So, this time, it's expected to start snowing here around 10pm tonight, and not stop 'til around 4am on Thursday.
They're predicting a minimum of 8" with accumulations up to 24" at our elevation, and 18-36" in the elevations immediately above us. Winds may exceed 50 knots, and severe icing is expected. At least the snow should keep the temperatures in the high 20s low thirties; but immediately after the snow ends, they're expecting a couple days at 37-40... which means massive ice issues all weekend and beyond.
We're fully expecting a power out on this one. Got all the backup battery banks charged up, got batteries and candles ready, got a bunch of firewood ready to go, water and food, and a refill on the propane... we should be good to go, in case of a couple days worth of power outage. Shelter, heat, light, food, and water... all covered.
Great timing eh?
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
My Family, in a Turbulent Holding Pattern
That's what the last two days has been... and likely the next few days, may more, will be.
My brothers remains are in the custody of the Maricopa county coroners. They wont release their official finding of cause of death for 8-10 weeks. Because of workload backlog, they won't even do the post mortem exam until Thursday at the earliest.
Because it was an unattended death, with suspected criminal activity, they may hold his body for as long as 12 weeks or "until the investigation is concluded"; though they may release it next week after the preliminary findings are released... possibly as early as Friday, possibly not til next week sometime.
My mother...
My mother is very much not well; emotionally, physically, or mentally. She is already terminally ill, with significant brain damage, and this shock and stress has caused... well I suppose you can imagine what it has done. I honestly don't know if she can survive this.
Worse, she can't live on her own (and yes, to her, that isn't just "worse", it's the worst possible thing other than Rob dying). She needs to be in an assisted living facility, or to live with family; but she absolutely refuses either.
Frankly, she wants to go. That was her "plan", just wait it out until she died, eking by and just trying to be as little trouble to anyone as possible.
Those are her words by the way.
Now, she keeps saying.. really crying over and over... "why did he have to go now. Why couldn't he have just waited til I was gone, it won't be long".
Yeah... her mental and emotional state is not good, as I said.
She's also refusing to see me. She says if I go down there, she won't open the door for me. She doesn't want to "burden me'. She doesn't want me to see her "like that"... all the same things she's said before when it looked like she was ready to go.
I honestly don't know if her plan is to go on living... or just to see Rob cremated then let herself die. I suspect it's the latter.
Worse, now my grandmother is involved.
My grandmother is, as I believe I have mentioned here before, a very hard person. She can be mean, cruel, vindictive... She's not a BAD person, she generally does the right thing legally, morally, ethically etc... and she loves me... the whole family... very much... but she is not in any way nice, kind, gentle... She's just hard... and at times she can be cruel, and mean, and nasty.
The funny thing, is how my family are going to react to me saying that in public. They all know it's true, but some of them will be angry at me for saying it.
Just like they're still in denial that my grandfather, for as much as he loved us, and we all loved him (and still love him. I still think of him every single goddamned day of my life), and as much as he did for us, and as much as he is responsible for everything that I am... He was also a violent, controlling, at times emotionally and physically abusive, high functioning alcoholic.
Some of then have come to accept that we had... in some ways still have...a seriously screwed up, seriously abusive family... and some of them have not.
I honestly don't know what the world looks like in their memories... but it's not the world we actually grew up in; and to them, my saying otherwise is a betrayal of the family.
But... that's a whole 'nother story...
My grandmother and I were talking yesterday, about what to do about Robs remains, and about my mother. Rob wanted to be cremated, but he wanted it to be done back in Boston, where his real friends and his family could have a wake for him.
Frankly, he hated Arizona, and would not want his ashes resting there. He also didn't want a formal memorial service, just a wake. He liked the idea of all his friends and family getting drunk for him; and, ever since my grandfathers funeral in '96, he absolutely LOATHED funerals... as far as I know, he never went to another one.
There are several problems with this; first being, neither I nor my mother, have any damn money right now.
I literally just paid (as in Friday with my most recent paycheck) all my Christmas bills, paid for boomershoot and a bunch of the gear I'm going to need for it (and yes, I AM still going. I've spent five years waiting and trying to save for this event, I'm NOT missing it again), and five figures worth of medical bills, legal bills, and fees related to our custody case (which I had to take a loan out against my 401k to pay for).
Frankly, if the memorial service is before my next pay check, I'm going to have to sell some guns or something just to pay for the airline tickets.
Oh and you know how the airlines used to give big discounts on bereavment fares? not anymore. The best case is $450 a seat each for Mel and I (and no, I'm not going without her).
So, my grandmother is stepping in, and she's going to pay to transport Robs remains to Boston, and have him cremated.
There are two major problems with this.
First, my mother is in such frail health, and with her specific condition (frequent seizures, TIA, and multiple unrepaired aneurysms in her brain) she may not survive an airline flight. Plus she's absolutely terrified of flying, and needs to be tranquilized to fly (that at least isn't a problem, with the number and dosage of medications she's on). Even with doctors clearance, which it is seriously doubtful she'd get, any airline would be well within its rights to not let her get on an airplane.
It's a very LONG three days car ride from Arizona to Boston, and that might be even worse for her health.
Ok... That's a major practical issue... Maybe we can cremate him in Arizona then if she can't fly or drive. We can still have a memorial in Boston.
Which brings up issue number two.. Why I had a huge fight with my grandmother this afternoon.
My father.
My grandmother LOATHES my father. This hatred is not without some justification; as he was both violently abusive to my mother (she was also violently abusive to him. They had a seriously unhealthy and mutually abusive relationship, complicated by both of their drug use, her mental illness, his PTSD from 'nam, and both of their histories of violently abusive families), and completely neglectful and absent as a father to me and my brother (though to be fair, he was in prison most of our childhood and adolescence; and when he went to prison, my grandfather threatened him, credibly, with death should he ever attempt to contact us. He didn't, until after my grandfather died).
However, in my grandmothers case, her hatred it utterly consuming, and completely unthinking. There is literally no reasoning with her about him.
This is so much the case, that my grandmother will not acknowledge that my last name is Byrne. She won't send me any mail under that name (she sends it under my mothers maiden name, which she considers my "real" name), she won't open mail received from me with that name. If she calls me and I answer with that name (as I generally do, by reflex trained into me by the Air Force), she won't talk to me (or worse, she'll harangue me about it).
Now, my father is utterly devastated by my brother dying. He and I have spent hours over the phone, basically crying with each other, over the past two days.
One of the great regrets of my fathers life, is not having been a father to us growing up. When he was able to, he attempted to reconnect with us.
In my case, we were able to reconcile; and for about 13 years now, we have had a pretty good relationship.
With my brother... for a while they seemed as if they were going to make it up with each other. Rob even worked for him for a while, laying stone. Then Robs anger and hate, and demons took over; and one day he just walked off the job site, and they haven't spoken since. That was about 10 years ago, and it still pains my father deeply to this day.
My dad always hoped that one day, Rob would get help with his issues, and deal with his anger; and maybe they could reconcile. Sunday, that hope died with my brother... and I really think it killed something inside my dad.
Now... my grandmother...
Yesterday, we were talking about arrangements. About how we were going to need to do something about my mother, about how she was not listening to me, and behaving irrationally towards me about the issue (nothing new there), about how we may have to do things in Arizona but everyone would prefer it if we could do things in Boston...
And then I said to her "Nana, I need to talk to you about something, and it's going to upset you. My father, of course, wants to be at the memorial".
She flipped out, as I knew she would.
I stayed calm, and just kept repeating to her "but Rob was his son" and "it's his son"; each repetition of which would just make her scream "no he isn't his father. no, he was NOT his son. In order to be a father, you have to BE a father" or some other such similar rantings...
Which, again, to be fair, is a valid position to an extent; but honestly, the mans son just died and this is is the position you choose to take? Now?
She was literally screaming at me over the phone, at the top of her lungs... and you have to understand my grandmother may only be 5 foot 3 and a hundred pounds soaking wet, but she can SCREAM.
I even tried to tell her I had talked to my mother about it and she agreed that my father had every right to be there, and to grieve with us (my mothers words were "nothing else matters, that's his blood. He grieves as I grieve... tell him that").
I was keeping calm right up until she said to me "and you... you shouldn't have even told him. I don't know why you told him, he doesn't deserve to know"...
At which point I told my 76 year old grandmother to go fuck herself.
My brothers remains are in the custody of the Maricopa county coroners. They wont release their official finding of cause of death for 8-10 weeks. Because of workload backlog, they won't even do the post mortem exam until Thursday at the earliest.
Because it was an unattended death, with suspected criminal activity, they may hold his body for as long as 12 weeks or "until the investigation is concluded"; though they may release it next week after the preliminary findings are released... possibly as early as Friday, possibly not til next week sometime.
My mother...
My mother is very much not well; emotionally, physically, or mentally. She is already terminally ill, with significant brain damage, and this shock and stress has caused... well I suppose you can imagine what it has done. I honestly don't know if she can survive this.
Worse, she can't live on her own (and yes, to her, that isn't just "worse", it's the worst possible thing other than Rob dying). She needs to be in an assisted living facility, or to live with family; but she absolutely refuses either.
Frankly, she wants to go. That was her "plan", just wait it out until she died, eking by and just trying to be as little trouble to anyone as possible.
Those are her words by the way.
Now, she keeps saying.. really crying over and over... "why did he have to go now. Why couldn't he have just waited til I was gone, it won't be long".
Yeah... her mental and emotional state is not good, as I said.
She's also refusing to see me. She says if I go down there, she won't open the door for me. She doesn't want to "burden me'. She doesn't want me to see her "like that"... all the same things she's said before when it looked like she was ready to go.
I honestly don't know if her plan is to go on living... or just to see Rob cremated then let herself die. I suspect it's the latter.
Worse, now my grandmother is involved.
My grandmother is, as I believe I have mentioned here before, a very hard person. She can be mean, cruel, vindictive... She's not a BAD person, she generally does the right thing legally, morally, ethically etc... and she loves me... the whole family... very much... but she is not in any way nice, kind, gentle... She's just hard... and at times she can be cruel, and mean, and nasty.
The funny thing, is how my family are going to react to me saying that in public. They all know it's true, but some of them will be angry at me for saying it.
Just like they're still in denial that my grandfather, for as much as he loved us, and we all loved him (and still love him. I still think of him every single goddamned day of my life), and as much as he did for us, and as much as he is responsible for everything that I am... He was also a violent, controlling, at times emotionally and physically abusive, high functioning alcoholic.
Some of then have come to accept that we had... in some ways still have...a seriously screwed up, seriously abusive family... and some of them have not.
I honestly don't know what the world looks like in their memories... but it's not the world we actually grew up in; and to them, my saying otherwise is a betrayal of the family.
But... that's a whole 'nother story...
My grandmother and I were talking yesterday, about what to do about Robs remains, and about my mother. Rob wanted to be cremated, but he wanted it to be done back in Boston, where his real friends and his family could have a wake for him.
Frankly, he hated Arizona, and would not want his ashes resting there. He also didn't want a formal memorial service, just a wake. He liked the idea of all his friends and family getting drunk for him; and, ever since my grandfathers funeral in '96, he absolutely LOATHED funerals... as far as I know, he never went to another one.
There are several problems with this; first being, neither I nor my mother, have any damn money right now.
I literally just paid (as in Friday with my most recent paycheck) all my Christmas bills, paid for boomershoot and a bunch of the gear I'm going to need for it (and yes, I AM still going. I've spent five years waiting and trying to save for this event, I'm NOT missing it again), and five figures worth of medical bills, legal bills, and fees related to our custody case (which I had to take a loan out against my 401k to pay for).
Frankly, if the memorial service is before my next pay check, I'm going to have to sell some guns or something just to pay for the airline tickets.
Oh and you know how the airlines used to give big discounts on bereavment fares? not anymore. The best case is $450 a seat each for Mel and I (and no, I'm not going without her).
So, my grandmother is stepping in, and she's going to pay to transport Robs remains to Boston, and have him cremated.
There are two major problems with this.
First, my mother is in such frail health, and with her specific condition (frequent seizures, TIA, and multiple unrepaired aneurysms in her brain) she may not survive an airline flight. Plus she's absolutely terrified of flying, and needs to be tranquilized to fly (that at least isn't a problem, with the number and dosage of medications she's on). Even with doctors clearance, which it is seriously doubtful she'd get, any airline would be well within its rights to not let her get on an airplane.
It's a very LONG three days car ride from Arizona to Boston, and that might be even worse for her health.
Ok... That's a major practical issue... Maybe we can cremate him in Arizona then if she can't fly or drive. We can still have a memorial in Boston.
Which brings up issue number two.. Why I had a huge fight with my grandmother this afternoon.
My father.
My grandmother LOATHES my father. This hatred is not without some justification; as he was both violently abusive to my mother (she was also violently abusive to him. They had a seriously unhealthy and mutually abusive relationship, complicated by both of their drug use, her mental illness, his PTSD from 'nam, and both of their histories of violently abusive families), and completely neglectful and absent as a father to me and my brother (though to be fair, he was in prison most of our childhood and adolescence; and when he went to prison, my grandfather threatened him, credibly, with death should he ever attempt to contact us. He didn't, until after my grandfather died).
However, in my grandmothers case, her hatred it utterly consuming, and completely unthinking. There is literally no reasoning with her about him.
This is so much the case, that my grandmother will not acknowledge that my last name is Byrne. She won't send me any mail under that name (she sends it under my mothers maiden name, which she considers my "real" name), she won't open mail received from me with that name. If she calls me and I answer with that name (as I generally do, by reflex trained into me by the Air Force), she won't talk to me (or worse, she'll harangue me about it).
Now, my father is utterly devastated by my brother dying. He and I have spent hours over the phone, basically crying with each other, over the past two days.
One of the great regrets of my fathers life, is not having been a father to us growing up. When he was able to, he attempted to reconnect with us.
In my case, we were able to reconcile; and for about 13 years now, we have had a pretty good relationship.
With my brother... for a while they seemed as if they were going to make it up with each other. Rob even worked for him for a while, laying stone. Then Robs anger and hate, and demons took over; and one day he just walked off the job site, and they haven't spoken since. That was about 10 years ago, and it still pains my father deeply to this day.
My dad always hoped that one day, Rob would get help with his issues, and deal with his anger; and maybe they could reconcile. Sunday, that hope died with my brother... and I really think it killed something inside my dad.
Now... my grandmother...
Yesterday, we were talking about arrangements. About how we were going to need to do something about my mother, about how she was not listening to me, and behaving irrationally towards me about the issue (nothing new there), about how we may have to do things in Arizona but everyone would prefer it if we could do things in Boston...
And then I said to her "Nana, I need to talk to you about something, and it's going to upset you. My father, of course, wants to be at the memorial".
She flipped out, as I knew she would.
I stayed calm, and just kept repeating to her "but Rob was his son" and "it's his son"; each repetition of which would just make her scream "no he isn't his father. no, he was NOT his son. In order to be a father, you have to BE a father" or some other such similar rantings...
Which, again, to be fair, is a valid position to an extent; but honestly, the mans son just died and this is is the position you choose to take? Now?
She was literally screaming at me over the phone, at the top of her lungs... and you have to understand my grandmother may only be 5 foot 3 and a hundred pounds soaking wet, but she can SCREAM.
I even tried to tell her I had talked to my mother about it and she agreed that my father had every right to be there, and to grieve with us (my mothers words were "nothing else matters, that's his blood. He grieves as I grieve... tell him that").
I was keeping calm right up until she said to me "and you... you shouldn't have even told him. I don't know why you told him, he doesn't deserve to know"...
At which point I told my 76 year old grandmother to go fuck herself.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Sunday, January 09, 2011
My brother just died
We don't know why yet. It happened last night or this morning. It looks like either an infection related to the cancer, or an OD.
I only found out 30 minutes ago.
Don't know anything yet. Don't know what were going to do yet.
I only found out 30 minutes ago.
Don't know anything yet. Don't know what were going to do yet.
Friday, January 07, 2011
Mac users beware
The Mac OSX 10.6.6 update Apple released yesterday to support the new Mac app store, may kill your mac... or at least your hard drives file system.
Apparently this has happened to at least a few hundred folks... probably a lot more... given how many people are popping up in forums.
What's happening, is your catalog is being corrupted somehow, during the install and reboot process; and it can't be recovered.
So far, no particular common elements have been identified to isolate what's causing it in the relatively small number of users who have had the problem; except that it seems primarily to be happening to people who have vmware, virtualbox, or parallels installed... but that's at least 1/2 of all of Mac users these days, and there's no clear indication if it's causative or not.
Also it seems to be happening more to people with SSD's but not exclusively.
If you've installed the patch already, don't reboot. Make a carbon copy of your drive, just in case; THEN reboot. If your drive is hosed, you can fix it.
And yes, of course, you should have done a backup before you updated... Yeah... how many actually do that for their laptops?
If it's already too late for you, there is a solution. Grab an external drive, and a boot disk (they can be one and the same if you've got two partitions on the drive and dont mind killing one of them), and you should be able to mount the trashed drive read only, and then carbon copy it to a partition on the external drive.
Best of luck.
Apparently this has happened to at least a few hundred folks... probably a lot more... given how many people are popping up in forums.
What's happening, is your catalog is being corrupted somehow, during the install and reboot process; and it can't be recovered.
So far, no particular common elements have been identified to isolate what's causing it in the relatively small number of users who have had the problem; except that it seems primarily to be happening to people who have vmware, virtualbox, or parallels installed... but that's at least 1/2 of all of Mac users these days, and there's no clear indication if it's causative or not.
Also it seems to be happening more to people with SSD's but not exclusively.
If you've installed the patch already, don't reboot. Make a carbon copy of your drive, just in case; THEN reboot. If your drive is hosed, you can fix it.
And yes, of course, you should have done a backup before you updated... Yeah... how many actually do that for their laptops?
If it's already too late for you, there is a solution. Grab an external drive, and a boot disk (they can be one and the same if you've got two partitions on the drive and dont mind killing one of them), and you should be able to mount the trashed drive read only, and then carbon copy it to a partition on the external drive.
Best of luck.
Thursday, January 06, 2011
Perhaps even better than Denny Crane...
"I'm going to tell you the same thing I told the blind masseuse: Believe me, you'll know when I'm finished" -- William Shatner as "Ed Goodson"
One of the MANY MANY fun things the Ed Goodson character says in the show.
One of the MANY MANY fun things the Ed Goodson character says in the show.
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
The Other Other Boomershoot gun
So, I'm finally going to Boomershoot this year.
Thank god.
We've got about $9000 in remaining legal fees to deal with (including $3000 left of the !#$%@!@#$%$&&^*%&$^&!#$! court ordered $12,000 "custodial evaluation"), but I've hopefully got a decent bonus coming up; so although things are still tight here, we've got a little bit of money to play with.
Not a lot, but between now and April, I can squeeze out a couple thousand to load ammo with, buy gear etc...
Anyway, I haven't finished building my full custom 1000 yard rifle. In fact, at the moment I've only got parts and pieces, none of which are assembled onto the receiver (one of the parts and pieces I've got at least).
Boomers are laid out from 350 to 700 yards, with a maximum target distance of 875 yards (but Joe doesn't lay any boomers at that range).
I do have an Encore in .300 winmag (though I don't think the barrel I've got on it is adequate for 875 yards, but $400 fixes that), and a Winchester model 70 featherweight in .300 winmag that I need a replacement stock, trigger, and probably a rebarrel for, though I want to see how it shoots with a new stock and trigger (it's currently moa at 300 yards, but the trigger and stock are making anything longer range unworkable for me) so I don't think I'll have the rebarrel done before boomershoot.
Once I make the mods I plan to make though, either should get me out to 700 yards with some consistency and some work on my part, which is what I really need from them. The 875 would be a nice bonus, but I don't expect to able to get consistent hits at that range, until I finish building my custom.
I've already got decent midrange mid magnification 50mm scopes for both. Again, nothing that'll be good for beyond 800, but they should be good enough for 700.
Also, I've got a range finder, and a spotting scope lined up, for less than $900 combined (deep deep discounts on both)
Thing is, we've got three shooters with us for the shoot: me, my wife, and my neighbor. I'm not sure either of them are up to shooting 300 rounds of .300 winmag... and frankly I'm not sure my wallet is either (though my neighbor is of course paying his share).
What I need is a third gun; and I don't feel like buying and building from scratch if I don't have to.
I have a hell of a precision AR, with a Wylde chamber on it that'll drill holes out of the 4" center of a 600 yard gong all day long....IF there's no wind, and no weather, and I do my job perfectly etc... but it's still a 5.56/.223.
I'm going to use it for the short range boomers, to save a little money on ammo, and to spare my shoulder a bit; but frankly, even my hot 75gr 5.56 loads probably won't detonate a boomer much past 400 yards anyway; and there is no such thing as an April day in Orofino Idaho without wind.
I could buy a Weatherby sub-moa, or a Savage model 10 precision, both currently running between $700 and $800... and I might; but I think I want to try another option out.
I'm thinking about an upper for an AR-15, in one of the newer long range chamberings, that will actually feed from an AR feed ramp.
I don't care if it mag feeds. I can single load, as long as it'll pick up, chamber, and extract properly. Hell, I'd even be interested in one of the single shot bolt action uppers out there, if it chambers a round that will reliably hit, and detonate, a boomer at 700 yards; without TOO much recoil, muzzle blast, or insane ammo cost.
I don't think 6.8spc will do it past 600 yards... not sure if 6.5 Grendel will or not (at least not in an under $800 upper. It should be OK ballistically) ... or if I want to deal with Bill Alexander for that matter.
Also, I need it before April, and I need it to cost less than a whole new Savage model 10; otherwise why bother NOT getting a new Savage?
So, any ideas? Thoughts? Vendors? Chambering selection?
Can it even be done, given the parameters I've chosen?
Thank god.
We've got about $9000 in remaining legal fees to deal with (including $3000 left of the !#$%@!@#$%$&&^*%&$^&!#$! court ordered $12,000 "custodial evaluation"), but I've hopefully got a decent bonus coming up; so although things are still tight here, we've got a little bit of money to play with.
Not a lot, but between now and April, I can squeeze out a couple thousand to load ammo with, buy gear etc...
Anyway, I haven't finished building my full custom 1000 yard rifle. In fact, at the moment I've only got parts and pieces, none of which are assembled onto the receiver (one of the parts and pieces I've got at least).
Boomers are laid out from 350 to 700 yards, with a maximum target distance of 875 yards (but Joe doesn't lay any boomers at that range).
I do have an Encore in .300 winmag (though I don't think the barrel I've got on it is adequate for 875 yards, but $400 fixes that), and a Winchester model 70 featherweight in .300 winmag that I need a replacement stock, trigger, and probably a rebarrel for, though I want to see how it shoots with a new stock and trigger (it's currently moa at 300 yards, but the trigger and stock are making anything longer range unworkable for me) so I don't think I'll have the rebarrel done before boomershoot.
Once I make the mods I plan to make though, either should get me out to 700 yards with some consistency and some work on my part, which is what I really need from them. The 875 would be a nice bonus, but I don't expect to able to get consistent hits at that range, until I finish building my custom.
I've already got decent midrange mid magnification 50mm scopes for both. Again, nothing that'll be good for beyond 800, but they should be good enough for 700.
Also, I've got a range finder, and a spotting scope lined up, for less than $900 combined (deep deep discounts on both)
Thing is, we've got three shooters with us for the shoot: me, my wife, and my neighbor. I'm not sure either of them are up to shooting 300 rounds of .300 winmag... and frankly I'm not sure my wallet is either (though my neighbor is of course paying his share).
What I need is a third gun; and I don't feel like buying and building from scratch if I don't have to.
I have a hell of a precision AR, with a Wylde chamber on it that'll drill holes out of the 4" center of a 600 yard gong all day long....IF there's no wind, and no weather, and I do my job perfectly etc... but it's still a 5.56/.223.
I'm going to use it for the short range boomers, to save a little money on ammo, and to spare my shoulder a bit; but frankly, even my hot 75gr 5.56 loads probably won't detonate a boomer much past 400 yards anyway; and there is no such thing as an April day in Orofino Idaho without wind.
I could buy a Weatherby sub-moa, or a Savage model 10 precision, both currently running between $700 and $800... and I might; but I think I want to try another option out.
I'm thinking about an upper for an AR-15, in one of the newer long range chamberings, that will actually feed from an AR feed ramp.
I don't care if it mag feeds. I can single load, as long as it'll pick up, chamber, and extract properly. Hell, I'd even be interested in one of the single shot bolt action uppers out there, if it chambers a round that will reliably hit, and detonate, a boomer at 700 yards; without TOO much recoil, muzzle blast, or insane ammo cost.
I don't think 6.8spc will do it past 600 yards... not sure if 6.5 Grendel will or not (at least not in an under $800 upper. It should be OK ballistically) ... or if I want to deal with Bill Alexander for that matter.
Also, I need it before April, and I need it to cost less than a whole new Savage model 10; otherwise why bother NOT getting a new Savage?
So, any ideas? Thoughts? Vendors? Chambering selection?
Can it even be done, given the parameters I've chosen?
FINALLY going to Boomershoot this year
I've been trying to get to boomershoot for like five years now, but life keeps getting in the way.
Last year we were in the middle of moving up here to North Idaho (just two and a half hours from the Boomershoot site by the way) while the shoot was happening, so that killed it for 2010.
From 2006 til 2009 basically, all our money went to lawyers; and we just couldn't afford it.
In 2005, I was in the middle of moving and changing jobs... Obviously again, couldn't do it.
Well, now it's 2011, and we're FINALLY GOING.
I mean, we live 100 miles as the crow flies, and about 160 road miles from the site... it would be nearly criminal of us to miss it again.
We've got position 16 near the left edge of the lowlands area. Seems to be a fair bit of a side slope so when I build my new shooting benches, I better make those legs pretty adjustable.
...Or maybe I'll just build a couple of 4x8 platforms with leveling provision, and set up on those. That'll deal neatly with the soft ground issue, and the frost issue, and won't cost all that much. Two sheets of plywood, a few 2x4s, some blocks and some sandbags and we're in business. Set the 8 foot ez-up shelter on top, bolt the legs down, roll down the side curtains and get the propane heater going, and we can boomershoot in style.
Nice having a bigass truck to haul the stuff to the site eh?
Last year we were in the middle of moving up here to North Idaho (just two and a half hours from the Boomershoot site by the way) while the shoot was happening, so that killed it for 2010.
From 2006 til 2009 basically, all our money went to lawyers; and we just couldn't afford it.
In 2005, I was in the middle of moving and changing jobs... Obviously again, couldn't do it.
Well, now it's 2011, and we're FINALLY GOING.
I mean, we live 100 miles as the crow flies, and about 160 road miles from the site... it would be nearly criminal of us to miss it again.
We've got position 16 near the left edge of the lowlands area. Seems to be a fair bit of a side slope so when I build my new shooting benches, I better make those legs pretty adjustable.
...Or maybe I'll just build a couple of 4x8 platforms with leveling provision, and set up on those. That'll deal neatly with the soft ground issue, and the frost issue, and won't cost all that much. Two sheets of plywood, a few 2x4s, some blocks and some sandbags and we're in business. Set the 8 foot ez-up shelter on top, bolt the legs down, roll down the side curtains and get the propane heater going, and we can boomershoot in style.
Nice having a bigass truck to haul the stuff to the site eh?
Most Hornady reloading gear now available via Amazon prime
Which means free 2 day shipping for those of us with prime memberships (a very worthwhile thing if you order form Amazon more than a few times a year); and that most of their stuff will get free "super saver" shipping for everyone else when you place an order of $25 or more.
Given that I spent something like 20% of the price of my reloading press on shipping it (it was $66 to ship it, and the case feeder, from the dealer in Tennessee to Arizona), and it would cost even more now that I'm in Idaho, this is a god send for me.
I was planning on buying a new LnL classic single stage, for precision rifle reloading, plus a bunch of accessories, now I can do it at the lowest online price (I checked) and with free shipping. That's going to save me a TON of money.
Given that I spent something like 20% of the price of my reloading press on shipping it (it was $66 to ship it, and the case feeder, from the dealer in Tennessee to Arizona), and it would cost even more now that I'm in Idaho, this is a god send for me.
I was planning on buying a new LnL classic single stage, for precision rifle reloading, plus a bunch of accessories, now I can do it at the lowest online price (I checked) and with free shipping. That's going to save me a TON of money.
Back from British Columbia
We got in last night around 1am; driving home between two storm lines, that dropped a few inches in front of us, and a few inches behind us.
Pretty much we got through just in time. Any later we'd have been stuck in Washington overnight (I am not driving through a twisty and steep pass, on chains, at night, if I can avoid it).
Thankfully, the Snoqualmie pass was clear when we went through it (the storm behind us dropped a few inches, requiring chainup), but the last three hours were spent driving in blowing pellet snow and ice, with little visibility and obscured roads.
At least the predicted 5" didn't happen. It's more like 3" out there. Of course, the snow is supposed to start up again later today, and continue through Saturday.
The visit with the girls went generally well, though because of a scheduling screwup, we only got one full day with them; the other two days spent with the court ordered family therapist, doing her evaluation for the custody report; and we only got to spend a couple hours each day with them.
No, we were not happy about this; but at least that part of the court BS is over and done with.
Since I know everyone is going to ask, the girls are alright. They're dealing with this a lot better than we are.
Pretty much we got through just in time. Any later we'd have been stuck in Washington overnight (I am not driving through a twisty and steep pass, on chains, at night, if I can avoid it).
Thankfully, the Snoqualmie pass was clear when we went through it (the storm behind us dropped a few inches, requiring chainup), but the last three hours were spent driving in blowing pellet snow and ice, with little visibility and obscured roads.
At least the predicted 5" didn't happen. It's more like 3" out there. Of course, the snow is supposed to start up again later today, and continue through Saturday.
The visit with the girls went generally well, though because of a scheduling screwup, we only got one full day with them; the other two days spent with the court ordered family therapist, doing her evaluation for the custody report; and we only got to spend a couple hours each day with them.
No, we were not happy about this; but at least that part of the court BS is over and done with.
Since I know everyone is going to ask, the girls are alright. They're dealing with this a lot better than we are.
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
North of the Border, up Canada way
We've been up in British Columbia the last few days, visiting the children, dealing with lawyers and court stuff etc...
We'll be back tomorrow.
We'll be back tomorrow.
Saturday, January 01, 2011
Holy fuckballs, it's 2011...
The 2000s... the naughties as it were... are fully over...
How the hell did that happen?
Where was I exactly?
Ten years since 2000 was over...
Man things have changed. I've changed so much, my life has changed so much...
I can remember celebrating the new year, January 1st 2001, sitting on the balcony of my condo in Fremont CA, watching the fireworks over lake Elizabeth, and listening to geeks argue about indexed vs. 1 indexed lists
Ten years ago, my first marriage was melting down, I had just (within a couple weeks actually) lost a few million imaginary dollars in the .bomb.
Now, I'm celebrating with my wife... my always should have been wife, not the mistake that was my first wife... A bottle of 2005 Iron Horse (I'll take it over almost anything French any day), our dogs lolling all over us, in our almost dream house (almost because it's rented we don't own it), on a cold, clear, beautiful night, in north Idaho.
I'll take today thanks.
How the hell did that happen?
Where was I exactly?
Ten years since 2000 was over...
Man things have changed. I've changed so much, my life has changed so much...
I can remember celebrating the new year, January 1st 2001, sitting on the balcony of my condo in Fremont CA, watching the fireworks over lake Elizabeth, and listening to geeks argue about indexed vs. 1 indexed lists
Ten years ago, my first marriage was melting down, I had just (within a couple weeks actually) lost a few million imaginary dollars in the .bomb.
Now, I'm celebrating with my wife... my always should have been wife, not the mistake that was my first wife... A bottle of 2005 Iron Horse (I'll take it over almost anything French any day), our dogs lolling all over us, in our almost dream house (almost because it's rented we don't own it), on a cold, clear, beautiful night, in north Idaho.
I'll take today thanks.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Continuous Positive Airway Pressure
So, yesterday I finally got a copy of my sleep study.
It was worse than the sleep tech said. Actually, when I went to pick up my CPAP from the local medical supply place (better price than online, AND they bill my insurance directly) the machine tech said it was the worst sleep study she had ever seen.
Quoting directly from the report:
"The patients time in bed was 352 minutes, the total sleep time was 289 minutes".
Basically I slept almost five, out of almost six hours in a rest state... which for me is actually not bad. Considering I was wired up like a Christmas tree, which was really quite uncomfortable, it's a surprising amount... of course the 200mg of trazodone I was taking didn't hurt I'm sure.
"The patient had 691 respiratory events. There were 315 apneas, 131 were obstructive, 82 were central, 102 were mixed. Patients Apnea index was 65.4. Patient also had 376 hypopneas for a total apnea/hypopnea index of 143.5. There were 7 RERAs for an RDI index of 145.4".
Severe RDI is your respiratory disturbance index. An index of 30 or over is considered severe. I was at 5 times that. And remember, that's 691 events, in 289 minutes of sleep... 2.4 times a minute.
Basically, I was experiencing either apnea or hypopnea the entire time I was asleep.
I also had 60 partial wakefulness episodes, and was awake for a total of 62 minutes after the onset of persistent sleep. That's a partial wakeup every four to five minutes.
But it gets worse...
"There were 620 respiratory events associated with a 4% or greater desaturation. The apnea/hypopnea index with a 4% or greater desaturation was 129.2".
...and worse...
"The minimum oxygen saturation was approximately 58%. The oxygen saturation was less than 90% for approximately 62% of the study".
58%... yeah... Thats REALLY not good. Really. That's brain damage territory if held that low for very long. It's well within the range of acute hypoxia, and I was probably cyanotic (blue from lack of oxygen) when it hit that low.
No wonder I'm not alert some days, have fatigue, sudden sleepiness, and microsleeps; and seem to have lost about 30 IQ points...
And clinically speaking, it's almost certainly part of why my basal metabolism is so severely suppressed. Combine that with endocrine irregularities... yeah, it's not exactly shocking.
So, last night was my first night on the CPAP machine. I didn't really have a problem with it; though I did wake up in the middle of the night, and took the mask off for a while because I was a little hot under there. I just turned the heater down on the humidifier,
I think maybe the Air Force got me used to an oxy mask better than most people when they start CPAP; since most say they take the mask off a lot at first. I'm in a full face mask (which isn't really. It's an oral/nasal without cannula), and honestly, it's pretty comfy. A lot more comfy than a military mask.
Right now I'm on a temporary machine, a ResMed S8, auto-set with a heated humidifier. It doesn't have much in the way of monitoring or data readout capability, though I know my airway pressure went up to at least 15.4 last night.
Next week my permanent machine should come in (it would be here tomorrow, but the weather has been delaying things), the new ResMed S9 AutoSet:
Which seems to be a very good machine, having the highest ratings of any machine at the various sites online:
I was looking at that one, and the Fisher and Paykal Icon Auto, which is brand new and has the humidifer all in one with the main unit, so it's smaller and quieter. Unfortunately, my insurance doesn't have the Icon on their list yet (they do have it's predecessor, so it's likely they'll update to have the Icon next year, but the machine has only been shipping for a couple months, and the insurance company is a bit behind the market).
At any rate, the new machine has central sleep apnea detection, built in oximetry, and 365 night sleep session review; so I can see each night how many events it thinks I had and what type, how effective it thinks it was, and what my O2 sats were. Really, I'm looking forward to seeing the data.
Wish me luck.
It was worse than the sleep tech said. Actually, when I went to pick up my CPAP from the local medical supply place (better price than online, AND they bill my insurance directly) the machine tech said it was the worst sleep study she had ever seen.
Quoting directly from the report:
"The patients time in bed was 352 minutes, the total sleep time was 289 minutes".
Basically I slept almost five, out of almost six hours in a rest state... which for me is actually not bad. Considering I was wired up like a Christmas tree, which was really quite uncomfortable, it's a surprising amount... of course the 200mg of trazodone I was taking didn't hurt I'm sure.
"The patient had 691 respiratory events. There were 315 apneas, 131 were obstructive, 82 were central, 102 were mixed. Patients Apnea index was 65.4. Patient also had 376 hypopneas for a total apnea/hypopnea index of 143.5. There were 7 RERAs for an RDI index of 145.4".
Severe RDI is your respiratory disturbance index. An index of 30 or over is considered severe. I was at 5 times that. And remember, that's 691 events, in 289 minutes of sleep... 2.4 times a minute.
Basically, I was experiencing either apnea or hypopnea the entire time I was asleep.
I also had 60 partial wakefulness episodes, and was awake for a total of 62 minutes after the onset of persistent sleep. That's a partial wakeup every four to five minutes.
But it gets worse...
"There were 620 respiratory events associated with a 4% or greater desaturation. The apnea/hypopnea index with a 4% or greater desaturation was 129.2".
...and worse...
"The minimum oxygen saturation was approximately 58%. The oxygen saturation was less than 90% for approximately 62% of the study".
58%... yeah... Thats REALLY not good. Really. That's brain damage territory if held that low for very long. It's well within the range of acute hypoxia, and I was probably cyanotic (blue from lack of oxygen) when it hit that low.
No wonder I'm not alert some days, have fatigue, sudden sleepiness, and microsleeps; and seem to have lost about 30 IQ points...
And clinically speaking, it's almost certainly part of why my basal metabolism is so severely suppressed. Combine that with endocrine irregularities... yeah, it's not exactly shocking.
So, last night was my first night on the CPAP machine. I didn't really have a problem with it; though I did wake up in the middle of the night, and took the mask off for a while because I was a little hot under there. I just turned the heater down on the humidifier,
I think maybe the Air Force got me used to an oxy mask better than most people when they start CPAP; since most say they take the mask off a lot at first. I'm in a full face mask (which isn't really. It's an oral/nasal without cannula), and honestly, it's pretty comfy. A lot more comfy than a military mask.
Right now I'm on a temporary machine, a ResMed S8, auto-set with a heated humidifier. It doesn't have much in the way of monitoring or data readout capability, though I know my airway pressure went up to at least 15.4 last night.
Next week my permanent machine should come in (it would be here tomorrow, but the weather has been delaying things), the new ResMed S9 AutoSet:
I was looking at that one, and the Fisher and Paykal Icon Auto, which is brand new and has the humidifer all in one with the main unit, so it's smaller and quieter. Unfortunately, my insurance doesn't have the Icon on their list yet (they do have it's predecessor, so it's likely they'll update to have the Icon next year, but the machine has only been shipping for a couple months, and the insurance company is a bit behind the market).
At any rate, the new machine has central sleep apnea detection, built in oximetry, and 365 night sleep session review; so I can see each night how many events it thinks I had and what type, how effective it thinks it was, and what my O2 sats were. Really, I'm looking forward to seeing the data.
Wish me luck.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Another Damn Blizzard
Well, now WE'RE in a damn blizzard. 10" so far, another 6 expected, and 40knots of blowing and drifting out there.
Its going down to 11 below overnight, and the power is out. Thank god weve got the wood stove.
Posting this off my droid. The whole town (3000 homes in this grid) is down and they're not sure when they can get us back up yet.
UPDATE: We got power back after about two hours, internet came back a few minutes ago.
Its going down to 11 below overnight, and the power is out. Thank god weve got the wood stove.
Posting this off my droid. The whole town (3000 homes in this grid) is down and they're not sure when they can get us back up yet.
UPDATE: We got power back after about two hours, internet came back a few minutes ago.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
The Irrelevant TV shows top 10 metal videos of the year...
This is probably surprising to most folks out there, but amazingly enough, "headbangers ball" is still around.
Yeah, I know. Why bother at this point.
But what the hell... they were doing their "top ten metal videos of the year" and I figured, "why not".
Complete waste of time.
Some emo crap from Slipknot, a little Sevendust... not bad, but nothing spectacular. Ozzies latest without Zakk Wylde? utter shite, though John G can certainly play. The Deftones newest, ok, not great but ok...
Disturbed with "Another way to die" pushing the AGW fraud... Yeah, Disturbed is one of those bands where I just have to shut their politics out so I can listen. In the case of "Another way to die" the politics are the entire song... and it's not even a good song. Actually it's a pretty good video (made up of news footage), but a bad song.
The biggest disappointment to me is actually Fear Factories reunion. I was expecting more out of them. "Fear Campaign" is just another anti-american screed, with poor vocals and a muddy undefined sound.
Their number one video was Avenged Sevenfold, with "nightmare"... Frankly, it was just another Avenged Sevenfold song. Same riffs, same sound, same vocal sound... Ok video, but not particularly original or interesting. Not a bad song, not a bad video, but certainly not best of the year.
As far as I'm concerned, the best metal video of the year has to be Black Label Society with the directors cut of "Overlord".
There were a total of two decent songs in the countdown:
Alice in Chains "Your Decision", which isn't really metal so much, but they do kick ass and it's a good song and a decent video:
On the one hand, I have a problem with calling it Alice in Chains without Layne Staley; but I appreciate that rather than try to find a replacement singer, Jerry does the singing, and he does a pretty good job with it, making great music still so... OK.
The other song was 'Bullet for my Valentine' with "Your Betrayal", which was a mediocre video, but is a pretty good song:
BFMV aren't exactly a 'new" band, having been formed in 1998; but they only released their second full length album "Fever" in the U.S. this year (they're a Welsh band); and they've really been doing well all year. They're a great band, heavily influenced by classic metal, speed metal, thrash metal, and power metal (all my favorite genres); and both aggressive and melodic. I recommend checking them out.
Yeah, I know. Why bother at this point.
But what the hell... they were doing their "top ten metal videos of the year" and I figured, "why not".
Complete waste of time.
Some emo crap from Slipknot, a little Sevendust... not bad, but nothing spectacular. Ozzies latest without Zakk Wylde? utter shite, though John G can certainly play. The Deftones newest, ok, not great but ok...
Disturbed with "Another way to die" pushing the AGW fraud... Yeah, Disturbed is one of those bands where I just have to shut their politics out so I can listen. In the case of "Another way to die" the politics are the entire song... and it's not even a good song. Actually it's a pretty good video (made up of news footage), but a bad song.
The biggest disappointment to me is actually Fear Factories reunion. I was expecting more out of them. "Fear Campaign" is just another anti-american screed, with poor vocals and a muddy undefined sound.
Their number one video was Avenged Sevenfold, with "nightmare"... Frankly, it was just another Avenged Sevenfold song. Same riffs, same sound, same vocal sound... Ok video, but not particularly original or interesting. Not a bad song, not a bad video, but certainly not best of the year.
As far as I'm concerned, the best metal video of the year has to be Black Label Society with the directors cut of "Overlord".
There were a total of two decent songs in the countdown:
Alice in Chains "Your Decision", which isn't really metal so much, but they do kick ass and it's a good song and a decent video:
On the one hand, I have a problem with calling it Alice in Chains without Layne Staley; but I appreciate that rather than try to find a replacement singer, Jerry does the singing, and he does a pretty good job with it, making great music still so... OK.
The other song was 'Bullet for my Valentine' with "Your Betrayal", which was a mediocre video, but is a pretty good song:
BFMV aren't exactly a 'new" band, having been formed in 1998; but they only released their second full length album "Fever" in the U.S. this year (they're a Welsh band); and they've really been doing well all year. They're a great band, heavily influenced by classic metal, speed metal, thrash metal, and power metal (all my favorite genres); and both aggressive and melodic. I recommend checking them out.
The last of the Christmas loot...
I'm going to do a loot post when I can take and edit some good pics. I got Mel something pretty big, and pretty neat, and I want to get good pics.
But I just thought I'd mention one of my better presents...
I'm going to see Satriani, in a 750 seat, acoustically excellent, 100 year old theater.
Here's the setlist he's been playing on this tour (23 or 24 songs in each show, and those are NOT short songs):
Crowd Chant
Summer Song
Should be fun.
But I just thought I'd mention one of my better presents...
I'm going to see Satriani, in a 750 seat, acoustically excellent, 100 year old theater.
Here's the setlist he's been playing on this tour (23 or 24 songs in each show, and those are NOT short songs):
- Ice 9
- Hordes of Locusts
- Flying In a Blue Dream
- Light Years Away
- Memories
- War
- Premonition
- Satch Boogie
- Revelation
- Pyrrhic Victoria
- Crystal Planet
- The Mystical Potato Head Groove Thing
- Dream Song
- God Is Crying
- Andalusia
- Solitude
- Littleworth
- Why
- Wind In The Trees
- Always With Me, Always With You
- Big Bad Moon
Crowd Chant
Summer Song
Should be fun.
Nah, they forgot something...
From WillBarnesOnline:
This was obviously not written by a Bostonian, or he'da known that Boston drivers have one KNEE on the wheel, one foot on the accelerator, one hand on the Herald (only commies read the Globe... except the sports page... too many New Yorkers) reading the sports scores, one holding their regulah dunkies up to their face.
How to Identify Where a Driver is From
1. One hand on wheel, one hand on horn: Chicago.
2. One hand on wheel, one finger out window: New York.
3. One hand on wheel, one finger out window, cutting across all lanes of traffic: New Jersey.
4. One hand on wheel, one hand on newspaper, foot solidly on accelerator: Boston.
5. One hand on wheel, one hand on nonfat double decaf cappuccino, cradling cell phone, brick on accelerator, with gun in lap: Los Angeles.
This was obviously not written by a Bostonian, or he'da known that Boston drivers have one KNEE on the wheel, one foot on the accelerator, one hand on the Herald (only commies read the Globe... except the sports page... too many New Yorkers) reading the sports scores, one holding their regulah dunkies up to their face.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Thank you to the New Orleans Saints...
For getting Atlanta fans to SHUT THE HELL UP about how the Falcons are better then... or even as good as... the New England Patriots.
Seriously Falcons fans, this game shouldn't even have been close (especially after that giveaway), never mind them pulling it out on you in the last 4 minutes.
Seriously Falcons fans, this game shouldn't even have been close (especially after that giveaway), never mind them pulling it out on you in the last 4 minutes.
Friday, December 24, 2010
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