Random Access

Sunday
I hope that the mothers out there had a happy (and safe and enjoyable) Mother’s Day.

I called my mother, who was in New York this weekend, yesterday. Yes, I did try to reach her today, but I figured – correctly – that it would be an exercise in futility. I did reach my stepmother today, though. It was her – and my brother’s – birthday today, as well. I called him, too. All is well in mid-America.

< < Rewind < <

Yesterday, , Chris, Mary and I were off to see the Wizarrrrrd! went to The Bookshelf. They didn’t have much that I wanted/needed, but I did pick up a piece of MechWarrior plastic crack: Frederick Bo – Shadow Cat II (unique) from the “Fire for Effect” expansion. And the guy working the game counter had fewer social skills than my XBox controller, so that also dimmed my enjoyment of the excursion. Yesterday was also Free Comic Book Day. I think that the way that they handled it was stupid: After you made your purchase, you got to roll two six-sided dice to determine how many of the free books you could get. *blink blink* Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?! THEY didn’t have to pay for them. WE didn’t have to pay for them. So, why in the Nine Hells should you have to roll dice to see how many FREE things you got?! I don’t know whose brainskid that idea was, but they should be taken outside and given a curby.

I also introduced Chris and Mary to HeeBeeGeeBee’s, a store chock full of classic Star Wars, Transformers and G.I. Joe toys from yesteryear. I *think* that they liked it. I base this on the following:

1. Chris’ eyes got saucer-wide when he saw the wall o’ Star Wars
2. Mary stopped giving me the evil eye – which, oddly, started about the time that Chris saw the SW toys – when she found their back issues of Marvel’s Ghost Rider

But, maybe it’s just wishful thinking on my part. *shrug*

After leaving my traveling companions, I headed to Dr. Volt’s to pick up two-weeks’ worth of four-color goodness. And the issue of Mnemovore that I neglected to get for Nox. Oddly enough, they knew how FCBD was supposed to work: You could go and get copies of whatever free books you wanted. No dice rolling.

Later in the evening, and I went to Thanksgiving Point (I guess that this would be “Larryland: Antarctica”) to see Kingdom of Heaven. I understand peoples’ comparisons of it to Gladiator, but that didn’t diminish my enjoyment of the film. As an added bonus, Alexander Siddig, probably best known as Dr. Julian Bashir on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, was in it.

Then it was off to breakfast and the trainwreck that is collectively referred to as “The Singles.” There was a heaping passel of ’em there. Fortunately, the group with Dungeon Master, Jr. (imagine the bastard love child of Terry Bradshaw and Dungeon Master, from the old Dungeons & Dragons cartoon) was seated on the far side of the restaurant from us.

> Play >

Today was pretty lazy. I was invited to hear a symphonic concert this morning at 9:30…. but I overslept. That may have been due to the fact that we got home late/early this morning. After I got up and puttered around for a bit, I headed over to ‘s house to help with her computer. That didn’t go so well. So, I’ve brought it back here to see if I can figure out the problem. Aside from the fact that it’s an old motherboard.

Came back home and then it was off to shop and to find something to eat. I finally picked up the Vonage adapter that I’ve been threatening to buy. I’ll probably get it set up tomorrow evening or Tuesday. The main reason for getting it: Since neither of us is fond of Qwaste… I mean “Qworst”… No, that’s not right either… “Qwest” (yeah, that’s the one), we don’t have a land-based phone line. Our house sits in a depression and cell signals are spotty in the house. With the VoiP adapter, we can have a non-Qwaste line that we – and our company – can use… without having to hop up-and-down on one leg, while rubbing our stomachs and doing inhumane contortions.

The rest of the night has been fairly quiet. And that’s good.

Stray Toasters

• I picked up Legion back issues yesterday. I may try to get the full runs of v2 – v4, as they were all relatively short-lived.
• I am moving closer and closer to gm’ing a Shadowrun game.
• “Do you really need respect from a guy wearing a tiger suit rolling around in a giant plastic ball?”
  

• Netjuke looks interesting.
• made a random CD for me. I’m going to listen to it at work tomorrow. Too bad that I don’t have speakers, so that I can “share” it with my coworkers. *shrug* Oh, well. Their loss.
• Dildo Ninja.
  …which gave birth to the less-specialized Sex-Toy Ninja.
  …which gave a painful, laborious birth to the Troll Dildo Ninja.

• I need a calendar for my desk at work.
• : It’s been over an hour and I still haven’t received that email. You might want to check the email address to which you sent it.
• is off on her European adventure. *jealous*
• I don’t have a joke for this, but it amused me.
• Take a look at the trailer for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
  It’s a 56MB stream/download. I’d recommend broadband. Strongly recommend.

Quote of the Day

, on one of The Singles: “She looks like roadkill.”

I’m way overdue for my trip to the gates of The Dreaming.

Namaste.

Saturday
Too much to say.
Too tired to say it now.

Namaste.

Friday
I’ve been at my new job for 5 weeks. I have been doing an ongoing research project as part of my duties. This morning, I managed to find some information that had eluded a few people prior to my getting hired. I informed my immediate supervisor and figured that was that.

About ten minutes later, the president/COO of the company came up to me to commend me on finding it.

That’s a great way to start a Friday and the weekend.

The rest of the work day followed that same kind of pattern:

1. I asked a programmer to add certain functions to a program that I use. He said that he could take care of it and just needed to know how I wanted the output to look; I told him that I would get back to him shortly. When I got back to him, he was working on a different part of the program – also dealing with output. He had gotten bogged down with having to write the two parts of the code. I suggested writing one function – whose output was determined by the user – which could handle both tasks.

   He hadn’t considered that option.

   And (more importantly), once I explained what I needed/wanted, he said that it was a great idea and would drastically cut down his overall time to complete it.

2. Over lunch, I had a great discussion with some members of my team about my impressions of Utah and what it’s like to be the proverbial “stranger in a strange land.”
3. One of the guys on another team invited me to hear a concert orchestra (of which he is a member) perform this Sunday morning.

After work, I hung out with for a while. That was good.

Tonight’s meeting of the Clitorati was good. We had a good mix of regulars, irregulars and few initiates, including . Naturally, this grouping made for some interesting conversations… including one that ranged from Bollywood to Blow Harder: With a Vengeance. Don’t ask. It’s safer for all involved. Although, I will admit to singing/chair-dancing to Donna Summer’s She Works Hard for the Money when it came over the sound system at Cheers: North.

Food, good conversation, BEER, and excellent company.
The perfect way to end an already good day.

And a good Friday is always a great way to start off the weekend.

Namaste.

Thursday
It was a long day. There wasn’t really anything out of the ordinary, but it was a long day. I believe that too many nights of too little sleep caught up with me. My morning coffee was just enough to keep the edge off… for the early part of the day. The afternoon, however… that wasn’t quite so pretty. I was so tired that my vision began to get blurry and/or double. Not a happy time. And the swimmy-headed feeling didn’t help, either.

So… I napped.
I planned on thirty minutes of downtime.

I woke up almost an hour-and-a-half later. I was still a little out of it, but I felt a bit better. Shortly thereafter, called to say that the REC had called overtime on everyone. Which meant that dinner plans were going from “meatloaf and veggies” to “fend for yourself night.” Right. Not a big problem. We had some leftovers from the past couple of nights’ dinners that would fill the void. I was joined for dinner by Captain Morgan and his faithful First Mate, Coca-Cola. They are fine dinner companions.

Tonight’s episodes of CSI and Without a Trace were both very good, not that they usually disappoint. But the plots, and even the subplots, for both shows were very good. There were twists in each of them that I didn’t see coming. I like it when a show can surprise me like these did. And, tonight’s CSI didn’t feel like they were trying to bolster ratings by using a sensational topic as the focus; it just told a good story.

News
Morning Edition: Body of Emmett Till to Be Exhumed     One of my favorite bands is emmet swimming; they derived their name from Emmett Till:

emmet swimming should be recognized for their insightful, melodic and infinitely catchy tunes. When writing, singer, songwriter and rhythm guitarist Todd Watts focuses on telling a story, not necessarily about himself or the band, but about things we can all relate to, for instance, the loss of innocence. This is not only portrayed in their songs but in the band’s name as well. It was taken from a song Watts wrote long ago about Emmet Till, a fifteen year black boy who was lynched in the late ’50s in Mississippi for whistling at a white woman. His body was thrown into a river and he became one of the martyrs of the civil rights movement.

Morning Edition: Debating America’s Christian Character
Talk of the Nation: Playing Jazz and Making a Living
All Things Considered: Forest Service Eradicates Road-Building Ban
All Things Considered: Holocaust Survivor, Camp Liberator Share Memories
All Things Considered: Disneyland Celebrates 50th Anniversary

Stray Toasters

• I watched the last half of Pulp Fiction on Showtime tonight. I was going to post a quote or two from it, but there are far too many good ones to choose from. So, here are all of the ones that IMDb had.
• Wondering what to do with that shiny, new (or older) mathematics degree? Mathematicians Become Hollywood Consultants
• Do you have a young Jedi-in-training in your household? If so, How Lightsabers Work will prove an invaluable resource.
• Scorched 3D is a game based loosely (or actually quite heavily now) on the classic DOS game Scorched Earth “The Mother Of All Games”. Scorched 3D adds amongst other new features a 3D island environment and LAN and internet play. Scorched 3D is totally free and is available for both Microsoft Windows and Unix (Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, Solaris etc.) operating systems.
• Clownterstrike: Clown-based first-person shooter… without guns.
• Your kisses are as wicked as an M-16…
• This whole strip made me laugh, but the last panel nearly had me on the floor.
  

• Cheetos!
• When I read this comic in , I had a horrible vision:
  

  Setting: Bridge of the Enterprise, Capt. Picard and Cmdr. Riker sitting in their comfy chairs.

  After coming across a starship, the Enterprise is attacked.

  Riker goes to issue a “Red Alert,” only to find that his comm unit isn’t working.

  Picard calmly pulls something out of his pocket and thrusts it towards Riker, saying: “N-Gage, Number One.”

  Silly, yes. But, it amused me nonetheless. I sent an email to Greg Dean, the creator of Real Life, and told him that I felt the need to torture someone else with it share it with someone else . He wrote back the next day saying to “consider [me] tortured,” but that he thought it was funny.

• Hero vs. Hero: How does Superman’s new look stack up?
• One of the guys that I work with – he’s a little younger than me – has been sending me links to assorted Homestar Runner cartoons. I have to admit: Some of them are pretty damned funny.
• For : Batman: Dark Detective #1
• The World’s Worst: A Guide to the Most Disgusting, Hideous, Inept and Dangerous People, Places and Things on Earth
  

Wednesday
I got too little sleep last night, but I made it through the day.

I didn’t do much after I got home. I thought about taking a nap, but never got around to it. So… we went grocery shopping instead. And then came dinner and Alias, which I watched in the company of my friend, Captain Morgan, and his first mate, Coca-Cola.

Stray Toasters

• One of my new favorite expressions is “Great Caesar’s monkey-squeezin’ Jesus!”
  It amuses me.
  Now, thanks to this article I have a picture, by Boris Vallejo, that will pop into my head which whenever I say/type that.
  
  I bet he can squeeze a LOT of monkeys!

• Alien #1: “Where is that damned singularity-stealing salamander?”
  Alien #2: “He’s a fish.”
  Alien #1: “Fishes aren’t alliterative.”
  

• GE has a new commercial with a tap-dancing elephant.    Ãµ.Ô
• The annotation on this makes it all worthwhile…    
• Internet Cuts Need for Bike Messengers    –    Umm.. DUH!?!
• “WHOA! I can look up my own nose from here!!”
  

• I found this article on Cinescape. I haven’t read the whole thing, yet… but the following line made me laugh:
  

  The name “Jason Todd” has to be one of the most charged in all of comics – even more than Madeline Pryor, Ben Reilly, and even Rob Leifeld.

  Even. Rob. Liefeld. *cracks up*

• Sam Raimi is willing to do more Spider-Man movies.
  Danny Elfman may not be so willing to do more scores.

Quote of the Day

(09:37:11) : She wears capri pants and heels ALL the time.
(09:37:19) : She’s cute, but WTF?!
(09:37:57) : capri pants + heels is a bad thing?
(09:38:09) : Not necessarily.
(09:38:26) : But, you’d think that you’d want a little variety in your wardrobe.
(09:38:31) : very true
(09:38:33) : A little somethin’
(09:38:38) : Maybe it’s just me.
(09:38:39) : maybe a skirt here n there
(09:38:40) : *shrug*
(09:38:41) : long pants
(09:38:42) : Yeah.
(09:38:54) : maybe she has some sort of hot ankle syndrome
(09:38:56) : I can probably count the number of times that I’ve seen her in long pants.
(09:39:25) : That or she thinks that she’s the new hotness.
(09:39:33) : lol
(09:39:47) : SJP wore a lot of capris with heels on SATC
(09:39:58) : *ding*
(09:39:59) : Thank you.
(09:40:03) : And there is the missing link.
(09:40:06) : lol
(09:40:20) : [She] has a better nose, though.
(09:40:29) : lol
(09:40:51) : *shiver*
(09:41:00) : I just realized something..
(09:41:14) : I instinctively knew what you meant by “SJP” and “SATC”
(09:41:17) : That ain’t right.
(09:41:20) : I noticed that, lol
(09:41:30) : I was waiting for you to question it
(09:41:33) : very interesting 😉
(09:41:46) : Very scary.
(09:41:55) : Especially for a show that I didn’t watch.
(09:41:58) : *twitch*

Namaste.

Tuesday
I know that going to bed around 2:00 AM isn’t good. Especially when I have to get up at 6:00 to get ready for work. But, when I sleep fitfully and wake up (at least) three times during that period, it is far from a good thing. And the kicker: The last time I woke up was five minutes before the alarm went off. I think that I just stared at the clock in disbelief.

Fortunately, the rest of the day wasn’t bad. And, I’m still enjoying the benefits of getting off work with a good amount of daylight left.

I came home, followed shortly by . We sat in the living room and chatted for a few minutes… and I then proceeded to effectively pass out for an hour. (Did I mention that I was tired?) I think – at least I hope – that I was done with our conversation before oblivion engulfed me. Later, invited me over to watch – and possibly play – Necromunda. Thanks to the lack of sleep, I wasn’t quite coherent enough to participate. So, I watched Chris, John and Nox play. Maybe another time, I’ll try my hand at it.

News
Morning Edition: Artifacts’ Fate Contested at Noted Space Museum
Morning Edition: Bush Education Cuts Jeopardize GED Programs
Talk of the Nation: Is Bill Cosby Right or Is the Black Middle Class Out of Touch?
Talk of the Nation: Utah Is First State to Abandon ‘No Child Left Behind’
All Things Considered: Polygamists on Utah-Arizona Border Under Scrutiny
All Things Considered: A Generation of Mixed Race Youth Speaks Out

Boston.com: Good news, bad news: Credit card minimum payments doubling

Stray Toasters

• I have Twizzlers upstairs…
  But I’m too lazy to go get them.

• By way of boingboing.net: Even Stormtroopers must pee.
• Thanks (I think) to for the link to the Answers in Genesis Creation Museum
• The art of Svetlana Chmakova
• I don’t know exactly what to make of this, but sent it to me. It made me chuckle.
• : Karate Kid (v5)
• Lego® Version of Star Wars Line Nerds
• Thanks to for the link to shaneglines.net: The Art of Shane Glines
• Who can take a rainbow, wrap it in a sigh…
  Soak it in the sun and make a groovy lemon pie?
  (A bit of trivia: The Candy Man was co-written by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley. The duo, along with John Barry, also co-wrote Goldfinger – made famous by Shirley Bassey – from the James Bond movie of the same name.)

• I tried to use this in a reply to a comment to , but she couldn’t open it. I loaded it, just to be sure that it hadn’t been moved from its server. It hadn’t. So, I watched it. It made me feel GREEEAT!
• Taiwan’s toilet bowl-themed restaurant
• Check these out. They’re… odd. (That’s an understatement.) And not all of them are work-safe.
• I beat back the laziness just enough to go get the Twizzlers.
• I… missed…. the release… of Living Colour’s Collideoscope?!
• : Catwoman
• : All-Star Batman and Robin

Namaste.

Monday
And not a bad start to the week, either. The work day went quickly. The afternoon included stops at Home Depot and Circuit City; I left both places empty-handed.

Interesting sidenote: We had gone to this Circuit City a month ago – we are/were looking into getting Vonage. They had signs that basically made the adapters less than free. That’s right… you actually MADE money on this deal. Sure, it was only 1¢, but that’s still Circuit City and/or Linksys and/or Vonage paying you to get a Vonage adapter.

The problem: The rebate expired two days before we got there.

When I went into Circuit City today, the same signs – with the April expiration date – were still there. Ô_õ

The day was capped with coffee in the company of , and at Cocoa Caffe. We were later joined by a rather tired .

News
Morning Edition: Jonesing for Fries? Blame the Cave Men
Talk of the Nation: Recalling Psychologist and Civil Rights Activist Kenneth Clark
Day to Day: Is Texas Hold ‘Em Illegal in Texas?
All Things Considered: Challenges of Gaining Asylum in the U.S.
All Things Considered: This I Believe: There Is Such a Thing as Truth
All Things Considered: Brain Implant Offers Hope for Severely Depressed
Fresh Air: A Handbook to Robert Crumb

Stray Toasters

• Not only did I have cotton candy tonight, I played online poker, too.
  Cards ‘n’ candy. Nice combination.

• And, speaking of candy: Seven Deadly Sins…. with gummy bears
• Reason #3824771 (Subsection 101-L) of “Why Aaron McGruder Makes Me Smile”
• It seems as though The Crow: Wicked Prayer, the fourth movie in the series, will not be released theatrically, after all.
  It’s going directly to DVD.
  Do not pass GO. Do not collect $200.

• Princess Dave.
• “I didn’t even read the book and I still loved it.” –
• Songs on my playlist at work that make me grin:
  • Peanuts Theme
  • We Have All the Time in the World by Louis Armstrong (from “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”)
  • Summertime Blues by Rush (This just sounds like they had a ball playing it.)
  • Ghetto Gospel by Tupac (Of course, given the fact that I work with a group of very conservative people, just about ANY rap makes my inner anarchist smile. DMX’ Party Up came on this morning and I almost laughed out loud. Fortunately – for them – I listen to my music on headphones. Although, the thought of watching heads go ‘splodey when the beat drops does make me grin, too.)
  • Iko Iko by Dr. John
  • Buddy Holly by Weezer (How can you not like a song that starts off with “What’s with these homies dissin’ my girl?”)
• By way of Comics2Film’s DCG: Supergirl
• Profiles of 1970s movie poster artists
• : Dawnstar
• What do your pets do while you’re at work?

Quote of the Day

: “I think it’s the ovaries.”

Don’t forget that Tuesday (today) is National Teacher Day!

Namaste.

Sunday
The clock slowly ticks off the last vestiges of the weekend.

This has been a good weekend. I went to The Bookshelf with Perry and Max on Saturday. That was after a trip to the local Beans & Brews, however. We got in late (3:00 AM) from seeing Superman and I was up a little after 9:00 to go to Ogden and there was way too much blood in my caffeinestream. I needed espresso-laden frozen mocha goodness to help jumpstart what few portions of my brain had crossed the line into consciousness.

The Bookshelf trip was good. I picked up four…. no, seven…. pieces of plastic crack: Four Heroclix and three Mechwarrior figures:

• Dreadnought (veteran)
• Kang (rookie)
• Meteorite (experienced)
• Power Girl (rookie)
• Black Hawk (veteran)
• Crimson Hawk (veteran, from the “Liao Incursion” expansion)
• Crimson Hawk (veteran, from the “Death from Above” expansion)

And, as an added bonus, Perry and I each got a Batman promotional figure from the upcoming “Icons” expansion. (And the insignia isn’t as big as the picture makes it look.) I also finally took the plunge and picked up a copy of X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills, one of the best one-shot stories that Marvel Comics has ever produced. They adapted part of the story and characters into the plot of X2: X-Men United. I had a copy of it years ago, but I don’t know what happened to it. But, now, I have a copy again. This makes me happy.

After that, we came back to SLC so that and I could help move. By the time that we got there, they were done. She had members of her family there and they got everything moved in one trip. So, instead of moving, , and I picked up and headed to Cafe Med for dinner; met us there. After dinner, we went back to Nyx’ to wait for and Chris to get back from helping a friend move. They arrived a short while later. And they weren’t in the best of moods. We chatted for a while and then we all headed to Cheers for breakfast. Bad hair, worse outfits… and The Singles. And there was the crazy-looking/-acting guy with the knife/machete, too. So, it was basically “Just another night at the V.I.”

Today, I woke up with a headache (…like my head against a board). Nothing too major, but it was there. I finished working on a computer for and then took it over to her new place. We headed back to pick up and get something for lunch. We picked up and went to Tres Hombres. Lunch was good, as was the company. Back to Nox’ for a while and then we headed home.

Stray Toasters

• I’m not too happy with the Palm Desktop software for my Palm Pilot. It’s not synchronizing data from my Vx to my computer.
• The Time Traveler Convention
• Family Guy aired its first new episode in years tonight. And they even did a G.I. Joe “Knowing is half the battle” spoof in the middle of the episode. I nearly laughed myself out of my chair.
• For : Invader Zim – Mega GIR
• For : Monopoly: The Star Wars Saga Edition and Trivial Pursuit DVD Star Wars Saga Edition… oh, yeah… and General Grievous
• The picture for May, in Alex Ross’ Mythology calendar, is the Legion of Super-Heroes. The 70s Legion. Thirty-one days of Legion. Nice.
• Motel offers free LSD to guests
• Giggles: “You know what you need?”
  Jenny: “If you say ‘a hug,’ there will be violence.”
  

• Our Friday night coffee group has been dubbed “The Unholy Order of the Clitorati.” I wonder if we could get these? Of course, trying to find a… “socially acceptable” logo might prove interesting.
• Judge a Book… by Its Cover – Pulp novel cover art
• “Would you like to play a game…”
  If you were a teen (or close to it) in 1983, you might remember the movie Wargames, starring Matthew Broderick and Dabney Coleman… with a smattering of Ally Sheedy thrown in, for good measure. Fast forward 23 years… and the sequel: Wargames II: The Deadly Key. “Sequel?” Come on. This doesn’t sound like it has anything in common with the original. If you have try to capitalize on the name of a successful movie just to drum up an audience… then your movie probably isn’t very good to begin with.

• Who knew that the Empire had height requirements?!   –   
• Today’s random Wikipedia word: Maven

Quotes of the Day

: “If I had a glass eye, I’d want it to be a snow globe.”

: “The Candy Man can because he mixes it with love and makes the world taste like kung fu”

And with that…

Namaste.

Saturday
It’s late and I’m tired.

Let’s try this again… after the sun is up.

Namaste.

Friday
I’m still not overly fond of getting up at 6:00… but I have to admit: Getting off work by 4:00 is very nice. The work day was good and it was Mallday (for lunch).

I came home and mowed the jungle that is was the backyard. The northeast corner of the yard had blades of grass around 15″ tall in some spots. The lawnmower wasn’t particularly happy about that. It stalled a few times in the more dense areas. But, the lawn has been mowed. And it looks pretty good. Again. Finally.

After that, it was time for a shower and then off to meet up with the rest of the Clitorati. Tonight, for the first time in far too long, came down. Conversations were as random as ever, but the company was good. We left the bookstore a little early and headed to Cheers: North for dinner.

After dinner, and I headed to the Tower Theatre for their midnight movie: Superman.

We got there a few minutes before the show started – plenty of time to find seats (there were only 15-20 people there, in all) and get situated before the lights went down. And for the next two-and-a-half hours, I was a seven-year-old kid again. A kid who believed that a man could fly. (Sidebar: I called my father this afternoon and when he asked what our plans for the weekend were, I told him about going to see Superman tonight. He laughed; he knows that I really enjoy the movie. Of course, he was the one who took me to see it two or three times when it was in its original release.) Yes, there were some things in the movie that would go right over a child’s mind; seeing it again, with 27 years worth of distance, makes that all too clear.

But that never stops me from being able to watch it with a similar – if not the same – sense of awe and wonder (and just plain joy) that I had sitting in a theatre, next to my father, watching it for the first time, all those years ago.

Stray Toasters

• I’m going to Mecca The Bookshelf tomorning.
• By way of : PowerPuff Girls Doujinshi
• By way of : Planned Parenthood’s information on Ohio House Bill 228
• For : Moving to the East End: Pfeifer talks Catwoman, from Comic Book Resources.
• The Official Dryer Lint Page
• Sam Brown on Stick Figures and Amazing Rain
• Rob Liefeld (yeah… that Liefeld) will do a two-month guest penciller stint in DC Comics’ Teen Titans this August. Hrm.
• Does anyone else remember Tailgunner Jo?
• If only this had been out two weeks ago…
• Summertime Blues, Crossroads and The Seeker, all from Rush’ “Feedback” EP have been getting a lot of play on my work mp3 list.

I have been up for nearly 24 hours. I should really hit the rack.

< /consciousness >

Namaste.

I got into the office a little before 7:00 this morning. I still find it funny that I haven’t gotten up this early on a regular basis since I was in grade school. And even then, I wasn’t getting up until 6:45. Of course, the flip side to this is that my work day is done by 4:00. It’s nice to have that much time at the “end” of the day.

I had planned to mow the yard when I got home. Mother Nature had other plans. It rained and hailed across the valley this afternoon. That put the kibosh on any yard care plans. It did not put the kibosh on dinner, CSI and Without a Trace with . And just after dinner, messaged me and asked if we were up for meeting Nyx and him for dessert. We were. And we did.

Random Access
They say there is strangeness, too dangerous
In our theatres and bookstore shelves,
That those who know what’s best for us
Must rise and save us from ourselves.
     “Witch Hunt” by Rush (from “Moving Pictures”)

posted a link to this article this morning. I read it… and my jaw nearly hit my desk. For those of you who aren’t in the SLC Metro area, Bikini Cuts is ” A full service salon with HIGHLY qualified and VERY customer service friendly stylists!¹ They happen to do this while wearing bikinis.

Whoop-de-fuckin’-doo.

I will concede one point: The author of the letter did assert “why” she thought that this was a bad thing. In a very adroit manner, she identified her problem and elaborated on “why” she has an issue with it.

Here’s a radical idea: If the idea of seeing women cut men’s hair in bikinis bothers you, don’t go to the shop. It’s that simple. Or is it that you’re worried about your husband/boyfriend/son getting a haircut from a possibly scantily-clad woman?! *gasp* What will go through his mind while she’s cutting his hair!?! MUST… PROTECT… FROM… HAIR-CUTTING FLOOZIES!!! (Y’know, you just don’t see the word “floozy” used too much anymore.) Do you really think that the stylist is going to climb in the chair and give your (insert relation here) a “happy ending?” You’re thinking of a massage parlor.

Repeat after me: “It’s a hair salon.”
Repeat after me: “A hair salon is not a den of iniquity or house of ill repute.”

Could Bikini Cuts be considered exploitive? Possibly. But this is still a place where people are free to choose where to work (or get their hair cut). If a prospective stylist decides that the dress code isn’t something with which she’s comfortable, I’m sure that there are plenty of other establishments in need of stylists.

I noticed that Ms. Warburton failed to mention something: Bikini Cuts was founded by a woman, one Ms. Bethany Prince. A woman who apparently is rather business savvy: She identified a market (a hair salon for men), found a niche (bikini-clad hair stylists) and created a venue that brought both of those together in one package. As far as I’m concerned, that’s just a good business idea. Period. Companies go out of business every day because their owners didn’t come up with a solid idea and/or business plan. I applaud Ms. Prince on making hers fly.

Maybe Ms. Warburton is just jealous that she didn’t think of it first.

Stray Toasters

• I. Am. Tired.
  No, scratch that.
  I am VERY tired.

• Experimental Gameplay Project, found (indirectly) by way of
• I just checked out the fourth trailer for Batman Begins. Pretty slick.
• “Is that a…costume?”
  “Yup! I’m cosplaying as the new OS!”
  

• For : World’s first Hindu theme park
• “Say ‘Hello’ to my little friends…” –
• : A review of Batman #639 and Year One: Batman/Scarecrow
• From boingboing.net: How to build a bike frame from bamboo

Quote of the Day
I was talking with “EveryDave” earlier and we were talking about our new schedules. I told him that since I’m carpooling with , I’m going in around 7 or 7:30 A.M. And, as a self-avowed “not a morning person,” that getting up at 6:00 wasn’t on my “Favorite Things” list. As Dave’s been working at his job a little longer than I’ve been on mine, he mentioned that getting up in the morning isn’t as much of a problem as going to bed at a “decent” hour, allowing for enough sleep. Then the conversation took this turn:

(17:14:58) Dave: you get used to it..the hard part for you will be getting to bed at a time that’ll give you enough sleep
(17:20:10) : As long as I’m in bed by 1:00, I should be okay.
(17:20:18) : Last night: 2:20-something.
(17:20:24) Dave: and up at 6?
(17:20:25) : This morning: *BLEH*
(17:20:27) : Yep.
(17:20:30) Dave: gaaa
(17:20:33) : Behold the power of the coffee bean!
(17:20:34) Dave: you suck goats…
(17:20:43) Dave: can you do 5 hours ?
(17:20:47) : Yep.
(17:20:58) : It’s about my average
(17:24:19) Dave: I mean this will the upmost respect: fuck you, you lucky bastard.

It made me smile.

Namaste.

¹ – Taken from the home page of the Bikini Cuts website.

Wednesday
I made it through the middle of the week. It’s all downhill from here.

Nothing too much happened today.
The workday was filled with paperwork. Whoop-de-fuck!
Tonight was Game Night. The session went well – we actually accomplished a few things.
And then, I came home.

Stray Toasters

• and our friend, Chris, asked what it would take to get me to run a Shadowrun game. My answer: “Bishop.” It became something of a running joke for the past few weeks.

  Tonight, when I arrived for tonight’s game, handed me some plastic crack goodness: Bishop of XSE (unique). He also said that it wasn’t really to be considered a bribe – he knew that I wanted one and decided to get one for me. (Which, I must add, was very cool of him to do.)

  I might actually have to give some consideration to running the game…

• I am on the “Your Daily Escape” email list from Away.com. Today’s email was entitled: “Norway: Fjords.” Having just seen Hitchhiker’s Guide last night, it made me laugh.
• Yoda is a mean drunk
• It was a zombie jamboree… (Apologies to Rockapella.)
• I could be wrong but she doesn’t look too happy.
• Another for –
• Want a tan? Sure… we just need your thumbprint.
• Here’s another shining example of why a hitchhiker should never forget his towel:
• Understanding how so much identity theft information got leaked
• Will the rumors of Pierce Brosnan’s return as Cmdr. James Bond prove true…?

I should have been in bed at least thirty minutes ago. Oh, well. I’ll just have to increase the caffeine intake tomorning.

Namaste.

Tuesday
The alarm went off this morning… and I stayed in bed for another seven minutes. It wasn’t much, but it was enough. Then I got out of bed and went on to face the rest of the day.

I work with some intelligent people. Very intelligent. We’re talking “OMGXBOXHUGE” intelligence. Some of these guys have forgotten more about technology than I have ever learned. But, they are very down-to-earth people. I’m a good deal younger than a lot of them, but they’ve never made me feel unwelcome or like a little kid at the big kids’ table. Today, I found out that they’re old-school geeks, too. We were talking about movies and books and The Lord of the Rings trilogy came up. And, boy, you should’a heard those guys go. It was funny.

Tonight, and I went on a double date with Dave and Alyce. We saw the sneak preview of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and had dinner at Biaggi’s. The movie was fun. It was a good adaptation of the book. Yes, “adaptation.” There are some things at which continuity purists (and you know who you are) will wrinkle their noses. My advice to you:

Get over it.
It’s a movie.
It’s supposed to be fun.

Remember that.

Thank you. Move along.

and Alyce hadn’t read Hitchhiker’s, but both enjoyed the movie. Dave and I laughed a lot. As did many others in the theatre. We had a good time. I give the movie a “big thumbs-up with an okay.” And, should you go to see the movie, stay through the credits. Just a friendly suggestion.

Dinner at Biaggi’s was something of a mixed bag. The food and the atmosphere were great. Our waiter, Jai, left more than “a little something” to be desired. He took our drink and dinner orders promptly… and then he apparently slipped into a parallel universe. With the exception of coming to refill our water, he was nowhere to be seen for over half an hour. Nearly forty minutes later, he reappeared, our entrees in tow. When he took our orders, I also ordered a glass of wine to be brought out with my entree. I never saw it. When questioned about it, he tried to place the blame on the bartender. “Bad form, Peter. Bad form.” Maybe he was having an “off” night, but I doubt that – he seemed to have no problem engaging in witty reparteè with the table next to us. For a good five minutes. *shrug* When another customer in his area asked for parking validation, we asked if he would bring one for us as well. He headed into the back and we never saw him again.

This does not mean that I will not return to the restaurant – I think that it was a fine establishment and I recommend it to those of you in the SLC Metro area – but I will think twice about where I am seated if I find that I have Jai as my server.

Stray Toasters

• My one complaint about Gaim is that the Buddy List button doesn’t minimize to the System Tray.
• *knock knock*
• Back atcha, Nyx:
  :: how jedi are you? ::
• I think that I am in love.
  Maybe it’s lust.
  Right now, it’s kind of hard to tell.
  Either way, the object of my affection can be found here.
  Thanks to for introducing us.

• : I know that you’re a bit of a Joss Whedon fan; if you haven’t seen it already, here is the trailer for Serenity.
• By way of Wired: Life After Darth
• In the words of Will Smith (from Independence Day): “I have got to get me one of these!” –
• Rockapella will be in Logan, UT in November; I haven’t been to one of their shows in a few years. I might have to make a “Happy Birthday to me” present of that.
• 
• Marvel supports the troops with special comic
• For fans of The Crow, NECA is producing The Crow: Rooftop Battle figures.

Namaste.

Monday
It was a Monday. Not a necessarily “bad” Monday, but a Monday nonetheless. Spaghetti, 24, poker and an episode of Galaxy Rangers helped the evening to pass nicely, though.

My friend, Chris, bought one of the Rangers DVDs before I got my copies. He mentioned that they weren’t quite as good as he remembered. (After all, nostalgia adds a fond glimmer to the things that we loved and enjoyed in years gone by.) I noted something along those lines tonight. The animation is 20 years old, after all. Some of the dialogue is… stilted. Or just plain… over the top. But it was still fun.

Stray Toasters

• My head wasn’t in the poker game tonight. But I still had fun.
• Broken Frontier had a couple of really good articles today:
  • The REAL Infinite Identity Crisis – a look at continuity and characters
  • Confessions of a Fanboy’s Girl – A comic fan’s girlfriend talks about living with a fanboy.
• “Less talky, more drivey of the drivey-machine!”
  

• By way of RealTechNews: All about the Scooter
• I saw this and was reminded of game sessions run by . And chuckled.
• : You need to pick up Countdown to Infinite Crisis. Especially issue #2.
• From Buzzscope: On the Fly by Sandy Collora. This week: His take on the newly-released pictures of the new Superman costume. And he’s not pulling his punches.
• How Firewalking Works
• Capt. Sisko… from Trials and Tribble-ations. I covet. Oh, how I covet…

Closed captioning (and new target windows) brought to you by .

Namaste.

Sunday
Today was a good day… despite the chill in the air and the rain.

It was also the first Park City excursion of the year. Yes, I’ve already been to Park City once this year, but that was for Sundance. And, thus, it doesn’t count. We met up with friends (Special Note: Kudos to for getting to Park City on VERY short notice.) and ate brunch at Cisero’s – they put on one of the best brunches around and the price is reasonable. We were there for about two hours.

After brunch, half of the group headed back home while the rest of us went on to the traditional shop and gallery stroll portion of the trip. Lots of good (and expensive) stuff to see. And, I wasn’t aware of it before, but the guy working in the David Whitten Gallery was David Whitten. I had seen him in there before, but hadn’t made the connection. He was rather personable. We continued to browse through other galleries and stores but, as it was raining, we cut that short and wound up at the No Name Saloon. By this time, our party had dwindled to four. But that was fine. We had beer and mixed drinks to keep us company. And that was a-okay.

<< rewind <<
As I mentioned (briefly) last night, yesterday included a trip to Happy Valley Utah County. We went to see Art of the Ancient Mediterranean World: Ancient Egypt, Greece and Romeat the Brigham Young University Museum of Art. As I said last night: It was awesome. Easily worth the cost of admission. There were two other exhibits on display: Thoroughly Modern: The New Woman Art Students of Robert Henri and Disenchanted Forest: Contemporary Art by Johnston Foster. These were good, as well.

On the way home from the museum, I stopped at Dr. Volt’s to get my four-color fix. I also picked up a couple of things for Perry. , I forgot to get your copy of Mnemovore, but I’ll pick it up with this week’s haul. I also picked up one (exactly one) piece of plastic crack: Sinestro (rookie). I figured that since I got a Hal Jordan Green Lantern a couple of weeks ago, I might as well pick up his arch-enemy. (And, in light of the recent events in Green Lantern: Rebirth, I couldn’t resist.)

Last night, a group of us got together and went to see Kung-Fu Hustle. I won’t attempt to describe the movie. I don’t think that I would do it justice. I will say that I had a great time watching it. I think that the twenty (or something close to that) of us who were there had a blast.

> Play >
On the way up to Park City, I decided to read Identity Crisis #1. It came out last year and was the first prelude to a continuity-wide shake up at DC Comics. I’d heard bits and pieces about it, but I hadn’t started collecting again when it came out. But, when I read Countdown to Infinite Crisis last week, I decided to read Identity Crisis.

Wow.

Stories come into being every day.
You see them in newspapers.
Magazines.
Book reports.
Adventures that kids make up.

They are all around us.

Once in a while, a great story comes into being. It isn’t just “written.” It’s “crafted.” It is nurtured along from the most faint of ideas to a blindingly bright beacon (How’s that for alliteration?!) that draws us towards it. Like moths to flames.

Identity Crisis is one of those stories. It took a look at a side of superheroics that is usually taken for granted: Family. What if someone knew who was behind the cape and mask? And what if that person decided to attack the secret identity’s family?

Where do the heroic deeds stop… and where does revenge begin?

In Identity Crisis, we are shown that line. And what it means to cross it.

DC wanted to shake up their universe.
They have done an exemplary job of getting the ball rolling.

Stray Toasters

• My stomach is upset. I’m not sure “why.”
• Bug Medicine
• How’s your cell phone etiquette?
  

  My results:
  Move over, Miss Manners
  Cell phone users as considerate as you are few and far between in this country of 171.2 million cell phone subscribers. The public appreciates not hearing the intimate details of your date the night before, and the fact that you don’t answer your phone in the company of others does not go unnoticed. You use the environmental settings on your phone so as not to disrupt, you excuse yourself when you need to make or receive an important call, and you talk at a low, unobtrusive level. While not one to draw attention to yourself, be proud. Then politely call or text your family, friends, and coworkers and pass on your cell phone manners knowledge.

• Woman Breastfeeds Tiger Cubs Umm… yeah.
• For fans of Capcom’s Street Fighter series: UDON’s Lithographs
  

• Ten Myths of Reading Instruction
• Artistic Magic: The Art of Leonard Morgan
• Favorite quote about the guy who got his ass kicked by Wonder Woman:
  

  “There’s nothing more dangerous in the DCU than Batman’s arrogance.”

• Thisgives a new twist to the adage “Art imitates life.”
• 
  Receive a free slice of ice cream cake at ColdStone Creamery on Monday, 4/25 from 5-8PM. Customers are encouraged to make donations to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation. (Store locator) Make-A-Wish® Cake: Chocolate Ice Cream with Cookie Dough and Chocolate Shavings layered with Yellow Cake and covered in Ganache.

• What’s your digital photography IQ?
• Will Ferrell will be in a feature film version of the 70s Saturday morning show Land of the Lost. I’m not sure if he will play Rick Marshall, one of the characters from the original show, but his character in Silent Bob and Jay Strike Back was named “Marshall Willenholly,” after Rick Marshall and his TV kids, Will and Holly.
• Today’s random Wikipedia “word”: Integer-valued polynomial

And with that…

Namaste.