Monthly Archives: April 2010

Too many choices.

Posted by TD on April 27, 2010 8 comments

New PC tentative plans:

  • AMD Phenom II x6 1055T (I’ll wait for the 95w version, not interested in a 125w space heater)
  • Asus M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 motherboard (880G chipset)
  • 4 gigs of ECC RAM
  • Intel X25-M 80-gig SSD boot drive
  • A couple big Seagate spinning disks for data

My current desktop machine is 7 years old; I’m pretty well due for an upgrade. Any input from my geek friends? Sounds like a reasonable setup?

Finishing Touches

Posted by TD on April 14, 2010 2 comments

The weather’s turning, I’m done with the graveyard shifts, and there’s a range trip in the not-too-distant future. It’s time to wrap up the last details on the lightweight AR project (henceforth known as Project Vera).

First, some good blastin’ ammo to get sighted in and make sure she’s running smoothly:

ammo

Widener’s has these 400-round packs of Federal XM193 for $142. With shipping that came out to only $0.38/round, which isn’t bad at all for American-made, brass-cased 5.56.

sight

I also sprung for a Trijicon tritium front post, because (A) it’s handy in low light and (B) I just like supporting Trijicon. The design is pretty neat, with the actual sight blade a separate piece that can rotate independently of the screw. This way you can make quarter-turn elevation adjustments and still keep the tritium vial pointed back towards the shooter.

hat

And my girlfriend, the one who named the rifle “Vera”, surprised me with the perfect finishing touch: a miniature Jayne hat. Yes, she’s awesome.

I really oughta update this thing once in a while.

Posted by TD on April 11, 2010 2 comments

Still here, still alive. Just very busy with the new job, which has had me working the graveyard shift and picking up some unexpected (but welcome!) overtime. With the old job I had no money but plenty of time, now I have money but no time. I’m hoping things will settle down in a few weeks.

I’m also hoping to get the new AR out to the range one day Real Soon Now, since I have 400 rounds of Federal XM193 coming to me. Range report will follow!