #8
• For …
  Late at night, while you’re sleeping
  Poison Ivy will be creeping around…

• Does the name “Nolan Bushnell” mean anything to you? He’s the guy who brought us Pong and the Atari 2600… and Chuck E. Cheese. Well, he’s at it again. He’s expected to announce his newest venture, uWink this week.
• George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg are moving forward on a script for Indiana Jones IV.

This post has been brought to you by the letters “Alpha” and “Tau” and by the number “VIII.”

Namaste.

Saturday
It’s been a good day, but an update will have to wait until tomorning, after the sun is up.

We now return you to your regular programming.

Friday
The day started with me sleeping in. No, wait. That should have been “oversleeping.” There, that’s more like it. I overslept by forty-five minutes. Which means that I slept through coming to get me for the carpool. And waiting, when I didn’t come outside. And blowing the horn.

I missed it all.

After I abandoned the idea of taking the car, driving myself to work and then coming back to take to work, I woke her up. She drove me to the office. The workday – all five hours of it – was good. Post-work, Kate, Perry and Max swung by to get me and we headed to Four-Color Heaven, colloquially referred to as “Dr. Volt’s.” I picked up the things (plural, this week!) in my subscription box, along with a few assorted back issues.

I came home, ostensibly to finish cleaning/straightening before and Cain arrived. Instead, I pretty much passed out for two hours. I was apparently far more tired than I had thought. But, I managed to do everything I wanted to do… except cleaning the HCC. Yet again. *sigh* Oh, well, there’s always tomorning for that.

and Cain got here a little after 8:00. After freshening up, we headed to meet the rest of the Clitorati. It was a good turn-out, with the usual off-key conversations. One thing that I need to change: I’ve gotten out of the habit of drawing – or even sketching – while at Borders. I really need to get back into that habit. We headed to Cheers: North and were met with a disappointing revelation: Vivi has been transferred to the Applebee’s at The Gateway. We’ll have to make it a point to visit her there.

And that’s how I spent my summer vacation Friday.

Stray Toasters

• I’ve discovered a couple of other songs in my mp3 rotation that make me bounce/wiggle: The themes from The Jeffersons and Sanford and Son.
• By way of : Comic SWAT, from Something Awful
• “They’re clean animals.”
• From an old Tonight Show episode: Copper Clapper Caper, featuring Dragnet‘s Jack Webb.
• By way of : StumbleUpon
• One of the guys on my team at work is introducing me to the world of StrongBad and Homestar Runner. I have to admit: It’s pretty amusing stuff. He linked me to this today. There’s even a screensaver that you can download, so your computer can look just like StrongBad’s. (Click on the gull to access the wallpaper size.)
• Here’s a petition to… ban the Internet.
• “Ecru.”
• Fuckin’ UDoT. Apparently, when they say “We’re finished” with respect to a road construction project, what that really means is: “We told you that to make you happy. We’ll be back in (fill in the appropriate time) to do MORE work in the same spot(s).”

Have a good – and safe – holiday weekend.

Namaste.

Thursday
I worked a 12-hour day today. All right… it was technically an 11-hour day, with a one-hour lunch, but you get the gist. The day moved along rather quickly. No, my mental faculties and I haven’t filed for divorce, citing “irreconcilable differences.” This was a calculated move: I intend to leave early tomorrow and get an early start on the long weekend. Nevertheless, it was a 12-hour day at work. (Actually, a little more than that, but not worth quibbling over). Crazy. That’s right. Crazy like a fox.

Tomorrow, and Cain are coming down for the weekend. (We’re going to have real, live, honest-to-goodness houseguests, for the first time since stayed over!) I’m not sure what manner of mayhem will ensue, but Clitorati 2.0 is a go and we’re trying to suss out how to squeeze in a bowling challenge. *nod*

After work, we watched a rerun of CSI over dinner and did some straightening up . I have a couple of things to finish up tomorrow, but nothing major. Around 11:15, I decided to go for a late-night drive. I haven’t gone for one in a while. Part of the excursion took me up Capitol Hill and down State Street. It was nice to drive through that part of Salt Lake City and not have to deal with the pimped-out car-driving street rats. However, I could have done without the (re-)construction on Redwood Road in West Jordan.

Stray Toasters

• I finally got around to reading DC Comics’ The OMAC Project #1 tonight. Wow. At one time, I thought that the “Tower of Babel” storyline in JLA put Batman through the wringer. Then I read Identity Crisis and a few titles after that. Now, I read this… and I’m waiting for the fallout. How do you break The Bat without bringing Bane into the picture? It looks like DC has figured out the secret.
• Three hits from :
  1. Eleven steps to a better brain
  2. Xeni Tech on NPR: Next-gen consoles from “The Big Three”
  3. Cockroaches kill Macedonian court’s laser printer by eating toner
• Random Wikipedia page: List of all ships of the United States Navy, O
• : Ororo: Before the Storm will go on sale this coming Thursday… and this goes on sale in October:
• You don’t have to be Superman to have X-ray vision; you could just be an airport screener.
• suzie_lightning: This Bud’s Bunny’s for you! –
• Juice! Fruit juice!
  Or Kool-Aid, if you choose.
  Juice box, please! Or Capri Suns to squeeze!
  It’s a fact: Welch’s Grape is like crack!
  Juice! Fruit Juice!
  Everybody drink… Everybody drink…
  Everybody drink… Everybody drink…
  Everybody drink… Everybody drink… Everybody!
  Everybody drink fruit juice!
  (I’m not sure if I owe Kenny Loggins an apology for this… or if he owes me one.)

• Worf’s about to snap a little somethin’ off on someone.
• To whom it may concern: Trailer for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
• “Do you have to be insane to become Pope, or does becoming Pope cause you to go insane?”
  

Namaste.

Wednesday
Today was an all-around good day. It was enhanced by the introduction of frozen iced mocha goodness to my caffeine stream; was kind enough to bring me one on her way to work. The rest of the day fell into place nicely.

After work, I came home… and took a nap. Following that, I had every intention of cleaning the HCC. Well, let’s just say that I have a few more bricks to add to my “Road to Hell” collections.

Then, I headed to and ‘ place for tonight’s game. I think that we had 15% game and 85% “Other.” We got a few things done, but not a lot. Hopefully, our next session will be more productive. Although, the lapses in gameplay allowed me to get a few more things together for the Shadowrun campaign.

Stray Toasters

• I still have cotton candy left over from last week’s movie. I think that I’ll have it as a snack morrownight.
• : I don’t know how I managed to forget this, especially after the squirrel and chicken-fish comments, but somehow I did. So, without further delay: Green Lambkin!
• This was passed along to my by Miss .
• Applegeeks Wallpapers
• Time magazine has published its list of 100 All-Time Favorite Movies.
• Blogebrity… with a *nod* to Maddox for making the B-List. (I think that you should have made the “A,” but you’re on the list.) It seems as though Bruce Sterling is a “B-Lister,” too.
• “…and you still need to do the dishes.” –
• A “Fastball Special”¹ never looked so good.
• I don’t know what to make of this.
• Make Bunny Cereal – with a serving soul toast – a part of your balanced breakfast! –
• Tonight’s random Wikipedia goodness: National Model Railroad Association.

Namaste.

¹ – The “Fastball Special” was a signature move of the Uncanny X-Men’s Colossus and Wolverine. It was executed when Colossus would pick up Wolverine and hurl him at a target. Examples:

• This is from the comics.
• These (1, 2) are from X-Men Legends.
• This is from the Marvel VS card game.
  

Tuesday
Let’s not have another day like this one, what say?

I’ve been working on something for the past couple of days. Today, I got frustrated with it… to the brink of the “leave now or break things” point. So, I left. There’s a… football field-sized… um… “field”… just south of our building. I took a walk around it and a couple of the neighboring buildings. I also took the opportunity to call my father and chat for a bit. By the time that I returned, I was feeling human again. Although my dour mood continued throughout the day.

I came home and took out my frustrations on “The Branches Formerly Known as Lilac Bush,” which have been sitting on the RV pad for the past six months or so. Branches, meet Wood Chipper. Wood Chipper, Branches. Two-and-a-half hours later, I was done. All but the largest of the branches have been rendered into mulch. We need to get a push broom and a large pan for the remaining sawdust, but we have usable space next to the house once more.

I came in, changed the shower head – which I’ve been meaning to do for two days – and took a warm shower. I knew that the old shower head was a piece of crap, but the new head made it seem positively archaic. We had pizza for dinner and watched L&O: SVU; I treated myself to a glass of chocolate milk to wash the pizza down. When the show was done, asked if I wanted to go with her to the gym. I had already declined a movie invitation from and because I was tired – both from the wood demolition and last night’s lack of sleep. But, the idea of going to the gym intrigued me.

I went to the gym. For the first time in far, FAR too long. I did a back and triceps workout. I’m feeling pretty good, so far. We’ll see how I feel when the alarm goes off.

Stray Toasters

• Thanks to for pointing me in the direction of this. It made me smile in the middle of an otherwise irritating day.
• Speaking of “irritating days,” it seems as though I was not alone in feeling “off-center” today. Both and seemed to have less-than-great days, as well.
• …and it looks like Bunny’s day wasn’t great, either –
• There’s a… debate, I guess… on the Lilguyz Yahoo! Group about the dangers of wielding a double-bladed lightsaber. A couple of guys trained in the martial arts have made points that it is as dangerous – if not more so – to the wielder as it is to the other duelist. They also noted that an accomplished single-bladed lightsaber duelist could (easily) defeat an opponent who used a dual-bladed one.

  Another voice chimed in with this gem:

  “ahhhhhhhhhhhh but light saber is used by those who let the force flow through them and it makes the fight better…”

  This isn’t entirely true. Non-Force sensitives are also capable of using lightsabers, although not as effectively. And let’s face it, for someone through whom the Force flowed (in their blood!), I seem to recall that two generations of Skywalkers were intimately familiar with the business end of a lightsaber blade. Like father, like son…

  One of the original comment-makers followed the “the Force makes them better” response with the following retort, which made me chuckle:

  “Luke swung a lightsaber with the finesse of a baseball bat. He was never the equal of those like ObiWan or Mace Windu”

• , I think that you’ll appreciate what’s behind Door #1.
• , I think that Door #2 will interest you.
• I don’t understand the appeal of bobbleheads.
• and : I think that you will appreciate this.
• What happens when Deaths go on strike? Something like this.
• Booster Bags Use Foil to Foil Any Store’s Anti-Shoplifting Machines

Namaste.