Random Access

Friday – 08 August 2008
Eight-Eight-Eight.

The 2008 Summer Olympic Games have gotten under way.

Last night, I went to see The Knight (explanation) The Dark Knight with Perry. He’d never seen it and I was up for seeing again. Hell… I’d even see it again, in IMAX. It was a nice way to spend a Thursday evening.

I got home and found that I wasn’t very tired, so I puttered around the apartment for a bit. Then, I remembered that ‘Nine has been semi-lobotomized for a while and started to reinstall XP on it. Suffice if to say that it’s still dysfunctional. Around 1:00, I could tell that I was winding down, but not “sleepy,” so I got Wednesday’s still-unread comics and sprawled across the bed to read. And read I did. About 1:30, took my glasses off, to “rest my eyes for a minute.”

A few minutes after 5:00, I was apparently done resting my eyes.

It was still too early to start prepping for work, so I did the only logical thing: I finished reading my comics. That took another twenty or thirty minutes. Plenty of time to return to The Dreaming… which I did. When I finally woke up to face the day, I decided that I wasn’t in a big rush to get to the office – I have a short work day, as I put in some extra hours over the past few days – so, I lounged about for a while. It was nice.

The morning’s commute – without any input from me – was rather heavily comic-themed:

• True to Myself – Eric Benet (from the Batman and Robin soundtrack)
• Give Up the Funk – Parliament (adapted by Snoop Dogg for the Undercover Brother soundtrack)
• Supergirl – Krystal Harris

Yep, technopathy is a good thing.

And for those who weren’t aware of it: Undercover Brother began as a webcomic before being picked up and adapted into a movie.

Food for Thought: Chew on This
It’s been in the news that Morgan Freeman and his wife are preparing to divorce.

You know what?
I don’t really care.

For me, it’s like…

• Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s kids…
• Jewel eloping…
• Verne Troyer’s sex tape…
• Gwen Stefani being pregnant again…

What affect does it – or any of the above items – have on my day-to-day life?
Zip.
Zero.
Zilch.
None at all.

At most, I could say that I feel badly that their marriage has come to an end. But, I’m Ivory Soap sure that they didn’t just wake up one morning and decide: “Hey, you know what sounds like fun? Let’s get a divorce!” It seems to me that decisions like this take some time – and soul-searching – to reach. And, if they have come to the realization that the best of their time together has passed, then I wish each of them the best of luck and hope that they find the happiness that they seek elsewhere… assuming that they haven’t achieved that level of happiness and/or satisfaction already.

Stray Toasters

• Clitorati: Check your email.
• and I had a brief discussion about steampunk and LEGO computer case mods (1, 2, 3) this morning. Helluva good way to kick off a Friday.
• Thanks to for pointing out this Puzzle Calendar
• Intel and the (lack of) SATA controller recognition on their DG33FB motherboard can bite my entire chocolatey ass.
• By way of Coworker Drew: Star Wars-Coming to America mashup:

  
  Star Wars Coming to America – Watch more free videos

• From the “Kids Have No Fear” file: Video of Kid Climbing into a Claw Machine
• Reporters booted from Black Hat conference for hacking
  (Umm… isn’t that part of the whole “black hat” thing?! *blink blink*)

Namaste.

I spent the better part of the afternoon in the AF office today. I took care of a couple of items and wound up bringing one of the troubled kids back to the north office.

Workout
One of the benefits of being in AF, I was able to work out with Eric… and Dwim joined us, as well. Today’s routine:

• Leg Raises: 3 sets / 20 reps
• Pull-ups: 1 set / 10 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets / 8 reps, 205 lbs.
• Curls (standing, dumbbell, crossover): 3 sets / 12 reps, 25 lbs
• Flys (Nautilus): 3 sets / 10 reps, 110 lbs
• Upright Rows (barbell): 3 sets / 10 reps, 50 lbs

Pre-workout weight: 173.2 lbs

Stray Toasters

• The World of Web Trolling
• By way of : Open Source Food
• VisionAire
• 
• “And I would have gotten away with it, if it wasn’t for you meddling kids and your pesky dog!”

I should probably pay some more attention to the game… as I’m being attacked by a Sphinx. Yay.

Namaste.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
I’ve seen a couple of links to this article today.

I can’t fathom the amount of… malice?… apathy?… evil?… that it would take to commit a crime like this.

And, from a different perspective: What about the other passengers? What goes through your head when you turn and see something like this occur mere inches from you? Or if you were the guy he smoked a cigarette with? Or the young lady he chatted up?

I’ve heard people say – and even said myself, on occasion – “People suck.”

This goes a long way to reinforcing that belief.

Stray Toasters

• Sushi == good
• From the “Too Much Free Time” file: HALO Corpse Alphabet
• Congratulations to
• Thanks to for pointint out Time-lapse video: Building the LEGO Death Star Diorama
• ‘Smart shoe’ could prevent elderly falls
  
• By way of : My Disguises

Friday – 25 July 2008

It’s SysAdminDay!

In honor of this, I once again bring your Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie’s System Administrator Song.

Last night, I hung out with Allie and her friend, David; I haven’t seen her in close to a year, I guess. She’s in town for a CF treatment. When I talked with her earlier in the week, I told her that I’d come visit her. I asked if she wanted anything. Her response: Tiramisu. So, I picked some up and took it to her. It was a fun visit.

I got back home around 11:00. I turned on the TV and watched the tail end of The Late Late Show. I thought about hopping on PokerStars, but realized at 12:30 that I was tapped. So I called it a night.

Stray Toasters

• If the weather stays decent, I may head to a driving range this weekend.
• From the Council for Better Driving: Utah comes Utah Code Section 41-6a-801 – Turning – Manner – Traffic Control Devices

  Loosely translated: “To the road monkey in front of me this morning: You could have turned left – into your designated lane, even though there was oncoming traffic turning right… into their designated lane.”

• No, I don’t play for the 49’ers
• Last Lecture Professor Randy Pausch, 47, Dies
• Wizard People
• 
• Oil paintings of computer cables
• The Shining recreated with WowWee robots

• LEGO Beijing Olympics

Namaste.

And, yes, “toasterifficness” is a word.
His Chocolate Holiness has decreed it, so shall it be.

• I had an interesting thought while taking a walk at lunch: I passed some flowers outside one of the buildings in our office park; some of the flowers had begun to wilt. My first thought was “Why is beauty so transitory?” I mused on it for a few moments and then had to amend the thought to: “Why is our perception of beauty – or what is considered ‘beautiful’ – so transitory?”
• Somebody’s Somebody
• Lish wanted me to make a note of Bacon Salt. I seem to remember that someone else (possibly or ) had pointed this out to me a few months ago.
• Lish also thinks that I should audition for Top Chef… based solely on the strength of my S’mores Brownie Pie. I’m not so confident that they alone are enough to get me on – let alone through – a season of Top Chef.
• I’m anxious to get my guitar back from the shop. I wasn’t really aware how much I missed having it around… until it wasn’t. Go figure.
• Rowling’s Harvard Speech Doesn’t Entrance All
  Wow. I was pretty amazed at some of the graduates’ reactions in this article. Want to talk about “entitlement,” check these out these quotes:

  “I think we could have done better,” shrugged computer science major Kevin Bombino. He says Rowling lacks the gravitas a Harvard commencement speaker should have.”You know, we’re Harvard. We’re like the most prominent national institution. And I think we should be entitled to … we should be able to get anyone. And in my opinion, we’re settling here. “

  …and…

  “It’s definitely the ‘A’ list, and I wouldn’t ever associate J.K. Rowling with the people on that list,” says senior Andy Vaz. “From the moment we walk through the gates of Harvard Yard, they constantly emphasize that we are the leaders of tomorrow. They should have picked a leader to speak at commencement. Not a children’s writer. What does that say to the class of 2008? Are we the joke class?”

  As SaraRules put it: “I’m sorry that probably the most published living author isn’t good enough for a CS major.” I think that the best summary to the article was this:

  “They’ll grow up,” says 1983 graduate David Epstein. “They’ll have a broader worldview and they’ll understand that there are many, many ways to contribute. You know what they say — the freshman bring so much, and the seniors take away so little.”

• Today’s iTunes random play has been full of Prince songs.

Thursday – 05 June 2008
I must really like Sting’s Shadows in the Rain at a very deep level.

Why do I think this?
Because I keep enacting the “Woke up in my clothes again this morning” line.

I have a rather comfortable couch. Last night, I watched the end of DS9. I felt fine, fairly alert. Seven Days came on, but it was an episode that I’m not overly fond of, so I switched over to Law & Order: SVU. I don’t even think I made it to “Law.” I may not have even made it past the “L.” Next thing I knew, it was 6:30. I didn’t think that I was that tired. Guess I was wrong. *shrug*

Got up. Did the rituals. Ran into two of my neighbors on the way to the car. Hit the B&B for an iced mocha. And started the day.

And so it goes.

And so far, it goes well. Besides that… it’s Sushi and Comics NBN Thursday. Win-win.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
Now that the Democratic Nomination Debacle seems to be over, I’m… somewhat intrigued… by some of the news media’s choices in whom to interview about the groundbreaking importance of Senator Obama’s campaign and nomination.

CNN interviewed Jesse Jackson a couple of days ago. I was torn about this. On one hand, it made logical sense, as Rev. Jackson has run for office in the past. On the other hand, it seemed as though part of the reason they chose him was because of his role as a so-called “Black leader.” That gives me some pause. I’m not sure that I would really bestow that title upon him today. Yes, he’s done good things in the cause of the advancement of Black – and others’ – civil rights… but, to me, he seems to have moved from that to be more of a demagogue (def. 1) than an actual leader. Or, dare I say it: A rabble-rouser.

Sometimes, he seems to just… magically appear… at whatever scene is getting the most coverage. He’ll say a few words that play to the crowd and/or are useful as sound bites, but I don’t often find myself agreeing with him.

I would also put Rev. Al Sharpton in this “Who can we interview to get ‘the Black perspective'” category. However – and this is a pretty big “however” – I have to admit that I’ve seen Rev. Sharpton jumping on the latest bandwagon far less often in the past few years. I don’t know if I would say that he has “calmed down in his own age,” but it seems as though he’s more judicious about which windmills he chooses to joust.

I would go on to say that I’m not sure that there is “a” Black leader… or even two or three of them. (Of course, I currently live in Utah, so they could be out there, but I just don’t hear about them from behind the Zion Curtain…) The leaders of the 60s through… 80s, I’d say, have a certain perspective that I’m not sure is completely relevant today. I don’t mean this to diminish any of their accomplishments; I wouldn’t have many – possibly ANY – of the opportunities that I have enjoyed had it not been for their struggles and the paths they trod. But, when listening to them, it sometimes seems as if some of their old biases and prejudices still tinge their opinions.

To be honest, I’m not sure that I really want a “Black leader.” The “Black Experience,” as it is called, draws from a common history, but has so many facets that I believe that no single leader would be able to bridge them all.

Besides I’d rather have a leader who can speak to all people and draw them closer, as a whole, while acknowledging and respecting their differences.

Stray Toasters

• While I like many versions of Ave Maria, I am particularly fond of the Franz Schubert version.
• The 31 Places to Go This Summer
• There’s been a shake-up at the top of the Air Force chain of command, due largely to the nuclear warhead-laden B-52 that flew from North Dakota to Texas last year.
• How Tech-Savvy Will the Next President Be?
• 
• New trailer for Hunter S. Thompson documentary
• Forty days and forty nights,
  Didn’t it rain, children.
  Not a speck of land in sight,
  Didn’t it, didn’t it rain.
• Photographers aren’t terrorists and vice-versa
• ST: TAS / Common People mash-up:

• The Picture of Everything

Conjunction Junction, what’s your function?

Namaste.

…not that I really needed any other reasons, mind you, but this one is a peach:

Every Night’s Another Story

Particluar item: “Tip of the Day”
(It’s at the bottom of the post.)

His rationale:

With the “glass is half empty  or half full” analogy, optimism is better than pessimism.  So the way you phrase it, makes people feel like they are choosing one nationality over the other, and they don’t know what to say

Priceless.

And for this, I will name Derek “Human of the Day”

SaraRules sent me a link to the article Pearls Before Breakfast.

It’s a long article, but reading it kept reminding me of a recurring line from Way of the Peaceful Warrior: “There are no ordinary moments.”

…unfortunately, too many of us treat life as if all moments are all too ordinary.

There are things that I could be doing around here:

• …cleaning up the dining room
• …finish sorting my ‘Clix (including the new ones I picked up last night)
• …cleaning my office and making room for a new desk
• …cooking dinner (although there are leftover Sloppy Joes in the fridge)

…instead, I’m doing none of the above.

were talking about comic books earlier. He’s been asking questions about different characters and even brought up the classic “Who would win if Character X fought Character Y?” question. One of the combos he asked about was Doomsday (the creature that killed Superman) versus Galactus, devourer of worlds. I said Galactus. Hands down. And a very short fight, at that.

Then I looked over at my Galactus ‘Clix.
And tried to remember where my Doomsday ‘Clix is.

versus

I stopped short of getting the figures to duel it out, though. Just barely.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
I have proof that God, in His infinite wisdom, knew what he was doing when he didn’t grant me infinite cosmic power:

Read this article

He must have known that when I read it, I would be compelled to use my power to give Michelle Malkin a telepathic lobotomy. Come ON, people… it’s a scarf. A SCARF!

Is the next thing that someone’s going to get outraged about jeans, if we happen to see a picture of someone we don’t like wearing a certain brand?! But, why stop there? Pants! ANY pants! Let’s get outraged because someone – somewhere – who may or may not be connected to… oh, Hell… ANY organization (not even a terrorist organization)… might be wearing pants!

Dammit, Ethel! Didn’t you see for yourself that (fill in a person/archetype) was wearin’ pants?! PANTS, I say! I’ll be damned and in my grave before I ever wear pants ag’in!

Now, George… don’t say such things. You know there’s nothing wrong with…

Nope! My mind’s made up! I’m never wearin’ the damned fool things ag’in! Ever! Do you think I want ever’body in town thinking that I associate with people like that! Pants-wearing people?! Hell no! My daddy didn’t raise me that way and I’m damn sure not goin’ along with all that foolishness! In fact, I’m goin’ upstairs right now and throwin’ all them pants right out!

That kind of thinking is utterly ridiculous and asinine.

Stray Toasters

• I’m (still) taking suggestions for new musicians/bands to put on my radar.
• Cat Saves Japanese Railway
• Galactus is a force of nature. Well, he’s a cosmic entity (like Phoenix… but not, by the same token.) This goes a long way to explaining normal beings’ perception of him. Sort of like Cthulhu… but without the insanity.
• And, since I brought up Phoenix, this provides a great answer to Jean Grey’s relationship to/with Phoenix:



• Ballmer and Gates Demo Windows 7
  I’m not hawking Windows; I was just amused by some of the mid-article comments/asides.
• Green Beret electrocuted in shower on Iraq base
• Fact: Galactus has been prevented from eating Earth… by Hostess Twinkies.
• MacBook Air sharp enough to slice bread, bone human flesh
• I don’t need a hand-held mixer, but I want one.
• Iron Man Rockets Into Space: For Real

Okay, time to heat up some Sloppy Joes and give some thought to hanging out in Paragon City.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 26 March 2008
Whew. It’s been a day. I’ve been fighting PHP and MySQL… and discovering the differences of installing MySQL on a Windows machine versus installing it on Defiant. I also got to wrestle with changes that my host made to their “create a new email” feature. Some would argue that it’s “easier” and/or “more simple.” To some degree, it is. But it wasn’t what I was expecting.

Sushi Wednesday is moving to Thursdays, it seems. Today, we went to Olive Garden. Almost all of us had the soup and salad with breaksticks special. I must say: It was a decent change of pace, both in the sense of not having sushi for lunch and in having something different than my usual fare at Olive Garden.

Last night, The Hand of Nefer-Tem hit Security Level 48.

Politics
I read this op-ed piece, Donna Brazile offers Hillary Clinton a reminder about Rev. Wright, yesterday. It was an interesting read. And, yes, it would be easy to jump on the bandwagon about Sen. Clinton’s… “creatively remembered” (or would that be “revisionist” or “retconned”) versions of events, but I’m not going to do that. This time.

Instead, I was more taken by one of the comments that I read. When I originally saw the article, there were only three (3) comments on it. When I returned to it a few hours later, there were three dozen or more. The particular comment that struck me was this one:

Obama is our Savior. Barak and Reverend Wright are Right, God D*** america. Now is the time to rally around Barak and Michelle and make them proud! And news flash america, Barak is right, your typical white american is a racist! Obama will apologize to our Muslim brothers for arrogant american policies of hate and slavery. Only Obama can forgive an evil nation founded slavery. REPARATIONS NOW!

 

Posted by: Obamamania

By the time I hit the third sentence, the following lines from Styx’ Mr. Roboto came to mind:

I’m not a hero, I’m not a saviour
Forget what you know.

…and that was almost immediately followed by these lines from Queen’s Flash’s Theme:

Just a man
With a man’s courage
You know he’s
Nothing but a man
And he can never fail
No one but the pure at heart
May find the Golden Grail

While becoming the President of the United States is a rather lofty goal, I’m not sure that I’d necessarily call it “the Golden Grail.” And, I won’t say that Senator Obama is without his failings. He’s human.

There have been those who have touted him as a hero. Or a possibly “a great Black leader.” Of course, there have also been those who have said that he’s “not Black enough,” or “just Black enough to not be ‘too scary’ to White voters.”

Another respondent to the piece pointed out something that I hadn’t considered: Obamamania’s comment was most likely a supporter of Senator McCain who was flaming the op-ed piece. After some thought, that seemed rather plausible.

How about this: At no time during this campaign have I heard Senator Obama claim to be anything other than a man who wants to make a difference and hopefully bring about some change. He has addressed issues of race with candor, but – in my opinion – has not attempted to use it as a soapbox or a crutch.

And I can – and do – respect that.

Stray Toasters

• I stopped in to visit Kate and Perry after work last night. They were watching American Idol. “When in Rome…” Apparently, this week’s challenge (or whatever they call it on Idol) was for the contestants to sing a song from the year they were born. There were some rather decent renditions of songs performed. Then, David Cook came onstage and performed a version of Billie Jean (yes, Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean), that I believe he arranged. It was pretty impressive.

After his performance, Perry suggested that I check out Cook’s arrangement of Lionel Richie’s Hello. I did. And I thought that it was rather good, as well…as was his Eleanor Rigby. He has good stage presence and seems to react/interact with his crowd well. He easily could become someone to watch – or listen – for on the radio in the not-too-distant future. (Listen to the judges’ comments on his performance, too.)
• Cartoonist sets out to take taboo out of swastika
• Endor Express offers up a look at upcoming Disney/Lucasfilm toys.
• I have no idea what I want for dinner.
• Dyscalculia
• Marvel has released the trailer for Next Avengers – their next direct-to-video animated feature
  …and…
  Entertainment Weekly has a 10-page preview of Marvel’s upcoming Secret Invasion limited series.
• Keith Giffen’s “Unfortunate Confluence of Words.”

  
  (click image to read the article)

• What if Clark Kent worked for Barry White instead of Perry White?
• Pilot’s gun fired during flight
• Correction: I now know what I’m having for dinner.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 19 March 2008
Yesterday, Senator Barack Obama gave a speech on race and relations in Philadelphia, PA. He spoke before a small crowd… and the media. The speech was roughly 35 minutes long. In it, he addressed his relationship with Reverend Jeremiah Wright, his minister of the past 20 years.

Twenty years is a long time.
(Click here to see some of the things that have happened in the past twenty years.)

The speech has sparked a lot of discussion.
On TV.
On the radio.
Online.
Offline.

One such discussion can be found in ‘s journal entry from yesterday. It took me a while to collect and compose my thoughts on the speech. When I finally gathered them, my response, left as a comment in ‘s journal took this form:

I was, also, duly impressed with the speech.

As a member of Black churches, I have heard many sermons laced with comments that could be seen as… “unfavorable” or possibly even separatist… but they also addressed the beliefs and fears of the congregations. Yes, many/most were “black vs. white” issues, but for the areas in which the churches were located, those were the issues about which the people were cncerned. In some of the same sermons, the ministers also charged the congregation to do more than just sit back and talk – or more commonly, just complain – about the situations and instead to get up and DO something about them. Get out with their neighbors and coworkers… or even just random people on the street… and work together to make the communities better places to work and live.

Would I disavow my ministers on the bases of their sermons, especially if someone took selected excerpts out of context? No. No more than I would for taking family and friends’ comments out of context – all of us have, at one time or another, said things that could be considered “unpalatable,” especially when taken out of context. (I point to any [of our] given Friday night coffee gathering[s] as a shining example.)

Could more have been said? Possibly… but to what end? He addressed the issue at hand – the divisive comments of Reverend Wright – and he also addressed that there is still disparity between the races and the sexes… and that NONE of it will change until we, as a nation, are willing to acknowledge that “yes, there is a problem” and are willing to do what it takes to move ourselves through and past it. I appreciate and respect the fact that he acknowledged that the statements were invective, but would not disavow his relationship because of things Reverend Wright said.

And, if you need anything else to consider about the speech, consider that it was not written by speechwriters or committee: [Senator Obama] wrote it himself.

Namaste.

Events that have occurred in the past 20 years:

• Perestroika began in the former Soviet Union.
• The Iran-Contra Affair
• George H.W. Bush was elected President of the United States of America
• Benazir Bhutto was sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan
• Pan-Am Flight 103 was blown up over Scotland
• Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska
• Tiananmen Square protests
• Yusef Hawkins was shot in New York City
• The collapse of the Soviet Union
• Nelson Mandela was freed from prison, after 27 years of captivity
• Germany reunified
• The Gulf War
• Los Angeles motorist Rodney King is beaten and arrested; the event is caught on videotape.
• Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 3000, for the first time
• Boris Yeltsin was elected President of Russia
• Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested
• White supremacist David Duke was defeated in his bid to become the governor of Louisiana
• Windows 3.1 released
• Bill Clinton is elected (and later re-elected) as President of the United States of America
• World Trade Center bombing in New York City
• FBI Raid on the Branch Davidian compound
• The World Wide Web was “born”
• The Oslo Accords
• So far, we’ve only covered 1988-2003…
• The North American Free Trade Agreement goes into effect
• Nelson Mandela inaugurated as South Africa’s first Black president
• Mississippi formally ratified the Thirteenth Amendment
• Michael Jordan announced his retirement
• Oklahoma City bombing
• NASDAQ Composite Index closed above 1000 for the first time
• Windows 95 released
• eBay was founded
• The first Harry Potter book was published
• Microsoft bought $150 million share in Apple Computer
• Diana, Princess of Wales, died following a high-speed car chase and crash
• Mother Teresa died
• The iMac debuted
• In Texas, three white supremacists murder James Byrd, Jr. by dragging him behind their pickup truck
• Google, Inc. was founded
• Ten years down, ten to go….
• Columbine High School massacre
• Windows 98 SE released
• Lance Armstrong wins his first Tour de France
• World populations reaches six billion people
• Y2K
• Windows 2000 released
• Windows ME released
• George W. Bush elected President of the United States
• Wikipedia goes online
• Apple’s OSX v10.0 released
• U.S. – China spy plane incident
• Pervez Musharraf elected President of Pakistan
• September 11, 2001 attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.
• U.S. President George Bush announced that the U.S. was engaged in a “war on terror“
• Windows XP released
• USA PATRIOT Act became law
• Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother) died
• The Beltway Sniper attacks began
• Hu Jintao became General Secretary of the Communist Party in China
• The United States Deparment of Homeland Security began operation
• STS-107: Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates on reentry
• Invasion of Iraq by forces from the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Poland
• Human Genome Project successfully completed
• Martha Stewart indicted for insider trading
• CIA Leak Scandal, in which a Washington Post reporter named Valerie Plame as an undercover agent
• The last of the old-style Volkswagen Beetles rolled off the assembly line
• The Concorde made its last commercial flight
• Saddam Hussein captured
• BSE (Mad Cow Disease) outbreak announced in Washington State
• That’s fifteen years down, five more to go…
• The CIA announced that there was no imminent threat from “weapons of mass destruction” before the 2003 invasion of Iraq
• Simultaneous explosions kill 190 on trains in Madrid, Spain
• Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan died
• 9.3 magnitude earthquake hit the Indian Ocean area; nearly 200,000 people killed and 40,000 missing
• Pope John Paul II died
• Live 8
• Hurricane Katrina struck the U.S. Gulf Coast
• Hurricane Rita struck the U.S. Gulf Coast
• Dow Jones closed above 11,000
• Apple, Inc. celebrated its 30th birthday
• Fidel Castro relinquished power to his brother, Raul, while undergoing a surgical procedure and post-surgical recovery
• U.S. population reached 300 million people
• Windows Vista released
• Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein executed
• Ban Ki-Moon becomes the new Secretary General of the United Nations
• Benazir Bhutto assassinated
• Raul Castro elected President of Cuba
• New York Philharmonic Orchestra performed in North Korea
• Cost of gold increased to $1000 per ounce

Twenty years. Like I said: “That’s a long time.”

Sunday – 02 March 2008
It’s been a quiet and lazy day.
And that’s not a bad thing.

The morning didn’t start (for me) with comics and coffee in bed. It did start with coffee – and SaraRules did read the most recent acquisition of The Walking Dead in bed – but we wound up in the living room listening to music and hanging out.

In the afternoon, we headed to Jitterbug for a coffee and a quick bite to eat with . Next stop, Toys R Us. After all, it’s “The World’s Biggest Toy Store.” It wasn’t the longest TRU excursion on record, but it was nevertheless fun. And I managed to find a Justice Lords (1, 2) 3-pack of Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman.

From there, on to SaraRules’ parents’ house for dinner and to hang out. After dinner, we watched 30 Days of Night. During the first third to half of the movie, I multi-tasked and played City of Heroes while watching the movie. By the time I was done, I was three bars closer to Level 46. Not too shabby for 30-40 minutes’ work. After the movie – and talking geek with SaraRules’ dad for a bit – we headed home. Since it was still early, we decided to watch something fairly light before calling it a night. We agreed on Justice League: The New Frontier. SaraRules liked it, especially because of its different spin on the characters; I liked it because… well, yeah.. “just because.” Duh.

This morning came early. Very early. We got up, ready and out the door and had breakfast at Paradise Bakery and Cafe before SaraRules had to head off to pick up one of her roommates and hit the road for southern Utah.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
This I Believe – Leaving Work Early to Watch the Sunset

Stray Toasters

• A tip of the hat to for his considerate gift of a couple of tickets to see Garrison Keillor when he comes to Abravanel Hall in a couple of weeks.
• Thanks to SaraRules for reminding me that Daylight Saving Time starts 09 March 2008.
• Prince Defines Hip in a New Way
• 
• For gamers who want their old-school fix: Genesis emulation comes to the Wii
• Cal State University fires Quaker for inserting “nonviolently” into oath.
• I can actually see downtown – and across the valley – this morning. I have pictures to prove it.
• Steampunk Mac Mini
• And, in other old-school-meets-new(ish)-school news: Serial-mouse-driven Etch-a-Sketch

“…right on to the friction of the day.”

Namaste.

Monday – 11 February 2008
This morning started early. 5:10 AM early. And, after a night of not sleeping well, that’s pretty damned early, indeed. But, it was worth it: SaraRules and I had breakfast at Paradise Bakery & Cafe before she headed back to Cedar City. We’ve been trying to go there for a few weeks, but never managed to get there during breakfast hours. It was pretty good and not too terribly priced; more than fast food, but a bit more substantial, too. We also discovered something else: That has to be the safest place in Cottonwood Heights at 6:00 AM — there were six or seven sheriff’s deputies there. And, it’s not the first time that I’ve noticed that.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
I’m willing to bet that this has been tossed around the Internet and other media before, but it just dawned on me: Lost is basically Gilligan’s Island with more people.

Stray Toasters

• SaraRules pointed out Yes We Can (by the Black Eyed Peas’ Will.i.am) to me this weekend. Check it out.
• Barack Obama won a Grammy Award (his second) for “Best Spoken Word Album” for The Audacity of Hope. Among the nominees he beat: former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.
• shockpuppet pointed me in the direction of The Superest. Start at at the bottom and work your way up.
• 
• I don’t have incredibly high hopes for the potentially upcoming live-action Justice League movie, but I think that it’s cool that they cast Common as Green Lantern.
• I like this take on Wonder Woman, even though I’m not crazy about the sandals.
• Collateral damage.
• I picked up Across the Universe, Blazing Saddles and The Invincible Iron Man (animated) this weekend.
• Roy Scheider – possibly best known for his roles in Jaws, All That Jazz, Seaquest DSV or my favorite: Blue Thunder – died this weekend.

Quote of the Day
I received a random text message from Adam yesterday:

I’ll call you when I get back, I just set sail with the Captain.

I haven’t heard from him since. I just hope that it wasn’t one of those proverbial “three-hour tours.”

Friday – 08 February 2008
The weekend steadily approaches. Selah.

I was up on-time this morning. “On-time” meaning that I didn’t ignore the alarm (multiple times). This doesn’t necessarily mean that I didn’t have a leisurely time getting ready… but I was awake and mobile, at least. And, I was still in the office by 8:15… with frozen mocha goodness and a bagel omelette sandwich, no less!

I took a few pictures of the mountains at sunrise. I made the gallery using iWeb, rather than iPhoto. It wasn’t quite as automatically intuitive as iPhoto, but it was still rather easy.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
Coffee, in its various forms, is not something that you buy.
You rent it.

The same holds true for alcohol.

Stray Toasters

• brought in the Dragonlance DVD for me to borrow. This should be… interesting… if not entertaining.
• Thanks to for making sure that I saw Super LEGO Mario.
• By way of Drive Thru RPG: Xpress Core System
• Eric mentioned that Top Gear did a show where the hosts drove a charity “rally” through the southeastern states. Part of the race was through Alabama. Click here to see what they did for this part of the race.
• 72 Tips for Safer Computing
• Martin Scorsese is gearing up to do a Bob Marley documentary.
• 
• At the beginning of A Show of Hands, Rush used The Three Stooges’ “Hello… Hello… Hello… HELLO!” as their introduction. Now, no matter when I hear it, I expect to hear The Big Money immediately afterwards. Every time.
• Millions of peaches, peaches for me
  Millions of peaches, peaches for free
• Compubeaver
• Seeing the root domain name of the Compubeaver site reminded me of Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About.

Namaste.

Friday – 01 February 2008
Welcome to Black History Month.

(from http://pioneer.utah.gov)

Last night, I had dinner with Land at Biaggi’s. I haven’t eaten there in… over a year. I had the Chicken Marsala entree; it was quite good and very filling. I think that I saw the waiter who waited on us the first time that and I ate there… I think. But, I’m not sure. Fortunately, we had a different waiter and he was good – he was a little slow in bringing our drinks at first, but once he got going, he was rather attentive. After dinner, I ran a few errands then headed home.

I slept in a little this morning. Not much. Just enough. And it was good. A quick stop at the SLC office and then I was on my way to AF.

Things were fairly quiet in AF. Selah.
The lunchtime workout was a repeat of Tuesday’s workout.
I weighed in today at 172.0 pounds. (Wow.)

City of Heroes: The Hand of Nefer-Tem
I put in a couple of hours in Paragon City. Not quite enough to hit Security Level 40, but it got me a good portion of the way there. I should – hopefully – be able to get there by the end of the weekend.

Next weekend is another Double XP Weekend event. Double XP == good.

Stray Toasters

• I need to replenish the Twix and Butterfinger stores in my AF desk drawer o’ goodies.
• Eric and I just figured out who one of our coworkers reminds us of: Homsar.
• The Internet may (or may not) be a series of tubes, but this is.
• With John Edwards out of the race, commentators on this morning’s Diane Rehm Show speculated as to whether we could possibly see an Obama/Clinton or Clinton/Obama ticket in the Fall…
• Microsoft wants to buy the flagging Yahoo! Interesting.
• Microsoft is also doing a webcomic: Heroes Happen Here
• Frozen Grand Central – the latest prank from Improv Everywhere.
• 
• sent me a link to this. O.o

Time to make like the cast of The Wiz (Broadway) and Ease on Down the Road.

Namaste.