 |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Summer's hit in full force here. We've already had a lot of 100+ days. It's too hot to be out, too hot to ride anywhere, too hot to go to the airport. I did get a business trip to Portland a few weeks ago. I'd never been there, but it's now on my list of "places I'd be happy retiring". I haven't uploaded the pictures yet, but I managed to squeeze in a few hours at Mt. Hood State Park, and a trip with my friend John O to the Evergreen Aviation Museum to see the Spruce Goose. There's no way to express just how enormous that airplane is - you just have to stand under it to understand. But I came home with bronchitis and two ear infections, so it wasn't all good. Despite a round of antibiotics, I'm still coughing. If it's anything like my previous round of bronchitis, I'm going to be coughing for another month. We made it out to the airport for the 4th, where my mechanic fired up his L-39:  It sounds great - I expect it'll be flying before the end of the summer. We didn't stay long, since the humidity makes my cough even worse. I know I put pictures up on FaceBook, but I don't think I mentioned it here: there are two new kittens terrorizing the household. Meet Xena:
 | And Thera:
 |
Those pictures are a month old, so they're a good bit bigger now. I have high hopes of teaching them to fetch. The local library is closed for renovations this summer, so I'm short on books. I've been filling up my wish list on Paperback Swap. I finished Addition the other night, and I have two more on their way. The local indoor range had a fire last weekend, so it's put a damper on my Tuesday nights of shooting. They're looking for a new location, but I suspect that anywhere they pick is going to be too far away for me to make it in time after work. My WoW guild has been working our way through Naxx on weekend nights. We've got all 4 main quarters down, but still haven't downed the last two bosses. Other then that, life's been quiet. I'm looking forward to being able to be outside again - in another 3 months.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
There are places where time doesn't exist. An airport, waiting for a flight. There's only the time before your flight is called, and the time after. I can sit and read for 15 minutes or two hours, content in the knowledge that as long as it is Before, there's nothing else I should be doing. To a lesser extent, there's the flight itself - it contains the takeoff, and the landing, and a gloriously empty space between them. Those spaces can only be filled with self-indulgence. It's the one time I can bury myself entirely into a book, or just sit and daydream. For that period of time, I can do whatever I want without having a background thread running, worrying about what more-productive thing I should be doing. Because for that one slice of my life, there is nothing else I should be doing. I can simply be Still. When I was younger, there were more of those times. Lazy Sunday mornings in bed with a newspaper, Saturday afternoons in a bookstore, the whole week after finals. But aiports are the one constant place where I've always found that sense of timelessness. I always get off a plane with the feeling of relaxation that I imagine most women pay money for at a spa. I've got to be the only person I know who often does enjoy the journey almost as much as the destination. Posted via LiveJournal.app. Tags: via ljapp
Current Location: 45.604706, -122.574188
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
I first saw this in college - on a real piece of paper - but then hadn't seen this in years. It popped up from fortune when I logged in this morning:
"No program is perfect,"
They said with a shrug.
"The customer's happy--
What's one little bug?"
But he was determined,
The others went home.
He dug out the flow chart
Deserted, alone.
Night passed into morning.
The room was cluttered
With core dumps, source listings.
"I'm close," he muttered.
Chain smoking, cold coffee,
Logic, deduction.
"I've got it!" he cried,
"Just change one instruction."
Then change two, then three more,
As year followed year.
And strangers would comment,
"Is that guy still here?"
He died at the console
Of hunger and thirst.
Next day he was buried
Face down, nine edge first.
And his wife through her tears
Accepted his fate.
Said "He's not really gone,
He's just working late."
-- The Perfect Programmer
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Since January, everyone seems to be running around yelling "OMG! The Democrats are going to take our guns! And our ammo!". Gun prices are way up (someone at the gun show this weekend had a flier with a picture of Obama that said "Best gun salesman ever"). Handgun ammo is increasingly difficult to find, because people are buying it up, so if you walk into Academy, they're likely to be sold out. Then, instead of the two boxes someone would have bought at Academy, they're ordering an entire case online, so now all the online places are running out. People point at that and say, "See! It's starting already! I have to stock up, or I won't be able to buy ammo anymore!", and the cycle repeats. At this point, some places have ammo back-ordered by a month or more. So it was with much amusement that I saw this on CNN this morning: Gun rights advocates found an unlikely ally in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives on Wednesday as lawmakers passed a measure allowing concealed, loaded firearms to be carried in national parks.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I know, I'm late - been promising a post about this for a while. I finally got a new handgun about 3 months ago - a Springfield XDM in 9mm. I shot all the interesting 9mm rentals at the local range, which has quite a collection. I loved the grip angle on the 1911, but it was out of my price range, and in retrospect I'm glad I didn't buy something with an external safety. The Glocks just didn't appeal to me - I have no problems with "plastic", no problems with the internal safety, I just didn't like shooting them. The XDM got good reviews and seemed like a nice compromise. I really like it. I'm having one problem - the magazine doesn't like to come out if the slide isn't back - but it's under warranty, the factory seems to know about it (the phone call this morning: "Hi! I'm having trouble with the magazine release." "It's stiff, particularly when the slide is forward?" "Yep."), and will fix it. I've put close to 1000 rounds through it in the last few months, so I can live with one problem. The downside is that means a 30-day turnaround, according to them. Somewhere in there, we managed to take a weekend and get our Texas CHLs. 10 hours of class, mostly spent filling out paperwork and making sure we could hit the broad side of a barn, mixed with a few hours of "this is where you may not carry". It seemed remarkably minimalist - they assumed you already knew everything you needed to know about the actual carrying and shooting part and just need to know the legal stuff. It'll be a while before we get the paperwork - some people are waiting 6-9 months to actually get the card. So we've been doing a tactical class on Tuesday nights - lots of movement, reloading, "stoppage reductions", and so on. They take 5 lanes of an indoor range and use them for the class. It's a hot range - you're not allowed to be on the range with an unloaded weapon. The theory is that most accidental discharges happen with guns that people believe are empty - so by forcing them to be loaded, you're increasing safety. I'll just say that after years of shooting at ranges, it took quite a few Tuesdays to get used to moving around with a loaded gun in the holster. Last night, they took everyone's gun, and put them on the table in various stages of functionality. You had to run down and back the length of the range, pick up a gun, do what needed to be done to fire 2 shots from it, and if you missed either time, you got to do another lap. Once you hit the target twice in a row, the next person started. It reminded me of the relay races we always played in gym class - and what gym class wouldn't have been improved by the addition of a table full of loaded firearms? This weekend: The gun show. I'm hoping to stock up on enough ammo to start doing the Thursday night IDPA matches. And get a holster for my old .22 so I have something to shoot while the XDM is in the shop. Whatever made me think this was going to be a cheap new hobby? Tags: shooting
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(From SlashFood) When I make fondant for filled chocolates, it usually goes roughly like this: - Assemble ingredients
- Cook
- Pour into my glass 13x9 to cool
- Remove from fridge 20 minutes later, and start stirring
- Spend 30 minutes to 2 hours stirring, breaking N-1 wooden spoons in the process (where N is the total number of wooden spoons in my kitchen)
- Give up, and use the fondant in whatever consistency it's in
But SlashFood says I can skip the last few steps, and just work it in a stand mixer with a dough hook! Despite my "never make fondant except for Christmas" rule, I'm going to go home and try their lemon fondant recipe just to see if it works. If it does, expect lemon truffles at work tomorrow. And if it doesn't, I'll warm it up, pour it over ice cream, and deny I ever tried.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Previous 
cranky
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
