Life

The End?

/ hsoi

It sounds like Xavier is going to hang it up and close up his blog.

Given his reasons? I can’t say I blame him.

It’s a shame tho. His writing was always a joy to read. Some things would be simple and straightforward. Other things would be more composed and so eloquent. Little things like how he’d blog from his dog’s perspective or how he’d recount events from a night in the ER. Or even his more recent foray into the world of photography.

I just think it sucks that the vocal assholes are driving him to this. I guess those of us that appreciated his blog should have spoken up sooner, but at least we can speak up now.

Potential lightening of my wallet.

/ hsoi

The company I work for, they’re opening a proper office in Austin. I’m still going to work from home. Been doing it over 10 years, I see no reason to stop, especially since my home office is better set up and equiped for the requirements of my job.

However, I did discover the new office isn’t too far from GT Distributors.

“Honey…. I need to uh… go to the office (yeah, that’s it).” 🙂

Cuttin’ stuff

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

People keep wondering, why carry a knife.

This morning is a perfect example.

I had to cut open 2 bundles of furring strips, a package of weatherstripping, then cut the weatherstripping to length to go on the door.

It was sure nice to have an appropriate tool on hand, sharp, ready to go, able to be easily retrieved when needed and stowed when not (pocket clip) but yet handy at all times.

And all before 9:00 AM.

I know this isn’t glamorous, but it’s a tool…. it’s just about being handy and useful. Tools are most useful and most handy when they are available and ready to go when you need them.

Bummed, but making the best of it.

/ hsoi

Work ran long today. I was determined to finish the compliance with the new open source software usage policy, so I could get back to more creative endeavors. I’m all done save hearing back from the CTO on a couple things.

Consequently I missed my martial arts class tonight. Bummer too, as it’s weapons night.

Tonight is also the sparring class. If all goes well, I’ll have something from the UPS man in a couple days that will make that class finally happen. Details will be posted after Mr. UPS stops by.

In lieu of proper class, off to the garage I go. Going to work out on the DIY mook jong. I think I’ll stick my blue gun in the holster too for a little “cross-training”. And on all that knife blarg I’ve been writing about lately? That is one benefit to the Delica: there’s a trainer version. Hrm.

Use it every day

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

I carry a few knives on me.

I carry a Spyderco Delica as a self-defense knife. I carry a Leatherman Wave as my portable toolset. Whenever I need to cut something, like opening a box the UPS man dropped at the doorstep, I always pull out the Wave. The reasoning, due to my training, is to keep the Delica reserved for those “special needs” one may unfortunately be involved in. You want to keep that knife sharp and ready for such a circumstance.

I just came to the conclusion that’s the wrong way to go about it.

I should be using that Delica for every cutting need I have.

Reason? Doing so would put it in my hand a lot. It gets me using the knife in its intended context frequently. It makes it comfortable in my hand. To draw it, to unfold it, to cut with it, to fold it back up and put it away. We tell gun folks to dry fire practice all the time and go to the range and live fire practice too. Why aren’t we doing that with our knives? And if we are, why must we only do it in a special “practice time” context? Why can’t it just be a normal part of the day? In a self-defense situation the hardest part will be deploying the knife, so why shouldn’t we have hundreds upon thousands of repetitions of that to ensure we’ve got it down and it’s a natural thing? If you need to open a box, use the Delica. If you need to cut some rope, use the Delica. Open a letter, use the Delica. That’s what I should be doing.

So using the knife will dull it. Of course it will. This is why you must periodically clean it and sharpen it. Get yourself something like Spyderco’s Triangle Sharpmaker; it does such a great job and is really easy to use. If you don’t or can’t use that, just get something that keeps your knives honestly sharp. There’s no excuse for your knives to be anything less than razor sharp; even Cub Scouts earning their “Whittlin’ Chip” card are taught that the safest knife is a sharp knife (if you don’t know why, ask me). If the knife is regularly maintained, that negates the need to reserve it to avoid the wear and tear. Besides, a good self-defense knife shouldn’t be some expensive beauty queen you don’t want to risk breaking or losing; it should be solid and perform but nothing to cry over should it be damaged or lost (thus the choice of a Delica).

12 Steps to Raise a Juvenile Delinquent

/ hsoi

Not too long ago, Jay G was lamenting the state of parenting. Chris Byrne was then motivated to write about 5 rules for good behavior.

In that vein, yesterday I read a friend’s Facebook status that linked to this, 12 steps to raise a juvenile delinquent. It’s all in the same vein, just a different approach in the writing. Reprinting:

  1. Begin with infancy to give the child everything he wants. In this way he will grow up to believe the world owes him a living.
  2. When he picks up bad words, laugh at him. This will make him think he’s cute.
  3. Never give him any spiritual training. Wait until he is twenty-one and then let “him decide for himself”.
  4. Avoid the use of “wrong”. He may develop a guilt complex. This will condition him to believe later, when he is arrested, that society is against him and he is being persecuted.
  5. Pick up everything he leaves lying around. Do everything for him so that he will be experienced in throwing all responsibility on others.
  6. Take his part against neighbors, teachers, and policemen. They are all prejudiced against your child.
  7. Quarrel frequently in the presence of your children. In this way they won’t be so shocked when the home is broken up later.
  8. Give the child all the spending money he wants. Never let him earn his own.
  9. Satisfy his every craving for food, drink, and comfort. See that his every sensual desire is gratified.
  10. Let him read any printed material, and listen to any music he can get his hands on. Be careful that the silverware and drinking glasses are sterilized, but let his mind feast on garbage.
  11. When he gets into real trouble, apologize to yourself by saying, “I could never do anything with him.”
  12. Prepare for a life of grief. You will likely have it.

Credit says: “Taken from a pamphlet entitled Twelve Rules for Raising Delinquent Children distributed by the Houston Police Department.”

Remember: you are (supposed to be) the parent; act like it.

There is no begging, no pleading, no bargaining with your kids. Limits are essential. Saying “no” is good for them.

A story of awesome customer service – The Toy Giant

/ hsoi

This is a tale of customer service that I think went above and beyond, thus it is a tale that must be told.

Christmas wish lists.

Children all wanting Nerf blasters from Santa.

I turn to Amazon.com because they’re the only ones that appear to have the particular models in stock.

One model, the Nerf Raider Rapid Fire CS-35 seems to have 3 flavors for sale: the regular version, a version with 100 bonus darts, and a version that comes with a second drum magazine. I think the second magazine is where it’s at, so that’s what I… err… Santa puts in the order for.

UPS man delivers very close to Christmas Eve. When the box arrives we just put it into the closet and don’t look at it until Elf-time late at night on Christmas Eve.

Ugh. They sent me the wrong model. They sent the 100-dart bonus pack, not the extra drum version. I’m bummed, but what can I do? These are from Santa, something must be delivered from The Fat Man® by morning time, so I have to run with what I was given. Ultimately that’s OK as the kids won’t know one way or the other, but there was the principle of it. Furthermore, when I went to the computer to double-check the order and invoice to ensure I didn’t mess it up (because all 3 flavors were in my shopping cart at one point, maybe I removed the wrong ones?), I realized that 1. I did correctly submit the order, 2. the price difference between what I ordered and what I received was $22!! Yikes. If it was a simple product flub that’d be one thing, but that’s a fair chunk of money.

I contacted the seller, The Toy Giant (they were selling via Amazon). I explained the situation, provided copies of the invoices, pictures of everything. In the end, it was their mistake, but I won’t be hard on that. It’s a rushed time of year, I’m sure one of their busiest, and given the similarities in the product ordered vs. delivered I can certainly understand the mistake. No hard feelings, no big deal. All I asked for was for them to refund the $22 difference to my credit card, since that’s about all that could be done given the Christmas circumstances.

Their reply?

First, it was prompt, which was great.

Second, they offered to send me the correct product. I quote from the email:

I don’t mind shipping the version with the extra drum and you can keep both.

I was certainly caught off-guard by that. They admit their mistake, and not only do they correct it but they expect nothing in return.

I don’t know what brought that on, if it’s their normal course of action or was brought on by the Christmas circumstance. But it doesn’t matter. They didn’t have to do what they did, but they did it.

That’s some great customer service. They didn’t just make things right, they went beyond. Or who knows… maybe to their bottom line it’s not beyond, maybe it was cheaper and easier for them to do what they did. Who knows. Doesn’t really matter. The perception to the customer is certainly a great one. I’m left with a very positive impression.

The Toy Giant.

Step back and look at yourself

/ hsoi

I just finished a dry-fire practice session.

I’ve been noticing in my dry-fire lately that I’ll draw to ready then have a tough time finding the front sight. I figured it was something with my grip or presentation not being “just right”. So I tried to work on those, but it never felt natural.

I just slowed down a bit and realized what I was doing.

For some reason I was pressing my right cheek into my right arm/shoulder on the presentation. I don’t know why, but my guess is an unconscious effort to get my right (dominant) eye lined up with my right arm, which lines everything up with the sights and so on. I think it’s from all the rifle shooting I’ve been doing lately.

As soon as I stopped myself, as soon as I kept my head centered, lo, there was the front sight! The little red fiber optic beacon shining brightly at me.

Always good to slow down, step back, and look at yourself once in a while. You may be doing things you don’t realize.

On muscovy duck behavior

/ hsoi / 19 Comments

The pond near our house is home to a lot of ducks. When we first moved to the area it was mostly mallard and black duck varieties, but the past few years have seen a dramatic shift to a muscovy duck population. They wander the neighborhood looking for food and places to nest. We have one particular male muscovy that I believe has claimed our house as his house. We call him our “guard duck”, so beware. 🙂

Actually the crazy thing with him is we joked about him being a guard duck, but he’s rather a large male and has become a bit too conditioned to us feeding him. He will fly directly at people in hopes they have food, and when you see big him with his large wingspan coming straight at you, it is intimidating the first time you see it. Certainly makes delivery guys and others visiting the house step back a bit. But no, I don’t consider him any sort of serious part of a home security plan; it’s just funny.

Within the past some weeks, we noticed a sudden upsurge in the number of muscovy’s that visit our house. We might have a dozen, given or take a couple, at one time. Of course, this makes for some interesting bird watching because they have rather interesting mannerisms, behaviors, and interactions with each other. I find myself just watching them for large stretches of time because well… I’d like to figure our what they’re doing, and I can do all of this watching from the comfort of my home.

For example, all of this head bobbing and tail wagging:

Exactly what makes one bob better than another bob? Whoa! Jim there was really bobbing his head something fierce today! better stay away from him!  🙂

Or we’ve recently observed female muscovy’s fighting. Much flapping and jumping about, then “tangling” up their necks in an attempt to get on the other one’s back. When the one female wins she essentially stands on and over the other (dominant position), much head bobbing ensues by her and others around her, but what’s really interesting is how the loser flattens herself on the ground and just lies there even tho there’s nothing truly holding her town.

Granted on the base level you can figure out what they’re doing, but I can’t help but wonder about the nuances in their behavior and what it’s actually communicating. It’s fascinating to watch.

Thing is, it’s hard to find anything online about behaviors. You find a lot about cooking them (supposedly very tasty), about raising them for food, maybe some basic information, and even found a whole website dedicated to them which was one of the better resources.