Random Access

Wednesday – 08 September 2010
Midweek.
This would ordinarily mean “Comics and Sushi Wednesday.”  However, as there was a holiday at the beginning of the week, comics aren’t hitting stores until tomorrow… and I’m not sure who, if anyone, is available for sushi today.

BUT…

The new HeroClix Web of Spider-Man set hits stores today. Even if there’s no sushi, this will be plenty to get me through the day/night.  Dr. Volt’s is holding a release day tourney this evening; Jeremiah is running it, so I actually get to play.  (Although this means that I’ll miss tonight’s D&D game with Melody and Jack.)

Today is also the birthday of a couple people I’m pretty fond of: Sib-4 ( also known as ) and Jenny P.:

Today also marks the 44th anniversary of the premiere of Star Trek.
(How many of you knew that the theme from the original series had lyrics?)

Last night, SaraRules and I tackled a few home projects: She tore out a few rose bushes, I replaced a couple more sprinkler nozzles and… we put primer on the walls and ceiling of the guest room. Busy night. And we were done with it all by a few minutes after 10:00.  As a reward, I took a nice, hot shower, fixed a bowl of ice cream (Rocky Road and Cookies & Cream) and played a little CoH: Going Rogue. I installed it on my Win7 laptop and it ran like a charm… which I had hoped/expected, since that laptop isn’t really used for anything but gaming.

Stray Toasters

• Female Pilot Reflects on War and Evolving Army
• modHero – Very cool artistic takes on comic characters
• What do these two videos have in common?  (Answer at end of post.)
  Video 1: Rush – Time Stand Still

  Video 2: Til Tuesday - Voices Carry

  
  Legacy Recordings | MySpace Music Videos

• Asteroid buzzes Earth; another one coming
• Yet another cooling unit pump has gone out in our server room. The tech is going to take a water sample with him to see if Something in the Water Does Not Compute. (Apologies to Prince, but it was fitting.)
• Fro Design Co Store
• I think that I’ve come up with an idea for where to put my new train set, at least temporarily
• Snap Judgment
• I wasn’t going to put in a web comic today… until I saw two of them that had a common theme. At that point, I was helpless to resist:

  

  …and…

  

• WTF? Moments Collecting Comic Books
• These are pretty cool: ’60s Style Comic Book Cover Wedding Invites Saved the Date in Style
• Eerie Ukranian Salt Mines House Convalescing Asthmatics

Live long and prosper.

Namaste.

…and the answer to the music trivia question: Til Tuesday’s Aimee Mann was the female voice on Rush’s Time Stand Still (and the “camera operator” in the video).

Sunday – 05 September 2010
So far, it’s been a nice and quiet day.

I slept in.
I decided to take a relaxing hot bath.
I finished Fables Vol. 7: Arabian Nights (and Days), which has been languishing on the bookshelf.
All the way around, I think that qualifies as a good way to kick off a Sunday.

Yesterday, SaraRules and I went for a walk along the Jordan River Parkway. We started at the 6400 South entrance and walked up to the 5400 South pavilions. We figured that the round-trip was somewhere between 2.75 and 3.00 miles.

Later in the evening, we met up with OnlyAly, and Jana and went to see the Real Salt Lake match against the New York Red Bulls. (Pictures here) I even ran into Tyranist and his wife, as well as my former coworker, Carilyn, at the stadium. RSL pulled out the win, which tied them for MLS’ longest consecutive home game win streak — 22 games. Added bonus: It looks as though we’ve converted a few more people into soccer fans.

Back at home, SaraRules and I watched Renovation Realities and Family Renovation before calling it a night. Schadenfreude at its finest.

Stray Toasters

• I need to look into replacing a couple of sprinkler heads.
• Mad Men’s glamourous gift to the world
• The Ultimate Casual Shopping Guide for Fall
• During my latest bout with geekiness, I put a couple of WorldWorksGames buildings in the middle of my train layout.
• Demon children want you to eat
• From the “It’s Probably Me…” file: What’s “wrong” with this picture?

  

  (Hint: Compared to the other items displayed, is it really “news” that someone’s not going to be a judge on American Idol next season?  How about if it’s someone that we’d barely heard of before she became an AI judge?!)

• Flying Cars? Conveyor Belts? The Future of I-95
• How to Wear White after Labor Day
• The NFL 2010 season starts on Thursday!

If I’m up early enough, should I go to the driving range tomorrow morning…?

Namaste.

Saturday – 04 September 2010
Day 2 of the 4-day weekend is upon us.
It started out rather lazily – sleeping in and then stretching out on the sitting room sofa and reading comics. I’d pretty much call that a “win-win” start to the day.

Yesterday was a fairly lazy day. The morning was uneventful. A little before lunchtime, I headed down to visit Kate and Perry and the kids (or at least the kids who weren’t in school…). From there, I headed downtown to shoot a spot for an upcoming USUO video for new Thierry Fischer, the symphony’s new Music Director. It was fun. We’ll see if I make it into the final video or wind up on the cutting room floor. Then, I headed over to the USUO offices to say “Hi” to SaraRules.

Then, I did something that I haven’t done in over 25 years: I bought a new train set. (Yes, I do have a LEGO train set, but that was purchased for me.) My new acquisition was the Lionel Chessie System Merger Special Freight Set. Growing up in Maryland, Chessie System was the ‘road that I grew up around. (That and Norfolk and Western, to some degree.) Pictures of the unboxed set can be seen here.

To say that it’s “a little difficult” to find Chessie locomotives and rolling stock around here (Union Pacific territory) would be a minor understatement. Something that I didn’t realize before getting the itch to get back into model railroading – but makes perfect sense – is that hobby shops carry ‘roads that are appropriate to their geographic location. Therefore, I can find UP and BNSF stock with no problem, but finding things that are more common east of the Mississippi is a little more scarce… unless you special order them, in most cases.

Leaving The Train Shoppe, I gave a call to see if he wanted to come over and watch a few episodes of I Love Toy Trains that I’d recorded. He did. And, thus, we did. One of the episodes featured a layout owned by Tony Lash, that takes up over 2,800 square feet.  (Transcript of the show can be read here. You should read the first few paragraphs, at least.)

Two-thousand eight-hundred square feet.

I’ll give you a moment to let that sink in.

Just to put it into a little better perspective: His layout is larger than our house. Yeah, it’s that big. And it was AMAZING. Seriously.

After watching ILTT, it was time to head out for evening entertainment — SaraRules and her dad went off for a “daddy-daughter date” to see Machete (which she said was pretty awesome), while and I headed off to Clitorati. We had a good turnout; by the time we went to get dinner, there were 15 of us.

When we got back home, I unpacked the track, transformer and locomotive from the Chessie set and assembled it in the family room. And I was immediately transformed into an eight-year-old kid again. Yep, just watching the locomotive going around the oval elicited that much nostalgia… and was that much fun.

Stray Toasters

• Death in Space
• Invoice cake sent to People.com
• TRENDING: How Christians spoil sex
• Seven Famous Movie Flaws That Were Explained in Deleted Scenes
• 
• The physics of breaking stuff with your fists
• What are the perils of being a lefty?
• No, Facebook Places Is Not Tracking You
• Best Exploitation Flicks: Machete‘s Over-the-Top Ancestors
• Zombies get “red light camera” tickets, too
• “East Meets West”: flying carpet sofa

And with that, time to find some trouble to get into!

Namaste.

Friday – 03 September 2010
It’s my 9/80 “off” Friday.
I consider that a good way to kick off a long weekend.

Last night was rather quiet and low-key. The highlights included: Mowing the yard and watching more of Mad Men, season 2. I’ve been trying to follow a tip I saw on DIY Network (I really watch that channel FAR too much…) and have been cutting the grass in different directions each time I mow. The landscaping in the front yard makes it… difficult… but I persevere. The back yard isn’t nearly as annoying to mow, fortunately. And, I also got the mower back behind the gazebo — there was a LOT of ivy/ground cover growth — to see what I was dealing with back there.  Uneven ground. A couple of stumps. A raised planter box.   Yeah, it needs a little attention.  We’ll see what we can do about that.

Stray Toasters

• I just finished chatting with my mother… on Facebook. She seems to be enjoying retirement… for the most part.
• USUO 2010 Fourth Annual Web Sale
• Cinnamon Chip Bread for breakfast!  WIN!
• The crap we put up with getting on and off an airplane
• 
• Preschoolers being radio-tagged
• The Ravens played the Rams last night… and lost. I didn’t see the game, as it wasn’t televised, but ESPN’s Game Center told the tale of the tape.  And these reporters’ comments clarified any further questions. Oh, well… at least the regular season starts soon.
• 
• August jobs report: Signs of life for employment
• Homeroom Security: book about the insanity of zero-tolerance classroom policies
• From the “WAY Too Much Free Time” file comes: Keith Goldman builds Logan’s Run

Time to see what kind(s) of trouble I can get into today…

Namaste.

Thursday – 02 September 2010
Another NBN Thursday kicks off.
And it also kicks off a four-day weekend, as today is my “Technical Friday.”
Maybe I’ll leave a little early to get a jump on the long weekend…

Today also marks the anniversary of the first use of an ATM in the United States.

Last night was Game Night with and Jack and company. It was fun, but our party got our collective recta handed to us, for the most part. Not zesty. We survived, but it was touch-and-go for a while.

After the game – and a stop at Home Depot, to pick up a hacksaw – I headed home and read the day’s four-color haul. It was a good way to wrap up the day.

Stray Toasters

• The art of James Hance
• Leaders Call for Peace as Mideast Talks Begin
• I just found out that a coworker of mine – one whom I like – is… a Steelers fan.
  I’m not sure if we can be friends anymore.
• I Lost 100 Pounds (And Found Out What the World Thinks of Fat People)
• Tony Blair on Clinton, Bush and the American Character
  

  Americans can be all that the rest of the world sometimes accuses them of: brash, loud, insular, obsessive and heavy-handed. But America is great for a reason. It is looked up to, despite all the criticism, for a reason. There is a nobility in the American character that has been developed over the centuries, derived in part, no doubt, from the frontier spirit, from the waves of migration that form the stock, from the circumstances of independence, from the Civil War, from a myriad of historical facts and coincidences. But it is there.

• New River Gorge Bridge attraction not for the faint of heart
• 35 New Hidden Logos of 2010 – Messages Revealed!
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Trapped Chilean Miners Denied Pay While Underground
• 
• Young, Single & Childless: Women Who Earn More Than Men
• Fall Clothing for Men: 21 of Your Most Pressing Fall Style Problems, Solved
• F.C.C. Seeks More Input on Wireless Internet Rules
• Annihilating the Ivories: A Solo Piano Workout Mix

Meetings! Yay!

Namaste.

Wednesday – 01 September 2010
A new month begins.

Today is Comics (and maybe Sushi) Wednesday.

Today also marks the 36th anniversary of the The SR-71 Blackbird setting the record for flying from New York to London in the time of 1 hour, 54 minutes and 56.4 seconds… a record it still holds.

Last night, most of the Clitorati crew met at Desert Edge Brewery for dinner with , Michael and Hannah. It was a nice to see her – and meet Michael and Hannah – even if only for a couple hours. I had the Paella-style Chicken and Sausage Pasta, which was very good.

This morning finds me in the south office. I had a meeting with the landlord and the sbuilding manager about some changes that we’d like to make in our server room. I mentioned two ideas that we had considered; they countered with a variation on one of those plans… that might be somewhat less expensive than we had originally thought. We’ll see how their quote looks when it comes in.

Stray Toasters

• I broke out my grey glen-plaid suit this morning. White shirt. Blue/black/white tie. White pocket square. I’ve been getting the usual “Are you bucking for a raise/promotion” questions. I’ve been countering with “No, I have a meeting with my bishop.” The quizzical looks – since pretty much everyone down here knows that I’m not LDS – have been totally worth it.
• knew that I’ll probably never be a Browns or Indians fan… but I can give their home city a warm nod, if for no other reason than this: Cleveland, the True Birthplace of Superman
• Lovecraft is missing, and all R’lyeh breaks loose
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: NFL player Troy Polamalu gets $1m hair insurance
• Chewbacca, Han Solo and R2D2 drawn as if part of A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh
• In New York Ballet Companies, Corps Is a Thrill
• I like how this garage-to-office conversion turned out.
• 
• Wesley Snipes Was Almost Geordi LaForge
• After Years of War, Few Iraqis Have a Clear View of the Future
• The Wilderness Downtown – this comes by way of . It is a very cool blending of technologies. Put in the real address that it asks for – it’s totally worth it. And don’t close any of the windows that pop up!
• 8 Surprising Household Deodorizers
• Method to Grade Teachers Provokes Battles

Namaste.

Monday – 30 August 2010
Today is both a Monday and a rainy day.
I think that the only “win” to be found here is that it’s a short work week. Despite that, here’s Today’s View:

This past weekend was good. It was equal parts fun/productive and lazy. Saturday, I ran a ‘Clix tournament at Dr. Volt’s. (Pictures here) The theme was “Family Reunion,” wherein each team had to have at least two (2) figures that were related to each other. It made for some interesting teams. I went with a Wonder Woman-themed team:

Wonder Woman (Diana Prince)
(gallery bb-figure-018)

Wonder Girl (Donna Troy, Diana’s sister)
(gallery cr-figure-038)

Wonder Woman (Artemis)
(gallery jl-figure-037)

They held up rather well, going 2-1.  (It didn’t really matter too much as I was just playing bye rounds, but it was still fun.) And, I got to use my new WW figure, to boot… which I need to get a good picture of.

Saturday evening, I fired up the grill and cooked burgers. We ate under the gazebo. It was good. Later, we ran a quick errand to Hobby Lobby – we were looking for frames for the artwork we bought at the Park City Arts Festival. We also ran into Sinister and his wife, while at the ‘Lobby. He told me of a possible monkey wrench in our Sunday plans, so we made a contingency plan.

That night, we watched The Dirty Dozen. I’ve seen bits and pieces of it and SaraRules had never seen it, so I added it to my Netflix queue a few weeks ago. Halfway through the movie, we stopped for a snack intermission. While scooping ice cream, I had a niggling suspicion about the movie…

… I went back downstairs to confirm or deny it.

Myth: Confirmed
Yep, I had bought the movie a few months ago.
*facepalm*

We laughed about it, as we started watching the second half of the movie, which was quite awesome.

Sunday, I got a call from Sinister correcting part of the mix-up from Saturday evening’s conversation. The original plans were for he, Jeremiah, and I to meet at Chris’ for a big JLA-Avengers ‘Clix match. Jeremiah wasn’t able to make it, so we had to call for a stunt double…

…and our stunt double had a conflict.

…so we called in a second stunt double, Johnny. He was able to fill in and save the day.

…and, thus, we gamed.  Sinister and Johnny played the JLA – and a well-fielded JLA, at that – while Chris and I played The Avengers. 2,400 point game. There were good (and bad) dice rolls from both sides of the table. When we finished – we had a time limit – Chris and I had managed to beat down most of the JLA’s big guns and were working clean-up duty on the rest; I lost four of my nine figures, while Chris lost no one. Good game.

Back at home, SaraRules had prepared a nice stew-like dish, served over polenta. It was very good and also marked the first time that I’d had polenta, to my knowledge. After dinner, we watched George Romero’s Survival of the Dead. It was… disappointing. Even SaraRules commented,”That sucked.”

We cleansed our entertainment palates by watching a couple of episodes of Mad Men, Season 2. That helped immensely.

Instant Replay: Football
The Ravens took on the Giants on Saturday. I didn’t get to see the game, but I did keep track of it via NFL.com’s Game Center. And the Ravens pulled out a big win over the Giants, 24 -10.

Stray Toasters

• Revisiting Black History on Martha’s Vineyard
• Three months until Burn Notice returns…
• Too Few Women in Tech? Stop Blaming Men
• This kid, at the 2010 Baltimore Comic Con, could be in my Corps any day:



• Original Kermit the Frog puppet donated to Smithsonian
• Hip-Hop History, Recreated by Those Who Invented It
• Parts of the valley are starting to look like locations from Stephen King’s The Mist.
• 
• Protest at military funeral ignites a test of free speech
• Clean People Feel Morally Superior
• 7 Inconsistencies in ‘The Fresh Prince’

Namaste.

Friday – 27 August 2010
It’s (almost) the weekend!  Amen.

To kick it off, here’s a little Tony Toni Tone:

That’s what I’m talkin’ about.

Last night was D&D Game Night. We had to reschedule it from Wednesday because of ‘s birthday. The encounter was good… and no one died. After the game, it was back home for a late dinner (Pad Thai leftovers) and an episode of Burn Notice.

Stray Toasters

• forwarded a link to this picture, which I thought was pretty awesome.
• forwarded a link to this picture, which was also rather awesome
• For SaraRules: Rube Goldberg: The Man Behind the Machines
• Thanks to for sending me the link to AnyRail.
• Scott Pilgrim vs. The Last Airbender
• The Art of Gene Gonzales
• Happy 15th Birthday to Windows 95, the Ugly Duckling that Conquered Your Desktop
• 
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Tiger cub found inside suitcase
• Bananas are radioactive—But they aren’t a good way to explain radiation exposure
• 5 Things to Always Keep in Your Car
• LA Prisons to Use Burning Heat Ray on Unruly Inmates
• SC high school freshmen take junior ROTC
• Nine lives, ten rockets… You do the math.

Namaste.

Thursday – 26 August 2010
It’s Thursday. I was informed of something that might push the day outside of the “NBN” envelope. That – coupled with who told me and what they told me – bring the phrase “People suck” quickly to mind… and serves as a reminder that some people practically beg to be curb-stomped.

Despite this, I shall try to maintain an NBN Thursday state of mind.
(As opposed to a New York State of Mind.)

Last night, SaraRules and I went to Pawit’s Royale Thai for dinner. As always, the food was very good. We started with their Por Pia Sod spring rolls (most excellent) and I had Pad Thai for my entree, while SaraRules had a salad whose name escapes me.

After dinner, it was back home for couch-time with comics! Yesterday’s haul was pretty good. I am really enjoying Justice League: Generation Lost, a “reunion” of sorts of the Justice League International. Another good storyline has been the new Wonder Woman. J. Michael Straczynski has done a good job of reinventing the character (even if people aren’t fond of her new costume). And the Legion made two appearances this month — in their own title and also in Superman/Batman #75.

After reading about superheroes, I went back to work on my HeroClix Wonder Woman mod. The new figure from The Brave and the Bold is… boring:

(gallery bb-figure-018)

So, I decided to try and make something a little more… dynamic.  I’m combining two figures:

Phantom Girl, from the Legion of Super-Heroes Starter Set

(gallery ls-figure-005)

…and Mary Marvel, from Crisis:

(gallery cr-figure-041)

I should (hopefully) have pictures to share of the finished product soon.

Stray Toasters

• Blogging and Tweeting, Egyptians Push for Change
• Jo Chen’s Wonder Woman Pencils from Her Mystery Project Astound
• Trader Joe’s: Successful, but Secretive
• Looking at Islamic Center Debate, World Sees U.S.
• The best way to get back at your superhero ex: Become a supervillain

(Plan B, by Mitz)

• I like this layout.
• Tutorial: Creating a Retro Sci-Fi Poster
• Interview with “Love and Capes” creator, Thom Zahler
• Sci-fi movie posters from an alternate universe
• It’s been a while since I’ve mentioned him, but I really like Brian Bolland’s artwork. Check out this cover he did for the upcoming Zatanna #5:

• “Wheelchair of Death”
• Geek Art Loves Daniel Clark
• And another work emergency arises.  I think that we understand the problem, now it’s just a matter of arriving at a solution.

Time to save the world… again.

Namaste

Wednesday – 25 August 2010
It’s midweek, which means it’s Comics (and maybe Sushi) Day!
The “and maybe” is because the usual suspects all seemed to have punked out today. Oh, well.

Today is also ‘s birthday:

Last night, SaraRules and I had a lazy night about the house. I worked on a HeroClix mod, while she read. After a bit, we gathered to finish up Season one of Mad Men. (Sidebar: I think I may have just had an item from Season 2 or 3 item spoiled for me. Bah!) I went back to working on my figure, but somehow wound up starting to organize the past… year-and-a-half’s comics, which had neither rhyme nor reason to how they were being stored.

NOTE: About two years ago, SaraRules spent nearly a full week organizing my comics. There were something like 2,500 when she did. And that number doesn’t include the nearly… 3,500+… others still on the east coast. (Although, I think that some of those are in some semblance of “order.”) She did a bang-up job, too.

The problem with starting to organize the comics last night was: I started close to midnight and got sidetracked by reading a few. D’oh! And, after calling it quits for the night, I went back to working on my mod. Yeah, it made for a late night/early morning.

Stray Toasters

• I have just run out of my Honey Nut Cheerios stash at work. This must be rectified. But, I was at least able to get a full bowl of cereal before it ran out.
• Vienna Philharmonic’s Summer Night Concert 2010 is being broadcast tonight on PBS. (Check local listings for time)
• After Mozart’s Death, an Endless Coda
• I have found an event I can totally get behind: Saturday is Read Comics in Public Day.



• Here’s another event… but neither I nor my Green Lantern costume will be in L.A. on Friday.
• What your email address says about your computer skills
• The Term Life Insurance Blog has a number of informative – and highly amusing – infographics.
• Exhibit brings Hendrix, Handel together in London
• 
• Eastern States Dominate in Winning School Grants
• The Legacy of Hurricane Katrina
• Digital Devices Deprive Brain of Needed Downtime

Namaste.

Friday – 20 August 2010
It’s early.
Very early.
On my 9/80 Friday off.

We’re getting ready to head up to Redfish Lake… where the weather is forecast to make roughly 50F swings from high-to-low temperatures. But, it should be fun. And, I will have my newly-tuned bike (which I took for a little ride yesterday).

Workout
Thursday’s step count: 9,393

Stray Toasters

• TSA digs through woman’s purse and flips out over $8,000 worth of checks
• 1-bit symphony: electronic orchestral composition housed on a single microchip
• Control Your Image: Women Musicians Seize On Social Media

Yeah, that’s all you get for now.

Namaste.

Thursday – 19 August 2010
It’s the NBN Thursday before my 9/80 “off” Friday…
…which is only made better by the fact that I’m working a half-day. Boo-yah!

Today is also, apparently, National Aviation Day.  Who knew?!

Last night was D&D game night with and Jack. It was fun. We had a “somewhat socially awkward” member in our group.  (Yeah, yeah, I know.  “Socially awkward” and “game-playing geek” pretty much go together like Ronald McDonald and Grimace.)  *shrug* It happens.

BUT… the “best” part of the evening was catching sight of one of the players at another table…

…dressed in a white shirt and black pants (okay, so far)…

…and, um, “adorned” with glitter.

Yeah. Glitter. All over his arms and a TON of it on his face. “Go, Team Edward.”  We weren’t quite sure if it was sad or hysterically funny. (We went with “hysterically funny,” just to be safe.)

Post-gaming, I hit up the local blue-and-yellow electronics purveyor to get my copy of City of Heroes: Going Rogue. I looked at a few other things, too, but managed to subdue the urge to walk away with “one of everything.”

Back at home, I found SaraRules and Meliko hanging out. Other than pictures, Meliko hadn’t seen the house, so she’d come over to check it out. She approved. *whew* We took her home (i.e.: “dropped her off at the in-laws’ place”) and visited with the ‘rents for a bit.

Workout
Wednesday’s step count: 4,409

Stray Toasters

• I have not yet read yesterday’s four-color shwag, so don’t go giving away spoilers. Thank you.
• American Lives: James Baldwin, “Lifting the Veil”
  

  The writer James Baldwin once made a scathing comment about his fellow Americans: “It is astonishing that in a country so devoted to the individual, so many people should be afraid to speak.” As an openly gay, African-American writer living through the battle for civil rights, Baldwin had reason to be afraid — and yet, he wasn’t. A television interviewer once asked Baldwin to describe the challenges he faced starting his career as “a black, impoverished homosexual,” to which Baldwin laughed and replied: “I thought I’d hit the jackpot.”

• Who Elected Me Mayor? I Did – an interesting article about Foursquare
• Of the items from The Covet List that I noted yesterday, I not only picked up CoH: Going Rogue, but also the Dark Phoenix statue. Two down, three to go…
• Medevac industry opposing upgrades wanted by NTSB
• What would a steampunk smartgun/smartgun link look like?
• Hindu Deities Conjure Magic in Movement Downtown
  



• For New Orleans cops, scandals linger
• Illinois Unconvinced Corruption Culture Will Fade
• Drug Made Infamous by Date Rapes Gets Second Look for Fibromyalgia
• 
• Towns block chain restaurants to save charm
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: American to Charge for Easy On/Easy Off Planes
  (Or, as the original link put it:  “Stupidest Airline Fee Ever? ‘Express Seats’ Gets Our Vote”)

Namaste.

Monday – 16 August 2010
Another work week begins.
At least it’s a great-looking day out there.
And there’s football tonight.

Today’s musical selections come by way of songs heard on the morning commute:

No Doubt – Just a Girl

Oingo Boingo – Weird Science

Yesterday, SaraRules, and I went to see Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. It was a LOT of fun. I’d say that it was one of the best geek movies I’ve seen in a long time, if not ever. SaraRules said that “…it looked the way I would expect a comic book to be translated into a movie.” I’m not a huge Michael Cera fan – he’s a little like Will Ferrell to me, very hit or miss – but I really enjoyed him as Scott Pilgrim. It was also amusing to see Brandon Routh as one of Ramona’s “Seven Deadly Exes,” and a “super” one at that. It nearly made me laugh out loud when he was flying. All-in-all, it was a fine bit of summer cinema.

After the movie – and after I spent a little time in Paragon City – we headed to the in-laws’ for dinner and a movie. Sunday dinners with the family are made additionally fun by some of the stories told over the dinner table. After dinner, we watched Kick-Ass, which was just as enjoyable this time as it was the first time we saw it.

Workout
Sunday’s step count: 3,640

Stray Toasters

• Signing, Singing, Speaking: How Language Evolved
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: $76k for emergency appendectomy
• Major archeological find at site of Civil War prison
  (Mjolnir?  Cap’s shield?  The Ultimate Nullifier?   Oh, wait… wrong Civil War.)
• Use Coffee Grounds to Clean Sticky Tools
• My Darker Competitive Side
• 14 Warm Weather Style Tips: Use Now, Repeat All Summer

Namaste.

Sunday – 15 August 2010
It’s going to be a great day.
This isn’t to say that it hasn’t already been a good one, but… “as it is written, so shall it be!”

Post-Craft Lake City, SaraRules and I stopped in to say “Hello” to the in-laws. We also chatted about dinner plans for this evening. And movies. And music. And stuff and things and whatnot. Once we got back home, it was, as The Fresh Prince put it,”…time to sit back and unwind.”

This morning, SaraRules fixed a great breakfast — pancakes and eggs, with a side of coffee. Win. After breakfast, we decided to tackle a little yard work. (It’s not going to get any cooler as the day wears on.) The lawn has been mowed. The garden has been tended to. And now, we’re looking ahead at a lazy rest of the day… including going to see Scott Pilgrim vs. The World this afternoon. Amen.

Workout
Saturday’s step count: 3,643

Stray Toasters

• “Wonderful” = “full of wonder.”
  Think about it.
• The Feminine Mystique, Expressed in Silks and Satins
• A Man, a Plan, and a Sharpie: “The Great Typo Hunt”
• I’ve been looking at some home automation items. The idea of a “smart home” is kind of appealing. (Yeah, big surprise. I know. “Geek.”  Duh.) I don’t want a SkyNet-smart home; just something where, if need be, lighting and maybe even heating systems could be remotely controlled.
• 
• And now… a jet-powered school bus.
  Just let that sink in for a moment, then click the link.
• Ten Best Lighthouses to Sleep in
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: New 24 Hour Fitness ID system causes a stir
• 
• OMG, Retailers Are, Like, Totally Giving Me Free Stuff!
• Soon, there shall be yet another British import that gets an American take: Top Gear. Most of you know of my affinity for the show from across The Pond. I’m sure that guys talking about cars translates fairly well in any language – even if it’s just the accent that’s different – but the thing that doesn’t always make the transition is “chemistry.” The Top Gear UK guys have it. While their American cousins may have it – or acquire it as the show progresses – it just won’t be the same.
• Who Gives a Damn about Scarlett O’Hara’s Dresses?

Be Well.
Be Happy.
Be Yourself.

Namaste.

Thursday – 12 August 2010
Not only is it an NBN Thursday…
But there’s an NFL preseason game tonight…

The Baltimore Ravens take on the Carolina Panthers, in Baltimore.
As these are my #1 and #2 teams, this comes out as a “Win-Win” for me.

vs. 

Additionally, The Wizard of Oz was released on this date, in 1939.

SaraRules and I, along with her parents, attended the “Epic Dining” at MacCool’s last night. There was a five-course meal, in which each course was paired with a beer from Epic Brewing:

The whole evening was great.  We sat that the table with Dave and Peter, co-owners of Epic, Dave’s wife, Susan and Michael, Peter’s assistant. We got to talk with them about how they decided to start brewing beer, what they enjoyed about it, and whatever else popped into our heads. It was a great evening, with good company and a fantastic dinner. Pictures of the courses – minus the salad, because I neglected to shoot it before devouring it – can be found here.

Just as dinner wrapped up, I got a call from one of the guys on my team: He had been receiving notifications from a wetness sensor in one of the cooling units. This would make the third time in under three months. Not good. As I was closer to the office than he was, I told him that I’d check it out. And with that, SaraRules and I headed left MacCool’s and headed to the office.

When I got there, I took the front panel off of the unit in question and looked inside. Nothing.

::: grblsnrkx :::

I removed the rear panel and checked there. Nothing.

::: braincramp :::

I went back to the front and looked again… just in case I had missed something. This time, I noticed the remnants of a splash of a water droplet next to the sensor cord. I checked the cord itself — it was damp. Okay, this was progress. The only problem: I couldn’t find any sign of a leak or spill. Upon further investigation, I noted that one of the copper pipes was damp with condensation… and it took a bend just above the splash point. Apparently, enough there had been condensation to form a drop and landed next to/on the wetness sensor cord. It was enough for the sensor to register, but not enough to cause a problem – other than sending out alters – that would affect the unit’s operation. Disaster: Averted.

Back home for comfy pants and comics-reading time.

Workout
Wednesday’s step count: 4,649

Stray Toasters

• JetBlue: Sometimes the weird news is about us…
• In Superman’s Hometown, a Labor Dispute over Health
• With a Google Map, You Can Find Doctors Behaving Badly
• 9/11 museum going up underground in New York City
• LEGO Universe is apparently releasing a Beta Client for Mac. Tomorrow.
• Shopkick can lead you to discounts and sales
• 
• Quick Change in Strategy for a Bookseller
• Five Years Later, The Big Easy Pushes Forward
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: City of Beacon, NY enforces archaic law outlawing pinball, closes retro arcade
• gd