Random Access

By way of wikiHow: How to Celebrate the International Year of the Potato

Tuesday – 03 June 2008
Last night, I got home to find that my Giants set of ‘Clix had arrived. As I had some errands to run, I took the package, unopened, with me. I’ll come back to that one in a minute.

One of the evening’s errands was to take my guitar to Acoustic Music. The bridge had… separated… from the body, rendering the instrument pretty much useless. They will reattach the bridge and restring the guitar; I should have it back inside of a week. I had asked Tom (SaraRules’ friend) and Bruce (from Jitterbug) where the best place to take it would be – both of them said Acoustic Music. First choice. No hesitation. (Well, there was a little hesitation from Tom, as he tried to recall the name of the place, but it was still his first choice.)

One of the other “errands” was to see if Chris was home and show him the Giants set. He was. I did. He laughed when I told him that I came by just to show him the figures, but he liked them. (The sculpts and paint jobs are really good, the pictures on the site don’t do ’em justice.) He didn’t recognize all of the characters, but he did know a few of them.

On to the store to pick up a few groceries and then home. I cooked dinner: Grilled chicken over angel hair pasta with a garden salad and a glass of Gewurtztraminer to wash it down. Aside from neglecting to turn on the range hood fan while cooking – and thus having a little too much smoke in the apartment and THUS setting off the smoke detector – it was good.

I even got to watch ST:DS9 and Seven Days. before calling it a night.

Workout
Back in the saddle again:

• Leg Raises: 3 sets/20 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 185 lbs
• Pulldowns (close grip): 3 sets/12 reps, 120 lbs
• Shoulder Press (dumbbell): 3 sets/15 reps – 30 lbs (1 set), 35 lbs (2 sets)
• Bent-over Row: 3 sets/10 reps, 35 lbs
• Wrist Curls: 2 sets (each)/15 reps – 55 lbs (reverse), 45 lbs (forward)

Pre-workout weight: 172.4 lbs.

I don’t know what I did to lose two pounds over the last week, but I’m not going to argue.

Stray Toasters

• SaraRules got to interview the Mayor of Aspen yesterday. Her recap of it made me laugh.
• Radio From Hell (known as “Radio from Heck,” in Happy Valley) has a LiveJournal account. Who knew!?
• “Secret Agent” and “Salmon”
• America’s Unhealthiest Drinks Exposed
• 
• Steampunk R2
• Interesting note: Jonathan LaPaglia, Seven Days‘ protagonist and his brother, Without a Trace‘s Anthony LaPaglia, are Australian; you’d never know from their accent… or lack thereof. Jonathan LaPaglia was a physician before switching to acting. He graduated with an M.B.B.S. degree from the University of Adelaide.
• Mel Gibson, however is NOT Australian; his family moved there from New York when he was a young boy.
• 13 Movie Mementos Lost in the Universal Studios Fire That No One Will Miss
• 
• Hugh Jackman is still Australian.
• Bardot fined for stoking hate race

/lunch

Namaste.

…due, in no small part, to our conversation at breakfast on Saturday night:

…not that I really needed any other reasons, mind you, but this one is a peach:

Every Night’s Another Story

Particluar item: “Tip of the Day”
(It’s at the bottom of the post.)

His rationale:

With the “glass is half empty  or half full” analogy, optimism is better than pessimism.  So the way you phrase it, makes people feel like they are choosing one nationality over the other, and they don’t know what to say

Priceless.

And for this, I will name Derek “Human of the Day”

Cocaine

Afte????????r stopping to pick up an iced mocha and a bagel sandwich, I made it into the office. I found a good parking space – one of the benefits of getting in early-ish. I gathered my things and headed into the building.

There was an older woman already at the elevator core as I approached. She saw me headed in that direction and called down the hallway,”Would you like a ride up?”

I answered,”Yes, thank you,” and she held the door for me.

As I got into the elevator, she smiled and said (and I quote): “I like your Cuba Gooding look. It looks as good as you as it does on him.”

I returned the smile and thanked her.

While I personally don’t think that I favor Cuba Gooding, Jr. or Will Smith or Tupac – all of whom I’ve been told, at one point or another, that I remind people of – I’m not about to knock a compliment… especially not first thing on a Monday morning.

Besides, as I said: It made me smile.

Monday – 02 June 2008
Jump on outta bed and I stumble to the kitchen
Pour myself a cup of ambition
And yawn and stretch and try to come to life
Jump in the shower and the blood starts pumpin’
Out on the street the traffic starts jumpin’
With folks like me on the job from 9 to 5

Up. Out.

Sunday: Coda
I took the scenic route to Jitterbug this afternoon. About five minutes from the shop, I got a text message from Pat, saying that he wasn’t going to make it. A few minutes later, I got a call from , asking if I had gotten Pat’s message. I told her that I had and that I was going back to my original plan of heading to Borders to do some drawing.

And that’s exactly what I did. I picked up a couple of photography magazines and took about thirty minutes to see if I could glean any ideas. I found a few things that caught my eye. Then I got down to brass tacks. I’ve had something nagging at the back of my head for a couple of weeks, but wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with the idea. It finally came to me today. It’s probably going to take some time to to flesh out, but I’m really liking what I came up with.

After Borders, I headed down to Kate and Perry’s to hang out with – and play City with – Perry. We teamed up with a couple of members of my supergroup and a couple other people (Defenders!) to tackle some Rikti and Malta missions.

Next on the agenda: Over to Chris and Mary’s to play ‘Clix. Chris and I faced off against Matt and Emiliano, from Far West Comics. I tried out a variation on my tournament Legion team, while Chris played with a variant Brotherhood of (Evil) Mutants:

• My team:
  • Brainiac 5
  • Dawnstar
  • Dream Girl
  • Saturn Girl
  • Supergirl and
  • Ultra Boy
• Chris’ team:
  • Black Tom Cassidy
  • Fabian Cortez
  • Jean Grey
  • Juggernaut
  • Magneto
  • Mystique and
  • Sabertooth

Matt and ‘Mano brought an assortment of characters, with no particular theme in mind:

• Alex Luthor
• Captain America
• Deathstroke
  
• Flash (Justice Legion A)
• Hourman (Justice Legion A)
• Monarch
• Superman (Justice Legion A)

And… they beat us down. Hourman and Monarch both had Probability Control… you know, my new favorite power that Dream Girl has. It’s great when you have the power, but when your opponents have it – and have it on two characters with line-of-sight on your characters who have a snowball’s chance in Hell of doing anything with – it can be a royal pain in the ass. Between Probability Control and craptacular dice rolls on our parts, Chris and I were sunk early on. The first two characters that they took off the board were Supergirl and Ultra Boy, my two heaviest hitters. After that, it was just a matter of watching us bleed out.

But, it was fun.

And I still need to figure out who I’m using in this weekend’s tournament. 300 points and restricted to only sets in print since November of 2006. I’ll come up with… something.

Stray Toasters

• I just saw something really fun on TLC: Rock the Reception. I only caught the last two or three minutes of the show, but I came in during a couple’s first dance, done to Jet’s Are You Gonna Be My Girl? About halfway or two-thirds of the way through, the bridesmaids and groomsmen joined in. And it looked like they were all having a blast.
• Fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent has died; he was 71.
• I’m not sure what I want for a late-night dessert.
• There are a handful of people who grok why I find this so amusing..

  

  …and they are either shaking their heads or laughing (or both) as they see this.

• Project Rooftop has a new contest up: Superman: Man of Style.
• Action Comics #1 cover… redone in LEGO

Time to figure out what I want for a late-night snack.

Namaste.

Sunday – 01 June 2008
I wound up sleeping in later than I had planned this morning; going to bed at 4:00 AM *might* have had something to do with that, though.

Shortly after waking up, sent me this:

Whiskey Tango…?!
It was not the first (or second or thirty-fourth) thing to which one expects to wake up.

But, as far as using We Will Rock You in a commercial, this is still my favorite:

And, of course, I’m still waiting to see if Nintendo tries to come up with a “Wii Will Rock You” commercial/campaign.

Don’t know that I’m going to make it to Borders to draw, as a few of us are supposed to head to Jitterbug for lunch. Maybe I’ll just head there a little early and draw there.

Zoom.

Saturday: Coda
I had lunch with at Jitterbug. Then I headed down to hang out with Kate, Perry and the kids for a bit. I left with a few new (to me) ‘Clix – ones of which Perry had spares and I had none.

Around 7:00, I headed to Chris and Mary’s go talk about the new Dark Heresy game that Chris wants to run. We got the bare-bones basics of what our characters would know and then rolled up characters. Tomorrow evening, I’m heading back there to play ‘Clix with Chris and Mark. Hopefully, I will get some ideas about who I want to use in next Saturday’s tournament, too.

Breakfast with the usual suspects. There was some decent people-watching tonight. The conversations were good, too.

Tomorrow, assuming that I’m awake early enough, I intend to join for one of his Sunday morning meditational/inspirational treks. I also plan on getting in some drawing time – I’ve realized that it has been FAR too long since I’ve really done any drawing of note. It’s time to rectify that.

Stray Toasters

• I saw and Uriah while at Jitterbug today. That was a nice surprise.
• According to SaraRules: Aspen is ‘spensive.
• Steve Harvey, from The Original Kings of Comedy DVD:

  The part that always cracks me up about this starts about 2:45 into it… and the song that starts around 5:30 in.

• “Pubic Toupee” and “Black Hole of Misery”
• When I saw this article, it made me a bit sad. I realize that running for political office puts a candidate’s life under scrutiny, but come on… to drive a person out of their home church? That’s a bit too far.
• The upcoming “Secret Invasion” set of HeroClix will include a new Cloak and Dagger figure:



• According to this item, the new set will also see the debut of Power Pack in the game. Yes, Power Pack still holds a happy, warm spot in my comics-loving heart.
• Purple monkey dishwasher.

It’s early and I have to get up later.

Namaste.

Saturday – 31 May 2008
A sunny weekend day in the Land Behind the Zion Curtain…

…and I’ve spent a good portion of the late morning and early afternoon reclaiming my living room floor from my collection of ‘Clix.  It’s nice to see that there actually was a floor under all of the boxes and cases.  On the other hand, it’s also nice to have the figures sorted and boxed.  Finally.  Now, I’ll see how much disarray it causes when the Giants set gets here.

I believe that my drill has finally given up the ghost.  It charges… somewhat.  But, it’s not getting up to full speed.  Methinks ’tis time to investigate the acquisition of a new one.

I’ve hit my annual/semi-annual/when-the-mood-hits-me mode of “Time to move things around.”  That’s what started me on DrillQuest, in fact.  One of the items that’s getting moved – out, that is – is the desk in my office.  Time to get something that doesn’t have such a huge footprint.  I have a couple of IKEA-inspired ideas in mind… and even an interim desk on-hand, should I decide to break the old desk down soon.  Assuming I find a drill.  Aren’t Catch-22’s great?

Did I mention that it’s a nice, sunny day?
I should go out and enjoy some of it.
I believe I’m going to do just that.

Namaste.

In no particular order:

• and I walked over to Dask’s for lunch. When we got to the little shopping center where it is, he noticed that a new restaurant, Cafe Zupas, had opened. We decided to give it a go. It specializes in salads, sandwiches and soups. I had the Honey Bacon Club and it was good.
• is on a roll today. She sent me this:

• , having watched the above video, went on to watch this one… and send a link to me:

• I am looking for a new hard drive for Defiant. I guess that I should get an external HD, too, for use with Time Machine.
• , Mike and I discussed adding a new class to FRPGs/MMos: Barbarian Lush.
• Stormtroopers vs. London Cops

  

Back to it.

Friday – 30 May 2008
Nodded off on the couch (yet again) last night. I woke up long enough to take care of the nightly hygiene rituals and hit the rack somewhere around 2:00.

Once again, I was awake around 6:00.
The alarm was set for 6:35.
Naturally, I stayed in bed for the extra few minutes.
Up out and in the office by a few minutes past 8:00. Hopefully, the rest of the day will go as swimmingly.

Stray Toasters

• By way of (with an assist from ):



• By way of Rolling Stone: The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time
• Adventurer will live 300 days as Robinson Crusoe
• From Indexed:



• What’s wrong with the following series of pictures? (Answer at the end of the post)

  
  (click images to view larger versions)

Quotes of the Day: Things overheard in a Waiting Room
You just can’t make stuff like this up:

• A phone call came in, apparently a patient canceling because a family member had something going on/bad. The receptionist replied: “…just let her drink some flat soda or Sprite or something, to get some nourishment in her.”
  (Wait… Since when is “soda” considered a source of “nourishment?”)
• Receptionist 1: 13 year old boys won’t cuddle with their moms…
  Receptionist 2: Sure they will, if they’re sick.
• A woman checks in, gets forms to fill out, hands them back in…
  Receptionist: You’re not allergic to anything?
  Patient: No.
  Receptionist: I mean medicines…
  Patient: No.
  (If someone says that they aren’t allergic to something, I’d take it as a pretty good bet that they would consider medicines on the list of “Things I’m allergic to,” especially if they are in a doctor’s office.)
• Observed: PA comes into the waiting room, looks around… “Claudia?”
  There was only one woman in the room.
• A man comes in to reschedule an appointment for his wife:
  Receptionist: Did the pill give her diarrhea?
  Man: No, more constipated than anything.
  Receptionist: Oh. Well some people react to it differently. Some people say it doesn’t do anything to them, others say it’s like an explosion.

Back to the grind.

Namaste.

Answer: If it’s supposed to be an automatic faucet, why does it have handles?
(Hint: It wasn’t.)

I came home with no idea what I wanted to do for dinner. So, rather than decide immediately, I read this week’s four-color haul and did something I haven’t done in a rather long time: I watched an episode of Smallville. I should find the collected seasons of the show.

I finally figured out what I wanted for dinner: A chicken sandwich… from Jitterbug.  It was closed.

Curses!  Foiled again!
*shakes fist*
*twirls moustache*

I drove back towards home, still not 100% sure of what I wanted.  I wound up with fast food.  Better’n nothing, I suppose.  I ate dinner while watching Justice League Unlimited; tonight’s episode was “Doomsday Sanction,” one of the show’s strongest second-season episodes.

I am still not in a mood to do much straightening… so I think I’ll spend some time in Paragon City.

Stray Toasters

• The Joss Whedon-John Cassady run on Astonishing X-Men has come to an end.  They wrapped up the story in a way I never expected.  This was Wizard.com’s Thursday Morning Quarterback take on the story – it’s full of spoilers, so I don’t read it if you have any intention of reading Giant-Sized AXM #1 for yourself.  Warren Ellis will be taking over the writing chores this summer.
• Former Carol Burnett co-star Harvey Korman died today; he also appeared in a few Mel Brooks movies.
• The Star Trek world suffered two blows recently: Joseph Pevney and Alexander Courage both passed away.  Pevney, who died 18 May, directed many fan favorite episodes of Star Trek: TOS.  Alexander Courage, who died on 15 May, composed the theme for the original series.

SaraRules sent me a link to the article Pearls Before Breakfast.

It’s a long article, but reading it kept reminding me of a recurring line from Way of the Peaceful Warrior: “There are no ordinary moments.”

…unfortunately, too many of us treat life as if all moments are all too ordinary.