Random Access

Tuesday – 27 December 2011
Our first Christmas as parents has come and gone. And it was a good one. We spent the holiday with Sara’s family and, as usual, it was a lot of fun. Added bonuses: I was able to video chat not only with my mom and uncle, but also with Rana, John and the girls, as well. Win-Win.

Because I didn’t consider what scheduling a post for midnight on Christmas might mean for “getting it lost on Facebook,” here’s this year’s Christmas card:

The picture was taken by Jenny Porter of Serendipity Photography.

And pictures of Christmas day can be found here.

Diana and Vanessa made out like little bandits. Lots of clothes, a few books, and even some toys. Granted, they’re not really “up” on the whole idea of Christmas, so it was just another day for them… aside from the fact that we hung out with their grandparents and aunts and uncles for the better part of the day.

I was able to surprise SaraRules! with a couple of gifts this year. (Go, me!) She had asked for one thing – which I got – but I had remembered that she had shown a particular interest in a letterpress kit we saw a few weeks ago. I found the kit and got it for her. What I didn’t know was that she had gone looking for that same kit elsewhere… just before Christmas. (That would have been awkward.) Fortunately for me, she didn’t find it. Again: Win.

I also was very fortunate in the gifts that I received. As I noted a couple of weeks ago, I got myself the 12-pack of Legion action figures for Christmas. It showed up on… Thursday, I think. I didn’t even bother wrapping the shipping box; I just wrapped a ribbon around it and called it good. SaraRules! got me a bike trainer, which is great — I’ll be able to actually get some cardio conditioning in while I’d otherwise be sitting on my butt, watching TV or playing video games.  (Oh, yeah, we bought a new 360 to replace “old and busted.” I didn’t realize how much smaller and more quiet the new models are.) Among the other things I got were:

• The MTH DCS Remote Set for my model train layout
• A couple of calendars — one Green Lantern calendar and one of train paintings
• The Anniversary Edition of Roots
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
• A nice cologne set
• A set of Lord of the Rings ‘Clix, and
• A GL action figure (Hal Jordan: Test Pilot)

Like I said: It was a good Christmas.

Another “gift” that SaraRules! and I got (from her sister and mom) was the ability to go out for a movie date on Saturday. We saw Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. It was a good bit of fun. Lots of action. Decent enough plot. Although, we both agreed that the female lead seemed kind of “just there to be there.”  If there’s an M:I 5 and she’s in it, hopefully, she’ll be fleshed out a bit more.

We also finally got around to seeing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 last night. Long movie. But, it was good. Of course, knowing how it turns out didn’t hurt.

Sounds like little ones are safely abed, so I should head on to Guys’ Night Out!

I hope that everyone had a safe and merry Christmas.

Happy Kwanzaa for those who celebrate it.

Namaste.

Sunday – 25 December 2011

(Photograph by Jenny Porter of Serendipity Photography)

Saturday – 24 December 2011
It’s Christmas Eve. Over the past few days, I’ve taken some pictures of the way that our Christmas decorating has shaped up… and I thought I’d share:

Click here to see the rest of the pictures.

I hope that everyone has a safe and merry Christmas!

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Thursday – 22 December 2011
It’s another great NBN Thursday in the valley… and it’s made even better by the following: 1) It’s SaraRules!’ first day of vacation; 2) Hanging out with the girls; 3) A smattering of snow fell over the valley, clearing out the inversion. Individually, any of those is a good thing. Together, they’re a trifecta of awesome.

Speaking of the girls, here’s today’s dose of cuteness:

Last night, the girls spent their first night in their cribs. In their room. All night. It’s nice to be able to say that the girls – as well as SaraRules! and I – survived the experience just fine. The girls slept well, aside from Vanessa deciding that she didn’t want to go back to sleep after her 2:30 feeding. An hour later, she finally drifted off. They woke up again about 8:00. Hey, that counts as sleeping in.

Today, SaraRules!’ parents offered to watch the girls while we finished the last bits of Christmas shopping. We managed to squeeze in lunch (at Pawit’s Royale Thai) and a quick visit to Corey and Jessica before running all over Hell and half of Georgia. But, in the end: We finished.

Stray Toasters

• My Legion set arrived today. I’m not sure if I want to go through the whole process of wrapping it… or just stick a bow on it and call it good.
• I picked up my gift from my mother today, too. I promised her that I’d “…wrap it and act surprised when I opened it.”
• Confessions of a Comic Book Guy–Books of Kids Comics Vs. Kids Comic Books
• 
• Paul’s story changes on racial comments
• Methinks I’m either getting or ordering a new 360 tomorrow. Hallelujah!
• Counterfeit card maker pleads in ATM skimming bust
• Looking to Streamline Airport Security Screenings

Okay, that’s good for now.

Namaste.

Monday – 19 December 2011
It’s a week before Christmas and I’m on vacation. I’m also hanging out with the girls today… which was a very poignant reminder that “sleeping in on vacation” is a thing of the past (and possibly distant future). But, that’s okay: They’re totally worth the lack of sleep.

It’s still grey and smoggy, thanks to the inversion. It… looks… like it might be flurrying, but it could just be particulates in the air. Who knows?

This weekend was a good one. Saturday, I judged a HeroClix tournament for Dr. Volt’s Comic Connection. After the event, I also got a chance to play-test a ‘Clix scenario that I want to run in a few weeks: “Dungeons & Dragons.” Basically, players have to choose a team of four characters – either an “adventuring party” or a group of monsters – and put them on a map that simulates a dungeon/maze. For the test, we used a map that (almost) no one likes: Anti-Monitor’s Fortress.  Additionally, I decided to have four players on the same map. Because I could. One player’s team demonstrated a couple of things that could be used to break the concept, but all told, it was a good test.

Sunday, SaraRules!, the girls and I headed up to Millcreek Cafe for breakfast. SaraRules!’ parents met us there. The girls, once again, were very quiet and cooperative, while we ate breakfast. Later in the day, Logan, Swiz, Dave and Angy came over for the Ravens-Chargers football game drubbing. The Chargers worked the Ravens over eight ways from Sunday. On one hand, it was painful to watch. On the other hand, no… still painful. But, the loss won’t keep the Ravens out of the playoffs — that’s right: The Ravens have made the playoffs all four years under Coach John Harbaugh’s leadership. (That’s gotta be good for his tenure.) Although, the loss does mean that if Pittsburgh wins tonight, the Ravens go from #1 in the AFC North to #2 AND… fall to the #5 spot in the playoff picture. Oh, yeah… there are now reports that Ravens’ K “Billy Cundiff officially an issue.” Really? I would have thought that he was “an issue” about two weeks ago. But that’s just me and might be (one of the) reason(s) that I’m not an NFL coach.

Today, I’m not sure what the girls and I are going to be up to. They’re napping at the moment and I don’t foresee going out before noon or one, but I think that someone (ME) might want to get out of the house at some point today. Call it a hunch.

Stray Toasters

• 15 Last-Minute Gifts for Everyone on Your List
• Amtrak’s Downeaster celebrates 10th anniversary
• In a nominally-related note: My model train layout lost about 1/6 of its total area last night, as I started the first stage of breaking down the layout.
• Velvet Revolution hero Vaclav Havel dies at 75
• 
• Many in U.S. Are Arrested by Age 23, Study Finds
• By way of the Council for Better Driving: These Must Be Two of the Luckiest People on Earth
• Best Men’s Fall Clothing 2011

And… the girls are up from their naps. Round Two: START!

Namaste.

Friday – 16 December 2011
It’s my “on” Friday, but it’s my last “on” Friday – and last day of work, for that matter – for the year. I’m looking forward to a couple of weeks off.

Last night was a relatively quiet night around the household. The girls were in bed (more or less) on-time and didn’t put up “too much” of a fuss about going to sleep. (Although, Vanessa decided that staying up and hanging out after her 2:30 feeding was a fine thing. I think we finally got back to bed about 3:40 or so.) After the girls were asleep, SaraRules! and I had dinner, watched a little TV… and I put a train trolley around the downstairs Christmas tree, complete with a few Department 56 buildings for effect. WHAT?!  It’s Christmastime. That’s just about the ideal time to have/play with a train set. And having it around the Christmas tree?  That’s just icing on the cake.

And, I did get quick Diana and Vanessa cuddles before heading to work this morning. Those make even the shortest of nights totally worthwhile.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
Nerds and Male Privilege

Stray Toasters

• SOPA votes derailed by politician’s ‘offensive’ tweet
• SOPA and PIPA: How We Got Here (VIDEO)
• First Amendment scholar on the failures of SOPA
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Ann Coulter on Herman Cain: ‘Our Blacks Are So Much Better Than Their Blacks’ (VIDEO)
  There’s a lot of banter/babble before the comment, so just jump to the 5:30 mark.
• 
• U.S. Finds Pervasive Bias Against Latinos by Arizona Sheriff
• The Oral History of Menswear Blogging
• (U.K.) Police include Occupy movement on ‘terror’ list
• 
• Paying a ‘Sports Tax,’ Even if You Don’t Watch
• Las Vegas’ Bellagio fountains learn new dances

Namaste.

Thursday – 15 December 2011
It’s a grey and foggy NBN Thursday in the valley. (Thanks, inversion!)

Last night, the girls were winding down by the time I got home.  Actually, they had pretty much wound down… just in time to be awakened to eat. They ate and returned to sleepy mode, by way of “I can’t get comfortable” mode. They finally settled down and dozed for a bit before it was time to get them all set for bed. That went fairly painlessly. The “going to sleep” part was a little more difficult, at least for Vanessa — she had gone past “sleepy” and straight into “too tired to do anything but cry A LOT.” Not fun. SaraRules! sat with her and got her calmed down enough to nod off. She still took a while to fully go to sleep, but she did. Eventually.

Chris came over just after Vanessa started her meltdown. We were, ostensibly, going to play dolls. Neither of us had assembled teams for the scenario that I’d come up with, so we wound up sitting around and hashing out more details for the scenario. We may give it a go Saturday afternoon, if time permits.

Stray Toasters

• Who’s the new owner of Mattel’s 12-figure Legion of Super-Heroes set?  This guy.
• Like Ivies, Berkeley Adds Aid to Draw Middle-Class Students
• Yeah, I’m just waiting for this to happen…

  

• LEGO’s new line of toys for girls
  I’m not sure that this was really necessary. I’ve known many girls – including my niece, Grace – who play with LEGO toys. But, I have to give LEGO some credit for trying to fill a gap, whether it’s a real one or not.
• Joe Simon, Captain America Co-Creator, R.I.P. 2011

  

• Correlation or Causation?
• This is the dawning of the
  Age of Aquarius Apocalypse
  Age of Apocalypse
  Apocalypse!
  Apocalypse!
  
• A Christmastime Price War — Over a Toy Ray Gun

And now, to the office holiday lunch/party/extravaganza/thingamabob…

Namaste

Wednesday – 14 December 2011
Let’s just cut to the chase: Despite the inversion-induced drabness, today has been a good day so far. ‘Nuff said.

Last night, SaraRules! and I had a quiet night with the girls… even though it was a bath night. Both girls were fanstastically well-behaved and cooperative for bath time. It was quite the treat. And, they went to bed without too much ado. We also had a visit from Logan and Sanaz, which was nice for two reasons:

1. We hadn’t seen them in a couple of weeks, as they’d been on a trip
2. They brought SaraRules! a tasty dish that she’d been craving… which made for a very happy SaraRules!

All-in-all, it was a good night.

Stray Toasters

• We Are Not All Created Equal: The truth about the American class system
• 5 Favorite Cover Songs of 2011
• Super-Heroines Help Promote Breast Cancer Awareness in Mozambique
• U.S. Safety Board Urges Cellphone Ban for Drivers
• Does it really take “that much” effort to share a pleasantry with someone before starting a conversation?  I don’t think that it does, but maybe that’s just me and my quaint thoughts about courtesy and civility.
• Cirque de la Symphonie: The music of flight
  (Tickets for this are still available, but are apparently going fast…)
• 
• How to Explain Gay Rights to an Idiot
• FCC set to crack down on loud TV commercials
• “Thanks” to for pointing this out.
• Holder Signals Tough Review of New State Laws on Voting

Namaste.

Tuesday – 13 December 2011
Yep, it’s snowing. Well, perhaps it would be more apt to say that it’s flurrying. Either way, Mother Nature’s frozen, mocking laughter is blanketing the valley. There hasn’t been a lot of accumulation, but it’s still snow. (And, I’m okay with calling it “snow” and not “fluffy rain,” as we are now roughly halfway through December.)

And, as it is snowing, the Council for Better Driving: Utah would like to remind motorists to take care when navigating the roads today.

I would like to thank for coming over last night to help me wrangle the twins while SaraRules was attending a Justice Junior League meeting. The girls were pretty well-behaved, though tired and a little restless. All things being equal, it wasn’t nearly as difficult to get them ready for bed as it could have been, but getting them to acknowledge “We’re in our bassinets, we should sleep” was another issue… at least for Diana. Vanessa knocked out fairly quickly. Diana..? Well, let’s just say that she took the long way ’round to getting to sleep. Oh, well. They’re still cute.

Vanessa (l) and Diana

And, they’re good kids. That helps, too.

 Stray Toasters

• Dirty Little Secret: Almost Nobody Cleans Contacts Properly
• Three words: “Star. Trek. Diapers!”

  

  No, seriously!

  

• Profits and Questions at Online Charter Schools
• At School in Cyberspace
• Household electricity bills skyrocket
• Buy a House Atop a Cold War Missile Silo
  So… does anyone have $1.76 million available to loan…? Anyone…? Anyone…? Bueller…?  Bueller?
• Ask the Pilot: What Alec Baldwin doesn’t know about air travel
• 
• Malicious apps discovered in Android market
• Down and out in the Tragic Kingdom
• Intel Sees Opportunity in Shortage of Drives

Namaste.

Monday – 12 December 2011
A new work week begins. My day started with a couple of smiley-faced little girls waking up to face the day before I left for work. Yeah, that’s the way to kick off an otherwise grey and drab Monday morning.

Friday was Diana-Vanessa-Daddy Day.

Diana (left) and Vanessa

We stayed at home for the early part of the day, but ventured out in the afternoon. We stopped in to see SaraRules! at her office… where the girls were fawned over by some of the staff. We also popped in to say “Hi” to and before heading home. As an added bonus: I got to pop in and visit the Clitorati crew Friday night.

Saturday, we started the day with family pictures.  Jenny and Julie came over and took our photos. The girls were actually quite cooperative, even through their dress changes. After pictures (and feeding the girls), we headed to Downtown Philly Cheesesteaks for lunch.

Yesterday was fairly low-key. We slept in a little. There was breakfast. Even though we didn’t get to see it, the Ravens whooped up on the Indianapolis Professional Football Club. We also took the girls for a stroll around Liberty Park. (And… I’m counting that as a workout!) The park was far more empty than I would have suspected for a Sunday afternoon, but that just meant fewer pedestrians to avoid along the way. We ran a couple of errands and then had dinner with the in-laws.

All-in-all, it was a very good weekend.

Stray Toasters

• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Could online ‘warriors’ in Call of Duty be forced to obey the Geneva convention?
• Coming up this month at Utah Symphony:
• Cirque de la Symphonie
• Here Comes Santa Claus!
• Video Games Live: Bonus Round
• My 360 red-ringed… again. *grblsnrkx*
• Among Gingrich’s Passions, a Doomsday Vision
• Newt Gingrich Is Bizarrely Terrified of a Fake Sci-Fi Weapon
• 
• Total lunar eclipse is a rare treat
• The Best Jazz of 2011
• Cyber crime aftermath: Beyond the indictment
• 
• Lowe’s pulls advertising from TLC’s All-American Muslim
• How to Dress for a Job Interview
• What to Do If You’ve Lost Your Bags, Wallet, Everything
• HP sued over security flaw in printers

Namaste.

Friday – 09 December 2011
It’s my “off” Friday, which means that it’s also “Diana-Vanessa-Daddy Day.”

So far, the day’s been fairly uneventful. Diana woke up; I changed and fed her. Then, Vanessa woke up. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. I put the girls in Diana’s crib and played with them for a bit. Next, into the living room for time in the swing and bouncy chair. Now (at least for the time being), they are taking a nap.

Diana (left) and Vanessa, in blankets made by my friend, Don’s mother

We’ll see how long it lasts. (Not long.) Diana just woke up. On to the next phase, I guess.

Last night was also uneventful… for the most part. SaraRules! and I got the girls bathed, fed and to bed before having some dinner and then watching some TV.  About 10:30, we came upstairs. About 10:40, things got a little more exciting. I was sitting at the dining room table, messing around on my laptop. I thought I heard something, but dismissed it…

…until I saw someone reaching for the screen door, outside the sliding glass door. I got up, turned on the porch light and, lo and behold, there was a guy there! He mumbled something about looking for his place and about having a fight with someone (sounded like his girlfriend/wife). And then said something about wanting to come in.

Sidebar: Okay… if he’d come to the front door and knocked, maybe. Come to the back door – through our yard, which is surrounded by a six-foot-high fence – in the middle of the night? No chance in Hell.

I shouted through the glass door for him to leave. He seemed… reluctant. I repeated myself. He shrugged and shuffled off. Or so I thought. I looked out about 30 seconds later, he was still there. I shouted through the door again. He seemed confused that I wasn’t kidding about him being gone. Then he asked if I had a coat. (Sure, I had coats, but see the above sidebar if you’ve forgotten the reasons that I was still reluctant to open the sliding glass door.) And I noticed something else: He wasn’t wearing any shoes, either. But, he wandered off the deck and stairs.

At this point, I had SaraRules! call the police. The guy didn’t seem imminently dangerous, but I didn’t want him lingering around, either. She called. They came. FOUR CARS.  (Must have been a slow night for the Murray Police Department.) An officer found the guy, trying to climb over the fence out of the side yard. They got him out of the yard and took him in front of our garage to have a chat.

A few minutes later, an officer came in and explained that the guy was drunk. Very drunk. He allegedly lives a couple of streets over from us. There was some speculation as to whether or not he had gotten drunk at one of the local bars and wandered into our yard or if he’d been drinking at home and – encouraged to leave by a fight with his significant other – wandered through the neighborhood. He also noted that the gate was still closed when they found him, which meant that he had to scale the fence to get into the yard. (What the Hell…?!) The officer asked if I wanted to go outside and verify that nothing was damaged or missing. (Nothing was.) He said that they’d get the guy sorted out and then bid us good evening. (We still had patrol cars outside about twenty to thirty minutes after this; I assume that they were working on reports.)

And, throughout all of this: The twins slept. Thankfully.

And that’s how we spent our Thursday evening.

Stray Toasters
Really?!  After a story like that, how could Stray Toasters even compete? Maybe there will be some tomorrow.

Now it’s time to find some Daddy-Daughter Out-of-the-House Adventure!

Namaste.

Thursday – 08 December 2011
Not only is today “NBN” Thursday, nor is it just my “Technical Friday”…

But today is Vanessa’s 1/4-birthday!

And, I got to start the morning with cuddles from both “Baby Dynamo” (as SaraRules! calls her) and Little Miss Diana. AND… I made all seven of the lights on the way to work this morning. (It was a close call at Light #4, but I made it.) I take these things as omens that today is going to be a good day.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
I made the following post on Twitter a little while ago:

Civility, logic, reason and common sense all seem to go out the window when people see/hear the words “sale” or “free.” #monkeys

I predicated this statement based on the observation of peoples’ reactions to a recycling/giveaway that was being done in our office. People were complaining about “This [item] doesn’t have [component]…” or “This isn’t as good as that one…” or, and this is my favorite: “Can I go through X and Y and Z and scavenge pieces for this…?”

*grblsnrkx*

Look…

The equipment is being given away.

FOR. FREE.

ALL you had to do was put your name in a bag to be drawn to be eligible to TAKE an item.

FOR. FREE.

If it’s too much hassle to be happy with what you’re getting – again: FOR FREE! – then maybe (just maybe) you shouldn’t have put your name in the bag in the first place.

Stray Toasters

• Plan to Widen Availability of Morning-After Pill Is Rejected
• R.I.P Jerry Robinson, Creator of The Joker
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Red Cross Debates if Virtual Killing Violates International Humanitarian Law
• Tune in Tokyo: The Gaijin Diaries, by Tim Anderson
• Nerdy Baby Coloring Book for Young Scientists
• …which dovetails nicely into this:

  

• The Ultimate History of Cute Robots
• Certified Safe: Planning to operate a taxi service for NASA astronauts? Here’s what’s required.
• This 1940s Hollywood Actress Made Wi-Fi Happen

Quote of the Day
I have a dead-blow hammer – bequeathed to me by – at my desk at work. I have been known to refer to it as Mjolnir, on occasion. Today, Julie borrowed it, to crush peppermint. (Don’t know why; didn’t ask.) She brought it back and said:

“Thor’s hammer smells a bit like peppermint…”

I retorted:

“Now dispensing minty-fresh justice!”

We both laughed.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 07 December 2011
Today is Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.

• Remembering Pearl Harbor, 70 years later
• Pearl Harbor Still a Day for the Ages, but a Memory Almost Gone

Today is also Diana’s 1/4-birthday. That’s right, our oldest little lady is three-months-old today.

Last night, SaraRules! took the girls to her book club, leaving me to my own devices for a couple of hours. I decided to be a little productive. For my first amazing feat: I put up the downstairs Christmas tree (more on this later). I also gave my brother a call, to help him suss out why his Xbox wouldn’t connect to Xbox Live after they changed ISPs. After that, I felt that I had earned a trip to Best Buy. Oddly enough, I didn’t find anything that I just couldn’t live without.

I made it home a few minutes before the ladies got home. That gave me time to prep blankets and bottles for the girls. (Hey, I try to be a good father.) We got the girls to bed without too much ado. After getting something to eat, we headed downstairs to watch a little pre-bed TV. SaraRules! asked what I’d done with my evening, so I recounted the events of the night. When I got to the part about “I put up the Christmas tree,” she blinked a couple of times, looked over at the tree and said,”Whoa… you did put up the tree!” That’s right: She totally missed it – all six feet of it – when she went downstairs… despite looking dead at it at one point. (In her defense: She’d had a long day…)

Stray Toasters

• Modern Drummer‘s interview with Neil Peart
• The Death of Philip K. Dick and the Birth of Cyberpunk
• Leather Armor for Stormtroopers Who Prefer Harleys Over Speederbikes
• 
• Too promiscuous to donate an organ? Maybe, CDC says
• The Art of Francis Tsai, by way of my friend, Kim
• Five Travel Apps You Should Be Using (and One Website, Too)
• Green Bay Packers sell stock, first time since ’97
• 
• Game play: A case study in security
• Japan Split on Hope for Vast Radiation Cleanup

Namaste.