Author: hsoi

PR FAIL

/ hsoi / 12 Comments

Wow. This isn’t just how to lose customers, it’s how to alienate an entire segment of the population.

Chiappa Firearms is going to embed RFID chips in their guns.

On the one hand, that can make some sense from a manufacturing standpoint. But on the other, it’s a massive blunder… especially when your US importer — MKS Distributing — decides to mock customer concerns.

You would think they would understand their customer base. Yes, there are gun owners that are paranoid about being tracked and do get all tin-foil-hat about things. Consider as well how such behavior plays into tracking and registration schemes and other anti-gun and gun-banning politics. There’s just so much about this that is a problem. Have we forgotten Bill Ruger?

But what really made it into a problem was the PR handling. If Chiappa wanted to use RFID to help manufacturing and inventory, that’s one thing. All they had to do was issue a simple statement:

We’re using RFID chips. Note that there is one embedded in the frame. If you wish to remove it, simple remove the grips and pry out the chip (it’s just hot-glued in there).

As simple as that. It allows Chiappa to do what they want, and for those that care, there’s a simple solution. That’s called knowing your customers and customer base.

But to so openly mock, like MKS did…. that’s just insulting.

Sorry Chiappa. I’ve been curious about your Rhino and nearly bought one a time or two (if not for other financial priorities cropping up). But now? Not going to happen. You did this to yourself.

Updated: as you could see in the comments, I started to soften my stance… thinking that this was probably just an honest mistake, a miscalculation.

Have to take their word for it that it was.

2011-07-29 – no workout

/ hsoi

No workout today. I’m taking a cue from my body and just taking today off. Let’s hit it hard on Monday.

But in the meantime I made myself a new Excel spreadsheet for tracking my progress on the Wendler 5/3/1 program. Seeing the actual numbers that I’ll be using, the actual routine that I’ll go through, I think this is going to work out alright for me. It is interesting to see that what was considered “warmup” under SS/PP ends up being “work” under W531. But, that’s all part of how the program works. I’m not expecting the program to necessarily be easier, just different.

I feel excited. Rejuvenated. And that’s a good thing.

Hacking vs. Programming

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

The hackers get a lot of attention these days. These are the basketball players who make the slam dunk that makes it to the highlight reel. But basketball games are won by teams of players executing on the basics – the solid play well executed, the dribble, the layup, the pass that gets the ball to the star. In the long run we need more real programmers to make solid, dependable programs that don’t have be be rewritten from scratch when a change is needed.

Full story.

My kingdom for a project where we can program, not hack.

Simple roasted butternut squash

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Take a couple butternut squash. Peel. Halve. Scoop out seeds. Slice down into 2″ cubes (more or less).

Put squash chunks in a glass casserole dish. Coat in extra virgin olive oil and “Good Shit“. Not too heavy, just enough to season. You want the flavor of the squash to be primary, the seasoning just accents.

Oven to 400º. Put the squash (uncovered) into the oven. Minimum 60 minutes, but I found 90 minutes really softened it up and helped break down the squash sugars more, really sweeten things up.

Maybe a dash of salt to taste just prior to eating, but that’s up to individual taste… not to make it salty, just to wake up the flavors.

Delicious.

Lead: effective in preventing rape.

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said Carson’s intent was not only to rob the motel, but also to rape the clerk. “There’s no doubt that was his intent,” said Lott. “Not only was he going to rob her, but he was going to sexually assault her.”

Full story. (h/t TXGunGeek)

How did she survive?

…the motel clerk… fought back and killed him….

Investigators said when her attacker slipped the knife into his pants pocket to begin tying her up with plastic ties, the woman pulled a handgun from under her shirt, turned and fired into the man’s chest at point blank range.

She fought back.

She had a gun.

 

The victim was about 100 pounds lighter than Carson and stood at least a foot shorter than him, investigators said.

 

I’ve often said that a gun is a force equalizer. Seems this same scumbag also robbed an elderly couple at another motel. See, predators like easy prey… or at least, until they fail the victim selection process, as this scumbag eventually did.

So remind me again why you wish to deny people the right to defend their lives? Tell me again why you think it’s acceptable for women and the elderly to be at the mercy of those that wish to bring them harm?

 

2011-07-27 workout – the final Practical Programming Novice

/ hsoi / 6 Comments

To borrow from The Eagles… take it easy.

Squats

  • 2x5x45
  • 1x5x85
  • 1x3x135
  • 1x2x185
  • 3x5x185

As you can see, I really dropped my weight on the work set. I’m overworked on squats. I needed a deload.

Sad thing is, that 185 was hard. Not as hard as the 220 was on Monday, but still hard. I attribute this to mental exhaustion, on squatting.  *sigh*  But, it’s telling. More below.

An interesting thing tho. While doing the warmup sets I noticed that when I was in the hole my right calf started that ache. Hrm… as my thigh contacted my shin, the ache started. Hey… am I going too deep? going below parallel? I had someone watch me. Sure enough, I’m going a little too deep! That explains a lot, including why the weights were feeling even heavier the past couple weeks. I’m trying so hard to ensure I’m at least parallel that I’m overdoing it. This plays into my decision (more below), with how “more reps under the bar”, working my central nervous system (CNS), etc. is the way to go.

Bench Press

  • 2x5x45
  • 1x5x85
  • 1x3x115
  • 1x2x150
  • 3x5x170

This felt good. Strong. I did notice I wasn’t putting my legs into it as much. As I think about it, it was the calf ache, I wasn’t putting my feet far enough back because that amplified the ache, and so I didn’t get as much leg into it. I still was using it, especially on the 3rd set I really put my whole body into it. I just wasn’t as consistent as I should have been.

Deadlift

  • 2x5x95
  • 1x3x140
  • 1x2x200
  • 1x5x240

This just felt good. Felt very strong here. Felt like I could have done another 3 reps (at least) with the 240, or gone up another 15-20# for another set of 5.

Metcon

Forgot to jump rope at the gym, so hustled home and jumped there. Usual thing, a Tabata set (20 sec jump, 10 sec rest; 8x), just simple double hop stuff. On the last set I tried doing faster single hops but didn’t get far. I did do a better job at jumping here. My first 20 second round is always good so I’m trying to pay attention to my form during that set to help mitigate problems… like the positioning of my hands and rope/handle angle and how that affects the rope as it passes under my feet so I don’t get tangled up, keeping my head up and eyes focused on something “eye level”. That helped me do a better job and get further, but I’m still getting tangled. I’ll get there.

Commentary

Feeling this strong on deadlifts and on bench press vs. how I feel on squats? My interpretation of it is overwork on my squats and my body saying “no mas”. I need a break.

I think I’m burned. I’m not sure if the intensity of the workouts is getting to me, or if it’s other things in my life getting to the workouts, or a little of both. Likely both, but I think the workouts are actually more the culprit. So, I need a break.

It was intentional to not do a full squat workout today. Just do something with a light enough load to keep the body working, but treat it like a “deload”. I picked the weights based upon Monday’s workout, but then bumped just slightly to make plate changing a no-brainer. 🙂  Why complicate this?

I am also going to take this coming Friday off. Give my body a little more time to recover (especially since my time off work is ending and I’m back to work on Monday).

When I resume on Monday, yes… I’m going to switch to the Wendler 5/3/1 program. I want to be in this for the long haul, that’s a program for the long haul. I’m not a 18-25 year old, I need to stretch out recovery; this program is better for recovery. I’m looking to bump my metabolism up so I can shed the fat I gained over the past 2 months (plus more!), and I can set up the assistance work in this program to be slightly lighter weights with less rest between sets (everything isn’t geared towards heavy 5 rep sets going for maximum strength). All signs point to this being a route for me to go. I figure I have to stick with it at least for one cycle (6 weeks in my case, since I’m going to do it 3x week) before I really evaluate and consider any changes, be it tweaking the program or changing to another program.

I’m still debating on exactly what I want to do for assistance work: “triumvirate” or “boring but big”. Granted I could do my own assistance work, but I think at first it’s wise to go with an existing program and only customize once I know more of what I want. Part of me thinks I should do “triumvirate” because, if nothing else, it gets me using more equipment in the gym and folks might like me not hogging the squat rack. 😉  But then again, I think only 3-4 other guys at the gym use the rack so, I may get a better less-interrupted workout if I stay there.

One advantage to BBB would be more reps in the same motion. That is, more CNS training towards really getting movements right and down. That will really help form refine and improve. My only fear with BBB is it will be, like it says, boring. I think part of my desire to switch off the current program is I’m a little bored with doing squats 3x week… but that is likely more due to overload than boredom. I do like squatting, but I think it’s just taking a toll and I need to scale back the approach. Besides, Wendler’s book says of the triumvirate:

This is very similar to Boring But Big, but you don’t have to do the same exercise over and over again, and you don’t have to do 5 sets. Just do the 3 exercises you’ve found to be the most effective for your training.

It’s about doing what you have found to be more effective for your training. Really, I don’t know what that is yet. It may do me well to start with BBB and see how that goes, then eventually “find my Kroc Row” (to use his phrase).

Just thinking aloud… don’t mind me.

Assessment

I’ve spent 8 weeks on this “Practical Programming Novice” program. A novice, constant linear progression program.

Here’s how things went:

Squat: — 105# to 230#. 230 was the most I did before I reset and found myself getting burned. Even if we take my reset weight (215), I still put over 100# on my squat.

Bench Press: — 115# to 170#. 55# increase.

Press: — 65# to 107.5#. 42.5# increase

Deadlift: — 135# to 240#. 105# increase.

Chin-ups/Pull-ups: — well, these were always “inverted rows”. But going from only being able to do low-single digit values to breaking into the double-digit range? That’s improvement. I’ll take it. Looking forward to doing full/real chin-ups and pull-ups. I’ll get there.

Those aren’t maxes: those are 3 sets of 5 reps at that weight. My actual 1RM? who knows. I haven’t tested it, and even calculations aren’t going to be accurate since 1. they’re just mathematical estimates, 2. they would require something like a 5RM, not 3 sets of 5 reps where I felt like I could still squeeze out more.

But it doesn’t matter what my actual 1RM is. The bottom line is I’m a lot stronger today than I was 8 weeks ago. I’m cool with that. The program did was it was designed to do: get you stronger. If I look at the “strength standards tables“, I’m not quite at the “novice” level, but that assumes 3-9 months of training: I’ve only had 2. I think I’m progressing just fine.

The reality is, it’s a very intense program. You need to eat a lot, you need to rest a lot, and you need to do little else in life than just lift… nothing else to really tax your system be it other physical activities or things like stress from work and life. If I was a younger man, I’m sure I could stick with this program a bit longer. But I’m not. Still, I’m quite happy with having discovered it and performed the program. I think it has set a good foundation for me to build upon in many regards: hypertrophy, strength, movements, fitness, CNS, discipline, humility, etc.. You name it, it’s really been helpful to me in some way in that area.

If I knew 20-25 years ago what I know now, I would have started lifting in a much different way. I think if anyone is going to start using weights to improve their life, some sort of “Starting Strength” type of program (be it the pure SS program or say one of the PP variants) is the way to go. You want to get strong? it works. You want to get big? it works. You want to be a bodybuilder? it’ll lay the foundation. You just want better strength for life and health, it’ll work. It’s a simple program, it works fundamentals, it lays a good foundation. There’s no bullshit, so long as you don’t overthink it. Just shut up, lift, eat, sleep. 🙂

See? The journey is really what it’s all about.

Here we go again.

/ hsoi

The same old thing (h/t Mike Cox)

Pinecrest is repealing its ban on guns in public parks because a new state law would subject the village to fines if the prohibition remained in place.

It’s called preemption.

“I am angry, disgusted and horrified that they put us in this position. This is a public-safety issue,” [Mayor Cindy] Lerner said in an interview. “This is not the wild, wild west.”

That’s called “pants shitting hysterics”

Lerner doesn’t think guns and parks mix. “What if someone leaves or drops their gun in a park and a child finds it?”

That happened here in Austin a couple of years ago. A gun was found in a local park. Some kids found it, told their parents, who notified police. Gee Mayor Lerner, do you think so little of the children, that they cannot act responsibly? This is why programs like Eddie Eagle were created. By the way, that gun in the park? It belonged to an Austin police officer, K-9 unit. He had taken his dog to the park, and while playing his gun somehow came out of his holster. What if a police officer leaves or drops their gun in their park and a child finds it? Well, seems in this case they stop, don’t touch, leave the area, told an adult. Hrm. Maybe the solution is police shouldn’t have guns either… or maybe we should ban police from parks… or maybe we should teach children about firearms safety and how to be responsible… no no, that’s just silly.

[Village attorney Cynthia] Everett agreed, adding: “If you can’t have it in a school, then why in parks?”

I agree. We shouldn’t be prohibiting the lawful carrying of weapons in schools, or anywhere. Good people are good people. Bad people are bad people. Bad people are not stopped by imaginary lines and boundaries. Bad people are stopped by good people willing to fight and not tolerate bad behavior. Yes, we’ve got the data to back this up.

Mayor Lerner, Ms. Everett, no… we’re not living in the wild, wild west any more. But it does seem you’re still stuck in the past.

Seek (more) training. Seek (more) education.

/ hsoi

I had some mixed reactions after reading the following article and felt it’d make a good blog post.

To note a bit of context, KRGV is in the Texas Rio Grande Valley, which is basically the southern-most tip of Texas, right on the border with Mexico.

Crime and spillover violence is forcing some people to take safety into their own hands. They are carrying weapons out of fear. Law enforcement says arming themselves for protection doesn’t guarantee safety.

[…]

Armed robberies, carjackings, home invasions, violence from across the border spilling into our back yards, [concealed handgun license instructor, Roy] Balli says a lot of the people he deals with feel like they need to protect themselves.

Understandable. Good people wish to live their lives unharmed. To be at the mercy of evil people is no way to live your life.

“There are so many responsibilities that come with a person being armed,” says Hidalgo police Chief Vernon Rosser.

This is true. However, the statement sounds like it’s about to be followed by a “but…”.

Rosser says he’s not against people arming themselves. It’s their right, but he worries about the implications.

“What my fear is is that if a person sees something or hears something, rather than pick up the phone and call us so that we can be on our way that they may feel like. I will just get my gun and go check it out. I don’t know that they would have the training. I don’t know that they would be mentally prepared of what to do in a situation if it became confrontational,” says Rosser.

This gives me mixed emotions.

I will agree that if there is a potential for danger, should you go walking into it? Generally no, but circumstances will dictate. If I hear my child screaming, I’m not going to dial 911 and wait. If I heard the sound of my back door being kicked in, I’d be more wont to hunker down, arm myself, dial 911, and start shouting commands. It takes too long for the police to arrive. In a city like Austin, 5 minute response time is about the best you could hope for (if you’re lucky), and a lot can happen in 5 minutes.

Nevertheless, I do agree with Chief Rosser. A gun is not a talisman that will ward off evil. It is a tool, and like any tool you need to know how to use it properly. This necessitates education and training.

The chief says if you carry a gun, you better be prepared to use it. That weapon could cause more harm than protection.

“You always have to be faced with one thing. What am I gonna do when it comes time to do it?” says Rosser.

It goes beyond simple marksmanship. Yes, being able to hit your target is fundamental, but you must move beyond that level. You need to be able to shoot under pressure. You need to be able to shoot one-handed. You need to be able to shoot targets at a distance greater than you are comfortable with. But again, we’re still talking marksmanship. After laying this foundation, it’s important to learn about greater skills towards keeping you safe: mental skills, mindset, tactics. Classes that emphasize use of your brain more than your fists or gun, that’s what you ultimately should seek. These are the sorts of things that could keep you out of a dangerous situation in the first place, to recognize it before it happens. The sooner you can bail out, the better for you.

Police do have their place, and there are times when calling them is the best response. But the police cannot always be there and cannot protect us at at moment’s notice. Ultimately self-preservation is your personal responsibility.

Why [insert tragedy here] means we must support my politics

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

Many people will use this terrible tragedy as an excuse to put through a political agenda other than my own. This tawdry abuse of human suffering for political gain sickens me to the core of my being. Those people who have different political views from me ought to be ashamed of themselves for thinking of cheap partisan point-scoring at a time like this. In any case, what this tragedy really shows us is that, so far from putting into practice political views other than my own, it is precisely my political agenda which ought to be advanced.

Not only are my political views vindicated by this terrible tragedy, but also the status of my profession. Furthermore, it is only in the context of a national and international tragedy like this that we are reminded of the very special status of my hobby, and its particular claim to legislative protection. My religious and spiritual views also have much to teach us about the appropriate reaction to these truly terrible events.

Countries which I like seem to never suffer such tragedies, while countries which, for one reason or another, I dislike, suffer them all the time. The one common factor which seems to explain this has to do with my political views, and it suggests that my political views should be implemented as a matter of urgency, even though they are, as a matter of fact, not implemented in the countries which I like.

Of course the [insert tragedy here] are a uniquely tragic event, and it is vital that we never lose sight of the human tragedy involved. But we must also not lose sight of the fact that I am right on every significant moral and political issue, and everybody ought to agree with me. Please, I ask you as fellow human beings, vote for the political party which I support, and ask your legislators to support policies endorsed by me, as a matter of urgency.

Taken from here, and the original appears to be here. I modified it slightly, removing “World Trade Center attacks” in place of “[insert tragedy here]”.

It’s a well-written piece and it’s exactly what goes on every time some sort of tragedy happens. The latest is the bombing and shooting in Norway.

Being as there are guns involved, it perks my interest a little more. As expected, those that wish to ban guns aren’t even waiting until the dead are buried before they work to dance about with their political agendas. And as expected, the pro gun people are pointing out how the gun-banners are being disgusting political opportunists. But I also see the pro gun people making comments like “and if their gun laws were better” or “if they had concealed carry”… and frankly folks, you’re doing the same thing, working to push your political agenda. But of course, we never see it that way because we’re fighting for the greater good, blah blah blah.

My point?

We cannot use every tragedy as justification to push politics. Take this line of reasoning to the logical extreme and it will destroy the very civilization that this short-sighted behavior claims to preserve.

Also, if you find it reprehensible to use tragedy to push politics, make sure you’re not being a hypocrite.

2011-07-25 workout

/ hsoi

Today sucked.

Squats

  • 2x5x45
  • 1x5x85
  • 1x3x130
  • 1x3x175
  • 2x5x220
  • 1x3x220

As you can see, I had my first true miss on my work sets. On set 2, I almost got stuck half-way up on rep 5 but powered it out. On set 3, rep 3 was tough, then the seed of doubt was sown in my head if I’d make rep 4… and that seed was all it took. I figured to be conservative, rack the bar. Oh well, it’s how it goes some days.

I’m having that same ache too, tho it’s more localized now, on the outside of my right calf. It feels like my soleus, but not 100% sure as the ache kinda “radiates” up and down and in and out. It sucks, but I know it’s playing into everything… even if not physically making feel miss, it’s messing enough with my head.

Press

  • 2x5x45
  • 1x5x55
  • 1x3x75
  • 1x2x90
  • 3x5x107.5

Press I actually felt good with. I felt strong and my form wasn’t 100% on the work sets, but still pretty darn good. I was happy with this.

Chins

  • 1x10xbw
  • 1x9xbw
  • 1x6xbw

What happened here? This is certainly a big step back. I did feel stricter… that first set, every rep had my body stiff as a board and pulling all the way chest to bar (well, as much as my shoulders and such would let me). So who knows… maybe that tired me out some. But still, it didn’t feel good to drop like this.

*sigh*

Metcon (for Dave…)

Not sure if I’ll keep calling this “metcon” but for Dave….  🙂

I did a Tabata of rope jumping. 4 minutes; 20 seconds jumping, 10 seconds resting; 8 cycles. Just simple “double hop” schoolyard type jumping.

If you want to feel like an uncoorindated boob, jump rope.

Commentary

Today was just…. off. Not sure why. I did notice a lot of resting this past weekend… sleeping a lot longer than usual at night, yesterday I took a huge nap after lunch and still slept a long time last night. Body is trying to tell me something.

It could be that my diet changes are starting to kick in? As I mentioned before, really working to cut the carbs to nothing but the “raw veggies” (think paleo) and then a lot of meat/protein. I dropped a bunch of overall calories, no question, but feeling it so soon? And then the calf ache….

Maybe it is time to change up the routine. If nothing else, I am feeling tired of squatting. Maybe just a simple change of routine will do me well.

Much to ponder.