Random Access

Friday
I should have been in bed an hour ago. But, since I’m not, I’ll make a quick post.

The day was good. I had lunch – and shot pool – with Pat. It was a nice change pace. We picked up an entertainment center from Kate and Perry. It’s a corner unit and it’s pretty big. I was originally going to put it in my office, but the thought of trying to get it down the stairs was not a pleasant one, so it will reside in the living room.

Jess and I went to Borders for coffee… but no one else showed. *shrug* I did some drawing and realized that I need to practice more often. After that, we went to Cheers, to say “Hi” to Kate. There was an interesting assortment o’ customers there this evening.

Stray Toasters

• posted an Animaniacs quiz in her journal. I had to take it. It’s Animaniacs, after all!
  
  Which Animaniacs Character are You?
  

  Talkative, huh? Perhaps sing-ative would be more appropriate, actually. When people don’t understand something, it usually drives you to cutting, sarcastic remarks. Your other extreme is bursting into song with almost no prompting, often to explain complex ideas. No one knows quite what you are, exactly. You have made many “special” friends, and there’s baloney in your slacks.
  
  Click here to see my Livejournal.

• I heard Styx’ Come Sail Away on the radio the other day. I started singing along. I sing in the car; a lot of people do. The funny/odd/scary thing was that I started singing like Eric Cartman. There’s just something about hearing that song that compels me to sing it that way. And then laugh maniacally afterwards.
• By way of : Fourteen Characteristics of a Serial Killer
  I have two, possibly three of the traits.

• : Another Legionnaire – Andromeda
• By way of : Cat with Hands
  “Curiouser and curiouser,” said little Alice…

Tomorning brings the camping excursion. I really should get some sleep. I’ll be back Sunday with details of the experience.

Namaste.

Thursday
Words. Words. More words.
Random thought.
A few more words.
*song in my head*
Fleeting distraction.
Words.

Today was a return to the not-quite-so-cold temperatures that I usually associate with a September in Utah. And it was relatively clear, too. These things add up to a definite “good thing.”

Having Chinese food for dinner is also good.

And gummy worms for dessert. Well, not really dessert. They have been more of “a snack” than “dessert.” *shrug* That reminds me of something that I’ve wondered for a while: What’s the appeal of putting gummy bears/worms on ice cream? If I remember correctly, the candy gets tougher when it gets cold/colder. To me, it seems like it would be an effort (granted, it’s a really minor effort…) to eat ice cream with tough, tacky bits in it. If you are a person who enjoys a good gummy confection in your ice cream, please let me know what I’m missing out on.

NPR and Other News

• Morning Edition: The Commercial Possibilities of Sleeping Less
• Morning Edition: Instant Messaging the Beer Man
• Day to Day: Nanotechnology for Real-World Applications
• Day to Day: Kaiju Big Battel: Wrestling Meets Godzilla
• Fresh Air: David Simon and George Pelecanos (The Wire) and Poker Expert Phil Gordon

Stray Toasters

• Ray Charles would have been 74 years old today.
• pointed out this lamp to me. Interesting concept. Odd, but interesting.
• By way of Slashdot: USB Thumb Drives as… Fashion Statement?
• An astronaut wants no-frills space program. To me, that kind of sounds like putting Southwest or Ted (United Airline’s no-frills subdivision) in space. On the other hand, he is advocating a greater push towards exploration.
• This made me laugh.
• posted this in his journal earlier. It made me laugh, too.
• Marvel is introducing a “2099” group to its “Marvel Knights” line. Some of the premesises sound interesting… but it also seems like a bit of rehash. Except, possibly, for the Mutant title. It looks like they might have a different spin there. *shrug*
• It was only a matter of time. A company called “Forplay” (how punny) has put out a Hallowe’en costume inspired by the abortive Catwoman movie. If you have your air sickness bags handy, you can see what it looks like (i.e.: “just how bad it is”) here

  On a related note: The latest issue of Computer Gaming World has a review (one star out of five) of the Catwoman game. Some of my favorite comments from the review are:

  • There’s more than one way to skin a cat, and they’re all more fun than this.
  • DC [Comics], as many of you know, is the comic book division of Warner Bros. Studios. One day, [a] writer was introducing himself to one of the suits from the studio’s film division; upon being asked what he did at Warner Bros., replied that he wrote for DC Comics. The suit came back at him with a puzzled “Oh, we still publish comics?” This, sadly, is the type of person who makes the movie decisions at WB. The studio’s films, naturally, lead to tie-in games, and that’s how we get crap like Catwoman, an epic disaster of a game derived from a movie that simply shouldn’t exist in the first place.
  • Catwoman is one of the worst games you are ever likely to play.
  • Verdict: One Star. It gets a star only because it actually runs when you install it.
• From Comic Book Resources: A few thoughts on character logic in comics

And that’s my 2¢ for today.

Namaste.

Wednesday
Three down, two to go.

And then: Camping. Which will be something of an experience. Especially since I’ve never been camping before. Never. *shrug* Yeah, yeah… pick your chins up from the floor. Yes, I went to camp as a kid, but the camps that I went to were geek camps. And I wasn’t one who was going to give up the not-as-good-as-at-home-but-better-than-nothing amenities that the cabins offered. But, this weekend, , her family and I are heading down to Moab for biking and camping (and cooking out and beering and what have you). It should be fun.

Almost as much fun as drilling holes in the walls. Especially when they are holes in your home and not in an apartment which have to be sealed (or concealed) before you move. There was a method to my hole-making madness: We picked up a TV tuner card for Jess’ computer (Thanks, Mary!) and I need to run cable from the living room into her office.

And, speaking of offices, mine is a mess. I still haven’t quite gotten around to cleaning up the debris from putting the bookcases in here. Two weeks ago. Thus, there are papers, books and other sundry items strewn about the place. As the merchant in Aladdin sang: “It’s barbaric, but hey it’s home!” Maybe I’ll clean it tomorrow. No way it’s happening tonight.

Because it’s Wednesday. Three down, two to go.

NPR and Other News

• Talk of the Nation – Domestic Surveillance Technology
• All Things Considered – ‘B’ Movie Director Russ Meyer Dies
• All Things Considered – Apple Computer Sued by Beatle Company
• All Things Considered – Really Can’t Drive 55: 140 MPH Over the Limit (…on a motorcycle!)
• USA Today – Man gets extra time for mooning judge

Stray Toasters

• Talked with both of the ‘rents today. All’s well in their respective parts of the eastern seaboard.
• Thanks to and for commenting on winter swamp cooler procedures. : I’m aware of what to do with the cooler and we have a cooler cover. I was being more than “a little” facetious. Unfortunately, the subtle inflections of sarcasm do not always translate well on-screen.

  ‘ idea is closer to my own. The difference: Instead of replacing the louver after inserting the padding/pillows, I intend to replace it with a piece of plywood or plexiglass that is cut to fit the opening and the screws that hold the louver in place. It will also be lined with insulation or fabric or something… depending on how industrious I get. Thus, I’ll have a solid barrier that seals the opening until it’s time to “unpack” the cooler in the spring.

• Lightning has decided that his perfect sleeping place is on the bed, just under the covers. For the past three nights, I think, I’ve gotten up in the morning to find him there.
• The Last Starfighter – The Musical.
  Excuse me as I step over to the corner and wait for my head to explode.

• By way of : Faith, the Wonder Dog
• Chocolate bees, Cadbury Creme Eggs, jellybeans and Good & Plenty. These, and other confections, were the subject of one of the world’s most bizarre conversations (between , and me) equating candy with racial slurs. We have an interesting family dynamic, to say the least.
• Everybody drink, everybody drink….
  Everybody drink, everybody drink….
  Everybody drink, everybody drink….
  Everybody… Everybody drink fruit juice!
  (nominal apologies to Kenny Loggins)

• Over the past few days, I’ve craved… something.. for a snack. I can’t quite place what it is that I’m after. It’s not so overwhelming that it’s driving me slowly mad, but it’s just far enough out of reach that it’s annoying when I go to the kitchen, look at all the snack stuff and go: “Hmm… nope…. nope…. no, not that either.” I’ll figure it out. Hopefully, it will be soon. And when I do, there will hopefully be a store close by that has whatever it is.

Namaste.

Tuesday
As mentioned in last night’s post, today was ‘s birthday.

To celebrate, she took the day off and slept in. I, on the other hand, went to an interview. It went well and I should hear back this week… but I’m still keeping my options open. If nothing else, this would be a good part-time gig.

We went out to lunch and ran into one of the technicians from the REC. He took the day off because he has many, MANY hours of leave to use before he retires. 1400, to be exact. Use ’em or lose ’em. So, he’s using them like He told us a little about some of the growth that they are expecting.

We came home for a bit and then went back out to see Collateral. A good movie, it was a definite departure for both Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx. I may have to look for this on DVD, when it’s released. (Speaking of releases: Aladdin comes out on 05 Oct 04. Hoo-AH!) We dropped in on for an impromptu post-movie visit.

Stray Toasters

• Today marks the first “road test” of “The Actress and the Bishop” icon.
• For : News of the new Hitchhiker’s radio program on BBC Radio.
• : Click here
• : Continuing the Legion manips – Laura Prepon as Saturn Girl
• R2EB and wombats. Or brickbats. Hell, even an aluminum one would do.
• “SWEET MERCIFUL MONKEYS!”
  

• I don’t care how effective they are in arid climates: Swamp coolers of of the devil. Especially when the weather turns cool/cold. Why? Because they basically leave a giant, gaping hole in your roof through which the cold air can invade your home.

  Unless you stuff padding and pillows in the vent.

  Whose brainskid was this idea?! “We’ll keep the cold out with… pads! Yes! Pads! And pillows! Too right!” *boggle* That’s… great. But air can still get around those, through the louvers and… once again… INTO THE HOUSE!!!

  *sigh*

  I have an idea to effectively seal the Ark of the Covenant in an underground temple seal the vent. Solidly. And in a manner that’s easily removable, when necessary. All I need to do is to visit the local Home Depot or Lowes…

Before my brain completely wraps its way around the thoughts of a trip to the local home improvement store, I should call it a night.

Namaste.

Monday
Great Caesar’s snowboarding Jesus!
Hell has frozen over.
Sort of.

There’s snow on the mountains.

I don’t know whom to blame for this temperature shift. I woke up very cold this morning. The temp was somewhere in the 40s. The kittens – as warm as they are AND sleeping on the bed – are not very big… and thus, did not do much to help keep me warm. I had to grab a blanket and throw it on the bed. *sigh* I was not bred for cold climates.

Poker night didn’t happen, as such. came over; he, and I watched World Series of Poker on ESPN. That was close enough. We then watched a little of Timecop on SciFi. (I still find it amusing to shout “Texas Ranger!” whenever someone calls Jean-Claude VanDammit’s character by name his last name: Walker.) After that, we watched Sen. John Kerry on The Late Show with David Letterman.

invited me to go with him and to one of the local Media Play stores when they went to get their copies of the new Dark Tower novel. The bonus was the potential of seeing FAR too many Star Wars geeks – awaiting the release of the original trilogy DVDs – in costume. I went. It was something of a letdown: Two Jedi (one male, one female) and one Han Solo. *shrug* Oh well.

Stray Toasters

• To say that some of my conversations with are “random” is being kind and far too mild. We were talking about a running joke concerning Cheerwine (if you have to ask… *shrug*) and from there got onto “The Actress and The Bishop” and that led us on a downward spiral (not to be confused with Nine Inch Nails’ The Downward Spiral) into starting a religion. All the way down to choosing saints and prophets, deciding what to use for communion rites (gingerbread men and milk) and even recasting the Nativity with the cast of Three’s Company. Yep… Hell. Handbasket. Gasoline drawers.

  One good thing has come out of it:
  

  I have a new icon – “The Actress and The Bishop.”
  

• Tomorrow (Tuesday) is ‘s birthday. Drop her a birthday greeting or two, if you don’t mind.
• Saturday’s JLU episode, “The Return,” was very good. A reformed Lex Luthor… The Atom… The Green Lantern Corps, including GL-in-training Kyle Rayner (in a modified version of his DCU costume)… and a special surprise guest star. Very cool.
• sent me the URL to animalmasks.net. Clay masks finished with acrylics and mixed media. Very cool.
• I Found Some of Your Life
• To. Your. DOOR!!!
• Wow. I just finished watching More, by Mark Osborne. It is a Quicktime movie (16MB) and has a six (6) minute run time. This was an Oscar nominated short film. I can see why. Don’t neglect to check out the “Learn MORE” link when the movie is over.
• forwarded this to me a little while ago. NOT work safe… but amusing.
• emmet swimming. Clean Water
• TV Guide Takes A Look At The Many Faces Of Lois Lane
• It seems as though The Shawshank Redemption is being re-released this weekend. In honor of that, here are quotes from the movie. If, for some reason, you haven’t seen this move before, do so now.
• : Live Wire

And that’s it for tonight.

Namaste.

Sunday
I got a call from this morning, but I couldn’t get a clear signal. *GRRR* He did leave a voicemail, though. The amusing thing: The number that showed up was from North Carolina. I looked at it and didn’t recognize it and as such, didn’t Nox’ voice with a number from back home. Go figure.

Football Update
and are here watching the Seahawks/Bucs game, but the real story is…

Pittsburgh at Baltimore
13 – 30
Now THIS is more like it. Like the saying goes: “This is big time football!” The team came in and played. Well. Lots of good plays. The offense was effective. The defense looked and played like they have in seasons past. There were few injuries, too: Todd Heap (ankle) and Deion Sanders (hamstring). Pitt QB Tommy Maddox took a nasty hit to his throwing arm and was later seen on the sidelines with his arm in a sling. Backup QB Ben Rothlisberger, in his regular season debut, played very well. But the bottom line: The Steel Curtain was rusty and the boys from the Chesapeake Bay lay some hurt on the Steeltown kids.

Carolina at Kansas City
28 – 17
I was too busy watching the Ravens game… but the Cats went into Arrowhead Stadium and came away with a win.

Miami at Cincinnati
Tonight at 8:30 PM (ET)
, I know that I wished you “good luck” on this game, but that was before I realized who you were playing. So… let me amend my well-wishes to say: “Good luck, but I really hope that you lose.” Nothing personal, but I don’t want my boys to lose. I’m sure that you understand.

Seattle at Tampa Bay
10 – 0
Early in the 2nd Quarter. Good luck, .

Cleveland at Dallas
0 – 7
Also just getting off the ground. Good luck, . I hope that Browns 2.0 are able to prove that last week’s game wasn’t just a fluke.

Stray Toaster
Last night’s bowling was fun, but my game was very inconsistent. Scores: 160 – 136 – 142 – 155 – 113/153 – 123 – 126 – 124. I would like to attribute yesterday’s yard work to the lack of performance… but that’s no excuse. And I don’t think that I’ll be bowling next weekend as I intend to be camping with and her family.

Back to game watching.

Namaste.

On this morning’s Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me During a musical challenge section, they played three songs to represent three of this week’s news items:

1. Louis Armstrong’s Do You Know What it Means for a reference to Hurricane Ivan.
2. The Eurythmics’ Would I Lie to You for Dan Rather and CBS’ memo gaff (about the Shrub’s service record)
3. The Pretenders’ Back on the Chain Gang for Martha Stewart’s request to start her jail time immediately.

After the third song ended – and halfway through the question – the audience was howling with laughter.

Fait accompli.
It is ended.
Thanks to the assistance of , a chainsaw and two pairs of pruning shears, the lilac bush is no more. Neither are three of the four shrubs below the living room window. There are a few stumps marking their former places, but the foliage and branches are no more. Selah. I didn’t get around to trimming the blue spruces, but they aren’t too problematic. Now, there is a large pile of treeless branches and remnants on the RV pad. Soon, they too shall be gone.

Light… glorious, natural, bright light… is streaming through the window of the HCC. This is a very good thing.

Stray Toasters

• The twins met for the first time today; he hasn’t been able to visit since helping us move in June. They seemed to fall in love with him. After sniffing him and getting the “he’s okay” vibe, they pretty much hung around him whenever we were inside. It was cute. And funny.
• A friend from back home pointed me (indirectly) to this. After watching it, I shared it with and with the comment: “See if you can figure out why I’m amused by this…”
• : I was going to try and collect these in an email, but someone else put them on a page…. which makes it that much easier on me.
• By way of Slashdot: George Lucas Speaks on Trilogy Changes

I’d better get a wiggle on. I have a few things to do before heading to bowling. And I don’t know what scored this week, either. *shrug* I’ll just have to do what I can.

Namaste.

Friday
I watched The Way of the Gun last night. It’s a good movie, but definitely not a “feel good” movie. It was similar in style to a Tarantino film. And it had some good quotes, too:

“Money is what you take to the grocery store. It’s what you get out of the ATM. Fifteen million dollars is not money. It’s a motive with a universal adaptor on it.”– Joe Sarno

Today was a good day… although ending it with two Caramocha drinks might not have been the most conducive-to-sleep thing that I could have done. Oh, well. They were both free – one due to my frequent patronage of Borders, the other due to my superpower. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth (unless it’s made of wood and is two or three stories tall), but most definitely put free coffee in the mouth.

Tomorrow, and I will remove the lilac bush that’s just outside the kitchen and HCC windows.

Stray Toasters

• I saw Teen Titans “Car Trouble” for the first time today. It was fun. Parts of it had the feel of “race you for pink slips” or “race you around Dead Man’s Curve” hot rod movies of the 50s/60s.
• For :
• Maybe it’s the Etiquette Nazi in me, but I think that (most) conversations should begin with some form of greeting. Even IMs. To wit: With the exception of a handful of people (most of whom are family), if I receive a message that starts “in the middle” of the conversation, I usually respond with “Hello” (or something along those lines) and wait until the other party returns the greeting. Then, I continue the conversation. *shrug* It’s the way I’m wired.
• , , and : Lots of comic art pictures here.
• Barry Bonds has become the third person in MLB history to get 700 homers.
• From Backwash (and the World of the Bizarre): World’s Youngest Mother
• : I found this a bit amusing and thought of you.
• : Here’s a little something to add to your pin-up collection.
• : There was even something for you, as well.
• Hmm. Another take on Johnny Depp as Dream of The Endless.
• “Sweet Holy Hell!” (another for )
  

• Digital multimeter.
• There’s parts that you don’t know down on Bull Street…

Quote of the Day
I love my brother; he makes me laugh… even when he’s not talking with me:

[00:49] Adam: You just lost some major cool points with me.
[00:49] : lol
[00:50] : Yeah, but I was in the military… that counts extra, right?
[00:51] Adam: You get 20 points for that but lose 15 for it being the Army, but you gain another 30 for putting up with that wannabe green lantern you live with.

Mr. “Not Knowing Where My Pants Are” strikes again. If nothing else, the members of my sibko are amusing.

Namaste.

Thursday
I had a nominally profound item that I wanted to post here… but have completely forgotten what it was. I would have written it down, but that would not have been very conducive to driving. Double-plus ungood. Something about going 45 MPH downhill in traffic and writing just seemed like a bad idea at the time. And it still does.

That aside, it was a good day. I took a nap earlier… Sissy and the twins joined me: Sissy, sprawled across my chest, Lightning stretched out on my left, Presto curled up on my right. I’m sure that there was a Kodak moment in there somewhere.

NPR and Other News

• Morning Edition – Many Americans Would Likely Ignore Terror Plan
• Morning Edition – Predicting Terror Response
• Morning Edition – Santa ‘Clause’ Challenged Good old SLC nuttiness…
• Morning Edition – Paying for Music in the Internet Age
• Morning Edition – Jurors Free to Cut Loose Uh-huh… right….
• Talk of the Nation – The First Crusade
• Day to Day – Trucker Travels with Bush Not what you might think…
• All Things Considered – Deaf Students Form New Language
• Fresh Air – Art Spiegelman (Maus, The Shadow of No Towers)

Stray Toasters

• While at Borders this afternoon, I saw:Add this to the Covet List, too. *sigh*
• Um, , I just watched tonight’s CSI. I know that Grissom and Sarah were dodging the relationship issue last season. Did I miss something? Did they actually cross that line?
• Thanks to for tracking me down and dragging me over to ‘s Heroes and Villains Battle Royale (with cheese). It’s kind of like the “Last Man Standing” column in Wizard Magazine… but on a bigger scale. Subsequent posts include others’ take on who would win which fight and why.
• Nine Hells. I just saw a new “This is _____ good” commercial from Yoplait. Pardon me while I retch.
• I know that I’ve posted a link to this picture before, but I like it. So here it is again.
• From Slashdot: FTC Recommends Bounty on Spammers
• Jumpin’ monkey-squeezin’ Jehosephat! I’m watching the Texas Hold ‘Em World Series of Poker on ESPN2. The blinds for this round are $30,000 and $60,000.
• Is the mouse on the way out… to be replaced by the “nouse?”
• I just saw a commercial from Porsche.
  (Repeat after me: The correct pronunciation is “POR-sha” not “porsh.”)
  It was an ad for the new 911. A kid on a bicycle rides up to the dealership and asks to see the car. He gets in, sits in the driver’s seat and after a few “minutes,” he gets out… and asks the salesman if he has a business card. The salesman says, “Sure” and hands a card to the kid. The kid looks at it and says, “Thanks. I’ll see you in about 20 years,” gets back on his bike and rides off. I liked it. Simple. Direct. Fun. And, it spoke to young boys’ (and I’m sure some girls, too) dreams of driving/owning a Porsche.

• “Space Monkeys. Don’t ask.”
  

• T-Shirt of the Day: Insane at Play
• Sigourney Weaver. That’s who the powers-that-were wanted to get to play Emma Frost in X3. I think that she would have been much better than Finola Hughes was in the made-for-TV Generation X movie.
• Two new additions to the webcomics fold:
  
  

• There was a trailer for Constantine, the (loose) adaptation of DC’s Vertigo Hellblazer, before RE: Apocalypse. I’ve been… leery… of this movie since I heard that Keanu “Whoa… I know kung fu magic” Reaves was starring as the Americanized version of Hellblazer‘s very British John Constantine. But, so far, the press that I’ve seen for it has been favorable. I may have to give it a go.
• Marvel’s original Black Widow is back.

And that’s a wrap.
Or a warp.
I get them confused occasionally.

Namaste.

Wednesday
Another decent day. I don’t know who decided that mid-September was the perfect time to turn down Utah’s thermostat, but I wish they’d given me a little more notice.

I finally saw last season’s Law & Order finale. Very nice. I also saw, for the first time, the episode of The Simpsons where Maude Flanders dies. Funny. In an animated death kind of way. And it even had Shawn Colvin. Double Bonus! And, I even saw one of the many episodes of Smallville that I missed last season.

NPR and Other News

• Morning Edition: D.C.’s Barry, Back Again (Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!?)
• Morning Edition: Marketing Streetball
• Talk of the Nation: Personality Tests
• Day to Day: Archiving Classic Animated Films and Cartoons

Stray Toasters

• Talked with Mom, briefly, this morning. All’s well with the southern contingent of the family-unit.
• Common Errors in English Usage (, help spread this one around…)
• In the “Best Near-Blasphemous Game-Related T-Shirt” Category: This
• “I’m expecting you to drop dead any second…”
  

• By way of Backwash: Pimp Watch
• R2EB. *braincramp*
• Someone in Yahoo! Groups’ Lilguyz Group made a duck template and now people are making MicroHeroes out of ducks. There are a few Justice League ducks waddling around… and it reminded me of the Justice Ducks from Darkwing Duck. And that made me laugh.
• “AAAH! Work?! Where? Don’t let it get me!!!” –
• Also from Backwash: Big Brother Writes Down Stats
• Those “Thank You” commercials from Citi Financial…? Stoo. Pid.
• This is worthwhile, if only for the caption.
• I knew that The Dukes of Hazzard movie was in the works. What I didn’t know was that Jessica Simpson will be Daisy Duke. Given the way that many TV-to-cinema translations have gone of late, I didn’t even need this news to decide not to see this.
• : Click here. (Thanks, .)

Quote of the Day
Like I said earlier: The duck-templated Micros made me think of Darkwing Duck…

Steelbeak: If dere’s one t’ing I ‘ate, it’s excuses!… Make dat two t’ings I ‘ate. Excuses, an’ a seven-ten split!

Other Darkwing Duck quotes here.

Namaste.

Tuesday
All-in-all, not a bad day.

The day ended with dinner (peet-zah!), X2 and Reno 911! at Kate and Perry’s. I came home and watched “The Greatest Story Never Told,” this past weekend’s episode of JLU that I found on Usenet. God bless Usenet! (I also managed to find a couple of elusive X-Men Evolution episodes for Perry.) “The Greatest Story” was a spotlight for Booster Gold, one of my favorites from the Giffen/DeMatteis Justice League International and his own short-lived title in the 80s. The episode was fun… and funny…. and had a good ending. And, : It featured Mordru. Yes, that Mordru. It will reair this weekend on Cartoon Network, if you have the opportunity to see it.

NPR and Other News

• Morning Edition: Polygamy Polka (Yeah, like I was gonna pass this up!)
• Day to Day: Xeni Tech: Zero Gravity Preview
• All Things Considered: Groups Seek to Save First Black Schools in U.S.
• All Things Considered: Young Writers in Queens: ‘I Am a Pencil’

Stray Toasters

• I have bears of gummy candy goodness!
• “He ATE a man! He doesn’t even have TEETH!!!”
  

• SEVEN!
• I’ve seen ads for Raven’s X-Men Legends game for the past months. It looked like something that I might want. I was creeping around Gamespot today and saw the screenshots and reviews. Blessed Madonna and all the Saints, preserve us… The game is now firmly on the Covet List.
• “What’s up? Computer trouble?” –
• By way of Slashdot: Replace Your Windows with LCD Panels
• From Backwash comes another from the “Fact, Stranger than Fiction” file: This.
• From my friend, Julia: More gaffs from the Shrub: Here.
• And, I completely neglected to post the URL to the Shrub’s version of Sunday Bloody Sunday in an earlier post. Here it is.
• From Comics2Film: The Joker Strikes: An interview with Kevin Michael Richardson
• : Click here.
• : Click here.
• : Guess who’s back…
• They say that Elric of Melnibonè is one bad mutha….
  SHUT YO’ MOUTH!
  I’m just talkin’ about Elric…
  We can dig it!

Quote of the Day
I love my brother.

I have a habit of waking up places and not knowing where my pants are.

And with that…

Namaste.

Monday
I’m feeling human again today. Lots of sleep (especially after a good bit of alcohol) will do that for you. I think. *shrug*

Today was errand day. Got a few things taken care of before poker. Mary brought her grill over yesterday, so we grilled out before the gaming started. Nothing like flame-kissed bratwurst and burgers. Poker turnout was good, too.

I left out a few things from the weekend, so here’s the Cliff’s Notes recap:

• Watched The Batman, the new animated series. It’s basically, “Batman: Year Three.” The artistic style is different, but not in a bad way. I would call it something of a cross between the styles of JLU and Teen Titans. The casting of the voice actors was good, too. This show has good potential.
• Jess and I saw Resident Evil: Apocalypse. I went in knowing what to expect (a live-action videogame) and I wasn’t disappointed. Jess, not being familiar with the game, made a lot of comparisons to 28 Days Later. Simple, mindless (or brainless, as the case may be) fun.
• Bowling. I not only bowled ironman, I did it on three lanes. At the same time. O_o Sanity apparently took a backseat to masochism. Scores: 136 – 220 – 155 – 130 – 145 – 109/130 – 187/147/121 – 110
• Pat and Staci, fresh from their honeymoon, dropped in at breakfast Saturday night. Sounds like they had a good time. Staci even came back with a Lego watch, a CLIKITS Heart Watch… but a Lego® watch, nonetheless. 🙂

NPR and Other News
Morning Edition: Losing Julie: Teen’s Suicide Blamed on Zoloft
Morning Edition: Can You Marry Me Now?
Morning Edition: Benny Golson: Elder Statesman of the Jazz Sax
Day to Day: White Supremacist’s Legacy in Northern Idaho
Day to Day: ‘Between a Rock and a Hard Place’

Climber Aron Ralston was pinned beneath a rock for six days while climbing in Utah last year. NPR’s Alex Chadwick talks with Ralston about how he cut off his own arm to survive. Ralston documented the ordeal and his recovery in his book Between a Rock and a Hard Place.

All Things Considered: Modern-Day Milkman Thrives on Housecalls
All Things Considered: Musician Resurrects Sandburg’s ‘American Songbag’
Fresh Air: Interview with Singer Donovan Leitch (Sunshine Superman, et al.)

BBC News: Palace Balcony Protester Removed (dressed as Batman)

Stray Toasters

• As most people around me know, this (Lego® Creator Watch) is my favorite watch:
  I’ve had it for… about a year and a half. And, yes, it did come with the little monkey. Why? I don’t know, but I don’t question. It’s also a great conversation starter. I’ll be sitting somewhere (often at a bookstore or a restaurant) and the following usually happens:

  Person: *stare*
  Me: *going about my business*
  Person: Hey! Your watch looks like Lego or something…
  Me: *removes watch to show the Lego® logo on the face*
  Person: Well, look at that! It is Lego! Hey, (calls a person over), come look at this…

  It’s rather amusing. Not too long ago, I went to the Lego® site to see if I could order another one. They showed the Bionicle Watch (which I also have), the Bionicle Toa Nuva Watch and the CLIKITS Heart Watch. But there was no sign of the Creator Watch. So, being the diligent Interweb geek that I am, I searched the site for it. Lo and behold, I found it. There was also a note on the page: Sorry, item is not available in this country. I don’t know when they stopped selling it in the States, but I’m not complaining. I have a relatively rare item in the U.S. And that’s not a bad thing.

• Over the past few days, I’ve gotten a couple of comments on a post that I made back in January, about Maddox. I neither know nor care what kinds of sticks these people have up their asses, but I have to admit that I find their comments amusing.
• G4TechTV’s Icons aired an episode called “Gaming in the Military” on this afternoon. It showed how the military has adapted a number of consumer, off-the-shelf products for use as supplemental training tools and how some software companies have modified some of their products for use as supplemental training tools. Very interesting.
• By way of : News of the Weird
• By way of Slashdot: The Beatles vs. Apple Could it be that the band’s company, Apple Corps., is about to take a big byte (sorry) out of the computer giant?
• “Are we talking big toes or little toes?”
  

• Words Without Borders – The Online Magazine for International Literature
• Also from Backwash: The Seven Vices of Highly Creative People
• Toilegami
• Stone Trek – To boldly go where no caveman has gone before.
• I don’t really know what to make of this. The link on Backwash called it “Microsoft Windows Anime.” The best way to describe it would be to anthropomorphize the Windows OSes into Sailor Moon-like characters. Yeah. I know. *brainlock* Throw in a J-Pop theme, too. I’m sure that the experience might be a little “better,” relatively speaking, if I read Hirigana. (NOTE: You’ll want to have broadband. Otherwise, it’s a painfully slow load.)

No wombats were harmed in the making of this post.

Namaste.

Sunday
I’m still in shock.

Baltimore at Cleveland
3 – 20
Ouch.

Actually, I am still to hung over to be in shock. Shock will set in tomorrow. The Ravens lost to the Browns. The Browns! In Cleveland. Opening day. I’m not sure what to make of this.

The world has to be off-axis or something. Wait… that’s just me. FAR too much vodka. If you’re going to agree to do “penalty shots” with someone based on the outcome of a game, make sure that you hire someone to do horrid things to the opposing team to ensure your team’s victory. Also, make sure that you don’t take said shots on an empty stomach. Just a little FYI from your friendly, neighborhood Spider-Man Reminder-Man.

Congratulations to for the Browns’ complete and utter domination of the Ravens in today’s game. (Ya lousy bastich!) *sigh* He and the missus came up this afternoon to watch the game and trash-talk and hang out. Aside from watching the Ravens do their best Keystone Kops impression, it was a lot of fun. Hopefully, when the Ravens and Browns meet next month, it will be a more balanced game. Or a more Ravens-dominated one.

On an unrelated – but happier note: I bowled a 220 last night.

Okay… time to head upstairs and see if I can find my way to The Dreaming. This should be rather interesting, especially since I spent all afternoon/evening sleeping off the vodka.

Namaste.

Today marks the third anniversary of the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center and The Pentagon. A handful of people caused the deaths of thousands. Millions of lives were affected.

I still do not think that the name “Patriot Day” is appropriate to commemorate the day and the lives lost. I still contend that the victims of the attacks did nothing patriotic. They merely happened to be in the wrong places at the wrong time. In fact, if anything, the hijackers/attackers would be considered patriotic to their cause. Unless I’m missing something, I don’t think that we really want to laud their efforts. I think that another name should be found for the day.

I hope that the families and survivors of the September 11th victims have been able to find some measure of peace or solace.

Previous related posts

• 11 Sept 01
• 11 Sept 02 (1, 2)
• 11 Sept 03

Namaste.

Friday
I had coffee with Nyx and Perry this afternoon. Greenhouse Effect. Good. Free mocha latte. Better. I ran into an old acquaintance there, as well. It was funny because I thought that I recognized her as she was walking out of the shop. Fortunately, I was right.

Nyx and I tooled around for a bit and wound up at Borders. I looked up a few things and worked (on the laptop) on the cover letter that I had started this morning. We left a couple of hours later to get Jess… and headed back. Perry and Max, , and were there, by this point. and showed up a bit later. We headed to Cheers: North for a bite to eat; we were joined there by .

Stray Toasters

• showed me Applegeeks this morning. I like it. I showed one of the comics to ; she liked it too.
• sent me a link to Sunday Bloody Sunday… done by none other than W. Like I told her: “I’m not sure whether to laugh, cry or both.”
• Nyx also sent me a link to the trailer for I [heart] Huckabees. It looks like a quirky film… and one that I would like to see.
• By way of Irregular Webcomic: Historic Tale Construction Kit
• Played in another tourney tonight. Came in 2685. Someone made a comment about my the way I had been playing that distracted me from my game. The main thing that made me feel better about my ranking was that I came in about 400 places above my heckler. Karma can be a real bitch.
• Nothing says “love” like getting two issues of Lego Magazine in your mailbox. Granted, it was two copies of the same issue, but that’s not the point.
• I haven’t checked out PolyKarbon in a long time.
• Cooking for Engineers

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Namaste.