Month: March 2013

Found More Canes

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

I’m a fan of canes, because they can be a useful self-defense tool in addition to being a walking aid. And let’s be honest… while we would like to always carry a gun, we can’t. Gotta get on an airplane? Carrying a gun isn’t going to happen. There’s just times when you have to look for alternative solutions. I think a cane is pretty tough to beat.

It probably stems from my martial arts study years ago in Kuk Sool and Hapkido. From day one, the cane was the weapon that appealed to me most because it was most practical. A sword isn’t going to cut it (pun intended) these days. A short stick (dan bong) actually can be pretty useful and have wide application, but it’s short: it’s a close-in weapon. A cane is about 3′ long, and useful at a slight distance and at helping to maintain some space. There are other weapons, but in many regards aren’t feasible or practical. Cane works, and will always be available and with us.

In my quest for a good cane, I finally found one a few years ago. While good, it wasn’t exactly what I wanted. But certainly it got me through. Nevertheless, my eyes were always open for another cane.

A couple months ago one came along.

When we were headed out for a family day, we stopped into the Bastrop Buc-ee’s. Wandering around the store, saw a container of canes and dug through them. Found this one.

There was no identifying tag on it, so I cannot say for certain the make/model/manufacturer, but I can say it looks a LOT like the Twisted Oak Walking Cane from Brazos Walking Sticks. I couldn’t be surprised if that was the case, given how it was being sold. It was a similar setup to my first cane, and given all I discovered when I looked up my first cane well… it seems to be in line there.

What I liked about this was the almost straight shaft. The twist? Looks neat, and adds some hurt. I also liked how the crook was a bit more open in the neck area, and yes this hooks around limbs and necks much more easily. The fact the end/butt doesn’t extend too far either also is welcome for ease of hooking and releasing. Oak, so it’s strong. Really, I’m thrilled with this. It’s not perfect, but it’s good.

A few weeks ago we went to the Sherwood Forest Faire. Wife and Kiddos sat down to get ready for a show to start, and I looked behind me and saw a vendor selling canes, walking sticks, and other such things. Turns out they are Lady Mac’s Horns, Canes, and Staffs. Alas, I cannot find any sort of website for them, but if you search you’ll find them referenced on other “Ren Faire” websites and forums. I saw some gorgeous work there, including one cane with a thick and beautifully crafted mesquite shaft topped with an elk antler “handle”; if I needed a full-time cane for walking, I would have bought it in an instant. I actually saw only one crook-neck cane, and I couldn’t resist trying it out…. and yes, buying it:

This cane is made of hickory, and I loved the “unfinished” look with the bark still on. The shaft is as straight as it can be, given it’s attempting to look more natural. Really, it’s pretty straight but yet has just enough “kink and bend” to be interesting. It’s also slightly thicker than the other two canes… and that’s why I think I like it more.

See, there’s something about the shaping of the handle, where your palm actually rests. I tried to capture a picture of it but couldn’t get one that did it justice. They have to shave the wood down some to make the bend, but here they didn’t shave too much. Plus they shaped the top of the handle to be round but just a hair flatter… it’s slightly more oblique than circular. All that shaping, combined with the slightly thicker wood? It feels just awesome in the hand, and is very comfortable to walk with. Makes sense, because now you are spreading weight over a greater area.

The crook is a little tighter, but still hooks around necks. In some regard it’s a difference between a “practice cane” and a “street cane”, if you will. That is, with a practice cane you want to be polite to your partner, so a larger, more open crook is desired. With a “street cane”, you aren’t as concerned with politeness to your attacker. If I had to classify, I’d say the twisted oak cane above is more “practice” and this hickory is more “street”. Regardless, it’s certainly more comfortable to walk with.

Here’s a close-up of the three cane neck/crook areas:

L-R: #3, Lady Mac; #2 twisted oak; #1 first cane

This picture should give you a better idea. You can see with cane #2 that it’s rather open at the neck as well as very straight of shaft. #3 is a little tighter in terms of the hook and length. #1 is even longer.. and if you can see, there’s a little “hump” at the top of the crook and the wood is very thin — it’s no where near as comfortable to walk with as #3.

Anyways, #3 is my current go-to. But since I’m building a little collection, I need to find a way to store them all. Thinking about ideas, because I suspect more canes will be in my future.

AAR – KR Training 2013-03-09 – DPS2/AT-2/AT1-A

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Ah, the “big weekend”. KR Training can only do this twice a year due to the logistics of daylight, and it’s always a long but satisfying day.

We ran Defensive Pistol Skills 2, AT-2: Force-on-Force scenarios, and AT-1A Low Light Shooting. Had lots of severe rain threats, and while it was windy and cloudy all day, the rain didn’t happen. How typical. 🙂

I’m pleased to see more women seeking advanced training, with about 1/4 to 1/3 of the students in each class (depending upon class) being women. Ladies, do not fear force-on-force – it’s where you’ll get some of your best knowledge and training. It was cool to see Mr. & Mrs. Groundhog again, a few other familiar faces and friends, and also meet some new folks too!

All in all, the classes ran as these classes tend to run, so I will  address some specifics for the folks in those classes.

Move Fast(er)

Y’all need to move faster. The intent of these classes and these skills is to keep you alive in a life-threatening situation. If you were one of the people that stayed all day long, remember how quickly everything unfolded in the AT-2 scenarios? Once it was time to move, it was over in seconds. If it’s time to start shooting, you do NOT have time to waste. You need to move (off the X) quickly. You need to get your gun out fast. But then yes, slow down just a bit so you can ensure acceptable hits.

Watching y’all shoot throughout class, I know you have the skills to shoot really well — I saw it all morning long. When it came time to shoot the “3 Seconds or Less” drill, there were too many shots coming in more than 3 seconds. So y’all are close, and now you know what to work on. Yes, you still have to remain accurate enough (use a 6″ paper plate as a target, and hits on that plate are acceptable), you just need to move faster.

There’s a few specifics here:

Get out of the holster

Get a shot timer. If you have a smartphone, there are apps out there for this, so grab one.

Set the timer to go off at a random time (e.g. somewhere between 2 and 5 seconds after you press the “start” button). When the buzzer goes off, MOVE immediately and quickly to draw and present (i.e. all 4 steps of the draw). Don’t be sloppy, don’t throw the gun out there, be sure to acquire a good (enough) sight picture. You want to do it right. Start out doing it right, even if it’s slow, and work to bring up the speed.

Use the timer app and set a par time; that’s where there’s a second beep. The drill we ran had a par time of 3 seconds, so you can start there. On the start beep, draw and present, and get it done before the second beep goes off. If you cannot get it done in time, bump the time up and find out how long it takes you. If you can get it done, drop it down and find where you cannot do it any more. The point is, never rush it, always do it right. You are trying to find out how long it takes you to react, draw, and present — it’s just not easy to have something stop the timer (e.g. no “shots” to pick up, and it’s not good enough to have a second person watch and hit the stop button because their reaction time factors in). Once you know how long it takes you, work at that pace for a little while. Then drop it down a tenth of a second, and keep going. You must push yourself to go faster, and you may surprise yourself that you can go faster than you thought you could. Keep working from there. As Karl mentioned, a 1.5 second draw from concealment is great.

Another thing to help on time? slowing down to go fast. Click/tap, read.

Get rid of your crappy holster

Gear matters. You need good holsters, good magazine pouches, good belt, good gear helps. Bad gear hinders.

When in doubt, try Comp-Tac. They aren’t the only game in town, but if you’re not sure what else to try, try them, especially since they have a wide variety and fairly quick turnaround time.

Play the “what-if” game

For those that ran scenarios, be sure to play the “what-if” game. Start to create your rolodex of situations and responses, and remember that everything isn’t a nail.

Remember, maximize enjoyment of beer and tv.

Get rid of your crappy flashlight

You never cared or thought much about flashlights, until now. 🙂

Surefire, Streamlight, Fenix. There are others, but these will give you a good place to start. My current EDC is a Surefire E2D.

Anyways, a long but good day. We’ve all got some homework to do (including myself). Thank you all for coming out and spending your day with us. Hope we served you well, and we look forward to serving you again in the future.

Back to the gym — almost

/ hsoi

I should have gone back to the gym this morning, but I didn’t.

Stupid daylight savings.

I’ll try again tomorrow.

I have decided to go back to 3x week, and I’m going to keep with a true BBB template and see how it goes for me. If I want to change up to something else, I’ll let things evolve back to that.

 

lifting change-up?

/ hsoi

So this past week wasn’t just a deload week, it was a “do nothing” week.

If I did anything, it was keeping mind of my posture, and stretching, especially in the  neck/shoulder region.

I don’t feel great about taking a whole week away, but my body is physically happier.

I did step back and looked at some things.

Going 4x week I think is really good — if you can handle it. I think my body could take 4x week and make really good gains. I think the timing of when you lift against the recovery and “super-compensation” cycle is perfect here. However, if you are going to do this, you need to be fully dedicated to the process. This means eating a lot, and sleeping a lot. Recovery and all the other support structures really need to be in place. Given my schedule and life, I can’t always get the rest needed. No, not good and speaks to greater life issues to remedy. But for now it is how it is. So, I think I’ll be falling back to 3x and seeing how things go. And really, I think I’m more curious if 4x vs 3x, if it was putting a larger physical strain and demand upon my body and thus contributing to some stress and pressure in life. In part, just the schedule impacts, but more so the energy and recovery demands — if lifting drains me then leaves me with less to deal with the rest of my day, that’s no good. If 3x allows me greater balance in life, great.

Now, when I went to 4x I also simplified back to a true BBB template. I think that made sense given the frequency. But now if I’m going 3x… do I ramp it back up? Or do I keep it the same? I don’t know. I’m a little torn because I also want the assistance parts of my gym sessions to burn some energy. I’m decently in the Carb Back-Loading groove, tho I think that probably needs a re-read of the book and reexamination of my routine. But I’d like more effort towards burning things off.

What I keep gravitating back to is “5/3/1 bodybuilding“. Even Jim admits that deep down inside that’s what we all are — bodybuilders. I don’t want to abandon strength building (that’s still primary goal), but I think some more dedicated mass building is in order. I read about the Cube Method, and that has some dedication to mass building. I have been watching too many CT Fletcher videos. And I can’t help but expect that the increased workload would lend better to CBL. But then, it’s a LOT more work, and will it be too much to recover from, given what I wrote above?

I don’t know.

So I’m presently sitting between 3x BBB template, or 3x bodybuilding template.

Still thinking it through.

Unintended Consequences

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

Austin just put a plastic bag ban in place.

Seattle has a bag ban. Some laud the “positive environmental impact”. Others lament the high increase in shoplifting and the massive losses it’s causing.

I’ve spoken with numerous people in Austin, and many are going to stop shopping in Austin, instead shopping in surrounding communities. The City of Austin adds a 2% sales tax on top of the state’s sales tax. It might be interesting to see what sales tax revenue looks like in a few months.

Tourism revenue will be interesting to watch as well.

SXSW starts now, the first major event to happen post-ban. I’ll be curious what those visitors to the city think. Oh sure, they are likely a demographic that will applaud such a move… but then mutter or complain under their breath, lest they look “unhip” to everyone.

I understand the good intentions behind this latest brick in the road, but like most “bans”, they never really achieve the goals the originators expect but instead tend to have a lot of unintended and undesirable side-effects.

I think you have it backwards

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

Tom Diaz at the Washington Post asks:

Why are the First, Fourth and Fifth amendments subject to erosion in the name of homeland security, but the Second Amendment is beyond compromise in the name of saving innocent lives?

and then he spends 2 pages railing about the need for gun control to save the lives of “won’t-someone-think-of-the-children”.

I’ll agree with him on one thing:

Our perception of the relative dangers of terrorism and gun violence is distorted. We don’t know it, and our leaders don’t bother to tell us.

And he’s right. Our perception of the relative dangers is vastly distorted, because when you have non-stop media coverage about a single event, it impresses strongly on your mind. But when you step back and look at the numbers, you find there haven’t been all that many people killed in mass shootings. Statistically speaking, more children die from accidental drownings and car accidents — but there’s no media outrage, no 24/7 coverage, and so yes perception is distorted.

So Mr. Diaz, are you saying “the media” is ‘our leader’? Because the mass media isn’t bothering to tell us either. They are taking no responsibility for providing a clear, logical, rational, and sound picture. Do they have to be so responsible? No, but then if you want such a proper picture, turn off the TV (and perhaps write for another newspaper).

I really think you mean ‘our leaders’ are our politicians.

They are not “our leaders”. They are our servants, only they forget it, never learned it, or because people keep referring to them as “our leaders” instead of the proper label of “our servants” they keep believing they are in charge of us and are supposed to tell us what to do and we’re supposed to blindly follow them.

Are they supposed to present us with a clear and proper picture? I’d say they have a greater responsibility to do so, and it seems Mr. Diaz thinks so as well. But I am constantly amazed at people that shocked at the corruption of politicians, then turn to the same corrupt politicians expecting them to help and have their best interests at heart.

What bothers me more, however, is I think Mr. Diaz has it backwards.

He is right that there’s something wrong with allowing the 1st, 4th, and 5th Amendments to degrade in the name of “security”. What bothers me most about his article is he is calling for the 2nd to be just as or more degraded. All in the name of “leveling the playing field” of “equality”.

You know how you can also achieve this same end?

By upgrading (or rather, restoring) the 1st, 4th, and 5th Amendments.

I too think it’s horrible that we’re destroying our Constitution in the name of (false) security. But instead of calling for further destruction, we should be working towards restoration… else we just continue down the path we’re already going down.

Hooray for Government Schooling

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

They aren’t public schools, they are government schools.

And they are not places of learning.

If life was nothing but standardized testing, which the budget depended upon, then maybe we’d be accomplishing something useful. But alas, life isn’t that… so what exactly are children being prepared for? Other than learning to sit still, conform, suffer, deny yourself, that you’re stupid, creativity has no place, and the list goes on and on….

Take a Newbie Shooting Day

/ hsoi

There’s a new movement – Take a Newbie Shooting Day

It happens this Saturday, March 9, 2013.

What’s the purpose? From their website:

My goal is to first organize a nation-wide “take a newbie shooting” day where new shooters can feel welcome to come learn about guns and how to safely enjoy the shooting sports as much as us current gun owners, and then provide a framework where those interested in becoming a firearms owner can connect with someone in their local area for an introductory range trip.

A laudable goal for sure.

All the details can be found on their website.

A developer’s life – in pictures

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

A friend passed along a website collecting a series of animated GIF’s that chronicle the life of a developer.

Apparently the GIF’s originally came from TheCodingLove and les_joies_du_code()

It’s like my life… in animated GIF format. 🙂