Random Access

Thursday – 04 June 2009
Last night, I had a couple of new ideas about HeroClix masterboards. While I’ve liked the foam insulation-backed boards, they are thick and, especially in the case of the first one, difficult to transport. (I didn’t cut the first board so that it could fold.) After looking at the multi-level (and multi-layer) board on ToyChop, I started rethinking my ideas about baseboards.  A quick jaunt over to Office Depot gave me what I think is a good idea: Using a project board as the base. The first – and, in my opinion, most advantageous – benefit that it offers is that it is thin. Next, it is light. Third, After I cut off one of the sides, it will fold down to 12″x36″x½”. Win-Win-Win. (Granted, that will still leave 1½” of overhang for the corners, but that’s pretty easy to deal with.)

This morning, I had a meeting that was scheduled to be 3½ hours long. Fortunately, we were done in under two hours. Hallelujah.

Wes and I made it to the gym this afternoon:

• Sit-ups (decline): 3 sets/20 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 205 lbs
• Flys: 3 sets/10 reps, 110 lbs
• Lower Back Extensions: 3 sets/20 reps, 140 lbs
• Reverse Flys: 3 sets/10 reps, 80 lbs
• Tricep Extensions (dumbbell, overhead): 3 sets/12 reps, 40 lbs
• Curls (dumbbell): 3 sets/10 reps, 30 lbs

Post-workout weight: 188.1 lbs.

Stray Toasters

• Armstrong’s ‘poetic’ slip on the moon
• OAS revokes 47-year-old suspension of Cuba
• Obama in Egypt reaches out to Muslim world
• SaraRules, and tipped me to some sad news: Actor David Carradine found dead and Police rule out foul play for now. I remember watching Mr. Carradine in reruns of Kung Fu when I was growing up.
• Another tip of the hat to Nyx for pointing out: Comics Grammar and Tradition
• The opening to last night’s Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson featured They Might Be Giants’ Istanbul

• How to Sustain Motivation When You’re Struggling
• It’s apparently “Wear Some of My Old Ties” and “Wear a Themed Tie” week for me. Yesterday, I wore a World Wildlife Fund dolphin tie and today I’m wearing a Save the Children puppet show tie.
• Tetris Turns 25, and It’s Still an Addictive Pleasure
• The new season of Burn Notice kicks off tonight.

Allez-oop!

Namaste.

Tuesday – 02 June 2009
I was a little bit slow out of the gate this morning, but not ridiculously so. It was more a case of “Yes, I’m awake… but I’m not really in a rush to get ready.” And, despite the fact that I got ready in a fairly leisurely fashion, I was still in by 8:00.

Last night, we had dinner at SaraRules’ parents’ place. After dinner, she, Logan, Steve and I played bocce (not to be confused with “speaking Bocce“) in the backyard. I’d never played before, but it was rather fun. After the game (Logan won), we watched Taken. It was as good the second time as when we first saw it. Then, we headed home.

Stray Toasters

• Yet another reason I love SaraRules – she sent me a link to this.
• Badda-Bing Indeed
• Last night, a KC-135 and four F-16 escorts were doing circles around the valley. After the third or fourth loop, we decided to look up what was going on. It was to kick of Air Force Week.
• Booker T: A Soul Man Tackles OutKast – this is an interesting instrumental cover of Hey Ya by a legendary soul music artist… and features Neil Young on guitar, as well.
• Jet Cyclist Hits 73MPH and Lives to Tell the Tale
• Playing with the queen of hearts
  Knowing it ain’t really smart
  The joker ain’t the only fool
  Who’ll do anything for you
• Guantanamo files ‘must be public’
• Spirograph business cards… which, in turn, led me to Business cards made from meat
• According to a post on WikiHow, today is National Leave the Office Earlier Day
• Send headshot to get portrait painted

Right on to the friction of the day…

Namaste.

For the last hour or so, things have been fairly quiet around here. Sensing that I was hitting that late-afternoon, post-lunch slump… and heading towards just wanting to take a nap, iTunes responded by kicking up the tempo on the songs in my playlist:

• MC Hammer – U Can’t Touch This
• Heavy D and the Boyz – Now That We Found Love
• Jonni Lightfoot – The Foot

Just the things to get the blood pumping and get over that late-afternoon hump.

Groove on, brothers and sisters.

Groove on.

I need to take a break.
That said, I shall take one… now.

So far, the day’s been rather good – that’s a pleasant change from yesterday’s tension. As an added bonus, I’ve been able to get some reading done. That, in turn, has given me a few ideas to adopt that should help improve some of our processes.

Today was also Sushi and Comics Wednesday. Today’s fare was good – I chose a Seattle Roll and a Spicy Tuna Roll. No comics today, as the holiday pushed shipping dates back one day. So, I’ll probably wind up hitting Dr. Volt’s on Friday.

Stray Toasters

• iTunes has been providing me with a good workday music selection.
• Same Stuff, Different Day – an interesting look at how/why comics get rebooted/retconned
  After reading this article, I had an apostrophe epiphany: The whole “Who’s a better GL: Hal or Kyle (or John Stewart or Guy Gardner)” argument – and associated viewpoints – is the same as the “Who’s a better James Bond” question.
• What do you get when you cross zombies and LEGO? Zombie Apocafest 2009
• What do you get when you cross Dance Dance Revolution with Bach’s Toccatta and Fugue in D?

• I say, nothin’ comes from dreamers but dreams
  I say, sittin’ idle in our boat
  While everyone else is down the stream
  Nothin’ comes from talkers but sound
  We can talk all we want to
  But the world still goes around and round
• Comic Book Resources had a trailer for Surrogates, an upcoming Bruce Willis movie. It looks interesting…
• Buffy minus Joss?

That’s good for now.

Back to the grindstone.

Wednesday – 27 May 2009
Yesterday was a long day. A little before lunchtime, I had a meeting that should have lasted 10 to 15 minutes. Operative words: “Should have.” Instead it ran closer to thirty and wound up becoming one person’s “rage against the machine.” That led to a second meeting – which I didn’t have to attend – which, in turn, led to a third meeting (yep, I was in this one). Between meetings two and three, Wes and I went to the gym. I needed a good way to work off some of the frustration and irritation of Meeting #1. Yesterday’s workout included:

• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 205 lbs
• Rotary Chest: 3 sets/10 reps, 70 lbs
• Compound Row: 3 sets/10 reps, 125 lbs
• Dumbbell Curl (with Shoulder Press): 3 sets/10 reps, 30 lbs
• Decline Sit-ups: 3 sets/10 reps
• Push-ups: 2 sets/15 reps

Post-workout weight: 186.6 lbs.

It was a good workout – I was sufficiently tired (and a little sore) when we were done.

After work, I headed home for a bit and then headed over to Chris’ for a game of HeroClix with him, and an as-yet-undetermined fourth player. We decided to go with 600 points  I’d been itching to run a Legion team for a while, so I did:

• Cosmic Boy
• Karate Kid
• Lightning Lad
• Saturn Girl
• Supergirl and
• Young Superman Superboy

Supergirl brought the much-vaunted “Superman Ally” team ability – “Stealth? You have stealth?! WHAT stealth?! Did you not see the big red ‘S’ on my chest?!” The Legion, being a team of Wild Cards, could all copy that team ability.  (“Yes, Batman, all of us can see you over there. You, too Black Canary and Green Arrow.”) brought KC Shazam!, The Mighty Thor and Energizer – he wanted to see how the big guns (Shazam and Thor) played.

As we were without a fourth player, Chris brought his tournament team (OOTS Batman, Green Arrow and The Flash) along with KC Superman. When we noted that our fourth had bailed on us, we chose to let Chris play at 1200 points, because 3-way battles kind of suck. He decided to bring more Justice League members, giving him 1200 points of JLA hurt. When I saw Chris’ lineup, I probably should have changed my team, but I really wanted to play the LSH, so I stuck with them… and then the beatdown started.

Opening moves were good, but the overwhelming force of Chris’ JLA team wore down Shazam… and Thor… and 2/3 of the Legion, before we called it quits. On the plus side, we took out… wait… we didn’t take out ANY of his pieces. No plus side. FAIL. (We did damage a couple of them, though! Pyrric moral victory? Silver lining?) After the game, Chris looked at his team – and the feats that he had on them – and realized two things:

1. We pretty much didn’t stand a chance against that strong of a single-themed team
2. He used too many feats on his figures

There’s a “10% Rule” in HeroClix that says that 10% of your points can be assigned to feats. He was “a little” (about 40 points) over that total. I don’t think that it was a total game-breaker, but it might have affected a couple of things.

This morning, I woke up stiff and sore. As I said, yesterday’s workout was a good one. I also realized that I woke up a few times during the night due to workout-induced achiness in my back and shoulders. But, it’s good training and it builds character… I guess. All-in-all, so far, it’s been a good and relatively quiet day. I like that.

Stray Toasters

• Dance Dance Immolation – “Dance Dance Revolution. With Flamethrowers. Pointed at You.”
• Final Word: The rebirth of cool suits him to a T
• Salt Lake Valley Health Department: Public Health Inspections
  See how your favorite local restaurant scored.
• Bayou: chilling ghost story, a graphic novel about race and haunts in the deep south
• Think you know Ensign Chekov? Guess again.
• We stand our ground, we are young, we rely on our defiance just to lose what we have found
• 
• For – Fear and Loathing: The Board Game
• Burris on wiretap: ‘Keep me in mind’ for Senate seat

Attack the day…

Namaste.

Friday – 22 May 2009
It’s almost the weekend, and it’s a long weekend, at that. Win-Win. I’m Ivory Soap sure that there will be even fewer people than usual in the office today. I should have brought in my Xbox…

Last night, SaraRules and I had over for dinner. Ms. ‘Rules fixed spaghetti, with homemade sauce and garlic bread… and chocolate chip cookies! We also had a rather good Chardonnay from Sebeka Wines. We watched Planet Earth: Fresh Water and Food Network Challenge: Bartenders Battle as we ate. After each episode of Planet Earth, there is a feature called “Planet Earth Diaries,” in which they detail some of the methods used in filming that particular episode. In “Fresh Water,” there was a segment about The Amazon, in which they filmed pirahna during a feeding frenzy. The cameraman was in the water, just a few feet away from the frenzy… “shooing” away pirahna that roamed away from the underwater buffet with his bare hands. I made a comment to the effect of “I hope that they paid their camera crews really well for this.”

Stray Toasters

• Early Morning Dance Break (extended remix)
  • Mai Yamane & Seatbelts – Tank!
  • Blackstreet (ft. Mya and Ma$e) – Take Me There
  • Was (Not Was) – Walk the Dinosaur
  • Robbie Williams – Feel
  • The Cruxshadows – Carnival
  • Indigo Swing – Regular Joe
• Get The Hint’ mini sticky notes
• pointed out a couple of interesting items:
  • 100 Layer Cake and
  • Web site sparks creative ideas for city’s vacant lots
• Sherlock Holmes trailer released
• The title of this article says it all: Tim Gunn, Agent of Marvel… what?
• 15 Wonderful Uses for Witch Hazel
• Fliptop Twister
• Dan Aykroyd says ‘Ghostbusters 3’ may start filming in winter
• Celebrity Vampires
• 
• ‘Star Trek’ director J.J. Abrams on tribbles and the ‘Galaxy Quest’ problem
• Whites become minority in Kansas county
• Gadgets Gone Wild – Top 10 AIs Run Amok

And so it goes…

Namaste.

Thursday – 14 May 2009
Last night, SaraRules and I stopped by to see Jess’ (‘s)  parents for a while. It was nice to be able to visit with them. Jess’ obituary can be read here. Jenny and Julie, Jess’ sisters, have put together a memorial blog for her at: Jessie’s Memories. The family has asked that, in lieu of sending flowers, people make a donation to the Pulmonary Hypertension Association.

After we got back home, came over. She had dinner (chicken and dumplings) with us and we watched The Darjeeling Limited. It was… an odd movie. I don’t think that I’ve seen a Wes Anderson film before, but I’ve heard that The Royal Tennenbaums is possibly his best work, so I’ll give that one a try at some point.

Stray Toasters

• Star Trek-related geekery
  • Is the new Star Trek movie scientifically sound?
  • Can Young Kirk Really Survive the Car Jump in the new Star Trek?
  • Star Trek conventions in the 1970s (Thanks to )
• Pope preaches against prejudice
• Ben Franklin Death Ray
• Lunar Junk
• 
• What grown men do with their G.I. Joe action figures
• “Something” just went wrong around here. No answers as to “what” or “why” yet.
• Steampunk preschool TV show from Weta
• For those of you in the SLC metro area: Ruth’s Diner reopens on Friday, 15 May 2009
• Real Life Spy Gadgets

Back to it.

Namaste.

Friday – 08 May 2009
Today is my stepmother and younger brother’s birthday(s):

…and…

I slept poorly last night. I attribute it to the fact that I had to be up early this morning – earlier than usual – to get into the office early. The first few hours of sleep were alright, but from about 0430 on, it was rather touch-and-go. And that was annoying. But, here I am… with a large, triple-shot-laden frozen mocha to help me not rip peoples’ throats out make it through the day.

Nathan was also in early. We spent a good bit of time talking about the Star Trek movie, our likes and dislikes. As a bigger fan of Star Wars, there were a few things that he didn’t grok in fullness, but he thought it was a very good movie – enough so that he’s planning on seeing it again.  *nod* I approve of that.

Stray Toasters

• By way of comes: Ada Lovelace – The Origin
• National Guard to cut forces after recruiting creates surplus
• Minority youngsters dying weekly on Chicago streets
• Pope begins Mid-East pilgrimage
• Real supervillains don’t use CraigsList
• 
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Chinese provincial government orders local officials to smoke more
• Zombie Snack Bib
• Disney stokes publicity engine with ‘Christmas Carol’ train
• Lady Liberty’s crown to reopen
• Rubik’s Cube Salt and Pepper Mills

Unintentional Porn Overheard at Work
They are still wiring in a few new electrical connections to finalize our server room upgrade. I just heard the following, between Mike (lead electrician) and Aaron (his assistant), while running new wire:

Aaron: Give me more, Mike…
Mike: Six inches more?
Aaron: Yeah, that’s good… whoa!  Whoa!  Stop!  That’s enough!

And, yes, it made my inner teenager grin like a fiend.

Have a great day!

Namaste.

Wednesday – 29 April 2009
Last night, I went over to Chris’ to play the second half of our Brotherhood vs. X-Men match. (Pictures can be seen here.) This time, he fielded the Brotherhood and I had the X-Men. The game, again, was rather balanced… mostly because I decided not to use my biggest gun, Phoenix, although I did take her. I wound up losing the game, in no small due to the fact that I completely forgot something that would have been a huge game-changer during my first turn. *grblsnrkx* On the whole though, it was a good match.

This morning, it took a few moments for my brain to process that the alarm was going off. Once I did, however, things fell into place.  Now, if only the last of the network issues would resolve themselves, as well…

No comics or sushi today. But tomorrow, oh tomorrow, there shall be blood raw fishes and four-color goodness.

Stray Toasters

• Coffee and homemade blueberry muffins.
• Past Chiefs of Staff Analyze Obama
• Metropolitan Opera cuts back on live park performances
• 
• Sean just informed me that the Cardinals cut Edgerrin James. O,o ?!?
• ‘Camina Burana,’ Music of Monks and Drunks
• Cirque du Soliel, in New York (Mostly) to Stay
  
• From Comic Book Resources: Sample Pages from Was Superman a Spy?

I turn my back to wind
To catch my breath
Before I start off again…

Namaste.

I was starting to winddown a bit, but  iTunes picked up the slack – and picked up the pace – and threw a few upbeat tunes into the rotation:

• Robbie Williams – Rock DJ
• Geri Halliwell – Look At Me
• The Time – Jerk Out

Groove.  Boogie.  Sway.

That should help get through the 3:30 blahs rather nicely.

What’s in your afternoon playlist?

Tuesday – 28 April 2009
First off, let me start by saying Happy (Belated/Early) Birthday to the following people:

• and

I didn’t want to forget (again) to do that. And now that it’s taken care of, we now return you to your regularly-scheduled post…

After work, I went home and took a brief nap while SaraRules did some errand-running. It was good enough to get em through the rest of the evening.

When she got back, SaraRules and I went with her family down to Red Rock Brewing Company for dinner, to celebrate her father’s birthday. I had a very tasty cream stout along with a French Onion Steak Sandwich (on sourdough bread), which was very good. After dinner, we headed back to her parents’ place for cake (which was a very good homemade coffee cake) and coffee.

We left there and headed home. I changed into comfy clothes and plopped down on the couch. We watched The Late Show and The Late Late Show, which featured a rather amusing take on the swine flu coverage in the news:

By the way, : Dolly Parton will be on The Late Show (Letterman) tonight.

And, most importantly: I got a good amount of sleep last night. I even slept in this morning and when I got up, I decided that I wasn’t really in a rush to get to work. It felt pretty nice, actually. Although, when I got to the office, one of the managers of the development team came over and congratulated/thanked me (for the IT Team) for getting everything done and back online without horribly impacting their productivity. That was a good way to kick off the morning.

Stray Toasters

• The wedding website is getting more content. I might even get the go-ahead to post its link later.
• Game Changers: Brainteasers for Hardcore Videogame Fans
• , you’ll want to take a look at this: Full of Pryde
• Mormon Crickets Dislike Led Zeppelin
• The Words in the Mental Cabinet
• HOWTO make edible circuit diagrams out of candy
• 
• Kevin Smith Explains What Happened to His Superman Movie
• Cool Tools: New Editor, Same Deal
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Michael Jackson’s weirdest detritus, a photoset

Namaste.

I just had a proof-positive sign of how brain-dead I am after working this weekend:

Paul (my 2nd tier boss) just asked me to spell SaraRules’ name.

Paul: First name?
Me: “S A R A…”
Paul: *writes*
Paul: Last name?
Me: *blank look*
Me: I’m getting there…

Fortunately, was able to answer for me.

I would have loved to have seen the look on my face, because the whole “Please stand by…” look must have been priceless.

I need a nap. Badly.

Monday – 27 April 2009
It’s almost 7:30 (at least it was when I started writing this)… and I’ve already been at work for over thirty minutes. And I spent most of my weekend here, as well. But, for the most part, the server room upgrade is done. Thank God… because we’re all beat. Dog tired. Worn out. We are the walking dead today. We’re expecting a few minor issues, but hopefully, no one will expect lightning response times. (Now, if I can just remember where the cots are stored…)

Stray Toasters

• This morning, I am thankful for a large frozen mocha with a triple-shot of espresso.
  (Whether they know it or not, so are my coworkers…)
• I have caught up with yet another schoolmate – and one of my favorite people from school – on Facebook.
• JoS A. Bank is having another sale.
• Apple and Verizon consider iPhone deal
• The NFL Draft is over.  USAToday has graded the teams’ draft picks as:
  • Baltimore Ravens: B-
  • Carolina Panthers: C
  • Cincinnati Bengals: B
  • Cleveland Browns: B
  • Miami Dolphins: C
  • Minnesota Vikings: C+
  • Oakland Raiders: F
  • Tampa Bay Bucanneers: D+
• G.E.’s Breakthrough Can Put 100 DVDs on a Disc
• 
• So you think you’re having a bad day?  Check out FMyLife.com… then reconsider.
• Chrysler and Union Agree to Deal Before Federal Deadline
• Enter Theatergoers, Gently Welcomed

Namaste.

Sunday – 26 April 2009
Day Three of the Great Server Room Upgrade Saga is going to begin soon.

<sarcasm>
WHEEEE!
</sarcasm>

Things are proceeding apace, but we still have “a few” hours’ work ahead of us. On the plus side, we made some serious progress yesterday and the server room – aside from being a bit cluttered and messy – looks like… well… a server room. However, that doesn’t mean that I won’t be happy to see this project in the rear view mirror.

To say that I was “tired” last night, would be something of an understatement. I came in and just collapsed on the floor. After a hot soak and bath (complete with a little bit of Queen & Country), dinner (Rumbi Grill) and dessert (Red Mango), I felt pretty close to “human” again.

Stray Toasters

• The Ravens picked up OT Michael Oher and DE Paul Kruger (thanks, !) in the first two rounds of the NFL Draft.
• Drug Company Merck Drew Up Doctor “Hit List”
• Maude and Golden Girls actress Bea Arthur died at 86
• 
• 4 Things to Consider Before You Try to Join the Amish
• The Making of the PlayStation

“Time to make the donuts…”

Namaste.

Friday – 24 April 2009
This morning started slowly and lazily, thanks to the server room upgrades. I got to come in a little late… since we have to work later into the evening.

Many evenings, SaraRules and I will kick back and watch The Herculoids (1, 2, 3).  (Hey, it’s a childhood favorite…) Sure it’s horribly dated, but we enjoy watching – and MST3K-ing the episodes. I’ve been wanting to mod a few ‘Clix figures into Herculoids figures, mostly because it would amuse me to do it, but last night, I started to wonder: “Why haven’t there been any Herculoids toys?” To the BatWeb!

A few keystrokes later, I came across this:

That’s right, Toynami is producing a line of Herculoids toys. Yep, yet another “Add” for the Covet List.

Stray Toasters
…are going to have to wait until later – we’re elbow-up in server room work.

Namaste.