Since it seems to be the most popular thing on the blog, here’s the latest on Clancy:

Vet checkup today. 3 months old. 3.9 pounds. Negative for FIV and Feline Leukemia. FVRCP and Feline Leukemia vaccinations. Healthy and happy. Here he is, checking out his big brother’s dinner:

Lots going on, more than I have time to cover right now. I’ll be “over the hump” by tomorrow afternoon, hopefully.

I have a shiny new CZ 85 Combat on the way. I opted for the 85 Combat over the standard CZ 75 B for a couple of reasons:

• Ambi controls are nice if you’re a deviously dextrous mixed-hander like me, and
• The Combat model is built without the firing pin safety found on all the “B” model CZs.

I’m not a big fan of CZ’s firing pin safety. It fouls up the trigger pull slightly and may make the firing pin more prone to breakage from dry-firing; there’s controversy on that point. It indisputably does make firing pin removal a pain in the ass, because the firing pin is retained by a pair of nested roll pins through the slide. So now a routine cleaning step requires a vice, hammer, and roll pin punches. And there’s a few more tiny little parts that can bounce off of your workbench and into an alternate universe. No thanks.

Combat model on left, “B” model on right

The Combat, fortunately, uses a regular 1911-style firing pin stop. MUCH better.

Oh, and those Phillips-head grip screws will have to go. Hogue makes some nice slotted replacements.

Mags and holster are en route, details to follow.

Alright Breda, Tam, Squeaky, and the rest of you cat people, listen up:

I agreed to keep this little furball because you all talked me into it. And not ONE of you bothered to warn me that he’d start following me everywhere. Or that he’d cry and scratch at the door incessantly when I try to keep him out of a particular room.

And in particular, none of you said a damn thing about how hard it is to take a dump when you have a kitten perched on the edge of the tub, staring at you intently with his big kitten eyes and occasionally trying to swipe the TP right out of your hand.

So, thanks for that.

I just snagged the last available slot for this class. Now I need to lay in a supply of ammo and bump up my live fire/dry fire practice so I don’t completely embarrass myself.

I’m not expecting to be the best shooter or even in the middle of the pack necessarily. I just want to avoid being that guy, the hapless loser who flails around and stumbles through even the simplest exercises while the rest of the class looks on with mounting impatience and frustration.

I’m thinking I’ll run the Hi-Power, though pdb keeps telling me I need to get a G19. In any case, I have a few months to figure it out.

TD: how’s the wife doing?
still mobile?

pdb: yep
did baybee class today
learned how to push

TD: I imagine it’s like taking a dump

pdb: that’s pretty much it
but a carefully timed dump

…

pdb: the teacher was also surprisingly limber for a 50 year old nurse
she got down on the floor and demonstrated

TD: were there ping-pong balls involved?

pdb: there were not
but the thought did cross my mind

If you look over to your right you’ll see a fancy IM status indicator, the glorious result of DAYS spent coding in C, C++, Perl, Python, Ruby on Rails, and a bit of COBOL. Or maybe just one line of HTML and a few GIFs; I’ll never tell.

Feel free to say “Hi!” whenever you see me online.

Oh, and I highly recommend Pidgin for your IM client. You can use one simple program to communicate via AIM, ICQ, IRC, Yahoo, MSN, Jabber, smoke signal, carrier pigeon, or telepathy. And all without the annoying ads, pop-ups and scrolling tickers you get with the “official” IM clients!

MC5 – Ramblin’ Rose, live, 1970. Skip ahead to about 50 seconds in to bypass the annoying hippie chick.

I’m conducting my first staff meeting with my onions scallions minions tomorrow.

It’s not too big of a deal; basically we’ll run through the rules and procedures (which I’m still learning) so everyone’s clear on their responsibilities.

I’m just a little anxious because (A) I’ve never been a boss before, and (B) I’m still getting up to speed on everything myself.

Oh, the burdens of command. I think I need a drink.

It’s hard to type when you’re being used as cat furniture.

He’s now about 11 weeks old, going from the vet’s initial estimate. Weighing him isn’t easy, but I think he’s more than doubled in size since I found him at ~6 weeks old. He’s also taken to following me around like a puppy and sleeping on top of me.

Of course, his big brother already knew about sunbeams:

… and I’m sitting here setting up a SQL server so I can practice my query syntax. Who says we’re smarter than animals?