Random Access

Friday – 21 March 2008
Today is Good Friday.
And it’s a “good Friday,” to boot.
Win-Win.

This morning’s commute was to the tune of 2112: Overture and Temples of Syrinx.
At lunch, and I are going to Ye Olde Driving Range.
(Did you know that “Ye” is actually supposed to be pronounced “the?” It is.)

Stray Toasters

• The Red Balloon that’s a few doors down from Dr. Volt’s has gotten a new shipment of Rokenbok. In the shipment was Tower of Rok Mania. I deem that this shall be the next addition to my collection. (And, to be honest, I wouldn’t mind adding another Monorail Metropolis Start Set to the equation, either.)
• SaraRules is helping to… tame… the volumes of comics that I have – at least the ones here behind the Zion Curtain. Until a couple weeks ago, they were stored in seven long boxes in one of my closets. Currently, they are stacked – unboxed – in my living room. When stopped by yesterday to take SaraRules to lunch, he saw the stacks. After lunch, he asked me how many comics I have. I asked if he meant here or overall. “Both.” So, after a few minutes of mental gymnastics, I figured that I have:
  • UT: roughly 2500
  • MD: 1200 – 1400
  • NC: between 2000 and 2500 (probably closer to 2500)
• broke someone’s day; I am proud of her for the method with which she did so.
• Soft Pretzels: Round 2 – tonight.
• I was reminded of a tech fact about “cookies” that I had forgotten (and a fact of which most people are unaware):
  

  Cookies are a way for a server to store information about the user (on the user’s machine) so that the server can remember the user over the course of the visit or through several visits. Think of a cookie like a name tag: You tell the server your name, and it gives you a name tag. Then it can know who you are by referring back to the name tag.

  Cookies have gotten a bad rap because users believe cookies allow a server to know too much about them. However, a cookie can only be used to store information that you give it, so it’s as secure as you want it to be.

• This made me laugh.
  (It even made laugh, too!)
• David Letterman’s “Top Ten Reasons to Watch the New Season of Battlestar Galactica“:
  
• I have a possible new addition to the Covet List: Tetris Mirror Pieces
• if (!$error) {
  print ‘Looks like you might actually have SOME idea of what you’re trying to do!’;
  } else {
  print ‘You FAIL…’;
  }
• Why Pulling the Fire Alarm at the Gas Station Is a Bad Idea
• 

This post has been brought to you by the letters “C” and “Y” and the number 2112.

Namaste.

Saturday – 01 March 2008
Jason and I went to the driving range at Old Mill for lunch yesterday. It was the perfect day for it – not too warm, not too cool; sunny; almost no wind. I had a few good drives and a lot of “Why, yes it has been six months since I did this…” ones, too. It was a lot of fun and a great change of pace. If the weather holds, we’re going to go again next week; we even have a couple of other guys who sound interested in joining us.

Last night’s Clitorati gathering was quite good. Mary and Chris joined us. After last week’s adventures with Wolverine and Colossus, I decided to take my Sentinel a bag of LEGO bricks (and assorted pieces) with me.

Who knew that Sentinels could be left-handed?!

Holy cow! The LEGO pieces were a big hit! got some good-natured ribbing from OnlyAly about how quickly he opened the bag and started the play… until she grabbed some pieces and started build things of her own.

OnlyAly’s LEGO Condo

joined the building party, as did . All-in-all, a good time was had. And no coffee was spilled nor were any cameras dropped in the taking of these pictures.

I’m not sure what’s on tap for today. SaraRules and I have talked about heading to the State Fairgrounds to see the Sixth Annual Bellydance Spring Fest, so that’s a possibility.

But first up: Breakfast, coffee and cartoons.

Stray Toasters

• I found this on MacRumors, while looking up some information: Best Use for Apple Stickers?
• High Tech Cowboys of the Deep Seas: The Race to Save the Cougar Ace
• 
• From Wired: First Look – New D&D Stats Leak Onto Web
• I was talking with a couple coworkers about Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles the other day. This perfectly sums up part of our conversation:

  

• $31 million worth of lost valuables on the TSA’s watch
• As noted to me by last night: Family Guy spins off Cleveland

And with that… Long Live the Legion!

Friday – 29 February 2008
Happy Leap Day.

It’s early. I’ve been up since roughly 6:00 and I’m already in the office. Not a bad way to start the day, all things considered. And, hopefully, I’ll be over at Old Mill on the driving range at lunch.

After work last night, I watched CSI: and then headed to Paragon City. I joined an SG-mate on a team for some missions. Unfortunately, he had his missions dialed up to “Unyielding,” so there was a good amount of dying on our side. But, because of the XP we gained in fighting higher-level mobs, I was able to reach Security Level 45.

Stray Toasters

• I have frozen mocha goodness and a bagel sandwich.
• There’s a new trailer for Iron Man.  Check it out here.
• She’s a brick
  And I’m drowning slowly…
• Caffeine-Free Diet Pepsi is the most hideous thing humans have ever created
• Rob Paravonian’s Pachelbel Rant
  
• 

  toothpastefordinner.com

• 400-thread count sheets
• Blue-Ray in laptops could be hard on batteries

Namaste.

Sunday – 27 January 2008
Last night, SaraRules and I went to play Minister G’off after all. We got her brother, Logan, to go along with us. We have the pictures to prove it.

Today, we slept in a bit. Later, while SaraRules was reading The Walking Dead, I finally remembered how to make an animated icon in Photoshop:

This afternoon, we went to the Capitol Theatre and saw Utah Opera‘s production of Tosca. It was a great production. The set was from the Seattle Opera; my favorite part of the staging was in Act Three, when they took the set from pre-dawn to early morning.

After that, we headed to SaraRules’ parents’ for dinner and to hang out for a while.

Back home for SaraRules to do homework and for me to save the world. For a bit, at least. When she was done, we watched Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer. I had forgotten how fun it was… and a decent story, too.

And that’s how I spent my Sunday.

Oh… and it’s the 50th Anniversary of the LEGO brick!

Sunday – 09 September 2007
I slept rather well last night, getting to bed somewhere around 3:00 AM.

I was up at 10 ’til 8:00.

Even better: I didn’t need to be up until 8:45.

*grblsnrkx*

I laid there/semi-dozed for the next hour.  I finally dragged myself out of bed and prepared to run a few errands.  The errand-running was uneventful, but productive.

On the way home, I treated myself to a large bucket of balls at Murray Parkway.  Today’s results were… mixed, leaning towards poor.  I had a few good drives, but nothing really consistent.  About 2/3 of the way through the bucket, a gentleman from a couple of tees over approached me and gave me a suggestion about my grip.  I adjusted and there was a noticeable difference.  He also asked if I ever made it to Golf in the Round; I told him that I had been there before.  He suggested that I talk with the golf pro there – he said that the pro had helped him more in 30 minutes of instruction than anyone else had in his 30+ years of playing golf.  Might be worth a shot.

Stray Toasters

• Jimmy Buffet’s He Went to Paris is a very good song.
• Harambee
• Sudafed.  Mmm, Sudafed.

I should probably do something along the lines of getting ready for the rest of the day.

Namaste.

Monday: Coda / Tuesday – 04 September 2007
And so, the day (and the holiday AND the long weekend) comes to a close.

I found a few things to do that, while not “labor,” per se, were nevertheless good and fun:

• I had a craving for sushi for lunch, so I met at Tsunami. Today’s fare included: a Steak and Chicken Teriyaki lunch combination, with Ika nigiri and a Bonsai roll. All of it was quite tasty.
• From there, I visited Kate, Perry and the kids. (Who needs a workout when you have adopted nieces and nephews?!)
• Perry and I snuck out to check out a few stores. Okay, we didn’t “sneak,” but saying “…and we heading to a few stores” doesn’t have the same ring to it.
• I went to Murray Parkway Golf Course, to swat a bucket o’ balls on the driving range. They had closed a little before I got there…
• …so, I headed to Golf in the Round. They were still open! I got a large bucket and was on my way. I mixed my use of the irons, rather than just the 2, 4, 5 and 7. I need some work with the 9-iron, but on the whole, I think things went well. The 2- and 5-irons did well. And, I had a few really decent drives with the 5-wood and my driver. I tried to incorporate the things that told me (which helped quite a bit) and I tried to be more aware of how I was positioning myself relative to the tee and how I was swinging the clubs. Still not perfect, but getting better.

Now, I’m about to put in a little time on (what will hopefully be) the actual lyric-to-drawing piece for Ed’s Song, as opposed to the dry runs and fly-bys that I’ve been practicing on.

Stray Toasters

• I may make a decaf and Irish cream nightcap, to cap off the long weekend with a (minor) flourish.
• leucism vs. albinism
• I’ve added everydave.com to the blogroll on Random Access; I don’t know why I hadn’t done it before.
• laughter is infectious
  excitement goes to my head
  winds are stirred by planets in rotation
  sparks ignite and spread new information
• Nepal’s gadget-loving, 10-year-old Living Goddess: Interview
• I need to find a copy of The Prophet of Akhran, the third book in The Rose of the Prophet series. A trip to Mecca might be in order.
• Huh. Mentioning a possible trip to Mecca made me consider the following:
  • I refer to Utah as “The Land Behind the Zion Curtain.”
  • I refer to The Bookshelf as “Mecca”
  • IKEA (*genuflect*) is affectionately referred to as “The Garden of Sweden.” (Maybe I’ll start writing that as “SwEden.”)

  The only thing missing is Totem (click “Totem” for lyrics) playing in the background.

• From NPR: Dad Finds Answers to Kids’ Darndest Questions
• For some reason, The Who’s The Seeker just popped into my head. It was immediately followed by a random Harry Potter thought (as Harry was a Seeker on his Quidditch team). Then the two, like some horrible Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup accident, combined to form the following question: I wonder if any aspect of the song played a part in the outline that became the story of Harry Potter?

And, that’s a wrap.

Namaste.