Random Access

I’ve said it before, but having just listened to it, I shall say it again:

George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue is a fine piece of music.

Sunday
Another relatively quiet day.

I got up and hung out around the apartment for about an hour before heading to Borders. I ran into Lisa, Shona and Robin (from the impromptu discussion group a few weeks ago). We chatted for a bit. A little while later, my friend Stephie showed up and we hung out with Jonahs and Charlie (while they were working/on breaks/whatever). There was even a surprise visit from Angela and a friend of hers (whose name eludes me). And, I even managed to get some drawing in. And a mocha. But no cheesecake.

After that, I came home for a bit and then headed to see Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. It ended a little differently than I expected, but I wasn’t disappointed, on the whole; iIt’s kind of like going to see a James Bond movie – in Bond films, you know that you’re going to see girls, gadgets and lots of explosions. In this case, you knew that there’d be lots of violence, lots of explosions, and a lot of watching the heroes on the run.

Post-movie hanging out was done at the nearby Denny’s. It was… *ehhh*. Not the worst, but not exactly five-star (for Denny’s), either. But, the company was good and that made it all right.

Stray Toaster
I came across this article through some random news crawling. I would have never thought of The Blues Brothers as having attained a similar kind of cult status as The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

And that’s all the news from Lake Saline.

Namaste.

…it was a good day. Lazy. Quiet. Restful.

I chatted with for a while this afternoon.
I watched billiards and the DC United vs. the Metrostars game on ESPN2.
I scanned comic book covers for my database.

I went to Black Angus for dinner with Jess and Mary. I stuffed myself on way too much food. After that, we went to B&N to kill some time before bowling. Bowling was good. Post-bowling breakfast was good.

And now I’m home and contemplating making a relatively early night of it.

Quotes of the Day
Ray Charles was the interviewee for the “What I’ve Learned” column in this month’s issue of Esquire. The following are his responses to the opening comments (which are noted in boldface):

• I remember one night we did a thing with Duke Ellington. He wa on an oxygen tank until they called him to come out onstage. But he went out there and you’d never have known that there was anything wrong with the man. That’s what music can do. If you’re sad, you can go home and play some records and make yourself better. If you’re in the hospital and you’re sick, music can be soothing. I know I’m gonna get shot down for this, but I think music is the greatest art form ever, bar none. I know that people who are into movies or into sculpture or writing or whatever are gonna say,”Ray, you must done lost your brain.” And they probably right. But, I still think that music is the greatest art form ever.
• I’m a firm believer in God himself, but that’s as far as I can go. I’m not any denomination. I’m not Catholic or Presbyterian or Baptist or Methodist or Jewish or Muslim. I’m none of those things. And I’m sure that’s just fine with God.
• You better live everyday like it’s your last, ’cause one day you’re gonna be right.
• Nowadays they say you need to get a special chip to put in the TV so kids can’t watch this and that. In my day, we didn’t need that. My mom was the chip. End of story.
• I’ve always been the kind of person who, if there’s anything that can kill me, I want to know something about it.

And with that, good night.

Namaste.

There’s a ice cream vendor who drives through our complex most afternoons/evenings. He drives a white Jeep. The music that he plays is Music Box Dancer. And, as it’s just being used as an attention-getter, it’s just a loop of the first six to eight measures – the part that most people would know.

I like the song. The whole song. This isn’t to say that I don’t like the opening… but, I’d like to hear more than just the opening. This is starting to remind me of Top 40 radio and the way that they play a new song… until the song is horribly overplayed and people begin to change stations after hearing the first few notes: “Not this song again…” *click*

Happy Independence Day to all.

Ooh, there’s gonna be fireworks (fireworks!)
On the Fourth of July (red, white and blue!)
Red, white and blue fireworks
Like diamonds in the sky (diamonds in the sky!)
We’re gonna shoot the entire works of fireworks on fireworks
That really show, oh yeah,
We declared our liberty two-hundred years ago.

“Fireworks” from Schoolhouse Rock! (gotta love the Schoolhouse Rock!)

In the hour-and-a-half that I’ve been awake, I have had at least three conversations along the following lines:

Person: Do you have any big plans for today or the weekend.
Me: Nope.
Person: WHAT?!?! Nothing? You’re not even going to see fireworks tonight?
Me: Yes, but that doesn’t fit into my definition of “big plans.”
(at this point the other person usually falls silent)

“Plans,” yes.

• We may hang out with friends this afternoon.
• We’re going to see fireworks tonight.

“Big plans,” no.

• We don’t have plans to cook-out.
• Nor to attend someone’s cook-out.

To me, “big plans” would include travel or making a to-do over going somewhere or doing something exceptionally out-of-the-ordinary… which attending a fireworks display (something I tend to do annually) doesn’t entail. *shrug* Maybe it’s just the way I’m wired.

However, for those of you with “big plans” – and those of you with just “plans” (or even “no plans”) – I hope that you have a safe and enjoyable holiday.

Namaste.

Thursday
Relatively quiet day at work. I hit a minor wall with my current CF form. Well, not really a wall… more like a speed bump. I’m having a slight problem with a query function. But, I think that I have it almost figured out. And, once this part is done, the rest of the form can be finished by duplicating and modifying this function.

After work, I met Jess, Land and Katherine for dinner; hadn’t seen them in months. After that, we headed to Borders (because it was close) and then on to Land and Katherine’s to continue talking and hanging out.

And now, the three-day weekend begins.

Song of the Day
Since 80’s music was playing at the restaurant, we’ll make that the theme of the night:

• Head Over Heels by The Go-Gos
• Walk Like an Egyptian by The Bangles
• I Drove All Night by Cyndi Lauper

Stray Toasters

• For : Delerium
• I’ve been watching Insomniac Music Theater on VH-1. A Kelly Clarkson (of “American Idol” fame) video just came on. The song was Miss Independent; I’ve heard it a couple of times on the radio. Interesting. Not in a bad way. And, Ms. Clarkson reminds me of someone, but I can’t quite figure out whom.
• While I’m on the music topic, let me say a thing or two about a certain Ms. Jewel Kilcher. I’m not a major Jewel fan. That’s not to say that I wish her ill, but the folk-inspired music of her early CDs didn’t do much for me. I will admit that I was one of the many people who asked “THAT’s Jewel?!?” when her new song Intuition came out. Very un-Jewel sounding. Just as Prince or Madonna have reinvented their image (many times over), she’s just entered her next phase. Some say she’s sold out; I’ll just say that she’s changed. And, I have to say that it was a shrewd business move for her to license use of Intuition as the background music for the new Schick “Intuition” razor.
• Think that you have a cool job? How does it compare to Chuck Cramer’s? Who’s he? A lab technician for Underwriter’s Laboratory. Just how cool is his job? See for yourself.
• I found this in . It made me laugh.
• Frozen mocha + 9:30 PM = Being awake far later into the morning than one would intend.
• Hmm. Sugar Ray’s new song, Mr. Bartender (It’s So Easy), apparently uses the hook from Midnight Star’s No Parking on the Dance Floor. And what’s up with Mark McGrath’s new hairdo? He looks like an over-bleached Rob Thomas.
• And, another one: Jennifer Lopez’ new video for I’m Glad looks like a bad hybrid of Flashdance and the video to Paula Abdul’s Coldhearted Snake.
• UPN will be airing a new series “…which is best described as a sitcom spoofing Tron.” *shiver*
• Ink More Expensive than Champagne
• Gesture Control for Automotive Peripherals

Quote of the Day

• Excerpted from a conversation with :
  

  [00:18] : So says I can’t be black.
  [00:18] : *shrug*
  [00:18] : Who am I to argue with Sistah Girl?

• During tonight’s post-dinner conversation, Jess admitted that she got lost in the southern Utah town of La Verkin. (Yes, that’s the town’s name. *shrug*) For the record: La Verkin is tiny. Dinky. Less than a square mile in area.
  

  Jess: I got lost in La Verkin.
  Land: You are pathetic!

Namaste.

Wednesday
As I’ve been posting throughout the day, I’ll just wrap up by saying that it was a good day. And now that we’ve gotten that out of the way…

Song of the Day
Axel F by Harold Faltermeyer, from the Beverly Hills Cop Soundtrack

Stray Toasters

• “Welcome to the fold…” to
• Actual headline from a Japanese newspaper: Super hero uses perverted powers, then transforms into invisible man
• Does anyone remember – not too long ago – when movies were about the story and the characters and not the merchandising and product placement? Me either.
• S. Epatha Merkerson, from Law & Order, reminds me of a former manager of mine back home.
• A Joy dishwashing detergent commercial featuring a woman talking to an animated drop of Joy came on a little while ago. The ‘drop was talking about it’s long-lasting scent: “I call it ‘Aromatic Release.’” Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!? “Long-lasting scent?” “Aromatic Release?” What were the folks in the marketing department thinking when they came up with this one? If only someone in that meeting had said:“Um… I don’t know about that. No, really… I mean… it sounds like it’s talking about farting,” I’m pretty sure that they would have come up with another phrase for it. *shrug*
• Telemarketers’ Revenge
• After seeing this item (National Geographic is displeased that the upcoming Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas ignores its Arabic origins), and I got into a discussion of how companies have adapted/taken liberties with stories when they bring them to the big screen. Politcal correctness, go figure. We seemed to focus on the liberties that Disney has taken in adapting fairy tales and other stories into feature films. (Grimm’s Fairy Tales, for example, were not very pretty or wholesome, overall….) She informed me of an injunction that California PTAs had brought against Disney after Pocahontas was released. It seems that kids were upset that Pocahontas didn’t go to England with John Smith… ostensibly, to live “happily ever after.” The injunction prevents Disney from making any further animated films based on historic event.
• Willam Shatner was on The Late Late Show tonight. Starfleet’s favorite rogue captain himself.
  Hearing him say “Hey, baby…” Hilarious.
  Seeing him try – unsuccessfully – to blow a bubble (gum), as an example of the way that he would try to meet girls when he was in grade school: Priceless.

Quote of the Day
This came from tonight’s episode of The Drew Carey Show. Drew and the gang were competing in a karaoke contest. Oswald (Diedrich Bader) and Lewis (Ryan Stiles) were singing as a duo… but Oswald kept crying every time they would get onstage. This led to a discussion about things that he could do to keep from breaking down the next time that they performed. Which led to Lewis breaking out with this little gem:

I never had a problem with my dad spanking me. I just looked at him and said “Work the other cheek… it’s lonely.”

He never spanked me again. He didn’t talk to me much after that, either…

Namaste.

[13:41] : I have watched many of your movies
[13:41] : I am now Black
[13:41] : You must refer to me as “Sistah Girl”
[13:42] : 😉
[13:43] : ::: FLOOR :::
[13:43] : Okay.
[13:43] : I can handle that.
[13:43] : and you are brothah man
[13:44] : and Brad is the Man
[13:44] : and Pedro’s already a minority, so he doesn’t matter 😉
[13:44] : *cracks up*
[13:45] : how’s work? 🙂
[13:46] : Pretty good, so far.
[13:46] : swank
[13:48] : I mean
[13:48] : Right on

: Yellow jeep!
(An old Jeep Renegade just went past my office window)

I win.

< rant >

The building that our office and warehouse is in has five businesses in it, including ours. We are the first suite in the building. If you pull into the parking lot and enter the first door that you come to, you’re in our storefront. We have a small sign on our door with our name on it. It’s a simple (and fairly common) way to let people know who we are… and more importantly, who we are not.

One of the offices/stores in this building is called “Appliance Parts.” They sell, oddly enough, parts for appliances. Go figure. They are three doors down from us. They have a fairly large sign on the building, over their door. It’s red. It’s glossy. It has their name on it.

The two businesses between us – and the one on the far end of the building – also have signs on and/or above their doors.

You would not believe the number of people that come into our shop and ask if we’re Appliance Parts. Did I mention the red, glossy sign already? In fact, one just came in a couple of minutes ago.

::: braincramp :::
I’ve mentioned to that I would love to put another sign in our door. A big one. A sign that simply says:”NOT FUCKING APPLIANCE PARTS!!!” A little extreme, maybe. Also, given the fact our sign is at eye level and people still don’t see it, I’m not sure why I think that they would see the new one.

*sigh*
< /rant >

Tuesday
Today was a quiet day. And, it was a semi-productive one, as well.

After work, went for a ride around the valley. It was nice to do something different… and to simply not be in the apartment.

And aside from that… there isn’t much to tell.

NPR Stories

• Talk of the Nation: Identifying MIAs
• Talk of the Nation: Music File Sharing
• Police Officer Fired for Smoking
• All Things Considered: Employment Law
• All Things Considered: Bruce Cockburn – New Music from an Indie Stalwart

Song of the Day

• Underground by Ben Folds Five
• Underground by David Bowie, from the movie Labyrinth

Stray Toasters

• Robert sent me this today. It made me laugh.
• From Slashdot: Dreamworks, Sinbad & Linux
• And, while on the topic of Linux, it seems that one Bill Gates was interviewed by USAToday. He talked about Linux basically being a non-threat… in a David and Goliath kind of way. Where’s that sling…?
• How secure is your privacy if you’re an eBay seller? You might be surprised. Read this for more information.
• Shake, shake, shake, Senora….
• Thanks to an ex-coworker and friends of hers, my corpse was found. Umm.. my EverCrack EverQuest corpse, that is. Not only did they find it, they dragged it from the bottom of the sewers (and away from undead, water-dwelling creatures) to a place where it was safe for me to retrieve my belongings. I am now free to roam the lands of Norrath… and try not to drown/get attacked underwater again.
• I had a nice chat with The LJer Occasionally Known as this afternoon.
• Why did the theme from The A-Team just pop into my head?
• Cats. (the mammals, not the musical)
• Jonny Quest. The original series. On Boomerang. GOOOD!!! ::: gesture :::

He pushed his chair back from the table. It scuffed along the floor. He smiled… no. Not quite. He smirked. He looked at the faces around the table, catching the gaze of all who were sitting there. As he stood, the smirk crept across his lips until it was a thin and tight-lipped smile. It was a smile that hid secrets. Something dark. With a nod, to those at the table, he turned and crossed the room. Their eyes followed him; it was almost a compulsion. He reached for the doorknob, but stopped just before touching it. He turned towards the table, but not completely facing it. “Good night… and safe journey to you,” he said. He opened the door and exited quietly.

Namaste.

Monday
Definitely the start of another week. I really can’t complain too much – the day was nowhere near as bad as Friday. I found out that I was still overcomplicating things in my program. Not a problem. I can adjust and rework it.

Gamenight! It was more an abortive attempt at gaming than anything else. But, hanging out with , , and the Lady Spydr was cool. We tried to get into the gaming spirit, but it just wasn’t happening.

NPR Stories

• All Things Considered: Remembering Katherine Hepburn
• All Things Considered: Computer Security Tips
• Talk of the Nation: The Art of Writing a Good Biography
• Talk of the Nation: Katherine Hepburn

Song of the Day
Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Henry Mancini

Stray Toasters

• I received a few text messages this evening, but since the LJ servers do not consistently add the sender’s name (even though there’s an entry for it), I have no idea who sent them. But, I did want to acknowledge that I did receive them.
• RealVNC GOOOD!!! ::: gesture :::
• From come the following:
  

  http://www.rock103.com/crew/vids/freakinbrothers.wmv
  http://www.rock103.com/crew/vids/starwarsdirectorscut.wmv
  http://www.rock103.com/crew/vids/blakesautobody.wmv
  http://www.rock103.com/crew/vids/reptileattack.wmv
  http://www.rock103.com/crew/vids/mastercard-jcdc.wmv

• “You know, the nearer your destination, the more you’re slip sliding away…”
• This afternoon, I chatted with a couple of people whom I haven’t seen in a LONG time. It was good to catch up with what’s been going on with them.
• Pistol… check!
  Whip…. check!
  Fedora…. check!
  ::: cue theme music :::
  According to this, it seems as though the intrepid Dr. Henry Jones, Jr. (better known to audiences as “Indiana” Jones) will return to theatres in 2005.

• “No, this isn’t Appliance Parts.” *twitch*
• There are a few things that make living in Utah amusing, if nothing else. Polygamy Porter is one of them. As the slogan says,”Why have just one.”

Namaste.

Sunday
Today was another sterling example of how a “day off” should be spent. I slept in this morning. Actually, I slept a little longer than I had planned. But the body needed the rest, so it was a good thing. After observing the hygiene rituals, I headed out.

First stop: Hastur’s. I picked up my comics for the past couple of weeks. The cover of X-Treme X-Men #27 (below) had what I consider a quintessential Wolverine picture.

One of those “It’s about to hit the fan… and I’m at Ground Zero” kind of pictures. Salvador Larocca does good work. (And his Storm doesn’t look half bad, either!)

Next stop: Borders. Drawing and coffee time. A few of the folks that I ran into a couple of weeks ago were there today. We talked – well, Lisa talked and I listened – about paleo-anthropologic finds and theories. It was a little out of my league, but very interesting. After they left, I started sketching. This was the product of most of the time that I spent there:

Back home to see what the peoples’ choice for tonight’s cinematic fare would be. I managed to get in a call to my mother before heading out again for dinner and the movie. We saw 28 Days Later. I liked it. It was pretty-well done and had a definite independent film “feel” to it. The only real down side to the movie was the idiotstick behind us who felt that he needed to talk through the entire movie. He trod dangerously close to meeting the business end of my shoe on a few occasions. Unfortunately, I was not wearing my steel-toed boots. *shrug* When I turned around to match a face to the annoying voice, I saw a man in a wife-beater (white, ribbed tank top)… and a pretty greasy-looking mullet. The first (and rather immediate) thought that came to mind was: “Spam-sucking trailer trash.” *GRRR* One point of vindication was that everyone in our group who heard him was ready to snap him off a little something, too. I think that the people in front of us might have gladly joined in…

After the movie, we headed to one of our old haunt’s: Denny’s. The service was poor. It took us forty minutes to get our food. The problems with that were:

1. The restaurant was NOT crowded.
2. None of our orders were terribly complicated.
3. When most of us got our food, two of the items that were ordered (a slice of cheesecake and a Caesar salad) took another five minutes to be brought to the table.

We were less than thrilled. At least the company was good.

But tomorrow is another day. And the start of a new work week. At least with the Fourth of July holiday, it will be a short week. And, as long as there are no more problems like this past Friday, the week should be rather pleasant. And no one should get hurt. Operative word: “Should.”

And with that, it’s time to call it a night.

Namaste.
(Larger versions of the above pictures can be found here and here, respectively.)

Saturday
Today was a easy day. I slept in, which was a good thing. I spent the early part of the day being incredibly lazy – I even took a nap. It was great. Later in the afternoon, I took and Young Miss Fiona to pick up their car from the shop.

I returned home with intentions of doing some cleaning. The road to Hell is paved with good intentions… I did manage to finish a load of laundry, so it wasn’t a total waste.

Bowling and breakfast, as usual, rounded out the night. I had a couple of 180+ games, but didn’t make it to 200. There was a group on the lane next to us who felt that they had to dance and stand (and just be generally annoying) right at the ball return. It was more than a little distracting. I don’t grok some peoples’ children… nor their lack of a concept courtesy. *shrug*

…and that’s all the news from Lake Saline.

Namaste.

Friday
End of the work week. And, even if it wasn’t I think that I would have to make it the last day of my work week. Today was… not pleasant, on the whole. One thing on top of another. When I left work yesterday, I emailed a file home so that I could work on it last night. That made an odd, logical sense. It didn’t show up… until this morning.

::: braincramp :::
That was too late for me to really do anything about it here… so, I went to work early. One benefit (and possibly the only one) was that I could play mp3s as loudly as I wanted without having to worry about irritating/offending anyone else. I worked on the file for about an hour before I had to deal with anyone else. To that point, the day was fine. I finished the file, after a few interruptions, with time to spare. However, it didn’t get reviewed until about :05 before it was needed.
::: braincramp :::
That was not auspicious. I had to drag into my office (and away from her work) to go over one section that needed to correlate to another one. It took us about :45 to figure out the discrepancies. And, I got static for “taking too long” to get it done. Rather than say or do something rather untoward, I stood up, left the room…and then the office area… and the building. I took a brisk and somewhat calming walk. Actually, I was a little stressed out a couple of times during the day… and both items were related to this file. I think that I actually scared at one point. (Sorry about that!) I shall handle that situation after the weekend, when I’ve had time to calm down and (hopefully) discuss the matter calmly and rationally.

…they can afford to move so fucking slow, man, they’ll wait years and years. Give you a whole life, just so you’ll have more to lose when they come and take it away. Patient like a spider. Zen spiders.
-from Neuromancer by William Gibson

After work, my day got significantly better. Imagine that! Had dinner at Guru’s with Jess and then went to Borders; joined us there. We harassed Jonahs, sat around and talked, I did a few figure sketches and bought this:

This was one of the – if not the – best story lines in that title in the early 80s – buying this book was like seeing an old friend after a long time apart. I’ve been a Legion fan since the late 70s; if I remember correctly, it was the first book that I collected regularly. I’ve waxed and waned in my collecting habits, but (along with X-Men) I’ve been pretty good about trying to keep up with the Legion books.

NPR Stories
Morning Edition: The Hipster Handbook

Song of the Day
Darkness Looming Overhead by SnagLoopDog

Stray Toasters

• Mjolnir II.
• I listened to a bit of The Salmon of Doubt today. Unfortunately, I kept getting distracted, so I had to stop after too short a while.
• “You’ll have to excuse me for a moment… I need to find a quiet room in which to practice an ancient Martian meditation technique… It’s called screaming.”
  -J’onn J’onzz (The Martian Manhunter), Justice League International #8

• Amateur Radio Field Day
• Got an invitation to play Ultimate tomorrow morning, since the afternoon group seems to have petered out. Unfortunately, I intend to be in the middle of my tour of The Dreaming at that time.
• National “Do Not Call” Registry
• Jonahs was humming “Strangers in the Night” while he was working. Now that’s stuck in my head.

Namaste.