Random Access

Thursday – 29 July 2010
Good NBN Thursday to all.

I spent the day in the south office yesterday. That’s always um… a treat.  We’ve been preparing for some network changes and I went down to help Minion #1 take care of the wiring for that office. And, I did manage to squeeze in sushi for lunch with a few coworkers.

After work, I hauled back up the road and swung past Dr. Volt’s. (There was four-color goodness to pick up, after all…) I made a couple of quick side trips and then went to Hastur Hobbies for D&D night with Jack and . This week, they even brought little Jack:

Workout
Tuesday’s step count: 6,758
Wednesday’s step count: 4,207

Stray Toasters

• I quite enjoyed Batman: Under the Red Hood. Until recently, I haven’t really read the Batman titles in a long while. From what I recall of the “A Death in the Family” storyline and some recent developments, they appear to have done a decent job of adapting the story. Bruce Greenwood did a decent turn as Batman, but I was a bit disappointed in John Di Maggio’s Joker… of course, I kept comparing him to Mark Hamill, who – aside from the late Heath Ledger –  is now “the voice I hear” when I think of the Joker. Neil Patrick Harris, did a good job as Nightwing. I also have to give the animators a huge amount of credit for making Nightwing move like an acrobat.
  
• I woke up this morning feeling the effects of Tuesday night’s workout.
• Trader Joe’s owner dies at 88
• has discovered the joy of Pin-up Girl Espresso.
  (One of us…. one of us…)
• Be a Supergirl – Warner Brother’s mix of comics, sports and style
  • …and in a nominally related note: Krystal Harris – Supergirl

• What Is the American Dream?
• Dan Brown Wants You to Tell Him Where to Go
• Where did the money to rebuild Iraq go?
• By way of Wired: What’s the Best and Fastest ISP in Your City? Look It Up Here
• 
• Pixar: 25 Years of Animation Exhibition
• Breathing new life into old train depots
• 20 Secrets Your Waiter Won’t Tell You

Namaste.

Tuesday – 27 July 2010
Work week: Day 2.
I had an extreme case of “the lazies” this morning.  In an uncharacteristic move for me (at least for a workday), I gave in to it. And, I have to say: It felt rather nice.

Last night, SaraRules had a Justice Junior League meeting after work, which meant that I was a dinner bachelor. The “up” side to this: I could have Chinese food for dinner. (Win!) I pinged former coworker Marci, to see if she wanted to spare me from dining alone; she was kind enough to agree.  We went to David’s Kitchen. I hadn’t been in many, many moons. I had the Beef Lo Mein, with potstickers and an egg roll; the food was as good as I remembered.

This morning’s musical interlude is brought to you by the letters “H” and “L” and the number “2”:

Workout
Monday’s step count: 5,628

Stray Toasters

• I almost typed this as “Stray Coasters.”
• For SaraRules: Barn-quilt trail patched together in Pennsylvania
• Lawmakers Question Salaries at Nonprofits
• sent me a link last night… that I didn’t get until this morning. I think that it was better to see it this morning, as it was the perfect way to kick off the day:
• By way of SaraRules: Alan Moore Digs Up ‘Unearthing’ and Lays His Comics Career to Rest
  • In a related item: Alan Moore Celebrates a Real Person in ‘Unearthing’
• Apple updates iMac line, intros Magic Trackpad
• I was just informed that I get the… privilege… of working in the south office today or tomorrow.  Yay.
• 
• The Great Male Survey 2010
• Secret Invasion Spider-Woman (chase figure) = Mine.
• Botanical Gardens Are Turning Away From Flowers
• 
• ‘StarCraft II’ is launched for a whole new era
• Former Body-Armor Executive on Trial for Fraud

Namaste.

Monday – 26 July 2010
It’s the beginning of another fun-filled work week.

Today would have been my great-grandmother’s birthday, as well. One of the best stories about my great-grandmother also involves Sib-2 and a Power Wheels truck; nearly 30 years later, it still makes me laugh.

Even though it was a three-day weekend, it still seemed far too short. The highlights of the weekend included:

• A trip to End Zone with Perry and the kids
• Hanging out with the coolest wife ever.
• Helping the coolest wife ever redo the planter bed in front of the house.
• Seeing Inception
  
• Playing City of Heroes for the first time in far too long…
• Playing LEGO Batman for the first time in far too long…
• Hanging out with the Pinup Girl Espresso crew
• Seeing The Book of Eli
  
• Watching Burn Notice

This morning’s musical selection: Orgy – Opticon

Chew on This: Food for Thought
Today’s thought comes from an unknown source:

We all have it within ourselves to rise from feelings of complete hopelessness to a state of renewed strength, clarity, understanding and peace.

Workout

• Friday’s step count: 5,700-something
• Saturday’s step count: 4,200-something
• Sunday’s step count: 2,650

Stray Toasters

• SaraRules has a meeting tonight, which means that I’m a bachelor for a few hours. I think that this calls for Chinese food.  Anyone care to join me?
• Jane Austen’s Fight Club
• Footloose came on the radio during the morning commute.  Whenever I hear the song, it reparses in my head as:
  

  Juice! Fruit juice!
  Or Kool-Aid, if you choose.
  Juice box, please! Or Capri Suns to squeeze!
  It’s a fact: Welch’s Grape is like crack!
  Juice! Fruit Juice!
  Everybody drink… Everybody drink…
  Everybody drink… Everybody drink…
  Everybody drink… Everybody drink… Everybody….
  Everybody drink fruit juice!

• The Other Bomber Girls
• 
• Batman: Under the Red Hood comes out tomorrow.

• My new train set should arrive this week!

• Would I Crush Everything be a good theme song for Cthulhu?

• Namaste.

Thursday – 22 July 2010
It’s NBN Thursday/Technical Friday.  Amen.

And, just because I can, today’s musical selection: U2 – Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me

Last night, SaraRules and I went to MacCool’s Public House for ‘Evening with Guinness,” a dinner featuring not only Guinness, but foods prepared with Guinness:

John Baxter and Kevin Fitzgerald both talked a little about the history of Guinness and their other beers – Smithwicks (pronounced “smith-icks”) and Harp – and some of their distribution channels, as well as a soon-to-be-released-in-the-U.S. beer.

Sweet, merciful Jesus… It was a sublime meal. All of the courses – and their accompanying beers – were excellent choices and were wonderfully prepared. I’m not usually a fan of onion soups, but the Four-Onion Soup Medly was fantastic. The steak… oh, the steak… was simply amazing.

Our tablemates were rather fun, too: We sat with three other couples, one of whom was the owner of MacCool’s, Scott. He was especially interested to find out that we’d heard about the event from their Facebook page. We talked about sports.  We talked a little about our jobs. We talked about the event and dinner. It was an all-around good time.

The next MacCool’s event is a dinner featuring beers from Epic Brewing, on Wednesday, 11 Aug 2010.

After we got back home, we watched The Ruins. I kept thinking of it as “Little Shop of Horrors meets Tomb Raider,” but without all of the excitement. While there were a couple of surprises – and one scene that I totally didn’t see coming – but it wasn’t really “scary.” In an amusing note, I kept looking at Joe Anderson (whom I best remember from Across the Universe, but was apparently also in The Crazies) and thinking that he was Ben Foster (Pandorum and X-Men: The Last Stand). But he wasn’t.  Although… Shawn Ashmore, who played Iceman in the X-Men movies, was in the film.

Workout
Yesterday’s step count: 3,200

Stray Toasters

• Win: Coworker Ryan just came around and offered me a doughnut from Banbury Cross.
• For SaraRules: Orchestras Seek BFF by Cellphone Texts
• For Meliko: Rats… as Pets
• New Drugs Buoy Hopes in Fighting Hepatitis C
• 
• By way of Nyx: Awesome Custom Green Lantern Costume
• Budgeting: How Small Cutbacks Lead to Great Savings
• Minimalist 1960s redesigns of classic album covers
• Jake Theis, Brand Manager for WizKids/NECA, posted this earlier… and I’m not sure exactly what to make of it:
  



Granted, with all of the licenses to various properties that NECA holds, I probably shouldn’t be surprised by this. But, still…

• Shoppers on a ‘Diet’ Tame the Urge to Buy
• How to Check a Microwave for Leaks… using a netbook and a cell phone
• Vintage Wine Barrel Flooring by Fontenay Wood

Namaste.

Wednesday – 21 July 2010
It’s Comics (and maybe Sushi) Wednesday.  ‘Nuff said.

Despite having most of the things I needed for this morning prepped and ready-to-go last night, I managed to walk out the door without my ID badge. I didn’t discover this fact until I was in the elevator.

::: facepalm :::

I was able to get into the office, thanks to a coworker. And, I acquired my badge thanks to the world’s most awesome wife ever dropping it off on her way to work.

Last night, SaraRules and I went to The Days of ’47 Rodeo. (It’s a Utah thing.) Let me break it down for you:

• Days of ’47
• Rodeo

Put the two together and you get: The Days of ’47 Rodeo.
SaraRules is a rodeo fan and has been for some years.
Until last night, I had only seen bits and pieces of rodeos on television.
We went. And I have pictures to prove it.

Tonight, we are going to MacCool’s Public House for Guinness Dinner, featuring dishes made with Guinness.

Workout
Tuesday’s step count: 3,900

Stray Toasters

• Sometimes, I have odd dreams. Not in the “fantastic flights of fancy” sense; they are often more rooted in the “Where in the Nine Hells did that come from?!” sense. Last night’s sleep included at least one of those dreams.
• Afflicted: 11 Abandoned American Hospitals and Asylums “Open” for Exploration
• Orioles outlast Rays 11-10 to win wild 13-inning marathon
• By way of Meliko:



• 14 Things You Didn’t Know About Star Trek
  (I actually knew 6 of the 14 things.  I blame my stepmother.)
• I’m not a Guitar Hero player. I think that I’ve covered this fact before. That being said, I discovered something yesterday that has the greatest potential to change that for me: Rush on Bringing “2112” to ‘Guitar Hero’
  • And in a nominally related note: Rush’s Return to the Limelight
• Blacks Face Bone Marrow Donor Shortage
• 
• Many States Adopt National Standards for Their Schools
• From Comic Book Resources: “Take On Me” – The Greatest Music Video Ever

Namaste.

Tuesday – 20 July 2010
Day Two of the work week is upon us.

Last night, SaraRules and I fixed jambalaya for dinner. It had been a few months since we’d made any. It was tasty. After that, we headed up to the Kohl’s in Brickyard (the Kohl’s that I always seem to forget is there) so that I could find a few new shirts. After that it was back at home for…

Stop!
Yard work time!

When the grasses and weeds had been tamed, it was time for a shower and unwinding in front of the TV for a bit. Property Virgins and James May’s Toy Stories set the evening off nicely.

Tonight, SaraRules and I are getting in touch with our inner cowboys/rednecks – or, as it’s part of the “Days of ’47” celebration, our ‘inner pioneers’ – and going to the rodeo. Tonight is “Tough Enough to Wear Pink” Night, with the proceeds going to support breast cancer awareness… and was the primary reason for last night’s Kohl’s excursion – I needed a pink shirt that wasn’t a dress shirt. It should be an interesting way to spend the evening.

Workout
Monday’s step count: 4,530

Stray Toasters

• I heard Prince’s I Would Die 4 U on the way to work this morning. It would have made a good selection for this morning’s music post, but His Purple Badness has “a thing” about his music and/or videos being posted online, so you’ll have to come up with a viable alternative on your own… or you could go with The Cardigans’ My Favourite Game:
• Keeping the Faith: Finding the cross-cultural colors in classical music
  SaraRules and I will be going to see Imani Wind Quintet perform on Thursday; for details and ticket information, click here.
• As Ravens ready for Super run, Joe Flacco becoming the leader
  



• A lot of people may remember Gatchaman (or Battle of the Planets, as it was known in the U.S.). After many years in development Hell, it looks as though a feature-length film may actually see the light of day. Here’s a trailer:
• African Studies Give Women Hope in H.I.V. Fight
• The Perfect Pour: A Citizen’s Guide
• Bad Ideas from The Little Mermaid
• 7 jobs that pay you to play all day
• Michigan puts 3 lighthouses on the market
  Re-enact your favorite scenes from Shutter Island or Pete’s Dragon with your very own lighthouse!
• A City Outsources Everything. Sky Doesn’t Fall
• Federal grand jury subpoenas Toyota over steering rod issues

Namaste.

Wednesday – 14 July 2010
It’s Comics (and possibly Sushi) Wednesday.

Today is also Bastille Day.
(Rush fans, click here.)

Last night, SaraRules’ mom came over and joined us for dinner. SaraRules fixed a nice vegetarian curry over rice. We talked about books and movies (Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus!) as we ate.  After dinner, SaraRules and I headed to The Garden of Sweden — I needed to pick up more picture frames. On the way home, we saw Jim from Pin-up Girl, as he was closing up shop, so we stopped and chatted for a few minutes.

We also… went to the gym! I was on the fence about going, but I knew that it would be good for me. Last night’s routine included:

• Elliptical: 5 minutes/5 MPH (avg.)
• Kickbacks: 3 sets/10 reps
  • 1 set @ 50 lbs
  • 2 sets @ 70 lbs
• Leg Extensions: 3 sets/10 reps, 70 lbs
• Leg Curls: 3 sets/10 reps, 70 lbs
• Compound Row: 3 sets/10 reps, 125 lbs
• Reverse Fly: 3 sets/10 reps, 70 lbs
• Reverse Punches (dumbbell): 2 sets/20 reps, 10 lbs
• Side Bends: 3 sets/10 reps, 20 lbs
• Tricep Extensions (rope): 3 sets/15 reps, 70 lbs
• Core (plank): 3 sets/30 seconds

Yesterday’s step count: 5,940 steps

Stray Toasters

• SaraRules posed an interesting question last night: Given the problem that the iPhone 4 has had with lost calls/losing bars (due to the location of its antenna), how likely is it that the problems Steve Jobs had making/maintaining a call during the iPhone 4’s rollout were due to his hand/finger placement on the phone?
• Bus carrying LDS youth to pioneer trek destroyed by fire
  My former (before a recent re-org) boss’ kids were on that bus; his wife was in a car that was trailing behind.  Everyone got off the bus safely, but no equipment was saved.
• Improv Everywhere: Star Wars Subway Car
• By way of : Air Conditioning Is Terrible for the Earth — Here’s How to Live Without It
• After inputting yesterday’s post into this quiz/test/whatchamacallit, I got this result:

  

  I write like
  Chuck Palahniuk

  I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

• By way of Geekshow Podcast: 50 My Little Pony Mods for Geeks
• NAACP, Tea Party Volley Over Racist Claims
• From CNet.com: Testing Data Speeds in New York
• 
• By way of SaraRules and the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Vaseline launches skin-whitening Facebook app in India
• WordBook appears to like Four-Color Coverage again. “Beware my power… ” indeed.
• Bubble Series par Melvin Sokolsky pour Harper’s magazine 1963

Namaste.

Tuesday – 13 July 2010
Today is apparently “Embrace Your Geekness” Day.
I’d never heard of it before this morning. *shrug*

Last night, SaraRules and I had dinner at Epic Casual Dining, in Midvale. We had talked about going there a few times, but had never managed to actually go. It bills itself as “One of the Salt Lake Valley’s finest restaurants.” I think this might be a bit of an overstatement. That’s not to say that the food wasn’t good – it was – but, I can think of a few “finer” restaurants off the top of my head. Would I eat there again, yes. Would it necessarily be at the top of my list the next time I’m looking for someplace to dine out? No… it would be somewhere in the middle to lower-middle.

After dinner, and a quick stop to say “Hi” to Kate and Perry, we went to Quilts, Etc., so that SaraRules could pick up a pattern block. I am Ivory Soap-sure that the place is a tesseract, because there is no way that the store could be as large as it is inside without employing extradimensional space. No. Way.

After that, we made our way up to the Toys ‘R’ Us in Murray. Why? Well…

1. …because it’s Toys ‘R’ Us.  (Duh.)
2. …because Kate mentioned that they had a different LEGO figure in the store than the one in Sugar House:

Captain Rex
(Imperial Clone Trooper, from Star Wars)

We wandered around the store for a few more minutes, looking at other things, too. SaraRules found this gem:

That’s right: Miss Astronaut Barbie (1965).

After our excursion, we headed home. We wrapped up the evening watching the most awesome thing that we could find on Netflix’ Instant Queue, Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus.

That’s right. A movie so awesomely bad that we were compelled to watch it.

The power of Mega Shark compels you!
The power of Mega Shark compels you!

The movie featured:

• Former teen pop star, Debbie Deborah Gibson, as Emma, an oceanographer who first encounters the prehistoric creatures,
• Lorenzo Lamas (best known for his roles on Falcon Crest and Renegade) as the ham-fistedly over-acted government agent-in-charge of overseeing the creatures’ destruction,
• Vic Chao, as Seiji, the Japanese scientist seeking answers about the giant monster that appeared on his nation’s shores and
• Sean Lawlor as Lamar, Emma’s former professor and a former submariner who got drummed out of the Navy because he believed that “every sperm (whale) is sacred” and ran his sub aground rather than sail through the pod.  (Okay, okay… it was actually dolphins, but I couldn’t have made the joke without the whales.)  Added bonus: Mr. Lawlor’s was, hands-down, the worst Irish accent I’ve ever heard… from someone born and raised in Ireland! Genius!

So, what do you get in this movie?  A giant, prehistoric shark and a giant, prehistoric octopus terrorizing the northern Asian and North American Pacific Rim.  (Duh.) You also get bad acting and cheesy special effects. And, at no extra charge, they even throw in a contrived love scene… which, of course, leads to Emma having an apostrophe epiphany as to how to lure the creatures to their doom(s).

I will also admit that I wanted to see this movie because of this one scene:

…the physics of which was explained in this infographic.

Despite all of this, the movie managed to be (hilariously) entertaining, although we should have found a way to turn it into a drinking game or MST3K-ed it. Or both.

This almost – ALMOST – makes me want to see Mega Python vs. Gatoroid, just to see the new battle of the 80’s teen pop music queens: Debbie Gibson vs. Tiffany.  There’s bound to be some comedy/horror in there somewhere…

Workout
Yesterday’s step count: 3,140

Stray Toasters

• George Steinbrenner, Yankees’ Owner, Dies at 80
• What’s the carbon footprint of …a banana?
• Streamlined Train Wonders of the Art Deco Era
• 
• On Testing, Consumer Reports Retracts iPhone 4 Recommendation
• What Caffeine Actually Does to Your Brain

Namaste.

Thursday – 08 July 2010
Good NBN Comics Thursday!

Last night, SaraRules and I met her parents and aunt and uncle for an evening at Abravanel Hall. Utah Symphony was putting on a ZAP (Zoo, Arts and Parks) concert, benefitting The Road Home. The Symphony performed an encore presentation of their Patriotic Celebration concert. It was quite good. After the concert, we – along with – headed over to Capo Gelateria for gelato. Nice way to cap off the evening.

Today has been relatively uneventful, not to say that it hasn’t been busy-ish. And meetings. Yay!

Workout
Yesterday’s step count: 6,458

Stray Toasters

• I’ve been looking at Wikipedia for storylines from DC and Marvel to (hopefully) give me more team ideas for this weekend’s tournament. I discovered that I can actually pull off a few variant teams that could be fun to play… assuming that I actually wind up playing bye rounds.
• made a comment about being “Espresso powered” this morning.
  I think that makes him “Coffeepunk.”
• Printing in 3D
• Someone in the neighborhood near the office has a blimp. Not Goodyear-sized; this one is more like something you’d see at a basketball or football game — maybe about 10 to 12-feet-long.  Still, it was odd seeing it in the air this morning.
• Is THE LAST AIRBENDER Shyamalan’s Last Chance?

  

• SETEC ASTRONOMY
• The Sartorialist
• Thanks to for posting a link to M.C. Escher in LEGO
• eBacon != virtual Kevin Bacon
• 101 Fast Recipes for Grilling

Namaste.

Tuesday – 06 July 2010
The new (and short!) work week begins. I hope that everyone had a safe and enjoyable long holiday weekend.

I was informed, this morning, that I completely missed two coworkers’ birthdays… despite wishing a third coworker a “Happy Birthday” on the same day. So, with that in mind:

Friday was very quiet around the office… although, there were more people in the office than I had expected. One of the day’s highlights was getting to watch the Uruguay vs. Ghana World Cup soccer match. I had hoped that Ghana would be able to pull off a win, but it wasn’t meant to be. After work, I hung out with Jim at Pin-up Girl Espresso, while waiting for SaraRules to get home from work. Then, it was off to Clitorati.

Saturday, Chris and I got together for breakfast (Millcreek Cafe and Eggworks) before heading to Dr. Volt’s for the weekend’s tournament, “Patriotic Fight for Freedom:”

We had nine players, so it was a good turn out for a holiday weekend. As there were an odd number of players, I got to play – I put together a team comprised of:

• Uncle Sam
• Wonder Woman
• Captain America
• Winter Soldier
• Harvey Dent LE and
• The Question

After the tourney, SaraRules and I visited her folks… and her aunt and uncle, who are in town for the week.

Sunday was a nice sleep-in day. Then we headed to The Garden of Sweden, for brunch and to pick up a few things… unfortunately, they had changed their hours (again), so we wound up visiting the Ashley Furniture,  across the street, while we waited. Into and out of the IKEA. On to more errand-running and then back to the in-laws’ for dinner and birthday cake for SaraRules’ mom.

Monday was a “work around the house” day. We walked up to Pin-up Girl for caffeinated goodness and then came home, where SaraRules fixed breakfast. After that, we got to the business of housekeeping. This also included hanging pictures and making the space look generally “lived in.” Later in the evening, SaraRules suggested that we go for a walk. We went up Big Cottonwood Canyon and walked around Silver Lake. While out, we saw two deer (just hanging out along the road), a moose (!) and SaraRules saw/I heard a beaver jump into the lake, just ahead of us.

Workout
Walking step counts for (most of) the past few days:

• Friday: 7,403
• Saturday: 5,794
• Sunday: —
• Monday: 6,480

Stray Toasters

• There’s a free Utah Symphony concert at Abravanel Hall tomorrow, just call the ticket office and reserve your tickets: 801-533-NOTE (6683). For more information, click here.
• Caramel Mocha Frappe from Pin-up Girl == Win.
• 
• Puttin the Punk Back in Steampunk
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Alligator takes late-night stroll through town
• loonybin88 just put in an appearance in the office. He was here to follow up on a project on which we’ve been working; apparently, I haven’t bolloxed things up. Win!
• I was feeling a bit nostalgic, so I checked out some old posts:
  • http://blog.echopulse.net/?p=401
  • http://blog.echopulse.net/?p=402
  • http://blog.echopulse.net/?p=403
  • http://blog.echopulse.net/?p=404

  They made me smile.

• lj user=”chromeangel” posted this, it made me laugh:
  



• Underwater Baskey Weaving: The Real Story
• I still haven’t picked up a copy of Batman: Under the Red Hood.
• Zombies in Wonderland tee shirt
• These changes in temperatures 15F+ are not helping me to shake this congestion.
• This is possibly one of the best business cards I’ve ever seen.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 29 June 2010

Another working day begins… although mine began a little later than usual. Since I wasn’t feeling 100% yesterday and last night, I decided to sleep in a bit this morning. And it was good.

Today is also, apparently, Camera Day.  With that in mind, here are a couple of shots from around the office:

Last night, SaraRules and I went to Citris Grill with the Pin-up Girl Espresso crew for a farewell dinner for Monica – one of the (former) baristas – who is moving to Oregon this week. I had the Wood Fired Chicken Breast, with roasted potatoes and green beans and a Guinness to wash it down. The food and the company were both quite good. Christy, another barista, attempted to put me on the spot at one point and asked: “Who makes the best frozen mocha?” I politely declined to answer. Hey, I don’t want someone putting “extra stuff” in my mochas from now on, because I said that someone else made a better mocha than they did. I might be a little crazy, but I’m not stupid. All told, it was a nice way to spend the evening… and we got to check out a new (to us) restaurant, to boot. Win-Win.

And, speaking of Pin-up Girl, Jim brought this back from Seattle over the weekend:

She’s a 1946 Pontiac. At some point, I’ll try to get some interior shots, too

Chew on This – Food for Thought: Foursquare

I’ve started… using/playing (?)… Foursquare. I would blame SaraRules, but I don’t like sleeping with one eye open. She has joked “There goes the marriage….” because I keep jockeying for her “mayor” position at Pin-Up Girl.

I’ve found Foursquare to be an interesting application/game. The “competition” of becoming mayor is kind of fun (and a bit silly, too), but the social aspects of the app are also interesting. For example: If you check in at a local haunt, Foursquare will notify your other Foursquare-unsing friends that you have checked in at Locatino X. That notification also includes the following: “Swing by and say hi!”  While that might not be the most appropriate thing to do, based on where a person is checking in, it is an easy way to set up impromptu gatherings – almost like a flash mob – if you’re heading to your favorite pub or coffee shop.

So far, it’s been fun. We’ll see how it goes.

Workout

Yesterday’s step count: 3,502

Stray Toasters

• I need to figure out “what pictures” are going “where” in my office.
• The Modern Slavery Problem
• MarknTyme posted a link to something that could be either incredibly awesome… or chock full of FAIL. Take a look at just what it is here. And for more information about it, go here. And, if that’s still not ringing a bell, see if this jogs your memory.
• posted a link to a cute video, shot and edited on an iPhone 4: Apple of My Eye.

  (Yes, this was pretty much an automatic “Win” for me, given the subject matter.)

• How bad are your past sins really?
• A few musical notes:
  • Snoop Dogg: Oh, Sookie
  • The Many Voices of Lauryn Hill
  • Gogol Bordello: Tiny Desk Concert
• 
• Owning a pet AT-AT walker is a ridiculously heartwarming experience
• Secret Stash 2010
• Officers claim they don’t need law to stop photographer taking pictures

Namaste.

Saturday – 26 June 2010
It’s Technical Day Five of “Missa K. Week.”
(I didn’t post yesterday. Sue me.)

Belated Happy Birthday, Missa!

Thursday evening, SaraRules and I had an honest-to-goodness Date Night. We went to The Gateway and listened to jazz – courtesy of the Curtis Woodbury Quartet – at the water fountain plaza. That was followed by dinner at Thaifoon; I hadn’t eaten there in a few years… at least. The food was quite good. We followed that up with a stroll down the length of the shopping center and back. We also got to see all of the people in line to get a shiny, new iPhone 4. Back at home, I was eager to watch Burn Notice… but discovered that I didn’t have it set to record until the 1:00 AM showing. *BAH* Oh, well.

Friday was a good day off. I started by sleeping in. Next up: Mowing the lawn. That didn’t take too long, and it wasn’t too bad as I got out there before it got too hot. There are, however, some brown patches in the grass.

I finally turned the sprinklers on Wednesday or Thursday, only to discover a couple of things:

1. There are dysfunctional sprinkler heads in the system.
2. The previous owner appears to have hard-wired the system into power… somewhere.

Item 1 is somewhat expected, under the “These things happen…” catch-all.

Item 2, given some of the things we’ve discovered about the house, should have been somewhat expected, too. The reason I think power is hard-wired is that the controller doesn’t seem to turn off the sprinkler heads, so I have to turn the water on and off at the main valve.

After mowing, I came in, showered and changed and went to the farewell lunch for Marci. It was held at Porcupine Pub and Grill. After lunch, I thought I’d head down and say “Hi” to Perry.

Good intention.
Poor execution.

I missed a turn off of Wasatch Boulevard… and wound up in Draper. Not being one to pass up a random pilgrimage to The Garden of Sweden, I went to pay my obeisances. I found what I was looking for, took a few pictures of the items and their prices and then I was off. I drove downtown to say “Hi” to SaraRules. I showed her the items, we agreed on which one we liked and planned to go back later in the weekend to pick it up.

From there, I headed to The Train Shoppe. Randy, one of the employees, had been working on a park scene:

I managed to leave the store without buying anything. Again! I headed home and hung out until SaraRules got home from work. Later in the evening: Clitorati and dinner.

This morning, from the “We do more before 9 AM 10 AM than most people do all day” file, we helped a friend of OnlyAly and move. Then we stopped by ‘s for a minute and then came home for showers and preparations for our next adventure: We’re heading downtown to explore the Utah Arts Festival.

Workout
Thursday’s step count: 7,403 steps
Friday’s step count: 5,794 steps
Today’s count: 3,564 (as of 2:00 PM)

And that’s that.
For now, at least.

Namaste.

Monday – 21 June 2010
Today is the Summer Solstice.

It seems that I have been remiss with something. And I’d like to take a moment to address the issue:

I usually post some sort of greeting to friends and family in here for their birthdays. It appears that I have neglected to include my sister-in-law’s birthday last week.

In fact, she had apparently been expecting to see… some acknowledgement here… but, well… she got bupkis. And was “a little” shocked by it.

Yeah, I know! Well, at least, now I know now. (She mentioned it to SaraRules on Friday and she also mentioned it to my in-laws… who told me yesterday.) This isn’t to say that I forgot her birthday. I didn’t — I was one of the first people to post a birthday greeting on her Facebook page. (Hey, I may be an occasionally forgetful brother-in-law, but I’m not a complete jerk.)  Besides, it’s not a good idea to tick off the family member who knows how to fight with swords and tomahawks, especially when you’re going to be spending a week in the middle of nowhere camping with them soon. Just saying.  It’s just that I… neglected… to say anything about it in my most public forum.

And with that in mind, I hereby declare this week: “Missa K. Week.”  That’s right. All Missa. All week.
(What?! Me?  Overkill?! Never.)

Happy Belated Birthday, M!  🙂
I hope that you had fun playing pirate this weekend!

We now return you to your regularly-scheduled blog entry, already in progress…

Yesterday was good. We did go to The Garden of Sweden. We picked up a couple of lamps and a few other assorted items… and spent more money than we had originally intended. But, they were necessary items. After IKEA, we headed to Home Depot. And, with those two stops, our living room and dining rooms are now finished.

We wrapped up Father’s day with dinner at the in-laws’. And there was bocce. And brownies. And mojitos. Amen.

Workout
Yesterday’s step count: 5,143

Stray Toasters

• I’m going to be a bachelor again, for a few hours tonight. I know that I should do some cleaning/straightening, since there’s a good chance that I’ll be gaming with friends tomorrow night… but I just am not feeling it at this point.
• The Utah Arts Festival kicks off this Thursday.
• Google Should Give Bluetooth-Controlled Robots Away with Every Android Purchase
• From the “Tear the Roof Off the Mother” file: Tornado tears roof from arena in Billings, Montana
• ALT/1977: We Are Not Time Travelers
• Wait… Tyroc‘s back in the Legion?!  And with a better-looking costume (than this), finally?!? Whoa.
• 
• Should restaurants make health inspection grades visible?
  Um… yes. In fact, when I moved to Utah, I was surprised to see that eating establishments didn’t post their inspection grades, as I had been used to seeing them back home.
• Evo + Nesoid emulator + Burger Time = Fun
• Your Next Read

On to it…

Namaste.

Sunday – 20 June 2010
It’s Father’s Day. With that in mind, I’d like to wish a very Happy Father’s Day to the fathers in my family:

Today’s “Human of the Day” award goes out to these guys.

Yesterday was a good day.  It started with a trip to the Downtown Farmer’s Market with SaraRules and the in-laws. They’ve expanded the market a bit, so that it now takes over all of Pioneer Park. Of course, that moved the “fringe” artisans from the area at the south end of the park to the adjacent corners and streets.

Next, I headed up to Dr. Volt’s to run another HeroClix tournament. The format was the “HeroClix Wrestling Federation,” in which players had six figures, up to specific point values, and played them tag-team style against another player’s six-figures — when a figure took damage, the player rolled a six-sided die to see which other figure “tagged in.” It is always a fun format to play, and is pretty well-received by the players. I even got a chance to play — the bye rounds, but still… I got to play.  I went with a Sinestro Corps-themed team:

• Yellow Lantern

  (gallery aa-figure-044)

• Scarecrow

  (gallery bn-figure-003)

• Sinestro

  (gallery cr-figure-055)

• Sinestro Corps Batman

  (gallery aa-figure-100)

• Parallax

  (gallery cd-figure-219)

• Superman Prime

  (gallery aa-figure-060)

After the tourney, SaraRules and I went out for a bite to eat and then headed downtown to check out the 2010 Utah Foster Care Chalk Art Festival.  We arrived too late to see Team Chalkolicous in action, but we still strolled through and took a look at all of the pieces that people did over the course of the event: Pictures here.

Later in the evening, we finally got around to seeing Kick-Ass. It was quite fun and, as I recall, it adapted the source material fairly well… with a couple of changes.

This morning, I woke up and strolled up to Pin-Up Girl Espresso.  Christy fixed me an Iced Caramel Silk, which was quite good. Shortly after I got back home, the in-laws dropped by to chat for a bit while out running errands. Then, breakfast — Blueberry muffins FTW!!!!

Next on the agenda: A trip to The Garden of Sweden and maybe even a home improvement store or two.  Win-Win!

Workout
Yesterday’s step count: 6,517

Stray Toasters

• Top 10 Dads in Science Fiction and Fantasy
  (…and just look at who made Dad #2 on the list.  Boo-yah!)
• Pulling Museum Mile Uptown
• From the “Duh…!” file: BP CEO’s yacht outing infuriates Gulf residents
• Baghdad Nights Glitter, Behind Shatterproof Glass
• Students with Autism Learn How to Succeed at Work
• Reflections in the Facebook Mirror
• Were Botticelli’s Venus and Mars Stoned?

Namaste.

Friday – 18 June 2010
It’s almost the weekend. Hallelujah.
And, for the record: I’m in love on the other days of the week, too.

Yesterday was delightfully NBN-tastic. I couldn’t have asked for a less-bothersome day if I tried. As an added bonus, I went to lunch with coworkers to celebrate someone’s birthday. We went to The Dodo. I had their French Dip Sandwich, with a salad and their sinfully delicious Caramel Coffee Cake for dessert. Talk about “food coma-inducing.” After work, I hung out with Perry for a bit before meeting SaraRules for dinner. The night wrapped up with the new episode of Burn Notice.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
Let’s hear it for stepfathers, too

This is a timely and poignant article. I had feelings similar to Justice Sears’ children when my mother first remarried. I was never a really outwardly rebellious kid, but there were often thoughts of “But, he’s not my father…” in the back of my head. And, I know that it caused “a few” odd looks when I would introduce people to “…my Mom and dad… and my mom and dad,” when both sets of my parents would show up at events.

Over the years, I’ve come to not only accept my stepfather, but to appreciate and love him. This isn’t to say that we haven’t had our disagreements — that’s the occasional nature of parents and their children, but he has been a good husband to my mother, a good father to my sister (and myself) and an all-around good man to our family.

If you are part of a blended family, please don’t forget to take some time to call your stepfather, too, this Father’s Day.

And, now it’s time for the breakdown…
Today’s music mix – that’s right, today you get variety – includes songs that celebrate the end of the work week and the beginning of the weekend:

• Just Got Paid – Johnny Kemp
• A Couple Days Off – Huey Lewis and the News
• Weekend (C-4) - FLCL Soundtrack
• Working for the Weekend – Loverboy
• Weekend -Wet Willie
• The Weekend – Michael Gray

Workout
Yesterday’s step count: 3306

Stray Toasters

• I’m still digging the Evo.
  (The NES and Sega Genesis emulators I’ve found for it don’t hurt, either…)
• Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me Daily News Quiz
• 
• I’m so into you
  But I’m way too smart for you
  Even my henchmen think I’m crazy
  I’m not surprised that you agree
• Something more people need to think about: Rules for Using the ‘Reply All’ Button
• World’s Weirdest Hotels
• I discovered that the Kilowog figure I got the other day wasn’t the one I thought it was. And, to be honest, I think it’s better that I received the one I did — it’s more in scale with my other GLs.
• ‘So’ Pushes to the Head of the Line
• 
• MarknTyme sent me links to a couple of neat items:
  • Artist Builds Amazing Vintage Racer from Cardboard and Hot Glue
  • Man Builds Detailed Model Cars from Discarded Aluminum Cans
• I’ve been reading more of Teenagers from the Future… and, with one exception, I’ve really been enjoying it. The exception, an essay about architecture – which is ordinarily on interest to me, was incredibly dry and boring.
• FCC to tighten Internet rules

…right on to the friction of the day.

Namaste.