Drew just sent me a link for making gummy candies… shaped like LEGO bricks. Apparently, the “recipe” calls for using actual LEGO bricks to make silicone molds and using those molds to form the candy.
While I still enjoy LEGO Fruit snacks from time to time, this made my inner five-year-old very happy.
Wednesday – 12 November 2008
It’s a grey, rainy morning in the Salt Lake valley. It’s a little foggy to the north; I can’t even see the north end of the valley. I can barely make out the outline of the Oquirrhs, to the west.
Last night, SaraRules and I watched August Rush. There were a few cheesy moments in the film, but overall, it wasn’t bad. And it had some great music in it, as well. The main… um… I guess “theme” is as good a word as any… of the movie was how music can connect people, no matter what the distance or differences. On the whole, I’d give the movie a thumbs-up. One odd note (sorry… bad pun): The “Deleted Scenes” feature doesn’t allow viewers to choose which of the scenes to watch – you get to watch them all, sequentially. There are only six or seven of them – and most of them are decent – but the last one…? Man. They seriously made the right decision by leaving that on the cutting room floor.
Workout
Wes, Marci and I made it to the gym again yesterday:
Post-workout weight: 181.4 lbs
Wes mentioned that he wants to start working on specific areas. I asked if he wanted to do more focused/targeted workouts; he said yes. So, tomorrow, we’ll start focusing on chest and upper body, I do believe…
Stray Toasters
That’s not quite “steampunk.” It’s more… “steamfunk.”
Directed by Danny Boyle (Trainspotting), Slumdog Millionaire is the story of Jamal Malik (Dev Patel), an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is just one question away from winning 20 million rupees on India’s “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” But when the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating. Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slum where he and his brother grew up, of their adventures together, and of the girl he loved and lost. Each chapter of his story reveals the key to the answer to one of the game show’s questions.
Namaste.
Tuesday – 11 Nov 2008
Yet another in the work-a-day grind.
But, I hit the ground running and got a couple of items off of my task list, right after I got in.
Last night, I watched the 49ers – Cardinals game with SaraRules and her folks. I wasn’t expecting a lot out of the game, to be honest. I was pleasantly surprised that an actual football game broke out. Kurt Warner still looks fairly impressive – it was almost like he couldn’t throw a bad pass if he tried. The receivers and running backs did good jobs. And on the other side of the ball, Shaun Hill (SF’s 3rd string QB) did a good job of leading the team, including an impressive end-of-game drive that very nearly won the game for SF.
Stray Toasters
…and…
And stuff.
And whatnot.
Namaste.
Monday – 10 Nov 2008
It was… an interesting weekend, to say the least.
Saturday was a sleeping-in, lazy day… to a degree. SaraRules, her mother, her brother and I went to the Garden of Sweden to pick up a few things. Okay, okay… I (ostensibly) went as an observer, but wound up finding a few things that I couldn’t live without. Next on the docket was a couples massage at The Spa Club, that SaraRules had signed us up for. It was nice. Very nice, indeed.
The relaxation of the massage, however, was somewhat undone by some extended family drama. *grblsnrkx*
I spent a few pre-breakfast hours Saturday evening trying to be productive: I took pictures of and prepared some auctions for some of my extra HeroClix. I should be posting a few auctions this evening, God willing and the creek don’t rise.
Sunday was good: Another sleep-in morning, followed by football. SaraRules and I watched the Titans-Bears game, while I watched the “coverage” of the Ravens-Texans game on NFL.com. The Ravens wound up with another game in the “W” column, which makes me happy – and it means that they’ve already done better than last season’s record.
I headed over to Far West Comics to play dolls ‘Clix with Chris, Nano and Eric. We went with 800 points per player. We broke up into two-player teams: Eric and Nano vs. Chris and me. The teams broke down like this:
And then, it was “Game on.” Chris came out of the gate like gangbusters. Eric had flown his Superman and Gamora to the mid-map area. Chris took Superman Prime, picked up an object and swatted her for 7 clicks of damage, right off the bat… insta-kill. I was really looking forward to using Arkillo, after hearing Chris talk up the figure last week. Unfortunately, Eric and Nano had other ideas: They put Rampaging Hulk, Ben Grimm and Trigon in close combat. And then, just for an added measure, had Eric’s Superman ping him from long range. *sigh* Oh, well… I guess I’ll have to use him another time.
Chris had good success in using Doctor Destiny to Mind Control Trigon and use his special power, Doppelganger, against the other team. So, we played a game of attrition: We got rid of Eric’s part of the force and the front half of Nano’s team. The we settled in to take on Green Arrow, Flash and… Trigon. Our team consisted of Batman (Sinestro Corps), Parallax, Doctor Destiny, Prime and Dr. Strange. The problem with Trigon – aside from Psychic Blast and Ranged Combat Expert – is his Mystics team ability:
When this character takes damage from an attack, it deals 1 damage to the attacker. This damage may not be evaded or reduced.
We beat up Green Arrow, Chris used Mind Control and Doppelganger to get rid of the Flash… and then it was just the big guy to deal with. Fortunately, Nano dealt Trigon a few clicks of damage by pushing him and we had a couple of figures who did 3, 4 or 5 clicks of damage when attacking him. So, taking a click here or there was worth it.
In the end, with the remnants of our teams, Chris and I came away with a win.
After the game, I headed over to SaraRules’ parents for dinner and football. Not a bad way to wind up the evening, I must say.
Stray Toasters
The Topps Company announced today that WizKids will immediately cease operations and discontinue its product lines. Scott Silverstein, CEO of Topps, said “This was an extremely difficult decision. While the company will still actively pursue gaming initiatives, we feel it is necessary to align our efforts more closely with Topps current sports and entertainment offerings which are being developed within our New York office.â€Upon notifying our partners, Topps will immediately pursue strategic alternatives so that viable brands and properties, including HeroClix, can continue without noticeable disruption. To that end, WizKids will continue supporting Buy it By the Brick redemptions for Arkham Asylum, and the December Organized Play events for HeroClix.
For consumer announcements, please refer to www.wizkidsgames.com over the coming days for further information.
And that’s it for now.
Namaste.
Friday – 07 Nov 2008
What better way to kick off a Friday than with a little Johnny Kemp?
Yeah. And there you have it. I believe that’s the first Dance Break we’ve had in a while. I’ll have to see to it that there are more in the future.
Last night, SaraRules and I went to The Paris for her birthday dinner. I haven’t had a lot of experience with French cuisine before, but this restaurant was very nice. Great service. Excellent atmosphere. And wonderful food. I had a rotisserie chicken, prepared in a “lavender honey glaze,” and it was simply wonderful. Succulent, flavorful… delightful. I’ve eaten many chicken dishes – including different takes on rotisserie chicken – but this seriously beat them. Hands down. If you are looking for a new or different dining experience, I heartily recommend The Paris.
Back home for CSI:, MythBusters and Letterman.
Then I called it an early (for me) night.
Stray Toasters
In the words of the guys from ESPN’s SportsCenter:
“That kid got what…?”
“JACKED UP!”
Groove on, brothers and sisters.
Groove on.
Namaste.
Thursday – 06 November 2008
Happy Birthday to SaraRules:
Yesterday, it snowed. The news originally said that it should taper off around 2:00 or so. The news lied. It did stop somewhere around 4 or 4:30.
After work, I headed over to SaraRules’ for dinner and we hung out for her folks for a bit, swapping stories. After dinner and coffee, we headed over to my place. We watched The Late Show and a bit of The Late Late Show; both of them featured some good post-election wit.
This morning, there was no snow… but it was cold (20°F) when I woke up.
But, there was sun. (I guess Annie was right: The sun really did come up [tomorrow].)
That counts for a lot.
And it’s a gym day.
…not to mention NBN Thursday, too.
Stray Toasters
That’s good for now.
Namaste.
If I had seen this before I hit the polls, I might have changed my vote:
Thanks to
Monday – 03 Nov 2008
Happy Hatching Day to
Last night, I continued a project that I started Saturday evening: Collecting my extra Arkham Asylum ‘Clix into eBay-able groups/lots. Hopefully, they’ll do well.
Stray Toasters
For those who can’t identify it, it’s a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird.
Attack the day…
Namaste.
Sunday – 02 Nov 2008
Today was the second Ravens-Browns game of the season.
vs 
The Ravens made a trip to the Dog Pound to take on Romeo Crennell’s Browns… which includes former Ravens Jamal Lewis (RB) and Dave Zastadil (K). For today’s game, SaraRules,
The Ravens wound up winning the game 37-27. Fortunately, most of the scoring drives were spaced out enough so that no one got completely hammered.
And, it was fun to hang out with
Other than that, it’s been a relatively low-key day. And I’m good with that.
Namaste.
Today’s tournament was… a non-tournament.
Once again, no one made it to the game. That meant that I “won,” by default. On the other hand, I got to play a game against Keith. We used the tourney rules – sealed box draft and went from there. Both of us went with “Gotham City” theme teams. The team that I pulled consisted of:
Keith used:
We played on the Arkham Asylum map. (I like this map.)
And then it was game time.
It was a better/closer game than I expected. Yes, Keith won, but it came down to: Joker and Penguin vs. The Question, Riddler and Two-Face:
I was happy to have held out as well as I did.
And it was fun.
The end.
Friday – 31 October 2008
Happy Hallowe’en.
This year’s costume marks the third time (in four years) that I’ve gone with a Samuel L. Jackson-inspired costume: Mace Windu (SW: The Phantom Menace), Neville Flynn (Snakes on a Plane) and this year…
Yep, Nick Fury (1, 2), from Marvel Comics’ Ultimate Universe and the verrrrry end of the Iron Man movie. And a tip of the hat and a wave of the cane to Mr. Jackson for making sure that I have at least one possible costume idea per year. I’ll have more pictures of the overall costume later tonight… to be posted probably tomorrow.
It’s “a little” busy around the office, as we’re prepping for an audit by our robot overlords. (Did I say “overlords?” I meant “protectors.”) Fortunately, our little “pre-audit” seems to be going fairly well.
Stray Toasters
SaraRules: I remember seeing an escaped gorilla drill a while back. Crazy Japanese.
Me: Well, it’s hard to hold Godzilla drills, I guess…
SaraRules: That would, however, be awesome.
And that’s it for now.
Namaste.
Thursday – 30 Oct 2008
Not a bad day, so far.
Stray Toasters
That’s good for now.
Namaste.
I’m sitting here talking with
Don’t ask.
Just go with it.
She mentioned that someone she knows has a bidet in their house and that they are the only person she knows with a bidet. As soon as she mentioned that, the following popped into my head:
It’s a beautiful bidet in the neighborhood
A beautiful bidet for a neighbor…
Yeah… welcome to the way my head works.
And, um, my apologies to the late Mr. Rogers.
Wednesday – 29 Oct 2008
I vaguely remember turning off the alarm this morning. I was a lovely combination of “tired” and “lazy.” There was a part of me that was having an “I don’t care” moment when I turned off the alarm… so, I turned over and decided to grab some more shut-eye.
So far, the morning has been good and even a little productive… despite the fact that I keep thinking that it’s Thursday.
Stray Toasters
That’s a good start. There may be more later.
Namaste.
It was a busy day. Not “run around frantically” busy, but enough to keep me well-occupied throughout the day.
SaraRules cooked a chicken and vegetable over pasta dish. Quite tasty.
Stray Toasters
And that’s that.
I may wind up going to the gym tonight… but I’m not 100% committed to that course of action yet.
Namaste.