Random Access

Monday: Coda
After work, it was a quick stop at home to change clothes and then back out the door and on the way to Fiddler’s Elbow for tonight’s game: Baltimore at Pittsburgh.

I shouldn’t have been in such a rush.

The Ravens performed horribly. Or, should I say: They didn’t perform. At all.

I saw people in jerseys who were supposed to be the Ravens, but I think that they just grabbed some random strangers in the parking lot. I haven’t seen a game that painful in a long while. It was so bad that my uncle, a Steelers fan, called me before halftime to apologize. Yeah, it was that bad. I’m surprised – and rather grateful – that the score was “only” 7 – 38. It could have been worse: This could have been a Browns-Ravens game. (That’s coming up in two weeks.)

On the plus side, I had the good company of , , and SaraRules’ father to watch the game – and drink beer – with.

Stray Toasters

• I still have a plethora of candy left over from Hallowe’en. Good thing I got candy that I like.
• NY Jedi School Trains Lightsaber Enthusiasts (To Be Bigger Geeks)
• For the Mac users out there: What are some of your favorite applications?
• [message redacted]
• Giant Donkey Kong Game

Namaste.

Monday – 05 November 2007
And…. back in Happy Valley, again. Wahoo, or some madness like that.

Belated Happy Hatching Day to :

SaraRules and I played backgammon again last night. I won four games to three. I like winning. We also watched the Dallas-Philly game. What I want to know is: Who were the yahoos in the Eagles’ jerseys?! What happened to the real team? I saw Andy Reid on the sidelines. I saw Donovan McNabb on the field. I even caught a glimpse of Brian Westbrook. Hell, David Akers even put in an appearance or two. But the others?! No idea. Dallas just walked all over ’em.

The morning commute wasn’t bad… until I got just into Utah County. Then the monkey-rifficness started. And I can’t blame a Utah driver this time – it was a Canuck. He, his pick-em-up truck and a long trailer tried to squeeze an Acura off the road… right in front of me. *grblsnrkx* There were also the usual assortment of people who decided that the “left general purpose lane” was the ideal place to go the speed limit. Or less.

Stray Toasters

• I had a cheese steak sandwich for lunch; it was the last son of Krypton sandwich left over from the batch that SaraRules made for dinner last night.
• I shall probably have a Butterscotch Krimpet or two for dessert.
• Tabula Rasa Reinvents the MMO to Court Casual Gamers
• 
• Grace.
• 22… 23… 24… 25… Oh, Hell. I give up.
• Bumper Stickers Only an Infantile Boob Could Love
• From the “Unintentional Candy Porn” file: Chocolate Santa holding a tree or a sex toy?
• The Best: Obsolete Technologies, from the Sundial to the Laser Disc
• Wait. You mean that everyone doesn’t do this…?

  

Quote of the Day
Today’s gem was SMS’ed in by Land; he overheard it from an out-of-state man working for the pro-voucher campaign here in Utah:

I met a black man today. I win the scavenger hunt!

And with that… lunch is done.

And tonight, the Ravens take on the Steelers. Fiddler’s Elbow. Guinness. That’s all I’m sayin’.

Namaste.

Saturday – 03 November 2007
So far, it’s been, to quote Mr. Rogers, “…a beautiful day in the neighborhood.”

As with any good Saturday, it started with sleeping in. This was followed by breakfast and coffee (and college football) and then cartoons (Legion and The Batman, natch). After observing the necessary hygiene rituals, SaraRules and I headed out to check out the shops on Main Street. Highlights included a couple of bookstores (picked up a new-to-me Spenser book!), the kite shop and the sporting goods store. The latter store amused me because I noticed that the guy working the desk was playing poker on PokerStars; he seemed a little surprised when I mentioned it. Back home for lunch (and more college football) and some other random TV watchin’.

Tonight, we – along with a couple of the roommates and their S.O.s – are going to see American Gangster. We had considered making it a double-bill with Across the Universe, but the roomies’ schedules wouldn’t work with it. Oh, well.

Stray Toasters

• I think that I have found the perfect item for use in this year’s Christmas card. Perfect, I say!
• Duane “Dog” Chapman has had his show placed on indefinite hiatus, after a conversation in which he used racial epithets in trying to convince his son to dump his girlfriend was brought to light. But, he apologized. I would like to think that he apologized because he was sorry for what he said… rather than simply because he got caught.
• Whose Kingdome Come? Geoff Johns Talks JSA
• “What’s a Nubian…?”
• BBtv: American Furry – Life, Liberty and the Fursuit of Happiness
• 
• 8-bit retro game sound synthesizer
• I have been wanting to play some good, old school fashioned Lode Runner, lately.
• Impossible Mission, too.
• Steampunk Pac-Man
• From Baltimore’s City Paper: Hallowe’en Masks VIII… especially notable/amusing – the “Play Caller of Cthulhu” mask.
• Here there be zombies!
• For those of you who watch NFL on Fox, you’re familiar with “the Touchdown Robot.”  Well… guess who’s getting his (its ?) own action figure?
• Hot chocolate.  Boo-yah!

Namaste.

Sunday – 28 October 2007
Last night and today were both quite good.

After Friday night’s festivities, we slept in Saturday morning. Ms. SaraRules fixed a… sauted (I think) pasta dish for breakfast; it was pretty damned good. We ate and had coffee while watching ‘toons and Jim Croce videos.

Next, it was off in search of costume goodness. I had toyed around with the idea of doing a Hand of Nefer-Tem costume and even taking a suggestion from and going as Bill Cosby – Heaven knows that I have more than enough sweaters to pull it off. Sara was going to go as Little Red Riding Hood, but wasn’t able to find a red cloak… so, a trip to Target later, she went as Red Riding Hood… in the ‘hood. That made me rethink my idea. Instead of America’s favorite Jell-O Pudding-eating dad, I opted to redo my White Trash Party outfit and go as Tha’ Wolf. Complete with 40 of Miller Genuine Draft (which I think will be used to cook brats or shrimp). Home to change and then we were off…

First we stopped at Chris and Mary’s. Horror movie party. We sat around and shot the bull for an hour or so before starting the first movie: Eight-Legged Freaks. Unfortunately, the movie decided to be… uncooperative, so we only made it about 30 minutes into the movie. That’s when we noticed the time; we needed to roll out. We headed across town to and onlyaly’s place… unfortunately, we missed out on ‘s gathering. For pics of some of the Hallowe’en costumes, click here.

Sunday morning started with breakfast at Sara’s parents’ house. Waffles. Homemade, none of that Eggo stuff. Then… football. The Ravens had a bye this week. We watched the Pitt-Cincy game. As much as it hurt to do, I was rooting for Cincinnati to win. They didn’t. We left to meet up with and to take some pictures in Memory Grove. After that, we all stopped at Redrock for drinks. Back to Sara’s parents’ place for dinner… and MORE football.

Back home.

Stray Toasters

• I am typing this post on the new black hotness that is the new Defiant. I think that I shall rechristen the old laptop either Valiant or Sao Paulo.
• I still have two boxes of Butterscotch Krimpets… and haven’t eaten any of them – I gave one box to , as she is rather fond of them.
• Talking Action with Gary Frank (: This includes some LSH news)
• 114
• Simon Pegg (you know, from Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz)… as Scotty in J.J. Abrams’ upcoming Star Trek film? Interesting.
• If the Dead Ruled – a Worth1000.com Photoshop contest
• From The Salt Lake Tribune: Liquor commissioner wants booze out of view
• Failed Futuristic Predictions

And there you have it.

Namaste.

Thursday: Coda
And so, the work week comes to a close. Friday is International Annual Rob Day, known in some regions as “Pope Groovalicious Day.” In honor of that I am hereby declaring it a personal holiday:

After work, I met for dinner at Tepanyaki. Sushi and a Teriyaki Steak and Chicken combination dinner. Nice. The couple sitting to our right was nice, even somewhat conversational. The family on our left… not so much. Oh, well. After dinner, I headed around the corner to CompUSAirways to pick up some memory for ‘Nine. Yes, I know I’m getting Defiant (Mark II) tomorrow, but I’m not abandoning ‘Nine… and Intrepid has been wheezing along since I lobotomized it to up ‘Nine‘s memory a few months ago. And, added bonus: The memory was on sale. Win-win.

On the way home, I stopped to see and onlyaly. No sooner than I had entered was I also greeted by Daisy and Sadie. I think that I got a decent workout from playing with Daisy – almost enough to make up for not going to the gym this afternoon.

Since getting home, I haven’t done much. So far, the highlights have been:

• Getting an early birthday call from Mom; she’ll call back tomorrow, but didn’t want to call me at O’dark-thirty… especially when I told her that I was taking the day off and sleeping in. God bless her.
• Ordering a couple of pieces of plastic crack on eBay: Green Lantern (John Stewart) from the out-of-“print” Cosmic Justice series. The price was right and I’ve been on the fence for a while too long in deciding whether or not I was going to get them.

Stray Toasters

• I was surprised/shocked/about to wet myself by/because of “The Leash” just before dinner. Fortunately, it was just a status message.
• Rock Band. Not necessarily my cup of tea, but I know a few grad students eagerly awaiting its release.
• Steampunk + LEGO = ???
• …with a hint of lip gloss.
• Horrifying cute animal photoshop contest
• I think that there’s an ice cream sandwich in my immediate future.
• Worm study may bolster idea of human sexuality being hard-wired in brain
• Madlessly.
• The Ravens have a bye this weekend… and next take the field on 05 Nov 07 against ‘s beloved Bengals, for a Monday Night Game. Fiddler’s Elbow, anyone…?
• Porno-embroidered handkerchiefs

Yep. That’ll do it.

Namaste.

Monday – 22 October 2007
Another week begins. So far, it’s been good (despite a road monkey on the AF commute)… and it’s a short work week, so I’m not about to complain.

Saturday night, I finished watching Renaissance. It was good. I liked the feel and style of the movie. And I was pleased with the way it wound up; I was a little surprised by part of the ending, but in thinking about it – it made sense. I give the movie a thumbs-up with an okay.

Then, it was off to breakfast with the usual suspects… plus one: put in an appearance.

Sunday, SaraRules and I went to Temple Square to see Music and the Spoken Word – she plays cello, as does my coworker who performs with the Orchestra at Temple Square, so I figured it would be a “best of both worlds” kind of thing. So… off to the Conference Center we went. There were tons of people – far more than usual – also heading to the Conference Center. Odd, but I figured “Whatever…” When we got inside, they were handing out tickets for “Multi-Stake Conference.”

*blink blink*
Okay… definitely not what we’d gone for.

We decided to beat feet and make our way out. The problem: All of the primary entrances were being used for just that: Entrances. (After all, who would possibly want to leave when you could get a little bit o’ Jesus in your day?) So, we found an elevator bay that led to the parking garage and went out that way. Then we made our way against the tide of humanity back to the car. Along the way, we found a crosswalk that had a stone benches in the middle of the street. In case you got tired halfway across? *shrug* Who knows?

All gussied up and with no particular place to go, we realized that we were hungry. I checked the time and figured that Ruth’s Diner was going to be filling up with patrons. So, rather than sit and wait, I pointed the car to I-80 East. Park City. Cisero’s. Brunch. The food was good, as usual. And the drive, there and back, was nice.

Back to Salt Lake and on to the Capitol Theatre to see The Flying Dutchman. I enjoyed production. I was even able to restrain myself from making untoward comments to the lady who sat behind me and kept kicking the back of my seat throughout the performance. I was rather proud of myself.

From there, we headed to Sara’s parents for dinner and football. We watched the Broncos whale the tar out of the Steelers. I’m not really a Denver fan, but any team that plays the Steelers is my “favorite team” in that match-up.

Football Update

• The Ravens dropped a game to the Bills. Bah. *shakes fist*
• The Raiders lost to Kansas City.
• The Bengals beat the Jets.
• The Browns had a bye week.
• The Vikings got branded by the Cowboys.
• The Eagles lost to da Bears.

The Best: Come Together – Round 2
I put The Beatles up against Aerosmith in this match-up.

I picked up a copy of Across the Universe: Music from the Motion Picture a few days ago. I’m sorry, but Joe Cocker, singing an arrangement by Elliot Goldenthal, kicks the bejeezus out of both versions. Don’t believe it? Listen to it (unfortunately, it’s audio only – which is a shame, because the video portion of this kicks much grass) and tell me what you think.

Stray Toasters

• I had a cinnamon roll from the Garden of Sweden for breakfast, along with a large dose of frozen mocha goodness.
• Secret Agent, Salmon and 22 Seconds
• Plantation Dig Reveals Maryland Town’s Painful Past
• I am Ivory Soap sure that I will own new black hotness within the next few days.
• More US Warcraft Players than Farmers
• Salt Lake Gas Prices
• SaraRules, please show this to DJ Viking:

  

  Of course, I could have asked or (or a few others) to show it to him, too… Hm. Maybe I should make it a race: See who can get it to him first. Or, possibly even how many people can forward it to him. That would be amusing.

• By way of boingboing.net: Steampunk Shrew
• Luciana Souza: Revising Pop by Way of Bossa Nova
• 
• Anagram (for Mongo) from Mr. Shortz

And that’s that.

Namaste.

Monday – 15 October 2007
And so, another week begins.

Last night, I tried making the jamabalaya recipe that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. , it’s pretty good; I don’t remember whether I sent you the recipe, so let me know if you’re interested in trying it. Sara and I watched the Seattle SeaChickens take on the N’Awleen’s Saints. When it was all said and done, the Saints went marching in with a win. Post-football, we watched Shadow of the Vampire, a movie that I’ve owned for at least two years, but never got around to watching. That’s a pity, because it was good. It also made me want to see Nosferatu.

The extended commute wasn’t bad. The presence of Utah Highway Patrol’s finest was minimal, but noticeable. And, there weren’t too many monkeys on the road… until I got to Utah County again, go figure.

And… Happy Hatching Day to …

…and also to

The Best: Kiss Me Deadly
Lita Ford vs. Reel Big Fish

Friday, on the way to Cedar City, the Reel Big Fish version of the song made its way into the musical rotation.
On this morning’s commute, the Lita Ford version of the song played.

I like both versions, but the harder-edged, 80s rock sound of Lita Ford wins.

Stray Toasters

• I have jamabalaya leftovers for lunch. And you don’t.
• By way of : Lexi goes “mountain climbing.” Xena used to do this. NOT comfortable.
• 30 Days of Night. Saturday.
• By way of : The Phobia List
• Nyx also had a few helpful suggestions for a potential Hallowe’en costume.
• “Because you are dangerous, you must not enter.”
• Willpower versus gravity.
• Tyranist: What know you of Babylon Fields?
• Which laws don’t we enforce and why?
• I’m contemplating (key word: “contemplating”) the acquisition of some new technical hotness. But, I’m a little unsure of which flavor I want.
• The Life and Death of Jesse James: An Internet Love Story

/lunch

TCP/IP. Whoop-de-damn-doo.

Namaste.

Sunday – 14 October 2007
A lazy Sunday in Cedar City. The day started off slowly – i.e.: sleeping in. After consciousness and coffee (which some might say is a bit redundant) were attained, Sara and I had brunch with and , who were on their way to Las Vegas. It was a fun outing. When they got back on the road, Sara and I stopped in a store where one of her roommates works.

The weekend, thus far, has also been good.

I was a little later getting on the road than I had planned. Work, picking up the car and… traffic. I had hoped to avoid the usual mire of late-afternoon traffic on I-15, which I should have, by all rights. But, there was an accident between the 72nd South and 90th South interchanges that had traffic down to a crawl. Zaz! There was also the usual assortment of road monkeys to be found along the way to Utah County, although traffic was significantly better once I got to the south end of Utah County. As I was coming up to Nephi, a little blue car with Texas plates walked me down and tore past me. With the utmost quickness. I passed that car about three miles south of Nephi. The driver had made a new friend: A Utah Highway Patrol trooper.

Friday evening, I rolled into Cedar… had a VERY quick dinner… and then Sara and I saw a production of The Tempest. I had neither seen a performance of nor read the play before this. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Back to Sara’s to hang out with the roommates for a bit before crashing.

Saturday started with breakfast and cartoons… the way any good Saturday should start. The early afternoon saw us back at the theatre to see Art, a three-man play. An interesting note about this play: All three of the actors were in the previous night’s performance of The Tempest. It was quite interesting to see them in such different roles. Back to the apartment to hang out with the girls and figure out what to do with the evening. Our decision: Bowling! Sara, Darillyn, Steph and I headed to the local bowling alley and had at it. It was fun. Very fun. And, considering that I haven’t bowled in months, I did pretty well: 118, 160, 150. After bowling, I played Apples to Apples for the first time. Interesting and entertaining. I might have to pick up a copy for home.

Football Update
Quick hits:

• The Ravens whooped up on the Rams. As it should be.
• The Raiders are (at this point) nine minutes away from dropping one to the Chargers.
• The Panthers are down by one to the Cards, with twelve minutes left to play.
• The Eagles beat up on the Jets. ‘Grats, .
• The Browns 2.0 roughed up my not-so-beloved-as-they-used-to-be Dolphins. Nice one, , but you can stop beating up on my teams now. Really.
• The Vikings took one away from da Bears. Congrats, .
• The Bengals lost to the Chiefs, in Arrowhead. Sorry, .

Stray Toasters

• I have a couple of bags of cotton candy that shall go towards tonight’s watching-a-movie snackage.
• Sparky. Sunshine. Glitter. Moonbeam.
• 
• There were at least two ‘Toasters that I was going to include here… but I can’t for the life of me remember what they were.

Sara’s done with her homework; time to go play in (what’s left of) the sunshine.

Up out.

Namaste.

Monday – 08 October 2007
Annnnnd, I’m back.

The trip, though short, was good. Saturday, the weather was intermittently craptastic… just the thing for a night-time drive.  Fortunately, there were clear patches on the way, and you could see stars.  LOTS of stars.  I don’t think that I’ve noticed quite so many stars since my last trip along I-80 on the way to Carson City.

Yesterday, Sara and I made a trip into Cedar Canyon, near Kolob Resevoir to the “C” Overlook (pictures to come in a follow-up post).  And, I had yet another encounter in “Why Rob Likes Roads with Guardrails.”  It wasn’t Butterfield Canyon bad, but I had a few moments of “Oh, look! No cars are coming the opposite direction, I can move to the inside a little. “  After that, we headed to a barbecue and I got to hang with some of the grad students I met a few weeks ago; they’re a fun bunch – I think that they’d fit in with the Clitorati gang fairly easily.  And the guy who hosted the barbecue…?  He is apparently very serious about s’mores.  He had at least four kinds of marshmallows, two or three kinds of chocolate, and two types of graham crackers.  Game on!

Last night, we watched the last quarter of the Bears-Packers game.  For 15 minutes, I was a Bears fan.  It was a good fight.  Of course, it’s easier to watch a close game when “your team” isn’t playing.  (And, for the record: The Ravens squeaked past the ‘Niners.)   After the game, we were going to double-feature Batman: Mask of the Phantasm with Shadow of the Vampire, but only made it through Phantasm when two of Sara’s roommates came in.  We decided to fore go Vampire and hang out with them; that turned out to be a fun option.

Today’s commute wasn’t bad.  Blue skies and light traffic.  I had no problems with road monkeys… until I got to Utah County.  Go figure.

Stray Toasters

• I have been receiving text messages from Adam about his exploits in HALO 3.  The boy cracks me up.
• Phone booth.
• Starfish Goldfish and Coffee
• “He’s still wearing his super-pants.”
• Glitter.
• I need to assemble my Stikfas ninjas.

That’s good enough for now.

Namaste.

Sunday – 30 September 2007
Yesterday’s move went well. And quickly. I believe that the “official” time was three (3) hours, start to finish. That doesn’t include unpack and organize time, but still… that’s pretty damned impressive. (And, it covered any “need” for a weekend workout, too.) After the move, we went out for brunch.

And it started to snow. Yes, snow. Not even in October. *grblsnrkx*

Came back home for a much-needed nap.

Sara and I went to see Across the Universe; more on this below. After the movie, we headed to Cheers: South for breakfast. The restaurant was rather busy, which made for some rather “interesting” people-watching.

Today started off lazily. When we finally got in gear, Sara and I met Perry for lunch at Jitterbug. Post-lunch, the three of us headed to Dr. Volt’s to pick up my four-color shwag and a half-brick of plastic crack… and a box of Stikfas that I had forgotten thatI had ordered. Next, a quick stop at REI to make sure that hadn’t fallen off the face of the planet. (He hadn’t.) And then, a trip through Parley’s and Emigration Canyons to see the fall colors. The foliage was making progress towards the red end of the spectrum… but it wasn’t as prevalent nor as vibrant as I had expected. Oh, well.

Reeling by on Celluloid: Across the Universe
Is there anybody going to listen to my story
All about the girl who came to stay?

There’s a saying that goes “Parallel lines meet at infinity.”
There’s a variation of it that says “Parallel lives meet at infinity.”

This movie is about those parallel lives, their meetings and is told through the use of the music of The Beatles. I was pleasantly surprised at how it all came together. I was, likewise, pleased to see that there was more to the movie than the simple “boy meets girl” love story implied by the trailer.

The music, as I mentioned, was by The Beatles, but the songs were deftly re-arranged by Elliot Goldenthal and sung by the characters/actors. Not only that, but the songs also tied-in to the events of the movie, similarly to the way that Orpheus in the Underworld (Can-Can) and Die Another Day, were used in Stardust and Die Another Day, respectively. I believe that my two favorite pieces were Let It Be and Come Together… so much so, that I might have to reconsider my choice for “The Best” from a few weeks ago.

At two hours and twenty-one minutes, the movie is long… without feeling long. The casting was good. The plots/subplots were good. And with one exception, the stories didn’t feel forced or contrived.

I give the movie an enthusiastic “thumbs-up with and okay.” And it has renewed my interest in seeing Cirque de Soliel’s Love.

Football Update
Just a quick hit here: Congrats to on his Browns 2.0’s win over the Ravens today. Operative words: “Beat down.”

Stray Toasters

• I still have three bags of cotton candy. I shall put a dent in that tonight, while I am saving the world.
• “Greenie Weenies”
• Sara’s Deviataion vs. Rob’s Deviation.
• Monkey of the Day: While in Dr. Volt’s, Perry and I were talking about our plastic crack purchase (part of which is supposed to be Kate’s Christmas present to him). We were tossing jibes back and forth when another customer decided to chime in with: “Wow, I can’t believe all the testosterone and posturing being tossed around over here…” I had my back to him, but Perry said that he looked at me and straightened up a bit when I saw my build; then he looked at Perry, who was wearing a his badge and his holster. The guy then said “But, since I don’t know either of you, I think I’ll just keep my mouth shut.” And he walked to another aisle.
• I’m thinking of rearranging the office. I might put my eight-foot table up in there… and possibly throw my LEGO train and the Rokenbok Monorail up on it.
• 

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Sunday – 23 September 2007
Another weekend draws to a close.

Sara got here as I was winding down cleaning mode yesterday. I finished up and we hung out for a bit before heading to and onlyaly’s, where I met (again, I think) ‘s mom, a very nice woman. I watched as introduced Chris to the joys of the liquor cabinet; I wonder what his head felt like this morning or if she was kind enough to tell him to drink lots of water before hitting the rack. All-in-all, ’twas a good bit of fun. By the way, : Who made that Merlot and the Shiraz?

This morning started lazily, as any good Sunday should. I called Perry to see what he and the family-unit were up to and tossed out the idea of meeting for coffee; he liked the idea and the day was set in motion. Introduced Sara to Perry, Kate and company. It was amusing to watch as the baby nearly leaped out of her high chair to jump into Sara’s lap. Followed very shortly thereafter by the middle boy. We hung out and chatted for a while…

…and when we left, I decided that it was time for a trip to CompUSAirways. I walked out empty-handed, although I was tempted to pick up a few items. One of the items was new memory for Intrepid, since I lobotomized it to up ‘Nine‘s memory. Something told me to hold off a bit, so I did. Then I saw the recently-reduced-in-price Mac mini. Mmmmm, Apple-y goodness. Again, I resisted. I also held off on a set of PC speakers and a secondary iPod speaker system.

From there, it was off to see if one of the seventy-leven area Barnes & Noble stores had a copy of The Prophet of Akhrahn. They didn’t have it. *shakes fist* I know that I saw it in one of their local stores around, I just have to remember which one it was.

Next on the docket: Follow-up ride up Emigration Canyon to see the foliage. There were more hints of reddish tones, but it still hasn’t changed much. It might be a little more vibrant in another week or so. Back down Parley’s and on to Jitterbug for lunch…. where we ran into Spydr and Uriah. Pleasant surprise, that.

Back home. I asked Sara’s opinion on the frames from yesterday’s Garden of Sweden excursion, since I was 50-50 on the matter. She thought the black one looked good with the pictures. I’ll probably wind up exchanging the silver frame for another black one. (And I still need to assemble the bedside tables.) Since, as lj user=”everydave” is fond of saying, I have the metabolism of a ferret on crack, I started getting hungry a short while later, so I started cooking dinner. And, I went at it in a two-birds-one-stone fashion: I grilled chicken thighs and then added some stir-fry vegetables to the pan and fixed rice in chicken broth, while I baked a couple of chicken breasts. Dinner. Lunch. Dinner(s) later in the week. Hoo-AH! Sara headed back to Cedar shortly after dinner…. and the bedside tables have still not taken the initiative to magically assemble themselves.

Football Update

• – Beat the Cardinals. At home. Selah.
• – Took it to the Hawks… in Atlanta.
• – Beat down the Lions. ‘Grats, !
• – Dropped one to the Sea-chickens.
• – Lost to the Raiders. The Raiders! C’mon, , what’s up with that?!
• – Lost to the Chiefs. Sorry, .
• – Scalped the Redskins. ‘Grats, !

Stray Toasters

• I just made a pretty damned good coffee milkshake. Then I spilled it all over the kitchen counter. *grblsnrkx*
• I just made another pretty damned good coffee milkshake. I did not spill this one all over the kitchen counter.
• “Madlessly.” I think this is my new favorite word.
• 
• Dr Volt’s is now open… on… Sunday?!
• “What’s a Nubian?” (NSFW)
• “Shower foul.”
• Someone with way too much free time compiled a list of Legion Action Figures., including HeroClix… although not all of the ‘Clix have been added, yet.
• Naomi Wolf on Colbert Report: 10 Steps to Fascism
• 
• From Worth 1000: Fake It Till You Make It
• HOW TO: Bleach-Stencil a Shirt
• Tyranist: Shaun of the Dead will be The Tower’s midnight movie on 12-13 October 2007.

Since the bedside tables don’t have the gumption to assemble themselves, I guess I’m going to have to do it.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 19 September 2007
Ugh.

I had to take the car in to have some service work done. That, in and of itself, isn’t so bad. My appointment was for 7:00 AM. Again, not so bad.

The problem, however, came in not sleeping very well last night. I don’t know if it was a subconscious fear of oversleeping or what. Whatever the problem, my journey through The Dreaming was troubled. I am hoping that by thinning out the blood in my caffeinestream, I can find a modicum of sanity… or at least enough mental stability to make it through the day without painting the walls red. It is Talk Like a Pirate Day, after all; why stop at just talking like a pirate? lj user=”asdf_cat” and I have been upholding the pirate talk… at least through IM.

::: meeting break :::

And, we’re back. On a plus note, Wes was in the office today. This is the first time I’ve seen him since he went out for his surgery a couple of months ago. He looks good. And he says that he feels much better and that he’s improving daily. That’s good to hear.

Stray Toasters

• I need many of these for the office. Both offices.
• Cats Harbor Sercet Plan to Turn Us Into Litter-Scooping Robots

  

  

• I don’t know how I missed this story over the past few days.
• 
• Report: Insiders cause more computer security problems than viruses
• By way of lj user=”ferriludant”: So by now, you know all know about the meteorite in Peru…
• 
• The Hypertext d20 SRD
• From boingboing.net: Home Inspection Nightmares from This Old House

Namaste.

Monday – 17 September 2007
And so, another week begins.

Friday, I spent the early part of the day elbow-up in servers, wires and DDR RAM. Yay. The first few racks I checked weren’t too bad; but the last one…? Not nearly as fun as it could have been. When I finished, I called it a day… and a week.

I ran a couple of errands and hit the road.

Destination: Cedar City
Objective: Visit Sara.

As with any good road trip, there were plenty of road monkeys with which I had to deal. Natch. Fortunately, by the time I got out of Payson, they had pretty much disappeared. The trip was rather uneventful, with the notable exception of a 15-mile stretch heading into Scipio… where the road is narrowed to one lane, in each direction. And did I mention the 55 (at best) MPH speed limit through there? Yeah. Icing on the cake. Monkeys and construction aside, I made decent time.

Friday night, Sara threw a potluck dinner party/get-together. Aside from a lack of the usual Friday-night people-watching, it could have easily been a Clitorati-esque gathering. Oh… and substitute wine for the usual caffeinated beverages, too. And there was Guitar Hero II, at which I proved once again that I either need never play it again or play it a lot and master it.

Saturday was a relaxed day that included:

• …a trip to Cedar Breaks National Monument. We hiked the Alpine Lake trail, which divides into an “upper trail” and a “lower trail,” which meet at the aforementioned lake.
• …kite-flying. Well, “some” kite-flying – the kite kept wanting to nose-dive into the ground. It looks like a couple of the lines on the parafoil are twisted, so I’ll need to see what I can do about correcting that.
• …dinner at Casa de Don Miguel’s, a small Mexican restaurant in town. I had an enchilada and burrito combination plate that was pretty good.
• …a trip to the local Dairy Queen, where I sated my craving for a chocolate-dipped ice cream cone. A craving that I keep neglecting to appease in Salt Lake.
• …EuroTrip. (Damn you, Tyranist.)

Sunday was an equally-if-not-moreso relaxed day. Sara and I hung out, headed to Chili’s for lunch and then to see Stardust. Having seen it before, I wasn’t as shocked by Robert DeNiro’s performance, although I was just as entertained by it as the first time I saw it. I paid a little more attention to Michelle Pfeiffer’s performance this time; I feel like I slighted it in my first review. She did an excellent turn as Lamia, a witch in search of Claire Dane’s Yvaine. I remember thinking at one point,”Lamia… Catwoman… Lamia… Catwoman…” I had forgotten how well she portrays villains/antagonists. After the movie was homework (for Sara) and geekery (for me) followed by dinner. And an episode of Coupling. (Damn you, Tyranist. Again!)

This morning’s commute wasn’t bad. Fortunately, the monkeys weren’t out en masse. And the fifteen-mile crawl wasn’t unbearable. And I made it to the office in good time. Of course, I realized, a tad too late that I didn’t caffeinate myself before leaving, so I will have to tread lightly when dealing with the monkeys, as the blood content in my caffeinestream is higher than usual. I should check the break room to see if there is anything brewable in there.

Football Update
I missed the game, but I did see that the Ravens shot down the Jets. Two down, thirteen to go…

Additionally, Congratulations (and “Thank you”) to for the beatdown his beloved Browns gave to ‘s Bengals.

Stray Toasters

• I need to definitely get to the Garden of Sweden this week.
• , did you and onlyaly get your Recommended Daily Allowance of speed, loops and corkscrews during your excursion to Coaster-opolis?
• 
• Superman: Doomsday comes out tomorrow.
  
• HALO 3 comes out in eleven days.
  …of course, that also means that I’ll need to get a 360 on which to play it.
• 
• Two down, two in a holding pattern.
• Discovery paves way for gamma-ray annihilation lasers
  Gamma Rays?! Are they mad!? Didn’t they learn anything from Bruce Banner’s accident?!
• Another man dies after marathon gaming session
• *voop*

Namaste.

Thursday – 13 September 2007
A new NBN Thursday begins.

Last night was a lazy, do-a-lot-of-nothing kind of night. And you’ll hear no complaints from me about that. I got home, figured out what to do about dinner and just… hung out. And, I talked (actual vox) with . Twas fun. The conversation ranged from silly to serious, with quite a few stops everywhere in between.

This morning, I actually did something that I haven’t done in a very long time: I wrote a letter. A real-life, honest-to-God, pen-and-paper letter. Not an email. Not a few lines on a greeting card. A letter. Granted, it was a bit short, but that’s not the point here. The point is: I wrote a letter. Not only that, I folded it, put it into an envelope, sealed, stamped and addressed it and put it in the mailbox.

City of Heroes/Villains: The Hand of Nefer-Tem
Since it had been a few days, I decided to do some crime-fighting in Paragon City. I logged in right as a Rikti invasion fleet was attacking the zone where I usually park my characters. So, I joined the fray. I was invited to join an invasion team and we started beating on things. After that portion of the invasion was repulsed, we went to another part of town to fight. After the invasions broke off, the team broke up.

A short while later, a member of my supergroup messaged me and asked if I wanted to join a team and run a few missions… some of my missions, at that. Hm… let me think about that… I joined. I had a few Devouring Earth missions to run. The first one kicked our collective asses eight ways from Sunday. After numerous deaths and some team restructuring, we muddled our way through it. We ran another D.E. mission, after that; it wasn’t nearly as disastrous.

Stray Toasters

• Aside from a little congestion – and a little frog in my throat – I am pretty much done with this whole cold thing.
• How to Survive a Horror Movie
• Have I mentioned how much I like this whole “Save and Continue Editing” feature? Lots.
• And, in continuing coverage from our “Tony Stark Is a Dick” file comes this gem, by way of Wizard:
  

  TONY’S TOY COLLECTION
  Unimpressed by G.W. Bridge’s houseboat, Stark feels the need to run down the inventory of his garage, which includes a boat, some planes, a spaceship and a flying submarine. Arrogant as always, he does, to his credit, segue very awkwardly from his brag session into his real business with Bridge. It’s hard to understand where Bridge’s reluctance comes from with a proposal that begins like this.

  

• By way of contrast: From the “Before Tony Stark was a complete dick” file: the Iron Man movie trailer.
• And, from the trailer: Would the Iron Man (Mark I) suit qualify as “steampunk?”
• By way of : IKEA room planners
• For the Bruce Campbell fans out there, Comics 2 Film is having a The Man with the Screaming Brain giveaway.
• For : Morris Day and The Time – 777-9311 and Color of Success
• From NPR: John Ridley’s Visible Man – Life After the NF-Hell
• 
• Apple, AT&T: Bosom buddies or odd couple?
• Jake, a coworker and workout partner, came over to ask a question about work and noticed that I have a Green Lantern figure on my desk. He asked if that was my inspiration/goal for working out. I looked at it and told him, “No, but I would have filled out my Hallowe’en costume a lot better if it had been!”

And, that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Monday: Coda
The Ravens lost to the Bengals.

Okay. There. I said it. And with that, I’d like to offer a hearty “congratulations” to .

It was a “good” loss, though… despite some craptacular calls in the first quarter. And that’s not just my opinion: thought so, too. Some of the calls made us wonder what game the refs were watching. *shrug* Oh, well.

I don’t know who was suited up in the first quarter, but I don’t think that they were pro players. They couldn’t have been, given some of the mistakes they made. Both Nox and I were flummoxed by some of the blatant errors. Fortunately, the Ravens seemed to find their key players in the second quarter.

I’m going to armchair QB for a moment and say that I disagree with Brian Billick’s decision to keep Steve McNair in the game as long as he did… and then throw Kyle Boller in, with about five minutes to go, to try and pull it out. To his credit, Boller did a good job. He was shaky for about two plays and then settled in…

…but it was a bit late at that point. Granted, he engineered a good drive and some nice plays, but at the end, he was still “too fresh” on the field and fired a rocket shot at TE Todd Heap – at short range – that just bounced off Heap’s hands.

Oh, well. It’s the first game of the season. There are still 15 more to play.

Nox and I watched the game at Fiddler’s Elbow. Decent food. Good service. And, a decent crowd. Not too rowdy. Non-smoking. And just all-round “good.” Along with Guiness (on tap, no less) I tried their Cajun Chicken Sandwich. It was rather tasty. I tried their buffalo wings and barbecue wings, as an appetizer. They weren’t bad, but they weren’t quite as good as the ones at Moab Brewery.

Stray Toasters

• I messaged Kris, to see if she was watching the game. She wasn’t (she was in class), but she was recording it.
• Joust gets movie, graphic novel treatment… wait, what?
• 
• Batgirl concept, for .
• …speaking of whom, I talked with her for a little bit this afternoon. It was a pleasant surprise.
• “In the year 2000…”
• I’m not sure whether or not I want to give 300 pounds a shot tomorrow.
• Cogito Ergo Zoom

And now, to find some trouble to get into.
Or maybe I’ll just watch a movie.

Namaste.