Random Access

Wednesday – 09 January 2008
This morning started early. 6:15 early. All things considered, that’s good for many reasons, not the least of which was that I was able to chat with Mom for a few minutes before I headed off to work. And when I stepped outside… I saw that it had snowed. And it continued to snow, intermittently, throughout the day.

The work day has been relatively quiet, allowing me to dive back into Win Server 2003 reading – which at this point includes a lot of going back and taking some notes on things I read before our Winter vacation. But, it’s proceeding apace.

Today was also Sushi Wednesday (Oh Sushi, the restaurant formerly known as Go Sushi) and Four-Color Crack Day. Due to the holidays – and some delays from Diamond – shipments for the past two weeks have been a little “off.” So much so that last week, Dr. Volt’s had two shipments: One on Wednesday (the previous week’s shipment) and one on Friday (last week’s intended shipment). Since I worked out of AF – and headed south – on Friday, I missed out on getting the second day’s haul until today. And even with the today’s new arrivals, the haul was fairly light. So, I made up for it by picking up this and this, after all…

1. It’s a John Stewart figure. (If I need to ‘splain beyond this, just stop reading now.)
2. They’re more X-Men Minimates for my “Sentinel Attacks!” scenario. ‘Nuff said.

I neglected to cover yesterday’s workout in yesterday’s post. Let me start off by saying that it hurt. A lot. Something about “not going to the gym for three weeks” comes to mind. The overall workout was light and more of a “getting back into the swing of things” routine:

• Pull-ups: 3 sets/10 reps (on the last set, the last half were done with my feet braced against the back of the Roman Chair)
• Leg raises: 3 sets/20 reps
• Dips: 3 sets/15 reps
• Bench press: 3 sets/10 reps, 135 lbs. (Like I said: “Getting back into it”)
• Nautilus Cable Fly: 3 sets/10 reps, (2 sets at 95 lbs, 1 set at 80 lbs)
• Seated dumbbell curls: 3 sets/10 reps, 25 lbs.

Like I said: It hurt. A lot. Yesterday. Today. And maybe even tomorrow.

Tonight, I think that I shall spend some quality time in Paragon City… or the Rogue Isles. I’m not quite sure “which” locale sounds more appealing.

Stray Toasters

• Rather than going to bed at a nominally reasonable hour last night, I took time to set up my LEGO train alongside the Rokenbok Factory. I’ll have to take some pics of the “new” setup at some point.
• Speaking of LEGO: SaraRules and I are looking at the feasibility of visiting LEGOland: California in a couple of weeks, while in Lost Angles.
• Yes, I know “Los Angeles” is misspelled above.
• My Favorite James Bond portrayers, in descending order:

1. Sean Connery
2. Daniel Craig
3. Pierce Brosnan
4. George Lazenby / Roger Moore (tie)
5. Timothy Dalton

• I went the high-tech route an text messaged (rather than call) my father to tell him it was snowing. Again. He asked that I keep the snow out here and not send it eastward. Again.
• Falafel.  Black Ops.   Back, Crack and Sac Wax.
• From Wired: Best Vintage Tech Commercials
• For an as-yet unexplained reason, I had the chorus from Wake Me Up Before You Go Go stuck in my head this morning.
• I’ve been spending time on the Rokenbok site. Sweet, sweet ‘bok goodness…
• I got a call from this evening; she needed help troubleshooting a computer problem. A little mental “elbow grease” and a short time later, we sussed it out.
• 
• From Reuters: Election 2008 – The Latest on the Leading Candidates
• By way of Craigslist: Halloween Observations
• PokerStars makes a Mac client.
• Yet another item to add to the Covet List.
• It’s a REALLY quiet night in Paragon City.
• Chocolate Jesus Crunchies.

*BAMF*

Sunday – 06 January 2008
It’s snowing. And not just a little bit. It’s supposed to snow through some time tomorrow. That should make the morning commute… interesting. Let’s hope that UDoT gets a handle on the situation early enough to make sure that I-15 is more than just “passable.”

Today has been quiet and relaxed. After sleeping in and coffee, we met up with Steve and went to lunch. After lunch, we headed over to Rachel’s and hung out with her and Tyler. Back to SaraRule’s to return Steve to his truck and then we were off to the grocery store. In the seven minutes that it took to do shopping, the snowstorm started. There was enough snow on the windows that I had to use the snow brush/ice scraper. In seven minutes. Unglaublich! Fortunately, we don’t have anyplace to go this evening.

Four-Color Coverage

• Action Comics #860 – The Superman and the LSH story continues. We are reintroduced to a few more Legionnaires and the Legion takes on the Justice League again. Where’s Brainiac 5? Wasn’t bringing Superman to the 31st Century his idea?! Shouldn’t he be around to explain “why?”
• Green Lantern #26 – The Second New Law of the Book of Oa is written: The Creation of the Alpha Lanterns. Who are they and how is their mission different from the rest of the Corps? Hal Jordan has a talk with an imprisoned – and oddly… smug – Sinestro. We see John Stewart, dealing with the his greatest failure.
• Green Lantern/Sinestro Corps Secret Files #1 – DC updates the information on the Green Lantern Corps, including updating the bios of some of the GLs. One of the updates was John Stewart’s bio, to include his stint in the Marine Corps, as first noted in Justice League.
• House of M: Avengers #3 of 5 – I know… I know… I wouldn’t have expected to ever have something with the words “House of M” to appear in FCC, but here it is. This series focuses not on mutants, but on the humans living in the world of the the House of M. This issue introduced a certain FBI agent named Frank Castle.
• JLA Classified #49 – This was a well-told story called “To Live in Hearts We Leave Behind.” It looks at a day – a busy day – in the life of the Justice League… from the point of view of their loved ones. Lois Lane and Alfred Pennyworth serve as the anchors for this story, in which the League is off-world and the world awaits news of their mission. I don’t usually collect Classified, but this was a nice addition to the collection.
• Legion of Super-Heroes #37 – This issue marked Jim Shooter’s return to the Legion. I think that this was more of a “setting the stage” issue. Lightning Lad deals with the mantle of leadership and Princess Projectra deals with a a blow to her royal status.
• Mythos: Fantastic Four #1 – This is a/another retelling of the FF’s origin… but from the point of view of a congressional inquiry.

Stray Toasters

• We just played a game called Buzzword. Our teams were The Cock Whippers (guys) vs. Pussy Control (girls). The Cock Whippers won.
• Did I mention that it’s snowing?
• 
• The trailer for Will Smith’s upcoming summer movie: Hancock
• National Spelling Bee (YouTube video… NSFW)
• “Your Mom”

  

• Warren Ellis’ angry, profane Three Laws of Robotics

And that’s it.

Namaste.

Saturday – 05 January 2008
Yep. Lazy Day. And, to quote the Jonathan Coulton song: I Feel Fantastic.

This morning started, as any good Saturday should, with breakfast, coffee and cartoons. Both Legion and The Batman were repeats, but they were good episodes.

City of Heroes
I decided to give Defiant‘s alternate configuration a solid shakedown cruise for a bit this afternoon, so I fired up Windows and City of Heroes. Sweet Mother Mary… *genuflect* Not only did it play City, it played it better, smoother and a little faster than DS9. Even when I cranked up the graphics settings. Yeah, it was that good.

The Hand of Nefer-Tem was invited to join a group for a Level 44 mission. How could I say “No” to that?! The mission went well… even if it was a Council of Thorns mission. In the middle of it, a member of my supergroup asked to join a task force group. I figured,”Why not…?” When the mission was done, I quit the group and logged out.

I logged back in with Corvus Nox, as we were going to do Positron’s Task Force: The Rule of Three, which is geared for Level 10-15 characters. Nox is 17, so I was examplared down to 15, but I didn’t seem to lose access to any of my powers. Talk about an ass-kicker. I knew that the TF would be long; I’ve done a couple of TFs before and they ran a couple or three hours. This one took us over six hours to complete. About an hour or two into it, I noticed that I wasn’t gaining any experience for the missions. Then it dawned on me: Exemplars earn influence and prestige – “money”/credit for personal use or supergroup use, respectively – but they don’t earn experience. *sigh* It would have taken me a long way towards getting him to Level 20. Despite taking MUCH longer than I had planned, I had a good time. And I earned a few badges, as well.

After that, SaraRules and I kicked back with Steph and watched the end of Dante’s Peak. We then decided to start in on Season Three of Coupling. It was great. I will never think of Spider-Man in quite the same way. (Thanks, once again, to Tyranist for allowing us to borrow this.)

And that’s how I spent my summer vacation Saturday.

Namaste.

Friday – 04 January 2008
And the work week – the short work week – comes to an end. Thankfully. Today, I started off in the SLC office, planning on finishing up the task I was working on yesterday and heading down to AF. “The best laid plans of mice and men…” I didn’t get out of there until 3:00. Then, I was off to AF… for the first time I’ve been in that office in a shade over two weeks.

I left the AF office and hopped onto I-15 South for a weekend in Cedar City. The weather was far more cooperative than it had been the last to southbound trips. And there were road monkeys – of special note was the Dodge Ram 1500 driver who got on the road in Fillmore. He decided that I was NOT going to pass him. Under (almost) any circumstance:

• Did he drop down below the speed limit?
  By the time I got halfway past him, he’d speed up.
• Was he stuck behind someone and I passed them both?
  Come Hell or high water, he was going to make sure that he passed me again.

The Council for Better Driving would like to take this opportunity to remind readers of Rule #1.

I finally passed him – and stayed ahead of him for a while – a little north of Cedar City, but I slowed down again, due to some rather strong winds blowing out of the canyons. AHA! The opening he needed! He zipped around me… only to slow down as the winds buffeted his truck. (And the Highway Patrolman in front of him may have had a little to do with it, too.) Idiotstick.

I’ve been hanging out with SaraRules, Steph, Darrilyn and Vince (and Darrilyn’s younger brother and sister, who arrived a little later). I’m looking foward to a nice, relatively quiet and relaxing weekend.

Stray Toaster
As I noted last night, I installed City of Heroes on the Windows partition on Defiant. When I went to run it, it kept giving me an error during the loading process. Today, I tried a couple of diagnostic tools, but they wouldn’t tell me why it was erroring out.

So, I uninstalled City.
And reinstalled it.

Still no go.

Eventually, I had an epiphany: Check the device manager to see if there was a noticeable problem there. Nope. Everything was hunky-dory. On a whim, I decided to look up information on the troublesome .dll file that kept throwing the error. It was tied to the video chipset. Hmm… I checked the display driver.

It was one of Microsoft’s generic “This should work!” drivers.

I immediately went to the Intel site and looked for a newer, better driver. I found it rather quickly and easily – kudos for good site navigation! I installed the driver, rebooted and decided to try City again.

Lo and behold, it loaded on the first go. I logged in, to be sure that everything else was working properly. Not only did it work properly, the framerate was a bit faster – and smoother – than I get on DS9. I logged out, with a satisfied smile on my face: Paragon City (and the Rogue Isles) just became my Kandor.

I’m a happy camper.

Namaste.

Thursday – 03 January 2008
Not a bad day for an NBN Thursday. I woke up (more or less) when I had planned to. Getting out of bed was a different matter altogether. I got up after a bit of decided laziness and started the day.

Work was a bit busy. I was trying to track down some hardware information, but kept running into proverbial walls. After a few hours of what felt like spinning my wheels, I think I found a way to get what I needed. I’ll know for sure tomorrow morning.

After work, I came home and had a bite to eat – and watched a little bit of Rio Bravo – before meeting up with Chris and heading to a comic shop near his place to play dolls HeroClix. We played against a few other guys. We played 1000 points per side; which is one of the – if not THE – largest “small” game I’ve played in. I picked a force comprised mostly of the JLA, Teen Titans and one of the X-Men:

• Batman (Red Rain)
• Green Lantern (John Stewart)
• Dmitri Pushkin (Rocket Red)
• Cyborg
• Raven
• Bishop

Chris played with mostly X-Men, along with a different Batman and a paramedic. Healers are a GOOD thing in that game. We started off alright, but hit a string of craptacular dice rolls in the middle of the game. Fortunately, the Luck Lords of Ventura looked upon us fortunately in the waning turns of the game: Chris and I won. I had a lot of fun.

And now there’s Whose Line! (With Robin Williams, even!)

Stray Toasters

• I did it: Boot Camp.
• I did it again: City of Heroes on the Defiant.
• Four Root DNS Servers Go IPv6 on February 4th.
• Four words: LEGO. Indiana Jones. Game.
• Five words: LEGO. Batman and Robin Game.
• Two more words: Coming soon!
• By way of Wizard Entertainment: 2008 Preview – Notable Comic Anniversaries
• Guillermo Del Toro Ready to Unleash Frankenstein’s Monster

Quote of the Day
From a conversation with :

: 12:44 s’ok
spent an hour with my team giving an american civics lesson this morning
was kind of neat, actually
one of those rare moments that take me out of my privileged bubble
: 12:44 Cool.
: 12:45 funniest part of it all was one of my guys asking “but the woman…she is from the clinton caste, so shouldn’t she be next for president?”
i keep forgetting where i am
: 12:47 So, how did you ‘splain it?
: 12:49 i said anybody can be president…response was “but as long as i can remember, only clinton and bush castes have been leaders.”
ok, true
however, if you are over 35 and you were born in the USA, you can run
“but can you win? here anybody can run but only upper castes win”
yes…that’s partially true in USA too
“so this man…this black man…can win?”
: 12:50 HA!
: 12:50 yes, he just won in iowa
“so he is president?”
no, thsi is just the first caucus
“but if he wins many caucuses?”
yes, he can be the nominee, and then maybe be president
“but he is black.”
yes.
“wow.”
yes. wow.
: 12:50 If he wins many caucauses, does that make him Caucasian?
: 12:50 HAHAHA
now that is a quote of the day.
: 12:51 *bow* I do what I can.

Namaste.

Saturday -29 December 2007
The day started with breakfast with SaraRules, her parents and one of her brothers at The Artist’s Palate Cafe. The food was good and the prices weren’t bad, either. It’s a small place on 2300 East, just south (and I mean “just south”) of the I-80 on-ramp… and it has local art (for sale) on the walls, too.

Next stop: Dr. Volt’s, to see if Dave had heard whether or not the shipment would arrive today. It didn’t; it won’t be in until Wednesday. From there, we swung over to the Parents-of-SaraRules’ place to hang out for a bit. Then home. SaraRules took a nap; I played City of Heroes. I was invited to join a team of mid-to-upper 30s… taking on low-level 40s villains: The Council, mostly. Over the course of three missions, I managed to hit Security Level 37. Between missions, I put the cards from the newer ‘Clix sets into binder sheets so that they aren’t scattered all over Hell and half of Georgia.

We’re off to run some errands and then meeting vikingsonya and for dinner at Outback.

Then, I think SaraRules and I will spend some time mucking around with Rokenbok and LEGO before heading off to breakfast.

Indeed.

Namaste.

Friday – 28 December 2007
Yet another lazy day about town. I have to say that the downtime has been nice.

I woke up and puttered around the apartment for a bit this morning and early afternoon, while SaraRules went to lunch with an old friend. I was nominally productive though: I hung the LEGO key rack she got me for Christmas.

After she got back, we headed out for a bit to get lunch (for me) at Go Sushi. I had their Teriyaki Rice Bowl Combination (with chicken). It was just the right mix of food:

• Miso soup
• Teriyaki chicken and vegetables over rice
• Gyoza (potstickers) and
• California roll (half order)

I had a couple of pieces of Ika nigiri and some green tea to wash it all down.

Next, over to Dr. Volt’s… only to find that the shipment that should have been in yesterday was delayed again and now most likely will not be in until next Wednesday. And that’s on top of the already scheduled-to-be late shipment that’s due next Friday. To console myself, I got a couple of boxes of ‘Clix and the hardcover edition of The Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes, to replace the (signed) softcover edition I can’t find. *shakes fist* Although, I was able to find it with the last printing’s cover, so it matches the softcover copies of Dream Country and The Wake that I have. A few pieces of note from the plastic crack haul include:

• Granny Goodness (unique)
• Power Ring (super-rare)
• Toyman

Then, we popped over to see SaraRules’ parents for a bit. We’re having brunch with them tomorning. Now, all we need to do is figure out “where.”

Back home for a bit… and some time in Paragon City.

Stray Toaster
Just one thing, for the moment: Solid!
(Click on the picture… you have to see the larger version. Comedy.)

And now… off to Clitorati!

Namaste.

Thursday – 27 December 2007
Another lovely day in the valley. It’s a tropical 24°F outside, but there are partly cloudy skies, which means that the sun is putting in an appearance.

Last night, SaraRules and I watched Mirrormask. She liked it, overall, but thought that the story was a bit weak. She did like the visualizations, though.

Today, we’re still deciding what to do, but heading up to Ogden and making a pilgrimage to Mecca (known to the locals as “The Bookshelf”) may be on the docket. And there will also be a trip to Dr. Volt’s, as today is new comics day; the shipment is off by a day because of the holiday.

And tonight: I Am Legend.

Stray Toasters

• Benazir Bhutto killed in attack
• 
• Online games battle for top spot
• From the Whiskey Tango Foxtrot file: Jackson has ‘surgery’ after [being] hit by son
  

  Michael Jackson reportedly underwent emergency surgery after his young son accidentally punched him in the face. The Thriller hitmaker – who has undergone multiple cosmetic surgeries on his face in the past – was recently photographed in a Los Angeles bookstore wearing numerous bandages around his mouth. But sources tell Finditt.com the singer’s son, Prince Michael II, caused the injury: “He was whacked in the face accidentally by his younger son Prince Michael II while playing around and part of Jackson’s upper lip collapsed. “That mishap led a hysterical Jacko to make a beeline for the plastic surgeon for a bit of quickie repair work.”

• …and keeping it in the family, somewhat:

  

  (For those who don’t remember: Michael and Lisa Marie Presley were married for almost two years in the 90s)

And that’s a wrap for now.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 26 December 2007
Happy Boxing Day.

Last night, SaraRules and I went to see Aliens versus Predator – Requiem. I had not seen the first movie, so I was a little concerned about coming into this one at a bit of a loss. I had also heard that AvP was… a… less-than-stellar bit of cinema. Despite these items, I had a great time watching this movie. It was definitely a “check your brain at the door” kind of movie, but Ms. SaraRules said that it was “leaps and bounds better than the first one. By far.” The movie, while definitely sci-fi fare, had a bit of a horror movie bent. And it was fun. Additionally, it continued a nominal tradition that I had with and Don: Seeing a movie on Thanksgiving and/or Christmas Day(s).

This morning started lazily. Which, to be quite honest, is a great way to start the day after Christmas.

After observing the hygiene rituals and getting dressed, SaraRules and I headed down to The Bayou to have lunch with , onlyaly and others in celebration of ‘s birthday. I had a rather tasty jamabalya (the only thing I would have added was shrimp). I also had the Rogue Imperial Stout. (Don, if you’re reading this, you need to see if you can find a bottle somewhere in the Triad.) Holy Crap! It was good; filling, but good. I wish I hadn’t loaded up on soup, salad and jambalaya before drinking this. As it was, I was so full that I had to split the stout with . Then he, SaraRules and I shot a few games of pool.

Next was some shopping and an errand or two… and then back home.

City of Heroes: The Hand of Nefer-Tem
I tooled around Paragon City for a couple of hours as part of a pick-up team. We were in our mid-to-upper 30s. We fought The Council, a few members of the Carnival of Shadows and The Freakshow. The XP was good… even though I managed to die a couple of times.

Stray Toasters

• I am sitting here with a bowl of candy next to me because I’m craving something sweet… but not any particular type of candy. So, I’m going with “whatever strikes my fancy.”
• From Broken Frontier: Legend, Legion Reunited
• SaraRules + + = comedy
• offered up a couple of ‘Toaster-ready items
  • Damn Interesting: Raiders of the Lost Lake
  • Goth-o-Matic Poetry Generator
• 
• For : Lee Bermejo’s Joker Sketchbook

Namaste.

Tuesday – 25 December 2007
So the big man in the red suit with the magickal reindeer apparently showed up and dropped off goodies and whatnot. This year’s haul included:

• The Art of the Japanese Garden
• LEGO Key Rack
• Gift certificate to IKEA
• Gift certificate to Dr. Volt’s
• Metallic dice
• One World, Many Cultures CD
• Ocean graphic novel
• “Grow a Pirate” toy
• Little Flip Book of Crosswords
• Subscriptions to Esquire and GQ
• Green Lantern paperweight (…and it’s even John Stewart!)
• AoA Cyclops HeroClix
• The Superhero Handbook

There are still other goodies to open (they’re back at my place and there are couple of things that are in transit)… but this has already been great.

What did Sanity Clause bring you?

Monday: Coda
SaraRules and I have spent the evening at her parents’.  Dinner.  Drinks.  Stardust.

Our game plan for the night was to go to Midnight Mass.   But it’s been snowing and the roads are… nominally okay, but neither of us really wants to risk it.   (And, it’s cold outside.)  So, SaraRules and Logan are playing Guitar Hero (II & III, I think) while Meliko and I watch… and I’m nerding.  For the time being.  Then, we’re all calling it a night.

Tomorrow, is Christmas.   (Well, in about 5 minutes, actually…)  May the peace, joy and happiness of the day find you and your loved ones in good health, good spirits and good company.

Namaste.

Sunday – 23 December 2007
It’s Christmas Eve Eve.
I have two, maybe three, things left to pick up and then it’s all done.

Last night’s breakfast gathering was good. Pat and Brent were both there – I haven’t seen Pat in weeks and I haven’t seen Brent in months, so that was an added bonus. There’s been a bit of turnover at Cheers, too. New managers, new servers… even new menus. I gave out/mailed my Christmas cards this week; I gave

So far today, I have spent time running around the Rogue Isles with Perry. I joined his supergroup and then we spent time gathering beacons for the lair’s teleporter room. Three of them were fairly easy to locate. The last two were… arduous; the last one, in particular, cost me some XP debt. But, we got them. (By the way: , when I joined the supergroup, I changed the colors of Dhoruba’s outfit – black jacket, boots and pants, red t-shirt. He still has the mohawk, though. At least… for now.)

Four-Color Coverage
I haven’t done one of these in a few weeks… it’s time to get back on the horse:

• Green Lantern #25 and Green Lantern Corps #19 – These issues wrapped up the Sinestro Corps War and shed a little – very little – more light on the “Blackest Night” prophecy. It also introduced four other Corps – as we already have seen Green (GLs), Yellow (Sinestro Corps) and Violet (Star Sapphires) – who will apparently be integral to the advent of the prophecy.
• Justice League of America #15 and #16 – Issue #15 saw the climactic battle between the JLA and the Injustice League, starting with Firestorm taking on the IL… alone.
  

  Firestorm: I have to admit, this looks pretty bad. I just got out of the hospital, I’m outnumbered, you guys are the frickin’ Legion of Doom… but I do have an ace up my sleeve.
  Killer Frost: Shut up and die.
  Firestorm: In a minute. I’m talking here. I was trying to tell you about my ace. When I first snuck in here, I slipped Batman a ballpoint pen. I was about to turn it into a lockpick, when I noticed Luthor about to cut Superman’s throat.
  Batman: Don’t bother — with a ballpoint pen, I can pick the locks at Fort Knox.
  *begin smackdown*

  Another couple of gems can be found in the fight between Black Canary and Giganta:

  Giganta: Hey, Canary? Nice moves on Shadow Thief. Want to go a few rounds with me?
  Black Canary: You’re a little out of my weight class, Giganta. Although, if you went a little easier on the pastry, you could drop a few pounds. *uses her “Canary Cry,” focused on Giganta’s ears*
  *Giganta falls, unconscious*
  Black Canary: One other thing. If you have to wear a dress in battle? Get some underpants. Or at least learn to sit like a lady.

  …and in Batman’s ‘decision’ that Firestorm join the JLA…

  Black Lightning: Nice work today. If you ever need the League’s help on anything, just ask.
  Batman: I was thinking more along the lines of him joining the team.
  Firestorm: Oh. Uh, I’m honored, of course, but I really don’t have time right now to– *cut off by Batman*
  Batman: That wasn’t an offer, son. It’s the way it’s going to be. You’re too powerful to be out there unsupervised. *walks away*
  Black Lightning: And the Bat-God has spoken.

  Throw in an appearance by Amanda Waller and Task Force X/Suicide Squad and you have a solid issue, chock full of goodies.

  Issue #16 brings a couple of characters from the Tangent Universe into the mainstream DCU. Again. Black Canary, Green Lantern and Red Arrow meet the TU’s Atom. And, as usually happens when heroes meet… there’s a fight.

• Justice Society of America #11 – The Kingdom Come Superman gets checked out by the JLA and JSA. The Flashes of both teams confirm that the multiverse has returned. And the JSA takes on a new member.
• The Mighty Avengers #6 – The end of the latest Ultron battle. Ares takes the fight to Ultron… in a rather unexpected manner… just as the Sentry comes unglued (again), and tries to take on Ultron himself. I’d love to tell you one of the great bits of dialogue between Reed Richards and an Avenger, but it would give away part of the battle’s climax. You lose.
• Superman #671 – This issue begins “The Insect Queen” storyline, featuring Lana Lang. I’m not sure if it’s leading up to what I think it is… but long-time Legion fans will recognize the name. There’s a reference to North Carolina in the book, but it’s a little “off.” (Kudos for the effort, though.) And what happens when your six-year-old Kryptonian foster son gets heartburn? Lois is about to find out.
• Superman/Batman #44 – During the filming of a Batman-Superman movie, Livewire shows up to hold one of the actors for ransom. Too bad the real World’s Finest team were nearby watching the production. Through an odd series of events, Superman (the real one) winds up getting tagged with a lot of Kryptonite shards, including a bit to the eye. Batman brings his favorite field medic, Alfred, to the Fortress of Solitude to patch Superman up:
  

  Alfred: You try scraping meteoric shrapnel from alien skin an a meat freezer.
  Batman: Rest easy, Clark. I brought you the steadiest hands I know. He’s pulled worse pieces of worse things out of me many times.
  Alfred: You might want to consider raising the heat from time to time, Master Clark. Possibly stock the pantry with some nibbles. Just because you want for no human comforts doesn’t mean your guests won’t. Oh, and you’ll live, by the by. *packs up his medical kit*
  Superman: Is he… angry with me?
  Batman: It’s just his way. Alfred–
  Alfred: I know you tend to heal faster and with more finality than my usual patient, Master Clark. But, do make an effort not to fire any lasers from that eye for a few days. The cornea took a thrashing.

  And, with that, the two decide to rid Earth of Kryptonite. All of it. Too bad there’s a LOT more of it than they thought.

• Tales of the Green Lantern Corps – Ion #1 – The passing of the proverbial – and literal – torch. This story sees Kyle Rayner, the GL formerly known as Ion, having a chat with Sodom Yat, the new host to the Ion entity. This issue provided a good look at Sodom Yat’s background as well as giving Kyle a chance to pass on a little bit of “I’ve been where you’re going” knowledge to Sodom. And, we find out what Kyle’s new role in the Corps will be.
• Wonder Woman #14 and #15 – These are the first issues of Gail Simone’s run on the title. And they are good. Very good. “I wish she’d been writing the book since the reboot” good. In fact, here’s Ms. Simone’s take on “who” and “what” Wonder Woman is:
  

  The book is about the best goddamned warrior planet Earth has ever known, and she happens to carry a mystical arsenal around just for the hell of it.If a writer can’t make that interesting and fun, they really shouldn’t be writing superheroes.

  There are layers upon layers of the character, and we’ll get to them all. But let’s just make it very clear that Diana is the premiere asskicker in the DCU, period. Batman and Superman have other things that make them special. Diana is the one who occasionally carries an axe if someone gives her lip.

  This is actually in my first issue, but the quote is, “When a giant robot attacks Metropolis, send Superman. An alien attack? Get Green Lantern. When a car is hijacked by an escaped loony, turn on the bat signal, by all means. But if an ARMY shows up on your doorstep, that’s when you call in Wonder Woman.

  Simple.

  Yep. That pretty much sums it up. And she’s right. AND… she’s writing it well. I look forward to reading more issues of this book.

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

Namaste.

Friday – 21 December 2007
Another work week draws nigh to a close.

Last night’s storm dumped between four and eight inches of snow in most of the valley. For comparison, take a look at pictures taken yesterday, just before the storm hit, and today. It also made for some long and treacherous commutes last night and this morning: The Utah Highway Patrol had logged over 200 accidents by 10:00 AM. The Council for Better Driving would like to take this opportunity to remind motorists of Rule #1.

I was supposed to go and play dolls HeroClix with Chris last night. After the 4-mile/35-minute commute, I took that option right off the table. Instead, I stayed at home and watched CSI:, Without a Trace and episodes of Coupling with SaraRules. We even had hot chocolate and biscotti (one of her parents’ neighbors made it… and it was GOOD!).

I talked with and Don a little while ago. They are doing well, as are their boys. also related an amusing story:

A short while ago, was reading my blog. Their older son, who is six-years-old, was reading, alongside her. She got to this post… and the “I’m so happy…” picture.

Their son saw the picture and started trying to spell out the word he didn’t know.

And couldn’t understand why Mom – who quickly clicked away from the page – wouldn’t help him sound it out.

The answer came back as: “That’s a word for big people, dear.”

That’s right: I’m corrupting my Godchildren from across the country… using the wondrous power of the Interweb! As I told Don: “That’s what Godparents are for!” (SaraRules, however, disagrees with me on this point.)

Stray Toasters
Maybe later.

Namaste.

Thursday – 20 December 2007
Last night, SaraRules and I traipsed about town polishing off some more of my (last-minute) Christmas shopping. We were mostly-successful. There are a couple of places I need to check for four things, but I think I’ll be fine. After shopping, we headed to Olive Garden for dinner, which was good. They have removed one of my favorite dishes (Chicken Vino Bianco), so I had to try something a little different. I went with the Tuscan Garlic Chicken… which, aside from the pasta, was very similar to the Chicken Vino Bianco. Win-win. Back home for a few more episodes of Coupling (British version). One word: “Inferno.”

This morning started off overcast, but the sun has put in an appearance… along with some traces of blue sky. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that. Add to that the fact that I have been able to work out of the SLC office and today is shaping up to be a good NBN Thursday. *nod*

Human of the Day
Co-Humans: and for pointing out the OS X update that fixed the problem of the locking-up keyboard for the BlacBook.

Stray Toasters

• I picked up the Christmas cards today. They turned out well. Local cards are going to be distributed by hand; cards bound for the coast should go out tonight or tomorning and (God willing and the creek don’t rise) should get to their destinations by Monday.
• In a related note: I have to hand it to FedEx/Kinkos for doing a nice job with the cards. I’m still not overly enthused by the fact that their site requires the use of Internet Exploder, though.
• I managed to leave home without my phone this morning.
  I went home at lunch to drop some things off and – in theory – to get my phone.
  I managed to leave home without my phone this afternoon, too.
  (Oddly, I’m not really missing it…)
• New Justice League: The New Frontier trailer
• I ran into ‘s mother while running errands at lunch. That was a pleasant surprise.
• Stan Lee interview
• 
• During yesterday’s lunchtime run to Dr. Volt’s, I fed my plastic crack addiction. I picked up a couple of boxes of the Origin boosters. In one of the boxes I got Supergirl (veteran), bringing my plastic Legion one figure closer to completion…
• …and, speaking of ‘Clix, check out the new “Buy It by the Brick” promotional figure.
• The Giggle Loop
• The Salt Lake Valley is about to get hit with a pretty big storm. Here are a few office window pics, including a west-facing one to show the grey doom – full of Mother Nature’s frozen mocking laughter – heading our way. (The red glow in the pictures is not nuclear doom. Nor is it a nucular toonami. It is the reflection of the flash on the glass.)
• Science Tattoos (a Flickr set)

Quote of the Day
This morning, I got a message from Coworker Brett (on the right in this picture), who is in the Washington, D.C. area:

Brett: I thought about you the other day… as I was walking around a mall in Prince George. I thought, “This must be what Rob feels like in Utah Valley Mall.”
Me: And that’s why I don’t go to malls in Utah Valley.

It was a good – and amusing – way to kick off the work day.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 19 December 2007
Mid-week and all is well. The clouds over the valley are breaking up… a little. It’s Sushi Wednesday. And it’s new comic book day.

Last night, I had dinner with SaraRules and her family. Before I jetted off to and ‘s for game night, SaraRules handed me a gift. *blink blink* I looked at her and said,”But… it’s not Christmas, yet.” She smiled and told me that it wasn’t a Christmas gift… so open it! And I did. It was a copy of the DVD for Stardust, the first movie we saw together. It doubly surprised me, as I wasn’t aware that the DVD had been released.

On to game night! The game was a little slow – mostly because we, as a group, weren’t exactly sure how to proceed with a couple of things. But, half of us did manage to get our collective recta beat down and handed to us at one point. Not pretty. And, I was reminded that my character was not built to be a fighter. Not by any stretch of the imagination. My spec is more “the face,” the fast-talking social chameleon. So, getting into combat isn’t exactly in my best interests. But, we survived. And lived to adventure another day.

This morning, letting go of the bed was hard to do. So I put it off as long as possible. So far, it’s been a good day. Can’t complain about that.

Stray Toasters

• I got a message from the action man: “I’m happy, hope you’re happy, too…” my father a little while ago: The present for my stepmom arrived this morning. Now to get Dad and Rana’s presents in the system…
• Coworker Jan told me today’s Sven and Ole joke; he’s my go-to guy for my daily dose of Sven and Ole (and/or Ole and Lena) jokes. I mentioned that I had talked with Adam a few days ago and that he was loving (/sarcasm) his current post… a post that Jan was up for when he was deciding whether or not to join/stay in the Air Force.
• NASA has a Stargate
• I love it when you’re on a tech support call and you’re (in theory) being transferred to another department… and they drop the call. >.<
• When did Trekkies jump the shark?
• Why not Minot?
  Reason: It’s Freezin’.
• Ten Habits of Highly Successful Brains
• 

  (You can watch the new trailer here.)

• Recap of 2007’s “12 Gizmos of Christmas”
• From the “Big Brother is watching you” file: Chicago police ask you to report people using maps or taking notes in public
• There’s a rumour that Marlon Wayans is either up for or interested in the role of Heavy Duty in the upcoming G.I. Joe movie. That scares me. My pick would be Michael Clarke Duncan. Hands down. No, wait… I was thinking of Roadblock. Yeah… MCD for Roadblock, not Heavy Duty. Okay, I’m better now.
• The ten most entertaining tech videos of 2007
• “Server… Server… No… Server…”

Namaste.