The woman walked all the way to the mailbox and back yesterday which is pretty good for her first trip down the driveway. She's in a lot better shape than the average 60-year old hip replacement patient so it's not too surprising she's up and about better but it's still good to get her outside. Being stuck inside all the time is getting to her.

Yesterday I spent $17.50 buying a discount VM from "cloudatcost" like Kenny's' got. So far I'm not impressed, I rebooted it just to make sure everything was OK and it never came back up. I went to the console app on their page and it's busted, so my only choice was to re-image the box. Lame. I won't trust this for anything but I will use it for a public web server so I don't have people going to my "good" vm for public images. It can also be my squid proxy when I want to come from outside the US (it's located in Canada).

Class night was decent, but pretty quiet. They had a "level up" weekend where they ran tests for levels 2, 3 and 4. Some of the people in our class levelled up so we won't see them now.

She likes doing puzzles. Keeps her sane during the day.

Snipery. I found a 3-12x scope in my junk box that fits the proprietary rings on this thing and I mounted it up. Way easier to shoot now, but the scope just has a duplex retical so it's impossible to build a real dope chart for it. With a 50 yard zero it's about 1' low at 75.

Transferring photos automatically from the phone right to the web server with that app is just awesome. No more dorking with iPhoto just to get at my pics and then having to scp them around.

Picked up a splitting maul at tractor supply this morning and split that eucalyptus I cut last weekend. What a pain. I tried to split a piece of hickory just for fun... nope. 16lb maul bounced off it like it was concrete. Crazy hard wood.

Piled up like that it's just not a whole lot of wood. Amazing how it compresses down when you get the branches off it and chop it down to just the trunk. I'll stack it in the woodshed and it will be nice and dry for next winter.

Setup a target and tried the pellet gun at 50 yards. Works well enough I'm going to get one of those little .22 "plinking trees" with all the metal swinging targets on it. Much more fun than shooting paper.

The pi board is so slow at processing images that I finally did something about it. No, I didn't bring the real server back out of the closet, instead I put a centos VM on my MBP (which is on all the time anyway) and modified my thumbnail script to ssh over to that VM which NFS mounts the pi and does the image conversion. It's about 100x faster, instead of taking ~30 seconds to generate a thumbnail it takes about 1 second. OK maybe not 100x but whatever, it's no longer a "start thumbnail generation and find something else to do while it grinds for a bit" type operation.

Had to go change the VM to start at init 3 and dump the GUI so I could cut the memory footprint down. Now it's running in 256mb just fine without swapping at all. My MBP doesn't have all that much memory to spare so no sense wasting CPU and memory running the GUI and screen saver on the VM. Duh.

Testing version 2 of the script, moving jhead and permissions over to the VM. I figure the jhead call will pull the image into the I/O cache on the VM so it won't cost me an extra transfer when doing it and the thumbnail on the same call.

Went to the range for maybe 30 minutes tonight, fired the new-to-me 442 a few times, it's a beast. Fired the new PM9, it's very nice. Plasticy, but nice. Then I dumped some rounds out of the XDs. It's starting to feel like "my" gun the more I use it. I've done enough presentations and whatnot with it that it's starting to feel more natural than the Kimber and that's downright scary for some reason. Guess the body just adapts quickly from what it knew to what it's experiencing now.

Dad put new tires on the Jeep finally, and has stopped calling me to ask my opinion on random tires. I don't know why he thinks I'm an expert, I either buy top dollar name brand that I've seen in action off-road (ie BFGs) or I buy cheap stuff because I'm really just posing (ie the Generals on the 4runner). Hardly makes me an expert.

I bet those are a crap ton quieter than the BFGs since the edges aren't as sharp. Dad says they're 10 ply just like the BFGs, but were a couple hundred bucks cheaper for the set. Somehow I don't think he needs 10 ply tires on his RV tow vehicle but whatever, at least he didn't go with some crazy ass mud tires that the kids at the tire store would think look cool on the Rubicon (or the Wrangler MT's that came stock on it!).

I'm getting lazy. I can't use photostream because our connection is too slow so instead of using the cable I downloaded "photosync" which lets you wirelessly sync pics to your mac. I think it also lets you sync to ftp sites so I need to check that, maybe I can dump directly to the pi instead of bouncing though the mac!

First pic synced directly from the phone to the linux box, a crazy tree in the yard:

Who thinks this stuff up? Mello zero. I don't know what regular mello yello tastes like but this stuff is pretty much watered down lemonade with a chemical after taste. I imagine the sugar version isn't too bad.

Since Monday was a holiday I decided to make the trip to the main Krav school in Durham and check it out. I can go to any of the locations so why not see what the owner's home school looks like and take a class from him? Well, turns out Monday is some sort of crazy night, nothing like the regular classes. There were 24 people in class, mostly 20-somethings. Lots of really buff dudes and super hot chicks, and hot chicks are never a bad thing. However, it was 35F outside and the head guy says "class is outside tonight!". Did I mention it was 35F? And 7:30pm (so dark)? Yea.

We ran around the parking lot and the first thing he does is lead us to one of the dumpster enclosures and made us "run up" the thing. Basically like that Army climb-the-wall thing except you run/jump/climb up the side of the thing then walk along the top and drop down on the other side. I've never done anything like that. It took me 3 tries to get a grip on the top of the wall but it was relatively easy to pull myself up. Walking along the top was scary. It's only what, 8 ft up there? Still scary, especially in the cold and the dark.

We then did a bunch of random grappling and stuff I had never seen, then ran to an even higher wall which I had to have help getting up as I wasn't even within 1' of the top with the highest jump I could do. Then we did more sparing and stuff and general craziness. I'm fairly cut up from the wall, but otherwise survived. Crazy. Did I mention crazy? I'm too old for this shit!

No picture of the wall, but here is a screen grab from google street view. Damn, google has everything:

Last night's class in Cary was more "normal", just the usual fighting stuff.

Yesterday I met with a dude from the shooter's forum to trade brass. I had a bunch of 40 cal stuff from the OSU days I've been dragging around and traded it for 9mm stuff I can actually use with the PM9. The dude was pretty cool, he basically does the same thing I do only for AT&T, and is in with the local gun club that's got it's range right behind netapp. He's going to drop my application off in the office and put his name on it as a referral so I should get, why not necessarily preferential treatment at least a little help up on the hoi polloi.

One of the boxes of slugs was from Andersen's in Corvallis, so vintage 1993? It was marked $17. They still sell the exact same slugs now for ~$28 or so. With the government's bogus inflation data that actually works out to tracking inflation for the last 21 years. 21 years. Damn, we're old. Wait, I already said that.

It also took me 3 tries to spell "said". Sed isn't it I'm pretty sure.

You have to be careful, you never know where the turtle will strike!

I got her that turtle in the hospital and she keeps it with her constantly, including keeping it handy while sleeping. OK maybe she doesn't put it on her head, but who knows what happens when she's asleep?? I could have walked up there. It found it's way onto the ceiling fan too, so it's pretty mobile for a stuffed turtle.

PT came by this morning and we got her outside for a bit and trying the cane. By end of the week she should be off the walker completely.

Technology comes and goes, but a good box you use forever. I have several boxes like this, an old VGA card box I got while in high school that I use to hold my spare keys, and this great great grandfather to the Arduino box that holds misc parts and tools in the safe.

Been slowly digging my reloading stuff out, finally made it all the way through with a set of brass to make my fist .38 special loads for the new 442. I hate exposed lead rounds, but I found a few slugs and figured I would load them up first and get rid of them.

The in-laws went to visit their friend in Raleigh and it's been amazingly nice and quiet in the house all day. Lovely. Oddly the woman isn't that hard to care for when there isn't someone acting stupid all the time. Dinner was 1 decision, not 50.

The other thing I've noticed is how wasteful they are. When we cook (OK, the woman cooks) we made a large portion of 1 protein and then use that with different side dishes each day. That way you save time and don't waste the most expensive part of the meal. What her mom does it cook different stuff every day and then ends up throwing out most of it since "you can't eat the same thing two days in a row". Annoying, and wasteful and generates a ton of extra work and dishes every day.

The woman said she heard some big crash during the storm and I think I found the source of it. Wasn't an exploding transformer as she kept claiming, but these big limbs that fell and clipped the corner of the barn roof. That would make a large crash for sure.

I spray lacquered some wood I picked up at home depot today and added a little lip to the back of my loading bench. That will keep random little stuff from rolling off the back. I also got a wide board cut so I can remount my equipment on it. 80%+ of my actual loading work happens off a board like this in front of the TV. 100% actually with pistol ammo because I don't have to use the big press at all.

The other project completed today was making brackets to mount the HD shotgun up under the bed. I had it sitting on a little tub but you could see the tub and it interfered with sweeping. This house seems to generate dust bunnies like nobody's business. The brackets aren't child safe but I don't care about that. They do keep it tucked up out of site and you can't see it unless you put your head on the ground and look under the edge. The woman doesn't do that so it passed her "I don't want to see it" test. At some point I'll do something more secure. Wall safe again or whatever but I want it to be accessible without lots of fumbling around.

The holster I'm using with the XDs squeaks a lot, the leather is really stiff. The woman let me use some of her fancy Stubben cleaner and conditioner from her saddle stuff and it makes a huge difference. Very flexible and soft now. I used the hair dryer to heat up the kydex a bit to mould the trigger guard deeper to increase the retention. With the leather backing softened up and shaped to my body the pistol is not locked in as much as I would like.

More chores done. Shower drain roto-rootered and the emergency flashlight mounted up instead of just hanging by the cord. The shower was gross, I had to power through three different clogs. The previous owners were filthy buggers.

The in-laws are turning the woman into an idiot. Well, the mother in law is. She just assumes everyone is a complete idiot and asks stupid questions or makes stupid comments constantly. CONSTANTLY! She never shuts up. Yes, I know how to pre-heat the oven. Yes I know how to heat up a pizza. No I won't burn the crust. No I won't grab the pan with my hand. No I won't cut my hand on the cutter. SHUT UP!!! I'm not 5, I don't need to be reminded how to perform basic tasks.

So how is it effecting the woman? This morning I wake up and she reminds me not to touch her hip. As if I've suddenly forgotten? Then she says I need to "not walk on the floor so much". Uh, yea, I get it, hard wood makes noise but there isn't really any way for me to go fetch things from other rooms other than walking on the floor. I also can't make myself lighter. Go figure.

Snow is going away, we had blue skies and temps in the 50s yesterday. Today is warmer but raining... but the rain gauge shows 0". Ah, it's still got snow piled on it? That won't last long.

My parts kit came in the mail and I build the stripped lower into an actual lower. It seems to all be there, no random springs flew out when I test cycled everything, the bolt catch works and the sear reset seems to work as well. Obviously it needs to be test fired a bunch but that's for another day. Trigger pull is a very satisfactory 5.5# with just a little grit. I'm hoping it smooths out with some use but even if it doesn't I can polish it up a bit, or just leave it be. It's good enough for a beater carbine.

The rain gauge had a pine needle stuck in it, it wasn't that little bit of snow that was throwing it off. The pine needle poked right through into the little teeter-totter that measures the rain and kept it from moving. That will make it stop all right.

With the rain dying down and the sun coming out the father-in-law and I went into the back to cut some fire wood. He's amazingly not adept at holding things, but it was easier with even the little help he provided.

Otherwise the day was pretty much a bust, other than what showed up in the mail and now has a happy spot in my wallet. 61 days. That's pretty much like 45 in government time.

NASCAR starts tonight with some pre-season type race and then I think tomorrow is the real start. The woman is happy, and is likely to watch it all live since she can't do much else. I did get her a cane tonight so she's ready for PT on Tuesday.

The power did go off this morning around 2am or so. The woman woke me up because she was sure she heard the "transformer explode" (the neighbours told her a story about an exploding transformer at the end of the street and now all electrical issues are that). I don't know what she heard but I got up and wandered down to shutdown the router and stuff to save the UPS power in case we really needed it.

The power company is pretty slick here, you can call or go online and use their automated systems to report a power outage. If you call it uses your number to look up your service address since you can't type much in on a phone. Once you report the issue their system calls you back when they have an ETA on when it will be repaired, then oddly call you after it comes back on. I think that's pretty amazing, beats the PG&G method of just not taking calls and not telling you what's going on. Once again we see how bad people in CA have it compared to "backwards" non-progressive areas.

Serious snow going on outside, I think it's worse than last time and they're saying we're going to get an ice storm tonight. This is going to suck big time. Let's hope the power stays on or it's going to get really ugly in the house with the in-laws here...

Did stop by Home Depot to pick up some fire logs in case the power goes out and we still want to be warm or heat food. Did see this item, guess that's why people pick HD over Lowes when HD stocks stuff like this:

Sometimes I surprise myself. 21 years ago or so I put a +2 base plate on one of my G23 mags. Not sure why, but I've not liked it since then. I was finally going to order a replacement stock base plate just to correct it (although I've not fired this gun in 15 or more years it's been bugging me). Right before I put the $5 in parts into my cart I thought to go searching for the original pad. I dug through my collection of esoteric parts and right inside the original G23 box (which I haven't used since I got the gun) was the original base plate and lock plate. Huh. Glad I was thinking ahead to save that.

I got a refund check from AT&T for $36.87. Partial refund of the hot spot service I cancelled? Better cash it before they change their mind.

Today was a fun day of trading. I managed to line up two different trades with two different people and meet at the same town in the middle of nowhere. Biscoe is between Apex and Charlotte and apparently the Food Lion parking lot is the place to do your trades. I traded off stuff I didn't want (24" AR upper, Springfield scope, PPK) and got stuff I did (stripped lower to build my "spare parts" AR, S&W 442, .38 and .45 ammo and a bunch of cash). The dude was really trying to get the money together and ended up giving me $140 in $1 coins. Whatever, they'll spend and the bank will turn them into actual money if I get tired of stuffing them in the vending machine at work. :) I could also coin star them for free if I get an amazon gift card and it's not like I won't buy stuff at amazon.

Went to a Mexican restaurant with a customer over in Greensboro last week and they had BBQ goat on the menu. How can you not try the BBQ goat? It wasn't half bad, but why BBQ? It's a mexican restaurant, not a southern joint. That said, it really wasn't what you would call BBQ, more like slow cooked.

Kathleen said I'm now some sort of high tech redneck. Odd then that I saw this show in the listings the other day. Maybe that's where she got it from or maybe I'm in my own reality show and don't know it?

The last 4 days have been pretty trying for all of us. The woman got her hip replaced and between sleeping in the hospital, working with a cranky customer and putting up with the mother-in-law.

It's 62F outside and the snow is gone, yet the pond is still mostly frozen. Last time it thawed out really quickly, but perhaps this time it was frozen a lot deeper. Hope the fish are OK.

We spent the morning working in the yard and the neighbour brought over the tractor to knock down that tree that hadn't fallen all the way and pull up the remaining pipes we found from the old pipe stalls the original owners had up. Instead of removing them they just cut them down to about 1' from the ground using something really rough leaving these rusting "spikes" around. Bad idea. While the woman had fun collecting more sticks into the pile I raked out some paths and a potential spot for the shop. It's the same space but just having the leaves out of there and getting the dirt exposed makes it feel like we're making progress.

I used my fancy grappling hook to get the branches off the barn roof. Woo.

One sad thing was the woman found this little mole dead back behind a log. We can't tell if something tried to eat him or if he died from the cold or what. She cried about it briefly and we burred him under a magnolia tree.

After yard work, I went for a quick ride just to remember how the bike works and get the chain warm so I could service it. Riding is still fun, now we just need spring to arrive.

Whoosh.... what's that sound? Nothing but the 45 day deadline the sheriff's office has to issue my CCW permit flying by. Too bad the government is immune to it's own laws or someone might get in trouble.