Missed goals

 You know, I was pretty exited to have written on here every day for a year straight, but life just ends up happening. I got hit head on by another driver which broke my foot, opened up my knee, and shattered the cup of my pelvis that holds my leg in place, as well as cracking both sides of my jaw, which saw me in the hospital for over two weeks, and I'll be in a rehab facility for another 6 or so weeks. 

So, that's why things have been quiet around here for some time, and unfortunately, it may continue to be so for a while as I learn to walk again and otherwise recover. As things become less painful and I'm able to focus a little better, I'll start writing things on here again. 

A little update

So what's new in my world lately, eh? Well not too much excitement. I'm working the night shift this week to cover for another person on my team who usually does so who is out of the office. That works out fairly well for me as the better half is taking a trip out of state for most of the week anyways. In the meantime though, I found myself bored to tears without the wife being around to talk to, so I've had to find ways to keep myself occupied. 

I finally got to the point of building three more new AR15 lower receivers. I've still got two more to do, but I'll need additional parts to complete them. One I want to be an M16A1 style and will need parts for that, and the other I'll need to get another actual stripped lower to complete. So those will need to wait until the next paycheck to get started on. 

Just for kicks and giggles I went on a little mini road trip to the Brigham City airport the other day just to see what I could see and was pretty surprised to see some really cool military aircraft trainers that were there at the ramp.

Looks to me like a BAC Jet Provost

Another de Havilland Vampire. Coincidentally, the one I wrote about earlier was sitting on the ramp right behind it, but you can't really see it in the picture.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks to me like a Soko G-2 Galeb

In addition to what you see there, I couldn't help but notice a HUGE stockpile of MiG-15 parts of the two seat trainer variety as well as a Fouga CM.170 Magister that was sitting on the ramp that appeared flight worthy. What also surprised me was there was a variant of the SH-3 Sea King sitting out there, too. All in all a very surprising find for a seat of the pants trip to a random small town airport. 

And just for fun, something hilarious I saw on Reddit to make you laugh:

Good 'ol Hoser

 Two years ago today we lost one of the greatest legends in modern naval aviation. Commander Joe “Hoser” Satrapa, at the age of 78, passed away on Mar. 17, 2019. Thankfully, he is well remembered by all who served with him, and also by all those who helped compile the book about him, which I'm glad to say I own. If you have a chance, pick up a copy of "Hoser Here......Shoot!" by the TomcatSunset.org staff.

Not too long ago, Ward Carrol had made a nice video tribute to him in which he and another Tomcat pilot had some good things to say about 

The best obituary I've read for him was over at the Aviationist, it's full of interesting info on the man, the legend.

I know what I said

I've said here before that I don't really want to comment too often on current events, but I just have to say, if the Canadians had a second amendment, it's getting pretty darn close to the point they need to use it, if it's not already here. One of my favorite bloggers, Kim Du Toit often uses this pic to illustrate what tyrannical governments deserve:

Heck, while we are at it, do this to Australia's as well, along with China's. Because if your government is currently running concentration camps, they all deserve to f-off and die in the most horrific fashion. Never in my life did I think I'd want to smuggle guns into those places to help those people run amok.

Tax time

 It's my least favorite time of year. No just because doing taxes sucks, but income tax is blatant federal theft. Not only is it unconstitutional, but the amount it actually contributes to the national budget(deficit), is so miniscule that I'm sure the fed is paying far more in IRS agents to collect/regulate it than they ever get in return. Might as well abolish the federal income tax. Write your local congress-critter today!

As for stuff closer to reality that doesn't suck, is the latest episode of The Book of Boba Fett.  I thought they would be playing their cards a little closer to their chests, but man, the last couple episodes were pretty awesome. I can't get into too many details without spoiling it if you haven't seen it, so watch it already, we gotta talk about it!

 

Merry Christmas

 As the years creep by I see more and more apathy on my favorite holiday of the year. This time around, I think my feelings this year are perfectly summed up by the excellent firydeth on youtube:

May you all have a wonderful holiday

Whew!

Had a nightmare last night where I was late for work, then woke up, then was late for work again then I actually woke up. So yeah, not quite fully defrosted yet this morning. Maybe I'll post something later when I'm feeling more coherent. 

Dang shames and high points

Was going to give another shout out to an awesome local restaurant (well, somewhat local), and then just come to find out a few minutes ago from a friend that the place just closed. Crap! Well, I'll press F to pay respects to the formerly wonderful Chile Amore restaurant in Bountiful. 

In other news, I took my father in law to go see the new Ghostbusters Afterlife movie yesterday, which makes it the third time I've seen it in theaters.  I'm trying to remember the last time I payed to see a movie that many times in a theater, and it's been so long, I just can't recall it. Though, I have a suspicion it was the last Incredibles movie. Basically, go see it if you still have a chance, it's worth supporting.

Totally worth it.

The brightest of lights

This is an emergency post. Dugan Ashley, the creator of the CarnikCon You Tube channel, is one of the greatest You Tubers of all time IMHO.  He has certainly made me laugh harder and more often than anyone else there, and has endlessly pissed off the 'ol fudds that have no sense of humor. Just a shame he was unable to carry on with his channel longer, as he had what I thought was just financial and time constraints.

Because of him, I know that I need to store skittles in my AR pistol grip, which rifle is best for combat in space, have the biggest scope possible on an SBR, MP5SD means MP5 Super Duper quiet, that woman no drive, to always wear 'meriflauge camo, watch out for the pack of crazed rapists following me everywhere, to like Freedom America Ale, a Daewoo is basically an F-15, and to shut the f up because he knows I like the HK G36.

So, color me shocked and saddened to hear that he has been dealing with the hardships of multiple sclerosis for a few years now, which has become a debilitating condition for him. There is a fundraiser to help him with the expenses for his medical treatment and the page says that his prognosis is not good, and that he might not survive for very long(careful, this link is a tearjerker). 

There are not many causes on the internet that I go all in for, especially to the point of promoting it to my non-existent readers, but this is certainly one.  If you have the ability, I would highly encourage to donate just a few dollars to his cause. I'm nearly broke, and I'm still sending a few dollars his way. I can't imagine how rough it is for his family, and I would like to help him just be with them for a bit longer. #PrayForDugan

Help out Dugan and you can be awesome too!

You are now entering TMI flu territory

Got the 'rhona/wu-flu/commie cough/kung flu/chinko-virus (did I get 'em all?) a few weeks back, and boy howdy was that fun. I'll say right off the bat that there are plenty of times in my life I've felt more sick and or in pain, but covid was a particularly insidious combination of symptoms. It doesn't help that I have a few of the pre-existing conditions that are said to make it worse, but jeez. 

Should have attacked those commie punks when we had the chance.

This is going to get graphic, people. So if you don't want the details of the sick, don't go beyond the jump...

I live in interesting times

The old Chinese curse rings quite true, as it seems we are all witnesses to an unending assault of interesting (or obnoxious) events.  When I left this blog last, it was the end of 2014 and the world was abuzz with news of cool scientists landing probes on comets, but people caring more about said scientist's sexist fashion sense (made by a female friend, btw).  Rioting racists bashing stores owned by innocent people in the name of justice for someone who died because he assaulted a police officer (that one aged well!), and worthless people trying to "break the internet".   

All in all, there was an odd assortment of things going on back then, but I would gladly trade all the infinitely more insidious and idiotic crap going on in the world now for those quaint times again. 

Perhaps I am a little too hasty, despite the world accelerating it's hand basket speed to hell, I can't help but love my life so much more than ever before. In my absence here, I've since been married to the world's most wonderful woman, I have adopted two sweet dogs, my wife managed to find a cat I don't hate that we took in as well, my brother came home from the Philippines and he up and got married himself. Also might be able to get to buying our own house soon as well. 

Not much else to say at the moment, but stay tuned folks, more may be to follow.  Life just goes so fast, I doubt a recap of anything else may be worthwhile, so I think some music is in order:

Our story so far

The title of the post makes me want to start it off by saying "when we last saw our heroes...", but I'll spare you the nonsense.  So what have I been up to?  Well, the truth is far less than anyone could ever imagine.

When talking about it, I'm not that good at describing my felling other than to say it was depressing.  That being said, I'll give the extremely short add version of the story:  I've been unemployed for the past three months, but I recently managed to land a nice job that'll pay the bills and leave some left over, so it appears I'm actually gonna make it.

The biggest thing I can say without talking about the job situation (or the lack of one) is that I was given an opportunity to go see Interstellar for free, and well I kinda liked it.  I found that rather surprising considering I still can't stand Matthew McConaughey's acting (if you can call it that).  The short review is that it's worth watching, and worth paying to see it in the theatre.  The 'science' is hokey all get out, but has it's good moments along with being a very well paced movie with excellent story arcs and special effects.  It tries more than a little too hard to be the new 2001 (and as a given has plenty scenes and ideas lifted directly from it), but still manages to be good film.  Just be prepared to to spend a full 3 hours sitting in those dang uncomfortable theatre chairs.

As for other news, well, I'll endeavor to simply get back into a regular schedule of posting again, we'll see where it goes from there, but good to see you again, internet.

Another legitimate tactic

So it's another one of those days at work where I have plenty to do, so I just want to turn on some music and focus on getting crap done.  It just doesn't hurt if that music simultaneously motivates people to stay away from my desk and not approach me with new problems.  So I adopt the same tactics as everyone does with hippies:

It's surprising how effective blasting Angel of Death is in an office environment.  Raining Blood is also an effective countermeasure. 

What day is it?

Went and had another crazy LAN Party to end all LAN parties over at the 'ol roomie's new shack, and we stayed up so late, i think I'm still feeling the effects considering I just woke up a few minutes ago on the train headed home from work.  Seriously, I have barely any recollection of the events of today whatsoever.

In other news that is to be filed in the "that was waaaayyy too much information" category, is that although I'm not the kinda guy that likes to fool around, it's still extremely entertaining when I get phone calls from multiple attractive young women and suddenly come to the realization that I'm being booty called.  I sure as hell aint taking 'em up on the offer, but it's still quite the self esteem boosting moment when you hear a girl desperately trying to find any excuse for you to come over.  Maybe if I was a LOT younger and dumber, sweetie.   You know, come to think if it, I blame this on the beard.  Once I got it, they all start crawling out of the woodwork.

Love that movie

Ah, the weekend

How refreshing.  Obviously it's been a very difficult time to draw up some content.  generally, when I have nothing to write about it always defaults back to guns as it's something I like to think I know a little about, that I'm constantly learning a lot about, so I revert in the the man's equivalent to window shopping for shoes or handbags.

The new apartment still hasn't been adequately unpacked to look presentable for anyone yet, I'm finding it harder and harder to find the motivation to do so as time goes on.  Also, I've quickly abandoned any desire to have amazon deliveries come to my place, as they hold all parcels at the office, due to it being a section 8-type place, so that's a bummer.

Finally got a minor amount of cash for me to buy the next three books in the MHI series, which I've already started delving into (and am already enjoying thoroughly).  Hopefully I'll also be able to get the Dead Six series as soon as I'm done with MHI.

What's sad is that there's not much else to tell.  I've probably just had the most boring month of my entire life, and I think I'm beginning to like it like that.  It seems whenever I get tired of the mundane, and I try to go out do fun stuff, but then I get nothing but bad experiences out of it.  So now I've become this bitter and boring old man while still in his 20s, because I'm always hesitant to go out and do more when I get nothing but screwed when I do.

State of the winter address

Well, the holidays were enjoyable, with me spending all my time down south for Christmas and then having some time round new years to relax at home as well.  Christmas is truly my favorite time of year, and I'm sad that it's now passed and that we already find ourselves on the cusp of Valentines Day.

I 'm quickly coming to miss the winter snows already, as the weather has been warm enough to be nothing but rain the past week, and we are already deprived of majestically enthralling scenes like so:

There's just something endearing me to that winter weather.  I love that stuff. 

I think I could pull through sir...

okay, so if I didn't mention it before, the move is completed, but my internet has yet to be hooked up, which won't happen till Tuesday.



So things will still be slow until then, but I promise I'll be doing nothing but hitting the keyboard like a cracked out monkey for the following week.

Platitudes. A fun word to use in conversations.

I am woefully out of practice when it comes to sarcastic exchanges, but thankfully there are a few people that I know who keep me on my toes.  for example one young woman with whom I work who I didn't really like a first but came to be a very appreciated presence when I'm in a particularly sour mood.  She recently married and is moving away, and I had the following email exchange with her (edited to protect the blatantly guilty):

From: Lady McCrazy
Sent: Friday
To: Just about everyone in the freaking company
Subject: Last Day

So.. I planned to write everyone their own individual note today and have specific things to say to each of you, but I just didn't have time to get it all done. So here is a collective Thank You.

Each one of you have been such great examples and huge assets to my progression here at  (insert generic workplace). I am extremely thankful I had the opportunity to work with each and every one of you. I've learned so much not just business-wise, but personally in the past two years. And none of it would have been possible without all of you.

I’ll never forget being asked if I could Tap Dance in my second interview.

And all the potlucks and everything you've all been through with me.

I’m sad to move on and not be able to come to work every day knowing I work with a dedicated group of people who genuinely care about each other and the company.
Good luck with everything you do and please keep in touch. My email outside work is blablahblah@blah.com  or look me up on Facebook. I’d love to keep in touch.

Thank You,

Lady McCrazy

From: StGrendel
Sent: Friday
To: Lady McCrazy
Subject: RE: Last Day

Figures.  No one has time for anything special these days.  Good to see that you kept everyone’s hopes up for some kind of personal “you’re special” and “I’ll always remember you” platitudes, but instead went for the mass-market paperback version.  

Well, despite my antagonistic tone, it’s sad to see you go.  Especially considering there’s no one else here I can be this sarcastic with and still have them talk to me afterwards.  So have fun out there and try not to kill the kids, okay?  Take care.

StGrendel

From: Lady McCrazy
Sent: Friday
To: StGrendel
Subject: RE: Last Day

That was THE BEST email ever! I’m seriously going to miss our conversations like that. I may need to email you every now and again just to get my dose of sarcasm to keep me going. J

Thank You,

Lady McCrazy

Change is good...so far?

Well, it's official.  I'm moving.  It appears the insurance company is insisting the apartment is "livable" even though there was no working drainage of any type for days, and the bathrooms have been completely torn apart.  So, I'm gonna go take a look at a very promising place further up north that it the same size as what I got now, but will be a good $100 cheaper a month, along with having fiber optic internet available.

So despite the setbacks, it appears things may be looking up.  Speaking of things that are looking up, I just saw on the Firearm Blog that H&K's civilian G36 will be priced below $2,000, which is making me salivate.

Another delay

I would be back to blogging on a more regular basis, but I was recently treated to the gift of an sewer line disintegrating under my humble abode.  My router was (thankfully) the only thing effected while the rest of the place became awash in a sea of poo.  Thankfully, I will be treated to a completely free remodel, as the property owners will be footing the bill, but in the meantime my correspondence will be light.

I swear, ten days into the year and I'm already considering drinking as an alternative to facing reality.

On the bright side, Dad's bout with kidney failure over the holidays seems like it's going to have a happy ending, as he is home and enjoying a belated birthday present from yours truly