Union Pacific's Great Excursion Adventure

“He claims I suffer from delusion, but I’m so confident I’m sane…”

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Tuesday – 16 Sep 2008
I just had the old NBC tagline: “Tuesday is Blues day” run through my head. For those of you not old enough to remember, that was how NBC used to promote its series Hill Street Blues.

Last night, SaraRules, Logan and I watched the Philly-Dallas shootout. The first half of that game was just a romp. I’m not a big Dallas or Philadelphia fan, so I didn’t really care who won, but some of the plays – or lack thereof – were just… sad. The second half looked more like an NFL game.

Stray Toasters

Quote of the Day
From World of Warcraft to Prince… gotta love IRC:

(08:46:40) Ahpuc_: You know the worst part about having so many damned alts? Having to read the class-specific patch notes for EVERY CLASS.
(08:47:21) : heh
(08:47:28) : Gotta play ’em all!
(08:47:31) : Gotta play ’em all!
(08:49:04) Ahpuc_: Well…basically, yeah. 🙂
(08:49:08) Xeen entered the room.
(08:49:31) : PokeWoW
(08:50:05) Ahpuc_: I may be fooling myself, but I think I play my rogue better because I also have tanks and healers, and I understand what they are focused on better as a result.
(08:50:12) : “Level 58 Troll Shadowknight, I choose you!” *throws ball*
(08:50:36) Ahpuc_: Deathknight, you mean? Not til the next expansion is out. 🙁
(08:50:42) : Death.
(08:50:45) : Shadow.
(08:50:47) : *shrug*
(08:50:48) : 🙂
(08:51:12) Ahpuc_: If you don’t know the difference between death and shadows, I don’t want to be near you on a sunny day. 🙂
(08:51:30) Ahpuc_: Like the old joke about the difference between a man and a shower. 🙂
(08:51:42) : There are shadows in the rain, according to Sting, too…
(08:51:55) Ahpuc_: And death in the rain.
(08:52:14) : Death of a Salesman… in the Rain.
(08:52:18) : Wait.
(08:52:20) Ahpuc_: Hmmm…But doesn’t Death cast no shadow?
(08:52:55) : Death of a Salesman in the Purple Rain, a new heart-touching movie… coming soon from Oxygen
(08:52:59) Ahpuc_: And shadows never die, they just move, or expand to envelop the entire hemisphere at night.
(08:53:15) Ahpuc_: Don’t touch my heart!
(08:53:19) Ahpuc_: BAD TOUCH! DO NOT WANT!
(08:53:31) ***Ahpuc_ goes into cardiac arrest.

Attack the day…

Namaste.

What the…?! Monday already?!

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Monday – 15 Sep 2008
Another day at the grindstone. It’s been fairly painless for a Monday… so far.

Stray Toasters

Attack the day…

Namaste.

“Another Pleasant Valley Sunday…”

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Sunday – 14 Sep 2008
I had a ‘Clix tourney yesterday afternoon. I tied (2-1) with another player, but he KO’ed more figures – higher total points – so he won the day. I took the Fellowship prize, so I got a Sue Storm Limited Edition figure. Not bad.

After the game, I had dinner with SaraRules before heading off to Chris’ for the first Dark Heresy game I’ve been to in… probably a month to a month-and-a-half. Back home… to find that SaraRules wasn’t feeling well. We decided not to go to breakfast and called it an early night.

This morning, we got up and watched football. SaraRules fixed breakfast while we flipped back and forth between the early games. After the first group of games, we headed to the Garden of Sweden – she wanted something for her office and I wanted to look at some new desk and bookcase options. After that (and lunch), we went to the Utah State Fair – Attractions. Exhibits. Food. Livestock. People on parade. Rides. The usual. And cotton candy. Sweet, sweet cotton candy.

Back home for the late game and then over to SaraRules’ parents’ for a bit.

All-in-all, it’s been a good weekend. Can’t really ask for more than that.

Stray Toasters

Namaste.

“We travel in the dark of the new moon…”

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Friday – 12 Sep 2008
Last night, SaraRules came over and fixed dinner (fajitas!) and we watched The West Wing and 21. Nice, quiet evening in. After SaraRules left, I hopped on the nerd and surfed for a while. Then – in a stroke of genius – I decided to stretch out on the couch “for a few minutes.”

That turned into 3 hours.

I woke up and dragged myself to bed. That’s when the odd, 21-inspired dreams set in. Thugs, money and lots of running. Whoop-de-damn-doo.

So far, the work day hasn’t been too bad.
And, it’s Friday. A short Friday, to boot.
Win-Win.

Stray Toasters

  • As 2008 Multicultural Week draws to a close, I am reminded of this post that sent me back in July.
  • Folks were talking about WoW‘s Harvest Festival in a chat forum this morning; that reminded me that it’s almost time for the 2008 CoH Hallowe’en Event.
  • Speaking of Hallowe’en: Dress up your PS3
  • The CrüxShadows 2008 US tour brings them to SLC on the 28th. Hm.
  • Sunday’s Ravens game has been moved to Monday night, thanks to Hurricane Ike. I’m not sure if there will be coverage outside the Baltimore and Texas areas.
  • Your Mama Don’t Dance and Your Daddy Don’t Rock and Roll
  • Vintage Monkey Cartoons
  • LEGO Album Covers on Flickr

Soon: Hometime
Next: Lunch with SaraRules
Later: Errands… and maybe a pickup game of ‘Clix

Namaste.

“It’s not the heat, it’s the inhumanity…”

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Tuesday – 09 September 2008
After work yesterday, I played ‘Clix with Chris. We played 400-point teams; I went with:

Chris lined up with:

The game started off with a bang: I was able to use Psycho-Pirate’s Perplex to dial Bishop’s defense value down by -2, Lex’ Outwit to get rid of that pesky Energy Deflection and Merlyn’s Ranged Combat Expert to do four clicks of damage right out of the gate. It was a beautiful thing to behold. My dice ran hot-and-cold throughout the game, and I wound up losing at the end (Merlyn vs. Dr. Polaris and Bishop, who had been hiding behind Batman), but I think that this was the closest that I have come to beating Chris in a one-on-one game. I was rather happy with it.

After ‘Clix, I headed up to visit SaraRules and her family to watch the Broncos-Raiders game. Talk about a good, old-fashioned ass-whoopin’… Damn, Gina! Denver was ON last night. And, like I mentioned in the previous post, I think that I have a new favorite (for now) videogame commercial.

After that game, I went home, plopped on the couch and vegged out to classic Jonny Quest. And I defy anyone to tell me that the show’s theme song isn’t one of the best cartoon themes – if not possibly TV themes – of all time.

Stray Toasters

Attack the day…

Namaste.

I think that this is my new favorite videogame commercial

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I just saw this while we were watching Monday Night Football.

Cracked me right the Hell up.

Where’d the weekend go?

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Monday – 08 Sep 2008
Happy Birthday to Sib-4, !

This morning, like most mornings, I shaved. The difference being that today was the first time that I’d shaved since Friday morning. I think that was the longest I have gone without shaving my head since I started shaving it… over ten years ago. Madness.

SaraRules waved to me on her way to work this morning; it made her easy to pick out of the rush hour crowd.

Stray Toasters

That’s it for now.

Namaste.

“Beyond the rim of starlight…”

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Thursday – 04 September 2008
Wow. The day is better than half over and I’m just getting to this. It’s been a busy day, but that’s good because it has also been productive.

Last night, SaraRules and I had a date night. There are, indeed, definite perks to living in the same city. We had dinner (spaghetti, homemade sauce, garlic bread and a bottle of Pinot Noir) and decided to watch TV rather than a movie. We watched… three (I think) episodes of Project Runway, with an episode of The West Wing and an episode of Cold Case thrown in for me. It was a nice way to spend the evening.

Today, aside from being busy, was also sushi and comics (and a couple boxes of ‘Clix) day. Tonight, there will be packing for tomorrow’s camping trip… and maybe, just maybe, a little CoH before bed.

Stray Toasters

Bonus Points to anyone who knows – without looking it up – the relevance of today’s title AND what it’s from.

Namaste.

“Rise from the ashes, a blaze of everyday glory…”

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Wednesday – 27 August 2008
Last night, after work, I picked up Chris and we headed to Far West Comics for this week’s HeroClix tournament. Restricted 300-point teams. After “a bit” of deliberation, I decided to go with:

First up, I played Mike, a new player. As such, he was very cautious and… deliberate… in making moves. He fielded three of the Fantastic Four figures from the new starter set:

We basically danced around the field, neither of us taking out the other’s figures. Time was called, so it came down to a simple roll of the dice, which went Mike’s way. Loss.

Next up: Ma’afu. He played a mixed team:

With the the Vendetta feat on Ronin (targeting Susan Richards) and Hawkman playing taxi, Ronin became my primary target. He was the first to fall. Next I started working on Hawkman. He took more punishment than I would have originally given him credit for, but I wound up taking him down. That left Skrull-jacket. Fortunately, he didn’t get sixes on his Skrull team ability nor on his Shape Change rolls, so I was able to attack him. It took my dice a while to warm up to the idea of actually doing something in my favor… but I got ‘im. Win.

Both Mike and Ma’afu had to leave, so we called the tournament at two rounds. This means that I didn’t have to face Chris. *genuflect* We both wound up at 1-1 for the night.

Keith (the judge) and Nano wanted to get a game in, so the two of them took on Chris and me. I decided to try a theme team: Illuminati. I fielded

Chris played:

Keith, much to my painful chagrin, fielded the Legion:

while Nano went with a mixed team

And it was game on. To make a long story short, the game ran for about an hour-and-a-half. Chris and I lost a couple of our heavy-hitters early (not taken out of the game at that point, but they took damage that clicked them past their “good” abilities). Then it was a battle of the dice. Both sides had hot and cold dice. Chris and I finally wound up conceding the game around 10:30 PM.

I headed home and wound down, which included a tour of Paragon City. I got onto a team with a couple of people I teamed with a few days ago. I put on at least a level and a half in the hour I played.

And then… sleep.

I’m not sure what I did to deserve it, but I woke up with a headache this morning. Yay.

Today is another research day. We’ve also been talking with a few of the front office guys who have had various questions dealing with a couple of remodeling issues around the office. On the plus side, Julie (Property Manager/Admin/Jill of All Trades) brought in cinnamon rolls for the IT staff. And, I have a frozen mocha. So things ain’t all bad.

Stray Toasters

Namaste.

Take two.

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Tuesday – 26 August 2008
One down, four to go.

After work last night, I headed up to SaraRules’ parents’ for dinner (and mojitos!) and general hanging out… which included football: The Chargers vs. the Seahawks. Yes, it was (only) pre-season action, but it’s still rock and roll NFL to me. We tuned in a little late and watched the first half of the game.

At halftime, SaraRules and I headed back to my place for movie date night. We watched The Kingdom. Neither of us had seen it before, so we weren’t entirely sure what to expect. I wouldn’t recommened this movie as a “happy, fun-time” fare, but it was a good film. I give it a couple of solid thumbs-up with a nod and a smile.

After that, it was time for The Middleman. The episode was… entertaining, but lacked a little of its usual punch. Not the episode I would have picked for the first one that we got to watch together, but what’re ya gonna do?

SaraRules headed home and I sat on the couch, trying to decide if I wanted to play CoH… or log into PokerStars… or something. I watched DS9 while I pondered my conundrum. That turned into DS9 watching me. At that point, I decided that it was time to call it a night. And I did.

Today, I’m going to be elbow-up in enterprise KVM research.
Tonight, I’m going to be elbow-up in a ‘Clix tourney… one for which I’m still not completely sure which figures I’m using.

Stray Toasters

  • I got home last night to find a package waiting for me… from . Inside, I found a couple of comic-related magnets (Supergirl and Hawkgirl) and a Test for Echo tour baseball cap. Unexpected win-win!
  • Happy 30th Birthday to the LEGO minifig
  • Our HR/Accounting guy and I were just talking when he noticed some of the ‘Clix I keep on my desk. He saw the Batman figure and noted that his daughter would like it, as she is a Bat-fan. I asked if she had read Batman: The Killing Joke; he said that he wasn’t sure, but would mention it to her. I’m hoping that this doesn’t become a “career-limiting move.”
  • Online Beauty Pageant… for Nuns
  • This Gizmodo-modified picture of the AT&T Death Star amuses me…
  • Han Solo in carbonite cake
  • I’m curious about Samuel L. Jackson’s upcoming movie, Lakeview Terrace
  • Treadmills used to play WoW

Up, up and away! (Either reference will work here.)

NBN “Friday”

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Thursday – 21 August 2008
The end of the work week is nigh. Selah.

arrived last night around 5:30 PM. He came in and gave us (SaraRules and me) a quick recap of his trip, thus far. Then, it was time for food! The three of us and went to Poplar Street Pub for dinner.

Post-dinner, SaraRules, and I headed home. He and I watched some of the Olympics, while SaraRules worked on her Capstone presentation. I watched Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh win their second consecutive gold medal in Women’s Beach Volleyball against Tian Jia and Wang Jie. In the rain. In two sets. It was an amazing match to watch. Next, we watched South Park. I haven’t watched the show in… at least five years. It was amusing, but I’m not sure that I feel compelled to tune in next week.

This morning, the alarm went off at its appointed time… but I wasn’t ready to let go of the pillow. So, I didn’t. I waited until about 7:20 before either SaraRules and I were ready to greet the day. We got ready, while slept in. She got on her way to Cedar City; I headed to work. As today is my “Friday,” and I are heading to southern Utah to hang out with SaraRules and the other MFAs for a couple of days.

And on to more server surveys!

“And then the morning comes.”

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Tuesday – 19 August 2008
I was up far too late last night.
FAR too late.

Coworker Eric came to SLC last night to pick up my old desk: I wanted something different, he wanted a desk. Win-Win. I discovered that it is much easier to make a mess when clearing out furniture than it is to return the same space to a nominal sense of order and coherence. Hence the reason that I was up late last night/this morning. Let’s just say that caffeine and I are on a first-name basis this morning.

I watched some of the Olympic Summer Games last night. I watched Men’s and Women’s 400M hurdles. For those who didn’t see the USA Men’s team take gold, silver AND bronze, it was a pretty amazing race.

The women’s races were equally stunning – especially the event in which Jamaica’s Melaine Walker ran. I also watched some of the gymnastics events… and, after seeing He Kexin, I can now understand why some people question whether or not some of the Chinese gymnasts are of official competing age.

Stray Toasters

Namaste.

“And when they would do good, evil is present…”

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Monday – 18 August 2008
On the way to the office, Chiron Beta Prime started playing over iTunes. I’m not sure if Nomad was just mocking me through our technopathic link; I’m Ivory Soap sure that it knows I refer to work as “CBP.” As a follow-up, it played Inside Out’s Jackie Chan… and follwed that with Monty Python’s I Like Chinese*.

We finished Round Two of the server upgrades yesterday. We also noted a… discrepancy: There were nineteen servers for which we did not account. So, there will be a reckoning Round Three. Which is fine with me. It’s all part of the job. We had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. I had the calamari appetizer and the Cajun Jambalaya Pasta entree. Holy cow… it was GOOD. And, a piece of cheesecake followed me home.

I got home last night and considered rearranging the office. The fact that it was 10 PM didn’t phase me… at first. Eventually, I came to the realization that I had just put in nine hours of work and that I didn’t really feel like making that much more work for myself. Instead, I played City of Heroes.

This morning, I was back in the office at 7:40. Aw, yeah!

Stray Toasters

  • WARNING (for Firefox users): Clipboards hijacked in web attack
  • How to Be Good
  • Is there a way to justify shuriken as an “office supply?”
  • Pakistan’s Musharraf Steps Down
  • Michael Phelps: 8 Gold Medals, 7 world records.
    He’s only 23. I think he’s got at least one more Olympic Summer Games in him
  • How to Hypermile
  • Reasoning is partly insane
    Image just an eyeless game
    The night is turning thin
    The saint is turning to sin
  • What was your videogame system of choice, back in the day?
    I was an IntelliVision and Sega Genesis kid.

…right on to the friction of the day.

Namaste.

“People are strange, when you’re a stranger…

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Saturday: Coda
It wound up being a rather quiet day. I ran an errand or two while trying to catch up with Perry… which I never managed to do. So, I went to Jitterbug and had lunch and topped off my caffeination levels. From there, I headed over to Far West Comics; I picked up a few ‘Clix to add to my auctionable items. I came home for a bit… and then, on to breakfast.

It was fairly dead in the Village Inn… until the security guys showed up: Justin decided to let Mitch spray him with pepper spray. Voluntarily. For fun. (I’ll let you chew on that one for a minute.)

They went outside and the show started. I – along with OnlyAly and – opted not to watch the proceedings. But, we got enough reaction from the people who did watch. And the common reaction was: “That was phenomenally stupid.” A few of us wondered at what this said about humanity circling the drain; it may have also destroyed any thoughts OnlyAly and had about having kids. (I suppose that I shouldn’t recommend that they watch Kids, either…)

Stray Toasters

Quote of the Day
Once again, from :

You can’t fix “stupid.”

…to Karl (a paramedic), in response to the pepper spray incident.

Namaste.

Low-key Saturday

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Saturday – 16 August 2008
On the way home from work yesterday, I thought about coming home and taking a nap. It sounded like a really good idea. Instead, I wound up taking more pictures for auctions I plan on putting up today or tomorrow. So, while I didn’t get any shut-eye, I was nominally productive.

Last night’s Clitorati was kind of small, but nevertheless fun. While at the bookstore, I decided that I’d get the newly-taken pictures ready for their respective auctions – resize them, make any brightness/contrast adjustments, and so on. That’s when I discovered that some of the pictures came out a bit blurry. *BAH* So, I’ll be retaking those.

On the drive home, I considered playing a little CoH when I got in – nothing like beating down some criminals to wrap up the day. After I got in and started winding down, I realized that it was not to be. Instead, I hit the rack. I think I was out within seconds of my head hitting the pillow.

This morning, I was greeted with a lovely headache. I have no idea why. Two Aleve, a few sips of water and a short trip back to The Dreaming later, it was gone.

I have pretty much no idea what I’m doing today, aside from meeting Perry for coffee in a little while. That’s something. I’ve considered heading to the Capitol to check out the Declaration of Independence display… but I’m not 100% committed to it. I’m sure that something will come along…

Stray Toasters

  • While chatting with Dwim, we were talking about Galactus. That reminded me of a Lil Formers toon that I had seen involving Galactus and Unicron. That somehow degenerated into something about Star Wars, which reminded me of this toon, also with Galactus and Unicron, but also incorporating The Darth Vader-Death Star Star Wars toy that Hasbro came out with a year or two ago.
  • Having not looked at the series for a while, I went looking through some of the other Lil Formers toons. This one made me laugh:
  • I came across an interesting book last night: 500 Essential Graphic Novels: The Ultimate Guide. I thumbed through a bit of it – there were a lot of good selections in there, although I didn’t agree that all of them were “essential.”
  • Maybe I’ll (finally) head to the driving range before going to work tomorrow…

Quote of the Day
At dinner last night, we somehow got on the topic of Jimmy Carter and how, as a representative of The Carter Center, he’s visited a number of countries… often, against the wishes of the current administration. came up with his take on Carter’s response to a government official trying to tell him that he couldn’t go to a given country:

“Fuck you. Have some peanuts!”

To be honest, I would love to hear President Carter tell someone that.