MAY 26th to May 31st.
MAY 26th to May 31st.
May 31st - Friday. Getting ready to go shooting... My gear bag weights a ton. Get this: ammo alone = 60 pounds. Toss in a bottle of Break-Free CLP and a set of ears. Some targets, a roll of tape, cleaning brush and I think I'm at 61 pounds. Now the guns, the 1911, shotgun and rifle... call that 15 pounds. That's a lot of weight to go shooting for a Friday afternoon! Okay, actually, I'll not be taking all of that ammo. I don't want to burn it all up to day, and 500 rounds need to be saved for the Match. Still, There is going to be a lot of shooting going on today. I hope my shoulder is up for it. I may skip the shotgun today. I can still feel it from last time. Wish my wife's zucchini was up - they make great targets. Best use for Zucchini that I can think of. And don't give me that Zucchini-Bread ploy. Just make a damn cake and don't pretend its good for you or your getting your dose of veggies with it.
Theater owners are upset. Smugglers are eating up our profits! Boo-Hoo! Maybe if you jackholes didn't charge 4 bucks for a damn soda, people wouldn't smuggle it in. Don't give me any excuses about your pricing either. I don't want to hear it. Your price gouging and you know it. 1 movie ticket, 1 drink and 1 popcorn: 17 bucks. Screw that. If you see me at a theater, I've either just ate or I'm "smuggling". I'm such a criminal...
Went on E-bay. Found something I wanted. This would be cool too.
Not much going on today other than running a few errands. Oh, and some shooting. Also I need to find some hunks of wood for a project. So, I'll be looking for that today too. Later.
May 30th - Thursday. Email from reader: "Slap!!! Snap out of it, Ogre. The older you get , the more hesitant you will be, but don't screw yourself, letting your sacred warrior spirit die before your miserable body... My distant sense is you are dealing , right now, with a combination of depression AND elation. You have 5 young ogres and it is true more than you know.. that their future may be directly affected more if you don't go and do the things you are suited best for, in both honor and soul. I also have sense that your native intellect as applied to your spirit would make possible trooper officer probably faster than a lot of the wannahbeez that are in there now.. The last time I was shot I was 12 yrs old, and I deserved it, stealing apples , got a load of salt from a looong range 12GA. Have also been shot at with high power weapons of unknown type..25yrs ago. It is scary , yes , but I KNEW I wasnt going down.. of course I was low crawl scramble broken field running at inhuman speed for cover, which is an odd site for a guy my size.. but sobering to anyone ever in an exchange situation. Esta es simpatico , Ogre.. you are a natural. Mrs. Ogre does not realize, as most females do not, that when your number comes around you could be living to your best app. and fullest potential and die, or you could be taking a dump in the basement of a New Orleans whorehouse(and die). The dying is going to happen, it's just a matter of intent, honor and location , not to say that you shouldn't be cautious , as you don't ever want to rush it or give the good away to the bad... The S.W. will be easy compared to South America , which is where I assume past duties were partially carried out. The bad guys at the border are generally not armed. If they are it isn't much. You also would have free and open access any number of top weaponry and maintain same for your own use and practice , in a sanctioned and legal sphere. I personally would love to mess with some fleer eqpt. and other starlite products besides the weapons. You don't want to lose the female, though, because the whelps would suffer the most.. they need you too, Go for it man, If I were younger and not packing permanent back injury and other ravages I'd be right next to you. cause we are moving into a new and main situation in this country now. hasta' luego , Jim" Thanks for the email Jim. We are still considering this. This will take some time to decide. If I was not married w/ children, I'd be all over this without question.
On a related note - I may have a job lined up. One that allows max flex time, and good pay. But I wont talk about it as I don't want to jinx it.
Some thoughts about Taurus’ new solid copper bullets. They are bragging a 99.95% pure copper. I’m sorry, when was copper purity meaningful to a handgun’s effectiveness? I must have missed that. Now let’s cut to the chase about this stuff… it’s new and zoomy and all that. But it’s really expensive with out any real advantage over conventional hollowpoint ammunition. Unless you really want to test it out, just avoid it. There is no reason to spend the extra bucks to throw out pure copper slugs. Get real. Lead has been doing just fine since forever. My favorite ammunition right now is Triton’s Hi Vel load. You can buy 2 boxes for the price of 1 of Taurus’ ammo.
Cameron Hopkins the Editor of American Handgun is leaving. Roy Huntington is taking over the post. Cameron Hopkins has some how over the course of his 17 years to create the handgun equivalent of GQ. Think and good looking gun rag with more ads than content. And highly questionable content at that. Still, for sitting on the toilet and thumbing through a gun rag – it is perfect. Don’t try that with SWAT Magazine – because you’ll get caught up actually reading all the articles and you’ll sit there so long your legs go to sleep. I’ve done that. Not fun when trying to stand up with numb legs!
Domain Name. Some people seem to think that the name MadOgre,com stems some how from the video game Final Fantasy. This is not true. I have never played any form of Final Fantasy. In the game Final Fantasy there is a monster labeled “Mad Ogre”. I’m sure it is a very cool monster and all that but there is no relationship. In fact, I was not aware of this Final Bullshit thing until yesterday.
New automatic handgun on the market. It’s a .17 caliber. It’s also a pretty big handgun for a .17 caliber bore. It is a customized Ruger 10-22 receiver custom made into a handgun for .17HMR. 800 bucks seems rather steep. For some reason I remain unimpressed. An answer in search of a question.
The
new Miss Universe is a Russian Police Sniper. No word on if
she got the Miss Congeniality award or not. She's a Police
Lieutenant in her home town of St. Petersburg. How cool is that? It
gets even better. She is up for promotion to Captain.
More here.
The US Border Patrol wants me to go out to Denver for testing. This makes me stop and think. How much do I really want to work for the Border Patrol? Do I really want to do that? Is it worth the effort? The time and expense to drive out there for the test. Am I committed to the idea? Yes. Yes, I am. BUT. My wife couldn't hate the idea more. She is dead against it for fear that I could be dead for doing it. I'm not the most lucky chap when it comes to engagements... Let's be serious - I suck at gunfighting. I've survived several, sure. I've defeated and taken down everyone that I've engaged... but I've been shot 3 times in the process. God was watching out for me. I was blessed. But now? I've sired my 5 sons... My mission in life is complete. I don't feel like I would be protected any further. My instinct to jump into harms way could put me at risk. I know that. She knows that. I used to be able to play paintball and go several games with out ever getting hit (And I played AGGRESSIVELY too!) and not I just GET LIT. I don't know - maybe it's getting old. Maybe it's that I've burned up all my karma. Maybe it would be a bad idea for me to do it. Our southern border isn't exactly getting any safer is it? Or maybe I'm just being stupid and I would make a fine Border Patrol agent.
CHINA IS A POTENTIAL THREAT! Really? No shit? Who would have thought that? Now the Deputy Defense Secretary is saying China could be a threat? I thought China was a favored nation and all that shiz.... Didn't I say that a long time ago? Sometimes I hate being right. I was pleased to be wrong about the SLC 2002 Games. No problem. Never mind a .50 cal sniper rifle & ammo was found planted near one of the game locations... still. Nothing HAPPENED. But now It looks like I was right about China? Damn. Shin Tao has been saying this for YEARS. China actually WANTS to throw down with the US. They are gearing up for it... they are ready. We are NOT ready for that. The US, unless we do something really dastardly, will get spanked. China will hand us our asses on a plate. They take every dollar we spend at Wal-Mart and use it to build Tanks, Ships, and Aircraft. Everything you buy that has the word CHINA stamped into it on the bottom... where do you think that money goes? Housing and Urban Development? Education? No. Bombs and Bullets. China is a COMMUNIST COUNTRY. They are hell bent on taking back EVERYTHING. They don't give a rats ass about human rights, economy, or any social issues. They want war with the US. Because if they can kick our asses - China will be the #1 Super Power on the Planet. That's what they want. You thought the Soviet Union was "The Evil Empire"? You've no idea. Hell, the Russians are no more than Canadian's with snappy grey uniforms. China is on a collision course with us. We better get ready to hit them.
Utah has the honor of being at the bottom of the list when it comes to education. Nice. We are sending out school kids to sell chocolate bars and greeting cards door to door to buy computers for the science departments... and we have some school administrators pulling down 6 figure incomes? School boards are saying they are going to cut up to 250 positions? So they are going to be cutting back on the number of teachers to save money... and these fat cat positions are just getting fatter? WTF? Excuse me, I'm not a politician... I'm not an Educator... and I'm no expert on the subject; but I think I have a better plan. When it comes right down to it, the Utah public education system is fucked up. Let's do something here. School Boards - Set term limits on those that sit on the boards. 2 years MAX. School administrators should have salary caps. 60K a year max. MAX. With the cost savings from those salaries that could pay for the computers for a whole school. Let me continue. Businesses throw out computers all the time. Good ones too. Those "Legacy" computers are certainly still good enough for any applications a school would require for teaching our kids the basic fundamentals. Instead of tossing these machines. Let's give the businesses incentives for donating to the schools. Not just donating the machines, but also a few man power hours for installing them and for keeping them up. It's easy. You give the school a decent working computer, you get a tax break for the fair market value of that computer. Doing this - The schools will get plenty of good computers. Tax breaks for the tech support hours too. Presto - now the schools are set. The corrupt school boards are getting cycled out. Now, about the teachers. Utah requires 5 years to get a certificate. Why is that? I think that is a little too much - But not surprising considering you need a MASTERS DEGREE just to get a damned 9 dollar an hour job her in Utah. Then after 4 years of college and 5th to get the cert, Utah teachers are not exactly racking in the bucks making only 23,000 a year. Its a Utah thing... Come to Utah, you get paid SHIT. Everyone knows that. Utah the great American sweat shop. Yet we are building more and more Car Dealerships - go figure. (the whole state will be filling a chapter 13 next year, just watch) Let's do this... Make an educational certification program that allows one to get a teaching cert in only 2 years. Drastic? No. California does that. They also pay better (by almost double) and they are not spending all that much more money per student either. California's educational system ranks in the middle compared to the national average. Not great, but a hell of a lot better than dead, stinking last! If our highly paid administration can't look at what the other states are doing, and just simply COPY them - then they don't deserve to be there. If these guys are so good as to deserve the money they are paid, how come they are so retarded as to be running the operation like business ready to go under? No commercial operation would last a fiscal quarter year doing what these scholarly jackasses are doing. Step one, decapitate the top of this monster. Step two, give it an enema. The state of Utah is ranked below IDAHO for crying out loud! I mean, COME ON! IDAHO?!? Something better be done soon. This is getting silly.
Nortel Networks is cutting 3,500 more jobs. And I thought the Utah Board of Education was fucked up. At least they are not Nortel. Judas Priest. If there was ever a business to be used as the "Bad Example", it's Nortel. Personally, I thought Cisco Systems was pretty bad. Not anymore. Cisco runs like a well oiled machine. Nortel just likes the employees to be well oiled. (Uploading this rant to the internet via a Cisco) I can't even say anything bad about Nortel that this headline doesn't already point out. I have 2 Nortel Networks shirts... either one could get me about 20 shares of Nortel stock. I think I'll sell one on E-bay. It was funny, being in technology meetings with Nortel, me being the outsourced contractor and they being the Makers of the shit, and we knew more about the stuff then they did. Sad. No wonder they can't keep up in business. Nortel is such a pathetic company. So full of themselves. I love the commercials. Tell me, what are they selling? Just the Nortel NAME. They are not selling the hardware, or anything that would make any money - they just want to get the name out there. Actual conversation I had with a customer that called one day: "Nortel? What's that? They make wireless PDA's?" "No." "Then what is the commercial about?" "I don't know." Good branding job!
May
2
9th - Wednesday.
While I was redoing everything
I changed the About page to be more about me and not just a political
statement... that was moved to the Political section.
Threw a Photoshop up for one of Fark's contests. There are some seriously funny works there. Click the geek to the right to see them.
Cleaned up the Weapons section a little. Added a couple things. Changed a couple things. Including clarification to the pistol top ten list, and rifle and subgun lists as well.
Remember when I had the idea of personal flamethrowers for self defense? Well, a South African company took my idea and is building them. Seriously. I want one.
Speaking of South Africa. I threw down a bid on an African whip and won it. It was just a few bucks. I thought, what the hell. I've seen what these can do first hand. To say the least, they are an effective weapon.
I was sent this link this morning. Star Wars animated in text. Cleverly done. Not the best version of Star Wars I've ever seen, but clever. Kinda funny actually.
I have some proof of the fact that the middle east wants to kill us, because they LOVE US. They want to BE us. Don't believe me? Read this. I read it expecting the obligatory Anti-American slam. There was none. Just blatant envy. "They have value meals like the cheeseburger, veggie burger, and surprise hot dog. They also have deluxe sandwich meals, which include an amazing lemon pepper Cajun chicken sandwich that I personally think, is fantastic. There’s also, a steak sandwich, classic club, Swiss beef strip chicken and surprise chili cheese hot dog." How come they mentioned the hotdogs TWICE? I thought they can't eat pork. Hotdogs have pork in them don't they? Or maybe snouts and sphincters don't count? Ah, who cares? It's Infidelicious!
The Daniel Pearl murder video. If anyone out there in the US is supporting the Palestinian movement and the use of terror and all that bullshit... Watch the death of Daniel Pearl. You watch that and then tell me you still feel like support those monsters. It made me sick and it made me angry. I'm trying to look for reasons to like the people of Palestine... I'm not finding any good reasons. Daniel Pearl may not have been a saint, may not have been a hero... but he didn't deserve that. Some people do... Pearl didn't. No, I wont link to the video and I wont tell you where it is if you ask me via email. So don't even ask. The family doesn't want it published and after seeing it, I fully understand why. This wasn't an execution. This was one of the most horrible things I've ever seen. I wish I didn't see it. I wish I could go back in time, and make the choice not watch it. I've seen some horrible and disturbing shit before... and this is at the top of the list. Why is it so disturbing? Because this is #1, Real. #2, An American. #3, this was a guy that was publicized the moment he was abducted... Followed the story... We felt for him, and for his family. And then this happened. Screw Palestine and screw Pakistan for supporting them. India should just fucking LAUNCH. Sorry... I'm a little upset. I feel like rejoining the Army just to go over there and kick some asses.
A Judge that gets drunk, drops his pants in public, and hasn't heard a case in 6 months is only now in trouble. He has a MONTH to come up with an explanation.
Interesting note about the TEAM TFL ammo for the Match... the rounds are specially loaded for each of us in order to meet the power requirements, but be as mild a shooter as possible. A thin cushion zone... so this stuff must be loaded to an extreme level of high quality. Can't wait to shoot this stuff!
May 28th - Tuesday. Do you know what is cool? Getting a case of custom loaded ammunition from Triton delivered to your door. 500 rounds of special stuff for the World Championship 3 gun tactical match. Very cool. And another 500 rounds of Triton's Hi-Vel stuff. FREAKING AWESOME! Friday evening I'll be burning some up for sure!
Vanilla Coke. Isn't. I just tried it. If you sniff at it... you can smell the vanilla. There is no tasting it. I can only taste the SLIGHTEST bit of Vanilla. Just a hint. It's so weak as to be not even worth it. Many folks I've communed with cant taste it at all. What a joke.
Mach 3 Turbo. Best. Shave. Ever. I always shave against the grain... It lets me get a closer shave. I just tried the new Turbo. Awesome. Worth the money? I don't know. But I shaved with a BIC this morning. HORRIBLE. Drew blood, felt like I was using a damn "Garden Weasel" on my face.
Possible new attacks. No kidding? Really? What should we do? Camp out in the mountains and live in fear? No. We need to push harder in this war on Terrorism. This isn't the time to wimp out and back down. It's time we push harder. Saudi Arabia needs to be bitch-slapped along with Iraq and Iran. Forget about the whole Middle East is a powder keg thing. If those jackasses can't control themselves - Let's just roll in take the shit over. Get EVERYONE in power - OUT of power. Hold ELECTIONS. Give people freedom. Show them that things can be resolved without blowing people up. Latest bombing... A mother and daughter. This can't go on much longer.
Car Makers are finally making serious cars. Cars claiming to be "Performance Cars" are finally being made with serious levels of horse power. IT IS ABOUT DAMN TIME! This is coming at the same time that car makers are also making Hybrid-Cars that run on gas and electricity. And its about time for that too. Let's be serious... some of us want cars that rock and some of us want cars that are as economical as a savings bond. And then there are some of us that want Off Road vehicles. Prediction - there will be a "Hybrid Sport-Ute" coming out soon. Not Jeep, but something else. Like a RAV-4 hybrid vehicle. Pathetic. But then again 50 MPG isn't bad. Oh, wait a sec. Don't we already have cars that do that? Yeah, we do. They are called Diesels! As for Big American Muscle Cars... It's all about the Old Iron. These new hotrod cars with all the emissions controls and engines detuned... It's a hollow attempt at marketing. They might actually be better performance cars when it comes to numbers - but that's not what it is all about. Maybe to some people - but even the guys with the stopwatches (mostly) will agree with me here - It's really about SOUL. And these new cars just don't have it. That Australian import wearing a GTO badge... What a freaking joke. It will NEVER be a real GTO. The original GTO is a holy icon and the company just took a giant piss on it. Less than the price of the new one, you can buy an Original GTO that has been restored and tuned... With its Soul intact. GTO isn't the only one... Camaro, Mustang, and the others... Why is it when Ford shows a Mustang commercial they always give you flashes of an old 68? Trying to imbue the new car with some Soul? Doesn't work. I think it's the plastic pop-rivets. Thinking about a Jeep that could go 50 miles per gallon... Yeah, I like that. I wouldn't mind dropping a turbo-diesel engine into my Jeep Cherokee. Sure. It's not the quickest thing already due to the 4 banger engine. Might as well have the mileage too.
Can you UNREGISTER from a Political Party? When I first registered to vote with the help of my Father, I registered as a Republican. Then later I registered as Independent. I've stayed that way for many years. Recently I registered as a Libertarian at the DMV when I renewed my Driver's card. There is a Motor-Voter thing here in Utah that lets you do that. Pretty cool. However, I'm not sure if I'm really Libertarian. I'm conservative. I don't like "Big Government" and I believe that the Government should be almost totally open and totally accessible to the people and not just lobby groups. I believe the Whitehouse and the Capital should be "Made of Glass". Unless the matter is something related to National Security... Immanent National Security - then it should be public. Secrets are kept 40 years before they are declassified. I'd like to see that age dropped to 10 years. Don't give me that "Freedom of Information Act" BS... that's not really Freedom of Information. It isn't Free. You have to fill out all these forms and basically "Apply" for the information your looking for. That doesn't work for me. I really don't like having a huge centralized government that controls everything (like it does now). I like the idea of States having more control of what goes on in the State. I like the idea of the States working together and being United - sure. I don't know if the Libertarians really back everything I like - or even the majority. But they do back a lot of stuff. They are also against some of the things I am actually for. But I wont get into that right now.
I threw out a lot of résumé's recently. Every company in Utah has my résumé. I really hope something pans out fast. It's not like I am picky or anything... I've only turned down one "Job" that really wasn't even a real job. Utah is getting flooded with Multi-Level marketing Financial services. I'm not into that. I'm avoiding all MLM shiz. I hate that stuff. Oh, I did turn down that Funeral Home job... I'm depressed enough as it is - I don't need anymore help on that! Geeze!
Just dropped major jack on the E-bay purchases for the Samurai. Bank account just got real shallow. It'll be great getting these parts in. Some of these parts I've been looking for very long time. Such as these seats. HARD TO FIND. And ordering them can cost you an arm and a leg. Still, getting this project finally done will be WONDERFUL.
People who have the hobby of building and launching model rockets are the latest group to come under the governments eye. Potential terrorist, and probably communists as well. Kidding. But some folks thing so. This upsets me. Evidently now the Government wants to own the SKY and they don't like trespassers of any sort. I think the sky belongs to no one. Sure the government can secure some areas of sky should the security needs be great enough. And the FAA can secure some areas due to the nature of the air traffic (over airports). Other than that - the Sky is Everyone's. It is the very essence of FREEDOM. You Rocket-Geeks. Launch one for me.
Cat Bathing is a martial art. For something amusing, read this.
Archived May 12 to May 25. Things were getting long in the tooth. You can check it out here.
May 27th - Monday. Memorial Day. Lot's of things going on today so I wont be doing much in the way of updates. Just take a moment to remember the price of freedom is the sacrifice of our own brothers. Thank you to all the men and women who served. No greater love...
Observed: Commercial for a Brinks Home Security system. This was a dumbass commercial... and here is why. The bad guy breaks in downstairs. The alarm goes off. The bad guy runs away. The couple sleeping in the bed freak out and the guy in the bed says "I'm going to go find this guy!". Then the phone rings and its the friendly Brinks guy asking if everything is okay. Then he offers to call the police. The lady in the bed says "Oh, Thank You!" How cheesy is that? As if the Brinks guy is a hero? Look, I've no problem with an alarm system. In fact, if you can afford it, you should get one. But the response by the couple in the bed was totally wrong. Here is how it should have went down: 1. The alarm goes off. 2. The couple rolls out of bed and grabs up the pre-selected home defense weapons. 3. The couple then moves as a team to the kids room and secures the children and then stands guard protecting the family while one of them makes the call to the police. Your family is secure, your all safe in your strong hold, and the police is notified. While on the phone, tell the dispatcher the situation. Where you all are, and that your armed and will stay that way until uniformed officers clear the house and everything is under control. "Going to find the guy" is the dumbest and probably the last move you would ever make.
May 26th - Sunday. I WON!!!! BOOYAAA!!! All the auctions I was going for... Check this out - the Sammy is getting a 5 inch lift, diamond plate door panels, and RECARRO seats! And a few other hard to find parts that I was needing... YES! All I need to do now is wait till they arrive and install them. The Project Jack is complete. YEAH! Jack is going to be one BAD ASS FREAKING SAMURAI! I AM STOKED! Actually this was exciting... Here I am geeking out on E-bay... In a harsh bid war against 4 other guys. All of us trying to grab these hard to get items... Bids flying around in the last minute. Each auction ending a minute apart... Talk about frantic. That was fun. One more thing... I'm NEVER buying from E-bay again.
Late last night I caught an episode of Black Adder. This is the funniest show - Ever. However this was a new Black Adder series... at least one I have never seen before. Black Adder in World War 1. He started out as an Infantry Officer and then joined the air force and flew Sopwith Camels. He got shot down by the Red Baron. I was laughing my arse off.
With all the buzz that George Lucas made Star Wars into a large racial slur - The Slackers Guild has proof that the show is really a slam on white people.
Front page of the local news rag today... "Stop Dumping People's Ashes in out National Parks!" WTF? Like there isn't enough news to talk about, the paper decided to run THAT as it's leading story. Funny.
If your near Bedford, Virginia - stop by and check out the D-Day memorial. I used to frequent that sleepy little town. Had a girly I used to shag there. Won 50 bucks on a scratch and win lotto ticket there. Seriously though, Bedford is an awesome little town. Loved it there. Anyways, the new D-Day memorial (new as in "it wasn't there the last time I was there") if very cool. I'm looking at some pics of it and its amazing. Heart breaking.
Jeep Liberty: If you have the chance to get one, do so. All Jeeps rock and the Liberty is no different. It's not a traditional Jeep in the sense it has IFS, but other then that, it's all Jeep. I like it. I wouldn't mind having one. Lifted with 33 inch BFGs, it would be just fine. Saw one like that at a local Jeep dealership and fell in love. I'm going to be catching some flak from the Jeep purists for saying that.
Getting sick of news stories about geeks with huge collections of Star Wars shiz. Another one in the paper today. If your such a major geek that you have spent all your life collecting action figures (dolls for boys) and you have so many that the local media wants to do a story on you - It May Not Be A Good Thing. It's not the FORCE that is with you - it might be Ripley's Believe it or Not. As in, you are your very own freak show. I'm sure your kids will be thrilled at the inheritance when you kick the bucket.
Speaking of kicking the bucket... Mrs. Ogre killed another goldfish. Record set this time... Only 18 hours! Got it yesterday and it was floating this morning. Someone call PETA. She should be barred some owning a goldfish bowl.
Gorgeous Sunday today. "Sky is so blue, the sun is so yellow and I am a happy fellow!" <-- Line from a children's book. It's fitting for today. In a few minutes I'll be breaking out the ironing board, the razor, and getting cleaned up for church. I feel like going today for some reason that I don't understand. I haven't felt like going for awhile lately. I guess its the lack of blessings I've been getting. At least not the blessings that I want. Namely a farking JOB! But I have been getting other blessings... For example I've been unemployed for 5 months and everything is still okay. Not the greatest - but we are getting by.
Check this out: Jobless... 5 months now. Pre Approved Gold and Platinum credit card applications are coming in. Not from small lenders but from the major credit players. My credit is better than ever. Go Figure.
