I finally get to join the ranks of the cool kids. I bought an iPhone 3 GS. Trying out the WordPress app.
More later….
Updated: oh… man I gotta get used to typing on that thing. My poor thumbs… I’m fixing and updating this post on my laptop.
I always knew the smooth face of the phone was good in a lot of ways, especially that it allows you to do well, anything as it’s adaptable. But the total lack of tactical feel of keys beneath your fingertips doth suck.
Sometimes the stars align and life is good.
In Kali class tonight we spent most of the time working on Heaven 6. Just a few days ago I blogged about Heaven 6, taking it beyond the use of sticks and applying it to empty hand work. That’s just what we did tonight. It’s been on my brain, and to take it further in class was serendipitous.
I have no idea what my problem was, but take the stick out of my hands and suddenly I couldn’t do it. 😮 I could do a single pass at it, but to just flow constantly just wasn’t happening. Could be that I’m mentally distracted, I don’t know. But regardless, it means lots of homework and practice for me, which isn’t a bad thing either way. So to make up for it, I just slowed down. That’s just as well. Better to be slow and correct. Speed will come.
It’s also important to realize that while there’s a lot about Filipino martial arts that’s common, there’s also so much that’s different. There’s thousands of “flavors” of FMA and while foundations are similar, details are different. Little details in how my Guro applied the empty hand Heaven 6 was really nice. For instance, assume you’re facing an opponent and they throw a right punch at you (e.g. the classic “right haymaker”). Doing the 3 motions you use your right hand to parry/block, then the left hand comes in… and that becomes basically a backfist into the inside of their bicep. It’s not how Janich was doing it, but boy I like this way because it works to continue the flow of things but not just being defensive but damaging as well. Nice stuff.
Nevertheless, I continue to be impressed by the simplicity and effectiveness of Filipino martial arts. Something as fundamental as Heaven 6 is just awesome and ever so useful. I need more practice.
I’m a hard workin’ man, doin’ all that I can, tryin’ to make ends meet.
Just a makin’ my way through this jungle today, it’s gettin’ the best of me.But I know it’s gettin’ better, and a change is gonna come my way
Yes I know it’s gettin’ better, better every day, a-huh yeah.Been a changin’ the scene, if you know what I mean. Good things are comin’ my way.
Now I’m livin’ my life, and I’m doin’ it right. Sun shinin’ every day.I can feel it gettin’ better, and a change is gonna come my way.
Yes I feel it gettin’ better, better every day.— Tesla, “Gettin’ Better”
Yes, things are getting better around here. Past some days have been kinda shitty for me, but you accept the lemons life gives you and you make lemonade. There’s a Taoist notion that the way to be rid of a disease/sickness is to welcome it, be with it, and let it pass through you. Just roll with it, be like water.
Presenting sitting in my backyard, enjoying the fact I live in the city but the unique location of my house on the outskirts of the city makes it like I’m in the country… one of the local does came up to have an evening nosh… I’ve got my laptop with me, playing some Led Zeppelin via iTunes (let’s hear it for wireless networking), blogging, enjoying a Rocky Patel Vintage 1990, a Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA,… life is good.
I’m not really a cigar smoker, but back in my college days me and 3 buddies from high school had a ritual. When we’d come back to home base during our respective college breaks, we’d gather and have a “stogie night”. I miss those guys… we’re in touch, but haven’t physically seen each other in years. Haven’t smoked cigars since then (I quit cigarettes many years ago and have zero desire for them; in fact, they sicken me to breathe/smell). But my buddy W is a cigar smoker and he introduced me to Rocky Patel’s. I tried one to see if I’d care for it or not, and lo.. I liked it. I don’t intend to make cigars a habit, but today I couldn’t help but go out and buy one to enjoy. Don’t know why… just felt right and I went with that emotion.
No real point to this post… just relishing that in the end, life is good. We have our hardships, we have our shit to deal with, but in the end, life is still good. In fact, to make it better, we have to sometimes just put the shit aside and forget about it… and find something to just enjoy and lose yourself in, even for a little bit. Gotta keep our sanity, gotta keep our balance.
And never take life too seriously. 😎
Actually… I have two random bits of grossness.
The other day when I came home from the indoor range, I put a tissue up my nose to clean things out. When I pull the tissue out, there’s black on the tissue. Eh? I do a bit more cleaning in and around both nostrils and find more black. I am not 100% sure what it is, but I can only deduce it’s from the indoor range… all the smoke, especially given the guy shooting the muzzleloader in the bay next to me. Who knows what else I inhaled. This is just another reason why indoor ranges aren’t the greatest thing… or that Red’s needs to massively improve ventilation. Rather gross, and unsettling as to what I took into my body.
The new kitty? She has the most god-awful farts, and has them rather frequently. Or at least, it seems the cause-effect is pick up kitty, get a nasty fart for your troubles.
Joy. 😕
I’ve been quieter than usual lately. Bunch of stuff came down at work… not necessarily bad, just has necessitated most of my attention.
Thankfully I have kali class tonight. That should be some welcome stress relief. 🙂
I’l resume shooting my mouth off as time permits… hopefully soon, as fires are coming under control.
Gun folk might know Michael Janich from his co-hosting of The Best Defense TV show. He’s also an accomplished martial artist with a background in escrima. Here’s a video with him explaining “Heaven Six”, a foundational drill in Filipino martial arts such as escrima, arnis, and kali.
What I like about this video is it shows how the basic “Heaven Six” movement goes beyond the sticks. Janich demonstrates a lot of empty hand application, from strikes, to blocks, to joint locks. Certainly he’s just touching the surface, but it does point out all that you can do with just that simple movement.
I haven’t regretted my decision to study kali. This sort of power in simplicity is awesome.
Got a call from my Mom this evening. Told her how I had just finished eating dinner. What was for dinner? Why pork ribs. But not just any pork ribs, but pork ribs I obtained myself! BTW, they were damn good… dry rub of my own creation, mopped in apple cider vinegar, let it sit for about a hour, then into the smoker at about 300-325º for 90 minutes or so, oak wood for smoke. Damn fine. But I digress.
I just said that I had ribs from the pig I shot on my hunt, and Mom didn’t flinch. You see, Mom isn’t exactly thrilled with my love of firearms… safety factor, guns in the home leads to kids being hurt, and all those other things that is understandable to think but data demonstrates otherwise. But Mom actually thought it was pretty cool. I was surprised, but welcomed her support.
After hanging up with Mom, I opted to call Dad just to say hello. Told him the same. Dad’s a little more on the gun-friendly side of things. Told him about the night hunt and the deer lease. He thought that was all pretty cool, and inquired if I was going to take the kids hunting. I said Oldest and Daughter, yes, but Youngest hasn’t shown much interest in guns period (no need to push it). Dad had to get going to dinner with some friends, but it was still a good chat.
It was welcoming to hear such support from my folks. Not that they’re unsupportive of me, but like in Mom’s case she wasn’t too hot on the guns so this was a surprise. And then for Dad to ensure I take the kids out was cool. See, Dad never took me hunting. I did have my first actual firearms experience with him (took me to shoot skeet once), but not a whole lot. So, all of these things were just welcome things to my ears. 🙂
Of course, what it means to me now is I need to have a lot of game in the freezer for when they come to visit. Gotta feed the folks well. 🙂
I needed to go to the gun range this morning to take care of some chores. This wasn’t a practice session, this was taking care of some business. So, I headed to the local indoor range and took care of my two tasks.
I will be needing a .22 rifle this coming weekend, so I wanted to make sure my Ruger 10/22 was in working order. The scope had come loose last time it was being used, so I had tightened things down and wanted to ensure it was zeroed. It wasn’t too far off, just needed a little tweaking, but it’s back to being zeroed at 25 yards and I’m happy. Should run just fine this coming weekend.
I haven’t shot the 10/22 in a while, and I forgot how nice it is to shoot. Not so much the gun itself, but just shooting a little .22 rimfire for accuracy. I could certainly see making myself a really customized up target rig with a Ruger 10/22 as the base, and just sitting out in the country somewhere on a nice day, drinking iced tea, and punching holes in paper. I’ve experienced this before when shooting this gun… there’s something somewhat Zen about the experience.
Also since I hadn’t shot it in a while, now shooting it I realized the truths about that trigger. It’s not a bad trigger, it’s just a lot heavier than I remember. I guess I’ve been spoiled by lighter triggers lately (the snub notwithstanding).
Anyway, this was a simple enough task, then I got down to what I really wanted to do….
Ever since I got my S&W 442 a little over a week ago I’ve been itching to break it in. Finally got that chance, but my time was cut short. Read on.
I started out just wanting to throw some lead. Just get some rounds through it to break it in under fire (I’ve already been doing a lot of dry fire to start the break-in process), get the feel for it in my hands. Went through a box of Magtech .38 Special 158 grain lead round nose to start.
I don’t like the small grip. I don’t like how my pinky hangs off the bottom. Feels weird, plus it takes away recoil control. I knew this going in. However, I don’t want to give up the smaller grip and thus concealability. Just grip harder with both hands. Having that “crush grip” worked fine and I was able to control the little gun just fine. I’m still going to look for grips that might be just a hair longer, but I’m not going to really sweat it too much.
Under actual fire, I realized that I was using the distal joint of my index finger…makes sense with the heavier trigger pull. Interestingly, everything worked just fine. My eyes were trained on the front sight, and even with all the grip and trigger differences, I was still being combat accurate enough. But again, I think the crush grip is what makes the difference here.
I’d like to put some red paint or something on the front sight to make it a bit more visible.
I then started to go through some defensive ammo. As I wrote about here, I don’t have the ability to do deeper testing of the rounds, like gel or wetpack, chronographs, and the like. But, most of that information is out there if you look for it. What I’m looking at is how well it works in my gun and how it performed for me. Today I was able to try out: the Federal Nyclad, the Buffalo Bore, and the Cor®Bon DPX.
The Federal Nyclad felt about the same as the Magtech, which stands to reason as they’re both standard pressure rounds. Accuracy was fine, and again since it was a standard pressure round was certainly the most controllable round to shoot. I was surprised at how much muzzle flash there was. It may just be the nature of the snub-nose beast, but I was still taken-aback by the amount of flash I saw. And note, this was at an indoor range… it’s not dark, but it’s not bright and sunny either.
The Buffalo Bore by contrast didn’t have as much noticeable muzzle flash, but did produce a lot of smoke. I will say that their claim of being “non+P” is a lie. 😉 I mean, this is Buffalo Bore, I expected it to be hot, but I figured if they were saying “non+P” that it might be in line with that. I can say that, at least in terms of the felt recoil, it kicked hard and was the hardest recoil of the bunch. At one point I looked at my right hand and noticed I was bleeding in the web of my hand between the thumb and index finger… where your hand wraps around the back of the gun. It wasn’t more than just the skin being broken, but it bled a lot and eventually is what caused me to cut my range time short.
The Cor®Bon recoiled more than the Nyclad, but less than the Buffalo Bore, and I’d say closer to the Buffalo Bore than the Nyclad, since 1. the DPX is a +P round, and 2. this is CorBon and they’re always hot loads. It too had some noticeable muzzle flash.
Anyway, that’s all I was able to manage, due to the aforementioned wound. I was there to break in the gun and instead it broke me. 😉 I did manage to put a few rounds of Remington UMC 130 grain FMJ downrange just for some additional comparison. I’ve always thought UMC had the most muzzle flash of any ammo I’ve seen (looks kinda cool at night), and I’d say that the other muzzle flashes I saw today were on par with that tho the UMC was likely the brightest of all.
They all shot well enough. All ran in the gun. All were accurate enough. I do think the Nyclads were the most controllable and the Buffalo Bore the least, but the spread wasn’t that wide. The key was shooting enough to get familiar with the load and the gun so you know what you’re up against and how your tool will behave. Crush grip is key.
So what will I pick for now? Well, for now I’ll probably go with the Buffalo Bore. I actually don’t like how hot it is and how much it bites, but these will be used in a defensive situation, not a normal range ammo. Furthermore, because they’re so hot I don’t know how the S&W 442 would appreciate a steady diet of them. But for now until I get the ammo I really want, when I take the 442 out I’ll load it with the Buffalo Bore, but only because of two things:
1. Lowest perceived muzzle flash
2. it’s the only semi-wadcutter that I have
#2 is the bigger reason. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m finding more and more support that the “lead semi-wadcutter hollow point” (LSWCHP) is really the load that I want to use for self-defense. It provides penetration above all, but has expanding capabilities which helps to maximize desired impact and minimize risks of undesired (collateral) damage. It’s got a proven track record, and I don’t really have to worry about potential issues such as if the bullet will expand or not, if say I was in a contact shot situation, going through clothing, or other such matters. Again, I am not providing any sort of true scientific review or study here… this is just me in my informal reading, researching, Googling, talking with folks whose knowledge and opinion I trust. I’d really like to get those Remington R38S12 and carry those. I looked on the shelves at the range, but alas they didn’t have any. I Google to find someone online selling them, nothing. 😦 So, I shall just keep looking.
The range was rather busy for an early Sunday morning. The guy in the bay next to me was shooting a muzzleloader. I was surprised how quiet it was in comparison to some of the other cannons going off around me. It was fun when he’d shoot tho… all this smoke would drift across my bay. Kinda neat.
Lots of kids there. That’s not something I usually see when I go there, but lots of parents had brought their kids out. A father-daughter took the bay next to me after Mr. Muzzleloader left. She was shooting a bunch of lever-action rifles. I saw some kids shooting a Buckmark with Mom. Various other things. It was nice to see families doing things together.
I do not like shooting indoors, but when there’s a chore to do and it needs to be done quickly, it’s about the only option I have as the outdoor ranges are a bit of a drive.
But hey, I got to go and take care of some business. Can’t complain. 🙂
How did this happen?
We now have a new cat in the house. Well, kitten.
If I remember the story correctly, my in-laws were driving and saw this little kitten lying on the road. They stopped to check it out (they rescue many animals; seems to have become an informal hobby), thinking it was dead. Turns out, it was only stunned (pining for the fjords no doubt), but was covered in fire ants and was probably going to die. They took it to the vet, got her checked out, shots, all that. Kitty seems to be OK. They were going to give her away, and being as small and young as she is (we estimate 2-3 months old) I know there’d be no problem with that because the cute is strong with this one.
And as a result…. we have a new cat.
We get to the in-laws yesterday and get told about the kitten (they kept it in the bathroom because some of the dogs would probably play too rough). Kids go to visit and of course, instant love and cries of “Oh Dad, can we keep it?”
“No.”
“Please?”
“No.”
So what do kids do when Dad denies them? Turn to Mom.
Wife sees kitty. Falls in love.
“Honey, please?”
“N…..” *begrudging groan* “Fine.”
Later Wife tells me she was having a talk with Daughter. “Mom, I know why Dad said we could have the cat. Because he can’t say no to you.” 🙂 Damnit… my secret is out.
I said we could bring home kitty on one condition: trial period. We have two other cats, which I shall refer to as Gordita and Twitchy. Gordita and Twitchy are very well bonded to each other. I wasn’t sure how a 3rd wheel would work into this, especially a little kitten that doesn’t know its place (yet). Furthermore, Gordita may be a little runty butterball, but I’ve never seen a cat that fights with such intensity or has such lightly quick reflexes and awareness — she’s amazing. I wasn’t sure if she might scrap, and if so if kitten might be honestly harmed. Twitchy is the wild card. She’s nicknamed Twitchy for a reason. I wasn’t sure if she might smack kitten around, or if Twitchy might go and hide under the bed never to be seen again… that’s not good either. So, I told Wife and kids that keeping the kitten required a trial period just in case there were integration issues. Honestly, I didn’t expect any real issues, but better safe than sorry.
So we get kitten home and start the integration. Little kitten is first introduced to the litter box (vital!). We kept her shut in the laundry room for a bit while we unpacked and said Hi to the other cats. Then we let kitten out and she started to meow. Immediately other 2 cats come slinking down the stairs in search of this new meow. Much curiosity ensues. Good thing is kitten isn’t totally inept and is old enough to scrap. There’s lot of sniffing, poking at each other, and kitten knows how to turn sideways and make herself big. But she also seems to know she’s a little thing by comparison.
Gordita follows her around trying to watch every moment. Twitchy was a little wary and freaked at first, but eventually just watched from a distance. Eventually, Gordita lost interest and Twitchy got to a point where as long as kitten didn’t invade personal space, she’d be fine else get a hiss, growl, and perhaps a smack. And that’s about where things are as of this morning. Kitten is running around learning where things are and playing with anything she finds on the floor. Oh, and the strange kitten she saw staring back at her from the reflection in the dishwasher… that one will be dealt with later. 😉 Other 2 cats are just going about their business, watching kitten, ignoring kitten, ensuring kitten stays out of their personal space.
I think we’re going to be keeping her. *sigh*
Oh, and Oldest named her. He said the first thing that came into his head and the other two kids liked it, so, it’s official.
Ritz Bitz
Ritzy for short.
🙂
So the TomTom finally got unpacked and set up, and we set off using it. Wife’s Granddaddy’s funeral was yesterday up in middle of nowhere Texas. It’s a joke to estimate how small a town is by the traffic control devices. Does it have a stop light? if so, how many? No stop light? Does it have just a flashing red or yellow light at some “major” intersection? How about a Stop sign? or maybe just a Yield sign? Or no signs at all… where everyone in town knows each other so you can just wave each other by? Well, this town was so small I don’t think there were any traffic devices as you went down “main street”. Yeah, that small. So, since it was way up in north Texas and I had never been there before, might as well try out this navigation device and see what happens.
First, the geek part of me just got a silly giggle out of it. It’s just a new toy and it’s fun to play with. When we first left the house and I programmed in the way to get to my in-laws (first stop), I was totally a kid playing around. I’d play with the points of interest on the map. I got a kick out of how it could estimate your speed and how it would know the speed limit for the road you were on and then set off an alarm if you drove too fast (Wife was driving, so it was funny once the kids understood what the beeping was, how they would prod Mom about driving too fast). 🙂 I also had it set off an alarm when we’d pass schools. Wow, didn’t realize how many schools there were; everywhere we went.
I stuck the TomTom on the windshield so everyone could see it. I didn’t like how the speaker was so quiet. It’s loud enough if everything else is silent, but once you account for road noise, maybe a little bit of music playing, it’s tough to hear. I think a really geeky thing would be integrating it with the car stereo.
I was impressed with the maps being as complete as they were, tho they didn’t give me directions to my in-law’s house… just up to their main road. They live in the country, and while the maps knew about all the roads no problem, they couldn’t get the house number. Oh well.
Since we had it on a female voice, we kept personifying the device. Eventually Wife dubbed the device my new girlfriend, because she kept nagging “turn left, turn left, turn left”. 🙂
While I didn’t always find the device necessary to help us get around, what became the most useful part was the estimates. It could tell us how many more miles to go, how much time was remaining. This was the most useful part because it was a very long day of driving and inevitably you got the “how much longer?” questions from the kids. While it’s not a problem to estimate and figure it out yourself, being able to just glance at the screen and give an answer was very useful.
The device is nifty, and I do think on longer trips we’ll certainly bring it along as there’s no harm in doing so. Based off the one trip I don’t see massive amounts of gain in having such a device, so I am happy this was a gift and not my own money spent. Frankly, I think there might be more gain in a combined device. For instance, this TomTom ONE 130 isn’t “real GPS” but rather satellite triangulation (I believe). You get something like an iPhone 3GS, that’ll be “real GPS”, apparently TomTom is going to be bringing their software to iPhone, then you have all the additional things like Internet access and phone to more fully get around and get information and well… that I think could be more useful, or rather, a more cost-effective solution than a single dedicated device.
By the end of the day, I had pretty much ignored the device (tho the “girlfriend” ribbing from Wife remained) 🙂 The novelty had worn off pretty quickly. But there’s a place for such a device. Again, it’ll get brought along on trips. The true utility of the device still to be determined.
Stuff From Hsoi 