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Dec 29th, Sunday:
I
just watched the STAR WARS- Attack of the clones DVD.
Yeah, I had seen it in the theatre and in that environment and with
all that hype, I enjoyed it. But now I have had the chance to sit down
and evaluate the feature. Well, I've come to a surprising conclusion.
Star Wars SUCKS. I didn't use to think that, but now I do.
This movie was overly long for it's lack of depth, painfully boring
until near the end, and really the only character that was even
remotely interesting got his head lopped off by one of the supposedly
"Good Guys". Why did that happen? He wasn't a bad guy. Sure he was
firing at the Jedi - but wasn't that saber wielding Jedi running at him
already? Yes, he was. I would have considered that a threat and have
fired myself. Anyways... And then Yoda comes out and starts whirling
and hopping about with his little saber... that was actually silly.
That wasn't' cool. It was pretty stupid. If this whole saga is
supposedly the story of the redemption of Anakin Skywalker - why would
Lucas (who is really not that good of a director) manage to make this
supposedly tragic character in such a way that when he gets his arm
lopped off by Christopher Lee, all I could think was "The punk deserved
it." I was also unimpressed by the princess who is evidently supposed
to be some hottie according to geek fans across the internet. For some
reason I find her voice grating. How was she cast? Just for her looks
or did she actually have to read a line? Poor casting in my
opinion. Most any actress could have done a better job in that role.
The overall quality of Star Wars and the first 2 episodes are rather
low, and the story very shallow. I may have to go see Star Trek
Nemesis, and I am afraid to find that it very well could be a better
movie. The hero sucked, the story sucked, the princess just needs to
keep quiet and look pretty, the action was too fast to see, and amid
all that, it was boring as hell. The Lord of the Rings has really
spoiled me to what a well done movie is all about.
Dec 26th, Thursday:
When I picked up my Beretta 92FS, I was actually out hunting for a
Springfield
XD 9MM.
I didn't find one that included any high capacity magazines. Anyways,
the fact that I didn't get one at that time means very little... the XD
remains one fantastic pistol at a great value. The XD was the cover
gun of the May SWAT magazine issue with a very good article by one Rob
Pincus. This gun is like the F-18 Hornet of handguns... it can do
everything and does everything very well. Now it comes in a
sub-compact size. Take a look
at
Springfield's
page. Now there are two things I have to get off my chest. 1.
A sub-compact auto with a tactical light is fucking retarded. You get
a small gun because it's a small gun and it hides well. If your
putting a damn light on it and using it in a tactical situation, go
ahead and use the bigger gun. The bigger gun is easier to hit your
targets with... if your in a situation where you need to pull the
trigger, you are probably going to need all the extra help in hitting
you can get. But don't take my word for that... that's just my opinion
and I may be wrong. 2. The "Intro Movie"... Hold on a sec...
I have to pop a few Exhedrine Migraine tablets... Wait... Gotta wrap
my skull in duct-tape to keep my head from exploding... There we go...
hold on... yeah... I'm okay now. WARNING: THE XD INTRO MOVIE
CLIP CAN CAUSE HEADACHES, VOMITING, AND GRAND MAL SEIZURES!
Judas Priest... Someone find out who made that wreck... and go slap his
Momma! Seriously. Oh my hell... I am cross-eyed now! Anyways,
the XD also now has a nice comfy "Full
Size" version. This 5 inch version of the XD would have to
be one of the best options for a police officer out there. Period.
TFL
is fading into the past.
It's not closed just yet, but already many of it's active members are
jumping over to the new forum that I mentioned a few days ago, but
removed the link.
Well, here it is. It went live
Dec 24th. I'll not go into details, but please, go and take a look.
It's called The High Road. There is a reason for that. If your a TFL
member or lurker, you'll understand it. If you don't already get it, I
can't explain it to you.
Speaking of THR and XD pistols...
Check out this thread on THR about the XD Subcompacts.
SWAT magazine just ran a short review of the
Taurus
PT-145 auto pistol.
Denny did a good job of writing it, but I wish he would have fired a
couple hundred more rounds. Had he crossed the 600 round line, he
would have noticed another line... a nice crack in the frame. This
isn't a fault of it being a Taurus. No, Taurus really and truly does
make good guns. This isn't a fault of it being plastic framed. No,
there are many fantastic auto loading handguns that are made with
plastic frames. There is just a problem with Taurus's plastic framed
guns... the whole Millennium series suffers from these problems. The
.45 version will crack in the rear of the frame and the other versions
are shearing the frame pins. Nice. As far as I can tell, Taurus has
not fixed the problem. Do a search on TFL and you will find my
observations as to the cause of this problem and a possible solution.
Other than that, if you have one of these pistols, sell it. If you
have been thinking of getting one, don't. If you want a small and
potent defensive handgun... Get an
XD Subcompact.
Dec 25th, Christmas!
Christmas this year was very good for my sons.
They made off like bandits. Mrs. Ogre did pretty well to. This gives
me a great sense of satisfaction. Another thing that gave me the
warm fuzzies was being able to give a computer to my little sister in
laws. I don't have any daughters, so I am very fond of these girls.
They are precious. I loaded this computer up with some MP3 songs for
them and set it up with a monitor, speakers, and a keyboard. Pretty
nice. They are most happy with it. Warm fuzzies... Don't know if I
like those, but I'll put up with it because I love these girls. Kade
I think is the one that got damn near everything he wanted. The only
thing he didn't get was a pellet gun. I wasn't sure if we was ready
for one just yet, but I now think he is. I'll get one for him
shortly. I have just the rifle in mind. It's CO2 powered, easy to
load and handle, and quite powerful. Of course, I may just go ahead
and grant him the old Remington 514, with which he is growing in his
marksmanship skills. I think that may be the ticket... I'm not sure
just yet. I may also give him a BB pistol to train with. But that's a
decision for another day. Right now we are all enjoying the day...
Playing games, napping, talking, and of course snacking. Merry
Christmas everyone!
We
have a lot of new guns coming out on the market right now.
This has got to be one of the best of times for being a shooter if your
looking for a new gun. S&W is now making a 1911. This isn't any
retarded fake 1911 like the 945 is... I'm talking a real 1911. Only
change to the format is an external extractor... something that is
growing in popularity, and a different internal drop safety. It's a
good looking stainless gun that will be in the mid to upper level
market. Springfield Armory has a new addition to it's (highly
recommended) XD series... A sub-compact variant that can be had in .40
or 9mm. They also have a 5 inch (standard is 4) version for those
wanting a full sized gun. (The size of an XD is the same as a Glock
19.) One gun I am growing fond of and am wanting to pick up when I
have enough jingle in my pocket, the Para PRO CARRY .45 auto. This is
a super small sub-compact .45 that rivals the Detonics or the
Springfield "Ultra Compact" guns. The upside of the Pro Carry is the
classical 1911 platform, but with
Para's
funky LDA trigger system that turns the gun into a strange type of a
double action. While the LDA isn't my favorite trigger system, I think
it's absolutely perfect for this application.
MP3's are so freaking cool.
My desktop computer is filling up with music files. Before you get
offended at the thought of piracy, two things: 1st, fuck off. 2nd,
I'm mostly ripping audio CD's that I already own and turning them into
MP3 files so I can play music while spinning a data cd in the drive...
No cd changing... No searching for the disk... No ejecting disks and
all that jazz. Well, okay, some of my music is downloaded from other
computers... but so what? Any ways, I'm going to fill up a 40 gig
drive with nothing but MP3 music. Everything from Classic to Cake.
Now I'm not going to lie here... Yeah, I have a lot of downloaded files
a music I've collected from various sources. And to tell the truth,
I'm always looking for more. Screw the RIAA, because it isn't about
the artists getting paid. It's about the RIAA getting paid. When the
artists want to make money, they go on tour. Concerts are where they
money. Record sales are only for the label because most artists are
paid a flat rate for recording. Remember Prince and how he changed his
name to a symbol and was referenced as The Artist? That was a move for
only one reason... To get out from under his oppressive record contract
with Sony. Now if the industry was all that, why would he need to do
that? (It was something about Sony having the rights to the name
"Prince" for X number of years and thusly had right to X% of his
dollars. Nice. By changing his name, Sony could make no claim to his
income.
Dec 24th, Tuesday:
Merry Christmas everyone!
I'm heading out to Vernal Utah to join up with my family for some
celebrations. I'll be back Thursday with some updates... I just found
out that
New
Jersey has passed a new Smart Weapons law and some other shit we'll
have to look into. HO HO HO!
Dec 23rd, Monday:
 I
am growing concerned over the situation in
Iraq.
We
are without a doubt heading for another war. This time, I think things
will not go so easily. Saddam has something very nasty up his
sleeves. We will win. But this time it will cost us more than we may
be willing to pay. Unfortunately the Tree of Liberty must be watered
with the blood of patriots. That is the price of our freedom. If we
wish to continue to live in a country such as ours is, in peace... then
smashing Iraq is an unavoidable necessity. I have friends that are in
the service and are heading into the service, I have brothers who are
in the service right now. I get a sick feeling in my gut at the
thought of my bros heading over there to war. I would that they not
have to go, but they may have to. That was a choice that they made,
and being honorable men, will do this duty if required. I wouldn't be
too worried... they are in an Artillery unit and are thusly very well
protected. Sure, they are key strategic targets for the enemy - but
they are very hard to reach.
 Many
units are quietly gathering themselves together and making
preparations. Other units are just flat out mustering and packing bags
and heading out. We have already sent an additional 1,000 troops over
to Israel. That is not nearly enough in my opinion. We need to go
over there in mass and this time, we need to wipe not just Saddam off
the face of the planet, but the entire Iraqi political structure, and
install a puppet governor to keep the locals in line. Fuck
Iraq.
There are some people that should just not own computers.
I had a customer yesterday that was demanding her 6 month old computer
be returned and she be given a brand new computer. You see, her
machine would no longer boot and it was our fault for building a poor
quality computer. Digging into the situation we see that this computer
was built with nothing but the absolute best components and built
right. So why isn't her machine booting? Well, she is on a broadband
connection and doesn't use a firewall. She also has Outlook Express
without any antivirus installed. Then she has Kazzaa going on top of
that. Hmmm... Yeah... It's all my fault your a drooling snail-skulled
idiot. Well, it is my fault I gave an idiot a computer... I should
have put my foot down and said "No... You don't get one. But you can
buy the 'Leap Pad', see, it's just like a laptop." *sigh* I'm really
getting tired of customers like that. I think they should have to be
penitent for breaking my computers that I have so graciously allowed
them to take home.
Speaking of home...
My favorite time of day is the moment I first open the door when I come
home from work. I get a huge hug-attack from my sons. Last night I
was almost knocked over. One of these days - they will be knocking me
over! I'll have no chance.
Christmas is going to be very short this year...
At least for me. I have to work the day before and after. That
sucks. But then again I'm just happy to have a job. I know far too
many people that are unemployed. Hopefully the economy will pick up
and things will get better.
Working with the new website I can tell it has a big opportunity...
And a good chance of success. This site will be the replacement for
TFL once TFL shuts it's doors. That's not an official stance... It's
just a fact. Most of TFL's staff is going there and many TFL members
will be going there as well. I'm on board as a member of the staff...
But I'm not sure as to how much I'll be there. At TFL I was feeling
like a 5th wheel... Like I was no longer at home. At this new site...
Well it looks like it will be a good one but I’m unsure if I really
want a deep level of involvement. TFL spoiled me, maybe. Or maybe I'm
done with such a forum? I don't know.
Dec 22nd, Sunday:
I've been looking at a couple other websites lately and I feel I must
pass them on.
First up is the replacement for THEFIRINGLINE.com. HYPERLINK REMOVED -
Site has not gone public yet. I'll post the URL when it does. Please
forgive. Thanks. Anyways, there is another site I wanted to
mention...
WiseNut.com. This is another
search engine that is either on the same level as google.com or
better. I've been testing it out on some pretty specific searches and
compare the results to Google's. I find that I am liking the WiseNut
results better. Does this mean it's better than Google? Not
necessarily... but it might. Your results may vary. One thing I
really like about these searches... It's not using Google. I dislike
Google due to the anti-gun stance it has taken. I don't know about
Wisenut's politics... but at least it isnt google.
I've tried to find a Christmas gift for my wife.
I've tried all over the place. I know specifically what it is... but
I just can't find it. The problem is I can't order it... that's too
late. I have to find it locally. I even drove up to SLC to find it
and the shop that has it is closed and the other shops that should have
had it didn't or they were closed on Sunday. Damn it.
Legolas.
Why is it every woman in the world is so hot about
Legolas? He's looking like a fairy man... a girly man...
Even Mrs. Ogre says he is sexy. Huh? He isn't sexy... he is prissy.
What's hot about that? Mrs. Ogre asked me if I was in Aragorn's shoes,
who would I pick between the elf chick and the blonde human chick.
"Hmmm, well, the elf chick would remain young and beautiful forever...
or at least for the rest of my mortal life. The human chick is very
pretty... and she kicks serious ass. (she kicks some pretty high level
ass in RETURN OF THE KING) So I guess it's a pretty even match. The
elf chick has much nicer tits, but the human chick has a better
ass... I would have to take both." Well, Mrs Ogre was not
flustered. I asked her who she would pick, Aragorn or Legolas. She
didn't even hesitate. "Legolas... I knew the first time I saw him."
Interesting. Boy, she is going to come unglued in the next movie when
the Nazgul rips off Legolas's head and flies it back to Mordor and
drops it into Mt Doom. Poor thing will be crying all over my shoulder
when she sees that! Good.
Dec 21st, Saturday:
The
Two
Towers.
I’m impressed with this film… as much as I was the first. However
unlike some people, this isn’t the pinnacle of movies, movie making, or
of the LOTR trilogy. No… the best is yet to come my friends… those
that have read the books know what I am talking about. Those have not
read the books – well – your fucking morons and I pity you. As any
work of fiction goes – the Lord of the Rings books are absolutely the
best EVER. Don’t give me that “I don’t like fantasy” bullshit. I
don’t like fantasy either. But I LOVE Tolkien’s works. There are
flawless and the characters are classic. Email from Reader:
“Hey, Ogre. Have you seen The
Two
Towers yet? If not, read no further. Spoilers and such. At any rate.
I took a class on Tolkien's writings this past semester. Read a whole
bunch of what he's written. The entire LOTR trilogy, the Hobbit (these
I'd read before), the Silmarillion, Lost Tales, Unfinished Tales, etc.
In a lot of his stories, he changed things in different versions. There
are often inconsistencies in his work, as a result. That's what
happens when you spend your ENTIRE LIFE creating a world like he did.
That's why I think it's funny when the Purists complain that the
littlest of things was changed for the movie. Did you know that in the
ORIGINAL draft for the Fellowship of the Ring, there was no Aragorn?
The hero was supposed to be a wooden-shoe wearing hobbit named
Trotter. I'm NOT making this up! Now how lame is that? Can you
imagine a 3'5" hobbit with Dutch shoes fighting the Nazgul? Tolkien
realized how silly that was too and changed it. The Purists want the
movies to be word for word the books; Peter Jackson said in so many
words that that'd be impossible to do. The LOTR trilogy is "unfilmable"
as is, and anybody with any sense knows it. Jackson's films are just a
version of the source material, made to appeal to the millions
worldwide that AREN'T familiar with Tolkien's writing. If they want
the unchanged original source material they should go read the trilogy
again. Or, better yet, go read the Silmarillion. That'll keep them
busy for a good while. Now, that said, Jackson made some changes in The
Two
Towers that I don't really understand. The biggest, most noticeable
one is Faramir. In the book, he didn't know about the One Ring, only
that Frodo carried "Isildur's Bane", and said that he would not take it
even if he found it lying on the road. (He was the antithesis of his
brother Boromir.) In the movie, he was taking Frodo and Sam to Gondor,
and almost took the ring for himself, when the Nazgul attacked and he
learned the error of his ways. Also, the Huorns (sort of like violent,
feral Ents) were left out, and didn't aid at the battle of Helm's
Deep. Instead, a company of Elven archers was sent from Lorien and
Rivendell. This was an interesting change, but a pretty cool one,
actually. Also, the Ents did NOT decide to go to war, as they did in
the book. In the movie, they were against it until they came near
Isengard and saw the destruction that Sauruman had done to the trees
and the forests. Then they were all enraged and, HASTILY no less, went
and trashed the place in a pretty cool battle scene. Again, the bit
between Aragorn and Arwen is played up, but I can understand Jackson's
doing that. Overall, I really liked the film. Here's a hint: go see a
matinee, if you can. I went to the 3:30PM show, and the theater
wasn’t' half full. On my way out, the line for the
7:00PM
show was halfway across the mall. Hope you enjoyed it, Ogre!”
I'll be making some more comments about The Two Towers soon.
(I
have to go see it a couple more times!)
Video games.
It's not a secret that I enjoy video games. I don't geek out about
them like some guys... But yeah, I like them. I'm not a kid... I'm an
adult. I'm a pretty well adjusted adult with a wife, 5 sons, full time
job, and a shit-load of bills to pay. After a long day, I just don't
have the time, energy or money to pursue any real hobby... Sometimes I
read, sometimes I write... And sometimes I just want to blow shit up.
For those times, I'll play a game on my PC. I'm not alone in this.
The gaming industry knows that. In fact they know that most games are
purchased by adults - for adults. That being the case, is it at all
surprising that some of these games are coming out with adult themes?
We are seeing some games with violent content, some with sexual
content, and some with violent sexual content. I have to admit that I
really have no problem with this... If I did, that would really be
hypocritical of me. I watch those kinds of movies, and I read those
kinds of books... so that type of game is just natural. Why should
that be any different just because its on my PC? Some people are
shallow and ignorant enough to believe such games should be banned
because they cause that kind of behavior. I find such beliefs to be
most comical. Such thinking goes back to things like wanting to ban
rock and roll music, or dancing, or some books... Adults are adults
and have adult tastes... How many grownups do you know that watch the
Teletubbies? They don't because it doesn't interest them. Get real.
The problem with violent games isn't the game - or the violence... It's
the assumption that these games are for kids. Sorry. They are not.
They are for guys like me. Cats that grew up with video games, and
still enjoy a game today. I remember skateboarding or biking across
town just to hit the local bowling alley because it had a small arcade
in there. I remember the magic those places had. Asteroids, Tempest,
Defender, Zaxxon, Missile Command, Tron. All those games were great.
I wish I had every quarter I had ever dropped into one of those arcade
games over the years... Now some people think there is a problem with
playing games. That there is a stigma about it because it's perceived
as childish. This is incorrect. Many games out there are well crafted
with engaging stories and characters that offer a challenging
interactive experience that can more interesting than many books I've
read lately. That's the draw. In a good book you read about how the
character makes decision and how they deal with those choices. In a
good game, you make the call and you deal with the results. Of course
there are badly made games just like there are badly made movies and
poorly written books. (or websites) No one ever intended Grand Theft
Auto III or GTA Vice City (politicos new favorite target) to be played
by children. It really isn't the game makers fault that kids do
sometimes get to play these games. This trumped up because these
parents don't want the blame on themselves... Let's face it... If they
were doing there jobs like they were supposed to be doing - had some
involvement in Jr's life... They wouldn't allow the game or more over
they wouldn't buy the game for Jr. It's all about parental control
here... Or the lack of it. It’s much easier to place blame on
something else rather than to admit your poor parent.
Dec 18th, Wednesday:
The
day was filled with a determined anticipation.
My eldest son was racing in the drags tonight and I wasn't able to
spend the day getting the car set up with him. It was all up to him
with whatever help he could glean from Mother. Mom was a indeed a big
help... She was running for parts for most of the day. In the
afternoon he came over to work to show me some of the mods he had done
and to seek some help. It looked like the car needed new axles and
bearings because the ones he had looked questionable. You don't want
to race like that because at high speed, blowing off a wheel could ruin
your career real quick. Getting under the car wasn't a problem but
getting one of the pins out was a pain. "Here you go" Dev says
cheerfully as she pulls out a pair of needle-nosed vice-grips from her
purse. Right tool for the right job and all that is fine... But what
kind job does a lady need to carry around a pair of needle-nosed
vice-grips for? I didn't want to ask and she wasn't offering the
answer. With that tool the job was a snap and finished quickly. The
car is a cherry Barracuda. Old school iron... Still chillingly cool.
Anyways, they had to roll and I had to get back to work. I hooked up
with everyone at the track. Kade was there but was looking nervous.
The other cars were pretty tight and representing were makes and models
from around the world… I noted an RX-7 from Japan, a Lancia from Italy,
a Porsche 928 from Germany with a couple trick Jettas riding flank.
Then there was this plain jane Vette that sounded like it could have
used a tune up, and looked like it should have been put to pasture.
Most notably all was a low slung ’34 Ford with enough chrome on the
grill to carve a Harley out of… this car looked like the biggest
threat. Every detail was painstakingly buffed and polished. But this
wasn’t about looks… this was about getting it on. We didn’t wait
long. The first heat pitted one of the Jettas against the Lancia. It
was all over in less than twelve seconds and the Jetta might as well
have just headed for home. The young driver just couldn’t hold his
lane position and finished the track with a painful grinding to a
halt. He was done. This car wasn’t going to win anything tonight
after than run. The Lancia was quick… but didn’t have the top end to
be a threat. Kade was up next and I could see the nervous look in his
eye. I leaned down to him as he was looking out at the track “Don’t
worry about the other car… just keep you eyes on the finish line.”
This he did. The light turned green and Kade launched his Cuda like he
was patriot missile. But so did his adversary, the little sleek RX-7.
It was neck and neck for the first half of the race until the RX-7
topped out on his power curve. Kade still had some juice left and was
able to put 2 and a half car lengths on the ricer. YEAH BABY! There
is no replacement for displacement, Baby! He was wearing a huge grin
when he came back to the pits. I went over the car looking for any
weakness that may have come up during the heat, but the car was tight.
Let it cool down and it would be ready to race again. While waiting I
decided to check the lube just in case… but that was fine too. Kade
built a damn fine car. Soon it was time again and Kade was up. He
had the track selection and picked the left lane again. Good choice.
From that Jetta there could have been something left behind… either
spare parts or bad karma. He didn’t need that so he stayed with what
was already a winner for him. Good thing too. Because after Kade
pulled into position, up rolled that ’34. What classic. The light
went green and the ’34 had the lead right off the bat. Kade’s late
start had him half a car length behind but that didn’t bother him… he
didn’t even see the other car. He kept his eyes on the goal and
gritted his teeth. The Cuda found it’s win and surged forward. There
was a good 2 car lengths between them when the ’34 blew… I don’t know
what happened but it just stopped fighting. When the Cuda broke the
line the ’34 was looking like it had dropped an anchor. Another win.
The rest of the races went the same way. Kade was eliminating the
competition one at a time with a regularity, each time there was at
least 2 car lengths distance. He was just out classing them. It
wasn’t even funny. However there was another car doing the same and
Kade had yet to race him. The other cat was driving that ugly old
Vette. Not sure what that thing had in it, but looks deceived. That
thing was fast. This was going to be a tight race. As soon as the
lights counted down to the green the crowd was on it’s feet… this was
the race of the night. There was a lot of noise and fury and both
cars flashed past the finish in a perfect tie. Kade’s face showed a
crack in it’s armored grin… there was worry there. “Don’t worry about
the other car, son… just keep your eyes on the finish line.” There was
a moment to cool down and gave Kade a high five. He had done great up
to this point… it would turn out fine. Before we knew it, he was
called again… I gave him a smile and a thumbs up and he gave me his
patented wink. He was focused. Both cars edged up to the line and
everyone was holding there breath. You could see Kade’s jaw set.
Green Light! Both cars shot off the line like bullets. It was as if
both cars were welded together. It was a perfect match and again it
was a perfect tie. One more race for the tie breaker. One driver
would go home the winner… the other, the loser. Kade was confident
he could beat that other car. It looked like it could fall apart any
second. I wandered over to the other car for a closer look… but not
looking like I was looking. Up close you could see the difference.
This thing may have looked like junk from a distance but up close you
could see that this thing was honed for drag racing. The tires alone
gave hint to something special. After all at was the champion for the
last 3 years. Never matter that. The Cuda was something special as
well. Classic lines, killer paintjob, and perfect ratio of weight to
power. The Cuda was a threat to the Champ and this was evident.
Someone caught me spying and they moved to block my view. I gave them
a wink and turned my back on them. Enjoy your title for a little
longer, Suckers. We have one more heat. I went back over to the pit
and could see some people trying to get a closer look at the Cuda. I
had to push a few people back… didn’t want anyone to try to throw a
wrench. It was go time again and once more the cars lined up. Both
driver’s had on poker faces. I could tell Kade wasn’t going to go down
without a fight… but neither was the Champ. Kade had nothing to lose…
so he was going to go for broke. The Champ had everything to lose and
was going to sacrifice everything. You could feel the tension. This
was it. 1 winner… 1 loser… all decided in the next few seconds. When
the light went green it was as if God himself kicked both cars in the
tail pipe…. People were screaming and I lost sight of the cars… I ran
to a better position to try to get a better view but it was too late…
the race was over. There was a pause from the judges… Dev gave me a
nervous look and I nodded. All the sudden the decision was in. ANOTHER
TIE! Not only that, the tie stands. Two 1st place
winners. Man, Pinewood Derbies are intense!
TFL
has been my favorite website for the last 4 years.
Now
it is shutting down. I support the decision to do this... but at the
same time I wish it were not so. I've had the blessing to meet a
great many good people through TFL and feel that my life has been
enriched by this. Luckily, TFL will remain there as a source of
information. A big reference book if you will. A place where a simple
SEARCH command will yield you probably anything you could want to know
about damn near anything that has to do with shooting. It should be
put into a book.
Dec 16th, Monday:
There is a pretty cool show on the History Channel. It's called "Mail
Call".
Lee
Ermey is the host. You know him as Drill Instructor Hartman... The guy
that yells a lot. He is great. There is no one else like him. The show
is simple, people email questions and he answers them. They show
everything and explain it very well. It's a good show... Very
educational. Check your listings for it.
Normally I wont talk about work, but right now it weighs heavily on
my mind. I wont mention the name because it's really none of your
fucking business. I enjoy the job, but right now it's just insane due
to the season. At work we are rolling out a new system for case
tracking. I was with Cisco Systems when they switched systems...
Multiple times. Each time was a wreck. That's about what this new
system is. No one at my location can even log in... Yet this is some
how my personal fault. Sometimes everything that goes down at my work
is some how either my fault, or my job to fix. Aarrgh. I do enjoy the
challenges. Makes the day really fly by. One thing that sucks... Some
how my shop is showing $209,000 in the hole. What the hell happened,
I've no idea. But I'm going to find out. Last quarter we were running a
pretty good profit. There must be some bean-counter error. This shop
has never run so smoothly. We are faster than ever, we have greater
customer satisfaction, and we are garnering more repeat business than
ever before. Oh, on top of all that, we are recovering money for the
store that would have otherwise been forever lost. Your Welcome. :) The
real problem with my job comes from not coworkers or higher-ups...
No... I work with some really good people. It's the moronic customers.
Some of them are great. They know what they want, and they come either
prepared with some knowledge, or are willing to listen to simple
explanations. It's the other ones that make life hell. Like the cat
that walks up to the tech counter and insists we upgrade his computer
to MP3. Or the morons that blame us because they deleted all the .dll
files and their 2500 dollar new computer can't boot and they want to
return it if you don't stroke them just right. Nice. Yeah - it's all
my fault you deleted parts of your operating system and now I have to
charge you to fix it. *Sigh* Those guys shouldn't even have a computer
in the house. Of course you got to love the old cats with a 4 year old
Brother printer that they insist you fix. No, I don't think so. Take
your happy ass over to the printer section and pick out a new on. If
you run out of ink - just buy a new one. Speaking of that, if you are
in
Utah
and you need a new printer... I have TONS. Give me a jingle and I'll
hook you up with a printer from our "Clearance" section that no one
sees. We have like new, or almost new, or totally new printers that
were like display units that just didn't get sold. I have 3 flat
panel screens, Sony, 14 or 15 inchers... not very big. They are
missing the 18 volt AC adapters. If you want a flat screen - $150
bucks if you can find that adapter on your own. Check the date of this
post... if your reading it from the Archive file, they are long gone so
don't ask. No, your going to anyway, aren't you? Yeah, here you are
4 months late and are going to offer 100 if I still have one. Sorry
Charlie. If they didn't sell this week, they met up with our Sledge
Hammer. Oh yeah, we did. AND IT WAS FUN!
Dec 15th, Sunday
11:00AM:
Would it be odd to say that I love the sound of Bag Pipes?
When
I die, I want bag pipes played at my funeral. If I ever have to go to
war again... Bring on the bag pipes. I'm going through my library of
music and I found that if it isn't hard rock, Pink Floyd or Dave
Mathews... it's Celtic music. I have some classical too... all kinds
of stuff... but Celtic tunes are always in the play list.
*Sigh* This Sabbath day is coming to an end.
I'm
looking forward to the sleep. However I am not looking forward to
another 12 hour day at work where no matter what I do or how hard I
work, I can never do enough. It's frustrating.
Windows Media Player 9.
If
you don't have it... it's worth downloading. I like the look of it,
the new tools and features... uh... but the spyware in it is annoying.
Luckily they allow you to turn those features off. I think they have
finally beaten Winamp.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my brothers JOSH and ZACK!
Love you guys! Keep up the hard work at school!
I
think when it comes to PDA devices... Your seeing the cutting edge of
computing technology.
Let's face it, regular computers have become so fast... That the newer
and even faster ones seem to be the same and offer very little in the
ways of actual tangible improvements. It was "news" on Slashdot that
we now have a 52X CDRW drive. Well, that's just farking nifty. Now
you only have to wait 2 minutes and 14 seconds instead of 2 minutes and
26 seconds. Wow, that is just nuts... Hold me back! Gotta get me one
of those right now! Blah... BORING! Take a look at the PDA
offerings. We have multiple sources now for some really incredible
advances... HP, Compaq, Sharp and Toshiba. These devices are getting
faster and increasingly powerful. Seriously, the Pocket PC I'm
holding in my hand right now (that I'm writing this on) is more
powerful than my desktop PC was 5 years ago... It's only 200 MHz
slower than the desktop I was using when I started MadOgre.com!
The
only downside to these handheld computers is the form factor... Getting
something smaller means it's interface gets more difficult to use.
Same thing with cell phones... I mean really, have you tried to
actually call someone on these 9 volt battery sized phones? It's
getting silly. And when you go to the hands free operation... Then you
look silly. Come on, there was a time not to long ago when talking to
yourself wasn't the coolest thing to be seen doing. Now the cell
phones are so freaking tiny that you have to use Bluetooth enabled PDAs
just to dial the damn phone. It's a neat technology, but it's a
solution to a problem that doesn't exist. The best phones when it
comes to the human interface are the old cradle phones with the cord.
If we could keep the phone, but ditch the cord - that would be just
fine. I don't need everything to be miniature size. Anyways, the same
problems are creeping into the handheld computer market. I love how
slick and sexy the new HP iPaq is... Very small. Very cool. The only
problem is that the human interface needs to be so big. Thankfully
they didn't shrink that! If they kept making these iPaqs more powerful
and capable, I wouldn't mind at all if the grew a little. Take a look
at the Nokia. It has a keyboard that you can finger-type on, and a
screen that lets you read everything in it's line. I like that wider
screen. I guess
Pontiac's
marketing strategy is correct - "wider is better". There is a version
of the Sharp Zaurus that is a little bigger, turned sideways, with a
wide screen and a qwerty keyboard. Overall size isn't really that much
bigger, but the human interface is drastically improved. Now, don't
think that is a new factor for improvement... It's actually a step
backwards. The first Zaurus was the same way. At my work there is an
interesting little device called a "Psion". It's a piece of shit, but
if you don't turn it on and just play with the form factor - you
quickly realize that it's much easier to actually use. I'd really like
iPaqs to move in that direction for an alternative line. Remember the
movie "The Saint"? Check out his little computer... That's real now.
You can buy one. And they are much better than shown in the movie.
I've often said that the only thing my iPaq can't do that my laptop
can, is play DVD movies. Well, playing from a disk... No, it can't do
that... But you can store the movie on a memory card and then you CAN
watch it. I had a customer show me STAR TREK NEMESIS on his new Palm
Tungsten. I was impressed all to hell. Yup, my iPaq can do that
too... I just haven't really looked into it. Uh, but I will today.
You better believe it. Okay, it was only the trailer to Nemesis, but
you get my point. Throw in a high capacity memory card and you could
probably have the whole movie there just that easily. Put in a set of
earphones and you have sound to go with the picture... Very cool. The
battery life in my iPaq is almost ten hours... That's enough juice to
watch a couple movies. Perfect solution for a long boring flight. The
games for pocket-pc devices are getting better. Admittedly they are
right now pretty lame... But they are always getting better. I see we
have some good PPC games... Age of Empires, Doom, Everquest... Games
you have to pay bucks for. What about all those old great 8 and 16 bit
games? These screens would be perfect for those games. Zelda,
Excitebike, Dune, C&C. Those would be great. I'd love to get Final
Fantasy on the PPC... Or even better, SHINING FORCE! These cool games
will come. As more people get PPC devices, more people will work on
programming and porting these over. But a PPC isn't about games. It's
about getting things done. And you can get a lot done with an iPaq.
I
got an email from some attorney representing the Robert Heinlein
estate.
He
made a request that I remove Heinlein's books from my little library.
Out of respect for Mr Heinlein, I have removed them. But it would
have been even nicer if out of respect, he had requested that Hollywood
would no make that horrible movie. *shudder*. Anyways, Mr Lawyer
Fellow - the books are removed as you can see. But if you don't mind,
I will keep my digital copies on my PDA for my own reading... I own the
paper versions and consider these my "Back Up Copies". Your looking
at the same issues that the recording industry is looking at... Good
luck. And please... no more movies. For the love of all that is
Holy! For anyone else, emailing me and asking for copies wont work.
They were stored on the server. Those were deleted. The items on my
hard drive were reformatted with everything else last week.
Last night I had some strange dreams.
Funny about this email from a lawyer representing Virginia
Heinlein, and a letter from the
commonwealth of
Virginia.
My dream last night was about me being in Virginia again... I was
driving down
Broad Street
eating a calzone from Vito's.
Email from reader:
"Well weather or not you take that job in VA good luck to you and
thanks for keeping up your site. Especially given you're seeming insane
schedule. I rather enjoy you're commentary and the occasional product
review. Thanks again for keeping up the good work." No matter where I
am, if I have an opinion and an internet connection, I'll be here.
Dec 14th, Saturday
7:00PM:
I
am so exhausted...
Today was just insane. Basically a weeks worth of business - just
today. It was nuts. We had so much stuff going in and out it was
unreal. I was up late last night at the LAN party... the games of the
evening were Soldier of Fortune II and Age of Mythology. Lots of fun,
but nothing special. I take that back... AOM is one hell of a cool
game. Anyways, it's
7:00PM and I can't keep my eyes open.
A
letter came to me in the mail today...
from THE COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA. A letter stating that I am a top
candidate for a Network Engineering Supervisor position.
Interesting. If I get an offer - I'm going. It's that simple. I feel
a very strong need for some reason to be back in
Virginia.
Anyways...
I am so freaking tired... I'm going to b.... ZZzzzz...
Dec 11th, Thursday
10:00PM:
Oh
Man! Today was one of those killer days that make you wish you just
stayed in bed.
Not
that anything bad happened... quite the contrary. It was just that the
day dragged on and on like the never ending story. I was on my feet
from
7:00AM
till just a minute ago going 100MPH all day.
The
idea of moving and all that involves is frightening.
On one hand it would be a challenge... an adventure. Or it could be a
disaster. If anything it would be huge painful ordeal. We would leave
behind a great many possessions... We would have to "start over".
We've done that before... Moved to and from places. Virginia, Idaho,
St. George... I'm not sure why. We just followed our feet. When it
comes to leaps of faith, we always jumped in with both feet. We
always did pretty well... Accept one time. We went to Idaho for
something. My wife's Grandmother offered us 2 years of free rent while
house sitting and Dev was to takeover the dance studio. Well, it
wasn't but a few weeks before she (the grandmother) changed her mind
and made moves to get us out and into some apartment while giving the
studio to some associate. Very nice. I admit that pissed me off. In
fact, I still hold a grudge. I can't forgive that. You don't do that
to people. Strand them in fucking
Idaho
for crying out loud!? How asinine! *sigh* Well, from there we moved
(after only 6 weeks) to
Virginia.
Well,
Virginia was no picnic... But it strengthened our marriage more than
anything else. I could write a book about those years alone. Now
we're here in Happy Valley Utah and I'm forced to look into the
future. I can't see us here for much longer. The job market just
isn't dong it for me... Not panning out in the projected growth that
matches my family's projected growth. Know what I mean?
Wind River
School,
I'm highly unimpressed. Dev did the whole Christmas program
single-handedly. There was the usual lip service at first and even
more so after... But when the time came to put on the show - the whole
damn school was 10 minutes late. Staff included. Very nice -
jackasses. The program went well without any help because my wife
kicks ass. It's absolutely pathetic the way Keith Lockhart, the
principle is such a damn fence sitter so that if it goes well he can
give a "golf-clap" and say "I knew you could do it" or if it didn't go
well, he could just blame Dev for failing. I have very little respect
or regard for people like that in any sort of leadership position.
Anyways, Dev did pull it off - again. With no help at all from
anyone. She did the whole thing herself and did it very well. I am
very proud of her.
Tomorrow night I am going to attend a LAN PARTY.
I'm looking forward to it. One of the games on the menu is NO ONE
LIVES FOREVER 2. A very good game in the FPS genre that has got to be
the most fun I've played in a long time... if not the most fun I've
ever played period. For those that don't know what a LAN Party is...
it is where gamers gather with PCs, network them together and play head
to head. Sounds like a real geek fest but it's actually a hell of a
lot of fun. Computer games are rather vanilla until you play them
against a real live human opponent. Or in this case a bunch of them.
Should prove to be a blast.
Dec 9th, Monday:
Today was one of those days where nothing went right.
Not
a damn thing. Everything that could possibly go wrong went wrong in
the worst of ways. It's after 8:00PM and I am ready for bed and put
this day behind me. Working on a couple laptops today. One was about
to be delivered to a customer and it went belly up. Flatlined. DOA.
Dead. It was a late laptop. So I grabbed the same make and model...
it was dead as well. So I thought, okay, I take the parts and make one
that works. No joy. Total waste of time. All freaking day, shot.
I'm going to have to send BOTH back to Compaq and have them fix them.
Anyways... *sigh* So after going out of my way to help this customer -
who I shouldn't have helped in the first place - he is going to be
pissed. Super pissed. Great. So much for going out on a limb for
someone.
Well, the day isn't a total loss, I have a couple updates that have
come in.
From Spectre and from Correia. No, I've not heard from Shin lately.
I probably wont. You see, I was supposed to have gone out to Virginia
to attend his wedding. Unfortunately this happened at the same time my
job sent me to Spokane for training. Let's see... Go to the wedding
and quit the job that I just landed after being unemployed for 9
fucking months... or go to the training and miss the wedding while
hoping Shin will understand that I have a family with 5 sons to provide
for. Well... I guess he didn't understand and was offended. Let me
share something about Shin. He is my BROTHER. I love him a great
deal. I feel very close to him as well as my other 2 brothers. Love
them all. Close brothers. Nothing has ever come between us. Until
now. It breaks my heart... seriously. I tried emailing him many
times, but he never responded. I'm very sorry I missed his wedding. I
understand how he feels, hurt or betrayed even. Unfortunately he just
doesn't understand that I have a priority to take care of my wife and
sons. Some day he will. And someday I hope he will send me a note.
Anyways, here is Correia's and Spectre's updates. Oh, I think I am
going to invite another couple fellows to write some articles. You
know, I never take this lightly. An invitation to write for
MadOgre.com is something that I loose sleep over. Okay, maybe not, but
I wont let just anyone post here. I'll put out the feelers tomorrow.
Steven Spielberg has directed a little mini series for the SciFi
channel called "Taken" about Alien Abductions and some such jazz.
Commercials for it made it look pretty good. To bad it really
seriously sucked. I mean bad. Its like a fairyland unicorn shiny
happy people kinda film... accept it isn't even that good. I mean my
hell, the little white haired girl and the dolphins? What the hell was
that? That was so gay even Christopher Lowell would say "Damn, that's
some gay shit right there." Hold on, I'm not down on gay people...
just him... because as a decorator, he sucks. It's just that no one
tells him he sucks because he is so flaming gay that they don't want to
be down on him and have it come back as being anti-gay. There is
something very negative about being branded as Anti-Something. Why do
people have to be identified by what they like and don't like? I don't
like pudding... so am I one of those damned dirty Anti-Pudding People?
"Yeah! I bet you don't like Bill Cosby either!" What? Sure I like
Cosby. I loved his show "I Spy" and his earlier records. But his
Jello stuff and his Kids say shit show... no. I can't say I'm a fan.
But that doesn't mean I dislike him. What does this have to do with
"Taken"? Nothing. I was just rambling. The show sucks and that's it.
Check this out.
I'm opening up my snail mail and find a PAST DUE notice stating that
my account is EXTREMELY DELINQUENT and I'm a seriously sick individual
for not paying this $50 bill that I didn't know about. From Qwest
Communications by the way. So I open the next envelope and it's from
Qwest again... This one says that they are going to give me $50 bucks.
Uh... Okay. I think I am going to just sent that letter back to Qwest
and say "We're Even." Fucking Qwest.
Dec 8th, Sunday:
MS
Reader.
It's an interesting application. Especially the text to speech trick.
Very cool. Now, I am not too thrilled with Steven Hawking reading me
stories, but If I was blind, this would be a god-send. What would be
cool would be if you could have some sexy chick voice reading to you...
there we go. Download celebrity voices... Angelina Jolie... That
would be sweet.
I
picked up an issue of Pocket PC magazine.
For some reason it is just like the issue I read three months ago. I
did notice in the back of the rag a full page asking people for
articles. Please, if you have a take on a PDA, jot some thoughts down
and send them in. They need the help.
Today is going to be a nice and quiet Sabbath day.
Mrs
Ogre was literally up all night. For some reason she just wanted to
putter and come
8:00 she was still up. She was doing dishes and mopping. I guess the
house got out of control and she had her fill of it. This morning the
house was looking blessed. Now, she wasn't just cleaning. Oh no. She
rearranged EVERYTHING. My computer desk is in the same spot, but that
is about it. She is nuts, but I love her. Anyways, right now she is
snoring away in a very deep sleep and my task is to keep the little
Wrecking Crew nice and quiet, and not making any messes. It's been one
hell of a week for us, so she deserves all the snoozes she wants today
even if she hadn't stayed up all night.
I
don't know about where you are,
but today is one of those days that just begs for a mug of hot
chocolate and a good book (on paper not in E format). The weather
outside is very chilly, with the mountains hidden behind a curtain of a
frosty mist. Not weather to be out in unless you absolutely have to.
I think for dinner tonight we are going just order in a pizza and not
worry about fixing and cleaning it. Maybe a good movie is also on the
menu? That sounds good.
Looking at some of the emails I've just received I am struck by the
fact that people are reading some of MadOgre, but not the main pages.
For example, I just had a few all asking the same question. A very
brief and shallow question with no detail as to your situation or
purpose. "What gun should I get?" I believe that is covered in my FAQ
section. The answer there remains the same. If you have to ask, get a
pump action shotgun. If you still have to ask, perhaps it's best that
YOU don't own a gun. I'm all for the second amendment, but sometimes I
really wonder if stupid people should have them. Look, I love
answering question... just ask the right question please...throw me a
bone people.
Dec 7th, Saturday:
Taking care of some issues, such as downloading SERVICE PACK 1 has done
some odd things to my system.
For
some reason I can't get Outlook to download my email. This is not too
troublesome as for the most part, I don't read your emails anyway.
Well, sometimes I do. When I need a laugh. Oops... there it is.
Got your emails...
I've been thinking a great deal about bringing my family back to
Virginia.
I've been weighing the pros and cons of both staying in Utah or
heading out to Virginia. The program would be that I go out first, get
settled, then bring the family to our new home. I'm not sure if I will
or not. There has been no decision made. It's just an
option/possibility. I'd love to live in Roanoke again.
Today was Tor's birthday!
He
turned 2 today. I'm not sure if this is actually significant as he
started on the terrible two's some time ago... 18 months?
Dec 6th Friday:  Lilo
and Stitch.
For
some reason I really enjoyed this flick. For Disney, it really didn't
suck as bad as it could have. Actually I found it to be very
imaginative and original. Never mind that "Stitch" is actually my
youngest son Tor. Tor will come in to my work and see the movie on
display - run up and grab a handful of DVD's and yell "MY STITCH!" and
take off running. He bonds with the character. He is the character.
I could go on for hours relating the incidents that this kid creates in
just one day. The havoc. The destruction. One day my wife just shook
her head and asked "Where did he come from?" And I just shrugged and
said "Angry sex?"
I
got my G-Code holster and attached it to the REAC rig tonight.
Works great. Wow, this new G-Code is stiff. It will wear in nicely.
The REAC rig is a part of the
modular G-Code system. I don't think the REACs are publicly available
as of yet, but the holster are. They come with a paddle attachment so
you can wear it on your belt and easily put it on and take it off
without having to undo your belt. Don't worry about the holster
pulling out when you don't want it to... no way. This thing aint going
nowhere. The REAC has a paddle attachment at the top to anchor it to
your belt. The drop down portion is fully adjustable to the length and
cant to position the gun right where you want it to be. And it will
stay there. Done. Once you have it adjusted to where you like it,
taking it on and off only take a few seconds. It's the fastest
tactical rig to don I have ever used. The holster in the rig is very
secure. The G-Code requires a firm and purposeful jerk to draw the
weapon. Your not going to lose your gun. Even if the G-Code is "Open
Top". Perfect position and the open top combine to make this the
fastest tactical rig I have ever used. Period. Fast to wear, and fast
to draw... REAC must be short for REACTION. RAPID REACTION.
All
I got to say right now is TGIF.
This has been one killer week. I'm beat. Let's see, I have some stuff
to do tomorrow morning at work... should be done before lunch time,
where the company is having a BBQ... and then I'm free for a day and a
half! What to do... what to do? Right now I am thinking HOT TUB...
Wait. I don't have a hot tub. A nice hot soak in the bathtub will be
plenty good enough for me right now.
Got
another letter from the GUN OWNERS OF AMERICA.
It's one of the groups I am a "Member" of. Meaning I have them some
money and my address and now they get to send me letters every time
they feel like it to ask for more money. You know, I would almost be
willing to pay for them to NOT send me these letters. It's always the
same... Our gun rights are on the verge of extinction and I have to
send them another 25 bucks right now or it will all be too late.
Always that same doom and gloom sing song. I'm a little tired of it.
Look, we got the House, the Senate, and the Oval Office. That Assault
Weapons Ban will probably just be going away soon. It's NEVER LOOKED
BETTER for gun owners! (unless your one of those poor cats that live
in California and in that case it just sucks to be you) These gun
groups would probably do a lot better if they stopped sending out so
many freaking letters. I get more of these than I get utility bills.
I'm not that thrilled with the GOA. At least with the NRA you get a
magazine and a hat. (Not that I would ever where that thing. It's
best suited to truck drivers and old men from Kentucky - but at least
they give you something!)
Dec 5th, Thursday:
I
know I'm growing older.
I can feel it when I stand up. I can feel it when I have to get up in
the middle of the night to piss. I'm not nearly as fast as I used to
be. There was a time when I could drop and pump out 75 push ups, 75
sit ups, and then wheel the 2 mile run in only 10 minutes and 30
seconds. That was some years ago. That's just life, you know.
Marriage, kids, and a fulltime job can do that to you. Along with
Lymes & Liver disease, and a glass ankle... I'm just not as spry as I
used to be. You would never expect a sports car to gain some
"executive spread"... But it happens. Mazda has released it's new RX
sports car... The RX-8. I remember lusting after the totally killer
RX-7. One RX-7 even went over 300MPH! They where small, blindingly
fast, and sexy as hell. Then comes the RX-8. Like you're old
girlfriend you bump into at the high school reunion that time didn't
treat well. You're thinking, "Man... What in the hell happened to
her?" The automotive equall of Anna Nicole Smith. The "8" loses
horse-power, gains 160 pounds, and now has to pack around 2 extra
seats. Executive Spread in the automotive sense. The "8" is about as
inspiring as a Ford Tempo... Yet someone at Mazda decided to badge it
with the RX title? I think someone over there at Mazda needs a
bitch-slap. A good beating followed by daily workouts with Hans &
Frans. You know, the RX-8 isn't a bad car... But it isn't an RX. Now,
if you want a tight sports car, take a look at Nissan. They have
remembered what a Sports Car is all about. Look up the 350Z. Very
nicely done. Thank you, Nissan!
Dec 4th, Wednesday:
It
was 10 years ago that I made a promise.
I
promised that I would love and honor my wife for the rest of eternity.
We got married in the
Jordan River
Temple in a frosty and sunny morning. It was a Beautiful day. Looking
back on that day - I remember it all very clearly. I remember seeing
her come out in her wedding dress... all that. Okay, I don't remember
everything. I have no idea who came... I just remember her. Her
dress, her hair, the look in her eyes as we sealed our vows. I would
not hesitate doing it all over again. I love you sweetheart!
Another up for the day:
The Jeep is back in service! Long story that I don't want to get
into. The problem turned out to be not as bad as I had anticipated. I
was considering a Viking funeral, but we will have to hold off on that
for awhile longer.
Dec 3rd, Tuesday:
 I
got a little web cam from work.
It's pretty ghetto. I might just give it away. I don't know. But it
was pretty cool how it installed. I plugged it into the USB port and
my box said "Hey, look... you have an Intel CS110 digital camera. It's
loaded and ready to go." This was the first image that it gave me.
No, I don't think you will be seeing a lot of little cam pics.
I
just ordered in a
G-Code holster for my Beretta 92FS.
You guys know I am a big fan of the G-Code series. The line has come a
long way since the first prototype that I tested. It's now a full blow
"Gotta Have" type rig. Since G-Code rigs are made modular, I can use
it like a paddle rig (how it comes standard) or
I can attach it to my REAC rig
in place of the 1911 holster. I also threw in for a double mag pouch.
I used these G-Code mag pouches and the REAC rig in Vegas. They are
EXCELLENT. Seriously... if you need a holster - GET A G-CODE!
Funny conversation I had today.
"Yeah I downloaded these books from this cool website."
Oh? What site is that? "You wouldn't like it..." How do you
know what I like or don't like?" "Alright, it's MadOgre.com... you
won't like it." Uh... "It's probably too irreverent for you.
Dude is very opinionated." You don't say. "Yeah, the guy talks
about guns and swears a lot." No shit?
Dec 2nd, Monday:
Our
good friend Steve has just acquired something rather special.
A
Sharp Zaurus, with wireless card. This is probably the coolest
handheld computer you can buy. This isn't just a "PDA" but an actual
computer. Yes, a full blown Linux powered PC that is the sized of a
check book. I have my iPaq, but I would be willing to trade it for a
Zaurus SL-5500 with a wireless card... it's that cool. Congrats!
Oh,
if you scroll down to the bottom of the page, there is Steve.
Steve has 29 votes for an 8.5 average so far. Not bad. Take a look
at Steve, and give him a vote on how hot or not he is. Wait a sec,
before you do...
play a game with him. And then
you can vote on the tricky bastard!
Speaking of Tech
- I was watching Tech TV tonight with my wife and there was a segment
where this person was talking about some technology that allowed
someone to touch something on another continent. They were using a
force feedback device to simulate pushing an object with a pen. She
didn't get it and asked for some clarification and why this was
important. That's a really good question. Like any computer
technology, the question is what can this do for me? Well, this
technology is what is going to lead to true tele-presence. (yeah, this
technology is still very Lo-Rez, or embryonic, but its a start.
Eventually you can simulate accurately being in another place. For
example, you can visit home and give your wife a hug while your on the
other side of the Globe on a business trip... or better yet, if your
not even on the planet. Who would want to run a manned mission to Mars
and be gone for the better part of 10 years and not be able to see or
hold your wife? Not me. But if you can feel your wife's hand... give
her a hug that she can feel too - then it's not so bad because
technology is bridging that distance. This is the advantage.
Technology is often thought of as a sterile and cold science... This is
not the case. Technology is a very human endevor. The greatest thing
about the internet is that it allows humans to connect from far away
and share ideas and solutions like never before in history. I mean, I
get emails from around the globe! Just today I was asked for help from
an African Prince to help rebuild his country and get a % of the
profits for a small 2,000 dollar donation! Okay, yeah, there are scams
out the ass on the internet... but look at you right now. You don't
know me - but during the course of reading Mad Ogre you have come to
better understanding. This isn't something that would have been able
to happen otherwise. This isn't that big a deal and will never make a
TIME MAGAZINE story... but what about the blind man that can see well
enough to drive a convertible around a parking lot? That was on the
cover of WIRED magazine a few months ago. Think about that for a
second. How would it feel to be a blind person and through a
technological gift, able to see your spouse for the first time after 20
years of a loving marriage? Technology has DONE THAT. Anyways,
technology is all about people. There are two catalysts that motivate
technological development. 1. is to HELP people. 2. is to KILL
people. Sometimes the technology aimed for one goal has been used for
the other. That's not the point, but the fact remains... it's all
about people.
Email from a Reader:
"Hey man, love that library, thats awesome, i had never thought of
using a PDA for something useful other than playing poker and dopewars
dring school... got a question if you have a min, i recently contacted
a guy about the posibility of trading my Remington 11/87 for a Ruger
Blackhawk in .357 mag, and he offered me a phoenix .22 pocket pistol as
a suplement to the trade, my question is, do you know anything about
the phoeneix because i can't say that i have. if ya know anything about
it i'd appriciate your imput since you are way more into the gun scene
than i am, thanks for your time man,- heath" My Brother picked
up a Phoenix .22 and he absolutely loved it. For about 4 weeks.
Then it broke. He said he wasn’t sure, but it looked like the metal
under the finish was the same as used in making Hot Wheels. Like a pot
metal zinc. An 11-87 for a Blackhawk and a little .22? Dude… unless you
were looking for a Blackhawk… don’t do it. Sell the 11-87 for cash and
then go out and buy a good quality gun… not take it on trade for two
used so-so guns. Scan around AuctionArms.com for pricing on what these
things are going for. Give yourself a realistic idea of the values
that your dealing with on these guns.
Another Email from reader:
"I
just saw an add for a brand new Chales Daly DDA 40 compact for $239.
This would be my first gun. I want a safe, reliable, inexpensive pistol
that holds 10 rounds. Any advice?" I good friend of mine has a
CD DDA in .45. It’s a pretty good gun but has developed a feeding
problem. I’m not sure I can give it a full endorsement. A first gun in
.40 is something you might want to reconsider. The .40 is a high
pressure cartridge that is difficult to fire well because it causes a
lot of flinch responses in new shooters. In fact, I never let new
shooters handle the .40 until they master the 9mm or .45. But hey, if
you want a .40 – then get a .40 and use some mild loads until you
develop your skills. Stay away from the Cor-Bon 135 +P loads until you
can keep everything in 10 Ring from 15 yards. I’ve not fired the DDA in
.40 so I have no idea how it shoots. The .45 version shoots pretty good
once you get past the trigger. The trigger is like dragging a piano
over gravel. Heavy and rough. Once mastered you can indeed keep all the
shots in the 10 ring. Again, in the .40 I don’t know. Leather may be
hard to find… and a good carry rig is very important to packing your
gun. It can make the difference between no one ever knowing you are
armed and “Hey, what’s that under your shirt?” I don’t think a .40 cal
DDA would be a bad choice… especially not at 239… but it wouldn’t be my
first choice either. Can you get one in .45?
Dec 1st, Sunday 2002:
I
was thinking about the subject of religion earlier...
And the question arose as to what vehicle Jesus would drive. To that
question, I don't know. However I do know for a fact that he doesn't
like Jeeps! Jesus hates Jeeps with the same loathing that Lucifer
hates Christmas. At least that is the very clear impression that I
have right now. Yup... If you can't tell, my Cherokee is not parked in
my driveway where it would normally be this at time. There is a reason
for this... It's either Jesus hates me or he hates Jeeps. Of course
I'm feeling like Steve Martin's character in THE JERK... "Stay away
from the cans! He hates the cans!" *sigh* Fucking Jeep. Jesus
probably drives a VW Van anyway... The hippie.
I
think I'm going to have a suppressor fitted for my 9MM.
That way I can SHOOT THAT FUCKING JEEP without having to wear ear
plugs.
You
know, being a gun owner and spouting out threats of violence against my
defenseless and mostly harmless Jeep is probably irresponsible.
Of
course I wouldn't shoot my Jeep. That could endanger myself or
others. No... the proper way of destroying a vehicle is to drag it to
a fire station and let the local fire department tear it apart piece by
piece with the jaws of life and other extraction tools as a part of
training. I was thinking about my Jeep a few minutes ago when was
suddenly struck with the fond memory of some training I had during my
police academy... I'm not sure if it was police training or part of my
First Responder training... but we got to use those extraction tools to
cut open a couple of cars. It was great... opened it up like a "Bloomin
Onion" from the outback steakhouse. For some reason the thought of my
Jeep made me think of that. *sigh*
Uh,
it was pointed out to me that my logo image was down.
Hmmm... I think I may have done something... Yup. I did. I deleted
that image file. Oops. My Bad. There you go. Sorry. I was deleting
a lot of images off the server to make some more room for some other
things like
Pocket PC Themes and
Books.
I
had walked over to Costco today with a back pack.
I grabbed a big bag of chimi-changas and fish sticks. Put them in the
back pack and walked home. It wasn't too bad. The only problem is
that that was all I could fit in there. Everything at Costco is on
freaking pallets. It wasn't too bad though it's only a mile and I had
a hot cocoa from a gas station to keep me warm. However I am not
wanting to do that again.
Utah drivers are loonies and venturing out without the armor of a
vehicle around me is life threatening. I was almost hit - TWICE. Once
the drive had even looked me in the eyes. He damn near clipped me
anyways. That's okay. He had his windows down, so I shared my hot
cocoa. I think he liked it... he waved back at me while taking off
with all the rest. I chased after him for a few beats but he took off
in a hurry. He musta really liked it! Bastard. Now, you might think
me rude... but did he really have to gun it and try to tag me in my
heels? I think not. Did he deserve the choco-bath? I think so... I
just wish I had some more of that stuff! It's pretty good.
Got
an email from my Bro-In-Law.
He
is up in
Seattle going to Med School. Mentioned that he read MadOgre. How come
that is still so surprising to me? I was even more shocked when I was
told that my Dad reads MadOgre too. Wow! Sorry for the swearing
Pops... but if you had a Jeep Cherokee like mine you would swear at it
too. Fucking Jeep... Oh, and I was also very pleasantly surprised
when I hear that my Grandfather-in-law and all around cool cat,
"Grandpa Jerry" also reads MadOgre.com once in awhile. Wow. I just
got to ask you guys... there isn't something more productive to do?
Amazing.
Donate ogre@madogre.com
via PayPal to support MadOgre.com, or God will kill a kitten.
Copyright G H Hill 1999-2012
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