Random Access

Wednesday – 11 August 2010
Mid-week and all’s well.
It’s Comics and possibly-Sushi Wednesday.

Last night, Chris, Jeremiah and Sinister came over to play ‘Clix. (Yeah, I know… what a concept!) Our theme for the game was “War of Light,” based on the “Blackest Night” storyline from DC Comics’ Green Lantern titles.  Chris and I played the Sinestro and Green Lantern Corps, respectively, while Jeremiah and Sinister played the Black Lanterns. For some reason, we thought that 1200 points per player was a good idea. And we also thought that starting (theoretically) at 7:00 was a good idea. We didn’t really get under way until 9-ish… and wrapped up somewhere around 12:30 this morning. We just called the game, but I think that if we tallied up points, Chris and I were ahead… but the other guys played one Hell of a game. And, it was a lot of fun. Pictures of the game can be seen here.

Workout
Tuesday’s step count: 4,633

Stray Toasters

• Tonight is the Epic Brewery Dinner at MacCool’s. SaraRules and I are going with the in-laws. If it’s anywhere on the level of the Guinness dinner from a few weeks ago, it should be fantastic.
• Letter from a freed man to his former slave owner
• I’m not a Twitter user, but found this article interesting: How black people use Twitter
• City of Heroes: Going Rogue comes out on Tuesday.



• Last week, Comic Book Resources’ “Comics Should Be Good” column asked for submissions of Disney-Marvel crossovers. This week, they posted some of the submissions — and they are good. Check them out here.
• This had me literally laughing out loud… and then sharing it with the rest of my team, when they came over to see what was up: Soul-Toons
• Another cooling unit’s pump appears to have gone out in our server room.  This would be (more)  understandable… if the units were more than a year old!
• Anti-terrorist hotline ad banned for being ‘insensitive’
• By way of Brad Guigar (Evil, Inc.): 



• My Day of “Dreckoning”
• Literary Destinations: Five Books to Help You Escape

Quote of the Day
Today’s quote comes from last night’s game.  Attacked by two Black Lanterns, my Ganthet evaded an attack from BL Superman and shrugged off part of an attack from BL Martian Manhunter.  Jeremiah looked at Ganthet’s dial and saw that he was still ready to rumble. Rolling his eyes, he muttered:

“Stupid Ganthet…”

…and considered options for trying to remove him from the game. (Didn’t happen, just for the record.)

Namaste.

Tuesday – 10 August 2010
Today my niece, Sophia’s, first birthday.

Today is also the day that my friend, Joe, returned home – and to his family – after spending a little more than a year in a country with a four-letter name that begins with “I” and ends with “Q.”

Today also marks the first day of Ramadan and the Feast Day of Saint Stephen.

Last night, I hung out at Pin-up Girl Espresso for a bit after work. Jim, Pin-up’s owner, and I sat and chatted and watched the world go by.  In a surprise move, SaraRules stopped by on her way from work to a Justice Junior League meeting. A little later in the evening, I headed up to the in-laws’ to see SaraRules’ grandparents, who were in town for the evening. It was nice to visit with them for a while. SaraRules and I wrapped up the night with last week’s episode of Burn Notice. All-in-all, it was a good day… even for a Monday.

Workout
Monday’s step count: 5,069

Stray Toasters

• I got a call from The Train Shoppe yesterday afternoon: My train set has arrived!
• SaraRules posted a link to a fun item yesterday: Operation Opera: If Arts Were Sports…
• Pentagon Plans Steps to Reduce Budget and Jobs
• ‘Dora the Explorer’ turns 10 (‘diez’) as model for Pre-K girls
• The Ebell Club, a Women’s Social Club, Tries to Remain Relevant in Los Angeles
• I wonder if this really works…



• What if the Avengers Movie was made in 1952?
• Oddest Musical Pairings
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Churchgoers, strippers protest each other in Coshocton County
• Excellent Perseid Meteor Shower Expected Aug. 11-13
• Honey Nut Cheerios = Win!
• 
• Glimmerglass Recycles Its Sets, Not Its Ideas
• Mavis Staples: Tiny Desk Concert

Experience slips away
Experience slips away
The innocence slips away….

Namaste.

Monday – 09 August 2010
The weekend has ended and a new work week has begun.
And, quite frankly, I could use another weekend; this last one was packed pretty full.

Saturday morning, SaraRules, , and I attended the funeral for our friend, Dave. It was a nice service. Dave’s brother, Tommy, delivered the eulogy/life reflection. Correction: He delivered two of them — one that was the “family approved” version and one that he had originally written, but been vetoed on giving. Both were good, but I think that Dave would have particularly appreciated the unexpurgated version.

After the service, we headed back home. I needed to change for a tournament; SaraRules, and were going out for lunch. The tourney went well, as did the lunch, from what I gathered. Later, came over for dinner and a movie; we watched Batman: Under the Red Hood, which she hadn’t seen. After she left, SaraRules and I watched The Royal Tenenbaums. It was an… interesting… movie. Like other Wes Anderson movies, I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about it after seeing it.

Sunday, after a tasty breakfast, SaraRules, , and I headed up to Park City to attend the Kimball Park City Arts Festival. As I noted on Facebook:

[I am] getting ready to head to the Park City Kimball Arts Festival with three lovely ladies. It’s kind of like being Bosley from ‘Charlie’s Angels,’ but without the bad 70s fashion.

It was a good event. We wandered up and down Main Street, looking at the various items. We wound up coming home with four (4) new pieces of art:

• One piece (Cafe Society) by Audrey Heller, from whom I’ve wanted to purchase something for a few years,
• One piece by Larry Stephenson which just “spoke” to me (third row, second from left), and
• Two pieces by Merina Terauds

Later in the evening, SaraRules and I went up to her parents’ for dinner and a movie. We watched From Paris With Love, which turned out to be better than any of us had anticipated. There was a nifty in-joke that made us laugh rather heartily about halfway through the film.

After we got back home, SaraRules and I watched Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959). I had never seen it, but SaraRules remembered it with nostalgic fondness. (I did, however, remember watching the Filmation cartoon series adaptation of the movie, however…)

Workout
Saturday’s step count: 817 (I neglected to put on the pedometer after changing pants Saturday afternoon)
Sunday’s step count: 4,792

Stray Toasters

• How to Be the Perfect Host in the 21st Century
• By way of SaraRules:
  • Parisians Find Playground Under the Streets
  • Blue Whales Align The Pitch of Their Songs with Extreme Accuracy, Study Finds
• My sister-in-law, in a reflection on race relations, posted a link to this in her blog last week: Strange Fruit: Anniversary of a Lynching
• 
• Cupcakes to Suit Geeks’ Tastes
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” files:
  • Finalist dies at World Sauna in Finland
  • Celebrating Turkish bridegroom kills relatives
• Nope. High fructose corn syrup does not cause pancreatic cancer
• Nucular Toonami!
• Huge ice sheet breaks from Greenland glacier
• The Star Trek and train buff in me appreciated this strip:
  



• Is AOL Finally Crashing and Burning?

Tonight: Hanging out with the grandparents-in-law.
Tomorrow: ‘Clix  with the guys.

Namaste.

Sunday – 01 August 2010
“Summer’s going fast…”
It seems as though July just started, and now we are beginning August.

Yesterday was also Ms. ‘s birthday.

Friday, was Day 5 of The Great Network Conversion. By the end of the (very long) day, it seems as though most things were in order. There was a lot of “hurry up and wait” involved, as we were awaiting some configuration to be completed at the home office. That didn’t help with the “longest day ever” feeling. Just before we left for the day, SaraRules dropped by the office, with a caramel mocha in-hand. (Have I mentioned ‘Coolest Wife Ever,’ recently?) By the time I got home, all I wanted to do was come home and take a nap. And that’s exactly what I did… and then it was off to gather with the rest of the Clitorati crew.

Saturday, I forced myself to sleep in. I know… I know… it sounds odd to have to “force” oneself to sleep in. But, considering that I woke up at 0700 and seriously contemplated getting up and starting the day — and given the fact that between Thursday and Friday, I put in nearly 24 hours in the office — sleep was a good and necessary thing. SaraRules went to the Open House at Repertory Dance Theatre; I stayed at home and did a bit of cleaning…

…until got here. We went to The Train Shoppe. I wanted to see if my new set had arrived. It hadn’t. Apparently, Lionel pushed back its shipping date by nearly a month. So… it should be here either just before or just after we  go camping.

Following that stop and a quick run to Dr. Volt’s, it was back home for a bit. Lunch. Hanging out with SaraRules. Exploring LEGO Universe… when it wasn’t being buggy. *shakes fist*

Later in the evening, SaraRules and I went to Rio Tinto Stadium to see Real Salt Lake host a match against DC United:

This also marked the first time that I have seen an MLS game live. (I doubt it will be the last time.) I had gone to MISL (Major Indoor Soccer League) games as a teenager, but that really comes under the heading of “same brand, different flavor.”  Or, for the SAT crowd:

Major Indoor Soccer League : Major League Soccer as…

1. Roller Derby : NASCAR
2. Arena Football League : NFL Football
3. BMX : Motocross
4. Stickball : Major League Baseball

The correct answer, in this case, would be “2”

The match was a lot of fun. We sat in the upper level and had a great view of the soccer pitch… AND the seats were very reasonably priced. And they were also covered, which became important when it started raining. RSL won the match 3 – 0, with a couple of goals coming in the last 10 minutes of the game.  (I was a little torn about the loss for DCU, though…) I am Ivory Soap sure that we’ll be back in Rio Tinto Stadium to see another match before the season ends.

Workout
Friday’s step count: I don’t recall, but it was somewhere around 3,600 steps
Saturday’s step count:  5,948

Stray Toasters

• Obama gives himself a grade of ‘incomplete’ after 18 months
• UAE to block BlackBerry services
• Holly Golightly: Breaking Rules in a Little Black Dress
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file:
  • Washing Machine Self-Destructs After Trying to Wash a Brick
  • Sixteen Years in Prison for Videotaping the Police?
• 
• My right bicep hurts, for an as-yet unexplained reason
• This Airplane Luxury Suite Is Way Out of My Budget
• Reading the Writing on Pompeii’s Walls
• The Evo gets Android 2.2 this week.
• Who’d win a battle between a Klingon battlecruiser and the Death Star? We found out!

Now: Breakfast.
Later: Salt.

Monday – 26 July 2010
It’s the beginning of another fun-filled work week.

Today would have been my great-grandmother’s birthday, as well. One of the best stories about my great-grandmother also involves Sib-2 and a Power Wheels truck; nearly 30 years later, it still makes me laugh.

Even though it was a three-day weekend, it still seemed far too short. The highlights of the weekend included:

• A trip to End Zone with Perry and the kids
• Hanging out with the coolest wife ever.
• Helping the coolest wife ever redo the planter bed in front of the house.
• Seeing Inception
  
• Playing City of Heroes for the first time in far too long…
• Playing LEGO Batman for the first time in far too long…
• Hanging out with the Pinup Girl Espresso crew
• Seeing The Book of Eli
  
• Watching Burn Notice

This morning’s musical selection: Orgy – Opticon

Chew on This: Food for Thought
Today’s thought comes from an unknown source:

We all have it within ourselves to rise from feelings of complete hopelessness to a state of renewed strength, clarity, understanding and peace.

Workout

• Friday’s step count: 5,700-something
• Saturday’s step count: 4,200-something
• Sunday’s step count: 2,650

Stray Toasters

• SaraRules has a meeting tonight, which means that I’m a bachelor for a few hours. I think that this calls for Chinese food.  Anyone care to join me?
• Jane Austen’s Fight Club
• Footloose came on the radio during the morning commute.  Whenever I hear the song, it reparses in my head as:
  

  Juice! Fruit juice!
  Or Kool-Aid, if you choose.
  Juice box, please! Or Capri Suns to squeeze!
  It’s a fact: Welch’s Grape is like crack!
  Juice! Fruit Juice!
  Everybody drink… Everybody drink…
  Everybody drink… Everybody drink…
  Everybody drink… Everybody drink… Everybody….
  Everybody drink fruit juice!

• The Other Bomber Girls
• 
• Batman: Under the Red Hood comes out tomorrow.

• My new train set should arrive this week!

• Would I Crush Everything be a good theme song for Cthulhu?

• Namaste.

Wednesday – 21 July 2010
It’s Comics (and maybe Sushi) Wednesday.  ‘Nuff said.

Despite having most of the things I needed for this morning prepped and ready-to-go last night, I managed to walk out the door without my ID badge. I didn’t discover this fact until I was in the elevator.

::: facepalm :::

I was able to get into the office, thanks to a coworker. And, I acquired my badge thanks to the world’s most awesome wife ever dropping it off on her way to work.

Last night, SaraRules and I went to The Days of ’47 Rodeo. (It’s a Utah thing.) Let me break it down for you:

• Days of ’47
• Rodeo

Put the two together and you get: The Days of ’47 Rodeo.
SaraRules is a rodeo fan and has been for some years.
Until last night, I had only seen bits and pieces of rodeos on television.
We went. And I have pictures to prove it.

Tonight, we are going to MacCool’s Public House for Guinness Dinner, featuring dishes made with Guinness.

Workout
Tuesday’s step count: 3,900

Stray Toasters

• Sometimes, I have odd dreams. Not in the “fantastic flights of fancy” sense; they are often more rooted in the “Where in the Nine Hells did that come from?!” sense. Last night’s sleep included at least one of those dreams.
• Afflicted: 11 Abandoned American Hospitals and Asylums “Open” for Exploration
• Orioles outlast Rays 11-10 to win wild 13-inning marathon
• By way of Meliko:



• 14 Things You Didn’t Know About Star Trek
  (I actually knew 6 of the 14 things.  I blame my stepmother.)
• I’m not a Guitar Hero player. I think that I’ve covered this fact before. That being said, I discovered something yesterday that has the greatest potential to change that for me: Rush on Bringing “2112” to ‘Guitar Hero’
  • And in a nominally related note: Rush’s Return to the Limelight
• Blacks Face Bone Marrow Donor Shortage
• 
• Many States Adopt National Standards for Their Schools
• From Comic Book Resources: “Take On Me” – The Greatest Music Video Ever

Namaste.

Friday – 16 July 2010
It’s (almost) the weekeeeeeend, baby! While this hasn’t been “Longest. Week. Ever,” it has been a long week. I’m pretty sure that it has something to do with last week being a three-day work week… but that’s just a hunch.

Last night, Melissa – our friend who did the 5K with us last weekend – came over and she, SaraRules and I watched Shutter Island. (M had never seen it.) I caught a few very subtle things throughout the movie that I missed the first… two times I saw it. And it was just as solid a film this time as the other times I’ve seen it.

I woke up this morning with snippets of this running through my head. I blame it on the cartoon/kids’ show theme war that I had with Kris a couple of days ago. And, speaking of music, today’s musical selections are:

Utah Saints – Something Good ’08

George Michael – Flawless (Go to the City)

After work this afternoon (Hellooooooo, half-day!), I’ll be running either a demo or a mini-tournament for Dr. Volt’s at the Gaming and Electronics Expo (GEEX) at the South Towne Expo Center.  The demo/tourney should start about 4:00 PM.  If you’re free and in the area, come down and check it out.

Workout
Thursday’s step count: 2,054

Stray Toasters

• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: 3.6-magnitude earthquake strikes Maryland
• Matisse at MoMA: Carving with Color
• For SaraRules: Rube Goldberg rat-run sends a neutral balloon through dozens of Dyson bladeless fans
• By way of Rachel: Sixteen Things That Took Me 50 Years to Learn
• 16 demented Green Lantern storylines that we’re sure won’t be in the movie
  #3: To be honest, I’d love it if they worked this into the movie somewhere.
  #13: This could be worked in, too.
  #16: That was Kyle.  There’d have to be another movie or two to get him into the story, let alone see him as Green Lantern.
• Ship junked 200 years ago uncovered at Ground Zero
• 
• has just become another Pin-up Girl Espresso convert.
• Tragedy and Comedy, starring Pac-Man
• 7 Characters That Screwed People Like Lebron James Did Cleveland
• Ferris Club: Fight Club meets Ferris Bueller
• God Hates Nerds

Namaste.

Tuesday – 13 July 2010
Today is apparently “Embrace Your Geekness” Day.
I’d never heard of it before this morning. *shrug*

Last night, SaraRules and I had dinner at Epic Casual Dining, in Midvale. We had talked about going there a few times, but had never managed to actually go. It bills itself as “One of the Salt Lake Valley’s finest restaurants.” I think this might be a bit of an overstatement. That’s not to say that the food wasn’t good – it was – but, I can think of a few “finer” restaurants off the top of my head. Would I eat there again, yes. Would it necessarily be at the top of my list the next time I’m looking for someplace to dine out? No… it would be somewhere in the middle to lower-middle.

After dinner, and a quick stop to say “Hi” to Kate and Perry, we went to Quilts, Etc., so that SaraRules could pick up a pattern block. I am Ivory Soap-sure that the place is a tesseract, because there is no way that the store could be as large as it is inside without employing extradimensional space. No. Way.

After that, we made our way up to the Toys ‘R’ Us in Murray. Why? Well…

1. …because it’s Toys ‘R’ Us.  (Duh.)
2. …because Kate mentioned that they had a different LEGO figure in the store than the one in Sugar House:

Captain Rex
(Imperial Clone Trooper, from Star Wars)

We wandered around the store for a few more minutes, looking at other things, too. SaraRules found this gem:

That’s right: Miss Astronaut Barbie (1965).

After our excursion, we headed home. We wrapped up the evening watching the most awesome thing that we could find on Netflix’ Instant Queue, Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus.

That’s right. A movie so awesomely bad that we were compelled to watch it.

The power of Mega Shark compels you!
The power of Mega Shark compels you!

The movie featured:

• Former teen pop star, Debbie Deborah Gibson, as Emma, an oceanographer who first encounters the prehistoric creatures,
• Lorenzo Lamas (best known for his roles on Falcon Crest and Renegade) as the ham-fistedly over-acted government agent-in-charge of overseeing the creatures’ destruction,
• Vic Chao, as Seiji, the Japanese scientist seeking answers about the giant monster that appeared on his nation’s shores and
• Sean Lawlor as Lamar, Emma’s former professor and a former submariner who got drummed out of the Navy because he believed that “every sperm (whale) is sacred” and ran his sub aground rather than sail through the pod.  (Okay, okay… it was actually dolphins, but I couldn’t have made the joke without the whales.)  Added bonus: Mr. Lawlor’s was, hands-down, the worst Irish accent I’ve ever heard… from someone born and raised in Ireland! Genius!

So, what do you get in this movie?  A giant, prehistoric shark and a giant, prehistoric octopus terrorizing the northern Asian and North American Pacific Rim.  (Duh.) You also get bad acting and cheesy special effects. And, at no extra charge, they even throw in a contrived love scene… which, of course, leads to Emma having an apostrophe epiphany as to how to lure the creatures to their doom(s).

I will also admit that I wanted to see this movie because of this one scene:

…the physics of which was explained in this infographic.

Despite all of this, the movie managed to be (hilariously) entertaining, although we should have found a way to turn it into a drinking game or MST3K-ed it. Or both.

This almost – ALMOST – makes me want to see Mega Python vs. Gatoroid, just to see the new battle of the 80’s teen pop music queens: Debbie Gibson vs. Tiffany.  There’s bound to be some comedy/horror in there somewhere…

Workout
Yesterday’s step count: 3,140

Stray Toasters

• George Steinbrenner, Yankees’ Owner, Dies at 80
• What’s the carbon footprint of …a banana?
• Streamlined Train Wonders of the Art Deco Era
• 
• On Testing, Consumer Reports Retracts iPhone 4 Recommendation
• What Caffeine Actually Does to Your Brain

Namaste.

Wednesday – 07 July 2010
Midweek.
Comics and Sushi Wednesday.

Last night, Chris came over and we finished HALO 3: ODST. It was a good game. It was a nice addition to the HALO universe, with similar yet “just different enough” gameplay to keep it interesting and exciting. We were quite happy with having completed the game… until we looked at the achievements that we had – and hadn’t – unlocked.

That’s when we noticed it: We had finished the game…

…but we had apparently done it on the “Easy” setting.

::: grblsnrkx :::

We satisfied ourselves with the knowledge that we could go back and replay the game at a harder skill setting. Oh, well.

Workout
Yesterday’s step count: 6,184

Stray Toasters

• When measuring where to hang a large mirror, make sure to take into account the additional space you want between the top of the mantle and the bottom of the mirror before setting the toggle bolts.
• For a New Generation, an Elusive American Dream
• Yakko’s World
• The original Predator, retold as a rap
• While I realize that it wasn’t a good movie (yet, I somehow managed to enjoy it…), I found this article on Gizmodo quite astute in its observations and assessments: What The Last Airbender TV series has that the movie doesn’t
• Apple Blocks App Developer
• w00t! sends Associated Press bill for quoting its blog
• 
• Jersey Swaps, a Ritual With a Story
• This Is How Lockheed-Martin Paints F35 Fighter Jets
• As Rome Modernizes, Its Past Quietly Crumbles
• 
• CIA offers its history lessons in film

Namaste

Wednesday – 23 June 2010
It’s Comics and Sushi Wednesday.
It’s also Day Three of “Missa K. Week”

Happy Belated “Third Time’s the Charm” Birthday!

Seen here in her role as a rookie Green Lantern, saving a small dog-child
(or possibly Muffit, from Battlestar Galactica) from untold danger…

Last night, I got together with Chris, Jeremiah and Michael to play… dun dun dunnnn… HeroClix. We paired off into two teams: Chris and me (running S.H.I.E.L.D. and Checkmate teams) against Jeremiah and Michael. running Green Lanterns, along with Dr. Doom and Apocalypse. We decided to go with 500-point teams (per player) and the Modern Age rules; the game ran from… 8:30 or 9:00 until a little after 11:00. In the end, Chris and I won — my team took a beating, some of Chris’ figures took a few clicks of damage.

This morning, I woke up with the comforting thought that the work week was almost over in my head. This made me smile. Shortly after getting out of the shower, I had an apostrophe epiphany: Today was Wednesday, not Thursday. Coming to that realization was “a little bit” of a downer.

Stray Toasters

• We just watched the last few minutes of the United States – Algeria World Cup match. [SPOILER DELETED]
• Awe != Aw
• A tip of the hat to MarknTyme for pointing this out: Barnes & Noble has greatly discounted graphic novels on sale
• Nurse being kissed in iconic wartime picture dies, aged 91
• DC Comics Launches Digital Publishing
• 
• The Best of io9’s Concept Art Week
• Ragdoll Cannon
  (Disclaimer: I cannot be held responsible for any time you lose at work playing this game.)
• Packing Tips from a Tetris Master
• More details about Shane Carruth’s next mind-bending film

Namaste.

Tuesday – 15 June 2010
The middle of the month is upon us.
Beware the Ides of June?
Hm. Doesn’t have the same ring as “…of March.”
Oh, well.

Today is also my friend, Frankie’s, birthday:

The post-work part of yesterday was… “interesting,” to say the least. It went a little something like this:

• On the way to do some shopping, SaraRules’ car decided to break down. On I-215. We managed to get it to her parents’ house without too much trouble.
• Around 21:00, I got a call from my manager: One of the cooling units in our server room had decided to try its hand at being an irrigation unit and was leaking water into the server room… and the ceiling of the floor below us. I headed into work with my father-in-law’s ShopVac in tow.
  ::: cue Jonathan Coulton’s Shop Vac :::

As you can see, it wasn’t the quiet, relaxing night that I had been expecting. But, it did inspire my selection for this morning’s musical selection:

Madonna feat. Justin Timberlake & Timbaland – 4 Minutes to Save the World

Workout
Yesterday’s step count: 4,993

Stray Toasters

• A couple of features that Microsoft announced for the 360 at yesterday’s E3 session sound intriguing; I’m especially curious about the streaming of ESPN content.
• World Cup 2010 Instant Replay in LEGO
• 
• Excluding The Pie and/or Wasatch Pizza, who makes the best pizza in the SLC metro area?
• Read This Before You Volunteer to Clean Up the BP Oil Disaster
• The Seventeen Magazine Project
• 
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: This Is the Pianist’s Equivalent of the Laptop Bed-Table, Right?
• Awaiting the Genome Payoff
• AT&T Breach May Be Worse Than Initially Thought

He gets right on to
The friction of the day

Namaste.

Wednesday – 09 June 2010
Mid-week is upon us.
That means that it’s Comics and Sushi Wednesday, as well.

SaraRules flew out to L.A. last night. For the next five four days, I’m a bachelor. (Hopefully, I won’t destroy the house or turn it into an unrecognizable mess.) After dropping her off, I stopped in to say “Hi” to Perry, Kate and the kids. And, despite being near Hobby Lobby, I refrained from going in. But, I did go to the Lowe’s next door. I figured that I needed paint and (in theory) they had the color I was looking for.

Theory: 1
Practical Application: 0

I couldn’t find the paint card for Swiss Coffee… which apparently meant that I was S.O.L. for getting paint — the paint mixing system could identify the color, but couldn’t “reverse engineer” it without the barcode from the back of the paint card. FAIL. So, I wound up driving to another Lowe’s. I had to hunt for the color card, but they had it. And, a few minutes later, I was on the way out the door with two gallons o’ paint.

Workout
Yesterday’s step count: 4051

Stray Toasters

• The Blackest Night HeroClix Starter Set (FINALLY) gets released today.
• Our new living room set arrived yesterday; it goes quite well with the color we chose for the room.
• Packing tape spiderweb
  • More information about the installation can be found here; click “Enter” and look under “Projects.”
• Sculptures made out of Rolodex cards
• 
• Play honors life of early African-American Latter-Day Saint, courtesy of
• Polish inmates help restore Jewish legacy
• Here’s a little something to get your Wednesday moving…

• Border Agent Shoots, Kills Mexican Boy at Bridge
• Top Gear Season 15 Returns June 27th
• Robert Schumann: A Romantic Hero
• Digitizing the past and present at the Library of Congress

Namaste.

Monday – 31 May 2010
Today is Memorial Day.

Please remember that today is not about sales or barbecues; take some time to remember those who have fallen in the line of duty to protect the freedoms that we hold dear.

This weekend has been good. I didn’t make it to Dr. Volt’s on Saturday, but I did fire up City of Heroes and spend some time in Paragon City. I should do that more often. We then headed to Sugar House to try a New York Style pizzeria called Este. Holy cow! Good stuff! Highly recommended. The evening’s symphony was quite nice. Before the performance, I attended a short lecture, given by guest conductor Carlo Rizzi. The Mozart was good, but I found that I enjoyed the Mahler piece, Symphony No. 1 in D Major (“Titan”), more.

After the symphony, we came home and watched Surveillance, a movie that I had requested from Netflix. We both disliked the movie. On many levels.

If you have a chance to see this movie or do just about anything else, go with Option B. We took the bullet for you on this one.

Sunday started off with a stroll to Pin-up Girl Espresso. After that, SaraRules and I spent a couple of hours installing a chair rail in the dining room. I must say that it looks pretty good. It will get sanded and painted either today or tomorrow. After that, Chris came over and we played HALO 3: ODST for a few hours. Following the Covenant eradication, I fired up the grill and we cooked chicken and some fresh vegetables. We stopped by to visit the in-laws and wound down the evening with The Road, based on the book of the same name, by Cormac McCarthy. I had literally just finished reading the book before we watched the movie. The adaptation was good, and kept the feel and pacing of the story without feeling like it meandered and/or got lost.

Today, there will be things… and stuff… I’m just not sure exactly “what.” One of the options is to paint my office. I found an off-white (barely off-white, though) color that I like called “Swiss Coffee.” Go figure. Once the painting is done, I finally do things like buy a desk and start unpacking/setting up my office. Amen.

Stray Toasters

• I’m trying to come up with ideas for this Saturday’s HeroClix tournament. So far, nothing has struck me as “awesome.”
• Clickjacking Worm Exploits Facebook “Like” Feature
• I should probably mow the lawn today.
• Celebrating 35 Years of ILM Magic
• 
• In graphics: Supercomputing superpowers
• It’s coming up on arts festival season in the area. I’m looking forward to this year’s events.
• Acupuncture May Trigger Natural Painkiller

Time to find something to do…

Namaste.

Friday – 28 May 2010
It’s my 9/80 day off. Amen.

Not only that, but the day has been nominally productive so far. I woke up a little before SaraRules headed to work. I thought about having a spot of breakfast, but didn’t… for whatever reason. After she left, I did my best impression of a cat and sprawled on the sitting room floor, in a pool of sunlight. It felt good. Next thing I know, I’d lost an hour. (Oh, well… that’s what days off are for.) I got up, did a load of laundry and then did something that I haven’t done in “far too long.”

I went to the gym.

That’s right, I went to the gym. I’ve discovered over the years that I prefer working out with someone, but I’m not completely averse to going alone. I’ve also discovered that not going to the gym for a month or so means that you have to work back up to where you used to be. But… I went to the gym. I worked out. And it was good. Selah. Not only that, but I ran into former coworker, Josh, there; so I have a witness that I was actually there and doing stuff.

Back home for a shower and shave and a bite to eat. In a little bit, SaraRules’ mother is coming over and we’re heading down to the new Hobby Lobby.  (Yeah, I know: It’s a hard-knock life to have to go to Hobby Lobby on your day off…)

Not sure what the rest of the afternoon holds, but there’s Clitorati tonight.

Workout
Yesterday’s step count: 2019 steps.

Today’s workout consisted of:

• Elliptical: 10 minutes, avg. speed ~5.5 MPH
• Sit-ups (incline): 3 sets/20 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps
  • 2 sets @ 185 lbs
  • 1 set @ 135 lbs
• Compound Row: 3 sets/10 reps, 125 lbs
• Curls (dumbbell): 3 sets/10 reps, 20 lbs
• Tricep Press (overhead, dumbbell): 3 sets/10 reps, 40 lbs

The workout was good… and tiring. I think that I might have to back off on some of the weights a bit, until I get back into the swing of things. But, that’s okay. I have nothing but time, air and opportunity.

Stray Toasters

• We finished applying primer to the ceiling in my office last night. Next step: Paint!
• Green Lantern earns animated series
• Videogames train you for lucid dreaming?
• SaraRules and I are planning on getting new phones in the next few weeks, I think. I had been hoping that Apple would undergo a rectal craniotomy and diversify their carriers – I want an iPhone, but don’t want it on AT&T. Since that doesn’t seem to be very likely, I’d like to hear your recommendations on phones and/or cellular service providers.
• No more Joker for Luke Skywalker?
• Body of Evidence: Artist works with silver nanoparticles dispersed in hexane
• 
• ‘Diff’rent Strokes’ actor Gary Coleman dies at 42
  When I was a kid, people said that I used to looked like Gary Coleman and/or Rodney Allen Rippy (bonus points if you remember him from the old Jack in the Box commercials).
• Steampunk War Machine (papercraft)
• Secret Codes You Aren’t Meant to Know
  I can’t speak to the validity of these codes as a whole, but I thought it was interesting.
• 
• Top 10 Miscast Movie Roles
• Sao Paulo unleashes Brazilian creative energy
• May 28, 1959: Inventing a New Language for Business
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Passenger who was locked in an empty plane sues airlines

Bonne’s here… and we’re off!

Namaste.

Wednesday – 26 May 2010
From snow to sun to… drab and overcast… in 48 hours.
Welcome to the Land Behind the Zion Curtain!

But at least it’s (Sushi and) Comics Wednesday.
Comics are guaranteed; sushi, not so much… but we shall see what the day brings.

Getting back into the swing of things yesterday was slow. After work, SaraRules and I met at her folks’ place – they were kind enough to check on the house and get our mail while we were out of town. Next, home for dinner and some post-vacation relaxing. We finished watching Disc 1 of Mad Men, which we had started watching on the plane ride from IAH to SLC.  Good show. Other discs will be added to the Netflix queue, I believe.

I woke up with my internal radio set to “Random Play.” A lot of odd things filtered through, but the most unusual – and by far the most random – thing was the theme from Dr. Shrinker, a show I used to watch when I was a kid. As Dr. Rosenblatt would say, “It’s so bizarre…”

Stray Toasters

• By way of Nyx: How to Get Your Camera Back When You Lose It
• Things to thinks about on the long wait to Fringe Season 3
• Salt Lake County to get its first openly gay councilman?
• Igor Stravinsky, arrested for “tampering” with The Star Spangled Banner, 1940
• I have been amused by some of the offerings on ROFLrazzi:
  • 
  • 
  • 
• 20 Worst Drinks in America 2010
• What anime can teach you about ending a story
• Little Women and Werewolves
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia
• 19 fictional islands you can visit now that LOST is over

Namaste.