After work, yesterday, I went home, had dinner… and fell asleep on the sofa. Right. Out. Forty-five minutes later, I was up and rather refreshed, but still feeling a bit lazy. Fortunately, SaraRules was agreeable to putting off last night’s trip to the gym until tonight. While she quilted, I worked on cataloguing a few more boxes of ‘Clix.
Today is Day Two of all-day meetings. Well, one very long meeting, really. However, it’s good information and it’s covering a lot of things that I hadn’t been previously aware of. However, as it is also Comics and Sushi Day, something’s going to have to give. Unfortunately, I believe that it will be sushi; comics can be acquired later this evening.
Stray Toasters
Coffee: Check.
Homemade blueberry muffins: Check.
messaged me last night with some happy news. Â (No, it wasn’t that Bot had given birth to Byte…)
2:13:11 PM : we have a momentous occasion to share with uncle rob.
2:13:19 PM : Oh…
2:13:24 PM : Is there a new [member of the family]?
2:13:26 PM : oh heck on
2:13:30 PM : or no even
2:13:32 PM : even bigger.
2:13:37 PM : Bit has her first lego set.
2:13:40 PM : YES!
2:13:54 PM : Duplo?
2:14:08 PM : si. 71 piece.
2:14:16 PM : I’m assuming that it was your call, not Bot’s.
2:14:22 PM : She’s not that geeky.
2:15:00 PM : heh…actually she suggested i get the kid some blocks. she has another set of grippy type blocks that she loves, so heck, if i’m going to buy her blocks…
2:15:08 PM : *nod*
2:15:09 PM : Indeed.
2:15:20 PM : right now she has more fun just taking them apart…
2:15:24 PM : so my job is to build something
2:15:27 PM : Gotta start somewhere.
2:15:27 PM : and her job is to disassemble
2:15:32 PM : my genes kickin’ in
2:15:35 PM : Destruction. Construction.
2:15:42 PM : It’s all part of the process.
2:16:02 PM : indeed.
2:16:33 PM : I’m so proud.
2:16:56 PM : haha i thought you would be
2:17:09 PM : i told bot i’d pass the news on. you got the predictable eye roll
2:17:15 PM : i’d say that’s a win
2:17:19 PM : Definitely.
Tuesday – 04 August 2009
Another work-a-day morning in Paradise. And this is after a 12-hour day yesterday. On the plus side, this means that after logging today’s and tomorrow’s hours, I can trim a bit off the number of hours I need to take for leave on Thursday. I’m not sure that’s a full “Win-Win,” but it’s not bad. Of course, I’m in an all-day meeting, so that should keep me (more or less) out of trouble.
Last night was a low-key evening. That not-so-loosely translates to: “I sat in front of the television and vegged.” And it was good. I also got a little further in cataloguing ‘Clix.
Wow…. Kenneth just used the phrase “money shot” in our meeting. With our CEO and other top brass in it. I think he just scored “Human of the Day” for that.
Saturday – 01 August 2009 Last night’s sleep was… a little broken. I woke up a few times, for as-yet undetermined reasons. After getting into bed after 0230, I was up around 0730… and thought I might stay up for a bit. I thought better of it and crawled back into bed. I finally woke up and decided to start the day around 0915, which was a much more reasonable hour.
I got dressed and went to have coffee with Perry. It was a very brief get together, as he was on the clock. I came back home and found that SaraRules was already back from quilting. We hit the road again… this time with a two-fold mission:
To pick up our invitations from the printer
To pick up a new HDD for my MacBook
We were successful in both.
Human of the Day
While at the Best Buy, getting the hard drive, I saw what I’m sure is going to be the most awesome thing I see all day: A guy playing football on what I believe was the PS3 display. That, in and of itself, isn’t so noteworthy. What made it great was that he had pulled up a chair from their office section (a nice brown suede-looking finish), set it up in front of the display, taken off his hat (and put it on the display) and was just… going to town playing video games. It rocked. SaraRules and I decided that only a couple things could have made the scene better:
If he had a Big Gulp® and some chips on a little tray next to him and/or
If he had friends with him, throwing down some game time trash talk.
I completely spaced off getting a phone picture of it, though.
Workout
We also hit the gym for a weekend workout:
The Le (pronounced “Tee Lee”) sums up what was wrong with Marvel Comics’ last couple of events, World War Hulk and Civil War:
Since the reader has become so attached to Hulk’s cause, this makes the reader a fool too… and that’s really the problem here. The Hulk’s a chump, and we’re also chumps for taking his side.
That’s just bad storytelling. The author, Grek Pak, was clearly trying to pull a fast one on us, and he succeeded. Like the terrible last moments of Civil War before it, we’re left with a great story that is utterly ruined by a pitiful ending.
Friday – 31 July 2009
First and foremost: Happy Birthday, !
It’s not my 9/80 Friday, but at least it’s quiet around here today. Maybe I’ll be able to clear a few things off my “To Do” list…
…of course, I might just have to add “Play Typing of the Dead” to that list, though. I wonder if I can justify it as “Training,” since it (theoretically) is a typing game/tutor..?
Stray Toasters
Superman and Green Lantern ain’t got nothin’ on me…
Wednesday – 29 July 2009
Midweek.
It’s also Comics and Sushi Wednesday.
I got a call back from the dealership about my car late yesterday afternoon. They found the reason that the “Check Engine” light came on (a faulty Cam Shaft Position Sensor), which is a good thing. They also (FINALLY) found the source of the leak that I went in and asked about two weeks ago – you know, the one they said was the water pump – which, oddly enough wasn’t the water pump. *sigh* It was the Oil Filter Adapter. Ian, the service rep, told me how much the sensor would be… and, surprisingly, there was no sphincter tightening. Nice! Then he told me how much the adapter was. Tightening. Then I remembered how much the radiator hoses – custom parts! – were and realized that, as Freddie Mercury and Queen said:
There’s nothing you can
Nothing you can
Nothing you can do about it…
I asked SaraRules to pick me up a little early from work. I was “done.” We headed to the local Best Buy, so I could pick up the new Green Lantern: First Flight DVD. They had the single-disc version in the front display, but not the two-disc version… and there were absolutely none of the two-disc with figurine versions to be found, either.
*grblsnrkx*
Just put another nail in the coffin, why dont’cha? At that point, I was truly done. And all I wanted was to just go home. And we did. Rather than sit and fester over the state of things, IÂ turned my attention and energy to cleaning out more things from the office. Using a couple of “creative location management” techniques, I was able to get rid of two large boxes from under the office table, completely clean out one of the sections in the closet bookcase and throw away some old/unnecessary things; thus bringing order (or a semblance of it) from the chaos (of my mood).
At least it wasn’t a Thursday.
Later in the evening, SaraRules and I went to the gym:
On the way to work yesterday, we were passed by a blue VW Beetle. The first thing that occurred to me was how amusing – and thoroughly geeky – it would be if its license plate had said “KORD.” I mentioned this to MarknTyme; he said that it would have been equally good (or bad) had the plate said “REYES.”
If you got that, you know why I found it amusing.
If you didn’t get it, you’re probably better off for it.
Saturday – 25 July 2009 For some reason, it feels like a Sunday morning. I can’t really put my finger on “why,” though. It might have to do with the abbreviated work week, but I don’t think that’s it. *shrug* Oh, well… I’m not going to spend too many cycles trying to figure it out. Â Instead, I’ll enjoy the “extra” day of relaxation.
Rachel made it to town yesterday; she was stopping over on her way home to California. The s’mores brownies she’d requested were ready shortly after she arrived. Later, she, SaraRules and I went to dinner at Red Iguana; despite living in SLC for over 10 years, I had never eaten there before.  I had the Chimichanga Original with a side of Spanish Rice, both of which were very good.
After dinner, we met up with the usual suspects for Clitorati. Fortunately, sent out a message letting us know that Borders was closing early for Pioneer Day… because SaraRules and I went by Thursday evening to investigate any signs of an early closure and there were none. *shakes fist* So, when Borders closed for the evening, we headed to Barnes and Noble, instead. It was a good change of pace. It’s also a change that we might make a more regular occurrence.
This morning, SaraRules, Rachel and I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast of pancakes and eggs (fixed by Ms. ‘Rules). After breakfast, Rachel got back on her westward trek.
Stray Toasters
NECA Gets Wizkids (and we’re awaiting more news about the deal and what it means for the game)
Friday – 24 July 2009 It’s my 9/80 Friday.
It’s not even 8:30.
So, why am I wide awake? (written when it was still “morning” in Utah.)
Oh, well.
Last night, SaraRules and I had dinner with OnlyAly, , Stephanie and Jason at MacCool’s, an Irish(-style) pub, in Foothill Village. I had been there once before, but not for dinner. I ordered the Finn’s Fries (think “nachos,” then take a left – it’s made with potatoes, rather than tortillas) for an appetizer. Holy cow… They were incredible. I had the Pub Steak for my entree. I was a bit more disappointed here: I asked for it “medium-well,” it came out “medium-rare,” or as might say: “They threatened it with the flame.” They took it back and recooked it; while it did cook through, it made the outer layers a tad tougher. All-in-all, it was a good experience and I’d definitely go back again.
The evening was spent lazily lounging around. Nothing wrong with that.
Today is also Pioneer Day in Utah. (And Missouri and California, according to one joke I’ve heard.)
Stray Toasters Stray Toasters are preceding Four-Color Coverage today. Why? Because I think that FCC may get to be “a bit” lengthy and I’m going to try using the never-seen-in-this-blog “MORE” tag. Or, for a shorter answer: “Because I can.” So, without further ado:
I received my Mac pony pegasus from Stephanie last night. It looks great. I’ll take (and post) some pictures of it later.
iGoogle now has a “Comics” themes category; a tip of the hat to for point this out to me. My home page is now decked out with a snazzy Green Lantern theme.
I stumbled across this yesterday afternoon: This wedding party entrance had the potential to be disastrous. Instead, I think it was rather cool and looked like everyone had a fun time with it:
Four-Color Coverage It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these; hopefully, I remember how it goes. Since it’s been so long, I’m also going to cover some of the highlights from the past weeks, as well. With that in mind, I’m going to use the “MORE” tag to cut the bulk of the text. Hopefully, it will work as expected…
Thursday – 23 July 2009 Welcome to NBN Thursday/Technical Friday.
Last night, SaraRules and I watched High Noon. Both of us enjoy Westerns, but neither of us had seen it. (My father was even surprised when I mentioned that I hadn’t seen it.) After dinner, we settled in to watch it. The story revolved around Will Kane, Marshall of a small town named Hadleyville. On his last day as Marshall – and the day of his wedding – he learns that Frank Miller, the man who ruined The Spirit he sent to prison five years earlier, has been freed… and is coming back to town for vengeance. Marshall Kane has to decide between leaving town with his bride or staying to take on Miller and his cronies. Both SaraRules and I agree that it was an excellent film.
I also picked up yesterday’s four-color shwag. I’m planning on writing up a comprehensive Four-Color Coverage tomorrow – it will cover the last four or five weeks – but let me just synopsize as follows:
Green Lantern #44 – Wow.
Legion of 3 Worlds #5 (of 5) – Also “wow.” I’m looking forward to the restart of Adventure Comics next month.
Power Girl #3 – Fun.
Stray Toasters
I don’t think that I mentioned that my JLU: Legion figures showed up a couple of days ago. This, of course, means that I need to rearrange shelves in the display cases.
I’ll be getting my Mac pony from Stephanie tonight.
Speaking of Stephanie, she has mentioned that she thinks that making ponies for other Corps sounds interesting. I told her that if she were to make them, I’d find them a good home.
Think about the reasons you’re here now
Think about the choices you can’t explain
Think about the reasons you’re here now
Think about the reasons you like the rain…
Wednesday – 22 July 2009 Last night, after dinner, I crashed on the sofa for about an hour. Crashed. And the fact that I made it through dinner was a feat of willpower in itself. I was that tired. After waking up, I felt better and then proceeded to just lounge around for the rest of the evening.
Chew on This: Food for Thought
In a rare – but not unprecedented – instance, Craig Ferguson had a bit of a rant last night in his… pre-monologue:
Intersting… and rather insightful, too.
Stray Toasters
I’m giving Firefox a break and taking Safari on an extended test drive. So far, so good.
Monday – 20 July 2009
I was up far later than I should have been last night. Hopefully, the caffeine will save me. On the other hand, I managed to modify a few interior wall textures for my ‘Clix city that will give me a little more variety in my buildings.
Last night, Logan came over for dinner; SaraRules fixed chicken mole – it was good with a bit of a spicy kick. After dinner, we walked over to Target to find some updated cards for Trivial Pursuit. There were none to be found, but they had the “25th Anniversary Edition” for $30. We decided to walk to the Wal-Mart to see what they had to offer; if nothing else, we had to walk back past Target to get home, so we could always pick it up on the way back. While the Wal-Mart didn’t have 25AE, they did have the “Best of Genus” edition. And it was only $20. Win. We headed back home and played – I won, SaraRules came in 2nd, and Logan brought up the rear.
So far, the morning has been pretty quiet. Let’s hope the rest of the day follows suit.
Friday – 17 July 2009
It’s kind of odd to be at work on a Friday. Well, not entirely odd, as I do it every other Friday, but this is the first Friday that I’ve worked in a month, thanks to harmonic convergence the way that my 9/80 Fridays and the Fourth of July worked out. Fortunately, it’s most coworkers’ 9/80 day off, so it should be rather quiet around here.
Reeling by on Celluloid
I chatted with MarknTyme this morning about the Cool World/Long Kiss Goodnight Scale. I was looking for an icon to represent that scale in the same way that I use the red LEGO brick for thigns that I like. Both he and had suggested using Mega Blox, since they are a LEGO knock0ff. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a picture of a single Mega Blox (Blok?), so that became a moot point. MarknTyme then suggested a Lawn Dart. That seemed to fit better – “Aiming for the target… but just missing the mark.” So, I give you the official icon for the CW/LKG Scale: The Lawn Dart.
We also hammered out a few other points about the scale:
The standard, as put by MarknTyme, is: “…the worst movie I paid full price to see.”
It’s a “mirror” of the normal scale, with Cool World as the -10 and Long Kiss Goodnight at -1
The worse a movie is, the more darts it gets.
Regardless of whether some other movie rates a -10, Cool World will retain it’s spot as the “name” at the bottom end of the scale. It’s tradition, after all.
Allowances can/will be made to add rented movies to the scale. (I’m looking at you, The Spirit…)
And, with that out of the way…
Last night, Logan came over for dinner. While eating, we watched Krull, a movie that I’d never seen before, but that SaraRules and Logan watched – fairly often, I took it – while growing up. It was a bit dated, in terms of special effects and it didn’t have the greatest acting or dialogue, but it was still amusing and entertaining. Even more of a shock to me – no, lj user=”applevenus” , not a shocker – was to discover that the lead actor, Kenneth Marshall, later went on to portray Lt. Cmdr. Michael Eddington, an antagonist of Capt. Benjamin Sisko, on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Also in the movie were a younger Liam Neeson and Robbie Coltrane. While this was a “fun” movie, it wasn’t a “great” movie. Thus, it gets the dubious honor of being the first movie to get darts from the CW/LKG Scale:
After Krull, we watched The Day the Earth Stood Still. No, not the Keanu “Whoa… I know alien invasions” Reeves version; we watched the 1951 classic version. It was definitely a movie of its era: Full of Cold War suspicion and platitudes about the power – and danger – of using atomic energy. It was also amusing to note the way the military “protected” the general public from the enigmatic visitor, as well: Klaatu’s spaceship landed in President’s Park, in Washington, D.C. The public, after the Army established a cordon around the ship, stood right behind the firing line. Let’s look at why this is funny to me:
Spaceship in the park. (Okay, this one isn’t funny by itself, but bear with me.)
Army forms a circle around the spaceship. (Now we’re getting somewhere…)
All weapons (small arms and heavy artillery) are pointed towards the center of the circle
The general public was standing – between 25 and 50 feet – around the perimeter of the circle.
Apparently, no one was worried about ricochets or “collateral damage.” *shrug*
All-in-all, I can see why this movie is considered a staple of “classic science fiction.” It was a good movie and kept me both entertained and engaged.
Stray Toasters
Yep. I’m a Legion fan. And, a freely-acknowledged overgrown kid. Need proof? I just ordered this.
DC Comics’ summer event, Blackest Night, kicked off on Wednesday. If it maintains the pace set by its first issue, this is going to be very good.
In a related note, a couple of months ago, asked me why I’m such a big Green Lantern fan and how I came to be one. It took me a few moments to formulate a fully-realized answer, but I came up with one:
I had read comics with Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) in them as a kid and I also remembered watching him in various incarnations of Super Friends on Saturday mornings. His power: He had a ring that could create anything that he could imagine. He had the ultimate answer in “wish fulfillment,” almost literally in the palm of his hand. Years later, I bought issues of Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps, because I liked the character and the space-faring adventures.
Fast forward to 2001… Cartoon Network brought the Justice League back to the screen in animated form. The show focused on DC’s seven “big guns”: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Martian Manhunter, The Flash, Hawkgirl and Green Lantern. This time, however, they didn’t use Hal Jordan; they went with another Earth-based Lantern, John Stewart. As Bruce Timm put it:
He’s the most controversial character so far from what we’ve been gathering on the Internet. When the show’s lineup was first announced, there were a lot of people saying, “Why aren’t they using Hal Jordan? No, it’s got to be Guy Gardner. No, it’s got to be Kyle Rayner.†Obviously, we picked the wrong one, but the reason we did choose John Stewart are various—I think they’re all valid. Right off the bat, I’ll just say it: you know we did need ethnic diversity in the Justice League. We felt that the show is going to be seen worldwide and I think having a member of the Justice League who is not just “Mr. White Bread†is a good thing.Another reason why we chose him: literally, out of all the Green Lanterns we could have chosen, we all kind of liked the John Stewart character from the comics, especially the Denny O’Neil / Neal Adams version. When they first introduced him he was like the angry young black guy…you know, in 1969 and 1970. Even though that’s not really relevant today—like the whole Black Power movement and everything—we still wanted to keep that kind of edge and attitude with him.
And so, just in banging around ideas of what to do with him, going back to the original idea of the Green Lantern Corps—where they’re basically Lensmen [the pulp characters created by E.E. “Doc†Smith]—they’re space cops, they’re space marines. We’re like, “Okay, he’s a military guy.†And then somebody said, “Louis Gossett Jr.—An Officer and a Gentlemen.†I said, “Yeah,†and I went, “Wait a minute—Samuel L. Jackson,†and everyone went, “Yeah!†So that’s kind of who he is. He’s a real rugged, no-nonsense, barking orders kind of Green Lantern—and we love him to pieces. We love him so much [that] he’s like in almost every episode. I predict that you guys are going to love him too.
And he was right. I did… and still do. It was great to not only have a Green Lantern on the team, but to have one who was Black brought something else to the table: A role model, of sorts, for kids (and at least one or two adults I know). It was good to see someone of color portrayed on-screen with a positive influence and not just “guy on the street” or “thug of the week.” That – and the way that the character was developed in both the animated series and in comics – only helps to cement John Stewart as a favorite character of mine.
Wednesday – 15 July 2009
I went out to dinner at Redrock Brewing Company with SaraRules, her parents and her grandparents. I had the French Onion Steak Sandwich (which, although very messy, was delicious) and washed it down with a tasty Cream Stout.
After dinner, I went to play ‘Clix with Chris. We decided to play a non-themed game, which allowed us to play with some figures that we hadn’t used before. I threw a decent team together…
Black Widow (Ultimates)
Captain Marvel, Jr.
Dark Beast
Iceman and
Spider-Girl
…but didn’t adhere to the strategy that I’d started with and put the wrong pieces in the wrong places at the wrong time. Thus, Black Widow – a lynch-pin in my game plan – wound up getting beaten down. Game plan go *poof*. Dark Beast fell next. Spider-Girl went next and was followed, very shortly, by Iceman. Despite all of this, CMJ did well… relatively speaking. He took a fair bit of punishment, but was still dancing toe-to-toe with Chris’ Hulkbuster Iron Man. In the end, he got taken out, but he went down swinging; I was impressed with the figure – I’ll definitely be putting him in the field again. (Hopefully, with better dice rolls…)
This morning has been… not too bad, but there were a couple of items that were on the fast-track when I got into the office. One was fairly easy to deal with, the other was… out of my area of expertise. (I’m willing to bet that John Hodgman could have handled it, though.) Fortunately, a workaround was found and life continued apace.
Tuesday – 14 July 2009
If you couldn’t guess by today’s title, it’s Bastille Day.
Yesterday, SaraRules went to have her bridal portraits taken. From the stories she related when she got home, it was an experience. A fun one, but an experience, nevertheless. While she was off playing supermodel, I hung out with her grandparents, who are in town for a few days. Sitting with them and trading stories was a nice way to spend the evening.
Stray Toasters
I got two walls of the kitchen added to my new model last night. I also rediscovered why you should always “Measure twice, cut once” when constructing (or even destroying) something: I have a wall section that looks like it’s going to be about ” shorter than I had planned. It’s a small enough difference that I could let it go, but I will most likely recut one wall.
Monday – 13 July 2009 Waking up and getting up
Has never been easy
…especially when you start to fall asleep on the sofa…
…and then have a hard time falling asleep when you get into bed…
…and the first alarm doesn’t trigger your “I should get out of bed” senses.
But, other than that, it’s been a decent morning.
Last night’s Tower of Power concert was fun. SaraRules and I took her father as his belated Father’s Day present; he had a ball. We also ran into Paul (my boss) there; he grew up in Sacramento and has been a ToP fan for many, many moons. He enjoyed the concert, too.
Stray Toasters
I think that my mother just signed up for Twitter…
Saturday – 11 July 2009
It’s 7-Eleven Day. Go to your local Sev and get your free Slurpee®!
Last night was another night of broken sleep, which is particularly interesting/disturbing as I went to bed much later than I had originally planned. It took me a long while to drift off and once I finally did, I had at least one rather unsettling dream, which made the rest of my sleep rather… dodgy. Fortunately, there’s coffee.
Yesterday was mostly an errand-running day. We also headed back to Hobby Lobby, where I picked up another toy – Foamwerks’ Rabbet Cutter – and a few sheets of foamcore (it was 50% off). And, for the record it’s “rabbet,” not to be confused with “rabbit.” I am going to try using foamcore as a structural component in my next building, cutting the board to make the walls and applying the appropriate WWG sheets to the interior and exterior walls. I’ve seen a few people do it and it looks nice and solid.
