Random Access

Monday – 02 May 2011
Not only is it the beginning of a new work week, but we’re in a new month, as well.

The weekend was a good one.  It had just the right mix of family and friends and things to do… and nothing to do, as well. While parts of it could be classified as “busy,” it wasn’t the “all-go, all-the-time.” And that was good.

Yesterday, SaraRules! and I went to see The Accelerated and the Irate: Part V Fast Five. Sure, you needed to check your brain at the door, but let’s face it: We don’t go to these movies for esoteric pursuits. We go because they are over-the-top action movies that are just… “fun.” (And, there was even a bit of a plot, too.)

Stray Toasters

• Let’s get the day’s top news item out of the way first:
  • Bin Laden Is Dead, Obama Says
  • Osama bin Laden, the face of terror, killed in Pakistan
  • OSAMA BIN LADEN IS DEAD; President Tells Nation ‘Justice Has Been Done’
  • Osama bin Laden is killed by U.S. forces in Pakistan
  • And, in a related note: Bin Laden death could boost markets in short term
• Faithful give thanks for John Paul beatification
• When Oprah Was Ours
• 
• 20 Random Thoughts About Action Comics #900
  • #16, #17, #18, and #20
• A Go-to Site for Tracking Music Acts
• NFL draft grades: How your favorite team fared with picks
  • NFL Lockout: Why Pro-Footballers Keep Showing Up to Off-Season Workouts
• Today’s addition to The Covet List
• 
  For those who need a further explanation, click here.
• Kevin Keller — Archie’s Openly Gay Army Brat
  And just who is it that says that comics are just “funny books for kids?”
• Beneath the Atlantic, remains of Air France 447 finally found

The show must go on…

Namaste.

Thursday – 28 April 2011
It’s “No Bad News Technical Friday.”  Hallelujah!

It’s kind of hard to believe that we’re only two days away from the end of April. It feels like it just started. I wonder how quickly the rest of Spring and Summer are going to fly by – or at least feel like they are flying by – now that we have the twins to look forward to as Summer approaches Autumn.

Twins. Most of the shock has worn off. Now, we’re trying to figure out just how many… adjustments… we’re going to have to make to our baby-prep plans. The grandparents all seem to be rather happy with the news. And, I think that this pretty much cements the idea that we’re staying at home again this Christmas. (I’m good with that.) Time to start looking at 529 Plans…

Last night, we celebrated my father-in-law’s birthday. We went up to the in-laws’ for dinner, dessert and general hanging out. For dinner, there was a homemade chicken pot pie. Correction: There were two (2) of them. And they were good. For dessert, we had homemade doughnuts, with an orange frosting. They, too, were good. It was a very nice way to spend the evening.

Back at home, SaraRules! and I watched the second half of Real Salt Lake‘s match against Monterrey in the CONCACAF Champions League Final. They seemed to play better than in last week’s match, but couldn’t get the ball into the net. This isn’t to say that they didn’t have the opportunities, but they couldn’t get the ball past Monterrey’s goalkeeper. And, since the final score was based on the cumulative score from both matches, Monterrey came away with a 3-2 total against RSL. I also believe that this makes Monterrey the first visiting team in… two years, I think… to win at Rio Tinto Stadium.

Stray Toasters

• Today marks City of Heroes‘ 7th Anniversary.
• MarknTyme pointed this out to me last night: Robert B. Parker’s ‘Spenser’ to Continue Solving Mysteries
  I’m not sure how I feel about this.
• The Case for Cursive
• Designer Makes LEGO-style Helmet That Reads Comics to Kids
  Wait, wait, wait… LEGO + Comics?!  Why do I not have one of these already?!
  • And if we’re already talking about The Covet List, add one (or more) of these to the list, too!
• Judge Denies N.F.L. Petition as Injunction Stays, for Now

• 
• Judge Denies N.F.L. Petition as Injunction Stays, for Now
• Bleeding Cool.com has a link to the newest international trailer for X-Men: First Class
• Spraypaint can cocktail shaker
• Union Pacific’s Great Excursion Adventure
• Superman Renounces [SPOILER] in Action Comics #900

  

  It would seem as though this has stirred up quite the debate in the comics-reading community.

• We Say Gay: Tennessee kids fight bill that would prohibit discussing homosexuality in school
• India Puts Tight Leash on Internet Free Speech
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Hooker Steals Macbook After Client Steals Sex

Namaste.

Saturday – 23 April 2011
I don’t know what happened to the blue skies and mild temps we had yesterday, but it looks grey and drab outside. But, it’s a day that I’m alive to enjoy, so I’m still thankful for it.

After work yesterday, I found myself gallivanting hither and yon. I wandered into Ra-Elco, an electronics shop that I was introduced to about ten years ago. It hasn’t changed much. Next, there was a trip to The Train Shoppe, of course. They are redoing the O scale layout, so that side of the store was a little… chaotic. But, that didn’t stop me from looking around and checking out the wares. I came this close to picking up a couple of sets of trestles. But, I didn’t. Yet.  From there, I put in an appearance at Jitterbug Coffee Hop. I meandered my way southward and eventually wound up at Pin-up Girl, hanging out with Jim. Later in the evening, it was time to meet the usual suspects for Clitorati.

All-in-all, it was a good day.

Today should be another good day. I’m having breakfast with Chris in a couple of hours. I’m judging a HeroClix tourney for Dr. Volt’s this afternoon. And, SaraRules! and I have Date Night at the symphony this evening.

Stray Toasters
Nope, nothing today… or, at least, not yet. Check back tomorrow.

Namaste.

Friday – 22 April 2011
It’s my 9/80 “on” Friday. S’okay… it’s the quiet, low-number-of-employees day. That’s a good thing.

Today is also Good Friday…

…and it’s Earth Day, too.

But, it’s still a Friday, and that means that the weekend is mere hours away…

Last night, after I got home from work, I went to the basement and ran my train around the layout for a bit. To those who don’t get “how” people can derive enjoyment from “…just watching a train go in a (modified) circle,” I don’t think that I can sufficiently explain it. But I do. And it was good. And fun.

After a failed trip to the Village Christmas Shoppe at Gardner Village (it’s closed… as in permanently) SaraRules! and I picked up dinner from the Papas – John and Murphy – and went home to watch The Godfather: Part III, which I’d never seen before. It was good. (Man, it was LONG, too…) I enjoyed seeing continuation and conclusion of Michael Corleone’s rise to power and how he wielded it.

Stray Toasters

• I’m playing phone-tag with two different service companies, while avoiding… umm, “delaying”… calling two others. Yay.
• Well, $#!* Swearing is good for you, sort of
  Really?! It took them 2 years to figure this out? I could have told them that in about 2 seconds.
• SLC church distributes free copies of the Quran
• 
• All Your Base Are Belong to Us: How 50 Years of Videogames Conquered Pop Culture
• Georgia nuclear reactor shuts down; investigation under way
  • Speaking of Georgia and nuclear power, I need to correct something that I posted (at least once) before: It turns out that former U.S. President Jimmy Carter was not a nuclear engineer, as I had previously been told. He did work in the field of nuclear energy, but wasn’t a physicist or nuclear engineer. (Source)
  • Fukushima Plant Is (Officially) Dead Forever
• There’s a new Green Lantern trailer…
• At Ebenezer Baptist Church, a Glorious Rebirth
• 
• Zombie comic tutorial for using the college library
• Inquiries Grow Over Apple’s Data Collection Practices

Namaste.

Thursday – 21 April 2011
It’s another NBN Thursday in the valley. It’s partly sunny, but at least it’s not raining. For the time being, anyway…

Last night was Game Night 2, with and the gang. Actually, it was an abbreviated gang, as a couple of our group weren’t able to make it. But, we persevered and adventured on without them. And we lived to tell the tale.

Back at home, I joined SaraRules! in watching Real Salt Lake take on Monterrey in the Concacaf Champions League Final match. RSL looked a bit tired by the time I started watching (second half), but they held their own against… and the refs. I – along with a couple of the announcers – thought that the refs yellow carded a couple of plays that shouldn’t have drawn penalties AND they completely missed/ignored a red card offense against Monterrey. *shrug* RSL came out of the game with a 2-2 tie and the second leg of the match will be held at Rio Tinto Stadium next Wednesday.

Stray Toasters

• In a follow-up to yesterday’s post: Weird Al posts Lady Gaga parody song (incl. link to song)
  It turns out that her manager never forwarded the song/request to Lady Gaga in the first place.
• Mail Rail: London’s long lost underground postal railroad
• 
• For SaraRules!: Behold: The world’s most complicated Rube Goldberg machine
• In Online Games, a Path to Young Consumers
• 2011 World’s Ugliest Couch Contest
• 
• I wonder of SaraRules! would let me build one of these…
• Despite threats, security not enough of priority at utilities
• FDA warns Delta over rodent droppings ‘too numerous to count’
• Burning Question: Is Wi-Fi Squatting Illegal?
• 
• The Man’s Guide to Marriage: A Timeline
• Stumbling Into Bad Behavior
• Utah attorney general says he will file antitrust lawsuit against BCS
• Engineering a real-life ‘Star Wars’ AT-AT

Namaste.

Monday – 18 April 2011
It’s Tax Day here in the States. Coincidentally (or not so much so), it’s a grey and rainy day. For those of you who are eleventh hour filers: Good luck.

And I’ll go ahead and dedicate today’s Groove Break to the IRS:

• The O’Jays – For the Love of Money

• Pink Floyd – Money

• Tony Toni Tone – If I Had No Loot

Yesterday was an all-around good day. SaraRules! and I attended Palm Sunday Mass, after which we dropped in and said “Hello” to the in-laws. Then we headed home and did a little yard work. I did the first lawn mowing of the season. Unlike ‘s “One and Done” lawnmower start, my mower started on the third pull. (But, it started, and that was the key thing.) Post-lawn care, I plopped down on the sofa and watched some DVR fare: A pre-Christmas episode of Human Target and – along with SaraRules! – an episode of Lopez Tonight from last week, on which Prince performed. We both noted how young and fit he looks at 52. Seriously, the man looks like he’s still in his mid-30s. (Two words: “Dorian. Gray.”) Next we headed back to the in-laws’ for dinner… and we watched Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe, which was a fun tide-me-over until the new season of Burn Notice kicks off in June.

Stray Toasters

• The Trebuchette project hit their funding goal… with four days to spare!
  If you haven’t yet donated, consider doing so.  After all, you can get a trebuchet out of the deal!
• The MTH 2011 Volume 2 Catalog is now available. Helloooo, Covet List!
• By way of MarknTyme: Sleep, performed by Eric Whitacre’s “Virtual Choir 2.0”

• Retailers Retool Sites to Ease Mobile Shopping
• Chrysler vows new Dodge Viper supercar due next year

  

• TSA security looks at people who complain about… TSA security
• Monopoly Redesign: Do Not Pass Go!
• New Gaga song shocks religious leaders
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Belly dance scuppers ‘disabled’ ex-wife’s divorce deal
• Lionel LLC unveils ‘Lindbergh Engine’ model at Railroad Museum
• 
• Scrutiny Lags as Jetliners Show the Effects of Age
• Choco-Thulhu is real!
• Repelling Bugs With the Essence of Grapefruit
• Things That Earn Their Keep

Right on to the friction of the day…

Namaste.

Sunday – 16 April 2011
Today is Palm Sunday (1, 2).

And every time I think of that, my mind wanders off to Palm Sunday Downpour, by the band a friend of mine used to be in…

…which, apparently, one of his former bandmates has covered/released on his own. Huh. Go, Power of the Interwebs!

Yesterday was a good day. It was, to be certain, a long day, but it was a good one, all around:

The morning started with SaraRules! and me heading over to say “Goodbye” to Kate, Perry and the kids. They moved out of town this morning. I’ve known Kate for… close to ten years and I’ve known Perry for 8 or 9-ish; they’ve been very good friends. They’re going to be missed.

Next, we headed to Thanksgiving Point to check out:

“Eye-Candy Overload” was a wee bit of an exaggeration… but I think that was only because of how much the weather has flip-flopped from warm-to-cold-to-warmish over the past couple of weeks. Yes, there were tulips in bloom. But, upon our arrival, there weren’t as many as we would have expected. As the morning wore on – and as we neared the end of our excursion – more opened. This isn’t to say that we had a bad time, though. Far from it. We had a good walk and I got a lot of pictures around the gardens.

On the way home, we stopped at In-N-Out Burger for lunch and at the local Kohl’s, so that I could look for a couple of pairs of slacks. Lunch was successful; the clothes shopping, not as successful.

I decided to venture northward. I stopped in at Almosta Junction in Clearfield, where – for the first time in all of my trips there – their layout was in operation! That, of course, meant that I was compelled to shoot video (15 MB, m4v file) of it. I left with a couple of books and an O-Scale BMW 6 Series car. Next, I headed up to The Wonderful World of Trains. There were plenty of things there that could easily wind up on The Covet List, but I managed to leave with just the first FasTrack book that Lionel put out.

Back home. It was almost time to start getting ready for the evening’s outing. Black suit (Nod Ya Head), white shirt, black tie (with grey squares and white dots), black shoes. I had the good fortune to accompany both SaraRules! and to dinner and the symphony. We ate at Settebello; I had the Margherita pizza (with sausage) and a couple of cappucinos. After dinner, we walked to Abravanel Hall to hear Utah Symphony perform

(click image to see the program for the evening)

We missed most of the Mozart – we were a bit late, due to how crowded Settebello was – but the rest of the concert was quite good. Despite having heard Also Sprach Zarasthustra and On the Beautiful Blue Danube numerous times before, it was quite another thing to hear them performed live; I should think that Maestro Fischer would be proud of how the symphony performed under Mr. Schwarz’ direction.

Before heading home, we stopped at Capo for gelato. It was a good way to end the evening.

Stray Toasters

• Inability to Detect Sarcasm, Lies May Be Early Sign of Dementia, UCSF Study Shows
• From Jill Pantozzi’s “Has Boobs, Reads Comics” blog: New York Times insults female readers, they write back
  • How to Pick a Local Comic Book Store
  • Block Quote: The Case for Comic Books
• Trebuchette – the snap-together, desktop trebuchet
  These guys are only a few dollars – and a few days – from having their project fully funded. Why not pitch in and help them meet their goal? (Besides… who wouldn’t love to have their own trebuchet?)
• Keep Your Thumbs Still When I’m Talking to You
• Appalachian History Boxed Up in Shuttered Museum
• Ouch. Talk about “poor product placement.”

  

• FBI shuts down poker sites in online gambling crackdown
• You vs. the TSA: How to Survive an Invasive Pat-down
• She keeps her ex’s pistol
  On the table beside her bed
  To scare the ghosts that come
  As the bourbon slips to the back of her head
• Eight Is Too Much for ‘Short Sleepers’
• ‘Sweet Valley’ Twins Are Back, and, Like Readers, Fully Adult

Time to start getting ready for Mass and the rest of the day…

Namaste.

Friday – 15 April 2011
It’s my “off” Friday. Rather than idling the day away, I’m heading over to Kate and Perry’s in a bit — I’m helping them load up a moving truck. They finally sold their house and are moving this weekend. Getting used to the fact that they won’t be around has been odd, and I expect it to be even more so – at least for a while – once that becomes a reality.

Groove Break

• Teddy Riley and Guy – Groove Me

• Eric B and Rakim – Microphone Fiend

• Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock – Joy & Pain

• Jay-Z – Izzo (H.O.V.A.)

Yesterday was a decent day. Thanks (or “no thanks,” depending on your perspective) to working on Saturday, I had some extra time banked, so I was able to cut out of work a couple of hours early. Win. After dinner, I called my friend, William, whose birthday I managed to miss on Sunday.  We talked for better than half an hour, catching up on all the latest news from our respective families. After that, SaraRules! and I headed downtown for a night at the opera ballet:

The performance was good; we both especially liked the staging and choreography of the Bolero piece.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
posted a link to this last night; I found it rather intriguing: The Truth about Race, Religion and the Honor Code at BYU

Stray Toasters

• By way of SaraRules!: Wheelchair becomes 19-year-old’s BMX bike
• A Young Son’s Goal: Making Money for His Mother
• Jos. A. Bank is having another “Buy One, Get Two Free” sale on suits, sport coats and tuxedos
• “America the Beautiful”

  

• The World’s Largest Gummy Bear
• I should try to squeeze in a trip to a train and/or hobby shop today…
• Confessions of a fuzzy twit: Simon Pegg
• Why Are So Many People Dancing in Apple Stores?
• Brazilian Police to Wear Glasses That Can Scan Faces to Find Criminals

  

• The Last Fiesta – I’m not sure that I even have the words to describe this adequately…
• Why the Internet Is No Substitute for a Library
• The World’s Creepiest Opera Is Still Under Construction

Up. Out.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 12 April 2011
Work week: Day 2

As Google’s “classic” home page reminds us: Today is the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin becoming the first man in space

…also known as “Cosmonautics Day,” as well as being Yuri’s Night.

Thanks to an early day in the office, I was off work at 3:30 yesterday. I popped in to SaraRules!’ office, to say “Hi” for a surprise. From there, it was on to The Train Shoppe; they had completed the coupler repair on my Chessie locomotive. Next, I met , Tina and Casey for a stroll around Liberty Park. We did a couple of laps around the park which, assuming that the info I found is correct, means that we did about three (3) miles. I’m calling that a workout.

I came home, just in time to see SaraRules! off to her Justice League Junior League event. That meant that I was a “bachelor for an evening!” My first conundrum set in fairly quickly: What did I want for dinner? I solved that riddle with a quick trip to the local Five Guys. I came home, plopped down in front of the TV and DVR and watched a pre-Christmas episode of Human Target. I followed that up with a bit of HALO: Reach. Yeah… it was a good way to spend an evening.

Stray Toasters

• SaraRules! and I bought a pair of trebuchets last night.
  • It reminds me of the time I wanted to build a Mad Cat in the backyard, like Jim Martin did. I actually emailed him back in… 2003 or 2004; he was a nice enough gent.
• Human Spaceflight’s 50th: The Glorious Past and Uncertain Future
• Jerry Lawson, Inventor of Modern Game Console, Dies at 70
• Little girl joins the Dark Side

  
  EMBED-Little Girl Joins The Dark Side – Watch more free videos

• NFL, Players Ordered to Mediate
  • For the Panthers, a QB or no QB with first NFL draft pick?
• For SaraRules!: Rube Goldberg photobooth
• Minority business program to undergo changes
• 
• New York Airport Jet Clips Smaller Plane’s Tail at JFK Monday Night
• Gas Prices Rise, and Economists Seek Tipping Point
  • This Is the World’s Greatest Driveway
• Epsilon may have been tipped off that it was a target

Namaste.

Sunday – 10 April 2011
Today is my brother-in-law’s birthday, well… one of my brothers-in-law, that is:

…and a classmate’s:

…and my friend, A.J.’s (one of the opera residents):

This morning started early. With a 0450 phone call from corporate… telling me about a continuation of yesterday’s problem. Nothing like the surge of adrenaline one gets from being jarred out of sleep by your phone ringing and then racing into another room to pick it up only to find out that it’s work calling. After answering a few questions and making a couple of command decisions, I put the phone down and got back into bed. It took me a few minutes to wind down enough to fall asleep again.

The sun has been trying to put in an appearance this morning. This song was the first thing that went that went through my head:

This was the second:

I’m not sure which amused me more.

Yesterday, I spent four hours at work, dealing with the aforementioned problem. At first, I was pretty annoyed about the whole deal. After a little while, I gained a different perspective: I was being paid to wait for service technicians to come in and work on the problem… AND… it means that I’m already eight hours into the upcoming week’s schedule. In other words, by the time I leave work tomorrow, I’ll have 17 hours on the clock already. And, this is my “off” Friday, to boot. Coming to those realizations made having to work a little better.

SaraRules! was kind enough to bring me lunch yesterday. The original plan was for me to run to work, assess what was wrong, fix it if possible, run an errand and then meet SaraRules! and her parents for lunch. That whole “four hours” thing blew that to Hell and back. So, the Best Wife Ever brought lunch to me.  And she even hung out while we – my coworker, Cade, came in also – sorted out the problem.

After I got back home, I decided to run down to The Train Shoppe. It was a trip with a two-fold purpose: 1) I wanted to see if they’d gotten anything new, and 2) I needed them to take a look at the couplers on one of my locomotives. I managed to walk out empty-handed. Barely. My next stop was Borders. It’s become a scavenger pit. If my math is correct, I believe that they will be closed as of this coming Saturday.

After my excursion, SaraRules! and I took in a movie. We saw Hanna. It was… interesting. We both kind of enjoyed it, but we agreed that it could have used a bit more plot and background development. The story revolved around a girl, her father and the intelligence agency operative who apparently wanted them both dead. Oh, yeah… the girl had been raised to be an assassin. A very effective assassin, at that. It was also something of a coming of age movie, as well: Hanna had been raised alone in the woods by her father, with no contact with the outside world. And her adventure took her across Africa and Europe, where she was introduced to many new things… like electricity, music, and computers. As an action movie, I’d give this pretty high marks, but on the whole, its shortcomings/oversights drag it down a few pegs.

Stray Toasters

• Globe Poster: An Illustrated History of American Music
• The O’s beat the Rangers 5-0 yesterday, giving them a 6-2 record…. which puts them on top of the Yankees and Red Sox

  

• Film director Sidney Lumet dead at age 86
  • 6 Things to Know About Director Sidney Lumet
• If you’re not reading Fables, why aren’t you?
• When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?
  • Gender stereotypes woven into language of toy ads
• I want to know just WHAT was this guy thinking…?!
• Murdoch paper admits phone hacking as victim rejects payout
• Pinup Girls Before and After: The Original Photoshop
• Sesame Street heads to Pakistan

And now, off to brunch with the lovely SaraRules!

Namaste.

Wednesday – 06 April 2011
It’s mid-week again, which also means that it’s new comics day and D&D 4.0 night. I’m good with all of those.

Yesterday’s Utah County excursion wasn’t too bad. The monkeys were fairly quiet; I did, however, get a little tired of people asking me when someone else was going to be in that office. After the third time, it got harder and harder to retort with a smart-assed answer. *sigh* On the plus side, I managed to squeeze in a trip to The Hobby Stop during lunch. Hey… it’s train stuff. Go figure.  🙂

I got home a little later than I had planned, had dinner and was back on the road again. Last night was D&D 3.5 night with and company. We accomplished a few things which were good/necessary and have nominal plans for the next part of our adventure.

Chew on This: Food for Thought – Personal Hygiene
When a person is getting ready for work in the morning – or even the night before – isn’t that the “ideal” time for them to take care of things like clipping their nails?

As opposed to, say, waiting until they get into the office…?!

There are a few possible exceptions to this:

• Salon workers
• Spa workers
• Veterinarians

I’m not someone who gets squidgy at the sound of someone clipping their nails, but it just seems that it is something best done at home. With that in mind, there are times when I think a quick trim/cut are acceptable, the prime example being when someone chips, cracks or tears a nail and needs to trim it down. But that’s (usually) just one nail. Not all ten.

I suppose that I should just happy that I have neither seen nor heard (that I know 0f) anyone clipping their toe nails on the clock.

Stray Toasters

• I’ve been really enjoying the Tony Toni Tone’ CD that I picked up earlier in the week.
• 57 Spectacular LEGO Scenes
• Bored with World of Warcraft? Make Your Own Fun
• 
• More Pupils Are Learning Online, Fueling Debate on Quality
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file:
  • Giants fan beaten at Dodgers’ Stadium appears to have brain damage
  • Girl Trains Cow as a Show Horse
  • Michigan couple to walk some 2,500 miles for wedding
  • 
• Firefox 4 is taking a little getting used to…
• CWA: Why should you care about species extinction?
• Queen Guitarist Shares Love for Astronomy Through Stereoscope
• 
• An Artist Takes Role of China’s Conscience
• Grand Jury Investigates Whether Apps Like Pandora Are Stealing Your Info
• Lawmakers tell Google to do more on antipiracy

Namaste.

Tuesday – 05 April 2011
Day two of the work week… and I’m in the south office today. Some of us are doing rotations down here once a month. And, today is my day. Well, one of them — I think I’ll be back down at the end of the month, too. Oh, well.  It’s a nice change of pace.

Last night, after dinner, SaraRules! and I ran a few errands and then went to Frogurt for dessert. It was good and it wasn’t as tart as the yogurt at Red Mango. (On the other hand, they didn’t have a Green Tea Yogurt, so it’s kind of a draw.) We wrapped up the evening with an episode of Castle and an episode of Top Gear.

I stopped at Pin-up Girl Espresso this morning, to get a caramel mocha for the road. I was pleasantly surprised to see (former) Pin-up Girl Erin in the window. I didn’t get a chance to ask if she was going to be a semi-permanent regular in the store, though.

And tonight is D&D 3.5 night.

Stray Toasters

• Commodore is back!  (Not to be confused with the music group, The Commodores.)
• Roberts’ three-run home lifts Orioles to first 4-0 start since 1997
• Salt Lake Art Center takes an outsiders look at SLC
• 
  
• Advocate for the Arts
• Obama Invites Republicans to Meet on Budget
• Chemical found which ‘makes bone marrrow repair skin’
• FAA to Order Airlines to Inspect 737s for Cracks
• 
• Guess who went to The Hobby Stop and looked at train stuff while at lunch.
• NFLPA’s Mike Vrabel arrested for alleged theft, calls it ‘misunderstanding’

Namaste.

Sunday – 03 April 2011
It’s snowing.

I figured I’d get that one out of the way, right off the bat. It started last night, before I went to bed, so I’m estimating that we have three to six inches of the stuff on the ground. I’ll do a measurement later, when I go out to shovel the driveway.

It’s been a good weekend. Friday, I had brunch with at The Park Cafe. The food and the atmosphere were both good. From there, I stopped at The Train Shoppe for a minute; I needed to inquire about a problem that I am having with the couplers on one of my locomotives. Randy told me that it was a pretty fast and easy fix. Armed with that knowledge, I headed out. I took Defiant back to Expercom. They installed the new PRAM battery and the new top case… and it was less expensive than they’d originally quoted me. So, I once again have a fully-operational Death Star BlacBook. Later in the evening, SaraRules! and I skipped meeting the usual suspects for Clitorati and, instead, went to a Utah Grizzlies hockey game. The game was good, although the Grizzlies lost. (My guess is that since they’d already locked up a playoff berth, they: A) didn’t have anything to prove and B) didn’t want their players to get injured.)

Saturday, I met Chris for breakfast and then we headed up to Dr. Volt’s for this weekend’s HeroClix tournament. There was a decent turn-out — nine players, so I played the bye rounds. Dr. Volt’s also hosted a book signing with Valerie Finnigan, one of the authors of Untold Stories from Iraq and Afghanistan. After our tournament was over, I had the opportunity to speak with Valerie for a bit. She was a charming woman with a few interesting story to tell. (Jeremiah also did an interview with her.) I got back home and tried to figure out what I wanted for dinner. SaraRules! to the rescue! She suggested Famous Dave’s Barbecue. So was it done. And it, too, was good. And very filling. After that, we came home and assembled a LEGO airplane that I got for Christmas. (Hey, some people do puzzles together; we assemble LEGO toys.)

Pictured here, with LEGO Universe Astronaut

Next, we watched (500) Days of Summer. Good movie. Not quite what I expected, but it was rather enjoyable… and a bit quirky.

Stray Toasters

• According to Google, today marks the “119th Anniversary of the First Recorded Ice Cream Sundae”

  

• Plane makes emergency landing with hole in cabin
  • Southwest Airlines grounds jets over mid-air hole scare
• This is one way to get down stairs, I guess…
• By way of Christopher M.: Wall of Sound: The iPod has changed the way we listen to music. And the way we respond to it.
• 
• Lynda Carter Reveals Opinion on New ‘Wonder Woman’ Costume
• Hands-Free Faucets Not Germ-Free, Study Finds

Today is a good day for getting in some DCUO or LEGO Universe… or both!

Namaste.

Monday – 28 March 2011
Another work week begins. And this one comes complete with snow! (Well, flurries, but still…)

Yesterday was good. It was a mostly low-key day. I did head over to West Valley Hobbies for a bit, but didn’t buy anything. I also stopped at Dr. Volt’s, to pick up the Apocalypse ‘Clix that they had on display. SaraRules! and I had dinner with her family and, after dinner, we watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, which I hadn’t seen in a while. Back at home, we watched last week’s episode of Fringe before calling it a night.

Today, we’re having issues in the office. And there have been many “Why” and “How” and “When” questions asked. We’re handling it as best we can. (Which, surprisingly, doesn’t include punching monkeys.)

Stray Toasters

• How to Raise the Status of Teachers
• World’s largest LEGOLand taking shape in Florida
• Mobile phones may rot your bones
• A couple of Star Wars-related items:
  • Distracted by Star Wars
  • Homages, Ripoffs and Coincidences: Star Wars
• 
  
• When test scores soared in D.C., were the gains real?
• Paul Baran, Internet Pioneer, Dies at 84
• Thanks to for posting a link to this video, which shows the pre-launch preparations for Discovery‘s last flight:

• The Nintendo They’ve Tried to Forget
• 12-Year-Old Rewrites Einstein’s Theory of Relativity

On to the rest of Monday…

Namaste.

Sunday – 27 March 2011
Yesterday was a good day.

I went to visit with Perry and Kate for a bit. They were doing some pre-sale house work, so I didn’t stay terribly long. I next went to MRS Hobbies… from which I exited empty-handed.

Next, I took Defiant (my BlacBook) to Expercom — I’ve been having a bothersome problem with its PRAM battery and figured that I’d get it looked at and/or fixed while I had some free time. Mike, the tech on-duty, had never had to replace that battery in my model of MacBook, so it was something of a learning experience for both of us. While disassembling the laptop, he noticed that my case had cracks in the front of it. He said that he’d order a new top case and replace my old busted one with new Apple hotness. When we determined that there was A LOT more work involved in getting to the battery – and that they didn’t have one in stock – I decided to bring my MacBook back next week and kill two birds with one stone. Thus began the reassembly process. Everything was going hunky-dory, until Mike tried to replace my keyboard. It seemed that something in the pin connector was… off. So, he replaced it.

That’s right, my black MacBook has a white keyboard… at least for the next few days. There are a few not-so-minor differences in key-mappings (volume, built-in calculator keys, screen brightness, Spaces/Expose), but I’m getting used to them. Slowly.

I headed home and met SaraRules!, so we could decide what to do with the afternoon and evening. We decided to go see Sucker Punch.

I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from the movie… but it wasn’t the movie I expected, if that makes sense. The movie’s tagline, “You Will Be Unprepared,” was spot on.  Let me rephrase that a bit: It was a good movie and we both enjoyed it. But it was more than just visually appealing; it told an interesting story… and it wasn’t the story that I expected. There were also a few surprising faces in the movie, as an added bonus. Also, I will be tracking down the soundtrack — it was eclectic and suited the different styles of the movie very well. I have to admit: As this movie gives yet another indication of just what Zach Snyder is capable of, I’m less leery and more curious to see next year’s take on the Man of Steel, under his direction.

After the movie, we stopped at the nearby Hobby Lobby. I picked up two more tank cars for my train. The only “problem” is that all three of my Norfolk Southern tank cars have the same road number. (I’m easily able to overlook this.) With their addition, I am now able to run three types of unit trains:

• All boxcars,
• All coal hoppers, and
• All tank cars.

After we got back home, I headed to the train room, hooked everything up to the N&W Bantam J and ran a 23-car consist. It made me smile.

And, sometime overnight… it snowed.

Stray Toasters

• Former U.S. Vice Presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro passed away yesterday.
  • The Pioneer: Geraldine Ferraro (1935 – 2011)
  • Ferraro was a trailblazer for women
• How D.C.’s Cherry Blossoms Almost Didn’t Bloom
• A Girl’s Nude Photo, And Altered Lives
• 
• No Flying Car, But How About an Invisibility Cloak?
• A Comic Book Lover’s Guide to Going Digital
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…!?” file: Time Warner charges Wright-Patt engineer $16.4 million for cable
• Snap Judgment
• 
• On the Clothes Watch at SXSW
• Royally ridiculous Royal Wedding packages
• Microsoft Disables HTTPS for Hotmail Users in Iran, Sudan (and More)

Namaste.