Seems to be going just swimmingly. A little too swimmingly, in fact. Our lords and masters expected the program as funded to last through October... it lasted a few days. They didn't anticipate the demand, so they had to give it another $2billion.
As far as government programs go, this is tiny. After hearing about the issues they've had with this, the paperwork the buyers have to fill out, the reimbursement problems the dealers have been facing, I'm so very confident they'll be able to handle healthcare just fine... Don't worry, they'll accurately forecast the demand for that, I'm sure...
I feel like Tea Leoni's character in Deep Impact, standing on a beach, helplessly watching a huge tsunami gathering force and heading my way.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
My sister introduced me to it at the beginning of the year and showed me how I could get in touch with a bunch of my cousins back in England and Ireland that I hadn't talked to in years. (I mean, I'd heard of facebook before, but wrote it off as some kid's thing).
I have to say, I'm glad I got into it. I've hooked up with a bunch of folks from my high school days, as well as finding one of my very good friends (who happened to be my best man) that I had lost touch with. I'm very thankful to have restored these connections.
There is, however, a downside for me - the sheer volume of information that I'm faced with every time I log in is overwhelming - I have a bazillion "requests" that I haven't been able to keep up with, my infrequent posts seem to get lost in the "noise" of the feed... and I have less than 50 friends on there! It is completely beyond me how someone with hundreds of friends on facebook keeps up.
Hell, I have a hard enough time keeping up this blog.
I have to say, I'm glad I got into it. I've hooked up with a bunch of folks from my high school days, as well as finding one of my very good friends (who happened to be my best man) that I had lost touch with. I'm very thankful to have restored these connections.
There is, however, a downside for me - the sheer volume of information that I'm faced with every time I log in is overwhelming - I have a bazillion "requests" that I haven't been able to keep up with, my infrequent posts seem to get lost in the "noise" of the feed... and I have less than 50 friends on there! It is completely beyond me how someone with hundreds of friends on facebook keeps up.
Hell, I have a hard enough time keeping up this blog.
Housekeeping
Made a few additions to my blogroll today - these are folks I've been reading pretty regularly but never got around to linking. Google's great and all, but links are better...
Nordyke to be reheard
Reading this today was a bit of a downer. Looks like one of the judges, rather than plaintiff or defendant, intiated the en banc hearing, set for September 21st.
By the time I had read it and headed over to Calguns, there was already a 10 page thread on the subject. One of the resident legal guys had a more positive take on the whole thing, which was a little cheering. I have a lot of respect for his opinion, especially since he's been right more often than not in the past. I guess the bottom line is, we don't strictly need a split between the circuits for SCOTUS to look at incorporation for the 2A.
By the time I had read it and headed over to Calguns, there was already a 10 page thread on the subject. One of the resident legal guys had a more positive take on the whole thing, which was a little cheering. I have a lot of respect for his opinion, especially since he's been right more often than not in the past. I guess the bottom line is, we don't strictly need a split between the circuits for SCOTUS to look at incorporation for the 2A.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Paypal...
...shows their ass.
Soldiers' Angels is an absolute good. I had heard that Paypal was anti-gun, but this is too much. They hate guns so much that they're going to crap on a charity just for holding a gun raffle?
Stay classy.
I'm done with Paypal; and Ebay for that matter, since they are for all intents and purposes the same entity. I won't support a business that holds my rights in contempt.
Soldiers' Angels is an absolute good. I had heard that Paypal was anti-gun, but this is too much. They hate guns so much that they're going to crap on a charity just for holding a gun raffle?
Stay classy.
I'm done with Paypal; and Ebay for that matter, since they are for all intents and purposes the same entity. I won't support a business that holds my rights in contempt.
This is what it looked like...
At my Naturalization Ceremony...
This photo was one of several taken by my friend Isaac who came to watch it all go down. Thanks, Isaac!
The whole court area was newly-minted citizens, as was the first level (up to the dark red/brown stripe). A ton of folks. I was in that lower tier, at about center court, just by the number 16 in yellow. Can you see me?:)
This photo was one of several taken by my friend Isaac who came to watch it all go down. Thanks, Isaac!
The whole court area was newly-minted citizens, as was the first level (up to the dark red/brown stripe). A ton of folks. I was in that lower tier, at about center court, just by the number 16 in yellow. Can you see me?:)
I love technology!
New gun rights app for the iPhone! Courtesy of some fine folks at Calguns.net...
www.gunrightsapp.com. Up to the minute news feed, events and videos concerning gun rights around the country. Yup, I already downloaded it. If you haven't checked out Calguns yet, I strongly recommend you do, because unlike those fat old guys hanging around at the gun store whining about losing their rights, the Calguns Foundation is actually DOING something about it.
www.gunrightsapp.com. Up to the minute news feed, events and videos concerning gun rights around the country. Yup, I already downloaded it. If you haven't checked out Calguns yet, I strongly recommend you do, because unlike those fat old guys hanging around at the gun store whining about losing their rights, the Calguns Foundation is actually DOING something about it.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Not very smart...
Some dumb kid impersonating a marine in Reno airport. Didn't expect to run into the real deal, I guess. Like one of the posters said, he's lucky he got to walk away with all his teeth intact. I know I wouldn't have known about the discrepancies in his uniform and would probably thanked him for his service, which I assume was the sort of attention he was seeking. Not cool. You want the accolades, sign up and earn them.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Flag
It's that time again! Actually, we've been playing for a few weeks, and this season I'm coaching two teams... shortage of coaches, which is a bit of a surprise since plenty of people show up to watch the games.
Anyways, meet the "big" Seahawks:
Number One Son is second from the left. These guys are in the 8-11 division and my other team - also the Seahawks - are in the 4-7 division, which is a hoot to watch.
My little guys had to forfeit today, since only 3 showed up and we need 5 to field a team. The older kids had to play a double header today which was pretty tough in this heat - it was in the high 90's in the valley today, if not higher.
Number One Son had a great day - two touchdowns and two interceptions in the first game, and a pretty spectacular touchdown in the second - a long bomb pass to him after he beat out the defense - he had all the parents on their feet cheering. We went 1-1 today. They destroyed the Chargers in their first game, going 42-0, which isn't too much fun, because I've been on the bottom end of games like that and I know how it feels - I'm not into humiliating kids. Game 2 was closer, and if they hadn't played the first one they might have pulled a win. That score was 18-12. A fun day, but pretty tiring - even for me, since I had to referee a 12-16 game afterwards and believe me, it's not easy chasing teenagers around a field in this weather...
Anyways, meet the "big" Seahawks:
Number One Son is second from the left. These guys are in the 8-11 division and my other team - also the Seahawks - are in the 4-7 division, which is a hoot to watch.
My little guys had to forfeit today, since only 3 showed up and we need 5 to field a team. The older kids had to play a double header today which was pretty tough in this heat - it was in the high 90's in the valley today, if not higher.
Number One Son had a great day - two touchdowns and two interceptions in the first game, and a pretty spectacular touchdown in the second - a long bomb pass to him after he beat out the defense - he had all the parents on their feet cheering. We went 1-1 today. They destroyed the Chargers in their first game, going 42-0, which isn't too much fun, because I've been on the bottom end of games like that and I know how it feels - I'm not into humiliating kids. Game 2 was closer, and if they hadn't played the first one they might have pulled a win. That score was 18-12. A fun day, but pretty tiring - even for me, since I had to referee a 12-16 game afterwards and believe me, it's not easy chasing teenagers around a field in this weather...
11 years ago today...
... I got hitched...
To the most wonderful woman in the world. My love for her is as strong today as it was that morning.
She is my rock.
I love you, Julie.
To the most wonderful woman in the world. My love for her is as strong today as it was that morning.
She is my rock.
I love you, Julie.
Friday, July 24, 2009
The Ruger, she is done!
....Well, almost. Just need to add a sling.No, I didn't find my camera battery charger, worst luck. I took this pic with my iPhone and emailed it to myself. Came out quite nicely, though, for a camera phone.
So there she sits, all pretty and stuff... shoots as nice as she looks, too. So here's what I've done:
-Green Mountain barrel
-Fajen stock (which I had to mount sling swivel screws onto. Front, not so bad; the rear - well, it could have been a little straighter. We'll just leave it at that)
-8-32x44 mil-dot scope with adjustable objective - a TruGlo I picked up from Natchez Shooters Supply for about $65 (hey, I'm a cheap bastard. What can I say? It works so far, and if it ever craps out on me, well then I'm out $65)
-Harris bi pod knock-off from Walmart (see above)
Oh, and a custom trigger setup from Hawktech.
All in all, I'm into this for about $450, I think, including the price of the original rifle. I'm pretty happy with how she turned out.
Frustrating
I still can't find the charger to my camera, which is really starting to bug me, as impatient as I am. I'll probably have to wind up buying another one, which means that within minutes of returning home from the electronics store with the new charger, I'll find the original one...
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Jupiter...
Got clobbered by something around July 20th, leaving a scar that was first viewed by an amateur astronomer in Australia. This is his image:
..
The scar is the black spot in the upper right, which is actually the lower left, since the image is upside down. I went on NASA's web site, but the only picture they had was monochromatic and grainy. This one is much better. The guy's name is in the subtitle, and I snaked the image from here... cool stuff... glad Jupiter took one for the team! A hit here wouldn't be too much fun...
..
The scar is the black spot in the upper right, which is actually the lower left, since the image is upside down. I went on NASA's web site, but the only picture they had was monochromatic and grainy. This one is much better. The guy's name is in the subtitle, and I snaked the image from here... cool stuff... glad Jupiter took one for the team! A hit here wouldn't be too much fun...
Taggers
The building I work in sits atop a parcel of land held up by a twenty-plus foot retaining wall in the back, facing railroad tracks. This wall has become a favorite for local taggers lately, to the extent that our field crew will be painting it for the third time in the last few months. What a complete pain in the ass.
The last time they did it, the city "graffiti abatement" guy who was "supervising" the job (he couldn't actually do the job, since it was on a high wall and city rules said it was too dangerous for him) told us that a couple of guys in their thirties were caught tagging in the area a few days prior.
In their thirties.
Dude. Tagging at any age is a crime that sets my blood boiling, but if you're still doing it in your frigging thirties, you are an official waste of life. You're completely worthless.
The last time they did it, the city "graffiti abatement" guy who was "supervising" the job (he couldn't actually do the job, since it was on a high wall and city rules said it was too dangerous for him) told us that a couple of guys in their thirties were caught tagging in the area a few days prior.
In their thirties.
Dude. Tagging at any age is a crime that sets my blood boiling, but if you're still doing it in your frigging thirties, you are an official waste of life. You're completely worthless.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Gates
So the officer who arrested Gates in his own home for disorderly conduct won't be apologising. What a surprise. If the officer acted correctly, why were the charges dropped almost immediately? I'm sure any investigation will also clear said officer of any wrongdoing. Now I know that Gate is asserting racism here, but I am not so sure. I think anyone getting "uppity" with the law in this day and age is likely to wind up with the jackboot on their neck and some BS charges to go with. It's not racism that's the issue here, it's petty tyranny - the expectation that citizens must cower before their masters in blue.
I wish it was an isolated incident, but it isn't. Stuff like this - and worse - happens on a daily basis in this country. I'm wondering if we haven't ourselves created the standing army that our Founders were so concerned about. On that note, here's a couple of posts that I read today...
Good cops have a responsibility to clean their own house. They have more rights and privileges than the rest of us, and as such must be held to a higher standard of behavior.
I wish it was an isolated incident, but it isn't. Stuff like this - and worse - happens on a daily basis in this country. I'm wondering if we haven't ourselves created the standing army that our Founders were so concerned about. On that note, here's a couple of posts that I read today...
Good cops have a responsibility to clean their own house. They have more rights and privileges than the rest of us, and as such must be held to a higher standard of behavior.
Great news!
It appears that since September, here in the valley, one of the most depressed real estate markets in the state, if not the nation, that my home value has rocketed upwards in the region of a whopping twenty percent!...
...according to the county tax assessor.
That's going to hit me in the wallet for another $500 a year.
Thieving gits.
California's in a huge financial mess, and the budget they finally squeaked through this week is an abortion. One of the creative accounting methods is for the state to swipe money from cities and counties just to make ends meet, and I guess they have to make the shortfall up somewhere. Since Proposition 1A - which called for large tax increases - got shot down at the polls earlier this year, they have to get it somehow. Cut spending? Nah. There's still sheep to be fleeced!
When government runs out of money, watch out - recession or no.
...according to the county tax assessor.
That's going to hit me in the wallet for another $500 a year.
Thieving gits.
California's in a huge financial mess, and the budget they finally squeaked through this week is an abortion. One of the creative accounting methods is for the state to swipe money from cities and counties just to make ends meet, and I guess they have to make the shortfall up somewhere. Since Proposition 1A - which called for large tax increases - got shot down at the polls earlier this year, they have to get it somehow. Cut spending? Nah. There's still sheep to be fleeced!
When government runs out of money, watch out - recession or no.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Some random thoughts...
I was going to post a picture of another of my rifles tonight, but after getting it out of the safe and finding a suitable place to photograph it, I realized my camera battery was dead... and I don't know where the charger is right now. Bummer.
I finally jumped on the Apple fanboy bandwagon and bought an iPhone (once the price had dropped to $100). It's frikken great! I had no idea what I had been missing, just using a $15 gophone (with my sim card in it) for the last year. Wow - way much more than a phone! All my music is on it, there's a sick amount of "apps" available - I have a bunch of games on it as well as a GPS, "I heart radio" and even a bible in various translations! One HUGE drawback - since I got the phone, I have not read one single book... which is saying something coming from a guy who used to read 2 or 3 a week... I am going to have to address that at some point, but not right now. I have a high score to beat on Battlefield 2.
Today was an especially interesting day for me in the blogosphere. I found a pretty inspiring story about open carry in California over at Say Uncle, which was written in a neutral/positive manner. Pretty refreshing to see a reporter actually report on gunnies objectively. Over at Joe Huffman's casa, I found a link to the state of affairs back in Blighty, which is pretty depressing (and would be even more so if I still lived there). I swear, whenever I get down about the latest stunts our lords and masters in Washington are planning to inflict upon us, I see stories like this which correct my perspective and make me truly thankful that I live where I do. These stories also, however, show us a taste of what's to come too, should we slip in our vigilance.
This year's Gun Blogger Rendezvous has me all tingly. There's going to be a lot of folks going that I'd love to finally meet in the flesh, and it sounds like there are a lot of neat events planned too. It's great that they pushed it up from October to September, so in a perfect world, I could attend and still go hunting. However, it is not a perfect world, and like everyone else, my funds are stretched pretty tight right now. My wife and I have shares in a points-based timeshare thingy and they happen to have a resort in Reno less than half a mile from the Silver Legacy, where the Rendezvous is being hosted. Since I could use that for "free" (notwithstanding the thousands of dollars we paid up front to actually purchase the shares) I wouldn't have to sweat the $300+ a hotel room would set me back and I'd only have to deal with gas there and back... I could possibly swing that... unfortunately, the Reno resort is fully booked, so I'm on the "first tier" waiting list to snag anything that comes up should someone cancel... it looks like that is the only possible way I'll be able to attend, worst luck... well, fingers crossed...
I finally jumped on the Apple fanboy bandwagon and bought an iPhone (once the price had dropped to $100). It's frikken great! I had no idea what I had been missing, just using a $15 gophone (with my sim card in it) for the last year. Wow - way much more than a phone! All my music is on it, there's a sick amount of "apps" available - I have a bunch of games on it as well as a GPS, "I heart radio" and even a bible in various translations! One HUGE drawback - since I got the phone, I have not read one single book... which is saying something coming from a guy who used to read 2 or 3 a week... I am going to have to address that at some point, but not right now. I have a high score to beat on Battlefield 2.
Today was an especially interesting day for me in the blogosphere. I found a pretty inspiring story about open carry in California over at Say Uncle, which was written in a neutral/positive manner. Pretty refreshing to see a reporter actually report on gunnies objectively. Over at Joe Huffman's casa, I found a link to the state of affairs back in Blighty, which is pretty depressing (and would be even more so if I still lived there). I swear, whenever I get down about the latest stunts our lords and masters in Washington are planning to inflict upon us, I see stories like this which correct my perspective and make me truly thankful that I live where I do. These stories also, however, show us a taste of what's to come too, should we slip in our vigilance.
This year's Gun Blogger Rendezvous has me all tingly. There's going to be a lot of folks going that I'd love to finally meet in the flesh, and it sounds like there are a lot of neat events planned too. It's great that they pushed it up from October to September, so in a perfect world, I could attend and still go hunting. However, it is not a perfect world, and like everyone else, my funds are stretched pretty tight right now. My wife and I have shares in a points-based timeshare thingy and they happen to have a resort in Reno less than half a mile from the Silver Legacy, where the Rendezvous is being hosted. Since I could use that for "free" (notwithstanding the thousands of dollars we paid up front to actually purchase the shares) I wouldn't have to sweat the $300+ a hotel room would set me back and I'd only have to deal with gas there and back... I could possibly swing that... unfortunately, the Reno resort is fully booked, so I'm on the "first tier" waiting list to snag anything that comes up should someone cancel... it looks like that is the only possible way I'll be able to attend, worst luck... well, fingers crossed...
Monday, July 20, 2009
Build party...
Having finally scored my citizenship, I decided to celebrate by making a new gun purchase. But... not just any gun, oh no...
I got me the beginnings of an EBR!
My friend came over tonight with his, and we set about assembling our AR15 lowers...
I got me the beginnings of an EBR!
My friend came over tonight with his, and we set about assembling our AR15 lowers...
Voila!
Thirty minutes of grunting, cursing, hammering and chasing parts across the shop, we finally put together the finished product.
That unsightly lump above the magazine is a bullet button, a device that makes it impossible to remove the magazine without a tool - something you want to have in California to stay within the limits of our laws here.
For those who care, that is a LAR Grizzly-15 lower, with a CMMG parts kit and a Magpul p-mag configured to take 10 rounds only (another California requirement).
Although I'm heartily satisfied with tonight's work, obviously it is not yet complete without the upper assembly... well, that costs a wee bit more, and thanks to current "gun" market conditions, there's somewhat of a wait...
Soon, my precious, soon...
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