Month: April 2011

2 Letter Words

/ hsoi

On Sunday afternoon, Family attended a birthday party for a child that’s friends with Youngest. During the party, the males went off to Blazer Tag and the women-folk stayed at the house and did their thing. Apparently that included playing Scrabble.

The men returned from a hearty battle, and I see Wife’s Scrabble tray is full of useless letters. 🙂  There’s the rulebook, and in the rulebook it lists a bunch of 2 letter words.

How in the world is “AA” a word??????

Sure, “am”, “is”, “do”, “it”, “in”, and the like… sure, those are fine. But there were a whole bunch of 2-letter words that I couldn’t believe existed.

A joke started that I should blog about it and see if people knew. But honestly, why blog about it when you could just Google and find the answer. And so, that’s what I did.

Apparently there are 101 two-letter words that are acceptable in Scrabble.

So there you go, El. Google to the rescue, and I blogged about it. 😉

Moneydance – so far, almost good

/ hsoi

Moneydance has been working out as my financial software. I’m still dealing with those interface quirks (hey Moneydance, you hiring?), but you figure them out and soon enough it just fades into the background.

It seems to be doing the job well enough.

Except… exporting.

This is the first year I have to file for my LLC, so since I tracked those expenses in Quicken I just exported a QIF and sent those to my accountant. Funny… QuickBooks doesn’t grok QIF. You’d think Intuit might recognize its own file format, but I guess not.

Let’s see… what can Moneydance export? Oh… QIF. They can also export in their own format as well as a simple tab-delimited, which is better than nothing and thus can go into Excel, but… that feels so flat. Especially when Moneydance can import OFX and OFC files… why can’t it also export those formats? I’m not sure if QuickBooks can import those either. Bottom line: I’d love a file format that my accountant can grok. 🙂

In the end tho, Moneydance’s reports came to the rescue. I created a detailed income & expense report, printed to PDF, and sent that to my accountant. Hardly ideal, but here we are.

Will have more in-depth talks with my accountant later about how we can come up with a better solution. 🙂

Shooting tips from Julie Golob

/ hsoi

A short but great article by Julie Golob on how to shoot a pistol better.

This part stood out to me:

Q: What about your grip?

A: I like to get a high grip on the gun, gripping as strongly as I can with my strong hand, but not so much that my hand shakes. I also cant the wrist of my support hand down so that my thumb is pointing straight down range. I wrap my support hand fingers around my strong hand, with the fingers overlapping. My support hand thumb fits under my strong hand thumb like a puzzle piece. I don’t want any gap between my hands. I squeeze my support hand fingers toward my palm.  Last, I use my chest muscles to compress the palms of my hands together around the back of the grip.

Gripping the gun is a full-body exercise! It will be tiring.

This is the kind of stuff taught out at KR Training. Come on down!

2011-04-14 workout

/ hsoi

Today’s workout was MUCH better than Monday’s. 🙂

First, after Monday’s workout, of course I was VERY sore, which was to be expected. Not just because it was the first workout, but because I found my limit. At this stage it’s more important for me to recover than it is to get back into the gym, so for now I’m opting to go 2x week to maximize rest and recovery, but still tell my body it needs to start adapting and growing. Once I adjust to this, I’ll see about 3x week, and then once that’s good I’ll consider 4x doing a split like upper body one day, lower & abs the next. But that’s a ways off.

Jogged there, and the jog went smoother.

At the gym, the goal was to do the exact same workout as Monday, pushing myself, but not going over the limit. So if I did 3×12 of something, unless it was WAY easy last time still do 3×12 this time. If I could only do 3×8 because I was sore, leave it alone and just do that. I wanted to finish a full workout today and not go past my limit again.

  • Squats
  • Bent-over barbell rows
  • Bench press
  • Seated overhead dumbbell press
  • Standing machine calf raises
  • Barbell bicep curls
  • Rope-handle triceps pushdowns
  • crunches on ab machine

I managed to get through the whole workout this time. Dropped the reps on squats because my quads are still rather sore. Upped the weight on the rows and it was just right; probably will bump up next time. Bench can be bumped up in weight. I dropped the dumbbell presses 5# and was able to squeeze things out much better — that’s what pushed me too far last time, so pulling it back was good. Upped weight on calf raises and I think I’ll keep it there but go 15 reps now; I seem to recall calf work likes more reps. Curls went fine. And the triceps pushdowns… man, I forgot how much using that rope attachment forces you to squeeze at full extension. I like, but my triceps may be sore after that. 🙂  Tried this ab crunch machine because I’ve never used one before but I’m not sure how well it actually will work my abs just due to how the machine’s range of motion forces/limits how you move. I’ll keep trying it a few times before I pass judgement.

Was able to jog some of the way home… legs were a little weary, especially the calves, so it wasn’t a full-on run, but it was much better than the “oh God please help me just get home” feeling I had on Monday. 🙂

Feeling good!

Ball and Dummy for Dummies

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Dave Re wrote an article about the ball & dummy drill. He challenges the notion that it’s a good drill for curing flinch, offering his critique as well as a better drill.

Give it a read. It’s good food for thought.

I still think ball & dummy is useful because, if nothing else, it helps to make a shooter aware of what they are doing. Most of us will never SEE ourselves yanking the trigger and be aware that we’re doing it, until we press the trigger, there’s no bang but there’s one hell of a dipping of the front sight. So if nothing else, to that end, it’s a useful drill towards helping identify and become aware of a problem, which is really the first stage of fixing the problem.

But no question his suggestion of a solution is useful. I think Karl called it “zen shooting” to me. It’s slightly different but the point remains the same: shooting into the berm with no specific target so that all you do is focus on the front sight and watch the front sight as it moves. You learn a lot.

Politicians not keeping their word… whodathunkit?

/ hsoi

It looks like Sen. Eddie Lucio (D-Brownsville) and Sen. Mario Gallegos (D-Houston) like to go back on their word.

I don’t know about you, but people who give their word then go back on it? They lose a lot of standing in my book. Integrity is about all you really have in life, so it’s important to maintain and improve it… not lose it.

From Alice Tripp of the TSRA:

First Senator Lucio and then Senator Gallegos!
Dear JOHN, 

Rumors include the Brady Campaign funneling money into Texas to kill CHL on Campus!

Background:

SB 354by Sen. Jeff Wentworth (R-San Antonio) would allow adult students, faculty, and staff with a concealed handgun license to carry in buildings located on college campuses currently prohibited by Texas law. SB 354 would also stop colleges and universities from creatingadministrative rules which serve to expel a student or terminate an employee for simply having their licensed handgun in their personal vehicle.

You might be interested in knowing that every college and university in the state of Texas has such administrative rules on the books.  That’s what local control buys you: zip, nada, nothing!

Update and Status:

SB 354 became eligible to be debated on the Senate floor last week.  TSRA worked to help Senator Wentworth count the required votes to reach the two-thirds rule.  The Texas House uses a Calendars Committee which prioritizes and sets the House Calendar; the Senate requires 2/3s of the total senators present to agree to bring a bill up for discussion.   There are 31 senators and the required number is 21.   The final vote is an up or down simple majority.

It’s a gentlemen’s agreement.  I’ll hear your bill even though I might ultimately vote against it, and you’ll hear mine.   It also gives power to the minority party and in the case of SB 354, a great deal of power.  Two Senators have taken SB 354 hostage, two with help from their “friends”.

Senator Wentworth had counted his votes and turned in his list to the Lt. Governor and we were good-to-go with 22 votes, counting Senator Wentworth.

Governor Dewhurst recognized Senator Wentworth who made the required motion to suspend the rules and consider SB 354.  A debate followed.

The list of senators agreeing to the two-thirds rule included Senator Lucio (D-Brownsville).  Senator Lucio requested language that would address a primary, secondary, and child-care facility on one of his college campuses.  Over night the language was hammered out and Senator Lucio’s staff believed the correction would address the school’s concerns, would be acceptable to Senator Lucio, and wasn’t harmful to Senator Wentworth’s bill.   Good-to-go…

The next day, last Thursday, as Senator Wentworth laid out and began explaining his bill, Senator Lucio decided that he wanted his college to take the weekend (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) to review this language and insisted Senator Wentworth hold off.

Wentworth was ready and anxious to get on with it.   He would keep the language but did not want to wait three more days.   Lucio removed his name from the list and now we were down to 21 but still Good-to-go.

For quite a while the debate continued among those who opposed the bill.  This included Senator Steve Ogden (R-Bryan).   Ogden insisted that so few students would have a concealed handgun license, how could this number possibly make a college campus more safe.   Senator, this is about personal safety!   Not policing a college campus.

After a couple of hours a group of senators gathered around Senator Mario Gallegos’ desk.  Gallegos was on the two-thirds list.  Senator Gallegos supported a similar bill last session and told me he had no problem supporting it again.    However, with some pressure from the opposition, he too took his name off and now we were at 20 and below the required number.   The wheels came off!

Senators Lucio and Gallegos signed the sheet and pledged to vote for the two-third rule to bring up SB 354.  The pledge sheet was submitted to the Lt. Governor’s desk.     Nothing happened to cause these two senators to go back on their commitment, their  word to Senator Wentworth and to Texans.

Below is the list of contact information for Texas state senators:

Please pay special attention and email and to call Senators Lucio (D-Brownsville), Gallegos (D-Houston), and Ogden (R-Bryan).   It’s not a waste of time, it’s important that everyone hears from you but particularly the “opposition”.     If you have children or grandchildren in a Texas college let the Senate know this information too.

I clipped out the contact information. You can find it on the Texas Senate website.

Here’s an even better part to the story. Local CHL Instructor and rights advocate, Robert Greene, visited with Sen. Lucio’s office about this matter. He asked for their source of the information and was told “this conversation is over and you need to leave.”. According to Robert:

Sen. Lucio wouldn’t vote for SB 354 Campus Carry because of the high school using TAMU Kingsville cafeteria and gym. This is not true. After calling St. Gertrudis Academy, we found they are in their own building and use another K-8 schools building for a cafeteria and gym, which are already exempted under federal law.

Yes, the particular issue is of interest to me, but regardless of the particular issue… if someone gives their word then goes back on it, how can you trust them? How can you be assured they won’t renege on a promise they make to you?

KR Training March-April 2011 newsletter

/ hsoi

The KR Training March/April 2011 newsletter is up.

Lots of classes scheduled through the end of Summer. Sign up now, because they fill up quickly — especially the beginner classes.

 

I forgot to mention…

/ hsoi

At the end of the Defensive Pistol Skills 2 class this past Saturday, I mentioned my notion of “unacceptable hits” to the class.

I really want to spread this notion far and wide because to me it represents a mindset shift. We shrug off a miss as something without much consequence. But we must realize that every shot fired has a consequence, thus we must work to ensure every shot fired brings about our desired consequence — not an unacceptable one.

No, I’m not perfect at it and may never be (such is being human), but with that shift in mindset, I sure think it helps get you there.