big cliché

Oh yes.

The grips are done! Well the woodworking is done. I have to figure out how to finish them now. I think I'm going with the tried-and-true tung oil finish, but I have to find some tung oil first. If any of you have any grip-finishing techniques, I'm all ears. The last pair I made I left unfinished so the person I made them for could stain them or do whatever. Anyway, bask in their silky-smooth goodness. And just so you know, all that crazy mill work was done by hand. Only because I don't have a router or a mill. Just the Ryobi. And now my hands are still kind of buzzing from all those vibes coming through the wood during the sanding phase. I'd say I put about 5 hours in them tonight, maybe a bit less, but it sure seemed like it. They look great on the pistol, but you won't get to see that pic until I have them oiled up and find some oversized stainless grip screws. The black ones look fine with the black grips, but stick out like a turd in a punch bowl against that light wood.

Here's a scary concept for you: I've been selected for jury duty! Oh, how I've waited for this day. The last time I got that envelope, I was already in Oklahoma, after having been discharged from the Nav. Kind of hard to be a juror in King Co, CA. when you are in Cleveland Co, OK. I have no idea what kind of deal it will be, but there is an actual chance that it could be a murder case! I had completely forgotten about this until just now, but I think the Juli Busken thing is still active, and then there was that guy killed back in December, I think, but I'm pretty sure they caught and charged someone on that. Who says nothing exciting never happens around here?

In movie news, you should see every single Miyazaki film you can get your hands on. Except for Muskrat. I seem to remember a rant over at her place condemning kid flicks, although I'm not sure Miyazaki anime counts as kidstuff. Anyway, over the last 2 weeks we've watched Porco Rosso, My Neighbor Totoro and Whisper of the Heart. Every single one of them is excellent. Let's not forget Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, even though we didn't watch those this weekend. I've always had a thing for anime, ever since I was a wee nipper. Speed Racer was my favorite way back when I was about 5 or 6 and there were about a half dozen others that Eric and I watched over and over again. I guess I need to rent a copy of Howl's Moving Castle next, huh?

And finally, just one question: When the fruit is HBO gonna start season 3 of Carnivale? For the love of beans, people, star the show, wouldja?

Hamas, Fatah gunmen battle over election results - Yahoo! News

So do you think we could get lucky enough that these two groups could take each other out, kind of like the East Coast/West Coast rap wars of the late nineties?

Probably not.

I managed to get the screw holes drilled tonight and even did a bit of shaping before I realized that there is way to much wood that has to be removed to attempt it with a shaping burr. The stock I'm using is about a half-inch thick which means there is a good 3/16" I have remove before I can really start to shape the final contour. I should be able to do it by clamping a 'sacrifical' piece of wood to the rip fence on the table saw then take the excess off by snugging the grip right up against the blade. I could try it on the scroll saw, but I don't have that much confidence in my ability with the scroll and the last thing I want is a wavy cut, especially if it dishes out on the wrong side of my line. Yeah, that would be bad. So the end result is that I didn't get as much accomplished as I would have liked, but I have a plan. Rather than try to power through it and ruin the wood (of which there is precious little) I'm going to wait for the weekend and do this right. Terribly sorry but no pic tonight. The minimal amount of work actually accomplished doesn't really warrant it.

And in the continuing saga of "The Brother Who Wanted to Design Shoes" I have the following great news: JT has decided to take the job in Oregon with AND1 shoes! Which means, if I remember right, he'll have 2 'lines' waiting for him. Which means he'll be able to design two complete shoes from ground up. Doesn't sound like much? YOU try it! Congratulations to you, Lil' Brudder. (Family joke, sorry.)

Finally for tonight, if you aren't listening to Death Cab For Cutie, just go ahead and pack it in. I have not heard songwriting like this in...well crap, not at all that I can think of. If nothing else, you NEED to check out "I will follow you into the dark". I can't even begin to explain how good it really is. If you're real lucky you might catch "Soul Meets Body" on the MTV or VH1, but the others are all just as good and a few are even better. Buy it, steal it, download it, but get it--got it? Good.

BBC NEWS | News Front Page

Now how is the world supposed to take a bid for Palestinian statehood seriously when they elect a party (if you can properly call it that) with a well-known history of terrorist activity?

I just don't get it.

Now that things are pretty well back to normal for the foreseeable future, it is time to take on a small project. Nothing too involved (hence small) but something that will be nonetheless rewarding and fulfilling. I have decided that Beretta 2 needs a set of super-sweet bird's-eye maple grips to replace the ho-hum Farrar rubber grips it currently wears.

I have done a couple grip projects before so this isn't really a new idea and it should be relatively easy. The grip panels for B2 are essentially two flat pieces of plastic that follow the contours of the frame with a few holes for screws to keep everything in one place. The only tricky bits will be milling out the area for the transfer bar and hammer pin. Long story about the hammer pin and why it has a head the size of a dime, but I'll spare you the agony of useless Beretta trivia. Just be aware that the grip has to be milled to allow for it. Not the easiest thing to do if one does not own a mill, but I've done it before with the Ryobi so again it's nothing new.

The big difference this time is that Big Daddy Don has loaned me his scroll saw to make those curvy cuts. I just finished doing the scroll work and a little rough sanding to true up the edges where my cuts weren't perfectly straight. Next will be to drill and countersink the screw holes, then comes a lot of shaping and sanding. In the end, it will all be worth it. That stainless goes great with the bird's eye and the warm fuzzy feeling of doing a job yourslef. Unless I screw it up, that is.

I'll be posting pictures as progress is made. Enjoy!

That’s right, I’ll say it again.  Pops Unfinished Furniture is evil and a tool of the devil.

How do I know this?  Simple: the absolute crap way they are treating Aimee’s mom, but let’s back up a step or two.      

Some of you who’ve been by the house know how proud I am of the job Aimee has done finishing our office furniture.  The pieces we ordered are actually quite solid and well made.  We had a few difficulties with Pop’s when the shipping was billed because their website was clear as mud in that respect.  Probably more annoying was the ‘shipping manager’ telling me that their website was not confusing and was very clear about the shipping rates.  Trust me on this one, it wasn’t—and I wasn’t giving up until he understood that.  But this isn’t the story of our furniture.  This is the story of my mother-in-law’s furniture and why you should join us in doing everything possible to spread the bad word about Pop’s Unfinished Furniture.  For even if they come around now and refund every single penny of Carol’s money plus pain and suffering, it’s too late.  They’ve assed around for so long and given so many different excuses that no matter what they do, they are officially on the black list.

So like I was saying, the pieces we ordered are quite nice.  They are all real wood—no potato buds here—and while they aren’t all dovetails and mortise-and-tenon joints, the build quality is quite good.  Based on our success with the unfinished furniture, Aimee’s mom thought she would also be able save a few smacks on a quality dining room set and have Aimee finish it for her.  After trying all the unfinished furniture places down Reno, she decided it was time to consider internet shopping.  For those who don’t live in OKC, Reno Avenue (or is it a boulevard?) is OKC’s very own mecca of crap design.  There are furniture stores on just about every corner for almost a 3-mile stretch.  The only problem is that save 2 stores, they are all selling the same absolutely-NO-imagination-having, lame, boring, put-your-butt-straight-up-in-a-coma, traditional designs.  So essentially, the only question becomes where you’re going to buy your snooze-fest couch.  Doesn’t really matter.  They’re all exactly the same.  

It has taken a long time to convince Aimee’s mom that shopping on-line is the absolute what-up, so when she finally placed the order, it was kind of like watching your children take their first cyber-steps (or so I’m told).  Okay then—she’s got the style chosen, the order placed and everything is good with the world, right?  Not so fast there, rocketboy.  She ordered the set on the 12th of July.  Did it show up in August?  Nope.  September?  Nope.  How about October or November?  Nope, nope.  That’s right kiddiewinkies, it was delivered a bit after 8 p.m. on December 20th, which was literally freezing cold and pitch dark.  The delivery company didn’t bother calling to say they were coming or even that they were in the neighborhood. They just showed up.  Aimee’s folks took a quick look over the packaging to make sure it all appeared in order and that it was all there before putting it in the garage until the weekend.  

Let’s take a second to talk about those boxes, shall we?  Our set wasn’t ‘boxed’ as much as it was crated.  You see, when our office set was delivered, each piece was wrapped like it was made from eggs.  They even delayed part of our order once for repacking to make sure it wasn’t damaged.  The pieces we received were obviously manufactured by a company who took pride in their work, and even if it wasn’t Pop’s who made this actual set, they did a good job of finding someone who was concerned with what people would say after they opened the box.  

So imagine their surprise when Aimee’s folks opened the table’s box only to find a huge crack running the entire length of the dining surface.  In fact, the box they opened looked like off-the-rack flat-pack furniture—and bad flat-pack at that.  It was obvious that Pop’s had found a company who would sell them the set so they could add that style to their catalog without having to do the manufacturing themselves.  The wood itself is all soft and cheap looking, kind of like someone took the off-cuts from a mill and cobbled it together into this Franken-table nightmare creation.  Well, maybe not that bad, but it ain’t good.  And the chairs are equally as unimpressive.  In any case, we as consumers have a reasonable expectation of receiving our goods in the condition advertised in a timely fashion, but apparently not from Pop’s.  I forgot to mention that the whole time she was waiting for the table and chairs, they didn’t once give her the courtesy of an email update to let her know what was up.  In fact, Carol had given up on the order altogether when it finally showed up on their doorstep.  

Of course, she emailed the company to let them know it had arrived broken.  No response.  She then called and was told that they’ll have someone call her back within 48 hours.  They didn’t.  (Do they ever?)  One of their customer ‘service’ people even hung up on her.  They finally email her back and tell her it is her fault for not inspecting the furniture when it arrived at her door, even though she reported the damage in within 3 days, just like their policy indicates.  

So here we are, almost a month later and Carol still has broken furniture, a credit card bill she has to pay and not a single reassuring word from Pop’s Unfinished Furniture.  It is obvious to us from their actions that they do not care about their customers at all after they get their money.  And since they are an out-of-state company (well they’re in a state, it just isn’t this one) I’m sure Aimee’s folks will have virtually no recourse outside of filing a claim with the BBB who, in all reality, are absolutely useless as far as consumers are concerned.  If the whole thing wasn’t so enraging, it would almost be funny to see how not to run a company—even Dilbert would be amazed at their incompetence.  So this is why we need your help, internet people!  We must spread the word of Pop’s evildoing and general disregard for good people across these United States.  If we don’t take that responsibility on our own shoulders and share the word, then the next time they swindle someone it could be your parents.  

  

The Christmas shuffle is officially over. I know it has been over for most of you for some time now but as of this weekend it is officially over for me and the fam. The only thing remaining was the annual Fort Smith trek and it too is now in the history books.

We left around 10:30 Saturday morning, much to the dismay of the fatpup, and arrived around 1 something. This was good, because we had an appointment for a portrait sitting (of all things) at 2:00. As usual, the gal was way too enthusiastic, albeit well meaning. With that done, it was off to dinner at Calico County. Good food, although I'm still not sure what to make of "deep fried, barbecue ribs". That's right, they take barbecue baby-back ribs, batter them up and deep fry 'em to golden brown perfection. I didn't have the stones to even think about trying them.

For those who know 'em and are interested, here's how they're all doing:
Eric is working his fingers to the bone at a local bar and apparently doing so well that if things go as expected, he'll be made bar manager. His main squeeze is also working there and doing equally as well. Justin has a new girl who was polite, articulate and not afraid to eat food cooked by complete strangers (me and Aimee) which all begs the question "why is she hanging out with JT?" I'm kidding, of course. And it would seem that Justin will soon be gainfully employed in his dream job. No, he's not going to work for Jordan Brands at Nike. At least not yet. He's been offered a designer position with AND1 shoes. Can you believe it? Old boy has dreamed of nothing other than drawing shoes for the last 15 years, and he's actually going to get to do it! Who'dve thunk it? Didn't get to see Alyssa, but we're told she just started her first job so good for her! Jennifer was just promoted to assistant manager at the retail store she works and Ashton (#1 nephew) is growing like a weed. He should start kindergarten next year, I think. Moms is still trying to get her head around Justin moving to Portland to take the shoe job.

We stayed Saturday night with Eric and his lady and I must say, their house is straight-up sweet. 1950s design, in a good way, with plenty of hardwood floors and original details that make most new construction look like a joke. Good stuff.

We came home Sunday after dinner and then slept for about 13 hours. All that getting up early will mess up a schedule, I tell you.

All in all, I'd still say my favorite Christmas gift still has to be the Gerber Multi-tool. But that could be because I can carry it every where and use it for almost anything, whereas the Beretta 92FS Custom Carry II (pics later) can only be carried certain places and has a much more limited field of uses.

Iran Threatens to Block Nuke Inspections - Yahoo! News

Does this have a certain air of deja-vu about it, or is it just me?

I always get a chuckle when a privately owned/operated organization comes up with a policy that is less than popular and Joe Public gets all bent out of shape.

This week, OCU was considering a policy that would've given the president, Mike O'Neal, "authority to terminate any worker who separates or divorces for reasons that don't meet limited scriptural grounds". The article was written by Susan Simpson and is up on NewsOK.com. I guess they decided today to scrap the policy because it "wasn't sensitive enough in its wording to the people who have experienced divorce". It would seem this proposed policy had caused somewhat of a mini-furor so OCU went the other way. Do I think it was a good idea to start with? Not really, but that's not my choice and neither is it yours. The only one who gets to decide is president Mike O'Neal. OCU is a privately funded university, which means no state money--ergo, no state rules being forced down their charter. This isn't the first time OCU has raised eyebrows, but I just can't remember what happened last time. I do recall that they stood their ground, so maybe one of our local bloggers can help.

This topic was especially visible a few years ago when the Boy Scouts of America decided they didn't want any gay scout masters. Unpopular? You know it. Several gay and lesbian groups were beside themselves and I think the ACLU even reared its ugly, litigious head if I remember correctly. Again, not our call, and I applaud the BSA for standing their ground.

Look, it boils down to this: if you don't like something a PRIVATE group or company is doing, no matter how un-PC it is, don't give them your money! It is that simple. The only way to truly effect change is to hit them in the pocketbook, so to speak, so spend your hard-earned dollars somewhere else. If 'diversity' is important to you, find a youth organization that embraces gay and lesbian members (not like that, Kelly). You want to avoid all that "religious persecution" at university? Go to a secular school. But don't ask, or expect, these institutions to change their policies because your knickers are in a twist.

I'll tell you a little not-so-secret. This is exactly why I don't patronize 7-11 stores unless I absolutely have to: they have a vehement anti-CCW policy and they ain't changing their minds just for me. And I don't expect them to. Nor am I going to start a protest outside their store. Truth be told, though, I do go into their stores, but it's only to use their surcharge-free ATM! I love the look on the clerk's face when I walk in, smile, use the ATM, then promptly walk out without spending a single dime in their store. I will say, however, that if gas prices hit $3/gallon again, I may have to redraw my battle lines every so slightly--the 7-11 on the corner of Rob and 12th always seems to have the lowest prices around.

I finished the urban legend story, and it has it all. Danger to children, appropriate vagueness, just enough realism to make it believable and of course, a moral to the story. I threw in the happy ending for free, even though it doesn't come at the end. You will know it's mine if you see it because it will have: my intials, my brother's birthdate, the name of my third-grade home-room teacher and the most glaringly obvious (yet millions will miss it) GOTCHA right there in front of your eyes! Another spoiler is that the story is set in a little town outside of the city where my favorite rifle was built.

So who's with me? What I'd like to do is send out one or two mailings to yous guys with the story attached as a .doc file that you could just copy and paste to an email with the heading "Saw this on the 'net, pass it along--for the children" or something similarly obscure. I know Dman and Chris are down, but what about the rest of you? Dare you cross over to the darkside of truly useless geekdom? Sorry Chris, almost forgot: MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I spent some time last night trying to find out if my fake 'urban legend' was infact a genuine urban legend and I got nada. About 30 minutes on snopes.com and google and I was unable to locate a single instance of what I'm thinking.

I'm about half-way done with the actual legend part of it, so I need to know who's down for pulling a whammy on the internet when I'm finished. Basically, I want to share it with a few of you, then we all email it to those people who we know will forward it (those who've annoyed us with 'the rat pee on a coke can story', for example) and wait to see how long it takes before it is up on snopes or we get it back. I know, it's incredibly juvenile, but what else is the internet for?

More to come...

You know what I think would be fun? Starting our very own urban legend! I've always wanted to do one and then secretly encode it so that in the original text, if one takes every 4th letter, it spells out "You have been had by the urban legend project". But then I realized the logistics of writing an urban legened around that kind of scheme would be too restrictive.

So I'm going to do some research to make sure my new idea hasn't already surfaced as an internet/urban legend and then we'll see if I can't actually scare the crap out of America at large!

I feel so naughty. But in a good way.

If this was any better, I'd have to smack someone. Seriously.

Alrighty then people. The recipe below is the absolute what up. It is the best thing I have ever tasted. Ever. And that includes all my own cooking, all the restaurant cooking, all the world travels and it even trumps the linguisa, onion and green pepper pizza from the Lynwood Cafe in Randolph, MA. And I will tell you now that there is no better pizza in the world than a Lynwood's pizza. If you find yourself in Randolph, get over to the corner of Center and South street and order one up. But I'm getting sidetracked here--the point is Aimee's chicken pie. The crust comes out light, flaky and rich without leaving that oil slick on the roof of your mouth and the filling is absolutely to die for. I know some purists would freak smooth out when they see that there is no dark meat in there, but you know what? We aren't down with the dark meat. Once, because they were really cheap, we bought a pack of thighs to cook for Piper and the entire house smelled like...well I won't print what it really smelled like, but sufficed to say that we have not purchased, or cooked, any since. I absolutely love the flavor bay leaf imparts on a dish and that combined with the celery seed makes it taste just like home. The day it was fresh from the oven I almost had to call my parents and curse them for doing it wrong all those years. And theirs was pretty darn good. One word of caution: it takes some time to do it right. Although when it is done right, it is worth every single second of the work. I should also note that Aimee did every single bit of it while I was at work, so she gets 100% of the credit from making her own recipe to baking the final product. Outstanding. But the end result is that we have a week worth's of food for two days work! Since it is just the two of us, we really like to cook in such a way that we have enough food for the week, even if we end up eating the same thing for 4 or 5 days. This means a lot of dishes like this chicken pie, lasagna, beans and rice (that become chili and eventually beef and bean burritos by the end of the week) and grilled chicken at the start of the week that becomes a little bit of everything by Friday night.

Now, about that Hapland. There are currently two levels and I was sucked in by level 2 last night. I had, earlier in the evening, defeated level 1 and feeling pretty smug and self-satisfied I decided I was up to the challenge of level 2. Boy was I wrong. These things are flash games that are kind of Rube Goldberg-esque in that you are taking way too many steps to light two small lamps that, when burning simultaneously, open a mysterious portal. There are no instructions and the only rule is to figure out what does what. Meaning if you click on one of the 'interaction points' something will happen. Your task is to observe all of the reactions caused by your clicking, then figure out in what order to do the clicking to cause the correct sequence of events needed to light the silly little lamps. Sound simple enough? Yeah, that's what I thought, too. As I said, level 1 seemed fairly simple--and I even managed to figure it without cheats or a walk-through. This, of course, gave me a false sense of genius and led me to believe that my powers of observation were keen enough to dispatch level 2 with similar aplomb. Yeah. Right. I managed to figure out all but a few of the finest details on my own, but by 04:30, I was done with patience and ego and resorted to a walk-through to 'fill in the blanks' Even with the cheat, which was poorly written and blatantly incorrect in one crucial detail, it still took another hour to finish the steps required to light those stupid lamps. But I gots it down cold now. Nothing like a flash game to really remind a body that maybe, just maybe, you aren't all that and the bag of chips.

On a final program note: GUNS, GUNS, GUNS! That's right kiddies, this weekend is the first of the 4 annual "Hall of Fame" gunshows. Will I be there? Maybe. Maybe not. But know this: if I do go, I'm gettin' in for half-price because I am a vet! Yep. VA loans, VA hospitals and half-price admission to the gun shows. Why wouldn't you serve?

DEEP DISH CHICKEN PIE

Boil:
3 chicken breasts
1 bay leaf
2 cans chicken broth
1-cup water
Salt to taste, garlic powder to taste, celery seed to taste
Gravy:
Chicken stock left from boiling chicken
½ cup soymilk
2 T cornstarch mixed with ¼ cup water
½ finely chopped onion
12 oz peas and carrots
Crust:
4 cups of flour
1 cup of margarine
1 cup of shortening
½ t salt
7 T ice water

Directions for filling:
When chicken breasts are tender and shred easily, remove them from the stock and set aside to cool. Bring stock back to a full boil and add soymilk. Stir the two tablespoons of cornstarch with ¼ cup of water and slowly stir mixture into boiling stock. Turn down heat and add chopped onion, peas and carrots. More salt may be needed to taste. Shred cooled chicken and add to mixture. Remove from heat and let filling cool a bit.
Directions for crust:
Place flour, margarine, shortening, and salt in a large bowl. Cut the margarine and shortening into flour with a pastry knife until mixture looks like coarse meal. Add ice water one tablespoon at a time, stirring it with a fork. Pat into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least an hour.
Preheat the oven to 375F. When the dough has chilled, divide it in half. Wrap 1half in plastic wrap and return it to the refrigerator. Roll out the other half on a floured board and fit it into the bottom and sides of a 10.5 X 14-inch baking pan (chilling the rolled out dough in freezer for a few minutes makes it was easier to handle, don’t chill too long or it will get so cold it will break apart when you try to handle it). Bake for 1¼ to 1½ hours, or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling. Transfer to a wire rack to cool, and serve.

Just a quick post before it's off to bed (I would've put up a real post if it weren't for hapland2. It's like crack on your computer!)

Have you taken the time to email your senators yet about confirming Judge Alito? If you haven't you probably should--There's only four days left 'til the Senate starts their hearings, if I gots my dates right.

By the way, my wife makes the best chicken pot pie ever. Seriously. I thought I would never live to see another meal on par with that sea bass the Hotel Derek was servin' up, but it has finally happened. I'll explain more when it isn't 05:39.

Call it his 'constitutional' rights? - Yahoo! News

We all know the "readin' room" is a great place to check out new gear, but please--I beg of you--observe all applicable safety rules. Even more so when your doins are all hanging out there in the wind, so to speak.

Thanks to Chris S. for the link.

THIS is why I purposely try to steer waaaaay clear of outright and obvious work related posts.

Well 2006 is offically here. I'm stoked already. (He yawned lazily as his fingers danced across the keyboard.)

I spend the week prior to Christmas doing asbolutely nothing. Well not "truly" nothing, but enough nothing that I didn't get much done. Except that which truly had to be done. Yeah. The week between Christmas and the new year has been spent hacking, wheezing, coughing and generally not having a very good time at all. And to wrap it up, I was on-call this weekend and had to work a half-shift on my holiday!

I think I picked up this cold at the Royal Bavaria a week ago Friday. I think. I finally made it up there to visit the Bavarians after almost 10 years of bumping into them here, or seeing them on the highway there. Not surprisingly, it was all good--smiles all around. Jorg and Andy even sent a shout-out to Kelly down in Texas. Yes, that's right kiddies, Andy is back at the Royal B and he is doing some crazy stuff with the menu! Trying to "keep it fresh" as it were. I will be going back sometime this month to get me some sausages fo-sho. When I was out there Friday, all I managed was a few cups o' joe and that is roughly akin to going to the Grand Canyon and NOT throwing something in. It is practically unheard of, I tell you. Maybe next time, I'll even get a pic of the paiting I did for Jorg to commemorate his 1 year anniversary as a restaurateur extraordinaire. I'm happy to report that they are all well and still their old selves. The only ones still there from back in my heyday are Troudel and Karen. Karen is still tening bar and Troudel is actually waiting tables! (And in a special note just for Kelly: Terry and Sofie are STILL coming in, but Larry and Jan aren't. I'll tell you more about that later.)

In other news, we got to see our new cousin, Abigail, over the Christmas break and guess what? She doesn't look like a little old Jewish man. See for your self! In any event, she's the first baby that didn't make me have to lie to their parents when they ask the obligatory "Isn't she adooooorable?" in that googly baby-speak.

So there you have it--the last few days summed up. I'll say it again, this time without the vitriol and obvious trolling: Happy New Year!