Random Access

Saturday – 20 December 2008
Today has been “a bit” busy. After getting up and having a tasty breakfast, SaraRules and I headed out:

• We got (most of) the last of the Christmas shopping taken care of…
• We made a gingerbread train with Logan, pictures forthcoming
• I picked up a Christmas tree (thanks, OnlyAly and )!
• We went to Fiddler’s Elbow for dinner and to watch the Ravens-Cowboys game — the Ravens won!
• We went to OnlyAly and ‘s for the annual “Nightmare Before Christmas” horror movie get-together; we only stayed for The Exorcist, but it was fun to watch with people who hadn’t seen it.

Home again, home again… jiggity-jig.

Thursday – 18 December 2008
It’s snowing. So far, I haven’t seen any driving issues that compare with the ones from Tuesday; let’s hope that it stays that way.

Last night, I went home and started reading some of yesterday’s four-color haul; more on that below. SaraRules came over a little later. She quilted; I read. It was a nice, quiet evening. Logan came over around 9:00 to hang out. We watched a show called Time Warp – which featured Cirque de Soliel – and MythBusters, which aired their Top 10 Viewer Favorite Myths.

Four-Color Coverage
I somehow neglected to grab a copy of Tiny Titans when I picked up yesterday’s haul. *shakes fist* Otherwise, the comics were something of a mixed bag. Among the standouts were:

• DC Universe Holiday Special 2008 – I don’t often pick up holiday special issues, but I was curious about this one. I’m glad that I picked it up. It contained eight or nine (maybe even 10, but I forget the actual number) stories, ranging from 4 to 8 pages. Among them were “the super secret origin of Santa Claus,” an Aquaman (yes, THAT Aquaman) story that reflected the nativity, an excellent Gotham City story, featuring Commissioner Gordon, a Nightwing and Robin story that touched on their family tie, and one of the better stories I’ve read featuring Dr. Light II.



• Justice League of America: The Nail – This is an Elseworlds title from 1998, yet I had never read it until last night. Its premise was simple: What would the DCU have been like without Superman.

  

  It was a good read – I found myself juxtaposing it with Marvel’s Civil War and Secret Invasion, as The Nail dealt with issues of fear and isolationism in a not too dissimilar manner than the Marvel series. There is a sequel, JLA: Another Nail, that I will have to look for.

Stray Toasters

• Maddox is expanding his empire: The Best SHOW in the Universe.
• ‘Nanny’ state: Fran Drescher seeks Clinton’s Senate seat
• 
  
• Timecrimes director Masters Creepy Sci-Fi on a Shoestring
• I was wrong – shortly after I typed the “no driving issues” comment above, the “fun” started. (Pictures) It took the black car almost a half-hour to get from the first picture to the fourteenth one.
• Want a retired space shuttle? They’re up for grabs
• Gingerbread Revolution, by way of

Meeting time!

Namaste.

Tuesday – 09 December 2008
Happy Birthday to MarknTyme:

It’s a little after 7:00 (or it was when I started this), and I’m already at work. We have some work being done around the office and we needed to be sure that someone would be here to let the electricians in. I volunteered. On the plus side, I’ll be done at 3:00 or 4:00, depending on whether Wes and/or Marci and I hit the gym.

Football Update

Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Carolina Panthers
23 – 38
This game was the battle of two 9-3 NFC South teams, as the Bucs rolled into Charlotte to take on the Panthers before a capacity crowd and the Monday Night Armchair Quarterback Football crowd. The game showcased a lot of defensive talent on both teams, but the game pretty much belonged to the Panthers from the get-go. They didn’t put many balls in the air – Jake DelHomme threw two INTs, although he did throw for 178 yards and one TD – but the running game was stellar: RBs De’Angelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart, who both ran in two TDs, ran for a combined 301 yards. The Buccaneers looked…unbalanced. They would have a couple of good series, but couldn’t seal the deal when it came down to it. There were also times when veteran QB Jeff Garcia just looked lost in the pocket. Literally. More than once, as the pocket started to collapse, he just looked scared and unsure of what to do. With this win, the Panthers go to 10-3, atop the NFC South. As the commentators said last night, Carolina has its season and playoff picture in its own hands – their next three games are against the Broncos, Giants and the Saints. But, if they continue to play the way they did last night, they could be a serious contender for the playoffs… and maybe, just maybe, even the Super Bowl.

Stray Toasters

• I’m a fairly unabashed fan of both The Late Show with David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Last night, The Late Late Show returned from hiatus; it turns out that Craig Ferguson’s mother passed away last week. Rather than his usual joke-laden opening, he began the show with a very personal monologue, in which he talked about his mother – not so much about her death, but about her life. I’ve heard that his monologue following his father’s death was similarly personal.
• By way of (whom I had originally thought was) SaraRules (but wasn’t): Our Daily Bleg: Holy Comic Quotations, Batman!
• The mouse hits 40-year milestone and 40 Years of Mighty Mice
• 
• Inside a US sex addiction clinic
• By way of : “Is this for real?”
  (, you need to share this with Mrs. .)
• Sony to cut plants and 8,000 jobs

Back to it.

Namaste.

Monday – 08 December 2008
Belated Happy Birthday to and :

Football Update
Last night, the Ravens hosted the Redskins for “The Battle of the Beltway,” as it was called. It was the first time the Redskins have played in Baltimore in close to 30 years (if I heard the stat correctly).

Washington Redskins at Baltimore Ravens
10 – 24
Last night, the Ravens hosted the Redskins for “The Battle of the Beltway,” as it was called. It was the first time the Redskins have played in Baltimore in close to 30 years (if I heard the stat correctly).Joe Flacco had a very slow start… that lasted the entire first half – he was 2/7 for passing in the half. That’s okay, because Ed Reed was on the other side of the ball. He had an amazing shoestring interception catch, less than a minute into the game that the offense was able to turn into a touchdown. Baltimore blanked Washington 14 – 0, going into halftime, thanks to an Ed Reed fumble recovery less than three minutes after his interception. The second half was a mostly defensive battle, with neither side gaining a decisive advantage. A couple of trick plays helpd the Redskins drive deep into Ravens’ territory, but the best that they could come up with was a field goal, early in the fourth quarter. They added another touchdown, after Willis McGahee fumbled the ball a couple minutes later. Joe Flacco and Derrick Mason put the final nail in the coffin, with a Ravens’ touchdown at 3:44. Washington put up a fight and was starting to march down the field… when Ed Reed intercepted another Jason Campbell pass, just after the fourth quarter two-minute warning. With this win, the Ravens go to 9-4, one game behind the Steelers… who they face, in Baltimore, next week. And, they are very much in the race for a wild card spot in the AFC.

After the game – and after hanging out with SaraRules – I finally got around to checking out last week’s comic haul. There were a number of mediocre reads, but among the standouts were:

• Justice Society of America #21 – This issue marked the next-to-last chapter of the Gog storyline. What happens when a seemingly omnipotent being – who claims to be here to help – decides that he will only continue to help if people start to worship him… and they refuse? Well, we get a pretty good look at the answer in this issue.
• X-Men: Noir #1 – This was a/ yet another take on the X-Men. No powers, but in a noir setting. And there is an interesting bit of role-reversal, too. I have heard that they are looking at adding a couple of other titles to this line – and I’m not sure that I’ll read any of the others – but this one was a refreshing change of pace.

It’s snowing; it has been for the past few hours.

(click images for larger sizes)

Today has been fairly busy, as we’re doing some remodeling around the office and we had a new person start in IT.

Stray Toasters

• I am wearing my new kofia that SaraRules got for me.



• For lunch, we went to Orchid, a Thai restaurant in the Union Park shopping center. The food was good and the lunch prices were rather reasonable.
• HOWTO pay for America’s health insurance
• SaraRules pointed out Jonathan Jones on the parallels between ancient and modern superheroes.
  I countered with An American Pantheon.
• Music: Murphy’s law coming to an end
• By way of : Fifty Years of Popular Songs, Condensed into Single Sentences
• Pinup Bettie Page Hospitalized after Heart Attack
• Home Inspection Nightmares XV

All this… and I get to be in the office at 7:00 AM tomorning.  Woot!

Namaste.

So… I went to the tournament. I discovered that it was “restricted” after I got there, which meant that all of the older figures I had gone to the trouble of locating were unusable for this event. Great. Fortunately, I still had plenty of options from the recent releases to use. I went with:

• Black Canary
• Captain Gordon
• Marvel Girl
• Moon Knight
• Nightshade and
• Spider-Man

I wound up going 0-3, but I got the “Fellowship” prize: Crispus Allen. Besides the Grodd LE, this was one I’d really hoped to get. Mission: Accomplished.

I met up with SaraRules and Logan and we headed off to see Punisher: War Zone.

We knew beforehand that it was going to be bad. We just didn’t know “how” bad.
Holy.
Cow.
This was a horrible movie.
The low end of the “Cool World-Long Kiss Goodnight” Scale bad:

• Cinematography: BAD.
• Direction (such as it was): BAD
• Acting: Three guesses, first two don’t count. (Hint: BAD)
• Dialogue: Laughably BAD

The action scenes were… *consults with SaraRules*… good, but VERY over-the-top in a hyper-realized comic book way.

We wound up MST3K-ing this movie about halfway through it. And that didn’t even help. I think that the only thing that might – and even this may be a stretch – help this movie would be either:

1. Making a drinking game out of the movie
2. Being drunk before seeing the movie

We took a bullet for you guys by seeing this. You should be thanking us. Profusely.

After the movie, SaraRules and I went to Cafe Med for dinner. As usual, the food was delicious. There was a young lady on the far side of the restaurant who apparently found a great many things in her dinner conversation amusing, as she laughed a lot. A whole lot. Loudly. No… “boisterously” would be a much better way of putting it.

All-in-all, it was a good day.

Saturday – 06 December 2008
Last night, SaraRules and I went over to Logan’s to play Left4Dead. Holy crap. Valve has done an excellent job of capturing the feel of putting players in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. It was fun… and rather intense. I also found it amusing that the characters in the game (somewhat) mirrored those of us playing: Two white males, a white female… and a bald black guy. If you like zombies and first-person shooters (and have an XBox 360), this is a game that you’ll want to take a look at.

After zombie killin’, SaraRules and I headed to meet up with the Clitorati gang for coffee… or, in my case, hot chocolate. And then, we headed over to Cheers: North for a bite to eat.

I have a ‘Clix tourney this afternoon: 300 points, no single figure over 50 points.
This should be interesting, to say the least.

Stray Toasters

• Man sees water tower, man wants to reside in water tower, man turns water tower into fly crib
• The 6 most problematic Barbie situations in history
• …aside from the Bratz lawsuit
• 5 Lame Things in Star Wars Canon

Up out.

Friday – 05 December 2008
Happy Hatching Day to Derek:

Another work week draws to a close; hopefully, the day won’t be too bad.

Last night, I headed over to play ‘Clix with Perry. I asked him how many points he wanted to go with – he opted for 300. We picked our teams and had at it. I went with Ms. Marvel (Skrull) and Susan Richards (Skrull), while he brought Invisible Woman, Human Torch and The Thing. Then it was on…

• Both of my figures had Outwit.
• Since my figures were Skrulls, I got to roll to see if he could hit me before each attack.
• Ms. Marvel has the Indomitable trait – meaning she can act on two successive rounds without taking pushing damage.
• Ms. Marvel’s first movement power, Exfiltrate, allows her to use Stealth, thus she couldn’t be attacked using ranged combat, as long as she was in hindering terrain… which I pretty much made sure that she stayed in.

It was a (fairly) short game.
And a little one-sided.
I told him that the next time we played, I would try to play a more balanced team against him.

SaraRules showed up while Perry and I were playing. After the game, she and I headed to the Festival of Trees, at South Towne Expo Center. TONS of trees. And wreaths. And gingerbread houses. And people. Some of the trees were amazingly well-decorated… but there were also (more than) a few duds. And all proceeds go to benefit Primary Children’s Medical Center. So, it’s a win-win situation. If you’re in the SLC Metro area and looking for something to do – and something that benefits a good cause – go check it out.

Stray Toasters

• I have a new holiday-themed icon.
• How to Survive the 17 worst Mac Disasters
• From NPR: Little Support for Trafficked Women in Russia
  
• 
• First International Body Music Festival
• “It’s true!”
• Bill Cosby + Cowboy Bebop = Cosby Bebop (Thanks to for the link.)
• Sucked into the Tunnels Beneath Las Vegas

Attack the day…

Namaste.

Thursday – 04 December 2008
Last night, because of a comment Logan made earlier in the day, I craved pizza for dinner. The solution: Get a pie from Papa Murphy’s. And it was good. Very good, indeed. I took it to SaraRules’, where we – and her family – watched Hancock. I didn’t watch any of the bonus material, so I still don’t know what was behind the recurring eagle motif.

I headed home after the movie, ostensibly to tackle the train table project. That turned into me doing a crossword puzzle and otherwise meandering around the apartment. SaraRules came over a little later; she offered to help with taking down the Rokenbok. I wasn’t about to pass up that opportunity, so just like Big Daddy Kane, we got the job done. It’s amazing how much faster it was to disassemble than it was to put together. I also took apart and boxed up the LEGO train set.

I don’t know what was going on, but this morning, the radio in my head was on “Super Mondo Mega Random Shuffle.” Seriously. I had snippets of songs from The Crying Game to Missing to Iko Iko running through my head while I was getting ready for work. Since I have no other explanation for it, I will blame , as usual.

Stray Toasters

• New addition to The Covet List: LEGO Silver Rings
• By way of SaraRules: Michelle Obama: What Should She Wear?
• Cinderella, Super-Spy: Roberson on the Fables Spin-off
• From BBC News: The Box
• Word Up
  Cameo |MTV Music

• Super Human Resources
• It was snowing here a few minutes ago. Nothing major, but there’s a light dusting o’ white on the mountains. I messaged my father to tell him that it was snowing – I didn’t want to call, as he and my stepmother are visiting Adam, Chelsea and Caden. He messaged me back: “Do you want HIGH/COLD winds to go with that snow?” I replied that I’d pass on it.
• The Sartorialist

And that’s a good place to hang it for now.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 02 December 2008
Another day, another dollar seventy cents (or something like that, after taxes).

Stray Toasters

• I talked with Adam again last night. All’s (still) well in the northern hinterlands. Our parents are headed out there tomorrow; Chelsea’s folks are already there. I can’t wait for the stories.
• Grace has learned a new word: “Bobo,” a character from one of the books that Bot and read to her. Still no “Mama,” yet, though… much to Bot’s chagrin.
• By way of SaraRules and the “Welcome to the Land Behind the Zion Curtain” file: Buttars takes aim at stores waging ‘war on Christmas’
• Rachel sent me an item that I hadn’t seen before: Physics doesn’t exist, it’s all about Gnomes
• I don’t mean to downplay this, but doesn’t this come under the heading of “Duh…” – Chances of WMD attack in big city greater: report
• Every time I drive past an Arby’s or especially when I see one of their commercials with this logo…

  

  …I laugh. Not because “I’m thinking Arby’s” is funny. Rather, the image looks more like “I’m thinking giant penis.” (Someone pulled a fast one over on the guys in the marketing department.) Seriously… look at the young lady and the guy on the right and the looks on their faces – they aren’t thinking about curly fries or a “Five for $5” roast beef sandwich combo.

• Disgruntled 8-year-old boy crashes teacher’s car
  …which, after I shared the link, was followed by:

  : Next article: German churches find ‘chocolate Jesus’ tasteless”
  : Clearly someone used poor quality chocolate in their chocolate jesei

• With the apparent demise – or at least long-term coma – of WizKids and HeroClix, I decided to scrape the site for as many of the character cards from the last eleven sets as I could get.
• Steampunk sewing machine

…right on to the friction of the day.

Namaste.

Monday – 01 December 2008
And so, another work week – and another month – begin.

I was lucky enough to get to spend a portion of my morning on the phone with HP Tech Support explaining why they needed to ship me a replacement for a replacement part they sent last week. Short answer: They sent the wrong part. *sigh* This time, I sent to an email to the rep, so that he could see the differences bewteen Part A (the part I need to have replaced) and Part B (the part they sent). I should have the new – and hopefully correct – replacement part tomorrow.

Stray Toasters

• As I mentioned last week, there’s a new member of the family – now complete with pictures.
• By way of SaraRules:
  • As Taboos Ease, Saudi Girl Group Dares to Rock
  • Atlantic Records Says Digital Sales Surpass CDs
  • Kanab Orchestra Thrives Under Long-Time Maestro
    
• By way of comes an interesting read about comic book cancellations and why the Big Two keep churning out mega-crossovers: “Why you feelin’ sorry for him? He asked for it…”
• How Dan Kaminsky broke and fixed DNS
• I just discovered that a coworker used to play Star Fleet Battles, many moons ago.
• I read a news article title from Wired.com – Genetically Modified Peanuts Could Save Lives – and my first thought was of Charles Schulz’ comic strip… new and improved! Finally, Charlie Brown can kick that football! lj user=”everydave” pointed out the following:
  

  “sure..but the mutation would be across the board…so while CB might be able to finally kick the ball..the ball, now sentient, is going to come back and reign down hell on ol’ chuck in retaliation…”

• Best Book Covers of 2008
• Yiddish in Jazz
• Meetings. YAY!

Namaste.

Sunday – 30 November 2008
Today is the last day of November. It’s odd to think that we’re almost in December already.

It’s been a lazy day. It started off with sleeping in – which is a pretty good way to kick off a Sunday, I must say. Next up was football and breakfast. And coffee. Tasty, hot coffee.

After the first games, SaraRules and I headed to her parents’ place… for more football and hanging out. We also worked on this year’s Christmas card. *nod* Later this evening, we might watch Hancock. We’ll see.

Football
What do and NY Giants’ WR Plaxico Burress have in common?

Cincinnati Bengals at Baltimore Ravens
3 – 34
The Bengals took on the Ravens in Baltimore today. The game wasn’t televised here, but I followed the game on NFL Game Center.Joe Flacco threw for 280 yards, 2 TDs and 0 interceptions. Mark Clayton even got in on it, with a 32 yard TD pass to Derrick Mason. Clayton also had a touchdown, as did Todd Heap.On the other side of the ball, Ryan Fitzpatrick couldn’t seem to pull his offense together into a fully-cohesive unit. He did put together a good drive near the end of second half… but he couldn’t turn it into six points. Sorry, and .

—

Carolina Panthers at Green Bay Packers
35 – 31
The Panthers took on the Packers at Lambeau Field. Jake Delhomme passed for 177 yards, with 0 INT. He also ran for one touchdown and DeAngelo Williams ran for four more. The game came down to a Jon Beason interception of an Aaron Rodgers pass, with 1:09 left in the 4th Quarter.

—

Miami Dolphins at St. Louis Rams
16 – 12
The fish took on Marc Bulger and the Rams in St. Louis. After a 1-15 run last season, the Dolphins had pieced together a 6-5 season coming into this game. It wasn’t a powerhouse game. Chad Pennington threw for 166 yards, 0 INT. RB Ronnie Brown ran for Miami’s only touchdown. The game came down to the last forty-two seconds (00:41), when Andre Goodman picked off a Marc Bulger pass.

Stray Toasters

• I talked to Adam for a bit, earlier. Chelsea and Caden are home, both are doing well. He hasn’t sent or posted any pictures yet, but there should be some forthcoming.
• Trains on the Brain
• I have a taste for sushi.
• Vintage space age illustrations
• From Slashdot: Diet of Fast Food and Candy May Cause Alzheimer’s
• From Irregular Webcomic:



• Mile-long secret tunnel in central London for sale
• From the “Spreading Christmas Cheer” file: Large Candy Cane Used to Beat Threatening Neighbor
• Top 10 Comic Book-Based Movies of All Time

Dinner time!

Namaste.

Saturday – 29 November 2008
Today’s been action-packed. SaraRules, Rachel and I got up and had coffee/tea before we hit the ground running. Our first stop was Rich’s Bagels for a bit of breakfast. It was SaraRules’ recommendation, as Rachel had said that she wanted “real” bagels for breakfast.  It was the first time that I’d been there, but it was a nice place.

Next stop: The Garden of Sweden. Objective: EXPEDIT (birch finish), for the office closet. And a few more NYTTJA frames. And a couple other miscellaneous items.

Back to the apartment. Rachel headed back for the southern reaches a little after we got back. Logan called and asked if we wanted to go with him to see Transporter 3; we said “sure.” He came over and we headed to the theatre. The movie wasn’t what I’d call “cinema verite,” but it was entertaining. And fun. I had something of a revelation about 30 minutes into the movie: It was an odd amalgamation of Smokey and the Bandit and the old kung-fu movies of the 70s and early 80s. That made me smile.

Back home and then over to SaraRules’ parents for dinner. Thanksgiving leftovers. And they were just as tasty today as they were on Thursday. We watched The Fast and the Furious while we ate.

Home again, home again, jiggety-jig. SaraRules and I set about putting together the new bookcase – we finished it in about 45 minutes… including time for me to put a bid in on a Superman Prime ‘Clix. And now, I’m deciding on whether or not I want to go to breakfast. (Decisions, decisions…)

Namaste.

Friday: Coda
Dad called a few hours ago to let me know that Adam (Sib-3) and Chelsea have a new addition to the family. That’s right, I’m an uncle… again. Both mother and baby are fine. Details and pictures to follow, as they become available.

Rachel came up from Cedar City and joined us for coffee. SaraRules’ brother, Logan, came and hung out with us, too.

Tomorrow: The Garden of Sweden. Amen.

Steve (SaraRules’ Dad): I used to fall asleep inside Helen¹ all the time.
I think that I laughed for a good two to three minutes over this.

SaraRules (to Logan): I’ll pay you 50¢ to suck on that².

¹ – Helen was the name of an old comfy chair he used to have.
(Why he named it Helen, the world may never know…)

² – Logan had just picked up the turkey neckbone (to throw it away) and held it up like he was going to take a bite of it.