Life

Another day, another class

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

I was back out today at KR Training helping with classes. There were two classes today, first Defensive Pistol Skills then Handgunning: Beyond the Basics. Overall, it was a good day. I came home and didn’t have any holes in me, so I cannot complain. 8)  Wife is, understandably, happy about that too.

The classes actually went pretty smoothly, from where I sat. Sure things weren’t perfect, but all in all the students were good and things went alright. Up front however, I want to admit my goober moment. Before the first class we were out on the small range getting people properly geared up. One gentleman had brought a revolver to shoot, so I was asking John for his take on things (the gentleman also had a semi-auto and was trying to determine which he should shoot during the class). The gentleman was well behind the firing line and unholstered the revolver to hand to John. John immediately did the proper thing, directing the man to reholster… but I goobered. I said “it’s unloaded”. As soon as I said it, I realized I just had a goober moment. The reason I spoke up was because just a few minutes prior I had taken that gentleman up to the line and got things unloaded, so what I was trying to do was let John know I had cleared the gentleman. But it doesn’t matter. Rule 1? All guns are always loaded. Furthermore, proper range etiquette is that you don’t handle the gun where we were. So, I admit my goober moment in hopes someone else can learn from my mistake.

Again, I overall felt the classes ran OK. Many of the people that came for the first class stayed for the second. Because of the amount of overlap in the students between the two classes, it was cool to watch people progress all day long. So with that, I have a few comments towards the future:

Skills Build

The way classes are structured, what you are doing now is laying a foundation for what you will be doing later. This means you should pay attention to what you’re doing now. It can also perhaps provide a hint as to what’s coming later. But more importantly, as you move on to later things, don’t forget the things that you did prior. You might get taught A then B then C, but when you’re working on D, don’t forget to do A (and B and C). Everything builds, and you should keep that in mind. For those that have taken the class, I’ll just say one word: “SCAN!”. For those yet to take the class, there’s your hint for what you’ll be doing later. 🙂

Speed Is Relative

Fast is important, but I believe correct/accurate is more important. Yes it is important to go fast, but if you’re missing your target, you might be going too fast. I understand the pressures of class… the instructor wants you to go fast… there’s other people shooting faster than you… you want to go fast, you want to do well. Thus, we go fast. But here’s the thing. You can only go as fast as you can go. Yes, there will probably be someone faster than you. Yes, there will probably be someone slower than you. But who cares; this is a classroom, a place to learn, not a competition. You should go as fast as you can go that allows you to properly and correctly perform. Once you are comfortable and confident going that speed, then you should try going a bit faster.

For instance, there was one gentleman in class that was shooting all over the target… very little consistency. We watched him. He was going too fast: trying to shoot fast, pulling the trigger really fast and thus pulling the gun off target, and things just weren’t panning out for him. Eventually we got him to slow down, and slow everything down: slow down his time between shots, slow down his trigger press. Once he did this, his accuracy improved exponentially. Was he as fast as others in the class? No, but he was fast enough for himself. Now that he knows how to shoot correctly, he can work on having correct skills first then he can working speeding up those correct skills.

There’s a story of an Austin Police shooting from a few months back. Apparently that rookie police officer was shooting at the suspect, and was shooting fast. Things weren’t working. He remembered to slow down, use his sights, and he was able to take the bad guy down. 

Misses don’t count. Slow hit is better than fast miss. Work to be correct, work to be smooth, then gradually speed that up.

Mindset is Everything

This is something I actually want to devote to its own blog entry. So here it is.

 

So anyway, the day was good. The weather was gorgeous, a little windy, but wonderful. The drive was great too, as the wildflowers are coming up, bluebonnets are everywhere. Just a good day.

Aim low, baby

/ hsoi / 8 Comments

It’s saddening to read that 1 in 3 people want a salary cap for movie stars and athletes. And not just any cap, one imposed by the government.

*sigh*

If I can’t have it, you can’t have it either. It’s not fair, they lament whine.

Whatever happened to dreaming big? To chasing your dreams? To having the gumption to get off your ass and make something of yourself? Why would you want to impose any sort of upper limit on what people could earn? I guess only because you feel you’ll never earn that so it’s OK… that you never think such a limit will come back to bite you because you never envision yourself earning that much money. Just because you can’t envision yourself rolling in dough, why should you demand that others can’t either? I may not be rolling in that level of money yet, but I’ve been working my way up and along all my life, and I’m not stopping now. I’m willing to dream big and aim high and work and sacrifice to get there. I’m sorry you’re not similarly motivated.

If you don’t want these people to make that sort of money, it’s simple. Don’t feed into their revenue stream. Stop going to see movies. Stop watching sports. Stop being a consumer of the things that enable them to have that high salary. If you stop feeding the beast, it’ll either have to go on a diet or go hungry. But I know… this route requires you to make some effort, which we’ve already established you refuse to do. So instead, “thereoughtabealaw” so it saves you from having to make any effort and take any responsibility for yourself’.

Alas.

Yes, there is hope!

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Dinner is done.

The table needs cleaning off. The children are supposed to be cleaning, but are farting around and wrestling with each other. Wife is getting irritated. Yes the kids are all in a good mood, and we really don’t want to dampen it with Threat Of Dad® coming down upon them. So instead, I opt to bribe provide positive reinforcement to the children.

Ice cream.

Going out for it, no less. Wife requested a little peaceful time to herself, so I’ll happily take the kids away so she can have her Calgon moment.

I told the kids: clean the table and kitchen to Mom’s satisfaction, then tend to the litter box. You have 15 minutes. And I walked away.

These kids are moving. They set a timer. Oldest started delegating tasks. They are focused. They are cooperating. I just heard Oldest holler for Middle, “I need some help!” “OK, I’m coming.” Wow… no smart-assery, no belligerence, no nothing. Just the stuff that parental dreams are made of!! 🙂

I just heard “OK, we have 5 minutes left.”. I’m not sure, but it sounds like they are going above and beyond, cleaning even a bit more!! Are they wanting sprinkles on top of their ice cream? Oldest is barking orders. There’s no “You’re not the boss of me!” retort, just a simple “OK.” and obeying of the command. Wow….

Is it a bribe? Is it positive motivation? Call it whatever you want. I know the true power of this moment. You see, now I have tangible proof they are totally capable of working together, as a streamlined unit, cooperating, focused, efficient, on task, without back-talk, without fighting, without a need for Dad to intervene and put things back on course. Yes… yes I will hold this against them in the future. 🙂

And get this. 2 minutes left. They come in my office and give a successful report. So this is another thing… they can get things done early!  Man, they don’t realize how they’ve been set up… how high they just raised the bar for themselves. *insert diabolical fatherly laugh* 🙂

 

Updated: I should clarify, it’s not like my kids are normally misbehaved, disobedient, fight with each other, etc.. They’re actually quite well-behaved and do work well with each other. But, they are like any kid, they do have their sibling issues, they do have their moments of sheer jackassery. But still, tonight was sweet.

And sweet it was. I am still waiting for their Guinness ice cream to come back into rotation. A cup of that, some chocolate chunks crushed in. People I’m telling you there’s nothing finer. Had to settle (if you can call it that) for Mexican vanilla with fresh strawberries crushed in. Mmm.

Science remains in Texas, sorta.

/ hsoi

The Texas State Board of Education voted 7-7 on restoring a rule that “strengths and weaknesses” of all scientific theory be taught in public school science classes. The vote, failing to pass, means the doors to teaching creationism as scientific theory remain closed.

Frankly, I’m torn on this.

Should strengths and weakness be taught? Hell yes. Should evolution be taught? Hell yes. Should “creation stories” be taught? Hell yes. Should Intelligent Design be taught? Hell no. Allow me to explain.

In my opinion, Intelligent Design is a disingenuous concept. It’s not a scientific theory, it’s a religious effort masquerading as science in some sort of zealous effort to wedge Christian theology into the science classroom. I don’t appreciate this. Call it what it really is, present it for what it really is. Trying to do this really doesn’t win anyone over to your cause, since you’re twisting and lying. But hey, if you want to further this notion of “Intelligent Design” then you better talk about The Flying Spaghetti Monster as well.

Should we teach all approaches to how life, the Earth, the universe was created? Yes we should. Why? Because ultimately we don’t know. Every approach has as much chance to be wrong as the others. The more that we can know, the better off we can be. I personally find my life better off the greater variety I know about. Variety is the spice of life, right? We seem to dig 31 flavors, not 1 flavor, yes? And just because you can know about all 31 flavors, you can still favor just one of those flavors. So why can’t you know about how the ancient Egyptians viewed the creation of the world? What harm does that do? What help does that do?

I frankly think that if we’re going to provide people with an education, those people are better served by the more they can know. Too little knowledge can be dangerous, but I just don’t think too much knowledge being dangerous. So let them learn about Darwin. Let them learn about the Judeo-Christian creation stories. Let them learn how tribal cultures view things. Just let them learn. In this learning, present things as they are. You can present religious matters from a purely academic standpoint, although you do have to allow them to be treated academically. Present all possible theories, all possible stories, explore them, question them, seek to understand them and see how they fit into the greater human experience and deciphering of our great life mysteries. Let people learn…. freely, unabridged.

Little things

/ hsoi

I can’t remember where exactly I read this (and my Google-Fu is weak tonight), but I’m pretty sure it was either in Suzi’s blog or Ron’s blog. S or R was talking about little things and how wonderful they were. That time together didn’t have to mean going out on some extravagant date. One was saying how the other needed to go down to the corner store to put gas in the car and asked to go with. Sure it wasn’t an extravagant date, but it was time together. 

I shared that with The Wife and since then we’ve been doing little things like that. Walk down to the mailbox with each other. Walk around the block. Run a quick errand. Whatever works. We’re even doing it with the kids, Oldest, Middle, and Youngest. I need to run to the store, go with me. I need to fix the sink, come watch. You’re reading your book? I’m reading my book. Come sit next to me and let’s read together.

Sometimes lots of little things adds up to more than just a few large things, y’know?

Sugar, sweet sweet sugar

/ hsoi

The wife and kids went grocery shopping. They come home, I go downstairs to see what goodies have been brought.

Seems the kids talked my wife into buying Kool-Aid and mini marshmallows.

How do I know this?

I see the children… mixing a purple powder in a glass… then adding marshmallows on top of it.

So… we have sugar drink topped with fluffy sugar pellets.

I think it’s time for the kids to go outside and run a few hundred laps around the house, eh?

Attempted range suicide?

/ hsoi

Wow… this is fucked up. Apparently yesterday a woman attempted to commit suicide at a local gun range.

Red’s Indoor Range is the only indoor range in Austin (there are 2 locations). I am closest to the south location, where the incident occurred, and go there on occasion. I actually don’t like to go there because I don’t like indoor ranges (too loud, too much crap to breathe in), and I don’t like how some of the clientele lacks gun handling discipline (it’s not fun having a gun pointed at you) and the “range officers” aren’t consistent about enforcement of rules. You also can’t do much practical shooting there: no drawing from holster, no movement, slow fire, can only use their approved targets, etc.. The guys that work there are generally nice tho. I do like the ease of adjusting distances and benchrest ability, good for checking the state of a gun, a scope zero, and so on. They also provide rental services, which is nice for new gun owners to be able to try before they buy. Red’s also provides a Ladies Day, which is a welcome thing. So like I said, I do go there on occasion, but try to keep it to weekday mornings if I do go.

Does the incident change how I’ll look at Red’s? No. The sad situation is this was a woman that was suicidal. She was crying out for help, crying out for attention, and was determined in her course of action. It is not Red’s fault (the owner, the employees, the store). It is not the fault of gun owners. It is not the fault of guns. I know there are those that use incidents like this to further their political agenda… the blood still flowing, the body still warm, and they jump at the opportunity to advance their politics. I think that’s distasteful and wrong, and it serves no constructive purpose. It was a woman in need of help, and if she recovers from her injuries I hope she’s able to get the help that she needs. 

If you’re into such things, say a prayer for all involved: the patrons that witnessed the event, the employees that have to deal with it, the store/range owner whose business will be adversely affected (i.e. affects his ability to provide for his family), the police and medical personnel exposed to it, and the woman and her family. I hope they can find peace.

Unclear on the concept

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

My sons like to wear Skechers shoes. To update on the shoe shopping situation, it wound up that the shoes we ended up with ultimately weren’t going to work out… so off we went looking for other shoes. But at least we knew Oldest’s shoe size so why not order online, right? Mom & Oldest went looking online and found just the shoes he wanted. So on the 16th I ordered from skechers.com.

Days went by. I received no status update on the shipping of the shoes. That’s odd. Any eCommerce these days lets you know at most within 48 hours about status. Their website said it was in stock, that all is good… but yet by Friday I still had no idea if they were shipping or not (order status still said “processing”). So on Friday I phoned their customer service to ask. I was told that the shoe was out of stock (huh? what happened to that policy of 48 pairs of every shoe in stock?) and my order would automatically be cancelled soon. O…K…. I broke the news to Oldest and said we’d find the shoes somewhere else. 

Then the FedEx man arrived on Saturday with Oldest’s shoes. Hrm.

Then what did I get in my email inbox this morning? A message saying my order had been processed and here’s the FedEx tracking number. I checked the tracking number and apparently the order shipped out of their facility on the 18th.

Wow. 

They may have great shoes, but methinks there’s a lot of disconnect in their order processing system. Bug, not feature.

Use it or lose it

/ hsoi

I find our bodies to be amazing things. They naturally strive for preservation and efficiency.  You exercise and work hard for a long time to make physical gains, then you lay off for just a short while and all that work disappears. Our bodies strive to maintain just the level it needs, which is great, but frustrating when it takes so much time to gain and so little time to lose.

One area I see this is my legs, not just in strength but in endurance. In Kuk Sool we strive for low stances. This can look very nice when performing forms (especially on taller and thus longer legged and torsoed people), but moreso it’s a matter of training legs for strength and endurance. You don’t really fight in a low stance, but it’s a lot easier to duck via bending your knees when your legs are strong enough to allow you to do this.

I think what motivates me more than fighting, self-defense, or any sort of martial activity is growing older. I see people much older than me and even people my age, that just can’t get around. Getting off the couch is an effort. Picking something up off the floor is a strain, and they bend from their back then complain of back problems when they right themselves. They haven’t used their body, so they’ve lost it. I don’t want to be this way as I grow older. So, I do my best to just use my body fully in my daily life. If I need to pick something off the floor, I bend at the knees, either squatting or quasi-lunging to do so, but either way using the full range and ability of my body. If I need to stay down for a long time (e.g. scooping out the cat litter box), then I assume some sort of low horse stance while I do so… again, not being bent over at the back and feeling the lumbar pain as I’m down working for so long. Lifting a heavy object? Use the legs, baby. Things like this. Just ensuring that whatever I do in my daily life I do fully (other implications implied).

Doing such things in everyday life won’t turn my legs into something Tom Platz will fear, but it helps to keep my legs and body usable. As I said, the body likes to maintain just the level it needs, so my hope is if I continue to use my body every day at the level I wish to have when I’m 70 years old, hopefully when I get there I’ll still have it.