Random Access

Wednesday
After too little sleep and the day at work, playing HALO with was a capital way to end the day. He and came over after work. I cooked dinner, we watched Whose Line Is It Anyway and then the alien beatdown commenced. In the words of Dr. Peter Venkman:

We came, we saw, we kicked its ass.

NPR and PRI Stories
All Things Considered: Commentary: Working for Nothing?
All Things Considered: Brown vs. Board of Education (Part Three)

Programming Note: Tom Jones (It’s Not Unusual, What’s New, Pussycat?, Thunderball and others) will be the guest on Thursday’s edition of Fresh Air.

Stray Toasters

• Rush will be touring in 2004 – a 30th anniversary tour.
  Must… get… tickets…

• I don’t remember who forwarded this to me, but I found it oddly amusing…
• and gave me a Hallmark Star Trek: The Next Generation Captain Jean-Luc Picard ornament. It goes nicely with the Sisko ornament that Jess got me in 2001.
• “The right way” to close and lock a door.
• Mark Waid and Barry Kitson. Taking over The Legion? Looks that way. It could happen within the next year.

I’m tapped.

Namaste.

From today’s conversation with :

[16:03] : THIS DAY IS NEVER GONNA END!!!
[16:08] : Sure it is.
[16:11] : really?
[16:12] : *nod*
[16:12] : It has to.
[16:12] : I have to play HALO tonight.

::: watches the clock :::

http://www.sinfest.net/comics/sf20031210.gif

Tuesday
It’s not a good sign that I am just starting to get tired. Hopefully, sleep will come easily and will be restful.

NPR and PRI Stories
Talk of the Nation: Gore and Dean (The source of my Monday afternoon quote.)
Talk of the Nation: Human Organ Trade
All Things Considered: The Supreme Court and ‘Brown vs. Board of Ed.’ (Part 2)
All Things Considered: Commentary – Student’s Weight and Self-Image
Fresh Air: Tony Kushner; Nat King Cole Singles; Taboo Words

I thought that the “Taboo Words” segment was very good. It was an interesting look at the power that we give to words through their use and their non-use. This piece reminded me of the way that Randall Kennedy talked about the use of the word “nigger” in his book Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word.

Stray Toasters

• I received a call from my friend William. He called to update me on the tumor (“It’s naht a too-muh.”) that his doctor found in one of his bronchial passages. One slight problem: He hadn’t told me about it before. So, he gave me the Cliff’s Notes version of the story and then the doctor’s diagnosis: It was benign.
• Chili and Bengals and Bears! Oh my! makes me smile.
• If you have cable or satellite and get TechTV, check your local listings for Wednesday’s episode of Unscrewed with Martin Sargent. My friend Maddox will be a guest for a segment.
• First Jerry Stiller and Snoop are hawking AOHell… and now they have Peter Graves doing a take-off on his Mission: Impossible Jim Phelps character to help an AOHell Broadband user learn about the ways that AOLBB keeps her stealthily safe.
• When I exchanged the bedroom and office (Halo Command Center), I made a few changes to the layout of some computer components. The most important of which was: I moved the printer to the top shelf of the desk unit. This seemed to be the best way to keep the cats from sticking their faces in the paper output whenever they heard the printer at work. I obviously did not give the cats enough credit for creativity. I have a monitor (the one that I was using to setup the Linux PC) sitting on the floor… in front of the printer. Jess was printing something and that was all it took to set the cats’ minds in motion. I looked up a few moments later to see Sissy standing on the monitor, leaning against the desk, staring intently at the printer. My first inclination was to tell her to “Get down,” but I stopped at “Ge…” because I had to laugh and commend her on her creativity.
• From Slashdot: Microsoft Retires Windows 98
• I really should hit the rack. Soon.
• The remote for my satellite receiver is borked. It still controls the TV… but not the sprockin’ satellite receiver! I had to pick up a new universal remote. “I swear, if Computo pops up…” Now, I don’t have access to the “Guide” feature, but everything else seems to work.
• I have homemade chocolate (and white chocolate) chip cookies.
  You may now suffer intense pangs of jealousy.

• Tomorrow… tonight… SOON… the Halo Command Center will resound with the echoes of sniper rifles, plasma guns, and the wail of Ghosts and Banshees in the air as and I engage in Covenant extermination exercises. Seyla.

Namaste.

For part of the first hour, they discussed Al Gore’s support of Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean. Gore made his announcement at Dean’s rally… which was held in Harlem. One of the commentators noted that this was an unusual venue for him to have a rally because:

“His rallies have been whiter than the Stockholm chapter of the Barry Manilow fan club.”

And, yes, I got a good laugh out of that.

Monday
I woke up this morning and the first thought that went through my head was: “Maybe I should call and say that I will be in around noon.” That was immediately followed by: “I should say that I’m going to work from home.” That, in turn, was followed by me dragging myself out of bed and getting to the business of the morning preparation rituals.

Work wasn’t bad. It was a good day and time passed rather quickly.

After work, Jess and I grabbed a bite to eat and then headed to off for Monday night gaming. On the plus side, no one died. On the minus side, I gained another heaping helping of paradox. *sigh* But, that’s fine. It’s part of the game… and I chose to take it rather than have it spill over and affect the others in my group. After the game had broken up, I talked with about my thoughts on the game and the reason that I chose to portray my character in a certain manner. He seemed to grok in fullness. There are a few options open to me, but I like the path that I am on.

NPR and PRI Stories
Talk of the Nation: Samurai
All Things Considered: The Supreme Court and ‘Brown v. Board of Education’
All Things Considered: Commentary: Grinch’s True End (This made me laugh.)
All Things Considered: Commentary: Experimenting with Race
All Things Considered: Teen Hopes to Conquer Yosemite Peaks
The World: Global Hit – Puffy Amiyumi (They do the theme to Cartoon Network’s Teen Titans.)

Stray Toasters

• As mentioned above, Puffy Amiyumi was featured on The World… and I finally got off the fence about making “icon #11” a Cyborg icon.
• It looks as though and I will engage in Covenant eradication on Wednesday evening.
• Wired has an article on using magnets to remove toxins from the bloodstream.
• Paul Simon said that there are “…fifty ways to leave your lover,” but that comes up a little short compared to this: 108 Ways to Do the “Towers of Hanoi”. Yes, this gentleman has A LOT of time on his hands.

There’s something in the back of my mind that’s waving it’s arms frantically and trying to tell me that there is something else that I meant to put in this post. But I have no idea what it is. So, I’ll sleep on it. If it was important, it will come back to me. If it wasn’t, then there’s no real loss.

Namaste.

I was chatting with when our proxy server went had a slight aneurysm. It takes about 00:02:00 for my AIM connection to reset when this happens. So, I VNC’ed into my home PC and used that screen name to chat with her. Yeah, yeah… geeky, but it works. That move prompted this comment, when I switched back to my work nick:

[12:59] : You there?
[12:59] : Nope.
[13:00] *** You have been disconnected. Mon Dec 08 13:00:14 2003.
::: switched to home nick here :::
[13:02] *** signed on at Mon Dec 08 13:02:41 2003.
[13:10] : back over here…. for now.
[13:10] : Freakin psycho multiple personalities
[13:10] : Love me, love my MPD¹.
[13:11] : mmm hmmm
[13:11] : No…. that should be:
[13:11] : Love me, love my disassociative personality disorder.
[13:11] : Gotta be politically correct about it. 😉
[13:11] : A pox on political correctness
[13:12] : Chicken?
[13:12] : Small?
[13:12] : Cow?
[13:12] : Monkey?
[13:12] : Monkey
[13:12] : YOU get to round up the prairie dogs.
[13:12] : Woo hoo! Monkey pox! Monkey pox!

¹ – Multiple Personality Disorder

Going through my morning email, I came across a few things that made me go “Hmmm…”

• Top 11 Little-Known Uses for Virginia Tech’s 1,100-Node Apple G5 Supercomputer
• Imaginary Online Girlfriend
• The Segway/Skynet Connection

Back to it…

Let’s see… since the last post I:

Went to Borders to hang out with Jess and Mary. We caught each other up on what we had missed over the weekend.

From there, we hooked up with and his brother (whose name eludes me at the moment). We saw The Last Samurai, which I enjoyed quite a bit. Yes, there was a bit of “creative license” as far as history went (go figure), but that didn’t detract from the experience for me. After that, hometime.

Football Final
One-for-three on the day, but it was the important one. As I noted earlier, Baltimore is the AFC North leader. All alone. In other games:

• Miami got blanked by the Patriots, 12-0, in Foxboro. ESPN is referring to this game as “The Snow Bowl,” due to the weather conditions.
• Carolina lost to Atlanta, in overtime, 13-20.

Stray Toasters

• I’ve found a new comics-related site (like I needed another distraction): Broken Frontier. I like this site. Some of the items that caught my eye tonight:
  • The Ultimate Broken Frontier Hero Team
  • The Pendulum (This is an interesting commentary on sex and comics.)
  • To the 31st Century and Beyond: A Look at The Legion Today
  • Black, White & Red All Over (Part One, Part Two)
• New York City + Lego = The Brick Apple
• I have a cell phone. That’s fairly common knowledge. I like movies. That’s pretty common, too. I do my damnedest not to mix the two. Unlike the idiotstick who sat a three seats to my right this evening. He came into the theatre with drink and popcorn in one hand, phone-to-ear in the other. And wasn’t very quiet with his conversation. (I asked if I’d be out of line if I snapped my foot off in his ass, if he kept talking through the movie. He said “no.”) I figured that once the trailers started, he’d end the call. Nope. Even worse, he put Call #1 on hold when Call #2 came in. Call #2 was brief. But Call #1 continued for another couple of minutes before he decided to go outside to finish the call.

  While he was gone, a gentleman came up to our row and asked if there were any seats available. I told him that all of the seats to the aisle were free. (There were four seats to the aisle, total. Phone Guy was originally in Seat #3.) The gentleman sat in Seat #2. When Phone Guy came back, he sat in the aisle seat. Quietly. Thus, I didn’t have to wear him like a shoe. And, my inner anarchist smiled.

The West Wing is on. And I’m gone.

Namaste.

Bowling last night was pretty good. I was the only person bowling, so I had a night of “Ironman Bowling.” Nine games. Nine games. 122, 168, 157, 145, 123, 128, 140, 169, 157. The people on the lane next to us were… interesting. It seemed like a couple of them were trying to recapture their lost youth. Or were too afraid to let it go. The 80s called: They want their hair and clothes back. Thank you.

Breakfast was good. Pat and Brent showed up for a bit and shared more on-the-job stories.

I had a weird dream this morning: I was taking . In Nebraska. *boggle* Okay, lets look at the logistics here…

• is out of the country.
• He has his car.
• My brother is the one in the midwest… and he’s in Oklahoma.

I was a little out of sorts when I woke up. It was about 10:30. This week, I didn’t linger in bed. The AFC North Division game is on the line. (a Bengals fan) and I had some good-natured pre-game trash talk.

Football Wrap-Up

Cincinnati at Baltimore
Final Score 13 – 31
The first half of this game is was a much closer than I would have liked. Both teams played well. The commentators in the pre-game show said that turnovers would be the key to this game. They were right. But, in the end, Baltimore’s defense and offense did the job and locked up the Division lead. Sorry,

Miami at New England
4:15 PM (EST)

Carolina at Atlanta
8:30 PM (EST)

Oakland at Pittsburgh
Final Score: 7 – 27
The Steelers. They won. I watched part of this game between sets of the Baltimore-Cincinnati game. Antwaan Randle El was all over the place. I saw one of his runbacks; it was amazing. And, they are no longer in the bottom of the Division. That “honor” is held singly by the Cleveland Browns. Sorry .

And now, off to see what Sunday brings…

Namaste.

I decided to take a little break from cleaning the office and watch Teen Titans. Tonight’s episode was a rebroadcast of “Deep Six,” featuring Wil Wheaton as Aqualad (one of the original members of the Titans in the comic book). A couple of interesting quips from the episode:

Robin: Sonar contact. Beast Boy are you ready?
Beast Boy: Dude, I was born ready. Time for me to do what I do best. Try not to be jealous.
::: exits sub :::
:::reappears as a whale next to Raven’s pod on the sub :::
Raven: He just put on 300,000 pounds… I am sooo jealous.

The Titans’ sub, after getting attacked, is sinking; Beast Boy follows it and attempts to rescue it…
Beast Boy: I got it… I got it….
::: gets passed by two whales :::
Beast Boy: THEY got it?! How did they get it!?
Aqualad: I asked them
Beast Boy: YOU asked them? Dude, you talk to fish!?
Aqualad: I’m talking to you.
Beast Boy: … &nbsp&nbsp Technically, I’m a squid.
Aqualad: It’s called telepathy. Come on. Follow me.
Beast Boy: “It’s called telepathy.”
Aqualad: I heard that.
Beast Boy: …

And now, Justice League is on… with the Joker, Harley Quinn and a new Royal Flush Gang.

Namaste.

I was sitting here, surfing and talking with , when this song came on.

Somewhere in the back of my head, a stray thought about The Legion (LSH, not Alien Legion) popped up. Then, Triad came to mind.

At that point, the song became (Can’t You) Triplicate Like I Do.

And I laughed.

Friday
The weekend has officially commenced. Amen.

Work wasn’t bad today. In fact, I’d even say that it was pretty good. And, for the first time in far too long: I went to Mallday. We ate at a Russian restaurant. I had stroganoff; it was pretty good. Ambush Makeover was playing on the TV there. The premise of this show (apparently) is: The host walks up to random people on the street and gives them a makeover. O_o !?! I could be wrong about this, but isn’t that just a little presumptuous?

After work, , , , , and and I did our traditional Friday night coffee. showed up a little later. As usual, we chatted, drank coffee-based beverages and talked about the other patrons. Following that, , , and I went to get a bite to eat; Ghela joined us for liquid refreshment. And, we actually got to see/talk with Vivi. Zach, our waiter, came over and chatted with us for a bit… and we learned that he had no idea who Keith Richards is. *jawdrop* There was much laughter at the table. It’s good to spend the evening in the company of friends with whom (and in some cases: “at whom”) you can laugh.

NPR and PRI Stories
Talk of the Nation – Science Friday: Preventing a Flu Pandemic/AIDS
Talk of the Nation – Science Friday: High-Tech Gifts
All Things Considered: Putting an R Rating on Smoking in Movies
All Things Considered: Preserving the Sacred Harp Singing Tradition
All Things Considered: Adopting a Family: Remembering Joe Smarzik
All Things Considered: Winner of the ‘Bad Sex in Fiction’ Award

Stray Toasters

• To celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Space Invaders, Taito has commissioned Namco to remake the game. And…. they are making it a two-for-one console, with Qix as the other available game.
• Brian Singer is in talks to helm X-Men 3.
• Cats are funny. Still.
• So are Lego monkeys.
• While sitting at dinner tonight, I made a comment to the effect of: “If we have to listen to Christmas music, I want to hear Eartha Kitt’s version of Santa Baby.” A few minutes later, it came on. Now, all I need is to hear Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth by Bing Crosby and David Bowie.
• Thanks to for sharing this.
• This month’s Esquire features “Things I’ve Learned…” by Christopher Reeve, Lynda Carter and Adam West. Or… Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman. The comic book and Justice League fan in me was amused and happy.

Rant of the Day
On this morning’s Talk of the City (local program on KCPW), the guest was Tim Campbell, Executive Director of the Salt Lake City International Airport. He took comments and questions from callers. One caller complained about the inconvenience of having his flight grounded because a passenger made a comment that the flight crew took as potentially threatening. The caller added that he had dealt with a similar scenario when trying to fly through Atlanta, GA… and how it made him miss his daughter’s first game on the high school basketball team.

I was very impressed with the way that Mr. Campbell responded: He apologized for the inconvenience and then asked if the caller thought that it would have been better for the flight to proceed as scheduled with the possibility that the other passenger’s comments were more than idle chatter. He also reminded the caller that he wasn’t the only one who was inconvenienced, but he understood the frustration of planning a trip and having something go awry at the last minute.

Okay, let’s get something straight: If I am on a flight and someone makes a comment that could easily be construed as a threat to the safety/security of the plane, its crew, the passengers and myself, you’re damn right that I want them to cancel the flight and pore over every nut, bolt, panel and wire of that plane. To Hell with the inconvenience. I would rather know that I can travel safely than hope or guess that I could. Yes, I might miss “Activity A” or “Meeting Person B,” but things can be rescheduled and people (usually) understand that circumstances are not always under our control.

::: gets down from soapbox :::

Namaste.

[16:31] : dead prosecutor: He was dressed in a business suit and overcoat and still had his wallet with identification and cash. It was unclear whether he had been robbed.
[16:31] : Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!
[16:31] : Unclear?!
[16:32] : To whom? Mr. Magoo?!
[16:32] : &lt lol&gt
[16:32] : They also found money and his cell phone scattered about the car the surrounding woods…
[16:32] : Foxnews is special. 🙂
[16:33] : Let’s go back to the “…STILL HAD HIS WALLET” part.
[16:33] : Unclear?!
[16:33] : Nine Hells.
[16:33] : Who’s is running that investigation, Inspector Clouseau?
[16:33] : I think it’s Nancy Drew…
[16:33] : http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,104963,00.html
[16:34] : No, Nancy at least had a bit of common sense.
[16:34] : Or maybe they’ve got the Olsen Twins on it as character research for their next straight to video movie. 🙂
[16:34] : I guess.