Random Access

Thursday – 06 March 2009
It’s another NBN Thursday and there’s new snow on the ground. In the past 24 hours we’ve gone from nearly 70°F to nearly half that temperature.

Last night was a relatively quiet night. I got to play with my new Dremel, which I believe is my new second-favorite tool… after a Sawz-All. Law & Order did an interesting episode about teenagers who had escaped and/or been exiled from a polygamist community. I was surprised that they went there and was also a little shocked with how the episode ended. (I was, however, amused that they actually used the term “magic underwear.”)

Chew On This: Food for Thought
I have often mentioned that I enjoy watching The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. For me, it’s a light way to cap the day… much in the way that watching Late Night with David Letterman (back when he was on NBC) used to be when I was in high school. Last night’s episode was a very good – and atypically serious – show; the guest was Archbishop Desmond Tutu. At the top of the show, Craig gave an abbreviated history of South Africa, which was probably one of the best (and most humorous) histories I have ever heard. After a commercial break, he introduced Archbishop Tutu; they talked for the better part of forty minutes. Among other things that he recounted, the Archbishop talked about “good and evil” and how he has been able to keep his faith – and his faith in humanity. Here’s an excerpt:

All-in-all, it was an excellent interview. Other clips are available here.

Four-Color Coverage
Yesterday was a light day at Dr. Volt’s – I only picked up five books:

• Black Lightning: Year One #5 – The next-to-last issue of this series shows Jefferson Pierce continuing his fight to bring something to the Southside community of Metropolis, not-so-affectionately referred to as “Suicide Slum,” that it had been missing: Hope.  I’ve been surprised by this title – I picked it up on a lark, but have been pleasantly surprised with the story that has unfolded.
• Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #1 – Reed Richards has a problem: He’s been bothered by the fact that despite all of his calculations, he was wrong in how he set about solving the problems that led to his role in Marvel’s Civil War.  But, he has an idea.  And when Reed Richards has an idea, there is little that can stop him from following up on it. Not repairing damage from the “Secret Invasion.” Not his wife… well, maybe she can. Not even an attack from Norman Osborn and his H.A.M.M.E.R. agents.
• Dark Reign: New Avengers – The Reunion #1 – Bobbi Morse, ex-Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and (ex-)wife of the Avenger known as Ronin, is trying to re-establish her place in the post-Secret Invasion world. As she sets out to find them, she also finds that she has a partner – and unwanted one, at that: Ronin.
• Superman: World of Krypton #1 – Superman journeys to New Krypton to live among the Kryptonians from the newly-liberated (and restored to normal size) Kandor. He’s still not sure how he’ll fit in, but attempts to make a go of it. But, how will his aunt, Alura, and one of his worst enemies, General Zod, feel about him being there?
• X-Men: First Class – Finals #2 – The X-Men go up against a mutant who’s out for a little revenge against a certain “one-eyed” X-Man who dropped him down a mine shaft.  To say that he’s “a little mad” would be something of an understatement. And, someone shows up to lend the X-Men a much needed helping hand… but who is it? And where’d they come from?

As it was a light day, I also picked up Fables (Vol. 8) – Wolves and JLA: Earth 2 to supplement my haul.

Stray Toasters

• Let’s start with the big announcement: Ray Lewis will be staying with the Ravens. Amen.
• In related news: The Cowboys released Terrell Owens.
• Man camouflaged as paper in IKEA
  I think that this man has just earned a special nod as my Human of the Day.
• U2 is the week-long special guest on The Late Show with David Letterman.  Last night, they presented the Top Ten List: Top Ten Things U2 Has Learned Over the Years.
• I want to get these for my minions employees:

  

• Fans of Bloom County might want to pay attention to this: IDW Publishing will release The Bloom County Library in October 2009.
• By way of : Emergency (MC) Hammer
• By way of and the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Star Trek Fragrances.
• Fort Pierce woman calls 911 three times when McNuggets run out

Namaste.

I just had my favorite exchange of the day, with Julie (our company’s property and asset manager):

Julie just… jumped (kind of)… in her chair and kind of slumped down, out of the corner of my eye, it looked almost like she “fell” in her chair.

I looked over at her and asked: “Julie, are you drunk…?”

She paused a second or two and said,”Yeah,” in a perfect deadpan delivery.

What made the conversation even better: Julie doesn’t drink.

It made me laugh.
It made laugh, too.

And, I’m making Julie my Human of the Day for today, too.

Tuesday – 20 January 2009
And with these words:

I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. So help me, God.

Barack Obama has become the 44th President of the United States of America.

I just found out that Ricardo Montalban has passed away.

Even James T. Kirk was upset by this…

After reading the story about the man who tried to pay his bill with a drawing of a spider:

SaraRules: Would you accept a drawing of a spider as proof that I love you?
Me: Of course!
SaraRules: Excellent.

Me: Aww… I love you, too.
SaraRules: Sweet action.
Me: *print*
Me: *stick on cube wall*

Three guesses who my “Human of the Day” is for today.

Happy Hatching Day to !

And, I’m even going to name Ms. today’s Human of the Day, too.
Because I’m The Pope.
And I can.

Just like that.

Pow!

I’ve been talking comics, movies and other assorted geekery with through the day. I was checking my Friends List a few minutes ago, when I stumbled across her most recent entry:

“I would love to see The Dark Knight on IMAX, but the only one around here is tasked for educational purposes and only shows films like Dolphins of the Deep, Holy Fuck, It’s a Shark!, Creatures of the Deep, Here’s Some Clownfish Or Some Shit, Depths of the Deep, and Holy Fuck, It’s A Shark! in 3D.”
–Miss , over here

Come on! You know Holy Fuck, It’s a Shark! would be a great movie. It’s what educational films would be if Douglas Adams wrote them.

Though she was quoting in the first part, it was her Douglas Adams comment that cemented my decision to name Ms. today’s Human of the Day.

Wednesday – 23 July 2008
After getting home from work, I took a relaxing – and somewhat necessary – shower. The last thing I wanted while gaming last night was B.O. It would have just been embarrassing.

Last night’s Scion session was good, if less than entirely productive. We were given our marching orders and set out to act upon them. Maybe we were a little headstrong. Maybe we were a little rash. Maybe it was Maybelline. Whatever it was, we almost got our collective recta handed to us. Fortunately, we all survived long enough to escape and try to come up with something that resembles “a plan” for next time.

I slept rather well last night. I was hoping that would be the case, given the all-day workout I had. I even indulged in a little sleeping in this morning.

Human of the Day
In what I believe to be a first, I am nominating someone under the age of five for Human of the Day. At last night’s game, did the nigh-unthinkable: She pulled up Superman: The Movie on Netflix, as a way to keep Josh quiet. I don’t think that she was aware of my affinity for the movie… or how torn my attention would be. She gave Josh headphones so that he could watch – and listen – without disturbing our gaming.

The reason that Josh gets the nod for today’s HotD is not only because he was as rapt by the movie as I usually am (although, I have apparently seen the movie enough times to be able to glance at the screen and do dialogue…), but because he would get so excited by the movie that he’d leap out of ‘s lap and bound over to Nox to say “I’m watching Superman!” and then run back over to the desk to watch more of the movie.

As a counterpoint, Nox, ever the Lex Luthor fan, kept reminding Josh and me: “You know that the good guy doesn’t win at the end of this movie, right?”

Stray Toasters

• Adam just called… because he was bored and didn’t feel like doing any work. I’m not sure if I mentioned it previously, but he and Chelsea are expecting a baby this fall/winter; they will find out the baby’s sex this afternoon.
• Church minister shames congregation by dressing as a tramp
• 
• From Broken Frontier: Uncanny X-Memories – this round has a couple of fond remembrances of issues #153 (“Kitty’s Fairy Tale”) and #186 (“LifeDeath: A Love Story”).
• Batman Then and Now: The Cost of Being Bruce Wayne
• 
• More DC Universe Online news… including screenshots
• Tyranist: I know you hate “thriller” as a genre title, but… DC to launch thriller imprint, Vertigo Crime
• Sandman 20th Anniversary Poster
• And tomorrow is Mormon Christmas, as some of us like to call it.

Time to dive in to Storage Room: Day 2.

Namaste.

I had to survey 15 servers today. For the most part it went without any hitches… aside from taking down two servers out from people who were working on them: I felt bad about one of them; the other was Chimpy.

Human of the Day
Today’s Human is for the reasons posted below.

Stray Toasters

• had to help me recall the proper syntax for using Web Sharing to find something on Defiant. I felt like a complete n00b when I finally remembered it. To make me feel better, showed this to me:

  

  …and all was better with the world.

• For : Wizard Magazine’s Greatest Bond Villain Poll
• How would you pronounce “ghoti?” (Answer below)
• In the words of Jude: Rick James was the original Superfreak.
• Thanks to for pointing this out:

  

• By way of Drew: Pickens Plan – Boone Pickens’ idea for weaning ourselves of our dependence on foreign oil.
• Science of becoming Batman

And the answer to “How do you pronounce ‘ghoti'” is “fish.”

::: vapor trail :::

Reason #873945224 of “Why I Love SaraRules”
While talking with her a little while ago, I noted that I’ve been playing City of Heroes for almost three years:

Me: Wow.
Me: I’m 13 days from having played CoH for three years.
Me: O.o
SaraRules: And how do you feel about that, dearest?
Me: AWESOME!
SaraRules: Well, at least you don’t regret it.  *kisses* Long time for a game.
Me: And, in three weeks…. I get a pet!
SaraRules: A pet. Interesting.
Me: Come on…
Me: Superman has Krypto.
Me: Supergirl has Streaky.
Me: Batman even has Ace.
Me: Why shouldn’t I?
SaraRules: Hm. I know not this Streaky, nor this Ace.  But I’m sure a pet will come in very handy.
Me: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ace_the_Bat-Hound
Me: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streaky
SaraRules: Pshaw. Just silly. I can only imagine running after a criminal and tripping over the damn cat.

Yep… I’m naming her today’s Human of the Day.

…and, um, apologies to John Steinbeck.

Wednesday – 04 June 2008
A grey and wet day in the valley. It was in the mid 70s (at least) yesterday; today, we’ll be lucky to break 60°F. Welcome to Utah.

Human of the Day
Speaking of “Welcome to Utah,” pointed out an article in The Washington Post entitled A Different State of Race Relations, about… well… race relations in Utah. For this, I name him today’s Human of the Day.

Windows Server 2003. Blah.

Stray Toasters

• I think that these should go on the Covet List not only because they would be neat, but also because I can see more or less practical uses for them, especially when dealing with monkeys.
• By way of SaraRules: Metropolis Symphony. Now, I just need to find an excuse to get to Aspen on a Wednesday. Maybe I’ll call in sick. Or ask if I can work in the Aurora office that week. Or something.
• Yesterday’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day was “tokenization.” This made me laugh because Marci, one of the QA testers, had come to me with a deliciously subversive idea: Being the only woman in the QA department – and the only woman in a non-executive or non-admin position in the SLC office – she is planning on getting a shirt that says “Token.” She recently asked me if I wanted one, too. I told her that I’d take one in black, if she got one in pink.
• Bone Chillers Ice Tray
• I don’t know what to say
  The monkeys won’t do!

  

• Mr. Spock: The ‘Mystery of Masculinity’ Embodied
• The Zurich Chamber Orchestra put this together as a promotional piece:

• As soon as I typed that, “Cantaloop Flip Fantasia 2000” went through my head. That would make for an interesting remix… of some sort.
• Thanks to and for pointing out the following “cubicle rage” videos:

  …and, from a second angle (and in color):

  
  Office Worker Meltdown Second Angle – Watch more free videos

• By way of NPR: Bobblehead of State?

Namaste.

…not that I really needed any other reasons, mind you, but this one is a peach:

Every Night’s Another Story

Particluar item: “Tip of the Day”
(It’s at the bottom of the post.)

His rationale:

With the “glass is half empty  or half full” analogy, optimism is better than pessimism.  So the way you phrase it, makes people feel like they are choosing one nationality over the other, and they don’t know what to say

Priceless.

And for this, I will name Derek “Human of the Day”

Tuesday – 20 May 2008
More workdays should start like this:

Paul, one of our VPs, was talking to a few minutes ago. I had been away from my desk and returned to hear say: “…you’ll have to ask Rob about that.” Naturally, my curiosity was piqued. Paul turned to me, nodded to my desk and said:

“Jay (one of our new corporate overlords overseers protectors) was in the office a few weeks ago and saw that picture on your desktop…”

“…he didn’t see you sitting there and he got REALLY worried and started going off about how this office was out of control and needed to get diversity training in here immediately.”

I started laughing. A lot. Then I quipped, “That probably explains why he looks at me so oddly when he walks down the hall.”

, not missing a beat, retorted: “No, that’s just Jay.”

I told Paul that he made my day by relating that story to me.

I’ll have to name Paul today’s Human of the Day for this.

Thursday – 08 May 2008
Today is not only the first day of vacation; it’s also my stepmother and younger brother’s birthday…

…and…

…respectively.

The drive to Mesquite was uneventful.  Long, but uneventful.  We stayed at The Oasis.  I was out almost as soon as I hit the pillow.  This morning, we were up and on the way to Florida… by way of Las Vegas.

Human of the Day
The woman on the moving walkway who wasn’t paying attention… and almost faceplanted when it came to and end.

Almost time to push back, so I should probably log off.

Namaste.

Saturday – 03 May 2008
Today, the culmination of two years of diligence, perseverance and hard work came to fruition: SaraRules received her Master of Fine Arts in Arts Administration.

(click image for gallery)