Union Pacific's Great Excursion Adventure

“The sun is a mass of incandescent gas, a gigantic nuclear furnace…”

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Wednesday – 13 August 2008
Midweek.
I have a frozen mocha.
Tank! is playing on iTunes.
All-in-all, not a bad way to kick things off.

Happy Birthday to

…and to

Stray Toasters

Alright, 3…2…1, let’s jam.

Namaste.

Monday afternoon musings…

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Drew and Mark were heading over to Cafe Blue for lunch. I tagged along to see if they had anything that looked interesting and worthwhile. I wound up getting a chicken fajita panini; it was pretty good. And it wasn’t very spendy, either.

Stray Toasters

  • The 2009 IKEA catalog is available online.
  • A few weeks/months ago, I started an Amazon Wish List, which I not-so-coincidentally named “The Covet List.” While eating lunch, I tried seeing if I could find a direct link to the list rather than having to go to the Amazon main page and then click through to it. I found it. Then I noticed that one of the items on my list, X-Men Darktide DVD Box Set, had a list price of $2.95 under “New and Used.” Curiosity got the best of me, so I clicked to see what the deal was. And there it was, listed under “Collectible” for $2.95, but it was for the DVD only. There was another item listed there for $5.95, with the descriptor: “Like New.” So I read the item details:

    Comments: JUST THE DVD MOVIE! (no dolls).

    *blink blink*
    Wait… but it said “Like New.” To me, that means: “We’ve watched the DVD and played with the figures, but they are all included.” I commented on this to who just said:

    “Sure, it’s like new… if you by it from someplace that sucks.”

  • I brought my Sennheiser headphones up here from the south office. I had forgotten both how good they sound and how well they drown out the sound of the office.
  • By way of Drew: Freak Accident – Revolving Door

  • The picture in this article almost… ALMOST… made me like the Shrub. Who knows, if it had been around a few years ago, I might have held out a smidgen of hope for the guy. Oh, well.
  • Or this one.
  • Or even this one.
  • Laminate the Masses

*voop*

Punctuation. Punctuation? PUNCTUATION!

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Sunday – 10 August 2008

Last night’s breakfast was good. The people-watching was a little lackluster, though. But, came up with a cereal that could/should be marketed alongside Chocolate Jesus Crunchies:

Gettin’ Lucky Charms

It brought a lot of amusement from the table.

This morning, I met Shelley and Billy for brunch. Shelley is one of my oldest friends in Utah… but we haven’t seen each other in, at least, a few years. Thanks to the power of the Interwebs and the telephone, we do talk from time to time, though. Our original plan was to go to David’s Kitchen, but they are not open on Sundays, it seems. We wound up at Sampan in Sugar House. Good food and good company. I had the beef lo mein, with wonton soup and an eggroll.

I stopped into Jitterbug to get my daily dose of caffeine. Spydr and Uriah were there… and we started talking about The Dark Knight and other geekery. Uriah pointed me in the direction of Shaffer the Dark Lord’s Supervillain. It made me laugh.

Stray Toasters

This post brought to you by Spydr, a rocket, and the Angry Yellow Sun.

Namaste.

“Forever and ever we go… I just drive…”

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Sunday – 03 August 2008
This morning, I was awakened (somewhat abruptly) by SaraRules’ roommate… at 8:00; her social skills occasionally leave something to be desired. I was “a tad” annoyed, expecting to grab another hour or so of sleep before rousing, but I did manage to wind down enough to finally knock off again.

After SaraRules and her mother got up, the three of us had breakfast and proceeded to lounge away the morning and early afternoon. I started packing the car around 2:00 and we hit the road about 3:15.

396 miles and six-and-a-half hours later, we were back in the Land Behind the Zion Curtain. The drive was good and pleasantly uneventful.

Although it was a relatively short trip, it was a great deal of fun and a pleasant change of pace.

Stray Toasters

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Sunday, not-so-bloody Sunday

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Sunday – 27 July 2008
After getting the oil changed (and tires rotated) and having my butt handed to me at HeroClix yesterday, I went down to visit Perry and the kids. We talked City and ‘Clix and other geekery. Go figure.

On the way home, I realized that I was craving Aussie Cheese Fries, so I called in an order from the local Outback Steakhouse. I got home and devoured the whole thing. I don’t know whether it was the full stomach, post-dinner cool down period or what, but I went from “watching TV” to “being watched by TV” intermittently over the next couple of hours. I woke up a little before time to head out to breakfast… only to be rooted in place by Dial M for Murder, which I had never seen before. I watched about 20 minutes of it before I was able to break free. I will be looking for this movie when I next go on a DVD run.

I made it to breakfast. VI was far more quiet than usual; I chalked it up to people taking advantage of the long weekend and going out of town. Part of the night’s conversation included discussions on “Who was the best James Bond” and different interpretations of The Joker.

This morning, my dreams were a weird amalgamation of 70s political thriller movies and IT oddness. No, they didn’t make sense to me, either – dreams rarely do. Thus, I didn’t even try to make sense of them.

Stray Toasters

I should try to sort out what I’m going to do today.

But first, a bowl of Honeycomb is calling my name.

Namaste.

“Hold it… I ain’t pushing no ‘Moon’ button!”

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Friday – 25 July 2008

It’s SysAdminDay!

In honor of this, I once again bring your Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie’s System Administrator Song.

Last night, I hung out with Allie and her friend, David; I haven’t seen her in close to a year, I guess. She’s in town for a CF treatment. When I talked with her earlier in the week, I told her that I’d come visit her. I asked if she wanted anything. Her response: Tiramisu. So, I picked some up and took it to her. It was a fun visit.

I got back home around 11:00. I turned on the TV and watched the tail end of The Late Late Show. I thought about hopping on PokerStars, but realized at 12:30 that I was tapped. So I called it a night.

Stray Toasters

Namaste.

“Here comes, here comes, here comes… the big parade.”

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Thursday: 24 June 2008
Three down, one in the chamber and one to go.

Today is Mormon Christmas Pioneer Day in Utah. As such, all state-owned and many locally-owned businesses are closed. There’s a parade… for which people started lining the streets last night. A rodeo. Fireworks. The whole kit and kaboodle.

Extreme Makeover: IT Lab Edition should wrap up today. Selah.

Stray Toasters

  • This morning’s commute was enhanced with:
    • Hollaback Girl (which I still think MarknTyme should teach his band…)
    • The Boomin’ System
    • Drop It Like It’s Hot
  • I miscounted the Secret Invasion set. There are 60 figures, but there are some figures not listed on the site, because they are members of the invasion force. And those figures come with a “dual identity” character card, reflecting their status as a hero or a Skrull.
  • Steamboy Machine Mini Figures
  • Someone brought in doughnuts this morning.
  • Marco…?

Attack the day.

Namaste.

“Who needs sleep? Well, you’re never gonna get it!”

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Friday – 18 July 2008
Welcome to the weekend.

This morning’s goal was to sleep in. Apparently, my body had other ideas: Despite turning off the alarm, I was up a little after 7:00. And 8:15. And somewhere around 9. I got a call from Perry at 9:15 and decided to finally take the hint that I wasn ‘t really going to get much/any more sleep. He asked something that made me laugh though: “Did you take the day off because of [City of Heroes‘] Double XP Weekend?”

I’ll try the sleeping in thing again tomorrow.

Assuming I get in gear and out the door in short order, I’ll probably head up for a cup o’ Joe with Perry before heading to lunch with and Steph (former coworker of his). Maybe I’ll just go post-lunch.

This afternoon’s agenda includes (but is not limited to) some cleaning… although, I may sneak in a little game time, too. And the idea of hitting some balls at the driving range isn’t entirely off the table, either.

To paraphrase Samuel L. Jackson, I’ve got “nothing but air and opportunity.”

Stray Toasters

Quote of the Day
From a conversation with SaraRules about Mamma Mia!, a movie that she wants to see… and that I’ve agreed to sit through:

SaraRules: Entertainment Weekly called Mamma Mia! “exuberantly vapid”
Me: Yeah…
Me: I saw something along those lines online last night
SaraRules: Awesome. I can’t wait.
Me: hahaha
SaraRules: Dude, I’m sorry, but it’s a hollywood move musical based around the music of ABBA. How can anyone expect it to be art?
Me: High hopes?
Me: Wishful thinking?
Me: Miracle?
SaraRules:
Pshaw. Delusions
SaraRules: Pshaw, now i have ABBA running through my brain.
Me: I’m sorry.
SaraRules: Hell, I’m not. Finding it on iTunes right now. 
Me: I love you… but sometimes, you scare me.
SaraRules: Because I like ABBA?
Me: No.
Me: Because you’re actively seeking ABBA out on iTunes. 😉

Time to start/finish getting ready to jet.

“Power isn’t all that money buys.”

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Monday – 14 July 2008
It’s Bastille Day.

I don’t remember “what” they were, but I recall having a couple of odd dreams last night.

It’s 7:30 and I’m not exactly feeling rushed about getting to work. I should still be there between 8:00 and 8:30, but I’m really not pressed about it.

Stray Toasters

Up, up and away!

“All the lights are on and the blinds are down…”

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Lunch time.  I should be going to the gym, but neither Wes nor Mark are in this office and I really dislike working out alone.

Stray Toasters

I should eat something.

“One night in Bangkok and the world’s your oyster…”

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Friday – 20 June 2008
The end of the work week is at hand. Thanks to putting in a few extra hours, I’m done and gone at 1:30 today. That’s worth skipping lunch for. I’m going to run a few errands and enjoy the early start to the weekend.

Last night, I watched Fear Itself, the new anthology horror/suspense summer series on NBC. Thirteen episodes, each done by different directors. Last night’s episode was “The Family Man.”

Family Man – A likeable family man switches bodies with a serial killer during a near-death experience. Now he must keep his loved ones from being added to the long list of the killer’s victims.

It wasn’t bad; it reminded me of a modern Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits. I’m going to have to investigate the previous three episodes.

I also listened to the new Duffy CD, Rockferry. You may remember that I posted the video to Mercy a few weeks back:

The whole CD is good. It has a definite British soul feel, with a number of songs making nods to the 60s style of Brit soul/pop. I give it an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

Stray Toasters

  • I chatted with a little while ago, he has left Nepal and is currently enjoying a layover in Bangkok. He should be home tomorrow evening. More on his travel adventures below.
  • After sending her a link to zombie drawings on DrawerGeeks, I just typed “Zombees!” to SaraRules… which made me think “zombie bees.”
  • By way of BBC News: One tonne ‘Baby’ marks its birth
  • Drawn! (Which I had once again forgotten about…)
  • From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: The Baby Borrowers
  • Sailors fighting in the dance hall
    Oh man! Look at those cavemen go
    It’s the freakiest show
    Take a look at the Lawman
    Beating up the wrong guy
    Oh man! Wonder if he’ll ever know
    He’s in the best selling show
    Is there life ice on Mars?
  • I found this by way of DeviantArt:

  • (click for more work by DarkAngelDTB)

  • Auto Test Tracks Revealed From Above
  • Puzzle Calendar Is Not LEGO Compatible
  • …however, this is pretty cool: LEGO Employees Have Minifigs As Business Card
  • I think I’ll treat myself to either The Incredible Hulk or Get Smart after tomorrow’s ‘Clix game.

Quote of the Day

From this morning’s conversation with
He was telling me about an email that he sent to Bot and a couple of his brothers:

I had to go through multiple roadblocks, burning tires, and brick throwers to get to the airport this morning. Today’s asshole Kathmandu protest is brought to you by students, who are demanding that fuel prices come down. Took us 90 minutes to get to the airport.

At one intersection, the driver just hit the gas and drive around the tire. A dude threw a brick at us (missed by a mile) and called me “a mother beetches son.” Best insult EVER.

Anyway, I’m here, I’m in the Thai Airways lounge, and all is well. See you soon…

Then he added:

I almost went with the sesame street theme and said “today’s asshole kathmandu protest is brought to you by the letters AMF” but i think only andrew would’ve understood it

…where “AMF” stands for “Adios, motherfucker.”

I think that he should have added it.

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

“Science and technology, the new mythology…”

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Monday – 09 June 2008
Here comes the work week.

I can’t complain about the weather, though.

It’s supposed to get up to the upper 70s. I can deal with that… especially since SaraRules just told me that it’s cold enough in Aspen that she had to wear a sweater this morning. In June. That just ain’t right.

I played a little CoH last night. I may switch over to CoV in the next day or two and show Mr. Dhoruba some love. Speaking of whom, I need to get a screenshot of his updated look… as well as a shot of my new Hero-side character, Kurigari.

This morning, I apparently woke up long enough to turn off the alarm… and roll back over. I don’t really , remember it, though. I was up about twenty minutes later, though. It didn’t take too long to kick the morning into gear. And the frozen mocha didn’t hurt, either.

Stray Toasters

  • WWDC.
  • SaraRules and kind of bonded over a common… um… “lack of bonding” experience.
  • Have you ever listened to Space Oddity with only one channel (right or left)? Try it sometime.
  • I have started trying a couple of new layouts of items in one of the display cases:

    I know that this leaves a lot of empty space on that shelf, but I really like the way it accents the figure. The only better thing that I could imagine would be to have an LED in/on the figure, similar to the McFarlane HALO3 Cortana figure. I also wish that I had about a half-inch more height to work with – Galactus would look nice behind Jean.

  • New rocket car spotted in Silver Lake
    (Why does this many me want to hum the theme from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?)
  • My coworker Robert came over a little while ago to ask me if I had seen Stuff White People Like. I told him that I had and that I found it amusing.
  • I find this particularly apt, especially given many Utah drivers’ aversion to roundabouts:
  • Okay… this is a little uncanny (and weird): Without any input/coercion from me, a dialogue clip from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang just played on iTunes.
  • Joshua Ellingson Fine Art & Illustration

Whee!!!!

Namaste.

“Why are we here? Because we’re here. Roll the bones.”

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Wednesday – 04 June 2008
A grey and wet day in the valley. It was in the mid 70s (at least) yesterday; today, we’ll be lucky to break 60°F. Welcome to Utah.

Human of the Day
Speaking of “Welcome to Utah,” pointed out an article in The Washington Post entitled A Different State of Race Relations, about… well… race relations in Utah. For this, I name him today’s Human of the Day.

Windows Server 2003. Blah.

Stray Toasters

  • I think that these should go on the Covet List not only because they would be neat, but also because I can see more or less practical uses for them, especially when dealing with monkeys.
  • By way of SaraRules: Metropolis Symphony. Now, I just need to find an excuse to get to Aspen on a Wednesday. Maybe I’ll call in sick. Or ask if I can work in the Aurora office that week. Or something.
  • Yesterday’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day was “tokenization.” This made me laugh because Marci, one of the QA testers, had come to me with a deliciously subversive idea: Being the only woman in the QA department – and the only woman in a non-executive or non-admin position in the SLC office – she is planning on getting a shirt that says “Token.” She recently asked me if I wanted one, too. I told her that I’d take one in black, if she got one in pink.
  • Bone Chillers Ice Tray
  • I don’t know what to say
    The monkeys won’t do!

  • Mr. Spock: The ‘Mystery of Masculinity’ Embodied
  • The Zurich Chamber Orchestra put this together as a promotional piece:

  • As soon as I typed that, “Cantaloop Flip Fantasia 2000” went through my head. That would make for an interesting remix… of some sort.
  • Thanks to and for pointing out the following “cubicle rage” videos:

    …and, from a second angle (and in color):


    Office Worker Meltdown Second Angle – Watch more free videos

  • By way of NPR: Bobblehead of State?

Namaste.

“Memory banks unloading, bytes breaking to bits…”

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Tuesday: Coda
When I got home, I turned on the TV and started surfing. I landed on CNN. As the Montana and South Dakota primaries were tonight, I watched the coverage. I missed Hillary Clinton’s… “No I’m not done, yet” speech. There’s a part of me that’s glad I did. I did watch Barack Obama’s speech. Once again, it was a classic. He didn’t bash Senator Clinton and there was only one jab (that I picked up on) at Senator McCain. Other than that, he seemed sincere and humble and appreciative.

After I watched a little more primary coverage, I flipped over to L&O: SVU. It was a rebroadcast of the season finale, which I didn’t see in first-run. It was a good episode, but it left a few questions about next season.

While waiting for dinner to cook (i.e.: “putting it the nukerator”), I installed a light in one of the display cases. It looks nice. I may move some things around to catch the light better. I may not. We’ll see.

Stray Toasters

  • I chatted with Rana briefly this evening. She and Bit are back in the States and doing well.
  • Liv Tyler is on The Tonight Show. She seems so… grounded. I find that odd/interesting, as her father is Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler. I guess that I was expecting her to be more Jack and Kelly Osbourne.
  • , guess what character is getting a new action figure made. Here’s a hint:

  • With Eric’s help, I was able to recover data from DS9’s former hard drive. After the process, I dismantled the drive – it was the first time that I had done that.
  • I made the mistake of flipping to Boomerang a little while ago. Space Ace was on. That reminded me of the proliferation of video game-related cartoons that were part of the CBS Saturday morning lineup in the 80s.
  • By way of Despair.com:
  • AirPort Extreme. Hmm.
  • A commercial for Burger King, featuring The Artist Formerly Known as Puff Daddy, was just on. In it, a BK marketing guy tells P. Diddy (as he is now known),”We need a new ad campaign.” Young Mr. Combs looks at him and, very simply says, “Tell ’em Diddy says ‘BK is open late.'” And then something FINALLY hit me: Something about the name “P. Diddy” struck me as both odd/ridiculous… but strangely familiar, however I didn’t make the connection until tonight:

    That’s right: Diddy Kong. He renamed himself… after a cartoon/video game monkey.

  • Donkey Kong was adapted into a cartoon, too. Also on CBS. Also far from good.
  • There’s a Utah Blaze game Monday night. That could be a nice change of pace way to spend the evening.

Time to figure out what I want for a pre-bed snack.

Namaste.

“Just press play…”

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Sunday: Coda
I took the scenic route to Jitterbug this afternoon. About five minutes from the shop, I got a text message from Pat, saying that he wasn’t going to make it. A few minutes later, I got a call from , asking if I had gotten Pat’s message. I told her that I had and that I was going back to my original plan of heading to Borders to do some drawing.

And that’s exactly what I did. I picked up a couple of photography magazines and took about thirty minutes to see if I could glean any ideas. I found a few things that caught my eye. Then I got down to brass tacks. I’ve had something nagging at the back of my head for a couple of weeks, but wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with the idea. It finally came to me today. It’s probably going to take some time to to flesh out, but I’m really liking what I came up with.

After Borders, I headed down to Kate and Perry’s to hang out with – and play City with – Perry. We teamed up with a couple of members of my supergroup and a couple other people (Defenders!) to tackle some Rikti and Malta missions.

Next on the agenda: Over to Chris and Mary’s to play ‘Clix. Chris and I faced off against Matt and Emiliano, from Far West Comics. I tried out a variation on my tournament Legion team, while Chris played with a variant Brotherhood of (Evil) Mutants:

Matt and ‘Mano brought an assortment of characters, with no particular theme in mind:

And… they beat us down. Hourman and Monarch both had Probability Control… you know, my new favorite power that Dream Girl has. It’s great when you have the power, but when your opponents have it – and have it on two characters with line-of-sight on your characters who have a snowball’s chance in Hell of doing anything with – it can be a royal pain in the ass. Between Probability Control and craptacular dice rolls on our parts, Chris and I were sunk early on. The first two characters that they took off the board were Supergirl and Ultra Boy, my two heaviest hitters. After that, it was just a matter of watching us bleed out.

But, it was fun.

And I still need to figure out who I’m using in this weekend’s tournament. 300 points and restricted to only sets in print since November of 2006. I’ll come up with… something.

Stray Toasters

  • I just saw something really fun on TLC: Rock the Reception. I only caught the last two or three minutes of the show, but I came in during a couple’s first dance, done to Jet’s Are You Gonna Be My Girl? About halfway or two-thirds of the way through, the bridesmaids and groomsmen joined in. And it looked like they were all having a blast.
  • Fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent has died; he was 71.
  • I’m not sure what I want for a late-night dessert.
  • There are a handful of people who grok why I find this so amusing..

    …and they are either shaking their heads or laughing (or both) as they see this.

  • Project Rooftop has a new contest up: Superman: Man of Style.
  • Action Comics #1 cover… redone in LEGO

Time to figure out what I want for a late-night snack.

Namaste.