Taking two-thirds of Kiddos around for Trick-or-Treating last night and gee… have manners totally died?
Granted, it wasn’t across the board, but I did see lots of people just barging around, not waiting their turn, not saying “thank you”, being greedy rude little fucks.
And that was just the adults.
*sigh*
I know Halloween etiquette isn’t written down anywhere, but it seems to be understood that porch light on means “someone’s here, candy available, come knock”. Porch light off means “no candy, don’t knock, keep moving”. Â That you wait your turn, letting the group already at the door finish up and allowing them to exit (since many doorways are narrow) before you go in for your turn. That you don’t ask for the candy, or for another piece; you get what you are given and you say “thank you” (even if it’s a pencil, a box of raisins, or a penny). That you don’t half-ass it: that you make some sort of effort with the costume, with the evening, and not just wandering around trolling for free candy.
But all these unwritten rules of Halloween seem like they might be dying and being lost.
Or… I’m just getting old, and more crotchety than I was yesterday. 🙂
Oh… and don’t trample on my lawn and through my garden! Use the walkway!
Not really known for crime, but it can be empty around that time of night, with lots of dark parking lots and areas. I’d love to know the circumstances. Was it just innocent people waiting at a stoplight and this happened? Or was there something going down (e.g. drug deal that went bad)? I don’t know.
Shit can happen anywhere, at any time. Crime-free, no-victim zones don’t exist.
Don’t go to stupid places; don’t associate with stupid people; don’t do stupid things. We will add to that, be in bed by 10 o’clock.
As for car-jacking, you know what’s better than drawing your gun, or pepper spray, or baton, or whatever weapon?
Pressing the gas pedal.
And if that happens, I’m none too concerned with the “rules of the road”. Oh sure, I don’t want to do anything stupid nor dangerous nor risk the lives of other innocents, but if I have to drive into the median, if I have to jump the curb up onto the sidewalk, then I do. I have to do what I have to do to get away. I can deal with repairs later. I have car insurance. It can be sorted out later… when I’m alive to do so.
I’ll do it at the next football game… just for fun.
Just for fun. No workup, no pressure, no prep, no nothing. Just confidence, just knowledge of herself that she already has the skills. No fear.
In the middle, at like 20, I was like… I started slowing down… and I was like “Oh my gosh, I have to keep going… I have to keep going!”
And then when I got to 39 I was like “Oh my gosh, I can’t do one more!” and then I was like “I gotta do one more! I gotta make 40!”
She didn’t know quit. She pushed through pain, because she knew greatness was on the other side. Oh sure, back handsprings don’t mean much in the grand scheme of the life and the world. But her attitude means everything.
I’ve found that balance is a key part to success in life in all areas of life. Regarding working out, I’ve swung pretty far one way, then the diet hit and I swung pretty far the other way. Now I think I’m trying to find my balance. But you have to go to the extremes in order to know where middle could even be.
I’m tired of the dieting… it’s killing me mentally. Not just the diet itself, but I really hate that I can’t lift properly. Yes I know about the long term goals and the sacrifices to get there. I’m just experimenting and learning. And so with that well… I’ll write more about these details later.
The squats went well. Yes I only did a single on my max weight… I started to come up out of the hole, it was ugly, and I refused to go any further. I’ve been very pleased with my improvement in form and technique, so why struggle around just to heave the weight, y’know? I am not going to go up in squat weight this next cycle… keep it the same, keep the form tight, and go up on reps. So hey… get 2-3 reps next cycle, great. I’m just finding with my fixed form that well… I suck. 🙂 That certain muscles were lagging because of how my prior form was. So they just have to get brought up and that’s all fine.
But hey… I ensured I did a lot of reps (more on this later) and my legs are jelly. So that’s all good. My ankle is still unhappy, but the rest of my legs are in that good hurt happy. 🙂
In my long career, I’ve met lots of people with the title “senior engineer”. We’d joke and call them “señior engineer” because it was all too often thrown around as some title of arrogance or tenure, but was about as meaningful as a “perfect attendance” award  — sure it’s great that you showed up and have been here a while, but that didn’t mean you knew anything.
Of course for it to truly be meaningful, the title needs to be properly applied over the course of a career, not just because you’re the lone coder at some startup you and your other 20-something-year-old friends put together over beers one evening fresh out of college.
In the end, it’s just a title. It doesn’t really matter. But the merits and qualities of a senior engineer, as John lays out, are what really matters and what are worth striving to be.
When we’re doing Force-on-Force scenarios, someone has to play the bad guy role. At first it’s hard for people new to FoF to be a bad guy, but after a little bit they get it and have a LOT of fun doing it. The reason is, they’re good people and now have to behave by a different set of standards — or perhaps, by no standards at all.
I recall hearing some pro wrestlers talk about playing the “heel” role… the bad guy. Many of them like playing that role because they can do anything they want. They have a great freedom, whereas the “babyface” (the good guy) has to color within the lines, play by the rules, and is rather restricted in what they can do.
Thus, we can define what it is to be a bad guy: you don’t follow the rules.
And so it goes in real life.
Gun bans are instituted through laws. Good guys will obey those laws. Bad guys won’t… because bad guys don’t follow rules.
Gun restrictions, like “gun free zones”, are instituted through laws. Good guys will obey those laws. Bad guys won’t… because bad guys don’t follow rules.
Signs on doors are something good guys pay attention to. Bad guys won’t… because bad guys don’t follow rules.
Bad guys don’t follow rules.
Not only is it useful to remember that bad guys don’t follow rules, it’s also useful to remember they won’t follow your rules, your standards, your moral code. If you were ever driven to steal, you might rob someone of their wallet but it’s not in you to senselessly and without just-cause take someone’s life. But that’s YOUR moral code. The fact someone is mugging you demonstrates they are not rational — according to your standards. What makes you think they’ll continue to adhere to your standards and not kill you just because they can? Maybe they will, maybe they won’t — you don’t know, you can’t know. All you can know is bad guys don’t follow rules.
I didn’t deadlift this week. Since I reaggrevated my ankle chasing those coyotes then spending a LONG day at KR Training well… my ankle hates me. Even right now as I write this, my ankle is feeling some pain. *sigh* But damnit, I’m going to Press.
And press I did. It was a good workout, and I tell you… while my weight loss has slowed (but seems to be still progressing.. I’ll write more on this elsewhere), and while my strength is going down, the lighter weights I think are a blessing because I’m bringing up my form. So hey… all is good, right? I really am feeling a lot better in my form.
As for my ankle. I’m thinking a doctor visit may be in order… x-rays, and see what can be seen. Next week starts the 5/3/1 week and my heaviest days. I’m not sure if I’ll max out on squats and deadlifts. I’ve even wondered if I might need to drop off a strict Wendler program for a while and do something else. Probably keep on doing Wendler for bench press and press, but deadlift and squat might have to have something else that doesn’t stress my ankle so much so I can at least do something. Maybe just a lot of light sets, like squat at 135 for 5×10 or something. I don’t know yet…still thinking, but I need my ankle to heal.
Situational awareness. The Deputy was aware of his situation, tho it’s arguable he could have been better aware. I’m guessing the assailant was walking down the road towards the traffic stop, out of view of the dashcam. Then… out of nowhere he goes crazy, pulls the knife, and attacks. It was good that 1. the assailant hesitated (suicide by cop? act of a crazed loon?), 2. the Deputy did see him when he did. You can see how quickly things unfold, how quickly things can go south and the flag can fly. We aren’t supermen… we will fall into “condition white”, we will fail at being situationally aware. We’re human. We can only strive to do our best.
The Deputy moved. It’s better to not get shot (or stabbed) than it is to shoot. As soon as the Deputy registered what was going on (as soon as his OODA loop kicked in on this), he moved. He “got off the X”. While going backwards is not ideal, it’s all he could do with a car on his right and unknown traffic to his left. That was good situational awareness — he knew where he had to go, and went there. Moving bought him time, time enough to draw his gun.
3 yards, 3 seconds, 1 shot. So, lower than the statistical average by 2 shots, but still… there’s your average.
What was this guy’s motive? Who knows… and who cares. Well, in the aftermath we care as the legal system does what it needs to do. But in the moment? Who cares. It doesn’t matter WHY someone is attacking you, just that they are attacking you and you need to get them to stop. Don’t worry about the why… worry about keeping yourself alive and stopping the attack, so you can be around later to ask why.
The Deputy shot “right”. That is, he shot to stop the assailant. No “shoot to kill”. He shot, the attack stopped, that was it.
For those that wish to ban guns or look down on guns for self-defense, I ask you what you would do in this situation. I reckon the attacker had something against police, given the history the videos tell us. But so what? Maybe the attacker will have something against women… or against blacks… or against gays… or against you just because you look funny. Or maybe they’ll have no rational reason at all, which seems possible given this video. So someone gets up close to you, pulls a knife, and lunges at you. What are you going to do? If you think violence is wrong, then you’re dead. If you think fighting back is wrong, then you’re dead. If you think shouting “NO!” is going to make him stop, then you’re dead…. because if I’m close enough to palm strike him in the nose, he’s close enough to stab me. Sometimes violence is the right answer (it took me years to accept that). Sometimes a gun is the right technological solution — it overcomes distance, which is my friend when being attacked by someone with a knife; it gets people to stop doing what they’re doing, which is attacking me.
There’s a lot we can learn from this video. Watch it over and over. Learn what you can.
Stuff From Hsoi 