Life

Austin Water implements Stage 2 water restrictions

/ hsoi

The Stage 2 water restrictions for City of Austin officially starts today.

For a list of what this means, click here.

If you live in Austin or a surrounding community, please stick to this. Actually, I shouldn’t have to ask… it’s city ordinance and failure to comply will be a Class C misdemeanor punishable by a fine up to $500.

The time to conserve is when you’ve got it… by the time you’ve not got it it’s too late to try to conserve. If this drought continues (we’re at almost 2 years now), we’re going to be in a world of hurt.

Spreading the word that the restrictions are in effect.

Man with a gun

/ hsoi

Many gun bloggers like to post “man/woman with a gun” posts from time to time. The blogger is someone with a concealed handgun license, and the point of the posting is how they go about their daily lives — with a gun. That means they are legally carrying their gun and might go to the grocery store, thus they’ll post about a “man with a gun at the grocery store.” Or they might go to the park and post about a “man with a gun in the park.” Or maybe they had to take their kid to a birthday party and it’s “man with a gun around young children at a birthday party.” You get the idea.

As I’d read this posts I found them annoying. I’m not exactly sure why. But the most I thought about it, the more I realized that there’s a benefit in telling such a thing.

It demonstrates there are lots of people out there, normal, law-abiding people out there. These people just so happen to carry a gun, for whatever reason they choose. And nothing happens.

There’s no blood on the streets.

No one died or got hurt.

No children were harmed.

No gun spontaneously lept to life and started shooting.

And it just happened all around you. You were probably blissfully ignorant of it the whole time. It was no big deal. There was nothing to be afraid of, and there’s still nothing to be afraid of even now that you’re aware that there are folks carrying guns around you. The only thing that changed was your knowledge of the situation; it’s no more dangerous now than it was before.

Life just goes on.

Some might say if nothing happened, then that demonstrates you didn’t need a gun in the first place; things were obviously safe enough. No, not quite. The point is to say that the mere fact a man with a gun was out and about doesn’t mean bad things will happen. That just because you might be in proximity to someone with a gun, doesn’t mean you’ll die. That because someone chooses to carry a gun doesn’t mean they’re a bloodthirsty killer. But it also does mean that there are at least some people out there that understand when situations arise in life, you can handle situations better when you’re prepared for them. Furthermore, that many times the right tool make it a lot easier to solve a problem. It’s easier to hang a picture if you’ve got a hammer and a nail.

So know there are folks carrying guns all around you. The ones legally doing so? You don’t have to worry about them. The overwhelming odds are they’re a good person. Life remains good and peaceful, with the knowledge there’s sheepdogs out there.

Updated: Joe Huffman provides a quote that ties in nicely.

I guess I was lucky

/ hsoi

Back from our shopping day. I guess the gods were smiling upon us.

First stop was JC Penny’s. They’ve come a long ways and overhauled their image and merchandise. We actually managed to knock out most of our shopping there, racking up a hefty bill. When we got to the car I took a moment to look at the receipt to see how much we didn’t spend (note: not “save” because this isn’t saving, it’s just not spending as much) and I noted that we were charged tax! I knew we’d have tax on a few little things, but I checked the math and we were charged tax on everything! That’s not right. I went back in and pointed it out. Seems they had some problems with a bunch of registers charging tax. They thought the register I checked out on was working, but apparently not. In comes the manager. The only way to fix it was to totally void the transaction and start over. So, on the faulty register she voided it all out, then we had to haul all our stuff to a register in the back of the store at the exchange/returns counter and have everything rung up all over again. Yeah, a pain… but, no big deal.

You see, here we go again with the InSights ABC’s: Always Be Cool. Smile on my face, taking it easy, no big deal. And it really wasn’t a big deal. Sure it was a bit of an inconvenience, but the manager kept apologizing and I just looked at her and said “Hey, shit happens… no big deal.” and smiled and relaxed. I could have pitched a fit, but what good would that have done? Frankly, I was in a great mood, I had no desire to complain, so ABC was just natural. Just be cool. And what did I get for being cool? Well you see, there was a coupon in their sales flyer: spend $50 and get $10 off, or spend $75 and get $15 off. That should apply to the whole transaction. Well, for whatever reason (I can only assume good customer service, and because I was so understanding and cool about the problem), the manager opted to ring up the whole of my purchase in $75 increments and give me the discount each time. 🙂 Score! That’s not a normal thing and not how things are to be done, plus it’s a lot of little transactions, but hey… Always Be Cool. It pays off.

In the end, I we didn’t spend about $120 due to the lack of sales tax and then the nice manager. That was well worth it… both shopping today and well, being cool. 🙂

Went to a couple more stores.

Let’s just say Burlington Coat Factory aims for a different demographic. The sort of clothing they sell… nothing really there for my kids in terms of style.

Old Navy still has a store. I thought they were closing up and Levi’s was eliminating them for Gap stores or some such. But we went there and were able to round a few things out.

In terms of how much we truly didn’t spend, that’s hard to gauge. The original JCP receipt said we saved a few hundred bucks. My guess is that’s totalling the actual sticker prices vs. the price we paid. There was a lot of sales, 30% off, buy one get one free, buy one get one 50% off, clearance discounts (about 75% off original price). So yeah, I feel we did OK on things. But if I walked into the store during an off day, I’m not sure they’d still be selling any of that stuff for sticker price. So how much we really didn’t spend I don’t know, but the sales are aggressive this weekend and compared to what else I’ve seen I think we fared OK. Frankly in total we spent a little less than we normally do for kid clothes shopping, but I know we came home with more clothes for them and even Wife and I picked up a few things for ourselves. Plus then the flat out non-spending on the sales tax, the bonus discounts and such…all in all I think in the end we did alright.

And to boot? Had to run a little errand when I got home. Walking back past the grocery store I poked my head into the entrance just to try to buy a Coke from the vending machine. The Coke guy was filling up the machine and I asked if I could get one while he was filling it. He handed me a bottle. I asked how much I owed, he said “nothing… it’s cool.” Really? Yup. Wow… that was nice.

Always Be Cool.

Today was a good day. 🙂

Wish me luck

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

Texas has a “sales tax holiday weekend” designed to help with back-to-school shopping.

It’s this coming weekend, Friday through Sunday.

We’ve never bothered with this. The main reason is we don’t want to deal with the crowds and chaos. And unfortunately, we fear people are going to be petty, rude, and ugly because they all want the best deals for themselves. We’ve experienced this during “big shopping weekends” before,  and we just choose not to deal with it. Plus since we homeschool, we don’t always need to be on the same clock and schedule as the rest of the world.

However, we decided to give it a try this time around. The kids need clothes, we know every retailer in Texas will be stocked up and prepared for this event (I even got an email from Waco Harley-Davidson promoting this weekend), and there will be sales and lots of aggressive pricing and discounting and so on as retailers jockey to attract customers. Then the sales tax alleviation on select items. The kids need the clothing they need so buy it now or later, they still need it. If we buy it now, I expect we’ll be able to lower our total bill. By how much I don’t know yet, but I expect any reduction in the overall bill will be welcome. 🙂

Being the planner I am coupled with my desire to get in and get out as fast as possible, we’ve figured out all that the kids need. We know what pants, shoes, socks, skirts, shirts, underwear, and whatever else they may need. We figured out what sizes of everything to get to minimize the slow down that comes with fitting rooms. Plus we figured out quantities. I think that’s a key factor at keeping cost controlled… you know you need 5 shirts, you get 5 shirts instead of saying “gosh at this price, we can get 7 shirts” which then just jacks up the total bill. If last night before you saw the prices 5 shirts was enough, then today after seeing the prices 5 shirts is still enough.

And going with the fact we aren’t on the same clock as the rest of the world, the plan is to go at the time we feel will have the smallest crowds: first thing Friday morning. Most people will have to be working, most people aren’t morning people. So if we can be on the road at 8 AM and done by lunch, awesome.

The geek in me is also wondering if the iPhone will come into play. If I’ll be able to comparison shop, look up prices, product reviews, or any other sort of on-the-spot information gathering.

Finally, I suspect there will probably be a man with a gun wandering through all these crowds, through all these retail establishments, being around lots of children…. and I’ll betcha nothing will come of it. 😉

So, onwards we go. Hopefully tomorrow won’t suck. 🙂

Winners and losers

/ hsoi

When you have kids, sooner or later you have to teach them about winning and losing. What a winner is, and what a loser is. This isn’t just in the scope of say games/sports and sportsmanship, but just about anything in life and having a truly winner attitude so they can succeed in life in anything they do.

Some people grow up and never learn what it is to be a winner; they’re content being losers. John Farnam just wrote a piece discussing how as an instructor he encounters winners and losers in his classes.

Winners are unafraid! They spend their time finding a way to win, rather than looking for an excuse to lose. Winners fear neither victory nor failure.

Losers are deathly afraid of both!

Yes, losers are afraid! Fear ever haunts the base of their being and prevents them from ever walking upright, confidently, proudly.

Losers mumble! They don’t speak clearly, nor with conviction. They can’ t even seem to speak in complete sentences, because their thought processes are confused and perverse. They are afraid of truth, afraid of reality in all forms. They doubt their ability to handle life, so they hide their faces from the light of day.

Losers are bitter and resentful! They are angry with everyone. They can’t handle correction. They savagely defend their every mistake, every blunder, every crime like a lioness her young! Their elaborate rationalizations are sadly comical.

Losers are afraid of growing up! They prefer to be “taken care of.” Accepting full, personal responsibility for anything is unthinkable.

Losers snivel, whine, and make excuses! They take personal responsibility for nothing, always blaming others and “bad luck” for every gloomy hand they’re dealt.

Losers surround themselves with enablers and coddlers who never challenge them! Losers associate only with other losers!

Losers are chronically unproductive! They run their mouths continuously, but habitually shun productive work.

Losers know right from wrong, but conduct their lives as if they didn’t! They’re into “situation ethics,” offering up endless excuses for lying and other misdeeds.

Most of all, losers are ashamed, and should be! They cheerlessly watch themselves missing out on all the best life has to offer, but personal vanity and cowardice ever prevent them from sincerely repenting, and then boldly claiming their own magnificence.

This isn’t the new-agey “everyone’s a winner” sort of b.s.. This is truly having a positive attitude, one geared towards succeeding. As a father, it’s my duty to ensure my children grow up being winners. As a member of my community, it’s my responsibility to help the children I work with (Scouts, 4-H, etc.) be winners.

Take a moment and share the above with your children. Help them learn to be winners. If it can improve our own attitudes as well, all the better.

The quest for simple beer

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

I love a good beer.

My first exposure to beer was Dad drinking Budweiser. “Dad, can I try a sip?” “Sure.” “Bleck, eww, that’s gross!!” But yet somehow that sowed the seed. When it comes to beer, wine, or liquor, my preference is beer. Used to be a heavier drinker (college and all that), but now I really don’t care to get drunk. I just enjoy a good beer now and again, like any beverage (find me a good lemonade and I’m really happy). I try to pair my beer with the meal I’m eating, and many times I don’t finish the beer because it’s not that important to me… we don’t always finish the glass of water or soda or tea with our meals, so why should there be any pressure to finish the beer? It’s just a beverage, the alcohol just happens to be there (tho I of course mind it because it will affect you). I’m not a drinker, I just like the taste of good beer.

I recall back in college (or maybe it was high school?) when Sam Adams came out, and drinking it was the first foray into “hoity-toity” beer (no more “Beast” here!). From there, you try other “fancy” things, eventually discovering Guinness and then life is never the same. I certainly love going to brew pubs, micro brewerys, discovering odd beers, adoring all things Belgian styled, preference for ales. I know what it is to be a beer snob. I can appreciate that these days beer lovers have more choices than ever before.

But that’s also part of the problem.

Yesterday I went to Spec’s. What a fantastic place to go as the selection is unmatched. But at the same time, it’s also overwhelming. You can spend hours there just looking at all that’s available, trying to figure out what you’d like to try, talking with the employees to get their opinions, maybe taste tests, maybe you can take home a pack of various singles to try them out. It’s actually quite the adventure.

On the same token, it also demonstrates that things are getting kinda silly. Everyone is on a quest to make some serious sort of beer. There’s gazillions of IPA’s out there, wheat beers, fruit beers, heck… I just discovered a “barley wine style ale” (very strong, very bitter, but good). Then trying to go for some sort of special line that’s even more special than their normal special beers, hand-crafted in small batches, blah blah blah. There’s just so much available, but it’s all trying to be more complex than the next guy, more trendy than the other micro-brewery.

What happened to simple beer?

I’m not talking Beast (piss-water is still piss-water). I’d still like the beer to taste good and have some meaning in the mouth. But can we put away the beer snobbery and try to make something simple? On a hot Texas afternoon, I just don’t find IPA’s to be refreshing… they can be very delicious, but it’s not just something I want to knock back when I’m hot and tired, or just standing around the BBQ pit with my buds while the brisket smokes. I’ve actually found myself drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon lately because it’s simple and refreshing, but still has some decent taste to it.

Maybe it’s the engineer in me that appreciates true simplicity. That to make something complex just to be complex, well, almost anyone can do that…. it’s easy to keep adding things. But to take things away, to strip down until you get to the true essence of something, to have the self-control to do so… there’s a greater beauty and challenge in that, I think.

So to my readers… can you suggest a good, simple beer?

District 9

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Went to see the movie District 9 tonight.

I won’t say much, as I don’t want to spoil things.

My overall take was that it was an enjoyable movie. Not what I was expecting… a level of emotional involvement happened to me, and I didn’t expect the movie would have such a thing. I thought that was good tho, given how the movie works out. A little slow to start, but they have to do that to build everything properly. It works. It didn’t feel labored or extraneous. Yeah, you have to do a little belief suspension and not try to put logic into every last little detail… just shut up and enjoy the movie for what it is.

That all said, the gun nut in me just loved the movie. Man… guns everywhere. Gratuitous use of 1911’s and AK-47’s, M-16’s, a Beretta 92, shotguns galore, probably a bunch of other things that I missed or couldn’t identify in all the firefights. Plus the alien weaponry. Gun nuts are going to love this movie. 🙂

Good stuff. Check it out.

Stage 2 water restrictions

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

The drought is so bad in Austin, the city just went to stage 2 water restrictions.

Here’s a list.

One thing I’m happy about is that while you cannot wash off surfaces like sidewalks, you can if it’s to remove a health hazard. All the duck poop that we get on the walkway up to our front door due to the visiting waterfowl, I’m glad I can still wash it away. It’s be horrible if we couldn’t.

If any of you have some extra rain, please send it our way. 🙂

InSights ABC’s

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

I have a fondness for InSights Training‘s ABC’s: Always Be Cool.

It’s a mode of being that helps to keep you out of trouble. Always Be Cool. If trouble happens to come your way, you need a level head and a demeanor to help you get out of the situation. Always Be Cool.

There was a recent discussion about dealing with police in the context of concealed carry (e.g. how to produce your license/permit, how to notify the officer that you are carrying, etc. in a way that won’t freak out the officer). Any time a police officer has to pull someone over, they’re going to be tense because they don’t know what to expect and must prepare themselves for the worst. If you are tense, if your body language is anxious, the officer is going to see it and will react accordingly. You are doing nothing wrong (other than your moving violation), you’re just tense because it’s a tense situation by its nature, but still… what can you do to make things better? Always Be Cool.

From Greg Hamilton:

I should of course add YOUR body language, demeanor, speech, etc. must be calm and nonchalant if you want the officer to be also. If you are stressed, anxious, etc you immediately lead the officer there.

[…]

InSights ABC’s: Always Be Cool; first step of being cool is LOOKING cool.

Calm demeanor, natural non-forced smile, normal tone of voice, all lead to you being “believed” They also produce a calm, matter-of-fact, just doing my job demeanor  in the officer.

The thing is, this goes far beyond interactions with police officers. It enters into the realm of interactions with anyone and everyone. If you come across calmly, smiling, looking like a nice and cool person, you will be perceived as a cool person and it makes so many things in life go smoother for you.

Whatever you’re doing and dealing with in life, just remember to Always Be Cool. It can take you pretty far.

Sometimes violence is the answer

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Matthew, over at Straight Forward in a Crooked World, has an entry titled “Failure to Comply.”

It’s a compelling read, and you’d do well to take a few minutes to read it, then a few minutes more to think about what he wrote.

There’s one thing he wrote that really caught my attention:

We are taught early on and reminded as adults constantly that violence is bad and that it never solves anything, and that no one wins in a fight. This is simply untrue. In fact it is horribly untrue. This is the result of political correctness infesting everything. It skews how we set and train our minds to win.

Violence does solve problems.

Reactive violence can and does routinely stop evil offensive violence. When you are left (regardless of your sex) on the ground and fighting to win to keep your life violence is the answer…and it is the only answer. And you should not apologize nor back peddle for that.

It made me think about my children and what I teach them.

When I started my parenting career, we opted to do the “no hitting” thing. There was no spanking, we taught Oldest not to hit, period. Basically, violence was completely frowned upon for any and every reason, in every context, every angle, you name it.

It didn’t take long before we abandoned that to a small part. Spanking came around. Why? Because you can’t reason with a 2 year old; they just don’t know enough about life to understand greater things. We didn’t and don’t beat our children, but all living things respond in a simple manner: seek pleasure, avoid pain. We saved a swat on the behind for those times when you really needed to enforce a negative consequence to some action. That is, spanking was not the general punishment; it was reserved for times when you needed to make a strong negative impression because there was no natural negative consequence of the action. For example, child runs into the street; that could warrant a swat on the behind because there’s no question there could be tragic consequences of that action — it must not happen again. However, the action itself has no natural negative consequence (apart from the undesirable of the child getting hit by a car), so you must impart a negative consequence so the child will not undertake that action again. The child must know that action leads to painful consequences so they will avoid partaking in actions that lead to pain. Political correctness compells me to say that we also are into positive reinforcement; frankly that garners a lot more compliance and a happier household. But sometimes, a spanking is the right and only answer. Heck, even my old college roommate just went through a little “my son got whacked” situation. He’s still of the “no spanking” camp, but there’s no question the little whack his son got straightened him up and made for a better long-term experience.

When I started getting serious about self-defense, martial arts study, firearms study, I realized that when our kids hit each other, to condemn them and lay down a rule of “no hitting, never” was not correct. Here I was studying all sorts of violent things because I know that sometimes violence is the answer, and now I’m telling my children never to use violence? That didn’t jive, and I had to correct myself.

I teach my children differently now. I teach my children that yes, sometimes violence is the answer, but you must know when that is. If your sibling took your toy or is being annoying, violence is not an appropriate response. If someone is attempting to harm you, abduct you, your sibling, your friends, your Mother… then yes, violence can be an answer. I do what I can to teach my children the proper contexts, to know how to respond in these contexts. I wish my children to live peaceful lives, and while I know the world has mostly good people, there are enough bad people out there that we have to take care and be prepared.

Some months back I posted about guns and church and reconciling Christian doctrine against violent activity. It doesn’t preach it, it doesn’t desire it, but even it acknowledges that sometimes yes, violence is the answer.

It’s not pretty to think about, and it’s far from politically correct. But where do you choose to live? In fantasy or reality?