Random Access

Tuesday – 26 August 2008
One down, four to go.

After work last night, I headed up to SaraRules’ parents’ for dinner (and mojitos!) and general hanging out… which included football: The Chargers vs. the Seahawks. Yes, it was (only) pre-season action, but it’s still rock and roll NFL to me. We tuned in a little late and watched the first half of the game.

At halftime, SaraRules and I headed back to my place for movie date night. We watched The Kingdom. Neither of us had seen it before, so we weren’t entirely sure what to expect. I wouldn’t recommened this movie as a “happy, fun-time” fare, but it was a good film. I give it a couple of solid thumbs-up with a nod and a smile.

After that, it was time for The Middleman. The episode was… entertaining, but lacked a little of its usual punch. Not the episode I would have picked for the first one that we got to watch together, but what’re ya gonna do?

SaraRules headed home and I sat on the couch, trying to decide if I wanted to play CoH… or log into PokerStars… or something. I watched DS9 while I pondered my conundrum. That turned into DS9 watching me. At that point, I decided that it was time to call it a night. And I did.

Today, I’m going to be elbow-up in enterprise KVM research.
Tonight, I’m going to be elbow-up in a ‘Clix tourney… one for which I’m still not completely sure which figures I’m using.

Stray Toasters

• I got home last night to find a package waiting for me… from . Inside, I found a couple of comic-related magnets (Supergirl and Hawkgirl) and a Test for Echo tour baseball cap. Unexpected win-win!
• Happy 30th Birthday to the LEGO minifig
• Our HR/Accounting guy and I were just talking when he noticed some of the ‘Clix I keep on my desk. He saw the Batman figure and noted that his daughter would like it, as she is a Bat-fan. I asked if she had read Batman: The Killing Joke; he said that he wasn’t sure, but would mention it to her. I’m hoping that this doesn’t become a “career-limiting move.”
• Online Beauty Pageant… for Nuns
• This Gizmodo-modified picture of the AT&T Death Star amuses me…



• Han Solo in carbonite cake
• I’m curious about Samuel L. Jackson’s upcoming movie, Lakeview Terrace
• Treadmills used to play WoW
• 

Up, up and away! (Either reference will work here.)

Monday – 25 August 2008
Every Monday should != start like this:

• Walk in the door
• Put bag down
• Unpack/connect laptop
• Log into The Matrix company network
• As systems come online, have Coworker #1 come to you and say,”I have a problem…”
• Go to look at said problem only to determine that “something” in his computer is borked.
• Take computer back to my desk to lobotomize it.
• Have Coworker #2 come to you and say,”I have a problem…”
• Determine the Coworker #2’s issue is potentially BIG and that it supersedes Coworker #1’s issue.
• Tell Coworker #1 that he just got put on hold, until further notice.
• Start in on C2’s problem.
• Determine that it requires another IT guy’s skill set.
• Get IT Guy #2 to take a look at the problem.
• Have Coworker #3 come to you and say,”I have a problem…”
• Determine that C3’s problem, while not as OMGWTF! as C2’s problem needs immediate attention.
• Try to track down the hardware to solve C3’s problem.
• Find two viable solutions and go with “Option A,” which is functional and fairly painless.
• Resolve C3’s problem.
• Check back with C2 and ITG2 to determine the status of that problem: Resolved.
• Back to C1’s issue… and determine that it could be ANY of a number of problems.
  • Look for replacement hardware.
  • Replace Item #1
  • Not the problem.
  • Replace Item #2
  • Still not the problem.
  • Begin ancient Martian meditiation technique known as “Screaming”

    

  • Replace Item #3
  • Still “No go, Flight…”
  • Replace Item #4
  • BINGO!
• Return C1’s computer to him.
• Sit down and breathe. Finally.

That was the quick, Cliff’s Notes version of my first three hours today. Fortunately, Julie (the admin who sits near my desk) reminded me that we’re off next Monday, for Labor Day. At this rate, I’m thinking that I’m taking this Friday off, too.

Stray Toasters

• By way of : Death and Taxes 2009
• From Not Always Right: Holy F***, Indeed
• 

Back to the fun…

News from The BBC: The head of a Nigerian government agency has been charged with stealing money to hire a witchdoctor or “juju” sorcerer to bring him success.

Tuesday – 19 August 2008
I was up far too late last night.
FAR too late.

Coworker Eric came to SLC last night to pick up my old desk: I wanted something different, he wanted a desk. Win-Win. I discovered that it is much easier to make a mess when clearing out furniture than it is to return the same space to a nominal sense of order and coherence. Hence the reason that I was up late last night/this morning. Let’s just say that caffeine and I are on a first-name basis this morning.

I watched some of the Olympic Summer Games last night. I watched Men’s and Women’s 400M hurdles. For those who didn’t see the USA Men’s team take gold, silver AND bronze, it was a pretty amazing race.

The women’s races were equally stunning – especially the event in which Jamaica’s Melaine Walker ran. I also watched some of the gymnastics events… and, after seeing He Kexin, I can now understand why some people question whether or not some of the Chinese gymnasts are of official competing age.

Stray Toasters

• should be here tomorrow evening… assuming that he doesn’t get distracted by bright, shiny objects between Kansas City and here.
• 10 Great Webcomics You Should Not Share With Your Kids
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Cake Wrecks
• The art of Andrea Gianchiglia
• From the “I have an opinion and I’m not going to keep it to myself” file: Robert Downey, Jr: ‘Fuck DC Comics.’
• Shocka-locka-BOOM!
  What was that?
  Aftershock.
• By way of : Top Secret Drum Corps from Basel, Switzerland:

  
  Top Secret Drum Corps Basel Tattoo – A funny movie is a click away

• There’s a new Lara Croft in town.
  • Photo shoot pictures
  • Interview
• MarknTyme introduced me to BabySmash last night; he said that his youngest son loves it.
• I know that some people really their cars, but this takes it to a new level:

• Virtualization eSeminar. *nod*

Namaste.

Sunday – 17 August 2008
Happy Birthday to :

Last night, I was pretty wiped after getting in from breakfast, so I called it a (relatively) early night. I was awakened by a phone call at 9:00… no, “9:13,” I was corrected. I wasn’t very thrilled by it and made it rather plainly known. I slipped back into The Dreaming until a little after 10:00. Then, it was up, shower and prep for work and on my way.

I’ve stopped in at Bad Ass Coffee Company for the morning’s caffeine intake. For the past half-hour or so, there have been waves of motorcycle riders heading north on State Street. There is apparently a bike rally being held at/near the Capitol today.

I, on the other hand, will be elbow-up in servers again today: loonybin88 and I are doing what will hopefully be the last wave of test server upgrades this afternoon. I can’t complain too much, though – it means that my weekend starts Thursday.

Stray Toasters

• will be in town later this week, on his way to Vancouver. Bot and Bit will not be with him, though.
• By way of : Galactic Empire Begins Invasion of San Francisco

  (, do you have any on-the-ground news/information about this?)

• Why does living in Utah amuse me so much, sometimes? Things like this, would be one example:

  

  In case the amusing item is eluding you, take a look near the middle of the picture. That’s right: “White City.” I’ve seen buses heading there, but have never had my camera handy/ready to snap a picture before they had moved. “White City.” *snicker* Yet another thing to take with a grain of salt and laugh… kind of like they still refer to the southern portion of the state as “Dixie.” Go figure.

• Comic Book Legends Revealed #168
  • Writer/Artist John Byrne has been involved in an inordinate amount of eerie coincidences.
    (There are some odd disasters that have followed John Byrne’s art/scripts)
  • Billy Dee Williams was paid to NOT be Two-Face in Batman Forever.
    (He may have wound up better for not being in it!)
  • Grant Morrison intended for the Beast to be gay during his New X-Men run.

  Check out the article to find out the real stories behind these items.

• 10 Things We Didn’t Know Last Week

And with that, I’m off to work.

Hi-ho, hi-ho.

Saturday: Coda
It wound up being a rather quiet day. I ran an errand or two while trying to catch up with Perry… which I never managed to do. So, I went to Jitterbug and had lunch and topped off my caffeination levels. From there, I headed over to Far West Comics; I picked up a few ‘Clix to add to my auctionable items. I came home for a bit… and then, on to breakfast.

It was fairly dead in the Village Inn… until the security guys showed up: Justin decided to let Mitch spray him with pepper spray. Voluntarily. For fun. (I’ll let you chew on that one for a minute.)

They went outside and the show started. I – along with OnlyAly and – opted not to watch the proceedings. But, we got enough reaction from the people who did watch. And the common reaction was: “That was phenomenally stupid.” A few of us wondered at what this said about humanity circling the drain; it may have also destroyed any thoughts OnlyAly and had about having kids. (I suppose that I shouldn’t recommend that they watch Kids, either…)

Stray Toasters

• offered up an additional item for the “Stupid Things People Do” file: Teen Injured Drinking Liquid Nitrogen
• Fortunately, there is some good – though sad – news: Gutsy Radcliffe Finishes Marathon

Quote of the Day
Once again, from :

You can’t fix “stupid.”

…to Karl (a paramedic), in response to the pepper spray incident.

Namaste.

Apparently, I have fallen down the rabbit hole.
Or warped through time/space.
Or something.

I just saw a couple of news items declaring that Hillary Clinton’s name will be in nomination at the Democratic Convention.

• L.A. Times
• CNN

*blink blink*

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!

Wednesday: Coda
After work, I came home to see if my Dark Phoenix had arrived. It hadn’t.

Forlorn and dejected, I left to run some errands. When the errands were done, I headed to Dr. Volt’s for a little Wednesday afternoon retail therapy. Exerting near-Green Lantern-like willpower, I managed to avoid buying yet another brick. Actually, it wasn’t even that much of a challenge – I looked at the brick, shrugged and just walked on. But that doesn’t sound nearly as dramatic.

Before heading home, I stopped in to see SaraRules’ family. We talked about movies. And the upcoming camping trip. And laptops. And how to install RAM into Pegasus. And stuff.

Coming around I-215, I had an apostrophe epiphany as to what I wanted for dinner: Pizza. When I got home, I dialed up the local Papa Johns and ordered some bring-it-to-me goodness.

Stray Toasters

• I have started listing my extra HeroClix lots. Finally. We’ll see how they fare.
• Because it continues to make me laugh:

  What’s a Nubian?
  

• Both Dwim and sent me links to pictures and videos of Janos Baranyai’s unfortunate accident at the Beijing Olympics. They are NOT pretty. I asked if this qualified Mr. Baranyai to be the new face of “The Agony of Defeat.” He said that it did not:
  

  : no way
  : this is too short of an OW OW OW moment
  : the agony of defeat was more strung out and lasted a while as he plummeted
  me: Couldn’t they just show it over and over in replay?
  : think about it tho
  : have you ever thought “OW!!!” when watching the former? this one made me cringe
  : can’t have people cringing
  me: I don’t know that I thought “OW” for AoD.
  me: Definitely “Daaaaaaaaamn”
  me: And no cringing.
  me: http://www.b3ta.cr3ation.co.uk/data/gif/omnomnombleeahchav.gif
  : see now that guy just deserved it
  me: So, this is a case of “Double dumb-ass on you.”
  me: The lifter is… just “Oh, damn. Sorry, guy?”
  : on the first, yes, i agree with the colorful metaphor
  : on the second, it’s more of a DAAAAYUM…

  I then asked him about the lip-synching and George Lucas-esque “enhancement” of the opening ceremony fireworks display. He wasn’t surprised. He said that “…EVERYTHING is about image. It’s all about the collective face… everything has its base in ‘how will this look.’ And the thing is, they don’t care collectively how their own people view them, it’s all about everyone else.”

• CCI: Legion of Super-Heroes 50th Anniversary
• MarknTyme: Check this out. My friend, , just got back from the Level II course. I thought it looked like something that might interested you.
• 

Namaste.

The Cruxshadows’ Defender (1, 2) is playing on iTunes.
The video game Defender (1, 2) popped into my head moments later

The song seems to refer to the loss of the singer’s significant other.
The premise of the game is that a lone pilot protects a few humanoids against an alien invasion/attack.

The two combined in my head, like a darkly twisted Reese’s Cup, in the following manner:

• The woman referred to in the song is captured by alien landers.
• The pilot, in rage/grief/frustration, fires up his trusty starfighter and takes to the skies to fight the aliens.
• The song plays in the background as he flies through the invasion force, blasting alien ships out of the sky and saving the remnants of humanity… in the hopes of either saving or avenging his lost love.

The scary thing is that the connection was made – and played out – in my head within seconds.

From today’s “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Olympic Girl Seen But Not Heard

The basic jist: The little girl who sang at the opening ceremonies was pulling a government-sponsored Milli Vanilli. Why? Because, and I quote:

Games organizers confirm that Lin Miaoke, who performed “Ode to the Motherland” as China’s flag was paraded Friday into Beijing’s National Stadium, was not singing at all.

Lin was lip-syncing to the sound of another girl, 7-year-old Yang Peiyi, who was heard but not seen, apparently because she was deemed not cute enough.

“The reason was for the national interest,” said Chen Qigang, the ceremony’s musical director, in a state radio interview. “The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feeling and expression. … Lin Miaoke is excellent in those aspects.”

“Because she was not deemed cute enough.” You’ve got to be kidding me.

I understand the whole “Put your best face forward” idea, but come on. This is taking it to a whole new level.

Way to go, China.

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

Stray Toasters

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

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

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

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

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

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

*voop*

Snoop Bolly Dogg!

Friday – 08 August 2008
Eight-Eight-Eight.

The 2008 Summer Olympic Games have gotten under way.

Last night, I went to see The Knight (explanation) The Dark Knight with Perry. He’d never seen it and I was up for seeing again. Hell… I’d even see it again, in IMAX. It was a nice way to spend a Thursday evening.

I got home and found that I wasn’t very tired, so I puttered around the apartment for a bit. Then, I remembered that ‘Nine has been semi-lobotomized for a while and started to reinstall XP on it. Suffice if to say that it’s still dysfunctional. Around 1:00, I could tell that I was winding down, but not “sleepy,” so I got Wednesday’s still-unread comics and sprawled across the bed to read. And read I did. About 1:30, took my glasses off, to “rest my eyes for a minute.”

A few minutes after 5:00, I was apparently done resting my eyes.

It was still too early to start prepping for work, so I did the only logical thing: I finished reading my comics. That took another twenty or thirty minutes. Plenty of time to return to The Dreaming… which I did. When I finally woke up to face the day, I decided that I wasn’t in a big rush to get to the office – I have a short work day, as I put in some extra hours over the past few days – so, I lounged about for a while. It was nice.

The morning’s commute – without any input from me – was rather heavily comic-themed:

• True to Myself – Eric Benet (from the Batman and Robin soundtrack)
• Give Up the Funk – Parliament (adapted by Snoop Dogg for the Undercover Brother soundtrack)
• Supergirl – Krystal Harris

Yep, technopathy is a good thing.

And for those who weren’t aware of it: Undercover Brother began as a webcomic before being picked up and adapted into a movie.

Food for Thought: Chew on This
It’s been in the news that Morgan Freeman and his wife are preparing to divorce.

You know what?
I don’t really care.

For me, it’s like…

• Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s kids…
• Jewel eloping…
• Verne Troyer’s sex tape…
• Gwen Stefani being pregnant again…

What affect does it – or any of the above items – have on my day-to-day life?
Zip.
Zero.
Zilch.
None at all.

At most, I could say that I feel badly that their marriage has come to an end. But, I’m Ivory Soap sure that they didn’t just wake up one morning and decide: “Hey, you know what sounds like fun? Let’s get a divorce!” It seems to me that decisions like this take some time – and soul-searching – to reach. And, if they have come to the realization that the best of their time together has passed, then I wish each of them the best of luck and hope that they find the happiness that they seek elsewhere… assuming that they haven’t achieved that level of happiness and/or satisfaction already.

Stray Toasters

• Clitorati: Check your email.
• and I had a brief discussion about steampunk and LEGO computer case mods (1, 2, 3) this morning. Helluva good way to kick off a Friday.
• Thanks to for pointing out this Puzzle Calendar
• Intel and the (lack of) SATA controller recognition on their DG33FB motherboard can bite my entire chocolatey ass.
• By way of Coworker Drew: Star Wars-Coming to America mashup:

  
  Star Wars Coming to America – Watch more free videos

• From the “Kids Have No Fear” file: Video of Kid Climbing into a Claw Machine
• Reporters booted from Black Hat conference for hacking
  (Umm… isn’t that part of the whole “black hat” thing?! *blink blink*)

Namaste.

Thursday – 07 August 2008
Belated Happy Hatching Day to :

After work, and I headed downtown to have dinner at Poplar Street Pub.

We had barely gotten in the door when Kade came up to us and invited us to join him, his girlfriend Emily and Rob and Michelle K at their table. The atmosphere is rather Cheers-like. They have a full bar and offer a menu of fairly typical pub fare:

• Burgers
• Bratwurst
• Fish and chips
• Chicken sandwiches
• Pizza

The difference is that the food is made on-site… even the bratwurst is ground and packed in the restaurant. And the food is VERY good. I had a burger with fries, chased by a Guinness (on tap!), but I tried some of Michelle’s pizza, which was quite tasty. For dessert, I had a bowl of Guinness ice cream (yes, I said “Guinness ice cream”) and a chocolate chip and pecan cookie. And the prices were rather reasonable.

and Jack showed up a little before we left, so we hung out an chatted with them for a bit.

All-in-all, it was a fun evening. I recommend checking out Poplar Street Pub if you’re looking for someplace different to dine and/or have a drink. Yes, being Utah it is “a private club for members;” memberships are:

• $5.00 (USD) for a temporary membership
• $12.00 for a one-year membership

After dropping off I headed home… and found that I was winding down fairly quickly. I was showered and ready for bed before 12:30.

And I slept well. Very well, indeed.

Stray Toasters

• I just had a conversation with Meliko. That was a nice – and pleasantly unexpected – way to kick off NBN Thursday.
• Zombie Rhymes
• By way of Reverend Tom: Sorting Out Coffee’s Contradictions
• Cthulhu Fonts
• 
• Demographic landscape shifts across United States
• DC Comics has updated their website
• …speaking of which, I still haven’t read yesterday’s comics.
• Legion of Substitute Heroes
• What goes up must come down
  spinning wheel got to go round
  Talking about your troubles it’s a crying sin
  Ride a painted pony
  Let the spinning wheel spin
• By way of comes news of Colorware’s iPhone customization
• Another Police Raid; More Dead Dogs
• This Courting Disaster comic made me laugh:


(click image to go to the accompanying CD item)

Attack the day…

Namaste.

Wednesday – 06 August 2008
Sometimes, it’s amusing to realize what it is that breaks us out of our morning doldrums and gets us ready to face the day. For me, this morning, it was remembering that I was planning on trying a fruit smoothie recipe this morning before heading to work. And I did. And It’s pretty good.

Last night’s Scion game was good. I almost got half the party killed… all because an NPC didn’t like the answer I gave to a riddle. So, a few rounds later: Sphinx: 0, Us: 1… kind of. In the process of some rather fancy bow (archery) work, it seems that ‘s character has taken over the role that the Sphinx held. We need to find a way to liberate her from that so that she can come party adventure with us.

Stray Toasters

• Kris called me yesterday as I was leaving AF. The first thing she said was “You’re going to be an uncle!” After a couple seconds’ bewilderment/pondering/pause, I came back with,”Oooookay.”She’s getting a puppy.But, she said that the look on Mom’s face when she said it was priceless.
• Laurence Fishburne is prime CSI: suspect
• Port forwarding only works when you remember to set it up.
• The Things That Make Me Weak and Strange Get Engineered Away — story about geek monasteries for smart people who don’t fit in
• Paris Hilton responds to John McCain’s ad:

• Pulp City
• Guy gets locked out of all Google apps
• I’m sore from yesterday’s workout.
• I stumbled across this article on BoingBoing yesterday: How to give yourself elf ears. It’s a body modification how-to. The article was linked from an item on Instructables; I wasn’t aware, until yesterday, that there was a “Kinky” group on there – probably because I didn’t really care or even think about it. Learn something new everyday, I guess.
• *shake fist* at for getting Sir Mix-A-Lot stuck in my head

Namaste.