Monthly Archives: June 2008

Have you been shooting dope into your scrotum?

Posted by TD on June 17, 2008 3 comments

Because this is an equally bad idea.

trigger job

I get hits like this pretty regularly, and the best advice I can offer is: pay a real gunsmith to do it for you.

Trigger jobs aren’t rocket science, but they’re also really easy to screw up. And the consequences can be severe.

The trigger/sear/hammer/disconnector/safety interfaces are all critical, often with tolerances of a few thousandths of an inch. Take a little too much metal off of a surface-hardened part and it’s garbage. Get the geometry or spring tension wrong and your gun could malfunction in a half-dozen different ways, including uncontrolled full-auto fire. Even better, modifying any one component can require re-fitting the other parts that interface with it.

And some of the online DIY tutorials I’ve seen are flat-out scary. One advised field-stripping the pistol and “polishing” the sear with a piece of sandpaper; others involve Dremels. I shouldn’t have to tell you that these are really, really bad ideas. Professional gunsmiths use fixtures, stones and precision measuring instruments so they can KNOW, quantitatively, exactly what they’re doing. Blindly hacking away with crude tools is a recipe for disaster.

Worried

Posted by TD on June 17, 2008 7 comments

Rommel, my big Dobe/Shep mix, has some kind of neck problem; he’s limping a little on his left front leg and yelping occasionally when he moves his head quickly. Our vet thinks it might be a pinched nerve caused by a ruptured disc. He’s been prescribed anti-inflammatories and rest for the next week. From the information I’ve found online, this treatment has a pretty good (80-90%) chance of resolving the problem; if not, he may need surgery.

I’m terribly worried about him. My critters mean a great deal to me, and I do my best to take good care of them. Hell, I’m a guy who hasn’t seen his own doc in two years but has over a thousand dollars of vet receipts so far this year. I love these little guys.

Have any of you folks been through this with your dogs? How did it turn out?

Approaching 100,000

Posted by TD on June 15, 2008 8 comments

Whoever you may be, comment here and win a Major Award.

Every once in a while, I make the right choice.

Posted by TD on June 14, 2008 5 comments

Six months ago today I found a starving, freezing little ball of fur huddled up on my back porch:

kitten

I decided to keep him, in no small part because you folks were terrifically generous with your advice and encouragement. And I’m glad I did, because he’s a fun little guy.

Thanks.

Game Called on Account of Absurdity

Posted by TD on June 13, 2008 1 comment

I’ve been in no mood for blogging this week due to ridiculous drama at work. I’m not directly involved in it, fortunately, but as a result of this insanity my best, most competent co-worker (and good friend) has been given an involuntary summer vacation and I got bumped back to the 8 AM shift to fill in for him.

And in the process I learned that several other co-workers are utter snakes, not to be trusted under any circumstances. Well, I already knew that about two of them, but the other surprised and disappointed me.

The most absurd and appalling thing about the whole situation is that people are backstabbing, lying, rumor-mongering, and slandering for the sheer hell of it. I can understand (but still not condone) behavior like this when there’s some prize at stake; ambitious and unscrupulous people fight like this for money, power, prestige, &c. But there’s simply nothing in this situation that’s worth fighting for, at least not with anywhere near this level of animosity and intensity; it’s petty, penny-ante bullshit.

The bright side, such as it is, is that I’ll only be doing this job until I finish my degree. I’d thought about sticking around longer, and the subject was actually broached to me by my boss’s boss, but if this kind of shit is allowed to go on, I’m just not interested. It’s no fun working in this kind of soap-opera environment, having to watch every word I say and wonder who’s saying what to whom…

Do any of my loyal readers anticipate needing a general-purpose IT geek in about six months? Preferably outside of Michigan?

I’ll be needing an Oompa-Loompa, too.

Posted by TD on June 9, 2008 1 comment

golden ticket

As you may have seen elsewhere, there’s a contest on to pick the 10 Blog Bash attendees who will win a weekend of training with Todd Jarrett at Blackwater USA’s facility in North Carolina, courtesy of Para USA.

I’d very much like to go, and I’ll be sincerely grateful for any votes I receive. At the same time, I hate competing against friends and I won’t try to argue that I’m any more deserving of this trip than any of my fellow Blog Bashers. So, if you’re interested in voting for me, follow this link. If you’re interested in voting for anyone else, click here.

Oh, you can also win a slot in the class for yourself, but only if you vote!

How Thoughtful!

Posted by TD on June 6, 2008 3 comments

Lunch date with an old friend today, who’d borrowed a spare external hard drive a few months back and wanted to return it:

Friend: Anyways, thanks for letting me keep it so long. Oh, and there’s some porn on there.

TD: Um… are you in it?

Friend: No, I think I deleted all of those.

TD: Ah. So the stuff on here… ?

Friend: Oh, I just liked it and I thought you might, too.

I love my friends.

Double Congratulations!

Posted by TD on June 5, 2008 2 comments

First, a big Happy Birthday! to Breda, who knows from funny…

… and second, a big Happy Millionth Hit! to my friend Tam, who damned sure knows from funny. At the Blog Bash, Tam, Roberta, Squeaky and I were all walking to Roberta’s car after the show when the following exchange took place:

TD (seeing Roberta’s ride for the first time): Oh, an Accent. My ex-girlfriend had one of those.

Squeaky: That’s funny, my ex-boyfriend had one of those.

Tam (totally deadpan and without missing a beat): That’s funny, my roommate has one of those.

Don’t waste your money on training…

Posted by TD on June 1, 2008 33 comments

… when you can become an Elite Team Fighter through the power of YouTube!

See the rest of this fascinating and informative video series here.

The More You Know

What I learned from these videos:

  • You’re 14 times more likely to survive a gunfight with body armor… but it’s heavy, so don’t wear it.
  • Bullets go through walls.
  • The Remington Upland Special is a state-of-the-art tactical shotgun cleverly disguised as a bird hunting gun. You definitely don’t want to be within 10 feet of one.
  • When you draw a knife, try to hold onto it. Knives are not disposable.
  • Rifles, on the other hand, are. If your rifle jams, throw it away.
  • Bullets go through walls.
  • Remember to go back for your rifle later so the “skinnies” don’t steal it.
  • Balaclavas should be worn at all times.
  • When people make fun of your AR-15, switch to your OTHER AR-15.
  • Slings are bad because it is impossible to “run like a banshee” with a slinged rifle.
  • If you can’t bear to throw your rifle on your 1970s shag carpeting, it is acceptable to lean it against your closet door instead.
  • You can make a lovely ghillie suit out of Ace bandages and Post-It notes.
  • Bullets go through walls.

May the Lord bless you all.

4 AM drunk IMing

Posted by TD on June 1, 2008 No comments

TD:
too bad about Harvey Korman
he was funny

pdb:
hadn’t done anything in a while

TD:
well he was an old man

pdb:
there are old men in movies

TD:
what, like pornos?
dude, that’s gross
I don’t know why I even talk to you sometimes

I wonder if this is going to be funny in the morning.