Random Access

Tuesday – 11 October 2011 (or: 11-10-11)
It’s been an intermittently sunny and rainy day today. But, it’s been a good day, nevertheless.

I woke up this morning, for some reason, thinking about Charlie Chan. It may have had something to do with thinking about the twins and mentally referring to them as “Number One Daughter” and “Number Two Daughter.” Who knows. Regardless, I wound up at Charlie Chan. And from there, it was only a small jump to The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan. And with that, the theme started running through my head while I was shaving:

Last night, SaraRules! had a Mom’s Night Out and attended Utah Opera’s performance of Fidelio, which opened last week to many positive reviews. Angy and were kind enough to come over and watch the girls – and Monday Night Football – with me, while SaraRules! was away. The girls were well-behaved… after all, they had no lack of attention… but, did their damnedest to avoid entering The Dreaming. Little Miss Diana was still fighting sleep – hard – by the time that SaraRules! got home; but there also seemed to be a look of “See, Mommy… I stayed awake until you got home!” on her face, too. And it still took her a while to nod off.

So far, the work day has been decent. I finally had a chat with someone from building management – which I’ve been waiting for since about 10 AM this morning – about a cooling issue in our space. We want to try changing a couple of things; they’re amenable to the idea. We’ll see how things shake out.

Stray Toasters

• In case you somehow missed it: The Avengers trailer is now online.
• Cybersecurity Awareness Month launched
• German States Used Malware to Spy on Their Citizens
• Cloud Cities art installation of giant plastic bubbles
• 
• In Peru, A Hunt for Chocolate Like You’ve Never Tasted It
• Government Aims to Build a ‘Data Eye in the Sky’
• Disney, Dali and toy trains — Do I really need to say more, really?
• 
• Fu-Schnickens. I still find the name funny.

Namaste.

Monday – 03 October 2011
Happy 2nd Anniversary to SaraRules!

It’s been an amazing couple of years and I look forward to many more with you!

Today has definitely been “a Monday.” The first half of my day was chock full of things that needed to get done with the quickness. And the hits just kept coming. Fortunately, things slowed down enough around 1:30 that I was able to have lunch.

Stray Toasters

• The Ravens beat the Jets (again) last night.
  Ravens Drive the Jets into the Turf
  It wasn’t the world’s most beautiful win, but it still goes in the “Win” column AND it puts the Ravens in lone possession of first place in the AFC North.
• ‘Christian’ as the magic word of politics
• 10 Small Towns with Fantastic Fall Colors
• I want to change my model railroad layout. Again.
• Caffeinated Women May Be Fighting Depression with Every Cup
• A State Grooms Its Best Students to Be Good Teachers

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 28 September 2011
Midweek… and it’s a short work week, to boot! And, it’s new comics day. And, it’s HeroClix: Superman release day. Today is also Rosh Hashanah. That’s a lot of “Win” in one package, if you ask me.

Work has been good; learning the new phone system has been a little challenging, but in a good way. There’s just been A LOT of information thrown at me over the past few days.

On the home front, the girls are doing well and are still quite adorable:

The girls with Mommy:

Vanessa with Daddy:

Diana with Mommy:

They’ve been “a little” fussy over the past couple of days, but (thankfully) have been sleeping fairly well at night. And they’re getting big: At their pediatrician appointment last Friday, they were both 7.5 lbs. I’d wager that they are close to – if not a little above – eight (8) lbs., each, at this point.

Stray Toasters

• Let’s see how well this Wordbooker plugin works…
• Listeria Outbreak in Cantaloupes Is the Deadliest in a Decade
• Robots Extract Coolant from Old Refrigerators
• For SaraRules! and : Penn and Teller’s Magic and Mystery Tour: exploring magic’s roots in China, India and Egypt
• 
• For Hackers, the Next Lock to Pick
• Badass of the Week: Tyrannosaurus Rex
• Logging Out of Facebook Is Not Enough
• Idris Elba: The Man Who Is Luther, Was Stringer, and Could Be James Bond
• 
• Sesame Street Wants to Make Science and Math Fun Again
• Foam on the Range: Colorado’s Beer Trail

All that AND we get to hang with Nyx and Ms. this evening…?! This day is truly full of good things.

Namaste.

Thursday – 01 September 2011
A new month kicks off on a No Bad News Technical Friday. Not only that, but it’s a four-day weekend. (Of course, it could turn into a up to a 17-day weekend, if SaraRules! goes into labor today or tonight…)

Last night, SaraRules! and I were visited by Utah Opera Resident Artist John Buffett, whom we haven’t seen since last season. He told us about his summer season and some of the things that he’s looking forward to for the upcoming season.

Then, I got to go back to work for an after-hours network change. YAY! We’d figured on a roughly hour-long job. It took just over two. But, the bottom line is: We got it done.

I got back home and treated myself to an ice cream sandwich. John and I were going to play HALO: Reach with UO’s Artistic Director, Christopher McBeth, but there were… technical difficulties… that prevented us from doing so. Instead, we – along with SaraRules! – hung out and watched last week’s Burn Notice.  All-in-all, not a bad way to wind up an evening.

Stray Toasters

• Facebook has already paid $40,000 for bug finds
• Blues From the Desert, Recorded On-Site
• Apple loses another unreleased iPhone
• 
• Duchess Catherine, Michelle Obama wield style power for good
• My train left Illinois around 0500 yesterday morning. It will be here tomorrow, which means that I will have to come to the office to pick it up… on my day off.
• Fond of Fonts? Check Out ‘Just My Type’
• 
• Solutions sought for growing space junk problem
• Make China our new partner in space
• U.S. Moves to Block Merger Between AT&T and T-Mobile
• Football season starts in one week.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 30 August 2011
Day Two of the work week finds me, once again, in Utah County. I actually volunteered to come down here a week early — it works better with the timing of kids on the way. And, so far, it hasn’t been bad.

Last night, there was football. The Jets vs. the Giants. (Even though both teams are based out of the New Meadowlands, the Giants were the home team.) There was A LOT of bickering between the teams – so much so that two players had themselves disqualified from play.  It was also a fast game; I think that it was only a little more than two hours, in all.  After the game, SaraRules! and I took care of more of the last stages of baby prep: I assembled Bassinet #2, while she figured out how to install the kids’ car seats in her car. (I took a cursory look at how they’d install in my car, as well, but I’ll put more effort into that tonight.) And then, there was new Top Gear to watch, as well as ice cream sandwiches to eat. It was a good Monday night.

Stray Toasters

• David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” Recreated as Children’s Book
• Federal Court: recording cops an unambiguous first amendment right
• Twenty Iconic Male Movie Roles in Which Helen Mirren Would Have Ruled
• DC Comics’ reboot/DCnU/whatever they’re calling it kicks off tomorrow.  Here’s my take on DC’s view of what they’re doing:

  

• At 35,000 Feet, a Russian Image Problem
• Single tickets for Utah Symphony’s 2011-12 season are now on sale.
• 12 Things You Should Stop Buying Now, by way of
• The ANGRY BIRDS put on superhero costumes
• “Awe” != “aww…”
• Astronauts May Have to Abandon Space Station

Okay… back to the post-lunch grind.

And tonight: Guys’ Night Out.

Namaste.

Thursday – 25 August 2011
It’s another fine NBN Thursday in the valley.

It’s been busy… in a good way. Hectic, but good. Meetings. Stuff. Things. And whatnot.

For those who may have missed it elsewhere: We have a date for the arrival of the twins: Assuming that she doesn’t deliver before, SaraRules! will be induced on the 06 September. Which means that in twelve (possibly thirteen) days, we’ll be parents. Holy cow.

Stray Toasters

• I just got a message from my mother: The new piano has been delivered.
• …and I just ordered this. It ships tomorrow.
• Former Orioles pitcher Flanagan dead in apparent suicide
• Former Oriole Flanagan Found Dead
• 
• In case you’ve been under a rock for the past 24 hours: Steve Jobs Resigns as CEO of Apple
• Jobs Steps Down at Apple, Saying He Can’t Meet Duties
• Steve Wozniak Comments on Jobs Resignation Announcement
• While You Were Out: Apple’s Years With and Without Steve Jobs
• Tim Cook emails Apple employees: “Apple is not going to change”
• Alternate Histories Does the Monster Mash-Up
• 
• Baby’s Got Bass
• Atheist Billboard Goes Up in Salt Lake City, Utah!
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers give each player an iPad as a playbook

And tonight: The Ravens take on the Redskins on Thursday Night Football.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 23 August 2011
Day Two. I apparently have far too much blood in my caffeinestream. This may require a supplemental infusion of bean squeezin’s.

Yesterday was a pretty good day, even for a Monday. The zoo office wasn’t chock full of monkeydom, which makes for a good day. I made dinner last night. Despite the appeal of this…

…I cooked Spaghetti (with my sauce recipe), salad and garlic bread. We ate while we watched Monday Night Football. At halftime, we got to talk with Grace and Sophia (as well as Rana, John and my father) on Skype. And after the game, there was the season premiere of Top Gear. Win-Win-Win.

We’re roughly two weeks (plus or minus) from the advent of The Next Generation. Is it a bad sign that I can envision something like this conversation taking place:

Stray Toasters

• Visitors moved by first look at MLK Jr. memorial
• The 80th Anniversary of Babar
• Engagement Proposal as an Elaborate Portal 2 Level
• Motown songwriter Nick Ashford dies
• 
• Raiders pick Terrelle Pryor in supplemental draft
• Weighing Race and Hate in a Mississippi Killing
• 15 days exploring Muslim America
• 
• We have Columbus to thank for lager beer
• A 15-Year-Old Girl’s Bionic Hand Lets Her Live a Normal Life
• For those who haven’t seen it yet: OK Go performing The Muppet Show Theme

• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file:
• In Peoples’ Minds, Being a Zombie Is Better Than Being a Vegetable
• A Chinese version of Batman’s origins
• Tron Guy and Duct Tape Go Perfectly Together

Quote of the Day
Near the end of our video chat with Grace and Sophia, Leila (the newborn) started crying, to which John said:

“Sound of angels, Rob… Sound of angels. Just remember: Lucifer was an angel, too.”

The best part was the total deadpan delivery. It made SaraRules! and me laugh.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 17 August 2011
Midweek and all’s pretty well…

…unless you’re this guy:

I’m talking about the car in the middle of the picture. It appears to have broken down in the median. It’s also been there for a few minutes. I watched as (at least) two patrol cars drove past it — in the left lane — without stopping. *shrug*

After about 40 minutes, another car pulled up behind it. People got out. They stood near the first car. A couple of minutes later, they both pulled off. I’m not sure, but it may have just been a case of running out of gas.  But, I’m still a little… concerned/bothered… that the two police officers just drove past it like nothing was wrong.

Yesterday, I was in the south office. One of my tasks for the day was to join peoples’ computers to the corporate network. In and of itself, not a terribly difficult assignment. Or so you’d think. After all, the computers spoke the same language – Windows – albeit different dialects (XP/Vista/7).

Theoretical Concept: Easy.
Practical Application: *grblsnrkx*

Let’s say that there was a lot of “hurry up and wait” along with the obligatory questions from the engineers of: “Which login do I use?” and “Should I try this?” and “Huh…?!” But, I got a few of the guys taken care of… without bloodshed.

Last night was game night with and crew. It was a good time. Especially as none of us died in the course of adventuring.

Groove. Boogie. Sway.
A couple of songs that helped to get this morning started were:

• Rush – YYZ
• Clivilles and Cole – Pride (in the Name of Love)

There were others, but these two were the prime movers of the day.  Oh, yeah, and this one:

It has gotten back into the public eye ear(?) as the background music for the Blackberry PlayBook commercial.

Stray Toasters

• I have chatted with my mother today. Twice. Online.
• Apple unleashes first OS X Lion update
• Tobacco giants suing FDA over warning labels mandate
• 
• By way of comes Danny MacAskill Industrial Revolutions
• A Proud Moment in a Discredited Era
• 
• One More Reason (Some) Americans Don’t Care About Kate Bush
• Hello Kitty + Ninja Gaiden = ???
• What Bandwidth Caps Would Mean for Internet Gluttons
• 
• A Village Person Test the Copyright Law
• Razorantium has returned to Lush!  Hallelujah!

Quote of the Day
It’s been a while since I’ve had a good story about my nieces. Fortunately, my brother-in-law posted one yesterday:

Lady, looking at Sophia, dressed in pink with a pink headband: “Oh how cute, is it a little girl?”
Me: No lady, “it” is a duck.
Lady: Well you’re rude.
Me: Well you’re not very bright.
Sophia: QUACK, Daddy! QUACK!

Sophia is just shy of her second birthday.

Namaste.

Thursday – 11 August 2011
Day Four.  Fantastic.

Another NBN Thursday in the valley. The morning has started somewhat inauspiciously: I woke up with a headache at 0500. Two ibuprofen and a glass of water later, I was back in bed. But, by then, it seems the tone for the day had been set…

• First alarm went off.  I turned it off and rolled over to spend more time in The Dreaming.
• Second alarm went off. It took a few moments to realize what it was and why it was making noise. Feh.
• I got to work… only to realize that I had left my ID badge and phone at home.
• Susan beat me – for the second week in a row – to our ritual Thursday morning NBN greeting.

Oh, well.

Yesterday, during my lunch excursion, I stopped at The Train Shoppe. I am/was in the market for two things:

1. MTH 50-1033: DCS Remote Commander Set
2. MTH 30-4205-1: SD70ACe Diesel R-T-R Deluxe Freight Train Set (Norfolk-Southern)

They had Item 1, and would have to order Item 2… if they could find it. The RTR set was originally released last year (as 30-4205-1) and has been discontinued. That’s a pity as it’s hard to find eastern railroad names when you live in the west. “Hard,” but not “impossible.” It usually boils down to having to order what you’re looking for. There was an item in the most recent issue of Classic Toy Trains that noted the (re-)release of the set as 30-4205-1E. While there, I asked if they could order it.

UPDATE: I just got off the phone with Brad, from The Train Shoppe. It appears as though the item in CTT was a misprint. They are not putting out a new NS set, after all.  So, back to the drawing board…

Stray Toasters

• NFL Preseason kicks off tonight!

  

• The 2011 Perseid Meteor Shower begins tomorrow night.
• Gizmodo Cleared in Prototype iPhone Police Probe
• Tech blogger won’t be charged in Apple iPhone case
• I posted a link to K’s Choice Not An Addict on someone’s Facebook page earlier. They had no idea the song was about drug use.
• Five Myths About Mormonism
• Why do I get the feeling that this is something that I should expect…?

  

• This little nugget of joy comes by way of and Clients From Hell.
• The Action Movie Blog Post
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Artist Injects Herself With Horse Blood, Wears Hooves

  

• Foreclosures of expensive homes take longer
• For the Plugged-In, Too Many Choices

Back to the grind.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 09 August 2011
If you’re old enough to remember that tagline, then… I don’t know. Fill in your own witticism here. For those of you for whom it does not ring a bell, it was from when NBC had a show on the air called Hill Street Blues. It was… dun dun DUNNNNN… a police procedural. As did many shows of the day, its theme song composed by Mike Post.

So far, it’s been a decent work day. Earlier, as I was working with one of our QA testers, there was some busy/”Why isn’t this working!?” time while trying to get a couple of his systems switched between a couple of networks. Part of the problem laid in the gap between “This is what we need to do for compliance” and “This is how he wanted it to work for convenience.” We came to terms. (And I didn’t even have to break out the orange hammer…)

Stray Toasters

• Stocks Suffer Sharpest Drop Since 2008
• Britain Burns: Riots Spread Through U.K. Cities
• London paralyzed by fear, shock as businesses smolder
• Black Hat: Insulin pumps can be hacked
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file:
• Michele Bachmann Supports View That Slavery Wasn’t So Bad After All
• Police urge use of holster after man shoots his own penis
• 
• The Apple Store at Fashion Place has an official opening date.
• Jazz’s Present Gets Its Chance at Newport
• 10 great places to eat like a local

That’s good for now.

Namaste.

Monday – 08 August 2011
Another work week begins… and I might just be in need of another weekend to recover from this past weekend. Suffice if to say that the weekend was good, but very full.

Friday afternoon, I did some running around.  While this included a trip to The Train Shoppe, I left empty-handed. I went to the U of U surplus, as well. I didn’t manage to leave without picking something up, though — I got a new-to-us receiver to replace the one that I’ve had since my sophomore year at Purdue. (It’s been a good unit, but has some issues…)

Friday evening, SaraRules! and I headed to ‘s place for the first of the weekend’s baby showers. It was a horror movie-themed shower, complete with:

• blood-spattered wall,
• chainsaw,
• machete (not Machete),
• meat cleaver, and a
• pitchfork.

It was quite possibly the most entertaining shower I have ever attended. Thanks to and for organizing it.

Saturday, while SaraRules! headed to Quilt Club, I mowed the lawn. After that, it was time to get ready for Shower #2, at the in-laws’ place.  This one was a more traditional shower… but, thankfully, without the horribly embarrassing games. And, it was also a lot of fun. Saturday evening found us at the home of our friends, Joe and Rebecca, for RibFest ’11. Death. By. Meat. I’d say “Holy cow,” but I’m worried that it would come off as me trying to be punny.  (Besides, they were pork ribs.) Regardless, they were unbelievably good.

Yesterday, we – along with my mother-in-law – went to Park City for the Park City Kimball Arts Festival. We got there around 9:30, at SaraRules!’ request, which turned out to be just perfect — it wasn’t crowded, nor was it very hot. We saw many nice pieces of art. I also went to Larry Stevenson‘s booth, as I would like something for the twins’ room… but decided that it would probably be better to see whether we have boys and/or girls before making a decision.

Stray Toasters

• My body was (still) a little achy from Friday’s workout when I woke up this morning. I will blame that for The Spin Doctors’ Shinbone Alley/Hard To Exist running through my head this morning.
• Baby’s Palate and Food Memories Shaped Before Birth
• Atlanta School Year Begins Amid a Testing Scandal
• Overriding a Key Education Law
• 

• For SaraRules!: Watching Skateboarding Fails at 1000 FPS Is Actually Quite Fun
• Can You Name the Famous Inventors?
  (I got 10 in the time limit.  Even after the answers were revealed, I only knew three others.)
• Ravens Agree to Deal With Ricky Williams
• Ricky Williams joins Baltimore Ravens’ backfield
  From this story comes another interesting item: Ronnie Brown is going to the Eagles. Michael Vick and Ronnie Brown… on the same team. Can you imagine what their Wildcat formations will be like?
• I just looked at the schedule. Guess who we get in our first Preseason game: The Eagles.
• 
• From Cuba to Florida: A 61-Year-Old Starts the 103-Mile Swim
• International Read Comics in Public Day is coming up.
• Is Technology Making Everyone You Work With a Dick?
• Mmm…. Chow Truck.

Namaste.

Thursday – 04 August 2011
It’s an early No Bad News Technical Friday for me. And, considering how I slept and that I have a project coming to a head today, I could really use that whole “No Bad News” factor.

I don’t often have dreams that continue after I’ve awakened and gone back to sleep, but I had one last night. And it was bizarre. It was (mostly) bizarre in its content – a zombie dream – but because of some of people in it, as well: Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa and Carl Weathers as Apollo Creed.

* blink blink*

I’m sure that there were others, but they were the two I immediately recognized and still remember.

The zombies moved faster than the shambling creatures from George A. Romero movies, but weren’t running at a flat-out sprint like the “rage-infested humans” from 28 Days Later/28 Weeks Later. They were somewhere in the middle — fast enough to be a concern, slow enough to be outrun. Of course, there’s always the prevailing thought that “You don’t have to be faster than the zombies, you just have to be faster than the slowest person in your group.”

The dream wasn’t your standard “Here come the dead” fare, either. It started off that way, and then turned into “behind the scenes in government response:” Lawyers and armed guards. Political leaders being ousted due to their lack of response. Black helicopters flying to “undisclosed destinations.”

Yeah.  It was that weird.

There was a point where it cut over to Rocky – working in some kind of storefront office – and Apollo Creed, training for an event. One of the other characters (Paulie, I believe) from the movies was there, as well. He was suffering from a form of amnesia or Alzheimer’s; Rocky and his guys were preparing to send him away – to Italy, I think – for some R&R. At that point, I was asked to go upstairs (to a living area) and keep watch on someone else. I could see people cautiously wandering the streets, trying to avoid encounters with the undead. I remember feeling a sense of dread, almost expecting this person to turn into a zombie, as he appeared near-death to begin with. I think that he was starting to die/turn as I woke up.

Let’s just say that it wasn’t exactly the most restful night’s sleep.

Stray Toasters

• Not that any/many of them will see it, but I’d like to extend a very heartfelt “Thank you” to SaraRules!’ coworkers for the baby gifts they gave us/the kids at an at-work baby shower yesterday. I’m nominating them, collectively, as yesterday’s “People of the Day.”
• Tuskegee Airmen Gather to Mark 70th Anniversary, and See an Old Friend
• For SaraRules! (and other film buffs): Lost Hitchcock feature recovered in New Zealand
• For Meliko: Showcasing the Viola in Updated Mozart
• Bubba Smith, former Colts star and actor, found dead in L.A. home
• Former NFL star, actor Bubba Smith dead at 66
• 
• Juno Spacecraft to Carry Three Figurines to Jupiter Orbit
  What that title fails to mention is that they are LEGO figurines.  Boldly going where no LEGO has gone before!
• Even Marked Up, Luxury Good Fly Off Shelves
• Yesterday, Warner Brothers announced Laurence Fishburne would portray Perry White in Zach Snyder’s upcoming Man of Steel film.
  Today, they released a picture of Henry Cavill as Superman.

  
  (click for larger image)

  Not bad. I’m looking forward to seeing how well he pulls off the Clark Kent look.

• Battlestar Galactica fans will understand why I find this so amusing:
  

  From The New York Times:  “Industry executives as well as regulators have said that fracking has never contaminated underground drinking water. But there is at least one documented case.”

• Matt Damon defends teachers, disses journalists
• Last night, I saw the video of this for the first time:

• Report: NSA to recruit from DEFCON attendee pool
• I was totally unaware that Daniel Stern played the JAFO in the theatrical verison of Blue Thunder until I was looking up information about Bubba Smith.
• The Horribly Dressed Men of Tech

The project I mentioned at the beginning of the post wrapped up this morning… and it went more smoothly than I had hoped. Selah.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 02 August 2011
Day two of the work week. Day two of the month. Let’s see how it shapes up.

Last night, SaraRules! and I assembled the second crib. With this, the nursery is nearly complete, at least in terms of furniture. For now. I also did a rough count of diapers that we have preemptively picked up: We have somewhere between 900 and 1000 of them. That should get us through the first month or two… we hope.

Groove. Boogie. Sway.
If nothing else, the morning’s musical selections have been good:

• Garbage – The World Is Not Enough
• U2 – One
• Babyface – It’s No Crime
• Rush – Red Sector ‘A’
• Herbie Hancock – Rockit

Not a bad start to the morning.  Hopefully, the rest of the day will keep pace.

Stray Toasters

• I, once again, almost typed the above line as “Stray Taoists.”
• Space shuttle Columbia part found in East Texas
• Pooktre Tree Shapers
• 
• Arts Outposts Stung By Cuts in State Aid
• An Interview with Fabio and Isaiah Mustafa from the “New Old Spice Guy” Campaign
• I believe that I am amused enough by this mug to put it on The Covet List:

  

• HHS announces free birth control for women in the U.S.
• Space program’s environmental cleanup could take decades
• How to Drink Like a Gentleman
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: PBS revisits ‘Mister Rogers’ with new show

And that, as they say, is that.

Namaste.

Monday – 01 August 2011
It’s the beginning of the work week and the beginning of a new month. It’s been something of “a day.” Granted, as work days go, it could have been far worse, but suffice if to say that I’ll be glad when it’s quittin’ time.

The weekend was good, though. Busy. Productive. But, good. I ran a ‘Clix tournament for Dr. Volt’s on Saturday. It was a good event, with a good turn out. After that, and a little downtime at home, we headed to a birthday party for our friend, Melissa. It was themed as a pie party… and there were plenty of pies on-hand.

Sunday, after a very tasty breakfast at Millcreek Cafe and Eggworks, I set about dismantling a shelving unit that our home’s previous owner had built. It was functional… but it wasn’t very pretty. And, it had to come down, so that we could easily access the passenger door on SaraRules!’ car. (Which will be important when it’s time to add/remove kids and car seats). In the process of removing the shelves, I also cleaned out that side of the garage. I am Ivory Soap sure that it’s cleaner now than it was before the old owners put their house on the market. We wrapped up the evening with dinner at the in-laws’.

Stray Toasters
Check back tomorrow.

Namaste.

Friday – 29 July 2011
It’s my 9/80 “on” Friday…

…and I am beat. Yesterday was a long day – work, doctor’s appointment and childbirth class – that stretched into the later early hours of this morning, because SaraRules! (and the kids) and I had an unexpected trip to the hospital in the wee hours of the morning. Both SaraRules! and the kids are fine.

I repeat: “SaraRules! and the kids are fine.”

It turned out that she had a few sporadic contractions after a particularly long and busy day. Rather than ignore them or “hope they’d settle down on their own,” we called her doctor, who suggested that we go in to make sure that everything was alright. Our nurse, Karren, was great; she was attentive, responsive and explained all of the things that she was checking for.  She also made sure that we were as comfortable and at ease as could be. It’s just that the process – monitoring and observation – took four hours…

*headdesk*

After getting the “All clear,” we headed home. Sleep was not hard to find. And understanding that “the annoying bell-sounding-thing” was actually this morning’s alarm was, at first, a “slightly” difficult concept to grasp. But, I grabbed a frozen mocha on the way into the office, so that I could be at least nominally awake and coherent. Fortunately, the day hasn’t been to bad/busy/hectic.  And, I even got to have lunch with Tyranist and Cade.

There is most definitely a nap in my post-work future. (Or at least some time in the train room…)

Stray Toasters

• Today is System Administrator Day.

  
  
  

• 10 Reasons to Be (Really) Excited About Football
• Your complete guide to Google+
• Training Modules. Yay.
• Carmakers Back Strict New Rules for Gas Mileage
• A Father Who Creatively Captures His Kids
• 
• I’ve been browsing some of the pictures of the costumers and cosplayers from this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. I have also had an epiphany: The so-called “sexy” costumes – or, rather, the “sexy” variants of other characters’ costumes –  that have become so popular/prevalent…? Yeah, they do absolutely nothing for me. Yes, some of the women wearing them are good-looking, but the costumes don’t so much say “sexy” to me as “slutty.”  *shrug* Tyranist – who agreed with me – and I discussed this for a bit before lunch.
• House Committee passes bill requiring your ISP to spy on every click and keystroke you make online and retain for 12 months
• A Young Clown Follows in a Father’s Giant Footsteps
• Hubble Telescope’s successor could face budget ax

Namaste.