Random Access

Thursday – 02 April 2009
Sushi Wednesday was postponed until today. But, I’ll have to miss it, as I have a lunch meeting. I may also have to fore go (or maybe just postpone) today’s workout, for the same reason. On the plus side, I stopped by to visit for a bit, after work.

Next, home for dinner and a movie with SaraRules and her mother.  Dinner was shrimp jambalaya, the movie was Australia. The movie was… interesting. It looked really nice. Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman did well in their roles. The main problem was… no, “problems were”… that:

1. The movie was long, nearly three hours. (Granted, it didn’t feel long.)
2. It felt like they tried to shoehorn too many movies – not just stories – into that time.
3. It was a bit disjointed – the movie seemed to take a huge left turn about 2 hours in.
4. Elton John’s closing song.  (He should not be allowed to write lyrics. Ever.)

Despite these things, I did enjoy the movie; although, as SaraRules put it: “It’s not like I need to see it again.” It was an entertaining way of spending an evening. And, at one point, I even broke out a “Wolverine in a cowboy hat” ‘Clix, just to get a smile/eyeroll out of SaraRules. It worked. (Thinking about it, with Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, I could actually see Nicole Kidman as Emma Frost, the White Queen (1, 2)… especially after her turn as Mrs. Coulter in The Golden Compass.)

Stray Toasters

• I heard part of an interesting cover of Major Tom on a Lincoln ad last night. You can see the ad here. The ad made me want to look up trivia about the song. And, by the power of Greyskull with the power of the Interwebs, I did:
  • Wikipedia
  • The Straight Dope
• By way of : Umbrellas for the Civil but Discontent Man
• The Beats: A Graphic History
• Cute and amusing: Bunnysong (video)
• 
• The title of this is self-explanatory: Giant Star Wars pool toys and kites
• What would President Obama look like as an action figure? Something like this, I’d suspect.
• Marvel prepares to showcase Wolverine from a very different perspective
• I found Code Monkey: Stargate Atlantis online again. Now, I must find a way to procure it for my collection…
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Lindon (UT) police bust family-run prostitution ring

Namaste.

Wednesday – 01 April 2009
Welcome to the first day of April and April Fool’s Day. As I was getting ready this morning, I tried to think of a AFD prank/joke to play, but drew a blank. Shortly after that, I discovered that Mother Nature had decided to join in the AFD fun: It’s snowing.

Stray Toasters

• New variation on a theme: I almost typed “Stray Taosters” for the heading.
• French museum posts Concorde hoax
• While watching The Late Show last night, they ran a promotion for Coming Home: Military Families Cope With Change. At first I thought that I might have misheard something or that it might have been a joke, so I did a little digging. It wasn’t a joke:
  

  Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street, is producing, in association with David Letterman’s production company Worldwide Pants Incorporated and Lookalike Productions, a new PBS primetime special, Coming Home: Military Families Cope With Change, featuring Queen Latifah, John Mayer and Elmo. This half-hour HD special tells stories of service members who return home with injuries, visible and invisible, and explores the heroic struggles their families face in discovering a new way of finding a “new normal.” It salutes the extraordinary courage and strength of these military families and offers the general public a powerful glimpse into what they often must endure. The special will air on PBS on April 1, 2009 at 8PM (check local listings) in conjunction with April as the “Month of the Military Child.”

• Cognitive Autoheuristic Distributed Interactive Entity, courtesy of
• 
• Tobacco tax hike for US smokers
• New book on the market: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

  

• From NPR Music:
  • Brahms’ Best: The Violin Concerto
  • The Year’s Best Jazz (So Far)
  • Rockabilly’s Wanda Jackson Hits Hall of Fame
• Medicine crisis hits Russia’s poor
• HALO + LEGO = This.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 31 March 2009
It’s hard to believe that March is nearly over already.

Last night, SaraRules and I had “Sunday dinner” with her family. We also watched Quantum of Solace. I still enjoy the movie and, to a lesser degree, the theme song… but the theme still sounds a bit too disjointed and/or like it’s trying too hard to be a Bond theme. *shrug* While there, her father offered me a taste of something new at Whole Foods: Double Cream White Chocolate Milk. Wow. It was good. VERY good, in fact.

Back at home, SaraRules did some quilting and I read last week’s comics. The standouts of the haul were:

• Captain America #48 – In this issue, Bucky/Winter Soldier/Cap, Namor and Black Widow wrap up a few loose ends from Cap’s time as the Winter Soldier. And, while he’s never been a favorite character of mine, it was nice to see Namor’s wrath directed at a target who deserved it for an actual affront, rather than a perceived one.
• Fantastic 4: #565 – This was the second part of a holiday story that saw the FF and family on vacation in Scotland. To be honest, the first half of the story didn’t exactly wow me; the finale, however, was good. I was also surprised at how the issue ended: A “thank you” letter from someone the FF saved during the issue’s adventure.
• R.E.B.E.L.S. #2 – More adventures of Vril Dox (Brainiac 2) and his attempt to wrest control of his L.E.G.I.O.N. operation from his usurpers. Supergirl and the LSH’s Brainiac 5 are on-hand to lend assistance, as well.
• Wonder Woman #30 – Readers finally meet The Olympian, whose arrival has been hinted at for a while. We also learn just how far Dr. Barbara Minerva, the Cheetah, is willing to go to try and break Diana. (Hint: It’s pretty far.) But, readers also see just how far Diana is willing to let herself be pushed… and how far she’s willing to push back.

Stray Toasters

• Trekker recreates classic Star Trek scenes with LEGO
• Star Wars considered as an episode of Dallas

  …and then there’s also Star Trek: Love Boat and Star Trek: The A-Team, if you need more.

• Chernobyl Today: A Creepy Story Told in Pictures
• 
• Green to the Corps
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Bank pushing 120% APR loans
  I think that it could/should even be considered for “monkeys!” too.
• Top 50 WTF Moments in Comics
• Astro Boy trailer online

That’s good for now.

Namaste.

Monday – 30 March 2009
The new work week began with a new dusting of snow. There was a little slush on the streets, but nothing insurmountable. I came in a little early this morning because I had a “special project” to work on:

Our department has had a running… practical joke… for the past couple months: “An object” will magically appear at someone’s desk (usually in their chair or in a drawer) when they are away from their desk. I wound up with it about a week ago; Sean, one of my employees, tagged me with “the gift.” I promised him that I’d get even. And I waited…

This past Thursday and Friday, Sean was out of the office. He was having surgery…

…and that was when I formulated my revenge. I figured that I could kill two birds with one stone: Payback for getting “the gift” and “welcome back” all in one.

Last night, I went out and picked up the things I’d need. This morning, I came in and set them up. The time and effort were worth the investment for the expression on Sean’s face when he came in this morning. Pictures can be seen here.

Revenge is a dish best served cold. And it is very cold in space…
-Khan Noonian Singh

This morning also brought with it some server troubles. It took a bit to suss out where the problem started, but once we got that figured out, it was just a matter of getting the right people on the task. So far, it looks like things are working the way they’re supposed to.

Stray Toasters

• The wedding website is getting under way. Ms. SaraRules said that she didn’t really want anything elaborate, mostly she just wanted a centralized place for people to be able to get information about the wedding and what have you. We agreed to just go with a WordPress blog and be done with it. Now, we just have to add content…
• Last night, SaraRules and I watched Pride & Prejudice. I’d never seen it before. It was cute… although, I wanted to wring the neck of Mrs. Bennet almost every time she was on-screen. And, in more than a few scenes, Keira Knightley reminded me of a young Winona Rider.
• Welcome to LEGO. These are your business cards
• 15 vintage household ads in which women are not entirely condescended to
• 
• Obama gives car firms deadlines
• The gaming computer you dreamed of in 1983
• By way of : Reader Roundtable Survey: Here Comes the Cavalry
• found this icon, which amuses me:

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Sunday – 29 March 2009
Today has been a quiet and slow day… and that’s good.

<< Rewind <<
Yesterday morning, SaraRules and I got up, picked up her mother and headed to South Towne Expo Center for a bridal show. We stood in a short line to get in and, then, it was “Game On.” The show was smaller than I had expected – far smaller, in fact. There were, maybe… 40 exhibitors in all. I think that we were in and out of the show inside of 30 minutes.  However, in that time, I put a deposit on my tuxedo rentals with Men’s Warehouse; they were running a special that I couldn’t pass up: $30 off each rental. Win.

There was a car show at the other end of the Expo Center, so we checked out the cars they had outside the main hall. That was when I also noted the differences in admission to the events:

• Bridal Show:
  • Brides: Free
  • Other guests: $5.00
• Auto Show: $14.50

I began to wonder which show would actually make the most money. I’d like to see the final numbers.

After dropping off SaraRules’ mom, we headed to Oh Sushi for lunch. Tasty, tasty sushi… Next: Dr. Volt’s.  From there, we headed to Wheeler Farm for an afternoon walk. The weather was perfect for it – sunny, a light breeze and high clouds. Next, we headed to Best Buy to pick up a copy of Quantum of Solace. Then, back home for a bit…

…and then off to OnlyAly and ‘s for poker. It was a good crowd and I played in some good games. Despite some decent hands, I got outplayed in both of the tourneys. At least it was fun and a good way to spend the evening.

> Play >
As I mentioned, today has been quiet and relaxing.  I got a good night’s sleep last night, following Friday night’s rather poor-quality sleep. We watched an episode of Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?, featuring Baltimore Ravens’ TE Daniel Wilcox. We also caught an episode Top Gear that featured a Ford Fiesta storming a beach along with the Royal Marines AND being chased – through a mall (video) – by a Chevrolet Corvette . (I swear, they get away with more cool stuff on that show…)

Next up: Errand-running.
(Misson: Accomplished)

This evening, I’m not sure what’s on tap. I believe that we’re doing Date Night tonight, as we aren’t having dinner with SaraRules’ family until tomorrow night.

Stray Toasters

• There are not many satisfying WordPress themes for “wedding” or “marriage.”
• SaraRules picked up the new Prince 3-CD set today.  So far, it’s pretty good.
• Did Builder’s Clout Trap Couple in Dream Home?
• Steampunk Chronulator
• Courtesy of : Welcome to the Bizarro World
• Obama: Auto Industry Needs To Do More To Get Help
• Shock #1: Comic book author Greg Rucka has a LiveJournal account.
  Shock #2: He spilled the beans about a new Question feature that he and Cully Hamner are working on in said LJ.
• The Voice of CN’s Batman Talks Season 2



• Is the Bat out of the bag?
  This “Battle for the Cowl” article contains spoilers. You have been warned.
• Darth Vader + hula girl = ??? (video)
• Amazing art made with old cassette tapes

Namaste.

Friday – 27 March 2009
Another 9/80 “on” Friday kicked off…

…with me coming into the office to find out that the alarm had been tripped. *grblsnrkx* Turns out that the electricians were the first ones in the office and they don’t have our alarm code. I fired off a quick email to TPTB and let them know what happened.

Next, I discovered that one of the logon scripts on my main PC decided to go on holiday. I had to bug Jim, one of our Windows admins, to help me walk through some steps to try and recover. It looks like Windows has horked itself. Fortunately, I have another Win box that I can just port things over to. It’s just a matter of taking the time to do so. Good thing it’s the slow Friday around here.

Stray Toasters

• I gave Paul (my boss, two steps up the ladder) a copy of Coupling (BBC version, Season 1). He returned it this morning… and asked where Seasons 2 and 3 were.
• iPhone 3G Finally Available in US Contract-Free
• International Torch Relays Banned
• 
• 26 Great TV Shows That Got a Quick Hook and The Ten Best Television Finales
• Cartoons to become far scarcer on Cartoon Network
• Apple has the trailer for Where the Wild Things Are. Check it out.
• 10 ways to get a really good sleep
• By way of :

  

• New Gorillaz doc will premiere online
• Marvel launches writer’s program
• Wil Wheaton teaches his son to slay dragons
• From the “Don’t call it a comeback, I been here for years…” file: Old-school Keyboard Makes a Comeback of Sorts

Namaste.

I had to skip the lunchtime workout today; I had a lunch meeting to attend. We went to Pawit’s Royal Thai. (, Pawit said to tell you “Hello.”) Pad Pra Grow and iced coffee. Very tasty. And the meeting was productive, too.

Stray Toasters

• I caught Bret online a little while ago. I haven’t had a chance to catch up with him in a while, so it was nice to have a few minutes’ long chat with him.
• Girl, 14, Faces Porn Charges for Nude Photos
• Damn you, Mafia Wars!  *shakes fist*
• Photographer Captures L.A.’s Vintage Homes
• It’s amazing that I’ve been looking for new ‘Clix to make… and it didn’t occur to me – until this afternoon – to make a John Stewart GL one.
• Speaking of GLs, Stephanie did a mock-up of my GL Pony as a mini-pony. She said that it looks good. I can’t wait to see the finished product.
• Cassandra Wilson: Standards Transformed
• Wing Commander (the game, not the movie)
• was screening resumes and came across one that made his brain go all ‘splodey. I had to see what caused it, so I went around to his desk to check it out. *OW* The entire thing was written in an Olde English font…¹
• 10 OSes We Left Behind

Namaste.

¹ – It turned out that the resume was fine; it was ‘s word processor that read it oddly.

Thursday – 26 March 2009
There are light flurries again this morning. *shrug* I think that it’s supposed to creep back into (or at least near) the 60s this weekend.

Last night, after stopping to say “Hi” to , SaraRules and I went walking. (Hey, it’s exercise…)  As it was cold and wet outside, we opted to go walking at South Towne Center. I hadn’t been there in… longer than I can remember. Mall-walking has the added benefit of allowing you to pick and pan the latest fashions in the window displays. We did. There were a number of dresses in one store’s windows that we found… “aesthetically unpleasing.” But, we were also pretty sure that somewhere a high school-aged young lady would think that they were the greatest things ever. Also while walking through the mall, I found $20 USD. Just lying there on the ground. WIN! We also discovered that there are TWO Bank of America ATMs in the mall. O,o ?!? (For those of you who don’t understand why this is noteworthy: BoA doesn’t have branches in this state… AND they happen to be my bank. Thus, finding a veritable last bastion of banking goodness makes me quite happy.) Seeing the ATMs also raised a question: Who services these machines? We guess that someone from either Idaho, Nevada or Wyoming must have to cover them on their routes.

After getting back home, we watched NCIS, The Late Show and The Late Late Show. Just before heading off to bed, I decided to give “The Fickle Finger of Fate” method to channel surfing and see what was on. One of the things I found was Blacula. I haven’t seen that in ages. It made me laugh, but I still turned off the TV and called it a night.

Stray Toasters

• How to Change the World
• Bankrupting the Arts: State budget cuts could change Baltimore’s cultural landscape forever
• Thanks to for pointing this out: LEGO Batman is being ported to the Mac
• Also from : Project Runway finalist denies cat used as weapon
• From baby to blog to memoir for Heather Armstrong – I couldn’t remember why the name “Heather Armstrong” sounded familiar until reading this article. She’s a blogger from SLC, whose site I’ve read from time to time.
• Mythbusters Accidentally Bust Windows in Nearby Town
• Internet Explorer 8 “critical” flaw in final version – Is this a surprise? Really…?
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: British local governments deploy anti-teenager pink lights designed to make kids ashamed of their appearance
• 
• id Releases Open Source Wolfenstein 3D for iPhone
• The whole wide world
  An endless universe
  Yet we keep looking through
  The eyeglass in reverse
  Don’t feed the people
  But we feed the machines
  Can’t really feel
  What international meansIn different circles
  We keep holding our ground
  Indifferent circles
  We keep spinning round and round
• Remixes of the paranoid London police “anti-terror”/suspect your neighbours posters
• TV, films go boldly down scientific path
• Does this mean that Banjo Hero is around the corner?
• Anatomical models for artist’s reference – Now available in Dr. Manhattan model, too!

…right on to the friction of the day.

Namaste.

The tasting went well.  It was also beneficial for something that I hadn’t considered: Seeing how the space “flowed” when it was full of people. Even with tables set up and people throughout the building, there was a good deal of space in which people could move around. The food was good and we came up with a few ideas for our menu.

Stray Toasters

• By way of Nyx: Shirts My Way, custom-made men’s dress shirts
• I’m running a new screen saver on my work PC called Electric Sheep. It’s… interesting, in a good way. I’m just glad that I’ve never been been one who is inclined to partake of “herbal cigarettes” (as Craig Ferguson refers to them). Because doing that and then looking at this would most likely be world-changing. Electric Sheep is available for Windows, Mac and Linux.
• Gizmodo ran an article about Miniatur Wunderland. After checking it out, I passed it along to a few people. Drew shot back with a video of Madoradam, in Holland.
• , I know what you mean. I get That Time Is Now (the Superfriends bump) stuck in my head…
• Inspriation for Super Friends’ Hall of Justice
• There are far too many of these on The Covet List.
• Ian McKellen: The Player, by way of
• Disney hasn’t released Song of the South in the U.S. on DVD or video; it’s been deemed racist. *GASP* A few days ago, I found this site, offering the unedited movie on DVD. I’m leery, but curious. Very curious, indeed…
• Mafia Wars
• Komodo dragons kill man

Back to it.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 24 March 2009
After work, SaraRules and I went to visit . After that, we had dinner with and (I know!), who is on her way to California. told us about her trip to Africa, some of the people she met and the things she experienced; it sounded like an amazing adventure. I believe that we’re in for quite the slideshow when she comes back from California. And… she also hinted that she had some ring designs to show us, as well.

The Best: A Whiter Shade of Pale
Procol Harum vs. Annie Lennox vs. Sarah Brightman

I’ve been a fan of this song for… so long that I don’t even remember how long it’s been. Yeah, that long. I’m good with all three of the versions that I have, but there are distinctions:

• The Procol Harum version, the original, is… just… classic. I love the sound of the Hammond organ in this. And, Gary Brooker’s vocals sound like someone recounting a strange tale over a drink in a bar or in someone’s sitting room.
• As rich and nearly melancholy as the Procol Harum version is, the Annie Lennox version is… almost spartan in its synthesized sound. Parts of the arrangement are rather evocative of a music box, even. Ms. Lennox’ mellow contralto vocals provide a nice counterpoint to the synth sound.
• The Sarah Brightman version is… over-orchestrated. This isn’t to say that it’s a poor arrangement – it is rather well-done. (Although, and I just noticed this: It sounds like something that I’d expect to hear on a CD from Enigma.) Ms. Brightman’s soft (though strong) soprano vocals come off a bit ethereal… which works well with the arrangement, but still leaves me wanting a little something more.

So, for my taste, it shakes out like this:

1. Procol Harum
2. Annie Lennox
3. Sarah Brightman

Stray Toasters

• For SaraRules and – Prince turns a brilliant sonic triple play: 3 albums in 1 day
• 
• Strip-Search of Girl Tests Limit of School Policy
• Contraception Pill Strictures Are Eased By a Judge
• London cops reach new height of anti-terror poster stupidity
• Princeton Student Finds Bug in LHC Experiment
• 
  
• Super Bowl on Presidents’ Day? Longer NFL season in reach
• NASA Tests Heaviest Chute Drop Ever

Unintentional Porn Overheard at Work
Part of our office is undergoing a remodel. We have electricians here today and, a few minutes ago, I was treated to the following:

Jr. Electrician: What’s going on?
Sr. Electrician: Just trying to get this 3″ in here…

…and…

Sr. Electrician: We ever gonna get this up?
(Talking about running some conduit in the ceiling)

Yep, just another fun-filled day…

Namaste.

Saturday – 21 March 2009
Yesterday was a pretty decent day. I met with Stephanie to choose the type of paint I want used on the GL pony she’s doing for me. After that, I picked up for a late lunch at Jitterbug. Then, we headed out to see .

Next on the agenda: Clitorati.  Tyler, one of the MFAs from SaraRules’ program, was in town and showed up for a while, as did . After dropping Nyx at home, I headed home to watch a little TV before calling it a night. I also started in on Greg Rucka’s Queen & Country, which MarknTyme had recommended to me many moons past.  It was a good pre-bed read.  I’m looking forward to getting back to the story.

This morning, I stopped at Beans & Brews for the first time in… at least three months. When I walked up to the counter, Ellie asked me,”Your usual…?” as if I had just been in a few days ago. That was a bit amusing and surprising, but pleasantly so. Then I came up to ‘s, to hang out for a bit.

Stray Toasters

• While I’ve squeaked by with some of my NCAA picks, a lot of the “easy” games got shot to Hell, blowing a lot of my first round picks.
• I spaced off recording Batman: The Brave and the Bold last night. BAH!!! Fortunately, I remembered to set the DVR for this morning’s rebroadcast.
• Giz Explains: How Cell Towers Work
• 
• Twins commit perfect heist?
• I’ve been toying with the idea of trading out SaraRules’ and my G3 iMacs for a new iMac and/or Mac Mini for a while.  This news has me considering a new option.
• Pac-Man Calls the Ghostbusters, Again
• Want a Science Degree in Creationism?

At some point, I need to head down to The Garden of Sweden today… and tomorrow… to take advantage of their kitchen sale.

Namaste.

Friday – 20 March 2009
Welcome to the first day of Spring. I think that temps here are supposed to top out around 70ºF. Then, there’s also supposed to drop by Sunday… and I heard something somewhere about a possibility of snow. We’ll see how that goes.

The cable tech showed up around 1430 yesterday. It took him roughly 20 minutes to track down the problems. Yes, plural. The problems were:

1. A Comcast technician had been out Tuesday, working on a problem for another customer, did a “fix” that did something to adversely affect other customers connected to that junction box.
2. There was a splitter in one of the connections in the apartment was old and was causing further signal degradation.

He fixed both issues. The whole thing took a little under an hour.

Before heading home, I had coffee with my friend, Frankie. Things seem to be going well for her.

Next, I headed out to ‘s place to hang out with her for a bit.

Today is my “off” Friday. I haven’t really done much, aside from watching a couple of BSG reruns – there’s a marathon on SciFi. Apparently, the series finale is tonight; I guess I’ll have to go back and check out the whole series.

Stray Toasters

• Lewis ‘proud’ to begin, end career with Ravens
• Grant Morrison talks Brainy Comics, Sexy Apocalypse
• Newsarama has a feature called DC Direct: A Little of What’s to Come, which also features a look at some of the new figures from Blackest Night (spoilers)…
• …and Green Into Black: Geoff Johns on the Night to Come
• Sacramento to make its tent-city permanent?
• Star Wars/Dali tattoo:
  
• Home One – 7ft Mon Calamari Star Cruiser
• Kentucky Officials “Changed Votes At Voting Machines”
• Newsarama also had an article about “green heroes” for St. Patrick’s Day. Two of the items I found most amusing from that piece were:
  

  5. Brainiac 5: Though he’s been played a few different ways, I’ll always cotton to arrogant and annoyed Brainy the best. One of my favorite stories early in my long-life as a Legion reader was when the team had to get Brainy out of the insane asylum to help the Subs defeat the League of Super-Assassins. I remember reading that as a kid and thinking, “Whoa! Super-heroes go insane?!” Indeed. And they can also be smarter-than-thou pains in the ass. Which is why I love Brainiac 5.

  4. Martian Manhunter: Oreos, man. His incredibly fun stint in the JLI aside, J’onn gets a high nod from me because he’s always been, to my mind, the heart of the JLA. Played to great effect in other tales, like the JL animated series or The New Frontier, J’onn remains that classic sci-fi conundrum: a character that wants to understand humanity without realizing how humane he actually is.

• Apple and AT&T Sued, Again, Over 3G
• SciFi is airing a movie called I Am Omega tomorrow. It looks like a poor man’s rip-off of I Am Legend and/or The Omega Man.
• …and SciFi is changing its name to SyFy.  *shakes head*

Namaste.

Thursday – 19 March 2009
After work yesterday, I hooked up the new cable receiver. There was still heavy pixelation on the screen and intermittent sound. *sigh* I decided to get back to it later. Next, I went to visit . I hung out for a couple of hours and then went to get a bite to eat with and Mr. and Mrs. … during which time I got to play 20 Questions with respect to a lot of wedding plans.

When I got home, I decided to check on the cable box one more time. Still “No Go,” Flight. *grblsnrkx* On a whim, I tried bypassing the box and plugging the cable directly into the television. Lo and behold, I had a picture – and sound – with NO pixelation. All the same, I should be getting a visit from a technician this afternoon to try and track down the source/nature of the problem. I wound up watching The Late Late Show and then the Janeway and the Barbie Borg Show (for the first time in many, many months). Realizing that it was closing on 0200 – and that I had been up since 0530 – I figured that I should call it a night.

Falling asleep was no easy task: My neck and shoulders were achy and I couldn’t find a comfortable position to alleviate any of the pain. But, I managed to nod off. I woke up a little after 0400 and the pain felt just as bad – if not worse. Enter: Aleve. Back to sleep. I neglected to set my normal alarm (BAH!), but woke up with my secondary went off… for a minute. I decided to catch a few more minutes of sleep. When I got up, my neck and shoulders felt MUCH better and I figured that I could pretty much start the day. And I did.

Stray Toasters

• I have been blessed with some very cool friends.
• Egyptian women blog for their rights
• I forgot to post my 2009 NCAA brackets last night; here they are, for better or worse:


(click image for larger version)

• Drawn!
• On a whim, I decided to see if there was a site called “Quartered,” too. Turns out there’s… something… at quartered.org.
• Competition committee aims to change ‘Hochuli Rule,’ others
• By way of Jake Theis: Confessions of a Part-Time Sorceress
• 
• Austrian Fitzl sentenced to life
• Robo-Voice’s Greatest Hits, or How Advanced Spy Tech Topped Music Charts
• One of the better LEGO interpretations I’ve seen: LEGO iPod Racer, powered by Mac Mini

Back to it.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 18 March 2009
Yesterday, SaraRules and I had dinner with her folks – corned beef and cabbage for Saint Patrick’s Day. During dinner, we watched Animal Crackers. The only word I can really think of to use to describe it is “zany.” Yes, it was quite dated, but it was still entertaining.

When we got home, I messed around with the cable receiver which had been acting flaky, according to SaraRules. Nothing I tried seemed to help, so I called the cable company. After a few minutes on the phone, the CSR offered a final suggestion: Return the box for an exchange. *sigh* I had a couple of shows on the DVR that I still wanted to see.  Oh, well.

This morning, we were up at 0530… which roughly translates to “stupid o’clock.” SaraRules, her parents and Logan are heading down to Arizona to visit her grandmother for a few days. (And all I got was this lousy t-shirt. Or will get. Or got a few years ago. Time travel makes things a little confusing…) On the “plus” side, I was in the office before 0700 this morning. That’s a good thing, especially since I’ll probably spend “a few minutes” at lunch trying to exchange my cable box.

Stray Toasters

• I talked with for a few minutes last night.
• Young Mad Scientist Alphabet Blocks



• Had yesterday been a Thursday, it would have failed. Miserably.
• , and a few others have mentioned Erfworld enough times that I decided to check it out. It’s pretty amusing… in a punny and geeky kind of way.
• Passion for opera compared to love at first sight: study
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” and “monkeys!” files: Kid walks to soccer, neighbors call the cops
• 
• Forbidden Knowledge: 101 Things NOT Everyone Should Know How to Do
• Josef Fritzl admits all charges
• IRS to allow Ponzi victims to claim theft losses
• NFL Shop.com is extending their 30% off sale through today.
  

  

• Artists buying cheap houses in Detroit

He gets right on to
The friction of the day…

Namaste.

Monday – 16 March 2009
Yesterday afternoon, SaraRules and I decided to get in a little shopping. We didn’t find much that made us go “wow.” We stopped by a craft store so that SaraRules could pick up some material for a quilt. While there, I decided to look for some glitter – I had an idea for my Sodam Yat ‘Clix mod.

After that, we headed up to her parents’ place for dinner. During dinner and dessert, we watched Miami Vice. It wasn’t a great movie, but it was entertaining. (There’s another part of my youth that just went *poof*.) No one in the room had seen the TV series other than me, so I had to do a little ‘splaining after the movie was over.

We headed home. As it was still fairly early, we looked for something to watch On Demand. SaraRules picked Ghosts of Mars, which she’d seen before. It was, as she warned me, another “not great, but entertaining” movie.

Human of the Day
W. Neil Berrett earns the honor today for coming up with what has to be the hands-down best resignation letter that I have ever seen.

Stray Toasters

• I finished my Sodam Yat HeroClix figure.

  
  (click image for more pictures)

  I also took care of his dial and his character card. For both of them, I used the stats and quotes devised by flashshello, a member of the HCRealms community:

  

• It’s March Madness time, once again.  Got your brackets ready…?
• Superman/Batman confirmed as next DC animated movie… after this summer’s Green Lantern: First Flight movie.
• Cleopatra’s mother ‘was African’
  Really?  I never really thought that there was much question about this, the movie with Elizabeth Taylor aside.
• 10 Republicans vote against Pi… including a senator from Utah.
• AIG Ripoff Gets More Maddening
• “No, ma’am. I’m just The Middleman.”
• STS-119 finally launches into space

Back to the grindstone.

Namaste.