Random Access

Wednesday – 16 June 2010
Today is not only (Sushi and) Comics Wednesday.
Nor is it just my mother and stepfather’s anniversary.
Today also marks my mother’s last-day-EVER of teaching.

I hereby declare today “Triple-Win Wednesday”.
I also declare my mother today’s Human of the Day.  (Yes, I’m biased. But, it’s my blog; I’m allowed to be.)
And for today’s musical fare: Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine:

Last night, SaraRules and I had dinner with the in-laws, including the brothers-in-law and Swiz. Grilled Salmon. Salad. Asparagus. Homemade rice pilaf. Mojitos. It was a good dinner, all around. And, for dessert, Logan and Swiz made mini-pecan tarts, which were very tasty.

Back at home, SaraRules and I enjoyed a quiet (read: “uneventful”) evening. After the headaches of Monday evening, it was a very welcome change of pace. We wound down the night with last Thursday’s episode of Burn Notice.

Workout
Yesterday’s step count: 3,987

Stray Toasters

• There were numerous articles in the news yesterday about lightning striking the statue of Jesus near I-75 in Cincinnati yesterday. That reminded me of two things:
  1. Captain Marvel Jesus
  2. Big Butter Jesus
• I saw an ad on Facebook for Pretzel M&M’s which somehow led me to the thought “Pretzelcoatl.”
• ‘Godfather of the Dead’ George A. Romero Talks Zombies
• The new “Hope” trailer for the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic has been released/leaked.
• Miniature sit-com sets
• After talking with the service techs who came to the house to work on the swamp cooler, I feel quite justified in my opinion that our home’s previous owners were perfectly satisfied to half-ass their way through a home “improvement” projects.
• Sperm whale feces ‘helps oceans absorb CO₂‘
• 
  
• Shortest-possible Monopoly game
• New FDA website lets public find drug safety info

Namaste.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Workout
Yesterday’s step count: 4,993

Stray Toasters

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

He gets right on to
The friction of the day

Namaste.

Monday – 14 June 2010
Today is Flag Day.

What?!  There’s a flag in the picture!  Yes, it is a CoH picture. That’s more of a “Win-Win,” if you ask me.

It’s also my friend, Keith’s, birthday.

And, as it’s Monday morning, let’s have a little somethin’ to kick off the day with a groove. Today’s offering is Maxwell’s Gotta Get: Closer

To paraphrase Ice Cube, yesterday was a good day:

• SaraRules got back from the City of Lost Angels.
• I finished the painting of the family room; we still need to figure out what we want to use for a trim color, but the main job is ovah!
• We saw The A-Team.
  
• We had dinner with Jana, OnlyAly and .

Workout
Saturday’s step count: 4443 steps
Sunday’s count: 1332 steps (official count… because I didn’t put on the pedometer until 4 PM)

The Best: Closer vs. Gotta Get: Closer
Nine Inch Nails vs. Maxwell

Given this morning’s bit of musical oleo, I was reminded that I like both versions of the song. That, in turn, made me think that I should do a juxtaposition and see which version edges out the other for the title “The Best.”

• Nine Inch Nails:

  Let’s just call a spade “a spade:” This song is just straight-up sex. There’s no question about what’s on Trent’s mind. In fact, he tells you. Bluntly. More than once. Let it never be said that the man doesn’t know how to convey what he’s thinking.

• Maxwell:
  (see video at top of post)

  What I like about this version is that Maxwell took the song and put his on spin on it. Yes, I can hear purists saying: “But, it’s not the same!”  No, it’s not. To me, that’s the essence of what makes an artist’s cover of a song a “good” cover: Being able to put their own unique stamp on it. Where NIN’s version is blatant and raw, Maxwell’s version is more… seductive, with a groove to it. To put it another way: Nine Inch Nails’ take is raw and rough sex, whereas Maxwell wants to take his time and enjoy the mood and the moment.

  • A similar example of “same brand, different flavor” along these lines can be found in another pair of songs that were released around the same time: Color Me Badd’s I Wanna Sex You Up and Extreme’s More than Words.

So, which version is “The Best?”

For me, it’s a tie. Why? Because each song holds its own for the mood that the artist is trying to convey. It’s a “Neither is ‘wrong’ and everybody wins” kind of situation.

Stray Toasters

• Who has the best corned beef sandwich in the greater SLC metro area?
• 23 Things Not to Write in an Email
• 100,000 LEGO Bricks Build One Hell of a Robotic Chess Set
• 
• Add It Up: Pricing Out a Visit to TV’s ‘Dr. House’
• Steampunk-Inspired, Hand-crafted Arduino Wristwatch Runs ‘Breakout’
• “Nude is the new Black”
  • That article reminded me of this card: 1, 2
• Pilot Kisses Death on the Lips and Flies Away
• Military Still Failing to Diagnose, Treat Brain Injuries

And with that… on to the rest of the day.

Namaste.

Saturday – 12 June 2010
First off: It’s my friend, Jen’s birthday.
Happy birthday to my favorite Rollergirl…

And now, back to your regularly-scheduled program.

It’s the middle of June.
So, why is it (only) 56F outside?!
We’ve taken a 20F nosedive in the past few days. *shakes fist*

I slept in this morning. Yes, it felt good, but I stayed in The Dreaming later than I had planned. On the other hand, I didn’t get to bed until 0400 this morning, so I guess it all washes out.

Yesterday was fairly low-key. My major accomplishment: Painting two walls in the family room. Technically, it was four walls, but for all intents and purposes, three of those walls comprise “one” wall. As far as the overall painting goes, I’m down to the last wall. Of course, it’s the wall with the entertainment center and display cases along it. The painting should go fairly quickly, as I’ve already moved the cases, and started backing the entertainment center away from the wall.

Wait… I just realized another (fairly big) accomplishment: I didn’t go to The Train Shoppe or Toys ‘R’ Us.

Workout
Yesterday’s step count:  3723

Stray Toasters

• I couldn’t get the mobile hotspot feature on my new phone to work last night. That will be another thing I need to discuss with a CSR when I pop into the Sprint Store today to ask a few questions.
• A helpful reminder for modern life
• Don’t Remake These 21 Movies, Film These Books Instead!
• Another little something for your Saturday morning:
• Surgery no longer a requirement for changing gender on passport
• F-18 Coming Out of Hyperspace
• Brightest Day Exclusive: Who is the new Aqualad?
• 
• Swords and Sandals: The New Sons of Hercules
• GE Engineer Crushes Your Childhood Dreams

Time to get on to the friction of the day.

Namaste.

Friday – 11 June 2010
It’s my 9/80 day off, thank Heaven.

Yesterday was… “a day.” Or, it might be more apropos to say that it was “half a day.” After we got a solution for the morning disaster in play, I stopped at Pin-up Girl Espresso to get my second – stronger – frozen mocha of the day. While waiting for it, I talked with Jim (Pin-up Girl’s owner) about how my morning had gone. He noted: “…there is no news that cannot be cured with a shot and a beer.” When I said that doing shots (and drinking beer) at the office was generally frowned upon, he suggested that I have them when I get home. I had decided more or less against taking the advice, as it was bound to be detrimental to my plans to paint later in the evening.

A short while later, called. She invited me out for dinner. And beer.  Right then. When the universe gives you not one but two signs that you should have a post-work beer, you might want to follow up on that. We met  at Hopper’s for dinner. And beer. And, it was good. , as always, proved an excellent dinner companion. We commiserated over how craptastic our days had been. It was a nice way to end the day.

After dinner, I came home. I remembered to water SaraRules’ garden, as she had asked. While I was outside, I also took a look at the… landscaping… in the front yard and tried to figure out how best to execute our plans for it without simply leveling the whole thing and starting over from scratch. I have a couple of ideas. (And none of them require – or even include – “commercially unavailable” explosives or corrosives.  Maybe next time…) I’m just not sure when we’ll move from the “theory” phase to the “practical application” phase.

Back inside, I moved the DVD cases back onto the family room’s north wall and started moving furniture so that I could paint the west wall. That’s about the time that I remembered that there were a couple of spots on that wall that needed some pre-painting TLC. I attended to them as best I could, but that also meant that I couldn’t paint that wall, as I needed the spackle to dry first. *sigh* Okay… two walls get painted today (or tomorrow).

Workout
Yesterday’s step count: 4308

Stray Toasters

• I talked with my sister-in-law (Sib-3’s wife) last night. It appears that they are expecting their second child later this year.
• Guess who’s wearing their black jerseys for three home games this year…
  Here’s a hint:



• Is it a bad sign that I’m actually enjoying some of the new books that Marvel Comics is putting out during “The Heroic Age?” Granted, the X-books have been good, but I’d almost sworn off of all Avengers-related titles. And now… they’re… good. (There’s got to be a catch or a “Gotcha!” coming soon…)
• Diversity in the USA: A county-by-county map
• O-E-O-E-O!
• I’m not sure where this falls, with respect to coolness or over-the-top geekiness, but it definitely pings on the Weird-Shit-o-Meter: By Any Other Name: An Evening of Shakespeare in Klingon with special guest George Takei (.pdf)
  Let’s go over that again, one piece at a time:
  • An evening of Shakespeare… Okay, good.
  • An evening with George Takei… Also good.
  • An evening of Shakespeare with special guest, George Takei… Still doing fine.
  • An evening of Shakespeare in Klingon with special guest, George Takei… YeahbuhWHAT?!?
• I missed Burn Notice, because I thought it came on at 2300 MST, rather than 2200 MST. Fortunately, I had the DVR set for “Season Recording,” so I can still catch it.
• 
  • …and in a related note: She-Ra Figure, from MattyCollector.com
• Army inquiry finds 211 graves mishandled at Arlington Cemetary
• Hey, Microsoft…? When are you going to have a rectal craniotomy and figure out how and when to get a Blu-Ray drive into XBox 360 owners’ hands?
• Is This the Craziest Bridge Ever Designed?
  And, what happens at high tide?
• Salagadoola mechicka boola bibbidi–bobbidi–boo
• Not all the oil in the Gulf is coming from BP’s spill
• I’ve picked up Teenagers from the Future again, after a rather lengthy hiatus.  I’m still enjoying it.

And, with that, I’m off to meet Perry for coffee.

Live long and prosper.

Thursday – 10 June 2010
Happy birthday to my kid sister, Kristen!

I say “kid sister,” as opposed to “little sister,” because she’s about 4″ taller than me. Because of our age difference, there was a LOT of friction between us when she was a toddler. (Most of which was due to me not wanting to have to deal with a younger sister… but some of which was due to her being a holy terror.) She has, however, grown up to become a lovely young woman and one I’m very happy and proud to have as my sister.

As for NBN Thursday, this one has been shot. Apparently, it was shot somewhere around 0600 this morning… but I didn’t realize it until almost 0830. We had a fairly major hardware issue at work. Thus, did the scramble begin for rectifying the situation. (Not to be confused with Situation.) At this point the recovery process is under way and things should hopefully be back to “normal” in fairly short order.

After work last night, I mowed the lawn as part of “Bachelor Night #2.” As I was finishing up the front lawn, my father-in-law stopped by. He was coming to offer some advice/insight for handling a couple of projects in the basement. After he left, I went back to mowing, racing an impending thunderstorm. I managed to finish both the front and back yards without getting electrocuted. After that, I realized that I was hungry… but wasn’t sure what I wanted to eat. I wound up making spaghetti. Hey… comfort food, go figure. After a rather late dinner, I set about painting a wall in the family room. I went with one of the short walls — it had the least amount of obstruction and pre-painting prep work to do. I checked it this morning; it looks pretty good.

Workout
Yesterday’s step count: 6303

…and I’m fairly sure that there’s some calories burned in mowing the lawn, too.

Stray Toasters

• The day has gone from overcast (with scattered drizzle) to partly cloudy/sunny. Hopefully, it’s not too naive to hope that the weather is a good augury for the rest of not-NBN Thursday.
• Blackhawks foil Flyers in OT to win first Stanley Cup since 1961
• Maybe it’s just me, but this sounds like an excellent marriage compromise:

  

• I had a random idea yesterday: Why not see what comics were out in my birth month. More specifically: See what titles that I currently read had issues out at that time, buy a copy and frame it. I checked The Comic Book Database and noticed that they had a “Search by Cover Date” option. I put in my birthdate and let the CBDB go to work. It found a number of issues, but I found one that caught my attention: An issue of Green Lantern. Next stop, eBay. I found a number of sellers who had the issue… many of whom had it for a rather reasonable price. So, I bought one. Now, I just need to figure out where it’s going to go.
• Stop-motion paper Super Mario Brothers
• AT&T Discloses iPad Security Breach
• I need to remember to make a flier for next weekend’s ‘Clix tourney…
• The Vader Project
  • …and in a related note: Darth, Interrupted: Does Vader have Borderline Personality Disorder?
• MAME (not Mame)… on my Evo?  Really?  Hm…
• That reminded me of Was (not Was):
• By way of and the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: US sex-for-tickets woman sentenced to year’s probation
  My question: Had she done this in Nevada, would it have been legal? (Short answer: “No.”)
• NuPenny Toy Store in Portland, Maine

Namaste.

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

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

Theory: 1
Practical Application: 0

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

Workout
Yesterday’s step count: 4051

Stray Toasters

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

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

Namaste.

Tuesday – 08 June 2010
I apparently know a lot of people with birthdays today. With that in mind, I’d like to say “Happy Birthday” to:

• Julie
• Kenneth
• Landon
• Nolan and
• Serena

*whew*

Last night, SaraRules and I went to the Junior League Annual Dinner. During this event, provisional members (like SaraRules) advanced to become active members. There was also the “changing of the guard” with respect to the leadership and board. The event was held at The Alta Club. Out of roughly one hundred people, I was one of three (3) men in attendance… and the other two guys looked as though they would have rather been just about any place else. They looked really uncomfortable and generally unhappy about escorting their significant others to the event. And I have no idea “why.”  The dinner was good, the company was pleasant and there was no Waiting to Exhale-like man-bashing. Sounds like a “Triple Win” to me. All-in-all, I found it to be a nice way to spend the evening.

Stray Toasters

• SaraRules is leaving on a jet plane this evening. She’s heading to L.A. for an opera conference. I, on the other hand, will be at home being a bachelor for the next five days. Hopefully, I won’t have “too much” of a disaster area to clean up before she gets back home.
• Our sitting room furniture is being delivered today… sometime between 0930 and 1330.
• Red Carpet Report: Fashion’s Oscar-caliber night
• Huge seas ‘once existed on Mars’
• I watched/read the Ars Technica coverage of yesterday’s WWDC. They’ve made some nice advances with the iPhone 4… but I didn’t see anything that made me feel like I made a bad choice by going with the Evo.
  • iPhone 4 – Droid Incredible – Evo 4G – Nexus One Comparative Chart
  • iOS 4 Jailbroken Within a Day of First Release
• Janis Joplin: The Queen of Rock
• 
• Announcing Star Trek-based Games from WizKids
• DIY Sci-Fi Trailer Draws Avatar Producer to Technotise
• Brooklyn Bridge getting a $500 million makeover
• Meetings!

Namaste.

Monday – 07 June 2010
It’s my mother’s birthday.

As my friend, Melody M., noted about it being a Monday: “Here we go…”
Which, in turn, reminded me of Here It Goes Again:

OK Go – Here It Goes Again from OK Go on Vimeo.

Yesterday afternoon, SaraRules and I headed up to Park City… okay, “Kimball Junction”… to do a little shopping at the outlets. It was a beautiful day, with lots of sun and blue sky. The shopping wasn’t so bad, either. On the way home, we detoured through Emigration Canyon. After some down time at home, we went back to the in-laws’ place for cake presents, as the second part of ‘s pre-birthday:

After we got home for the evening, SaraRules put Doomsday in the 360 and we watched that before calling it a night.

Stray Toasters

• Once again proving that too much free time on my hands is not necessarily a “good” thing, I took this picture because it made me laugh:



• 3 Campaign Ads That Aren’t True; 1 That’s Amazing
• Apollo 12 art caper: Does the moon harbor a tiny museum?
• Thanks to SaraRules for pointing this out: Cake Wrecks author coming to Utah
• Apple and Google square off over smartphone supremacy
• 
• Historic Route 66 bowling alley shuts down
• I just pre-ordered LEGO Universe.
• Adobe acknowledges critical security flaw in software
• 
  Of course, this comic doesn’t help with the indecision I’ve been feeling over starting a new Shadowrun campaign…
• How Times Have Changed, Ex-Playboy Bunnies Say
• Obamas attend Ford’s Theatre gala

Namaste.

Sunday – 06 June 2010
Today’s been a good day… and there’s still lots of day left!

Last night, SaraRules and I went to see Splice. We’re of different minds about the movie: She thoroughly enjoyed it, whereas I enjoyed it… up until the last 30 minutes, where it went completely off the rails for me.  Up to that part, it was fine — a nice sci-fi/horroresque movie. It had very good special effects. It had psychological twists. It had moral and ethical issues. All-in-all, a decent start and first two-thirds of the movie.  But the end fell flat for me.  And, as I understand it, that was what SaraRules found the most intriguing about it.  Oh, well… maybe the director’s cut will be better for me. *shrug*

This morning, we got up and headed to the in-laws’ for a pre-birthday brunch for . Grilled bacon. Sweet potato muffins. Fresh fruit. Scrambled egg casserole. All of which was very tasty. We’re going back this evening for cake and presents and whatnot.

We came back home to do some cleaning around the house. Necessary evil.  In a little while, we will head to the Tanger Outlets in Park City.

Workout
Yesterday’s step count: 5587

Stray Toasters

• Yesterday, SaraRules and I got new telephonic hotness: HTC Evo 4G. We’ve had them less than 24 hours, but we’re both digging on them. We also got gel cases for them: pink for hers, black for mine. SaraRules noted, after we’d picked them out, that “…we got them in our signature colors,” as they match our respective MacBooks.
• Autism finding could lead to simple urine test for the condition
• From the “Color Me Not Surprised” file: Gizmodo Not Welcome at 2010 WWDC
• Screenshots vs. Multi-tasking.   🙂
• I shall soon have two new additions for my display case’s Sinestro Corps shelf.

Quote of the Day
Today’s quote came from none other than pre-birthday guest of honor, :

‘Muffins,’ spelled backwards, is ‘Sniff ‘um.’

This was proclaimed across the breakfast table this morning… and was met with hails of laughter.

Namaste.

Saturday – 05 June 2010
So far, it’s been a good day… and it’s not even half-over yet.

SaraRules and I got up and walked down to the local Ward House for a pancake breakfast, put on by that Ward’s Boy Scout troop. Hey, money that goes to help kids or a youth activity…? I’m down. The food was pretty good. There were also some classic and exotic cars there, too. Win-Win.

Back home, so that SaraRules could get ready for Quilt Club and so I could prep for today’s HeroClix tournament. (I still need to come up with a team, in case I have to play a bye round.) Also, it looks as though I’ll be running a ‘Clix tournament at next month’s GEEX, at the South Town Expo Center.

Workout
Yesterday’s step count: 2937

Stray Toasters

• Wooden stood as man of constancy
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file:
  • Hallmark recalls “Black Holes” birthday card after racism claim
  • South Carolina Totally Loses Its Mind
• By way of my mother:
  



• Don’t Call the Guatemala Sinkhole a Sinkhole
• What do you get when you mix Snoop Dogg, David Beckham, Han Solo, Obi-Wan Kenobi and a couple of droids? Something like this:

• Beachcomber stumbles upon historical shipwreck
• Stormtroopers 365
• Hints of Life Found on Saturn’s Moon Titan
  Well, duh!  Where do they think that all/most 31st Century telepaths are from?
• Get Rich Slowly
• Tetris Tetris Everywhere

Time to finish getting ready.

Namaste.

Friday – 04 June 2010
It’s my 9/80 “on” day.
And I technically¹ have The Leash this week.
Today is also National Doughnut Day; I brought in doughnuts for the team – or those of us who are here – today.

Last night, SaraRules and I headed up to Dr. Volt’s, so I could get this week’s four-color paper crack. It was a light week and, with Green Lantern-like willpower, I avoided “supplementing” my haul with miscellaneous/extraneous goodies. After that, we headed over to the local Cafe Zupas for dinner… where I was treated to a rather pleasant surprise: Vivi (who used to be our favorite waitress-turned-manager at Applebee’s) is that location’s manager. It had been at least…. two years, probably closer to three… since I’d seen her.

After dinner, we headed home and hung out. SaraRules quilted; I started putting things away in my office. She was more successful at being productive than I was, but I made some progress. I took a break from working on the office at 2300 to watch the summer season premiere of Burn Notice. It was a good episode and has set up a potentially interesting arc for this season.

Workout
Yesterday’s step count: 3857 steps

Stray Toasters

• A few songs from The Little Mermaid Soundtrack (it’s one of my favorite “modern” Disney movies… deal with it) have made their way into this morning’s random play. I’ve been remembering how we’d listen to these songs when I worked at the USPS… and – especially in the case of Les Poissons – sing along with them while working.
• Broken Bells – Ghost Inside

• McDonald’s pulls 12 million Shrek glasses
• By way of my friend, Joe: If Google Released SkyNet
• Sephora is opening their first full retail location in Utah this morning at Fashion Place Mall.
• Chumbawamba: Tubthumping

• Most U.S. Catholics say nuns should speak up on public social policy
• Zombie Workout: Get Fit Enough to Fight the Undead
• Commercially Available ATM Skimmers
• I need to find a copy of Brassed Off.
• 
• Good Enough: Celebrating 25 Years of The Goonies
• Annie, are you okay?
  Annie, are you okay?
  Are you okay, Annie…?
  Um… NO.  If you have to ask more than three or four times – let alone over fifty times – it’s a pretty safe bet that, no, Annie is NOT “okay.”
• The Luxury Spot

Namaste.

1 – “Technically,” because we’re trying something different: We’re forwarding the system notifications to our individual cell phones, rather than carrying the on-call phone and our personal phones.

Thursday – 03 June 2010
Good NBN Comics Thursday to all.

Despite every intention to do so, I didn’t get a nap yesterday afternoon. That worked out alright, as I managed to make it to bed at a decent (for me) hour… and slept pretty much until the alarm went off at 0630. Of course, this means that I didn’t make it to the gym this morning. S’okay, I needed the rest.

Workout
Yesterday’s step count: 6104 steps

Stray Toasters

• I just bought and downloaded the two new Rush songs, Caravan and BU2B.  I like.
• Craig Ferguson’s Twitter feed amuses me.
• By way of Nyx: BPGlobalPR Billboards
• By way of everydave: Model Train Stuff
• 
• United States’ First Megaplex Closing Before End of Year
• Five things you don’t know about your airline ticket
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Imperfect Umpire Blows Pitcher’s Perfect Game
• 
• Jobless claims decline
• Agent of S.T.Y.L.E.: The Fashionable World of Krypton
• She’s got electric boots a mohair suit
  You know I read it in a magazine oh oh
  B-B-B-Bennie and the Jets…
• Vermont allows monkeys to be service animals
  (Apparently, no one in Vermont saw Monkey Shines.)

Namaste.

01 June 2010
Welcome, June.
May is now in the rearview mirror.
Let’s hope that it takes the wintry weather with it…

Yesterday, while relaxing was also productive: The lawn was mowed. The garden was worked on. The trim in the sitting room was cleaned up (No more red paint!). And, my office was painted. Not only that, our excursion to The Garden of Sweden netted me a new desk/drawing table.

We also had dinner with the in-laws yesterday. Grilled steaks with sweet potatoes and yams, salad and fresh corn-on-the-cob. Dessert was brownies with ice cream.

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

Workout
Yesterday’s step count: 2948 steps
Of course, I neglected to wear the pedometer while I was mowing the lawn yesterday.  *sigh*

Stray Toasters

• Official Synopsis Revealed for Green Lantern movie
• Now that my office is coming along, I’m looking forward to finishing the rest of the basement… and finding room for a model railroad layout! I want to do O-Scale, but I believe that it will probably include some HO-Scale as well. I’m not sure exactly where I’ll put the LEGO train and/or the Rokenbok monorail, though.
• 44 million stolen gaming credentials discovered
• 
• ‘How Sweet It Was’: The Cultural Impact of Gospel
• Massive sinkhole swallows building in Guatemala City in wake of Tropical Storm Agatha
• The Theme from S.W.A.T., which I contend is still one of TV’s coolest TV theme songs. Ever.
• A Love Craft: Art Inspired by Monsters, Madness and Mythos
• Adventure Comics #12 preview
• I restarted  American Psycho again last night. I got distracted from it by… well, a lot of things. This time, I should be able to plow through it.
• US sculptor Louise Bourgeois dies aged 98
  • No Doubt: Spiderwebs
    
• From Elvis to Lady Gaga: Playing with Shock Value in Music
• Why Science Needs to Step Up Its PR Game

Attack the day
Like birds of prey…

Namaste.

Monday – 31 May 2010
Today is Memorial Day.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stray Toasters

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

Time to find something to do…

Namaste.