Random Access

Sunday – 10 February 2008
It’s been a quiet day here in Lake Wobegon Salt Lake City.

The morning started with comics in bed, but changed to breakfast, coffee and yesterday’s toonage in the living room – Legion was (yet again) a rerun, but The Batman was new.

Then there was Pro Bowl and dinner with SaraRules’ parents and brother.

Now, I’m back in Paragon City with the Hand of Nefer-Tem while SaraRules quilts some more. Maybe I’ll hit 42 before the night – and Double XP – ends.

Human of the Day (weekend)
This weekend, it was a tie: and :

• for the gift card to the Garden of Sweden, which went towards this (1, 2).
• for her repairs to my Batman and Morpheus statues.

Stray Toasters

• There was… something that was going here. I don’t remember what, so it will keep until later, I’m sure.

By the way…. Security Level 42. 🙂

Namaste.

Monday – January 21, 2008

Text of the “I have a dream…” speech

Human of the Day
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Namaste.

Sunday – 20 January 2008
This morning, we got up and breakfast at Noah’s Bagels with Meliko, Cat and Adrienne. After that, we headed back to Meliko and Cat’s apartment to get our gear and get on our way. We made a… somewhat… quick stop at the comic shop around the corner from the apartment. I’m glad I did: I found a Time Trapper ‘Clix.

On to LEGOland! Sweet Mary, mother of God… it was fun! The park was bigger than I expected. We got to pretty much all of the sections, but there are still some things that we’d like to go back and check out. We saw the exhibits. Rode a few rides. Walked. Toured. Shopped. Had a good time.

From there, we headed up to Montrose to meet up with the infamous Tom C., his girlfriend Jo and their roommate, Blair. (, both SaraRules and I hugged him for you. His reaction was worth it.) We went to dinner at Jerry’s Famous Deli in Studio City. Our waiter looked like an adult Peter Brady (NOT Christopher Knight… but, rather, what Peter Brady would have looked like had “he” grown up). And he wasn’t exactly the most attentive waiter. *sigh* Oh, well. Back to Tom’s to chill and hang out.

Here are today’s pictures… with a warning: After the pictures of SaraRules and Meliko and of Cat and me, there are over 350 pictures in LEGOland.

Human of the Day
Today’s HotD is SaraRules, for putting up with me being a horribly overgrown kid – with a camera – at LEGOland. (Or, as she put it: “It was fun watching you be so excited about being at LEGOland.”)

Time to relax and unwind.

Namaste.

Thursday – 20 December 2007
Last night, SaraRules and I traipsed about town polishing off some more of my (last-minute) Christmas shopping. We were mostly-successful. There are a couple of places I need to check for four things, but I think I’ll be fine. After shopping, we headed to Olive Garden for dinner, which was good. They have removed one of my favorite dishes (Chicken Vino Bianco), so I had to try something a little different. I went with the Tuscan Garlic Chicken… which, aside from the pasta, was very similar to the Chicken Vino Bianco. Win-win. Back home for a few more episodes of Coupling (British version). One word: “Inferno.”

This morning started off overcast, but the sun has put in an appearance… along with some traces of blue sky. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that. Add to that the fact that I have been able to work out of the SLC office and today is shaping up to be a good NBN Thursday. *nod*

Human of the Day
Co-Humans: and for pointing out the OS X update that fixed the problem of the locking-up keyboard for the BlacBook.

Stray Toasters

• I picked up the Christmas cards today. They turned out well. Local cards are going to be distributed by hand; cards bound for the coast should go out tonight or tomorning and (God willing and the creek don’t rise) should get to their destinations by Monday.
• In a related note: I have to hand it to FedEx/Kinkos for doing a nice job with the cards. I’m still not overly enthused by the fact that their site requires the use of Internet Exploder, though.
• I managed to leave home without my phone this morning.
  I went home at lunch to drop some things off and – in theory – to get my phone.
  I managed to leave home without my phone this afternoon, too.
  (Oddly, I’m not really missing it…)
• New Justice League: The New Frontier trailer
• I ran into ‘s mother while running errands at lunch. That was a pleasant surprise.
• Stan Lee interview
• 
• During yesterday’s lunchtime run to Dr. Volt’s, I fed my plastic crack addiction. I picked up a couple of boxes of the Origin boosters. In one of the boxes I got Supergirl (veteran), bringing my plastic Legion one figure closer to completion…
• …and, speaking of ‘Clix, check out the new “Buy It by the Brick” promotional figure.
• The Giggle Loop
• The Salt Lake Valley is about to get hit with a pretty big storm. Here are a few office window pics, including a west-facing one to show the grey doom – full of Mother Nature’s frozen mocking laughter – heading our way. (The red glow in the pictures is not nuclear doom. Nor is it a nucular toonami. It is the reflection of the flash on the glass.)
• Science Tattoos (a Flickr set)

Quote of the Day
This morning, I got a message from Coworker Brett (on the right in this picture), who is in the Washington, D.C. area:

Brett: I thought about you the other day… as I was walking around a mall in Prince George. I thought, “This must be what Rob feels like in Utah Valley Mall.”
Me: And that’s why I don’t go to malls in Utah Valley.

It was a good – and amusing – way to kick off the work day.

Namaste.

Monday: Coda
I came home, for a hot second, after work to drop off bags and change into something a little more comfortable for tonight’s game. Then, I was a vapor trail.

I met SaraRules’ parents and for dinner, beer and football. The Patriots vs. the Ravens. I was expecting a blow-out. After all, the Pats are undefeated and the Ravens seem to have found… people… to wear the uniforms, but I haven’t really seen “the team” since last season.

Well, guess who showed up tonight.

That’s right. The Ravens broke out the “Pitch Black” uniforms and came to do some work. On both sides of the ball. I was amazed. This is what I had been wanting to see all season: A game, not the Keystone Kops. And that’s exactly what I got: A game. Not just “a game,” either. A good game. The play – on both sides of the ball – was solid. The defense, as usual, did a good job and the offense stepped up and showed that they knew what to do and how to do it. Unfortunately, penalties (and a lot of them were stupid and very costly) and missed opportunities continued to plague the team. But, they kept marching on.  They lost the game, but I was more than satisfied with the way that they played.

And, I have to give a lot of credit to Kyle Boller. He played one Hell of a game, right down to the last play – an amazing Hail Mary pass completion that was just shy of the goal line. He was poised in the pocket. When he got flushed out of the pocket, he kept his head as well as keeping his eyes on his intended receivers. This is the Kyle Boller that I have been waiting to see for the past four years. The Kyle Boller who is coming into his own as a solid NFL quarterback.

Congratulations on the win – and good luck – to the Patriots as they continue their undefeated season.

Human of the Day: Special Recognition
Ravens Head Coach Brian Billick is being added to today’s Human of the Day list for the following:

After New England made a rather good play, one of the players went over to the Ravens’ sideline and started trash-talking in Coach Billick’s face.

Billick’s response? He blew him kisses.

It. Was. Hysterical.

The guy kept talking. Billick kept blowing kisses.

The whole bar – Ravens and Pats fans, alike – cracked up at it.

Monday – 03 December 2007
Another week begins.

Last night, SaraRules, Darillyn, Vince, Steph, Steve and I headed out for dinner and a movie. We saw Enchanted. It was fun. Quite a bit of fun, actually. Disney poking fun at itself. Sure, a good part of it was over the top, but it seemed as though they writers knew what aspects of Disneyana they wanted to lampoon and then… just… did it. There were many cameos and Easter eggs (IMDb list, Wikipedia list) as well. Post-movie, we headed back to the apartment to hang out. When we got back, one of the other roommates, Kim, and her friend Paige were at the apartment. Kim introduced Vince and me as the unofficial sixth and seventh roommates. Paige, noting the Christmas stockings on the wall, asked where Vince and my stockings were. Vince said that we simply hadn’t had the time to get around to getting/putting up ours yet. I thought of something and left the room…

I had brought a couple of Santa hats with me to Cedar City. I got the black-trimmed hat and tacked it up next to SaraRules’ stocking. This met with resounding approval. Vince asked,”So, what about me…?!” I left the living room again and returned with a white-trimmed Santa hat, which I handed to him. He tacked it up next to Darillyn’s stocking. This was also met with resounding approval.

This morning’s commute wasn’t bad at all. UDoT did a fine job of making sure that the roads were clear. Traffic was fairly light and there wasn’t really anything out of the ordinary to speak of.

I got a call from the Director of the Braithewaite Gallery this morning. It seems as though one of the pieces I am purchasing is not for sale, after all: The artist had mis-entered something on the form that was given to the gallery about the piece. Oh, well, I still have the two other pieces.

Human of the Day
Coworker Mark2. Details in ‘Toasters.

Stray Toasters

• I am having a corned beef sandwich for lunch.
• The Sartorialist, by way of SaraRules
• I picked up a copy of HALO 3 over the weekend. I may have to test drive it tonight, post-football.
• I need to finish HALO 2.
• For those who have been under a rock – or simply haven’t heard: LiveJournal has been purchased from SixApart by Russian firm, SUP
  • LiveJournal notice, from
  • BBC News article
  • The New York Times article
• Also by way of SaraRules: Undercover restorers fix Paris landmark’s clock
• Demented Christmas compilation mixes from Suburban Sprawl
• Business Buddha. Nice.
• Mark2 (yes, I have to number Marks around the office, too) just brought me a Bit-O-Honey candy bar. Out of the blue. Well, I guess there was a reason: Last week, we were talking with some other coworkers about some of our favorite candies; Mark2 and I noted that we both like Bit-O-Honey. That was nice of him. I think I’ll make him Human of the Day (above).

/lunch

Tonight, I will watch the Ravens take on the undefeated Patriots at Fiddler’s Elbow. Joiners welcome. After all, misery loves company and I really don’t see the Ravens chalking this one up in the “W” column.

Namaste.

Saturday – 10 November 2007
After work yesterday, I hit the road for Cedar City. It was overcast for part of the drive, so I didn’t get to look at the starscape. By the time I got to Cedar, SaraRules had already left for the musical; I hung out with her roommates until she got in.

Today, started with sleeping in. Much-needed sleeping in. Then came breakfast and cartoons. After breakfast – and the hygiene rituals – SaraRules I went to meet Claire, an artist from whom Sara had commissioned a picture for my birthday: It’s a train. And, it’s very cool. Claire brought two prints for me to choose from; I took the first one – I liked the color separations on it a little better. I’m going to have to reorganize some of the pictures in the dining room so that I can add it to the collection.

The rest of the day has been fairly lazy and relaxed. Tonight, I saw the musical (How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying) with Vince.  I saw Rachel and Steve at intermission.  After the play, SaraRules, Rachel, Steve and I went to Applebee’s for dinner and drinks – not a bad way to wind up the day.

Human of the Day
Today’s Human is Claire. She was fun to talk with and I’m quite taken with the piece that she did.

Four-Color Coverage
It’s been about three weeks since I’ve done one of these. In that time, I have decided to revamp the comic reviews a bit: Rather than review everything that I’ve read from a given haul, I’m going to stick to covering the stand-outs – the issues that I consider particularly noteworthy. That being said, let’s dive in:

• Action Comics #858 – This is the book that made me late for gaming a couple of weeks ago. Why? It’s a Legion tie-in story. Not just “any” version of the Legion, either. The Legion that I grew up reading. Apparently, there’s trouble in the 31st Century that requires the help of the Man of Steel. But, things in the 31st Century aren’t quite the same as the last time Superman was there…
• Astonishing X-Men #23 – Short and sweet summary here: Wow. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but after the bombshell from Issue #22, I wasn’t expecting much.  I was wrong.  I seriously underestimated Joss Whedon. Excellent issue and I can’t wait for Issue #24, the final chapter in the Whedon-Cassady run of the book.
• Elephanmen #006 – I somehow missed picking up this issue when it was first released. In it, we get a little more background on the relationship between Elephantman Obidiah Horn and his fiancee, Sahara.
• Fantastic Four #551 – The Black Panther, Namor and… Doctor Doom… come back in time to prevent Reed Richards – and the rest of the Fantastic Four – from making one of his greatest mistakes. But, will Reed listen to what they have to say?
• Justice Society of America #10 – The “strange visitor” who appeared at the end of Issue #9 was none other than the Superman of Earth-22… the Kingdom Come Earth. He’s here to make sure that what happened on his Earth doesn’t happen on New Earth.
• The New Avengers: Illuminati (5 of 5) – I wasn’t entirely sure what to make of this series when it started…. and I wasn’t sure that I would collect the entire run. Yeah, I know… only five issues. But, given some of the bumps along the way, I wasn’t sure that I’d make it. But, I did. And it wasn’t as much of a train wreck as I had thought. In fact, the ending made up for a lot. And, it (the ending) tied in well to a continuing storyline in The New Avengers. On the minus side, it’s leading into what I assume will be a Marvel-wide crossover called “Secret Invasion,” for which I may wait for a trade paperback.
• Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #35 – Atom Girl, Shadow Lass and Timber Wolf – with long-range assistance from Brainiac 5 – take on former Legionnaire E.R.G.-1 (Wildfire) as he attempts to assassinate the President of the planet Lallor.
• Superman #670 – The final chapter of “The Third Kryptonian” storyline. Superman, Power Girl, Supergirl, Chris Kent, Krypto and… “the third Kryptonian” against Amalak, a being intent on making sure that there are no Kryptonians.
• Uncanny X-Men #492 – Chapter two of the “Messiah Complex” crossover currently running through the X-titles. Since I’m not collecting the other books, I came into the game late, so to speak. But, what this issue did have was a fairly solid story, and it was interesting to see Scott and Professor X finally get to the heart of the matter of the wedge between them… if only briefly.

Stray Toasters
Nope.  Not tonight.  Maybe tomorrow.

Namaste.

Friday – 09 November 2007
Going to bed at 3:30 isn’t terribly unusual for me.
Getting up at 6:40… and staying awake, that’s a little more rare.

But, that’s how the day started. When I got up and started moving, I had the “Get your sexy on….” line from Sexy Back running through my head on what seemed like an endless loop. It was almost as annoying as when I had the Pina Colada Song stuck in my head. Almost. Fortunately, it didn’t last very long. Up, ready, out.

Work has been good. Answered a few questions. Put out a few small fires. All-in-all, not a bad way to wind up the week.

Today’s workout was decent, as well. I tried doing a rep or two at 300 pounds today, despite the fact that I had done sets of dips just before attempting my bench press. My triceps were shot; I couldn’t get my upper arms much past parallel to the ground. Oh, well… another day. The rest of the workout was good, though:

• Leg Raises: 3 sets / 20 reps
• Dip: 3 sets / 20 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets – 1 set: 225 lbs / 5 reps and 155 lbs / 8 reps; 2 sets / 12 reps, 155 lbs.
• Dumbbell Pull-overs: 3 sets / 15 reps, 45 lbs.
• Row: 3 sets / 12 reps, 120 lbs.

Tyranist brought in Infernal Contraption. While looking at it, I was reminded of the online CCG, Chron-X… which I hadn’t thought of in many, many moons. I apparently still have the old version of the game on ‘Nine.

Stray Toasters

• I have a slice of Turtle Cheesecake.
• In an after-story item from yesterday’s Human of the Day section: I now have the name of the “unknown Apple Store worker!” It is Lisa. I am drafting a thank you/commendation letter to the store for the associates’ help in what turned out to be a precarious matter; it would not do to simply refer to her as “unknown Apple Store worker” in the letter.
• One of the Coworker Marks told me about Steamtown.
• Mark also asked if I knew the origin of “The Real McCoy.” I didn’t. He, making a tie-in to Steamtown, pointed me in the direction of Elijah McCoy.
• Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials
• For the first time in a while, I had the opportunity to chat with lj user=”janietrain”. Along the way, we had the following exchange:
  

  [11:25] : So, I demand info.
  [11:25] : heh
  [11:25] : Who is SaraRules?
  [11:25] : Is this a new chick of interest?
  [11:25] : “Lord Praetor, on my ship, you don’t demand. You ask.”
  [11:26] : hahaha
  [11:26] : Ahh, dorky and evasive.

  I could remember where I got the “Lord Praetor” line – an issue of Uncanny X-Men – but I couldn’t recall the specific issue, nor the exact quote. A short search later, I found it: Uncanny X-Men #167:

  Cyclops and Corsair, having recently reunited for the first time in nearly 20 years, are having a talk… which is soon interrupted.
  Raza: Corsair! *arrives on the observation deck on a hoversled with Hepzibah and a member of the Imperial Guard*
  Corsair: So much for tender moments. What’s up, Raza?
  Raza: We have a guest, Christopher.
  Cyclops: That’s Gladiator, head of Lilandra’s Imperial Guard! What’s he doing here?
  Corsair: *to Cyclops* Good question, considering he swore never to walk these decks until he’d seen the Starjammers dead or enslaved. He isn’t a man to lightly break an oath.
  *calling down to Gladiator* You’re a long way from home. Is this a social call, or business?
  Gladiator: Pirate, I demand to see the Majestrix — Empress Lilandra — at once!
  Corsair: On my ship, Lord Praetor, you do not “demand” of me… you ask.
  Raza: Thou hast been ill-mannered, cousin.
  Gladiator: Have a care, renegade.
  Hepzibah: We like you, too, Imperial. Care to argue point?
  Gladiator: Another time, Lady Hepzibah, with pleasure. Corsair, I crave an audience with my empress.

• Is Apple Cashing in on iPod’s Missing Feature?
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Toilet sign in Korea warns to be on the lookout for sickos

Gone, baby… gone.

Namaste.

Thursday – 08 November 2007
Another NBN Thursday draws to a close. Work was good. Today was “Sushi Wednesday.” (Yes, I know it was Thursday. Deal with it.) I picked up this week’s four-color goodness. And, I have brand-spankin-new sexy black hotness.

Human of the Day
There are actually three HotDs today: Joanne, from the laundry where I get my clothes done and Jerry and an unnamed manager at the Apple Store.

I decided to kill two avians with a single piece of silicate tonight and get my laundry done while I was exchanging my MacBook. (Sidenote: One of the Coworker Daves, misheard Code Monkey and me talking about the laptop and thought that we had referred to it as my BlacBook. That amused me.) So, off I went in search of adventure to swap my BlacBook MacBook and to get some clean drawers…

• Joanne: I got to the laundry a little later than planned, but was still hopeful that I could get same-day service. Couldn’t hurt to ask, after all. So, I walked in… got up to the counter… and posed the question. Joanne looked at the clock, thought about it and said yes. When I went back later to pick up the clothes, she said that she basically did it because I’ve been a fairly regular customer and that she knew that if I said I needed them tonight, that I’d be back for them. (Truth be told, Joanne has consistently been the easiest-to-deal with person at that laundry in all of the time that I have been going there; I think I actually sigh in relief whenever I see that she’s working.)
• Jerry and the unnamed Apple Store manager: While waiting on the laundry, I took the old and busted MacBook to the Apple Store to trade it in for new hotness. An associate named Jerry came up to help me. Bang. Zoom. I summarized last night’s call to the store and told him with whom I had spoken. He said that he could take care of it; he took the receipt and the MacBook and headed to the Genius Bar. A couple of minutes later, he came back – he needed my password to get into the system. And then, he was off again. He returned with the old MacBook and a fresh-in-the-box new one.There was a slight problem in matching the receipt to the MacBook – there had been some arcane workings in getting proper credit applied when the purchase was made. Enter: Unnamed manager. She came over, sussed out the deal and got the proper ducks in a row. A few minutes later, Jerry returned and told me how much it would cost to complete the exchange.

  Cost? Huh…wha?!?

  When I called last night, that was one of the things that I specifically asked. The associate said that his manager had authorized a waiving of any restocking fee. Jerry disappeared again. While he and Managerette were trying to hammer out the particulars, I wandered about the store. I also made a discovery: Battlefield 2142 has been ported to the Mac. I wandered back to the front of the store, just as they were trying to figure out where another discount had been taken in purchasing the old MacBook. I tried, unsuccessfully to call (who picked up the MacBook for me) to help sort things out. But, Managerette came up with a solution and… no more than three minutes after that, I was walking out the door with the new system.

Stray Toasters

• I picked up a copy of Peaceful Warrior this evening. It was a good adaptation of the book.
• Ou.
• Apparently, the Chasing Amy “What’s a Nubian?” clip has been removed from YouTube. But, I found a link to a similar clip of it (minus about 30 seconds) on MySpace.
• Tesla Coils Playing the Mario Bros. Theme Are Unsurprisingly Awesome
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Teen Gets Strippergram at School
• Gawker Artists
• Zombeatles’ Hard Day’s Night of the Living Dead
• By way of Maddox: Fashion tips for women from a guy who knows dick about fashion and 9 things I learned about the world from anonymous stock photo models

Namaste.

Wednesday: Coda
I am tired. Not completely worn out and run down exactly, but I can tell that I should sleep well tonight.

On the way home, I stopped in to see Kate, Perry and the new baby. Cute. And tiny (but not toony). Both he and Kate are doing well, with no complications. Kate and Perry are now referring to me as the kids’ “bluncle.” That amuses me. I can live with that.

Human of the Day
Yep, this is another new item. Sometimes, you come across a person who is the polar opposite of a “monkey.” Since I so frequently mention (rant/rage/bitch about) monkeys, why shouldn’t I give equal time to people who actually are good and decent? Don’t they deserve a shout out, too? Of course they do. And thus, we have the “Human of the Day.”

Today’s (and the first) Human of the Day: .

I got the new sexy black hotness that is Defiant on 26 October. Leopard, the latest version of OS X, also came out that day. It wasn’t pre-loaded, but came packaged with the laptop. Win-win.

On 31 October, MacRumors.com began posting items about upgrades to the MacBook.

YeahbuhWHAT?!

• Faster processor
• New mainboard chipset
• Faster front-side bus
• Upgraded video card
• Added memory capacity

Yeah. All of that… at the same price point. *grblsnrkx*

For the past few days, has been asking me whether I had considered contacting Apple and asking a few pointed questions. Today was no exception. And, while I had planned on calling sometime this evening, I figured, “What the Hell…” and decided to call while still chatting with .

I called and after a little dealing with an IVR, got through to an associate in the store. I explained that I had just bought my MacBook and that I had even waited until Leopard was released so that I could have the new OS for the new machine… and that the new, updated hardware was released six days later. “So… what are my options to return or exchange my notebook for the newer hardware.” The associate said that he wasn’t sure, but that he would talk with a manager and find out.

He was gone for a few minutes. I listened to hold music – it was reggae. He came back to the phone and explained that there was a fourteen day grace/return period and that situations like mine were covered under that. All that I had to do was bring the notebook, box and all of the included accoutrements to the store… and I could exchange it for one of the new MacBooks.

Just. Like. That.

So, by this time tomorrow, I will have even newer, sexier black hotness.

So, once again, a shout out and a big thanks to for his persistence.

Stray Toasters

• Kate can sing the theme from The Snorks; I’m not sure whether to be impressed… or scared.
• Tossed-Out Electronics Are Reincarnated as Stop-Mo Animal Bots
• 
• The Ultimate Guide to Freezing Food

.eof