Saturday, December 03, 2005

Announcement

Due to some recent changes at the cubicle's domicile I will be blogging much less than normal for an extended period of time, (next three months is what is is looking like). I am going to try to keep in blogging shape by posting one post a week, though if it is like any of my other tries at keeping in shape, I will probably fail.

These changes include, but are not limited to; 4 new large clients at work (large as in our business will probably more than double this year if all clients are kept and brought on); 1 large test for a prospective client at work; Christmas; New Years; MCAD (I am still a little....err...grumpy about that, but it is really the only play I see to: A) set myself apart in the field of non .Net programmers. B) Transition from my current main programming language(s) [Visual Fox Pro and VBA (Visual Basic for Applications)]) to .Net. C) Get a job in my girlfriend's town programming in .Net, having very little professional experience in it.); MCSD (This is really the only play I see to distinguish myself from among all the .Net programmers who have their MCAD); and my early Christmas present Gun Tests, from my sister.

If you would like a personalized email stating when I return blogging full time, please send an email to : c y r u s m c k o r m i c k - a t - h o t m a i l - d o t - c o m

Remove spaces, dashes, replace 'at' with '@' and 'dot' with '.' , and that should produce a usable email.

cube

Friday, December 02, 2005

Did you know?

Did you know surefire (most famous for their flashlights) makes suppressors?

Here is their website. Suppressor Science sounds great.

cube

Thursday, December 01, 2005

A very interesting paper

Via Bradford Plumer I found this paper Underground Gun Markets.

Here is a sample.


Sorry for the picture. My free version of adobe does not allow me to cut and past. Oh well, you can read the sample just fine if you squint.

cube

Trust your instincts

In the past few months there have been two occasions that have reinforced upon me that I should trust my instincts.

Incident One
I was hanging out with my girlfriend for the day and we were going back to her apartment. It was mentioned to me that her roommate would be out of town. As my girlfriend was opening the door to her apartment, I thought I saw a flicker move behind her bedroom window. My instinct was to grab my girlfriend, go in first, with gun drawn.

Several things stopped me from doing this. As I was trying to figure out what I saw, my girlfriend had already entered the apartment. Secondly, I also dismissed what I saw. Fortunately, it was not a MWAP (mutant with a plan), but my girlfriend's roommate, who had not quite left town. She did leave a message on my girlfriends phone, which my girlfriend did not check. The roommate was in my girlfriends room trying to get on the internet.

I am still of two minds if I had time to react. The opening of the door followed very soon after I saw the flicker. I would have had to act very fast to stop my girlfriend form entering her apartment and to get between her and the "threat". I also believe that I would have had dumb questions ask like, "What?" and "Why?", but I can't really do much about that.

In short, I acted slow and refused to believe what my eyes saw.

Incident Two
Last Sunday, I was leaving a friends house and the weather looked nasty. The plan was for me to lead my girlfriend to the interstate, where she would go west and I would go east on interstate 40. I explained to my girlfriend that she should find the weather as soon as she gets into her car. I figured that everything would be ok once we got moving. It was not until I was in my car and driving that I realized the full extent of what I was driving through.

As I was driving, I found out there was a tornado to the southwest of where we were. I also found out that my girlfriend was going to be driving though the storm as it was coming to her. I was able to get her on the phone and tell her to pull over in Conway and wait it out. Well, by the time she go to Conway she was in the middle of a lot of rain. She managed to make it to a hotel (my suggestion because they have TV's in hotels to watch) to wait it out.

In this case, I failed to listen to what the more cautious part of my brain was saying. I also failed to adjust my travel plan based on new information. To allow your instincts to take over you must first have a certain amount of willingness to change plans. I also failed to impart my exact feelings of fear to others. In other words, I did not let my instincts shine.

Both my girlfriend and I made it home safely, we were much luckier than others.

Source:"A motorist was killed Sunday night when the driver of a van drove into a tornado shrouded by darkness and rain. The storm picked up the vehicle and flipped it onto its top in the median of Interstate 40 near Morrilton."

cube