Author: hsoi

Shield vs. PM9

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Karl passed along this video comparing a Smith & Wesson M&P Shield with a Kahr PM9.

It’s a pretty good review, showing how they compare. Not a lot of bias here.

I agree the Shield is a little big to be a small gun and a little small to be a big gun. But if your primary is an M&P, skills transfer to the Shield is much less of a jump than to the Kahr. But the Kahr is really small, and my understanding is once you get a Kahr running (some seem to burp during the break-in period) they’ll run like a champ. And while their triggers are long DAO’s, they are VERY smooth and quite nice.

I have been curious to own a Kahr. I have no way to justify the cost (vs. all the other expenses in my life). I really liked the K9 and would love to own one some day, just because. I’ve shot some Kahr’s that students have brought to class and always like them (other than the LONG trigger).

I’ll just say, if you buy a tiny gun like the PM9 for carry, do practice with it. Be sure you’re proficient with it.

A year since we’ve said goodbye

/ hsoi

A friend pointed me to the Apple website, because 1 year ago today, Steve Jobs passed away. Apple changed their home page today to post a video (linked here, but no idea how long this link will remain, or if it’ll move to a more permanent home eventually), a tribute and remembrance of Steve Jobs.

Yeah… it choked me up a bit.

I didn’t know Steve at all, but my first computer was an Apple //e, and the day I saw a Mac… it changed my life. I’ve spent over 20 years writing Mac and now iOS software professionally, so yeah… Apple has a place in my life.

At the end of the video you hear Steve say:

It’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the result that makes our heart sing.

That’s what people tend to not get.

Sure, iPhone is behind Android in a lot of respects. In fact, in many respects Mac has been behind the PC/Windows. But in many other respects, Apple has completely lead the way in both the desktop Mac and mobile iPhone world (and let’s not forget the music iPod world either). And the biggest leader is Apple make products people want to have, that people yearn to have. Who lines up for the midnight release of any product? What other customers find opening the box to be a religious experience? that a product, a service, a brand creates such intense devotion… to plastic and silicon?

There’s an aesthetic.

I see Android devices all day at my day job, and I just can’t like them. Same with Windows vs. Mac. Oh sure, I can totally appreciate the technology going into them, both the hardware and the OS. I think there’s actually a lot of cool stuff about Android as an OS. But it just doesn’t sing to me. It doesn’t move me. I don’t look at it as a joy that I like to look at for hours every day, which is what I have to do. If I have to stare at something for a long time, I like it to be pleasing to the eyes (like my wife), and somehow stir my soul (like my wife).

To some people, they don’t care. These things don’t matter to them. And that’s OK. To some it’s pure utilitarian, or they don’t know any different or don’t care. And that’s fine. That’s them.

Me?

Well, speaking of Steve… if you consider his background with typography and how that influenced the development of Mac. Just the other day I read about a new programmer’s font, the article mentioned a few, I downloaded and tried them out, and settled on Source Code Pro. It’s a beautiful font. It’s a lot nicer on the eyes, and when you’re staring at code all day long well… the shape and placement and count of pixels really starts to matter. And you probably don’t realize it, until you start to care and do something about it… like change it. But there’s the joy of Apple. They spend so much time fussing and caring about every little pixel, every little detail. The intent? To just work. In some respects, it should be remarkable; “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” But really in most respects it should be unremarkable. It should just work, it should not get in our way, it should not impede the flow of our work, it should enable and empower us… and we don’t really notice nor understand why. And even something as simple as a font can do this. Does that matter? Yes it does. And Steve knew that. Many people don’t know, don’t care, or aren’t aware… and that’s fine for them.

Not me.

Think different.

TSRA PAC 2012 voter guide – follow up

/ hsoi

Alice Trip, TSRA Legislative Director, has always been an open and approachable person. When I wondered why only R’s and D’s were printed in the 2012 voter guide, I knew I could ask her. So I emailed her.

Here’s her reply, reprinted with her permission:

We offer information on the two major parties for several reasons but the most important is best explained by an example. In 2009 an incumbent, A rated state senator (R) lost to a known anti-gun challenger (D) by 9,000 votes.  The (L) candidate in that race took 9,000 votes.

To me, that answer comes across as “we don’t want to promote L’s because they can and do take votes away from R’s, who are generally more gun-friendly than D’s, thus we’ll lose races”.

That bugs me.

I don’t like it because it doesn’t paint a complete picture to make for fully-informed voters. It furthers the 2-party system, which just about everyone has a problem with (except those benefiting by it). And it keeps solid alternatives and better choices in the dark from voters. Granted, people are overcoming the darkness on their own, but things like this don’t help.

But I can’t really hold it against Alice. TSRA-PAC has specific goals. They do what they have to do to achieve their goals. And I’m sure if there were, in some smaller races, an L and a D running (no R) and the L was more pro-gun, they’d get the endorsement. If they put down the R and the L and the D, and the R and L were both listed with A-ratings, people will choose and votes will be split and you’ll get what Alice said above. So from her angle, I understand why it’s done.

I have different goals and ideals, and one of them is breaking away from the two-party system. I don’t like the political jockeying nor game-playing. I accept it exists and is part of the reality of it all, but it’s also part of the problem of it all.

I do not hold this against Alice nor TSRA/TSRA-PAC. I remain a Life Member of TSRA, and will continue to support them (just sent them money for the beautiful 2013 calendar that recently arrived). I do hope she’ll continue to fight her good fight (I know she will), and I’ll continue to fight mine. If you are a gun-owner or someone who cares about gun-rights in Texas, I encourage you to join and donate to the TSRA and TSRA-PAC. We don’t have to agree on everything, but that doesn’t have to stop us from being friends.

2012-10-04 workout – Wendler 5/3/1 program – cycle 14, bench press 1

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

I need to change up some things on the diet front.

“Week 1”

  • 5 reps – Bench Press (working max: 235#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 1x5x95
    • 1x5x120
    • 1x3x145
    • 1x5x155 (work)
    • 1x5x180
    • 1x5x200
  • Asst. #1 – Bench Press
    • 5 x 10/10/10/8/8 x 135
  • Asst. #2 – 1-Arm Dumbbell Rows
    • 5 x 10/10/10/10/7 x 70

The workout itself wasn’t bad. I only hit prescribed reps so I could have enough left in the tank to get thorugh the rest of the workout. But honestly, even then I don’t think I could have done many more. *sigh*

Oh, and don’t superset assistance work — saps too much energy.

On the diet front, I’m just drained. Physically and emotionally. I’ve made decent progress of about 10#, more to go. I’m wondering tho about some changes.

1. It sucks eating so little at a time. That really gets to me, because it’s not only not satisfying but it also leaves me never full and always hungry.

2. I’m still sore from Monday’s squat session. That’s not right, and directly related to the lack of food.

So I’m going to try some changes.

First, instead of 5 meals a day, go for 4. That makes each meal a bit bigger, which could help on the hunger front and making each meal a little more satisfying.

Second, I’m going back to Scooby’s Calorie Calculator and readjusting things to NOT have a 20% drop. Exactly what I’m doing isn’t in the calculator. I plugged in a bunch of different scenarios in terms of activity level, percentage reduction, etc. and have landed at about 70g protein, 70 g carbs, 15g fat per meal (4 meals). That theoretically still puts me at a deficit, but not as stark as I was before (about 45g p/c per 5 meals). That’s a big change.

I’m hoping this will still keep me in deficit and I’ll still see progress. I’m sure progress will be slower, but I’d rather have slow and tolerable progress than fast and miserable.

Plus I’m open to cycling a bit. Maybe do this for a month, then another month of heavy cutbacks. And cycle. Just find a way to make it managable… because right now, I’m miserable.

Funny thing tho. I’ve tried this for a couple days now and geez… trying to get that much protein and carbs per meal is HARD! Well, not always… give me a big steak and I’m fine. But breakfast gets kinda challenging at times.

TSRA PAC 2012 voters guide

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

The TSRA-PAC 2012 voter’s guide has been posted. View the guide here.

One big gripe.

Looking down the list I see nothing but R’s and D’s.

At the end of the brochure, I see this:

Due to limited space, third-party & independent candidates are not listed

Limited space? Well, I guess these are probably still printed and there’s finite cost. I’ll grant that.

But welcome to 2000. There’s this new-fangled thing called “The Internet” and “The World Wide Web”. You might even be aware of it, given you seem to have one of those “www-dot-coms” yourself. Why can’t TSRA put ALL candidates on the website? Why can’t that subscript say “Visit http://www.tsra-pac.com for a listing of all candidates.”?

So, take the guide for what it’s worth, and do your own homework on the candidates.

Burglary of vehicles on the rise

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

Via KR Training

Just received from the Travis County Sheriff’s Department:

Burglary of Vehicles

Throughout the month of September, there have been a very high number of nighttime burglaries of vehicles in West Travis County.

Most vehicles were unlocked. The unknown suspect(s) continue to check vehicle doors and steal anything of value from those left unlocked.

The burglaries are occurring during the late nighttime and early morning hours.

It is imperative that residents lock vehicles and park in garages if possible. Don’t make it easy for the criminals. Please, continue to be vigilant about reporting any suspicious vehicles or persons immediately by calling 911.

If you believe you may have helpful information, you can call the Travis County Sheriff’s Office West Command at 854-9728.

Some items of note.

They are merely checking for unlocked doors. They don’t want to smash windows or pop doors. Why? These would create noise and draw attention. Be very very quiet.

And they take anything of value. So? Leave nothing of value in your car.

I know we don’t like to hear this, and no we shouldn’t have to hear it. It shouldn’t have to be this way. But this is the unfortunate reality.

Lock your doors. Keep nothing of value in your car (or at least keep it well out of sight).

And if you can, keep your ears peeled and report suspicious activity.

Yes, burglary in the night is a crime, and it’s even one that under proper circumstances you could defend with deadly force. But let’s remember the “beer & tv” principle.

2012-10-01 workout – Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 14 (mark 2), Squat 1

/ hsoi

This diet is killing me. :-0

“Week 1”

  • 5 reps – Squat (working max: 280#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 1x5x115
    • 1x5x140
    • 1x3x170
    • 1x5x185 (work)
    • 1x5x215
    • 1x5x240
  • Asst. #1 – Squat
    • 3 x 10 x 135
  • Asst. #2 – Pulldown Abs
    • 3 x 12 x 120
  • Foam Rolling

There’s no question… the diet is killing me. Sapping my energy, wearing me out.

I dropped another 10# off my working max, but it’s good. I really did solid reps today on squats, better form and everything. Really worked to be solid on technique, everything tight. Felt very strange, but boy… once I put the belt on and firmed everything up, wow… 185 felt like a feather. It was kinda cool. I also worked on making every rep a single. So I wasn’t doing 1 set of 5 reps, I was doing 5 sets of 1 rep with minimal rest.

But I also just opted to not kill myself. I only did prescribed reps. And then when I did my assistance sets, only did 3… because by that point, I was running out of gas. *sigh* Yeah, I can’t wait to be off this diet.

Speaking of that, I need to pick up on my fat shedding. I did recalculate my macros, which is a start. But I also need to get back on more exercise… walking the dog every morning, etc.. Every bit helps. Maybe when I get down to 220 (4-6 weeks??? if I’m good), I might take a small break, eat normally, recoup some strength. We’ll see. One day at a time.

It can unfold so fast, so unexpectedly

/ hsoi / 9 Comments

I was up in north Austin today, and on my way home needed to make a couple stops.

1. to get gas

2. to get lunch

A little win, a little FAIL.

Pumping gas. Keeping my eyes open, watching around. See the restaurants across the street and ask Siri to dig up some nutritional information. I’m a little distracted by my search, and obstructed by my big truck.

Suddenly, as if from out of nowhere (because this is how it always happens, you know), a person comes around the front of my truck. I didn’t see them until they cleared the truck… the angle of approach and everything. But it happened in an instant.

I was happy that, a moment later, I put my extended hand up to say “stop” and verbally said, “Can you stop right there?”  He did, asked me if I knew where to find some place. I didn’t recognize what he was asking for, but it didn’t matter because I really wasn’t paying attention nor trying to process his specific request — I wanted him to go away and not come any closer. I just said “Sorry, I don’t know”. I had a firm enough look on my face, not mean, but not welcoming either. He turned around and went back to the car where his friends were waiting. It appears he was legit lost, but it doesn’t matter.

Win. My reaction was precisely what I wanted. No thinking, just getting them to stop their advance and keep their distance. All good.

The funny part is I always default in my head to “can you stop right there?”. What I want to say is “can you back up?” because it escalates better to “Back up!” then “BACK THE FUCK UP!”.  But for whatever reason when I practice this my brain always wants them to stop, not back up. Will have to work even harder to overcome what is obviously ingrained. 🙂

I also want to rewatch SouthNarc’s Managing Unknown Contacts (MUC) DVD. Just because.

Unfortunately my win gets negated by a FAIL.

I finish pumping gas. Go across the street to McDonald’s (shut up… I know). I go inside. I order. As soon as I’m done ordering and turning to my left to go to the drink dispenser, I hear a “hey, what’s your tattoo say?”… there’s a guy that was literally right behind me. I had no idea. I never heard him come in, no idea he was there, but he was way too close for comfort. Awareness FAIL.

*sigh*

What’s the take home? Well, in part it’s back to my dry fire curriculum change up… focusing more on defensive skills and (re)actions than pure shooting fundamentals. Perhaps some of the dry fire shouldn’t be just shooting skills, but also MUC drills, some first aid stuff, and other non-shooting things. Hrm.

The bigger take home? Shit happens in an instant. It will take you by surprise. It will happen before you even realize it’s happening. It’s up to you — and only you — to take care of yourself. Great if you can have a team of friends to improve your odds, but sometimes we go solo or go in a group that’s got more sheep than dogs.   Just remember that things will happen faster than you imagined, faster than you expected.