Random Access

Friday – 10 August 2007
Last night, I finished Discs 3 and 4 of Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles. It was a series, based on the movie Starship Troopers, which in turn was based on a book of the same name, by Robert A. Heinlein. The movie was of the “check your brain at the door” type; the book on which it was (loosely) based, however, was brilliant… even more so when you consider when it was written. The series was intended to have a 40-episode run, but due to production issues, ended after only 36 episodes. Like the book, the series follows the members of the Mobile Infantry under the command of Lt. Jean Rasczak/Razak, most importantly: Juan (Johnny) Rico. We follow Rico’s rise from student to enlistee to non-com-to lieutenant over the course of seven campaigns. The series loosely followed the movie, but differed in a few details. All-in-all, I enjoyed the series – and even the late-90s CGI that it employed.

Today has been a decent day. Nothing too bad… other than an IT task for Monkey #2. Really, it’s a no-brainer. And I had to work on a system that used to belong to the Monkey Formerly Known as Monkey #1. (I have since moved the former Monkey #5 into the #1 spot.)

Stray Toasters

• I found a quote from a review of a Star Trek: TNG episode, “Coming of Age,” on Wikipedia that I found interesting:
  

  Worf (to Wesley Crusher): “Only fools have no fear.”

  It made me think of both the Green Lantern Corps and Daredevil. It brought the Corps to mind because, in order to be a ring-bearer, one “…must have the ability to overcome great fear.” I think that Geoff Johns has done a good job of portraying this in the way that rookies are still susceptible to “the yellow impurity,” which was how The Guardians explained away the taint of Parallax, the embodiment of fear, in the Central Power Battery. Once they master their fear, they have no problem in handling things colored yellow – the one thing that a power ring has been unable to deal with according to GL canon… until Green Lantern: Rebirth.

  Daredevil came to mind as he is called “The Man Without Fear.” While Matt Murdock has done a number of foolish and/or foolhardy things, I doubt that he could truly be called a fool.

• Giant LEGO man found in Dutch sea
• Maybe it’s just me, but how difficult is it to wipe the countertop around the sink if you splash inordinate amounts of water on it? If I were to gauge by the amount of water left sitting on the counter over the course of the day in the AF office, it’s apparently a nigh-Herculean task.
• Hot Stormtroopers in love
• The Hardest Bosses of All Time (I didn’t make up the title, I just find it amusing…)
• I was humming IKEA the other day when it occurred to me that there was a flaw in the lyrics:
  

  Ikea: just some oak and some pine and a handful of Norsemen

  Um… there’s a reason I call it “the Garden of Sweden” and not “the Garden of Norway.” Sure, they’re both Scandinavian, and “…a handful of Swede-men” doesn’t roll easily off the tongue, but come on. *shrug* Oh, well.

• Steampunk maker Datamancer video
• 
• Big Man on Mulberry Street
• mayhem
• “GOD BLESS AMERICA! WOOOOOO!!!”
  “Um… they’re Canadian.”

And that’s that.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 08 August 2007
For some reason, I keep thinking that it’s only Tuesday. Not really sure why.

Last night’s game did not end with mass death – neither ours nor the mad god that we were facing. I consider that a “good” thing. That’s not to say that things didn’t hit the fan in short order. Because they did. With the quickness. Our mage attempted to use a scroll to ‘port us out of harms way… and rolled a critical failure. (For those non-gamers out there, think: “Put your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye” bad.) The raw magic wound up taking the form another spell – Limited Wish. We got some rather… unusual… results:

• Three of our party returned to our home city
• One was returned to another part of the home city.
• My character… um… “slid sideways,” into a nominally parallel plane. (For lack of a better analogy, think of Patrick Swayze in Ghost – I could see/hear things around me, but not interact with anything or anyone.) Oh, and while everyone else went home, I stayed in the same place, which was about 10-14 days away from home. Greeeeat. Fortunately, I’m playing a monk and, as such, have a couple of feats that allow me to travel faster than normal and recover from fatigue faster than normal.

Fortunately, our group knows a mage who was not only able to find me, but also open a portal to get me home… after five days, by which time I’d already covered about 2/3 of the journey. (Like I said: “Bionic monk.”) Once everyone was together – and fully recovered – and we set about our original plan: Amassing an army to go and whoop some elevated being’s ass. Turns out that in coming to our world, the god had broken a pact among the pantheon and turned himself into Public Enemy #1. (Although, if he had turned himself into Flava Flav, I would have been much more amused.) We’ll see how things go next gaming session.

Stray Toasters

• I just heard some amazing news… but I can’t share it on here.
• Remoting Future – countdown timer to science fiction future events
• There are a plethoric ass-load (although not quite a metric fuck-ton) of pictures on Flickr under the SDCC: San Diego Comic-Con International pool.
• The IKEA 2008 catalog is out. I got a message from the Right Coast saying that the one I have delivered there has arrived; my local copy should be here soon. *genuflect*
• Minesweeper: the Movie, by way of Acolyte Derek
• 
• Eric sent me a link to a LEGO Guitar Hero controller mod. I countered with a video of someone playing YYZ in Guitar Hero 2 on Expert Level.
• SSDT / SSDG
• Douglas Adams on the now-extinct Baiji dolphin (yes, that Douglas Adams)
• World War II propaganda posters
• 
• Right to the heart of the matter
  Right to the beautiful part
  Illusions are painfully shattered
  Right were discovery starts

Pax vobiscum.

Saturday – 04 August 2007
Despite oversleeping this morning, it’s been a good – and nominally productive day. I don’t know what it was, but after Clitorati, I came home and was ready to hit the rack within an hour. Which put quite a damper on any thoughts I may have had about visiting Paragon City. I was up shortly before 7:00, but saw the error of my ways and returned to The Dreaming.

Once I got up and dealt with the necessary hygiene rituals, I met Perry and the boys for coffee. When they left, I did some more work on She Talks to Angels. I’m rather pleased with the way the angel has turned out, but a little less enthusiastic about the figure that’s supposed to look like my grandmother. Which means that I need to do more portrait work. My other big concern with this piece is/was: Fabric. It folds and twists and billows. Depicting that isn’t exactly my strong suit, but I am happy with the way it looks.

dropped by for a bit, to say “Hello,” so I chatted with her for a while until I got a message from Chris (we’re going to have to start numbering Chrises now, too) asking if I was still interested in going to the gym. I was. We did. I got there before him, so I spent 10 minutes on the recumbent bike. I haven’t done that in a long time; it was good. Chris showed up and it was game time. I wasn’t paying attention when I set up the weights for my bench press and wound up doing 225 pounds on my first set. Brilliant, I am. Not easy, but I did it. I dropped it back down to 205 pounds for the second and third sets, although I had to do the last 5 reps of the third set at 185. Today also saw a lot more presses than I have done (in one workout) in a long time: Flat bench, incline and decline.

Back home for a much-needed and very refreshing shower and a late lunch. And to kill some time. Tonight, I’m going to the Rita Coolidge concert at the Sandy Amphitheatre, thanks to Kate. I asked her to find out about tickets and a couple of days later, she presented me with one. I should send her a fruit basket. (Bonus points for knowing where that came from.) I think that I would really like to take a nap, but I have a few things that I should take care of before heading to the concert. *sigh* No rest for the wicked, I guess.

…and I still need to make (another) trip to the Garden of Sweden, which I most definitely will not get around to tonight.

Stray Toasters

• I have been craving chocolate milk like a madman, lately.
• From Real Tech News: MP3-Eating Worm on the Loose
• Blood, Sweat and Cheers! – Five little-known facts about 300.
• “Are you Lutheran vegansexual?”
  
• And I must have missed a memo about last week being “Bag on Vegans Week,” because I just saw this in Crtl+Alt+Del:
  
• The Best Super-Pregnancies (No, I didn’t make that title up.)
• WizKids will be adding a “Heroes” line – based on the television series – to HeroClix.
• When Amber met Amber
• – Play Infocom Hitchhiker’s text adventure by IM
• The Weird Things People Eat Around the World
• , I saw these and thought of you when I got to the pair in the lower-left corner.

I should finish getting ready and get out of here…

Namaste.

Tuesday – 31 July 2007
Last night, I made a pilgrimage to the Garden of Sweden. I exited empty-handed – I realized that I needed to take a few measurements of a banner that I want to hang before buying the hardware to hang it. Somehow, that just made an odd kind of sense. Go figure. I saw plenty of other things that made me go,”Hm… that would look nice in (fill-in-the-room).” But, willpower won out, once again.

The pre-work morning moved along rather nicely except for two things:

1. One of my contact lenses tried to make a jailbreak shortly before I woke up. I put it in solitary confinement in a saline bath. It has seen the error of its ways and has been successfully rehabilitated.
2. PoW monkeys. Two of them. Driving slowly. In the “left general purpose lane” on the way up Traverse Mountain.

The Scales of Justice
I decided to patrol the mean streets of Paragon City for a while. Most of the members of my SG who were online were in the middle of a task force – a long series of missions – so they weren’t available for teaming. I hooked up with a Blaster and we headed to Founders Falls to take on The Council. And, just before we got to the mission entrance, Founders came under attack by a Rikti invastion force. Yay. Thanks to the fact that there were not many available Controllers or Defenders, we got our clocks cleaned – repeatedly – on the mission. So, we switched to a Council of Thorns mish. We picked up a meat shield Tanker to pull aggro and take the heavy hits while we beat on things. That went much better. After that, I joined a Rikti invasion team in Talos Island, to repulse an invasion force there. That went pretty well too.

Stray Toasters

• Carmen’s home, safe and sound… and jet-lagged to Hell and back, I’m sure.
• Multitask
• posted a link to Chore Wars last night…
• …I will counter with this lovely post, from Craigslist.
• Discard regret, that in this debt a better world is made
  That children of a newer day might remember, and avoid our fate.
• Luminent Designs – Brassy Lamps
• Cocoa butter, hot sauce and… souvlaki? Two words: “grey” and “confused.”
• 10 Alternative Gadgets for Your Home
• 
• Exiern
• I’m up to Chapter 13 of Deathly Hallows and was just reintroduced to a character whom I thought met with… an unfortunate circumstance a book or two back. I need to go ahead and finish it so that I can get back to Pattern Recognition.

Sunday – 29 July 2007
Another day in the lovely Utah sun. Temps seem to be creeping back in the triple-digit direction.

So far, it’s been a good day. I was considering going to see You Kill Me, until I found that it is no longer playing in this area. That’s something that drives me nuts: A movie will open locally… in one theatre. And then, it disappears with nary a trace of its passing. I had the same problem last week in trying to find a theatre that was playing Sunshine: Eleventy-seven theatres in the greater Salt Lake City metro area and only one theatre had it. Bah.

Stray Toasters

• I think that I am going to find a place to hole up and draw this afternoon.
• Dad called a little while ago. All’s well with the Mid-Atlantic contingent.
• Someone has posted a link from the Sandy Eggo San Diego Comic Con premiere of the teaser trailer for Iron Man.
• Damn you, Tyranist. *shakes fist*
• I may make a pilgrimage to the Garden of Sweden today or tomorrow.
• 

Over. Under.  Out.

Namaste.

Sunday – 15 July 2007
I woke from an otherwise good sleep a few times this morning… “just because,” as best I can figure. Around 9:30, I had my fill of lying in bed, so I made my way to the Command Center. After a few minutes of surfing, messaged me to see if I was still interested in going to the driving range. I was, so I got ready and hit the road.

I had originally considered going to Pebblebrook, in Sandy, but we opted for Murray Parkway, instead. Nice driving range and you can use drivers there. We hit a couple of buckets of baskets of balls. She said that my form looked good, but she suggested that I move in – slightly – on the tee. Lo and behold, it made a decent difference in my drives – better contact and fewer ground-skimmers.

Afterwards, we headed to the Garden of Sweden. We’d worked up appetites on the range – and we had both skipped breakfast – so we decided to have lunch before shopping. Swedish meatballs. Salad. Potatoes. And “Chocolate Overload Cake.” Mm-hmm, that’s right. Then the shopping began. My mission: Dining room table. We wandered through the store, looking at other things, before going to get… the… the… um… Where are the tables that are supposed to be here?! *blink* The entire bin of boxes – no, where the boxes should have been – was empty.

*braincramp*

Fine. I went to find a sales associate. He looked. None in the store. I corrected him: There was one – the floor display upstairs. He made a call… and a short while later, I was the proud owner of a new table, at a discounted price. Selah. We loaded it into <lj user=”suzie_lightning”>’s car and brought it here. It looks good in the dining area… but in it’s “small” form, the room seems to swallow it. To me, that just means that I need something on the walls to fill the blank space. Good thing I have a couple of ideas of how to do that.

The Best
Although it’s not radically different from the original, I prefer the No Doubt version of It’s My Life to the Talk Talk version.

On the flip side, Genesis’ version of Land of Confusion still wears the crown, although the Disturbed cover isn’t bad… it’s just not the same. Likewise, I prefer the Don Henley rendition of The Boys of Summer to the version by The Ataris.

Stray Toasters

• I talked with the ‘rents today. They’re doing well.
• I exercised restraint in the Garden of Sweden, quite a feat for the Patron Saint of Poor Impulse Control.
• This looks interesting…
• The world is not enough
  But it is such a perfect place to start, my love
• For Derek: Stephen Colbert’s Tek Jansen #1
• If Daredevil is known as “The man without fear,” doesn’t it make more sense to juxtapose him with Hal Jordan (or any other Green Lantern), whose power derives from his/their ability to overcome fear (or, in Jordan’s case, be without fear)? Instead, they always stack him up against Batman. I can understand that, in the sense that aside from DD’s radar sense, he’s the closest thing to “baseline human without superpowers” to put up against Gotham’s protector… aside from the late Captain America. But still… *shrug*
• Pop Quiz: What do you do when the God of Hunger – the very same god you’re trying to destroy – shows up to say “Hi,” while you’re in the middle of trying to get one of the weapons you’re planning on using to destroy him?Did I mention “He’s a god,” already? I did? Okay… just wanted to be clear on that point.

  I think that it basically comes down to: “We’re boned.”
  (Remember Dunwich County? Yeah… that level of boned.)

• I realize that putting old shows on DVD and sticking ’em in your local video purveyor is the new “in” thing, but I would have never expected this show to get that treatment.
• Comic Urban Legend: Marvel Comics once had a line of female superhero comic books. Answer.

Time to figure out what I plan on doing for dinner… and what to do this evening.

Namaste.

Saturday – 14 July 2007
For reasons yet unknown, I was up at 8:15 this morning… after going to be sometime around 3:30. Not that this was a problem, per se, I just wasn’t expecting to be up quite so early.

Last night was apparently Rob the Route Planner (not to be confused with Bob the Builder) night – both Dad and Adam are travelling, and I was acting as remote navigator. Not a problem, especially as I’m kind of used to the role, but it was a little amusing. Adam is traveling a small portion of the route that I took when I moved out here, so I was passingly familiar with some of the things he should look for, but had to consult the Internet and a Rand McNally atlas to fill in some gaps when he got into an area that I didn’t travel. And I neglected to ask him to stop in Metropolis, Illinois to get a picture of the Superman statue. And, I just spoke with Dad; he’s about 10 miles out of Reidsville – he’s stopping in to see Mom and my stepfather and one of my aunts on his way home from West-by-God Virginia. He’s spoken with Adam this morning, who is already underway on the next leg of his trip.

Last night was also Clitorati night. Good turn out… and Acolyte Derek also put in an appearance at coffee. The conversation-to-musical reference generator in my head was turned up to 11. I think that it amused Chris S. to find out just how quickly – and randomly – it worked.

This morning, I watched a “new” episode of Legion of Super-Heroes: “Phantoms.” In it, Clark inadvertently releases a criminal from the Phantom Zone. This results in lots of property damage across New Metropolis as the Legion tries to wrangle him back into the Zone.

I saw Transformers (again) with <lj user=”duckspeaker”> and his… friend and/or co-worker (I think), Terry. Watching robots wantonly blow up lots of property is a great way to start off a Saturday afternoon.

The Best
New addition to the list: Big Bad Voodoo Daddy – I Wanna Be Like You (from The Jungle Book).
You can check out a version of it here.

Four-Color Coverage
This week’s take included eleven weeks of Countdown, DC’s latest weekly maxi-series that I had originally intended to skip… until I found out that Karate Kid seems to be featured in it. Which means that it’s a Legion tie-in, even if only tangentially. Which means that I am compelled to buy it. So, that said, let’s get to it:

• Action Comics #851 – Superman is trapped in the Phantom Zone, while General Zod, Ursa (and a few other Kryptonian villains) are free on Earth. But, just like Ringo Starr, Superman gets by with a little help from his friends. Or just one friend, in this case: Mon-El, who at this point had been in the Zone for about 15 – 20 years… of the 1,000 years that he would wind up being there.
• All-Star Superman #8 – More adventures on Bizarro World. And Lois discovers Superman’s secret. No, not that he’s Clark Kent (that was Issues #1 and 2… and she didn’t believe him). The secret that his mission to the sun in Issue #1 is killing him.
• City of Heroes #20 – Final issue. This issue has a big knockdown, drag out fight that lasts for seven pages, establishes a few changes in the CoH/CoV uniferse and alluded to a few things in the upcoming in-game update, Issue 10. There was a little too much exposition in this issue and it felt as though they tried to wrap things up a little too quickly. But, what’re ya gonna do?
• Countdown #51 – 42 – Something is amiss in the newly reborn DC Multiverse. The Monitors – DC’s answer to Marvel’s Watchers – are back; they who haven’t really been seen since 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths. Now, there are 52 of them – one for each level of the new multiverse. And, at least one of them is on a mission: Eliminate anomalies in the timestream/multiverse – namely, anyone who should be on one Earth, but has migrated to another one.The mysteries don’t end there. Why is Jimmy Olsen suddenly exhibiting superpowers? What’s happening to Mary Marvel? What are the Flash’s Rogues planning? What’s the story behind the Athenian Women’s Help Shelter… and what’s Harleen Quinzel’s angle? Who’s killing the New Gods? What is Monarch planning for the new multiverse?One thing that I am appreciating is a look at some of the between-the-pages scenes that occurred during “The Lightning Saga.” Case in point: A scene aboard the JLA Watchtower, with Dr. Mid-Nite, Dream Girl, Karate Kid and Starman looking down on Earth:
  

  Dr. Mid-Nite: Does she still look the same in your era? Or have we managed to completely pave her over by then?
  Karate Kid: Actually, Earth’s axis is tilted differently in our time. The South Pole’s in Australia…
  Dream Girl: Can we please not make chitchat? I’m worried about the others.
  Dr. Mid-Nite: Understood, Dream Girl, but we’ll find them, safe and sound, just like we found you.
  Karate Kid: We appreciate your Justice Society and Justice League putting everything into finding our lost teammates, Dr. Mid-Nite… but Dream Girl says one of us is going to die before this is all over, and she’s never wrong about these things.
  Dr. Mid-Nite: Perhaps… but all of you experienced memory loss when you arrived here from the thirty-first century. In the case of Starman, the cognitive impairment was, shall we say, even more profound. How do you know Dream Girl’s precognitive abilities aren’t similarly affected? Just let us finish tracking down your missing teammates’ flight rings. We’ll bring them back here safe, just like Dream Girl. And, hey, at least you’re not locked up in one of our holding cells anymore.
  Karate Kid: Aren’t we? You’ve given us free run of the station, but we’re effectively in quarantine up here.
  Dream Girl: Val, this man is trying to help us.
  Karate Kid: He’s diagnosing us, Nura. He knows a potential infection when he sees one.
  Dr. Mid-Nite: Fair enough, Karate Kid, but can you blame me for being cautious? You very nearly took down Batman!
  Karate Kid: I was mind controlled. I’m not a threat anymore.
  Dr. Mid-Nite: *hh* Do you know why you traveled a thousand years back in time to come here?
  Karate Kid: You know I don’t.
  Dr. Mid-Nite: Do any of you know why you’re here?
  *blank looks on Dream Girl, Karate Kid and Starman’s faces*
  Dr. Mid-Nite: Then until we’re sure your mission isn’t something along the lines of “Kill Sarah Conner,” I suggest you relax and enjoy the view.

  …and…

  *Karate Kid approaches Batman on a Gotham rooftop*
  Batman: People who try to sneak up on me usually regret it.
  Karate Kid: I’m sorry, Batman. I didn’t come to make trouble. I just wanted to say that the Legion is returning to the Thirty-First Century. I’m going to go rendezvous with them right now…
  Batman: Don’t let me keep you.
  Karate Kid: Before I go, I, uh… I am humbly grateful to have fought such a skilled martial artist–
  Batman: Don’t. You outfought me. Once. You wouldn’t in a rematch.
  Karate Kid: I wasn’t trying to rub your nose in it. I only wanted to… Never mind. *flies away*
  Batman: *smirking* Did you expect a sidekick job?

• Fantastic Four #547 – I think that this has to be one of my favorite issues of FF ever, if only for the following exchange between Storm, The Thing and The Black Panther:
  

  Storm: I can’t believe you said that.
  Thing: I didn’t say it, I’m just telling you what Michael said.
  Storm: You can tell Michael Collins that my hair is completely natural.
  Thing: Okay, you know. Whatever. Sorry I brought it up.
  Storm: This is not a weave. Go ahead.
  Thing: Go ahead what?
  Storm: See for yourself. Pull my hair.
  Thing: Are you nuts?
  Storm: *wrapping strands of hair in Ben’s hands* Hard as you want.
  Thing: I don’t want!
  Storm: Do it. *irritated look on her face*
  Thing: *lifts Storm a few inches off the floor… by her hair* There. Happy now?
  Storm: I think I proved my point.
  *Black Panther walks into the room*
  Thing: T’Challa, I can explain…
  Black Panther: Don’t bother. She’s very sensitive about her hair. Word of advice: As you value your life, never ask her if she’s wearing colored contact lenses.
  Storm: I ‘m not!
  Black Panther: I know, my love. *walks out of the room*

• Green Lantern #21 – Aftermath of the attack of the Sinestro Corps. 59 Green Lantern rings seek replacement bearers. Most of the Guardians are… ignoring… the Blackest Night prophecy. Two Guardians – Sayd and Ganthet (surprise) – don’t think that it’s a wise course of action…. and recruit Officer 2814.1 (Hal Jordan) to spearhead an attack against the Sinestro Corps. But, what is it that Hal Jordan (still) fears?
• Justice Society of America #7 – Another post-“Lightning Saga”thread weaves through this story, with Superman visiting Starman at the Sunshine Sanitarium:
  

  Starman: *singing* “…to make me fret, I fly a-round! I had strings, but now I’m free– there are no strings on me!” *walks into the cafeteria*
  Doctor: Good afternoon, Starman. You did a very good thing this morning, pulling that school bus from the river. You saved a lot of kids and made a lot of parents happy.
  Starman: Well, today should be a good day for everyone, Doctor. It’s Wednesday, after all.
  Floyd: Hi, Starman.
  Starman: Hi, Floyd. Oh, yes! *bends down to look at Sloppy Joes on the lunch counter* They don’t have these when I come from.
  *off-panel voice* Excuse me, Starman.
  Superman: I know the Justice Society wants a few words with you , but since we’re old friends– I asked for some time first. I want to know more about what’s happened with the Legion. And I want to know more about you.
  Starman: *chompf* You ‘anna ‘oppy ‘oe, Kal?
  Superman: I’d love one, Thom.
  *the pair get lunch trays and sit down*
  Starman: Aren’t you going to drink your milk?
  Superman: Um, no.
  Starman: It makes your bones stronger. You’re not still mad at me, are you, Kal?
  Superman: I’m not mad at you, Thom.
  Starman: The we’re still friends?
  Superman: The Legion will always be my friends.
  Starman: Mine too. I like Power Girl an awful lot, but not in the way I love my Dreamer. I can’t wait to see her again. *chompf*
  Superman: Why didn’t you go back with the other Legionnaires?
  Starman: I wanted to, but I can’t. I’m here to help.
  Superman: Help who?
  Starman: Myself. And Earth, too! The black hole is supposed to help her see the truth. Then he’ll come and why… the Justice Society of America shows us all the way. The world needs better good guys! That’s not just our world, you know. Or our time. But the future isn’t up to me to save. I have my own job. I have gravity powers! I’m quite happy about that. *uses his power to crush a milk carton*
  Superman: Why did the Legion come back here?
  Starman: There’s trouble in the 31st Century, you see. The big three say you can’t help them.
  Superman: Why not?
  Starman: Why Clark Kents can’t come! It’s common sense.
  Superman: When they opened the Speed Force, Wally West and his family came back.
  Starman: And they say lightning never strikes twice in the same place! Pfft! Just ask him.
  Superman: But is that why the Legion were here? To bring the Flash home?
  Starman: From the vibrational plane! Zip! Zoom! The Legion of three worlds! Do you remember XS? She had such a crush on you. And I got to meet another Thom and another Thom!
  Superman: I don’t understand what you’re talking about.
  Starman: Yeah. Me either.

• The New Avengers #32 – Welcome to “Who Wants to Be a Skrull-ionnaire?” There’s tension on the team. After last issue’s revelation that Skrulls may have replaced some of Marvel’s best and brightest, now the question looms: “Who can you trust?” In the New Av’s case: It seems to be no one. Not even your teammates. Where are Scully and Mulder when you need ’em?
• Supergirl #19 – Finally! FINALLY! Kara grows up, grows a pair (so to speak) and owns up for her actions – or lack thereof – over the past year. Maybe this book will actually see some progress and story advancement now…
• Ultimate Fantastic Four #43 – The Silver Surfer arrives… and he’s not exactly the harbinger of good news.
• Ultimate X-Men #84 – Wolverine lets off a little steam. Stryfe attracts the attention of a fleet of Sentinels. Bishop’s team of X-Men makes a public appearance.
• Uncanny X-Men #488 – Nightcrawler and the Professor go off in search of Magneto. The Morlocks declare war on the over-world. Storm, Hepzibah and Warpath head to the Morlock tunnels in search of some answers, which leads to this scene:
  

  Storm: Can both of you concentrate, please? We’re about to enter potentially hostile territory.
  Hepzibah: I do not like tunnels either, Storm. Especially not ones that stink of rats and vermin.
  Storm: For me, it’s a little bit worse than not liking them, Hepzibah. It’s worrying that they might drive me insane… *hovers down into the sewers*
  Hepzibah: Warpath? What does she mean?
  Warpath: Storm’s claustrophobic. Can’t take being in small places, or being boxed in. It takes all she’s got to even go into these tunnels.
  Hepzibah: Then let us not leave her on her own down there. *drops through manhole… into sewer water* Ukk. This is so unclean.
  Storm: Heh… you look…
  Hepzibah: Careful with your next words…
  Storm: I was just going to say… dignified. You look dignified. For a wet cat.
  Hepzibah: You are a brave woman, Storm. Very brave woman.
  Storm: You don’t know the half of it.

Stray Toasters

• I spoke with Dad and Adam again today; their respective trips are going well.
• I am going to have to replace my cell phone. Today. This one is on its last… hinge.
• To go to the Garden of Sweden or not to go? That is the question.
• I should install – and play – Locomotion. Finally. I’ve had it since God was a boy.
• I think that I’m actually craving Ika… and maybe a few other types of sushi.

Time to get something to eat and get some errands taken care of.

Namaste.

Saturday – 07 July 2007
So far today, I…

• ..overslept and missed this morning’s episode of Legion of Super Heroes. (I’d seen it before.)
• Cleaned the apartment.
• Read a good bit of Vision of the Future

just got here. She wants to go to the Garden of Sweden. Who am I to say no to a trip there?!

ZOOM!

Monday – 02 July 2007
I actually slept last night. Fairly well, at that. Of course, the pre-bed glass of Merlot probably didn’t hurt, either.

Yesterday was good… despite the 8:30 awakening. Perry called around 10 to invite me to coffee. I took him up on the offer. Then I indulged in a little bit of retail therapy at Old Navy. Yep… Old Navy.

Back home… to find out that Intrepid was having connection issues. They seem to have been tied to my firewall deciding to fire off a couple of terminate-and-stay-resident (TSR) procedures. *grblsnrkx* I thought that I had taken care of most of them… until this morning. But that’s another story.

Back out to run some errands, have dinner with Kate, Perry and the kids and to visit the Garden of Sweden. Among other things, I picked up a couple of picture frames for two of my Rush concert tourbooks. I mounted and hung them… and they look pretty good, although I may need to look at getting different mattes – the Vapor Trails tourbook kind of gets lost/washes out in the white matte. I still need to get two more – one for R30 and one for the upcoming Snakes & Arrows tour. Out a little later for a drive and I ended the night with a book and the aforementioned glass of Merlot.

Today’s been good – as a welcome and refreshing change from doc reading and training videos, Jason walked me through some domain administration. It’s nice to actually be able to ask a question and get feedback (not to be confused with Feedback).

Stray Toasters

• Ultimate Team Cardboard Fortress Battle
• Spoiler Sport: Geoff Johns on Sinestro Corps
• There is now a second poster for Countdown. (Here’s the first poster, in case you missed it. Somehow.)
• Steampunk play based on Hackers
• 7% humidity
• 525,000 iPhones sold in first weekend
• …and with that in mind: iPhone + multitouch + goatse = arrghhhhh
• The Shrinking Violet/Atom Girl HeroClix makes me chuckle.
• Alabama Governor discovers global warming cure: Pray for rain

Namaste.

Thursday: coda
The post-work day found me in the Garden of Sweden. Again. This time, I went with the intent of checking on a coffee table, some picture frames for my concert tourbooks and… what in theory should be curtains, but I think will be used as wall treatments. *blink blink* Did I just say… “wall treatments?!” *sigh* I think that is unequivocal proof that I am my mother’s son. But… “I found things to hang on the wall.” I also discovered that a couple of pieces of furniture don’t come in the color I want. Oh, well. I can deal.

Home for a bit and then back out again for coffee with Liz. Then, home again, home again. Jiggety-jig.

Stray Toasters

• I got some potentially really good news from Perry this afternoon; I just have to wait to see how it pans out.
• I don’t know how I missed this announcement. Hopefully, it will be better – MUCH better – than the adaptation of Johnny Mnemonic… which was an excellent short story, but a shitty movie.
• And speaking of Mr. Gibson’s work (with a few other items thrown in, for good measure): The Matrix has you – Second Earth
• Using the Wii Remote as a wireless 3D interface device
• Catch a falling star an’ put it in your pocket
  Never let it fade away!
  Catch a falling star an’ put it in your pocket,
  Save it for a rainy day!
  (This was one of the first – if not the first – songs that Mom taught me to play on the piano.)

• Cyberpunk cinema
• 
• “Peace, be still.”
• Steampunk Workshop
• : DIE Another DAY.
• Jake Van Slatt’s Steampunk Creations
• I don’t need no one to tell me about heaven
  I look at my daughter, and I believe.
  I don’t need no proof when it comes to God and truth
  I can see the sunset and I perceive

Namaste.

Friday – 22 June 2007

Last night, I headed to the Garden of Sweden. *genuflect* The plan:

• Go
• Pick up ONE item (in four parts)
• Take it home.
• Assemble.
• Dance!

Okay… maybe not the “Dance!” part, but the rest was on the list. Items 1 through 4 seemed simple enough. 1 and 2 were. Step 3 is where the problems ensued. The boxes, despite careful calculations on my part, refused to fit in the car. *braincramp* Damnable Physics and its stupid “Two objects may not occupy the same space at the same time” rule! *shakes fist* A few hasty – and mildly frantic – phone calls later, I reached my new favorite choice to play Batgirl (or possibly Carrie Kelly) in a future Bat-flick: . She saved me from impending doom and disaster. With panache and style.

Home. Disassemblage. Assemblage. It would have been a little easier with my drill, but it wasn’t available. So…. elbow grease! When I was done, I was tired. Very tired. And it was after 3:00 AM. Which made it a perfect time to pass out. Which I did.

This morning, the alarm was summarily turned off and ignored. As was Nomad. And an early morning phone call. The second call, however, I did answer. A bit gruffly. (Sorry.) And then I got about starting the day. Of course, it didn’t really start until I thinned the blood in my caffeinestream. So the first few minutes in the office were… sluggish. I spent most of the day in the server room and putting out some small fires. I was kept pretty busy, which is never a bad thing. But, I can’t say that I wasn’t glad to see 5:00 roll around, either.

Tonight: Clitorati.
Tomorrow: Derby! And, maybe a chance to see some of the Utah Arts Festival. (We shall see…)

Stray Toasters
I’ll either post them later tonight or tomorrow. Or Sunday.

Although, I will note that I apparently missed an “anniversary.” It seems as though my journal had its sixth birthday back on Thursday, 14 June 2007. Huh.

And with that… I’m ghost.

Namaste.

Sunday – 17 June 2007
Again: Happy Father’s Day to the dads out there.

So far this morning I have:

• Fed the kids
• Observed the hygiene rituals
• Worshipped at the Temple of Sweden with and … for three hours!
• Talked with the paternal parental units.

…and it’s just a little after 2:00 PM. Still plenty of time to find some trouble to get into!

Yesterday was good. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer was fun. They did a good job of retelling/retooling the origin of the Silver Surfer and making it mesh with the movie version of the FF. The characterizations were good… although, I felt that Julian McMahon’s Doctor Doom was a little “too” over-the-top in a couple of spots. But, he’s a classic character and there have been more than “a few” times when he’s been over-the-top in the comics. So, I can let it slide. While this movie was not on the same level as Gladiator or The Shawshank Redemption, in my opinion it did what it wanted/needed to do: Put a comic book on the screen in as believeable a manner as possible. And, as I said: It was fun. I give the movie a big ol’ thumbs-up with an okay.

I also went to The Gateway to check out…

I missed and the rest of Team Chalk-o-Licious – thanks to dealing with Sprint (more on that later), but I did get a photo of their piece and some of the other works.

I need to finish resizing the rest of the pictures; they should be up in the next few days.

Sprint. *sigh* I have just about had enough of them. Until roughly 10:00 PM last night, I did not have access to the Power Vision service (Sprint/Nextel’s internet). I kept getting an error message whenever I tried to connect. I have probably talked with more people at Sprint/Nextel in the past two days than more people talk with over the course of their entire service contract. For the longest time, no one could figure out what the problem was. Someone was finally able to tell me something late Friday evening: The two companies use different billing systems and they are in the process of merging them – My bill showed up as paid and up-to-date in one system, while it didn’t in the other. That system being the one that the Power Vision service is apparently tied to. Okay, great! Problem identified. Now, to solve it. Right… More time on the phone AND a trip to one of the local Sprint Stores. *grblsnrkx* Sidebar: Jennie, the Sprint rep who helped me in the store, did everything that she could to try and get through to someone to get the problem straightened out. And, I could tell that she wasn’t happy with the answers that she was getting from the people on the other side of the phone. AND, she maintained a pleasant disposition throughout the whole ordeal. I appreciate good customer service and she deserves recognition – I have NO complaints about her customer service skills and will go back to the store this week to make sure that her manager is aware of this. It still took me another… hour-and-a-half to two hours on the phone AGAIN to finally get someone to push whatever button needed to be pushed to get things up and running again.

After that, breakfast was a welcome respite. And, Patryck put in an appearance, too. That was a nice surprise.

Four-Color Coverage
This is just a (fairly) quick hit. I’m still enjoying “The Lightning Saga,” the crossover storyline in JLA and JSA. In Justice Society of America #6, they keep it coming. In this issue they throw in a bit of Legion trivia of which I wasn’t aware:

Timber Wolf: Thom’s still a couple planets short of a system. Is it the safety blocks?
Dream Girl: I’m afraid not, Brin. The medicine of this time period is unbelievably primitive. They still use pills to help schizophrenia.
Starman: I took my pills today.
Timber Wolf: I didn’t know he was schizophrenic.
Wildfire: He told me about it once. He said he spent years in a hospital after his gravity powers popped up.
Dawnstar: Brainiac 5 didn’t give him medical clearance to travel. That’s why Thom tricked Colossal Boy and took his place. Since the time beam wasn’t calibrated for him, something went wrong. I can only belive his unanticipated path to the past worsened his health problems.
Karate Kid: What unanticipated path was that?
Dawnstar: I can see it on him, Val. The mark of the multiverse.
Starman: Hi, Swamp Thing. (to a snake coiled around a tree limb)
Timber Wolf: The multiverse?
Dawnstar: Before he came to this time period, he was accidentally shunted to a parallel Earth.
Starman: Earth-22? Meh.
*cut to scenes from the Kingdom Come miniseries*
Starman: No one liked each other there very much!
Wildfire: Thom always did call himself the “unluckiest” Legionnaire.
Dream Girl: I should have seen this coming.
Karate Kid: You can’t dream up every event that’s going to happen, Nura.
Dream Girl: I’m not talking about my precognitive abilities. I know Thom better than anyone. Health problems or not, he would never hesitate to risk his life to help his friends.
Starman: You’re my dream girl. I did it because I love you.
Dream Girl: I love you, too.

Wait. Star Boy/Starman…? Schizophrenic?! Huh. Who knew? This is followed up with a great scene of the new Liberty Belle (formerly Jesse Quick) trying to play matchmaker for Wonder Woman…

Liberty Belle: You’ve never thought about marriage?
Wonder Woman: Marriage isn’t a concept I grew up around, Jesse.
Liberty Belle: What about Superman? You two were made for each other.
Wonder Woman: He’s unavailable.
Liberty Belle: How about Dr. Mid-Nite?
Wonder Woman: A little too quiet for me.
Liberty Belle: Wait! I got it! We just heard about him the other day. He’s cute, vigilant and your costumes would look so great together. *sly grin* Have you met the new Mr. America yet?

This is good stuff. And we learn the identity of the seventh Legionnaire. The storyline concludes in Justice League of America #10. Can’t wait.

Stray Toasters

• I am getting hungry… but I’m not sure what I want for dinner.
• Ten days to the new Legion ‘Clix set.
• Don, we may need to rename the scale…
• As much as I love playing City – and despite the fact that it’s Double XP Weekend – I am not motivated to play right now.
• I was just looking at JSA #6 again. I have an idea of who’s going to die. I think. I just noticed something about the group of Legionnaires that makes one of them a… “better candidate”… than the others to be sacrificed.
• 9% of cell phone users want the iPhone
  (I just want a cell provider whose system actually works the way it’s supposed to!)

• 

Namaste.

Friday – 15 June 2007
So far, it’s been a pretty good day. Of course, any day that starts “Fri-” us usually pretty good.

Unless it’s 1929.
And October.
And the last Friday of the month.

But, it’s not. So we’re good.

I’m working in the Salt Lake office today and that’s a good thing because a semi driver decided to play chicken with an overpass – the one at the exit I take to get to the A.F. office – and lost. Big time. He was hauling a pre-fab home. I guess that he technically is still hauling it… but it now has one hell of a sunroof:

Picture courtesy of Acolyte Derek

Yeah. Not so good there.

Last night, I went to a taping of Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! with KHAYLA. I had a ball! I was expecting it to be fun, but nowhere near as much as it was. The whole taping took about two hours… of which only forty minutes or so will make it on the air. That’s a shame, because I’m willing to bet that some of the really funny stuff is going to be edited out. Your loss. The panel was Paula Poundstone, Mo Rocca and Tom Bodett and their celebrity guest for “Not My Job” was Donny Osmond (by phone from L.A.). I have never been the biggest Donny Osmond fan, but I have nothing against him, either… and he was quite funny. DANGERMOUSE_UT: You were right – Peter Sagal is not a very tall man. But, he knows how to work a crowd, has good comedic timing AND he knows when to just let the panel – and Carl Kassel – just go off on their riffs. Last night’s taping will air on Saturday, 16 June 2007, check your local NPR station for the time.

Stray Toasters

• I lost the original version of this post this morning. *sigh*
• I’m getting the urge for prime rib from Outback. Maybe I’ll satiate that desire sometime this weekend.
• Jan, yet another coworker, has introduced me to KLOV – Killer List of Video Games… like I needed another distraction.
• Giant snake terrorizing Pennsylvania – Okay… are we sure that this isn’t just an American chupacabra story? TIPHASAURUS, would you look into this?

• 

• Wooden robot toys!
• Getting an iPhone, but not an iTunes Music Store fan? Better rethink that.

Tonight: Clitorati
Tomorrow: Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer with Perry and Max and the Chalk Art Festival… and, at some point, a trip to IKEA.

Namaste.

Sunday: coda
I accomplished one of the things I had intended earlier today: I made it to IKEA.

Also on the list were: drawing (, I’ll let you know when I get started on that pic… which should be tomorrow morning) and going to the grocery store.  Those two things went *pfft* because I decided to stop by and see Kate, Perry and the kids.  Time well spent… and I can still do the other things tomorning.  I also had dinner with at Sampan.

This evening, looking for something to do, I decided to check out Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.  I have to admit that it wasn’t the movie that I was expecting.  I felt that Dead Man’s Chest (or “Pirates 2: Electric Boogaloo”) was a decent movie… but it suffered from sequel-itis, to me.  And scenes like the swordfight-on-a-waterwheel – all forty-five minutes of it (yes, I know that it was shorter than that, but it just seemed to go on forever) – seemed like they were trying too hard.

I didn’t get that feeling from AWE.  The story actually moved.  And, I was especially taken with the opening scene: The subtle, somber-to-almost-uplifting defiance of the crowd was handled very well.  Yes, I can understand some peoples’ comments about too many interweaving plots, but I don’t feel cheated.  And, probably most importantly: The movie surprised me.  In more than one spot.  Just when I thought I’d come up with “viable solution x” to a problem in the movie, they pulled a Kobayashi Maru and came up with a different answer.  I’m not going to spoil the movie for those who haven’t seen it, but I will note that viewers should stay through the credits.  Additionally, there was a trailer for The Golden Compass before AWE that looked rather interesting.

Stray Toasters

• I have just confirmed (once again) my geekiness: In the new issue of LEGO Magazine, they have a list of winners of their LEGO Clubhouse Building Challenge.  Quite frankly, they had some good nice concepts.  My first thought after looking at it: “I wonder if I have enough bricks to do Legion HQ…?“
• Homework sucks: The case against homework
• By way of Derek: Top 15 Unintentionally Funny Comic Book Panels
• While web-crawling, I came across The Greatest Harry Potter Theory Ever?  It makes a couple of interesting points…
• LEGO.com Star Wars Homepage
• Since I’ve already indirectly referenced Mr. Shatner, I’ll go ahead and link to William Shatner: The Dancehall Remix
• Skidmarks 3: Burnin’ Assphalt – Silly, but amusing stop-motion movie.
• I thought that this was funny: Ten New Rock n Roll Ice Cream Flavors for Ben & Jerry
• Tyranist, click here.
• They should release Pirates of Dark Water (1, 2, 3) on DVD.  Wait… maybe not.  I remember how much I anticipated the release of Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers (1, 2, 3) on DVD and how poorly the animation and looping held up.  Maybe they should just redo both series.
• I’d buy a ticket to see this.
• and , click here.

Namaste.

Friday – 25 May 2007
Aside from dropping my mocha – 23½ ounces of pure frozen mocha goodness – on the way into the building this morning, it’s been a good day. Quiet. Only a couple of very small fires to put out. And, I got a headstart by starting the day in the SLC office.

But there is still that whole “I dropped 23½ oz. of frozen mocha goodness” thing. *sigh*

Last night, some of the Clitorati got together for dinner at Olive Garden. I had one of the new featured dishes: Stuffed Chicken Marsala. It was rather good. I recommend it. After dinner, I went home, with the intent of checking my email and then spending some time on the mean streets of Paragon City. I made it as far as checking the email and starting the CoH loader. While waiting for a new patch to be applied, I went into the bedroom and stretched out on the bed, ostensibly “just for a minute.”

Three hours later…

Yeah, the only thing left to do at that point was turn off the lights and go to bed. And that’s what I did.

Stray Toasters

• I have spread the Gospel According to IKEA to and onlyaly. They have seen the light. *genuflect*
• knows of my… affinity… for IKEA. We were talking yesterday and this came up:

[15:23] asdf_cat: so i’ve realized something that might be a serious problem.
[15:23] shadorunr: ?
[15:23] asdf_cat: you.. drive by IKEA twice every day.
[15:23] shadorunr: Yeah.
[15:23] shadorunr: I know.
[15:24] asdf_cat: that just doesn’t seem safe for you or IKEA.
[15:29] shadorunr: http://www.applegeeks.com/comics/viewcomic.php?issue=165
[15:29] shadorunr: It’s kind of like that.
[15:30] shadorunr: http://www.applegeeks.com/comics/viewcomic.php?issue=166
[15:30] asdf_cat: yeah. a problem!
[15:31] shadorunr: Potentially.

• Shortly after this conversation, I remembered that my weekly Status Report was due. And, since it has to go to Mr. , I attached the following to my report. And it took almost NO time to come up with. Apologies to Misters Lee, Lifeson and Peart…

We’ve taken care of everything
From food to eat
To sheets you clean
And hooks on which
Your wet linen can dry

Poäng for all, Amon for one
Put together
Groove and tongue
Lack – tables or shelving
Hung up high…

We are the priests
Of the Temples of Sweden
Our great furniture
Fills the hallowed halls.
We are the Priests
Of the Temples of Sweden
Sofas, beds and lights
Are held with in our walls

• Derek sent me a link to this story, with the following commentary, which made me laugh:

[16:44] Derek: the title made me laugh more than anything
[16:44] shadorunr: Wow.
[16:45] Derek: now we know who let those mother freaking snakes on that mother freaking plane

• just sent me a link to following “news story” (link below) from Utah ABC4. Could they sensationalize this any more?! Or researched it any less?! Monkeys.

[14:54] janietrain: You should be so rpoud of your locals.
[14:54] shadorunr: Hiya.
[14:54] shadorunr: Um…
[14:54] janietrain: http://www.abc4.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoId=65333
[14:54] shadorunr: MD or NC locals?
[14:54] janietrain: Utah locals
[14:54] janietrain: Check out that video.
[14:54] janietrain: You shall laugh until you pee.
[14:55] shadorunr: Very little that they do makes me proud.
[14:55] shadorunr: 🙂
[14:55] shadorunr: *watches*
[14:55] janietrain: hehehe
[14:55] janietrain: This is possibly the most out of touch, reactionary thing I’ve ever seen in the history of TV news.

• J.A.F.O.
• Eric sent me a link to a story on NPR called ‘Rethinking Thin’ and the Myths, Realities of Dieting. It’s about a book by Gina Kolota. When I read her name, the first thing that came to mind was…

If you like Gina Kolota
Getting caught in the rain…

• Demented kids’ book photoshopping contest
• 
• Steampunk turntable

And I’m going to hit “Publish” before Firefox decides to firmly insert its head up its ass. Again.

Namaste.