It's Back To Retirement For You, Friend

Still makes the perfect flame.

What Kind Of Show Are You People Running?

After a great holiday with Awesome Marsha, I trekked on over to the Ninja's for some more holiday cheer.
There were lots of great gifts (I raked in Christmas Booty like pirate on steroids), laughing, playing with LastName, and so much more.
Only one problem.
It almost didn't happen because the Ninja was supposed to be back to work that day.
It would have helped if they told HER that.
But things got cleared up over the phone, and we had a great day together.

So today became the new day for her to go back to work.  Her first day back to work in three months from maternity leave.

She gets to the store to open it up, and finds that she has no way to log in to the computer...and can't actually open the store.

And none of her coworkers would answer their phones to tell her what to do.

Even the corporate office had no advice, other than "you need to get hold of somebody who works there".

So FIRST y'all schedule her to be at work on a day when she was to have holiday time with the greatest guy on the planet - me.  And you don't tell her she is supposed to be at work.

NEXT you schedule her to open a store when she hasn't been at that job for three months.  You know, your first day back to work would be best with somebody else.  Just in case you're a little rusty.

THEN the coup de grace.  You don't even have anything in place so she can actually work.

What kind of show are you people running?

Folks, this store seems to operate like a headless chicken farm.  With a headless farmer.

Party Thursday

I got to see this month's sunrise.

It looked way better in person than it does in the picture.

A gang of us engineers (and Badass Billy G.) went to the S & S Chinese place.  We all ate about nine plates of cat and dog.  It was pretty good.

I was incredibly tired after eating so much.

Dave G. and I went right after work to one of our favorite hangouts.  The Sandbar.

We drank motor oil and discussed the potency of the .270 Remington.

We also talked about life in general.

"You're uh,...getting a little old lately, ain't ya?"

Thanks for that quote, Dave.

Next time, the tab is on me.

After the Sandbar I went home and took a nap.

Then I got to see the Ninja and LastName.  

It was an awesome day, y'all.

Word.

Beasts

Ladies, please.  Try and hold in your enthusiasm.

Willie and I both have cool hats.

It's really our manliness that gets the ladies going, though.

Oh The Irony

I lost the mouse from my laptop bag at work some time ago.
If it had been my home laptop, no big deal.  I never use a mouse with that one.
(But I bought one for my work laptop because of the drafting and PLC software on it.)

So I went and bought another mouse.

I immediately found the lost one.  That's how it always goes for me.

I never took it back, because hey...extra mouse, right?

Ah ha!  A great idea entered my noggin around Christmas time...I could bundle that mouse with other stuff for somebody else!

See, I'm a thinker and not a stinker.

I fired up the work laptop briefly today.

I can't find the mouse again.

Oh, the irony of it all.

Movember Gift In December

Awesome Marsha knows how to reach a son's heart.

Get him some mustache coolness.

Everyone needs to be prepared for Movember.

And now I am.

Word.

Movember Link HERE

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from Awesome and Stick.

Go get yourself a Christmas hammer.

Because everyone needs one!

You have to let people prove you right or wrong.

If you don't, you will never know if they mean what they say.

Period.

You've Proven Me Wrong, Mr. Muppet.

Black and white.  It's that simple.
For a long time, I believed in that whole "shades of gray" theory.  But let's face it.  There are no real "maybes" in life.  "Maybe" is an answer you have when you don't know whether it's yes or no.  


There's also no "almost right" and "almost wrong".  It's simple.  Right.....wrong....no in between.
***
Enter Mr. Muppet.

He had worked hard for the title of Heavyweight Ass Of The World, and that title was well defended.

Some 6 months ago, I was giving the Muppet some serious credit.  I continued to give him credit even though nobody else seemed to.

He made promises to people, including me.  To my face.

I waited for a long time, man.

And now I'm done, Dude.  I don't have your back any more.  There is no excuse for not taking any of the many chances you've had to prove everyone wrong,...and to prove me RIGHT.  But you refused...over and over.

I've been continually wrong.

• Wrong in thinking you would realize what a great opportunity you have.
• Wrong in thinking you would stop your games. Your head is stuck in Junior High.
• Wrong in thinking you would grow a damn sac and, if nothing else...do what you are supposed to do BECAUSE IT'S YOUR RESPONSIBILITY.  Doing it even for that reason commands more respect than what you've done.  Which is zilch.  (No, I take that back.  You've done a fine job of upsetting everyone.)

And here this entire time, all I've wanted is to have the rights you have.  I'll never have that.

They are your rights.  Not mine.

Black and white.

Sho' Iz Guuuud

Eat dat watamellon.

Sho' Iz Guuuuud.

--->Ham Bone Ham Bone Watamellon Sho' Iz Guuuuuud<---

Life Is Good

Internet forums.

Youtube channel.

Thousands of rounds, and ample guns.

H45 knows how to have fun.

If you love Greg as much as I do, you'll dig his recent music video.

• Steve Lee rocking out like only an Australian can.  Which is freakin' sweet.
• Big John manning the cams and rocking on his guitar while Greg and Steve shoot.
• And Greg dispatching targets and a Zombie with his Zombie-killer model 29.
  
  Life is good for the greatest shooter on youtube.
  And he makes it good for the rest of us too.

I hope for the best.

The Ghost Is Still A Hometown Hero

Anybody growing up in my hometown area in the 80's knows who Boom Boom is.

Talk about a champion.

Boom Boom inspired so many people to follow their dreams.

In 2000, The Ghost turned pro.

And he brought the inspiration back into my hometown area.

In 2007 he became a champion.  He would simultaneously be the Ring, WBO, and WBC middleweight champ, and simply could not be touched.  He was definitely the man.

Now there's been a lot of media attention on the Ghost lately.  He lost his titles in 2010, had a stint at the Betty Ford Clinic, and has had some run-ins with the law.

Funny how the media is better at touting your problems than your successes.

My thoughts on him haven't changed.

The Ghost is still a great fighter.

He is still a down to earth man who can relate to the same things I can.

And I am still grateful he is who he is.

The Ghost's gas tank isn't empty yet.

So there's a lot more ground for him to cover.

Knock them all out, Kelly.  Knock them all out.

Word.

Get Yo' Boogie On

All you ladies out there who need some inspiration...Ms. Hall has your back.

Us dudes can sit back and drool while y'all work with the tools she gives you.

Still rockin', still sporting gold pants, and still assaulting our visual and audio senses with her wit and awesome demeanor.

Ms. Hall.  There is no other like you, homey.

Keep it real.

Keep it gangsta.

And don't stop loving salsa.

Word.

--->Hydrate Jirate<---

^^^^^Bustin' the sweaty goodness^^^^^

Party Monday

The annual engineering Christmas lunch was today, which was a change from years past.
(Typically it has been done on a Friday.)

Everyone was there, except for Super K.

Surrounded by all my engineering family, I was happy.  Peebs and I drank a Guinness-like substance, everyone B-S'ed, we all laughed frequently, and hell....we even discussed the Seebs.

Willie did us all the honor of playing the Apache video on his droid phone.

Totally sweet work of the Seebs right there.

And any event in which the Seebs gets some respect is a great one.

Inexpensive Reliability + Arse-Whooping = Totally Rad

Miller is still giving great reviews and advice on defense.

I'm a huge Hi Point fan, because they WORK.  And so is he.

In the above picture you see my JHP.

It's operated flawlessly (knock on my wooden head) for me.

Check out Miller's recent review, if you have been thinking of getting a JHP.

Review HERE.

Clicking this picture will change your life.

You will feel your IQ points dropping drastically.

Snow Snow Snow Damn It Snow

Well it finally came.

The snow of snowville.

Way late in the year, mind you.

Go Hockey!

Willie, Miss Thang, The Ninja, and myself went to a hockey game tonight!

Ironic thing is, I turned down the offer to go to a hockey game the previous night.  Things just work out funny sometimes.

We got to see some fighting, which once again was really the highlight of the game for me.  The Otters seem to be dirtier players than the other teams (from the few games I've watched) and it's always nice to see people standing up for themselves.

Yes, I'm an Otters fan.  Mostly because I have a home team to cheer on now.  Back in my hometown the only pro team I had was a minor league baseball team from a different town.

In this town I have baseball, hockey, and basketball.  All home teams for me now.

It was a really fun night out, and I guess I don't really mind having a somewhat dirty team.

If I was out there on the ice I'd be jacking people up too.

And Warren Zevon would approve.

--> Proof Of Zevon's Approval <--

I always love hearing David Letterman yelling "Hit Somebody" in this song.

Check out the Otters at their website sometime.

If you ever make it to an Otters game, it would be a bunch of bone crunching, teeth smashing, hockey-stick-slashing fun for the whole family.

It will inspire your children to, as Zevon would write, HIT SOMEBODY!

Z's Tradition

The tradition of distraction has continued for the Z.

About two weeks ago, he put up his lights, once again.

That means it was pretty much a year to the day of the last time he put them up.

Which was pretty much a year to the day since he had the first time.

This year they actually aren't much of a distraction.  I'm kind of glad he put them up.

At least there is some holiday cheer in my cube now!

2010 Lights Distract-O-Rama

2009 Lights Distract-O-Rama

The Z Man has some serious Christmas cheer, y'all.

It seems that even Batman is not safe from attack.

This was just a headline I came across just now, and I thought it was interesting.

I read the story, which wasn't quite as interesting to me for some reason as the title.

Maybe I just like the idea of Bale getting beat up.

That's probably not it.

But it really was an eye-catching title for me.

Batman getting beat up will make me take notice.

Reginald is still truckin'.

And you know what, that makes me feel good.

***

Once or twice over a long period of time, OK.
Repeatedly?  When there is simply no problem at all with everyone else?
Not believable.
I'm going with my gut on this one.

This was an incredibly odd movie.

But hey, Bruce can probably send effective text messages with this big Tracy Morgan phone.

So it looks like he is one up on a lot of people.

Wannabes R Us

The Germans are notorious for over-engineering things, and charging a premium for them to boot.

I've always felt that simpler is better.

But alas, my training on PLC software (which was also GERMAN and not AMERICAN) was cancelled.

Instead I was told to go to a seminar on electrical drafting software.

There are some nice things about the software.

I see some drawbacks too.

I'm not sure about all these fancy soft wares.  I mean, we pay so much more on software every year than the average company of our size.  By a pretty large margin too, I imagine.

And yet, we still have the same amount of problems as before.

They just cost us more.

The best tool is your brain.  Not all this crap.

The question I ask is: are we engineers, or are we wannabes looking for the magic software to do our jobs for us?

Interesting

I watch a lot of youtube videos.  While watching one (a "gun channel") I began to admire the guy's Ed Brown custom 1911.

I had heard of the name, but really have no knowledge of the company.

So I wondered how much an Ed Brown typically costs.

While starting to type "how much does an Ed Brown 1911 generally cost" on google, I was amazed at what started to auto-finish for me.

What the hell is that about?

Is that really a common search for people lately?

Free Book

I went to Radio Shack today to buy a D cell battery holder.

Tomorrow I'll be rigging up some makeshift battery for the PLC we have on the Cleveland project.  You know I'm just a genius.  

The guy at the counter asked me if I would like to donate a dollar to Lance Armstrong's cancer fund.

I said "yeah, sure, why not".

He told me thank you and that it was very generous.

(A dollar must go a long way or something.)

I was about to leave when he told me for my generosity I would be given a free book.

The price tag on the book was 20.00.

So.  I go to Radio Shack.  Buy something.  Donate a dollar.  And I get a free twenty dollar book.

Sweet.  I'm gonna read this thing just on the principal that it was free!

The whole "getting back on track" thing has been long over due.

Time to crap or get off the pot.

So figuratively speaking, it's time for a big, steamy, stanky dump.

The Three Options

S&W 638

Reliable.  Excellent craftsmanship.

Shrouded hammer.

Taurus 85.

Good value.  Common.

Reliable.

Taurus 651.

357 or 38 spl.

Shrouded hammer.

Half the cost of the SW Way less expensivethan the S&W, and more versatile than the Taurus 85, by having twice as many ammo options.

Probably my number one choice.

It may finally be time to put me out to pasture.
How embarrassing.

Thoughts On Open Carry

Carrying a firearm is legal in what...all states but IL?  Something like that.

Of course there is Philly and D.C. that do not allow it.  But for the most part, with varying laws you can carry in most of the USA as a resident of that state.

The topic of open carry has become fairly hot.

Exhibit A:  Guy in the picture above.

This guy made a video about getting "harassed" by cops because he was walking through downtown with a firearm.

OK.  Let's see here.  My opinion is pretty simple:

If you open carry you are a tard of the first degree.  And you are a master tard of the first degree if you try to make the cops out to be bad guys when they question you about your gun.

Silly Self Indulgent Example:

I'm a cop.  I got the uniform.  My badge is polished.  I look totally cool. 

My car has the light bar on it, and you all know you are jealous of my light bar.

I am cruising around, doing some cop stuff.  Because cop stuff is what us cops do.

Maybe I'll pull some speeders over.  Maybe I'll respond to some domestic violence call.  Maybe I'll get some doughnuts during my shift too.  Hey, I'm doing my cop thang, ya dig?

Wait a second.  Some dude has a gun.  Crap.  I better go talk to this fool.

"'Scuse me sir, do you have a legal carry license?"

Great.  This fool is gonna give me a hard time over asking about the fact that he has a gun?  Seriously?

If a cop sees a gun, and they ask about it, I consider them actually doing their jobs.

My tax dollars pay them to make sure they enforce the law however they can.

And cops doing their jobs is a nice change of pace.

If I am a cop and I see a gun, I'm asking you about it.  Because if you aren't legal, I'm arresting you.  Period.

If I don't and you go and shoot your ex girlfriend, the next thing I read in the paper is "why didn't Officer Smith do something to stop that guy".

There's a difference between exercising your rights and being an master tard.

Just as much as it's your right to carry a gun, it's another person's right to NOT LIKE guns.  And the sight of people carrying guns can make others nervous.

(I carry a gun every day and I get nervous if I see another guy with a gun.)

Nobody knows what's in your head.  So nobody knows that you're not a psycho.

The only thing they DO KNOW for a fact is the fact that you are making them nervous when you decide it's cool to walk around with a big old pistol on your hip.

Think you are making a radical statement or something?  Because I don't.

And let's look at another aspect of it.

Why give away one of your advantages?

Bad guys are going to be able to see your weapon.  So, they know exactly how to attack you.  They will go for your gun before anything else.  A bad guy is going to say to himself "maybe he has a wallet.  But I know he has a gun.  I can sell that thing."

And the bad guy shoots you with his gun, and takes your wallet and gun.

Lastly, I am happy when my tax dollars go for things they are supposed to.  Every now and then the cops are an example of this.

But my tax dollars aren't supposed to go to all you open carrying people who fight lawsuits for disturbing the peace.  Simply because somehow in your minds you were "exercising your rights."

Carrying is best done concealed.

And carrying is best done in ways that respect the law, and those around you.

Causing a panic is not respecting those around you.  This isn't the old west anymore, and people don't expect to see lethal weapons on every person they run into.

You're not making any statement about your second amendment rights.

You're making statements that are much different than that.

And you are one of the reasons my second amendment rights are always under attack.

***

You can click on the guy's picture to see his video.

If you think he is just a cool dude doing his thing, that's fine.

I didn't find any coolness in the video.

And to other open carriers, if this blog post makes it's way over to you all...that's cool too.

You can think I'm a jerk, and I'll think you're jerks too.

We'll be even.

Conceal your weapons.

Enough Is Enough

I finally hit my breaking point with reality shows.

I mean, come on already.  Enough is enough.

I'll give "Dancing With The Douchebags Stars some credit.  It's more along the genre of a game show or competition than reality TV.  But even that show grates on the nerves since it tends to be played what seems to be every damned night.

But the whole plethora of bullshit that's out there is just annoying.

There's shows on raiding storage units.

Shows on collecting junk.

Shows on redoing houses.  (I do like the V Ice project because I am a fan of Rob.  But I can't watch the show regularly because well...reality TV...need I say more?)

Shows on losing weight.

Shows on teen pregnancy.

Shows on nannies.

Shows on adoption.

Shows on making deserts.

Shows on freakin' paint peeling, probably.

I can't stand reality shows, and with the one I was tortured through last night, I have had enough.

A bunch of whack-ass moms having their kids prance around stage to win awards.

You wonder why some kids don't talk to their parents when they become adults?  Catch an episode of the show in the picture.  It's not hard to figure out why some kids despise their parents.

I may not watch SHOWS like a lot of people.  I have two shows that I will watch, but I never watch every episode.  I'm just not a show guy.

And I am not a reality show guy.

No more reality TV for me.  If it's on, I'm going to another room.

I'd rather freeze my bajumbas off while standing on the porch in January than sit through another episode of crap.

C'Mon

Ok.

Let me make sure I understand this correctly.

This is the guy who leads in the race?

First off, we all know of his past troubles in Washington.  Let's be honest here...he has had his hands slapped a few times.

Also, we all know he is a classic example of a politician cheating on his wife, which isn't really uncommon in all walks of life, but still.  It kind of pisses me off that there can't be a ton of jokes about him like we had with that A. Wiener guy.

Among MANY more reasons, here is one that really urks me about this douche bag.

"I don't see how the party that says it's the party of the family is going to adopt an immigration policy which destroys families that have been here a quarter century..."

So the Newtster doesn't want to break up families, eh?  

(I wonder if that thought went through his head when he was cheating on his wife, but we'll go no further on that.)

Newtie Baby, let's get something straight here:

When people commit crimes and are convicted of them, they are punished.  And it doesn't matter if it was an old crime.  If some guy raped a woman 10 years ago, got away clean, started a family and everything.....his ass still goes to prison if he is linked through DNA evidence.  

It's the same with non-violent crimes.  Once convicted, you get sentenced.  Period.

Your family is not a concern.

And if I understand correctly, being an illegal alien is...well...illegal.

So.  Either be a citizen or get deported.  That's my feelings on the aliens.

Your families aren't MY concern.

They are YOUR concern.

So if you start a family while doing something wrong...that falls on you.

YOU failed your family, and not the United States of America.

And Newtie...you'll make me want to become a Canadian citizen if you take office.  I'll finally have had it with the US.

Because I had it with your ass many years ago.

Word.

Range + Hot Ladies = Hubba Hubba (Dangerous Women Are Hot)

A group of us went to the range last night!

I had been looking forward to shooting for about two weeks.  Finally I got my fix....somewhat.  (I think I only shot like 5 rounds.)

The Chef, Ninja, Ninja's sister, and the Stickman were the crew.

I brought 4 guns so that people would have something to shoot, but the Chef didn't bring extra equipment so only three people could shoot at once.

Bummer.

Best part of the whole trip was seeing the girls get dangerous.

At ten to twelve feet the Ninja was popping bulls eyes.  Literally.

Even with the PT709 Jam-o-matic.  (The time I spent adjusting its sights a year ago was well spent - go me.)

So defending herself with a firearm simply won't be an issue for her.

Oh and it didn't jam for her.  Only six rounds, but still.  I'm jealous.

Her sister did just as well.  

These ladies can shoot!

Someday I hope to see the Ninja with a gun on her hip.  Women should carry, especially when they have children to protect.

***

Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera so I don't have any pictures.  But Ninja will probably have some up on her FB account.

P.S.  Thanks Chef.  You made my head pound for the rest of the night.

P.P.S.  Next time, YOU'RE spending the hour and a half cleaning 4 guns, Chef.