After years of promising myself that I'd buy a handgun, the time has finally arrived. I'm only 3 years later than I had originally intended, and believe me, that is a record of sorts. I'm usually much slower.
I purchased mine, used, at Gander Mountain. Believe me, if there are two characters who look out of place at Gander Mountain, it's me and Bambi.
None the less, the experience was pleasant, and the two gentlemen who helped me Chuck and Tom were very polite and helpful.
My purchase was preowned, but I saved an immense amount of money over new and the gun (it hurts me to use that word, considering how many push ups I've had looked like it was in great shape. Overall, I'm fairly happy with it.
My concern, through my limited firearms experience, is that the weapon was not properly cleaned and lubricated before sale. I'm not sure exactly what their policy on this is, as they did give me a voucher for a free cleaning and inspection, thought you'd assume they'd clean and inspect a weapon they purchased to resell yes?
Anyway, I'm headed to the range on Saturday. My brother and his friend in tow. We'll put a few down. I'll try to remember my camera.
22 November 2007
21 November 2007
You Dirty Son of A Bitch
There has been a lot of debate as to whether or not Sony should be replacing a certain someone's Playstation 3 under warranty for free or for $150.
At first, on this debate, I sided with the crowd who said "Yes, they should fix it for free, it's their shit." That is, I was, until I saw pictures.
At The Consumerist, where I got these pictures, there is a debate and a poll about this same subject. The poll stands at about 55/45 in favor of Sony replacing this disgusting monolith for free. My personal belief is that this person's neglect of general maintenance has contributed to the failure of the unit. It doesn't take much to wipe off your Playstation 3, much less occasionally blow out dust, as I do with all 3 of my consoles, my surround sound system and my television.
The general rule of thumb, or rule of wrist in this situation, is that taking care of your shit makes it last longer. That's why, after a year and a half of service, my delightful MacBook and my wife's 2 year old Sony laptop are both in relatively good condition (I have stress cracks on the corner of my notebook, due to a poor choice in plastics, my wife's computer is mint) and my brother's Dell is duct taped at the hinges and around the monitor. At around the same age.
He believes that he will wring out another 6 months.
I just disassembled it to remove a screw mount that was rolling around and causing leads to short and smoke.
Fox News stuck their big nose into the Playstation 3 fuckup's situation, too. I don't know if you'd heard about it.
They used an actor to portray the guy.
Why? Probably because this guy knows he'd never get another date once someone figured out how abso-fuckin'-lutely filthy he is.
Update: I don't actually believe that the kid on fox news is the kid with the nasty ps3. In the off-chance that I'm wrong, I hope this shit kills his career.
At first, on this debate, I sided with the crowd who said "Yes, they should fix it for free, it's their shit." That is, I was, until I saw pictures.
At The Consumerist, where I got these pictures, there is a debate and a poll about this same subject. The poll stands at about 55/45 in favor of Sony replacing this disgusting monolith for free. My personal belief is that this person's neglect of general maintenance has contributed to the failure of the unit. It doesn't take much to wipe off your Playstation 3, much less occasionally blow out dust, as I do with all 3 of my consoles, my surround sound system and my television.
The general rule of thumb, or rule of wrist in this situation, is that taking care of your shit makes it last longer. That's why, after a year and a half of service, my delightful MacBook and my wife's 2 year old Sony laptop are both in relatively good condition (I have stress cracks on the corner of my notebook, due to a poor choice in plastics, my wife's computer is mint) and my brother's Dell is duct taped at the hinges and around the monitor. At around the same age.
He believes that he will wring out another 6 months.
I just disassembled it to remove a screw mount that was rolling around and causing leads to short and smoke.
Fox News stuck their big nose into the Playstation 3 fuckup's situation, too. I don't know if you'd heard about it.
They used an actor to portray the guy.
Why? Probably because this guy knows he'd never get another date once someone figured out how abso-fuckin'-lutely filthy he is.
Update: I don't actually believe that the kid on fox news is the kid with the nasty ps3. In the off-chance that I'm wrong, I hope this shit kills his career.
15 November 2007
An Oddity of Sorts
My brother has always had an interest in firearms. Actually, interest would be blunting the Katana.
My brother is obsessed with guns.
I've always had more than a passing interest myself, as the amount of engineering that goes in to each and every one of those things is incredible. That and they are really fun to shoot at a range.
My personal experience with firearms are limited to the M16A2 (bang bang), the M249 SAW (tukka tukka tukka), the M92f (Beretta) 9mm (Pop pop), and the M82 Barrett 50 Cal (BOOM!).
It was enjoyable, but grim experience when the only thing your told is that you're going to have to do this to a person someday.
It's an entirely different feeling to think that you can purchase one and do it to a piece of steel or paper instead, and no one is firing back at you. Or over you.
I have an irrational fear that my permit to purchase will be denied by the fair city of Apple Valley. I've never been arrested for anything. And still I worry.
Here's the one I picked out:
Only problem is... after that one... there are 10 more.
My brother is obsessed with guns.
I've always had more than a passing interest myself, as the amount of engineering that goes in to each and every one of those things is incredible. That and they are really fun to shoot at a range.
My personal experience with firearms are limited to the M16A2 (bang bang), the M249 SAW (tukka tukka tukka), the M92f (Beretta) 9mm (Pop pop), and the M82 Barrett 50 Cal (BOOM!).
It was enjoyable, but grim experience when the only thing your told is that you're going to have to do this to a person someday.
It's an entirely different feeling to think that you can purchase one and do it to a piece of steel or paper instead, and no one is firing back at you. Or over you.
I have an irrational fear that my permit to purchase will be denied by the fair city of Apple Valley. I've never been arrested for anything. And still I worry.
Here's the one I picked out:
Only problem is... after that one... there are 10 more.
09 November 2007
The Fine Print
Today, thanks to the pursuit of a dollar, everything has guarantees and fine print attached to it.
Everything is Free* (*after mail-in rebate, which you will never see).
Or Risk Free* (* if not satisfied with the product, contact our customer service and they'll call you a liar, you'll pay $5 dollar processing fee and not get a return on shipping and handling).
Or Guaranteed!* (Under ridiculous terms we specify that cannot possibly be met or proven so we can provide a more marketable claim).
Example:
Jeremy is Guaranteed!* to pee in your overnight bag. (*You will have to clean it up)
Case and point:
I am in the market for a fire-proof (or as reasonably as possible) safe. Sentry makes a "Fire-Safe", which one would assume means, as it is heavy and unwieldy, means that it can withstand being left in your house during the event of... say... a fire. One expects that the outside of the safe would undoubtably be damaged, as it does have a keypad for electronic entry.
One does not expect, however, that the safe is only guaranteed for 1 hour of fire conditions.
What the fuck does that mean?
Does that mean from the moment my house starts on fire? Or from the moment the safe is engulfed in flames? Isn't the point of buying the fire-safe to keep your belongings (notably, paperwork indicating the ownership of the house) safe from a... ahem... fire? Since it is 100 pounds, does that mean I have to try to bring it with me while I'm half asleep and escaping from the inferno?
Should I go back for it?
Am I supposed to document the fire? How long it takes from the initial spark to my house being cinders on the ground? Does that mean I'm supposed to record this? What the fuck? I need to find my video camera now?
The point is, "fire-safe" is misleading. Safe with 1 hour of fire resistance is much more accurate, yet, less marketable. But the terms of the fire resistance are not outlined on the box.
If I find the asshole that puts that shit together, I'm going to give him a guaranteed* kick in the balls.
(*I'll do it)
Everything is Free* (*after mail-in rebate, which you will never see).
Or Risk Free* (* if not satisfied with the product, contact our customer service and they'll call you a liar, you'll pay $5 dollar processing fee and not get a return on shipping and handling).
Or Guaranteed!* (Under ridiculous terms we specify that cannot possibly be met or proven so we can provide a more marketable claim).
Example:
Jeremy is Guaranteed!* to pee in your overnight bag. (*You will have to clean it up)
Case and point:
I am in the market for a fire-proof (or as reasonably as possible) safe. Sentry makes a "Fire-Safe", which one would assume means, as it is heavy and unwieldy, means that it can withstand being left in your house during the event of... say... a fire. One expects that the outside of the safe would undoubtably be damaged, as it does have a keypad for electronic entry.
One does not expect, however, that the safe is only guaranteed for 1 hour of fire conditions.
What the fuck does that mean?
Does that mean from the moment my house starts on fire? Or from the moment the safe is engulfed in flames? Isn't the point of buying the fire-safe to keep your belongings (notably, paperwork indicating the ownership of the house) safe from a... ahem... fire? Since it is 100 pounds, does that mean I have to try to bring it with me while I'm half asleep and escaping from the inferno?
Should I go back for it?
Am I supposed to document the fire? How long it takes from the initial spark to my house being cinders on the ground? Does that mean I'm supposed to record this? What the fuck? I need to find my video camera now?
The point is, "fire-safe" is misleading. Safe with 1 hour of fire resistance is much more accurate, yet, less marketable. But the terms of the fire resistance are not outlined on the box.
If I find the asshole that puts that shit together, I'm going to give him a guaranteed* kick in the balls.
(*I'll do it)
06 November 2007
Reversed Consumerism
One of the interesting ideals behind our society is that everyone will get paid incredible amounts of money for everything they do, and never have to pay for what they want later.
I think of the music industry as a wild representation of this ideal. And the reality of it, as well.
Music is saturated with idiots who produce a generic product in the pursuit of your dollar, and because the industry that supports this model believes that the only way to maintain profitability is to find a bunch of acts that all look and sound like each other, or in Nickleback's case, like themselves, we're stuck with this as a mainstream product.
Several attempts have been made at producing a more marketable way of taking independent artists and bringing them to the public, but nothing works without some sort of airplay or exposure.
That, and everyone wants good, free music.
The problem with the statement above is interesting. The thing is, I like paying for music. I like knowing that an artist who produces quality material is getting paid because I enjoyed his product and I purchased it. The problem is that good albums are really few and far between. Thank Steve Jobs for iTunes. Not that everyone uses it.
But the idea is just the same.
Today, hip hop is infused with the idea that money can be made quickly if you follow the instructions.
First, you write and record and album. Then, you ditch 3 tracks off that album and you replace them with 3 standard tracks: The Guest Producer song (where Timbaland or Just Blaze create a great sounding and original beat with a hook that disguises your substandard rap ability), the Slow Jam (optional, but the ladies love a slow jam), and finally, the collaboration track. You start the track, but everyone in the middle make the song (right now, it'd be Akon, Kanye, T-Pain, Ne-Yo, Jay-Z, Chris Brown and/or Trey Songs).
This guarantees the album will sell 200,000 copies, even if you spend the last 45 minutes of the album humming.
And since hip hop is the antithesis of rock, the formula there is significantly different. You write an album, everything must sound the same, and be catchy. Then you release your first album and the single in the same 8 weeks, then you release another single at the end of 3 months from the release of your single. Then that's it. Wait for your sales, or not. It's much more hit and miss, which is why you get so many more hip hop artists on the top 40 than rock.
And yet, knowing all this, I paid 5 dollars for an album without listening to it. Without a middle man. No brick and mortar store. No ad campaign. Just hype. I heard it from someone. And Trent Reznor was involved.
If you haven't purchased the album, you can download it for free, but I think you'll agree that it's worth the $5, at least to support the idea that suing your customers isn't the best way to make money.
The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust
Nothing says trust me like a free trial.
I think of the music industry as a wild representation of this ideal. And the reality of it, as well.
Music is saturated with idiots who produce a generic product in the pursuit of your dollar, and because the industry that supports this model believes that the only way to maintain profitability is to find a bunch of acts that all look and sound like each other, or in Nickleback's case, like themselves, we're stuck with this as a mainstream product.
Several attempts have been made at producing a more marketable way of taking independent artists and bringing them to the public, but nothing works without some sort of airplay or exposure.
That, and everyone wants good, free music.
The problem with the statement above is interesting. The thing is, I like paying for music. I like knowing that an artist who produces quality material is getting paid because I enjoyed his product and I purchased it. The problem is that good albums are really few and far between. Thank Steve Jobs for iTunes. Not that everyone uses it.
But the idea is just the same.
Today, hip hop is infused with the idea that money can be made quickly if you follow the instructions.
First, you write and record and album. Then, you ditch 3 tracks off that album and you replace them with 3 standard tracks: The Guest Producer song (where Timbaland or Just Blaze create a great sounding and original beat with a hook that disguises your substandard rap ability), the Slow Jam (optional, but the ladies love a slow jam), and finally, the collaboration track. You start the track, but everyone in the middle make the song (right now, it'd be Akon, Kanye, T-Pain, Ne-Yo, Jay-Z, Chris Brown and/or Trey Songs).
This guarantees the album will sell 200,000 copies, even if you spend the last 45 minutes of the album humming.
And since hip hop is the antithesis of rock, the formula there is significantly different. You write an album, everything must sound the same, and be catchy. Then you release your first album and the single in the same 8 weeks, then you release another single at the end of 3 months from the release of your single. Then that's it. Wait for your sales, or not. It's much more hit and miss, which is why you get so many more hip hop artists on the top 40 than rock.
And yet, knowing all this, I paid 5 dollars for an album without listening to it. Without a middle man. No brick and mortar store. No ad campaign. Just hype. I heard it from someone. And Trent Reznor was involved.
If you haven't purchased the album, you can download it for free, but I think you'll agree that it's worth the $5, at least to support the idea that suing your customers isn't the best way to make money.
The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust
Nothing says trust me like a free trial.
Pride of our Children; an open letter
Dear Sir or Madam,
As your son makes his honorable journey throughout the trenches, it is most important that he can depend on your for support.
Day after day, only the love and confidence you provide will enable him to do the duty he so nobly accepted. The times spent thinking and believing that there is a home, and a free world, enables him compassion. Acceptance will provide your son humanity.
Those of us who have served previously under these conditions knows there is no secret to managing the day to day events, only faith and courage.
In to the tremendous cloud of perfume from a member of the marketing department, we together will march in, and with your support, out as men. And as brothers.
Captain Ronald C. Gunz
Commanding
As your son makes his honorable journey throughout the trenches, it is most important that he can depend on your for support.
Day after day, only the love and confidence you provide will enable him to do the duty he so nobly accepted. The times spent thinking and believing that there is a home, and a free world, enables him compassion. Acceptance will provide your son humanity.
Those of us who have served previously under these conditions knows there is no secret to managing the day to day events, only faith and courage.
In to the tremendous cloud of perfume from a member of the marketing department, we together will march in, and with your support, out as men. And as brothers.
Captain Ronald C. Gunz
Commanding
02 November 2007
In Pursuit of Happiness
This morning at 0530, my alarm sounded the FFVII Victory theme in an attempt to tell me that it was time to wake up and to do the things I had promised myself I would do when I set my alarm to 0530.
This morning at 0530, while I was trying to reach the alarm and quiet it before my wife was disturbed I looked at the window and noticed that it was much brighter outside that I was used to. The new flood lights next door were too bright.
This morning at 0530, the room now silent, I had a decision to make. Do I reset my alarm and enjoy 25 more minutes of extensible sleep?
This morning at 0531, my eyes wide open and the new flood light blaring in my eyes the way a catholic school teacher would scream in to your ears for talking during class. With a ruler.
Besides... I just bought an iPod Nano Fatboy, specifically for this reason:
This morning at 0534, I was up and dressed... and stretching... preparing myself for a run I didn't want.
This morning at 0540, I was running. I'm horribly out of shape and I know that I'm only punishing myself for that fact. I'm running hard and there is pain in my chest and legs and jaw. It hurts when I breathe.
This afternoon, still sore, my breathing still raspy and painful... I made a decision... a phone call.
"Apple Valley Medical Center Appointment Line, how can I help you?"
"I'd like to make an appointment with Dr. Widdifield, please."
"And the problem?"
"I think I have asthma."
This morning at 0530, while I was trying to reach the alarm and quiet it before my wife was disturbed I looked at the window and noticed that it was much brighter outside that I was used to. The new flood lights next door were too bright.
This morning at 0530, the room now silent, I had a decision to make. Do I reset my alarm and enjoy 25 more minutes of extensible sleep?
This morning at 0531, my eyes wide open and the new flood light blaring in my eyes the way a catholic school teacher would scream in to your ears for talking during class. With a ruler.
Besides... I just bought an iPod Nano Fatboy, specifically for this reason:
This morning at 0534, I was up and dressed... and stretching... preparing myself for a run I didn't want.
This morning at 0540, I was running. I'm horribly out of shape and I know that I'm only punishing myself for that fact. I'm running hard and there is pain in my chest and legs and jaw. It hurts when I breathe.
This afternoon, still sore, my breathing still raspy and painful... I made a decision... a phone call.
"Apple Valley Medical Center Appointment Line, how can I help you?"
"I'd like to make an appointment with Dr. Widdifield, please."
"And the problem?"
"I think I have asthma."
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