Union Pacific's Great Excursion Adventure

“Dreams flow across the heartland, feeding other fires…”

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Monday – 18 January 2010
Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (1, 2).

Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. Visit MLKDay.gov.

(Click banner for more information)

Yesterday was a pretty quiet and low-key day. After a little time spent in Paragon City, while SaraRules did… hm… whatever she did while I was saving the world, we headed over to the in-laws’ for dinner and a movie. The dinner fare was a rather tasty homemade chicken pot pie; the movie was Terminator: Salvation.

I watched last night’s pilot of Human Target this morning. As I mentioned before, I was a little concerned about how they would deal with Christopher Chance as a bodyguard, since they had done away with his “master of disguise” persona. They took a rather simple way around it: He just tailors his persona to blend into to the job/lifestyle of his client. It wasn’t groundbreaking, but I enjoyed it. A reviewer noted the following:

The New York Times stated, “because he’s a human target, he has no problem blowing out of exploding buildings … with nary a scratch. Think Jack Bauer with excellent grooming.

Yep, that was pretty spot-on… except he didn’t have the patented Jack Bauer growl. Oh, well, it was still fun. And, there was even a cameo by [SPOILER REDACTED] in the last couple of minutes of the show! That was an amusing twist. I might just have a new Wednesday night viewing habit.

Stray Toasters

Time to start thinking about what to do with my day…

Namaste.

Things and stuff from a lazy Sunday afternoon…

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Sunday – 17 January 2010
It’s another grey and hazy day in Salt Lake City. I woke up this morning and helped move a sofa. Then, I made a now-rare stop at the local Beans & Brews for some morning go-juice. Now, I’m firmly planted on our couch, watching the Vikings duke it out with the Cowboys.

Yesterday was a good – and long AND busy – day. It started off over coffee with Chris and Perry. Next up, a ‘Clix tournament at Dr. Volt’s. And, once again, we had more players than the last time – eleven people played in the tourney and we had one person who showed up, just to try and get back into the game. Of the eleven people who played in the tournament, two of them were under 10-years-old; they were the kids of one of the other players in the game and they played as a team. I played them in the first round – granting them an automatic win, as a bye round; but they played pretty well, for being new to the game in their other two rounds. At the end of the day, Jay (one of the store’s employees) one the tournament, edging out Chris by one point; and the kids walked away with the Fellowship prize.

After shuttling Chris home, I headed home and changed for a night out with SaraRules. The evening started with dinner at Donovan’s Steak & Chop House. Neither of us had been there before. We both had the 6 oz. filet with shripm scampi, with sides of fresh vegetables and garlic mashed potatoes; SaraRules had a Sauvignon Blanc and I had a Spanish red wine.  The food was top-notch, the attentiveness of (most of) the wait-staff was good. All-in-all, it was a very nice dining experience.

Next, we strolled over to the Capitol Theatre to see Utah Opera’s production of Carmen. Despite hearing selections from the opera over the years, I had never before seen it performed.  UO did an excellent job. The set design and costumes were fantastic. And the casting..?  In a word: “Amazing.”  Leann Sandel-Pantaleo, as Carmen, not only brought the role to life through her voice, but also through body language and overall stage presence.  Chad Shelton, as Don Jose, made the character’s fall from proud young soldier to lovestruck and tortured ex-lover believable… and empathetic. If you are in the greater Salt Lake City metropolitan area and have a chance to see this performance, don’t miss it.

Instant Replay: Football

Baltimore Ravens at Indianapolis Colts
3 – 20
The Ravens (Baltimore 2.0) traveled to Indianapolis to take on the Colts Indianapolis Professional Football Club (Baltimore 1.0) at Lucas Field.I didn’t get to see the game, but kept track of the score during the opera’s intermission. And, unfortunately, the Colts came away with the win.

I’ve received a number of “Sorry your team lost” messages, which have been appreciated, but… even though they’re out of the running for The Big Dance, I’m very proud of what the Ravens were able to accomplish this season. They started decently, faltered in the middle of the season, but were able to finish not only with a winning season, but a playoff appearance.

And, of course, there’s always next season.

Stray Toasters

Namaste.

Friday, again!

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Friday – 15 January 2010
It’s the end of the work week. And it’s the quiet Friday in the office. Amen.

Today is also the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, which will be celebrated in the States on Monday. And, as usual, I am taking the day off of work; I need to see if there’s a service project for which I can volunteer.

Last night, came over for dinner. SaraRules fixed her famous beef stew for dinner. It was, as usual, very tasty. brought eclairs and cookies from Schmidt’s for dessert.

Stray Toasters

I’m firing up the XBox in an hour…

Namaste.

“It’s the suburb of the week…”

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Thursday – 14 January 2010
It’s a grey and hazy day here. I’ve referred to winter in Utah – especially when the inversion sets in – as being akin to living in a dirty fishbowl. Today is a pretty good example of that. Gotta love air that’s thick enough to chew…

Last night was a very low-key night. After dinner, when SaraRules headed off to Zumba, I decided that it was a perfect night for a hot soak and made it so. To add to the enjoyment of the downtime, I read a bit of Teenagers from the Future, which I haven’t picked up in far too long.

Stray Toasters

I think (actually, it’s more like “I’m hoping”) that I only have one meeting today. That would be nice.

Namaste.

” ‘Cause it’s gonna be the future soon, and I won’t always feel this way…”

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Wednesday – 13 January 2010
Midweek and all’s pretty much well. On top of that, it’s Comics and Sushi Wednesday, so there should be added goodness to the day. My Prerogative came on the radio during the morning commute. It made me smile… and sing along. It was a good way to kick off the morning and prep for a day in the trenches.

Last night, Chris came over to finish our HeroClix “Arkham Asylum Breakout” game. He won… which was totally expected – I had three figures to his eight – but, the fact that it took him a tad over 30 minutes to do so made me feel good. We need to schedule the other side of the fight, with me running Batman and company and him running Gotham City’s least desirable citizens.

Stray Toasters

That’s good for now.

Saturday in the valley…

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Saturday – 09 January 2010
It’s another cool/cold day here on Hoth… I mean, “in Utah.” Not so cold that the tauntauns aren’t safe, but it’s still cold enough that “inside” is much more comfortable (to me) than “outside.”

SaraRules and I attended our friend Lawrence’s funeral this afternoon, making today the unofficial fifth day of Suit Week (black suit, white shirt, black tie), as. It was a very nice service and an excellent send-off for a fine young man. He will be missed.

After the funeral, SaraRules, and I went to Coachman’s Dinner and Pancake House for lunch. Neither SaraRules nor I had been there before. All three of us ordered from the breakfast menu. I’d want to eat there again – and have something from the lunch or dinner menu – before passing final judgment on the place, but today’s fare wasn’t bad.

Next, we did some errand-running and then, jiggety-jig, returned home. This evening, there’s a little more errand-running to do and we’re also heading downtown to try and get tickets for movies at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

Stray Toasters

And away we go…

Namaste.

Zoot Suit Riot…

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Meliko pointed out that I didn’t comment on today’s entry for Suit Week 2010. It completely skipped my mind when I was writing this morning’s post.  To correct the error:

  • Grey suit (with a very fine herringbone pattern)
  • White shirt
  • Maroon tie with grey and white porpoises.

Don’t you forget about me… No, no, no, no…

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Wednesday – 06 January 2010
It’s the middle of the week.
It’s also Comics and Sushi Wednesday.

As I was driving home from work last night, SaraRules called me to ask if I would be working late or if I would be home soon. I was in the parking lot, preparing to pull into my parking spot. She was calling because we had received a package – our Christmas present from my uncle: A gift box from Omaha Steaks. In it was an assortment of meats – beef, poultry and seafood. SCORE! (Seriously… half of our freezer contains meat.) Of course, this means that we have some rather tasty options for dinner over the next two or three weeks.

After dinner – which did not include anything from our newly arrived box o’ goodies – and NCIS, we headed to the gym. It was a good workout. We followed it up with a trip to the store and then back home for a quiet evening.

Stray Toasters

Yeah… a Teen Titans-related post requires a Cyborg icon. Selah.

Namaste.

Through the Tuesday morning haze…

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Tuesday – 05 January 2010
My fingers want to type “2001,” for some reason. I occasionally have to stop and make a conscious effort to transpose the “0” and the “1.”

Last night, after dinner, I fell asleep on the couch – I kept nodding off during MythBusters, so I figured that a nap was in order. An hour-and-a-half later, I was back in the game. We headed to the gym for a cardio workout and then back home for some lazy time. I’m Ivory Soap sure that I can thank the nap for a good portion of last night’s broken sleep, though.

This morning, I decided to wear a suit again. Yesterday, I wore my black suit with a dark purple shirt and a black and purple paisley tie; today, I’ve gone with the grey glen plaid suit, white shirt and blue geometric tie. I haven’t decided whether or not I’m just going to make this “Suit Week 2010” or not… but I’m not against it.

Stray Toasters

And, it’s almost meeting time. Yay.

Namaste.

Of coffee and Clix tournaments…

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Saturday – 02 January 2010
It’s 1930 and I’m already thinking “It’s been a long day.” I woke up a little after 0730… forty-five mintutes before the alarm went off. *sigh* I tried – rather unsuccessfully – to fall asleep again. When the alarm finally sounded, I rolled out of bed and set about the business of the day.

I picked up Chris and we headed to meet Perry for coffee. After that, we were off to Dr. Volt’s for today’s tournament. It was a 300-point, constructed team event; there were six (6) players… and a few spectators, as well. Chris brought his traditional tournament team: OOTS Batman, Green Arrow and The Flash. And, after today’s event, he is unbeaten with this team. Unbeaten, as in “ever.” Having gone 3-0 for the day, he handily won first place, the Fellowship prize went to Brian, a (fairly) new player. I’ll be running another tourney in two weeks… and in four weeks, I’m using an idea “creatively liberated” from and running a HeroClix Extreme Wrestling Federation scenario. That should be a lot of fun.

After dropping Chris off, I headed home. and Matt came over for dinner. We had jambalaya and salad, chased with a pecan cheesecake dessert.

I don’t know what, if anything, is on tap for this evening. I think that I’m fine with just staying in… although if something comes up, I doubt that I’d be against going out again.

Namaste.

A new year begins…

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Friday – 01 January 2010
Welcome to 2010.

Today is also the seventh day of Kwanzaa; today ‘s principle is “Imani” or “faith”:

To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

Last night, SaraRules and I had a small gathering of friends and family over for a potluck dinner. There were some wonderful dishes and the company was great. It was a quiet and low-key way to say goodbye to 2009 and prepare to welcome in 2010.

After dinner, SaraRules and I settled in for a quiet evening. We turned on the television to watch the (delayed broadcast of the) ball drop in Times Square. We both noted how… old… that Dick Clark looks and sounds; he seems to have deteriorated quickly since his stroke a couple of years ago.

Today is… unscheduled. And that’s not a bad thing. I’m sure that we’ll come up with something to do. And tonight, we’re getting together with the usual suspects for Clitorati.

Stray Toasters

Namaste.

‘Kneel before Zod!’

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Wednesday – 30 December 2009
And, just like that, 2009 is nearly at an end. I realized, over lunch, that today marks twenty-eight months since my first date with SaraRules.

Today is also the fifth day of Kwanzaa; today’s principle is “Nia” or “purpose”:

To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

Today was also Comics and Sushi Wednesday. The usual lunchtime crew was busy with other things. As SaraRules had a half-day at work today, she met me for lunch. It was good. The comics pickin’s were slim, but Dr. Volt’s is having a 30% off sale, so I picked up a couple of graphic novels and a Starman figure. (He’s packaged as a member of the JSA, but he’ll always be a Legionnaire, as far as I’m concerned.)

Stray Toasters

Namaste.

“I know you’re different, you know I’m the same…”

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Tuesday – 29 December 2009
Time to see if WordPress is going to pull the digital equivalent of a rectal craniotomy this morning and actually work…

Today is the fourth day of Kwanzaa. Today’s principle is “Ujamaa” or “cooperative economics”:

To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.

Yesterday, I wound up running a couple of errands and then having coffee with . We headed to Jitter Bug, which was the first time either of us had been there in… well… quite a while. It was a nice way to round out the afternoon.

After I got home, SaraRules and I pondered dinner options. We came up with the idea heading out to dinner, but needed to narrow down our options. We called Logan and Swiz to see if they were interesting in going with us. We settled on Famous Dave’s BBQ. Good call. Back at home, we watched one of the last episodes of Planet Earth; this one was on conservation. It was good without being overly preachy.

Stray Toasters

Off to face the day.

Namaste.

“But, baby, it’s co-o-old outside…”

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Tuesday – 22 December 2009
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas the vershluggen inversion has set in… permanently. Fortunately, weather forecasters say that we have a stormfront moving in that will bring snow showers tonight or tomorrow. That should help clear the air for Christmas… I hope.

After yesterday’s outing with SaraRules and my m-i-l, we came home and had a little downtime. Said time included a much-needed nap for me. After I got up, SaraRules and I hit the mall to pick up a couple of gifts – in and out of the mall in under ten minutes(!) – and then headed downtown.

We met and checked out the lights at Temple Square. Let me rephrase that: “We planned to meet Nyx and wound up waiting for each other on opposite corners of the same intersection for about fifteen minutes before meeting up to see the lights at Temple Square.” Yeah, that is a much better explanation. And it’s far closer to the way things turned out. Let me also add: It was COLD last night. Seriously cold. Temple Square had throngs of people, which is far from atypical, especially at this time of year. The lights were nice and there were five Nativity creches to see, as well. Pictures of the outing can be seen here.

After the lights, SaraRules, Nyx and I headed to Coffee Connection to meet up with 365DayGirl. Nyx had been there – and mentioned that I should check it out – before. It was something of an eclectic place: The main entry area has a spartan, almost industrial feel; the “study area” was full of booths and had a bit of a diner-like feel to me; and the “lounge” area was full of couches and had a much more casual feel. We hung out and chatted for a while before calling it a night.

Stray Toasters

  • Thank Heaven, God and Baby Jesus for polypropylene long underwear.
  • How to Practice Mindfulness
  • Nyx sent me links to two amusing sweatshirts last night:
  • While watching How Do They Do It? yesterday afternoon, they had an item about modular houses built – within a week – by Huf Haus.
  • How to Teach Physics to Your Dog
  • It looks as though Corey Ivy will be taking Lardarius Webb’s place in the Ravens’ lineup.
  • Someone on HCRealms has posted a picture of the “Buy It by the Brick” HeroClix figure for the upcoming “Brave and the Bold” set:
  • East Coast Blizzard Seen From Space
  • District 9 is out today.
  • I’m not sure how many – if any – of you are familiar with the Mark Millar comic book, Kick-Ass

    Dave Lizewski, an otherwise ordinary New York City high school student and the child of Greg Willer, loving single father, takes his interest in comic books as inspiration to become a real-life superhero. He assembles a suit and mask, which he wears under his normal clothing, begins exercising, and practices things like walking on roofs, sating his ambitions for a time. He eventually seeks to fight crime, with his first attempt leading him to receive a severe beating and stabbing by thugs, followed by his wandering into the street and being hit by a car.[1] He retains his secret identity, however, stripping off and hiding his costume before paramedics arrive.

    …but there’s a live-action movie coming out next year. One of the characters in the book is Hit-Girl, a 12-year-old vigilante who patrols the city with her father, Big Daddy (portrayed by Nicolas Cage). Here’s a trailer of Hit-Girl’s… um… “greatest hits.” (Definitely for mature audiences)

  • Climate, Habitat Threaten Wild Coffee Species
  • Monkey knife-fighting with octopus tattoo

Time to get out there and face the day.)

Namaste.

EDIT
I just got a message from my father: Our holiday cards were shipped to Maryland, rather than here… despite my calling FedEx to verify where they were supposed to go. *sigh* On the “plus” side, Dad had them Express Mailed here; we should have them tomorning.

“Everybody’s working for the weekend (and the end of the year!)…”

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Friday – 18 December 2009
It’s the end of the work week.
It’s also the end of my work year.
And, if that wasn’t enough, it’s a week before Christmas.
And, on top of THAT… in four (4) more days, the days will start getting longer again. Selah.

Last night, SaraRules and I ran some errands and made some (more) Christmas candy. When that was done, we watched Tuesday’s episodes of NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles. Not a bad way to spend a Thursday evening. What we didn’t do was watch the Colts-Jags game; from what we heard from SaraRules’ father, it actually turned out to be a good game. Oh, well. If it comes down to it, I’ll just look for the rebroadcast on NFL Network.

I slept fairly well last night, but – for the third time this week – I woke up due to a rather disturbing dream. You know the kind: The “Should I really be upset with Person X for that…?” kind. It took me a minute or two to realize that the transgression occured in a dream and to calm the urge to tell someone where to go, how to get there and where they could find a pair of gasoline drawers to wear on the way. *sigh* My subconscious is apparently a cruel and evil bastard.

On the plus side, today is the quiet Friday in the office. I’m not saying that one of the Star Wars movies or Green Lantern: First Flight might make their way onto the big monitor today… but I’m not not-saying it, either.

Stray Toasters

Namaste.