Random Access

Tuesday – 23 April 2007
So far, it hasn’t been a bad morning. When the alarm went off, I was up… hit the deck… made it into the kitchen and started my coffee…

…and then went back to the bedroom and laid back down.

The alarm on the iPod – set to music – went off a few minutes later. I listened to it as I faded in and out of sleep for the next forty-five minutes. I got up, observed the hygiene rituals, ironed my shirt, took out the trash, grabbed my gear and headed out.

I had to take some equipment to the north office before making my way to A.F. While there, I talked with , who suggested that I check out two of the stop signs near the parking deck before I left. He said that it would be worth my time. When I got there, this is what I found: 1, 2. Definitely worth it. Then I was on the road.

Along the way, I discovered a new form of road monkey: The PoW monkey. “PoW” being short for “Piece of Work.” I was fortunate enough to see two of them this morning! Both within… a half-mile to a mile of each other. I was coming up the north face of Traverse Mountain when I encountered the first one – a lady in the fast lane… on her cell phone… not looking out the windshied… going about 59 MPH. Did I mention that she was in the fast lane? I did? Okay. She was completely oblivious to the line of cars stacked up behind her. That must have been one HELL of a conversation. A number of us passed her, on the right – we couldn’t get around her fast enough. The second PoW monkey was driving some large, boat-sized car. Also in the fast lane. Also oblivious. This monkey was an older gentleman, so I was willing to cut him a little more slack. Just a little, though.

It’s Day Two of Suit Week. Today’s choice:

• Olive double-breasted suit
• Cream and white cotton/poly blend shirt, long-point collar
• Olive, brown and gold abstract tie
• Tan woven leather tassel loafers.

Brett’s looking rather dapper in a rather nice black-and-white Glen Plaid single-breasted suit, with a black shirt. Once again, there were more comments from coworkers. Although, there have been fewer “Where’s your interview” comments and more “You guys look nice” or “You guys are making us look bad” ones.

Stray Toasters

• Derek has erected a Code Monkey shrine at his desk. It amuses me.
• YouTube has deleted the Code Monkey/Stargate: Atlantis video from its servers. Last night, I discovered that I had… creatively acquired… a copy of it a few weeks ago.
• I found a new way to look at Marvel’s Civil War: It was really a thinly-veiled version of Pokemon. Think about it.
  • Tony Stark (Iron Man) would be Ash (NOT to be confused with Ash from Evil Dead)
  • In Pokemon, the motto is “Gotta catch ’em all” and they capture the creatures in little balls. In Civil War, that’s what Tony and company were trying to do – catch all of the non-registered metahumans… and put them in little cells in the Negative Zone.
  • Pokemon has Team Rocket, the “bad” guys… with that annoying cat. Civil War had the New Avengers, portrayed as the bad guys… with the often-annoying Spider-Man.
  • I’m sure that there are others, but that is a good enough starting and stopping point.
• GamerZ. What in the Nine Hells..?
• This week’s Homestar Runner ‘toon even comes with an NPR reference. (Don’t forget the Easter egg at the end…)

Namaste.

Tuesday – 17 April 2007
Today started late.

No, that’s not right.

I started the day late. There, that’s better. I slept in this morning. A little more than I had intended, but hey… it’s sleep. I opted to skip coffee this morning; we’ll see how wise a decision that was.

While most of the road monkeys behaved themselves – as much as they ever do – there was one standout in the crowd. Brave. Bold. Stupid. I’m not sure which, but he was definitely marching to his own drummer. Coming out of Salt Lake County into Utah County on I-15, you drive down the southern face of Traverse Mountain. There was a line of semis (most of which were hauling two trailers) in the second lane from the right. Near the front of this line, a van slides in between two of the semis. And I do mean “slide.” There couldn’t have been more than four feet of space between the van and the semi that he pulled in front of. And the semi didn’t slow down. I don’t know if the van driver had balls of steel or a really good supply of Depends®, but he stayed right there. Four feet in front of that semi. And didn’t flinch.

Last night was D&D night. We started late – and there was a good bit of tangentially related silliness involved – but we did accomplish part of our goal – we made it to a dragon’s lair. (No, Dirk the Daring wasn’t there, nor was Singe or Princess Daphne.) The dragon, however, was quite dead. Actually, it was a bit undead. But that’s another story. Another reason that we went was to seek out a particular sword. While others in the party were talking, I decided to check some notes that I’d written a couple of months ago… because there was something in the back of my head that said “Something about this isn’t quite right.” Then I saw it: We had been told – in fairly certain terms – that the sword we were after had been stolen from the dragon’s lair a few centuries back. So, that part of the trip was a wash. *braincramp* We may be able to get a lead on who took it and/or where it went, but we’re effectively back at Square One on the sword quest. Yay.

Tonight brings a trip the driving range. The Shadowrun game is going on hiatus, for the time being. (This means that I don’t have to rush at the range tonight. Bonus!)
Stray Toasters

• I know that I’ve called Hover the second most-stupid super power ever, behind super-breath, but this made me chuckle:
  
• Speaking of Shadowrun, this is what happens when people can’t separate their “real life” from their “fantasy life.”
• “That’s no access tunnel. But you’ll find that out about… now.” *zombie attack*
• 
• How come you never hear about anyone getting eaten by a grue anymore?

Namaste.

This morning’s commute was made bearable – the road monkeys were in rare form today – with the help of:

• emmet swimming – Sunblock
• Digital Underground (ft. Tupac) – Same Song
• Theme from Men in Black: The Series
• emmet swimming – Fake Wood Trim
• Rush – Dreamline

How does your day sound?

Tuesday – 03 April 2007
Another bright, shiny morning in the Land Behind the Zion Curtain.  The morning begins – as all mornings should – with a cup of frozen mocha goodness.  Two shots.  Selah.  The race with the road monkeys wasn’t bad, but it was amusing: As I was getting onto I-15 from the I-215 interchange, I watched as four monkeys attempted the impossible (at least according to modern physics) – They tried to put themselves into the same space at the same time.  I noted this to coworker John and we came up with what I think would make good copy for an UCBD ad campaign on “How To Be an Ass-Monkey to Your Fellow Drivers”:

Drive offensively among others before they drive offensively unto you.

Of course, there would be ads for “How To Be a Sensible Driver,” as well.  Or we could just take it on faith that people have a modicum of common sense.  Or would that be giving them too much credit?

There was no game last night.  Instead, I hung out with Frankie and watched 24, an episode of Homicide and Hustle & Flow.  I hadn’t seen Hustle & Flow before… and I can’t figure out why I waited.  It was a good movie.  Very good.  Terrence Howard – and the rest of the cast – did an excellent job.  This is the second Craig Brewer movie that I’ve seen in the past month or so… and I have enjoyed them both.

The Scales of Justice
Last night,  The Hand of Nefer-Tem led a small team into The Hollows for a couple of missions against The Council and some Trolls.  Beatings were dispensed.  Justice was served.  The missions also advanced the missing Kheldians storyline.

…and I’m a short way from Level 20.  Which means that I need to start thinking about Costume #2, which will again be civilian clothes.  I haven’t settled on a look yet, but I think that I might go with something more casual and possibly a little more ethnic, in keeping with Nefer-Tem’s background.

Stray Toasters

• I got a trophy from .
• 50 Best Tech Products of All Time
• Eric Poulton has added to his Steampunk Star Wars collection: Sir Obi Wan Kenobi
• For: , and : This and this.
• Every breath a static charge
  A tongue that tastes like tin
  Steely-eyed outside to hide the enemy within…
• “The Difference” – from xkcd.com
  
• showed me this video… which was based off of this video, which is one of the banes of my existence.
• …and since we’re here anyway: The Internet is for PORN!!

Back to it.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 28 March 2007
Two-and-a-half down…
Two-and-a-half to go.
The back half of yesterday’s work day was decent. Post-work, I stopped off for coffee and drawing time; the new drawing is coming along… slowly, but there is progress being made.    called and asked if I had any plans for dinner; I didn’t. She suggested Macaroni Grill. How could I refuse? I mean, after all, it’s a restaurant where you can draw on the tables! I was in. Dinner was good and I had enough leftovers to constitute a decent lunch. Unfortunately, they are still in my refrigerator. *facepalm* Oh, well… if nothing else, I can have them for a tasty dinner tonight. Finished off the last two episodes of The West Wing‘s first season, last night, too. I need to find Season 2. And 3. And… well, you get the idea. But, I don’t really want to kick out $300 for the seven-season box set.

This morning, I woke to snow. Yay. Fortunately, it wasn’t cold enough for it to stick to the roads… but that didn’t stop the road monkeys from driving as though it was a natural disaster.  (Packed like lemmings into shiny, metal boxes…)  At one point, there was a lady driving down I-15 with a LOT of traffic stacked up behind her: because she was going about 50 down the center lane. The road was wet. Barely. And she was doing 50. And white-knuckling the steering wheel. I simply listened to Carnival (*shakes fist at ) and then to the first half of Hold Your Fire and cruised into the office.

The work day hasn’t been bad. So far. I’ve had a couple of brushfires to deal with, but n-n-n-nothing too serious. (Lookit that: I snuck in an Icehouse reference. Go me. I rock.) And, I should be able to ease on down the road around 4:30, God willing and the creek don’t rise.

Stray Toasters

• I still crave Krimpets of Butterscotch.  And Phillip’s crab cakes.
• Nyx and m3lodywise:  Check out this tattoo.
• If you’re very very quiet
  And you do not make a sound
  I’ll share a little secret
  That seems a bit profound
  Each thought that is imagined
  Gains a life its own
  And drifts into reality
  Looking for its home
• Snow.  *shakes head*
• Micro$quat has announced the Xbox 360 Elite.  Does this mean that somewhere down the road we’re going to see the Xbox 360 Grunt, Xbox 360 Hunter, Xbox 360 Jackal (They called him ‘The Jackal’…) and Xbox 360 Flood?
• It’s a great big universe
  And we’re all really puny…
  But these things are smaller still.
• Dr. Blair and the 10¢ plan.
• Synchronicity II
• Mr. Murdock looks like he’s about to whoop some ass.
• I don’t have anything to add here, so come up with your own punchline: Hotmail users deemed too dumb for employment at firm.
• Great monkey-squeezin’ Jesus… I haven’t seen this video in YEARS!
• Which Philip K. Dick story are we living in today?

Quote of the Day

[13:14] Sarah: have you seen the new Trix?
[13:14] ShadorunrWORK: Nuh-uh.
[13:14] Sarah: they are…. wait for it
[13:14] Sarah: NEW SHAPE:  ROUND
[13:14] Sarah: …
[13:14] ShadorunrWORK: Wait…
[13:14] Sarah: uh huh
[13:14] ShadorunrWORK: Weren’t Trix round when we were kids?
[13:14] Sarah: yup
[13:14] ShadorunrWORK: >.< [13:14] ShadorunrWORK: So "new hotness" Trix is really "old busted" Trix? [13:15] Sarah: and then they went all weird and made them "fruit shaped"... a lot like runts... and now...WOW!  ROUND!  UGH!

“That’s the thing about birthdays and Quik (and, apparently, lunch hours…), they go by so fast.”

Namaste.