Wine, Women, and Politics: You sir...are a racist!

Makes me think I want to start a list of those ideas and beliefs that are not "racist." If using the mainstream media as a judge, it would be a very short list.

Wine, Women, and Politics: You sir...are a racist!

Poor Sunny

So the President got a new dog and named her "Sunny." With his history with anything having to do with anything solar, I expect Sunny to be gone in 12-18 months.

Spool Tool (TM) for 550 Cord

The Spool Tool looks to an interesting piece of kit. For $24 which includes 50' of cord, I will be getting one to play with and let you know how it works ($19 gets a unit without the cord).

Plus it looks to be supporting a Veteran Owned Business.

H/T Soldier Systems

Back from the Edge of Nowhere....

So my little piece of the blogosphere still exists. This blog started just as a place for me to put down some of my thoughts and observations, mainly for myself and my own recollection. I kind of fell off the face of the interwebs, in regards to my participation of all things blog or forum related.

I had just taken a new job, had a 18 month old daughter to contend with, and a schedule that kept me off the computer, I just had excuse after excuse to stay away from this blog and my other haunts.

Well I am back now, not that I am going to be posting daily updates, and posting those things that interest me.

How Stimulus Works....

Not mine but not sure of the source.

It is a slow day in the small Minnesota town of Marshall, and the streets are deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody is living on credit.

A rich tourist visiting the area drives through town, stops at the motel, lays a $100 bill on the desk and says he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs before selecting one for the night.

1. As soon as he walks upstairs, the motel owner grabs the bill and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher.

2. The butcher takes the $100 and runs down the street to retire his debt to the pig farmer.

3. The pig farmer takes the $100 and heads off to pay his bill to his supplier, the Farmer's Co-op.

4. The guy at the Farmer's Co-op takes the $100 and runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute, who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer her "services" on credit.

5. The hooker rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill with the motel owner.

6. The motel proprietor then places the $100 back on the counter so the rich traveler will not suspect anything.

At that moment the traveler comes down the stairs, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, picks up the $100 bill and leaves town.

No one produced anything. No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now out of debt and looks to the future with a lot more optimism.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how Stimulus works.

4 Months Late

To anyone who cares, I apologize. The past four months have been the craziest on record. Where do I start? I started a new job, which has really cut down my daily internet time. Spent some time in NC after my Grandmother died. She was 96 years old and lived a good life, and I am supremely blessed to have been her grandson. I then spent more time in NC with my Mom, who is going through some health issues, but looks to be better know. Several family birthdays, Thanksgiving, and a 18 month old daughter have taken more out of me that I care to share.

Anyway, on to the show. It is really strange getting back on the Interweb after a long hiatus. Checking in on my usual forum haunts, there have been some nasty in-fighting and other heated discussions that I missed. My Dark Side wants to revive some of the these old posts and get things going again, but I will relax and let it all go. Just have to wait for the next round.

I am having a great time on the new job. I get to play with locks all day. Locks on doors and safes are like toys to me. I get to play with these mechanical puzzles and enjoy my job so much.

With the past four months I have hardly been shooting at all. I missed the last two local IDPA matches, and one has a multi-gun side match. AARGH!!

But anyway I am back....

Home for 48 Hours

So I am home for just about 48 hours and then off again. Well not really 48 hours. I landing on Monday night at 5:10, and my plane departs tonight at 5:30. So taking into account the hour and a half drive home and the drive to the back to the aiport, well it just sucks. I really got to spend about 14 or 15 hours with the wife and about 7 or 8 hours with my daughter.

Traveling away from the family just sucks. Last week my daughter was taking 2 or 3 steps before falling down, I go away for 5 days and when I come home she is walking all the way across the living room. Missing these moments really gets to me.

Anyway, the pity party is over. I did have a blast at DefCon 18. Got me some great swag, and even found the first DefCon skateboard deck, in the Twitter Hunt. On the link I found the third deck pictured. I am not a skateboarder, nor will I ever be, but that deck will be hung up like a trophy. The other item I brought home, that I love, is Deviant Ollam's book "Practical Lock Picking", head over the Amazon and pick it up. I even got it signed and personalized from Deviant himself. This book is a great asset for people interested in locks, from the absolute novice to the "expert". I fall into the middle of these two classes, I know just enough to be dangerous.

The classes and presentations were outstanding, and I learned a lot. One thing I learned was never steal a hackers computer. This had to be the funniest presentation ever. Overall I had a blast.

Now on to filling out a travel voucher and prep work for my visit to Spain. It has been 12 or 13 years since I visited a Spanish speaking country, and I hope my cerveza ordering skills will be up to the task.

I will see my 2 faithful readers once I get back.

Going to be slow here for a couple of weeks.

Since today is Friday, and I never really get online on the weekends, then I am going to be in Vegas for DefCon (WOOT!!!!!), and when I get back from Vegas I am off to Spain for a 10 day work trip, this may be my last post until mid-August. Although I may send in a post or two from Vegas, via my iPhone even though the formatting is always screwed up, about the activities and presentations at DefCon.

I am so looking foward to DefCon. I spent last night packing up my practice locks, my lockpicks, and some other odds and ends. I will probably be spending every minute, that I am not in a presentation, in the Lockpicking Village.

I hope the 2 or 3 readers, I think I have, will still be here when I get back. Take care.

New Job??

Well I may be changing jobs soon. Got a phone call from a guy asking if I was still interested in a position I had applied for a while back. Honestly I had forgotten that I had even applied for it. So after a little talk about the duties, I said yes.

A little back story. I love my current job, but as part of the BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure), the entire headquarters of my agency is moving from downtown D.C. to Quantico VA. Now I live in upper Maryland, about 5 minutes from the PA stateline, and I love where I live. It is a drive each day to D.C., but being that far removed from the city suits me fine, beside living in the country and having my own personal shooting range is great.

Since I am not going to move, or drive 95 miles each way to Quantico, I have been looking for a position that would keep me in D.C. or in Maryland somewhere. So "if" the future job pans out, I will be a little closer than I am now.

The job seems to be an easy one, sitting at a desk, answering trouble calls, and I would travel about 25% of the amount I have traveled for the past 9 years. In my former life as a Marine and the deployments I made, I missed a lot of my oldest daughter, who is almost 16, early years. I do not what to miss that with my younger daughter.

I retweeted a post the other day that sums up how I feel about family and why I want this new job.

"A truly rich man is one whose children run into their arms when their hands are empty"

Busy

To the one or two people who may visit my blog, just know that I am still here. Work and Family have kept me busy, especially my 1 year old daughter.

Just know that I will posting more soon.