Random Access

I was following a thread on a gaming forum when the following popped up on my screen:

(click for larger image)

The “problem” is: I’m on my MacBook… running Snow Leopard.
Not Windows.
Not Parallels.

OS X.

Yet, lo and behold, I apparently – and somewhat magically – have hundreds of viruses on my (non-existent) “C: drive” and “D: drive.”  It even ran a “scan” to show me just how many there were.  How do I know?  Because the “Scan Procedure” progress bar moved while it was scanning!

I nearly fell out of my chair laughing.

Friday – 11 September 2009
Today not only marks the end of the (work) week, but it’s the eighth anniversary of the attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.

For my thoughts on the matter, I once again refer readers here.

Today’s an “on” day.
And I have The Leash this week.
Happiness and joy.

That’s right… I just broke out a haiku. Bow down.

Football Update
The NFL 2009 season kicked off with the Tennesee Titans heading to Heinz Field to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Tennessee Titans at Pittsburgh Steelers
10 – 13

It was a good game.  A seriously solid, well-played game. The defenses of both teams definitely earned their paychecks this week. The game was scoreless until late in the second half, when both offenses woke up and remembered what it was they were there to do. Excellent way to start the season… despite the fact that the Steelers won.

Four-Color Coverage
MarknTyme has come down with a case of “Life Happens,” which in this case means that he’s whipping his high school band into fighting shape. Because of this, he won’t be helping out with FCC for the near term. With that in mind, I’ll probably have a new (and solo) FCC to post sometime this weekend.

Stray Toasters

• Twenty-two days.
• I see a red door
  And I want to paint it black…
• As I haven’t posted it in a while: Skippy’s List
• just hooked us up with Irish Creme lollipops. (I know…!) They’re pretty tasty. He got them from Lollyphile.
• What’s that you say..? Craig Ferguson has something to say about South Carolina Congressman Mike Duvall? Tell me more!

  …and…

• PopCultureShock has some nice comic-related wallpapers.
• IAAF urges caution over Semenya intersex claims
  And, I’m Ivory Soap-sure that this line wasn’t intended to be as pun-laden as it appears to me:

  South Africa will fight back if Semenya is excluded from further competition, Stofile said, adding, “It will be a third world war.”

  I don’t know if South Africa (or just parts of it) are considered to have “Third world” status, but is the reporter (unintentionally) saying that it would be a war of third world nations…?

• David Lynch, window-dresser
• Unearthing Solomon Grundy
• 
• Motorola’s comeback attempt rests on software
  Don’t call it a comeback
  [They’ve] been here for years

Tonight: SaraRules and I are attending Utah Symphony’s An Evening of Beethoven.  (Tickets are still available…)

Namaste.

Thursday – 10 September 2009
Another NBN Thursday is cruising right along.

This morning, I didn’t really want to get out of bed. It wasn’t that I was tired, just lazy. When I did get out of bed, I made my way into the living room… where I plopped down on the sofa. It took another ten or so minutes to get myself motivated to really start the day.

The work day hasn’t been too bad. There have been meetings… and I have The Leash for the next week. WOO!

On the “plus” side, today was also “Comics Thursday.” Not only did I pick up my four-color shwag, but I also picked up a book that SaraRules has been awaiting. My coworker Drew went with me on my lunch/comics run – actually, he drove – and we had lunch at Pasabocas, a Columbian restaurant that’s across the street from Dr. Volt’s. We both had the Carne Asada and we both thought it was quite good. I’ll have to go back and try some of their other fare.

Stray Toasters

• Something that came in after I had posted yesterday: Paul Levitz No Longer Publisher & President of DC Comics
  • Industry Reacts to Levitz, DC Entertainment
  • Legion Blogpost: The Third Coming of Paul Levitz
• By way of Perry: Lex Luthor Bailout
  “Lex Luthor Bailout” with Jon Hamm from Jon Hamm
• The 2009 NFL Season kicks off tonight with Tennessee at Pittsburgh.
• sent me a link to this related note: The Chargers are hungry and Larry English is buying
• If distance education was Zork
• I had a good early morning discussion with Paul and Drew, which stretched into a post-meeting/lunchtime conversation with Drew.
• Craig Ferguson on the Mike Duvall scandal:

  
  …and, Part 2…
  

• What did that sign say? UDoT looking for sign vandal
• From the “Idiotstick” file: Orioles fans take Ripken No. 8 statue for a Baltimore joy ride
• Beautiful glass sculptures of deadly viruses and bacteria

Namaste.

Wednesday – 09 September 09
That’s right, it’s 09/09/09.
Today is also Sushi and Comics Wednesday, but due to the holiday, comic book shipments will not be in until tomorrow.

Last night, Chris came over for another round of our GLC/SC Heroclix battle. (Pictures here) As usual, it was a good fight. In a manner that pretty much mirrored the comics, the first big fight was between Superbrat-Prime Superboy-Prime (sorry… “SuperMAN-Prime”) and Sodam Yat (Ion). Just like that battle, Prime hit Ion and cleaned his clock – six (6) clicks of damage, right off the bat — in the comic, Prime shoved a lead rod into Sodam’s torso.

Fortunately, Yat is a Daxamite and could take the hit, but it took him way off his game. We danced around the table for a while – both our sets of dice ran hot and cold – but, in the end, Chris went home with a “Win.” I believe that the Sinestro Corps is now 3-0 in our match-ups.

While Chris and I were playing, SaraRules went off to see a movie, Julie and Julia, I think… When she came home, she brought me flowers. (Coolest. Fiancee. Ever.) It was very sweet of her.

Stray Toasters

• This morning started off with a fun chat with sister-in-law-t0-be Meliko.
• 10 NFL questions: Do the Steelers have the stuff for a repeat title?
• …and in a related item, Don’t Throw It to Ed Reed:

• Courtesy of The Masters of the Obvious Slashdot: Geeks Prefer Competence to Niceness
• From and the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot..?!” file: Bizarre Tongue-Eating Parasite Discovered off the Jersey Coast
  (Of course, it would be New Jersey…)
• Superman vs. Green Lantern: The Debate Continues
• For decades (mostly in the 50s and 60s), Lois Lane tried to prove that Clark Kent was really Superman. Preposterous, I know. After all, with all that power, why masquerade as “a mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper?” Super. Man. Not “Wheat-growing Farmboy from Kansas Man.”But, I digress…Superman would go to great lengths to conceal his identity. “How far,” you ask? Far enough to get his friend Batman in on the job. There’s been super-dickery. Now here’s proof of… um… super-bat-dickery, too.
• The Beatles Remastered, Not Just for Audiophiles
• Microsoft arranges spontaneous house parties for Windows 7 launch
• Liposuction Leftovers Make Easy Stem Cells

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Monday – 07 September 2009
It’s been a good four-day weekend. There have been just about equal rounds of productivity and laziness. That makes for a good weekend, I think.

<< Rewind <<
After running errands on Friday – one of which took me to the office… twice! – I had a quiet afternoon and evening. Clitorati was good, both the company and the conversations. Also of note: Borders’ Cafe now has a Hazelnut Mocha, which is pretty tasty.

Saturday, SaraRules and I got up, went out for breakfast and headed to…

(click for pictures)

It was a few days shy of the second anniversary of our second date… which also happened to be at Hogle Zoo. We got to see the new Amur Tiger and Snow Leopard cubs, as well as a giraffe calf.

After the zoo, we had lunch, stopped in to see Kate, Perry and the kids and then hooked up with some of the usual suspects to check out Gamer. I thought it was a decent – but not awesome – movie, that made a couple of interesting points about gamer culture and society. SaraRules did not like this movie. In fact, she said that she’d consider seeing either The Spirit or Transformers: RotF again before seeing this again… and she hated both of them. That said, if you’re looking for much more than shoot-em-up fare, you might want to skip this one.

Saturday evening was quiet, with SaraRules doing some quilting and me cutting new tiles for new WWG maps.

Sunday, SaraRules got up early-ish to go help her father work on the new/replacement deck he’s building. I got up a little later and headed over to help. We got the deck and the lower trim finished; I’m not sure if the next step will be railings or steps. Fortunately, it’s not my decision to make – I’m just there for the heavy lifting. After the deck-building, I popped into Paragon City for a little bit. As of a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been a CoH member for four years. Where does the time go? After gaming, we (SaraRules, the in-laws-to-be, and I) watched The Mist. Not bad, if a little cheesy at points. And the ending…? Well, let’s just say that it wasn’t “completely” telegraphed, but you could see the proverbial writing on the wall.

> Play >
Today, we slept in. After breakfast, we set about doing a bit of cleaning. (The dining room looks like a “room” again, not just a storage depot.) Next up, we visited the Utah Museum of Natural History. SaraRules hadn’t been there in many moons and I had never been. It was a nice place. Their featured exhibit is called “Toadally Frogs,” which reminded us of a smaller version of the exhibit we saw at the National Aquarium in Baltimore last year. After that, we had dinner at Charlie Chow’s. (A huge “Thanks!” to SaraRules for taking one for the team so that I could have Chinese food!)

Tomorrow, back to the work-a-day grind.

Stray Toasters

• Thanks to shockpuppet and for making sure that I get my LEGO fix:
  • All Things LEGO. Except for LEGO Bricks.
  • Turning to Hollywood Tie-Ins, LEGO Thinks Beyond the Brick
• The NFL regular season kicks off Thursday night with Tennessee at Pittsburgh.
• Laura Bush praises Obama, bemoans excessive partisanship
• Steampunk remixes from b3ta
• I had a couple of revelations about prepping tiles for TerrainLinx yesterday:
  1. I need to make a TON of tiles for this new system…
  2. Once I trim the foamcore down to the sizes I need (6″x6″, 6″x3″ and 3″x3″), prepping it  for use as tiles is actually easier if I don’t use the FoamWerks cutting tools. And it’s much faster, too.
• MarknTyme pointed out the following: Arby’s Serves Up Paper JLA in Upcoming Kids’ Meals
  (Like I need more papercraft things around here…)
• I did, however, find more papercraft arcade games, which may or may not find their way into other builds I do.
• Rapper Ludacris, dealership give away 20 cars to drivers in need
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Damien Hirst installation owner charges teen art-rival with theft of £500000 for removing box of pencils from installation

That’s good for now.

Namaste.

Friday – 04 September 2009
It’s my 9/80 Friday off. Can you say “four-day weekend,” boys and girls?

I knew you could!

I fell asleep on the couch last night… watching football. That’s a sentence that I never thought I’d write. SaraRules was kind enough to wake me up and suggest that I call it a night. I did. And I slept in this morning. That was nice, considering that I won’t be sleeping in tomorning: We’re doing an early breakfast at Ruth’s Diner and then making a trip to the zoo. (I just realized that tomorrow’s trip will be almost two years to the day that we made our first trip to the zoo together.)

Today, I have a couple of errands to run, but other than that, it’s a wide open day.

Football Update
Last night, the Ravens played the Hawks, in Atlanta.  And won. Meaning they went 4-0 in preseason.

Baltimore Ravens at Altanta Hawks
20 – 3

The Raiders also took on the Seahawks in Seattle. They didn’t fare as well. Their preseason record: 1 – 3.

Oakland Raiders at Seattle Seahawks
21 – 31

Stray Toasters

• I was watching a rerun of The West Wing earlier. The episode featured Vice-President John Hoynes, portrayed by Tim Matheson. I still find it amusing that the original (voice of) Jonny Quest wound up as VP of the United States.
• The next installment of Four-Color Coverage is going to be a little different: I’m going to be splitting duties with MarknTyme.
• 6 Tech-History Zombies We’d Throw Down a Black Hole
• Umm… Pears grown in the shape of the Buddha
• 
• Here are a couple of interesting articles about the role of museums in the DC and Marvel Universes, including the purpose of the Batcave:
  • On the role of museums in superhero fiction…
  • Heroic Hype: The Batcave
• I’ve been watching Avatar: The Last Airbender… and enjoying it. It tells a very good story.
• Why the Mt. Wilson Observatory was worth saving
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Speed-trap-happy cops shoot complaing fire chief in court

Namaste.

Tuesday – 01 September 2009
First day of the month; the year is just moving right along. And, to top it all off, this heads up a short week, too. I’m trying to decide whether it’s going to be a four- or five-day weekend. I’m sorely tempted to take next Tuesday off, as well. We shall see.

Last night was my night to cook dinner. I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do when I left work; by the time I got home, I had not only an idea… I had a plan, as well. I fired up the grill and set about putting my insidious plot in motion. I thawed a couple of chicken breasts, made a dry rub for them, applied said seasoning and then slapped ’em on the grill. Next up, a can of cream of mushroom soup went on the stove. When the soup was ready, I added two cups of rice and let it sit. Back to the bird. While waiting for the chicken to cook through, I watched Monday Night Football through the screen door. When the chicken was done, I brought it inside, pulled a green leaf salad out of the fridge and it was dinner time.  I was pleased with how well the chicken turned out – nicely spiced on the outside, tender and juicy inside.

After the game, SaraRules quilted for a bit while I surfed and geeked.

Football Update
The Vikings traveled to The Lone Star State to take on the Texans in Reliant Stadium.

Minnesota Vikings at Houston Texans
17 – 10

This game had a few notable features:

1. Minnesota QB Brett Favre, under center, for the first half three quarters of the game.
2. RB Adrian Peterson (yes, that one).  ‘Nuff said.
3. RB Chester Taylor put up a number of good runs for the Vikings offense.
4. Texans’ QB Matt Shaub looked decent… but a little fragile, at times.

This was  good (preseason) Monday night game. Both teams showed up to play. Favre, only scheduled to play the first half, stayed in the game through most of the third quarter. He looked good on the field – solid passes, set up good runs and even threw a couple of blocks.

One more week of preseason and then the real deal kicks off.  Amen.

Workout
Wes and I got in a late workout today… but that’s still better than no workout at all!

• Calf Raises: 3 sets/10 reps, 100 lbs
• Sit-ups (with twist): 3 sets/20 reps
• T-Bar Pull (barbell): 3 sets/10 reps, 85 lbs
• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps each, 225 lbs/205 lbs/185 lbs
• Compound Row: 3 sets/12 reps, 125 lbs
• Chest Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 95 lbs
• Lat Pulldowns: 3 sets/10 reps, 120 lbs
• Fly: 3 sets/10 reps – 2 sets @ 100 lbs, 1 set @ 120 lbs

Weight (morning): 183.0 lbs

Stray Toasters

• There’s a new look to The Late Late Show – it’s in HD now – and comes complete with an updated opening and theme song.
• I have the new WWG Himmelveil: Streets and Himmelveil: Sewers sets!
  (Next on the list: Building a 3D version of the WizKids’ Arkham Asylum map…)
• Digital Dharma
• The latest version of Game Center on NFL.com is taking some getting used to, but I’m liking it.
• Both Newsarama and Comic Book Resources have had good coverage of the Disney acquisition of Marvel.
  • The Misney Universe – Our Favorite Disney/Marvel Mashups
• Twisted Princess
• 
• Sales Decline Accelerates at Borders
• I’m having ramen for lunch. It’s “Oriental Flavor,” which happens to be my favorite… but I started wondering something just before I started eating:
  1. What exactly is “oriental flavor?”
  2. Who determined that this is what the Orient tastes like?
  3. HOW did he determine that this is what the Orient tastes like?
• Fall Bacontern
• The Olsens Don Bunny Ears: Who Looks The Most Ridiculous in Their Animal Ears?

Namaste.

Monday – 31 August 2009
It’s not only the first of the work week; it’s the last day of August.

It was a good – and relatively quiet/lazy – weekend. Saturday, after hanging out with Perry, I headed home and just chilled. When SaraRules came home from her bridal shower, she took some time to tell me how it went and show me what she had received. It sounded like it was quite a bit of fun (independently verified later by shockpuppet). A little later, we strolled over to Target and Red Mango; I’m getting used to the original (plain) yogurt flavor, but I still miss the Green Tea flavor.

Back at home, I started working on my ‘Clix house, while SaraRules quilted and put on a movie. She had pulled up Lifeboat on Netflix Instant Queue. I stopped working on the house and watched the movie. It is the story of nine survivors of a torpedo attack against a Merchant Marine ship in a lifeboat, adrift in the Atlantic Ocean. Add to the mix one German naval officer (from the sub that fired the torpedo and was subsequently sunk). Short on food. Short on water. And tempers and attitudes getting shorter by the day. The movie provided an interesting look at the lengths people would go to in order to survive.

Sunday, I slept in. Way in. 1100 in. (Of course, given that I didn’t get to bed until after 0400, it’s not a stretch.) After lounging about for hours, I got in gear. I did a little cleaning and then set about taking pics of the now-complete ‘Clix house (link to full gallery is just below the thumbnails). I stopped at Beans & Brews for a cup of frozen mocha goodness before heading up to SaraRules’ parents’ for dinner and football. After the game, we headed home and watched part of the “Caves” episode Planet Earth.

Football Update
The Ravens played the Panthers on Saturday… and won. They’re now 3-0 in preseason. I know most people don’t think that preseason play really counts much, but I’m not one of those people.

Yesterday’s match-up pitted the Chicago Bears against the Denver Broncos, in Denver.

Chicago Bears at Denver Broncos
27 – 17

This game had a few notable features:

1. Jay Cutler’s return to Denver, following his trade to Chicago.
2. Kyle (Go Boilers!) Orton’s first game against the Bears since his trade to Denver.
3. Chicago RB Adrian Peterson. (No, not that one… this one.)

I don’t know where Chicago’s been keeping their Adrian Peterson, but his performance last night was impressive. When Chicago needed yards on a short run, he was there. Long run…? He was there. He came up with 68 yards in 12 carries. Yeah, looks like someone is looking for a first string slot.

*** In a “You Heard It Here First” prognostication: Given Mr. Peterson’s performance – and how he performs in the next preseason game and during the regular season – I am willing to bet that you will be seeing some “Adrian Peterson (CHI) vs. Adrian Peterson (MIN)” ads in the next few weeks.

Stray Toasters

• Today’s big comic-related news: Disney to buy comic book powerhouse Marvel
  • Confirmed by BBC News
  • …and Mightygodking has something to say, as well.
    
• I really need to replace my Ethernet cord at work.
• Denny Unger, CEO/Designer at WorldWorksGames, has released mostly-complete version of the TerrainLinx instructions (.pdf in .zip file). All I can say is “Wow…”
• A few weeks ago, I mentioned that James “Captain Slow” May, of BBC’s Top Gear, was planning on building a house out of LEGO bricks. According to an entry on Gizmodo: The LEGO House Looks Beautiful from the Outside, Too
• 
• London bus with 16 CCTV cameras inside
  (Big Brother really is watching you.)
• Friday Flashback: Spidey and Friends
• Texting Toddlers, How Young Is Too Young?
• Something is buggered with Safari on Defiant, but it only really seems to appear when I am trying to browse my site’s directory tree. So, back to Firefox for me… at least for the time being.
• How Science Reporting Works
• 
• Damn Dirty Zombies 4: HOLY CRAP, SUPERMAN JUST PUNCHED HIS FACE OFF!

Namaste.

Saturday – 29 August 2009
The morning started earlier than it should have as called this morning. While there was a breach of “The 10 O’Clock Rule,” she was the harbinger of good tidings: Our rings are ready. Earlier than expected, but a nice surprise.

I immediately went back to bed. A few hours later, at a more reasonable hour, I got up. Not sure what I’m doing with the rest of the day, but I’m most likely heading out for poker tonight.

Yesterday, and I headed downtown to pick up copies of Snow Leopard. SaraRules, taking a lunch break, met us at the Apple Store. The three of use went to The Counter for lunch. They offer custom-built burgers, but not just beef, they also offer turkey, veggie and grilled chicken. Between the meat, bun and topping offerings, diners can make over 300,000 combinations. It was a little more pricey than we’d expected, but well worth it.

Stray Toasters

• Great Geek Debates: Stormtrooper vs. Redshirt
• By way of MarknTyme: Classiest Star Wars Action Figure Displays You’ve Ever Seen
• Alien Resurrection is on FX. Not a “great” movie, but they just hit my favorite scene: The body banks in the med-lab, where the failed Ripley clones were kept.
• Io9 Smackdown: Who’s TV’s Biggest Badass of All Time
• NASA’s Most Awesomely Weird Mission Patches
• 
• 10 TV Shows That Should Never, Ever Be Made Into Movies
• From Comic Book Resources: DC Universe Online’s Green Lantern Revealed

  

• Garlic and Herb Pita Chips from Whole Foods == far more addictively tasty than they should be
• A New Look at Brain Control

Namaste.

Thursday – 27 August 2009
Last night, after going to pick up this week’s comics, SaraRules surprised me with dinner at Rodizio Grill. And, as it was “Wild Wednesday” at Rodizio, they featured a couple of exotic meats: Alligator Sausage and Elk. Very filling. Very tasty. Repeat after me: “Food coma.” (But, it was oh, so very worth it…)

Once again, there’s a long list o’ books in this week’s Four-Color Coverage, so I’m going to post it after Stray Toasters.

Stray Toasters

• I completely spaced off the fact that our reps from Avocent were coming to the office this morning.
• And after that, back-to-back meetings.  YAY!
• and I are following the yellow brick road to the Emerald City Apple Store to get copies of Snow Leopard tomorrow.
• California to hold “garage sale”
• Microsoft apologizes for changing race in photo
• Denny and the folks at WorldWorks Games just put out a teaser video for their new TerrainLinx system, which is supposed to drop in a few days.

  The first system is going to be in their Himmelveil line, which is mainly for fantasy gaming, but can be easily used to represent European construction/architecture. And, as good as this set looks, I can’t wait to see what they do with their modern “Urban Mayhem” sets…

• …and, to top things off, they’re having a 20% off sale on regularly-price catalog items between now and the 31st. *sigh*
• Museum’s “moon rock” is just a rock
• Kidnapped California Girl Comes Forward 18 Years Later
• My gym partners can’t go to the gym this afternoon, so it looks like I’m going later this evening.

Four-Color Coverage
Lots of goodies on the list this week. So, without further ado:

• Batman and Robin #3 – For all of his claims that he’s “not Bruce,” Dick Grayson sure pulls an eerily similar Batman when he wants to. Robin the Boy Hostage Wonder is up to his domino mask in trouble, but he has a plan. And they come up with info about Progessor Pyg’s nefarious scheme for Gotham City… but what can they do about it?

  

• Blackest Night
  • Blackest Night: Titans #1 (of 3) – On Heroes Day, the Titans take time to remember and honor their dead. (And, let’s face it: There are a LOT of dead Titans…) Beast Boy and Starfire share different viewpoints about Terra‘s tenure with the team. Shortly after that, he goes for a stroll along the beach… and winds up meeting an unexpected visitor. (“Unexpected” as long as you didn’t see the cover of the issue.) And, the black rings start to appear. Looks like it’s going to be a busy (Blackest) Night for the Titans.

    

  • Green Lantern #45 – Star Sapphires and The Sinestro Corps battle of the Sapphires’ homeworld of Zamaron. When Sinestro himself crashes the party, who steps up to call him out: Carol Ferris – it’s a serious, no bars hold “Game on” for these two. Any guesses what happens when some formerly deceased Sinestro Corps members show up… sporting black rings? And does anyone care to lay odds on what happens when Agent Orange gets an unexpected visit from [SPOILER DELETED]?

    

• Buck Rogers #3 – This book just continues to be fun. And a good read. Scott Beatty has a good sense for  pacing the story and continues to balance telling a story in two time periods: The 21st Century and the 25th Century. And, I think that my favorite line from the issue has to be:
  

  Who says no one can hear you scream in space?

  It was the perfect follow-up to the sequence that preceded it. If you’re not reading this book, you are missing out.

  

• Codename: Patriot
  • Superman #691 – Mon-El takes on Metallo, Reactron and Miribai under the streets of Metropolis, while General Lane opens the throttle on Project 7734.

    

  • Superman’s Pal: Jimmy Olsen Special #2 – Jimmy finds someone else with information about Project 7734. [SPOILER DELETED] drops in for a visit… but, are they friend or foe?

    

• Fantastic Four #570 – Jonathan Hickman and Dale Eaglesham have taken over writing and art duties, and they’ve set up an interesting story line that appears to involve the Marvel Multiverse once again… AND it even links back to Reed’s tie to Civil Bore War. But, the stories best moments for this issue came when the FF wasn’t busy busting heads, but rather when they were just being a family.

  

• The Flash: Rebirth #4 – As if he wasn’t doing enough with the Green Lantern Corps (and seemingly every other book in the DCU), Geoff Johns rewrites the book on The Flash. Eobard Thawne, also known as Professor Zoom ,the original Reverse-Flash, is back. And class is in session. Thawne gives Barry Allen a lesson in history. And pain. Next on the syllabus: Loss. Also, Max Mercury gives Barry a lesson in what the Speed Force really is. The question is: How quick a study is Barry Allen? (Does the nickname “The Fastest Man Alive” mean anything?  Yeah, it does.)

  

• Justice Society of America #30 – This issue was… well… “okay.” I didn’t really find it great, but it wasn’t a complete throw-away issue, either. It was mediocre. To be honest: It was the last 8 pages that “saved” this issue for me. Not so much because they were utterly amazing, but more because they lay the groundwork for a couple of plots that look promising.

  

• The Last Days of Animal Man #4 (of 6) – After three issues of trying to figure out what’s wrong with his powers – and getting his butt handed to him by Bloodrage and Prismatik – Buddy Baker has a couple of realizations and makes a decision.

  

• Ms. Marvel #44 – If Norman Osborn has Ms. Marvel in custody, then who’s in the lobby of Avengers Tower? He wants answers. And, he’s not the only one.

  

• The New Avengers #56 – On tonight’s episode of Shaq vs “Mockingbird vs,” most of the Avengers are down and Mockingbird takes on The Wrecking Crew… and a few of their friends. Norman Osborn – the hardest working man in show business superheroing – plays Let’s Make a Deal. Oddly enough, so does someone else. Who’s going to make the better deal?

  

• New Mutants #4 – Let’s see… David Haller, Professor Xavier’s son, is back. His psyche is as splintered as ever. And it’s up to the New Mutants to keep him busy until the X-Men arrive. That’s not going to be an easy feat considering that: Karma and Magik are MIA, Dani Moonstar is (still) de-powered and Cannonball is having doubts about his abilities as team leader.   The last page – especially the last panel – makes the whole issue worthwhile.

  

• Wonder Woman #35 – Diana and Dinah (Black Canary), between fights in Roulette’s underground fight club, hang out in Tokyo. While this take on Dinah still doesn’t seem to match up exactly with what I’ve come to expect from the character, I was able to find a lot of the character I remembered in this issue. Meanwhile, Diana finds a sparring partner who is able to give her a challenge.

  

Namaste.

Wednesday – 26 August 2009
Midweek and all’s well.
And, it’s Comics Wednesday; whether or not it involves any sushi remains to be seen.

Last night was a low-key, stay-at-home kind of evening. SaraRules and I caught an episode of NCIS that we hadn’t seen before from two seasons ago; that was pretty cool. After that, we watched Shaq vs. In last night’s episode, Shaq challenged two-time Olympic gold medalists Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh to a game of beach volleyball.

It. Was. Pure. Comedy.

Shaq, with his usual swagger, issued his challenge and then set about training… kind of… for the event. At stake: If he lost, he had to walk down Hermosa Beach in a bright pink Speedo, with “Shaq” printed on the back. He consulted Serena Williams for tips on the female athelete mindset. Then, he checked in with a few members of the U.S. Men’s Volleyball Team, for some coaching and to pick a teammate – Todd Rogers. The episode was fun to watch and made a nice summer off-season filler. If you’re interested in checking out the episode, you can see it – in its entirety – at the Shaq vs link, above.

Stray Toasters

• I had ice cream last night for a snack, since we didn’t have any ice cream at the office yesterday.
  suggested “More swearing = more ice cream”
  (He makes a good point, though…)
• Senator Edward Kennedy dies at 77
• The Unofficial Thomas Pynchon Guide to Los Angeles
• 
• pointed out: Steam Car Breaks World Speed Record at 140 mph
• Microsoft in web photo racism row
• 
• By way of Paul (coworker) – not to be confused with Paul (boss) – comes: TK409
• posted a link to a really good look at why Superman “works” – and/or doesn’t work – for some people as a character: This Issue: SUPERMAN DOESN’T DIE.
  *** I recommend reading this to both comics and non-comics fans.… except possibly l.
• Defiant has music once again!
• sent a link to: Poodle doodles: Dogs are transformed into pandas, horses and even snails in a barking mad grooming craze
  Words fail…
• Tactical Canned Bacon (You just can’t make something like this up.)

Namaste.

Tuesday – 25 August 2009
Last night was the first of the three times that the Ravens will appear on Monday Night Football this (pre-)season. They hosted the New York Jets at M&T Bank Stadium.

New York Jets at Baltimore Ravens
23 – 24
The first quarter of the game most decidedly belonged to the Ravens’ defense.  Haloti Ngata picked off a Mark Sanchez pass and returned it for a touchdown; on the next series, Ray Lewis nearly picked off another Sanchez pass. RB Ray Rice ran in a three-yard touchdown, to give the Ravens a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.The second and third quarters were a little more favorable to New York, seeing them put 17 points on the board, while Baltimore was only able to capitalize on a Jameel McClain interception. In the fourth, the Jets pulled within one point of tying the Ravens, and opted to run a two-point conversion for the go-ahead win, with roughly 30 seconds left in the quarter. The attempt failed and Baltimore walked away with the win.

Workout
Wes and I hit the gym for a lunchtime workout:

• Calf Raises: 3 sets/10 reps, 100 lbs
• Leg Extensions: 3 sets/10 reps, 70 lbs
• Leg Curls: 3 sets/10 reps, 70 lbs
• Sit-ups (incline): 3 sets/20 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps – 1 set each: 225 lbs, 205 lbs, 185 lbs
• Lat Pull-downs: 3 sets/10 reps, 120 lbs
• Pectoral Fly: 3 sets/10 reps, 100 lbs – with 10 second hold on 10th rep
• Lower Back Extensions: 3 sets/10 reps

Weight (morning): 184.5 lbs

Stray Toasters

• There seems to be far too much blood in my caffeinestream today.
• Free cake!
  (Now, if we only had some ice cream to go with it…)
• 
• This isn’t quite “steampunk,” but I’m sure that it could be easily adapted.
• Don’t get me wrong
  If I split, like light refracted…
• While its name is built a good pun, I have also found that Dawn of the Lead is an interesting  and well put-together site (mostly) about zombie miniatures and gaming.
• 1000 surveillance cameras = 1 solved crime in the UK
• 
• Street Magic Wedding Proposal
• Behind the 4GB Memory Limit in 32-Bit Windows

Namaste.

Monday – 24 August 2009
Not too manic, nor rainy… yet. Of course, the day is still young. We’ll see how it goes.

First and foremost: The Ravens take on the Jets tonight on Monday Night Football.

New York Jets at Baltimore Ravens
8:00 PM EDT

Hm… we have been invtited over to SaraRules’ parents’ to watch the game. Win-Win!

Yesterday, SaraRules and I went to see Inglourious Basterds. It was great! We had a good time. It was, without a doubt, a Quentin Tarantino film – just the right mix of story, dialogue, action and over-the-top goodness. It was a World War II film… the way you’d expect Tarantino to tell it.

After the movie – and a little errand-running – we heading up to SaraRules’ parents’ for dinner… and another movie.  This time, we watched Quarantine, which they hadn’t seen before. The movie easily held up for a second (or was it third?) watching. I looked up the movie’s “Trivia,” on IMDb, and noted that it was a remake of a Spanish film called Rec. I might have to check out the original to see how, if at all, they vary in telling the tale.

Stray Toasters

• I’ve been a LEGO fan for… 30+ years.
  I’ve been playing HeroClix for nearly three or four years.
  At some point, the boundaries were due to blur: Chris and I have been talking about trying out some barriers rules that I found on ToyChop. They seem like they’d add something interesting and fun to the game. I was looking at something LEGO-related last night and realized that I could make fire, ice and even smoke barriers using various LEGO pieces.  It just… kind of… bothers me that it took this long for me to figure it out.
• Clearance: Granted
• Did husband’s jealousy lead to model’s murder?
• Calls to reopen CIA abuse cases
• 
• Coin-tosses aren’t fair.  (Well… DUH!)
• All that I can really say about this is “Whiskey… Tango…?!?”
• NASA May Outsource
• ‘Avatar’ preview dazzles audiences
  NOTE #1: This is not to be confused with the upcoming The Last Airbender movie.
  NOTE #2: If you haven’t heard about this movie, here’s a little taste.

Namaste.

Sunday – 23 August 2009
It’s been a rainy morning in the valley… but the sun has put in an appearance.

SaraRules and I watched Bridge on the River Kwai (1, 2), a movie I got from Netflix a couple of weeks ago. I had heard about this movie over the years, but never gotten around to watching it… until last night.

The movie told the story of two military colonels – Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa), the commander of a Japanese P.O.W. camp and Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness), commander of British forces being held in that camp. Saito has orders to build a bridge over the Kwai River; he plans to use P.O.W.s  – enlisted men and officers – to accomplish the task. Nicholson, according to The Geneva Conventions, informs Saito that his officers will not submit to manual labor. Thus, the men engage in a battle of wills.

The movie also included William Holden, as Cmdr. Shears, an American naval officer who escaped the prison camp… only to be enlisted in the effort to return to the camp and destroy the bridge.

The first third (or so) of the movie established the relationship of the two colonels and their attitudes to their respective situations. Shears features, in a more minor role, as a man who’s biding his time while trying to find a way out of the camp. It’s in the second third of the movie where things pick up, when the colonels come to something of an accord… but both realize that they have to give up something to achieve their goals. In a bit of a twist, it’s also in the second third of the movie where Shears, now a free man, finds himself in the midst of a situation that has him just as trapped as he was in the prison camp.

On the whole, I thought that it was a good movie and worthy of being called a classic.

Stray Toasters

• Forget Teens: Gamers are 35, Overweight — and Sad
  

  The average gamer, far from being a teen, is actually a 35-year-old man who is overweight, aggressive, introverted — and often depressed, according to a report  from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (download PDF). The study also shows that when children and teenagers become game players, a trend toward physical inactivity and corresponding health problems extends — and is exacerbated — into adulthood.

• Commentary: About that Saturday mail…
• A History of the Shrinking Game Console
• Bollywood starts celebrating Ganesha festival
• 
• PC Pro’s top 10 hard disk destruction methods
• IBM, Other Multinationals “Detaching” from the U.S.
• Mind the Gap: A Compendium of Disturbing British Public Information Films

Today… stuff and things.
Tomorrow: Ravens vs. Jets on Monday Night Football.

Namaste.

Saturday – 22 August 2009
So far, it’s been a somewhat lazy day.

There was sleeping in; that was especially nice, as I didn’t sleep very well. Pancakes and coffee… and then we went to meet Perry and the boys for coffee. (Fortunately, we’d had coffee with breakfast, because the coffee at the bookstore left quite a bit to be desired.)

After that, we headed to Hastur’s Hobbies; I needed some gold and silver paint – I’m in the mood to mod some figures. I was also on the lookout for some modeling putty. It was right next to the paint, which made things quite easy: In. Checkout. Gone.

Stray Toasters

• posted a link to: Bringing science back into America’s sphere
• I’ve found some interesting papercraft things online to add to my ‘Clix house. I just need to do some calculatin’ to get them into the right scale. And, in a couple of cases, I need to put some textures on pieces, so they aren’t just stark white.
• My Thor’s Mighty Chariot HeroClix figure , from NECA’s upcoming Hammer of Thor set, arrived yesterday.

  

• BudgetTravel’s “World’s Weirdest Hotels”
• Starting here, Real Life Comics featured a fun, fan-driven/-created story over the course of this week. Thursday’s comic was particularly amusing and absurd.
• Puzzle Cube Alarm Clock
• By way of comes How Things Are(n’t) Made
• The Force is strong in this one…
• I’m still trying to decide if I want to go see Al Jarreau at the Park City Jazz Festival tomorrow evening…

Later: A trip to Hobby Lobby and other shenanigans.

Namaste.