Random Access

Sunday – 16 December 2007
Yesterday’s errand-running and shopping excursions went well. I knocked a few names off the list and made a few decisions about other gift ideas. After shopping – and some short downtime at home – it was off to breakfast with the usual suspects.

This morning came early.
Very early.

7:00 early.

Why? Because SaraRules and I had tickets to:

We picked up SaraRules’ mother and headed towards downtown.  Getting to the Conference Center was a bit of an adventure: Traffic near Temple Square was horrendous, mostly due to an accident or stalled car blocking one of the lanes of traffic.  We had a pass to park in the structure under the Church Office Building, so that made parking a non-issue.  We met Land outside the Conference Center and headed inside.  Finding seats was also fun; because of the delays in getting to Temple Square, most of the large groups of seats were taken……except for a section at the Plaza Level (near the floor), stage left: We were about six rows from the stage.  However, being so close, the choir seating and parts of the stage were obscured.  Fortunately, there were a couple of video monitors near our seats.  Thus, we had a good view.  Of everything.

The performance was excellent.  When you take into account that this was the fourth live performance in four days (and that part of today’s performance was the broadcast performance), it  gives you a special respect for the quality of these all-volunteer organizations – the only paid positions are the Conductor and the Organist, if I remember correctly.

I have heard of The King’s Singers, but I don’t believe that I have heard them perform before today. They were very good. They sang a capella, with Orchestra at Temple Square and with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.   In addition to the Christmas songs – including a very fun take on Jingle Bells – they closed their performance with a rendition of Danny Boy (Londonderry Air), and  dedicated it to President of the LDS Church, Gordon Hinckley.

Interesting note: I was talking with Coworker DaveM, who plays in the orchestra, about tickets to the event and he related the following to me:

• The Conference Center has 21,000 seats – 20,000 in the main hall and an annex that holds 1,000.
• There were four performances, including this morning’s Music and the Spoken Word (1, 2) and the mini-concert that followed.
• Given the above statistics, there were 84,000 seats/tickets available for this weekend’s concerts.
• There were over 1 million requests for tickets.

Football Update
Baltimore has played the best and worst teams – the Patriots and the Dolphins, respectively – in the NFL.

And lost to both of them.

I didn’t get to watch today’s game, but when I heard the final score, I was stunned. I took a nap this afternoon and when I nodded off, Baltimore was ahead 13 – 3, with a little time left in the first half. When I woke up… Baltimore had lost in overtime, 16 – 22. Amazing.

Having said that, I have to say congratulations to the Dolphins. Long-time readers know that Miami has been my second-favorite AFC for many years. I’m glad to see that they were able to finally win a game… but there’s a (pretty big) part of me that wishes it hadn’t been against the Ravens.

Stray Toasters
I’m sure that I had something I wanted to add here… but I don’t remember what it was.  So,  we’ll come back to this later.  Or something like that.

Namaste.

Friday – 14 December 2007
Yep. It’s a Friday. And I am having… difficulty… staying/getting/maintaining focus(ed) on work.

SaraRules got in last night. On her way to SLC, she met me at the AF office and hung out with Tyranist, Derek, Dwim, Eric and me for a few. Then we braved the elements – and the road monkeys – and headed home. As it was cold and we we didn’t feel like foraging, it was a pizza night. God bless online ordering. We watched TV, ate pizza and chilled.

This morning, I ignored the alarm and slept in a bit. Jason called to find out which office I would be working in today (SLC) and ask if I wanted a bagel for breakfast. I told him I’d meet him at the local Einstein Brothers. They make a mean ham-and-cheese bagel omelette. I also stopped next door at the Beans & Brews for a cup of espresso-laden frozen mocha goodness. Then, on to the cotton fields…

Chew on This: Food for Thought
I was chatting with earlier and he asked me a question for which I didn’t have an immediate answer. I told him that I’d have to chat with the S.O. and get back to him:

me: Hmm. I may. I’ll talk it over with the S.O.
everydave: nog
me: X.O. Not sure if she quite qualifies as C.O.
<ponder>
everydave: ? commanding officer?
me: Yeah.
XO == executive officer (First Officer)
And I can’t recall what the abbreviation for Second Officer is.
…but I’m looking it up.
everydave: gotcha
SO is then significant officer?
me: Yes.
everydave: you’ve got some weird military fetish going on…and I’m not sure I’m comfortable with that, being a pacifist and all
me: Well, “Other,” but both apply/fit.

So, that raises the following questions:

• In relating to one’s significant other in military terms, would they be C.O or X.O.?
• And should a person take into account that “X” or “ex-” is not necessarily an attribute that should be applied to one’s current sig-other? And/or because of that, should the S.O. just be brevetted to “C.O.” in order to avoid any possible issues/complications.

Just wondering…
Stray Toasters

• I think that Derek’s training is coming along nicely – He not only made a pilgrimage to the Garden of Sweden… he made a video of it:
  
• Handbrake
• Have you voted for – or added a suggestion for – your favorite Chocolate Jesus Crunchies slogan?
• From Gizmodo: Rockstar Wii Mod Starts Manhunt for Classy Consoles
• just got new silver hotness… and had it delivered to the office. Many of us have drooled over it.
• Speaking of which: Check out the new Apple Mac ad: Santa Claus
• Inside the Baxter Building
• From BoingBoing: US official threatens employees with magic
• Village Hat Shop, home of the Hat Blog

Namaste.

Thursday – 13 December 2007
This morning started a bit oddly. My alarm went off at 6:20 and I promptly turned it off. I wasn’t in a rush to get up and on the way, so I laid in bed for a while. I drifted in and out of sleep for the next little bit. While zonin in and out, I had a dream wherein I walked out of the bedroom and turned the corner to find that I had left the front door unlocked and open overnight. And I couldn’t tell if someone had snuck in.

I woke up a little disconcerted. I also managed to drift off again…

…and had another – different – door open overnight dream.

…and, again, woke up a bit out of sorts.

Maybe I should rename the day from “No Bad News Thursday” to “No Bad Dream Thursday.”

I did some minor straightening up this morning, to make up for the complete lack of cleaning last night. There are still some things that need a little more attention, but at least I can see a little progress.

Today’s workout, after being out of the gym for a week, was… work. Like Big Daddy Kane, I got the job done, but it took considerable effort in a couple of spots:

• Bench Press: 3 sets/8 reps, 225 lbs.
• Cable Row: 3 sets/15 reps, 100 lbs.
• Incline Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 135 lbs.
• Bent-over Row: 3 sets/12 reps, 35 lbs.
• Decline Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 135 lbs.
• Push-ups: 2 sets, 15 reps/10 reps

Some of them were not pretty – and my arms were burning when I was done – but it was a good workout.
Stray Toasters

• shockpuppet and I are having (too much) fun with Chocolate Jesus Crunchies. Click the link and check out the mock-up she did for the cereal box.
• Road monkeys! BAH!
• By way of : Discovering the Gifted Ex-Child
• 
• Finder + Cover Flow = hotness
• <rant>
  

  I work with a number of HIGHLY intelligent people. Sometimes, however, I wonder how smart they are. Case in point: Either earlier this week or late last week, a couple of them informed me that we were out of engineeing/lab notebooks. I told them that I’d submit an order for them. As of this morning, they haven’t been delivered.

  Ordinarily, I would think that this is a non-problem: There are plenty of other sources of paper (other notebooks/pads, printer paper, etc.) in the office that can be used as tide-me-overs.

  But, what do I find in my email inbox as soon as I get in?

  “Both [monkey-yet-to-be-renumbered] and I are looking for engineering lab notebooks. Any word on these?”

  And I got the following email from monkey-yet-to-be-renumbered:

  “Can we place an order for them?”
  (followed by ordering information)

  I realize that people have affinities for certain items. But…

  • …if said item isn’t available/on-hand
  • …AND if someone has already said that the order would be placed for the item
  • …AND that someone hasn’t said anything about the item having been delivered

  …doesn’t it stand to reason that you should find a workaround until it gets there? Seems perfectly logical to me.

  But, maybe that’s just me. Maybe it’s Maybelline.

  </rant>

• Knight Rider storms back, new K.I.T.T. showcased
• UPS turns to software to cut down on left-hand turns
• It’s snowing again.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 12 December 2007
Another cold day in the valley.

Last night’s Scion game was fun. And, just for the record: It’s much easier to play a game – or at least to know what your character is capable of doing – when you have your character sheet with you. Last night, I even had a backup: I had the .pdf version and the paper character sheet.

After the game, I went home and fought with technology: ‘Nine has an ATI 9600 All-in-Wonder video card in it. With such a card, I should be able to run a coax line from the cable jack into the card and… watch TV. The operative word in the previous sentence is: “should.” Instead, ‘Nine keeps giving me the finger driver errors. Between uninstalling drivers, downloading drivers, rebooting and testing, I think that I spent a couple of hours trying to find a workable configuration. The operative word in that sentence is: “trying.” But, I have nothing but time and opportunity… and the nigh-limitless knowledge of the Interweb… available to me. I shall prevail.

This morning, I partook of an ancient ritual known as “sleeping in.” It was good. After observing the hygiene rituals and deciding on today’s attire, I was on my way. The way that led to the door of the Giver of Frozen Mocha Goodness. And then, on to work! The day has been good: I put in a suggestion for some test hardware and am putting together a small, two-system network for a Windows Server 2003 test environment.

Tonight, I need to do some cleaning and then I think that I will save the world… or at least Paragon City.

Stray Toasters

• Today == Wednesday
  • A == New Comic Book Day
  • B == Sushi Wednesday
    • I had Ika, California and Seattle rolls today.
  • A + B = C
  • C == Happy Rob
• Chocolate Jesus Crunchies – the official cereal of Pope Groovalicious
• James Bond Films for the George W. Bush Era
• In going between OS X (Defiant) and WinXP (DS9), I keep having to remember on which side of application windows to look for the maxmize, minimize and close buttons.
• Terry Pratchett has rare, early-onset Alzheimer’s
• Catch a falling star and
  Put it in your pocket
  Save it for a rainy day
• US soul pioneer Ike Turner dies
• 
• The 5 Users You’d Meet in Hell
• Stupid Technology Tricks of 2007

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 11 December 2007
After staying up FAR later than I should have (assembling new IKEA goodness), it was a slow-to-start morning. Since I had to be nominally bright-eyed and/or bushy-tailed for an 8:00 training class, I set three different alarms: the clock, my cell phone and the iPod.

• The clock was immediately shut-off, as soon as the alarm sounded.
• The phone was ignored. Well, not really “ignored,” so much as “I wonder how long it will keep beeping before the alarm turns off?” (After about a thirty to forty seconds, it seems.)
• The iPod was listened to… until the phone alarm went off again.

I got up and started the day. The hygiene rituals were observed. Clothes were found and put on. I got on my way. Of course, along the way I stopped for a bagel omelette and some frozen mocha goodness. And then, training class. Monotonous speaker. Zzz. Good thing I had triple shot-laden caffeination to get me through.

I took a couple of pictures from the window next to my cube, just to show what part of the SLC valley looks like in all of its almost-Winter wonderland goodness. Have I mentioned just how easy iPhoto makes putting together a web gallery? Cake. Free cake, even. Mm-hmm, that’s right. It’s just that easy.

Stray Toasters

• I’m going home for lunch today. Cheap, easy… and that way, I get to be there when the cable guy shows up. Triple win.
• Borg quotes
• I missed this episode; I haven’t really kept up with the new season of Family Guy, to be honest. But, a tip of the hat and a wave of the cane to for pointing out this picture:

  

• What your CEO drives says about the dude

Time to run. More later.

Namaste.

Monday – 10 December 2007
One down, four to go.

Last night, after watching the Ravens drop (yet another) one to Indy, SaraRules and I watched Undercover Brother. She had not only seen it before, but liked/likes it… AND… she knows the movie dialogue. Solid!

This morning’s commute was uneventful. I wasn’t sure how the roads would be, especially through the Fillmore-Beaver area (go ahead and insert your own punchlines there) and the higher elevations, as the temp was below freezing. Fortunately, the roads were clear and ice-free. And, I would like to note that I didn’t have to deal with any road monkeys today.

Work wasn’t bad. Not a lot of coworker-monkey doom today. Only one possible incident which could be considered a self-inflicted wound, since I asked the person if the problem he had last week had been adequately fixed. (He prattled on and on about nothing of importance before really answering the question. GAH!) Tomorrow, I have a training class. At 8:00 AM. But, it’s in SLC, so at least it’s a short commute.

After work, I hung out with Land. And, we somehow… mysteriously… wound up at the Garden of Sweden. *genuflect* I picked up a new coffee table.

Stray Toasters

• I just realized that I talked (actual vox conversations!) with Rana (and ) and Adam today.
• It’s officially the Christmas season: I heard Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth while I was in Cedar City.
• Old-time radio Christmas plays — free, public domain mp3s
• I neglected to mention that sent the pictures she shot for my Christmas card. Now I just have to decide which one/ones I want to use. (So many good choices…) I may have to make her Official Photographer of His Chocolate Holiness.
• I need to modify that icon.
• (and I think I’m forgetting another music teacher…): Traveling Music Teacher Keeps Students in Tune
• Offensive/inoffensive tree ornament
• By way of Coworker Drew: Monkey Fluids

  
  (This picture reminded me of this Queen of Wands comic.)

• New style goodness from The Sartorialist

I have a table to assemble.
(Just some oak and some pine and a handful of Norsemen…)

Namaste.

Saturday – 08 December 2007
Ahhh… another lazy Saturday morning.

The drive down was wet and rainy… until I got down near Beaver. It was snowing heading into and out of Beaver, but not in Beaver. Go figure. And, the other drivers actually drove with a modicum of care and common sense. The Council for Better Driving would definitely have approved of their behavior.

Last night, we went to see Steph perform in Student Dance Concert: Breaking Bounds. There were thirteen pieces; Steph danced in six of them. Most of the pieces were good, although there were a few… um… “not so great” ones. After the Concert, SaraRules and I came back and watched Smokin’ Aces. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I enjoyed it.

This morning started with breakfast, coffee and (of course) cartoons. Today’s episode of Legion of Super-Heroes was a rebroadcast of “The Karate Kid.” The Batman, however, was new: “Ring Toss,” featuring Green Lantern (Hal Jordan). The episode also had Sinestro, and they did a good take on him. The addition of The Penguin was, in my opinion, something of a throw-away, but what are you gonna do? Kim and Steph came in and watched ‘toons with us and then we switched over to What Not to Wear: Mail Call. THAT was amusing.

Nothing really on-tap for the afternoon, but we are heading to see A Christmas Carol: On the Air this evening. After that, I believe that we are having a flip cup competition. Should make for a fun and… interesting… night.

Stray Toasters

• I think that I have a potentially viable workaround for Christmas travel. Now to see if the other people involved will comply…
• Well, it’s been rumoured for a while, but it seems as though it’s moved out of the “rumour” category and moved into the “it’s really going to happen” category: End of the Line for CompUSA.
• 
• Steampunk gift guide and Steampunk Anthology
• sent me links to Dog Armor and Squirrel Armor… and the first think that came to mind was: “Man, I bet SCA geeks would love something like this! Now their pets can share in the fun with them!”
• From Something Awful’s Photoshop Phriday: Pop-Up Books
• Dark Horse Comics will present Serenity: Better Days, a 3-issue comic series, in 2008. The story will be written by Joss Whedon.

Quote of the Day
From Stacy London to a participant on this morning’s What Not to Wear:

You look like you’re trying to compete with 18-year-olds… but 18-year-olds always win, because they’re 18!

This met with a lot of laughter from everyone in the room.

Namaste.

Friday – 07 December 2007
This morning started early. 6:00 early. After getting to bed around 3:30. But, that’s when I had to get up to make the 7:00 service appointment for the car. And it was rainy in the valley… which is better than in the canyons, where it was snow. And it’s supposed to rain and/or snow tonight and tomorrow. Good thing I’m heading south this afternoon.

Last night, I stopped at Dr. Volt’s to feed my four-color and plastic crack addictions. There were some good things in the four-color haul, which I’ll get around to talking about sometime later this weekend. The plastic crack haul was quite good, too. I picked up one box, each, of the Justice League and the Mutations and Monsters sets. Inside were some choice items:

• Justice League
  • Black Canary
  • Firestorm (the third one I’ve gotten)
  • Green Lantern (super-rare in this set)
  • Mr. Mxyzptlk
  • Zatanna

• Mutations and Monsters
  • Chamber
  • Dazzler
  • Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy (rare and there’s a story behind me getting it, below)
  • Iceman (First Class)
  • Mimic

Dave, proprietor of Dr. Volt’s, saw me looking at boxes of ‘Clix and came over to offer suggestions… or so I thought. He took my box and, one at a time, picked up the other eight boxes on the wall, weighing each one against the box that I had selected. Um… okay. He hesitated over the last couple of boxes, but wound up handing me the one that I had originally selected, then he walked back to the register. As he rang up my purchase, he picked up the box of ‘Clix again and attempted to balance it on his index finger, seesaw-style. It dipped heavily to one side. He looked at me and said,”There’s a Devil Dinosaur in that one.” I smiled and nodded and thought how amusing it would be if he was right.

When I got home, I opened the box.

Inside was a Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy figure.

I also played a couple of hours of City last night. This time, I used the Hand of Nefer-Tem. I was checking out a few things when I got a random message asking if I wanted to join a pick-up team. Since I enjoy playing in a group more than running around alone (and dying), I said “yes.” We had a good mix of characters. We ran a few missions before people started leaving the team.

Today’s been good. Aside from the rain, that is. The soundtrack to this morning’s commute was interesting: All of the songs had one-word titles:

• Slam – Onyx
• Changes – Tupac
• Misled – Kool and the Gang (What ever happened to them, anyway?)
• Jaded – Aerosmith
• A – Barenaked Ladies
• Spiderwebs – No Doubt

It wasn’t intentional: Onyx came up first. When that song was done, I skipped songs until I hit something that appealed to me. It wasn’t until I got to Misled that I noticed the one-word “theme.” As I skipped through the mp3 list, the songs that appealed to me happened to be ones with one-word titles. And it didn’t stop there. After I had been in the office for a while, Jason started listening to Hollaback Girl. I decided that I wanted to hear something with a good beat after that. So, rummaged through the videos on my machine and settled on Will Smith’s Switch. Win-Win situation.

Today’s workout was basically a repeat of Wednesday’s workout, with a couple of changes in the weights used.

• Bench Press: 3 sets / 10 reps, 185 lbs (slow, controlled descent)
• Lateral Pull-downs: 3 set / 15 reps (broken into 5-5-5), 110 lbs
  • Wide-grip, behind-the-head (5 reps)
  • Wide-grip, overhand/standard (5 reps)
  • Close-grip, overhand/standard (5 reps)
  • **Close-grip, underhand/reverse-grip (done as an additional 5 reps on the third set)
• Shoulder Press (Dumbbell): 3 sets / 12 reps, 40 lbs
• Seated Curls (Dumbbell): 3 sets / 10 reps, 25 lbs
• Standing Wrist Curls (Barbell):
  • Forward: 3 sets / 15 reps, 35 lbs
  • Reverse: 3 sets / 15 reps, 35 lbs
• Leg Raises: 3 sets / 20 reps

Again, it was short and sweet… but a good workout.

Stray Toasters

• I had a craving for sushi last night. When I left Dr. Volt’s, I went a few doors down, to Go Sushi, and sated my appetite.
• 
• Everything You Need To Know About: Black Tie
• I added Twix and Butterfinger candy bars to my office stash in AF.
• By way of Tyranist: The 8 Most Cringe-Worthy Comic Book Movie Moments
• Sweeping the Clouds Away

  

• February, 2007 (Edited Symptoms): Nine Things Which Appeared on The Muppet Show, But Wouldn’t Make It Onto Family Television These Days
• By way of : 56 Geeks Poster
• Today’s random song that popped into my head for no reason: Men Without Hats’ Pop Goes the World
• From GQ: The Style Guy

Namaste.

Thursday – 06 December 2007
Three down, one in the chamber, one to go.

Last night was “Rob’s Errand-Running Night,” apparently. Laundry, groceries… and avoiding making any major electronics or furniture purchases. I was proud of myself on all counts. I rewarded myself by going home and playing City of Heroes.

I’ve noticed something over the past few mornings: I have some… unusual… songs that go through (or get stuck in) my head, first thing in the morning. I don’t recall what some of the past week’s songs have been, but this morning’s song was Oklahoma. Yeah. Weird.

Having decommissioned Intrepid last week, I’ve been wondering what to do with it. The answer came to me yesterday: posted a wish list of things he wants/needs. Among them was “a new computer or parts to build one.” Intrepid will get a new home and I don’t have to worry about it being taken care of. I think that this comes down as a “win-win” situation.

And, realizing how much I’ve come to like love adore my new MacBook BlacBook, I think that its new theme song should be Joan Jett’s I Hate Myself for Loving You. Even though, I don’t really hate myself. Or the MacBook.

City of Heroes: Indigo Bolt
That’s right, I said “Indigo Bolt.”

When I logged in, a couple of members of my supergroup were on. They were telling me that since NCSoft has upped the max size of supergroups, we are moving our 50s back to the original group (from the “senior team” that we had created when they hit 50). I moved Indi back to the old homestead. After this, we teamed up to run a few Ouroboros missions that are new in Issue 11: A Stitch in Time, which went live last week. As these are time travel missions, they will “reset” your powers – and hit points – to keep them in accordance with how far back in the timestream you move.

For example: My first mission was an alternate time line version of “Outbreak,” the very first mission you run. For this mission, my powers and hit points were scaled back to the same as when I first started the game. One caveat: I have a couple of extra “temporary” powers that exist “outside” my normal power sets – they weren’t affected (and were thus usable) by the time jump.

I had forgotten how much fun I had playing with Indi when I first started the game. And, in having not played him in over six months, I forgot how to play him. So, there was a bit of a re-learning curve, but it was a ton of fun. Kudos to NCSoft for adding to the replay value of the game.

Stray Toasters

• It’s been getting a little chilly here in the Land Behind the Zion Curtain. As such, there have been a couple of days when I have broken out my polypropylene shirt and pants, lovingly referred to as my “super suit.” Being cold-weather gear, they keep me warm. Now… being the comic book geek that I am, this somehow started me on the thought-path of: If Clark Kent wears his Superman outfit under his clothes all the time, how does he keep from getting too hot? I was about to apply a few brain cells and synapses to the task when I thought about one (tiny, almost insignificant) thing: We’re talking about the guy who dives into volcanoes – and flies in the cold/vacuum of space – just because he can. The few degrees that his costume adds to his ambient body temperature aren’t going to really be that noticeable.
• Neil Peart speaks about lyrics
• 
• With all of the negative press that video games have gotten in the past few years, it’s nice to see that someone has actually learned something useful from gaming: Swedish boy outthinks angry moose with Warcraft skillz
• For those of you who have/use Wacom graphics tablets: Do you ever use the mouse that came with it? I almost never use mine.
• Cockroaches that turned into zombies can be revived with brain injection
• st00pid servers (computers, not restaurant wait staff)
• Top Ten Super Anti-Heroes
• 

And that’s a wrap.
For now.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 05 December 2007
Tuesday ended better than it started. Chris came over around 8:00 and we played dolls HeroClix. I brought out a squad of Justice Leaguers, Chris used various X-people. We played a time-limited game; he kicked my ass – he took out four of my team to the one of his that I got. But, it was fun. After that, we played Covenant Beatdown… I mean “HALO 3.” *genuflect* Quite fun.

This morning started with a wake-up call from SaraRules. The morning hygiene rituals followed. And then, the monkey-laden commute to the southern compound.

Is it really a radical concept to wipe the snow off of your hood (and roof) when scraping snow and ice from your windows? Does it really take that much more time to do? The Council for Better Driving, through extensive research and simulations, has concluded that it does not. So, next time you’re breaking out the ice scraper to wreck shop on the snow and ice on your windows, take an extra minute or two to knock off the snow and ice on your hood, roof and trunk. The people around you will appreciate it.

So far, the day has been fairly quiet. And, it is the birthday of Derek, my former Acolyte:

Today’s workout was good. Today’s routine:

• Bench Press: 3 sets / 10 reps, 185 lbs (slow, controlled descent)
• Lateral Pull-downs: 3 set / 15 reps (broken into 5-5-5), 100 lbs
  • Wide-grip, behind-the-head (5 reps)
  • Wide-grip, overhand/standard (5 reps)
  • Close-grip, overhand/standard (5 reps)
  • **Close-grip, underhand/reverse-grip (done as an additional 5 reps on the third set)
• Shoulder Press (Dumbbell): 3 sets / 12 reps, 40 lbs
• Seated Curls (Dumbbell): 3 sets / 10 reps, 25 lbs
• Standing Wrist Curls (Barbell):
  • Forward: 3 sets / 15 reps, 40 lbs
  • Reverse: 3 sets / 15 reps, 40 lbs
• Leg Raises: 3 sets / 20 reps

It was a bit short/abbreviated, but I can feel it. That’s a good thing.

Stray Toasters

• I downloaded the new drivers for my Graphire4. I think I’ll start doodling more. That might actually lead to me drawing more often.
• Star Trek: The Tour
• Speaking of which: Avery Brooks was on Talk of the Nation today, promoting the performance of Tamburlaine at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C.
• By way of : Former NFL player gears up for spaceflight
• By way of shockpuppet: Footprints (WoW version) and COLOURlovers
• 
• Have you been looking for a way to integrate your worship of the Old Ones with the trappings and trimmings of the modern holiday season? Well, how about Cthulhumas?
• And what better time to throw in a link to Carol of the Old Ones?
• Happy Holiday from Parallels
• The break room in the south office has been getting stocked with Welch’s Orange-Pineapple Juice. It’s good. (I’m still a Welch’s Grape Juice kid, at heart, though. And, yes, we have that here, too.)
• iBlade

/lunch

Namaste.

Tuesday – 04 December 2007
Oy. That’s really the best way to describe the day. It hasn’t been hellish, but it’s had an… unusual… start for a Tuesday:

• I was in bed before 1:00 AM. Rare, but I was tired.
• I don’t remember shutting off the alarm this morning. But, I apparently did; that led to some oversleeping. Two hours’ worth. But, I was okay with that, as I obviously needed the rest.
• I got up and started to get ready for work… then realized that I wasn’t really ready to get ready for work, if that makes any sense. (Translation: “I was dragging ass.”)
• About forty minutes later, I managed to muster the get-up-and-go to finish pre-work prep.
• I stepped into the master bathroom to find water on the floor around the toilet. Ô.õ Um, okay..
  • No seepage showing on the walls or floor.
  • No apparent bad seals on the toilet.
  • No apparent cracks in the porcelain.

  So, I flushed the toilet. Water seeped out from under the lid. >.< I removed the lid to see if I could figure out where the water was coming from. Yep. Piece of cake. It was, literally, staring me in the face: The refill hose (coming out of the filler valve) had come out of the refill tube.

  
  (clicking will not flush, but will take you to the HowStuffWorks site)

• I placed the hose back into the refill tube and flushed the toilet. Bad idea. Well, not really “bad” but I had neglected to secure the hose, so it flipped out of the tube and sprayed me and part of the wall behind me. *sigh* At least it was the “clean” water. I reseated – and secured – the hose and flushed the toilet again. Success.
• I grabbed my trusty bottle of Pine-Sol, a bucket and a rag and proceeded to mop up the floor.
• I got redressed and headed to work. I headed to – and decided to work in – the SLC office today. The workout will wait until tomorrow.

At least it’s not Thursday.

Monday – 03 December 2007
Another week begins.

Last night, SaraRules, Darillyn, Vince, Steph, Steve and I headed out for dinner and a movie. We saw Enchanted. It was fun. Quite a bit of fun, actually. Disney poking fun at itself. Sure, a good part of it was over the top, but it seemed as though they writers knew what aspects of Disneyana they wanted to lampoon and then… just… did it. There were many cameos and Easter eggs (IMDb list, Wikipedia list) as well. Post-movie, we headed back to the apartment to hang out. When we got back, one of the other roommates, Kim, and her friend Paige were at the apartment. Kim introduced Vince and me as the unofficial sixth and seventh roommates. Paige, noting the Christmas stockings on the wall, asked where Vince and my stockings were. Vince said that we simply hadn’t had the time to get around to getting/putting up ours yet. I thought of something and left the room…

I had brought a couple of Santa hats with me to Cedar City. I got the black-trimmed hat and tacked it up next to SaraRules’ stocking. This met with resounding approval. Vince asked,”So, what about me…?!” I left the living room again and returned with a white-trimmed Santa hat, which I handed to him. He tacked it up next to Darillyn’s stocking. This was also met with resounding approval.

This morning’s commute wasn’t bad at all. UDoT did a fine job of making sure that the roads were clear. Traffic was fairly light and there wasn’t really anything out of the ordinary to speak of.

I got a call from the Director of the Braithewaite Gallery this morning. It seems as though one of the pieces I am purchasing is not for sale, after all: The artist had mis-entered something on the form that was given to the gallery about the piece. Oh, well, I still have the two other pieces.

Human of the Day
Coworker Mark2. Details in ‘Toasters.

Stray Toasters

• I am having a corned beef sandwich for lunch.
• The Sartorialist, by way of SaraRules
• I picked up a copy of HALO 3 over the weekend. I may have to test drive it tonight, post-football.
• I need to finish HALO 2.
• For those who have been under a rock – or simply haven’t heard: LiveJournal has been purchased from SixApart by Russian firm, SUP
  • LiveJournal notice, from
  • BBC News article
  • The New York Times article
• Also by way of SaraRules: Undercover restorers fix Paris landmark’s clock
• Demented Christmas compilation mixes from Suburban Sprawl
• Business Buddha. Nice.
• Mark2 (yes, I have to number Marks around the office, too) just brought me a Bit-O-Honey candy bar. Out of the blue. Well, I guess there was a reason: Last week, we were talking with some other coworkers about some of our favorite candies; Mark2 and I noted that we both like Bit-O-Honey. That was nice of him. I think I’ll make him Human of the Day (above).

/lunch

Tonight, I will watch the Ravens take on the undefeated Patriots at Fiddler’s Elbow. Joiners welcome. After all, misery loves company and I really don’t see the Ravens chalking this one up in the “W” column.

Namaste.

Sunday – 02 December 2007
The Pillowman was good. I didn’t read the Wikipedia article on it yesterday, aside from when it premiered and some notes on different performances – I wanted to go into the play knowing as little as possible about it, so that I wasn’t prejudiced about what to expect.

The play was performed by SUU’s Stage 2 in the Black Box Theatre, their small – intimate – theatre, there were (maybe) 75 or 80 seats. SaraRules and I were on the second row and were about ten to twelve feet from the stage. The play was dark, thought-provoking and good. It had moments of drama, comedy, with religious – and sacreligious – overtones, a good bit of physical violence and strong language. I liked – and recommend – this play.

This morning started with coffee and comics in bed. Nothin’ like a lazy Sunday morning. This was followed by breakfast and football. The CBS affiliate was showing infomercials, so I watched the Seattle-Philly game. It was wet and cold in Philly and the Eagles stayed close… but couldn’t pull off a win. I also noted that the referees were wearing their black track suit-looking pants, so I decided to look up “why.” The answer: It’s the new cold-weather uniform.

I talked with both of the ‘rents today. All is well in their respective parts of the Right Coast.

This evening, SaraRules and I are heading out on a “triple date” with a couple of her roommates. I think that the overall plan is dinner and a movie, Enchanted, I think.

Football Update

• The Raiders beat the Broncos. ‘Grats, SaraRules
• Carolina beat the 49ers. Congrats to
• The Vikings beat up on the Lions. Congrats,

• Cleveland racked up a loss to the Cardinals. Sorry, . (No, really… REALLY!)
• Philadelphia lost to the Seahawks. Sorry,

Tonight, the Bengals take on the Steelers. Good luck to and .
Tomorrow night, the Ravens go up against the Patriots. Yeah, not exactly expecting a “win” here, but I’ll be watching the game… and hopeful.

Four-Color Coverage

• Countdown: 22 – Mary Marvel’s seduction by the dark side continues. Jimmy Olsen’s “miraculous” escape. And a big change in the Trickster/Pied Piper team.
• Green Lantern Corps #18 – Sodam Yat is the new bearer of the power of Ion. And in this issue, he goes head-to-head with SuperBrat Prime. The Guardians told him about the power of Ion… and “a little” about the benefits of being a Daxamite under a yellow sun, but did they tell him enough?
• Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #37 – The quest for Cosmic Boy continues, but this was mostly a Saturn Girl and Supergirl story. Facing “Evolvo Lad,” the duo – plus Lightning Lad – come upon a strange piece of equipment with strange ties to the 21st Century. But what should they do with – or about – it?
• Superman Annual #18 – The conclusion to the “Camelot Falls” storyline. Superman continues to defy Arion’s allegations that mankind is doomed to extinction… unless Superman dies. Will even the help of the Phantom Stranger be enough to help Superman survive, let alone win? Kurt Busiek also provides a nice short story of a Kent extended family outing.
• Superman/Batman #43 – Dr. Light, with a continuing mad-on for the Justice League goes up against the World’s Finest. Featuring an appearance by the original Teen Titans. Kind of.
• X-Men: First Class #6 – This wasn’t an exemplary story, it was… fun, but nothing “great.” In fact, the most notable thing about this isue is that it was printed out of order – seven pages of the middle of the story were printed as the first seven pages of the book. *blink blink* Gotta love that quality control.

Stray Toasters

• I picked up a copy of Utne Reader for the first time in a while a few days ago. I used to read this magazine regularly; I even had a subscription to it for a while.
• Video game giants in $18 billion merger
• 
• Surfer defies giant waves alert
• By way of BoingBoing: US gov’t to British court: We can kidnap Brits, it’s legal
• Princess Tiana, the ninth official – and first African-American – Disney Princess
• Damn-and-a-half, pistachios are tasty
• The Dark Side of Soy

Quote of the Day
From last night’s post-play hanging-out, Vince was talking about why he’s doing so well in his accounting class:

I’m Jewish – they take the foreskin from your penis and give you an honorary MBA in Accounting.

Namaste.

Friday: Coda
Sweet frozen zombie monkey-squeezin’ Jesus…

I’m in Cedar City. That’s a good thing. The trip down here was… not entirely hellish, but the Utah’s “It should be Winter now” weather was in rare form. It started drizzling this afternoon, around the time I got done with my workout. It continued through the afternoon. By the time I got between Filmore and Beaver, the rain decided to turn into snow.

<sarcasm> Yay. </sarcasm>

This, of course meant that most of the people on the road slowed down to a bit below the speed limit. The Council for Better Driving considers this a adherence to Rules #1 and #2. Nuff’ said. There were, however, a few monkeys who decided to roll the bones and drive at approximately the same speeds that they would in dry weather. The Fates must have smiled upon them, as I did not see any of them upside-down on the side of the road. After I got a little past Beaver, the snow turned into intermittent rain again.

I got to SaraRules’ around 6:30… and fell almost immediately asleep. Her parents got into town about forty-five minutes later and we went to dinner at Cafe Orleans. Tonight, I tried their crab cakes (they were “okay,” but I’m not sure that I’d order them again), a grilled chicken po’boy and the chicken and sausage gumbo, both of which were good. After dinner, we came back to the apartment and watched Blade: Trinity. It was alright, not “great,” but a nice way to kick back at the end of the day.

Stray Toasters

• I just learned that Evel Knievel died today. He was 69. If you were born after… 1980 or so, that name might not mean a lot; but if you were a kid in the late 60s/early-to-mid 70s, you are probably at least passingly familiar with his exploits. And the toy line that he inspired. (And I had quite a few of those toys, back in the day…)
• Did you know that Kris Kristofferson (yes, the country and gospel singer/actor) is a Rhodes scholar. He was also a helicopter pilot in the U.S. Army. And, he dated Janis Joplin.
• 
• Uranium ore for sale on Amazon.com

*voop*

Friday – 30 November 2007
The end of the week is at hand.

Dinner last night was a lot of fun. We went to Sampan. Tasty beef lo mein… with enough left over to make a decent post-workout lunch. After dinner, most of us headed to Barnes & Noble for coffee and conversation. I also picked up a new Windows Server 2003 book, that is perfect for some of the things that I’m going to need to know for work.

After the group broke up, came over to take pictures for my Christmas card. She took many pictures. MANY. So I’ll have a good number of options from which to select. It was nice to see – and hang out with – her this past week.

This morning, I overslept a little. Only by half an hour. And I was happy that it was “only” a half-hour, as I didn’t get to bed until somewhere around 3:30. So, while I didn’t get as early a start on the day as I could have, I wasn’t as far off the mark as I could have been. Today’s workout was a good way to wrap up the week:

• Leg Raises: 3 sets / 20 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets / 8 reps at 225 lbs.
• Nautilus Fly: 3 sets / 10 reps at 95 lbs, with a ten-second hold on the last rep of each set
• Decline Dumbbell Press: 3 sets / 10 reps at 50 lbs.
• Bench Dips: 3 sets / 20 reps – all sets with a 35 lb plate
• Dips: 1 sets / 10 reps
• Lower Back Raises: 3 sets / 15 reps

Stray Toasters

• I have too much blood in my caffeinestream. Not even the coffee I brewed seems to be changing the ratio, or it’s failing to do so at a satisfactory rate.
• I found this site last night: DonorsChoose.org It looks like an interesting way to give.
• 
• Incognegro
• I haven’t made a successful pilgrimage to the Garden of Sweden this week, but I still had a couple of IKEA cinnamon roll for breakfast this morning. Selah.
• Best Moments of 2007 (DC)
• Best Moments of 2007 (Marvel)
• The morning constitutional helped with the “getting the blood moving” factor. This is a good thing.
• shockpuppet now refers to me as “W&W,” which I have been informed is pronounced “dub ‘n’ dub”
• 
• By way of CNet: Holiday Tech Gifts We Don’t Recommend
• Justice League of America #15 (preview)
• Rabid comics fans are/can be scary. Marvel is changing the cover style for Fantastic Four… and some of the responses made me think of this sound bite.
• Phables

Quotes of the Day
Today’s quotes come from last night’s coffee gathering:

• (after seeing an ad in Lürzer’s Archive): I want to be able to shit cupcakes! I’d be []’ best friend!
• (referring to… an acquaintance): She’s the Amazing Expando-Girl!

And that’s a wrap!

See you on the other side of Juab County.

Namaste.