Random Access

Friday – 29 June 2007
The week finally draws to an end. Selah.

Today’s been good, aside from the slight… I’m not really sure how to explain it… feeling that I’ve had since waking up. Light-headed? Swimmy? At first, I attributed it to the differences between wearing my glasses, as opposed to my contact lenses – it was the same kind of distortion/perception. But, it didn’t go away when I reinstalled the integrated secondary optical enhancers.

More studying. Today: Networking – specifically, DNS & BIND. I’m going through a book by O’Reilly & Associates. I believe that this is the first time that I have actually read an O’Reilly book. It’s not bad. Not bad at all.

For “lunch” today, I went to Dr. Volt’s. I picked up my four-color shwag… and my Legion Heroclix. Mm-hmm, that’s right!

Stray Toasters

• I talked with Mom earlier; she’s doing well.
• I tried out WordPress’ “Import” feature. It’s not bad; it’s a little slower than I had expected, but it works… and that’s the key thing here.
• The iPhone launched today. Beware first-gen tech. Consider that your only warning.
• Coworker Dave(SLC) pointed me in the direction of: Chaco. He apparently used to live not far from here.
• Grand Funkmaster Dis
• showed us Sexy Back (Kirk/Spock) at Game Night on Monday… I forgot to post it. Until now.
• Dasks.

Quotes of the Day
Two quotes today. First up, from a conversation with :

(6/29/2007 3:02:09 PM): is Adobe ActiveX alright to install without worry?
(6/29/2007 3:02:32 PM): yes
(6/29/2007 3:04:08 PM): is www.canadanbeerhookersattheborder.ca.org alright too, then?
(6/29/2007 3:04:30 PM): Oh, of course!
(6/29/2007 3:04:46 PM): I’m surprised that it’s not on your usual bookmark list.
(6/29/2007 3:05:01 PM): well, I hate to lie to you Rob….but……..
(6/29/2007 3:05:23 PM): yes, I have that site hooked into my t.v. in the bedroom to fall asleep to/wake up to every day
(6/29/2007 3:05:28 PM): I just get hooked, man
(6/29/2007 3:05:41 PM): Oh, it’s easy to do.
(6/29/2007 3:05:42 PM): *nod*
(6/29/2007 3:05:50 PM): Canadan women with floppy jahoobies and BEER?!?!
(6/29/2007 3:05:54 PM): I mean, c’mon!!!
(6/29/2007 3:06:33 PM): look… give me my vices, alright?

And the second, from a conversation with Derek:

(6/29/2007 3:17:35 PM): Take Konnie mini-golfing.
(6/29/2007 3:17:38 PM): Or to the batting cages.
(6/29/2007 3:17:45 PM): Or to Boondocks.
Derek (6/29/2007 3:20:24 PM): we will probably do something of that nature
Derek (6/29/2007 3:20:33 PM): I want to get a wii bowling tournement going sometime
Derek (6/29/2007 3:20:39 PM): oh and she hates stufffed animals
Derek (6/29/2007 3:20:42 PM):
(6/29/2007 3:23:28 PM): Reeeeally?
(6/29/2007 3:23:36 PM): Bad experience as a child with one?
(6/29/2007 3:23:48 PM): …or is she afraid of becoming a plushie?
Derek (6/29/2007 3:24:11 PM): she just finds them pointless
Derek (6/29/2007 3:24:20 PM): haha when I went to moab I got her a souvenir
Derek (6/29/2007 3:24:26 PM): I got her a rock from the side of the road
Derek (6/29/2007 3:24:36 PM): and just said, “I got you a rock”
Derek (6/29/2007 3:25:04 PM): then I told her that I meant to carve a cool petroglyph on it, and she said she wanted me to do that before I gave it to her.
Derek (6/29/2007 3:25:06 PM): so ya
Derek (6/29/2007 3:25:11 PM): she has a rock instead of a stuffed animal
(6/29/2007 3:25:15 PM): Nice.
(6/29/2007 3:28:40 PM): You should get her an action figure.
Derek (6/29/2007 3:28:46 PM): lmao
(6/29/2007 3:28:55 PM): When she goes “What’s this?” you can say “Not a stuffed animal.”
Derek (6/29/2007 3:29:02 PM): lmao
Derek (6/29/2007 3:29:06 PM): I am SOOOOO doing that
Derek (6/29/2007 3:29:09 PM): you win
(6/29/2007 3:29:16 PM): I always win.
(6/29/2007 3:29:19 PM): That’s why I’m the Pope.
(6/29/2007 3:29:52 PM): Or General Zod.
(6/29/2007 3:29:59 PM): I get them confused sometimes.

Namaste.

Thursday: coda
The post-work day found me in the Garden of Sweden. Again. This time, I went with the intent of checking on a coffee table, some picture frames for my concert tourbooks and… what in theory should be curtains, but I think will be used as wall treatments. *blink blink* Did I just say… “wall treatments?!” *sigh* I think that is unequivocal proof that I am my mother’s son. But… “I found things to hang on the wall.” I also discovered that a couple of pieces of furniture don’t come in the color I want. Oh, well. I can deal.

Home for a bit and then back out again for coffee with Liz. Then, home again, home again. Jiggety-jig.

Stray Toasters

• I got some potentially really good news from Perry this afternoon; I just have to wait to see how it pans out.
• I don’t know how I missed this announcement. Hopefully, it will be better – MUCH better – than the adaptation of Johnny Mnemonic… which was an excellent short story, but a shitty movie.
• And speaking of Mr. Gibson’s work (with a few other items thrown in, for good measure): The Matrix has you – Second Earth
• Using the Wii Remote as a wireless 3D interface device
• Catch a falling star an’ put it in your pocket
  Never let it fade away!
  Catch a falling star an’ put it in your pocket,
  Save it for a rainy day!
  (This was one of the first – if not the first – songs that Mom taught me to play on the piano.)

• Cyberpunk cinema
• 
• “Peace, be still.”
• Steampunk Workshop
• : DIE Another DAY.
• Jake Van Slatt’s Steampunk Creations
• I don’t need no one to tell me about heaven
  I look at my daughter, and I believe.
  I don’t need no proof when it comes to God and truth
  I can see the sunset and I perceive

Namaste.

Thursday – 28 June 2007
So far, NBN Thursday has gone well.

I woke up this morning, but was a little slow getting out of the gate. Not horribly so, but a little. As I was getting ready, I had a song run through my head… a song that I don’t think I’ve heard since I was in Kindergarten:

There was a man named Michaeal Finnegan
Who grew whiskers on his chin-igan
Shaved them off, but they grew back in again
Poor old Michael Finnegnan…
Begin again!

And the song would repeat. Simple, basic kids’ song.

I could understand it if the song had run through my head while I was shaving. That would actually… make… sense. But, no. I had finished shaving and was ironing the day’s outfit when it burst onto the scene. Fortunately, it came and went fairly quickly; but the thought of it has amused me for the better portion of the day.

Stray Toasters

• I have discovered that WordPress has a built-in (as of its last version) import function. Coupled with LiveJournal’s XML/CSV export function, I can export all of my entries from LJ and set them up in Random Access. I will be testing this out.
• I also discovered that I had somehow set user registration on Random Access so that I was the only one who could register users to leave comments. I don’t remember doing it, but that’s not the point. The point is: I changed the setting so that anyone can register. (Of course, this could prove an interesting test for the spam filter plugin that I use.)
• Acolyte Derek sent me a link to The Peoples’ Mario. Interesting.
• I have a Fat Boy ice cream sandwich! Tasty iced creams…. Mmm.
• Eric sent me a link to Balancing Points. This is pretty cool, as well.
• There’s a nasty rumour that Valarinne put in an appearance in Paragon City last night.

More later. Maybe. If you’re good.

Namaste.

Wednesday: coda
And so, another mid-week ends…

I came home this evening and took a somewhat unexpected nap. Then it was time to feed. But, I didn’t feel like cooking and, as I do not have the powers of Ronson (yet), making pizza and beer appear from thin air wasn’t an option, either. So, I did the next best thing: I went to Charlie Chow’s Dragon Grill. And, as an added bonus, went with me. Spring rolls. Beef with broccoli. Oolong tea. And a fortune cookie! After dinner, we headed over to Salt Lake Coffee Break for a bit. Nyx shared with me some of her ideas for upcoming art pieces; my thoughts hovered somewhere around “Wow.” I am looking forward to seeing them when she’s done with them.

Stray Toasters

• Don called shortly after I got home; I don’t think that we’ve had a chance to talk since I got back from the Right Coast, so it was a rather pleasant surprise. He had a couple of questions about Silk Road Online and how some of its stats/info compared with other RPGs/MMOs. I wasn’t familiar with the game… but that’s what the Interweb is for.We also talked comics, books, movies, and other games. (Go figure!) So, it was a pretty standard conversation for us. Among the things we talked about, he mentioned a series of books – the Cassandra Kresnov trilogy, by Joel Shepherd – that sounds like an interesting read.
• Vindication 2.0
• Missing Heroes?
• I’ve been a fan of Irregular Webcomic for… a couple of years, I think. Maybe more. Maybe less. I found the editorial/thoughts in this post to be particularly interesting – it’s a somewhat lengthy read, but it’s good food for thought.
• UnRealID.com
• Giant Otter Pop of Doom.
• Designer Interview: City of Heroes & Villains – Issue 10: Invasion
• From Comic Book Resources: Dwayne McDuffie on the Balance of Justice and Injustice
• When ‘Digital Natives’ Go to the Library
• Yes, it’s an iPhone news round-up
• I just had a horrible audio-visual pun go through my head when I glanced at a Magic: the Gathering card: Que Serra Serra…
• Oldman to quit acting?

Quote of the Day

[19:40] : So.
[19:40] : Aye?
[19:40] : When buying a new SATA drive for your PC it is best to make sure your PC has SATA support first.
[19:40] : sigh. 🙂
[19:40] : SATA add in card here i come.
[19:40] : I take it that you didn’t confirm this beforehand.
[19:41] : You’re aware that this will be posted, aren’t you?
[19:46] : yeah. i didn’t. i just assumed. *sob*
[19:46] : mistakes were made.
[19:46] : some deaths were involved.
[19:46] : or maybe i just wanted a new motherboard, CPU and RAM too. hmm. 😀
[19:47] : Maybe so.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 27 June 2007
Middle of the week and all’s well.

Last night was game night. Nominally. We had a hard time staying focused and keeping the game on-track. Hopefully, the (few) things we learned will be helpful and we didn’t neglect to ask something whose answer could wind up biting us in the collective ass.

Today, I have… huh… what have I done? Oh, wait: I went back and tracked down a problem with one of the systems I installed yesterday. And gone over more documentation for software. And stuff.

I recently got an email about a task that was supposed to take place a couple of weeks ago… but was decided against at the time. There was a rumour that it might still go through, but nothing definite. Until today. *sigh*

Let the monkeys hit the floor!
Let the monkeys hit the floor!
Let the monkeys hit the floor!
Let the monkeys hit the FLOOOOOOOOOR!

Stray Toasters

• Because I haven’t mentioned this enough…
• I haven’t listened to Snakes & Arrows nearly as much as I should have. I must rectify this.
• I have, however, started listening to each Rush CD as complete works. I have been toying with the idea of reviewing each CD: Highlight. Lowlight. Limelight.
• By way of ESPN.com: Philbrick: Lights, camera, graduation – Page 2’s ultimate commencement address
• Man spends 18 years making miniature garden castle
• 
• First Annual LEGO Creativity Awards
• – Video gaming is not an addiction, yet
• “Do you have a low tolerance for pain?”
• – Ann Coulter vs. Elizabeth Edwards

Namaste.

Tuesday – 26 June 2007
You know that it’s going to be an interesting day when it takes you at least fifteen seconds to remember what day it is. Seriously. The alarm went off and I couldn’t remember if it was Sunday, Monday or possibly Tuesday. Slowly, clarity – or some semblence of it – made its way into the dark recesses of my brain and I came up with “It’s Tuesday.” The rest of the morning prep went fairly well after that.

Into the SLC office to finish up a task that I had started on Friday. I had planned to finish it yesterday, but I was in AF all day. From what I could gather, it would take an hour-and-a-half or so to wrap up. Wrong. Try almost four hours, thanks to a couple of hardware issues and the fact that there are parts of the process that I am completely unfamiliar. Wrapped it up and headed down to AF…

…just in time to head to the gym. Today’s workout shouldn’t have been overly taxing, but it was work – Eric agreed. But, we muddled out way through it.

Back to the ranch for the back half of the workday. Whoop.

Stray Toasters

• I need a nap.
• The new LSH ‘Clix come out tomorrow.
  …as does the new Avengers set.
• …and, since we’re on the topic of The Avengers: New Iron Man movie photo
• Dirty Microbe – “World’s best funny t-shirts and stuff.”
• Video Ga-Ga (Neither is exactly work-safe.)
  • You’ve probably seen or heard Hey There, Delilah by The Plain White T’s. A coworker sent me this parody.
  • Dwim sent me a link to an SNL sketch starring Christopher Walken: Colonel Angus
• Have dinner with Joss Whedon, help a good cause.
• It’s sad how accurate this is…
  
• “The Baby Jesus” meat product
• …and Supreme Court-approved drugs for Jesus
• 
• GoogleTalk and Safari don’t mix well.
• Instructables
• So… are they bringing Magik back?

Quote of the Day

From a conversation with earlier this afternoon:

[14:54] : you have 5 minutes to reach minimum safe distance.
[15:13] : Um.
[15:13] : That’s not a good sign.
[15:14] : sorry. you were vaporized about 5 minutes ago.
[15:14] : Sweet.
[15:14] : I am a vapor trail!
[15:15] : you’re awfully talkative for someone who was recently vaporized. maybe it was a dud. is there an ICBM in the parking lot there?
[15:15] : You mean that big, shiny metal thing that crashed about 15 minutes ago?
[15:16] : no no.. that’s just a busload full of nuns.
[15:16] : Oh.
[15:16] : Then…. no.

Namaste.

Friday (coda)
Post-work, I did some straightening (and even threw in a little cleaning, for good measure). I played with the cats in between bouts of “I don’t feel like dealing with [insert cleaning task] just yet.” Then, a shower and out the door fo Clitorati.

Tonight’s gathering was smallish, but good. , and two of her teammates, arrived a little after 9:00 PM. After introductions were bandied about, we sat, chatted and drank our beverages of choice. Then, it was on to dinner.

Tomorrow is Derby Day. In light of that, here is a simple list of the positions and rules (1, 2) for the bout. And it seems as though more people than I thought are interested in sitting in the “Suicide Seats.” It should be fun.

Stray Toasters

• “Common sense, unfortunately, isn’t.” I came up with this a few months ago. When I look at the number of times/cases when it’s been applicable, I almost get the urge to trademark it.
• For …
  “Did you see the new Batman costume for The Dark Knight?”
  
• What do you get when you mix math and rock music? Questionable Content has the answer.
• loves me (or at least tolerates me). How do I know? She sent me a link to this and this.
• sent me a link to this story yesterday.
• By way of comes a link to this t-shirt.

Namaste.

Monday – 18 June 2007
Another week begins.

So far, the day has been rather quiet and uneventful. This morning’s excursion to Ye Olde Shoppe of Coffee yielded an improper elixir. I didn’t really notice it until after I had gotten into the car and was preparing to leave – apparently, the machine that makes the “frozen” part of the “frozen mocha” was not working properly. It just gave out mocha-colored liquid, far from frozen. You would think that I would have noticed that the triple-shot of espresso just… sank to the bottom of the cup beforehand. Nope. Ok, well. I went back in, asked about it and Niki went about fixing a new – frozen – drink from another dispenser.

Yesterday, post-pilgrimage to the Garden of Sweden, I went home and hung out with the kids for a few hours… after which, I decided that I wanted to get out for a bit. I headed up Fort Union Boulevard and towards Wasatch Drive. Then, I noticed that I was getting hungry. Not ravenously so, but enough to allocate a couple of brain cells to the task of figuring out what I wanted and where to get it. I called Angela, with whom I haven’t spoken since God was a boy, to see what she was up to. Not much, it turned out… and she hadn’t eaten, either. We opted for Redrock Brewing Co. They have a very smooth Oatmeal Stout. And calamari. And “Maryland Crab Cakes.” The calamari was good, as always. The crab cakes were alright… but I’m pretty picky about anything claiming to be “Maryland Crab Cakes” or “Maryland-Style Crab Cakes.” After dinner, we headed over to The Gateway to check out the remnants of the Chalk Art Festival. Most of the drawings along the south end of The Gateway had been removed, but the north end was still cordoned off and the drawings were mostly intact. Mostly. There were footprints in a lot of the drawings and – this was irritating – people were taking the beadwork off of the picture (based on this piece) drawn by Gina Jrel. Some peoples’ children…

The Scales of Justice
After I got back home, I decided to see what was going on in Paragon City. I’d already missed (most of) Double XP Weekend, but I had finally worked up the desire to play. I started the CoH loader and was greeted with a notice about Issue 10: Invasion. Wait… Issue 10?!?! We just barely got Issue 9 and they are already talking about Issue 10!? Sweet! Looks as though the Rikti are back… and they’re not happy about having been repelled.

I was invited to a team shortly after logging in. I played for a couple of hours and managed to get two levels under my belt before logging off. That’s right: Security Level 30. Which also means a new costume slot. Which also means that I have to figure out what I want to do for the new costume.

Stray Toasters

• I finally finished the picture of :
  

  

• CNet Top 5 Worst Things About the iPhone
• Cover to Cover: Deja vu All Over Again – A Crisis of Infinite Homage Covers
• For <lj user=”trellos”> and Carmen: Nepali “Living Goddess” is rather into gadgets
• Starfish and coffee
  Maple syrup and jam
  A butterscotch cloud
  A tangerine
  And a side order of ham
  
• What Steampunk Means
• By way of Wired: Steampunk gallery
• 1408 opens this weekend…
• …as does the Utah Arts Festival

Namaste.

Sunday – 17 June 2007
Again: Happy Father’s Day to the dads out there.

So far this morning I have:

• Fed the kids
• Observed the hygiene rituals
• Worshipped at the Temple of Sweden with and … for three hours!
• Talked with the paternal parental units.

…and it’s just a little after 2:00 PM. Still plenty of time to find some trouble to get into!

Yesterday was good. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer was fun. They did a good job of retelling/retooling the origin of the Silver Surfer and making it mesh with the movie version of the FF. The characterizations were good… although, I felt that Julian McMahon’s Doctor Doom was a little “too” over-the-top in a couple of spots. But, he’s a classic character and there have been more than “a few” times when he’s been over-the-top in the comics. So, I can let it slide. While this movie was not on the same level as Gladiator or The Shawshank Redemption, in my opinion it did what it wanted/needed to do: Put a comic book on the screen in as believeable a manner as possible. And, as I said: It was fun. I give the movie a big ol’ thumbs-up with an okay.

I also went to The Gateway to check out…

I missed and the rest of Team Chalk-o-Licious – thanks to dealing with Sprint (more on that later), but I did get a photo of their piece and some of the other works.

I need to finish resizing the rest of the pictures; they should be up in the next few days.

Sprint. *sigh* I have just about had enough of them. Until roughly 10:00 PM last night, I did not have access to the Power Vision service (Sprint/Nextel’s internet). I kept getting an error message whenever I tried to connect. I have probably talked with more people at Sprint/Nextel in the past two days than more people talk with over the course of their entire service contract. For the longest time, no one could figure out what the problem was. Someone was finally able to tell me something late Friday evening: The two companies use different billing systems and they are in the process of merging them – My bill showed up as paid and up-to-date in one system, while it didn’t in the other. That system being the one that the Power Vision service is apparently tied to. Okay, great! Problem identified. Now, to solve it. Right… More time on the phone AND a trip to one of the local Sprint Stores. *grblsnrkx* Sidebar: Jennie, the Sprint rep who helped me in the store, did everything that she could to try and get through to someone to get the problem straightened out. And, I could tell that she wasn’t happy with the answers that she was getting from the people on the other side of the phone. AND, she maintained a pleasant disposition throughout the whole ordeal. I appreciate good customer service and she deserves recognition – I have NO complaints about her customer service skills and will go back to the store this week to make sure that her manager is aware of this. It still took me another… hour-and-a-half to two hours on the phone AGAIN to finally get someone to push whatever button needed to be pushed to get things up and running again.

After that, breakfast was a welcome respite. And, Patryck put in an appearance, too. That was a nice surprise.

Four-Color Coverage
This is just a (fairly) quick hit. I’m still enjoying “The Lightning Saga,” the crossover storyline in JLA and JSA. In Justice Society of America #6, they keep it coming. In this issue they throw in a bit of Legion trivia of which I wasn’t aware:

Timber Wolf: Thom’s still a couple planets short of a system. Is it the safety blocks?
Dream Girl: I’m afraid not, Brin. The medicine of this time period is unbelievably primitive. They still use pills to help schizophrenia.
Starman: I took my pills today.
Timber Wolf: I didn’t know he was schizophrenic.
Wildfire: He told me about it once. He said he spent years in a hospital after his gravity powers popped up.
Dawnstar: Brainiac 5 didn’t give him medical clearance to travel. That’s why Thom tricked Colossal Boy and took his place. Since the time beam wasn’t calibrated for him, something went wrong. I can only belive his unanticipated path to the past worsened his health problems.
Karate Kid: What unanticipated path was that?
Dawnstar: I can see it on him, Val. The mark of the multiverse.
Starman: Hi, Swamp Thing. (to a snake coiled around a tree limb)
Timber Wolf: The multiverse?
Dawnstar: Before he came to this time period, he was accidentally shunted to a parallel Earth.
Starman: Earth-22? Meh.
*cut to scenes from the Kingdom Come miniseries*
Starman: No one liked each other there very much!
Wildfire: Thom always did call himself the “unluckiest” Legionnaire.
Dream Girl: I should have seen this coming.
Karate Kid: You can’t dream up every event that’s going to happen, Nura.
Dream Girl: I’m not talking about my precognitive abilities. I know Thom better than anyone. Health problems or not, he would never hesitate to risk his life to help his friends.
Starman: You’re my dream girl. I did it because I love you.
Dream Girl: I love you, too.

Wait. Star Boy/Starman…? Schizophrenic?! Huh. Who knew? This is followed up with a great scene of the new Liberty Belle (formerly Jesse Quick) trying to play matchmaker for Wonder Woman…

Liberty Belle: You’ve never thought about marriage?
Wonder Woman: Marriage isn’t a concept I grew up around, Jesse.
Liberty Belle: What about Superman? You two were made for each other.
Wonder Woman: He’s unavailable.
Liberty Belle: How about Dr. Mid-Nite?
Wonder Woman: A little too quiet for me.
Liberty Belle: Wait! I got it! We just heard about him the other day. He’s cute, vigilant and your costumes would look so great together. *sly grin* Have you met the new Mr. America yet?

This is good stuff. And we learn the identity of the seventh Legionnaire. The storyline concludes in Justice League of America #10. Can’t wait.

Stray Toasters

• I am getting hungry… but I’m not sure what I want for dinner.
• Ten days to the new Legion ‘Clix set.
• Don, we may need to rename the scale…
• As much as I love playing City – and despite the fact that it’s Double XP Weekend – I am not motivated to play right now.
• I was just looking at JSA #6 again. I have an idea of who’s going to die. I think. I just noticed something about the group of Legionnaires that makes one of them a… “better candidate”… than the others to be sacrificed.
• 9% of cell phone users want the iPhone
  (I just want a cell provider whose system actually works the way it’s supposed to!)

• 

Namaste.

Friday – 15 June 2007
So far, it’s been a pretty good day. Of course, any day that starts “Fri-” us usually pretty good.

Unless it’s 1929.
And October.
And the last Friday of the month.

But, it’s not. So we’re good.

I’m working in the Salt Lake office today and that’s a good thing because a semi driver decided to play chicken with an overpass – the one at the exit I take to get to the A.F. office – and lost. Big time. He was hauling a pre-fab home. I guess that he technically is still hauling it… but it now has one hell of a sunroof:

Picture courtesy of Acolyte Derek

Yeah. Not so good there.

Last night, I went to a taping of Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! with KHAYLA. I had a ball! I was expecting it to be fun, but nowhere near as much as it was. The whole taping took about two hours… of which only forty minutes or so will make it on the air. That’s a shame, because I’m willing to bet that some of the really funny stuff is going to be edited out. Your loss. The panel was Paula Poundstone, Mo Rocca and Tom Bodett and their celebrity guest for “Not My Job” was Donny Osmond (by phone from L.A.). I have never been the biggest Donny Osmond fan, but I have nothing against him, either… and he was quite funny. DANGERMOUSE_UT: You were right – Peter Sagal is not a very tall man. But, he knows how to work a crowd, has good comedic timing AND he knows when to just let the panel – and Carl Kassel – just go off on their riffs. Last night’s taping will air on Saturday, 16 June 2007, check your local NPR station for the time.

Stray Toasters

• I lost the original version of this post this morning. *sigh*
• I’m getting the urge for prime rib from Outback. Maybe I’ll satiate that desire sometime this weekend.
• Jan, yet another coworker, has introduced me to KLOV – Killer List of Video Games… like I needed another distraction.
• Giant snake terrorizing Pennsylvania – Okay… are we sure that this isn’t just an American chupacabra story? TIPHASAURUS, would you look into this?

• 

• Wooden robot toys!
• Getting an iPhone, but not an iTunes Music Store fan? Better rethink that.

Tonight: Clitorati
Tomorrow: Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer with Perry and Max and the Chalk Art Festival… and, at some point, a trip to IKEA.

Namaste.

Stray Toasters

• Safari for Windows already hacked
• These are pretty neat: High-speed still and motion captures
  • Milk drops in a coffee cup
  • Igniting a cigarette lighter
• Lids down, I count sheep
  I count heartbeats
  The only thing that counts is
  that I won’t sleep
  I countdown, I look around
• Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookies
• I was playing with Photoshop and with an old picture that took many moons past and came up with this:
  

  

  AND it even comes in a bite-sized version, perfect for use as a topping on your favorite dessert icon:

  

• Music to walk by:
  • Queen – Princes of the Universe
  • Tupac – Changes
  • Liz Phair – Supernova
  • No Doubt – New

*voop*

Tuesday – 12 June 2007
I must have been “a little” tired last night – I fell asleep reading Vision of the Future. But, I did it in my comfy chair – thank you, Cardinal Fang – so it was alright.

This morning is proceeding apace. Up, equipped and on the road. Traffic was a little heavier than usual, but not horribly so. As I was passing out of Sandy and into Draper, Drowning Pools’ Bodies found its way into the drivetime musical oleo. I found myself reparsing the lyrics to “Let the monkeys hit the floor!” It amused me. Now that I think about it, though, it probably should have been something along the lines of “Throw the monkeys out the door!” I would also like to say that I Would Die 4 U/Baby I’m a Star make for some fine traveling music.

I’ve been toying with the WordPress portion of my site. I’m considering moving most/all/some (who knows?!) content into it and unifying the overall look of the site. Of the parts that I have played with, I like the way it looks.

Stray Toasters

• I just had a toaster pastry… from a not-so-stray toaster.
• Let me see if I got this right: First, we have a wooden marionette that wanted to be a real boy. Now we have a bicycle made of wood?
• just sent a link to this story. Words fail me.
• ATI or nVidia? What’s your weapon of choice and why?
• Superhero Celebrity Poker
• Conversations with often take amusing – if not very odd – turns:

[06:59] evangelinaarion: wow if you cross the two pics you sent me, you get the pic i sent you
[07:02] shadorunr: Yep.
[07:02] shadorunr: Like a… digital Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.
[07:03] shadorunr: “You got your Catwoman in my Strawberry Shortcake!”
[07:03] shadorunr: “You got your Strawberry Shortcake on my Catwoman!”
[07:03] shadorunr: Mmmmm.

• Is the Xbox 360 Core System about to undergo a price drop?
• Papurika (Paprika) is coming to the Broadway in a couple weeks. It looks like it could be as weird as Perfect Blue. I shall have to go and see it.

  

• Oh, YEAH!
• Quentin Tarantino’s Penny Dreadful: Steampulp Fiction

Namaste.

Monday – 11 June 2007
“Waking up and getting up has never been easy…” – Elastica

This morning, it wasn’t a big struggle. Sure, I turned off the alarm and laid back down… but, I have Nomad set to start playing about 15 minutes later. And it’s in the living room, which means that unless I want really loud music playing – and disturbing the neighbors – I need to get my butt out of bed and turn it off/down. Of course, I just listened to the first two of the morning’s selections…

• Biz Markie – Just a Friend
• Malcolm McLaren – Madame Butterfly

…before getting up. Observed the hygiene rituals, got dressed, made sure that the kids had food and busted out of L7. ( and maybe will get that reference… maybe.)

Stray Toasters

• So, you think your job sucks? After reading this, you might reconsider.
• OS X upgrade, iPhone may boost Mac sales
• I would just like dedicate this song to these people.
• Eric pointed out this commercial. I laughed. You will too… most likely. And, believe it or not: It’s 99.44% work-friendly!
• Sweet Christmas!
• ..and this, too.

Back to it.

Namaste.

Thursday – 07 June 2007
Day Two of the “Great Salt Lake Temperature Drop.” This just ain’t right.

I finished Specter of the Past last night. It ended on an interesting note; I’m looking forward to seeing how the story advances in the next book.

The kids are doing well. Sissy is still trying to be the alpha… but only at certain times. When I had the laser pointer out, she actually played with the twins, without too much fuss. Speaking of which, I took what I think is, to date, the best picture of all three cats:

(click picture for larger view)

…and it shows their affinity for IKEA, to boot! I have seen both Sissy and Presto sit/lie/stretch out in the chair many times over the past few days. (One thing that doesn’t show in the picture: How much fur Sissy has shed over the cushion. Oh, well, that’s what lint rollers and vacuum cleaners are for.)

The Scales of Justice
I took Hand of Nefer-Tem out on patrol last night… but couldn’t get into soloing. Nor could I find a team. So, I decided to let Paragon City’s other defenders of justice handle the crimefighting for the night.

Stray Toasters

• I called Mom this morning (something about it being her birthday or some such thing). All’s well; she has her first post-op checkup later today. (I forgot to call her “Lady Deathstrike” while she was on the phone.) Assuming that her doctor clears her, she and my uncle are heading “down to the hills,” as Dad would say, to get some things out of the old house.
• Scott: Uh-oh…
  Jamie: What?!
  Scott: Big tunnel.
• – 25 Trends that changed the way we live
  USA Today is running lists of “25 things that…” in celebration of their upcoming 25th anniversary. Some of the lists – and the selections therein – are rather interesting.
• To quote and : “People suck.”
• Last week, I saw that someone had created a MySpace page for their City of Heroes character. I thought that it was a bit odd. Granted, I have CoH and CoV links on my site, but I haven’t gone so far as to create MySpace pages for any of my characters. When I logged into City last night, there was a notice on the front page for this.
• “Did I win?!”
  
• Smoke Camels, be a better sniper
• and everyone will say “I told you so”
  yeah they’ll all just nod and sigh
  but I’ll make a run at something real
  and they’ll never even try
  and everyone will say “I told you so”
  yeah they’ll all just nod and sigh
  as I go down in a ball of flames
  they’ll just watch, i wonder why
• Internal workings of a mechanical watch video
• : 27 June 2007 (1, 2, 3)
• Steampunk Monitor from the Steampunk Workshop
• By way of ZDNet: Why DRM won’t ever work
• “More Parachute! RAAWR!!!” –

Namaste.

Stray Toasters

• Clitorati Question: Since our usual hangout will be undergoing renovations over the next few weeks, do we want to relocate? Drop me a line with your suggestions and I’ll let you know the concensus on Thursday.
• I have a toaster pastry that would be a Pop Tart… if it was made by Kellogg’s.
• Madonna’s Secret played in the morning musical oleo during today’s commute. It made me laugh because when it got to the following part:
  

  Happiness lies in your own hand
  It took me much too long
  To understand how it could be
  Until you shared your secret with me

  I had the horrible thought of that being repurposed and used as the background music of a Secret deodorant/anti-perspirant ad.

• Check out the videos and information on the SawStop: 1, 2
• I was showing Tyranist the video for Hooverphonic’s 2Wicky a little while ago.  Today was the first time that I paid attention to the lottery balls shown near the end of the video: 6-0-0-9-1.  This ties back into the first lyric of the song: “Prophet 60091“  Nice touch.