Random Access

Tuesday – 04 June 2019
Do you like coffee?
Do you like comics?
Do you like places where everyone – and I do mean “EVERYONE” – is made to feel welcome and included?

Oh, here’s a good one: Do you like supporting small/local businesses?

If you answered “Yes” to one or more of these, I would like to introduce you to Watchtower Coffee and Comics, a shop in Salt Lake City owned and managed by Cori Christine and Mike Tuiasoa. I’ve been fortunate enough to know Mike and Cori for a few years. They are not only wonderful people and good friends, but they also love the community that they serve.

Cori and Mike – (c) Darby Doyle

In their own words:

Watchtower Coffee & Comics is part coffee shop, part comic book store, part art gallery, part gaming space. It’s a community center for fans of any age, orientation, gender, race, or culture who want to meet up and geek out together over a tasty beverage.

We named the shop after the headquarters of The Justice League, a reference to the place where heroes gather together and stand as beacon of hope and safety.

That sums it up nicely… and still doesn’t say enough.

Why should this matter to you? Because Watchtower has grown to the point where they need to move locations to better serve the community and they need your help. They have opened a Kickstarter to help support this move. It’s down to just under the last 48 hours and is close to hitting their goal, but needs just a little more of a push to get funded.

If you’re able, please helpthem to continue to support the community and to do so in a space better suited to filling that need.

Thank you.

Friday – 29 March 2019
A friend posted a link to a Tweet with this image in it.

For SOME reason, it triggered thoughts NOT of I Dream of Jeannie, Aladdin, or even Magic Mongo, but rather Christina Aguilera’s Genie in a Bottle… which has apparently been covered by Agents of SHIELD and Marvel Rising‘s Dove Cameron. Huh. Who knew?

Many rains past – and, if we’re being honest… still – it amused me to think of that song paired with Johnny Gill’s Rub You the Right Way, which immediately came back to mind after the above thought. (Welcome to my personal Circle of Hell.)

What other songs can you think of that would make interesting song pairs/suites when played back to back?

Go!

Tuesday – 05 March 2019
It’s happened. Sideshow Collectibles has put out another figure that I’m 99.999% sure will wind up in my display case. Soon. Well, soon-ish. The funny thing is: I wasn’t even aware that it existed until yesterday.

What is it?

Marvel’s Luke Cage Sixth Scale Figure.

Luke Cage – (c) Sideshow Collectibles

Luke Cage – (c) Sideshow Collectibles

Bad. Ass.

There are two versions: The “Collector’s Edition” and the “Exclusive.” The difference is that the “Exclusive” comes with two additional hands, with brass knuckles rings that spell out “Luke” and “Cage.”

Luke Cage – (c) Sideshow Collectibles

I don’t know that I “need” the knuckle dusters, but the price difference is $5.00 USD, so… *shrug* We’ll see. Either way, it will look just fine next to my Nick Fury.

Saturday – 10 November 2018

I just did a thing.

Choo. Choo.

More accurately, I made a thing.

For my birthday, I ordered a new toy: A 3D printer. It arrived earlier this week. It sat in the box for a few days; Team DiVa would often ask, “When are you going to open your box?” Last night, I opened and assembled it. Then, I went to bed, because I was tired and that’s what you do.

This afternoon, I took a couple of stabs at figuring out how to use it – leveling the print bed, making sure the motors worked, figuring out how to feed filament to the extruder. Pretty standard stuff.

This evening, I decided to jump in and try my hand at making something. I loaded the test print object and hit the “Go” button. (Okay, you caught me. There’s not an actual “Go” button on the printer. But, you have to admit: You considered the possibility for a moment.)

Nothing. Went. Right.

I consulted the University of Internet for help/answers. I found a setup and initial print video that actually helped a bit. The one issue I had was poor camera angles for some of the things the videos maker discussed. Which led, in part, to a problem I encountered: The print head moved, but didn’t really DO anything. The leveling I had done, based on the video, didn’t put the print bed at the level for which my printer was calibrated. So there was a LOT of adjusting and swearing and more adjusting.

I tried again.

More swearing and adjusting.

I opted to try a different test print object. I went to Thingiverse and found the file for a locomotive. Because: Me. I hit the Go button again. Yes, there was more adjusting, but noticeably less swearing. I hit the Go button, yet again. Lo and behold… printing occurred! Unfortunately, about 14 minutes into the 20-Minute Workout with Joanie Greggains print job, I bumped the table and made things go all skewampus on the print.

*grblsrnkx*

Undaunted, I started a new instance of the print job. And was vewy, vewy qwiet… and still. Something – and I’m still not sure “what” – bollocksed up the cowcatcher on the front of the locomotive, but everything else printed just fine.

I’m not sure what’s next and in the future for the 3D printer, but I promise (to TRY) to use this new power only for (neutral to chaotic) good.

Saturday – 30 June 2018

Today was a “Divide and Conquer” kind of day. Sara took Team DiVa to their swim class, while I represented the family at Salt Lake’s “Families Belong Together” rally.

I got there a too late to march with the other event-goers, but I was there. It would be good if our elected officials actually listened to – and acted upon – Vox Populi, and not just to the talking heads of their respective parties.

That brings up a side note: I’ve recently noticed a fair number of posts going around that say something to the effect of “Neither religion nor politics have ever been a reason to turn my back on a friend.” Isn’t part of the reason that we choose people to be in our circles because they not only share some of our views and perspectives… but also because the have differing ones, as well? What happened to the ability to “agree to disagree?” Or even the seemingly simple ability to have discourse without it devolving into arguments or outrage?

It seems to me
As well make our own few circles ’round the block
We’ve lost our senses
For the higher-level static of talk
“Dog Years,” by Rush (from the album Test For Echo)

After that, I headed to Koko Kitchen to pick up some lunch. I love that place and don’t get there nearly often enough. Back in the car and on to Watchtower Cafe to pick up some liquid motivation. I chatted with Tui a bit about next week’s Salt Lake Gaming Con (Are you going?!) and some of the goings-on there. I’m looking forward to attending.

Back in the driver’s seat and (finally) headed home. Sara and the girls were working on an assemble-and-paint model of the solar system. When they’d finished, Diana and I talked about the planets and their orbits… which turned into us asking our Echo about the orbital periods (new phrase for D) of the various planets.

We all enjoyed some downtime and then headed to one of the local libraries and parks. I was thwarted in my attempt to acquire delicious confections from C. Kay Cummings (Curses, foiled again!), as they closed about 20 minutes before we got there. *shakes fist* I poked my head into Dr. Volt’s Comic Connection, but decided that I didn’t need anything today. From there, it was off to dinner.

Post-dinner, I “needed” to stop at one of the local Michael’s. I picked up some props and accessories for Action Figure Theatre. (What?! I put “needed” in quotes. Get off my case!) It’s fun when I go to an arts and crafts store and go to check out with miniatures, because I often get an odd look, raised eyebrow, or even a direct “What are you making with these?” When I explain how they will be put to use, the quizzical expressions usually turn into wide, surprised smiles or laughter. Totally worth it.

One of the books I picked up at the library was a “How to Draw Animals” book for the girls. V picked it up first, but D was the first one to actually put it to use. In the half-ish hour she had before bed for free time, she busted out nine or ten pictures. And, they were good. Really good, especially for first shots. V, not to be outdone, drew a quick picture right before bedtime, which was also very good.

Later? Who knows….? Possibly a movie. Possibly some Overwatch or some other game.

Stray Toasters

• Today’s rally reminded me of something my father gave me years ago. And gave me an idea. We’ll see where this goes.
• I listened to a lot of Prince yesterday. I regret nothing.
• Bruce Banner could have used one of these: The Belt That Protects Against Gamma Radiation
• Tin Machine
• Salt Lake City’s fireworks laws have been recently updated/amended. There’s a period of a few days around July Fourth and Pioneer Day that are designated as legal to shoot off fireworks. Someone needs to tell the people a couple streets over.  *grblsnrkx*
• I didn’t realize how anxious and excited I am for City of Titans to (finally) drop until talking with a friend about some of my old City of Heroes and City of Villains characters last night.

.eof

Friday – 25 May 2018

I am ready for the long weekend. ‘Nuff said.

Stray Toasters

• From our Mother’s Day Southern Utah Parks Tour:

  • 

    Diana (Arches National Park)

    

    Vanessa (Arches National Park)

    
    

    

    Sara and Team DiVa (Goblin Valley State Park)

    

    Goblin Valley State Park

    
    
• Ostracised and Fetishised: The Perils of Travelling as a Young Black Woman
• The NFL continues to be a mess. I’m going to wind up not watching this season, either, at this rate.
  • This saddens me for many reasons, not the least of which is the complete missteps that have been taken with respect to players’ rights to silently protest and the League’s response. But also, Torrey Smith, former Raven has been traded to the Carolina Panthers, meaning that I have a reason to watch him play again.
• Black sergeant was ‘loyal klansman’
• I saw Solo: A Star Wars Movie a few nights ago. I liked it. I should get around to reviewing it and Avengers: Infinity War one of these days…
• The Sky Was No Limit: The WASP Women Pilots of WWII
• A couple weeks ago, I had a couple of odd things reach a weird personal convergence:
  • I learned that a coworker spent part of his mission in my mother’s hometown. Yeah, a small town in West Virginia that few have heard of and fewer still have been to. He spent six months there.
  • Later that same day, Sara and I watched Logan Lucky. Turns out that part of the movie was also set “somewhere” in West Virginia.
• This is how the federal government made a Star Wars tweet go viral
  • Hat tip to my friend Denise for this amusing look at life above the 54′-40º.

Saturday- 24 February 2018

I’ve been (somewhat) trying to write a post for a month now. Seriously. There have been fits and starts, but no finished product… until now. It’s strange to think that this is my first blog post (on here, at least) this year. But, here it is.

Today has been a good day. It snowed last night. It’s as if Mother Nature finally decided to remind people that “Yes, this is still Winter and I still have a few tricks up my sleeve,” and do it all in one week:

Oh, y’all wanted to call me out for not giving you any snow this winter?

BLAOW!

How ya like me now?

Said snow contributed to our decision to not venture out to Team DiVa’s swim class and, thus, gave all of us some prime sleeping-in time. Selah.

Next up: Ballet class for the ladies. Sara and I had supplemental breakfast and coffee while the girls were in class. From there, we headed down to Draper to catch an encore presentation of Mary and the Witches’ Flower. We’d wanted to see this a month ago, but it sold out rather quickly. Eagle-eyed Sara saw something a couple of weeks ago which noted another showing; we decided to make a family movie adventure out of it. The movie was quite cute and had a couple of take-away lessons. Even more importantly: Team DiVa liked it.

Next, back home for a hot minute so I could get my car and head off to record “a very special episode…” of Geekshow Podcast with Jay Whitaker (1, 2), Kiki Furia, Kari Keone, Dr. Paul White, and Stephan Watson, with Kerry Jackson as our host and moderator. The episode was about Black Panther and will be out Monday. NOTE: It’s heavily spoiler-laden and not exactly safe for work. You have been warned.

Now, I just need to finish this morning’s greatly-belated Instagram #morningcoffee post and all will be well with the world.

Stray Toasters

• An Artist Reversed The Gender Roles In Sexist Vintage Ads To Point Out How Absurd They Really Are
• Deep Space Nine Is TV’s Most Revolutionary Depiction of Black Fatherhood
• Illustrated Periodic Table
• Round like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel
  Never ending or beginning on an ever-spinning reel
  Like a snowball down a mountain, or a carnival balloon
  Like a carousel that’s turning running rings around the moon
  Like a clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes on its face
  And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space
  Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind
• Budgeting Doesn’t Have to Suck
• 21 Murphy’s Laws of Combat That Could Save Lives
• After 56 years apart, they rediscovered a love they thought was lost forever – The man in this article is my uncle (my step-father’s brother); I wasn’t able to make it home for the wedding, but this is a lovely story.
• The Tiahrt Amendment

Out.

Sunday – 24 December 2017
Last night, my gaming group got together for another Shadowrun session. It was a little touch-and-go as to whether or not the game would actually happen earlier in the day, but it did.

Game night!

I quite enjoy my group and running games for them. Most of my players are (relatively) new to the world of Shadowrun, while others have experience from the computer/console games. Watching them come together to experience the pen-and-paper world of the late 21st Century has been fun and occasionally highly entertaining. Case in point…

In our last session, the group had been contacted to find a missing person. And, as they were leaving the meeting, they were contacted by another agent to do a semi-related job, finding an item that the missing person was investigating. Serendipity AND more money. They followed some leads to the person’s last known location: A room in a fairly upscale hotel. They didn’t find the person, but another set of clues that led to a location in underground Seattle.

That’s where tonight’s game picked up. They walked into the location (see map)…

(c) Catalyst Lab Games

…and right into the middle of a gang war. Literally into the middle of it. So, they did what any intelligent adventuring party would do: Dove into the nearest cover – the ladies’ restroom. Or, rather, they tried. Two players had… issues: One stumbled and slammed into a wall, making her a target for getting shot. (Hooray for armored clothing!); the other… just… fell and almost got his head caved in by an exuberant – but very clumsy – ganger.

Members of the party, leaning out of the women’s room doorway, open fire on Gang #1 (on the right, near/around #1 on the map; Gang 2 was on the left, near the big red arrow)… just as the first wave of cops is hitting the top of the steps to the underground. Shots are exchanged to little effect. The team’s mage decided to cast a wicked stun spell on a massive radius, centered on the nearby gang. And she was SERIOUSLY successful. Five of the seven nearby gangers dropped. So did some tourists. Go figure. Then things got ridiculous:

• Stumblebunny finally makes it into the restroom.
• NEXT ROUND: More shots fired.
  • Decker (computer hacker) decides to hack the optics of the last two nearby gang members.
    With goatse. (DO NOT LOOK THAT UP)
    • He was successful and, not surprisingly, they stopped shooting, just as…
  • The cops arrive at the top of the stairs to the underground level.
  • Mage’s turn: She casts a spell on one of nearby gang duo, making him think that he’s COVERED in insects, even inside his clothes.
    • Again: Raging success. So… he starts stripping.
• NEXT ROUND: The cops hit the level where the fighting was going on.
  • So, a couple cops are like “WTF?! Why is he getting naked?!”
  • Three cops decide to head down the corridor and confront the other gang, who are still shooting. Because…  gang.
• NEXT ROUND: Mage decides to cast another spell. “Swarm,” making the cops coming down the escalator think that they are in the middle of a swarm of bees.
  • Again, wickedly successful – it hits most of the cops on the escalator.
    • They lost their shit…
    • …for about 5 seconds, until the cops’ combat mage dispelled it.
  • As the three cops head down the hall to the left (towards Gang #2), one of the party flips a flash-bang out the bathroom at them… as the mage is celebrating her success, like this:
    
    (click image)
    For clarity’s sake, I asked if that’s what her character was really doing. She said “Yes.”
  • Flash-bang goes off.
  • Cops – in helmets and riot gear – shrug it off. Two of the three cops head down to face Gang #2, Cop 3 throws a flash-bang into the bathroom.
  • I just looked at the group and told them, “I don’t even need to roll this. Everything goes black. For all of you.” For a moment, they thought I killed them.
• Eventually (20-30 minutes later), they all come to, surrounded by 20+ not-so-happy cops.
• …when a 3m tall troll (cop) walks up. The team’s negotiator decides to go kind of hard-ass, while the Infiltrator (stealth guy/think “rogue”) is basically, “Yep, we’re shadowrunners,” when the troll cop asks what they’re doing there.
  • The cop-mage was also casting “read thoughts’ and “detect truth” when the troll cop was asking questions.  He kept saying that the negotiator was telling “mostly truths, but there’s some… grey… in there.’
  • Wasn’t making troll cop overly happy.

The best part of the troll cop asking questions sequence was the out-of-character conversations going on around the table, because half the party was ready to throw the mage under the bus for casting the swarm spell on the cops. To be fair, in the first adventure we ran, the mage tried to use her stun spell to stop a magical creature from escaping a zoo enclosure. She put two of her teammates to sleep instead. There may be some lingering resentment about that. Oops.

As I said above: I enjoy my gaming group.

Sunday – 01 October 2017
And, so, we come to Birthday Month…

So far, it’s been pretty good. Chilly, but good. Of course, any month that starts off with sleeping in can’t be all bad.

Today was a low-key, mostly spent-at-home kind of day. After the hullaballoo of last week, it wasn’t a terrible change of pace. Of course, being at home meant that (some) chores had to be tackled. Some were. The world didn’t stop spinning. This afternoon, Team DiVa and I jetted off to the mall for an errand (for me) and some walking around looking at things time (for the three of us) and a little play time at The LEGO Store (for them… mostly). All missions were accomplished nicely. The evening has been pretty quiet. I consider that a good way to end the day and start the week.

Stray Toasters

• Earlier, I posted my first-ever submission for Inktober. I haven’t really drawn anything in months and haven’t seriously drawn anything in years. This should be fun.
• Last night, we had our final session of the Shadowrun adventure my group’s been playing. The whole team survived; that’s a good thing. (For them.) I’d been co-GMing our group with my friend, Josh. He’s bowing out of running things and it seems that I’m going to be GMing the whole shebang from here on out. May the deity of my players’ choices have mercy on their souls…
• I completely spaced off a few things in my recap of Salt Lake Comic Con ’17:
  • I got to meet Michael Stackpole and have him autograph a book I’ve had for many years.
  • I also met Yale Stewart, writer and author of JL8, a webcomic based on the Justice League… as grade-schoolers.
• I know it’s probably going to get nerfed, but I love what the latest Overwatch update has done for Mercy (my main).
• Two or so months ago, I discovered a new-to-me webcomic: Star Power. I’ve quite enjoyed it.
• I’m still rather amused by how Team DiVa has taken to DuckTales – both the old and new series.
  • I think that we’re only a few episodes away from seeing my favorite Duckberg denizen: GizmoDuck!

Okay, time for  a snack and a little gaming before bed.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 17 May 2017
Stuff and Things.

This past weekend was… busy. But also awesome. Saturday saw the usual ballet and swim morning routine. I missed the swim portion, as I was judging a game tournament. Then there was a little break – filled by running a couple of errands. Next, early dinner and dropping Team DiVa off at their grandparents’ house, so that Sara and I could see Utah Opera’s Don Giovanni. Again. (We saw the final dress rehearsal, with the little ladies, but went back Saturday for opening night.) I enjoyed the production. They updated the sets and costumes to place it in a noir setting. This changed a couple of scenes, but worked for me on the whole.

Sunday, was Mother’s Day.  Sara had been wanting to go to Spiral Jetty for a while and Golden Spike National Historic Site is just a (long) hop, skip, and a jump from there. Thus, we were up early to pick up DiVa and meet friends at Golden Spike and Spiral Jetty. The first time we went to Golden Spike, the locomotives were in the Engine House for the season; that was not the case this time. We arrived just before the Jupiter made its appearance.

About half an hour later, No. 119 rolled up.

The presentation that the rangers provided also informed us that the engines were fired differently: Jupiter is wood-fired, while No. 119 is coal-fired. You could also tell this from the way they smelled as they approached – Jupiter smelled like a camp fire, No. 119 smelled like a coal-burning oven.

After a while, we made the drive to Spiral Jetty. Fifteen miles. Forty minutes. Over bumpy dirt road. The water level was a little higher this time – still not up to the jetty, but only 20 or so yards away to splash pools and just past that to deeper water.

All in all, it was good weekend.

Stray Toasters

• What is the measure of a life? My Family’s Slave
• 100 Must-Read Sci-Fi/Fantasy Novels by Female Authors
• Drunken Whiskey Review: Kirkland Canadian Whiskey
• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.‘s fourth season was all about punching Nazis – and it was the best yet
• Coding Game for Critical Thinking Skills
• Background Paintings for Scooby-Doo Are Delightfully Creepy and Rather Beautiful
• This past Monday was Miracle Monday… and I missed it.
  • I wonder if watching Monday night’s Supergirl counts to some degree, as Superman was in the episode…?
• Are Pop Lyrics Getting More Repetitive?
• 
  • Why Does “K” Stand for “Strikeout” in Baseball?

And that’s a wrap.

Friday – 21 April 2017
Another week comes to an end.
And, apparently, it’s been a month since I dusted off the trusty blog. I really need to get better about this…

In short: It’s been a good – and eventful – month. The highlights of the month include, but are not limited to:

• Going on a business trip.
• Surprising my parents by showing up on their doorstep on the first leg of the trip.
• Meeting some new coworkers on the trip.
• Getting to visit with my uncle towards the end of the trip.
• Coming down with some travel-related bug that had me down for almost a week.
• The start of baseball season and the O’s getting off to a great start. Hopefully, they’ll keep some of this momentum through the season.
• Meeting a Twitter and Facebook friend.
• TRAINS!  Well, getting to head up to the train.. museum(?)… and one of my favorite train shops.
• Traveling to Boise to visit family and friends over Easter.
  

  Sara, Team DiVa, and Grandmother – Easter 2017

• Watching Team DiVa hunt for Easter eggs while we were gone and seeing their surprise at discovering that the Easter Bunny had apparently left Easter baskets for them at our home while we were out of town.

I’m sure that I’m leaving more than “a couple” things out, but all-in-all, it really has been a good month.

Stray Toasters

• Free Posters Celebrating Mighty Women in Science
• The Cult of Ignorance in the United States: Anti-intellectualism and the “dumbing down” of America
• 11 Stereotypical Roles Offered to Black Men in Hollywood
• I’ve been doing (almost) daily coffee pictures on my Instagram feed for the past few months. Friday, I posted this picture:
  

  Fearless Defenders

  which was 100% inspired by the cover of The Fearless Defenders #1:
  

  

  Fearless Defenders Vol. 1 #1 (c) Marvel Comics

  I don’t think that I can really claim not to be a comics/action figure geek – as if that was possible – but I was rather pleased with how it turned out.

• Have An Airline Complaint? Don’t Call the Airline – Tell the Department of Transportation
  • Airline Quality Rating
• The Incomparable Difference Between Whitewashing and Racebending
• These Rare Color Photos from the Second World War Are Incredible
• 13 Things LEGO Bricks Taught Us About Life
• The KKK and Baseball History

And with that…

So Long, Farewell, Goodbye.
(Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, not “The Sound of Music”)

Friday – 17 March 2017
There are a lot of good things about today:

• It’s Friday. That, in and of itself, is a great thing.
• Salt Lake Comic Con FanX kicks off today.
• The sun is out (at least it is in SLC).

But, far more importantly, it’s the second most important day in March (third, depending on when Easter falls): Green Lantern Day!

On Greenest Day…

Of course, there are those (uncreative types, I’d say) who would say that it’s simply “St. Patrick’s Day.” And that’s fine; I’m alright with sharing the day.

Whatever you’re celebrating, I hope that your day is fantastic!

Namaste.

Friday – 10 March 2017
Another work week comes to an end.

It was a pretty good week, in all. Things happened. Stuff, too.

I neglected to post – or, rather, elaborate on – something from last week: Sara! and I went to dinner at Table X, as a belated Valentine’s Day outing without Team DiVa.

Table X describes itself as:

We’re a restaurant run by three chefs. We’re going to prepare you thoughtful, honest food without the fussiness of fine dining. In fact, we’re going to give you a new casual dining experience, altogether. Again and again.

We had encountered these chefs’ cuisine last year, at a pop-up dinner done in conjunction with Utah Opera’s production of Tosca. That – along with the idea of there being a new casual dining restaurant both outside of downtown Salt Lake City and not too far from our home – informed Sara’s choice on places to try. The restaurant seats about 230 people, has an open design, and has an air that combines a modern look with a touch of industrial design.

For dinner, we selected the Chef’s Tasting Menu, comprised of five (5) courses:

• Red Beet Curry
• Cabbage Toast
• Scallops,
• Christiansen Farm Berkshire Pork, and
• Pecan Tart with homemade Pecan Ice Cream

Let me start by saying that I was leery of a couple items on the menu: the Beet Curry and the “Cabbage Toast.” I am not a fan of beets, nor have I been since I was very young. And the idea of a “cabbage toast” was… intriguing, but set me a little on edge. However, as the Prince song said:

…but it was Saturday night,
I guess that makes it alright.
I said, ‘What have I got to lose?’

The curry was served with cauliflower florets. It was flavorful and not at all what I expected. Sara! commented that it as most likely because they were not pickled beets (like from a can), which I abhor. I happily ate the entire course.

Next up: Cabbage Toast. This was a house-made sourdough, topped with a kelp cream/butter and a red cabbage jam. My first thought, upon hearing “jam” was of a pulped, processed spread. I was wrong. This was… simply… cabbage. And it was excellently prepared; I ate almost all of it.

The next course was scallops. I was all-in for this one, as I love scallops, yet never seem to order them when we’re out. (That, and the fact that I have some issues with getting seafood in a landlocked state.) The scallop – singular – was topped with a small portion of ham. Added bonus: Sara! isn’t a huge fan of scallops, so she gave me at least half of hers. (WIN!)

Course Four was the pork loin. Again, I was happy to try this. And I wasn’t disappointed. It was served with celeriac and red cabbage. It was tender and juicy and just seasoned enough to extract and enhance the flavor of the meat. NOTE: At the beginning of dinner, Sara! asked if she could make a couple of substitutions, because she doesn’t eat pork. For this course, they brought her the Winter Vegetable Stew. It was presented with the vegetables in a bowl and the broth in a separate ramekin, poured at the table.

For the final course: Dessert! This was a slice of pecan tart, presented with house-made pecan ice cream. It was the perfect finish to the meal. Sweet. Sticky, yet somehow slightly crumbly. Just right.

In all, I was quite happy with the meal, the atmosphere, and the service. Our waitresses, Rikki and Haleigh (“HAY-lee”), were attentive and responsive to our requests. While not on the “let’s do this every week” I would gladly recommend dining there.

Stray Toasters

• If IKEA Did Superheroes
• A Letter To My Daughters: Always Be Present
• By way of Sara!:  Children prefer to read books on paper rather than screen
• The Get Down: Part II, by way of my friend, Rob
• Warner Brothers has released a new poster for the upcoming Wonder Woman movie:
  
• The NASA 2017-2018 Catalog of Free Software Is Now Available
• This Woman Reimagined Disney Princesses As Badass Feminists and It’s Truly Inspiring
• Atomic Blonde first look: Charlize Theron goes on the attack
• By way of my friend, Denise:
  • Powerful Video Shows Why Ghost In The Shell Whitewashing Has Real Consequence
  • Carly’s Cafe: Experience Autism Through Carly’s Eyes
• Windows Server on ARM: It’s Happening

Namaste.

Monday – 20 February 2017
Today is President’s Day in the U.S.

For my President’s Day #morningcoffee picture, I used Lex Luthor. Because I could.

#LexLuthor: A life, some would argue, is a series of problems. There’s no denying the truth in that – but why get lost in it? Why not rise above the truth… and lead a good life? Shouldn’t we look at all the problems is a chance for us to find… solutions? You see, I don’t want to do good things. I want to do great things. Nothing can stop me now! #coffee ?? #morningcoffee #PresidentsDay #PresidentLexLuthor #VoteForLex2000 #Smallville #Metropolis @dccomics

A post shared by Rob (@shadorunr) on Feb 20, 2017 at 10:42am PST

Today was a slightly busier-than-planned day, but still very good. Team DiVa, after sleeping in until after 9:30 on Sunday morning, were up at 7:30 this morning – Diana decided to play with the Kindle, while Vanessa decided that crawling into our bed was her best option. (To be honest, I still appreciate getting kid cuddles when I can, as I know that they won’t last forever.)

After breakfast (cinnamon rolls!), it was a kind of lazy morning… until 10:30, when I got an email from work.

<sarcasm>
Yay.
</sarcasm>

So, I did what any diligent IT guy would do: I made like Kool Moe Dee and I went to work. I got there and looked at the system in question, only to find that there was nothing wrong. At. All.

*grblsnrkx*

Back home in time to surprise Team DiVa with a trip to the theatre to see The LEGO Batman Movie. It was a big hit. (Sara and I enjoyed it, too.) Back home again before heading up to Park City for…

…dinner with Liz, a high school classmate:

With Liz (photobomb by Maya)

We met at the Wasatch Brew Pub in Park City, where Liz and her family are staying this week. It’s the first time we’ve seen each other since high school graduation. We had a nice dinner and caught up a little bit on the last three decades. (Man, it really seems like a long time when you put it that way…)

Diana, Liz, and Vanessa

Liz, Maya, and Michael

Diana, Maya, and Vanessa

After dinner, said our goodbyes and headed back to Salt Lake City. We got little ladies ready for bed, took care of a couple of chores, I caught up on a couple episodes of The Flash, including one that I somehow missed about three weeks ago.

And that brings us to now.

Stray Toasters

• I haven’t made any posts about Black History Month, as yet. That said, I’ll just point you to posts from previous years and also suggest that you dig into the rich history on your own…
• …that said, I’ll also throw these out there:
  • Why Was February Chosen for Black History Month
  • Black History Month: 15 Influential Black Superheroes
• I’ve gotten back into tabletop gaming; I’m co-GM’ing a Shadowrun campaign.
• 10 Cool Hacks for Amazon Dash Buttons
• This is, quite simply, beautiful: Stunning time-lapse captures the seasons of Norway
• Praise Hera, Mattel’s Wonder Woman Dolls Are Glorious
• I should start ignoring media for Logan. It’s not like I’m not going to see the movie.
• I started playing HALO 5 again, both campaign and Warzone. I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed the game.
• There are rumors swirling about Tilda Swinton as the next Doctor. I’d be aboard for that.

Tomorrow comes soon, I should probably start considering hitting the rack.

Namaste.

Thursday – 09 February 2017
I work in IT.

Granted it might not as grand an opening statement as ReBoot‘s “I come from the Net…,” but it  gets the point across.

I’ve been working on a server chassis and its resident blade servers for a while, getting it ready to move into production. I’ve been using wired keyboards and mice as the user interface. A week ago, I decided to bring one of my wireless keyboards from home – the keyboard has a built-in mouse and the space where I’m working on the chassis doesn’t have a lot of real estate that’s conducive to rolling a mouse around.

I brought the keyboard in last week and showed it to a coworker. It was at that point that I noticed the wireless dongle wasn’t in its storage slot in the battery compartment.

See that empty spot, just to the left of the left battery…?

I’ve spent the past week looking for it  – at the office, at our manufacturing facility, at home. No dice. This morning, I emptied out my work laptop case to make sure that it hadn’t somehow fallen into one of the pockets. I didn’t find the dongle, but I did find my library card, my membership card to Red Butte Garden, and a few other things. (Not really sure why I put them in my work bag…)

On a lark, I looked in the battery compartment again. You know, in case it had magically reappeared. Because that happens so often…

Still no dongle.

HOWEVER…

When I looked at the cover to the battery compartment

Oh, look.

Dongle. Clipped safely into the slot that holds it in place.

*braincramp*

That’s right, it’s been right there…for the past week. This includes the, at least, five times that I’ve had the keyboard in my hands and the at least three times that I’ve opened the battery compartment. Yet, I never thought to look at the cover. Despite the fact that at some level I knew that’s where it was supposed to be.

Super. Genius.