Random Access

Friday – 16 January 2009
Seven more hours and not only is the workweek toast, but I am also taking a three-day weekend, in honor of National Black Peoples’ Day Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  And, starting next week, we also start 9/80 weeks, which will give us a day off – a Friday off, at that – every other week. Win-Win.

Tomorrow, SaraRules, her parents and I are going to pull off a Smokey and the Bandit-like Cedar City run: There’s an exhibit at the Braithwaite Fine Arts Gallery that we want to see… and we have to be back in SLC in time for SaraRules’ company party tomorrow night. Hopefully, we’ll manage to see Rachel and a couple of the other MFAs while there.

Stray Toasters

• Airplane crash-lands into Hudson River; all aboard reported safe
  This is nothing short of amazing – the worst injuries that I have heard of were broken bones. Considering how much worse this could have been, that’s incredible.
• Julie, our company’s Property Manager, came up to me a little while ago and said: “You’ve had a busy week. Have some cookies,” and gave me three Tollhouse Cookies.
• I’m thinking of changing my office computer desktop to one of these for the weekend.
• Speaking of which: My jersey shipped this morning.
• Granddaughter of slave: I was ‘afraid’ for Obama
• 
• Yesterday, just before I got ready to leave work, someone from the exec end of the office came to the IT area and noted that she had “a problem” with her system. I went to check it out… yeah, there were issues. But it led to a good bit of amusement.
• I don’t know if the flight rings that they used in last night’s episode of Smallville were these rings, but it reminded me that I had looked for one a few years ago… unsuccessfully.
• Bike-light that paints a laser-lit bike lane on the road around you
• 
• HOWTO make a tailfin retro media center PC

Bippidy boppidy boo.

I’ve been looking forward to tonight’s episode of Smallville for a couple of months. Let me backtrack a little: I enjoyed the show when it first aired. In fact, I think that I was pretty good about regularly watching the first two or three seasons. Somewhere in the middle, I stopped – possibly when it was in the height of its “Kryptonite-infused Freak of the Week” mode. I was still enjoying the show for the most part, but I didn’t feel compelled to watch.

Tonight, I was compelled.

Why?

Because tonight’s episode featured the Legion of Super-Heroes… or, at least its founding members: Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad and Cosmic Boy:

The episode broke from canon in the how/why of the meeting, but it was still very much in keeping with spirit of both the Superman mythos and Legion lore. Even though I knew that the episode was written by Geoff Johns, I was a little surprised to find that they incorporated a small part of the storyline that Johns wrote in Action Comics.

It was fun to hear the trio banter with – and about – Clark and his significance to the Legion… while still maintaining a bit of awe and confusion about the man that he would become versus the young man they met.

On the whole, the episode was good – despite a couple of slow spots – but I think that Superman fans and Legion fans alike should be quite satisfied after watching it.

Long live the Legion!

Wes and I hit the gym; with a couple minor modifications, we effectively repeated Tuesday’s workout:

• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps – 1 set @ 235lbs, 2 sets @ 185 lbs
• Rows (Nautilus): 3 sets/12 reps, 125 lbs
• Flys (dumbbell, flat bench): 3 sets/10 reps, 30 lbs
• Sit-ups (decline bench): 1 set/10 reps
• Reverse Deltoid Flys: 3 sets/10 reps, 80 lbs
• Lower Back Extensions: 3 sets/12 reps, 140 lbs
• Curls (dumbbell, concentration): 3 sets/10 reps, 30 lbs
• Tricep Press (rope): 3 sets/15 reps, 70 lbs
• Core (plank): 2 sets/30 seconds
• Push-ups: 1 set/10 reps

Post-workout weight: 183.7 lbs

Thursday – 15 January 2009
Last night, we had SaraRules’ parents over for dinner. On the menu: Jambalaya. It was a nice change of pace to have them over rather than us going to their place. At one point, her father commented about it being weird, because he remembered being on the other side of the equation, years ago, and the first time that they had SaraRules’ grandparents over for dinner.

Post-dinner, SaraRules spent time finishing a quilt that she’s been working on and I channel surfed… and web-surfed. Among the things that we watched was The Late Show with David Letterman; Clint Eastwood was his first guest. The interview was good and, at one point, Dave was listing some of the pictures that Mr. Eastwood has been in and how long his career has spanned – over 50 years.

Stray Toasters

• I will have one of these in my grubby little hands in the next few days…
  

• …and one of these, too.



• By way of SaraRules:
  • Adolf Hitler, sisters taken away from parents’ home
  • Graffiti artist spins a new kind of yarn
• As I glibly mentioned yesterday: Ricardo Montalban passed away, age 88
  • NPR report
  • LA Times article
  • USA Today article
• Also, Patrick McGoohan, TV’s ‘Prisoner’ Number Six, passed away
• By way of : Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn’t seen it)

  
  Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn’t seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.

• Obama’s ‘Beast’ of a car revealed
• pointed out this story: Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl is now Luke Steelersthal and this as well:

  

• Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Vote for your favorite nominee
• Although now might not be the best time to visit: Flintstones theme park/campground in Custer, South Dakota

And, back to the the grind… and soon to the gym.

Namaste.

Yesterday morning, I came into the office and one of the first things waiting in my inbox was a rather tersely worded email from a Team Lead or Manager (I forget which… but I’ll refer to him as ‘Coworker B1’ for this case) in another department. In this email, he claimed that the IT department had effectively dropped the ball on completing a request that he’d put in.

I went to that department and talked with one of this person’s peers (Coworker B2) as:

1. the email’s author doesn’t regularly work in this office AND
2. I knew that I might not be able to refrain from punching him in the throat had I seen him

I let Coworker B2 know, in no uncertain terms, that he needed to inform B1 that we were not only aware of the situation, but that we had done what we could to rectify it and were awaiting hardware to complete the task. I made a concerted effort to keep my language as office-appropriate as possible, of which I think that I did a rather commendable job – while expressing my displeasure at the tone that the person-in-question had used.  I finished the conversation by saying that if Coworker B1 still had any questions about the way things had been handled that he could come and talk with me and I would explain it to him in detail.

Later in the day, I received a follow-up email from B1. It wasn’t a complete backpedal nor was it a complete apology, but its tone was far less accusational than its predecessor.

This afternoon, IT had another email. This time from Coworker B2. He was asking about the status of a task that he had entered. He made a point of noting: “I’m not accusing you of dropping the ball here.” That amused me. He closed the email with the following:

I thought I’d better explain myself before you sent your hitman, Rob, to pound on me!

That made me smile.

I just found out that Ricardo Montalban has passed away.

Even James T. Kirk was upset by this…

Wednesday – 14 January 2009
Midweek and all’s pretty much ship-shape.

Last night, SaraRules and I watched Hellboy. I’d only seen bits and pieces of the movie over the past few years, so it was nice to see it all the way through. And, it was fun.

Stray Toasters

• I talked with Rana for a bit last night; that was a pleasant surprise.
• 
• “Hold it… I ain’t pushin’ no ‘Moon’ button.”
• There will be a train show at Thanksgiving Point on 23-24 January 2009.
• If Barack Obama was a Green Lantern, would this be his emblem?

  

  (Thanks to for pointing out this pic!)

• Aretha Franklin lends her voice to history at inauguration
• Commentary: Bush still doesn’t get it
• Harper’s Index: the Bush years
• I’m (still) liking CoH on the Mac client.
• Shoot the baddies
• 
  (Click image for details)
• Zelda map in cross-stitch form
• In today’s “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!” news: RC helicopter used to smuggle contraband into prison
• US ‘fake death businessman’ found

And tonight: We’re having SaraRules’ parents over for dinner. On the menu: Jambalaya.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 13 January 2009
Today has been/is being a mixed bag. A little feast, a little famine. And a couple of meetings, too.

I’m currently enjoying a brief respite from the hullaballoo.

Wes and I got in a slightly-later-than-usual workout:

• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 185 lbs, with a 10-rep 135 lb warm-up
• Rows (Nautilus): 3 sets/12 reps, 125 lbs
• Flys: 3 sets/10 reps, 110 lbs
• Reverse Deltoid Flys: 3 sets/10 reps, 70 lbs
• Lower Back Extensions: 3 sets/12 reps, 140 lbs
• Curls (dumbbell, concentration): 3 sets/10 reps, 30 lbs
• Tricep Press (rope): 3 sets/15 reps, 70 lbs

Post-workout weight: 182.4 lbs

Stray Toasters
Maybe later. Or, more likely, tomorrow…

Monday – 12 January 2009
Another grey workday in the valley begins.
There’s a rumour of snow, too. We shall see…

The weekend was good, but too short… as is the complaint with most weekends. I’m extending next weekend by a day by taking Martin Luther King, Jr Day off.

Last night, SaraRules, Logan and I went to see Gran Torino. It was an amazing bit of cinema.  In trying to find things that it reminded me of, I came up with the following:

• All in the Family
• On Golden Pond and a dash of
• The Karate Kid

The analogies are not perfect, the film was not “just like” any of those, but it seemed to evoke elements of them in different ways. If you have not yet seen it, I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Stray Toasters

• Good: Baltimore is playing in the AFC Championship.
  Bad: The other team is Pittsburgh.
• I just got to pass an equipment request from a couple of our developers up the chain to my boss’ boss… and – after he stopped laughing and then posing questions to which I didn’t have answers – managed to walk out of the room without having to shop for pants with “bottom-enhancing shapewear.”
• Happy Birthday Motown
  • Motown marks its 50th anniversary
  • The tears of a town with no music around
• Top 11 Compounds in US Drinking Water
• 
• Stuff Journalists Like
• Three Rules of the Internet

• By way of The Artclash Collective: Fun-A-Day 5
• HAL’s pals: Top 10 Evil Computers

Time to see what other  kinds of trouble are looming in the wings…. or that I can stir up.

Namaste.

The ‘Clix tournament was fun, Keith came up with a scenario that he called “Dead Clix Walking!” I took a box full of ‘Clix that I thought would be fun to play. I finally settled on a martial artist-themed team:

• Bronze Tiger
• Elektra (Human), with the Infiltrate feat
• Gamora
• Iron Fist
• Ronin and
• Scandal Savage

It turned out to be a good team, despite the lack of figures with Telekinesis, which would have been VERY nice for advancing figures across the board. I went 2-1 for the day (one win, one loss and a bye – for a win) and got the Fellowship prize: Edward Nigma LE figure.

After the tourney, I hurried home to watch…

Baltimore Ravens at Tennessee Titans
13 – 10
The AFC #6 Seed Baltimore Ravens, following a short week – they played on Sunday – went to LP Field to take on the AFC #1 Seed, Tennessee Titans. I missed the first quarter, due to a scheduling conflict with a ‘Clix tournament. Fortunately, there were only two scores: A Titans’ touchdown, followed by a Ravens’ TD. The second quarter saw a little more action, including a helmet-jarring Ray Lewis tackle. Samari Rolle picked off a Kerry Collins pass three minutes into the quarter, but Baltimore wasn’t able to convert and turned the ball overs on downs. The Titans proceeded to march the ball downfield, all the way to the Baltimore 17 yard line… and then fumbled the ball. Baltimore held onto the ball and ended the quarter tied 7-7. After a couple of fruitless drives by both teams early in the third quarter, Titans’ kicker Rob Bironas missed a 51-yard field goal. This gave Baltimore good field position, but they were unable to capitalize on it. Again. The third quarter was also scoreless. The fourth quarter opened with a Ravens’ field goal, which the Titans answered, two drives later. Matt Stover tacked on another three points for the Ravens with 00:57 left in the quarter, putting Baltimore ahead 13-10. The Titans went four-and-out on their final drive, with 00:12 left on the clock, allowing Joe Flacco to take a knee… and the Ravens take home a win. This was fairly typical of a Ravens-Titans game – low score, lots of defense and a LOT of attitude. There were sixteen or seventeen penalties, between the two teams, most of them belonging to Tennessee. With the penalties, miscues and turnovers, the Titans effectively shot themselves in the foot and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. With this win, the Ravens will play in the AFC Championship against the winner of tomorrow’s San Diego-Pittsburgh game.

And now the Panthers are hosting and playing – if you can call it that – the Arizona Cardinals in Bank of America Stadium. I don’t know what happened to them since last week, but this hardly looks like the Panthers team I’ve seen in the past few weeks.

Saturday – 10 January 2009
After work, I came home and purchased and downloaded the CoH Mac edition. I set up the installer and then went off to coffee. When I got home, everything was ready for me to log into City. I opted to watch a little of The Late Late Show… which turned into The Late Late Show watching me. *sigh* I got into bed about 12:30.

And was up at 8:00 this morning.

That’s not an entirely “bad” thing. There’s a tournament this afternoon and this affords me an opportunity to figure out who I want to use in it. And, I can watch Batman: The Brave and the Bold while doing it. Win-Win.

Stray Toasters

• The Ravens-Titans game is at 2:30. I’m going to miss part of it, because of the tourney… but I’ll be watching as much of it as possible. And, I can always record the game, if I choose.
• put in an appearance at Clitorati last night. It was fun hanging out with him. In a not-so-odd twist, we started talking about football, while at coffee… and a guy at the next table joined in the conversation. The odd twist: He was from Cleveland and a Browns fan, too.
• Cars: Inside the Rocket-Proof Obamamobile
• Hotel 747 now boarding

Time for some Honeycomb and cartoonage, methinks.

Namaste.

Friday  – 09 January 2009
The weekend is within sight. Yesterday wasn’t a bad day, in accordance with NBN Thursday bylaws. There were a few issues, mostly resulting from some office/cubicle moves, but those were easy to deal with.

After dinner, Logan came over and watched Hellboy II: The Golden Army with us. Then he mopped the floor with me at Madden 09.

Stray Toasters

• I’ve had a couple people point out that CoH is now available on the Mac. (I don’t recall if I posted anything about it, but I’ve been playing the Open Beta for a few weeks.) The full City of Heroes Special Mac Edition is out… which means that the game is now playable on live servers. I’m still a little torn as to whether I want to spend $20 for the download (which comes with a few exclusive items) or just get the upgrade patch to go from the Beta to the Live version (no exclusive content).  Decisions, decisions…
• sent a link to the “I’m a Hero. I’m a Villain” parody ad:

• (who got it from ) sent a link to this picture and to this xkcd comic.
• Radical cheap: $1000 homes
• also sent a link to Henry Rollins: A Love Letter to Ann Coulter (some of the audio is NSFW)

• Dragon made of cake
• HDMI == good
• Yo-Yo Ma Brings Remix Culture to Music’s Ivory Tower
• EGM Magazine shutting down
• In today’s “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” news:
  • 6-Year-Old Says Grand Theft Auto Taught Him to Drive a
  • US man who gave kidney to wife includes it in divorce claim
  • Electric Batch Duckie

Namaste.

Thursday – 08 January 2009
I don’t think that I have ever been so glad to see the end of a workday as I was yesterday. Getting home, I flopped down on the couch for a couple hours of downtime – and dinner – before taking on more of the living room/dining room cleanup.

Four-Color Coverage
I read yesterday’s comic haul, which was laughably light: Four books. I picked up the Hellblazer: Dangerous Habits TPB, too. This week’s books included:

• Black Lightning: Year One #1 – The character Black Lightning debuted in April of 1977, DC Comics is now going back to look at his origin/history. This issue shows Jefferson Pierce returning to his hometown, a neighborhood of Metropolis… only to find that it has become less the place of his childhood – and the “City of Tomorrow” – and fallen prey to crime, gangs and an apathetic populace. What can one man do to take back his community? Here’s where we find out.
• Incognito #1 – Meet Zach Andersen, a criminal in witness protection who just met his new handler. To say that there is “friction” between them is a gross understatement.  We see what happens when Zach tries to “escape” the drudgery of his day-to-day life… and the possibilities it opens up for him.
• Superman/Supergirl: Maelstrom #5 – This issue wrapped up the mini-series, with the final showdown between Superman and Supergirl vs. Maelstrom and the Female Furies. It also showed some growth in Supergirl’s development from frustrated (though super-powered) teen to someone who wants to do more to protect her new home… even if she can’t save everyone.
• X-Men Noir #2 – I’m enjoying this take on the X-mythos, seeing the Brotherhood as a “secret society” within the NYPD and the X-Men as hoods and thugs. There were nods to a lot of names in the X-universe, even if the characters themselves didn’t appear.

Stray Toasters

• The American Gallery of Juror Art
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: US porn industry seeks multi-billion dollar bailout
• Obama, Bush and ex-presidents have ‘historic moment’
  
• Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators… or, as lj user=”m2ke” put it: Russian. Nuclear. Lighthouses.
• 
• Jan 8, 1790: Father Knows Best — Embrace Science
• America limps along after Bush, by the numbers
• FTC wants to hear from you about DRM
• HOWTO: Make an electrified steampunk Monopoly

NBN Thursday. Selah.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 07 January 2009
Ugh. That’s my description for the day so far. “Ugh.” You’d think that with blue skies and temperatures pushing 50°F, I’d be in a far more positive mood. Maybe tomorrow.

The morning started off well enough. Then, I got a phone call from my boss – two rungs up the ladder – asking how soon I could be in the office. That’s never a good sign. I told him roughly 20 minutes… and set about making it so. I got in to find that the network was down; that’s not a good thing for a tech firm. I made a couple of calls and went about working on the parts of the problem within my skill set. Turns out the problem was out of my depth, so all that I could really do was damage control until the guys who handle that portion of the infrastructure got in. (And, when they got in, they isolated the problem – which was worse than originally surmised – and wrangled it into submission.) Then, came a few other fires to put out.

On the plus side: I went out for lunch to get sushi and pick up this week’s comics. It was a nice oasis of “calm” in an otherwise intermittently turbulent day.

Tonight, there may be a bit of drinking.

Stray Toasters

• Tetris ‘helps to reduce trauma’
• Galactus’ Helmet Just Gets Happier and Happier
• Blue Notes Records Celebrates 70 Years of Jazz
  
• The Ten Worst Comic Book Movies of All Time
  (I’ve seen four of these.. and actually enjoyed two of them.)
• Top Ten Comic Book Character Deaths of 2008
• Secret Service to unveil new presidential limo
• “Citizen videos” spread online showing BART police officer shooting unarmed man to death
• Rise and Fall of Bush’s popularity

Namaste.

Thanks to Beth for the title to this post.

Today was the first day back in the gym in… 2½ weeks.  Wes and I did a short workout, but it was enough to remind me why I enjoy working out:

• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps – 1 set @ 225lbs, 2 sets @ 185 lbs
• Flys: 3 sets/10 reps, 110 lbs
• Back Extension (machine): 3 sets/12 reps – 2 sets @ 120 lbs, 1 set @ 200 lbs
• Curls (dumbbell): 3 sets/10 reps, 30 lbs
• Tricep Extensions (rope): 3 sets/15 reps, 60 lbs

Post-workout weight: 183.4 lbs.
(Not bad, considering all of the holiday snacking I did.)

All-in-all, it wasn’t a bad way to kick of the first workout of the new year. And, maybe someday, I’ll look like this guy:

Yep. Lou Ferrigno.  *nod*