Random Access

Thursday – 08 November 2007
Another NBN Thursday draws to a close. Work was good. Today was “Sushi Wednesday.” (Yes, I know it was Thursday. Deal with it.) I picked up this week’s four-color goodness. And, I have brand-spankin-new sexy black hotness.

Human of the Day
There are actually three HotDs today: Joanne, from the laundry where I get my clothes done and Jerry and an unnamed manager at the Apple Store.

I decided to kill two avians with a single piece of silicate tonight and get my laundry done while I was exchanging my MacBook. (Sidenote: One of the Coworker Daves, misheard Code Monkey and me talking about the laptop and thought that we had referred to it as my BlacBook. That amused me.) So, off I went in search of adventure to swap my BlacBook MacBook and to get some clean drawers…

• Joanne: I got to the laundry a little later than planned, but was still hopeful that I could get same-day service. Couldn’t hurt to ask, after all. So, I walked in… got up to the counter… and posed the question. Joanne looked at the clock, thought about it and said yes. When I went back later to pick up the clothes, she said that she basically did it because I’ve been a fairly regular customer and that she knew that if I said I needed them tonight, that I’d be back for them. (Truth be told, Joanne has consistently been the easiest-to-deal with person at that laundry in all of the time that I have been going there; I think I actually sigh in relief whenever I see that she’s working.)
• Jerry and the unnamed Apple Store manager: While waiting on the laundry, I took the old and busted MacBook to the Apple Store to trade it in for new hotness. An associate named Jerry came up to help me. Bang. Zoom. I summarized last night’s call to the store and told him with whom I had spoken. He said that he could take care of it; he took the receipt and the MacBook and headed to the Genius Bar. A couple of minutes later, he came back – he needed my password to get into the system. And then, he was off again. He returned with the old MacBook and a fresh-in-the-box new one.There was a slight problem in matching the receipt to the MacBook – there had been some arcane workings in getting proper credit applied when the purchase was made. Enter: Unnamed manager. She came over, sussed out the deal and got the proper ducks in a row. A few minutes later, Jerry returned and told me how much it would cost to complete the exchange.

  Cost? Huh…wha?!?

  When I called last night, that was one of the things that I specifically asked. The associate said that his manager had authorized a waiving of any restocking fee. Jerry disappeared again. While he and Managerette were trying to hammer out the particulars, I wandered about the store. I also made a discovery: Battlefield 2142 has been ported to the Mac. I wandered back to the front of the store, just as they were trying to figure out where another discount had been taken in purchasing the old MacBook. I tried, unsuccessfully to call (who picked up the MacBook for me) to help sort things out. But, Managerette came up with a solution and… no more than three minutes after that, I was walking out the door with the new system.

Stray Toasters

• I picked up a copy of Peaceful Warrior this evening. It was a good adaptation of the book.
• Ou.
• Apparently, the Chasing Amy “What’s a Nubian?” clip has been removed from YouTube. But, I found a link to a similar clip of it (minus about 30 seconds) on MySpace.
• Tesla Coils Playing the Mario Bros. Theme Are Unsurprisingly Awesome
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Teen Gets Strippergram at School
• Gawker Artists
• Zombeatles’ Hard Day’s Night of the Living Dead
• By way of Maddox: Fashion tips for women from a guy who knows dick about fashion and 9 things I learned about the world from anonymous stock photo models

Namaste.

Wednesday – 07 November 2007
*WHEW* That’s really the best way to describe the past 36 or so hours, they’ve been something of a whirlwind.

Monday night, after football, I stopped to borrow a cooler from , more on the “why” below. I got to see and play with the cats for a bit. Lightning and Presto were moderate attention whores, go figure; Sissy was a little more low-key.

Tuesday was a quiet day in Cubeville. I didn’t have anything new in my task list, so I plowed through some more reading. Yay, reading! Actually, I really can’t complain: I am learning a lot (as dry as some of it may be…) and improving my skill set.

After work, the fun began…

I headed to Scandia, to pick up the cake that I had ordered for SaraRules’ birthday. A raspberry marzipan cake. A cake that needed to be kept cool/cold, hence the need for the cooler. I had ice. I had gel packs. As far as I knew, I was ready to rcok. Unfortunately, the cake box was significantly larger than the cooler. *grblsnrkx* This meant that some creative adaptation was in order. I wound up adding a half-gallon of ice cream to help with the cooling process. Grabbed a bag o’ clothes and headed out. Next, a stop to pick up to pick up some decorations and fill up the tank… then it was time to burn the breeze. Until I went to get onto I-15 South. Drive-time gridlock. yay (lower case intentional). I got through that and made it to Provo… only to hit two more pockets of resistance. >.< But, once I got down to Springville, things moved at a steady pace. Next stop: Cedar City.

One thing about the drive between SLC/AF and Cedar City, you have time to kill. A LOT of time. Last night and this morning, I listened to the (abridged) audiobook version of John Hodgman’s The Areas of My Expertise (iTunes Music Store link). It’s a fun read. Um, “listen.” Whatever. And, it features Jonathan Coulton, as well. Win-win! (All that and you learn about the 51st U.S. state!)

I made it to Cedar without any problems. And the cake survived the trip intact. Sara wasn’t in, which I was counting on – she was in a rehearsal for an upcoming production at the school. Perfect. I had conspired with her roommates to keep this trip a secret and so far, it was working out well.

That’s when I remembered that I had neglected to pick up birthday cards before I hit the road. Greeeat.

We put up the decorations and I made a mad dash to the store for cards. I got back to the apartment and signed the cards with plenty of time to spare – the rehearsal started late. Fortunately. So, I hung out with the roommates. Sara got in, saw the decorations and was met/accosted by her roommates; I was reading a couple of articles in GQ, in her bedroom (i.e.: “hiding”). The look on her face when she got to her door was well worth the trip. (And, of course, none of us thought to take any pictures.) We all went back into the kitchen. We sang “Happy Birthday.” We ate cake (which was quite good, I must say). And everyone went to bed.

This morning, back on the road and on to work. There have been a few questions/problems to deal with, but it’s been pretty quiet, overall. (Translation: “More reading!”) Today’s workout was short, but painful (in a more-or-less good way):

• Leg Raises: 3 sets / 20 reps
• Dip: 3 sets / 20 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets / 15 reps, 155 lbs.
• Lat Pull-downs: 3 sets / 15 reps (sets 1 and 3 at 120 lbs., set 2 at 100 lbs.)
• Incline Press: 3 sets / 15 reps, 95 lbs.

Stray Toasters

• I had somehow managed to forget that I had Butterscotch Krimpets in my desk drawer.
• Dastardly pounce!
• William Gibson: The Rolling Stone interview
• Tyranist recently acquired Infernal Contraption. It seems like a “Rube Goldberg meets Munchkin” kind of game, from the information.
• That reminded me of – and I decided to show Tyranist – Sim City: The Card Game. I went to the Mayfair site, but didn’t find a link to it. I tried Google. Bingo. First result. And it was on… the… Mayfair site. *blink blink* Apparently, they didn’t remove it, they just buried it. Bizarre.
• Top Marathoner Collapses and Dies in Olympic Trials
• Wow. From BBC News: Girl separation surgery a success
• Georgia under state of emergency (The country, not the state)
• SaraRules and : Prince fan sites face legal threats
• Rune Olsen’s Twisting Sculptures
• Spooler. Processor. Monitor.
• Jason is buying an iMac… ostensibly, for his wife. (One of us… One of us…)
• City of Heroes “Thank You” goodies.

Like I said: *WHEW*

Namaste.

Monday – 05 November 2007
And…. back in Happy Valley, again. Wahoo, or some madness like that.

Belated Happy Hatching Day to :

SaraRules and I played backgammon again last night. I won four games to three. I like winning. We also watched the Dallas-Philly game. What I want to know is: Who were the yahoos in the Eagles’ jerseys?! What happened to the real team? I saw Andy Reid on the sidelines. I saw Donovan McNabb on the field. I even caught a glimpse of Brian Westbrook. Hell, David Akers even put in an appearance or two. But the others?! No idea. Dallas just walked all over ’em.

The morning commute wasn’t bad… until I got just into Utah County. Then the monkey-rifficness started. And I can’t blame a Utah driver this time – it was a Canuck. He, his pick-em-up truck and a long trailer tried to squeeze an Acura off the road… right in front of me. *grblsnrkx* There were also the usual assortment of people who decided that the “left general purpose lane” was the ideal place to go the speed limit. Or less.

Stray Toasters

• I had a cheese steak sandwich for lunch; it was the last son of Krypton sandwich left over from the batch that SaraRules made for dinner last night.
• I shall probably have a Butterscotch Krimpet or two for dessert.
• Tabula Rasa Reinvents the MMO to Court Casual Gamers
• 
• Grace.
• 22… 23… 24… 25… Oh, Hell. I give up.
• Bumper Stickers Only an Infantile Boob Could Love
• From the “Unintentional Candy Porn” file: Chocolate Santa holding a tree or a sex toy?
• The Best: Obsolete Technologies, from the Sundial to the Laser Disc
• Wait. You mean that everyone doesn’t do this…?

  

Quote of the Day
Today’s gem was SMS’ed in by Land; he overheard it from an out-of-state man working for the pro-voucher campaign here in Utah:

I met a black man today. I win the scavenger hunt!

And with that… lunch is done.

And tonight, the Ravens take on the Steelers. Fiddler’s Elbow. Guinness. That’s all I’m sayin’.

Namaste.

Sunday – 04 November 2007
Sleeping in is even better with Daylight Saving Time. That whole “Fall back…” thing. It kicks grass. I woke up this morning thinking that I had fifteen minutes until the first round of NFL games. Wrong. I had an hour-and-fifteen minutes. So, that time was spent reading the two most recent issues of GQ, with a cup of coffee, while SaraRules read the latest Vogue. After checking NFL.com, I realized that there weren’t any games in the early set that I was really jazzed about watchng, so I was able to enjoy my reading time.

Last night, we went to see American Gangster. The movie tells the story of 1960s/1970s Harlem drug dealer Frank Lucas and New Jersey police office Richie Roberts, the man who brought him down. Wow. It was a very well-done piece of cinema. As usual, Denzel Washington did an excellent job, as did Russell Crowe. In fact, this movie did many great things to wash the lingering memories of Virtuosity out of my mind – the last picture in which I can recall both Washington and Crowe starring. I give this movie an enthusiastic thumbs-up with an okay.

Stray Toasters

• I played Backgammon for the first time in probably… ten years… last night. I lost fabulously.
• By way of : Shatner woo remix
• : Glad to see that you enjoyed Across the Universe. (Told ya so!)
• 
• Wal-Mart’s Terrible Nintendo Wii Knock-Offs
• By way of Slashdot: Elephants on acid – the 10 wackiest experiments of all time

*voop*

Namaste.

After lunch, I went on field trip to try and find a less-dry (and slightly more up-to-date) book to cover one of the things I studying. I went to the Barnes & Noble in Sugar House. It was nearby. It was a good-sized location. What could be better? How about the fact that I probably have a larger selection of technical books in my personal library than this store did? Okay, that’s a gross overstatement, but I was horribly disappointed at the store’s selection. I considered trying another location, but changed my mind and just decided to head back to the office.

As I’m in line, waiting to get out of the parking lot, a white Ford Expedition rolls past me, trying to cut me off. So, I moved up – cutting it off – and looked at the driver with a “What in the Nine Hells do you think you’re doing?!” look on my face. The driver rolled down the passenger window.

Have you ever had one of those moments where, after the fact, you wished that you had just let the stupid things that people do just… go… and move on with your life? This was one of mine.

The driver and passenger looked like they had been working on getting three or more sheets into the wind. She gave me a story about how she was “…so out of gas, so I was just going to cut you off so I can get to a gas station.” I waved her on ahead. I didn’t want any of the backwash of stupidity to splash over on me. *gah* With monkeys like these, who needs pets? And, might I add: The nearest gas station was about 300 yards up the hill. Yeah, waiting that extra seven seconds was going to make her run out of gas. *sigh*

Stray Toasters

• I had sushi for lunch.
• Boldly go where no corpse has gone before: Star Trek Coffin Warps Your Corpse to the Final Nerd Frontier
• Gawker Shirt-of-the-Day
• Top 10 Sexiest Hallowe’en Costumes of 2007
• just tried to decapitate me.
• 
• Western Digital rolls out 320GB 2½” Scorpio hard drive

Namaste.

Sunday – 28 October 2007
Last night and today were both quite good.

After Friday night’s festivities, we slept in Saturday morning. Ms. SaraRules fixed a… sauted (I think) pasta dish for breakfast; it was pretty damned good. We ate and had coffee while watching ‘toons and Jim Croce videos.

Next, it was off in search of costume goodness. I had toyed around with the idea of doing a Hand of Nefer-Tem costume and even taking a suggestion from and going as Bill Cosby – Heaven knows that I have more than enough sweaters to pull it off. Sara was going to go as Little Red Riding Hood, but wasn’t able to find a red cloak… so, a trip to Target later, she went as Red Riding Hood… in the ‘hood. That made me rethink my idea. Instead of America’s favorite Jell-O Pudding-eating dad, I opted to redo my White Trash Party outfit and go as Tha’ Wolf. Complete with 40 of Miller Genuine Draft (which I think will be used to cook brats or shrimp). Home to change and then we were off…

First we stopped at Chris and Mary’s. Horror movie party. We sat around and shot the bull for an hour or so before starting the first movie: Eight-Legged Freaks. Unfortunately, the movie decided to be… uncooperative, so we only made it about 30 minutes into the movie. That’s when we noticed the time; we needed to roll out. We headed across town to and onlyaly’s place… unfortunately, we missed out on ‘s gathering. For pics of some of the Hallowe’en costumes, click here.

Sunday morning started with breakfast at Sara’s parents’ house. Waffles. Homemade, none of that Eggo stuff. Then… football. The Ravens had a bye this week. We watched the Pitt-Cincy game. As much as it hurt to do, I was rooting for Cincinnati to win. They didn’t. We left to meet up with and to take some pictures in Memory Grove. After that, we all stopped at Redrock for drinks. Back to Sara’s parents’ place for dinner… and MORE football.

Back home.

Stray Toasters

• I am typing this post on the new black hotness that is the new Defiant. I think that I shall rechristen the old laptop either Valiant or Sao Paulo.
• I still have two boxes of Butterscotch Krimpets… and haven’t eaten any of them – I gave one box to , as she is rather fond of them.
• Talking Action with Gary Frank (: This includes some LSH news)
• 114
• Simon Pegg (you know, from Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz)… as Scotty in J.J. Abrams’ upcoming Star Trek film? Interesting.
• If the Dead Ruled – a Worth1000.com Photoshop contest
• From The Salt Lake Tribune: Liquor commissioner wants booze out of view
• Failed Futuristic Predictions

And there you have it.

Namaste.

Saturday – 27 October 2007
Yesterday was fantastic! Thank you to everyone who sent well-wishes for a good and happy birthday. Thanks also to those of you who came out for dinner and then came over for cake. I had a wonderful time; I hope that you did as well.

After indulging in one of my favorite pastimes, sleeping in, I puttered around the apartment, doing some cleaning (…and getting distracted by random bright, shiny objects). I got calls from everyone in the family and a few friends, as well as a few emails, text messages (*shakes fist at ) and other electronic notes.

SaraRules arrived a little before 6:00; she brought a delicious yellow cake with chocolate/chocolate chip frosting that she baked. We ran out to pick pick up a few party-related items, brought them back and then headed off to dinner at Outback. We took over a good bit of their real estate, both in the (TINY) waiting area and in the dining area. Cheese fries. Food that food eats (a.k.a. “salad”). Prime rib. And Foster’s (“Australian for beer!”). Tasty.

Back home for cake, ice cream and assorted beverages. And chat. And just a good time hanging out. It was just like going to the bookstore for Clitorati… without the annoying “they’re having a good time, tell them to stop” people. Or the volumes of books. (I have books here, but they have me beat, ever so slightly.)

Great way to kick off thirty-seven.

Now, it’s time to go tune in Legion of Super-Heroes (new episode!) and play with the new black hotness.

Namaste.

Thursday: Coda
And so, the work week comes to a close. Friday is International Annual Rob Day, known in some regions as “Pope Groovalicious Day.” In honor of that I am hereby declaring it a personal holiday:

After work, I met for dinner at Tepanyaki. Sushi and a Teriyaki Steak and Chicken combination dinner. Nice. The couple sitting to our right was nice, even somewhat conversational. The family on our left… not so much. Oh, well. After dinner, I headed around the corner to CompUSAirways to pick up some memory for ‘Nine. Yes, I know I’m getting Defiant (Mark II) tomorrow, but I’m not abandoning ‘Nine… and Intrepid has been wheezing along since I lobotomized it to up ‘Nine‘s memory a few months ago. And, added bonus: The memory was on sale. Win-win.

On the way home, I stopped to see and onlyaly. No sooner than I had entered was I also greeted by Daisy and Sadie. I think that I got a decent workout from playing with Daisy – almost enough to make up for not going to the gym this afternoon.

Since getting home, I haven’t done much. So far, the highlights have been:

• Getting an early birthday call from Mom; she’ll call back tomorrow, but didn’t want to call me at O’dark-thirty… especially when I told her that I was taking the day off and sleeping in. God bless her.
• Ordering a couple of pieces of plastic crack on eBay: Green Lantern (John Stewart) from the out-of-“print” Cosmic Justice series. The price was right and I’ve been on the fence for a while too long in deciding whether or not I was going to get them.

Stray Toasters

• I was surprised/shocked/about to wet myself by/because of “The Leash” just before dinner. Fortunately, it was just a status message.
• Rock Band. Not necessarily my cup of tea, but I know a few grad students eagerly awaiting its release.
• Steampunk + LEGO = ???
• …with a hint of lip gloss.
• Horrifying cute animal photoshop contest
• I think that there’s an ice cream sandwich in my immediate future.
• Worm study may bolster idea of human sexuality being hard-wired in brain
• Madlessly.
• The Ravens have a bye this weekend… and next take the field on 05 Nov 07 against ‘s beloved Bengals, for a Monday Night Game. Fiddler’s Elbow, anyone…?
• Porno-embroidered handkerchiefs

Yep. That’ll do it.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 24 October 2007
Two down, one in the chamber and one to go.

Last night, I met , , and Pat for dinner at Jitterbug before heading to non-Game Night. I think that I am getting addicted to the Tropical Smoothies there – I had two last night… and could have easily gone for another.

Chris wasn’t running on all cylinders last night, so there was no zombie killin’. *sigh* Oh, well… there’s always next time. Instead, we spent a couple of hours talking comics and related geekery and then played a bit of Justice League Heroes. It was a good way to spend the evening.

I got home and decided to chill on the couch with the October issue of GQ. “The best-laid plans of mice and men,” as the saying goes. I wound up falling asleep while reading the Colin Powell interview. Next stop: 3:30 AM. Right. Bed. Bed good. I slept pretty well. I slept so well that, at one point, I managed to wake up to move (i.e.: “toss off the bed”) a pillow and wound up taking out a cup of water on the nightstand. *grblsnrkx* Way to go, Robzilla.

The day, so far, has been good. We’re having a meeting today, for which we’re being required to dress “business casual” (no jeans). No problem. I even broke out one of my favorite sweaters – It’s similar to this one, but with buttons rather than a zipper.

Stray Toasters

• I had Linus and Lucy, the theme from Peanuts, running through my head a little while ago. I mentioned it to SaraRules. She countered with this article. I volleyed back with this one.
• From KUER’s RadioWest: Mothers Who Know
  

  SALT LAKE CITY, UT (2007-10-22) Earlier this month at the LDS Church’s General Conference, the head of the Relief Society Julie B. Beck praised the power in motherhood. She encouraged women not to postpone having children, and equated nurturing with homemaking. Her words re-ignited a controversy about the role of Mormon women, and within hours, LDS blogs were inundated with responses. Tuesday on RadioWest, Doug talks to LDS women about Beck’s remarks and what those say about women’s position in the LDS Church and culture.

• By way of Wired: When Geeky Goes Bad – Tackiest PC Mods
• Alienware announces Alien Exchange program
• Merry Christmas from Chiron Beta Prime,
  where we’re working in a mine for our robot overlords.
  Did I say overlords? I meant protectors.
• Free Cake.
• The Brothers Brick – LEGO Blog

Namaste.

Tuesday – 23 October 2007
Post work, I had dinner with SaraRules before she made her southward trek. After tossing a few names out for possible eating establishments, we decided on Macaroni Grill. Good choice. We started with Calamari Fritti. For entrees, I went for the Chicken Marsala; she had a “Create Your Own Pasta” dish. Dessert was an incredibly rich – and incredibly tasty – piece of cheesecake with chocolate and caramel fudge sauces.

After Sara left, I puttered around the apartment a bit before deciding to take a stab at hanging two more railroad pictures. I had originally wanted to put them on the north wall of the dining room, but that would have left the west wall rather bare. Instead, I put the new pictures on the west wall, mirroring the orientation of the other pictures. The overall effect looks pretty good. To accent/offset the starkness of black-and-white pictures in a black frame with (barely) off-white mattes, I put one car of my HO-Scale train “collection” (yeah, I’d hardly call four pieces a “collection,” but it fits…) on each frame.

I logged into CoH to see if anyone was on. No luck. I did note, however, that the 2007 Hallowe’en Event has started. So, I did a few transactions at the auction house and logged out.

Not terribly long after that, I decided to call it a night.

This morning, the alarm went off. I reached over… and decided that I wasn’t quite ready to be awake. The “Snooze” button, which I rarely use, was a good friend.

Nine minutes later, the alarm sounded again. This time, I took more definitive action: I turned the damned thing off. I laid in bed, debating the pros and cons of getting up. The cons won.

When I awoke again, a decent amount of time later, I was ready to take on the day.

I think today’s outfit is going to be a little business casual upscale…

• Jeans
• Turtleneck (white)
• Black sportsjacket
• Black shoes

…just because I can.
Next move: Attack the day, like birds of prey…

Namaste.

Monday – 22 October 2007
Another week begins. So far, it’s been good (despite a road monkey on the AF commute)… and it’s a short work week, so I’m not about to complain.

Saturday night, I finished watching Renaissance. It was good. I liked the feel and style of the movie. And I was pleased with the way it wound up; I was a little surprised by part of the ending, but in thinking about it – it made sense. I give the movie a thumbs-up with an okay.

Then, it was off to breakfast with the usual suspects… plus one: put in an appearance.

Sunday, SaraRules and I went to Temple Square to see Music and the Spoken Word – she plays cello, as does my coworker who performs with the Orchestra at Temple Square, so I figured it would be a “best of both worlds” kind of thing. So… off to the Conference Center we went. There were tons of people – far more than usual – also heading to the Conference Center. Odd, but I figured “Whatever…” When we got inside, they were handing out tickets for “Multi-Stake Conference.”

*blink blink*
Okay… definitely not what we’d gone for.

We decided to beat feet and make our way out. The problem: All of the primary entrances were being used for just that: Entrances. (After all, who would possibly want to leave when you could get a little bit o’ Jesus in your day?) So, we found an elevator bay that led to the parking garage and went out that way. Then we made our way against the tide of humanity back to the car. Along the way, we found a crosswalk that had a stone benches in the middle of the street. In case you got tired halfway across? *shrug* Who knows?

All gussied up and with no particular place to go, we realized that we were hungry. I checked the time and figured that Ruth’s Diner was going to be filling up with patrons. So, rather than sit and wait, I pointed the car to I-80 East. Park City. Cisero’s. Brunch. The food was good, as usual. And the drive, there and back, was nice.

Back to Salt Lake and on to the Capitol Theatre to see The Flying Dutchman. I enjoyed production. I was even able to restrain myself from making untoward comments to the lady who sat behind me and kept kicking the back of my seat throughout the performance. I was rather proud of myself.

From there, we headed to Sara’s parents for dinner and football. We watched the Broncos whale the tar out of the Steelers. I’m not really a Denver fan, but any team that plays the Steelers is my “favorite team” in that match-up.

Football Update

• The Ravens dropped a game to the Bills. Bah. *shakes fist*
• The Raiders lost to Kansas City.
• The Bengals beat the Jets.
• The Browns had a bye week.
• The Vikings got branded by the Cowboys.
• The Eagles lost to da Bears.

The Best: Come Together – Round 2
I put The Beatles up against Aerosmith in this match-up.

I picked up a copy of Across the Universe: Music from the Motion Picture a few days ago. I’m sorry, but Joe Cocker, singing an arrangement by Elliot Goldenthal, kicks the bejeezus out of both versions. Don’t believe it? Listen to it (unfortunately, it’s audio only – which is a shame, because the video portion of this kicks much grass) and tell me what you think.

Stray Toasters

• I had a cinnamon roll from the Garden of Sweden for breakfast, along with a large dose of frozen mocha goodness.
• Secret Agent, Salmon and 22 Seconds
• Plantation Dig Reveals Maryland Town’s Painful Past
• I am Ivory Soap sure that I will own new black hotness within the next few days.
• More US Warcraft Players than Farmers
• Salt Lake Gas Prices
• SaraRules, please show this to DJ Viking:

  

  Of course, I could have asked or (or a few others) to show it to him, too… Hm. Maybe I should make it a race: See who can get it to him first. Or, possibly even how many people can forward it to him. That would be amusing.

• By way of boingboing.net: Steampunk Shrew
• Luciana Souza: Revising Pop by Way of Bossa Nova
• 
• Anagram (for Mongo) from Mr. Shortz

And that’s that.

Namaste.

Friday – 19 October 2007
And so the week winds down.

Last night, I had dinner with lj user=”khayla”. Sushi. Tsunami. But, they were out of Ika. (KHAAAAAAAAN!) Oh, well, another time, perhaps. After that, I went to visit Kate and Perry. Then, a couple of errands and then home to try and make a little sense of the chaos before Ms. SaraRules got in.

This morning, I turned off the alarm… and turned off consciousness for an extra hour and some change. As I drifted in and out of sleep for the next little while, I phased in and out of The Dreaming. During my last excursion, I dreamed that I was playing basketball – I don’t remember with whom, though. Whomever the other guard was, we were approaching the half-court line when he lost control of the ball. I dove and stretched out for the ball…

…instead, I wound up nearly knocking my lamp off the nightstand. Fortunately, I found, I didn’t dive off the bed.

That was my cue to actually get out of bed and start the day.

Stray Toasters

• I chatted with Kris for a bit yesterday. It was a pleasant surprise.
• I enjoy Instructables. I’ve found many interesting and fun things on there. However, I think that this item has to be one of the most creative articles on there.
• Whatis.com Word of the Day: Unconference
• I Got Six
• Hmm… I found a non-Rockapella version of Zombie Jamboree on YouTube, done by The Kingston Trio.
• Zombie wedding cake topper
• SaraRules and I are making a sojourn to the Garden of Sweden this afternoon.  *genuflect*
• Darth Vader Rules Hot-Air Balloon Event
• “Did I say ‘overlords?’  I meant ‘protectors.'”
• God’s Mechanics: Vatican astronomer reconciles religion and science
• Prophet 60091…

Namaste.

Monday – 15 October 2007
And so, another week begins.

Last night, I tried making the jamabalaya recipe that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. , it’s pretty good; I don’t remember whether I sent you the recipe, so let me know if you’re interested in trying it. Sara and I watched the Seattle SeaChickens take on the N’Awleen’s Saints. When it was all said and done, the Saints went marching in with a win. Post-football, we watched Shadow of the Vampire, a movie that I’ve owned for at least two years, but never got around to watching. That’s a pity, because it was good. It also made me want to see Nosferatu.

The extended commute wasn’t bad. The presence of Utah Highway Patrol’s finest was minimal, but noticeable. And, there weren’t too many monkeys on the road… until I got to Utah County again, go figure.

And… Happy Hatching Day to …

…and also to

The Best: Kiss Me Deadly
Lita Ford vs. Reel Big Fish

Friday, on the way to Cedar City, the Reel Big Fish version of the song made its way into the musical rotation.
On this morning’s commute, the Lita Ford version of the song played.

I like both versions, but the harder-edged, 80s rock sound of Lita Ford wins.

Stray Toasters

• I have jamabalaya leftovers for lunch. And you don’t.
• By way of : Lexi goes “mountain climbing.” Xena used to do this. NOT comfortable.
• 30 Days of Night. Saturday.
• By way of : The Phobia List
• Nyx also had a few helpful suggestions for a potential Hallowe’en costume.
• “Because you are dangerous, you must not enter.”
• Willpower versus gravity.
• Tyranist: What know you of Babylon Fields?
• Which laws don’t we enforce and why?
• I’m contemplating (key word: “contemplating”) the acquisition of some new technical hotness. But, I’m a little unsure of which flavor I want.
• The Life and Death of Jesse James: An Internet Love Story

/lunch

TCP/IP. Whoop-de-damn-doo.

Namaste.

Friday – 12 October 2007
And… another week draws to a close.

Another night of not-so-great sleep.  I’m not really sure “why,” I didn’t have anything caffeine-laden before bed.  Quite the opposite, in fact.  I kept waking up with the feeling that I was going to be late for something.  *shrug*

The work day has been good – a nice mix of reading and server admin work to move the day along nicely.  And it’s been monkey-free and that’s always a good thing on a Friday.

We (the IT team) had lunch at Pawit’s.  Mmm, Thai.  It didnt dawn on my that it was the same Pawit who used to be at Thai Garden until I walked in the door and saw him standing there.  As usual, the food was quite good.

Stray Toasters
There was something that I wanted to put here… but I can’t remember what it was.

And that’s that.

Time to finish a few things, get out of here and get on the road.

See you on the other side of Sunday.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 09 October 2007
Last night’s sleep was… broken. I was up and down all night. When the alarm went off this morning, it was immediately shut off, and I lazed in bed until the iPod started to play. Then it was time to face the day. Work prep was relatively quick and painless, but I had to skip the “Have a bowl o’ cereal” part of the agenda as I had neglected to pick up some milk. *shakes fist* I did brew coffee so that I could start thinning the blood in the caffeinestream.

The commute wasn’t painful and, so far, the day hasn’t been bad.

::: gym break :::

I hit a new max benchmark on my bench press today: 300 pounds. One – and ONLY one – rep, but I did it.

Stray Toasters

• I should start thinking about what I want for lunch.
  (EDIT: I figured it out – Fazoli’s Rigatoni Romano)
• There was an item on boingboing about this cutlery set. After seeing the boingboing article, I followed the link to the Flying Peas site. And there began the downward spiral into madness, culminating in: The Camo PeePee Teepee, for which I have no joke or punchline.
• M is for Monkey.
  C is for Cookie Chimpy.
• From NPR: Keeping Gospel’s Legacy Alive
• allmusic.com
• respond, vibrate, feedback, resonate
• Eve figure
• 

/lunch

Namaste.