Random Access

Wednesday – 23 September 2009
Midweek and all’s well.

Today is… well… I’m not sure that it’s going to be Comics and Sushi Wednesday, as we have a coworker whose last day is tomorrow; I was invited to his going-away lunch, which will conflict with going to sushi. Of course, since SaraRules has a work-related function right after business hours, I am on my own for dinner. Maybe I’ll just go get sushi and comics a little later than usual.

For the first time in weeks, I felt like working on a couple of custom HeroClix figures. I’m still a little torn about what to do for Cyclops. I want to do a figure of him in his black Astonishing X-Men outfit – the original one, not what it’s morphed into in the past year or so. I’m not sure which figure I want to use for it – I ordered a couple of the ones from the Danger Room set, but they will require some surgery and modeling putty to make them look “just right.” Of course, I may just borrow the arms and torso from a spare Booster Gold, since his cuffs are right… then I’d have to find legs and add a little putty in the torso, again. We’ll see how this goes.

Stray Toasters

• Thanks to everyone who responded to this post. If you haven’t responded – or if you have something else to add – please feel free to add comments.
• Working cigarette lighter cufflinks
• I’ve been a Superman fan for… well, let’s just say “a long time.” The 1978 Superman, starring the late Christopher Reeve, is still my #1 movie – a combination of it being a good movie and the memories attached to seeing it. I even enjoyed Superman Returns, warts and all. That being said, I was quite scared – and more than “a little” leery – when I heard that Tim Burton, hot off the successes of his Batman movies, was possibly being tapped to direct a reboot of the Superman franchise, based on a Kevin Smith (Clerks, Mallrats) treatment, called Superman Lives (1, 2).
  

  *blink blink*

  Tim Burton. Superman. No, they do not go together like chocolate and peanut butter. His choice for Clark Kent was even more left-of-center: Nicolas Cage. Yes, THAT Nicolas Cage:

  Nicolas Cage, a comic book fan, signed on as Superman with a $20 million pay or play contract, feeling he could “re-conceive the character.” Peters felt Cage could “convince audiences he [Superman] came from outer space.” Burton stated it would be “the first time you would believe that nobody could recognize Clark Kent as Superman, he [Cage] could physically change his persona.”

  Yeah. Granted, after seeing a (relatively) slightly more serious Cage in The Rock, I was willing to give him a shot.. but I was still leery. Don’t get me wrong, I do like Mr. Cage’s work in some things (Ghost Rider!!!), but yeah.

  All of that to say this: Yesterday, a picture surfaced of Mr. Cage’s costume test. Not the Clark Kent costume, but the Superman costume. Click here to see it, if you dare.

• FDA OKs First Human Trial of Neural Stem Cell Therapy
• James May’s LEGO house is demolished
• Photos of Edward Gorey’s house
• Improv Everywhere strikes again: Subway Yearbook Photos
• Utah Tackles Texting and Driving Problem Head-On
• The next X-film: X4 or New Mutants
  (Personally, I’d go New Mutants.)
• Church converted into magnificent bookstore
• Two things that you probably never thought of putting together: Left4Dead Teletubbies mod
• Andrei Condrescu: Growing Up the iPod Way

Namaste.

Tuesday – 22 September 2009
It’s the first day of Autumn… and it surely felt like it this morning. It was 46°F when I got into the car. Where’d the warm weather go?!

The in-the-office morning kicked off in a good way, though: loonybin88 brought in bagels. Both a pleasant and unexpected way to start a Tuesday morning. And to kepp the flow going, this morning’s musical oleo included:

• 112 – Dance With Me
• Snoop Dogg – Undercova Funk
• Gwen Stefani – Hollaback Girl
• The B-52s – Love Shack
• Billy Preston – Nothing From Nothing
  

Yep, good way to get the body moving first thing in the morning.  *nod*

And it’s a workout day, to boot.

Stray Toasters

• I just found out that I have a meeting that’s been rescheduled… for ten minutes from now.
• Dwayne McDuffie: Drawn to Animation
• Spinning steampunk jewelry and Shoes with which to gouge out the eyes of alien invaders
• “Two of the most terrifying entities in the universe: Sinestro and Hello Kitty”

  

• SGI releases personal supercomputer
• Vegetative patients can still learn
• Last words

And, now, it’s meeting time…

Namaste.

Sunday – 20 September 2009
The weekend is moving right along.
(Footloose and fancy-free…)
It has been busy and somewhat productive.

Friday afternoon, I went out and ran some errands and then hung out with for a while. We hadn’t just shot the bull in a long time, so that was fun. We also talked about getting together for next week’s Browns-Ravens matchup, which is always a good time. After that, I headed home for a bit before heading back out for Clitorati. Chris and Mary were at the cafe when we got there. And, Chris came bearing gifts! Again! (I tell you, it’s like Christmas in September!) This week’s goody: He brought the John Stewart ‘Clix he repainted for me:

This, of course, made for a rather happy me. More pictures of what he did can be seen here.

Yesterday (all my troubles seemed so far away…), SaraRules and I got up, hit Einstein Bros. and Beans & Brews, and then went to help move to her new digs. We loaded the moving truck and assorted vehicles and then we were off in the “Great Cross-Town Caper.” Okay, fine… it wasn’t really across town, but that sounds better that “Seven Mile Shuffle.” The whole operation took an hour and fifty minutes, top to bottom… and it covered me for this weekend’s workout.

After that, SaraRules and I went shopping and then met up with her parents to do a little wedding-related shopping, as well. Both trips, were productive.

Back home for a bit to eat, get clean and change, and we were on the road yet again. First stop: Reception dinner for a friend of the family who got married on Friday. After that, it was on to Abravanel Hall to see Cirque de la Symphonie. Simply put, it was an amazing show. Feats of jugging, contortion, aerial acts… all performed to classical music, all on-stage with the Utah Symphony. , who saw the show on Friday had said that it was “a very, very good time” and she was right.

Today, I’m heading over to Kate and Perry’s in a bit. I’m teaching their oldest how to play HeroClix, which he’s been wanting to learn for the better part of the summer. So, today’s the day. After that, SaraRules and I are heading to the State Fair for a while and then up to her parents’ for dinner and football.

Why are weekends so short?!

Namaste.

Stray Toasters

• T-minus thirteen days.
  As excited as I’m getting for the event, I’m also looking forward to seeing my family and friends I haven’t seen in months. I’m also looking forward to seeing the rings, which lj user=”gazehound” says look really good.
• Belated Happy Rosh Hoshanna to those who celebrate(d) it.
• Belated Happy Birthday to and .
• The Ravens travel to Sandy Eggo to take on the Chargers.
• Fangirl Invasion: The War of the Sexes Hits Geekdom
• How can you not like this picture, from the article titled like “Nerd in Chief?” :

  

• Crew for Final Scheduled Space Shuttle Mission Selected
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Pop-up camper on a shopping cart
• Nissan Gives Electric Cars ‘Blade Runner’ Audio Effect

Up. Out.

Namaste.

Friday – 18 September 2009
I slept in this morning. It was lovely.
I’ve been pretty lazy since then. That’s been nice, too.

While I haven’t quite become “addicted” to the Science Channel, I have discovered an affinity for a couple of shows: How It’s Made and Colossal Construction. On today’s episode of Colossal Construction, they were building “The Arctic Ice Crusher.” As the synopsis states:

The Arctic Shuttle Tanker: a revolutionary oil tanker and icebreak in one. The workers at Samsung shipyard in South Korea have four months to build and launch this ship, but equipment problems and work-site difficulties afflict even this efficient crew.

It was built in a floating drydock in Korea with a team from four countries… not all of whom spoke a common language. The ship is steered using two Azipods, propeller systems that can rotate – and thus apply thrust – 360 degrees. It was an amazing feat of engineering and human dynamics.

I have no idea what I’m doing with the rest of my afternoon, but I’m sure I’ll come up with something.

Stray Toasters

• Three of the auctions I posted on Sunday closed on Wednesday; one of them sold. That’s good.
  Three more close tonight. All of them have bidders. That’s even better.
  One of the auctions that closes tonight will close much higher than I expected. That’s awesome.
• Tomorrow night, SaraRules and I are going to Cirque de la Symphonie
  Tickets are still available, but are going quickly.
• NC doctor removes plastic fragment lodged in lung
• posted a link to an interesting article: Marvel vs. Disney: Two very different Americas
• DHS Ponders “Improving” Terrorism Alert System

  

• I have been recently introduced to the amusement (and fright factor) of: People of Wal-Mart
• …which makes this comic all the more amusing:

  

• Major MMO Publishers Sued for Patent Infringement

Namaste.

Wednesday – 16 September 2009
Comics and Sushi Wednesday is upon us once again.  Amen.

Last night was kind of… lax. Not saying that’s a “bad” thing, mind you. SaraRules and her mom went shopping last night, leaving me at home to… well… pretty much do whatever I wanted. I actually made a few wedding-related calls – I talked with my ‘rents.  All’s well in their respective worlds.  Then I made calls to my Godparents, who won’t be able to make it out for the event. It was nice talking with them.  Then, I watched TV and cut some 6″x3″ pieces for use with a new WWG map and surfed the Interwebs.

Workout
Yesterday, Marci and I got in a short lunchtime workout:

• Calf Raises: 3 sets/10 reps, 120 lbs
• Leg Extensions: 3 sets/10 reps, 80 lbs
• Leg Curls: 3 sets/10 reps, 80 lbs
• Sit-ups (incline): 3 sets/20 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 185 lbs
• Lower Back Extensions: 3 sets/12 reps
• Side Bends: 3 sets/10 reps, 30 lbs

Pre-workout weight (morning): 184.0 lbs

Stray Toasters

• …not to be confused with “Starry Toasters”
• The Next DC Animated Film Is a CRISIS Story
• For some reason, I woke up with Swing Low, Sweet Chariot running through my head. Not just any version, either. It was the Dizzy Gillespie version that he performed on The Muppet Show. It segued into the Eric Clapton version for a moment, but went back to the Dizzy one.
• … I mis-remembered – it was apparently Swing Low, Sweet Cadillac:

• Taking Showers Can Be Harmful to Your Health
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: WWE’s Linda McMahon resigns to run for Senate against Dodd
• Carter: Racism plays major role in opposition to Obama
• With the season premiere of NCIS – and series premiere of NCIS: Los Angeles – less than a week away, TVGuide.com offers this up: Check out LL Cool J’s new NCIS:LA-inspired Song

• Best of Broadway: Bernstein’s ‘West Side Story’
• Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 is now out…

  

• iPhone as a PC Game Controller
• Top 5 WTF Comic Book Character Origins

Namaste.

Monday – 14 September 2009
Nothing like having The Leash start going off at 0800… just as you’re getting ready to head to the office. It was alerting me to a problem with an off-site server. Yay. We contacted the appropriate people – who seemed to be having issues of their own – and they handled it. Eventually. Welcome to Monday.

Yesterday was a good day. It was also chock full o’ stuff. Mark and Alex – a member of the SUU Ballroom Dance Team who came up to assist in the dance lessons – came up about 2:30. First, they worked with SaraRules and Steve for the Father/Daughter dance, then it they spent time with SaraRules and me for our first dance. It was more fun and less fearsome than I had expected. (And, we fortunately we have three weeks to practice…)

After that, SaraRules, Alex, Mark and I headed over to the in-laws-to-be for dinner: Bratwurst and football. Excellent combination. More on football in a minute. After dinner, Steve transferred the video of our dance practice to DVD for us – we need to have some kind of reference for practice, after all.

Football Update
Yesterday was the Ravens’ season opener at home.

Kansas City Chiefs at Baltimore Ravens
24 – 38

They tried to give me heart failure in the second and third quarters… and I wasn’t even watching the game, per se. In this market, CBS broadcast the Minnesota-Cleveland game, so I had to “watch” the GameCenter on NFL.com.  Granted, it was nice to see the Vikings hand the Browns a beatdown, but I would have rather seen the Ravens play. Because, let’s face it: Who wouldn’t want to see Ray Lewis break a little something off like this in real time…

…or watch as QB Joe Flacco goes and dials in 303 yards passing and 4 yards rushing, as the Ravens put up a total of 501 yards of total offense!? Crazy. How does that make you feel, Ray?

Yeah, I thought so.

Elsewhere around the league:

Miami Dolphins at Atlanta Falcons
7 – 19
Oh, well.. at least there are 16 more games in the season.

.

Philadelphia Eagles at Carolina Panthers
38 – 10
Ditto.

.

Denver Broncos at Cincinnati Bengals
12 – 7
Sorry, and .

.

Minnesota Vikings at Cleveland Browns
34 – 20
Congrats, … and Congrats Commiserations, .

Stray Toasters

• I’m going to help sling some paint tonight before the Sandy Eggo – Oakland game.
• 10 sure-fire ways to derail your career in IT
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot..?!” file: Philadelphia Free Library System is shutting down
• Get results by social networking with airlines
• Top 50 User-Created Soul Calibur 4 Characters
• Scientists Find Master Gene to Switch on Immune Cells
• Want your own dinosaur? Place your bids

Namaste.

Sunday – 13 September 2009
I was up later than I had planned to be last night/this morning; I was preparing and posting my auctions on eBay. They’ll kick off this evening and hopefully, by the end of the week, I’ll be a few ‘Clix lighter. (One can hope, can’t they…?)

This morning, we’re up and getting ready to meet our…. BUM BUM BUMMMM… dance instructor for our wedding dances. Mark Baker, SaraRules’ former classmate at SUU and the Director of Ballroom Dance at SUU, is choreographing our first dance and the father-daughter dance as our wedding present. (It’s nice to be able to “open” presents before the event!)

And then, there’s football! The Raven’s take on the Chiefs today. I doubt that the game will be broadcast here and we don’t have DirecTV and Sunday Ticket, but I can track the stats on NFL.com, if nothing else.

Stray Toasters

• Norman Borlaug, scientist who ‘saved 245m lives,’ dies aged 95
• From the “Huh… Who knew!?” file: Parallel Processing for Cardiac Simulations Using an Xbox 360
• Short People Got No Reason Not To Be America’s Next Top Models
• 
• How does her U.S. Open implosion affect Serena’s legacy?
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Super Mario fingernails
• 18 Foot Multitouch Wall and New Multitouch Tech Hit the Streets

Right on to the friction of the day…

Namaste.

I was following a thread on a gaming forum when the following popped up on my screen:

(click for larger image)

The “problem” is: I’m on my MacBook… running Snow Leopard.
Not Windows.
Not Parallels.

OS X.

Yet, lo and behold, I apparently – and somewhat magically – have hundreds of viruses on my (non-existent) “C: drive” and “D: drive.”  It even ran a “scan” to show me just how many there were.  How do I know?  Because the “Scan Procedure” progress bar moved while it was scanning!

I nearly fell out of my chair laughing.

Friday – 11 September 2009
Today not only marks the end of the (work) week, but it’s the eighth anniversary of the attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.

For my thoughts on the matter, I once again refer readers here.

Today’s an “on” day.
And I have The Leash this week.
Happiness and joy.

That’s right… I just broke out a haiku. Bow down.

Football Update
The NFL 2009 season kicked off with the Tennesee Titans heading to Heinz Field to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Tennessee Titans at Pittsburgh Steelers
10 – 13

It was a good game.  A seriously solid, well-played game. The defenses of both teams definitely earned their paychecks this week. The game was scoreless until late in the second half, when both offenses woke up and remembered what it was they were there to do. Excellent way to start the season… despite the fact that the Steelers won.

Four-Color Coverage
MarknTyme has come down with a case of “Life Happens,” which in this case means that he’s whipping his high school band into fighting shape. Because of this, he won’t be helping out with FCC for the near term. With that in mind, I’ll probably have a new (and solo) FCC to post sometime this weekend.

Stray Toasters

• Twenty-two days.
• I see a red door
  And I want to paint it black…
• As I haven’t posted it in a while: Skippy’s List
• just hooked us up with Irish Creme lollipops. (I know…!) They’re pretty tasty. He got them from Lollyphile.
• What’s that you say..? Craig Ferguson has something to say about South Carolina Congressman Mike Duvall? Tell me more!

  …and…

• PopCultureShock has some nice comic-related wallpapers.
• IAAF urges caution over Semenya intersex claims
  And, I’m Ivory Soap-sure that this line wasn’t intended to be as pun-laden as it appears to me:

  South Africa will fight back if Semenya is excluded from further competition, Stofile said, adding, “It will be a third world war.”

  I don’t know if South Africa (or just parts of it) are considered to have “Third world” status, but is the reporter (unintentionally) saying that it would be a war of third world nations…?

• David Lynch, window-dresser
• Unearthing Solomon Grundy
• 
• Motorola’s comeback attempt rests on software
  Don’t call it a comeback
  [They’ve] been here for years

Tonight: SaraRules and I are attending Utah Symphony’s An Evening of Beethoven.  (Tickets are still available…)

Namaste.

Wednesday – 09 September 09
That’s right, it’s 09/09/09.
Today is also Sushi and Comics Wednesday, but due to the holiday, comic book shipments will not be in until tomorrow.

Last night, Chris came over for another round of our GLC/SC Heroclix battle. (Pictures here) As usual, it was a good fight. In a manner that pretty much mirrored the comics, the first big fight was between Superbrat-Prime Superboy-Prime (sorry… “SuperMAN-Prime”) and Sodam Yat (Ion). Just like that battle, Prime hit Ion and cleaned his clock – six (6) clicks of damage, right off the bat — in the comic, Prime shoved a lead rod into Sodam’s torso.

Fortunately, Yat is a Daxamite and could take the hit, but it took him way off his game. We danced around the table for a while – both our sets of dice ran hot and cold – but, in the end, Chris went home with a “Win.” I believe that the Sinestro Corps is now 3-0 in our match-ups.

While Chris and I were playing, SaraRules went off to see a movie, Julie and Julia, I think… When she came home, she brought me flowers. (Coolest. Fiancee. Ever.) It was very sweet of her.

Stray Toasters

• This morning started off with a fun chat with sister-in-law-t0-be Meliko.
• 10 NFL questions: Do the Steelers have the stuff for a repeat title?
• …and in a related item, Don’t Throw It to Ed Reed:

• Courtesy of The Masters of the Obvious Slashdot: Geeks Prefer Competence to Niceness
• From and the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot..?!” file: Bizarre Tongue-Eating Parasite Discovered off the Jersey Coast
  (Of course, it would be New Jersey…)
• Superman vs. Green Lantern: The Debate Continues
• For decades (mostly in the 50s and 60s), Lois Lane tried to prove that Clark Kent was really Superman. Preposterous, I know. After all, with all that power, why masquerade as “a mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper?” Super. Man. Not “Wheat-growing Farmboy from Kansas Man.”But, I digress…Superman would go to great lengths to conceal his identity. “How far,” you ask? Far enough to get his friend Batman in on the job. There’s been super-dickery. Now here’s proof of… um… super-bat-dickery, too.
• The Beatles Remastered, Not Just for Audiophiles
• Microsoft arranges spontaneous house parties for Windows 7 launch
• Liposuction Leftovers Make Easy Stem Cells

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 08 September 2009
A new (and short) work week begins. And there’s already been “an issue” with another of our cooling systems.  Hopefully, the maintenance work that is scheduled for tomorrow will take care of it.

Happy Birthday, to Sib-4: !

Last night wound up being rather low-key. I finished cutting out the last of the 6″x6″ tiles that I had – I’m down to a hair over five minutes per tile, with all of the necessary cutting. I still need to cut some 6″x3″ and 3″x3″ tiles.

Tonight, Chris is coming over for a knockdown, drag-out Green Lantern Corps vs. Sinestro Corps ‘Clix game. We’re also using our respective Corps’ heralds: I’m using Ion (Sodam Yat) and he’s playing with Parallax (Kyle Rayner), based on figures that we made and custom dials that we’ve found.

(And, hopefully, we’ll be able to settle on a decent/respectable TA for the Sinestro Corps…)

Workout
Today’s workout was brief, but fulfilling:

• Sit-ups (incline): 3 sets/20 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 205 lbs
• Compound Row: 3 sets/12 reps, 140 lbs
• Flys: 3 sets/10 reps, 120 lbs
• Push-ups: 3 sets/15 reps

Weight (post-workout): 188.4 lbs

Stray Toasters

• Astronauts pack Buzz Lightyear for ride home
• Getting a superhero education in Oregon
• Commentary: Where are the “Good Guys?”
• 
• Photographer Leibovitz could lose portfolio due to debt
• IGN Presents: The History of the Dreamcast
• Speculation ramps up as Apple event nears
• 
• From the “You don’t hear things like this everyday” file: Parents honor dead son’s wish, wed at end of his funeral

Back to it.

Namaste.

Monday – 07 September 2009
It’s been a good four-day weekend. There have been just about equal rounds of productivity and laziness. That makes for a good weekend, I think.

<< Rewind <<
After running errands on Friday – one of which took me to the office… twice! – I had a quiet afternoon and evening. Clitorati was good, both the company and the conversations. Also of note: Borders’ Cafe now has a Hazelnut Mocha, which is pretty tasty.

Saturday, SaraRules and I got up, went out for breakfast and headed to…

(click for pictures)

It was a few days shy of the second anniversary of our second date… which also happened to be at Hogle Zoo. We got to see the new Amur Tiger and Snow Leopard cubs, as well as a giraffe calf.

After the zoo, we had lunch, stopped in to see Kate, Perry and the kids and then hooked up with some of the usual suspects to check out Gamer. I thought it was a decent – but not awesome – movie, that made a couple of interesting points about gamer culture and society. SaraRules did not like this movie. In fact, she said that she’d consider seeing either The Spirit or Transformers: RotF again before seeing this again… and she hated both of them. That said, if you’re looking for much more than shoot-em-up fare, you might want to skip this one.

Saturday evening was quiet, with SaraRules doing some quilting and me cutting new tiles for new WWG maps.

Sunday, SaraRules got up early-ish to go help her father work on the new/replacement deck he’s building. I got up a little later and headed over to help. We got the deck and the lower trim finished; I’m not sure if the next step will be railings or steps. Fortunately, it’s not my decision to make – I’m just there for the heavy lifting. After the deck-building, I popped into Paragon City for a little bit. As of a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been a CoH member for four years. Where does the time go? After gaming, we (SaraRules, the in-laws-to-be, and I) watched The Mist. Not bad, if a little cheesy at points. And the ending…? Well, let’s just say that it wasn’t “completely” telegraphed, but you could see the proverbial writing on the wall.

> Play >
Today, we slept in. After breakfast, we set about doing a bit of cleaning. (The dining room looks like a “room” again, not just a storage depot.) Next up, we visited the Utah Museum of Natural History. SaraRules hadn’t been there in many moons and I had never been. It was a nice place. Their featured exhibit is called “Toadally Frogs,” which reminded us of a smaller version of the exhibit we saw at the National Aquarium in Baltimore last year. After that, we had dinner at Charlie Chow’s. (A huge “Thanks!” to SaraRules for taking one for the team so that I could have Chinese food!)

Tomorrow, back to the work-a-day grind.

Stray Toasters

• Thanks to shockpuppet and for making sure that I get my LEGO fix:
  • All Things LEGO. Except for LEGO Bricks.
  • Turning to Hollywood Tie-Ins, LEGO Thinks Beyond the Brick
• The NFL regular season kicks off Thursday night with Tennessee at Pittsburgh.
• Laura Bush praises Obama, bemoans excessive partisanship
• Steampunk remixes from b3ta
• I had a couple of revelations about prepping tiles for TerrainLinx yesterday:
  1. I need to make a TON of tiles for this new system…
  2. Once I trim the foamcore down to the sizes I need (6″x6″, 6″x3″ and 3″x3″), prepping it  for use as tiles is actually easier if I don’t use the FoamWerks cutting tools. And it’s much faster, too.
• MarknTyme pointed out the following: Arby’s Serves Up Paper JLA in Upcoming Kids’ Meals
  (Like I need more papercraft things around here…)
• I did, however, find more papercraft arcade games, which may or may not find their way into other builds I do.
• Rapper Ludacris, dealership give away 20 cars to drivers in need
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Damien Hirst installation owner charges teen art-rival with theft of £500000 for removing box of pencils from installation

That’s good for now.

Namaste.

Friday – 04 September 2009
It’s my 9/80 Friday off. Can you say “four-day weekend,” boys and girls?

I knew you could!

I fell asleep on the couch last night… watching football. That’s a sentence that I never thought I’d write. SaraRules was kind enough to wake me up and suggest that I call it a night. I did. And I slept in this morning. That was nice, considering that I won’t be sleeping in tomorning: We’re doing an early breakfast at Ruth’s Diner and then making a trip to the zoo. (I just realized that tomorrow’s trip will be almost two years to the day that we made our first trip to the zoo together.)

Today, I have a couple of errands to run, but other than that, it’s a wide open day.

Football Update
Last night, the Ravens played the Hawks, in Atlanta.  And won. Meaning they went 4-0 in preseason.

Baltimore Ravens at Altanta Hawks
20 – 3

The Raiders also took on the Seahawks in Seattle. They didn’t fare as well. Their preseason record: 1 – 3.

Oakland Raiders at Seattle Seahawks
21 – 31

Stray Toasters

• I was watching a rerun of The West Wing earlier. The episode featured Vice-President John Hoynes, portrayed by Tim Matheson. I still find it amusing that the original (voice of) Jonny Quest wound up as VP of the United States.
• The next installment of Four-Color Coverage is going to be a little different: I’m going to be splitting duties with MarknTyme.
• 6 Tech-History Zombies We’d Throw Down a Black Hole
• Umm… Pears grown in the shape of the Buddha
• 
• Here are a couple of interesting articles about the role of museums in the DC and Marvel Universes, including the purpose of the Batcave:
  • On the role of museums in superhero fiction…
  • Heroic Hype: The Batcave
• I’ve been watching Avatar: The Last Airbender… and enjoying it. It tells a very good story.
• Why the Mt. Wilson Observatory was worth saving
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Speed-trap-happy cops shoot complaing fire chief in court

Namaste.

Thursday – 03 Sep 2009
Tis the day before 9/80 Friday. Amen.

Last night, I started printing off a few things from Himmelveil: Streets. Nothing major, just some LinxTabs and a few street tiles. There’s going to be a lot of cutting involved with getting stuff set up, but I think that the flexibility will make it worth the work.

Workout
Wes and I got in a late workout today… but that’s still better than no workout at all!

• Calf Raises: 3 sets/10 reps, 100 lbs
• Leg Extensions: 3 sets/10 reps, 80 lbs
• Leg Curls: 3 sets/10 reps, 80 lbs
• Sit-ups: 3 sets/20 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps each, 225 lbs/205 lbs/185 lbs
• Lat Pulldowns: 3 sets/10 reps, 120 lbs
• Fly: 3 sets/10 reps – 2 sets @ 100 lbs, 1 set @ 120 lbs

Weight (morning): 185.5 lbs

Then, I rushed back to the office for the… 13:30 meeting… that got cancelled… at 13:25.  *blink blink*

Stray Toasters

• sent a few pics of the family to me last night.  The cutest of the bunch:

  
  (She’s asleep, but it looks as though Pixel’s saying “No, really, talk to the hand…”)

• Outlook poor for Great Barrier Reef
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Japan’s new first lady says [she] rode UFO to Venus
• Smash and grab robbers clean out Apple Store in 31 seconds
• 
• The Art of Manliness, by way of
• From the “Ewww, gross!” file: FDA says residue is frog or toad, how did it get in Pepsi can? Worst pun/quote of the article:
  

  But the DeNegris say they’re hopping mad over Pepsi’s handling of the matter.

• YouTube may stream movie rentals

Quote of the Day
Today’s QotD also has the added (dubious) distinction of being “Unintentional Porn Overheard at Work.”

I was talking with Coworker Andrew about a salad that he was making. Not seeing any meaty bits in his salad (they were at the bottom of the bowl, apparently), I asked if he was a vegetarian. He told me that he was not.

A couple of minutes later, on his way out of the break room, he stopped by my desk to note that while he is not a vegetarian, he prefers not to eat “animal-shaped” meats – he’ll eat chunked, sliced, diced or other not-on-the-bone meats, but other than that it’s “No Go, Flight.” He summed it up this way:

I don’t put anything in my mouth that I don’t have the intention of swallowing.

I immediately told that I owed a dollar to the swear jar. (Which will use my last “banked” buck in there… but it was worth it.)

Namaste.

Wednesday – 02 September 2009
Middle of the week, next-to-last day of the work week.

After purchasing both the Himmelveil: Streets and Himmelveil: Sewers sets from WorldWorksGames yesterday, I didn’t do anything with them. It wasn’t for lack of desire or motivation; it was more a case of “the lazies.” I’m okay with that. I’m still looking at making enough pieces over the next week or so to make the Arkham Asylum map.

Last night, SaraRules and I watched the rebroadcast of the NCIS episode, “Legend,” the lead-in to the spin-off show, NCIS: Los Angeles. I’ve also noticed something about the commercials promoting the new series: None of the ads have featured Louise Lombard, who was in “Legend,” as team/office lead Lara Macy.

LL Cool J… Check
Chris O’Donnell… Check
Louise Lombard… Louise Lombard… Bueller… Bueller… Bueller…

I ‘unno what happened – other than her character must not have tested well with audiences – but she’s not on the show. *shrug* Oh, well. Maybe she’ll resurface on CSI:… at least, I don’t think that they killed off her character there.

Stray Toasters

• The menu for the reception has been chosen.
• For SaraRules: Graffiti comes of age in New York
• Great Shades of Elvis Slumdog Millionaire…!
• Coworker Dave posted a link to this gem from the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Kons for Kids
• 
• 32 Heroes Who Must Play a Deadly Game — Or Die!
• IOC questions money issues in Chicago’s 2016 Games bid
• S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Nick Fury (Classic) and Maria Hill to be NPCs in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
• 
• Why Gmail went down

Next on the docket: Taking steps to transform “plain, old Wednesday” into “Comics and Sushi Wednesday!”
Posse, out.

Namaste.