Random Access

Saturday – 19 September 2008
I got to Cedar City last night without any problems. That’s always a good thing. Shortly after I got in, we made a run to the local Wal-Mart – I wanted to verify that I could actually find Steak-Umm sandwich steaks. Back in the day, Steak-Ums were a staple of my summertime diet. Now that I know where to find them, they may have to go back into the lunch/dinner rotations.

Today has been lax. And that’s not a bad thing. The only bad thing is that, once again: SaraRules’ complex has bollocks-ed up their ISP again. So, there’s NO access there. No matter, I knew that SaraRules had a meeting at the MFA grad house and that I could use the Interwebs there! (And I’ve been using it like a fiend!) I played a bit of City. *taps vein* I teamed up with Perry and a few others and we ran an AV mission against Requiem. There was a lot of dying on our parts – as we didn’t have a healer on the team – but we muddled our way through it. Selah.

Tonight, we’re going to another round of SOAPFest plays.

Stray Toaster
I got a call from earlier today. She let me know that she ran into one of her neighbors this morning. At a rather unexpected place. The neighbor even asked about me, saying that she hadn’t seen me around in a while; explained that we broke up a couple of years ago, but that we’re still good friends.

I found the call amusing, since I ran into a different neighbor a couple of weeks ago… but he didn’t seem to remember me.

Oh, well.

And with that…

Namaste.

Monday – 14 April 2008
Another week begins.

Alarm clocks are a necessary evil. That said, the day started with me hitting snooze more times than I had intended. After the hygiene rituals were observed and the car was packed, I began my journey back to north-central Utah. The drive was uneventful. And there weren’t any monkeys to speak of.

I got into the office and checked my email. Among them was one from Friday morning, asking me to submit my time card. *blink blink* Then, I checked the timestamp on the email: It was sent roughly two minutes before I submitted my time card, which means that I was already on the system and preparing to submit it before the email was sent. *sigh*

<< Rewind <<
Yesterday afternoon, SaraRules and I headed to the MFA house so that she could do some work… and I could use the connection there to make my way to Paragon City. We were both successful in our endeavors. Nefer-Tem is now a little less than 2 bars away from Level 50.

Steph and Kim decided to have a Taco Fiesta for dinner last night. Chicken and beef. Hard and soft shells. When dinner was done, we played Buzzword: The Not 5s (the roommates) vs. The 6-7-8s (honorary roommates). The 6-7-8s won. Barely.

Mark and Lish came over a little later. Mark asked our opinions about the Ballroom Dance Concert (he’s the director of that program); we gave him feedback. Then… it was time to play 3-way Slayer HALO. Selah. (Mark pwned both of us. Repeatedly. I need to practice.)

I showed Steph how to make the s’mores brownies. Lish said that he might try making them himself… and that he wanted to get a chef’s torch, so that he could toast the marshmallows. Ah, pyromania. A little later, Darillyn and Lish played shot glass checkers:

Lish won both games. However, Darillyn came up with a number of “Unintentional Porn Overheard in…” quotes.

> Play >
I found out that I need to add some more systems to my db and tweak the UI to be able to select from any/all systems.

Workout
Back in the saddle again:

• Leg Raises: 3 sets – 1 set, full extension; 2 sets, bent leg (lowered to only 45°)
• Bench Press (dumbbell): 3 sets/12 reps, 60 lbs
• Pull-downs: 3 sets/15 reps, 130 lbs
• Rows (T-bar style, with a barbell): 3 sets/12 reps, 55 lbs
• Tricep Press: 3 sets/12 reps, 120 lbs
• Core: 4 sets – 2 sets/full extension, 45 secs.; 2 sets/elbows, 30 secs.

Pre-workout weight: 175.6 lbs.

Stray Toasters

• There was an interesting discussion about Emperor Popetine Pope Benedict’s visit to the U.S. on The Diane Rehm Show this morning.
• Secret Invasion: Who do you trust?
• 
• Conductor Hero?: Touring game rocks concert halls
• 
  While I’m not overly taken by most of the figures, the Warrior Isis figure is nice.
• Microsoft: Vista feature designed to ‘annoy users’
• Scotty Doesn’t Know
• …and I don’t know what I want for dinner. *blah*
• Sillof’s Workshop

Quotes of the Day
As I mentioned above, Darillyn made some special “Unintentional Porn Overheard in…” quotes while playing checkers with Lish:

• “I can’t reach that with my face”
• “I was so waiting to jump you there.”
• “You get confused about a lot of things, but I’m not going to point them out.”
• “Hold on, I can’t get him out – he’s sticky.”
• “I got it out this time.”
• “You just jumped me. It’s my turn.”

Checkers and alcohol. Who knew?!

Namaste.

Friday – 11 April 2008
Greetings from southern Utah. I got special dispensation to work from home today… so I decided that since I had everything that I needed for today’s work on Defiant, I would beat Friday afternoon/evening traffic by leaving Thursday night. It seemed to work pretty well.

Today, I’ve been working on my database front end and I found a/the error in coding that’s kept one section from working properly. One small, simple thing. It’s been dancing at the edge of my awareness for the past day or so – I’ve been tinkering with things around it, but not that one item – but I finally found it, changed it, and now it’s working. Now I can move on to the next piece of the puzzle. This whole project – warts and all – has been a fun challenge.

I went to the gym before going to lunch. Details below.

SaraRules got in from work, picked me up and we met some of the other MFAs – and Matt, director of their program – for lunch at a place called “Grumpy Joes.” The restaurant is a small, very unassuming place in a little strip of shops. If you blinked while driving by it, you’d miss it. Literally. We did, in fact.

It’s run by an older couple; the gentleman, known only by his (last) name: Farina, is a riot. Seriously. He was taking our orders and would stop to tell a story or a joke/funny comment. And did he ever take a shine to SaraRules. She walked in the door and he walked over and hugged her. She also got special attention from him throughout the meal.

The food was pretty good. It wasn’t Spago or Tavern on the Green, but neither did it purport itself as such. It was more like home-cooking. I think that we’ll have to go there again before SaraRules leaves Cedar.

Workout
A little before lunch, I headed to the Gold’s Gym to get in a workout. I needed it; I’ve been slacking a bit on my exercising. The Gold’s here is kind of… small. But, it’s a gym. And I was able to get in a decent workout:

• Recumbent Bike: 1.6 miles, ~100 rpm (roughly 7 minutes)
• Decline Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 155 lbs
• Curls (dumbbell, Hammer grip): 3 sets/10 reps, 30 lbs
• Lateral Raises (forward rotation): 3 sets/10 reps, 10 lbs
• Rows: 3 sets/10 reps, 120 lbs
• Tricep Extension (dumbbell, overhead, standing): 3 sets/10 reps, 45 lbs
• Tricep Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 80 lbs
• Core: 4 sets – 2 sets/full extension, 45 secs.; 2 sets/elbows, 30 secs.

Post-workout weight: 171.0 lbs

I forgot to weigh myself at the gym. In fact, I completely spaced it off until I was just about to step in to the shower. So, today’s weight, while accurate, doesn’t reflect the added weight of gym clothes.

Stray Toasters

• I am beginning to grok:
  • CSS layout > HTML tables

  …and how to implement them.

• After seeing Kevin Cronin on Don’t Forget the Lyrics a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been more apt to listen to the various and sundry REO Speedwagon selections in my iTunes folder.
• Firefox Logo Spied in Deep Space
• Someone in SaraRules’ apartment has a copy of the April 2008 issue of Cosmpolitan. In it is an article entitled: “21 Things Every Guy Wants to Hear” Laughing, SaraRules pointed out the following, saying that she saw it and thought of me:
  

  #19: “A man wearing anything dressier than jeans and a tee shirt is trying too hard.

  *blink blink*

  Fortunately, I also know her sense of style and fashion, so I know that she doesn’t agree with this. For laughs, I read the other twenty items. Given that Rocky is her favorite movie, I told her the following reminded me of her:

  #21: “I want to march down the aisle to the theme from Rocky.”

  …to which she retorted: “The theme? Can you see me marching down the aisle to that? No. Now, the slow, romantic theme, maybe. But not really.”

• For :



• Discuss among yourselves: Why I Let My 9-Year-Old Ride the Subway Alone
• Coldfinger….
  She’s the girl, the girl with the polar touch
  A penguin’s touch
  Such a cold finger
  Beckons you to enter her cave, frozen
  But don’t go in….
• 
• Mother saw warning signs in son who planned shooting spree
• tomarrow != tomorrow
• Murdered Pregnant Women: The Racial Divide
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Mom Brings Baby Along to Candy Store Robbery

Time to get on with the weekend… in the words of .

Namaste.

Monday – 07 April 2008
Yesterday afternoon, SaraRules and I took a little time to play in the sunshine; we went for a walk along the trail in Ann J. Gardner Canyon Park (pictures). After we got back, we watched Superman: Doomsday. Fun film… even if it didn’t exactly follow “The Death of Superman” storyline perfectly.

After that, we realized that it was time to find something dinner-like. But, we had no idea “what.” Once we finally settled on it – grilled cheese sandwiches and soup – we hit the grocery store and came home.

Objectives:

1. Fix food
2. Eat
3. Watch Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

As Meat Loaf said: Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad: By the time we got back, Darrilyn and Kim had started watching Dirty Dancing, which Darrilyn hadn’t seen before. So… we watched Dirty Dancing. MST3K-style. Mr. Poitier and company will just have to wait until next weekend.

Today, I slept in a bit before making the journey back to the northlands. I pushed back my departure a bit because looneybin88 told me that the roads were a bit nasty thanks to… you guessed it: Snow. Fortunately, I-15 wasn’t bad, until I got a little north of Fillmore. Then, I hit some rain. It cleared up around Scipio. But, when I got a few miles south of Nephi, I ran into a wall of rain that turned into snow. And, as I left Nephi in the rear view mirror, I left the snow behind, too.

Workout
Eric waited for me to get in before heading to the gym. Today’s routine consisted of:

• Bench Press: 3 sets/8 reps, 225 lbs
• Curls (dumbbell, Hammer grip): 3 sets/10 reps, 30 lbs
• Flys (Nautilus): 3 sets/10 reps, 110 lbs
• Pull-downs (behind the head): 3 sets/10 reps, 120 lbs
• Rows (T-bar style, with a barbell): 3 sets/12 reps, 55 lbs
• Core: 3 sets at full-arm extension, 2 sets on elbows

Pre-workout weight: 176.8 lbs.

I wish that I could say that the weight gain is due to packing on the muscle… but I think that it would be more apt to say that the s’mores brownies that I made Thursday night – and ate all weekend – had more to do with it.

I also seem to have… um… “misplaced” my lock. Something that I didn’t discover until I was ready to secure the locker. So, unless it magically appears sometime this week, I’ll be using the Superman lock that gave me. That should get a few interesting looks around the locker room, I’m sure.

Stray Toasters

• I’m still just *a little* in shock that SaraRules actually posted on here yesterday. Just a ‘Toaster, but it still counts.
• I know that it’s just speculation at this point, but still… the idea that Apple may seriously upgrade/change the MacBook lines soon is good/bad news.
• Quinoa
• From xkcd.com: “Cheap GPS”



• There were a couple of interesting items on NPR today:
  • The Diane Rehm Show: FAA and Airline Safety Inspections
  • Talk of the Nation: After Death, a Soldier’s Journey Is Not Over

  The TotN piece was amazing. In it, Neal Conan interviewed Chris Jones, a writer for Esquire, who did a piece about a soldier’s “final journey,” from the Middle East to his burial in southern Indiana. I was pretty much rapt by the story; I can’t wait to read the actual article when the new issue of Esquire comes out.

• 
• 4/6 lfm tank and dd – The Jargon of Online Gaming
• By way of Wired.com: How College Courses Should Be Taught
• I should probably start giving some thought to what I want for dinner…
• Given the way things went yesterday, I should also start thinking about what I want to cook for dinner Sunday.

Namaste.

Friday – 04 April 2008
Another week comes to a close. And at the close of the day, I’ll be heading down to Cedar City… for the first time in five or six weeks.

Last night I didn’t really feel like doing much when I got home from work, so I pretty much spent the evening doing my best impression of a couch potato. I think I did a pretty good job at it. CSI:, Without a Trace, Law & Order… it was nice to just chill and surf and just generally hang out.

On the way into the office, I ran into loonybin88. He needed to pick up his truck from one of the nearby dealerships; I gave him a lift over rather than have him hoof it over there. When we got there, I remembered that my friend Shane, whom I haven’t seen in ages, said that she worked there… but that that was months ago. But, since I was there, I figured why not see if she was still there. Turns out that she was; it was a nice way to kick off the morning.

Workout
So, I apparently DO remember where the gym is and how to use the equipment there. Eric and I hit a decent all-around workout:

• Leg Raises: 3 sets/20 reps
• Chin-ups: 1 set (just to kill some time)
• Incline Press: 3 sets/10 reps (2 sets, 155 lbs; third set: 155 lbs/8 reps, 135/3 reps)
• Cable Row: 3 sets/10 reps, 120 lbs
• Shrug (Nautilus): 3 sets/10 reps, 180 lbs
• Cable Fly: 3 sets/10 reps, 110 lbs
• Decline Press (dumbbell): 3 sets/12 reps, 40 lbs (each)

Pre-workout weight: 174.8 lbs

Stray Toasters

• I have brownies!
• Rush To Begin Work on New Album Next Year
• CCH Pounder was on an episode of L&O: The Next Generation L&O: SVO I watched last night. She’s a damn fine actress. (And she was also a great choice for the voice of Amanda Waller on Justice League Unlimited.) I have yet to see her in a role where I don’t enjoy her performance.
• Comic Book Resources has a couple of fun interviews with:
  • Robert Downey, Jr.
  • Terence Howard
• And, in an unrelated note, they have a multi-part interview with Geoff Johns on…
  1. Green Lantern
  2. Action Comics
  3. Justice Society of America
  4. Booster Gold
• Newsarama has a Geoff Johns interview (1, 2) that delves into a bit behind this summer’s “Legion of Three Worlds” event.
• MONKEYS! >.<
• Study: Violent Video Games Relax Players
• Did I mention: MONKEYS!?!?
• We just introduced a coworker to Cthulhu. Pray for his soul.

And now, it’s time to burn the breeze.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 12 March 2008
Mid-week.
(As I typed that, I heard

Midnight, and it’s raining outside…

…the opening line from “Midnight,” by Yaz (Upstairs at Eric’s) run through my head.

I went to Chris and Mary’s, after work, to play dolls HeroClix with Chris. He wanted to test a couple of figures before he plays in a tourney next month; I wanted to try out a couple of new figures. He cleaned my clock, but I learned a few things about how to better use a couple of figures, including:

• Green Lantern (Guy Gardner)
• Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) and
• Time Trapper

Chris was a little disappointed with the way the new Kyle Rayner figure plays, but I thought that it was alright. And we both agreed that WizKids should do an updated (read: “less underpowered”) John Stewart figure. *shrug* Maybe in the next set…

Today has been good. Nothing out-of-the-ordinary to report.
No sushi today.
No comics. Yet. But, soon… Soon…

Stray Toasters

• I came home last night to find a package from my father waiting for me. Random assortment of things (no Butterscotch Krimpets, though), but some neat stuff, nonetheless.
• YouTube Everywhere
• Vih-Dee-Ohs
  • Star Wars, as described by a 3-year-old
  • Star Trek: Closer
  • Star Trek: The Wrath of Farrakhan
  • National Spelling Bee

  And, just for the record: “Closer” and “Spelling Bee” are quite NSFW. You have been warned.

• What Real-life Dungeon Exploration Might Look Like, Graduate Students in Tow
• I have been using this image as my desktop wallpaper in the SLC office for… three or so weeks now:

  

  I adapted it from this image, which is part of the cover for the Incognegro graphic novel. And here is an article on the book, from The New York Times.

• Southwest grounds planes, places three on leave
• Rock Me, Amadeus

  
  (click image for more information)

• Surveyor of the Superheroes: Kaveney talks new book
• ‘Oldest Profession’ updates to a wired world
• …and, in a related note, it seems as though David Paterson will be assuming the role of Governor of the State of New York as of 17 March 2008, making him New York’s:
  • …first Black governor
  • …first visually-impared (legally blind) governor and
  • …first disabled governor since FDR
• Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub
  

  * Why did Utah name its capital, Fillmore, after the president (and the county it is in, Millard, too)? The Mormons wanted to join the U.S. They wanted to be a state. Congress and the executive branch were nervous about taking in a state so large (at the time the state covered most of Nevada and chunks of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Idaho — larger than Texas as I recall) and there was active opposition to taking in a state run by Mormons. So the Mormons moved the capital to Fillmore — more centrally located, and out of Salt Lake City where the Mormons had their temple and a lot of people. Then they named the capital after the president, hoping to curry his favor and that of the Whig Party partisans. It didn’t work. The proposed State of Deseret was carved up, and Utah didn’t get statehood until 1896 — after even Nevada.
  (from the site’s “Sources on Millard Fillmore” page)

  Fillmore is one of the towns I go through on the way to/from Cedar City.

• PHP and arrays.

Namaste.

Monday – 25 February 2008
Back in the saddle again. The commute wasn’t too bad, despite pea-soup fog from Enoch to just south of Beaver and again from Scipio to Mills. They have apparently “fixed” the “NEHPI” sign…

…by covering the “HPI” with a “PHI” banner. Priceless.

Stray Toasters

• I joined LinkedIn this morning. *shrug* At least I still haven’t hopped on the FaceBook bandwagon. Yet.
• Second shot across the bow: I will be moving all commenting for this blog to Random Access as of Saturday, 01 March 2008.
• Justice League: The New Frontier and 30 Days of Night both come out on DVD tomorrow.
  
• Check out the papercraft artwork of Peter Callesen
• I’m diving into PHP again.  And, again, it’s for work.  Can’t beat that.
• Salt Lake City Weekly‘s Best of 2007: Food and Drink
• I was talking with Dwim, a little while ago, about some of the comics that we read.  He was saying how he felt that some heroes shouldn’t have secret identities.  Wonder Woman was one example.  Green Lantern was another.  I mentioned that while Hal Jordan does have a secret identity, John Stewart doesn’t – he hasn’t worn a mask in his GL identity since the 80s, I think.  Besides, would you want to be “that guy” who tried to hassle John Stewart in his civilian ID?  Let’s look at the deterring factors:
  • Ex-Marine.
  • Even more so: Ex-Marine sharpshooter.
  • Wears a ring (let’s call it what it is: “a weapon”) that can create anything he thinks of.  Anything.
  • Trained as an architect, so he can be… creative.  (Granted, Kyle Rayner‘s an artist, so he’s usually a little more creative, but that goes off along an entirely different tangent.)
  • Good knowledge of mechanics and usually “builds” his ring constructs “from the inside out.”
  • Has probably kicked more ass on – and off – Earth than you have.
  • Did I mention “anything he thinks of?”  I did?  Okay, just wanted to be sure.

  And, it’s not like he takes the ring off when he’s not on-duty.

• Visualization: Movie box office data
• 

Namaste.

Sunday: Coda
I made it to Cedar City without any incident. That’s always a good thing. I took a few pictures along the way.

SaraRules and I headed to the nearby Chili’s for dinner and then over to the Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. Proving, once again, how cool she is, she picked up two packs of Cadbury Creme Eggs and the following for me:

Mm-hmm. That’s right.

Sunday – 24 February 2008
Last night’s breakfast was fun.  And a bit unusual.  I have pictures to prove it.  The dolls – FAR from what I was expecting to see in the claw machine – just about killed me.

After I got home, I was up for another two hours, playing City of Heroes.  At 3:30, my eyelids became an irresistable force; I got up from the desk and went to bed before I became an immovable object.  I woke up this morning and played for another hour and some change.  I’m roughly a bar and a half from Security Level 44.

Next on the docket: Moving things out of a few rooms so that some plumbing work can be done. “Sometime in the next 5-7 days,” the potable water lines in my building are being replaced.  This means nothing under or on the cabinets in the kitchen or either bathroom.  And, because of where some of the pipe access is located, I have to clear out some space in a couple of closets and my bedroom, too.  Yay.

Then, it’s off to the south, once more.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 19 February 2008
Home again.

I tried getting in touch with Tammy, but didn’t catch her… so Monday was “spend the last few hours of vacation hanging out with the family before getting on a plane” day. We did head out for a bit, so that I could take SaraRules over to Pimlico Race Course, home of the Preakness Stakes… which is only a couple of miles from the house. After getting back from that, we hung out with Bot, Bit and . Pictures were taken. (Granted, these were lumped in with other pictures taken over the course of the weekend – including two with my uncle and one with Bret – but there are pictures nonetheless.) Also, here are pictures of the quilt that SaraRules made for Grace. When the time came to leave, we said our goodbyes, threw our things in the car and headed to BWI. We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. We checked in and made it through security quickly and painlessly. Then… we waited.

We boarded our plane and we were on our way west again. The flight was rather uneventful; to pass the time, SaraRules and I watched Transformers. She hadn’t seen it before, but enjoyed it. An hour and some change later, we were in Las Vegas. Our bags were on the carousel almost by the time we got there. To the car. Out the garage and we were on our way…

…to In-n-Out Burger. After that and a stop for gasoline, we were on the road back to Cedar City. By the time we got in, we were exhausted. So, we crashed.

This morning, we got up, ready and on our respective ways: SaraRules to class; me to work.

The work day wasn’t very eventful, which is not a bad thing. Eric and I had a special guest star for today’s workout: Wes, who in the AF office today. Today’s routine included:

• Leg Raises: 3 sets/20 reps
• Pull-ups: 3 sets/10 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 205 lbs.
• Cable Row: 3 sets/10 reps, 120 lbs.
• Shoulder Press (seated, dumbbells): 3 sets/10 reps, 45 lbs.
• Cable Fly: 3 sets/10 reps, 95 lbs.
• Core Exercises
  • One-leg, with twist: 2 sets
  • Standard (plank): 3 sets – 45 seconds, 30 seconds, 30 seconds

Today’s weight: 172.4 lbs.
It was a good mix. And tiring. It was Wes’ first time really working out in about six months. (Having brain surgery will do that to you, apparently.) He did fine. While he had to back off of some of the weight that Eric and I did, he was still right there with us otherwise.

Post-work, it was Scion game night. We didn’t do very much, as a couple of players weren’t there, but we were able to move the story along a little. And it was fun to hang out with the gaming crew.

Monkey of the Day
On the way home from gaming, I stopped at the grocery store. While I was in the checkout line, a young-ish guy (mid 20s, I would guess) came in, carrying a gallon of milk. He asked to speak to one of the managers. When she came to the front of the store, he told her that he’d purchased the milk at another location, but it was apparently past its “best if used by” date and wanted his money back. The manager offered to exchange the bad milk for a new one. The guy wasn’t having any part of that – he wanted his money. The manager said that she couldn’t just refund his money – as the milk wasn’t purchased at this store – but re-offered to replace the bad milk. His response: “Yes you can! This is all just one big chain. You can give me my money! It’s all the same store!” The manager countered that it was not, in fact, “…all the same store.”

This went around and around a couple of times. The guy finally started cursing at the manager. She walked away, saying, “I’m not going to go on with this if you’re going to speak to me this way.” She never raised her voice. She didn’t get confrontational. The guy just wouldn’t quit. He asked… no… “demanded”… that she get him the general manager’s name and contact information. She politely refused, as the guy was still slinging expletives at her.

He was still arguing (is it right to say “arguing” if he was the only one talking?) after I checked out and left.

Stray Toasters

• SaraRules sent a lovely bouquet of flowers to my parents as a “thank you for your hospitality” gift. Dad replied by text message to her and to me. If I had to guess, I would say that she made a good impression on the folks. (Not that I really had to guess, though.)
• Cherry Hill to Capitol Hill: Barry C. Black marks several ‘firsts’ as U.S. Senate Chaplain
• Senators Obama and McCain both won in Wisconsin.
  And with 51% of precincts reporting, Senator Obama is well ahead of Senator Clinton in Hawai’i.
• 
• D&D Insider Flash Interviews
• By way of Deacon Derek: Subnormality: “Supervillains Anonymous”
  
• 
• Tyranist: Library built into a staircase
• Classic SF movies rendered as Russian folk-art woodcuts

I suppose that I should move from “the theory of sleep” to “the practical application of sleep.”

Namaste.

Sunday – 17 February 2008
Today’s been a good – and full – day.

SaraRules and I got up this morning and went to church with Dad. While Dad’s church usually has a fairly short service, today was a red letter day for short services – I think that we were in and out inside of an hour. (They had a special service between the regular services that they had to fit in.) We got back home… and took naps. For me, three hours. Apparently, I needed it.

After that, we headed to Columbia to meet up with Bret and his girlfriend, Elizabeth. We met at The Mall in Columbia. That place has changed quite a bit since the last time that I had been there. And… there’s an Apple Store there. I have finally seen and held a MacBook Air. Just as I was examining it, a young lady was looking at the Macbook Air next to me. She closed the lid, to see how thin it was…

…and an alarm went off.

She had the “Oh, God… What did I do?!” look on her face. Her boyfriend/husband/guy-with-her just looked on like, “I don’t know this woman.”

Turns out that the alarm was connected to a computer on a different table altogether. It just so happened that the timing was perfect.

After we left Bret and Elizabeth, we headed to Ellicott City to visit Aunt Rea and Uncle Marion. I took the laptop, so that I could show them pictures of Grace, Adam’s graduation and wedding weekend and a few pictures of Utah. It was a nice visit.

Back home for dinner and to hang with the family. I finally took my official first turn as “Uncle Rob, holding Grace.” She was a little fussy at first, but quieted down rather quickly… and then drifted off to The Dreaming. All of us sat around and talked for a bit. While we were chatting, heard about his next posting. Shortly after that, Grace decided that it was feeding time again, so we called it a night.

I’m not entirely sure what’s going on during the day tomorrow – aside from trying to catch up with Tammy – before heading back to Utah, but I’m sure that we’ll (try to) squeeze something in.

Stray Toaster
SaraRules taught me something about a function on the computer. Granted, it was something on a Mac and not something that I was familiar with doing… but she still taught me something. And I promised that I would document it. “For posterity.” (And for her to get the satisfaction of being able to say “Do you remember that time when…?”)

Namaste.

Saturday – 16 February 2008
Yesterday was spent downtown at Harborplace and the National Aquarium in Baltimore.

The day started with lunch at Phillip’s Restaurant.  Crab cakes.  Not just one style, but two!  Broiled (favorite) and fried.  Well worth the trip.

Next, we headed to the Aquarium.  The gentleman at the ticket counter suggested that we delay going in until 5:00, when the admission rate dropped to $16 USD.  So, we spent a half-hour at the Barnes & Noble in the Power Plant.  It was the first time that I’d been in that B&N; I like the layout a lot – two floors, two cafes, plenty of space for customers to sit and even spots where small groups could congregate.  In other words, it would make a great place for Clitorati… if there was a B&N like this in Salt Lake City.

Back to the aquarium.

Three buildings, multiple floors of fish, mammals, amphibians, birds… and even a sloth.  Pictures here.

Back home to hang out with the family.

Today, my uncle is coming down for the afternoon from New York.

I should probably finish – read “start” – getting ready.

And with that…

Namaste.

Friday – 15 February 2008
We got in this morning around 1:20 AM. The flight was rather uneventful… which is “good” when talking about air travel. met us at the airport and brought us home. SaraRules got to meet the paternal side of the family-unit, including a sleeping Grace. (When we saw her this morning, she was in full “I’m hungry, where’s Mommy?!” mode – the girl has a good set of lungs.)

Today, Harborplace and the National Aquarium in Baltimore. After that/other than that, I have no idea. But, it’s a vacation, so we’re not really pressed about it.

Tomorrow, my uncle is coming down from New York to spend a few hours.

Stray Toaster
While sitting in the airport yesterday, I saw this article. It had a picture. When I saw the picture, this was the first thing that came to mind:

For those of you who don’t get the joke (or why I’m going straight to Hell), click here.

Now, to finish getting ready and attack the day.

Namaste.

Thursday – 14 February 2008
First off: Happy Valentine’s Day.

Now that we have that out of the way…

Yesterday was…interesting. On many levels. I started the day in SLC, so that I could work on a couple of server issues. The biggest headache of the issues was replacing a mainboard and a couple of sideboards. That took longer than planned, but I got it done.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get it finished before the latest snow storm to hit Utah – not just SLC – rolled in. I left the SLC office, popped home to pick up a couple of things I needed for the trip and got back on the road. It took me two-and-a-half hours to get from SLC to AF. This was due mostly to the fact that UHP and UDoT had closed a couple of roads that branched off of I-15 in Utah County. And, let me tell you, a gridlocked I-15 at the top of South Mountain is not where you want to be when you’re having an Wakko Warner-like potty emergency. *sigh* I made it to the AF office, took care of the two things I needed to and got back on the road.

The snow wasn’t hellish through Provo, but – to their credit – drivers weren’t behaving like heroin-addicted monkeys, either. That was a pleasant surprise. Outside of Utah County, the roads were a mixed bag: Some were well-cleared, others were not-so-cleared, but passable. I managed to get behind a couple of snow plows, which was nice. Falling in behind a few semis wasn’t bad, either…

…but it still took me SIX HOURS to get to Cedar City. *gah*

I had planned to get up and go to the gym when SaraRules headed to work this morning. Yeah… “theory vs. practical application” at its finest. I didn’t wake up until nearly noon.

Now, it’s final packing prep and on the road to Vegas.

And then… Baltimore.

Namaste.

Tuesday: Coda
Part of today’s lunch break was spent picking up a new sleeve for Defiant. As I don’t want to (and can’t) have eleventy-seven carry-on bags, I wanted to be able to carry the laptop, as well as books and assorted distractions in my backpack. A sleeve seemed the best way to carry and protect Defiant in the backpack. As CompUSA is going out of business, I decided to see if they had any good deals. They did; I wound up getting a Brenthaven Eclipse Sleeve I.

After work, I came home and relaxed for a bit before heading to Kohl’s in search of a new suitcase. I saw online that they had up to 50% off on luggage; how could I pass that up? I wound up buying a complete set, instead: 5 pieces for $60 USD. Not a bad deal.

I was hungry, but indecisive, on the way home, so I meandered my way from West Jordan back to Fort Union. I finally settled on something, picked it up and headed home. While eating, I killed a little time in Paragon City – four more bubbles to Security Level 43.

Stray Toasters

• I went to the Art Asylum site, to see if I could find any information about upcoming releases of Marvel and/or DC MiniMates. Just like U2, I still haven’t found what I’m looking for. But… I did find a couple of other things:
  • 
  • 

  MiniMates movies! and : You both might want to check out New Times. (Here’s a hint: Mark Hamill as The Joker.) I’m just saying.

• Kyle McLachlan: A new Superman for a New Frontier
• I think that I’ve found my new desktop wallpaper for work: This. Of course, I’m thinking that I’ll have to change it and add this picture, instead… but you get the idea.
• The Randall Scott Gallery presents the art of Lori Nix
• Barack Obama swept the Potomac Primaries. Wow.
  (So, who’s Hillary going to fire now?)
• SaraRules sent me a link to this parody of Will.i.am’s Yes We Can: john.he.is
• and Tyranist: I don’t remember whether I pointed this out to you or not: Ultra Cthulhu Statue
• LEGO Indiana Jones Q&A
• How many of you remember The Electric Company?
  How many of you remember Silent E ?
• By way of : Song Titles that Espouse Bad Ideas
• Spore

Time to finish packing (48 hours from now, I’ll be in Bawl’mer) and call it a night.

Namaste.