Random Access

Saturday – 02 February 2013
It’s Groundhog Day.
(Just so you know, there won’t be a guest post by Bill Murray or Andie MacDowell. Sorry.)

It’s the weekend. Hallelujah. It hasn’t been a bad week, but with Team DiVa not sleeping well (due to their colds), Sara! and I haven’t been sleeping well. Or, rather, our sleep has been broken and not as restful as it could be.

Chew on This: Food for Thought – Black History Month
Today’s person: Julian Bond

Horace Julian Bond (born January 14, 1940), known as Julian Bond, is an American social activist and leader in the American civil rights movement, politician, professor, and writer. Bond was born in Nashville, Tennessee, to the former Julia Agnes Washington and Horace Mann Bond.

In 1960, Bond was a founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and served as its communications director from 1961 to 1966. From 1960 to 1963, he led student protests against segregation in public facilities in Georgia. Bond left Morehouse College in 1961 and returned to complete his BA in English in 1971 at age 31. With Morris Dees, Bond helped found the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a public-interest law firm based in Montgomery, Alabama. He served as its president from 1971 to 1979. Bond continues on the board of directors of the SPLC.

In 1965, Bond was one of eight African Americans elected to the Georgia House of Representatives after passage of civil rights legislation, including the Voting Rights Act of 1965. On January 10, 1966, however, Georgia state representatives voted 184-12 not to seat him because he publicly endorsed SNCC’s policy regarding opposition to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. They disliked Bond’s stated sympathy for persons who were “unwilling to respond to a military draft”. A federal District Court panel ruled 2-1 that the Georgia House had not violated any of Bond’s federal constitutional rights. In 1966, the United States Supreme Court ruled 9-0 in the case of Bond v. Floyd (385 U.S. 116) that the Georgia House of Representatives had denied Bond his freedom of speech and was required to seat him. From 1967 to 1975, Bond was elected for four terms as a Democratic member in the Georgia House. There he organized the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus.

In January 1967, Bond was among eleven House members who refused to vote when the legislature elected segregationist Lester Maddox of Atlanta as governor of Georgia over the Republican Howard Callaway, who had led in the 1966 general election by some three thousand votes. The choice fell on state lawmakers under the Georgia Constitution of 1824 because neither major party candidate had polled a majority in the general election. Former Governor Ellis Arnall polled more than fifty thousand votes as a write-in cadidate, a factor which led to the impasse. Bond would not support either Maddox or Callaway though he was ordered to vote by lame duck Lieutenant Governor Peter Zack Geer.

He went on to be elected for six terms in the Georgia Senate in which he served from 1975 to 1987.

During the 1968 presidential election, Bond led an alternate delegation from Georgia to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. There, unexpectedly and contrary to his intention, he became the first African American to be proposed as a major-party candidate for Vice President of the United States. While expressing gratitude for the honor, the 28-year-old Bond quickly declined, citing the constitutional requirement that one must be at least 35 years of age to serve in that office.

Bond resigned from the Georgia Senate in 1987 to run for the United States House of Representatives from Georgia’s 5th congressional district. He lost the Democratic nomination in a runoff to rival civil rights leader John Lewis in a bitter contest, in which Bond was accused of using cocaine and other drugs. As the 5th district had a huge Democratic majority, the nomination delivered the seat to Lewis, who still serves as congressman.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Bond taught at several universities in major cities of the North and South, including American, Drexel, Harvard, and the University of Virginia.

In 1998, Bond was selected as chairman of the NAACP. In November 2008, he announced that he would not seek another term as chairman. Bond agreed to stay on in the position through 2009 as the organization celebrated its 100th anniversary. Roslyn M. Brock was chosen as Bond’s successor on February 20, 2010.

He continues to write and lecture about the history of the civil rights movement and the condition of African Americans and the poor. He is President Emeritus of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

From 1980 to 1997 he hosted America’s Black Forum. He remains a commentator for the Forum, for radio’s Byline, and for NBC’s The Today Show. He authored thenationally syndicated newspaper column Viewpoint. He narrated the critically acclaimed PBS series Eyes on the Prize in 1987 and 1990.

Bond has been an outspoken supporter of the rights of gays and lesbians. He has publicly stated his support for same-sex marriage. Most notably he boycotted the funeral services for Coretta Scott King on the grounds that the King children had chosen an anti-gay megachurch. This was in contradiction to their mother’s longstanding support for the rights of gay and lesbian people. In a 2005 speech in Richmond, VA, Bond stated:

African Americans … were the only Americans who were enslaved for two centuries, but we were far from the only Americans suffering discrimination then and now. … Sexual disposition parallels race. I was born this way. I have no choice. I wouldn’t change it if I could. Sexuality is unchangeable.

In a 2007 speech on the Martin Luther King Day Celebration at Clayton State University in Morrow, GA, Bond said, “If you don’t like gay marriage, don’t get gay married.” His positions have pitted elements of the NAACP against religious groups in the Black Civil Rights movement who oppose gay marriage mostly within the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) who was blamed partly for the success of the recent gay marriage ban amendment in California.

Today, Bond is a Distinguished Professor in Residence at American University in Washington, D.C. He also is a faculty member in the history department at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, where he teaches history of the Civil Rights Movement.

Stray Toasters

• I like football. That’s kind of well-known. I just saw a commercial on CBS about the Super Bowl: The game starts at 6:30 PM EST… but their game day coverage starts at 11:00 AM. What. The. Hell?!
• Top 10 Good Tech Habits Everyone Should Have
• Temple of the Winds: Done
  On to Soul of the Fire
• How LEGO Fans See Each Other
• I just heard Emeli Sandè for the first time on The Late Show with David Letterman. I might have to track down some of her other stuff.
• For Sara!…
  
• I started playing Star Trek Online tonight. Because, you know, I need another time sink.
• Superman in Bondage: The Kinkiest Kryptonian Covers Ever Published
• As much as I love my kids, look forward to the day when diapers are a thing of the past, and enjoy my iPad,  this is something that I don’t foresee taking up space in our home.
• Sesame Street mashed up with the Beastie Boys’ “Sure Shot”

Namaste.

Saturday – 26 January 2013
It’s the weekend. Selah.

It’s been a good and somewhat busy week.  Sara! has been attending a conference this week, so it’s mostly been Team DiVa and me at home at night. We all survived. That’s a good thing. Sara!’s conference ends today, but for most of the day, it’s just me and the little ladies.

Sidenote: Some people have made the mistaken assumption that I refer to the girls as “Team DiVa” because they are – or will possibly be – little divas.  Despite one of their grandmother’s being affectionately referred to as “The Diva” (Capital “T,” Capital “D”) by family and friends, we don’t plan on the girls being spoiled little brats. (Spoiled, maybe. Little, only if they don’t get their mother’s height. Brats, no. Period. Full stop.)

Vanessa (l) and Diana

We call refer to the girls as Team DiVa because of their names. Hence the two capital letters in “DiVa,” rather than just one. We noted the “nickname” when we chose the name – and, no, we didn’t choose the names to create the nickname. I don’t think that we were really planning on using it until someone asked us if we were aware of that “DiVa” could be made from the girls’ names. From that point on, it just kind of… stuck.

Besides, it makes for an easy way to refer to them as well as a handy hashtag for Twitter.

Stray Toasters

• Lumberjills of The Women’s Timber Corps
• After Years of Estrangement, Eight Siblings Become a Family
  I heard this story on my Friday morning commute; I would love to hear the entire 40-minute story.
• THQ Dissolved and Sold Off in Pieces
• Dr. Ellen Ochoa, the First Latina in Space, Is Now The Johnson Space Center’s Second Female Director, Too
• It’s official: J.J. Abrams is directing the next Star Wars movie.
• Panetta: ‘Everyone Entitled to a Chance’ at Combat
  • Around the Globe, Women Already Serve in Combat Units
  • CNN Anchor Tricks Opponent of Women in Combat to Endorse Racial Segregation
• Play With Your Food
• The Balancing Act of Being Female; or Why We Have So Many Clothes
• At $17.5 Million a Year, LeBron James Is Underpaid

Huh, there are a lot of ‘Toasters about women and women-focused topics here. That’s okay, I want Team DiVa to as many good examples of good female role models as I can find.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 22 January 2013
Before it’s no longer Tuesday, I’d figure that I’d try to get a Team DiVa picture or two posted:

Ball Pit!!!

Vanessa, not minding being in a picture… too much…

Vanessa… not wanting to take any more pictures.

And there you have it.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 15 January 2013
It’s been a couple of weeks, but here is a bit of Team DiVa goodness for you:

Vanessa (l) and Diana

Vanessa (l) and Diana (close-up!)

Diana (l) and Vanessa

Diana helping Mom lower the mattress frame on a crib

Diana

Vanessa

And there you go.

Namaste.

Friday – 11 January 2013
Today has been a good day. Even with all the snow.

The morning commute was about a half-hour long, give or take. The drive was made a little better with the addition of two fifty-pound bags of salt to the trunk. (I have a rear-wheel drive car that apparently puts out A LOT of torque at low speed.) But, on the whole, it was uneventful.

The evening commute was slower than expected, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as last night’s two-hour journey. I made it home in about 45 minutes.

Stray Toasters

• A few days ago, I changed the screen saver on the computer in Team DiVa’s room. Previously, it was just random abstract lights; now it’s a series of space pictures. And the girls have gone completely mad over it. Seriously. They used to always/only want to play AlphaBaby on their computer. Now, they just want to see the screen saver. They’ve even learned the sign for “stars,” well.. mostly. They have it about 90% down. But you still know what it is that they want. And I couldn’t be happier to let them have it.
• Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival
  
• No, it’s not a prequel:  ABC President Confirms S.H.I.E.L.D. Takes Place After The Avengers
  #CoulsonLives #AllThePheels
• The 6 Things You Need to Know About DC Universe Online
• A little food for thought: I Stopped Telling Women to Smile (and You Should, Too)
• U.S. Currency as the Justice League
• Someone call Samuel L. Jackson (or maybe William Shatner or John Lithgow): Snake on a Plane: Qantas Passenger Spots Python Holding on to Wing During Flight

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Monday – 31 December 2012
The end of the world year is here.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
Today is the last day of 2012. Some of the experiences of the year include:

• I left my old job and found another one.
• Team DiVa had their first birthday party.
  • They also started walking, talking, signing and doing other all-around amazing things.
• I started a new blog: Pinstripes and Polos
• My mother went back to work… as a consultant.
• We did some renovations to the house and grounds:
  • We tore down the gazebo to facilitate new landscaping in the back yard.
  • We started felling trees and shrubbery in front yard, also to accomodate new landscaping.
  • We built a new gate to replace the one that a storm demolished. (I need to replace one of the sides of the gate – again! – following another storm.)
  • The Train Room has been finished; I just need to schedule an appointment to have carpet installed.
• I turned 42… I’m still not sure what the Ultimate Question is, but I do know where my towel is.
• My fifth niece was born.
• I played City of Heroes for the last time. Ever.
• We got to celebrate a very lovely Christmas with Sara!’s family.

…and, as I said a couple of years ago: “…these are all part of ‘life.’”

On the whole, 2012 was a good year. I am thankful for the many new people I met and I am grateful for the many wonderful things that I got to experience. If you were part of my year – no matter how big or small a part – thank you for the pleasure of your company and for being a part of my journey.

Stray Toasters

• Over the past few days, Sara! and I have combatted the 2012 Death Plague. I’m not sure where we picked it up, but I’m glad to have it in the proverbial rear view mirror. I didn’t leave the bedroom for over 18 hours (Thu night/Friday) and for 10 of those hours, I didn’t even leave the bed. Sara! was laid up all day Saturday and part of the day on Sunday. Somehow, Team DiVa seem to have avoided the worst of it.
• Sunday afternoon, I headed to the airport to see my friend, Megan, during a long layover. While there, I also ran into Dave, Erica and Aria, as well as former Utah Opera Resident Artist John Buffett. Superpower-on-overdrive for the end-of-year win!
• I’ve finally gotten around to continuing the Sword of Truth series, which was suggested to me years ago by my friend, Jess. (It was one of her favorite series.) It’s equal parts thrilling and maddening. I’ve also learned that having access to the Internet while reading/listening is not always a necessarily “good” thing, as I have semi-spoiled a couple of things for myself.
• Snow. 10″ in the past week and we’re having flurries now.
• I really need to figure out exactly what I want to do with the spare computers around here.
• While they lost their last game, the Ravens are still the #4 Seed in the AFC and made the playoffs for the fifth straight year under Head Coach John Harbaugh and QB Joe Flacco.
• By way of Mike B.: Off Topic: A Movie So Bad, It’s Good: The Legacy of Road House
  I’ve not seen the movie before, but this just about makes me want to invest the hour-and-a-half to see it.
• I’m sure that there were eleventy-billion other things I was planning on adding to this list. Oh, well.

I wish you a very happy and prosperous 2013 and beyond.

Tuesday – 18 December 2012
Christmas is nigh upon us.

Sara! and I finally got our Christmas cards back from the printer. We are quite pleased with them. Last night, before addressing envelopes, I may have put a loop of track and a trolley under the tree. Tonight, I may put a few buildings under there. We shall see…

Vanessa surprised me last night with a new phrase: “Chocolate milk.” It came out more like “Chah-mick,” but she was pointing at my then-full glass of chocolate milk when she said it… and then, along with Diana, proceeded to drink about half of the glass of milk before I got a sip myself.

Vanessa (l) and Diana

Stray Toasters

• I watched last week’s Burn Notice last night. The preview for the next episode said “Season finale,” but I thought that it was supposed to be the series finale. Huh.
• Season’s Greetings from Hubble
• Classic Films Re-Imagined in LEGO Form
• Hm. I need to find some time in the next few days to play some DCUO.
• Instagram’s new legalese pisses off users

Quote of the Day
From a conversation with Sara! yesterday:

Wednesday – 12 December 2012 Sunday – 16 December 2012
Midweek. Check.
New comics day. Check.
Movie Date Night. Check.

Everyone seems to be going ape over the 12/12/12 thing. Personally, I’m waiting  for the 21st. (Rush fans will understand.)

Yeah. This post started on Wednesday. Then I figured that I’d just finish it on Thursday, which didn’t happen because things went eight kinds of sideways at work. How bad? Think: “Sixteen-hour-day.” Yeah, it was like that.

And Friday? Yeah there was some busy-ness there, too. Not as bad, but still some running around.

Yesterday, I had a tournament and by the time I got home, all I wanted to do was veg. I was so tired that I barely made it through last night’s Action Movie Saturday fare: The Living Daylights.” It was, I think, the last Bond movie – other than Skyfall – that I haven’t seen. It wasn’t a great movie. In fact, I thought that it was at least as cheesy as – if not more cheesy than –  the later Roger Moore Bond films.

Things have been good on the home front. Team DiVa has been full of surprises lately. They’re learning to climb on more things. Their vocabularies are growing, too. They both surprised me the other day when they looked at my cup of coffee and said, “Cocoa?” (They’ve had – and liked – hot chocolate, so it wasn’t a stretch for them t0 assume that I was drinking cocoa.) Clever girls.

Stray Toasters

• The Broncos just handed the Ravens a major beat down.
  In Baltimore.
  *sigh*
• The art of Ant Lucia
• Here are a couple of good items on the demise of City of Heroes:
  • Meta’s Verse: Interview with a Melissa Bianco and Matt Miller
  • Ephemeral Existence: Picking Up the Pieces of City of Heroes
• A Sad Farewell to the Game Studios We Lost in 2012
• University of Chicago Admissions Office received this item last week.
• I just realized that I still haven’t seen last week’s Last Resort. But, it’s on the DVR. Win!
• Beautiful LEGO Bonsai

Quote of the Day
Today’s Wednesday’s quote actually comes from a few days ago. What?! I’ve been busy.

After the new trailer for Star Trek: Into Darkness came out, there was a lot of buzz about who the villain would be. Khan? Trelaine? Someone new?

I was chatting with John, my brother-in-law, and we had this exchange:

(12/8/2012 5:55:32 PM) John: http://entertainment.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/06/15736805-khaaan-maybe-star-trek-2-movie-teaser-wont-say-or-will-it?lite
(5:55:36 PM) John: what say you?
(12:02:46 PM) Rob: And I say, “Gary Mitchell.”
(12:02:54 PM) Rob: Seems to be the prevailing thought at this point.
(12:03:01 PM) John: No Khan, eh
(12:03:33 PM) Rob: Don’t think so.
(12:03:43 PM) Rob: We had a alot of discussion about it Thursday/Friday
(12:03:53 PM) John: At first I was kind of excited by the possibility…then I got kind of annoyed b/c I think they’d probably screw it up after all this time
(12:04:03 PM) John: Sometimes you have to leave the classics alone
(12:04:04 PM) Rob: And it seems as though Karl Urban let it slip in an interview a couple of weeks ago.
(12:04:30 PM) Rob: I’d be okay if Khan was in the movie… as long as they spun the story in a different direction.
(12:04:53 PM) John: Bingo. I don’t want a damn remake
(12:05:12 PM) John: I’m kind of biased…ST2 is in my top 10 movies
(12:05:25 PM) Rob: In my Top 5, I think.
(12:05:42 PM) John: Also has one of my top 10 movie lines ever too
(12:05:46 PM) Rob: It’s a solid piece of movie-making, with a sci-fi candy-coated shell.
(12:05:58 PM) John: KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN goes well with “KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!!!” and “Time…to die”
(12:06:11 PM) Rob: heh
(12:06:14 PM) Rob: True enough.
(12:06:18 PM) John: (the latter STILL my favorite movie scene ever)
(12:06:43 PM) Rob: For me it’s: “You… you, I do not know. But you… I never forget a face. Mr…. Chekov!”
(12:06:52 PM) shadorunr: (even though they never met on the original show.
(12:06:57 PM) John: Details.
(12:07:02 PM) shadorunr: Exactly.
(12:07:13 PM) Rob: It happened during a commercial, as far as I’m concerned.
(12:07:17 PM) John: lol
(12:07:31 PM) John: Maybe they ran into each other at the bridge’s urinal line. Who knows.
(12:08:25 PM) Rob: to the Bat-IMDb!
(12:08:28 PM) Rob: Khan says to Chekov, “And you – I never forget a face. Chekov, isn’t it?”. Although Chekov was not a bridge officer in the TV show that first featured Khan, it should be remembered that when Khan first took over Enterprise, he started with the engineering deck. Chekov was engineering ensign at the time, according to the movie’s novelization.
(12:08:34 PM) Rob: Tada!
(12:08:50 PM) John: Eh…I like the urinal explanation better.
(12:08:54 PM) Rob: Ditto.
(12:09:08 PM) John: “Oh yeah…well…he was in…engineering. Yes, engineering.”
(12:10:21 PM) Rob:  From Wikipedia:

Pavel Andreievich Chekov is a young and naïve ensign who first appeared on-screen in The Original Series’ second season as the Enterprise’s navigator. However, The Wrath of Khan established that he had been assigned to the ship sometime before the first season episode “Space Seed”, since Khan remembers him in the movie. Koenig joked that Khan remembered Chekov from the episode after he took too long in a restroom Khan wanted to use

(12:10:46 PM) John: hahahaha!!!
(12:10:50 PM) John: See?
(12:11:01 PM) Rob: So it is written, so must it be.

And for the day’s final miracle: As of 10:03 PM MDT, the painting of the train room is complete!

Namaste.

Friday – 07 December 2012
Today is the  71st anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day.

“…a day that will live in infamy.”

Today is also the day that Diana turns 15-months-old:

Diana

Stray Toasters

• Soup. That’s what’s for lunch, late though it is. I’m having the Campbell’s Grilled Chicken and Sausage Gumbo. It has a little more “bite” than the Progresso Chicken Gumbo. Not to say that one is necessarily better than the other; both have their good qualities.
• Best Art Ever (This Week)
• I kind of covet this Dark Phoenix.
• WWII War Paint: How Bomber-Jacket Art Emboldened Our Boys
• Last Resort. I just learned today that it will be ending after its 13th episode. That’s a pity, it’s been a great show. But, according to one of the show’s creators, they will be able to wrap up the story before it ends.

Namaste.

Sunday – 02 December 2012
The holiday season is here.

Oh, wait… retailers would say that I’m at least a week out. Feh. I’m sorry, the Christmas season doesn’t start the day after Hallowe’en. Just saying. Besides, I still need to hear Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth before it’s really the season in my book.

Friday night, the sun set on Paragon City for the last time when NCSoft shut down the City of Heroes servers. I decided to log in and be online when the game shut down. I was also able to meet up with a few members of my supergroup.  Um, my former supegroup.

It was nice to get to hang out with them as the game ended. Over the past year or two, I found that the amount of time that I played CoH/CoV diminished, but it was still a fun diversion and I really enjoyed my time in Paragon City. I look forward to seeing what (former) lead designer Matt Miller and company do next.

Today, Sara!, Team DiVa and I went to the local Williams-Sonoma to the Artisans’ Market this afternoon. There were some interesting local vendors and their creations there today. For example, we sampled a really good Nicaraguan coffee as well as a very tasty eggplant spread.

After a much shorter-than-it-should be nap by the little ladies, we watched a good portion of the Steelers-Ravens game.

Diana in a …purple pteranodon onesie?
Sure! It’s close enough to a bird AND it’s a dinosaur! Win-Win!
And every game is better with a 360 controller or two!

Vanessa with my… um, “her”… mini-football.

The family, watching the game…

I missed most of the second half because… well.. kids. They need watching and they are more important than a football game.

Instant Replay: Football
Last night was the only game that I was really concerned with this week:

Pittsburgh Steelers at Baltimore Ravens
23 – 20
Two weeks after the Ravens went to Pittsburgh, the Steelers came to Charm City.The Ravens were in black jerseys and white pants, not their all-black look, as I was expecting. The Steelers left Baltimore with a win. But, despite the loss, the Ravens are still atop the AFC North and two games ahead of the Steelers. Congratulations, Bonne, Bret and Uncle Ronnie.

.

Cleveland Browns at Oakland Raiders
20 – 17
The Browns traveled to Oakland and beat the Raiders in their own house.Sorry, Sara! and Rob.

.

Cincinnati Bengals at San Diego Chargers
20 – 13
The Bengals went to Arrowhead and beat the Chiefs.Congrats, Janie and Becky.

.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Denver Broncos
23 – 31
The Bucs went to Mile High to face Peyton Manning and company… and left with a loss.Congrats, Dana and Sean.

Stray Toasters

• It’s December, which means that RubySnap is featuring Noelle as its cookie of the month. If you haven’t tried it, you owe it to yourself to do so.
• High Fashion Disney Princesses
• Speaking of princesses: Warner Bros. Starts Looking for ‘Amazon’ TV Series Lead
• Two months to the next episode of The Walking Dead. At least that gives me some time to catch up on Doctor Who on Netflix.
• Four words: Comic. Book. Wrapping. Paper.
  I think I might try this for Christmas.

Namaste.

Monday – 19 November 2012
Yeah, it’s been a while. But, I’m back. And this is a post.

The girls are growing in leaps and bounds.  They surprised me the other day, while watching a Baby Einstein video, by (more or less) repeating some of the words used in the video. Just to be sure that I wasn’t hallucinating it, I replayed the video for Sara! and the girls did it again. They are also getting very good at using a few more signs, particularly “water,” “more,” and “please.”

Diana (l) and Vanessa

We kept this storage unit under Diana’s crib as a corral for the girls’ stuffed animals. Well, the animals have wound up just about everywhere but the bin. And, the girls discovered the joy of crawling into it. We have since taken the bin from under the crib and filled it with pillows… and the girls love playing in the improvised pillow pit. Although, I’m still toying with the idea of buying some ball pit balls and using them to replace the pillows, for a mini version of this:

I went to a train show this past weekend. It wasn’t awesome – no major manufacturer presence at all – and only handful of vendors wit items I was interested in, but it was a train show. I did see one of the vendors from whom I bought something at the train show last month, though. He even remembered me and we chatted for a few minutes.

For me, the most memorable thing from the show was meeting and talking with Blanche Keller. My friend, Dave, showed me this article last week, detailing Blanche and her husband, Norman’s, ordeal after having their merchandise and trailer stolen while on their way to a train show in Denver. I asked Blanche about what happened and she talked very candidly about the whole experience. The article gave a good 10,000 foot view, but listening to her recount their last couple of weeks was pretty heartbreaking. Not only did they lose their merchandise (for a while), but they had to close bank and merchant accounts, none of which can be reopened or replaced until they get back home.

Before we finished talking, Blanche mentioned that they had a number of invitations from friends for Thanksgiving when they get back home. She smiled and said that she appreciated the outpouring of support, but that she’s not sure that she even wants to leave the house when she gets back, aside from picking up her dogs from boarding.

I wish Blanche and Norman all the best.

Instant Replay: Football
Last night was the only game that I was really concerned with this week:

Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers
13 – 10
The Ravens headed up to Steel Town to take on the Steelers in their house. The Ravens were in white jersey and black pants, while the Steelers were in black-and-yellow striped jerseys (and socks) with beige pants. They seriously looked like bumblebees. So, I kept referring to it as “The Birds and the Bees Game.” This always a good – and somewhat bitter – match up. There was some question as to how it would go, as both teams were missing key players. The Steelers scored – in the first 43 seconds – thanks to a defensive pass interference call and some quick plays. The Ravens came back, thanks to WR Jacoby Jones, who ran back (another!) punt for a TD. Jacoby Jones on his way to the house… (c) NFL.com The rest of the Ravens’ scoring came from K Justin Tucker. I haven’t been CB Corey Graham’s biggest advocate this season, but he had an AMAZING night last night. He was All. Over. The. Field. Blocking passes. Intercepting passes. He definitely stepped up his game last night. I look forward to seeing what he does in the rest of the season. On the down side, Ed Reed was suspended for one game – the Chargers – thanks to a helmet-to-helmet hit, but he’ll be back for Week 13, when the Ravens host the Steelers. That’s right: two games in three weeks against the Steelers. Sorry, Bonne, Bret and Uncle Ronnie.

.

New Orleans Saints at Oakland Raiders
38 – 17
Since Sara! forbade me from talking about last week’s game, I’ll talk about this week’s game, instead!The Raiders hosted the Saints……and the Saints came away with a win. Sorry, Sara! and Rob.

.

Cincinnati Bengals at Kansas City Chiefs
28 – 6
The Bengals went to Arrowhead and beat the Chiefs.Congrats, Janie and Becky.

.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Carolina Panthers
27 – 21
The Bucs took down the Cats.Congrats, Dana and Sean.

Stray Toasters

• There’s a not-too-small part of me that hopes that either or both of the Team DiVa girls are this creative when they grow up: Kindergartener Confesses to Plans of World Domination
• Since I finished Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, I’ve been listening to Stone of Tears, by Terry Goodkind. I read/listened to Wizard’s First Rule, the first book in the series a few years ago. I am enjoying revisiting some familiar characters.
• [REDACTED]
• I haven’t picked up either COD: Black Ops 2 or HALO 4 yet. If nothing else, I’ll ask Santa for one or the other for Christmas.
• Up, up and away…!
  
• I’ve never been a fan of the crack of dawn Black Friday shopping sales. I’m even less enthused about the new “Black Thursday” concept. Besides every Friday is Black Friday as far as I’m concerned. (And, during football season, it does double duty as Purple Friday, too.)
• Märklin! *shakes fist*

Tuesday – 23 October 2012
Team DiVa: Relaxing…

Diana: Just a little light reading…

Vanessa, playing with LEGO

Team DiVa LEGO Tag-Team Action

Namaste.

Friday – 19 October 2012
“Leg godt” is Danish for “play well.” It is also the root for the LEGO brand name.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been letting Team DiVa play with LEGO magnets that we have on our front door. Always with supervision and, thankfully, when someone decides to investigate how a LEGO brick tastes, I just have to tell them “Not for eating…” or “Put it back on the door,” and they will put it back. I don’t think that the ladies are quite ready for unsupervised LEGO play, but I think they’re pretty close to being ready for LEGO Duplo. Just saying.

Meanwhile, on another facet…

City of Heroes is shutting down at the end of next month. I’ve been trying to sort out how I feel about this for a while. Long-time readers know that I was a CoH fiend when I first started playing. So much so that my characters even had little sections of the blog dedicated to them. Yeah. It was like that.

After playing Everquest, I had worked the fantasy MMO bug out of my system. (Yes, I’ve played Diablo III, but I’ve never played – nor really had an interest in – WoW.) But, City of Heroes… that was something different. It was a game that was right up my alley: You get to create a hero – or villain, once City of Villains came out – and  set out to save (or take over) the world. Brilliant!

I created my first character, Indigo Bolt…

…and hit the ground running. Literally. Because you didn’t get “travel powers” until Level 6. That made getting across zones a bit of a pain, especially when it was big zone and full of NPCs that were many levels above you. When I hit Level 6, I got “Hover,” the flying equivalent of crawling. But, it got me out of harm’s way more than once… despite me calling it “the second-most stupid superpower ever.” Needless to say, when Level 14 came and I could select “Flight,” I did it with the quickness. And kept flying all the way up to Level 50, the game’s cap.

And through it all, I had a blast playing.

Then I started other characters. And I had fun playing them, too.

Over time…
…and as I started playing HALO and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 more…
…and as other games – like LEGO Universe and DC Universe Online came out for the PC…
…and as we had kids…

…I started playing City less. But it retained a warm, fuzzy spot in my gaming heart. Still does.

Hearing the news that it was shutting down was a little bit of a blow. Not as much as it was to some people, but it was still there: The sense that all too soon, Paragon City and The Rogue Isles were being removed from the map. Permanently.

Since the announcement, I have logged in a few times and played for nostalgia’s sake. And it’s been fun. And a little funny, as the controls for flying are reversed. So… just maybe… I’ve flown full-speed into the ground once or twice. Maybe. But, it made me laugh.

I’ll be sad to see to the sun set over Peregrine Island for the last time, but I’ve enjoyed my time in the game.

Thanks to NCSoft and Paragon Studios for many hours of fun.

And, on yet another facet…

My train room has not been used as a train room for a little over six months at this point. The lack of ability to run my railroad has begun to wear on me. Last night, I gave in and put together a little oval of the Marklin set that I got from Monica and Alessandro. And it was good. It started out as a “I should see if this runs,” as they weren’t 100% sure when they gave it to me, and turned into “I should stop. Now. So I’m not down here all night setting up a layout that has to be torn down when I paint.” And I did.

But then, I wound up looking at Marklin stuff on eBay. Go figure. Far longer – and later – than I should have.

But, I ran a train. Yes, it was a short train. But it was a train, nonetheless.

Namaste.

Thursday – 18 October 2012
Here’s some Team DiVa cuteness to start your day:

Vanessa, sporting my House of Blues cap

Diana, in my Ravens cap

Last night was Movie Date Night with Sara!. We started out watching a Danish film called The Substitute, that I’d ordered from Netflix. It was… slow. And, while it wasn’t a necessarily “bad” movie, neither of us thought that it was a “good” movie, either. At least, not in the 20 or so minutes of the movie that we made it through. And I can’t figure out “why” I chose that movie… unless it was recommended, based on something else I’d seen.

So, I called an audible.

We watched 28 Weeks Later. (And, yes, we made it all the way through that.)

• Bonus: It fulfilled Sara!’s wish to watch horror/horroresque films in October.
• Bonus: I had completely forgotten that Idris Elba and Jeremy Renner were in the film.
• Geek Bonus: Rose Byrne, who played ‘Scarlett’ in the film, was also Moira McTaggart in X-Men: First Class… meaning that three of the leads have been in Marvel films:

1. Idris Elba was Heimdall in Thor
2. Jeremy Renner was Hawkeye in Thor and Marvel’s The Avengers

I also had a crossover revelation during the film: If someone had borrowed the “Stay in the house, Carl” line from The Walking Dead TV series and told it to Andy in 28WL, there would have been two big points:

1. It would have been a VERY short movie, because…
2. No one would have died because of Don (Robert Carlyle’s character)…
   …because the kids would have never gone to the house to get that picture…
   …which means that they would have never found their mom…
   …who wouldn’t have kissed Don, turning him into a rage-infected monster…
   …who, in turn, infected most of the civilians (and soldiers) in the newly-reopened London.

Q.E.D.

All-in-all, it was a good flick for a date night.

And it was a good day.

Stray Toasters

• As of Tuesday afternoon, the train room has primer on the walls. Now, I just need to figure what color I want to paint them.
• I even managed to get some sushi – for the first time in months – yesterday.
• Revolution – Map of North America, 15 Years After the Blackout
• I need to remember to turn off the sprinklers this weekend.

Namaste.

Monday – 14 October 2012
It was a good weekend…

…but let’s go back a few days. I mentioned on Thursday:

I was also informed that there’s also some good news from one of the East Coast contingents of the family. Good news is always welcome.

Well, the good news was: I’m an uncle again. My sister, Kristen, had a little girl on Thursday:

Kennadi Noelle

She was 5 lbs., 18.5 inches. Wee thing. Kennadi and Kristen are doing well and both should be going home from the hospital tomorrow (Monday).

Saturday, Sara and I took Team DiVa to the Junior League of Salt Lake City’s Touch-a-Truck event. The girls got to see – and touch and climb into – a number of trucks and buses:

Vanessa (l) and Diana, on a school bus

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Later, Sara! and I attended the opening performance of Utah Opera‘s 2012-2013 season, Il Trovatore:

And, aside from being a great date night, it was also a great opportunity to wear my tuxedo:

The performance was quite good. If you live in the greater Salt Lake City metropolitan area, I’d recommend seeing this opera.

Sunday was a mostly quiet day around the house, but we did manage a trip downtown to the Urban Flea Market. Later, Sara!’s parents came over for dinner. Sara! made a french onion soup, which was delicious. We weren’t sure how Team DiVa would respond to it. We shouldn’t have worried: They loved it.

Instant Replay: Football
Today, the Ravens hosted the Dallas Cowboys.

Dallas Cowboys at Baltimore Ravens
29 – 31
Tony Romo led the 2-2 Cowboys into M&T Bank Stadium… and the Ravens sent ‘em back to the Lone Star State with a loss. Joe Flacco and the offense started out strongly, but ended their first drive with a field goal. Dallas marched down the field and scored a touchdown. The defense got broken down like fractions by Dallas’ run offense. Fortunately, Defensive Coordinator Dean Pees figured out where the gaps in the defense were and closed them for the most part. Possibly the game’s biggest highlight: In the Third Quarter, WR Jacoby Jones, fielded a kick-off – eight yards deep in the end zone – and ran it 108 yards for a touchdown, tying a NFL record and breaking WR David Reed’s former Raven record of 103 yards. The game came down to a Dallas 51-yard field goal attempt… which went wide to the left. It wasn’t a pretty win, but the Ravens still came away with the “W” and stay atop the AFC North with a 5-1 record.

Stray Toasters

• Congratulations to Felix Baumgartner and the Red Bull Stratos Team.
• If you’ve never watched The BBC’s Luther, you should.
• Google’s ‘Little Nemo’ Doodle
  (Hint: Click on the drop-down bookmarks on the right.)
• What happened to DC Nation on Cartoon Network?!
• Incredible LEGO Batcave Built Out of 20,000 Pieces
• Ottoman Was Geeky