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Gonna watch the speech tonight? Tell the truth. For me, I don’t like watching any of these type of — oh, we have a difficult road ahead, but we can pull through together — speeches. And watching the reply from the “other side” is even more difficult. So what I do is maybe have it on, but try not to watch, just listen by being in the other room. It’s a good time to clean the kitchen while the TV is on in the living room. That way you’re really hearing it and not being mesmerized by the TV. My biggest concerns with our leader now is that I feel that we’re all over the place; too much started, not enough finished, too much going on. I don’t feel secure. I don’t feel a strong guiding hand at the helm, so to speak. Also, I believe that he wants to do all these things and just really did NOT realize any of it would be this much work. He has talked before about economic anxiety — which is again a catch phrase that I don’t like throwing around. Makes it sound too perfectly packaged. Because right now, it doesn’t matter if you “have” money or don’t, you’re still worried. But anxiety is the right word. People are anxious, they’re uneasy, and they’re concerned about their jobs, their futures, their children’s futures. And I do not feel that this President has the strength or the ability to ease our troubled minds. At least not mine. So, tonight let’s hope there are not too many catch phrases, not too many “we’re all in this together” phrases and just some good, clean, straightforward remarks and answers. Answers would be nice. Let’s take those first. 
Took this picture just because (of course) the clouds looked so cool. But the longer you look, the more images you see. Yes, you do. Keep looking! Have a good day! Baltimore, Maryland: A woman told authorities she was bitten by a poisonous cobra in a local parking lot. She said she saw what she thought was a stick, bent down to pick it up, and it bit her. The snake turned out to be a venomous Asian cobra known as a monacle cobra. Okay. What’s wrong with this story? Yes, you’re right. Cobras don’t normally run around in freezing cold parking lots in January! And a “stick”? Puh-leeze. Department of Natural Resources took the snake to the zoo and officials said the cobra was clearly a captive snake and used to being hooked and handled and being around humans. Keeping a cobra as a pet is illegal in Maryland. Draw your own conclusions as to “a stick on the ground”. Forgive the lack of a picture — Jeff can put one in if he wants, I just couldn’t do it.  25 January 2010 - Evening light on the mountains from my desk 8) Yesterday was a bit weird, leaving during daylight and after only eight hours Tomorrow is scheduled to be 12 hours which brings my total overtime including this upcoming weekend to 22 hours for the week. I wouldn’t be surprised to get another four hours on Wednesday and I have no idea about Thursday or Friday. Wish me luck and have a great day yourselves tomorrow So, I’m going to have a real chance to finally purchase a new gun for concealed carry with all the overtime I’m working As most of my readers know by now, I’m a fan of The Nutnfancy Project (TNP) on YouTube (who just posted a great video from the Kel-Tec booth at the SHOT show) which is where I learned about the Kel-Tec PF-9 and decided it would be a great choice for me. The problem I have is availability. I can’t find a PF-9 in town lately, which isn’t really much of a surprise. I can find them online, but then I’m looking at $20 shipping, somewhere around $40 for a dealer transfer, and a total outlay (before any tax) of close to $400 which is a bit more than I’d like to spend. What I can find locally is the P-11 which is less than $300 even if I go through Gallery of Guns. Looking at the specs on the Kel-Tec website, there’s not a whole lot of difference between the PF-9 and PF-11. I like the thin cross section and lighter weight of the PF-9, but the P-11 seems like it might fit my hand better, holds a couple more rounds, and has a true double action trigger where the slide doesn’t have to cycle to actuate the firing mechanism and you get a second strike capability. Both guns have a double action only trigger with a long, somewhat heavy but smooth pull. What that means is that you cock the hammer as you pull the trigger every time you fire the gun. The long and not very light trigger acts as a safety along with following standard firearms safety rules. I’ve dry fired both of these guns in stores and you can trust me when I say that you’re not going to fire a round accidentally if you don’t have your finger in the trigger guard. Really, I don’t think you’d accidentally fire it even with your finger in the trigger guard. I know and agree that heavy double action triggers do not make for the best accuracy, but these aren’t made to be range guns. They’re made for concealed carry and self defense. You might be surprised to know that the average distance between combatants in a gun fight is between seven and ten yards. Yes, you can still miss at that distance. If you’re in a situation where you need to use your defensive firearm, I highly doubt that your fine motor skills are going to be anywhere near their best. This is why you practice. Still, I don’t think the trigger on either one of these guns is going to cause you any problems in such a situation, especially if you’ve practiced like you should. It’s much more important to make sure your gun doesn’t fire when you don’t want it to. I’ve got pictures of both of these pistols (found on Wikimedia Commons) and stats below.  Kel-Tec PF-9 9mm subcompact pistol The PF-9 is still what I’m leaning towards. It’s unsurpassed when it comes to small size, light weight, and most importantly ease of concealed carry From Kel-Tec’s website:
 Kel-Tec P-11 9mm subcompact pistol On the other hand, the P-11 is just a bit wider (.12″), but I don’t see where less than 1/8″ will make all that big a difference in comfort while carrying. I don’t see the 1.3oz difference in unloaded weight to make much of a difference, either. The difference in the weight of the loaded magazine at 3.2oz isn’t that big and I like the addition of another three rounds of capacity. You can also get a 12 round magazine for the P-11 which isn’t a very bad thing, either Again from Kel-Tec’s website:
Anyway, that’s the dilemma I face and what I’m trying to figure out when I’m not on the phone with a customer or trying desperately to get some blogging done. It’s an important decision, but not very easy. I think I’m going to have to go back to a couple of gun stores (assuming I’m not working overtime) and see about handling each of these if I can. After thinking on it some more, I’m almost leaning towards the P-11, but it’s still a toss-up. I would appreciate any thoughts and opinions y’all might have to share here, so don’t be shy in the comments Wish me luck, everyone  24 January 2010 - A decent picture of the moon Yep, it was another day at work. But it sure felt weird leaving after only eight hours and still having daylight Just one picture tonight – what I consider to be a decent picture of the moon that I managed to get with my little digital camera Have fun, everyone Shockingly, this post is not related to Jimmy Buffett or tropical stuff. I know, it’s different and the first time I’ve done this on a “Last Post of the Day” but I’m in a bit of a different mood tonight. I’m a big fan of the TV show “Firefly” and the movie “Serenity” that was based off of it. I’m a science fiction fan, but it has to be good science fiction. This is really good stuff. Firefly follows the crew of a transport ship named Serenity through their travels between planets as they try to make a living while staying out of the sights of the ruling Alliance. Captain Malcolm Reynolds purchased the ship after his side, the Independents, lost a war for independence from the Alliance. Simon and River Tam are fugitives from the Alliance, Jayne the mercenary has a thirst for money and skill with weapons, Inara is a “companion” and her trade is only legal in the United States in Nevada. Shepard Book is a preacher who decided to get out and spread the word instead of staying in the abbey, Kaylee is the (I think pretty good looking!) ship’s mechanic, and Wash is the pilot who happens to be married to Zoe, the ship’s first officer and one of Malcolm Reynolds’ fellow freedom fighters during the war. It’s got adventure, rooting for the underdog, fighting for freedom, and great characters which is part of why it’s one of my favorite shows. The other reason it’s one of my favorite shows is the theme song. The song was written by the show’s creator, Joss Wheadon. Ballad of Serenity comes pretty close to how I feel on occasion. Sometimes when things aren’t going all that great, I just remember that I’m still free to do what I want as long as I’m OK with the consequences, that there’s a whole bunch of open road and open desert in Nevada, and that no matter what’s going on right at that moment, nobody knows the future, limitless opportunities abound if we only look for them, and that if we stick with it long enough, it will always get better I was re-watching the pilot episode on Hulu.com when I came across this exchange which gets to the same point:
Of course, the song just has a great sound as well I was able to find the opening sequence for the show on YouTube along with a place to download the .mp3 file for the song which I don’t ever think was released. The YouTube video’s below and you can right click and save as here for the .mp3. Lyrics:
How true it is – I’m still free, you can’t take the sky from me, and sometimes it’s enough to know that you’re still flyin’ even if flyin’ is just paying the bills and being able to afford to eat Keep flyin’ everyone So, I finally managed to get more (and I think the last) of the film developed from Aviation Nation 2009 How did I do this? Well, I was given a choice yesterday of whether I wanted to work Saturday or Sunday this weekend and I chose to have today off. I managed to do exactly what I wanted to do which was as close to nothing as I could possible get away with No matter what happens in the next week, no matter how many days I go without posting, and no matter just how incredibly burned out I get, I do have to say thanks to all my readers and co-bloggers Anywho, on with the plane pr0n There’s 41 pictures in this post, so I went with the idea of trying to get some actual sleep (which hasn’t been working so well this week) and letting y’all ask the questions in the comments  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010  23 January 2010 - Aviation Nation 2010 Actually, come to think of it, I have a request for everyone out there. I know which of these pics are my favorites and you might even be able to guess which ones those are, but what are your favorites and why? I’ve always been fascinated by the different ways people perceive the world and why they like different things (yes, I did even take some psych courses in college), so this would be something I’d really enjoy if y’all don’t mind sharing a bit Thanks in advance and here’s hoping I come out of this next couple of weeks with at least some shred of the little sanity I have remaining in tact Have a great Sunday, everyone Yes, I’m posting yesterday’s pictures today. It’s been a bit hectic lately. That also explains why I’ve got yet more pictures of mountains with snow on them  22 January 2010 - More snow on the mountains  22 January 2010 - More snow on the mountains  22 January 2010 - More snow on the mountains Posting may be a bit light in the coming days, so I hope you’ll understand Have a great Sunday, everyone
In the count your blessings department, work has been busy for me (and crazy busy for Jeff), and evidently there is plenty of work to be had here locally. The picture is of a new hotel being built. I pass it most every day on the way to work. Also, new small shopping centers have been built and restaurants continue to open — I don’t know how people afford it, I sometimes think I must be the only person that doesn’t eat out a couple times a week. And the shopping centers seem to be quite busy, too. So maybe the recession is easing — some anyway. Yes/no?? |
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You guys go a long way to keeping me going when the going gets tough, stressful, and tiring 8) If I don’t get a chance to respond to your comments, I swear it’s because I’m either working, de-stressing, or sleeping right now 
