Random Access

Sunday – 11 May 2008
Happy Mother’s Day

<< Rewind <<
Yesterday was Kris’ graduation; she received her Master of Law degree from St. Thomas University in Intercultural Human Rights.

(click picture to see the gallery)

The ceremony was nice. There was also a posthumous awarding of a Juris Doctor degree to a student who passed away last year. This was the second time in a week that I have seen this – last week a Bachelor of Arts degree was awarded posthumously to a student at SaraRules’ graduation.

After the ceremony, we went to lunch at Texas de Brazil, a Brazilian steakhouse. Sweet Mary, mother of Christ, it was a meatfest. A few of our party hadn’t been to this style of restaurant before, so they weren’t quite prepared for the onslaught of food. They learned. Oh, how they learned…

Back to Kris’ for random naps. Later, we went to the Seminole Hard Rock Cafe and Casino. (For : As SaraRules pointed out, it’s the one where Anna Nicole Smith died.) The casino was mostly slots. Since neither of us are really fans of slots, SaraRules and I wandered around the area. Lots of shops, tons of restaurants, more clubs than you can shake a stick at and an art gallery. And tons – TONS – of people-watching fun. Too many fashion faux pas to mention. (Ah, the joys of being in South Florida.) All-in-all, it was a nice way to spend the evening.

> Play >
So far, it’s been a quiet day. SaraRules and I watched Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. (I didn’t see Dr. Doom, so I’m feeling a little jipped.) I caught online, who often references the scene where Mola Ram pulls a worker’s heart out through his chest:

Me: Mola Ram just pulled the guy’s heart out.
Me: Thought you’d want to know.
: kalima, yuktitay
: rough translation: this gonna hurt, bitch.

Yep. Favorite brother-in-law for a reason.

Not sure what’s on tap for the rest of the afternoon. There’s a rumor that we may visit a beach at some point. We shall see…

Namaste.

Friday – 09 May 2008

It’s… a little after 8:00 AM EDT. I’ve been up since about 6:30. (This is a vacation, isn’t it?!) I’ve been hanging out with Mom – having coffee, watching news, watching her start cooking dinner – since waking up. I’m sure that having been up since O’dark-thirty will catch up with me sooner or later. And, did I mention that Mom is following this year’s election coverage with the same hawkishness with which she followed the O.J. Simpson trial back in the 90s? She is. It’s kind of amusing.

Today will involve a good bit of errand-running, I’m sure. That’s cool.

Stray Toasters

• Severe storms hit the area of NC near Mom’s. I’m waiting to hear what kind of damage the area around the house sustained. I chatted, briefly, with Markin’ Time, this morning; he said that his area was pretty much spared. , what’s the story from your part of the state?
• Burma impounds UN aid deliveries
• 
• Preview of Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four #1
• I haven’t had an NES for over fifteen years, but this NES Controller Coffee Table makes me kind of wish that I did…
• …of course, if they’re putting an XBox in a Microsoft Surface Table, well, I wouldn’t mind one of them, either!
• Close to the Wind
• 
• John Ridley (1,2) author of The American Way (which, if you haven’t read, you need to read) and Undercover Brother, is a commentator on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. Who knew?!
• Mmm, coffee.
• Steampunk in The New York Times
• LEGO + Nathan Sawaya = Skateboard

Namaste.

After seven hours in the air (and a couple of stopovers), we’re in Florida.

I can’t say “sunny Florida,” because it’s night… but it was sunny when we stopped in Tampa. I called to say “Hi” from the airport, but he was in a meeting.

Now, we’re sitting here hanging out with the family-unit.

“…and that’s all I have to say about that.”

Thursday – 08 May 2008
Today is not only the first day of vacation; it’s also my stepmother and younger brother’s birthday…

…and…

…respectively.

The drive to Mesquite was uneventful.  Long, but uneventful.  We stayed at The Oasis.  I was out almost as soon as I hit the pillow.  This morning, we were up and on the way to Florida… by way of Las Vegas.

Human of the Day
The woman on the moving walkway who wasn’t paying attention… and almost faceplanted when it came to and end.

Almost time to push back, so I should probably log off.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 07 May 2008
Midweek. Grey and Rainy.

Vacation starts tomorrow. Or tonight, depending on your point of view. Florida. Forecast is sunny and hot (upper 80s). Yeah, I think I can deal with that.

Stray Toasters

• Pink Floyd’s Money just turned up in my iTunes rotation. I like have liked this song for many years. I even used it as the theme for my radio show in college.
• In order received, , and got the right answer.
  (Technically, only got half of it, but she still got her half right.)
  The answers were: Vasco da Gama and Amerigo Vespucci.
• loonybin88 pointed me in the direction of Not on the Test. Amusing… and sadly true, in many cases.
• Duck season!
  Wabbit season!
  DUCK season!
  WABBIT season!
  Zombie season!
• Yay for Windows Server 2003 manuals! ZzzzzzzZZzzzzz…
• Webcomic WTH takes an amusing look at City of Heroes.
• I haven’t played City in… at least a week. *taps vein*
• While I’m happy with Senator Obama’s performance in last night’s primaries, I’m not so naive as to think that he’s an automatic shoe-in for the Democratic Party nomination, as some news sources seem to be reporting. The race isn’t over and there is still a long way to go.
• I ‘Toastered Isabella Rossellini’s Green Porno yesterday; the link led to stills from the videos. The Sundance Channel’s website has posted the videos.

Quote of the Day
has been chatting with one of our robot overlords (Did I say “overlords?” I meant “protectors.”) about an email issue. This was part of the conversation:

Robot Overlord: “I’ve sent your request on to Adam and Jamie to see if they know the right people to contact.”
: “You sent it to the Mythbusters guys!? How can they help with an email forward problem??”

He didn’t get a reply. Sad. Humorless robot overlords.

Anyway…

I just got back from lunch with SaraRules and Perry. While out, I took a couple of pieces of equipment to be exchanged for an RMA. I went to a new place to take care of this. The young lady at the store, God bless ‘er, didn’t quite understand what to do. So, what normally took about five (5) minutes to do took on the order of twenty-five. Yay. But, it’s done.

Back to the grind.

Namaste.

I have forgotten how much of a piece of piece Windows XP can be. Yes, I’ve been spoiled by the simplicity of OSX and program upgrades and installations. I recently had to wipe and reinstall XP on one of my machines in the north office. I forgot about that today when I had to do some online training. Which means that I had to reinstall a number of helper applications in order to use the training modules.

Install.
Reboot.
Install.
Reboot.
Lather.
Rinse.
Repeat.

I got everything installed. I went through the training modules. Life was good. Yay.

Earlier in the afternoon, Code Monkey and I went for a constitutional. We were talking about how temperate it was today. From there we went off on a tangent about skin color and heat absorption. That, in turn, led me onto a tangent about Kryptonians’ (and Daxamites’) ability to absorb energy from yellow solar radiation. Then, came the big tangent:

Where were the Black Kryptonians?!

CM and I then had a couple of other questions:

1. Would the concept of Black Kryptonians work? If high melanin-content in the skin reflects heat, then would the darker-skinned be as “super” under a yellow sun as their light-skinned counterparts?
2. If Krypton was a cold/ice planet, as seen in Superman and Superman II, would there even be any dark-skinned Kryptonians?

Of course, this meant that I had to look up whether or not there had ever been Black Kryptonians in the comics. Lo and behold, there were! Evidence was found here, here and even here.

Still no word on Black Daxamites, though.

Stray Toasters

• Newsarama had a link to Legion of Super-Potatoes. The second page, with the Legion of Substitute Potatoes, nearly made me double over and smack my head on my desk from laughter.
• This is the cover of the first issue of Legion of Super-Heroes that I ever bought:



• Living Between Wednesdays had an amusing look at The Invincible Iron Man #172, featuring a drunken Tony Stark…
• …which makes a perfect segue for this:



• Isabella Rossellini Does Bug Porn
• What if John Byrne had written the X-Men?
• Also, check out the official trailer for Wolverine and the X-Men, the upcoming animated series from Marvel. It looks like an interesting twist on the X-Men mythos.



• Not the droids you’re expecting…
• While watching CNN’s primary coverage, SaraRules mentioned that she was fascinated by the multi-touch interactive display they used to track/follow voting reports. So, I showed her the multi-touch exhibition from TED in 2006:

  Then I showed her an item from Popular Mechanics.com about the Microsoft Milan. That made me wonder when the Milan was going to be available to the public. Apparently, it hits the market on 30 May 2008.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 06 May 2008
Okay, I didn’t wake up in my clothes again this morning, but it made for a good subject line. And, I did wake up on the couch. I apparently nodded off while watching TV last night. At some point, I must have turned off the TV… but didn’t muster the muscle power to get up off the couch. Until nearly 4:00 AM.

A few minutes ago, I was sitting here staring out the window and the thought “Marco…? POLO!” ran through my head. It was immediately followed by:

• Vasco…?
• Amerigo…?

Bonus points to anyone who can remember their last names… without having to look them up.

Stray Toasters

• I have Bit-O-Honey candies.
• What are some of your favorite sources for news:  TV?  Radio?  Internet?  Smoke signals?  I’m not generally given to watching news on TV; I find too much of the coverage to be “human interest” stories and not “news,” especially when looking at local news.  I tend to get most of my news from NPR, BBC News and various sites on the Internet.
• By way of BoingBoing TV: Sneak Attack and Magic Ink:

• The Tim Burton Batmobile Is for Sale
• Win Server 2k3.  Yay.
• Breastfeeding ‘helps to boost IQ’
• Mission: Impossible IV?
• Drivers fined for slow-drive on scenic bridge
• 

Namaste.

Monday: Coda
I had a quiet night in. I watched a couple of episodes of L&O: TNG L&O: SVU and last week’s episode of CSI:, which included a cameo from MythBusters’ Adam and Jamie. And, I read a bit more of Guards, Guards.

Stray Toasters

• How did I not know that there’s a fourth Terminator movie, starring Christian Bale, coming out next year?
• A tip of the hat to for the inspiration for tonight’s post’s title.
• It’s going to be in the 80s in Florida this weekend.
• , click here.
• 
• Another from the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: The Wii Pole-Dancing Game Is Really Coming
• Hugh Laurie (you know… the guy who plays Dr. House on House) is on The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson. I’m not really sure that I could have pictured him as Perry White in Superman Returns.
• 

Namaste.

Monday – 05 May 2008
Cinco de Mayo.

Last night, after we moved some of SaraRules’ things and had dinner, we watched Night Watch and Cloverfield.  It’s been a while since I’ve seen Day Watch; I need to watch it again to get the full story.  Seeing Cloverfield on the small screen was good as it didn’t have the same overwhelming sense of “Blair Witch cam”-induced sensory overload that seeing it on the big screen had.  (No, sitting on the fourth row of the theatre had nothing to do with it…)  It was also good because of the special features.  There was one interview that mentioned something about the story of which neither of us was aware.  Knowing this item changes the dynamic of the movie a bit.

Meanwhile, back in northern Utah…

The commute wasn’t bad this morning.  The monkeys were pretty well-behaved.  This is not to say that there wasn’t action:

I had just crossed into Beaver County when I got passed by a red Mazda or Acura or Infinity.  The lady driving it looked like she was on a mission.  I was doing somewhere around 80 MPH and she cruised right on past me.  She didn’t exactly leave me in the dust, but she was moving at a good clip.  I decided to ghost her, lagging behind about seven to ten car lengths.  We drove through Beaver, no problem.  Just north of Beaver, she crested a hill as she cruised up behind a van and a truck.  Approaching the top of the hill, I decided to back off the gas a little.

Good thing, too.  As I hit the summit, there was a UHP Dodge Charger in the middle of a U-turn.  I backed off a little more; he completed his turn a few lengths behind me.  He cruised along, off my driver’s side rear quarter panel.  Then he sped up a bit.  Just after he passed me, he dropped the pedal and hit the lights.

Target: Red car.

He rolled up behind her.  She was apparently oblivious to this fact.  He must have stayed behind her for nearly a half-mile before she rubbed a couple of brain cells together, mustered up a clue and pulled over

Other than that, the drive was uneventful until I got to NEHPI Nephi – there was an overturned tractor-trailer just south of Exit 225.

Workout
Today’s workout focus was shoulders:

• Flys (Nautilus): 3 sets/15 reps – 95 lbs, 125 lbs, 95 lbs.
• Shoulder Press (dumbbell): 3 sets/10 reps, 40 lbs
• Upright Rows (barbell): 3 sets/10 reps, 50 lbs
• Lateral Raises (dumbbell): 3 sets/12 reps, 12 lbs
• Back Extensions: 2 sets/15 reps, using 5 lb. weights to do flys at the top of the extension

Post-workout weight: 170.4 lbs.

We tried a few shoulder presses with 50 lb. dumbbells.  They felt awkward and too heavy.  We also tried them on a couple of benches – The first one, a preacher curl bench, just felt “wrong;” the second was a flat bench, which provided no back support.

Stray Toasters

• Florida in t-minus three days and counting…
• The Evolution of Video Game Music
• Iron Man wound up making $101M (USD) over the weekend.  Somehow, I think that they’ll easily recover the costs of making/marketing the movie.  Call it a hunch.
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Woman without hands asked for fingerprints
• #000000 Power T-shirt



• The 50 Greatest Commercial Parodies of All-Time

/lunch

Namaste.

Sunday – 04 May 2008
Last night was the last gathering (sort of) for the 2008 MFAs… at least until they come back for their Capstone defenses in August.  Rachel, Josh, Tyler, Lish and a couple of his friends from NC and Anna came over and hung out.  It was far more low-key than other gatherings have been, but nevertheless it was fun.

This morning was quiet (all of the roommates have already moved out) and lazy.  Today, we are going to start packing up SaraRules’ things and moving them into her storage unit.

Tonight: We’re watching the second half of Night Watch and Cloverfield.

Stray Toasters

• So far, everyone I’ve talked to has greatly enjoyed Iron Man.  I’m looking forward to seeing it again… and it seems as though I apparently missed a reference to The Mandarin in there somewhere.
  • By now, most people know of Samuel L. Jackson’s appearance in the film.  Most Marvel fans know Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.  When Marvel created their “Ultimate Universe” nearly ten years ago, they needed a Nick Fury for that setting; they based Ultimate Nick Fury‘s look on Mr. Jackson.
  • Iron Man has grossed over $100M (USD), so far in its opening weekend.
    By comparison, Made of Honor, which also opened this weekend, grossed $15M (USD).
• Markin’ Time: You might want to check out HotRants Political BlogReport.
• 
• Long-lost Vivaldi opera performed for the first time since 1730
• Integrous Quiche!
• LEGO is communication.

Quotes of the Day
As jotted down by Rachel last night:

• “I got my ‘This Little Piggy’ fix for the day, I’m good.” – Me.
• “I thought I did everyone.” – Lish
• “It sounds like they’re a pretty non-traditional poly bunch…” – Josh
• “You got little squatty feet, though.” – Anna

And on to the packing!

Namaste.

Thursday: Coda
Post-work, I got stuck in the northbound crawl to Salt Lake. There was an accident a few miles north of where I got on the interstate, so what should have been a 30-ish minute drive turned into a nearly hour-long trek. I don’t know “when” the accident occurred, but by the time I got to the scene, the vehicles were on the side of the road and being loaded onto tow trucks. But that didn’t mean that everyone had stopped rubbernecking. Quite the opposite, in fact. Yay for road monkeys!

I met SaraRules, in town for a group presentation, at her parents’. The presentation went well, she said. We hung out with her family for a while before heading to coffee – it was nice to see and hang out with the usual suspects.  Tomorrow, after work and a certain “team-building” exercise (involving personal armor with offensive and defensive capabilities), we’re heading to Cedar… where we’ll hook up with her parents again.  Saturday, she graduates with her MFA.

Stray Toasters

• The classic Jonny Quest still kicks much ass. Yes, there are some outdated concepts and stereotypes, but a lot of today’s cartoons could learn a lesson or fourteen from this toon.
• Sarah Chalke, who portrays Dr. Elliot Reid on NBC’s Scrubs, was also (the second) Becky Connor on Roseanne.
• Iron Man: The Science Behind the Fiction
• 
• Most of you have undoubtedly heard the phrase “…a quantum leap.” Many people assume that it means a major change. It doesn’t.
  

  In real physical systems a quantum leap is not necessarily a large change, and can in fact be very insignificant. A good example of this can be taken from the Bohr model of the hydrogen atom, where the observed energy shifts associated with shifts of different quantum states (quantum leaps) span a wide range from large to small (when compared to the energy required to completely free an electron). In the popular sense, the term is usually applied to mean a large or significant change, which is thus not strictly correct.

• From woot.com: Winners’ Gallery – the Best of Contest 170
• To avoid complication
  She never kept the same address
  In conversation
  She spoke just like a…
  

Namaste.

I use iGoogle as my home page.
I formerly used the classic Google search page as my home page, but I’ve come to like the iGoogle one more.

When I loaded a new browser window, I glanced at the CNN.com headlines, as I usually do when the page opens. And there it was, big as day and twice as bright:

Barbara Walters: I had affair with U.S. Senator

Do we really care – or need to know – about this?!

*sigh* And people still wonder why I always think of Dirty Laundry (1, 2) when I think of news.

It was still snowing when I woke up this morning.
And there was a trace of accumulation.
Madness!

Workout
Today’s routine was less… stellar than some recent ones have been. But, it was a workout, nonetheless:

• Leg Raises: 3 sets / 20reps
• Bench Press (barbell): 3 sets
  • Set 1: 5 reps, 225 lbs, 5 res, 185 lbs
  • Sets 2 & 3: 10 reps, 185 lbs
• Curls (barbell): 3 sets / 10 reps, 55 lbs
• Flys (Nautilus): 3 sets / 15 reps, 95 lbs
• Curls (dumbbell, Hammer grip): 3 sets, 10 reps, 20 lbs
• Decline Oblique Crunches: 1 set / 10 reps per side

The inside of my shoulder started to twinge a bit during the first set of bench presses, so I decided to back off on the weight. That seemed to help some, but there was still a little sore-/tenderness. I’ll be keeping an eye on that.

Pre-workout weight: 172.8 lbs.

Stray Toasters

• Last night, while waiting for dinner to cook, I read this week’s four-color haul. There were a LOT of reveals in different books:
  • Action Comics
  • DC Universe 0
  • The New Avengers

  And not just throw-away stuff, either. Some good solid “Oscillating blades, meet fecal material” setup for this summer’s events.

• By way of : Stupid, stupid burning brightly or how not to win an election
• You’re charging me for what?! Airline fees way up since January 1
• The bottom line.
• pinged me this morning to say that he had just seen the new trailer for The Incredible Hulk. As he put it: “…didn’t realize there was going to be Hulk-on-Hulk action” I explained that it was actually The Abomination… but that it technically was Hulk-on-Hulk action.
• I am going to miss CSI: tonight, as SaraRules and I are going out with friends, but this amuses me:



• As I neither saw a mushroom cloud nor heard calls for evacuations from the valley, I am going to take it on good faith that now has his PS3 and GTA4… and that no innocents were unduly harmed in the process of him acquiring it. The guilty, however… well… sometimes, you just have to set an example.
• Speaking of GTA4: For everyone who is so worried about its content, repeat after me: “It’s a GAME. I really should get over it.”

/lunch

Namaste.

Monday – 28 April 2008
Indulge

Pronunciation: \in-ˈdəlj\
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): in·dulged; in·dulg·ing

Etymology: Latin indulgēre to be complaisant

Date: circa 1623

That’s exactly what I did this morning: Indulged myself with staying in bed. Forty-five whole extra minutes. Alarm? Yep, it was set. And it went off. A few times.

Didn’t matter.
Didn’t care.

This morning was about enjoying the last vestiges of the first full good night’s sleep that I’ve had in almost a week. And it was totally worth it. As an added bonus, I got to spend a little more time with SaraRules. Can’t beat that at twice the price, either. Sure, it meant a later start to the commute. And a later end to the work day, but like I said:

Didn’t matter.
Didn’t care.

Workout
Coming back to a workout after a week off is not fun. Today was no exception. We pretty much did (most of) last Monday’s routine:

• Bench Press (barbell): 3 sets/8 reps – 2.5 sets @225 lbs, half-set @ 185 lbs
• Curls (barbell): 3 sets/10 reps – 2 sets @ 70 lbs, 1 set @ 50 lbs
• Flys (Nautilus): 3 sets/15 reps, 95 lbs
• Curls (dumbbell, Hammer grip): 3 sets, 10 reps, 25 lbs
• Dips: 2 sets, 20 reps & 15 reps

Post-workout weight: 170.2 lbs.
(If nothing else, not having an appetite for four days helped get rid of a few pounds…)

Home. Everything seems to be in one piece. That’s a good sign.

Stray Toasters

• Thanks to an excellent suggestion from , The Covet List is now being given form as my Amazon Wish List.
• America’s Dirty Little Oil Secret: Plastic Bottles and Bags
• 
• Chris and I are playing ‘Clix tomorrow. I get to try out Galactus. I should probably bone up on the special rules for him before we play…
• Apple has upgraded the iMac.
• , can you explain why your team gave up all their draft picks until the fourth round?!
• Guilty: Jury Convicts Reiser of First-Degree Murder
• Wow… sounds like my desk:



• I’ve mentioned before, but you should also check out Brad Guigar’s other comics, Courting Disaster and Phables.
• Even though the content is often very similar, I think that I like Gizmodo a little better than Engadget.

And now, to see if I can figure out what sounds good for dinner…

Namaste.

Sunday – 27 April 2008
All-in-all, it’s been a quiet day.  Not a bad way to spend a day…

• I slept in this morning.
• Talked with my mom and uncle.
• SaraRules and I went on an excursion to St. George.

When we got back, SaraRules did homework and… I forgot that her complex hates City.  Instead, I read a couple of Gotham Central trade paperbacks:

and
(click the titles for more information)

I have to thank Markin’ Time for his suggestion to pick these up.  I’ll have to pick up the rest of the series… even though, thanks to a couple of other DC series, I know what happens to a couple of the characters.

Stray Toasters

• Tonight’s Law & Order: SVU… wow.
• While in St. George, I picked up Space: Above and Beyond and The Pursuit of Happyness
• lj user=”melodywise” has bees.  LOTS of ’em.
• Huh.  Corner Gas is on WGN.  Who knew?!
• Reasonably Clever Pumping Iron Extreme Armor Building Contest
• …and, in related news: Iron Man opens Friday.

Namaste.