Random Access

Saturday – 14 February 2009
Happy Valentine’s Day.

…or Single’s Awareness Day.
…or Anti-Green Lantern Day¹.

After sleeping in a bit and getting ready to face the day, SaraRules and I waited for Rachel to drop by. The three of us went to The Cheesecake Factory for brunch. I had the Cajun Jambalaya Pasta and a slice of the Chocolate Cake Cheesecake, both of which were very good. We came back home and hung out for a while before Rachel had to head back to Cedar City.

Later, SaraRules and I are having dinner at Braza Grill.

And somewhere in the middle, I’m going to try and finish up another portion of the new street corner. for the ‘Clix map, either the gas station or the gun store. If I’m lucky, maybe even both of ’em. We’ll see.

Stray Toasters

• Knowing how much I enjoyed the brief portions of it that we got to watch, SaraRules got me Planet Earth for my Valentine’s Day gift.
• NYCC ’09: Green Lantern at 50
• My ‘Clix Storm just arrived.

  

• DesktopGaming has Killer Retro Gaming Wallpapers
• 10 Cheap of Free Home Theatre Upgrades
• Homophones! Learn what they are, if you don’t know.

Namaste.

¹ – The traditional colors of Valentine’s Day are red and white.
The color of a Green Lantern’s uniform are, oddly enough, green and black.

If you look at a color wheel, red lies opposite green and white is the opposite of black.

Therefore, Valentine’s Day (at least in terms of color) == Anti-Green Lantern Day.

Q.E.D.

Friday – 13 February 2009
Happy Birthday to Rana (Sib-1):

Last night, after watching CSI:, SaraRules and I watched Spenser: Ceremony. (Thanks, Netflix!) Again, it was enjoyable; this time we noticed the point at which it diverged from the book – at the very end of the story, actually. (The book didn’t have quite as happy an ending as the movie.)

I also assembled a garage for my ‘Clix map. Hopefully, I’ll be able to do the armory and gas station before getting together with Chris for our game this weekend.

Stray Toasters

• Best LEGO Sets in History
• Shirley Manson was on The Late Late Show last night… and may be on again tonight.
• French Vanilla ice cream and ginger snaps
• 9/11 widow apparently on Buffalo flight
• Thanks to (and Gizmodo) for pointing out this freebie!
• Men’s Guide to Style Manifesto
• This will be the first Sunday – of six months of Sundays – without football.
• Apple says jailbreaking iPhones is illegal and should be banned
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Amazon sells rape simulation game
  WHO thought this was “a good idea?!”

Song of the Day
For today’s song, I’m going back “a few” years: Swing Out Sister – Breakout

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Wes almost backed out of going to the gym this afternoon. Fortunately, he didn’t and we had a pretty good workout:

• Leg Raises: 3 sets/15 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 205 lbs
• Lat Pull-downs: 3 sets/10 reps, 120 lbs
• Rows (Nautilus, compound): 3 sets/10 reps, 130 lbs
• Lateral Raises (with fly): 3 sets/10 reps – 2 sets @ 10 lbs, 1 set @ 12 lbs
• Shoulder Press (dumbbell): 3 sets/10 reps, 35 lbs
• Tricep Extensions (rope): 3 sets/15 reps, 60 lbs

Post workout weight: 184.9 lbs

Stray Toasters

• “To boldly take your fetish geekery where no one has gone before…”
• And, in an oddly-related note, sent by Coworker DaveW: “That Jean-Luc Picard“
• I like LEGO zombies
• Ledger fans demand The Joker retired from film.
  Nine Hells.  Yes, he did a great job. Stellar, even. But… he was not – nor will he ever be – the only person to ever play The Joker. Get over it and move on.  This campaign is about as silly as saying “Don’t make any more James Bond movies if/when (fill in your favorite Bond portrayer) dies!” *sigh* Monkeys.
• Body dragged nearly 20 miles on NYC highways
• LEGO Star Wars magnets make collecting rare minifigs cheaper
• Pac-Man Ghost Lamps

Back to the grind.

Thursday – 12 February 2009
Another NBN Thursday kicks off… with the added bonus of snow! Fortunately, the road monkeys seem to be dealing with it fairly well.

Last night was (yet another) lazy night in. After watching a few shows, including an amazing Food Network Challenge. The episode was “Chocolate Masterpieces,” in which the competitors had to “recreate” their visions/versions of classical works of art… in chocolate. The pieces they chose were:

• Degas’ Ballerina
• Neptune, at Trevi Fountain
• Lion, near Piazzale degli Uffizi and
• Rodin’s Thinker

As usual, the chefs had eight (8) hours to complete their work. The interpretations were incredible. And BIG.  The lion piece was nearly 1,200 pounds and took twelve (12) people to move to the judging table. If you get a chance to see this episode, it’s worth it.

After that, I started working on another corner for my ‘Clix street map. This corner will include a gas station, garage, store and a small apartment. I’ll see about getting some pictures of it in the next few days.

Stray Toasters

• By way of SaraRules: IN-N-OUT Burger pursuing Draper site
• Art in Two Germanys Often Spoke the Same Tongue
• Jet searching for new pilot after Favre’s bailout
• 
• By way of : Power Hog – Piggybank Power Meter Keeps the Change
• The Musical Illusionist, Now Appearing at Hotel St. George
• Pope condemns denial of Holocaust
  His Chocolate Holiness, Pope Groovalicious, concurs with this applauds Pope Benedict on taking this stand.
• 
• Up could elevate animated movies with its serious story
• Sat collision highlights growing threat

Zoom!

Today’s workout was a mostly back and shoulders (with a little triceps thrown in, for good measure) workout:

• Leg Raises: 3 sets/20 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 185 lbs
• Lat Pull-downs: 3 sets/10 reps, 120 lbs
• Rows (Nautilus, compound): 3 sets/10 reps, 125 lbs
• Lateral Raises (with forward rotation): 3 sets/15 reps, 10 lbs
• Tricep Press (T-bar): 3 sets/15 reps – 1 set @ 70 lbs, 2 sets @ 80 lbs
• Dips: 3 sets/15 reps – 2 sets, bench dips; 1 set unassisted

It was a good workout.  At least, that’s what my triceps are telling me.  I might add a little more shoulder work in on Thursday.

Stray Toasters

• passed this along to me: Dear Spike, Love Dad: Of a Dream
  I think it might even be Quote of the Day.
• By way of SaraRules: Michelle Obama to Grace Cover of Vogue Magazine
• Steampunk cake
• Hey, Stop Staring at This Lady’s… Arm
• From today’s “Unintentional Porn Overheard at Work” file comes this gem:
  

  “I’ll have to play with it until I’m comfortable with it…”

• Turning an iPod Touch into an iPhone
• Pong Museum
• Stopping Trucks the Superhero Way
  To which, SaraRules replied: “Hmm…. interesting. But I do think Superman would be more effective.”
• 50 of the Most Insane Things Never Seen on Google Street View

Back to it.

Sunday – 08 February 2009
Yesterday was a good day, all around.

I went 1-2 at the tournament, but I was happy with my choice in teams and how it fared against others. I played a team based on the theme “Gotham City PD,” using:

• Captain Gordon – team captain
• Gotham City Detective (x3)
• Gotham City Policeman (x2)
• Gotham City Undercover

I got a bye – and lone win – in the first round, playing against Keith, who fielded five Multiplex figures, with the Atom LE as the team captain. Next up, I faced Jerry, who used two Doombots, a White Martian and a Spider-Slayer. My last game was against Ryan, with his S.H.I.E.L.D. team, captained by Sharon Carter. That was my closest game, coming down to the last kill – Ryan won by five points.

On the other hand, the tournament was a “success” for me on two levels:

1. We got to play on the map that I built
2. I got the Fellowship Prize (which I’m sure the map helped me secure): Henchman LE

After that, I met SaraRules at home and we then headed to her parents’ place for dinner and to hang out with the family. After that, we made a pilgrimage to the Garden of Sweden, before heading home for a lazy evening and watching the end of West Side Story.

Today… we’re off to brunch and waiting for the Pro Bowl. Other than that, the sky’s the limit.

Namaste.

Saturday – 07 February 2009
Yesterday evening, SaraRules and I had dinner with her family – including an aunt, visiting from out-of-town – at Jasmine. Sushi, Chinese food, good atmosphere and good company.

After dinner, I headed to meet the usual suspects at Clitorati while SaraRules got to spend some quality time with her aunt and the rest of her family. The gathering was smallish, but both and put in appearances; it was good to see them both. SaraRules also showed up a little later, but opted out of going to get a bite to eat. Returning home, I watched about roughly half of West Side Story with SaraRules – I’ve never seen it before, so I had to ask “Who’s who” and “What’s the story here” more than a few times.

This morning, I was up before I had planned: The Leash went off shortly after 8:00 AM. I waited for a follow-up alert… which canceled the first one. Thank God. SaraRules got up to get ready for quilt club; I got up to finish my street corner map for today’s Clix tourney. As an added bonus, I watched last night’s Batman: The Brave and the Bold while enjoying my morning coffee. The episode featured the Green Lantern Corps and Despero. I had to make a quick run to Target and Office Depot, too – I needed to get more glue and to find some way to make sure that the map’s corners didn’t move around during gameplay. I was going to use binder clips, but I found some sticky-backed Velcro^® tabs. After a quick “Is this going to work” test, I’m glad that I decided against the binder clips.

Time to finish getting ready and get out of Dodge.

Namaste.

This game is due this summer and features the voices of Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill.

A first-hand tour of Batman: Arkham Asylum (Wired preview article)

Friday – 30 January 2009
It’s quiet in the office today. Most of the people in our office recently started a 9/80 schedule – we work 80 hours in 9 days and get every other Friday off – and this is most of the office’s “off” Friday. The IT team has been split in two and my team works the odd Friday and will have next Friday off. I think that there are… six (6) of us in the building, so far.  (Must refrain from playing City of Heroes all day…)

Last night, SaraRules and I had dinner with our friend Murphy. Not Eddie. Not Peter. Papa. As in “Take and bake pizza.” It was good. After dinner (and a couple of episodes of NCIS and CSI:), we went to the gym:

• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 185 lbs
• Reverse Fly: 3 sets/10 reps – 1 set @ 70 lbs, 2 sets @ 80 lbs
• Lower Back Extensions: 3 sets/15 reps, 140 lbs
• Pull-downs: 3 sets/10 reps, 110 lbs
• Rows: 3 sets/12 reps, 125 lbs
• Dips: 3 sets/10 reps

It was a short, but good, workout.

Post-workout weight: 186.0.
SaraRules suggested that I might think about cutting back on crack ginger snaps.  I suggested that she might be wrong in that… and that I could stop any time I wanted.  If I wanted to, that is.

Stray Toasters

• I apparently was very generous with the amount of coffee I scooped into the maker last night; this is a strong cup o’ joe.
• Barack and Michelle Obama lead celebration of new equal pay law
• “Longinus!”
• …who was also referenced in Final Crisis: Revelations. (It made me chuckle.)
• Black Swan author’s rules for living
• 
• Blagojevich ousted as Illinois governor
• Bionic teeth!
• GDP sees biggest drop in 27 years
• This user icon amused me:



• Lode Runner
• And, in other game-related news: DRM shuts down PC version of Gears of War

Namaste.

Wednesday – 28 January 2009
This month is flying by. Kind of odd to think that February starts next week… and that Bit will be a year old a few days after that. I’m also curious to see how Black History Month celebrations note the election of President Obama.

Last night, while watching TV, I assembled a couple more pieces for the WWG “City Planning” board: The Apartment Building and the Vacant Lot. When it’s all said and done, the first corner/block will look something like this.

SaraRules and I also went to the gym last night:

• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps – 1 set @ 205 lbs, 2 sets @ 185 lbs
• Rows (Nautilus, Compound Row): 3 sets/12 reps, 140 lbs
• Flys (Dumbbell, flat bench): 3 sets/10 reps, 30 lbs
• Shrugs: 3 sets/10 reps, 30 lbs
• Curls: 3 sets/10 reps, 30 lbs
• Lateral Raises (with forward fly): 3 sets/10 reps, 10 lbs
• Tricep Extensions: 3 sets/15 reps, 60 lbs
• Push-ups: 2 sets/10 reps

It was a pretty good workout.

Post-workout weight: 183.1 lbs

Stray Toasters

• The workday started off slowly, which was nice… but has since turned into “one thing after another.”
• After suspension for nodding at Obama, drum major quits
• T-Shirt Hell is closing up shop.
• By way of Liz and the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: I knew that being a lawyer was a sometimes dirty job, but this takes it to a whole new level.
• Kindle 2: Electric Boogaloo?
• These are heels for dudes.
• Everybody needs a bosom for a pillow…
• MST3K Cast Reunites for Live Webcast
• A combination I never even considered: Zombie Hello Kitty Cake
• Peer reveals ‘cello scrotum’ hoax

Tonight: is coming over for dinner; I’m cooking Cornish game hens… but no idea as to what I want to do for vegetables.

Namaste.

Sunday – 25 January 2009
Happy Birthday to my sister-in-law, Chelsea:

…and belated happy birthday to :

And now, back to our regularly-scheduled blog entry…

Yesterday, Chris and I headed to Far West Comics for a ‘Clix tournament. The scenario was Heroclix Xtreme Wrestling Federation. Deciding who to take was a bit of a challenge… mainly because I had what I thought were a lot of good options. I finally settled on these figures:

• 75 points – Gamora
• 125 points – Susan Richards
• 175 points – Ms. Marvel (Skrull), with Inside Information
• 225 points – Crispus Allen (LE), with Fortitude
• 275 points – The Spectre
• 325 points – Ganthet

The tournament prize was Grodd (LE)… which was the last figure I wanted/needed for my Sinestro Corps. (Sure, I’d like a veteran Cyborg Superman, but that wasn’t what was up for grabs.)  Then, it was time to play:

• I lost a few pieces in the first match, but won on points.
• I got schooled in the second match and didn’t KO anyone in that match
• I KO’ed everyone in the second match, without losing anyone… barely.

There was someone who went 3-0, while I went 2-1 on the day… but I got the Fellowship prize, so I was happy.

And, I beat Chris – for the second time in a week – so it was a “Win-Win” kind of day. After the tourney, Chris and I went to get a bite to eat and to hang out. We haven’t done that in a long time (not counting last Tuesday when he came over for dinner and gaming).

After that, I came home and hung out with SaraRules.  We finished watching The Great Escape; I realized that I had  only seen a few minutes of the movie – mostly around Steve McQueen’s motorcycle chase – before this. After that, I watched Batman: The Brave and the Bold… and something else… before heading out to breakfast.

This morning has been quiet and lazy. (It’s amazing what the lack of football will do to a Sunday.) SaraRules cooked breakfast – pancakes! – and we watched Unforgiven. Great movie…. and one that I haven’t seen this movie since its theatrical release. After that went off, I found Dr. No on BBC America.

All this, and I’ve even managed to partake in a little of City of Heroes‘ Double XP Weekend, too. I got Kurigari from 31 to 32… in one mission. Can’t really complain about that.

Not sure what we’re going to do for the rest of the afternoon, but later we’re heading to SaraRules’ parents’ to watch Shadow of the Vampire.

Namaste.

Saturday – 24 January 2009
Last night, after coffee, SaraRules and I started watching The Great Escape – it’s on Comcast’s On Demand. Good movie… but long. We stopped with about an hour left in the film. I flipped on The Late Late Show after that, to see who the guests would be. I hit the jackpot: James Earl Jones. It was a fun interview, in fact they were having so much fun that they pre-empted the second guest.

After hitting the rack, I had a strange The Great Escape-induced dream. It was set in a POW camp, of sorts, but I don’t recall anything about escape attempts. The odd/most odd part of the dream was once the prisoners were liberated and the returned home, twenty or so years had passed… outside the camp. Leaving these men out of their time, so to speak. (Now that I think about it, part of this dream seems like it has ties to a Hellblazer story I read a few weeks ago, too…)

SaraRules is on her way to another bridal fare and to look at a few more possible venues.
I’m getting ready for a ‘Clix tournament – today’s theme: Xtreme Wrestling Federation.

And with that…

ZOOM!

Friday – 23 January 2009
The week draws to a close… with fog and haze in the valley. It’s dense enough that I can barely see the freeway. Then it rolls out. And back in. Even Otis Redding didn’t see this much action.

Last night, OnlyAly and came over for dinner.  SaraRules cooked a maple chicken, with carrots and roasted potatoes, which was delicious. During and after dinner, the four of us discussed wedding-related items: Things that SaraRules and I have talked/thought about and things to consider, reminiscences of their wedding and the lead-up to it, and the like. It was a great way to spend the evening.

Later in the night, I watched an NCIS rerun and the new episode of CSI:. I am liking Laurence Fishburne’s character, Dr. Ray Langston. He portrays him with an interesting sense of curiosity and wonder… balanced with a desire to prove that he can hold his own on the established team. I didn’t get to watch the season premiere of Burn Notice, but it’s on the DVR.

Stray Toasters

• By way of SaraRules: 10 Stories behind Dr. Seuss stories
• Apple’s first Macintosh turns 25
• My feelings about Hover, as a superpower, are pretty well-known. It seems as though there is now a site dedicated to Super-useless Superpowers.
• The Art of Phil Noto
• From Newsarama’s Blog: Craig McCracken – PPG, Foster’s and Comics?
• President Obama Still Has His Blackberry in White House
• Obama’s Outfits: ‘A real departure for first ladies’
• Lawsuit may stop impeachment trial
• Green light for US stem cell work
• By way of and Best of Craigslist: This bitter little pill.
• Zombie Fluxx Card Game

Namaste.

Wednesday – 21 January 2009
Midweek and all’s well.

Last night, Chris came over for dinner and ‘Clix gaming. SaraRules fixed a tasty southwestern chicken dish, with corn and tomatoes and rice pilaf. Very tasty. We ate and watched NCIS before playing.  After dinner, SaraRules went into the office and quilted; Chris and I played dolls.

We had Round 2 of our Green Lantern Corps vs. Sinestro Corps battle; this time, I played the Sinestro Corps. As an added bonus, I finally got to use some of the terrain I got from World Works Games:

(click images for larger versions)

Chris lined up with:

• Abin Sur
• Big Barda and Mister Miracle
• Ganthet
• Green Lantern (Guy Gardner)
• Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)
• Kyle Rayner
• Sinestro
• Tomar-Re

I brought a fairly beefy SiCorps to the table:

• Arkillo
• Batman
• Lyssa Drak
• Manhunter (Arkham Asylum, 2 figures)
• Manhunter (Cosmic Justice, Rookie)
• Parallax
• Sinestro
• Superman Prime

And it was on. We weren’t playing tournament rules, so we just had a good, old-fashioned slugfest and shootout. And, in the end, I wound up winning the game. This brings the Sinestro Corps to two wins and zero losses. We discussed the fact that – assuming that the HeroClix line finds a pulse soon – WizKids/Pinata needs to update a lot (read: “most”) of the Green Lantern Corps’ figures, because there aren’t a lot of heavy hitters in the current sets… and while they may do “okay,” they can’t really go toe-to-toe with many of the newer figures for long.

Stray Toasters

• Black first family ‘changes everything’
• From BBC News: Notes to Obama: Maya Angelou
• Apple quietly updates $999 white MacBook with unibody specs
• Drew sent a ink to: Rainer Spehl Wood MacBook Case
• 
• Because it came up on the iPod this morning while I was eating breakfast – and got stuck in my head – here’s a bit of musical joy (or pain) for you:
  

  You’re sleek as a thoroughbred.
  Your seats are a feather bed.
  You’ll turn everybody’s head today.
  We’ll glide on our motor trip
  With pride in our ownership
  The envy of all we survey.

  Oh Chitty, you Chitty
  Pretty Chitty Bang Bang
  Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
  We love you.
  And Chitty our Chitty
  Pretty Chitty Bang Bang
  Chitty Chitty Bang Bang loves us too.
  High Chitty low Chitty anywhere we go
  On Chitty Chitty we depend.
  Bang Bang Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
  Our fine four fendered friend.
  Bang Bang Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
  Our fine four fendered friend

• Science vs. emotion in NJ’s river dolphins debate
• And, in today’s “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” news: Blow-up doll sex suspect arrested in Australia
  

Namaste.

NCSoft has made three City of Heroes ads that parody Apple’s “I’m a PC. I’m a Mac” commercials:

One:

Two: Day Jobs

Three: Sidekick