Random Access

(click picture for larger image)

8 LCDs. EIGHT! Can you imagine…?

< groove>

• Gwen Stefani – Hollaback Girl
• Ben Folds Five – Song for the Dumped
• Edie Brickell & New Bohemians – What I Am
• emmet swimming – Hey Jesse
• Babyface and Toni Braxton – Give You My Heart

< /groove>

How does your Tuesday sound?

Monday (Coda)
Not a bad start to the week. Work was good. In fact, it started with a very good conversation with a coworker. The rest of the day was… nominally busy. Not badly so, but enough to keep me occupied.

After work, I went to visit Kate, Perry and their kids. It was fun. I played with the kids for a bit and talked geek with Perry… while Kate mostly shook her head at us. When we headed downstairs to look at a few things in Perry’s gaming area, I noticed that he had some books… that looked a lot like books I used to own. Books that I had been considering replacing. I had completely spaced off the fact that I had loaned them to Perry with an open-ended return. *duhr* I was greatly relieved to learn that I wouldn’t have to replace them, as three of them are VERY hard to find.

I came home, fixed dinner and watched Heroes. Wow. Didn’t see a lot of that coming. “Curiouser and curiouser,” said little Alice… Yeah. And I’m going to have to wait six weeks (for the midseason hiatus) before we find out who’s doing what. *taps vein*

The Adventures of Indigo Bolt
Say it with me: “Security Level 47.”

Stray Toasters

• Today’s musical selection for the ride to and from A.F. was Private Times… and the Whole 9!, by Al B. Sure! I haven’t listed to this CD in a very long time. Not bad. It starts off with a nice R&B cover of Hotel California and segues into a series of slow songs before closing out the CD with a number up upbeat, danceable songs. It ends with a bass guitar mix of Hotel California and a lite piano jazz final song.
• 77 Design Gifts for under $77
• KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!
• This video is just… um… yeah. Check it out and see for yourself.
• By way of boingboing.net: Sun of Suns: novel of sky-pirates, awesome world-building
• “How do you stop an exploding man?”
• Trend Alert: Clear Wheels to Replace Spinners and Black Rims?
• Goo.
• Best Blogs of 2006 that You (Maybe) Aren’t Reading

Namaste.

made a comment in his most recent post…

That Justin Timberlake song keeps running through my head.

…that reminded me of something that I omitted from this morning’s post.

Last year, when City of Villains was released, they removed a number of hairstyles, including “Buzz,” which was a flattop fade. If you look at any of my Indigo Bolt pictures from July-November of last year (or any of my ‘Bolt user icons), you’ll see what I mean. I was messing around with Indi’s costume – including his face – and changed the hairstyle… not realizing that “Buzz” was no longer in the list. So, I was forced to find a style that worked nominally well. And, I have to say: Aside from “Afro” and “Bald,” there were not a lot of styles that look good on a Black character. At least, not in my opinion. So, I chose what I considered the least of all possible evils and went with “Combed Back,” which can be seen in any of the pictures since that time. Then, to make it consistent, I had to change the style on his civilian costume to. ‘Cause I’m a stickler like that.

Last night, while messing around with the character generator in City of Heroes, I clicked on the hair template to see what styles might look good on my new character. As I scrolled through the list, I crossed a style called “Ice.” Damn-and-a-half it it wasn’t the same flattop fade that I had originally used on ‘Bolt!

It pains me to admit that my immediate first thought was: They brought the sexy back!

I laughed – and shuddered – when I realized what had just gone through my mind.

After looking at a few other styles, I decided to go with a full (head-covering) mask for the new character.
Full mask as in “no hair visible.”
Go figure.

But, I can still go back and change Indi’s hair to the high-and-tight that he still has in all of his pre-City of Villains release pictures.

< boogie>

• Parliament – P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)
• David Bowie – Miracle Goodnight
• Poe (ft. Mark Danielewski) – Hey Pretty
• Aerosmith – Pink

< /boogie>

Somebody say, “Is there funk after death?”
I say, “Is Seven Up?”
Yeah, P-Funk!

Monday – 04 December 2006
Another week begins.

Sunday was pretty laid back.  I consider that a good way to spend the end of your weekend.  I slept in a bit.  I lounged a bit.   I went to coffee with Perry.  I introduced to Game Pedler and Greywhale and the art of shopping for used – I mean “previously owned” -  videogames.  I shopped for groceries.  I watched Without a Trace.  I spent way too much time checking out a build for a new character in City of Heroes.  I don’t have an origin story for him… yet… but I’ll get there, eventually.  And then, there is the concept for the other hero that I have in mind.  *sigh*

Stray Toasters

• I heard a (new) song last night called “No Fear of Falling,” by The Badlees.  I like this song.
• An interesting look at Dark City, by way of Mania.com
• TIE Fighter made of gingerbread.
• Pete Goldlust’s Carved Crayons.  Too much free time? Maybe… but these are cool to look at.
• I know who’s getting one of these for Christmas…
• The 12 Gizmos of Christmas

Time to make like the cast from The Wiz (the broadway play, not the movie…) and Ease on Down the Road.

Namaste.

Saturday – 02 December 2006
Another day in the valley.

Yesterday was good, for the most part.  Work went well.  The drive home wasn’t bad, either.  For a Friday.

Before heading to Clitorati, I stopped at CompUSAirways.  I needed a now mouse.  Okay, maybe I didn’t exactly “need” it, but I wanted one.  And I got one.  Then, I was off to coffee.  We had a decent turnout.  I also picked up Ray and Cool Hand Luke, for $7.99, each.  On to dinner.  Then home.  I wasn’t feeling exactly top-notch as dinner wound down; by the time I got home, I wasn’t feeling any better.  After an extended visit to the SanFac, I turned in.  Me… in bed… before 1:00 AM… on a Friday.  Go figure.

I slept in this morning.  When I made it out of bed, I simply lounged around the apartment.  I showered and got ready to do not much else for a bit.  A short while later, dropped by and invited me to join her for lunch.  I did.  We went to Hopper’s.  The food, as usual, was good… but the service was lacking – our waitress didn’t seem like she was fully in the game, so to speak.  And we weren’t the only ones to comment on it.  The ladies at the booth next to our table echoed our sentiments.

Leaving the restaurant, we made a stop at F.Y.E…. where I (finally) found a copy of Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John and Bernie Taupin.  I’ve been looking for this, locally, for the past few weeks.  Next stop, Target.  I needed to get cards and gifts for a wedding later in the day.  From there, Circuit City.  I am now the owner of Superman II: The Richard Donner Edition and Superman Returns.
Home to change and get ready for the wedding.  More correctly: The wedding reception.  (This is still Utah, after all.)  I ran into a few people whom I haven’t seen in a long while and and arrived a short while later.

Earlier in the day, asked me if I wanted to catch a movie.  I picked her up and, after a jaunt home to change, we saw Stranger than Fiction.  Will Ferrell is growing on me.  He’s getting rid of the stigma that I had associated with him from most of his tenure on Saturday Night Live.  Slowly, but he’s getting there.

I bailed on breakfast, opting instead to spend a leisurely soak reading Dark Force Rising.

Namaste.

So far, it’s been a good day.  It took a little bit of an odd turn a few minutes ago, though…

I was in the server room, helping to rack some new servers.  I was attaching rails to one of the servers when I took note of the fact that the chorus from a song was running through my head.  Then I realized what song it was: Blame It on the Rain, by Milli Vanilli.  I was both amused and appalled by this.

In light of this (and because I saw Ms. ‘s post), I decided to formulate My Evil Planâ„¢

Your objective is simple: Become King

Your motive is a little bit more complex: Power

Stage One:

To begin your plan, you must first incapacitate a Queen. This will cause the world to sit up and take notice, stunned by your arrival. Who is this Criminal Mastermind? Where did they come from? And why do they look so good in Norman?

Stage Two:

Next, you will seize control of Crown Council. This will cause countless hordes of Knights to flock to you, begging to do your every bidding. Your name will become synonymous with Fear, as lesser men whisper your name in terror.

Stage Three:

Finally, you will Unleash your Armies of Destruction, bringing about the Destruction of the Masses. This will all be done from a neighboring Kingdom, an excellent choice if we might say. These three deeds will herald the end, and the citizens of this planet will have no choice but to elect you their new god.

Trust us, it’ll all come together in the end.

So it is written.  So shall it be done.

Thursday (Coda)
It turned out to be a good NBN Thursday.  Work went well.  The midday workout was good.  Wes agreed to do one of my workouts.  Instead of doing general exercises that cover a range of groups, my routines usually focus on one or two groups for the entire workout.  Today we did chest and biceps.  It was work.  But, it was good.

On the way to SLC, traffic was… varied.  From American “Fark” to Lehi (about three miles), traffic crawled along at an almost stop-and-go pace.  Apparently, there had been an accident.  Therefore, people had to rubberneck to see what had happened.  (: What does the UCBD have to say about accident and roadside incident rubberneckers?)  Things were fine again until I hit Point of the Mountain.  At that point there was a lot of brake-tapping.  *shrug*  Things were okay until I got onto I-80.  I was in the right-hand lane when I realized that there was a slow-moving truck ahead of me.  Just as I decided to change lanes to get around him, he decided to change lanes, too.  Yipee-ki-yay.  I got back into the right lane and passed him.

I stopped at Dr. Volt’s to get my weekly four-color fix.  As I was checking out, I noticed two things:

1. I had, once again, neglected to take my gift certificate.
2. There was a lone Alpha Male Stikfas figure for sale.
   

I added the Stikfas figure to my shwag, paid for my stuff and came home.  After sitting on my kiester for a bit, I cooked dinner and made a new batch of Chocolate Jolts.  This time, I tried to use more coffee.  And I went with a flavored coffee, at that – Vanilla Bean.  It will be interesting to see if the tastes compliment each other.  After dinner, I met online and we played a Titan game of Battlefield 2142.  I can see that I’m going to need a lot of practice with this game.  And a new mouse wouldn’t hurt, either.  I got by butt handed to me a few times, but I had fun.

Football Update
The Ravens and the Bengals played last night.  The Ravens were playing to clinch the AFC North Division.

And they lost.

Marvin Lewis and the boys from Cincinnati held the Ravens scoreless until late in the Fourth Quarter.  The Ravens are now 9-3 on the season, but they’re still on top of the division… although the Bengals aren’t too far behind.
Congrats, .

Stray Toasters

• I talked with the Matriarch as I was driving home.  All’s well there.
• Sterling Skull Cufflinks
• Lemming that I am…
  
  

• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Barbie doll set comes with plastic dog crap
• For Nox (and a few others): Do You Worship Chthlhu? card game
• I am nearing the end of Book Two of the Thrawn trilogy.  I’m rather enjoying this series.
• Volkswagen Redefines the Sled
• Starship Troopers 3 ?!?  *shiver*

And now, it’s time to get the job done like Big Daddy Kane.

Namaste.

< groove>

• Chuck Berry – Johnny B. Goode
• Jim Croce – Don’t Mess Around With Jim
• US3 – Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)

< /groove>

Thursday – 30 November 2006
Another Thursday begins.  Hopefully, it will conform to NBN standards.

Yesterday was, on the whole, a good day.  I had a few moments of irritation with a coworker.  He said something that bothered me a bit.  I expressed my concern; I think I got the point across.  It put something of a damper on the latter part of the day, but it wasn’t insurmountable.

The day ended hanging out with and watching last week’s CSI:.  The Who‘s Roger Daltrey was a guest star, as was Barbara Bain, whom I most remember from Space:1999.  Interesting episode and Mr. Daltrey’s performance was quite good.

Stray Toasters

• The Making of a LEGO Brick
• By way of : Video Game Evolution
• *grblesnrkx*
• nofrag.com had a Battlefield 2142 photoshopping contest.  You can see the entries here.  Two words: “Tyrannosaurus Rex.”  That’s all I’m sayin’.
• From Slashdot: History Proves that Videogame Ads Are Awful
• 
• Pillows that look like giant anti-depressant pills
• , you might be interested in this: Open Classical Music Repository
• From the upcoming Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer – First Look: Fantasticar Flows Onto Film
• 

Up out.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 28 November 2006
Last night, I nodded off at my desk.  This morning, I ignored the alarm (okay, I turned it off…) and slept in for an additional hour.

Work wasn’t too bad.  There was only one monkey-related issue… which I dealt with fairly easily.  The signs of a pending issue with the same monkey reared its head, but I managed to deftly sidestep it.  Other than that, the rest of the day was a piece of cake.

Tonight, after a month-long hiatus, saw the return of the Shadowrun game.  The team met their contact and got under way.  They met with an NPC who gave them a potential lead.  Extra kudos to for some rather inspired roleplaying.  Next time, we will see where their newfound information leads them.

Stray Toasters

• I downloaded and installed the new Battlefield 2142 patch.  I can now play the game online and not get summarily rejected when I try to connect to game servers.  Hallelujah.
• Snow.  Whoop-de-fuck.
• Easy Throw-away Email Addresses, by way of slashdot
• From CNet: Why Do All Our Gadgets Break?
• Cranberry-Apple Juice.
• Gallery of Monster Toys
• From the “Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting” file: Bruce Lee theme park coming to China
• , this had your name all over it: Using tape to repair plane wing
• This would be a good place to stop.

Namaste.

Monday – 27 November 2006: (Coda)

Another week begins. This time, with snow! The day didn’t start with snow, but it definitely ended with it. And, you’d think that for a state whose license plates claim that it has “The Greatest Snow on Earth,” its citizens would have some idea of how to drive in inclement weather.

Nope, not so much.

And, the kicker: It wasn’t even snowing on the homebound commute. But, that didn’t stop the masses from driving at roughly 2/3 posted speed. The roads were wet, but it was well above freezing. Yet, we plodded along around 40 MPH. Yay. I’m sure that the Utah Council for Better Driving could provide some pointers.
On the plus side, tonight was D&D night. We didn’t die. And, while trying to get some information, I got to use my new favorite in-game interrogation method. If you have seen the new Casino Royale, you know the one I’m talking about; it was moderately effective, too. Now my character doesn’t have to worry about having a fire pit nearby whenever I’m trying to get an… uncooperative NPC to answer questions.

Stray Toasters

• Snow fell. I called my father. Once again, he told me that I could “keep [it] out here.” Then he told me that Baltimore is supposed to have temps in the 60s for the next few days. *sigh*
• For : Blobsquatches.
• For : Bollywood Star Mud Flaps
• For : Customized portrait of you as a zombie
• 2006 “10 Worst Toys” from W.A.T.C.H.
• Three-screen goodness. *bliss* I am still getting used to looking to the right (rather than left) for my secondary screen.
• Living on a lighted stage
  Approaches the unreal
  For those who think and feel
  In touch with some reality
  Beyond the gilded cage
• Gatorade.
• By way of Nyx…
  
• : Jim Shooter is returning to DC next summer. He will be working on a Legion title.

Namaste.

Monday – 27 November 2006
This has been a good weekend. It was nice to have four days of non-work to do pretty much whatever I wanted. I tried to take full advantage of that. This weekend’s post-Gluttony Day escapades included:

• Avoiding the early-morning shopping monkeys on Black Friday.
• Clitorati.
• Sleeping in… a bit.
• A trip to Mecca… I mean “The Bookshelf.”
• Saturday Night Fever Breakfast.
• Watching most of the Steelers-Ravens game. (Details below.)
• Relaxing.

Football Update

Pittsburgh at Baltimore
0 – 27
Hello, Rivalry Week #2. The Steelers, coming off a big come-from-behind victory against the Browns last week, went to Baltimore to stretch their win streak to two games.That’s a shame. Another team that didn’t know that the boys in purple and black are playing this season with a new fire. Both sides of the game were effective. The offensive moved the ball and put points on the board. The defense held the line… and put points on the board, too. And, they sacked Pitt QB Ben Roethlisburger NINE times. Can you say “Franchise Record,” boys and girls? I knew you could! Can you also say “9-2 season?” Very good! My ONE complaint about this game didn’t come from the players, coaches or even the refs. It came from whomever is the executive producer of CBS Sports’ football coverage. Granted, the game was lopsided, but I want to know what possessed him or her to decide to not air any more of the game… with nearly ten minutes left in the game?! If you were a fan of the Steelers or the Ravens, too bad. You got to watch the end of the Jacksonville-Buffalo game. Yes, it was a closer game, but that wasn’t what you tuned in to watch, was it? No. It wasn’t. And, what would have happened if – and we’re talking a case of the sun shining radiantly on a dog’s ass here – Pittsburgh had staged an amazing come back and threatened to win the game? “Oops. Sorry. You would have loved to have seen that, but you get this game instead! Isn’t that just as good?” *braincramp*
Carolina at Washington
13 – 17
The Panthers dropped this one to the Redskins. The game was close and it looked as though Carolina might pull off a come-from-behind win… until the Panthers’ last drive, when Jake Delhomme threw a pass that was picked off by Sean Taylor.Sorry, .
Arizona at Minnesota
26 – 31
Arizona blew into the Twin Cities looking to improve their 2-9 season. Unfortunately, the Vikings had other ideas. They send the Cards back to Tempe with a loss.Congrats,
Cincinnati at Cleveland
30 – 0
The Battle for Ohio.I was not looking forward to this game, as I like JANIE and ZEEKE. But, as the tagline from Highlander said: “There can be only one.” Congratulations, . Sorry, . (Of course, the fact that the Bengals are coached by former Ravens Defensive Coach Marvin Lewis didn’t hurt, in my book.)
Oakland at San Diego
14 – 21
California Games.This time, the Bolts blitzed the Raiders and put up 14 unanswered points in the 4th Quarter to take away a win. Sorry, .
Philadelphia at Indianapolis
21 – 45
The Donovan McNabb-less Eagles flew into the RCA Dome to take on Peyton Manning and the Colts.Indy dominated this game, from the get-go. Manning went 14/20 with 183 passing yards… more yards than all three Eagles passers combined (161 yards). The Colts’ run game was on, too: 239 yards to Philly’s 149. Sorry, .

Stray Toasters

• I am edging ‘Bolt ever closer to Security Level 47; I need a little under 300,000 XP to get there. Not too bad for a few days’ work, considering that it was a 3+ million point level… and copious amounts of XP debt accrued over the weekend.
• By way of : Sculpted Light Bra and Mixed Messages Bra
• I believe that I shall soon own Superman Returns…
• …as I shall similarly possess the Richard Donner cut of Superman II.
• Inka dinka doo
• I have inherited a/another 17″ LCD monitor. Intrepid is becoming more independent of ‘Nine. They do still share a keyboard and mouse, via KVM, though.
• Dave Cockrum passes away. (Newsarama article)
• Guy Noir, Private Eye
• : You may be interested in this: Glass Handgun Model
• I’ve seen ads for Love for the past few weeks and only knew that it had “something” to do with The Beatles. It turns out that it’s a new Cirque du Soliel show. Now, I’m curious.

And now for my next amazing feat: Off to work.

Namaste.

Friday – 24 November 2006
Welcome to Black Friday.

Kind of like Black Adam, but different.

And definitely not the same as the Black Plague… although I’m sure that a convincing argument could be made about how the swarms of monkeys hunting down “the best deals” is similiar to the packs of rats racing around Europa spreading disease. Or, there’s also Greg Dean’s take on it:

I, wanting no part of this particular disease, stayed in bed. And I was happy to do so. Not quite “…visions of sugar plums,” but warm and comfy beats freezing my ass off and wanting to punch monkeys in the face repeatedly. That’s sho’ nuff right! This isn’t to say that I haven’t been out. So far, I stopped at Dr. Volt’s to get my weekly dose of four-color goodness. And they are having a sale: 50% off on back issues. I loaded up on some old (80s) issues of Firestorm. This made me happy. I also swung into REI. Not so bad… of course, it was nearly 2:00, most of the insanity had faded.

Yesterday was a good day. I spent the early part of it trying to erase 170K of debt that I had accrued Wednesday night. I managed to get rid of some of it. After beating on bad guys for a couple of hours, I figured that it was time to get ready for dinner. Knowing that I am a holiday orphan, and invited me to join them – and ‘s family – for dinner. After observing the necessary hygiene rituals, I was up and out. I had a great time. Football, food and jokes at ‘s expense. How can you beat that combination? Post-dinner, I came back home and finished knocking out the rest of that XP debt.

Stray Toasters

• I like these: Livingstones. I wouldn’t mind having a few dozen.
• Tribbles! Okay, they aren’t really Tribbles, but they look damned close…
• Does this look like a giant, human-sized wok to anyone else besides me?
• Obi-Dave Kenobi and his little sword.
• Top Ten Girl Geeks, by way of CNet.
• < gluttony>
  Mmm. Steak burrito from Barbacoa.
  < /gluttony>
• Stick Magnetic Ribbons on Your SUV – Scathing musical look at the phenomenon (do DO do-do-do) of magnetic ribbons that made me laugh loudly. (some NSFW lyrics)
• The Top 10 Movie Spaceships, according to filmcritic.com.
• Do you like taking roadtrips? Do you wonder what it is that you should look for while traveling? Take a look at Roadside America maps.
• I’ve been listening to the soundtrack from Graffiti Bridge. This movie would have to go on the Cool World-Long Kiss Goodnight Scale, but – as is the case with many movies on there – it has a solid soundtrack. Besides, you can’t go wrong with Morris Day and The Time. And Mavis Staples. And Quincy Jones’ young protegè, Tevin Campbell.

And that’s it for now. Tonight: Clitorati.

Namaste.