Random Access

Friday – 07 Nov 2008
What better way to kick off a Friday than with a little Johnny Kemp?

Yeah. And there you have it. I believe that’s the first Dance Break we’ve had in a while. I’ll have to see to it that there are more in the future.

Last night, SaraRules and I went to The Paris for her birthday dinner. I haven’t had a lot of experience with French cuisine before, but this restaurant was very nice. Great service. Excellent atmosphere. And wonderful food. I had a rotisserie chicken, prepared in a “lavender honey glaze,” and it was simply wonderful. Succulent, flavorful… delightful. I’ve eaten many chicken dishes – including different takes on rotisserie chicken – but this seriously beat them. Hands down. If you are looking for a new or different dining experience, I heartily recommend The Paris.

Back home for CSI:, MythBusters and Letterman.

Then I called it an early (for me) night.

Stray Toasters

• Change.gov – The Office of the President-Elect
• This video, aptly entitled “Parenting Fail,” was sent to me by way of . I watched it and was shocked… and horribly amused.

  In the words of the guys from ESPN’s SportsCenter:

  “That kid got what…?”
  “JACKED UP!”

• The 5 Most Scientifically Plausible Sci-Fi Movies
• Also from : and the “Cool and Interesting Tech” file: New type of overpass coming to Utah County
• Letters from Johns
• Jack, relax
  Get busy with the facts
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Stick entered into the Toy Hall of Fame
• This has to be one of the most interesting – and odd – remix/mashups that I’ve ever seen – Gwen Stefani and The Soggy Bottom Boys:

• All of us get lost in the darkness
  Dreamers learn to steer by the stars
• This made me laugh for many reasons. , you really need to check it out. Really.

Groove on, brothers and sisters.
Groove on.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 04 November 2008
It’s Election Day in the U.S.

Get out there and vote… if you haven’t already, that is.

I don’t care for whom you vote.
Really.

As long as you’re voting with your conscience (yes, I take mine out of storage, dust it off and actually employ it on certain occasions) and not just to be “one of the ‘in crowd'” or because someone said that you should vote for Candidate So-and-so because they are voting for him/her.

Vote for the person who best reflects the values that you want in a leader, be it local, state or national.

Just… vote.

And remember:

Stray Toasters

• It was snowing earlier.

  

  In keeping with tradition, I called my father to let him know.
  Also, in keeping with tradition, he laughed.

• loonybin88 made a comment about “dressing up” for a meeting this morning. I told him that sounded like a challenge. I haven’t seen him yet, but from what I’ve heard, he didn’t. I did… somewhat.

  

  To complete the look, I wore my tan double-breasted trenchcoat and my fedora. (A couple of the ladies at my polling place complimented me on the ensemble, which was a nice way to kick off the day.)

• , in response to someone’s tirade about political candidates, posted a great forum item called “Why I HATE Milk.”
• ‘Bubblegum Music A-Z’ DVD
• NickToons has provided Comics2Film/Mania.com a preview reel for Wolverine and the X-Men:

• Man with gun and flag shuts down US 101, then gives up
• Something new to add to The Covet List: HeadHood LEGO Hoodie
• The Laptop Celebrates Its 40th Year

That’s it for now.

And, don’t forget: Vote!

Namaste.

Monday – 03 Nov 2008
Happy Hatching Day to :

Last night, I continued a project that I started Saturday evening: Collecting my extra Arkham Asylum ‘Clix into eBay-able groups/lots. Hopefully, they’ll do well.

Stray Toasters

• Teen pregnancy linked to sexy TV shows: study
  Funny, I’d always attributed pregnancy – teen or otherwise – to sex.
• Video Games Linked to Child Aggression
  Hm… next thing you know, they’ll be saying that cartoons and kids shows are linked to child aggression. (And if that’s the case, maybe they’ll finally take the last of the Power Rangers shows off the air…) But, more importantly, when are they going to say something about parents/guardians/mentors teaching kids about positive outlets or foci for their energy/aggression? Or is that just asking too much?
• During last week’s excursion to Dr. Volt’s, SaraRules picked up a Green Lantern t-shirt for me. Not just any GL shirt… but one with John Stewart’s symbol (as opposed to the ones that Hal Jordan or Kyle Rayner used). I’d show you a picture, but Graphitti Designs hasn’t uploaded one yet.
• The LEGO Minifigure Timeline
  This isn’t a complete list, but it does a decent job of getting the ball rolling.
• So… this is my dream car:



For those who can’t identify it, it’s a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird.

• Obituary: Studs Terkel
• I get my thing in action
  Verb! That’s what’s happening!
• Propaganda stamps
• I watched Goldfinger on Spike last night. During a couple of the commercial breaks, the following ad aired… it’s definitely one for the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file:

Attack the day…

Namaste.

Friday – 31 October 2008
Happy Hallowe’en.

This year’s costume marks the third time (in four years) that I’ve gone with a Samuel L. Jackson-inspired costume: Mace Windu (SW: The Phantom Menace), Neville Flynn (Snakes on a Plane) and this year…

Yep, Nick Fury (1, 2), from Marvel Comics’ Ultimate Universe and the verrrrry end of the Iron Man movie. And a tip of the hat and a wave of the cane to Mr. Jackson for making sure that I have at least one possible costume idea per year. I’ll have more pictures of the overall costume later tonight… to be posted probably tomorrow.

It’s “a little” busy around the office, as we’re prepping for an audit by our robot overlords.  (Did I say “overlords?” I meant “protectors.”) Fortunately, our little “pre-audit” seems to be going fairly well.

Stray Toasters

• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Guinness Record for Wheelchair Backflip
• Microsoft SecondLight, caught on video
• 2 Blue Angels grounded for inappropriate relationship
• 
• Also from the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Escaped rhino drill at Japanese zoo
  This led to the following exchange with SaraRules:

  SaraRules: I remember seeing an escaped gorilla drill a while back. Crazy Japanese.
  Me: Well, it’s hard to hold Godzilla drills, I guess…
  SaraRules: That would, however, be awesome.

• How to hack LEDs into LEGO minifigures for Hallowe’en
• By way of : Bowler collapses and dies after rolling 300 game
  (Remind me to never bowl a 300 game…)
• Video game cakes

And that’s it for now.

Namaste.

Thursday – 30 Oct 2008
Not a bad day, so far.

Stray Toasters

• I’ve spoken with this morning; she’s doing alright.
• posted a link for this online: Mystery Science Theater 3000 20th Anniversary Edition
• By way of : Stiff Washes Up on UK Shore – A Giant LEGO Minifig Stiff (Looks like it’s been pulled)
  In its place, I give you… LEGO Sofa: Complete LEGO Life Transformation Now Possible
• Wars and social unrest lead to more zombie movies?
• Meetings. YAY!
• Rock Band licenses The Beatles
• From NPR Music: Anthems for the Angry and Underpaid
• Given that the election is coming up: Mosh
  Eminem |MTV Music
• Bat-Manga: the lost Japanese Batman comics of 1966
• For the gamers: UK Opens National Video Game Archive

That’s good for now.

Namaste.

It was a busy day. Not “run around frantically” busy, but enough to keep me well-occupied throughout the day.

SaraRules cooked a chicken and vegetable over pasta dish. Quite tasty.

Stray Toasters

• Earth-like planet in Epsilon Eridani? It is logical, Captain.
• …and what reference to “Eridani” would be complete without a reference to the Eridani Light Horse?
• …and since I made a BattleTech reference: BattleTech Animated Series: Canonical List of Errors
• Daniel Craig’s quantum leap
• “Pure energy…”
• Pantone Rubik’s Cube
• Horrified B-movie action figures
• “It looks like… some kind of vicious animal-thing!”
• The Internet is ‘built wrong.’

And that’s that.

I may wind up going to the gym tonight… but I’m not 100% committed to that course of action yet.

Namaste.

Friday – 24 October 2008
Last night, I headed up to SaraRules’ for dinner and date night. Dinner was a damned fine meat loaf, with mashed potatoes, and carrots (with a little bit of brown sugar), all prepared by Ms. SaraRules. After dinner, we – including her family – watched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I’d still have to say that it’s my third-favorite Indiana Jones movie, but it was fun. Towards the end of the movie, I was wondering how well other pulp fiction-type heroes would fare in the modern cinema. I remember that there was a rumor of a Doc Savage movie in the works a few years ago, but I haven’t read/heard anything about it in some time.

Stray Toasters

• I just received this from a coworker, who found out that my birthday is this weekend and knows of my affinity for Star Trek:



• A few years ago, there was a submarine (the one used in the movie K-19: The Widowmaker, in fact) that was for sale on eBay. I always thought that Bill Gates should have bought it… after all, he pretty much has one of everything else. But he didn’t. However, this morning, I found the following item on Slashdot: Google Founders Buy Fighter Jet. That’s close enough for me.
• Make my funk the P-Funk
  I want my funk uncut
  Make my funk the P-Funk
  I wants to get funked up.
  I want the bomb,
  I want the P-Funk
  I want my funk stepped on
  Make my funk the P-Funk
  Before I take it home
• Sib-4, , sent me a link to this Questionable Content ‘toon. The last panel made me laugh aloud:



• Cartesian dualism — the latest weapon in the war on Darwin
• …and, in a (somewhat) related note: Evolutionary Scientists Test-Drive Spore, Gripe
• Get your drink on… with Raytheon!
  (After finding “drinkware” on the company store site, we’re suggesting this as a new company slogan.)
• The Fonz, Richie, Andy and Opie are pro-Obama
• WizKids still hasn’t updated their Arkham Asylum page.
• By way of IT Knowledge Exchange: CTO of the USA

Tonight: Dinner at Outback. (Can you say “Aussie Cheese Fries,” boys and girls..?)
This time tomorrow: We’ll be on our way to the Right Coast.
Selah.

Namaste.

Thursday – 23 October 2008
Waking up really is hard to do.

Okay, it’s not that hard to do. Usually. But, this morning I couldn’t seem to pry myself out of bed when the alarms went off. Granted, there is soemthing to be said for sleeping in.

Yesterday, I went to Dr. Volt’s while I was at lunch. I wanted my plastic crack fix. In the words of The Rolling Stones: “You can’t always get what you want…” Yesterday was one of those days, as the shipment hadn’t come in. So, I went back to the store after work. They were there… and had apparently arrived about 45 minutes to an hour after I had left earlier. After grabbing my ‘Clix and comics, I headed over to Perry’s to split half of one of the bricks with him. Out of the five boxes he got, he had no duplicate figures. (That’s rather impressive.) Of my haul, I wound up with:

• Arkillo
• Batman (Sinestro Corps) !!!
• Batman (Terry McGuiness)
• Bizarro #1
• The LSV
  • Cosmic King
  • Lightning Lord
  • Saturn Queen
• Wonder Woman
• Yellow Lantern
• Zoom

(It would be nice if WizKids would update their site to show all of the new figures…)

Yes, I got more figures than this. (After all, I got fifteen boxes…) These were among the ones that I was most interested in getting. Don’t know if I’ll get another brick or not – the next few tourneys are “sealed box,” so I’ll have to buy boxes to play in them, anyway – but I’m pretty happy with my overall haul.

Stray Toasters

• Meetings.  YAY!
  *ack-thbbbpt*
• By way of SaraRules:
  • ‘Paper Woman’ writes on body
  • William Shatner hits out at George Takei after wedding snub
    
• Very Small Array
• It’s the Great Pumpkin Politician, Charlie Brown!
• Game designer gets money’s worth on space station trek
• 
• Mailer hits Palin on abortion
• Trivia Quiz Proves Liberals Smug, Anti-American
• From the “Dude… it’s just a game” file: Virtual Revenge

Off to (yet another) meeting!  WHEE!

Namaste.

Wednesday – 22 October 2008
Midweek is upon us.
This means that I can (finally) sate my desire for plastic crack… and four-color crack, as well.
(WizKids, as of when I posted this, still hasn’t released the full list of figures.  KHAAAAAAAAAAAN!)

Hopefully, the workday will be a little more smooth than yesterday.

Stray Toasters

• I occasionally check the stats for my site, to get a feel for what people look at and how they happened to stumble across it. Last night, I was “a little” shocked to see that there was a link from hipflask.com, as it’s tied to the Image Comics’ Elephantmen series. So, I clicked to see what the connection could be. It turns out that they took an excerpt (1, 2) – albeit a tiny one -  from my review of Elephantmen #7 and used it on their site. Who knew!?
• Apple Stops Mac Mini Shipments to Retailers, Says to Expect No More
• Project Runway Season 5 winner Leanne “Judy Noodles” Marshall was on The Late Late Show last night. I found her to be rather… mousy… on Project Runway, but she was an interesting interviewee last night. Not only that, but she made the dress she wore in her hotel before the show.
  • Project Rungay interview with Leanne
  • Leanne’s Fall/Winter 2008 Collection
• Bot vs. IKEA
• Let’s go ahead and add this statue to The Covet List.  Right now.
  Here’s the cover from which it was taken.
• , and , check these out: Batman Cosbaby Mini-Figures
• Sprint to join rivals in cutting termination fees
• Op-Ed from The New York Times: Moved by a Crescent
• By way of – Battlestar Galactica new season intro… sort of

• From the “Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned…” file: Priest Infects Church Network by Surfing the Web for Porn
• …in his defense, didn’t Avenue Q (and World of Warcraft) teache us that The Internet Is for Porn?

• From BBC News: Financial Crisis – World Round-up: Living in the ‘Hotel Honda’
• Zombie Apocalypse Wall Decal

Namaste.

Tuesday – 21 October 2008
Last night’s football game was stunning. I was expecting more of an even fight, but the Pats busted the Broncos: 41-7. Hanging out with SaraRules and her family was fun, as usual.

Stray Toasters

• In much the same way that I decided to leave LiveJournal in lieu of Random Access/WordPress for my primary blogging source, I have decided to make a break from MySpace.
• From The Washington Post: Powell Rejects Islamophobia
• If anyone is a model railroad fan, there is a train show at the Salt Lake County Fairgrounds on the weekend of 01-02 November 2008.
• Zombie Day at the Mall t-shirt…
  …but, I think that this shirt is more my speed, especially when dealing with some of the monkeys at work.
• One more day until Arkham Asylum is released…
• “The sun is a mass of incandescent gas…”

  

• By way of : Ferrari de LEGO
• In case of terrorist attack, do not discard your brain.
• JaC64: a Java-based Commodore 64 emulator
• Researchers discover the most creative time of day

…right on to the friction of the day.

Namaste.

Sunday – 19 October 2008
It’s 9:30. I’ve been up for roughly an hour already. So much for the grand designs of sleeping in…

There well be blood football. Today, I have what I refer to as a “push” game: The Ravens are playing the Dolphins, so no matter which team wins, I’ll be happy. (Of course, I’d prefer the Ravens to win, but that’s just me.) I haven’t looked at who the Panthers are playing yet.

Stray Toasters

• One week from today, SaraRules and I will be in Baltimore.
  Destination: M&T Bank Stadium
  Objective: To watch the Raiders vs. Ravens game.
• Colin Powell endorses Barack Obama for president
• This article caught my attention because it’s not far from where my parents grew up; in fact, it’s the next town over from where my mother grew up: West Virginia Voters Wrestle with Race, Rumors
• By way of : The LEGO Apple Store



• Neil Gaiman’s Ghostly Baby-Sitters Club
• 
• In a related bit of news: XKCD invited to New Yorker “Cartoon-off”
• Terrence Howard Talks Tunes, Family, Science
• By way of : Sarah Palin and… Sarah Palin?

• 

On to the rest of the day…

Namaste.

Thursday – 16 Oct 2008
SaraRules came by after work yesterday. We hit the grocery store – it was my night to cook dinner – and headed home to get ready for an evening of debates and design. I cooked chicken breasts with sides of rice and green beans; we would have had wine with dinner… but I was out of white wine. Oh, well.

The debate was… a debate. I don’t know who (finally) lit a fire under Senator Palpatine McCain, but he was aggressive and assertive in ways that I haven’t really seen in the previous debates. Senator Obama, while rising to meet most of the challenges, maintained the same relative level of calm that we have come to expect from him. And, they mentioned ‘Joe the Plumber’ so much that I half expected him to walk out for a cameo. I would have to agree with most pundits: Senator McCain came out of the gate strong, but lost a bit of steam about halfway through; Senator Obama maintained a steady pace, once he got up to speed and seemed to do better than his opponent in the last two-thirds of the debate.

Project Runway brought another kind of surprise: They named this season’s winner. I didn’t agree with the choice – I felt that her designs were kind of “one trick pony.” The other two designers brought lines that were varied and well-executed. *shrug* I guess that’s just another reason why I’m not one of the judges.

I’m a little worried about the following… even though it does kind of fit under “the way I’m wired” category: A few minutes ago, on IRC, someone was trying to get ‘s attention. Then, with a “Hm,” apparently opened up Virtual Keyboard and tried that combination (D-G-A) as a chord. (I tried it too, but found D-G-B to be more appealing.) Then I saw the “Drum Beat 1” button. And I pressed it.

The first thing – FIRST THING – that came to mind was The Way It Is, by Bruce Hornsby and the Range.

The second thing that came to mind was to try and play it. I have a good ear for hearing pieces of music and figuring out how to play them. Without opening iTunes for cues and not having tried to play the song before… I started playing part of it. I was a little creeped out. *sigh*

Stray Toasters

• It seems that there’s been a problem with commenting on my site. It has been fixed. Selah.
  Sidenote: Someone asked “who” maintains the password info for registered users on Random Access: I do… well, it’s on my server. So, your info (however much or little you put into your profile) isn’t just out there floating in the æther.
• Apparently, today is Dictionary Day. Thanks to for pointing this out.
• Leanne!? *jawdrop* Unglaublich.
• SaraRules pointed me in the direction of Dear Sarah, I Can Relate, an open letter from Project Runway 3rd season designer Laura Bennett to Vice Presidential candidate Sara Palin.
• Victoria sent me this picture last night; it made me laugh:



• pointed out this article from Craigslist.
  I countered, saying that people who signed up for it needed to get this.

  

• Coworker Tim just came over and mentioned that he saw the following bumper sticker on the way to work:



• Rachelle Gougen, keeper of Living Between Wednesdays, takes an amazingly fun – and funny – look at Supergirl over the years.

  

  It started as “Supergirl Week,” but has grown into more and will apparently become “Supergirl Month,” when it resumes. She also, in the course of discussing Supergirl, takes a look at Superman that’s worthy of addition to the Superdickery site. As Tyranist put it: “Ah, Superman finally revealed to be what I’d always thought.” Lex Luthor couldn’t have put it better.

• What do Christian Bale and Kermit the Frog have in common? More than you might think.
• Do you think that the gamer in your life is… a little obsessive? Well, unless he’s running a rig like this, I don’t think you really need to worry that much.

And with that…

Namaste.

Eric pointed out this “Top 10” from woot.com:

10 Big Announcements from Apple Today

1. iPhone now available in three slightly different shades of black; pre-orders crash AT&T’s network yet again
2. New iPod PicoShuffle randomly plays up to three songs
3. Upgrade to OS X takes away some feature you really liked, replaces it with another way to access the iTunes Store
4. MacAir meets cousin Duncan MacAir who has the exact same specs and same release date but was never before mentioned, for some reason
5. Apple to buy up the last functioning remnants of the global finance system
6. New iPod Taste uses proprietary TongueScreen technology
7. Time Machine now allows access to the future, but some timelines are alternate so using it violates warranty
8. The entity known as Apple Inc. is actually a front for the Federation of Light
9. New commemorative black turtleneck that plays mp3s
10. Coming next year: US Festival ‘09

Tuesday – 14 Oct 2008
After a long day in the south forty, it was nice to get to SaraRules’ place and just… veg. We watched Monday Night Football: The Giants at The Browns… and we were all surprised by what we saw: I don’t know WHO it was that showed up in the Browns’ uniforms, but they worked the Giants over. In a BIG way.  I don’t think I’ve seen the Browns play this kind of ball since they moved to Baltimore. (That’s right, … I just went there. Booyah.) They were effective – highly effective, at that – on both sides of the ball:

• They had 454 combined yards
• Derek Anderson threw for 310 yards
• Jamal Lewis ran for 88 yards
• They picked off three of Eli Manning’s passes
• Their punting unit never took the field
• And…AND… they even went for – and made – a two-point conversion.

The Giants, on the other hand…? They, or at least people in their uniforms, were just… there. They did not look like the 4-0, Super Bowl-winning team that we’ve seen over the past few weeks. Maybe they sent in the JV squad. By the end of the third quarter, it looked as though their hearts just weren’t in the game anymore.

All kidding aside: Congrats to on his team’s rather decisive win over the Giants.

After I got home, I opted for a hot bath and reading more of Watchmen. It was a good way to wrap up the evening.

This morning, I decided to wear a tie to work. Just because. And a vest, too. I even opted out of wearing my contact lenses, in favor of my glasses.

Stray Toasters

• Steve Jobs and the Apple Corps will have (a) new MacBook announcement(s) in a couple of hours.
  • A brief history of MacBook Redesigns and Upgrades
• Many Wonder Womans Women to benefit women’s shelter
  Click on the link at the bottom of the article for more information and more images.
• LEGO + Christmas = *COVET* (picture)
• 
• 16 Drawing Contraptions That Are More Artistic Than You
• For some reason, I had the theme from The Streets of San Francisco running through my head while I was brushing my teeth last night.
• Do you prefer self-checkout lines?
• There was a commercial for Robitussin DM Max that came on last night. I wasn’t looking at the television and misheard it as “Robitussin DMX,” and my first thought/question was: “How do you go from rapping to having your own brand of cough syrup?!” Then I looked at the screen… and I was immediately less confused.
• By way of :



• TSA Airport Screener Steals over $200,000 in Gadgets, Almost Gets Away With It
• John Cleese on Sarah Palin: “Monty Python could have written this.”

Attack the day…

Namaste.

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

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

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

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

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Stray Toasters

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

Live a vapor trail…

Namaste.