Random Access

Monday – 11 April 2011
I just realized that it’s 11/4/11. Palindromic. Other than that, it’s just the start of another glorious week in Paradise.

The weekend seemed short, but I’m sure that’s because I spent part of Saturday in the office and got a lovely 5AM wake-up call from the office yesterday morning. Aside from that, it was a nice weekend. Yesterday, SaraRules! and I had brunch at Ruth’s Diner. As we were eating, we noticed people staring at the ridge across the road from the diner. Then we noticed them taking pictures. It didn’t make sense until we got ready to leave:

The elk was just standing there, taking in all that surrounded him. He was there for at least a good ten to fifteen minutes.

From Ruth’s, we ran a couple of errands before heading home for a bit. Then, it was over to the in-laws’ for Logan’s birthday dinner. Dinner consisted of barbecued chicken, roasted root vegetables, and salad. For dessert, we had a homemade gingerbread cake – some/most people had homemade applesauce for “frosting,” I opted for ice cream.

Last night, I slept moderately well. I woke up a few times, half-expecting to get another call from work and having to go in at O’dark-thirty. As it was, I roused myself about a half-hour early and just decided to make a day of it. Thanks to a bit of prep work last night, I was in the office about an hour earlier than usual, which means I’ll be leaving early, too.

Stray Toasters

• Civil War anniversary events go forward despite lack of funds
• Detroit Symphony Returns to a Giddy Reception
• As much as it pains me to see disheartening things about The Garden of Sweden: IKEA’s U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers
• Say goodbye to 1-year Verizon contracts
• 
• Couric’s Rocky Path to a Likely Parting with CBS
• A Flapper’s Dictionary
• That Noisy Woodpecker Had an Animated Secret
• Sinister Chevrolet Corvette ‘Centennial’ is car noir
  • Texas considers highest speed limit in nation
• 
• Being Bilingual May Boost Your Brain Power
• A New Push to Let H.I.V. Patients Accept Organs That Are Infected
• Woods becomes that Tiger again; not long enough
• 
• Could You Pass Harvard’s Entrance Exam from 1869?

Namaste.

Thursday – 07 April 2011
It’s a new “No Bad News” Thursday in the valley. And this one comes to us complete with grey skies and impending storms. S’okay though, we’re still one day closer to the weekend.

Last night, SaraRules! fixed Pad Thai for dinner. To my understanding, it was her first time making it… and it was good. After dinner, I hit Pin-up Girl Espresso for a cup of game night go-juice and then it was off to Hastur Hobbies to meet up with and the gang for our D&D game. It went well, especially when you consider that we ignored the last item from the following “suggestion” from Shadowrun:

“Watch your back, shoot straight, conserve ammo, and never, ever, cut a deal with a dragon.”

Nevertheless, we walked away with our lives and the item we were searching for… without having to (try and) kill the dragon. Which was good for us.

Back at home, SaraRules! and I watched The Thomas Crown Affair. The original. With Steve McQueen. And Faye Dunaway. It was good. I kept juxtaposing it with the 1999 version (Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo), although they were different movies to some degree. Both were heist movies, but the original featured a bank heist, where the more recent one had an art heist. Both SaraRules! and I agreed that both movies were good and were representative of their respective times, but we appreciated some of the nuances and subtleties of the older movie just a bit more. For example:

• 1968: Faye Dunaway’s Vicki Anderson quietly – and quite effectively – seduces McQueen’s Crown over a game of chess, while investigating him in relation to a recent bank heist
• 1999: Rene Russo’s Catherine Banning shows up at an event at which Brosnan’s Crown is a patron, wearing a sheer (read: “pretty much totally see-through/non-existent”) dress, and rather overtly flings herself at flirts with him during a spicy tango… while investigating his involvement with a robbery at an art gallery

I first saw the 1999 version of the movie about… eight or so years ago; last night was the first time I’ve seen the original. There were similar elements in both movies, but there were enough differences to keep them distinct and fresh. But, one of my favorite similarities – and best surprises – was that the original movie also featured Windmills of Your Mind, which I count as a favorite song (although, I prefer the version by Sting to the Noel Harrison one).

Stray Toasters

• At California Mental Hospitals, Fear Is Part of the Job
• A Fixture of Hollywood’s Past, Now Tarnished by Strife
• Swords and battle-axes pushpins
• A slew of banks, retailers affected by Epsilon email breach
• 
• Spring 2011 Trends Without the Fuss
• The Disney Princesses: If They’d Had Mothers
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Adzookie will pay your mortgage in return for daubing your house with ads
  I suppose that I shouldn’t be so surprised by this, as I’ve heard of the same thing being done with automobiles…
• 
• Woman single-handedly cuts off two countries from Internet
• Police Lesson: Social Network Tools Have 2 Edges
• NASA Telescopes Join Forces to Observe Unprecedented Explosion
• 
• By way of Corey (and Tosh.0): Big Black Dudes Are So Polite…
• Maine ranked ‘most peaceful state’; Louisiana the least
• Tesla fires back at boss of BBC’s ‘Top Gear’
• From the “Well… DUH!” file: IKEA Is Designed Like a Maze So You’ll Buy More Stuff.

And for my next amazing feat: Three meetings in a row!

Namaste.

Monday – 14 March 2011
It’s Pi Day.

It’s also ‘s birthday.

This weekend was good… even with losing an hour on Saturday night/Sunday morning.

Saturday, SaraRules! and I had brunch with Logan and Swiz, before the four of us went off to see Utah Symphony’s performance of Peter and the Wolf, accompanied by Ballet West II. In the afternoon, I headed up to Clearfield and Ogden to check out a couple of train shops. Saturday night, SaraRules! and I attended Utah Opera’s opening night performance of Mark Adamo’s Little Women. I’m not typically a fan of modern classical music, but this is the second of Mr. Adamo’s works that I’ve heard this season… and I’ve enjoyed both of them.

Sunday, we took my car in to get the brakes worked on and then drove down to The Garden of Sweden. Amen. Next, I headed to West Valley Hobbies for a quick fix before we, along with the in-laws, headed to the Maverik Center for a Utah Grizzlies game. The team tried – hard – to give the game away, but managed to pull victory from the jaws of defeat mediocrity and send the Stockton Thunder home with a loss. The rest of the evening was pretty quiet and low-key.

Today, it’s more grey than I’d have expected after yesterday’s stunningly beautiful day. Oh, well.

Stray Toasters

• Yeah, it’s a Monday… and there are already IT issues. *sigh*
  On the “plus” side: loonybin88 is in town for a couple of days.
• Radioactive Releases in Japan Could Last Months, Experts Say
  • Death Toll Estimate in Japan Soars as Relief Efforts Intensify
• List of Common Misconceptions, by way of
• Over the past week, I’ve run into two (2) people from an old IRC channel, whom I haven’t seen in close to ten years and a former coworker whom I haven’t seen in two or three years. All of the encounters were good.
• Papercraft zombie-a-month calendar
• How Often Do You Change Your Sheets?
• 
• Amazon Pressured on Sales Tax
• The Boilermakers are a #3 Seed.
• Tommy Z Scores First Round TKO
  Could Mr. Ochocinco be next…?
• 5 Steps to a Permanently Cleaner Office
• 
• Jeremy Clarkson gets into fight with iPhone-wielding fan
• The best way to leave your assets to your heirs

Namaste.

Monday – 13 December 2010
Today kicks off my last week of work before Christmas vacation. Or, I guess another way of looking at it is: My last week of work for the year. I like the sound of that a little better.

Yesterday was a good and somewhat busy day. SaraRules! and I had breakfast with her parents and at Paradise Bakery… where they ran out of eggs. Let’s allow that to settle in: A bakery with no eggs. Genius! After that, and I went gallivanting about the valley:

• IKEA
• Ski ‘n’ See
• West Valley Hobbies

I made a quick stop at Best Buy, before heading home. At home, I decided tear out  the reversing loop on one side of may model railroad and to try and figure out a way to change the rail yard a little.

After that, we headed up to SaraRules!’s parents’ place for dinner. Sanaz’ parents and sister, as well as were also there. We had lamb, imam bayildi, rice pilaf, sliced vegetables, pita and homemade hummus. It was quite a feast. We rounded out the meal with baklava for dessert.

All-in-all, it was a good day.

Stray Toasters

• I don’t know who set Utah’s thermostat to “warm,” but 60F and sunny – in the middle of December – ain’t so bad, in my book.  I actually rode around with the sunroof open for a bit yesterday.
  • And, speaking of roofs: Gizmodo (and everyone else) has footage of the Metrodome roof collapse
• Los Angeles Hopes to Lose Its Rank for Homelessness
  • The Almost Forgotten: Los Angeles’ Homeless
• By way of MarknTyme: “Weird Al” Yankovic – Ode to a Superhero
• Cake Wrecks
• Corvette ZR1, Mustang Boss 302 come with driving school
  • The course that Ford sends drivers to sounds like the performance driving package that SaraRules! got for my birthday present this year.
• Now playing in a sky near you: Winter meteor shower
• It’s All About Me: But Is Narcissism a Disorder?
• 
• After failing TSA screening, flier in wheelchair (and her underwear) leaves Oklahoma
• Sincerest Form of Flattery: Some Joke!
• From the “Overkill” file: It Costs $82,000 to Light the One Million Christmas Lights at This House

Namaste.

Sunday – 12 December 2010
So far, it’s been a good day.  Of course, I just woke up… so, there hasn’t been a lot going on. But, as the commercial says: “The best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup waking up,” so I seem to be batting 1.000 so far.

Yesterday was a shopping day. We got a fair portion of Christmas shopping done for members of the family. We also went to Abravanel Hall to see Holiday Celibration with Jerry .

The concert featured Angela Theis and Kate Tombaugh (the two of the Resident Artists from Utah Opera), Karen Brookens (Weber State University Asst. Professor of Music), Brent Reilly Turner (also from Utah Opera), the West Jordan High School Concert Choir and their choral director, Kelly DeHaan. It was a fun concert, with a nice mix of sacred and secular music; among the notable selections:

• Angela, Kate and Karen performed a lovely three-part lead to O Come, All Ye Faithful, backed by the choir;
• The ladies also sang Handel’s Come Unto Him, from Messiah and a swing version of Up on the Housetop, in the manner of the Andrews Sisters;
• Brent performed a sung/spoken rendition of The Polar Express, backed by the choir; and
• The soloists performed The Twelve Days After Christmas, which was… different and amusing.

It was a nice way to spend the evening.

Stray Toasters

• Thanks to , angstd and MarknTyme for making sure that I saw the LEGO Antikythera.
• I think I’m in a mood for some Bobby Darin…
• Hilary Clinton: Empower Girls and Women
• Scandal and a Schism Rattle Atlanta’s Schools
• Bobby Darin – Artificial Flowers
• Technology Outpaces Privacy (Yet Again)
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Killer Groupie Samantha Spiegel
• Just Breathe: Body Has a Built-in Stress Reliever
• Kids’ book/science fiction mash-ups
• Bobby Darin – Beyond the Sea
• After watching a few of bravosixxx’ videos, I’m trying to find a way to change up my rail yard. Unfortunately, it appears as though I would need to extend the length of that side of the layout by a couple of feet.
• Buried in Peru’s Desert, Fossils Draw Smugglers
  (I’m looking at you, Dr. Jones. The Hovitos are still a little ticked about that whole golden idol incident.)
• Heavy snow causes Metrodome roof to collapse in Minnesota
• Bobby Darin – Mack the Knife

just suggested making a trek to The Garden of Sweden. And with that, it’s time to start getting ready to face day.

Namaste.

Thursday – 25 November 2010
It’s Thanksgiving Day here in the States.

Yesterday wound up being relatively low-key. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. In the afternoon, I made stops at Dr. Volt’s and The Train Shoppe. On the trip between the two stores, I saw an accident happen, about 25 yards ahead of me: I was heading north along 7th East when a southbound car decided to turn left… in front of the car that I was behind. I don’t know exactly “how” it happened, but the result was that the south-to-eastbound car t-boned the northbound car. The northbound car spun 180 degrees and wound up sitting at the northeast corner; the south-to-eastbound car just kind of… stopped in the middle of the intersection. (Thirty minutes later, as I was heading home, both cars and drivers were still sitting at the intersection, waiting on the police, though the offender had moved her car to the southeast corner.)

After I got home, SaraRules! and I headed to The Garden of Sweden. We needed some additional chairs, as we’re having the SaraRules!’ family over for dinner today. We opted to have dinner out, stopping at Outback Steakhouse. Hello, Prime Rib… When we returned to the house, I started making a sweet potato pie for (one of) tonight’s desserts.

I woke up early this morning and discovered something that no home owner ever wants to find: Our pipes had frozen. It’s been about… 20 years… since I’ve dealt with that – and the last time, the pipes just burst – so my first reaction was more “inaction,” while trying to suss out what to do. (Hey, it was 6:15 AM. My brain was still on “Standby.”)  Fortunately, I married someone who not only has a high INT, but a pretty high WIS, too. She called the water department, to make sure that there wasn’t a problem with the main. (There wasn’t.) Next step: Heating the pipes. Carefully. SaraRules! started with a hair dryer at the main. A little while later, I remembered that we have a pipe in the ceiling of the family room that could have been part of the problem. Sure enough, that seemed like it might have been the culprit (or at least a co-conspirator).  After a little heat application, we had running water again. Amen. This gave us yet another thing for we could not only be thankful, but also it also offers us a great “Remember that first Thanksgiving in the house…?” story.)

Stray Toasters

• Yesterday’s excursion to The Train Shoppe yielded more track for my layout; I now have a couple of sidings in the rail yard.
• These Gaming Deals Are Insane!
• Hello Kitty Character Mash-Ups Look Silent But Violent
• Palin’s reckless views on obesity
• 
• Top Gun was on AMC yesterday; it had been a long time since I’d watched it.
• Forged Disney art on eBay
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Old Lady Trapped in Bathroom for 3 Weeks Irritated Neighbors by Banging on Pipes

And with that… it’s about time to start on the Cornish Hens.

Namaste.

Monday – 22 November 2010
It’s Monday.
At least it’s a short work week.

It isn’t raining (or snowing… yet), although there are some not-quite-ominous-looking clouds coming over the Oquirrh Mountains.  We’ll have to see what they bring.

Yesterday was a good end to a good weekend:

• SaraRules! and I made a pilgrimage to The Garden of Sweden.
• The Ravens won.
• I beat SaraRules! at Trivial Pursuit… twice!
• And, we watched The Walking Dead and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Like I said: Sunday full of good things.

Instant Replay: Football

Baltimore Ravens at Carolina Panthers
37 – 13
The Ravens – who had never beaten the Panthers in regular season play – travled to Bank of America Stadium to take on the ‘Cats… …and won! The game wasn’t televised locally, so I had to rely on NFL.com’s Game Center and Sprint’s NFL Live app, both of which did a great job of keeping me apprised of the Ravens’ status. Not only did the Ravens win, but they also achieved a number of milestones along the way: Wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh recorded his 600th career reception on his 56-yard touchdown reception. WR Derrick Mason made his 900th career reception with a 10-yard reception in the third quarter. He ranks 13th on the NFL’s all-time list. Safety Ed Reed notched his 50th career interception in the fourth quarter. With his fourth-quarter interception, LB Ray Lewis now has 30 in his career. He’s just the eighth linebacker to reach that mark. It was Lewis’ first touchdown since 2003. With his first-quarter touchdown pass, quarterback Joe Flacco is tied with Vinny Testaverde for most touchdown passes in Ravens franchise history (51). Yeah. Good game. Hopefully, NFL Network will rebroadcast it this week, so I can catch the action.

Coach Fox, the Ravens just handed your team a loss for the first time ever in regular season play… in your own house!  How do you feel about that?

Yeah… I understand.

.

Oakland Raiders at Pittsburgh Steelers
3 – 35
After three impressive wins, the Raiders rolled into Heinz Field to take on the boys from Steeltown. The Steelers steamrolled the Raiders in this matchup; but, in true Raiders smash-mouth football style, not with out a fight… or, in this case, a punch: Raiders DE Richard Seymour punched Ben Roethlisberger.  The punch got Seymour ejected, but it also put Roethlisberger on the ground. Sorry, SaraRules! and .

Ref: Coach Tomlin, someone just clocked your QB and dropped him.

Coach Tomlin: Oh, no he didn’t…!
Ref: Yes, Coach.  Yes, he did.

.

Buffalo Bills at Cincinnati Bengals
49 – 31
The Bengals dropped this one to the Bills. Sorry, and .

Stray Toasters

• My quads and glutes are still sore from Saturday’s workout.  *sigh* I really do need to get to the gym more often.
• Administration to Seek Balance in Airport Screening
• 
• Two Treatments for Retina Diseases Make Progress
• Billie Holiday: Emotional Power Through Song
• I didn’t really play with the model railroad this weekend.  I may have to rectify that this evening…
• 
• Courts videoconference defendants to save money
• Don’t believe the devil
  I don’t believe his bunk
  But the truth is not the same
  Without the lies he made up Don’t believe in excess
  Success is to give
  Don’t believe in riches
  But you should see where I live
  I…I believe in love
• Even Before Friday, Retail Deals Will Go Online
• A Mystery: Why Can’t We Walk Straight?

And, I think that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Sunday – 21 November 2010
I like nice, quiet Sunday mornings.

Today was one of those.

I think that a large part of “why” it was so quiet was the sound-dampening effects of the EIGHT INCHES OF SNOW that we received overnight. That’s right… eight inches of snow. I went out and shoveled the driveway… and the sidewalk… and part of the neighbors’ driveway (one of our neighbors is wheelchair-bound, so I figured I could at least make it easy/easier to get him into/out of the car and for that car to get into/out of the driveway).  I also discovered the “joy” of owning a home on a corner lot: You get to shovel two lengths of sidewalk! YAY!!! The whole thing took about forty-five minutes. That’s not so bad, in itself; I’m just thinking about what it will be like on those mornings when I get to wake up early to shovel before going to work… ugh.

Yesterday was a good day. It started off with me judging a HeroClix tournament at Dr. Volt’s Comic Connection. As there were nine players, I got to play the bye rounds. I put together a rather fun team:

• Deathstroke

  (gallery cr-figure-028)

• Ghost Widow

  (gallery cv-figure-002)

• Green Lantern

  (gallery cr-figure-023)

• Nightwing

  (gallery cr-figure-029)

• Red Arrow

  (gallery cr-figure-018)

• Valkyrie

  (gallery th-figure-055)

• Winter Soldier

  (gallery av-figure-050)

• Wonder Woman

  (gallery aa-figure-023)

After the game, I stopped in at Hammond Toys to see if they had anything that I couldn’t live without for my model railroad.  They didn’t. Then it was back home.  After dinner (and a nap for me), SaraRules! and I headed to the gym. She had a workout plan, so I just shadowed her. The routine consisted of:

• Deadlifts (barbell): 2 sets/15 reps, 50 lbs
• Lat pulldowns: 3 sets/10 reps, 100 lbs
• Shoulder Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 35 lbs
• Lunges (10 lbs/hand): 2 sets, 15 reps/leg
• Crunches: 2 sets/15 reps

It was nice to (finally) get back into the gym.  I really need to go more often.

When we got back home, we played a game of Trivial Pursuit: Best of Genus Edition. We started off fairly well matched, but then SaraRules! pulled ahead, because I got a string of History questions that kicked my ass. (Apparently, I didn’t pay quite enough attention in Paul Ganzenmuller’s class in 10th Grade.)

There’s football on TV — I’m watching the Raiders-Steelers game, while tracking the Ravens-Panthers game on NFL.com.

Next up: A trip to The Garden of Sweden.  Amen.

Namaste.

Friday – 10 September 2010
Good morning, Baltimore… um… “Salt Lake City!”

It’s my 9/80 “on” Friday.

Today is also the first day of Eid.
And… it is also Purple Friday.

Here’s a little DJ Kool to get your day moving (thanks to my man, Beckley, for the idea):

Last night marked the opening of the 2010 NFL Season. *genuflect*
The opening game featured the Minnesota Vikings taking on the New Orleans Saints:

Minnesota Vikings at New Orleans Saints
9 – 14
This was a game for which I had great expectations… …and was ultimately let down. It wasn’t the game I expected, nor was it a really memorable game. And that’s kind of sad, given that this game was, effectively, a rematch of last season’s NFC title game. The Saints, after a great opening drive, sputtered their way through the next couple of quarters, but managed to get more things “right” than the Vikings. Drew Brees threw for over 230 yards, but there wasn’t really much of a run game until Pierre Thomas found some holes in the defense in the second quarter. Speaking of the Vikings, they just couldn’t seem to pull it together. The offense’s timing was off. WAY off in some cases. QB Brett Favre couldn’t synch up with his receivers in the way you’d expect. The running game, while not completely stopped, was definitely stunted. This wasn’t the team that I expected to see taking the field. And the refs didn’t seem to help the Vikings’ cause at all; Minnesota couldn’t buy a good call. My boss messaged me after the game: How did you like the four-hour long NFL tribute to the Saints? Refs and all. And I can’t really say that his assessment was off. It will be interesting to see how both teams fare as the season progresses.

Stray Toasters

• By way of SaraRules: IKEA UK Releases 100 Cats Inside Wembley Store
  (This should possibly be added to the “Whisker Tango Foxtrot…?!” file.)
• New questions on state of U.S.-Muslim relations
• The Council for Better Driving finds this interesting: Child-in-the-road illusion to deter speeding
• I know I’m late to the party with this one, but… this video is the epitome of schadenfreude:

• Video Game Honor Student Bumper Stickers
• Judges Rule That Military Policy Violates Rights of Gays
• Wil Wheaton, Jonathan Coulton comedy interviews at PAX

Namaste.

Wednesday – 14 July 2010
It’s Comics (and possibly Sushi) Wednesday.

Today is also Bastille Day.
(Rush fans, click here.)

Last night, SaraRules’ mom came over and joined us for dinner. SaraRules fixed a nice vegetarian curry over rice. We talked about books and movies (Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus!) as we ate.  After dinner, SaraRules and I headed to The Garden of Sweden — I needed to pick up more picture frames. On the way home, we saw Jim from Pin-up Girl, as he was closing up shop, so we stopped and chatted for a few minutes.

We also… went to the gym! I was on the fence about going, but I knew that it would be good for me. Last night’s routine included:

• Elliptical: 5 minutes/5 MPH (avg.)
• Kickbacks: 3 sets/10 reps
  • 1 set @ 50 lbs
  • 2 sets @ 70 lbs
• Leg Extensions: 3 sets/10 reps, 70 lbs
• Leg Curls: 3 sets/10 reps, 70 lbs
• Compound Row: 3 sets/10 reps, 125 lbs
• Reverse Fly: 3 sets/10 reps, 70 lbs
• Reverse Punches (dumbbell): 2 sets/20 reps, 10 lbs
• Side Bends: 3 sets/10 reps, 20 lbs
• Tricep Extensions (rope): 3 sets/15 reps, 70 lbs
• Core (plank): 3 sets/30 seconds

Yesterday’s step count: 5,940 steps

Stray Toasters

• SaraRules posed an interesting question last night: Given the problem that the iPhone 4 has had with lost calls/losing bars (due to the location of its antenna), how likely is it that the problems Steve Jobs had making/maintaining a call during the iPhone 4’s rollout were due to his hand/finger placement on the phone?
• Bus carrying LDS youth to pioneer trek destroyed by fire
  My former (before a recent re-org) boss’ kids were on that bus; his wife was in a car that was trailing behind.  Everyone got off the bus safely, but no equipment was saved.
• Improv Everywhere: Star Wars Subway Car
• By way of : Air Conditioning Is Terrible for the Earth — Here’s How to Live Without It
• After inputting yesterday’s post into this quiz/test/whatchamacallit, I got this result:

  

  I write like
  Chuck Palahniuk

  I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

• By way of Geekshow Podcast: 50 My Little Pony Mods for Geeks
• NAACP, Tea Party Volley Over Racist Claims
• From CNet.com: Testing Data Speeds in New York
• 
• By way of SaraRules and the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Vaseline launches skin-whitening Facebook app in India
• WordBook appears to like Four-Color Coverage again. “Beware my power… ” indeed.
• Bubble Series par Melvin Sokolsky pour Harper’s magazine 1963

Namaste.

Tuesday – 06 July 2010
The new (and short!) work week begins. I hope that everyone had a safe and enjoyable long holiday weekend.

I was informed, this morning, that I completely missed two coworkers’ birthdays… despite wishing a third coworker a “Happy Birthday” on the same day. So, with that in mind:

Friday was very quiet around the office… although, there were more people in the office than I had expected. One of the day’s highlights was getting to watch the Uruguay vs. Ghana World Cup soccer match. I had hoped that Ghana would be able to pull off a win, but it wasn’t meant to be. After work, I hung out with Jim at Pin-up Girl Espresso, while waiting for SaraRules to get home from work. Then, it was off to Clitorati.

Saturday, Chris and I got together for breakfast (Millcreek Cafe and Eggworks) before heading to Dr. Volt’s for the weekend’s tournament, “Patriotic Fight for Freedom:”

We had nine players, so it was a good turn out for a holiday weekend. As there were an odd number of players, I got to play – I put together a team comprised of:

• Uncle Sam
• Wonder Woman
• Captain America
• Winter Soldier
• Harvey Dent LE and
• The Question

After the tourney, SaraRules and I visited her folks… and her aunt and uncle, who are in town for the week.

Sunday was a nice sleep-in day. Then we headed to The Garden of Sweden, for brunch and to pick up a few things… unfortunately, they had changed their hours (again), so we wound up visiting the Ashley Furniture,  across the street, while we waited. Into and out of the IKEA. On to more errand-running and then back to the in-laws’ for dinner and birthday cake for SaraRules’ mom.

Monday was a “work around the house” day. We walked up to Pin-up Girl for caffeinated goodness and then came home, where SaraRules fixed breakfast. After that, we got to the business of housekeeping. This also included hanging pictures and making the space look generally “lived in.” Later in the evening, SaraRules suggested that we go for a walk. We went up Big Cottonwood Canyon and walked around Silver Lake. While out, we saw two deer (just hanging out along the road), a moose (!) and SaraRules saw/I heard a beaver jump into the lake, just ahead of us.

Workout
Walking step counts for (most of) the past few days:

• Friday: 7,403
• Saturday: 5,794
• Sunday: —
• Monday: 6,480

Stray Toasters

• There’s a free Utah Symphony concert at Abravanel Hall tomorrow, just call the ticket office and reserve your tickets: 801-533-NOTE (6683). For more information, click here.
• Caramel Mocha Frappe from Pin-up Girl == Win.
• 
• Puttin the Punk Back in Steampunk
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Alligator takes late-night stroll through town
• loonybin88 just put in an appearance in the office. He was here to follow up on a project on which we’ve been working; apparently, I haven’t bolloxed things up. Win!
• I was feeling a bit nostalgic, so I checked out some old posts:
  • http://blog.echopulse.net/?p=401
  • http://blog.echopulse.net/?p=402
  • http://blog.echopulse.net/?p=403
  • http://blog.echopulse.net/?p=404

  They made me smile.

• lj user=”chromeangel” posted this, it made me laugh:
  



• Underwater Baskey Weaving: The Real Story
• I still haven’t picked up a copy of Batman: Under the Red Hood.
• Zombies in Wonderland tee shirt
• These changes in temperatures 15F+ are not helping me to shake this congestion.
• This is possibly one of the best business cards I’ve ever seen.

Namaste.

Saturday – 26 June 2010
It’s Technical Day Five of “Missa K. Week.”
(I didn’t post yesterday. Sue me.)

Belated Happy Birthday, Missa!

Thursday evening, SaraRules and I had an honest-to-goodness Date Night. We went to The Gateway and listened to jazz – courtesy of the Curtis Woodbury Quartet – at the water fountain plaza. That was followed by dinner at Thaifoon; I hadn’t eaten there in a few years… at least. The food was quite good. We followed that up with a stroll down the length of the shopping center and back. We also got to see all of the people in line to get a shiny, new iPhone 4. Back at home, I was eager to watch Burn Notice… but discovered that I didn’t have it set to record until the 1:00 AM showing. *BAH* Oh, well.

Friday was a good day off. I started by sleeping in. Next up: Mowing the lawn. That didn’t take too long, and it wasn’t too bad as I got out there before it got too hot. There are, however, some brown patches in the grass.

I finally turned the sprinklers on Wednesday or Thursday, only to discover a couple of things:

1. There are dysfunctional sprinkler heads in the system.
2. The previous owner appears to have hard-wired the system into power… somewhere.

Item 1 is somewhat expected, under the “These things happen…” catch-all.

Item 2, given some of the things we’ve discovered about the house, should have been somewhat expected, too. The reason I think power is hard-wired is that the controller doesn’t seem to turn off the sprinkler heads, so I have to turn the water on and off at the main valve.

After mowing, I came in, showered and changed and went to the farewell lunch for Marci. It was held at Porcupine Pub and Grill. After lunch, I thought I’d head down and say “Hi” to Perry.

Good intention.
Poor execution.

I missed a turn off of Wasatch Boulevard… and wound up in Draper. Not being one to pass up a random pilgrimage to The Garden of Sweden, I went to pay my obeisances. I found what I was looking for, took a few pictures of the items and their prices and then I was off. I drove downtown to say “Hi” to SaraRules. I showed her the items, we agreed on which one we liked and planned to go back later in the weekend to pick it up.

From there, I headed to The Train Shoppe. Randy, one of the employees, had been working on a park scene:

I managed to leave the store without buying anything. Again! I headed home and hung out until SaraRules got home from work. Later in the evening: Clitorati and dinner.

This morning, from the “We do more before 9 AM 10 AM than most people do all day” file, we helped a friend of OnlyAly and move. Then we stopped by ‘s for a minute and then came home for showers and preparations for our next adventure: We’re heading downtown to explore the Utah Arts Festival.

Workout
Thursday’s step count: 7,403 steps
Friday’s step count: 5,794 steps
Today’s count: 3,564 (as of 2:00 PM)

And that’s that.
For now, at least.

Namaste.

Monday – 21 June 2010
Today is the Summer Solstice.

It seems that I have been remiss with something. And I’d like to take a moment to address the issue:

I usually post some sort of greeting to friends and family in here for their birthdays. It appears that I have neglected to include my sister-in-law’s birthday last week.

In fact, she had apparently been expecting to see… some acknowledgement here… but, well… she got bupkis. And was “a little” shocked by it.

Yeah, I know! Well, at least, now I know now. (She mentioned it to SaraRules on Friday and she also mentioned it to my in-laws… who told me yesterday.) This isn’t to say that I forgot her birthday. I didn’t — I was one of the first people to post a birthday greeting on her Facebook page. (Hey, I may be an occasionally forgetful brother-in-law, but I’m not a complete jerk.)  Besides, it’s not a good idea to tick off the family member who knows how to fight with swords and tomahawks, especially when you’re going to be spending a week in the middle of nowhere camping with them soon. Just saying.  It’s just that I… neglected… to say anything about it in my most public forum.

And with that in mind, I hereby declare this week: “Missa K. Week.”  That’s right. All Missa. All week.
(What?! Me?  Overkill?! Never.)

Happy Belated Birthday, M!  🙂
I hope that you had fun playing pirate this weekend!

We now return you to your regularly-scheduled blog entry, already in progress…

Yesterday was good. We did go to The Garden of Sweden. We picked up a couple of lamps and a few other assorted items… and spent more money than we had originally intended. But, they were necessary items. After IKEA, we headed to Home Depot. And, with those two stops, our living room and dining rooms are now finished.

We wrapped up Father’s day with dinner at the in-laws’. And there was bocce. And brownies. And mojitos. Amen.

Workout
Yesterday’s step count: 5,143

Stray Toasters

• I’m going to be a bachelor again, for a few hours tonight. I know that I should do some cleaning/straightening, since there’s a good chance that I’ll be gaming with friends tomorrow night… but I just am not feeling it at this point.
• The Utah Arts Festival kicks off this Thursday.
• Google Should Give Bluetooth-Controlled Robots Away with Every Android Purchase
• From the “Tear the Roof Off the Mother” file: Tornado tears roof from arena in Billings, Montana
• ALT/1977: We Are Not Time Travelers
• Wait… Tyroc‘s back in the Legion?!  And with a better-looking costume (than this), finally?!? Whoa.
• 
• Should restaurants make health inspection grades visible?
  Um… yes. In fact, when I moved to Utah, I was surprised to see that eating establishments didn’t post their inspection grades, as I had been used to seeing them back home.
• Evo + Nesoid emulator + Burger Time = Fun
• Your Next Read

On to it…

Namaste.

Sunday – 20 June 2010
It’s Father’s Day. With that in mind, I’d like to wish a very Happy Father’s Day to the fathers in my family:

Today’s “Human of the Day” award goes out to these guys.

Yesterday was a good day.  It started with a trip to the Downtown Farmer’s Market with SaraRules and the in-laws. They’ve expanded the market a bit, so that it now takes over all of Pioneer Park. Of course, that moved the “fringe” artisans from the area at the south end of the park to the adjacent corners and streets.

Next, I headed up to Dr. Volt’s to run another HeroClix tournament. The format was the “HeroClix Wrestling Federation,” in which players had six figures, up to specific point values, and played them tag-team style against another player’s six-figures — when a figure took damage, the player rolled a six-sided die to see which other figure “tagged in.” It is always a fun format to play, and is pretty well-received by the players. I even got a chance to play — the bye rounds, but still… I got to play.  I went with a Sinestro Corps-themed team:

• Yellow Lantern

  (gallery aa-figure-044)

• Scarecrow

  (gallery bn-figure-003)

• Sinestro

  (gallery cr-figure-055)

• Sinestro Corps Batman

  (gallery aa-figure-100)

• Parallax

  (gallery cd-figure-219)

• Superman Prime

  (gallery aa-figure-060)

After the tourney, SaraRules and I went out for a bite to eat and then headed downtown to check out the 2010 Utah Foster Care Chalk Art Festival.  We arrived too late to see Team Chalkolicous in action, but we still strolled through and took a look at all of the pieces that people did over the course of the event: Pictures here.

Later in the evening, we finally got around to seeing Kick-Ass. It was quite fun and, as I recall, it adapted the source material fairly well… with a couple of changes.

This morning, I woke up and strolled up to Pin-Up Girl Espresso.  Christy fixed me an Iced Caramel Silk, which was quite good. Shortly after I got back home, the in-laws dropped by to chat for a bit while out running errands. Then, breakfast — Blueberry muffins FTW!!!!

Next on the agenda: A trip to The Garden of Sweden and maybe even a home improvement store or two.  Win-Win!

Workout
Yesterday’s step count: 6,517

Stray Toasters

• Top 10 Dads in Science Fiction and Fantasy
  (…and just look at who made Dad #2 on the list.  Boo-yah!)
• Pulling Museum Mile Uptown
• From the “Duh…!” file: BP CEO’s yacht outing infuriates Gulf residents
• Baghdad Nights Glitter, Behind Shatterproof Glass
• Students with Autism Learn How to Succeed at Work
• Reflections in the Facebook Mirror
• Were Botticelli’s Venus and Mars Stoned?

Namaste.

Wednesday – 02 June 2010
Midweek and all’s well.
Today is NOT Comics and Sushi Wednesday, however. There may be sushi, but comics will not arrive in stores until tomorning. Of course, that just means that NBN Thursday will be that much better.

Last night, I spent some time at the local B&N, doing some drawing. I’m not sure how soon it will be done, but I am rather happy with the direction this piece is taking. While at the store, I indulged in a Mocha Frappuchino…

…which may have contributed to my staying up later than planned — I was up until 0100 this morning. Granted, I wound up watching my first Doctor Who episode in more than fifteen years, but still… I hadn’t planned on being up quite so late. Serendipitously, I managed to catch “The Eleventh Hour,” the first episode of the newest Doctor’s incarnation, Matt Smith. It was… fun. My friend Dana has been telling me that I should watch the show for months now. I might just have to add it to the DVR’s queue.

After getting to bed somewhere around 0120 or 0130, I woke up this morning at 0543. *sigh* When I woke up around that time yesterday morning, I told myself that if I was up again that early this morning, I would go to the gym. The decision to actually get out of bed and do something was much harder to make this morning, though. But, I persevered and went to the gym.

Workout

• Elliptical: 5 min, avg speed 5.5 MPH
• Sit-ups (incline): 3 sets/20 reps
• Bench Press (decline): 3 sets/10 reps, 135 lbs
• Compound Row: 3 sets/10 reps, 125 lbs
• Curls (dumbbell, with shoulder press): 3 sets/10 reps, 25 lbs

For the second trip to the gym in a row, I couldn’t get on the fly machine that I like… and I didn’t feel like trying dumbbell/bench flies. Maybe next time…

Yesterday’s step count: 3250 steps.
I already have nearly 2000 steps logged today.

Stray Toasters

• I assembled my new desk/drawing table (except it’s the birch finish) last night. Now, I need to decide where I want it to go…
• Honey-Nut Cheerios.  Win!
• I still covet this… but I really don’t feel like paying what people are asking for them on eBay.
• Bill Nye Reviews Ideas for Solving Gulf Coast Oil Spill
• By way of Nyx: Premakes – The Empire Strikes Back
• LEGO Printer: I Made This!
• The iPad and Dolphins (for real)
• At NYC science fest, physicists ask ‘What if we’re holograms?’
  My opinion: That would be Truly Outrageous.  (Yeah, I went there.  Deal with it.)
• For Ms. Melodywise:  Shingles!

  

• As part of the marketing for Issue 17: Dark Mirror, City of Heroes opened a “Declare Your Loyalty” contest. The winning entries can be viewed here.
• 0543… what was I thinking?!
• LEGO ship in a bottle!

Namaste.