New years rotation.

Doctor was really, really late today but after all that... no cancer. Another MRI in a year (without contrast so no IV) and then 2-5 after that. She seemed totally unconcerned.

Our first dish in the new wok, Mongolian beef with broccoli. It was pretty good, but where it really came into it's own was the next day as leftovers. It really, really tasted like (good) leftovers from a restaurant.

Second dish was beef stir fry using some pre-sliced beef we got cheap. It was only OK, I wanted more crispy beef and the woman wanted more 'sauce'. There wasn't much in the recipe, so we'll have to come up with something for next time. Still good, and will become part of our rotation for sure.

Dad wanted to sell the M&P EZ9 and get something he could pocket carry. After the range trip he was convinced he wanted a (not worn out) copy of my LCP. We were going to FG&G on Monday but it snowed and he got scared and turned around. It wasn't anywhere near cold enough to stick, but anyway. So FG&G was really really quiet on Friday when we went. Like how quiet? Well, 2 cars in the lot, and....

I've never seen that. No people and no employees hanging out down at the cool end of the counter. So strange. Anyway, after much going back and forth over the choices, he actually got this:

Yea, a Keltec P32! Why? Well, as I've said before it's the smallest, lightest center fire handgun you can buy at any price point. There is nothing smaller or lighter period. If he can't pocket carry that thing, there is no hope. It's ballistically inferior to the LCP in 380, but... 10maller. He'll never be able to use any of them anyway (unlikely he'll ever practice drawing or firing it in a hurry) so in that case smaller is better. Why carry around more dead weight when you don't have to?

We found one of the chip bags (the BBQ that I have been saving!) was chewed open and there was mouse poop everywhere. By luck we heard a rodent scurrying around and I got in there and actually caught him and dumped him across the road. Then another bag of chips got opened... so it was time to get out the real mouse traps.

Counting the first one, we've had 3 mice in the pantry so far. The 'saved' one, this dead one here and another last night. I'll just keep trapping them until they go away...

Making some fancy ramen with leftover brisket and throwing some onion in there. Chef. :)

The neighbors had an estate sale a few weeks ago, and this week they sent an email to the trail saying that on Friday the garage would be opened and anything in there was fair game. Just come grab what you want. I figured there would be lots of useful stuff that others wouldn't grab and I was right. Wire, cinder blocks, pipe, some of those old time gas cans that don't leak, etc. A good haul of stuff for free.

My guitar is in for service, the instructor suggested I get it restrung and 'setup' before we start. I asked around for a loaner (they don't have rentals or loaners) but Marchi lent me one of his. It's a "parlor guitar" so slightly smaller and not as loud, but man is it nice. Way easier to play than mine. It's like giving a new shooter a 1911 vs. a glock. The lighter trigger helps mask problems, and this guitar with it's lower action height and smaller body seems to be easier to play. Huh.

Also in prep for the music classes online, I setup the NUC and spare web cam on the downstairs TV. Larger screen so I can sit back further and the instructor can see the guitar. Also not sitting at my desk, a nice change of scenery.

Some snow last weekend, with the usual carnage on the hill.

I did get to ride around on the scooter a bit, it did OK while cutting through powder. Significantly less stable on packed snow/ice.

Upgraded the clip on the delica, now sits 1/2" lower in my pocket and the clip is made of titanium. The guy that makes them does a nice job, and includes several longer screws to make sure it actually works on a variety of Spyderco and other knives. A very nice touch, without those I wouldn't have been able to install it on mine, the OEM screws were just a touch too short for the extra thickness of the titanium compared to whatever steel comes on there.

Made a batch of gnocchi using the new gnocchi board. They're ... dense. The recipe doesn't specify exactly how much potato to use so it's kinda a guessing game. I guessed poorly. Next time I'm not using that recipe and going with one that actually lists things by volume or weight, not "3 large potatoes". Turns out "large" is defined as anything over 0.61 pounds. So a 5 pound potato is just as large as a 1 pound. Dumb system. Just say "3 cups of potato" or "1 pound of potato". My fault for trying to use the recipe from the local chef.

I had to set up Venmo to pay the guitar teacher (and am now using it to pay the MMA guy too so I don't have to go to the ATM as much) and the app offers crypto. You can buy it in any amount, so I figured... let's gamble with some tiny amount of money. Looks like I'm already losing.

I ordered some 223 to make up for what I'm going to burn in the class next month, and for a mere $10 more than regular steel (which is still cheaper than brass even with the import ban) I can get the "Tula Premium". Still all the same components but the steel is nicely zinc coated. Really well done, very smooth and you can't really tell it's commie steel under there unless you look under magnification. Or maybe if you just have normal eyes, I don't know anymore.

Officially submitted my retirement letter today, last day is 3/1. We'll see how that goes.

OK, so I got this thing. It's the Recover 20/20 brace. They've been out for a while, but when they didn't have that optic mount option they were pretty useless. You had to get down so far on the brace that it was unusable.... except as a brace which is dumb. With the new optic mount even Hop on TFBtv said that it's usable for something. He's not sure what but as a range toy it's fine. Rather than get another 9mm carbine/pistol thing like an AR9, I just got this. Much cheaper, and it lets me put rounds through the G34 which is always a bonus. When folded it goes into the holster which protects the trigger.

I did have to modify it just a touch. The MOS version of the glocks move the rear sight back just a touch, and the Trijicon rears actually then hang off the back of the slide a touch. The plastic widget you have to install on the slide so you can work the slide with it in the chassis just wedges against the sight and won't lock on. A little work with a file and now it's snug. They make a 'high' version that looks like a fake RMR and makes it easier to manipulate, but with this one I can leave the ears on the slide all the time and it won't get in the way. Except for a match I would have to remove it, otherwise it might count as some sort of modification. Even unhelpful mods put you in a different class.

Some range time with the braced G34... it really makes a difference. We got it zeroed and was making hits faster and at longer ranges than with just the base gun. The thing works. It's goofy, but it does work. Had two malfunctions like this:

Which is odd because at that point the next round is just about in the chamber, so that shell casing has to have flipped up and be hanging out on the extractor in order to ride forward with the slide and wedge in there. Without the optic thing there, I suspect it would close and flip that casing directly backwards... and into my head. Maybe that's why I get whacked in the head so often when the extractor spring gets weak?

The vet said we should make a stand that Decker could lean against or over to rest since he can't lay down due to pain. OK, so I used parts of the manger I pulled out to make Decker Stand v1.0. So far, he's done nothing but chew on it which is all I thought he would do. How would a goat know to lean against it?

The woman wanted more lemon in the lemon cookies, so I made this batch with 2x the lemon in the cookie and 4x the lemon content in the frosting. She's almost happy with that lemon level. Almost.

I kept seeing this cluster of pine cones over by the pond when I was walking around and I thought it was something mom would totally snap up and keep in her craft room for 'something'. So, I had enough presence of mind to grab it and put it by her grave as a sort of flower arrangement. I think she would approve.

Power went out on Saturday for about 3 hours, and it started about 4 minutes before the pizza was ready to come out of the oven. Fortunately it was close enough that it finished up just fine even with the oven off, so with my headlamp on I pulled it out of the pans and we could eat after I got the generator fired up. Priorities.

Crypto at the end of January... making money! :)

Just switched the defaults from word and excel over to libreoffice. Going to try to go forward without actual excel for a while (since I'm losing my office 365 subscription here shortly).