Random Access

Friday – 17 December 2010
It’s my 9/80 “on” Friday.
It’s also my last day of work for the year.

With those two things, you’d think that the day would almost qualify as an “NBN Friday.”

Too bad that I spilled my coffee as soon as I got to my desk. *sigh* I made it out of the house, out of the garage, all the way to work, up the elevator and into the office with no problem. But, go to turn the corner at my desk…?

::: SPLASH :::

And I’d only gotten a small sip of the coffee in the elevator. “Some days…,” I tell ya. Hopefully, this will not prove to be a bellwether of the rest of the day. I got the office wet/dry vac and did the best I could to clean Ground Zero. (Fortunately, the carpets are scheduled to be cleaned this weekend.)

Last night, SaraRules! and I had dinner at MacCool’s. As usual, the fare was quite good. We split an order of Finn Skins as an appetizer; she had their Ahi Tuna Sandwich, while I had the Meat Loaf (with a spiced barbecue sauce). And there was Guinness. It was a good dinner and a nice change of pace.

After dinner, I stopped at Dr. Volt’s to pick up my second brick of ‘Clix, the tournament prize pack – gotta have goodies to hand out at tourneys, of course – as well as this week’s four-color paper crack. From there, it was on to Hastur Hobbies for 4th ed. D&D night. Josh, a former coworker, joined the group. We finished out the encounter (and that chapter of the story) without any deaths in our party.

After the game, I headed home to meet SaraRules! and we then headed to the gym:

• Leg Raises (Roman Chair): 3 sets/15 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets/8 reps, 155 lbs
• Squats: 2 sets/10 reps, ~75 lbs
• Row: 2 sets/10 reps, 110 lbs
• Push-ups: 2 sets/10 reps
• Step-ups: 2 sets/10 reps per leg, with 20 lb dumbbells
• Jackknifes: 2 sets/10 reps

And, to finish up the evening we finally finished up this year’s Christmas card.

Stray Toasters

• MarknTyme just called me a “pusher.”
  All because he:
  1. Is considering getting back into model railroading after we’d talked about it a few times, and
  2. Just made his first purchase from WorldWorksGames.

  I told him that I prefer to think of myself as a “facilitator.”

• 
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Flirty Models Were Hired in Bid to Find Bone Marrow
• Zombie attack hoodie
• From the “We’ve Taken Care of Everything…” file: Man boards plane at IAH with loaded gun in carry-on
• Help, My Half-Elf Is Pregnant! The 11 Strangest Questions from the D&D ‘Sage Advice’ Column

  

• Blake Edwards, Prolific Comedy Director, Dies at 88
• Badass LEGO Guns
• The Implants Loophole
• When the Apocalypse Happens, You’ll Find Me in My Armored Home

Namaste.

Tuesday – 14 December 2010
Last night, , and my former coworker, Josh, came over to watch Monday Night Football. After the game, SaraRules! and I watched the latest DC Animated Short: Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam. It was pretty good. They did a decent job of telling the origin of DC’s Captain Marvel and of introducing one of his main antagonists, Black Adam. The DVD also included the short features with Green Arrow, Jonah Hex and The Spectre, as seen on other DC Animated DVDs.

Instant Replay: Football

Batimore Ravens at Houston Texans
34 – 28
The Ravens seriously tried to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory… but managed to eke out a win over the Texans. In the first half, the Ravens were solid on both sides of the ball. They went into halftime with a 21-point lead, 28-7. I’m not sure what happened in the locker room, but the same team didn’t take the field in the third quarter. Perhaps they got a bit cocky and complacent. Whatever it was, they blew their lead. The only Ravens score in the second half came from WR David Reed‘s 103-yard kickoff return, which opened the third quarter. For the rest of the half, the offense couldn’t quite pull it together and the defense looked tired and beat. One of the most telling plays was when LB Jarret Johnson – normally one of the faster linemen – tried to chase down Texans’ QB Matt Schaub… and just looked like he was completely out of gas. And, CB Josh Wilson, acquired this season from Seattle, is becoming one of my favorite new Ravens. He was all over the field last night. He made good defensive plays, including the game-winning overtime interception/touchdown return that ended the game.

Stray Toasters

• I have my parents’ travel itinerary for next week. This is a “good” thing.
• Panel Set to Study Safety of Electronic Patient Data
• By way of  comes: The Suits of James Bond
  • So far, I’ve worn suits yesterday (black suit, white shirt, black holiday tie) and today (olive suit, yellow shirt, burgundy tie with candles). I’m not sure if this will be a week of suits, though.
• For Nyx, Nox and , and others: Hey, why not try the Necronomicon?
• “Avengersaurs” and Its Dino Superheroes Should Be the Next Marvel Event
  One word: “Wolveraptor.”  That’s all I’m saying.
• McCartney Plays Apollo, His “Holy Grail”
• 
• My brother-in-law, , knows of my Christmastime affinity for David Bowie and Bing Crosby’s Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth. Last night, he chose to exploit that knowledge and send me the following (rather funny) video:
  • …and in a related note: Jingle Jams: A Holiday Mix from NPR Music
• Nintendo’s Heroes of the Second World War
• Airlines rake in $4.3 billion in fees; Delta tops list

Namaste.

Monday – 13 December 2010
Today kicks off my last week of work before Christmas vacation. Or, I guess another way of looking at it is: My last week of work for the year. I like the sound of that a little better.

Yesterday was a good and somewhat busy day. SaraRules! and I had breakfast with her parents and at Paradise Bakery… where they ran out of eggs. Let’s allow that to settle in: A bakery with no eggs. Genius! After that, and I went gallivanting about the valley:

• IKEA
• Ski ‘n’ See
• West Valley Hobbies

I made a quick stop at Best Buy, before heading home. At home, I decided tear out  the reversing loop on one side of may model railroad and to try and figure out a way to change the rail yard a little.

After that, we headed up to SaraRules!’s parents’ place for dinner. Sanaz’ parents and sister, as well as were also there. We had lamb, imam bayildi, rice pilaf, sliced vegetables, pita and homemade hummus. It was quite a feast. We rounded out the meal with baklava for dessert.

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

Stray Toasters

• I don’t know who set Utah’s thermostat to “warm,” but 60F and sunny – in the middle of December – ain’t so bad, in my book.  I actually rode around with the sunroof open for a bit yesterday.
  • And, speaking of roofs: Gizmodo (and everyone else) has footage of the Metrodome roof collapse
• Los Angeles Hopes to Lose Its Rank for Homelessness
  • The Almost Forgotten: Los Angeles’ Homeless
• By way of MarknTyme: “Weird Al” Yankovic – Ode to a Superhero
• Cake Wrecks
• Corvette ZR1, Mustang Boss 302 come with driving school
  • The course that Ford sends drivers to sounds like the performance driving package that SaraRules! got for my birthday present this year.
• Now playing in a sky near you: Winter meteor shower
• It’s All About Me: But Is Narcissism a Disorder?
• 
• After failing TSA screening, flier in wheelchair (and her underwear) leaves Oklahoma
• Sincerest Form of Flattery: Some Joke!
• From the “Overkill” file: It Costs $82,000 to Light the One Million Christmas Lights at This House

Namaste.

Wednesday – 08 December 2010
New comics today?  Yep.
Sushi for lunch?  I believe so.
D&D (4.0) game tonight? Yes, indeed.
Verily, I proclaim that this shall be a good day.

Last night was D&D (3.5) game night with and company. After a three-week hiatus, it took us a few minutes to recall exactly where we were (in an underground cathedral) and what we were doing (getting ready to fight a group of zombies). Not so surprisingly, things fell into place pretty quickly once those details were recalled. We fought. We didn’t die. Life was good. Post-zombie attack, we quested into the cathedral’s lower levels, met some other… figures (that’s about the best I can give ’em at this point, as they weren’t exactly alive, but not undead, either). With their help, we finished a quest – and lost our NPC – and made our way back out of the cathedral and back to a safe haven. It was a good night.

Stray Toasters

• SaraRules! has already had to deal with a monkey today. Feh.
• Steve Wozniak leads a Computer History Museum tour
• 2010’s most provocative celebrity is…
  • …in a related note and courtesy of :



• At California School, Parents Force an Overhaul
• I’m amused by Kevin Maguire’s description of his soon-to-be-seen character, Tanga, for DC Comics:
  

  Tanga is a girl who has been flying around the fringes of space looking for some kind of intelligent contact. She’s seeking some kind of connection, any kind of connection. She legitimately feels like there’s no one else in the universe quite like her. She’s right about that. She possesses both enormous cosmic power and an inability to self-edit, a combination that will, inevitably, always lead her into trouble. My short hand pitch has always been “The power of the Silver Surfer and the personality of Sarah Silverman”

• Lawmakers call on TSA to release X-ray inspection records
• 
• And here’s another item for The Covet List.

And with that…

Namaste.

Tuesday – 07 December 2010
Today is the 69th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day.

We have a visitor in our office today. I’m hoping that the fact that…

Oh, my lucky stars! A Negro!¹

…was the first thing that popped into my head after seeing him is an indicator that it’s going to be a good day.

Yesterday, I was visited by the UPS and USPS Fairies. The UPS Fairy brought the first wave of parts for my new computer arrived; now I need to figure out what I want to get next.  The USPS Fairy brought the other new arrival: my Department 56 Lionel Electric Train Shop.

and Ryan came over to watch last night’s highly-hyped Jets-Patriots game (1, 2) Too bad the game didn’t live up to the hype. The Pats steamrolled the Jets. Badly. They broke ’em down like fractions.

Stray Toasters

• Tyranist and I had a discussion yesterday about which is more terrifying: slow, shambling zombies or fast-moving zombies/”rage-infected” humans and why.
• State Department Daily Is Window on Jittery Planet
• TSA workers, experts worry about radiation exposure
• 
• Cthulhu Playing Cards
• A couple of items from NPR Music:
  • Israel Kamakawiwo’ole: The Voice of Hawaii
  • 5 Best Cover Songs of 2010
• In the Wild, a Big Threat to Rangers: Humans
• 
• pointed me in the direction of this: Awesome fan-poster for Green Lantern movie
• WikiLeaks Founder Warns About More Dispatches
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Denver bomb squad defeats 8″ toy robot after hours-long standoff
• For Steve Harvey, all this attention is rewarding, scary

Julie just referred to someone as “…[her] new monkey.”  I think that my day is now complete.

Namaste.

1 – That quote comes from Brendan Fraser’s character, Adam, in Blast From the Past.

Sunday – 05 December 2010
It’s a quiet morning…

…aside from the birds chirping in the trees outside.

I’m awake earlier than I had planned, but am enjoying the fact that we’re actually going to see the sun today.

Yesterday morning, I put up Christmas tree #1. It’s downstairs, in the family room. Next, I got my things together for a tournament at Dr. Volt’s Comic Connection. There were only five (That’s right, “5”) players this week, but it was still a fun event. The theme was “Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting…,” in which all figures had to have the “Martial Artist” keyword in order to be eligible for use. A lot of teams used either Bullseye and/or The Question (Renee Montoya). Mine was no exception:

• Batgirl
  (gallery cr-figure-014)
• Bronze Tiger
  (gallery th-figure-032)
• Bullseye
  (gallery ws-figure-042)
• The Question
  (gallery aa-figure-004)

They fared well, going 2-1 on the day. Technically.  (Since I was playing the “bye” rounds, I couldn’t “win.”) But, as I mentioned before: It was fun.

On the way home from Dr. Volt’s, I stopped at The Train Shoppe. Yeah, yeah… I know… “Addict.”  Duh. In an exhibition of willpower worthy of a Green Lantern, I refrained from buying anything “big.”  I did, however, pick up a few small “Christmas” trees and a set of telephone poles for the city side of my layout. I also met an older couple while there; they were looking to start an O gauge railroad. Jeff (the Shoppe’s owner) talked with them about some of the differences between Lionel and MTH. I mentioned to them that I had purchased a Lionel set a few months ago and how happy I was with it…. and how quickly it had grown in the past four months.

After heading home for dinner, SaraRules! and I went errand-running. And then, we hit the gym:

• Bench Press: 3 sets/8 reps, 155 lbs
• Squats: 2 sets/10 reps, bar only (so…. 45 lbs+)
• Flys: 3 sets/10 reps, 100 lbs
• Push-ups: 2 sets/10 reps
• Rows: 2 sets/10 reps, 100 lbs
• Step-ups: 2 sets/10 reps per leg, 15 lbs dumbbells per hand
• Jackknifes: 2 sets/10 reps

When we got home, we started in on Mad Men Season 3 until it was time to go pick up Christmas Tree #2. The tree retrieval process was fairly easy and relatively painless: We bagged and cling-wrapped the tree, put it (and the accessories that came with it) in the car and brought it home. The tree and wreath look very nice in the living room and work very well with the room’s color scheme:

Now, it’s just a matter of getting some of the other Christmas decorations up…

Stray Toasters

• I finally picked up a copy of Superman: Earth One yesterday.

  

  J. Michael Straczynski crafted a well-told take on Clark Kent’s introduction to Metropolis and the world’s introduction to Superman. I recommend it.

• The Everyman’s Guide to Black Tie
• How Much Should You Tip for the Holidays?
• Dream Home: A Converted Firehouse with Fire Pole
  Come on… like you wouldn’t love to have one of those in your home.
• The 12 Most Ridiculous Moments in Travel – 2010 Edition
• 
• Vast Hacking by a China Fearful of the Web
• Law and the Multiverse: Applying real-world law to comic books

Next: Breakfast with the shockpuppet and .
Later: The Ravens host the Steelers tonight on Sunday Night Football.

Namaste.

Friday – 03 December 2010
It’s Friday.
Thank God.
“Wait a minute. Strike that. Reverse it.”

It’s my 9/80 “on” Friday, so I – and a few others – are in the ghost town that we call an office today. As one of the others is Paul, I got to start off the morning talking about model railroads and some ideas I have for what is becoming known as “The Train Room” in the basement.

Last night, SaraRules! and I rented kids for the evening. Kate and Perry were having an evening out and asked us if we’d mind watching their kids. As usual, the kids were fine. We popped in The Iron Giant – which I always enjoy – at the request of the youngest child and they watched that (and Transformers Prime) until it was time for bed. Getting them into pajamas, teeth brushed, and off to bed was a breeze. After the kids were abed, SaraRules! and I watched Fringe and then a couple of episodes of Renovation Realities.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
I’ve had a couple of thoughts running through my head for the past few days:

• You have no one to blame for your unhappiness but yourself.
• You only get out of life what you are prepared to put into it.

It seems that so many people are unhappy/dissatisfied with Situation X or Thing Y in their lives, but seem unwilling to actually do anything about it. And then, they seem… surprised… that the issue doesn’t just auto-magically fix itself.

That’s unfortunate.

Stray Toasters

• The inversion has set in, heavily, across the valley.  I hope that the forecasts of rain over the weekend were correct.
• What Is the Best Superman Origin Story?
  I actually agree with both of his choices here.
• WorldWorksGames has come out with some amazing looking new sets in their TerrainLinx line. Case in point: Hinterland Forests
• I received the latest addition to my train yesterday: Lionel 6-7612 Spirit of 76 North Carolina Boxcar



• Chuck Norris fact: He’s now an honorary Texas Ranger
• During yesterday’s comics run, I also picked up a new member for my Sinestro Corps shelf: Mongul
  

  

  At 9″ tall, he’s a good head to head-and-a-half taller than the other figures.

• WorldWorksGames has come out with some amazing looking new sets in their TerrainLinx line. Case in point: Hinterland Forests
• Arizona Cuts Financing for Transplant Patients
• Disney town sees death for 2nd time in a week
• UNC team builds 3d model of Rome using Flickr photos on a single PC in one day
• 
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” File: KKK Snowman Spreads Holiday Hate in Hayden
• Unemployed and Likely to Stay That Way
  • We lost 8 million jobs. Only 1 million came back.
• 10 great classic American cocktail lounges
  • To serve man (drinks): Roboxotica 2010 opens in Austria

That should be good enough for now.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 30 November 2010
Day Two of the work week and the day started with the sun beaming over the mountains.
No new snow.
No heavy clouds.
Just bright sun.

It’s nice.
Now, if we can only get above freezing…

Last night, came over and we watched the Niners-Cardinals game. I don’t know what happened to the Cards, but they looked far from the Super Bowl contenders from last season. The Niners, on the other hand, looked pretty solid.  I was happy to see QB Troy Smith have a decent game.

Stray Toasters

• Tonight, SaraRules! and I are heading to the Festival of Trees. Hopefully, we’ll be able to find and bid on a tree that we like.
• Celebrating Secession Without the Slaves
• Alex Santalo His Avengers and X-Men Heads Big and His Art Happy
  

  

• Tiny house movement thrives after real estate bust
• Ten Questions Science Must Answer
• 
• Moved by the Spirit: Celebrating ‘Revelations’ at 50
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: TSA scans uniformed pilots, but airside caterers bypass all screening

And, now… back to the grind.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 24 November 2010
Today begins my 5-day weekend.
I celebrated by shoveling the driveway and sidewalks.

Yesterday, we were forecast to have a huge blizzard. We got a few inches of snow. That’s not too bad. The main concern, however, was that the today’s temperature is not supposed to get above freezing. With that in mind, The Council for Better Driving: Utah reminds all drivers to take care when venturing out on the roads today.

Last night, SaraRules! and I did something we haven’t done in a while: We watched NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles. It’s kind of funny, considering that we have the shows set to record on the DVR. SaraRules! had also baked cookies and fixed hot chocolate.  Win-Win!

After watching TV, I went to work on the model railroad. More specifically, I reconfigured the layout. Again. This time, I’ve gone with a U-shaped layout, with a 4’x8′ table on either side of the room with two tracks running between them, along the base of the U:

This allows me to have a residential/commercial setting on the right table and a rail yard on the left table. (As you can see, the rail yard could use a little more track… but all things in good time.) I also have about three feet of clear space at the end of the right table that I could use to expand that side of the layout, If I’m feeling adventurous. Another thing that I like about this setup is that I’m literally in the middle of the action; yeah, it’s kind of geeky, but it makes me smile.

Something that I’d love to do – time, money, and space allowing for it – is to put a bridge (or two) over the span in the middle. I think that would just look neat. With that, I’m also trying to see if I could do a short run – or maybe just a passing line – under the bridge.  But, that will mostly depend on how much clearance the track has from the top of the board.

Stray Toasters

• Guess who’s making a sweet potato pie today…
• This seems like a good time to talk about trains
• By way of comes: Adam Savage: TSA saw my junk, missed 12″ razor blades
  • 9 Super-Heroes That Are Perfect for the TSA’s New Screening Policies
• From the “Nod Ya Head (Black Suits Comin’)” file: Black Jerseys Coming Sunday
  



• Matthew Kaufenberg Hand Draws the Happiest Set of Trading Cards You’ll Ever Need
• Debit cards popular but lack credit’s consumer protection
• In Cybertherapy, Avatars Assist With Healing
• 
• Jason Fried: Why work doesn’t happen at work
• Rare Apple I computer sells for $210,000 in London

Namaste.

Monday – 22 November 2010
It’s Monday.
At least it’s a short work week.

It isn’t raining (or snowing… yet), although there are some not-quite-ominous-looking clouds coming over the Oquirrh Mountains.  We’ll have to see what they bring.

Yesterday was a good end to a good weekend:

• SaraRules! and I made a pilgrimage to The Garden of Sweden.
• The Ravens won.
• I beat SaraRules! at Trivial Pursuit… twice!
• And, we watched The Walking Dead and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Like I said: Sunday full of good things.

Instant Replay: Football

Baltimore Ravens at Carolina Panthers
37 – 13
The Ravens – who had never beaten the Panthers in regular season play – travled to Bank of America Stadium to take on the ‘Cats… …and won! The game wasn’t televised locally, so I had to rely on NFL.com’s Game Center and Sprint’s NFL Live app, both of which did a great job of keeping me apprised of the Ravens’ status. Not only did the Ravens win, but they also achieved a number of milestones along the way: Wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh recorded his 600th career reception on his 56-yard touchdown reception. WR Derrick Mason made his 900th career reception with a 10-yard reception in the third quarter. He ranks 13th on the NFL’s all-time list. Safety Ed Reed notched his 50th career interception in the fourth quarter. With his fourth-quarter interception, LB Ray Lewis now has 30 in his career. He’s just the eighth linebacker to reach that mark. It was Lewis’ first touchdown since 2003. With his first-quarter touchdown pass, quarterback Joe Flacco is tied with Vinny Testaverde for most touchdown passes in Ravens franchise history (51). Yeah. Good game. Hopefully, NFL Network will rebroadcast it this week, so I can catch the action.

Coach Fox, the Ravens just handed your team a loss for the first time ever in regular season play… in your own house!  How do you feel about that?

Yeah… I understand.

.

Oakland Raiders at Pittsburgh Steelers
3 – 35
After three impressive wins, the Raiders rolled into Heinz Field to take on the boys from Steeltown. The Steelers steamrolled the Raiders in this matchup; but, in true Raiders smash-mouth football style, not with out a fight… or, in this case, a punch: Raiders DE Richard Seymour punched Ben Roethlisberger.  The punch got Seymour ejected, but it also put Roethlisberger on the ground. Sorry, SaraRules! and .

Ref: Coach Tomlin, someone just clocked your QB and dropped him.

Coach Tomlin: Oh, no he didn’t…!
Ref: Yes, Coach.  Yes, he did.

.

Buffalo Bills at Cincinnati Bengals
49 – 31
The Bengals dropped this one to the Bills. Sorry, and .

Stray Toasters

• My quads and glutes are still sore from Saturday’s workout.  *sigh* I really do need to get to the gym more often.
• Administration to Seek Balance in Airport Screening
• 
• Two Treatments for Retina Diseases Make Progress
• Billie Holiday: Emotional Power Through Song
• I didn’t really play with the model railroad this weekend.  I may have to rectify that this evening…
• 
• Courts videoconference defendants to save money
• Don’t believe the devil
  I don’t believe his bunk
  But the truth is not the same
  Without the lies he made up Don’t believe in excess
  Success is to give
  Don’t believe in riches
  But you should see where I live
  I…I believe in love
• Even Before Friday, Retail Deals Will Go Online
• A Mystery: Why Can’t We Walk Straight?

And, I think that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Thursday – 18 November 2010
Another NBN Thursday is upon us…

…and nearly half-gone.

So far, it’s been a good day.

Last night, I played D&D (4th ed.) with Melody, Jack and the Wednesday night usual suspects. It would have been nice if, as the party’s tank/bruiser, I could have actually hit something. It was sad: My character ran up to an opponent and completely missed him. Twice. Unfortunately, he had no compunction about trying to hit me. He did, however, miss.  His quite large friend, on the other hand, tried to knock me into next week. Not fun. We almost lost a couple of members of our group in the melee, but we rallied and won before anyone died.

When I got back home, SaraRules! and I watched The Big Heat. When I put it in my Netflix queue, I just picked it because it was a noir-ish mystery; I noted that Glenn Ford was in it, but it didn’t register to me as to “why” the name sounded familiar. It dawned on me when he appeared on-screen: He played Jonathan Kent – Clark Kent’s father – in 1978’s Superman. In this movie, Ford played Sgt. Dave Bannion, a homicide cop. He spent the movie trying to investigate the suicide of another officer, only to run into roadblocks at nearly every turn. The movie had a couple of interesting twists, which added to its appeal.

Stray Toasters

• I decided to break out a suit today: Grey glen plaid suit and white shirt, with blue tie and white pocket square. I apparently haven’t worn this suit as much as the others, as I’ve been asked if it’s a new suit more than once.
• Ten Repurposed Railroad Cars
• ‘The Secret Life of Toys’
• U.S. Taxpayers Recover Billions in Sale of G.M. Stock
  • Chrysler Falls Behind as G.M. and Ford Recover
• Holiday Gift Guide
• Scientists claim breakthrough in antimatter hunt
• Orlando Airport Kicks Out the TSA
• This 91-Year-Old Grandmother Is the Most Adorable Superhero You’ll See Today
• Google Fashion Shopping Site Makes Debut

Namaste.

Friday – 12 November 2010
Hello, 9/80 “off” Friday.  How I have missed you.

After work yesterday, I headed over to Jos. A. Bank to check out their Veteran’s Day Sale.  Their Executive Suit collection was on a MONSTER sale: Buy one for $177, get another for $57. (That’s a savings of over $800 for the pair!) It turned out that their Business Traveller collection – available in separates – was also on sale. WIN!  (I typically need separates or “Athletic Cut” suits as I have an 8″ drop, rather than the 6″ drop one finds with most suits.)  I found a couple of suits that I liked: A two-button solid navy and a two-button navy with a faint chalk stripe. As an added bonus, I learned that there’s a corporate discount available for Raytheon employees. Aw yeah…!

After the shopping excursion, I came home to watch the Ravens-Falcons game…

Instant Replay: Football

Baltimore Ravens at Atlanta Falcons
21 – 26
I don’t know WHO the Ravens suited up for the first half of the game, but it wasn’t the team that I’ve been used to seeing. Matt Ryan and the Falcons SCHOOLED the Ravens, up one side and down the other. I’m not sure what Coach John Harbaugh said to the guys at halftime, but they finally showed up to play football. Ravens’ QB Joe Flacco led a couple of solid drives, including one in the waning minutes of the game that looked as though it would seal a win for the Ravens and hand the Falcons their first home defeat this season… …but it wasn’t to be.  Falcons’ QB Matt Ryan put on a clinic on “How to Score a Touchdown in Under One Minute.”  It was was amazing – and a little painful – to watch.

Stray Toasters

• The Wasatch Rails Train Show starts today at 3:00.   and I are going to check it out before heading to Clitorati.
• Anne-Sophie Mutter: As Complex as the Music She Plays
• Apple 1 for sale
• 
• Posing for Power: Why Body Language Matters in the Office
• Assertive Chinese Held in Mental Wards
• I have new track for my model railroad… and can’t figure out what to do with it.
• Your Island Five: The Albums You Can’t Live Without
• 
• Kurt Vonnegut’s Tips for Writing Fiction
• Las Vegas Casinos Are a Last Bastion for Smokers
• TSA T-shirt from Despair.com

Time to figure out what kind of trouble I want to get into this morning…

Namaste.

Thursday – 11 November 2010
Today is Veteran’s Day:

It is also my NBN Technical Friday.

Last night, was D&D Encounters night with Melody, Jack and company. My character nearly had his butt handed to him at the beginning of the encounter. Not good. Fortunately, my companions kept me from dying and we went on to beat the holy living shit out of our enemies. Amen.

After that, I headed over to Chris and Mary’s to help Chris install a new hard drive in his PS3. Might I just add the following note to Sony: If you’re going to make it so ludicrously easy to change the hard drive in the game unit, you might think about making a few things in your backup and restore instructions a tad more clear and/or intuitive. Thank you. After about an hour – including some time to surf a few web forums – we figured out what the problem was.

Instant Replay: Football

Baltimore Ravens at Atlanta Falcons
8:20 PM (EDT)
The Ravens and the Falcons meet up in the season’s first Thursday night football game. Both teams are coming off very short weeks – they both played on Sunday – so it will be interesting to see how well they play with so little time between games. Atlanta has eight (8) players on their injury list, to Baltimore’s one: S Tom Zbikowski.

Stray Toasters

• It’s another suit day. I changed it up a bit though: Olive suit, with a khaki knit mock turtleneck. Boo-yah!
  • Speaking of suits: Jos. A. Bank is having a sale on suits – today only.  Guess who’s going suit shopping after work…
• For SaraRules! and : 2010 Zombie Safehouse Competition
• Karmaloop
• Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)

• There is no Dana. Only Zuul…
• ‘Frank’: The Man, The Voice, The Mafia Ties

• Mustang’s 2 keys change pony car’s performance settings
• WGBH American Experience: 2011 Student Freedom Ride
• Sparkles: The Soldering My Little Pony Unicorn
• Every once in a while, something pops up in my iTunes mix that makes me laugh.  This morning, it was the theme from Freakzoid!:

• Targeted, smarter attacks dominate 2010 threat landscape
• The Abandoned City Hall Subway Stop Now Visible to Tourists
• Drug Suits Raise Questions for Doctors, and Juries

It’s the suburb of the week…
Arlington

Namaste.

Friday – 05 November 2010
Today is the beginning of Diwali.

It is also Guy Fawkes Day.

It’s also my 9/80 “on” Friday.

Last night, SaraRules! and I attended the Ballet West performance of:

The performances were good. I was unfamiliar with The Four Temperaments (as a dance piece); it was interesting and a little odd. I was familiar with the music from Carmina Burana, but the performance was less of an interpretation of the the story and more of an expressionist piece of modern dance.

Stray Toasters

• Graphitti Designs is (FINALLY!) coming out with a new Legion t-shirt in January!  Covet!
• Secret Ohio Warplane Graveyard Unearthed
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: 10 Toys That Will Permanently Screw Up Your Kids
• How Fanboys, Fandroids and Crackberry Junkies See Each Other
• E.U. Says It Will Overhaul Privacy Regulations
• Comics Career Guide: What to Expect from a Career in the Arts
• 
• Cooking for Geeks
• Microsoft has a hit with Kinect Xbox 360 game controller
  • Of course… Kinect has problems following dark-skinned users
• Learning in Dorm, Because Class Is on the Web
• Qantas CEO: ‘Faulty design’ may be behind jet engine blowout

Our outgoing President/CEO bought a foosball table for the office as a parting gift. I just played foosball for the first time in… in… well, let’s just say “a very long time.” I must admit: It was fun.

Namaste.

Saturday – 30 October 2010
It’s Hallowe’en weekend.

There’s been a lot of debate going around as to whether or not kids should be out Trick or Treating tonight or tomorrow night. *shrug* I’m not sure that I care either way. I know that we’re giving out candy tonight and, assuming that we’re home tomorrow night, we’ll probably give some out then as well.

Yesterday, and I headed up to Ogden to pay a long overdue visit to The Wonderful World of Trains. We both found things that we liked, but I was the only one who wound up walking out with a few things:

• Atlas O Signal Tower
• Lionel K-Line B&O Double Door Boxcar
• Lionel K-Line “Happy Birthday” Boxcar (minus the “Tavis 2nd” part)

After we got back to SLC, I stopped in at The Train Shoppe and picked up some more track; I needed it to try out a layout I had in mind…

After SaraRules! got home from work, we headed to The Blue Iguana to have dinner with Bill Byrnes, one of her former professors. I’d been to The Red Iguana before, but never to The Blue Iguana. I had the beef enchiladas and they were quite tasty. Post-dinner, we met up with a few of the usual suspects for coffee and dinner… or, rather just drinks and a snack for us.

Back at home, I headed to the basement to work on my model railroad. The layout worked pretty much the way I had hoped: I did a single L-shaped dogbone loop…

Dog-bone arrangement of a continuous loop; the sides of an oval are squeezed together so it looks like a double-track section with a loop at each end where the trains turn around.

…with a couple of spurs off the inside line.

Today started lazily. (That’s far from a “bad” thing.) After breakfast, we got to the business of painting the guest bedroom. We used a different brand of paint than we used in the other rooms; it was thicker and took a little more effort to apply, but I think that we may only need one coat of it. As to the rest of the day, we’ll do a little errand-running this afternoon, but I think that this evening will mostly involve watching horror movies and handing out candy to the intrepid ghosts, ghouls and other assorted creatures who wander the streets tonight.

Stray Toasters

• The Magic of Harry Houdini’s Staying Power
• Black Republican Set to Make History in S.C.
• The Minivan Video Your Kids Shouldn’t See. Ever.
• 
• A Science Joke for Your Saturday Morning
• For the First Time, the TSA Meets Resistance
• Lost Animaniacs Clip – “Dear Mister Gingrich”
• A Giant LEGO Map of Europe

And with that, I think we’re off to seek out what the day has to offer.

Namaste.