Random Access

Friday – 24 October 2008
Last night, I headed up to SaraRules’ for dinner and date night. Dinner was a damned fine meat loaf, with mashed potatoes, and carrots (with a little bit of brown sugar), all prepared by Ms. SaraRules. After dinner, we – including her family – watched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I’d still have to say that it’s my third-favorite Indiana Jones movie, but it was fun. Towards the end of the movie, I was wondering how well other pulp fiction-type heroes would fare in the modern cinema. I remember that there was a rumor of a Doc Savage movie in the works a few years ago, but I haven’t read/heard anything about it in some time.

Stray Toasters

• I just received this from a coworker, who found out that my birthday is this weekend and knows of my affinity for Star Trek:



• A few years ago, there was a submarine (the one used in the movie K-19: The Widowmaker, in fact) that was for sale on eBay. I always thought that Bill Gates should have bought it… after all, he pretty much has one of everything else. But he didn’t. However, this morning, I found the following item on Slashdot: Google Founders Buy Fighter Jet. That’s close enough for me.
• Make my funk the P-Funk
  I want my funk uncut
  Make my funk the P-Funk
  I wants to get funked up.
  I want the bomb,
  I want the P-Funk
  I want my funk stepped on
  Make my funk the P-Funk
  Before I take it home
• Sib-4, , sent me a link to this Questionable Content ‘toon. The last panel made me laugh aloud:



• Cartesian dualism — the latest weapon in the war on Darwin
• …and, in a (somewhat) related note: Evolutionary Scientists Test-Drive Spore, Gripe
• Get your drink on… with Raytheon!
  (After finding “drinkware” on the company store site, we’re suggesting this as a new company slogan.)
• The Fonz, Richie, Andy and Opie are pro-Obama
• WizKids still hasn’t updated their Arkham Asylum page.
• By way of IT Knowledge Exchange: CTO of the USA

Tonight: Dinner at Outback. (Can you say “Aussie Cheese Fries,” boys and girls..?)
This time tomorrow: We’ll be on our way to the Right Coast.
Selah.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 21 October 2008
Last night’s football game was stunning. I was expecting more of an even fight, but the Pats busted the Broncos: 41-7. Hanging out with SaraRules and her family was fun, as usual.

Stray Toasters

• In much the same way that I decided to leave LiveJournal in lieu of Random Access/WordPress for my primary blogging source, I have decided to make a break from MySpace.
• From The Washington Post: Powell Rejects Islamophobia
• If anyone is a model railroad fan, there is a train show at the Salt Lake County Fairgrounds on the weekend of 01-02 November 2008.
• Zombie Day at the Mall t-shirt…
  …but, I think that this shirt is more my speed, especially when dealing with some of the monkeys at work.
• One more day until Arkham Asylum is released…
• “The sun is a mass of incandescent gas…”

  

• By way of : Ferrari de LEGO
• In case of terrorist attack, do not discard your brain.
• JaC64: a Java-based Commodore 64 emulator
• Researchers discover the most creative time of day

…right on to the friction of the day.

Namaste.

Monday – 20 October 2008
Sunday turned out even better than expected, in terms of football:

• The Ravens won…
• …although, that means that the Dolphins lost
• The Panthers beat the Saints
• The Raiders won… barely… which was good news for SaraRules (more on this below)
• The Browns lost.  (Sorry, )
• The Bengals lost to the Steelers. (Sorry, and )

I was shocked – and pleasantly surprised – at the Ravens’ win, especially when you consider how well the Dolphins have looked over the past couple of weeks. But, like I said: It was a win-win situation… I’m just a little more glad that the Ravens won.

Next weekend, SaraRules and I are heading to Baltimore for my birthday. This year’s present to myself is the Raiders vs. Ravens game. We’re both looking forward to the game and we’re looking forward to some (relatively) good-natured ribbing over it. While we were out-and-about today, SaraRules told me that I should hope that the Raiders win. I raised an eyebrow over this. She went on to explain:

“If the Raiders win, you’ll have to hear about it for about a day… maybe two. If the Ravens win, I’m going to have to hear about it for the next 50 years: ‘Do you remember that time we went to Baltimore for that football game…?’ “

I can’t say that she isn’t right about that, either.

We had dinner and watched the late games at her parents’ place. Dinner was enchiladas (chicken and seafood, respectively) with sides of rice, beans, guacamole and mojitos. For dessert, we took a couple of pies: Chocolate Satin and apple. As to the late game, I don’t know what got into the Bucs, but they played a great game; on the flip side, I don’t know who that was in the Seahawks’ uniforms, but it wasn’t their “A” squad.

Stray Toasters

• I made a coffee shake this morning. It’s not too bad; I’ll have to determine how efficient the caffeine delivery is…
• The economic downturn is expected to hit – and hurt – the arts: Museums Fear Lean Days Ahead
• Donation Record as Colin Powell Endorses Obama
• A few weeks ago, Diane von Furstenberg was a guest judge on Project Runway. During that episode, American Express aired a commercial featuring Ms. von Furstenberg. In the commercial, there was a fleeting shot of the DvF studio with a Wonder Woman action figure or statue. I was amused by it, but didn’t think anything of it until I found these items last night:
  • Diane von Furstenberg’s Superheroines
  • Diane von Furstenberg: Wonder Woman
• 
• With Free Bikes, Challenging Car Culture on Campus
• Entertainment Weekly has new pictures from the upcoming Star Trek movie
• , you might be interested in this: Preview – Joker original graphic novel
• Bowling + Star Wars = semi-covet
• In ‘Quantum,’ it’s Bond, James Bond, without the catchphrases
• Don’t add W
  Don’t add X
  And, don’t add Y or Z
  Just add… Silent E!
• From USAToday: 2008 Fall Movie Calendar

Namaste.

Sunday – 19 October 2008
It’s 9:30. I’ve been up for roughly an hour already. So much for the grand designs of sleeping in…

There well be blood football. Today, I have what I refer to as a “push” game: The Ravens are playing the Dolphins, so no matter which team wins, I’ll be happy. (Of course, I’d prefer the Ravens to win, but that’s just me.) I haven’t looked at who the Panthers are playing yet.

Stray Toasters

• One week from today, SaraRules and I will be in Baltimore.
  Destination: M&T Bank Stadium
  Objective: To watch the Raiders vs. Ravens game.
• Colin Powell endorses Barack Obama for president
• This article caught my attention because it’s not far from where my parents grew up; in fact, it’s the next town over from where my mother grew up: West Virginia Voters Wrestle with Race, Rumors
• By way of : The LEGO Apple Store



• Neil Gaiman’s Ghostly Baby-Sitters Club
• 
• In a related bit of news: XKCD invited to New Yorker “Cartoon-off”
• Terrence Howard Talks Tunes, Family, Science
• By way of : Sarah Palin and… Sarah Palin?

• 

On to the rest of the day…

Namaste.

Tuesday – 14 Oct 2008
After a long day in the south forty, it was nice to get to SaraRules’ place and just… veg. We watched Monday Night Football: The Giants at The Browns… and we were all surprised by what we saw: I don’t know WHO it was that showed up in the Browns’ uniforms, but they worked the Giants over. In a BIG way.  I don’t think I’ve seen the Browns play this kind of ball since they moved to Baltimore. (That’s right, … I just went there. Booyah.) They were effective – highly effective, at that – on both sides of the ball:

• They had 454 combined yards
• Derek Anderson threw for 310 yards
• Jamal Lewis ran for 88 yards
• They picked off three of Eli Manning’s passes
• Their punting unit never took the field
• And…AND… they even went for – and made – a two-point conversion.

The Giants, on the other hand…? They, or at least people in their uniforms, were just… there. They did not look like the 4-0, Super Bowl-winning team that we’ve seen over the past few weeks. Maybe they sent in the JV squad. By the end of the third quarter, it looked as though their hearts just weren’t in the game anymore.

All kidding aside: Congrats to on his team’s rather decisive win over the Giants.

After I got home, I opted for a hot bath and reading more of Watchmen. It was a good way to wrap up the evening.

This morning, I decided to wear a tie to work. Just because. And a vest, too. I even opted out of wearing my contact lenses, in favor of my glasses.

Stray Toasters

• Steve Jobs and the Apple Corps will have (a) new MacBook announcement(s) in a couple of hours.
  • A brief history of MacBook Redesigns and Upgrades
• Many Wonder Womans Women to benefit women’s shelter
  Click on the link at the bottom of the article for more information and more images.
• LEGO + Christmas = *COVET* (picture)
• 
• 16 Drawing Contraptions That Are More Artistic Than You
• For some reason, I had the theme from The Streets of San Francisco running through my head while I was brushing my teeth last night.
• Do you prefer self-checkout lines?
• There was a commercial for Robitussin DM Max that came on last night. I wasn’t looking at the television and misheard it as “Robitussin DMX,” and my first thought/question was: “How do you go from rapping to having your own brand of cough syrup?!” Then I looked at the screen… and I was immediately less confused.
• By way of :



• TSA Airport Screener Steals over $200,000 in Gadgets, Almost Gets Away With It
• John Cleese on Sarah Palin: “Monty Python could have written this.”

Attack the day…

Namaste.

Monday – 13 Oct 2008
It was a good – and busy – weekend. After Canadian Thanksgiving, SaraRules, Logan and I went to see Quarantine. There was apparently “an incident” in the showing before ours; we never found out “what” it was. The movie was good. And, to some degree, it finally did something that I have rarely seen in a horror/zombie movie: Contained the situation. Of course, there was still the “No one in a horror movie has ever seen a horror movie” factor, though. On the whole though, I’d give it a definite thumbs-up with an okay.

Sunday, I woke up and looked out the window and saw snow on the ground. Not a lot – it melted by noon or thereabouts – but it was snow, nevertheless. Then, it was time for football and breakfast. Breakfast was good; football, not so good:

• The Ravens lost to the Colts, which I expected… I just didn’t expect the drubbing they took.
• The Fish lost to the Texans.
• The Panthers dropped their game to the Bucs.

After the first round of games were over, we headed over to SaraRules’ parents’ place. We hooked up with Logan and we went a’shopping. Back to the house for dinner and the late games. After the late game, SaraRules and I went back to my place to watch No Country for Old Men. Neither of us had seen it before… Wow. It was a good movie… but it was definitely not a “feel good” movie. I see why it received the acclaim that it did; I heartily recommend it.

Today, I have been in the American Fork office. The original intent was to help rack some server equipment and clear out my AF desk, since I’m never down here. We tagged the equipment, but couldn’t rack it… because the rack is the wrong height. I’ve only been able to gather some of my stuff in sporadic intervals, because of small fires. Actually, there’s been only one fire… but it’s spawned a couple of smaller ones.

Stray Toasters

• By way of SaraRules: Amazing Holocaust Love Story Lives On
• With Software, Artists Put Yet Another Spin on the Presidential Debates
• Has anyone heard of “Presidential Decree 51?”
• American game designer follows father into orbit

Namaste.

Tuesday – 07 Oct 2008
Happy Birthday to :

Last night, I hung out with SaraRules and her family and watched the rollercoaster (of love… say WHAT!?!) of a game that was Minnesota vs. New Orleans. Wow. There were a LOT of impressive plays in the game:

• Saints QB Drew Brees threw for 330 yards.
• Vikings QB Gus Frerotte threw for 222 yards and engineered a couple of impressive drives, despite taking a beating from the Saints’ defense.
• Saints’ RB Reggie Bush ran for a combined 176 yards, including two (2) punt returns for touchdowns.
• Vikes’ RB Chester Taylor (former Ravens RB) threw a touchdown pass
• And where did Vikings’ CB Antoine Winfield come from?!  He was everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Special teams?  POW!  Defensive line?  BAM!  In the Saints’ backfield?  Yep. He was there, too.

Of course, there were some miscues, too:

• Martin Gramatica’s off-the-mark field goals.
• The Saints’ problems with holding on to the ball.
• Drew Brees’ interceptions.

I just noticed that this week’s NFL passing leaders are Kyle Orton (CHI) with 334 yards and Drew Brees (NO) with 330 yards. Both of them were Boilermakers.

This morning, the alarm went off at 6:20. I did my level best to ignore it. That didn’t work, so I turned off the alarm and laid in bed, pondering the prospect of starting the day.

Somewhere between “pondering” and “starting the day,” I nodded off again.

This is why I have a secondary alarm. It went off. I got up. Yay.

Stray Toasters

• LEGO Eggo waffles.
• WizKids has posted the new Batgirl figure on the Arkham Asylum page, but there’s nothing about it in their news headlines.



• In a rather geeky moment, I realized that 2’x3′ Heroclix maps will fit under the glass top of my living room table.
• 10 IT Power-Saving Myths Debunked
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Monkey waiters at restaurant
• Farewell, Opus; Hello, Pete, the Perfectly Practical Pig

Quote of the Day
Today’s nugget of joy comes from an IRC conversation:

(08:54:52) Ahpuc: When you are sitting on an airplane next to someone who is too chatty, what’s your favorite way to end the conversation?
(09:21:36) : Headphones.
(09:21:55) Xeen: falcon punch
(09:22:37) : Or open up manuals on taxidermy… and tell them you’re looking for test subjects.
(09:25:53) *** scratches their head and goes “hmmm!”.
(09:49:27) Ahpuc: A friend of mine was near a chatty 65-70 year odl woman, she was going around to everyone near here, asking what they did, etc…Like meet-me-get-to-know-me day on the damned airplane.
(09:49:55) Ahpuc: When she got to him and asked what he did he said he ran a porn site, and that they were looking for models for some of the sennior citizen porn.
(09:50:03) Ahpuc: She shut up for the whole flight at that point. 🙂
(09:50:10) : nice. 🙂
(09:50:34) : porn’s a good choice for that. It’s enough to shut people up, but not likely to get you thrown off the plane/mobbed like the other likely answers to those questions.
(09:50:37) : Win.
(09:52:50) Ahpuc: I was thinking of riffing off Fight Club: “Insurance Adjuster for the airlines. Do you know how many of these planes actually crash every year, due to poor maintenance? I mean, if it’s not near a big city, they just cover it up, it never sees the press…This airline in particular is notorious for painting over holes in the cabin. Hmm…Does it feel drafty in here to you?”
(09:54:38) : “No english. Arabic?” *fiddles with a box cutter*
(09:54:50) : CHOSEN WEAPON OF MY PEOPLE, BITCH.
(09:54:52) *** has more coffee.
(09:55:45) ***Ahpuc kicks off the airplane.
(09:56:11) : at 30,000 feet? that’s harsh.
(09:56:24) : That was my other thought – just reply only in Arabic.
(09:57:38) : or Esperanto.
(09:57:49) : or swedish chef?
(09:57:53) : klingon.
(09:58:06) : or KKKKKKKKHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAANNNNN!
(09:58:24) : You could just stare at her. Really up close in her face. Wide eyes. don’t say anything.
(09:58:34) : only reply with direct quotes from Airplane!. “looks like i picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.”
(09:58:49) Ahpuc: Or reply only with Biblical quotations, carefully chosen for effect.
(09:59:13) : naa. just quote ricardo montalban at ’em.
(09:59:48) Ahpuc: Matthew 10:34 – Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

Namaste.

Sunday – 05 Oct 2008
Yesterday morning, I slept in… a little. Until about 8:30. I woke up when SaraRules got ready to head to her quilting club. I needed to get up then because I needed to get a team or two together for a ‘Clix tournament. I came up with a couple of ideas… none of which I wound up using. Instead I went with:

• Batman
• Captain America
• Elektra (Skrull)
• Merlyn
• Psycho-Pirate and
• Susan Richards (Skrull)

It was a good team, but I wound up going 1-2. One guy (not Chris, who had to work yesterday) went 3-0; I think that there was one 2-1 and three of us went 1-2. I liked the overall balance of the team and wound up loosing both matches on points. I also reaffirmed that I am not fond of the prison map – I am getting better need to play on it, but I need more practice with it.

I got home to find that my Kilowog figure had arrived. If it had gotten there earlier, I might have tried an even different team. Who knows? The Shadow knows…

After lunch at Hopper’s, SaraRules and I headed to visit Perry and the kids; Kate was at work. Back home for a bit and then off to breakfast. We tried a new location this week and it was a nice change of pace.

Today started off slowly. I actually managed to sleep in until a little after 9:00. Then it was time for breakfast and coffee… and EPSN’s football pregame show. And then… football. It was a good (2 for 3) day:

• The Ravens lost to the (then) 4-0 Titans.
• The Dolphins won over Sandy Eggo… and looked good doing it, too!
• The Panthers beat the KC Chiefs.

Tonight, after dinner, we’re heading over to Chris and Mary’s for horror movie night.

Stray Toasters

• Who would win: An Imperial Star Destroyer or the USS Enterprise?
• The OS that wouldn’t die: Windows XP Gets Another Six Months to Live
• Huh. I guess that’s it for the ‘Toasters.

Namaste.

Monday: Coda
After work, I came home to change clothes and then it was off to SaraRules’ to watch Monday Night Football.

There are two (2) teams – which means four games – that I love/hate to see the Ravens play each season:

1. The Pittsburgh Steelers
2. The Cleveland Browns

It’s a love/hate relationship because of family and friends – Bret and my uncle are BIG Steelers fans; is a Browns 2.0 fan. Then there’s the fact that both teams are in the AFC North, as well… so, they are Division games, to boot.

Tonight, the Ravens traveled to Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers in Heinz Field.

I expected it to be a close game. And it was… at first. Then, the Ravens jumped out to a 13-3 lead. It was great. Then the Steelers put another 7 on the board. They kicked off to the Ravens… and then it happened: Joe Flacco fumbled the ball deep in Ravens’ territory. The Steelers recovered and ran it back for a touchdown. Fourteen (unanswered) points in fifteen seconds. Talk about painful.

The fourth quarter was a defense brawl. No one scored and so, the game went into overtime. At that point, I knew that the game was pretty much over. The Ravens won the coin toss and elected to receive the ball. But, thanks to penalties, wound up deep in their own territory. They kicked off to the Steelers… who engineered a drive down the field and scored the game-winning field goal.

After the game, I messaged Bret; I figured that I head that one off at the pass. I congratulated him on the win; he said he’d take it, because his team looked bad (in his opinion). He said that he was worried about this game, too. And, he also acknowledged that the refs – and the Ravens’ coordinators in the booth – muffed a call that cost the Ravens a touchdown early in the first quarter.

There’s another game in December. We’ll see how that one goes.

This was also the first game where I really got to watch Joe Flacco in action. He looked good, especially for a starting QB who’s in his rookie year in the NFL. He pulled off a few plays that I didn’t expect him to and looked, for the most part, comfortable on the field. After his fumble, it took him a couple of series to get settled down and get his head back in the game, but he did. I know that there were a lot of questions about him and his readiness for the big time, but based on what I saw tonight, I think he’s good to go.

Monday – 29 Sep 2008
Another work week begins. I think that I’m settling in to getting up around 6:20… I just wish that I’d stop waking up at 5:20. *shrug* Oh, well. At least I’m able to get back to sleep.

Today’s another fun day in the mines, but tonight’s MNF match-up has the Ravens taking on the Steelers in Pittsburgh. One way or the other, I’m going to get (at least) two phone calls about the game.

vs.

Speaking of football, what was the deal with the Eagles-Bears game last night? I expected a decent game, but I wasn’t expecting The Turnover Bowl.

Stray Toasters

• Goodbye, Columbus Wachovia.
• From both the gaming and the Covet List categories: Arkillo and Amon Sur
  
• Why We’re Here (.pdf)



• Music Box Dancer
• Comics Reporter: The 50 Things That Every Comics Collection Truly Needs
• 
• She’s chocolate in my pocket
  She’s gum in my hair
  She’s the kind of girl that drives you crazy
  But I don’t really care
  She’s a superstar on my stage
  She the sunlight in my shade
  She’s the sweetest scent that fills the air
  You will always find her there
• Kenneth Branagh… wants to direct… the movie adaptation of Marvel Comics’ Thor?! WHAT?!?!

Bang Zoom.

Namaste.

Sunday – 28 Sep 2008
This morning started out with SaraRules and me picking up her brother and heading up to Park City. We went to Cisero’s for brunch. Mmm, brunch… As usual, the food was quite good. After eating, we headed down to the Tanger Outlet to do a little shopping – Logan was looking for some inexpensive additions to his wardrobe for work. We were successful in that endeavor; SaraRules picked up a “fabulous, new purple coat.”

We headed back down Parley’s Canyon and made a side trip to the local Stein Mart. I showed Logan a few items that would also make good additions. He came out of there with a new shirt and tie. He seemed to like the store – and the prices; I think that he’ll be heading back there relatively soon.

Next, we went back to SaraRules’ parents’ for football. We’re also fixing jambalaya for dinner. (“We” meaning “I peeled the shrimp.”) Then, there will be more football, a little later.

Stray Toasters

• Eventually, I’ll stop going on about last week’s Project Runway. But today’s not that day. I mentioned how bad Kenley’s “Hip Hop”-themed outfit was. Now, you can check it out for yourself. And, as an added bonus: Check out Tim Gunn and Craig Ferguson talking about the episode, during Tim’s appearance on The Late Late Show. (Thanks, to SaraRules for the link to Project Rungay)
• By way of : IKEAhacker
• Brickarms Zombie Defense Weapons Pack Features Glowing Minifig Zombie Head
• 
• First Look and Full Details on the XM25, the Most Lethal Army Weapon Ever
• What the Hell happened!? WHO let the Browns win!?!
  (I just realized that I could have gone with “Who let the Dogs/Dog Pound out…”, but I’m glad that I didn’t.)
• The IKEA naming system

Namaste.

Saturday – 26 Sep 2008
Yesterday, after work, I went to Far West and played Matt in a friendly game of Heroclix. He won. My dice hated me, especially in the middle of the game. They proved this by missing any target number I needed by 1. Almost consistently. But, it was a fun game.

Post-game, I came home and watched part of the Presidential debate with SaraRules. I’m still curious about CNN’s real-time stat tracker, used to get the mood/opinion of Democratic, Independent and Republican voters. I’ll have to look up information on how it was gathered/tallied.

Clitorati was up next.  Coffee, dinner and the conversations were all good. I still need to finish the crossword puzzle I started, though.

This morning, “sleeping in” was over a little after 8:00 AM. I think that I’ve figured out “why” I’ve been getting up so early on the weekends: I have been pushing my weekday wake-up time forward (I’m close to 6:15 at the moment), so my body feels that 7:30 – 8:00 IS sleeping in. Oh, well. SaraRules fixed omelettes and hash browns for breakfast. They were a nice change of pace. Then we got ready for the day.

Today was “Company Party Day,” as both of our companies held their end-of-summer get-togethers today. SaraRules’ was up first; it was at Boondocks. We played mini-golf and arcade games (including Galaga and skeeball) and just hung out for a couple of hours. Next was my party; it was at Lone Peak Park. As this party is our “family-friendly” gathering, they had an inflatable balloon-house where the kids could jump around, a climbing wall, games and cotton candy. It was fun. SaraRules and I ate with Dwim and his wife. We talked about comics and politics and other assorted and sundry things.

We stopped in to say “Hi” to SaraRules’ family on the way back to my place.  They were watching Doom (not to be confused with Dhoom). “Somehow,” I’d managed to miss that movie when it was in theatrical release; seeing it with the family-unit, however, allowed for some prime MST3K-ing.

Thursday – 25 Sep 2008
How do you kick off a great NBN Thursday? How about with a text message from your father saying that you have two (2) tickets to the Raiders-Ravens game for your birthday? Boo-yah. Yeah, I’d say that qualifies.

After work last night, I went home and decided – after almost a year – to hook the 360 up to the Interwebs and download firmware updates. The main problem: The 360 is in the living room, my router is in my office – in the back of the apartment – and I didn’t have an ethernet cable that was long enough to reach. I thought about – and tried – using my old router (as a hub) to daisy-chain a couple of cables. Which I would have gotten away with, if it hadn’t been for you meddling kids and your dog! the fact that I didn’t have any 10′ cables to run from the second router to the 360. *sigh* Then, on a whim, I decided to see if I could share Defiant‘s wireless connection to give the 360 access to the Interwebs. After a quick consultation with and a look at some Mac forums, I found what I was looking for. And it was pretty simple, too. And it worked.

SaraRules came over a little later. Wednesday nights have become Project Runway (and, often, The West Wing) nights at my place, as SaraRules doesn’t get Bravo at her place. I’m not a huge “reality TV” fan, generally speaking, but I like seeing some of the designs that the contestants come up with on the show. Last night’s episode had an interesting challenge: The designers had to design outfits based on specific music genres… for each other. The genres that were chosen were:

• Country (Leanne designing for Korto)
• Hip Hop (Kenley designing for Leanne)
• Pop (Jerell designing for Kenley)
• Punk (Korto designing for Suede) and
• Rock (Suede designing for Jerell)

A couple of the designs (Pop and Punk) were spot on;the Rock outfit was… a little bland; the Country look was a bit too subtle. But the Hip Hip look was… just… bad. Which was sad for a two reasons:

1. Despite her occasional attitude, I like Kenley and most of the pieces she comes up with.
2. LL Cool J was the special guest judge.

Yeah. You get tagged to design a Hip Hip look… and get it all wrong… AND you have to show it off in front of LL Cool J. Triple whammy.

It was also funny hysterical to hear some of the snarky comments by the other designers about the design – including a couple of “sabotage” comments, when they were asked, “So, do you think that this looks Hip Hop,” as she would try different accessories with an outfit. And they would say, “Yes…” and turn away before they burst out with laughter. Surprisingly enough, Kenley did survive elimination this week. But the preview for next week’s episode featured a couple of shots of the remaining designers in tears as their designs were critiqued, so it should be worth a look.

After Runway, I flipped over to The Late Show with David Letterman; I wanted to see who they got to fill Senator McCain’s guest spot. I had considered flipping over to MSNBC to see if Keith Olbermann had anything to say about it. I didn’t need to – Olbermann was Letterman’s guest. And they both had opinions to share about the senator’s decision. Letterman’s comments, by way of :

And, I found this copy of Olbermann’s thoughts:

Wait… did he say that making a bi-partisan/joint announcement was originally Senator Obama’s idea? And it was copped by the McCain camp? Huh.

Stray Toasters
Check back later for ‘Toasters.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 23 Sep 2008
Guess who’s having Eggo LEGO waffles for breakfast.
Mm-hmm, that’s right.
I am.

Last night’s tourney was a wash: Only Chris and I showed. So, Keith basically rolled the dice: I “won,” Chris got Fellowship. The prizes were a Johnny Storm LE ‘Clix. With the “formalities” over, Chris, Keith, Nano and I played a four-way free-for-all. Since it was a just a fun game to kill some time, I tried a random team:

• Batman
• Captain America (Ultimates)
• Deathstroke and
• Psycho-Pirate

Chris rolled with his usual Batman team, with a special guest star:

• Batman
• The Flash
• Green Arrow and
• Johnny Storm LE

Nano played with:

• Batman and Robin (dual figure)
• Big Barda and Mister Miracle (Green Lantern)
• Green Arrow

Keith brought the Fantastic Four (starter set), including the Sue Storm and Johnny Storm LE figures. I have two things to say about this team:

1. Watching someone play the FF as a team – and play them well – is a thing of beauty.
2. Getting beat down by that same someone/team is a bittersweet pill… though still fun.

I think that my dice thought that we were playing a game of “Suicide ‘Clix,” because I couldn’t hit my target numbers half the time. I wore down a couple members of the FF, but Keith wound up taking me out. Chris and Nano duked it out on the far side of the board, with Chris winning that fight. Then it came down to Chris and Keith. They danced around the playing field a bit, but Keith finally wound up taking Chris out.

After the game, I headed over to SaraRules’ to hang out with her and her family and watch Monday Night Football. (Four shots at a two-point conversion – FOUR – and you THROW it?! ALL FOUR TIMES?!?) Her parents just returned from a ten-day Oregon excursion and it sounded like they had a lot of fun. And, as an unexpected bonus, they brought back some smoked Brie.

Back home. Chilled on the couch… started nodding off on the couch… called it a night. However, before I hit the rack, I watched a little of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. One of his guests was Marianne Jean-Baptiste, from Without a Trace. I don’t think that I’d ever heard her speak out of character, so I was “a little” surprised to hear a British accent.

This morning, I saw SaraRules drive by as she headed to work.
In a rare occurrence, she apparently saw me – and Jeff, a coworker with whom I was talkin – as well.

Stray Toasters

• Bit is speaking!
  Her first word: “Dada”
  Bot is not so amused.
  From last night’s conversation with :

  11:00 hahaha bot is ragingly annoyed
  11:00 and thusly i am ragingly amused
  11:00 bit’s first word today
  11:00 or in the words of rana
  11:00 I SPEND ALL DAY WITH THIS CHILD
  11:00 I CHANGE HER DIAPERS
  11:00 I FEED HER
  11:00 EVERY
  11:00 DAY
  11:00 EVERY NIGHT
  11:01 AND WHAT’S HER FIRST WORD?!!?
  11:01 DADA!!!
  11:01 lol life is good

• A new trailer for Quantum is Solace is out.
• SaraRules pointed out a video that I neglected to check out from yesterday’s Muppet ‘Toaster:

  Watch it all the way to the end…

• Some 640,000 Texans still without power
• Did Howard Mackie and John Byrne plan on pulling a “One More Day/Brand New Day” kind of stunt in the 90s? You bet they did. Details here.
• 15 train robbers killed by poison gas
• MarknTyme: You’ll have to check this out when you get home: Habenera

And that’s that… for now.

Namaste.

Monday – 22 Sep 2008
Another work week begins.
And it’s a grey, wet morning.

Yesterday was a 2/3 good day, in terms of football:

• The Ravens beat the Browns 2.0, in Baltimore.
  28 – 10, and Ed Reed had yet another INT for a TD.
• The Dolphins beat down the Patriots, 38 – 13.
  Yes, those Dolphins and those Patriots; Ronnie Brown was a machine yesterday.
• The Panthers, however, took one on the chin from the Gus Frerotte-led Vikings.

There was a lot of good football yesterday, but I don’t think that anything amused/pleased me as much as seeing “Big Ben” Roethlisberger and the Steelers drop a game to the Eagles. Of course, ANY Steelers loss makes me smile, but the Steelers never found the end zone and were held to two field goals. We’ll see if they’re still playing this “well” next week, when the Ravens make a trip to Steeltown and face them.

SaraRules and I finished The Orphanage last night. Good movie, but not quite what we were expecting. Given the Guillermo Del Toro name, I think that we were expecting a little more “horror.” There were definite horror elements, but I wouldn’t call it a “horror movie.” I’m sure that Tyranist would disagree with me, though.

Stray Toasters

• Math is hard. Let’s go shopping!
• Kate Perry != Jill Sobule
• Sexist pigs earn more than normal men
• I’ve read some complaints about the “I’m a PC” commercials that MicroSquish is now running. Personally, I find them amusing… and far more palatable than the Bill & Jerry commercials. What I would really love to see would be a new wave of Apple “Mac vs. PC” commercials where they start off:
  

  PC: I’m a PC.
  Mac: I’m a PC, too… but I’m running Mac OS X.
  PC: *sputter* What?!
  Mac: Yeah, I’m a PC. I just happen to run a different OS. But, when you really look at it, our hardware isn’t really that different.
  PC: But, that’s just going to confuse people. Just say you’re a Mac and be done with it. People don’t want to have to think.
  Mac: *stares at PC* Are you saying to just keep the sheep quiet and happy…?
  PC: *deer in headlights look* No… no! I’m not saying that. I’m saying that you’re just going to… confuse them.
  Mac: So… they’re too slow to understand the difference between hardware and software?
  PC: I…. You…. oh, forget it! *throws hands up in the air* There’s just no talking to you!
  Mac: Actually, there are lots of ways! Wireless networking. Wired. Even good, old-fashioned SneakerNet.
  PC: *rolls eyes and walks off-camera*

• SaraRules just pointed out the following: Microsoft is pushing Seinfeld away too soon
• 
• Feds Tighten DNS Security on .gov

Today: Work… work… work…
Tonight: ‘Clix tourney.

Back to it.

Namaste.