Monday – 13 September 2010
It’s Monday.
The beginning of the work week.
But, more importantly: There is Monday Night Football.
An even more important point than that: The Ravens play tonight.
Amen.
Yesterday, I made a Facebook post that said:
Sometimes my life is so fantastic, I have to check just to make sure there’s not a “4” on my shirt.
Yeah, it was a good day. Relaxed and somewhat lazy… including a trip to the local Home Depot.
Thanks to for being kind enough to lend me a bit of his afternoon and the use of his Jeep to ferry a couple of saw horses, some plywood and some foamboard back to the house so that I can have a simple train table. The table is up. The train is on it. Life is good.
And, there was football. I was just talking about it with a couple of coworkers and one of them made the point that it was just a sloppy-looking weekend of football. To wit, he said:
You know who looked good? Â The Seahawks. It’s going to be a long season when the Seahawks are the bright spot of the weekend’s games…
I can’t say that he’s wrong. But, I’m holding out hope that tonight’s double-header has some good action.
Stray Toasters
I took the bowl and spoon that I usually leave in my desk drawer home on Friday.
Imagine my surprise when I went looking for them this morning to have a bowl of Honey-Nut Cheerios.
Fortunately, Julie keeps a soup bowl here and was kind enough to let me use it.
Welcome to Monday.
In other “Welcome to Monday” news:
I came in to discover that one of our cooling units is giving a “Loss of Air Flow” alert.
Our network looks like it is trying to have an aneurysm.
I don’t know who’s responsible for injecting them with new life, but the marketing department of Old Spice needs/deserves raises. Why? For these bits of awesomeness:
Wednesday – 08 September 2010
Midweek.
This would ordinarily mean “Comics and Sushi Wednesday.” Â However, as there was a holiday at the beginning of the week, comics aren’t hitting stores until tomorrow… and I’m not sure who, if anyone, is available for sushi today.
BUT…
The new HeroClix Web of Spider-Man set hits stores today. Even if there’s no sushi, this will be plenty to get me through the day/night. Â Dr. Volt’s is holding a release day tourney this evening; Jeremiah is running it, so I actually get to play. Â (Although this means that I’ll miss tonight’s D&D game with Melody and Jack.)
Today is also the birthday of a couple people I’m pretty fond of: Sib-4 ( also known as ) and Jenny P.:
Today also marks the 44th anniversary of the premiere of Star Trek.
(How many of you knew that the theme from the original series had lyrics?)
Last night, SaraRules and I tackled a few home projects: She tore out a few rose bushes, I replaced a couple more sprinkler nozzles and… we put primer on the walls and ceiling of the guest room. Busy night. And we were done with it all by a few minutes after 10:00. Â As a reward, I took a nice, hot shower, fixed a bowl of ice cream (Rocky Road and Cookies & Cream) and played a little CoH: Going Rogue. I installed it on my Win7 laptop and it ran like a charm… which I had hoped/expected, since that laptop isn’t really used for anything but gaming.
Yet another cooling unit pump has gone out in our server room. The tech is going to take a water sample with him to see if Something in the Water Does Not Compute. (Apologies to Prince, but it was fitting.)
…and the answer to the music trivia question: Til Tuesday’s Aimee Mann was the female voice on Rush’s Time Stand Still (and the “camera operator” in the video).
Monday – 06 September 2010
Today is Labor Day.
I hope that everyone has a safe – and very enjoyable – end-of-summer whatever it is you choose to do.
In honor of the day, I woke up early… well, “early-ish”… and, with the help of , worked on my sprinkler system. I had a few heads that needed to be replaced, one that needed help and just some general maintenance all around. This involved two (that’s right: TWO) trips to the local Home Depot. But, two-and-a-half hours and some elbow sweat grease later, it was done and things were working the way they were supposed to.
Yesterday was another lazy long-weekend day. We slept in. I played a little CoH: Going Rogue — I created a new character; SaraRules did some quilting. Later in the day, we headed over to SaraRules’ parents for dinner and a movie. Â Last night’s fare was Clash of the Titans, the new one. Again, it was a decent action flick. And the in-laws liked it. Win-Win.
Saturday – 04 September 2010
Day 2 of the 4-day weekend is upon us.
It started out rather lazily – sleeping in and then stretching out on the sitting room sofa and reading comics. I’d pretty much call that a “win-win” start to the day.
Yesterday was a fairly lazy day. The morning was uneventful. A little before lunchtime, I headed down to visit Kate and Perry and the kids (or at least the kids who weren’t in school…). From there, I headed downtown to shoot a spot for an upcoming USUO video for new Thierry Fischer, the symphony’s new Music Director. It was fun. We’ll see if I make it into the final video or wind up on the cutting room floor. Then, I headed over to the USUO offices to say “Hi” to SaraRules.
Then, I did something that I haven’t done in over 25 years: I bought a new train set. (Yes, I do have a LEGO train set, but that was purchased for me.) My new acquisition was the Lionel Chessie System Merger Special Freight Set. Growing up in Maryland, Chessie System was the ‘road that I grew up around. (That and Norfolk and Western, to some degree.) Pictures of the unboxed set can be seen here.
To say that it’s “a little difficult” to find Chessie locomotives and rolling stock around here (Union Pacific territory) would be a minor understatement. Something that I didn’t realize before getting the itch to get back into model railroading – but makes perfect sense – is that hobby shops carry ‘roads that are appropriate to their geographic location. Therefore, I can find UP and BNSF stock with no problem, but finding things that are more common east of the Mississippi is a little more scarce… unless you special order them, in most cases.
Leaving The Train Shoppe, I gave a call to see if he wanted to come over and watch a few episodes of I Love Toy Trains that I’d recorded. He did. And, thus, we did. One of the episodes featured a layout owned by Tony Lash, that takes up over 2,800 square feet. Â (Transcript of the show can be read here. You should read the first few paragraphs, at least.)
Two-thousand eight-hundred square feet.
I’ll give you a moment to let that sink in.
Just to put it into a little better perspective: His layout is larger than our house. Yeah, it’s that big. And it was AMAZING. Seriously.
After watching ILTT, it was time to head out for evening entertainment — SaraRules and her dad went off for a “daddy-daughter date” to see Machete (which she said was pretty awesome), while and I headed off to Clitorati. We had a good turnout; by the time we went to get dinner, there were 15 of us.
When we got back home, I unpacked the track, transformer and locomotive from the Chessie set and assembled it in the family room. And I was immediately transformed into an eight-year-old kid again. Yep, just watching the locomotive going around the oval elicited that much nostalgia… and was that much fun.
Tuesday – 31 August 2010
Day Two of the work week.
More importantly, it’s “Dinner with Amy” Day. That’s right. For the first time in far too long, I get to hang out with the force of nature known simply as “Amy.” She’s on a bit of a vacation and is choosing to spend a little of it in the Land Behind the Zion Curtain with the usual suspects. Win-Win.
Last night, SaraRules, , , Matt and I went to see Piranha (not “3D”). It was something. Â It wasn’t great… but it wasn’t as horribly atrocious as it could have been. I think that summed it up best in two statements:
I don’t think that I’ve ever laughed that hard at a ‘horror’ movie
and
“Piranha” is totally fun for the whole family! It teaches important object lessons, such as why you should always listen to a cop with a megaphone, never walk on the beach barefoot, the importance and fragility of ecological systems, and why getting naked will always get you killed first. It’s a w1n-w1n!
Yeah. That about sums it up. I would only add that, since we didn’t see it in 3D, that our faces…
…weren’t bombarded with bombastic bulbous boobs, booties and bodies, though there was a bounteous bulk of them.
Okay. NOW, it’s pretty much summed up.
And I still have no idea whether it should get LEGO bricks or lawn darts.
And yet something else for The Covet List: The Pirates of Dark Water (1, 2) has just beenreleased on DVD. (I didn’t realize how many notable actors did voices for this series.)
Friday – 27 August 2010
It’s (almost) the weekend! Â Amen.
To kick it off, here’s a little Tony Toni Tone:
That’s what I’m talkin’ about.
Last night was D&D Game Night. We had to reschedule it from Wednesday because of ‘s birthday. The encounter was good… and no one died. After the game, it was back home for a late dinner (Pad Thai leftovers) and an episode of Burn Notice.
Stray Toasters
forwarded a link to this picture, which I thought was pretty awesome.
forwarded a link to this picture, which was also rather awesome
Thursday – 26 August 2010
It’s Thursday. I was informed of something that might push the day outside of the “NBN” envelope. That – coupled with who told me and what they told me – bring the phrase “People suck” quickly to mind… and serves as a reminder that some people practically beg to be curb-stomped.
Despite this, I shall try to maintain an NBN Thursday state of mind.
(As opposed to a New York State of Mind.)
Last night, SaraRules and I went to Pawit’s Royale Thai for dinner. As always, the food was very good. We started with their Por Pia Sod spring rolls (most excellent) and I had Pad Thai for my entree, while SaraRules had a salad whose name escapes me.
After dinner, it was back home for couch-time with comics! Yesterday’s haul was pretty good. I am really enjoying Justice League: Generation Lost, a “reunion” of sorts of the Justice League International. Another good storyline has been the new Wonder Woman. J. Michael Straczynski has done a good job of reinventing the character (even if people aren’t fond of her new costume). And the Legion made two appearances this month — in their own title and also in Superman/Batman #75.
After reading about superheroes, I went back to work on my HeroClix Wonder Woman mod. The new figure from The Brave and the Bold is… boring:
(gallery bb-figure-018)
So, I decided to try and make something a little more… dynamic. Â I’m combining two figures:
Phantom Girl, from the Legion of Super-Heroes Starter Set
(gallery ls-figure-005)
…and Mary Marvel, from Crisis:
(gallery cr-figure-041)
I should (hopefully) have pictures to share of the finished product soon.
Wednesday – 18 August 2010
Midweek. And that means Comics (and Sushi) Wednesday!
Yesterday afternoon, I called a local sporting goods store to see if they’d be able to do a quick turnaround on tuning up my bike. Yeah, the one that I haven’t ridden in about two years. They said that as long as I could have it there by 1000 this morning, that I could get it back this evening. It was in their store a little after 1800 yesterday. The clerk also told me that, aside from new tubes, it looked like it only needed a minor tune-up. Win!
SaraRules’ sister, Meliko, got into town last night. SaraRules and I stopped by the in-laws’ to visit with her  – and the in-laws – for a while.
The evening finished up with ice cream and an episode of Mad Men… which really isn’t a bad way to wind up a day.
There was just a major accidenton the freeway outside of our building; I got a few pictures of the aftermath. Â The Council for Better Driving would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone to please be careful when on the roadways.
Workout
Tuesday’s step count: 5, 546
Stray Toasters
Guess who was just given his first project to manage…
Depending on how you look at it, August is either a good or a bad month to be a geek with hobbies. The Covet List is chock full o’ goodies:
Looking back on his “learning experiences” without being specific, Zorn said he wished he could’ve changed some things while having no regrets on other issues. He added that he just learned to deal with circumstances as they came.
“You just get fired, thank you very much, and you move on,” he said. “I really think that’s the way we have to handle it, or we could go sit in our rooms for a few weeks and mope and feel sorry for ourselves.
“It’s not the way life is, really. We’re called to handle difficult situations as well as glorious situations. That’s the way life is.”
Tuesday – 10 August 2010
Today my niece, Sophia’s, first birthday.
Today is also the day that my friend, Joe, returned home – and to his family – after spending a little more than a year in a country with a four-letter name that begins with “I” and ends with “Q.”
Last night, I hung out at Pin-up Girl Espresso for a bit after work. Jim, Pin-up’s owner, and I sat and chatted and watched the world go by. Â In a surprise move, SaraRules stopped by on her way from work to a Justice Junior League meeting. A little later in the evening, I headed up to the in-laws’ to see SaraRules’ grandparents, who were in town for the evening. It was nice to visit with them for a while. SaraRules and I wrapped up the night with last week’s episode of Burn Notice. All-in-all, it was a good day… even for a Monday.
Workout
Monday’s step count: 5,069
Stray Toasters
I got a call from The Train Shoppeyesterday afternoon: My train set has arrived!
Friday – 06 August 2010
It’s a bright and sunny 9/80 “off” Friday.
Amen.
In a little while, I’ll be going with my father-in-law and to check out the model railroad gear at a hobby shop in Orem. I consider that a good way to start a day off.
Let’s go ahead and get this out of the way now: I had a great time at the Rush “Time Machine” concert last night.
I went with , his brother and sister-in-law and a friend of the family. Â Despite ridiculous post-rush hour traffic, we made it to the amphitheatre with plenty of time to spare. Â I also ran into my coworker, Drew and his wife, Cheri. (I just found out this morning that my friend, Peggy, was there, too… and only two sections away from where we sat.) The weather looked… ominous, but there was no rain. There were, however, some amazing lightning flashes in the center-to-eastern parts of the valley that made for nice offsets to 2112 and Far Cry. Â This tour’s set design had a heavy retro/steampunk look and feel about it, including the amps behind Alex and Neil’s drum kit:
From the tourbook’s liner notes:
I told the guys about an idea for a fictional world that had interested me lately, thinking it would make a great setting, maybe for a suite of songs that told a story. A genre of science fiction pioneered by certain authors (including my friend Kevin J. Anderson) had come to be called “steampunk,” seen as a reaction against the “cyberpunk” futurists, with their scenarios of dehumanized, alienated, dystopian societies. Our own previous excursions into the future, 2112 and “Red Barchetta,” had been set in that darker kind of imagining, for dramatic and allegorical effect, but I was thinking of steampunk’s definition as “The future as it ought to have been,” or “The future as seen from the past”-as imagined by Jules Verne, for example, in 1866, when he was writing 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
When I was nine or ten, my dad took my brother and sister and me to see that movie at a Saturday matinee, and images from it had always stuck with me. The fearsome destructiveness of the Nautilus had a kind of monstrous beauty, contrasted with the cultured opulence of Captain Nemo’s quarters, and the massive pipe organ on which, he played with mad rapture. The captain may have been insane, but it was a romantic, idealistic bind of madness-his mission was only to destroy ships of war, because his beloved family had been killed in wartime.
The guys seemed intrigued by the concept, and at home in Southern California, I started working on a story and some lyrics along those lines, set in a world driven by steam, intricate clockworks, and alchemy-“a world lit only by fire” (title of a history of medieval times by William Manchester).
…and…
While I put together some ideas for cover art with Hugh Syme, for the song releases and the tour, Geddy was working with his film collaborators Dale and Allan on the rear-screen movies, recruiting Alex and me as comedic “actors”-to pursue our long-term goal in live performance: “More Comedy, Less Music.”
While we never seem to get away with “less music,” it’s true that as the years go by we do have more laughs.
The concert was roughly three (3) hours long and the band played the entirety of Moving Pictures in the second set. They also played Caravan and BU2B, from the upcoming Clockwork Angels release. There were also some fan favorites and a few pieces that I don’t believe I’ve heard in previous concerts.
All-in-all, it was a great way to kick off my three-day weekend.
And, for today’s musical fare, I’m going with Far Cry, from the Snakes & Arrows CD:
Tonight, we’re heading to the Deer Valley Music Festival to hear the Utah Symphony perform Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture…. complete with live cannons. Â (Tickets may still be available.) Â Because, how often do you get to hear symphonic music – in a great venue – performed with real cannons?! Why aren’t you calling the ticket office already?! Â Did I mention “cannons?!” Â Go! Â Dial! Â Now!
Sunday – 01 August 2010
“Summer’s going fast…”
It seems as though July just started, and now we are beginning August.
Yesterday was also Ms. ‘s birthday.
Friday, was Day 5 of The Great Network Conversion. By the end of the (very long) day, it seems as though most things were in order. There was a lot of “hurry up and wait” involved, as we were awaiting some configuration to be completed at the home office. That didn’t help with the “longest day ever” feeling. Just before we left for the day, SaraRules dropped by the office, with a caramel mocha in-hand. (Have I mentioned ‘Coolest Wife Ever,’ recently?) By the time I got home, all I wanted to do was come home and take a nap. And that’s exactly what I did… and then it was off to gather with the rest of the Clitorati crew.
Saturday, I forced myself to sleep in. I know… I know… it sounds odd to have to “force” oneself to sleep in. But, considering that I woke up at 0700 and seriously contemplated getting up and starting the day — and given the fact that between Thursday and Friday, I put in nearly 24 hours in the office — sleep was a good and necessary thing. SaraRules went to the Open House at Repertory Dance Theatre; I stayed at home and did a bit of cleaning…
…until got here. We went to The Train Shoppe. I wanted to see if my new set had arrived. It hadn’t. Apparently, Lionel pushed back its shipping date by nearly a month. So… it should be here either just before or just after we  go camping.
Following that stop and a quick run to Dr. Volt’s, it was back home for a bit. Lunch. Hanging out with SaraRules. Exploring LEGO Universe… when it wasn’t being buggy. *shakes fist*
Later in the evening, SaraRules and I went to Rio Tinto Stadium to see Real Salt Lake host a match against DC United:
This also marked the first time that I have seen an MLS game live. (I doubt it will be the last time.) I had gone to MISL (Major Indoor Soccer League) games as a teenager, but that really comes under the heading of “same brand, different flavor.” Â Or, for the SAT crowd:
Major Indoor Soccer League : Major League Soccer as…
Roller Derby : NASCAR
Arena Football League : NFL Football
BMX : Motocross
Stickball : Major League Baseball
The correct answer, in this case, would be “2”
The match was a lot of fun. We sat in the upper level and had a great view of the soccer pitch… AND the seats were very reasonably priced. And they were also covered, which became important when it started raining. RSL won the match 3 – 0, with a couple of goals coming in the last 10 minutes of the game. Â (I was a little torn about the loss for DCU, though…) I am Ivory Soap sure that we’ll be back in Rio Tinto Stadium to see another match before the season ends.
Workout
Friday’s step count: I don’t recall, but it was somewhere around 3,600 steps
Saturday’s step count: Â 5,948
Monday – 26 July 2010
It’s the beginning of another fun-filled work week.
Today would have been my great-grandmother’s birthday, as well. One of the best stories about my great-grandmother also involves Sib-2 and a Power Wheels truck; nearly 30 years later, it still makes me laugh.
Even though it was a three-day weekend, it still seemed far too short. The highlights of the weekend included:
A trip to End Zone with Perry and the kids
Hanging out with the coolest wife ever.
Helping the coolest wife ever redo the planter bed in front of the house.
Footloose came on the radio during the morning commute. Â Whenever I hear the song, it reparses in my head as:
Juice! Fruit juice!
Or Kool-Aid, if you choose.
Juice box, please! Or Capri Suns to squeeze!
It’s a fact: Welch’s Grape is like crack!
Juice! Fruit Juice!
Everybody drink… Everybody drink…
Everybody drink… Everybody drink…
Everybody drink… Everybody drink… Everybody….
Everybody drink fruit juice!
Thursday – 22 July 2010
It’s NBN Thursday/Technical Friday. Â Amen.
And, just because I can, today’s musical selection: U2 – Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
Last night, SaraRules and I went to MacCool’s Public House for ‘Evening with Guinness,” a dinner featuring not only Guinness, but foods prepared with Guinness:
John Baxter and Kevin Fitzgerald both talked a little about the history of Guinness and their other beers – Smithwicks (pronounced “smith-icks”) and Harp – and some of their distribution channels, as well as a soon-to-be-released-in-the-U.S. beer.
Sweet, merciful Jesus… It was a sublime meal. All of the courses – and their accompanying beers – were excellent choices and were wonderfully prepared. I’m not usually a fan of onion soups, but the Four-Onion Soup Medly was fantastic. The steak… oh, the steak… was simply amazing.
Our tablemates were rather fun, too: We sat with three other couples, one of whom was the owner of MacCool’s, Scott. He was especially interested to find out that we’d heard about the event from their Facebook page. We talked about sports. Â We talked a little about our jobs. We talked about the event and dinner. It was an all-around good time.
After we got back home, we watched The Ruins. I kept thinking of it as “Little Shop of Horrors meets Tomb Raider,” but without all of the excitement. While there were a couple of surprises – and one scene that I totally didn’t see coming – but it wasn’t really “scary.” In an amusing note, I kept looking at Joe Anderson (whom I best remember from Across the Universe, but was apparently also in The Crazies) and thinking that he was Ben Foster (Pandorum and X-Men: The Last Stand). But he wasn’t.  Although… Shawn Ashmore, who played Iceman in the X-Men movies, was in the film.
Workout
Yesterday’s step count: 3,200
Stray Toasters
Win: Coworker Ryan just came around and offered me a doughnut from Banbury Cross.
Last night, SaraRules’ mom came over and joined us for dinner. SaraRules fixed a nice vegetarian curry over rice. We talked about books and movies (Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus!) as we ate. Â After dinner, SaraRules and I headed to The Garden of Sweden — I needed to pick up more picture frames. On the way home, we saw Jim from Pin-up Girl, as he was closing up shop, so we stopped and chatted for a few minutes.
We also… went to the gym! I was on the fence about going, but I knew that it would be good for me. Last night’s routine included:
SaraRules posed an interesting question last night: Given the problem that the iPhone 4 has had with lost calls/losing bars (due to the location of its antenna), how likely is it that the problems Steve Jobs had making/maintaining a call during the iPhone 4’s rollout were due to his hand/finger placement on the phone?
Bus carrying LDS youth to pioneer trek destroyed by fire
My former (before a recent re-org)Â boss’ kids were on that bus; his wife was in a car that was trailing behind. Â Everyone got off the bus safely, but no equipment was saved.
Tuesday – 13 July 2010
Today is apparently “Embrace Your Geekness” Day.
I’d never heard of it before this morning. *shrug*
Last night, SaraRules and I had dinner at Epic Casual Dining, in Midvale. We had talked about going there a few times, but had never managed to actually go. It bills itself as “One of the Salt Lake Valley’s finest restaurants.” I think this might be a bit of an overstatement. That’s not to say that the food wasn’t good – it was – but, I can think of a few “finer” restaurants off the top of my head. Would I eat there again, yes. Would it necessarily be at the top of my list the next time I’m looking for someplace to dine out? No… it would be somewhere in the middle to lower-middle.
After dinner, and a quick stop to say “Hi” to Kate and Perry, we went to Quilts, Etc., so that SaraRules could pick up a pattern block. I am Ivory Soap-sure that the place is a tesseract, because there is no way that the store could be as large as it is inside without employing extradimensional space. No. Way.
After that, we made our way up to the Toys ‘R’ Us in Murray. Why? Well…
…because it’s Toys ‘R’ Us. Â (Duh.)
…because Kate mentioned that they had a different LEGO figure in the store than the one in Sugar House:
Captain Rex
(Imperial Clone Trooper, from Star Wars)
We wandered around the store for a few more minutes, looking at other things, too. SaraRules found this gem:
After our excursion, we headed home. We wrapped up the evening watching the most awesome thing that we could find on Netflix’ Instant Queue, Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus.
That’s right. A movie so awesomely bad that we were compelled to watch it.
The power of Mega Shark compels you!
The power of Mega Shark compels you!
The movie featured:
Former teen pop star, DebbieDeborah Gibson, as Emma, an oceanographer who first encounters the prehistoric creatures,
Lorenzo Lamas (best known for his roles on Falcon Crest and Renegade) as the ham-fistedly over-acted government agent-in-charge of overseeing the creatures’ destruction,
Vic Chao, as Seiji, the Japanese scientist seeking answers about the giant monster that appeared on his nation’s shores and
Sean Lawlor as Lamar, Emma’s former professor and a former submariner who got drummed out of the Navy because he believed that “every sperm (whale) is sacred” and ran his sub aground rather than sail through the pod. Â (Okay, okay… it was actually dolphins, but I couldn’t have made the joke without the whales.) Â Added bonus: Mr. Lawlor’s was, hands-down, the worst Irish accent I’ve ever heard… from someone born and raised in Ireland! Genius!
So, what do you get in this movie? Â A giant, prehistoric shark and a giant, prehistoric octopus terrorizing the northern Asian and North American Pacific Rim. Â (Duh.) You also get bad acting and cheesy special effects. And, at no extra charge, they even throw in a contrived love scene… which, of course, leads to Emma having an apostrophe epiphany as to how to lure the creatures to their doom(s).
I will also admit that I wanted to see this movie because of this one scene:
Despite all of this, the movie managed to be (hilariously) entertaining, although we should have found a way to turn it into a drinking game or MST3K-ed it. Or both.
This almost – ALMOST – makes me want to see Mega Python vs. Gatoroid, just to see the new battle of the 80’s teen pop music queens: Debbie Gibson vs. Tiffany. Â There’s bound to be some comedy/horror in there somewhere…
(
