Random Access

I need to take a break.
That said, I shall take one… now.

So far, the day’s been rather good – that’s a pleasant change from yesterday’s tension. As an added bonus, I’ve been able to get some reading done. That, in turn, has given me a few ideas to adopt that should help improve some of our processes.

Today was also Sushi and Comics Wednesday. Today’s fare was good – I chose a Seattle Roll and a Spicy Tuna Roll. No comics today, as the holiday pushed shipping dates back one day. So, I’ll probably wind up hitting Dr. Volt’s on Friday.

Stray Toasters

• iTunes has been providing me with a good workday music selection.
• Same Stuff, Different Day – an interesting look at how/why comics get rebooted/retconned
  After reading this article, I had an apostrophe epiphany: The whole “Who’s a better GL: Hal or Kyle (or John Stewart or Guy Gardner)” argument – and associated viewpoints – is the same as the “Who’s a better James Bond” question.
• What do you get when you cross zombies and LEGO? Zombie Apocafest 2009
• What do you get when you cross Dance Dance Revolution with Bach’s Toccatta and Fugue in D?

• I say, nothin’ comes from dreamers but dreams
  I say, sittin’ idle in our boat
  While everyone else is down the stream
  Nothin’ comes from talkers but sound
  We can talk all we want to
  But the world still goes around and round
• Comic Book Resources had a trailer for Surrogates, an upcoming Bruce Willis movie. It looks interesting…
• Buffy minus Joss?

That’s good for now.

Back to the grindstone.

Thursday – 21 May 2009
Last night, SaraRules and I went with her father and brother on an expedition to Utah County.  They were heading to Cabela’s and we tagged along. That’s right, another journey to Outdoorsmen ‘R’ Us — Logan wanted to pick up a new fly fishing rod; Steve needed some ammo. So, off we went. There was a Black couple that walked into the store just ahead of us; my first thought: “What are they thinking?!  They’re going in there without a protective shield of White people! They must be lost…” It made me laugh. The rest of the evening was less eventful, but relaxing.

Stray Toasters

• Steampunk D&D Beholder Sculpture
• Rachel sent me a link to You Are What You Eat
• had a few things to say about the outcome of last night’s American Idol finale.
• The Gear of War
• Today is apparently National Waitstaff Day…
• …and, as a friendly reminder: Monday, 25 May 2009, is not only Memorial Day, it’s Towel Day, as well.

  

• : You might consider getting this for either (or both) of the kids.
• While talking with Nathan about Star Wars and Star Trek, I came across an IMDb listing for something called Star Trek vs. Batman, a fanfilm. I actually watched some of the first part. Fascinating… in a geeky/dorky kind of way.
• A&E has a sweepstakes in which you can win a trip to Las Vegas to see Hammer in concert. (You know… in case you missed his tour with Vanilla Ice a few months ago.)
• LEGO: Building Block of Post-War Hope
• From the “Take the Money and Run” file: NZ hunts accidental millionaires
• V teaser – The Aliens Are Our Friends

Moving right along…

Namaste.

Tuesday – 19 May 2009
Yesterday was a lazy day. And, after the past few days, a day to just… relax and hang out… was just what the doctor ordered. The highlights of the day included: a visit to see , a trip to Far West Comics, a trip to Lollicup (SaraRules wanted boba tea) and going to look at bad dresses at a local store. Oddly enough, we actually liked most of the dresses in their window displays; I don’t think that’s happened before. We came home and watched a couple of episodes of NCIS as well as another episode of Planet Earth, “Mountains.” By the way, if you haven’t watched Planet Earth, I heartily recommend it.

Later this morning, SaraRules and I are heading down to Camp Williams for Jess’ interment. She’s being buried with full military honors.

This afternoon, the IT team is going to lunch at Tucano’s. This is our reward for finishing the server room upgrade before the end of the month… and making sure that it all works the way it’s supposed to.

Tonight, Chris is coming over to play ‘Clix. I should probably finalize the team that I want to use. Details, details…

Stray Toasters

• It is National Backyard Games Week.
• sent me a link to Lawyers: To Save Newspapers, Let’s Pretty Much Destroy Everythings Else Good
• Also by way of Nyx: Meet the Incredible Hulk of Hounds
• Drew pointed me in the direction of LEGO USB Hubs
• …and, since we’re on the subject of LEGO:
  • Space Marine Light Assault Vehicle (that’s right, it’s a Warthog… made of LEGO!)
  • Mini UNSC Pelican dropship and Warthog
  • New LEGO Architecture Sets
  • For – Danger Mouse, the greatest secret agent in the world!
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Camera Misses the Mark on Racial Sensitivity
• Do You Trust Elevators? Maybe You Shouldn’t
• I saw this commercial and it made me laugh: Intel Star

• What’s Inside WD-40? Superlube’s Secret Sauce
• Atomic Disruptor Raygun: steampunk gun made from radios and cameras
• 
• Asimov’s Laws of Robotics Are Total BS
• Obama Speeds Up Fuel Economy Standards, Sets First Carbon Limit

As it’s my first day back since Thursday, I should probably take a look around and see what’s what.

Namaste.

Thursday: Coda
SaraRules and I just got back from seeing J. J. Abrams’ Star Trek with most of the IT team.

And it was good. Quite good. I think that it was a rather satisfying bridging of the old and the new. There was something there for both long-time fans of the original show and movies as well as new fans. The story was good. The actors played their roles well – and I was very happy to note that “secondary” characters like Checkov and Uhura and Sulu were given personalities and were allowed to be characters, not just cardboard cutouts.

I happily give this movie a thumbs-up with an okay… I’ve finally come up with a new rating system: The LEGO brick:

And with that in mind, I give the new Star Trek…. nine bricks.

Namaste.

Monday – 04 May 2009
I slept in this morning. I was surprised to find out by how much I slept in, actually. But, it both felt good and I apparently needed the rest.

As I noted yesterday, we – and a few of the usual suspects – saw X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It was a good summer popcorn movie. Yes, they played a little fast and loose with some continuity, but not so much that it was disturbing to me; I found it a nice blend of comic continutity with (some of) the previously established continuity of the first two X-Men movies. I give it a definite thumbs up with an okay.

We then headed over to SaraRules’ parents’ for dinner and the start of a movie. Dinner was a very tasty beef stew; the movie was Catalina Caper. More specifically: The Mystery Science Theater 3000 version of Catalina Caper. While I realize that virtually any movie that wound up on MST3K was “bad,” this movie set the bar to an all-time… low, I guess. The most entertaining thing about the twenty or thirty minutes that we made it through was Little Richard, and he wasn’t even “all there,” it seemed.

Back home for a rather lazy evening: I played a little City of Heroes and worked on some props for my Heroclix City; SaraRules did some reading.

Stray Toasters

• Art student’s car vanishing act
• Supermen!: The First Wave of Comic Book Heroes 1939-41
  ::: adds to The Covet List :::
• LEGO Torture Scenes Protest Media Censorship
• 
• Photoshop Contest: Cartoon Ren 3
• NASA to begin layoffs as shuttle retirement nears
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” files: Warner Music to Warner Music: You are pirates!
• Free Range Kids author says: Raise kids without fear!
• Photos of food and their sugar cube equivalent
• Five years (FIVE YEARS!) after the “wardrobe malfunction” incident, it seems as though CBS is still under the gun and may still be fined for it.

And, as I’m taking the day off, there’s nothing officially on tap. I like that.

Namaste.

Saturday – 02 May 2009
It’s 9:30, grey and rainy… and I’ve already been up for two hours.

SaraRules and I are heading down to Cedar City this morning. We’re going to the CPVA Commencement for the (now) second-years in her program/department, including Rachel and Tyler. We got up a little early because:

1. She has Quilt Club this morning and
2. We wanted to grab a bite to eat at Paradise Bakery and Cafe.

We haven’t been to Paradise for… close to, if not more than, a year. It was a nice change of pace our respective breakfasts were tasty.

Stray Toasters

• Today is Free Comic Book Day. Go get free stuff!
• Prelate Derek found a LEGO Super Mario and forwarded the link.
• Battle Looms Over Souter Successor
• Ryan Reynolds, who portrays Deadpool in the new X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie, was a guest on The Late Late Show last night. It was a fun – and funny – interview. While I’m not a huge Deadpool fan, I found his portrayal to be fairly well in line with what I remember of the character.
• For and shockpuppet: When the Engineer Gardens
• Models As Muses

Time to get ready to pull up stakes.

Namaste.

Thursday – 30 April 2009
It’s another NBN Thursday and this one kicks off a four-day weekend. Selah.

Last night was a lazy evening in, which was nice.  SaraRules and I watched Tuesday night’s episode of NCIS, “Legend,” the first of two parts which introduces the “Office of Special Projects.” (It looks as though NCIS is about to spin-off a new series in the same manner in which it was spun-off from from JAG.) The new group features LL Cool J, Chris O’Donnell and Louise Lombard, late of CSI:. SaraRules made the observation that Lombard’s character, Lara Macy, was virtually no different than her CSI: character, Sofia Curtis – her hair, clothing and overall disposition was exactly the same.  (We also had an apparent age discrepancy issue… but that’s a story for another time.)

The episode took Gibbs and McGee to L.A., to work on a joint investigation with OSP, while Tony and Ziva remained in D.C. There were a couple of references to “Judgment Day,” the episodes in which then-NCIS Director Jeny Shepard took Tony and Ziva to L.A. and wound up getting killed; those scenes created a couple of tense moments, which I thought played well to character development. On the whole, the episode was good and it will be interesting to see how the new series does, if it gets off the ground.

Stray Toasters

• SaraRules started setting up wedding registries last night.
• referenced an interesting comment on MetaTalk this morning:
  

  My favorite thought-piece about Ferris Bueller is the “Fight Club” theory, in which Ferris Bueller, the person, is just a figment of Cameron’s imagination, like Tyler Durden, and Sloane is the girl Cameron secretly loves.

  One day while he’s lying sick in bed, Cameron lets “Ferris” steal his father’s car and take the day off, and as Cameron wanders around the city, all of his interactions with Ferris and Sloane, and all the impossible hijinks, are all just played out in his head. This is part of the reason why the “three” characters can see so much of Chicago in less than one day — Cameron is alone, just imagining it all.

  It isn’t until he destroys the front of the car in a fugue state does he finally get a grip and decide to confront his father, after which he imagines a final, impossible escape for Ferris and a storybook happy ending for Sloane (“He’s gonna marry me!”), the girl that Cameron knows he can never have.

• Lose the Fish and Justice LEGO of America
• Obama “Pleased” But Says Much Work Remains
• For Free Comic Book Day, DC Comics is releasing Corps 101: The Sinestro Corps
• 
• Raising Katie: What adopting a white girl taught a black family about race in the Obama era
• For the fashionable gamer in your life: Wiimote Cufflinks
• Windows 7 Will Be Free for a Year
  • Microsoft To Disable Autorun
• Virgin America Now Serves Absinthe
• One Nation, Seven Sins

…right on to the friction of the day

Namaste.

Tuesday – 21 April 2009
Another sunny and warm day in the valley. It was even warm enough for me to leave home without a jacket! (Of course, I had an extra jacket already in the car. Just in case…)

Last night, came over for dinner. SaraRules fixed chicken and dumplings… and they were delicious, as usual. We sat, ate and chatted away the better part of the evening. ‘Twas good.

Stray Toasters

• Holocaust Remembrance Day marked
• LEGO Rock Band unveiled, slated for ’09 release
• Prelate Derek sent me a link to a tongue-in-cheek look at the appeal of Twilight‘s Edward called Midnight Sun: Edward Undone
• First Look: New Robin Hood on point with ‘Gladiator’
• UN puts global treasures online
• Inevitable Betrayal t-shirt
• sent a link: Cassini’s continuing mission – The Big Picture
• J.J. Abrams on the Magic of Mystery

Namaste.

Friday – 17 April 2009
Another 9/80 “off” Friday has begun. I managed to sleep in until a little after 9:00 this morning. That was nice. After a quick bite to eat, SaraRules and I headed to the gym to get in a workout. Today’s routine included:

• Leg Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 140 lbs
• Kick-backs: 3 sets/10 reps, 60 lbs
• Calf Raises: 3 sets/10 reps, 100 lbs
• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps
  • 2½ sets @ 205 lbs
  • ½ set @ 185 lbs
• Fly: 3 sets/10 reps, 110 lbs
• Curl w/ Shoulder Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 20 lbs
• Bent-over Row: 3 sets/10 reps, 35 lbs
• Tricep Extension (rope): 3 sets/10 reps, 45 lbs

Post-workout weight: 182.5 lbs.

We also ran into Josh, a former coworker, while in the free weight room. That was a pleasant and unexpected surprise.

Stray Toasters

• I wound up getting the Mayhem Rail and Wildwood Grove sets for my masterboard. With the other corners that I have, I can fully populate two city blocks… and then some.
• SaraRules showed me LEGO Chocolate Wedding Favors.  (If only I could find some LEGO  ice trays…)
• forwared a link to Uncomfortable Plot Summaries
• For those of you in the SLC metro area:

  
  (click image for details)

• Obama Proposes High-Speed Rail System for the US
• Motorized LEGO Mech
• CIA Officials Won’t Face Charges for Waterboarding
• Green Lantern to film in Australia in November
• 
• How did Batman’s alter ego, Bruce Wayne, get his name? Find out here (about halfway down the page).
• Trendsetters on the Streets of New York: Then and Now
• Faster Than a Speeding Bullwhip: Superman Creator’s Kinktastic Art
• 

  (click image to read the Brothers Brick article)

• From NPR Music:
  • Bringing Up Baby, As Music Lovers Might
  • How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall? YouTube, YouTube, YouTube
• Device Keeps Lungs Breathing Outside Body

Next up: Errand-running and miscellaneous stuff.
Later: Clitorati

Namaste.

Thursday – 16 April 2009
After the rain and snow that we received yesterday, it’s sunny (with high clouds) today. There’s a rumor that it’s actually supposed to be “nice” this weekend. We shall see…

Last night was a relatively lazy, low-key night. I started cutting a second masterboard for a new ‘Clix city block. Mmm, 6’x3′ playing area… I think that this one will include a railroad. Just because. I should also figure out what else I want on the block, building-wise. I have… 6 corners available; I am considering picking up the Mayhem Rail and either Wildwood Grove or the Mayhem Police Department sets.

Stray Toasters

• John Madden (yes, THAT “John Madden”) is retiring. (1, 2)
• I am connected to yet another high school classmate on Facebook. I’m finding it both weird and good to catch up with folks I haven’t seen/talked with in many years.
• Commentary: April 15 is patriots’ day.
  This use for “Patriots’ Day” is one that I can get behind.
• Sexy Star Trek Dossier Gives Your Enterprise Crew Run Down
• As part of the server room upgrades, they are doing some electrical work. There’s a worker not too far from my desk who is cutting conduit with a hacksaw. (“You can do a lot with a hacksaw…”) He was using very short and rapid movements to cut the conduit; my first thought went immediately to Charlie Daniels’ playing at the opening and chorus of The Devil Went Down to Georgia.
• Is Your Mood a Result of Where You Live?
• Showing that there’s more to Sweden than just IKEA and Volvo: Swedish church unveils LEGO statue of Jesus Christ
• Thanks to Rachel for pointing this out:

  

• Strip search review tests limits of school drug policy
• By way of MarknTyme: Homemade Wall of Death (video)
• Emerald Night (And, for the record, it has nothing to do with Green Lanterns)
• Florida to Build Solar-Powered City

Madden… retiring…
Wow.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 31 March 2009
It’s hard to believe that March is nearly over already.

Last night, SaraRules and I had “Sunday dinner” with her family. We also watched Quantum of Solace. I still enjoy the movie and, to a lesser degree, the theme song… but the theme still sounds a bit too disjointed and/or like it’s trying too hard to be a Bond theme. *shrug* While there, her father offered me a taste of something new at Whole Foods: Double Cream White Chocolate Milk. Wow. It was good. VERY good, in fact.

Back at home, SaraRules did some quilting and I read last week’s comics. The standouts of the haul were:

• Captain America #48 – In this issue, Bucky/Winter Soldier/Cap, Namor and Black Widow wrap up a few loose ends from Cap’s time as the Winter Soldier. And, while he’s never been a favorite character of mine, it was nice to see Namor’s wrath directed at a target who deserved it for an actual affront, rather than a perceived one.
• Fantastic 4: #565 – This was the second part of a holiday story that saw the FF and family on vacation in Scotland. To be honest, the first half of the story didn’t exactly wow me; the finale, however, was good. I was also surprised at how the issue ended: A “thank you” letter from someone the FF saved during the issue’s adventure.
• R.E.B.E.L.S. #2 – More adventures of Vril Dox (Brainiac 2) and his attempt to wrest control of his L.E.G.I.O.N. operation from his usurpers. Supergirl and the LSH’s Brainiac 5 are on-hand to lend assistance, as well.
• Wonder Woman #30 – Readers finally meet The Olympian, whose arrival has been hinted at for a while. We also learn just how far Dr. Barbara Minerva, the Cheetah, is willing to go to try and break Diana. (Hint: It’s pretty far.) But, readers also see just how far Diana is willing to let herself be pushed… and how far she’s willing to push back.

Stray Toasters

• Trekker recreates classic Star Trek scenes with LEGO
• Star Wars considered as an episode of Dallas

  …and then there’s also Star Trek: Love Boat and Star Trek: The A-Team, if you need more.

• Chernobyl Today: A Creepy Story Told in Pictures
• 
• Green to the Corps
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Bank pushing 120% APR loans
  I think that it could/should even be considered for “monkeys!” too.
• Top 50 WTF Moments in Comics
• Astro Boy trailer online

That’s good for now.

Namaste.

Monday – 30 March 2009
The new work week began with a new dusting of snow. There was a little slush on the streets, but nothing insurmountable. I came in a little early this morning because I had a “special project” to work on:

Our department has had a running… practical joke… for the past couple months: “An object” will magically appear at someone’s desk (usually in their chair or in a drawer) when they are away from their desk. I wound up with it about a week ago; Sean, one of my employees, tagged me with “the gift.” I promised him that I’d get even. And I waited…

This past Thursday and Friday, Sean was out of the office. He was having surgery…

…and that was when I formulated my revenge. I figured that I could kill two birds with one stone: Payback for getting “the gift” and “welcome back” all in one.

Last night, I went out and picked up the things I’d need. This morning, I came in and set them up. The time and effort were worth the investment for the expression on Sean’s face when he came in this morning. Pictures can be seen here.

Revenge is a dish best served cold. And it is very cold in space…
-Khan Noonian Singh

This morning also brought with it some server troubles. It took a bit to suss out where the problem started, but once we got that figured out, it was just a matter of getting the right people on the task. So far, it looks like things are working the way they’re supposed to.

Stray Toasters

• The wedding website is getting under way. Ms. SaraRules said that she didn’t really want anything elaborate, mostly she just wanted a centralized place for people to be able to get information about the wedding and what have you. We agreed to just go with a WordPress blog and be done with it. Now, we just have to add content…
• Last night, SaraRules and I watched Pride & Prejudice. I’d never seen it before. It was cute… although, I wanted to wring the neck of Mrs. Bennet almost every time she was on-screen. And, in more than a few scenes, Keira Knightley reminded me of a young Winona Rider.
• Welcome to LEGO. These are your business cards
• 15 vintage household ads in which women are not entirely condescended to
• 
• Obama gives car firms deadlines
• The gaming computer you dreamed of in 1983
• By way of : Reader Roundtable Survey: Here Comes the Cavalry
• found this icon, which amuses me:

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Thursday – 26 March 2009
There are light flurries again this morning. *shrug* I think that it’s supposed to creep back into (or at least near) the 60s this weekend.

Last night, after stopping to say “Hi” to , SaraRules and I went walking. (Hey, it’s exercise…)  As it was cold and wet outside, we opted to go walking at South Towne Center. I hadn’t been there in… longer than I can remember. Mall-walking has the added benefit of allowing you to pick and pan the latest fashions in the window displays. We did. There were a number of dresses in one store’s windows that we found… “aesthetically unpleasing.” But, we were also pretty sure that somewhere a high school-aged young lady would think that they were the greatest things ever. Also while walking through the mall, I found $20 USD. Just lying there on the ground. WIN! We also discovered that there are TWO Bank of America ATMs in the mall. O,o ?!? (For those of you who don’t understand why this is noteworthy: BoA doesn’t have branches in this state… AND they happen to be my bank. Thus, finding a veritable last bastion of banking goodness makes me quite happy.) Seeing the ATMs also raised a question: Who services these machines? We guess that someone from either Idaho, Nevada or Wyoming must have to cover them on their routes.

After getting back home, we watched NCIS, The Late Show and The Late Late Show. Just before heading off to bed, I decided to give “The Fickle Finger of Fate” method to channel surfing and see what was on. One of the things I found was Blacula. I haven’t seen that in ages. It made me laugh, but I still turned off the TV and called it a night.

Stray Toasters

• How to Change the World
• Bankrupting the Arts: State budget cuts could change Baltimore’s cultural landscape forever
• Thanks to for pointing this out: LEGO Batman is being ported to the Mac
• Also from : Project Runway finalist denies cat used as weapon
• From baby to blog to memoir for Heather Armstrong – I couldn’t remember why the name “Heather Armstrong” sounded familiar until reading this article. She’s a blogger from SLC, whose site I’ve read from time to time.
• Mythbusters Accidentally Bust Windows in Nearby Town
• Internet Explorer 8 “critical” flaw in final version – Is this a surprise? Really…?
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: British local governments deploy anti-teenager pink lights designed to make kids ashamed of their appearance
• 
• id Releases Open Source Wolfenstein 3D for iPhone
• The whole wide world
  An endless universe
  Yet we keep looking through
  The eyeglass in reverse
  Don’t feed the people
  But we feed the machines
  Can’t really feel
  What international meansIn different circles
  We keep holding our ground
  Indifferent circles
  We keep spinning round and round
• Remixes of the paranoid London police “anti-terror”/suspect your neighbours posters
• TV, films go boldly down scientific path
• Does this mean that Banjo Hero is around the corner?
• Anatomical models for artist’s reference – Now available in Dr. Manhattan model, too!

…right on to the friction of the day.

Namaste.

Friday – 20 March 2009
Welcome to the first day of Spring. I think that temps here are supposed to top out around 70ºF. Then, there’s also supposed to drop by Sunday… and I heard something somewhere about a possibility of snow. We’ll see how that goes.

The cable tech showed up around 1430 yesterday. It took him roughly 20 minutes to track down the problems. Yes, plural. The problems were:

1. A Comcast technician had been out Tuesday, working on a problem for another customer, did a “fix” that did something to adversely affect other customers connected to that junction box.
2. There was a splitter in one of the connections in the apartment was old and was causing further signal degradation.

He fixed both issues. The whole thing took a little under an hour.

Before heading home, I had coffee with my friend, Frankie. Things seem to be going well for her.

Next, I headed out to ‘s place to hang out with her for a bit.

Today is my “off” Friday. I haven’t really done much, aside from watching a couple of BSG reruns – there’s a marathon on SciFi. Apparently, the series finale is tonight; I guess I’ll have to go back and check out the whole series.

Stray Toasters

• Lewis ‘proud’ to begin, end career with Ravens
• Grant Morrison talks Brainy Comics, Sexy Apocalypse
• Newsarama has a feature called DC Direct: A Little of What’s to Come, which also features a look at some of the new figures from Blackest Night (spoilers)…
• …and Green Into Black: Geoff Johns on the Night to Come
• Sacramento to make its tent-city permanent?
• Star Wars/Dali tattoo:
  
• Home One – 7ft Mon Calamari Star Cruiser
• Kentucky Officials “Changed Votes At Voting Machines”
• Newsarama also had an article about “green heroes” for St. Patrick’s Day. Two of the items I found most amusing from that piece were:
  

  5. Brainiac 5: Though he’s been played a few different ways, I’ll always cotton to arrogant and annoyed Brainy the best. One of my favorite stories early in my long-life as a Legion reader was when the team had to get Brainy out of the insane asylum to help the Subs defeat the League of Super-Assassins. I remember reading that as a kid and thinking, “Whoa! Super-heroes go insane?!” Indeed. And they can also be smarter-than-thou pains in the ass. Which is why I love Brainiac 5.

  4. Martian Manhunter: Oreos, man. His incredibly fun stint in the JLI aside, J’onn gets a high nod from me because he’s always been, to my mind, the heart of the JLA. Played to great effect in other tales, like the JL animated series or The New Frontier, J’onn remains that classic sci-fi conundrum: a character that wants to understand humanity without realizing how humane he actually is.

• Apple and AT&T Sued, Again, Over 3G
• SciFi is airing a movie called I Am Omega tomorrow. It looks like a poor man’s rip-off of I Am Legend and/or The Omega Man.
• …and SciFi is changing its name to SyFy.  *shakes head*

Namaste.

Thursday – 19 March 2009
After work yesterday, I hooked up the new cable receiver. There was still heavy pixelation on the screen and intermittent sound. *sigh* I decided to get back to it later. Next, I went to visit . I hung out for a couple of hours and then went to get a bite to eat with and Mr. and Mrs. … during which time I got to play 20 Questions with respect to a lot of wedding plans.

When I got home, I decided to check on the cable box one more time. Still “No Go,” Flight. *grblsnrkx* On a whim, I tried bypassing the box and plugging the cable directly into the television. Lo and behold, I had a picture – and sound – with NO pixelation. All the same, I should be getting a visit from a technician this afternoon to try and track down the source/nature of the problem. I wound up watching The Late Late Show and then the Janeway and the Barbie Borg Show (for the first time in many, many months). Realizing that it was closing on 0200 – and that I had been up since 0530 – I figured that I should call it a night.

Falling asleep was no easy task: My neck and shoulders were achy and I couldn’t find a comfortable position to alleviate any of the pain. But, I managed to nod off. I woke up a little after 0400 and the pain felt just as bad – if not worse. Enter: Aleve. Back to sleep. I neglected to set my normal alarm (BAH!), but woke up with my secondary went off… for a minute. I decided to catch a few more minutes of sleep. When I got up, my neck and shoulders felt MUCH better and I figured that I could pretty much start the day. And I did.

Stray Toasters

• I have been blessed with some very cool friends.
• Egyptian women blog for their rights
• I forgot to post my 2009 NCAA brackets last night; here they are, for better or worse:


(click image for larger version)

• Drawn!
• On a whim, I decided to see if there was a site called “Quartered,” too. Turns out there’s… something… at quartered.org.
• Competition committee aims to change ‘Hochuli Rule,’ others
• By way of Jake Theis: Confessions of a Part-Time Sorceress
• 
• Austrian Fitzl sentenced to life
• Robo-Voice’s Greatest Hits, or How Advanced Spy Tech Topped Music Charts
• One of the better LEGO interpretations I’ve seen: LEGO iPod Racer, powered by Mac Mini

Back to it.

Namaste.