Random Access

Thursday – 19 February 2009
Another Thursday/Friday begins. I’ve already been informed that if I would like to day to remain an NBN Thursday, that I should avoid the boss two rungs up the ladder – his day was already shot… two hours ago. On the plus side, I figured out “Hurdle One” with a PHP/SQL program I’m working on, now I get to add features onto it.

Last night was a lazy night in: NCIS (from Tuesday night) and reading of yesterday’s comics haul. Of the books that I read, the standouts were:

• Action Comics #874
• Batman #686: “What Ever Happened to the Caped Crusader?”
• Black Lightning: Year One #4
• Green Lantern Corps #33
• Supergirl #38
• Tiny Titans #13

Additionally, my copy of Teenagers from the Future: Essays on the Legion of Super-Heroes came in yesterday.  I’m looking forward to reading it.

Other than that, it’s another fun-filled, action-packed day in paradise…

Stray Toasters

• The new issue of RAILBRICKS is out.
• …in a related note, Emerald Night (which is not Green Lantern-related) is coming soon.
• ‘Racist’ US cartoon causes stir
• Iraqi shoe thrower: Bush’s ‘soulless smile’ set me off
• Guess what’s coming to the SLC metro area…

  
  (click image for news)

• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Obama sushi
• Half-Life: Escape from City-17

• Steampunk Frankenstein casemod
• By way of and the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: The Grilled Cheese Invitational

Namaste.

Wednesday – 18 February 2009
I got home from work last night to find SaraRules making cheesesteak sandwiches! They were quite good and an excellent way to kick off the evening. I had emailed Chris and Keith, to see if they wanted to come over and play ‘Clix – Keith had a prior game scheduled and Chris wasn’t feeling well… but invited me over to play, if I wanted.

Duh.

So, I headed over. I took the corner pieces, but not the master board. I printed out a few street tiles and just laid them out to “complete” the map. This time, Chris played the JLA:

• Batman
• Black Canary
• Flash
• Green Arrow
• Green Lantern
• Red Arrow
• Superman and
• Wonder Woman

I fielded the Avengers:

• Black Panther
• Captain America
• Dr. Strange
• Iron Fist
• Iron Man
• Luke Cage
• Moon Knight
• Quicksilver
• Spider-Man and
• Thunderstrike

I also learned a valuable lesson: If you’re planning a force with two tanks on your team, make sure that both of them are actually in your box before you leave home – I had planned on using Ms. Marvel (human), but the only figure I had was the Skrull version, which didn’t meet my theme requirement. *sigh* Oh, well. We didn’t dance around too long and then the throwdown began. We both had hot and cold-running dice, but mine ran ice cold for a long stretch. I think that one of the most improbable – but highly-amusing – melees occured when Chris scored a critical hit on Hercules… with the Flash. Not only did it hurt Herc, but it also moved him out of base-to-base contact with Red Arrow, who I was about to beat mercilessly. When all of the dust cleared (and time ran out), Chris had won the fight. Pictures of the fight can be found here.

Stray Toasters

• I have a new addition to The Covet List: This.
• In search of Jonny Quest
• By way of : Rapper MC Hammer finds new reality on A&E

  

• From Comic Book Resources: Grant Morrison’s Superman Saga, Part 1
• Body scanners replace metal detectors in tryout at Tulsa airport
• 
• A Painful Departure for G.M. Brands
• Apple makes online music lessons easy with GarageBand
• Cache of Ice Age fossils found in L.A.

WHEE!

Namaste.

Monday – 16 February 2009
Another work week begins… but at least it’s a short week.

The Splendid Heritage exhibit was amazing.  It displayed pieces of Native American art while detailing the pieces’ artistic and cultural significance. On display were such things as clothing, weaponry, a winter count, and even childrens’ toys. There were also a number of “touch stations,” where visitors could actually handle samples of items. The exhibit runs from 09 February 2009 through 03 January 2010; I think that it would make an excellent family – or even date – outing.

Last night, Chris and I got together to play a (or “yet another”) game of HeroClix. We’d settled on the Avengers vs. JLA for our teams. I played the JLA:

• Batman
• Black Lightning
• Flash
• Green Arrow
• Green Lantern
• Martian Manhunter
• Superman
• Wonder Woman and
• Zatanna

Chris fielded the Avengers:

• Box
• Captain America
• Dr. Strange
• Hercules
• Iron Man
• Ms. Marvel
• Spider-Man (Iron Spider/Civil War costume)
• Wolverine

We played on the masterboard I took to the tournament a couple of weeks ago, with one modification: I finished the new corner – gas station/garage, single room apartment and armory. I didn’t put roofs on the new buildings, so that we could have some indoor space in which to play and we took the shelter off of the gas pumps, so that we could play in the space under it. We played a two-hour game and at the end of it, I won on points, 412 – 213. Pictures of the game and actual board can be seen here.

Stray Toasters

• Disney adds African-American princess Tiana to royal family
• From today’s “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Jacksons star in Nigerian resort row
• Esquire’s 75 Books Every Man Should Read – I need to get cracking on this…
• I saw this cartoon on Applegeeks last night:

  

  I wondered how true it was, so I did a little poking around for news items… until I found this article: Dead rodents, excrement in peanut processor lead to recall

• British, French submarines collide
• The NBA All-Star Weekend was this past weekend. Events included the three-point shootout, dunk competition and the All-Star Game. Dwight Howard had an impressive – and amusing – dunk in the first round:

  but in the end, Lex Luthor Defeating Superman, NBA-style

• Top 10 Comic Book Romances
• Hey kids (and nostalgic adults), it’s Runway Barbie!

And that’s a wrap… for now.

Namaste.

Sunday – 15 February 2009
Last night’s dinner at Braza Grill was very good. It’s a churrascaria, along the lines of Rodizio Grill or Toucano’s… but a little smaller. Our waitress, Sarah, was very good – quite attentive and responsive. The… I’m not sure if he was the owner and/or manager… was also rather involved in the dining experience, he came by many times to make sure that we were enjoying ourselves and that the service was up-to-par. The atmosphere was pleasant, there was nothing that beat you over the head and said, “Yes, we are a Brazilian steakhouse!”

The salad bar had a good selection and the offerings of meat were quite good. I did note that they did not seem to have any “exotic meats,” as you might find at Rodizio, but the meats they had included:

• Steak
• Lamb
• Ham
• Sausage
• Chicken
• Bacon-wrapped chicken
• Beef tenderloin

And, yes, they had grilled pinapple.  Then there was the dessert cart.  There were nine or ten dessert options; we opted for the tiramisu, which was light and delicious. On the whole, it was a very pleasant dining experience. I heartily recommend it for those looking for a new or different place to dine.

Today, SaraRules and I are meeting her parents for brunch and then heading up to the Utah Museum of Fine Arts to see the Splendid Heritage: Perspectives on American Indian Art exhibit.

Later, I’m heading over to Chris’ to play HeroClix. We’re having a 1200-point Avengers vs. JLA battle.  If I can finish the fifth corner, I may take the new map with me.

And with that… we’re off.

Namaste.

Saturday – 14 February 2009
Happy Valentine’s Day.

…or Single’s Awareness Day.
…or Anti-Green Lantern Day¹.

After sleeping in a bit and getting ready to face the day, SaraRules and I waited for Rachel to drop by. The three of us went to The Cheesecake Factory for brunch. I had the Cajun Jambalaya Pasta and a slice of the Chocolate Cake Cheesecake, both of which were very good. We came back home and hung out for a while before Rachel had to head back to Cedar City.

Later, SaraRules and I are having dinner at Braza Grill.

And somewhere in the middle, I’m going to try and finish up another portion of the new street corner. for the ‘Clix map, either the gas station or the gun store. If I’m lucky, maybe even both of ’em. We’ll see.

Stray Toasters

• Knowing how much I enjoyed the brief portions of it that we got to watch, SaraRules got me Planet Earth for my Valentine’s Day gift.
• NYCC ’09: Green Lantern at 50
• My ‘Clix Storm just arrived.

  

• DesktopGaming has Killer Retro Gaming Wallpapers
• 10 Cheap of Free Home Theatre Upgrades
• Homophones! Learn what they are, if you don’t know.

Namaste.

¹ – The traditional colors of Valentine’s Day are red and white.
The color of a Green Lantern’s uniform are, oddly enough, green and black.

If you look at a color wheel, red lies opposite green and white is the opposite of black.

Therefore, Valentine’s Day (at least in terms of color) == Anti-Green Lantern Day.

Q.E.D.

Thursday – 12 February 2009
Another NBN Thursday kicks off… with the added bonus of snow! Fortunately, the road monkeys seem to be dealing with it fairly well.

Last night was (yet another) lazy night in. After watching a few shows, including an amazing Food Network Challenge. The episode was “Chocolate Masterpieces,” in which the competitors had to “recreate” their visions/versions of classical works of art… in chocolate. The pieces they chose were:

• Degas’ Ballerina
• Neptune, at Trevi Fountain
• Lion, near Piazzale degli Uffizi and
• Rodin’s Thinker

As usual, the chefs had eight (8) hours to complete their work. The interpretations were incredible. And BIG.  The lion piece was nearly 1,200 pounds and took twelve (12) people to move to the judging table. If you get a chance to see this episode, it’s worth it.

After that, I started working on another corner for my ‘Clix street map. This corner will include a gas station, garage, store and a small apartment. I’ll see about getting some pictures of it in the next few days.

Stray Toasters

• By way of SaraRules: IN-N-OUT Burger pursuing Draper site
• Art in Two Germanys Often Spoke the Same Tongue
• Jet searching for new pilot after Favre’s bailout
• 
• By way of : Power Hog – Piggybank Power Meter Keeps the Change
• The Musical Illusionist, Now Appearing at Hotel St. George
• Pope condemns denial of Holocaust
  His Chocolate Holiness, Pope Groovalicious, concurs with this applauds Pope Benedict on taking this stand.
• 
• Up could elevate animated movies with its serious story
• Sat collision highlights growing threat

Zoom!

Wednesday – 11 February 2009
Last night, SaraRules, her parents and I had dinner at the African Restaurant and Market (1878 S. Redwood Rd, for those of you in town). The food was quite good. The only complaint that I really had about the experience was the turned-down thermostat. We’re planning another trip there… when the weather is a little warmer.

Getting back home, we settled in and watched an episode of Justice League,”Hearts and Minds (Parts 1 and 2)“.

I wanted to compare it to last week’s Batman: The Brave and the Bold Despero/GLC episode – and last night’s episode of NCIS. We also enjoyed mugs of hot chocolate! Win-Win! The flight crew from USAirways 1549 was on The Late Late Show; it was interesting to hear the story of the abortive flight/water landing from all five points of view.

Stray Toasters

• I had an odd dream this morning: part X-Files, part Fringe… with a dash of CSI:
• NFL’s Oscar Season: Handing out awards for the year’s best
• How to Manage Geeks
• 
• Favre’s agent: NY Jets QB retiring
• Steampunk sculpture
• Giant Midwest Mecca of Nerditude in Oklahoma
• NYCC ’09: Men Are from Krypton, Women Are from Paradise Island

*voop*

Tuesday – 10 February 2009
Snow is falling across the valley. Oddly enough, the road monkeys seem to be behaving… for them. That, in itself, is impressive.

Last night was a lazy night in. SaraRules fixed a tasty goulash dish and we watched a couple of NCIS reruns and  24. (Oh, Jack Bauer, you’re such a scamp.) She quilted, I nerded. And we also enjoyed some green tea yogurt from Red Mango. We also caught an episode of Unwrapped that featured an abbreviated tour of the Tastykake factory.

Stray Toasters

• The Council for Better Driving: Utah would like to remind motorists to watch your speed and spacing when driving in today’s weather.
• Mistrial declared in 12-year-old girl’s alleged assault on police officer
  • Final arguments in trial against 12-year-old girl mistaken for hooker
    
• Actor James Whitmore has passed away.
• USB devices stuffed into LEGO
• New York Comic-Con was this past weekend. A few items of note from it:
  • DC’s Superman Panel and Superman – Building a Better Tomorrow
  • DCU Online Panel
  • Green Lantern: Blackest Night, with Eddie Berganza (video)
  • Marvel and Activision Panel
  • The X-Men Panel
  • Hickman and Eaglesham talk Fantastic Four
  • Comic Book Resources also… drafted (?)… Jill Pantozzi, maintainer of Has Boobs, Reads Comics, as a reporter/commentator.  I like her style and may have to follow her blog more regularly.
• Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
• My favorite part of Newsarama’s review of Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #3 (of 5) was:
  

  Seriously, if you aren’t having a blast reading Legion of 3 Worlds, you should stop reading superhero books, because you’ve lost your joy. Conversely, if you’ve been looking for a fun experience after too many books have been bogged down by disconnect and bleak self-importance, you have arrived.

• Slashdot slashdots Slashdot
• I finally managed to track down a reasonably-priced Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)/Star Sapphire pair of Minimates.
• Hallucinations that are tied to eye disease

Meetings!  WHEEEEEE!

Namaste.

Saturday – 07 February 2009
Yesterday evening, SaraRules and I had dinner with her family – including an aunt, visiting from out-of-town – at Jasmine. Sushi, Chinese food, good atmosphere and good company.

After dinner, I headed to meet the usual suspects at Clitorati while SaraRules got to spend some quality time with her aunt and the rest of her family. The gathering was smallish, but both and put in appearances; it was good to see them both. SaraRules also showed up a little later, but opted out of going to get a bite to eat. Returning home, I watched about roughly half of West Side Story with SaraRules – I’ve never seen it before, so I had to ask “Who’s who” and “What’s the story here” more than a few times.

This morning, I was up before I had planned: The Leash went off shortly after 8:00 AM. I waited for a follow-up alert… which canceled the first one. Thank God. SaraRules got up to get ready for quilt club; I got up to finish my street corner map for today’s Clix tourney. As an added bonus, I watched last night’s Batman: The Brave and the Bold while enjoying my morning coffee. The episode featured the Green Lantern Corps and Despero. I had to make a quick run to Target and Office Depot, too – I needed to get more glue and to find some way to make sure that the map’s corners didn’t move around during gameplay. I was going to use binder clips, but I found some sticky-backed Velcro^® tabs. After a quick “Is this going to work” test, I’m glad that I decided against the binder clips.

Time to finish getting ready and get out of Dodge.

Namaste.

Friday – 06 February 2009
Today is Bit’s first birthday:

And, in other news, it’s my day off. I actually caught myself watching part of The Price Is Right. Fortunately, I noticed that Bravo was airing The West Wing.

Last night, shockpuppet and came over for dinner. SaraRules fixed maple chicken with mashed sweet potatoes and green beans. Both the dinner and the company were excellent.

Four-Color Coverage
After our guests left, I read this week’s comics. Of the six books that I picked up, there were three standouts:

• Dark Reign: Secret Warriors #1 – A few years ago, Nick Fury disappeared. It eventually came to light that he was aware of… something… that wasn’t right in the world and went underground to find out what. The first thing that he found about was the impending Skrull invasion. The second was… well, you should read this book to find out. To combat his growing list of issues, Fury assembled a team of agents – super-powered agents – to handle the “heavy lifting,” so to speak. It was a good read, with interesting implications for the Marvel Universe.
• Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #3 (of 5) – Superboy-Prime. Mordru. The LSV. The 31st Century anti-alien Justice League. Superman… and the Legion. Correction: Three Legions – The “classic” LSH, Legionnaires and the Reboot Legion. And God bless George Perez – that man draws one hell of a splash page. And big fight scenes. And… and… yeah. Geoff Johns wrote a solid issue that even sees the return of [spoiler deleted]. Yep, definitely looking forward to Issue #4.
• X-Men: Noir #3 – I’m really enjoying this take on the X-mythos. Fred Van Lente even threw in a nod to the classic Scott-Jean-Logan triangle. Readers also got a look into the Magnus family dynamic and it’s quirks. Not only that, there was also an… explosive… scene including Pryor Airlines. Another good read.

Workout
Yesterday’s workout was a slightly modified version of Tuesday’s workout:

• Leg Raises: 3 sets/20 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 205 lbs
• Lat Pull-downs (behind the head): 3 sets/15 reps, 110 lbs
• Row (Nautilus, compound row): 3 sets/12 reps, 125 lbs
• Tricep Extensions (rope): 3 sets/15 reps, 70 lbs
• Push-ups: 3 sets/10 reps
• Core (plank): 2 sets/30 seconds

Stray Toasters

• Even though I’m off today, I have to run to the office. My turn on the pager rotation started yesterday… and I forgot to bring the pager home. D’oh!
• If I rode a motorcycle, I’d seriously have to consider getting a helmet/visor like this:

  

• I’m having lunch with Stefanie and in a bit. Hopper’s. Madame X Stout. Amen. Stefanie’s going to do a GL My Little Pony for me, similar to the Mac MLP that she did for .

“Up, up and away!”

Thursday – 05 February 2009
Today has the bonus of not only being NBN Thursday, but it’s my ‘Friday’ as well. I might just learn to start liking this whole 9/80 schedule thing, after all.

Last night, SaraRules and I headed up to Oh Sushi for sushi, sashimi and nigiri to go… as well as a pass through Dr. Volt’s for this week’s comics haul (of which I read nothing last night). We got home and watched a rerun of NCIS before settling in for Pale Kings and Princes. It wasn’t bad… but it wasn’t great, either. What it was, though, was a short jaunt back to a show that used to (and still do) enjoy: Spenser: for Hire. My biggest complaint with the movie was the actress they got to play Susan Silverman. Simply put, she wasn’t Susan; I guess more to the point – she wasn’t Barbara Stock. Other than that, I was good with the movie.

Stray Toasters

• One meeting down, one to go…. and a conference call.
• I have TastyKake cream-filled Koffee Kake Cupcakes!
• Suspect Robs Two 7-Eleven Stores with Sword, by way of lj user=”lostbear”
  Or, as he quoted to me: “…with a sword, Mal. How weird is that?”
• By way of SaraRules: Prehistoric ‘monster snake’ remains discovered
• Make Love, Not Porn – Porn World vs. Real World (semi-NSFW… depending on what/who your monitor faces)
• HOW TO: Make a prosthetic arm from a pop bottle
• Woodson Paves Way for Ravens to Canton
• Enid, we never really knew each other anyway.
• The NFL Coaching Tree 2008 (Part 1)
• Worst Food in America, 2009 Edition
• 25 Things I Didn’t Want to Know About You

Time for Meeting #2

Namaste.

I actually exerted Green Lantern-like willpower at lunch and did not have a beer… even though we went to Porcupine Pub & Grill. I did, however, indulge in rather tasty cuisine:

• Chicken Noodle Soup (more like a “cream of chicken noodle soup,” actually)
• Cajun Chicken Alfredo
• Chocolate Almond Mousse Pie

…and three Arnold Palmers. It was very tasty.

I got back to the office to find a message from SaraRules:

These both made me think of you:

…and…

Both of them made me laugh.

Back to the grind…

Sunday – 01 February 2009
A new month begins. Say it with me “Feh-BRU-air-ee.”

And, it’s also Black History Month

Yesterday started off lazily. Sleeping in kicked off the morning. That was followed by breakfast and Batman: The Brave and the Bold. After that, SaraRules, Logan and I went to see Taken. It was a very intense movie… and a pretty  damned good movie, too. Unlike most movies where you get all of the “good parts” in the trailer(s), this one had plenty of twists and turns – and more than a couple of surprises – that weren’t in the trailers.

Later in the evening, we headed downtown to Redrock for dinner. I had the Rotini Pasta with Chicken and Shrimp; SaraRules had the Smoked Red Trout Club. After dinner, we walked to Abravanel Hall to see the Utah Symphony perform. They were conducted by Thierry Fischer and featured guest pianist, Louis Lortie.

The pieces were very good; I especially enjoyed the Mendelssohn piano concerto, which featured Mr. Lortie. And, I found Mr. Fischer to be a rather… expressive… conductor – it was easy to see that he enjoys his work.  He is apparently under consideration to replace the symphony’s current conductor/music director, Keith Lockhart, after this season.

Today: Whole bunch of laziness and leisure.
Tonight: The Super Bowl… and for the next 8-12 hours, I’m a Cardinals fan.

Namaste.

Friday – 30 January 2009
It’s quiet in the office today. Most of the people in our office recently started a 9/80 schedule – we work 80 hours in 9 days and get every other Friday off – and this is most of the office’s “off” Friday. The IT team has been split in two and my team works the odd Friday and will have next Friday off. I think that there are… six (6) of us in the building, so far.  (Must refrain from playing City of Heroes all day…)

Last night, SaraRules and I had dinner with our friend Murphy. Not Eddie. Not Peter. Papa. As in “Take and bake pizza.” It was good. After dinner (and a couple of episodes of NCIS and CSI:), we went to the gym:

• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 185 lbs
• Reverse Fly: 3 sets/10 reps – 1 set @ 70 lbs, 2 sets @ 80 lbs
• Lower Back Extensions: 3 sets/15 reps, 140 lbs
• Pull-downs: 3 sets/10 reps, 110 lbs
• Rows: 3 sets/12 reps, 125 lbs
• Dips: 3 sets/10 reps

It was a short, but good, workout.

Post-workout weight: 186.0.
SaraRules suggested that I might think about cutting back on crack ginger snaps.  I suggested that she might be wrong in that… and that I could stop any time I wanted.  If I wanted to, that is.

Stray Toasters

• I apparently was very generous with the amount of coffee I scooped into the maker last night; this is a strong cup o’ joe.
• Barack and Michelle Obama lead celebration of new equal pay law
• “Longinus!”
• …who was also referenced in Final Crisis: Revelations. (It made me chuckle.)
• Black Swan author’s rules for living
• 
• Blagojevich ousted as Illinois governor
• Bionic teeth!
• GDP sees biggest drop in 27 years
• This user icon amused me:



• Lode Runner
• And, in other game-related news: DRM shuts down PC version of Gears of War

Namaste.

Thursday – 29 January 2009
Last night, came over for dinner. I cooked Cornish hens with green beans and rice (cooked in chicken broth) for side dishes. Everything turned out pretty well. For dessert, we had ice cream and ginger snaps. It was a fun dinner.

After left and leftovers and dishes had been put away, SaraRules and I started watching The Big Sleep. I’ve never seen a Philip Marlowe movie – nor read any of the books – so it was a nice treat. Unfortunately, we were both wiped out from a couple of long days, so we didn’t finish the movie.

Stray Toasters

• Today is “Jersey Day” at work, so I actually have an opportunity to wear my Ravens jersey before next season. (I plan on wearing it on Sunday, in support of the Cards/opposition to the Steelers… but that’s kind of a given.)
• By way of NPR Music:
  • Between Takes: The ‘Kind of Blue’ Sessions
  • Shrinking Music Videos: More Thrills, Less ‘Thriller’
  • ‘I Wanna Be Sedated’
• Videogame Conditioning Spills Over Into Real Life
• By way of SaraRules: Road signs warn of zombies
• By way of : Inside Apple’s Core
• 
• Red Dwarf to Return, Find Earth
• Lampshades made from bowlers and top hats
• Miscalculations Invalidate LHC Safety Assurances

Tonight: CSI: and Burn Notice.

Namaste.