Random Access

Wednesday – 15 April 2009
It’s Tax Day in America once again. Appropriately, it’s a grey and rainy day in Salt Lake City.

Last night, Chris came over and we played ‘Clix. The matchup: The X-Men (Chris) vs. The Brotherhood of Mutants/Hellfire Club (pictures). It was a very good fight; it was probably the most balanced match we’ve had. We had to call the game before things got cooking, but at that point, Chris had a 24 point lead. He said that he didn’t really call it a “win” because we didn’t really get too far into the game. *shrug* It was fun, either way.  I’m looking forward to the flip-side rematch.

Stray Toasters

• SaraRules and her mother met with a potential our wedding photographer yesterday.
• Education Standards Likely to See Tightening
• April 15, 1726: Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From Physicist
• Mythbusters: Compact Compact Rocket Sled

• The Ravens’ 2009 schedule was released yesterday. They didn’t soft-peddle them this season.
• A Grand Entrance at St. Patrick’s Cathedral
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Man bites snake in epic struggle
• Simulated crime scene bathroom accessories
• Manifesto of a Comic Book Rebel
• 
• forwarded a link to Pulp Browsers…
• …which reminded me of this.  (Audio will most likely fall under “NSFW”)
• T. Boone Pickens relishes role in push for alternative energy
• Chesney’s “Victorian Underground” – the secret Victorian underbelly of cyberpunk
• Tetris Furniture

And that’s a wrap.

Oh, look… it’s snowing now.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 14 April 2009
It’s 51F and raining. Tomorrow, there’s a high percentage chance of snow. Welcome to Spring in Utah.

Last night, at SaraRules’ request, I cooked dinner. She wanted spaghetti. And that’s what she got. After dinner we headed to “the land where the furniture folds to a much smaller size.” While we didn’t find anything that completely wowed us, I did remember to pick up a few light bulbs for the display cases. On the way home, we stopped in Pier 1 Imports. Occasionally, I can find something in there that I find interesting, but for the most part…. *shrug* Last night, however, I noticed that they (finally) are carrying the double papasan chairs again. Of course, it’s long after I stopped looking for one. Oh, well. Before heading in, we stopped at Red Mango and picked up a couple of frozen yogurts for dessert.

Stray Toasters

• Friday, Stephanie finished my GL pony.

  
  (click image for gallery of pictures)

  She did a fantastic job; this definitely comes under the heading of “far exceeds my expectations.” However, I appear to have come up against a conundrum: What should I name her? Suggestions are welcome.

• In a follow-up to a story I posted yesterday: Girl chooses Japan over parents
• Analyst: Apple placed chip order for 32GB iPhones
• Two new Star Trek clips
• Sean is an avid football fan. (I won’t bag on his team, The Tampa Bay Buccaneers.) He came in and handed me a package yesterday: It was a Ravens 2009 Draft Day t-shirt. Very unexpected and very nice of him.
• Speaking of football:

  

• Ronald Reagan was a secret FBI anti-Commie snitch
• Issue #5 of Steampunk Magazine is out
• Anatomical drawing on a cast

Namaste.

A few late-afternoon distractions have been discovered:

• By way of and Not Always Right: May Contain Scenes of Gratuitous Bowie
• Erfworld
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Woman rubs chili pepper seeds in her eyes after setting new world record
  I can’t just make her “Human of the Day.” It would be… too much of an understatement.  So, we’ll make her “Hardcore Human of the Day.”  Yeah, that’ll work.
• Obama eases curbs on Cuba travel
• Ariana Page Russell: The Human Etch-A-Sketch
• 
• We are in the midst of a server room upgrade. Along with this, we’re getting some new cabinets for servers. Julie fielded a call this morning from the shipping company to schedule delivery of the cabinets. She set us up for Thursday delivery.  Ten minutes ago, a driver from the company showed up… with the racks in his truck. We couldn’t take delivery for a couple of reasons
  1. The truck had no liftgate.
  2. We have no forklift.
  3. Our building has no loading dock.  (FAIL!)
  4. We weren’t expecting them until… um… Thursday maybe?!

  So, Julie sent the driver packing. The cabinets will be delivered… on Thursday, as agreed upon… in a truck with a liftgate.

Namaste.

Monday – 13 April 2009
Casablanca was good; I enjoyed it quite a bit. The movie holds up quite well, especially when one considers that it was released over 65 years ago. One thing that I kept coming back to was how Rick Blaine reminded me of Han Solo. Actually, it would be more proper to say that Solo reminded me of Blaine, but you get the idea. There were a couple of other Star Wars, also, but they were a bit more fleeting.

The 6:35 alarm came early this morning, or so it seemed. I barely remember waking up long enough to turn it off… and turn over and go back to sleep.

When I got into the office, I was informed that email wasn’t working. *sigh* I’d barely stepped in the door; it’s definitely a Monday, it seems. A few searches, a test or two and a phone call later, it was being worked on.

Stray Toasters

• Schoolgirl told to choose: Country or parents
• There’s a new addition to The Covet List.
• Tweenbots
• By way of : Smart Car Crash Test

• I just caught up with yet another high school classmate on Facebook.
• Game/art: See the artwork from Giant Robot’s Game Over/Continue exhibit

And so it goes…

Namaste.

Today has been a great day.

SaraRules and I got up this morning and went to Mass at St. Vincent De Paul’s Church.

In our Easter Sunday finery.

It was a nice service with a nice homily – Change and the cross as a transformative figure. There was a little boy, about 18 months or so, in the pew in front of us who was quite entertaining (to us) and a bit of a handful (to his parents). The kid was well-behaved, but when his parents weren’t looking, he would take the opportunity to scoot up and down the pew. Comedy. Straight-up comedy.

We came back home for breakfast and coffee. I changed clothes and got ready to head to Chris’ for a few hours of playing HeroClix; he was teaching the game and we started up a three-way game on the Arena map. I had a team in mind to play – Young Superman, Gamora, Wasp (from The Ultimates) and Marvel Girl – but swapped Storm, Winter Soldier and Hawkeye in for Young Superman, Gamora and Wasp. I had a great opening couple of rounds (including a great opening shot on three targets with Hawkeye), but wound up getting caught between Chris and ‘zephyr and getting worn down. Quickly. It was still fun.  Chris and I are getting together Tuesday night for an X-Men vs. The Brotherhood/Hellfire Club game.  That should be good.

I met SaraRules’ at her parents’ house for dinner and a late celebration of Logan’s birthday. Both dinner and the homemade birthday cake were delicious.

Stray Toasters

• 
• In a related note: Peeps: Are They for Eating or Entertainment?
• From SaraRules and comes this bit of oddness: Robot Programmed to Love Goes too Far
• Just for the record: Fast and Furious was fun, but don’t go into it expecting Oscar fare. I did, however, come to something of a realization: This movie (and the original) are like modern-day versions of Smokey & the Bandit. That thought put a smile on my face.
• Nominate a Name to Retire
• This one comes from both the “Monkeys!” and “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” files: Best Buy Sells Egregiously Crappy, 9-Year-Old Hard Drive as New, Then Refuses Refund
• Time Travel Cheat Sheet, indirectly by way of
• To Save Money, More Airlines Grounding Aircraft
• City Pollution

And now, we’re going to watch Casablanca.

Namaste.

Saturday – 11 April 2009
It’s a lazy Saturday in the valley.

So far, we’ve had breakfast, watched a little TV and addressed some of our “Save the Date” announcements. We’re off to do some errand-running and we’re going to see Fast & Furious in a couple hours.

Stray Toasters

• pointed out this item: Zombies Are the New Vampires
• 
• Remember Olestra, the wonderful fat substitute used in potato chip manufacturing from the mid-90s?  The one that didn’t add fat, calories, or cholesterol to products? The one that also led to “anal leakage?” Guess what… It’s back. And this time, it’s being used as an “environmentally friendly” industrial lubricant.  (Yeah, this is definitely one for the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file.)
• Indie Chinese art/music/culture site
• Tesla Roadster runs for 241 miles in e-rally

Off to see the wizard…

Namaste.

Friday – 10 April 2009
Another 9/80 “on” Friday. There are rumors that it’s supposed to be in the 60s today.  We’ll see how that pans out.

Last night was a lazy Date Night: We had pizza and watched this week’s NCIS (Thanks, On Demand!), CSI: and then Aladdin, which is still one of my favorite modern (pre-Pixar) Disney movies.

Stray Toasters

• Island DIY: Kauai residents don’t wait for state to repair road
• The Girl in the Window
• By way of Not Always Right:
  • Best Idea I’ve Heard All Day
  • Speechless
• What’s Your Zombie Contingency Plan
• …and, speaking of zombies: CompUSA Comes Back From the Dead
• Banks asked to keep quiet on stress tests
• IGN has a trailer for the upcoming Green Lantern: First Flight
• ABC to conclude Eli Stone and Pushing Daisies this summer
• A simple case of over-egging
• “Science to do” t-shirt
• Sims creator Will Wright leaving Electronic Arts
• I’ve finished Queen & Country Volume 02; moving on to Volume 03.

Time to see what kind of trouble I can get into today…

Namaste.

Thursday – 09 April 2009
It’s overcast, rainy and… cool (not really “cold”) and I find myself thinking: “We left California… and the sun… and the warmth… for this?!” Oh, well.

The drive back was just as long as the drive down, although it was shorter in terms of time, because we didn’t make quite as many stops; we did stop at the In-N-Out in St. George, though. I phased in and out of sleep, many times. (I realized later that was due to a sleeping poorly Tuesday night.) On the whole, the trip was uneventful.

As we were getting stuff out of SaraRules’ parents’ car, it started to sleet. That urged us to hasten our efforts to get things into the house, oddly enough. We said our goodbyes and headed off to pick up the apartment key from . (Thanks again for keeping an eye on things!) Next, a quick stop at Rumbi to get some dinner and then home. We were both beat; we watched last week’s CSI: while we ate. We watched a bit of The Late Show and called it a night.

Stray Toasters

• Thanks to for pointing out Dr. Funkenberry.
• The Complete Manual of Things That Might Kill You
• In world news: Georgians rally against president
• Gentleman in New Orleans Loses Chunk of Arm in Possible Zombie Attack
• Sandy Collora, possibly best known for his Batman: Dead End fanfilm, has a trailer out for his upcoming fanfilm, Hunter Prey

• Dungeons & Dragons Co-Creator Arneson Dead at 61
• Self-Resucing Princess t-shirt
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Women Meat Pioneers
• By way of comes “Your Business Card Is CRAP!”

Quote of the Day
Julie, our Property Manager, was asking me how our trip went.  I was recounting it and told her that SaraRules had found her dress… but that I couldn’t tell her anything about it, because I haven’t seen it and won’t see it for six months. That led to the following exchange:

Julie: That’s right, you’ll be getting married on the next Conference weekend.
Me: Oh… yeah… Well, there goes about half of our guest list.
Julie: That’s what TiVo is for!

We both got a good laugh out of it.

And, with that, back to the grind…

Namaste.

Wednesday – 08 April 2009
It’s a little after 7:00 and we’re getting ready to head back to SLC.

It’s been a fun – though fast – trip.

Namaste.

Tuesday: Coda
This afternoon, SaraRules and I decided to check out a few comic shops near her aunt and uncle’s. We had three stops on the agenda. Thanks to GoogleMaps, we had a circuit planned that would take us from one shop to another and then to the third and bring us back home, jiggity-jig. Map in hand, we got under way.

The first place was what I expect most non-comics fans would anticipate a comic shop to look like: Jam-packed, floor to ceiling, with comics, statues, toys and whatever else they could get away with. It was a claustrophobic hole-in-the-wall. There was some sense of order to things in there, but damned if I could figure it out in the ten minutes we were there.

We hit the second shop… after discovering that GoogleMaps had apparently gone on a coffee break when we asked it for directions. We figured out where we were supposed to be going and found the store. It was a satellite of a store that I visited the last time that I was in L.A.  I liked the original store quite a bit; this one left a bit to be desired, though. It was laid out decently, but the stock was, by comparison, quite lacking.

We literally stumbled over what wound up being the “third” store. I saw it as we were driving past the strip center in which it was located. It was part-comic shop…. and part-fabric store. O,o ?!? Explain that one, if you can. I think that we were there for five minutes, tops. Definitely an entry for the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file.

On the way to the now-fourth store, we discovered that GoogleMaps screwed the pooch again. A few course corrections later, we wound up at Galaxy of Comics. It’s a new store (opened on 04 Feb 09), but it was clean, well-organized and inviting.  Dana, the associate on-duty, was friendly and helpful. I found a few pieces of plastic crack (which I was looking for) and a graphic novel (which I wasn’t looking for, but looked interesting).  Of the comic shops we visited today, Galaxy of Comics was the best shop, hands-down. I’ll be stopping here again, when I’m back in town. If you’re in the San Fernando Valley – and more specifically, in the Van Nuys area – you should check it out.

This evening, we went to dinner at Wood Ranch BBQ and Grill. I had a combination of the Beef Ribs and Babyback Ribs, with Incredible Mashed Potatoes and Steamed Broccoli… and a Guinness to wash it down, naturally.  SaraRules had the Tri-Tip, with the mashed potatoes and Mac and Cheese. The food was delicious and the service was great. Unfortunately, there is no Wood Ranch in the Land Behind the Zion Curtan nor back home in NC or MD.  BAH!

We hit the road back to SLC tomorning.

And that, as they say, is that.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 07 April 2009
It’s another good morning in Granada Hills.  I don’t get why Superman moved to Metropolis; this place was made for Kryptonians and Daxamites: It’s 1030, sunny and already 61°F.

It seems as though SaraRules has found “The Dress.”  In fact, she and her parents just left to pick it up. I’m not sure what all is going on today. Various and sundry forms of “shopping” are going to be involved, as far as I know. *shrug* I can live with that.

Stray Toasters

• Beware the perils of caffeine withdrawal
• Top 10: Shows in Danger, courtesy of
• 
• …and I really want a sign like this for my cubicle.  (Is that a “bad” thing?)
• Columbia Developing MIB3?
• Newspapers are dumb to blame Google for their problems
• iTunes tiered pricing goes live
• What you should be afraid of instead of terrorists
• 
• Jackie Earle Haley is Freddy
• Stan and Jan Berenstein’s mid-century illustrations
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Stolen single-engine plane intercepted by US fighter jets
• Nimoy Stuns Austin Crowd with Secret Star Trek Premiere
• Nine Words From Science Which Originated in Science Fiction
• nom nom nom Lunchbag

…SaraRules and company just got back with the dress. (Which I will see in six months.)

Namaste.

I don’t know HOW I forgot to mention this earlier, but I did.  Thanks to SaraRules for reminding me about it…

We stopped at a truck stop outside of Barstow for petrol and a pitstop. Once we got inside, I found the most curious thing: The Burton Pot-Popper

That’s right: Pop. Corn. IN YOUR CAR! Thanks to the power of the 12V outlet. Not only does it pop corn, but it also can be used to cook soup/stew.

If only we had something like this last September when we went camping…

Monday – 06 April 2009
Day One of the Sunny Southern California Adventure. Well, I guess this is technically “Day Two,” since we got in last night. *shrug* We’re here to:

1. …visit SaraRules’ aunt, uncle and cousin
2. …see her sister and
3. …to let her get in a bit of dress shopping with her mother, sister, aunt and cousin.

I’m hanging out with her father and uncle (or, as SaraRules calls it: “Listening to them sit around and tell lies…”). We’ve been having a good time while they’re out gallivanting.

Yesterday, SaraRules and I got up, watched an episode of The Brave and the Bold, packed up, ran a couple of errands and then headed to her folks’ place to get on the road. We stopped at the In-N-Out Burger in Vegas. (Tasty burgers and fries, with chocolatey shaked milk!) The trip, while long, was rather uneventful… although, we did encounter many road monkeys. (Uneventful pictures here) When we got L.A., I met the family: Marie, Stan and their daughter Angela.  And then… SLEEP! (It’s amazing how tired just riding in a car can make a person.)

Today has been fairly low-key. We started off with breakfast and a fair bit of catching up, then the ladies were off to hunt for dresses. So far, we (the guys) have gone to Target, Best Buy – where Steve and I introduced Stan to the joys of Mac – and an Italian deli. Amusing side story: Steve and I were talking about the different flavors of Mac (Mini, iMac, Pro and MacBook) and discussing some of the features when a sales associate walked up… whom we effectively ignored. He just stood looking while we talked up the machines and their software to Stan. He silently wandered away at some point, because I turned around again and he was gone.

I’m not sure what’s on tap for the rest of the evening.  I’m good with that, though; that’s what “vacation” is all about.

Stray Toasters

• Obama reaches out to Muslim world
• 10 Best Geeky Last Words
• Top 10 Home Office Hacks
• Aim that rage against the corporate fee machine
• Computer Program Self-Discovers Laws of Physics
• 
• Paris liberation made ‘whites only’
• Tyranist, you might be interested in this: Six good technological ideas for improving publishing
• How scratching can stop an itch
• Jazzy covers of Mister Rogers songs

The weather’s here
Wish you were beautiful.

Back to that “relaxing” thing.

Namaste.

Sunday – 05 April 2009
I’m on the road to Los Angeles with SaraRules and her family.

Westbound and Down…

Namaste.

Friday – 03 April 2009
It’s my 9/80 “off” Friday, but I’m working today – I’m shifting my day off to Monday.

Last night, SaraRules and I headed over to visit . I knew that and would be there, but we were surprised to find there; he had dropped in before heading to the airport. showed up a little later, too. Nyx was doing henna on and when we got there:

SaraRules and I had dinner with and after leaving ‘s.

Back at home, SaraRules and I hung out in front of the TV – she quilted while I played on the Interwebs. David Letterman had Michael J. Fox as his guest on The Late Show. I was impressed to find that Mr. Fox hasn’t let his bout with Parkinson’s Disease get/keep him down. In fact, one of the things that he discussed was a trip he took to Bhutan, including hiking up mountains there. It was a good interview.

Stray Toasters

• This morning, I woke up with Chicago’s Stay the Night running through my head.

• We got the proofs back on our “Save the Date” announcements.  They look good. Really good.
• Angry Villagers Run Google Out of Town
• Mow the Lawn – I don’t have the words to do this justice, you’ll just have to watch it.
• I was pleasantly surprised to find that LilFormers has grown into a full-blown webcomic:

  

• …speaking of LilFormers, while at dinner last night, made a comment that reminded me of this toon. I decided to do a little digging, because my Transformers knowledge wanes from the period just before the movie. One thing led to another and I wound up looking up information on Transformers: Beast Wars, that’s when I came across this gem:
  

  The later plot was developed following the discovery of a message made by the original Megatron for any Decepticons who would uncover it within the Golden Disks.

  I shared it with Nyx, along with the following question:

  By this rationale, it’s not too much of a stretch to wonder: Were the Decepticons Mormon?

• Batman Icon’s Mutation – a look at the bat-symbol through the years
• By way of Nyx and Not Always Right: There Can Be Only One Insane Customer
• Gorillaz go Bananaz
• Flurries. Again.
• After Sweden’s New Law, Drop in Internet Traffic

That’s a good start for the day.

Namaste.