Random Access

Thursday – 01 October 2009
This NBN Thursday kicked off around 0745… and at only 32°F. Of course, following a day where it snowed (TWICE!), I’m glad that this morning was just clear and cold. Additionally, none of the snow in the valley lasted; on the mountaintops, however… *shrug*

This morning saw the first of today’s airport runs that SaraRules and I will be making:

1. Adam (Sib-3), Chelsea and Caden (Nephew-1) arrived at 0900. Their baggage… we weren’t too sure about. From the time they deplaned to the time they made it down to baggage claim, nothing with their flight number came up. This didn’t make them – nor the other people on their flight – very happy. Adam went to see what had happened while Chelsea went to get the rental car. According to him, the baggage claim clerk said that the people on their flight “didn’t make it to baggage claim fast enough,” so they took their baggage off the carousel and put it in the claims office. “Not fast enough?!” They walked from the gate to baggage claim! Any faster and they would have had to ‘port there. Idiotstick. Meanwhile, Chelsea was still waiting in line at the car rental counter – they only had one person working the desk. All told, it took almost an hour to get everything straight, which put us there when…
2. My stepsister, Barbara, arrived. In fact, I had to leave the others to finalize the rental arrangements to meet her. She had already gotten her luggage by the time I got back to baggage claim. We met the others at the rental counters. She got her car and we were off.

We had a “slight miscue” getting out of the airport, but that was clarified a couple of phone calls later. I dropped SaraRules off at home – she was meeting her sister and mother for a spa day and afternoon tea – before leading Adam and company to their hotel; I didn’t have to lead Barbara, as she had a GPS in her car… and she took off without us. Everyone checked in and then we went out for lunch.

Now, I’m back at home to take care of some cleaning while there’s some down time.

Stray Toasters

• T-minus two days…
• Caden is adorable. That’s really all there is to it. Or, as SaraRules put it: “Adam’s very lucky to have Chelsea help him make a cute kid.”
• Despite sending emails with weather updates to the family, I’ve already/still gotten two calls asking me how cold it is and if it really snowed yesterday.
• Movie Posters for Minimalists
• Being a bad guy can be good for career
• I still haven’t watched Superman/Batman: Public Enemies yet!
• I’m a bit late getting up to speed on this one, but it’s Banned Books Week.
• Monster Cereal: Fan Art Month
• Are you an Xbox Live subscriber? If so, what’s your gamertag?
• Are you a member of Good Reads?  What’s your username?
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Bank of America demands thumbprint from man with no arms

Namaste.

Wednesday – 30 September 2009
The last day of September is rainy.
It’s noticeably cooler than the past week or so has been – today’s projected high is 56F.
And… AND… there’s a possibility of snow in the forecast.

But, on the bright side: It’s Comics (and Sushi) Wednesday.

Last night, I headed over to Chris’ to play HeroClix. Instead, we wound up chatting the evening away. (Which was just as good a way to spend the evening, in my opinion.) He also showed me Batman: Arkham Asylum and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, both of which looked good… but I’d be more inclined to pick up Alliance than Asylum at this point.

Stray Toasters

• T-minus three days and counting.
• Speaking of which, I’ve had a number of people ask me “What’s the attire for the event?” This is somewhat amusing, as we specifically put “Semi-Formal Attire” on the wedding invitation. This has led to questions of “What’s ‘semi-formal?’ ” So, with that in mind, here’s a guide to semi-formal wear:
  • Dress Code (Western)
  • Semi-formal
  • Semi-Formal Dress (women)
  • The Well-Dressed Gentleman

  We’ve also been asked if we’re serious about the attire. Simple answer: “Yes.” After all, we put it on the invitations for a reason. And that reason is to (hopefully) preclude anyone – with exactly one known and excused exemption – from showing up in streetwear or casual wear.

• Apple 1984 ad, updated for 2009

• I picked up my copy of Superman/Batman: Public Enemies last night.
  I brought it to work this morning; there’s a good chance that it will see some screen time today.
• Amanda Palmer on why she’s not afraid to ask her listeners for money
• I need to find someone who can make one of these for .
• Snow…? Now?!  Really?!?  *shakes head*
• Bobby Brown: My Prerogative

• Indiana Jones Desktop Accessories
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Britain seeks ban on pint glasses to prevent bar-brawl injuries
• Zork rock anthem

Namaste.

Tuesday – 29 September 2009
Thank God it’s “Thursday.”
I wonder if I should impose standard NBN rules…?  I shall have to ponder this.

Happy Birthday to loonybin88:

Last night, I did a little more work on my Cyclops ‘Clix. I broke out the modeling putty and went to work. It’s not my best work, but as SaraRules pointed out: I haven’t really tried sculpting anything before, so I can’t expect it to be “perfect” the first time out of the gate. True enough. As it is, I managed to Dremel/file/sculpt the “X” off of his costume and (most of) the cuffs from his boots and gloves.

(Pre-Dremel/file and sculpting image)

I’ve put a rough coat of paint on, to see how it will look. So far, not “hellish.” Again, not perfect, but it’s going to be alright. I’m still on the fence about whether or not I’m going to try and sculpt his belt an straps or just paint them on. We shall see. And, should I choose to do a “better-looking” figure in the future, well… in the words of Kool Moe Dee:

And if it’s weak when I’m done
Renovate and build another one
I go to work

‘Nuff said.

We just got back from lunch for loonybin88’s birthday. Famous Dave’s. Almost as food coma-inducing as Rodizio. Mmm…

Stray Toasters

• Flu shot: Check.
• SaraRules posted something on the wedding blog.  *jawdrop*
• Utah is about to have a lovely cold snap: We’re going to drop 30-40°F… effectively overnight.
• Atari Represent t-shirt
• 
• FREE CAKE!!!
• Stalin’s Scientist Sees First Light
• One small step for a clown, one giant step for clownkind.

Namaste.

Monday – 28 September 2009
Today has been good, both at work and otherwise. I consider that an auspicious beginning to the week… especially considering how frenetic the week will become as Saturday approaches.

Speaking of Saturday, I met SaraRules at lunch and we went to get our marriage license. The whole thing took less than ten minutes, top to bottom. On the way back to the office, I stopped in at the in-laws-to-be for a few minutes, picked up a tasty burrito from Barbacoa and… AND… got a Slurpee!

Stray Toasters

• Marriage license: Check.
• Officiant: Check.
• Should the Browns abolish the quarterback position?
• 17 Amazing Sci-Fi Themed Cakes, courtesy of .
• From NPR Music: Rafael Saddiq – Tiny Desk Concert
• 
• Roman Polanski: Film’s Dark Prince
• NPR also had a couple of interesting non-profit organization-related items
  • CEO Salaries up at Nonprofits in 2008
  • Nonprofit Pay in 2008
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Indiana prosecutor says she’s duty-bound to prosecute grandma who bought cold medicine

Back to the grind.

Namaste.

Sunday – 27 September 2009
Holy cow. This has been one helluva weekend. It has also reaffirmed my thoughts and feelings that I have an amazing fiancee and some equally amazing friends.

Saturday started with sleeping in. It was nice. SaraRules and I had planned on a relatively low-key day together, before the last week before the wedding. When we finally got in gear and out of the apartment, we headed to the Garden of Sweden and Hobby Lobby – we were looking for some picture frames (IKEA) and some ribbon for our wedding guest book. We found both. AND, we even had Slurpees! We eventually meandered back home. We straightened up a few things and chilled out before heading out to Tucano’s, a Brazilian steakhouse, for dinner.  Mmm… food-induced coma.

Then things went completely off the rails.

Around 6:00, when we were supposed to be leaving, there was a knock on the door. I looked out the peephole and thought I saw . Opening the door, I was more than “a little” shocked to see standing there, instead. Then he yelled, “Get ‘im!” and rushed in the door. He was followed by seven other people.

My first reaction: Fall into defensive mode and prepare to start throwing punches.

That’s when I noticed that loonybin88 was one of the people…

::: processing:::
::: processing :::
::: processing :::

It then clicked that I recognized the people and could stand down from preparing to fight, but I was still resistant to them trying to usher me out the door. (According to SaraRules, it apparently took four of them to push/pull me out.) As they got me out into the parking lot, looked at me and announced, “Welcome to your bachelor party!” As I was still in shock over the abruptness of what had just happened, the only thing that came to mind was:

“But I have dinner plans…”

Yeah. Brilliant. Because it hadn’t clicked in my head that my beautiful bride-to-be would have anything to do with me getting kidnapped and taken out for a surprise bachelor party. (Tricksy like a Hobbit, she is.) Apparently, she and had been planning this for weeks, once it became fairly public knowledge that I wasn’t planning on having a bachelor party. Their co-conspirators included: , and Chris S., , loonybin88, and Land.

We headed to Rodizio Grill, where , Chris (whom I play ‘Clix with) and SaraRules’ brother, Logan, joined us. While it wasn’t the quiet evening out with my fiancee that I was expecting, I enjoyed the deadly sin of Gluttony just as much. The food, as ever, was very good. The company was equally good.

After dinner, we piled into cars and headed to Fat Cats for some bowling and to shoot some pool. (And me without my bowling balls or shoes… *sigh*) According to Ye Olde Blog, I hadn’t been bowling since April 2008. Sad. We got in two games, I bowled a 170 and a 143; that wasn’t too bad, considering the lapse in time on the lanes. Next we played a couple hours’ worth of pool. There was a lot of slop, but we also had a lot of fun.

Next stop: and OnlyAly’s place for poker and drinking and general shooting the bull. We played until 0330 this morning. I bummed a ride home from Chris and Nox.

All told, I had an excellent game/geek-inspired bachelor party in the company of some great friends, to whom I can only say, “Thank you very much.”

Not too surprisingly, I slept in a bit on Sunday morning. I couldn’t sleep in very late, though, because it was the season’s first meeting between the Browns and the Ravens. We headed over to ‘s place, where Nox was already waiting. We also met a couple of ‘s friends, Christy and Clark… who were also Browns’ fans – we won’t hold that against them… much. Besides, it will be nice for to not have to drink alone for the next game. The Ravens brought their “A” game today, handing the Browns a 34-3 shellacking.

Cleveland Browns at Baltimore Ravens
3 – 34
Joe Flacco had another excellent week, posting 342 passing yards.

Let me repeat that, for those who missed it: Thirty-four to three. SaraRules, Nox and I did one shot, each, to ‘s seven. It was a beautiful thing.

After the game, SaraRules and I headed down to Kate and Perry’s; we were babysitting the kids this evening. Two of us… four kids… GO! Of course, watching the kids was a piece of cake. They started off watching a couple episodes of Lazy Town. (SaraRules noted that it will only be a few years before we are subjected to shows like this on a regular basis…) Next, they watched Next Avengers, which wasn’t too bad. We then fed the group and then sent the older kids to baths. We popped corn and let them watch Cars before sending them off to bed.

And now, it’s pre-Monday winding down time.

But, it’s been a great weekend.

Namaste.

Thursday – 24 September 2009
Another NBN Thursday is under way.  This one has the added bonus of starting with frozen mocha goodness.

Last night, I picked up my four-color shwag and headed home to decide what to do about dinner, as SaraRules had a post-work meeting. I was thinking “ramen” about the time that she called to say that she was on the way home. Win-Win. So, rather than artificially-flavored Japanese noodles, we had soft tacos. After dinner, she headed out to meet Melissa at the gym; I went to Target – I needed some boxes so that I could ship some eBay auction items. Before heading home, I stopped in to visit .

Back at home, before watching The Late Show, SaraRules and I practiced our first dance. There have been a couple of modifications. Nothing too major, fortunately. And, our… mastery (?)… of the dance is coming along.

Stray Toasters

• Nine days and counting…
  • Groomsmens’ gifts: Check.
  • Best Man rearrangement: Check.
• Last week, I received a new 22″ monitor at work. Yesterday, I unpacked and set it up. After getting rid of two other monitors, I now/still have three (3) on my desk: 42″, 22″ and 19″.
• pointed me in the direction of this: Tiny, Easy-to-Build Weapons Annihilate Office Boredom
• Comics in the Classroom
• …speaking of comics, yesterday’s books were good.
• By way of Prelate Derek:

  

• Damn you, Word Twist!
• For :

  

• posted a link to Ugliest Tattoos: The Gallery of Regrets and all I can say is, “Wow…” Some of these (read: “Almost ALL of them…”) are straight out of the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file.
• London cops finally apologize for mugging geek — four years later
• From the “Curiouser and curiouser…” file: Lamp that runs on human blood
• Meetings != YAY!

Namaste.

Wednesday – 23 September 2009
Midweek and all’s well.

Today is… well… I’m not sure that it’s going to be Comics and Sushi Wednesday, as we have a coworker whose last day is tomorrow; I was invited to his going-away lunch, which will conflict with going to sushi. Of course, since SaraRules has a work-related function right after business hours, I am on my own for dinner. Maybe I’ll just go get sushi and comics a little later than usual.

For the first time in weeks, I felt like working on a couple of custom HeroClix figures. I’m still a little torn about what to do for Cyclops. I want to do a figure of him in his black Astonishing X-Men outfit – the original one, not what it’s morphed into in the past year or so. I’m not sure which figure I want to use for it – I ordered a couple of the ones from the Danger Room set, but they will require some surgery and modeling putty to make them look “just right.” Of course, I may just borrow the arms and torso from a spare Booster Gold, since his cuffs are right… then I’d have to find legs and add a little putty in the torso, again. We’ll see how this goes.

Stray Toasters

• Thanks to everyone who responded to this post. If you haven’t responded – or if you have something else to add – please feel free to add comments.
• Working cigarette lighter cufflinks
• I’ve been a Superman fan for… well, let’s just say “a long time.” The 1978 Superman, starring the late Christopher Reeve, is still my #1 movie – a combination of it being a good movie and the memories attached to seeing it. I even enjoyed Superman Returns, warts and all. That being said, I was quite scared – and more than “a little” leery – when I heard that Tim Burton, hot off the successes of his Batman movies, was possibly being tapped to direct a reboot of the Superman franchise, based on a Kevin Smith (Clerks, Mallrats) treatment, called Superman Lives (1, 2).
  

  *blink blink*

  Tim Burton. Superman. No, they do not go together like chocolate and peanut butter. His choice for Clark Kent was even more left-of-center: Nicolas Cage. Yes, THAT Nicolas Cage:

  Nicolas Cage, a comic book fan, signed on as Superman with a $20 million pay or play contract, feeling he could “re-conceive the character.” Peters felt Cage could “convince audiences he [Superman] came from outer space.” Burton stated it would be “the first time you would believe that nobody could recognize Clark Kent as Superman, he [Cage] could physically change his persona.”

  Yeah. Granted, after seeing a (relatively) slightly more serious Cage in The Rock, I was willing to give him a shot.. but I was still leery. Don’t get me wrong, I do like Mr. Cage’s work in some things (Ghost Rider!!!), but yeah.

  All of that to say this: Yesterday, a picture surfaced of Mr. Cage’s costume test. Not the Clark Kent costume, but the Superman costume. Click here to see it, if you dare.

• FDA OKs First Human Trial of Neural Stem Cell Therapy
• James May’s LEGO house is demolished
• Photos of Edward Gorey’s house
• Improv Everywhere strikes again: Subway Yearbook Photos
• Utah Tackles Texting and Driving Problem Head-On
• The next X-film: X4 or New Mutants
  (Personally, I’d go New Mutants.)
• Church converted into magnificent bookstore
• Two things that you probably never thought of putting together: Left4Dead Teletubbies mod
• Andrei Condrescu: Growing Up the iPod Way

Namaste.

This morning’s meeting went well. It ran a little longer than planned, but we accomplished what we needed to.

Wes and I went to the gym for a brief workout today.  When we got to the weight bench, someone had left 275 pounds racked. I was tempted to try it, as I haven’t done a good attempt at a max in a while. So… I did. Bar came down. Bar went back up. Slowly, but it went up. I was happy with that; besides, I’m not sure that I would have gotten 300 pounds. As for the rest of the workout:

• Sit-ups (incline): 3 sets/20 reps (with 5 extra reps on the last set)
• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps – 225 lbs, 205 lbs, 185 lbs
• Flys: 3 sets/10 reps, 110 lbs (10 second hold on last rep of each set)
• Lower Back Extensions: 3 sets/12 reps
• Curls (dumbbell): 3 sets/10 reps, 25 lbs
• Reverse Punch (dumbbell): 3 sets/10 reps, 10 lbs

Post-workout weight: 188.2 lbs

On the way back to the office, I stopped to pick up a Slurpee. And it’s been quite tasty, along with the pizza from Papa Murphy’s.

I should probably get back to the grindstone.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 22 September 2009
It’s the first day of Autumn… and it surely felt like it this morning. It was 46°F when I got into the car. Where’d the warm weather go?!

The in-the-office morning kicked off in a good way, though: loonybin88 brought in bagels. Both a pleasant and unexpected way to start a Tuesday morning. And to kepp the flow going, this morning’s musical oleo included:

• 112 – Dance With Me
• Snoop Dogg – Undercova Funk
• Gwen Stefani – Hollaback Girl
• The B-52s – Love Shack
• Billy Preston – Nothing From Nothing
  

Yep, good way to get the body moving first thing in the morning.  *nod*

And it’s a workout day, to boot.

Stray Toasters

• I just found out that I have a meeting that’s been rescheduled… for ten minutes from now.
• Dwayne McDuffie: Drawn to Animation
• Spinning steampunk jewelry and Shoes with which to gouge out the eyes of alien invaders
• “Two of the most terrifying entities in the universe: Sinestro and Hello Kitty”

  

• SGI releases personal supercomputer
• Vegetative patients can still learn
• Last words

And, now, it’s meeting time…

Namaste.

This morning, I actually got up when the alarm went off. The first one. That was an odd change of pace, considering that I haven’t been able to pull off that feat – on a weekday – in a few weeks. I was up, ready and out in relatively short order, too.

Once I got to the office, I hung some red and gold streamers around Julie’s desk and pinned my Florida State University sweatshirt to the wall above our dry-erase board. When she came down the hall and around the corner, the first thing I heard was,”You are such a nerd.” I took that as a compliment. (I’ve also managed to… not quite “offend”… other BYU fans around the office with the sweatshirt, as the streamers have already been taken down. Win-Win.)

Yesterday’s excursion to the State Fair was fun. SaraRules got to see quilts; I got to people-watch. We also checked out some really nice photography and crafts. It was a good way to spend the afternoon. Then it was off to the in-laws’ for football. We got there just before the last play of the Ravens-Chargers game.

Hey, Ray… Darren Sproles said the he could not only outrun you, but that he was going up the gut on 4th and 2 for the go-ahead touchdown and the win. What do you think about that?

Ray!  You got him and saved the win for the Ravens!  How does that make you feel?!

Yeah, me too!

Football Update

Baltimore Ravens at San Diego Chargers
31 – 26
The Ravens headed into Qualcomm Stadium and took the spark out of the Chargers. Phillip Rivers, being… well… Phillip Rivers, had yet another amazing outing, though: 436 passing yards. That’s just not right.

.

Carolina Panthers at Atlanta Hawks
10 – 28
Didn’t see it, but heard that it wasn’t a great showing for Carolina.

.

Oakland Raiders at Kansas City Chiefs
13 – 10
Congrats, SaraRules!

.

Cleveland Browns at Denver Broncos
6 – 27
Sorry, . Maybe your team will show up next Sunday when they head to Baltimore… maybe.

.

Minnesota Vikings at Detroit Lions
34 – 20
Brett Favre and the Vikes gave the Lions yet another loss. You know that’s gotta sting. Congrats,

.

Cincinnati Bengals at Green Bay Packers
31 – 24
Congrats, and .

Stray Toasters

• Twelve days.
• Shattering the Ruby Quartz Ceiling: Why Cyclops Is Finally Cool
  (I’ve always thought Scott was just fine, but I do like the changes in attitude of late…)
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Jedi says Tesco discriminated against him
• Philadelphia Free Library System saved
• Tim Gunn Interview about ‘Models, Inc.’ and Superhero Fashion
• Die, Sweet Road Runner, Die (not for kids)

• Zombies vs. villagers chess set
• The 5 Creepiest Sex Scenes in Comics
  • As a corollary: The 10 Worst Moments in Superman History
• Bobby Brown: Speaking about Whitney and Going ‘Behind the Music’
• Whole Foods’ 365 Garlic and Herb Pita Chips == Awesome!

Back to it…

Namaste.

Thursday: Coda
The rest of the work day turned out pretty well. Of course, after the way it started, it could only get better. I also got paid a really nice complAt lunch, I went out for a bit. I came home to pick up a couple of things (including my Florida State sweatshirt, as BYU is playing FSU this weekend…) and, on the way back, I stopped to pick up some fruit at Whole Foods… and a Slurpee^®! That’s right. Frozen Wild Cherry and Pina Colada-flavored goodness.

After the workin’ day was over, I headed home. And we had dinner… and watched 300. Then it was time to go pick up and put down heavy things, with Melissa. Tonight’s workout consisted of:

• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 185 lbs
• Leg Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 140 lbs
• Calf Raises: 3 sets/10 reps, 120 lbs
• Lower Back Extensions: 3 sets/12 reps
• Bent-over Rows: 3 sets/10 reps, 35 lbs
• Sit-ups (incline): 3 sets/20 reps
• Lunges: 3 sets/5 reps per leg
• Lateral Raises: 3 sets/10 reps, 15 lbs
• Side Bends: 3 sets/10 reps, 30 lbs
• Tricep Press (rope): 3 sets/15 reps, 60 lbs

Weight (morning): 184.5 lbs

Post-workout, just hanging out with Ms. SaraRules (and Heidi Klum)… which is a nice way to wrap up the day.

Tomorrow’s my 9/80 Friday off… and, even though I gave up The Leash today, I’m “on call,” as we only have one person in each office tomorrow. We’ll see how it goes.

Namaste.

Thursday – 17 September 2009
Another NBN Thursday has begun. And, to make it even more sweet: It’s my “Friday.”

I posted some engagement photos on Facebook yesterday. While many are cute and some are even “fun,” my favorite one of the set was this one:

For those of you who haven’t seen them, you can click here.

And…. my NBN Thursday has been shot in the foot. It happened about 0945 this morning: We lost power in the A.F. office for about half an hour. In and of itself, that’s not bad. “Bad” was, when the power was restored, some systems decided that they didn’t want to come back online. Getting them kicked into gear took an additional forty minutes. *sigh* Hopefully, the rest of the day will conform… or be cast out.

Stray Toasters

• I have a new addition to The Covet List: Brick Construction Shirt
• Fringe starts its new season tonight.
• By way of SaraRules: A million little pieces: LEGO exhibit arrives at the Kimball Art Center
  I have also been informed that we’ll be going to this!  Win-WIN!
• Looking for a gift for the RPG-er in your life? pointed out an excellent suggestion: Dungeons & Dragons Limited Edition Spellcasting Soda
• Sister-in-law-to-be Meliko sent me a link to this:

  

• Maria Pinto has designs on Michelle Obama
• By way of comes The 50 best foods in the world and where to eat them
• Feds keep little-used airports in business
• For the survivalist on your list: Zombie shooting range targets.
  That’s right. Zombies. On shooting range targets. Full of “AWESOME!”
• Covered – comic book covers, reinterpreted by other artists

Namaste.

Monday – 14 September 2009
Nothing like having The Leash start going off at 0800… just as you’re getting ready to head to the office. It was alerting me to a problem with an off-site server. Yay. We contacted the appropriate people – who seemed to be having issues of their own – and they handled it. Eventually. Welcome to Monday.

Yesterday was a good day. It was also chock full o’ stuff. Mark and Alex – a member of the SUU Ballroom Dance Team who came up to assist in the dance lessons – came up about 2:30. First, they worked with SaraRules and Steve for the Father/Daughter dance, then it they spent time with SaraRules and me for our first dance. It was more fun and less fearsome than I had expected. (And, we fortunately we have three weeks to practice…)

After that, SaraRules, Alex, Mark and I headed over to the in-laws-to-be for dinner: Bratwurst and football. Excellent combination. More on football in a minute. After dinner, Steve transferred the video of our dance practice to DVD for us – we need to have some kind of reference for practice, after all.

Football Update
Yesterday was the Ravens’ season opener at home.

Kansas City Chiefs at Baltimore Ravens
24 – 38

They tried to give me heart failure in the second and third quarters… and I wasn’t even watching the game, per se. In this market, CBS broadcast the Minnesota-Cleveland game, so I had to “watch” the GameCenter on NFL.com.  Granted, it was nice to see the Vikings hand the Browns a beatdown, but I would have rather seen the Ravens play. Because, let’s face it: Who wouldn’t want to see Ray Lewis break a little something off like this in real time…

…or watch as QB Joe Flacco goes and dials in 303 yards passing and 4 yards rushing, as the Ravens put up a total of 501 yards of total offense!? Crazy. How does that make you feel, Ray?

Yeah, I thought so.

Elsewhere around the league:

Miami Dolphins at Atlanta Falcons
7 – 19
Oh, well.. at least there are 16 more games in the season.

.

Philadelphia Eagles at Carolina Panthers
38 – 10
Ditto.

.

Denver Broncos at Cincinnati Bengals
12 – 7
Sorry, and .

.

Minnesota Vikings at Cleveland Browns
34 – 20
Congrats, … and Congrats Commiserations, .

Stray Toasters

• I’m going to help sling some paint tonight before the Sandy Eggo – Oakland game.
• 10 sure-fire ways to derail your career in IT
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot..?!” file: Philadelphia Free Library System is shutting down
• Get results by social networking with airlines
• Top 50 User-Created Soul Calibur 4 Characters
• Scientists Find Master Gene to Switch on Immune Cells
• Want your own dinosaur? Place your bids

Namaste.

Sunday – 13 September 2009
I was up later than I had planned to be last night/this morning; I was preparing and posting my auctions on eBay. They’ll kick off this evening and hopefully, by the end of the week, I’ll be a few ‘Clix lighter. (One can hope, can’t they…?)

This morning, we’re up and getting ready to meet our…. BUM BUM BUMMMM… dance instructor for our wedding dances. Mark Baker, SaraRules’ former classmate at SUU and the Director of Ballroom Dance at SUU, is choreographing our first dance and the father-daughter dance as our wedding present. (It’s nice to be able to “open” presents before the event!)

And then, there’s football! The Raven’s take on the Chiefs today. I doubt that the game will be broadcast here and we don’t have DirecTV and Sunday Ticket, but I can track the stats on NFL.com, if nothing else.

Stray Toasters

• Norman Borlaug, scientist who ‘saved 245m lives,’ dies aged 95
• From the “Huh… Who knew!?” file: Parallel Processing for Cardiac Simulations Using an Xbox 360
• Short People Got No Reason Not To Be America’s Next Top Models
• 
• How does her U.S. Open implosion affect Serena’s legacy?
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Super Mario fingernails
• 18 Foot Multitouch Wall and New Multitouch Tech Hit the Streets

Right on to the friction of the day…

Namaste.

Friday – 11 September 2009
Today not only marks the end of the (work) week, but it’s the eighth anniversary of the attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.

For my thoughts on the matter, I once again refer readers here.

Today’s an “on” day.
And I have The Leash this week.
Happiness and joy.

That’s right… I just broke out a haiku. Bow down.

Football Update
The NFL 2009 season kicked off with the Tennesee Titans heading to Heinz Field to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Tennessee Titans at Pittsburgh Steelers
10 – 13

It was a good game.  A seriously solid, well-played game. The defenses of both teams definitely earned their paychecks this week. The game was scoreless until late in the second half, when both offenses woke up and remembered what it was they were there to do. Excellent way to start the season… despite the fact that the Steelers won.

Four-Color Coverage
MarknTyme has come down with a case of “Life Happens,” which in this case means that he’s whipping his high school band into fighting shape. Because of this, he won’t be helping out with FCC for the near term. With that in mind, I’ll probably have a new (and solo) FCC to post sometime this weekend.

Stray Toasters

• Twenty-two days.
• I see a red door
  And I want to paint it black…
• As I haven’t posted it in a while: Skippy’s List
• just hooked us up with Irish Creme lollipops. (I know…!) They’re pretty tasty. He got them from Lollyphile.
• What’s that you say..? Craig Ferguson has something to say about South Carolina Congressman Mike Duvall? Tell me more!

  …and…

• PopCultureShock has some nice comic-related wallpapers.
• IAAF urges caution over Semenya intersex claims
  And, I’m Ivory Soap-sure that this line wasn’t intended to be as pun-laden as it appears to me:

  South Africa will fight back if Semenya is excluded from further competition, Stofile said, adding, “It will be a third world war.”

  I don’t know if South Africa (or just parts of it) are considered to have “Third world” status, but is the reporter (unintentionally) saying that it would be a war of third world nations…?

• David Lynch, window-dresser
• Unearthing Solomon Grundy
• 
• Motorola’s comeback attempt rests on software
  Don’t call it a comeback
  [They’ve] been here for years

Tonight: SaraRules and I are attending Utah Symphony’s An Evening of Beethoven.  (Tickets are still available…)

Namaste.