Tonight's Entertainment

Hooray home ownership!

ETA: Heh, I didn't realize I took a picture of the Spanish side of the box.  It's a fancy humidifier that mounts to the heating ducts and taps into the water line, so you don't have to fill it.  Supposedly it'll handle our house plus another 500 or so square feet, and if all goes according to plan I won't have horrible sinus issues for the rest of the winter.

Gross

Supposedly it's going to warm up 30 more degrees through the day. I don't believe it.

Two Inches of Slush

That's all that stands between the USPS and my mailbox... and is apparently what it takes to get a pre-written note asking to "please keep your mailbox clear."  I guess snow is a magical substance that completely causes a postal worker to loose all depth perception.  (I wouldn't have really cared, except that I'm not exaggerating with the 'two inch' statement.)

The offending slush has been removed (pending the next pass by the county plow truck), so hopefully they are able to remember "oh yeah, I do have to reach that far all year."

An Engineer's Guide to Cats

2.0



More the calculator engineering, and not so much the blow-stuff-up engineering (well, less so...) but still pretty dang good.

Easy Day

Costa and company making gun porn.  Good times.

Finals are Hard

And simply pulling the fire alarm is so 1995.  On the up (and not so up) side of things, I have more hours this week at work... and I don't have off tomorrow.  Finals week here too, fingers crossed nobody pulls a copy-cat act.

What I find interesting is that those are both well regarded schools, supposedly full of smart kids.  I guess the strain is too much for some?

Bed was Warm...

...Why didn't I stay in bed?

Geography is Fun!

Or should I say 'orthographic imagery'? I found a picture of my truck from space!

This tells me that the most recent imagery on Google was taken on a Wednesday (miniature gaming day.)

Brr...

At 11am.  In my black truck. That was sitting in the sun all morning.  Windchill is hovering around -20.  Usually we don't deal with this until the middle of January...

Round 2

Of Operation Root Canal is finished... time to relax and enjoy the greatest Christmas movie ever.

Not Cool

Sucky when a big company doesn't play nice.  I'm pretty certain (because I know it's how I roll) that if you just ask nice and give proper attribution, almost any novice/semi-pro photographer would let you use their work.

House Stuff

I set the living room on fire.

New chimney liner, cap/damper combo, and finally one of the reasons we bought this house is usable again.  Good day for it too, being the first "serious" snow of the year.

Welcome to the Blogoshpere!

Long time friend of G&C, DocB, has started a blog!  Check it outs- Socks, Water, and Motrin

Doc is a combat veteran, Paramedic, and possesses a "special" sort of humor one can only gain from babysitting a platoon of Marines.

Coma time.

We are 'officially' out of the old house, and all of our stuff is in the new one. Followed that up with my parents and Grandma over for turkey stuff, and dropped off the keys with our renters (welcome to the world of landlordship!)

Now is time for CW Mudpuppy!

New Home Fun...

New stove and fridge are due tonight, so that's a plus.  Had the chimney guy in last week to look at things (figured it'd be a good call to make before actually lighting a fire in the living room...)

Turns out it was a good call.  I guess nobody told the former owner what a "rain cap" is, and why it is insanely important to a chimney.  If you don't know, it'll let all the rain and snow come down, getting the inside nice and wet, and when it freezes up here in the north, the ice cracks apart all the mortar holding the firebricks in place.  Loose a brick, and it's like having a blowtorch going against the structural bricks.  Good times.

Thankfully the structure is still fine, so all we need is a stainless alloy liner dropped in.  Price is per linier foot, so for the first time (of what I'm sure will be more than a few) I'm glad it's a short ranch style house.  Still $1200 that could have gone to the bathrooms or kitchen rebuilds, had somebody simply stuck a little piece of metal up on the roof.  On a positive note, we will be required to burn "a 2-log fire" every day until the mortar and insulation cures.

Jumping the Badged Shark

Tru-Spec launched their line of uniforms in the new "MultiCam Black" today, a pattern that Crye says "The MultiCam Black™ pattern was developed to meet the unique requirements of law enforcement officers operating in high-risk environments. It projects a distinctly authoritative presence appropriate for domestic operations. MultiCam Black™ is designed to complement an officer’s existing equipment and present a sharp, professional image for top-tier law enforcement units."

This may come as a surprise to some, since I know there's a certain amount of stereotypes in the gun blog circles about LEOs, and as some long-time readers may know, that's kind of my civilian job.  So here's the rub: While the pattern does look pretty cool, I don't really see the legitimacy of it, especially in an LE environment.  It really is a pure "I want to look cool" product, as it has no concealment abilities, making it pretty useless for SWAT Snipers or Drug Enforcement guys busting grows out in the woods, and camo makes no difference for dynamic entry teams.  (And in my opinion, if you're going for some sort of "psychological edge," I'd think Kryptek Typhon would be the better option.)

All in all, if you want and need camo, get an effective camo.  Otherwise solid black with big white lettering is going to look plenty professional, and clearly identify who you are, and that's more important than looking cool.

Costa on SA

"In law enforcement, we call that a clue."

 Well worth the time.

Impromptu Fun Show!

Headed up to Wausau to look for house stuff (filled under "success") and noticed signs for a gun show.  Granted it was a Bob & Rocco one... but eh, time to kill, pretty stuff to look at (hopefully.)  Saw some rare beasts (Kel-tech KSG and a PMR-30) and there was a multi-table slew of Class III fun to drool over.

We'll file our shopping here success as well.  Crossed another off the "would really like to have list," and snagged a 1928 manufactured Winchester 1897.  Long barrel, take-down, and all sorts of slam-fire fun.

Very seriously considering knocking a few inches off, and need to replace the stock (not trusting that crack tons,) but should be very much fun for SASS.

Beer!

Jeebus I need to post more often. We close on the new house Monday, so hopefully things will pick up after that madness.

In the meantime, sometimes you need to go to the source for the good stuff, in this case Slainte Scotch Ale (left) and Peruvian Morning (right) straight from the taps on the brewery floor.

Veterans' Day

Today we remember those we served with, and those who served before us.  There are still brothers and sisters downrange, and I can't help but thing that there's another group of soldiers, sitting around a fire the night before heading out for a week long mission in Indian Country (just like we were less than a year ago in this picture.)

Happy Veterans' Day guys.

Sweep the Leg Drill!

Start the day off right!



Too funny. (Mmm! Pie!!)

Silly Cat

Even if it was time to feed you, you're making it kinda tough.

CCW Survey!

For The Balloon Goes Up.  Hit it up and help them out!  It's totally anonymous (unless you want to attach your name) and only takes a minute.

Check Your Ammo!

I guess Winchester wanted me to practice some immediate action drills (even if they're less than exciting on a DA-only revolver...)

At least they were nice and stuck it right on the corner there.

Prepping

Heard rumors of hordes of monsters and evil things roaming about, so we're getting ready to defend the homestead.

Hooray coffee!

KtKC 2013 - The Extended Cut!

Dropping this before ducking out for the week.  Simply can't contain the awesome.

More and better photos later!

Light Blogging Alert

I know it has been lately, but it's about to get really light this week.  Kind of have a wedding thing to do today, and a honeymoon to enjoy next week.  Fair warning.

Unneeded Features

Aero Precision is selling a stripped AR upper that gets rid of the main one on the AR platform.

If I were building an AR from scratch, this is upper I'd use.  I've always felt that if there's an issue that requires you to beat the bolt into battery, there's probably something not very safe about the ammo or your gun.

Teaser

Editing some photos (apparently PS Elements 10 no longer recognizes NEF Raw, yay extra steps!)

Here's a teaser of the newest addition to the armory.