Random Access

Thursday – 12 May 2011
It’s NBN Technical Friday again. Amen.

Today is also marks two years since my friend, Jessica Porter, passed away from pulmonary hypertension. In some regards, it seems like it’s been shorter than that; other days, it seems like it’s been forever since we’ve talked. I miss her being around. She was a fantastic friend and an all-around great person.

Last night, SaraRules! came home from Boston. Hallelujah! She said that it was a good – though busy – trip. As a souvenir, she brought me a new pint glass from the Samuel Adams Brewery… where she took the tour yesterday morning. (Yeah, I was a little jealous of that.)

Today has been busy. Busier than expected. An employee from another division come in – for the second time in two days – to deal with a problem on his laptop. We got his problem sorted out. Then there was a meeting… that I had spaced off… on top of my usual Thursday meeting, plus the meeting that I had to schedule. Did I mention that I’m glad I’m off tomorrow?

Stray Toasters

• I’m blaming/crediting Will Smith for my fashion choice this morning. As I was preparing to get into the shower, this song started running through my head:

  As a result, today’s attire is:

  Black suit, the black shades, the black shoes
  Black tie with the black attitude

  Yeah, I know that’s from Nod Ya Head (Black Suits Comin’), but it still applies.

• At 100, Still a Teacher, and Quite a Character
• ‘Better Book Titles’: Don’t Judge a Book by Its Existing Cover
• Esquire Style Presents: The American Revolution
• Squeezed Cities Ask Nonprofits for More Money
• Marvel Unveils ‘I Am Captain America’ Variant Covers

  
  Click link above to see other covers.

• The New Hip-Hop Royalty
• Utah Opera’s production of Falstaff opens on Saturday. If you’re looking for something to do this weekend – or through next week – consider seeing it.
• Fan-made Fables poster art
• Cars So Stunning, They’re in a Museum
• 
• Revised Spider-Man Musical More Heroic, Less Nightmarish
• In a Green Town, Activists See Red Over Lockheed Martin
• Software piracy hits record high of $59 billion

Namaste.

Wednesday – 04 May 2011
It’s the middle of the week.
It’s also new comics day.
It’s also game night.

Today is also Star Wars Day.

I also found this picture…

…but it’s this one that actually echoed exactly what was going on in my head:

Last night was D&D night with and company. We…

1. Got into a fight.
2. Ran into a situation that we weren’t expecting (read: “A priest trying to bind a goddess to our plane”).
3. Played the D&D equivalent of Ghostbusters.
4. Survived the adventure.
5. All of the above.

Yeah, we were about as surprised as anyone. But, we lived to adventure on another day. And that was a good thing.

Stray Toasters

• Freedom Rides Turn 50
• I found the following on Facebook; I like the assertions that it presents: While You Are Entitled to Your Own Opinion, You Are Not Entitled to Your Own Facts
• Robots Now Catch Balls; World Domination Imminent
• Minnesota politician blasts Neil Gaiman as “pencil-necked little weasel”
• Thanks to MarknTyme for pointing me in the direction of the newest Green Lantern trailer:

• Happiness != Discovering that you have to completely redo a spreadsheet that you worked on two days ago because it did not save.
• Zoot Shooters Bring Gangster Style to the Gun Range
• From the “Add to The Covet List” file: “Young Justice” Arrives on DVD in July
• 
• Sony to restore PSN services, compensate customers

Yeah.  I think that’s good.

Namaste.

Friday – 22 April 2011
It’s my 9/80 “on” Friday. S’okay… it’s the quiet, low-number-of-employees day. That’s a good thing.

Today is also Good Friday…

…and it’s Earth Day, too.

But, it’s still a Friday, and that means that the weekend is mere hours away…

Last night, after I got home from work, I went to the basement and ran my train around the layout for a bit. To those who don’t get “how” people can derive enjoyment from “…just watching a train go in a (modified) circle,” I don’t think that I can sufficiently explain it. But I do. And it was good. And fun.

After a failed trip to the Village Christmas Shoppe at Gardner Village (it’s closed… as in permanently) SaraRules! and I picked up dinner from the Papas – John and Murphy – and went home to watch The Godfather: Part III, which I’d never seen before. It was good. (Man, it was LONG, too…) I enjoyed seeing continuation and conclusion of Michael Corleone’s rise to power and how he wielded it.

Stray Toasters

• I’m playing phone-tag with two different service companies, while avoiding… umm, “delaying”… calling two others. Yay.
• Well, $#!* Swearing is good for you, sort of
  Really?! It took them 2 years to figure this out? I could have told them that in about 2 seconds.
• SLC church distributes free copies of the Quran
• 
• All Your Base Are Belong to Us: How 50 Years of Videogames Conquered Pop Culture
• Georgia nuclear reactor shuts down; investigation under way
  • Speaking of Georgia and nuclear power, I need to correct something that I posted (at least once) before: It turns out that former U.S. President Jimmy Carter was not a nuclear engineer, as I had previously been told. He did work in the field of nuclear energy, but wasn’t a physicist or nuclear engineer. (Source)
  • Fukushima Plant Is (Officially) Dead Forever
• There’s a new Green Lantern trailer…
• At Ebenezer Baptist Church, a Glorious Rebirth
• 
• Zombie comic tutorial for using the college library
• Inquiries Grow Over Apple’s Data Collection Practices

Namaste.

Thursday – 14 April 2011
It’s another glorious NBN Technical Friday. This morning started with clouds and a little snow… but it looks as though the sun is trying to put in an appearance. We’ll see how that goes.

Last night was D&D 4.0 night with and company. We adventured. We got loot. We walked right into the middle of a war between factions in a city… and had to choose sides. Hopefully, we chose well.

After the game, I headed home and occupied a nice and comfy spot on the couch, as my stomach decided that it wanted to try out a new acrobatics routine. I am attributing it to “The Revenge of Lunch!” Fortunately, by the time I got ready to call it a night, it was better. I attribute that to milk and Tums.

Stray Toasters

• Training monkeys to assist people with severe disabilities
  Didn’t any of these people learn anything Monkey Shines?  (I didn’t know that this was a George Romero film. Huh.)
• How to dig jive talk
• Seeking Execution Drug, States Cut Legal Corners
• TSA under fire for enhanced patdown of 6-year-old girl
• 
• Barry Bonds found guilty of obstruction of justice
• “Goony-goo-goo!”
• Esquire Style Presents: The American Revolution
• 
• Microsoft distributes 17 patches for 64 flaws
• The Management Myth
• 
• Study Finds Drop in Deadly V.A. Hospital Infections
• New Chevrolet Camaro will outpower Ford Mustang
  But, I’d personally still prefer the Mustang over the Camaro.
• UMaine Researchers Use Lobster Shells to Create Biodegradable Golf Ball

Namaste.

Tuesday – 12 April 2011
Work week: Day 2

As Google’s “classic” home page reminds us: Today is the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin becoming the first man in space

…also known as “Cosmonautics Day,” as well as being Yuri’s Night.

Thanks to an early day in the office, I was off work at 3:30 yesterday. I popped in to SaraRules!’ office, to say “Hi” for a surprise. From there, it was on to The Train Shoppe; they had completed the coupler repair on my Chessie locomotive. Next, I met , Tina and Casey for a stroll around Liberty Park. We did a couple of laps around the park which, assuming that the info I found is correct, means that we did about three (3) miles. I’m calling that a workout.

I came home, just in time to see SaraRules! off to her Justice League Junior League event. That meant that I was a “bachelor for an evening!” My first conundrum set in fairly quickly: What did I want for dinner? I solved that riddle with a quick trip to the local Five Guys. I came home, plopped down in front of the TV and DVR and watched a pre-Christmas episode of Human Target. I followed that up with a bit of HALO: Reach. Yeah… it was a good way to spend an evening.

Stray Toasters

• SaraRules! and I bought a pair of trebuchets last night.
  • It reminds me of the time I wanted to build a Mad Cat in the backyard, like Jim Martin did. I actually emailed him back in… 2003 or 2004; he was a nice enough gent.
• Human Spaceflight’s 50th: The Glorious Past and Uncertain Future
• Jerry Lawson, Inventor of Modern Game Console, Dies at 70
• Little girl joins the Dark Side

  
  EMBED-Little Girl Joins The Dark Side – Watch more free videos

• NFL, Players Ordered to Mediate
  • For the Panthers, a QB or no QB with first NFL draft pick?
• For SaraRules!: Rube Goldberg photobooth
• Minority business program to undergo changes
• 
• New York Airport Jet Clips Smaller Plane’s Tail at JFK Monday Night
• Gas Prices Rise, and Economists Seek Tipping Point
  • This Is the World’s Greatest Driveway
• Epsilon may have been tipped off that it was a target

Namaste.

Monday – 11 April 2011
I just realized that it’s 11/4/11. Palindromic. Other than that, it’s just the start of another glorious week in Paradise.

The weekend seemed short, but I’m sure that’s because I spent part of Saturday in the office and got a lovely 5AM wake-up call from the office yesterday morning. Aside from that, it was a nice weekend. Yesterday, SaraRules! and I had brunch at Ruth’s Diner. As we were eating, we noticed people staring at the ridge across the road from the diner. Then we noticed them taking pictures. It didn’t make sense until we got ready to leave:

The elk was just standing there, taking in all that surrounded him. He was there for at least a good ten to fifteen minutes.

From Ruth’s, we ran a couple of errands before heading home for a bit. Then, it was over to the in-laws’ for Logan’s birthday dinner. Dinner consisted of barbecued chicken, roasted root vegetables, and salad. For dessert, we had a homemade gingerbread cake – some/most people had homemade applesauce for “frosting,” I opted for ice cream.

Last night, I slept moderately well. I woke up a few times, half-expecting to get another call from work and having to go in at O’dark-thirty. As it was, I roused myself about a half-hour early and just decided to make a day of it. Thanks to a bit of prep work last night, I was in the office about an hour earlier than usual, which means I’ll be leaving early, too.

Stray Toasters

• Civil War anniversary events go forward despite lack of funds
• Detroit Symphony Returns to a Giddy Reception
• As much as it pains me to see disheartening things about The Garden of Sweden: IKEA’s U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers
• Say goodbye to 1-year Verizon contracts
• 
• Couric’s Rocky Path to a Likely Parting with CBS
• A Flapper’s Dictionary
• That Noisy Woodpecker Had an Animated Secret
• Sinister Chevrolet Corvette ‘Centennial’ is car noir
  • Texas considers highest speed limit in nation
• 
• Being Bilingual May Boost Your Brain Power
• A New Push to Let H.I.V. Patients Accept Organs That Are Infected
• Woods becomes that Tiger again; not long enough
• 
• Could You Pass Harvard’s Entrance Exam from 1869?

Namaste.

Sunday – 10 April 2011
Today is my brother-in-law’s birthday, well… one of my brothers-in-law, that is:

…and a classmate’s:

…and my friend, A.J.’s (one of the opera residents):

This morning started early. With a 0450 phone call from corporate… telling me about a continuation of yesterday’s problem. Nothing like the surge of adrenaline one gets from being jarred out of sleep by your phone ringing and then racing into another room to pick it up only to find out that it’s work calling. After answering a few questions and making a couple of command decisions, I put the phone down and got back into bed. It took me a few minutes to wind down enough to fall asleep again.

The sun has been trying to put in an appearance this morning. This song was the first thing that went that went through my head:

This was the second:

I’m not sure which amused me more.

Yesterday, I spent four hours at work, dealing with the aforementioned problem. At first, I was pretty annoyed about the whole deal. After a little while, I gained a different perspective: I was being paid to wait for service technicians to come in and work on the problem… AND… it means that I’m already eight hours into the upcoming week’s schedule. In other words, by the time I leave work tomorrow, I’ll have 17 hours on the clock already. And, this is my “off” Friday, to boot. Coming to those realizations made having to work a little better.

SaraRules! was kind enough to bring me lunch yesterday. The original plan was for me to run to work, assess what was wrong, fix it if possible, run an errand and then meet SaraRules! and her parents for lunch. That whole “four hours” thing blew that to Hell and back. So, the Best Wife Ever brought lunch to me.  And she even hung out while we – my coworker, Cade, came in also – sorted out the problem.

After I got back home, I decided to run down to The Train Shoppe. It was a trip with a two-fold purpose: 1) I wanted to see if they’d gotten anything new, and 2) I needed them to take a look at the couplers on one of my locomotives. I managed to walk out empty-handed. Barely. My next stop was Borders. It’s become a scavenger pit. If my math is correct, I believe that they will be closed as of this coming Saturday.

After my excursion, SaraRules! and I took in a movie. We saw Hanna. It was… interesting. We both kind of enjoyed it, but we agreed that it could have used a bit more plot and background development. The story revolved around a girl, her father and the intelligence agency operative who apparently wanted them both dead. Oh, yeah… the girl had been raised to be an assassin. A very effective assassin, at that. It was also something of a coming of age movie, as well: Hanna had been raised alone in the woods by her father, with no contact with the outside world. And her adventure took her across Africa and Europe, where she was introduced to many new things… like electricity, music, and computers. As an action movie, I’d give this pretty high marks, but on the whole, its shortcomings/oversights drag it down a few pegs.

Stray Toasters

• Globe Poster: An Illustrated History of American Music
• The O’s beat the Rangers 5-0 yesterday, giving them a 6-2 record…. which puts them on top of the Yankees and Red Sox

  

• Film director Sidney Lumet dead at age 86
  • 6 Things to Know About Director Sidney Lumet
• If you’re not reading Fables, why aren’t you?
• When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?
  • Gender stereotypes woven into language of toy ads
• I want to know just WHAT was this guy thinking…?!
• Murdoch paper admits phone hacking as victim rejects payout
• Pinup Girls Before and After: The Original Photoshop
• Sesame Street heads to Pakistan

And now, off to brunch with the lovely SaraRules!

Namaste.

Friday – 08 April 2011
It’s another 9/80 “on” Friday… and this one came complete with snow!

Yep, “Welcome to Utah.” I’m still expecting at least one more snowfall this month (and maybe a dusting in May).

Last night was a lazy night around the homestead. SaraRules! had cancelled her evening plans and stayed in, so we spent the evening watching the teevee. We caught up on a NCIS episodes, as well as an episode of CSI: (which we haven’t watched in at least a year). And when did Lady Heather, sorry… Dr. Kessler become “Dr. Kessler” and not “Lady Heather,” anymore?! We also watched Beef on Fuse, about the feuds in rap and hip-hop from the 80s to the early 2000s.

And here’s a little 3T to help your Friday groove along:

…and…

Stray Toasters

• No Accord in Budget Talks as Policy Fights Hamper Deals
  • Q & A: What could happen during a government shutdown?
  • It May Be a ‘Budget Battle,’ but Some Skirmishes Have Little to Do With Money
• For SaraRules!: FBI releases files on Biggie Smalls murder; still no killer named
• 
• Cars, Houses, Human Remains: Debris from Japan Is Headed Toward U.S.
• Jean Bartik, Software Pioneer, Dies at 86
• Class action suit over EA football games charges forward
• 
• Brass Goggles: The Lighter Side of Steampunk
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Chinese censors ban time travel TV shows

Namaste.

Thursday – 07 April 2011
It’s a new “No Bad News” Thursday in the valley. And this one comes to us complete with grey skies and impending storms. S’okay though, we’re still one day closer to the weekend.

Last night, SaraRules! fixed Pad Thai for dinner. To my understanding, it was her first time making it… and it was good. After dinner, I hit Pin-up Girl Espresso for a cup of game night go-juice and then it was off to Hastur Hobbies to meet up with and the gang for our D&D game. It went well, especially when you consider that we ignored the last item from the following “suggestion” from Shadowrun:

“Watch your back, shoot straight, conserve ammo, and never, ever, cut a deal with a dragon.”

Nevertheless, we walked away with our lives and the item we were searching for… without having to (try and) kill the dragon. Which was good for us.

Back at home, SaraRules! and I watched The Thomas Crown Affair. The original. With Steve McQueen. And Faye Dunaway. It was good. I kept juxtaposing it with the 1999 version (Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo), although they were different movies to some degree. Both were heist movies, but the original featured a bank heist, where the more recent one had an art heist. Both SaraRules! and I agreed that both movies were good and were representative of their respective times, but we appreciated some of the nuances and subtleties of the older movie just a bit more. For example:

• 1968: Faye Dunaway’s Vicki Anderson quietly – and quite effectively – seduces McQueen’s Crown over a game of chess, while investigating him in relation to a recent bank heist
• 1999: Rene Russo’s Catherine Banning shows up at an event at which Brosnan’s Crown is a patron, wearing a sheer (read: “pretty much totally see-through/non-existent”) dress, and rather overtly flings herself at flirts with him during a spicy tango… while investigating his involvement with a robbery at an art gallery

I first saw the 1999 version of the movie about… eight or so years ago; last night was the first time I’ve seen the original. There were similar elements in both movies, but there were enough differences to keep them distinct and fresh. But, one of my favorite similarities – and best surprises – was that the original movie also featured Windmills of Your Mind, which I count as a favorite song (although, I prefer the version by Sting to the Noel Harrison one).

Stray Toasters

• At California Mental Hospitals, Fear Is Part of the Job
• A Fixture of Hollywood’s Past, Now Tarnished by Strife
• Swords and battle-axes pushpins
• A slew of banks, retailers affected by Epsilon email breach
• 
• Spring 2011 Trends Without the Fuss
• The Disney Princesses: If They’d Had Mothers
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Adzookie will pay your mortgage in return for daubing your house with ads
  I suppose that I shouldn’t be so surprised by this, as I’ve heard of the same thing being done with automobiles…
• 
• Woman single-handedly cuts off two countries from Internet
• Police Lesson: Social Network Tools Have 2 Edges
• NASA Telescopes Join Forces to Observe Unprecedented Explosion
• 
• By way of Corey (and Tosh.0): Big Black Dudes Are So Polite…
• Maine ranked ‘most peaceful state’; Louisiana the least
• Tesla fires back at boss of BBC’s ‘Top Gear’
• From the “Well… DUH!” file: IKEA Is Designed Like a Maze So You’ll Buy More Stuff.

And for my next amazing feat: Three meetings in a row!

Namaste.

Wednesday – 06 April 2011
It’s mid-week again, which also means that it’s new comics day and D&D 4.0 night. I’m good with all of those.

Yesterday’s Utah County excursion wasn’t too bad. The monkeys were fairly quiet; I did, however, get a little tired of people asking me when someone else was going to be in that office. After the third time, it got harder and harder to retort with a smart-assed answer. *sigh* On the plus side, I managed to squeeze in a trip to The Hobby Stop during lunch. Hey… it’s train stuff. Go figure.  🙂

I got home a little later than I had planned, had dinner and was back on the road again. Last night was D&D 3.5 night with and company. We accomplished a few things which were good/necessary and have nominal plans for the next part of our adventure.

Chew on This: Food for Thought – Personal Hygiene
When a person is getting ready for work in the morning – or even the night before – isn’t that the “ideal” time for them to take care of things like clipping their nails?

As opposed to, say, waiting until they get into the office…?!

There are a few possible exceptions to this:

• Salon workers
• Spa workers
• Veterinarians

I’m not someone who gets squidgy at the sound of someone clipping their nails, but it just seems that it is something best done at home. With that in mind, there are times when I think a quick trim/cut are acceptable, the prime example being when someone chips, cracks or tears a nail and needs to trim it down. But that’s (usually) just one nail. Not all ten.

I suppose that I should just happy that I have neither seen nor heard (that I know 0f) anyone clipping their toe nails on the clock.

Stray Toasters

• I’ve been really enjoying the Tony Toni Tone’ CD that I picked up earlier in the week.
• 57 Spectacular LEGO Scenes
• Bored with World of Warcraft? Make Your Own Fun
• 
• More Pupils Are Learning Online, Fueling Debate on Quality
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file:
  • Giants fan beaten at Dodgers’ Stadium appears to have brain damage
  • Girl Trains Cow as a Show Horse
  • Michigan couple to walk some 2,500 miles for wedding
  • 
• Firefox 4 is taking a little getting used to…
• CWA: Why should you care about species extinction?
• Queen Guitarist Shares Love for Astronomy Through Stereoscope
• 
• An Artist Takes Role of China’s Conscience
• Grand Jury Investigates Whether Apps Like Pandora Are Stealing Your Info
• Lawmakers tell Google to do more on antipiracy

Namaste.

Tuesday – 05 April 2011
Day two of the work week… and I’m in the south office today. Some of us are doing rotations down here once a month. And, today is my day. Well, one of them — I think I’ll be back down at the end of the month, too. Oh, well.  It’s a nice change of pace.

Last night, after dinner, SaraRules! and I ran a few errands and then went to Frogurt for dessert. It was good and it wasn’t as tart as the yogurt at Red Mango. (On the other hand, they didn’t have a Green Tea Yogurt, so it’s kind of a draw.) We wrapped up the evening with an episode of Castle and an episode of Top Gear.

I stopped at Pin-up Girl Espresso this morning, to get a caramel mocha for the road. I was pleasantly surprised to see (former) Pin-up Girl Erin in the window. I didn’t get a chance to ask if she was going to be a semi-permanent regular in the store, though.

And tonight is D&D 3.5 night.

Stray Toasters

• Commodore is back!  (Not to be confused with the music group, The Commodores.)
• Roberts’ three-run home lifts Orioles to first 4-0 start since 1997
• Salt Lake Art Center takes an outsiders look at SLC
• 
  
• Advocate for the Arts
• Obama Invites Republicans to Meet on Budget
• Chemical found which ‘makes bone marrrow repair skin’
• FAA to Order Airlines to Inspect 737s for Cracks
• 
• Guess who went to The Hobby Stop and looked at train stuff while at lunch.
• NFLPA’s Mike Vrabel arrested for alleged theft, calls it ‘misunderstanding’

Namaste.

Monday – 28 March 2011
Another work week begins. And this one comes complete with snow! (Well, flurries, but still…)

Yesterday was good. It was a mostly low-key day. I did head over to West Valley Hobbies for a bit, but didn’t buy anything. I also stopped at Dr. Volt’s, to pick up the Apocalypse ‘Clix that they had on display. SaraRules! and I had dinner with her family and, after dinner, we watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, which I hadn’t seen in a while. Back at home, we watched last week’s episode of Fringe before calling it a night.

Today, we’re having issues in the office. And there have been many “Why” and “How” and “When” questions asked. We’re handling it as best we can. (Which, surprisingly, doesn’t include punching monkeys.)

Stray Toasters

• How to Raise the Status of Teachers
• World’s largest LEGOLand taking shape in Florida
• Mobile phones may rot your bones
• A couple of Star Wars-related items:
  • Distracted by Star Wars
  • Homages, Ripoffs and Coincidences: Star Wars
• 
  
• When test scores soared in D.C., were the gains real?
• Paul Baran, Internet Pioneer, Dies at 84
• Thanks to for posting a link to this video, which shows the pre-launch preparations for Discovery‘s last flight:

• The Nintendo They’ve Tried to Forget
• 12-Year-Old Rewrites Einstein’s Theory of Relativity

On to the rest of Monday…

Namaste.

Friday – 25 March 2011
It’s Friday.  The end of the week. And for this, I am grateful. It’s my 9/80 “on” Friday, which is typically a quiet and low-key kind of day.

So, why is my blood pressure – and my annoyance level – through the roof?

Maybe it could be due – in some small, almost insignificant part – to the fact that I spent part of my morning elbow up in trash looking for a piece of equipment. But, I’m getting ahead of myself.

The day started nicely enough. Got up, got ready for work, stopped at Pin-up Girl for a cup of morning go-juice. So far, so good. Got to work, ready to tackle the items on my day’s agenda. And shortly after that is when I discovered that all was not well in Mudville:

We had scheduled technicians to come in and deal with a problem with one of our cooling units. This service has been on the docket for three weeks now, as the part needed had to be special ordered and fabricated. Okay, fine. That’s the cost of doing business. Because of the nature of the work, we had to schedule a time for a tech from our fire control system vendor to turn off our fire suppression system. So, three weeks… all leading up to this morning. Call it “confluence.” Call it “convergence.” Call it what you will.

The fire control tech showed up and did his thing. No problem. The HVAC guys showed up to do their thing… and that’s when we noticed that something was wrong: The part that we had ordered – and that had been sitting on a table, awaiting installation – was nowhere to be found.

* braincramp *

So, the hunt began. In the server room. In the storage rooms. In the labs. Nothing. That’s when I started making calls. No one knew where it was.

* severe braincramp *

I put a call in to our cleaning crew, to see if they possibly tossed out the box last night, not seeing the part inside. They didn’t think so, but the boxes they did throw away went into a recycling dumpster. *sigh* Great. Next stop: The dumpster. Brian, one of the HVAC techs jumped in. No luck finding the box or the part.

*grblsnrkx*

Just after I got back to my desk, the cleaning company called back: One of the cleaners remembered throwing away a few boxes… in the trash dumpster.

So… back downstairs we went. Brian and I hopped into the front of the dumpster, but didn’t go too far in for a couple of reasons, the BIGGEST one being: It was a trash compactor. I’ve seen Star Wars: A New Hope. More than once. I know what happens to people in trash compactors. I also don’t happen to own either a protocol droid or an Astromech droid, so there was NO way I was wading in. (Besides, I didn’t know if there was a monster lurking below the surface, just waiting to drag me under.)

NOTE: At this point, I almost defy anyone to claim to have had a worse morning than I had, based solely on the fact that I was in a dumpster, looking for a part that obviously didn’t want to be found.

We didn’t find the part. Which means that we have to order another one. And schedule a time for the fire control and HVAC guys to come back in. Which means that we’re looking at – bare minimum – two to three weeks from now before this problem is fixed.

The odds against this confluence of nearly impossible events coming together, in just this way, to bring us to this improbable outcome is mind-boggling.

And, it’s snowing.

How’s your Friday?

Stray Toasters

• Today, I would definitely be more of a Red Lantern than a Green Lantern: I’m ready to punch monkeys in the throat right now. Repeatedly. And hard.

  

• Will Work for Food: Curatorial Position and Cake Preferred
• Many U.S. Blacks Moving to South, Reversing Trend
• Tilting at Windmills: Lessons Learned from Comic Relief and Borders
• 
• Census Data Presents Rise in Multiracial Population of Youths
• Buck Showalter rips Derek Jeter, Theo Epstein in magazine
• Brickwork: ‘M.A.S.K.’ Returns as a Fan-Made LEGO Set
• The art of Jordan Witt

  

• Missionary Men with Confidence in Sunshine
• Ford to dealers: No more black, red paint due to Japan crisis
• World’s Best Ruins

Namaste.

Thursday – 24 March 2011
It’s a grey, rainy No Bad News Thursday in the Land Behind the Zion Curtain. WHEEE!

Last night was the first D&D 4.0 game that I’ve been able to attend in the past… three, I think… weeks. And when I arrived, it was without my character. This was a fact that I didn’t recognize until I’d walked in the door and thought “Shouldn’t I have something else?”

*grblsnrkx*

Yep. Genius move on my part. So, I got to play the part of one of the NPCs. An evil NPC, at that. I believe that it was the first time in all the years I’ve played D&D that I’ve actually played a character with an evil alignment. And, it was fun. I think that I caught a couple of my party member when I… kind of… started a fight with a bunch of guys because my character didn’t like his attitude. (We won the fight, though.) Partway through the game, I had an apostrophe epiphany: My character might actually be in my car, not at home… so I went and checked. Lo and behold, there it was.

::: facepalm :::

So, I went and got it. I played both characters for a few turns, until the NPC left the game. (His story arc was done, I didn’t get him killed.) It was a good game session.

Stray Toasters

• I’m contemplating running walking a 5K this weekend: Running of the Leopards. The two mitigating factors for me are:
  1. Weather
  2. If I can find a walking partner.
• Smithsonian. Historically Hardcore.
• Long-lost Frederic Chopin letters recovered by museum
• Bearing Witness Beyond the Witnesses
• 
• I’ve had four, count ’em… FOUR… meetings today. Before lunch.
• Gadgets You Should Get Rid Of (or Not)
• Posting “not-so-great” news about this guy might not win me any fans among the BYU crowd, considering how… revered… he is in this neck of the woods. Oh, well, here it is anyway: N.B.A. Scouting Report on Fredette: Good but Not Great
• The new – full – trailer for the upcoming Captain America movie has finally been released:

• Inside Mac OS X 10.7 Lion Server: Apple replaces Samba for Windows networking services
• Germany Steps Away from European Unity
• David E. Kelley Talks Wonder Woman
• 
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file:
  • Airport tower silent as planes land
  • Woman suing Carnival: Ship sailed too fast, made me sick
• How Western Diets Are Making the World Sick

Namaste.

Tuesday – 22 March 2011
March winds
And April showers
Bring forth May flowers.

That’s the way I was taught.

I’m good with the “March winds.”
“April showers” are good too.
And, “May flowers?” Yep, I’m fine with them, as well.
It’s the whole “March intermittent rain and snow showers” thing that I’m taking issue with today.

On the other hand, today is William Shatner‘s 80th birthday, so it can’t be all bad.

Last night was quiet and uneventful. I think that the highlights were sorting ‘Clix, making hamantaschen and watching Top Gear with SaraRules! and having a bowl of ice cream for an evening snack… not necessarily in that order.

Tonight, Chris is supposed to come over to play dolls. We’re doing an updated match of the X-Men vs. the Teen Titans. I should probably start considering who I’m going to use…

Stray Toasters

• BAMF!
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Competitive Chess Boxing: Brain Meets Pain in Iceland
• Stop the presses: Teenagers actually like, gasp, symphony concerts
• Pakistani actress Veena Malik schools a mullah about Islam
• How about a little Raphael Saddiq: Tiny Desk Concert to get your Tuesday moving?
  • Bonus track: Get Involved
• 
• As lockout lingers, NFL and players continue to trade barbs
• If you haven’t taken a look at the artwork of Colleen Coover, you should.
• Adjusted U.S. figures paint a rosier jobs picture
• Zach Snyder won’t look back: ‘There’s been no other Superman movies’
  • Zach Snyder looks to ‘Batman Begins’ for his inspiration
• Ever have one of these days?

  

• How to make a hamantaschen Sierpinksi triangle
• Goldman Sachs programmer sentenced for code theft

Namaste.