Random Access

Thursday – 06 March 2008
I woke up a little later than planned this morning. I made up for it by doing my best impression of The Flash and was ready to roll shortly thereafter. Of course, to make up for such a metabolic surge, I stopped at the local B&B for a frozen mocha. Double shot. Shaken, not stirred.

The crew from SageWater showed up this morning a couple of minutes before eight. One of the guys – I’m assuming the lead on the project, if not just for my apartment – noticed my Ravens pennant on the wall. He asked if I was familiar with Baltimore; I told him that I grew up there. He then mentioned that their company was based out of North Carolina (which I already knew), so I asked which part (which I didn’t know). Raleigh. I then mentioned that I had a sister who went to school in Durham and grew up outside of Greensboro. He went on to tell me how broadly he travels with the company. (A LOT!) His next job is in Seattle. I neglected to ask how long they are typically on the road.

Stray Toasters

• If I needed any (ANY) proof that and I shouldn’t be left unsupervised with the unlimited power of the Interweb at our fingertips, this proves it:
  • http://youtube.com/watch?v=PsesC2iS06o
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZA2A2zoz-A&NR=1
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMD9_QYfzb8
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyyW-n8aook
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NozOppLXh18&NR=1
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoNI4N3xYmE&NR=1
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqjBpHsW5x4&NR=1
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeJbaxqG-3k
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfEG15CLTqo
• By way of Yahoo! News and 60 Minutes: Gustavo Dudamel
• Kilowog == Covet.
  (That would complete my set of GLs.)
• The (New) Laws of Casual Style and This Is Not Steve McQueen
• Yes, I am watching/trying to watch some of the work they are doing in my apartment. I can’t because they have a tarp over the entrance to the master bathroom… which is a “good” thing, as it means a minimum of debris/detritus that will spread over the rest of the office and apartment.
• From Rotten Tomatoes: Total Recall: Steal These 11 Heist Movies
• HALO3 Series 1 Action Figures in Stores Now
• LEGO HALO
  • …and the explanation
• Pink, it’s like red, but not quite…
• I think that I’m going to get a new display case after the SageWater work is done. And that means… a trip to the Garden of Sweden! *genuflect* Amen.

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.

Saturday – 23 February 2008
Last night’s Clitorati gathering was fun. It was a very nice way to wind up the week. And, even though I was told “Don’t play with your food” while I was growing up… there are just some things that can’t be passed up:

The second pic nearly did not get taken:

While setting up the shot, I asked to move a bit. He did. Just as I prepared to take the picture, the cup – with coffee still in it – tipped over. I put down the camera and reached for the cup.

And the camera fell off the table.

Fortunately, I was able to catch it between my legs.

As the camera was falling, looked over and saw me catch the camera. After we all shared a “Did that really just happen?!” moment, she reached over to get it…

…just as the camera took a picture.

There was a pregnant pause and then we all broke out in laughing fits.

Today has been a mix of what I planned to do, a few things I didn’t plan on… and completely skipping a couple of things that I planned on. All-in-all, not too bad.

The morning started, as usual, with the Legion and The Batman. Both, however, were repeats… but that didn’t stop me from enjoying both. As I was rounding the clubhouse turn and watching Stargate SG-1, called and asked if I had eaten lunch yet. I hadn’t. So, we went to Macaroni Grill. I had the Chicken Marsala; the pasta was a little dry, but otherwise everything was fine.

After that, I ran a few errands and then went to visit Kate, Perry and the kids. Next up: A stop in the Red Balloon to see if they had anything that I just couldn’t live without for my Rokenbok set. I considered a couple of things, but ultimately walked out empty-handed. There is a set that I am looking for, but they didn’t have it in stock.

I headed up to say “Hi” to SaraRules’ parents. I finally remembered to take over a couple of movies that they hadn’t seen. When I got there, they kindly invited me to stay for dinner; I did. Over dinner, they asked how the trip was; I gave them my side of the story (which was a positive accounting of events). I showed them pictures from the trip, as well.

Back home to chill out and spend some time in Paragon City.

Now, off to breakfast!

Namaste.

Friday – 22 February 2008
I wound up staying in SLC all day Thursday. I was going to head down to AF after working on a system here, but was… convinced to stay north of the county line. The day was… something. In fact, at one point it came precipitously close to breaking the No Bad News Thursday rule. I came to the conclusion that it wasn’t bad news, just a very poor presentation of information.

After work, I ran a couple of errands and then headed to Jitterbug to meet and for dinner. And coffee. And catching up on the latest things going on. After that, I headed home for a few.

Next up: A jaunt to ‘s to help her with a computer problem. Nothing earth-shattering (or even earth-shaking, like yesterday’s earthquake – which I, again, slept through). While there, I saw and played with the kids. They have new collars – Sissy has a green one. That’s right: My cat wants to be a Green Lantern when she grows up. (I’m so proud of her…)

Home again. I fired up City of Death Heroes and joined a team with a couple of guys whom I’ve grouped with before. They’re both “a little” gung-ho. Unfortunately, they were both Scrappers and not Tankers. Suffice if to say that there was plenty of death to be had for everyone. *sigh* I left that team and was invited to join another. The second team had their act together.

Stray Toasters

• and I had to explain Zork and grues to Jason yesterday.
• Speaking of which, you can play an HTML/PHP version of Zork here.
• You can play ports of other Infocom games here.
• Clinton doesn’t vow to go on beyond March 4
• And now, another episode of “How Rob’s Mind Works”:
  

  While getting ready for work, I saw the packaging for some toilet paper in the trash can and had the following thought: “Cottonelle… Cotton-elle… Hm… Superman’s Krytonian aunt… who was a sanitation engineer? Yeah, that works.”

• Smurfs at 50: Ready for a Comeback
• Next week’s release of the Crisis set for HeroClix includes another Legionnaire: Karate Kid

  

• From Gamespot: GDC ’08: LEGO Batman First Look

  

  

• Pleas for condemned Saudi ‘witch’
• Yeah, toast!

Namaste.

Wednesday: Coda
I came home and cooked dinner. Not fish fillets and fries. Not ramen. Not soup. Not spaghetti. I actually fired up the stove and the oven. Tonight’s fare:

• Baked chicken
• Rice, cooked in cream of mushroom soup
• Corn
• And a glass of milk. (Milk, it does a body good. Pass it on!)

Not only that, but I watched last week’s CSI: (kind of hard to watch live at 35,000 feet) and tonight’s Law & Order (well, I’m watching it now). AND I read this week’s four-color haul. And I may still make a trip to Paragon City. All-in-all, not a bad evening.

Stray Toasters

• I found the following articles while looking up some completely unrelated information this afternoon…
  • How to Know if You Are Irritating
  • How to Not Be Annoying

  I hung a copy on my wall in SLC; I’m doing the same in AF tomorrow.

• I also want this bumper sticker. Lots of them.

  

• I found a home for Sao Paulo (the laptop formerly known as Defiant): It’s going to my father.
• Are you using Windows? You might want to check this out – Killer Download: The Big Three free security applications
• FAA investigates whether go! Airlines flight crew fell asleep
• Microsoft… makes… action figures. I think my world just collapsed a little.
  (But, you should read some of the character bios. Dear Lord…)
• CNN Fires Producer Over Personal Blog
• Is your King James or New International Bible too boring for you? Give The Manga Bible a try.
• Nautilus-themed steampunk home theatre
• Geek-to-Geek: ‘grats to on your new flying mount.
• Old school:

  

  

  If I need to explain this, you just need to skip on to the next ‘Toaster. Seriously. Right now.

• The Century’s Top Engineering Challenges

Time to go fight some evil.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 19 February 2008
Home again.

I tried getting in touch with Tammy, but didn’t catch her… so Monday was “spend the last few hours of vacation hanging out with the family before getting on a plane” day. We did head out for a bit, so that I could take SaraRules over to Pimlico Race Course, home of the Preakness Stakes… which is only a couple of miles from the house. After getting back from that, we hung out with Bot, Bit and . Pictures were taken. (Granted, these were lumped in with other pictures taken over the course of the weekend – including two with my uncle and one with Bret – but there are pictures nonetheless.) Also, here are pictures of the quilt that SaraRules made for Grace. When the time came to leave, we said our goodbyes, threw our things in the car and headed to BWI. We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. We checked in and made it through security quickly and painlessly. Then… we waited.

We boarded our plane and we were on our way west again. The flight was rather uneventful; to pass the time, SaraRules and I watched Transformers. She hadn’t seen it before, but enjoyed it. An hour and some change later, we were in Las Vegas. Our bags were on the carousel almost by the time we got there. To the car. Out the garage and we were on our way…

…to In-n-Out Burger. After that and a stop for gasoline, we were on the road back to Cedar City. By the time we got in, we were exhausted. So, we crashed.

This morning, we got up, ready and on our respective ways: SaraRules to class; me to work.

The work day wasn’t very eventful, which is not a bad thing. Eric and I had a special guest star for today’s workout: Wes, who in the AF office today. Today’s routine included:

• Leg Raises: 3 sets/20 reps
• Pull-ups: 3 sets/10 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 205 lbs.
• Cable Row: 3 sets/10 reps, 120 lbs.
• Shoulder Press (seated, dumbbells): 3 sets/10 reps, 45 lbs.
• Cable Fly: 3 sets/10 reps, 95 lbs.
• Core Exercises
  • One-leg, with twist: 2 sets
  • Standard (plank): 3 sets – 45 seconds, 30 seconds, 30 seconds

Today’s weight: 172.4 lbs.
It was a good mix. And tiring. It was Wes’ first time really working out in about six months. (Having brain surgery will do that to you, apparently.) He did fine. While he had to back off of some of the weight that Eric and I did, he was still right there with us otherwise.

Post-work, it was Scion game night. We didn’t do very much, as a couple of players weren’t there, but we were able to move the story along a little. And it was fun to hang out with the gaming crew.

Monkey of the Day
On the way home from gaming, I stopped at the grocery store. While I was in the checkout line, a young-ish guy (mid 20s, I would guess) came in, carrying a gallon of milk. He asked to speak to one of the managers. When she came to the front of the store, he told her that he’d purchased the milk at another location, but it was apparently past its “best if used by” date and wanted his money back. The manager offered to exchange the bad milk for a new one. The guy wasn’t having any part of that – he wanted his money. The manager said that she couldn’t just refund his money – as the milk wasn’t purchased at this store – but re-offered to replace the bad milk. His response: “Yes you can! This is all just one big chain. You can give me my money! It’s all the same store!” The manager countered that it was not, in fact, “…all the same store.”

This went around and around a couple of times. The guy finally started cursing at the manager. She walked away, saying, “I’m not going to go on with this if you’re going to speak to me this way.” She never raised her voice. She didn’t get confrontational. The guy just wouldn’t quit. He asked… no… “demanded”… that she get him the general manager’s name and contact information. She politely refused, as the guy was still slinging expletives at her.

He was still arguing (is it right to say “arguing” if he was the only one talking?) after I checked out and left.

Stray Toasters

• SaraRules sent a lovely bouquet of flowers to my parents as a “thank you for your hospitality” gift. Dad replied by text message to her and to me. If I had to guess, I would say that she made a good impression on the folks. (Not that I really had to guess, though.)
• Cherry Hill to Capitol Hill: Barry C. Black marks several ‘firsts’ as U.S. Senate Chaplain
• Senators Obama and McCain both won in Wisconsin.
  And with 51% of precincts reporting, Senator Obama is well ahead of Senator Clinton in Hawai’i.
• 
• D&D Insider Flash Interviews
• By way of Deacon Derek: Subnormality: “Supervillains Anonymous”
  
• 
• Tyranist: Library built into a staircase
• Classic SF movies rendered as Russian folk-art woodcuts

I suppose that I should move from “the theory of sleep” to “the practical application of sleep.”

Namaste.

Saturday – 16 February 2008
Yesterday was spent downtown at Harborplace and the National Aquarium in Baltimore.

The day started with lunch at Phillip’s Restaurant.  Crab cakes.  Not just one style, but two!  Broiled (favorite) and fried.  Well worth the trip.

Next, we headed to the Aquarium.  The gentleman at the ticket counter suggested that we delay going in until 5:00, when the admission rate dropped to $16 USD.  So, we spent a half-hour at the Barnes & Noble in the Power Plant.  It was the first time that I’d been in that B&N; I like the layout a lot – two floors, two cafes, plenty of space for customers to sit and even spots where small groups could congregate.  In other words, it would make a great place for Clitorati… if there was a B&N like this in Salt Lake City.

Back to the aquarium.

Three buildings, multiple floors of fish, mammals, amphibians, birds… and even a sloth.  Pictures here.

Back home to hang out with the family.

Today, my uncle is coming down for the afternoon from New York.

I should probably finish – read “start” – getting ready.

And with that…

Namaste.

Monday – 11 February 2008
This morning started early. 5:10 AM early. And, after a night of not sleeping well, that’s pretty damned early, indeed. But, it was worth it: SaraRules and I had breakfast at Paradise Bakery & Cafe before she headed back to Cedar City. We’ve been trying to go there for a few weeks, but never managed to get there during breakfast hours. It was pretty good and not too terribly priced; more than fast food, but a bit more substantial, too. We also discovered something else: That has to be the safest place in Cottonwood Heights at 6:00 AM — there were six or seven sheriff’s deputies there. And, it’s not the first time that I’ve noticed that.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
I’m willing to bet that this has been tossed around the Internet and other media before, but it just dawned on me: Lost is basically Gilligan’s Island with more people.

Stray Toasters

• SaraRules pointed out Yes We Can (by the Black Eyed Peas’ Will.i.am) to me this weekend. Check it out.
• Barack Obama won a Grammy Award (his second) for “Best Spoken Word Album” for The Audacity of Hope. Among the nominees he beat: former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.
• shockpuppet pointed me in the direction of The Superest. Start at at the bottom and work your way up.
• 
• I don’t have incredibly high hopes for the potentially upcoming live-action Justice League movie, but I think that it’s cool that they cast Common as Green Lantern.
• I like this take on Wonder Woman, even though I’m not crazy about the sandals.
• Collateral damage.
• I picked up Across the Universe, Blazing Saddles and The Invincible Iron Man (animated) this weekend.
• Roy Scheider – possibly best known for his roles in Jaws, All That Jazz, Seaquest DSV or my favorite: Blue Thunder – died this weekend.

Quote of the Day
I received a random text message from Adam yesterday:

I’ll call you when I get back, I just set sail with the Captain.

I haven’t heard from him since. I just hope that it wasn’t one of those proverbial “three-hour tours.”

Tuesday – 05 February 2008
So far, it’s been a rather decent day. Nothing really out of the ordinary to report… other than Deacon Derek brought me a tub of spun sugar confectionery goodness as recompense for letting him jump-seat to Cedar City with me this past weekend.

Workout
Today’s workout was… abbreviated, but still decent:

• Leg Raises: 3 sets/20 reps
• Pull-ups: 3 sets/10 reps (3rd set done with 80 lbs. assistance)
• Bench press: 3 sets/10 reps, 205 lbs.
• Lateral Raises (standing, dumbbell): 3 sets/10 reps, 10 lbs.
• Curls (standing, barbell): 3 sets/10 reps, 60 lbs.

Today’s weight: 169.6 lbs.
Stray Toasters

• I stumbled upon a new-to-me site today: Top Secret Recipes.
• The name – and buy-out – game!
  • MicroHoo!
  • Yahoogle or Goohoo!

  Round and round and round it goes! Where it stops… nobody knows!

• Sam Adams: Patriot. Brewer. Homeboy.
  Jackie Chan: Martial artist. Actor. Tea maker…? When did this happen?!
• …and, speaking of beer, as seen in Cedar City, UT this past weekend:

  
  That’s right… they are passing on that whole 1¢ savings on to YOU!
  (Don’t spend it all in one place!)

• History of conjoined twins
• I have replenished my stores of Twix and Butterfinger in the AF office!
• 
• Is the GameBoy the toughest product ever made?
• What is – or was – your favorite console gaming unit?
  I love my 360, but the Sega Genesis still has a warm place in my heart…
• “Honey, have you seen my super-suit itch-free pajamas?!”

And tonight: Scion.

Namaste.

Sunday – 03 February 2008
Last night, SaraRules, Tink, Vince, Steve and I went to see Steph dance in Sleeping Beauty. It was staged by the Cedar City Junior Ballet; Steph danced the lead role as Princess Aurora. It was held in the Heritage Theater, which was a rather nice venue. The production was very good… and it included some adorable kids (as in under 10 years old) in a few roles. Steph gave an amazing performance, as did the rest of the corps. Even the kids, I’m happy to report.

Last night’s sleep was horrible. Between 2 AM and 8:30 AM, I think that I was up at least five (5) times. At 8:30, I’d had enough and went into the living room to watch TV and nerd. Unfortunately, at that time of the morning, there isn’t much to see on TV and there wasn’t really anything on the Internet that held my interest for very long. So, around 9:30, I went back to bed. I was able to eke out another couple hours’ broken sleep, but it was sleep. The weird dreams I had, though… those I could have done without.

This afternoon, I played a little CoH with Corvus Nox. Members of my SG were on, playing their mid-level characters and invited me to join the team. Vazhilok. In the sewers. It was a good run and, by the time we had finished, I got Nox up to Security Level 18.

SaraRules and I headed to the grocery store to pick up a few things for tonight’s Super Bowl gathering. Aside from assorted snack stuff, I decided to pick up shrimp and some (relatively) cheap beer in which to cook the shrimp. It was, according to group consensus, tasty. SaraRules made a rather delicious queso dip and jalapeno poppers.

People started showing up around 4:00. It was a lot of fun. Equal measures of trash-talking and educating people about the game were parts of the conversation. The game was a LOT better than I expected it to be, as well, which made for a rather… boisterous… evening.

Congratulations to the New York Giants for their win.

Likewise, congratulations to the New England Patriots for their (otherwise) perfect season.

This year’s Super Bowl commercials were decent – the hands-down favorite of the night: Doritos Mouse Trap.

Tonight, we’re watching a movie; I’m not sure “what” yet.

Tomorrow, it’s the long commute. Hopefully, UDoT will have allocated sufficient resources to deal with today’s snow.

Namaste.

Saturday – 02 February 2008
Derek (visiting a friend here in Cedar) and I left work yesterday and headed south. On the way, I shared with him the thoughts about one of our coworkers reminding us of Homsar. He found it as amusing – and just about as fitting – as we did. The trip was fairly uneventful, even when we drove through a few areas where snow was falling. Oddly, Beaver was not one of those areas.

Upon arriving in Cedar City, I dropped Derek off and headed to SaraRules’ place. I was a little more tired than I thought, so I took a short nap. When I woke up, Tink told me that I had missed SaraRules mixing it up with Roomie #5’s boyfriend. *jawdrop* Apparently, the spat didn’t last long and Miss SaraRules handled business… but, I still wish that I had been awake for it. Steph came home from her performance – she is dancing the lead in a production of Sleeping Beauty. So the fight recap was told again….

…as it was when Kim got home
…as it was when Vince got here
…and as it was when a few friends of Steph and Tink’s got here.

It was just one of those stories that gets better with each retelling.

Vince and I played a bit of Magic: the Addiction Gathering last night.  He tuned a couple of decks; I played with three of my old decks.  My first deck (black-and-red) played slowly, Vince won that game.  I used my blue deck next.  Much better results.  After that game, I went to my black-and-green deck.  I lost that game, but it was a closer game.  Back to the blue deck.  I won the next couple of games.

Today has been a fairly typical Saturday: Toons, breakfast and coffee. Today’s Legion was (yet) another rerun; but, The Batman was new. After we got our weekly dose of toonage, we observed the necessary hygiene rituals. Next up, SaraRules took on some homework while I took on bad guys in Paragon City. I am still about 80,000 points from Security Level 40.  But, I’m getting closer.  I also retuned my black-and-red deck, to (hopefully) get it to play a little faster… y’know… just in case a game of Magic breaks out later tonight.

Tonight, we’re having dinner with Tink and Vince at Cafe Orleans and then seeing Sleeping Beauty.

After that?
Who knows.

Tomorrow: Super Bowl.
What are your predictions?
I’m not sure who I really want to win: I would be interested in seeing the Patriots having a complete perfect season, but it would be nice to see Eli Manning and company pull off an upset.  I guess we’ll see tomorrow.

Namaste.

Friday – 01 February 2008
Welcome to Black History Month.

(from http://pioneer.utah.gov)

Last night, I had dinner with Land at Biaggi’s. I haven’t eaten there in… over a year. I had the Chicken Marsala entree; it was quite good and very filling. I think that I saw the waiter who waited on us the first time that and I ate there… I think. But, I’m not sure. Fortunately, we had a different waiter and he was good – he was a little slow in bringing our drinks at first, but once he got going, he was rather attentive. After dinner, I ran a few errands then headed home.

I slept in a little this morning. Not much. Just enough. And it was good. A quick stop at the SLC office and then I was on my way to AF.

Things were fairly quiet in AF. Selah.
The lunchtime workout was a repeat of Tuesday’s workout.
I weighed in today at 172.0 pounds. (Wow.)

City of Heroes: The Hand of Nefer-Tem
I put in a couple of hours in Paragon City. Not quite enough to hit Security Level 40, but it got me a good portion of the way there. I should – hopefully – be able to get there by the end of the weekend.

Next weekend is another Double XP Weekend event. Double XP == good.

Stray Toasters

• I need to replenish the Twix and Butterfinger stores in my AF desk drawer o’ goodies.
• Eric and I just figured out who one of our coworkers reminds us of: Homsar.
• The Internet may (or may not) be a series of tubes, but this is.
• With John Edwards out of the race, commentators on this morning’s Diane Rehm Show speculated as to whether we could possibly see an Obama/Clinton or Clinton/Obama ticket in the Fall…
• Microsoft wants to buy the flagging Yahoo! Interesting.
• Microsoft is also doing a webcomic: Heroes Happen Here
• Frozen Grand Central – the latest prank from Improv Everywhere.
• 
• sent me a link to this. O.o

Time to make like the cast of The Wiz (Broadway) and Ease on Down the Road.

Namaste.

Saturday – 26 January 2008
Last night, SaraRules and I went to my company’s “Winter Party.” It was held at Snowbird’s Cliff Lodge. We mostly hung out with with and shockpuppet and a few other coworkers. And, I was finally able to introduce SaraRules to my coworker who plays cello and performs with the Orchestra at Temple Square; they talked about string-y things and whatnot. Our keynote speaker for last night’s party was Richard Marcinko, former commander of Navy SEAL Team Six; he was an interesting person, but he wasn’t exactly a great public speaker. And, at the end of the affair, we got new company jackets and a copy of Mr. Marcinko’s book, Rogue Warrior.

After driving out of the canyon, we met up with the usual suspects – plus Land – at Cheers: North.

This morning started slowly and quietly – i.e.: “Sleeping in!” I don’t know what happened – or who put in the order for it – but it was a very nice, bright and temperate day: Temps were in the 40s! As there were no new ‘toons to watch, SaraRules and I decided to head out for breakfast. We went to the local Paradise Bakery and Cafè, but they stop selling breakfast at 11AM. Curses! So, we opted to go elsewhere… but not before SaraRules made a stop at Simply Mac to pick up a pink Speck case for her MacBook.

We wound up having breakfast in Holladay at a place called Sharon’s. SaraRules’ parents joined us. We sat, ate and chatted for a while. Post-breakfast, we headed up to the parents’ place for a bit to meet Loomis, their recently-adopted cat. Their newly-adopted, large cat. He’s on the order of 21 pounds. Cute cat, though. And rather friendly… as long as you don’t mess with his paws – I saw some of his handiwork in proving to others his dislike for having his paws messed with.

From there, we headed down to visit Kate, Perry and the kids. When we left there, we stopped in the Sandy Red Balloon. I was in a mood to possibly pick up something to add to the Rokenbok collection… but nothing they had caught my eye. So I didn’t.

Pictures of the day… so far.

Now, it’s time to figure out what to do for dinner.

This evening… we may just have to play some miniature golf. Just because we can.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 23 January 2008
Mid-week and all’s well… if grey, gloomy and generally “blah” can be considered “well.”

I got a decent start on the morning… even after someone dialed my number at 5:45 AM. No idea who it was, because no number came up on the Caller ID. Monkeys. I was up and nominally mobile a little after 7:00 this morning and out the door, caffeinated (and bagel-laden) and in the office by 8:30. As an added bonus, the first song on Nomad’s shuffle play was Big Daddy Kane’s A Job Ain’t Nuthin’ But Work. Nice way to kick off the short commute.

Mo’ money, mo’ money, mo’ money got get made
To get paid in this trade
And I believe that I can acheive
To make ends meet like a hair weave

Survivin’ in this economy people in the world wanna be
Stayin’ in the upper class so you’re the path
The rich gets the most and the poor gets so little
And only Monie Love can make it in the middle

The work day wasn’t too chaotic. Fortunately. I was asked to check out a problem with a server… which not only was not having a problem (today), but was also in the middle of running some tests for one of our engineers. So, that got downgraded from “Put this at the top of today’s to-do list” to “Keep an eye on this.” I’m okay with that. I’ve also managed to work in some hardware testing… which means that I have been able to clear stacks of dysfunctional machinery out of my work area. I actually found some work space under all of the dreck!

Sushi Wednesday.
New Comics Day.
‘Nuff said.

Genius that I am, I left the power cord (POWER CHORD!) for Defiant at work. *sigh* This meant that – rather than go buy a (“yet another”) new one – I had to go back to the office to retrieve it. This was good on a couple of counts… as I also forgot that I needed to pick up a few things at the store, too. So, I headed to the office to find…

…neither of my badges worked on the main doors of the building. *grblsnrkx* Fortunately, I had messaged Code Monkey BB to see if he was still at work before leaving home. He was. I called him and he brought my cord down to the lobby. We chatted a bit before I took off to run some more errands and he went back upstairs to sling some more code.

After errand-running, I decided to see if was in. She was. I told her that I had her Trader Joe’s shwag with me and would drop it off, if that was alright. Not only was it alright, she asked if I’d mind lending a hand to , who had been helping her resurrect her PC – at this point they were having a problem getting her mouse to respond and needed to rejoin the PC to the wireless network.

No problem!
Piece of cake!
We’d have it back online and humming in no time!

An hour and a half later, we finally had things up and running again. Just like Tom Tom the Piper’s Son… but without the pigs.

Stray Toasters

• I had many things in the four-color hold today… and I picked up a couple new Stikfas:
  1. Alpha Male Samurai with Stallion
  2. Omega Male Black Knight
• By way of comes Gaslight Justice League, a steampunk/Victorian Era look at the JLA.
• had a few things to say about peoples’ reactions to Heath Ledger’s death.
• Today was also Sushi Wednesday for … who, along with the Sib-1 sister-unit, has been interviewing pediatricians. It sounds like it has been a feast-or-famine kind of thing.
• : has your Trader Joe’s items, as you are more likely to see her on Friday evening.
• Area 51 designated with a new name
• By way of : The Internet Party: What happens when Google’s parents leave town for the weekend?
• By way of : The 5 Most Horrifying Bugs in the World
• SR-71A… made out of LEGO. Win-Win!

I’m sure that there was probably more that I was going to add to this… but all I want to do now is save the world (if I can find a team) and read the rest of this week’s four-color haul.

Namaste.