Random Access

Tuesday – 2024-04-02
Sometimes… if we’re lucky… a confluence of events occurs and really just makes your day. Today was one of those days for me. Let me start from the beginning…

Thing One
I woke up this morning, expecting an average Tuesday. I got my morning coffee and headed to my office/Room of Stuff to read before starting the day. After my reading time was done, I looked at my Memories on Facebook to try and garner some small bit of inspiration for today’s #CapesAndCoffee action figure picture. I scrolled back and found an entry on World Autism Awareness Day from five years ago and read the comments on it… for what felt like – and may have actually been – the first time. They made me smile. Broadly.

Thing Two
About fifteen minutes later, I found myself scrolling through Twitter – that’s right: “Twitter;” I said what I said – and saw that Gail Simone had posted about one of my favorite characters, Jeff the Land Shark (or… just “Jeff”):

I stumbled across this reply…

…and it was “Game on,” because I have done a few pictures featuring Jeff and his hero, King Shark, including the ones below, in which the pair (along with Gwenpool and Ghost-Spider) do meet:

…and tweeted as much:

I figured that was the end of it, until this popped up on my phone:

What the WHAT?! The Bear, herself, retweeted me!? YeahbuhWHAT!?

Thing Three
Riding on my own personal Cloud Nine, I received a not-so-random instant message:

Hi, I just wanted to thank you for your support and thoughts on the Key Bridge Situation. I work for the MDTA communciations department (The entity that runs/ran the Key Bridge) and I was on site of the collapse last Tuesday at 2:30 am and have been swamped ever since. Hearing my favorite podcast (Been listening for over 13 years) talk about it was unexpected but super appreciated. Please tell the podcast thank you from me. Also, I think you are a super awesome addition to Geekshow and your knowledge of comics is awe inspiring. So keep being awesome!
-Christopher [last name withheld]

A bit of context: I am member of Geekshow Podcast. As a Baltimore native, on this past weekend’s show, I wore a “Vintage Baltimore” sweatshirt and spent some time talking about the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge following the collision of the container ship, Dali, into one of the bridge’s piers. I also had things to say about some of the less-than-stellar comments that people with the power – and anonymity – of the Internet have made, as well as a brilliant case of talking out the side of one’s neck from a certain politician. Given the pressure that those involved with the clean-up and recovery of the bridge are under – original estimates put the timeline for replacing the bridge at up to ten (10) years! – the last thing they need are newly-minted armchair experts dragging them with ill-informed “Why nots” and “What ifs.”

This message was the true icing on the morning’s cake. Beyond the kind words about me being on the show, learning that something I said had meaning and weight and importance to someone meant the world to me.

Coda
These things all happened within just over an hour of waking up. They were a delightful way to start the morning and carried me through the day!

Thursday – 29 July 2021
On tonight’s installment of How Interesting Can Your Evening Get…?

MAILBOX HIT AND RUN!

We were getting ready for dinner when we heard a loud crash. As we were in different rooms, Sara asked if I was alright; I told her that whatever caused the noise, it wasn’t me.

I went outside to investigate (or let’s face it: “be nosy) but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary… until I got to the corner of the garage and noticed a mailbox in the driveway!

Oddly, our mailbox wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

I looked at the car and thought that it belonged to one of our next-door neighbors, but couldn’t figure out “how” or “why” it had happened. Fortunately, a neighbor was out and was informed that…

• A woman under the influence of “something*” jumped the curb,
• Scraped the fire hydrant,
• Ran over a park strip shrubbery,
• Ran over our – and our neighbors’ – mailbox…
• …and then fled the scene ON FOOT!
• ADDED BONUS: One of our neighbors chased after her, also on foot.

Looking at the scene of the crime, I found our mailbox:

The police came. Reports were filed. The car was impounded. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera… But, to my knowledge, they still have not caught the culprit.

And, it looks like “Install New Mailboxes” will be on the weekend agenda.

How’s YOUR Thursday night?!

* – The “what” of the aforementioned “something” has not been determined, but the attending officer found multiple needles in the car.

Monday – 26 October 2020
I guess they’ve really been more “ellipses” than “circles,” but let’s not get too pedantic here. Regardless, as of 7:00 AM EDT this morning, I have completed fifty of them. “Them” being orbits of the sun.

The best part: It doesn’t feel like it’s been fifty years.

In the last fifty years (that still sounds really weird…), I’ve been able to do a lot of amazing things. I look forward to discovering and doing a lot more.

I need to bring up kids, for a minute. (Don’t worry, this stays with the “circle theme.”) Becoming a parent has been a highly educational experience. And I don’t mean helping them with schoolwork while they are distance learning, either. I mean in terms of seeing things “for the first time,” again. (See? brought it back right there.) The most recent example of this came over the weekend:

I’ve had an old game, X-Men Legends, on my mind, since referencing it in a “Capes and Coffee” post a couple of weeks ago. So, I unearthed my Xbox – my Gen1 Xbox – Friday night. After a little searching, I found my copy of Legends… along with the 2001 Spider-Man game, X-Men: Next Dimension, and Marvel Ultimate Alliance.

I fired up X-Men: Next Dimension first, because… X-Men fighting game! That was a slog. Not just the play, but also the graphics – they were far from “high definition.” That didn’t stop me for playing for an hour or more before going to bed.

Saturday, I played a little bit of Legends.

And that’s when Vanessa came out to see what I was doing, eyes wide as if to ask “What is THIS videogame goodness that I have not seen or played before…?!” She asked if she could play and I let her. She was over the moon. While I had a nostalgic fondness for the game, she was discovering it for the first time. (I make a point of not typically telling the ladies “how” to play games, so they have to learn on their own and also have the experience of playing without me just walking them through games.) Vanessa did ask me to help her get past Mystique at one point; I obliged.

Sunday afternoon saw both ladies playing – handing off the controller at first and later playing co-op, after they had unlocked another character. Both of them discovering new things.

And having fun.

And I’ve had fun “replaying” the game, albeit vicariously.

These two young ladies keep me – and Sara – on our toes. And I don’t really think that we’d want it any other way.

Continuing the Sara and Team DiVa train of thought – and returning to the birthday mainline – they made sure that I had a good birthday. They let me sleep in (a bit) this morning. Evie came in and gave me her happy birthday wishes. Sara went to off to work, leaving me at home with Team DiVa and Evie. Later in the day, I went gallivanting around town; I found nothing that I couldn’t absolutely live without, however. Back at home, we had dinner from Macaroni Grill (“Hello, Chicken Marsala!”) and an ice cream cake. And, yes, there were presents:

• A new sketchbook,
• A gift certificate to my local comic shop,
• The new Madden game,
• The new Rogue and Pyro Marvel Legends set, and
• a candy dispenser that Team DiVa made without our knowledge or assistance!

Yeah, the ladies worked together to make a candy dispenser, based on something they saw in a science video series. They said that it wasn’t quite the same as the one they saw, but this one works pretty well – candy goes in the top and comes out the bottom! We have some precocious kids! (I discovered, after taking this picture, that the candy dispenser was NOT for my birthday, but was a family present. Oh, well. I’m still very proud of them!)

Fun Fact – Something that didn’t dawn on me until last night: I was born on a Monday. And thus, the theme of circles I started this post with has another level of depth.

And has come… full circle.

Namaste.

Friday – 05 June 2020
I have been of ill humor most of the day, in fact. Despite this foul mood, I still want to find a way to bring a lesson and some light out of this darkness.

Most weekday mornings, I listen to a local radio station’s morning program. This morning was no exception. The station also has a “listen live” option, as well as studio cameras, so you can watch the on-air personalities. And the morning program even has its own chat room. I often listen to/watch the live stream and interact the people in the chat room. Over the course of the past two or three years, it’s become something like a mini-Cheers.

This morning, like so many others, started the stream and joined the chat. Things proceeded as they usually do: The radio hosts hosted, people in the chat room commented on whatever topic came up or struck off on their on tangents. I was working, so I was distracted from the chat, but tried to follow along with the radio program. Some indeterminate amount of time later, I came back to look at the chat…

…just in time to catch a semi-regular chatter make the following statement:

Bi-racial children are so cute. Like little oreos.

It took a few seconds for my brain to fully comprehend what my eyes had just seen, but when it did, it sent an urgent message to my fingers to be relayed to the others in the chat room:

As a parent – let alone the parent of a couple of bi-racial children: What The Fuck!?

I can’t tell you how absolutely delighted it made me to see others in the room express much the same sentiment.

I also realized that I was mentally “done” at that point – my threshold for ignorance and the stupid things that humans do is threadbare these days. I bade goodbye to everyone, wished them a good weekend, and left the chat. I tuned into an audio-only stream and listened to the rest of the show that way.

A short while later, I pinged a friend (who had remained in the chat) to ask them to forward me some information they’d previously mentioned (link). At the same time, they informed me that the person tried to walk back their comment by saying:

Oh.. shit. Sorry.
I did not mean that to be bad!

…and…

That wasn’t meant to be mean. I apologize.

…and, when asked: “What was it meant to be, insensitive?”

No, I just love oreos. I feel super bad now. I sometimes just shove my foot in my mouth.

I realize that Utah isn’t the most diverse state in the Union, but damn. As my father would say: “That doesn’t even make good crazy people sense…”

Let’s look at a couple of things:

• Utah’s population, as of July 2019, was 3,205,958 people.
• The demographics break down as follows:
  
  • At 1% of the total population, that puts Utah’s Black population at just over 32,000 people. In the ENTIRE STATE.

That doesn’t exactly say much “cultural diversity or sensitivity.” But, it HAS to start somewhere. I truly appreciate that so many people were quick to take this person to task and point out that it was insensitive at best, but was also definitely racist.

Yes, this was a “foot in my mouth” moment, but it could have quickly and easily become a “boot-to-ass” moment had this occurred in a public situation, around someone prone to violence and for whom this was the catalyst they needed to “prove a point.”

But I digress.

Why was I so off-put by a “simple comment?”

First off: My children are a couple of intelligent, beautiful, creative, thoughtful, expressive, and dynamic human beings. Period. Full stop. What they most definitely are NOT are things to be dismissively objectified.

Next: Why do you find the need to qualify children as “bi-racial” to call them cute? Does their special genetic makeup cause them to stand out above other children? I will be the first to admit that I’m biased about how cute my kids are, but to hear someone call them – or any other child of mixed race – “cute” just because of a quirk of their heritage is asinine. It is also patronizing and subtyping.

And WHAT in all the Heavens and Hells does “…like little oreos” even mean? Because, given the inherent lack of diversity around here, I’m pretty sure that we’re not talking about the generally-accepted slang usage of “oreo” here. And if that IS the case? We need to have an entirely different conversation.

Finally, if anything wrote in those last three paragraphs bothers you or makes you uncomfortable…? Perhaps it’s time to take a look at the way you perceive the people around you who don’t necessarily fit into the pigeonholes you expect. If you want to discuss things and learn more? Let’s do it. I’m willing to put in the work to help bring about understanding and empathy.

Alternately, if you see nothing wrong with them, then I think it’s time we part ways. As I’ve said before: I’m tired. And I have neither the time nor energy to carry dead weight.

Wednesday – 07 August 2019
This past weekend (okay, Sunday through Tuesday), Sara, Team DiVa, and my in-laws hit the open road for Idaho. For years, Sara’s family has gone to the Stanley, ID area for vacation and we’ve been passing this tradition along to the next generation.

Sidebar: Back in 2008, Sara first invited me to go on this trip with her and her family. Camping. I’m not really a camping guy. In fact, on a call with a friend from home, when I told him that I was going camping, his first response was laughter. Loud, raucous laughter. Then he asked me what I was really going to be doing. I told him again. Again, he laughed. So, I did what anyone in my position would do: I put Sara on the phone. The exchange went something like this:

Sara: Hey! How’s it going.

[chatter on the other end]

Sara: Yeah, Rob really is going camping with us…

[chatter on the other end]

What I learned after the phone call was that the second bit of chatter was actually this bit of conversation:

“You do realize that Rob’s idea of ‘camping’ is to go to a hotel, open a window, and listen to the crickets, right?”

Which pretty much summed up my concept of “camping” to a tee. And, I’m not going to lie, after that and another camping trip, my opinion didn’t really change. In fact, I told Sara after the second trip that I would be more than happy to accompany her family on the third year’s trip… but that I would be staying in a cabin or the lodge.

Which. Actually.  Happened.  (True story.)

But, I digress…

This year, Sara once again found a lovely little AirBNB for us:

The Cabin

Two bedrooms, one and three-quarters bathrooms, nice kitchen, dining, and living rooms, and a porch with a sling/swing. I was duly impressed. She’s actually three-for-three at finding AirBNBs in an area where I would have otherwise sworn would have had nothing of the kind.

Sunday afternoon, we unpacked the car and headed back into town – I use “town” in the broadest sense, as it is a “population center” with very little population:

Stanley, ID

Yep, you read that right: “Population: Sixty-three.”

Sara and I picked up fishing licenses and then we were off to the races – or the river – to let little girls fish with their new rods. There were fish in the water, but none of them were really biting. Sara managed to get a strike, but couldn’t land the fish. After about 30 or so minutes, impatience wore down the little ladies’ resolve and they decided to try and skip stones on the water. Shortly after that, we headed back to the cabin to wind down from the day.

The next morning began with scones and bacon and Lucky Charms (for DiVa). Then we headed to the Salmon River to give the girls another shot at catching a fish. No such luck, but we did see a bald eagle. And a water snake. Back to the cabin for a bit of lunch and then, off to Redfish Lake for fun in the water.

Some of you may recall that Team DiVa had a lemonade stand on July 4th. They did this to raise money to buy a couple of large floats – a unicorn and a flamingo. This trip saw their maiden voyages.

Back to the cabin for a quick change into dry clothes and then on to the Yankee Fork River for another attempt at fishing and a nature hike. And then, back to Stanley for dinner at Papa Brunee’s Pizza and Subs.

Tuesday morning, we got up, breakfasted, and got ready to return to the hustle and bustle of our regular lives.

I might not be a huge camping and outdoors kind of guy, but it really was nice to get away for a couple of days to unwind and recharge. Here’s to next year’s adventures and the new voyages of the SS Alicorn and HMS Pink Flamingo.

Friday – 29 March 2019
A friend posted a link to a Tweet with this image in it.

For SOME reason, it triggered thoughts NOT of I Dream of Jeannie, Aladdin, or even Magic Mongo, but rather Christina Aguilera’s Genie in a Bottle… which has apparently been covered by Agents of SHIELD and Marvel Rising‘s Dove Cameron. Huh. Who knew?

Many rains past – and, if we’re being honest… still – it amused me to think of that song paired with Johnny Gill’s Rub You the Right Way, which immediately came back to mind after the above thought. (Welcome to my personal Circle of Hell.)

What other songs can you think of that would make interesting song pairs/suites when played back to back?

Go!

Wednesday – 30 January 2019
I’m going to tell you a story about a friend of mine named Jason.

Jason

I first met Jason in almost 20 years ago, when he was dating the daughter of the person I was dating at the time. He was quick-witted and funny, and like many late teens/early twenty-year-olds you’d meet: Ready to take on anyone and anything that stepped up to him.

After that, we mostly stayed in touch via IRC; I managed a Utah-specific channel of which Jason was a member. I lost track of him over the years, but our paths crossed again at my local comic shop, when he came in to play a game that I was judging. I didn’t recognize him at first, as it had been close to – if not more than – ten years since we’d seen each other. Once we put two and two together, there were a lot of wide eyes and dropped jaws in the store, as we recounted the story of how we knew each other.

Once again, Life took us in different directions, but I’d see Jason from time to time. He was still taking on the world his way, now he was writing, directing, and producing independent horror films.

Jason, on the set of Day Zero

I ran into him a few weeks ago, at the Jim Lee signing event at my comic shop. He even got a picture of me in the background, while he was getting something signed.

Jim Lee and Jason

I ran into him again a few days ago, while Sara, the girls, and I were out shopping.

Last night, I heard from another friend that Jason died yesterday. From an overdose. Needless to say, I was stunned. I had no idea that he was using, let alone struggling with addiction. My heart goes out to his family and friends.

That being said, if you are struggling – be it with addiction, depression, anxiety, “Life, the Universe, and Everything,” or just…”whatever” – you are not alone. In a time when so many things around us make us feel isolated and different, let me just say that if you need to talk, go out for coffee, or just sit somewhere until things feel a little better, let me know.

In a strange bit of serendipity, this morning, Facebook presented me with a memory from a couple of years ago. Jason made the second comment on that post. Well played, Universe.

Please be good to yourself and to those around you.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 15 January 2019
Today is the anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.‘s birthday.

When Simon and Garfunkel sang about a Hazy Shade of Winter, they must have been talking about the Salt Lake Valley. The air here has been atrocious over the past few weeks.

There’s supposed to be a weather system moving through tonight that will hopefully help move some of the chewy air out of the valley.

Stray Toasters

• Team DiVa has decided to undertake “spy training.” Last week, they spent days working on “being stealthy” and “using camouflage” to hide from Evie. (I didn’t have the heart to tell them that she could see – and just as easily smell – them, all the same.) Last night, after getting home from school, they asked me how much a motorcycle costs… because they need two of them (with two seats) to be spies. When I showed them a couple of options from BMW and Harley-Davidson, they asked if they’d have enough to buy them if they sold our house.YeahbuhWHAT?!

  Sara and I told them that, while they’d have enough to buy the motorcycles, that they’d have no place to live. At this point, Kid Logic kicked in, as they told us that they didn’t mean right now… but in a few years.

• Men Are Mad Online Because of a New Gillette Commercial
• A Son’s Race To Give His Dying Father Artificial Immortality
• A friend asked me if, when I say that I am adding something to “The Covet List,” I am adding items to an actual list. I told him, “Yes,” and that there are actually two lists. (I really need to see to it that they mirror each other more accurately.)
• How Our Cruelty Killed Hootie and the Blowfish – and Damaged Our Souls

There might be a fair bit more that I could say, but for now… I’m ready to call it a night.

Friday – 25 May 2018

I am ready for the long weekend. ‘Nuff said.

Stray Toasters

• From our Mother’s Day Southern Utah Parks Tour:

  • 

    Diana (Arches National Park)

    

    Vanessa (Arches National Park)

    
    

    

    Sara and Team DiVa (Goblin Valley State Park)

    

    Goblin Valley State Park

    
    
• Ostracised and Fetishised: The Perils of Travelling as a Young Black Woman
• The NFL continues to be a mess. I’m going to wind up not watching this season, either, at this rate.
  • This saddens me for many reasons, not the least of which is the complete missteps that have been taken with respect to players’ rights to silently protest and the League’s response. But also, Torrey Smith, former Raven has been traded to the Carolina Panthers, meaning that I have a reason to watch him play again.
• Black sergeant was ‘loyal klansman’
• I saw Solo: A Star Wars Movie a few nights ago. I liked it. I should get around to reviewing it and Avengers: Infinity War one of these days…
• The Sky Was No Limit: The WASP Women Pilots of WWII
• A couple weeks ago, I had a couple of odd things reach a weird personal convergence:
  • I learned that a coworker spent part of his mission in my mother’s hometown. Yeah, a small town in West Virginia that few have heard of and fewer still have been to. He spent six months there.
  • Later that same day, Sara and I watched Logan Lucky. Turns out that part of the movie was also set “somewhere” in West Virginia.
• This is how the federal government made a Star Wars tweet go viral
  • Hat tip to my friend Denise for this amusing look at life above the 54′-40º.

Saturday- 24 February 2018

I’ve been (somewhat) trying to write a post for a month now. Seriously. There have been fits and starts, but no finished product… until now. It’s strange to think that this is my first blog post (on here, at least) this year. But, here it is.

Today has been a good day. It snowed last night. It’s as if Mother Nature finally decided to remind people that “Yes, this is still Winter and I still have a few tricks up my sleeve,” and do it all in one week:

Oh, y’all wanted to call me out for not giving you any snow this winter?

BLAOW!

How ya like me now?

Said snow contributed to our decision to not venture out to Team DiVa’s swim class and, thus, gave all of us some prime sleeping-in time. Selah.

Next up: Ballet class for the ladies. Sara and I had supplemental breakfast and coffee while the girls were in class. From there, we headed down to Draper to catch an encore presentation of Mary and the Witches’ Flower. We’d wanted to see this a month ago, but it sold out rather quickly. Eagle-eyed Sara saw something a couple of weeks ago which noted another showing; we decided to make a family movie adventure out of it. The movie was quite cute and had a couple of take-away lessons. Even more importantly: Team DiVa liked it.

Next, back home for a hot minute so I could get my car and head off to record “a very special episode…” of Geekshow Podcast with Jay Whitaker (1, 2), Kiki Furia, Kari Keone, Dr. Paul White, and Stephan Watson, with Kerry Jackson as our host and moderator. The episode was about Black Panther and will be out Monday. NOTE: It’s heavily spoiler-laden and not exactly safe for work. You have been warned.

Now, I just need to finish this morning’s greatly-belated Instagram #morningcoffee post and all will be well with the world.

Stray Toasters

• An Artist Reversed The Gender Roles In Sexist Vintage Ads To Point Out How Absurd They Really Are
• Deep Space Nine Is TV’s Most Revolutionary Depiction of Black Fatherhood
• Illustrated Periodic Table
• Round like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel
  Never ending or beginning on an ever-spinning reel
  Like a snowball down a mountain, or a carnival balloon
  Like a carousel that’s turning running rings around the moon
  Like a clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes on its face
  And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space
  Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind
• Budgeting Doesn’t Have to Suck
• 21 Murphy’s Laws of Combat That Could Save Lives
• After 56 years apart, they rediscovered a love they thought was lost forever – The man in this article is my uncle (my step-father’s brother); I wasn’t able to make it home for the wedding, but this is a lovely story.
• The Tiahrt Amendment

Out.

Sunday – 24 December 2017
Last night, my gaming group got together for another Shadowrun session. It was a little touch-and-go as to whether or not the game would actually happen earlier in the day, but it did.

Game night!

I quite enjoy my group and running games for them. Most of my players are (relatively) new to the world of Shadowrun, while others have experience from the computer/console games. Watching them come together to experience the pen-and-paper world of the late 21st Century has been fun and occasionally highly entertaining. Case in point…

In our last session, the group had been contacted to find a missing person. And, as they were leaving the meeting, they were contacted by another agent to do a semi-related job, finding an item that the missing person was investigating. Serendipity AND more money. They followed some leads to the person’s last known location: A room in a fairly upscale hotel. They didn’t find the person, but another set of clues that led to a location in underground Seattle.

That’s where tonight’s game picked up. They walked into the location (see map)…

(c) Catalyst Lab Games

…and right into the middle of a gang war. Literally into the middle of it. So, they did what any intelligent adventuring party would do: Dove into the nearest cover – the ladies’ restroom. Or, rather, they tried. Two players had… issues: One stumbled and slammed into a wall, making her a target for getting shot. (Hooray for armored clothing!); the other… just… fell and almost got his head caved in by an exuberant – but very clumsy – ganger.

Members of the party, leaning out of the women’s room doorway, open fire on Gang #1 (on the right, near/around #1 on the map; Gang 2 was on the left, near the big red arrow)… just as the first wave of cops is hitting the top of the steps to the underground. Shots are exchanged to little effect. The team’s mage decided to cast a wicked stun spell on a massive radius, centered on the nearby gang. And she was SERIOUSLY successful. Five of the seven nearby gangers dropped. So did some tourists. Go figure. Then things got ridiculous:

• Stumblebunny finally makes it into the restroom.
• NEXT ROUND: More shots fired.
  • Decker (computer hacker) decides to hack the optics of the last two nearby gang members.
    With goatse. (DO NOT LOOK THAT UP)
    • He was successful and, not surprisingly, they stopped shooting, just as…
  • The cops arrive at the top of the stairs to the underground level.
  • Mage’s turn: She casts a spell on one of nearby gang duo, making him think that he’s COVERED in insects, even inside his clothes.
    • Again: Raging success. So… he starts stripping.
• NEXT ROUND: The cops hit the level where the fighting was going on.
  • So, a couple cops are like “WTF?! Why is he getting naked?!”
  • Three cops decide to head down the corridor and confront the other gang, who are still shooting. Because…  gang.
• NEXT ROUND: Mage decides to cast another spell. “Swarm,” making the cops coming down the escalator think that they are in the middle of a swarm of bees.
  • Again, wickedly successful – it hits most of the cops on the escalator.
    • They lost their shit…
    • …for about 5 seconds, until the cops’ combat mage dispelled it.
  • As the three cops head down the hall to the left (towards Gang #2), one of the party flips a flash-bang out the bathroom at them… as the mage is celebrating her success, like this:
    
    (click image)
    For clarity’s sake, I asked if that’s what her character was really doing. She said “Yes.”
  • Flash-bang goes off.
  • Cops – in helmets and riot gear – shrug it off. Two of the three cops head down to face Gang #2, Cop 3 throws a flash-bang into the bathroom.
  • I just looked at the group and told them, “I don’t even need to roll this. Everything goes black. For all of you.” For a moment, they thought I killed them.
• Eventually (20-30 minutes later), they all come to, surrounded by 20+ not-so-happy cops.
• …when a 3m tall troll (cop) walks up. The team’s negotiator decides to go kind of hard-ass, while the Infiltrator (stealth guy/think “rogue”) is basically, “Yep, we’re shadowrunners,” when the troll cop asks what they’re doing there.
  • The cop-mage was also casting “read thoughts’ and “detect truth” when the troll cop was asking questions.  He kept saying that the negotiator was telling “mostly truths, but there’s some… grey… in there.’
  • Wasn’t making troll cop overly happy.

The best part of the troll cop asking questions sequence was the out-of-character conversations going on around the table, because half the party was ready to throw the mage under the bus for casting the swarm spell on the cops. To be fair, in the first adventure we ran, the mage tried to use her stun spell to stop a magical creature from escaping a zoo enclosure. She put two of her teammates to sleep instead. There may be some lingering resentment about that. Oops.

As I said above: I enjoy my gaming group.

Monday – 18 September 2017
In alignment with my rationale for #NBNThursday, today has most definitely been “a Monday.” That’s okay, this too shall pass. OK Go said so.

See? Told ya so.

Today started far too early. 5:15 AM early. I was in the office at 6:15. Much respect to those of you who are up, out, and making the doughnuts that early every day. The reason for such an early start was to handle last-minute prep for a week of meetings. In itself, that’s not so bad. It became “not-so-great” on Friday evening when – long after the day had been “done” – I was notified that said meetings were going to start at 10 AM, rather than the 2 PM we had originally been told. In short, our timeline for handling things just had four hours lopped off the top. As there was nothing to be done about it, I simply replied with “We can only do what we can do.” And then, I proceeded to enjoy my weekend.

“Enjoying my weekend” included, but was not limited to:

• Judging a game tournament.
• Watching the new DuckTales cartoon (and Star Wars: Rebels and Care Bears) with Team DiVa.
• Going to the State Fair
• Playing too few video games.

Fast forward (or would it be “rewind,” in this case) to this morning. We got the prep work out of the way for the influx of meeting participants with time to spare. Yes, there were a couple of glitches, but on the whole, we were done and life was good.

A few minutes after the presenters got started setting up for the day, we were informed that they were changing the configuration of one of the meeting rooms. Okay, fine. Whatever. Then we were informed “why” they were doing it: In the original configuration, only one of the projectors in that room was activated. That was news to me, but it didn’t preclude them from making the room work. As this news was being relayed, a coworker started laughing to himself. Naturally, I asked why. He proceeded to tell us that he knew of this idiosyncrasy.

I’ll pause here to note that he was here last week when we were setting up the room, but said nothing about it.

::: braincramp :::

Mischief managed. And external ire restrained.

The morning wore in afternoon with out much further ado. Thankfully.

And then, I saw this article: Toys ‘R’ Us could file for bankruptcy this week.

I was struck with a sense of nostalgic sadness. One of the first things that went through my mind upon reading the article was the childhood glee of trips to the TRU in Catonsville with either my mother or father. We may not have gone weekly , but there were definitely a lot of trips there. For me, those were the days of The Adventure People, Micronauts, and electric trains (mostly Tyco, when you could buy a decent train set – or just pieces – at your local toy purveyor). I remember asking my father to drive down “the roller coaster road,” a hilly back road ending at the Toys ‘R’ Us parking lot, which – if you went just fast enough – would send rollercoaster-like butterflies into the pit of your stomach. I remember wandering the aisles of the store, while my mother shopped at a clothing store next door. Hell, I still remember the 1970s commercial jingle – the long version.

Roughly a year ago, there were three (3) TRU locations in the Salt Lake Valley. One closed last November, the other closed a few months ago. The lone remaining store is down the street from my house. Yes, I still go there, but it’s not just for me, these days. Over the past couple of years, I’ve noticed the quantity of some toy lines diminishing, while others have… not-exactly “flourished,” but at least survived. But it hasn’t felt like the same store that I used to visit as a kid for a long time. I’m sure that a fair portion of that is attributable to having gotten older.

There was no mention plans for the chain to close in the article, but like so many things, perhaps its time is nearing an end.

My inner kid still hopes that’s a long way off, though.

Saturday – 02 September 2017
Today started off with sleeping in. Until after 9:00 AM. (Those of you with kids understand what this means. Those without, just nod, smile and move on.)

Team DiVa’s fall session of ballet classes started today; they have advanced to “Elementary” from “Beginner.” They were also excited about their new uniforms. (BONUS!) Their teachers is one of the BW dancers, who recognized Sara immediately, when we dropped the ladies off at class this morning.

After their class was done, Sara and the ladies dropped me off at the comic shop, so that I could judge today’s HeroClix tournament. We had a great turnout and there were some good matches. Sealed events – buy boxes of figures and make a team out of what you get – can be kind of a crap shoot, so I was pleased that there were good matches in each round.

Next, a trip to the nearby pet store. Team DiVa has declared their wish for fish for their birthday. This was a part expeditionary run/part “We want to show Daddy pets in a/the store, since he didn’t see them the other day when we went” trip. We were successful on both counts. WIN!

A little while ago, we went to Home-Away-From-Home Depot to purchase a new dishwasher. Yay, home ownership! The one we have is on its last legs and has probably been one foot in the grave, one foot on a banana peel for the past year or two. Mission accomplished.

Okay, hold up a minute. Wasn’t the title of this post something about “Vent” and “Wrath?” So far, this seems to be… rather… well, mild. And nothing really worth getting upset over.

Which brings us to…

On the way home from Home Depot, there is an alternate route we occasionally take, which cuts through another neighborhood near us. We took that route today. Driving down the street, we saw a little kid – three-ish, MAYBE – on a balance bike. Standing at the studded corner of an intersection. Alone.

Kid.
Corner.
Bike.
Intersection
Alone.

I’m going to give those a moment sink in.

Back?  Okay, buckle up. This is not going to be pretty nor easy to read. Sorry.

We pulled over and I got out to talk with the little boy. He pointed across the intersection – across the busier, non-residential street – to the dog (not on a leash) that had run across it. I asked if it was his dog. He just pointed and said “Dog!” I looked back down the residential street and saw a man and another small kid on a bike, two or three houses away. I yelled down and asked if this was his kid on the bike, he acknowledged that it was and started walking in our direction. About the same time, a gentleman came out of the house on the corner and started walking towards me, mostly just assessing the situation unfolding outside his house, which is totally understandable.

The man and Kid 2 got a little closer. I knelt down and pointed towards them, telling Kid 1 (at the corner, but a little farther from it now), ” There’s your dad,” hoping that he would telepathically pick up on the “Don’t play near the street, go back to your dad” vibe I was projecting.

There was a gentleman in a car, approaching the intersection from the residential street, who looked out his window and said, “Thank you” to me. I just nodded and continued to point the little boy to his father.

At the same time, the dog decided to run across the road.

I missed the initial hit, but turned when I heard it, in time to see the back wheels… you know.

Not going to lie: I recoiled.

I looked at the dog, lying in the street. Then, my initial thought was to keep the kid from looking into the street, as I was beginning to suspect that it was the family pet.

The father and Kid 2 drew nearer and I asked if it was their dog. He asked “Black and white,” and there was no further doubt about it: Family dog.  He looked past me and just repeated, “Oh, no…” He walked out into the street and picked up the dog’s body… as Kid 2 started back to the corner to follow him. I shouted at the kid to “…come back this way.” The father, returning to the corner, started yelling at the kids about how he told them to stay in the driveway and not go down the street.

Issue #1: These kids were three-ish/four-ish. Who the Hell lets a kid that young just wander off – let alone on a bike – to the busy intersection?!

As if that wasn’t enough, he started blaming the kids for the dog not only getting hit, but dying. There was really no way to misinterpret his words on that one, especially when the phrase “…is why the dog is dead” was used.

Issue 2: Are you kidding me?!  Blaming the kid for the dog getting hit?! A kid whose sense of self-preservation is undeveloped. A kid who doesn’t know that his dog is going to follow him, wander around – even across a street – then realize, “Oh, hey! My human is over there! I should go there!” How about you keep track of your kid and make sure that he’s safe. While you’re at it, you might want to keep an eye on your dog, too. Just saying.

Once the father and two boys walked down the sidewalk a little way, the owner of the house on the corner approached me and noted that the kids were often up near this end of the street/intersection and just walked away, shaking his head.

::: DEEP BREATH :::

Sometimes, I feel that I might be a little overprotective of Team DiVa. Years ago, we made sure that they knew just how far down our driveway they are allowed to go. (This rule has changed slightly in the past two years, but when we ask the girls, they know what their limit is.) We have emphasized the importance of staying with or near an adult with approaching a crosswalk. We have set and maintained rules about walking in parking lots, whether busy or not.

After seeing this situation unfold, I think that Sara and I are doing just fine.

I don’t like playing “The Balance Game,” but while I’m sad that the dog (needlessly) lost its life, I’m ecstatic that it wasn’t the little boy on the bike.

tl;dr – I saw a dog get hit by a car this afternoon.

Wednesday – 30 August 2017
Of all the things I had considered posting as a return to this blog, this wasn’t one of them. But, it also wouldn’t fit within Twitter’s constraints… so here we are.

I was notified of a possible system problem this morning. Oh, hey, #LifeInIT. Got it. I contacted people to get more information and feedback, got to the office, dealt with it, had a couple of follow-up meetings and emails. And life was good again.

About 30 minutes after we’d resolved the issue, I got an email from a user. They noted that they were having issues connecting to one of the affected servers. I contacted the user directly and explained what had happened and that their should also have been resolved. User checks… confirms…. and moves on. And life was good yet again.

>> Fast forward TWO HOURS >>

An email arrives from users manager. Um, okay. In rather terse terms, I – along with my not-completely-former boss and HIS boss – and a few other IT staff were informed just how crucial it was that we resolve the problem quickly – did I mention that this was TWO HOURS LATER – because it was affecting important work.  Uh… pretty much all of the work here is important as, if it’s not done, we don’t make product. And if we don’t make product, we don’t get paid. Funny how that all goes together, isn’t it?! And, as if that email wasn’t enough, said manager sent a separate copy to me.

::: braincramp :::

It took three or four drafts for me to compose a reply that would not be considered “career-limiting.” But, I did. I made a point of noting that the original issue had been resolved before I got the user’s email and that we had already discussed it. I even added that if anyone was still experiencing similar problems, that they should contact me directly. And replied to all. I even copied my not-completely-new boss, just for good measure. Because I’m that guy.

Less than one minute later, I get a reply from user’s manager, thanking me for the prompt response.

*grblsnrkx*

It’s a bloody good thing that today isn’t Thursday.

tl;dr – I am Jack’s raging bile duct.

Wednesday – 17 May 2017
Stuff and Things.

This past weekend was… busy. But also awesome. Saturday saw the usual ballet and swim morning routine. I missed the swim portion, as I was judging a game tournament. Then there was a little break – filled by running a couple of errands. Next, early dinner and dropping Team DiVa off at their grandparents’ house, so that Sara and I could see Utah Opera’s Don Giovanni. Again. (We saw the final dress rehearsal, with the little ladies, but went back Saturday for opening night.) I enjoyed the production. They updated the sets and costumes to place it in a noir setting. This changed a couple of scenes, but worked for me on the whole.

Sunday, was Mother’s Day.  Sara had been wanting to go to Spiral Jetty for a while and Golden Spike National Historic Site is just a (long) hop, skip, and a jump from there. Thus, we were up early to pick up DiVa and meet friends at Golden Spike and Spiral Jetty. The first time we went to Golden Spike, the locomotives were in the Engine House for the season; that was not the case this time. We arrived just before the Jupiter made its appearance.

About half an hour later, No. 119 rolled up.

The presentation that the rangers provided also informed us that the engines were fired differently: Jupiter is wood-fired, while No. 119 is coal-fired. You could also tell this from the way they smelled as they approached – Jupiter smelled like a camp fire, No. 119 smelled like a coal-burning oven.

After a while, we made the drive to Spiral Jetty. Fifteen miles. Forty minutes. Over bumpy dirt road. The water level was a little higher this time – still not up to the jetty, but only 20 or so yards away to splash pools and just past that to deeper water.

All in all, it was good weekend.

Stray Toasters

• What is the measure of a life? My Family’s Slave
• 100 Must-Read Sci-Fi/Fantasy Novels by Female Authors
• Drunken Whiskey Review: Kirkland Canadian Whiskey
• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.‘s fourth season was all about punching Nazis – and it was the best yet
• Coding Game for Critical Thinking Skills
• Background Paintings for Scooby-Doo Are Delightfully Creepy and Rather Beautiful
• This past Monday was Miracle Monday… and I missed it.
  • I wonder if watching Monday night’s Supergirl counts to some degree, as Superman was in the episode…?
• Are Pop Lyrics Getting More Repetitive?
• 
  • Why Does “K” Stand for “Strikeout” in Baseball?

And that’s a wrap.