<- Notice this is grumpy Troll as opposed to the geeky Troll in the previous post. :)

I have probably ranted about Tactical Reloads before but Tactical Reloads have always bugged me. What's a Tactical Reload? Well that it is, in a gun fight, reloading a weapon while retaining the partially used magazine in the gun for possible later use. Part of my angst for it comes from the draconian enforcement of it in IDPA competition. Part of it comes from my realization that in a real gun fight the likelihood of it being useful is slim and is something I would never want to try while suffering an adrenaline dump.

This YouTube video covers sever good reasons why I don't like it and when and why it might be appropriate to use, better than I probably can.

Until last week things at work where going pretty good. I was up to my eyeballs in some pretty gnarly multi-physics finite element analysis and was as happy as a pig in mud. Then starting last week all the unpleasant parts of being an engineer in a small company caught up with me.

I had to do an internal business plan presentation to upper management!? WTF why the business development guys couldn't do about 80% of that without me, is beyond me. Some good office politics there for sure. Then I have a presentation on that same project to a very likely new outside commercial partner this Saturday. I am still not happy with the presentation but don't have alot of time to work on it. In addition the Saturday meeting is going to make me miss the Hunter's match out at the club and riding miniature trains with Abby. :(

On top of that I have two DOD SBIR proposals due next Wednesday at 6:00AM. One I am writing on my own the other I am compiling for a colleague that is at a conference this week and on vacation next week. If he takes vacation again during SBIR proposal next time and thinks I am picking up the slack on his proposal he's going to get...

And just to make it interesting I have a progress report for an Army program that was due yesterday. And even better I expected that Army program's Phase II to kick-off in November or early December. Well the Army is on the ball and contract negotiations have gone quickly and that contract is probably going to start next week or at the latest the week after. It's good because it mean I have my full budget to throw behind the work but at this point it just feels like the biggest meanest dog landed on top of the already large dogpile.

...always seems to be like a knife fight between to fat dudes locked in a stinking phone booth with the knives starting on the floor[1]. :D :| :` Yeah...

I have never had a greater desire to vote for "none of the above" than this coming election. At best I will be voting against the one that scares me the most. In no way will I be voting for someone and that is a very sad and discouraging prospect.



I know I have posted similar pictures before but it seems to sum up my political expectation/desires this year so well.

[1] Not my original thought just a tweak of a Chris Lehane quote "In the last five days it always comes down to a knife fight in a telephone booth."

keep them busy for a very long time. The past two weekend I have watch the Sci-Fi original movie late Saturday evening. Last week was Ogre and this week was Rock Monster. Wow are these bad. The story lines are passable but the acting and special effect ruin any mild merit the plot might have warranted. You would think the Sci-Fi channel could produce slightly better movies. I mean at least campy B movie Sci-Fi are suppost to be that way most of this stuff is C- at best given that they seem to be trying to be better than campy but failing. Uhgg

Day started good with a quick oil change (for the Element) and two donuts (for me). Work was going good (well) and I was actually doing engineering work. Thing(s) got gloomy when informed I was going to a small group lunch meeting with the company president but that turned out to be good news. Then just as the afternoon looks like it's going to be good, Wham! I get blindsided by and angry subcontractor that has no concept of how to go after more contract money. And to top if off an Electrical Engineer, with a wrench, that does not know the difference between straight and tapered pipe threads and the fact that they are not computable (compatible) thus ruining a $150 (high pressure) flex hose.

Since getting a real job back in December of 2002 till recently I have probably spent more (likely much more) than the average consumer at the local Gander Mountain. Over the last year or so though their prices have been going though the roof and late last year they really put the screws to the consumer.

It was just a week or two after I bought that 1100 I am working on. Suddenly all the prices of there guns, especially used ones, went up $50-$100. Talking to one of the sales persons they told me that all used guns now come with a 1-year Gander Mountain warranty. That sucks, it use to be an option you could purchase or not. The reason I buy used guns is to save money and since I can do all my own maintenance and about 80% of any possible repari work that warranty just makes the guns more expensive with no tangible benefit to me.

Just a few examples of how they are gouging their customers.

Back in 2005 I could by 250rds of UMC 180gr 40S&W for $44.99+tax (frequently with 10% discount I use to get in the mail). Today they want $79.99+tax for that same box of ammunition. Now I understand that the price of lead and copper are up a lot over that same time period but not enough to justify those price increases.

For comparison with other sellers. When I bough some 45ACP ammuntion for my new XD-45ACP I could buy 250rds of UMC 230gr 45ACP for $99.99+tax at Gander Mountain, that's over $20 per 50rds Now across town at Dick's I got Remington Green Box (UMC is manufactured by Remington and is of similar quality to Rem Green box, ie practice ammo) and it was $11.98+tax a box on sale if I bought 500rds. Now you can say it was on sale but even their full retail price was only $15.98+tax a box. Thats 20% cheaper than Gander Mountain even at full price!

Earlier this week when I was in for that choke tube and sights (both of which I could have got cheaper on the web) I saw a used Kahr CW9 in the used handgun display. I have traded my CW9 late last year for my XD-45ACP but I only bought that CW9 last spring and I paid $399 for it new with one magazine. Gander mountain wanted $457 for a used CW9 with two magazines. Now Kahr magazines are expensive but not that expensive.

I do not think I will be shopping there much anymore. The only reason I got the sight and choke tube their was I had exchanged a gift and had a gift card. There clothing is still reasonable but their firearms and ammunition are simply too expensive.

...because of greed (my own included), the ugly side of capitalism/consumerism, misdirected religious fervor, and the helpless-angry feeling of having been forced to do something against my will.

Yeah it's probably not quite as bad as the above reads but without pages of explanation (that I have no doubt would bore the few readers I have) that will have to do. Once Christmas day actually gets here I usually get over most of the above and enjoy myself to some degree but at present I really hate this holiday.

So we get a little bad weather this weekend and my internet connection at home goes out for nearly four days. Saturday morning till this evening. If this was the first time I might understand but every time we get a winter storm my Time Warner cable internet goes out. The cable TV still works just no internet. I bet in the last two years (IIRC) of Time Warner service the Internet has gone out 20+ times. Before that we had Comcast and internet access went out one (1) ONE! time that wasn't announce as a maintenance outage before hand. Time Warner sucks!

I have not written and National Institute of Health SBIR proposal in over two years and trying to get back on that horse sucks hard core and to make it worst I'll be damn if government bureaucracy doesn't sucks hard core. The instruction manual (format/content instructions) for this proposal is longer than the final proposal will be and organized by a crack addict. For the most part I really like my job but late at night working on a proposal as painful as this one makes me start thinking about polishing up the CV and getting a job that does not require proposal writing. Writing has always been a struggle for me but I have manage to learn to like it most of the time, except for proposals, they still suck worse than high school English class assignments. One of my co-worker said it build character. FTW! my character is already precariously stacked and this is as liable to topple it over as it is to build it up!

The City of Cleveland has this wonderful Euclid Corridor project and as part of that they are running the bus lanes down the center of Euclid Avenue. It's a really really bad layout as pedestrians have to cross to a center median to get on and off the buses. This also puts the buses left of the left turn lane and so much to my dismay they have set the signals up so that you can only turn left on the left turn arrow (Usually that sign says "yield on green").

I was sitting at the light going to lunch today the light turns green and being there were no cars in the on coming lanes of traffic I took the left turn like you would legally at nearly ever other intersection on the planet. But no I got picked up by a transit authority officer and given a nice big fat traffic ticket ($180). No warning not nothing, the intersection signals have been operating like this for less than a month now, a warning would have been the courteous thing to do IMHO. This messed up project has the city so worried about the traffic danger created by the poor layout they are also passing out $175 J-walking tickets too apparently. And all the intersections also have no right on red too. Even with the bus lanes not in use yet the traffic crawls down Euclid Ave.

The money pinches, certainly it will not put me out on the street or anything, I could have bought a half case of really good 223 ammo with it though. It just adds one more thing to enhance my hatred of the city. I would never go into Cleveland if I didn't work there and today had reinforced that sentiment. When I want to have fun I never think, "Oh lets go down town to do X." The city sucks, the Euclid corridor project is going to cause a fatal traffic accident before the project is even complete and the City's draconian enforcement of the traffic laws in the corridor to "keep us safe" is simply driving businesses and customers away from the area. Already several restaurants near my building have gone under due to the traffic enforcement, very slow progress and poorly planed project. It is another example of just how bad this city sucks. I wish my company had never moved down town.

The worst part for me is part of me feels like a bad person. Normally nothing anyone says to me really bothers me. I know who I am and someone's opinion of me rarely lowers my own opinion of myself but this does in some ways, despite the fact I know it has no bearing at all on who I am. I feel I am a good person, I pay my taxes, I vote, I do not willfully break laws. My traffic violation today was not willful it was negligent but not willful but I feel treated the same as a willful criminal. Even when I called the phone number on the ticket to determine the fine amount I felt like I was being treated like a sub-standard human.

I understand the need to enforce traffic laws but in this situation a warning seemed more appropriate. It would have served the same purpose, a warning or a ticket both would have made me aware of the new traffic patterns and I would have follow them correct from that time forward. But the ticket puts money in Cleveland's coffers, but I think it will ultimately cost them more than they made of of me today. I know I will be spending as little money in that county as I can. I might even start packing my lunches to work again rather that going out.