Random Access

Thursday – 29 December 2011
Another NBN Thursday is under way and I have already been to – and returned from – the airport. My uncle came to town Tuesday night for a post-Christmas visit and to meet the new additions to the family:

It was a short visit, but a very full one. The girls, who’ve been a bit fussy with new people lately, took to him fairly quickly; he took to them immediately. It was fun watching the three of them interact.

We also managed to squeeze in a trip to see the Lights on Temple Square last night. We bundled the girls into their bear suits and car seats and set off for downtown. We got there around the time that the girls are usually beginning to wind down before bed. But, with so many things to see – and all of the sounds – they were awake and staring at all the sights. About two-thirds of the way through our stroll, Diana started to fade; Vanessa was still going strong… until we got to the car. Then they traded: Diana woke up and Vanessa napped. We got home, changed and fed them and put them to bed. Diana faded out somewhat quickly; Vanessa, however, got a second wind and decided that bedtime was the perfect time to tell SaraRules! all about the adventures she had during the day. It took her almost an hour to wind down and fall asleep. On the “plus” side: They slept until almost 5 AM.

After the girls went to bed, my uncle and I went to Pawit’s to pick up dinner. He, SaraRules! and I ate and we introduced him to TopGear (UK). It was a good way to wind down the day and his visit.

Stray Toasters

• For SaraRules!: Not sure where this rates on your “uncanny valley” scale, but it has graffiti: Robot that paints random graffiti
• While I haven’t gotten in a lot of play time, I’ve been enjoying CoD: MW3
• I also realize that I still need to go back and finish three HALO games: 2, 3, and Reach.
• Young girl rages over pink toys and gendered play-choices
  This reminds me of of this post from my brother-in-law, about my niece, Grace:

  Yes lady, I’m aware that the “space explorer” pajamas were in the boys section. I’m also aware that my child is a girl. No, she wouldn’t rather have the pink princess ones. And yes, I can assure you that she picked them out on her own, so wipe the condescending look and eye roll off your face. My little girl can be a space explorer if she wants to, so suck it, wench.

  Amen.

• And, as a corollary to the above: Gamer Girl Manifesto
• A Brutal Chapter in North Carolina’s Eugenics Past
• Thanks to Keith for (re-)posting this picture:

  

• Disney Princesses as Street Fighter-style warriors
• Instead of Work, Younger Women Head to School
• Thanks to Corey for this: Photos of the Steam Festival at Golden Spike Historical Site
• Scheduling Partnership Links Pac-12 and Big Ten
• 
• Sears, Kmart to close up to 120 stores
• From the “What’s Wrong With This Picture…?” file: Police storm Church of the Nativity to break up brawling priests

I just put the girls down for a nap. Let’s see how this goes.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 14 December 2011
Let’s just cut to the chase: Despite the inversion-induced drabness, today has been a good day so far. ‘Nuff said.

Last night, SaraRules! and I had a quiet night with the girls… even though it was a bath night. Both girls were fanstastically well-behaved and cooperative for bath time. It was quite the treat. And, they went to bed without too much ado. We also had a visit from Logan and Sanaz, which was nice for two reasons:

1. We hadn’t seen them in a couple of weeks, as they’d been on a trip
2. They brought SaraRules! a tasty dish that she’d been craving… which made for a very happy SaraRules!

All-in-all, it was a good night.

Stray Toasters

• We Are Not All Created Equal: The truth about the American class system
• 5 Favorite Cover Songs of 2011
• Super-Heroines Help Promote Breast Cancer Awareness in Mozambique
• U.S. Safety Board Urges Cellphone Ban for Drivers
• Does it really take “that much” effort to share a pleasantry with someone before starting a conversation?  I don’t think that it does, but maybe that’s just me and my quaint thoughts about courtesy and civility.
• Cirque de la Symphonie: The music of flight
  (Tickets for this are still available, but are apparently going fast…)
• 
• How to Explain Gay Rights to an Idiot
• FCC set to crack down on loud TV commercials
• “Thanks” to for pointing this out.
• Holder Signals Tough Review of New State Laws on Voting

Namaste.

Tuesday – 13 December 2011
Yep, it’s snowing. Well, perhaps it would be more apt to say that it’s flurrying. Either way, Mother Nature’s frozen, mocking laughter is blanketing the valley. There hasn’t been a lot of accumulation, but it’s still snow. (And, I’m okay with calling it “snow” and not “fluffy rain,” as we are now roughly halfway through December.)

And, as it is snowing, the Council for Better Driving: Utah would like to remind motorists to take care when navigating the roads today.

I would like to thank for coming over last night to help me wrangle the twins while SaraRules was attending a Justice Junior League meeting. The girls were pretty well-behaved, though tired and a little restless. All things being equal, it wasn’t nearly as difficult to get them ready for bed as it could have been, but getting them to acknowledge “We’re in our bassinets, we should sleep” was another issue… at least for Diana. Vanessa knocked out fairly quickly. Diana..? Well, let’s just say that she took the long way ’round to getting to sleep. Oh, well. They’re still cute.

Vanessa (l) and Diana

And, they’re good kids. That helps, too.

 Stray Toasters

• Dirty Little Secret: Almost Nobody Cleans Contacts Properly
• Three words: “Star. Trek. Diapers!”

  

  No, seriously!

  

• Profits and Questions at Online Charter Schools
• At School in Cyberspace
• Household electricity bills skyrocket
• Buy a House Atop a Cold War Missile Silo
  So… does anyone have $1.76 million available to loan…? Anyone…? Anyone…? Bueller…?  Bueller?
• Ask the Pilot: What Alec Baldwin doesn’t know about air travel
• 
• Malicious apps discovered in Android market
• Down and out in the Tragic Kingdom
• Intel Sees Opportunity in Shortage of Drives

Namaste.

Thursday – 08 December 2011
Not only is today “NBN” Thursday, nor is it just my “Technical Friday”…

But today is Vanessa’s 1/4-birthday!

And, I got to start the morning with cuddles from both “Baby Dynamo” (as SaraRules! calls her) and Little Miss Diana. AND… I made all seven of the lights on the way to work this morning. (It was a close call at Light #4, but I made it.) I take these things as omens that today is going to be a good day.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
I made the following post on Twitter a little while ago:

Civility, logic, reason and common sense all seem to go out the window when people see/hear the words “sale” or “free.” #monkeys

I predicated this statement based on the observation of peoples’ reactions to a recycling/giveaway that was being done in our office. People were complaining about “This [item] doesn’t have [component]…” or “This isn’t as good as that one…” or, and this is my favorite: “Can I go through X and Y and Z and scavenge pieces for this…?”

*grblsnrkx*

Look…

The equipment is being given away.

FOR. FREE.

ALL you had to do was put your name in a bag to be drawn to be eligible to TAKE an item.

FOR. FREE.

If it’s too much hassle to be happy with what you’re getting – again: FOR FREE! – then maybe (just maybe) you shouldn’t have put your name in the bag in the first place.

Stray Toasters

• Plan to Widen Availability of Morning-After Pill Is Rejected
• R.I.P Jerry Robinson, Creator of The Joker
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Red Cross Debates if Virtual Killing Violates International Humanitarian Law
• Tune in Tokyo: The Gaijin Diaries, by Tim Anderson
• Nerdy Baby Coloring Book for Young Scientists
• …which dovetails nicely into this:

  

• The Ultimate History of Cute Robots
• Certified Safe: Planning to operate a taxi service for NASA astronauts? Here’s what’s required.
• This 1940s Hollywood Actress Made Wi-Fi Happen

Quote of the Day
I have a dead-blow hammer – bequeathed to me by – at my desk at work. I have been known to refer to it as Mjolnir, on occasion. Today, Julie borrowed it, to crush peppermint. (Don’t know why; didn’t ask.) She brought it back and said:

“Thor’s hammer smells a bit like peppermint…”

I retorted:

“Now dispensing minty-fresh justice!”

We both laughed.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 07 December 2011
Today is Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.

• Remembering Pearl Harbor, 70 years later
• Pearl Harbor Still a Day for the Ages, but a Memory Almost Gone

Today is also Diana’s 1/4-birthday. That’s right, our oldest little lady is three-months-old today.

Last night, SaraRules! took the girls to her book club, leaving me to my own devices for a couple of hours. I decided to be a little productive. For my first amazing feat: I put up the downstairs Christmas tree (more on this later). I also gave my brother a call, to help him suss out why his Xbox wouldn’t connect to Xbox Live after they changed ISPs. After that, I felt that I had earned a trip to Best Buy. Oddly enough, I didn’t find anything that I just couldn’t live without.

I made it home a few minutes before the ladies got home. That gave me time to prep blankets and bottles for the girls. (Hey, I try to be a good father.) We got the girls to bed without too much ado. After getting something to eat, we headed downstairs to watch a little pre-bed TV. SaraRules! asked what I’d done with my evening, so I recounted the events of the night. When I got to the part about “I put up the Christmas tree,” she blinked a couple of times, looked over at the tree and said,”Whoa… you did put up the tree!” That’s right: She totally missed it – all six feet of it – when she went downstairs… despite looking dead at it at one point. (In her defense: She’d had a long day…)

Stray Toasters

• Modern Drummer‘s interview with Neil Peart
• The Death of Philip K. Dick and the Birth of Cyberpunk
• Leather Armor for Stormtroopers Who Prefer Harleys Over Speederbikes
• 
• Too promiscuous to donate an organ? Maybe, CDC says
• The Art of Francis Tsai, by way of my friend, Kim
• Five Travel Apps You Should Be Using (and One Website, Too)
• Green Bay Packers sell stock, first time since ’97
• 
• Game play: A case study in security
• Japan Split on Hope for Vast Radiation Cleanup

Namaste.

Thursday – 01 December 2011
It’s NBN Thursday and the start of a new (and, if you’re in northern Utah, very windy) month.

SaraRules! was right about yesterday: It ended with cheesy macaroni Hamburger Helper and comics. And little girls who went to bed rather easily. Which made it rather easy to enjoy the aforementioned comics. And dinner. And the rest of the evening.

The girls slept until 4:30-ish this morning. Which put them right at the “sleeping for 8 hours” mark. This was a good thing. Sara got Diana unswaddled and changed while I prepped bottles. When I was done with bottles, I took them to the nursery, got Vanessa and put her on the changing table…

…and then the lights went out. (Cue: Vicki Lawrence. Yes… THAT Vicki Lawrence)

Fortunately, we have flashlights and candles aplenty. Still, I think that it freaked the girls out a bit, as it was instantly pitch black. Vanessa wound up settling down fairly easily; Diana, not so much. She was fully awake by the time she was done with her bottle and it took her the better part of 30 minutes to settle back to sleep.

The power was out at least until I left for work at 8:15. SaraRules! checked on the Rocky Mountain Power web site; they said that the outages in the area are so bad that customers could be without power for up to 48 hours. I have doubts that we’ll be without power that long, though.

I know that some might say that these events might automatically put the kibosh on “No Bad News” Thursday. But, I’d beg to differ. Why? For reasons including, but not limited to, these:

1. Everyone was safe.
2. We had already fixed the girls’ bottles.
3. The house was – and would remain – warm through the morning.
4. We had light (flashlights and candles).
5. We had running water.
6. Our garage door opener has a battery back-up, allowing it to open during power outages.

Blessings. Providence. Good fortune. Luck. No matter what you choose to call them, each of those things were in our favor. Thus, the day was still good.

And that’s how I spent my Thursday morning!

Assuming that the power’s on at home tonight, Chris is coming over to hang out and play dolls.

Stray Toasters

• Truth, Jawlines and the American Way: The Changing Face of Superman
• Kerry Callen‘s ‘Super Antics’
1. Number 1
2. Number 2
3. Number 3
• 6 Central Banks Act to Buy Time in Europe Crisis
• Some Grandmotherly Advice on Social Media
• Can LEGO be considered art?
• Chernobyl nuclear disaster zone declared to hot for tourists
• 
• World’s First Sex School Opens
• From the “D.M.S.R.” file: Sex, Love and Evolution: Making Hits on the ‘Billboard’ Charts
• I Bet You Can’t Guess What This Commercial Is About Until It Tells You
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Indian snake charmer releases cobras in tax office protest
• The Dark Knight

And, according to my mother-in-law, power was restored at the house shortly after SaraRules! left for work. Amen.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 29 November 2011
Day Two of the work week and all’s well. So far. Hopefully, it will stay that way.

Tonight, SaraRules! and I are attending the Opening Night Auction of The Festival of Trees:

Since we got our tree from there last year, we’re going to look for some other decoration. And, it’s for a good cause: Proceeds benefit Primary Children’s Medical Center.

Stray Toasters

• Javier Grillo-Marxuach has done a Middleman/Dr. Who crossover fan-fiction for Christmas. (Thanks, Phi!)
• As Public Sector Sheds Jobs, Blacks Are Hit Hardest
• From the “Resistance is futile.” file: Your Baby Needs This New Star Trek Book
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Mysterious Man Bursts Into Flames at Swedish Train Station
• A Shopping Day Invented for the Web Comes of Age
• Buyers click away as Cyber Monday sales jump 18%
• Cyber Monday scam emails hit inboxes
• 
• South Korea Rolls Out Robotic Prison Wardens
• Märklin. Like I needed another distraction…
• Of Leather Wasps and the Inevitable Sex Component: Cyberpunk Heroines in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and Other Fiction
• Jags fire coach Del Rio after eight-plus seasons

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Monday – 28 November 2011
Waking up and getting up has never been easy…

…especially after a five-day break. But, we do what we must. The alarm went off and up I got. On the plus side: I have fourteen (14) working days until Christmas break. I’m Ivory Soap sure that I can make it.

The weekend was a good one. There was some productivity. A good bit of laziness. And the upstairs Christmas tree (and some lights) are up. I might work on the downstairs tree tonight during Monday Night Football.

And, I neglected to post a picture of the girls in their Thanksgiving dresses. That shall be rectified now:

Stray Toasters

• It’s after Thanksgiving. I’m alright with Christmas music in stores and on the radio now.
• SIDENOTE: Lexus has a series of commercials in which Person A gives Person B some gift that plays a melody – apparently the Lexus “theme” – just before presenting Person B with a brand new car. My hang-up with the commercials is this: WHO THE HELL (outside of these commercials) KNOWS WHAT THE LEXUS THEME IS?!
  Seriously. The only reason I can (somewhat) recognize the music now is because the damned commercials aired eleventy-seven billion times over the past five days.
• Cyber Monday to bring increase in online threats
• 
• New Translation of Catholic Mass Makes Its Debut
• Would the World Be Better Off Without Religion?
• Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: The Giggle Loop
• In Egypt, Long Lines for a Vote Clouded by Army’s Role
• Christmas Gift Idea: The Zombie-Killing Weapons Used on ‘The Walking Dead’
• For SaraRules!: Sex Pistols imagined as a Hanna-Barbera cartoon
• Fugazi Rises Again, in Online Archive
• From the “Purple Monkey Dishwasher” file:

  

• Eating Canned Soup Makes BPA Levels Soar
• Invasive species are blight on U.S. landscape
• If Ghostbusters was a Dr. Seuss book

Namaste.

Tuesday – 22 November 2011
It’s Technical Friday. And I’m ready for it to be Quit o’Clock. (Just being honest.)

Last night, Dave and Angy came over to watch football and to visit the girls.

Vanessa (left) and Gene Simmons Diana

The game wasn’t all that compelling, but it was football. And we watched. Somewhere in the second half, Dave and I started talking model railroad ideas. Yeah, I know… real stretch there. I think that I have a rudimentary plan for at least half of my layout-to-be, incorprating the new turntable. Now, I just need to determine how best to add a small rail yard… and what I want to do for the city portion of the layout.  I’d still like to be able to use the SuperStreets, as well.

And, of course, I just came up with yet another idea.  *sigh*

Stray Toasters

• As I noted earlier, on Facebook: There are ads everywhere – online, radio, TV – about “Black Friday” sales. I find it amusing that retailers don’t take into account that for 12.6% of the U.S. population, every Friday is “Black Friday.”
• 48th anniversary of JFK’s assassination
• Both the Darkwing Duck and the Doctor Who fan in me thought this was hilarious:

  
  (c) Erica Henderson

  For those who don’t quite grok why this is funny, watch the following:

• Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration
• Jane, divided
  But I can’t decide
  Which side I’m on…
• 
• Pull of Family Reshapes U.S.-Cuban Relations
• New Xbox Dashboard Launches on December 6
• Fifteen Really, Really, Really Hard Games
• 
• Water utilities in Illinois, Houston reportedly hacked

Friday – 18 November 2011
It’s my working Friday. At least it’s the “quiet” Friday in the office.

Last night was “Baby Bath Night” and it went pretty well. Vanessa went first. She was a little dodgy when I put her into the tub, but she settled in nicely once I started talking to her and splashing her a bit. She actually held up rather well, until it was time to towel her off. Then the sad face – and a little crying – made an appearance. All in all, though: Success. Diana was pretty much smiles throughout the process… although, I did get a couple of quizzical looks from her. Both girls went to sleep (fairly) easily, too.

After the girls were abed, SaraRules! and I decided to watch some television. As I was about to head downstairs, I had a revelation:

I wanted a snack.

Ice cream…? No.
A RubySnap cookie…? No.
Triscuits and string cheese…? No.

Then it dawned on me. I wanted popcorn. But… the girls were asleep. And the popcorn popping on the apricot tree would possibly wake them up. I found a suitable workaround to abate the noise and tasty popped corns were mine!

Stray Toasters

• I think that I may have just tracked down a school mate that I’ve been trying to find for a very long time.
• so much win
• Rules of concertgoing, and why it matters
• Nude Blogger Riles Egyptians of All Stripes
• By way of Xeni Jardin at BoingBoing.net:

  

• Pilot gets stuck in bathroom, sparks terror scare
• Steampunk LEGO inventions
• Stuck Up!: 100 Objects Inserted and Ingested in Places They Shouldn’t Be
• 
• From the “Whoops!” file: An Entire MMO Was Accidentally Erased From the Internet
• 2011 Celebrity Style Hall of Shame
• Medieval Foes With Whimsy

Namaste.

Tuesday – 15 November 2011
Pretty much hit the ground running today.  The girls were up at 5:30 to eat; by the time they were done, it was just about 6:00. Rather than: A) try to get a 25-minute nap or B) sleep through the alarm until (at least) 7:00, I decided to stay up and get ready for work. I was in the office a hair before 7:00. Less than a half-hour later, I was helping to prep a half-full server rack for shipping.

Bonus: The rack had no wheels.

Added bonus: We had to move it out of our office space, into our lobby, downstairs, across sheets of masonite — which we had to leap-frog — from our building through the building lobby to the attached building.. out the door and onto the truck.

Yeah. Today was most definitely one of those “We do more before 9 AM than most people do all day” kind of mornings.

Fortunately, there was coffee involved, as well.

Tonight, SaraRules! has another Justice League meeting. Thus, I’ll be getting a helping had in putting the hatchlings to bed from my sister-in-law.

Stray Toasters

• Last night, while Monday Night Football was showing commercials, I flipped over to The Sing-Off. Interesting show. I didn’t see all of the groups compete, but I enjoyed the three groups I did see. The group Vocal Point (from BYU) were voted off the show by the judges. This prompted A LOT of response from people on Facebook, apparently. Negative response. “I’ll never watch the show again” response.

  I don’t get it.

  Just because a person/group/entity/whatever that [you] like gets voted off a television show, is that really a reason to foreswear the show? To me, it’s kind of like vowing never to watch … NCIS after they killed off Mike Franks. *shrug*

• Missiles to protect London 2012 Olympics
• What to Wear and What Not to Wear to an Interview
• Tomorrow is American Censorship Day: Fight SOPA
• By way of my friend, Christine: League of Ordinary Gentlemen: Patient BW, DOB 2/16/1971
  , you might want to take a look at that.
• 
• Anonymous vows revenge over Occupy Toronto threats
• Hispanics Reviving Faded Towns on the Plains
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: PETA targets Mario over raccoon suit
• 
• Dresdan Codak
• Batman: the Least Believable Superhero
• On the Orbiting of Species
• Designer Lipstick: A New Splurge
• 
• Foreign Office reveals weird requests to consulates
• Will Cloud Computing Make Everything (and Everyone) Work Harder?

Quote of the Day
Today’s quote comes from a Newsarama interview with John Hodgman:

Hodgman: One of the things I love in comics is serialized storytelling, but that can be a pitfall if you rely too much on what happened last week.

I’m not trying to start feuds. I’m really just expressing feelings of existential anxiety about where all superhero comics are.

And now I really do have to go…

Nrama: Okay, any last thoughts before you go?

Hodgman: I still love everything that Paul Levitz writes. Long Live the Legion!

And that’s that.

Namaste.

Thursday – 10 November 2011
Hello, NBN Technical Friday!

Last night, while SaraRules! was at her Justice Junior League meeting, ‘s mom, Lori,  came over to help me watch the kids and get them ready for bed…

…as did Josh.

…and Jessica and Corey.

The girls soaked up the attention. It was great. And it truly proved the adage: “Many hands make light work.” Thus, not only were the girls well taken care of, but I got to spend the evening in good company. As an added bonus: Jessica prepared a delicious pot roast, with carrots and potatoes.

This morning, the girls woke up around 5:00. By the time they were back in their bassinets, I had a decision: Catch about 45 minutes of sleep or go to work early. I chose sleep. And that turned into nearly an hour-and-a-half of sleep. Which was good, to be honest.

Not too long after I got to the office, I got a call from my mother-in-law about something beeping in the kitchen. And it was startling the girls a bit. I suspected that it was the fire alarm, whose battery SaraRules! and I hadn’t gotten around to changing. So, back home to avert the girls having meltdowns and help get them ready for breakfast. (Fringe benefit: Mid-day cuddles from the girls!) And then, back to the office.

Tonight, Chris is coming over to play dolls ‘Clix.

Stray Toasters

• Recycling in Antarctica
• Russians Fight to Save Mars Probe After Mishap
• A random thought occurred to me the other day: How many Hanna-Barbera cartoons featured kids in bands?
  I’m not sure that I got them all, without looking anything up, this is what I came up with:
  • Josie and the Pussycats
  • Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids
  • The Partridge Family in Outer Space (I’m totally not making this one up.)
  • Jabberjaw
  • The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan
  • The Impossibles
  • Pebbles & Bamm-Bamm
  • The Banana Splits (not a cartoon, per se, but still an H-B property)
  • The Bugaloos (a live-action show that was part of the Banana Splits show)

  Can anyone think of any others?

• 
• Adobe kills Flash on mobile devices
• Mayhem at the Manor, for
• Why we get the future of tech wrong

Namaste.

Wednesday – 09 November 2011
Middle of the week. And the day started with the twins needing to be fed. (Oddly enough, most of my days seem to start like that now…) And let’s be honest: Starting the day holding a cute little girl is far from a bad thing.

Last night was a fairly low-key evening. The girls got their baths – without much/any fuss – ate and went to bed. Once we were certain that they were down for the count, SaraRules! and I went downstairs and finished watching the episode of TopGear that we started a few days ago. When it was over, we (finally) watched the new episode of Burn Notice. I also rounded out the evening with an episode of Young Justice.

Tonight, SaraRules! has a Justice Junior League meeting, which means that the girls are stuck with me for a few hours.  Fortunately – for them and/or me, I’m not sure which yet… possibly both – lj user=”suzie_lightning” ‘s mother is coming over to meet the little ladies and hang out for a bit.

Stray Toasters

• Mississippi Voters Reject Anti-Abortion Measure
• How Birth Control and Abortion Became Politicized
• introduced me to The Karen & Ellen Letters. Wow.
• “Family Circus” Creator Bil Keane Dies at 89
• As I mentioned a couple of days ago, SaraRules! is reading a book called Conquistadora:

  

  I apparently dropped a pair of nail clippers on it yesterday. This morning, I glanced at the book and, from the angle I was looking, the face/clipper combination reminded me of Trap Jaw (from the old Masters of the Universe cartoon). It made me laugh.

• Adversaries, allies stealing U.S. trade secrets
• Are Cookbooks Obselete?
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Police find mummified corpses in historian’s apartment
• Presidential Candidates Explained Through Dungeons and Dragons Character Sheets, by way of
• Health Law Survives Test in Court of Appeals

Namaste.

Friday – 04 November 2011
It’s my “on” Friday… and I have The Leash this weekend. But, it’s still Friday. And that’s almost never a bad thing.

Last night was fairly low-key. I think that the highlight was a trip to the store for grocery. Well, that… and hanging out with the girls.

Stray Toasters

• By way of The Brothers Vox: 23 incredible new technologies you’ll see by 2021
• By way of Esquire – Remember: Sexy isn’t the same as slutty. Whatever you choose, keep it sensual and sophisticated.
  Amen.
• 
• Anonymous ready to continue with Operation Cartel
• 9 Equations True Geeks Should (at Least Pretend to) Know
• Bleak Portrait of Poverty Is Off the Mark, Experts Say
• I’ve been rather amused by some of George Takei’s Facebook posts over the past few weeks. This one was no exception:

  

• Cuba to Allow Buying and Selling of Property, With Few Restrictions
• Keeping Your Heart Healthy
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” and “Monkeys!” files: Couple adopts Dachsund, days later doses it with LSD, tripping dog wanders into traffic and dies
  What the Hell is wrong with people!?  First, that couple with the horse and now this..?
• 10 great sculpture gardens across the USA

Quote of the Day
Today’s gem comes from my friend Melissa S.:

I love that everyone thinks the Buffy would have slayed Edward. Did we watch the same show? She would have dated Edward, and Spike would have killed him.

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 01 November 2011
November is upon us. Mother Nature, who presented us with rather decent weather for All Hallow’s Eve, has decided to grace us with snow fluffy rain on this All Saints’ Day, not to be confused with All Saints:

Last night, SaraRules!, the girls  and I waited at home, with a bowl full of candy for trick-or-treaters who never came.

So, we have a giant bowl full of candy that we’re going to have to eat. All by ourselves. (Good thing we bought candy that we like!)

Stray Toasters

• Halloween costume sparks controversy
• In a semi-related note, we had coworkers’ kids come through the office for trick-or-treating yesterday. Among the costumes seen were one family who came as a tribe of Indians Native Americans and one coworker’s daughter who came as Off The Wall-era Michael Jackson.  What ties this in to the link above – and amuses me to some degree – was that all of the people were as… “pigmentationally challenged” as the fluffy rain falling outside. There was, however, no blackface or red face paint involved.
• Recreating reality in LEGO
• Time Warner Trims Its Excesses
• Now You Can See Why a Google Ad Targeted You
• 
• 8 Completely Embarrassing Music Videos
  This almost makes me want to watch the literal version video for Separate Ways. Almost.
• Two more banks drop monthly debit card fees
• And another one bites the dust: BofA Calls Off Debit-Fee Plan
• Reinventing Post Offices in a Digital World

Namaste.