Random Access

Friday – 12 December 2008
I was up at Far-Too-Early O’Clock again today because I had to be in at 7:00. Yay. But, I’m done at noon, so I shouldn’t kvetch too much. And the office moves/changes are coming along at a decent pace.

Last night, SaraRules came over and made a very tasty sauteed shrimp, mushroom and potato dish – served with rice pilaf and salad – that was very tasty. While we ate, we watched last week’s episode of CSI:, which had a solid bit of storytelling to it – not over the top, nothing “jump the shark” worthy, just a good story. And, as an added bonus (at least to me): Robert Guillaume was in the episode. We followed that with this week’s episode, which was also good… and was the first episode that included/featured Laurence Fishburne. After that, we caught the tail end of The Year Without a Santa Claus – Snow Miser and Heat Miser!!!

Next, we watched an episode of Justice League Unlimited, “Doomsday Sanction,” and The Herculoids.

Chew on This – Food for Thought
For those of you who didn’t catch it in yesterday’s post: I’m still taking suggestions for this year’s charitable donation. So far, I’ve had the following suggestions:

• : Primary Children’s Medical Center
• : Kiva
• : Utah Food Bank

If you have a good suggestion, please post it in a comment (or email or IM).  Thanks!

Stray Toasters

• By way of SaraRules: ‘Chicago’ model train has $2 million price tag… and is now on The Covet List.
• From : Santa to the Rescue (I like the reworking of the Alex Ross painting) and How to Know When It Is Time to Leave the Bar
• MarknTyme pointed this out to me last night: 40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes
  See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.
• Bettie Page dies at 85
• I’ve discovered another webcomic: Sunday at Ten.
  This comic, from early in its run, amused me.
• MPAA to Obama: Censor the Internet…
• Also from :



• Mixtapes move from Beat Street to Main Street
• From Boing Boing: Steampunk Second Life machinima

Namaste.

Tuesday – 02 December 2008
Another day, another dollar seventy cents (or something like that, after taxes).

Stray Toasters

• I talked with Adam again last night. All’s (still) well in the northern hinterlands. Our parents are headed out there tomorrow; Chelsea’s folks are already there. I can’t wait for the stories.
• Grace has learned a new word: “Bobo,” a character from one of the books that Bot and read to her. Still no “Mama,” yet, though… much to Bot’s chagrin.
• By way of SaraRules and the “Welcome to the Land Behind the Zion Curtain” file: Buttars takes aim at stores waging ‘war on Christmas’
• Rachel sent me an item that I hadn’t seen before: Physics doesn’t exist, it’s all about Gnomes
• I don’t mean to downplay this, but doesn’t this come under the heading of “Duh…” – Chances of WMD attack in big city greater: report
• Every time I drive past an Arby’s or especially when I see one of their commercials with this logo…

  

  …I laugh. Not because “I’m thinking Arby’s” is funny. Rather, the image looks more like “I’m thinking giant penis.” (Someone pulled a fast one over on the guys in the marketing department.) Seriously… look at the young lady and the guy on the right and the looks on their faces – they aren’t thinking about curly fries or a “Five for $5” roast beef sandwich combo.

• Disgruntled 8-year-old boy crashes teacher’s car
  …which, after I shared the link, was followed by:

  : Next article: German churches find ‘chocolate Jesus’ tasteless”
  : Clearly someone used poor quality chocolate in their chocolate jesei

• With the apparent demise – or at least long-term coma – of WizKids and HeroClix, I decided to scrape the site for as many of the character cards from the last eleven sets as I could get.
• Steampunk sewing machine

…right on to the friction of the day.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 12 November 2008
It’s a grey, rainy morning in the Salt Lake valley. It’s a little foggy to the north; I can’t even see the north end of the valley. I can barely make out the outline of the Oquirrhs, to the west.

Last night, SaraRules and I watched August Rush. There were a few cheesy moments in the film, but overall, it wasn’t bad. And it had some great music in it, as well. The main… um… I guess “theme” is as good a word as any… of the movie was how music can connect people, no matter what the distance or differences. On the whole, I’d give the movie a thumbs-up. One odd note (sorry… bad pun): The “Deleted Scenes” feature doesn’t allow viewers to choose which of the scenes to watch – you get to watch them all, sequentially. There are only six or seven of them – and most of them are decent – but the last one…? Man. They seriously made the right decision by leaving that on the cutting room floor.

Workout
Wes, Marci and I made it to the gym again yesterday:

• Bench press: 3 sets/10 reps, 185 lbs
• Reverse Fly (machine): 3 sets/10 reps, 70 lbs
• Row (machine): 3 sets/10 reps, 70 lbs
• Lateral Raises (with forward fly): 3 sets/10 reps, 10 lbs
• Side bends: 3 sets/10 reps per side, 25 lbs
• Tricep extensions (rope): 3 sets/10 reps, 45 lbs
• Core (plank): 3 sets, 30 sec

Post-workout weight: 181.4 lbs

Wes mentioned that he wants to start working on specific areas. I asked if he wanted to do more focused/targeted workouts; he said yes. So, tomorrow, we’ll start focusing on chest and upper body, I do believe…

Stray Toasters

• I’m still a bit surprised by the whole Topps/WizKids thing.
• …and now: Richard Garriott quits NCSoft
• sent me a link to a post about a steam-powered car. As with most things that she sends, I clicked the link. Upon looking at it, I quipped back to her:
  

  That’s not quite “steampunk.” It’s more… “steamfunk.”

• What could/would George Clinton do with Steamfunk?
• Or, since he already has a song called Steam, would Peter Gabriel be a better choice?
• How about a collaborative effort?
• The premise of the movie Slumdog Millionaire sounds… interesting:
  

  Directed by Danny Boyle (Trainspotting), Slumdog Millionaire is the story of Jamal Malik (Dev Patel), an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is just one question away from winning 20 million rupees on India’s “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” But when the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating. Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slum where he and his brother grew up, of their adventures together, and of the girl he loved and lost. Each chapter of his story reveals the key to the answer to one of the game show’s questions.

• While looking for a couple other videos, I stumbled across this: Lady Marmalade (from Moulin Rouge)
  Christina Aguilera |MTV Music
• …and I eventually found one of my favorite David Bowie songs, Absolute Beginners:
  David Bowie |MTV Music
• Bush: ‘I regret saying some things I shouldn’t have said’

Namaste.

Friday – 10 Oct 2008
Last night, after a summer of waiting, the new season of CSI: started. And it ended a little differently than I expected. But, I was glad to see a show follow through with something that is so rarely done in comics: We’re killing off a character. And we’re not going to punk out and reverse it. (Watch… no sooner than I write this, it will turn out that they’ll pull a Dallas Bobby Ewing shower scene.) I will be interested to see how the new CSIs, played by Laurence Fishburne and Lauren Lee Smith, join/integrate into the team.

After CSI: went off, SaraRules helped me do a little cleaning around the apartment. Rachel, one of the MFAs from SUU, is coming up this afternoon to hang out for the night… and the apartment needed a little love; good progress was made. I have a few things to finish up this afternoon, but that should be easy enough to deal with.

It was 37°F when I woke up this morning.
The forecasters are saying that the chance of snow in the valley this weekend is good.
Whiskey Tango…?!

Chew on This: Food for Thought
Commentary: Hollywood sses world in black and white.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Stray Toasters

• SaraRules pointed out this Rolling Stone article: Make-Believe Maverick
• Five Things Your Mac Won’t Tell You
• DC Comics President Gives Superman Update
• From MightyGodKing.com: Why I Should Write “Legion of Super-Heroes” #45: The Only Line
• Also from Rolling Stone: Q&A: Chrissie Hynde
• DNA test proves it — baby shark has no father
  (Someone needs to test its midichlorians …)
• By way of : Toy Modder Extraordinaire Steampunks Return of the Jedi
• 
• Dream CAPTCHA for spam-free sleep
• A couple of items by way of :
  • Foo Fighters want McCain to stop using song
  • GOP gets no love from musicians
• From the “Everything Old Is New Again” file: Alien lizards set to invade ABC in ‘V’
• Joe Biden Laughs Uncontrollably Over SNL Veep Debate Skit
• From Boingboing: Cool Photoblog: Elders with Style

Live a vapor trail…

Namaste.

Thursday – 09 Oct 2008
Last night was Project Runway night. The four designers who started the show were pared down to the final three designers… and I was a little surprised at who made the final cut. Post-Runway, and after SaraRules headed home, it was new comics night. There were a few good books in yesterday’s haul, including a new issue of Love & Capes.

This morning, I decided to check out an Internet Radio feed on iTunes. I opted to go for a Hip Hop/Rap feed. Scrolling down the list, I saw an entry for WVEE: V-103. This intrigued me, as there was a “V-103” in Baltimore. I clicked on the station and waited for the feed to begin. Turns out that this feed originates from a station in Atlanta. A couple of songs played and then there was a newscast. The reporter was Jean Ross.

*blink blink*

There was a “Jean Ross” who was a reporter on Baltimore’s V-103 many moons past. It struck me as too much of a coincidence to let pass. I did a quick search and came up with a result on the Atlanta station’s website. I clicked through and went to their Bio page. And there it was, big as day and twice as bright: Jean Ross’ bio. Turns out that she is the same Jean Ross I used to listen to back home all those years ago.

Stray Toasters

• By way of SaraRules: Charles Atlas, Wii Fit, Health and Exercise
  (The second paragraph kills me.)
• By way of : Demonic Squirrel Motorcyle Riding Story
• 
• A few political items:
  • John McCain and “my friends”: We counted how many times he said it.
  • John McCain calls Barack Obama ‘that one’ during debate: Was it rude or not?
  • Make-believe Maverick
  • Video: Saturday Night Live‘s take on the Vice-Presidential Debate (featuring Queen Latifah)
• Browse the Artifacts of Geek History in Jay Walker’s Library
• There is a possibility of snow in the valley this weekend. *sigh*
• At last, Google invents something truly brilliant
• 
• Steampunk and the Macabre
• A couple of things you might not know about me:
  1. I don’t practice Santeria
  2. I ain’t got no crystal ball
• The Manga Guide to Databases

Attack the day…

Namaste.

Wednesday – 08 Oct 2008
Middle of the week and all’s well. In the words of the Dave Matthews’ Band, So Much to Say, so let’s get it started…

SaraRules came over after work last night. We ran a couple of errands, including picking up a barbecue chicken pizza from Papa Murphy’s and headed back to my place. We watched Senators Obama and McCain in the second presidential debate. Again, I’m not really sure that either candidate “won” the debate, but if I had to pick a winner, I’d have to go with…

Tom Brokaw.

That’s right: Tom Brokaw, the moderator. Why? He had the best lines – including a couple of snarky jabs at the candidates for not sticking to the agreed format.

After the debacle debate, we headed to the gym. Lo and behold, I still remember how to workout! Unglaublich! SaraRules did cardio; I headed to the machines and free weights:

• Lat Pulldowns: 3 sets @ 100 lbs
• Close-grip pulldowns: 3 sets @ 80 lbs
• Reverse Flys: 3 sets, 1 set @ 60 lbs, 2 sets @ 50 lbs
• Overhead tricep extensions (dumbbell): 3 sets @ 40 lbs
• Side Bends: 3 sets, 25 lbs dumbbells
• Tricep Extenstions (T-Bar): 3 sets, 80 lbs
• Core: 2 sets, 45 seconds

I neglected to weigh myself pre- or post-workout. Oh, well.

We headed back to my place to catch David Letterman’s monologue and Top 10 List before she headed home. She made the comment that it seems like he’s got “…a personal vendetta” against Senator McCain and that it’s rather amusing to see what he’s going to say/do next. She’s right.

The Best: Rocket Man
I think that I first became aware of this song when it appeared on The Greatest American Hero, many moons ago. Since then, it’s been a favorite.

I apparently have four versions of it in iTunes:

1. Elton John – the classic, original version
2. Kate Bush – a synth and bass-rich version, from the “Two Rooms” tribute CD
3. Me First and the Gimme Gimmes – a punk cover
4. Jamie Cullum – a jazzy piano take on the song.

If I had to rate my favorites, it’d go in this order:

1. Elton John
2. Jamie Cullum
3. Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
4. Kate Bush

The rationale (as much as there is for it) is as follows: The Elton John version is, like I said classic. To me, it reminds me a bit of David Bowie’s Space Oddity, in that its protagonist simply seems… resigned to his fate and is trying to make the best of his situation. The Jamie Cullum version seems to put a different, more upbeat spin on it: Here’s a guy who has a secret (I’m not the man they think I am at home…), but is fine with it and he gets to see all kinds of things that no one else gets to see or do. He doesn’t come off as resigned, but kind of “Wow, too bad you guys can’t be here to check this out.” The Me First version is just… frenetic and fun and full of energy. And the Kate Bush version is… Kate Bush. *shrug*

Stray Toasters

• MarkinTyme sent me a link to A Literal Take on Take On Me, in which someone… just take a look at it for yourself. Hilarious… in a “You had WAAAY too much free time on your hands” way. And, yes, it’s work-safe.
• Hey Ensign Redshirt… why don’t you go investigate that odd noise while we talk to the locals?
• It’s been a while since I’ve had a steampunk-related entry, but here we go: Steampunk Keyboard, the Mini-Me version
• Buy a LEGO Life-Sized Replica of Yourself for $60,000
• With Hallowe’en just around the corner:
  • The Zombie Apocalypse Is Less Terrifying in LEGO
  • Dismember-Me Plush Zombie
  • Zombie Brain Jell-O Mold
• 
• Democrats Still Most Tech-Savvy, Rent Digital Billboard to Text Message Sarah Palin at Rally
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: US Customs: Sketching an SUV makes you a copyright infringer
  
• I moved the speakers that I hook up to my laptop at work. It made a noticeable – and greatly improved – difference in the acoustics.
• Yokai Attack: The Japanese Monster Survival Guide
• By way of : Operation Double Y’d Targets Women
  (Um… aren’t women “Double X?”  And XYY Syndrome is a little… rare.  And “male.”  Just sayin’.)

And now, meeting time!

Namaste.

Friday – 08 August 2008
Eight-Eight-Eight.

The 2008 Summer Olympic Games have gotten under way.

Last night, I went to see The Knight (explanation) The Dark Knight with Perry. He’d never seen it and I was up for seeing again. Hell… I’d even see it again, in IMAX. It was a nice way to spend a Thursday evening.

I got home and found that I wasn’t very tired, so I puttered around the apartment for a bit. Then, I remembered that ‘Nine has been semi-lobotomized for a while and started to reinstall XP on it. Suffice if to say that it’s still dysfunctional. Around 1:00, I could tell that I was winding down, but not “sleepy,” so I got Wednesday’s still-unread comics and sprawled across the bed to read. And read I did. About 1:30, took my glasses off, to “rest my eyes for a minute.”

A few minutes after 5:00, I was apparently done resting my eyes.

It was still too early to start prepping for work, so I did the only logical thing: I finished reading my comics. That took another twenty or thirty minutes. Plenty of time to return to The Dreaming… which I did. When I finally woke up to face the day, I decided that I wasn’t in a big rush to get to the office – I have a short work day, as I put in some extra hours over the past few days – so, I lounged about for a while. It was nice.

The morning’s commute – without any input from me – was rather heavily comic-themed:

• True to Myself – Eric Benet (from the Batman and Robin soundtrack)
• Give Up the Funk – Parliament (adapted by Snoop Dogg for the Undercover Brother soundtrack)
• Supergirl – Krystal Harris

Yep, technopathy is a good thing.

And for those who weren’t aware of it: Undercover Brother began as a webcomic before being picked up and adapted into a movie.

Food for Thought: Chew on This
It’s been in the news that Morgan Freeman and his wife are preparing to divorce.

You know what?
I don’t really care.

For me, it’s like…

• Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s kids…
• Jewel eloping…
• Verne Troyer’s sex tape…
• Gwen Stefani being pregnant again…

What affect does it – or any of the above items – have on my day-to-day life?
Zip.
Zero.
Zilch.
None at all.

At most, I could say that I feel badly that their marriage has come to an end. But, I’m Ivory Soap sure that they didn’t just wake up one morning and decide: “Hey, you know what sounds like fun? Let’s get a divorce!” It seems to me that decisions like this take some time – and soul-searching – to reach. And, if they have come to the realization that the best of their time together has passed, then I wish each of them the best of luck and hope that they find the happiness that they seek elsewhere… assuming that they haven’t achieved that level of happiness and/or satisfaction already.

Stray Toasters

• Clitorati: Check your email.
• and I had a brief discussion about steampunk and LEGO computer case mods (1, 2, 3) this morning. Helluva good way to kick off a Friday.
• Thanks to for pointing out this Puzzle Calendar
• Intel and the (lack of) SATA controller recognition on their DG33FB motherboard can bite my entire chocolatey ass.
• By way of Coworker Drew: Star Wars-Coming to America mashup:

  
  Star Wars Coming to America – Watch more free videos

• From the “Kids Have No Fear” file: Video of Kid Climbing into a Claw Machine
• Reporters booted from Black Hat conference for hacking
  (Umm… isn’t that part of the whole “black hat” thing?! *blink blink*)

Namaste.

I spent the better part of the afternoon in the AF office today. I took care of a couple of items and wound up bringing one of the troubled kids back to the north office.

Workout
One of the benefits of being in AF, I was able to work out with Eric… and Dwim joined us, as well. Today’s routine:

• Leg Raises: 3 sets / 20 reps
• Pull-ups: 1 set / 10 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets / 8 reps, 205 lbs.
• Curls (standing, dumbbell, crossover): 3 sets / 12 reps, 25 lbs
• Flys (Nautilus): 3 sets / 10 reps, 110 lbs
• Upright Rows (barbell): 3 sets / 10 reps, 50 lbs

Pre-workout weight: 173.2 lbs

Stray Toasters

• The World of Web Trolling
• By way of : Open Source Food
• VisionAire
• 
• “And I would have gotten away with it, if it wasn’t for you meddling kids and your pesky dog!”

I should probably pay some more attention to the game… as I’m being attacked by a Sphinx. Yay.

Namaste.

Friday – 01 August 2008
Sun: Check
Coffee: Check.
Breakfast: Check.
Logged into work systems: Check (after taking too long to remember the proper credentials).

Happy Birthday to

Stray Toasters

• I left my highlighting markers in SLC. *BAH*
• By way of xkcd: “Frustration”

  

• Readercon’s steampunk panel – the podcast
• Sailors fighting in the dance hall
  Oh man! Look at those cavemen go
  It’s the freakiest show
  Take a look at the Lawman
  Beating up the wrong guy
  Oh man! Wonder if he’ll ever know
  He’s in the best selling show
  Is there life water on Mars?
• From the “You got your chocolate in my peanut butter” file: An Xbox 360 Controller Crammed into a PS3 Dual Shock Controller’s Body
• Your parents named you what? The pros and cons of ununsual names
• 
• Active Directory. *zzZZZzzzzzZZZzzzz*

I’m not sure if it’s the connection in the condo or what, but the ‘tubes are being ludicrously slow. And it’s getting a little irritating.

Namaste.

Sunday – 13 July 2008
And on the first day, Rob worked.
Amen.

That’s right: I made like Kool Moe Dee and went to work. loonybin88 and I did a server upgrade today – we had to unrack, swap memory and hard drives and re-rack 18 servers. And like Big Daddy Kane, we got the job done.

After that, we headed to Olive Garden to have dinner.

And, when it’s all said and done, my work week is officially 20% done already.

Booyah.

Stray Toasters

• I found the following as the signature line to someone’s forum post:
  

  In Ulthar, no man may kill a cat. In Utah, no man may marry a cat. These rules were made because of the ramifications of them happening before.

  It amused me greatly.

• Steampunk Wallpaper. ‘Nuff said.
• By way of Wired: Is Sunday Morning the Best Wake-Up Tune Ever?
• By way of YouTube: Sunday Morning

• I need a steampunk icon.
  I don’t really need one, but I think that I want one.
• Microsoft cuts XBox price by $50, plans 60GB model
• 
• David Bowie: Underground

  I don’t know how much Aha’s Take On Me influenced Mr. Bowie’s decision to take the video for Underground in this direction, but take a look at the similarities:

• I’m a little… weirded out by the fact that I JUST noticed how similar Cool World and Take On Me are.
• The Cosby Show can still make me laugh.
• The classic Jonny Quest is on (not the 80s or 90s remakes). I think that if done properly (operative words: “if done properly”), it could make an interesting live-action TV show and/or movie. It could be done in the vein of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. Or, it could even be told from the point of view of an older man recounting his globe-trotting adventures to his kids, grandkids or protege.
• d

Thursday – 10 July 2008
Last night, Dr. Z brought my XBox from the AF office up to SLC. Along with it, came the six games I had stored in the carrying case, including X-Men: Legends. Win-Win. I took them home and put Legends in the 360 and sat down to enjoy some comics-based gaming.

I had, however, neglected one very important factor into account: The 360’s poor backwards compatibility.

After some research, I found that I needed to download an emulator – to trick the 360 into thinking that it was an O.G. XBox.¹ (Yes, calling it “O.G.” just made me laugh.) And, even then, there’s no guarantee that the emulator will play Legends properly. *sigh* As the home network is mostly wireless, I looked to see if I had a long enough Cat-5 cable to run from the living room to the office. Nope. Next, I considered trying to cascade wireless routers, since I have SaraRules’ router for the time being. Then I decided that was more effort than I really felt like putting into it last night.

So, I opted for playing City of Heroes.

Which had a new patch release. So, I waited for it to download and then clicked to apply it. I was apparently so wiped from the poor sleep Tuesday night – possibly aided by the Shiraz I had with dinner – that I nodded off before the patch finished applying.

So I called it an early evening, relatively speaking.

This morning, I was up and ready to roll in just over 40 minutes, including the time it took to iron today’s outfit. Not too shabby. It would have been even better if I had remembered my cell phone before leaving the complex. *sigh* At least I have frozen mocha goodness to see me through the morning.

And it’s Comics and Sushi ‘Wednesday.’

Stray Toasters

• Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Sheila E. are performing Saturday. I’m a little torn about which show I’d rather go to… but leaning towards BBVD.
• The new season of Burn Notice starts tonight.
• The HeroClix Fantastic Four Starter Set should be in stores today.
• As bad as I’ve (re)discovered that Super Friends can be, this sounds like an interesting compliation.
• I haven’t played Second Life in probably a year. This is almost enough to get me to check it out again: New Babbage – A Steampunk City in Second Life:

• iPhone 3G meets the masses tomorrow.
• It looks as though the right reverend Jesse Jackson could use a good talking-to.
  But, he’s still my top choice for reading Green Eggs and Ham:

• I just introduced DaveW to Christopher Titus Apologizes. In return, he sent me back to my desk with a video from Lisa Lampenelli: Take It Like a Man

Namaste.

¹ – O.G. XBox – A conversation between a classic XBox and an XBox 360:

XBox 360: So what are you supposed to be?
XBox: Me? I’m O.G.
XBox 360: “O.G.?” Shit… you ain’t gangsta.
XBox: Gangsta? Naw, man… not gangsta. O.G. “Original Gamer.” Word.

Tuesday – 03 June 2008
Last night, I got home to find that my Giants set of ‘Clix had arrived. As I had some errands to run, I took the package, unopened, with me. I’ll come back to that one in a minute.

One of the evening’s errands was to take my guitar to Acoustic Music. The bridge had… separated… from the body, rendering the instrument pretty much useless. They will reattach the bridge and restring the guitar; I should have it back inside of a week. I had asked Tom (SaraRules’ friend) and Bruce (from Jitterbug) where the best place to take it would be – both of them said Acoustic Music. First choice. No hesitation. (Well, there was a little hesitation from Tom, as he tried to recall the name of the place, but it was still his first choice.)

One of the other “errands” was to see if Chris was home and show him the Giants set. He was. I did. He laughed when I told him that I came by just to show him the figures, but he liked them. (The sculpts and paint jobs are really good, the pictures on the site don’t do ’em justice.) He didn’t recognize all of the characters, but he did know a few of them.

On to the store to pick up a few groceries and then home. I cooked dinner: Grilled chicken over angel hair pasta with a garden salad and a glass of Gewurtztraminer to wash it down. Aside from neglecting to turn on the range hood fan while cooking – and thus having a little too much smoke in the apartment and THUS setting off the smoke detector – it was good.

I even got to watch ST:DS9 and Seven Days. before calling it a night.

Workout
Back in the saddle again:

• Leg Raises: 3 sets/20 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 185 lbs
• Pulldowns (close grip): 3 sets/12 reps, 120 lbs
• Shoulder Press (dumbbell): 3 sets/15 reps – 30 lbs (1 set), 35 lbs (2 sets)
• Bent-over Row: 3 sets/10 reps, 35 lbs
• Wrist Curls: 2 sets (each)/15 reps – 55 lbs (reverse), 45 lbs (forward)

Pre-workout weight: 172.4 lbs.

I don’t know what I did to lose two pounds over the last week, but I’m not going to argue.

Stray Toasters

• SaraRules got to interview the Mayor of Aspen yesterday. Her recap of it made me laugh.
• Radio From Hell (known as “Radio from Heck,” in Happy Valley) has a LiveJournal account. Who knew!?
• “Secret Agent” and “Salmon”
• America’s Unhealthiest Drinks Exposed
• 
• Steampunk R2
• Interesting note: Jonathan LaPaglia, Seven Days‘ protagonist and his brother, Without a Trace‘s Anthony LaPaglia, are Australian; you’d never know from their accent… or lack thereof. Jonathan LaPaglia was a physician before switching to acting. He graduated with an M.B.B.S. degree from the University of Adelaide.
• Mel Gibson, however is NOT Australian; his family moved there from New York when he was a young boy.
• 13 Movie Mementos Lost in the Universal Studios Fire That No One Will Miss
• 
• Hugh Jackman is still Australian.
• Bardot fined for stoking hate race

/lunch

Namaste.

Friday – 09 May 2008

It’s… a little after 8:00 AM EDT. I’ve been up since about 6:30. (This is a vacation, isn’t it?!) I’ve been hanging out with Mom – having coffee, watching news, watching her start cooking dinner – since waking up. I’m sure that having been up since O’dark-thirty will catch up with me sooner or later. And, did I mention that Mom is following this year’s election coverage with the same hawkishness with which she followed the O.J. Simpson trial back in the 90s? She is. It’s kind of amusing.

Today will involve a good bit of errand-running, I’m sure. That’s cool.

Stray Toasters

• Severe storms hit the area of NC near Mom’s. I’m waiting to hear what kind of damage the area around the house sustained. I chatted, briefly, with Markin’ Time, this morning; he said that his area was pretty much spared. , what’s the story from your part of the state?
• Burma impounds UN aid deliveries
• 
• Preview of Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four #1
• I haven’t had an NES for over fifteen years, but this NES Controller Coffee Table makes me kind of wish that I did…
• …of course, if they’re putting an XBox in a Microsoft Surface Table, well, I wouldn’t mind one of them, either!
• Close to the Wind
• 
• John Ridley (1,2) author of The American Way (which, if you haven’t read, you need to read) and Undercover Brother, is a commentator on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. Who knew?!
• Mmm, coffee.
• Steampunk in The New York Times
• LEGO + Nathan Sawaya = Skateboard

Namaste.

Wednesday: Coda
Lunch with the guys was good… even if our server wasn’t so hot. In the forty or so minutes that we were there, I think he hit our table twice – possibly three times – after bringing our drinks. “Unlimited soup, salad and breadsticks?” Not so much today. I had to actually keep myself from leaving the tip that I had originally estimated leaving.

It snowed, intermittently, this afternoon. Code Monkey and I went out for our afternoon constitutional. We made it around the campus as the stormfront rolled in. It started coming down just as we got back to the building.

After work, I headed to Dr. Volt’s. I picked up this week’s four-color crack when I noticed something on the wall: New packs of Crisis boosters. Before I checked out, I gave in and decided to get a box. Ever since seeing Dave do his “weigh the box” trick that scored me Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy, I’ve been using it to pick out which boosters I want to buy. I picked up five boxes, felt the way they balanced and picked Box #2. After paying for it, I opened the box. Guess who was waiting inside:

That’s right: Earth-2 Superman. Super-Rare. Unique. I was shocked. Very happy, but shocked. (I was even more shocked when I looked it up on eBay.) Or, as put it, when I told him about the figure and its going rate on eBay:

: blink
Me: I will remind you that this is a piece of plastic. Less than 3″ tall.
: For…The…MOTHERFUCKING…Win.

Feeling jazzed by my pick, I decided to get another box. Two decent figures in this one: Monarch and The Spectre. Neither of them was quite the catch that Superman was, but they are still good pulls.

Home. Laundry. Puttering about. Reading of this week’s four-color haul… and a lot of the books were good, solid slug-fests. Hero, meet Villain. Villain, Hero. FIGHT!

Stray Toasters

• By way of NPR: Old-fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills
• I talked with Markin’ Time for a bit this evening. I think we’ve talked more in the past two weeks than we have in the past six months! (Not that I’m complaining, by any stretch of the imagination.) He pointed me in the direction of InstaPundit.
  • He specifically mentioned that I should check out his item on Gaming while Color-Blind
• also pointed out a video on the disassembly of an iPhone
• The Gray Lady had an interesting article about willpower: Tighten Your Belt, Strengthen Your Mind.
  (I wonder if the Guardians and/or Kilowog know about this one?)
• As a part of “CustomCon,” someone made – MADE – Steampunk Star Wars figures

I think that I should track down something dessert-like.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 27 February 2008
Last night, I couldn’t find a team in City of Heroes – and I didn’t want to solo – so I called it an early (for me) night. I picked up Guards, Guards and managed to read a few pages before Morpheus bid me welcome to The Dreaming.

Today’s been rather good. For lunch, James, Jason and I went to ‘s to play pinball. That’s right: Pinball. He has a full-size Twilight Zone pinball machine. It had been a long, long time till touchdown brings me ’round again since I had played. And it was fun. A very pleasant change of pace. Of course, this meant that I missed out on Sushi Wednesday and picking my this week’s comics at lunch, but I think I’ll survive. And, I think that may just have to go to the driving range that’s across the street from the office for lunch on Friday.

The Best: Pinball Wizard
The Who vs. Elton John

As much as I enjoy The Who’s version of this song, I have to give props to Sir Reginald Dwight for some rather adept finger work and a fine cover of this song. Both versions have their own flavor and their own merits.

Verdict: Tie.

Stray Toasters

• showed us $240 Worth of Pudding before we started playing pinball. Comedy.
  
• PHP.
• By way of Coworker JoeT (not to be confused with ): Failblog
• Yesterday, showed me the site for LightTape.
• Today, I countered with Digital Tattoo Interface. That’s right, we’re all going to be cyborgs soon.

Namaste.