Random Access

Wednesday – 26 August 2009
Midweek and all’s well.
And, it’s Comics Wednesday; whether or not it involves any sushi remains to be seen.

Last night was a low-key, stay-at-home kind of evening. SaraRules and I caught an episode of NCIS that we hadn’t seen before from two seasons ago; that was pretty cool. After that, we watched Shaq vs. In last night’s episode, Shaq challenged two-time Olympic gold medalists Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh to a game of beach volleyball.

It. Was. Pure. Comedy.

Shaq, with his usual swagger, issued his challenge and then set about training… kind of… for the event. At stake: If he lost, he had to walk down Hermosa Beach in a bright pink Speedo, with “Shaq” printed on the back. He consulted Serena Williams for tips on the female athelete mindset. Then, he checked in with a few members of the U.S. Men’s Volleyball Team, for some coaching and to pick a teammate – Todd Rogers. The episode was fun to watch and made a nice summer off-season filler. If you’re interested in checking out the episode, you can see it – in its entirety – at the Shaq vs link, above.

Stray Toasters

• I had ice cream last night for a snack, since we didn’t have any ice cream at the office yesterday.
  suggested “More swearing = more ice cream”
  (He makes a good point, though…)
• Senator Edward Kennedy dies at 77
• The Unofficial Thomas Pynchon Guide to Los Angeles
• 
• pointed out: Steam Car Breaks World Speed Record at 140 mph
• Microsoft in web photo racism row
• 
• By way of Paul (coworker) – not to be confused with Paul (boss) – comes: TK409
• posted a link to a really good look at why Superman “works” – and/or doesn’t work – for some people as a character: This Issue: SUPERMAN DOESN’T DIE.
  *** I recommend reading this to both comics and non-comics fans.… except possibly l.
• Defiant has music once again!
• sent a link to: Poodle doodles: Dogs are transformed into pandas, horses and even snails in a barking mad grooming craze
  Words fail…
• Tactical Canned Bacon (You just can’t make something like this up.)

Namaste.

Tuesday – 25 August 2009
Last night was the first of the three times that the Ravens will appear on Monday Night Football this (pre-)season. They hosted the New York Jets at M&T Bank Stadium.

New York Jets at Baltimore Ravens
23 – 24
The first quarter of the game most decidedly belonged to the Ravens’ defense.  Haloti Ngata picked off a Mark Sanchez pass and returned it for a touchdown; on the next series, Ray Lewis nearly picked off another Sanchez pass. RB Ray Rice ran in a three-yard touchdown, to give the Ravens a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.The second and third quarters were a little more favorable to New York, seeing them put 17 points on the board, while Baltimore was only able to capitalize on a Jameel McClain interception. In the fourth, the Jets pulled within one point of tying the Ravens, and opted to run a two-point conversion for the go-ahead win, with roughly 30 seconds left in the quarter. The attempt failed and Baltimore walked away with the win.

Workout
Wes and I hit the gym for a lunchtime workout:

• Calf Raises: 3 sets/10 reps, 100 lbs
• Leg Extensions: 3 sets/10 reps, 70 lbs
• Leg Curls: 3 sets/10 reps, 70 lbs
• Sit-ups (incline): 3 sets/20 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps – 1 set each: 225 lbs, 205 lbs, 185 lbs
• Lat Pull-downs: 3 sets/10 reps, 120 lbs
• Pectoral Fly: 3 sets/10 reps, 100 lbs – with 10 second hold on 10th rep
• Lower Back Extensions: 3 sets/10 reps

Weight (morning): 184.5 lbs

Stray Toasters

• There seems to be far too much blood in my caffeinestream today.
• Free cake!
  (Now, if we only had some ice cream to go with it…)
• 
• This isn’t quite “steampunk,” but I’m sure that it could be easily adapted.
• Don’t get me wrong
  If I split, like light refracted…
• While its name is built a good pun, I have also found that Dawn of the Lead is an interesting  and well put-together site (mostly) about zombie miniatures and gaming.
• 1000 surveillance cameras = 1 solved crime in the UK
• 
• Street Magic Wedding Proposal
• Behind the 4GB Memory Limit in 32-Bit Windows

Namaste.

Monday – 24 August 2009
Not too manic, nor rainy… yet. Of course, the day is still young. We’ll see how it goes.

First and foremost: The Ravens take on the Jets tonight on Monday Night Football.

New York Jets at Baltimore Ravens
8:00 PM EDT

Hm… we have been invtited over to SaraRules’ parents’ to watch the game. Win-Win!

Yesterday, SaraRules and I went to see Inglourious Basterds. It was great! We had a good time. It was, without a doubt, a Quentin Tarantino film – just the right mix of story, dialogue, action and over-the-top goodness. It was a World War II film… the way you’d expect Tarantino to tell it.

After the movie – and a little errand-running – we heading up to SaraRules’ parents’ for dinner… and another movie.  This time, we watched Quarantine, which they hadn’t seen before. The movie easily held up for a second (or was it third?) watching. I looked up the movie’s “Trivia,” on IMDb, and noted that it was a remake of a Spanish film called Rec. I might have to check out the original to see how, if at all, they vary in telling the tale.

Stray Toasters

• I’ve been a LEGO fan for… 30+ years.
  I’ve been playing HeroClix for nearly three or four years.
  At some point, the boundaries were due to blur: Chris and I have been talking about trying out some barriers rules that I found on ToyChop. They seem like they’d add something interesting and fun to the game. I was looking at something LEGO-related last night and realized that I could make fire, ice and even smoke barriers using various LEGO pieces.  It just… kind of… bothers me that it took this long for me to figure it out.
• Clearance: Granted
• Did husband’s jealousy lead to model’s murder?
• Calls to reopen CIA abuse cases
• 
• Coin-tosses aren’t fair.  (Well… DUH!)
• All that I can really say about this is “Whiskey… Tango…?!?”
• NASA May Outsource
• ‘Avatar’ preview dazzles audiences
  NOTE #1: This is not to be confused with the upcoming The Last Airbender movie.
  NOTE #2: If you haven’t heard about this movie, here’s a little taste.

Namaste.

Sunday – 23 August 2009
It’s been a rainy morning in the valley… but the sun has put in an appearance.

SaraRules and I watched Bridge on the River Kwai (1, 2), a movie I got from Netflix a couple of weeks ago. I had heard about this movie over the years, but never gotten around to watching it… until last night.

The movie told the story of two military colonels – Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa), the commander of a Japanese P.O.W. camp and Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness), commander of British forces being held in that camp. Saito has orders to build a bridge over the Kwai River; he plans to use P.O.W.s  – enlisted men and officers – to accomplish the task. Nicholson, according to The Geneva Conventions, informs Saito that his officers will not submit to manual labor. Thus, the men engage in a battle of wills.

The movie also included William Holden, as Cmdr. Shears, an American naval officer who escaped the prison camp… only to be enlisted in the effort to return to the camp and destroy the bridge.

The first third (or so) of the movie established the relationship of the two colonels and their attitudes to their respective situations. Shears features, in a more minor role, as a man who’s biding his time while trying to find a way out of the camp. It’s in the second third of the movie where things pick up, when the colonels come to something of an accord… but both realize that they have to give up something to achieve their goals. In a bit of a twist, it’s also in the second third of the movie where Shears, now a free man, finds himself in the midst of a situation that has him just as trapped as he was in the prison camp.

On the whole, I thought that it was a good movie and worthy of being called a classic.

Stray Toasters

• Forget Teens: Gamers are 35, Overweight — and Sad
  

  The average gamer, far from being a teen, is actually a 35-year-old man who is overweight, aggressive, introverted — and often depressed, according to a report  from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (download PDF). The study also shows that when children and teenagers become game players, a trend toward physical inactivity and corresponding health problems extends — and is exacerbated — into adulthood.

• Commentary: About that Saturday mail…
• A History of the Shrinking Game Console
• Bollywood starts celebrating Ganesha festival
• 
• PC Pro’s top 10 hard disk destruction methods
• IBM, Other Multinationals “Detaching” from the U.S.
• Mind the Gap: A Compendium of Disturbing British Public Information Films

Today… stuff and things.
Tomorrow: Ravens vs. Jets on Monday Night Football.

Namaste.

Saturday – 22 August 2009
So far, it’s been a somewhat lazy day.

There was sleeping in; that was especially nice, as I didn’t sleep very well. Pancakes and coffee… and then we went to meet Perry and the boys for coffee. (Fortunately, we’d had coffee with breakfast, because the coffee at the bookstore left quite a bit to be desired.)

After that, we headed to Hastur’s Hobbies; I needed some gold and silver paint – I’m in the mood to mod some figures. I was also on the lookout for some modeling putty. It was right next to the paint, which made things quite easy: In. Checkout. Gone.

Stray Toasters

• posted a link to: Bringing science back into America’s sphere
• I’ve found some interesting papercraft things online to add to my ‘Clix house. I just need to do some calculatin’ to get them into the right scale. And, in a couple of cases, I need to put some textures on pieces, so they aren’t just stark white.
• My Thor’s Mighty Chariot HeroClix figure , from NECA’s upcoming Hammer of Thor set, arrived yesterday.

  

• BudgetTravel’s “World’s Weirdest Hotels”
• Starting here, Real Life Comics featured a fun, fan-driven/-created story over the course of this week. Thursday’s comic was particularly amusing and absurd.
• Puzzle Cube Alarm Clock
• By way of comes How Things Are(n’t) Made
• The Force is strong in this one…
• I’m still trying to decide if I want to go see Al Jarreau at the Park City Jazz Festival tomorrow evening…

Later: A trip to Hobby Lobby and other shenanigans.

Namaste.

Friday – 21 August 2009
Waking up this morning was something of a chore. I think that my first alarm went off for about 15 or 20 seconds before my brain found a couple of brain cells to rub together and come up with “a clue” as to what it was and what to do about it. Then, I went back to sleep.

The second alarm, the one I had to get out of bed to deal with, went a little better. I got up, turned it off and plopped down on the sofa for a few. Motivation to start the day, however, was still close to nil. Fifteen or so minutes later, I managed to pry myself from the comfort of the couch and begin the morning preparation rituals.

Last night saw the premiere of Project Runway on Lifetime. This made for a very happy SaraRules, as it wasn’t just Project Runway, it was a trio of shows:

1. Project Runway All-Star Challenge
2. Project Runway (Season Six Premiere)
3. Models of the Runway (Series Premiere)

Yes, a happy SaraRules, indeed. And, in a surprise turn of events, the person we both liked the least on Project Runway was the first one voted off the show.

While she watched the shows, I worked on interior props for my ‘Clix house. So far, the bathrooms are done – sink, tub and toilet in one; sink and toilet in the other. Now, I need to do beds and dressers for the bedrooms and some living room and kitchen furniture, too.

Stray Toasters

• Matt Mullenweg on Starting a Bank
• Accused champion Semenya not a gender cheat, says manager
• Free Download: Tribute to The Clash’s Sandinista
• Superman/Batman: Public Enemies is the next feature to be released in the DC Animation line. Newsarama has interviews with a couple of the voice actors:
  • Levar Burton (Black Lightning)
  • John C. McGinley (Metallo)
• LED display technology gets a twist
• 12 most annoying types of Facebookers
• Don Cheadle talks ‘Iron Man 2’
• This is still my favorite XKCD strip:

  

• Black Superhero Luke Cage Ignites Marvel Comics
• American Nuns Suspicious of Vatican Probes
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot..?!” file: Food and wine as collateral for bank loans
• Steampunk Flash Drive

Namaste.

Thursday – 20 August 2009
Having a mid-week day off was a nice change of pace.

The only construction that I wound up doing on my ‘Clix building was adding the interior half-wall in the upstairs hallway. I did, however, start printing some props, including beds, dressers, bathtubs, toilets, and sinks.

Four-Color Coverage
This week’s take mostly featured Batman- and/or Superman-related titles. That didn’t stop it from being a good haul, mind you:

• Batgirl #1 – First, there was Barbara Gordon. Then, there was Cassandra Cain. Now there’s… well, just who is under the cowl? Someone old? Someone new? (Hint: It’s not someone borrowed or blue.) I figured it out just before the big reveal. And the last page..? Both perfect and fitting. All-in-all, it was a good first issue.

  

• Blackest Night: Superman #1 (of 3) – Kal-L, Superman of Earth-2, rises from his grave and goes home. To Smallville. The same Smallville where the Earth-1 Clark Kent and Conner Kent (Superboy) are enjoying dinner with Martha Kent. Let’s just say that the rhubarb pie dessert is going to have to wait. And, why is a Black Lantern ring flying through space near [SPOILER DELETED]?

  

• The Brave and the Bold #26 – Further cementing Dakota (formerly part of DC’s Milestone line) in the mainstream DC Universe, this issue see’s The Spectre teaming up with Xombi. Fair issue, for the most part, but its hints at possible “trouble in Paradise” for The Spectre add a brick or two to the count.

  

• Justice League of America #36 – Vixen is in charge of… well… what’s left of the JLA, with a special guest appearance from [SPOILER DELETED]. Roulette and Amos Fortune’s “game” goes another round. There was what seemed to be a bit of a retcon to the origin of the Royal Flush Gang, as well. I was rather pleased to note that Vixen was shown to rather strong-willed, as evidenced not only in her conversation with [SPOILER DELETED], but also in the way she refused to accept any backtalk from Dr. Light, after assigning her a mission partner that she didn’t like/want. On the “down” side, I wasn’t really taken by this issue’s artwork and the overall story was mediocre.

  

• The Middleman: The Doomsday Armageddon Apocalypse – This issue wraps up the story originally started in The Middleman: The Trade Paperback Imperative and continued in the too-short-lived television series -in fact, it picks right up from the last aired episode. The artwork has changed a bit, but the good stuff is still there in the writing. Reading the issue, it was easy to hear Matt Keeslar and Natalie Morales’ voices as The Middleman and Wendy Watson. This was a fun, quirky read and a fitting end to the series… or, at least, this incarnation of it. Here’s hoping that we are treated to more tales from O2STK in the future.

  

• The Mighty Avengers #28 – Stature clues in that things with the Scarlet Witch aren’t as hunky-dory as they seem. Now, if she could only get others to see it, too.

  

• Supergirl #44 – With a little information here and some misdirection there, General Lane and Project 7734 see the plans against Kryptonians move forward. Lois Lane decides there’s someone she doesn’t want to interview – and, no, it’s not Lex Luthor. Additionally, readers get to learn how Kryptonians (and Daxamites) play “Tag.”

  

• Superman Annual #14 – Mon-El has a problem. Well, other than the fact that his exposure to lead as a youth is killing him… again. He’s received a pair of (what appear to be) Sunstones that contain stories of ancient Daxam. But is it a story that he wants to hear? Also, after nearly fifty years, readers get a well-told… retelling (not exactly a retcon)… of how Mon-El Lar Gand met Clark Kent.

  

• Superman/Batman #63 -Who do you put your money on when only one man is left to fight against the absolute ruler of the world?
  

  “Grodd won. We lost. Gorilla Grodd now controls the mind of every person on Earth. Man, woman, child. Hero and villain.”

  If that “one man” is Batman, I’d say him. But, maybe I’m a little biased. I wasn’t incredibly thrilled about the artwork in this issue, but the story raised the bar significantly.

  

• Tiny Titans #19 – Tiny Titan Bumblebee and Terror Titan Plasmus discover there’s plenty to smile about when you have a friend to hang out with. This was not only a fun issue, but it was “terminally cute,” as well.

  

Stray Toasters

• There is far too much blood in my caffeinestream this morning. This must be remedied.
• Purdue ranks among nation’s top universities
• 25 Style Questions Answered in Seconds
• Poor design choices in the Star Wars universe
• sent along this bit of amusement:

  

• Zombaritaville – song lyrics rewritten as zombie tunes
• Haunted Mansion 40th Birthday Video
• 10 Car Ads That’ll Rev Your Engines

Quote of the Day
Tim Gunn was on Good Morning America and Live with Regis and Kelly yesterday morning; he was promoting the new season of Project Runway (starting tonight on Lifetime). Regis asked him what his number one suggestion was to people concerning fashion and style:

Accept responsibility for what you’re wearing. Since our clothes send a message about how the world perceives us – the semiotics of clothes – accept responsibility for the message you’re sending to the world.

Amen.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 19 August 2009
Welcome to 9/80 Comics (and possibly Sushi) Wednesday. That’s right, I said “9/80 Wednesday.” I’m off today, rather than Friday this week, as I’m going to be covering for loonybin88 – and apparently the rest of the IT team, as well – on Friday: He’s out of town, a couple of guys are at off-site training this week and my team is off this Friday.  Julie and I have already discussed the idea of bringing in movies for Friday. I can’t complain too much, because I’m getting a “weekend” in the middle of the week. Win-Win.

Last night, I thought that I was going to finish a working on my newest ‘Clix building. I came close, but I realized that something was missing. It turned out that it was a couple of somethings:

1. A wall texture in one of the bedrooms
2. The upstairs hallway looked… “off,” it needed a half-wall at the stairwell.

But, by the time I realized these things, SaraRules was already abed and I didn’t want to start printing things and disturb her sleep. Another thing to do is to top it all off and to put a roof on the whole thing.

Stray Toasters

• Confessions of a Comic Book Guy – That’s Just the Way Things Were
• Project Runway‘s new season kicks off tomorrow night. Tim Gunn was on Good Morning America and Live with Regis and Kelly this morning, promoting it.
• pointed me in the direction of Visualizing up to Ten Dimensions, which I had skipped looking at yesterday. I checked it out last night. It was pretty neat… and that’s coming from a guy whose relationship with classroom Physics could be described as “not necessarily the best.”
• Beloit College Mindset List
• One of my favorite LEGO-related sites, The Brothers Brick, has had some neat MoC postings lately:
  • Gears of Jelly – a steampunk jellyfish
  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is much less terrifying in LEGO
  • Terror of the Radio Waves
  • Spock’s Jellyfish
  • Microscale Star Trek fleet – including a tiny Defiant!
  • Take me out to the ballgame!
• 
• I just saw a commercial teaser for a new series on ABC called Eastwick. As in “The Witches of Eastwick.” According to a quick look at Wikipedia, it’s the third time a series has been attempted.
• The Problem with PowerPoint
• Sipping Spiders Through a Straw: Funny monster lyrics to traditional tunes
• 
• Sony Announces a Slimmer PS3
• I probably shouldn’t be as amused by Comcast’s Ben Stein/Shaquille O’Neal commercials as I am.
• Hope Diamond to get new setting for anniversary
• Can anyone stop Usain Bolt?!

Or even catch him!?

Inka Dinka Doo.

Namaste.

This appeared on BoingBoing a little while ago. You should watch it. Now.

Tuesday – 18 August 2009
Another day in the mines.

Last night, SaraRules and I went to dinner at El Chihuahua. We ate. We talked. We watched football. After that, we ran a couple of errands – one of which involved a Hostess Fruit Pie (but perhaps I’ve said too much…) – and then headed home for a quiet evening in.

The management at our apartment complex is having some of the roads in the complex repaved. I think that this would be referred to as a “Charlie Foxtrot” in the military.

Football Update
The Panthers traveled to New York to take on the N.Y. Giants for their first preseason game. (GameCenter) They put on a… decent… showing. The first half was primarily the Giants’ half. Somewhere in the second half, the Panthers seemed to remember why they were there.

With under two minutes left in the game, QB Josh McCown executed a rather impressive drive that went in for a touchdown AND two-point conversion to tie the game at 17. The Giants had a chance to drive downfield, but couldn’t. On the first play of the Panthers’ next drive, McCown, setting up a pass play, had the ball knocked from his hand, which was recovered – in the air – by a Giants’ lineman and run back for the go-ahead winning touchdown… just as time ran out.

Carolina: 17
Giants: 24

And, in other gridiron news: Brett Favre is back in Minnesota…

Workout
Marci and I went to the gym this afternoon:

• Calf Raises: 3 sets/10 reps, 100 lbs
• Leg Extensions: 3 sets/10 reps, 70 lbs
• Leg Curls: 3 sets/10 reps, 70 lbs
• Sit-ups (incline): 3 sets/20 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 185 lbs
• Tricep Extensions (bar): 3 sets/12 reps, 80 lbs
• Curls (dumbbell, hammer grip): 3 sets/10 reps, 25 lbs
• Reverse Punches (dumbbell): 3 sets/10 lbs
  • Set 1: 20 reps
  • Set 2: 10 reps

Weight (morning): 184.5 lbs

Stray Toasters

• Last night, I was messaged by someone I haven’t spoken with in nearly five (5) years. It was a bit of a shock, pleasantly so… but surprising, nonetheless.
• By way of : While I Was Away

• IKEA Draper Crayfish Party
• Utah Museum of Fine Arts is holding a film and lecture series, beginning next week.
• Why Is PETA Making Fun of Fat Women?
• I’m a fan of Bobby McFerrin. Check out his rendition of The Pink Panther Theme
• Insanewiches
• Car 54 Jamar Nicholas, Where Are You?
• pointed this out to me: Do You Wanna Date My Avatar?

• Has the Spidey Musical been deep-sixed?
• But we’re never gonna survive
  Unless we are a little crazy…

Quote of the Day
Today’s quote is gleaned from a conversation I had last night with . He wanted to make sure that we were alright with Bit and Pixel being at the wedding ceremony (in the chapel, that is).  Duh – we only get to see them (or at least Bit, to this point) every so often; naturally, we want them there. That led to the following:

9:47:10 PM : aiiight so urchins ok, i’ll load them both up with nyquil.
9:47:21 PM : heh or mountain dew
9:47:24 PM : either way, fun at parties
9:47:26 PM : 🙂
9:47:59 PM : SaraRules: “How about one and one?”
9:48:06 PM : “He gets to pick which one.”
9:48:24 PM : hahaha ok awesome, Bit on mountain dew then.  i’ve been wanting to play with THAT shotgun for months.

Namaste.

Monday – 17 August 2009
A new work week kicks off in the valley and…

…SaraRules starts at Utah Symphony/Utah Opera today:

Stray Toasters

• By way of MarknTyme: Finally, The Best Use for LEGO Is Revealed
• Gone Forever: What Does It Really Take to Disappear?
• U.S. banknotes show cocaine traces
• 
• …and on the subject of fanfic: While I do not often read much fanfic, but posted a link to a really well-done one: The Mutant Problem
  (Click the images on the right for more to the story)
• Chris and I are going to redo our Green Lantern Corps/Sinestro Corps ‘Clix battle – this time, including our respective heralds: My Ion (Sodam Yat) and his Parallax (Kyle Rayner).  It’s going to be a pretty big game, in terms of points, but it should be fun.  Now, we just need to see if we can come up with something for a Sinestro Corps Team Ability or Feat…
• I had forgotten that both Michael Gambon and George Harris were in Layer Cake, which we watched again last night. Whenever one of them appeared onscreen, I kept making Harry Potter cracks.
• This kid cracks me up:

I should take a look at what’s on tap for the rest of the day.

Namaste.

Sunday – 16 August 2009
It’s cold cool – far cooler than one would expect for the middle of August in SLC. It’s 64°F and today’s projected high is only 74°F. But, it’s sunny, so there’s… something.

This morning has been lazy, so far. Just me, Defiant and the Interwebs. I should probably think about eating something in the next little while.

<< Rewind <<
Friday night, SaraRules and I went up to Park City to the Deer Valley Music Festival to hear the Utah Symphony perform Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. It rained intermittently… but only for a couple of minutes at a time. Bizarre. The performance consisted of:

• Fanfare for the Common Man (Aaron Copland)
• Overture to Colas Breugnon (Dmitri Kabalevsky)
• Rhapsody in Blue (George Gershwin)
• Suite from Swan Lake, op. 20a (Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky)
• Appalachian Spring (Aaron Copland)

The featured pianist, for Rhapsody, was Edisher Savitsky. His take on Rhapsody was very interesting – he played some passages quite slowly, others were spritely and animated. But his performance was delightful.

Saturday morning, we met SaraRules’ parents, Logan and Sanaz (Logan’s girlfriend) for breakfast at Millcreek Cafe and Eggworks. I have driven past the cafe many times – on the way to/from Dr. Volt’s or Oh Sushi!, but I’ve never really thought twice about checking it out. That was my mistake. It was a nice place, with good food at reasonable prices.

Next up, we went to see District 9. All I can really say about the movie – without giving anything away – is “Wow.” I was duly impressed. I had avoided reading any reviews or commentary about the movie, so that I could go into it “cold” and without any prejudice. And I am pleased to say that it was the right call.

Chris called and asked if I wanted to play ‘Clix. (Hm, playing twice in one week…) I headed over to his place for some gaming. We played the Superman family (me) versus the Shazam family. It was a much closer fight than either of us really expected – it literally came down to “last man standing” on both sides: Superman (Justice League) for me, Shazam! (Unleashed, Kingdom Come). Chris’ Captain Marvel edged out Superman in the last turn for the win. It was a lot of fun and a battle that we’re considering playing again.

> Play >
There’s no preseason game today. Fortunately, NFL Network – which is quickly becoming one of my favorite channels – is rebroadcasting some of the past week’s games. Win-Win!

I’m not really sure what’s on tap for today. We’re most likely going to hit the gym at some point. And we’re having dinner with SaraRules’ family this evening.

Stray Toasters

• SaraRules starts a new job at Utah Symphony/Utah Opera tomorrow.
• Legion Blogpost: We’re Back! Who Are We?!
• Thai elephant gets artificial leg
• Do-It-Yourself Guru Makes Treasures from Trash
• Room to swing a cat? Hardly
• 
• ‘It Might Get Loud’ takes measure of 3 guitar heroes
• Woman ‘to join Iranian Cabinet’
• Taking the Great American Road Trip, Google-style
• Moderate drinking ‘boosts bones’

Namaste.

Friday – 14 August 2009
The work week draws to a close. Amen.

After work yesterday, SaraRules and I met up with and headed to get fitted for our tuxedos. It was quick and rather painless. On the way home, I realized that I was craving something… I finally figured out what it was: Cake. We had to run by the store anyway, so we picked up some Devil’s Food cake mix and a… tub (?)… container (?)… whatever the unit is called (?)… of Cream Cheese frosting. SaraRules whipped it up after dinner.

This morning, I had the unexpected, but very pleasant, surprise of chatting with Bret for a bit before I had to get ready for work.

Football Update

1. The Ravens opened their preseason against the Washington Redskins last night. They apparently opened up a can o’ Whoop-ass, too, because they not only beat the ‘Skins… they blanked ’em: 23-0.

   

2. SaraRules’ beloved Raiders opened up against the Dallas Cowboys last night. They won. Handily. 31-10.
3. Michael Vick has signed with the Philadelphia Eagles for a one-year contract, with an option on a second year. We know that the man did a phenomenally douchbag thing with his dog-fighting ring a few years ago. But…he paid for it. Can we (finally) stop talking about what a schmuck the guy is – or was – and get on with the football aspect of things?
4. Dante Stallworth. Benched for the season. Sorry, .

Stray Toasters

• This morning, I awoke with the vershluggen music they play on the Lagoon commercials running through my head. I blame for this… for no other reason than “Because I can.”
• After a few misfires, I now have City of Heroes (re-)installed on Defiant.
• The Park City Jazz Festival kicks off next weekend; the closing artist is Al Jarreau. I believe that I shall have to find a way to attend this event.
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Woman Blames eBay for Thwarting Baby Name Auction
• I know you’re not supposed to play with your food, but with plates like this, how can you not?!
• By way of :

  

• Battlestar Galactica Feature Film Confirmed
• I just talked with – it looks like SaraRules and I will have our rings in about three weeks.  We both REALLY like the design she came up with; can’t wait to see the finished product.
• Why Should I Trust My Network Administrator?
• Thanks to ‘s posts about his trip through Indiana, I’ve had Rockapella’s Indiana (mp3) running through my head for the past couple of days.

Right on to the friction of the day…

Namaste.

Thursday – 13 August 2009
This week has been cruising right along.

Happy Birthday to :

I also talked with last night. He informed me of the following:

• Bot and Pixel are doing well.
• Bit has a few new words. (And, yes, one of them is “Mama.”)
• Grandparents just don’t understand.

Reeling By on Celluloid: The Last King of Scotland
SaraRules and I watched this movie last nig.ht. It told the story of Idi Amin’s reign as “President for Life” of Uganda in the 1970s, from the point of view of his personal physician. Forest Whitaker portrayed Amin; James McAvoy portrayed Nicholas Garrigan, his doctor. After college, Garrigan goes to Uganda, looking to make a difference in the world. Through a random occurance, winds up meeting Amin, who has just ascended to power in a coup. From there the movie follows Garrigan as he becomes entangled in the complicated world of  Amin’s fight to maintain power and control.

The movie was very well done and didn’t pull any punches in bringing some of the horrors of President Amin’s rule to light. Forest Whitaker won the 2007 Oscar for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for this film and, watching his character’s progression from man of the people to a man caught up in his own cult of personality. All-in-all, it was an very good film and one quite worth watching.

Four-Color Coverage
This week had a number of good books… as did last week, which I didn’t list, because I was tromping through the woods of Idaho. So, this week will see a, or rather “another,” two-week compilation list:

Week of 05 August 09:

• Doom Patrol #1 – DC’s strangest heroes are back on the block. And they’ve got a new strange villainess to contend with. An interesting read and one that makes me curious to see if the next couple of issues turn this into a regular purchase.
  
• Justice League: Cry for Justice #2 (of 6) – The pieces and the players continue to come together in this offshoot League. It’s still moving a little slowly, but I’m going to bear it out, especially since it’s supposed to have (eventual) ramifications in the core JLA book.
  
• Superman: World of New Krypton #5 (of 12) – General Zod has been shot. New Krypton is in chaos. Superman and Supergirl head to Earth, hot on the heels of Zod’s attacker. (Wasn’t there something about the UN banning Kryptonians on Earth…?)
  
• Captain America: Reborn #2 – Steve Rogers continues to do his impression of Quantum Leap’s Dr. Sam Beckett. And, like Dr. Beckett, Cap is slowly coming to realize what’s happening to him. Unlike Dr. Beckett – and more like Queen – he realizes that “there’s nothing you can, nothing you can, nothing you can do about it.”
  
• Ultimatum
  • Ultimatum: Fantastic Four Requiem #1 and Ultimatum: X-Men Requiem #1 – Marvel’s Ultimate Universe was supposed to be the sandbox where writers and artists could take familiar characters and places and do things that they couldn’t get away with in the mainstream Marvel 616 Universe. And, in Ultimatum, they’ve done just that. These books present the aftermath of Magneto’s “Ultimatum Wave,” through which he caused upheaval on a global scale. While I wasn’t necessarily thrilled with some of the things they did, I have to give Marvel credit for redrawing the lines on the playing field.
    STORY:
    EXECUTION:
• Love and Capes #11 – Abby needs a new wedding dress. Marc whisks her off to Paris for a shopping trip with her sister, Charlotte. But, what happens when Abby not only finds “the perfect dress,” but also finds that it was made by Marc’s former flame, Amazonia?
  

Week of 12 August 09

• Adventure Comics #1/#504 – Superboy is back. He’s trying to put the pieces of his (former) life back together. Good thing that he’s got Martha Kent, the Teen Titans and Krypto – not to mention a certain “mild-mannered reporter” – there to help him out. This issue’s second feature includes the Legion of Super-Heroes. Kind of. More specifically, it features Starman and Tellus, who team up to fulfill the last will and testament of R.J. Brande, the LSH’s late benefactor.
  
• Blackest Night
  • Blackest Night #2 (of 8 ) – Commissioner and Barbara Gordon meet an unexpected visitor on GCPD’s rooftop. Black Lantern Aquaman schedules an impromptu family reunion. Green Lantern and the Flash set up for Round Two with Black Lanten Martian Manhunter… and wind up facing [SPOILER DELETED].
    
  • Blackest Night: Batman #1 (of 3) – The new Batman and Robin team up with not-a-Black Lantern Deadman to take on the newly reanimated [SPOILERS DELETED].
    
  • Blackest Night: Green Lantern Corps #39 – GLs Kyle Rayner and Guy Gardner are headed back to Oa when they meet up with Lanterns Soranik Natu and Iolande. It’s a quiet trip until they get passed by a swarm of Black Lantern rings… headed to Oa.
    
• R.E.B.E.L.S. #7 – Vril Dox reaches out to leaders of other worlds, seeking to form an alliance against Starro. While he makes some convincing points, let’s just say that he shouldn’t necessarily look for a second job in Sales.
  
• Luke Cage: Noir #1 (of 4) – Luke Cage, “The Power-Man,” gets the Marvel Noir treatment… and it’s a treat to read. Fresh out of prison, Cage is looking to renew some old connections and see how things have changed while he was away. Hopefully, he can learn who the players are… and who’s getting played.
  
• Action Comics #880 – Continuing from last week’s World of Krypton #5, Superman and Supergirl chase Ral-Dar, General Zod’s would-be assassin, to Earth… where they get a less-than-“warm” reception. Readers also learn a bit more about General Lane’s playmates.
  
• G-Man: Cape Crisis #1 (of 5) – School-aged hero, G-Man, hooks some of his friends up with the ability to fly. What could possibly go wrong when he tells them it’s time to come back to ground? This was both a great all-ages read and a refreshing change of pace – along the lines of Tiny Titans, but with a little more “meat” to the story.
  
• Uncanny X-Men #514 – As running the X-Men (all teams) and X-Force (the team that no one knows about) wasn’t enough, Cyclops puts together another team. Also, Emma Frost’s “Dark X-Men” do some good at saving citizens in the Bay Area. And it looks as if the Summers X-Men and the Frost X-Men are going to butt heads. Soon. On a personal note, it’s nice to see that Matt Fraction has a good handle on writing Cyclops. As my long-time favorite X-Men, I appreciate it when he’s written well – a bit conflicted and occasionally awkward, but always making plans and contingencies.
  

Stray Toasters

• I’ve got to do my “Goals and Accomplishments” for 2009. Yay.
• Steampunk butterfly
• Guitar, studio wizard Les Paul dies at 94
• Looking for a treat to satisfy your favorite snack-hungry zombies? Try Brain cupcakes.
• Do you eat the moldy stuff?
• 
• Euro-Area Economy Contracted 0.1% in Second Quarter
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!” file: Brazilian crime TV host ordered executions to boost ratings, cops say
• 
• I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist campaign for photographers’ rights

Yeah… that’s good for now.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 12 August 2009
Midweek and all’s well.

Last week, before heading out of town, I had requested that some job-related information be  faxed to my office. As of Thursday morning, nothing had been received. *shrug* Monday, still nothing. Yesterday, nada. So, this morning, I called to inquire about it. The person I talked with said that, according to his records, nothing had been sent. *sigh* He did, however, say that he would see about getting it out this morning.

Last night, Chris came over to play dolls HeroClix. I got to use my two newest buildings, the second of which is still a bit “under construction” (still needs a couple of interior walls placed and a roof). We went with Checkmate (me) vs. S.H.I.E.L.D. (Chris) theme, because who doesn’t like the idea of “spy vs. spy?” To be honest, I totally expected to get thrashed – I hadn’t played Checkmate as a team and Chris is better than “pretty good” with S.H.I.E.L.D. To my surprise, I did alright. We called the game because of time; Chris won, but my team held its own. If we were to replay the match, I might go with a slightly different lineup -mainly, replacing the old Checkmate Agent and Medic figures with something more effective – but on the whole, I was happy with the team I had. (Pictures)

Day Eleventy-Seven of the Great HDD Recovery… and things are proceeding. Slowly, but progress is being made. And, for their help in scraping data from the old drive, and Chad (co-worker) are getting nods for Human of the Day.

Workout
I neglected to note that Wes and I went to the gym yesterday afternoon. We had a brief – VERY brief – workout:

• Sit-ups (incline): 3 sets/20 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 205 lbs
• Compound Row: 3 sets/ 10 reps
  • 1 set @ 130lbs
  • 2 sets @ 110 lbs
• Curls (dumbbell, with Shoulder Press): 3 sets/10 reps, 25 lbs

Weight (morning): 182.5 lbs

Stray Toasters

• Bonnie Raitt and Taj Mahal were on The Late Late Show last night; they performed She Caught the Katy.

• “Finagle” is a fun word.
• Geneva Conventions’ struggle for respect
• Muslim women uncover myths about the hijab
• Periodic Table sweater
  • Periodic Table of Comic Book Elements
• Are we on the brink of creating a computer with a human brain?
• The fax I was expecting came in this afternoon… and it wasn’t exactly in the format I expected, but at this point, I’m just glad to have it.
• IMG MGMT: Life as a Woman, Hedy Lamarr
• Thieves Cashing in on Stolen Clunkers in Germany
• Abjection Sustained
• Hard drive + Freezer = partial data recovery
  (WHO KNEW!?)

Namaste.