Random Access

Thursday – 28 October 2010
Another NBN Technical Friday is upon us.
Amen.

Last night was D&D game night with Melody, Jack and company. My character nearly died. Twice. Not good. Fortunately, though, he didn’t and lives to adventure another day.

After the game, I headed home to read yesterday’s four-color haul. There were some good reads… and a few mediocre ones.  And, I’m still not a fan of John Romita, Jr.’s artwork. (That’s right, I said it. Again.) After a few books, I decided to combine a couple of relaxation methods: Reading comics while soaking in a hot bath. It was a good mix.

Stray Toasters

• From the “SkyNet is now online…” file: Meet Suzette, the chat program that convinced an expert she was human
• For SaraRules! and others: George A. Romero Explains “Zombies” (video)
• Apple Tried to Buy HALO’s Creators
• Musical Interlude: Ray Charles – Sticks and Stones
• DiyOrNot Calculates the Cost of DIY Projects
• China Wrests Supercomputer Title from U.S.
• 
• Firefox zero day being exploited in the wild
• Hurray for fire drills!
• How to Spot Your Evil Twin
• Musical Interlude #2: Nelly (ft. St. Lunatics) – Batter Up
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: 3M claims ownership over purple
  • 3M Owns the Color Purple (But Not How You Might Think)
• In Spain, Homes Are Taken but Debt Stays
• James Bond’s Astin Martin sells for 2.6M pounds at auction

And with that…

…right on to the friction of the day.

Namaste.

Friday – 22 October 2010
Bonus points to those of you who get the subject line without having to look it up.

It’s my 9/80 “on” Friday.
It started off somewhat quietly… but it picked up a little, around 9:45. No big deal. Nothing insurmountable.

Last night, after a couple of rounds of “Let’s Clean the House,” I managed to sneak off to Nova Praetoria for a while. I hadn’t played City for a week or two, so it was a nice change of pace. I ran a few missions. I leveled up once. I remembered how slow running through a city can be… although it’s still faster than Hover.

I also got in a bit more reading in Starship Troopers.

Stray Toasters

• Tweaking Tradition, Even in Its Temple
• Moon Crater Contains Usable Water, NASA Says
  • Shawn Colvin & Ernie: I Don’t Want to Live on the Moon
    
• Recently Rediscovered Letter Shows Wonder Woman’s Earliest Costume
• Middle Classes in Africa
• Haunted Mansion ghost hearse made from LEGO
• A Son Grows Thankful for His Father’s Tough Love
• Gays, Mormons and Boy Scouts’ discrimination
• 
• Credit Cards Soon to Get a Makeover
• T-shirt turns into a zombie
  • Sears reaches out to the neglected Zombie-American demographic
• No Net for the Man in Charge

Namaste.

Monday – 18 October 2010
A new work week begins.

This past weekend was, quite possibly, one of the most relaxing weekends I’ve had in a while.  That is FAR from a “bad” thing.  I think that it was also quite beneficial, given how crappy I felt Wednesday through Friday.

Saturday afternoon, SaraRules! and I went on a mid-afternoon date to the movies. We saw Red. It was fun. Kind of like The Losers: Senior Class, but with a bit more wit.

Later in the evening, we got gussied-up and had an evening on the town: Dinner out and the opening night of

It was a great performance.  There were four set changes – one set was used in Acts I and IV – and each of them truly transformed the look of the stage into a different place.  The casting was also something that I’ve not seen in a Utah Opera production before: 1/3 of the main cast was African-American. That was a refreshing change of pace (or, as I told SaraRules! after the show: “That’s the Blackest opera cast I’ve seen here yet!”).  I do not know if Utah Opera is trying to expand its productions to include more multicultural casts, but if so, I commend them on their effort. It’s refreshing to see more people of color in the arts… and especially in opera.

Today, we slept in; it was a treat in which I indulge far too infrequently. After we got up, we went out for breakfast and ran a couple of errands. We came back home where I did some cleaning… while watching the NFL.com Game Center of the Ravens giving away the game to the Patriots. *ARGH* A little later, we went for a drive up Big Cottonwood Canyon, to see the fall colors. (Pictures can be seen here.) I still want to see more fiery reds, but the foliage was very nice despite its absence.

After our excursion, we came home, changed and then met SaraRules!’ family and Swiz’ family for a lovely dinner, in honor of Swiz and Logan’s engagement. The food was simply exquisite and was matched by the company.  It was the perfect way to wrap up the weekend.

Stray Toasters

• Pope canonises first Australian Saint, Mary MacKillop
• ‘Fractal’ mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot dies aged 85
  • Jonathan Coulton: Mandelbrot Set
    
• 10 Best Alignment Charts
• The Zombie Network: Beware “Free Public WiFi”
• Sesame Street (yes, “THAT” Sesame Street) had a couple of bits of “win” this past week, apparently:
  • Sesame Street Teaches Black Girls to Love Their Hair
  • Old Spice spoof… with Grover
• Thanks to for pointing this out:



• The Perfect Steak Grilling Guide
• Weirdest Things Smuggled on an Airplane
• 10 Badass Old Folks

Hi-ho, hi-ho…

Namaste.

Friday – 08 October 2010
It’s almost the weekend.
It is my 9/80 “on” Friday… and there’s some work that needs to get done before it’s Miller time.

Speaking of work: I’ve been part of a project that has been in various stages of development and progress for a year or so. A couple of months ago, a large part of it wound up falling into my lap. To be honest, a good portion of what needed to be done fell “a little” outside of my personal experience/knowledge base. But it was mine, so there no use crying over “But, I can’t…” or “I don’t…”  (Not that there haven’t been times that I’ve wanted to say those things and walk away.)

On more than one occasion, I’ve been reminded of a song, Discipline, by Bobby McFerrin:

for those who have been trained by it,
no discipline seems pleasant at the time but painful.

The lyrics are actually taken from Hebrews 12: 11 (NIV):

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

Very apt.
More to the point, I haven’t walked (or run) away from the project.
And, despite the learning curve – and some frustration/irritation from learning a good number of things on the fly – it’s been a great learning opportunity.

Stray Toasters

• LEGO Universe is live, as of this morning.
  Of course, I won’t get to play it until this evening or later tonight. *shakes fist*
• Flawed Foreclosure Documents Thwart Home Sales
• Tom Bancroft’s DCU Elementary
• 
• Rediscovering an Earthy Master
• Pirate Johnny Depp makes surprise school visit
• For : Batman: The Killing Joke Relived Via LEGO
• Spammers Using Soft Hyphen to Hide Malicious URLs
• There is a new anime-styled ‘Iron Man’ animated series coming to G4 this Spring. Not too surprisingly, someone’s found the opening title sequence and posted it on YouTube:
• Fringe Star Anna Torv Explores a New Reality
• If the future’s looking dark
  We’re the ones who have to shine
  If there’s no one in control
  We’re the ones who draw the line
  Though we live in trying times
  We’re the ones who have to try
  Though we know that time has wings
  We’re the ones who have to fly…
• Duke Winces as a Private Joke Slips Out of Control
• The Art of Steve Thomas
• From the “Everything’s Heavy Underground” files:
  • Underground: graphic novel thriller set in a cave
  • Luxury underground community: bomb-shelter meets gate-guarded community
• Ancient Roman helmet sells for ten times estimated amount
• Newspaper Publishers Still Hope Tablets Will Save Them

Back to the grind…

Namaste.

Friday – 24 September 2010
It’s almost the weekend.

Last night, DM’ed a Forgotten Realms game at Hastur Hobbies.

I didn’t go.  Instead, SaraRules and I cut down a couple of trees in the front yard and then ferried the remains to neighborhood clean-up dumpsters.  Mmm, chainsaw… There are still a couple of 3-to-4-foot tall stumps to be dealt with, but the major damage has been done.  Who knows…? Our house might actually have some decent curb appeal when we’re done.

After that – and a bit to eat – it was time for the season premiere of Fringe. I daresay that this is going to be an interesting season. Next, SaraRules watched the latest episode of Project: Runway, while I finished reading the last of Wednesday’s comic haul.

Human of the Day
I know that I often tout SaraRules as being the coolest/greatest/most awesome wife. Ever. Well, quite frankly: She is. On top of everything else she does to prove it, today she (once again) brought something to me, at work, that I was too addle-brained to remember to bring with me. And, I have to admit that getting to see her once more in the morning isn’t a bad thing, either.

Stray Toasters

• World Wide Day of Play – Saturday, 25 September 2010
• Report: Poor science education impairs U.S. economy
• Muslims Report Rising Discrimination at Work
• ’50s pop singer Eddie Fisher dies at age 82
• Recently released teaser trailer for the upcoming All-Star Superman:

• Cyberwar Chief Calls for Secure Computer Network
• All Songs Considered: Fall Music Preview
• The Transportation Department Gets Tough
• 
• I’m more of an action figure collector than a statue collector, but I am considering adding this statue to The Covet List.
• A Wave of Addiction and Crime, with the Medicine Cabinet to Blame
• I love it when you call a vendor, tell them “I’m having a problem with (fill in the item)” and they say “Let me see who we have that’s available to come look at it and I’ll call you right back…”

  …and “right back” expands to nearly an hour.  *sigh* It’s not like I have anything else that I need to get done today.  No, I’d much rather sit here and babysit the phone. Idiotsticks.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 22 September 2010
Middle of the week…
First day of Fall…
It’s Comics & Sushi Day…

…and SaraRules and I are going to see The Lion King tonight.

All I need to do is make it through the day.

Last night, after dinner – and a trip to the local Home Depot – I set about introducing two of the trees in our front yard to a chainsaw. The meeting went well. Unfortunately, it got dark before I could finish with the second tree… so it shall have to wait. But good progress was made.

After that, the rest of the evening was spent relaxing. A good portion of that was done with the aid of the television: 1,000 Ways to Die, the first episode of Sanford & Son, an episode of NCIS: Los Angeles and a couple episodes of Mad Men. After that, I was ready to call it a night.

One thing that I didn’t do after the tree-cutting – or didn’t do as well as I had thought – was hydrate. Sure, I had a glass (maybe even a glass-and-a-half) of water afterwards, but it was apparently far from what I needed. I woke up a couple of times with a headache. I finally bought a clue as to what might have been causing it around 0400 this morning. A pint-and-a-half of water and three ibuprofen seemed to help immensely. But, because of the poor quality of the night’s sleep, I treated myself to sleeping in this morning.

Stray Toasters

• Commonly Misheard Expressions to Avoid (or Fix) in Your Writing
• What if Superheroes Were Hipsters?
• Chasing the Perfect Cup of Coffee with Science
• 
• U.N. Seeks to Re-Energize Fight Against Poverty
• What it means when you say “literally”
• Fort McHenry… in LEGO
• Titanic 100th cruises spark buzz, debate
• What Are Batman’s Worst Costumes?
• Body art around the world

Namaste.

Tuesday – 21 September 2010
Day 2 of the work week. Yay.

Today also would have been Jess’ 36th birthday.
Maybe Billy Joel was right:  Only the good die young.

Last night, I had a few friends over to watch Monday Night Football – New Orleans Saints at San Francisco 49ers. I have to say that it was a far better match-up than I had anticipated. I had thought that the Saints would pretty much roll over the ‘Niners, given San Fran’s last few seasons.

No way.
Uh-uh.
Forget it.

After some early-in-the-game flubs, QB Alex Smith led an invigorated and determined team against Drew Brees and the Saints. Play on both sides of the ball was solid. I mean REALLY solid.  In the end, it came down to the Saints nailing a field goal with two seconds left in the game.

And it appears that Saints’ RB Reggie Bush broke his leg on his last play. He is expected to be out for six weeks.

Stray Toasters

• By way of SaraRules: Build London with LEGO

  
  Build Anything from Studiocanoe on Vimeo.

• Disney Princesses Reimagined as Superheroes
• By way of my friend, Anne: Arts Jobs Are Jobs, Too
• Squishable Cthulhu
• Why is it that orange-flavored medicines taste so bad?
• Eric Merced Keeps His Card Art Rare But Easy to Acquire
• 
• From the “History” and “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” files: British Intelligence Agency Used Semen as Invisible Ink
• Wait… I think that THIS trumps the previous item for “WTF?!”
• Hourly Desk Stretches Relax Your Brain and Body
  (This was one of the “positive” things that I learned during my tenure with the U.S. Postal Service.)

Tonight, I get to do my best Paul Bunyan impression and take down at least one of the trees in the front yard.

Namaste.

Thursday – 09 September 2010
Another NBN Thursday kicks off in the valley… with somewhat overcast skies.  It’s been interesting to watch the sunlight peeking through holes in the cloud cover.

Happy New Year (5771) to those celebrating Rosh Hashanah today.

Today is also “Comics Thursday,” which gives the day a little Win-Win cachet.

Last night was the HeroClix “Web of Spider-Man” release night event at Dr. Volt’s.

It was a sealed box tournament — 300 points. Jeremiah ran the event, which meant that I got to play.  (I still fielded a couple of rulings questions, though.)  This set is a little different in that it’s much more… street-level. After the “grander scale” of “The Brave and the Bold” and “Hammer of Thor,” it makes for an interesting change of pace.

Stray Toasters

• Od tir’eh, od tir’eh
  Kama tov yihiyeh
  Bashana, bashana haba’ah.
• Working Tractor Beam Can Move Objects 5 Feet with Just Light
• I believe that we’ve settled on a color for the guest room. Now, we just have to paint the room…
• New York Fashion Week:
  • The Next Wave
  • Fashion Week’s new home: Pizazz at Lincoln Center
• By way of Nyx:

  

  There’s a rap joke in there somewhere…

• Can Science Teach Us How to Dance Sexier?
• The Guardians of America’s Front Lawn
• Conservative Activists Infect Digg Using Massive Bury Brigade
• I’ve been a fan of this song for many years:
• Bracing for Cuts, Military Firms Shed Workers
• Sawhorses and plywood.  Amen.
• Lustful Court and other fun or unfortunate street names

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 08 September 2010
Midweek.
This would ordinarily mean “Comics and Sushi Wednesday.”  However, as there was a holiday at the beginning of the week, comics aren’t hitting stores until tomorrow… and I’m not sure who, if anyone, is available for sushi today.

BUT…

The new HeroClix Web of Spider-Man set hits stores today. Even if there’s no sushi, this will be plenty to get me through the day/night.  Dr. Volt’s is holding a release day tourney this evening; Jeremiah is running it, so I actually get to play.  (Although this means that I’ll miss tonight’s D&D game with Melody and Jack.)

Today is also the birthday of a couple people I’m pretty fond of: Sib-4 ( also known as ) and Jenny P.:

Today also marks the 44th anniversary of the premiere of Star Trek.
(How many of you knew that the theme from the original series had lyrics?)

Last night, SaraRules and I tackled a few home projects: She tore out a few rose bushes, I replaced a couple more sprinkler nozzles and… we put primer on the walls and ceiling of the guest room. Busy night. And we were done with it all by a few minutes after 10:00.  As a reward, I took a nice, hot shower, fixed a bowl of ice cream (Rocky Road and Cookies & Cream) and played a little CoH: Going Rogue. I installed it on my Win7 laptop and it ran like a charm… which I had hoped/expected, since that laptop isn’t really used for anything but gaming.

Stray Toasters

• Female Pilot Reflects on War and Evolving Army
• modHero – Very cool artistic takes on comic characters
• What do these two videos have in common?  (Answer at end of post.)
  Video 1: Rush – Time Stand Still

  Video 2: Til Tuesday - Voices Carry

  
  Legacy Recordings | MySpace Music Videos

• Asteroid buzzes Earth; another one coming
• Yet another cooling unit pump has gone out in our server room. The tech is going to take a water sample with him to see if Something in the Water Does Not Compute. (Apologies to Prince, but it was fitting.)
• Fro Design Co Store
• I think that I’ve come up with an idea for where to put my new train set, at least temporarily
• Snap Judgment
• I wasn’t going to put in a web comic today… until I saw two of them that had a common theme. At that point, I was helpless to resist:

  

  …and…

  

• WTF? Moments Collecting Comic Books
• These are pretty cool: ’60s Style Comic Book Cover Wedding Invites Saved the Date in Style
• Eerie Ukranian Salt Mines House Convalescing Asthmatics

Live long and prosper.

Namaste.

…and the answer to the music trivia question: Til Tuesday’s Aimee Mann was the female voice on Rush’s Time Stand Still (and the “camera operator” in the video).

Tuesday – 07 September 2010
The abbreviated work week begins.

The morning commute was accompanied by the radio, which had this in the mix:

Last night, SaraRules and I headed to the local Home Depot – my third trip for the day – to pick up paint supplies to start work on the guest room. As soon as we finish with it, we’ll be done with the upstairs interior. For now.  We’re considering replacing the railing at the stairs to the basement with a half-wall.  We’ll see how that pans out.

I also managed to get in a little time in Nova Praetoria, the “other” setting for CoH: Going Rogue. I like the fact that you get to choose between being a Loyalist (supporting the emperor) or a Resistance member (fighting against the oppressive regime)… or even straddle the line between them. My character is currently a member of the Resistance. Whether or not he remains one will depend on how the story plays out.

Stray Toasters

• It would be nice if the weather could figure out whether it wants to be hot or cool.
• Petraeus Wanrs Against Planned Koran-Burning
  I find it sad that people can’t figure out that this is invective and offensive.  It seems a far way from the “Do unto others…” that I was taught in the churches of my youth.
• 8 Incredible LEGO Mods
• And here’s a little classic Ms. Jackson for your day, too:
• North Van dad-to-be’s final act saves family
  And if the name “Brian Wood” sounds familiar to gamers, it’s because he was the lead designer for Relic Entertainment’s Company of Heroes.
• By way of : Conventions: Another day at the office for celebs
• 
• 8 Weight Loss Secrets from Around the World
• 1930 Art Deco Henderson
• The Ravens (finally) released QB Troy Smith over the weekend; he was picked up by the 49ers.
• Researchers Say Happiness Costs $75k
• xkcd Comic Wedding Cake

Namaste.

Monday – 06 September 2010
Today is Labor Day.
I hope that everyone has a safe – and very enjoyable – end-of-summer whatever it is you choose to do.

In honor of the day, I woke up early… well, “early-ish”… and, with the help of , worked on my sprinkler system. I had a few heads that needed to be replaced, one that needed help and just some general maintenance all around. This involved two (that’s right: TWO) trips to the local Home Depot. But, two-and-a-half hours and some elbow sweat grease later, it was done and things were working the way they were supposed to.

Yesterday was another lazy long-weekend day. We slept in. I played a little CoH: Going Rogue — I created a new character; SaraRules did some quilting. Later in the day, we headed over to SaraRules’ parents for dinner and a movie.  Last night’s fare was Clash of the Titans, the new one. Again, it was a decent action flick. And the in-laws liked it. Win-Win.

Stray Toasters

• The 4th Annual Utah Symphony|Utah Opera Web Sale is under way!  Get big discounts on this season’s upcoming events.
• Hey! That’s My Cape — Too Many Batmen Could Spoil the Cowl
• Speaking of comics, I’m enjoying getting back into Fables.
• How to open a new book
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: 8-Foot Shark Caught in Potomac River
• TRAIN!

Shortly, SaraRules and I will be heading out for lunch with some of the usual suspects and then seeing The Expendables again.

I should probably finish getting ready.

Namaste.

Saturday – 04 September 2010
Day 2 of the 4-day weekend is upon us.
It started out rather lazily – sleeping in and then stretching out on the sitting room sofa and reading comics. I’d pretty much call that a “win-win” start to the day.

Yesterday was a fairly lazy day. The morning was uneventful. A little before lunchtime, I headed down to visit Kate and Perry and the kids (or at least the kids who weren’t in school…). From there, I headed downtown to shoot a spot for an upcoming USUO video for new Thierry Fischer, the symphony’s new Music Director. It was fun. We’ll see if I make it into the final video or wind up on the cutting room floor. Then, I headed over to the USUO offices to say “Hi” to SaraRules.

Then, I did something that I haven’t done in over 25 years: I bought a new train set. (Yes, I do have a LEGO train set, but that was purchased for me.) My new acquisition was the Lionel Chessie System Merger Special Freight Set. Growing up in Maryland, Chessie System was the ‘road that I grew up around. (That and Norfolk and Western, to some degree.) Pictures of the unboxed set can be seen here.

To say that it’s “a little difficult” to find Chessie locomotives and rolling stock around here (Union Pacific territory) would be a minor understatement. Something that I didn’t realize before getting the itch to get back into model railroading – but makes perfect sense – is that hobby shops carry ‘roads that are appropriate to their geographic location. Therefore, I can find UP and BNSF stock with no problem, but finding things that are more common east of the Mississippi is a little more scarce… unless you special order them, in most cases.

Leaving The Train Shoppe, I gave a call to see if he wanted to come over and watch a few episodes of I Love Toy Trains that I’d recorded. He did. And, thus, we did. One of the episodes featured a layout owned by Tony Lash, that takes up over 2,800 square feet.  (Transcript of the show can be read here. You should read the first few paragraphs, at least.)

Two-thousand eight-hundred square feet.

I’ll give you a moment to let that sink in.

Just to put it into a little better perspective: His layout is larger than our house. Yeah, it’s that big. And it was AMAZING. Seriously.

After watching ILTT, it was time to head out for evening entertainment — SaraRules and her dad went off for a “daddy-daughter date” to see Machete (which she said was pretty awesome), while and I headed off to Clitorati. We had a good turnout; by the time we went to get dinner, there were 15 of us.

When we got back home, I unpacked the track, transformer and locomotive from the Chessie set and assembled it in the family room. And I was immediately transformed into an eight-year-old kid again. Yep, just watching the locomotive going around the oval elicited that much nostalgia… and was that much fun.

Stray Toasters

• Death in Space
• Invoice cake sent to People.com
• TRENDING: How Christians spoil sex
• Seven Famous Movie Flaws That Were Explained in Deleted Scenes
• 
• The physics of breaking stuff with your fists
• What are the perils of being a lefty?
• No, Facebook Places Is Not Tracking You
• Best Exploitation Flicks: Machete‘s Over-the-Top Ancestors
• Zombies get “red light camera” tickets, too
• “East Meets West”: flying carpet sofa

And with that, time to find some trouble to get into!

Namaste.

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

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

Stray Toasters

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

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

Namaste.

Wednesday – 01 September 2010
A new month begins.

Today is Comics (and maybe Sushi) Wednesday.

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

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

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

Stray Toasters

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

Namaste.

Tuesday – 17 August 2010
It’s another good-looking day here in the valley.

And, because it was playing on the radio, during this morning’s commute:

Last night, and his son, Josh, came over to watch football and play with LEGO, respectively. We watched the Giants take on the Jets at the New Meadowlands Stadium, home to both teams — last night, the Jets were the “home” team. Both teams looked good, but the Giants seemed a little more hungry for the win… or perhaps they were just out for revenge after the hit that QB Eli Manning took near the end of the first half. Either way, the Giants came away with the win: 31-16.

Workout
Monday’s step count: 4,648

Stray Toasters

• My sister-in-law is coming to town tonight; I need to find some suitable four-color print entertainment for her.
• I also need to figure out what’s wrong with the water cannon sprinkler in the front yard – it’s not working properly. I spent about ten minutes last night trying to suss it out in the dark. Yay for home ownership!
• 
• astronautdinosaur.com – The Art of Scott Listfield
• Where Have All the Giant Robots Gone?
• Dress Code: When You’re Sick of All Your Clothes
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Rochdale man ‘took 200 fireworks on US plane”
• 
• Study finds fraud, abuse in MD energy program
• Musical Interlude:
  • Museum Acquires Storied Trove of Performances by Jazz Greats
  • Your Favorite ‘Great Unknowns’ in Jazz
• Dexter Has Nothing on These Serial Killers
• U.S. Said to Plan Easing Rules for Travel to Cuba

Namaste.