Random Access

Monday: Coda
I just finished watching Justice League Unlimited on Boomerang.  I lucked out, they were showing “Initiation,” the first episode of the show.  Kind of.  It was the first episode of the new 30-minute format, as opposed to its previous two- or three-episode (60 or 90 minutes) format as Justice League.  They shined it up, added a bunch of heroes to the group and gave the theme song a rock-and-roll twist.

I haven’t seen this episode in at least a couple of years.  I had forgotten how good it was and how little I should have worried about the change in format.  They did a great job with the characterizations:

• Green Lantern as the seasoned veteran, acting as “drill sargeant,” stuck on a mission with…
• Supergirl, a headstrong teenager out to prove: a) that she’s worth being on the team AND b) that she’s not her cousin…
• Captain Atom, a still-by-the-numbers former Air Force officer turned hero and
• Green Arrow, a hero who’s more concerned with looking out for the average man more so than fighting monsters and alien invaders.

The lack of teamwork nearly jeopardized the mission, but after regrouping – and having two members of the team taken out of the fight – they were able to dispatch the DCAU version of Brimstone.

I heartily recommend this episode to any and everyone.

Monday – 25 February 2008
Back in the saddle again. The commute wasn’t too bad, despite pea-soup fog from Enoch to just south of Beaver and again from Scipio to Mills. They have apparently “fixed” the “NEHPI” sign…

…by covering the “HPI” with a “PHI” banner. Priceless.

Stray Toasters

• I joined LinkedIn this morning. *shrug* At least I still haven’t hopped on the FaceBook bandwagon. Yet.
• Second shot across the bow: I will be moving all commenting for this blog to Random Access as of Saturday, 01 March 2008.
• Justice League: The New Frontier and 30 Days of Night both come out on DVD tomorrow.
  
• Check out the papercraft artwork of Peter Callesen
• I’m diving into PHP again.  And, again, it’s for work.  Can’t beat that.
• Salt Lake City Weekly‘s Best of 2007: Food and Drink
• I was talking with Dwim, a little while ago, about some of the comics that we read.  He was saying how he felt that some heroes shouldn’t have secret identities.  Wonder Woman was one example.  Green Lantern was another.  I mentioned that while Hal Jordan does have a secret identity, John Stewart doesn’t – he hasn’t worn a mask in his GL identity since the 80s, I think.  Besides, would you want to be “that guy” who tried to hassle John Stewart in his civilian ID?  Let’s look at the deterring factors:
  • Ex-Marine.
  • Even more so: Ex-Marine sharpshooter.
  • Wears a ring (let’s call it what it is: “a weapon”) that can create anything he thinks of.  Anything.
  • Trained as an architect, so he can be… creative.  (Granted, Kyle Rayner‘s an artist, so he’s usually a little more creative, but that goes off along an entirely different tangent.)
  • Good knowledge of mechanics and usually “builds” his ring constructs “from the inside out.”
  • Has probably kicked more ass on – and off – Earth than you have.
  • Did I mention “anything he thinks of?”  I did?  Okay, just wanted to be sure.

  And, it’s not like he takes the ring off when he’s not on-duty.

• Visualization: Movie box office data
• 

Namaste.

Sunday: Coda
I made it to Cedar City without any incident. That’s always a good thing. I took a few pictures along the way.

SaraRules and I headed to the nearby Chili’s for dinner and then over to the Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. Proving, once again, how cool she is, she picked up two packs of Cadbury Creme Eggs and the following for me:

Mm-hmm. That’s right.

Sunday – 24 February 2008
Last night’s breakfast was fun.  And a bit unusual.  I have pictures to prove it.  The dolls – FAR from what I was expecting to see in the claw machine – just about killed me.

After I got home, I was up for another two hours, playing City of Heroes.  At 3:30, my eyelids became an irresistable force; I got up from the desk and went to bed before I became an immovable object.  I woke up this morning and played for another hour and some change.  I’m roughly a bar and a half from Security Level 44.

Next on the docket: Moving things out of a few rooms so that some plumbing work can be done. “Sometime in the next 5-7 days,” the potable water lines in my building are being replaced.  This means nothing under or on the cabinets in the kitchen or either bathroom.  And, because of where some of the pipe access is located, I have to clear out some space in a couple of closets and my bedroom, too.  Yay.

Then, it’s off to the south, once more.

Namaste.

Saturday – 23 February 2008
Last night’s Clitorati gathering was fun. It was a very nice way to wind up the week. And, even though I was told “Don’t play with your food” while I was growing up… there are just some things that can’t be passed up:

The second pic nearly did not get taken:

While setting up the shot, I asked to move a bit. He did. Just as I prepared to take the picture, the cup – with coffee still in it – tipped over. I put down the camera and reached for the cup.

And the camera fell off the table.

Fortunately, I was able to catch it between my legs.

As the camera was falling, looked over and saw me catch the camera. After we all shared a “Did that really just happen?!” moment, she reached over to get it…

…just as the camera took a picture.

There was a pregnant pause and then we all broke out in laughing fits.

Today has been a mix of what I planned to do, a few things I didn’t plan on… and completely skipping a couple of things that I planned on. All-in-all, not too bad.

The morning started, as usual, with the Legion and The Batman. Both, however, were repeats… but that didn’t stop me from enjoying both. As I was rounding the clubhouse turn and watching Stargate SG-1, called and asked if I had eaten lunch yet. I hadn’t. So, we went to Macaroni Grill. I had the Chicken Marsala; the pasta was a little dry, but otherwise everything was fine.

After that, I ran a few errands and then went to visit Kate, Perry and the kids. Next up: A stop in the Red Balloon to see if they had anything that I just couldn’t live without for my Rokenbok set. I considered a couple of things, but ultimately walked out empty-handed. There is a set that I am looking for, but they didn’t have it in stock.

I headed up to say “Hi” to SaraRules’ parents. I finally remembered to take over a couple of movies that they hadn’t seen. When I got there, they kindly invited me to stay for dinner; I did. Over dinner, they asked how the trip was; I gave them my side of the story (which was a positive accounting of events). I showed them pictures from the trip, as well.

Back home to chill out and spend some time in Paragon City.

Now, off to breakfast!

Namaste.

From a conversation with :

: i don’t believe this…
your niece just pumped both of her fists up and down in the air
and on the down pump, ripped a 6.0 richter scale fart
i’m appalled and more than a bit impressed

: Sweet.

: lol i’m already getting talking-tos from rana…”she’s not a boy, you can’t let her think that’s funny”

And this is just at two-weeks-old. I can only imagine how glorious her deeds will become as she gets older.

Friday – 22 February 2008
I wound up staying in SLC all day Thursday. I was going to head down to AF after working on a system here, but was… convinced to stay north of the county line. The day was… something. In fact, at one point it came precipitously close to breaking the No Bad News Thursday rule. I came to the conclusion that it wasn’t bad news, just a very poor presentation of information.

After work, I ran a couple of errands and then headed to Jitterbug to meet and for dinner. And coffee. And catching up on the latest things going on. After that, I headed home for a few.

Next up: A jaunt to ‘s to help her with a computer problem. Nothing earth-shattering (or even earth-shaking, like yesterday’s earthquake – which I, again, slept through). While there, I saw and played with the kids. They have new collars – Sissy has a green one. That’s right: My cat wants to be a Green Lantern when she grows up. (I’m so proud of her…)

Home again. I fired up City of Death Heroes and joined a team with a couple of guys whom I’ve grouped with before. They’re both “a little” gung-ho. Unfortunately, they were both Scrappers and not Tankers. Suffice if to say that there was plenty of death to be had for everyone. *sigh* I left that team and was invited to join another. The second team had their act together.

Stray Toasters

• and I had to explain Zork and grues to Jason yesterday.
• Speaking of which, you can play an HTML/PHP version of Zork here.
• You can play ports of other Infocom games here.
• Clinton doesn’t vow to go on beyond March 4
• And now, another episode of “How Rob’s Mind Works”:
  

  While getting ready for work, I saw the packaging for some toilet paper in the trash can and had the following thought: “Cottonelle… Cotton-elle… Hm… Superman’s Krytonian aunt… who was a sanitation engineer? Yeah, that works.”

• Smurfs at 50: Ready for a Comeback
• Next week’s release of the Crisis set for HeroClix includes another Legionnaire: Karate Kid

  

• From Gamespot: GDC ’08: LEGO Batman First Look

  

  

• Pleas for condemned Saudi ‘witch’
• Yeah, toast!

Namaste.

Thursday – 21 February 2008
…contrary to what Folgers and Rockapella would have you believe, is not “Folgers in your cup.”

It’s “waking up.”

But, a very close runner up, in my opinion, is (or in today’s case, “was”): After spending too much time lollygagging around the apartment, I decided to get serious about getting ready for work. As I disconnected the wireless mouse receiver from Defiant, it woke the computer from sleep mode. In the process of waking up, it reconnected me to my messaging services: AIM/ICQ, Yahoo! (Is it MicroHoo! yet?) and iChat/GoogleTalk.

And whose user icon should I see in iChat but SaraRules, who is currently in Los Angeles on a… “field trip,” of sorts, with her MFA program. Thus, I got to chat with her for a minute or two before she had to leave.

Nice surprise and a great way to start the morning.

Now, it’s time to attack the day.
(…and maybe brew some coffee to take with me, too. Damn, Rockapella!)

Namaste.

Wednesday: Coda
I came home and cooked dinner. Not fish fillets and fries. Not ramen. Not soup. Not spaghetti. I actually fired up the stove and the oven. Tonight’s fare:

• Baked chicken
• Rice, cooked in cream of mushroom soup
• Corn
• And a glass of milk. (Milk, it does a body good. Pass it on!)

Not only that, but I watched last week’s CSI: (kind of hard to watch live at 35,000 feet) and tonight’s Law & Order (well, I’m watching it now). AND I read this week’s four-color haul. And I may still make a trip to Paragon City. All-in-all, not a bad evening.

Stray Toasters

• I found the following articles while looking up some completely unrelated information this afternoon…
  • How to Know if You Are Irritating
  • How to Not Be Annoying

  I hung a copy on my wall in SLC; I’m doing the same in AF tomorrow.

• I also want this bumper sticker. Lots of them.

  

• I found a home for Sao Paulo (the laptop formerly known as Defiant): It’s going to my father.
• Are you using Windows? You might want to check this out – Killer Download: The Big Three free security applications
• FAA investigates whether go! Airlines flight crew fell asleep
• Microsoft… makes… action figures. I think my world just collapsed a little.
  (But, you should read some of the character bios. Dear Lord…)
• CNN Fires Producer Over Personal Blog
• Is your King James or New International Bible too boring for you? Give The Manga Bible a try.
• Nautilus-themed steampunk home theatre
• Geek-to-Geek: ‘grats to on your new flying mount.
• Old school:

  

  

  If I need to explain this, you just need to skip on to the next ‘Toaster. Seriously. Right now.

• The Century’s Top Engineering Challenges

Time to go fight some evil.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 20 February 2008
Midweek already. Where does the time go?

Little Miss Bit is two-weeks-old today.

Quote of the Day (so far)
From yet another conversation with :

(10:02:56 AM) : The person sitting across from you wants to kill you.
(10:03:12 AM) : Are you sure…?
(10:03:17 AM) : I can’t see anyone.
(10:03:19 AM) : O.o
(10:03:26 AM) : I am sending these messages from the future.
(10:05:55) : But.. but… why ME?!
(10:11:54) : *checks to make sure that my name is not Sarah Connor*
(10:11:56) : In the future you become the leader of a group of super heros.
(10:12:56) : your mild mannere.. oh.. wait.. we don’t have any of those…. your co-worker becomes the leader of a group of super villains.
(10:13:08) : and since we know that evil always wins because “good” is dumb……
(10:13:38) : wait. you are dating a Sara. HMM.
(10:13:49) : perhaps it’s your kids! 😀
(10:13:51) : But, she’s a [last name], not a Connor.
(10:13:59) : Marty.
(10:14:14) : But, neither of us has a DeLorean.
(10:14:29) : Or a flux capaci…. Oh, crap.
(10:14:53) : ahh. now you begin to see the tangled and painful weave of the future as it is to play out.
(10:15:11) : Damn the Fates! *shakes fist at the sky*
(10:15:30) : I did not say this. I was never here. The spice must flow.

And now, back to the grind.

Tuesday – 19 February 2008
Home again.

I tried getting in touch with Tammy, but didn’t catch her… so Monday was “spend the last few hours of vacation hanging out with the family before getting on a plane” day. We did head out for a bit, so that I could take SaraRules over to Pimlico Race Course, home of the Preakness Stakes… which is only a couple of miles from the house. After getting back from that, we hung out with Bot, Bit and . Pictures were taken. (Granted, these were lumped in with other pictures taken over the course of the weekend – including two with my uncle and one with Bret – but there are pictures nonetheless.) Also, here are pictures of the quilt that SaraRules made for Grace. When the time came to leave, we said our goodbyes, threw our things in the car and headed to BWI. We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. We checked in and made it through security quickly and painlessly. Then… we waited.

We boarded our plane and we were on our way west again. The flight was rather uneventful; to pass the time, SaraRules and I watched Transformers. She hadn’t seen it before, but enjoyed it. An hour and some change later, we were in Las Vegas. Our bags were on the carousel almost by the time we got there. To the car. Out the garage and we were on our way…

…to In-n-Out Burger. After that and a stop for gasoline, we were on the road back to Cedar City. By the time we got in, we were exhausted. So, we crashed.

This morning, we got up, ready and on our respective ways: SaraRules to class; me to work.

The work day wasn’t very eventful, which is not a bad thing. Eric and I had a special guest star for today’s workout: Wes, who in the AF office today. Today’s routine included:

• Leg Raises: 3 sets/20 reps
• Pull-ups: 3 sets/10 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 205 lbs.
• Cable Row: 3 sets/10 reps, 120 lbs.
• Shoulder Press (seated, dumbbells): 3 sets/10 reps, 45 lbs.
• Cable Fly: 3 sets/10 reps, 95 lbs.
• Core Exercises
  • One-leg, with twist: 2 sets
  • Standard (plank): 3 sets – 45 seconds, 30 seconds, 30 seconds

Today’s weight: 172.4 lbs.
It was a good mix. And tiring. It was Wes’ first time really working out in about six months. (Having brain surgery will do that to you, apparently.) He did fine. While he had to back off of some of the weight that Eric and I did, he was still right there with us otherwise.

Post-work, it was Scion game night. We didn’t do very much, as a couple of players weren’t there, but we were able to move the story along a little. And it was fun to hang out with the gaming crew.

Monkey of the Day
On the way home from gaming, I stopped at the grocery store. While I was in the checkout line, a young-ish guy (mid 20s, I would guess) came in, carrying a gallon of milk. He asked to speak to one of the managers. When she came to the front of the store, he told her that he’d purchased the milk at another location, but it was apparently past its “best if used by” date and wanted his money back. The manager offered to exchange the bad milk for a new one. The guy wasn’t having any part of that – he wanted his money. The manager said that she couldn’t just refund his money – as the milk wasn’t purchased at this store – but re-offered to replace the bad milk. His response: “Yes you can! This is all just one big chain. You can give me my money! It’s all the same store!” The manager countered that it was not, in fact, “…all the same store.”

This went around and around a couple of times. The guy finally started cursing at the manager. She walked away, saying, “I’m not going to go on with this if you’re going to speak to me this way.” She never raised her voice. She didn’t get confrontational. The guy just wouldn’t quit. He asked… no… “demanded”… that she get him the general manager’s name and contact information. She politely refused, as the guy was still slinging expletives at her.

He was still arguing (is it right to say “arguing” if he was the only one talking?) after I checked out and left.

Stray Toasters

• SaraRules sent a lovely bouquet of flowers to my parents as a “thank you for your hospitality” gift. Dad replied by text message to her and to me. If I had to guess, I would say that she made a good impression on the folks. (Not that I really had to guess, though.)
• Cherry Hill to Capitol Hill: Barry C. Black marks several ‘firsts’ as U.S. Senate Chaplain
• Senators Obama and McCain both won in Wisconsin.
  And with 51% of precincts reporting, Senator Obama is well ahead of Senator Clinton in Hawai’i.
• 
• D&D Insider Flash Interviews
• By way of Deacon Derek: Subnormality: “Supervillains Anonymous”
  
• 
• Tyranist: Library built into a staircase
• Classic SF movies rendered as Russian folk-art woodcuts

I suppose that I should move from “the theory of sleep” to “the practical application of sleep.”

Namaste.

Sunday – 17 February 2008
Today’s been a good – and full – day.

SaraRules and I got up this morning and went to church with Dad. While Dad’s church usually has a fairly short service, today was a red letter day for short services – I think that we were in and out inside of an hour. (They had a special service between the regular services that they had to fit in.) We got back home… and took naps. For me, three hours. Apparently, I needed it.

After that, we headed to Columbia to meet up with Bret and his girlfriend, Elizabeth. We met at The Mall in Columbia. That place has changed quite a bit since the last time that I had been there. And… there’s an Apple Store there. I have finally seen and held a MacBook Air. Just as I was examining it, a young lady was looking at the Macbook Air next to me. She closed the lid, to see how thin it was…

…and an alarm went off.

She had the “Oh, God… What did I do?!” look on her face. Her boyfriend/husband/guy-with-her just looked on like, “I don’t know this woman.”

Turns out that the alarm was connected to a computer on a different table altogether. It just so happened that the timing was perfect.

After we left Bret and Elizabeth, we headed to Ellicott City to visit Aunt Rea and Uncle Marion. I took the laptop, so that I could show them pictures of Grace, Adam’s graduation and wedding weekend and a few pictures of Utah. It was a nice visit.

Back home for dinner and to hang with the family. I finally took my official first turn as “Uncle Rob, holding Grace.” She was a little fussy at first, but quieted down rather quickly… and then drifted off to The Dreaming. All of us sat around and talked for a bit. While we were chatting, heard about his next posting. Shortly after that, Grace decided that it was feeding time again, so we called it a night.

I’m not entirely sure what’s going on during the day tomorrow – aside from trying to catch up with Tammy – before heading back to Utah, but I’m sure that we’ll (try to) squeeze something in.

Stray Toaster
SaraRules taught me something about a function on the computer. Granted, it was something on a Mac and not something that I was familiar with doing… but she still taught me something. And I promised that I would document it. “For posterity.” (And for her to get the satisfaction of being able to say “Do you remember that time when…?”)

Namaste.

Saturday – 16 February 2008
Yesterday was spent downtown at Harborplace and the National Aquarium in Baltimore.

The day started with lunch at Phillip’s Restaurant.  Crab cakes.  Not just one style, but two!  Broiled (favorite) and fried.  Well worth the trip.

Next, we headed to the Aquarium.  The gentleman at the ticket counter suggested that we delay going in until 5:00, when the admission rate dropped to $16 USD.  So, we spent a half-hour at the Barnes & Noble in the Power Plant.  It was the first time that I’d been in that B&N; I like the layout a lot – two floors, two cafes, plenty of space for customers to sit and even spots where small groups could congregate.  In other words, it would make a great place for Clitorati… if there was a B&N like this in Salt Lake City.

Back to the aquarium.

Three buildings, multiple floors of fish, mammals, amphibians, birds… and even a sloth.  Pictures here.

Back home to hang out with the family.

Today, my uncle is coming down for the afternoon from New York.

I should probably finish – read “start” – getting ready.

And with that…

Namaste.

Friday – 15 February 2008
We got in this morning around 1:20 AM. The flight was rather uneventful… which is “good” when talking about air travel. met us at the airport and brought us home. SaraRules got to meet the paternal side of the family-unit, including a sleeping Grace. (When we saw her this morning, she was in full “I’m hungry, where’s Mommy?!” mode – the girl has a good set of lungs.)

Today, Harborplace and the National Aquarium in Baltimore. After that/other than that, I have no idea. But, it’s a vacation, so we’re not really pressed about it.

Tomorrow, my uncle is coming down from New York to spend a few hours.

Stray Toaster
While sitting in the airport yesterday, I saw this article. It had a picture. When I saw the picture, this was the first thing that came to mind:

For those of you who don’t get the joke (or why I’m going straight to Hell), click here.

Now, to finish getting ready and attack the day.

Namaste.