Time to reload

Thing2 came home from Bible Study one morning with a flyer for a Peder Eide concert being held at the Arcada Theater in St. Charles Illinois, not too far from home. Thing2 wanted to go so we got tickets. I've liked his music since I received a CD as a gift from church so it was an evening for me and Thing2 to spend together.

The Arcada is an old small theater. Lots of charm - not much on comfort The wife and I saw the orginal Ghostbusters movie there in 1984. At that time there was a pipe organ played between movies. No organ this time as Peder was there to play!

Peder combines rock, pop, and ministry into a moving, uplifting experience. The words just get to your heart and soul. Life hasn't been quite the way it should be for me lately. Peder helped me get some things back in perspective. Thing2 enjoyed the show as well. She's still struggling with her faith a bit like a lot of teens do and Peder seemed to help her as much as he did me.

An evening with Peder is a evening well spent.

Bedroom Renovation - Day 35

Carpeting is in. Since I was nice enough to remove all the old tack strips the installers had to install new ones. Hammer drills resonated throughout the house for an hour or so. Luckily I wasn't there. :-)

After the carpet was installed we moved some furniture back in to free up space in the rest of the house. The room looks great!

The wife is happy so therefore the project was worth it. The whole room, including carpeting and blinds, was less that two grand. Not bad in my mind. The wife has also decided that this is the end of indoor projects for awhile so I get to work on the garage.

Bedroom Renovation - Day 34

Almost there.

Trim - done. New windows shades - up. New outlets and faceplates - done. New wire shelves in the closet - done. Shoe rack - repaired, stained, and reinstalled.

Looking in to the right from the entrance


Looking at the closet from the wall pictured above


Carpeting comes tomorrow. And not a moment to soon. Thing1 came home today. His room is quite the mess.

Can't be too rich or too thin

My wife has said that on a number of occassions. I guess it's all in the way one looks at things. It material possessions are your thing then I guess you can never be too rich. While I like my toys I don't obsess on them or let the pursuit of them control my life. As for being too thin - well, there is no chance of that for me!

Thing2 is a bright attractive 13 year old girl. A few pounds overweight but neither her doctor or her parents are worried as she's starting to understand how to eat better. She is also exercising more. She came home one day from school in tears as some other girls called her fat. She wanted to stop eating till she was skinny. Paris Hilton skinny. Skin and bones. Arg! I realize that some people are that way naturally but not everyone is.

So we talked. I hope she realizes that healthy and fit do NOT equal skinny for most people. We were all blessed with a body that is uniquely ours and we need to treat it properly and not try to make it something it's not. I think it may be sinking in. Time will tell.

It doesn't help that the media is constantly showing us these hyper-thin women. From the Olson twins to Paris to Teri Hatcher - skin and bones is in. Ms. Hatcher used to be - well beautiful (thinking back to Lois and Clark). Now shes just another skinny woman. Two of Thing2s favorite actresses are Hillary Duff and Lindsey Lohan. Miss Duff has come right out and said she'll never be skinny. She likes chocolate too much. Miss Lohan used to look like a normal young lady. Now, sadly, as Thing1 pointed out today she is just another stick figure. "Compared to a lot of actresses my age, I'm actually overweight" is what she tells Teen Vogue. To quote Thing1; "SHE'S A BLOODY TWIG!"

What a shame. Hopefully girls (and their parents) will wake up and see that this isn't healthy.

Carnival of Cordite - #13

Ready for reading at Gullyborg

For more about the Carnival - see the home page

Speaking of cordite - I need to get to the range

Bedroom Renovation - Day 30

Almost done. Finished the trim work. Crown molding, baseboard, inside and outside corners - all done. Touching up paint and it looks pretty good.

Time for the closet. Ripped out the existing closet unit, carpeting, and removed the shoe rack. Took it to the garage to make some changes and stain it. Then I removed the outside wall, insulated it, put up new drywall, tape and mud. Once it was dry I primed that wall and roughed up the paneling so it would take paint. Gave the ceiling a coat of paint. Once the primer was dry I gave all the walls a coat. The closet looks pretty good too. Need to touch up a few spots.

Tomorrow new wire shelves/closet rods go up and old trim gets reused in the closet. Getting very close to the end...

And not a moment too soon. My wife says I have ADSD - Attention Deficit Slob Disorder. The mess around the house is getting to her (she is a neat freak) where I just see it as part of the project.



This is my least favorite part of any home project. The cranky wife. Just a few more days...

Luke, I have a

blog

Be sure to read the comments

Sweet!

I know Thing1 rolls his eyes at me whenever I use this term but this is pretty cool.

I wonder if Dr. Rice would consider invitations to go shooting?

Bedroom Renovation - Day 24

Finished trimming out the windows and the doors. Looks like a room. Crown moulding is stained and sealed. That goes up tonight (and probably tomorrow night). The wife is emptying out the walk-in closet tomorrow so I can fix a drywall problem, paint, and redo the shelving. Almost done.

Spray and Pray

I think thats what they called jungle warfare during Viet Nam. It seems that the LA County Sheriffs are still practing the 'art'.

120 rounds fired. One sheriff wounded and the unarmed suspect wounded. I have no problem with shooting an unarmed suspect if they are using something else for a weapon, say a car, but 120 rounds? I saw the raw video and they weren't that far away. And shooting each other? I hope that there is more to this story as it looks like a huge screwup right now.

Someone for everyone

I've always believed that. I'm probably proof of it as I am not the easiest person to get along with. The wife would testify to that. Anytime.

Further proof of this is the marriage of Kenny Chesney and Rene Zellwigger. I wish them nothing but the best and hope that they have a long happy marriage.

Bedroom Renovation - Day 22

Carpet man stopped by to measure. Two weeks from today we'll have new carpeting. To celebrate I removed the old carpeting, pad, and tack strips. The room has taken on a Post Modern Reconstruction look. Nice walls and trim but the floor is crap. Put a coat of polyurethane on the window trim and stained some spacers.

Tomorrow I finish trimming out the windows and doors and stain the crown moulding (assuming I buy it tomorrow as still havn't decided what I want to do there)

Extreme Makeover

Iraqi style. The last one is gets my vote for 'most improved'

Happy Mothers Day!

After doing the windows trim we took a ride down to see Thing1 at school and go out to eat. A nice quiet day. Made the wife happy as there was no arguing.

Lunch was at Uno's. Nothing fancy but there aren't alot of resturants by Thing1's school. The service was excellent as was the food. The staff did get a little carried away with the 'Happy Mothers Day' as we left but Mom's are special. They deserve it.

Crossroads - Pat Benatar and Martina McBride

Nothing much on tv so I flipped on CMT for the wife. And what do I find. A pair of beautiful women with awesome voices. It was interesting to hear them sing eact others songs. Martina has some songs that only a real powerful voice can sing. And Pat sang them.

Neil Geraldo still rocks!

Bedroom Renovation - Day 21

Pulled back the carpeting to put in new baseboard. Found out that the way the slab was poured was kind of interesting. It appears that the footers and perimeter walls were poured, exterior walls put up and then the floor poured - up to the height of the sill plate. I have never seen a slab poured like that. Found some cracks so I caulked them with some concrete patch and silicone. I had to remove some tack strips as well. As soon as I pulled back the carpeting the tack strip came with so I decided to remove them all.

Baseboards are installed. The three windows are trimmed out. Still need to decide on what the crown moulding will look like.

Carpet man comes tomorrow

Carnival of Cordite #11

It's back!

Everything from Wilson to advice on dating. Go read.

A visit to the dentist

I've been seeing the same dentist since I was 5. Except for a year when we went to one of those mall dentists to save money. That ended up costing more as insurance covered less. My dentist is getting kind of old and close to retirement. He recently joined a practice with a younger dentist but he just wasn't our kind of guy. So the wife spent time looking for a new dentist.

This guy has all the cool toys: high resolution camera for inspecting teeth, digital x-rays, computerized records, etc. Very cool. The only paper in the office was the statement I received when I left. It was interesting to see my teeth as he was looking at them and having explain what was wrong and what was right. I have one little cavity to get filled. He uses air abrasion to clean things up so it should be painless. We'll see...

Bedroom Renovation - Day 19

Beadboard is up with two coats and looks great. One wall of paneling up. Nice contrast between the paint and the paneling. Spent yesterday evening at the Home Depot picking up molding and then staining it. Tonight I finish the paneling. Tomorrow the trim work begins. Need to get the baseboards down as the carpeting people come on Monday to measure.

13 days left...

24

I've liked this show since Episode 1 of Season 1. This year has been iffy but Chloe came through last week. Nothing like a women with a AR-15!

Bedroom Renovation - Day 16

To borrow a line from Neo - Paint. We have lots of Paint. Ceiling has a second coat. My nice new wall has it's first coat and looks pretty good. The bead board looks good with a coat of paint on it. A second coat on the walls tomorrow and it should look great.

At work today I was talking with a coworker who is also doing some painting at home. Well - her husband is doing some painting. We got into the whole flat vs satin debate. I'm all for flat on ceilings but walls need to be satin. Flat with kids (or pets) is just too much work to keep clean. Her husband likes flat cause it hids defects. Me - I'd rather fix the defects. My friend wants satin or semi-gloss for her master bath to make it easier to keep it clean with a 5 year old in the house.

After the paint comes paneling. And then moulding. Trimming out the windows. And carpeting. And new doors. In the next 10 days. Nothing like a little pressure.

Carnival of Cordite - #10

After a week off due to technical difficulties it's back. Go and read.

Bedroom Renovation - Day 15

Ahh - drywall is such fun stuff. Got one wall looking great. Took the wall paper off the opposite wall to prep it for paint and found a door that wasn't supposed to be there. And a painted layer of wallpaper under the wallpaper. The wife decided that it was better to put up some beadboard and paint that. Another trip to Menards.

The 3 Day Blinds guy stopped by to measure. Since I didn't have the window trim up yet I had to promise to use 2.25 inch trim so that the blinds would fit right. Later in the day the Wife stopped by the store to finalize the order and they will be ready in 1 - 2 weeks. I wonder what happened to 3 Days?

Put the beadboard paneling up. Smooth install but a bit messy. Got the ceiling painted and the new drywall primed. It's beginning to look like a room.

A rifle for Thing 2

Thing 2 has never fired a gun. I can't recall her ever handling one. She did go shooting with us once in Indiana but she spent the time in her godfathers Suburban playing Barbie. Speaking of Barbie - here is a rifle perfect for Barbie fans (scroll down a bit). Thanks for the link Kevin.

Bedroom Renovation - Day 11

Since the Wife changed our minds and wanted two walls painted it was time to make the walls pretty. I just love drywall dust. :-) Second coat of mud on tonight and more sanding tomorrow.

A Hate Crime?

A couple of days ago a story broke that there was a 'hate mail' incident at a small Christian college not too far from where I live. It was interesting as Thing1 also attends a small Christian college not to far from where I live - just the other end of Chicago.

When this story broke I jokingly suggested to the Wife that it would be really funny if it turned out that the 'hate mail' originated with a minority student out for attention or trying to get other students in trouble with the school. After Jesse Jackson showed up to grab his share of the spotlight this thought popped up more and more.

So today then it came out that a black female was the originator of the mail I laughed. Not that I was right but that her motive was to convince her parents that this small Christian school was "unsafe". We visited 3 different small schools and the one thing that these schools bragged about was the incredibly low crime rates. Even simple theft was non-existant.

So at the end of the day the student is charged with felony hate crime and disorderly conduct. I hope that the school is considering a civil suit against her to try and recover costs incurred with locking down the campus and relocating students.

What bothers me is the whole concept of 'hate crimes'. Why should one race be treated differently than another? Isn't that what the civil rights movement was about? That all men were created and should be treated equally? Why should a white person, who calls a black person racist names and attacks him be charged differently than a black man, who calls a white man rascist names and attacks him? It doesn't make any sense to me.

Bedroom Renovation - Day 9

A day for shopping

A simple trip to Menards. Ended up changing plans. Two walls will have paneling and the rest will be painted. Guess I need to clean up the mud a bit. Got the new wire shelving for the closet and lots of paint and stain. And Menards was nice enough to be giving out 8% off coupons at the door. Helped out quite a bit. Back to work tomorrow.

Penguin Terrorists?

I got this link in the mail at work.

Thing1 likes Penguins (and he's not even a Linux fan). I wonder what he thinks of this?

Meet the Fockers

The sequel to 'Meet the Parents'. Thing1 and the Wife went and saw this in the theatre. I sat down to watch it last night with the wife. Now - I really liked 'Meet the Parents'. DeNiro was great, Ben Stiller and Teri Polo were just about perfect together, it just worked. No strain - lots of fun.

'Meet the Fockers' - well I was disapointed. Actually I was sad when Thing1 told me that Barbara Striesand was going to be in it. I just can't stomach her. So I watched. DeNiro was his usual cool but the movie just seem forced and trying just too hard. It was funny in parts but just not that good.

Worth a rental - maybe.

Bedroom Renovation - Day 8

Yea - I skipped a day but talking about putting up drywall is like watching paint dry. Really boring. On the other hand all the drywall is upped and taped. A little bit of cleanup work and the paneling starts going up. We were going to paint the paneling but have decided to leave it what ever color it comes till we tire of it. Then we'll paint it.

Stopped by the 3 Day Blinds store while out wandering today. They have some room darkening honeycomb blinds that look pretty interesting. Cheaper than the local Home Depot and takes less time to deliver. If I can get things in order quick enough to take advantage of their sale we'll order some.

More shopping tomorrow - paneling, paint, and new shelving for the closet.

Bedroom Renovation - Day 6

A couple more sheets of drywall up. Should get all that done on Friday. Then it's fun with mud and tape. We're paneling over the drywall so I don't have to get things perfect. Nice but not perfect.

Bedroom Renovation - Day 5

3 sheets of drywall up tonight. The carpeting makes for an interesting time as the tack strip at the edge pushes the carpeting up enough so I can't get the sheet in close. Luckily we're replacing the carpeting so I can pull it loose and get the drywall placed properly.

Bedroom Renovation - Day 4

Yea! The insulation is done. Well most of it. The closet will need a little bit when I rip out that wall but that'll take a few hours.

I hate doing insulation. Even with a mask, gloves, and eyewear I still itch. Drywall starts tomorrow...

Marines 2, Sucide Bombers 0

A couple of Marines take out two armored suicide bomb vehicles. Read here and here.

Go get 'em Marines!

TEACHER APPLICATION

Thing1 sent this along.

-
After being interviewed by the school administration, the eager teaching prospect said, "Let me see if I've got this right.

You want me to go into that room with all those kids, and fill their every waking moment with a love for learning.

And I'm supposed to instill a sense of pride in their ethnicity, modify their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse and even censor their t-shirt messages and dress habits.

You want me to wage a war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, check their backpacks for weapons of mass destruction, and raise their self esteem.

You want me to teach them patriotism, good citizenship, sportsmanship, fair play, how to register to vote, how to balance a checkbook, and how to apply for a job.

I am to check their heads for lice, maintain a safe environment, recognize signs of anti-social behavior, offer advice, write letters of recommendation for student employment and scholarships, encourage respect for the cultural diversity of others, and oh, make sure that I give the girls in my class fifty percent of my attention.

My contract requires me to work on my own time after school, evenings and weekends grading papers. Also, I must spend my summer vacation, at my own expense, working toward advance certification and a Masters degree.

And on my own time you want me to attend committee and faculty meetings, PTA meetings, and participate in staff development training. I am to be a paragon of virtue, larger than life, such that my very presence will awe my students into being obedient and respectful of authority.

You want me to incorporate technology into the learning experience, monitor web sites, and relate personally with each student. That includes deciding who might be potentially dangerous and/or liable to commit a crime in school.

I am to make sure all students pass the mandatory state exams, even those who don't come to school regularly or complete any of their assignments.

Plus, I am to make sure that all of the students with handicaps get an equal education regardless of the extent of their mental or physical handicap.

And I am to communicate regularly with the parents by letter, telephone, newsletter and report card.

All of this I am to do with just a piece of chalk, a computer, a few books, a bulletin board, a big smile AND on a starting salary that qualifies my family for food stamps!

You want me to do all of this and yet you expect me......

NOT TO PRAY ?

Bedroom Renovation - Day 3.

An easy day - just a couple of trips to the local Home Depot for supplies. Drywall is always fun to move around by yourself. I picked up one of these Stanley lifters and it made moving the sheets so easy.

Back to insulation tomorrow...

Buy music - Support SOWF

Like country music? (ok - I really don't like much of it but the Wife loves the stuff)
Want to support the survivors of Americas Spec Ops Forces who died in the Global War on Terror?

Easy - buy this CD

The artist was a member of Task Force Ranger (Mogadishu, Somailia - the basis of the book and movie: Black Hawk Down)

Blackfive has more

Bedroom Renovation - Day 2

Day 2 ends with insulation up. Not quite all of it as I had to redo the electrical so that the boxes were actually attached to the studs and drywall rings installed. It's amazing how much quieter the room is with the windows closed.

Bedroom Renovation - Day 1

The starting point. Looking from the door into the room.


Off come the walls.


Not bad for a days work.

My house is almost 50 years old. Built before modern insulation was part of the plan. The space between the 2x4's was 'filled' with 1" thick insulation that was missing in a number of places. Lots of gaps between 2x4s as well. The outlets were clipped to the drywall. Much to fix...

Carnival of Cordite #9

Lots of good reading

Think Pink

My employer is going through some financial hard times. The director has laid out plans for the next year and staff reductions are part of the plan. There is a buyout offer going on and after that layoffs begin - if necessary. Morale is starting to drop.

So earlier this week I walk up to the interoffice mailboxes and there are pink pieces of paper in most of the mailboxes. Including mine. The heart begins to race. I look at the paper and its an announcement for internal classes.

Bad choice of colors. It did make for some fun with some of my more excitable co-workers.

A Scouting Tragedy

A 18 year old boy helping out at a Boy Scout meeting died Tuesday night.

This hits close as I spent many evenings and weekends as an adult leader in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts supervising many of the same activities that these boys were doing. One little mistake and a life is gone - much too early.

I pray that God be with the family and friends of this young man.

First Date

Well not quite a real date but Thing2 was supposed to go to a school dance last Friday with a friend, who happens to be a boy. Things didn't quite turn out as planned.

The friend, referred to as Z, managed to get himself sent home from school early on Friday. His Grandmother called his mom who was traveling on business and she grounded him. Z's mom then called us and let us know that he would not be going to the dance. Thing2 was upset. She called a girlfriend and they met at the dance and still had a good time.

Today Thing2 was waiting at school for Z. According to Z's mom, Thing2 "ripped him a new one". Not bad for a 13 year old. I knew that Hell hath no fury like a scorned women. Maybe it applies to teen girls as well.

Country Music Awards

I was watching this for a bit waiting for 24 to come on. With Jeff Foxworthy as host it was good clean fun. He had a line that just fit.

Sure I listed to rap music. Daily. At every stop light and stop sign

I can relate to that. :-(

While I'm not much of a fan of the genre I enjoy Montgomery Gentry, Big and Rich, and Toby Keith. So when countrys boy band, Rascal Flats, won for best duo/group I realized that too many teenage girls listen to country. At least 24 is on soon...

I stopped complaining

about sore muscles a long time ago.

Sunday was a beautiful day here in Northern Illinois. 75 degrees, sun, a nice breeze. One almost forgot what a lousy state this is. Even the post-Valium mind fog was gone. After Church it seemed like a good time to rake out the lawn, clean up flower beds, etc, so I spent the day doing that. 7 hours later the front yard looked pretty good. One more flower bed to clean up but it was time for dinner.

After cleaning up and cooking dinner I laid down to do my daily stretching. Hmmm - there were muscles hurting where I had forgotten I had muscles. I started to whine and it hit me that there are Marines and Soldiers that have lost limbs and volunteered to go back into combat. Who am I to whine about a little muscle pain. So I did my exercises. In quiet reverance.

Blackfive has an update on a Marine that you may want to check out.

Nice Limit

100 MPH in Michigan

Better Living through Chemistry

Thanks to bad genes I get to enjoy the comforts of an MRI tube a couple of times a year. The first time I had one I was ok till the tech clamped this mask over my face (necessary when checking for the presence of a brain) to keep my head still. Forty minutes later I was ready to scream. I never thought I was claustrophic till that day. Several months later I needed to repeat the test so I asked for a open MRI. Much nicer and they gave me a CD with pictures of my brain. That was ok till the report came back and noted some "unusual signals" that could possibly mean about 15 different things - one of which was Multiple Sclerosis. Since I have siblings with MS it raised a few flags with my doctor. So off I went to a neurologist. It was a most interesting appointment: if one was interested in everything but MS. The doctor was 70+ and not in the best of health. He also had a pretty good case of the shakes. One of the things he wanted to do was a spinal tap. Not!

I told my doctor about the specialist and he decided to sent me to a different doctor at Loyola Medical Center. After a three month wait for an appointment the first thing he told me after looking at my latest MRI was I needed a closed one. Head and spine. About 1.5 hours worth. In that tiny little tube. He also gave me a prescription for Valium. Made it bearable. Not pleasant but bearable. And no MS. Well I have one of the signs but no symtoms.

So today was my latest MRI. Valium was again my friend. It kinda wiped me out for the day. Groggy and foggy for several hours afterwards. The wife (a RN with 20+ years of experience) tells me that people take a larger dose than I took every day. Just to function. I'd be asleep on the couch all day.

Hopefully I won't have to repeat this anytime soon.

Carnival of Cordite #8

It's up for your reading enjoyment!

Strikeouts for Troops

Oakland Athletic's pitcher Barry Zito will donate $100 for every batter he strikes out this season. The donations will benefit military hospitals like Walter Reed and Bethesda.

Barry is encouraging other pitchers to follow his lead.

It would be nice to see Kerry Wood, Roger Clemens, and Randy Johnson join in on this.

Maybe Sammy Sosa could donate $100 for every time he strikes out...

Duck Duck Goose

We have lots of geese at work. This time of year they are staking our their nesting areas and getting cranky. No one really bothers them but none get protected by the U. S. Secret Service

The ducks came to vist too

First Flowers

Spring has sprung and so have the Daffodills

FAFSA

Free Application for Federal Student Aid

This is something that students (and their parents) need to fill out every year to see if they qualify for financial aid. Or if the student is applying for Stafford loans or any other type of assistance. Most schools requre it before the student gets their financial package.

It only takes an hour or so online. The renewal about half that. When you're done you get (postal) mail with the expected parental contribution. I have an easier way to do all this and it's pretty accurate.

Take the parents gross income, divide by 4 and thats about it. In our case it's just slightly more than Thing1's bill after his package has been applied so we get nothing. Oh well - make too much to get aid and too little to just write a check. Welcome to the middle class!

Sin City

Thing1 and I went to see Sin City today. I had never read one of Frank Millers graphic novels so this was new to me. The movie is dark, violent, and sometimes a bit confusing. It is also beautifully made and pulls no punches when delivering the story.

Bruce Willis is awesome as is Mickey Rourke. Elijah Wood and Josh Hartnett get to show their dark sides (very dark in Elijah's case) and Jessica Alba and Rosario Dawson get to show off - well - just show off. Carla Gugino (loved her in Karen Sisko) isn't on screen enough and Benicio Del Toro demonstrates what happens with a 1911 that has a plugged barrel. (Springfield Armory 1911's were everywhere in the movie)

The story has twists and turns and, while not for the squeamish, is worth a couple of hours of your time.

Hard to believe that this is the same director(Robert Rodriquez) that gave us Spy Kids.

Carnival of Cordite - #7

Available now!

Verizon Wireless

We've been Verizon Wireless customers for about 1 and a half years. Before that it was T-Mobile/Voicestream for 2+ years. Back when we had phone problems (actual hardware problems) a call to Voicestream had a new phone in the mail. With a particular model of phone that was a good thing as there was a battery problem.

We have family plan so that Thing1 and the wife can talk whenever they want. After Thing2s school bus became less than reliable I got her one too. Nothing fancy - just a low end Nokia. It's a nice little full featured phone. Last week Thing2 said she couldn't plug in the charger. Took a look at it and the pin was busted. I called the store where I purchased the phone and I was told to bring it in and they would replace it.

So The wife, Thing1, and Thing2 head off to the mall where the store is. Different clerk than I talked to. He refused to do anything. Even a call to Verizon headquarters went nowhere. At this point The Wife was furious and Thing2 was crying. Really lousy customer service. We were ready to pay the fees and dump Verizon. Shopping continued for the girls while Thing1 went wandering. Later on he walked into the same store to look at the PDA/phones and a different sales person approached him. She asked if he was a wireless customer and he said yes, we as a family were customers were Verizon customers but thinking of changing. She asked why so he explained. A minute later she said to bring the phone back and she'll replace it. Five minutes later the phone was replaced and everybody was happy.

Turns out the sales clerk who saved the day was the same one who sold me the phone. Thanks Cortney.

David T. Hardy

I first encountered Mr. Hardy when doing some research on 'Bowling for Columbine' when Thing1 was in high school and his Intro to Law teacher was pushing BFC as the "whole truth" on Columbine. He was kind enough to answer a couple of questions via email to help Thing1 battle his teacher.

Thanks to the nice people at MooreWatch I learned that Mr. Hardy has a new website. If you're a believer in the 2nd ammendment check his site out.

Oh - he shares my feelings for Barney.

Range Time

Thing1 wanted to go shooting. So off to the range we went. He didn't want to shoot the Glock 17 so he concentrated on the .22s. After I warmed up with my Ruger MarkII I put 200 rounds through the Glock. 850 so far without a failure. Spent some time trying head shots at 25 yards on 3/4 size targets. 4 out of 15. 4 more in the white area of the target and the rest were in the upper chest area. Not too bad but I need to try some different ammo as the lower priced 115gr ball doesn't seem to be very consistent.

Afterwards we went drooling browsing. Thing1 ended up with a Surefire G2 Nitrolen. Decent lite for the price. Still havn't decided on which one I want for myself. Starting to lean towards one of the LED lights. I'm just not sure which one.

Is this a sign of the end times?

Doing some channel surfing and it looked like Samuel L. Jackson dressed in a kilt? Some things aren't supposed to be seen...

Mini Movie Reviews

With Thing1 home for Spring Break we've been watching family movies. Well at at least they're not action movies.

Shark Tale

I remembers all the uproar over this. Sharks portrayed as mobsters and 'Italian-Americans' were offended. (Get a life) It was a cute movie with some interesting lessons.

Saved

Thing1 picked this out (recall he attends a small Christian college) for our entertainment. It's about a small Baptist school and focuses on the principal, the 'in-crowd' and those who used to be 'in'. The movie pokes fun at Christianity and those who aren't what they seem. You will see people you know in this movie.

The Pacifier

I like Vin Diesel. From Riddick to Saving Private Ryan to The Pacifier I've enjoyed all of his movies. This one was perfect for the whole family. There are some plot flaws and slow parts in the movie we all enjoyed this one. For an action star to change roles like this and pull it off - well he did a good job.

Sin City (and maybe Gunner Palace) this weekend!

A Bad Way to Start a Day

Ahh - Saturday. The one day during the week I get to sleep past 5:00 am. Made breakfast for the wife and Thing1 and myself. It was a nice quiet day. Then the mail came...

Junk mail, a magazine and the wifes charge card bill. The usual stuff was on there. But somehow the total was ~9000.00. Someone had snagged her credit card number and went shopping. 5 purchases totalling ~8,800.00. The wife, quite possibly a professional worrier, was worked up real quick. I called our credit card company and after a minute was talking to the Fraud Department.

Cards were cancelled and we cut them up. New cards on the way. We're not liable for the disputed charges. The person on the other end talked us through everything and was very comforting for the wife. I think she even stopped worrying. For a minute.

A reason to go to Nashville

The wife likes country music so Nashville, Tennessee is one of her favorite places to visit. Add in the fact that my sister, her husband, and two wonderful Dobermans live just outside the city and it's a place that we like to go. Ok - I go to visit my sister and play with the dogs.

So I find a reason to go and she doesn't want to. Some whining about a lack of vacation or some other nonsense... :-) Bummer for me as it looks to be shaping up as a excellent event.

Carnival of Cordite #6

Take a look

Good Friday

This has always been a tough day for me. Even more so since I've been trying to explain to Thing2 why it's a good day. I know why but explaining why a death 2000 years ago was good for her and for me - well some days it just doesn't make sense.

It may be that most days I don't feel worthy. I've made my share of mistakes in life. Some were real good ones that I've owned up to - both to my God and my family. Some were just stupid decisions that only God and I know about. To think that my God would sacrifice his only Son for someone like me - why?

I know God has a plan for me. Most of the time I wish He'd clue me in on it. I don't need a burning bush - just a hint or two would suffice.

For my fellow believers in Christ:

May this Holy Week enrich and enlighten you. May His light enter your life and refresh your spirit. I pray that the sacrifice of one man so long ago stay with you forever. Amen

The Office

I think that this was supposed to be a comedy. Now I like dark, dry comedy but this show just sucked. Office Space was funny. The Office is just trying to hard. Best thing - it won't be around long.

Was it Alias

or Point of No Return/La Femme Nikita?
I wasn't sure there for awhile. There main story was Nadia's life and how she became who she was. Runaway who ended up in prision and was recruited by an "intelligence agency". The hair, the training, falling for the boss, etc. Just like the movie. Not complaining mind you - it just seemed a bit strange. Maybe the writer doesn't think that anyone watching has ever seen either of those two movies. Still a nice way to spend an hour watching TV.

Iraqis strike back

Gotta love this. Great way for the Iraqi citizens to help take their city back. The Iraqi Army is getting in on the action as well.

Interesting point in the second link:

"Among the dead are Arab and foreign fighters, including Sudanese, Algerians and Moroccans, as well as other nationalities"

This would make them terrorists not insurgents.

Interesting factoid - wiith all the positive news coming out of Iraq uber-libs Sentors Durbin (D-Il) and Boxer (D-Ca) both look for the dark side. How very sad.

My computer is alive

Withdrawl had almost taken me over. Finally - my machine is back. It's amazing how you get used to something being a certain way and then you have to go live in a different environment for a week. The computer wasn't so bad; it was more a ergonomic thing. My dual monitors are at the right height, keyboard is just right, etc. With the laptop I was looking down, keyboard was smaller, etc. My back hurt at the end of the day.

Now to get my chair readjusted to the right position and things will be just fine...

Returning to Afghanistan

Minus something useful.

Thanks to Blackfive for the link

MilBlogs

I truly enjoy MilBlogs. The insight into America's best at work is eye opening - espicially if all one does is read the paper or watch network TV. BlackFive, 2Slick, and Lt. Smash are some of my favorites. Honest opinions from people who have been there and done that.

I added a new one to my list today - Thunder6. You should too.

Never had a class like this

Thing1 agrees - this would be so cool. Even better if there was a live fire demo.

Via Instapundit

American Standard

Awhile back I replaced our orginal toilet with an American Standard Champion. Expensive but the promise of lower water usage and a proper flush (important when someone with CF lives in the house) were key selling points.

A couple of weeks ago we started having problems. There was these seal on the float that kept coming out of the groove that was supposed to retain it. Not all the time but enough that it was annoying. So I called American Standard's customer support line this morning. A couple of minutes on hold and I was talking to technical support. Two minutes later a new, redesigned, seal was being sent to me. Apparently I'm not the only one who has seen this problem. The newer one is a bit firmer so it shouldn't wiggle out of the groove.

Nice work American Standard.

Wrong part - again

So the tech calls me and says the power supply is here and he's stopping by to replace the dead one in my computer. A few minutes later my computer is open and he's ready to put the new one in. One minor problem - its the wrong supply. Maybe Monday.

Carnival of Cordite #5

It's up at Technogyspy. I even managed to get an entry.

If you're coming here from there - thanks for stopping by!

Still no computer

It's amazing how one gets attached to an inanimate object. I'm entering day 3 of my normal desktop computer being down. And while I'm still getting my job done it's nowhere near as efficent as before. Some software isn't available, the tiny laptop keyboard is annoying, and the dual screen impementation that I have just doesn't work as well as my usual system.

According to the service tech the PC vendor was nice enough to ship the part for arrival on Thursday. Too bad it was a motherboard rather than a power supply. Maybe Friday will be a better day...

A bad way to start the day

Get to work, put my lunch away, and turned on the monitors. Hit Ctrl-Alt-Del and put in my password. Hmmm. Blank screen. Not a good sign. Monitors are on. Look at the computer and it's dark. Ok - power hit. Push the power button - nothing. Check the power cord and strip - ok. Try new power cord. Nothing. Sadness is settling in. My computer had died.

At 6:30am not many people are at work yet. Find one who has a spare laptop to borrow and go about setting that up to use till the service techs get to my machine. Probably just a power supply but its so frustrating to not have the machine you're used to. The laptop is much slower than my desktop and just not as usable. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day...

I'm lost

without Lost. Seems like forever since a new episode and it's not new this week or next. ABC isn't being very nice

This is cool

A first for the Blackhawk drivers in Afghanistan.

Blackfive and Smash have more

Ever consider a career in Southern Law Enforcement?

Those famous words at the end of the premiere of Miami Vice in 1984 were the start of something completely different in television. Yea some of the storylines were stupid and the gun handling was, at times, well incredibly bad the stories still sucked you in.

Thanks to DVD I get to watch them all over again. Thing1 can't wait to see what I watched before he was born.

USMC 1, UAW 0

According to Blackfive (who else) the UAW has withdrawn the restriction on Marine reservists parking on UAW property. One has to wonder how much damage they have done to themselves and the automakers whose factories they work at.

As for me, it'll take a lot for the UAW to win me back.

You'll shoot your eye out

You'll shoot your eye out.

Well at least a certain dinosaurs... Ruger MarkII handheld at 10 yards. 
Yes - I know I'm not a great shot

USMC vs UAW

I grew up fairly poor. Not dirt poor but money was real tight. Seven kids, two parents, (sometimes two grandparents), and a dog in 900 square feet. Mom and Dad both worked long hours so that we had food in our stomachs, clothes, and shoes. No excuses were ever accepted for bad behavior or for not doing our very best at everything.

Things could have been better had my Dad, who was an awsome machinist had chosen to work in a Union shop rather than an independent. Probably could have doubled or even tripled his income. But he had a thing against Unions and I never found out what it was. It may have been something that happened before or after his service in the Marine Corp (1944 - 1948) but he never had a good thing to say about Unions.

As for myself I've never been in one. I'm what is considered a "White Collar Worker" - which is funny as I live a blue collar life. The whole concept of paying to work never made sense to me. I've always preferred to be responsible for my own actions. Add in some less than stellar experiences with Unions on job sites and I'm glad with the path I've chosen. Please don't take this as a dig towards Union labor. Most of these guys (and girls) work their asses off and I respect that. The public face of the Union drives me insane. From the inability to negotiate in good faith to getting involved in politics they portray Unions in a bad way.

So when I came across a post on Blackfive about the UAW denying Marine reservists that either drive foreign made cars or have cars with Bush stickers on them from parking on UAW property I realized that Unions still don't have a clue. What a public relations blunder. These Marines put their lives on the line for all Americans - a little courtesy goes a long way.

So - what to do? I plan on writing a letter to the UAW president (see Blackfives post for an address) asking to to return the parking access to the Marines. If not - well the next car purchase I make won't be one made by UAW labor. It'll still be made in America but it'll mean a Toyota or a Honda. And that hurts me. I've always prided myself on owning cars made in America by American companies. But not if it means supporting asinine policies such as this one.

Carnival of Cordite - Week 4

Like Guns? Be sure to read the Carnival of Cordite.

Range time!

Almost two months had passed since I had last gone shooting. The guns were taunting me. I needed to go shooting. Off to the local range. Started off with a couple of hundred rounds through the Ruger Mark II. The stress bleeds off. Next was 200 rounds through the Glock 17. The more I shoot this gun more the better it gets. About halfway through a group shows up and starts shooting .357 and .44 magnums. Even with ear plugs and muffs it was annoying. I decided to put another 100 rounds through the Ruger. Amazing how the Ruger doesn't move at all after firing the Glock.

Cleaned up and did some browsing. GAT has the full line of Surefire lights at reasonable prices. Still haven't decided on a 6P or one of the LED lights. The Springfield Armory SOCOM16 is a sweet rifle. I just need a place to shoot it. There were a couple of Barrett rifles behind the counter. At $8,000.00ea they cost more than I paid for my first car. I may have to settle for a AK 47 clone.

Home safe and sound. Nice and relaxed. Till next month...

Part of the 35%

InstaPunk has more.

The Ides of March

Thanks to Instapundit I now know about The Third Annual International Eat an Animal for PETA Day

Yummmmmmmm

Loophole for terrorists?

Local news is talking about a "loophole that allows suspected terrorists to buy guns legally". This ought to be interesting...

The Marines want you!

Well actually they want Thing1.

Sat down to read last night while waiting for 24 to come on and the phone rings. The wife answers and tells the caller that Thing1 isn't home and doesn't live here right now as he's away at school. The caller introduces himself as a Sargent in the Marines and tells her that he's been checking up on all the kids in the top 20% of Thing1's graduating class to see what they are up to and if the Marines might be an option. The wife politely explains everything. The recruiter thanks her for the time and asks us to tell Thing1 to consider the Marines after college. Even if he didn't have CF I don't think he's Marine material. Maybe Air Force but not Marines.

Those guys run towards the shooting... Real glad they are on our side.

What girls think of themselves

JimK has a interesting post today about "a sad commentary on Western civilization". As a Dad I couldn't agree more.

Thing2 is 13. Not (thankfully) rail thin she looks like what a 13 year old girl should look like. I'm so glad she hasn't fallen into that trap. I hope we can keep her that way.

I can't understand why girls/women want to be so skinny. Why not just accept the body that you were blessed with and make the best of it? It can't be healthly to deprive the body of the nutrients that it needs. Keeps you healthly.

Weekend Movies

Spent some time watching movies this weekend:

Flight of the Phoenix. The new one with Dennis Quaid. Decent effects but nowhere near as good as the orginal.

Ray. Awsome movie. Jamie Foxx nailed the character. An eye opening story. Worth the time to watch.

Taxi. Bad acting, bad gun handling (by the cops), decent gun handling (and marksmanship) by the bad guys. The car mods (done at the touch of a button) were laughable. The chase scenes and the 4 bad guys girls make it worth the rental. (well if you like that sort of thing :-) )

Musical tastes

Everyone in our house has fairly distinct tastes in music. I like contemporary Christian and Christian Rock, the wife leans toward Country (mostly the new stuff) and Classic Rock, Thing1 is Punk and Rock (secular and Christian), and Thing2 is mostly Pop (starting to get in to Praise and Worship). Sometimes the competition for the car CD player gets intense on vacation (at least before iPod).

So it was interesting to get a list of Thing1's CD request list (just in case we wanted to buy him something). It's all over the place:

AC/DC - Back in Black (Remaster DigiPak)
AFI - Sing the Sorrow
Bill Engvall - Cheap Drunk: An Autobiography
Bill Engvall - Now That's Awesome
Larry the Cable Guy - A Very Larry Christmas
The Donnas - Gold Medal
Alonzo Bodden - It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time
Mitch Hedberg - Mitch All Together
Ray Charles - Ultimate Hits Collection
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
Red Hot Chili Peppers - By The Way
Relient K - Mmhmm
Ron White - Drunk in Public
Switchfoot - The Beautiful Letdown
The Ataris - So Long, Astoria
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Fever to Tell"

AC/DC to Ray Charles. And everything in between. Nice open mind

UPS

I'll never look at one of their trucks the same way. Neither will you if you read this.

I survived

3-3-2005: Got home from work early and got Thing2 ready to go out. Had to make a few parental decisions as to what she could wear so as not to make the wrong impression. Took her over to her friends house to meet him and his mom. Very nice people. His mom made a big deal of Thing2 being nice and accepting of her son (he has issues just like Thing2). These two certainly seem to get along. After talking for awhile I left so that they could go. Met the wife for dinner and then home to wait.

And wait. She finally made it home around 9:30. A little late but not bad. Her friend walked her up to the door like a gentleman and said goodnight to both her and me. Thing2 had a great time. The music was loud and the auditorium was filled with praise for Him. They sang, they prayed, they had fun. A good night.

And I survived

Some people are never happy

Part of my day job is to manage the central email systems for our site. We're a semi-large facility with about 4000 people here on a daily basis. We collaborate with other facilities around the world. A lot of this communication is by email so the system has to be reliable.
When it was first designed about 10 years ago we stated that internal mail would be delivered in under 15 minutes. In reality it took about 30 seconds but at that time we had some smtp to (name your low end mailer) gateways that usually accounted for most of the delay. Over the years the non-smtp based mail systems have disappeared and we're pretty much a IMAP based facility. There is a cluster of Notes users and some folks who like to read mail on one of the Unix systems but most have switched to IMAP.
We've also spent considerable effort rebuilding our core infrastructure. Multiple gateways, load balancing, redundant LDAP servers, etc. Throw in 2 levels of AV checks and spam tagging and the average mail message has several hops to make before it gets delivered. Still - the average mail message is delivered in under 5 seconds. If it's list mail it might take 30 to 45 seconds depending on how busy the list machine is.
Yesterday my officemate commented on how slow mail was. Thinking there might be a real problem I started looking. Then I asked exactly what the problem was. A message sent to the list took 72 seconds to be delivered.
Grrrrrrrrrr

It's not really a date

Well that's what Thing2 is telling me. The young man's mom called last night to arrange transportation. A group of teens are going. Still - it seems like a date to me. Must be the Dad part. Thing1 is less than enthused. Much talk about shotguns and shovels...

Keeping the ears warm

Came across this today (Courtesey of Stryker Brigade News). Thing1 likes unique hats. I wonder if he'd like this one?

How do worms and viruses spread?

From a list I'm on. The constant spread of a worm is being discussed.

these pc's were set up by the help desk staff and i know they just use blank admin passwords when setting up a pc because these accounts are never used and if a help desk admin has to boot a pc into safe mode, they don't have to remeber 500 diff passwords.

You get what you ask for. Sometimes without saying a word...

NYPD Blue - RIP

12 years of Blue. I missed one episode. I'm so glad they didn't try and wrap things up nice and neat.

Sipowitz would be a good boss. Back you up the whole way. I've worked for guys like that. They make your life so much easier by insulating you from the crap.

Tuesday evenings won't be the same. Thanks for the ride.

Cool Borelight

I like flashlights. Guns and knives too. Most of time these can be enjoyed together. Well thanks to the Carnival of Cordite I came across this which combines two of my favorite toys. This is very cool. It'll be a challenge to do this in a 9mm case.

The Smallest Minority was the start of this adventure

I'm not ready for this

Thing2 is 13. And she just got asked on her first date. Were it not a school night I'd consider letting her go. Ok - I'd be a chaperone as it's Delirious!