Random Access

Thursday – 17 April 2008
NBN Thursday in the valley. Sunny, trying to be warm.

Today has been pretty good. I have been trying to figure out a (better) way to build a list with checkboxes, pulling data from my database. Slow-going, but it’s coming along. It is also “Sushi Wednesday.” I had a Seattle roll along with Ika and Ebi (shrimp) Nigiri.

There is construction on 33rd South. There’s a deep trench running down the middle of the street. On the way to the restaurant, Joe asked what they were doing. I responded: “Laying pipe… and in this case, it’s not a euphemism.” A little later Mike showed up and asked,”What are they doing out there,” to which Joe quickly retorted: “Laying pipe,” at which we just ran with the joke:

“Laying pipe.”
“Yep, lots of men… laying pipe.”
“Pipe so big they need heavy equipment to lay it right.”

Hilarity ensued.
Stray Toasters

• I hung out with last night. She was having an issue with pools of water collecting on the carpet outside her bathroom. (Hm, that sounds vaguely familiar.) She called maintenance to look at it; the guy did what he could, but noted that he would have to check the apartments above hers for signs of leakage. (That sounds familiar, too…) After he left, we went out for dinner. Aside from the plumbing issue, it was a nice way to spend the evening.
• Two Minutes and 42 Seconds in Heaven
• By way of Markin’ Time: Coolest Fighter Jets… EVER!
• Superman and Superboy: Newsarama takes a look at the ongoing cases
• I just received the following email from my mother:
  

  Slap Your Co-Worker Day Is Coming!

  

  Do you have a co-worker who talks nonstop about nothing, working your last nerve with tedious and boring details that you don’t care about?
  Do you have a co-worker who ALWAYS screws up stuff creating MORE work for you?
  Do you have a co-worker who kisses so much booty, you can look in their mouth and see what your boss had for lunch?
  Do you have a co-worker who is SOOO obnoxious, when he/she enters a room, everyone else clears it?

  Well, on behalf of Ike Turner, I am so very very glad to officially announce tomorrow as SLAP YOUR IRRITATING CO-WORKER DAY!

  There are the rules you must follow:

  • You can only slap one person per hour – no more.
  • You can slap the same person again if they irritate you again in the same day.
  • You are allowed to hold someone down as other co-workers take their turns slapping the irritant.
  • No weapons are allowed…other than going upside somebody’s head with a stapler or a hole-puncher.
  • If questioned by a supervisor [or police, if the supervisor is the irritant], you are allowed to LIE, LIE, LIE!

  Now, study the rules, break out your list of folks that you want to slap the living day lights out of and get to slapping…..and have a great day!

• D&D Ability Score Quiz
  • Strength: 12
  • Dex: 15
  • Con: 13
  • Int: 15
  • Wis: 15
  • Cha: 15
  • Special Abilities: Sarcasm
• Young Me / Now Me

And that’s a wrap… for now.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 16 April 2008
Another midweek day in the valley. After yesterday’s snow (yes, SNOW), there are blue skies and scattered high clouds today. Go figure. Most of the snow in the valley has melted, but there are still remnants on the benches (def. 5) and mountains.

I managed to get out of bed – and out of the apartment – at a decent hour today. I even stopped for a cup of frozen mocha goodness and a copy of The Gray Lady on the way into the office. I thought of a couple of ways to modify my database UI this morning… and I’m trying them out. So far, I’m making decent headway in getting them established; turning the page into a self-referencing form shouldn’t be (too much of) a problem. And, I have to say that I’m pretty happy with the progress I’m making.

And, it’s new comics day.
Can’t beat that with a stick at twice the price.

Stray Toasters

• I have (yet) another new addition to the Covet List: Superman vs. Darkseid Statue

  

  I have been a Darkseid… fan, I guess… ever since The Great Darkness Saga (a Legion story, go figure). I have a few ‘Clix figures and a Superman: The Animated Series production sericel fromfeaturing him. I just wish that I had been able to get one of the 1999 Darkseid statues, though.

• From the “Why, yes, it IS rocket science” file: Schoolboy Corrects NASA’s Math on Killer Asteroid
• I’m a little scared by this: Children’s book about plastic surgery
• 
• I enjoy my comics and figure collections.  But, compared to this collection, I have next to nothing.  Unglaublich…
• Maverick Swedish Rock Star Reveals What Britney Could Have Been
• Moviehole has an interview with Iron Man director Jon Favreau
• Woman goes on YouTube to air divorce grievances

Quote of the Day
Today’s quote is an “Ole and Lena” joke, that Coworker Jan told me.  He usually tells me a couple of these a week and they’re made even better because Jan affects a great Scandinavian accent. The version of the joke that I found online was written phonetically, so you will get the idea of how it sounds.

Ole was out working in the field when his mule squares off and kicks him right in his wedding tackle.  Writhing in agony, he falls to the ground. As soon as he could manage, he took himself to the doctor.
“How bad is it doc?  I’m getting married next veek and my fiance, Lena, is still a wirgin – in every
vay.  I vant her to know that I’m right there with her.”

The doctor told him, “Everything looks okay, but I’ll have to put your Willie in a splint.  It should be okay next week.”  He took some tongue depressors and formed a neat little splint, and taped it all together quite an impressive work of art.

Ole mentions none of this to Lena.  They get married and go on their honeymoon. That night in the motel room, Lena rips open her blouse to reveal her beautiful untouched breasts. She said,”No vun has EVER seen deez. You’re the first vun.”

Ole immediately drops his pants and replies,”Look at dis… still in da crate!”

Namaste.

Tuesday – 15 April 2008
Today is the day that taxes are due in the U.S.

Ostensibly, that should make the Song of the Day Taxman, by The Beatles.
Screw that.

Today’s song: Knowledge Is King, by Kool Moe Dee

Lost in the sauce
And praising the dollar
Whether your faith is
Christ or Allah
The knowledge of God
Will teach one thing
The dollar is moot
Knowledge is king

Yeah. That’s about right.

I have spent the first half of my morning tracking down what happened to my primary machine in the SLC office over the weekend. Either Windows or my hard drive (or both) decided to go tits-up. So, I opted to throw a new drive in the machine. Of course, that meant the obligatory reinstallation of XP. Wahoo. But, needs must be done.

Ravens Update
That’s right.. it’s April and I’m talking football. Why? The Ravens released their 2008 schedule. Of particular note:

• 26 October: Oakland Raiders (in Baltimore)
• 21 September and 02 November: Cleveland Browns

Speaking of which: I figured out what was going in display case 2… to some degree. At least on the top shelf:

(click for larger size)

Stray Toasters

• Install. Reboot.
  Install something else. Reboot.
  Lather, rinse, repeat.
  Ah, the joys of reinstalling a Windows operating system.
• – Here you go: a Java version of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Enjoy.
• ‘Ashamed’ Pope vows no more pedophile priests
• I’m adding this to the Covet List. In fact, I’m adding to the short list.
  (For those who aren’t sure what it is: It’s a cityscape for miniature gaming, on card stock)
• Dreamworks to make a live-action Ghost in the Shell in 3-D
• 
• Greatest Time Travel Duels of All Time(lines)

/lunch

Namaste.

Monday – 14 April 2008
Another week begins.

Alarm clocks are a necessary evil. That said, the day started with me hitting snooze more times than I had intended. After the hygiene rituals were observed and the car was packed, I began my journey back to north-central Utah. The drive was uneventful. And there weren’t any monkeys to speak of.

I got into the office and checked my email. Among them was one from Friday morning, asking me to submit my time card. *blink blink* Then, I checked the timestamp on the email: It was sent roughly two minutes before I submitted my time card, which means that I was already on the system and preparing to submit it before the email was sent. *sigh*

<< Rewind <<
Yesterday afternoon, SaraRules and I headed to the MFA house so that she could do some work… and I could use the connection there to make my way to Paragon City. We were both successful in our endeavors. Nefer-Tem is now a little less than 2 bars away from Level 50.

Steph and Kim decided to have a Taco Fiesta for dinner last night. Chicken and beef. Hard and soft shells. When dinner was done, we played Buzzword: The Not 5s (the roommates) vs. The 6-7-8s (honorary roommates). The 6-7-8s won. Barely.

Mark and Lish came over a little later. Mark asked our opinions about the Ballroom Dance Concert (he’s the director of that program); we gave him feedback. Then… it was time to play 3-way Slayer HALO. Selah. (Mark pwned both of us. Repeatedly. I need to practice.)

I showed Steph how to make the s’mores brownies. Lish said that he might try making them himself… and that he wanted to get a chef’s torch, so that he could toast the marshmallows. Ah, pyromania. A little later, Darillyn and Lish played shot glass checkers:

Lish won both games. However, Darillyn came up with a number of “Unintentional Porn Overheard in…” quotes.

> Play >
I found out that I need to add some more systems to my db and tweak the UI to be able to select from any/all systems.

Workout
Back in the saddle again:

• Leg Raises: 3 sets – 1 set, full extension; 2 sets, bent leg (lowered to only 45°)
• Bench Press (dumbbell): 3 sets/12 reps, 60 lbs
• Pull-downs: 3 sets/15 reps, 130 lbs
• Rows (T-bar style, with a barbell): 3 sets/12 reps, 55 lbs
• Tricep Press: 3 sets/12 reps, 120 lbs
• Core: 4 sets – 2 sets/full extension, 45 secs.; 2 sets/elbows, 30 secs.

Pre-workout weight: 175.6 lbs.

Stray Toasters

• There was an interesting discussion about Emperor Popetine Pope Benedict’s visit to the U.S. on The Diane Rehm Show this morning.
• Secret Invasion: Who do you trust?
• 
• Conductor Hero?: Touring game rocks concert halls
• 
  While I’m not overly taken by most of the figures, the Warrior Isis figure is nice.
• Microsoft: Vista feature designed to ‘annoy users’
• Scotty Doesn’t Know
• …and I don’t know what I want for dinner. *blah*
• Sillof’s Workshop

Quotes of the Day
As I mentioned above, Darillyn made some special “Unintentional Porn Overheard in…” quotes while playing checkers with Lish:

• “I can’t reach that with my face”
• “I was so waiting to jump you there.”
• “You get confused about a lot of things, but I’m not going to point them out.”
• “Hold on, I can’t get him out – he’s sticky.”
• “I got it out this time.”
• “You just jumped me. It’s my turn.”

Checkers and alcohol. Who knew?!

Namaste.

Wednesday: Coda
Lunch with the guys was good… even if our server wasn’t so hot. In the forty or so minutes that we were there, I think he hit our table twice – possibly three times – after bringing our drinks. “Unlimited soup, salad and breadsticks?” Not so much today. I had to actually keep myself from leaving the tip that I had originally estimated leaving.

It snowed, intermittently, this afternoon. Code Monkey and I went out for our afternoon constitutional. We made it around the campus as the stormfront rolled in. It started coming down just as we got back to the building.

After work, I headed to Dr. Volt’s. I picked up this week’s four-color crack when I noticed something on the wall: New packs of Crisis boosters. Before I checked out, I gave in and decided to get a box. Ever since seeing Dave do his “weigh the box” trick that scored me Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy, I’ve been using it to pick out which boosters I want to buy. I picked up five boxes, felt the way they balanced and picked Box #2. After paying for it, I opened the box. Guess who was waiting inside:

That’s right: Earth-2 Superman. Super-Rare. Unique. I was shocked. Very happy, but shocked. (I was even more shocked when I looked it up on eBay.) Or, as put it, when I told him about the figure and its going rate on eBay:

: blink
Me: I will remind you that this is a piece of plastic. Less than 3″ tall.
: For…The…MOTHERFUCKING…Win.

Feeling jazzed by my pick, I decided to get another box. Two decent figures in this one: Monarch and The Spectre. Neither of them was quite the catch that Superman was, but they are still good pulls.

Home. Laundry. Puttering about. Reading of this week’s four-color haul… and a lot of the books were good, solid slug-fests. Hero, meet Villain. Villain, Hero. FIGHT!

Stray Toasters

• By way of NPR: Old-fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills
• I talked with Markin’ Time for a bit this evening. I think we’ve talked more in the past two weeks than we have in the past six months! (Not that I’m complaining, by any stretch of the imagination.) He pointed me in the direction of InstaPundit.
  • He specifically mentioned that I should check out his item on Gaming while Color-Blind
• also pointed out a video on the disassembly of an iPhone
• The Gray Lady had an interesting article about willpower: Tighten Your Belt, Strengthen Your Mind.
  (I wonder if the Guardians and/or Kilowog know about this one?)
• As a part of “CustomCon,” someone made – MADE – Steampunk Star Wars figures

I think that I should track down something dessert-like.

Namaste.

– knowing my affinity for big, giant, smashy robots (and cool toys, in general) – sent me a link to: Roboticist plans real-world Gundam replica. Here is the conversation that followed:

Me: *click*
Me: I saw that last night.
Me: Spendy!
Me: “Everyone knows it’s spendy…!”
: yeah
Me:

Who’s building robots, with giant price tags?
Stomping on every city he sees…
Who’s got a pipe dream, fueled by anime?
Everyone knows it’s spendy! ¹

: and this?: Zip Zip LEGO USB Drives Get Updated to 4GB
Me: Whoa.
Me: Those are new.
Me: Nice!

¹ – For those unfamiliar with the tune:

Monday – 07 April 2008
Yesterday afternoon, SaraRules and I took a little time to play in the sunshine; we went for a walk along the trail in Ann J. Gardner Canyon Park (pictures). After we got back, we watched Superman: Doomsday. Fun film… even if it didn’t exactly follow “The Death of Superman” storyline perfectly.

After that, we realized that it was time to find something dinner-like. But, we had no idea “what.” Once we finally settled on it – grilled cheese sandwiches and soup – we hit the grocery store and came home.

Objectives:

1. Fix food
2. Eat
3. Watch Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

As Meat Loaf said: Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad: By the time we got back, Darrilyn and Kim had started watching Dirty Dancing, which Darrilyn hadn’t seen before. So… we watched Dirty Dancing. MST3K-style. Mr. Poitier and company will just have to wait until next weekend.

Today, I slept in a bit before making the journey back to the northlands. I pushed back my departure a bit because looneybin88 told me that the roads were a bit nasty thanks to… you guessed it: Snow. Fortunately, I-15 wasn’t bad, until I got a little north of Fillmore. Then, I hit some rain. It cleared up around Scipio. But, when I got a few miles south of Nephi, I ran into a wall of rain that turned into snow. And, as I left Nephi in the rear view mirror, I left the snow behind, too.

Workout
Eric waited for me to get in before heading to the gym. Today’s routine consisted of:

• Bench Press: 3 sets/8 reps, 225 lbs
• Curls (dumbbell, Hammer grip): 3 sets/10 reps, 30 lbs
• Flys (Nautilus): 3 sets/10 reps, 110 lbs
• Pull-downs (behind the head): 3 sets/10 reps, 120 lbs
• Rows (T-bar style, with a barbell): 3 sets/12 reps, 55 lbs
• Core: 3 sets at full-arm extension, 2 sets on elbows

Pre-workout weight: 176.8 lbs.

I wish that I could say that the weight gain is due to packing on the muscle… but I think that it would be more apt to say that the s’mores brownies that I made Thursday night – and ate all weekend – had more to do with it.

I also seem to have… um… “misplaced” my lock. Something that I didn’t discover until I was ready to secure the locker. So, unless it magically appears sometime this week, I’ll be using the Superman lock that gave me. That should get a few interesting looks around the locker room, I’m sure.

Stray Toasters

• I’m still just *a little* in shock that SaraRules actually posted on here yesterday. Just a ‘Toaster, but it still counts.
• I know that it’s just speculation at this point, but still… the idea that Apple may seriously upgrade/change the MacBook lines soon is good/bad news.
• Quinoa
• From xkcd.com: “Cheap GPS”



• There were a couple of interesting items on NPR today:
  • The Diane Rehm Show: FAA and Airline Safety Inspections
  • Talk of the Nation: After Death, a Soldier’s Journey Is Not Over

  The TotN piece was amazing. In it, Neal Conan interviewed Chris Jones, a writer for Esquire, who did a piece about a soldier’s “final journey,” from the Middle East to his burial in southern Indiana. I was pretty much rapt by the story; I can’t wait to read the actual article when the new issue of Esquire comes out.

• 
• 4/6 lfm tank and dd – The Jargon of Online Gaming
• By way of Wired.com: How College Courses Should Be Taught
• I should probably start giving some thought to what I want for dinner…
• Given the way things went yesterday, I should also start thinking about what I want to cook for dinner Sunday.

Namaste.

Sunday – 06 April 2008
Sunny, a little cooler than I’d like, but otherwise a rather nice day.

<< Rewind <<
This weekend’s SOAPFest featured four plays:

1. Elegy for a Lady, by Arthur Miller
2. When Shakespeare’s Ladies Meet, by Charles George
3. Laundry & Bourbon, by James McClure
4. Lone Star, by James McClure

Laundry & Bourbon and Lone Star are complimentary pieces – two of the characters in L&B are married to two of the characters in Lone Star. Of the four, I was most taken with Laundry and Bourbon. I thought that the performances and characterizations were pretty solid. My next favorite was Shakespeare’s Ladies, a rather tongue-in-cheek play with some of the Bard’s famous leading ladies stopping in to give young Juliet some sage words of advice about love. This play was just.. fun.

Post-SOAPFest, we came back and watched The Iron Giant (1, 2). I like the setting (1950s, Cold War/Red Scare-era America), the animation style, the soundtrack, the voice acting… the whole nine yards.
This is a fun film for me; I would probably have to list it in my Top Ten Movies (a list for which I should try to figure out the other eight movies…)

> Play >
I woke up and started the day after a few odd dreams made me realize that I was done with attempts at sleep. There wasn’t really a lot on TV this morning, either. So, I hopped on the nerd. Ah, the Interwebs… SaraRules woke up shortly and fixed a tasty breakfast. After breakfast – and observing the daily hygiene rituals – SaraRules started in on some homework; I decided to take on some of Paragon City’s worst criminals.

My heroic endeavours were not meant to be: I kept getting a “Can’t connect to DBServer” error. No matter which server I attempted to access. I tried disabling my firewall. I checked my network settings. Nada. Zip. Zilch. No go, Flight. I called Markin’ Time and Perry to see if they were experiencing the same problems (all of us usually play on the same server). Their connections were A-OK. Hrm. I even went to the NCSoft site to make sure that nothing was screwy with my account. Nope. Everything was peachy there, too. So, after a bit of digging, the best answer that I could find was that there seems to be a problem… somewhere… between the ISP that her complex uses and the CoX servers. So, no CoH/CoV for me this weekend.

Stray Toasters

• I talked with Adam for a bit this afternoon. Aside from it being cooler than he likes, all’s well in his neck of the woods.
• In today’s “Go, Boilermakers” news: Purdue’s 156-Step Burger Maker Wins Rube Goldberg Contest
• I think that this was a rather apt review of Action Comics #863.
• Tori Amos’ Comic Book Tattoo
• 
• went to Metropolis. I am slightly jealous; I haven’t been there in almost ten years.
• …speaking of which, I may watch Superman: Doomsday a little later.

Super-Special Stray Toaster from SaraRules

• I consider most soap operas to be boring, long-winded, vapid, and completely devoid of any plot whatsoever. The exception is the fabulous South American Telenovelas which entranced and entertained me in Georgia. I heard of a new one today, Sin Tetas, No Hay Paraíso, which translates to Without Tits, There is No Paradise. Now that is quality programming.

(Back to ShadoRunr)

I just realized that I am really quite hungry. I should probably do something about that. Immediately.

*vapor trail*

Saturday – 05 April 2008
The drive down was fairly uneventful. I saw three UHP officers on the way down… which still pales compared to the fourteen that SaraRules saw on her way back Monday.

Shortly after I got in, we headed to Rachel’s for a get-together with some of the MFAs. Food. Random chat. Wii. It was fun.

I found out that Hilary and her husband, Jeff, had been to Baltimore a few times, so we talked a bit about some of the things they liked there. Then, Jeff noticed my LEGO watch and asked if I had picked it up in LEGOland; I told him that I had it long before that. But, I showed him something that I did pick up in LEGOland:

He got rather wide-eyed and started to ask questions about trips to LEGOland. It was rather amusing. Then, the Wii came out. Liz (one of the MFAs) had never played Wii before. Watching her play Wii Boxing was pure, straight-up comedy. She was ALL over the place.

Today was the last episode of Legion of Super Heroes.  For the most part, the episode was good, but the ending was a bit… anti-climactic.  I have no idea if WB or DC or any of their affiliated entities are planning a follow-up series, but if so, hopefully it will be more in the vein of “Far From Home.”  But, all-in-all, it was still a Legion series.  Post-toonage and breakfast, SaraRules and I did some errand-running. Then, we hooked up with Rachel, Steve and Tyler for bowling. Tonight, we’re heading to SOAPFest.

Stray Toasters

• I got bored again. So… more pictures with the Sentinels! (1, 2)
• Celebrity D&D Characters, Rolled by Readers
• 
• “So, is that a guitar in your pocket or…?”   Oh, wait.  It is.
• Greatest MacGuyvers of Science Fiction

Namaste.

Friday – 04 April 2008
Another week comes to a close. And at the close of the day, I’ll be heading down to Cedar City… for the first time in five or six weeks.

Last night I didn’t really feel like doing much when I got home from work, so I pretty much spent the evening doing my best impression of a couch potato. I think I did a pretty good job at it. CSI:, Without a Trace, Law & Order… it was nice to just chill and surf and just generally hang out.

On the way into the office, I ran into loonybin88. He needed to pick up his truck from one of the nearby dealerships; I gave him a lift over rather than have him hoof it over there. When we got there, I remembered that my friend Shane, whom I haven’t seen in ages, said that she worked there… but that that was months ago. But, since I was there, I figured why not see if she was still there. Turns out that she was; it was a nice way to kick off the morning.

Workout
So, I apparently DO remember where the gym is and how to use the equipment there. Eric and I hit a decent all-around workout:

• Leg Raises: 3 sets/20 reps
• Chin-ups: 1 set (just to kill some time)
• Incline Press: 3 sets/10 reps (2 sets, 155 lbs; third set: 155 lbs/8 reps, 135/3 reps)
• Cable Row: 3 sets/10 reps, 120 lbs
• Shrug (Nautilus): 3 sets/10 reps, 180 lbs
• Cable Fly: 3 sets/10 reps, 110 lbs
• Decline Press (dumbbell): 3 sets/12 reps, 40 lbs (each)

Pre-workout weight: 174.8 lbs

Stray Toasters

• I have brownies!
• Rush To Begin Work on New Album Next Year
• CCH Pounder was on an episode of L&O: The Next Generation L&O: SVO I watched last night. She’s a damn fine actress. (And she was also a great choice for the voice of Amanda Waller on Justice League Unlimited.) I have yet to see her in a role where I don’t enjoy her performance.
• Comic Book Resources has a couple of fun interviews with:
  • Robert Downey, Jr.
  • Terence Howard
• And, in an unrelated note, they have a multi-part interview with Geoff Johns on…
  1. Green Lantern
  2. Action Comics
  3. Justice Society of America
  4. Booster Gold
• Newsarama has a Geoff Johns interview (1, 2) that delves into a bit behind this summer’s “Legion of Three Worlds” event.
• MONKEYS! >.<
• Study: Violent Video Games Relax Players
• Did I mention: MONKEYS!?!?
• We just introduced a coworker to Cthulhu. Pray for his soul.

And now, it’s time to burn the breeze.

Namaste.

Thursday – 03 April 2008
I tacked one more bar onto Nefer-Tem’s experience. Six more to Level 50.

I woke up around 7:00 this morning, but decided that consciousness wasn’t for me. I think that the head cold I’m developing may have had something to do with the “No, I don’t want to get up yet” factor, too. Either way, 8:30 felt much better.

We had an hour-and-a-half long meeting to introduce one of our new robot overlords. (Did I say “overlords?” I meant “protectors.) Then, a group of us went to Taste of Punjab for lunch. I’ll be spending the rest of the day trying to get PHP and MySQL to play nicely together on Defiant so I can make some progress on this database. Wahoo.

Stray Toasters

• I bought Twix and Butterfingers at the store last night… but neglected to bring any with me to work this morning.
• Daily Caffeine Protects Your Brain
• : I couldn’t find a video for No!, but this will hopefully suffice…
• From the “Go, Boilermakers” file: Transparent Computer Monitors? Engineers Make First ‘Active Matrix’ Display Using Nanowires
• The other night, Markin’ Time and I were talking about different possible scenarios for Marvel’s “Secret Invasion.” One of the theories he threw into the ring was that they would basically pull a “Brand New Day” scenario, using the Batch SW6 method for replacing the heroes. He posed this because he saw it as the perfect way to piss off whatever remaining fans Marvel had following Civil War and/or One More Day/Brand New Day. Damned if he wasn’t right.
• 
• How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse
  (Good information, indeed, but I think I’ll also rely on the wits/skills of SaraRules, and Tyranist to see me through.)
• I am really liking WordPress 2.5
  (“Save” is still one of my favorite functions.)
• Five Myths about Drinking Water

Back to it.

Namaste.

Monday – 31 March 2008
And so, March comes to a close.

This morning, we woke to snow (SNOW!!!) in the valley. SaraRules made the executive decision to wait a few hours before getting on the road, in the hopes that UDoT would make sure that the roads were clear. (Good call on her part.) So, we had a lazy morning in. Yes, “we.” I mean, c’mon… if she was going to stick around for a while, I didn’t see much point in me dashing off to work early.

I got into the office, after a stop for a large, triple-shot-laden cup of frozen mocha goodness. I had some problems getting MySQL installed and running on Defiant. I had to get ‘s assistance on nailing down the problem.

SaraRules decided not to leave until 1:00-ish, so we decided to have lunch. Dask’s. Lamb gyros. Very good. After she dropped me off at work, she headed for the southlands. She messaged me a few times because she noted a particularly increased presence of UHP. I noted that it might be because it’s the end of the month. *shrug*

Reeling by on Celluloid
Last night, we saw Doomsday with Chris and Mary. The movie wasn’t as bad as we had feared. Far from it, in fact. And, I was pleasantly surprised to see a number of “names” in the film, too:

• Bob Hoskins (Pink Floyd’s The Wall, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Hook, Unleashed)
• Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange, Caligula, ST: Generations)
• Alexander Siddig (ST: DS9, Kingdom of Heaven, Syriana, 24)

It was even… fun. Yes, there were a couple of plot holes, but on the whole, it wasn’t painful. (At least, not for us. Chris had a couple of things that he had a hard time getting past.) On the whole, it was a decent movie. I might even be picking this up on DVD when it comes out.

Stray Toasters

• I cleaned out a couple of my closets last night. Goodwill (or D.I. or some other charitable organization) is about to get a HEALTHY donation of clothes.
• said… something… that I wanted to quote the other night, but damned if I can remember what it was.
• Mrs. duckspeaker, on the other hand, also said something quote-worthy. But, as she knows where I live, I think that I shall refrain from reprinting it.
• Children must learn to fear Sinistar
• As a fan of (some) Saturday morning fare – and Cartoon Network/Boomerang – I see a number of commercials for toys/games/whatever targeted at kids. One such commercial is for dolls from High School Musical. In the umpteen viewings of said commercial, I have heard the voiceover announcer saying which dolls/characters were available and, the last one always made me wonder: “Did they just say “Shar Pei!?”Last night, after the movie, I had to stop at ShopKo to pick up a couple things I had neglected to get earlier in the day. Then I decided to stroll down the toy aisles. It turned out that the store had the High School Musical dolls. So, I looked for at the names…
  • Gabriella. Okay, no problem there.
  • Troy. Ditto

  And then I saw it: Sharpay.

  What in the Nine Hells? When they were coming up with the script for this, WHO thought it would be a good idea to name a character after a dog breed?! And why didn’t someone think,”Y’know… this might not be the greatest of names…” and edit it to something else? Something normal. (Yeah, yeah… I know, this coming from the guy who gets a perverse pleasure out of checking out the names on Utah Baby Namer.)

• LEGO Art on Display at Burlington Mall (in Burlington, Canada)
• Defaced presidents on Flickr
• 
• Circuit City Tries to Install Navigation System, Causes $12,119 Damage to Your Car
• “It’s Frahn-ken-steen!”



• Creepily lifelike CGI woman
• IBM banned from government contracts
• A Very Microscale Stargate

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Sunday – 30 March 2008
Last night, SaraRules and I went to the Blaze game, with , onlyaly and some of the other usual suspects. The Blaze lost (big time), but we had a lot of fun. We decided to head to breakfast a little early from there.

Today has been a lazy, relaxed day. We haven’t done much – SaraRules worked on some homework and read the latest Astro City TPB that I picked up; I have been playing CoH. I’m about 2½ bars from getting Nefer-Tem to Security Level 49. I may even hit that before we head out a little later.

Tonight, we’re meeting Chris and Mary to see Doomsday. It’s probably going to be sucktacular, but it should be a good “check your brain at the door” way to cap off the weekend.

Stray Toasters

• I just installed WordPress 2.5. So far, I like the changes.
• I decided to have a brownie a little while ago. Since it’s just about a crime to eat a brownie without having a tasty beverage to wash it down, I grabbed the milk out of the fridge. Then I remembered that I had some coffee left over from a little earlier. That’s when I had an apostrophe epiphany: I poured the coffee into a glass, added a couple teaspoons of NesQuik and topped off the glass with milk. Tasty.
• 11-Year-Old becomes Network Admin for Alabama School
  (add your own punchline)
• I didn’t hit 49. Yet. Soon, though.

More later. It’s time for dinner.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 25 March 2008
To quote Mr. Rogers: “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood.” It’s a bit cloudy, but on the whole, the sun is out and there are spots of blue skies to be seen.

Last night, I played a little CoH. After a few minutes’ roaming without anything to do, I was invited to join a few players with whom I have teamed before. We tried a “stop the bank heist” mission. Operative word: “Tried.” What we didn’t know was that Lord Recluse was part of the crew robbing the bank. That’s right: CoH/CoV’s Number One bad guy himself. Maybe he lost his PIN and really needed some cash. I dunno. Whatever the reason, he cleaned our clocks. Without breaking a sweat. (And that’s quite a feat for someone with ten arms. (Okay, technically, I guess it’s “ten legs,” but either way it’s still impressive.) We failed that mission. Next, we took on Chimera and some of his goons. That went much better. Sure, some of us died a few times, but we completed the mission.

Today’s workout was good. Eric and I decided to change up a few things and do a few exercises that we’ve ignored for a while:

• Decline Bench Press: 3 sets/15 reps, 155 lbs.
• Upright Row: 3 sets/15 reps, 50 lbs.
• Overhead Tricep Press: 3 sets/50 lbs. (12 reps, 10 reps, 10 reps)
• Front Raises: 3 sets/10 reps, 20 lbs.
• Reverse Curls: 3 sets/15 reps, 45 lbs.
• Wrist Curls: 3 sets/15 reps, 45 lbs.
• Back Extensions: 2 sets/15 reps (second set done with a 10-lb. plate)

Post-workout weight: 173.4 lbs.

Stray Toasters

• As I mentioned yesterday, I have new pictures of Bit.
  You can see some of them here.
  I showed the pictures to SaraRules and – their responses:

  SaraRules: Awww! Check her out in her cute new easter dress. She’s adorable!
  Me: Yes, she is.
  SaraRules: Such a cute niece you have! And she still looks absolutely new and tiny.

  …and…

  : Oh now that is just sweet…
  : John’s going to lock her up when she turns 12 you realize?
  Me: Yeah.
  : You seem to be fine with at idea, 
  Me: That or a convent.
  Me: Because I REALLY don’t want to see Rana tear someone limb-from-limb.
  Me: *shiver*
  : You could sell tickets
  : Pay for her college education
  HAHAHAHAHAH Nice.

• Lifelites’ eLite LED kits add pizzazz to those humdrum LEGO models
  (Yes… this needs to be added to the Covet List.)
• By way of InformationWeek: Mac Buyer’s Guide: Which Apple Should You Pick?
• From the “Hold the switch, the Governor is on the phone” file: Windows XP May Get Another Reprieve
• Robot babysitter keeps kids occupied in Japanese store
• From the science desk: Does a boomerang thrown in space return to its pitcher?
• Huge Chunk of Antarctic Ice Breaks Loose
• 
• Authentic Star Trek Mirror Universe paper goatee
• For some people, this would be the epitome of “fully-immersive” with respect to Flight Simulator.
  Other people need/want this.
• Technosexual: One Man’s Tale of Robot Love
• …and, as an amusing corollary to the above:

  

Namaste.

Monday – 24 March 2008
Monday, Monday (dah-dah… dah-dah-dah-dah…)

All-in-all, not a bad start to the week.

• Breakfast with SaraRules, before she headed back to the southlands.
• Blue skies.
• Warm weather.

<< Rewind <<
Yesterday, we went to Easter Mass at the Cathedral of the Madeleine. I believe that this year’s service was even more crowded than last year’s, but it was still a very nice service. It was SRO… and there wasn’t very much room for standing, at that. I was intermittently amused by a lady standing near me who gave just about everyone the fashion police once-over as they walked past; she wrinkled her nose at more than “a few” people.

After Mass, we ate a late breakfast at The Other Place. I hadn’t been there in many rains. Decent food at a good price. I’ll have to remember to keep it in mind when looking for places to eat downtown.

Back home for a quick change and then we were off to “…a land where the furniture folds to a much smaller size.” I’ve been wanting to do… something… different with the office for some time. There’s a lot of dead/wasted space in there. One of the biggest things that would help would be to replace my monstrous desk. So, it’s on the short list of things to be vaporized. In its place, I’m looking at a Vika Amon table top with a Galant frame and legs. And, with a couple of relatively minor adjustments, the room will be opened up nicely.

After stopping in to say “Hi” to Perry, Kate and their kids, we headed to SaraRules’ family’s house for dinner. Dinner which included Black-and-Tans to wash it down. We followed up dinner with Enchanted. After the movie, it was time to head home to unwind (and do some laundry) before calling it a night.

> Play >
After work, I did a little errand-running.  When I was done, I stopped into the local Best Buy.  I picked up copies of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and Memento.  Not too bad.  I picked up a bite to eat and headed home.  I checked out the new Fox series New Amsterdam.  Kind of like Highlander… if Connor McLeod had been a police officer.  Connor, not Duncan.  ‘Nuff said.  But, I digress.  The show wasn’t too bad.

I followed it up with an episode of JLU that I hadn’t seen before: “Chaos at Earth’s Core,” featuring Travis Morgan – The Warlord.     I used to read The Warlord back in the 80s and this episode was a very nice nod to the Morgan and the lost world of Skartaris.

In the savage world of Skartaris,
life is a constant struggle for survival.
Here, beneath an unblinking orb of eternal
sunlight, one simple law prevails:
If you let down your guard for an instant you will soon be very dead.

They covered a lot of ground in twenty-two minutes… and it was good.  It made me smile.

Stray Toasters

• I have new pics of Bit, eyes open and all.  I may (re)post a few later.
• LEGO Futurama fan set, LEGO Noir and Mmm, zombies
• I heard Counting Crows’ Mr. Jones on the radio this evening.  When I hear it, it often reminds me of Heidi, an old coworker of mine.  Around the time that this song came out, Us3‘s Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia) was also on the air.  Heidi and I would argue (friendly banter, really) about which group would stay in the charts/be more popular longer  – I chose Counting Crows, Heidi chose US3.  Looks like I was right… at least on this side of the Pond.
• Top 10 Software Easter Eggs
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!?” file: Transgendered Man Is Pregnant
• Astro City.

  

  I’ve started collecting the trade paperbacks.  If you haven’t read it, give it a shot.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that SaraRules liked it.

• Slash-Proof Armored Tee Is Lightweight, Machine-Washable

That’s a wrap.

Namaste.