Random Access

Stray Toasters

• House to apologize for slavery, Jim Crow
  • My first inclination was to think: “Thanks… 150 years after the fact.” I’m not a reparationist. To be honest, I don’t really care about them, let alone want them. It’s great that there’s being recognition of the problem… but I think it’s a bit “too little too late.”
  • My second inclination was to change it to mean Dr. House, from the Fox TV show. That made the whole thing play out differently in my head… in a far more amusing manner.
• I’m not entirely sure if it’s jumping the shark or not, but apparently Clark Kent will meet three teens from the 31st Century on Smallville this season. I may have to tune in for that.
• Baltimore Business Journal
• I apparently have a version of Do Ya Think I’m Sexy… by The Revolting Cocks. That amuses me greatly.
• 
• The Obama Veepstakes
• Doug E. Fresh and the Get Fresh Crew
• Tonight’s ‘Clix tourney is a 300 point sealed box draft. This means that each entrant has to purchase two boxes and construct a team from the figures he just purchased. I’m both intrigued and concerned about this: I’m used to being able to select the figures I want. This will prove very interesting. In order to get a rough feel for what it’s going to be like, I did a mock draft. I asked SaraRules to come up with ten numbers, from 1 to 60. Based on the numbers she gave me, I used the figure numbers to come up with a couple of options for teams.
• Carlin gets last laugh on death
• Just when you thought the three seashells was bad enough comes this.
• Tor.com
• Active Directory

Tuesday – 29 July 2008
No marshmallowy alarms this morning. I take that as a good sign.

This morning’s work music is: Ride of the Valkyries.

I have both frozen mocha goodness and a bagel sandwich. Win-Win.

Attack the day…

Monday: Coda
This evening has been low-key. I ran a couple of errands… including taking back the USB adapter for the iMac. I considered picking up a new one while out, but I’m not that pressed about it. For now.

I watched some TV.
I played some Poker… and lost some fake money.
I watched The Middleman.

Stray Toasters

• I just noticed something on the M&M’s Addams Family commercial: The Wednesday M&M is carrying a “beheaded” M&M doll. That made me laugh.
• Why do I enjoy The Middleman? Like I’ve said before: Because it’s just damned fun. But tonight, I was even more entertained when they managed to slip a reference to The Spirit of Radio in an exchange between Wendy and Noser.
• 15 reasons Mr. Rogers’ was the best neighborhood ever
• Thanks to for pointing out Bush or Batman?
• White House projects record deficit for 2009
• 
• pointed out the very wrong (yet amusing): Sarah Jessica Parker Looks Like a Horse
• SDCC: Starship Smackdown
• posted a link to this picture.
• The Bud Ice Penguin
• Famous historical beheadings recreated with mantises

*voop*

Namaste.

SaraRules sent me this picture last week, after returning from a walk:

Returning from her walk this morning, she told me:

The troll sign was gone. Perhaps he, like the students, takes Monday off.

I never really thought of trolls as taking time off to go on holiday before.

Monday – 28 July 2008
You know that it’s going to be an interesting day when you wake up and the first question that pops into your brain when turning off the alarm is:

Who put all those giant marshmallows in the alarm!?

Seriously. That’s what went through my head as I rolled over. I actually laid in bed and pondered the question for a moment, before I began to ponder its absurdity. *shakes head*

That was the cap on a strange trip through The Dreaming, which included a visitation from an odd – and highly unexpected – Ghost of Christmas Past. Weird.

Last night, I spent a couple of futile hours trying to get a certain USB wireless networking adapter to work with the iMac. After checking a number of forums, I found that this model – mainly due to lack of fully functional drivers – doesn’t work with Panther (OS X 10.3.x)… Oh, well. I found one that does. And it’s locally available, I think. I’ll find out after work. (EDIT: Turns out that it’s on order.)

Benefit of being the first one in the IT area: I can listen to 2112 – loudly – on my speakers.
I just made a reference to “Raiders of the Lost Arcade,” since I’m listening to Rush. The person didn’t get it.

Stray Toasters

• I stopped in and chatted with , freshly back from the Left Coast, for a few minutes yesterday. Among other things, we talked a little about The Dark Knight, about which she raved. Speaking of which:
  • The Brave and the Bold trailer

  • Neil Gaiman writes Batman
• Thanks to Drew for linking me to video of Rush on The Colbert Report. I only watched the first, second and fifth sections… but they made me laugh.
• For :

  

• I’ve got the brains
  You’ve got the looks
  Let’s make lots of money…
• How many children in your state are in foster care (.pdf)
• There was a road monkey in one Hell of a hurry this morning. In the… mile and half to two miles that I was around her, I saw her nearly cause two accidents – both of which involved her cutting people off. Idiotstick.
• There’s a new episode of The Middleman tonight.
• Where are the new movie themes?

Back to it.

Namaste.

Sunday – 27 July 2008
After getting the oil changed (and tires rotated) and having my butt handed to me at HeroClix yesterday, I went down to visit Perry and the kids. We talked City and ‘Clix and other geekery. Go figure.

On the way home, I realized that I was craving Aussie Cheese Fries, so I called in an order from the local Outback Steakhouse. I got home and devoured the whole thing. I don’t know whether it was the full stomach, post-dinner cool down period or what, but I went from “watching TV” to “being watched by TV” intermittently over the next couple of hours. I woke up a little before time to head out to breakfast… only to be rooted in place by Dial M for Murder, which I had never seen before. I watched about 20 minutes of it before I was able to break free. I will be looking for this movie when I next go on a DVD run.

I made it to breakfast. VI was far more quiet than usual; I chalked it up to people taking advantage of the long weekend and going out of town. Part of the night’s conversation included discussions on “Who was the best James Bond” and different interpretations of The Joker.

This morning, my dreams were a weird amalgamation of 70s political thriller movies and IT oddness. No, they didn’t make sense to me, either – dreams rarely do. Thus, I didn’t even try to make sense of them.

Stray Toasters

• If you have an iPhone, there’s a rather addictive labyrinth game for it. I played it on ‘s phone on Friday night. was playing it on his iPhone at breakfast. Did I mention “addictive?”
• , since we were talking about it: Film Noir
• 
• LEGO gets into classrooms with WeDo robotics systems
• Comic Book Resources has good coverage of the 2008 San Diego Comic Con Internation. Some highlights include:
  • CCI: The Black Panel
  • CCI: Secret Invasion
  • couple of notes that Static, last seen on Static Shock and Justice League, will (finally) be seen again in print… as a member of the Teen Titans. And, may I just say: It’s about time!
  • CCI: The Brave and the Bold Preview Screening
  • The Middleman Panel
    • Apparently, ABC Family has done a series of PSAs, featuring The Middleman and Wendy Watson:

  • CCI: Marvel Comics Unleashes Ender’s Game
• Rush plays Rock Band
• I still need to decide on a name for the iMac. As it’s going to most likely replace the current ‘Nine, I may just go with DS9… although I’m still thinking that it may be the new Pegasus. Maybe I’ll just take some suggestions.
• Having just watched a leaked teaser for TR2N (1, 2 – #2 is a larger, rotated version of #1), I just realized that I’ve never (that’s right, “never”) watched TRON, despite spending MANY quarters on the arcade game as a kid.



• 20 Album Covers Recreated in LEGO

I should try to sort out what I’m going to do today.

But first, a bowl of Honeycomb is calling my name.

Namaste.

Saturday – 26 July 2008
Yesterday, after work, I started tinkering with the iMac. I want to have it in the living room area, so I was looking at bridging two routers. The older router wouldn’t do what I wanted/needed, so I had to investigate other options. While an AirPort card would work, I think that I’m just going to pick up a USB network adapter and call it good.

Coffee and dinner were good. Mary found a book that amused me. I bought it and decided that I would have to go on my desk at work… alongside this. That made my little inner subversive smile.

I slept in until 9:30 this morning. It was nice. Too bad there aren’t any good ‘toons to watch. I killed an hour or so flipping channels, until I hit on Nickelodeon. Sozin’s Comet, the Season 3 finale of Avatar: The Last Airbender was on. I’ve only caught sporadic episodes of Avatar, but I’ve enjoyed what I saw. The finale was no exception.

Stray Toasters

• showed me the trailer for “Legend of the Seeker,” the upcoming adaptation of Wizard’s First Rule

  

• linked me to the following article: I fell in love with a female assassin. Wow.
• The Washington Post Online has a transcript of an online chat with Neil Patrick Harris
• The following Sinfest strips amused me:
  • 
  • 
  • 

TIme to get under way. I need to get the oil changed in the car and then it’s off to play ‘Clix with Chris for a while.

Yeah, weekends are good.

Of things dead, undead, not-yet-dead and not-of-this-world:

• SaraRules and I are going to visit Doc Holliday‘s grave next weekend.
• American Vampire League

• Zombie Harmony
• Multi-National United and District 9
• Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver take on The Flash in The Flash: Rebirth

And that’s a wrap.

Friday – 25 July 2008

It’s SysAdminDay!

In honor of this, I once again bring your Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie’s System Administrator Song.

Last night, I hung out with Allie and her friend, David; I haven’t seen her in close to a year, I guess. She’s in town for a CF treatment. When I talked with her earlier in the week, I told her that I’d come visit her. I asked if she wanted anything. Her response: Tiramisu. So, I picked some up and took it to her. It was a fun visit.

I got back home around 11:00. I turned on the TV and watched the tail end of The Late Late Show. I thought about hopping on PokerStars, but realized at 12:30 that I was tapped. So I called it a night.

Stray Toasters

• If the weather stays decent, I may head to a driving range this weekend.
• From the Council for Better Driving: Utah comes Utah Code Section 41-6a-801 – Turning – Manner – Traffic Control Devices

  Loosely translated: “To the road monkey in front of me this morning: You could have turned left – into your designated lane, even though there was oncoming traffic turning right… into their designated lane.”

• No, I don’t play for the 49’ers
• Last Lecture Professor Randy Pausch, 47, Dies
• Wizard People
• 
• Oil paintings of computer cables
• The Shining recreated with WowWee robots

• LEGO Beijing Olympics

Namaste.

A few minutes ago, Rock Me Amadeus popped into my head. I’m not really sure “why,” as the song playing on iTunes had nothing to do with it. Thanks to Paul, a friend in a former D&D group, ever since… freshman year in college, I think… when I hear Rock Me Amadeus, it often gets reparsed in my head as “Rock me, Asmodeus.” (1, 2) *sigh* Thanks, Paul.

Anyway…

I was looking at Gizmodo when, like a bad Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup commercial, the two items came together in my head:

“If Asmodeus were the Demon Lord of Technology, what would his name be?”
Asmodo?
Gizmodeus?

That’s right… I’m thinking the big, world-changing thoughts here.

God help me.

Thursday: 24 June 2008
Three down, one in the chamber and one to go.

Today is Mormon Christmas Pioneer Day in Utah. As such, all state-owned and many locally-owned businesses are closed. There’s a parade… for which people started lining the streets last night. A rodeo. Fireworks. The whole kit and kaboodle.

Extreme Makeover: IT Lab Edition should wrap up today. Selah.

Stray Toasters

• This morning’s commute was enhanced with:
  • Hollaback Girl (which I still think MarknTyme should teach his band…)
  • The Boomin’ System
  • Drop It Like It’s Hot
• I miscounted the Secret Invasion set. There are 60 figures, but there are some figures not listed on the site, because they are members of the invasion force. And those figures come with a “dual identity” character card, reflecting their status as a hero or a Skrull.
• Steamboy Machine Mini Figures
• Someone brought in doughnuts this morning.
• Marco…?

Attack the day.

Namaste.

Wednesday: Coda
After work, I headed to Dr. Volt’s to pick up this week’s comics haul and my brick of ‘Clix:

It’s a fifty-five piece set, of which I pulled 42 unique figures.
76% of the total set in one swoop. That’s not bad.
And, I got 11 pieces that I wanted, including:

• Captain America (Isaiah Bradley)
• Cloak and Dagger
• Hawkeye (Kate Bishop)
• Howard the Duck
• Iron Man
• Nick Fury
• Power Pack
  • Energizer
  • Gee
  • Lightspeed
  • Mass Master
• Super Skrull: X-Men

And, since I got the brick, I can send in for the Super Skrull: Illuminati figure.

On the way home, I stopped in to visit SaraRules’ family. And, I picked up the “new” iMac. Now come the two most difficult parts: Figuring out where it’s going and deciding on a name for it.

Stray Toasters

• Science!
• I’m still on the fence… but leaning towards wanting to play DC Universe Online.
  When it goes live, that is.
• This amuses me not only because of the caption, but also because the kitten reminds me of Lightning… when he was still tiny.



• A live-action Cowboy Bebop movie? Could be.
• Motorist draws gun at ‘Grey Poupon’ question

I should probably give some thought to calling it a night.

Wednesday – 23 July 2008
After getting home from work, I took a relaxing – and somewhat necessary – shower. The last thing I wanted while gaming last night was B.O. It would have just been embarrassing.

Last night’s Scion session was good, if less than entirely productive. We were given our marching orders and set out to act upon them. Maybe we were a little headstrong. Maybe we were a little rash. Maybe it was Maybelline. Whatever it was, we almost got our collective recta handed to us. Fortunately, we all survived long enough to escape and try to come up with something that resembles “a plan” for next time.

I slept rather well last night. I was hoping that would be the case, given the all-day workout I had. I even indulged in a little sleeping in this morning.

Human of the Day
In what I believe to be a first, I am nominating someone under the age of five for Human of the Day. At last night’s game, did the nigh-unthinkable: She pulled up Superman: The Movie on Netflix, as a way to keep Josh quiet. I don’t think that she was aware of my affinity for the movie… or how torn my attention would be. She gave Josh headphones so that he could watch – and listen – without disturbing our gaming.

The reason that Josh gets the nod for today’s HotD is not only because he was as rapt by the movie as I usually am (although, I have apparently seen the movie enough times to be able to glance at the screen and do dialogue…), but because he would get so excited by the movie that he’d leap out of ‘s lap and bound over to Nox to say “I’m watching Superman!” and then run back over to the desk to watch more of the movie.

As a counterpoint, Nox, ever the Lex Luthor fan, kept reminding Josh and me: “You know that the good guy doesn’t win at the end of this movie, right?”

Stray Toasters

• Adam just called… because he was bored and didn’t feel like doing any work. I’m not sure if I mentioned it previously, but he and Chelsea are expecting a baby this fall/winter; they will find out the baby’s sex this afternoon.
• Church minister shames congregation by dressing as a tramp
• 
• From Broken Frontier: Uncanny X-Memories – this round has a couple of fond remembrances of issues #153 (“Kitty’s Fairy Tale”) and #186 (“LifeDeath: A Love Story”).
• Batman Then and Now: The Cost of Being Bruce Wayne
• 
• More DC Universe Online news… including screenshots
• Tyranist: I know you hate “thriller” as a genre title, but… DC to launch thriller imprint, Vertigo Crime
• Sandman 20th Anniversary Poster
• And tomorrow is Mormon Christmas, as some of us like to call it.

Time to dive in to Storage Room: Day 2.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 22 July 2008
I have been having… issues… with my cable box for the past few weeks. It decided to become more problematic late Sunday night. I was particularly miffed because I was geared up to watch The Middleman last night… and ABC Family is one of the channels whose reception has been “less than perfect.” Fortunately, I was able to jiggle things around (yes, that’s a technical term) and get reception on most of the failing channels. After calling Comcast – twice -yesterday, it’s basically come down to “there’s something wrong with your receiver; you should just bring it in and exchange it.” Great. The office hours are from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM, which just happen to be the hours I’m usually at work. So, I’ll be taking it in on Friday, when I will hopefully be getting out of work early.

Not only was I able to watch The Middleman, but I caught a rebroadcast of Burn Notice… and still put in a little time in City of Heroes. I ran Corvus Nox’ cape mission… not that I’m planning on him wearing a cape, but I did it anyway.

This morning, breaking up waking up was hard to do, but I managed to rouse myself and get up and on the way. Stopping for a free frozen mocha didn’t hurt, either.

Today, for a change of pace, I volunteered to attempt to bring a measure of order to the chaos that our IT Lab/storage area. It keeps me off the main floor (for the most part). I brought in my powered speakers and hooked them up to Defiant, so I’ll have music to keep me company. It sounds like the sub has seen better days; maybe I’ll just leave this set of speakers here and look for a better set for home.

This might just wind up qualifying as today’s workout. I’m good with that.

Back to it.

Namaste.