Me

Happy New Year

/ hsoi

And so, the time is once again upon us… that time when we will spend the next month putting the wrong date on things. 🙂

No resolutions for me, because I think it’s a bit silly to set things based upon a rollover of the calendar; you should always be setting and achieving goals. That said, a few months ago I did set some goals for myself that I put “end of 2010” as the deadline for. A few I’ve already accomplished, such as starting to reload my own ammunition and trying out action pistol competition. I’ve got more things set for myself, my hobbies, my career goals, my wife (more and regular date nights!), and my kids.

Looking back, it was generally a good year. Some challenges in the day job, which I know took a toll on my mental, emotional, and even physical health and well-being. But in the end it panned out well and I think things are overall better off for it, both for me and for the company and project. I didn’t get to spend as much time with the wife and kids due to the job situation, but now that the job returns to normal (so to speak) that all should be something to remedy. For instance, I really want us to go camping once the weather warms up a bit. Time outside, with the family, fishing, renting canoes, just enjoyable time together.

I also want to go hunting more. My deer lease just did not work out on a number of levels (money lost, but education is usually not cheap), but I did get to bag my first deer, which was a high point. I’d love to bag some hogs every now and again over the coming months, including taking the kids out for their first hunts.

So while life hasn’t been perfect, that’s OK. If life was always grand well… it wouldn’t be very interesting. You need some low points once in a while to help you recognize the high points and truly appreciate them. When I look at the sum total of the past year and my overall life, it’s certainly in the black. Life is good. I’m thankful for what I have and I do what I can to keep and improve it. Like I say every morning to myself when I wake up, “Daub, don’t fuck this up.” 🙂

If you reflect back upon your past, I hope that it too has been one that meets or exceeds the expectations you set for yourself. If so, I hope you can continue the upward trend. If not, I hope you’ll continue to work to bring things in line with what you want. Life’s what you make it.

Peace and love to all.

Off to the garage

/ hsoi

Now that the house has been cleaned up, it’s time to go to the garage to work on my next phase of the .223 reloading. Specifically working on trying to figure out the primer backing out issue.

More later.

Thank God for my Leatherman Wave

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

Ah…. Christmas morning.

The sounds of children tearing into wrapping paper as they open their gifts.

That’s the easy part.

The hard part is Dad having to tear through all the packaging to actually extract the toy. 🙂

I am so thankful for my Leatherman Wave. Knives for cutting out packaging. Pliers and wire cutters for removing those !*%@ing twist tie-downs. Screwdrivers to open and close battery compartments.

For my Leatherman Wave, I am thankful. 🙂

Merry Christmas, y’all.

Quiet, but busy

/ hsoi

I know. I’ve been quiet. Was out of town, and now with some time off work for Christmas I’m trying to be a responsible lad and get my chores and other “work” done first so I can spend the bulk of my time off with the Wife & Kids. Blogging must wait.

I’m also looking forward to working on that .223 hunting load, so gotta have my work done before I can play. Speaking of which, my buddy foo.c has been working on his “Hornady TAP Zombie Load” and you can see his progress so far.

Ah, what a time

/ hsoi

Spent the weekend with the in-laws. Good times.

Father-in-law got me a Woods Wise “Buc-N-Doe Plus Snort” deer call. Video tutorial and in action. I’ve got some practice to do. 🙂

Also got a gift from the FedEx man. Rifle gunpowders and primers. Looking forward to working on that .223 load over the next couple weeks.

Next couple weeks should be relaxing and fun.

I’m so happy

/ hsoi

Apparently I live in the 16th happiest state of our union.

Those poor Californians and New Yorkers.

Of course, today I’m happy for another reason. In a matter of hours life will return to “normal” (whatever that means). There will be much rejoicing and waving of little flags.

Is it worth it?

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

After reading about the price breakdown for 1000 yard shooting and with all the reloading stuff on my brain, I was curious if my .223 Rem reloading effort was financially worth it.

Continue reading →

C-SPAN archive

/ hsoi

I learn via The Volokh Conspiracy about C-SPAN working to put their entire video archive online. You can find it here.

I don’t know what you might want to use it for, but me? I want to see people I know. Growing up as I did, I went to (public) school with the sons and daughters of many US Congressmen and Senators, amongst other things. I recall when Dan Quayle became Vice-President and his son, Tucker was monitored and chauffeured every day at my high school by US Secret Service agents. We all knew each other due to the circles our parents ran in, but that didn’t mean we were friends (e.g. I’m not friends with Danielle Delay, Tom Delay’s daughter, but I knew her and if she’d claim she remembers me she’d probably recall me as some dork, which would probably be a fair assessment given the social circles we were in during high school… seems this person at DailyKos remembers her from high school too). I was good friends with a few kids tho; we could bond on a level that few other kids could.

So flipping through the archives and coming across the fathers of my old friends, kinda fun.

What do I really want to see?

My Dad.

Being able to go back and find archived footage of my Dad? That’s cool. I can’t get the archives to dredge it all up (can’t tell if it’s just not online or if their servers are slow/hammered), but I’d love to see things like his first speech on the floor of the US House of Representatives.

I did see some old pictures. But I guess I’ll have to wait for the video footage. Once it’s up tho, I’ll have to show my kids so they can see what Grandpa did in a past life.