Nathan just posed the question of where former NFL QB Michael Vick should go, if reinstated into the league. From there, people started tossing around suggestions of what teams he should try out for.
I tossed the Patriots name into the ring… which garnered a crusty look from Julie.
Nathan countered and said that it might actually make them a better team.
He got a crusty look, too.
James suggested that Vick and on-the-fence Brett Favre try out for the same team. (Don’t call it a comeback…)
I said that would be like the MC Hammer/Vanilla Ice tour.
Then Nathan asked if there were any teams who were based on or themed around dogs.
Julie replied, “What about the Cleveland Browns ?”
Friday – 17 July 2009
It’s kind of odd to be at work on a Friday. Well, not entirely odd, as I do it every other Friday, but this is the first Friday that I’ve worked in a month, thanks to harmonic convergence the way that my 9/80 Fridays and the Fourth of July worked out. Fortunately, it’s most coworkers’ 9/80 day off, so it should be rather quiet around here.
Reeling by on Celluloid
I chatted with MarknTyme this morning about the Cool World/Long Kiss Goodnight Scale. I was looking for an icon to represent that scale in the same way that I use the red LEGO brick for thigns that I like. Both he and had suggested using Mega Blox, since they are a LEGO knock0ff. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a picture of a single Mega Blox (Blok?), so that became a moot point. MarknTyme then suggested a Lawn Dart. That seemed to fit better – “Aiming for the target… but just missing the mark.” So, I give you the official icon for the CW/LKG Scale: The Lawn Dart.
We also hammered out a few other points about the scale:
The standard, as put by MarknTyme, is: “…the worst movie I paid full price to see.”
It’s a “mirror” of the normal scale, with Cool World as the -10 and Long Kiss Goodnight at -1
The worse a movie is, the more darts it gets.
Regardless of whether some other movie rates a -10, Cool World will retain it’s spot as the “name” at the bottom end of the scale. It’s tradition, after all.
Allowances can/will be made to add rented movies to the scale. (I’m looking at you, The Spirit…)
And, with that out of the way…
Last night, Logan came over for dinner. While eating, we watched Krull, a movie that I’d never seen before, but that SaraRules and Logan watched – fairly often, I took it – while growing up. It was a bit dated, in terms of special effects and it didn’t have the greatest acting or dialogue, but it was still amusing and entertaining. Even more of a shock to me – no, lj user=”applevenus” , not a shocker – was to discover that the lead actor, Kenneth Marshall, later went on to portray Lt. Cmdr. Michael Eddington, an antagonist of Capt. Benjamin Sisko, on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Also in the movie were a younger Liam Neeson and Robbie Coltrane. While this was a “fun” movie, it wasn’t a “great” movie. Thus, it gets the dubious honor of being the first movie to get darts from the CW/LKG Scale:
After Krull, we watched The Day the Earth Stood Still. No, not the Keanu “Whoa… I know alien invasions” Reeves version; we watched the 1951 classic version. It was definitely a movie of its era: Full of Cold War suspicion and platitudes about the power – and danger – of using atomic energy. It was also amusing to note the way the military “protected” the general public from the enigmatic visitor, as well: Klaatu’s spaceship landed in President’s Park, in Washington, D.C. The public, after the Army established a cordon around the ship, stood right behind the firing line. Let’s look at why this is funny to me:
Spaceship in the park. (Okay, this one isn’t funny by itself, but bear with me.)
Army forms a circle around the spaceship. (Now we’re getting somewhere…)
All weapons (small arms and heavy artillery) are pointed towards the center of the circle
The general public was standing – between 25 and 50 feet – around the perimeter of the circle.
Apparently, no one was worried about ricochets or “collateral damage.” *shrug*
All-in-all, I can see why this movie is considered a staple of “classic science fiction.” It was a good movie and kept me both entertained and engaged.
Stray Toasters
Yep. I’m a Legion fan. And, a freely-acknowledged overgrown kid. Need proof? I just ordered this.
DC Comics’ summer event, Blackest Night, kicked off on Wednesday. If it maintains the pace set by its first issue, this is going to be very good.
In a related note, a couple of months ago, asked me why I’m such a big Green Lantern fan and how I came to be one. It took me a few moments to formulate a fully-realized answer, but I came up with one:
I had read comics with Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) in them as a kid and I also remembered watching him in various incarnations of Super Friends on Saturday mornings. His power: He had a ring that could create anything that he could imagine. He had the ultimate answer in “wish fulfillment,” almost literally in the palm of his hand. Years later, I bought issues of Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps, because I liked the character and the space-faring adventures.
Fast forward to 2001… Cartoon Network brought the Justice League back to the screen in animated form. The show focused on DC’s seven “big guns”: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Martian Manhunter, The Flash, Hawkgirl and Green Lantern. This time, however, they didn’t use Hal Jordan; they went with another Earth-based Lantern, John Stewart. As Bruce Timm put it:
He’s the most controversial character so far from what we’ve been gathering on the Internet. When the show’s lineup was first announced, there were a lot of people saying, “Why aren’t they using Hal Jordan? No, it’s got to be Guy Gardner. No, it’s got to be Kyle Rayner.†Obviously, we picked the wrong one, but the reason we did choose John Stewart are various—I think they’re all valid. Right off the bat, I’ll just say it: you know we did need ethnic diversity in the Justice League. We felt that the show is going to be seen worldwide and I think having a member of the Justice League who is not just “Mr. White Bread†is a good thing.Another reason why we chose him: literally, out of all the Green Lanterns we could have chosen, we all kind of liked the John Stewart character from the comics, especially the Denny O’Neil / Neal Adams version. When they first introduced him he was like the angry young black guy…you know, in 1969 and 1970. Even though that’s not really relevant today—like the whole Black Power movement and everything—we still wanted to keep that kind of edge and attitude with him.
And so, just in banging around ideas of what to do with him, going back to the original idea of the Green Lantern Corps—where they’re basically Lensmen [the pulp characters created by E.E. “Doc†Smith]—they’re space cops, they’re space marines. We’re like, “Okay, he’s a military guy.†And then somebody said, “Louis Gossett Jr.—An Officer and a Gentlemen.†I said, “Yeah,†and I went, “Wait a minute—Samuel L. Jackson,†and everyone went, “Yeah!†So that’s kind of who he is. He’s a real rugged, no-nonsense, barking orders kind of Green Lantern—and we love him to pieces. We love him so much [that] he’s like in almost every episode. I predict that you guys are going to love him too.
And he was right. I did… and still do. It was great to not only have a Green Lantern on the team, but to have one who was Black brought something else to the table: A role model, of sorts, for kids (and at least one or two adults I know). It was good to see someone of color portrayed on-screen with a positive influence and not just “guy on the street” or “thug of the week.” That – and the way that the character was developed in both the animated series and in comics – only helps to cement John Stewart as a favorite character of mine.
Wednesday – 15 July 2009
I went out to dinner at Redrock Brewing Company with SaraRules, her parents and her grandparents. I had the French Onion Steak Sandwich (which, although very messy, was delicious) and washed it down with a tasty Cream Stout.
After dinner, I went to play ‘Clix with Chris. We decided to play a non-themed game, which allowed us to play with some figures that we hadn’t used before. I threw a decent team together…
Black Widow (Ultimates)
Captain Marvel, Jr.
Dark Beast
Iceman and
Spider-Girl
…but didn’t adhere to the strategy that I’d started with and put the wrong pieces in the wrong places at the wrong time. Thus, Black Widow – a lynch-pin in my game plan – wound up getting beaten down. Game plan go *poof*. Dark Beast fell next. Spider-Girl went next and was followed, very shortly, by Iceman. Despite all of this, CMJ did well… relatively speaking. He took a fair bit of punishment, but was still dancing toe-to-toe with Chris’ Hulkbuster Iron Man. In the end, he got taken out, but he went down swinging; I was impressed with the figure – I’ll definitely be putting him in the field again. (Hopefully, with better dice rolls…)
This morning has been… not too bad, but there were a couple of items that were on the fast-track when I got into the office. One was fairly easy to deal with, the other was… out of my area of expertise. (I’m willing to bet that John Hodgman could have handled it, though.) Fortunately, a workaround was found and life continued apace.
Friday – 10 July 2009
It’s finally the weekend; thank Heaven for 9/80 Fridays.
The second half of yesterday’s workday was slow, which wasn’t necessarily “bad.” I was able to clear a few things off my task list and there weren’t any large fires to dowse. And, we once again had ice cream! Nevertheless, I was glad when quittin’ time rolled around.
Last night, SaraRules and I headed to the gym. For a change of pace, we stayed in the free weight room for our entire workout:
Bench Dips: 3 sets/10 reps – w/ 25lb plate on sets 2 and 3)
Later in the evening (read: “In the wee hours of morning…”), I played City of Heroes. I wasn’t able to find a team to join, but I was able to solo a couple of story arc missions that I had pending.
Stray Toasters
While I was preparing to play CoH, I left the TV on. Oprah follows The Late Late Show. Last night’s show was about Dani Lierow and her family. All that I can say is: “Wow.” Major kudos to the Lierows for the love, time and patience that they’ve had to give to a little girl who had been dealt a bad hand. They get half of today’s nod as my Humans of the Day…
…the other half of the honor goes to my friend Joe, who’s shipping out today to provide IT support in Iraq. For a year. He is chronicling his adventures at: On the Rear Lines.
Thursday – 09 July 2009
It’s supposed to be an NBN Thursday and my technical Friday… but this morning, it was pushing the envelope. That’s not entirely true: GoogleTalk was a righteous pain in the keister this morning. For some reason, it decided to tell iChat and Adium to “Sod off!” It’s working now. So, all things considered, it’s still a good day.
Last night, while SaraRules went off to a Zumba class, I fired up City of Heroes and patrolled Paragon City with a pick-up team. The mission level was “a little high” on the first mission we ran, but the others went well. By the time it was all said and done, I had tacked a couple more levels onto Khnurn.
This morning, someone came over and commented about how large my monitor (the 42″ TV) is. I retorted that it is, in fact, large. He asked if it was for a project; I told him that it “kind of” was. He asked if it was for work or personal. At this point, I had a very quick internal monologue… that somehow managed to stay internal:
“Is this for a personal project?”
Come on. Rub two – JUST TWO – brain cells together and get a synapse or two to fire. If this was for a personal project, don’t you think that someone (ANYONE!) – from my manager all the way up to one of the execs – would have said something and/or repossessed it long before now? Idiotstick.
It didn’t help that this was one of my “not-as-favored-as-others” coworkers. *sigh* Monkeys.
Then I had a presentation to give in today’s staff meeting. That went well. At least, I think it went well. And really, that’s all I am concerned with right now.
Tuesday – 30 June 2009
It’s the last day of June. I’m sure that this is important – or at least “notable” – for many reasons, but prime among them is the fact that the new IKEA bible catalog will be out soon.
Last night, we had a tasty dinner with SaraRules’ family. After dinner, and some errand-running, we headed home for some downtime. I started putting together walls for my new ‘Clix building. Of the eight main walls, I have five complete; the last three should go much faster. Then I can start in on the “lobby” section, which should go quite quickly. I’m looking forward to getting it completed.
This morning, I was at work at 0700. One of our teams has a couple of days’ worth of meetings and we had to get some networking ready for it. So, loonybin88 and I were in here – neither bright-eyed nor bushy-tailed – to get it taken care of. Naturally, while we were wrapping up the setup, there was a pushy monkey who wanted to have something done his way; little did he know that he was mere moments away from having the closest live power cord plugged into a place neither God, Mother Nature nor Darwin ever intended for it to go. *sigh* Monkeys, go figure.
Jackson’s Death Puts Lucrative Beatles Copyrights In Play
The man may have been… “odd,” to say the least, but he was a great entertainer. I had forgotten that he had a major share of the rights to many/most of the Beatles’ music catalog. I was also unaware of this performance of Come Together until yesterday:
SaraRules and I actually encountered a mythical “good Samaritan” doing a random act of kindness yesterday. It was a refreshing change from all of the “People are no damn good…” stories you hear. He’s today’s “Human of the Day.”
Tickets for Transformers Giant Robots Blowing Shit Up have been acquired.
Brownies! (Unfortunately, I have no ice cream here at work with which to eat them.)
I just had a conversation with some folks at work… that included Star Trek, Superman and the Legion. During that conversation, I had an epiphany:
Substitute going back in time for going to Texarkana,
Substitute picking up a couple of whales for picking up a truckload of beer,
Substitute the Klingon Bird of Prey for either the Trans-Am or the semi (or both!) and
Substitute William Shatner for Burt Reynolds.
challenged me on a few of the more esoteric points:
What about Paul Williams?
Answer: The Space Probe.
Why? Because Paul Williams (along with Pat McCormick) was the reason Bandit and Snowman went to get the beer… just as the probes were the reason Kirk and crew went to get the whales.
What about the sidekick?
Answer: Jerry Reed was Bandit’s partner-in-crime, Cletus (The Snowman). In ST:IV, Spock provided that role… and comic relief.
What about Sally Field?
Answer: Dr. Gillian Taylor, the whale biologist that Kirk “picked up” and took back to the 23rd Century… just like Bandit picked up Carrie (Field) on the side of the road.
What about Jackie Gleason?
Answer: Gleason, along with every other cop in the movie would be embodied by the Federation.
Why? Because The Federation represents “The Man,” especially when they bust Kirk – the man who just saved the planet – back down to Captain from Admiral. DAMN THE MAN!!!
Quod Erat Demonstratum.
This is my 9/80 week. And I get next Friday off for 04 July. AND… the following Friday is a 9/80 day, too. Three Fridays off in a row. SCORE!
We had a shipment arrive a little while ago. The driver, who recently won a truck driving competition, and a coworker of his are going to Pittsburgh to compete in the national competition. How often does one get to say “I met someone who won a truck driving competition?” I think that this is the first time I’ve ever been able to do that.
Monday – 22 June 2009
As it’s the beginning of a new work week, Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders might say:
Oh, back on the chain gang…
But, as Mr. Rogers would say:
It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood
So, it’s something of a wash.
I’m not sure what is on tap for this morning – or this week – yet, but hopefully there’s nothing too maddening coming down the pike. Tonight, however, is Bad Movie Night with Chris and Mary. We haven’t done one of those in a while, so it should be fun.
Stray Toasters
Friday, in a move that comes under the heading of “It’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission,” I reallocated a work asset – a 42″ television – as a temporary monitor. There is actually a method to the madness, as I’m using it to prove a couple of points:
We’ve been having some questions about our response time to some requests. I’m using the new large screen to keep a list of such requests visible all day,
The television has been sitting – unused – for the past few months. We’ve been asked to see how/where we can use resources in different ways to maximize our overall effectiveness… so, really, I’m just following orders.
Now, I’m waiting for the-powers-that-be to get into the office and comment on my “creative solution.”
Paul came over and saw my new upgrade. After asking if I was trying to cause problems, I informed him that all of this was actually HIS fault: When I asked him about doing this back in April, he just laughed… but he never said “No.” And then, he actually asked to look at one of the items being displayed on the task list. I think that means that I’ve justified one point and proven another. We’ll see how long this lasts.
…and a belated Happy Birthday to sister-in-law-to-be Meliko:
I ate something – I have a pretty good idea of what it was at this point – on Wednesday that seriously did not agree with me. I’m Ivory Soap sure that I’ve spent more time looking at the walls (and shower curtain and pictures and towels and… and… and…) in the bathroom in the past two days than I have in the past two weeks. This has definitely come under the heading of “not fun.” On the flip side, when I weighed myself this morning, I was down to 180.5 lbs; so apparently there was a nominally “positive” side effect.
Yesterday, our company held a little shindig for our most-recent software release. There was a cook-out in a park down in Utah County and a “team-building” exercise – the new Star Trek movie. It was as much time the third time as it was the first two times I saw it. And I managed to catch two Easter eggs that I had previously missed: Scotty’s tribble and the reference to “Cadet Vader.” I did not, however, see the R2-D2 in the debris field over Vulcan. Oh, well, just something to look forward to when the DVD comes out.
Stray Toasters
It rained again in the valley yesterday, just a trace amount here (Utah County apparently got the lion’s share of the rain), bringing us to thirteen (13) days of rain. Two more days and I would have started building an ark. We’re supposed to get a reprieve today, but possibly more rain this weekend.
is at Wizard World Philly. (I’m only slightly jealous…) She’s been messaging me with not-quite-play-by-play of some of the goings-on while waiting to go inside.
On NPR this morning, there was an item about Iran’s Supreme Leader, The Ayatollah. That triggered something in my head that made me think of Cobra‘s Supreme Commander, Serpentor. Every time they said “Supreme Leader,” The picture of Iran’s top religious leader parading around in a tacky snake suit popped into my head. That made me laugh… every time.
Wednesday – 17 June 2009
Midweek. It’s already been raining/drizzling this morning, bringing our “Days of Rain” total to twelve. Yep… it’s about time to start measuring things in cubits.
Our robot overlords protectors are offering free heatlh screenings this morning. One of the announcement emails said that we should fast for eight hours before getting our screening. Ordinarily, that would be fine. However, this means that I haven’t had any caffeination yet. That holds a potential for danger to the general populace. I forgot that today, Sushi and Comics Wednesday, was the same day as the screenings. I came in to see if I could reschedule my appointment for earlier, so that I didn’t eat before getting my screening… only to find out that they can do/could have done it after I eat. *sigh*
Stray Toasters
Every so often, Julie (our Property Manager and unofficial “Distinguished IT Admin”) and I wind up wearing similar outfits on the same day. Today is no exception: We’re both in black slacks and light blue shirts; I’m wearing a tie, though.
It’s been sunny, with high clouds, so far today. I’m still waiting to see if there’s any rain in the wings for this evening or tonight; that will make it 10 straight days with rain. Sure, it’s great for the water table and the reservoirs, but I still keep coming back to that whole “high desert plain” thing. *shrug*
Stray Toasters
This morning, I had to write a brief follow-up to Thursday’s “Here’s how you do things” email, because I apparently confused someone with the language in it. *sigh*
Rachel pointed this out to me this morning; it made me laugh:
I introduced Julie and Sean to The Utah Baby Namer.
(And I used to think that Black families had cornered the market on unusual and unique names. Nope!)
Thursday – 11 June 2009
Another NBN Thursday kicks off…
…with meetings. Yay. Looking at my calendar, it looks as though I only have two meetings, rather than the three I thought I had. That’s a nominal win.
::: EDIT :::
One meeting down… and I just found out that I might have a third meeting, after all. It’s not the one I was expecting, however.
Last night, SaraRules and I made our weekly(-ish) trek over to The Perfect Dress to see what they were unleashing upon the world as the new, hot items in bridal and formal wear. There was only one new dress to ridicule look at. After that, we wandered through the neighborhood World Market for a bit, with side trips to Paradise Bakery and Cafe and Red Mango. The night wrapped with a bit of TV and the reading of some Stephen King (for her) and this week’s comics haul (for me).
Stray Toasters
Buck Rogers #1 – It’s a new take on a classic character. This is your quintessential introduction issue. We meet the titular Captain Rogers, Colonel Wilma Deering… and… Ursinius. If you’re looking for Twiki, all I can say is “Sorry… bidi-bidi-bidi-Buck.” This book looks like it could be a rather fun spin on the tale of Buck Rogers and company.
Fantastic Four #567 – Doctor Doom vs. his Master. Who will pay the price for the backlash from this fight? This storyline has been building nicely for the past few months, I am intrigued to see how it will pan out.
The Flash: Rebirth #3 (of 5) – Can Barry Allen outrun his fate to become the new Black Flash? Would it be Barry Allen if he didn’t try? One of the best sequences of the story includes a bit of dialogue with Superman:
Superman: Barry. I’m not going to let you do this. Flash: You can’t stop me. Superman: I’ve raced you before, Barry. I even won some of those races. Flash: Those were for charity, Clark. ::: speeds out of sight with a sonic boom :::
The Fastest Man Alive, indeed.
Green Lantern Corps #37 – Daxam under a yellow sun. (Never seen that one before, have we…?) GL Arisia rallies the Daxamites who want revenge on Mongul. GLs Ash and Saarek’s paths cross… at the direction of the scarred Guardian. The Alpha Lanterns make an appearance at the Sciencell riots.
JSA vs Kobra #1 (of 6) – DC Comics’ cult Kobra is stepping up its game and looking become “a name” in the DCU. Their opening move: Making an attack on Mr. Terrific, member of the JSA and Checkmate’s White King… in front of the JSA’s brownstone. (“Not smart,” you say? Actually, it was quite shrewd.) What is their endgame and what are they willing to do to achieve it?
R.E.B.E.L.S. #5 – Durlan shapeshifter, Ciji, states her case/mission. Astrild Stormdaughter states her case/mission. And readers finally see the true face of Starro the Conqueror. (Or at least the updated “true face.”)
Red Robin #1 – Not only are we (re)introduced to Red Robin – and the man behind the mask – but his mission. Also in this issue, we get a glimpse at the “changing of the guard” in the Batcave and of [SPOILER DELETED], who seems to have something of a vested interest in the activities of Red Robin, both in and out of costume. I was impressed with this issue – it contained interesting looks at some familiar characters and pushed at least one of them in a direction that I wasn’t expecting. I’m looking forward to see how the series progresses.
Uncanny X-Men #511 – The X-Men split into two teams to battle the Red Queen and the Sisterhood… and this time, they bring their “A” game. And friends. And they’ve even managed to work up a couple of surprises. The question is: Will it be enough? And, by the end of the fight, a familiar face returns to the pages of UXM.
Of the books I picked up this week, there were a few that didn’t make the cut… but one that really didn’t do anything for me was Uncanny X-Men: First Class #1. It was a “behind the scenes” look at the transition from the original X-Men team and the post-Krakoa team. More specifically, it was a collection of stories from each of the new X-Men (minus Sunfire and Thunderbird) about their lives before joining Xavier’s cause. Of the stories, the only one that really struck me as “good” was the Storm story, which recounted one of her adventures as a child thief in Cairo. Other than that, it was a waste of $3.99, in my opinion; if I could give negative bricks for this, I might consider it.
Stray Toasters
Two bits of coolness, by way of SaraRules’ parents:
Her mother got me a Justice League Unlimited coloring book… and crayons!
Y’all gon’ make me lose my mind
up in here, up in here
Y’all gon’ make me go all out
up in here, up in here
Y’all gon’ make me act a fool
up in here, up in here
Y’all gon’ make me lose my cool
up in here, up in here(Now why do I have an almost-overwhelming urge to watch Jesus Christ Superstar…?)
And then there were none. It’s always great when you (re)discover that there’s a meeting you’re supposed to attend… twenty minutes before the meeting is scheduled to start. And I wouldn’t even have known that if I hadn’t overheard someone else talking about it.
Stray Toasters
I’m trying out the Wordbook plugin for WordPress. Ostensibly, my posts should be getting mirrored in my Facebook account. We’ll see how that works out.
Friday – 05 June 2009
Another quiet skeleton crew Friday in the office. After starting the day with 2112, I spent about 30 minutes talking with our CTO about some of his experiences with international travel. That was followed up by a conversation with our CFO about our meeting yesterday and the direction that we (IT dept) need to go to make sure that things we discussed yesterday continue to move along.
Last night, SaraRules and I watched Ball of Fire, starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck – a screwball comedy. In it, Cooper plays Bertram Potts, a professor who is part of an 8-man team working on a new encyclopedia. Professor Potts is working on a section on “slang,” but realizes that despite his masterful knowledge of the English language, he knows next to nothing about modern slang; he sets out to find people who know and use it. One of those people is Katherine “Sugarpuss” O’Shea, a nightclub performer… and gangster’s moll. And from there, hijinks ensue. It was a fun movie and, though despite showing its age in a few places , a good way to spend an evening.
