Nov 29th, Monday, 2004: 2200hrs: When was it that I put 600 bucks into my Bronco? Last week? Week before? Well 6PM rolls in and it's time to roll to the University and my Bronco is just flatlined. I've got in a new alternator/generator strong enough to power a fucking Pink Floyd concert, a brand new battery, new power regulator... and my truck is dead. Damn Damn Damn! I had to get my wife out to jump it. Of course, I miss school tonight cause my wife's new cell phone was on silent mode so she never knew I was calling. Left messages, but she can't get into the voice mail. Nice device that. Well, evidently it's just as good as my new electrical shit.
DAMN DAMN DAMN. I'm pissed.
Well, it seems fine now and just a little jump was all it needed. I'm going to drop in a second battery as soon as I get paid. I knew I needed a dual system and this shows me why. Because the truck seemed fine and I even drove it around at lunch time a bit running some errands. So why it died, I've no idea. Maybe I have a short in something and it's draining. There goes another 80 bucks for Ol Ron to check it out. Damn damn damn. Even getting paid in a day or two, I don't have the money to spare. I know old trucks get this way... but damnitall, there is nothing in the truck older than 3 years but the seats, the steering wheels and bumpers!
I'm going to get the battery tested out tomorrow, maybe it's faulty or something. I don't know. Damn thing. I knew I wanted that red topped Optima. Well, whatever it is, a second unit with an isolator will keep this from happening again. Short or not. Isolate the second one, and if I have problems, bang, there is the solution at the flip of a switch.
Today just sucked. The whole damn day. Bitter cold, nothing went right. Fuckitall... Everything sucks and I hate everything!

Emails from The Horde: First up, Commander Amy: "Esteemed Ogre: The trailer for the extended edition of the ROTK came out today. It looks positively ringalicious--there's Saruman's demise (still don't know if PJ had Grima as its agent, though), expansion of the conflict between Faramir and Denethor, Aragorn in the Houses of Healing, Faramir & Eowyn's romance, more on Frodo and Sam on the plains of Gorgoroth... all the stuff I was jonesing to see in the theatrical version. A suppurating pox on all movie company execs and the short attention span of the general public! We thinks this is the movie everyone should have seen last year, Precious. My main complaint now is that I hafta wait two more solid weeks to see the whole thing. BTW, you were spot on about Van Helsing... I watched it last Wednesday night, and it totally sucked. I was very disappointed. But I stuck with it to the bitter end for much the same (albeit fundamentally different) reason you did; they could put Hugh Jackman in a Teletubbies episode and I'd watch it every time it aired. I've even been been compelled to buy the X-Men movies, although I don't really know any teenage boys and HJ sports that goofy Wolverine do throughout. I also nailed down a copy of Boondock Saints this weekend. I've been trying to see it for months and the Hollywood Video' stores near my house never had their copies in. Then they both got pilfered. I finally went to Blockbuster, which I hate to do because they pour money into the gun control lobby, but I figured it was a one-time deal and wouldn't hurt that much. I liked it. I'm waiting for the sequel now. Kill Bill Vol. 2 was also definitely worth the watching (if you haven't already seen it), as was Passion of the Christ. POTC was much kinder to Pontius Pilate than I'd ever heard or seen, however, and much more negative to the Pharisees. There seemed to be a perceivable slant there... perhaps the Roman Catholic Mel really was exhibiting bias for the Romans. Or against the Jews. I dunno. But it was a good movie nonetheless. It's also inspired me to go do some Bible reading on my own. I want to make up my own mind.
Glad you had a nice holiday. Mine was groovy (and very full) too. Amy”

Amy, first off, I must say that you have exquisite taste in movies. I try not to think about the extended version of ROTK. When it comes it comes, and I shall not get worked up into a lather about it. Even if it takes a great deal of self control. I'm going to try to avoid the trailer as well, but i'll probably jump up out of bed at 3:30AM to watch it.
I think you would like the X-men flicks... kinda fun. And you get to see a lot of HJ giving bad ass attitude while sporting tight jeans and an even tighter T-shirt. Yeah, he's good looking.  If I was a chick, I'd hit it. Where is the brain soap? The BDS... that flick has a weird sense of humor... especially if you watch the deleted scenes. Considering that those two guys are just like how me and my younger brother were... I was in tears. Speaking of tears - Passion of the Christ? Damn. I had tears for two hours after seeing that.
I'm not the best example of a worthy Christian... but that film touched me. Touched me and ripped my heart out. Cause even if you don't believe in Christ as your savior - you have to acknowledge that he was real and what happened did in fact happen. Our calendars are based on him. They count down to his birth and then count the days afterwards. 2004AD, aka 2004 "in the year of our Lord". So even if one doesn't believe, that anyone could go through such an ordeal is amazing. I held it together pretty good through the movie... right up to the point when his mother Mary started running to him. Shit. I just lost it. Gotta give Gibson credit for some solid film making. I don't know about the bias thing... I think perhaps he got it right. The Romans had no motivation to stop Jesus because they didn't care. And a "King of the Jews" was no issue to them either. If their was a KOTJ, then the Romans would just have him deal with the local issues and collect the taxes for the Empire. The same way that dealt with every other leader in the Roman Empire. Pilate I thought was a very weak man... and he was pretty much shown for his colors. Kindness? Maybe. I think he was made out to be as pathetic as he was in life... I don't know if he deserves disdain or pity really. Well, maybe a little disdain. The Pharisees however had every motivation for squelching Jesus. To them, he was a threat. They enjoyed almost an absolute authority, only giving a nod to the Roman authority per protocol... just like how the Romans wanted it. I forget the book, but I think it's in Chapter 11 of one of them... There is a Roman Centurion who has one of the most remarkable stories in the whole Bible. We both know a Centurion is a pretty well ranked Roman Soldier... During this time he would still have to have been a full blooded Roman as well. He seeks out Jesus and asks him to heal his servant.
Now, this is interesting because on one hand you have a Roman seeking the help of a local cult leader... and on the other hand you have a Centurion who actually cares about a servant enough to do that. There has got to be a more interesting back story to that. Actually I've already written that in my book. Ahem. Anyways. So when this Roman guy actually finds Jesus and says "No, you don't have to come, just say that he will be well and that's good enough for me."
And this stuns Jesus. Talk about a surprise. And then Jesus explains that he has never before seen such faith. Wow. That's pretty cool. I think that shows that these Romans were not all that bad after all. Now think of this for a second. What if that Centurion was there at the end? What if he had to give some lashings, or even just order it done? Or had to oversee the raising of the cross? Find a book called "The Robe". Very excellent and sheds a lot of light on the New Testament. Fun read too.

The Guns of Nevada checks in about the new Zombies. “Zombies aernt supposed to run! Running zombies as we have seen latley go aginst 30+ years of zombie horror tradition...Its just awfull. I was looking forwards to the release of the new DotD for months, and I nearly vomited when I saw the running zombies. (How abut that intro, though?!!!). I mean, zombies aernt supposed to be fast. Or smart, or invincible. They are supposed to be dumb, slow, and easy enough to kill in droves, even though there are millions of them. (Zombies are too much alike the French, including the incredibley bad smell they exude). Its just not right! Its like English food being good or the Polish underfeeding some one!”

Well, this new style of Zombie really is more like a raging case of rabies, or enthusiastic Liberalism. 28 Days Later, Resident Evil... and now this DotD... the Zombies are fast - but they remain stupid, and of course, they go down when shot in the head. That's the new zombie/liberal lore.
And I guess I'm okay with that... because how many times have you smirked at the old movies and just said "Why doesn't she just run?" Well, now we have the answer to that... because they can still catch you! I guess it's an evolution that was over do for zombies... a little undead darwinism in action. The faster zombies spread their zombie strain so soon it was only the faster ones that "reproduced". I guess. LOL.

Nov 27th Saturday, 2004: Early AM: Okay, so I ripped on Van Helsing... If you liked it, hey, I'm glad it worked for you. (Like it's my fault your new favorite movie sucks) But there is another movie out on DVD that I did like. The new remake of Dawn of the Dead. It's a great movie. And as far as zombie movies go, I think it's the best one out there now. Had some humor, had some intrigue, had some good moments... and then it had some really good old school style zombie action mixed with the new modern style speed and aggression like we first got from 28 Days later and Resident Evil. I like the realism that the Director went with when he could have gone over the top and it would have ruined it. Great horror movie. The first time I watched it, I was on the edge of my seat really into it. Sounds silly, but I was, and it really paid off. It was a good experience and that's what you want in a movie like this... you want to be able to get into it like that. You want to be able to relate to the characters and they are doing what you'd do. Just makes for a better overall experience. So then by the time it's over you're feeling the adrenalin and everything. Awesome.

Got an email from a cat with some computer issues related to Microsoft's Windows ME. The first problem here we can recognize is that it is Windows ME. Just a word of advice, I don't care how trouble free your WinME has been for you... eventually it will really screw up and you are going to be hosed. I know this because it's WinME. One of the worst OS's ever put out. If you have ME, get rid of it pronto before you have problems. Seriously. Cause ME can go down hard all the sudden. And what's worse is that when you start removing spyware and viruses, it just gets more and more unstable. It's like Jenga. Not really stable to begin with and then as you use it, it just gets worse. I don't think I need to go any further in this... no more details needed... If you have Windows ME – change it. You have three options. 1, go to Windows XP. If your machine is buff enough to handle it, go for it. Upgrade your RAM like crazy and throw in XP. Or you can “downgrade” to Win98SE. Some think it's a downgrade, but it actually runs snappier than ME or XP if your on a decent box. The fastest computer I've worked on lately was an Athlon 2600+ machine with 512 megs of DDR RAM. It was sick how fast it was. Everything popped almost instantaneously it was so fast. Now, the other thing you can do, the third option is going to take more effort on your part. Get a couple different Distros of Linux and try them out. Go to LinuxCD.org and you can order just about any Linux distro you could want. Really cheap because your just buying the CD and the guy's time to download and burn it for you... you are not having to pay for the software. Have some fun with it. Back up all your data, pop in a CD and boot it up and take a look at a bunch of them and see which one you like. Try it out, test drive it. Don't like it, try something else. If you decide you don't want Linux, pop in your Windows CD for ME again or 98SE whatever you want... reformat and install a fresh clean OS image. Then update it from MS's website, install your programs, activate your windows if you went to XP or whatever... and then make an image of your HD. So since you are still on a Windows Box and you will have to do this again and again in the future... you have your image that you can just refresh to and your cool. Norton Ghost is good for this. But you want to image your shit before you start using it and getting spyware or viruses in it, because then you'd just be recreating your problems anew every time. That's not cool. Linux, Mozilla, Open Office... there is no reason to stay with Windows. You can do everything you do in Windows, with Linux. And best yet, it's all FREE. Windows is only free when you pirate the software. Of course, that just might be the best way to get and use Windows, considering that MS has used pirated software to create XP.

Sponge Bob: I really couldn't hate a cartoon any more... It's moronic... it's making kids and some grownups stupid... We have yet again another generation of simpletons, as evidenced by that cartoon's popularity and cartoons like it. The animation/artwork style is insulting. The dialog is asinine. I can't stand it. I went into Burger King this morning for a ham and egg sandwich – and they got all this Sponge Bob shit everywhere. Burger King is OFF THE LIST until that crap is gone... replaced by even more and probably worse crap. Sponge Bob is so freaking stupid, it's almost making fun of those who might actually like it. But there is hope. After I placed my order, to go, a Mom and her kid ordered. Mom asked for the Sponge Bob watch. The kid asked, “Who's that for? You gunna wear it? I'm not. Sponge Bob sucks.” The mom was flabbergasted... but still got the watch. I guess we know who is going to wear it. These new cartoons can't hold a candle to the old ones. Bugs Bunny was actually cerebral. He made points and statements on social issues, and taught us geography in relationship to Alberque. Sponge Bob? That being an idiot is bliss. It must have great appeal to Liberal Democrats.

Nov 25th, Thursday, 2004: UUUuuuuugggggggggghhhhhh! Too much turkey... Uuuggghhh. Pies, cranberry's, stuffing, mashed potatoes, hot rolls, yams, gravy... all that... and the richest and juiciest turkey that I've ever tasted. Slow roasted... the meat fell off the bone... so good! Nothing was wanting on the table. It was a fine meal that my Bride created on a short notice. I was pushing for a “Let's just go out to eat and enjoy the day – no need to do the cooking thing”. Well, I am glad she wanted to be traditional! Damn if I am not stuffed! All the boys are sleeping soundly like a pack of overfed dogs sprawled on the floor where they were watching Spiderman on TV. I'm about to join them! Speaking of dogs (or a wolf in this case), Ranger had a good Thanksgiving as well... a whole turkey thigh freshly roasted and dripping sat on top of his regular food with some good canned Purina beef chunks.

Have you guys seen Van Helsing? Just watched it. I've vented my opinion here before the movie came out, didn't want to do it again. So I posted my thoughts at AmBack. Discuss it there if you like.

Email I just had to share: “Brent here, I hope you remember me from the converges days, how are things going for you? After ******* (the horrible corporation that shall never be named again – Edit Ogre) fired me I had a really hard time figuring out why a company would fire somebody for just about anything they wanted, I mean after you go in and give 100% and then they drop you on the street corner no apparent reason, I did finally come to the conclusion that there are just mean and uncaring people in this world. I have been working for a food distributor up in north Ogden that I have been very happy with; I have also joined the air force reserves, after working for the company for 4 months I went to basic training, my company let me go and wished me the best of luck, when I got back they welcomed me back with open arms, and within 3 months I was promoted to a new position, 2 months later I was activated for a 1 year tour, and again my company let me go and wished me the best of luck and to come back safely. I started out the tour in balad Iraq, you may have heard of this base, but most people have not, it is 60 miles north of Baghdad, and let me tell you it is nothing like Baghdad, Baghdad is a walk in the park compared to ballad, we had mortars and rockets come in 2-3 times a day, you will not hear about ballad from the news because it is not Baghdad, because if it doesn’t happen in Baghdad it is not news worthy, it has not been until recently that they have been talking about filial which is about 30 miles to the west a ballad, as you can see ballad is right in the middle of Baghdad and fullujah. I have seen war and the terrorist that are bringing it to our bases in Iraq, and what I have concluded is all they are doing is slapping us in the face, it is not enough to hurt the armed forces, or bring us to our knees, but it does embarrass us in front of the American people. I was very pleased when the marines and army where finally able to go into fullujah, and take out a few more of these so called terrorists, I know that they have been waiting for the opportunity for many months know, but there are always politics involved and so they waited patiently. My tour in ballad came to end on June 1 2004, and before we boarded the plan the base was attacked again, and because of the army they where unsuccessful on getting into the base. I am now in Germany, where I am assigned to coordinate and assist on the moving of our troops from down range to home and vise versa. I have seen thousand’s of troops come through here, and have spoken with many of them, and what I have gathered is that the people of Iraq do want us there, despite what the media says, but the problem they are having is getting the Iraqi people to stand up for them selves. I have been told that the Iraqi people are still very scared to take a stand, which I sympathize for them, because they where under Saddam's rule for so many years, I believe that it is going to take many years to change the status quo. Well I have gone on long enough, but my point is, is that if converges had not of fired me, I would not be here right know making a difference, and also working for a company that supports me in my in defers, unlike converges, and I know that my company will welcome me back, I know this because they have been calling my wife, and asking how she is doing, and how I am doing, and when I will be back. Brent P.S. There still has not been a better supervisor than you; I would work for you no matter what the task was.”

Hey Brent, good to hear from you. Whoa... I'm impressed... You have come a long way since Convergys. Bravo! Thank you for your service, Brent. Seriously. You made a fine choice. Germany. Very nice. Thank you for your compliment. But I don't think I will have anyone working for me again... I don't want anyone to work for me or me for anyone else. However I would hope maybe one day we could work on something together. Forgive me for being very Arthurian, but I'm more Roundtable than Ladder. Something "The Fishbowl" guys never could understand. You honor me, Sir. Thank you.

For those readers new to M.O. Let me give you a flashback. I worked for a company where I managed the technical support for some high technology. I worked closely with my team and considered myself a part of it, and not the boss over it. “The Team” worked very well together... We improved customer satisfaction, with fewer sick days and I had people lining up to work on my team.. our team. Reason for that is that I treated everyone on my team as an adult (as they were) and as professionals... as I knew they were or could be. I'm glad to say I was right about all of them. The respect was mutual... and everyone had strengths and weaknesses that were easily resolved by close teamwork... It was great. Unfortunately it was also very irksome to the higher ups because it made them look bad. I snubbed the “shit rolls down hill” philosophy and did my best to insulate the team from the bullshit. Well, the company ended up getting rid us. They felt threatened. “Loyalty? We can't have any of that here!” Perhaps they were right. Given another month or two we would have completed the formation of our own company... and I would have taken just about everyone with me from my team, and others. Including a couple of the other Managers there. Anyways. I wonder how many of “The Fishbowl” assholes still get emails – like this - from the people that were “under” them. Probably never. While I miss working with such as awesome team, I do not miss the company we all got the paychecks from. I can see we have gone our separate ways, but we have all done much better than just staying there. That is something to be very thankful for!

Sounds like Microsoft is in some deep doodoo now. They have used cracked software as a part of WindowsXP. Remember that anti MS rant I linked to the other day? How it mentioned that MS takes other people's ideas and doesn't create anything new? Well, it looks like that is true indeed. If they can't buy what they need, they'll just take what they want. Funny, I don't feel so bad for using cracked or otherwise pirated versions of MS operations systems for the last 8 years.

Nov 24th, Wednesday, 2004: Early AM: Special thanks to Horde Member Ray for the link to a sight called “Art Renewal Center”. While on that site (my wife and I “toured” it together) we came across the works of a painter named William Bouguereau, who we had never heard of before. He was a French painter who lived from 1825 to 1905, with the majority of his work done in his last 10 years of his life. What makes his work interesting is the incredible attention to both detail and nuance. (and I'm talking real nuance, not John Kerry bullshit nuance) Thanks to the high resolution scans of the works, we can see good detail of the artwork, but I will not pretend to assume that looking at these scans on a computer monitor is anywhere as close to the experience of viewing a painting live. However through the power of these masterful works, we can get the idea of their brilliance. Some of W.B's paintings take from classic classic themes, the Greek mythologies and some classic Christian themes as well. And while these works are truly astonishing, we found that we were more interested in his simple portraits. Throughout his online gallery, as we scan the many pages of his works, we come across faces that grow increasingly familiar. There is a little dark haired girl and a little red-headed girl that are in quite a few of his works... also there are a couple women who appear to be regular subjects as well.
To understand why these subjects appear so often, all one has to do is to examine the paintings closely. William was able to imbue the art in these pieces with something that is a little different. Tangible emotion comes through... Love. You can feel in your heart that the artist loved these little girls. I do not know if William is a father or an uncle, but he was close to them. I'm of the opinion that this is especially remarkable because I've not sensed this connection between the artist and the subject before.
It's interesting to follow the dates on the paintings of these girls, because we got the sense that these works were almost a family album. The later the paintings, of course the older the girls. Yet even in the later paintings, the same genuine affection is still there.
Also, there are a couple older females that seem to make frequent appearances, and this raises questions as to the relationships between the artist and these subjects. A wife or a lover perhaps? This isn't something I know of, but would be interested in finding out. There is a affection communicated there as well. Affection and respect. And I think that respect is important. This is a politically turbulent time for women's rights, and William Bourguereau cared a great deal for them. Because of his opinions on the matter, he was blacklisted and his name removed from historical texts according to this website.
William however probably didn't care. Looking at some of his other works, ones that look to be commissioned portraits, you get the sense that he would rather not be there in the home of these filthy rich folks, but rather back in the village with the children and his girls. (if I may call them that) Not that the commissioned portraits look to be any lesser efforts on his part, but they lack some quality that I can not articulate. Love perhaps. He did not love these people who paid him to paint them. Sitting on a lounge chair in some French mansion... this is not where William wanted to be. I think that is communicated somehow.
I find his Christian work to be interesting as well. He uses the traditional style of iconography in some of them, but mixes those with his own style and the result is a very groovy “Middle Ages Retro” that I like very much.
His painting of Christ being whipped is especially powerful. William's brilliance in gestures seem to make this painting deeply personal. Perhaps more so if you are a Christian, but powerful none the less if you are not, but can respect the Christian faith. I am not sure if William would have been a Christian or not... but we can tell he was indeed a Humanist. His study of the human anatomy, physiology and psychology comes through. Regardless of the lack of numbers of references he has in text books (he is not mentioned in a single book of mine), he is without a doubt one of the finest artists I've ever examined. I do not remember seeing any of William Bouguereau's works at the Smithsonian, even though his works trump most of what is hanging there.
This idea that love is a quality in his painting is something that I think even he touched on. Quite a few of his paints are about that very thing. Cupid and Psych, sisters and friends... and his paintings of maternal love where he is giving honor to womanhood and motherhood. I think this is something that is lacking to varying degrees in most other artist's works, and what makes William's paintings so intriguing.

Don't worry, I've done enough of this "Foo-Foo Artsy Shit" for now. I'll be getting back to Guns and Poltics shortly. No, no one has hijacked MadOgre.com and I've not smoked any grass. But thanks for the emails of concern from some of The Horde. Others of The Horde (What we call the MadOgre readership) have been suprisingly appreciative. As one put it "Like listening to classical music on the way to firing range." Thank you. Shortly I'll be doing and finishing the review for the CZ P-01, and doing the photos. This is for CCM, so while I wont post the whole article, I will post a part of it to give you a taste. I've got to get the thing done and submitted because the deadline snuck up on me... Dec 6th. And there is another deadline by Dec 21st. Ouch. I'm not sure what I'm going to review for that one. I'll think of something. Oh, speaking of CCM, I have been informed that they are now able to start 4 color printing... so the magazine should really look good now. Not that it didn't look good before. No way, I think it looked great from the start. But now it's just going to rock. If you've not had the chance to take a look at CCM, order a copy. The last one was just awesome, and the one already hitting the printers is going to be fantastic. Here is the text of my KelTec P3AT article. With the photo that was not printed for obvious reasons. (Makes good Wallpaper BTW) I'm mentioning this because in the article I mention a drop in rear sight from PS Enhancements. Well, now I've got mine so I am going to write a little follow up about that. I think those that have these little KT's will be interested in it. And since you have to glue it on, taking the plunge is more difficult to reverse if you don't like it. So I'll be your crash dummy on this one. The sight is interesting because the little P3AT is indeed already an accurate pistol if you get used to it. So I'm looking forward to checking this out and seeing if it really is an enhancement. I'll admit the sight was given to me freely by PS Enhancements, but do not think for a moment I feel obligated to put lipstick on a pig... No way. My obligation is to give you my honest opinion. If this thing sucks, I'm going to say so. And then I'm going to have to find a way to get the sucker back off. But we are making no judgments just yet. I'll enlist the help of another shooter to give me a second or counter opinion of this thing. Should be interesting.

Thanksgiving is tomorrow is it? How fast has this year flown by. I've many things to be thankful for this year. The love and support of my beloved wife. The love and support of my loyal readers... who have come to cluck over me any time I mention I even have a headache like a flock of damn mother hens or something. Sheesh. I'm thankful for the 351W under the hood of my Bronco. I'm thankful to Kel-Tec and to Magnum Research for sending me press sample guns to review (even though one of the MR guns was brand new still in the cosmoline goop used for shipping from Israel) when other gun makers snubbed their noses saying that they had never heard of CCM. (My response was "you will.") I'm thankful for my friends who check in every so often, even if I've not seen them in some time because I'm living out in the middle of fucking nowhere. I'm thankful for a great many more things I can't articulate here on MO at this time. But most importantly this year I am thankful for the defeat of evil this round... Saddam got arrested, John F'ing Kerry lost, Tom Dash-hole lost his Senate seat, and Michael Moore was branded as the most unintesting celebrity ever. That made me laugh... I just hope this is reflected at the Oscars. But at the same time I hope we can put an end to the Red state verses Blue State business. Because it's not about that. No, what I like better is the Red Counties vs the Blue Counties and I hope the Leftistas look hard at that and realize that they had best shut the hell up about it because we have them surrounded and we know where they live! No, seriously, I've a positive outlook for this next coming year and positive outlooks are something that by my nature do not happen or be let known. This last year was a real bitch on a great many fronts, but I see bigger and better things on the horizon for just about everything. If I do not post again before you have your turkey - May you have a good Thanksgiving, my your turkey be moist and delicious and if not, my your pies be plentiful... and may God bless you. Even if you dont think He is there.

Nov 22nd, Monday, 2004: Evening: Buried Treasure: I'm very particular about some things. The grips on a handgun, the heft and feel of a pall point pen, the cut of a pair of jeans or the fit of a pair of sneakers... or the feel of a keyboard under my fingers. Don't try to buy me any of these things, because if they are not just so, I will never use it. It would end up in the back of my closet, or at the bottom of a drawer waiting until the day it is unceremoniously discarded. At work, under a pile of used keyboards, I found gold. An old style Microsoft Natural keyboard... an original. The big one with the T shaped arrow key layout the way they should be, not like the new MS Natural boards. Discarded because of a stuck spacebar. I pulled out the bar and saw the problem... an easy fix. I made the repair and tested it. Bravo! It worked fine! The board was able to come home with me and for that I give my thanks to my man, Mitch. The keyboard is just like the one I am using right now... But keyboards do not last forever... especially not with 5 boys running about and wanting to play on the computer when I'm not around, with all kinds of sticky gooey shit on their hands. This one I have now is working fine now, but for how long? You can never tell. My last one gave up the ghost unexpectedly after several years of duty... and in the middle of a paper. This replacement was donated by one of The Horde and has given good service since I plugged it in. I had been using a small cramped IBM straight board that must have come off a laptop or something. I couldn't type a damn thing on that POS. And now, I have a backup board. I am very pleased. Don't think this is funny, I'm serious. I am just very picky about things like this. To a writer, the means on which he or she writes is very important. Keyboards, pens, notebooks... they have to be just right in order to write. Because when you are at your task, you are in another world, place or time and you can not be continually ripped from there and brought back to the here and now because you keep stumbling over your writing instruments. That derails your train of thought and can ruin your creativity. Much like an artist running out of a certain color paint. Sure he can go get more, but the flow has been shut off.
Yes, I am a geek. But I'm a geek with a lot of fucking firepower, so leave me alone about it.

I like art... Classical art. I hate to say it, but I'm particular about art too. Music as well, but this rant is about art especially. Now take a look at the classic masterpieces for just a moment and look very closely at them. Look at the lines and strokes and how it was made, pull back a little bit and look at the balance of colors and weight... then pull back a little further and look at the richness of the depth and the emotion that the artist captured in gesture and expression... that is art. And that is why artists were considered geniuses. In modern times you had cats like Dali and Picasso change things around and shake things up a bit... but if you look closely at the work you can still see the depth, emotion and you can appreciate the artwork for what it is. That all changed because of some asshole in a black turtleneck named Andy Warhal who painted soup cans with no background. All the sudden Art was no longer art, but a con. Talentless hacks like Yoko, the bitch that destroyed The Beetles takes a magic marker and writes the word “Floor” in the middle of the room on the floor, and all the sudden we have a damned shrine to modern art. Sorry, but that's not art. That's bullshit, and a con. Ooohh, no, we are supposed to ponder the deeper meanings and motives for why she wrote “floor” on the floor. I know the meaning. So she can smirk behind her oversized sunglasses at all the idiots tripping out over her stating the obvious. She just labeled something for what it was... That's not art. If you think it is, go over to the bathroom and check out the sign on the door. This is going to blow your mind... check it... Two doors... one says “Men” and the other “Woman”. What was the artist trying to say there? What is the artist trying to tell you – or control you for? Force you to make a decision about not just where you are going to piss... but who you are as a person. Fuckin, WHOA man! That's heavy!
Now some assholes are wanting to drape Central Park in New York with 23 miles of Saffron colored fabric. Orange fabric... 23 miles of it. Sorry mac, but that's not art either. That's just coming up with a stupid idea and seeing how many suckers go for it. Covering everything in orange... hmmm... I've seen this before. And by these modern standards, this cat over here is absolutely BRILLIANT!

Nov 21st, Sunday, 2004: Evening: I came across a fantastic article about Microsoft. It is very long and a technical read, but it is well worth the time and effort if it's hard for you. This guy goes into some serious detail. I don't think I've ever ready a better essay about the faults and failures of Microsoft. It's called “Why I hate Microsoft”.
The only thing that I really have a difference of opinion on is this:

“Microsoft has grown beyond control. Even the DoJ has been unable to come up with effective measures against the company. This demonstrates that Microsoft is now effectively above and beyond the law. Microsoft won't be unhorsed by competition either, because there's virtually no competition left. They'll just go on as planned, tightening their grip on the IT market and the user community, continuing to increase our dependency on their sloppy products, and forcing us to buy useless new releases every other year or so.”

This maybe have been true two years ago, but now it is not. So while this article is awesome, it's also out dated. I humbly submit for your review, three alternative sources to represent a great many others. I give you Novell and IBM who are successfully pushing Linux in the right direction... something the Open Source community is in need of: Corporate Backing. Novell's own Linux Distro is a personal favorite of mine, SUSE Linux. Other flavors of Linux are Red Hat and Mandrake and hundreds and hundreds of other. These are mainly running some similar items, GIMP, KDE or GNOME, and Open Office... things that can seriously replace their Windows counterparts with ease. So there are alternatives. Not only that, but these alternatives are extremely cost effective for business and for a home user – virtually free. In fact, everything I do now is done so on open source software. My reliance on Microsoft is zero. I'm not the only one leaving Microsoft behind. My church is now using Open Office in it's administration, as are a great many businesses here in Utah. I hear more and more of how Linux is coming to work for businesses out here. I've yet to hear of anyone switching from Linux to Windows.

Is there any major Linux viruses or spyware out there that are seriously effecting the Linux community? I didn't think so.

Nov 20th, Saturday, 2004: 11:00PM: I've been looking into Microsoft's Longhorn and I know there are “samples” of it out there. If you are a subscribed developer you can actually just download it. I can't afford the subscription, but I would like to get this. If anyone out there reading M.O. Is a developer or has a copy of this, I would very much like to borrow it just to look at it and play with it for a bit. I promise to Fdisk the HD as soon as I am done evaluating it. Seriously. I like some of the things I'm seeing in it, but I have more reservations than not. I really want to check this out.
I've had a couple suggestions on the watches already, and each one has been for the same thing. The Casio Pathfinders. Different models of it, but the pattern is there. Casio Pathfinder... there you go. Anything other than a Pathfinder?
8:30PM MST: Shotguns and dogs: I went out and paid a visit to 12 Volt Man, the cat at JackAsh Custom who makes custom 1911 grips and CZ guide rods. He was in the middle of a competition (in Roosevelt) that I didn't even knew existed. He mentioned it before, but I didn't know what it was. It's a bird dog hunting competition. It's a shooting sport and it's a dog trainer's sport together. I saw some very nice shotguns out there, and some damn fine dogs. 12 Volt's dog “Cooper” was a handsome one. I was impressed. Bird dogs are some very smart dogs. Almost makes me wish I got that German Short Hair when I had the chance. Looks like a fun sport, but one I do not have the time nor money to invest in. I saw trucks with specialized custom trailers and bed kits... not just for dogs, but for hunting dogs. Built in gun vaults and all that jazz. Let me publish my 4th or 5th book before I start thinking about something like that. Because you would have to have a nice set up to enjoy the sport. Because the sport involves standing around in cold, damp, miserable weather. I want a truck with an auxilary heater and a hot chocolate maker before I take to that game. 12Vm was doing the game from his car with his dog riding in the back seat. The only car there other than one contestant who's wife showed up to watch. But he was doing well in the standings... so bravo! It's hard enough just shooting well when you are shivering, let alone doing so while running your dog and having your dog okay and do everything as it is supposed to. I don't even want to think about what Ranger would do out there. 12Vm showed me three things that I really liked.
The first one is a CZ 40P. This is a CZ 40 slide on a P-01 Frame. The resulting frankenpistol is awesome. Love it! For 300 or less, put me down for one! Seriously. The gun felt great as can be expected considering the frame its on. Pointed perfectly of course. That's a fine handgun there. He didn't want to sell it.
The second one was a Springfield 1911 Loaded model with some customizations. Stainless and beautiful, with a nice ambi-safety, mag well funnel, and gorgeous wood grips. Very nice example of the 1911 breed. Very nice indeed.
Then he shows me gun #3. A gun I sold off like a total dumbass. Shit. He took the grips and thinned them down and smoothed them off. The effect is a gun that interfaces perfectly in the hand, feels svelte and lean... and points flawlessly. If the gun felt like that when I had it, I wouldn't have sold it. I've said these guns are on the same level as a SIG P220... I was wrong about that. Let me say this just once... They are, with some work done, better than the SIG P220. The only thing it lacks in my opinion is a decocker. If it did, the CZ-97B would make the P220 a second class citizen. It's an accurate piece thanks in part with the gun's amazing trigger. He refused to sell it too. 12Vm is a cruel and heartless man! (kidding) I'm glad to see such a worthy weapon in the care of a worthy man. Excellent matching. And from photos of his shooting with it, he is capable of extracting the gun's potential. Bravo! Now put me down for another CZ-97B, so I can have him do the grips like that. It was awesome. Next one will be polished and blued. This gun I sold to MiniZ and MiniZ sold it to 12Vm. This gun came to me via The Gun Fairy, Larry Correia. So this is Utah CZ... massive amounts of bad karma will befall anyone selling it or taking it out of Utah.
12Vm told me about how me makes those guide rods of his. They are flawlessly and meticulously made by hand. It's a time consuming process. Each one is a work of art and well worth the price. You don't find gun parts made like this anymore. Now days they are all injection molded or stamped.
The competition is a two day event. Standing out in the wet and cold like that for two days with your dog, and then trying to get your dog to perform on command? Brutal. He's tougher than I am. If I was to have to do that, it would have to be for killing something more threatening than a quail, that's for damn sure. Saddam, Bin Laden, Kim Jong-Il or Chirac... but a little bird? I don't have the patience. Here's what I'd do after standing out there for just a couple hours. Say “fuck it” put my dog back in the truck, hit the grocery store, buy a dozen Cornish Game Hens, a big freaking hot chocolate and go home and sit by a fire, reading with my dog at my feet, and the hens roasting in the oven. There you go.

While out there with 12Vm, I noticed my watch was waaay off. My old trusty Timex. I just put a battery in it last month and it was off by several hours. Ahead. No one played with it, but it looked like it wasn't so much ahead, as really far behind. After resetting then and looking at it now, it's already dropped 10 minutes. The last battery lasted how long? 3 years? And this one just over 3 weeks? I'm afraid my beloved black faced watch is just going out on me. I'll get another battery and put it in to make sure it's not the watch going out... but I think it's time to retire this one. I had a Skagen Titanium watch for awhile and I liked it... I really did... but when my kids lost it last winter and I didn't find it until all the ice melted to reveal it in the grass... well... it's just not been the same. Okay, it's just not worked period. Still looks good though... that's the power of Titanium. All my watches have been analog... but this time I think I want a digital watch. One with lots of functions... calender and multiple alarm settings... maybe some other cool goodies other than a lap timer. I like Timex. But the Ironman watches are all stupid looking in my opinion. I want a good wrist watch, not a chunk off a military satelite. Know what I mean? Some of the Casio units look good, but I don't like Casio. Dont' like Armatron either. I don't want a cheap watch... A good one. And not “thick”. I like thick burger patties, but not watches... thinner the better. Water proof. Buttons that are easy to push, when you want them pushed. I've seen some units that have built in compasses... thats pretty damn cool. Maybe something like that. Send me a link to your favorite digital watch.

Remember the lovely Russian chick that did the motorcycle expedition into Chernobyl? She's done it again. This time to The Serpent's Wall. Her English needs some work but that is not important. What is important is the interesting history lesson she gives us and some good photos as well. It's well worth the bandwidth to visit. Do so. Oh, and she's cute too. Especially that photo with her and the PSSH.

A bill before Congress... to make it illegal to skip past the advertisements on a DVD. Asinine. Here is what will happen if that bill passes: DVD sales will plummet. WhyTF would I buy unwanted advertising? I wouldn't. If I have to watch it – these advertisers are going to be paying for the DVD. I want it free. “This DVD movie is given to you by The Outback Steakhouse.” Then I'll watch the one ad, and then the movie. That's tolerable. But I'm not paying 18 bucks to have to sit through 5 or 6 commercials. No way. Screw that. And since DVD's are not going to be free any time soon – then people are going to be voting with their feet. People are going to start avoiding the products of those who force people to watch their advertising. This bill is unconstitutional. You can't force American Consumers to swallow what isn't wanted like this. Whoever sponsored and signed this bill... these assholes should be kicked out of office. I don't care who they are and what party they have affiliation. This is revolting. This borders on “Equilibrium”.

10AM MST: Now Kerry is saying that the Bin Laden tape is what made him loose the election? Yeah, that's it. It wasn't the fact that the guy has a personality like a bowl of oatmeal. It wasn't that the guy has one of the most pathetic senatorial track records on the Capital Hill. It wasn't the fact that the man's values, morals, and ideas where completely wrong and revolting. No. It was Bin Laden's tape. They refuse to blame the terrorists for 9-11, but they will say that it was the terrorists that cost them the election. Nice. Pathetic losers.

Saddam planned out the insurgency? No way. He was just a peaceful dictator, wasn't he? You know, I'm really hoping he gets a public execution. They can do that over there. But I think they need that. To show everyone that Saddam really and truly is gone. I think that would change the nature of Iraq for the better.

Let foreigners run for president? Looking at guys like Arnold, that's not a bad idea. But... but the problem is that this opens the door to less than ideal candidates. And we have seen in the 2004 election just how close a truly suckass candidate can get just by being on the ballot against an unpopular incumbent. Another country, like France or China for example could groom a potential candidate to be placed in the running. That's all we would need... a Sleeper in the Oval Office. This is a bad idea. This is an extremely bad idea. This isn't just about the Governor of California. This has implications that go a lot farther than he, and all these implications are grim.

I was going to make a run out to SLC today, go pay a visit to my grandfather. But I'm not sure If I'm going to make it. I was also going to drop something off to someone, but I'll have to hook up with the fellow that is out in Roosevelt and give it to him for transport back to SLC. Things have not worked out as I had planned, I'll leave it at that. The upside though... at least the Bronco is running great. That and I've got a lot of writing to do this weekend, and no class this coming week, so I'll be able to get a lot done. Booyaah.

Nov 18th, Thursday, 2004: Evening: Today has been a killer. An "up", and two downers.

I am not going to go into details and its a long story, but let's just sum it up: This morning I had some money in my bank account and a 5.0 engine under the hood of my Bronco. Through a series of unfortunate events and the necessity of having a running vehicle before 5:30PM, I'm financially devastated and there is a 5.8 liter engine under the hood of my Bronco. 351 Windsor. (That's a good thing!) This has some pros and cons. First off, it's not going to effect my mileage negatively because the 5.0 was so bad that you really couldn't get any worse. In fact, I might actually pick a few miles per gallon. Maybe 2 to 4. We'll see. Secondly. Performance. The rig can now get downright hasty. Engine performance across the board at all RPMs in any gear is greatly improved. The Bronco sounds like a real hotrod. It sounds brutal and ominous. I've also got my BFG A/T's on... and a full tank of gas. Yeehaaw. The downside? Damn if I aint broke. My Dad is going to grind his teeth all night about this and keep my Momma awake.

The other downer. My grandfather who I love and respect very much is out here in Utah now. He is now a patient at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. I am going to try to pay him a visit this weekend, if I can. A career as a newspaper man in the South and a veteran of WWII where he paid a visit to Germany, and a long time volunteer for the Red Cross attending to the management of efforts around disaster areas... He is a great man. If I may, I ask for prayers on his behalf for comfort, dignity, peace, and that he knows he is loved.
I hope one day to be able to write his biography.

November 16th, Tuesday, 2004: PM: With all the news about the Marine that looks to have killed a wounded prisoner… it seems that this guy might be in a lot of trouble. This is not the case. The reality is that he only seems to have opened up a career as a Senator from Massachusetts. We wish him the best of luck. The Liberals are all up in arms over this mess, but they better not push it too hard. Kerry himself admitted to shooting an unarmed kid in a loincloth and got a medal for it. The hypocrisy is absolutely revolting. They (The Left) might be full of piss and vinegar over this right now, but wait 10 years and then put this Marine on a Democrat ticket someplace, and he will be granted God-Like powers, just like Kerry. (referencing Edwards’ claim that voting for Kerry would make the blind see and the lame walk again and bring Superman back from the dead) Funny how the Libs are referring to “The Red States” as “Jesus Land” now. You know what? I’ll take that. It sure beats the hell out of “Allah Land”. We don’t hear of multiple beheadings and car bombings suicide bombers on school buses around Memphis, Denver, SLC… Not that I’m making in slight on Allah… I’m just say’in…

NASA launched something that went really fast. That’s nice. Congratulations to NASA. Let’s see… I remember reading in my Dad’s old books about SCRAM jet technology. Books printed up in the 60’s. Seriously. It’s about time someone got around to making them. Wait a second. I thought I remembered something about the US Air Force playing with these things on Surface to Air Missiles or something like that. Yeah, I know the RAM Jets, but I’m not talking about those. I could have sworn in was SCRAM. Yeah, I know I read something about the tests of this engine technology earlier than 10 years ago. More like 15. Not sure. Anyways… Yeah, congrats to NASA. The only problem is that this thing is now in the ocean along with the 2 other test platforms. And how much did these tests cost? Good grief man. Give half that money to Rutan and he’ll give you a better ship and one that can come back and land. I don’t care if it’s a fun MACH 10 ride if it’s only a one way ticket. But this does have its uses. Put some seats in it and charter a flight for the Liberal Celebs that swore they would leave the US if Bush one. He’s won twice now and they are still here. If they are not going to take the ride… at least their credibility has. I guess that’s what was on the first two rides.

Speaking of Kerry… Drudge reports that he is back at work as a Senator. This is meaning that he wasn’t this last year? Does this mean that his State doesn’t have to pay him his annual salary for 2004? Or maybe that Kerry is going to give that money back? Not that Mass has any use for the money anyways. Kerry’s 80% absenteeism doesn’t seem to bother them any. I guess Kerry just left his phone off the hook and kept his door shut while he was out. Secretary is just answering the other lines, “He’s on the other line, can I take a message?” I’ve known guys like that… normally they don’t last long in their positions. In Mass, you can get a pension and a gold watch doing that. Sheesh.

I’m reading that China is going to launch a hundred satellites into orbit. That’s nice. Oh, to watch China? Oh… okay. Anyone want to take a guess as to how many of those would be actual Hunter-Killer Sats with the ability to target and destroy our GPS and Military Com Sats? Hmmmm… Maybe all of them? How many HK Sats do we have up there now? Enough to take on 100 hostile units? This is what you call Third Phase Warefare… and it’s very serious. No one is dying on the ground because of it, but it’s costing or going to cost billions and billions (Channeling Carl Sagan there) of dollars. It doesn’t take much to take down a Sat with another Sat. A simple shotgun would be weapon enough as long as you have the means to target and track another object. To think China doesn’t have the means to do that is to admit that you are a gigantic fool. China is no joke and they have every intention to play rough with us. They know what our strengths are because they are studying our every move and choreographing counter moves. If China can take down our Sats, that would devastate our Military’s #1 advantage. Seems China has also read up on Sun Tzu’s The Art of War and are planning on taking the highest ground. Look for a lot of our own Sat launches and unspecified shuttle missions if NASA is up to that task. Which is doubtful. Again, NASA is a huge useless drain on our national resources… others can do the job faster, better, and cheaper than NASA. Space Camp? Gimmie a break. That’s called a Tree House. I want to see US Sats with big shotguns launching by the dozen… I want to see a satellite with “MOSSBERG” on the sides of it. And I want to see them quick. If China can splash all our Sats over the Pacific – they will put the USA in a Pre WWII condition. Think about that for a minute.

Congrats to Condi Rice for her new job. CONDI 2008! Shrillary Clinton would have no chance against the first black female presidential candidate. No chance at all. Condi would win by a landslide, the Rainbow Coalition would be all over it… it would be an interesting campaign battle. How could you go up against that? Thank heavens she is Republican. I like Condi. I really do. I do not know much about her politics and where she stands on issues but I do know that she has got to where she is the good old fashioned way… she has earned it. She has worked hard for it. And as far as I know, she has no skeletons in her closet like Mrs. Clinton does. She would tear it up. Such as easy win she wouldn’t even have to do a debate. Oh, but wouldn’t that be awesome if she did! Can you imagine a debate between her and Clinton? Oh sheesh. Hillary would be so torn up, she’d be carried off in Zip-Lock baggies.

Work today was a real killer. Problem after problem. And all of them regarding MicroSoft’s pathetic operating system: Windows ME. And one regarding a person who refused all advice to even try to minimize the holes in MS. She didn’t want the firewall… she didn’t want the AVG… FireFox and Thunderbird. She wants her ME, IE, and Outlook Express. Okay. See ya in six weeks, babe. Idiot.

I had to buy something from the shop today. A 256 meg USB thumbdrive. I’ve used it several times already today and it’s awesome. Saves me a lot of time and effort. My “Ogre’s Super Tools Disk” is on it… so I don’t even have to deal with a sketchy CD Rom drive. Most new BIOS settings have the option to even boot off it. Very nice. Heck, I could put Linux on this thing, boot off it, use it as the HD to swap off it… all that jazz. The only problem is that I only have one of them. These things make great stocking stuffers for geeks. Remember the movie “The Recruit”? Yeah, that’s what she used to get the files out of the CIA building. You can get these things on a Swiss Army knife now too. Very nice. 256 is pretty good, but these things are out in 512 and 1 gig sizes now too. That’s even nicer. Oh, BTW, this update is typed out on machine with limited access to the net, but with an open USB port. Doc saved to the USB drive, and transferred to my home machine. Pretty cool, I think. Let's see, I just crammed (I'm home now) 5 full albums and a program on it. Very cool. Yeah, I know it’s like a super duper floppy disk – but don’t spoil my geekfest here. Let me have it for a minute.

Tires. Two BFG-AT’s… 270 bucks. Shit. Should get me through the winter though. I’ve got to get rid my TTB front end… I need a solid axle front end swap or I’m going to be buying another pair of these things in April. Ouch.

Nov 14th, Sunday, 2004: 2200hrs: I have the Fallujah video footage! I downloaded it off Drudge ealier today. STOP EMAILING IT TO ME! LOL. I've got about a dozen copies of it already now thanks to The Horde. You guys rock. Sweet footage too. Loved the bit with the Bradly popping off a TOW into the building. Makes me wonder if they are using a different warhead for this mission or if these are regular anti-tank warheads.

1330hrs: What a day this has been. This morning when my wife woke up, I decided to sleep in a little. I can hear her and the kids puttering around the kitchen. All the sudden I hear the sound of water spraying and my wife starts screaming “Shut the water off!” So I do a combat roll right out of bed into the dirty jeans I wore yesterday, run outside, shut off the water, and come back in to check out just WTF happened. The line under the sink burst. Again. Shit. I look at it and was trying to figure out how to repair it, when She says “why don't you just replace it?” Damn. Why the hell not? So I take the plumping apart, throw the broken line into the truck because I don't know anything about those fittings. I just take crap like that to someone wearing a red vest and hold it up to them, point at it and say “Gimme a new one”. Anyway, so I jump into the truck, turn the key and the damn thing is flatlined. Totally DOA. Nothing. So I pop the hood, grab the Jeep keys, pull it hood to hood, and proceed to jump the Bronco. But it isn't working. The Bronco just isn't having it. Sure, I get some dash lights now, but it's not going to crank. I break off the jump, throw everything into the Jeep (including the Bronco's battery) and take off. Hardware store, get the new line and then to autoparts store. “Test this.” The guy says, “Sure thing” and puts the tester on the battery. “Looks like we'll have to charge it first.” I nod and he hooks the battery up... and I'm watching him... he does it right. Then he shuts the shield thing they have, pushes some buttons and starts saying “Machine says it will take about 60 minutes.” And I was about to say “I'll be back.” But I didn't even get to open my mouth when all the sudden the battery goes “Thump!” Damn thing exploded. “I guess I'll just get a new one.” But I didn't have the cash on me so I told the guy to hold on to the core and I'll be back tomorrow for a new one. I run home, try the new line, but it has the wrong fitting so I have to go back to the hardware store. Might as well get the battery too while I'm making another trip. Into the piggy bank, snake the seventy bucks we had there, and roll back to town to get everything... So here I am now, hungry, tired again, 75 bucks in the hole, and to top it off, I'm out of caffeine. At least the sink is fixed and my truck is running again. Pretty much where I was last night except I am now I'm flat broke. That and I still need some damn tires for the Bronco and Tires for the Jeep... and I might need a new alternator but I'll have to get that checked out tomorrow. What a day I've had and it's only 1315 hours. Missed church too. Sheesh. I think I'm going to roll back into bed and take a nap in a little while.

I finally got some new blank CDRW's... real ones and not generic cheapies. The SUSE 9.2 LIVE CD burned beautifully and as soon as it was done, I just hit “Reboot”. SUSE 9.2 loaded right up. Gorgeous. I'm going to have to retire my old Knoppix CD now! Okay, maybe not. Knoppix doesn't require so much memory as SUSE, so it can work on older machines. But damn, this thing looks drop dead gorgeous. Clean. I'm going to through this on one of the machines at work and see what the other cats think of it. It's hard not to love it. The only problem that it has... the only downside... No DVD player. Small problem, but one none the less. The only Linux distro that I know of that comes with a DVD player is Linspire... what use to be Lindows until Microsoft killed the letters “dows”. But that's life in the big CPU. (Add Linspire to the “To Do” list) While I was at it I burned the ISO for Bart's PE Builder. That's pretty cool stuff right there. I'll take it into work too... test it on a box there that is about to get reformatted.

Nov 13th, Satruday, 2004: Afternoon: Earlier today I picked up a package from 12voltman at Jackash Custom. It's a milled stainless steel full length guide rod for the CZ P-01. The only thing that bothered me about the P-01 was the guide rod. This pistol is just about perfect, and the only thing keeping it from actually being perfect was the plastic guide rod. Come on. That thing just doesn't belong. It's like a brand new BMW M3... but with the vinyl seats from a Geo Metro. Huge disconnect in thought, reason and understanding. So much so that just looking at that plastic guide rod made my brain hurt. This has been resolved quite nicely. The FLGR from Jackash Custom is a flawless piece of machining. It specs out perfectly, is finished with a very nice polish. The rod is just a gem. It fit in the gun just as I knew it would would. Perfectly. I ordered a metal FLGR for a CZ-97B from CZ-USA once. The rod came looking like it was made from a tin can, and was not the smoothest thing I've ever felt. It would snag fabric on it's poorly finished edges. This one is a world of difference. I love the silver colored dot under the muzzle. Looks awesome. But this isn't just Ogre having been picky on the looks or having some sort of gun-snobbery issue. No, it's not like that. This CZ came to be BNIB. Untouched by human hands since it was packed for shipping in the Czech Republic. I have been the only person on earth other than the CZ employ who tested it, to have fired this gun. And after popping off only a couple boxes of rounds, the cheap little plastic rod is chewed up. Around the edges of the breach end of the rod, there looks like small bites out of it, and gouges that look as if a very small Pixie had been slashing at it with a knife. Not only that, but the shaft of the rod is warped now. It has some very elegant bends and curves in it where it should be straight. This was not like it was when it was new. The Jackash FLGR is straight and will remain straight, allowing for smooth compression and expansion of the spring. Meaning smooth cycling of the action. Now, and in the next couple thousand rounds to come. Not that the plastic rod would cause a failure per say... now. The P-01 is the product of extensive testing, revision, engineering, and more testing. Torture testing as they say, but I doubt the P-01's had to stand naked in front of a female Army Private with no dignity. So there is no big deal if you are keeping your plastic FLGR. No problem at all. I'm sure a BMW M3 is just as fast with Geo Metro seats in it. I've now way of measuring this, but the P-01 really does feel better when I cycle the action by hand. What was almost perfect, no longer almost. It is perfect. If you have a CZ handgun, you really need to take a good hard look at the Jackash Custom Shop. They've got the goods.

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