Random Access

Monday – 31 January 2011
Another week begins. And this one starts with Mother Nature’s frozen, mocking laughter blanketing the valley. That’s okay. It’s warm in the office.

Yesterday was a lazy day. SaraRules! and I lounged about the house all day. We filled a little bit of the afternoon catching up on a couple episodes of Young Justice. After that, I tinkered with my new game PC for a bit. DC Universe Online was still locking up at random, making it… difficult (read: “damned near impossible”)… to play. *sigh* I headed to the local Best Buy to put a hypothesis to test: Maybe using an off-board graphics card in the system would help. I picked up an new nVidia card (GeForce 210) to be tested out after dinner.

We went up to the in-laws’ for dinner and to watch the Pro Bowl. I’m not sure if it is because of the new schedule or the changes in rules, but the game just wasn’t “good.” Sure, it was football… kind of… but, the AFC just didn’t seem to have their usual fire or passion. It looked like they were just “there.” It was disappointing. I’m glad that it wasn’t the last game of the season this year. We turned from the game at halftime to watch RED, which the in-laws hadn’t seen; it was also far more entertaining than the game.

Back at home, SaraRules! and I started watching last week’s Fringe. Until the recording just went blank. Laptop to the rescue! I hooked up the BlacBook to the TV, surfed to Fox.com and finished the episode. After that, SaraRules! called it a night, while I installed the new video card…

…and, lo and behold, it worked! I logged into DCUO and played for about an hour. It didn’t cut out once. It’s a beautiful-looking game. The texture maps and environments look really nice. And, I also appreciated the fact that I didn’t have to run everywhere to get around, working my way up to Hover, the second-most useless superower (See: “Adventures of a Novice Hero,” in this post); I picked Flight as a travel power to start and it was immediately available.

Stray Toasters

• Israel Shaken as Turbulence Rocks an Ally
• For SaraRules!: For Ernest Borgnine, career has been an eternity
• Define Gender Gap? Look Up Wikipedia’s Contributor List
• 
• emmet swimming
• I just ran across this, from an old post, while looking up the “Hover” reference above:
  

  Juan: Shall we dine?
  Squee: NO! NOOO!! I don’t wanna eat the toasty souls of the damned!!
  Pepito: I thought we were having Stove Top? I want none of this soul-toast.
  Mother: Souls? What are they talking about? I didn’t cook any souls, Juan.
  Juan: Ah, darling, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you. You see, I am Satan.
  Mother: Hmmm… That explains the basement. But… I’ve always been such a good Christian woman.
  Juan/Satan: Well… then let’s both be thankful for irony. So, Todd, my son tells me you wish to join my soulless army of darkness?
  Squee: No, but once I wanted to be a giant monster.

• The Dutchman Flies Right Off the Wall
• I’ve long thought that Closer and Come Together should be able to combine, fairly easily, in a remix. This morning, I discovered that someone had made that remix (NSFW… just for the record):
• Some Boomers ‘retire’ to jobs that allow them to help others
• Totally “been there, done that…”
  



• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Republican school board in N.C. backed by Tea Party abolishes integration policy
• Guy Named Potter Survives 1,000-Foot Mountain Slide

Namaste.

Wednesday – 26 January 2011
Midweek is upon us once again. Of course, that means that it’s Comics Wednesday. Additionally, it means that SaraRules! and I have another Sundance movie to attend; tonight’s movie is Perfect Sense.

It’s grey and foggy outside. I half expect to see creatures from Stephen King’s The Mist appear at any moment…

Last night, we had a quiet night in. I cooked dinner – chicken over rice (all cooked in cream of mushroom soup) with green beans – and we knocked out another couple of hours’ worth of DVR fare. After TV-watching, I went in to have another go at playing DC Universe Online.

I’d gotten another couple of responses from Sony’s Support Team, so I figured that I’d see what worked. The solutions worked better than before, but I still wound up crashing… but not before I got out of the introduction/tutorial. Finally. There are a couple of other things that I need to try before emailing the Support Team and telling them that their suggestions only partially worked.

Stray Toasters

• Straight out of the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Man fired for wearing Packers tie is offered new job
  So, let me get this straight: You fired a guy because he doesn’t like the same team as you…?  Idiotstick.
• F.D.A. and Dairy Industry Spar Over Testing of Milk
• Dubai’s World of Islands Is Sinking into the Sea
• 
  • • 10 Guinness Gaming Records You Didn’t Know Existed
• BBC World Service cuts outlined to staff
• Jos. A. Bank is having a sale on suits, sportcoats and blazers. I could use a couple of new blazers…
• “It’s the music that we choose…”
• For rent: Kennedy Space Center facilities, launch pads
• To Add Appeal, Olympics Borrow (Again) From X Games
• Coming soon: Wide Nose Dash-8. And it will come in CSX and Norfolk Southern livery.  *covet*

Namaste.

Tuesday – 25 January 2011
We’re almost a full month into the new year, but my fingers still want to type “2010.”

Today is my sister-in-law, Chelsea’s, birthday:

It’s snowing again. It’s not a heavy snowfall, but it is constant.  The snow doesn’t appear to have affected drivers in this part of the valley too much… but we’ll see how it goes as the morning progresses.
UPDATE: It’s gotten a little worse:

With that in mind, the Council for Better Driving: Utah would like to remind drivers to exercise caution when traveling today.

Last night, SaraRules! was kind enough to pick up the engine, tender and boxcar that I was having repaired at The Train Shoppe:

The locomotive now goes like the proverbial “bat out of Hell” — I hitched it up to a nine car consist and opened the throttle… and off it went. With the quickness. I am happy. I am also happy because I now have three (3) fully-functional locomotives.

SaraRules! fixed a very tasty recipe of stuffed peppers for dinner. As we ate, we cleared another couple of episodes of NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles off the DVR. Then, it was time to catch up with a few coworkers for CoD: Black Ops online. It was fun; I even tacked three more levels onto my character. After the group broke up, I tried to play a little more DC Universe Online. Once again, it locked up on me. (I’m going to be Level 30 before I ever get out of the introduction, at this pace…) I have a support ticket logged with Sony. In the past 12 hours, I’ve had two responses on it – one was a request for more information; one was a possible solution to the problem. I’m going to test it out this evening.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
This morning, Marvel’s latest event, “Fantastic Four: 3,” kicked off.

In this event, a member of the Fantastic Four dies. There’s been great speculation as to which character it would/could be. Comics news sites announced, as early as last night, that some mass media sources were spoiling the news of which member died.

*sigh*

It was bound to happen, I know… but I still held out a glimmer of hope that I would be able to make it until tomorrow – when I pick up my books – without hearing who the doomed person was.

Nope.

This morning, on the drive in, an announcer on a local radio station just blurted it out. There was no “Hey, if you’re a fan of the FF, you might want to turn the volume down for a minute” warning or anything.  Just “BAM!”

Monkeys.

Ear Candy
I heard this on the way to work this morning…

…which, for some reason, made me think of this:

Stray Toasters

• I finally got to introduce Kristen to iChat’s video chat option last night. It was nice to not only talk with her, but to see her, as well. I also gave her a “walking tour” of the house.
• The Sartorialist
• Bethany Sew and Sew: Character Aprons
• Chopin ‘probably had epilepsy’
• Test find high levels of lead in reusable bags
• Updated version of yesterday’s comic:



• Documents Open a Door on Mideast Peace Talks
• Jan. 25, 1921: The Robot Cometh
  • All Hail Our Robot Overlords! Sci-Fi’s Best Bots
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Flier goes ‘berserk’ over blocked lav, punches attendant
• 2011: A security manager’s wish list
• Unusual Wave of Violence Strikes Police Officers

And with that… on to the rest of the day!

Namaste.

Monday – 24 January 2010
Well met, work week. Let us see what we can accomplish.

Yesterday, I met up with Chris and Jeremiah for a HeroClix game. We played 800 points, per player. Chris fielded his X-Force team, Jeremiah brought five White Lanterns, and I played the Teen Titans. The game lasted almost three hours and, in a rare twist, didn’t involve two of us ganging up against one player. It was probably one of the most balanced three-player games I’ve ever played. In the end, Jeremiah lost his team first, I came in second, with Chris winning.

After the game, I met SaraRules! at her parents’ place for dinner and football. Later in the evening, the two of us headed downtown for our fourth Sundance movie: Benavides Born. The movie told the story of Luz Garcia, a high school senior in a small Texas town. Her dream is to get put Benavides in her rear-view mirror. Her means for doing so is to secure a powerlifting scholarship to the University of Texas. The movie follows Luz as she competes, in hopes of winning a scholarship, and as she interacts with her family and friends. This is also a coming of age movie, as it deals with Luz learning what it takes to achieve her goal and dealing with the obstacles and setbacks that arise, making her dream seem unattainable. It was a very “human” and very good movie.

Instant Replay: Football
There were some only two games over the weekend: the AFC and NFC Championship Games. I only watched the AFC game:

New York Jets at Pittsburgh Steelers
19 – 24
The Jets flew into Heinz Field, coming off a big win against the New England Patriots. I don’t know what happened to the Jets in the first half, but they were completely shut down by the Steelers. Their run game was ineffective. There was almost no pass game. The were just… there. In the second half, the Jets remembered what they were there to do and played ball. Their game wasn’t perfect, but it was fairly solid, they posted sixteen (16) unanswered points, but their last defensive stand failed to stop the Steelers from attaining first downs, allowing them to run out the clock. And so, the Super Bowl game will see the Steelers taking on the Green Bay Packers. Guess I’m going to be a Packers’ fan.

Stray Toasters

• American Icons
• Art Exhibit Stirs Up the Ghosts of Zimbabwe’s Past
• Thanks to for pointing out the Model Railway Layouts Blog to me.
• Fitness guru Jack LaLanne dies at 96
• Why Papa Johns, Intel, others said no to Super Bowl ads
• 
• Frank Gehry’s Home for New World Symphony
• In Pursuit of Qubits, Uniting Subatomic Particles by the Billions
• Wizard and Toyfare magazines fold
  (Which really seems about 3 to 5 years overdue…)
• 
• This is a good multi-genre mash-up: The Walken Dead
• Comics Code Authority is dead

Bang. Zoom.

Namaste.

Friday – 21 January 2011
Hello, Day Off!
I greet you with coffee and Irish cream!

Today is also ‘ birthday:

Last night, UPS finally delivered my copy of DC Universe Online.

Oddly, I didn’t immediately bound downstairs to install it. No, instead I waited until after dinner (I cooked burgers on the grill; SaraRules! fixed Tater Tots and green beans). It was one of the longest game installations I’ve dealt with… well, at least since playing games on my Commodore 64. Yeah, it was that long. But, it installed.

And then it patched.

And then I had to update the .NET Framework on my computer.

And then… it started.  Finally.

For the most part.

There still seem to be “a few” problems with the game. But, I have it. And that’s a start. I… recreated (sort of)… Nefer Tem. This version is a little different than his CoH counterpart. I’ll have to see how his power set progresses and how close/different he winds up.

After I got the game going, SaraRules! and I headed to the gym. Having come to the conclusion that I need more of it in my workout routine, I did… cardio. Well, a little. I spent 15 minutes on the elliptical, maintaining roughly a 5.5 MPH pace.

• Elliptical: 15 minutes, ~5.5 MPH
• Bench Press: 3 sets/8 reps, 185 lbs
• Shoulder Press (dumbbell): 3 sets/10 reps, 30 lbs
• Curls (dumbbell): 3 sets/10 reps, 30 lbs
• Sit-ups (incline): 3 sets/10 reps

Not too big a workout, but it was still a good one.  And I don’t know what I was thinking, but I completely forgot that my last bench press weight was 165 lbs, not 185. Nothing like jumping 20 lbs in weight… after nearly 2 weeks out of the gym! UGH!

:::INTERLUDE:::
Here’s a little something for your Friday morning:

Stray Toasters

• Investigators search for woman in connection with 1987 abduction
• 10 Most Popular Autocorrects from December 2010 (courtesy of )
• How Creed Saved a Norwegian Boy From a Pack of Wolves
  This story would have been 500% better if it had been Apollo Creed.
• F.D.A. Sees Promise in Alzheimer’s Imaging Drug
• 
• For itemizers, IRS has set tax-filing date of Feb. 14
• By way of my friend, Marie: What’s the Longest Word in the English Language?
• A Path Is Sought for States to Escape Their Debt Burdens
• Jump in de line…
  Rock your body in time!
• 12 Robotic Garages Worthy of a Bond Villain

Up. Out.

Namaste.

Thursday – 20 January 2011
I almost typed “Friday,” as today is NBN Technical Friday. Wishful thinking, I guess.

Last night’s D&D 4.0 game was cancelled. That meant that my Wednesday night had a gaping hole in the middle of it. So, after collecting this week’s four-color haul from Dr. Volt’s,  SaraRules! and I capitalized on the free evening and turned it into Date Night! We went to Pawit’s Royale Thai for dinner and then headed down to Jordan Commons to see True Grit. I’ve not seen the original, but this one was a very good movie. I have heard a number of people talk about how good the main actors’ performances were, especially Hailee Steinfeld‘s… and am happy to report that they were correct.

Stray Toasters

• Higher Taxes Wouldn’t End Some Deficits
• Malware Warning: New Kookface campaign hits Facebook
  • Koobface exploit for Macs circulating in the wild
• This was a horrible movie, but I like the music video…
• Hello Kitty’s Borg-like Assimilation of the World Continues in Awesome Mashups
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Undercover policeman married activist he was sent to spy on
• American Express to cut 550 jobs as service needs shrink
• 
• Wonder Woman Teams Up with MAC for Super Makeup
• From the “No, I never would have thought that something like this was needed” file: Has this ever happened to you?
• A Racy Show with Teenagers Steps Back From a Boundary
  I find it interesting that they waited until Paragraph 12 to note that MTV’s Skins is an Americanized version of a British show of the same name, or as the article states: “…a country that has historically displayed a higher tolerance for TV eroticism than the United States.”
• Batman vs. Bruce Wayne
• Tricks of hotel marketing photos

Namaste.

Wednesday – 19 January 2011
Midweek is upon us once more.
And it comes to us with a mixture of sun and snow. At the same time.
But, it’s also Comics Wednesday. And also possibly even “Caramel Apple Wednesday,” in lieu of Sushi Wednesday.

Last night was D&D 3.5 game night with and company. I’m not sure what the deal was, but most of the game’s disruptions came from the lot of us behaving like high schoolers. (Let’s just chalk it up to “puerile behavior” and move on.) Last night’s challenge came from our group trying to parley with a group of frost giants for possession of a crown… and not get squished. Things went well: No one died, we have favorable status with the tribe of giants and we may even have new trade partners. Not bad for a night’s work.

Stray Toasters

• I may have come up with a new (or, rather, “yet another”) rail yard layout idea. And, unfortunately, I really like this one. Instead of having a stub-ended yard – which my current layout is – it would be a double-ended yard, allowing a train to enter/exit from either end. There are a few drawbacks to this idea, though:
  1. I would need to purchase six (6) new switches, minimum, to make it work.
  2. I would need to expand that side of my layout by at least 4′ in length and 1′ in depth.
  3. I wouldn’t want to set it up until the basement is finished, which would tentatively be sometime in March or April.
• Rock Stars for a Night, and for a Price
• Who is fixing your plane, and how?
• Former Haitian Dictator to Face Charges
• This is kind of what it’s like when I go to The Train Shoppe or The Wonderful World of Trains…
  

  

• Thom Zahler Returns with “Love and Capes”
• From the “Longinus!” file: Caligula tomb found? No. Caligula movie reappraisal time? No.
• This Year, Sundance Will Savor Its Homegrown Projects
  Speaking of Sundance, our first film of this year’s festival, I Saw the Devil, is Friday night!

Namaste.

Sunday – 16 January 2011
So far, it’s been a quiet and grey morning in the valley.

I slept in a bit and then headed over to Rich’s Bagels. Sunday breakfast with SaraRules!, bagels and Ray Charles in the background… can’t really go wrong there. Later today, I’m heading over to and Jack’s for D&D; we’re playing catch-up, so that our game is back on-schedule. Then, there will be dinner with the in-laws. After that, possibly a movie or a couple episodes of Mad Men.

Yesterday was a busy day. It started with breakfast with SaraRules! and Rachel at Millcreek Cafe and Eggworks. Next, SaraRules!, Jana, and I went to brunch (Market Street Broiler) and the matinee performance of Spring Awakening. I didn’t know what to expect going in, but I quite enjoyed it. It was an interesting play; it was set in the late 1800s, but the music was mostly modern rock. I found that the dichotomy worked well, with the music providing an interesting undertone for the angst and rebellious thoughts/natures of the youths.

After Spring Awakening, we came back home and I watched my recording of the Ravens-Steelers game. (More on that in a moment.) Then, it was time to get ready for Utah Opera’s Hansel and Gretel.

The performance also featured Angela and Kate (two of the Utah Opera’s Resident Artists), as “The Dew Fairy” and “The Sandman,” respectively. It was a… “fun”… opera, and more light-hearted than many/most operas that I’ve seen. There were a couple of special effects that added to the enjoyment of the performance, most notably the “dancing broom.”

Instant Replay: Football
There were some good games over the weekend… even though I missed both of Saturday’s games.

Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers
24 – 31
The Ravens, coming off last week’s big win over the Chiefs, flew into Heinz Field to take on the Steelers for the third time this season. The first half of the game was fantastic. The Ravens worked rather well on both sides of the ball, while the Steelers had… “some issues.” The Ravens went into halftime with a 21-7 lead. I don’t know exactly “what” happened in the second half. Complacency? Overconfidence? Whatever it was, the teams seemed to switch playbooks — the Steelers came on like gangbusters, while the Ravens looked more like the Keystone Kops. It was both sad and disappointing. And with that, the Ravens’ season comes to a 13-5 end. While I’m sad that they didn’t hold on for the win, I am glad that they had such a good season – it speaks well to the commitment of the staff, management and players. Lewis: “We’ll be back.”

Stray Toasters

• Tomorrow, I’m going to be working at Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore for my  Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service project.



• , have you seen this: Here’s Your Chance to Own the Real Batmobile
• As the son of teachers (and having a few friends who are teachers, as well), I think that everyone should check out Classroom Superheroes.
• The Monkeys You Ordered
• I am a little more than halfway done with The Professional. Hopefully, the ending will be more satisfying than Rough Weather.
• Museum of Sex exhibition about sex and comic books
• In in today’s “Weather vs. Technology” lesson, Flooding in Australia:

• My new desktop is up and running. Now, all I need is for DCUO to show up…

Time to get ready for gaming.

Namaste.

Friday – 14 January 2011
Winter: Hazy Shade.
Leaves: Brown.
Sky: Grey.
Dreaming: California (…or just about any place that has temps above 40F).

It’s my 9/80 “on” Friday… which means that it’s pretty quiet in the office. And I’m quite alright with that. I had a meeting this morning, which wasn’t at all painful. I consider that a definite “plus.”

Last night, SaraRules! had a Justice League Junior League meeting, so I fended for myself for dinner (Greek City Grill) and hung out online with and a few of his friends, playing CoD: Black Ops. (MENTAL NOTE: The controls for Black Ops are not the same as the controls for HALO.) I got killed… many times. But, I also had lot of fun playing.

Stray Toasters

• I am going to miss the broadcast of tomorrow’s Ravens-Steelers game.  *shakes fist* Thank Heaven for DVRs.
• No, your zodiac sign hasn’t changed
  • 
• Opening of Spider-Man musical delayed once again
• WizKids has released pictures of and the dial for the new Magneto ‘Clix figure. And… it’s going on The Covet List.
• See Something? Cite Something.
• 
• Best Buy apparently had a rectal craniotomy — I got an email yesterday, stating that my “backordered” DCUO had shipped.  *sigh* Monkeys.
• In a related note, the new memory and case/PSU that I ordered have apparently been delivered.
• Carrie Fisher is new Jenny Craig spokesperson
  • Wishful Shrinking #1 – from Carrie Fisher’s blog (which I find clever and entertaining)
• The remix version of this song makes me want to listen to this song, which led me to this:
• What did you do, Ray…?!
• I enjoy gaming (duh) and have heard of people doing some “out there” things to get their game on, but this takes it to a whole new level. Idiotstick.
• Minnesota Death Star
• Alternate Movie Posters
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Safety Certificate

And with that…

Namaste.

Thursday – 13 January 2011
This NBN Thursday morning finds the sun, visible today, creeping over the mountains. There’s still a bit of inversion haze over parts of the valley, but being able to see the sun – as opposed to a “slightly brighter spot in the sky” – is nice.

Last night was D&D game night with m3lody and company. Our opponents for last night’s encounter laid a good, old-fashioned beat-down on us. It was not pretty. We prevailed, but there was a lot of near-death dealt to our group.

SaraRules! rented, and we watched, The Town last night. It was good. The story, followed Ben Affleck’s character, Doug MacRay, and his heist crew, as they engaged in a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse with the Boston Police Department and the FBI, following a bank robbery. MacRay complicates things even further due to an attraction to one of the robbery victims. The movie also contained what SaraRules! called one of the best bits of dialogue… ever:

Doug MacRay: I need your help. I can’t tell you what it is, you can never ask me about it later, and we’re gonna hurt some people.
James Coughlin: …Whose car we takin’?

Stray Toasters

• For reasons that I have yet to discern, I woke up with the chorus from Richard Marx’ Hazard running through my head.
• Obama’s Message in Grief: Talk in a Way That Heals
  • Text of President Obama’s Speech at the Service
    

    If this tragedy prompts reflection and debate — as it should — let’s make sure it’s worthy of those we have lost. Let’s make sure it’s not on the usual plane of politics and point-scoring and pettiness that drifts away in the next news cycle.

    The loss of these wonderful people should make every one of us strive to be better. To be better in our private lives, to be better friends and neighbors and coworkers and parents.  And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their death helps usher in more civility in our public discourse, let us remember it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy — it did not — but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to the challenges of our nation in a way that would make them proud.

• Suggs Plays the Villain
• Tense time for workers, as career paths fade away
• As the Web Turns
• For Ms. :



• China, in a Shift, Takes on Its Alzheimer’s Problem
• Carnival Cruise Lines to pull out of San Diego
  • Thanks to too much time spent on Q-Link as a kid, I always want to type “San Diego” as “Sandy Eggo.”
• Harvard psychologist explains the science of zombies
• Spec Fic Parenting: This, My Son, Is a Sword

And that, as they say, is that.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 12 January 2011
It’s midweek, which means that it’s Comics Wednesday.
As for returning the “sushi” to Wednesdays, well that’s something that we’ll have to see how it develops… but last night, the missus and I had dinner at Tsunami, so the sushi craving has been abated for the time being.

SaraRules! and I, along with Melissa and her friend, Kate, went to see The King’s Speech after dinner.

We had heard a number of glowing reviews from friends who had seen it, so it seemed like a fairly safe bet. At least in my case, friends’ comments didn’t do it justice. It was a fantastic film. Colin Firth did an excellent job as Albert, Duke of York (and later, King George VI). Geoffrey Rush was equally good in his role as Lionel Logue.  And, this was the first movie in some time in which I’ve seen Helena Bonham Carter act and didn’t just want to shake my head and go, “Really…?!  This again?!” She was… charming… in her role as Queen Elizabeth. This was a wonderful bit of cinema, proving that you don’t need to spend exorbitant amounts of money on special effects in order to tell a compelling story.

Stray Toasters

• I pre-ordered DC Universe Online: Collector’s Edition two months ago, because I wanted perks that came with it.
  The game went live yesterday.
  I received an email from Best Buy – at 11:09 PM last night – saying that it was “backordered.”
  I am not happy.
• 
• A Pink Lambo? Well, It’s Personal
• Face-Lift for Met’s Costume Institute
• The Onion‘s take on an extended football season:

  Onion SportsDome

• Credit scores get easier to track down and less secretive
• Battle Is Set as Verizon Adds iPhone
• 
  (And for those who don’t get the ‘Poser’ double entendre, click here.)
• This American Life: The Invention of Money
• Ten Awesome Things Most People Don’t Know About PHP
• James Bond Returns! And Not a Moment Too Soon!

Quote of the Day
Today’s quote comes from Derek Hunter, a local writer and illustrator:

Nitpick about your looks all you like, but let’s face it ladies, you’re all pretty gorgeous.

Know what?  He’s right.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 11 January 2011
Day Two of the work week and all’s pretty much well. We just finished stacking 44 chairs into a U-Haul for delivery to the other office. Not quite the most Tetris-worthy feat I’ve been party to, but it was still pretty impressive.

Last night, I started playing Call of Duty: Black Ops.

In theory, I was going to meet up with a couple of coworkers online, but they weren’t around. So, I started playing the campaign. I will most likely want to look into changing my controller configuration, as I found myself pushing buttons and discovering that they didn’t do what I wanted/expected.  (Yeah, something about the layout being different than HALO. Go figure.) I made it through a few missions before calling it a night.

Stray Toasters

• I’m planning on taking next Monday off from work and (hopefully) working a service project for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  While checking out some of my options online, I came across the following graphic on Volunteering in America:



• Dick Winters, ‘Band of Brothers’ Inspiration, Dies
• DNA upends century-old murder verdict
• Bringing a Bikini to a Sword Fight
• Thanks to for pointing out Three Minutes
• A Resurgent Chrysler Says It Is Here to Stay
• Amber Case: We are all cyborgs now
• Reasons to Be Cheerful
• For the amount of monkeydom that she’s dealing with, I dedicate The Monkey Song to :
• What really happened to Endor when they ganked the Death Star
• I miss Dunkin’ Donuts.

Back to the work grind.

Namaste.

Monday – 10 January 2011
A new work week begins. This one actually has some blue sky and sun associated with it. Of course, there is still a good bit of haze about the valley, but I’ll take what I can get.

Yesterday, and came over to watch the Ravens-Chiefs game. Nox brought Josh and Sabriel with him; both of the kids did a good job of entertaining themselves while we yelled at the television watched the game. After the Ravens-Chiefs game, we flipped over to the Packers-Eagles game, which was also a good contest.

After football was over, SaraRules! fixed dinner: Homemade beef barley soup, squash and dinner rolls. ‘Twas very good. After dinner, we played Trivial Pursuit and then I somehow convinced her to watch Smokey and the Bandit. It might not be the world’s best movie, but it’s one of my favorites — if I believed in “guilty pleasures,” it would be one of mine. (If memory serves me correctly, I believe that my father took me to see it in the theatre… three times.) I learned a couple of interesting things about the movie, thanks to IMDb:

• The second highest grossing movie released in 1977 next to Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977)
• Was a Guilty Pleasure of Alfred Hitchcock according to his daughter Patricia Hitchcock

After the movie, I finished up Rough Weather and called it a night.

Instant Replay: Football
There were some good games over the weekend… even though I missed both of Saturday’s games.

Baltimore Ravens at Kansas City Chiefs
30 – 7
The Ravens and Chiefs met at Arrowhead Stadium for the AFC Wild Card Playoff Game. The Ravens came to play some serious ball, too. After leading 10-7 at halftime, the Ravens went on to score another 20 unanswered points and seal the deal. Next stop: Heinz Field on Saturday, for a meeting with AFC North rival Pittsburgh Steelers.

Joe…?  Derrick…? You guys just scalped the Chiefs and are going to the Division game against the Steelers!  How do you feel about that?

Yeah, I’d be passing around the high-fives, too!  Congratulations!

Green Bay Packers at Philadelphia Eagles
21 – 16
The Packers and Eagles faced off in Philly… …and the Pack came away with the win There was a lot of post-game talk about the two missed field goals by Eagles’ P David Akers… six points which would have secured a Philadelphia win. Should’a. Could’a. Would’a. Aaron Rodgers and the Packers move on to face the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday.

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New York Jets at Indianapolis Colts
17 – 16
Last week, I was worried about the Ravens having to face the Indianapolis Professional Football Club in the playoffs. More specifically, I was worried about the teams having to meet yesterday. Fortunately, Indy lost last week’s game and the Ravens wound up taking on the Chiefs. Saturday, Mark Sanchez and the Jets eliminated Indy – and the last Manning standing – from the playoffs. I only wish that I had seen that game.

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New Orleans Saints at Seattle Seahawks
36 – 41
Are the Seahawks this year’s Cinderella team? They upset last year’s Cinderella and have their sights on da Bears in next weekend’s matchup.

Stray Toasters

• SaraRules! tested out a very good blueberry pancake recipe for breakfast yesterday.
  I have third-party independent verification of this, as young Ms. Sabriel packed away two of them, herself.
• It wasn’t a workout, per se, but I walked up five of the six flights of stairs to get into the office this morning. I’m thinking that I might challenge myself to do it at least once a day during the work week.
• Federal Charges in Giffords Shooting Cite Assassination Plan
• TV ‘Wonder Woman’ Not Going at This Time
• Taking a trip into history with the Freedom Riders
  • The Freedom Riders movie referenced on the second page of the article is the one that SaraRules! and I saw last year at the Sundance Film Festival.  If you have a chance to see it, I highly recommend it.
• 
• Library of Congress Gets a Mile of Music
• Theme park giant’s ups, downs lead to investor showdown
• Muslim and Christian, Egyptians stand together against violence

I don’t know when it happened, but most of the haze has burned off and you can now see across the valley.

Namaste.

Sunday – 09 January 2011
Typing “2011” still feels a little “off” to my fingers.

It started snowing again last night. I haven’t made it to a window to see how deep the snowfall is yet. I’m hoping for the light, powdery snow, as opposed to heavy, wet snow.

Yesterday, I judged another HeroClix tournament at Dr. Volt’s Comic Connection. The turnout was good; there were ten players. The tourney was a “constructed” event, with players having to build a 300-point team, utilizing at least one figure from the new set. Once again, first and second places were separated by only three (3) points. After the tournament, I got into a 6-player game with some of the guys. 1,000 points per player. One map. We split into two teams of three. I played the Black Lantern Corps:

• Black Hand
• Kal-L
• Martian Manhunter
• Nekron
• Scar

I also used the Black Lantern object. I was rather pleased with how well the team worked and how useful the figures’ abilities were, despite having my pieces eliminated first. I can’t be too upset about that though: The other team saw my figs as threats… and, quite frankly, I would have done the same, were situations reversed. It was a fun – and very long – game.

After I got home, I watched Resident Evil: Afterlife with SaraRules!, and later introduced her to The Thomas Crown Affair. While somewhat entertaining, Afterlife was not a good movie. It also had more “bullet time” than all three Matrix movies, combined! (“Hey! Our movie’s crap… let’s use lots of slow-motion to make it seem cool!”) Thomas Crown, on the other hand, was both entertaining and good. It had been a long time since I’d seen it and it made me want to see the 1968 original version, with Steve McQueen.

Resident Evil: Afterlife –
The Thomas Crown Affair –

Instant Replay: Football
In a couple of hours, the Ravens will face the Chiefs in today’s AFC Wild Card Playoff Game.

Stray Toasters

• In the span of less than 24 hours, we went from this to this.
  I can’t say that either event instills me with lots of hope for humanity…
  • Born, died between two tragedies
• With all of the negative news items that get posted about NFL players, it’s nice to read an article that focuses on the positive side of a player’s off-field life. What makes it even better, at least for me, is that it’s about a Baltimore Ravens player: TE Todd Heap.
• Profile Valet for Android
• 
• I (finally) picked up Call of Duty: Black Ops the other day.  I may give it a try later this afternoon or evening.
• From the “Isn’t It Ironic…?” file: US Government Strategy to Prevent Leaks, Is Leaked
• To say that I “enjoy” Cee-Lo’s Fuck You would be something of an understatement. It’s a song, with a catchy and danceable beat… and it’s just “fun.” So, what could possibly make it even more entertaining?

  Thanks to for pointing this out!

• South Sudan Poised to Create New Nation
• Can sitting too much kill you?
• The Definitive Classification System for T-Shirts

Time to find something to do (hopefully, other than shovel snow) until and get here for the football game…

Namaste.

Thursday – 06 January 2011
It’s Thursday.  Amen. That means that it’s an NBN day… and it’s the last day of my work week, which means that it’s “NBN Technical Friday.” If only there was less inversion-induced haze…

Last night was D&D 4.0 night with and company. There was far less death among our party than in Tuesday night’s game. But, that doesn’t necessarily mean that we didn’t have a good fight on our hands. We did. But we persevered.

After the game, SaraRules! and I knocked out another episode of NCIS. The DVR queue is growing shorter!

Stray Toasters

• As our game wrapped up last night, I received a call from Young Miss Grace; she (with “a little” help from Sib-1) called to thank us for her Christmas present. It was very cute.
• GWU honors Gray’s athletic legacy from time of segregated sports
• IRS tax liens jump by 60%, but how effective are they?
• 
• Training and Trust: Partners on the Flying Trapeze
  When I was 12 and 13, my summer camp had a 28′ flying trapeze. (This fact is made even more interesting when you consider the fact that I went to a computer camp.)  Campers were able to choose non-computer-related activities to complement their more geeky ones; I chose flying trap.  I didn’t do any of the catches – and regret that a little – but I still had a lot of fun on and learning about the trapeze.
• Mac App Store Launches with Thousand Apps, Big Discounts
• 
• Thanks to an ad that I didn’t need to see, I just realized that I could easily add an elevated subway to the city side of my layout…  *sigh*
• Starbucks drops its name from logo

Back to it.

Namaste.