Me

A couple things I’m tired of

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If I may vent for a moment….

You start to hear or see something over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again and eventually it wears on you. I was reading this article at the Christian Science Monitor and I saw the words yet again….

Gun lobby

That it’s all about the NRA, the gun lobby, and they’re all pro-death and pro-baby killing. As if it’s just this single lobbiest organization that’s causing all of the death and evil in the world. I grant, it’s one big gorilla in the room and they are rather powerful. Do you know why they’re powerful?

Because the NRA is made up of citizens. Citizens that donate time, money, and effort to make things happen. This isn’t some sort of slacktivism where you can put a magnet on your car’s bumper or sign up for a Facebook page and make you feel good about yourself. No, the NRA has power because they are a representative organization. They represent millions of US citizens. That’s why they’re a force. Next time you want to bitch about the NRA and the “gun lobby” realize that what’s really behind that are millions of Americans. It’s not a fear to cross the gun lobby, it’s a fear to cross millions of (voting) citizens. In 1994, it wasn’t a triumph of the gun lobby, it was a large swath of America letting their voices be heard through their vote. 

It’s not a matter of crossing the gun lobby or not… it’s not a matter of being afraid of the gun lobby or not… it’s the citizens, that vote, that get active in the political process, that care about infringements upon themselves, their rights, and their lives. Don’t tread on us.

 

But now I turn to this same group and say… can we please stop the abuse of the word “tactical”? I’m shopping for some gear and everything is tactical. There’s tactical polo shirts (huh?), tactical bottle openers, tactical butt floss, tactical bacon (OK, that’s actually kinda cool and funny). You start seeing the word “tactical” used in places where it doesn’t apply… but it makes it tacti-cool to use the word, right?

More ballistics data

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Courtesy of Steve at The Firearms Blog I see that the Ballistics By the Inch guys have added more data: .327 Magnum, 10mm Auto, and .41 Magnum.

This is oddly relevant to me. While I am looking for a snub-nosed revolver, I have also given thought to a more powerful handgun, like something you could hunt with (e.g. a revolver in .44 magnum or .460 S&W or the like). I’ve also thought that a semi-auto in 10mm such as a Glock 20 (tho I don’t like Glocks, and I know there are others out there) would be a useful carry piece for those times out in the woods when you could run across 2 or 4 legged predators. As well, at the range yesterday I got to talking with another gentleman on the rifle line about my search for a snubby and he brought up the .327 Magnum. I’ve seen the commercials for the load and certainly it intrigued me. The fact it’s a bit of a “vanity caliber” I’m not sure about (I’d feel better if I were an established reloader), but still it’s worth looking at.

So anyway, that the ballistics data was updated and for some calibers I’m looking at was rather welcome.

If one thinks, he will be taken by his thoughts.

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If one thinks, he will be taken by his thoughts.

–Takuan Soho

I subscribe to Brian Enos’ Maku mozo! mailing list. This was today’s quote.

It struck me because of my morning range experience. I’ve discussed this in other places on my blog when I talk about guns or martial arts or mindset, that when you think about something well… you’re thinking about that something and it consumes your thoughts and probably your actions too. This is neither good nor bad in and of itself, but what it causes you to do could be judged to be good or bad. This morning at the range I didn’t think about speed, I didn’t think to not think about speed (which is ultimately still thinking about speed). I did think about being smooth. Thus, I was smooth. When I assessed my performance and then thought about speed, I realized I wasn’t too bad with my speed but moreover I was shooting accurately and consistently (well, 25 yards needs work). If I allowed myself to be taken by thoughts of speed, that’s how I would have focused my shooting and that would not have lead me to the results I wanted. Instead, I allowed myself to be taken by thoughts of smoothness, and that lead me to the results I wanted.

Takuan’s words aren’t good or bad, it’s what I choose to do with my thoughts and even if I choose to think at all.

Range report

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I haven’t been to the range on my own accord in a while. Darn this ammo situation. Making up for it with dry fire, but dry fire doesn’t simulate recoil and other things (like reacquiring sight picture). So I went with the point of not just “shootin'” but ensuring there was solid purpose to every round downrange. Really, every practice session should be like that, but some times it’s just fun to throw lead. That said, it was off to the Lone Star Gun Range.

Continue reading →

Ways to improve your home office

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Web Worker Daily has 7 Simple Ways to Improve Your Home Office.

The suggestions are fairly simple: you spend a lot of time and energy in this place, so you might as well make it pleasant and comfortable. 

One advantage that we often have at home that officer workers may not have is natural lighting. If you’ve got windows, take advantage of them. They make a big difference in your mood. Of course, I do know some that prefer to work in the dim and dark, so I guess brick up your windows in that case. 😉  Either way, lighting makes a difference in your mood and productivity.

Another thing that helps me is being able to keep my office’s air comfortable. Now, I do have a lot of computers in here which generates a lot of heat. Consequently I have a portable A/C unit in my office because otherwise it’s a sweatshop, especially in the heat of the summer. But having your own A/C unit, fans, heaters, or whatever you need is useful so you can keep things where you like it. Wife likes it a bit warmer, loves to open up the windows (which often leads to higher humidity levels). I prefer it a bit cooler and drier. 

It’s your office and being your home office you’ve got free reign over it. Take advantage of that to make your best workspace.

Pet food – label knowledge

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Before Wife and I were married and we had solo cats, we fed them expensive food. The more cats we amassed, the more food we went through, and so we had to mind the budget and as a result for the past some years the cats have just eaten what we find at the grocery store (the past some years it’s been Friskies Feline Favorites). We do feel them table scraps as well.

Thing is, older orange cat has always had vomit issues, and as I’ve mentioned elsewhere on the blog we believe his problems are something else. We have tried dietary changes for him and currently are on a big dietary change for him, but still there’s vomit. Thing is, one of the younger cats has been throwing up a little more often than one should expect. Plus when she does, it’s fairly undigested food. So Wife and I have begun talking about making another switch in food. Given all the discussions we had with our vet regarding orange cat and how diet might be involved in his problems, our current thinking is the cheap ingredients.

I’ve been Googling and researching on pet foods, and found an excellent resource:

The Dog Food Project

While it’s talking about dog food, the Label Information 101 page is most informative, giving you a Rosetta Stone for interpreting food labels. How to sort the wheat from the chaff. A list of Ingredients to Avoid.

Fantastic resource.

As a result, I’m headed to the pet store. I’m going to pick up a bag of Royal Canin Indoor Adult 27 and see how that does for the cats.

Horses

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Yesterday, Daughter got her first ride on a horse.

It was graciously arranged by a buddy of mine. He keeps his horses at Graymar Farms and arranged a session with the owner, Peggy Goff. It wasn’t a true lesson, more of a one-on-one overview and introduction. Daughter got to work with Bruce (a retired show horse), leading him, brushing, tacking, mounting, basic steering (both with the reigns and feet and body “english”… I don’t know all the proper terms). A little walking, a little trotting, weaving cones and riding around. Then some western showmanship stuff with leading, judging, pivoting and walking backwards. Just a basic overview of riding and showing.

Daughter was stoked. She had an ear-to-ear smile all day. Consequently, so did I. 🙂

What will come of this? I don’t know. Certainly Daughter wants to continue. I’ll look into lessons. I’m not saying no, I just have to figure out how to afford it. 

Little girls and horses…. lord, what could I be getting myself into? 😮 😀

I did want to use this as a forum to thank Peggy for her generosity and kindness. She spent about 3 hours of her time with Daughter, and she didn’t have to (on paper it was to only be about an hour). This was all done for free, out of her own kindness and generosity. Peggy’s enthusiasm was off the charts; you can tell she loves what she does and has a true caring about horses. She’s funny, goofy, relaxed, knowledgeable, friendly, approachable. And while I may not know horses, I do know a lot about teaching, especially beginners. Peggy knew her stuff and was just fantastic. I’m not a customer, I have no vested interest here, just speaking as a happy father.

Snub-nosed revolvers

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The saying is to “fear the man with one gun” because since it’s his only gun he’s going to know it very well. However as a buddy of mine likes to say, it’s hard to play golf with only one club in the bag. Yes it is best to have a primary, to keep it in the same place, to build your muscle memory and so on. But nothing is 100% sometimes your primary just can’t work.

I’ve been thinking about alternative handguns for a while. Continue reading →

Fast or accurate?

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Fast or accurate? Pick one, because you can’t have both. Yes sure you can always be faster, you can always be more accurate, and to some degree you can always improve your level of both. But in the end, to get the most accuracy you’ll have to give up some speed, or to get the most speed you’ll have to give up some accuracy.

Caleb is participating in the Bianchi Cup and posted his results from The Mover.

The thing that I’ve learned about Bianchi is that accuracy is EVERYTHING. No one cares about how fast you are, because just about everyone can make the time limits here. Shooting IDPA or USPSA isn’t great practice for Bianchi…but shooting Bianchi will make you better at IDPA and USPSA.

I know I focus a lot on speed. I think about defensive shooting and how seconds are critical, so my brain thinks “must be fast”. Lately I’ve been trying to pull myself back on that. When I do my dry fire practice, I’ve been working on being slow and smooth: “slow is smooth, smooth is fast”. I’m trying to be accurate, I’m trying to be precise and correct. I wanted to go to the gun range yesterday and do the KR Training 100 Round Practice drill, but given the impending holiday weekend figured I was better off getting job work done first then visiting the range after the weekend. Still, that sort of drill is all about accuracy (not speed) and what you must to to be accurate.

I think about my last black belt testing or even being in normal classes. One frustrating thing is how there’s so much emphasis on speed. Maybe not directly, such as the instructor saying “OK, everyone go fast” but when you get in a group there’s all this pressure to not be the last one done… so everyone zooms along. I kinda hate to see that because accuracy goes down. You watch the group and it can look like a sloppy mess. If I’m in class and get to do something like forms on my own pace, I take my time. Sure I try to still apply the five principles of form, movements are still meaningful. But I try to be accurate, I try to be correct first, fast later. 

I’ve often said that no one cares about the first person to get the wrong answer. That can apply in many ways. To throw a fast kick that doesn’t find its target, to rush a draw and peel off a shot that misses the A-Zone on an IPSC target. It all doesn’t matter. I want to make every shot count, every punch matter. So, I have to slow down. I know this, I’ve known this. I’m still struggling to apply this, but thankfully it’s happening. 🙂