Author: hsoi

Got an air gun

/ hsoi

I was looking for an air gun.

After much helpful input (hooray Internet!) I ended up buying one: a Crosman American Classic Pump Pistol (1377C).

After much hum-hawing it was pretty simple: I had a particular role to fill, and this should fill it and didn’t cost me a lot of money. Plus, it seems there’s quite a healthy aftermarket for this particular air gun.

I took it to KR Training one morning and before classes spent a little time zeroing it in and also running it over a chronograph. Zeroing was frustrating because I discovered the front sight is bent slightly to the right. Ugh. Not a deal breaker and I wasn’t in the mood to fix it, but so long as you’re focusing on the tops of the sights you’ll get there… it just throws you off a bit since the post and the “airspace” within the rear notch won’t line up correctly. But, what do you expect for $50. I’m not sure I’ll bother fixing it, it’s certainly a least priority.

Running it over the chronograph of course depends on how much you pump it. Crosman says minimum 3 pumps to maximum 10 pumps. When I ran 3 pumps I got about 350 FPS out of it. When I ran 10 pumps, I got about 500 (if I remember correctly, this was done a couple of weeks ago). I ran about 5 shots at each and those were the rough averages. It’s advertised with velocities up to 600 FPS, so I assume you need some particular ammo and their marketing department’s range conditions to get that speed. 🙂  I don’t remember exactly what ammo I used, but I think it was a Gamo hunter pellet.

Accuracy was good enough. I am to understand pellet guns can be ammo sensitive, so it’s usually best to try every one you can until you find the one your gun likes then stick with it. I don’t have time to do that right now, but what I shot turned out decent given the sight problems.

I was sighting this in on the “small range” at KRT, which has steel targets. I shoot a few steel targets with the pistol and got a chuckle out of the tiny “ping” they made… almost couldn’t hear it. 🙂

All in all that seems fair enough for my needs. Fun little thing to shoot, the kids can operate it (tho it’s a little bit of work to pump it). Should fit the bill nicely… just remember to keep your thumb out of the way when pumping so you don’t pinch the pad skin and bleed everywhere. 🙂

You’re doing it wrong — what can we learn.

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

He meant well, but he’s doing it wrong:

[Ashley] Viola was driving his car on Third Avenue and witnessed a 57-year-old San Mateo woman being assaulted near San Mateo Drive and asked her if she was OK, police said.

She indicated she was OK and then told Viola that the assailant was running down the street, police said.

The Good Samaritan then allegedly caught up to the man, parked his car and confronted the assailant with a firearm.

A witness recounts:

Kiera McKernan, a manager at Edmond’s Plaza Florist at that intersection, said a customer came in screaming for her to call 911. She looked across the street and saw the confrontation happening in front of the U.S. Bank.

“An older gentleman was standing out there and a younger kid pulled a gun on him and was pointing it at him,” she said.

The older man was trying to hide behind a newspaper rack and the gunman was circling the rack trying to get to him, holding a silver gun, McKernan said.

“He was waving it and making it really known that he had a gun,” she said.

From the sounds of it, Mr. Viola was using the gun to detain or threaten or harass or “make a point” or apprehend or “teach a lesson to” or something to the woman’s attacker. It’s hard to say what he was doing, but from the sounds of it his own life was not in imminent danger thus he had no reason to draw his gun. Again, I’m armchairing this because I can only go based upon what the article says.

The key take home: it’s good to help people out. You might even decide on the “beer and tv scale” that to put up chase is worthwhile. Perhaps you can keep tabs on the attacker, get a description, get a picture. Heck, even if you are able to safely subdue and detain the attacker… that’s all up to you. But unless your life or the life of another (based upon your local laws) is in imminent danger, there’s no reason to pull the gun. And in fact, you can see that it might get you in bigger trouble.

Think through these things in your head beforehand. Be clear. Have your plan on how to handle situations figure out ahead of time. Know when it’s right and not right to draw your gun, to use force, to use deadly force. To have more than the one hammer in your toolbox so that every problem doesn’t look like a nail.

Reminder – stay aware

/ hsoi / 6 Comments

Some events happened yesterday that serve as a reminder to everyone to stay alert and aware.

I went to bed early last night, but around 10 PM or so, I woke to the sound of Sasha barking. And barking. And barking.

Wife went to investigate. There was a lot of noise coming from outside. Looks like it was just teenagers up late and enjoying the brief respite of cool weather. All their noise-making and running around put Sasha on alert. Good dog. We went back to bed.

A short while later, Sasha woke us up again. I went to go look, but only saw my neighbor out with her dog and then some kid whiz by on his bike. I did think it was odd to see my neighbor up and out so late at night, but her Facebook status gave some reason why she was up late so I figured it was just more noise that was causing Sasha to stir. Eventually I got her calmed down enough and she finally sacked out for the night.

Unfortunately, I was wide awake. So I headed to my office to start working. I check email and lo… an email from my neighbor. She said she was just taking the dog out one last time before she went to bed and noticed some people she didn’t recognize hanging out a little too close a another neighbor’s garage, and eventually they slinked off. It was too dark to get a good description. That house is further away from me so I’m not surprised I didn’t notice anything when I scanned the neighborhood. It bothered my neighbor enough that she called Austin Police Department to have someone come through and check on things. Good move.

But a couple other things have happened recently that has moved us… well… we’re not in code orange, still code yellow but let’s say it’s a stronger yellow.

From what I can gather, it’s likely bored teenagers going crazy from the heat. Nevertheless, even simple petty thefts are a pain to deal with.

If you haven’t, go back and read my prior post about a Personal Security Checklist. A lot of good things to keep in mind. To that, I’ll add a few things:

  • Don’t leave things in your car. Most car break-ins are looking for things that can be quickly and easily consumed (e.g. cigarettes, food), or things that can be quickly and easily sold (e.g. CD’s, electronics), and of course, money… even those few quarters in the console could be tempting enough. Don’t give them a reason to break in to your car.
  • Lock things. Lock the doors to your car. Lock the doors to your house. Lock the windows on your house. Keep doors and windows closed. When working in the yard, close your garage door unless you’re immediately involved with it (e.g. mowing the front yard, could be OK to keep it open… mowing the back yard, close the garage door). Many such crimes are simple crimes of opportunity. If they try the door and it’s unlocked, why not just open up, reach inside, swipe, and take off? Or if the garage door is open, just step in, grab a handful of tools, and off they go.
  • If you have lights on the exterior of your home, use them. Cockroaches don’t like light.
  • If the doggie starts barking, pay attention. Yeah it might just be a racoon in the yard, but it might not.
  • If you have an alarm system, use it.

The bottom line is that you cannot prevent all crime, but you can do what you can to make yourself less appealing. Nothing obvious nor easy to steal? Lights on? Everything locked? Alarm system? hrm… not as easy a target as that other house over there, in the dark with the open windows on the ground floor behind the shrubs.

2011-06-22 workout

/ hsoi

Squats

  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x70
  • 1x3x105
  • 1x2x140
  • 3x5x175 (work)

The work set felt heavy. I say that each time, but this felt a lot heavier than usual. I’m not sure why. Could it simply be that weight is increasing? Or that it’s increasing and getting closer to the threshold my body is presently able to handle? Maybe lack of sleep, since my sleep has been a bit crappy lately — made worse last night by the thunderstorms, which were so welcome but after they woke me up I couldn’t get back to sleep because I was just enjoying the sound of the rain too much. 🙂 So I don’t know, but no real worries.

In fact, it was kinda nice to feel that heavy, because it really emphasized the need for the hip drive. Good thing!

Press

  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x45
  • 1x3x55
  • 1x2x65
  • 3x5x80 (work)

All I have to say here is, the shrug at the top of the press is vital in keeping the bar balanced. 🙂 No, I didn’t drop it, but yes there was a little sway if I wasn’t shrugged/tight, and no problems if I was shrugged/tight.

Deadlift

  • 2x5x95 (warmup)
  • 1x3x95
  • 1x2x140
  • 1x5x165 (work)

I’d be lying if my brain and its love of statistics and numbers wasn’t a little bothered that my squat is outpacing my deadlift (generally speaking, deadlift weight should be greater than squat). But I look at it this way: deadlift is done once a week, squat three times. Squat is going up 10# each workout, deadlift 15#. So when you do the numbers game, of course deadlift is eventually going to lag, given where they both started. But I have to remind myself to not care about that, because it will even out and settle in. The 10# increments on squats probably won’t last through the end of the month, but I betcha deadlifts will keep up 15# increments; plus when I drop down I’ll drop to 5# increments on squats and 10# on deadlifts, so the gap will narrow. I am not focusing on it nor am obsessed with it, but hey… it’s there and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t care. 🙂

That all said, these felt really good. I was able to watch the Staring Strength DVD again and am really minding my form, especially with regards to back and chest. As far as I can tell, the bar is being pulled straight up… lowering is a little off still, but improving.

Commentary

The workouts are starting to feel heavier. As I mentioned above, not sure if it’s simply a matter of yes the weights are increasing or the lack of sleep. But by the same token, I’m getting used to things. My body and neuromuscular system is getting used to the idea of lifting heavy stuff. It’s cool. I’m liking the results, both in terms of pure strength increases and also the evident muscular hypertrophy.

I really like this program. I like that there’s daily records and mini goal milestones being met each day. But I also like seeing the long haul, that it’s a program with vision and ultimately a goal of long-term results. Looking forward to seeing where I stand at the end of next week!

This is what denial can foster

/ hsoi

Last night I saw this tweet made by the City of Austin about a male suspect groping females in the area of the University of Texas.

 

A male subject has been groping females in the University of Texas area.

A White or Hispanic male suspect, typically on a bike has approached female victims in the West Campus area. The suspect rides by, parks his bike and then gropes or attempts to lift the skirts or dresses of the victims as they walk past him. In recent cases the suspect has been on foot when approaching victims and no bicycle has been seen.

The suspect is described as:

White or Hispanic male

5’7″ to 6′ tall

Thin build

The suspect sometimes wears a black shirt, black biker shorts, and a black and white bike helmet.

He has occasionally been seen riding a mountain bike.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Austin Police Department Sex Crimes Unit at 512-974-5230 or the Sex Crimes Unit Tip line at 512-974-5095 or Crime Stoppers at 512-472-8477.

Date: 3:52:34 PM 06/21/2011 EDT

 

 

If you have information, please submit it.

As well, submit this to every person, be they in the Texas legislature, or just a private citizen, that thinks crime cannot happen on college campuses. That thinks there’s wisdom is denying the citizenry the ability to protect themselves by their preferred means. That somehow keeping guns off college campuses means people are safer.

Oh but you say, this guy is just lifting a skirt or grabbing a boob… what’s the big deal? Is that really worth shooting someone over? Well, why don’t you ask the women he’s victimized? How about asking my wife, who was sexually assaulted… sure, it was just a boob grab, but her attacker escalated and not too soon after his assault on my wife, he went on to rape a woman.

Tell me you want to deny women the ability to defend themselves.

 

The afternoon, so far…

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

Allow me to recap.

First, I found a dead snake on my car’s rear view mirror. I have no idea how it got there but either 1. someone thought it’d be an interesting prank, 2. some prey bird was flying and dropped it, 3. some other third thing. I can’t rule out #1, but #2 seems more likely. The snake seemed “freshly dead”, and so we removed it and put it back in the greenbelt to either feed some other critter or the soil. Either way, there’s nothing that gives you a bit of a startle like seeing a snake draped across your rear view mirror… not a typical place for them.

Second, went to The Apple Store to buy Daughter her iPod Touch. She has been working hard and saving her money for it for geez… many moons, so many I’ve lost count. She finally got enough money and has been hounding me to take her, so I had a couple of hours and did so. She actually didn’t have quite enough once we factored in AppleCare and a case, but I was planning to pay for those anyways (she actually did account for tax). What makes me proud is her ethic. She worked hard, she took on babysitting jobs, she didn’t give into temptation to buy other things just to satisfy that urge to “get something”. She made her goal, she stayed focused on it, and she made it happen. It was a long term goal, and to a kid, many many months of work and waiting is an eternity… I know it was really hard for her to do this, but damn if I’m not proud of her. This is the sort of ethic that will carry her far in life.

Of course now, I don’t expect to ever see her out of her room. She’s got a couple of friends and family members that also have iPod Touches… and I know there will be FaceTime sessions. 🙂

Third, I have put Oldest in charge of the TV researching. I think that will be good for him. Some research work, having to learn about the technology, having to present it all to me, and the pressure that if we get a crappy TV it’s all on him. 😉  I think it’ll be a good project for him, something to grow on, something to expand his horizons in a few ways, and it helps the family out. We’ll see what happens, and hopefully he’ll follow through.

Fourth, there is no fourth thing… yet.

Purchases

/ hsoi / 29 Comments

Looks like our tube TV is dying and so finally it’ll be time to jump into the world of flat-screens. I pretty much ignored everything in that world because if I wasn’t buying, why pay attention? it would only change faster than I could keep up (and sure enough it has). Of course, it’s still a confusing array of stuff.

Coincidentally, Unc is also looking so I can just take some of the advice given to him. A friend pointed me to a couple of sites: http://www.consumersearch.com/lcd-tv and http://reviews.cnet.com/best-hdtvs/. Happened to go to Costco yesterday for some groceries and detoured through the TV section. I think one of the 40-ish inch models will suffice for our setup. Prices aren’t too horrendous.

Anyone have anything to add? We have Time-Warner Cable and already have one of their HD cable boxes. I don’t have any sort of stereo home theater system, nor do I really want to buy one at this time… just use what the TV provides, and perhaps down the line we can fill in the gaps. We do hook up the Wii and the old PS2, and I’m sure any future consoles will get hooked up there too. Don’t need any built-in stuff like Internet or Wi-Fi or other “gimmicks” like that, that I can tell. The room is fairly well-lit, between sunlight and lamps.

And what else might we need to buy in addition to the TV itself? brackets? stands? cables?

In non-electronic news….

I’m also looking at buying my first 1911 as a birthday present to myself. I honestly have no real desire for a 1911, being quite happy with my plastic guns. But, a 1911 is one of those guns that you just need to have in your collection. Plus, being the 100 year anniversary, I figure this makes a nice time to buy. I’m going to get an STI Spartan because it’s about the best value for the money. STI’s are solid, and it’s a good price and package for a first 1911. I’ll have pics and a “break-in” range report once I get it.

2011-06-20 workout

/ hsoi

Another day, another workout. I tell you tho, my motivation is so high that it’s hard to not want to just go into the gym. I think that’s a good sign that I’m so high on this. No idea if it’s just novelty of it all, if it’s because every workout sets a PR, if the program makes it so easy to see constant improvement and progression. Can’t say just what it is, but I tell you, I like it.

Squats

  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x65
  • 1x3x95
  • 1x2x135 (should have been 130 but the way the gym was this morning it was easier to just slap the 45# plates on and be done with it)
  • 3x5x165

Weight continues to increase in 10# jumps, which is good from all indications of how the program is to progress. Yes, they continue to feel heavy, but nothing about today’s weight felt “scary” — it felt conquerable. When I was done, it felt awesome… and I could only think about Wednesday’s workout going to 175, and that if this rate keeps up I’ll break 200# before the end of the month. I don’t need to break 200# before the end of the month, because if I keep on the program, I’ll break it eventually… and that’s far more important, to just have constant progression.
Bench Press

  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x65
  • 1x3x90
  • 1x2x115
  • 3x5x130

I’d be lying if I didn’t say my ego wanted me to just put 45# plates on the bar and do 135#… I mean come on, it’s just 5#, right? But no, greed is the enemy of this program. Be steady. Follow the program. I’ll be doing 135# on Friday anyways, right? So who cares. Long-term results, constant progression.
Chin-ups

  • 1x9xbodyweight
  • 1x7xbodyweight
  • 1x5xbodyweight

If you compare these numbers to last Monday’s numbers, it was an increase of only 1 rep. However, I finally remembered to really focus on the negative portion of the rep. So focusing more on the negative means more work/exhaustion to the muscles, and if even with that I did 1 more total rep than last time? That’s progress in my book.

I did look at the regular chin-up bar today and wondered if I should give it a try instead of doing these “inverted row” things. But no, let’s stick to the program… stick with the inverted rows until I’m hitting 3×15. I’ll get there.

Commentary

Nothing really much to add here. I’m finding my motivation high, my progress good. Strength is going up, my weight feels about steady but my belt feels a little looser. There’s no question I’m gaining strength and also muscle mass (I can see and feel it), so if the scales are about steady and the belt is looser I’m also losing some flab, which is desired. Just continuing to shovel the protein, eating some fruit, a lot of veggies, fat is adequate, and avoiding “empty” carbs (no pasta, almost no corn or potato chips, etc.). A quasi-paleo diet, tho I’m not excluding salt or dairy; in fact, dairy is a primary source for me. I’m not strict about that, but that’s the easiest way to describe what I’m eating.

All in all, going well and really enjoying this journey. It’s a fun ride.

My head asplode

/ hsoi

Yesterday I saw a Prius with both a “Repeal Obamacare” and NRA sticker on it. Couldn’t get a picture since I was driving.

I guess it’s all part of keeping Austin weird, or at least, busting stereotypes.