Random Access

Nothing to see here…

Saturday – 02 September 2017
Today started off with sleeping in. Until after 9:00 AM. (Those of you with kids understand what this means. Those without, just nod, smile and move on.)

Team DiVa’s fall session of ballet classes started today; they have advanced to “Elementary” from “Beginner.” They were also excited about their new uniforms. (BONUS!) Their teachers is one of the BW dancers, who recognized Sara immediately, when we dropped the ladies off at class this morning.

After their class was done, Sara and the ladies dropped me off at the comic shop, so that I could judge today’s HeroClix tournament. We had a great turnout and there were some good matches. Sealed events – buy boxes of figures and make a team out of what you get – can be kind of a crap shoot, so I was pleased that there were good matches in each round.

Next, a trip to the nearby pet store. Team DiVa has declared their wish for fish for their birthday. This was a part expeditionary run/part “We want to show Daddy pets in a/the store, since he didn’t see them the other day when we went” trip. We were successful on both counts. WIN!

A little while ago, we went to Home-Away-From-Home Depot to purchase a new dishwasher. Yay, home ownership! The one we have is on its last legs and has probably been one foot in the grave, one foot on a banana peel for the past year or two. Mission accomplished.

Okay, hold up a minute. Wasn’t the title of this post something about “Vent” and “Wrath?” So far, this seems to be… rather… well, mild. And nothing really worth getting upset over.

Which brings us to…

On the way home from Home Depot, there is an alternate route we occasionally take, which cuts through another neighborhood near us. We took that route today. Driving down the street, we saw a little kid – three-ish, MAYBE – on a balance bike. Standing at the studded corner of an intersection. Alone.

Kid.
Corner.
Bike.
Intersection
Alone.

I’m going to give those a moment sink in.

Back?  Okay, buckle up. This is not going to be pretty nor easy to read. Sorry.

We pulled over and I got out to talk with the little boy. He pointed across the intersection – across the busier, non-residential street – to the dog (not on a leash) that had run across it. I asked if it was his dog. He just pointed and said “Dog!” I looked back down the residential street and saw a man and another small kid on a bike, two or three houses away. I yelled down and asked if this was his kid on the bike, he acknowledged that it was and started walking in our direction. About the same time, a gentleman came out of the house on the corner and started walking towards me, mostly just assessing the situation unfolding outside his house, which is totally understandable.

The man and Kid 2 got a little closer. I knelt down and pointed towards them, telling Kid 1 (at the corner, but a little farther from it now), ” There’s your dad,” hoping that he would telepathically pick up on the “Don’t play near the street, go back to your dad” vibe I was projecting.

There was a gentleman in a car, approaching the intersection from the residential street, who looked out his window and said, “Thank you” to me. I just nodded and continued to point the little boy to his father.

At the same time, the dog decided to run across the road.

I missed the initial hit, but turned when I heard it, in time to see the back wheels… you know.

Not going to lie: I recoiled.

I looked at the dog, lying in the street. Then, my initial thought was to keep the kid from looking into the street, as I was beginning to suspect that it was the family pet.

The father and Kid 2 drew nearer and I asked if it was their dog. He asked “Black and white,” and there was no further doubt about it: Family dog.  He looked past me and just repeated, “Oh, no…” He walked out into the street and picked up the dog’s body… as Kid 2 started back to the corner to follow him. I shouted at the kid to “…come back this way.” The father, returning to the corner, started yelling at the kids about how he told them to stay in the driveway and not go down the street.

Issue #1: These kids were three-ish/four-ish. Who the Hell lets a kid that young just wander off – let alone on a bike – to the busy intersection?!

As if that wasn’t enough, he started blaming the kids for the dog not only getting hit, but dying. There was really no way to misinterpret his words on that one, especially when the phrase “…is why the dog is dead” was used.

Issue 2: Are you kidding me?!  Blaming the kid for the dog getting hit?! A kid whose sense of self-preservation is undeveloped. A kid who doesn’t know that his dog is going to follow him, wander around – even across a street – then realize, “Oh, hey! My human is over there! I should go there!” How about you keep track of your kid and make sure that he’s safe. While you’re at it, you might want to keep an eye on your dog, too. Just saying.

Once the father and two boys walked down the sidewalk a little way, the owner of the house on the corner approached me and noted that the kids were often up near this end of the street/intersection and just walked away, shaking his head.

::: DEEP BREATH :::

Sometimes, I feel that I might be a little overprotective of Team DiVa. Years ago, we made sure that they knew just how far down our driveway they are allowed to go. (This rule has changed slightly in the past two years, but when we ask the girls, they know what their limit is.) We have emphasized the importance of staying with or near an adult with approaching a crosswalk. We have set and maintained rules about walking in parking lots, whether busy or not.

After seeing this situation unfold, I think that Sara and I are doing just fine.

I don’t like playing “The Balance Game,” but while I’m sad that the dog (needlessly) lost its life, I’m ecstatic that it wasn’t the little boy on the bike.

tl;dr – I saw a dog get hit by a car this afternoon.

Wednesday – 30 August 2017
Of all the things I had considered posting as a return to this blog, this wasn’t one of them. But, it also wouldn’t fit within Twitter’s constraints… so here we are.

I was notified of a possible system problem this morning. Oh, hey, #LifeInIT. Got it. I contacted people to get more information and feedback, got to the office, dealt with it, had a couple of follow-up meetings and emails. And life was good again.

About 30 minutes after we’d resolved the issue, I got an email from a user. They noted that they were having issues connecting to one of the affected servers. I contacted the user directly and explained what had happened and that their should also have been resolved. User checks… confirms…. and moves on. And life was good yet again.

>> Fast forward TWO HOURS >>

An email arrives from users manager. Um, okay. In rather terse terms, I – along with my not-completely-former boss and HIS boss – and a few other IT staff were informed just how crucial it was that we resolve the problem quickly – did I mention that this was TWO HOURS LATER – because it was affecting important work.  Uh… pretty much all of the work here is important as, if it’s not done, we don’t make product. And if we don’t make product, we don’t get paid. Funny how that all goes together, isn’t it?! And, as if that email wasn’t enough, said manager sent a separate copy to me.

::: braincramp :::

It took three or four drafts for me to compose a reply that would not be considered “career-limiting.” But, I did. I made a point of noting that the original issue had been resolved before I got the user’s email and that we had already discussed it. I even added that if anyone was still experiencing similar problems, that they should contact me directly. And replied to all. I even copied my not-completely-new boss, just for good measure. Because I’m that guy.

Less than one minute later, I get a reply from user’s manager, thanking me for the prompt response.

*grblsnrkx*

It’s a bloody good thing that today isn’t Thursday.

tl;dr – I am Jack’s raging bile duct.

Tuesday – 04 July 2016
Today is Independence Day.

I hope that everyone had an enjoyable holiday.

Once again, Sara and I decided to go the “find a hotel overlooking a fireworks display” route. She tracked down a few potential locations last week and came up with a winner in North Salt Lake – which, for those of you not in Salt Lake City isn’t simply “the northern part of Salt Lake City;” it’s its own independent city. Go figure.

We picked up the ladies from summer daycare yesterday and we were off…

We went to Bountiful Greek Cafe for dinner (site of an EPIC meltdown on the part of one of the ladies) and then to Bahama Buck’s for sno cone desserts.

Then it was off to the hotel… which was just down the street. We got to the room and Sara surprised the girls by announcing that we were going swimming. (There were a couple of stunned little faces who thought the idea of swimming was good… but didn’t know what they would swim in, as they didn’t know that Sara had packed their swimsuits.) Off to the pool!

I’m sorry. That should have read “pool… and James Brown’s Celebrity Hot Tub.” From there, it was back to the room to get the girls cleaned up and mostly ready for bed. An hour or so later, the fireworks display started; this year’s fireworks were over a golf course in North Salt Lake and we had a great view. The show lasted about 30 minutes and was better than Sara and I had anticipated.

This morning, we got up – “a bit” earlier than Sara and I had hoped – got ready, checked out, and went breakfast at a nearby IHoP. After breakfast, we dropped in on Sara’s parents for a few, to say “Goodbye” to Sara’s sister, Melissa, who was in town for the weekend. We followed that up with a trip to a park near our house, so the girls could teach us how to play “Double Dots,” a game they’ve been raving about for the past week or so. They did. (Sara and I won. Surprise!) The girls played a bit more before it was time to come home and have lunch and some quiet time. We also celebrated our freedom to make a pilgrimage to The Garden of Sweden in the late afternoon. We wrapped up the day with some grilling, a DC Superhero Girls movie, and sparklers.

All told, it was a great way to spend a family holiday.

Sunday – 18 June 2017
Today has been a great day.

Sara and Team DiVa let me sleep in this morning. Since I was gone – and on the go – all last week, this was a boon. DiVa wanted to give me breakfast in bed, but Sara prepared French Toast and I’m not so sure that would have been such a great idea. So, we all ate at the table. The ladies presented me with cards and a gift bag. In the bag:

Superhero-themed Father’s Day swag: Superman t-shirt, Guardians of the Galaxy boxer-briefs, DC Super Hero LEGO, Reese’s Minis, and a hand-painted picture from Team DiVa

They know me so well.  🙂

After breakfast, Team DiVa came up with all sorts of suggestions… of things they wanted to do today. Sara reminded them that today was Father’s Day and that I got to choose what our adventure would be. To be honest, I didn’t really have an agenda for the day, so I was happy to do something they wanted. Thus, we wound up at Utah’s Hogle Zoo. On the way, we stopped off to wish Sara’s father a Happy Father’s Day and give him his gift and card. Then we were off.

The zoo has a new exhibit called “Bugzilla,” comprised of large – giant, really – animated insect statues.

There be bugs here…

Team DiVa and me… and an elephant statue.

On the Hogle Zoo Train… because TRAIN! 😀

Selfie with Sara!

After we returned home, the little ladies played Disney Infinity while I read last week’s comics. Then it was time for dinner – Butter Chicken Curry! – and baths for the little ones. They followed that up with an episode of Super Hero Squad and then they were off to bed. Sara asked what I was planning for the rest of the evening, before noting that I could wind up my day with a cigar and a cocktail… and that’s exactly what I did.

It was the perfect way to end an excellent day.

Selah.

Saturday – 10 June 2017
Today is my youngest sister’s birthday. She’s kind of a big deal, too.

I’m very proud of the woman she’s grown to be. A great daughter, wife, and mother and an amazing sister. I hope that she has the most fantastic of birthdays and that her day is full of the people and things that make her smile.

Wednesday – 07 June 2017
It’s my mother’s birthday.  She’s kind of a big deal.  🙂

I spoke with her this morning, but would like to wish her the best of all possible birthdays (again!) and hope that she takes advantage of the opportunity to do – or not do – whatever she wishes today!

Love you!

Love you!

Wednesday – 31 May 2017
I’ve gone on the record – many times over – saying, “I love my kids.” And, it’s true. Parenthood has been… an interesting experience, but one that I wouldn’t trade for anything.

What I would like to trade, however, is the lack-of-sleep that Team DiVa occasionally affords me.

Case in point: Last night…

I got into bed about midnight (early night for me…).  I read and chatted for a little bit before I realized that I’d been doing a lot of extended inner-eyelid studies. So, I decided that it was time to call it a night and go explore The Dreaming.

And that’s just what I did.

Less than an hour into sleep, I woke up because I felt a weight on the bed, by my legs. I turned to find a kinder-form sitting on the bed. Staring at me. Too groggy to do much more than grunt, I motioned for her to come up and get under the covers. She did. A few minutes later, she was ready to head back to her room. She asked if I would carry her back to her bed; I told her that she could walk. (C’mon… I was all snug and comfy in bed.) She climbed down and ambled back to her room. I fell back asleep.

Some indeterminate amount of time later, weight on the bed. Again.

This time, there was a bad dream involved:

“Can your body parts fall off?  Like your crotch and your bum… can they fall off?”

“No.”

“Oh.” *crawls under the covers and falls asleep*

At this point, I was relegated from the comfort of half a queen bed… to approximately one-sixth. For the rest of the morning.

Let me clarify a few things: I love getting cuddles from my kids and welcome them whenever they are given… especially since I know that in a few years, there is a better than average chance that they won’t be nearly as freely given. On the flip side, I like my sleep. I don’t usually need a lot of it, but I do like it.

But, there I was: Doing the delicate balancing act of not falling off the bed and not squishing my kid.

Oh, and not sleeping well.

Thus, I’m here at my desk… mainlining my coffee, wishing that I could just configure it into an IV drip.

But, it was totally worth it for a kid who slept soundly and at peace.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 17 May 2017
Stuff and Things.

This past weekend was… busy. But also awesome. Saturday saw the usual ballet and swim morning routine. I missed the swim portion, as I was judging a game tournament. Then there was a little break – filled by running a couple of errands. Next, early dinner and dropping Team DiVa off at their grandparents’ house, so that Sara and I could see Utah Opera’s Don Giovanni. Again. (We saw the final dress rehearsal, with the little ladies, but went back Saturday for opening night.) I enjoyed the production. They updated the sets and costumes to place it in a noir setting. This changed a couple of scenes, but worked for me on the whole.

Sunday, was Mother’s Day.  Sara had been wanting to go to Spiral Jetty for a while and Golden Spike National Historic Site is just a (long) hop, skip, and a jump from there. Thus, we were up early to pick up DiVa and meet friends at Golden Spike and Spiral Jetty. The first time we went to Golden Spike, the locomotives were in the Engine House for the season; that was not the case this time. We arrived just before the Jupiter made its appearance.

About half an hour later, No. 119 rolled up.

The presentation that the rangers provided also informed us that the engines were fired differently: Jupiter is wood-fired, while No. 119 is coal-fired. You could also tell this from the way they smelled as they approached – Jupiter smelled like a camp fire, No. 119 smelled like a coal-burning oven.

After a while, we made the drive to Spiral Jetty. Fifteen miles. Forty minutes. Over bumpy dirt road. The water level was a little higher this time – still not up to the jetty, but only 20 or so yards away to splash pools and just past that to deeper water.

All in all, it was good weekend.

Stray Toasters

• What is the measure of a life? My Family’s Slave
• 100 Must-Read Sci-Fi/Fantasy Novels by Female Authors
• Drunken Whiskey Review: Kirkland Canadian Whiskey
• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.‘s fourth season was all about punching Nazis – and it was the best yet
• Coding Game for Critical Thinking Skills
• Background Paintings for Scooby-Doo Are Delightfully Creepy and Rather Beautiful
• This past Monday was Miracle Monday… and I missed it.
  • I wonder if watching Monday night’s Supergirl counts to some degree, as Superman was in the episode…?
• Are Pop Lyrics Getting More Repetitive?
• 
  • Why Does “K” Stand for “Strikeout” in Baseball?

And that’s a wrap.

Friday – 21 April 2017
Another week comes to an end.
And, apparently, it’s been a month since I dusted off the trusty blog. I really need to get better about this…

In short: It’s been a good – and eventful – month. The highlights of the month include, but are not limited to:

• Going on a business trip.
• Surprising my parents by showing up on their doorstep on the first leg of the trip.
• Meeting some new coworkers on the trip.
• Getting to visit with my uncle towards the end of the trip.
• Coming down with some travel-related bug that had me down for almost a week.
• The start of baseball season and the O’s getting off to a great start. Hopefully, they’ll keep some of this momentum through the season.
• Meeting a Twitter and Facebook friend.
• TRAINS!  Well, getting to head up to the train.. museum(?)… and one of my favorite train shops.
• Traveling to Boise to visit family and friends over Easter.
  

  Sara, Team DiVa, and Grandmother – Easter 2017

• Watching Team DiVa hunt for Easter eggs while we were gone and seeing their surprise at discovering that the Easter Bunny had apparently left Easter baskets for them at our home while we were out of town.

I’m sure that I’m leaving more than “a couple” things out, but all-in-all, it really has been a good month.

Stray Toasters

• Free Posters Celebrating Mighty Women in Science
• The Cult of Ignorance in the United States: Anti-intellectualism and the “dumbing down” of America
• 11 Stereotypical Roles Offered to Black Men in Hollywood
• I’ve been doing (almost) daily coffee pictures on my Instagram feed for the past few months. Friday, I posted this picture:
  

  Fearless Defenders

  which was 100% inspired by the cover of The Fearless Defenders #1:
  

  

  Fearless Defenders Vol. 1 #1 (c) Marvel Comics

  I don’t think that I can really claim not to be a comics/action figure geek – as if that was possible – but I was rather pleased with how it turned out.

• Have An Airline Complaint? Don’t Call the Airline – Tell the Department of Transportation
  • Airline Quality Rating
• The Incomparable Difference Between Whitewashing and Racebending
• These Rare Color Photos from the Second World War Are Incredible
• 13 Things LEGO Bricks Taught Us About Life
• The KKK and Baseball History

And with that…

So Long, Farewell, Goodbye.
(Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, not “The Sound of Music”)

Testing…

Wednesday – 22 March 2017
Testing out connectivity between WordPress, JetPack, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+

Nothing to see here, Citizen. Move along.

Tuesday – 21 March 2017
This entry can be filed under “Some People’s Children…”

While doing renovations last year, our company added a cafeteria to our facility. The company that ran it couldn’t always keep up with the demand, so they are no longer here. Yes, this means that we have a largely unused space, but that’s another story.

Our Facilities Manager has done an outstanding job of coordinating with a number of local food trucks to have them fill the void. Today, we had a new-to-our-location truck, Bandera Brisket. They had walk-ups not only from our company, but from some of the other firms in the building, as well.  They didn’t know what the turnout would be, so they didn’t come loaded for bear. And they got SLAMMED. They showed up a little before 11:00 AM and, by the time I went out (12:20 PM-ish), they were out of many meats and some sides; I was the 5th or 6th person in line when they announced this.

The guy in front of me turned to me started complaining about “I came out here for brisket, but if it’s all gone before I get there, I’m going to be upset.”

SIDEBAR:
I understand having your heart, mind and taste buds all set for “Food X.” Been there, done that. I also understand that if you wait too long to go and get something, you might find that it’s already gone.

After the people in front of us were gone, he went up to the window and asked whether there was brisket. There was about 1/3 lb, which he got…
AND THEN proceeded to go on a diatribe about “If there hadn’t been any left, and he’d wasted his lunch time waiting for nothing, that he’d be mad…” Blah. Blah. Blah.

Let’s set the record straight on a few things:

1. There is no requirement for us to have food trucks here.
2. There is no requirement stating that you have to eat at the food truck, if one is here.
3. The vendors didn’t know what to expect and it would have been foolish for them to come out here – for their first time – with a truck full of meat that didn’t sell.
4. Put on your big boy pants and be happy that you have SOMETHING/ANYTHING to eat. Find a meat, ask them to cook it, pay for it, move on.

To me, these things all seem like easy concepts to grasp.
Maybe it’s me.
Maybe it’s Maybelline.

Either way, this comes under #firstworldproblems and it annoyed annoys me.

And, in the interest of full disclosure: I wanted brisket. I wound up getting their ribs – with a savory dry rub – and they were delicious.

Okay, rant over. We now return you to your regularly-scheduled Tuesday.

Friday – 17 March 2017
There are a lot of good things about today:

• It’s Friday. That, in and of itself, is a great thing.
• Salt Lake Comic Con FanX kicks off today.
• The sun is out (at least it is in SLC).

But, far more importantly, it’s the second most important day in March (third, depending on when Easter falls): Green Lantern Day!

On Greenest Day…

Of course, there are those (uncreative types, I’d say) who would say that it’s simply “St. Patrick’s Day.” And that’s fine; I’m alright with sharing the day.

Whatever you’re celebrating, I hope that your day is fantastic!

Namaste.

Thursday – 16 March 2017
Another Thursday begins here in the Land Behind the Zion Curtain.

Don’t nobody bring me…

Let the word go forth.

A month or so ago, I was introduced to a lovely/horrible game (read: “time sink”) called GeoGuessr by my friend, Denise. (Not sure whether to give her credit or blame for this…) Do you like pictures? Do you like maps? Do you like figuring out where on a map a picture is from? This is the game for you.

Thanks to this game, I have now discovered a place, in The Phillipines, where I either want to be buried or have my ashes spread:

C’mon, with a name like this, who wouldn’t want to be buried/have their ashes spread here!? No one. Well, maybe not “alt-right” supremecists, but that’s a discussion for another time and forum.

I think that the only thing that could possibly be better would be to either be buried with these or figure out a way to make them work with cremation/ash spreading:

I found them in a grocery store in southern Utah many years ago. Apparently, they still make me laugh.

Namaste.