Random Access

Friday – 17 September 2010
It’s my 9/80 day off and I’ve been ready for it since Monday afternoon.
(Fortunately, Tuesday through yesterday weren’t bad.)

I think that I’ve found what I hope is only a temporary measure in getting around the problem that my web host is having with subdomains: I just changed the format of how I access and post links for this blog.  I’ll need to try and do the same for Four-Color Coverage and Game Center. Monkeys.

Last night, SaraRules and I were both having a case of the “I don’t want to cook dinner” lazies. We wound up going to MacCool’s Public House for dinner. They were having another food/beer pairing (with Wasatch Brewery, I believe).  We hadn’t RSVPed for it, but Micheal (the manager) asked us if we wanted to get in on it.  We declined. We sat at a table near the back of the restaurant. Scott, one of the owners, saw us as we walked to our table and said “Hi.”  For dinner, we started with the Finn Skins; for entrees, SaraRules had the Smoked Salmon Chowder and I had the Salmon of Knowledge. Mick, the other owner, from stopped by the table a couple of times and brought samples of the night’s pairing menu. Michael also brought over a couple of the beer samples, including a very tasty “Black and Pumpkin” variation on the traditional Black and Tan. All-in-all, it was one of the best dinner ideas that either of us could have come up with.

Stray Toasters

• Autism’s First Child
• Gather Ye Olde Suburban Knights
• Dr. Volt’s Comic Connection is having their 20th Anniversary Sale tomorrow.
• 
• Rain Level rainboots with depth gauges
• Zombie poster
• By way of Prelate Derek:



• Official BBC DIY Dalek blueprints
• Lady Liberty’s nose and other icons for sale

Time to find some trouble to get into…

Namaste.

Wednesday – 15 September 2010
It’s the middle of the week.
It’s the middle of the month.
And, it’s Sushi and Comics Wednesday.
Triple-score win.

Last night, SaraRules and I went to Kingsbury Hall for an event:

Mr. Lee talked about his background, his introduction to film and his reasons for wanting to get into film. He also discussed how he has used the director’s chair to make films that deal with race relations as well as other subject matter. Following his roughly hour-long talk, he did about forty minutes of Q&A. He prefaced the session by saying that he would entertain “intelligent questions, but wasn’t here to take auditions, screenplays, mix-tapes” or other “Hey, notice me!” fare. His answers to the questions seemed sincere and direct, but were also rather no-nonsense.  It was a great event and a fine way to spend the evening.

We tried a new place for sushi today: Sushi Groove. We liked it. A lot. It had a lot of things going for it: Good atmosphere, good food, and some of the former Oh Sushi staff. It was full of “Win” all around.

Stray Toasters

• Have I mentioned that I have the Coolest Wife in the World lately?  No? Well, I do.
• Today is another suit day: Black suit, light blue shirt, black tie with gold and blue swaths and a gold pocket square.  And, yes, it has raised the obligatory “What’s the occasion?” questions.
• Tyranist was in the north office yesterday. We chatted about a number of things, including our mutual affinity for Cee-Lo’s new song. A short while later, Tyranist told me that I had gotten the song stuck in his head; I told him that was payback for getting Scotty Doesn’t Know stuck in my head a year or two ago. We then noted that the two songs were actually complementary sides of the same figurative coin.
• For the Dishwasher’s Sake, Go Easy on the Detergent
• Awesome Limited Edition Cycling Prints
• 
• Ray Lewis’ son has a 504-yard monster game in Florida
• Rokenbok has updated their website.
• “Elder Spice”
• I’m not sure if I even care about getting the “Buy It By The Brick” figure for Web of Spider-Man…
• A New Name for High Fructose Corn Syrup
• The 20 Worst TV Shows

Namaste.

Friday – 03 September 2010
It’s my 9/80 “off” Friday.
I consider that a good way to kick off a long weekend.

Last night was rather quiet and low-key. The highlights included: Mowing the yard and watching more of Mad Men, season 2. I’ve been trying to follow a tip I saw on DIY Network (I really watch that channel FAR too much…) and have been cutting the grass in different directions each time I mow. The landscaping in the front yard makes it… difficult… but I persevere. The back yard isn’t nearly as annoying to mow, fortunately. And, I also got the mower back behind the gazebo — there was a LOT of ivy/ground cover growth — to see what I was dealing with back there.  Uneven ground. A couple of stumps. A raised planter box.   Yeah, it needs a little attention.  We’ll see what we can do about that.

Stray Toasters

• I just finished chatting with my mother… on Facebook. She seems to be enjoying retirement… for the most part.
• USUO 2010 Fourth Annual Web Sale
• Cinnamon Chip Bread for breakfast!  WIN!
• The crap we put up with getting on and off an airplane
• 
• Preschoolers being radio-tagged
• The Ravens played the Rams last night… and lost. I didn’t see the game, as it wasn’t televised, but ESPN’s Game Center told the tale of the tape.  And these reporters’ comments clarified any further questions. Oh, well… at least the regular season starts soon.
• 
• August jobs report: Signs of life for employment
• Homeroom Security: book about the insanity of zero-tolerance classroom policies
• From the “WAY Too Much Free Time” file comes: Keith Goldman builds Logan’s Run

Time to see what kind(s) of trouble I can get into today…

Namaste.

Wednesday – 01 September 2010
A new month begins.

Today is Comics (and maybe Sushi) Wednesday.

Today also marks the 36th anniversary of the The SR-71 Blackbird setting the record for flying from New York to London in the time of 1 hour, 54 minutes and 56.4 seconds… a record it still holds.

Last night, most of the Clitorati crew met at Desert Edge Brewery for dinner with , Michael and Hannah. It was a nice to see her – and meet Michael and Hannah – even if only for a couple hours. I had the Paella-style Chicken and Sausage Pasta, which was very good.

This morning finds me in the south office. I had a meeting with the landlord and the sbuilding manager about some changes that we’d like to make in our server room. I mentioned two ideas that we had considered; they countered with a variation on one of those plans… that might be somewhat less expensive than we had originally thought. We’ll see how their quote looks when it comes in.

Stray Toasters

• I broke out my grey glen-plaid suit this morning. White shirt. Blue/black/white tie. White pocket square. I’ve been getting the usual “Are you bucking for a raise/promotion” questions. I’ve been countering with “No, I have a meeting with my bishop.” The quizzical looks – since pretty much everyone down here knows that I’m not LDS – have been totally worth it.
• knew that I’ll probably never be a Browns or Indians fan… but I can give their home city a warm nod, if for no other reason than this: Cleveland, the True Birthplace of Superman
• Lovecraft is missing, and all R’lyeh breaks loose
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: NFL player Troy Polamalu gets $1m hair insurance
• Chewbacca, Han Solo and R2D2 drawn as if part of A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh
• In New York Ballet Companies, Corps Is a Thrill
• I like how this garage-to-office conversion turned out.
• 
• Wesley Snipes Was Almost Geordi LaForge
• After Years of War, Few Iraqis Have a Clear View of the Future
• The Wilderness Downtown – this comes by way of . It is a very cool blending of technologies. Put in the real address that it asks for – it’s totally worth it. And don’t close any of the windows that pop up!
• 8 Surprising Household Deodorizers
• Method to Grade Teachers Provokes Battles

Namaste.

Monday – 30 August 2010
Today is both a Monday and a rainy day.
I think that the only “win” to be found here is that it’s a short work week. Despite that, here’s Today’s View:

This past weekend was good. It was equal parts fun/productive and lazy. Saturday, I ran a ‘Clix tournament at Dr. Volt’s. (Pictures here) The theme was “Family Reunion,” wherein each team had to have at least two (2) figures that were related to each other. It made for some interesting teams. I went with a Wonder Woman-themed team:

Wonder Woman (Diana Prince)
(gallery bb-figure-018)

Wonder Girl (Donna Troy, Diana’s sister)
(gallery cr-figure-038)

Wonder Woman (Artemis)
(gallery jl-figure-037)

They held up rather well, going 2-1.  (It didn’t really matter too much as I was just playing bye rounds, but it was still fun.) And, I got to use my new WW figure, to boot… which I need to get a good picture of.

Saturday evening, I fired up the grill and cooked burgers. We ate under the gazebo. It was good. Later, we ran a quick errand to Hobby Lobby – we were looking for frames for the artwork we bought at the Park City Arts Festival. We also ran into Sinister and his wife, while at the ‘Lobby. He told me of a possible monkey wrench in our Sunday plans, so we made a contingency plan.

That night, we watched The Dirty Dozen. I’ve seen bits and pieces of it and SaraRules had never seen it, so I added it to my Netflix queue a few weeks ago. Halfway through the movie, we stopped for a snack intermission. While scooping ice cream, I had a niggling suspicion about the movie…

… I went back downstairs to confirm or deny it.

Myth: Confirmed
Yep, I had bought the movie a few months ago.
*facepalm*

We laughed about it, as we started watching the second half of the movie, which was quite awesome.

Sunday, I got a call from Sinister correcting part of the mix-up from Saturday evening’s conversation. The original plans were for he, Jeremiah, and I to meet at Chris’ for a big JLA-Avengers ‘Clix match. Jeremiah wasn’t able to make it, so we had to call for a stunt double…

…and our stunt double had a conflict.

…so we called in a second stunt double, Johnny. He was able to fill in and save the day.

…and, thus, we gamed.  Sinister and Johnny played the JLA – and a well-fielded JLA, at that – while Chris and I played The Avengers. 2,400 point game. There were good (and bad) dice rolls from both sides of the table. When we finished – we had a time limit – Chris and I had managed to beat down most of the JLA’s big guns and were working clean-up duty on the rest; I lost four of my nine figures, while Chris lost no one. Good game.

Back at home, SaraRules had prepared a nice stew-like dish, served over polenta. It was very good and also marked the first time that I’d had polenta, to my knowledge. After dinner, we watched George Romero’s Survival of the Dead. It was… disappointing. Even SaraRules commented,”That sucked.”

We cleansed our entertainment palates by watching a couple of episodes of Mad Men, Season 2. That helped immensely.

Instant Replay: Football
The Ravens took on the Giants on Saturday. I didn’t get to see the game, but I did keep track of it via NFL.com’s Game Center. And the Ravens pulled out a big win over the Giants, 24 -10.

Stray Toasters

• Revisiting Black History on Martha’s Vineyard
• Three months until Burn Notice returns…
• Too Few Women in Tech? Stop Blaming Men
• This kid, at the 2010 Baltimore Comic Con, could be in my Corps any day:



• Original Kermit the Frog puppet donated to Smithsonian
• Hip-Hop History, Recreated by Those Who Invented It
• Parts of the valley are starting to look like locations from Stephen King’s The Mist.
• 
• Protest at military funeral ignites a test of free speech
• Clean People Feel Morally Superior
• 7 Inconsistencies in ‘The Fresh Prince’

Namaste.

Thursday – 26 August 2010
It’s Thursday. I was informed of something that might push the day outside of the “NBN” envelope. That – coupled with who told me and what they told me – bring the phrase “People suck” quickly to mind… and serves as a reminder that some people practically beg to be curb-stomped.

Despite this, I shall try to maintain an NBN Thursday state of mind.
(As opposed to a New York State of Mind.)

Last night, SaraRules and I went to Pawit’s Royale Thai for dinner. As always, the food was very good. We started with their Por Pia Sod spring rolls (most excellent) and I had Pad Thai for my entree, while SaraRules had a salad whose name escapes me.

After dinner, it was back home for couch-time with comics! Yesterday’s haul was pretty good. I am really enjoying Justice League: Generation Lost, a “reunion” of sorts of the Justice League International. Another good storyline has been the new Wonder Woman. J. Michael Straczynski has done a good job of reinventing the character (even if people aren’t fond of her new costume). And the Legion made two appearances this month — in their own title and also in Superman/Batman #75.

After reading about superheroes, I went back to work on my HeroClix Wonder Woman mod. The new figure from The Brave and the Bold is… boring:

(gallery bb-figure-018)

So, I decided to try and make something a little more… dynamic.  I’m combining two figures:

Phantom Girl, from the Legion of Super-Heroes Starter Set

(gallery ls-figure-005)

…and Mary Marvel, from Crisis:

(gallery cr-figure-041)

I should (hopefully) have pictures to share of the finished product soon.

Stray Toasters

• Blogging and Tweeting, Egyptians Push for Change
• Jo Chen’s Wonder Woman Pencils from Her Mystery Project Astound
• Trader Joe’s: Successful, but Secretive
• Looking at Islamic Center Debate, World Sees U.S.
• The best way to get back at your superhero ex: Become a supervillain

(Plan B, by Mitz)

• I like this layout.
• Tutorial: Creating a Retro Sci-Fi Poster
• Interview with “Love and Capes” creator, Thom Zahler
• Sci-fi movie posters from an alternate universe
• It’s been a while since I’ve mentioned him, but I really like Brian Bolland’s artwork. Check out this cover he did for the upcoming Zatanna #5:

• “Wheelchair of Death”
• Geek Art Loves Daniel Clark
• And another work emergency arises.  I think that we understand the problem, now it’s just a matter of arriving at a solution.

Time to save the world… again.

Namaste

Wednesday – 25 August 2010
It’s midweek, which means it’s Comics (and maybe Sushi) Day!
The “and maybe” is because the usual suspects all seemed to have punked out today. Oh, well.

Today is also ‘s birthday:

Last night, SaraRules and I had a lazy night about the house. I worked on a HeroClix mod, while she read. After a bit, we gathered to finish up Season one of Mad Men. (Sidebar: I think I may have just had an item from Season 2 or 3 item spoiled for me. Bah!) I went back to working on my figure, but somehow wound up starting to organize the past… year-and-a-half’s comics, which had neither rhyme nor reason to how they were being stored.

NOTE: About two years ago, SaraRules spent nearly a full week organizing my comics. There were something like 2,500 when she did. And that number doesn’t include the nearly… 3,500+… others still on the east coast. (Although, I think that some of those are in some semblance of “order.”) She did a bang-up job, too.

The problem with starting to organize the comics last night was: I started close to midnight and got sidetracked by reading a few. D’oh! And, after calling it quits for the night, I went back to working on my mod. Yeah, it made for a late night/early morning.

Stray Toasters

• I have just run out of my Honey Nut Cheerios stash at work. This must be rectified. But, I was at least able to get a full bowl of cereal before it ran out.
• Vienna Philharmonic’s Summer Night Concert 2010 is being broadcast tonight on PBS. (Check local listings for time)
• After Mozart’s Death, an Endless Coda
• I have found an event I can totally get behind: Saturday is Read Comics in Public Day.



• Here’s another event… but neither I nor my Green Lantern costume will be in L.A. on Friday.
• What your email address says about your computer skills
• The Term Life Insurance Blog has a number of informative – and highly amusing – infographics.
• Exhibit brings Hendrix, Handel together in London
• 
• Eastern States Dominate in Winning School Grants
• The Legacy of Hurricane Katrina
• Digital Devices Deprive Brain of Needed Downtime

Namaste.

Tuesday – 24 August 2010
aLast night, SaraRules and I went to her parents’ house for dinner (homemade chicken pot pie = WIN!) and football: Arizona Cardinals at Tennessee Titans. For a preseason game, it was a pretty good game… if you’re a Tennessee fan. They worked on both sides of the ball. And worked well. Vince Young looked good in the game, much more composed and poised in the pocket and able to make decent connections with his backs and receivers. They’ll be a team to watch this season.

On the other side of the field, the Cardinals still looked like a team trying to figure out who they are without Kurt Warner. Matt Leinart couldn’t get anything going in the three series that he played. Former Cleveland QB Derek Anderson looked decent, but wasn’t able to put together a scoring drive either. Former BYU QB Max Hall looked rather solid and put together the Cards’ only TD-scoring drive. It will be interesting to see how the team fares with their star receiver, Larry Fitzgerald, back in the game after his knee heals.

After the game, SaraRules and I headed home and wound up the evening with a couple of episodes of Mad Men. We are both enjoying the show quite a bit.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
I have had a couple of teachers and administrators in the family and a few of my close friends are teachers, as well. Teachers often get blamed for all of the ills – perceived and actual – in the halls of our schools, but seldom get the credit for trying to do the right thing for their students. (Drive to Overhaul Low-Performing Schools Delayed, NYTimes) I have both heard and seen first-hand how they deal with students and some of their students’ issues.

Case in point: I was talking with one of these friends earlier and he gave me the Cliff’s Notes version of one of the problems a student of his was facing — it was more “mountain” than “mole hill.” He told me that the student wound up literally crying over the situation.

What many people don’t realize is that teachers – at least the ones that I consider “good teachers” – don’t just shut out their students when the afternoon bell rings. They don’t just see their jobs as ending when the last school bus pulls out of the lot. They get involved. They do what they can to be supportive of their students. In short: They care.

If only more people cared about the teachers and administrators who spend time with their children…

Workout
I have no idea what yesterday’s step count was, as I broke the pedometer as I was heading home from work. Bah. I might have to look into getting another one.

Stray Toasters

• I would ask if it’s too early for office monkeys… but I don’t think that there’s such a thing as “too early” where they are concerned. Unfortunately.
• I discovered this song, by Cee Lo yesterday. It’s definitely NSFW, but it is also pretty damned good:
• Scant Progress in Effort on Old Racial Killings
  

  “Everybody put me on the back burner for years and years,” said Mr. Allen’s son, Henry C. Allen, 65. He had hoped the cold case initiative would change things, but said the response has been slow. He said the legwork had been done. “Here’s the people you can contact, here’s their phone number, here’s their address,” he said. “I don’t have the authority to go knock on their door, but you do — and it still don’t get done.”

• By way of Nyx: Koala survives highway ride wedged in car
• Why Coffee Is Getting More Expensive
• Of Mosques and Men: a new Liberty Street message
• lightning != lightening
  • light·ning (noun)
    1: the flashing of light produced by a discharge of atmospheric electricity; also : the discharge itself

    2: a sudden stroke of fortune

  • light·en (verb)
    light·ened | light·en·ing
    1: to make light or clear : illuminate
    2: archaic : enlighten
    3: to make (as a color) lighter
• 
• 1980s T-shirts
• Another addition to The Covet List: WorldWorksGames’ Mayhem: Under Construction
• New Orleans Levees Nearly Ready, but Mistrusted
• A couple of songs about a certain midwestern state:
  • Rockapella: Indiana
  • Jackson Five: Goin’ Back to Indiana
• Nordstrom Links Online Inventory to Real World

Namaste.

Monday – 23 August 2010
Back in the Land Behind the Zion Curtain again.
Back at work again.
And, for some it’s “back to school” day.   (Students, Welcome to College; Parents, Go Home)
(I didn’t encounter any school buses on the morning commute, though.)

We got back from Idaho last night. The trip was fun. (Click here for pictures.) And, it was the warmest and driest of the three trips to Redfish Lake that I’ve taken with the in-laws. I consider that a major win. That… and the fact that we had a cabin this time, rather than just tents. I was especially glad to be indoors when, on the second day, the campground manager was going around telling people that there had been a bear IN the campground the night before.

This year, I also took my bike. (The same bike that’s been languishing, unused, for the past two years.) I went for a short ride on Friday evening – about 3 or 4 miles. It felt pretty good. Saturday, while the family fished on the Yankee Fork River, I decided to take the bike and head further into the canyon. My intention was to head for either the Yankee Fork Gold Dredge or Custer, the town just beyond the dredge.

The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

Just as I started, a snake slithered under my bike. (Most people who know me know that I am NOT a fan of snakes. At. All.) I was proud of myself for not squealing like a little girl. (Very proud, actually.) But, perhaps I should have taken the sign as a portent of how the ride might go…

Part of the way down the road, I realized that my memories of where the dredge was, relative to where the family was fishin, did not coincide with the actual geography. Nor did it jibe with the topography. However, I did come to realize – or at least be strongly reminded of – a few things:

1. I haven’t ridden my bike – or done much cardio – in a long time and thus am “a little” out of shape.
2. I am not fond of uphill rides… especially when I am out of shape.
3. I am not fond of riding into headwinds.

Any of those three things is “not fun.”
All three things together had me sucking wind by the time I hit the first (and not very tall) hill.

I nearly called it quits halfway up. I decided to stick it out and make it up the hill. Once there, I figured that it couldn’t be too much further to the dredge. I was right… more or less. But, that also added another (minor) uphill climb on the return trip. I reached the dredge and turned around; that was a 4.5-mile trek in. The headwind on the way back was not fun. But… I made it.

Saturday, SaraRules and I also visited the nearby Sawtooth Fish Hatchery. That was pretty neat. After that, it was back to the campsite to meet up with the family and decide what to do about dinner.  We opted to go into town; we ate at Sawtooth Luce’s, a pizzeria and sub shop. The pizza was good — the sauce reminded me of Garcia’s pizza back in West Lafayette. After that, it was back to the campsite for roasted marshmallows and general hanging out before heading back to the cabin for bed. And a shower. Oh, blessed indoor running water…

Sunday, we got the cabin and the campsite cleaned up and said our farewells to Redfish Lake and Stanley, ID.  SaraRules and I headed back through Sun Valley (and a brush or forest fire), while the others headed back through Challis and Arco — they wanted to get in a little more fishing.

Last night, SaraRules and I also watched The Losers, based on the DC/Vertigo title of the same name. We both enjoyed it, although I’m curious to read the TPBs and see how the story and/or the characters differed from their four-color print counterparts. (Added Bonus: I’ve noticed that I’ve been enjoying Chris Evans‘ acting, from the Fantastic Four movies to Push to Scott Pilgrim to this.)

All-in-all, it was a good (though brief) vacation.
And, waking up for the alarm – and the return to work – this morning was not exactly “fun.”

Workout
Friday’s step count: 3,600-something.
Saturday’s step count: 9,394
Sunday’s step count: 3203

I’m not sure about the actual counts for Friday and Saturday, as they included bike rides and I’m not sure exactly how well the pedometer tracked motion for those rides.

Stray Toasters

• By way of comes these cute costumes for a set of twins.
• Great documentary films for younger viewers
• Improv Everywhere: Black Tie Beach
• A Hotel Where Some Guests Have Been Dead for Years
• 
• By way of my friend, Peggy: Kirby: Intolerance, not atheism, is dooming America
• The Open Road Wasn’t Quite Open to All
• Saboteur: A fashion makeover for Silicon Valley

Namaste.

Saturday – 14 August 2010
Hello, weekend.

This morning, I slept in! All the way until 08:30!  (That is ‘sleeping in’ for me, considering what time I get up during the week.) I made my way to the couch downstairs and flipped on the television. After some surfing, I landed on Octopussy. I don’t think that I’ve seen that movie all the way through in a long time; I may have to do something about it one of these days. After about thirty minutes, I got up and headed into my office — I needed to get things together for this afternoon’s tournament.  After a shower and a quick breakfast – and a quick stop at Pin-up Girl – I headed out.

Today’s tourney theme was “Femme Fatales,” meaning that players’ teams could only be comprised of female figures. I threw a couple of options together; the team I played in one bye round was a Skrull Team:

• Elektra
• Ms. Marvel
• Spider-Woman and
• Susan Richards

Pictures of the event can be seen here.

I came home and met up with SaraRules. We headed to the local Whole Foods for a bite to eat. As we walked into the store, Sean, one of the employees saw me and seemed…. rather…. ecstatic… that I was wearing one of my Green Lantern shirts.  He yelled over at a coworker something to the effect of:

See!?  There’s a regular guy… and he likes superheroes! Comic books are alright!

It made me chuckle a bit.  Sean came up to me a couple more times and basically told me that he appreciated the fact that someone else not only liked comics but also Green Lantern. (When I showed him the GL symbol in my wedding band, he said it was one of the coolest things he’d seen.) He also expressed a little concern about Ryan Reynolds being cast as Hal Jordan in the upcoming feature film.  I suggested that he track down the SDCC footage of the Green Lantern panel, in which Ryan Reynolds not only talked about the film, but recited the GL oath for a young audience member:

He jotted down the info. Sean also happened to be at the check-out, as we were preparing to leave; he told me that I was “…welcome in [his] store anytime,” and to look him up if I ever needed any assistance. It was oddly charming.

Back at home, I put chicken kabobs on the grill and SaraRules prepared a salad and some quinoa. Very tasty combination.

Workout
Friday’s step count: 3,770

Next up: We’re heading downtown to Craft Lake City.

Tonight…? Who knows.

Namaste.

Friday – 13 August 2010
Yes, it is Friday the 13th… (dun dun DUNNNN!)
But, it’s still Friday, which means that the weekend is nigh. With that in mind, here’s a little Janet (“Ms. Jackson,” if you’re nasty…) to help get your end-of-the-week dance on:

And we can’t just leave it like that, so here’s a little Will Smith, too:

After working a little later than usual on Wednesday and having to go back to work Wednesday night (to deal with a potential water leak), I had an extra hour of work on the timecard… of which I availed myself yesterday afternoon: I left a little after 4:00.  It was nice. I stopped at Pin-up Girl, ordered a Peach White Tea and then sat and chatted with Jim and his brother, Paul.

Then I headed home to get ready for some football. SaraRules had a Justice Junior League meeting, so that meant that I was on my own for dinner. (Hello, Papa Johns…?) Pizza went wonderfully with beer and football. and it wasn’t just any old football game… it was the Ravens hosting the Panthers. But I’ll go into the game later.

As if the early part of the day wasn’t enough, SaraRules, Bonne, Melissa S. and I went to see The Expendables. SaraRules called it, and I quote:

Quite possibly the best action movie I’ve ever seen… I’d give it nine-and-a-half bricks!

And, just in case that wasn’t enough, here’s what Bonne had to say about it:

If you prefer action over chick flicks, I have one word for you: Expendables!!!

That’s right: My mother-in-law thought it rocked.  Beat that.

And, yeah, it was pretty damned good. You’re not five minutes into the movie when the bullets – and bodies – start flying. The movie is “a little” thin on plot, but doesn’t suffer from lack of action. You get to see (almost) all of the stars chewing bubble gum, kicking ass and taking names. Something that I wasn’t expecting: The dialogue was actually witty at times. Sure, there were a couple of in-jokes here and there, but the banter was fairly fresh. And, the movie was just plain fun.

SaraRules’ Rating:

Rob’s Rating: 

That was my Thursday, how was yours?

Instant Replay: Football

Carolina Panthers at Baltimore Ravens
12 – 17
The Ravens played host to the Carolina Panthers for both teams’ first preseason game. The weather went from overcast and threatening to “Hey, Noah, where’s your ark?” during the course of the game. The Ravens have a lot of new talent on both sides of the ball. They also have a good number of returning team members. Among the new talent is former St. Louis QB Mark Bulger. Bulger looked a little rusty, but viewers saw that the talent is still there. QB Troy Smith got the short end of the stick, coming into the game as the rain started pouring down, but that didn’t stop him from engineering a drive that culminated in a rushing TD… by Smith, himself, on a QB draw. The Panthers apparently have twenty-nine (29) new players, including six rookie defensive players. They also have two rookie QBs – Jimmy Clausen and Hunter Cantwell – duking it out for the #2 slot. And I have to say: Clausen looked amazing. Seriously. First NFL game – against the Ravens’ D, no less – and he stood in the pocket, looking cool and in control. His passes were solid. His timing was unexpectedly and impressively precise, threading the needle more than once to complete long yardage passes to receivers in coverage. Yes, this was “just” a pre-season game, but it was still football and it was a good game. It’s good to know that both of my teams will be worth watching this season… especially when both teams meet again in November.

Workout
Thursday’s step count: 4,860

Stray Toasters

• Late night + early morning = Rob stopping at Pin-up Girl Espresso for some go-juice.
  Erin and Paul helped me kickstart my morning.



• Hidden World of Girls — Girls and the Women They Become
• Oh, North Carolina Public Schools… I didn’t know just how badly you needed help.
• ‘Tea Party’ members offer a ground-level view
• From Brad Guigar’s Courting Disaster:

  

  (click image to read the question and comments)

• White House against ending birthright citizenship
• 10 great haunted places across the USA
• I haven’t read the book or seen the movie, but I would probably be more inclined to read or see this take on Eat Pray Love:



• Organize your ideas to make more money
• Stock Your Garden with Foods Cheaper to Grow Than to Buy

Quote of the Day
Today’s quote comes from last night, by way of someone sitting in front of us to his friend who had just returned from the concession stand:

“You’re bitching about salt and sugar?! That much food will grow you two spare asses!”

Have a great Friday!

Namaste.

Thursday – 12 August 2010
Not only is it an NBN Thursday…
But there’s an NFL preseason game tonight…

The Baltimore Ravens take on the Carolina Panthers, in Baltimore.
As these are my #1 and #2 teams, this comes out as a “Win-Win” for me.

vs. 

Additionally, The Wizard of Oz was released on this date, in 1939.

SaraRules and I, along with her parents, attended the “Epic Dining” at MacCool’s last night. There was a five-course meal, in which each course was paired with a beer from Epic Brewing:

The whole evening was great.  We sat that the table with Dave and Peter, co-owners of Epic, Dave’s wife, Susan and Michael, Peter’s assistant. We got to talk with them about how they decided to start brewing beer, what they enjoyed about it, and whatever else popped into our heads. It was a great evening, with good company and a fantastic dinner. Pictures of the courses – minus the salad, because I neglected to shoot it before devouring it – can be found here.

Just as dinner wrapped up, I got a call from one of the guys on my team: He had been receiving notifications from a wetness sensor in one of the cooling units. This would make the third time in under three months. Not good. As I was closer to the office than he was, I told him that I’d check it out. And with that, SaraRules and I headed left MacCool’s and headed to the office.

When I got there, I took the front panel off of the unit in question and looked inside. Nothing.

::: grblsnrkx :::

I removed the rear panel and checked there. Nothing.

::: braincramp :::

I went back to the front and looked again… just in case I had missed something. This time, I noticed the remnants of a splash of a water droplet next to the sensor cord. I checked the cord itself — it was damp. Okay, this was progress. The only problem: I couldn’t find any sign of a leak or spill. Upon further investigation, I noted that one of the copper pipes was damp with condensation… and it took a bend just above the splash point. Apparently, enough there had been condensation to form a drop and landed next to/on the wetness sensor cord. It was enough for the sensor to register, but not enough to cause a problem – other than sending out alters – that would affect the unit’s operation. Disaster: Averted.

Back home for comfy pants and comics-reading time.

Workout
Wednesday’s step count: 4,649

Stray Toasters

• JetBlue: Sometimes the weird news is about us…
• In Superman’s Hometown, a Labor Dispute over Health
• With a Google Map, You Can Find Doctors Behaving Badly
• 9/11 museum going up underground in New York City
• LEGO Universe is apparently releasing a Beta Client for Mac. Tomorrow.
• Shopkick can lead you to discounts and sales
• 
• Quick Change in Strategy for a Bookseller
• Five Years Later, The Big Easy Pushes Forward
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: City of Beacon, NY enforces archaic law outlawing pinball, closes retro arcade
• gd

Wednesday – 11 August 2010
Mid-week and all’s well.
It’s Comics and possibly-Sushi Wednesday.

Last night, Chris, Jeremiah and Sinister came over to play ‘Clix. (Yeah, I know… what a concept!) Our theme for the game was “War of Light,” based on the “Blackest Night” storyline from DC Comics’ Green Lantern titles.  Chris and I played the Sinestro and Green Lantern Corps, respectively, while Jeremiah and Sinister played the Black Lanterns. For some reason, we thought that 1200 points per player was a good idea. And we also thought that starting (theoretically) at 7:00 was a good idea. We didn’t really get under way until 9-ish… and wrapped up somewhere around 12:30 this morning. We just called the game, but I think that if we tallied up points, Chris and I were ahead… but the other guys played one Hell of a game. And, it was a lot of fun. Pictures of the game can be seen here.

Workout
Tuesday’s step count: 4,633

Stray Toasters

• Tonight is the Epic Brewery Dinner at MacCool’s. SaraRules and I are going with the in-laws. If it’s anywhere on the level of the Guinness dinner from a few weeks ago, it should be fantastic.
• Letter from a freed man to his former slave owner
• I’m not a Twitter user, but found this article interesting: How black people use Twitter
• City of Heroes: Going Rogue comes out on Tuesday.



• Last week, Comic Book Resources’ “Comics Should Be Good” column asked for submissions of Disney-Marvel crossovers. This week, they posted some of the submissions — and they are good. Check them out here.
• This had me literally laughing out loud… and then sharing it with the rest of my team, when they came over to see what was up: Soul-Toons
• Another cooling unit’s pump appears to have gone out in our server room.  This would be (more)  understandable… if the units were more than a year old!
• Anti-terrorist hotline ad banned for being ‘insensitive’
• By way of Brad Guigar (Evil, Inc.): 



• My Day of “Dreckoning”
• Literary Destinations: Five Books to Help You Escape

Quote of the Day
Today’s quote comes from last night’s game.  Attacked by two Black Lanterns, my Ganthet evaded an attack from BL Superman and shrugged off part of an attack from BL Martian Manhunter.  Jeremiah looked at Ganthet’s dial and saw that he was still ready to rumble. Rolling his eyes, he muttered:

“Stupid Ganthet…”

…and considered options for trying to remove him from the game. (Didn’t happen, just for the record.)

Namaste.

Monday – 09 August 2010
The weekend has ended and a new work week has begun.
And, quite frankly, I could use another weekend; this last one was packed pretty full.

Saturday morning, SaraRules, , and I attended the funeral for our friend, Dave. It was a nice service. Dave’s brother, Tommy, delivered the eulogy/life reflection. Correction: He delivered two of them — one that was the “family approved” version and one that he had originally written, but been vetoed on giving. Both were good, but I think that Dave would have particularly appreciated the unexpurgated version.

After the service, we headed back home. I needed to change for a tournament; SaraRules, and were going out for lunch. The tourney went well, as did the lunch, from what I gathered. Later, came over for dinner and a movie; we watched Batman: Under the Red Hood, which she hadn’t seen. After she left, SaraRules and I watched The Royal Tenenbaums. It was an… interesting… movie. Like other Wes Anderson movies, I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about it after seeing it.

Sunday, after a tasty breakfast, SaraRules, , and I headed up to Park City to attend the Kimball Park City Arts Festival. As I noted on Facebook:

[I am] getting ready to head to the Park City Kimball Arts Festival with three lovely ladies. It’s kind of like being Bosley from ‘Charlie’s Angels,’ but without the bad 70s fashion.

It was a good event. We wandered up and down Main Street, looking at the various items. We wound up coming home with four (4) new pieces of art:

• One piece (Cafe Society) by Audrey Heller, from whom I’ve wanted to purchase something for a few years,
• One piece by Larry Stephenson which just “spoke” to me (third row, second from left), and
• Two pieces by Merina Terauds

Later in the evening, SaraRules and I went up to her parents’ for dinner and a movie. We watched From Paris With Love, which turned out to be better than any of us had anticipated. There was a nifty in-joke that made us laugh rather heartily about halfway through the film.

After we got back home, SaraRules and I watched Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959). I had never seen it, but SaraRules remembered it with nostalgic fondness. (I did, however, remember watching the Filmation cartoon series adaptation of the movie, however…)

Workout
Saturday’s step count: 817 (I neglected to put on the pedometer after changing pants Saturday afternoon)
Sunday’s step count: 4,792

Stray Toasters

• How to Be the Perfect Host in the 21st Century
• By way of SaraRules:
  • Parisians Find Playground Under the Streets
  • Blue Whales Align The Pitch of Their Songs with Extreme Accuracy, Study Finds
• My sister-in-law, in a reflection on race relations, posted a link to this in her blog last week: Strange Fruit: Anniversary of a Lynching
• 
• Cupcakes to Suit Geeks’ Tastes
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” files:
  • Finalist dies at World Sauna in Finland
  • Celebrating Turkish bridegroom kills relatives
• Nope. High fructose corn syrup does not cause pancreatic cancer
• Nucular Toonami!
• Huge ice sheet breaks from Greenland glacier
• The Star Trek and train buff in me appreciated this strip:
  



• Is AOL Finally Crashing and Burning?

Tonight: Hanging out with the grandparents-in-law.
Tomorrow: ‘Clix  with the guys.

Namaste.

Monday – 02 August 2010
Hello, work week… we meet again.

It seems that, for the most part, the network switchover has worked pretty well. There have been some hiccups this morning – that were neither PEBCAK or ID-10-T errors – but those are to be expected. We even uncovered the mystery behind a long-running/long-forgotten problem with one office’s wiring. We’ll see what the rest of the day brings.

Yesterday was a good day, all-around. SaraRules and I went to the gym for a much-needed workout. Later we met up with , and to see Salt. The movie was reminiscent of the Jason Bourne movies… but with Angelina Jolie. It was a good popcorn flick.

After the movie, we went back home for a while and then headed to Logan and Sanaz’ place for dinner. They prepared an excellent meal of stuffed peppers, quinoa (with almond slivers and Craisins) and bread topped with a homemade olive butter.

Back at home, SaraRules and I finally got around to watching The Wild Bunch, which I’ve had for “a while,” from Netflix. It was a good movie… but, as SaraRules noted: It’s a movie with out clear and distinct “good guys” or “bad guys.” Yes, all of the major characters had motivations and seemed to be fairly-well defined, but “morals” and “ethics” for most seemed to have been left by the wayside. It was also a LONG movie, clocking in at nearly 2.5 hours. But, it was definitely worth seeing at least once.

Workout

• Elliptical: 10 minutes/ avg. speed: 5.5 MPH
• Leg Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 100 lbs
• Glutes: 3 sets/10 reps, 60 lbs
• Calf Raises: 3 sets/10 reps, 100 lbs
• Compound Row: 3 sets/10 reps, 125 lbs
• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps
  • 1 set @ 135 lbs
  • 2 sets @ 155 lbs
• Shoulder Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 40 lbs
• Curls (barbell): 3 sets/10 reps, 40 lbs
• Tricep Press (t-bar): 3 sets/15 reps, 80 lbs
• Core (plank): 3 sets/30 seconds

Sunday’s step count: 5,419

Stray Toasters

• Jonathan Coulton: Code Monkey

  
  (video by spiffworld)

• Things to look forward to this week:
  • Rush concert
  • Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture concert at the Deer Valley Music Festival
  • 9/80 Friday off!!!
  • Gaming
• By way of SaraRules: Does Language Influence Culture?
• For SaraRules: Biggie Smalls: The Voice That Influenced a Generation
• Sally Ride Science Academy aims to make kids starry-eyed
• I ran into a problem with LEGO Universe yesterday. As a test, I created a new Minifigure so that I could see if it encountered a similar behavior. Lo and behold, as soon as the new Minifig got to the same point, the same problem occurred. Feh.
• iPad, other high-tech gadget trends differ by region
• Sorry…. teleconference.

Namaste.