Random Access

Thursday – 23 November 2006
So far, I’ve talked with the parents and my uncle. All seems to be well in their respective parts of the country. I don’t know if I’ll catch anyone in the sibko, but I’ve talked with them recently and they were doing well… besides, the ‘rents gave me minor updates and everything sounded kosher.

I hope that you have a happy and safe holiday and that you enjoy the company of family and friends. For those of you on the road, in the air, on rail (and even on the water), may your travels be safe and uneventful.

Be well.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 21 November 2006
All in all, not a bad day. No big fires. Only one monkey-related issue… and it was minor.

Tomorrow is “Friday.” A few of us are commandeering a conference room – and a projector – at lunch and playing HALO/HALO2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Because we can.

To those of you traveling to visit family and friends on Wednesday or Thursday: Travel safely, be well and best wishes to you and your families for the holidays.

Stray Toasters

• I received a surprise phone call from one of my cousins this afternoon. Out of the blue. Well, not entirely out of the blue – he was calling to wish me an early “Happy Thanksgiving.” We talked for a few minutes and caught up on a few things. We’ll probably talk again this weekend.
• Question for the cell phone users out there: Who is your cellular provider and what – good and bad- do you think of the service that you receive?
• One of my coworkers forwarded me a link to “How Superman Should Have Ended” this afternoon.  I had heard of this before, but never looked at it until today.  There is also an official How It Should Have Ended website.  I shall have to spend some time on there…
• – Cousins that are siblings, Identical twin sisters and mothers
• What’s the Problem with US High Schools?
  
  
• From woot.com: Winners’ Gallery – The Best of Contest 98
• Purdue Streams a Movie at 7.5 GB/sec
  Two words: “Go Boilers!”
• The Photography of Jim DeLutes
• Did someone order a beatdown? Because, I think these folks are about to bring one.
• Star Trek: The Animated Series is now available on DVD. No, I’m not making this up. It had a 22-episode run from September 1973 to fall of 1974. It continued the adventures of NCC-1701 U.S.S. Enterprise‘s original five-year mission. The ST: TOS cast reprised their roles on the show.

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 21 November 2006
One down, two to go.

Monday was a pretty good day. It moved quickly. I had enough going on to keep me busy without too much downtime. And there was no monkey-riffic-ness to deal with… although I had a couple of near misses.

Post-work: Heroes. I like that show. Quite a bit, in fact, although, I was beginning to grow weary of the “Save the cheerleader, save the world” tagline. Well, they saved the cheerleader (did you somehow not expect this?)… so the world-saving should be along any episode now. Some of the glimpses of upcoming episodes – or maybe just the next one – looked interesting.

Stray Toasters

• I talked with Kris and my uncle last night. Both are well.
• For the football (college and/or pro) fans out there: Who is/are your favorite team(s )?
• I heard about the Michael Richards gaff (1, 2) yesterday. I also caught his apology on The Late Show with David Letterman last night. He seemed to meander a bit in his apology, going from personal statements of remorse to the war in Iraq… with only tenuous threads tying them together. I’m not saying that he isn’t/wasn’t sorry for what he did, but there was something… “off” about it, to me.
• : Can you translate this?
• Every time they stop u
  Change up like a sock
  Every time they try 2 clock u
  Tick more than they tock
• RIAA toilet paper. Nuff said.
• From the “Way Too Much Free Time” file: Knitted wooly cupcakes
• Everybody Wants to Pass as a Naked and Famous Cat and Rule the World
• Many people know who Stan “The Man” Lee is. For those who don’t, he was the driving force behind Marvel Comics in the 60s and 70s; he still holds a “Chairman Emeritus” position there… to some degree. You may have also seen him in various Marvel Comics-based movies in the past few years. If you’ve heard of Jack Chick and “Chick Tracts,” you might find this take on the Fantastic Four amusing.
• :
• Taco Bell Wants Your Playstation 3 Is this really a fair trade?

Duty calls. Up out.

Namaste.

Sunday – 19 November 2006
Back from Moab. It was good to get out of the SLC and Utah Valleys… finally. The change of scenery was nice. I didn’t do much, but that was part of the point. And that was just fine with me. , who had never been to Moab before, asked if she could tag along and did.  And off we went.  The weekend included:

• I drove through one of the sites where I did HVAC work with ‘s dad in 2004. The subdivision hadn’t been completed the last time I was there, so it was nice to see the finished product… even if only from the outside.
• Went to Moab Brewery and partook of wings, dusted fries and Black Raven Oatmeal Stout. Oh, so tasty. The OSU-Michigan game was on Saturday. OSU took it to the house. (Grats, .)
• Watched Comic Relief 2006.
• Fell asleep watching Comic Relief 2006.
• Found a coffeeshop/bookstore.  Acquired a cup of hot mocha goodness.
• Checked out a few of the shops on Main Street.
• Hiked into Moonflower Canyon, where I introduced how to the great American pastime of skipping rocks on water.
• Went back to Moab Brewery for more wings, fries and Black Raven.  This time, the NFL games were on.  I didn’t see the Hawks-Ravens game, but was kind enough to send me an update.
• Headed out of Moab and swung through the tiny… “town” (I guess)… of Thompson Springs.  The Thompson Motel  looked even more run-down than it did a couple of years ago.  There was a (poorly) handwritten sign near one of the rooms that said “Warning.  Hostal area.  Keep Out.”  That was all I needed to see: As far as I was concerned, that place was No Man’s Land.
• Drove in to Thompson Canyon a bit to show some of the petroglyphs.

There’s a Motel 6 on the north end of Moab.  I decided to stay there based on the one in which I stayed in Denver (back in September).  Their motto, “We’ll leave the light on for you” is true.  They did.  Right outside the window.  O.o  It wasn’t too bad – it was akin to having a nightlight.  The best part of the stay was the night manager, Joe – he looked like Christopher Walken… but with white hair and glasses  A sick and twisted part of me wanted to break out my iPod, cue up Weapon of Choice and see if he would dance through the halls.  But I didn’t.  This time.  He was nice enough to point us in the direction of where to get ice cream.  I offered to get him a cone, but he declined (lactose intolerance)… but he came outside as we were getting in the car to thank me for the offer.

Football Update

•   – The boys from Charm City beat the Hawks and move to an 8-2 record.
• – I’m still not sure HOW it happened, but they dropped this one to the Steeles.  Sorry,
•   – The kids crom Cincy made up for last week by beating up on the Saints.  Nice one,
• – Seattle lost to the ‘Niners.  Sorry, .
• – The Vikings were held at bay by the Dolphins.  Maybe next week, …  (Go ‘fins!)
• – The Raiders lost to the Chiefs.  Sorry, … but at least you have the OSU win to be happy about!

Stray Toasters

• I have popcorn and cranberry-apple juice.  This is a good pre-bed snack.
• “Bond.  James Bond.”  I completely neglected to mention that I liked Casino Royale.  It’s a good start/reboot for the franchise and Daniel Craig makes a very good – and as-yet unpolished – James Bond.
• 
• I found copies of Chris Claremont’s First Flight and Grounded in a used bookstore today.
• : Would your family completely wig out if you got this for a niece or nephew for Christmas?
• The art of Ray Caesar
• I have to uninstall and reinstall 2142.  *sigh*
• In a genius stroke of casting for future X-Men films, I present: This.
• : Edginton lifts off with Warhammer 40,000

And now, it’s sleepy-bye time.

Namaste.

Moab.

See you tomorrow.

Friday – 17 November 2006
Yesterday was a decent NBN Thursday, although it started going a little downhill after work.  That put me in a dour mood for the better part of the evening.  However, the weekend is now mere hours away.  This is a good thing.
Later this morning, I have a training session to attend for work.  It’s called Casino Royale.  That, too is a good thing.
Stray Toasters

• I found a link to a video of The Monkey Song from Animaniacs.  Before Code Monkey, this was my favorite monkey-related song.
• Will It Blend?  Want to see a powerful blender in action?  Check this out this little number from BlendTec.  I don’t know of anyone who needs a home blender this powerful, but I guess it’s nice to know that it’s available if you did.
• I discovered last night.   Some of the strips that amused me the most include:
  • http://xkcd.com/c150.html – I think that doing this would be damned cool
  • http://xkcd.com/c16.html  (for
  • http://xkcd.com/c52.html
  • http://xkcd.com/c70.html  (for and )
  • …and http://xkcd.com/c118.html (because will grok)
• I want to take a look at some of the more creative/silly analogy lyrics used in music, probably with a strong emphasis on rap.  I’ve found a few that stand out, but I want more.
• Penny Arcade has kicked off its annual Child’s Play fundraiser.
• Heh.
  
• The Leonid meteor shower puts in an appearance this weekend.

Up out.

Namaste.

After the gym, Wes and I headed to the grocery store to pick up some frozen entrees for lunch – they provide a nice “safety net” on those days when you didn’t cook the night before or when you don’t feel like going out and spending lots o’ money on lunch.

But, I digress…

Venimus. Sumimus. Excedimus.
“We came. We shopped. We left.”

When I got back to the office, I started putting away my things and finally paid attention to the receipt. Along with the receipt, I got a coupon. I looked at the coupon and the first thing that came to mind was:

“I wonder if these stack…?”

Hi, my name is Rob… and I’m a gamer.
“Hi, Rob.”

Thursday – 16 November 2006
Yesterday wasn’t a bad day.  It had a relatively relaxed pace.  No fires.  No monkeys.  Until about 3:00… then, three tasks came up.  All within about fifteen minutes of each other.  Oy.  Nothing Herculean, but enough to keep me busy until the end of the day.

The Adventures of Indigo Bolt
Post-work, I came home and then headed to Paragon City.  I joined a team for an off-world mission.  A mission that I had in my list of “things to do,” in fact… but I didn’t get credit for completing it.  So, I get to run that mission again.  Yay.  But, there was one thing that was good about it…

Can you (FINALLY) say “Security Level 46,” boys and girls?  I knew you could!

Stray Toasters

• I had a very tasty burrito from Barbacoa last night.  That place could be hazardous to my diet… what little “diet” I have, that is.  Did I mention that it was tasty?  It was.
• As would say: “It’s nakie time!”
  
• Welcome back, .   Now, down to brass tacks: How was the Cruise Director?  Do I have competition?  After all, I have a rep to maintain.
• Coworker Eric left this picture for me the other day.  It made me smile.
  
• A remix of Don’t Cry for Me Argentina just played on the iPod.  It made me think of how chameleon-like and mercurial Madonna’s image has been over the years; she has reinvented herself many times since her “Like a Virgin” days.  And, at least in my opinion, she makes some pretty good music, too.
• The same thing could be said about The Artist Formerly – and Once Again – Known as Prince.  And I like his music, too.
• : There’s apparently another Cthulhu figure out there…
• Airlines to get iPod hookups.
• Speaking of iPods, the great “iPod as an alarm clock” experiment was a success.  With one minor hiccup.  I neglected to reset the time on it for the end Daylight Saving Time… so it went off – loudly – an hour before I had planned to get up.
• I’m walking into spiderwebs, leave a message and I’ll call you back…
• Newsarama has an interview with James Kakalios, author of The Physics of Superheroes.

Well, it’s that time.  So, just like Kool Moe Doe: I Go to Work.

Namaste.

< groove>

• M.A.R.R.S. – Pump Up the Volume (extended mix)
• Daft Punk – Around the World
• David Bowie – You’ve Been Around
• Sammy Davis, Jr. & The Count Basie Orchestra – The Girl from Ipanema
• LL Cool J – The Boomin’ System

< /groove>

Tuesday : 14 November 2006
Today passed rather quickly. I was busy, not horribly so, but enough to stay active. That was good. Tomorrow should be about the same, possibly a little busier.

Post-work, helped me retrieve my table from the house for tonight’s Shadowrun game. The game, however, wound up being cancelled for the night. Oh, well. Life happens. invited me over to watch tonight’s episode of Law & Order: SVU; I headed over there and hung out for a while.

Stray Toasters

• It snowed today. In keeping with tradition, I called my father to let him know. He told me that I was welcome to keep the snow out here and not to feel obliged to send any of it his way.
• shared a link to Talismans, a TIME Photo Essay.
• 
• Domo-kun hoodie
• My fridge needs an interior makeover… soon.
• Lucy Lawless (Xena, Warrior Princess and SciFi’s Battlestar Galactica) will provide the voice of Goldmoon in the upcoming Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight animated movie. Kiefer Sutherland will provide the voice of Raistlin Majere.
• 

And that’s that.

Namaste.

to :  She passed her skills tests and is eligible to bechosen for a team in the Treasure Valley Rollergirls League.

…and, by way of :  Pioneer Valley Roller Derby: LEGO Roller Derby

< boogie>

• Will Smith – Wild Wild West
• Geri Halliwell – Look at Me
• Prince – Pope
• All Saints – Lady Marmalade
• Johnny Gill – Rub You the Right Way

< /boogie>

What’s making your Tuesday morning move?

Monday : 13 November 2006 (day’s end)
It was a busy and pretty productive day at work.  That’s good; it helped the day pass quickly.  Can’t really complain about that.  After work, I came home and cooked dinner (and lunch for tomorrow… and a little something for later in the week). Then…

…it was off to ‘ for D&D.  We got our old school RPG geek on.  Mm-hmm, that’s right.  We didn’t get to do much gaming, per se.  We did do a bit of character clean-up and resolving some of the dangling threads from our last campaign’s plot.  Our characters wound up a bit more wealthy, looked upon with a (moderately) favorable eye by the people of the city… and stand to make a fair bit of residual income from a tavern that we set up.  On-tip-in-oors.  That’s us.

Stray Toasters

• Despite the fact that it was drab, grey and wet (not too much snow, fortunately), today’s drive-time music selection gave me a nice groove break to start the day.
• What in the Nine Hells is this?!  People… monkeys…. people… monkeys… Electric chair.
• sent me a link to this.  One word: OW!  (And I don’t mean that in a Word Up kind of way, either.)
• By way of Nox comes the Bob Saget Rap.  Yeah, I know what you’re thinking.  I thought it, too.  Then I watched the video.
• And, by way of comes Bill Nye and Samuel L. Jackson.
• Got more punch than a bowl of juice…
• I’m trying something new in the morning… um, “later today,” that is: I’m going to see how well my iPod functions as an alarm clock, now that I have a speaker system for it.
• : I think that this is something you’ll like.
• : You’ll want to take a look at the second and fourth pictures on this page.
• : Picture three on this page is yours.
• 
• Mo’ money, mo’ money, mo’ money gotta get made
  To get paid in this trade
  And I believe that I can acheive
  To make ends meet like a hair weave
  Survivin’ in this economy people in the world have gotta be
  Stayin’ in the upper class so you’re the path
  The rich gets the most and the poor gets so little
  And only Monie Love can make it in the middle
• Boar.
  Boer.
  Bohr.
  Boor.
  Bore.
  Homophones.  Just because.

Namaste.

Monday : 13 November 2006
Hm. I’m liking this whole “Get up a little earlier in the morning” thing. That’s odd as I am not what one would call “a morning person.” Go figure. Actually, I am pretty certain that the reason I like it is that it gets me to work earlier… and thereby has the potential of getting me out of work earlier.

This was a good – and relatively quiet – weekend. I think that the most productive things that I did were getting an oil change and getting my laundry done. Oh, and I reclaimed some floor space in my office. That’s productive, too, I guess. On the not-so-productive front, I put myself in harm’s way to protect the citizens of Paragon City and I also put on my flak jacket and camos to fight Pan-Asian Coalition forces in 2142.

Football Update

• The Ravens went into Nashville and came away (okay, okay… they squeaked away) with a win.  Steve McNair led the Ravens back from a 19-point deficit to win 27 – 26.
• The Bengals gave up a 28 – 7 lead to lose to the Chargers, 49 – 41.  Sorry, .
• Proving once again that the sun really does shine on a dog’s ass, the Browns pulled off a win over the Hawks, 17 – 13.  Grats, .
• The Vikings took one on the chin from the Green Bay Slackers, 23 – 17.  Maybe next week, …. maybe next week.
• Seattle beat the St. Louis 24 – 22.  A tip of the hat and a nod to .
• And… the Raiders dropped one to the Broncos, 17 – 13.  Sorry, .

Stray Toasters

• I’m not sure if I should be worried by this, but I caught myself thinking “Jumping Jehosephat” after nearly scalding myself in the shower this morning.
• and : Unless you both know someone whose username is “1sweetstar,” you might want to check your MS accounts.  I think that they may have been hacked.
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: The debate is growing: Is being short a disability?
• Casino Royale opens Friday.  I have to find a way to convince the powers that be that we need to see this as a “team-building exercise.”  Preferrably, Friday morning.
• *grblsnrx*
• According to The Weather Channel’s site, there’s light snow falling.  Great.

In the words of Dorothy, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow from The Wiz, it’s time to Ease on Down the Road.

Namaste.

Friday : 10 November 2006
Today was good.   Tonight’s activities were good, too.  But now… I’m tapped.

Quotes of the Day
Today’s quotes come from comments made at Clitorati:

• :  Resistance is creamy.

• Land: What quote of mine did you put in there? (meaning, the notebook I take to coffee)
• Me: “Penis!”
• Land: No, it was bigger than that….
• : *rimshot*
• Land: As soon as it came out of my mouth….
• : *rimshot*

And with that… bed.

Namaste.