Month: November 2010

Thanks, jackass….

/ hsoi

…. way to make the rest of us look bad.

Some jackass decides to play a prank on his friend. He wanted to wake his friend up by shooting him in the chest with his air gun. But instead, the jackass used a .22 rifle and killed his friend. Story here, but here’s the meat of it:

Manchester police told WCAX-TV that the two friends were staying at another friend’s home Thursday. Police say 23-year-old Nicholas Bell of Manchester was hoping to play a prank on his friend and wake him up with an air gun.

But authorities say Bell ended up firing a shot from a loaded [.22] rifle into the chest of 24-year-old Jeffrey Charbonneau of Manchester, and he died.

There’s so much wrong in this, I don’t even know where to begin. Carelessness, rules violations, and the simple irresponsibility of it all.

It also demonstrates that even “wimpy” .22 LR is still enough to kill a person. No it’s not my first choice, but I’m not volunteering to be shot by it either.

Handguns for critter dispatch

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

I’ve long thought about an appropriate handgun for critter dispatch.

On the one hand, there’s the thought of hunting with a handgun. On the other, there’s the thought of wanting a beefier sidearm when out in the backcountry should some 4-legged critter (or even a 2-legged one) decide to become a problem.

First thought is a .44 Magnum revolver. It’s got the history, the proven track record. But it’s also big, bulky, a pain to shoot well (massive recoil, big heavy trigger), and limited to 6 rounds. Still, you could view it as the standard to measure against.

So there’s the big boys like .460 S&W, .500 and so on, but that’s just getting to be too much. Sure the .460 has some appeal since those wheel guns could also shoot .454 Casull and .45 Colt, but is this getting to be too much gun for the purpose? Sure it’s useful for hunting, but toting around for back-country defensive needs?

Then there’s 10mm. This appeals to me because you can get it in a semi-auto handgun, which has advantages of better triggers and more capacity.

But if you’re going to go 10mm, why not consider .460 Rowland? I think foo.c was the one that clued me in to .460 Rowland. You can’t deny the ballistics data, that it beats the .44 Mag. Of course, it needs a compensator to help make it more shootable, but that’s not too big deal. I mean, if I was being run down by a mountain lion or something of that sort, being able to peel off multiple shots rapidly is a big plus and part of what I’m looking for. And you get this out of a 1911-style gun. There are even conversion kits for Springfield XD’s and Smith & Wesson M&P’s. The cool thing there is the increased capacity, that you can carry in familiar holsters, and the overall cost for the gun and the kit is reasonable — cheaper than a lot of those .44 Mag revolvers.

When I mull it all over in my head, .460 Rowland seems like the best all around consideration.

I’m just talking aloud right now… I don’t have the funds to make such a purchase, but I do think about this from time to time. While my 9mm is better than nothing and certainly fills the bill for 2-legged predators, some ugly 200# hog will just be tickled… having a little more power would be welcome.

on a dog

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

I don’t know why you were given to me.

But here you are, part of my life from now until the end.

You have your issues, but don’t we all?

We have to work. We have to adjust.

We have to sacrifice.

I sometimes wonder if it’s worth it. But you look at me and I melt. Yes, it’s worth every moment.

We are learning. You don’t speak our language; nor do we speak yours. We are learning, and I can only hope you are patient and forgiving of us as we learn. It’s our job to understand you.

All you want is to protect us. That’s why we have you. We need you to gain perspective. We need you to understand the UPS Man is cool. Our friends? Allow them into the house and protect them like us. But otherwise, your instincts should remain true.

You are work. You are sacrifice. But you are awesome.

Thankful

/ hsoi

Today in the United States of America is Thanksgiving Day. A national day of giving thanks.

But what does that mean?

It means that you should take a moment to reflect upon what you are thankful for.

But the way I see it? You shouldn’t just perform this reflection on some establish day of the year — you should perform this every day.

You shouldn’t tell your mother you love her on Mother’s Day. You shouldn’t show Dad how much you love him just on Father’s Day. You shouldn’t just limit expressions of love to your Wife on Valentine’s Day.

Expressions of love, thankfulness and gratefulness should happen every day.

So sure, use today as a starting point. Tomorrow? Do it again. Saturday? Do it again. Sunday? again. Every day of your life you should count your blessings, let those important to you know how important they are. Be thankful every day. Take no day for granted.

Amen to that

/ hsoi

That’s right.

If scanning and groping is good for the rest of us, it ought to be good enough for the ChOsen One.

Come on, Barry. Let Sasha and Malia get felt up by TSA agents. Let Michelle get groped by the TSA. Prove to the rest of the world that it’s acceptable. Make a media event out of it.

But folks, don’t hold your breath. The Big O didn’t get his kids vaccinated against swine flu while he told us plebeians that we must do so. Don’t expect him to subject his family to the same indignity. You know… what’s good for the goose, well fuck you peons.

13 tips for childlike behavior

/ hsoi

Posted to Facebook by a friend of mine, an article about 13 communication and life tips that children teach us.

While the article is geared towards business and presentation, the 13 tips about child-like behavior are quite applicable to life in general.

  1. Be completely present in the moment.
  2. Allow for spontaneity.
  3. Move your body!
  4. Play and be playful.
  5. Make mistakes.
  6. Do not concern yourself with impressing people.
  7. Show your enthusiasm.
  8. Remain open to possibilities and “crazy” ideas.
  9. Be insanely curious, ask loads of questions.
  10. Know that you are a creative being.
  11. Smile, laugh, enjoy.
  12. Slow down.
  13. Encourage others.

You should read the whole article; it’s worth it.

As we grow older we tend to also grow up and take life too seriously. While yes there are moments when seriousness is called for, we must have balance and take time not be serious.

I remember when Oldest was an infant and first became mobile; how we had to child-proof the house. One thing that helped? Literally viewing the world through his eyes. I got down on the ground and put my eyeballs at the same level as his and looked at the world. I’m 6’3″ tall, so putting my eyes 2′ off the ground greatly changes your perspective on the world, literally and figuratively. Truly viewing the world through the eyes of a child does open your mind.

TSA Foreplay

/ hsoi

You know… all this TSA b.s. going on… we need to find the positive in all this negative.

It’s the new foreplay.

“Hey baby… tonight I’ll play the nervous passenger and you play the TSA agent!”

“Excuse me sir, but that’s quite a large package you’re smuggling. I think I’m going to have to take you aside for an enhanced patdown!”

🙂

OMG WTF?

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

Vince Neil — famous for being the lead singer of notorious rock band Mötley Crüe — on ice skates?

and not just ice skates, but a reality show for ice skating.

How (not) metal.

But apparently, Vince skated a lot as a kid. Story here. I guess it surprises me because Vince would have to realize all that white stuff on the rink was ice shavings and not cocaine. 😉

In all fairness, Vince skated pretty well. It’s evident he knows how to get around on skates, from skating backwards, to partner moves and so on. So really, it’s not bad. The routine was certainly playing to Vince’s rocker status, but it wasn’t any sort of impressive skating routine… it was just kinda flat and obvious they made a routine that worked with Vince’s skill level and worked to hide what he couldn’t do. But hey… you could tell Vince wasn’t drunk because he had his balance. 😉

I figure the guy’s gotten to a point in his life where it doesn’t matter any more. Just have fun, make some money, keep your name and face out in front of people. And he actually looked like he was having fun out there, so hey… all that matters.

The pork has been smoked

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

This morning I took care of the hog I shot a few days ago. Drained the ice water, brought the quarters inside, trimmed and cleaned things up. Since I’m taking the week off work, it was a perfect day to put something on the smoker for numerous hours. So I did.

I took both shoulders, cleaned them up, and put some Special Shit rub on them. Got the smoker going, initially with briquets but then went all oak wood once things got started. Temperature range was 250º to 350º… a bit of a wider swing that I wanted, but I’m still learning this smoker. It was mostly on the lower end of things, but the occasional 300º+ spikes. As soon as the smoker temperature stabilized, put the foil-wrapped shoulders on the grate. I opened the foil a bit for the first hour to ensure a good initial smoke. After the first hour I then mopped both shoulders with some apple cider vinegar and onion (each shoulder got half a yellow onion, sliced and broken apart). Sealed the foil up mostly tight… I want smoke to get in there, but retain as much moisture as I can. After a couple of hours I see one shoulder has less moisture than is desirable, so I baste both shoulders in half a bottle of Samuel Adams Boston Lager. Reseal the foil. After about 6 hours it’s evident the pork is done. I pull it off the smoker, leave it sealed until it cools enough to be handled by bare hands. Pull the meat off the bones, and all is good.

I even fixed a small plate for Sasha.

I think she was unsure of the rub spices, so I took the meat and ran some water over it to wash off the spices. She seemed to like it better. 🙂

If I do anything different next time, it’d be ensuring more moisture retention. One shoulder was great, the other wasn’t… there was a foil puncture due to the bone and while I tried to seal things up I think it wasn’t good enough (and I was out of foil). Still, that shoulder turned out fine, and it shows the key to the long smoke of lean meats is moisture retention.

Anyways, everyone seems pleased with how the pork turned out. So I guess it’s time for a beer and some pork tacos. 🙂