Random Access

Friday – 03 April 2009
It’s my 9/80 “off” Friday, but I’m working today – I’m shifting my day off to Monday.

Last night, SaraRules and I headed over to visit . I knew that and would be there, but we were surprised to find there; he had dropped in before heading to the airport. showed up a little later, too. Nyx was doing henna on and when we got there:

SaraRules and I had dinner with and after leaving ‘s.

Back at home, SaraRules and I hung out in front of the TV – she quilted while I played on the Interwebs. David Letterman had Michael J. Fox as his guest on The Late Show. I was impressed to find that Mr. Fox hasn’t let his bout with Parkinson’s Disease get/keep him down. In fact, one of the things that he discussed was a trip he took to Bhutan, including hiking up mountains there. It was a good interview.

Stray Toasters

• This morning, I woke up with Chicago’s Stay the Night running through my head.

• We got the proofs back on our “Save the Date” announcements.  They look good. Really good.
• Angry Villagers Run Google Out of Town
• Mow the Lawn – I don’t have the words to do this justice, you’ll just have to watch it.
• I was pleasantly surprised to find that LilFormers has grown into a full-blown webcomic:

  

• …speaking of LilFormers, while at dinner last night, made a comment that reminded me of this toon. I decided to do a little digging, because my Transformers knowledge wanes from the period just before the movie. One thing led to another and I wound up looking up information on Transformers: Beast Wars, that’s when I came across this gem:
  

  The later plot was developed following the discovery of a message made by the original Megatron for any Decepticons who would uncover it within the Golden Disks.

  I shared it with Nyx, along with the following question:

  By this rationale, it’s not too much of a stretch to wonder: Were the Decepticons Mormon?

• Batman Icon’s Mutation – a look at the bat-symbol through the years
• By way of Nyx and Not Always Right: There Can Be Only One Insane Customer
• Gorillaz go Bananaz
• Flurries. Again.
• After Sweden’s New Law, Drop in Internet Traffic

That’s a good start for the day.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 01 April 2009
Welcome to the first day of April and April Fool’s Day. As I was getting ready this morning, I tried to think of a AFD prank/joke to play, but drew a blank. Shortly after that, I discovered that Mother Nature had decided to join in the AFD fun: It’s snowing.

Stray Toasters

• New variation on a theme: I almost typed “Stray Taosters” for the heading.
• French museum posts Concorde hoax
• While watching The Late Show last night, they ran a promotion for Coming Home: Military Families Cope With Change. At first I thought that I might have misheard something or that it might have been a joke, so I did a little digging. It wasn’t a joke:
  

  Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street, is producing, in association with David Letterman’s production company Worldwide Pants Incorporated and Lookalike Productions, a new PBS primetime special, Coming Home: Military Families Cope With Change, featuring Queen Latifah, John Mayer and Elmo. This half-hour HD special tells stories of service members who return home with injuries, visible and invisible, and explores the heroic struggles their families face in discovering a new way of finding a “new normal.” It salutes the extraordinary courage and strength of these military families and offers the general public a powerful glimpse into what they often must endure. The special will air on PBS on April 1, 2009 at 8PM (check local listings) in conjunction with April as the “Month of the Military Child.”

• Cognitive Autoheuristic Distributed Interactive Entity, courtesy of
• 
• Tobacco tax hike for US smokers
• New book on the market: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

  

• From NPR Music:
  • Brahms’ Best: The Violin Concerto
  • The Year’s Best Jazz (So Far)
  • Rockabilly’s Wanda Jackson Hits Hall of Fame
• Medicine crisis hits Russia’s poor
• HALO + LEGO = This.

Namaste.

Monday – 30 March 2009
The new work week began with a new dusting of snow. There was a little slush on the streets, but nothing insurmountable. I came in a little early this morning because I had a “special project” to work on:

Our department has had a running… practical joke… for the past couple months: “An object” will magically appear at someone’s desk (usually in their chair or in a drawer) when they are away from their desk. I wound up with it about a week ago; Sean, one of my employees, tagged me with “the gift.” I promised him that I’d get even. And I waited…

This past Thursday and Friday, Sean was out of the office. He was having surgery…

…and that was when I formulated my revenge. I figured that I could kill two birds with one stone: Payback for getting “the gift” and “welcome back” all in one.

Last night, I went out and picked up the things I’d need. This morning, I came in and set them up. The time and effort were worth the investment for the expression on Sean’s face when he came in this morning. Pictures can be seen here.

Revenge is a dish best served cold. And it is very cold in space…
-Khan Noonian Singh

This morning also brought with it some server troubles. It took a bit to suss out where the problem started, but once we got that figured out, it was just a matter of getting the right people on the task. So far, it looks like things are working the way they’re supposed to.

Stray Toasters

• The wedding website is getting under way. Ms. SaraRules said that she didn’t really want anything elaborate, mostly she just wanted a centralized place for people to be able to get information about the wedding and what have you. We agreed to just go with a WordPress blog and be done with it. Now, we just have to add content…
• Last night, SaraRules and I watched Pride & Prejudice. I’d never seen it before. It was cute… although, I wanted to wring the neck of Mrs. Bennet almost every time she was on-screen. And, in more than a few scenes, Keira Knightley reminded me of a young Winona Rider.
• Welcome to LEGO. These are your business cards
• 15 vintage household ads in which women are not entirely condescended to
• 
• Obama gives car firms deadlines
• The gaming computer you dreamed of in 1983
• By way of : Reader Roundtable Survey: Here Comes the Cavalry
• found this icon, which amuses me:

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Sunday – 29 March 2009
Today has been a quiet and slow day… and that’s good.

<< Rewind <<
Yesterday morning, SaraRules and I got up, picked up her mother and headed to South Towne Expo Center for a bridal show. We stood in a short line to get in and, then, it was “Game On.” The show was smaller than I had expected – far smaller, in fact. There were, maybe… 40 exhibitors in all. I think that we were in and out of the show inside of 30 minutes.  However, in that time, I put a deposit on my tuxedo rentals with Men’s Warehouse; they were running a special that I couldn’t pass up: $30 off each rental. Win.

There was a car show at the other end of the Expo Center, so we checked out the cars they had outside the main hall. That was when I also noted the differences in admission to the events:

• Bridal Show:
  • Brides: Free
  • Other guests: $5.00
• Auto Show: $14.50

I began to wonder which show would actually make the most money. I’d like to see the final numbers.

After dropping off SaraRules’ mom, we headed to Oh Sushi for lunch. Tasty, tasty sushi… Next: Dr. Volt’s.  From there, we headed to Wheeler Farm for an afternoon walk. The weather was perfect for it – sunny, a light breeze and high clouds. Next, we headed to Best Buy to pick up a copy of Quantum of Solace. Then, back home for a bit…

…and then off to OnlyAly and ‘s for poker. It was a good crowd and I played in some good games. Despite some decent hands, I got outplayed in both of the tourneys. At least it was fun and a good way to spend the evening.

> Play >
As I mentioned, today has been quiet and relaxing.  I got a good night’s sleep last night, following Friday night’s rather poor-quality sleep. We watched an episode of Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?, featuring Baltimore Ravens’ TE Daniel Wilcox. We also caught an episode Top Gear that featured a Ford Fiesta storming a beach along with the Royal Marines AND being chased – through a mall (video) – by a Chevrolet Corvette . (I swear, they get away with more cool stuff on that show…)

Next up: Errand-running.
(Misson: Accomplished)

This evening, I’m not sure what’s on tap. I believe that we’re doing Date Night tonight, as we aren’t having dinner with SaraRules’ family until tomorrow night.

Stray Toasters

• There are not many satisfying WordPress themes for “wedding” or “marriage.”
• SaraRules picked up the new Prince 3-CD set today.  So far, it’s pretty good.
• Did Builder’s Clout Trap Couple in Dream Home?
• Steampunk Chronulator
• Courtesy of : Welcome to the Bizarro World
• Obama: Auto Industry Needs To Do More To Get Help
• Shock #1: Comic book author Greg Rucka has a LiveJournal account.
  Shock #2: He spilled the beans about a new Question feature that he and Cully Hamner are working on in said LJ.
• The Voice of CN’s Batman Talks Season 2



• Is the Bat out of the bag?
  This “Battle for the Cowl” article contains spoilers. You have been warned.
• Darth Vader + hula girl = ??? (video)
• Amazing art made with old cassette tapes

Namaste.

Friday – 27 March 2009
Another 9/80 “on” Friday kicked off…

…with me coming into the office to find out that the alarm had been tripped. *grblsnrkx* Turns out that the electricians were the first ones in the office and they don’t have our alarm code. I fired off a quick email to TPTB and let them know what happened.

Next, I discovered that one of the logon scripts on my main PC decided to go on holiday. I had to bug Jim, one of our Windows admins, to help me walk through some steps to try and recover. It looks like Windows has horked itself. Fortunately, I have another Win box that I can just port things over to. It’s just a matter of taking the time to do so. Good thing it’s the slow Friday around here.

Stray Toasters

• I gave Paul (my boss, two steps up the ladder) a copy of Coupling (BBC version, Season 1). He returned it this morning… and asked where Seasons 2 and 3 were.
• iPhone 3G Finally Available in US Contract-Free
• International Torch Relays Banned
• 
• 26 Great TV Shows That Got a Quick Hook and The Ten Best Television Finales
• Cartoons to become far scarcer on Cartoon Network
• Apple has the trailer for Where the Wild Things Are. Check it out.
• 10 ways to get a really good sleep
• By way of :

  

• New Gorillaz doc will premiere online
• Marvel launches writer’s program
• Wil Wheaton teaches his son to slay dragons
• From the “Don’t call it a comeback, I been here for years…” file: Old-school Keyboard Makes a Comeback of Sorts

Namaste.

I had to skip the lunchtime workout today; I had a lunch meeting to attend. We went to Pawit’s Royal Thai. (, Pawit said to tell you “Hello.”) Pad Pra Grow and iced coffee. Very tasty. And the meeting was productive, too.

Stray Toasters

• I caught Bret online a little while ago. I haven’t had a chance to catch up with him in a while, so it was nice to have a few minutes’ long chat with him.
• Girl, 14, Faces Porn Charges for Nude Photos
• Damn you, Mafia Wars!  *shakes fist*
• Photographer Captures L.A.’s Vintage Homes
• It’s amazing that I’ve been looking for new ‘Clix to make… and it didn’t occur to me – until this afternoon – to make a John Stewart GL one.
• Speaking of GLs, Stephanie did a mock-up of my GL Pony as a mini-pony. She said that it looks good. I can’t wait to see the finished product.
• Cassandra Wilson: Standards Transformed
• Wing Commander (the game, not the movie)
• was screening resumes and came across one that made his brain go all ‘splodey. I had to see what caused it, so I went around to his desk to check it out. *OW* The entire thing was written in an Olde English font…¹
• 10 OSes We Left Behind

Namaste.

¹ – It turned out that the resume was fine; it was ‘s word processor that read it oddly.

Thursday – 26 March 2009
There are light flurries again this morning. *shrug* I think that it’s supposed to creep back into (or at least near) the 60s this weekend.

Last night, after stopping to say “Hi” to , SaraRules and I went walking. (Hey, it’s exercise…)  As it was cold and wet outside, we opted to go walking at South Towne Center. I hadn’t been there in… longer than I can remember. Mall-walking has the added benefit of allowing you to pick and pan the latest fashions in the window displays. We did. There were a number of dresses in one store’s windows that we found… “aesthetically unpleasing.” But, we were also pretty sure that somewhere a high school-aged young lady would think that they were the greatest things ever. Also while walking through the mall, I found $20 USD. Just lying there on the ground. WIN! We also discovered that there are TWO Bank of America ATMs in the mall. O,o ?!? (For those of you who don’t understand why this is noteworthy: BoA doesn’t have branches in this state… AND they happen to be my bank. Thus, finding a veritable last bastion of banking goodness makes me quite happy.) Seeing the ATMs also raised a question: Who services these machines? We guess that someone from either Idaho, Nevada or Wyoming must have to cover them on their routes.

After getting back home, we watched NCIS, The Late Show and The Late Late Show. Just before heading off to bed, I decided to give “The Fickle Finger of Fate” method to channel surfing and see what was on. One of the things I found was Blacula. I haven’t seen that in ages. It made me laugh, but I still turned off the TV and called it a night.

Stray Toasters

• How to Change the World
• Bankrupting the Arts: State budget cuts could change Baltimore’s cultural landscape forever
• Thanks to for pointing this out: LEGO Batman is being ported to the Mac
• Also from : Project Runway finalist denies cat used as weapon
• From baby to blog to memoir for Heather Armstrong – I couldn’t remember why the name “Heather Armstrong” sounded familiar until reading this article. She’s a blogger from SLC, whose site I’ve read from time to time.
• Mythbusters Accidentally Bust Windows in Nearby Town
• Internet Explorer 8 “critical” flaw in final version – Is this a surprise? Really…?
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: British local governments deploy anti-teenager pink lights designed to make kids ashamed of their appearance
• 
• id Releases Open Source Wolfenstein 3D for iPhone
• The whole wide world
  An endless universe
  Yet we keep looking through
  The eyeglass in reverse
  Don’t feed the people
  But we feed the machines
  Can’t really feel
  What international meansIn different circles
  We keep holding our ground
  Indifferent circles
  We keep spinning round and round
• Remixes of the paranoid London police “anti-terror”/suspect your neighbours posters
• TV, films go boldly down scientific path
• Does this mean that Banjo Hero is around the corner?
• Anatomical models for artist’s reference – Now available in Dr. Manhattan model, too!

…right on to the friction of the day.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 25 March 2009
After dinner last night, while SaraRules was at her book club, I went to visit . Sissy the Wonder Kitty was being social last night, as well.

When I got home, MarknTyme was online. We spent the better part of the next hour talking about bands and music and whatnot. In that time he introduced me to a couple new bands:

• Tokyo Brass Style
• Youngblood Brass Band

One of my retorts was the Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain.

This morning, I woke up with the theme from Josie and the Pussycats (the cartoon, not the movie) running through my head. It’s not a horrible song, in fact, it’s rather catchy. All the same, I’m listening to Hemispheres to purge it.

Today would normally be Sushi and Comics Wednesday… but SaraRules and I are attending a tasting at our reception center, so this week’s raw fishes and four-color haul will have to wait.

Stray Toasters

• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Are Kidnapped Children Tax-Deductible?
• Problems Persist, But Art Advocates See Progress Under Obama
• Chimps Have a Built-In GPS
• …and, in a related note from Applegeeks:

  

• Sorry, : Browns will make Quinn, Anderson compete for QB job
• NPR Music has an article on the Gyuto Monks, a group that MarknTyme introduced me to many years ago.
• 
• Remixing the London police’s insane, paranoid terrorism scare posters
• By way of comes Apartment Therapy
• Model railway’s global uber-view

Attack the day
Like birds of prey…

Namaste.

Tuesday – 24 March 2009
After work, SaraRules and I went to visit . After that, we had dinner with and (I know!), who is on her way to California. told us about her trip to Africa, some of the people she met and the things she experienced; it sounded like an amazing adventure. I believe that we’re in for quite the slideshow when she comes back from California. And… she also hinted that she had some ring designs to show us, as well.

The Best: A Whiter Shade of Pale
Procol Harum vs. Annie Lennox vs. Sarah Brightman

I’ve been a fan of this song for… so long that I don’t even remember how long it’s been. Yeah, that long. I’m good with all three of the versions that I have, but there are distinctions:

• The Procol Harum version, the original, is… just… classic. I love the sound of the Hammond organ in this. And, Gary Brooker’s vocals sound like someone recounting a strange tale over a drink in a bar or in someone’s sitting room.
• As rich and nearly melancholy as the Procol Harum version is, the Annie Lennox version is… almost spartan in its synthesized sound. Parts of the arrangement are rather evocative of a music box, even. Ms. Lennox’ mellow contralto vocals provide a nice counterpoint to the synth sound.
• The Sarah Brightman version is… over-orchestrated. This isn’t to say that it’s a poor arrangement – it is rather well-done. (Although, and I just noticed this: It sounds like something that I’d expect to hear on a CD from Enigma.) Ms. Brightman’s soft (though strong) soprano vocals come off a bit ethereal… which works well with the arrangement, but still leaves me wanting a little something more.

So, for my taste, it shakes out like this:

1. Procol Harum
2. Annie Lennox
3. Sarah Brightman

Stray Toasters

• For SaraRules and – Prince turns a brilliant sonic triple play: 3 albums in 1 day
• 
• Strip-Search of Girl Tests Limit of School Policy
• Contraception Pill Strictures Are Eased By a Judge
• London cops reach new height of anti-terror poster stupidity
• Princeton Student Finds Bug in LHC Experiment
• 
  
• Super Bowl on Presidents’ Day? Longer NFL season in reach
• NASA Tests Heaviest Chute Drop Ever

Unintentional Porn Overheard at Work
Part of our office is undergoing a remodel. We have electricians here today and, a few minutes ago, I was treated to the following:

Jr. Electrician: What’s going on?
Sr. Electrician: Just trying to get this 3″ in here…

…and…

Sr. Electrician: We ever gonna get this up?
(Talking about running some conduit in the ceiling)

Yep, just another fun-filled day…

Namaste.

Monday – 23 March 2009
After a weekend in the upper 60s – and I think I even saw the thermometer hit 71°F on Saturday – it’s snowing. Or, at least it was snowing this morning. Right now, it would be better to say “flurries,” but you get the idea.

Yesterday, I got up and met and Bird at the Garden of Sweden. Yes, that was two trips in two days – they had a sale with “one day only” items. Yesterday’s item was an 11-quart stockpot. I didn’t think that it would be as popular an item as it was. I stood in line to get mine and then wandered back through the store to find Nyx and Bird. By the time we got back to the kitchenware section, ten to fifteen minutes later, all of the pots had sold out. Unglaublich! I left Nyx and Bird to finish their shopping and headed to the checkout, where I got in line between two ladies – either sisters or long-time friends – who had also come in search of the stockpot. Listening to them banter back and forth was amusing. As I was leaving, one of them stopped me:

Lady: I saw that you got one of those pots and just have to know what you’re going to use it for. I’m using mine to make gumbo.
Me: I’m mainly going to use it for cooking Cornish hens.
Lady: How’re you going to do that?
Me: I parboil them before baking them.
Lady: I see. Well, you should try putting a little bit of orange marmalade on them before you put them in the oven.
Me: I’ll have to try that. Thanks!

It was cute and unexpected.

I made another stop and then popped in to say “Hi,” to and to drop off a couple of things.  I couldn’t stay long because Chris was heading over… and had, in fact, already been to my place.

I got home, met Chris and we headed to Five Guys to pick up some lunch. Then, it was back to my place for a game of HeroClix. We chose a “Monsters vs. Monsters” theme. 600 points limit. I went with:

• Cassandra Nova
• Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy
• Giant Man (zombie)
• Johnny Sorrow and
• Joker (Arkham Asylum)

Chris brought:

• Giant-Man (zombie)
• Iron Man (zombie)
• Maestro
• Spider-Man (zombie) and
• Wolverine (zombie)

Then it was game on. After a couple of opening feints, we started in on the battle royale. We wound up wearing each other’s teams down, but Chris finally got me to a point where my last two figures (Cassandra Nova and Giant Man) couldn’t do anything to damage his remaining figures (Iron Man and Maestro), so I conceded the game. A little while later, while we were hanging out, SaraRules got home; she’d been in AZ visiting her grandparents. After Chris left, she recounted her vacation and I told her about my week. It’s good to have her back home.

Stray Toasters

• Derek, my acolyte from AF, and a friend have just written an iPhone/iPod Touch app: Microkart. If you’re a iPhone/iPod Touch user, check it out and leave ’em some feedback.
• Best Buy Staff Paid Bonuses to Deny Legit Guaranteed Price Matches, by way of Nyx
• From BBC News: Quest to legalize polygamy in Utah
• Wine casks turned into hotel rooms
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Company puts bounty on porta-potty arsonist
• 
• Flammable Water
• Why are Kit Kat bars so good?!
• The Science Behind Tesla Coil Music
• NFL Shop.com is offering 30% off on apparel again.

  

• Gamehouse – download a new free game, every day.

And that’s that.

Namaste.

Saturday – 21 March 2009
Yesterday was a pretty decent day. I met with Stephanie to choose the type of paint I want used on the GL pony she’s doing for me. After that, I picked up for a late lunch at Jitterbug. Then, we headed out to see .

Next on the agenda: Clitorati.  Tyler, one of the MFAs from SaraRules’ program, was in town and showed up for a while, as did . After dropping Nyx at home, I headed home to watch a little TV before calling it a night. I also started in on Greg Rucka’s Queen & Country, which MarknTyme had recommended to me many moons past.  It was a good pre-bed read.  I’m looking forward to getting back to the story.

This morning, I stopped at Beans & Brews for the first time in… at least three months. When I walked up to the counter, Ellie asked me,”Your usual…?” as if I had just been in a few days ago. That was a bit amusing and surprising, but pleasantly so. Then I came up to ‘s, to hang out for a bit.

Stray Toasters

• While I’ve squeaked by with some of my NCAA picks, a lot of the “easy” games got shot to Hell, blowing a lot of my first round picks.
• I spaced off recording Batman: The Brave and the Bold last night. BAH!!! Fortunately, I remembered to set the DVR for this morning’s rebroadcast.
• Giz Explains: How Cell Towers Work
• 
• Twins commit perfect heist?
• I’ve been toying with the idea of trading out SaraRules’ and my G3 iMacs for a new iMac and/or Mac Mini for a while.  This news has me considering a new option.
• Pac-Man Calls the Ghostbusters, Again
• Want a Science Degree in Creationism?

At some point, I need to head down to The Garden of Sweden today… and tomorrow… to take advantage of their kitchen sale.

Namaste.

Friday – 20 March 2009
Welcome to the first day of Spring. I think that temps here are supposed to top out around 70ºF. Then, there’s also supposed to drop by Sunday… and I heard something somewhere about a possibility of snow. We’ll see how that goes.

The cable tech showed up around 1430 yesterday. It took him roughly 20 minutes to track down the problems. Yes, plural. The problems were:

1. A Comcast technician had been out Tuesday, working on a problem for another customer, did a “fix” that did something to adversely affect other customers connected to that junction box.
2. There was a splitter in one of the connections in the apartment was old and was causing further signal degradation.

He fixed both issues. The whole thing took a little under an hour.

Before heading home, I had coffee with my friend, Frankie. Things seem to be going well for her.

Next, I headed out to ‘s place to hang out with her for a bit.

Today is my “off” Friday. I haven’t really done much, aside from watching a couple of BSG reruns – there’s a marathon on SciFi. Apparently, the series finale is tonight; I guess I’ll have to go back and check out the whole series.

Stray Toasters

• Lewis ‘proud’ to begin, end career with Ravens
• Grant Morrison talks Brainy Comics, Sexy Apocalypse
• Newsarama has a feature called DC Direct: A Little of What’s to Come, which also features a look at some of the new figures from Blackest Night (spoilers)…
• …and Green Into Black: Geoff Johns on the Night to Come
• Sacramento to make its tent-city permanent?
• Star Wars/Dali tattoo:
  
• Home One – 7ft Mon Calamari Star Cruiser
• Kentucky Officials “Changed Votes At Voting Machines”
• Newsarama also had an article about “green heroes” for St. Patrick’s Day. Two of the items I found most amusing from that piece were:
  

  5. Brainiac 5: Though he’s been played a few different ways, I’ll always cotton to arrogant and annoyed Brainy the best. One of my favorite stories early in my long-life as a Legion reader was when the team had to get Brainy out of the insane asylum to help the Subs defeat the League of Super-Assassins. I remember reading that as a kid and thinking, “Whoa! Super-heroes go insane?!” Indeed. And they can also be smarter-than-thou pains in the ass. Which is why I love Brainiac 5.

  4. Martian Manhunter: Oreos, man. His incredibly fun stint in the JLI aside, J’onn gets a high nod from me because he’s always been, to my mind, the heart of the JLA. Played to great effect in other tales, like the JL animated series or The New Frontier, J’onn remains that classic sci-fi conundrum: a character that wants to understand humanity without realizing how humane he actually is.

• Apple and AT&T Sued, Again, Over 3G
• SciFi is airing a movie called I Am Omega tomorrow. It looks like a poor man’s rip-off of I Am Legend and/or The Omega Man.
• …and SciFi is changing its name to SyFy.  *shakes head*

Namaste.

Thursday – 19 March 2009
After work yesterday, I hooked up the new cable receiver. There was still heavy pixelation on the screen and intermittent sound. *sigh* I decided to get back to it later. Next, I went to visit . I hung out for a couple of hours and then went to get a bite to eat with and Mr. and Mrs. … during which time I got to play 20 Questions with respect to a lot of wedding plans.

When I got home, I decided to check on the cable box one more time. Still “No Go,” Flight. *grblsnrkx* On a whim, I tried bypassing the box and plugging the cable directly into the television. Lo and behold, I had a picture – and sound – with NO pixelation. All the same, I should be getting a visit from a technician this afternoon to try and track down the source/nature of the problem. I wound up watching The Late Late Show and then the Janeway and the Barbie Borg Show (for the first time in many, many months). Realizing that it was closing on 0200 – and that I had been up since 0530 – I figured that I should call it a night.

Falling asleep was no easy task: My neck and shoulders were achy and I couldn’t find a comfortable position to alleviate any of the pain. But, I managed to nod off. I woke up a little after 0400 and the pain felt just as bad – if not worse. Enter: Aleve. Back to sleep. I neglected to set my normal alarm (BAH!), but woke up with my secondary went off… for a minute. I decided to catch a few more minutes of sleep. When I got up, my neck and shoulders felt MUCH better and I figured that I could pretty much start the day. And I did.

Stray Toasters

• I have been blessed with some very cool friends.
• Egyptian women blog for their rights
• I forgot to post my 2009 NCAA brackets last night; here they are, for better or worse:


(click image for larger version)

• Drawn!
• On a whim, I decided to see if there was a site called “Quartered,” too. Turns out there’s… something… at quartered.org.
• Competition committee aims to change ‘Hochuli Rule,’ others
• By way of Jake Theis: Confessions of a Part-Time Sorceress
• 
• Austrian Fitzl sentenced to life
• Robo-Voice’s Greatest Hits, or How Advanced Spy Tech Topped Music Charts
• One of the better LEGO interpretations I’ve seen: LEGO iPod Racer, powered by Mac Mini

Back to it.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 17 March 2009
Happy Green Lantern Day!
(Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to the rest of the world.)

After work yesterday, SaraRules and I headed up to Liberty Park for a stroll. (She’s been rather positive in helping me stick to this whole “doing cardio” thing.) We walked the inner loop, which is 1¼ miles, give or take a bit. The weather, mild and comfortable, was quite agreeable. All-in-all, it was a pleasant change of pace.

We got back home and SaraRules decided to try recreating the Pollo Limon Rustica dish that she had the other night at Macaroni Grill. I didn’t have any of the dish then, but last night’s fare was very tasty. After dinner, we watched the new episode of 24. Not too surprisingly, there were a couple of twists… including a one that I didn’t see coming; neither did SaraRules. And it was a pretty good one, in fact. We also watched reruns of The Late Show and The Late Late Show that we taped last week.

This morning, I woke up with The Beach Boys’ Fun Fun Fun running through my head.

Stray Toasters

• By way of :
  • The Interpreter – this is a pretty amazing story
    
  • Glenn Beck recycles X Files plot to Spread Fear of Obama
  • The new sexual double-standard
    
• NFLShop.com is offering 30% off on orders today.
• Week-long Africa visit for Pope
• Jasper Morello: stunning steampunk short animated film
• By way of and the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Rubber Johnny. I will add the comment that he told me when he sent it to me: don’t read the description beforehand..just let it play

• US Capital blighted with HIV/AIDS
• Tailgunner Jo
• By way of : Din Daa Daa

• Brain Decline Begins at Age 27
• Juror Tweets Could Cause Mistrial

Quotes of the Day

• Quote 1
  I posted the following as my status on Facebook:

  Happy Green Lantern Day! Wait… What? St. Patrick’s Day? Really?! Well, that’s just silly.

  To which replied:

  By your powers combined, I am Captain… no wait. These are the other guys with rings. 🙂

• Quote 2
  Jeff, another coworker, just came over and told a St. Patrick’s Day joke:

Why did St. Patrick drive the snakes out of Ireland?

Because Samuel L. Jackson wouldn’t let them on the plane.

It made loonybin88, Tom and me laugh.

Namaste.

Monday – 16 March 2009
Yesterday afternoon, SaraRules and I decided to get in a little shopping. We didn’t find much that made us go “wow.” We stopped by a craft store so that SaraRules could pick up some material for a quilt. While there, I decided to look for some glitter – I had an idea for my Sodam Yat ‘Clix mod.

After that, we headed up to her parents’ place for dinner. During dinner and dessert, we watched Miami Vice. It wasn’t a great movie, but it was entertaining. (There’s another part of my youth that just went *poof*.) No one in the room had seen the TV series other than me, so I had to do a little ‘splaining after the movie was over.

We headed home. As it was still fairly early, we looked for something to watch On Demand. SaraRules picked Ghosts of Mars, which she’d seen before. It was, as she warned me, another “not great, but entertaining” movie.

Human of the Day
W. Neil Berrett earns the honor today for coming up with what has to be the hands-down best resignation letter that I have ever seen.

Stray Toasters

• I finished my Sodam Yat HeroClix figure.

  
  (click image for more pictures)

  I also took care of his dial and his character card. For both of them, I used the stats and quotes devised by flashshello, a member of the HCRealms community:

  

• It’s March Madness time, once again.  Got your brackets ready…?
• Superman/Batman confirmed as next DC animated movie… after this summer’s Green Lantern: First Flight movie.
• Cleopatra’s mother ‘was African’
  Really?  I never really thought that there was much question about this, the movie with Elizabeth Taylor aside.
• 10 Republicans vote against Pi… including a senator from Utah.
• AIG Ripoff Gets More Maddening
• “No, ma’am. I’m just The Middleman.”
• STS-119 finally launches into space

Back to the grindstone.

Namaste.