Random Access

Wednesday
Midweek. This is a good thing.

Song of the Day
Headlong by Queen, from the CD “Innuendo.”

Stray Toasters

• I slept a little fitfully last night. I had a very weird dream, as well: A helicopter flew over the apartment complex… and then did a nosedive into the parking lot of the shopping center across the street.
• Sissy is fascinated by the printer. Whenever I print something, she runs into the room, stands in front of the printer and stares at it… trying to figure something out.

Namaste.

Tuesday
I am not a happy camper.

The seller of the Superman cel that I won has still not received payment for it, even though USPS “Delivery Confirmation” says that it should have arrived by this past Saturday.

::: braincramp :::As such, he has relisted the cel. Meaning: I would have to rebid on the item. And go to the local USPS station and fill out a form for a refund for the original money order. AND, assuming that I rebid on the cel and win it, go through the whole resend the money order process again. Although, this time I would send it Express Mail (thus, I would be able to track the damned thing EVERY step of the way).
::: braincramp :::
And, did I mention that it will take sixty (60) days from the date of issue of the money order to get the refund? No? Well, consider it mentioned.
::: grumble ::: Damned Postal Service ::: grumble :::

Otherwise, things are just ducky. Peachy keen. Fine and dandy.

Song of the Day
In light of the joy that I am feeling over this whole eBay eBidet debacle, today’s songs are: Hard Luck Story and It’s a Mistake by Men at Work, from the “Contraband: Best of Men at Work” CD.

Stray Toasters
The toaster is currently unplugged.

Namaste.

I just noted that this post did not actually post here this morning, but posted to instead. So… here it is.

Monday
Another work week begins and the holiday season is now upon us.

Song of the Day
Our House by Madness from the CD “Madness.”

Stray Toasters

• I didn’t sleep very well. I need coffee. Soon. I don’t feel the urge to run out and get frozen mocha goodness, so I shall brew some.
• Adam made it back to Oklahoma with no problems. His luggage, however, decided to take an extended tour of the Denver airport. It arrived a few hours later. The airline delivered it to him on campus.
• It is officially “the Christmas season” in my book. How do I define that? Whenever I hear Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth by Bing Crosby and David Bowie. We heard it Saturday afternoon, I think. (Maybe it was Friday…) For me, that song makes it “the season.” Of course, last year, I didn’t hear it until Christmas Eve. Go figure. And I won’t mention the fact that I have a CD with the song (and video) and could have heard it at any time that I so desired.

Off to make coffee and then on to work!

Namaste.

Sunday (coda)

• As I mentioned earlier, the Ravens, Dolphins and Panthers all played during the early games today. I started watching the Ravens game. Good thing. I watched it while lying on the futon. NOT a good thing. I wound up sleeping though most of the games. It’s amazing what lack of sleep will do to your Sunday afternoon TV watching. The Ravens and the Panthers pulled off wins; The Dolphins… no go.
• After Jess left work, we went to The Gateway. We met Mary, Angie and Jon at European Connection. We had coffee and crepes. Rather tasty.
• Then we went to Larryland North (commonly referred to as “Megaplex 12 at the Gateway) and saw Treasure Planet. It was good. I have never read Treasure Island, the Robert Louis Stevenson novel on which the movie was based, but I think that I will have to put it on the “To Do” list. The movie reminded me of Titan A.E. in some ways. It might be more apt to say that Titan A.E., in retrospect, reminded me of Treasure Planet.
• A friend of mine told me about a hare-brained thing that his brother did. He was asked if he would mind being interviewed about software piracy. He said ‘no problem.’ He was also asked if he had any pirated software/media on his system. Again, he said ‘no problem.’ They asked if they could use (i.e.: PRINT) his name in the article. He said… that’s right…. ‘no problem.’ Hello?! McFly?!
• The Dick Van Dyke Show is on. “True Confession” time: I like Dick Van Dyke as an actor. I wasn’t a big fan of Diagnosis Murder, but I have been a longtime fan of the 1960s show… not to mention his various Disney movies. However, there is something a little surreal about seeing this tonight: Mary Tyler Moore. No, MTM is not surreal in and of herself. Let me backtrack a little: Last week, at the Virgin Megastore, I came across a copy of Change of Habit. This movie stars Elvis Presley as a doctor (?!?) and Mary Tyler Moore as a nun. (For some reason, after seeing Sally Field as The Flying Nun, thinking of MTM as a nun isn’t too much of a stretch.) The surreal thing is that Change of Habit is playing on AMC at the moment. “Curiouser and curiouser,” said Little Alice…

  Synchronicity. Who knew?!

That’s about it for now.

Namaste.

Sunday
And so…

I took Adam to the airport this morning. His flight left at 0800; I had thought that getting him a flight this early might avoid some of the problems of long lines and waiting. Wrong. Fortunately, we were able to check his bags at the sky cap station outside. (Translation: “No waiting in line.”)

He said that he had a good time and enjoyed himself. He survived not only coming to the Land Behind the Zion Curtain, but also staying with Jess, the cats and me and meeting my friends. Not only did he survive them… he liked them. Not too shabby, if I do say so. It was nice to have him here. In fact, it was almost like going home for a few days. Almost.

Stray Toasters

• I neglected to mention that we went to the Museum of Art at Brigham Young University (BYU) on Friday. Larry told us at Mallday that he and a few others were heading down there to see the Empire of the Sultans: Ottoman Art from the Khalili Collection exhibit. It was the first time in a very long time that I have been to an art museum. The exhibit was very impressive. There was a 00:10 video that they showed that explained a little of the history of the empire and the artwork, then you walked through the exhibit. At the entrance, you were given a wireless headset which could be used to listen to additional information about the pieces of art and some historical data.

  Larry’s parents went to the exhibit, too. They left before the rest of us. When they came up to me, I looked at his father in mock-astonishment and said, “You can’t leave yet! We haven’t gone for dessert and coffee!” He looked at me with mock-surprise, put a finger to his lips and mouthed, “You can’t say ‘coffee’ here!” I gave him my patented “I don’t think that it’s humanly possible for me to care less” look. He laughed.

• Saturday
  • We went on a mini-tour of Big Cottonwood Canyon. We drove past the Solitude and Brighton ski resorts.
  • Then we drove up Wasatch Drive to show Adam the view of the valley… which wasn’t nearly as impressive as it could have been due to the inversion and haze.
  • From there, we headed downtown to The Gateway. We ate dinner and walked around the shops.
  • Land and Catherine met us and we went to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights. It. Was. Crowded. It was cool to have Land there to explain/discuss some of the history of the buildings and the LDS Church. We also went to the LDS Church Conference Center. To describe it in one word: Wow. That place is a marvel of modern architecture. That’s really about the only way to describe it. We went into the assembly hall area and we (those of us who had not been there before) stared in slackjawed amazement. The room seats 21,000 people. Twenty-one thousand. And there is another, smaller ‘theatre’ that seats an additional 1000. Land told us that one of the local newspapers had a comparative graphic of the auditorium, after the building had been completed: You could fit (not “squeeze in”… fit) a 747 on the floor of the hall. Unglaublich! We walked up to the balconies on the Center’s exterior and looked out over Temple Square and Main Street Plaza (which is the hotbed of a current local debate).
  • We walked through Main Street Plaza and ran into Julia, her sister Brenda, and her nieces and nephews. Totally unexpected, but very cool.
  • Bowling. Last night’s lineup: Jess, Lisa, Mary, Adam, Larry, Matt and me. Angie was there, but didn’t bowl. Land and Catherine showed up for a bit, as well.
  • Traditional post-bowling Village Inn breakfast. It was… “interesting,” to say the least. Yes, that’s a good way to put it. Jen and Keith showed up here… but they got there about 00:20 before we were getting ready to leave.

::: Football Update :::
All three of my teams are playing at the same time today. This means that there will either be a great flipping of channels or (if we get a feed that shows either the Panthers or Dolphins game) I will watch one game on the TV and one on the computer.
::: End Update :::

I think that I need something to eat. No… I’m pretty sure of it. There is a bowl of Honeycomb® calling my name. I’m going to answer that call.

Namaste.

Saturday
We slept in.
And it was good.

Now, we’re off to do… something.

More later.

Namaste.

Friday
“Black Friday.”
The day to avoid malls at almost any cost. Kind of ironic that today is Mallday. However, we are not going to the mall. Instead, we’re going to Asian Star; this way we get to have good food and maintain our sanity. Although, it might be fun to watch the holiday shoppers try to out-muscle others to reach the best bargains. Nah. It’s not worth the headache of trying to find parking and then hiking into the mall.

Song of the Day
Madam Butterfly by Malcolm McLaren from the CD “Fans.”

Stray Toasters

• Everyone seems to have made it through the night without exhibiting any signs of food poisoning, so I am taking that as a good sign. A very good sign.
• In post-dinner cleanup, we wound up doing three (3) loads of dishes. Holy dishpan hands, Batman!

And now… off to Mallday!

Namaste.

Thursday (part II)
It’s over… and it went well. The final menu:

• Cornish hens (4)
• Green beans with sliced potatoes, cooked in chicken broth
• Macaroni and cheese (made with milk and grated cheese)
• Potatoes, mashed (prepared just prior to eating)
• Rice pilaf
• Stuffing
• Gravy (prepared from scratch)
• Pies (chocolate; pumpkin) and cheesecake, all homemade.

It was my first time preparing hens; everyone said that they turned out nicely. *WHEW* It was also the first time that I tried making gravy.

I also discovered something else: It was fun. No, really! It was. I was surprised by that. I was finishing preparing the hens for the oven and realized that I was actually enjoying the process. “It’s so bizarre…”

During dinner, we watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Neither Angie nor Adam had seen it before. After dinner, we were channel surfing and wound up stopping to watch The Santa Clause. Cute movie. I had wanted to see it before, but had never gotten around to it. After that, we surfed some more and Jess stopped on Bring It On. Interesting. Curiously interesting. Not really a movie that I got into. *shrug* Yes, there were amusing parts, but I wound up leaving the room about 2/3 of the way through it to play Madden 2003.

Stray Toasters

• Adam has gotten better (leaps and bounds) at Halo.
• Adrian stopped by and hung out with us for a bit.
• MTV2 is airing “Most Controversial Videos.” They are all unedited. So far, I’ve seen videos for Justify My Love (Madonna), Smack My Bitch Up (Prodigy), My Favorite Game (The Cardigans) and Pagan Poetry (Bjork). Interesting. Very interesting.
• I think that I am having another nostalgic television moment: Simon & Simon is on A&E. About the only thing that would top this, in my book, would be if they aired Spenser: for Hire episodes.
• I found out that Herbie Hancock will be coming to SLC in January. I think that I will have to pencil that in on the “To Do” calender.

That’s all for now. On tomorrow’s agenda: Mallday! For the first time in… in… oh, Hell… it’s been a long time since I’ve made an appearance at Mallday.

Namaste.

Thursday
HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY

Song of the Day
Thank You by Boyz II Men, from the CD “II”… and, since it’s Triple Play Thursday, we’ll add Water Runs Dry (also from “II”) and Motownphilly (from “Cooleyhighharmony”).

Stray Toasters

• Adam got in last night. Took him to Redrock Brewing Company for dinner and then a mini-tour of downtown. Then, I introduced him to Halo. He liked it. A lot. (In fact, when he woke up this morning, the first thing that I heard was the XBox turning on.)
• Rana called (via a relay from Dad) this morning around 10. All of us were still asleep. So, she called back a little later to talk to Adam and Jess.
• Talked to Mom and Kris. They made it to Baltimore without any problems.
• Dinner is cooking now. The pies are done, the hens are in the oven and we’re about to start on the last few dishes (green beans, macaroni, and potatoes). I was just informed that we will not be having potstickers, after all. *sigh* Oh well.

That’s more or less it, for now. Be safe, eat lots and enjoy.

Wednesday
I went to bed far later than I should have. I also woke up a few times during the night. Thus, when the alarm went off this morning, I played a few rounds of “How Many Times Can I Press the Snooze Button Before I Turn the Damned Thing Off?” When I woke up, I had a headache and was a bit unfocused; that’s not a good combination for the gym, so today’s workout will be skipped.

Song of the Day
City Sleeps by MC 900 Ft Jesus, from the CD “Welcome to My Dream.”

Stray Toasters

• The NPR site seems to be having “technical difficulties,” so I can’t see what is coming up on today’s programming.
• Short work week GOOOD!!! ::: gesture :::
• I’m hungry. Not ravenously so, but eating something relatively soon would probably be a good idea.
• Looks like Mom and company are heading to Baltimore for the holiday/weekend. From what I recall of past Thanksgiving NC-MD drives, they are welcome to it. I remember one year, there was an ice storm that stretched from Washington, D.C. through most of Virginia; it took about 8 hours to make what is normally a 5 to 5½ hour drive.

  Mom just gave me her recipe for fixing the hens. She even threw in some ideas for side dishes. I [heart] my mother.

I should probably get ready for work.
Namaste.

Tuesday (coda)
It was a pretty damn good day at work. No worries. No fuss. Just 8 hours and out.

NPR and PRI Stories

• Talk of the Nation: Identity Theft and Holiday Cooking
• The World: Homeland Security… and Agricultural Terrorism
• All Things Considered:
  • Illegal Street Races
  • WWII Japanese-Americans
  • Okinawans’ Diet and Longevity
  • ‘All My Life for Sale’
  • Hate Crimes

Stray Toasters

• I had to go to the Air Mail Center to drop something off after work. There was only one window clerk (Alan) working; the rest of the night crew had apparently requested the evening (or maybe the week) off. Yes, it took some time to get through the line (about 00:20) and some people weren’t willing to wait, but he did an exemplary job, in the face of the number of customers and the number of letters/packages that they had.
• My brother, Adam, will fly in tomorrow night. He’s spending Thanksgiving here rather than: Fly home this weekend… Fly back to school for three weeks… Fly BACK home for winter break.
• We did (most of) our Thanksgiving dinner shopping tonight. Cornish hens are not nearly as expensive as I had thought (or feared) that they would be.
• Excerpted from an IRC conversation:
  

  [23:31] KorUpted: where’s a good park to chase trees? I was thinking Remember the Maine park, lots of trees there
  [23:34] : Chase trees?
  [23:35] : Chase…. trees?
  [23:35] : Aren’t they pretty easy to catch?
  [23:35] : They don’t move a lot.
  [23:35] KorUpted: that’s what amateurs think
  [23:36] KorUpted: trees are very sneaky
  [23:36] KorUpted: they have all those branch things
  [23:37] KorUpted: they use various team tactics and maneuvers to trick you
  [23:37] KorUpted: it can be a dealy sport
  [23:39] KorUpted: that’s what safety gear is for though

And another thing….
When I saw the LiveJournal Trading Cards appearing in peoples’ journals, I thought that they were… cute, for lack of a better word. I thought about making one. Almost did. Then I decided that I wanted something “a little different.” Or, in the words of The Artist Formerly Known as ‘The Fresh Prince:’ Here it is, a [card], slightly transformed… Just a bit of a break from the norm…. Just a little something to break the monotony of all [those LJ cards] that have gotten to be a little bit out of control…

Uh… yeah.

So, anyway… I set out to create a card of my own. The background wasn’t too hard to come up with. The picture, however… That proved to be a little more difficult. I didn’t like any of the ones that I had (and kept neglecting to take a new one). And then, I discovered the various “Micro-Hero” sites. Hallelujah!!! My problem was solved! I used a template to make this, added it to the card that I had created, and thus, I came up with this:

That’s it for now.

Namaste.

Tuesday
Up a little later than I had planned.
Off to the gym
Back and now getting ready to face the day.

Song of the Day
No More I Love Yous (from “Medusa”) and Little Bird (from “Diva”) by Annie Lennox.

Stray Toasters
Nothing so far. Check back later.

Off to work!

Namaste.

Monday
Quiet morning. I slept in (I needed it, apparently), so I shall go to Ye Olde Gym tonight.

Song of the Day
Since it’s the start of the work week, we’ll start off with a song about… working. Sixteen Tons, by Tennessee Ernie Ford… although, the Rockapella cover is quite good, too.

Stray Toasters

• The Star Trek geek in me finds it more than slightly amusing that the name of the CNN reporter covering the space shuttle Endeavour’s mission to the International Space Station is Miles O’Brien. And, for the non-Trekkies/Trekkers out there: Miles O’Brien was a member of the Star Trek: TNG and Star Trek: DS9 crews.
• The Miss World pageant has been moved to London. There still seems to be quite a bit of controversy as to whether or not the show should be staged; intentions are to still make a go of it.
• This site has garnered quite a bit of attention over the past couple of weeks. I won’t tell you how many people have quoted it to me because they thought that it was funny. While I am usually a fan of most satirical things, I failed to find the humor in it. There is a poll on the ABC News site that asks:
  

  What Do You Think?
  Nov. 25 – Now that you’ve heard about blackpeopleloveus.com, we would like to know what you think. Is it promoting racism, or is creating a healthy dialogue about touchy race issues?

  Chelsea and Jonah Peretti (siblings) sat that they created the site as a means to address racism in a funny, non-offensive way. I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt on this. They may have wanted to find a way to open a dialogue about racism… but I think that their theory could have found a better practical application.

• The more that I hear the song Die Another Die, the more that I like it. And the Anthony Newley version of Goldfinger, while not the brassy opus that is the Shirley Bassey version, is gaining popularity with me, as well.
• While on a movie note, I think that I want to see Treasure Planet.
• Jess and I played XBox last night. I introduced her to Halo and MechAssault. She took to MA pretty quickly; Halo, however… Let’s just say that she made a good showing for someone who had never played before. Especially since we were playing “deathmatch.” She fell victim to a few well-placed sniper rifle shots, too. All’s fair in love and wargames!

Time for the final work-prep stages.

Namaste.

Sunday
Nice lazy football watching day.

::: Football Update :::
The Ravens won a defensive game over the Titans.
The Dolphins took it to the house over the Sandy Eggo Chargers.
The Panthers. *sigh* The lost BIG TIME to the Falcons.

I think that it is fairly common knowledge that I enjoy football. I like a good football game, too. There’s nothing like a good back-and-forth game. Of course, there are exceptions:

• If one of my teams is playing (I want them to crush their opposition);
• If one of my teams is playing a close game, but completely dominates the second half.

The Dolphins game wasn’t remotely close. Neither was the Panthers game… but they wound up on the business end of an ass-whoopin’. The Ravens game, however, was a close game. In fact, towards the end of the game, I’d even say that it was a little “too close.” But, there wasn’t much bad that I can say about the Baltimore Kids’ game. And, it did end up in the “W” column, so I am happy.
::: End Update :::

Stray Toasters

• It snowed. Joy. (That was meant to be taken with a heavy dose of sarcasm.) Although, I’m sure that the ski/snowboard buffs are happy.
• I talked (actual vox conversation, no Internet involvement) to my mother. I needed to get her input on preparing Cornish game hens. Why? Because I don’t want anyone contracting ptomaine poisoning or anything of that sort.
• Joe called me from the world’s largest Toys ‘R’ Us (Times Square, NY). Bastard-ass.
• A few of us are going to see Die Another Day tonight.

  I finally heard the theme for DAD this morning. Madonna. Interesting. It’s a definite departure from what I would consider “a quintessential Bond theme,” but I like it. In fact, Duran Duran’s A View to a Kill was a departure from the norm, as well. I guess that I have just gotten used to hearing something with an orchestrated sound and feel, but this new theme is more techno/electronica and it made me think that a little change (and shaking up of what is considered to make a good theme) is not a bad thing. Not bad at all.

  ::: time delay :::

  We saw the movie. The general concensus: We liked it. I must say that I think that the theme song and the opening credits were amazingly integrated – the song and the visuals tied in seamlessly. (I won’t tell you how… you’ll have to see the movie to find out.) Typical Bond flick: Guns, gadgets, girls (Halle. *sigh*)…. Over-the-top action… one-liners. And it was just plain fun.

• Kristen and Chelsea came over for a while and hung out.
• We ate at California Pizza Kitchen. Tasty.

That’s more or less it… I think that I shall play a little MechAssault and end the evening with a proverbial bang.

Namaste.

Saturday
It was foggy, VERY foggy, this morning. Jess was trying to figure out something to put in the “Weather” section of the Operations Journal (at work). I told her she should try “What the FOG!?!?” and see if anyone noticed. I’ll have to ask her if she did.

Friday’s NPR Stories
Yesterday’s theme for Fresh Air was not just music. It was the music of Bond. James Bond. John Barry talked about writing themes for different Bond films, especially Goldfinger and Thunderball. They played one of the demo versions of Goldfinger as done by Anthony Newley, who wrote the lyrics for the song. This version (around the 14:00 mark of the interview) sounds… more sinister. Verra cool. (In fact, I’m d/l’ing it now…) And, before I forget: They did play excerpts of the Shirley Bassey version of Goldfinger and Tom Jones’ Thunderball.

Jazz trumpeter Steven Bernstein was the second-half interview. His quartet, Sex Mob, has a CD called Sex Mob Does Bond, where they play interpretations of Bond themes.

All Things Considered had a few good stories yesterday, as well:

• Riots in Nigeria (which explained the situation very well)
• A VERY funny commentary about the G.W. Bush – Gerhard Schroeder “tiff.”
• Walter Cronkite on the day that JFK was assassinated (1, 2)
• Ephedra
• Counter-Tenors (for you music majors/buffs)

Stray Toasters

• I have been quite lazy today. I think that the highlight of the day (so far) was a trip to the craft store to get some new leads, a blue non-photo pencil, and a new lead holder. I watched XME, and then the new He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and half-watched Transformers: Armada. T:A has yet to grow on me, but it makes for good background noise while I’m busy doing… um… well, nothing.
• I’m watching Purdue whoop up on Indiana U. The way it should be. They are playing for “The Old Oaken Bucket,” in the traditional rivalry game. These guys are working today. It’s early in the 4th quarter and Purdue has dominated this game; the score is 24 – 3. Go Boilers!
• Angie just copied this link to me. There are any number of jokes that can be made here, but I’ll refrain from making any. For now.
• I got to chat with my mother for a bit.

::: Postgame Update :::
Purdue won. 34 – 10.
The Old Oaken Bucket will spend the next year in West Lafayette!
::: End Update :::

That’s about it. I need to head to the comic shop and then get something to eat. And get ready for bowling.

Namaste.