• Went to the Michigan Renaissance Festival today. Exciting and interesting things happened. I’m withholding elaboration to prevent jinxing.
• Season 3 of The Venture Bros. ended tonight. This makes me sad. Henchman 24 died. This also makes me sad. Well, maybe he died. After all, Season 1 ended with the titular (heheh, I said “titular”) characters dying, only to be revived in the first episode of Season 2. Overall it was a damn good season; my only complaint is the near-total absence of Triana Orpheus.
• Classes start tomorrow. I am, as always, totally unprepared. Not that it’s ever been a problem.
• Eating a giant prime rib sandwich for lunch, a dinner of unadon and sushi, ice cream for dessert, and a big slab of bumpy cake for a second dessert may have been a tactical error. I can barely move.

The blog is now up to date with the latest WordPress (2.6.1 came out, and I always wait for the inevitable x.x.1 bug-fix before upgrading). Please let me know if you spot any brokenness.

Also, I ditched Technorati and Truth Laid Bear, so things should be a bit snappier now (less JavaScript overhead).

I was discussing booze and Iggy Pop (yes, there was, somehow, a connection between the two) with The Breda tonight, which naturally led to me drinking White Russians. Until I ran out of milk. And then Kahlua.

And then the Major Breakthrough came. This is really remarkable, so pay close attention: if you make a White Russian with no milk and no Kahlua, it’s still really, really good! In fact, it might be even better than the original.

So the next time someone calls you an alcoholic just because you’re drinking a handle of vodka, you can correct him and explain that you’re actually drinking a really big White Russian, hold the milk and Kahlua. Or, if you’re not a White Russian fan, you can always say that it’s a Screwdriver, sans the OJ. Or even a Bloody Mary, minus the tomato and lemon juice.

The Breda, by the way, has never heard the first three Stooges albums, which is not the kind of thing I’d go around announcing to the world, but I’m told that the first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem…

Got a big batch of lamb chili cooking up in the crockpot. We’ll see if it’s any good; I took a pretty standard beef chili recipe and used ground lamb instead. I like lamb, and I like chili, so lamb chili should be a winner. If all else fails, I can always add enough heat to mask the flavor

Yes, Detroit really is that bad.

Detroit News article here, hat tip to Sebastian here.

My grandpa is in a Detroit cemetery, along with his infant son and assorted other relatives. I photoblogged the drive there once; you can see why I don’t visit as often as I’d like. Unfortunately, moving everyone out would be prohibitively expensive.

Blogging’s light because I’m on vacation and I’m a lazy bastard. But look, here’s Clancy playing his favorite game, “Kill the Evil Hand Monster!”

I’m coming up on my second anniversary here and in that time I haven’t asked my few readers for anything more than advice. There’s no tip jar or wish list in the sidebar, and I don’t plan on adding them.

Instead, I’m going to direct you to the donations page for the Dearborn animal shelter and ask you to consider tossing a few dollars their way for National Homeless Animals’ Day, which is this Saturday.

If you like me or the blog, or if you’ve benefited in some way from my scribblings here, or even if you think I’m an asshole but you like cute animals, please show the shelter a little love. They’re a fine organization and they deserve your support.

My friend ColtCCO is getting hassled by the cops… again. He’s Good People and he doesn’t deserve this shit.

I’m enjoying a week’s vacation before heading into my final semester at school. Today I:

• registered for classes
• paid my tuition
• applied for graduation
• paid the ridiculous $25 graduation application fee
• ordered my books through textbooks.com (saved ~$60 overall)

Good thing I stocked up on ramen noodles and mac’n'cheese over the weekend, cuz that’s all I’ll be eating for the next month.

Just in case you were wondering, the CZ 85 Combat still rocks after its recent overhaul. I had a few failures to return to battery in the first 50 rounds due to the new, extra-power Wolff extractor spring; it was a bit TOO extra-power until it took a set.

The solution? I just field-stripped the gun, slid an empty case up the breechface and behind the extractor, and let it sit for a few days. Boom, 100% reliability restored.

The target above was 16 rounds in ~30 seconds, 10 yards, Weaver stance. Discounting the lone flyer it’s a 1.5″ group, which is about the best I can do on a routine basis. I really ought to shoot it over sandbags at 25 yards.