Union Pacific's Great Excursion Adventure

“Oh, the weather outside is frightful…”

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Saturday – 08 December 2007
Ahhh… another lazy Saturday morning.

The drive down was wet and rainy… until I got down near Beaver. It was snowing heading into and out of Beaver, but not in Beaver. Go figure. And, the other drivers actually drove with a modicum of care and common sense. The Council for Better Driving would definitely have approved of their behavior.

Last night, we went to see Steph perform in Student Dance Concert: Breaking Bounds. There were thirteen pieces; Steph danced in six of them. Most of the pieces were good, although there were a few… um… “not so great” ones. After the Concert, SaraRules and I came back and watched Smokin’ Aces. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I enjoyed it.

This morning started with breakfast, coffee and (of course) cartoons. Today’s episode of Legion of Super-Heroes was a rebroadcast of “The Karate Kid.” The Batman, however, was new: “Ring Toss,” featuring Green Lantern (Hal Jordan). The episode also had Sinestro, and they did a good take on him. The addition of The Penguin was, in my opinion, something of a throw-away, but what are you gonna do? Kim and Steph came in and watched ‘toons with us and then we switched over to What Not to Wear: Mail Call. THAT was amusing.

Nothing really on-tap for the afternoon, but we are heading to see A Christmas Carol: On the Air this evening. After that, I believe that we are having a flip cup competition. Should make for a fun and… interesting… night.

Stray Toasters

Quote of the Day
From Stacy London to a participant on this morning’s What Not to Wear:

You look like you’re trying to compete with 18-year-olds… but 18-year-olds always win, because they’re 18!

This met with a lot of laughter from everyone in the room.

Namaste.

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…”

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Monday – 03 December 2007
Another week begins.

Last night, SaraRules, Darillyn, Vince, Steph, Steve and I headed out for dinner and a movie. We saw Enchanted. It was fun. Quite a bit of fun, actually. Disney poking fun at itself. Sure, a good part of it was over the top, but it seemed as though they writers knew what aspects of Disneyana they wanted to lampoon and then… just… did it. There were many cameos and Easter eggs (IMDb list, Wikipedia list) as well. Post-movie, we headed back to the apartment to hang out. When we got back, one of the other roommates, Kim, and her friend Paige were at the apartment. Kim introduced Vince and me as the unofficial sixth and seventh roommates. Paige, noting the Christmas stockings on the wall, asked where Vince and my stockings were. Vince said that we simply hadn’t had the time to get around to getting/putting up ours yet. I thought of something and left the room…

I had brought a couple of Santa hats with me to Cedar City. I got the black-trimmed hat and tacked it up next to SaraRules’ stocking. This met with resounding approval. Vince asked,”So, what about me…?!” I left the living room again and returned with a white-trimmed Santa hat, which I handed to him. He tacked it up next to Darillyn’s stocking. This was also met with resounding approval.

This morning’s commute wasn’t bad at all. UDoT did a fine job of making sure that the roads were clear. Traffic was fairly light and there wasn’t really anything out of the ordinary to speak of.

I got a call from the Director of the Braithewaite Gallery this morning. It seems as though one of the pieces I am purchasing is not for sale, after all: The artist had mis-entered something on the form that was given to the gallery about the piece. Oh, well, I still have the two other pieces.

Human of the Day
Coworker Mark2. Details in ‘Toasters.

Stray Toasters

  • I am having a corned beef sandwich for lunch.
  • The Sartorialist, by way of SaraRules
  • I picked up a copy of HALO 3 over the weekend. I may have to test drive it tonight, post-football.
  • I need to finish HALO 2.
  • For those who have been under a rock – or simply haven’t heard: LiveJournal has been purchased from SixApart by Russian firm, SUP
  • Also by way of SaraRules: Undercover restorers fix Paris landmark’s clock
  • Demented Christmas compilation mixes from Suburban Sprawl
  • Business Buddha. Nice.
  • Mark2 (yes, I have to number Marks around the office, too) just brought me a Bit-O-Honey candy bar. Out of the blue. Well, I guess there was a reason: Last week, we were talking with some other coworkers about some of our favorite candies; Mark2 and I noted that we both like Bit-O-Honey. That was nice of him. I think I’ll make him Human of the Day (above).

/lunch

Tonight, I will watch the Ravens take on the undefeated Patriots at Fiddler’s Elbow. Joiners welcome. After all, misery loves company and I really don’t see the Ravens chalking this one up in the “W” column.

Namaste.

“It’s just another manic Monday…”

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Monday – 19 November 2007
Another work week begins… but it’s a short week. I like to shake it, shake it short weeks. They’re nice. And this one has the added bonus of: SaraRules will be in town tomorrow.

Yesterday was full of football and general laziness. SaraRules and I watched the Browns-Ravens game… until it went to overtime – I was Ivory Soap-sure that I knew what the outcome would be. (I was right, by the way. Congratulations, .) After the game, we headed to St. George. I stopped in Old Navy, intent on picking up a few turtlenecks or mock turtlenecks, as the weather is starting to turn a bit chilly. No go, Flight. The only sizes they had were for toddlers. I’m short, but not quite that short. Guess that I’ll have to check Eddie Bauer. Next stop: ColdStone. We tried the Mud Pie Mojo, a coffee ice cream-based flavor. It was very good. Next: Best Buy. I’ve been mulling over an Xbox 360 for a while, and decided that if they had the right package, I’d probably go ahead and pick one up. When I looked around, all I saw was the “Arcade” package. Definitely not what I wanted. SaraRules tapped me on the shoulder and pointed me in the direction of a stack of Xboxes about 20 feet away. VARIETY!!! Yes!!! For those who don’t know, Micro$oft has multiple “versions” of the Xbox:

  • Arcade: This is the base model. No frills, no bells, no whistles.
  • Core System: Includes a 20 GB hard drive and two games.
  • Halo 3 Special Edition: Basically a Core System that, for an extra $50, has been painted green and orange, just like everyone’s favorite Spartan. (No, not these Spartansthis Spartan.) And, did I mention that this does NOT include a copy of Halo 3? It doesn’t.
  • Elite: If Microsoft was going to have “sexy black hotness,” this would be it. Where the other Xboxes are white with grey accents – or Halo 3 green – and plastic, the Elite is shiny black metal. Or, at least the original limited edition ones were. It comes with a 120 GB hard drive and two games. And all for only $100 more than the Core System.

I went with the Core System. And I’m good with that.

The end of the evening held a trip to the grocery store, me cooking dinner (with an assist from Steve, who did the garlic bread), wine, football and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Fun movie. Quirky, even. I went into it expecting something else, so I was a little thrown-off… but I enjoyed it. I found out afterward that SaraRules is a big Robert Downey, Jr. fan, so I showed her the trailer for Iron Man. Her reaction: “We are so there.”

This morning’s drive wasn’t bad. I played intermittent leap-frog with an SUV from Beaver up to Spanish Fork. It reminded me of Smokey and the Bandit in a way: One vehicle would lead (and make sure that the path was clear, the other would drive “a little” faster than the posted limit. To my knowledge, though, neither of us had a trunk full of Coors. (At least, I didn’t.) There wasn’t any construction on the northbound side of I-15; there was a little… something… going on that forced the southbound side to one lane, just north of Cove Fort, though. And, of course, there was general monkey-rifficness almost as soon as I crossed into Utah County. Go figure.

I thought about something this morning – that I first thought about Friday night, on the way to Cedar City: I have an eclectic mix of music on my iPod. No news there. From The Powerpuff Girls theme to Nine Inch Nails’ The Perfect Drug. I also have a tendency to sing along with whatever song strikes my fancy while driving. My car is equipped with the OnStar service; I don’t subscribe to it, but it’s there. I remember hearing about cases where the FBI used OnStar to eavesdrop on suspects. It made me wonder if a bored OnStar advisor ever listened while I was singing away… and what they thought of the rather odd assortment of songs to which I listened and/or sang.

Work hasn’t been bad. I’ve had a couple of issues to forward to other people and a few small equipment needs to fill, but otherwise the natives have been quiet. Which means that I was actually able to get some reading done.

Stray Toasters

I should start thinking about prepping my things for tomorning.

Namaste.

“Don’t be shocked by the tone of my voice…”

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Saturday – 17 November 2007
As Bobby Darin sang, “What a difference a day makes…”

Last night’s drive to Cedar City was relatively uneventful, although long. I left SLC a little later than I had planned, thanks to some office monkeydom. Nature of the beast, I guess. Leaving late meant that I got caught in the Great I-15/I-215 Southbound Exodus crunch. It’s great when it takes you 20 minutes to go four miles. Once I got past 106th South, traffic wasn’t bad… until I got to Orem. At UVSC, I-15 turned into a parking lot again. A monkey-filled parking lot. And, that had barely cleared up when there was another clot around Center Street in Provo. Not so amazingly, when I got out of Utah County, traffic was (for the most part) fine. Although, there seemed to be more southbound traffic than I am used to seeing. *shrug*

When I got here, aside from seeing SaraRules, I was also reunited with my work ID badge, which had decided to stay here on holiday. SaraRules, Roommate Kim and I ate take-out from Wendy’s and watched Batman Begins, which made for a good way to end the day/week.

So far, today has been quiet and lazy. In true Saturday fashion, the morning started with breakfast and coffee and cartoons – a new episode of Legion; a rerun of The Batman. Now, SaraRules is knocking out some homework and I’m playing around on the Interweb. And deciding if I want to play around with Parallels. Tonight, I’m either going to a basketball game – which will get me back on track for my “Year of Sports” goal – or going to a Gershwin… opera-type-thingamabob.

Stray Toasters

Time to find some trouble to get into…

Namaste.

“The ink is black, the page is white, together we learn to read and write…”

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Thursday – 15 November 2007
Three down, one in the chamber and one to go.

Today has been pretty good. There were a couple of small fires (tiny things, really) to put out when I got in. Other than that, it’s been pretty quiet here in the south forty. Today’s workout was a bit painful – I apparently tweaked my shoulder in the past day or two:

  • Bench Press: 225 lbs / 2 sets, 8 reps; 205 lbs / 1 set, 12 reps
  • Standing Curls (dumbbell, hammer grip): 25 lbs / 3 sets, 10 reps
  • Decline Press: 155 lbs / 1 set, 12 reps; 165 lbs / 2 sets, reps
  • Cable Fly (Nautilus): 95 lbs / 3 sets, 10 reps
  • Reclined Curls (dumbbell): 20 lbs / 1 sets, 10 reps; 25 lbs / 2 sets, 10 reps; 20 lbs / 1 sets, 10 reps
  • Bench Dips: 3 sets / 15 reps

Eric and I tried to do a rep at 300 lbs today – neither of us made it – and we noted something about Tuesday’s workout: We left two (2) ten-pound weights off the bar, so we only did 280 lbs. I also neglected to list the Decline Press in Tuesday’s workout. We did three sets of 12 reps at 135 lbs.

Stray Toasters

  • I found out that a coworker was worried – for weeks – that I would be horribly offended by something he said. I remember the situation, total case of “no blood, no foul.”
  • Of course, that didn’t stop me from toying with him this morning.
  • Drew Barrymore as Edie Beale
  • I brought in Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word for Eric. I’ve had two other people ask if they can read it when he’s done.
  • To err on the side of caution, I told the mangers about it… so that if someone saw the book and came to one of them, freaking out about it, they would already know the score.
  • This happened at the V.I. where we usually go for late-night breakfast.
  • By way of : The Real Voice of Darth Vader
  • A coworker asked if I had a version of The Girl from Ipanema in my mp3 collection. I told him that I had three. He browsed my mp3s and found them. He told me, a little later, that he wasn’t aware that Sammy Davis, Jr. had been anything other than a comedian. *jawdrop* He had never heard of The Rat Pack, either. *FLOOR*
  • Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, one of my all-time favorite movies.
  • I want to drive this.

Namaste.

“I’ll take a Coke, then.”

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Monday – 12 November 2007
Another week begins.

The commute wasn’t bad. Not even when I got to Utah County. I was shocked. Wait… I take that back. Just remembered one monkey who apparently didn’t grok the concept of “fast lane” as we were heading into Scipio. Downhill. While we both drove alongside a semi. *sigh* Some peoples’ children…

Yesterday was a lax and lazy day. Highlights included watching football (more on this below) and watching The Boondock Saints, which I had somehow never gotten around to watching before. I liked it. Quite a bit, in fact. This week was my week to cook dinner. I took a page from my mother’s book and made a pineapple bowl mixed fruit appetizer, followed with baked chicken breasts, rice (cooked in cream of mushroom soup) and asparagus. All-around, quick and easy.

Football Update
The Ravens lost to the Bengals yesterday. Again. Congrats, .

I can deal with losses; they’re part of competition. What I don’t get – and here comes the Monday morning quarterbacking – is: Why in the Nine Hells Brian Billick doesn’t do something… ANYTHING… when he sees that the on-field squad isn’t working effectively and/or efficiently!? Steve McNair was the Ravens’ starting QB for the past two games. This followed a multi-game absence due to a groin and back injury, I think. Last week, he didn’t do anything. Yesterday, he didn’t do anything either. In fact, it was so bad that the Ravens were about five minutes away from getting blanked, before Billick rubbed a couple of brian cells together and came up with something that approximated “a clue.”

That clue: Put Kyle Boller in the game.

As ever, it was a case of “too little, too late. BUT… Kyle was effective. Far more so than Steve:

  • McNair: 17/26 for 128 yards
  • Boller: 6/8 for 89 yards

One-third the number of attempts, with a 10% better completion rate. And with his first five (5) completions, Boller had already gained more than half of the total yards that McNair had… in three-and-a-half quarters. Yes, they both had one interception – and McNair did rush for six yards – but come on. He had over three-fourths of the game to do something.

Yes, I’ve been vocal about Kyle as a QB in the past, but I’ve also noted that he has made definite strides in becoming a good, solid and effective quarterback over the past four years. Look at game footage over the past two years and you can see the difference. He’s gone from taking two (or three) quarters to settle into the game to getting right down to brass tacks.

And, didn’t we draft a new Heismann Trophy-winning QB this year, too? We did? I thought so.

But, anyway, congrats to and Cincinnati’s co-MVPs: Brian Billick and Steve McNair.

/rant

Stray Toasters

/lunch

Namaste.

“Life, in a nutshell…”

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Wednesday – 07 November 2007
*WHEW* That’s really the best way to describe the past 36 or so hours, they’ve been something of a whirlwind.

Monday night, after football, I stopped to borrow a cooler from , more on the “why” below. I got to see and play with the cats for a bit. Lightning and Presto were moderate attention whores, go figure; Sissy was a little more low-key.

Tuesday was a quiet day in Cubeville. I didn’t have anything new in my task list, so I plowed through some more reading. Yay, reading! Actually, I really can’t complain: I am learning a lot (as dry as some of it may be…) and improving my skill set.

After work, the fun began…

I headed to Scandia, to pick up the cake that I had ordered for SaraRules’ birthday. A raspberry marzipan cake. A cake that needed to be kept cool/cold, hence the need for the cooler. I had ice. I had gel packs. As far as I knew, I was ready to rcok. Unfortunately, the cake box was significantly larger than the cooler. *grblsnrkx* This meant that some creative adaptation was in order. I wound up adding a half-gallon of ice cream to help with the cooling process. Grabbed a bag o’ clothes and headed out. Next, a stop to pick up to pick up some decorations and fill up the tank… then it was time to burn the breeze. Until I went to get onto I-15 South. Drive-time gridlock. yay (lower case intentional). I got through that and made it to Provo… only to hit two more pockets of resistance. >.< But, once I got down to Springville, things moved at a steady pace. Next stop: Cedar City.

One thing about the drive between SLC/AF and Cedar City, you have time to kill. A LOT of time. Last night and this morning, I listened to the (abridged) audiobook version of John Hodgman’s The Areas of My Expertise (iTunes Music Store link). It’s a fun read. Um, “listen.” Whatever. And, it features Jonathan Coulton, as well. Win-win! (All that and you learn about the 51st U.S. state!)

I made it to Cedar without any problems. And the cake survived the trip intact. Sara wasn’t in, which I was counting on – she was in a rehearsal for an upcoming production at the school. Perfect. I had conspired with her roommates to keep this trip a secret and so far, it was working out well.

That’s when I remembered that I had neglected to pick up birthday cards before I hit the road. Greeeat.

We put up the decorations and I made a mad dash to the store for cards. I got back to the apartment and signed the cards with plenty of time to spare – the rehearsal started late. Fortunately. So, I hung out with the roommates. Sara got in, saw the decorations and was met/accosted by her roommates; I was reading a couple of articles in GQ, in her bedroom (i.e.: “hiding”). The look on her face when she got to her door was well worth the trip. (And, of course, none of us thought to take any pictures.) We all went back into the kitchen. We sang “Happy Birthday.” We ate cake (which was quite good, I must say). And everyone went to bed.

This morning, back on the road and on to work. There have been a few questions/problems to deal with, but it’s been pretty quiet, overall. (Translation: “More reading!”) Today’s workout was short, but painful (in a more-or-less good way):

  • Leg Raises: 3 sets / 20 reps
  • Dip: 3 sets / 20 reps
  • Bench Press: 3 sets / 15 reps, 155 lbs.
  • Lat Pull-downs: 3 sets / 15 reps (sets 1 and 3 at 120 lbs., set 2 at 100 lbs.)
  • Incline Press: 3 sets / 15 reps, 95 lbs.

Stray Toasters

Like I said: *WHEW*

Namaste.

“The lights in the mirror the stars… I just drive…”

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Monday – 05 November 2007
And…. back in Happy Valley, again. Wahoo, or some madness like that.

Belated Happy Hatching Day to :

SaraRules and I played backgammon again last night. I won four games to three. I like winning. We also watched the Dallas-Philly game. What I want to know is: Who were the yahoos in the Eagles’ jerseys?! What happened to the real team? I saw Andy Reid on the sidelines. I saw Donovan McNabb on the field. I even caught a glimpse of Brian Westbrook. Hell, David Akers even put in an appearance or two. But the others?! No idea. Dallas just walked all over ’em.

The morning commute wasn’t bad… until I got just into Utah County. Then the monkey-rifficness started. And I can’t blame a Utah driver this time – it was a Canuck. He, his pick-em-up truck and a long trailer tried to squeeze an Acura off the road… right in front of me. *grblsnrkx* There were also the usual assortment of people who decided that the “left general purpose lane” was the ideal place to go the speed limit. Or less.

Stray Toasters

Quote of the Day
Today’s gem was SMS’ed in by Land; he overheard it from an out-of-state man working for the pro-voucher campaign here in Utah:

I met a black man today. I win the scavenger hunt!

And with that… lunch is done.

And tonight, the Ravens take on the Steelers. Fiddler’s Elbow. Guinness. That’s all I’m sayin’.

Namaste.

“On the road again…”

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Friday – 02 November 2007
And so the weekend starts. Actually, it started last night: I cleared things with and got on the road for Cedar City. Late start, but that also meant that there was almost no traffic. Which means… say it with me…. “No monkeys!”

This morning, I slept in. Oh, glorious sleeping in… how we love you. While waiting to SaraRules to get done at school and work, I ran to the bank and the gas station and the car wash (Oh-oh-oh-oh, at the car wash, yeah!). After we met back at Sara’s, we decided that we were hungry. Next stop: Costa Vida. With food out of the way, we headed back to campus for a few, so I could say “Hi” to a few people.

I wanted to do some shopping – slim pickin’s in Cedar – so we went to St. George. Outlets. Dairy Queen. And Best Buy. Amen.

Back to Cedar. Tonight, it’s Papa Murphy’s and Dog Soldiers.

Tomorrow… we’ll see.

Namaste.

“They’ve given you a number… and taken away your name.”

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Monday – 22 October 2007
Another week begins. So far, it’s been good (despite a road monkey on the AF commute)… and it’s a short work week, so I’m not about to complain.

Saturday night, I finished watching Renaissance. It was good. I liked the feel and style of the movie. And I was pleased with the way it wound up; I was a little surprised by part of the ending, but in thinking about it – it made sense. I give the movie a thumbs-up with an okay.

Then, it was off to breakfast with the usual suspects… plus one: put in an appearance.

Sunday, SaraRules and I went to Temple Square to see Music and the Spoken Word – she plays cello, as does my coworker who performs with the Orchestra at Temple Square, so I figured it would be a “best of both worlds” kind of thing. So… off to the Conference Center we went. There were tons of people – far more than usual – also heading to the Conference Center. Odd, but I figured “Whatever…” When we got inside, they were handing out tickets for “Multi-Stake Conference.”

*blink blink*
Okay… definitely not what we’d gone for.

We decided to beat feet and make our way out. The problem: All of the primary entrances were being used for just that: Entrances. (After all, who would possibly want to leave when you could get a little bit o’ Jesus in your day?) So, we found an elevator bay that led to the parking garage and went out that way. Then we made our way against the tide of humanity back to the car. Along the way, we found a crosswalk that had a stone benches in the middle of the street. In case you got tired halfway across? *shrug* Who knows?

All gussied up and with no particular place to go, we realized that we were hungry. I checked the time and figured that Ruth’s Diner was going to be filling up with patrons. So, rather than sit and wait, I pointed the car to I-80 East. Park City. Cisero’s. Brunch. The food was good, as usual. And the drive, there and back, was nice.

Back to Salt Lake and on to the Capitol Theatre to see The Flying Dutchman. I enjoyed production. I was even able to restrain myself from making untoward comments to the lady who sat behind me and kept kicking the back of my seat throughout the performance. I was rather proud of myself.

From there, we headed to Sara’s parents for dinner and football. We watched the Broncos whale the tar out of the Steelers. I’m not really a Denver fan, but any team that plays the Steelers is my “favorite team” in that match-up.

Football Update

  • The Ravens dropped a game to the Bills. Bah. *shakes fist*
  • The Raiders lost to Kansas City.
  • The Bengals beat the Jets.
  • The Browns had a bye week.
  • The Vikings got branded by the Cowboys.
  • The Eagles lost to da Bears.

The Best: Come Together – Round 2
I put The Beatles up against Aerosmith in this match-up.

I picked up a copy of Across the Universe: Music from the Motion Picture a few days ago. I’m sorry, but Joe Cocker, singing an arrangement by Elliot Goldenthal, kicks the bejeezus out of both versions. Don’t believe it? Listen to it (unfortunately, it’s audio only – which is a shame, because the video portion of this kicks much grass) and tell me what you think.

Stray Toasters

And that’s that.

Namaste.

“Monday, Monday…”

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Monday – 15 October 2007
And so, another week begins.

Last night, I tried making the jamabalaya recipe that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. , it’s pretty good; I don’t remember whether I sent you the recipe, so let me know if you’re interested in trying it. Sara and I watched the Seattle SeaChickens take on the N’Awleen’s Saints. When it was all said and done, the Saints went marching in with a win. Post-football, we watched Shadow of the Vampire, a movie that I’ve owned for at least two years, but never got around to watching. That’s a pity, because it was good. It also made me want to see Nosferatu.

The extended commute wasn’t bad. The presence of Utah Highway Patrol’s finest was minimal, but noticeable. And, there weren’t too many monkeys on the road… until I got to Utah County again, go figure.

And… Happy Hatching Day to

…and also to

The Best: Kiss Me Deadly
Lita Ford vs. Reel Big Fish

Friday, on the way to Cedar City, the Reel Big Fish version of the song made its way into the musical rotation.
On this morning’s commute, the Lita Ford version of the song played.

I like both versions, but the harder-edged, 80s rock sound of Lita Ford wins.

Stray Toasters

/lunch

TCP/IP. Whoop-de-damn-doo.

Namaste.

Weekend in Southern Utah…

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Sunday – 14 October 2007
A lazy Sunday in Cedar City. The day started off slowly – i.e.: sleeping in. After consciousness and coffee (which some might say is a bit redundant) were attained, Sara and I had brunch with and , who were on their way to Las Vegas. It was a fun outing. When they got back on the road, Sara and I stopped in a store where one of her roommates works.

The weekend, thus far, has also been good.

I was a little later getting on the road than I had planned. Work, picking up the car and… traffic. I had hoped to avoid the usual mire of late-afternoon traffic on I-15, which I should have, by all rights. But, there was an accident between the 72nd South and 90th South interchanges that had traffic down to a crawl. Zaz! There was also the usual assortment of road monkeys to be found along the way to Utah County, although traffic was significantly better once I got to the south end of Utah County. As I was coming up to Nephi, a little blue car with Texas plates walked me down and tore past me. With the utmost quickness. I passed that car about three miles south of Nephi. The driver had made a new friend: A Utah Highway Patrol trooper.

Friday evening, I rolled into Cedar… had a VERY quick dinner… and then Sara and I saw a production of The Tempest. I had neither seen a performance of nor read the play before this. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Back to Sara’s to hang out with the roommates for a bit before crashing.

Saturday started with breakfast and cartoons… the way any good Saturday should start. The early afternoon saw us back at the theatre to see Art, a three-man play. An interesting note about this play: All three of the actors were in the previous night’s performance of The Tempest. It was quite interesting to see them in such different roles. Back to the apartment to hang out with the girls and figure out what to do with the evening. Our decision: Bowling! Sara, Darillyn, Steph and I headed to the local bowling alley and had at it. It was fun. Very fun. And, considering that I haven’t bowled in months, I did pretty well: 118, 160, 150. After bowling, I played Apples to Apples for the first time. Interesting and entertaining. I might have to pick up a copy for home.

Football Update
Quick hits:

  • The Ravens whooped up on the Rams. As it should be.
  • The Raiders are (at this point) nine minutes away from dropping one to the Chargers.
  • The Panthers are down by one to the Cards, with twelve minutes left to play.
  • The Eagles beat up on the Jets. ‘Grats, .
  • The Browns 2.0 roughed up my not-so-beloved-as-they-used-to-be Dolphins. Nice one, , but you can stop beating up on my teams now. Really.
  • The Vikings took one away from da Bears. Congrats, .
  • The Bengals lost to the Chiefs, in Arrowhead. Sorry, .

Stray Toasters

  • I have a couple of bags of cotton candy that shall go towards tonight’s watching-a-movie snackage.
  • Sparky. Sunshine. Glitter. Moonbeam.
  • There were at least two ‘Toasters that I was going to include here… but I can’t for the life of me remember what they were.

Sara’s done with her homework; time to go play in (what’s left of) the sunshine.

Up out.

Namaste.

Mid-afternoon Randomness

arts and leisure, Council for Better Driving, everyday glory, geekery, music, news and info, science and technology, travel, workout No Comments »

Just back from the gym. Today’s workout was easily as good as Tuesday’s. I managed to pull off two reps of 300 pounds today. The reps were spaced out: I tried one, to prove that Tuesday wasn’t a fluke, waited for Eric to try one, then did another. The second one was a little slow, but I moved it. And, I increased my standard bench weight to 225 pounds.

  • Bench press: 225 pounds / 3 sets of 8 reps
  • Wide-grip bench press: 135 pounds / 3 sets of 10 reps
  • Decline dumbbell press: 40 pounds / 2 sets of 10 reps; 45 pounds / 1 set of 15 reps
  • Dumbbell pull-overs: 40 pounds / 3 sets of 10 reps
  • Side bends: 35 pounds /3 sets of 15 reps
  • Crossover dumbbell curls: 20 pounds / 3 sets of 10
  • Pull-ups: 10

Other than that, the work day has been good.

The day, in general, has been good.

And tomorrow is Friday. Amen.

Stray Toasters

  • and I were talking about some of the traffic on his site and I decided to take a look at the traffic on mine. I checked out the monthly stats… and the daily stats… and who’s been looking at the site… and the Top 10 Search Keyphrases and Keywords.

    And that’s where I stopped.

    Because I was laughing so hard.
    Number one search keyphrase: KKK

    *FLOOR* The overall exchange went a little something like this:

    [10:54] : Okay… want to see something odd?
    [10:59] : sure, shoot
    [11:15] : [URL]
    [11:15] : Bottom of the page
    [11:15] : “Search Keyphrases”
    [11:15] : Look at the #1
    [11:20] : HA!
    [11:20] : Yeah.
    [11:20] : 🙂
    [11:20] : something in your closet we should know about?
    [11:20] : These are not the hood and robes you are looking for….
    [11:20] : i love irony
    [11:21] : “this don’t look like no grand wizard”
    [11:22] : Wow.
    [11:22] : Horrible crossover thought.
    [11:22] : and that is?
    [11:23] : I’ve had random songs from The Wiz going through my head. (Listened to the Broadway recording many times as a child… and recently bought it on CD for myself)
    [11:23] : There’s a song called So You Wanted to See The Wizard
    [11:24] : HA
    [11:24] : …which just got reparsed in my head as: So You Wanted to See the Grand Wizard
    [11:24] : that should be your song o’ the day

  • NBN Thursday’s Theme Song: Don’t Nobody Bring Me No Bad News
  • sent me a link to this video. If the melody sounds familiar, but you can’t quite place it, try this.
  • Glitter.
  • 30 Days of Night. Next week!
  • “Shithead granola-eating douche bags” – Jake on the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (1, 2)
  • Hawk, from Applegeeks, has started a non-AG drawing journal.
  • How it feels to die.
  • This comic appropriately sums up my feelings about the 15-mile construction zone near Scipio:

    The Council for Better Driving: Utah endorses this comic.

/lunch

Namaste.

Jiggety-jig.

everyday glory, football, movies and TV, toys, travel No Comments »

Monday – 08 October 2007
Annnnnd, I’m back.

The trip, though short, was good. Saturday, the weather was intermittently craptastic… just the thing for a night-time drive.  Fortunately, there were clear patches on the way, and you could see stars.  LOTS of stars.  I don’t think that I’ve noticed quite so many stars since my last trip along I-80 on the way to Carson City.

Yesterday, Sara and I made a trip into Cedar Canyon, near Kolob Resevoir to the “C” Overlook (pictures to come in a follow-up post).  And, I had yet another encounter in “Why Rob Likes Roads with Guardrails.”  It wasn’t Butterfield Canyon bad, but I had a few moments of “Oh, look! No cars are coming the opposite direction, I can move to the inside a little. “  After that, we headed to a barbecue and I got to hang with some of the grad students I met a few weeks ago; they’re a fun bunch – I think that they’d fit in with the Clitorati gang fairly easily.  And the guy who hosted the barbecue…?  He is apparently very serious about s’mores.  He had at least four kinds of marshmallows, two or three kinds of chocolate, and two types of graham crackers.  Game on!

Last night, we watched the last quarter of the Bears-Packers game.  For 15 minutes, I was a Bears fan.  It was a good fight.  Of course, it’s easier to watch a close game when “your team” isn’t playing.  (And, for the record: The Ravens squeaked past the ‘Niners.)   After the game, we were going to double-feature Batman: Mask of the Phantasm with Shadow of the Vampire, but only made it through Phantasm when two of Sara’s roommates came in.  We decided to fore go Vampire and hang out with them; that turned out to be a fun option.

Today’s commute wasn’t bad.  Blue skies and light traffic.  I had no problems with road monkeys… until I got to Utah County.  Go figure.

Stray Toasters

  • I have been receiving text messages from Adam about his exploits in HALO 3.  The boy cracks me up.
  • Phone booth.
  • Starfish Goldfish and Coffee
  • “He’s still wearing his super-pants.”
  • Glitter.
  • I need to assemble my Stikfas ninjas.

That’s good enough for now.

Namaste.

“Trick of light, moving picture, moment caught in flight…”

comics and animation, everyday glory, geekery, music, news and info, the best, travel No Comments »

Monday: Coda / Tuesday – 18 September 2007
Tonight, I got to play “Favorite Uncle” to the kids while Kate and Perry took care of a couple of things. The kids were finishing dinner when I got there, so they were ready for a little play time before bed. Aside from using my lap as an occasional playspace, they pretty much entertained themselves.

About an hour before bed, I sat them down for some quiet time while they watched cartoons. Then, the boys decided they wanted to watch Doctor Strange before bed… so I let them watch it, with the understanding that when it was time for bed, they’d have to turn it off and go to bed. So, popcorn was popped and they sat down and watched the movie. If someone had been watching through a window, it would have looked as though the two youngest had tried to attach themselves to my hip: The baby was on my left, feeding herself and handing me kernels of popcorn when I was taking too long to get them myself; the middle child was on my right, half-watching the movie, half-trying to feed me popcorn, too. And now that I think about it, the oldest was hovering pretty close, too.

When it was time for bed, they went to their respective rooms and got into bed. No fuss. Even the baby – She ran into her room, made a bee-line for the crib, asked for one of her dolls and laid down. Just like that. I tucked them in, closed their doors and didn’t hear a peep from them for the rest of the evening.

When Kate and Perry got home, Kate asked if I “…survived the kids alright?” I told her that as far as babysitting gigs went, this was cake. The kids took care of themselves (with the exception of one pre-bed diaper change, for the baby) and were great all night long.

The Best: Killing Me Softly (prompted by post from )
Roberta Flack vs. The Fugees

While I like the up-tempo groove of The Fugees’ cover, for my money, this song is best as done by Roberta Flack. No contest.

The Best: I Can’t Make You Love Me
Bonnie Raitt vs. Prince vs. George Michael

This one was pretty close. Sara and I were listening to Prince’s Emancipation this weekend and his cover of the song started playing. I asked if she had heard the George Michael version of it; she hadn’t. Fortunately, I had Nomad with me (A road trip without my trusty iPod?! Unheard of!) and played it.

Both covers are good… but for me, this round goes to Bonnie Raitt. There’s something that sounds more emotionally charged in her version, although I’d say that the Prince version runs a not-too-distant second.

Stray Toasters

  • I posted the pictures from this weekend’s Cedar Breaks hike. (Apologies to those on dial-up connections…)
  • , what’s this about Maoists quitting the Nepalese government?
  • For some reason, I just had the thought of a wheelbarrow race pop into my head.
  • Jamie McKelvie talks Suburban Glamor
  • By way of : LOLthulu
  • This sounds like an interesting idea, but “Lemon-squeezin’ Jesus” just doesn’t have the same ring to it. I think I’ll stick with monkey-squeezin’ Jesus, thank ya kindly.
  • Hmm… Monkey-squeezin’ Jesus vs. Micro-Jesus. That could be interesting.
  • Rare Timothy Leary document on eBay
  • …speaking of which: I was in a chat/conference/speech with Timothy Leary waaaay back in the days of Quantum Link – the service that eventually became the AOHell behemoth.

I should try that “sleep” thing.

Namaste.