Random Access

A month or so ago, SaraRules and I were at Borders and I found a book that amused me so much that I had to purchase it:

As the book’s synopsis states:

Product Description
For decades, bookstore childcare sections were dominated by books for women that is, until Quirk’s Baby Owner’s Manual offered a fun and refreshing alternative for male readers. Now we’re crashing the wedding section with The Groom’s Instruction Manual, an irreverent guide to everything guys need to know about:

• Getting Engaged (popping the question, finding a ring)
• Wedding Planning (choosing a location, drafting a guest list)
• The Big Day (rehearsal dinners, toasts, what to do if you start crying)
• Post-Wedding (honeymooning, thank-you notes, newlywedding)

And much more

Illustrated in the award-winning visual style that has made our Owner’s Manual series a smash success, The Groom’s Instruction Manual is the perfect shower gift for (engaged) men of all ages.

About the Author
Shandon Fowler had five hundred guests at his wedding–and if he can survive that, you’ve got nothing to worry about. He and his wife are happily married and live in Charleston, South Carolina.

This book is great, a rather tongue-in-cheek, but informative, look at things to consider as a groom-to-be.A lot of the book features common sense items, but there are a number of “Hey, don’t forget to consider this…” items in there, as well.

I started reading the book during our trip to Cedar City a few weeks ago. Many of the chapters made me laugh, but I think that my favorite (read: “the most amusing”) section of the book has been: “Distinguishing the Woman You Love from Your Fiancée”

Before you delve even further into planning a wedding, take the time to familiarize yourself with the psychological transformation a woman may undergo and how that transformation will impact the tasks at hand.

The Woman You Love is easily recognized by several key traits:

• She means everything to you.
• She is beauty incarnate.
• She makes you smile, comforts you, even makes Journey songs sound not quite so awful.
• She gets along with your friends and family (mostly).
• Should you choose to have children, she will be the perfect mother.
• Most important, she is so indescribably special that you have asked her to be your wife

Unfortunately, the Woman You Love often goes into hibernation for an indeterminate period between your proposal and the wedding, wherein your Fiancée takes over. You will recognize the coming of your Fiancée’s blossoming through several telltale signs:

• Increased agitation, bordering on or spilling over into aggression.
• Decreased and/or sardonic shift in humor. It is not uncommon for humor to be displaced entirely by agitation or aggression.
• The onset of a form of competitiveness that can be as fierce and inexplicable as the Cola Wars. Her singular drive is to outdo any wedding she’s ever attended, watched on television, or read about.
• Any mistake you make, regardless of severity, will be a black mark on your relationship-long record of ineptitude.
• Simple and seemingly joyful tasks, such as taste-testing wedding cakes, can bring her to tears or, possibly, blows.

What Has My Fiancée Done with the Woman I Love?

All this may appear to you as if the Woman You Love is speaking in tongues. But a reason does lie behind the transformation. Your Fiancée, with her unquenchable thirst for perfection and cutthroat tactics, will plan a much better wedding than the Woman You Love because, as the say, great art comes from great hardship. Just don’t forget that the Woman You Love is still in there somewhere, and that the more you help your Fiancée — by reassuring her when she needs reassurance and correcting her when she needs correction – the sooner you’ll get back the Woman You Love.

See? Good information to know.

This is technically engagement/wedding-related post #2 from me and SaraRules has written… *does the math* …none.

I win! (…at least until she reads this post.)

Thursday – 05 February 2009
Today has the bonus of not only being NBN Thursday, but it’s my ‘Friday’ as well. I might just learn to start liking this whole 9/80 schedule thing, after all.

Last night, SaraRules and I headed up to Oh Sushi for sushi, sashimi and nigiri to go… as well as a pass through Dr. Volt’s for this week’s comics haul (of which I read nothing last night). We got home and watched a rerun of NCIS before settling in for Pale Kings and Princes. It wasn’t bad… but it wasn’t great, either. What it was, though, was a short jaunt back to a show that used to (and still do) enjoy: Spenser: for Hire. My biggest complaint with the movie was the actress they got to play Susan Silverman. Simply put, she wasn’t Susan; I guess more to the point – she wasn’t Barbara Stock. Other than that, I was good with the movie.

Stray Toasters

• One meeting down, one to go…. and a conference call.
• I have TastyKake cream-filled Koffee Kake Cupcakes!
• Suspect Robs Two 7-Eleven Stores with Sword, by way of lj user=”lostbear”
  Or, as he quoted to me: “…with a sword, Mal. How weird is that?”
• By way of SaraRules: Prehistoric ‘monster snake’ remains discovered
• Make Love, Not Porn – Porn World vs. Real World (semi-NSFW… depending on what/who your monitor faces)
• HOW TO: Make a prosthetic arm from a pop bottle
• Woodson Paves Way for Ravens to Canton
• Enid, we never really knew each other anyway.
• The NFL Coaching Tree 2008 (Part 1)
• Worst Food in America, 2009 Edition
• 25 Things I Didn’t Want to Know About You

Time for Meeting #2

Namaste.

I found a link to an article called I LEGO N.Y. in my email earlier.

Of course, as it had LEGO in the title, I was compelled to click the link.

The power of LEGO compels you…
The power of LEGO compels you…

I’m glad that I did – it was chock full of awesome.

I actually exerted Green Lantern-like willpower at lunch and did not have a beer… even though we went to Porcupine Pub & Grill. I did, however, indulge in rather tasty cuisine:

• Chicken Noodle Soup (more like a “cream of chicken noodle soup,” actually)
• Cajun Chicken Alfredo
• Chocolate Almond Mousse Pie

…and three Arnold Palmers. It was very tasty.

I got back to the office to find a message from SaraRules:

These both made me think of you:

…and…

Both of them made me laugh.

Back to the grind…

Wednesday – 04 February 2009
Wow. I’d been in the office less than an hour… and already had two people that I’d like to introduce to the business end of my shoe. And the first one, happened less than 10 minutes after walking in the door.  The first person was spared my ire because he’s in the other office today; the second has been spared because it would be… um… “career limiting” for me to tell him that he is an [expletive deleted] moron.

I neglected to log yesterday’s workout:

• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps – 1 set @ 225 lbs, 2 sets @ 185 lbs
• Lat Pull-downs: 3 sets/15 reps, 110 lbs
• Row (Nautilus, compound row): 3 sets/12 reps, 125 lbs
• Curls (dumbbell, hammer): 3 sets/10 reps, 30 lbs
• Side Bends: 2 sets/10 reps, 30 lbs
• Tricep Extensions (rope): 3 sets/15 reps, 70 lbs

Post workout weight: 184.3 lbs

Last night was a lazy night in… even though it wasn’t originally planned that way. I was supposed to head out to play ‘Clix with Perry, but a couple of the kids got sick, so he was on Kid Patrol last night. Instead, I stayed home, created a Peacebringer on CoH and watched The Secret Life of Bees with SaraRules. It was a coming-of-age movie, set in South Carolina in the 60s, at the height of the civil rights movement. It was well-paced and well-told. I give it a thumbs-up with an okay.

Stray Toasters

• In today’s “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Australia holds ‘pigeon smuggler’
• Christians Bailing on GoDaddy Due to ‘Immoral’ Advertising
  I’m sorry… is this really something new? GoDaddy’s Super Bowl ads have been innuendo-laden for HOW many years now?! And people are just glomming onto this?!  Really?! Sorry, not buying it.  In fact, it reminds me of the Bill O’Reilly/Pepsi/Ludacris hullaballoo from a few years back.
• Automotive X-Prize Draws 25 Teams So Far
• 
• Ziggy Stardust remix album
• Bagels + cream cheese == good.
• Control-a-Cat Remote Control
• Today’s Monkey #2 just keeps stackin’ it up…
• Linda Hesh’s “Bench Project”
• Rob Cockerham writes article critical of Cash4Gold, gets offered cash to kill story

Back to it.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 03 February 2009
Today is the fiftieth anniversary of the plane crash that took the lives of Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper; immortalized as “The Day the Music Died.”

It is also the 200th Anniversary of the birthday of Felix Mendelssohn.

It’s also the second day of the work week… but that’s kind of a given.

Last night, SaraRules and I had dinner with her folks and watched Shadow of the Vampire. Good movie. It was interesting to hear their reactions to it, as well.  (They both enjoyed it.) Back home for 24, The Late Show and the monologue of The Late Late Show. Steve Martin was a guest on The Late Show; I’d nearly forgotten that he is a rather accomplished banjo player, which he demonstrated at the show’s end.

Stray Toasters

• SaraRules, knowing my affinity for NCIS, pointed me in the direction of this article.
• Unearthing Mendelssohn’s Lost Works
• surprised me with FAO Schwartz’ The Muppet Whatnot Workshop this morning. That’s right, you can design your own Muppet. Not only that, it be made and delivered. To. Your. Door.
• Kids Movie, Adult Lessons
• That Time Is Now (because mentioned a version of the Superfriends Theme by The Hit Crew)

• We Drove the Warthog!
• By way of BoingBoing: A LEGO Orange
• 
• Why do we name servers the way we do?
• Seeing Profits in the Postal Service’s Predicament

Harambee.

Monday – 02 February 2009
Another new work week hits the ground running. I started the day with a training session for my team. I had planned for it to be roughly one hour long. It was close to two, because I had someone sitting in on it who provided some additional information. All-in-all, it went well, though.

Yesterday’s Super Bowl was a good game. It was the kind of game that I enjoy watching… as long as I’m not really rooting for either team involved. The Cardinals put up a good fight, but at the final whistle, the Steelers went home with the Vince Lombardi Trophy. Congrats to the Steelers on their sixth Super Bowl win and also to their coach, Mike Tomlin, for being the youngest coach to go to – and win – the Super Bowl.

After we got home, SaraRules and I finished watching The Big Sleep. And, thanks to that, I finally added something to my NetFlix queue: The four Spenser: For Hire movies, starring Robert Urich and Avery Brooks.

Stray Toasters

• Claiming Immunity from Beyond the (Political) Grave, by way of
• By way of SaraRules: The Cult of Snuggie
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Super Bowl broadcast interrupted with porn
• DIY 33-1/3 books
• 

Yeah. That’s it for now.

Namaste.

Sunday – 01 February 2009
A new month begins. Say it with me “Feh-BRU-air-ee.”

And, it’s also Black History Month

Yesterday started off lazily. Sleeping in kicked off the morning. That was followed by breakfast and Batman: The Brave and the Bold. After that, SaraRules, Logan and I went to see Taken. It was a very intense movie… and a pretty  damned good movie, too. Unlike most movies where you get all of the “good parts” in the trailer(s), this one had plenty of twists and turns – and more than a couple of surprises – that weren’t in the trailers.

Later in the evening, we headed downtown to Redrock for dinner. I had the Rotini Pasta with Chicken and Shrimp; SaraRules had the Smoked Red Trout Club. After dinner, we walked to Abravanel Hall to see the Utah Symphony perform. They were conducted by Thierry Fischer and featured guest pianist, Louis Lortie.

The pieces were very good; I especially enjoyed the Mendelssohn piano concerto, which featured Mr. Lortie. And, I found Mr. Fischer to be a rather… expressive… conductor – it was easy to see that he enjoys his work.  He is apparently under consideration to replace the symphony’s current conductor/music director, Keith Lockhart, after this season.

Today: Whole bunch of laziness and leisure.
Tonight: The Super Bowl… and for the next 8-12 hours, I’m a Cardinals fan.

Namaste.

This game is due this summer and features the voices of Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill.

A first-hand tour of Batman: Arkham Asylum (Wired preview article)

Friday – 30 January 2009
It’s quiet in the office today. Most of the people in our office recently started a 9/80 schedule – we work 80 hours in 9 days and get every other Friday off – and this is most of the office’s “off” Friday. The IT team has been split in two and my team works the odd Friday and will have next Friday off. I think that there are… six (6) of us in the building, so far.  (Must refrain from playing City of Heroes all day…)

Last night, SaraRules and I had dinner with our friend Murphy. Not Eddie. Not Peter. Papa. As in “Take and bake pizza.” It was good. After dinner (and a couple of episodes of NCIS and CSI:), we went to the gym:

• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 185 lbs
• Reverse Fly: 3 sets/10 reps – 1 set @ 70 lbs, 2 sets @ 80 lbs
• Lower Back Extensions: 3 sets/15 reps, 140 lbs
• Pull-downs: 3 sets/10 reps, 110 lbs
• Rows: 3 sets/12 reps, 125 lbs
• Dips: 3 sets/10 reps

It was a short, but good, workout.

Post-workout weight: 186.0.
SaraRules suggested that I might think about cutting back on crack ginger snaps.  I suggested that she might be wrong in that… and that I could stop any time I wanted.  If I wanted to, that is.

Stray Toasters

• I apparently was very generous with the amount of coffee I scooped into the maker last night; this is a strong cup o’ joe.
• Barack and Michelle Obama lead celebration of new equal pay law
• “Longinus!”
• …who was also referenced in Final Crisis: Revelations. (It made me chuckle.)
• Black Swan author’s rules for living
• 
• Blagojevich ousted as Illinois governor
• Bionic teeth!
• GDP sees biggest drop in 27 years
• This user icon amused me:



• Lode Runner
• And, in other game-related news: DRM shuts down PC version of Gears of War

Namaste.

Thursday – 29 January 2009
Last night, came over for dinner. I cooked Cornish hens with green beans and rice (cooked in chicken broth) for side dishes. Everything turned out pretty well. For dessert, we had ice cream and ginger snaps. It was a fun dinner.

After left and leftovers and dishes had been put away, SaraRules and I started watching The Big Sleep. I’ve never seen a Philip Marlowe movie – nor read any of the books – so it was a nice treat. Unfortunately, we were both wiped out from a couple of long days, so we didn’t finish the movie.

Stray Toasters

• Today is “Jersey Day” at work, so I actually have an opportunity to wear my Ravens jersey before next season. (I plan on wearing it on Sunday, in support of the Cards/opposition to the Steelers… but that’s kind of a given.)
• By way of NPR Music:
  • Between Takes: The ‘Kind of Blue’ Sessions
  • Shrinking Music Videos: More Thrills, Less ‘Thriller’
  • ‘I Wanna Be Sedated’
• Videogame Conditioning Spills Over Into Real Life
• By way of SaraRules: Road signs warn of zombies
• By way of : Inside Apple’s Core
• 
• Red Dwarf to Return, Find Earth
• Lampshades made from bowlers and top hats
• Miscalculations Invalidate LHC Safety Assurances

Tonight: CSI: and Burn Notice.

Namaste.

I just had my favorite exchange of the day, with Julie (our company’s property and asset manager):

Julie just… jumped (kind of)… in her chair and kind of slumped down, out of the corner of my eye, it looked almost like she “fell” in her chair.

I looked over at her and asked: “Julie, are you drunk…?”

She paused a second or two and said,”Yeah,” in a perfect deadpan delivery.

What made the conversation even better: Julie doesn’t drink.

It made me laugh.
It made laugh, too.

And, I’m making Julie my Human of the Day for today, too.

Wednesday – 28 January 2009
This month is flying by. Kind of odd to think that February starts next week… and that Bit will be a year old a few days after that. I’m also curious to see how Black History Month celebrations note the election of President Obama.

Last night, while watching TV, I assembled a couple more pieces for the WWG “City Planning” board: The Apartment Building and the Vacant Lot. When it’s all said and done, the first corner/block will look something like this.

SaraRules and I also went to the gym last night:

• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps – 1 set @ 205 lbs, 2 sets @ 185 lbs
• Rows (Nautilus, Compound Row): 3 sets/12 reps, 140 lbs
• Flys (Dumbbell, flat bench): 3 sets/10 reps, 30 lbs
• Shrugs: 3 sets/10 reps, 30 lbs
• Curls: 3 sets/10 reps, 30 lbs
• Lateral Raises (with forward fly): 3 sets/10 reps, 10 lbs
• Tricep Extensions: 3 sets/15 reps, 60 lbs
• Push-ups: 2 sets/10 reps

It was a pretty good workout.

Post-workout weight: 183.1 lbs

Stray Toasters

• The workday started off slowly, which was nice… but has since turned into “one thing after another.”
• After suspension for nodding at Obama, drum major quits
• T-Shirt Hell is closing up shop.
• By way of Liz and the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: I knew that being a lawyer was a sometimes dirty job, but this takes it to a whole new level.
• Kindle 2: Electric Boogaloo?
• These are heels for dudes.
• Everybody needs a bosom for a pillow…
• MST3K Cast Reunites for Live Webcast
• A combination I never even considered: Zombie Hello Kitty Cake
• Peer reveals ‘cello scrotum’ hoax

Tonight: is coming over for dinner; I’m cooking Cornish game hens… but no idea as to what I want to do for vegetables.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 27 January 2009
It’s cold (18°F), but we’re actually going to see the sun today. Hallelujah!

Last night was a lazy night of 24 and assorted TV watching and putting together some neighborhood tiles for a World Works Games model. Pre-24, I watched a couple episodes of NCIS – I remembered that I neglected to note something the other day: David McCallum, who plays Dr. Mallard on NCIS was also Lt. Cmdr. Eric Ashley-Pitt in The Great Escape… AND was Napoleon Solo’s right hand man, Ilya Kuryakin, in The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

As I mentioned, I spent a good part of the evening building WWG models. I found a tutorial that suggested an incredibly simple – and very modular – method for creating miniature gaming environments. The most time-comsuming part, so far, has been cutting the pieces out, so that I can mount them on the foamcore bases. That and being distracted by the TV.

Chew on This – Food for Thought: US Airways passengers get $5,000; Is it enough?
This was almost a ‘Toaster.
Then I realized that I was more irritated about it than I had originally thought.

Maybe I’m a bit jaded, but I fall back on the “any landing you can walk away from” adage here. Is $5,000 enough? How about the fact that you’re still alive!? I’m sorry, but I can’t agree with the “It’s not enough compensation for what we went through” argument. You know what? You got to go home to your families. How many people never got that option?

I’m not saying that this wasn’t a stressful – and potentially mentally damaging – event, because it most definitely was… but YOU LIVED. Period. End of argument.

Stray Toasters

• is back home, safe and sound… and somewhat jet-lagged.
• Afghan Prison Poses Problem in Overhaul of Detainee Policy
• By way of come pictures of The Inauguration of President Barack Obama, by way of Boston.com’s “The Big Picture”



• Layoffs Spread to More Sectors of the Economy
• By way of SaraRules: Dick Van Dyke tells Mary Poppins stories
• What Life Asks of Us
• Disagree with a flight attendant? You’re a terrorist
• Monkeys… MDK. MDK. MDK.

And, I’m apparently sitting in on an interview this morning.

No rest for the wicked, I guess.

Namaste.

A few weeks ago, SaraRules sent me a link to a website with stories of… unusual? …unique? …oddball?  …pick any of those or come up with your own… weddings. Complete with pictures. (The pictures didn’t really “help” things much, to be honest.)

I told her that she should post something about it and/or any other wedding-related items. She said that she’d think about it… if she had a wedding-related icon to post them with.

Considering that we’re still MONTHS away from a wedding, the closest things that I could think of – other than some goofy clip art or royalty-free picture of strangers – was a picture of us. Even better: A picture of us at our engagement dinner.

She agreed.

So, with all of that said, here’s the new icon:

I’m sure that I’ll probably post a few items, as well… but let’s face it: What don’t I post about?