Random Access

Monday
Post-Game Night.

We didn’t die.
(That’s a plus.)

We gained a plethoric buttload of paradox.
(That’s a definite minus for the mages in our group… of which I am one.)

We had fun.
(That’s the bottom line.)

It looks as though this storyline has a snowball’s chance in Utah (in November) of actually progressing. I’m hoping that it does; the story took a rather interesting twist this evening: For the past few weeks, my character has been under investigation by an agency with a strong bent for the paranormal. They are particularly proficient in staying unnoticed. We noticed one of the agents in a big, blatant way tonight. I was contracted by another player’s character to look into this agent and the firm for which he works.

Qui custodiet ipsos custodes?
I do.

And with that, I bid you good night and good morrow.

Namaste.

Jess, Mary and I went to see Wonderland, starring Val Kilmer. Good movie. It wasn’t what I was expecting… especially when you consider that the movie was focused on the late porn actor John Holmes. It was a little disturbed/disturbing – along the same lines that I think that Kids was disturbing, although not NEARLY as much so. (Translation: It’s not a “feel good” movie, but one that makes you think…)

After the movie, we headed to Salt Lake Coffee Break. met us there. We also had two surprise guests: George and his friend, Tim. Salt Lake City incumbent mayor (and mayoral candidate) Rocky Anderson came in shortly after we arrived; we spent a while trying to figure out if he came to put in a pre-Election Day appearance and shmooze the “young and hip” voters. Although, I didn’t see him pushing himself on anyone; he walked in, got coffee sat down and basically minded his own business… at least as much as politicians ever do.

The ladies and I then headed to Chili’s for dinner and then, it was time to bring the evening to a close. All-in-all, it was a good day.

Namaste.

Jacksonville at Baltimore
Final Score 17 – 24
It was Jack Del Rio’s return to Baltimore as Jacksonville’s new head coach; he was a linebacker coach for the Ravens for three years. After an amazing opening drive by Baltimore (touchdown in the first 1:26 of the game), this game wound up being much more close than I was expecting. But, an interception by Ray Lewis late in the fourth quarter cemented the win.

Indianapolis at Miami
Final Score 23 – 17

Final Score 10 – 14
Carolina at Houston
Coach Dom Capers’ Texans rode herd on his former team, the Panthers. And, in an amusing side note, I discovered that Tony Banks was the Texan’s QB; Banks was a Ravens QB before he went to St. Louis.

*stretch*
Morning already?

Yesterday was a good day. Overcast and snowy, but good. I didn’t do a lot in the early part of the day. No, let me rephrase that: “I didn’t do much at all yesterday afternoon.”

Around 5:00 we got into social mode and met Mary and at Borders. After the three of us went to Macaroni Grill for dinner with Robert, George (the man behind “The Best Page in the Universe”) and his brother, Ruben. Dinner, the company and the conversation was good.

Bowling was good. My best game was my first game (159) which is a little unusual. I normally have a weak warm-up game and then get better a couple of games in. Last night, I averaged in the mid 130s. Oh, well.

Post-bowling breakfast was good. The restaurant was fairly empty, so the staff came and hung out with us between taking care of their other tables. Jon and John gave me my birthday present also: A Ravens knit cap! It seems that we have also been liberated from The Singles, at least for the time being. We’ll enjoy it while it lasts. Pat, an officer with the Sandy City Police Department, joined us around 2:15 AM. The conversation varied from shocking (stories of some of the calls that Pat has been on) to funny to blue (sex-related blue, not sad blue).

Football Update
I’m waiting for my games to start. All of them are early games.

Jacksonville at Baltimore

Indianapolis at Miami

Carolina at Houston

Sunday Morning Links

• BBC News: Independence Day tops ‘cheesy’ poll
• BBC News: Ross’ search for ‘worst film’ (At the bottom of this article are comments that people have made about the movies that they thought were complete dogs.)
• BBC News: Connery ‘has worst film accent’
• Bert is Evil – an old one but still amusing.

Back to the games…

Namaste.

As forwarded to me by Robert

http://www.mycatsboots.com/endofworld.swf

Saturday Stray Toasters:

• First off: Happy Birthday to…
• Jess started feeling ill yesterday afternoon. Very ill. She left work early. She stayed in last night and didn’t go to the party.
• Speaking of which, last night’s party at and ‘s was great. A house full of people, candy, various and sundry alcohols, two cats and the CrazyTammy book. Definitely a good time. Thanks to both of them for the hospitality. Pics of the party can be found here. And, the words/phrases/barely coherent ramblings of Rob K:
  • “Wednesday”
  • “George Lucas”
  • “The Matrix”
  • “Batman”

  …in no particular order.

• I slept through this morning’s toonage. Not a big deal since XME, Teen Titans and Justice League were reruns. I’ll have to verify whether tonight’s episodes of Titans and JL are new.
• The Boilermakers (17) whooped-up on the Northwestern Wildcats 34-14.
  In West Lafayette.
  Nothing like a win on the home field.
  Their record is now 7 – 2.

• Kifed from :
  

  I’m trying to get all my Livejournal friends’ locations plotted on a map – please add your location starting with this form. Username: (Then get your friends to!)

And now, off to see what I can get into…

Friday
I am just getting in from a great evening at and ‘s house. Quite the gathering.

Details – and a new Phantom picture – will follow tomorrow.

I hope that everyone had a good and safe night.

Namaste.

Thursday
It snowed all day.

Tonight’s episode of CSI featured “plushies” and “furries.” came over about halfway through the show; she and Jess watched the last half of the show with me. All of us were a little shocked that CBS actually broached the subject of plushies/furries, let alone based half of the episode on it.

After that I half-watched an episode (and about a third of another ep) of Sex in the City with them. That show does absolutely nothing for me. I left during the second episode because I could feel the grey matter oozing out of my right ear.

NPR and PRI Stories

• Talk of the Nation: War of the Worlds
• Talk of the Nation: The History of Hoaxes
  (Added feature: Museum of Hoaxes)

• Talk of the Nation: When Zombies Attack
• Fresh Air: Interview with Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are)
• All Things Considered: New Orleans Police Found to Falsify Reports

Stray Toasters

• Okay. This is the last time I’ll say this. At least for today. It snowed.
• The first issue of my Sports Illustrated subscription arrived today. Both copies. O_o I don’t know why the fine folks at AOHell Time-Warner thought that I needed two issues, but I’m not about to look the proverbial gift horse in the mouth.
• “Genetically Modified Products” This is the label that is most often given to crops and livestock that has had… well… genetic modifications. They are often referred to as “GM Products.” I remember one of the first times that I heard (and paid attention to) this abbreviation. I couldn’t figure out why they were talking about parts for General Motors cars in the middle of a discussion about crops and livestock.
• I found many a Lego-related site that made me smile today. Especially one that had a book on it about how to build a Chessie System (Chesapeake and Ohio, one of the major railroad lines back home) engine.
• Do we really need made-for-TV movies (or any) movies about Elizabeth Smart or Jessica Lynch? No? I didn’t think so either. It’s good that both were able to return home from their respective situations. Now, let them go. Thank you, move along.

Quotes of the Day
Both of today’s quotes came from tonight’s episode of CSI:

• Catherine and Grissom walk into a “Plushies and Furries Convention”
  Catherine: I think I’m having Hunter Thompson’s flashbacks…

• After the crime involving furry/plushy conventioneers has been solved
  Grissom: Fur and loathing in Las Vegas…

Namaste.

First things first: Welcome to !

Considering the fact that I got to bed early (for me) last night, I slept poorly. Which made waking up this morning less-than-fun. The fact that it was cold (colder than I like, at least) didn’t help, either. Add to that: Snow. Yes, snow. In October. After five years in Utah, I still do not grok this concept.

Fortunately, there was an amusing exchange on IRC to make me laugh:

Background note – has an old bomb in her back yard

[09:23] *** Joins:
[09:23] ehehehe
[09:23] *** SuxBot sets mode: +o
[09:24] eh
[09:24] *** Quits: (Client Quit)
[09:24] *** Joins:
[09:24] re
[09:24] “;[
[09:25] roller coaster irc.
[09:25] *** SuxBot sets mode: +o
[09:25] *mycah* [server name] seems like a good server to me.
[09:25] *mycah* I haven’t been booted.
[09:26] i can’t seem to connect to it.
[09:26] i tell it to, and it gives me a different server anyway.
[09:27] *mycah* ghey
[09:27] whey
[09:28] *Iso8* you have been banned for crimes against humanity. the goatse pumpkin for starts.
[09:28] Try: [server name two]
[09:28] [server name two] hates me too. that was what i used for a long time.
[09:31] The Internet hates you.
[09:32] already knew that.
[09:33] *Iso8* now that you have your own scud missile in the back yard. send the internet a warning letter to get its shit together.
[09:33] *cracks up*

Things were made a little better after I got to work. I know… that sounds completely oxymoronic, but bear with me. I checked my email and in one of the TechTarget dailies was a link. To The National Beard Registry. The icons in the text are links to pictures.

And I have coffee.

One more day to Friday…

Wednesday
The day started s-l-o-w-l-y. Even after coffee. But, I think that it was because I was looking forward to post-work activities. Despite lethargy and a few bouts of boredom, I managed to be productive.

After work, , and I had dinner at Tucci’s. After that we, along with , , and , went to see Alien – The Director’s Cut. That was fun. Tom Skerritt looked so… young. And scruffy. Definitely not the look to which I have grown accustomed. (“Time may change me, but I can’t trace time…“) I might have to track down The Alien Legacy: Twentieth Anniversary Collection. And, I finally had the cotton candy that I have been craving for the past few weeks!

After the movie, we went to Cheers Village Inn for a late snack.

Stray Toasters

• We saw movie previews for AVP: Aliens vs. Predator, Resident Evil 2 and Disney’s Haunted Mansion. I’ll even go on the record as saying that Mansion looks like it could be fun.
• Tonight’s milkshake had the right consistency, tasted great AND was mixed all the way to the bottom of the cup! I think that I have gotten the hang of making them.
• Mini-Rant #1: The people who brought four or five small children to Alien. I could be wrong about this, but I am pretty sure that they will come to regret this decision in the wee hours of the morning when the kids wake up screaming about a monster coming to get them.
• Mini-Rant #2: The people (plural) who:
  1. …didn’t turn off their cell phones before the movie started
  2. …decided to have part of their conversation in the theatre before deciding to get up and go out into the lobby.
• : Will Jeff actually go see AVP when it comes out?
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Microsoft Fires Mac Fan for Blog Photo
• Amusement from Comics2Film

And that’s all. For now.

Namaste.

Tuesday
Today was a pretty good day.
Nothing out of the ordinary: Home… Work… Home.

The season premiere of 24 was very good. And commercial-free. I had to leave the room twice (*grr* Damned need to eat!) during the broadcast. Kiefer Sutherland continues to impress me as Jack Bauer. Dennis Haysbert as President Palmer… great. Even Elisha Cuthbert (Jack’s daughter, Kim) had a few surprises up her sleeve. This should be quite a season.

Tonight’s episode of Law & Order: SVU was a good follow-up to 24. I haven’t gotten into Law & Order: Deep Space Nine Law & Order: Criminal Intent, but that’s on Sunday nights when we are usually out for dinner, a movie and coffee.

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I’m not usually given to taking quizzes, but this one was amusing.

My LiveJournal Trick-or-Treat Haul
shadorunr goes trick-or-treating, dressed up as Phantom of the Opera.
biloba gives you 2 green spearmint-flavoured pieces of chewing gum.
dangermouse_ut gives you 17 tan grapefruit-flavoured gummy bears.
khayla tricks you! You get a pencil.
melodywise gives you 19 orange grapefruit-flavoured hard candies.
nyx_hemsut tricks you! You get a piece of string.
suzie_lightning tricks you! You lose 3 pieces of candy!
trellos tricks you! You lose 12 pieces of candy!
very_jentle gives you 15 pink root beer-flavoured pieces of chewing gum.
yerac gives you 3 dark green lemon-flavoured pieces of bubblegum.
zeeke gives you 10 dark green lemon-flavoured pieces of bubblegum.
shadorunr ends up with 51 pieces of candy, a pencil, and a piece of string.
Go trick-or-treating! Username:
Another fun meme brought to you by rfreebern.

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NPR and PRI Stories
Talk of the Nation: Competing for Congregants

Americans like choice even when it comes to religion. That means churches have to compete for congregants. Join host Neal Conan and guests to talk about religion in the marketplace.

All Things Considered: The Anger Management Industry
All Things Considered: Commentary: Anger Management
All Things Considered: 24 Returns for More CIA Thrills

Stray Toasters

• From Slashdot: X17 Solar Flare Sends 2B Tons of Plasma at Earth
• As if football wasn’t enough, I’m watching the Mavericks-Lakers game on TNT. They are calling The Lakers’ Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone, Gary Payton and Shaquille O’Neal “The Fantastic Four” My inner comic geek is not sure if I find that amusing or not… (The Lakers won, by the way.)
• Extreme Pumpkins
• From Comics2Film: Featured Filmmaker – Richard Donner
  

  MUST-SEE FILM:
  Superman: I will arm wrestle anyone that tries to disparage the best superhero film ever made. There are no rubber suits, no leather, no winking, no embarrassment – no, what you get is a film that presents an iconic superhero utilizing Donner’s buzz word while tackling the film, “verisimilitude.” Christopher Reeve was perfect for the role because he betrayed no discomfort while inhabiting it. He wasn’t self-aware as an actor in long underwear – he was Superman, and his confidence in the role allowed the audience to be swept up in the film. As a kid, I believed a man could fly, and I credit Donner’s direction. Superman is available on DVD from Warner Bros. Home Video.
  

  Amen. (Of course, if you’re a regular reader of my journal, you know that I am a BIG fan of this movie.)

Quote of the Day
While picking up Jess from work, I saw one of my former coworkers…

Me: There goes X of the perpetual scowl…
Jess: I think that she just got contacts.
Me: No, it’s not that. She seems to always be scowling.
Jess: X‘s just ugly.

After the shock of what she said wore off (about 2 seconds), I started laughing.

Namaste.

Miami at San Diego
Final Score 26 – 10
This game was moved to Arizona, in an effort to escape the fires that are raging in southern California. Tickets to the game were made available to Tempe-area residents at no charge, but attendees were asked to contribute to the San Diego Wildfire Relief Fund.

Three-for-three for the weekend ain’t bad. Not at all.

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I’ve noted that some people on my friends list have taken the “My LiveJournal Trick-or-Treat Haul” Hallowe’en quiz. Apparently, I am quite the trickster. If I remember correctly, I have only given a treat to one person.

I’m not evil, I’m horribly misunderstood.

Monday
I treated myself to sleeping in this morning.

Work. *bleh* I just couldn’t seem to get into “work” mode. Tomorrow should be better.

After work, I came home for a bit before heading off to Game Night… which was somewhat abortive. A number of things came up that kept the game from becoming cohesive. It was a little irritating, especially since I was looking forward to playing after the non-gaming night last week.

I’m sure that there’s more that I had thought would be good to add to this entry, but it all seems to have drizzled out of my left ear.

Namaste.

The evening was as exemplary as the early part of the day.

I got a call from my uncle… and, surprisingly, only passingly mentioned football. I didn’t even mention that the Ravens won and the Steelers lost. It was good to hear from him.

We went to dinner at Outback Steakhouse. We had quite the turnout, working around the tables:

• Jess and myself
• and Young Miss Fiona (who made me a Powerpuff Girl card!)
• and Spydr
• and her son, Gabe
  and

• Mary, Larry and Mycah
• Gary (former coworker) and his wife, Coleen
• Roger (former coworker) and his girlfriend, Tammy
• Julia (former coworker)
• , , Brandy and Chris

*WHEW* It was great fun. It seemed like everyone had a good time. I have wonderful friends.

Thank you to everyone who sent well-wishes for the day. They were not wasted.

Namaste.

“33”
Just like Rolling Rock… except without the “What does it mean?”

And, so far, it’s been a great birthday:

• I bowled ten (10) games last night. Eight of them were “ironman” games (I bowled them alone and back-to-back). Larry showed up for the last two. Post-bowling breakfast was good. , , , Spydr, Chris and Brandy joined us.
• See Football Update (below) for football goodness.
• Some very cool gifts:
  • Money from the ‘rents.
  • A miniature rock garden and fountain from Jess.
  • Lego® Star Wars Minis from Jess’ parents! (AT-AT and a Rebel Gunship)
• Calls from the ‘rents, two-thirds of my sibko and one of Jess’ sisters.

And now, we’re off to dinner… and maybe a movie. Or just coffee.

Football Update
How’s this for a birthday present: Both the Ravens and Panthers won today.

Denver at Baltimore
Final Score: 6 – 26
This was a GREAT game. Denver scored first, but Baltimore came back with nine unanswered points. And with a couple of interceptions, they were able to put the game away.

Carolina at New Orleans
Final Score: 23 – 20
The Panthers won this one in overtime. I watched parts of this game during breaks in the Ravens game; it was a pretty tight game. But it was a “win” and that’s all that really matters, in the end.

Miami at San Diego
MONDAY NIGHT GAME
I’ll update on this one tomorrow night.

More later.

Namaste.