Random Access

Got to concentrate
don’t be distractive
Turn me on tonight
Cause I’m radioactive
Radioactive
Radioactive
Radioactive

Tuesday : 25 April 2006
I thought that Monday’s only came once per week. Although, when I think about it, yesterday was a pretty good day. So, I suppose that the cosmic scales have found equilibrium. Today has been… trying. I started off the day with a trip to the SLC office and a cup of frozen mocha. I figured that was a good way to kick things off. I got to the office and had a couple of things going on – it’s called “work” for a reason. Still, things were all good.

Too good.

I was “asked” to track down an errant package. I think that my immediate reaction was to stare at the requester as though he had lost his mind. Even worse: I don’t think that he picked up on that. About the package:

• It was a bit expensive; while it could be replaced, it would not make the people who hold the purse-strings very happy.
• It was supposed to have been delivered a month ago.
• Neither the requester nor the person whom was supposed to receive the package had contacted the shipping service.
• While they had asked the two other businesses in our building about the package, it didn’t occur to them to ask anyone in the next building if the package had been delivered there.
• Nor did it occur to them to send an internal email to see if someone else had taken delivery of the item.

I wound up spending too much time trying to suss out the problem – including a trip to the local office of the shipping company… only to find out that they didn’t have any more information than we did. *braincramp* So, I went back to the office and gave what little information I could find to the requester. And I think that pretty much everyone in the office was aware, to some degree, that I was not in a happy headspace – most of them gave me a good bit of space.

The shipping company had delivered it to another address.
They brought it to us around 2 PM.
Monkey squeezing ass ninjas.

Other than that, it was a relatively uneventful day. And I didn’t wind up snapping a boot off in anyone’s ass… although I was sorely tempted a couple of times.

The High-Flying Adventures of Indigo Bolt
I went on a late patrol of the city. I joined a team and we went to Dark Astoria, Skyway City and Talos Island for our missions. Thanks to the “No, no… we can do this without any more help” mindset of the de facto team leader, most of us wound up dying. Multiple times. He finally relented and brought in another character – a Blaster. That was great, but what we really could have used was a Controller or Defender who could: a) slow down the enemy groups and b) heal us! (character archetype breakdowns) I would up leaving the game with 9,000 points of experience debt. *sigh*

Stray Toasters

• Defiant got a minor refit – it’s now running XP, too.
• : WB Press Release about this Autumn’s Legion of Super-Heroes series.
• California got its name from fanfic
• Why fan fiction is so important
• – Living in the Star Trek Universe — For Real
• : Star Blazers cruises toward big screen
• Why have so many movies lost the plot? I blame video games
• …and, speaking of videogames: The Banned XBox360 commercial (.wmv format)

I’m tapped.

Namaste.

I am Jack’s raging bile duct.

Monday : 24 April 2006
On the whole, it wasn’t a bad Monday.

We had an off-week D&D game tonight. Our characters did a lot of talking… and fighting… and falling on the ground, bleeding profusely. Over the course of the session, at least two – possibly three – of us came precariously close to dying. We did wind up losing our star NPC. But, she went out fighting.

Stray Toasters

• I talked with my uncle and Bret today. All’s well on the Right Coast.
• : I still have your mechanical pencil. I’ll bring it to the next Clitorati gathering.
• University of Utah to Help Build Realistic Bionic Arm
• By way of MSNBC: Judge: Web-surfing worker can’t be fired
• GamerDad – Gaming with Children
• I could deal with Hugo Weaving as The Joker in the next Batman film.
• Vote on Monopoly Landmarks
  

  Monopoly Fans Will Choose Which American Landmarks Will Represent 22 U.S. Cities in New “Monopoly: Here & Now” Edition

  EAST LONGMEADOW, Mass. — April 24, 2006 — What properties would appear on the MONOPOLY game board if America’s most popular game were designed in the ‘here and now’?

  Would New York Ave. be replaced with New York’s Times Square? Instead of Illinois Ave., would the game board include a landmark from the state of Illinois? And would Rodeo Drive battle it out with the Golden Gate Bridge for the coveted ‘Boardwalk’ spot on the board?

  Beginning April 24, 2006, Americans will get the chance to vote on which famous landmarks from America’s greatest destination cities should be included on the game board of the new MONOPOLY: HERE & NOW Edition. MONOPOLY fans can visit www.monopoly.com to cast their on-line ballots for legendary streets, neighborhoods and national monuments from 22 cities — ranging from New York City to Honolulu — that will be represented on the board.

• All About Coffee and Espresso: Find Out About the Life of a Gourmet Coffee Bean
• 43 Things.com

Quotes of the Day
Tonight’s quotes come from our gaming session (with apologies to Bob Dorough and George Clinton):

“Well, into any cave you go…
Or anything you need to glow…
Or any spell that you may know…
You know they’re nouns!”

And now… to The Dreaming.

Namaste.

There was a little mosquitah
In a yellow tuxedah
Freakin’ inside the speaka’s tweetah…

But the only thing that the mosquita needa
Was the Lady Devastator
With the big drum beat-ah!

(9:45:06 AM) : Dear God…
(9:45:25 AM) Crunchyy: ye?
(9:45:27 AM) : I just read this: http://hardware.slashdot.org/hardware/06/04/24/1258238.shtml
(9:45:27 AM) Crunchyy: yes?
(9:45:33 AM) : And the FIRST thing in my head:
(9:45:45 AM) : “I don’t care what you say anymore this is iLife…”
(9:45:56 AM) : “Go ahead with your WinLife, leave me alone.”
(9:45:59 AM) : *hangs head*

Sunday : 23 April 2006
It’s been a good weekend. It included trips to the park, Hollywood Connection, ice cream and kite flying, among other things.

The High-Flying Adventures of Indigo Bolt
I went on a short (about an hour-and-a-half) patrol of Paragon City tonight. I was invited to a team for a mission; I joined. We fought the Circle of Thorns. I died twice, racking up over 13k of XP debt – NOT what I was hoping to do… – but now, I’m roughly halfway to Security Level 34.

Stray Toasters

• I taught to play Magic: the Addiction Gathering tonight. Ostensibly, I was teaching her and the boys… but the boys found Cartoon Network much more interesting, so they were gone shortly after we started. She caught on rather quickly. And, she liked it. Hmm… Magic: the Gateway Drug Game.
• Congress Readies New Digital Copyright Bill
• I caught a bit of A Prairie Home Companion this afternoon. More specifically, “Guy Noir, Private Eye.” I haven’t heard that in a while.
• Exiled Gamers’ Abandonware Campaign
• “Though his mind is not for rent,
  Don’t put him down as arrogant.
  His reserve, a quiet defense,
  Riding out the day’s events.
  The river”

• 
• RIAA sues family that doesn’t own a PC
• Check out the Kid O store.
• I escaped Dr. Volt’s without purchasing any plastic crack this week.
• “You’re an evil bastard, do you know that?” –
• Pimp My Snack
• No, his mind is not for rent
  To any god or government.
  Always hopeful, yet discontent,
  He knows changes aren’t permanent,
  But change is.

• Handy Windows Keyboard Shortcuts …and… Top 10 Windows XP Tips of All Time
• Electronic Arts’ Archon was fun. So was Epyx’ Impossible Mission… once I figured out what the Hell I was supposed to do.

That’s good for now. Time for an inner-eyelid study.

Namaste.

Friday : 21 April 2006
Today was a textbook “nice Spring day.” Sun. Blue skies. 69 degrees (F). The whole nine yards.

The work day was good. I spent a good portion of the morning fighting a phone problem. In the colder-than-I-like-it PBX/server room. Not fun. I got 50% of the problem fixed and am using a stopgap “solution” until Monday for the other 50%. I’ve also run into another impasse with my PHP program. But, I think that it was akin to the problem that I had when I coded in ColdFusion… so, I will overcome it. I had lunch with a coworker at a barbecue place near work; it was tasty. And I had an Oreo Blizzard for dessert!

Clitorati. Good group, both in size and mix of people. Good conversations… although, we had to wait to have them because there was a musician performing in the cafè tonight.

Stray Toasters

• Congrats to and The Artist Formerly Known as The Non-LJ User Who Should Be Known as “OnlyAlyce” on their new house.
• Math Prof Apologizes for Test Question
• I told someone that they had “more than enough willpower to be a Green Lantern (or five)” and they got the reference.
• John Romita, Sr. and Jr. will be appearing together at the Baltimore Comic-Con this September. This is a rare occurrence. But, their artwork really doesn’t do anything for me – particularly JR Jr.’s work. It just seems… “flat.” Yes, I know that it’s a two-dimensional medium. But his work doesn’t really speak to me.
• : Look on this site for the Ganesha necklace.
• 2006 Robot Hall of Fame Inductees Announced
• 
• As much as I like my 21″ monitor, I wouldn’t be opposed to ditching it for another 17″ LCD.
• : ToeSox
• From Worth1000 : Going Postal #6
  

  In this contest, your task is to create a new design for a postage stamp. One we’d all love, or one we’d all hate, it’s up to you. Please try not to create a design featuring a celebrity who already has a stamp, such as Elvis. If you do- make sure it is extremely unique (and hilarious)in it’s depiction, or it will be disqualified. Better to come up with an entirely new idea.

• Princesses and Tori wanna-be’s

Namaste.

Thursday : 20 April 2006
Another NBN Thursday comes to an end. The weather was quite nice… even though the only got to experience a little of it firsthand.

The (not so) High-Flying Adventures of Indigo Bolt
I went on patrol tonight. I got a mission to defeat 35 of the Freakshow in Crey’s Folly. Silly me: I tried to solo it. Not smart. There was a death involved. But not before I managed to beat 15 of them. I’m going to need to take a friend or two (or ninety) with me to finish it up.

I ran into an old teammate and joined a team with her and a few others. I wound up dying a couple of times with that team… but I managed to purge the debt before I logged off.

Stray Toasters

• Sib3 called again tonight.
• Knowing my affinity for comics, sent me the following message…
  

  I don’t know if this will interest you or make you cringe or both, but:

  …and a link to Secret Wars Re-Enactment Society from Geek-Week.net. I was both amused and a little scared by it.

• ReFrederator
• From Salt Lake City Weekly: Born Blue – “Some say Indigo Children are here to save the world. Skeptics say it’s New Age hokum.”
• Tonight, I discovered that we get BET Jazz. This is both a good and a bad thing. “Good,” as I like jazz. “Bad,” since I was watching Studio Jams … and stayed up later than I should have. They got five musicians (Stanley Jordan kicks ass, by the way) together and had them do Cousin Mary and a version of Stevie Wonder’s Overjoyed. And they were slick. Easily worth staying up to watch.
• ‘ Tiny God (his computer) has been demoted to Tiny Avatar. But, he’s offered the proper obiesances and observed the rites (and made a few sacrifices, just for good measure). It should be back to Tiny God before too long.

  In a related note, Intrepid recently left ‘dock after a refit. She’s spaceworthy (or at least Interweb-worthy) again.

• : The cover art to Black Panther #15: “Bride of the Panther (Part 2)”
• It seems as though there will be an eleventh Star Trek movie. Paramount has tapped J.J. Abrams (of Alias and Lost fame) to direct.
  

  The story will center on the early days of James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock, including their first meeting at Starfleet Academy and first outer space mission.

• Palladium Books Going Out of Business
• Windows Vista Review, Part 5: Where Vista Fails

Namaste.

Wednesday : 19 April 2006
Middle of the week and all’s well.
Work was good.
Post-work was good.

Not too much to report, otherwise.

Stray Toasters

• I have cotton candy… but I opted for popcorn for a snack, instead.
• The weather seems to be normalizing…. somewhat… at least for mid-Spring in Utah.
• The photography of Guido Mocafico (: Go here for his snake pictures.)
• “Boring and traditional.”
• Good Things in Small Packages (Part 3)
• 
• SQL queries! *shakes fist*
• Firefox Flicks
• May 1st Reboot 2006
• From Real Tech News: The World’s Largest Plasma… for now
• …and this made me grin: Modern PC built into a Commodore PET/CBM

Namaste.

Tuesday : 18 April 2006
I’ve already bitched about there having been snow this morning, so I won’t do so again. This time.

Instead, I’ll comment on how nice the day turned out: Blue skies, cool but mild weather. It was a nice turnabout from the way the day started. I had lunch with and today… instead of going to the gym. We went to Rumbi Island Grill; it was my first time there. The overall atmosphere made me think that working there could best be likened to working at a Disney-owned business. It just seemed… too bright and cheery. *shrug* But that doesn’t mean that I won’t go back – the food was good.

Tonight was Shadowrun night. The group put themselves in a good position to accomplish their mission… but we ran out of time to finish it. That’s kind of a good thing: There’s the potential for a fight to break out in the next phase of what they’re doing. If we had tried to wrap it up tonight, we would have most likely been forced to stop at an awkward point. Thus, we called it a night.

Stray Toasters

• I want a new Morris Day icon…
• The Birth of He-Man – an interview with Roger Sweet, creator of the He-Man toy line
• Sissy and Presto are here, keeping me company.
• I like this picture: One person’s thoughts about Digital Rights Management
• 2112
• I just had an image from an episode of WKRP in Cincinnati run through my head. It was the one where a mortician wanted to but ad time on the station. The ad that they came up with was up-beat and bouncy… just the thing you think about when you think of your loved ones’ eternal rest. The image that popped into my head was of the mortician listening to the ad and dancing around the DJ booth/sound room. Bizarre.
• Let’s see how many people I can cover in one ‘Toaster…
  Perry, , and : The figures on this page will be on sale on 10 May 06.

• From the City Paper: The Balti: North Baltimore’s Lacrosse Mullet, and the Next Big Thing in Hair
  Boys’ Latin is the first school that I attended, from Kindergarten through Third Grade. But, I never played lacrosse… or had a mullet.

• Pass the Prozac – It’s National Depression Week
• : The cover art to Storm #6

Namaste.

From Reuters: Bush picks Portman for budget

I liked her in the Star Wars movies and she was great in V for Vendetta (and let’s not forget The Professional), but a Cabinet-level position?

That’s impressive.

I don’t know who ordered “Double snow with a side order of WTF…?!”

But that’s okay.
There’s still music.
Get-you-going morning music.

<groove>
   Yoko Kanno & Seatbelts – Tank! (from Cowboy Bebop)
   Walter Murphy – A Fifth of Beethoven
   Sting and Cheb Mami – Desert Rose (Victor Calderone remix)
   New Order – True Faith
</groove>

Monday
It was 68 degrees (F) yesterday.
Today, I think we peaked around 42 degrees.
And there was snow this morning. Lots of it.

Other than that, it was a good day. It was capped by Family Home Evening at Brother ‘ place. We played D&D as our (typical) group activity. Twas good.

Stray Toasters

• For the first time in a couple of snowfalls, I called my father to tell him that it was snowing. His response: “I know.” (He had seen it on The Weather Channel before I had called.)
• Rather Opinionated.com
• I watched a few minutes of the unaired live-action Justice League of America pilot. >.< Brain hurty.
• Abuses of Surveillance Cameras
• American Ethnic Geography: Map Gallery of Religion in the United States
• : Cover art to Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #20
• Dungeon Escape – a low-res homage to classic laserdisc games like Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace
• Seeing Triple with the Matrox TripleHead2Go
• There’s a joke to be made here about Diana having her hands full… but I’m not going to make it.
• Journey into Comics: A JLU Lament – a look at the end of Justice League Unlimited
• From InfoWorld: Stupid User Tricks: Eleven IT Horror Stories

Quotes of the Day
Quote #1 comes from IRC. I was listening to the Schoolhouse Rock! mp3 of The Preamble and decided to post a couple of lines in the channel. provided the counterpoint.

[13:16] We… the people…..
[13:16] In order to form a more perfect union….
[13:18] will stick our collective foot in your ass if you so much as think about having a free thought!

Quote #2 comes from tonight’s gaming session. , making an analogy about the difference between monks and clerics (in the game), came up with with the following:

“It’s the difference between… Buddha… and some schmuck.”

Namaste.

Sunday : 16 April 2006
Happy Easter to all.
It was a good day in the valley. Sunny. Warm. Good. (Too bad that it’s going to be back in the mid-40s tomorrow.)

I had lunch with and Land at the Olive Garden. It was a good time with good friends and good (and funny) conversation – a good way to spend some time on a lazy Sunday afternoon. This was followed by a trip to Memory Grove. I had only been there once before, for ‘s wedding. and I walked up the trail for a bit; I took a few pictures along the way. I also realized that I haven’t taken random photos like this in a long time.

Stray Toasters

• I spoke with the ‘rents, the youngest member of the sibko and my uncle today. All are well.
• Lindsay Lohan is being looked at to play… Sailor Moon…in a… live-action movie. Along with Jennifer Garner… and a non-Asian cast. Um, yeah.
• Loaded Bible: Jesus vs. Vampires
• : There are a couple of pictures of Storm (and her wedding dress) here
• SR-71 Blackbird losses
• I just saw the E. Peterbus Unum episode of The Family Guy on Adult Swim. The “You Can’t Touch Me” take-off on MC Hammer’s U Can’t Touch This had me laughing out loud. Straight-up comedy.
• Apple calls meeting after making little girl cry
• I didn’t fly my kite today… which is a shame since the wind was great for it.
• The History of Easter Candy
• 
  (click here for the rest of the strip)

• I have a taste for Tastykake Butterscotch Krimpets.
• MANGA yanked from library shelves
• : I think that you’ll appreciate this as much as I did…
• For :

Namaste.