Random Access

Monday – 30 April 2012
A new work week begins as April ends.

This morning, Diana decided to wake up around 5:30. I thought it somewhat odd, as she took fairly short naps yesterday and fell asleep fairly easily last night. While she’s been “inchworming” herself backwards for the past few weeks, she’s recently started rolling over in her sleep, from her back to her stomach. When she wakes, this distresses her for some reason. Usually, we can turn her back over and she’ll nod off again. But, sometimes – like this morning – the nodding off takes a while. (Fortunately, she’s pretty good about playing somewhat quietly in her crib.) Still… 5:30.

Meanwhile, Vanessa slept. Until a little after 7:00.

Vanessa (l) and Diana

That aside, this was a good – and busy – weekend. SaraRules’ sister, Meliko, came into town Thursday for Steve’s birthday.

Friday, we went to Pat’s Barbecue for lunch. It was quite good. (Typing that, I just realized that I have leftovers that would have been perfect for lunch today…) Then, it was home for the girls’ nap. Later in the day, we headed over to Steve and Bonne’s for dinner.

Friday evening, I swung by SteamHead Cafe for their grand opening. They had a great turnout. Some of the Clitorati group were there, so there were familiar faces, too.

Saturday was another busy day. I was set to judge the April “Infinity Gauntlet” ‘Clix tournament for Dr. Volt’s Comic Connection. Or most of it, anyway. It turned out that I was double-booked: Red Butte Garden was having a Beginners Bonsai class that coincided with their Bonsai Show and competition (pictures) and I had signed up for the class. It was instructional and informative, but there was not a hands-on component.

By the time I got back to Dr. Volt’s they’d already finished the tournament. So, I headed home… just in time to watch Team DiVa, while SaraRules! fixed dinner.

Sunday, we got up and met the Kelly clan at Millcreek Cafe and Eggworks for breakfast before Meliko had to leave. After breakfast, SaraRules! and I had planned a pilgrimage to The Garden of Sweden, but we forgot that it didn’t open until noon. We got there just after 11 AM.

*shakes fist*

So, we took a leisurely drive around the valley and wound up at Pin-up Girl Espresso. We did make it to IKEA, after the girls’ lunch and all-too-brief naps. And then, up to the in-laws’ for dinner. I wound up the evening with episodes of Firefly, Young Justice and The Legend of Korra.

|| PAUSE ||

He stared at the twin vases on his desk. They were, generally speaking, rather non-descript. Glass. Round. Six inches tall. The only difference between them was that one was filled with glass beads, the other only had one.

“Twenty-nine,” he said to the empty room.

He’d been pondering this idea for a while, almost a month. He leaned forward, grabbing the nearly-empty vase, and turned it upside-down. The lone glass bead dropped to his desk. He watched as it wobbled and finally came to a rest. He reached forward, returning the empty vase to its home. He sat back in his chair, staring at the bead. Not surprisingly, the bead didn’t have much to say.

A lopsided grin crossed his lips. He batted the bead across the desktop a few times before picking it up. He stood and walked around to the front side of the desk. He dropped the bead into the full vase.

“Thirty.”

He inhaled deeply, turned and walked out the door.

> PLAY >

Stray Toasters

• Where Nations Debate, Harmony of a Jazzy Kind
• The Spring Suit Upgrade
• Ranking NFL teams’ drafts 1-32
• Holladay arcade brings back nostalgia of classic gaming
• Amid Rural Decay, Trees Take Root in Silos

Namaste.

Thursday – 05 April 2012
Another Thursday in the valley. Hopefully, this one will maintain the NBN tradition; it’s doing pretty well, so far.

This week’s been pretty decent. Busy, but decent. SaraRules! and Team DiVa are doing well.

Diana, Sara and Vanessa

Vanessa

Diana

Last night was Pasta and Movie Date Night. It was SaraRules!’ turn to pick a flick; she chose to start catching up on Mad Men. I was good with that, considering that we’re a season-and-a-half behind. We watched three episodes and are only two away from only being one season behind. (Hey, we’ll take the small victories where and when we can.)

I didn’t play MW3 last night, opting to read some of yesterday’s new comics. As part of the haul, I also downloaded Marvel Comics’ Avengers vs. X-Men: Infinite #1 – available only as a digital comic – which serves as a prelude to the Avengers vs. X-Men miniseries, which also started yesterday (technically, it came out on Tuesday, but let’s not quibble). If this is a possible look at “the future of comics,” as it claims, I have to give it thumbs-up for presentation. Well played, Mark Waid and Stuart Immonen.

Stray Toasters

• Many Colors of Prejudice Are Revealed in ‘Dark Girls’
• By way of SaraRules!: Robot with Human Skeleton Steps Toward Artificial Intelligence
• Nike’s new NFL uniforms built for speed, comfort
• The Nike Elite 51 Uniform
• 
• College Student Pieces His Way to LEGO Mastery
• Untangling a Border Could Leave a Mess for Some
• By way of one of my brothers-in-law: Quietest place on Earth mutes all sounds, messes with your head
• Yet another babysitting concern:
  
• Chrysler’s new SRT Viper bares its fangs
• Jeffrey Brown Imagines a More Fatherly Sith Lord in ‘Darth Vader and Son’
• Apple, Priceline and Google race to hit $1000-a-share mark

That’s good for now.

Namaste.

Thursday – 29 March 2012
It’s another Thursday in the valley. So far, it’s held up to NBN scrutiny.  Hopefully, that will continue.
(UPDATE: It did.)

Last night, SaraRules! and I watched…

…for our Date Night movie; I’ve seen it before (we own the DVD), but she hadn’t. She liked it, despite a couple of uncanny valley issues.

Stray Toasters

• Tonight, SaraRules! performs with the Utah Symphony! Again!
• By way of @wbalradio:
  

  On this date in 1996, the Baltimore #Ravens came into being when the team was officially given the name.

• Just Say No to the ‘Cinnamon Challenge’
• GM, WellStar Develop LEGO® based Visual Management Tool
• Medvedev blasts Romney for ‘number-one foe’ remark
• Hopefully, I won’t have to worry about something like this with babysitters…
  
• Looks as though Bachmann Trains has finally released their E-Z Streets line.
• The Line, It Is Drawn #83 – Comic Book What If…?’s
• In Court, Sharp Questions on Health Care Law’s Mandate
• Shelby unveiling 950-horsepower, street-legal Mustang
• Shelby doctors pictures of Shelby 1000 lifting off ground
• Maryland’s Batman Looks Like a Real Hero

Quote of the Day
This nugget of joy comes by way of my sister-in-law, Chelsea, and my nephew, Caden:

Caden: Mom, what’s that?
Me: It’s a water tower.
Caden: Oh. . .Where’s the othere one’s?
Me: What other one’s?
Caden: The milk tower and the juice tower.

The utter brilliance and genius of the three-year-old mind.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 07 March 2012
It’s the middle of the week. And it’s new comics day. And it may or may not be Pasta and Movie Date Night.

But, more importantly: It’s Diana’s 6-month birthday!

Both little ladies are doing well, despite long crying jags in the wee hours of this morning: Diana started around 2:30, Vanessa around 4:00. We’re trying to get the girls to learn to put themselves back to sleep when they wake up in the middle of the night, so we didn’t go immediately rushing in to comfort them…
…which made for a long couple of hours.

…which, in turn, led me to sleep on the couch downstairs so I could get my last few hours’ sleep (and not have an encore presentation of Monday).

But, by the time I looked in on them around 7:15, they were all giggles, grins and kicks.

Kids. Go figure.

Stray Toasters

• I just called SaraRules! to confirm that we were attending Utah Opera’s upcoming production Elixir of Love. She assured me that we were and then made a “get your towel/don’t panic” comment. I was proud, amused and a little scared (all at once) by this.
• Drug Policy as Race Policy: Best Seller Galvanizes the Debate
• Race and justice in America: inspiring Ted talk
• Rush flushes Rush!
• 
• My current lack of a model railroad is making me want to take my HO Scale train equipment and make a door layout.  And I just realized that I have some US HO train gear, as well as a fair bit of Marklin train equipment, that I inherited from a coworker of SaraRules. What does all this mean?  Simply put: I could do a double-sided door setup — US on one side; EU on the other.
• To Lose Weight, Just Drink a Gallon of Coffee
• Web Sites Shine Light on Petty Bribery Worldwide
• 
• Does Batman Carry Shark Repellent?
• Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Professional Football Club have called it quits. Kudos to Manning for his professionalism during the press conference. Also, I noticed something:  Peyton Manning and NCIS‘ Sean Murray look “a bit” alike…

    
  Peyton Manning (l) and Sean Murray

  …and I don’t think that I’ve ever seen the two of them in the same place at the same time.  Just saying.

• Astronaut’s photo of amateur astronomers “flashing” space station
• Toy Shining
• 
• Arrests Sow Mistrust Inside a Clan of Hackers
  • Anonymous hacker-turned-informant helps feds arrest five

Namaste.

Wednesday – 08 February 2010
Vanessa turned 5-months-old today:

Last night, the girls took another foray into “New Food Adventures” with sweet potatoes. Their primary reflex is still to somewhat spit out whatever they’re fed, if it’s not in a bottle. This can be mitigated by simply re-spooning the food back in. After trying rice cereal last week, we were curious to see how they’d respond to a new food. We got our answer: They seemed to like it.  It was a messy – but successful – test.

As the night wore on, I finally decided to bring my bike in and set up the bike trainer that SaraRules! got me for Christmas. I got everything assembled and decided to try it out. It was a bit noisier than I expected, which may prevent me from using it after the girls go to bed at night… unless I move it into the unfinished part of the basement.

Chew on This: Food for Thought – Black History Month
Today’s person of note is: Elmer Samuel Imes, the second African-American to earn a Ph. D. in Physics and among the first African American scientists to make important contributions to Modern physics.

Elmer Samuel Imes (October 12, 1883 – September 11, 1941) was born in Memphis, Tennessee, attended grammar school in Oberlin, Ohio and completed his high school education at the Agricultural and Mechanical High School in Norman, Alabama. Imes graduated from Fisk University in 1903 with a degree in science.

Upon graduating from Fisk, Imes taught mathematics and physics at Georgia Normal and Agricultural Institute in Albany, Georgia (presently Albany State University) and the Emerson Institute in Mobile, Alabama. Imes returned to Fisk in 1913 as an instructor of science and mathematics. During his tenure there, Imes earned a Master’s degree in science from Fisk University.

In 1918, Imes earned a Ph. D. in Physics at the University of Michigan where he studied under Harrison McAllister Randall becoming the second African American to receive a Ph. D. in Physics since Edward Bouchet, did so from Yale University in 1876. Imes’ research and doctoral thesis led to the publication of Measurements on the Near-Infrared Absorption of Some Diamotic Gases in November 1919 in the Astrophysical Journal. This work was followed by a paper co-authored and presented jointly with Dr. Randall: The Fine Structure of the Near Infra-Red Absorption Bands of HCI,HBr, and HF at the American Physical Society and published in the Physical Review in 1920. His work demonstrated for the first time that Quantum Theory could be applied to radiation in all regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, to the rotational energy states of molecules as well as the vibration and electronic levels. His work provided an early verification of Quantum Theory.

Around 1919, Imes became married to Harlem Renaissance writer, Nella Larsen. The couple lived in Harlem becoming part of the Harlem intellectual society which included intellectuals such as Langston Hughes and W.E.B. Du Bois.

During the period Imes spent in the scientific and materials industry, his work resulted in four patents for instruments which were used for measuring magnetic and electric properties.

In 1939, he conducted research in magnetic materials at the Physics Department at New York University and continued as chair of the physics department at Fisk until his death in 1941.

Stray Toasters

• Court Strikes Down Ban on Gay Marriage in California
• 101 Valentine’s Gifts for Every Woman Imaginable
• Thom Zahler, the writer and artist of Love and Capes, is putting out an art book. Check out his Kickstarter page for more information.
• 
• The Miraculous NASA Breakthrough That Could Save Millions of Lives
• In Data Deluge, Multitaskers Go to Multiscreens
  Yep. I use two screens at home… and a total of five at work.
• The Well-Dressed Rebel
• MasterCard announces product future around EMV
• Sadly, this is what part of our conversation during last Friday night’s Star Trek Tactics game sounded like…
  
• 79 Things We Can All Agree On
• This is why an octopus is more awesome than your mom
• 8,000 Butterfingers dropped in Boston to jab at Pats’ receivers
• Could the Death Star destroy a planet?

Namaste.

Monday – 06 February 2012
Not only is today the start of a new work week, but – more importantly – it’s my niece, Grace’s, birthday:

This past weekend has been good. It has included, but not been limited to:

• Hanging out with the twins.
  

  Diana (l) and Vanessa

• Playing HeroClix: Star Trek Tactics with the guys.
• Judging a tournament for Dr. Volt’s Comic Connection.
• Tracking down (after THREE attempts!) and watching Contagion.
  
• Taking the girls to their third train show!
• Watching the Super Bowl.

Chew on This: Food for Thought – Black History Month
It’s catch-up time for our Black History Month items:

• Paul Laurence Dunbar (June 27, 1872 – February 9, 1906) was a poet, novelist, and playwright of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, born in Dayton, Ohio.
  
  Both of Dunbar’s parents were former slaves; his father escaped to freedom in Canada and then returned to the U.S. to fight in the Civil War. The young Dunbar was the only black student in his Dayton high school, where he was both the editor of the school newspaper and class president, as well as the president of the school literary society. Also of note: He was a classmate of aviation pioneer Orville Wright.Dunbar wrote a dozen books of poetry, four books of short stories, five novels, and a play. He also wrote lyrics for In Dahomey – the first musical written and performed entirely by African-Americans to appear on Broadway in 1903; the musical comedy successfully toured England and America over a period of four years – one of the more successful theatrical productions of its time.^[12] His essays and poems were published widely in the leading journals of the day. His work appeared in Harper’s Weekly, the Saturday Evening Post, the Denver Post, Current Literature and a number of other publications. During his life, considerable emphasis was laid on the fact that Dunbar was of pure black descent.

  Dunbar became the first African-American poet to earn nation-wide distinction and acceptance. The New York Times called him “a true singer of the people — white or black.” Much of Dunbar’s work was authored in conventional English, while some was rendered in African-American dialect. Dunbar remained always suspicious that there was something demeaning about the marketability of dialect poems. One interviewer reported that Dunbar told him, “I am tired, so tired of dialect”, though he is also quoted as saying, “my natural speech is dialect” and “my love is for the Negro pieces”.

  In 1900, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and his doctors recommended drinking whisky to alleviate his symptoms. He moved to Colorado with his wife on the advice of his doctors. Dunbar and his wife separated in 1902, but they never divorced. Depression and declining health drove him to a dependence on alcohol, which further damaged his health. He moved back to Dayton to be with his mother in 1904. Dunbar died from tuberculosis on February 9, 1906, at age thirty-three.

• Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974), composer, pianist, and big band leader,  was born in Washington, D.C.
  
  Ellington grew up in a secure middle-class family in Washington, D.C. Daisy, his mother, surrounded her son with dignified women to reinforce his manners and teach him to live elegantly. Ellington’s childhood friends noticed that “his casual, offhand manner, his easy grace, and his dapper dress gave him the bearing of a young nobleman”, and began calling him “Duke.”His family encouraged his interests in the fine arts, and he began studying piano at age seven, but his first piano lessons came appeared not to have had that much lasting effect upon him. As Duke’s piano lessons faded into the past, Duke began to show a flare for the artistic. Duke attended Armstrong Manual Training School to study commercial art instead of going to an academics-oriented school.

  Duke began to seek out and listen to ragtime pianists in Washington and, during the summers, in Philadelphia or Atlantic City, where he and his mother vacationed. While vacationing in Asbury Park, Duke heard of a hot pianist named Harvey Brooks. At the end of his vacation, Duke sought Harvey out in Philadelphia where Harvey showed Duke some pianistic tricks and shortcuts. Duke later recounted that, “When I got home I had a real yearning to play. I hadn’t been able to get off the ground before, but after hearing him I said to myself, ‘Man you’re going to have to do it.’” Thus the music career of Duke Ellington was born. Duke was taken under the wings of Oliver “Doc” Perry and Louis Brown, who taught Duke how to read music and helped improve his overall piano playing skills. Duke found piano playing jobs at clubs and cafes throughout the Washington area. Three months shy of graduation, Duke dropped out of school and began his professional music career.

  Ellington made his first professional appearance as a jazz pianist in 1916. By 1918 he had formed a band, and after appearances in nightclubs in Harlem he became one of the most famous figures in American jazz. Ellington first played in New York City in 1923. Later that year he moved there and, in Broadway nightclubs, led a sextet that grew in time into a 10-piece ensemble. Extended residencies at the Cotton Club in Harlem (1927–32, 1937–38) stimulated Ellington to enlarge his band to 14 musicians and to expand his compositional scope. He selected his musicians for their expressive individuality, and several members of his ensemble were themselves important jazz artists. Ellington’s orchestra, playing his own and Billy Strayhorn’s compositions and arrangements, achieved a fine unity of style and made many innovations in the jazz idiom.

  He wrote nearly two thousand compositions before his death in 1974 – among his best-known short works are “Mood Indigo,” “Solitude,” and “Sophisticated Lady.” He also wrote jazz works of complex orchestration and ambitious scope for concert presentation, notably Creole Rhapsody (1932), Black, Brown and Beige (1943), Liberian Suite (1947), Harlem (1951), and Night Creatures (1955), and composed religious music, including three sacred concerts (1965, 1968, and 1973). Ellington made many tours of Europe, appeared in numerous jazz festivals and several films, and made hundreds of recordings. In 1969 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

  Ellington died of lung cancer and pneumonia on May 24, 1974, a month after his 75th birthday

• James Leonard Farmer, Jr. (January 12, 1920 – July 9, 1999) was a civil rights activist and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement.
  
  Farmer was a child prodigy; at the age of 14, he enrolled at Wiley College, where he was the captain of the debate team. While there, a professor of English, Melvin Tolson, became his mentor. Farmer earned a Bachelor of Science at Wiley College in 1938, and a Bachelor of Divinity from Howard University School of Religion in 1941. Inspired by Howard Thurman, a professor of theology at Howard University, Farmer became interested in Gandhi-style pacifism. During the 1950s, Farmer served as national secretary of the Student League for Industrial Democracy (SLID), the youth branch of the socialist League for Industrial Democracy. SLID later became Students for a Democratic Society. Farmer talked to A. J. Muste, the executive director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation(FOR), about an idea to combat racial inequality. Muste found the idea promising but wanted to see it in writing. Farmer spent months writing the memorandum making sure it was perfect. A. J. Muste wrote him back asking him about money to fund it and how they would get members. Finally, Farmer was asked to propose his idea in front of the FOR National Council. In the end, FOR chose not to sponsor the group, but gave Farmer permission to start the group in Chicago. When Farmer got back to Chicago, the group began setting up the organization. The name decided upon was CORE, the Committee of Racial Equality. The name was changed about a year later to the Congress of Racial Equality.In 1961 Farmer, who was working for the NAACP, was reelected as the national director of CORE, at a time when the civil rights movement was gaining power. Despite the Irene Morgan Supreme Court decision and the Boynton decision, interstate buses were still segregated. Gordon Carey proposed the idea of a second Journey of Reconciliation. Farmer jumped at the idea. This time, however, the group planned to journey through the Deep South. Farmer coined a new name for the trip: the Freedom Ride. The plan was for a mixed race and gender group to test segregation on interstate buses. The group would spend time in Washington D.C. for intensive training. They would embark on May 4, 1961 half by Greyhound and half by Trailways. They would go through Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and finish in New Orleans on May 17. For overnight stops there were planned rallies and support from the black community. There were usually talks at local churches or colleges.

  Growing disenchanted with emerging militancy and black nationalist sentiments in CORE, Farmer resigned as director in 1966. He took a teaching position at Lincoln University, a historically black college (HBCU), and continued to lecture. In 1968 Farmer ran for U.S. Congress as a Liberal Party candidate backed by the Republican Party, but lost to Shirley Chisholm. His defeat was not total; in 1969 the newly elected President Richard Nixon offered him the position of Assistant Secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (now Health and Human Services). The next year, frustrated by the Washington bureaucracy, Farmer resigned from the position.

  Farmer retired from politics in 1971 but remained active, lecturing and serving on various boards and committees. In 1975 he co-founded Fund for an Open Society. Its vision is a nation in which people live in stably integrated communities, where political and civic power is shared by people of different races and ethnicities. He led this organization until 1999. From 1984 through 1998, Farmer taught at Mary Washington College (now The University of Mary Washington) in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where a bust of him now stands on campus and the multicultural center is named after him. They also named a program after him that encouraged minority students to enroll and enter college. It is the James Farmer Scholars program.

  In 1998 President Bill Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

  Farmer died in 1999 in Fredericksburg, Virginia of complications from diabetes.

• Grambling State Universityis a historically black, public, coeducational university, located in Grambling, Louisiana, United States.
  Grambling State University opened on November 1, 1901 as the Colored Industrial and Agricultural School. It was founded by the North Louisiana Colored Agriculture Relief Association, organized in 1896 by a group of African-American farmers who wanted to organize and operate a school for African Americans in their region of the state.

  In response to the Association’s request for assistance, Tuskegee Institute’s Booker T. Washington sent Charles P. Adams to help the group organize an industrial school. Adams became its founding president.

  In 1905, the school moved to its present location and was renamed the North Louisiana Agricultural and Industrial School. By 1928, after becoming a state junior college and being renamed the Louisiana Negro Normal and Industrial Institute, the school began to award two-year professional certificates and diplomas. In 1936, and the curriculum emphasis shifted to rural teacher education; students were able to receive professional teaching certificates after completing a third academic year. The first baccalaureate degree was awarded in 1944, in elementary education.

  In 1946, the school became Grambling College, named after P.G. Grambling, the white sawmill owner who had donated the parcel of land where the school was constructed. In addition to elementary educators, Grambling prepared secondary teachers and added curricula in sciences, liberal arts and business, transforming the college from a single purpose institution of teacher education into a multipurpose college. In 1949, the college earned its first accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).

  In 1974, the addition of graduate programs in early childhood and elementary education gave the school a new status and a new name – Grambling State University. The university expanded and prospered between 1977 and 2000. Several new academic programs were incorporated and new facilities were added to the 384-acre campus, including a business and computer science building, school of nursing, student services building, stadium, stadium support facility and an intramural sports center.

  Alumni of Grambling State include: Willie Brown (Green Bay Packers), eight-time Mr. Olympia winner Ronnie Coleman, Grammy-winner Erykah Badu (although she began concentrating on music full-time and left the university before graduating); former NFL quarterback and Super Bowl XXII MVP Doug Williams, who currently serves as the Tigers head football coach. Award winning and world renowned jazz artist Michael Thomas is a Grambling alumnus and he was a member of the Tiger Marching Band along with jazz artists Lovett Hines and Bob French. The writer Judi-Ann Mason was a double major graduate of Grambling.

Information courtesy of AllAboutJazz.com, Biography.com, FactMonster.com, the Grambling State University website (www.gram.edu), PBS.org and Wikipedia

Stray Toasters

• Brown student uncovers lost Malcolm X speech
• 100 Random Observations from Super Bowl XLVI
• Utah Symphony has announced their 2012-2013 season.
• Boundless information: Mining social networks
• Austrian Law Student Faces Down Facebook
• 
• Today’s out of context phrase that made me laugh: “orgy spork”
• FBI call gives clues into Anonymous, Lulzsec probes
• Top 10 list of ugly cars includes Ford Mustang, BMW
• 
• 17 and sudoku clues
• Art History Through Sci-Fi Colored Glasses

Namaste.

Tuesday – 31 January 2012
It’s the end of the month. More specifically, it’s the last Tuesday of the month. That must mean it’s time for Guys’ Night Out. Amen. The only thing that could – and did – make the day better was starting the morning with cuddles from Diana and Vanessa, as well as a kiss and a hug from SaraRules! Quadruple win.

I would also like to thank Ms. Galadriel for coming over (again) last night to help put the twins to bed while SaraRules! was at a Justice League meeting. There was no wailing, moaning or gnashing of teeth. And the twins were fine, too.

My subconscious has been drawing from my memories of 70’s and 80’s TV shows. This has become especially apparent over the past few nights’ dreams.  A few nights ago, Nicholas Hammond (probably most “known” for playing Peter Parker in CBS’ prime-time, live-action The Amazing Spider-Man) made an appearance. And last night, I had a dream sequence that was like a scene from the old Lynda Carter Wonder Woman. (Although the costume was a little wrong.) It was a little odd, but amusing, nevertheless.

And, I woke up with this running through my head:

Stray Toasters

• What Comes After Segregation?
• She Has No Head! – Interview with ‘Princeless’ Creator Jeremy Whitley
• What Is It About Mormons?
  Having lived in The Land Behind the Zion Curtain for more than a decade, my answer is: “There’s nothing ‘about’ them.” I have made a number of good friends who are LDS and they are just as human – for better and/or worse – as anyone else.
• 
• It’s fairly common knowledge that I’m a fan of Fringe. As such, I’ve come to like Lance Reddick‘s Agent Broyles/Colonel Broyles character(s) over the past few seasons. But, I think that both of them could learn a few things from his Toys R Me character.
• And yet another reason to like him: He’s from Baltimore.
• Letters of Note: To My Old Master, courtesy of
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Teacher charged with lewd acts allegedly told kids it was ‘game’
• 
• N.F.L. Super Bowl Ad Will Stress Safety
• YORU FOOT
• Ask the Captain: What happens when all systems fail during flight?
• 
• Illinois Assemblyman withdraws urine-testing for welfare bill when colleague adds urine-testing for Assemblyman amendment

Namaste.

Monday – 30 January 2012
Wow. Looks like it’s been almost a week since I posted. Long time, that. So let’s get to it…

It’s been a good week. In a nutshell, it’s included:

• Spending time with SaraRules! and the girls:
  

  Vanessa (l) and Diana… with Tigger and Pooh

• Watching Real Steel with SaraRules! (It wasn’t bad; think “Rocky Meets Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots”)
• Kicking off a new multi-month ‘Clix event series for Dr. Volt’s… (in addition to the regular tourneys)
• Playing a fair bit of Modern Warfare 3… and a little Gears of War 3
• Picking up a Butterfinger-dipped caramel apple (!!!)
• Seeing Utah Opera’s performance of Rigoletto.

Yeah, It was a good week.

This week has the possibility of being quite nice, as well.

Stray Toasters

• My mother-in-law made a fantastic chicken tortilla soup for dinner last night. I feel sorry for those of you who didn’t get a chance to sample it.
• Superheroines, and Their Better Halves
• Airline Fees
• This is a great article about my friend, Jake Black: Super story: Father, husband, comic book writer and cancer survivor enjoys the simple life
• The Avengers Shouldn’t Text
• 
• The Bookstore’s Last Stand
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Report: Body in storage unit for 17 years
• It’s Time to Rethink Steampunk
• It’s Illegal to Talk About the Super Bowl?
• Ruling on Contraception Draws Battle Lines at Catholic Colleges

Namaste.

Monday – 23 January 2012
It’s another day in the valley as a new work week begins.

Trying to kick the last remnants of the cold-like-thing that the girls gave me, I took some NyQuil this morning around 2:00 AM. It’s not hard to understand why I decided to forego the 6:30 alarm…

… and the 7:00 alarm.

…and the 7:10 alarm.

I finally managed to drag myself out of bed at 7:50. Fortunately, I didn’t have to be into the office early, so it wasn’t a big deal. (And I was still in the office by just after 8:30.)

The weekend, on the whole, was good. I took the girls to their second train show on Friday. It was at Thanksgiving Point. I was a little disappointed by the show; maybe it’s just because they didn’t have much in O scale that I was interested in. Maybe it was that it felt like I’d seen everything that they had to offer before. Still, it was nice to be able to attend a train show and see that the hobby is doing well.

Saturday, I judged a ‘Clix tournament for Dr. Volt’s Comic Connection. We had a rather decent turn-out, which was a very pleasant surprise. (It also snowed Saturday, as well. That was not as pleasant a surprise.) We had a player drop out between the second and third rounds, so I wound up playing a bye round. I threw together a team that I thought would be fun:

• Aquaman (hey… this one does more than just talk to fish),
• The Question,
• Superman Beyond and
• x-23

…and went up against a team of Lord of the Rings ‘Clix. My team did well. I hadn’t used the Aquaman figure before, but after seeing how dangerous he can be, I think that he might just become one of my new “go-to” pieces. He works well with The Question and I think that he’d be similarly effective with the LE Harvey Dent from the Arkham Asylum set. Or Psycho-Pirate. Or even an Atlantis-themed team.

Yesterday, aside from watching football, was mostly a stay-at-home and hang out with the family kind of day.

Instant Replay: Football

Baltimore Ravens at New England Patriots
20 – 23
The Ravens traveled to Foxborough, Mass. to take on the Patriots for the AFC Championship. It was a rough game. Both teams got off to slow and rocky starts. Then the Pats put up a field goal. Eventually, the Ravens got an FG, too. And it was game on. The teams traded blows through the rest of the game and it looked as though Baltimore might have put the final nail in their own coffin when QB Joe Flacco threw an interception late in the fourth quarter… …but, the Patriots couldn’t capitalize on it. With 27 seconds left in the game, WR Lee Evans dropped what would have been a game-winning pass in the end zone. And, finally K Billy Cundiff missed a 32-yard field goal that would have tied the game, sending it into overtime.

And, with that, the Ravens season came to a screeching halt. I was understandably disappointed at the game’s end. I tried to determine which was more disappointing: Evans’ drop or Cundiff’s shanked kick. I decided that it was the dropped pass, because Cundiff has missed many clutch kicks this season — this was just another one to add on to the tally.

Oh, well, at least there’s next season to look forward to. (Until the Ravens-Raiders game, that is. My marriage may come under siege over that game.) But, I’m still proud of the way the team played all season and I’m still proud to be a Ravens fan.

Stray Toasters

• Our office Property and Assets Manager, Julie, sits across the cube wall from me. She’s a Patriots fan. I (still) like her, despite this obvious shortcoming. A little while ago, I had to ask her for a piece of software and the software key. She handed me the software CD and emailed me the key… along with a picture of the Patriots logo.
• Supreme Court: Warrantless GPS Tracking Is Unconstitutional
• 
• Anonymous shutters government, music industry sites
• Anonymous: Facebook is next, on January 28
• Geothermal test will pump water into volcano to make power
• ComicsAlliance Design Critique: The New DC Comics Logo
• 
• The 18 Things You’ll Want to Wear Next
• Cameras May Open Up the Board Room to Hackers
• Khaaaaaaaaan!

Wednesday – 18 January 2012
Midweek is upon us once more. It seems as though Mother Nature has plans to introduce…

…into our weather pattern. Soon. We shall see how this plays out.

Last night was a long night for the girls. Vanessa seems to be on the downhill slope of her “cold-like thing.” She had a bit of a time falling asleep, but managed to meet Morpheus and wander through The Dreaming for a couple of good stretches. But, according to SaraRules!, Diana was up roughly every 45 minutes to an hour. Hopefully, she’ll get a better night’s sleep tonight.

Stray Toasters

• This Is What an Internet Protest Looks Like
• Protest on Web Uses Shutdown to Take on Two Piracy Bills
• 
• 3 New ‘Legend of Korra’ Videos Emerge for ‘Avatar: the Last Airbender’ Sequel
• Fashion Week: Best Looks, Fall/Winter 2012
• If I was a betting man, I’d have put money on Jeff Fisher going to Miami over St. Louis.
• Is Cooking Ever an Art?
• 10 Ways to Have a Productive Meeting
  I wish more of the meetings I attended adhered to these ideas…
• Few Cities Have Regained Jobs They Lost, Report Finds

Tonight is “Pasta and Movie Date Night.” I have a couple of tentative ideas for a movie, but nothing that jumps out at me. Hopefully, inspiration will hit before I get home.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 17 January 2012
It’s Day One of the work week for me. And, it’s my short week, to boot. AND, there’s a train show on Friday. Triple score!

Yesterday was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Like last year, I took the day off of work and volunteered at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. And it was good. After that, I stopped at RubySnap and picked up a few cookies before stopping in to say “Hi” to SaraRules! at work and making a couple more stops before heading home. Yes, one of those stops was The Train Shoppe. No, I didn’t get anything. (Besides, I just ordered a new switching engine online a couple of days ago.)

The girls have been a little under the weather. According to the pediatrician, they don’t have colds, but a “respiratory illness” that has the earmarks of a cold, minus the runny noses. All I know is that they’re congested and a little irritable. Hopefully, they’ll be over it soon-ish.

Instant Replay: Football

Houston Texans at Baltimore Ravens
13 – 20
Sunday, the Ravens hosted the Ravens for the Divisional Playoffs… …and won. It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t easy. But, it was a win. And, a little fun fact: Ravens Not Penalized For First Time Ever Next stop: Foxoboro, MA.

Stray Toasters

• Happy Birthday to The Greatest, Muhammad Ali Is 70 Today
  
• Black Voters Are Wary as Hopefuls Seek Kinship
• Predictions Of What 2011 Would Be Like From A 1911 Newspaper
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file” Taco Bell’s Stupidly Exploitative MLK Day Tweet
• U.S. to Force Drug Makers to Report Money Paid to Doctors
• 
• More schools likely to lose accreditation, experts say
• Oversight of Cruise Lines at Issue After Disaster
• The Wreck of the Costa Concordia
• 
• Burger King tries home delivery
• Artist Builds a Six-Million Matchstick Monastery
• Zappos breach affects 24M, opens door for more attacks

Namaste.

Friday – 13 January 2012
It’s Friday. Hallelujah! And the fact that it’s Friday the 13th? Meh. It’s my “on” Friday, but it’s quiet around the office, so I should be able to get a few things accomplished with minimal interruption. That would be a “good” thing.

It’s also Playoff Purple Friday:

Last night was a fairly quiet night around the homestead. It was bath night for little girls, both of whom took their baths without much ado. And, they even went to sleep fairly easily. Although, Diana did wake up about 12:45… which is almost an hour earlier than her norm. I am chalking it up to the fact that she – and Vanessa – seem to be a bit congested, of late and that’s making sleep a little more difficult.

After the girls went to sleep – and after dinner and an episode of NCIS: Los Angeles – I played CoD: MW3. I was able to team up with a few friends, which made it all the more fun.

Stray Toasters

• When Cosplay Collides with Cuteness
  Our kids are sca-rewed.  🙂
• Obama to Ask Congress for Power to Merge Agencies
• 
• Court rules Black minister owns title to building housing famous KKK shop
• Uneasy Neighbors in a Southern Gothic Tale
• Bill Cowher has turned down at least three NFL teams
• The Inbreeding Coefficient of Superheroes
• 
• Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?
• Morgan Freeman doesn’t just make movies — he’s a fan
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Dumb, dumber and dumbest: Burglars snort ashes of a man and two dogs after they mistook them for cocaine

Namaste.

Wednesday – 11 January 2012
Midweek. My day started with pre-work cuddles from both of the girls. AND there shall be new comics today. AND tonight is “Pasta and Movie Night.” I’d say that this is a Wednesday full of “Win.”

Last night was another baby bath night around the homestead. It was also a 180° change from Monday night’s pre-bedtime experience. The girls, while tired, were little troopers through their baths and bedtime preparations. We’ve also stopped double-swaddling the girls and just going with the single-blanket swaddle… and (so far) it hasn’t bitten us in the ass.

After the girls went to bed – and after we ate dinner – I decided to unwind by spending a little time playing DC Universe Online. After a fairly brief patch/update, I was back in Gotham City.

I finished out a mission that I started… probably back in November. I thought about doing the final mission in that arc, but realized that I was already up a bit later than I had planned to be. So, I called it a night.

Stray Toasters

• Doomsday clock moved closer to midnight
• A meeting that was almost scheduled for today has been pushed back to tomorrow. I’m fine with that.
• Stopped they must be; on this all depends — reddit goes dark in protest of SOPA
• 
• Simon & Schuster has posted an excerpt of Carrie Fisher’s new book, Shockaholic.
• Bacon: Good or Bad?
• Courtesy of Christopher M. and the “Some Peoples’ Children…” file: !@#&^%$!!!!!! (Cellphone halts Mahler’s Ninth mid-movement)
• Energy Department to analyze power grid cyber threats
• 
• We Can’t Get Enough of the Google Girls
• Independent DABC Committee Taps a Keg of Bar Owner Frustration
  And the “best” part: They scheduled this meeting yesterday, from 2:00-4:00 PM. You know… when most people (who might object to it) would be at work.
• After firing coach, Raiders GM promises title
• Fatal Stampede in South Africa Points Up University Crisis
• What We Expect to See at Fashion Week

Namaste.

Monday – 09 January 2012
A new week begins. My day started with cuddles from Little Miss Diana (Vanessa was still asleep), so how could my day be bad?

I’ll get this out of the way now:

Yeah. John Fox’s Denver Broncos hosted the guys from Steeltown… and won. To sum up my thoughts on the game, I turn to a paraphrasing of the words of S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury :

Nick Fury: You’ve been very busy […] you’re giving away all your stuff. You let your friend fly away with your suit playoff spot. Now, if I know better…
Tony Stark: [interrupts] You don’t know better. I didn’t give it to him. He took it.
Nick Fury: Whoa, whoa, whoa. He took it? You’re Iron Man Big Ben and he just took it? The little brother walked in there, kicked your ass and took your suit spot? Is that possible?

In this case, Nick Fury would be portrayed by Ball So Hard University’s Terrell Suggs and Tony Stark would be played by Ben Roethlisberger.

I’ve never been a huge Denver fan, but I was one yesterday. I was also glad to see that Coach Fox – formerly the head coach of the Carolina Panthers – was able to take his team to the playoffs and have a good showing.

Stray Toasters

• Cadillac ATS goes diesel to pluck BMW 3-Series buyers
• Badass of the Week: Dakota Meyer
• How to Investigate Your Elected Officials
• Hackers say they have Symantec’s Norton AV source code
• 
• A Tech Show Loses Clout as Industry Shifts
• Scrolling LEGO TV brings minifig Superman to life
• From m3lodywise and the “People Are Strange When You’re a Stranger” file comes this.
• Airbus Refuses to Ground A380s Despite Cracks in Their Wings

Namaste.

Sunday – 08 January 2012
Sunday afternoon quick hit while the ladies of the house are napping…

This morning (after a not-so-great-night-of-sleep-for-the-girls), we all went out for breakfast at Millcreek Cafe and Eggworks. The girls, as usual, were little centers of attention. And with outfits like these, courtesy of their Aunt Kristen…

…how could you expect anything less? Diana has pink boots, like Vanessa’s white ones, but kicked them off before we got the picture.  Oh, well.

It’s been a good weekend, so far. Yesterday, I judged a ‘Clix tournament (with a rather good turnout) for Dr. Volt’s Comic Connection, had a RubySnap Josephine cookie, (finally) got around to watching Moon, which was:

1. not what I expected, and
2. very good.

…and, like sprinkles on an ice cream cone: The Texans beat the Bengals, meaning that the Ravens will face the Texans at M&T Bank Stadium next weekend. And, to be honest, I would rather face the Texans than the Bengals.

Stray Toasters

• Go, Broncos!
  
  Hey, I have no great love for Tim Tebow and company, but I think that it would be uproariously funny if they beat the Steelers.  Just saying.
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Lamar Smith: “If you oppose SOPA, you don’t matter”
• I packed up two of my three train sets the other night. (Yeah, it was a bit sad…) I also packed up some of the accessories and rolling stock. All of this is in anticipation of beginning work on finishing the unfinished areas of the basement. (Although, if it doesn’t happen “soon-ish,” I may just wind up with a floor layout for a while.)

Okay, sounds like someone is waking up.  Time to go.

Namaste.