Random Access

Monday – 15 March 2010
“Beware the Ides of March…”

Saturday’s tournament went well. In a 500-point limit match, you expect to see scores in the 1300-1500 range, for the winner. Not so with this event: The winner clocked in with 1767 points — he had a feat on some characters that garnered him extra points for winning. Well played. Well played, indeed.

After the tournament, SaraRules and I did some errand-running. In the snow. That’s right: Snow. BLAH. But we trudged on. And, when she left to make her stage call for the opera, I kept running errands. (They had to get done and weren’t going to get done by themselves.)

After the running around had been buttoned-up, I still managed to make it to The E-Center and caught the third period of the Grizzlies hockey game. (I bought the ticket; I should get to enjoy the game, at least.) Galadriel, Mary, Matt and I went to Hopper’s for post-game dinner. I had the “Far From Philadelphia” cheese steak sandwich and fries… and a Madame X Stout.

Sunday morning, I woke up and played around on the Interwebs until SaraRules got up. We had a light breakfast and then headed to Cedar City to hang out with Lish — who was in town for Josh’s wedding — for a while.

SaraRules and Lish got to talk shop and catch up on things. Then we headed to find something for dinner, which was no small feat in Cedar City on a Sunday evening. We went to Ninja Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi. (Who’d’ve thought it…?!) We sat at a hibachi table, so we got dinner and a show. I had the Steak and Chicken combination, with gyoza and a couple of pieces of Ika nigiri. Yep, there’s a chance that this is a two-sushi-meal week. Mm-hmm, that’s right! After dinner, we dropped Steve off and made our way northward… by way of the local Dairy Queen.

Stray Toasters

• Hopefully, everyone remembered to “Spring Forward” and didn’t wind up an hour late for anything yesterday… or today.
• Yesterday was also Pi Day.
• Fake Russian invasion broadcast sparks Georgian panic
• ‘Mission: Impossible’ actor Peter Graves dead at 83
• Artist Helps New York ‘LEGO’ of Its Crumbling Buildings, courtesy of Amy
  • When she showed me this, it reminded me of an article that I had seen a while ago. I clicked through a link in the article and found the very item that I was thinking of, this.
• Coffee inhaler. Why have I not heard of this before?!

Duty calls.
Namaste.

Monday – 08 March 2010
The weekend was good.
The work week has begun.

Today is also International Women’s Day.

Yesterday, I wound up going to the train show with . It was a very nice change of pace for a way to spend a Sunday afternoon. There were some very nice layouts on display. There were a lot of things that could have easily wound up on The Covet List there. A lot.

I dropped off — after stopping in to sample a few of the peanut butter cookies that he’d been talking about during our trip. They were good; I asked OnlyAly for the recipe. And then, it was on to the in-laws’ for dinner and a movie.

We watched Black Dynamite. It was done in the style of a 70’s blaxploitation film — sets, clothing, dialogue, music… the whole nine yards. Actually, it was part-blaxploitation/part-kung-fu movie. It was, in a word, “Awesome!” It was a great way to cap off the evening.

Stray Toasters

• I didn’t watch – or really care about – The Oscars this year.
• Ethics cases bruise Harlem’s political heart
• By way of SaraRules: A Game of Tag Breaks Out Between London’s Graffiti Elite
• MarknTyme just shared a couple of videos:
  • From the “No way in Hell…” and “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” files:
  • BMW Commercial:

• Rockslide closes 17 miles of I-70 in Glenwood Canyon
• Female Illustrators of the mid-20th Century
• This gives an entirely different meaning to the term “banana hammock.”

Namaste.

Friday – 05 March 2010
Happy Birthday to Liz and Jenny, a couple of my high school classmates:

…even if you’re not really conjoined.

It’s snowing outside. I have to admit that isn’t doing much for my motivation.

Last night, I spent the evening hanging out with ; she interviewed me for a school project. We had planned to go to Borders… but we discovered that their cafe closes at 1900 during the week. YeahbuhWHAT?! Yeah. I think that qualifies as “lame.” We wound up at the nearby Barnes & Noble, instead… where we ran into an old friend of ‘s. The interview took about a half-hour; after that, we sat and chatted almost two hours away.  It was a good way to spend the evening.

Stray Toasters

• Body scanners are headed to 11 major airports
• 10 Jobs You Absolutely, Positively Should Not ‘Take Your Child to Work Day’
• The West Wing
• Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn



• Apple’s iPad to be released April 3
• Alien vs. Eel
• Ubisoft’s new DRM cracked in under 24 hours
• Yep, There’s a Patch for That
• 
• They’re doing a new version of The Rockford Files?!  Nice!
  And, for the nostalgia buffs: The Theme from The Rockford Files, courtesy of YouTube.

There’s a Friday out there; I should go introduce myself to it.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 23 February 2010
It’s a brisk – but sunny – morning.

Once again, there’s residual achiness from Sunday’s workout. Nothing incapacitating, but it’s there. I’ll hopefully work out the kinks and stretch it out on the next gym excursion.

Meetings!  Yay.

Chew on This: Food for Thought – Black History Month
Today’s profile: Booker T. Washington

Booker T. Washington, born Booker Taliaferro, was born in 1856 on the Burroughs tobacco farm (in Virginia) which, despite its small size, he always referred to as a “plantation.” His mother was a cook, his father a white man from a nearby farm. “The early years of my life, which were spent in the little cabin,” he wrote, “were not very different from those of other slaves.”

He went to school in Franklin County – not as a student, but to carry books for one of James Burroughs’s daughters. It was illegal to educate slaves. “I had the feeling that to get into a schoolhouse and study would be about the same as getting into paradise,” he wrote. After emancipation, moved with his family to Malden, W.Va. Dire poverty ruled out regular schooling; at age nine he began working, first in a salt furnace and later in a coal mine. Within a few years, Booker was taken in as a houseboy by a wealthy towns-woman who further encouraged his longing to learn. At age 16, he walked much of the 500 miles back to Virginia to enroll in a new school for black students. He knew that even poor students could get an education at Hampton Institute, paying their way by working. Determined to get an education, he enrolled at the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in Virginia (1872), working as a janitor to help pay expenses. He graduated in 1875 and returned to Malden, where for two years he taught children in a day school and adults at night.

Following studies at Wayland Seminary, Washington, D.C. (1878–79), he joined the staff of Hampton. In 1881, Hampton president Samuel C. Armstrong recommended Washington to become the first leader of Tuskegee Institute, the new normal school (teachers’ college) in Alabama, an institution with two small, converted buildings, no equipment, and very little money. Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute became a monument to his life’s work. At his death 34 years later, it had more than 100 well-equipped buildings, some 1,500 students, a faculty of nearly 200 teaching 38 trades and professions, and an endowment of approximately $2,000,000.

Washington the public figure often invoked his own past to illustrate his belief in the dignity of work. “There was no period of my life that was devoted to play,” Washington once wrote. “From the time that I can remember anything, almost everyday of my life has been occupied in some kind of labor.” This concept of self-reliance born of hard work was the cornerstone of Washington’s social philosophy.

Washington received national prominence for his Atlanta Address of 1895, attracting the attention of politicians and the public as a popular spokesperson for African American citizens. Washington built a nationwide network of supporters in many black communities, with black ministers, educators, and businessmen composing his core supporters. Washington played a dominant role in black politics, winning wide support in the black community and among more liberal whites (especially rich northern whites). Many charged that his conservative approach undermined the quest for racial equality. “In all things purely social we can be as separate as the fingers,” he proposed to a biracial audience in his 1895 Atlanta Compromise address, “yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.” In part, his methods arose for his need for support from powerful whites, some of them former slave owners. It is now known, however, that Washington secretly funded antisegregationist activities.

Despite his travels and widespread work, Washington remained as principal of Tuskegee. Washington’s health deteriorated rapidly; he collapsed in New York City and was brought home to Tuskegee, where he died on November 14, 1915 at the age of 59. The cause of death was unclear, probably from nervous exhaustion and arteriosclerosis. He was buried on the campus of Tuskegee University near the University Chapel.

Stray Toasters

• I Only Hang with Sheepdogs, an item that Perry told me a bout a few months ago. Interesting read.
• Office monkeys!  *grblsnrkx*
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Wanted: A redesigned hot dog
  Are you kidding me!?  As SaraRules put it last night, when we saw an item about this on the local news:

  “Are people really that stupid?! That’s why [parents] cut up the hot dog before feeding it to kids!”

  I couldn’t agree more.
  And, for my two cents’ worth: The brainchild – or children – behind this fall somewhere between “idiotstick” and “monkey.”

• Hollywood movies follow mathematical formula
• The Shortcut Back Into Her Heart
• 
• Abbey Road Studios declared national landmark
• Giant T-Rex Garden Statues

  

  I can’t say that having an eleven-foot-tall T-Rex in your yard wouldn’t be cool, but I’m still partial to having a ‘Mech…

• Owner of Sears, K-Mart to close 21 stores by spring
• 
• …on an oddly related note and also from the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Don’t Get Mad, Get Even Send a Bag of Crap
• Resistance is delicious
• Chargers officially cut ties with LaDainian Tomlinson

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.

Tuesday – 16 February 2010
This morning has started off better than yesterday in a number of ways. I’m going to take that as a good omen.

Today is also apparently International Pancake Day.

Last night was rather quiet and low-key: After dinner, and a little TV-watching, SaraRules went to the gym for a swim and I decided that it was an ideal time to take a relaxing soak and do a little reading. Great way to wind down the evening. Later in the evening, I unwrapped LEGO Batman and played through a level. That game is more fun than I expected. (Thanks, SaraRules!)

Chew on This: Food for Thought – Black History Month
Today’s notable person is Satchel Paige:

Leroy Robert “Satchel” Paige was an American baseball player whose pitching in the Negro leagues and in Major League Baseball made him a legend.

Satchel was born Leroy Robert Page to John Page, a gardener, and Lula Page (née Coleman), a domestic worker, in a section of Mobile, Alabama known as Down the Bay. Many ages and birthdates, ranging from 1900 to 1908, were reported for Paige’s birthday. Paige himself was the source of many of these dates. His actual birthdate, July 7, 1906, however, has been known since 1948 when Cleveland Indians owner Bill Veeck traveled to Mobile, Alabama and went with Paige’s family to the County Health Department to obtain his birth certificate.

Two weeks before his twelfth birthday, Paige was arrested for shoplifting. Because this incident followed several earlier incidents of theft and truancy, he was committed to the state reform school, the Industrial School for Negro Children in Mount Meigs, Alabama, until the age of eighteen. During more than five years he spent at the Industrial School, he developed his pitching skills under the guidance of Edward Byrd.

After his release, Paige played for several Mobile semi-pro teams. He joined the semi-pro Mobile Tigers where his brother Wilson was already pitching. He also pitched for a semi-pro team named the Down the Bay Boys. A former friend from the Mobile slums, Alex Herman, was the player/manager for the Chattanooga White Sox of the minor Negro Southern League. In 1926 he discovered Paige and offered to pay him $250 per month, of which Paige would collect $50 with the rest going to his mother. Partway through the 1927 season, Paige’s contract was sold to the Birmingham Black Barons of the major Negro National League (NNL). From 1926 until 1947, Paige played for many teams across the U.S. and in Cuba.

When Branch Rickey signed Jackie Robinson, a teammate of Paige, Paige realized that it was for the better that he himself was not the first black in major league baseball. Robinson started in the minors, an insult that Paige would not have tolerated. By integrating baseball in the minor leagues first, the white major league players got the chance to “get used to” the idea of playing alongside black players. Understanding that, Paige said in his autobiography:

“Signing Jackie like they did still hurt me deep down. I’d been the guy who’d started all that big talk about letting us in the big time. I’d been the one who’d opened up the major league parks to colored teams. I’d been the one who the white boys wanted to go barnstorming against.”

Paige, and all other black players, knew that quibbling about the choice of the first black player in the major leagues would do nothing productive, so, despite his inner feelings, Paige said of Robinson, “He’s the greatest colored player I’ve ever seen.”

Finally, on July 7, 1948, with his Cleveland Indians in a pennant race and in desperate need of pitching, Indians owner Bill Veeck brought Paige in to try out with Indians player/manager Lou Boudreau. On that same day, his 42nd birthday, Paige signed his first major league contract, for $40,000 for the three months remaining in the season, becoming the first Negro pitcher in the American League and the seventh Negro big leaguer overall.

Paige played in as many as 2,500 games and is credited with more than 50 no-hitters. He pitched for six seasons in the majors and was the first star of the Negro leagues to be inducted (1971) into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Stray Toasters

• I’m apparently conducting an unplanned experiment this morning…
• I Think, Therefore ‘I Zombie’
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: TSA forces travelling policeman to remove his disabled four-year-old’s leg braces
• Device on Sandy (UT) gas pump helps crooks steal credit card number, by way of
• Since discovering Downtown Philly Cheesesteaks, I have been reacquainted with a drink I used to love: Birch Beer. This morning, DPC posted a “What Is Birch Beer?” message on their Facebook page:
  

  Have you ever wondered what on earth “Birch Beer” is? You may have seen it in our stores, but never bothered to ask. Well here is your answer: Birch Beer is a carbonated soft drink made from herbal extracts, usually from birch bark. It has a taste similar to root beer (only 20x better). Various types of Birch Beer are available, distinguished by color. The color of the drink depends on the species of the birch tree from which the sap is extracted. Popular colors are brown, red, and clear.

• SportsCenter Goes Up, Up and Away with Superman Ad
• 365 Bears
• Hanging rock at Utah’s Timpanogos Cave raises safety concern
• I miss Dunkin Donuts.

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.

Monday – 01 February 2010
Not only is it the start of a new work week, it’s the beginning of Black History Month. (More on this below.)

This past weekend was pretty well chock full of action. Saturday, I ran another ‘Clix tournament at Dr. Volt’s. I stole borrowed creatively acquired liberated in the name of the people (yes, that’s much better) the format from – HeroClix Extreme Wrestling Federation:

Each player’s team was comprised of six (6) figures, one at up to each of the following values: 75, 125, 175, 225, 275 and 325 points. Each player rolled a d6 to see which of their figures started the game – this created a few interesting dynamics, as some players’ lowest-point figures went against others’ highest-point figures.  🙂 Whenever a figure took damage from an attack, it had to “tag out,” so the player would roll the die to see which figure replaced the “old” one.

There were eleven players (ten teams again, as the two youngest played as a team). The format seemed to go over quite well. I wasn’t sure that I would get a chance to play, but I took a team, just in case:

• 75 points – Gamora
• 125 points – Susan Richards (Skrull)
• 175 points – Ms. Marvel (Skrull)
• 225 points – Crispus Allen (LE), with Fortitude
• 275 points – Apocalypse, with Fortitude
• 325 points – Superman (Earth-2, Crisis)

It was a good thing that I took them, as one player had to leave early and I played a bye round. Wayne, the player I faced off against, tossed in the Malice Feat

I have determined that I am not a fan of this card… at least not in one-figure-on-the-table format. It’s a killer. But, it’s one that I might have to consider using in future games. I won the game, pretty handily – I only lost Cris Allen, but Wayne got the win, because of the bye.

After gaming was done, I headed home and changed. SaraRules and I then headed downtown for dinner (Olive Garden) and an evening at the symphony. They performed Shostakovich’ Tenth Symphony, under new Music Director Thierry Fischer. The program consisted of:

• Dmitri Shostakovich – Festive Overture in A Major, op. 96
• Johannes Brahms – Concerto for Violin in D Major, op. 77
  • featuring guest violinist Baiba Skride
• Dmitri Shostakovich – Symphony No. 10 in E Minor, op. 93

I’d never heard the Festive Overture, but it was the perfect piece to introduce “the new sound” of the Utah Symphony under Mr. Fischer’s guidance. It was brash, a bit ballsy and afforded the audience a great presentation of the orchestra’s range, from pianissimo to fortissimo. Mr. Fischer is a… dynamic… conductor.  I am looking forward to the seeing where Utah Symphony goes in the coming seasons.

Sunday, I woke up and headed to the local Borders to get in some drawrin’ time. I haven’t sat down to seriously focus on drawing in over a year. That’s bad. I took a few ‘Clix figures with me as models – they don’t complain about holding poses and they are easy to carry from place to place.  After a couple hours, I was satisfied that I’d made a decent foray back into the realm of applying pencil to paper.

Next, SaraRules and I made a pilgrimage to The Garden of Sweden. We went.  We shopped. We left… without cinnamon rolls. *shakes fist*

From there, we dropped off the new stuff at home and then headed up to the in-laws’ for dinner and the Pro Bowl. After they were done, we returned home… and did our taxes. Yay.

Chew on This: Food For Thought – Black History Month
As I mentioned above, today kicks off Black History Month. With that in mind, I thought that it would be interesting to do something along the lines of “The ABCs of Black History.” Today, we will kick off with The A&T Four:

On, 01 February 1960, Franklin McCain, Jibreel Khazan (formerly known as Ezell Blair Jr.) and Joseph McNeil and the late David Richmond sat at a segregated lunch counter in the Greensboro, North Carolina, Woolworth’s store.

The store’s manager told his staff to leave the students alone, hoping they would eventually leave. However, Harris grew nervous that violence would soon ensue so he went to the police. Although he did not have the men arrested, assuming their demonstration would soon end, he did have several police officers stationed in the store.

The following morning the four students, along with 23 other men and 4 women showed up at Woolworth’s to protest. As the days went on, more and more students participated in the Woolworth sit-in. The number of students grew so large that by February 5, four days after the sit-in began, 300 students arrived at Woolworth’s to take part in the peaceful protest. On February 6, tensions mounted between the blacks and whites at the lunch counter. As white reaction to the demonstration grew more violent, a bomb scare forced the protesters out of Woolworth’s and C.L. Harris closed his store for over two weeks.

All four would emerge unscathed and eventually be recognized as heroes of the civil rights movement.

For more information, see http://www.sitins.com

Stray Toasters

• It looks like a trip to the southern reaches of the Right Coast will have to be on tap for next year: LEGOLAND Florida scheduled to open in 2011
• posted a link to this entertaining read: All the Many Ways Amazon So Very Failed the Weekend
• Cool NASA Tech That Will Never See Space
• Perry just called to ask if I had seen this.

  

  I hadn’t. It is the Green Lantern figure from the upcoming HeroClix Blackest Night Starter Set. Now that I have, I can’t wait to get my hands on one.

• Who said it never rains in southern California?
• 
• found these items:
  • Black History Month Motivational Posters
  • Paint Your Own Glow-in-the-Dark Sketch Wall
• Paradise Highlands: Wonder Woman thoughts from Scotland
• Following up  a conversation thread from Clitorati last week: Inventor unveils $7,000 talking sex robot

Namaste.

Friday – 22 January 2010
It’s my 9/80 Friday off. I actually considered getting up and going to the gym this morning. Instead, I stayed in bed. However, I may go this afternoon or (more likely) tomorrow, as I have a heaping helping of “nothing do to” going on tomorrow.

SaraRules made it to California safely. Her parents, who also went to California – to visit other family members – also arrived safely. Now, if I could only figure out what I want from Trader Joe’s all would be well.

Last night, rather than gallivanting around town, I came home and hung out. Besides, there was a new episode of Fringe to be watched!  And Burn Notice‘s new season kicked off… even though I just let the DVR handle that one.

Stray Toasters

• There have been many “Hitler finds out…” videos posted on YouTube over the past year or so. The first couple were amusing, then they became a bit… passe. MarknTyme sent me links to a couple new (to me) ones which I found entertaining: Hitler vs. Khan
  Part I

  Part II

• Museum explores ‘hidden history’ of Muslim science
• Alt Text: Obscure Hobbies for Compulsive Geeks
• 
• German TV on the failure of full-body scanners
• By way of BoingBoing: Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb



• US firm to remove biblical references from gunsights
• Microsoft Learned of IE Zero-Day Flaw Last September

Time to get out of here and get my Friday going.

Namaste

Thursday – 21 January 2010
Happy Birthday, Mary!

Another NBN kicks off in the valley… and this one kicks off with flurries. Light flurries, yes, but ’tis snow, nonetheless. But, on the plus side: It’s my “Technical Friday.” That ain’t so bad. And, Chris and I are getting together tomorning to play ‘Clix, as he has the day off, too.

Last night was a rather quiet night in. We watched Tuesday’s NCIS while we ate dinner. We noted that we’d seen the teaser segment before, but didn’t remember seeing the rest of the episode. After the show was over, I had an epiphany. I checked the DVR for recorded programs. Sure enough, we had recorded that episode… three months ago – when we had seen the teaser segment – but never gotten around to watching it. Go figure.

Stray Toasters

• has been delivered to the airport. That was my first of two trips to the airport today – SaraRules is heading to California and hanging out with Meliko for a few days.  She’ll also be visiting The Happiest Place on Earth (or at least on the Left Coast).  (Insert “jealousy” here.)  That means that I’ll be a bachelor for the next three-and-a-half days.
• I neglected to mention the death of Robert B. Parker a couple of days ago, at 77. He was the author of one of my favorite series, the Spenser novels.
• We travel on the road to adventure
  On a desert highway straight to the heart of the sun
  Like lovers and hereos, and the restless part of everyone
  We’re only at home when we’re on the run
  On the run…
• Bonus points to anyone who can figure out why this is so amusing.
• Four fun facts about sloths
• By way of :



• Air Traffic Delays Cost U.S. More than Hurricanes
• Carbon nanotubes make batteries from fabric
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file:
  • White American Basketball League
  • Cruise L.A. Gang Turf for $65 (With a Signed Waiver)
• NBC Confirms Deal with Conan O’Brien
• Flying R2-D2 Needs a Physics Lesson

I should make sure that I’m ready for the first of today’s meetings… which starts…. soon. Wahoo.

Namaste.

Thursday – 14 January 2010
It’s a grey and hazy day here. I’ve referred to winter in Utah – especially when the inversion sets in – as being akin to living in a dirty fishbowl. Today is a pretty good example of that. Gotta love air that’s thick enough to chew…

Last night was a very low-key night. After dinner, when SaraRules headed off to Zumba, I decided that it was a perfect night for a hot soak and made it so. To add to the enjoyment of the downtime, I read a bit of Teenagers from the Future, which I haven’t picked up in far too long.

Stray Toasters

• Go Back to the Future with Paul Levitz and the Legion
• Justice Dept. Fights Bias in Lending
• For SaraRules (and the rest of the zombie-loving masses)…

  

• Where’s the Opera Chief? Look Onstage, or in the Pit
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file:
  • Meet Mikey, 8; U.S. Has Him on Watch List
  • Oxford cops reprimanded for tobogganing on riot shields
    
• Amtrak to add Wi-Fi to some trains free, for now
• By way of Comic Book Resources, comes a new column: “Committed”
  • Introduction
  • Byrne’s Superman
• In Rebuke of China, Focus Falls on Cybersecurity
• SaraRules has given me permission to cook steaks in our fireplace… assuming that our future home has a fireplace.
• 

• Mom-made vintage game sweaters from the 80s
  
  • …and in a semi-related note (and the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file):
    • Home-made Super Mario sweater vest
    • Space Invaders tights

I think (actually, it’s more like “I’m hoping”) that I only have one meeting today. That would be nice.

Namaste.

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.

Monday – 11 January 2010
On the whole, it’s been a good weekend. Yesterday, was fairly lazy and full of football… and a couple of movies.

Julie (our IT admin) came over to watch her Pats take on the Ravens, details below. After the game, I played a little City of Heroes. I was invited to join a team “…for missions in Croatoa,” which was fine. Somewhere along the way, we switched from that mission set to running a Task Force (extended series of linked missions), which I neither expected nor had time for. So, I had to leave, mid-TF. Oh, well… I managed to eke a couple of levels out of the experience.

We headed over to the in-laws’ for dinner and a movie, Star Trek. The dinner, the movie and the company were all quite good. I also inherited Logan’s old Xbox… which is good, as I’ve been hankerin’ to play some of my old Xbox games, but couldn’t, because my old Xbox decides to shut down/stop reading discs after a few minutes. *shakes fist*

After we got back home, SaraRules and I watched a movie that Logan recommened: The Signal. It was a story, told in three parts – as interpreted by three directors. While there was a single plot thread that wove through the film, the three directors’ visions didn’t exactly gel into a cohesive movie.

Instant Replay: Football
The playoffs started this weekend:

Baltimore Ravens at New England Patriots
33 – 14
The Ravens traveled to Foxboro to take on the Patriots in the chilly New England air. Going into the game, the Ravens had not beaten the Patriots in their last five games and the Pats had not lost at home all season. But, once RB Ray Rice broke off an 83-yard TD run – on the Ravens’ first play from scrimmage – it looked as though the Ravens might be on to something… When Terrell Suggs strip-sacked Tom Brady – on the Pats’ first series – setting up another Ravens TD, the tide and momentum seemed to favor the Ravens even more. LB Ray Lewis and FS Ed Reed even got in on the action, with a sack and an interception, respectively. QB Joe Flacco only went 4/10, with 34 yds passing, but he managed a great ground game that kept Baltimore in control of the ball and the clock. Saturday, the Ravens continue their playoff run against the Indianapolis Colts.

Joe, you and the boys just beat the Pats for the first time in five meetings!  How does that make you feel?

Coach Belichick, Tom looks a little down-in-the-mouth.  Even though your lucky pom-pom hat didn’t help you win the game, does it offer any sage advice as to what you can say or do to help cheer Tom up?

.

New York Jets at Cincinnati Bengals
24 –14
The Bengals took on the Jets. Again. And came away with a loss. Again. For the second time in two weeks… although this time it was in Cincinnati.Sorry, janietrain and carefreespirit.

.

Green Bay Packers at Arizona Cardinals
45 – 51
The Packers traveled to the desert.  Again. This time, however, the Cards handed them an overtime loss. Congrats, Marr.

.

Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys
14 – 34
The Cowboys handed the Eagles a loss in the House That Jerry Built.

Stray Toasters

• I won’t get to see Saturday’s game, as we have tickets to Utah Opera’s performance of Carmen. (Thank Heaven for DVRs…)  While I’m hoping for a Ravens win, I’m not betting the farm on it.
• The Price of Apple MacBook Pros Around the World
• Tombs of pyramid builders offer look into daily lives
• Race Riots Grip Italian Town, and Mafia Is Suspected
• DC has announced their Blackest Night follow-up, Brightest Day:

  

  I’m not sure how I feel about a/another year-long, bi-weekly book.

• A Nation of Hunkered-Down Homebodies
• Booth Babe Confessions
• Secret London: guide to the weird and wonderful secrets of London-town
• Um… when exactly did Ray Lewis become a member of Delta Sigma Theta?



• Steampunk mask: “Raptor Pilot”
• Malicious App in Android Market

Namaste.

Wednesday – 06 January 2010
It’s the middle of the week.
It’s also Comics and Sushi Wednesday.

As I was driving home from work last night, SaraRules called me to ask if I would be working late or if I would be home soon. I was in the parking lot, preparing to pull into my parking spot. She was calling because we had received a package – our Christmas present from my uncle: A gift box from Omaha Steaks. In it was an assortment of meats – beef, poultry and seafood. SCORE! (Seriously… half of our freezer contains meat.) Of course, this means that we have some rather tasty options for dinner over the next two or three weeks.

After dinner – which did not include anything from our newly arrived box o’ goodies – and NCIS, we headed to the gym. It was a good workout. We followed it up with a trip to the store and then back home for a quiet evening.

Stray Toasters

• Yep… it’s turned into Suit Week 2010. Today’s fare: Olive suit, white shirt, olive/rust abstract tie.
• MarknTyme sent me a link to the following picture:

  

  What I didn’t realize, until I read the accompanying article, was that I was familiar with the artist, Cliff Chang, as I had seen his Batgirl/Purple Rain mashup image a few months ago.

• sent me a link to: Men Who Like Comics, a group on Art of Manliness
• Randy Johnson retires after 22 years, 303 career victories
• The Best Times to Buy Anything, All Year Round
• Pirates storm Tampa for Gasparilla festival
• 
• sent me a link to: WineBottler Turns Windows Programs into Standalone OS X Applications
• Nic Cage as Everyone
• Hobby Lobby now has an online store. This could be dangerous…
• Hubble snaps galaxies at birth

Yeah… a Teen Titans-related post requires a Cyborg icon. Selah.

Namaste.

Monday – 04 January 2010
It’s the first work day of the new year. It’s also my first day back in over two weeks. I’m still not sure that I remember all of my logins. We’ll see… maybe… if my system ever recovers from the updates that are being pushed down to it.

Yesterday was a good day, all the way around.  There was sleeping in. There was football. There was dinner with the in-laws and MORE football. After we got home, I even felt up to the challenge of sorting some of my extra ‘Clix into their respective new homes, while SaraRules watched Club Paradise.

Instant Replay: Football
Yesterday was a good day for football, as the playoff picture fell into place:

Baltimore Ravens at Oakland Raiders
21 – 13
This game wasn’t aired here, but SaraRules and I tracked it on NFL.com’s Game Center, as the game involved both our teams.The Ravens seemed to play decently and didn’t get themselves saddled with excessive penalties. And, on the other side of the ball, the Raiders had a decent game and just roll over and give away a win. With this win, the Ravens secured a playoff berth (and knocked the Steelers out of playoff contention, in the process). Sorry, SaraRules and 1silver_seraph.

.

Jacksonville Jaguars at Cleveland Browns
17 – 23
The Browns handled their business and eliminated the Jags from playoff contention.Congratulations, zeeke.

.

Pittsburgh Steelers at Miami Dolphins
30 – 24
The Steelers headed south to Land Shark Stadium and handed the Fins a loss that also took the them out of playoff contention, even though the Dolphins would have needed losses from other teams to make the playoffs. With this win, and a Ravens’ loss, the Steelers would have made the playoffs.

.

Cincinnati Bengals at New York Giants
0 – 37
The Bengals took on the Jets… and came away with a loss, in a game that the Jets had to win in order to make the playoffs. Mark Sanchez and company did the home crowd proud, handing the Bengals a big loss on the road. And who do they play next week? The Bengals… but this time, they’ll be playing in Cincinnati. Sorry, janietrain and carefreespirit.

.

Green Bay Packers at Arizona Cardinals
33 – 7
The Packers traveled to the desert and handed the Cards a loss… and a pretty big one, at that.Sorry, Marr.

.

New Orleans Saints at Carolina Panthers
10 – 23
The Panthers handed the Saints a loss……in a game with no playoff implications for either team.

.

New York Giants at Minnesota Vikings
7 – 44
The Giants headed into Minnesota, just to have Brett Favre and the Vikings serve ’em up a heaping helping of beat-down and eliminating them from the playoff picture.Congratulations, .

Tonight, the Vikings take on the Bears in what should be a good game.

Stray Toasters

• By way of : 10 Purchase not to put on credit cards
• 10 Sci-Fi Weapons that Actually Exist
• 

  (click to find out your score)

  

• Where was this when I needed it: LEGOland California: An Adult Visitor’s Guide
• TSA Special Agent who threatened blogger spaces out, drops notebook in public place
• 
• Avatar smashes $1bn speed record
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: BeautifulPeople.com axes holiday weight gain members

I finally remembered my password. I had changed it on one system, but not the other… and I was trying to enter the wrong password on the first machine. *sigh* But, I finally sussed it out.

…right on to the friction of the day.

Namaste.