On July 28th, at 8am, I received my midyear performance review from GigantoMegaBankCorp.
GigantoMegaBankCorp reviews employees on a 1-5 integer scale, on 5 major categories, each weighted differently. Each category make up as little as 5%, and as much as 35% of your overall score. Each category consists of between 3 and 15 weighted subcategories, scored, averaged and rounded down to the absolute value' to reach the score in the major category. The overall score is also then giving a weighted average, and rounded down to absolute value. 1 and 2 indicate unacceptable performance and minimum acceptable performance respectively, 3 indicating "good" performance, 4 indicating "exceptional performance" and 5 indicating "outstanding performance".
Performance reviews are used or a lot of things; but from a tangible standpoint, your performance review is used as a multiplier for your annual bonus, your profit sharing award, and your stock option grant (these are all substantial portions of your annual compensation in the financial industry, frequently more than half; but in my case, all of those things combined make up about 1/3). In order to get any "incentive based" or "performance based" compensation, you must average at least 3.0 overall, AND receive no score on any major category lower than 3 (though you can be rated 2 or 1 on any given subcategory. If you make an average of between 4.0 and 4.9, you get 125% of your "target" bonus, and baseline stock options and profit sharing. If you make an average of 5 (for which, obviously, you have to receive nothing but 5s), you get 150% of your target and baseline.
The first four years I was with GigantoMegaBankCorp, I was never rated less than a 4 on any category, always received 5 ratings in several categories (in fact, one year I got all 5s and got 150% bonus); and I received multiple sizable bonuses, and several promotions. I started off as an Architect 4 on contract, with no title other than "Systems Architect" and no direct management responsibility. I ended up as an Architect 6 {the highest architect rank that is actually still an architect and manger, and not purely a manager} and "Chief Architect" of the biggest division of the bank, leading a team of 8 senior architects, and managing project teams of dozens, even hundreds).
For 2010 I received mostly 3s and 4s in the major categories, but I received one 2; and therefore I didn't get any bonus or stock options. As most people reading this probably know, 2010 was a bad year for me, and yeah, it had a negative impact on my performance. In 2011 though, I've generally been turning it around pretty well, now that I'm receiving the proper treatment for my health problems (among other things).
The midyear review is generally just a "guidance" number, intended to give you an idea of where you are for the year, and any changes you may need to make for your end of year review; however, if you received a lower year end review score, the midyear also replaces it as your "current review" score, for internal job applications, promotions, transfers etc...
From 800am to 830am, I went over my review with my manager. I got a 4 overall on my midyear review, with very positive comments, plus some additional suggestions about how I could make sure I get a 4 or better for the full year, which my manager was confident I would reach.
At 830am, there was a mandatory meeting for nine members of my department plus their managers, including me. The director of my department, the chief architect of GigantoMegaBankCorp over all, announced that subsequent to our recent major re-organization (following our purchase of another major bank 18 months ago), an analysis of our "senior technical and executive staff" had been conducted, and we would be taking a manadatory 15% across the board staff cut (9 people), with specific cutting targets in the three highest grades; and that the positions of the staff members in that meeting were being eliminated, and we were being "displaced" as of October 3rd.
He then opened the bridge to the rest of the department, and made the announcement to everyone.
Under the terms of my "displacement", I worked my position from the announcement until August 3rd, when I went to "transitional leave"; where I was still paid, but did not have any active duties or position; the purpose of which is to allow you to try to find another job within the company.
From October 3rd on, I could either remain on "continuation leave", and be treated as an employee for most purposes, including benefits, employment verification, internal positions etc... for six months, or I could take a lump sum payment for the amount of base salary I would have received for that same period.
Also, because I was an active employee for ten months of the year, if I was bonus eligible, and a bonus is distributed for 2011 (it would be distributed between the last two weeks of February and the first two weeks of March), I will receive 83% of the bonus I would have received; and my stock options and grants that would have matured, will mature.
In theory, those two things combined should be worth about $30,000 pre-tax come March, on top of the severance; but it's very uncertain.
I decided to take the severance package. My wife works for GigantoMegaBankCorp as well, with the same benefits eligibility, so we just switched benefits around so that she's the primary member, and I'm the spouse; so our benefits are covered.
As of October 3rd, I have been officially laid off from the job I held for more than five years; as chief architect of the retail division of a major financial institution.
Unfortunately, since that time, I have been contractually prohibited from speaking about it publicly, or in any detail.
It was a great job in some ways, a horrible job in others... just like any job...
...but the thing is, it was a job I was doing for someone else.
It was a job that, fundamentally, I was never happy with; because it wasn't getting me (or my family), where we want to be.
On the other hand, it was also a job that gave me a reasonably large severance package...
...Big enough, that my family and I could have lived on it for at least a year; maybe as much as two years if we cut back to the absolute minimum, and you include the PTO payout, and the cashout of my 401k... Or at least it was big enough for that, before the IRS got ahold of it.
Just an aside, the IRS took about $37,000 in regular taxes from me this year so far (that's January to October 7th. Actually, it's a bit less than usual; the last few years they've taken around $50k to $60k per year, but I didn't get a bonus this year, which they withold at a higher rate), then they took about $27k out of my severance package. I decided to cash out my 401k rather than roll it over {I don't like the market for the next two years, and I honestly think the prepayment penalty is less than I'm going to lose, between inflation and market losses. I think I have better uses for that money} and AFTER the prepayment penalty, they took another $7k . That's a total of about $71,000 in tax withholding.
From that $71,000 in withholding, I estimate my actual tax liability for the year from all the compensation I earned from GigantoMegaBankCorp, to be about $40,000; so in theory I've got a pretty damned big tax return coming.
The funniest thing...
Since I entered the ranks of the "unemployed", I've been busier than I ever was when I was "employed" (which, yes, is part of why I wasn't particularly happy with the job).
First, on July 28th at 830, I was laid off... On July 28th at 1130, I got my first phone call with a job offer. I didn't take it, for several reasons; the first of which being that if I accepted another job before October 3rd, I wouldn't get the severance package.
At the same time, I also got a couple of temporary contract gigs, that were providing me with significant outside income; and of course I had offers pending from October 3rd on.
Anyway, even after the IRS took damn near half (ok... not quite that much, but a hell of a lot), my "displacement settlement" was enough to live on for at least a year, presuming we made some cuts etc...
We've decided to go a different way.
I'm not very happy with the way things are right now... in a lot of different ways.
I love my wife and family, I love where we live...
...but....
Lot's of other things though... I'm not really happy with.
Yes, I could make a lot of money continuing what I have been doing the last 10 years; moving back into consulting again or taking a similar position at any number of other companies in the finance, medical, or technology industries.
Frankly, there aren't a lot of people who can do what I do, and there are a lot of companies that need it.
But...
I am tired of either working for another big company, or being dependent on them as a contractor or subcontractor; and in my primary field, that's where the money is.
My wife and I have thought a lot about this, done a lot of research, weighed a lot of options, and done a lot of soul searching...
A LOT of thinking, researching, and soul searching.
About three months worth in fact...
We've decided to do something different.
Instead of going for another big money contract gig, or laying back for two years, or just banking the money...
We've decided to do something different.
The first thing we've done is, Mel has transitioned to full time employment with GigantoMegaBankCorp, and will be earning a reasonable amount of money (plus our medical benefits).
The second thing we've done, is get out of the hole we've been put in by the last five years.
All my personal debt excepting our car loans, all my medical bills, all the remaining legal bills, all my credit cards... everything... and a bunch of Mels debt (not all unfortunately, she owes a hell of a lot because of the custody case, and we wouldn't have anything left to live off of) is now paid off.
It was a deep hole, and because we've been in it for several years, our credit getting worse every day; it was a high interest hole. We were rolling loans over periodically at high interest rates (including pawn and payday loans at times); so, that we were paying about half interest and half principal on the majority of those payments to the tune of several thousand dollars a month.
No, that's not a good situation to be in. It was also a situation we didn't have a choice about. Our savings went entirely into the legal and medical bills; and we needed that money, right then, for things that couldn't be put off, and that was that.
No, we're not stupid... we were left without options. I would pay off as much as I could, when I could, in the background; but it was repeatedly two steps forward three steps back.
The last two years also put either Mel or me, or both of us together; into about $30,000 worth of collections, some for Mels stuff, but a lot for medical bills my insurance didn't cover, and which because of the those other things, we couldn't always pay or couldn't pay in a timely manner (for example, in January and February of 2011, I had $16,000 in un-covered medical expenses, $3000 for my brothers funeral, $5000 in legal bills, $3000 in medical bills for the kids relating to the custody issue. That $27,000 screwed us up until like September); screwing up our credit rather badly.
Note: One major point of irritation there. My insurance company has this irritating habit of paying a bill, then six months later, they do a "payment review" and they charge back a part of what they originally paid from the original service provider. Then, the original service provider bills me; and, not knowing this, or missing it in the FLOOD of paper I get every day (there's a lot of medical bills associated with being a cancer patient. Often hundreds of pages a week) I get sent to collections after 90 days... very irritating.
That's in addition to about $20,000 worth of other unsecured or high interest debt (personal loans, payday loans, pawn, credit cards etc...) ; for a total of about $50,0000
It's all paid off now.
The entire remainder of our debt is either secured, low interest, or personal on a no interest basis.
As of today, we're completely out of the hole, but for the cars, and Mels remaining personal debt.
By the way: relating to that, part of Mels personal debt is all the people who ordered cookbooks that were never delivered. There's actually a very good reason why that happened, having to do with legal issues as well as financial issues; it sucks, it's wrong, but there wasn't anything I could do about it; and there's an even crappier reason why we are legally prevented from talking about . The next thing I post is going to be about that, but I don't want to interrupt this post for that info.
Also as of today, including Mels pay, and my unemployment benefits ($336 a week for six months by the way), we now have about 6 months of living expenses banked. If we get the tax return and the bonus etc... it's more like 12 to 18 months.
On Monday, presuming what I've been waiting for happens, I'm going to write about what we did with the rest of the money and what I'm planning on doing for the next few years.
Note: I was wanting to post this on Tuesday by the way, but events overtook me again, and I wasn't able to say the things I wanted to be able to say until today, and I didn't want to say anything else until I was able to say this. The reason I'm not posting the rest today, is for the same reason. I should be able to do so on Monday.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
See, I told you I wasn't QUITE dead... yet...
... though I admit, it turned out to be "a week from tomorrow" instead of tomorrow" as I thought it would be on the 14th; I intend to make up for it. This should be the first of at least three posts today.
...
...Which will almost certainly jinx it and i wont be able to write for another month... ...but Ill proceed on the notion my plan will reach frution this day.
However, it's 0945 and im in a cafe in Sandpoint; and i need to dump a bedful of frozen trash at the refuse station 5 miles south of town, so I can be ready for my "big thing" of the day, which is coming in via truck freight between 10 and noon...
...Or it would be if it weren't for the 6 full inches of mixed ice, slush, and snow alternately melting and refreezing; on the roads from the state highway to our house. Theres no way in hell a semi is getting into our road, never mind our driveway (a 7% grade).
I talked with them yesterday and asked if there was any way the could send up a city truck or box van, but no. So, instead of the white glove service I paid extra for, I'm going to need to meet them in a clear parking lot off the state highway, and do a liftgate transfer into my truck bed. Then I need to figure out how to get an unbalanced 500 pound pallet out of my truck bed, without a loading dock, forklift... even a pallet jack.
In freezing rain, onto ice and snow.
Fun.
(I'm thinking of rigging a cradle hoist under the pallet and lifting it with my 3 ton shop crane and engine hoist/leveler)
Oh and did I forget to mention, I'm in the middle of a severe bout of insomnia and haven't slept in 75 hours? It's oing to be an interesting day.
...
...Which will almost certainly jinx it and i wont be able to write for another month... ...but Ill proceed on the notion my plan will reach frution this day.
However, it's 0945 and im in a cafe in Sandpoint; and i need to dump a bedful of frozen trash at the refuse station 5 miles south of town, so I can be ready for my "big thing" of the day, which is coming in via truck freight between 10 and noon...
...Or it would be if it weren't for the 6 full inches of mixed ice, slush, and snow alternately melting and refreezing; on the roads from the state highway to our house. Theres no way in hell a semi is getting into our road, never mind our driveway (a 7% grade).
I talked with them yesterday and asked if there was any way the could send up a city truck or box van, but no. So, instead of the white glove service I paid extra for, I'm going to need to meet them in a clear parking lot off the state highway, and do a liftgate transfer into my truck bed. Then I need to figure out how to get an unbalanced 500 pound pallet out of my truck bed, without a loading dock, forklift... even a pallet jack.
In freezing rain, onto ice and snow.
Fun.
(I'm thinking of rigging a cradle hoist under the pallet and lifting it with my 3 ton shop crane and engine hoist/leveler)
Oh and did I forget to mention, I'm in the middle of a severe bout of insomnia and haven't slept in 75 hours? It's oing to be an interesting day.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Still not dead
And I believe I will be able to start writing again tomorrow.
I'm hoping and trying for it anyway, since I've got a backlog like you wouldn't believe, and a list of "posts to write", many already partly written, with at least marginally interesting content... about a mile long (over 100 anyway).
I'm hoping and trying for it anyway, since I've got a backlog like you wouldn't believe, and a list of "posts to write", many already partly written, with at least marginally interesting content... about a mile long (over 100 anyway).
Wednesday, November 09, 2011
I'm not ACTUALLY dead...
...I've just been busier than hell these last couple weeks.
Several VERY BIG THINGS are afoot here, and I will be writing several very long posts about them, when I finish what is taking up so much of my time right now.
Oh and good news, there is less of me to be busy, once again. I've managed to get down as low as 380; though I'm still bouncing around the entire range between 380 and 400.
Several VERY BIG THINGS are afoot here, and I will be writing several very long posts about them, when I finish what is taking up so much of my time right now.
Oh and good news, there is less of me to be busy, once again. I've managed to get down as low as 380; though I'm still bouncing around the entire range between 380 and 400.
Monday, November 07, 2011
So Much For Close Your Bank Account Day, At Least Here
So supposedly Saturday was close your bank account with the EEEEVIL big banks day. I will not grace the morons with a link to this supposed nationwide protest.
My bank is the only bank in town open on Saturdays of course.
So as a company we decided on a policy of quickly and politely closing their accounts and giving them cash for the balances. We ordered more cash in all denominations just to be prepared. We were all prepped for what might happen through an all-hands meeting a few weeks ago, during which the manager somehow managed to not use any swear words (it was a mighty effort for her).
I was working the full shift yesterday. How many accounts did we close?
None. Absolutely none. Opened a few though.
However, I did spend all day taking cash in. Approximately three times as much as a usual Saturday. The irony hit us all pretty hard.
Evidently "close your bank account day" didn't reach North Idaho.
However, I would like to note that we are an odd branch. As my immediate supervisor said yesterday, "this is probably the only branch in the company where if a man walks in wearing camo and a ski mask while carrying a rifle, our first response is "What did ya get?"
My bank is the only bank in town open on Saturdays of course.
So as a company we decided on a policy of quickly and politely closing their accounts and giving them cash for the balances. We ordered more cash in all denominations just to be prepared. We were all prepped for what might happen through an all-hands meeting a few weeks ago, during which the manager somehow managed to not use any swear words (it was a mighty effort for her).
I was working the full shift yesterday. How many accounts did we close?
None. Absolutely none. Opened a few though.
However, I did spend all day taking cash in. Approximately three times as much as a usual Saturday. The irony hit us all pretty hard.
Evidently "close your bank account day" didn't reach North Idaho.
However, I would like to note that we are an odd branch. As my immediate supervisor said yesterday, "this is probably the only branch in the company where if a man walks in wearing camo and a ski mask while carrying a rifle, our first response is "What did ya get?"
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Every couple of days now...
I think "hey I ought to write something about these OWS morons"... and then I realize, I can't even take them seriously enough to write a snarky blog post about them.
Honestly.. I just couldn't be arsed.
Besides, they're already their own best joke.
They've so thoroughly beclowned themselves at this point, isn't it just cruel? Like kicking a mentally retarded kid?
Honestly.. I just couldn't be arsed.
Besides, they're already their own best joke.
They've so thoroughly beclowned themselves at this point, isn't it just cruel? Like kicking a mentally retarded kid?
So, how well did I handicap the NFL this past week
Last week, I laid out my picks for the upcoming weekends NFL games.
Let's see how I did shall we? If I got the game right, I'll mark it green. If wrong, red.
I was surprised by this one. The Jets really played a great game offensively (though a sloppy one).
So, I went 8 for 12... not bad; and three of those games were... freakish outliers shall we say?
Actually, this whole season is kind of a freakish outlier. Week 8, and there are still three teams with 0 victories... And one of them is the Colts... And given the schedules, and the teams performances thus far, it's entirely possible any of them... perhaps even all three... go winless for the whole season.
Meanwhile, Green Bay who have been very inconsistent in the post Favre era (going from 6-10 in 2008, to winning the superbowl last year on a 10-6 record)... they're 7-0 coming into a bye week, and then what should be three breezers against San Diego, Minnesota, and Tampa Bay. They don't have a hard game coming until thanksgiving vs. Detroit. We may see them go undefeated into week 12, or 13. Hell... It's possible, given the rest of their schedule, that they may run the table this year. It's unlikely, but it's possible.
What a season
Let's see how I did shall we? If I got the game right, I'll mark it green. If wrong, red.
Chargers over Jets:
I think this is a no brainer. Top ten rushing AND passing offense of the Chargers, against a bottom five rushing defense on the Jets (good pass defense though). On the other side, the Jets are a bottom ten passing and rushing offense (31st in rushing) vs. the second best pass defense (only mediocre on rush defense though).
I was surprised by this one. The Jets really played a great game offensively (though a sloppy one).
This really could have been a redskins win. Stupid mistakes, turnovers, not capitalizing on good drives; turning good drives into field goals not touchdowns...
Chicago vs. Tampa Bay:
Honestly I'm having a hard time calling that... maybe a slight edge to Tampa Bay because their offense is better.. but something gut level says Chicago.
Skins over Panthers:
Two mediocre teams (Carolina isn't as bad as their record suggests. They've got a solid offense, but a crap run defense); but Washington has a little less negative and a little more positive.
Detroit over Atlanta:Wow... there could have been worse third down conversion... somewhow... Every detroit drive ended up a 3 and out so... can't really win that way.
Not even a question. Detroit is just playing better than Atlanta by far (even after Sundays RIDICULOUS loss to one of the worst teams in football).
Cleveland over Seattle:6 to 3? Was this a football game or a soccer match? No touchdowns for either team, with Seattle going 2 for 12 on 3rd down, and 12 for 30 on pass attempts.
On the pure numbers they're almost even... But I think Cleveland has a small edge on offense, and Seattle has a crap pass defense.
Denver over Miami:An epic, battle royale of shit vs. shit, into OT. They went toOT not because of great play, but because of how bad both teams are.
Shit vs. Shit, but Miami is stinkier shit.
Houston over Tennessee:In a 41-7 blowout, Tennessee makes me a liar; because their defense didn't even show up... and neither did their offense. Lessee a 5-1 first down advantage, 3 to 1 (almost 4 to 1) third down conversion advantage, 3.5 to 1 total yardage advantage, 2 to 0 turnover advantage... Frankly it's a wonder it was only a 34 point victory.
I realize that Tennessee is technically ranked over Houston, but I think Houston is the better team (barely). Tennessee has NO rush at all; while Houston is decent on both the pass and the run. Tennessee has a solid defense though.
Oakland over KC:Lessee... don't score any points at all... that's bad... Get two touchdowns scored on you off of the SIX interceptions you throw... that's worse.
Two good rushing teams with crap pass offense and mediocre defenses... It's going to come down to morale, and it's a hell of a lot harder to play in Raider nation; and that Oakland has better run blocking.
Pittsburgh over Arizona:Arizona played surprisingly well; fighting back and forth much more than the score suggests... they just couldn't produce, and Pittsburgh did.
Not even a question. Good team vs. crap team. Best defense in the NFL vs. crap offense. Solid offense vs. mediocre defense. Not even a question.
Green bay over Minnesota: Great team vs. Crap team.Surprisingly close. If it weren't for the 91 yards in penalties and two interceptions...
This one isn't even a question either. Though Green Bay is a weird team. Spectacular passing record, great run defense; but they have no rush, and the worst pass rush in the league. Minnesota on the other hand has no passing at all (second worst in the league), but a great running game, and a great run defense. Unfortunately, they have one of the worst pass defenses, against one of the best passing teams.
Dallas over St. Louis:Nothing surprising here at all
Yeah... St. Louis is quite possibly the worst team in football, Dallas is... not. I'm not going to say they're great, but they did almost take the Pats, and their three losses this season have all been by less than a toughdown.
New Orleans over Indy:Wow... 62-7... That's.. epic suck. 11 first downs to 36. 252 total yards to 557. 12 completions to 31. 49 yards in penalties to 10... and that's hard to do when you have so little time of posession (only 22 minutes vs. 38)... Oh and 3 turnovers. What a perfect example of how an NFL team can't play without an actual NFL quarterback.
Uh... yeah, not even gonna bother explaining this one.
Baltimore over Jacksonville:I think this one was a shock to everyone; with the Jags defense holding the Ravens to just one score; and with four offensive fieldgoals... Both teams going worse than 20% on third down conversions. Both teams with less than 20 first downs. Total yards combined from both teams under 350... I'm not sure what this was exactly... It was a win though and that's what counts.
Again, one of the best teams, vs. one of the worst teams. There's nothing particularly outstanding about Baltimore, but they do everything pretty well, and don't do anything particularly badly. They've got a top ten defense, a top half offense... one of the best run defenses in the game. J'ville on the other hand doesn't do anything well but run (worst passing game in football this year).
So, I went 8 for 12... not bad; and three of those games were... freakish outliers shall we say?
Actually, this whole season is kind of a freakish outlier. Week 8, and there are still three teams with 0 victories... And one of them is the Colts... And given the schedules, and the teams performances thus far, it's entirely possible any of them... perhaps even all three... go winless for the whole season.
Meanwhile, Green Bay who have been very inconsistent in the post Favre era (going from 6-10 in 2008, to winning the superbowl last year on a 10-6 record)... they're 7-0 coming into a bye week, and then what should be three breezers against San Diego, Minnesota, and Tampa Bay. They don't have a hard game coming until thanksgiving vs. Detroit. We may see them go undefeated into week 12, or 13. Hell... It's possible, given the rest of their schedule, that they may run the table this year. It's unlikely, but it's possible.
What a season
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Whedon Fans of the World, Rejoice!
When we first heard about this, we just had to check it out and make sure it's for real:
Yep. It's real.
More info, including interview, here.
Now to find an indie film festival where it will be playing, somewhere within oh, 500 miles or so.
Yep. It's real.
More info, including interview, here.
Now to find an indie film festival where it will be playing, somewhere within oh, 500 miles or so.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Long live Neil Schon and Arnel Pineda
I just caught the DirecTV concert series live recording of Journey in Manila; with their new lead singer Arnel Pineda.
For those of you who don't know; in 2007, on the strength of many youtube videos, Journey brought Philipino singer Arnel Pineda (who was well known in Asia for his spot on covers of Steve Perry Journey songs) into the band.
I was initially doubtful about it; thinking that he would just be propping up the corpse.
I couldn't have been more wrong.
Pineda is amazing.
He has far more energy than Perry ever had. He has all the range Perry ever had... and his presence in the band spurs them on to really incredible performances.
I've seen Journey live, and listened to their music for most of my life; and they have never been as good as they were in this one concert in Manila.
During much of the 80's, people forgot how great a guitarist Neil Schon is (he was playing with Santana, and Eric Claption, at the age of 15). Playing off against Pineda, he was every bit as good as he ever was in the 60's and 70s.
Unfortunately, I can't find any good quality clips from that concert; but you can see just how good a performer Pineda is from this 2008 clip:
For those of you who don't know; in 2007, on the strength of many youtube videos, Journey brought Philipino singer Arnel Pineda (who was well known in Asia for his spot on covers of Steve Perry Journey songs) into the band.
I was initially doubtful about it; thinking that he would just be propping up the corpse.
I couldn't have been more wrong.
Pineda is amazing.
He has far more energy than Perry ever had. He has all the range Perry ever had... and his presence in the band spurs them on to really incredible performances.
I've seen Journey live, and listened to their music for most of my life; and they have never been as good as they were in this one concert in Manila.
During much of the 80's, people forgot how great a guitarist Neil Schon is (he was playing with Santana, and Eric Claption, at the age of 15). Playing off against Pineda, he was every bit as good as he ever was in the 60's and 70s.
Unfortunately, I can't find any good quality clips from that concert; but you can see just how good a performer Pineda is from this 2008 clip:
Back under 400, for a minute...
Well, good news, i have dipped back down to my four year low level of 396lbs.
For a minute.
Saturday I was under 400. Sunday I was back up to 412. Monday back down to 403 etc... etc...
Unfortunately, my weight volatility continues unabated; going up 18lbs one day, down 12 the next and so forth.
If there was some kind of logic to it, I would be less irritated; but it seems to happen no matter what dosage of medication I'm on, how much I eat or drink, what I eat or drink etc...
It's a pain, literally. Gaining 18lbs in one day means tissues are swelling rather dramatically. Usually tissues in my fingers, toes, large joints, and face. Very uncomfortable.
But it means I am, once again, making progress.
Another 40 or so pounds, and I can have my cancer surgery... probably 60lbs actually, just to make sure that my weight fluctuations don't put me back over 360. At this rate, that'll be 4-6 months.
For a minute.
Saturday I was under 400. Sunday I was back up to 412. Monday back down to 403 etc... etc...
Unfortunately, my weight volatility continues unabated; going up 18lbs one day, down 12 the next and so forth.
If there was some kind of logic to it, I would be less irritated; but it seems to happen no matter what dosage of medication I'm on, how much I eat or drink, what I eat or drink etc...
It's a pain, literally. Gaining 18lbs in one day means tissues are swelling rather dramatically. Usually tissues in my fingers, toes, large joints, and face. Very uncomfortable.
But it means I am, once again, making progress.
Another 40 or so pounds, and I can have my cancer surgery... probably 60lbs actually, just to make sure that my weight fluctuations don't put me back over 360. At this rate, that'll be 4-6 months.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Friday, October 21, 2011
For which I am grateful
I am grateful for...
I could not live without any of them. I wouldn't be here without all of them.
Thank you all, for being you, for being with me... for being.
My life... in so many ways. I never expected to make it this far; I have no business having done so, and that I have is a miracle
My wife, who puts up with me, who loves me, who holds me up, who needs me as much as I need her
My kids, even though they aren't here right now; without them, what's the point?
My family, who have made me much of who I am; good and ill, strong and sensitive, cruel and kind, hard and loving...
My friends, who are no less my family; and to whom I owe so much... who keep me alive and vital and here
My mind, for all it allows me to be and do; think decide and act; to listen, to read, to speak, to argue, to learn, to know...
My heart, which allows me to give, love, and endure. Love given without condition doesn't deplete, even if unreturned, it grows
My strength, physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and mental. I have needed them all, so much... tested them all, so much
My will, the foundation of all that is inherent to me. Without my will I could not stand up, walk, or carry my load.
My nation, which I have proudly served, and which has served me in so many ways. I have received far more than I've given
My god, for enlightening my soul, strengthening my will, for wisdom and acceptance; for mans nature, both free and striving
My experience; hard, and easy, good and bad; which came from of all the above. I wouldn't trade it, any piece, for any thing
I could not live without any of them. I wouldn't be here without all of them.
Thank you all, for being you, for being with me... for being.
Been Busy Bitching... It's time for something else
This health stuff has, in some ways, made me into someone I don't like.
Frankly, I don't have the energy to blog a lot of the time. I've got plenty to say, plenty to talk about... and on the forums I run or participate in, and mostly in conversation, I'm still keeping up my end; but for me, blogging is a little different.
See, I've always treated blogging as real writing. Yes, it's me having a conversation with you all, in many ways; and yes, I mostly write as I speak... MOSTLY.
But the thing is, it takes a lot of mental energy to do this, at least to do it well and consistently; and lately, the only time I've had that energy, I've been using it to get things done in my life that really need to be done. I haven't had the spare energy for blogging, unless it was bitching... bitching has it's own energy to it.
So, I've spent a lot of the last few months... hell, the last year... bitching, and moaning, and not really participating in life.
Damn.. I just realized, it was a year ago now that I had the health crisis that precipitated the discovery of my cancer.
Yesterday was exactly 12 months from the day I ended up in the hospital with pneumonia, which lead exactly one month later to the hypertensive crisis, which finally got me to the right specialist endocrinologist; who discovered my cancer.
Kinda convoluted, but that's pretty much how my life goes.
.. anyway, I've been bitching a lot, and I'm not really happy with that.
And before anyone says it, yeah I've got a lot to bitch about, legitimately. Don't care, that's not who I am. I solve problems, I don't just bitch about them. This just isn't me.
So, first thing, I want to say out loud, what I'm grateful for... and there's a lot.
And I'm going to do that in my next post, because I want it to stand alone.
Frankly, I don't have the energy to blog a lot of the time. I've got plenty to say, plenty to talk about... and on the forums I run or participate in, and mostly in conversation, I'm still keeping up my end; but for me, blogging is a little different.
See, I've always treated blogging as real writing. Yes, it's me having a conversation with you all, in many ways; and yes, I mostly write as I speak... MOSTLY.
But the thing is, it takes a lot of mental energy to do this, at least to do it well and consistently; and lately, the only time I've had that energy, I've been using it to get things done in my life that really need to be done. I haven't had the spare energy for blogging, unless it was bitching... bitching has it's own energy to it.
So, I've spent a lot of the last few months... hell, the last year... bitching, and moaning, and not really participating in life.
Damn.. I just realized, it was a year ago now that I had the health crisis that precipitated the discovery of my cancer.
Yesterday was exactly 12 months from the day I ended up in the hospital with pneumonia, which lead exactly one month later to the hypertensive crisis, which finally got me to the right specialist endocrinologist; who discovered my cancer.
Kinda convoluted, but that's pretty much how my life goes.
.. anyway, I've been bitching a lot, and I'm not really happy with that.
And before anyone says it, yeah I've got a lot to bitch about, legitimately. Don't care, that's not who I am. I solve problems, I don't just bitch about them. This just isn't me.
So, first thing, I want to say out loud, what I'm grateful for... and there's a lot.
And I'm going to do that in my next post, because I want it to stand alone.
The morning fix
I probably shouldn't make fun of this with a junkie reference; but I went from no medication (excepting vitamins) two years ago, to a ridiculous amount of medication now, and sometimes it makes me feel like one.
Anyway, this is my current morning medication load, which I'm supposed to take around 8am; but my stomach generally doesn't allow me to until I'm awake for a few hours (if I do, my stomach gets really disturbed, and it sometimes makes me vomit).
There's a similar load for the afternoon, and then a smaller one in the evening (both of which also make me want to puke, so I take them well after lunch and well after dinner):
So, from the top proceeding clockwise (plus dosages, and purpose):
It's a hell of a lot... but it mostly works, most of the time.
Anyway, this is my current morning medication load, which I'm supposed to take around 8am; but my stomach generally doesn't allow me to until I'm awake for a few hours (if I do, my stomach gets really disturbed, and it sometimes makes me vomit).
There's a similar load for the afternoon, and then a smaller one in the evening (both of which also make me want to puke, so I take them well after lunch and well after dinner):
So, from the top proceeding clockwise (plus dosages, and purpose):
- Fluticasone Propionate (Flonase): 2 pumps per nostril, twice per day.
It's a nasal steroid that stops histamine reactions in your nose and sinuses. Without it, the CPAP, and mold spores, both make my sinuses fill up. 2 pumps in the morning, and two before bed, let me use the CPAP without my sinuses and nasal passages clogging constantly. It also counteracts the tendency of my airway to swell and become restricted (Esophagitis, with multiple causes. It's caused by my reflux, my allergies, the same reaction that causes my seborrhea, and by the airway irritation caused by the impingement of the tumor) makes me feel like I'm choking or drowning). The only problem is, like any corticosteroid, it causes additional water retention and bloating, particularly if inhaled through the lungs; though the nasal version reduces that effect.
- Sublingual liquid vitamin B complex: 2cc, twice per day. Each 1cc squirt is in theory 100% of B1, B2, B3, and B6, plus B5 at 400% and B12 at 20,000% (yes, 200x RDA)
- Gummy Vitamin C: Four each, twice per day I get C deficient if I don't take a lot (I also drink a bunch of OJ, for the C and for the potassium). Theoretically one is 100% of RDA.
- Gummy multivitamin: Four each, twice a day. Each one is supposed to be 100% RDA on about 20 vitamins (including the C and B vitamins I take above). I take four, twice per day, which is just about enough to keep me from becoming deficient in everything except vitamin D (which I take four of in the evening).
- Etodolac (Lodine): (big pink pills) 400mg each, three times daily (two in the morning, one in the evening). It's one of the strongest anti-inflammatories on the market. I take it for all the inflammation; but particularly for my knees, ankles, and fingers. Without it, I'm pretty much crippled. We're switching to 500mg twice per day, because I don't need the full 1200mg, and the more you take the more side effects there are. It can also cause water retention, stomach problems, and other unfun stuff
- Magnesium Oxide and Zinc: (medium round white pills) 2 each, 400mg/15mg, once per day. In theory each is 100% of the RDA for magnesium and zinc; but again, if I don't take this much, the other meds make me deficient
- Omeprazole: (white capsules) two each, 20mg, once per day: To control my ulcerative colitis and GERD; and to prevent the other medications from upsetting my stomach worse (particularly the etodolac, and the little brown oval pill)
- Little brown oval pill: I'm going to write a whole separate post on that one later. It needs it's own post, and I haven't talked about it on the blog yet.
- Bumetanide: (medium round pink pills) Four, 2mg each, once per day. The strongest diuretic on the market. The normal dosage is 2mg, I take 4 times that every day. It strips the body of minerals, vitamins, electrolytes etc... but it also keeps my edema mostly under control. In the afternoon I take 4 each 80mg furosemide (lasix), also four times the "normal" doage. Between them, they keep my edema MOSTLY under control... but my weight still varies as much as 16lbs per day.
- Potassium Chloride: (HUGE oval pill) 2 each, 1500mg, three times per day. Plus I drink a quart of OJ (which has another 1800mg of potassium), and I also mix some potassium chloride powder in with my drinks during the day (usually another 3000mg worth during the day). I need to take all that (yes, 17 grams... At 20mg per kg - I currently weigh about 185kg, for 3,250mg - it's more than enough to stop your heart if it hit your blood stream all at once; but most of it doesn't get into your blood stream), just to keep enough potassium in my body to not be paralyzed (among other negative consequences). They're so big they trigger my gag reflex, and I actually half-puke just about every time I take one, and have to swallow it down to keep from .
- Not pictured: In the afteroon I take my second dose of potassium, and my furosemide, as I mention above; plus a second little brown oval pill. In the evening after dinner, I take my second set of vitamins, including my vitamin D, my third etodolac, my third dose of potassium, and 100mg of levothyroxin (a thyroid supplement).
It's a hell of a lot... but it mostly works, most of the time.
Sick and tired of being sick and tired
You may have noticed, I haven't posted very much lately.
Simple reason for that. I've got a lot of content queued up to post (including a ton of photos, some reviews of gun products, some instructional stuff); that I just haven't had the energy to work on, because basically, I've been too sick and/or too tired since I got back from Gun Blogger Rendezvous this year.
Basically, the last six weeks have sucked. Too much going on, with too little time and energy to deal with it.
I spent two weeks down with the flu, another week recovering from my little nutritional issue; and through it all, when I wasn't sleeping 14 hours because I was sick, I've had chronic insomnia.
In the last ten days, I've had less than 30 hours of sleep; and 8 of those were last night.
Last night I was finally so exhausted, after spending the last two weeks sleeping 2 hours out of every 40 (yes, that bad), that I managed to get a full nights sleep.
Let's hope this starts a trend.
Oh and no, it's not my medications. One, this has always happened to me periodically throughout my life, since I was a little kid; it's just that I haven't been this bad in about two years. Two, I stop taking the stimulants when the insomnia hits.
Also, sleeping pills just don't work for me. Either they literally knock me out, and the sleep isn't restrful and I'm groggy as hell; or they just make me woozy and actually make the insomnia worse.
It's just something I have to gut through.
That said, I have content today... but right now I need to go to the dentist. Yay.
Simple reason for that. I've got a lot of content queued up to post (including a ton of photos, some reviews of gun products, some instructional stuff); that I just haven't had the energy to work on, because basically, I've been too sick and/or too tired since I got back from Gun Blogger Rendezvous this year.
Basically, the last six weeks have sucked. Too much going on, with too little time and energy to deal with it.
I spent two weeks down with the flu, another week recovering from my little nutritional issue; and through it all, when I wasn't sleeping 14 hours because I was sick, I've had chronic insomnia.
In the last ten days, I've had less than 30 hours of sleep; and 8 of those were last night.
Last night I was finally so exhausted, after spending the last two weeks sleeping 2 hours out of every 40 (yes, that bad), that I managed to get a full nights sleep.
Let's hope this starts a trend.
Oh and no, it's not my medications. One, this has always happened to me periodically throughout my life, since I was a little kid; it's just that I haven't been this bad in about two years. Two, I stop taking the stimulants when the insomnia hits.
Also, sleeping pills just don't work for me. Either they literally knock me out, and the sleep isn't restrful and I'm groggy as hell; or they just make me woozy and actually make the insomnia worse.
It's just something I have to gut through.
That said, I have content today... but right now I need to go to the dentist. Yay.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Football is finally getting interesting this season
This was a weekend full of interesting games, including one hell of a performance by Dallas, coming just short of beating the Patriots at home.
The Cowboys offenses didn't really step up, but their defense... On the other side, the Pats defense sucked ass; and Brady compensated for it.
Such is the way of things.
The cowboys defense played INCREDIBLY. No-one has held Brady to under 30 points in TWO SEASONS. Not only that, but they pulled two interceptions and three sacks (and two of the three forced a punt), and this was on a day when the Pats line was playing well. That was one hell of a defensive performance.
The problem was, Brady played up to his level; while Romo didn't.
The Cowboys didn't capitalize on the poor performance of the Patriots defense. Plain and simple. Too many 3 and outs. Not enough clutch conversions. Too many little mistakes.
The interception count was certainly unusual. Brady is historically one of the least intercepted quarterbacks; particularly among the heavy passers... but you have to actually capitalize on a turnover to win a game.
If you want to know exactly why the 'boys lost Sunday, look at the stats. On most thing the two teams were either in a dead heat, or Dallas was a bit ahead... but the critical issue was third down conversions. Cowboys were 4/12, Pats 8/13. Take that with the Cowboys 10 penalties for -77 yards...
On those third and fourth down situations, Brady makes it happen in the clutch. Romo... sometimes yes, sometimes no.
Two interceptions, two fumbles, and three sacks... but 'boys offense still couldn't make it happen.
The next two weeks are really going to be interesting.
Since the Pats are on a bye week (but I think they're going to spank the Steelers in two weeks) I'm thinking:
The Cowboys offenses didn't really step up, but their defense... On the other side, the Pats defense sucked ass; and Brady compensated for it.
Such is the way of things.
The cowboys defense played INCREDIBLY. No-one has held Brady to under 30 points in TWO SEASONS. Not only that, but they pulled two interceptions and three sacks (and two of the three forced a punt), and this was on a day when the Pats line was playing well. That was one hell of a defensive performance.
The problem was, Brady played up to his level; while Romo didn't.
The Cowboys didn't capitalize on the poor performance of the Patriots defense. Plain and simple. Too many 3 and outs. Not enough clutch conversions. Too many little mistakes.
The interception count was certainly unusual. Brady is historically one of the least intercepted quarterbacks; particularly among the heavy passers... but you have to actually capitalize on a turnover to win a game.
If you want to know exactly why the 'boys lost Sunday, look at the stats. On most thing the two teams were either in a dead heat, or Dallas was a bit ahead... but the critical issue was third down conversions. Cowboys were 4/12, Pats 8/13. Take that with the Cowboys 10 penalties for -77 yards...
On those third and fourth down situations, Brady makes it happen in the clutch. Romo... sometimes yes, sometimes no.
Two interceptions, two fumbles, and three sacks... but 'boys offense still couldn't make it happen.
The next two weeks are really going to be interesting.
Since the Pats are on a bye week (but I think they're going to spank the Steelers in two weeks) I'm thinking:
Chargers over Jets:
I think this is a no brainer. Top ten rushing AND passing offense of the Chargers, against a bottom five rushing defense on the Jets (good pass defense though). On the other side, the Jets are a bottom ten passing and rushing offense (31st in rushing) vs. the second best pass defense (only mediocre on rush defense though).
Chicago vs. Tampa Bay:
Honestly I'm having a hard time calling that... maybe a slight edge to Tampa Bay because their offense is better.. but something gut level says Chicago.
Skins over Panthers:
Two mediocre teams (Carolina isn't as bad as their record suggests. They've got a solid offense, but a crap run defense); but Washington has a little less negative and a little more positive.
Detroit over Atlanta:
Not even a question. Detroit is just playing better than Atlanta by far (even after Sundays RIDICULOUS loss to one of the worst teams in football).
Cleveland over Seattle:
On the pure numbers they're almost even... But I think Cleveland has a small edge on offense, and Seattle has a crap pass defense.
Denver over Miami:
Shit vs. Shit, but Miami is stinkier shit.
Houston over Tennessee:
I realize that Tennessee is technically ranked over Houston, but I think Houston is the better team (barely). Tennessee has NO rush at all; while Houston is decent on both the pass and the run. Tennessee has a solid defense though.
Oakland over KC:
Two good rushing teams with crap pass offense and mediocre defenses... It's going to come down to morale, and it's a hell of a lot harder to play in Raider nation; and that Oakland has better run blocking.
Pittsburgh over Arizona:
Not even a question. Good team vs. crap team. Best defense in the NFL vs. crap offense. Solid offense vs. mediocre defense. Not even a question.
Green bay over Minnesota: Great team vs. Crap team.
This one isn't even a question either. Though Green Bay is a weird team. Spectacular passing record, great run defense; but they have no rush, and the worst pass rush in the league. Minnesota on the other hand has no passing at all (second worst in the league), but a great running game, and a great run defense. Unfortunately, they have one of the worst pass defenses, against one of the best passing teams.
Dallas over St. Louis:
Yeah... St. Louis is quite possibly the worst team in football, Dallas is... not. I'm not going to say they're great, but they did almost take the Pats, and their three losses this season have all been by less than a toughdown.
New Orleans over Indy:
Uh... yeah, not even gonna bother explaining this one.
Baltimore over Jacksonville:
Again, one of the best teams, vs. one of the worst teams. There's nothing particularly outstanding about Baltimore, but they do everything pretty well, and don't do anything particularly badly. They've got a top ten defense, a top half offense... one of the best run defenses in the game. J'ville on the other hand doesn't do anything well but run (worst passing game in football this year).
From the Long-Suffering Wife of a Dream Theater Fan
This is a little familiar:
When you offer your younger brother the chance to play ONE song in the car during a road trip, rethink your kind offer. I WILL dig through my Dream Theater music, and I WILL choose my favorite 42 minute song. #LFMsister'sF
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Making flavored salts
So, on another site, someone asked me today, how to make some of the fancy flavored salts you can buy at a gourmet store (for a stupid amount of money by the way... sometimes over $80 a pound).
It really couldn't be easier. There's a few basic ways of doing it, none of them particularly difficult unless you're using a touchy flavorant.
These are the methods ranked in GENERAL (there are some exceptions for some flavorants) order of intensity of flavor imparted per unit of flavorant used:
The pretentious gourmet types seem to like truffle salt (actually, I do too; but only if it's subtly done. Most "truffle salt" tastes funky, in a bad way, not in a good "bleu cheese" kind of way); which is actually ridiculously easy to make by finely shredding the truffle with a microplaner, mixing it into the salt (about 1/4 ounce of truffle to 4 ounces of salt), and allowing it to passively infuse for a few weeks in a sealed jar.
Mel and I make our own smoked salt in our big smoker, using one pound loose weave bags of salt. Smoked salt is really great in soups, and spectacular on popcorn or french fries. I also recommend trying rosemary, thyme, and garlic together as a flavor combination (it will work with all the above, and each method is a little different).
...And of course, there's always Bacon Salt.
It really couldn't be easier. There's a few basic ways of doing it, none of them particularly difficult unless you're using a touchy flavorant.
These are the methods ranked in GENERAL (there are some exceptions for some flavorants) order of intensity of flavor imparted per unit of flavorant used:
- Passive infusion: Place the flavoring agent(s)(or an extract or distillate of the flavorants) in a sealed container with the salt itself. You can put one or the other in a sachet to avoid mixing.. or to maximize flavor transfer, maximize the surface area, spreading them out in a thin layer each, separated by cheesecloth. Allow the natural diffusion of volatiles in the flavorant to gently infuse the salt. If using fresh herbs or spices, it's more effective to crush them, or grind them (and in the case of hard seedpod based spices, toasting them) before the passive infusion.
- Air infusion: Same as the above, but instead of passively letting the flavors float out naturally into a sealed container, you layer the salt and flavorant in cheese cloth (including a cover layer for both... so at least three sheets of cheesecloth), and blow air over or through them (perhaps using a food dehydrator or a furnace filter and box fan), pushing the flavors out of the flavorant, and through the salt. Hot, moist air will be more effective at infusing most flavors into salt, and can be rigged pretty easily depending on the method used. A convection oven set to 150 degrees with a pan of water in the bottom would work just fine. If using dry air, you can start with fresh flavorants (particularly fresh herbs and spices), and as they dry out, you can then grind them up and mix them into the salt (presuming the flavorants aren't too bitter, grainy, woody etc... when eaten thus).
- Vapor infuse the flavor: use a smoker, a vaporizer of some kind (rotovap, steam vaporizer, teakettle etc...), or if the flavors are susceptible to vaporization with low heat without extra water, use a pot and a hot plate etc. Pass the vapor through the salt in a cheesecloth bag (or something similar). You can also create a flavor extract or distillate out of your flavorant, and vapor infuse with that
- Mix method: finely grind, shred, mince, cut, or otherwise powder the flavorant(s), and mix them into the salt directly until evenly distributed (I do not consider this to be a flavored salt so much as a spice mix, but it still works just fine to get the intended effect... at least for most flavorants)
- Slurry method: Makle a slurry with the flavorant (or an extract or distillate of the flavorant), the salt, and a liquid that the salt AND the flavorant are both soluble in (I recommend a mixture of vodka and water. The mix will liberate more flavor from the flavorant than water alone, and evaporate faster). You can also use a flavorful liquid in and of itself, to add further flavor to the salt (or make a flavorful liquid infusion out of a dry flavorant). Use just enough liquid to create an evenly mixed slurry, then spread the slurry out on a silpat, baking sheet lined with parchment paper, dehydrator rack etc. Dry out the slurry, and regrind the salt to the desired texture
- Hot water infusion aka the "Stewing" method: Simmer the salt and your flavorant together in an unsaturated solution with a liquid they are both soluble in (again, I recommend vodka and water). This will liberate the most possible flavor from most flavorants; however some flavorants don't tolerate heat well, as boiling will drive off the volatiles in them. Boil the solution down into a slurry, then handle as above
The pretentious gourmet types seem to like truffle salt (actually, I do too; but only if it's subtly done. Most "truffle salt" tastes funky, in a bad way, not in a good "bleu cheese" kind of way); which is actually ridiculously easy to make by finely shredding the truffle with a microplaner, mixing it into the salt (about 1/4 ounce of truffle to 4 ounces of salt), and allowing it to passively infuse for a few weeks in a sealed jar.
Mel and I make our own smoked salt in our big smoker, using one pound loose weave bags of salt. Smoked salt is really great in soups, and spectacular on popcorn or french fries. I also recommend trying rosemary, thyme, and garlic together as a flavor combination (it will work with all the above, and each method is a little different).
...And of course, there's always Bacon Salt.
Null pointer #54 in array #4B3854; Null pointer #54 in array #563854
/* Goodbye World program */
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
printf("Goodbye World - Rest in Peace, Dennis Ritchie");
}
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Illegal procedure, malnutrition, half the distance to the goal, repeat first down.
So, over the weekend, after figuring out my vitamin and mineral deficiency (to be confirmed via blood test shortly); my diuretics once again became effective, and I immediately began losing weight again.
Yay.
I've stayed off my stimulants and anti-inflammatories for the last few days, to help give my body time to recover; and I've been awake for about 40 hours at this point; to help me sleep through and get back on a normal schedule.
As of today, I've re-lost 27lbs of the 45lbs I gained in the week I was sick.
I felt pretty good today for the first time in about two weeks; and thought I even looked decent, if a bit disheveled (and obviously from my face, still a bit bloated):
Yes, it's so sad... I have been reduced to the internet mirror/arms length self portrait... or rather Mel was busy, and I was too lazy to set up the tripod so...
Anyway, from today, I've got just about 130lbs to go... Hopefully before this time next year (and another 60lbs or so before the oncological surgeon wants to operate.
Yay.
I've stayed off my stimulants and anti-inflammatories for the last few days, to help give my body time to recover; and I've been awake for about 40 hours at this point; to help me sleep through and get back on a normal schedule.
As of today, I've re-lost 27lbs of the 45lbs I gained in the week I was sick.
I felt pretty good today for the first time in about two weeks; and thought I even looked decent, if a bit disheveled (and obviously from my face, still a bit bloated):
Yes, it's so sad... I have been reduced to the internet mirror/arms length self portrait... or rather Mel was busy, and I was too lazy to set up the tripod so...
Anyway, from today, I've got just about 130lbs to go... Hopefully before this time next year (and another 60lbs or so before the oncological surgeon wants to operate.
Sunday, October 09, 2011
Pats Jets... one hell of a game
Well, as a lifelong Patriots fan, I was very much looking forward to the pats/jets game today, and I was not disappointed; it was a hell of a game.
I have to give the Jets a lot of credit. Their linebackers and ends really did a great job at pressuring Brady on the outside (4 sacks... that NEVER happens); but the Pats o-line (Solder is really turning out to be a huge asset, as I'd hoped) just killed the jets inside.
Benjarvus Green-Ellis may have one of the stupidest names in the NFL (and frankly, that's saying something); but he's an incredible player, and he showed just how good he was today. He's averaging just under 5 yards a carry career, and 6 yards a carry this season; and he's NEVER fumbled the ball in over 800 career carries.
NEVER
It still amazes me Green-Ellis was undrafted in 2008. I mean his draft reports weren't spectacular, but they weren't bad either; and he was an all SEC runningback his junior year, and alternate his senior year. It just goes to show how much of a judge of talent Bellichick (and staff of course) is.
Overall, I'm really impressed with the Jets this season. Sanchez... I said last year I thought we were seeing the birth of a star, and it looks like I (and just about everyone else) was right. This kid really has the goods... now he just needs some better receiver support. The talent is actually there, but I think the coaching and the coordination isn't.
Meanwhile... Pats defense was certainly much better this game, but this season as a whole... I'm really not impressed guys.
The next two months are the hardest schedule in the NFL. If we can't get our defense where it needs to be, we're in serious trouble.
I have to give the Jets a lot of credit. Their linebackers and ends really did a great job at pressuring Brady on the outside (4 sacks... that NEVER happens); but the Pats o-line (Solder is really turning out to be a huge asset, as I'd hoped) just killed the jets inside.
Benjarvus Green-Ellis may have one of the stupidest names in the NFL (and frankly, that's saying something); but he's an incredible player, and he showed just how good he was today. He's averaging just under 5 yards a carry career, and 6 yards a carry this season; and he's NEVER fumbled the ball in over 800 career carries.
NEVER
It still amazes me Green-Ellis was undrafted in 2008. I mean his draft reports weren't spectacular, but they weren't bad either; and he was an all SEC runningback his junior year, and alternate his senior year. It just goes to show how much of a judge of talent Bellichick (and staff of course) is.
Overall, I'm really impressed with the Jets this season. Sanchez... I said last year I thought we were seeing the birth of a star, and it looks like I (and just about everyone else) was right. This kid really has the goods... now he just needs some better receiver support. The talent is actually there, but I think the coaching and the coordination isn't.
Meanwhile... Pats defense was certainly much better this game, but this season as a whole... I'm really not impressed guys.
The next two months are the hardest schedule in the NFL. If we can't get our defense where it needs to be, we're in serious trouble.
Deer Time
AD's latest attempt at hunting with a truck reminds me of the joy that is living in the oddity that is the Sandpoint area.
Friday night, due to the wonder of the internets, I found myself running errands at 11pm. 10:50 being about the time Chris exclaims "oh shit, that's why! I'm vitamin deficient!" and 10:55 being the time I determine it's much faster and less irritating for me to go to Wally World then instead of before work in the morning.
Yes, our county of 40K in the middle of North Idaho has a 24/7 Wally World. Yes my bank is open on Saturdays, we're the only bank in town that is. But I digress.
So I climb into the caddy and head out into a night so dark I can't see past the end of the driveway. There's deer and moose and elk in the neighborhood, so I don't drive outside of my headlights. There's drunks leaving the various bars in downtown Sandpoint, so I don't speed up when I get into town.
I pick up the stuff for Chris (which miraculously works) and make my way home. About a mile from Wally World I stop completely on Hwy 200 while a fat whitetail doe and her two fat fawns stroll across the highway (not dart, stroll). Our wildlife expects us to stop for them.
Chris: What took you so long? You should have been home 15 minutes ago.
Me: You forgot about deer time didn't you?
Chris: Oh, you hit a deer?
Me: Nope, it was AVOIDING hitting the damn deer that took so long.
We've gone from an area where the excuse for being late was "traffic" to the middle of North Idaho, where the excuse is "deer".
Still a really good move.
Friday night, due to the wonder of the internets, I found myself running errands at 11pm. 10:50 being about the time Chris exclaims "oh shit, that's why! I'm vitamin deficient!" and 10:55 being the time I determine it's much faster and less irritating for me to go to Wally World then instead of before work in the morning.
Yes, our county of 40K in the middle of North Idaho has a 24/7 Wally World. Yes my bank is open on Saturdays, we're the only bank in town that is. But I digress.
So I climb into the caddy and head out into a night so dark I can't see past the end of the driveway. There's deer and moose and elk in the neighborhood, so I don't drive outside of my headlights. There's drunks leaving the various bars in downtown Sandpoint, so I don't speed up when I get into town.
I pick up the stuff for Chris (which miraculously works) and make my way home. About a mile from Wally World I stop completely on Hwy 200 while a fat whitetail doe and her two fat fawns stroll across the highway (not dart, stroll). Our wildlife expects us to stop for them.
Chris: What took you so long? You should have been home 15 minutes ago.
Me: You forgot about deer time didn't you?
Chris: Oh, you hit a deer?
Me: Nope, it was AVOIDING hitting the damn deer that took so long.
We've gone from an area where the excuse for being late was "traffic" to the middle of North Idaho, where the excuse is "deer".
Still a really good move.
Saturday, October 08, 2011
Interactions: 45lbs gained in 9 days; 11lbs lost in 90 minutes
Well... that was an interesting week.
9 days ago, I became ill, with what seemed to be a mild flu. At the same time, I started retaining water pretty badly, and my joints swelled; I was severely fatigued, had a lot of pain, digestive disturbances, severe insomnia etc... None of which really alarmed me, because that's pretty much what happens to me when I'm sick these days.
After a few days, most of the flu-ish sickness was gone, but the other symptoms remained, and were worsening. In particular, the peripheral neuropathy (mostly paresthesia) was pretty bad, as was the water retention; and it was pretty clear that my medication was not only not working, it was making things worse. I was also having pretty bad muscle weakness, aprticularly in my hands, and I was ridiculously fatigued.
This happens sometimes too; because several of my medications (my anti-inflammatories, my omeprazole, my testosterone, the stimulants for my excessive sleepiness, my diuretics etc...) can cause pretty severe vitamin and electrolyte deficiencies, and when they do, they stop working.
Usually when the edema gets out of control, and the non-inflammation type pain gets bad; stopping the diuretics, stimulants, and anti-inflammatories for a couple days helps; particularly when I make sure to keep my potassium intake up (using potassium chloride supplements twice a day, and drinking lots of OJ).
Instead, things kept getting worse. By yesterday, I had gained 40lbs (by this evening, it was 45lbs). My blood pressure went up from my 115-125/170-185 normal range, to as high as 160/95 (which I attributed to my edema being crazy this week).
Two days ago, I couldn't make a fist, and I slept for 14 hours.
I called my doc and scheduled an appointment and blood test for next Monday (the earliest I could get non-emergency).
Today (well, yesterday now) things got a little bit better...
My edema was still awful, but the neuropathy was a bit better, and I wasn't really sure why.
I don't think it was from stopping the medication... I think it might have been from what I was eating. Between Thursday and Friday, other than my "normal" things, I had eaten some dark chocolate, some almonds, cashews, peanuts, some dried fruits and raisins, some black beans, some milk, some goat cheese, some quinoa...
All foods high in magnesium... and mostly high in B vitamins.
As it happens, while I was sick I hadn't been taking my vitamins, because I couldn't stomach them. I could barely force my potassium down my throat without vomiting (I heaved up when I swallowed it each time, but I forced it down). I also had diarrhea, and I didn't eat much for four or five days; but I did drink plenty.
I had thought I was keeping up on the electrolytes, between the gatorade, the OJ, and the chicken broth (besides the obvious benefits of OJ and chicken broth, I always drink full sugar gatorade when I'm sick, and add some powdered potassium chloride to it, plus taking my potassium pills; because at the very least it keeps me hydrated, and stops me from becoming electrolyte depleted; and hopefully between all three gives me enough calories to keep some strength up when I can't eat); but I forgot about two really important things.
Magnesium, and B vitamins.
You see, without magnesium, and B vitamins, it doesn't matter how much in electrolytes and minerals you consume (in particular potassium) your body won't be able to use them (and may in fact, void them out).
It's actually a vicious circle; because becoming deficient in any one of them, causes the others to become more deficient; and that causes the others to get worse etc... etc...
Low magnesium also causes muscle weakness, pain, pins and needles, excessive sodium build up (and thus excessive edema),
I was in fact consuming enough potassium; but apparently I have been living on the edge of hypomagnesemia and probably systemic magnesium deficiency, probably for months, without realizing it. My diet often has a lot of magnesium in it; but I'm on a number of drugs (listed above) that in addition to causing potassium deficiency, and various vitamin deficiencies, also cause magnesium deficiency.... and again, there's that vicious circle thing I mentioned above.
Gatorade doesn't have any magnesium.
... and apparently, neither does my normal multivitamin; which I hadn't realized. I supplement the other vitamins and minerals that I get deficient in, but I didn't think of magnesium. I assumed my multivitamin covered it, and since I hadn't had a problem before...
When I got sick, and my diet shrunk down to crap for a few days, and the fact that I stopped taking my vitamins for a few days; I must have slipped over into full magnesium deficiency and hypomagnesemia; which then made me hypokalemic and B deficient, even though I was taking the supplements again. No matter how much I took it didn't matter, because I didn't have enough magnesium to use what I was taking in, and the body just excretes out unused potassium and B vitamins.
So, I had Mel grab me a magnesium supplement, took a max dose, along with a big dose of B1 and B6, and my potassium supplement; and I waited for a while and took my diuretics.
After 30 minutes, I started peeing.
After 90, I had peed six times, and lost 11 pounds. After 120, I had lost 15 lbs.
The pain and weakness in my feet and hands is going away. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be able to sleep normally tonight... or as normally as I can while my body is doing its best to expel the extra 45lbs of water it accumulated over the last week.
Amazing how a couple hundred milligrams of a single mineral can make such a difference...
Update: by the time I woke up for the day (after not actually sleeping until 9am, since I was up every 20 minutes to pee all night long), I was up to 22lbs lost in about 11 hours. Actually 26lbs if you count the fact that I drank about 4lbs worth of water in that time.
9 days ago, I became ill, with what seemed to be a mild flu. At the same time, I started retaining water pretty badly, and my joints swelled; I was severely fatigued, had a lot of pain, digestive disturbances, severe insomnia etc... None of which really alarmed me, because that's pretty much what happens to me when I'm sick these days.
After a few days, most of the flu-ish sickness was gone, but the other symptoms remained, and were worsening. In particular, the peripheral neuropathy (mostly paresthesia) was pretty bad, as was the water retention; and it was pretty clear that my medication was not only not working, it was making things worse. I was also having pretty bad muscle weakness, aprticularly in my hands, and I was ridiculously fatigued.
This happens sometimes too; because several of my medications (my anti-inflammatories, my omeprazole, my testosterone, the stimulants for my excessive sleepiness, my diuretics etc...) can cause pretty severe vitamin and electrolyte deficiencies, and when they do, they stop working.
Usually when the edema gets out of control, and the non-inflammation type pain gets bad; stopping the diuretics, stimulants, and anti-inflammatories for a couple days helps; particularly when I make sure to keep my potassium intake up (using potassium chloride supplements twice a day, and drinking lots of OJ).
Instead, things kept getting worse. By yesterday, I had gained 40lbs (by this evening, it was 45lbs). My blood pressure went up from my 115-125/170-185 normal range, to as high as 160/95 (which I attributed to my edema being crazy this week).
Two days ago, I couldn't make a fist, and I slept for 14 hours.
I called my doc and scheduled an appointment and blood test for next Monday (the earliest I could get non-emergency).
Today (well, yesterday now) things got a little bit better...
My edema was still awful, but the neuropathy was a bit better, and I wasn't really sure why.
I don't think it was from stopping the medication... I think it might have been from what I was eating. Between Thursday and Friday, other than my "normal" things, I had eaten some dark chocolate, some almonds, cashews, peanuts, some dried fruits and raisins, some black beans, some milk, some goat cheese, some quinoa...
All foods high in magnesium... and mostly high in B vitamins.
As it happens, while I was sick I hadn't been taking my vitamins, because I couldn't stomach them. I could barely force my potassium down my throat without vomiting (I heaved up when I swallowed it each time, but I forced it down). I also had diarrhea, and I didn't eat much for four or five days; but I did drink plenty.
I had thought I was keeping up on the electrolytes, between the gatorade, the OJ, and the chicken broth (besides the obvious benefits of OJ and chicken broth, I always drink full sugar gatorade when I'm sick, and add some powdered potassium chloride to it, plus taking my potassium pills; because at the very least it keeps me hydrated, and stops me from becoming electrolyte depleted; and hopefully between all three gives me enough calories to keep some strength up when I can't eat); but I forgot about two really important things.
Magnesium, and B vitamins.
You see, without magnesium, and B vitamins, it doesn't matter how much in electrolytes and minerals you consume (in particular potassium) your body won't be able to use them (and may in fact, void them out).
It's actually a vicious circle; because becoming deficient in any one of them, causes the others to become more deficient; and that causes the others to get worse etc... etc...
Low magnesium also causes muscle weakness, pain, pins and needles, excessive sodium build up (and thus excessive edema),
I was in fact consuming enough potassium; but apparently I have been living on the edge of hypomagnesemia and probably systemic magnesium deficiency, probably for months, without realizing it. My diet often has a lot of magnesium in it; but I'm on a number of drugs (listed above) that in addition to causing potassium deficiency, and various vitamin deficiencies, also cause magnesium deficiency.... and again, there's that vicious circle thing I mentioned above.
Gatorade doesn't have any magnesium.
... and apparently, neither does my normal multivitamin; which I hadn't realized. I supplement the other vitamins and minerals that I get deficient in, but I didn't think of magnesium. I assumed my multivitamin covered it, and since I hadn't had a problem before...
When I got sick, and my diet shrunk down to crap for a few days, and the fact that I stopped taking my vitamins for a few days; I must have slipped over into full magnesium deficiency and hypomagnesemia; which then made me hypokalemic and B deficient, even though I was taking the supplements again. No matter how much I took it didn't matter, because I didn't have enough magnesium to use what I was taking in, and the body just excretes out unused potassium and B vitamins.
So, I had Mel grab me a magnesium supplement, took a max dose, along with a big dose of B1 and B6, and my potassium supplement; and I waited for a while and took my diuretics.
After 30 minutes, I started peeing.
After 90, I had peed six times, and lost 11 pounds. After 120, I had lost 15 lbs.
The pain and weakness in my feet and hands is going away. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be able to sleep normally tonight... or as normally as I can while my body is doing its best to expel the extra 45lbs of water it accumulated over the last week.
Amazing how a couple hundred milligrams of a single mineral can make such a difference...
Update: by the time I woke up for the day (after not actually sleeping until 9am, since I was up every 20 minutes to pee all night long), I was up to 22lbs lost in about 11 hours. Actually 26lbs if you count the fact that I drank about 4lbs worth of water in that time.
Thursday, October 06, 2011
396... for about a minute...
Up until I got sick last week (almost better now, thanks), I was doing pretty damned good on the weight loss.
As it happens, I managed to lose 101 lbs, getting down to 396:
Unfortunately, since then I managed to swell up another almost 40lbs... I hate being sick, and for some reason my diuretics aren't working worth a damn right now; and yes, 40lbs in a week is screwed up, but that's the way it is with endocrine cancer... but I got there once, I'll be able to get back there again.
As it happens, I managed to lose 101 lbs, getting down to 396:
Unfortunately, since then I managed to swell up another almost 40lbs... I hate being sick, and for some reason my diuretics aren't working worth a damn right now; and yes, 40lbs in a week is screwed up, but that's the way it is with endocrine cancer... but I got there once, I'll be able to get back there again.
Monday, October 03, 2011
You know what really sucks?
When you are very forcibly and painfully reminded, that no matter how good you felt the day before, how mobile you were, and how able you felt; in reality, it was just the medication making you feel that way; and you are, in fact, still a fucking cripple.
Yeah, that was my morning yesterday, and I've only been worse since. I have the flu (which is always great fun when you have joints that swell up VERY painfully), AND my edema is in overdrive. I gained 24 pounds in three days, and the pain and swelling are so bad, I couldn't sleep at all last night.
I've managed a few 20-30 minute snatches of sleep for the last three days... maybe a total of about 8 hours in the last 72.
Then all day today, I just kept retaining more and more water, and enjoyed my low grade fever, photophobia, and general pain to the touch.
Bah... sucks.
Yeah, that was my morning yesterday, and I've only been worse since. I have the flu (which is always great fun when you have joints that swell up VERY painfully), AND my edema is in overdrive. I gained 24 pounds in three days, and the pain and swelling are so bad, I couldn't sleep at all last night.
I've managed a few 20-30 minute snatches of sleep for the last three days... maybe a total of about 8 hours in the last 72.
Then all day today, I just kept retaining more and more water, and enjoyed my low grade fever, photophobia, and general pain to the touch.
Bah... sucks.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Overheard in my household...
On viewing (unintentionally. Restarted the DVR too soon) an offensively stupid commercial:
Chris: Lord... I SO hate...
Mel: Marketers? Advertising writers?
Chris: Well... I was thinking "Fucking Idiots"... but those would work just as well
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Brazenly Stolen from Mad Mike's Wall
Michael Z. Williamson:
Every. Damn. Day.
You live in a city. You don't know how to change a tire or oil. You don't know how to build a fire. You can't communicate without a cell phone. You can't fix your plumbing. You can't set up your own wifi. You're untrained in basic economics, chemistry, physics and history. You can't prepare food without packages, and aren't even aware that food has to be processed from root or bone before that. You only know and get paid for one very specialized task.
Yet you call me a "hick."
Every. Damn. Day.
A Little Speedshooting
For a number of years, I've been doing speedshooting demos at events, just for fun. My normal demo is Jerry Miculeks "machine gun finger" demo (he doesn't call it that, but it's been referred to as such on a few TV shows etc...). I empty a magazine into an 8" plate at 7 yards.
Jerry does it with a 625 (6 rounds of .45) or 627 (8 rounds of .38spl). I've done it with a lot of guns, but I generally shoot the drill with my slicked up 625, one of my 1911s (I particularly like doing it with my custom 10mm), or a Browning Hi-Power. The low recoil, fast slide cycle time, and high magazine capacity of the BHP make it particularly fun to speedshoot, as people really do think you're firing a machinegun.
Unfortunately, we've never managed to get one of the demos on reasonable quality video, until a few weeks ago.
I did a little speedshooting at this years GBR, and we got it on high quality video:
This is first, and the slowest of the runs. Unfortunately, it was also the only one I got on my camera, vs. one of the other guys cameras. I'm trying to get the videos from the other guys.
We did runs on two 1911s, an S&W model 686, a 459, an M&P 9, and a BHP. I'm not sure who got what on video unfortunately. Instead of my usual 8" plate at 7 yards, we used an 8.5"x11" target at 10 yards.
For this run I was using Skip's (a reader) Kimber custom II, loaded up 7+1 with Win white box 230gr fmj, from a Wilson mag.
8 rounds, 1.16 seconds timed off the video (10 runs timed from the video, all of them hit within .02 of 1.16 which was the median) first bang to last bang, for a 0.165s average split (recorded on Android Shot Timer Pro android app).
The timer recorded the following times:
1 -> 2: 0.11s
2 -> 3: 0.22s
3 -> 4: 0.16s
4 -> 5: 0.09s
5 -> 6: 0.22s
6 -> 7: 0.08s
7 -> 8: 0.28s
I think there's a good chance the pairs of long/short splits are timing inaccurately. I can believe the 0.11s... I'm pretty fast... but I'm not sure that gun, with that ammo, and that recoil spring; could physically cycle fast enough for a 0.09 or 0.08s split; and the followup round from each pair is much longer than the average.
0.08s is the fastest I have ever timed a single split from my 625 (I'm sure of that one, because I've done it in the middle of strings over and over again, along with 0.09s and 0.10s.. but I can't get my averages that low. I've been told it's the fastest a 625 with a standard cylinder and ratchet will cycle; but with custom work and a lightened cylinder you can get down to 0.06s); and I know that under perfect conditions my 625 will cycle under my finger faster than a 1911 will.
I think it would be more accurate to average the long/short pairs and round up:
1 -> 2: 0.17s
2 -> 3: 0.17s
3 -> 4: 0.16s
4 -> 5: 0.16s
5 -> 6: 0.16s
6 -> 7: 0.18s
7 -> 8: 0.18s
On the other hand, when I slow the video down to 25%, some of the shots seem significantly faster than others... so I don't know.
That's still pretty quick, but not ridiculously so. Most good competitive USPSA shooters can get single target average splits on a string below 0.18s; some below 0.14s, and a few below 0.12s (remember, that's averages for a string. Fastest single target split time on a doubletap, from a top competitor with a prepped race gun, could run as low as .06-.08. It's just that most folks aren't that fast on every shot).
Also remember, that was on 10 yards not 7... but the difference isn't all that much.
I'm absolutely sure that on my fastest run with the BHP, I managed to get my average split below .14s on 17 rounds (from a KRD mag); because I'm dead certain I got down below 2.24s. My feel was that it was around 1.8s or maybe under (under .12s avg split), but I didn't have a timer on it. If I can get the video, I'll time it and see.
And yes, I'm a hell of a lot faster with my 625.
Jerry Miculeks fastest 8 shot run, from low ready, is 1 second, for an average split time on the string of a bit over .12 (.125 actually). If you consider reaction time, the average splits are probably a bit under .11. His fastest five shot string from low ready is .57, or .114 avg split.With reaction time that's probably an average split of .08 or.09.
I can run a Bill Drill in well under 2 seconds when I'm drawing well (not usually...my average first shot is around 1.4. Best I've ever managed was .84. Most of my Bills end up 2.5 or over); and a FAST drill in well under 5 seconds when my presentation and reloads are on (my reloads generally just aren't as fast as they need to be to be competitive, and I usually end up in the 7 second range); but when I manage it, I do it with split speed, not presentation or reload speed.
Or rather I COULD do all of those things, when I was shooting 500-1500 rounds a week in practice; which hasn't been in a few years.
The way things are today, and have been the last couple years (between the kids, work, and the cancer, I haven't shot very much... I doubt I've shot 1,500 rounds total in the last three years, and 300 of that was at GBR this year, and another 300 at boomershoot)... I have no clue. GBR (second weekend of September) was the first time I shot anything at all since Boomershoot (last weekend of April). Prior to that I hadn't shot since October 2010, and prior to that, February 2010.
I've been telling people for years that I was only a couple hundredths slower on the trigger than Jerry... Not that I was anywhere near as good as Jerry, or as accurate, or could ever get close to Jerry on target transitions, presentation, or reload (and that's where competitions are won, not in trigger speed. I'm nowhere near that good, or that fast)... Frankly, Jerry's reloads are just plain unreal... just that I was pretty close to Jerry's speed on the trigger.
Most of the time people don't believe me. Even after I do it in front of them (and I've done it dozens of times), they usually think it's a timing error... and it may very well be...
...but that was a cold string, from somebody elses unprepped gun, after not having shot handguns at all in a year, and not speedshot since GBR in 2009; and I still managed at least .16s, maybe better...
...I'm pretty sure that with a properly prepped gun, when I'm properly trained up and practiced up... I think I can match Jerry on split times (again, not on reloads, presentation, or transitions; just on splits). I don't think I can beat him, but I'm pretty sure I can match him.
I know I damn sure want to try.
Jerry does it with a 625 (6 rounds of .45) or 627 (8 rounds of .38spl). I've done it with a lot of guns, but I generally shoot the drill with my slicked up 625, one of my 1911s (I particularly like doing it with my custom 10mm), or a Browning Hi-Power. The low recoil, fast slide cycle time, and high magazine capacity of the BHP make it particularly fun to speedshoot, as people really do think you're firing a machinegun.
Unfortunately, we've never managed to get one of the demos on reasonable quality video, until a few weeks ago.
I did a little speedshooting at this years GBR, and we got it on high quality video:
This is first, and the slowest of the runs. Unfortunately, it was also the only one I got on my camera, vs. one of the other guys cameras. I'm trying to get the videos from the other guys.
We did runs on two 1911s, an S&W model 686, a 459, an M&P 9, and a BHP. I'm not sure who got what on video unfortunately. Instead of my usual 8" plate at 7 yards, we used an 8.5"x11" target at 10 yards.
For this run I was using Skip's (a reader) Kimber custom II, loaded up 7+1 with Win white box 230gr fmj, from a Wilson mag.
8 rounds, 1.16 seconds timed off the video (10 runs timed from the video, all of them hit within .02 of 1.16 which was the median) first bang to last bang, for a 0.165s average split (recorded on Android Shot Timer Pro android app).
The timer recorded the following times:
1 -> 2: 0.11s
2 -> 3: 0.22s
3 -> 4: 0.16s
4 -> 5: 0.09s
5 -> 6: 0.22s
6 -> 7: 0.08s
7 -> 8: 0.28s
I think there's a good chance the pairs of long/short splits are timing inaccurately. I can believe the 0.11s... I'm pretty fast... but I'm not sure that gun, with that ammo, and that recoil spring; could physically cycle fast enough for a 0.09 or 0.08s split; and the followup round from each pair is much longer than the average.
0.08s is the fastest I have ever timed a single split from my 625 (I'm sure of that one, because I've done it in the middle of strings over and over again, along with 0.09s and 0.10s.. but I can't get my averages that low. I've been told it's the fastest a 625 with a standard cylinder and ratchet will cycle; but with custom work and a lightened cylinder you can get down to 0.06s); and I know that under perfect conditions my 625 will cycle under my finger faster than a 1911 will.
I think it would be more accurate to average the long/short pairs and round up:
1 -> 2: 0.17s
2 -> 3: 0.17s
3 -> 4: 0.16s
4 -> 5: 0.16s
5 -> 6: 0.16s
6 -> 7: 0.18s
7 -> 8: 0.18s
On the other hand, when I slow the video down to 25%, some of the shots seem significantly faster than others... so I don't know.
That's still pretty quick, but not ridiculously so. Most good competitive USPSA shooters can get single target average splits on a string below 0.18s; some below 0.14s, and a few below 0.12s (remember, that's averages for a string. Fastest single target split time on a doubletap, from a top competitor with a prepped race gun, could run as low as .06-.08. It's just that most folks aren't that fast on every shot).
Also remember, that was on 10 yards not 7... but the difference isn't all that much.
I'm absolutely sure that on my fastest run with the BHP, I managed to get my average split below .14s on 17 rounds (from a KRD mag); because I'm dead certain I got down below 2.24s. My feel was that it was around 1.8s or maybe under (under .12s avg split), but I didn't have a timer on it. If I can get the video, I'll time it and see.
And yes, I'm a hell of a lot faster with my 625.
Jerry Miculeks fastest 8 shot run, from low ready, is 1 second, for an average split time on the string of a bit over .12 (.125 actually). If you consider reaction time, the average splits are probably a bit under .11. His fastest five shot string from low ready is .57, or .114 avg split.With reaction time that's probably an average split of .08 or.09.
I can run a Bill Drill in well under 2 seconds when I'm drawing well (not usually...my average first shot is around 1.4. Best I've ever managed was .84. Most of my Bills end up 2.5 or over); and a FAST drill in well under 5 seconds when my presentation and reloads are on (my reloads generally just aren't as fast as they need to be to be competitive, and I usually end up in the 7 second range); but when I manage it, I do it with split speed, not presentation or reload speed.
Or rather I COULD do all of those things, when I was shooting 500-1500 rounds a week in practice; which hasn't been in a few years.
The way things are today, and have been the last couple years (between the kids, work, and the cancer, I haven't shot very much... I doubt I've shot 1,500 rounds total in the last three years, and 300 of that was at GBR this year, and another 300 at boomershoot)... I have no clue. GBR (second weekend of September) was the first time I shot anything at all since Boomershoot (last weekend of April). Prior to that I hadn't shot since October 2010, and prior to that, February 2010.
I've been telling people for years that I was only a couple hundredths slower on the trigger than Jerry... Not that I was anywhere near as good as Jerry, or as accurate, or could ever get close to Jerry on target transitions, presentation, or reload (and that's where competitions are won, not in trigger speed. I'm nowhere near that good, or that fast)... Frankly, Jerry's reloads are just plain unreal... just that I was pretty close to Jerry's speed on the trigger.
Most of the time people don't believe me. Even after I do it in front of them (and I've done it dozens of times), they usually think it's a timing error... and it may very well be...
...but that was a cold string, from somebody elses unprepped gun, after not having shot handguns at all in a year, and not speedshot since GBR in 2009; and I still managed at least .16s, maybe better...
...I'm pretty sure that with a properly prepped gun, when I'm properly trained up and practiced up... I think I can match Jerry on split times (again, not on reloads, presentation, or transitions; just on splits). I don't think I can beat him, but I'm pretty sure I can match him.
I know I damn sure want to try.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
A Monster Hunter goes "Contracting"
Let's get this out of the way right now. This, is Larry Correia and Mike Kuparis new book "Dead Six":
If you read this blog, you will want to buy this book. It's officially out today, but I read it a couple months back with an advance readers copy. It's great. You should go and buy ten copies now and give them to everyone you know.
This link will let you go and do that: "Dead Six" at Amazon (paper only. Baen does not sell ebooks through Amazon because of Amazons DRM)
This link will let you choose an independent book store to buy from: Baens book store listing for "Dead Six"
So will this one, in DRM free ebook format: "Dead Six" from Baens "webscriptions"
You should go buy it now. Really, seriously, before you read another sentence.
Ok... if you need more convincing, here's the first 8 chapters: Baen books sample chapters for "Dead Six"
Let me repeat: If you like reading this blog for reasons other than "know thy enemy", you want to buy "Dead Six". And you want to buy it today, because best seller lists are all about velocity of sales, not total sales. We want to see Larry with another New York Times Bestseller now don't we?
Larry Correia should need no introduction in this crowd, being the former proprietor of Fuzzy Bunny Movie Guns, once one of the coolest Class III dealers in the country; and the author of the bestselling SFF/F/Adventure novels: "Monster Hunter International", "Monster Hunter Vendetta", "Monster Hunter Alpha", "Hard Magic", and of course the near future bestsellers "Dead Six" and "Spellbound".
Mike Kupari, most of y'all probably don't know. He's a good guy, a veteran who was doing his time in the guard and decided to re-enlist in the Air Force, to volunteer to be an EOD tech. He's over in Asscrackistan right now keeping other guys from getting their asses blowed up, by risking getting his ass blowed up instead.
Let me repeat... Mike had already served. He had already done some time as a PMC too... He was free and clear, and no-one could say he hadn't done his part... but he volunteered, to go BACK, and do one of the most dangerous things we do (under THIS president no less). Yeah, he may not be so bright ;-) but he's one of the good guys.
Oh and there's one other thing...,
I'm in the book... and if you're a Guncounter member, so are you:
If you can't read that, the portion relevant to the guncounter reads:
There's a small story behind that, but we don't talk publicly about what we do for our servicemembers, veterans, and familys and friends in need. If someone else wants to tell it, that's fine... people think I blow my own horn too much as it is.
That said, it would be disingenuous to not mention I'm in the book in another way as well.
After we helped out with the computer situation, Larry told me he was redshirting me...
Instead of just your basic redshirting though, he made me an actual (minor) character, with a pretty interesting death.
...Just a bit more than your basic redshirting.
Oh and yeah, there's no way you're not going to be recognizing me there... Next time I go to a con, someone is going to recognize it.
Cool. Very cool.
GO, NOW, BUY THE DAMN BOOK!
If you read this blog, you will want to buy this book. It's officially out today, but I read it a couple months back with an advance readers copy. It's great. You should go and buy ten copies now and give them to everyone you know.
This link will let you go and do that: "Dead Six" at Amazon (paper only. Baen does not sell ebooks through Amazon because of Amazons DRM)
This link will let you choose an independent book store to buy from: Baens book store listing for "Dead Six"
So will this one, in DRM free ebook format: "Dead Six" from Baens "webscriptions"
You should go buy it now. Really, seriously, before you read another sentence.
Ok... if you need more convincing, here's the first 8 chapters: Baen books sample chapters for "Dead Six"
Let me repeat: If you like reading this blog for reasons other than "know thy enemy", you want to buy "Dead Six". And you want to buy it today, because best seller lists are all about velocity of sales, not total sales. We want to see Larry with another New York Times Bestseller now don't we?
Larry Correia should need no introduction in this crowd, being the former proprietor of Fuzzy Bunny Movie Guns, once one of the coolest Class III dealers in the country; and the author of the bestselling SFF/F/Adventure novels: "Monster Hunter International", "Monster Hunter Vendetta", "Monster Hunter Alpha", "Hard Magic", and of course the near future bestsellers "Dead Six" and "Spellbound".
Mike Kupari, most of y'all probably don't know. He's a good guy, a veteran who was doing his time in the guard and decided to re-enlist in the Air Force, to volunteer to be an EOD tech. He's over in Asscrackistan right now keeping other guys from getting their asses blowed up, by risking getting his ass blowed up instead.
Let me repeat... Mike had already served. He had already done some time as a PMC too... He was free and clear, and no-one could say he hadn't done his part... but he volunteered, to go BACK, and do one of the most dangerous things we do (under THIS president no less). Yeah, he may not be so bright ;-) but he's one of the good guys.
Oh and there's one other thing...,
I'm in the book... and if you're a Guncounter member, so are you:
If you can't read that, the portion relevant to the guncounter reads:
"We would like to thank Chris Byrne and the Gun Counter for fixing the computer situation. Their generosity is much appreciated."And of course, Larry and Mike, we were all glad to help.
There's a small story behind that, but we don't talk publicly about what we do for our servicemembers, veterans, and familys and friends in need. If someone else wants to tell it, that's fine... people think I blow my own horn too much as it is.
That said, it would be disingenuous to not mention I'm in the book in another way as well.
After we helped out with the computer situation, Larry told me he was redshirting me...
Instead of just your basic redshirting though, he made me an actual (minor) character, with a pretty interesting death.
...Just a bit more than your basic redshirting.
Oh and yeah, there's no way you're not going to be recognizing me there... Next time I go to a con, someone is going to recognize it.
Cool. Very cool.
GO, NOW, BUY THE DAMN BOOK!
Monday, September 26, 2011
Whipping it out for Og
No, I haven't suddenly gone all "black plastic mack" flasher... I'm responding to Ogs meme about pocket knives:
It's a first production run Mel Pardue Ambush, made by Benchmade in mid 2003, when they were still making these in the U.S.
I've probably carried it in my left front pants pocket 8 days out of ten since I bought it in early 2004... and it certainly shows.
That said, the blade is great, I keep it incredibly sharp, it handles well... I love it. In particular I love the size of it.
Most pocket knives are too small for me, this one most definitely is not; with a 4.25" plain edge blade (4" sharpened length), and a 4.75" hilt, .5" thick and 1.25" wide at the widest, it's one of the few pocket knives out there that actually fills my hand, and gives me a blade long enough to balance properly. Also the action is so smooth I can flick it open quick as an automatic, and flick it closed faster.
Unfortunately, the Ambush has been discontinued by Benchmade (Mel Pardue will still make you one if you want though, with any decoration or hilt you want... but he aint cheap, and his backlog is I think about two years at this point), as most people seem to think it's too big for a pocket knife. The "mini ambush" was also offered up until recently, but it only has a 3" blade, and a polymer hilt.
I have plenty of other pocket knives; from expensive high end custom pieces, to $10 "superknife" utility blade type folders, and I do carry them sometimes... but the ambush is my default knife to pickup and clip to my pocket every morning.
Take the knife out of your pocket and take a picture of it, and post it. Or post a picture of the same knife from a brochure or whatever.This is my most common daily carry pocket knife:
No, not your favorite knife, or your prettiest, but the one that never leaves your side.
It's a first production run Mel Pardue Ambush, made by Benchmade in mid 2003, when they were still making these in the U.S.
I've probably carried it in my left front pants pocket 8 days out of ten since I bought it in early 2004... and it certainly shows.
That said, the blade is great, I keep it incredibly sharp, it handles well... I love it. In particular I love the size of it.
Most pocket knives are too small for me, this one most definitely is not; with a 4.25" plain edge blade (4" sharpened length), and a 4.75" hilt, .5" thick and 1.25" wide at the widest, it's one of the few pocket knives out there that actually fills my hand, and gives me a blade long enough to balance properly. Also the action is so smooth I can flick it open quick as an automatic, and flick it closed faster.
Unfortunately, the Ambush has been discontinued by Benchmade (Mel Pardue will still make you one if you want though, with any decoration or hilt you want... but he aint cheap, and his backlog is I think about two years at this point), as most people seem to think it's too big for a pocket knife. The "mini ambush" was also offered up until recently, but it only has a 3" blade, and a polymer hilt.
I have plenty of other pocket knives; from expensive high end custom pieces, to $10 "superknife" utility blade type folders, and I do carry them sometimes... but the ambush is my default knife to pickup and clip to my pocket every morning.
One Cup at a Time
Recently, someone asked me what I would recommend for brewing coffee for one... for someone who didn't drink a ton of coffee, and who didn't want to obsess over the details.
Then a few days later, a forum reader asked for recommendations for making coffee on a liveaboard boat.
I figured I would set my rather long response down here in blog post form.
So a little background, for those of you who may not have followed my blog obsessively for years, as to why someone would be asking me for coffee advice:
I am a coffee fanatic. I was at one time an 8-12 POT, not cup a day drinker. Through my late teens and twenties, I was so caffeinated, you could have distilled my blood to make energy drink concentrate.
There was a collectible card game called netrunner, that had a card with the quote "There's too much blood in my caffeine system". I lived by that quote religiously, and had a framed copy of the card up on my office wall at one point.
Over the past six years, I have written six posts, specifically about how to make coffee; never mind the literally hundreds of references to or mentions of coffee.
I have cut my coffee consumption WAY down over the past few years; but as it is, today I still drink anywhere from one to four, 12oz mugs of coffee a day, most days (usually just one or two though now).
I only drink GOOD coffee.
Starbucks, is not good coffee...
....and fritalian is ridiculous to order coffee in anyway; plus it's overpriced crap.
I had a technivorm drip brewer, which makes the best drip coffee there is... Because it's the ONLY drip coffee maker that brews at the proper temp.
I have a 15 bar pump espresso machine, with a dual boiler; and a conical burr grinder.
I have several different French presses, and an electric kettle that gets me a full pot of just under boiling water in about 90 seconds for said presses.
I have or have had, a classic Bialetti moka pot, a vacuum pot, and a Chemex brewer.
All of these make spectacular coffee. All of them take a fair bit of time and effort to do so.
I break out one of these brewing methods (usually my thermal carafe and my double walled stainless French press. Less heat loss) when I want the best possible, truly excellent coffee.
However, as I no longer drink pots of coffee at a time, and my wife drinks far less coffee than I do. Unless I'm entertaining, I have no need for brewing more than 4 cups (we drink 12oz mugs, so thats 2 6oz "cups" each right there by coffee measure) at a time anymore.
Also, the biggest problem with drinking good coffee, is keeping coffee good for more than a few minutes. There are a lot of tricky, or expensive ways of doing that, and they work quite well... but they're tricky or expensive.
The best way is to just brew good, hot, fresh coffee; as many cups as you need right then and no more; and drink it immediately.
To my mind, there are about six good ways of doing that.
The first is to use a single cup drip filter. These work pretty well, but can spill easily (especially on a boat) and be a bit messy. Also there is a lot of heat loss during the brewing process. On the plus side, you control the water very precisely; the temperature, volume, and steep rate.
The smallest two sizes of chemex brewer and french press also do pretty well; but you really need to brew at least 4 cups (coffee "cups", so 24oz) at a time to get proper results. any smaller amount of grounds, and the wetting and brew times aren't quite right.
There's something called the "aeropress", that makes really excellent coffee, one cup at a time. It's a bit less messy than the other methods here, and makes about as good quality coffee, but of a slightly different character and flavor.
There's also the cold brewing process; where you brew in cold water, overnight, and VERY strong, to make a coffee concentrate. Then when you want a cup of coffee, you either mix the concentrate into an iced coffee with ice water and adulterants (cream, milk, sugar etc...); or you mix it with just under boiling temp water.
There are a couple of elements to take note of, that these methods share.
First, they all require you to grind your own coffee for best results. So does every other brewing method of course, but each one requires a different grind to brew properly.
You shouldn't grind more than a few days worth of coffee at a time at worst, and it's best if you just grind a days worth, or even a pots worth, at once. However, I don't recommend you grind coffee one cup at a time, as such a small quantity tend to grind suboptimally. You want to grind as much as you'll consume for the morning, or all day, and just keep it in an airtight container.
Second, all of the methods I listed above require an external source of hot water. I personally prefer an electric boiling kettle. Most U.S. branded kettles aren't very good, because we aren't major tea drinkers in the U.S. The UK and EU brands are generally better, but also considerably more expensive. The best of them can boil a quart/liter of water in under 90 seconds (some in as little as 30).
Unless you're cold brewing, you need to brew coffee at over 190 degrees, and under 210 degrees; with an ideal temperature of 195-205 degrees. A good boiling kettle will get you there quickly. Just let it come off the boil, and by the time you get the water into the brewer, it'll be at 206 or below.
Actually, if you want to know why your drip coffee maker produces crap coffee, that's probably why. Most of them don't get the water near hot enough; and most of the ones that do drop the water onto the grounds while still boiling (which extracts much more bitterness and off flavors from the grounds).
So... all of that is a bit fiddly... and a bit messy, and all require a multistep process etc... etc...
I think they're worth it for really great coffee, but they can be a pain in the ass. And I think that they're a bit impractical for a boat, unless you have a lot of room, and stay docked all the time.
Even mediocre coffee making methods like drip and percolators, leave a lot to be desired on a boat. There's still the glass carafe, or the relatively unstable percolator etc... and of course the mess of grounds.
About 18 months ago, recognizing that my wife and I no longer drank a pot of coffee at a time, that we ended up throwing away more coffee that we were drinking, no matter what we did to keep the coffee "fresh" and tasting good (and we tried everything)....
And recognizing that "really good" coffee was acceptable most of the time, instead of "spectacular" coffee...
...We bought a Keurig machine; this one in fact: Cuisinart Keurig Brewing System
We brew one cup at a time, each cup takes about 30 seconds to brew (including the time to heat the water), each one is hot and fresh exactly when you want it.
More importantly, it's really good coffee. Some of the k-cups (the single serving coffee packs) verge on excellent. Yeah, I can make better coffee with a French press, but this is almost as good, and a hell of a lot more convenient.
There are four disadvantages to the Keurig: One, at retail, it's about $0.40 a 6oz cup for coffee (a lot better than starbucks, but still more than the standard "1 tablespoon per six ounces" Folgers at $6 a pound {appx. 64 tablespoons per pound}, or about $0.09 a cup; or the local whole bean roasters at $9 a pound for about $0.15 per cup). Two, there is a bit more waste per cup to dispose of. Three, you are limited to the coffee that k-cup makers decide to give you. Four, you have to have k-cups, and they aren't widely available everywhere.
On the other hand, there are a couple of mitigating factors here:
We found that compared to when we were brewing full pots, we wasted so much less coffee, that we were spending less on the K-cups as we were on the coffee we were brewing. Also, we were throwing away about the same volume of trash as we were before (though admittedly, the keurig trash involves non dumpable/digestable/compostable plastic). Finally, buying mailorder is much cheaper, and more convenient; to the point where through Amazon we can get each cup down into the $0.20 range (or $0.40 since we brew a double into a large mug), with free shipping (free two day shipping in our case, since we're prime members).
Oh and as to general availability, I have found k-cups in every supermarket, Target, WalMart, Costco, and Sams Club I have been in, in four different states, over the last two years.
Further, there are three direct solutions for these problems:
Firstly, there is a filter pod accessory, that lets you grind and use your own coffee, on a single cup basis. Our Cuisinart came with one, but third party models are available from Amazon for $10-$15.
You simply load your coffee up to the line (first line for "normal' second line for "extra bold"), drop it into the machine just like one of the disposable kcups, and brew. Just rinse out the filter when you're done.
This reduces the cost to whatever you pay for coffee normally. There no additional waste, no additional cost, over and above whatever brewing method you were using before. It also lets you use whatever type of coffee you want, whatever roast you want, and gives you some flexibility in grind (though not too fine or too coarse, or it won't brew properly).
What you lose of course, is the sealed k-cup convenience. You still have to grind your own coffee, and you clean up one at a time etc...
The second solution is a little tool and filter papers, that lets you make your own disposable filter coffee pods. You grind and seal the coffee in the filter papers, then drop the sealed filter paper into a reusable kcup holder.
The filter papers are a few pennies a piece (the current amazon price is $10 for 50, or $0.20 a piece; but if you buy by the case, it goes down to something like $0.02 a piece), and are compostable. You don't throw away any plastic. Also, the plastic reusable kcup holders can often also hold coffee pods from other brands like Nepresso and Senseo; so you aren't just limited to the brands that offer K-cups.
It's still less convenient than the k-cup, because you have to grind the coffee and load up the filters; but its no more inconvenient than any conventional coffee brewing method.
The third method also uses a little tool and disposable filters; but the disposable filter is part of an entire disposable kcup. Instead of using a resuable filter holder, you just seal the coffe in and discard the whole thing, just like the original kcups.
Oh and for our machine, there's an added convenience, in that it will give you up to 12oz of 195 degree water on demand, for tea, hot chocolate, instant soup etc... And then 30 seconds later, another 12oz.
When we want coffee that isn't offered in a k-cup, sometimes we break out the french press... but more often than not we're just loading up the filter pod, because it's so easy and convenient.
Of course, there's always instant....
I'm not dead...
I haven't been kidnapped, and I haven't converted to anti-gunism.
I've been nearly silent for days at a time lately, because, as it is wont to do; life has been very busy getting in the way of me doing anything but what was right in front of me.
Hopefully, as of today, that will be changing somewhat. I should have a flurry of posts out this week, including my gunblogger rendezvous report, and some product reviews, and announcements about my life... LOTS of stuff.
I just need to actually get it done, and not have life get in the way again.
I've been nearly silent for days at a time lately, because, as it is wont to do; life has been very busy getting in the way of me doing anything but what was right in front of me.
Hopefully, as of today, that will be changing somewhat. I should have a flurry of posts out this week, including my gunblogger rendezvous report, and some product reviews, and announcements about my life... LOTS of stuff.
I just need to actually get it done, and not have life get in the way again.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
This is, literally, my life...
And not just games, but pretty much all my hobbies and interests.
When I have the money, I don't have the time. When I have the time, I don't have the money...
Though, I'm trying to change that. More on that later.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Time is Money... and so many people forget that in so many ways...
The alt text reads: "And if you drive a typical car more than a mile out of your way for each penny you save on the per-gallon price, it doesn't matter how worthless your time is to you--the gas to get you there and back costs more than you save".
When I was growing up (and before she lost her license for good when I was 14... though she got it back again ten years later in Arizona) my mother used to go LITERALLY miles out of her way, to avoid having to make a left turn across traffic, or at a busy traffic light; or to avoid a few lights. Not only were we traveling a much longer distance, but it was taking longer and wasting more gas, just so she didn't have to wait for traffic.
She would also drive three towns over for gas that was three cents a gallon cheaper, when she was buying six or seven gallons. 21 cents? For an extra 30 minutes, and an extra gallon of gas (at the time about $0.90), to save $0.21
But she FELT that she was "saving". She was "getting a better deal".
Well... No... she wasn't. But she FELT she was, and of course, there's millions out there just like my mother on this issue.
One of the things I run into a lot of the time in my business, is the idea that someone is "saving money", buy doing things that take hours and hours (at $100 per hour per man or more) to save a few hundred, or even a few thousand dollars.
When it takes four guys, 20 hours each, to save $5,000 once... that's not saving, that's losing $3,000 (for guys like me, it's a lot more, as my internal cost is something like $145 an hour, for a loss of almost $7,000).
Now, if it takes four guys, 20 hours each, to save $5,000 every week for a year... That's saving money. Hell, if it's eight guys, 100 hours each, it's saving money.
Travel and expenses are one of the biggest areas I see companies nickel and diming things; trying to save money by choosing crap flights, remote hotels, not renting cars... when they cost tens, or even over the course of a year, hundreds, of hours of their employees time.
One company I deal with is a perfect example: They have a policy that you must always book the lowest cost flight with less than two stops, on the lowest cost carrier. Now, I don't know if you're familiar with airline schedules, but I'll use one I'm familiar with directly to illustrate my point.
United has two direct flights from Spokane to San Francisco a day, and the reverse route; an early morning flight, and a late night flight, with a flight time of 1:45 to 2:05 (it's 730 miles), at a price of between $370 and $490 dollars for more than 24 hour but less than 30 day booking (most business flights are booked less than 10 days in advance).
Delta services the same route, twice a day, for $249 to $369 dollars, and thus under policy they must always book the Delta flight.
Great, every time they fly they're saving $120 to $240 right? If they fly twice a week every week, that's as much as a $24,000 savings...
Well... on the flight, sure... but what AREN'T you seeing?
The United flight arrives in SFO before 9am, or leaves after 8pm (which means you don't need to be at the airport 'til 6pm). The Delta flights depart at 10:30am, and 6:30pm, meaning you have to be at the airport by 4:30pm, giving you only a half work day on the return flight day.
Not only that but they're one stop flights, through Salt Lake City. It's 1:45 from GEG to SLC, then a 2 hour layover, then another 1:45 from SLC to SFO (and the reverse is true), a total enroute time of over 5.5 hours. Adding the time to transit to and from the airport, and clear security, and that's one full work day.
So, your $24,000 savings over the course of a year, is actually 75 man days of lost work (vs 0 man days, since the United schedule allows a full work day on each travel day). In my case, that means a $90,000 loss.
Not providing remote data networking (air cards, mifis etc...) same thing. $80 a month enables a $140 an hour staff member to work anywhere, anytime, with security. Sadly, though airports and hotels often have wifi available, that WiFi is frequently insecure, slow, and often doesn't support the VPNs and secure authentication methods that most companies require for remote access; and of course, most vehicles (cars, busses, trains whatever) don't have network access. A wireless 3g/4g hotspot costs $80 a month, and enables data access at a minimum of 512kb, and up to 10mb, for up to five people, anywhere you can get signal (which is most any major urban area or along most interstate highways). The first HOUR I spend working from an airport pays for that MiFi every month. Even a $40k a year guy costs the company $65k a year (or more); and so it takes two and a half hours to pay the cost back.
If you consider again, that hourly rate, and we presume 100 workable travel hours a year (and there have been years where I was running more like 500 workable travel hours)... $8,000 lost vs $960 paid...
Save money where it makes sense, sure; but do the cost benefit analysis.
Prepping my GBR posts
But I've got a LOT of them coming, or at least a lot of pictures and videos to edit, and I'm working remotely right now. I'm probably going to start posting them tomorrow, maybe later tonight; but I probably won't be done til after Thursday or Friday... or maybe even next week.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
3652 days
September 11, 2001, 8:46am Eastern Daylight Time:
3652 days, 9040 dead,
and we will continue
until the mission is complete
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty. This much we pledge—and more. -- John F. Kennedy
We Will Never forgive
We Will Never Forget
We Will Never Stop
and we will continue
until the mission is complete
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty. This much we pledge—and more. -- John F. Kennedy
We Will Never forgive
We Will Never Forget
We Will Never Stop
Wednesday, September 07, 2011
Blogging from the road to Reno
Stopping outside of Travis AFB for dinner. It took me 90 minutes to get from the parking lot at the SF end of the Bay Bridge to Fairfield... and yes, for those of you not familiar with NorCal geography, that's a long time.
ProTip: never trust that the quadruple dose (my normal dose, but quadruble for most people) of extremely strong diuretics you took at 1pm has worked its way out of your system by 6pm just before setting out on a long drive in heavy traffic. You will be very, very unhappy if you do.
Yes I'm on my way
Though in this case, I do actually know where I'm goin.
I'm going to Reno, to the Gun Blogger Rendezvous, and I'm leaving in about an hour.
Unfortunately, I'm driving up from San Francisco, so no shooty goodness with me; but there's always plenty to play with there anyway.
If you're coming, see you there. If not... YOU SHOULD BE.
I'm going to Reno, to the Gun Blogger Rendezvous, and I'm leaving in about an hour.
Unfortunately, I'm driving up from San Francisco, so no shooty goodness with me; but there's always plenty to play with there anyway.
If you're coming, see you there. If not... YOU SHOULD BE.
Tuesday, September 06, 2011
Speaking of the UPS Guy
Went to see UPS guy this morning because Chris ended up boarding a plane without a necessary medication (irritating mix-up) which I then needed to overnight to his super-seekrit temporary work location (yes he still needs to write a post).
Now I work in a bank and I had the extreme fortune (i.e. lowest seniority) of being scheduled to work the last open day before Labor Day and the first open day after Labor Day. All the people who were smart enough to avoid the bank on Tuesday came in Saturday. Everyone else came in today.
North Idaho, particularly north of the Coeur D'Alene area, is a sparsely populated place yet bank of my employ has 3 different branches in the area. We end up seeing the same people day in and day out because that's our customer base and they don't like driving very far to bank. Or really, do anything.
Everyone sees everyone else all the damn time. It's like a small town spread across a bunch of townships and CDPs.
After a certain amount of times taking care of the same person, not only do you stop checking their id (because we know them after all) it's actually a bank policy. You know them personally, under id you get to choose "known" and you get to greet them by name and make their life easier.
So today, while overnighting said necessary medication, the UPS guy goes through all of the hoops and asks for payment. I swipe my card, and somewhere between the swipe and the signature the screen says something like "show identification". I don't know exactly what it says, because in a split second it's gone.
"UPS wants me to get id from everyone," he says, "but it's a small town and I know everyone and it's just a big hassle. And some people get outright offended."
Every merchant in the area feels the same way.
This is why big government policies and procedures fail. The business climate in DC or NY is not the business climate in North Idaho. Just like when you hear a shotgun in downtown LA the police get called but if you hear one in North Idaho you just assume someone's hunting (fairly safe assumption).
Rifle rack in the back of a teenager's truck? Either its a dangerous situation or they're going hunting this weekend. All depends on where you are.
One-size-fits-all policies don't work in this country, and the more they get shoved down the throats of everyone outside of DC the more discontent in flyover country grows.
It's a good thing for DC that us rural folk aren't near as violent as they'd like to pretend we are...
BTW, unemployment may be up here, but the cash economy is still going strong. Something about avoiding all of those taxes...
Mel
Now I work in a bank and I had the extreme fortune (i.e. lowest seniority) of being scheduled to work the last open day before Labor Day and the first open day after Labor Day. All the people who were smart enough to avoid the bank on Tuesday came in Saturday. Everyone else came in today.
North Idaho, particularly north of the Coeur D'Alene area, is a sparsely populated place yet bank of my employ has 3 different branches in the area. We end up seeing the same people day in and day out because that's our customer base and they don't like driving very far to bank. Or really, do anything.
Everyone sees everyone else all the damn time. It's like a small town spread across a bunch of townships and CDPs.
After a certain amount of times taking care of the same person, not only do you stop checking their id (because we know them after all) it's actually a bank policy. You know them personally, under id you get to choose "known" and you get to greet them by name and make their life easier.
So today, while overnighting said necessary medication, the UPS guy goes through all of the hoops and asks for payment. I swipe my card, and somewhere between the swipe and the signature the screen says something like "show identification". I don't know exactly what it says, because in a split second it's gone.
"UPS wants me to get id from everyone," he says, "but it's a small town and I know everyone and it's just a big hassle. And some people get outright offended."
Every merchant in the area feels the same way.
This is why big government policies and procedures fail. The business climate in DC or NY is not the business climate in North Idaho. Just like when you hear a shotgun in downtown LA the police get called but if you hear one in North Idaho you just assume someone's hunting (fairly safe assumption).
Rifle rack in the back of a teenager's truck? Either its a dangerous situation or they're going hunting this weekend. All depends on where you are.
One-size-fits-all policies don't work in this country, and the more they get shoved down the throats of everyone outside of DC the more discontent in flyover country grows.
It's a good thing for DC that us rural folk aren't near as violent as they'd like to pretend we are...
BTW, unemployment may be up here, but the cash economy is still going strong. Something about avoiding all of those taxes...
Mel
Quote of the Day, Ben Stein Edition
From Ben Stein, whose summer home I passed literally 4 times today:
Yeah, that's about the way we feel about it too.
It's odd reading about the town you kinda live in from the eyes of someone who only lives here part time. The UPS guy? Saw him today before work. Ivano's in town? Went there Friday night and saw the magician while we were there (he came into the bank the next day and saw me since he remembered who I was). Ivano's Del Lago? Did a post on it. The same Burlington Northern Santa Fe train that runs past his summer home runs past our house.
Now if only I could stop barely missing the guy...
Mel
Even so, this summer in Sandpoint is life the way it is supposed to be lived. As my pal Jane said long ago about North Idaho, "This is the America we pledge allegiance to when we pledge allegiance to the flag."
Yeah, that's about the way we feel about it too.
It's odd reading about the town you kinda live in from the eyes of someone who only lives here part time. The UPS guy? Saw him today before work. Ivano's in town? Went there Friday night and saw the magician while we were there (he came into the bank the next day and saw me since he remembered who I was). Ivano's Del Lago? Did a post on it. The same Burlington Northern Santa Fe train that runs past his summer home runs past our house.
Now if only I could stop barely missing the guy...
Mel
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