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