Random Access

Monday – 28 July 2008
You know that it’s going to be an interesting day when you wake up and the first question that pops into your brain when turning off the alarm is:

Who put all those giant marshmallows in the alarm!?

Seriously. That’s what went through my head as I rolled over. I actually laid in bed and pondered the question for a moment, before I began to ponder its absurdity. *shakes head*

That was the cap on a strange trip through The Dreaming, which included a visitation from an odd – and highly unexpected – Ghost of Christmas Past. Weird.

Last night, I spent a couple of futile hours trying to get a certain USB wireless networking adapter to work with the iMac. After checking a number of forums, I found that this model – mainly due to lack of fully functional drivers – doesn’t work with Panther (OS X 10.3.x)… Oh, well. I found one that does. And it’s locally available, I think. I’ll find out after work. (EDIT: Turns out that it’s on order.)

Benefit of being the first one in the IT area: I can listen to 2112 – loudly – on my speakers.
I just made a reference to “Raiders of the Lost Arcade,” since I’m listening to Rush. The person didn’t get it.

Stray Toasters

• I stopped in and chatted with , freshly back from the Left Coast, for a few minutes yesterday. Among other things, we talked a little about The Dark Knight, about which she raved. Speaking of which:
  • The Brave and the Bold trailer

  • Neil Gaiman writes Batman
• Thanks to Drew for linking me to video of Rush on The Colbert Report. I only watched the first, second and fifth sections… but they made me laugh.
• For :

  

• I’ve got the brains
  You’ve got the looks
  Let’s make lots of money…
• How many children in your state are in foster care (.pdf)
• There was a road monkey in one Hell of a hurry this morning. In the… mile and half to two miles that I was around her, I saw her nearly cause two accidents – both of which involved her cutting people off. Idiotstick.
• There’s a new episode of The Middleman tonight.
• Where are the new movie themes?

Back to it.

Namaste.

Saturday – 26 July 2008
Yesterday, after work, I started tinkering with the iMac. I want to have it in the living room area, so I was looking at bridging two routers. The older router wouldn’t do what I wanted/needed, so I had to investigate other options. While an AirPort card would work, I think that I’m just going to pick up a USB network adapter and call it good.

Coffee and dinner were good. Mary found a book that amused me. I bought it and decided that I would have to go on my desk at work… alongside this. That made my little inner subversive smile.

I slept in until 9:30 this morning. It was nice. Too bad there aren’t any good ‘toons to watch. I killed an hour or so flipping channels, until I hit on Nickelodeon. Sozin’s Comet, the Season 3 finale of Avatar: The Last Airbender was on. I’ve only caught sporadic episodes of Avatar, but I’ve enjoyed what I saw. The finale was no exception.

Stray Toasters

• showed me the trailer for “Legend of the Seeker,” the upcoming adaptation of Wizard’s First Rule

  

• linked me to the following article: I fell in love with a female assassin. Wow.
• The Washington Post Online has a transcript of an online chat with Neil Patrick Harris
• The following Sinfest strips amused me:
  • 
  • 
  • 

TIme to get under way. I need to get the oil changed in the car and then it’s off to play ‘Clix with Chris for a while.

Yeah, weekends are good.

Of things dead, undead, not-yet-dead and not-of-this-world:

• SaraRules and I are going to visit Doc Holliday‘s grave next weekend.
• American Vampire League

• Zombie Harmony
• Multi-National United and District 9
• Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver take on The Flash in The Flash: Rebirth

And that’s a wrap.

Friday – 25 July 2008

It’s SysAdminDay!

In honor of this, I once again bring your Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie’s System Administrator Song.

Last night, I hung out with Allie and her friend, David; I haven’t seen her in close to a year, I guess. She’s in town for a CF treatment. When I talked with her earlier in the week, I told her that I’d come visit her. I asked if she wanted anything. Her response: Tiramisu. So, I picked some up and took it to her. It was a fun visit.

I got back home around 11:00. I turned on the TV and watched the tail end of The Late Late Show. I thought about hopping on PokerStars, but realized at 12:30 that I was tapped. So I called it a night.

Stray Toasters

• If the weather stays decent, I may head to a driving range this weekend.
• From the Council for Better Driving: Utah comes Utah Code Section 41-6a-801 – Turning – Manner – Traffic Control Devices

  Loosely translated: “To the road monkey in front of me this morning: You could have turned left – into your designated lane, even though there was oncoming traffic turning right… into their designated lane.”

• No, I don’t play for the 49’ers
• Last Lecture Professor Randy Pausch, 47, Dies
• Wizard People
• 
• Oil paintings of computer cables
• The Shining recreated with WowWee robots

• LEGO Beijing Olympics

Namaste.

Wednesday: Coda
After work, I headed to Dr. Volt’s to pick up this week’s comics haul and my brick of ‘Clix:

It’s a fifty-five piece set, of which I pulled 42 unique figures.
76% of the total set in one swoop. That’s not bad.
And, I got 11 pieces that I wanted, including:

• Captain America (Isaiah Bradley)
• Cloak and Dagger
• Hawkeye (Kate Bishop)
• Howard the Duck
• Iron Man
• Nick Fury
• Power Pack
  • Energizer
  • Gee
  • Lightspeed
  • Mass Master
• Super Skrull: X-Men

And, since I got the brick, I can send in for the Super Skrull: Illuminati figure.

On the way home, I stopped in to visit SaraRules’ family. And, I picked up the “new” iMac. Now come the two most difficult parts: Figuring out where it’s going and deciding on a name for it.

Stray Toasters

• Science!
• I’m still on the fence… but leaning towards wanting to play DC Universe Online.
  When it goes live, that is.
• This amuses me not only because of the caption, but also because the kitten reminds me of Lightning… when he was still tiny.



• A live-action Cowboy Bebop movie? Could be.
• Motorist draws gun at ‘Grey Poupon’ question

I should probably give some thought to calling it a night.

Wednesday – 23 July 2008
After getting home from work, I took a relaxing – and somewhat necessary – shower. The last thing I wanted while gaming last night was B.O. It would have just been embarrassing.

Last night’s Scion session was good, if less than entirely productive. We were given our marching orders and set out to act upon them. Maybe we were a little headstrong. Maybe we were a little rash. Maybe it was Maybelline. Whatever it was, we almost got our collective recta handed to us. Fortunately, we all survived long enough to escape and try to come up with something that resembles “a plan” for next time.

I slept rather well last night. I was hoping that would be the case, given the all-day workout I had. I even indulged in a little sleeping in this morning.

Human of the Day
In what I believe to be a first, I am nominating someone under the age of five for Human of the Day. At last night’s game, did the nigh-unthinkable: She pulled up Superman: The Movie on Netflix, as a way to keep Josh quiet. I don’t think that she was aware of my affinity for the movie… or how torn my attention would be. She gave Josh headphones so that he could watch – and listen – without disturbing our gaming.

The reason that Josh gets the nod for today’s HotD is not only because he was as rapt by the movie as I usually am (although, I have apparently seen the movie enough times to be able to glance at the screen and do dialogue…), but because he would get so excited by the movie that he’d leap out of ‘s lap and bound over to Nox to say “I’m watching Superman!” and then run back over to the desk to watch more of the movie.

As a counterpoint, Nox, ever the Lex Luthor fan, kept reminding Josh and me: “You know that the good guy doesn’t win at the end of this movie, right?”

Stray Toasters

• Adam just called… because he was bored and didn’t feel like doing any work. I’m not sure if I mentioned it previously, but he and Chelsea are expecting a baby this fall/winter; they will find out the baby’s sex this afternoon.
• Church minister shames congregation by dressing as a tramp
• 
• From Broken Frontier: Uncanny X-Memories – this round has a couple of fond remembrances of issues #153 (“Kitty’s Fairy Tale”) and #186 (“LifeDeath: A Love Story”).
• Batman Then and Now: The Cost of Being Bruce Wayne
• 
• More DC Universe Online news… including screenshots
• Tyranist: I know you hate “thriller” as a genre title, but… DC to launch thriller imprint, Vertigo Crime
• Sandman 20th Anniversary Poster
• And tomorrow is Mormon Christmas, as some of us like to call it.

Time to dive in to Storage Room: Day 2.

Namaste.

Friday – 18 July 2008
Welcome to the weekend.

This morning’s goal was to sleep in. Apparently, my body had other ideas: Despite turning off the alarm, I was up a little after 7:00. And 8:15. And somewhere around 9. I got a call from Perry at 9:15 and decided to finally take the hint that I wasn ‘t really going to get much/any more sleep. He asked something that made me laugh though: “Did you take the day off because of [City of Heroes‘] Double XP Weekend?”

I’ll try the sleeping in thing again tomorrow.

Assuming I get in gear and out the door in short order, I’ll probably head up for a cup o’ Joe with Perry before heading to lunch with and Steph (former coworker of his). Maybe I’ll just go post-lunch.

This afternoon’s agenda includes (but is not limited to) some cleaning… although, I may sneak in a little game time, too. And the idea of hitting some balls at the driving range isn’t entirely off the table, either.

To paraphrase Samuel L. Jackson, I’ve got “nothing but air and opportunity.”

Stray Toasters

• 12
• Just Put a Walkie Talkie in His Hand!
• Watchmen Trailer-to-Comic comparison
• I just chatted with ; she’s having a good time in The Big Easy.
• Keeping His Eye on the Ball
• It’s been a while since I’ve linked to this: Best of Craigslist
• Imposter
• 
• YouTomb: Where copyright-clobbered YouTubes go to die
• From The Brothers Brick: Darth Vader has a tough go of it in Gotham City

Quote of the Day
From a conversation with SaraRules about Mamma Mia!, a movie that she wants to see… and that I’ve agreed to sit through:

SaraRules: Entertainment Weekly called Mamma Mia! “exuberantly vapid”
Me: Yeah…
Me: I saw something along those lines online last night
SaraRules: Awesome. I can’t wait.
Me: hahaha
SaraRules: Dude, I’m sorry, but it’s a hollywood move musical based around the music of ABBA. How can anyone expect it to be art?
Me: High hopes?
Me: Wishful thinking?
Me: Miracle?
SaraRules: Pshaw. Delusions
SaraRules: Pshaw, now i have ABBA running through my brain.
Me: I’m sorry.
SaraRules: Hell, I’m not. Finding it on iTunes right now. 
Me: I love you… but sometimes, you scare me.
SaraRules: Because I like ABBA?
Me: No.
Me: Because you’re actively seeking ABBA out on iTunes. 😉

Time to start/finish getting ready to jet.

Thursday – 17 July 2008
4th and 1, so to speak.
I’m good with that.
AND… it’s NBN Sushi Thursday.
Bang.

Last night, I picked up an anemic number of books from Dr. Volt’s. I supplemented it by picking up one box, each, of Justice League and Avengers HeroClix. The JL box was nothing but duplicates; the Avengers box had a Rare Bucky figure.

I stopped in to hang with SaraRules’ family for a bit before heading home. When I got home I plopped down on the couch, unpacked Defiant, turned on the TV… and proceeded to nod off. I’m still not sure exactly how long I was out, but it was a little odd to awaken and not be really sure “what just happened…?”

I got up, got mobile and fixed a bite to eat. Then, it was time to hit the mean streets of Paragon City. I logged in and was invited to join a team almost immediately. I did. We fought The Freakshow. Level 30+…. which meant that I got sidekicked up to 29. And the XP started rolling in. By the time I logged off, I had tacked on a level-and-a-half. As an added bonus, an old server-mate from when I first started playing logged on and joined the team.

And I got to watch The Sisko Show and Seven Days, to boot!

I had a few (more) odd dreams this morning…

…and woke up with Here He Comes, by Will Smith, running through my head.

Workout
Mark, Wes and I hit the gym at lunch yesterday. Wes wanted to do some triceps exercises, so we worked back and triceps:

• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps – 205 lbs
• Pull-downs: 3 sets/10 reps – 120 lbs
• Reverse Deltoid Flys: 3 sets/10 reps – 1 set @ 60 lbs, 2 sets @ 70 lbs
• Tricep Press (rotating flat bar): 3 sets/10 reps – 80 lbs
• Tricep Press (rope extensions): 3 sets/10 reps – 60 lbs
• Push-ups (diamond): 1 set/15 reps

It was a good workout… and tiring. My shoulders are a little stiff/sore this morning, but I’m otherwise rather pain-free. But, I forgot to check my post-workout weight. Bah.

Stray Toasters

• Happy Anniversary to OnlyAly and !



• Ravens agree to deal with first-round QB Joe Flacco
• From the “Can’t Win for Losing” file: Rev. Jackson allegedly used ‘n-word’ on Fox News
• 
• Gaping hole in Gmail privacy
• Raspberry or not-Raspberry? You make the call.
• “Okay, son… we’ll go camping right after I stop at the bank.”

• The Bicknell International Film Festival
• I [heart] CoH/CoV… but I may have to give this some consideration:

• Sega Says the iPhone Is As powerful As the Dreamcast

Namaste.

Wednesday – 16 July 2008
Last night’s Scion game was good. We met a sphinx… were asked a riddle… and didn’t die. Helluva combination. We wrapped up the adventure that we’ve been on for the past couple of months and will start in on something new next week.

I had a couple of errands to run after the game, which took me in the opposite direction of the gym, so I went home without working out. I must have been far more tired than I thought, because shortly after talking with SaraRules, I nodded off while surfing the ‘tubes. When I regained nominal coherence, I decided that calling it a night was a good decision. I wish I knew what triggered them, but I had some BIZARRE dreams. I woke up from a couple of them trying to piece together what was real from what was heard/seen while dreaming.

I may be picking up a new (to me) iMac from SaraRules’ father this evening. At SaraRules’ suggestion, I’m getting the Graphite colored one. The reason behind that choice of color:

Hmmm. I have a pink macbook and a pink iMac. Since Rob has a black macbook I humbly request the graphite iMac for him. Just so that we can continue to match. 🙂

Works for me. I think that it may replace ‘Nine as my desktop/server, as it has never really recovered from its last OS installation.

I haven’t decided whether or not I want to pick up comics today or wait until tomorrow…

Stray Toasters

• By way of and CNN: Black in America
• July 16, 1945: Trinity Blast Opens Atomic Age
  
• Take the last train to Clarksville
  And I’ll meet you at the station
• Natalie Cole say she has hepatitis C
  When I read this, it reminded me of a story from either freshman or sophomore year at Purdue:

Jim, one of the guys in our group of then-usual suspects, was from a small town in Indiana. One Saturday, while some of the other guys were working on a project, we were hanging out watching MuchMusic (think “Canadian MTV”) when a Natalie Cole video came on. We watched it for a couple of minutes before Jim blurted out the following gem: “She’s pretty good looking for a black woman.”

I couldn’t have heard what I thought I heard: “What..?!”

“Natalie Cole. She’s pretty good looking… for a black woman.”

I now had confirmation that he had just said what I thought he said. *sigh* Jim, while rather intelligent, wasn’t the smartest guy. Had he been, he would have (possibly) remembered that it had taken Herculean self-control (and three of our friends) to keep me from trying to cave his head in a few months before when he had carelessly tossed a “less than socially acceptable” racial epithet in my direction. Before choosing to belatedly follow-up on that instinct, I decided that it might be prudent to find out what he meant with this new nugget of wisdom. So, I asked him.

His response: “Well, with white women, you get blue eyes, green eyes, brown eyes…. blonde hair or brunette… or red. With black women, you just get dark hair and dark eyes.”

In his mind, his logic was flawless.
In my mind, I was trying to figure out places where I could hide his body that would take campus police weeks, if not months, to find.

Instead, I just got up and walked out of the room.
We never really talked much after that… for some reason.

• , if you happen to have a spare $25k lying around: Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s typewriter for sale
• Pope Benedict. Koalas. Eco-Disco.
  We shall not speak of these things, in conjuction, again.
• Hall and Oates. Yep, I like ’em.
• The art blog of Lauren Montgomery

Namaste.

I had to survey 15 servers today. For the most part it went without any hitches… aside from taking down two servers out from people who were working on them: I felt bad about one of them; the other was Chimpy.

Human of the Day
Today’s Human is for the reasons posted below.

Stray Toasters

• had to help me recall the proper syntax for using Web Sharing to find something on Defiant. I felt like a complete n00b when I finally remembered it. To make me feel better, showed this to me:

  

  …and all was better with the world.

• For : Wizard Magazine’s Greatest Bond Villain Poll
• How would you pronounce “ghoti?” (Answer below)
• In the words of Jude: Rick James was the original Superfreak.
• Thanks to for pointing this out:

  

• By way of Drew: Pickens Plan – Boone Pickens’ idea for weaning ourselves of our dependence on foreign oil.
• Science of becoming Batman

And the answer to “How do you pronounce ‘ghoti'” is “fish.”

::: vapor trail :::

Tuesday – 15 July 2008
“Sleeping in” is what occurs when one decides to ignore alarms in order to spend more time in The Dreaming
“Oversleeping” is what occurs when one fails to awaken at or by a certain time to begin the day.

Three guesses as to which one I did this morning.
Hint: I was up until 2:00 this morning watching The Middleman and stumble-dragged myself into bed when it was over and alarms were deemed “evil” in my sleep-addled brain.

After work yesterday, I headed home changed clothes and waited for Chris to show up… and then we headed over to play HeroClix with Perry. We played a 2-on-1 game – Chris versus Perry and me; 300 points, unrestricted. I played with the team I used in Saturday’s tourney and Perry used the Abomination and the Super-Adaptoid. Chris used Magneto and an assortment of mutants (with a couple of human Paramedics). And, as an added bonus: We played on a map that I have learned to hate. With a passion. And Chris beat us down. Soundly. We did manage to take out Wolverine… and nearly defeated Cyclops. But, it was fun.

Stray Toasters

• I have to keep reminding myself that today is “Tuesday” and not “Wednesday.”
• Cyberbullying grows bigger and meaner with photos, video
• I think I’m going to get a Rikti Monkey for my Veteran Rewards pet:



• By way of ThinkGeek: Under Construction t-shirt
• Chicago is seeing the dearth of the blues
• 
• From the “Grace Under Pressure” file: ‘It was like I was on rollerblades,’ says Miss USA
• From ‘untouchable’ to role model
• Vegan Zombie t-shirt



• Server room: Day 2
• Wes just bowed out of today’s workout. *sigh* Maybe I’ll hit the gym on the way home from tonight’s Scion game.
• I need to pare down some of the music in my iTunes. I have far too many duplicate entries…

Ka-POW!

Monday – 14 July 2008
It’s Bastille Day.

I don’t remember “what” they were, but I recall having a couple of odd dreams last night.

It’s 7:30 and I’m not exactly feeling rushed about getting to work. I should still be there between 8:00 and 8:30, but I’m really not pressed about it.

Stray Toasters

• Add something new to the Covet List: Aluminum LEGO brick keychains.
• For your Monday morning amusement, from In Living Color: The Wrath of Farrakhan:

• SciFi has information about 30 Days of Night: Blood Trails
• ‘Drunk’ referee shown red card
• The trailer for the upcoming NickToons Iron Man: Armored Adventures is online

Up, up and away!

Stray Toasters

• It’s 7-11 Day. Get your free Slurpee!



• While I doubt that they had ‘s affinity for cow-themed things in mind, it is apparently Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A, too.
• does this seem at all familiar?



• It looks like I’ll be working for a few hours on Sunday. All things considered, this isn’t a “bad” thing, as it will be in the middle of the day, when I’d otherwise probably just be doing my couch potato impression. And, as an added bonus, that cuts down the hours that I’ll have to be here on Friday… possibly even eliminating the need to be here on Friday. Win-Win.
• Rob Worley, from Comics2Film, has discovered a link (of sorts) between The Middleman and a certain Michael J. Fox movie
• For the WoW gamers out there:



• Mandelbrot Set you’re a Rorschach Test on fire
  You’re a day-glo pterodactyl
  You’re a heart-shaped box of springs and wire
  You’re one badass fucking fractal
  And you’re just in time to save the day
  Sweeping all our fears away
  You can change the world in a tiny way
• 

Thursday – 10 July 2008
Last night, Dr. Z brought my XBox from the AF office up to SLC. Along with it, came the six games I had stored in the carrying case, including X-Men: Legends. Win-Win. I took them home and put Legends in the 360 and sat down to enjoy some comics-based gaming.

I had, however, neglected one very important factor into account: The 360’s poor backwards compatibility.

After some research, I found that I needed to download an emulator – to trick the 360 into thinking that it was an O.G. XBox.¹ (Yes, calling it “O.G.” just made me laugh.) And, even then, there’s no guarantee that the emulator will play Legends properly. *sigh* As the home network is mostly wireless, I looked to see if I had a long enough Cat-5 cable to run from the living room to the office. Nope. Next, I considered trying to cascade wireless routers, since I have SaraRules’ router for the time being. Then I decided that was more effort than I really felt like putting into it last night.

So, I opted for playing City of Heroes.

Which had a new patch release. So, I waited for it to download and then clicked to apply it. I was apparently so wiped from the poor sleep Tuesday night – possibly aided by the Shiraz I had with dinner – that I nodded off before the patch finished applying.

So I called it an early evening, relatively speaking.

This morning, I was up and ready to roll in just over 40 minutes, including the time it took to iron today’s outfit. Not too shabby. It would have been even better if I had remembered my cell phone before leaving the complex. *sigh* At least I have frozen mocha goodness to see me through the morning.

And it’s Comics and Sushi ‘Wednesday.’

Stray Toasters

• Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Sheila E. are performing Saturday. I’m a little torn about which show I’d rather go to… but leaning towards BBVD.
• The new season of Burn Notice starts tonight.
• The HeroClix Fantastic Four Starter Set should be in stores today.
• As bad as I’ve (re)discovered that Super Friends can be, this sounds like an interesting compliation.
• I haven’t played Second Life in probably a year. This is almost enough to get me to check it out again: New Babbage – A Steampunk City in Second Life:

• iPhone 3G meets the masses tomorrow.
• It looks as though the right reverend Jesse Jackson could use a good talking-to.
  But, he’s still my top choice for reading Green Eggs and Ham:

• I just introduced DaveW to Christopher Titus Apologizes. In return, he sent me back to my desk with a video from Lisa Lampenelli: Take It Like a Man

Namaste.

¹ – O.G. XBox – A conversation between a classic XBox and an XBox 360:

XBox 360: So what are you supposed to be?
XBox: Me? I’m O.G.
XBox 360: “O.G.?” Shit… you ain’t gangsta.
XBox: Gangsta? Naw, man… not gangsta. O.G. “Original Gamer.” Word.

Lunch time.  I should be going to the gym, but neither Wes nor Mark are in this office and I really dislike working out alone.

Stray Toasters

• Interviews with Matt Keeslar, The Middleman in… The Middleman
  • A Slice of Sci-Fi
  • iFMagazine
  • TV Guide
• The best video games of the year — so far
• Tyranist: You should click here.
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!?” file: Teenager finds baby bat in her bra
• … and in a semi-related note: Die off of bats mystifies experts
• First Look: Wonder Woman DVD Movie
• NASA sets date for final shuttle mission in 2010
• Another from the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!” file: The World’s Weirdest Health Mascots
• MK vs. DCU screen shots: Now with more Catwoman

I should eat something.