Me

So it ends, so it can begin

/ hsoi

I’m done.

All of my Titegroup powder is gone. I loaded 300 rounds of .38 Special last night, and there was just a bit of powder left over. Not enough to bother with, so I’m calling it good enough and done.

I started with an 8 lbs. jug of Titegroup. 7000 grains in 1 lb of powder (56,000 total). I used it at a rate of 4.5 grains for the 9mm loads and 3.5 grains for the .38 Special loads. You do the math on how many pulls of the lever that was. 🙂

At the end of it all, I can say I really like my Hornady Lock-n-Load press. I’ve probably loaded close to 20,000 rounds on this press now with little problem. Is it perfect? No, but I’m quite pleased with it and it obviously does the job. And even here with me getting close to no powder, the powder drop was still dropping proper charges…. no worry about having to keep the hopper at least quarter-ish full to ensure consistent throws.

I need to run the press through some maintenance now, from cleaning, lubing, and so on.

And of course, I can now start on my .223 Rem reloading. But I’m not going to just yet; going to take a break. While I enjoy the reloading, the 9mm got to a point of “need to load all the bullets” which took quite a while. Then it turned into “need to use up all the Titegroup”. And it just loomed over me all the time… it became a chore, a chore I happily did and was dedicated to seeing through, but a chore nonetheless.

And now I done with it.

And now I can rest. 🙂

Doggie School – round 2

/ hsoi

It’s time for Sasha to continue her schooling.

Our first round of training was with Triple Crown Dog Academy. We did 6 private lessons in basic manners and obedience. Overall our experience was a positive one. There’s no question that Sasha is a better mannered and behaved dog, and we’re better owners for the experience. However, we knew Sasha had some baggage, and there’s just some things about the Kuvasz breed that need tending to. It was our plan to go back to Triple Crown for more training, taking their “basic manners and obedience” in a group setting this time, to help with socialization.

But plans have changed.

Wife was poking around Facebook for Kuvasz stuff and happened upon a woman who was local (well, up in Round Rock, city just north of Austin) and lo… she also had a Kuvasz! Turns out she’s a trainer, S.A.F.E. Training for Dogs. From her page:

Elizabeth Marsh is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT) and behavior specialist. For over 20 years, she has been training pet dogs and service dogs and providing behavior therapy services for dogs with moderate to severe behavior problems. She has a formal education in behavioral psychology and is the developer of the SAFE Training method – a proven, scientific and reliable method for teaching dogs to adapt to life in a human environment. She is a certified evaluator for the American Kennel Club’s Canine Good Citizen Program and a member of several professional organizations including the APDT, Delta Society and The Humane Society of the United States. She is deeply dedicated to improving the welfare of animals through the education of pet owners and their pets. Elizabeth lives in Round Rock, Texas with her Hungarian Kuvasz dog “Gretta” and her Great Pyrenees “Bo”.

And of course, she has a picture up of her cuddling her Kuvasz, Gretta.

I cannot lie. This held great appeal to us. A lady with a lot of training experience, seems to have the credentials, and not only knows the breed but owns it. She’s got daily experience with what it takes. You know, that could be good!

Wife was very excited and got right on the phone with Elizabeth, even setting up a meeting at our house. Me? I wasn’t too hot to it. I knew nothing of this person and just didn’t want to deal with it. So I put it off.

While things are getting better with Sasha well… after the experience we had at Wife’s in-laws, I got to thinking that yeah, we need a “Sasha Whisperer”. We don’t need some generic training routines. What we need is not just general training, but we also need some work to specifically address Sasha’s issues and situation. After the weekend at the in-laws, I decided to contact Elizabeth and get the ball rolling. I figured that she had as good a chance as any, as far as general training goes, but knowing the breed… heck, that can only help, right?

Yesterday Elizabeth came down to our house and spent about 2 hours with us. Us getting to know her, her getting to know us — and Sasha. She asked us lots of questions, we asked her lots of questions. Sasha hung out, and while she was initially not receptive to Elizabeth being around, Elizabeth had us try a few things.

For instance, with a territorial dog, it can be hard to introduce someone by having them come into the room. The dog is there, sees this as place to protect. But if instead the person is already in the room then the dog is brought into the room, it can go over better. Sure enough, it seemed to have a positive effect!

Lots of things were discussed, other tips, lots of reinforcement of what we already knew, some “ah-ha!” moments. It was just a good meeting and time.

Yeah, we’re going to give her a try. We’re going to do more private lessons to help work out the issues, with the goal being that towards the end we join some of the group lessons. Elizabeth is excited by the fact she can work with another Kuvasz, which I think gives us something intangible here… there’s going to be a lot of care going in here, not just another client.

We’ll see how it goes. 🙂

12, really 22, to go

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

So I’ve been trying to shed weight.

Not just to remove the unsexy love handles, but lack of belly flab sure helps with inside-the-waistband carry. 🙂

I’m presently at 212 lbs (6’3″ tall). Not obese by any stretch, just a little belly flab.

The thing is? I was about 4-5 lbs. lighter a couple weeks ago. *sigh*  I know why. Vacation, time off, slacking on the diet, drinking too much beer on vacation. It’s all a matter of high caloric intake and not burning enough off.

But I’m back on the wagon. Still doing the up-day-down-day approach because it works well in terms of pure results but also just the mental impact to get through it all. I’m also going to pick up the physical activity. I’m tired of being out of martial arts practice, but even if nothing else, ensuring puppy gets a good walk every day (and me being the one doing it, not just Wife or Kiddos). So, caloric intake reduction, caloric burn increase, that’ll be a win.

Next two weeks will be tough tho. Since I’m essentially starting the diet over well, I’m truly starting it over. That means for the next two weeks each down day will be restricted to 500 calories. That will be tough, but it’s necessary to make this happen.

My true goal is to get down to 190 lbs, but passing 200, being such a pretty round number, will be a nice milestone. Once I get to 190, I’ll reassess where I am and if I need to go more or can stop there. Meantime well… I started at 225 lbs so I’ve technically dropped 15, and if I’ve been able to slow and steady drop 15, that means the next 12, and then 10 after that? Should be do-able by summer so long as I stick to it. But then, sticking to it is the trick isn’t it?  🙂

Something to blog about

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I’ve been having a hard time coming up with things to write about.

I’ve started on numerous posts, then ended up trashing them because while the idea was good the deployment was terrible. I’d try to edit, I’d even start again, but still ended up trashing it in the end.

But if there’s one thing I learned as a blogger… if you’ve got nothing to blog about, blog about the fact you have nothing to blog about because that gives you something to blog about. 🙂

Looking back, looking ahead

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So how did 2010 do for me?

All in all, not bad.

There are goals I met, goals I didn’t meet. There are things that came up along the way that I never figured on… like getting a dog. 🙂

But all in all, life is good. I’m fortunate in my life and while I may whine from time to time, while things may not always go the way I want, I know the general trend is better than most so truly I have no place to complain. I count my blessings and do my best to remember them.

How do I want 2011 to shape up for me?

Funny I should use the word shape. While my weight-loss was good and I am down 15#, I’ve plateaued at that level for some weeks now. It’s a combination of slacking on the “up-day-down-day” diet, stress, holiday/vacation time and wanting to enjoy some fruits of the season. I will get back on this because I want to drop another 25#… that should put me around 190# and I’ll see from there where to go. My “muffin top” is certainly shrinking and I figure around 190# it should be gone or close to it.

I also want to get back into regular empty-hand martial arts training.

I want more balance in my life with all the things I do… not spending every weekend doing some gun thing, be it at KR Training helping or taking classes, or wanting to go shoot a match, or hunt, or whatever. But yes, I would like to get to a match or two this year, as well as some training classes and helping @ KR Training. So nothing will go away, just pulling back and having more balance.

I have software I need to finish and release. More about that later. I need to grow my business.

I want to tour local wineries with Wife. We’ve done it casually, but I’d like us to do it a little more seriously. Keep notes instead of vague recollections on what we did or didn’t like. But really, it’s not about the wine, it’s about time with Wife.

I want to get the kids to the gun range more often to pick up their skills. I’d love for them to be the primary on a hunt, not just tagging along with me. I’d also like to do more computer work with them, be it working in Stagecast or other creative software.

Most of all, I want balance and sanity. I want peace. I want to keep myself reigned in, perhaps finding more things in my world to shed… I can’t pile any more on, so I need to get rid of some things. My motorcycle, for instance, is just collecting dust in the garage. Needs to get sold (because I’m not sure the guy that wanted to buy it is going to at this rate).

I wish you Peace for the new year.

What’s popular

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I admit it. I’m a blog stats junkie. I love to look at the blog stats to see what people are interested in, why they come, what they stay for.

So let’s look back at 2010 and what people liked.

First, the home page is #1. That tells me people come to the blog and read what’s current. Fair enough. The one thing stats can’t tell you is truly how many readers you have, and I can’t help but wonder how many unique readers I do have. I’d still write whether I had 1 or 1,000,000 readers… I’d write the same, in terms of style and about “whatever interests me… and maybe you”. It’s why I don’t take advertisements, or “link trades” for any sort of profit… this is a personal blog and I write from me for me. Still, it’s a curiosity.

So apart from what, what did people tend to want to know about in 2010?

  1. How to correct shooting problems.
  2. 50 things everyone should know.
  3. 9mm reload recipe
    1. This one is actually interesting to me. As I cross-reference the search queries that bring people here, what most people are looking for is load recipes with Berry’s bullets. There just isn’t much data out there, so I’m glad I can share something.
  4. Hornady Critical Defense ammo.
  5. Using .223 Rem for hunting.
  6. igneous weather forecasting!
  7. Combined Skills
    1. I’m not sure why this one gets so much traffic, but it does.
  8. I’m Scotts-Korean!
    1. That was a fun one.
  9. Ruger SR-22
    1. That one showed me that if you want to drive traffic to your blog, be on top of the latest news as quickly as possible.
  10. More about 9mm reloads.

If I look beyond the top 10, I can see that people care about anatomy lessons, M1A ammo, more Berry’s bullets data but for .38 Special, DIY mook jong’s, that links from saysuncle.com generate a lot of traffic, and people likes boobs.

It’s interesting to see what brings people to my blog. Gun topics certainly are a primary thing. Reloading data for Berry’s bullets are a prime reason, and one reason I like sharing all the data I generate (especially about reloading). Mentioning “boobs” generates lots of clicking (imagine that, sex sells!).  As well, getting a link from popular websites like saysuncle.com can drive a lot of traffic.

All in all, I’ll just continue to write what I write. I’m not out to get tons and tons of traffic, but it’s nice. It’s nice to see readership increasing… I guess because it makes me feel like I’m doing something worthwhile. While I say I write for me, that’s only mostly true. If I wanted to only write for me then I’d write in a journal and never share it with the world. That I write in a public way like a blog well… that just shows I want to share something with the world. Thus, to see lots of traffic, to see readership on a general upward trend well… that’s nice. I guess I’m doing something right, and I thank you for thinking what I write is something worth reading.

Is there anything you’re curious about my opinion on? Anything you wonder why I talk about? Or maybe a topic I don’t talk about? Yeah… I’m asking for requests because hey… I make sure I post something every day and sometimes that’s difficult to do. Furthermore, sometimes it’s cool to break out of the mold and touch on something different. So if you want to request something, go ahead.

But the bottom line is: thank you for reading. I appreciate it.

Cat Sitting on Floor – a watercolor

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Cat Sitting on Floor

Daughter received a set of professional watercolors and a nifty composition book for Christmas. She spent the morning painting this and just came in to show me her work.

I really like it. There’s a style to it. I don’t know how to word it right but… well, you know how a lot of kids’ artwork looks like kids artwork? not very refined? This doesn’t have that. There’s some sort of modern style to it. I can’t put my finger on just what it is, but I dig it.

Or maybe, I’m just a proud Daddy. 🙂

I am a waffle

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

I’m almost done with reloading .38 Special. The last of the Titegroup is in the powder drop, just a few hundred rounds to go. I’ll get to it eventually… no big rush right now as vacationing is more important. 🙂

As you know, I’ve been trying to figure out what to do next. I was thinking to work on .308 Win loads because I was dreaming of an elk hunt with my Dad — I’d want to have the skills to nail a target at 500 yards on demand if I was going elk hunting. But after some talking with Dad, I don’t think that will happen (schedules, cost, physical demands and Dad’s getting up there in age; I also think he’d rather go fishing than hunting). So if an elk hunt isn’t in the near future, that lessens motivation to work in that area.

Then there’s my recent work with the Aimpoint CompM4s and just loving how well it works. I can’t help but think about the recent hog hunt, as I think the reason I missed was due to placement of cheek on gun and not getting the right sight angle, thus my point of aim was not the intended point of impact. But gosh, that parallax-free Aimpoint would render that moot. Furthermore, I see how Aimpoint markets towards hunters and I always was skeptical of how well that would work, especially lacking magnification and using a 4 MOA dot. But you know, the more I think about it, the more I think it could work. Sure I wouldn’t take a mountain goat at 500 yards, but a deer or hog up to 200 yards? Maybe… but I need to take the AR out to the range and try it and see how well I and my eyes can do it. Point is, the thought has recently perked my interest. The kicker is the Aimpoint is mounted on a .223 AR so… I’d need a substantial load, which means something like 62 grain Barnes TSX (or maybe the forthcoming .224″ TTSX!).

And when I think about that? it brings me all the way back to my first rifle handloading attempts… which had a lot of problems and failure to get a good load. I spent some time the other day re-reading all my blog posts on the topic. There’s a part of me that’s motivated to go back and solve that problem. I don’t want to leave that unfinished and unknown… but is that reason enough to bother? I have kinda moved on from exploring .223 as a hunting load since I bought the 6.8 SPC.

So I’m back to waffling.

But while I’ve been thinking about all of this stuff I’ve been reading and researching, trying to figure out what components I want to use. The biggest of which is what powder to use, because I want something that will not cause me headaches on the Lock-n-Load progressive press. What just hit me was reading about IMR 8208 XBR. That powder has perked my interest. It apparently meters well. It’s supposed to be resistant to temperature changes. It’s purpose-built for rounds like .223/5.56 and .308/7.62NATO, with an eye towards high velocity and high accuracy. I mean, that sounds like the perfect powder! What things I can find by Googling on the powder sound very positive and promising — everyone trying out the powder is impressed by the performance. There even seems to be a few people dabbling with it in 6.8 SPC loads, but there’s certainly not much information here (tho what there is is promising). So gosh… could that be the powder to try?  I got a Cabela’s gift card for Christmas. I’m thinking if the local store has a 1# jug that I’ll pick it up.

I hate that I’m waffling so much about what to do next. I think it’s because I need a tangible goal to work towards, instead of just reloading for the sake of reloading. When the elk hunt seemed possible, .308 was appealing. I think about the Aimpoint and hogs, so the .223 returns to being appealing, but not enough. Finishing what I started before? That has an appeal too. And I can always use more trigger time with the AR. Geez. Am I leaning that way now?

The Art of the Dynamic Nerf Blaster

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(title props to Magpul)

Oldest got a Nerf N-Strike Stampede Blaster ECS-50 from Santa.

It’s fully-automatic, battery operated. Runs on 18-round “clips” (I hate that they call them “clips”… they’re magazines). I LOVE that it has a vertical fore-grip with integrated bi-pod; the design is a 100% nod to the Grip Pod. It fires at a fairly good rate, functions well (no malfs yet, and I love the nod to the AR with the selector switch), and is pretty accurate for what it is… tho with that “blast shield” you can’t really get down to do precision aiming. Still, for what it is, it’s good.

And of course… you burn a “clip” of darts and as TXGunGeek would say, it just tips your giggle box. 🙂

Even better? I have a couple of the 35-round drum “dart clips”. We slapped those bad-boys in and it’s nearly-endless full-auto fun!!

On top of that, oldest also got one of the N-Strike Tactical Vests, which holds loads of spare ammo. As well, it has a sheath on the back of the vest to hold a Nerf Sword. Yup, we’ve got a couple of those. We like Nerf around here. 🙂

Where did I really geek out? There’s a spot on the back of hte ECS-50 that looks like it could allow attachment of a single-point clip sling. Oldest also has some “handgun” Nerf blasters. I start talking to him about how he just needs a sling, he can run the full-auto, reload, reload, reload, then when he’s out of ammo just let go of the ECS-50 and transition to his hand-blaster. Of course while I’m describing this I’m showing the kids the movements… and they’re all just looking at me like I’m taking it way too seriously. But hey, tactics is tactics. 🙂

So look out neighborhood kids. Oldest is armed to the teeth! You shall not survive the Nerf onslaught!