Man, am I turning into some sort of redneck or what? Haha. See, I can use the word redneck without offending people because I grew up in Barboursville, Virginia, by God!
Me and a group of my buddies are going to a gun show in Richmond in a couple of weeks. I won't link the website because, man is it ghetto!
Tiled animated gif wallpaper? Check.
Misspelled scrolling banners? Check.
Rants about ATF agents and civil liberties? Check.
Mad ghetto.
01 July 2008
30 June 2008
Stockpile Progress
I had to scale down on some of my stockpile goals. It's just too much money. I may get there over the long term, but in the short term I have accepted the following goals:
COMPLETED:
Remington 870 Express Pump Shotgun
SKS Assault Rifle
GP-100 Ruger .357 Magnum Revolver
300 rounds .38 special
50 rounds .357 magnum
360 rounds 7.62mm x 39 FMJ
500 rounds .22 cal rimfire (fer critter & bird hunting)
INCOMPLETE:
Shotgun Loader Kit
Gunpowder (qty?)
Shot (qty?)
Other Loading Supplies (qty?)
100 rounds 12 gague 3 in 00 buckshot (have 30)
50 rounds 12 gague 3 in slugs (have 5)
3 Heirloom Apple Trees to plant in Barboursville (have 0)
high quality non-folding blade knife
Financially this puts me nearly 3/4 of the way there. I'm probably going to a gun show in Richmond soon, so maybe I can find some deals on ammo, a knife, and maybe even a loader kit and loading supplies.
COMPLETED:
Remington 870 Express Pump Shotgun
SKS Assault Rifle
GP-100 Ruger .357 Magnum Revolver
300 rounds .38 special
50 rounds .357 magnum
360 rounds 7.62mm x 39 FMJ
500 rounds .22 cal rimfire (fer critter & bird hunting)
INCOMPLETE:
Shotgun Loader Kit
Gunpowder (qty?)
Shot (qty?)
Other Loading Supplies (qty?)
100 rounds 12 gague 3 in 00 buckshot (have 30)
50 rounds 12 gague 3 in slugs (have 5)
3 Heirloom Apple Trees to plant in Barboursville (have 0)
high quality non-folding blade knife
Financially this puts me nearly 3/4 of the way there. I'm probably going to a gun show in Richmond soon, so maybe I can find some deals on ammo, a knife, and maybe even a loader kit and loading supplies.
29 June 2008
27 June 2008
Teh H4x0r
Main Entry: Teh H4x0r
Phoenetic Pronunciation: \tay hack-sore\
Function: noun
Date: Late 20th century
1. an elite computer programmer, technician, engineer, or systems architect.
2. anyone who can bend a computer to their will.
3. me, muthafucka!
<--------------------->
I've been banging out so much code over the last week. My job entails much more than just programming, but I've been finding all sorts of ways to solve problems with my code-skillz lately.
On any given day I could be called upon to perform Oracle database administrative tasks, develop .NET code for web apps or services, troubleshoot client side problems, advise on third party solution architecture, or manage and coordinate project teams and activities. Oh yeah - I forgot I also do both end-user and technician level training classes. I've probably forgotten a task or two...
All of this and I serve on a rotating weekly on-call schedule with three other guys. On-call is 24/7/365 between the four of us. Hospitals never sleep, you know. Oh yeah... haha. I also develop the training material for the classes I give as well as develop the documentation for all of the systems I develop and/or support.
Anyways - back to the code. Over the last week or so I have been a veritable Indian sweatshop of code output. In this short period of time I have:
Phoenetic Pronunciation: \tay hack-sore\
Function: noun
Date: Late 20th century
1. an elite computer programmer, technician, engineer, or systems architect.
2. anyone who can bend a computer to their will.
3. me, muthafucka!
<--------------------->
I've been banging out so much code over the last week. My job entails much more than just programming, but I've been finding all sorts of ways to solve problems with my code-skillz lately.
On any given day I could be called upon to perform Oracle database administrative tasks, develop .NET code for web apps or services, troubleshoot client side problems, advise on third party solution architecture, or manage and coordinate project teams and activities. Oh yeah - I forgot I also do both end-user and technician level training classes. I've probably forgotten a task or two...
All of this and I serve on a rotating weekly on-call schedule with three other guys. On-call is 24/7/365 between the four of us. Hospitals never sleep, you know. Oh yeah... haha. I also develop the training material for the classes I give as well as develop the documentation for all of the systems I develop and/or support.
Anyways - back to the code. Over the last week or so I have been a veritable Indian sweatshop of code output. In this short period of time I have:
- Added a historical record revision tracking system to our web based Change Control system (which I wrote originally)
- Created a record reconciliation routine with excel spreadsheet output and configurable parameters to compare items sent and items received between two different systems here at the Hospital.
- Detected, isolated, coded a fix for, tested, and deployed said fix for an issue with an Oracle monitoring service (that I wrote originally) whose output had come under criticism. In all honesty, it was a bug in my software but it was a bug that only manifested itself when a certain other group did something they should never do to my precious server.
- Overcame our LAN group's excessively restrictive security policies in order to coordinate a vendor installation of software on a load balanced server arrangement. ("That didn't work?" Hmmm... troubleshoot, test, troubleshoot, test. Call LAN group "Hey, open up permissions on such and such registry key.")
All that and I fielded a few HelpDesk tickets, too. I'm on call this week.
Teh. Fucking. H4x0r.
25 June 2008
Teaching the Kids to Shoot
My Dad taught me how to shoot using a BB Gun back when I was 8 or so. The first real gun I ever shot, however, was my Step-Dad's Ruger 10/22 Rimfire (also at 8 years old).
My oldest son is 13 and my oldest daughter is 10. It's high time I taught them how to shoot a rifle. My Step-Dad still has his old Ruger and has consented to letting me use it to teach them the way of the gun.
I'm psyched. I think, oddly enough, my daughter may enjoy it and take to it better than my son. My son is more of the cerebral type (nothing wrong with that) and my daughter is much more the physical. We'll see.
I hope the replacement rear sight I ordered over the phone with Ruger gets here in time for their visit weekend after next.
My oldest son is 13 and my oldest daughter is 10. It's high time I taught them how to shoot a rifle. My Step-Dad still has his old Ruger and has consented to letting me use it to teach them the way of the gun.
I'm psyched. I think, oddly enough, my daughter may enjoy it and take to it better than my son. My son is more of the cerebral type (nothing wrong with that) and my daughter is much more the physical. We'll see.
I hope the replacement rear sight I ordered over the phone with Ruger gets here in time for their visit weekend after next.
24 June 2008
In With the New
I have recently replaced Harry with a new revolver. See below:
Of course I'll get out there and shoot this bad boy ASAP and let you know what the deal is in terms of its accuracy. I'm hopeful.
The grip on this revolver is especially comfortable. It just fits well in my hand (I have big hands) and the rubberizing is very nice.
I'll wait util the accuracy results are in before I name this one. I don't want to get attached to it, only to have to trade it in like I did with Harry.
| Ruger GP100 .357 Magnum Revolver | |
| Reliability: | Very High |
| Accuracy: | Good (as pistols go) |
| Stopping Power: | High firing .357 mag, Moderate to Low firing .38 |
| Time to Fire: | Low |
| Ammunition Commonality: | .357 is Somewhat Common, .38 special is Common |
| Simplicity: | Very Simple |
| Ammunition Capacity: | Low (6 rnds) |
| Manageability: | .357 round is Moderate while .38 is very manageable |
Of course I'll get out there and shoot this bad boy ASAP and let you know what the deal is in terms of its accuracy. I'm hopeful.
The grip on this revolver is especially comfortable. It just fits well in my hand (I have big hands) and the rubberizing is very nice.
I'll wait util the accuracy results are in before I name this one. I don't want to get attached to it, only to have to trade it in like I did with Harry.
23 June 2008
The Might and the Majesty
My wife and two of my kids went to D.C. this weekend. We took Amtrack up and walked everywhere we wanted to go. During our stay we went to the Natural History Museum (dinosaurs!), the Washington Monument, and the Carousel on the Mall. Doesn't sound like much to do for an entire weekend?
Ha! You try doing all that with a 14 month old and a 4 year old on foot!
I haven't been to D.C. in a while, but what never ceases to amaze me is the majesty of the place. The train station, Union Station, is gigantic. It's as big as many major airports. The main lobby is beatiful tile floor with large statues all around. The exterior of the building is also quite impressive, with massive stone columns and granite everywhere.
Much of D.C. is built this way. All sorts of federal office buildings all over the city were built with a fortune of granite. And these buildings are nothing special - they're just office buildings. The curbs in DC are granite, for Pete's sake! Then toss the Capitol building in the mix along with all of the monuments and memorials and you have a city built to impress.
Of course this is all by design. For its day I'm sure Rome was much, much more impressive than D.C. There are plenty of other majestic sites in other cities all over the world today. Back in the heyday of Rome this was not the case. Rome was the largest city in the world and had public buildings and spaces unrivaled. The Circus Maximus and the Colliseum would be impressive structures even if they were built today.
It's no coincidence that there are columns a-plenty in D.C. and stone all over everything. Nothing screams permanence like expensive, heavy stone. The Egyptians knew it, the Greeks knew it, the Romans knew it. D.C. is intentionally built to evoke images of glory and empire and permanence.
But those images are all illusions, for nothing is permanent. The structures still stand in many cases, but the civilizations and vibrant life that once filled them are long gone. Egypt was swept away as an independent power by the Greeks, the Greeks by the Romans, and the Romans by a series of barbarian tribes. The Byzantine East survived for a millenium longer, but even they fell to Ottoman Turks eventually.
At least these ancient civilizations fell to invaders. We will probably fall to our own stupidity and corruption without the benefit of foreign aggression. History buffs, please spare me the lecture. I know that each of these civilizations were weakened by internal strife and corruption which set the stage for their conquest from without. I was merely pointing out that we won't even need that push from an external force in order for us to fall over.
Rome and Egypt and Greece never had to deal with a shifting climate and a population addicted to a cheap energy source which made life obscenely easy. They never had to deal with fundamentally dwindling resources with no frontiers left to colonize and exploit. There's no release valve for the pressures we are under today.
Where can you send excess population to go live now? The North Pole? When we run out of food or water where can we go to get more? Ummm... Mars? When the oil runs out and petroleum-based fertilizers aren't available to super-charge our soil any more, how do we feed our 7 billion person population?
Am I crazy? I hope so.
Atlanta doesn't think so. They're in a tough way down there. Maybe a foreshadowing of things to come? Take a look at Lake Allatoona, one of the major water sources down there.
What I'm saying is that no army can stop a drought. No bomber can make crops grow. Our military can't save us like it saved the Egyptians and the Romans and the Greeks for so long. Figthing this enemy takes a lot more smarts and cooperation than anything the ancients faced.
I'm just wondering if we're up to it.
Ha! You try doing all that with a 14 month old and a 4 year old on foot!
I haven't been to D.C. in a while, but what never ceases to amaze me is the majesty of the place. The train station, Union Station, is gigantic. It's as big as many major airports. The main lobby is beatiful tile floor with large statues all around. The exterior of the building is also quite impressive, with massive stone columns and granite everywhere.
Much of D.C. is built this way. All sorts of federal office buildings all over the city were built with a fortune of granite. And these buildings are nothing special - they're just office buildings. The curbs in DC are granite, for Pete's sake! Then toss the Capitol building in the mix along with all of the monuments and memorials and you have a city built to impress.
Of course this is all by design. For its day I'm sure Rome was much, much more impressive than D.C. There are plenty of other majestic sites in other cities all over the world today. Back in the heyday of Rome this was not the case. Rome was the largest city in the world and had public buildings and spaces unrivaled. The Circus Maximus and the Colliseum would be impressive structures even if they were built today.
It's no coincidence that there are columns a-plenty in D.C. and stone all over everything. Nothing screams permanence like expensive, heavy stone. The Egyptians knew it, the Greeks knew it, the Romans knew it. D.C. is intentionally built to evoke images of glory and empire and permanence.
But those images are all illusions, for nothing is permanent. The structures still stand in many cases, but the civilizations and vibrant life that once filled them are long gone. Egypt was swept away as an independent power by the Greeks, the Greeks by the Romans, and the Romans by a series of barbarian tribes. The Byzantine East survived for a millenium longer, but even they fell to Ottoman Turks eventually.
At least these ancient civilizations fell to invaders. We will probably fall to our own stupidity and corruption without the benefit of foreign aggression. History buffs, please spare me the lecture. I know that each of these civilizations were weakened by internal strife and corruption which set the stage for their conquest from without. I was merely pointing out that we won't even need that push from an external force in order for us to fall over.
Rome and Egypt and Greece never had to deal with a shifting climate and a population addicted to a cheap energy source which made life obscenely easy. They never had to deal with fundamentally dwindling resources with no frontiers left to colonize and exploit. There's no release valve for the pressures we are under today.
Where can you send excess population to go live now? The North Pole? When we run out of food or water where can we go to get more? Ummm... Mars? When the oil runs out and petroleum-based fertilizers aren't available to super-charge our soil any more, how do we feed our 7 billion person population?
Am I crazy? I hope so.
Atlanta doesn't think so. They're in a tough way down there. Maybe a foreshadowing of things to come? Take a look at Lake Allatoona, one of the major water sources down there.
What I'm saying is that no army can stop a drought. No bomber can make crops grow. Our military can't save us like it saved the Egyptians and the Romans and the Greeks for so long. Figthing this enemy takes a lot more smarts and cooperation than anything the ancients faced.
I'm just wondering if we're up to it.
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