Saturday, February 23, 2008
Schwaggie!
Since I don't have a significant other at the moment (I'll be honest: most moments) I can't post pics of my chick. I can post pics of Schwaggie, since she's the closest thing I have to the hot chick that needs to have pics posted.
I Have The Best of Friends
I met my bro Murray at SHOT in Orlando. He may be the only Scot I know, but he'd be my favorite regardless. Murray and I hit it off immediately; he's one of my small handful of brothers-from-another-mother.
My bro sent me another very cool birthday present. Last year, he sent me a bottle of Tobermory 10 YO single malt. I'm still savoring that bottle, enjoying it little by little, as it should be. Another box arrived from my bro. In it, I find this:
The Macallan Fine Oak Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky Ten Years Old. Oh my, is this stuff nice. And, like the Tobermory, very unlike other Scottish single malts.It doesn't have that traditional peaty and smokey characteristic that many Islay whiskies do, but that is not to say that it is to the Macallan's detriment. This
particular whisky is aged in American oak barrels, sourced from Southern whiskey
makers. They are supplied by distilleries like Jack Daniels, Maker's Mark, and other
distilleries from this area. In addition, more aging is done in barrels that have
previously held sherry, in both American and European oak barrels. The brewmeister
(or head distiller or other proper name) really knows what he's doing! Unusual,to be sure, but with awesome results!
The box says the nose is "Complex, with a hint of fruit and heather honey. It says of the Palate, "Soft and Malty, balanced with oak and fruit. Of the finish, the box proclaims that it is "lingering, with a hint of oak and fruit". I'd be lying if I said I could pick all that out, but I'm learning...and learning is the fun part! Thank you, Murray! You ROCK!!!
My bro sent me another very cool birthday present. Last year, he sent me a bottle of Tobermory 10 YO single malt. I'm still savoring that bottle, enjoying it little by little, as it should be. Another box arrived from my bro. In it, I find this:
The Macallan Fine Oak Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky Ten Years Old. Oh my, is this stuff nice. And, like the Tobermory, very unlike other Scottish single malts.It doesn't have that traditional peaty and smokey characteristic that many Islay whiskies do, but that is not to say that it is to the Macallan's detriment. This
particular whisky is aged in American oak barrels, sourced from Southern whiskey
makers. They are supplied by distilleries like Jack Daniels, Maker's Mark, and other
distilleries from this area. In addition, more aging is done in barrels that have
previously held sherry, in both American and European oak barrels. The brewmeister
(or head distiller or other proper name) really knows what he's doing! Unusual,to be sure, but with awesome results!
The box says the nose is "Complex, with a hint of fruit and heather honey. It says of the Palate, "Soft and Malty, balanced with oak and fruit. Of the finish, the box proclaims that it is "lingering, with a hint of oak and fruit". I'd be lying if I said I could pick all that out, but I'm learning...and learning is the fun part! Thank you, Murray! You ROCK!!!
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Obama and change: what might that mean?
The juggernaut that is the Barack Hussein Obama Bin Laden campaign keeps rolling along, generating all kinds of...uh...I was gonna say "emptiness", but that's not really the word just yet...let's say "happy feelings". Of course, running against a woman that screws up everything she does hasn't hurt. They're about equal in their lack of experience, and both are scary and potentially ruinously dangerous in their views of foreign policy. Both claim to be progressives, both claim to be for change.
The "progressive" tag is of concern to me. Hillary says she's of the classical progressive model, as in the nineteenth century meaning of the word. To put the term in a political context, it could be said that "progressives" are "ultra liberals". While the current crop of liberals dabbles in the far left wing, and in some cases is half way underwater, the progressives are even further left than that, being heavily into worker's rights and social collectivism. If you think the kooks on the far left that are in office now are leftist, progressives go left, come around and pass the liberals twice on their way to the extreme of fascism and socialism.
Its funny to me that Republicans are constantly labelled as fascists, when the root of the term is easily traced to the Axis powers of WW II and the political systems of Germany and Italy during that time. The Nazis were, as you know from reading my blog, of the National Socialist Party, and were undeniably fascist. Progressives don't overtly have the racism of the Nazis as part of their beliefs, so they're more like Il Duce (Benito Mussolini if you don't know your WW II history) in that respect. Basically, progressives are all about crushing taxes on those that work to fund the myriad of programs they want to institute to keep their base happy. Who's their base? Traditionally, the unemployed, unskilled, and basically stupid, as well as the bleeding hearts that think they're helping and spending money to feel good.
So which is it with B.O.? That's the part that concerns me. According to some figures, the amount of new spending that he's proposed tops $800 Million. He's gone on record as saying that the Bush Tax Cuts only favored the rich (his definition of rich is much different from mine, separated by at least one zero, and more) and that the rich don't pay their fair share. That's not really a new idea; that's the standard Democratic Party line. The problem is, you can't keep abusing the rich in this country and have them continue to stay in this country. That's getting a little off track though.
B.O. is a progressive of the FDR mold. That's not a good thing. While the rest of the world was coming out of the Great Depression, America continued to wallow in it under the weight of the programs FDR instituted. The debt we rang up was nowhere near enough to bring us out of the Depression, but it was plenty enough to keep us in it. The Depression didn't end for America until we were forced to spool up for WW II. FDR was all about runaway spending, which I think B.O. is as well. We're going to bankrupt Social Security because we don't have the money for it, and we're going to add Universal Health Care, Baby Bonds, and expanding the nanny state? C'mon, even a math deficient guy like me can see that we can't do that. If he has his way and he really is a classical progressive, we're going to be a semi-socialist state in the mold of China, but with much less economic clout because slave labor isn't an option...right away...
What if B.O. isn't that far left and isn't a socialist fascist tax and spender? Then he's a classic liberal of the last 30 or so years. Wonderful. We get the failed policies of Carter and Clinton all over again. Same old tired, ineffective, expensive crap: higher taxes, less efficiency, and an even more huge, expensive government we can't afford. America's credit rating takes a nosedive (even more than it already has) and we verge on bankruptcy, which we already are.
I have to blame the Republicans in D.C. for this current state of affairs, at least their culpability in it. This is what happens with run away spending. If the guys in D.C. had stuck to the Contract with America ideals, especially of balancing the budget, we'd be in much better shape. We're in dire straits now, and its not going to get better, even with McCain in office. These next four years are not going to be pretty, no matter who's in there, but a B.O. administration with a democratic Congress is a horrifying thing. I hadn't considered moving to another country, even during the Carter years, which were really rough. I'll have to look into it now. I don't think I'd move, but the fact that I'd consider looking around is, to me, telling.
The "progressive" tag is of concern to me. Hillary says she's of the classical progressive model, as in the nineteenth century meaning of the word. To put the term in a political context, it could be said that "progressives" are "ultra liberals". While the current crop of liberals dabbles in the far left wing, and in some cases is half way underwater, the progressives are even further left than that, being heavily into worker's rights and social collectivism. If you think the kooks on the far left that are in office now are leftist, progressives go left, come around and pass the liberals twice on their way to the extreme of fascism and socialism.
Its funny to me that Republicans are constantly labelled as fascists, when the root of the term is easily traced to the Axis powers of WW II and the political systems of Germany and Italy during that time. The Nazis were, as you know from reading my blog, of the National Socialist Party, and were undeniably fascist. Progressives don't overtly have the racism of the Nazis as part of their beliefs, so they're more like Il Duce (Benito Mussolini if you don't know your WW II history) in that respect. Basically, progressives are all about crushing taxes on those that work to fund the myriad of programs they want to institute to keep their base happy. Who's their base? Traditionally, the unemployed, unskilled, and basically stupid, as well as the bleeding hearts that think they're helping and spending money to feel good.
So which is it with B.O.? That's the part that concerns me. According to some figures, the amount of new spending that he's proposed tops $800 Million. He's gone on record as saying that the Bush Tax Cuts only favored the rich (his definition of rich is much different from mine, separated by at least one zero, and more) and that the rich don't pay their fair share. That's not really a new idea; that's the standard Democratic Party line. The problem is, you can't keep abusing the rich in this country and have them continue to stay in this country. That's getting a little off track though.
B.O. is a progressive of the FDR mold. That's not a good thing. While the rest of the world was coming out of the Great Depression, America continued to wallow in it under the weight of the programs FDR instituted. The debt we rang up was nowhere near enough to bring us out of the Depression, but it was plenty enough to keep us in it. The Depression didn't end for America until we were forced to spool up for WW II. FDR was all about runaway spending, which I think B.O. is as well. We're going to bankrupt Social Security because we don't have the money for it, and we're going to add Universal Health Care, Baby Bonds, and expanding the nanny state? C'mon, even a math deficient guy like me can see that we can't do that. If he has his way and he really is a classical progressive, we're going to be a semi-socialist state in the mold of China, but with much less economic clout because slave labor isn't an option...right away...
What if B.O. isn't that far left and isn't a socialist fascist tax and spender? Then he's a classic liberal of the last 30 or so years. Wonderful. We get the failed policies of Carter and Clinton all over again. Same old tired, ineffective, expensive crap: higher taxes, less efficiency, and an even more huge, expensive government we can't afford. America's credit rating takes a nosedive (even more than it already has) and we verge on bankruptcy, which we already are.
I have to blame the Republicans in D.C. for this current state of affairs, at least their culpability in it. This is what happens with run away spending. If the guys in D.C. had stuck to the Contract with America ideals, especially of balancing the budget, we'd be in much better shape. We're in dire straits now, and its not going to get better, even with McCain in office. These next four years are not going to be pretty, no matter who's in there, but a B.O. administration with a democratic Congress is a horrifying thing. I hadn't considered moving to another country, even during the Carter years, which were really rough. I'll have to look into it now. I don't think I'd move, but the fact that I'd consider looking around is, to me, telling.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Great Birthday Presents
I got a box yesterday from my friendly USPS delivery lady. One nice thing about living in a relatively small community: they know where I live and where I work...that's not that difficult to do, given the proximity of Fortress Haji to the ATS shop. Why that is in some way important is that, instead of leaving a parcel that won't fit in my box on my doorstep where it could be removed by goblins or zombies of nefarious intent, they deliver said parcels to my place of work, where they end up in my hands in short order. As I said, that's what happened yesterday.
Now, I knew that this box was in transit, because my bro Assbags (I'm not sure what exactly it means either, but that name was issued by his DI, so he's stuck with it) told me it was on its way. When I opened it, though, I was even more pleasantly surprised. Pleasantlier, if you will. Or if you won't. Inside that box were not one, not two, but ten new black Magpul P-Mags. But wait, there's more! Also in the box were not one, not two, but ten tan Magpuls to go with the mags!
My usual shooting partner, Top, is stuck at the store today, so I haven't taken 'em to the range yet, but the weather seems to be trending towards the better, so it shouldn't be too long.
Speaking of ranges, I spoke to a guy that used to work at the CCPD with one of the guys who works for ATS. He was the range master there, and said we may still have a place to shoot up that way. Things are definitely lookin' up! I'm gonna go do some dry fire with the AR at the bad guys in Shooter now, as well as enjoy the performances of Kate Mara and Rhona Mitra. They're amazing. :)
Now, I knew that this box was in transit, because my bro Assbags (I'm not sure what exactly it means either, but that name was issued by his DI, so he's stuck with it) told me it was on its way. When I opened it, though, I was even more pleasantly surprised. Pleasantlier, if you will. Or if you won't. Inside that box were not one, not two, but ten new black Magpul P-Mags. But wait, there's more! Also in the box were not one, not two, but ten tan Magpuls to go with the mags!
My usual shooting partner, Top, is stuck at the store today, so I haven't taken 'em to the range yet, but the weather seems to be trending towards the better, so it shouldn't be too long.
Speaking of ranges, I spoke to a guy that used to work at the CCPD with one of the guys who works for ATS. He was the range master there, and said we may still have a place to shoot up that way. Things are definitely lookin' up! I'm gonna go do some dry fire with the AR at the bad guys in Shooter now, as well as enjoy the performances of Kate Mara and Rhona Mitra. They're amazing. :)
Friday, February 15, 2008
Hey, that's not a half bad election analysis!
I was over on Kami's blog, reading about the big suck sandwich that's coming from the Presidential elections this time around. I made these comments on a post, and then realized how brilliant and precient I am. So, I had to post 'em here, too...and not just to take up space on my blog! Really! OK, I'm taking up space on my blog...but its still a pretty good analysis.
"The way it looks right now is that Obama Hussien Bin Laden is going to get the Demo-nom. Hillary's campaign looks like rats leaving a burning ship lately. It may still go to delegates, but the way Obama's going, it may be pretty much cut and dried after Texas. Best case scenario is that they'll drain eachother's campaign all the way to the Convention.
McCain is a done deal on the Republican side. If he can actually get across who he is to America, beating up on both Dem candidates will be easy. He's by no means a good candidate, but he's the best of what's left.
I'm getting sick and tired of the political parties putting candidates out there because they've paid their dues and are next in line. That's how we ended up with this wonderful crop of candidates we have now.
Haji"
"The way it looks right now is that Obama Hussien Bin Laden is going to get the Demo-nom. Hillary's campaign looks like rats leaving a burning ship lately. It may still go to delegates, but the way Obama's going, it may be pretty much cut and dried after Texas. Best case scenario is that they'll drain eachother's campaign all the way to the Convention.
McCain is a done deal on the Republican side. If he can actually get across who he is to America, beating up on both Dem candidates will be easy. He's by no means a good candidate, but he's the best of what's left.
I'm getting sick and tired of the political parties putting candidates out there because they've paid their dues and are next in line. That's how we ended up with this wonderful crop of candidates we have now.
Haji"
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
old
Woke up, went to work, worked all day, hung out in the shop for a little bit, chipped the ice off my windshield, went home, made stuffed burger, watched Jericho. Uneventful birthday. 41 is very much like 40. BORING! On the plus side, I'm seriously considering getting an LWRC M6A2 as my birthday/graduation gift to myself. Might be the last chance to get a bad ass rifle before the administration change.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
I wish I could afford to spend every weekend in Vegas
I'm not gonna bother running down what I saw at SHOT. Better info than I could share is all over the Intardweb already, so there's no point in rehashing it here. I can't really delve into details of what we did, either. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Here's the broad strokes, I guess.
My flight was delayed about an hour, so I got to Vegas a full hour and a half later than I was supposed to. That wouldn't have been such a big deal, except that my friend Mark was waiting to pick me up. I owe that man greatly. I stayed at his house that night with a couple other friends, and we rolled to SHOT the next morning. We stopped at one of the Station casinos for the breakfast buffet. Tons of sausage and bacon later, we rolled to the show.
The show...meh. Cool stuff, but no real break out products this year. Gemtech has a whole bunch of new suppressors, and Magpul has some cool new stuff, as you'd expect from Magpul. ATS had a booth at the show for the first time, and by all accounts did very well.
After kickin' it at the show all day, we went to our luxury condo suite at Wyndam Suites Resort. That was our base of operations for the rest of the weekend. Mark, Mike, Darren, myself, and Jeromy went to meet the rest of the Lightfighter mods at Hoffbrau House, which was excellent. Two liters of dark German beer and jaegershnitzel later, I was a happy guy. The only drawback was that it was louder than loud in there, and we were unable to really talk. Jeromy got progressively more drunk and increasingly funny. After dinner, we met up with more LF'ers at BJ's, who has Newcastle on tap. Nice! Saw some friends from Cali that I haven't seen in quite a while, which was great. Met some new folks, saw some people I'd met before, and had a great time. Got to bed late.
After SHOT on Sunday, back to the Suite for the Super Bowl and a gathering of about 20 for my birthday. Great time! After the Super Bowl and some other shenanigans, it was off to The Stratosphere for the Gemtech/LaRue party. Again, very successful operations at draining the open bar were undertaken. Great times again! After that party was closed down, it was off to the Hooters casino to continue the shenanigans. Got back late. Loved every minute of it.
Monday, we were pretty whiped out, so we went back to the suite, decided we were hungry, and headed off to the casino who's name I can't recall; I think it was the Monte Carlo. Good buffet, even though the prime rib was dry. Awesome little mousse cake things. I almost ate too much, but pulled back just at the right moment. Extreme Gear Labs paid for dinner. Go buy gear from them; Darren is a great dude and has some unique ideas on gear.
Tuesday was the last day of the show. I was fortunate enough to wander the show with Jeromy, who's a hell of a guy and a real American hero. He was blown up about a year ago, and is finally back on his feet. My man is healing nicely, and is really hoping to get back in the fight. We met a lot of people, because Jeromy is pretty well known. Spent a little more time with one of my favorite guys, Bill Harsey, and Jeromy bought a cool Sebenza from Chris Reeve. Chris liked my "Hadji Don't Surf" patch, so at Jeromy's prompting, I gave it to him. He gave me one of the very coveted CRK "think twice, cut once" shirts, this one written in Swahili. Hell of a trade, I thought.
Most of our crew left us Tuesday night, so that left Jeromy, myself, and Mike to hit Ellis Island for barbecue. After we successfully made a big mess of the table and got pork stuffed, we headed over to The Freakin' Frog, and proceeded to clean them out of 1554. We met up with Matrix (one of the few people in the world who's screen name is easier to use than his real name) his friend who's name I can't recall, author Erick Gelhaus, and the dudes from Ashley Outdoors sights. We were able to use the members only section upstairs because Matrix has been spending money there forever. We eventually closed the bar, and headed back to the Suite again.
The cab driver deserves special mention. First, he said he had been an executive at...some Strip casino, like the MGM or whatever. He cashed in and retired. He asked us what we were doing in Vegas, and we said "SHOT show". He asked if anybody was military, because he'd been an 18E and...something else. 91W or something. He said he spent 18 of his 20 years in Special Forces. Jeromy made a comment about hookers, so he said "Yeah, I can hook that up for you. I took care of Peyton Manning's friends while they were here. They called me to thank me for the great time they had", and he hands Jeromy a little catalog thing. Dude was a Son Tay Raider, weilder of corporate power, and now Vegas' premier cab driving pimp. We were chuckling at that guy for quite a while afterward.
Unfortunately I had to leave on Wednesday, but it was good to be home and sleeping in my own bed. The show...meh. The after show activities...hells yeah!!!
My flight was delayed about an hour, so I got to Vegas a full hour and a half later than I was supposed to. That wouldn't have been such a big deal, except that my friend Mark was waiting to pick me up. I owe that man greatly. I stayed at his house that night with a couple other friends, and we rolled to SHOT the next morning. We stopped at one of the Station casinos for the breakfast buffet. Tons of sausage and bacon later, we rolled to the show.
The show...meh. Cool stuff, but no real break out products this year. Gemtech has a whole bunch of new suppressors, and Magpul has some cool new stuff, as you'd expect from Magpul. ATS had a booth at the show for the first time, and by all accounts did very well.
After kickin' it at the show all day, we went to our luxury condo suite at Wyndam Suites Resort. That was our base of operations for the rest of the weekend. Mark, Mike, Darren, myself, and Jeromy went to meet the rest of the Lightfighter mods at Hoffbrau House, which was excellent. Two liters of dark German beer and jaegershnitzel later, I was a happy guy. The only drawback was that it was louder than loud in there, and we were unable to really talk. Jeromy got progressively more drunk and increasingly funny. After dinner, we met up with more LF'ers at BJ's, who has Newcastle on tap. Nice! Saw some friends from Cali that I haven't seen in quite a while, which was great. Met some new folks, saw some people I'd met before, and had a great time. Got to bed late.
After SHOT on Sunday, back to the Suite for the Super Bowl and a gathering of about 20 for my birthday. Great time! After the Super Bowl and some other shenanigans, it was off to The Stratosphere for the Gemtech/LaRue party. Again, very successful operations at draining the open bar were undertaken. Great times again! After that party was closed down, it was off to the Hooters casino to continue the shenanigans. Got back late. Loved every minute of it.
Monday, we were pretty whiped out, so we went back to the suite, decided we were hungry, and headed off to the casino who's name I can't recall; I think it was the Monte Carlo. Good buffet, even though the prime rib was dry. Awesome little mousse cake things. I almost ate too much, but pulled back just at the right moment. Extreme Gear Labs paid for dinner. Go buy gear from them; Darren is a great dude and has some unique ideas on gear.
Tuesday was the last day of the show. I was fortunate enough to wander the show with Jeromy, who's a hell of a guy and a real American hero. He was blown up about a year ago, and is finally back on his feet. My man is healing nicely, and is really hoping to get back in the fight. We met a lot of people, because Jeromy is pretty well known. Spent a little more time with one of my favorite guys, Bill Harsey, and Jeromy bought a cool Sebenza from Chris Reeve. Chris liked my "Hadji Don't Surf" patch, so at Jeromy's prompting, I gave it to him. He gave me one of the very coveted CRK "think twice, cut once" shirts, this one written in Swahili. Hell of a trade, I thought.
Most of our crew left us Tuesday night, so that left Jeromy, myself, and Mike to hit Ellis Island for barbecue. After we successfully made a big mess of the table and got pork stuffed, we headed over to The Freakin' Frog, and proceeded to clean them out of 1554. We met up with Matrix (one of the few people in the world who's screen name is easier to use than his real name) his friend who's name I can't recall, author Erick Gelhaus, and the dudes from Ashley Outdoors sights. We were able to use the members only section upstairs because Matrix has been spending money there forever. We eventually closed the bar, and headed back to the Suite again.
The cab driver deserves special mention. First, he said he had been an executive at...some Strip casino, like the MGM or whatever. He cashed in and retired. He asked us what we were doing in Vegas, and we said "SHOT show". He asked if anybody was military, because he'd been an 18E and...something else. 91W or something. He said he spent 18 of his 20 years in Special Forces. Jeromy made a comment about hookers, so he said "Yeah, I can hook that up for you. I took care of Peyton Manning's friends while they were here. They called me to thank me for the great time they had", and he hands Jeromy a little catalog thing. Dude was a Son Tay Raider, weilder of corporate power, and now Vegas' premier cab driving pimp. We were chuckling at that guy for quite a while afterward.
Unfortunately I had to leave on Wednesday, but it was good to be home and sleeping in my own bed. The show...meh. The after show activities...hells yeah!!!
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