Selective memory

I can't rememeber if I mentioned this or not, but I guess I'll have to state it here.  I'm a big gearhead when it comes to military aircraft.  I have all sorts of flight manuals, simulators, training videos, and even aircraft components strewn about my personal effects.  Another one of my coworkers is also a mil-air afficianado, and we're constantly butting heads over our opinions on the matter.

On one particular day, he got fed up and simply challenged me to a duel.  We would pick a flight sim and each of us would have a different plane and go head to head in some DACT.  He insisted I get the first choice, so I made my pick: the F-14D*.  I think he was upset by this choice, but then said he could still wax me (which he very well might, I dunno his skill level).  But the thing that made me smile was that my roomie chimed in at that moment and said, "I dunno if you wanna say that, he's pretty dang good at flying in those sims, I've seen him.  He doesn't just yank and turn, he knows other turns."  I was laughing for quite a while.

Makes me wish that freakin' Strike Fighters 2 had a dang multiplayer feature, because I'd really love to take on more actual people, and maybe even get into a furball.

*I love me the harrier, but if I can do BVR kills, I'm going for the 'cat.  The real choice is deciding which skin to use: Sundowners, Bounty Hunters, Wolfpack, or the fighting '84.

Formatting

Something that I find very annoying in Blogger, is that it seems to have some odd nervous tic of some sort, in which I will copy and paste something into a draft which appears fine, but after I publish it, I suddenly discover that it is formatted completely different than the place I copied it from.  Very annoying to have to go back and re-type it, because just copying and pasting will also copy the incorrect format.  I swear, between that annoying little issue, and my own terrible spelling and grammar mistakes, it's a wonder I'm still willing to keep posting.

Not much else noteworthy has been going on other than a whole crap ton of work and personal business, so meh.  Though, I did get an email forwarded to me from our programming manager, about software we were planning on buying from some company, whose rep had the most unfortunate name I have ever seen:



 

Details have been changed to protect the (hopefully) innocent.  Man, I hope they married into that name, because there is just no excuse.  Unless they were hoping for a shoe-in as the next Bond girl, or something.

Abravanel Days

I am one sad little individual. How is it I have gone so long without enjoying the symphony or never even stepping into Abravanel Hall before?

So if you hadn't guessed by now, I went to my little rendezvous at the Utah Symphony on Saturday.  The date itself wasn't all that exciting, but the concert was more than enjoyable.  An amazing atmosphere, excellent music, with a breathtaking soloist, and just a fun experience overall.  The attraction was simply billed as a performance of Pictures at an Exhibition, but we were treated to a couple of pieces by Prokofiev, which I think I enjoyed much more than Pictures.  I really hope I can go again sometime soon.

Alina is ridiculously skilled and talented

I also forgot to mention that I finally took my Jericho out shooting, and managed to actually make a respectable couple of groupings, after putting a couple mags through it to "warm up".  I also neglected to mention the fact that I ordered a second one, and that it should be here by the end of the week.

I'm currently having some issues with my Android, so it may be a little while 'till I'm able to get some incriminating evidence of all these exploits.

A not so guilty pleasure

Okay, before you say anything, yeah, I know it's weird.  But for some reason, I just like Kimbra. Pretty sure it was PhlegmFatale that introduced me to her. 

Kimbra - "Settle Down"

why I don't care

So, it appears I genuinely pissed off my boss today.  How you ask?  Well, unless you're living under a rock, the big news is that there is a new fad sweeping the nation's idiots.  The iphone 5s are arriving. 

Why do I disdain it so much?  Because only idiots buy Apple.  Don't get me wrong, apple doesn't really push out too many bad products, so perhaps this is not always the case, but this is certainly true of the vast majority.  Now, you don't really even have to know much about technology in general to understand this fact, you just need good fiscal sense.  Any company that offers you the same hardware specs as another company, but at three to five times the price, is just a rip-off.  That, and most apple fanboys have the same mentality as preteens gawking at the latest fad.  As soon as the new model of iphone is out, there are people camped out, rabidly waiting while ranting and raving.  It's just ridiculous.

Feeling the wub-wub

Now with even more wub-wub than ever before!  So, after briskly beating Black Mesa Source, I have already set my attentions to Borderlands 2.  I have to say I'm really frustrated so far.  Not because of anything about the game itself, but because it's so dang good, and I hardly have any time to play it.  Curse you real life!  Why does it constantly have to distract me with work, women, and whatnot.

As for the actual game, even though I haven't had much time to play, I can already tell that a lot of the joy is the variety of crazy boomsticks.  there were more guns to shake a stick at in the first one,  but the sequel ramps it up past eleven.  Not only in effects, but actual visual aesthetics and usage, too.  Way cool.  Also, the humor is absolutely amazing.  I will never get tired of hearing CL4P-TP sing his own dubstep song, or do his crazy beat boxing.  Well, guess that's all the gaming I get to do for the week.  T.T.F.N.

Avast!

Yargh! I dont' be likin' it when people be telling me how to conduct me booty by making a silly holiday. 

Yeah, I don't have the patience or creativity to make my entire post observe "talk like a pirate day", but I had to at least have my fun with it.  I really want to be able to go to Pirate O's just to have that make my day, but I'm thinking today will be nothing but gaming after work.  It's been far too long since I got the pre-order of Borderlands 2; just staring at it waiting for me to play with everyone.  So that's what I'll do.

I've also been enjoying the nostalgic and simultaneously new wonder that is the Black Mesa Source mod.  It really was everything I wanted and expected it to be, and more.  It still doesn't include the Xen levels, but it's intensely enjoyable nonetheless.  The best part was that you don't even need any version of Half-Life installed for it to work, just the Source SDK Base.  I had to get it as soon as it released, but I hear it should be able to be downloaded for free on Steam shortly.

....in the test chamber.

 

Robert Stack better be narrating it all

So I have another blind date set up for the weekend, and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it just yet.  I've voiced my opinion on blind dates before, but perhaps I was a bit vague.  I'm not really against going on one at all, I like meeting new people, but it's just the concept will always make me feel uncomfortable.  I mean, trying to plan and have a pleasurable evening with someone you know absolutely nothing about will always make me a bit nervous. 

This weekend's plans in particular, seems a bit dumber than most, in that the person that roped me into it barely knows the girl I'm going out with either.  I swear, this is exactly how half of those "missing persons" segments on Unsolved Mysteries starts.  If this keeps up, I'll probably end up decapitated and dismembered in a ravine somewhere.

"Update: we still have no f-ing clue as to where this guy is."

my emotional schedule is wide open

Time for more music, because it's that day again, and I always liked the Unleashed in the East version the best.

Judas Priest - Unleashed in the East - Victim of Changes

more ducks and beavers

As an update to my previous post, I found that those Suomis are done by some company called TNW inc.  After a brief visit to their site, I was impressed with the cool factor of all their offerings, which include: Semi auto PPSh-41s, M1919s, MG34s, and even M-2 HBs!  So, more fun crap I can drool over and never afford.

Once again the weekend is here, and once again I did not look forward to it.  I just want it to hurry up get over with, so I can go back to work on Monday.  I'm especially fed up with the standard civil-war environment of the U of U vs. BYU game.  Few thing simultaneously bore and annoy me more than spectator sports. 

Max Manus approved

I'm always finding out all sorts of cool stuff that I'd like, that I didn't know I could even get.  Just the other day I found out  that you can get a Suomi KP-31/M-31 9mm for just about $450.  I can't help but be drawn to guns that may have had a history of killing fascists, communists, or jihadists.   Tack on the fact that it's a Finnish gun, and the cool factor alone nearly makes it all worth it.


What a beauty

The only reason I haven't just splurged and bought one already, is that I've heard almost nothing about who's making these guns.  Does the company have a good rep?  Are these new guns, or are they made from kits?  Have people been having problems with them so far?  All signs point to something good, but I swear, I'm gonna be pissed if I find out it's all being done by Century Arms or something; those dumb drunken monkeys.

The real trick, however, will be to find one that has the old quad-stacked magazines to go with it.

the proper medium

So, it's already halfway though a new month and I'm already off to a good start in slacking on my blog posts. 

As for the standard fare of my daily life, not too much has been going down.  Scratch that.  Lots of crap has been happening, just  none of it interesting or exciting.  Well, okay I take that back.  There was one or two fun things happening.  Let's see.....I've had more people try to set me up on a bunch more blind dates, and I won't share my opinion on that again.  I went to one of the best restaurants in Utah, and had the absolute best bread pudding on the planet, all while in the company of a lovely young woman.  Archibald's.  Tell your friends.  Perfect place for a date.

I also introduced another hapless fool to the joy that is Pirate O's, and and ended up spending another fifty bucks there.  On the bright side, I finally managed to find that elusive Biscoff spread, and have been putting it on just about everything.  Man, that stuff is more addicting than crack.

Always buy the crunchy, the creamy one is just gross by comparison

Also realized I'm probably gonna buy another Jericho pistol, because hey, it's a freaking original Jericho for cheaper than you can get a brand new one that doesn't even have IMI stamped on the side.   I mean, I'm able to get them so cheap, that I'll more than likely be able to make money on the deal.  Not only that, but who wouldn't want two?  Just makes you feel like Spike Speigel lugging one of those suckers around, so obviously two would be even cooler.

wiki diagnosis

Sometimes, when I have an inordinately long amount of free time with no one to spend it with, or no good book to spend it on, I invariably end up spending hours just looking up psychological disorders on wikipedia.  The problem with that, is that it quickly devolves from a morbid fascination with extreme disorders, to a disturbingly accurate self-assessment and analysis while reading up on severe (though not extreme) psychological disorders.  Let's see all the ones I've been reading up on that gave me the heebie-jeebies and make me question if I need professional help:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_anxiety

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generalized_anxiety_disorder

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroticism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shyness

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipolar_disorder

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depression_(mood)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_mutism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love-shyness

Jeez.  Good thing I'm not in the medical profession, eh?

like a hole in the head

That's how inspired this post is.  What can I say?  I don't really lead an exiting life anymore.  What have I done recently that's noteworthy....um....hmmm....ah ha!  I went to a comedy club in Draper last weekend to watch a more than mediocre improv group with a couple of cute girls I know.  Yeah that's pretty much the extent of my excitement.

Oh, wait scratch that statement.  I forgot to mention just how poor I actually am because of the new addition to my little one-man family.  Here she be:

Gorgeous.  Just Beautiful.  Look at it.  It actually says "Jericho 941" right on the side of the frame, instead of something stupid.  Then right underneath that, it says it's made by IMI.  It's things like this that make me feel a little bit better about dying a lonely, bitter old man.  Can't wait to try it out on some crack dealers, or something.

no title

Just a lazy day that requires some relaxing music.  I may have to post some more of Flogging Molly, as I'm a big fan.

Flogging Molly - Devils Dance Floor