Random Access

Thursday: Coda
And so, the work week comes to a close. Friday is International Annual Rob Day, known in some regions as “Pope Groovalicious Day.” In honor of that I am hereby declaring it a personal holiday:

After work, I met for dinner at Tepanyaki. Sushi and a Teriyaki Steak and Chicken combination dinner. Nice. The couple sitting to our right was nice, even somewhat conversational. The family on our left… not so much. Oh, well. After dinner, I headed around the corner to CompUSAirways to pick up some memory for ‘Nine. Yes, I know I’m getting Defiant (Mark II) tomorrow, but I’m not abandoning ‘Nine… and Intrepid has been wheezing along since I lobotomized it to up ‘Nine‘s memory a few months ago. And, added bonus: The memory was on sale. Win-win.

On the way home, I stopped to see and onlyaly. No sooner than I had entered was I also greeted by Daisy and Sadie. I think that I got a decent workout from playing with Daisy – almost enough to make up for not going to the gym this afternoon.

Since getting home, I haven’t done much. So far, the highlights have been:

• Getting an early birthday call from Mom; she’ll call back tomorrow, but didn’t want to call me at O’dark-thirty… especially when I told her that I was taking the day off and sleeping in. God bless her.
• Ordering a couple of pieces of plastic crack on eBay: Green Lantern (John Stewart) from the out-of-“print” Cosmic Justice series. The price was right and I’ve been on the fence for a while too long in deciding whether or not I was going to get them.

Stray Toasters

• I was surprised/shocked/about to wet myself by/because of “The Leash” just before dinner. Fortunately, it was just a status message.
• Rock Band. Not necessarily my cup of tea, but I know a few grad students eagerly awaiting its release.
• Steampunk + LEGO = ???
• …with a hint of lip gloss.
• Horrifying cute animal photoshop contest
• I think that there’s an ice cream sandwich in my immediate future.
• Worm study may bolster idea of human sexuality being hard-wired in brain
• Madlessly.
• The Ravens have a bye this weekend… and next take the field on 05 Nov 07 against ‘s beloved Bengals, for a Monday Night Game. Fiddler’s Elbow, anyone…?
• Porno-embroidered handkerchiefs

Yep. That’ll do it.

Namaste.

Apparently, local entertainment mogul Larry H. Miller doesn’t have quite enough money…

(clickable image)

Okay, let’s look at this:

• Lawrence Horne “Larry H.” Miller (born April 26, 1944) is a Utah businessman and philanthropist. He is well known as the owner of the NBA‘s Utah Jazz. Miller is also the owner of an automotive dealership, and a variety of other business ventures including Prestige Financial, Jordan Commons, Larry H. Miller Megaplex Theatres, KJZZ-TV, Miller Motorsports Park, the FANZZ chain of sports apparel stores, and the EnergySolutions Arena (previously called “Delta Center”).    (excerpted from Wikipedia)
• Estimated net worth: $480 million (USD)

The man, literally, has more money than God.  (After all, God doesn’t really need money; but that’s another conversation altogether.)  His various entertainment complexes bring in the money hand-over-fist (Paper around the stone…) and here’s another scheme to rake in more dough.  $25 a head to play…?  $3 a head just to watch?!?  The thing that I would be interested in finding out is:

The email notification was apparently sent roughly 24 hours before the event – how large will the turn-out be, both for players and for spectators?  And, by association, how much moolah will LHM rake in from it?

Apone: All right, sweethearts, what are you waiting for? Breakfast in bed? Another glorious day in the corps! A day in the Marine Corps is like a day on the farm. Every meal’s a banquet! Every paycheck a fortune! Every formation a parade! I LOVE the corps! All right, sweethearts, you’re a team and there’s nothin’ to worry about. We come here, and we gonna conquer, and we gonna kick some, is that understood? That’s what we gonna do, sweethearts, we are going to go and get some. All right, people, on the ready line! Are ya lean?
Marines: Yea!
Apone: Are ya mean?
Marines: Yea!
Apone: WHAT ARE YOU?
Marines: Lean and mean!
Apone: WHAT ARE YOU? HUDSON! Get on the ready line, Marines, get some today! Get on the ready line! Move it out! Move it out, goddammit! Get hot! One, two, three, four! Get out, get out, get out! Move it out, move it out, move it out! Move it out, move it out, move it out! One, two, three, four, five, six, seven! Aaarrrrr, absolutely badasses! Let’s pack ’em in! Get in there!

Wednesday: Coda
Today, I was given “The Leash,” as would put it. I’m now in the on-call rotation for servers, one week out of every… six, I think. and I had talked a few months ago about adding me to the rotation at some point, now that I’m working out of the Salt Lake office a few days a week. In the words of Lita Ford, Reel Big Fish and (according to ) Generation X: “It ain’t no big thing.”

After work, I remembered something that Dwim said earlier in the day: “It’s Wednesday…” Now, I knew that it was Wednesday, but I wasn’t following his drift. I made some comment about it being another day closer to Friday. And, as Friday is International Annual Rob Day – not to mention New Black Hotness Day – I was kind of in a one-track mind. Dwim, however, was referring to the fact that:

Wednesday == New Comics Day.

In light of this fact, I headed to Dr. Volt’s to feed the need. I also treated myself to twelve pieces of plastic crack, two singles and two boosters. The singles I picked up were Batman and Dr. Light; in the boosters I got:

• Aztek
• Batman (same as the single that I picked up… go figure)
• Batman (from the Justice Legion A)
• Bouncing Boy (to add to my growing plastic Legion!)
• Bronze Tiger
• Bulleteer (two of them, one in each booster)
• Firestorm
• The Flash and
• Major Disaster

After a stop at the local SuperTarget, I came home to deal with the fact that I was hungry. I decided to make spaghetti; I even made sauce. In an even more rare twist, I made garlic bread from a couple of hot dog buns. It was good, despite burning the little finger on my left hand by being a bit upid-stay.

While eating dinner I watched the last few innings of the World Series – The BoSox opened a six-pack on the Rockies. They set a new World Series Game 1 record also: Largest win margin – 12 runs.

Stray Toasters

• I picked up a box of Fat Boy ice cream sandwiches tonight. I like ice cream sandwiches.
• Zaibatsu
• “Creative counting”
• I am still digging the Across the Universe soundtrack.
• asked what I plan to name the new laptop. I told him that I would probably christen it “Defiant,” like the old laptop, in the same way that the Sao Paulo was renamed/renumbered (fourth paragraph from the bottom) to become the new Defiant.

I should hit the rack.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 24 October 2007
Two down, one in the chamber and one to go.

Last night, I met , , and Pat for dinner at Jitterbug before heading to non-Game Night. I think that I am getting addicted to the Tropical Smoothies there – I had two last night… and could have easily gone for another.

Chris wasn’t running on all cylinders last night, so there was no zombie killin’. *sigh* Oh, well… there’s always next time. Instead, we spent a couple of hours talking comics and related geekery and then played a bit of Justice League Heroes. It was a good way to spend the evening.

I got home and decided to chill on the couch with the October issue of GQ. “The best-laid plans of mice and men,” as the saying goes. I wound up falling asleep while reading the Colin Powell interview. Next stop: 3:30 AM. Right. Bed. Bed good. I slept pretty well. I slept so well that, at one point, I managed to wake up to move (i.e.: “toss off the bed”) a pillow and wound up taking out a cup of water on the nightstand. *grblsnrkx* Way to go, Robzilla.

The day, so far, has been good. We’re having a meeting today, for which we’re being required to dress “business casual” (no jeans). No problem. I even broke out one of my favorite sweaters – It’s similar to this one, but with buttons rather than a zipper.

Stray Toasters

• I had Linus and Lucy, the theme from Peanuts, running through my head a little while ago. I mentioned it to SaraRules. She countered with this article. I volleyed back with this one.
• From KUER’s RadioWest: Mothers Who Know
  

  SALT LAKE CITY, UT (2007-10-22) Earlier this month at the LDS Church’s General Conference, the head of the Relief Society Julie B. Beck praised the power in motherhood. She encouraged women not to postpone having children, and equated nurturing with homemaking. Her words re-ignited a controversy about the role of Mormon women, and within hours, LDS blogs were inundated with responses. Tuesday on RadioWest, Doug talks to LDS women about Beck’s remarks and what those say about women’s position in the LDS Church and culture.

• By way of Wired: When Geeky Goes Bad – Tackiest PC Mods
• Alienware announces Alien Exchange program
• Merry Christmas from Chiron Beta Prime,
  where we’re working in a mine for our robot overlords.
  Did I say overlords? I meant protectors.
• Free Cake.
• The Brothers Brick – LEGO Blog

Namaste.

Monday – 22 October 2007
Another week begins. So far, it’s been good (despite a road monkey on the AF commute)… and it’s a short work week, so I’m not about to complain.

Saturday night, I finished watching Renaissance. It was good. I liked the feel and style of the movie. And I was pleased with the way it wound up; I was a little surprised by part of the ending, but in thinking about it – it made sense. I give the movie a thumbs-up with an okay.

Then, it was off to breakfast with the usual suspects… plus one: put in an appearance.

Sunday, SaraRules and I went to Temple Square to see Music and the Spoken Word – she plays cello, as does my coworker who performs with the Orchestra at Temple Square, so I figured it would be a “best of both worlds” kind of thing. So… off to the Conference Center we went. There were tons of people – far more than usual – also heading to the Conference Center. Odd, but I figured “Whatever…” When we got inside, they were handing out tickets for “Multi-Stake Conference.”

*blink blink*
Okay… definitely not what we’d gone for.

We decided to beat feet and make our way out. The problem: All of the primary entrances were being used for just that: Entrances. (After all, who would possibly want to leave when you could get a little bit o’ Jesus in your day?) So, we found an elevator bay that led to the parking garage and went out that way. Then we made our way against the tide of humanity back to the car. Along the way, we found a crosswalk that had a stone benches in the middle of the street. In case you got tired halfway across? *shrug* Who knows?

All gussied up and with no particular place to go, we realized that we were hungry. I checked the time and figured that Ruth’s Diner was going to be filling up with patrons. So, rather than sit and wait, I pointed the car to I-80 East. Park City. Cisero’s. Brunch. The food was good, as usual. And the drive, there and back, was nice.

Back to Salt Lake and on to the Capitol Theatre to see The Flying Dutchman. I enjoyed production. I was even able to restrain myself from making untoward comments to the lady who sat behind me and kept kicking the back of my seat throughout the performance. I was rather proud of myself.

From there, we headed to Sara’s parents for dinner and football. We watched the Broncos whale the tar out of the Steelers. I’m not really a Denver fan, but any team that plays the Steelers is my “favorite team” in that match-up.

Football Update

• The Ravens dropped a game to the Bills. Bah. *shakes fist*
• The Raiders lost to Kansas City.
• The Bengals beat the Jets.
• The Browns had a bye week.
• The Vikings got branded by the Cowboys.
• The Eagles lost to da Bears.

The Best: Come Together – Round 2
I put The Beatles up against Aerosmith in this match-up.

I picked up a copy of Across the Universe: Music from the Motion Picture a few days ago. I’m sorry, but Joe Cocker, singing an arrangement by Elliot Goldenthal, kicks the bejeezus out of both versions. Don’t believe it? Listen to it (unfortunately, it’s audio only – which is a shame, because the video portion of this kicks much grass) and tell me what you think.

Stray Toasters

• I had a cinnamon roll from the Garden of Sweden for breakfast, along with a large dose of frozen mocha goodness.
• Secret Agent, Salmon and 22 Seconds
• Plantation Dig Reveals Maryland Town’s Painful Past
• I am Ivory Soap sure that I will own new black hotness within the next few days.
• More US Warcraft Players than Farmers
• Salt Lake Gas Prices
• SaraRules, please show this to DJ Viking:

  

  Of course, I could have asked or (or a few others) to show it to him, too… Hm. Maybe I should make it a race: See who can get it to him first. Or, possibly even how many people can forward it to him. That would be amusing.

• By way of boingboing.net: Steampunk Shrew
• Luciana Souza: Revising Pop by Way of Bossa Nova
• 
• Anagram (for Mongo) from Mr. Shortz

And that’s that.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 17 October 2007
Midweek. Grey. Rainy.

Last night was D&D game night. We… kind of, sort of accomplished some things. In the grand scheme of things. We managed to uncover at least one new mystery. (We would have gotten away with it, if it hadn’t been for you meddling kids and your dog!) And, in the words of Jerry Reed, “We got a long way to go, and a short time to get there.” So, we’ll see how things progress.

I wasn’t in the mood to make a trip to Paragon City or the Rogue Isles, so I opted for a hot – and relaxing – bath, with a glass of Pinot Noir and Black Seas of Infinity. It was a good way to end the day.

Stray Toasters

• This morning, for the first time since God was a boy, I had breakfast from McDinkle’s: an Egg McMuffin. It wasn’t hellish.
• Marvel unveiled the new look of the new Captain America. Wizard also had a couple of items about it: 1, 2.
• 
• pointed me in the direction of this: Georgia Russel’s Book Sculptures.
• I have found a new – and horrible – new toy/distraction: IKEA Room Planner.
• Time Bandits map replication
• Sex, Nazi, Burrito and Viagra: Who Googles What?
• I found a community called Mock the Stupid, by way of . Holy monkeys on parade, Batman!
• 10 Wacky Wii Accessories
• “i think i just threw up my appendix”

Wheeeee!

Namaste.

Stray Toasters

• Today’s workout was good. I did another 300 pound 1-rep. It was a little wobbly in the middle, but it came down and went back up. That’s what counts. The rest of the workout proceeded apace:
  • Bench press: 225 lbs / 3 sets of 8 reps (which was more like 8, 8, 4-3-1)
  • Pull-ups: 2 sets unassisted; 1 set of 5, unassisted and 6 assisted (90 lbs)
  • Machine Row: 90 lbs / 3 sets of 10 reps
  • Machine Fly: 120 lbs / 3 sets of 10, with a 10-second hold at the top of the 10th rep
  • Decline Dumbbell Press: 50 lbs / 3 sets of 10 reps
  • Tricep Press and Rope Extensions: 100 lbs / 2 sets of 10 reps (rope) and 1 set of 15 reps (bar)
• This past weekend, I discovered a side effect of working out: I took a couple of sportscoats with me to wear to the plays that we were attending. One was… snug… around the arms. The other was just plain too tight. *sigh* And I like both of those jackets. One should be fairly easy to replace; the other… no idea.
• I haven’t posted a link to this in a while: Echo-X – The Artwork of Echo Chernik
• Hush, hush
  Keep it down now
  Voices carry
• Helloooooo, Caps Lock.
• Tonight, God willing and the creek don’t rise, is Game Night.
• Debbie Harry in The New York Times
• 56
• “Math is hard. Let’s go shopping!”

.eof

Tuesday: 16 October 2007
The Monday work day ended without any monkey-rifficness. I like days like that.

I came home, after a brief stop at the store to pick up a few things. And I did a whoooole lot of nothing. And I liked it. In fact, about the most productive thing that I’ve done is hang a picture in the dining room. And processed the pictures from Saturday’s bowling excursion, including the ones that Darillyn took.

Then I realized something: I had no idea of what I want for dinner.

Papa Johns to the rescue. Amen. Although, online ordering will be my downfall, I fear. It just makes it too easy. Too, too easy. Point. Click. Wait. Eat. Not only that, it even remembers the last couple of things that you ordered. Hello, Seven Deadly Sins…? Yes, I’d like to call-in an order of Sloth, please. Thank you. Can I get that with a side order of Gluttony? Wonderful. Thanks.

Sleep brought odd dreams. Not “bad,” but they definitely scored at least an 8.3 on the weired-shit-o-meter. I woke up from one of them thinking “Nah… I couldn’t have dreamed that. Not even my head is that screwed up.” But, apparently it is. How bizarre was the dream? It had my dad, two sibs, three coworkers, Ludacris and a couple of Harry Potter characters in it. And that’s just the faces that I remember.

This morning started off with a pleasant surprise: An email from my Godmother. The email was a response to a “Reply-All” that I sent in response to one of my mother’s emails, but I definitely wasn’t expecting this. I haven’t heard from her in a while (and I allowed her to slip off my radar), so this was a wonderful way to start the morning.

Stray Toasters

• I talked with Adam last night. He originally called to complain about what he thought was the ending of HALO 3. We wound up talking about a few other things, too. He also wished me an early “Happy Birthday,” as he might not be able to call me on my birthday.
• “Fires burn not so brightly nor as hot. Nor as long.”
• The Grief That Made Peanuts Good
• 
• pinged me; we did some abbreviated catching-up.
• Mind gyms for cognitive fitness
  …which makes me think of:
  Siam’s gonna be the witness
  To the ultimate test of cerebral fitness
• Timbuk2 – Build your own.
• 
• By now, the odds are better than even that you’ve seen at least a few pictures of the LEGO® Church. The odds are less likely that you knew (many of) the details about it or its creator/artist. You can read about them here. (And I also like how most people assume that since it’s a LEGO creation, the artist has to be a man. *buzzer* Oh, sorry… wrong answer. Thank you for playing. Here’s some Rice-A-Roni.)
• Has the Gospel according to Goosie returned?!
• 

Hi-ho, hi-ho and all that.

Namaste.

Sunday – 14 October 2007
A lazy Sunday in Cedar City. The day started off slowly – i.e.: sleeping in. After consciousness and coffee (which some might say is a bit redundant) were attained, Sara and I had brunch with and , who were on their way to Las Vegas. It was a fun outing. When they got back on the road, Sara and I stopped in a store where one of her roommates works.

The weekend, thus far, has also been good.

I was a little later getting on the road than I had planned. Work, picking up the car and… traffic. I had hoped to avoid the usual mire of late-afternoon traffic on I-15, which I should have, by all rights. But, there was an accident between the 72nd South and 90th South interchanges that had traffic down to a crawl. Zaz! There was also the usual assortment of road monkeys to be found along the way to Utah County, although traffic was significantly better once I got to the south end of Utah County. As I was coming up to Nephi, a little blue car with Texas plates walked me down and tore past me. With the utmost quickness. I passed that car about three miles south of Nephi. The driver had made a new friend: A Utah Highway Patrol trooper.

Friday evening, I rolled into Cedar… had a VERY quick dinner… and then Sara and I saw a production of The Tempest. I had neither seen a performance of nor read the play before this. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Back to Sara’s to hang out with the roommates for a bit before crashing.

Saturday started with breakfast and cartoons… the way any good Saturday should start. The early afternoon saw us back at the theatre to see Art, a three-man play. An interesting note about this play: All three of the actors were in the previous night’s performance of The Tempest. It was quite interesting to see them in such different roles. Back to the apartment to hang out with the girls and figure out what to do with the evening. Our decision: Bowling! Sara, Darillyn, Steph and I headed to the local bowling alley and had at it. It was fun. Very fun. And, considering that I haven’t bowled in months, I did pretty well: 118, 160, 150. After bowling, I played Apples to Apples for the first time. Interesting and entertaining. I might have to pick up a copy for home.

Football Update
Quick hits:

• The Ravens whooped up on the Rams. As it should be.
• The Raiders are (at this point) nine minutes away from dropping one to the Chargers.
• The Panthers are down by one to the Cards, with twelve minutes left to play.
• The Eagles beat up on the Jets. ‘Grats, .
• The Browns 2.0 roughed up my not-so-beloved-as-they-used-to-be Dolphins. Nice one, , but you can stop beating up on my teams now. Really.
• The Vikings took one away from da Bears. Congrats, .
• The Bengals lost to the Chiefs, in Arrowhead. Sorry, .

Stray Toasters

• I have a couple of bags of cotton candy that shall go towards tonight’s watching-a-movie snackage.
• Sparky. Sunshine. Glitter. Moonbeam.
• 
• There were at least two ‘Toasters that I was going to include here… but I can’t for the life of me remember what they were.

Sara’s done with her homework; time to go play in (what’s left of) the sunshine.

Up out.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 10 October 2007
Middle of the week and all’s well.

Last night, I made a couple of stops on the way home: One to drop off some plastic crack to Perry; another to finish configuring ‘s wireless network.

Then, home.

Being rather tired, I was rather happy to be – and stay – at home. I played a little City of Heroes last night; I “ran into” my friend, Don… whom I haven’t seen online in a while. I ran a couple of hunt missions and I even remembered that I have a “summon temporary pet” power, which came in quite handy in thinning out the ranks of Devouring Earth creatures that I had to fight. Quite handy, indeed. I need to think up a name for my pet. “Sparky” was good for Indi’s pet, but just won’t work for Nefer-Tem’s.

You would think that with a (roughly) four-mile commute, I wouldn’t have to deal with monkeys. At least, that’s what I thought. Boy, was I wrong. There were two of them this morning. And, both were encountered within the middle two miles of the commute. As I’m fond of saying: “With monkeys like these, who needs pets?”

The work day has been good. There hasn’t been anything too bad to deal with. Hopefully, that trend will continue through the day.

Stray Toasters

• A Slurpee® would be good right now.
• CNet’s Weekly Hit List
• Not-a-star. (Definitely not to be confused with Baby, I’m a Star)
• Sara sent me a link to this video. One word: Zombies.
• Battlefield 3 details leaked?
• sent me a link to this video. Compound word: Bear-blasting!
• From MMORPG.com: City of Heroes – Issue 11: A Stitch in Time – Interview with Matt “Positron” Miller
• 51
• Copacabana. That’s right, I said “Copacabana.” And I meant it, too.
• Jimmy Carter calls Cheney a “disaster”
• From the “Unintentional Porn in a News Item Title” file: Robot Masseur Gives Facials
• I’m still a bit torn about what to do for a Hallowe’en costume this year. I have a few ideas/options, but need to settle on one. Soon.

Quote of the Day
From an IM conversation this morning:

(11:57:09 AM) [name withheld]: At any rate, I was writing to tell you that IKEA was a scary, scary place.
(11:57:21 AM) Me: The Garden of Sweden is a WONDERFUL place.
(11:57:34 AM) [name withheld]: Think about it this way:
(11:57:52 AM) [name withheld]: You love books. LOVE them. You walk into the showroom where there are books on every shelf.
(11:57:59 AM) [name withheld]: Feels a bit like heaven, doesn’t it?
(11:58:06 AM) Me: Indeed.
(11:58:25 AM) [name withheld]: But then you start pulling books off shelves at random and you notice that you can’t read a single one of them because they’re all written in gibberish.
(11:58:33 AM) [name withheld]: Suddenly, paradise seems like hell.
(11:58:42 AM) Me: Are there pretty pictures?
(11:58:45 AM) [name withheld]: No.
(11:58:48 AM) Me: Oh.
(11:58:48 AM) [name withheld]: Just words.
(11:59:09 AM) [name withheld]: Then you look up from the books and notice that the whole place is really a bit soulless.
(11:59:19 AM) Me: I don’t need my store to have a soul.
(11:59:25 AM) [name withheld]: Empty kitchens with place settings that will never be filled.
(11:59:32 AM) [name withheld]: Bedrooms that no human could ever sleep in.
(11:59:37 AM) Me: If I did, I would never enjoy a Toys ‘R’ Us or a Best Buy.
(11:59:37 AM) Me: Ever.
(11:59:42 AM) [name withheld]: Couches that are smiling just a bit too much.
(11:59:51 AM) [name withheld]: Hell.
(12:00:00 PM) Me: Couches that smile…?
(12:00:09 PM) Me: You’ve been watching too much Pee Wee’s Playhouse.
(12:00:19 PM) [name withheld]: I couldn’t watch that show.
(12:00:23 PM) [name withheld]: It scared me too much.
(12:00:32 PM) Me: Wait.
(12:00:55 PM) Me: [You]…. scared… by Pee Wee’s Playhouse?
(12:01:07 PM) [name withheld]: Let’s see.
(12:01:13 PM) [name withheld]: All of the furniture talks.
(12:01:18 PM) Me: You’ll excuse me if I relish this for a moment or two…
(12:01:22 PM) [name withheld]: The house itself is vaguely alive.
(12:01:52 PM) [name withheld]: And the whole thing is orchestrated by a man who seems like all he really wants to do is strip the meat off your legs for his Sunday dinner.
(12:02:09 PM) [name withheld]: That voice.
(12:02:11 PM) [name withheld]: That smile.
(12:02:27 PM) [name withheld]: I still can’t watch anything featuring Paul Reubens without shuddering.

Namaste.

Monday: Coda
I called this afternoon to ask her a work-related question. We haven’t spoken in a few months – we’ve had an email or two and some random blog comments here and there, but we haven’t actually spoken to each other since I was home in May – and she mentioned something that caught me flat-footed. I asked her if there was something that I should know about. She said, “No… you already know about this.”

I’m glad that she couldn’t see the blank/lost expression on my face.

After a few moments, I managed to wrangle a couple of brain cells, rub them together and come up with something that approximated “a clue.” *sigh* Slowly, the details came back to me. Genius I am.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to deal with too many other “thinky things” as the day wound down.

Post-work, I stopped off to see Perry, Kate and the kids… and to drop off my Sentinel for Perry to use in a game this week. Perry gave me my birthday present, a little early. I now have more toon-related and geeky goodness than you can shake a stick at.

Home.

Off to Jitterbug for dinner and coffee with , , and Pat.

Home again. Home again.

Stray Toasters

• I should really be giving more than just “consideration” to going to bed.
• The pictures from this weekend’s excursion to The “C” Overlook are up.
• A key in the door
  A step on the floor
  A note on the table
  And a meal in the micro…
• 
• While the man may have gone right ’round the bend, Michael Jackson is/was quite the entertainer. As a case in point, I present Remember the Time – featuring Eddie Murphy, Iman (still my first choice to play Storm in an X-Men movie) and Earvin “Magic” Johnson.
• By way of : IKEA hacker
• Sequins != Sequence
  (Learn the difference. Please.)
• Than != Then
  (Learn the difference here, too. Seriously.)
• Happy 30th Birthday to the Atari 2600
• From the “This Has to Be Fifteen Kinds of Wrong” file: Anna Rexia Hallowe’en Costume
• Do you want/need to stand out at your next company party or high school reunion?
  Would rolling up in new hotness set it off?
  Rent a tank.
  Guaranteed to turn heads… and if it doesn’t, blow ’em away.

Alright, time to try this “sleep” thing.

Namaste.

Saturday – 06 October 2007
Today’s my father’s birthday. I called him this morning to congratulate him on avoiding the embrace of the Dark Lady for another year. He laughed at that. When I asked what he had on-tap for the day, he said nothing, other than enjoying the day. I told him that sounded like a good way to spend the day.

Today is also ‘s birthday:

…and tomorrow is ‘s birthday:

So far, the day has been lazy. I’m waiting for Legion of Super Heroes to come on so I can do some premium couch-surfing, while enjoying a nice bowl of Honeycomb.

After, I can get “right on to the friction of the day” and do things like running errands and cleaning and getting on the road.

::: cartoon break :::

Four-Color Coverage: Animated
Today’s Legion episode was “Cry Wolf.” It spotlighted Timber Wolf, who had been convicted of murdering his father – the man responsible for turning him into an ordinary young man into the feral Timber Wolf. The episode had a good deal of “inner monologue” voiceover, which was used rather effectively. Secondary characters in this episode were Phantom Girl and Chameleon Boy, the only Legionnaires who refused to believe the charges against TW. There was an interesting moment between Timber Wolf and Superman-X (Kell-El) where ‘Wolf challenged Superman about doing what he thought/knew was right versus blindly following Cosmic Boy’s orders. Another scene, between Timber Wolf and Phantom Girl reminded me of a few panels from “A Cold and Lonely Corner of Hell.”

I followed up the LSH by watching today’s episode of The Batman, “Vertigo.” The episode introduced Green Arrow and Count Vetigo to this version of the DCAU. There were a couple of minor tweaks to the Green Arrow origin, but they stayed fairly faithful to the original story. I liked the way that they portrayed Green Arrow and his civilian identity, Oliver Queen – the once-proud, now-humbled rich guy looking out for the “common man.” The interaction between Batman, Robin and Green Arrow was also handled well… especially as Green Arrow began to piece together Batman’s secret identity.

Stray Toasters

• I need to get moving… but the motivation isn’t fully there yet. Given the state of disarray around here, you would think that the motivation would be kicking me squarely in the tuckus. Repeatedly.
• James Sturm on Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow
  My father actually saw Satchel Paige play. I’m going to have to track down a copy and get it sent to him.
• Acolyte Derek has been promoted to “Deacon.” Selah and groove on.
• Blog Action Day
• From the XXXenophile card game: Oh No, There Goes Tokyo!



• While looking through CYMK, I saw the following ad for a drink called Sinalco:

  

• 6
• Click for art.
• From the Scrubs musical episode: Everything Comes Down to Poo
• It appears as though the Stepford Cuckoos are going to be a part of the upcoming HeroClix “Mutations and Monsters” set.

Quotes of the Day
From last night’s Clitorati gathering came the following:

1. You hit the jerky spot… and I don’t mean “beef.”
2. Speaking of “third time,” did you have the three-way?!

Okay, time to get a move on.

Namaste.

Friday – 05 October 2007
The morning started off about an hour after I had planned on it starting. And even then, I only woke up because the phone rang. *sigh* The rest of the morning has gone well, though. And there was frozen mocha goodness to help speed the day along.

Last night was quiet. I made it to The Garden of Sweden. And I was in and out of there in about 15 minutes. That almost never happens. I guess that’s the way it goes when you go in with a mission to get one specific thing. Only. (Of course, I walked out with two, but why quibble?) When I got home, I had a few grand designs on actually being productive and getting some cleaning done. Instead, I paved a little more of my road to Hell. And I’m okay with that. Besides, there’s always tonight or morrowmorn.

Stray Toasters

• Schoolhouse Rock! is providing the soundtrack – and some video – for the workday, so far.
• goofydopey
• 34-minus
• Someone turned Utah’s thermostat down again.  Yesterday, it was nearly 80°… it’s a hair above 60°.
• Carpe diem!
• After hearing part of this segment of Talk of the Nation yesterday, this comic was even more amusing:

  

• We the people, in order to form a more perfect union…
  (Admit it, you just started singing that.)
• Zero Punctuation review of Halo 3.  (Check out the review of Peggle, too.)

*voop*

Namaste.

Wednesday – 03 October 2007
Mittwoch and all is well.

Game night was canceled last night, so I found myself faced with deciding what to do with my evening. After a bit of mental meandering, I finally decided to log into CoH/V and see what was happening in either Paragon City or the Rogue Isles. I checked to see if either of ‘ alter-egos were online. They weren’t, but he was. I mentioned a field trip to the Isles and he was down with the idea. A short while – and a few deaths – later, Dhoruba had hit Level 14. And with Level 14 came a (real) travel power: Superspeed. Thank God.

I had a couple of odd dreams last night. One of them included an… invasion/uprising (?) of crab-like robotic creatures, similar to Stargate SG-1’s Replicators. I woke up just as a wave of them was overruning me. There’s a great/weird feeling.

Otherwise, the morning has been good, relatively quiet and fairly uneventful.

Stray Toasters

• I finally got around to depleting my stores of cotton candy by one. Something about running a Council mission, beating on bad guys, well… “even-worse-than-me” guys, while eating cotton candy is amusing.
• Artist gets probation for building secret mall apartment
• No one gets to their heaven without a fight.
• By way of Disinformation: Everything You Know About God Is Wrong: The Disinformation Guide to Religion
• NCSoft has released information about the upcoming expansion: Issue 11 – “A Stitch in Time.”
• Snorg Tees
• The upgrade to WordPress 2.3 is complete and was rather painless.
• lj user=”lostbear” pointed me in the direction of a LEGO-built Serenity.
  
• Weirdest Sex Stories of 2007
• Stylized Star Wars line-art t-shirts

…and I had sushi for lunch, at a place that frequents. Not a bad place and the prices were good. AND, added bonus: It’s a few doors down from the good Dr. V’s. (And I escaped with only two pieces of plastic crack: Firehawk and Lex Luthor.)

Namaste.

Sunday – 30 September 2007
Yesterday’s move went well. And quickly. I believe that the “official” time was three (3) hours, start to finish. That doesn’t include unpack and organize time, but still… that’s pretty damned impressive. (And, it covered any “need” for a weekend workout, too.) After the move, we went out for brunch.

And it started to snow. Yes, snow. Not even in October. *grblsnrkx*

Came back home for a much-needed nap.

Sara and I went to see Across the Universe; more on this below. After the movie, we headed to Cheers: South for breakfast. The restaurant was rather busy, which made for some rather “interesting” people-watching.

Today started off lazily. When we finally got in gear, Sara and I met Perry for lunch at Jitterbug. Post-lunch, the three of us headed to Dr. Volt’s to pick up my four-color shwag and a half-brick of plastic crack… and a box of Stikfas that I had forgotten thatI had ordered. Next, a quick stop at REI to make sure that hadn’t fallen off the face of the planet. (He hadn’t.) And then, a trip through Parley’s and Emigration Canyons to see the fall colors. The foliage was making progress towards the red end of the spectrum… but it wasn’t as prevalent nor as vibrant as I had expected. Oh, well.

Reeling by on Celluloid: Across the Universe
Is there anybody going to listen to my story
All about the girl who came to stay?

There’s a saying that goes “Parallel lines meet at infinity.”
There’s a variation of it that says “Parallel lives meet at infinity.”

This movie is about those parallel lives, their meetings and is told through the use of the music of The Beatles. I was pleasantly surprised at how it all came together. I was, likewise, pleased to see that there was more to the movie than the simple “boy meets girl” love story implied by the trailer.

The music, as I mentioned, was by The Beatles, but the songs were deftly re-arranged by Elliot Goldenthal and sung by the characters/actors. Not only that, but the songs also tied-in to the events of the movie, similarly to the way that Orpheus in the Underworld (Can-Can) and Die Another Day, were used in Stardust and Die Another Day, respectively. I believe that my two favorite pieces were Let It Be and Come Together… so much so, that I might have to reconsider my choice for “The Best” from a few weeks ago.

At two hours and twenty-one minutes, the movie is long… without feeling long. The casting was good. The plots/subplots were good. And with one exception, the stories didn’t feel forced or contrived.

I give the movie an enthusiastic “thumbs-up with and okay.” And it has renewed my interest in seeing Cirque de Soliel’s Love.

Football Update
Just a quick hit here: Congrats to on his Browns 2.0’s win over the Ravens today. Operative words: “Beat down.”

Stray Toasters

• I still have three bags of cotton candy. I shall put a dent in that tonight, while I am saving the world.
• “Greenie Weenies”
• Sara’s Deviataion vs. Rob’s Deviation.
• Monkey of the Day: While in Dr. Volt’s, Perry and I were talking about our plastic crack purchase (part of which is supposed to be Kate’s Christmas present to him). We were tossing jibes back and forth when another customer decided to chime in with: “Wow, I can’t believe all the testosterone and posturing being tossed around over here…” I had my back to him, but Perry said that he looked at me and straightened up a bit when I saw my build; then he looked at Perry, who was wearing a his badge and his holster. The guy then said “But, since I don’t know either of you, I think I’ll just keep my mouth shut.” And he walked to another aisle.
• I’m thinking of rearranging the office. I might put my eight-foot table up in there… and possibly throw my LEGO train and the Rokenbok Monorail up on it.
• 

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.