Random Access

Also by way of : Mr. Rogers, keepin’ it real in the ‘hood…

Wednesday: Coda
Lunch with the guys was good… even if our server wasn’t so hot. In the forty or so minutes that we were there, I think he hit our table twice – possibly three times – after bringing our drinks. “Unlimited soup, salad and breadsticks?” Not so much today. I had to actually keep myself from leaving the tip that I had originally estimated leaving.

It snowed, intermittently, this afternoon. Code Monkey and I went out for our afternoon constitutional. We made it around the campus as the stormfront rolled in. It started coming down just as we got back to the building.

After work, I headed to Dr. Volt’s. I picked up this week’s four-color crack when I noticed something on the wall: New packs of Crisis boosters. Before I checked out, I gave in and decided to get a box. Ever since seeing Dave do his “weigh the box” trick that scored me Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy, I’ve been using it to pick out which boosters I want to buy. I picked up five boxes, felt the way they balanced and picked Box #2. After paying for it, I opened the box. Guess who was waiting inside:

That’s right: Earth-2 Superman. Super-Rare. Unique. I was shocked. Very happy, but shocked. (I was even more shocked when I looked it up on eBay.) Or, as put it, when I told him about the figure and its going rate on eBay:

: blink
Me: I will remind you that this is a piece of plastic. Less than 3″ tall.
: For…The…MOTHERFUCKING…Win.

Feeling jazzed by my pick, I decided to get another box. Two decent figures in this one: Monarch and The Spectre. Neither of them was quite the catch that Superman was, but they are still good pulls.

Home. Laundry. Puttering about. Reading of this week’s four-color haul… and a lot of the books were good, solid slug-fests. Hero, meet Villain. Villain, Hero. FIGHT!

Stray Toasters

• By way of NPR: Old-fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills
• I talked with Markin’ Time for a bit this evening. I think we’ve talked more in the past two weeks than we have in the past six months! (Not that I’m complaining, by any stretch of the imagination.) He pointed me in the direction of InstaPundit.
  • He specifically mentioned that I should check out his item on Gaming while Color-Blind
• also pointed out a video on the disassembly of an iPhone
• The Gray Lady had an interesting article about willpower: Tighten Your Belt, Strengthen Your Mind.
  (I wonder if the Guardians and/or Kilowog know about this one?)
• As a part of “CustomCon,” someone made – MADE – Steampunk Star Wars figures

I think that I should track down something dessert-like.

Namaste.

– knowing my affinity for big, giant, smashy robots (and cool toys, in general) – sent me a link to: Roboticist plans real-world Gundam replica. Here is the conversation that followed:

Me: *click*
Me: I saw that last night.
Me: Spendy!
Me: “Everyone knows it’s spendy…!”
: yeah
Me:

Who’s building robots, with giant price tags?
Stomping on every city he sees…
Who’s got a pipe dream, fueled by anime?
Everyone knows it’s spendy! ¹

: and this?: Zip Zip LEGO USB Drives Get Updated to 4GB
Me: Whoa.
Me: Those are new.
Me: Nice!

¹ – For those unfamiliar with the tune:

Lovely little sister that she is, sent me a link to Broke Trek:

I had to share/spread the joy/pain. So, I shall add the following:

Star Trek: Closer

…and…

Star Trek: Sexyback

After work, I came home, had a (very) quick bite to eat, changed clothes and headed out…

…to play dolls with Chris. After gabbing about comics and cartoons and other assorted geekery we got down to gaming. I brought out Galactus and Phoenix. Chris just shook his head. I wasn’t really planning on playing with either of them; I had simply brought them because SaraRules made a comment along the lines of “…yeah, but wouldn’t it be cool just to have [Galactus] standing there on the sidelines?” We settled on 400-point teams. Chris fielded the X-Men:

• Bishop
• Gambit
• Psylocke
• Shatterstar and
• Storm (Yes, Tyranist… the mohawk-coifed, black leather-wearing Storm of your youth)

I decided to field My Plastic Legionâ„¢ :

• Cosmic Boy
• Dawnstar
• Lightning Lad
• Saturn Girl and
• Ultra Boy

I also used the Legionnaires Feat Card, which we may – or may NOT – have been using properly.

We played for about an hour-and-a-half. Just that one game. Chris won. I don’t mind losing to him as I usually learn a good deal about the game in the process. Tonight’s lessons:

1. Saturn Girl’s abilities are damned effective when utilized properly. Just through the use of her “Telepathic Coordination” – to enhance other Legionnaires’ attacks – I was able to pound on three of Chris’ figures; I took Shatterstar and Storm out and was working on Bishop when I lost.
2. I have to remember to use Cosmic Boy’s “Leadership” to possibly add an addition action to my turn.
3. I have to remember to use Dawnstar’s “Quarry” to add a +1 modifier to my team’s attacks on one character.

I did come to a number of conclusions:

1. As much as I want to play other characters/teams to get a feel for how other combinations work, I want to field the Legion again and add Dream Girl to the mix. Her “Precognition” and “Outwit” would make a nice compliment to Saturn Girl’s abilities.
2. With DG and SG on the team, I could use Ultra Boy, Mon-El and/or Young Superman, along with Wildfire for a rather potent force.
3. It would also be interesting to try using Kyle Rayner with the Legion, based on the issues of Green Lantern when he was thrust into the 31st Century and met the LSH.
4. I need two more veteran Triplicate Girl figures.
5. “Willpower” is a wonderful thing.

Wow. Where does the time go?

‘Night!

Tuesday – 08 April 2008
Some days you just wake up and feel like wearing a tie.
Just because you can.

Okay… maybe you don’t, but I do.

Today was one of those days for me. Of course, this meant breaking out the iron so that I could knock the rough edges off the shirt I’m wearing. I don’t mind ironing, so it wasn’t a big to-do.

Late-Morning Dance Break
Diamonds – Herb Alpert featuring Janet Jackson

Stray Toasters

• While I know and understand that English is a language that is constantly evolving, I still miss the adverb and/or “…to be…” in common usage:
  • “The dog needs walked” != “The dog needs to be walked.”
• Hypergrammar
• From Comic Foundry: 25 Most Influential Moments in the Past 25 Years
• , click here.
• , click here and here (third pic).
• Another item to be added to the Covet List: LEGO X-Wing Fighter
• Campbell’s Condensed Newspaper has crossword puzzles online! They have Sudoku, too.
• While I realize that it could come under the heading of “career-limiting moves,” yesterday I was dangerously close to telling someone up my chain-of-command to “GFY.” Multiple times. With something serrated.
• And speaking of serra…



• For those who don’t get the connection between the two ‘Toasters above: “serra” is Latin for “saw.”
• I think I just ruined part of Scott’s (coworker/boss) childhood. We were talking about the old school Battlestar Galactica, and I called it “Mormons in Space.” His reaction: “What?!” So, I went to Google and searched for “mormons in space” The first – FIRST – link it brought back “(a.k.a. Battlestar Galactica).” He said that he’s going to have to go back and watch the series and look for the signs.

Back to it.

Namaste.

Monday – 07 April 2008
Yesterday afternoon, SaraRules and I took a little time to play in the sunshine; we went for a walk along the trail in Ann J. Gardner Canyon Park (pictures). After we got back, we watched Superman: Doomsday. Fun film… even if it didn’t exactly follow “The Death of Superman” storyline perfectly.

After that, we realized that it was time to find something dinner-like. But, we had no idea “what.” Once we finally settled on it – grilled cheese sandwiches and soup – we hit the grocery store and came home.

Objectives:

1. Fix food
2. Eat
3. Watch Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

As Meat Loaf said: Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad: By the time we got back, Darrilyn and Kim had started watching Dirty Dancing, which Darrilyn hadn’t seen before. So… we watched Dirty Dancing. MST3K-style. Mr. Poitier and company will just have to wait until next weekend.

Today, I slept in a bit before making the journey back to the northlands. I pushed back my departure a bit because looneybin88 told me that the roads were a bit nasty thanks to… you guessed it: Snow. Fortunately, I-15 wasn’t bad, until I got a little north of Fillmore. Then, I hit some rain. It cleared up around Scipio. But, when I got a few miles south of Nephi, I ran into a wall of rain that turned into snow. And, as I left Nephi in the rear view mirror, I left the snow behind, too.

Workout
Eric waited for me to get in before heading to the gym. Today’s routine consisted of:

• Bench Press: 3 sets/8 reps, 225 lbs
• Curls (dumbbell, Hammer grip): 3 sets/10 reps, 30 lbs
• Flys (Nautilus): 3 sets/10 reps, 110 lbs
• Pull-downs (behind the head): 3 sets/10 reps, 120 lbs
• Rows (T-bar style, with a barbell): 3 sets/12 reps, 55 lbs
• Core: 3 sets at full-arm extension, 2 sets on elbows

Pre-workout weight: 176.8 lbs.

I wish that I could say that the weight gain is due to packing on the muscle… but I think that it would be more apt to say that the s’mores brownies that I made Thursday night – and ate all weekend – had more to do with it.

I also seem to have… um… “misplaced” my lock. Something that I didn’t discover until I was ready to secure the locker. So, unless it magically appears sometime this week, I’ll be using the Superman lock that gave me. That should get a few interesting looks around the locker room, I’m sure.

Stray Toasters

• I’m still just *a little* in shock that SaraRules actually posted on here yesterday. Just a ‘Toaster, but it still counts.
• I know that it’s just speculation at this point, but still… the idea that Apple may seriously upgrade/change the MacBook lines soon is good/bad news.
• Quinoa
• From xkcd.com: “Cheap GPS”



• There were a couple of interesting items on NPR today:
  • The Diane Rehm Show: FAA and Airline Safety Inspections
  • Talk of the Nation: After Death, a Soldier’s Journey Is Not Over

  The TotN piece was amazing. In it, Neal Conan interviewed Chris Jones, a writer for Esquire, who did a piece about a soldier’s “final journey,” from the Middle East to his burial in southern Indiana. I was pretty much rapt by the story; I can’t wait to read the actual article when the new issue of Esquire comes out.

• 
• 4/6 lfm tank and dd – The Jargon of Online Gaming
• By way of Wired.com: How College Courses Should Be Taught
• I should probably start giving some thought to what I want for dinner…
• Given the way things went yesterday, I should also start thinking about what I want to cook for dinner Sunday.

Namaste.

Sunday – 06 April 2008
Sunny, a little cooler than I’d like, but otherwise a rather nice day.

<< Rewind <<
This weekend’s SOAPFest featured four plays:

1. Elegy for a Lady, by Arthur Miller
2. When Shakespeare’s Ladies Meet, by Charles George
3. Laundry & Bourbon, by James McClure
4. Lone Star, by James McClure

Laundry & Bourbon and Lone Star are complimentary pieces – two of the characters in L&B are married to two of the characters in Lone Star. Of the four, I was most taken with Laundry and Bourbon. I thought that the performances and characterizations were pretty solid. My next favorite was Shakespeare’s Ladies, a rather tongue-in-cheek play with some of the Bard’s famous leading ladies stopping in to give young Juliet some sage words of advice about love. This play was just.. fun.

Post-SOAPFest, we came back and watched The Iron Giant (1, 2). I like the setting (1950s, Cold War/Red Scare-era America), the animation style, the soundtrack, the voice acting… the whole nine yards.
This is a fun film for me; I would probably have to list it in my Top Ten Movies (a list for which I should try to figure out the other eight movies…)

> Play >
I woke up and started the day after a few odd dreams made me realize that I was done with attempts at sleep. There wasn’t really a lot on TV this morning, either. So, I hopped on the nerd. Ah, the Interwebs… SaraRules woke up shortly and fixed a tasty breakfast. After breakfast – and observing the daily hygiene rituals – SaraRules started in on some homework; I decided to take on some of Paragon City’s worst criminals.

My heroic endeavours were not meant to be: I kept getting a “Can’t connect to DBServer” error. No matter which server I attempted to access. I tried disabling my firewall. I checked my network settings. Nada. Zip. Zilch. No go, Flight. I called Markin’ Time and Perry to see if they were experiencing the same problems (all of us usually play on the same server). Their connections were A-OK. Hrm. I even went to the NCSoft site to make sure that nothing was screwy with my account. Nope. Everything was peachy there, too. So, after a bit of digging, the best answer that I could find was that there seems to be a problem… somewhere… between the ISP that her complex uses and the CoX servers. So, no CoH/CoV for me this weekend.

Stray Toasters

• I talked with Adam for a bit this afternoon. Aside from it being cooler than he likes, all’s well in his neck of the woods.
• In today’s “Go, Boilermakers” news: Purdue’s 156-Step Burger Maker Wins Rube Goldberg Contest
• I think that this was a rather apt review of Action Comics #863.
• Tori Amos’ Comic Book Tattoo
• 
• went to Metropolis. I am slightly jealous; I haven’t been there in almost ten years.
• …speaking of which, I may watch Superman: Doomsday a little later.

Super-Special Stray Toaster from SaraRules

• I consider most soap operas to be boring, long-winded, vapid, and completely devoid of any plot whatsoever. The exception is the fabulous South American Telenovelas which entranced and entertained me in Georgia. I heard of a new one today, Sin Tetas, No Hay Paraíso, which translates to Without Tits, There is No Paradise. Now that is quality programming.

(Back to ShadoRunr)

I just realized that I am really quite hungry. I should probably do something about that. Immediately.

*vapor trail*

Saturday – 05 April 2008
The drive down was fairly uneventful. I saw three UHP officers on the way down… which still pales compared to the fourteen that SaraRules saw on her way back Monday.

Shortly after I got in, we headed to Rachel’s for a get-together with some of the MFAs. Food. Random chat. Wii. It was fun.

I found out that Hilary and her husband, Jeff, had been to Baltimore a few times, so we talked a bit about some of the things they liked there. Then, Jeff noticed my LEGO watch and asked if I had picked it up in LEGOland; I told him that I had it long before that. But, I showed him something that I did pick up in LEGOland:

He got rather wide-eyed and started to ask questions about trips to LEGOland. It was rather amusing. Then, the Wii came out. Liz (one of the MFAs) had never played Wii before. Watching her play Wii Boxing was pure, straight-up comedy. She was ALL over the place.

Today was the last episode of Legion of Super Heroes.  For the most part, the episode was good, but the ending was a bit… anti-climactic.  I have no idea if WB or DC or any of their affiliated entities are planning a follow-up series, but if so, hopefully it will be more in the vein of “Far From Home.”  But, all-in-all, it was still a Legion series.  Post-toonage and breakfast, SaraRules and I did some errand-running. Then, we hooked up with Rachel, Steve and Tyler for bowling. Tonight, we’re heading to SOAPFest.

Stray Toasters

• I got bored again. So… more pictures with the Sentinels! (1, 2)
• Celebrity D&D Characters, Rolled by Readers
• 
• “So, is that a guitar in your pocket or…?”   Oh, wait.  It is.
• Greatest MacGuyvers of Science Fiction

Namaste.

sent me this:

I countered with one of my favorite manips…

Wednesday – 02 April 2008
Last night was Scion night at and ‘s. It was fun. ‘s character wound up drugging almost everyone at a social event… in order to facilitate our… um… liberating a piece of artwork. In the name of the people! The God’s honest truth.

After game, I went home and played City for a while. I wound up on a farming team. I also wound up acting as a bridge. We ran the instance twice; the second time, I wound up being told to basically “just stand there,” while one of the Level 50 characters ran through the mission and wiped out the lower-level bad guys. That, friends and neighbors, is BORING. I left the team – and the game – after we finished that instance. On the “plus” side: I am three bubbles into 49; seven more to go ’til Nefer-Tem hits 50. And then, it will be time to figure out who next.

Today was a good day. And, it’s ‘s birthday.

(No, really… you do! See!?)

Nothing out of the ordinary. And, oddly enough, “Sushi Wednesday” was on… a Wednesday. Who knew?!? I also picked up this week’s four-color haul. It was a light week: I picked up another Astro City TPB and only had four other books. Four?! That’s a manageable number… manageable enough for…

Four-Color Coverage

• Action Comics # 863 – This issue wrapped up the Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes vs. the 31st Century Justice League storyline. I thought the way that the story arc read was great. I am very pleased to see that DC has finally pulled a rectal craniotomy and reintegrated Clark and the Legion into each other’s history. The issue also had a teaser for this summer’s Final Crisis that whet my whistle:
  

  

• Countdown to Final Crisis: 04 – Sorry, but this issue was a bit weak. *sigh* After the last issue, I just expected… more. It was another “Mary Marvel gets manipulated” issue. Can you say “broken record,” boys and girls?
• Secret Invasion (1 of 8) – It has begun. Who’s a Skrull? Who’s human? Despite everything else that, in my opinion, Joe Quesada has done to give the Marvel Universe a good rogering… this was good. Markin’Time and I have been talking about this for a bit. We – and I’m sure a good number of readers – have a lot of questions. Damn you, Quesada! *shakes fist*
• Supergirl #28 – Supergirl has promised a little boy that she will save him from dying… from cancer. Wonder Woman and a seldom-seen DCU hero feature fairly prominently, presenting their opinions on Kara’s rather lofty goal.

Now to finish watching Law & Order… and maybe get Nefer-Tem a little closer to Security Level 50.

Namaste.

I saw this – Top 10 Wired Reader Self-Portraits – on Wired.com last week. It seemed like a fun idea… but somewhere along the line, I spaced off the whole thing.

Until today.

I came across a link to the self-portraits again and clicked and, once again, thought: “That looks like fun.” And then I thought: “Why not get some other people to do the same in their journals?”

So, here’s what I came up with as the various… rules, I guess:

• Take a picture of yourself. (This one’s pretty straightforward, I think.)
• Make it as “you” or even “not-you” as you like.
• Make it as serious or whimsical as you like.
• Post it in your journal.

Pretty simple, no?

So, dive in, if you’re so inclined.

And, if you want to do more than one, or even make it a semi-ongoing thing (which I think I may do), that’s cool, too.

And my first stab at this…

Have fun.

By way of Coworker Eric and The Onion come the following:

1. 9/11 Conspiracy Theories ‘Ridiculous,’ Al Qaeda Says
2. Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results of 2008 Election Early
3. Today Now! Host Tracy Gill Recommends the New Tracy Gill Biography

I had to check the calendar a couple of times to make sure that this really is Monday:

• I got to spend a few extra hours with SaraRules
• I was able to chat with Don (hereafter referred to as “Markin’Time”) about comics, cartoons, movies, politics and just… stuff.
• And I just finished watching “Far From Home,” an episode of Justice League Unlimited.

The last item is of particular note, at least to me, because it was a Legion of Super-Heroes episode. More than that, it is one of the Season 3 (or “Season Five,” if you count Justice League) episodes that I haven not seen. As much as I enjoy the current (but soon-to-be-ending) Legion series, there are a number of things that I feel are missing. Tonight’s episode of Justice League Unlimited had them. The LSH toon is targeted for a younger audience; JL/JLU was written for more mature viewers.

As Tyranist and I once discussed, the Legion is my “warm, happy place” in comics… and in cartoons. (Possibly even more so than the X-Men.) They appeared in the DCAU once before this, on Superman: The Animated Series, in an episode called “New Kids in Town.” That episode dealt with a young, pre-Superman Clark Kent – still coming to terms with some of his powers – meeting three super-powered teens… from the future. The Legion! Animated! It was something that I’d waited over 15 years to see.

And I think I was just about as… well, as SaraRules put it: giddy… tonight as I was then. “Far From Home” dealt with similar “outsider” issues as “New Kids,” but this time, the pivotal character was Supergirl. It played off the fact that while Clark grew up on Earth, Kara grew up on a planet with technology far more advanced than Earth’s. Enter Brainiac 5 and Bouncing Boy, seeking help from members of the Justice League against the Fatal Five. And from that point forward, it was “game on.”

This was an excellent way to cap off the day, especially as a long-time LSH fan.

Long Live the Legion!

EDIT: Nefer-Tem hit Security Level 49, in the middle of a Rikti invasion.

Monday – 31 March 2008
And so, March comes to a close.

This morning, we woke to snow (SNOW!!!) in the valley. SaraRules made the executive decision to wait a few hours before getting on the road, in the hopes that UDoT would make sure that the roads were clear. (Good call on her part.) So, we had a lazy morning in. Yes, “we.” I mean, c’mon… if she was going to stick around for a while, I didn’t see much point in me dashing off to work early.

I got into the office, after a stop for a large, triple-shot-laden cup of frozen mocha goodness. I had some problems getting MySQL installed and running on Defiant. I had to get ‘s assistance on nailing down the problem.

SaraRules decided not to leave until 1:00-ish, so we decided to have lunch. Dask’s. Lamb gyros. Very good. After she dropped me off at work, she headed for the southlands. She messaged me a few times because she noted a particularly increased presence of UHP. I noted that it might be because it’s the end of the month. *shrug*

Reeling by on Celluloid
Last night, we saw Doomsday with Chris and Mary. The movie wasn’t as bad as we had feared. Far from it, in fact. And, I was pleasantly surprised to see a number of “names” in the film, too:

• Bob Hoskins (Pink Floyd’s The Wall, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Hook, Unleashed)
• Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange, Caligula, ST: Generations)
• Alexander Siddig (ST: DS9, Kingdom of Heaven, Syriana, 24)

It was even… fun. Yes, there were a couple of plot holes, but on the whole, it wasn’t painful. (At least, not for us. Chris had a couple of things that he had a hard time getting past.) On the whole, it was a decent movie. I might even be picking this up on DVD when it comes out.

Stray Toasters

• I cleaned out a couple of my closets last night. Goodwill (or D.I. or some other charitable organization) is about to get a HEALTHY donation of clothes.
• said… something… that I wanted to quote the other night, but damned if I can remember what it was.
• Mrs. duckspeaker, on the other hand, also said something quote-worthy. But, as she knows where I live, I think that I shall refrain from reprinting it.
• Children must learn to fear Sinistar
• As a fan of (some) Saturday morning fare – and Cartoon Network/Boomerang – I see a number of commercials for toys/games/whatever targeted at kids. One such commercial is for dolls from High School Musical. In the umpteen viewings of said commercial, I have heard the voiceover announcer saying which dolls/characters were available and, the last one always made me wonder: “Did they just say “Shar Pei!?”Last night, after the movie, I had to stop at ShopKo to pick up a couple things I had neglected to get earlier in the day. Then I decided to stroll down the toy aisles. It turned out that the store had the High School Musical dolls. So, I looked for at the names…
  • Gabriella. Okay, no problem there.
  • Troy. Ditto

  And then I saw it: Sharpay.

  What in the Nine Hells? When they were coming up with the script for this, WHO thought it would be a good idea to name a character after a dog breed?! And why didn’t someone think,”Y’know… this might not be the greatest of names…” and edit it to something else? Something normal. (Yeah, yeah… I know, this coming from the guy who gets a perverse pleasure out of checking out the names on Utah Baby Namer.)

• LEGO Art on Display at Burlington Mall (in Burlington, Canada)
• Defaced presidents on Flickr
• 
• Circuit City Tries to Install Navigation System, Causes $12,119 Damage to Your Car
• “It’s Frahn-ken-steen!”



• Creepily lifelike CGI woman
• IBM banned from government contracts
• A Very Microscale Stargate

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.