Random Access

Wednesday – 28 October 2009
It’s (theoretically) Comics and Sushi Wednesday!  “Theoretically” because most of the usual suspects aren’t going to be able to make it today. I will get comics, sushi is on the fence, though.  We’ll see.

Last night, Chris came over and we played HeroClix. It was a chance for us to try out some barrier “house rules” that I found on ToyChop. In order to keep it as balanced as possible, we played the same team: Fantastic Four (from the last Starter Set), with no Feats or BFCs. Chris won the game, but it was to try the new game ideas; the house rules added a little something to the game without unbalancing it… at least as far as we could tell. We still want to test them out a little more.

My Silhouette SD arrived last night, but I didn’t get a chance to play with it. Maybe I’ll get the chance to do so tonight. Of course, I also need to cut out a lot more foamcore tiles and, unfortunately, the SD won’t do that for me. But, the fact that it will cut out tiles and posts and walls is a definite plus.

Stray Toasters

• passed along a couple of entertaining items:
  • The Art of Manliness Movember Contest 2009 (And, no, that’s not a typo.)
  • …and this Diesel Sweeties ‘toon:
    
• Urban Archeology: Lost Underworld of Los Angeles
• By way of Texts From Last Night: (607): You act like I was drinking alone…I had the entire Verizon network with me
• The Hazards of Lab Work
• Tesla Roadster Breaks Distance Record for Electric Car
• Justice Zombies of America
• Peter Sagal’s Halloween Decorations

Namaste.

Tuesday – 27 October 2009
It is snowing in the Salt Lake greater metropolitan area today:

It’s not much (at the moment), but it’s still snow. With that in mind, the Council for Better Driving: Utah advises drivers to exercise caution when traveling.

Yesterday was a fairly lax day, as birthdays should be. The day ended with dinner with SaraRules and the in-laws, while watching Monday Night Football. It was a nominally better game than I expected.

Philadelphia Eagles at Washington Redskins
27 – 17
The Eagles brought a lot of pressure and seemed to completely flummox the ‘skins in the first half of the game. Washington Head Coach Jim Zorn also seemed a little… lost… on the sidelines; having play-calling duties removed from you will do that, I guess. In the second half, Washington QB Jason Campbell looked a bit better, making plays and completing passes… but still wasn’t able to seal the deal.

Stray Toasters

• My Silhouette SD should be arriving this afternoon. I should be putting it to work with new TerrainLinX bits by the end of the week, I imagine.
• From Comic Book Resources’ “Wonder of Wonders” column:
  • The 12 Triumphs of Wonder Woman Day
  • Star-Spangled Panties: You are what you wear.
• ‘Hot Mormon Muffins’ calendar pokes fun at stereotypes
• Why am I looking forward to tomorrow’s comics?  This could have something to do with it:

  

• Book: Rules for My Unborn Son
• Cities, volunteers fight blight caused by foreclosure crisis
• Northwest pilots’ “distraction” blamed in airport overshoot
• Netflix Coming to Sony PS3
• Church of Scientology convicted of fraud in France

It looks like we’re off to the gym.
In the snow, which has started to come down with a little more “oomph.”

Namaste.

Saturday – 24 October 2009
Today’s been a good – and somewhat busy – day around here.

So far we’ve had breakfast (pancakes!) and watched the first half of the Illinois-Purdue game, run some errands, done some cleaning – including the storage closet(!), SaraRules is baking a cake, I’m trying to wrangle the office into usable shape once again. In a little bit, we’re heading out for Errands II: Electric Boogaloo… which includes a trip to The Garden of Sweden. And tonight, we’re heading out to dinner for my birthday.

Stray Toasters

• The Boilermakers beat the Illini, 24-14. That makes me smile.
• I have a couple of new icons:

  and 

• An F-16 and a couple of F-22s were flying over the valley earlier. My guess is that it was in advance of today’s Air Force/Utah game. (And… I just had this confirmed.)
• Dioramas “captured” from nature
• I need to get back into HALO 3 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance.  And CoH, once they fix the cursor glitch.
• DodgeDot (iPhone game)
• NASA Releases Cool, Free iPhone App

Time to get back to it.

Namaste.

Monday – 19 October 2009
Another week begins… and this one is starting off in shades of grey. Apparently, there was even a bit of morning lightning (!lightening) to accompany the clouds. I, however, was wandering around The Dreaming, so I missed it. And I’m alright with that, to be honest.

Yesterday was a good day, despite the Ravens’ loss, which I’ll get to in a minute. Following that game, SaraRules and I headed out to pick up a couple of things that we needed to go with dinner. Logan came over and we started watching the Patriots blow out the Titans. When that became boring – it didn’t take long at all – we decided to watch a movie, instead. We watched Rec, the Spanish movie upon which Quarantine was based.

Too bad we didn’t see this one first – it was a better film, on the whole… despite the fact that Quarantine almost lifted the entire movie shot-for-shot. Although, had we seen Rec first, I think that we might have been let down by how derivative Quarantine was.

After the movie, I started dinner – spaghetti with sauce I made. We ate and watched the Bears-Falcons game. Logan left after the first half; I half-heartedly watched the second.  Later, I decided to play a little City of Heroes. I logged in… and discovered that my cursor decided to reset its location whenever I tried to click on people or objects. Hmm. I logged out and hit the forums. Sure enough, it’s a known issue with Mac clients – it started with the live roll-out of Issue 16. *sigh* So, no City for me until it’s fixed. Around this time, SaraRules decided to watch a movie; she selected 28 Weeks Later. Good choice.

Instant Replay: Football Recap
The games of the weekend shook out this way:

Baltimore Ravens at Minnesota Vikings
31 – 33
I don’t know exactly what Coach Harbaugh said to the team at halftime, but the second half of this game turned into an actual football game. Even though the running game was still “off,” Joe Flacco started making passes down the field. Receivers ran their routes. Points were scored – including three TDs in the fourth quarter – and there was much rejoicing. The game came down to a field goal attempt by Steve Hauschka, which went wide to the left. It was a disappointing way to lose, after such an amazing comeback, but I am happy with the way the Ravens played the game… at least, the second half of it. Congrats, .

.

Philadelphia Eagles at Oakland Raiders
9 – 13
The Raiders won. Wait… let me make sure I got that right. Yep. That’s not a typo. The Raiders hosted the Eagles and won the game. Huh.  Miracles really do happen, I guess. Congrats, SaraRules.

.

Cleveland Browns at Pittsburgh Steelers
14 – 27
Ben Roethlisberger and company handed the Browns another loss. Sorry, .

.

Houston Texans at Cincinnati Bengals
28 – 17
The Texans went to Ohio and rode herd on the Bengals. Sorry, and .

.

Carolina Panthers at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
28 – 21
The Panthers were able to hang on against the Bucs and eke out a win.

Added Bonus – Boilermaker Watch: Drew Brees

New York Giants at New Orleans Saints
27 – 48
Former Boilermaker Drew Brees and the Saints went marchin’ in on the Giants yesterday.  Brees threw for 369 yards and went 23/30 on the day, as the Saints go 5-0 in the NFC South.

Stray Toasters

• Why All The Wonder Woman Hate?
• All-male college cracks down on cross-dressing
• just discovered to joy of Badass of the Week this morning.
• Rosie the Riveter bookends
• Amiga and Hyperion Settle Ownership of AmigaOS
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Man finds missile launcher in Comal County
• They Shoot Porn Stars, Don’t They (Not too surprisingly, this contains some NSFW content)

Namaste.

Sunday – 18 October 2009
This morning has been quiet and lazy. I was up at 0900 and decided to start the day. And I did. I made my way into the living room and started watching TV. USA was airing episodes of Psych; I was set.

And now I’m watching the Ravens struggle against the Vikings:

Baltimore Ravens at Minnesota Vikings
3 – 14 (halftime)
Man… I was not looking forward to this game, but still… Minnesota scoring 14 points in the first quarter… almost at will? Baltimore not being able to come up with an effective mid-range defense?  Didn’t see that coming. Hopefully, the Ravens will be able to find the end zone in the second half.

<< Rewind <<
Yesterday was a good – and busy – day. It started off with some cleaning. Yeah, I know, not the most awesome start to a day, but things needed to get done. Around noon, Kenneth – one of my coworkers – brought two of his kids over to do some sidewalk chalk art with us. We also played Freeze Tag(!), which was the first time I’ve done that in many, many, MANY years. It was a lot of fun… but seriously tiring.

After Kenneth and the kids left, SaraRules and I ran some errands… including getting some things we needed for this year’s Hallowe’en costumes. We then stopped for a bite to eat before heading off to get a little culture.

Utah Opera staged Macbeth. The performance was excellent. The set design. The costuming. The vocalists. It was top-notch, all the way around. After the opera, we went to the Vivace after-party, which was fun – I haven’t been to a Vivace event in four or five years. Last night’s event was at The New Yorker; I hadn’t been there before. It’s someplace that will be added to the “We should check them out for dinner sometime” list.

> Play >
I don’t know what’s on tap for the rest of the day, but I’m Ivory Soap sure that it’s going to be low-key.

Namaste.

Yep, definitely time to change gears and have a little break.

So far, the day has gone well and has been incident-free. We like those kinds of days… especially when they fall on NBN Thursdays.

Wes and I hit the gym at lunch for a workout. I am trying to keep in mind that I can’t just jump back into the saddle and expect to be working out using the same weight for some exercises that I did before my hiatus. Nevertheless, we had a good workout:

• Sit-ups (incline): 3 sets/20 reps
• Lower Back Extensions: 3 sets/12 reps
• Bench Press (decline): 3 sets/12 reps, 185 lbs
• Flys: 3 sets/10 reps, 110 lbs
• Shoulder Press (machine): 3 sets/10 reps, 60 lbs
• Compound Row: 3 sets/10 reps, 140 lbs
• Curls (dumbbell): 3 sets/10 reps, 25 lbs
• Push-ups (elevated): 3 sets/10 reps

Pre-workout weight (morning): 184.5 lbs

Stray Toasters

• Super-Social Networking: Superhero Facebook Status Updates
  • From the same author – Dracula Week: Dracula’s Soul Brother!
    (It’s a funny look at Scream, Blacula, Scream.)
• sent me a link to: What do you do with an old Vespa motorcycle?
  (Somehow, I don’t think that it would work if you substituted “a drunken sailor” for “and old Vespa motorcycle,” though.)
• sent a link to this, which is pretty spectacular: 9 year old scores greatest goal in Boston this season
• : Live-action ‘Clix bases for your wedding. That’s all I’m sayin’…
• En Vogue – My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It)

Namaste.

Monday – 12 October 2009
You know it’s going to be a great day when you walk into the office and the first thing – the FIRST thing – that someone says to you is not “Good morning” or “How was your weekend,” but “We’re down…”

Yay.

After a little bit of hunting, I discovered that one of our main servers decided to shoot itself in the virtual foot. Sometime in the wee hours of the morning. Did I mention “Yay?” We’re working on getting it back online now.

Last night, SaraRules and I watched a couple of episodes of Planet Earth: “Great Plains” and “Jungles,” both of which were rather fascinating. There was some footage that we’d seen in other episodes (and in DisneyEarth: Nature), but the episodes followed different tacks.

Football Update

Cincinnati Bengals at Baltimore Ravens
17 – 14
The Ravens lost this game because of some poor play and, say it with me, “Penalties.” Lots of stupid and unnecessary penalties, late in the game. Thus, with 22 seconds left in the game, the Bengals scored the go-ahead TD and sealed not only a win, but also the lead in the AFC North. Congratulations to and .

.

Oakland Raiders at New York Giants
7 – 44
Just… “ouch.” Sorry, SaraRules.

.

Cleveland Browns at Buffalo Bills
6 -3
As if to prove “The sun shines on a dog’s ass, too…” the Browns finally put one in the “W” column for the 2009 season.   Sorry, T.O. Congrats (finally) to on his team finally digging up a win.

.

Washington Redskins at Carolina Panthers
17 – 20
The cats finally scratched out a win, too…

.

Minnesota Vikings at St. Louis Rams
38 – 10
Brett Favre and the Vikes continue to ride herd in the NFC North. NFL.com added the following notes: The Vikings are 5-0 for the first time since 2003, when they started 6-0. … Favre turned 40 on Saturday and Sunday became the 12th QB in the Super Bowl era (since 1966) to start a game at the age of 40 or older. He is 5-0 for the first time in his career. Congrats, .

Maybe, just maybe, my beloved ‘fins will be able to bring me a little joy tonight and pull off a win against the Jets.

New York Jets at Miami Dolphins
Tonight at 8:30 EDT

Stray Toasters

• Groom’s cake: Finished.
  Wedding cake: Almost finished…
• Prelate Derek sent me this picture yesterday:

  

  That’s right, it’s a Blackest Night pic, with cereal mascots as Lanterns:

  • Tony the Tiger (Frosted Flakes) as a Green Lantern
  • Count Chocula (um… DUH) as a Sinestro Corps member
  • Sugar Bear (Super Golden Crisp) as a Blue Lantern
  • The Trix Rabbit (again… DUH) as an Orange Lantern
  • Cap’n Crunch as a Red Lantern
  • Toucan Sam (Froot Loops) as an Indigo Lantern
  • Pebbles Flintstone (Fruity/Cocoa Pebbles) as a Star Sapphire and
  • Quisp (Quisp) as a Black Lantern

  This made me laugh.

• Bright spot for fliers: Holiday fares lower than last year
• Tinker Bell has cool new look for ‘Lost Treasure’ adventure
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Six-year-old sent to reform school for bringing a weapon (Cub Scout camping cutlery) to school
• This made me snicker:

  

• lightening (definition) != lightning (definition)
• How to create a fiber-optic starfield ceiling
• Crop Art Is for Everyone!
• My generation: How Indie Game Makers Are Embracing Controlled Chaos

Namaste.

Friday – 09 October 2009
Waking up wasn’t so bad this morning. Staying awake, however, was an entirely different matter. So, I didn’t really fight it. All told, I probably logged an extra forty-five to fifty minutes of sleep. Not a bad way to kick off a Friday.

Last night, SaraRules and I headed down to The Bayou to meet , , , OnlyAly and and to celebrate ‘s birthday (before she headed back to the Eastern Reaches). It was a lot of fun. And loud. And the people-watching was pretty good, too. The food was good, too – SaraRules had the Shrimp Etouffe and I had the Jambalaya.  It was also nice, as we weren’t able to go to Cafe Orleans while we were in Cedar City; it had closed down sometime in the past few months.

Stray Toasters

• Barack Obama Wins the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize
  The BBC’s article starts off with an interesting take:
  

  “In awarding President Obama the Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian committee is honoring his intentions more than his achievements. After all he has been in office only just over eight months and he will presumably hope to serve eight years, so it is very early in his term to get this award.”

• Why the FBI Director Doesn’t Bank Online
• Girl, 12, slugged back at Phillies slugger
• SaraRules noted that we hadn’t made any pretzels in a long time. We need to change that.
• LEGO Transportation Exhibition in Ottowa
  • Wheels, Wings and Waves – A LEGO History of Transportation (Flickr set)
• Left 4 Dead 2 Approved in Australia After Edits
• Punk Animals Photoshopping Contest
• I still haven’t watched Superman/Batman: Public Enemies yet.

Lunch time!

Namaste.

Thursday – 08 October 2009
Having a week off was good, but it’s back to the grind for another NBN Thursday.

Yesterday, I went to sushi with shockpuppet, , and .  Before heading over to Dr. Volt’s, I stopped at Evergreen Framing Co. & Gallery – I’ve been past it many times without going in. It’s a nice little shop, with art from local artists. If you’re in the 33rd South and 20th East area, check it out. Next stop: Dr. Volt’s and then… back home.

Later in the evening, SaraRules and I made a pilgrimage to The Garden of Sweden. We picked up a GORM storage unit for the pantry and a few knick-knacks.

Today has been mostly getting back into the swing of things. And, a tasty lunch at Taste of Punjab.

Stray Toasters

• We have Dunkin’ Donuts Munchkins.  Booyah!
• For SaraRules:

  

• What’s Inside a Cup of Coffee?
  Aside from life-giving (and/or life-saving) goodness, you mean…?
• Rock out to Spider-Woman’s Tangled Web
• Missile Silo Fixer-Upper Now Swanky Bachelor Pad
• Ctrl-Alt-Del‘s Tim Buckley has a few things to say about the Left4Dead 2 “boycott”
  • I boycott the boycotters
  • Boycott: From the other side
• Wondermark’s Genre Fiction Generator
• Finding Common Ground in a Tiny Barbershop

Namaste.

Thursday – 01 October 2009
This NBN Thursday kicked off around 0745… and at only 32°F. Of course, following a day where it snowed (TWICE!), I’m glad that this morning was just clear and cold. Additionally, none of the snow in the valley lasted; on the mountaintops, however… *shrug*

This morning saw the first of today’s airport runs that SaraRules and I will be making:

1. Adam (Sib-3), Chelsea and Caden (Nephew-1) arrived at 0900. Their baggage… we weren’t too sure about. From the time they deplaned to the time they made it down to baggage claim, nothing with their flight number came up. This didn’t make them – nor the other people on their flight – very happy. Adam went to see what had happened while Chelsea went to get the rental car. According to him, the baggage claim clerk said that the people on their flight “didn’t make it to baggage claim fast enough,” so they took their baggage off the carousel and put it in the claims office. “Not fast enough?!” They walked from the gate to baggage claim! Any faster and they would have had to ‘port there. Idiotstick. Meanwhile, Chelsea was still waiting in line at the car rental counter – they only had one person working the desk. All told, it took almost an hour to get everything straight, which put us there when…
2. My stepsister, Barbara, arrived. In fact, I had to leave the others to finalize the rental arrangements to meet her. She had already gotten her luggage by the time I got back to baggage claim. We met the others at the rental counters. She got her car and we were off.

We had a “slight miscue” getting out of the airport, but that was clarified a couple of phone calls later. I dropped SaraRules off at home – she was meeting her sister and mother for a spa day and afternoon tea – before leading Adam and company to their hotel; I didn’t have to lead Barbara, as she had a GPS in her car… and she took off without us. Everyone checked in and then we went out for lunch.

Now, I’m back at home to take care of some cleaning while there’s some down time.

Stray Toasters

• T-minus two days…
• Caden is adorable. That’s really all there is to it. Or, as SaraRules put it: “Adam’s very lucky to have Chelsea help him make a cute kid.”
• Despite sending emails with weather updates to the family, I’ve already/still gotten two calls asking me how cold it is and if it really snowed yesterday.
• Movie Posters for Minimalists
• Being a bad guy can be good for career
• I still haven’t watched Superman/Batman: Public Enemies yet!
• I’m a bit late getting up to speed on this one, but it’s Banned Books Week.
• Monster Cereal: Fan Art Month
• Are you an Xbox Live subscriber? If so, what’s your gamertag?
• Are you a member of Good Reads?  What’s your username?
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Bank of America demands thumbprint from man with no arms

Namaste.

Wednesday – 30 September 2009
The last day of September is rainy.
It’s noticeably cooler than the past week or so has been – today’s projected high is 56F.
And… AND… there’s a possibility of snow in the forecast.

But, on the bright side: It’s Comics (and Sushi) Wednesday.

Last night, I headed over to Chris’ to play HeroClix. Instead, we wound up chatting the evening away. (Which was just as good a way to spend the evening, in my opinion.) He also showed me Batman: Arkham Asylum and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, both of which looked good… but I’d be more inclined to pick up Alliance than Asylum at this point.

Stray Toasters

• T-minus three days and counting.
• Speaking of which, I’ve had a number of people ask me “What’s the attire for the event?” This is somewhat amusing, as we specifically put “Semi-Formal Attire” on the wedding invitation. This has led to questions of “What’s ‘semi-formal?’ ” So, with that in mind, here’s a guide to semi-formal wear:
  • Dress Code (Western)
  • Semi-formal
  • Semi-Formal Dress (women)
  • The Well-Dressed Gentleman

  We’ve also been asked if we’re serious about the attire. Simple answer: “Yes.” After all, we put it on the invitations for a reason. And that reason is to (hopefully) preclude anyone – with exactly one known and excused exemption – from showing up in streetwear or casual wear.

• Apple 1984 ad, updated for 2009

• I picked up my copy of Superman/Batman: Public Enemies last night.
  I brought it to work this morning; there’s a good chance that it will see some screen time today.
• Amanda Palmer on why she’s not afraid to ask her listeners for money
• I need to find someone who can make one of these for .
• Snow…? Now?!  Really?!?  *shakes head*
• Bobby Brown: My Prerogative

• Indiana Jones Desktop Accessories
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Britain seeks ban on pint glasses to prevent bar-brawl injuries
• Zork rock anthem

Namaste.

Tuesday – 29 September 2009
Thank God it’s “Thursday.”
I wonder if I should impose standard NBN rules…?  I shall have to ponder this.

Happy Birthday to loonybin88:

Last night, I did a little more work on my Cyclops ‘Clix. I broke out the modeling putty and went to work. It’s not my best work, but as SaraRules pointed out: I haven’t really tried sculpting anything before, so I can’t expect it to be “perfect” the first time out of the gate. True enough. As it is, I managed to Dremel/file/sculpt the “X” off of his costume and (most of) the cuffs from his boots and gloves.

(Pre-Dremel/file and sculpting image)

I’ve put a rough coat of paint on, to see how it will look. So far, not “hellish.” Again, not perfect, but it’s going to be alright. I’m still on the fence about whether or not I’m going to try and sculpt his belt an straps or just paint them on. We shall see. And, should I choose to do a “better-looking” figure in the future, well… in the words of Kool Moe Dee:

And if it’s weak when I’m done
Renovate and build another one
I go to work

‘Nuff said.

We just got back from lunch for loonybin88’s birthday. Famous Dave’s. Almost as food coma-inducing as Rodizio. Mmm…

Stray Toasters

• Flu shot: Check.
• SaraRules posted something on the wedding blog.  *jawdrop*
• Utah is about to have a lovely cold snap: We’re going to drop 30-40°F… effectively overnight.
• Atari Represent t-shirt
• 
• FREE CAKE!!!
• Stalin’s Scientist Sees First Light
• One small step for a clown, one giant step for clownkind.

Namaste.

Sunday – 27 September 2009
Holy cow. This has been one helluva weekend. It has also reaffirmed my thoughts and feelings that I have an amazing fiancee and some equally amazing friends.

Saturday started with sleeping in. It was nice. SaraRules and I had planned on a relatively low-key day together, before the last week before the wedding. When we finally got in gear and out of the apartment, we headed to the Garden of Sweden and Hobby Lobby – we were looking for some picture frames (IKEA) and some ribbon for our wedding guest book. We found both. AND, we even had Slurpees! We eventually meandered back home. We straightened up a few things and chilled out before heading out to Tucano’s, a Brazilian steakhouse, for dinner.  Mmm… food-induced coma.

Then things went completely off the rails.

Around 6:00, when we were supposed to be leaving, there was a knock on the door. I looked out the peephole and thought I saw . Opening the door, I was more than “a little” shocked to see standing there, instead. Then he yelled, “Get ‘im!” and rushed in the door. He was followed by seven other people.

My first reaction: Fall into defensive mode and prepare to start throwing punches.

That’s when I noticed that loonybin88 was one of the people…

::: processing:::
::: processing :::
::: processing :::

It then clicked that I recognized the people and could stand down from preparing to fight, but I was still resistant to them trying to usher me out the door. (According to SaraRules, it apparently took four of them to push/pull me out.) As they got me out into the parking lot, looked at me and announced, “Welcome to your bachelor party!” As I was still in shock over the abruptness of what had just happened, the only thing that came to mind was:

“But I have dinner plans…”

Yeah. Brilliant. Because it hadn’t clicked in my head that my beautiful bride-to-be would have anything to do with me getting kidnapped and taken out for a surprise bachelor party. (Tricksy like a Hobbit, she is.) Apparently, she and had been planning this for weeks, once it became fairly public knowledge that I wasn’t planning on having a bachelor party. Their co-conspirators included: , and Chris S., , loonybin88, and Land.

We headed to Rodizio Grill, where , Chris (whom I play ‘Clix with) and SaraRules’ brother, Logan, joined us. While it wasn’t the quiet evening out with my fiancee that I was expecting, I enjoyed the deadly sin of Gluttony just as much. The food, as ever, was very good. The company was equally good.

After dinner, we piled into cars and headed to Fat Cats for some bowling and to shoot some pool. (And me without my bowling balls or shoes… *sigh*) According to Ye Olde Blog, I hadn’t been bowling since April 2008. Sad. We got in two games, I bowled a 170 and a 143; that wasn’t too bad, considering the lapse in time on the lanes. Next we played a couple hours’ worth of pool. There was a lot of slop, but we also had a lot of fun.

Next stop: and OnlyAly’s place for poker and drinking and general shooting the bull. We played until 0330 this morning. I bummed a ride home from Chris and Nox.

All told, I had an excellent game/geek-inspired bachelor party in the company of some great friends, to whom I can only say, “Thank you very much.”

Not too surprisingly, I slept in a bit on Sunday morning. I couldn’t sleep in very late, though, because it was the season’s first meeting between the Browns and the Ravens. We headed over to ‘s place, where Nox was already waiting. We also met a couple of ‘s friends, Christy and Clark… who were also Browns’ fans – we won’t hold that against them… much. Besides, it will be nice for to not have to drink alone for the next game. The Ravens brought their “A” game today, handing the Browns a 34-3 shellacking.

Cleveland Browns at Baltimore Ravens
3 – 34
Joe Flacco had another excellent week, posting 342 passing yards.

Let me repeat that, for those who missed it: Thirty-four to three. SaraRules, Nox and I did one shot, each, to ‘s seven. It was a beautiful thing.

After the game, SaraRules and I headed down to Kate and Perry’s; we were babysitting the kids this evening. Two of us… four kids… GO! Of course, watching the kids was a piece of cake. They started off watching a couple episodes of Lazy Town. (SaraRules noted that it will only be a few years before we are subjected to shows like this on a regular basis…) Next, they watched Next Avengers, which wasn’t too bad. We then fed the group and then sent the older kids to baths. We popped corn and let them watch Cars before sending them off to bed.

And now, it’s pre-Monday winding down time.

But, it’s been a great weekend.

Namaste.

Thursday – 24 September 2009
Another NBN Thursday is under way.  This one has the added bonus of starting with frozen mocha goodness.

Last night, I picked up my four-color shwag and headed home to decide what to do about dinner, as SaraRules had a post-work meeting. I was thinking “ramen” about the time that she called to say that she was on the way home. Win-Win. So, rather than artificially-flavored Japanese noodles, we had soft tacos. After dinner, she headed out to meet Melissa at the gym; I went to Target – I needed some boxes so that I could ship some eBay auction items. Before heading home, I stopped in to visit .

Back at home, before watching The Late Show, SaraRules and I practiced our first dance. There have been a couple of modifications. Nothing too major, fortunately. And, our… mastery (?)… of the dance is coming along.

Stray Toasters

• Nine days and counting…
  • Groomsmens’ gifts: Check.
  • Best Man rearrangement: Check.
• Last week, I received a new 22″ monitor at work. Yesterday, I unpacked and set it up. After getting rid of two other monitors, I now/still have three (3) on my desk: 42″, 22″ and 19″.
• pointed me in the direction of this: Tiny, Easy-to-Build Weapons Annihilate Office Boredom
• Comics in the Classroom
• …speaking of comics, yesterday’s books were good.
• By way of Prelate Derek:

  

• Damn you, Word Twist!
• For :

  

• posted a link to Ugliest Tattoos: The Gallery of Regrets and all I can say is, “Wow…” Some of these (read: “Almost ALL of them…”) are straight out of the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file.
• London cops finally apologize for mugging geek — four years later
• From the “Curiouser and curiouser…” file: Lamp that runs on human blood
• Meetings != YAY!

Namaste.

Wednesday – 23 September 2009
Midweek and all’s well.

Today is… well… I’m not sure that it’s going to be Comics and Sushi Wednesday, as we have a coworker whose last day is tomorrow; I was invited to his going-away lunch, which will conflict with going to sushi. Of course, since SaraRules has a work-related function right after business hours, I am on my own for dinner. Maybe I’ll just go get sushi and comics a little later than usual.

For the first time in weeks, I felt like working on a couple of custom HeroClix figures. I’m still a little torn about what to do for Cyclops. I want to do a figure of him in his black Astonishing X-Men outfit – the original one, not what it’s morphed into in the past year or so. I’m not sure which figure I want to use for it – I ordered a couple of the ones from the Danger Room set, but they will require some surgery and modeling putty to make them look “just right.” Of course, I may just borrow the arms and torso from a spare Booster Gold, since his cuffs are right… then I’d have to find legs and add a little putty in the torso, again. We’ll see how this goes.

Stray Toasters

• Thanks to everyone who responded to this post. If you haven’t responded – or if you have something else to add – please feel free to add comments.
• Working cigarette lighter cufflinks
• I’ve been a Superman fan for… well, let’s just say “a long time.” The 1978 Superman, starring the late Christopher Reeve, is still my #1 movie – a combination of it being a good movie and the memories attached to seeing it. I even enjoyed Superman Returns, warts and all. That being said, I was quite scared – and more than “a little” leery – when I heard that Tim Burton, hot off the successes of his Batman movies, was possibly being tapped to direct a reboot of the Superman franchise, based on a Kevin Smith (Clerks, Mallrats) treatment, called Superman Lives (1, 2).
  

  *blink blink*

  Tim Burton. Superman. No, they do not go together like chocolate and peanut butter. His choice for Clark Kent was even more left-of-center: Nicolas Cage. Yes, THAT Nicolas Cage:

  Nicolas Cage, a comic book fan, signed on as Superman with a $20 million pay or play contract, feeling he could “re-conceive the character.” Peters felt Cage could “convince audiences he [Superman] came from outer space.” Burton stated it would be “the first time you would believe that nobody could recognize Clark Kent as Superman, he [Cage] could physically change his persona.”

  Yeah. Granted, after seeing a (relatively) slightly more serious Cage in The Rock, I was willing to give him a shot.. but I was still leery. Don’t get me wrong, I do like Mr. Cage’s work in some things (Ghost Rider!!!), but yeah.

  All of that to say this: Yesterday, a picture surfaced of Mr. Cage’s costume test. Not the Clark Kent costume, but the Superman costume. Click here to see it, if you dare.

• FDA OKs First Human Trial of Neural Stem Cell Therapy
• James May’s LEGO house is demolished
• Photos of Edward Gorey’s house
• Improv Everywhere strikes again: Subway Yearbook Photos
• Utah Tackles Texting and Driving Problem Head-On
• The next X-film: X4 or New Mutants
  (Personally, I’d go New Mutants.)
• Church converted into magnificent bookstore
• Two things that you probably never thought of putting together: Left4Dead Teletubbies mod
• Andrei Condrescu: Growing Up the iPod Way

Namaste.