Random Access

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.

Tuesday – 28 August 2007
Waking up wasn’t quite as hellish as I had expected, especially considering the time that I finally wound down enough to attempt sleeping. It was “You-should-have-been-in-bed-long-ago o’clock” when I hit the rack.

It was raining on the way to Happy Valley this morning. It started at Point of the Mountain and wrapped up by the time I passed the first Lehi exit. That’s about… six-and-a-half miles. In that span, it went from drizzle to nearly-torrential downpour to “What rain?” Traffic slowed to a crawl. To be honest, I was surprised to see that – it’s not often that the road monkeys figure out: “Hmm… these may be less than ideal driving conditions; maybe I should slow down.” I wanted to give them all cookies. Then I had a couple of lyrics run through my head:

The first was Sting’s Desert Rose:

I dream of rain
I dream of gardens in the desert sand

The other was Everything but the Girl’s Missing:

And I miss you
(Like the deserts miss the rain)

The former was amusing because it came to mind as I was passing Thanksgiving Point… which has a rather large and elaborate garden… in the middle of the desert. The latter always strikes me as funny because I never really think of deserts “missing” rain.

Today’s workout was good. I discovered something: 300 pounds is heavy. VERY heavy. Eric and I decided to give it a shot… just to see if we could; Eric did it once back in February. We couldn’t today. But, we did get 275 again. I was good with that. I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to press 300, but I wanted to try. I was able to lower it slowly and get it (just barely) off my chest; I couldn’t make the transition from there, though. Oh, well. That just gives me something to work up to.

City of Heroes/Villains
The Hand of Nefer-Tem.
Security Level 34.
Boo-yah.

Stray Toasters

• I completely forgot about last night’s eclipse.
• Doesn’t this look like an out-take from Dragon’s Lair? It’s not. It’s a picture of DC Comics’ Shining Knight.
• Psychology of risk-taking
• 
• Chaos Computer Club Congress goes steampunk
• Although not necessarily “dystopian,” would the upcoming Bionic Woman series be considered cyberpunk?
• It’s gonna be the future soon
  I won’t always be this way
  When the things that make me weak and strange
  Get engineered away
• At the risk of losing a lot of cool points: I like the music of Jim Croce and Gordon Lightfoot.  Both men do/did some very nice guitar work… even though Mr. Lightfoot wrote what I consider one of the most depressing songs ever: The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
• 
• I want to build… something… out of LEGO. I might even break out the Rokenbok, too.
• Tyranist, I need some feedback on this: Gore Is Less – Videogames Bake Better Horror Than Hollywood
• A little while ago, our Director of Operations and the Operations Manager asked me if I’m getting bigger (bulking up)… separately, but within five to ten minutes of each other.  I’m not working out for others’ recognition, but it’s nice that it’s noticeable.  It was amusing to see their expressions when they asked if I was taking any supplements or doing anything else to aid in the development and I told them “No.”

Namaste.

Monday – 09 July 2007
A new week begins…

Work was good. Relatively painless. Nothing to write home about. After work, I stopped by to pick up a Sentinel ‘Clix from Perry – I need to exorcise a demon and this is a necessary artifact to that end.

Stray Toasters

• I accidently hit <DELETE> and wound up with “Stray Tasters” for a moment. Like “Stray Taoists,” but different… and not as amusing.
• Sculptures inside vacuum tubes
• 
• New 7 Wonders of the World
• William Gibson explains why science fiction is about the present
• I have recently been made aware that there are Legion ‘Clix from previous releases that I do not have. This will have to be rectified.
• : From the DCG – Legion Animated Ultra Boy

That’s it for now.

Namaste.

Thursday: coda
The post-work day found me in the Garden of Sweden. Again. This time, I went with the intent of checking on a coffee table, some picture frames for my concert tourbooks and… what in theory should be curtains, but I think will be used as wall treatments. *blink blink* Did I just say… “wall treatments?!” *sigh* I think that is unequivocal proof that I am my mother’s son. But… “I found things to hang on the wall.” I also discovered that a couple of pieces of furniture don’t come in the color I want. Oh, well. I can deal.

Home for a bit and then back out again for coffee with Liz. Then, home again, home again. Jiggety-jig.

Stray Toasters

• I got some potentially really good news from Perry this afternoon; I just have to wait to see how it pans out.
• I don’t know how I missed this announcement. Hopefully, it will be better – MUCH better – than the adaptation of Johnny Mnemonic… which was an excellent short story, but a shitty movie.
• And speaking of Mr. Gibson’s work (with a few other items thrown in, for good measure): The Matrix has you – Second Earth
• Using the Wii Remote as a wireless 3D interface device
• Catch a falling star an’ put it in your pocket
  Never let it fade away!
  Catch a falling star an’ put it in your pocket,
  Save it for a rainy day!
  (This was one of the first – if not the first – songs that Mom taught me to play on the piano.)

• Cyberpunk cinema
• 
• “Peace, be still.”
• Steampunk Workshop
• : DIE Another DAY.
• Jake Van Slatt’s Steampunk Creations
• I don’t need no one to tell me about heaven
  I look at my daughter, and I believe.
  I don’t need no proof when it comes to God and truth
  I can see the sunset and I perceive

Namaste.

Thursday – 12 April 2007
Last night, I played Battlefield 2142 for the first time since God was a boy.  Okay, it hadn’t been that long, but it had been since early January.  I met up with the rest of team and we exchanged bullets, rockets, and grenades with opposing forces.  It was fun.  I do, however, need to remember to turn Multiplicity off before playing – the mouse kept tracking over to Intrepid at inopportune moments.
I woke up with a phenomenal (do DO do-do-do) headache this morning.  I decided to take some Aleve and sleep in.  That seemed to do the trick, for the most part.  I still have a slight twinge, but not nearly as bad as it was earlier.

I’m not sure if the headache was contagious or if I’m developing a new level of technopathy, but Nomad was a bit cross this morning, too:

• David Bowie – Look Back in Anger
• Rush – War Paint
• MC 900 Foot Jesus – While the City Sleeps
• Prince – Electric Chair

That’s right, my iPod is apparently not to be trifled with.

Quote of the Day (so far)
Excerpted from a conversation with :

[10:33] shadorunr: So..
[10:33] shadorunr:  I saw [this]
[10:33] shadorunr: And the first thing in my head was
[10:33] shadorunr: “Vagina Dentata…….”
[10:33] shadorunr: To the tune of Hakuna Matata
[10:33] shadorunr: Hell.
[10:34] shadorunr: Handbasket.
[10:34] nyx_hemsut: hahahaahahaahahahahahahahaha
[10:34] nyx_hemsut: I loves you 😀

And that’s that.

Namaste.

Multi-Touch Interface

This kicks about eleventy-seven kinds of ass.