Random Access

Saturday – 20 February 2010
Today has been a good day… and it’s not even all over yet.

The morning started off a little earlier than I had planned – 0830 – with a text message from loonybin88. Correction: That should have been – “The vacationing loonybin88.” He and his wife (and a couple of coworkers and their wives) are either about to board or have already boarded a cruise ship for a week in the western Caribbean. Nice. But, this morning, he sent the following text:

It is 78 degrees and sunny!
🙂
Just thougtht I would share.

My response:

It’s 8:30 on a Saturday. I have no children. I have no tournament today. I got to bed after 2:00.  Guess what I was doing.

I’m assuming that it was a multi-recipient text and that – in his… exhuberance… of being on vacation and getting his cruise under way – he neglected to take one tiny (almost insignificant) detail into account: Time zones. He texted me an apology; I told him that it was fine and understandable, but to stop texting and to go have some well-deserved fun! (The man has been busting a serious hump at work; he’s earned this vacation… many times over.)

The morning was kind of lazy. After breakfast, I started work on turning the office into a usable space once again. Oddly, this has had the effect of me making an even larger mess in the name of progress. I interrupted working in the office to go with SaraRules, lj user=”suzie_lightning,” lj user=”everydave”, Mary and Chris to see Shutter Island. Excellent movie… except for some of the editing in “a few” places.

Chew on This: Food for Thought – Black History Month
Today’s profile is of Jean Toomer:

Jean Toomer was an American poet and novelist and an important figure of the Harlem Renaissance.

Born, Nathan Pinchuback Toomer in Washington, D.C., Toomer was of mixed racial and ethnic descent. (His maternal grandfather was Louisiana Governor P. B. S. Pinchback, the first African American to become Governor of a U.S. state.) He spent his childhood attending both all-white and all-black segregated schools. In his early years, Toomer resisted racial classifications and wished to be identified only as an American after going to an all-black school in Washington D.C., then an all-white school in New Rochelle N.Y., then an all-black school in Washington D.C. again. Toomer attended six institutions of higher education between 1914 and 1917, studying agriculture, fitness, biology, sociology, and history, but he never completed a degree. After leaving college, Toomer published some short stories, devoted several months to the study of Eastern philosophies and took a job as a principal in Sparta, Georgia. The segregation Toomer experienced in the South led him to identify more strongly as an African American.

Toomer inherited wonderlust from his parents and grandparents:

“I have lived by turn in Washington, New York, Chicago, and Sparta (Georgia)… I have worked, it seems to me, at everything: selling papers, delivery boy, soda clerk, salesman, shipyard worker, librarian-assistant, physical director, school teacher, grocery clerk, and God knows what all. Neither the universities of Wisconsin or New York gave me what I wanted, so I quit them.”

It was in Chicago that Jean Toomer began to broaden his interest in literature: William Shakespeare, George Santayana, Charles Baudelaire, William Blake, Sherwood Anderson, Leo Tolstoy, and all the major American poets, especially the imagists. Although evidence shows that, in addition to Dante’s Inferno , Toomer was affected by Herman Melville’s Moby Dick to such a degree that he actually compared himself to Ishmael by having “mentally turned failure to triumph.” One of the most prominent literary characters with whom he became enthralled was Victor Hugo’s character Jean Valjean; Toomer claimed he felt “acquainted with … Valjean.”

Three articles, Ghouls (June 15, 1919), Reflections on the Race Riots (August 2, 1919), and Americans and Mary Austin (October 10, 1920), Jean Toomer wrote for The New York Call in 1919 and 1920 represent his background of political and economic thinking. They remain his most militant public statements about racial matters in the United States. In …Race Riots he prophesies movements of the 1960s, and in …Mary Austin he shows a subtle understanding of how American prejudice spilled over lines of race or class identity or political party or regional affiliation.

His southern sojourn as a school principal in Sparta, Georgia (1922) found in him the belief that he had located his ancestral roots (from Toomer’s experience and influence, Sparta was popularized as an ancestral root source by many of the Harlem Renaissance intelligensia; e.g., Zora Neal Hurston and Langston Hughes both traveled there in the summer of 1927). Thus, he began to write poems, stories, and sketches, especially about southern women whose stretch towards self-realization forced them into conflict with American societal moral attitudes. Upon return to Washington, he repeated his efforts, this time focusing on inhibited Negroes in the North. He made friends with Waldo Frank published in the most important journals. The result, for Toomer, was a book, Cane, published in 1923 and included many of the aforementioned short stories and poems.

Toomer found it harder and harder to get published throughout the 1930s and in 1940 moved with his second wife to Doylestown, Pennsylvania where he joined the Religious Society of Friends and began to withdraw from society. Toomer wrote a small amount of fiction and published essays in Quaker publications during this time, but devoted most of his time to serving on Quaker committees. Toomer stopped writing literary works after 1950. He died in 1967 after several years of poor health.

Stray Toasters

• Alexander Haig, former US Secretary of State, dies
• By way of comes: Mixing Cocktails: When to Shake and When to Stir
• I’m looking forward to the release of Thoumont’s: TLX Edition, as it will bring TerrainLinX modular buildings to the WorldWorksGame terrain family.
• There have been intermittent flurries today. Nothing has stuck to the ground, though… yet.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 17 February 2010
It’s Comics Wednesday; whether or not there will be “Sushi” remains to be seen…

Last night, SaraRules fixed a very tasty chicken and broccoli alfredo for dinner. After that (and a recorded episode of Castle), we headed to Best Buy (I wanted to pick up HALO Legends) and then to Iceberg (SaraRules wanted a chocolate malted milkshake) and up to the in-laws’.  While visiting the famn damily, we watched a bit of Olympic coverage – snowcross and the men’s figure skating short program. I reaffirmed my conclusion that the color commentary provided by family is far more entertaining than the coverage provided by sportscasters.

Chew on This: Food for Thought – Black History Month
Today’s person of note is Peggy A. Quince:

Peggy A. Quince is the Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court; she is the first African-American woman to sit on the state’s highest Court and the third female Justice.

Quince was raised in Chesapeake, Virginia. She had to attend segregated schools, but she excelled as a student. Quince attended Howard University as an undergraduate, and received her Juris Doctorate from the Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America in 1975.

Justice Quince began her legal career in Washington, D.C. as a hearing officer with the Rental Accommodations Office administering that city’s new rent control law. In 1977 she entered private practice in Norfolk, Virginia, with special emphasis in real estate and domestic relations.

She moved to Florida in 1978 and opened a law office in Bradenton, Florida, where she practiced general civil law until 1980. In February, 1980, Justice Quince began her tenure with the Attorney General’s Office, Criminal Division. As an assistant attorney general she handled numerous appeals in the Second District Court of Appeal, the Florida Supreme Court, including death penalty cases, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court. Her thirteen and a half year tenure at that office included five years as the Tampa Bureau Chief.

From 1993 to 1997 she served as a judge on Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal. On July 1, 2008, Quince assumed the office of Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court, the first African-American woman to head any branch of Florida government.

Quince is the only Supreme Court Justice in Florida history to be appointed simultaneously by more than one Governor. Because her term began the exact moment that Governor-elect Jeb Bush assumed his office, in order to avoid potential future controversy over her appointment, Bush worked out a joint agreement with lame duck Governor Lawton Chiles whereby they both agreed upon and jointly announced Quince’s appointment in December 1998. When Chiles died of a heart attack a few days later, the task of signing Quince’s commission to office fell to Chiles’ temporary successor, Governor Buddy MacKay. Thus, three Governors were involved in Quince’s appointment.

Presently, Justice Quince is on the executive counsel of the Appellate Section of the Florida Bar and is the Supreme Court liaison to the Workers’ Compensation Committee, the Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee, and the Supreme Court’s Family Court Steering Committee. She has lectured at a number of Continuing Legal Education programs on issues involving search and seizure, probation and parole, use of peremptory challenges, postconviction relief, professionalism and ethics, and the independence of the judiciary.

Stray Toasters

• pointed out this article: Dr. King to get a partner?
  The article describes a bill, “John M. Browning State Holiday,” that has been submitted “…that would combine the King holiday with a celebration of Browning, an Ogden native and one of the most significant pioneers in firearms manufacturing.”

  YeahbuhWHAT!?

  said that he found it “a little disappointing.” I can’t say that I disagree with him, but given the (perceived) problems that Utah has had in recognizing (read: “dealing with”) the King holiday, I can’t really say that I’m all that surprised, either.

• Women at war: How roles are changing
• Scientists rule: King Tut felled by malaria and broken leg
• I took a tour of our storage facility. Very cool.
• 
• German railways shunt English into sidings
• Ruins of Electric Train Turned into Terribly Cool Amusement Park in Lima
• CarrieFisher.com (Yes, that Carrie Fisher.)
• Calculate the Speed of Light by Melting Chocolate
• 
• Atlanta Progressive News fires reporter for trying to be objective
• Vintage Japanese industrial expo posters

Namaste.

Thursday – 11 February 2010
It’s snowing outside.

That’s not as radical a statement as “It’s snowing inside,” but considering that we were sunny and relatively clear-skied yesterday, it is a decided change. It’s cold enough that the snow is sticking to the ground, but warm enough that it’s not sticking to the roadways. Thus, the morning commute – and the commutes of those passing below our office windows – was relatively easy. Even so, the Council for Better Driving: Utah would like to remind drivers to be careful on the roads today.

Last night, SaraRules and I went to dinner at Outback Steakhouse. I was having a craving for their oh-so-tasty-yet-so-very-bad-for-you Aussie Cheese Fries. After dinner – a very filling, very satisfied dinner – we headed home for couch time: Human Target, Fringe and 24. When I’d had my fill of things going all ‘splodey, I called it a night.

Chew on This: Food for Thought – Black History Month
Today, there will not be a “Famous Person of the Day.” Instead, there will be two (2) of them:

Maulana Karenga
Ron Karenga (born Ronald McKinley Everett and also known as Maulana Karenga) is an African American author, political activist, and college professor best known as the creator of Kwanzaa.

Karenga was born on a poultry farm in Parsonsburg, Maryland, the fourteenth child of a Baptist minister. He moved to California in the late 1950s to attend Los Angeles City College, where he became the first African-American president of the student body. He was admitted to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) as part of a federal program for students who had dropped out of high school, and received his master’s degree in political science and African studies.

At the beginning of the 1960s, Karenga met Malcolm X and began to embrace black nationalism. Following the Watts riots in 1965, he interrupted his doctoral studies at UCLA and joined the Black Power movement. During this time, he took on the title “maulana”, an Arabic word literally meaning “our lord” or “our master” and has been borrowed into the Swahili language, where it is used also as a title of respect for revered members of a community, religious or secular, roughly equivalent to the English “Sir”. “Karenga” meant “nationalist.” Earlier, he had called himself Ron Ndabezitha Everett-Karenga; Ndabezitha being Zulu for “your majesty.” He formed the US Organization, an outspoken Black nationalist group.

He was awarded his first Ph.D. in 1976 from United States International University (now known as Alliant International University) for a 170-page dissertation entitled Afro-American Nationalism: Social Strategy and Struggle for Community. Later in his career, in 1994, he was awarded a second PhD, in social ethics, from the University of Southern California (USC), for an 803-page dissertation entitled “Maat, the moral ideal in ancient Egypt: A study in classical African ethics.”

Karenga is the former Chairman of the Black Studies Department at California State University, Long Beach, a position he held from 1989 to 2002. He is the director of the Kawaida Institute for Pan African Studies and the author of several books, including his Introduction to Black Studies, a comprehensive black/African studies textbook now in its third edition.

Karenga founded the Organization Us, a Cultural Black Nationalist group, in 1965. He is also known for having co-hosted, in 1984, a conference that gave rise to the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations, and in 1995, he sat on the organizing committee and authored the mission statement of the Million Man March.

Anna Kingsley
Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley (c. 1793 – April or May 1870) was a West African slave turned slaveholder and plantation owner in early 19th century Florida.

Anna Kingsley was born Anta Majigeen Ndiaye in 1793, in a portion of West Africa that was going through a tumultuous war between the majority Wolof people and the minority Fula. Slave raids were frequent occurrences among incessant violence that left many small villages deserted as people were either abducted for the purpose of selling into slavery or they fled in fear for their lives. Following an intensifying of the crisis in 1790, Anta was captured in 1806 when she was about 13 years old; she was  sent to Cuba where she was purchased by and married to Zephaniah Kingsley, a slave trader and plantation owner.

Kingsley freed Anna in 1811 and put her in charge of his plantations in East Florida. For 25 years, Kingsley’s unique family lived on Fort George Island in modern-day Jacksonville, where Anna managed a large and successful planting operation, owning slaves of her own.

After Spain handed control of Florida over to the U.S. in 1822, the new government progressively enacted stricter ordinances separating the races. The mixed-race Kingsley family was directly and negatively affected by these “illiberal and inequitable laws”, as Kingsley stated in his will. Kingsley transferred all their holdings to the three older children and moved to Haiti in 1835. Anna and their youngest son followed in 1838. In all, 60 slaves, family members, and freed employees moved with Kingsley to Haiti to start a plantation called Mayorasgo de Koka; Zephaniah Kingsley died soon after.

Anna returned to Florida in 1846 to participate in the Kingsley estate defense, despite the increasingly tense racial climate in Duval County. The court, however, upheld a previous treaty signed between the U.S. and Spain stipulating that all free blacks born before 1822 in Florida enjoyed the same legal privileges as they had when Spain controlled East Florida. Anna furthermore asked for and was granted the transfer of ownership of slaves who had been sent to the San Jose plantation when the family had moved to Haiti, but her request to rent her slaves to other plantations to maximize her profits was rejected by the courts.

The National Park Service protects Kingsley Plantation, where Anna and Kingsley lived on Fort George Island, as part of the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve.

Stray Toasters

• Thanks to telecommuting, snow days are no longer fun
• Michelle Obama on Sarah Palin: ‘I don’t know her’
• 
• Fashion designer Alexander McQueen found dead
• Where Microsoft’s Money Really Comes From
• His Name Is Khan (And It’s One You Might Know)
  

  What the movie has in common with many Bollywood fantasies is this: Khan’s character comes to America.

  “I say this to everyone: Our fantasies are about earning a good living,” he says. “Having maybe a car — not two. Getting an education for your kids. Our fantasies are not about getting to be president of the country, to sit in a rocket and go and break a meteor. Our fantasies are very real.

  “As a matter of fact,” he continues, “I find the Western cinema very fantastic. You’ve got aliens. And you’ve got things we don’t know about. Blue creatures. You have Batman, you have Superman. I remember the first time I was here — someone was interviewing me in a hotel, and they said, ‘Your films are such fantasies.'”

  “And I’m like, We are fantasies? Our guys just want to sing and dance on the roads. Our guys just want to drive a big car. Our guys just want to come to America. You know, we don’t want to go to Pandora. America is our Pandora.”

• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: American Airlines to charge $50 to fly standby
  • This comes on the heels of their announcement that they will start charging $8 (USD) for a blanket and pillow pack in May
• HALO Legends comes out Tuesday.
  That reminds me: I should fire up X-Men Legends again…
• LEGO landmarks taken in $6,500 vehicle burglary
• 
• MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta steps down

Namaste.

Wednesday – 03 February 2010
It’s Comics and Sushi Wednesday. Selah.

Last night was fairly low-key. SaraRules made pasta (stuffed with cheese and shrimp) for dinner. After eating and NCIS, we headed to the local Best Buy where I exhibited an uncharacteristic amount of willpower and only bought three things: Planet Hulk, Zombieland and a pack of batteries. I picked up – and put down – Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, DC Universe vs. Mortal Kombat and… “a few” Mac-related items. I was rather proud of myself. Next, we stopped at Toys ‘R’ Us and Target to pick up a couple of things for Bit’s upcoming birthday. While at Target, my superpower kicked in: We ran into Fiona and Jamie, whom I haven’t seen in… many moons.

Back at home, we tested out a brownie recipe for the Brownie Challenge, coming up at the end of the month. The experiment worked out fairly well, but I think I’m going to explore a couple of other options. As the brownies baked, we watched last night’s NCIS: Los Angeles.

Chew on This: Food for Thought – Black History Month
Today’s spotlight will focus on Shirley Chisholm.

Mrs. Chisholm was the first black woman elected to Congress, representing New York’s 12th Congressional District for seven terms. Chisholm joined the Congressional Black Caucus in 1969 as one of its founding members.

On January 25, 1972, she became the first major-party black candidate for President of the United States and the first woman to run for the Democratic presidential nomination; she received 152 first-ballot votes at the 1972 Democratic National Convention.

“I stand before you today as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency of the United States. I am not the candidate of black America, although I am black and proud. I am not the candidate of the women’s movement of this country, although I am a woman, and I am equally proud of that. I am not the candidate of any political bosses or special interests. I am the candidate of the people.”

She continued to serve in the House of Representatives until 1982. From 1977 to 1981, during the 95th Congress and 96th Congress, Chisholm was elected to a position in the House Democratic leadership, as Secretary of the House Democratic Caucus. Throughout her tenure in Congress, Chisholm worked to improve opportunities for inner-city residents. She was a vocal opponent of the draft and supported spending increases for education, health care and other social services, and reductions in military spending. She retired from politics after her last term in office.

Chisholm retired to Florida and died on January 1, 2005.

Stray Toasters

• Hello, Business Impact Analysis survey.
  That was an interesting way to kick of the work day. At least the assessor was a decent enough chap.
• Medical journal recants 1998 story linking autism to vaccine
• Zombie/NPR fan-fiction
• The Potential for a 40-MPH Man
• Ronny Jordan: The Jackal
  • Added bonus for fans of The West Wing – C.J. Cregg Does ‘The Jackal’

• Adobe CTO Defends Flash Against Apple HTML 5
• Fantastic photography of Michael Paul Smith
• Photographer Loves Math; Graphs Her Images
• From Snorg Tees:


(click here to see t-shirt)

• Truck driver forgets to lower trailer
• Displax film could turn nearly any surface into a touchscreen, make your keyboard irate

Namaste.

Tuesday – 19 January 2010
There’s snow in parts of the valley this morning. The northbound leg of I-215 (the freeway outside my office window) is backed up for a couple of miles, according to CommuterLink.  It was just raining when I left home, but I thought I saw a few flakes about the time I got to the office. We’ll see how the weather holds up for the rest of the afternoon. And, the Council for Better Driving: Utah reminds motorists to be careful when commuting today.

Once again this year, I neglected to set up a service project before yesterday. So, in an effort to at least a little something, I took a few unneeded and extraneous things to The Salvation Army. Hopefully, someone will be able to get some use out of the things I dropped off.

After that, I picked up from work and dropped her off at home. Next stop: The Train Shoppe. I’ve lived in Salt Lake City for over 11 years now… and this was my first time going there. And, it was well pretty cool. They carry N, HO, O and G scales. I’m interested in getting into O Scale (mainly because it’s roughly the same scale as HeroClix, meaning that if I get really intrepid/industrious, I can integrate my WWG buildings into a RR layout… and use some train accessories in ‘Clix games. Win-Win!). Unfortunately, I live in the wrong part of the country for easy/quick access to the ‘roads I’m interesting in: B&O/C&O/CSX, Norfolk & Western, Norfolk Southern and Pennsylvania, but, according to Jeff and Todd, they could order items for me, if I wanted them. Yep… there might have to be some “mad money reallocation” in my entertainment budget later this year.

Back at the homestead, I cooked dinner: Chicken breasts (stuffed with broccoli and cheese), rice (cooked in cream of mushroom soup), salad, dinner rolls and… homemade maple butter.

After dinner (and a little TV time), SaraRules and I headed to the gym. We did cardio(!) – 30 minutes on the elliptical. Once again, I made it through… despite going at a faster overall pace than I had planned on. I went a little over 2.5 miles and burned 300-ish calories.

Stray Toasters

• SaraRules and I are seeing Avatar tonight. Hello, IMAX 3D date night!
• In a related note: The brick-built world of Pandora
• One meeting canceled; one meeting to go.
• Nano technology tackles heart disease
• Leann Sandal-Pantaleo (Carmen) and Ari Pelto (conductor for Carmen) will be discussing Utah Opera’s production of Carmen on this morning’s RadioWest at 1100 MST. You can hear it on 90.1 FM or you can stream it at www.kuer.org
• Lionel.com (Evil, evil site…)
• In a related note: Conjunction Junction
• Nyx pointed out the following site for dinner ideas: NoTakeOut
• Space, the final frontier…
  • Recession Special: NASA cuts space shuttle price
  • Has USA hit its final frontier in human space exploration
• HOWTO read science fiction
• James Brown’s I Feel Good (I Got You) just came up on iTunes. I can no longer listen to this song without breaking out into a big smile.
• This sounds pretty cool: Dino Snores
• Juice!  Fruit Juice!
  Or Kool-Aid, if you choose
  Please, give me
  Capri Sun I can squeeze!
  Black Cherry crack!
  ‘Cause Lemon-Lime’s just wack!
  Juice!  Fruit Juice!
  Ev’rybody drink, ev’rybody drink…
  Ev’rybody drink, ev’rybody drink…
  Ev’rybody drink fruit juice!
  (…with apologies to fans of Kenny Loggins, Kevin Bacon and/or John Lithgow)
• Story of Newton’s encounter with apple goes online
• Public Enemy: By the Time I Get to Arizona
• Russia to boost ties with Ukraine
• But not a real green dress
  That’s cruel!

Namaste.

Wednesday – 13 January 2010
Midweek and all’s pretty much well. On top of that, it’s Comics and Sushi Wednesday, so there should be added goodness to the day. My Prerogative came on the radio during the morning commute. It made me smile… and sing along. It was a good way to kick off the morning and prep for a day in the trenches.

Last night, Chris came over to finish our HeroClix “Arkham Asylum Breakout” game. He won… which was totally expected – I had three figures to his eight – but, the fact that it took him a tad over 30 minutes to do so made me feel good. We need to schedule the other side of the fight, with me running Batman and company and him running Gotham City’s least desirable citizens.

Stray Toasters

• Today is Delta Sigma Theta’s (1, 2) Founders’ Day
• Haiti’s quake devestation emerges
• The Great Joe Rollino, Bender of Steel, is Dead at 104
  Mr. Rollino will be awarded today’s Human of the Day award, posthumously.
• 2010: Living in the Future
• …which, naturally, leads us to The Future Soon
• Nintendo helps savvy singer Beyonce step up her style game
• Sarah Palin Makes Fox News Debut, Slams Obama, Critics
  (But, is anyone really surprised by this…?  No?  I didn’t think so.)
• I’ve never really been a big fan of Conan O’Brien, but I have to give him kudos for his resignation letter, as posted by The Grey Lady.
• Snubs – part of the diplomatic game
• Nintendo Wii to Get Netflix Streaming

That’s good for now.

Tuesday – 12 January 2010
It’s yet another inversion-laden day in the valley.

We’re having corporate visitors today… which also means that the back end of my day is going to be chock full of nuts meetings – one’s a “town hall” and the other is a much smaller (15 or so people) one. I don’t really expect either to be “painful.” Here’s hoping that they live up to my expection.

Stray Toasters

• In 2003, DC Comics published the Red Son (1, 2) graphic novel under their Elseworlds imprint.

  

  The story  posited what might have happened if the rocket that brought Superman to Earth as a baby had crashed in the Soviet Union. At the end of the story, an interesting twist in the “rocket to Earth” story was introduced.  It turns out that idea was borne of a similar concept… originally written by Jerry Siegel.  Details – and spoilers – can be found here.

• A couple from the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file:
  • Depressed after ‘Avatar?’
  • Star Wars Burlesque: Tattooine-Styled Shenanigans at the Bordello
  • Palin’s Fox News deal a political sign?
• WorldWorksGames has released both their TerrainlinX Planner and their latest set, Lost Halls of the Dwarven Kings
• Even Amazon can’t keep it’s EULA story straight
• Delta Raises Fees for Checked Bags
• Perp caught through World of Warcraft

I just found out that I have yet another meeting to attend today… starting in five minutes. Blah.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 30 December 2009
And, just like that, 2009 is nearly at an end. I realized, over lunch, that today marks twenty-eight months since my first date with SaraRules.

Today is also the fifth day of Kwanzaa; today’s principle is “Nia” or “purpose”:

To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

Today was also Comics and Sushi Wednesday. The usual lunchtime crew was busy with other things. As SaraRules had a half-day at work today, she met me for lunch. It was good. The comics pickin’s were slim, but Dr. Volt’s is having a 30% off sale, so I picked up a couple of graphic novels and a Starman figure. (He’s packaged as a member of the JSA, but he’ll always be a Legionnaire, as far as I’m concerned.)

Stray Toasters

• This goes right at the top of The Covet List.
  Why? Four words: “Kilowog Build-A-Figure.”
• This also goes on the list… for what should be obvious reasons.
• Dragon Avenue has a good interview with WorldWorksGames’ Founder and Creative Director Denny Unger.
• Obama Curbs Secrecy of Classified Documents
• Carl Kasell: After 30 Years, A Chance To Sleep In
• 
• Sharks, Zombies, Weird Clouds: The Most Popular Stories of 2009
• I shared this with earlier today: Dominoes Everywhere for the Holidays (with a tip of the hat to , for linking to it)

  Dominoes Everywhere for the holidays from Jared Lyon on Vimeo.

• Sugar Ray Robinson: Fighting Toward Transcendence
• AbeBooks’ Weird Book Room

Namaste.

Tuesday – 08 December 2009
It snowed last night. You can tell not only by the new blanket of white across the valley and the mountains, but also by how slowly – and, to some degree, courteously – people are driving. For me, this morning’s commute took a few minutes longer than normal, but for other people I know, their commutes doubled, tripled… or worse. In fact, it took on of the guys on my team just shy of two hours to get to the office – a trip that’s roughly twenty minutes for him under normal conditions.

With that in mind, the Council for Better Driving: Utah would like to remind motorists to drive carefully and to please take your time while commuting… or you could end up like this:

Instant Replay: Football

Baltimore Ravens at Green Bay Packers
14 – 24
The Ravens traveled to Green Bay to face the Packers.To call the Ravens’ first half performance “lackluster” would be a gross overstatement. They couldn’t get anything going: The run was contained. Passing lanes were locked down. The offensive line broke down often, causing QB Joe Flacco to hurry passes. On the other side of the ball, the defense had a fair showing, but couldn’t prevent the Packers from going up 17-0, going into halftime. The game turned around, somewhat, in the third quarter. The Ravens capitalized on the field position – GB 26 – after a great kickoff return by rookie CB Lardarius Webb.  Less than a minute later, LB Jarrett Johnson intercepted a pass, setting up the Ravens’ second TD… but after that, it was “All Packers, all the time.” Packers QB Aaron Rodgers led an excellent game on the offense. Rookie OLB Clay Matthews showed some pretty amazing talent – he was a constant presence in the backfield, he was solid in man-to-man coverage and his closing speed was impressive. With this loss, the Ravens drop to 6-6, along with half of the y AFC, making the race for the Wild Card an interesting – and much more muddled – one.

Coach Harbaugh, your boys just got schooled by the Packers. Big time. How does that make you feel?

Yeah, I’m kind of hurt and heart-broken, too.

Stray Toasters

• We’re meeting with our wedding photographer and getting our pictures back – or at least the CD/DVDs of them – tonight!
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: $10 an hour with 2 kids? IRS pounces
• From NPR News in Washington: A Carl Kasell Tribute
• Secret Service report details 91 breaches
• Amanda Conner’s ‘POWER GIRL’ Girl Power
• For those who haven’t heard: Threadless is having a $9 Holiday Sale
• New Execution Method Is Used in Ohio
• From the “Whoops… my bad” file:
  • TSA can’t redact documents properly, releases s00per s33kr1t operations manual
  • TSA Leaks Sensitive Airport Screening Manual
• This decade ‘warmest on record’
• Boo’s Door

Back to the grind.

Namaste.

Sunday – 06 December 2009
Yesterday was a good – although cold – day. It also started to snow yesterday morning. There was snow in the forecast… but not until today. So, when I headed out, looked to the west and couldn’t see the Oquirrh Mountains, I knew that it was imminent. Ten minutes later, I was driving into it. Yay. It snowed intermittently throughout the afternoon. Nothing really accumulated, aside from on the grass/fields in some areas.

I hosted a ‘Clix tournament at Dr. Volt’s Comic Connection yesterday.  There was only one other person (besides Chris) who showed up to play. That was fine, because that meant a few things:

1. There was some word of mouth – the other player drove up… from Nephi.
2. Chris had someone to play against.
3. I didn’t have to worry about “Who won what,” as I could hand out both the first place and the Fellowship prizes.

Wayne, the guy from Nephi, wound up winning the tourney. put in an appearance; he’d been curious about both the game and the comic shop, so he thought he’d check them out. (Hopefully he had a good time hanging out.)

After the game, SaraRules and I went out to dinner and ran some errands. After that, we came home and set up the Christmas tree, while Christmas songs played on the 360. After that – and a nap, on my part – we chilled out on the couch, with hot chocolate and biscotti… and MythBusters.

Stray Toasters

• From the “Wow… I’m an idiot” file: I saw a blurb for the following item from The Washington Post:
  

  A Nov. 26 article in the District edition of Local Living incorrectly said a Public Enemy song declared 9/11 a joke. The song refers to 911, the emergency phone number.

  Wait. What? Really?  I mean…. REALLY??! Come on. They had to be kidding. I looked up the original article.  The correction was in reference to the following paragraph:

  Public Enemy has earned notoriety with more than 20 years of politically charged music about fighting the power, challenging racism and declaring that 911 was a joke. The group has joined forces with Virgin Mobile USA to combat youth homelessness as part of National Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week.

  I shared the item with SaraRules, who was as flabbergasted as I was that someone would make that mistake. Her post-shock comment was: “This is something that… two minutes… of research would have clarified. Did she ever listen to the song?! If nothing else, she could have looked at when the song was written and seen how far before [September 11^th] it was.”

  Not only that, what about an editor?! Someone should have caught it. I did a little searching of my own, to see if I could find a picture of the author; maybe she was an older woman who just had no clue. This is the picture I found:

  

  She is the young lady on the far left.
  And just for the record (and future reference) : 911 != 9/11.

• MarknTyme tossed me a link to a concept trailer for a show called Slingers. Check it out here.
• U.S. hospitals turn to G.E. for surgical cuts
• 
• From NPR Music:
  • Living Colour: Keeping the Music Alive
  • The Jazz Loft Project: Sights and Sounds
  • The 11th Annual Director’s Cuts Music Guide
    
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Custom LEGO model kit leads to tactical police response…
• …and, in a similar vein: Police U-turn on photographers and anti-terror laws
• I watched 1 vs. 100 last night – one of The Mob was an aerospace engineer… who was also a cheerleader for the Houston Texans. Talk about disparate jobs!
• Comic Book Artists Illustrate Sci-Fi Legends
• Apple acquires music service Lala
• This image…

  

  …is available as a card or a print. Click here for more information.

• Woman jailed, charged with felony camcordering after recording 4 minutes of sister’s birthday party in a movie theater

And with that, I think I’ll put on some coffee and watch a little gridiron action.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 02 December 2009
One down, one in the chamber and two to go. Yesterday was a decent enough day, workwise. There wasn’t really any monkeydom to deal with – that always makes the day good.

Today is Sushi and No Comics Wednesday – shipments were delayed due to the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Maybe I’ll buy a box or two of ‘Clix to compensate for the delay.

After work (and dinner), Chris came over and we played HeroClix. Since we’re running a tournament this weekend, we decided to try a few of the new pieces in a 300-point game. After setting up the “Fountain of Asgard” map, we noted that it is not for tournament play; we went with the “Arkham Asylum” map. Chris’ team consisted of:

• Captain America
• Daredevil and
• Moondragon

I asked SaraRules to pick ten figures at random, so that I could simulate pulling a couple of sealed boosters. Of the pieces she chose, I went with:

• Moonstone
• Penance
• Star-Lord and
• Valkyrie (#012, not #055)

We maneuvered our pieces into position and started throwing punches.  There were a lot of “swings and misses” before Chris changed his dice (oddly enough, his new dice “worked”); I think that my dice got scared and decided to get on the job when they saw that. I took out Daredevil with Valkyrie… and Moondragon scored a critical hit on Penance, not only doing four points of damage to him, but also slamming him backwards – into a wall – to finish him off. After that, we traded bad dice rolls until I was finally able to pick off Cap and Moondragon. So, for the first time in months… I beat Chris.

It was good to see the new figures in action. I’ve become a big fan of the Star-Lord ‘Clix and Chris pointed out something about both the new Captain America and Daredevil figures that would make them truly painful to face in unrestricted play.

Workout
Wes and I hit the gym yesterday at lunch.  We were joined by Eric, who was up in the north office for a while:

• Sit-ups (incline): 3 sets/20 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 205 lbs
• Tricep “Kickbacks”: 3 sets/10 reps, 10 lbs
• Row: 3 sets/10 reps, 130 lbs
• Push-ups: 3 sets/15 reps
• Core (plank): 2 sets, 30 seconds

Post-workout weight: 188.1 lbs

It’s amazing – but not entirely unexpected – how painful working out can be… after a nearly three-week absence from the gym.

Stray Toasters

• SaraRules bought a couple of boxes of Honeycomb for me a couple of months ago… right around the time I started eating Honey Nut Cheerios fairly regularly. I had something of an epiphany last night: I could take one of the boxes to work – where I keep a spoon and bowl, anyway – pick up some organic milk (which stays good for up to a month), and just have breakfast at work. I put that plan into motion this morning. So far, so good.
• Utah Symphony-Utah Opera is having a Holiday Sale.  Check it out!
• By way of Rachel: LEGO Movie Posters
• Reboot This! 10 Sci-Fi Shows Ready for Upgrade
• 
• A short while ago, I was talking with Minion #2 about the mistranslation of the “number of The Beast.” We have long been taught that the number is “666.” That’s not correct; the number is supposed to be “616.” (Sources: 1, 2, 3)

  Amusing side note: The Area Code for Grand Rapids Michigan is 616.

  Another amusing side note: Marvel Comics’ main universe is “Universe 616.”

• Madagascar unveils ‘cartoon constitution’
• sent along a picture of these shoes: Armani velvet pinstripes. I don’t think that I could swing ’em, but I’m sure that someone out there could hook them up nicely.
• From NPR: The Best Five Books to Share with Your Friends

Namaste.

Friday – 20 November 2009
It’s already the 20th. Where does the time go?!

9/80 “on” Friday, but it’s the quiet day in the office, so I can’t really complain. And, tonight, rather than going to coffee, some of the Clitorati are going to a Grizzlies hockey game. That will be a nice change of pace.

Last night, we had Melissa, one of SaraRules’ coworkers (and former schoolmates), over for dinner. SaraRules fixed chicken and dumplings (!) and for dessert, we had the Chocolate Cream Pie that we made Wednesday night. (And the pie was good.)

Instant Replay: Football

Miami Dolphins at Carolina Panthers
24 –17
The 4-4 Dolphins headed to Charlotte to take on the 4-4 Panthers… and came away with a win. As I’ve said, I was torn about this game. On one hand, I’ve liked the Fins for nearly 20 years; on the other hand, the Panthers are my #1 NFC team. I was going to be good with a win, either way, but “There can be only one,” as the saying goes.

Stray Toasters

• I woke up this morning with a couple of songs running through my head
  • Pope, by Prince
  • Undercover Angel, by Alan O’Day

  I’m good with the former; I’ll just blame “Random Play” on the radio in my head for the latter.

• Texas’ gay marriage ban may have banned all marriages
• Glowing bacteria that finds landmines
• I have Cracker Jack in my lunch today!
• posted this picture; I found it interesting/amusing:

  
  (click for larger version)

• Britain’s new Internet law — as bad as everyone’s been saying, and worse. Much, much worse.
• For SaraRules and Tyranist: DRM-free top-flight horror novels
• Monster Manual

  Monster Manual from Dan Meth on Vimeo.

• Oprah Winfrey to end her talk show in 2011
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file:
  • ‘Chicken’ interrupts council meeting
  • Hamster Hotel lets you live like a rodent
• WizKids/NECA (finally) has their new site up. There’s not a lot of content, but it’s a start.
• Man who killed wife while dreaming is freed

Namaste.

Tuesday – 17 November 2009
The new work week begins. Yay.

Yesterday, despite the pager incident, was a good day. I went to Chris’ and played HeroClix. Yesterday’s match-up saw the Chris’ Justice League of America taking on my Justice Society of America (pictures here). He won the game, but I was able to put away a few of his pieces before he left me fielding only one figure.

After the game, I headed home to take care of some straightening up before company came over for…

Instant Replay: Football

Baltimore Ravens at Cleveland Browns
16 – 0
Ravens 1.0 traveled to Cleveland to take on Ravens -1.0, in a game that was not only an AFC North battle, but also a rivalry match. Too bad that there wasn’t really a “game,” to speak of.  The first half was very lackluster – neither team scored: Not a field goal (K Steve Hauschka shanked yet another kick wide left) Not a safety. Nada. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Browns’ QB Brady Quinn, who got benched earlier this season after a poor performance against the Ravens, got the start… and suffered from the same lack of ability to get anything going last night. Granted, the teams’ defenses got a good workout, but neither offense could get their game in gear. Coach Harbaugh must have gone George Patton on the team at halftime, because both the offense and the defense actually looked like they came to play: Joe Flacco and WR Derrick Mason hooked up for a long pass that set up a TD by RB Ray Rice Seventeen seconds later, SS Dawan Landry pulled down an interception and ran it back 48 yards for a TD Hauschka got it together and put up a field goal. The Ravens went to 5-4 and are still potentially in the hunt for a wild card berth.

Coach Mangini, your team just took another one on the chin.

How do you feel about that?

I can emapthize with that. Sorry, .

Stray Toasters

• Tonight: Play!
• Tomorrow: New HeroClix set – Hammer of Thor – comes out!
• pointed me in the direction of this little gem.
• Senators draw maps of their home states
• By way of CNN: 5 tips for fixing your Facebook page
• China’s Newest Export: Punk Rock
• 
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Cannibals reportedly sold body parts to kebab vendor
• Chipsounds
• “We’ve Got Some Work to Do Now” t-shirt
• Lou Jing, half-Black Chinese girl, sparks race debate in China

Namaste

Friday – 13 November 2009
That’s right… it’s Friday the 13th.

9/80 Friday off.  Amen. I’ve been deliciously lazy today. And, to be perfectly honest: I’m good with that. It seems like a good way to kick off a four-day weekend. Today should continue to be (mostly) lax. There’s Clitorati tonight, which is always something to look forward to. Tomorrow, SaraRules and a few of the usual suspects are going to see 2012; we’re not expecting a “great” movie, we’re just going for the mass destruction!

Stray Toasters

• Vanished Persian Army Said Found in Desert
• sent me a link to the following item from It Made My Day, which made me laugh:
  

  I wore my glasses to work for the first time recently. My coworkers were making lame jokes about how I looked like clark kent. 5 minutes later I started laughing really hard when I remembered I was wearing superman boxers. IMMD

• Elecom Lego Brick Earbuds
  Hm, I have plenty of LEGO bricks. And a Dremel… just saying.
• Microsoft Responds to “Like OS X” Comment
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: ‘Thatcher dead’ text sparks fears
• Some of the best advice… EVER:

  
  “Yield not to misfortunes, but advance all the more boldly against them.”

• Flash Vulnerability Found, Adobe Says No Fix Forthcoming
• I have found that I am really enjoying Mega Builders on The Science Channel.
• NASA to Bomb Monkeys with Gamma Radiation
  Um… HELLO?!  Don’t they know what could happen if they do that?!
• From CBR’s “Wonder of Wonders” column: War and Peace: Paraphernalia
• NASA sees “significant quantities” of water on the moon
• New ‘Clix in five days!

Off to get into some trouble…

Namaste.

Tuesday – 03 November 2009
I can see clearly now
The rain is gone…
Not that it’s rained here recently, but the haze that usually hovers over the valley is gone… or at least it has thinned a bit.

Happy Birthday to !

Last night, we headed over to the in-laws for dinner and football. Both were very good – we had lamb and fresh vegetables…. and an eggplant dish whose name I can never remember.

Instant Replay: Football

Atlanta Falcons at New Orleans Saints
27 – 35
The 6-0 Saints hosted the 3-3 Atlanta Falcons. I wasn’t expecting too much from this, but it was a very good game. Both teams scored on their opening drives.  Not only that, both teams played well – all game long, on both sides of the ball. Boilermaker Watch: Saints QB Drew Brees had yet another game with big passing yards. He threw for 308 yards, with two TDs and one interception.

Stray Toasters

• Fastball Special
• pointed out Put This On: A Web Series about Dressing Like a Grownup
• We have found a home for Couch 1.0, now we need to arrange to get it there and then acquire Couch 2.0…
• Americans for the Arts has a new ad campaign: “Feed Your Kids the Arts!”

• Gambit != Gamut
  • gambit
  • gamut
• First, RB Jamal Lewis says he’s retiring after this season.
  Next, GM George Kokinis gets the boot.
  , it looks like your team is just falling apart. What’s next?!
• I’m missing the ability to play X-Men: Legends… Stupid “No, we’re not making the 360 completely backwards compatible” Microsoft!
• Digital Bread Crumbs: Following Your Cell Phone Trail
• No matter how bad your day is, at least you’re not this guy…

• I want a new black or grey hat, preferrably a fedora.
• Josie and the Pussycats has been replaced by The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan on Boomerang.

Namaste.