Rumors of my death

Have been greatly exaggerated.  I sadly let this blog wither, and I let inertia keep me from getting back to it.  This is a bad habit, and one I sharply need to rectify.  I've probably lost all my readers, so I'll be writing for myself again and starting from zero, but that's okay.  Did it once, I can do it again.  And it's not like I haven't been writing, it's just been elsewhere.  Luckily, I've got a back catalog of stuff from there that should appeal to folks here, so some of that can get shared, as well as new stuff.

Being back feels good.  Feels like me.

My generation's Iwo Jima

The story is here.

Of all the images of that day, this is the most powerful, the one that endures.

Not like I'm providing any news that you won't read everywhere else, but I'm doing this, as a show of support.

Erin reveals her big secret.

My response, at a gut level is "That's it?"  But I understand how big this reveal is for her.  My response is much more an indicator of the level of effect this has on my friendship with her. She's still a kind and giving person. She's still the person who researches nuclear physics for the sake of accuracy in our rpg, because she strives to give us a good game (and she does).  And above all, she's still my friend.

And a warning any potential trolls reading this:  You WILL be nice about this, or you will kindly shut your digital piehole and be somewhere she's not.  Whatever your thoughts on this matter, violating Wheaton's Law will go very, very poorly for you.

Lokidude

 (Yes, I'm using the feminine pronoun, and will continue to do so until I'm given a reason to change.  It's how I know Erin, it's how she identifies, it's how my mind perceives her.)

All I need is to learn to sail...

And I can already hold my own in small motorized craft.

It seems that MIT (Yes, THAT MIT) has a program in which one can become a certified pirate.

It appears the course involves training in “pistol, archery, sailing, and fencing.”  If you've been here for long, you know I know pistols.  I haven't shot my bow in a couple years, but I can hold my own well enough with it.  I've got a foil and glove in the garage, awaiting the return of my old fencing partner, and an ultimate goal of learning saber as well.  But not epee.  That's just some nonsense.

I've never run anything with sails on it, but I own a small motorboat, and have driven plenty of others, up to and including a large tour boat on Lake Okanagan (it's amazing what you can get away with if you're friendly and willing to ask...)  I guess I need to get one of my friends to give me instruction in the older ways of travel, though.

Arrrr!

Lokidude

My new best friend

It's stupid hot today, and I'm working in a hundred-year-old attic. Thankfully, my little buddy is here, making life bearable.

Lokidude

Our Lives, our fortunes, and our sacred Honor

Action of Second Continental Congress,
July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

WHEN in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.

WE hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness—That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security. Such has been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The History of the present King of Great-Britain is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public Good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing Importance, unless suspended in their Operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the Accommodation of large Districts of People, unless those People would relinquish the Right of Representation in the Legislature, a Right inestimable to them, and formidable to Tyrants only.

He has called together Legislative Bodies at Places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the Depository of their public Records, for the sole Purpose of fatiguing them into Compliance with his Measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly Firmness his Invasions on the Rights of the People.

He has refused for a long Time, after such Dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the Dangers of Invasion from without, and Convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the Population of these States; for that Purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their Migrations hither, and raising the Conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the Tenure of their Offices, and the Amount and Payment of their Salaries.

He has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harrass our People, and eat out their Substance.

He has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies, without the consent of our Legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a Jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by our Laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large Bodies of Armed Troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all Parts of the World:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us, in many Cases, of the Benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pre-tended Offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an arbitrary Government and enlarging its Boundaries, so as to render it at once an Example and fit Instrument for introducing the same absolute Rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with Power to legislate for us in all Cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our Seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our Towns, and destroyed the Lives of our People.

He is, at this Time, transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the Works of Death, Desolation, and Tyranny already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous Ages, and totally unworthy of the Head of a civilized Nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the Executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic Insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the Inhabitants of our Frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known Rule of Warfare, is an undistinguished Destruction, of all Ages, Sexes and Conditions.

 

In every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble Terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated Injury. A Prince, whose Character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a free People.

Nor have we been wanting in Attentions to our British Brethren. We have warned them from Time to Time of Attempts by their Legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the Circumstances of our Emigration and Settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and Magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the Ties of our common Kindred to disavow these Usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our Connections and Correspondence. They too have been deaf to the Voice of Justice and of Consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the Necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of Mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace, Friends.

 

We, therefore, the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES, that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political Connection between them and the State of Great-Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which INDEPENDENT STATES may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Ain't no rest for the wicked

I'm gonna work myself to death, but at least my corpse will be rich.

We're working 9's, 6 days a week, at a jobsite 2 hours from home.  I've got two bids out on side work, which I'm going to get, and working on another.  I've also got a line on a higher-paying job with a different company, and no idea when I'll be able to interview for it.  It's a grind, but car parts and Boomershoot rifles cost.

At least I have the summer off from school.

Lokidude

Damn Spambots

Comment moderation is on for old posts. Captcha is on. Anonymous commenting is off.

Sorry guys. Spambots are why we can't have nice things.

Lokidude

Reloading room happy and sad

I did some cleaning and organizing of my reloading room today.  Some of what I found made me happy, much of what I found made me very, very sad.

In the happy camp, I found I have somewhere around 5000 rounds of rimfire ammo, split pretty evenly between .22LR and .22WMR.  I also have about 4000 small pistol primers.  Since you can never have enough of that stuff, yeah, happy.

On the sad side, I have 1200 Large Pistol primers.  I have virtually no .38SPL (but a metric butt-ton of brass just needing loaded).  I have all of 50 rounds of defensive shotgun ammo, including what's in the gun, and less than 200 rounds of game/target shotgun ammo.

Yeah, my buying priorities just got realigned.

Lokidude

Unemployed

Hell of a day to get laid off.

And in a new personal best, I had a new job within 20 minutes.

It was your run-of-the-mill RIF, entirely amicable, and I bear them zero hard feelings. It's the nature of my industry, so onwards ad upwards.

Lokidude.

Many apologies

Sorry for the radio silence. We've had some pretty healthy thunderstorms the past couple days, so the computers have been off. I'll pull some doubles to get back on pace for the better man project, and I've got a couple other posts in the cooker.

Lokidude

Home at last

After about 12 hours and 600 miles, we're finally back home. It was a long trip, but well worth it. Met some great people, made some great booms, and I think refreshed the blogging batteries. AAR and pictures will follow when I have some semblance of energy.

We'll be back...

Lokidude

Musings from the Firing Line

Its been a busy couple days at Boomershoot. We're camped on the firing line, and its been beautiful. We've spent most of the past couple days assembling boomers, and it feels like we're starting to get it down. Bex has been open carrying, and I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me smile. She and I also took Tango's Utah CCW class, and I highly recommend it if you get the chance.

Its late, morning comes early, no rest for the wicked.

Lokidude

It's been a while

Six months, to be specific.  And I owe everybody an apology.  The interim has been... busy.  We bought a house (our first, it was a hell of an experience), I went to a new jobsite where I've been commuting 10 hours/week, instead of 1 hour or less, and I'm neck deep in the hardest semester of the hardest year in the fairly intense school program I'm in.  I hope you can all forgive me.

On the upside, in less than two weeks, I'll be on the line at Boomershoot!  Anybody who's going to be there, look for a short dude with a beard running a Winchester 70 (and probably missing a fair bit!)

So, who am I going to see there?

Lokidude

Finally finding what I seek (in beverage)

Around here, the Keurig is near unto God.  It makes the coffee that sustains my wife, and provides me with warm beverages, too.  Green Mountain Naturals' Hot Apple Cider is utterly phenomenal, and a personal favorite.  However, until tonight, the other of my favorite hot drinks, tea, has utterly eluded me.  I've been spoiled by having some very excellent teas, particularly my favorite, asian green teas.  Tazo's Awake is a rather acceptable generic black tea, if you give it enough honey.  However, last night we picked up a box of Celestial Seasoning's Lemon Zinger that was exceptionally tasty.  I'm still on a quest to find a good green tea (and may have to go away from packaged K cups, and use my filter basket instead, or stick to my kettle and teabags), but for now, I'm set for black teas.  And considering this weekend's weather, the timing couldn't have been better.

Lokidude

Big news, everyone!

So, I mentioned working on some big news.  If you know me on Facebook, you already know it, but for the rest of you...

Bex is buying me a two-car garage!  With all the accessories, including a house and a yard, and everything!  We close at the end of the month, and should be able to do Christmas in our new home.

The thought of that much debt kinda hurts my head, but it's far lower than most folks. Our house payment, insurance, and property taxes will be within $200 of our rent, and we've definitely got the money, so we'd be stupid not to buy.  It's definitely a starter home, but it'll give us equity in a few years to buy something bigger and better.

Plus, for the history nerd in me, I'll finally be original-intent Constitutionally eligible to vote.  (White.  Male.  Landowner.)  Not that it's how I think the franchise should be restricted in the modern day (that's a subject for a whole other blogpost), but it still is kinda nifty.

Lokidude

Sorry for the silence

Didn't mean to go quiet there.  I had a few posts syndicated, which due to a recently-discovered fight between me and Google's scheduler doohickey, ended up scheduled for NEXT August.  I've got them rescheduled, and will be kicking them out in the next week.  Beyond that, school has been stupid busy (second year electrical training is supposedly the hardest year), and Bex and I have been working on some Big Damn News (tm) that I'll be revealing very shortly.

I promise to try not to do that disappearing act again.

Lokidude

On the day that I die

I hope all of my friends and family remember this.



Lokidude

Raising Hell Victory Tour: The Album

  

Bex here.  Loki took me on the Raising Hell Victory Tour this past weekend down to Green River, UT.  Loki had his own agenda to fulfill over the weekend, about which he will post himself.  I went for the photo ops and a giant jacuzzi tub in our hotel room. Since I wasn't able to fit the tub into our truck, I guess y'all will have to settle for the pictures I took.

The first stop was the Rock House.  This one room home can be yours just as long as you can live without things like central heating and air, indoor plumbing and electricity. 

The local herd of big horn sheep were all too willing to pose for pictures for me.  Even the ram decided to grace me with his presence for a few shots.   

 

 

The other photo op was down at Crystal Geyser on the other side of town.   Unfortunately the geyser doesn't have any set time schedule as to when it will go off, so instead of seeing boiling hot water shooting into the air we got to walk around the mineral deposit terrace and chase lizards. 

For those of you who prefer to be more active while visiting the sleepy town of Green River, might we recommend rafting or whatever it is that you call this guy is doing. 

And remember kids, be sure to keep your puppy safe from drowning!

Raising Hell Victory Tour

By the time you read this, I'll already be well on it.  Can't tell you the details, that would spoil the fun.  However, I can post fun times music videos!



I'll catch everybody when I get home, hopefully with all sorts of cool pictures.

Lokidude

D Day

I know it's late,  it's been a long day.  But today, this picture pretty much sums up all of my thoughts and feelings about D-Day.

Lokidude

Official Redneck Command Product Review Policy

It's gotten to the point where I have to have one, so here goes.

Yes, I do product reviews.  My email is on the right, feel free to drop me a line.  However, know beforehand that I value honesty above all else.  I've been helped by the honest reviews of gunnie friends, and I feel obligated to provide the same honesty for up-and-coming gunnies myself.

Any product I receive for review will get a published review.  I can't call myself honest if I don't do that.  If there is a problem with the product, I will first behave as I would if I were a paying customer.  The real world is an imperfect world, and the willingness and ability of a company to make right on problems is at least as important as their product.

As much fun as torture tests can be to watch, they aren't really my thing.  They don't tell me anything about how a product performs day-to-day.  Sure, your truck can tow 5 tons through fire up an impossible incline (my current favorite overblown TV torture test.)  But what really matters to me is what the oil looks like 50000 miles down the road, or whether or not the brakes can stop that 5 ton trailer coming down the back side of one of the mountains I tow through.  Real-world is where my focus lies.  (Not that I won't do a torture test if a vendor asks.  The phrase "Try and break this" is exceptionally motivational to me.)

In short, I owe it to myself, the vendors, and whoever reads my reviews to be as honest, forthright, and practical as possible, and to frame all of my reviews in the mindset of the capitalist's greatest determinant: "Would I spent my own money on this?"

I hope I can help somebody like I've been helped.

Lokidude

Today we remember

It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.

General George S Patton, June 7, 1945

I've been blessed in my life to know many individuals who willingly and proudly put on the uniform of our great nation.  I've also been blessed to never have lost a friend to enemy fire.  However, on this day, we remember all of those who paid the price for freedom, in blood, the only currency that can be traded for liberty.

Lokidude

Life is hard

Our cats are so put upon.  Can't you tell?

I don't know how they survive.

Lokidude

That most burning of questions

As a matter of fact, I am! 

That's a whole ammo can full of 7.62x39, plus I have another 1000 round sealed case.  I need a couple more zombie cans, though, to stuff with the preferred pistol calibers of the house.

Are you ready?

Lokidude

Search term fun!

One of the hits I got in the past week was "How to carry a gun in a suit."

Simple.  Same way you carry in any other clothing.  Actually, a suit can often be easier to carry in, since it has a built-in cover garment.  Suit coats work wonders for concealing shoulder holsters, as well as OWB and IWB rigs.

I don't wear a suit very often, but I've had my very best luck wearing a tuckable IWB rig, if I was concerned about taking off my jacket.  Which, interestingly, is the same result I get in standard street clothes.

And that's how you carry in a suit.

Lokidude

I have found my new God

And Keurig is it's name.

Seriously, this thing is the most awesome beast ever.  Fresh coffee, faster than a drip machine, no wasted Joe.  K cups run us something like $.60 each locally (I know they're far cheaper online, I just haven't gotten that far yet), which beats the guts out of paying $3 or more at the coffee shop.

And in the deepest parts of awesome, it's more than just coffee.  We also have apple cider (phenomenally awesome) and green tea (less awesome, but I'm picky about my tea).  In fact, most of what I've been drinking has been apple cider.  They also make a basket that fits where the k-cup would normally go, to let you use standard coffee grounds or tea leaves, which is something we'll have to invest in.  (See the part where I'm picky about my tea.)  The only thing I miss from my old drip machine was the ability to set it to brew in the morning, so I had coffee when I made it to the kitchen.  However, this thing is so fast, that's a complete non-issue.

Well worth the price, all around.

Lokidude

It may not be with Bill Dance

But I'm going fishing. The weather is gorgeous, I just got my license, and it would be criminal of me not to put some mileage on it.

Don't make a mess while I'm gone.

Lokidude

BAG Day 2012

I know it's almost a week late, and ironically, the gun was bought about two weeks early, but here it is.

It's a Beretta Tomcat in .32ACP.  I've wanted a mousegun for a while now, particularly in .32, seeing as I already keep it in stock, as opposed to the far more popular .380.

It's what Weerd would call a "pack of smokes" gun.  It completely disappears in my back pocket, which makes it wonderful for quick trips out of the house when I don't want to holster up something mightier.

And being pretty doesn't hurt, either.

Lokidude

Things I Never Thought I'd Say, Hard as Hell Edition

I'm working at a place called the Boneyard, with a dude named Dog Nuts.

You have no idea how utterly hard core that sentence makes me feel.

Lokidude

30 years ago today

The baddest dude on the planet was born.

And I've only gotten better since!

Lokidude

So far today

I played Capture the Flag at work, capped the flag hard core, and am currently in the process of building a flagpole to display that bitch for all the world to see.

How has your day been?

Lokidude

Things I never thought I'd say #5(I think)

There's a zebra at the petting zoo at the rest stop in Scipio.

If you're from Utah, you know Scipio, and the whole thing is hilarious. If you aren't, you don't, and the joke can't be explained.

Lokidude