Month: April 2011

You got a screw loose?

/ hsoi

For all you people who put your life in the hands of some sort of equipment… when was the last time you really checked it to ensure it was in working order? I mean, if you’re trusting your life to it, shouldn’t it be solid and ready to go?

For instance, if you carry a gun for personal defense well… maybe you check the gun out, certainly that’d be the first thing to concern yourself with. But what about your other equipment? How about your holster? Is it still sturdy? any screws or snaps still holding firm and solid? Is your flashlight still with a strong beam? do you have spare batteries on hand? Knife blade sharp? Everything free of lint and dust? Oiled up? Ready to go?

It’s important to check this stuff from time to time.

What spurred this for me was the other day when I was helping with a Basic Pistol 1 class I was letting students shoot my S&W 442 snub revolver. One student worked the cylinder latch and I noticed it didn’t act right but class was moving along so I just put it down and didn’t bother with it. When I got home and took the gun out, the latch wasn’t there! The little screw that held the latch in had fallen out. Nothing was lost, easily recovered, easily fixed. But still… somehow the screw worked loose.

Check your gear. All of your gear. Make sure it’s in working order.

What the hell is wrong with some people?

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

I just read this. Yes, it’s a few years old…. but it doesn’t matter.

It’s heartbreaking. It’s terrible. It’s about a wolf named Kurt, and how he was tortured.

What the hell is wrong with some people?

 

Back from the gym

/ hsoi

I’m back from the first visit to the gym.

Remember, I’ve always worked out at home or did martial arts or other things. I’ve used weight-lifting-oriented gyms before, but maybe it was at school, university, one place I worked at long ago had a fantastic gym… but never a “paid” gym like this. So it was novel to try. The owner did tell me some times when things tend to be dead, so that makes a perfect time for me to go. Worked well this morning: only one other person there working out.

I started out by doing a light warm-up at the house: getting all the joints rotated, some dynamic stretching, and then off I jogged to the place. Would jog for a while, then maybe walk a block, then jog more. The goal was to be a starting working, not pushing myself too hard because I just don’t know where I lie. I’d rather underdo it than overdo it.

When I got there, the workout was pretty simple. I wanted to see where I lay, where things were. Start out with a weight that I figured would be a lot lighter than I could handle, work to have 3 sets of 8-12 reps. And just assess from there.

  • Squats
  • Bent-over barbell rows
  • Bench press
  • Seated overhead dumbbell press
  • Standing machine calf raises
  • Barbell bicep curls

and that’s all I did. I wanted to do some triceps isolation work and then some crunches, but… the overhead dumbbell presses was a little too much for me. That pushed me a little harder than my body was ready to accept at this time. When I went to the bicep curls I noticed after the first set that my head was feeling a little different… and then after the second it confirmed it. That was enough. I didn’t go into this workout wanting to push myself to the limit, but I ended up doing so. But it’s good because well… I didn’t know where the line was at this point in my life, so it was good to find it.

I didn’t jog home… just walked it. And sucked down my entire water bottle. 🙂

So, certainly not some ideal workout, but for the first day back into this? It was satisfactory. I found some limits. I did a rough recording of data in my iPhone, and when I got back for the next workout I’m going to try to do exactly the same workout, tho hopefully I’ll get to add the triceps and ab work. We’ll see. The weights, the reps, and so on… yeah, some stuff I could certainly up the weight on and lower the reps, but right now this is about getting myself back into the groove. Stick with exactly what I did, let my body adjust, and then once I feel good there I’ll start to adjust things around. I figure I may only go 2x week for now to allow my body the recovery time, but eventually 3x week doing this sort of “whole body” workout I think will be more than ample. From leaving the house to returning took just a little over an hour, and that’s great. I’m sure once I’m more fit and into it I’ll be able to improve the time by a bit (e.g. jog home instead of walk).

All in all, I’m happy! Plus there’s an unexpected motivation now to watch my diet. Whenever I’ve lifted weights in the past it was always towards a bodybuilding mindset; not fitness, “toning”, strength, power lifting, etc.. Diet is a big part of that, and well…. let’s just see how that flows for me too. 🙂

Oh, and on the “gear” front. I pulled out a fanny pack that has both a holster and places to carry stuff. I had to switch to my XD-9 subcompact, but that, wallet, keys, iPhone, and then a small towel just threaded through the strap and hanging… all that I need. Worked out fine! I’m happy the solution is there and that I don’t have to spend any more money on stuff.

And now… more water. I want to minimize the soreness I’m going to feel tomorrow and the next day. 😉

Some lessons from the gun range

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

This past Saturday I was out at KR Training assisting with Basic Pistol 1 and Defensive Pistol Skills 2 classes. Overall it was a good day. I do think students were challenged and they all took home something to work and grow on. That’s good, it’s what school is all about.

I’ll just hit a few take-home points that are good for everyone, even you folks that didn’t take the classes.

  • Slow down. Yes, speed is important and this is stressed heavily in DPS2. However, throwing lead really fast downrange and hitting nothing of merit… that’s meaningless, that’s useless, and it could get you killed. If it takes you half a second more to get the sights aligned and press off a solid shot that goes exactly where you wanted it to? Then take that extra half second and do so. You will spend more time realizing your mistake and correcting it than it would have taken to just correct things the first time around. Meantime… there’s still someone shooting at you and you’ve been ineffective in stopping them. Shoot only as fast as YOU can shoot and make good hits.
  • When shooting a timed drill that you’re struggling to get 100% on, try shooting the drill with no time. Take all the time in the world and shoot the drill accurately and correctly. Clean it, and repeat it. Just shoot it without time pressures. If you can consistently clean the drill without time pressure, then you know you’ve got the skills needed to shoot the drill (if you can’t clean the drill, there’s likely another fundamental skill you need to work on first). Once you can clean the drill with no time pressure, shoot it again with a stopwatch. See how long it took you to shoot the drill at that “slow” speed. Original par time might be 3 seconds but it takes you 8. Fine. Now you know how long it takes you to do it cleanly. Now set a timer for your own par time and see if you can shoot it. You should be able to because you’ve already demonstrated you can, but the knowledge you’re shooting with a timer puts some different psychological stress on you. If you know that’s doing fine, now start to pare down the par time. Try 7.5 seconds and see how you do. Try 7.0, and so on. Make sure your technique and form doesn’t get sloppy. You do have to push yourself, but you need to be correct first, fast second.
  • Ball & Dummy drill is your friend.
  • When shooting one-handed, keep your other hand up on your chest.
  • It’s not a race to get the gun back in the holster. Reholster with the same amount of discipline as you draw; or perhaps, reholster with more discipline… but never less.

Karl had been working on a new skills assessment test for the end of class. There was some refinement of the test prior to class, but it turned out well and a good measure and challenge of things for the (DPS2) students. So yes guys… get ready for DPS3 in August. It’ll be tougher. 🙂

And finally…

It was a nice day. A little warm, a little humid, but we haven’t had rain in ages and things are dry and dusty. Then when you have 20-30 MPH winds all day long with dust blowing everywhere? Well…..

That’s my calf. No, that’s not a tan, that’s not a sunburn. The darker “skin”? That’s dust that built up over the course of the day. The picture doesn’t even do it justice as to how much was blowing around and collected everywhere. I have to clean out all my gear because there’s grit in everything. 🙂

Oh, and got to help Hogel sight in an EOTech on his Remington 870 shotgun. Ah… nothing like the feel of slug recoil. 🙂

A good day.

Neighborhood nuisances, discrimination

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

Right this moment I can hear a cat outside my house, moaning. It won’t shut up.

You know what else I hear a lot of outside? All the  mallard ducks quacking up a storm.

Now personally these don’t bother me too much. I’m used to the noises and accept them as a part of the neighborhood.

I suspect there’s been yet another muscovy duck roundup because I see barely any in the neighborhood now. 😦  Either that or some larger critter is prowling the neighborhood at night and eating them (which could be, but unlikely given the pattern).

I was speaking with a neighbor about this yesterday. It’s odd to us that people complain about the muscovy’s. They don’t really make noise. Sure they poop, but the mallards do too, as well as the cats that wander around, people’s dog’s, and all the other wild birds and critters that roam about. So why are the muscovy’s targeted? Well, probably because US Fish & Wildlife Service allows them to be rounded up *sigh* but everything else gets some sort of protected status; thus, muscovy’s are easy targets (due to the USFWS’s misguided regulations). As well, I know from talking to some people that they don’t like what muscovy’s look or act like because it doesn’t fit the stereotype of a duck, like a mallard does. At first we didn’t like them either, because at first glance the caruncles on their faces can be off-putting, but once you start to really look at them you can see how gorgeous these birds can be (plus they have some pretty cool personalities).

But meantime, there’s more disturbance and trouble from what’s protected than from what is not.

Isn’t discrimination wonderful?

Random thoughts on the gym…

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

Note… I haven’t yet gone to the gym. But I’ve been trying to think about how to manage a few things.

How am I going to carry? If I jog there and back well… I do have a SmartCarry. How well will that work out? How about a fanny pack? Will I be able to — or would I want to — carry while working out? Could it be an argument for getting something like a small Kahr like the MK-9 or the almost half-pound lighter PM-9? Again, if I’m moving around, jogging, etc. then heavier things are more apt to flap about unless I found the right holster for it that held it very tight and secure.

My iPhone. Am I going to want to listen to music? I’ll need some way to hold the phone. I’ve seen some of those armband things but I’d rather have it around my waist so I could put the earbud cord down my shirt so it’s out of the way. Hrm. Possible argument for the fanny pack? Yeah I might look stupid, but who cares. As long as it doesn’t break or pop off…. but then, if I start lifting heavier weight and need to wear a belt. Hrm.

I have thought about buying a small bag, something I could strap onto my back. It would allow me to jog to/from the gym and hold just some basics like a towel, water bottle, wallet, keys, etc.. Might be able to find something that can hold a gun. Then just as I move from station to station, just keep it with me on the floor.

I’ve been thinking about how to structure a workout. I found this article on “Gaining Muscle after 40“. I’m not over 40, but close. I still need to heed those things, like recovery and not pushing myself too hard. *sigh* My 18-year-old brain doesn’t want to do that. 🙂  Still, that was a good article and has been in line with the approach I’ve been thinking about for myself. I’ll probably do “whole body” workouts, mostly compound movements. Start with a light warmup set, then do 3 sets of 8-12 reps of everything… tho I do like this guy’s approach of only doing 2 sets of arm isolation stuff at the end, since the arms will get a lot of work during the other movements. This’ll be good to get me started.

I’m excited. I actually have been going to bed thinking about going to the gym the next morning. I haven’t done it because I can’t afford the soreness just yet. 🙂  But in a couple days I’ll be there!

New finance software – part quattro

/ hsoi

I’m working on making the full-on switch to Moneydance.

I have my old data imported over, categories adjusted, scheduled transactions entered, and I *think* everything has pretty much been moved over. We’ll see how it shakes out over the next few weeks as bills come in and payments go out.

The Java-interface is driving me nuts. There are so many things it just doesn’t do right. Have a “sub-window” open (e.g. Reminders window) and a cmd-W should close THAT window, but no, it acts like it wants to close the main window. Argh. Plus I hate that the application quits when you close the last window. I’m tempted to start an email draft that contains every bug and quirk and ugliness as I run into it, let that email be edited and added to over the course of time and send it in after a few weeks of dealing with the quirks.

I did have one problem I’m not sure about that forced me to start over. In Quicken I could do any online account work with one of my investment companies, but I could in Moneydance. So in Quicken I tracked every buy, dividend, etc. manually — just log into the company’s website and manually keep things in sync. When I had Moneydance hook up online to the company, things ended up being off by like 1.something shares. I did notice there were some slight rounding differences between the data the company website displayed vs. what Moneydance had, but the thing was… MD’s data came from the investment firm! So maybe they have different rounding rules? I tried my best to manually reconcile things, like instead of having “8.1256” shares purchased I changed it to “8.126” or whatever the firm’s website said I had. Totaling up the number of shares in MD’s register matched the firm’s number, but not MD’s own total… maybe it calculates things differently? based on something like money invested vs. price? I don’t know. But it was off by enough that I couldn’t deal with it and wasn’t sure how to “undo the damage”. So I just started all over again reporting my QIF and starting from scratch. I just won’t be able to track that account online I guess. I may try looking into it more in the future, but I don’t have the time right now.

I spent some time playing around with MD’s reporting capabilities. I do like what it can do. You still have to deal with the quirky interface, but once you figure things out it’s pretty cool. I don’t think I’ll miss Quicken.

Mystery rocker found!

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Behold the power of the Internet!

The Mystery Rocker has been found!

See their Facebook page.

In a way, you wish it could have gone on longer and gotten bigger. But the bottom line is the guy was found, and that’s pretty cool. 🙂

Updated: and shortly after they found him and gave the update, they disabled and deleted everything. I have to respect that, because all they wanted to do was find the guy, not turn him into a meme (tho I’m sure he’ll be a minor one); nor viral marketing or anything like that. Just the power of the Internet. 🙂

Can I stick with it?

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

If you know me, you know I’m into martial arts. Unfortunately, I’ve been out of martial arts for some time now. The problem is one of schedule. I had to stop studying with Ray Parra because his class times and my schedule just weren’t working out. I’ve been dying to start studying with Leslie Buck, and while the schedule Leslie now offers is a lot more conducive, he’s almost on the other side of town from me and so couple the drive time in and I could be looking at circa three hours per class. With my day job, my own company, some other side work, Wife, Kiddos, and numerous other things, every minute matters these days and I just can’t afford that time for Leslie. 😦

Unfortunately the lack of exercise is really catching up with me. Sure I was trying to lose weight, and that “up day down day” stuff was working quite well! But then some months ago I got a new job assignment at the day job, it’s been a lot of stress, I’ve eaten more and dropped off the wagon as a reaction to that stress… plus just the lack of physical activity is sad because well… I find myself getting a lot more winded at the simplest of things. That’s lame! 😦

I’m not sure why this is this way about me, but I’m coming to realize in some activities I do better when there are external forces in play. For instance, sure I could work on martial arts skills at home, but it’s a vacuum. I need an instructor to watch me, to correct me, to teach me things because that’s so much of what it’s about. Or at least, after a while you want a partner to work with, to spar with, to throw around, because fighting “air man” or the heavy bag all day long isn’t the same.

Oddly, a few weeks ago I started thinking about lifting weights again. I did that a lot in high school, and on and off throughout my adult life. But most of that was always done me, by myself, at home somehow. But in recent years if I thought about it I always said no I couldn’t do it because it cost money. I said if I could work out at home, have the discipline to do it at home, and then do things like push-ups, squats and lunges, etc. and show I could stick with that? Then I could see about spending money on it.

Trouble is?

I hate push ups. 🙂  Bodyweight exercises I think are very cool, and stuff like Beast Skills are VERY cool.

But get this. There’s a little mom&pop-style gym that opened up near my house. On a whim I stopped in there to check it out. I figured being in its location and the store-front looking small, it’d be unimpressive, it’d be something like a “Curves” with just machines. But actually, I was quite impressed. Full suite of things, yes there are machines but most of those then use free plates. Lots of free-standing benches, full rack of dumbbells. I was actually pretty impressed with the depth and breadth of the offering housewives could have their “toning” workouts, but a serious athlete or bodybuilder could do just fine there too. Plus the terms were very reasonable: no contract, no bullshit, no nothing. Just a simple monthly fee and you can stop any time by just sending a registered letter. I like that. The owner looks to be in his 30’s, very nice, seems to want to run a no-bs sort of place. I dug it.

I signed up.

I need some sort of physical exercise. For whatever reason, working at home doesn’t do it for me. I’ve never been a member of a gym like this, so this will be new for me, but I’m hoping the motivation of the monthly fee and having equipment access like I will motivate me. Plus the time sink is minimal. It’s very close to the house, close enough I could walk/jog to the place. Jog there, quick workout, jog home… could make for a good workout.

Of course, I need to start WAY slow. I haven’t dedicatedly lifted in a long time so I have no idea where my weight maxes are. I’m also somewhat out of shape so I need to slowly ease my body back into things… my doctor keeps reminding me I’m not 18 any more. I’m thinking my first few workouts might be very light, really underestimate the weights, and might be full-body compounds. For instance, jog there as a warm up, get in, 3×10 squats, 3×10 bench press, 3×10 rows, some crunches, then jog home. Uber light, uber simple, compound-only exercises, I have to ease myself back into it. If I can hit the gym 3x-week and do that for at least a week, then I can start to add a few more things in but still keep it a basic “whole body” workout until things are feeling a bit more up to it. And then after another week or two of that, depending how the body is adjusting, go on a split such as upper body minus abs one day and lower body plus abs the other day and try that perhaps 4x week.

We’ll see how it goes. I may stick with it, I may not. One fear is that lifting won’t be mentally stimulating enough for me, because that’s been one reason I haven’t stuck with it in my adult years. It’s one reason I like martial arts because it provided both physical and mental stimulation. But just being physical? will that be motivation enough for me? But on the flip side, my life’s been so mentally overstimulating lately that maybe something like this, where it’s just me and the iron — no wife, no kids, no work, no business, no stress — might actually be just what I need. Again, we’ll see. It’s just part of life’s journey. 🙂

I will say this tho… I won’t be starting until next week. First, I need to figure out a daily/weekly schedule and routine. Second tho… I’ll be helping out at KR Training in 2 days and if I worked out today, in 2 days I would be sooooo sore. 🙂