Random Access

There was only one meeting today… and it was done in fairly short order.  This project seems to be moving along fairly well.

The sun is out… but it’s still a tad chilly outside, according to The Weather Channel. I don’t know first-hand – Wes worked out of the AF office today and, thus, we didn’t go to workout at lunch. On the plus side, that’s an hour and change that I don’t have to make up on the back end of the day. All things considered, I guess it’s a good thing that I did last night’s cardio workout.

Stray Toasters

• Tents on wheels give homeless people roof and pride
• If, for some reason, you haven’t checked out How It Should Have Ended, you should.
• Baggies (video)
  If you are at work – or around children – you’ll want to have headphones.
• Extreme Mac Mini Case Mod
• Terrific special effects reel by 12-year-old (video)
• By way of (though indirectly) come the following:
  • This comic
  • and this one
• LEGO Watchmen minifigs
• By way of and Snopes.com: I Don’t Like Mondays

Tonight: ‘Clix at Chris’ place.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 04 March 2009
Midweek. And only two more days to Watchmen.  And the new Star Trek trailer. Selah.
And, as if that’s not enough, it’s Comics and Sushi Wednesday.
Win-Win.

Last night, I headed to Chris’ for Round Two of our JLA/Injustice League fight. The match started off slowly, but we eventually moved our pieces into position for smacking each other’s teams around… and then both of us had to deal with hot and cold streaks with our dice. In the end, my dice decided to effectively go on holiday and Chris wound up with a win. We both enjoyed the fight with the two teams and may revisit this in the not-too-distant future. I think that our next match will be the (Teen) Titans vs. the X-Men.

Stray Toasters

• I neglected to take my camera to Chris’ last night, so no pics of the game… or of my two mods.
• By way of Nyx: How To Make an Anatomically Correct LEGO Cake
  (Despite it’s title, it’s quite work-safe.)
• The Repair Manifesto
• Design for a nine-square-foot house
• This user icon makes me laugh:

  

• Ladies and gentlemen… Morris Day and The Time!
  
  Morris Day & The Time – The Bird
• From The Daily What: Ways To Be Cool
• Christian salt, a wingnut alternative to kosher salt
• Smokey and the Bandit would have been a much different movie with a few of these…

Quote of the Day
Today’s gem comes from an NPR story about a man fighting court fees for badminton in San Francisco.

Today’s “Last Word in Business” comes from Ed Leong. The former San Francisco Housing Inspector is an avid player of badminton.  He’s been whacking shuttlecocks…. there’s a phrase that I didn’t know you could get away with saying on the radio….

You can find the story – and the audio (RealPlayer, I think) – here.

Namaste.

I decided to wear a button-down collared shirt and tie to work today. (On days when it’s under 70F outside, like today, I often/usually wear a (mock) turtleneck.) I’ve gotten a number of questions/comments, including but not limited to:

• “Got an interview?”
• “Bucking for a raise?”
• “Going ‘East Coast’ on them today?” (from a normally out-of-the-office employee)
• “What’s the occasion?”
• “You make me nervous when I see you in a tie…” (from our CEO, which made me smile)

At one point, Paul (My boss, 2 rungs up the ladder) made a comment about my tie and quipped back,”No, I have a meeting with my Bishop… oh, wait… I’m not LDS.” To which he responded – without missing a beat: “No, but you are getting married…. and it would probably shock the Hell out of one if you went in as a non-member and asked to meet with him.” I couldn’t argue with his logic.

Stray Toasters

• I think that SaraRules and I have selected two of the songs we need for the three first dances of the reception.
• 
• Mental Floss has provided a number of interesting items:
  • What’s a Hulu? The Origins of 8 High-Tech Names
  • 9 People, Places & Things That Changed Their Names
  • 8 Successful People Grateful They Got Canned
  • What Your Favorite Teams Were Almost Called
• Gizmodo also had some fun items:
  • If You’d Used the Human Relations Calculator, You Wouldn’t Be in This Divorce Mess
    (Hell, with this, who would need eHarmony?!)
  • Rebirth of the Big Wheel: Matias Conti’s Transformable Spin Vehicle
• Micro Battlestar Galactica Hangar

Back to the grind…

Tuesday – 24 February 2009
Happy Birthday to .  Congratulations on successfully avoiding the clutches of the Dark Lady for another year.

And, Happy Birthday to Coworker Tom:

Last night, SaraRules and I watched Spenser: The Judas Goat. It was good… for a 90’s TV movie. And it was a fun return to a series that I enjoy(ed). There was a “new” Susan in this movie, played by Wendy Crewson. Even though she had limited screen time, I liked her portrayal better than that of Barbara Williams.

Stray Toasters

• We have waffles – being freshly made – in the office today.
• I was “somewhat” mistaken yesterday when I said that the Chocolate Coworker Count went up by 100%. It actually went up by 200%, but the second guy will be based out of our Virginia office after he’s done with training.
• , those links I mentioned last night are:

1. This one and
2. This other one

• 16 Foot Tall LEGO Pharoah Floats Down the River Thames
• Mac Mini inside an Apple Disk II Case
• SaraRules and Tyranist, I want your take on this one: The Top 20 Greatest Horror Writers of All Time
• 10 Essential Facts about X-Men Origins: Wolverine
• Carrie Fisher’s Wishful Drinking

  

• The Nine Weirdest PSAs Ever Made
• Green Lantern is the next DCU Animated feature… due later this year! It will feature Hal Jordan, as voiced by Law & Order: SVU‘s Christopher Meloni.

Namaste.

Sunday – 22 February 2009
Friday afternoon, SaraRules and I went to check out a couple of possible wedding venues: Heritage Gardens and the Post Chapel at Fort Douglas. Both had their pros and cons. We still have two more places to check out before rendering our final decision.

Saturday had a good mixture of productivity and leisure. After starting the morning with breakfast and Batman: The Brave and the Bold, I did some cleaning and organizing around the apartment – including getting my HeroClix figures back into their respective storage spaces – before spending the evening at OnlyAly and ‘s, playing poker. Before the cleaning spree, I also managed to get new pictures of my growing ‘Clix map, including Corner #5: Building cluster. (Hint: It’s the one with the skyscraper.)

Today has been fairly lazy, so far. I don’t know that we really have anything on tap to change that, either.

Stray Toasters

• Zombie Food Pyramid, by way of
• Parent of gamer asks son to honor the Geneva Conventions
• ABC Family cancels The Middleman.  Bastards. Maybe someone else will pick it up…
• And, in a semi-related note: On the demise of books, newspapers, music and movies
• Hardware Store Offers Bush Job as Greeter
• iPod Killer: LEGO MP3 Player

That’s good for now.

Namaste.

Thursday – 19 February 2009
Another Thursday/Friday begins. I’ve already been informed that if I would like to day to remain an NBN Thursday, that I should avoid the boss two rungs up the ladder – his day was already shot… two hours ago. On the plus side, I figured out “Hurdle One” with a PHP/SQL program I’m working on, now I get to add features onto it.

Last night was a lazy night in: NCIS (from Tuesday night) and reading of yesterday’s comics haul. Of the books that I read, the standouts were:

• Action Comics #874
• Batman #686: “What Ever Happened to the Caped Crusader?”
• Black Lightning: Year One #4
• Green Lantern Corps #33
• Supergirl #38
• Tiny Titans #13

Additionally, my copy of Teenagers from the Future: Essays on the Legion of Super-Heroes came in yesterday.  I’m looking forward to reading it.

Other than that, it’s another fun-filled, action-packed day in paradise…

Stray Toasters

• The new issue of RAILBRICKS is out.
• …in a related note, Emerald Night (which is not Green Lantern-related) is coming soon.
• ‘Racist’ US cartoon causes stir
• Iraqi shoe thrower: Bush’s ‘soulless smile’ set me off
• Guess what’s coming to the SLC metro area…

  
  (click image for news)

• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Obama sushi
• Half-Life: Escape from City-17

• Steampunk Frankenstein casemod
• By way of and the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: The Grilled Cheese Invitational

Namaste.

Friday – 13 February 2009
Happy Birthday to Rana (Sib-1):

Last night, after watching CSI:, SaraRules and I watched Spenser: Ceremony. (Thanks, Netflix!) Again, it was enjoyable; this time we noticed the point at which it diverged from the book – at the very end of the story, actually. (The book didn’t have quite as happy an ending as the movie.)

I also assembled a garage for my ‘Clix map. Hopefully, I’ll be able to do the armory and gas station before getting together with Chris for our game this weekend.

Stray Toasters

• Best LEGO Sets in History
• Shirley Manson was on The Late Late Show last night… and may be on again tonight.
• French Vanilla ice cream and ginger snaps
• 9/11 widow apparently on Buffalo flight
• Thanks to (and Gizmodo) for pointing out this freebie!
• Men’s Guide to Style Manifesto
• This will be the first Sunday – of six months of Sundays – without football.
• Apple says jailbreaking iPhones is illegal and should be banned
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Amazon sells rape simulation game
  WHO thought this was “a good idea?!”

Song of the Day
For today’s song, I’m going back “a few” years: Swing Out Sister – Breakout

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Wes almost backed out of going to the gym this afternoon. Fortunately, he didn’t and we had a pretty good workout:

• Leg Raises: 3 sets/15 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 205 lbs
• Lat Pull-downs: 3 sets/10 reps, 120 lbs
• Rows (Nautilus, compound): 3 sets/10 reps, 130 lbs
• Lateral Raises (with fly): 3 sets/10 reps – 2 sets @ 10 lbs, 1 set @ 12 lbs
• Shoulder Press (dumbbell): 3 sets/10 reps, 35 lbs
• Tricep Extensions (rope): 3 sets/15 reps, 60 lbs

Post workout weight: 184.9 lbs

Stray Toasters

• “To boldly take your fetish geekery where no one has gone before…”
• And, in an oddly-related note, sent by Coworker DaveW: “That Jean-Luc Picard“
• I like LEGO zombies
• Ledger fans demand The Joker retired from film.
  Nine Hells.  Yes, he did a great job. Stellar, even. But… he was not – nor will he ever be – the only person to ever play The Joker. Get over it and move on.  This campaign is about as silly as saying “Don’t make any more James Bond movies if/when (fill in your favorite Bond portrayer) dies!” *sigh* Monkeys.
• Body dragged nearly 20 miles on NYC highways
• LEGO Star Wars magnets make collecting rare minifigs cheaper
• Pac-Man Ghost Lamps

Back to the grind.

Tuesday – 10 February 2009
Snow is falling across the valley. Oddly enough, the road monkeys seem to be behaving… for them. That, in itself, is impressive.

Last night was a lazy night in. SaraRules fixed a tasty goulash dish and we watched a couple of NCIS reruns and  24. (Oh, Jack Bauer, you’re such a scamp.) She quilted, I nerded. And we also enjoyed some green tea yogurt from Red Mango. We also caught an episode of Unwrapped that featured an abbreviated tour of the Tastykake factory.

Stray Toasters

• The Council for Better Driving: Utah would like to remind motorists to watch your speed and spacing when driving in today’s weather.
• Mistrial declared in 12-year-old girl’s alleged assault on police officer
  • Final arguments in trial against 12-year-old girl mistaken for hooker
    
• Actor James Whitmore has passed away.
• USB devices stuffed into LEGO
• New York Comic-Con was this past weekend. A few items of note from it:
  • DC’s Superman Panel and Superman – Building a Better Tomorrow
  • DCU Online Panel
  • Green Lantern: Blackest Night, with Eddie Berganza (video)
  • Marvel and Activision Panel
  • The X-Men Panel
  • Hickman and Eaglesham talk Fantastic Four
  • Comic Book Resources also… drafted (?)… Jill Pantozzi, maintainer of Has Boobs, Reads Comics, as a reporter/commentator.  I like her style and may have to follow her blog more regularly.
• Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
• My favorite part of Newsarama’s review of Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #3 (of 5) was:
  

  Seriously, if you aren’t having a blast reading Legion of 3 Worlds, you should stop reading superhero books, because you’ve lost your joy. Conversely, if you’ve been looking for a fun experience after too many books have been bogged down by disconnect and bleak self-importance, you have arrived.

• Slashdot slashdots Slashdot
• I finally managed to track down a reasonably-priced Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)/Star Sapphire pair of Minimates.
• Hallucinations that are tied to eye disease

Meetings!  WHEEEEEE!

Namaste.

Friday – 06 February 2009
Today is Bit’s first birthday:

And, in other news, it’s my day off. I actually caught myself watching part of The Price Is Right. Fortunately, I noticed that Bravo was airing The West Wing.

Last night, shockpuppet and came over for dinner. SaraRules fixed maple chicken with mashed sweet potatoes and green beans. Both the dinner and the company were excellent.

Four-Color Coverage
After our guests left, I read this week’s comics. Of the six books that I picked up, there were three standouts:

• Dark Reign: Secret Warriors #1 – A few years ago, Nick Fury disappeared. It eventually came to light that he was aware of… something… that wasn’t right in the world and went underground to find out what. The first thing that he found about was the impending Skrull invasion. The second was… well, you should read this book to find out. To combat his growing list of issues, Fury assembled a team of agents – super-powered agents – to handle the “heavy lifting,” so to speak. It was a good read, with interesting implications for the Marvel Universe.
• Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #3 (of 5) – Superboy-Prime. Mordru. The LSV. The 31st Century anti-alien Justice League. Superman… and the Legion. Correction: Three Legions – The “classic” LSH, Legionnaires and the Reboot Legion. And God bless George Perez – that man draws one hell of a splash page. And big fight scenes. And… and… yeah. Geoff Johns wrote a solid issue that even sees the return of [spoiler deleted]. Yep, definitely looking forward to Issue #4.
• X-Men: Noir #3 – I’m really enjoying this take on the X-mythos. Fred Van Lente even threw in a nod to the classic Scott-Jean-Logan triangle. Readers also got a look into the Magnus family dynamic and it’s quirks. Not only that, there was also an… explosive… scene including Pryor Airlines. Another good read.

Workout
Yesterday’s workout was a slightly modified version of Tuesday’s workout:

• Leg Raises: 3 sets/20 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 205 lbs
• Lat Pull-downs (behind the head): 3 sets/15 reps, 110 lbs
• Row (Nautilus, compound row): 3 sets/12 reps, 125 lbs
• Tricep Extensions (rope): 3 sets/15 reps, 70 lbs
• Push-ups: 3 sets/10 reps
• Core (plank): 2 sets/30 seconds

Stray Toasters

• Even though I’m off today, I have to run to the office. My turn on the pager rotation started yesterday… and I forgot to bring the pager home. D’oh!
• If I rode a motorcycle, I’d seriously have to consider getting a helmet/visor like this:

  

• I’m having lunch with Stefanie and in a bit. Hopper’s. Madame X Stout. Amen. Stefanie’s going to do a GL My Little Pony for me, similar to the Mac MLP that she did for .

“Up, up and away!”

I actually exerted Green Lantern-like willpower at lunch and did not have a beer… even though we went to Porcupine Pub & Grill. I did, however, indulge in rather tasty cuisine:

• Chicken Noodle Soup (more like a “cream of chicken noodle soup,” actually)
• Cajun Chicken Alfredo
• Chocolate Almond Mousse Pie

…and three Arnold Palmers. It was very tasty.

I got back to the office to find a message from SaraRules:

These both made me think of you:

…and…

Both of them made me laugh.

Back to the grind…

Tuesday – 03 February 2009
Today is the fiftieth anniversary of the plane crash that took the lives of Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper; immortalized as “The Day the Music Died.”

It is also the 200th Anniversary of the birthday of Felix Mendelssohn.

It’s also the second day of the work week… but that’s kind of a given.

Last night, SaraRules and I had dinner with her folks and watched Shadow of the Vampire. Good movie. It was interesting to hear their reactions to it, as well.  (They both enjoyed it.) Back home for 24, The Late Show and the monologue of The Late Late Show. Steve Martin was a guest on The Late Show; I’d nearly forgotten that he is a rather accomplished banjo player, which he demonstrated at the show’s end.

Stray Toasters

• SaraRules, knowing my affinity for NCIS, pointed me in the direction of this article.
• Unearthing Mendelssohn’s Lost Works
• surprised me with FAO Schwartz’ The Muppet Whatnot Workshop this morning. That’s right, you can design your own Muppet. Not only that, it be made and delivered. To. Your. Door.
• Kids Movie, Adult Lessons
• That Time Is Now (because mentioned a version of the Superfriends Theme by The Hit Crew)

• We Drove the Warthog!
• By way of BoingBoing: A LEGO Orange
• 
• Why do we name servers the way we do?
• Seeing Profits in the Postal Service’s Predicament

Harambee.

Thursday – 25 December 2008
Merry Christmas to all…

We got up this morning around 9:00.  We had coffee and a little breakfast… and then it was time for present-opening! The Christmas haul was very good:

• New suit
• A couple new shirts and ties
• An engraved bracelet… which matches one that Mom got for Kristen
• LEGO salt and pepper shakers
• A LEGO note pad
• A new pair of shoes
• A couple new sweaters
• A Krispy Kreme gift certificate
• A classic train calendar and
• SaraRules got me this:

  
  (actual TV is back in SLC, as it would have been silly to ship here… and back)

I opened the box with the picture in it and stared at it for a moment or two before it registered that it was a symbolic present. Apparently, the look on my face was… rather quizzical.

…and to all a good night!

Wednesday – 24 December 2008
Christmas Eve.

For those of you who didn’t receive one in the mail, here is this year’s Christmas card:

(click image to see the inside of the card)

Last night, after she got off work, SaraRules came over and we set up the Christmas tree. (Thanks, again, to OnlyAly and !) We even took a few pictures of it.

Later in the evening, SaraRules’ sister, Meliko, flew into town. We went over to the parents’ to hang out with her for a bit, as she will be gone by the time we get back. While SaraRules and her folks went to the airport, , Logan and I hung out at the house and watched Time Warp. It was nice to hang out with the family, if only for a couple hours, before I had to come home and pack.

In a few hours, SaraRules and I will begin our trek eastward for the long holiday weekend. We should arrive on the Right Coast about 8:30 PM, just in time to get home to hang out with the family-unit for some “holiday cheer” before the arrival of St. Nick.

Stray Toasters

• Since it’s almost Christmas, that means it’s time for my favorite Christmas song: Bing Crosby and David Bowie – Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy
  David Bowie |MTV Music
• Both Bret and made the same “short end of the stick” comment. Hm…
• Will Obama Bolster Captain America?
• Zimbabwe: Tutu ‘Ashamed’ of South Africa over Mugabe
• Attack of the Fan Videos – WormyT’s homemade trailer for a Thundercats movie.
  (There’s a lot of work that went into this; it looks pretty good.)
• …and since we already have a flashback to one cartoon, why not throw in another, for good measure?
• 5×10-foot Hoth base diorama includes teeny tiny minifig footprints
• THREE CAMERAS!
• Remember when getting one of these was the sign of “a good Christmas?”  (With a nod to Lexus…)
• Joysticks as coat hooks
• ‘Wall of Water’ Traps Motorists on Maryland Road

That’s about it for now; time to take care of a few last-minute items.

Although I’ll probably touch base again before tomorrow, I’d like to wish everyone a “Merry Christmas,” I hope that it is both safe and fun for you and your families.

Namaste.

Thursday – 04 December 2008
Last night, because of a comment Logan made earlier in the day, I craved pizza for dinner. The solution: Get a pie from Papa Murphy’s. And it was good. Very good, indeed. I took it to SaraRules’, where we – and her family – watched Hancock. I didn’t watch any of the bonus material, so I still don’t know what was behind the recurring eagle motif.

I headed home after the movie, ostensibly to tackle the train table project. That turned into me doing a crossword puzzle and otherwise meandering around the apartment. SaraRules came over a little later; she offered to help with taking down the Rokenbok. I wasn’t about to pass up that opportunity, so just like Big Daddy Kane, we got the job done. It’s amazing how much faster it was to disassemble than it was to put together. I also took apart and boxed up the LEGO train set.

I don’t know what was going on, but this morning, the radio in my head was on “Super Mondo Mega Random Shuffle.” Seriously. I had snippets of songs from The Crying Game to Missing to Iko Iko running through my head while I was getting ready for work. Since I have no other explanation for it, I will blame , as usual.

Stray Toasters

• New addition to The Covet List: LEGO Silver Rings
• By way of SaraRules: Michelle Obama: What Should She Wear?
• Cinderella, Super-Spy: Roberson on the Fables Spin-off
• From BBC News: The Box
• Word Up
  Cameo |MTV Music

• Super Human Resources
• It was snowing here a few minutes ago. Nothing major, but there’s a light dusting o’ white on the mountains. I messaged my father to tell him that it was snowing – I didn’t want to call, as he and my stepmother are visiting Adam, Chelsea and Caden. He messaged me back: “Do you want HIGH/COLD winds to go with that snow?” I replied that I’d pass on it.
• The Sartorialist

And that’s a good place to hang it for now.

Namaste.