Random Access

Saturday
Quick hit for the day:

Traffic this morning – due to the Salt Lake City Marathon – was ass.

The Mediterranean art exhibit was awesome.

Kung Fu Hustle was a lot of fun.

And now, it’s bedtime.

Tomorrow: Park City.

Namaste.

Friday
…and I’m glad that it’s the end of the week.

Woke up.
Went to work.
Blah blah blah.
Went to coffee and dinner with the Clitorati.
Blah blah blah.
Came home.

Tomorrow, it’s off to Happy Valley Utah County to see the Mediterranean art exhibit at BYU’s museum in the morning and Kung Fu Hustle tomorrow night. I think that the traditional 2-D Physics sessions may go on indefinite hiatus. We shall see.

Stray Toasters

• Wow. I didn’t even come close to typing “Stray Taoists” that time.
• I played more X-Men: Legends this afternoon.
  It kicked my ass again.
  And I loved every minute of it.

• : Sideshow Collectibles has announced that they will be taking pre-orders for their General Grievous figure, starting 29 Apr 05. The figure is scheduled to ship in the First Quarter of 2006.
• Return of The Screen Savers *BLEEP*
• “Finally, my long-awaited dreams of world domination have come to pass.”
  

• By way of : Happy Passover
• Scientists solve the riddle of unpopped popcorn
• By way of Backwash: Grand Theft Auto: Vatican City
• Unbreakable.
• Do you like The Simpsons?
  What about the music from the show?
  If you answered “Yes” to either of the above, you might want to check this out.

Namaste.

Thursday
The day started off grey and drab, but the sun managed to fight its way through the clouds by the end of the day.

I think that I instituted a new policy at work: No one is allowed to bring me any bad news on Thursdays. As I was informing my team of this new policy, No Bad News, from the original cast recording of The Wiz was playing in the back of my head. That amused me.

Something else (somewhat) from the work day: Procol Harum’s A Whiter Shade of Pale made it into the shuffled mp3 mix today. And it reminded me of something that I hadn’t thought about in a long time: When my friends Don and were getting married, they had to go through the usual pre-wedding rigamarole, including deciding on the music for the ceremony. On one such visit to the church, Don was talking to the organist and asked about the kinds of music that he (the organist) liked. At that point, the organist broke into a few measures of A Whiter Shade of Pale. Right there in the choir loft. He stopped, saying that the priest tended to get upset if he played too much of the song.

News
Morning Edition: Health Experts Offer Tips for Grocery Shopping
Morning Edition: Changing Attitudes toward Gay Athletes
Talk of the Nation: A Radical History of the Underground Railroad
All Things Considered: History of the Filibuster

Stray Toasters

• I played X-Men: Legends last night.
  And by “played” I really mean “got my ass kicked by.”
  But it was fun, nevertheless.

• It’s almost the weekend.
  Which means that it’s almost time for another Park City excursion.

• S&M Furniture: Pillory Table
• : It seems as though a certain Ms. Pryde will have a larger role in the forthcoming X3. More here.
• “It’s a good thing I’m stupid… Otherwise, I’d be really bitter by now…”
  

• Alex Lifeson won’t be going to jail.
• Bravo Celebrates Super Heroes
• Relation to the groom: “Can I put ‘Ebony Love Slave’?”
• Have Post-It® Notes, will travel –
• “If you’re blue and you don’t know,
  Where to go to, why don’t you go,
  Where fashion sits?”

• : I think that Mnemovore might be up your alley.
• By way of Campbell’s Condensed Newspaper: First Look: Superman Returns
  <edit>
     And here is a larger picture, from Superhero Hype.
  </edit>

• : Marvel Legends (Series 9): Nightcrawler
• Last night’s experiment – with the picture from The Weather Channel – was a success. The picture does update to reflect the (relatively) current status of the weather.

Namaste.

…but I sure as Hell had enough of them to put out today.

Wednesday
The week seems to be flying along. Not that I’m complaining.

Going back to my opening statement: I didn’t have tons of problems to deal with today. But I did have a few things stack up one behind the other. And, with one exception – which I will pick up again first thing tomorning – I got them all taken care of. I even had one of the more senior guys on my team commend me on the way that I’ve been handling things.

This morning, I called home (well, one of them) to tell my father that it snowed again… at least in/on the mountains. He laughed.

The rest of the day went well and ended with pizza and Law & Order.

News
Morning Edition: Celebrating Stoner’s Day
Talk of the Nation: Magazine Picks Top 50 Restaurants in the World
Talk of the Nation: Charles Barkley, Who’s Afraid of a Large Black Man?
Day to Day: Poetry Month: Totally Like Whatever
All Things Considered: Teachers, Schools Challenge No Child Left Behind Law
Fresh Air: Actor David Duchovny Directs House of D

MarketWatch: Skittish Adobe buys Macromedia

Stray Toasters

• I was checking out a couple of sites that collect random LJ pictures and came across an LJ “Hot or Not” community. No, really. After all: This is LiveJournal we’re talking about. .

  Repeat after me: “This is a trainwreck in progress.”

  Not wanting to suffer alone, I shared the community’s URL with some people on IRC. , who happened to be in the channel at the time, retorted with a link to another community: . She wins.

• Congratulations to on moving into his new place.
• The art of Natalie Dee
• While looking for something to watch earlier, I stumbled across The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians on Boomerang. The episode was “The Fear”, featuring Batman, Robin and Wonder Woman squaring off against The Scarecrow. Sure, the animation is nearly 20 years old, but the overall episode wasn’t poorly done.
• To my great relief, Constantine didn’t contain the line, “Whoa… I know magic.” But, when I saw this picture, I had to laugh.
• These icons amused me.
            

• More Natalie Dee: Sun Desktop
• Best DRAM Prices Just Around the Corner
• Kung Fu Hustle opens this weekend.
• Would this make him “Emperor Popetine?”
  And have you noticed how you never see them both in the same place at the same time…?

• Sign the online petition to have Animaniacs released in a boxed set.
• Tonight’s random Wikipedia page: Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act
• I’m testing a theory with the picture below: I’m going to check it periodically and see if it updates to reflect the current/recent local weather.

Namaste.

Tuesday
Today was much better than yesterday. I thought that I felt the slight twinge of a headache around 5:00… but then I remembered that I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. So, I dipped into my not-so-secret stash of M&M’s. That helped.

Every once in a while, you have a moment of clarity that helps to find the right path through what had once seemed like a twisting labyrinth – the likes of which King Minos himself would have been proud. I had one of those moments today. I was working on a project and thought that I had figured out how to do it. But, when I moved from “theory” to “practical application,” I found that something had been lost in translation. So, I tried it again, to no avail. I even tried it a third time… and fared no better than the first two attempts.

And then, it hit: A slight paradigm shift.

But it was enough to get me to see an option that I hadn’t considered. I tried the new idea. And it worked. The first time. Beautifully.

I spent the evening at and ‘ place. I had originally gone to watch part of the Necromunda game that Nox was hosting. I wound up chatting the night away with Nyx.

News
NPR News: German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger Elected New Pope
Morning Edition: Oklahoma City: A Decade of Adjustment, Rebuilding
Morning Edition: Government Unveils Revised Food Pyramid
Morning Edition: No Child Left Behind Under Fire in Utah
Morning Edition: The Cheapest Airfare Ever (Sorry, .)

Stray Toasters

• I think that I need new speakers for my computer. While this isn’t a critical need, the satellites are sounding rougher than they should; the bass unit sounds like it’s going, too. But, again, it’s not a critical need. Replacing the mainboard, processor and video card come first.
• For : From Chugworth Academy – #182: Random Spotlight #1: Jason the Red Ranger
• As a corollary to this picture…
• Thanks to for the Andrew Loomis links!
• “I dare a great many things…”
• I just read this comic on Real Life. And it put a horrible Star Trek:TNG image in my head. It was so bad that I was compelled to torture share it with Greg Dean, the strip’s creator.
• Hey, , there’s Kitty Pryde (and Lockheed!) picture behind this link.
• The WB has announced that it will show an exclusive eight-minute special footage preview of Batman Begins during the 90-minute season finale of Smallville on Wednesday, May 18.
• While I normally like tech/geeky things, all that I can say to this is “Um, yeah….”.
• Mattel Announces Signature Partnership with Save the Children
• Star Wars Biker Scout and Speeder Bike Statue

And with that…

Namaste.

Monday
Last night was another night of joyous, broken sleep. I think that I woke up at least four times during the night. And the morning wasn’t much better: I woke up with a headache that lasted all day. If “Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down;” ones that include a headache make me cranky. Very cranky. Not I’m-going-to-turn-green-and-seven-feet-tall cranky. But, not overly pleasant. There were a couple of times when I thought that the headache had receded. That made me feel a little less surly. Then, it would return. And I’d be irritable, once more. That’s not a good way to go through the day.

After work, we made a couple of stops. I want to find a lamp for my desk at work. I decided that I want a lamp for my desk at work. We stopped at K-Mart and Office Max to see what they had to offer. Not much at either place. Office Max had an extension arm lamp – like I wanted – that claimed to have a 26″ reach. Operative word: “Claimed.” Or, to put it another way: This “claim” would be akin to a guy saying: “No, that really is 13 inches!” *shrug* I got a yardstick and held it up to the lamp. 22″ max. The only way it would make 26″ would be if you set it on a 4″ tall block.

I wandered next door to Media Play. Maybe I could find something there to make my Monday a little brighter. And I did. I picked up the first two DVDs of Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers. A little bit of animated happiness from my teen years. It put a smile on my face.

The Headache That Would Not Die lingered throughout the evening, so I canceled poker for the night. Dinner, wine and 24 rounded out the rest of the evening. The wine helped dull the fading pain in my head, but not enough to make it go away.

News
Morning Edition: For Pianist, Music Unleashes Rainbows of Color
Talk of the Nation: Re-writing History
All Things Considered: Early Childhood Education’s Economic Benefits Argued
All Things Considered: Testing the Limits of What I Know and Feel
All Things Considered: Monday Night Football Headed to ESPN
All Things Considered: Jazz Musicians, After the Spotlight Fades
Fresh Air: Messing with the Bull: Riding Champ Gerry Leffew and Lipstick and Dynamite: The World of Lady Wrestling

Stray Toasters

• I’m torn. I don’t know if I should watch a couple of Rangers episodes or play X-Men: Legends.
• NWA, explicit lyrics only
• By way of Buzzscope: Take That, Ratzis! #1 – Dear Joe…
  Having just finished Countdown to Infinite Crisis, I thought that this was a great piece of writing.

• “I’d like to make you an offer…” –
• The Worst Jobs in History
• And I have to make a clean break
  And I have to do it quick
  ‘Cause the pain you give me, babe
  Would make Cal Ripken call in sick

• This is either sheer courage and fearlessness… or utter stupidity.
  My money is on “courage.”

• “Well, I hear there’s a big hiring push for the next release of Windows.”
  

• Invader Zim Mini-figures – “Now, to unleash screaming temporal doom!”
• And in today’s “Meet George Jetson” news: Flying Cars Ready to Take Off

…and don’t forget that Tuesday is Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry’s!

Namaste.

Sunday
<< Rewind <<
I helped my friend Dave with moving yesterday. Just a few loads of boxes. It went pretty quickly. After that, he treated me to lunch. After the moving was done, I headed to Dr. Volt’s to see what goodies the Comic Book Fairy left in my subscription box. The only thing in it was the new issue of Ultimate X-Men. I checked the racks to see if there was anything else that I wanted. Guess what: There was. (Go figure.) So, I picked up the following:

• X4 (Issue #5): The X-Men and the Fantastic Four team up against the Brood (pics: Queen, Warrior). The series had good potential, but this seemed a bit forced. And a little contrived.
• Lex Luthor: Man of Steel (Issues #1 and 2): A look at the man, not the criminal mastermind. I really like the way that this is being handled. Brian Azzarello takes you behind the scenes and shows you the thoughts of Metropolis’ Number One Son… until a certain “strange visitor from another planet” arrives on the scene. And it explains why it is that Lex hates Superman so much. I’m looking forward to the rest of this series. I’m especially interested in seeing whether or not they show any interactions between Lex and Clark Kent, since they have retconned the Superman mythos to again include the fact that Lex and Clark were friends in their youth. I imagine that it would be very difficult, indeed, to watch one of your best friends as he descended into the depths of evil.
• The New Avengers (Issue #4): A new team. A different direction. Brian Michael Bendis has a good handle on team dynamics (he writes Ultimate X-Men, among other titles) and dialogue, and that talent isn’t wasted here.
  

  Having identified the villain (Electro) who staged a massive jailbreak, the Avengers are tracking his current whereabouts…
  Iron Man: If he made any electronic money transfers or — Boston.
  Spider-Man: “Boston,” what?
  Iron Man: He’s in Boston.
  Spider-Woman: Can you pull his rap sheet?
  Iron Man: Yeah. Here. An hour ago he transferred a lot of money from a Swiss bank account to an account in Boston, and then took it out of a national bank.
  Spider-Man: What’s a lot of money?
  Iron Man: To me or to you?

  …and…

  After they find Electro, the team heads back to the prison to find out whom he was hired to break-out:
  Spider-Woman :Good evening, gentlemen… and lady.

  Most of you are drugged into a peaceful haze and you have your power-draining doggie collars on while we rebuild your cells for you — but I know you can hear me.

  Does anybody want to tell me who Electro broke out of The Raft last night? All I need is a name.

  *silence*

  Yeah, figured. Honor among $%^#ers.

  Anyway, tonight, for dinner, you will be having a meatloaf-esque main course and a pureed potato substance, much like you will be having every day for the rest of your lives.

  This is a fresh box of apple crumb cake Entenmann’s Donuts. They are awesome. I bought them for myself, but not that I am back in the tights — this is a big no-no. So, the first person that tells me who Electro took—

  *clamor of voices giving up the name*

  
  Bendis has also done a good job of piquing my interest as to how the characters are going to work together and how this team of Avengers will be different from its previous incarnations.

• Green Lantern: Rebirth (Issue #5): Hal Jordan’s not only back… he’s back in uniform. And this issue shows why he wore the ring for so long. And so well. The core of the issue was a classic Hal Jordan-Sinestro fight. One of the best scenes shows Hal careening across the face of a moon, after a Sinestro-dealt smackdown. Hal gets up, wipes blood from his nose, and turns to face the reader – the approaching Sinestro – with a smirk. And you know that it’s on.
• Countdown to Infinite Crisis (Issue #1): I was skeptical about this when I first heard about it last year. I mean… another Crisis? Undoing one of the best publisher-wide house-cleaning efforts ever written? Great. *sigh* I couldn’t have been more wrong. I don’t know if DC is planning on reinstating its multiverse, but I do know that what I read was one of the best setups for a continuity-wide conspiracy/intrigue story. And the ending…? Wow. That’s really all that I can say.

I went to see Sky Blue yesterday, too. I liked it, but I found that the ending felt rushed. It was like someone said: “Shite… we have five minutes to wrap this up! *PANIC* Um… here! Do this! And put a bow on it!” And that was it.

Last night after bowling (145 – 105 – 182/145 – 159) and breakfast, I was tired. Really tired. Almost ready-to-fall-asleep-at-the-table tired. Shortly after 2:00, I was ready to pack it in. Granted, that’s better than last week’s 1:30, but still…

> Play >

Today was just another quiet, sunny day here in the land behind the Zion Curtain. It started off quietly. That’s always a good way to go. and I went to Mimi’s Cafe for lunch. I tried the Grilled Chicken Tuscan Style; it was very tasty. I now have another dish from Mimi’s that I can recommend to friends. From there, we decided to go for a drive up Parley’s Canyon and back down through Emigration Canyon. It was a nice jaunt out of the city for a little bit.

We stopped at a few stores, too. Pier 1 Imports. Best Buy. Barnes & Noble. And I came out of each store empty-handed. That just ain’t right. Then we went to Super Target. And there… there… I saw the Holy Grail: The Justice League Unlimited: Episode 457 – “The Return” set of action figures. The Flash. Red Tornado. And the BALD JOHN STEWART. b00yah! Life is good. Oh, yeah… we got some groceries while we were there, too.

Stray Toasters

• Garrison Keillor talks about his “hometown” of Lake Wobegon in his various books and on A Prairie Home Companion. That’s one of the benefits of having a nationally broadcast radio show. I, however, do not have such a program. But I do have Internet access. Which means I have both access to resources and to an audience. And armed with those, I present to you: Baltimore, Maryland. Now to see if anyone else will post links about their hometowns…
• Whomever said that reading comic books is a complete waste of time was ill-informed. It was from comics that I first learned of the term “poison pill,” with respect to business.
• Vos Solutions, Ltd. These folks are my new heroes.
• From Reuters’ “Oddly Enough News”:
  • Zoo Wants Chimpanzee to Stop Smoking
  • “Honey, I’m running over to the mall for some…”
• “You can talk!”
  “Of course I can. I’m a demon, you moron.”
  

• I am really enjoying the new Kojak. While preparing to interrogate a suspect, Kojak hands him a baseball bat.
  

  “Since you like playing games with peoples’ lives, we’re going to play a little game. I’m going to ask you a few questions. Anytime you don’t feel like answering a question, you can hit me with this bat. Oh… I forgot to tell you: If you don’t knock me out, I’m going to whoop your ass.”

• 35th Anniversary of Apollo 13 Splashdown
• “And if I die today…” –
• And did I mention that the O’s are on a “Whoop the shit out of the Yankees” roll? They are. They wrapped up this series by winning all three games. Which means that they are 5 – 1 against the Yanks this season. And the season is only three weeks old. There’s another stand against the Yankees in June. I’m looking forward to that.
• : Mattel’s Scarecrow and Bane
• “OH YEAH!”
  

Namaste.

Saturday
I am exhausted.
I’ll do a recap – or a reasonable facsimile – after the sun’s up.

Namaste.

Friday
I slept rather well last night… but was still tired when I woke up. Maybe I should try going to bed a little earlier. That might help. *shrug* I’ll test that theory next week.

It’s been a good day. I carpooled home with this afternoon. It turns out that we work about a 5-minute walk from each other and live a couple of miles from each other, but it’s the first time that we’ve seen each other in about three years. Go figure. But it was good to see her.

Tonight was the weekly gathering of the Unholy Order of the Clitorati. We had a moderate turn-out. The gathering was made even better when Max and Perry got there: They brought me a “Congrats on your new job” gift. Two actually.

• A set of Lego® Dacta
  …and…

• Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy Heroclix (both “Experienced” rank)

This made a very happy – and very thankful – me. With these two ‘clix, my set of Legionnaires is complete. I’ve been a Legion fan since 1981. If I remember correctly, this is the first issue that I bought. I’ve followed the title through four reboots/retcons… and have kept coming back for more. And I’ll continue to do so for some time to come.

Stray Toasters

• I caught up with this afternoon and we chatted for a few minutes. Since I know that he is one of the 10 types of people who would get it, I showed him this and this. We cut our conversation short so that he could watch the Yankees-Orioles game.

  >> fast forward >>

  I caught the highlights of the game on SportsCenter while we were at Applebee’s tonight. It seems as though the O’s beat the boys from the Big Apple. Again. This time, they did it in Camden Yards. Final score: 1 – 8

  

• From the “Best Unintentional Fetish Porn-Sounding News Item” file: Woman “beats off burglar with gnome”
• : Check out Azimuth Design: The Art of Mike James
• By way of : Delocator
  

  Why Delocate?
  Cafés are vital social outposts that have historically provided subjective, social, local, and at times, irrational interaction, inspiration, and nourishment to artists, hipsters, musicians, activists, intellectuals, radicals, and others alike. Currently, independently owned cafés around the world are under aggressive attack; and their numbers have been sharply decreasing for many years. delocator.net is a means to preserve these local businesses.

• Bukkake Cookies
• For : Drizzt Do’Urden
• Plastic That Changes Shape in Light
• Is there a website that you’d like to destroy? Net Disaster can help.
• , I know that you have your DVDs, but just in case you need something new for your Babylon 5 fix: Babylon 5 Returns to Comics
• For the Neil Gaimanites out there: The Mirrormask Reading List
• By way of ADeadHeart (from Backwash): Romance Novels That Should Be Written

Namaste.

Thursday
I slept poorly last night this morning. Phenomenally so. Thus, I had to resort to a long unused measure to combat the fatigue:A frozen mocha with a double espresso shot from Beans and Brews. (Mmmm. Frozen Mocha Goodness….) That done, I was able to face the world without murderous intent gleaming in my bloodshot, beady little eyes. By the time I got to work, I was very nearly “civil.”

The work day blurred along.

On the way home, I wanted to stop at Dr. Volt’s and pick up this week’s comic shwag. But, they were closed.
Damn the Fates!!!
Mocking me!
Laughing!
BAH!!!

CSI and Without a Trace, dinner and a glass of wine were how the evening ended. Quiet. Relaxing. Good.

News
Talk of the Nation: 50th Anniversary of McDonald’s
Day to Day: Trivial Pursuit: A Dated Amusement?
All Things Considered: Challenges of a Repertory Theater
All Things Considered: The Dark Side of the Airline Lighter Ban
Fresh Air: For Workers, The World Is Flat

Chicago Tribune: How dimes defeated polio

Stray Toasters

• Reason Number Seventy-leven of “Why I Love IKEA”….
  Too bad there isn’t one within 500 miles of here. (And, yes, , you are still a bastard-ass.)

• Because it’s been a while since I’ve mentioned it: Baltimore City Paper
• Nintendo a capella That’s all I’m sayin’.
• “Welcome to Africa. Anything to declare?” –
• Letter-Color Synaesthesia
• Giant steps are what you take
  Walking on the moon…

  I like this icon:

• Scar Tissue (NOT the RHCP song…)
• A very simple – almost understated – song, I like Harry Connick, Jr.’s Trouble (from the CD “She”). Just Harry and his piano, with Michael Ward on Congas and backing vocals. If you get a chance, give it a listen.
• She’s back!
  
  And My Plastic Heart has her.
  (If you have no idea where she comes from, click here. Broadband recommended.)

• Sky Blue opens at the Tower Theatre this weekend. I think I’ll catch the Saturday afternoon showing.
• By way of Real Tech News: Traditional Media on the Decline?
• Seven past 11: A Critic’s Guide
• For : Army of Darkness Plush
• Electric Tiki presents: Zorro

Tomorrow’s Friday. And that means…. Mallday for lunch!

Namaste.

Wednesday
I don’t know what happened but the day seemed to cruise right along. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not complaining about that. I just don’t know where the post-lunch day went.

Tonight was game night. Something that I very nearly forgot. Actually, it was less “very nearly” and more “completely spaced off.” I would have missed it had not asked me if I was going. *blink blink* Yep… genius, I am. But, I went. And we played. Somewhat. About halfway through the game, it fell apart. Half of the group was semi-gaming while the other half wandered into the kitchen and disappeared into a non-game-related conversation of their own. *shrug* Oh, well.

News
Morning Edition: Telecom ‘Blimp’ May Offer Alternative to Satellites
Morning Edition: Secret Service Crashes Art Exhibit
All Things Considered: ‘Rifle’ Sniffs Out Vulnerability in Bluetooth Devices
All Things Considered: Labs Work to Destroy Flu Strain

Stray Toasters

• I have a taste for an Oreo Blizzard® from Dairy Queen.
• ghee happy: little india
• We can’t just lose ourselves in an online world and ignore our real life responsibilities!”
  

• Superheroes, Death & Dying
• For ice cream fans (and particularly Ben & Jerry’s lovers): Ice-cream lovers can enjoy a free cup or cone Tuesday during the 27th annual Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry’s shops. The free offer runs from noon to 8 p.m.
• Paul Muses on Highlander End
• showed me the following a few days ago:
  It amused me. Tonight, she and showed me: Star Wars: Episode III l33t Trailer.

• “We wound up deducting about $6,000 for thong underwear.”
  

Namaste.

Tuesday
The alarm went off when it was supposed to this morning. I didn’t want to get out of bed. But, I did. And, following an excursion to the sanfac (*nod* to Infocom), I got right back into bed. *sigh* I watched the clock count of another twenty minutes before I got serious about pre-work prep.

Work was good. The day passed fairly quickly. A couple of calls from the youngest member of the sibko in the middle of the day helped move things along, as well.

and I stopped at one of the local Best Buy stores on the way home. I’m thinking of picking up a few things and I hadn’t been to Best Buy in a while. I looked at a DVD burner, but I decided against it. I looked at a Vonage adapter, but decided not to get one. Yet. Soon, though. I looked at some games and DVDs, too. Nothing just cried “Take me home.” Wait. That’s not entirely true: I looked longingly at the ATI Radeon 9600 AIW card. And it’s bargain priced at (only) $178.

Home for dinner and Law & Order: SVU. Amanda Plummer was one of the guest stars and she did an amazing job as a schizophrenic and disassociative rape victim. It was a good episode.

News
Morning Edition: Mormons Aim to Stop ‘Baptism’ of Holocaust Victims

The other day, someone on IRC was talking about doing temple work for the late Pope. The Pope. I’m thinking that if ANYONE had a Bat-phone to God, it was him. I don’t think that he really needed an/another intercessor. And, there have also been baptisms for Gandhi, Buddha (although I’m not sure which “Buddha” it was, as there have been many), Vlad Tepes (better known as “Vlad the Impaler” or more commonly referred to as “Dracula,”) and Adolf Hitler… to name just a few.

Just for the record: When I die, I do not want to have a posthumous proxy baptism. I made my decision to be baptised – in the faith of my choosing – over 20 years ago. I was happy with that decision then, I’m happy with it now. I’ll thank whomever it may concern to respect my paradigm as I try to respect yours in return.

Morning Edition: Teach for America Attracts Record Number of Graduates

USA Today: ‘C’ is for cookie – and calorie count, too?

Stray Toasters

• I was looking up Galaxy Rangers wallpapers on Google earlier. And I came across an interview with Robert Mandell, on Mediasharx. It put a smile on my face.
  

• : Click here
• I was listening to Beethoven’s Fur Elise this afternoon. And the first thing that came to mind was the McDonald’s commercial with the little girl at her piano recital. I blame for this.
• The X-Men.
  The Avengers.
  And the fate of Wanda Maximoff.
  Welcome to the House of M.

  The Marvel event of the decade is here! The Avengers and the X-Men are faced with a common foe that becomes their greatest threat: Wanda Maximoff! The Scarlet Witch is out of control and the fate of the entire world is in her hands. Will Magneto help his daughter or use her powers to his own benefit? Starring the Astonishing X-Men and the New Avengers!

• Here is yet another reason I need to by Maddox a cup of coffee. And, there was even a mention of it on the ill-named Attack of the Show, the show that used to be the very cool Screen Savers.
• I’ve been a Justice League fan for years. Superfriends (in its various incarnations), Justice League/Justice League Unlimitedand the different comic versions, too. The JL – JLI – JLE of the early 90s, under Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatties, we fun. (After all, where else could one learn about an ancient Martian meditation technique called “screaming.” Or that Martians had an affinity for Chocos (The DCU, non-copyright infringing version of “Oreos.”) Well, members of that Justice League have a little problem: It seems that Booster (“I’m not Green Lantern!”) Gold has gone to Hell. No handbasket. No gasoline drawers. But, he did take four other members with him. Buzzscope, formerly PopCultureShock, has a five-page preview.
• I don’t recall how I found it, but this icon – – is awesome.
• The Mission NASA Hopes Won’t Happen
• I know people who use Google Ads to make money. I won’t disparage them. In public. This time. Well, I won’t disparage most of them; there’s one who I think goes about it bass-ackwardly. But that’s another story…

  With Google Ads, Google pays whomever puts the ads on their site whenever someone clicks one (or more) of the ads. Googlest.com has made a List of Top Paying Google Adsense Keywords. Click away.

• I know that I should probably have my head examined, but part of me wants to see xXx: State of the Union, with Ice Cube. Yeah, yeah… I know. But, still.
• “It is two in the morning. Things are not supposed to be alive at two in the morning.”
  

• One of the voice actors on R.O.D. the TV is doing a bad Humphrey Bogart impression. It’s very over the top. It’s oddly amusing. Yet, hysterical.
• Today’s random Wiki word is: Funarchy.

Namaste.

Monday
Woke up.
Worked.
Came home.
Ate dinner and watched 24.
Played poker… was the first one out of the game. But had fun.

News
Morning Edition: Caregivers in Maryland Fight for Higher Wages
Morning Edition: The America I Believe In by Colin Powell
Morning Edition: The RZA on Hollywood, The Wu-Tang Manual
All Things Considered: The Fading Giant: Bygone Train Sights and Sounds
All Things Considered: How Papal Names Are Chosen
All Things Considered: Wooden Relics Offer Clues to Mayan Culture
Fresh Air: Miller and Rodriguez: Sin City

Stray Toasters

• I’m craving something with chocolate… and there’s none here.
• The website for Æon Flux is up. No release date yet.
• Xbox2 To Be Unveiled on MTV May 12
• : Click here.
• : Click here.
• : Click here.
• : Click here.
• Yet another reason to be proud of my school. I think.
  Purdue’s Rube Goldberg three-peat takes national spotlight

• “The world is a cold, cruel place, Benny.”
  

• A little something for : Router Built for Gamers
• She took me to her castle
  I just couldn’t believe my eyes
  She had so many devices
  Everything that money could buy…

• Keyboards are Havens for Super Bugs
• Lucile: “Did you hear what they were talking about? About reverse vampirism? I’m so gonna start biting.”
  Maureen: “But you aren’t a holy man. Women aren’t even allowed to be clerics.”
  Lucile: “I know. I just want to bite stuff. It’s fun.”
  

• The “Have a banana…” line in Copacabana cracks me up.
• Click this link (Wikipedia’s “Random Page”) and post your results here.
  I got: U.S. 42nd Infantry Division

Namaste.

Sunday
…also known as “The Morning after ‘The Party.’ ”

And my head felt fine this morning. I didn’t drink a lot at the party and I drank a good deal of water at Cheers, afterward. That seems to have done the trick.

The day was lazy. And that’s good. I went to Borders this afternoon to do a little drawing. Then it was home and off to meet and for dinner. After that, we stopped by their place for tea and conversation for a while.

Stray Toasters

• I am enjoying the new Kojak. Like I said last week: Ving Rhames is bad ass.
• : From the DCG – Mr. Freeze
• Tiger Woods.
  The Masters Tournament.
  Another win.

• San Francisco May Regulate Blogging Whiskey Tango…?!?
• “The Earth’s a geode?!?!?” (Sorry, … couldn’t resist.)
  Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth’s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms

• “Inverted vagina”
• First MicroHeroes, now storTroopers
• Skin Cancer Info
• “Optimus Prime… He’s Jewish?!”
• fishie rhythms –
• New Trend: Google Sightseeing
• I think that I’m most happy about ‘Nine having TV capability again because I can play Xbox on the monitor. Is that such a bad thing?
• and , take a look at these: Zena Holloway and Photo District News’ PDN Contests.
• Sure, the “Xenon” is more-or-less just around the corner – granted, this is in game console terms, so it could be anytime in the next 5 to 30 years – but Microsoft will cease putting out new games for the current Xbox in 2007.
• “Man, I’m tired… Can we take a break?”
  

Namaste.

Saturday
The day started off with coffee with Perry, Christopher, and . We went to Bad Ass Coffee. Christopher and Nox took off in search of Star Wars gaming things; Nyx, Perry and I hung out for a bit.

Nyx and I headed to the nearby Deseret Industries location so that she could find a shirt for ‘s spring party. She found one. And I found something that I wanted, but didn’t get: an organ. For $35 USD. Thirty-five bones. Too bad I didn’t have a truck handy. Or maybe that was a “good” thing. Who knows? From there, it was on to CompUSAirways. I’m looking for some new components… and I have NO idea why I went there other than the fact that it was close to where we were. Even though LS Micro has closed, there are other local stores where I could purchase parts. *shrug* I left there empty-handed, except for a Mac Mini brochure. I took Nyx home and then headed home myself.

After getting from work, we came home and then headed to and ‘s house for the party. The best way to describe it:

• Alcohol.
• Inebriated people.
• A blow-up doll.
• Cameras.

It was, as usual, a fun gathering. And, despite the fact that I have more than “a few” blackmail pictures, I rather doubt that many of them will make it to my site.

, and I left the party around 1:00 AM and headed to Cheers. I knew that I could use some light food – and water – in my system to counter the tasty alcoholic beverages that I had at the party. I didn’t drink a lot, but I didn’t want to take any chances. Things at the restaurant were fairly quiet; even The Singles weren’t too bad. And there were plenty of fashion risks/fashion don’ts to be seen, too.

News
Morning Edition: Comic Book Science in the Classroom
Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!: This Week’s Show
Weekend Edition – Saturday: A Ghostwriter Tells Her Own Tale
All Things Considered: “Late Out” Offer Seeks to Align Arts with Work
All Things Considered: Slide Show: Lighting Up a Lost Era (Baltimore Museum of Art)
All Things Considered: Chinese Protest Japanese Texts on World War II
All Things Considered: Story Behind the Picture: A Chalk Sketch

Santa Cruz Sentinel: Fact or Fallacy: Tree too much for some Westside neighbors

Stray Toasters

• I am tired.
  I am also glad that I started writing this post before we went to the party.

• 
  For more like this, check out Internet Bumper Stickers

• From retroCRUSH: The 100 Greatest TV Themes
• AuthorsDen
• By way of Backwash: How many 5-year-olds could you take on at once?
• While and I were out this afternoon, we heard a story about Improv Everywhere on This American Life. We sat in the parked car for at least five minutes, rapt by the story of a couple of their “missions”: The Moebius and Look Up More.
• The Single Mother’s Guide to Dating Well Without Parenting Poorly
• 

And that’s it.

Namaste.