Random Access

: Opinion poll: What goes better with chocolate cake – raspberry or strawberry?
Me: Vanilla ice cream, of course!
Me: Wait.
Me: That was my Kobiyashi Maru answer.
Me: Um… I’m not really a pressed/cooked fruit fan, so I might not be the best person to ask.
Me: But, possibly raspberry.
: Not even fruit roll ups?
Me: Those are different.
:those are boiled and then pressed and then dried…
Me: Well, I like the roasted pineapple @ Rodizio, so it’s not a “complete” generalization.
: heh..okay…so when it’s basted with rum, that’s a different story?
Me: But, I don’t care for fruit pies
Me: Or pineapple on pizza
Me: Or jams/preserves.
: I don’t know if I should feel sad for you…I make a mean berry syrup
Me: Don’t cry for me, Argentina.
:Did you know her body was kidnapped by the mafia and traded around the world for 14 years?
Me: O.o No I didn’t.
:Yeah…little known fact…she was also preserved in glycerine
Me: Okay… that’s more than “a little” bizarre.
:oh it gets better
:When Juan finally got her body back, he had dinner with Eva’s body and his new wife
:and then buried her…again.
Me: …
: Yep…fun stuff. 🙂

Wednesday – 09 April 2008
After getting to bed FAR later than I had planned, I slept rather fitfully. Odd and somewhat disturbing dreams, including one that owed quite a bit to the Species series of movies, had me waking up every so often. The alarm was both a blessing and a curse this morning. I did my best to ignore it, but was still up at a decent time… albeit slowly and groggily.

Today is another tie day. I also decided to wear my glasses and to add a vest into the day’s apparel for a bit of a throwback look:

I topped it off with my double-breasted trench coat and my fedora. I even picked up a copy of The Gray Lady at the coffee shop, completing the retro ensemble.

There were also a couple of bits of good fortune to top off the morning’s start:

1. This morning’s cup of frozen mocha goodness was free; I only had to foot the bill for the extra shots.
2. I got The NYT for free as well.

Such a start to the day. For lunch, I’ll be meeting and Perry at one of the local Olive Gardens. And, I will most likely be making a trek to Dr. Volt’s to feed my four-color addiction, which will be a fine way to end the day.

Namaste.

Monday – 07 April 2008
Yesterday afternoon, SaraRules and I took a little time to play in the sunshine; we went for a walk along the trail in Ann J. Gardner Canyon Park (pictures). After we got back, we watched Superman: Doomsday. Fun film… even if it didn’t exactly follow “The Death of Superman” storyline perfectly.

After that, we realized that it was time to find something dinner-like. But, we had no idea “what.” Once we finally settled on it – grilled cheese sandwiches and soup – we hit the grocery store and came home.

Objectives:

1. Fix food
2. Eat
3. Watch Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

As Meat Loaf said: Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad: By the time we got back, Darrilyn and Kim had started watching Dirty Dancing, which Darrilyn hadn’t seen before. So… we watched Dirty Dancing. MST3K-style. Mr. Poitier and company will just have to wait until next weekend.

Today, I slept in a bit before making the journey back to the northlands. I pushed back my departure a bit because looneybin88 told me that the roads were a bit nasty thanks to… you guessed it: Snow. Fortunately, I-15 wasn’t bad, until I got a little north of Fillmore. Then, I hit some rain. It cleared up around Scipio. But, when I got a few miles south of Nephi, I ran into a wall of rain that turned into snow. And, as I left Nephi in the rear view mirror, I left the snow behind, too.

Workout
Eric waited for me to get in before heading to the gym. Today’s routine consisted of:

• Bench Press: 3 sets/8 reps, 225 lbs
• Curls (dumbbell, Hammer grip): 3 sets/10 reps, 30 lbs
• Flys (Nautilus): 3 sets/10 reps, 110 lbs
• Pull-downs (behind the head): 3 sets/10 reps, 120 lbs
• Rows (T-bar style, with a barbell): 3 sets/12 reps, 55 lbs
• Core: 3 sets at full-arm extension, 2 sets on elbows

Pre-workout weight: 176.8 lbs.

I wish that I could say that the weight gain is due to packing on the muscle… but I think that it would be more apt to say that the s’mores brownies that I made Thursday night – and ate all weekend – had more to do with it.

I also seem to have… um… “misplaced” my lock. Something that I didn’t discover until I was ready to secure the locker. So, unless it magically appears sometime this week, I’ll be using the Superman lock that gave me. That should get a few interesting looks around the locker room, I’m sure.

Stray Toasters

• I’m still just *a little* in shock that SaraRules actually posted on here yesterday. Just a ‘Toaster, but it still counts.
• I know that it’s just speculation at this point, but still… the idea that Apple may seriously upgrade/change the MacBook lines soon is good/bad news.
• Quinoa
• From xkcd.com: “Cheap GPS”



• There were a couple of interesting items on NPR today:
  • The Diane Rehm Show: FAA and Airline Safety Inspections
  • Talk of the Nation: After Death, a Soldier’s Journey Is Not Over

  The TotN piece was amazing. In it, Neal Conan interviewed Chris Jones, a writer for Esquire, who did a piece about a soldier’s “final journey,” from the Middle East to his burial in southern Indiana. I was pretty much rapt by the story; I can’t wait to read the actual article when the new issue of Esquire comes out.

• 
• 4/6 lfm tank and dd – The Jargon of Online Gaming
• By way of Wired.com: How College Courses Should Be Taught
• I should probably start giving some thought to what I want for dinner…
• Given the way things went yesterday, I should also start thinking about what I want to cook for dinner Sunday.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 02 April 2008
Last night was Scion night at and ‘s. It was fun. ‘s character wound up drugging almost everyone at a social event… in order to facilitate our… um… liberating a piece of artwork. In the name of the people! The God’s honest truth.

After game, I went home and played City for a while. I wound up on a farming team. I also wound up acting as a bridge. We ran the instance twice; the second time, I wound up being told to basically “just stand there,” while one of the Level 50 characters ran through the mission and wiped out the lower-level bad guys. That, friends and neighbors, is BORING. I left the team – and the game – after we finished that instance. On the “plus” side: I am three bubbles into 49; seven more to go ’til Nefer-Tem hits 50. And then, it will be time to figure out who next.

Today was a good day. And, it’s ‘s birthday.

(No, really… you do! See!?)

Nothing out of the ordinary. And, oddly enough, “Sushi Wednesday” was on… a Wednesday. Who knew?!? I also picked up this week’s four-color haul. It was a light week: I picked up another Astro City TPB and only had four other books. Four?! That’s a manageable number… manageable enough for…

Four-Color Coverage

• Action Comics # 863 – This issue wrapped up the Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes vs. the 31st Century Justice League storyline. I thought the way that the story arc read was great. I am very pleased to see that DC has finally pulled a rectal craniotomy and reintegrated Clark and the Legion into each other’s history. The issue also had a teaser for this summer’s Final Crisis that whet my whistle:
  

  

• Countdown to Final Crisis: 04 – Sorry, but this issue was a bit weak. *sigh* After the last issue, I just expected… more. It was another “Mary Marvel gets manipulated” issue. Can you say “broken record,” boys and girls?
• Secret Invasion (1 of 8) – It has begun. Who’s a Skrull? Who’s human? Despite everything else that, in my opinion, Joe Quesada has done to give the Marvel Universe a good rogering… this was good. Markin’Time and I have been talking about this for a bit. We – and I’m sure a good number of readers – have a lot of questions. Damn you, Quesada! *shakes fist*
• Supergirl #28 – Supergirl has promised a little boy that she will save him from dying… from cancer. Wonder Woman and a seldom-seen DCU hero feature fairly prominently, presenting their opinions on Kara’s rather lofty goal.

Now to finish watching Law & Order… and maybe get Nefer-Tem a little closer to Security Level 50.

Namaste.

Friday – 28 March 2008
I don’t know what came over me, but I was completely wiped out by midnight last night. I think that I was actually in bed by 12:15 AM. And I didn’t wake up until 8:00 this morning. Egad!

At least it’s Friday, though.

After work, I made a few stops before heading home with the intent of watching CSI:… but once again, I forgot that we’re smack dab in the middle of March Madness. One of those stops was at a comic shop in West Valley. Chris had them hold a piece of plastic crack for me. A big piece of crack:

That’s right, True Believers, Galactus. 1800 points (and 19-clicks!) of world-devouring doom. I think that he’d make a nice counterpart for Phoenix. I mentioned it to Don; his comment:

“So if the regular ones are plastic crack, that one must be plastic Crystal Meth”

Yeah, I’d say that’s about right.

I also picked up Master Chief and Cortana figures from McFarlane Toys’ HALO 3 collection – as this seemed to be the only place in town that still had any of them. Not… that I’ve… looked. Much. Or anything like that.

Stray Toasters

• I baked corn muffins to go with dinner last night. I had two for breakfast this morning. They were just the right thing to kick off the day.
• SaraRules can solve a Rubik’s Cube. But, can she do it in 25 moves?
• Rock Band Rock-a-Thon – This sounds like a fun and entertaining way to raise money for the Fine Arts.
• For :

  

• Humans vs. Zombies
• Rob’s refrigerator != got milk
• BrikWars
• How to Acquire the Taste for Wine

Namaste.

Wednesday – 26 March 2008
Whew. It’s been a day. I’ve been fighting PHP and MySQL… and discovering the differences of installing MySQL on a Windows machine versus installing it on Defiant. I also got to wrestle with changes that my host made to their “create a new email” feature. Some would argue that it’s “easier” and/or “more simple.” To some degree, it is. But it wasn’t what I was expecting.

Sushi Wednesday is moving to Thursdays, it seems. Today, we went to Olive Garden. Almost all of us had the soup and salad with breaksticks special. I must say: It was a decent change of pace, both in the sense of not having sushi for lunch and in having something different than my usual fare at Olive Garden.

Last night, The Hand of Nefer-Tem hit Security Level 48.

Politics
I read this op-ed piece, Donna Brazile offers Hillary Clinton a reminder about Rev. Wright, yesterday. It was an interesting read. And, yes, it would be easy to jump on the bandwagon about Sen. Clinton’s… “creatively remembered” (or would that be “revisionist” or “retconned”) versions of events, but I’m not going to do that. This time.

Instead, I was more taken by one of the comments that I read. When I originally saw the article, there were only three (3) comments on it. When I returned to it a few hours later, there were three dozen or more. The particular comment that struck me was this one:

Obama is our Savior. Barak and Reverend Wright are Right, God D*** america. Now is the time to rally around Barak and Michelle and make them proud! And news flash america, Barak is right, your typical white american is a racist! Obama will apologize to our Muslim brothers for arrogant american policies of hate and slavery. Only Obama can forgive an evil nation founded slavery. REPARATIONS NOW!

 

Posted by: Obamamania

By the time I hit the third sentence, the following lines from Styx’ Mr. Roboto came to mind:

I’m not a hero, I’m not a saviour
Forget what you know.

…and that was almost immediately followed by these lines from Queen’s Flash’s Theme:

Just a man
With a man’s courage
You know he’s
Nothing but a man
And he can never fail
No one but the pure at heart
May find the Golden Grail

While becoming the President of the United States is a rather lofty goal, I’m not sure that I’d necessarily call it “the Golden Grail.” And, I won’t say that Senator Obama is without his failings. He’s human.

There have been those who have touted him as a hero. Or a possibly “a great Black leader.” Of course, there have also been those who have said that he’s “not Black enough,” or “just Black enough to not be ‘too scary’ to White voters.”

Another respondent to the piece pointed out something that I hadn’t considered: Obamamania’s comment was most likely a supporter of Senator McCain who was flaming the op-ed piece. After some thought, that seemed rather plausible.

How about this: At no time during this campaign have I heard Senator Obama claim to be anything other than a man who wants to make a difference and hopefully bring about some change. He has addressed issues of race with candor, but – in my opinion – has not attempted to use it as a soapbox or a crutch.

And I can – and do – respect that.

Stray Toasters

• I stopped in to visit Kate and Perry after work last night. They were watching American Idol. “When in Rome…” Apparently, this week’s challenge (or whatever they call it on Idol) was for the contestants to sing a song from the year they were born. There were some rather decent renditions of songs performed. Then, David Cook came onstage and performed a version of Billie Jean (yes, Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean), that I believe he arranged. It was pretty impressive.

After his performance, Perry suggested that I check out Cook’s arrangement of Lionel Richie’s Hello. I did. And I thought that it was rather good, as well…as was his Eleanor Rigby. He has good stage presence and seems to react/interact with his crowd well. He easily could become someone to watch – or listen – for on the radio in the not-too-distant future. (Listen to the judges’ comments on his performance, too.)
• Cartoonist sets out to take taboo out of swastika
• Endor Express offers up a look at upcoming Disney/Lucasfilm toys.
• I have no idea what I want for dinner.
• Dyscalculia
• Marvel has released the trailer for Next Avengers – their next direct-to-video animated feature
  …and…
  Entertainment Weekly has a 10-page preview of Marvel’s upcoming Secret Invasion limited series.
• Keith Giffen’s “Unfortunate Confluence of Words.”

  
  (click image to read the article)

• What if Clark Kent worked for Barry White instead of Perry White?
• Pilot’s gun fired during flight
• Correction: I now know what I’m having for dinner.

Namaste.

Saturday – 22 March 2008
Today has been good, so far.

The morning started with a new episode of Legion of Super Heroes. It did feature Dream Girl prominently, but didn’t even touch on her relationship with Star Boy. For that matter, the show has shied away from most of the relationships on the team, with the notable exception of Triplicate Girl/Duo Damsel and Bouncing Boy. Yes, we’ve seen a couple of… nods, maybe… to the Phantom Girl/Ultra Boy and Saturn Girl/Lightning Lad relationships, but other than that? Bupkis.

After The Spectacular Spider-Man and some not-so-spectacular channel hopping, we watched Kapow! Superhero Science on The Discovery Channel: Science

Celebrate the science behind the superpowers and gadgetry of comic book super heroes and heroines. Investigate real-life cases of super-strength, x-ray vision and speed, and discover the scientific feasibility of high-tech superpowers.

We rode over to Wheeler Farm for a stroll through the park and to look at the animals. (Pictures) From there, Jitterbug for a spot of lunch. (There was a young lady there who also had a BlacBook. Nice!) I stopped at Black Cat Comics to see if they had any of the HALO 3 figures. NO ONE seems to have any of them. Anywhere. *grblsnrkx* We drove up to The Tutoring Toy and then went up Emigration Canyon and back down Parley’s Canyon. (Pictures here.) If you look a couple inches above the peak in the last two images, you will see a small white crescent… it’s not the moon – it is a paraglider.

Stray Toasters

• I have been meaning to post this picture for for a couple of weeks.
• How much can Colossus press? About this much.
  What happens when Wolverine finds out? Something like this.
• Brikthulhu
• I am Ivory Soap sure that I wanted to add at last two other things… but I can’t recall what they were.

Namaste.

Friday – 21 March 2008
Today is Good Friday.
And it’s a “good Friday,” to boot.
Win-Win.

This morning’s commute was to the tune of 2112: Overture and Temples of Syrinx.
At lunch, and I are going to Ye Olde Driving Range.
(Did you know that “Ye” is actually supposed to be pronounced “the?” It is.)

Stray Toasters

• The Red Balloon that’s a few doors down from Dr. Volt’s has gotten a new shipment of Rokenbok. In the shipment was Tower of Rok Mania. I deem that this shall be the next addition to my collection. (And, to be honest, I wouldn’t mind adding another Monorail Metropolis Start Set to the equation, either.)
• SaraRules is helping to… tame… the volumes of comics that I have – at least the ones here behind the Zion Curtain. Until a couple weeks ago, they were stored in seven long boxes in one of my closets. Currently, they are stacked – unboxed – in my living room. When stopped by yesterday to take SaraRules to lunch, he saw the stacks. After lunch, he asked me how many comics I have. I asked if he meant here or overall. “Both.” So, after a few minutes of mental gymnastics, I figured that I have:
  • UT: roughly 2500
  • MD: 1200 – 1400
  • NC: between 2000 and 2500 (probably closer to 2500)
• broke someone’s day; I am proud of her for the method with which she did so.
• Soft Pretzels: Round 2 – tonight.
• I was reminded of a tech fact about “cookies” that I had forgotten (and a fact of which most people are unaware):
  

  Cookies are a way for a server to store information about the user (on the user’s machine) so that the server can remember the user over the course of the visit or through several visits. Think of a cookie like a name tag: You tell the server your name, and it gives you a name tag. Then it can know who you are by referring back to the name tag.

  Cookies have gotten a bad rap because users believe cookies allow a server to know too much about them. However, a cookie can only be used to store information that you give it, so it’s as secure as you want it to be.

• This made me laugh.
  (It even made laugh, too!)
• David Letterman’s “Top Ten Reasons to Watch the New Season of Battlestar Galactica“:
  
• I have a possible new addition to the Covet List: Tetris Mirror Pieces
• if (!$error) {
  print ‘Looks like you might actually have SOME idea of what you’re trying to do!’;
  } else {
  print ‘You FAIL…’;
  }
• Why Pulling the Fire Alarm at the Gas Station Is a Bad Idea
• 

This post has been brought to you by the letters “C” and “Y” and the number 2112.

Namaste.

Thursday – 20 March 2008
Today is the first day of Spring.
(Oddly enough, the weather here seems spring-like. Go figure.)

<< Rewind <<
After dinner last night, SaraRules and I walked down to the Red Mango and had cups of yogurt for dessert. It was not, however, the frozen yogurt that I was used to. It was… tart; it is apparently closer to the “plain” yogurt than it is to the frozen yogurt that most places sell. This is not to say that it wasn’t good, though. It was. I had dark chocolate chips and sliced almonds in it, for flavor.

After we got back to the apartment, we watched the second disc of I Am Legend, the unreleased-in-theatres version. There were a few things that were a little closer to the book, but still not… quite… there. And I wasn’t as satisfied by the revised ending as I was the theatrically-released ending.

> Play >
Today has been a good day, all around. I worked out of the south office today; longer commute, but that also meant that I got to go to the gym. And, as an added bonus: Wes was in AF again, so he worked out with us. Speaking of which, today’s workout consisted of:

• Pull-ups: 3 sets/10 reps (2½ unassisted sets, ½ assisted set @ 80 lbs)
• Leg Raises (full extension): 3 sets/20 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets/8 reps (2 sets/225 lbs, 1 set: 205 lbs/6 reps, 185/3 reps)
• T-bar Rows: 3 sets/10 reps, 45 lbs
• Push-ups: 3 sets/20 reps

We tried max bench press again today, but at 285 pounds. Eric was able to lower it, but couldn’t lift it; I managed to get one rep. One very slow rep. But, I did it. It’s not 300, but it’s back on the road to it.

Pre-workout weight: 174.8 lbs.

Stray Toasters

• I realized a little earlier today that I can make a centaur – like Force Commander or Baron Karza – out of my Stikfas.
• By way of

  

• By way of

  

• And, speaking of the Old Ones: Corben and Lovecraft at Marvel in June
• How to Visit a Microbrewery
  (Come on… do we really need instructions on this one?!)
• 
• Pulp Vixens
• Kevin Conroy will reprise his role as Bruce Wayne/Batman in the upcoming Batman: Gotham Knight DVD
• Movie posters… redone in LEGO and LEGO Steampunk in 50 Bricks or Less

Namaste.

Sunday – 16 March 2008
Today was a “sleep in and have a leisurely morning” kind of day. That was fine with me. When we did get up, SaraRules cooked breakfast and then we set about getting ready for our afternoon outing:

Cinderella (La Cenerentola), by Rossini

That’s right, kids: Opera. The production was a more traditional version of the Cinderella story; it was definitely not Disney – no glass slipper, no wicked stepmother and no singing/dancing animals.

There was a prince.
There were courtiers.
There was the prince’s teacher – who brought just a touch of magic to the affair.
(In fact, when we learned who he was, he reminded me of Punjab, from Annie.)

The production was a lot of fun.

During the intermission, I ran into a couple of people with/for whom I worked when I was a USPS employee: Mike and Dayna C. It was a pleasant surprise, as they were two of a very small number of managers for whom I enjoyed working. We chatted for a couple of minutes before it was time to go in for the second act.

After the opera, SaraRules and I had dinner at Biaggi’s. I had the Rigatoni alla Bolognese; SaraRules had the Penne Sardi. Both dishes were quite good. Drew, our waiter, was rather attentive and on-the-ball.

Back home to unwind and hang out. We watched a couple episodes of CSI: as we sorted through – and attempted to bring a measure of order to – some of my loose ‘Clix. I didn’t take into account that I need to pick up a few more divided containers. We also assembled the Clone Troopers Battle Pack and added it to the Luke Skywalker Pilot Maquette in the second display case. After we finished that, we tried…

…making soft pretzels. They should be done in a bit. I’ll make a note sometime tomorrow as to how good/bad they turned out.

And with that…

Ghost.

EDIT:  Screw waiting until tomorrow…
We just tried the pretzels: They’re pretty damned good!
(Especially for our first try at this.)

Tuesday – 11 March 2008
One down, one in the chamber and three to go.

Last night, I got home and flopped on the couch. I watched the tube for a bit. Then I realized that eating dinner would be a good thing. Then I remembered that I had planned to cook dinner. So, off to the kitchen to do it.

Objective: Spaghetti and sauce.

I seasoned and cooked the ground beef. I added tomato sauce and paste. Spices and sugar. (Yes, “sugar.” I use sugar in my spaghetti sauce recipe.) I cooked the pasta. And I even made garlic butter for a few slices of garlic bread. Tasty.

Dinner and more TV. Top Gear, Law & Order and an episode of JLU. Having gotten my “watching superheroes” fix, I decided to give in to the dark side my “playing superheroes” fix. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a team to join and got beat down by an end boss in the solo mission that I ran. (Fortunately, I clued in on something that will let me defeat him if I try to solo the mission again.) After licking my wounds, I decided that I wasn’t in the mood for much more CoH, so I logged out and watched Jonny Quest. The classic series, not the 8os or 90s revival.

Then, an early (for me) night, as I was apparently rather tired.

Today hasn’t been bad: I wound up sleeping in a bit. Not horribly so, but enough to get rested. Up, dressed and out the door in (fairly) short order.

Workout
Today’s workout was… work. Muscle-fatiguiging work. “Break out in a serious sweat” work. Which, after the fact (LONG after the fact, that is) wasn’t such a bad thing. Today’s routine:

• Dips with Leg Raises: 3 sets/10 reps
• Pull-ups: 3 sets/10 reps (2 unassisted sets, 1 assisted set at 80 lbs)
• Decline Press: 3 sets (1: 185 lbs/7 reps, 135/4 reps; 2: 185/6 reps, 135/4 reps; 3: 145/15 reps)
• Bent-over Rows: 3 sets/10 reps, 35 lbs
• Tricep Press (dumbbell, overhead, seated): 3 sets/10 reps, 50 lbs
• “Good Mornings”: 3 sets/60 lbs

Today’s pre-workout weight: 174.6 lbs.

Stray Toasters

• I watched a little of Thundarr the Barbarian last night. Wow. “The road to Hell…”
• Star Wars Guide to the Presidential Candidates
  and
  Presidential Candidates as Monster Manual monsters
• Glenn Medieros (ft. Bobby Brown): She Ain’t Worth It
  
• Geoff Johns: Secret Origins and Blackest Night
• From Weblog Tools Collection: Who Comments on Blogs, and Why?
• Free! – Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business
• 
• 10 Things You Didn’t Know About David Paterson
  • WHO is David Paterson? Click here for more information.
• By way of Drew: Apple Shooter
• City of Heroes Veteran Award: 39 Months – Ardent
  Okay, this just cracks me up.  “I played for 39 months… so I could create Rocky?!”

Namaste.

Monday – 10 March 2008
Oh I could hide ‘neath the wings of the bluebird as she sings
The six o’clock alarm would never ring
But it rings and I rise, wipe the sleep out of my eyes
My shaving razor’s cold and it stings

Welcome to the jungle first work week of Daylight Saving Time. “Saving.” No second “s.”

It was dark when the alarm went off this morning.
It was dark when the second alarm went off, too.

But, we had to get up and get under way. So we did.

<< Rewind <<
After our excursion to the Garden of Sweden, SaraRules and I went home and started putting together the new display case. At the point that we realized that the drill was out of power, we decided to take a homework/City of Heroes break. By the time I stopped playing, Nefer-Tem was Security Level 46… and a couple of bars on his way to 47.

Dinner. Which meant a run to the store. (Two runs, actually, but that’s a detail that we really don’t need to focus on.) Soft tacos. Tasty.

After dinner, we finished assembling the case and decided to settle in and watch a movie. We watched Brick, which I had not seen before. It starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt, possibly best known for his role as Tommy Solomon on 3rd Rock from the Sun. It was an interesting and unusual movie. It had a film noir sensibility about it – if you examined the characters, it was easy to see their noir roots/counterparts. It was a smart film, well-written with solid acting and dialogue.

> Play >
This morning, we had IKEA cinnamon rolls and coffee for breakfast (which allowed for a wee bit more sleeping in than if we had gone to Paradise) before heading out.

There may be a nap in the offing for this afternoon.

But for now, there’s PHP, SQL and Windows Server 2003 to be dealt with.

Namaste.

Friday – 07 March 2008
The re-piping project in my apartment started bright and early (8:00 AM) yesterday. When I got home, the first phase was pretty much complete… leaving a number of holes throughout the walls and ceiling of the apartment. This included a hole in the wall between the bedroom and the maintenance closet (outside). This meant that I had a rather drafty hole that allowed a good deal of cold air into the bedroom… almost directly over the bed. So, I jerry-rigged a light cover to try and keep some of the air out. It was nominally effective. Pictures here.

SaraRules came into town last night. We headed to Outback Steakhouse for dinner. Cheese Fries. Prime Rib. Very tasty. We had a great server, as well. Her name was Jennifer. She was attentive, helpful, very pleasant and just all-around “good.”

Workout
Yesterday’s workout – the first in nine or ten days – was good… but painful.  “Good pain,” despite how oxymoronic that sounds:

• Dumbbell Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 55 lbs.
• Dumbbell Fly: 3 sets/10 reps, 35 lbs.
• Push-ups (elevated): 3 sets/15 reps
• Bench Dips 3 sets/15 reps
• Rows (upright, barbell): 3 sets/10 reps, 50 lbs
• Tricep Press (cable): 3 sets/15 reps, 80 lbs

Yesterday’s post-workout weight: 172.4 lbs.
Stray Toasters

• Yesterday, I got the Wizard Universe Store weekly email for new toys and comic-related merchandise. In it was an item for an advance order for the ‘Coming of Galactus’ Limited Edition HeroClix figure. This is basically a re-issue of the older Galactus figure… with a new paint job:
  • Old and busted:
  • New hotness

  And, yes, it is firmly entrenched on the Covet List.

• New Jack Kirby coffee table art book
• The Council for Better Driving: Utah gives a “thumbs-down” to UDoT for its lack of attention and care given to Salt Lake City metropolitan area streets. They are atrocious! Anyone who has driven on either 33rd/35th South and/or 90th South, for example, will know exactly why.
• This Is Your Brain on Jazz: Researchers Use MRI to Study Spontaneity and Creativity
• 
• By way of GQ: Clean Start
• I was just thinking about something:
  • In Justice League/Unlimited, there are a few episodes that feature Wonder Woman’s Invisible Jet.
  • In Justice League: The New Frontier, another version of the plane was “shown,” but the way that it was “seen,” by the viewer, was by way of blood in the cockpit.
  • In both the comics and in animated versions – and even in the 1974 Cathy Lee Crosby made-for-TV movie, it has been noted that neither the jet – nor people inside the jet – cannot be seen by bystanders.

  So… how in the Nine Hells does she know where to get in or where the controls – or anything else – are?!

• Geoff Johns: Secret Origins and Blackest Night
• “What’s a Nubian…?”
• xkcd: Ultimate Game

Namaste.

Sunday – 02 March 2008
It’s been a quiet and lazy day.
And that’s not a bad thing.

The morning didn’t start (for me) with comics and coffee in bed. It did start with coffee – and SaraRules did read the most recent acquisition of The Walking Dead in bed – but we wound up in the living room listening to music and hanging out.

In the afternoon, we headed to Jitterbug for a coffee and a quick bite to eat with . Next stop, Toys R Us. After all, it’s “The World’s Biggest Toy Store.” It wasn’t the longest TRU excursion on record, but it was nevertheless fun. And I managed to find a Justice Lords (1, 2) 3-pack of Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman.

From there, on to SaraRules’ parents’ house for dinner and to hang out. After dinner, we watched 30 Days of Night. During the first third to half of the movie, I multi-tasked and played City of Heroes while watching the movie. By the time I was done, I was three bars closer to Level 46. Not too shabby for 30-40 minutes’ work. After the movie – and talking geek with SaraRules’ dad for a bit – we headed home. Since it was still early, we decided to watch something fairly light before calling it a night. We agreed on Justice League: The New Frontier. SaraRules liked it, especially because of its different spin on the characters; I liked it because… well, yeah.. “just because.” Duh.

This morning came early. Very early. We got up, ready and out the door and had breakfast at Paradise Bakery and Cafe before SaraRules had to head off to pick up one of her roommates and hit the road for southern Utah.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
This I Believe – Leaving Work Early to Watch the Sunset

Stray Toasters

• A tip of the hat to for his considerate gift of a couple of tickets to see Garrison Keillor when he comes to Abravanel Hall in a couple of weeks.
• Thanks to SaraRules for reminding me that Daylight Saving Time starts 09 March 2008.
• Prince Defines Hip in a New Way
• 
• For gamers who want their old-school fix: Genesis emulation comes to the Wii
• Cal State University fires Quaker for inserting “nonviolently” into oath.
• I can actually see downtown – and across the valley – this morning. I have pictures to prove it.
• Steampunk Mac Mini
• And, in other old-school-meets-new(ish)-school news: Serial-mouse-driven Etch-a-Sketch

“…right on to the friction of the day.”

Namaste.

Monday – 25 February 2008
Back in the saddle again. The commute wasn’t too bad, despite pea-soup fog from Enoch to just south of Beaver and again from Scipio to Mills. They have apparently “fixed” the “NEHPI” sign…

…by covering the “HPI” with a “PHI” banner. Priceless.

Stray Toasters

• I joined LinkedIn this morning. *shrug* At least I still haven’t hopped on the FaceBook bandwagon. Yet.
• Second shot across the bow: I will be moving all commenting for this blog to Random Access as of Saturday, 01 March 2008.
• Justice League: The New Frontier and 30 Days of Night both come out on DVD tomorrow.
  
• Check out the papercraft artwork of Peter Callesen
• I’m diving into PHP again.  And, again, it’s for work.  Can’t beat that.
• Salt Lake City Weekly‘s Best of 2007: Food and Drink
• I was talking with Dwim, a little while ago, about some of the comics that we read.  He was saying how he felt that some heroes shouldn’t have secret identities.  Wonder Woman was one example.  Green Lantern was another.  I mentioned that while Hal Jordan does have a secret identity, John Stewart doesn’t – he hasn’t worn a mask in his GL identity since the 80s, I think.  Besides, would you want to be “that guy” who tried to hassle John Stewart in his civilian ID?  Let’s look at the deterring factors:
  • Ex-Marine.
  • Even more so: Ex-Marine sharpshooter.
  • Wears a ring (let’s call it what it is: “a weapon”) that can create anything he thinks of.  Anything.
  • Trained as an architect, so he can be… creative.  (Granted, Kyle Rayner‘s an artist, so he’s usually a little more creative, but that goes off along an entirely different tangent.)
  • Good knowledge of mechanics and usually “builds” his ring constructs “from the inside out.”
  • Has probably kicked more ass on – and off – Earth than you have.
  • Did I mention “anything he thinks of?”  I did?  Okay, just wanted to be sure.

  And, it’s not like he takes the ring off when he’s not on-duty.

• Visualization: Movie box office data
• 

Namaste.