Random Access

Sunday – 08 May 2011
It’s Mother’s Day.

Happy Mother’s Day to my mother, stepmother, sister, mother-in-law, grandmothers and a certain mother-to-be, as well as to all of the mothers whom I count among my family and friends…

…as well as to the fathers who have picked up and carried the torch when a mother wasn’t around.

Okay, okay… let’s be serious here…

Alright… don’t literally drop the kids. But, you get the idea.

Today is also my stepmother and younger brother’s shared birthday:

I met Chris and Alex yesterday afternoon for lunch. We were going to David’s Kitchen… but they were closed. We wound up going to La Puente, instead. I hadn’t been there in a while, so it was a nice change of pace. After lunch, we headed up to Dr. Volt’s. I picked up some FCBD books – and the FCBD Green Lantern HeroClix figure – and hung out for a bit before kicking off last night’s tournament: a 1,000-point brawl. We had a good turnout (16 players) and a few new faces.

After the game, I came home and pondered what to do. I resolved the dilemma by fixing myself a bowl of ice cream and watching some DVR fare.

I’m not sure what I have on the agenda for today. If the weather holds, I might try to mow the lawn before it starts to rain.

Stray Toasters

• Word To Your Mother: The 1o Gushiest Mother’s Day Rap Songs
  • Hey, Mom, What’s Your Favorite Song?
• I should give some thought to the whole “breakfast/brunch” thing.
• Easily Distracted People May Have Too Much Brain
• 
• New Board Game Coming Soon — Star Trek Expeditions
• Thanks (I think…) to for pointing me towards: What Not to Crochet
• Johnny Depp Can’t Watch 3D Movies
• The Joy of Seersucker
  • Spring 2011: Trends That Matter
• 
• The art of Dan Hipp
• A Tour of an Abandoned Amusement Park in America’s Heartland

Namaste.

Friday – 06 May 2011
It’s my “on” Friday (finally), which means that the weekend is merely hours away. Selah.

Last night, SaraRules! surprised me, by suggesting that we head to Outback for dinner. I wasn’t about to argue. Off we went! Cheese fries + prime rib = GOOOD!   *gesture* We also went for a post-dinner walk through our neighborhood, which was good for working off some of the (delicious) calories we’d taken on… and is the closest I’ve come to a “workout” in far longer than I’d care to admit. After the walk, we caught up on a little DVR fare.

And tonight, we’re seeing Thor.

Groove. Boogie. Sway.
Here’s a little something to help your Friday move:

• Nelly (ft. P. Diddy and Murphy Lee) – Shake Ya Tailfeather
• Janet Jackson – The Pleasure Principle
• Pet Shop Boys ft. Dusty Springfield – What Have I Done to Deserve This?
• C + C Music Factory – Pride (in the Name of Love)
• Philip Steir ft. Steppenwolf – Magic Carpet Ride

We now return you to your regularly-scheduled blog post.

Stray Toasters

• Don’t forget: Mother’s Day is this Sunday.
  • Children Remember Their Mothers’ Influence
• Air France 447: How scientists found a needle in a haystack
• Homeland Security Wants Mozilla to Pull “Domain Seizure” Add-on
• I am about to fire my right contact lens.
• 
• For SaraRules! and : For Derby Rookies, a Lifetime of Experience
• U.S. astronaut corps evolves
• 10 LEGO Universe Items You Should Have
  I think that I have… maybe… two of these. Perhaps I’ll spend a little time playing LEGO Universe this weekend.
• Splitsville: Breaking Up With Your Favorite Bands

That’s all folks!

Namaste.

Tuesday – 03 May 2011
After the spectacular day we had yesterday, Tuesday greets us with dull, grey clouds. The forecast says nothing about rain, but we’ll have to see what Mother Nature has planned.

Perhaps I typed too soon. Looking across the valley, I see sunlight on the tops of the Oquirrh Mountains.

Last night, SaraRules! fixed a magnificent pan-fried steak – along with a broccoli/potato/cheese dish and salad – for dinner. After dinner, we decided to do some walking. We took a stroll through the local Babies ‘R’ Us. I hadn’t been to a BRU in years; and the last time was to pick up a gift for friends who either were having or just had a new kid. The experience is “a little” different when you’re shopping for own household. It’s literally amazing how many things there are for your baby (to toddler) there.

Back at home, I surfed the Interwebs for a bit. I stopped for a while when I hit Marvel.com’s coverage of the U.S. premiere of Thor, hosted by Isaiah Mustafa. It. Was. HILARIOUS. It was him and a cameraman interviewing the cast and Kenneth Branagh as they walked down the red carpet. While I’ve seen the What The–?! with Mr. Mustafa as Luke Cage…

…I didn’t know just how much of a comic book fan he was. (Apparently, he’s quite the fan.) It was fun to watch/listen to him geek out on different comics-related items between – and during – the interviews. It’s two hours long, but it’s worth it for his interview with Jaimie Alexander (Sif) alone. (That’s roughly 1:45:00 into the stream.) The part where Josh Dallas (Fandral) riffs on Mustafa’s Old Spice Guy is also worth a watch.

After that, we watched a bit of Top Gear before calling it a night. It was a rerun of the episode in which James May drove up the side of a volcano.

Stray Toasters

• I apparently neglected to note that this week is Teacher Appreciation Week.
• Superman made his first appearance on May 3, 1938.

• Moss, Black Hat founder, named CSO of ICANN
• Army Corps Blows Up Missouri Levee
• By way of Nyx: Vintage bombers in air and on display in Salt Lake City
• Other upcoming events include:
  • Free Comic Book Day – 07 May 2011
  • National Train Day – 07 May 2011
    • There will be an event for this at Ogden Union Station, from 10 – 5
• 20 Insanely Creative Bookshelves
• 
• Is the Southwest-Air Tran merger a good deal for fliers?
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Mummified body of former Playboy playmate Yvette Vickers found in her Benedict Canyon home
• Bam! Healing war wounds through comic books
  • At this point, I’ll take a moment to mention Untold Stories from Iraq & Afghanistan, once again.
• Free Speech Zone Runs Afoul of SLC Sign Ordinance
• Also from Nyx: Mouse Study Suggests Why Addictions Are Hard to Forget
• Tradition vs. Progress: The Art of the American Fire Helmet

Namaste.

Thursday – 28 April 2011
It’s “No Bad News Technical Friday.”  Hallelujah!

It’s kind of hard to believe that we’re only two days away from the end of April. It feels like it just started. I wonder how quickly the rest of Spring and Summer are going to fly by – or at least feel like they are flying by – now that we have the twins to look forward to as Summer approaches Autumn.

Twins. Most of the shock has worn off. Now, we’re trying to figure out just how many… adjustments… we’re going to have to make to our baby-prep plans. The grandparents all seem to be rather happy with the news. And, I think that this pretty much cements the idea that we’re staying at home again this Christmas. (I’m good with that.) Time to start looking at 529 Plans…

Last night, we celebrated my father-in-law’s birthday. We went up to the in-laws’ for dinner, dessert and general hanging out. For dinner, there was a homemade chicken pot pie. Correction: There were two (2) of them. And they were good. For dessert, we had homemade doughnuts, with an orange frosting. They, too, were good. It was a very nice way to spend the evening.

Back at home, SaraRules! and I watched the second half of Real Salt Lake‘s match against Monterrey in the CONCACAF Champions League Final. They seemed to play better than in last week’s match, but couldn’t get the ball into the net. This isn’t to say that they didn’t have the opportunities, but they couldn’t get the ball past Monterrey’s goalkeeper. And, since the final score was based on the cumulative score from both matches, Monterrey came away with a 3-2 total against RSL. I also believe that this makes Monterrey the first visiting team in… two years, I think… to win at Rio Tinto Stadium.

Stray Toasters

• Today marks City of Heroes‘ 7th Anniversary.
• MarknTyme pointed this out to me last night: Robert B. Parker’s ‘Spenser’ to Continue Solving Mysteries
  I’m not sure how I feel about this.
• The Case for Cursive
• Designer Makes LEGO-style Helmet That Reads Comics to Kids
  Wait, wait, wait… LEGO + Comics?!  Why do I not have one of these already?!
  • And if we’re already talking about The Covet List, add one (or more) of these to the list, too!
• Judge Denies N.F.L. Petition as Injunction Stays, for Now

• 
• Judge Denies N.F.L. Petition as Injunction Stays, for Now
• Bleeding Cool.com has a link to the newest international trailer for X-Men: First Class
• Spraypaint can cocktail shaker
• Union Pacific’s Great Excursion Adventure
• Superman Renounces [SPOILER] in Action Comics #900

  

  It would seem as though this has stirred up quite the debate in the comics-reading community.

• We Say Gay: Tennessee kids fight bill that would prohibit discussing homosexuality in school
• India Puts Tight Leash on Internet Free Speech
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Hooker Steals Macbook After Client Steals Sex

Namaste.

Monday – 25 April 2011
A new work week begins. Is it a “bad” thing that I’m happy that it’s my short week?

The weekend was a good one. I talked with most of the family unit yesterday, everyone is doing well.

After Mass yesterday, I went out for a bit and wound up at West Valley Hobbies. (Shocking, I know.) They didn’t really have anything that I couldn’t live without, so I left empty-handed. Since I was on that side of town, I headed up to Black Water Coffee Company (Pin-up Girl Espresso’s shop on the west side of the valley). I chatted with Jim for a few, while getting a mocha to go. Next stop: Toys ‘R’ Us. I saw a few things there that registered as minor blips on The Covet List, but still managed to leave without parting with any money.  I headed back home and hung out before we headed to dinner at the in-laws’.

Dinner was a small affair this week, just SaraRules!’ parents and the two of us. We had lamb, broccoli and rice pilaf. Everything was very good.  Post-dinner, we watched Defiance. It wasn’t quite the movie that I’d expected. It was, however, quite good. From the IMDb synopsis:

Jewish brothers in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe escape into the Belarussian forests, where they join Russian resistance fighters and endeavor to build a village in order to protect themselves and about 1,000 Jewish non-combatants.

We all enjoyed it.

On the way home, SaraRules! and I noted that despite the fact that neither of us is Jewish that – between A Child of Our Time on Saturday and Defiance tonight – we had a fairly Pass0ver-related weekend.

Stray Toasters

• The Curious World of Zombie Science
• Beyond Imagination: a LEGO exhibit in Hong Kong
• Slutwalks Sweep the Nation
• Ravens safety Zbikowski improves to 4-0 after knockout
• 
• Thousands of devotees rush to pay homage to Sathya Sai
• Norio Ohga, former Sony president, dies at 81
  • Rest In Peace, Former Sony Chairman Norio Ohga
• 
• Pokemon’s Ten Most Disturbing Pokedex Entries
• One Size Fits No One: Seeking a Steady 4 or a 10
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Concierges confess hotel guests’ most memorable requests

And, with that… on to the day!

Namaste.

Sunday – 24 April 2011
Today is Easter. I hope that everyone has a safe and joyous day.

Today is also my sister-in-law-to-be, Sanaz’, birthday:

This morning, SaraRules! and I got up and went to Mass; the priest gave a good homily about living a life that embraced “life” and not one that embraced death and destruction (both physical and spiritual). There were a number of children (from infants to 6 or 7-years old) wh0 also made the Mass interesting and amusing.

Next, we stopped off at SaraRules!’ parents’ house to say “Hi” and “Happy Easter.” And from there, it was on to Millcreek Cafe and Eggworks for breakfast. (They had their coffee cake on the day’s menu!) As always, the food was very good.

Last night, SaraRules! and I attended Utah Symphony and Utah Symphony Chorus‘ performance of A Child of Our Time (1, 2)  an oratorio by Sir Michael Tippett. The symphony and chorus were conducted by Keith Lockhart, in his last appearance as Music Director Emeritus. The featured artists included one of my favorite baritones, Derrick Parker. (And by “one of my favorites,” I mean “my favorite,” although SaraRules! simply refers to him as my man-crush.) The piece…

“…was inspired by events in 1938: Herschel Grynszpan, a Jewish refugee teenager in Paris, murdered the German diplomat Ernst vom Rath. This was a catalyst for the Nazis’ attacks against Jews in Germany on Kristallnacht.“

Tippett used African-American spirituals in the work to tie together the themes of oppression, hope and deliverance between World War II-era Jews and blacks of the Civil War era.  The juxtaposition of the two races’ struggles worked amazing well and engaged the audience with a powerful and passionate theme.

After the performance, we had the pleasure of meeting Glenn, one of the chorus members. He told us of his experience in learning and getting to know the piece. It was interesting to hear a performer’s first-hand account and to see how touching and moving it was to him.

After the performance, we came home and dyed a few eggs before calling it a night. I also spent a little time last night – and this morning – putting together an Easter basket for SaraRules! complete with lighted Easter eggs. That’s right: Eggs that light up. Win!

Stray Toasters

• For SaraRules!: Massive 20-module Great Ball Contraption goes on forever
• Morgan Spurlock: Why I sold out
• The Sad, Beautiful Fact That We’re All Going to Miss Almost Everything
• Android phones keep location cache, too, but it’s harder to access
• For lj user=”suzie_lightning”: Bringing the worlds of Monty Python and LEGO together…
• A Room-Sized Spirograph Machine

Namaste.

Friday – 22 April 2011
It’s my 9/80 “on” Friday. S’okay… it’s the quiet, low-number-of-employees day. That’s a good thing.

Today is also Good Friday…

…and it’s Earth Day, too.

But, it’s still a Friday, and that means that the weekend is mere hours away…

Last night, after I got home from work, I went to the basement and ran my train around the layout for a bit. To those who don’t get “how” people can derive enjoyment from “…just watching a train go in a (modified) circle,” I don’t think that I can sufficiently explain it. But I do. And it was good. And fun.

After a failed trip to the Village Christmas Shoppe at Gardner Village (it’s closed… as in permanently) SaraRules! and I picked up dinner from the Papas – John and Murphy – and went home to watch The Godfather: Part III, which I’d never seen before. It was good. (Man, it was LONG, too…) I enjoyed seeing continuation and conclusion of Michael Corleone’s rise to power and how he wielded it.

Stray Toasters

• I’m playing phone-tag with two different service companies, while avoiding… umm, “delaying”… calling two others. Yay.
• Well, $#!* Swearing is good for you, sort of
  Really?! It took them 2 years to figure this out? I could have told them that in about 2 seconds.
• SLC church distributes free copies of the Quran
• 
• All Your Base Are Belong to Us: How 50 Years of Videogames Conquered Pop Culture
• Georgia nuclear reactor shuts down; investigation under way
  • Speaking of Georgia and nuclear power, I need to correct something that I posted (at least once) before: It turns out that former U.S. President Jimmy Carter was not a nuclear engineer, as I had previously been told. He did work in the field of nuclear energy, but wasn’t a physicist or nuclear engineer. (Source)
  • Fukushima Plant Is (Officially) Dead Forever
• There’s a new Green Lantern trailer…
• At Ebenezer Baptist Church, a Glorious Rebirth
• 
• Zombie comic tutorial for using the college library
• Inquiries Grow Over Apple’s Data Collection Practices

Namaste.

Wednesday – 20 April 2011
It’s the middle of the week, once more. That means new comics and Game Night 2.

Last night, SaraRules! and I had dinner – at one of the local Mimi’s Cafes – with my friends Peggy and Adrian. I haven’t seen Peggy in nearly ten years, I don’t think; Adrian and I last got together about a year or so ago. It was good to see and catch up with them. And, both the food and the company were good.

After dinner, I headed over to ‘ place for a bit of Tuesday night gaming. Our group had to figure out a couple of goings-on in the city… while not getting killed by a bunch of cultists… AND figure out to whom we could talk about said cultists without getting ourselves killed. Precarious. We seemed to find an interested – and quite possibly helpful – group. We’ll see if it comes back to bite us in our collective recta.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
Tina Fey’s Prayer for a Daughter, excerpted from her book, Bossypants

Stray Toasters

• Is it possible to rickroll yourself?  If so, I think I did while shaving this morning.
  • What Defines a Meme?
• Dangerous Arts
• Grete Waitz, Marathon Champion, Dies at 57
• Interview: Melissa Bianco, City of Heroes Lead Designer
• The Ravens have released their schedule for next season, assuming that there’s a 2011-2012 season…
• 
• iPhone keeps records of everywhere you go
• Sound Matrix
• From the “Um…No, you idiotstick.” file: Man tried to rob store with game remote
• Cuba Lays Foundation for a New Leader
• A Rabbi Armed With a Blowtorch Keeps Things Kosher
• In the digital era, free is easy, so how do you persuade people to pay?
• U.S. Orders Airlines to State Fees More Clearly

Namaste.

Sunday – 16 April 2011
Today is Palm Sunday (1, 2).

And every time I think of that, my mind wanders off to Palm Sunday Downpour, by the band a friend of mine used to be in…

…which, apparently, one of his former bandmates has covered/released on his own. Huh. Go, Power of the Interwebs!

Yesterday was a good day. It was, to be certain, a long day, but it was a good one, all around:

The morning started with SaraRules! and me heading over to say “Goodbye” to Kate, Perry and the kids. They moved out of town this morning. I’ve known Kate for… close to ten years and I’ve known Perry for 8 or 9-ish; they’ve been very good friends. They’re going to be missed.

Next, we headed to Thanksgiving Point to check out:

“Eye-Candy Overload” was a wee bit of an exaggeration… but I think that was only because of how much the weather has flip-flopped from warm-to-cold-to-warmish over the past couple of weeks. Yes, there were tulips in bloom. But, upon our arrival, there weren’t as many as we would have expected. As the morning wore on – and as we neared the end of our excursion – more opened. This isn’t to say that we had a bad time, though. Far from it. We had a good walk and I got a lot of pictures around the gardens.

On the way home, we stopped at In-N-Out Burger for lunch and at the local Kohl’s, so that I could look for a couple of pairs of slacks. Lunch was successful; the clothes shopping, not as successful.

I decided to venture northward. I stopped in at Almosta Junction in Clearfield, where – for the first time in all of my trips there – their layout was in operation! That, of course, meant that I was compelled to shoot video (15 MB, m4v file) of it. I left with a couple of books and an O-Scale BMW 6 Series car. Next, I headed up to The Wonderful World of Trains. There were plenty of things there that could easily wind up on The Covet List, but I managed to leave with just the first FasTrack book that Lionel put out.

Back home. It was almost time to start getting ready for the evening’s outing. Black suit (Nod Ya Head), white shirt, black tie (with grey squares and white dots), black shoes. I had the good fortune to accompany both SaraRules! and to dinner and the symphony. We ate at Settebello; I had the Margherita pizza (with sausage) and a couple of cappucinos. After dinner, we walked to Abravanel Hall to hear Utah Symphony perform

(click image to see the program for the evening)

We missed most of the Mozart – we were a bit late, due to how crowded Settebello was – but the rest of the concert was quite good. Despite having heard Also Sprach Zarasthustra and On the Beautiful Blue Danube numerous times before, it was quite another thing to hear them performed live; I should think that Maestro Fischer would be proud of how the symphony performed under Mr. Schwarz’ direction.

Before heading home, we stopped at Capo for gelato. It was a good way to end the evening.

Stray Toasters

• Inability to Detect Sarcasm, Lies May Be Early Sign of Dementia, UCSF Study Shows
• From Jill Pantozzi’s “Has Boobs, Reads Comics” blog: New York Times insults female readers, they write back
  • How to Pick a Local Comic Book Store
  • Block Quote: The Case for Comic Books
• Trebuchette – the snap-together, desktop trebuchet
  These guys are only a few dollars – and a few days – from having their project fully funded. Why not pitch in and help them meet their goal? (Besides… who wouldn’t love to have their own trebuchet?)
• Keep Your Thumbs Still When I’m Talking to You
• Appalachian History Boxed Up in Shuttered Museum
• Ouch. Talk about “poor product placement.”

  

• FBI shuts down poker sites in online gambling crackdown
• You vs. the TSA: How to Survive an Invasive Pat-down
• She keeps her ex’s pistol
  On the table beside her bed
  To scare the ghosts that come
  As the bourbon slips to the back of her head
• Eight Is Too Much for ‘Short Sleepers’
• ‘Sweet Valley’ Twins Are Back, and, Like Readers, Fully Adult

Time to start getting ready for Mass and the rest of the day…

Namaste.

Friday – 15 April 2011
It’s my “off” Friday. Rather than idling the day away, I’m heading over to Kate and Perry’s in a bit — I’m helping them load up a moving truck. They finally sold their house and are moving this weekend. Getting used to the fact that they won’t be around has been odd, and I expect it to be even more so – at least for a while – once that becomes a reality.

Groove Break

• Teddy Riley and Guy – Groove Me

• Eric B and Rakim – Microphone Fiend

• Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock – Joy & Pain

• Jay-Z – Izzo (H.O.V.A.)

Yesterday was a decent day. Thanks (or “no thanks,” depending on your perspective) to working on Saturday, I had some extra time banked, so I was able to cut out of work a couple of hours early. Win. After dinner, I called my friend, William, whose birthday I managed to miss on Sunday.  We talked for better than half an hour, catching up on all the latest news from our respective families. After that, SaraRules! and I headed downtown for a night at the opera ballet:

The performance was good; we both especially liked the staging and choreography of the Bolero piece.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
posted a link to this last night; I found it rather intriguing: The Truth about Race, Religion and the Honor Code at BYU

Stray Toasters

• By way of SaraRules!: Wheelchair becomes 19-year-old’s BMX bike
• A Young Son’s Goal: Making Money for His Mother
• Jos. A. Bank is having another “Buy One, Get Two Free” sale on suits, sport coats and tuxedos
• “America the Beautiful”

  

• The World’s Largest Gummy Bear
• I should try to squeeze in a trip to a train and/or hobby shop today…
• Confessions of a fuzzy twit: Simon Pegg
• Why Are So Many People Dancing in Apple Stores?
• Brazilian Police to Wear Glasses That Can Scan Faces to Find Criminals

  

• The Last Fiesta – I’m not sure that I even have the words to describe this adequately…
• Why the Internet Is No Substitute for a Library
• The World’s Creepiest Opera Is Still Under Construction

Up. Out.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 13 April 2011
It’s midweek, which means that it’s also new comics and D&D 4.0 night. But, today is also my brother-in-law, John’s, birthday:

Yesterday, I got off work a little early, so I ran a couple of errands before heading home. For dinner, SaraRules! suggested Thai food, so we went to Pawit’s.  Por Pia Sod…. Mmmm.   After dinner, we headed home and vegged for the rest of the evening, catching up on the previous nights’ episodes of NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles.

Stray Toasters

• Today is a suit day. Another one, that is.  Today: black suit, white shirt, black/grey/pink tie and pink pocket square.
• NASA Announces Space Shuttles’ Final Homes
• Ex-Mafia Boss Breaks a Code in Telling All
• Air France A380 spins Delta regional jet in JFK collision
  • NTSB releases post-collision photos of JFK A380 incident
  • JFK runway collision spotlights dangers on the ground
• 
• Japan nuclear issue: PM seeks to calm food safety fears
• For Flip Video Camera, Four Years from Hot Start-up to Obsolete
• Miniature Town Brings Its Creator a New Life
• ‘Business casual’ causes confusion

And now, it’s time for a meeting. One that wasn’t on my schedule. WHEE!

Namaste.

Tuesday – 12 April 2011
Work week: Day 2

As Google’s “classic” home page reminds us: Today is the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin becoming the first man in space

…also known as “Cosmonautics Day,” as well as being Yuri’s Night.

Thanks to an early day in the office, I was off work at 3:30 yesterday. I popped in to SaraRules!’ office, to say “Hi” for a surprise. From there, it was on to The Train Shoppe; they had completed the coupler repair on my Chessie locomotive. Next, I met , Tina and Casey for a stroll around Liberty Park. We did a couple of laps around the park which, assuming that the info I found is correct, means that we did about three (3) miles. I’m calling that a workout.

I came home, just in time to see SaraRules! off to her Justice League Junior League event. That meant that I was a “bachelor for an evening!” My first conundrum set in fairly quickly: What did I want for dinner? I solved that riddle with a quick trip to the local Five Guys. I came home, plopped down in front of the TV and DVR and watched a pre-Christmas episode of Human Target. I followed that up with a bit of HALO: Reach. Yeah… it was a good way to spend an evening.

Stray Toasters

• SaraRules! and I bought a pair of trebuchets last night.
  • It reminds me of the time I wanted to build a Mad Cat in the backyard, like Jim Martin did. I actually emailed him back in… 2003 or 2004; he was a nice enough gent.
• Human Spaceflight’s 50th: The Glorious Past and Uncertain Future
• Jerry Lawson, Inventor of Modern Game Console, Dies at 70
• Little girl joins the Dark Side

  
  EMBED-Little Girl Joins The Dark Side – Watch more free videos

• NFL, Players Ordered to Mediate
  • For the Panthers, a QB or no QB with first NFL draft pick?
• For SaraRules!: Rube Goldberg photobooth
• Minority business program to undergo changes
• 
• New York Airport Jet Clips Smaller Plane’s Tail at JFK Monday Night
• Gas Prices Rise, and Economists Seek Tipping Point
  • This Is the World’s Greatest Driveway
• Epsilon may have been tipped off that it was a target

Namaste.

Monday – 11 April 2011
I just realized that it’s 11/4/11. Palindromic. Other than that, it’s just the start of another glorious week in Paradise.

The weekend seemed short, but I’m sure that’s because I spent part of Saturday in the office and got a lovely 5AM wake-up call from the office yesterday morning. Aside from that, it was a nice weekend. Yesterday, SaraRules! and I had brunch at Ruth’s Diner. As we were eating, we noticed people staring at the ridge across the road from the diner. Then we noticed them taking pictures. It didn’t make sense until we got ready to leave:

The elk was just standing there, taking in all that surrounded him. He was there for at least a good ten to fifteen minutes.

From Ruth’s, we ran a couple of errands before heading home for a bit. Then, it was over to the in-laws’ for Logan’s birthday dinner. Dinner consisted of barbecued chicken, roasted root vegetables, and salad. For dessert, we had a homemade gingerbread cake – some/most people had homemade applesauce for “frosting,” I opted for ice cream.

Last night, I slept moderately well. I woke up a few times, half-expecting to get another call from work and having to go in at O’dark-thirty. As it was, I roused myself about a half-hour early and just decided to make a day of it. Thanks to a bit of prep work last night, I was in the office about an hour earlier than usual, which means I’ll be leaving early, too.

Stray Toasters

• Civil War anniversary events go forward despite lack of funds
• Detroit Symphony Returns to a Giddy Reception
• As much as it pains me to see disheartening things about The Garden of Sweden: IKEA’s U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers
• Say goodbye to 1-year Verizon contracts
• 
• Couric’s Rocky Path to a Likely Parting with CBS
• A Flapper’s Dictionary
• That Noisy Woodpecker Had an Animated Secret
• Sinister Chevrolet Corvette ‘Centennial’ is car noir
  • Texas considers highest speed limit in nation
• 
• Being Bilingual May Boost Your Brain Power
• A New Push to Let H.I.V. Patients Accept Organs That Are Infected
• Woods becomes that Tiger again; not long enough
• 
• Could You Pass Harvard’s Entrance Exam from 1869?

Namaste.

Thursday – 07 April 2011
It’s a new “No Bad News” Thursday in the valley. And this one comes to us complete with grey skies and impending storms. S’okay though, we’re still one day closer to the weekend.

Last night, SaraRules! fixed Pad Thai for dinner. To my understanding, it was her first time making it… and it was good. After dinner, I hit Pin-up Girl Espresso for a cup of game night go-juice and then it was off to Hastur Hobbies to meet up with and the gang for our D&D game. It went well, especially when you consider that we ignored the last item from the following “suggestion” from Shadowrun:

“Watch your back, shoot straight, conserve ammo, and never, ever, cut a deal with a dragon.”

Nevertheless, we walked away with our lives and the item we were searching for… without having to (try and) kill the dragon. Which was good for us.

Back at home, SaraRules! and I watched The Thomas Crown Affair. The original. With Steve McQueen. And Faye Dunaway. It was good. I kept juxtaposing it with the 1999 version (Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo), although they were different movies to some degree. Both were heist movies, but the original featured a bank heist, where the more recent one had an art heist. Both SaraRules! and I agreed that both movies were good and were representative of their respective times, but we appreciated some of the nuances and subtleties of the older movie just a bit more. For example:

• 1968: Faye Dunaway’s Vicki Anderson quietly – and quite effectively – seduces McQueen’s Crown over a game of chess, while investigating him in relation to a recent bank heist
• 1999: Rene Russo’s Catherine Banning shows up at an event at which Brosnan’s Crown is a patron, wearing a sheer (read: “pretty much totally see-through/non-existent”) dress, and rather overtly flings herself at flirts with him during a spicy tango… while investigating his involvement with a robbery at an art gallery

I first saw the 1999 version of the movie about… eight or so years ago; last night was the first time I’ve seen the original. There were similar elements in both movies, but there were enough differences to keep them distinct and fresh. But, one of my favorite similarities – and best surprises – was that the original movie also featured Windmills of Your Mind, which I count as a favorite song (although, I prefer the version by Sting to the Noel Harrison one).

Stray Toasters

• At California Mental Hospitals, Fear Is Part of the Job
• A Fixture of Hollywood’s Past, Now Tarnished by Strife
• Swords and battle-axes pushpins
• A slew of banks, retailers affected by Epsilon email breach
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• Spring 2011 Trends Without the Fuss
• The Disney Princesses: If They’d Had Mothers
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Adzookie will pay your mortgage in return for daubing your house with ads
  I suppose that I shouldn’t be so surprised by this, as I’ve heard of the same thing being done with automobiles…
• 
• Woman single-handedly cuts off two countries from Internet
• Police Lesson: Social Network Tools Have 2 Edges
• NASA Telescopes Join Forces to Observe Unprecedented Explosion
• 
• By way of Corey (and Tosh.0): Big Black Dudes Are So Polite…
• Maine ranked ‘most peaceful state’; Louisiana the least
• Tesla fires back at boss of BBC’s ‘Top Gear’
• From the “Well… DUH!” file: IKEA Is Designed Like a Maze So You’ll Buy More Stuff.

And for my next amazing feat: Three meetings in a row!

Namaste.

Tuesday – 05 April 2011
Day two of the work week… and I’m in the south office today. Some of us are doing rotations down here once a month. And, today is my day. Well, one of them — I think I’ll be back down at the end of the month, too. Oh, well.  It’s a nice change of pace.

Last night, after dinner, SaraRules! and I ran a few errands and then went to Frogurt for dessert. It was good and it wasn’t as tart as the yogurt at Red Mango. (On the other hand, they didn’t have a Green Tea Yogurt, so it’s kind of a draw.) We wrapped up the evening with an episode of Castle and an episode of Top Gear.

I stopped at Pin-up Girl Espresso this morning, to get a caramel mocha for the road. I was pleasantly surprised to see (former) Pin-up Girl Erin in the window. I didn’t get a chance to ask if she was going to be a semi-permanent regular in the store, though.

And tonight is D&D 3.5 night.

Stray Toasters

• Commodore is back!  (Not to be confused with the music group, The Commodores.)
• Roberts’ three-run home lifts Orioles to first 4-0 start since 1997
• Salt Lake Art Center takes an outsiders look at SLC
• 
  
• Advocate for the Arts
• Obama Invites Republicans to Meet on Budget
• Chemical found which ‘makes bone marrrow repair skin’
• FAA to Order Airlines to Inspect 737s for Cracks
• 
• Guess who went to The Hobby Stop and looked at train stuff while at lunch.
• NFLPA’s Mike Vrabel arrested for alleged theft, calls it ‘misunderstanding’

Namaste.