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June 27, 2022 – Back to Reality

June 27, 2022 /

It is strange sitting in the Barcelona airport and typing this message. We are about board the plane for the first leg home. I had all of my posts staged for the last week and a half (with the exception of last Tuesday’s). So, I haven’t given much thought to the beginning of the work week.

So much of my future has been pegged to this trip. It seems like everything was categorized as ’Needs to Get Done Before’ or ’Needs to Wait Until After’. Now, the trip is over, so there is only what comes next. For instance, It is truly time to get to work on my siding project before I actually run out of summer.

I am sure I will probably talk about my trip most of the week, so I don’t have to get it all in today. Plus, I am in kind of a mental fog right now. I don’t know exactly how to name it, but I will attempt to describe it. It is not a hangover, that is the next day pain from the party. It is not the intoxication from the trip, I guess that I would call it the afterglow? You just want to be and nothing really else.

I don’t always feel like every vacation is over. I suppose that it is more like the vacation never started. Maybe it is a function of the duration of the time and maybe distance. In this case, having 10 days in Spain is probably enough time and disconnection from reality that it worked. In contrast, my last day off was a drive to Texas and back in a week. That was definitely not relaxing.

I don’t know if there is a proper formula for a successful. It very well could be different for each person. I know for me, I don’t want to just lay by the pool or in the sand. However, I don’t know if a constant touring format is enough downtime. This vacation had a bit of each.

I was able to finish my pretty substantial book “The Lost Symbol” on the trip as well as see Barcelona multiple days. If I had full control of the itinerary, I probably would have tried to take advantage of the fact that this was my first time in Spain and try to see as much as possible like it was my one opportunity. But, in retrospect I think leaving something for later as well as not filling every minute made it successful.

I am a creature of habit. My days are filled with doing the same things every day. I listen to my podcast list, I check my usual blogs, social media, news and information aggregators. None of these things I did on the trip. The instinctual part of me wants to catch up but a larger part of me want’s to leave it where it lies. That is probably part of a successful vacation as well. It is so difficult for me but probably worth it.

End Your Programming Routine: A lot of this I wrote before we got home. I definitely had some major surprises when we got home. However, I am not going to take today down with those specifics. Let me just say, it was definitely back to reality on Sunday and hopefully another trip to Spain someday.

June 24, 2022 – Podcast Episode 3, Dungeons and Dragons

June 24, 2022 /

I suppose game playing has become more acceptable, particularly role-playing games. Now that they can be played on the computer or game console and not had to be read out of a book, more people do it. Yes, I was one of those Dungeons and Dragons nerds in middle school and high school. Today, I make an argument for why I benefited from playing those games.

Anecdotally, we started watching Stranger Things recently. You know that the opening scene has the four characters playing Dungeons and Dragons. We are mostly through the first season, if you have seen it then you will see the undertones of Dungeons and Dragons keep popping up.

I actually wrote the outline of this podcast May 17, 2019. I was trying build up a library of show topics before actually starting to podcast. I remember what happened was that my wife was not totally into the name, then I kind of got put off and stopped working on the project all together (until December). I did keep them and I was looking for something non-temporal to talk about.

End Your Programming Routine: We should be on our way home by the time this is published. I am currently unable to predict the future, so we will see how things go for next week. For now, I am going to leave my point in the podcast and hope that I am able to get back in the groove Monday. Until then, enjoy your weekend.

June 23, 2022 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

June 23, 2022 /

It’s probably a foregone conclusion that semi-automatic pistols are a superior design to revolvers (for the most part). It is the reason the the majority of the handgun’s sold are semi-auto. But, that doesn’t mean that revolvers don’t have a niche. The one area revolvers actually accel is in the cartridge selection for performance.

First we start with handgun versus rifle. Generally speaking, the rifle is always the more effective tool. So, a handgun is a compromise. We carry a handgun when carrying a rifle is not practical. If we are going to have any tool, then we have to understand the purpose of the tool.

An example of purpose is self defense. Fishing in the Alaska back country has a different set of potential risks than walking the dog at night. Revolvers are significantly stronger and fire cartridges that are higher pressure and have better terminal performance. This is a long way of saying revolvers can fire more potent cartridges which work better for hunting and stopping larger animals,

Semi-Automatic pistols are easier to shoot because the barrel and therefore the recoil is more in line with the hand and the arm. This means that the propensity of muzzle flip and controllability for follow up shots are easier. The design of the revolver lends itself to more muzzle flip.

In the picture above, I have illustrated the recoil force directly opposite to the path of a bullet. The design of the grip actually leads to a fulcrum effect, potentially causing the whole firearm to flip. This requires a firm grip and wrist to hold things in place. There are some other potential factors to control as well that I will talk about.

It is worth pointing out that different revolvers have different grip designs and overall positions. The one pictured above has probably the most exaggerated design for muzzle flip that I will talk about below. The higher the barrel is to the grip, the more likely control could be a problem.

One of the variables is cartridge. Light loads is translated to lighter bullets and lower velocities. You will remember from a few weeks ago that Energy = 1/2 * mass * velocity * velocity that I talked about. This also happens to be be Newton’s second law. Since we are talking about Newton, his third law paraphrases in recoil will be the same in opposite direction.

Recoil is a somewhat complicated and subjective subject. There are the physics of actual recoil and the perception of felt recoil. One of the known factors of felt recoil is the overall mass of the firearm helps the user ‘feel’ less recoil. I suspect that this is because true recoil is not exactly linear but conical. It is widely held that lighter revolvers are more punishing to shoot. I can say that the aluminum alloy .38 special is much more punishing than shooting out of a full size steel pistol.

It is not just the material the firearm is made of that adds mass but also the size. Standard revolvers are 2″, 3″, 4″, 5″ and 6″ barrels with 2, 4 and 6 being the most prevalent. This adds to more mass but the control is a little counter intuitive until you look at the lever again. The longer the barrel the more leverage on the fulcrum. So, when firing powerful cartridges, a shorter barrel is easier to control because there is less perceived recoil for a couple of factors.

Going back to the compromise again and barrel length. Factory cartridges are loaded to function in all scenarios (and devices). When you look at handgun cartridges, the longer the barrel, the more chance that the entire powder charge is consumed. The more powder consumed, the more velocity is created and that squares the energy calculation causing more recoil. Not only does the energy increase, but so does the leverage on the fulcrum. This is another way of saying that perceived recoil is compounded with longer barrels.

End Your Programming Routine: I don’t write this to scare you or dissuade you from selecting or carrying the best tool but rather to explain the phenomenon of recoil. The good news is that you can practice with lighter loads, which help a lot. Practice will help tremendously with mastery and confidence. Those two properties will make you much more likely to have it with you and mitigate risks in the back country. Don’t forget, something that can stop a bear can also stop a bad guy too.

June 22, 2022 – Time to Look Ahead

June 22, 2022 /

Wasn’t that great? We are a couple days from the end of our time here in Spain. I will spend time next week unpacking the important items from the trip. Today, I am starting to change my mindset into looking forward beyond vacation. And boy, there is work to be done.

  1. My summer project. It is time to start ripping off siding and fixing the rotten siding. In theory, I think that it is going to take a couple of weeks. Those ideas always get waylaid by everything else going on. I am going to estimate that this is going to take all summer.
  2. Fourth of July. Since the fourth is on Monday, this will be an entire weekend fireworks, parades, barbeques and carnivals. I don’t mind a fireworks display or drinking some beer. But, I have to say that one day is enough for me.
  3. Chess in the Park. When my son has a dream, it quickly becomes my dream (responsibility). My son has created eight Saturdays where he is running chess in the park. Basically every Saturday between the Fourth and Labor day has a commitment of several hours in the park to run this event.
  4. Of the age of Summer Jobs. My other son will be driving tractor for five weeks. This entire time will be before having a drivers license and therefore we will have to drop off and pick up every day.
  5. Birthday week. The last week in July is birthday week for my wife and son. This is usually the most hectic week of the summer with activities.

That is just July (mostly). What happened to camping and fishing? I don’t foresee this happening this year. August starts to look ahead to the next school year, harvest time and finishing what we started for the summer. Hopefully, I can sneak some respite and recreation in there before the summer is over.

I do have some other expectations for the summer. My wife wants the lattice replaced on the deck. Now that my son’s car is in the garage, I need to block off some time to see if I can help him get it working. This isn’t mentioning things that I want to do like take my dad out for belated Father’s day and restart my range trips that have fallen off in recent months. Culinary book club has restarted and I am planning on an AltF4 series on Atlas Shrugged. Plus, I wanted to put some time into making Adirondack chairs while we can still enjoy them.

End Your Programming Routine: In many ways, I have put my life on hold for the sake of this vacation. To be clear, I did have a good time but I am glad to be moving on. I am anxious to get my project started that I have been putting off for months. It’s a beautiful country with lovely food and people. It is not just me to live my life as a party and lay on the beach, even on vacation.

June 21, 2022 – Hola desde Espana

June 21, 2022 /

This is a mobile update from Spain today. I will have plenty of time to unpack any lesson’s learned or anecdotes when I get back. I thought I would share some of my favorite pictures that I have taken so far.

Food is very important here. Our first night was dinner with ‘the family’ purchased with items from the market. I am positive that I will be talking more about food and eating habits coming up, since they play such an important prominence in life.

Our first trip was west to a nearby city called Tarragona. Roman influence dates all the way back to 200 BC. Consequently, there were many interesting things to learn about and see. Having been to Rome before, this is kind of small potatoes by comparison, but everything was lovely. I wish we could have seen some of the re-enactments while we were there.

Then, we learned about Gaudi. I should say re-learned because I remember his work from art history class in college. We spent several days looking at his work throughout the city. My pictures are not nearly as great as my wife’s. Maybe I will get them after the trip.

End Your Programming Routine: So far, so good. We are enjoying our trip so much. Today we are off to another adventure (and part of Spain). Look forward to more about Spain next week.

June 20, 2022 – The Rain In Spain

June 20, 2022 /

The first time I ever heard this phrase was in Steven King’s The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger. If I remember correctly, the main character Roland recites these words as a poem.

“The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.
There is joy and also pain
but the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.
Pretty-plain, loony-sane
The ways of the world all will change and all the ways remain the same
but if you’re mad or only sane
the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.
We walk in love but fly in chains
And the planes in Spain fall mainly in the rain.”

I didn’t know the origins of the lyrics, I think I read the book in middle school or high school. I thought it was unique to the book when one day I heard my grandfather utter the phrase. We were working on a rental house and it started raining and then he said, “The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain”.

I never asked him, but I am pretty sure he was not a reader of Steven King. He read a lot of other things like National Geographic, the newspaper, the Bible, the Catechisms, Reader’s Digest, etc. It made me think that there was another source. But, this was the time that was pre-internet so research was not so easy to do. I kind of forgot about it until I was think about our trip to Spain.

It turns out, it was referenced in the 1938 film Pygmalian and subsequently published in 1956 for My Fair Lady. I am no old movie/musical/theater buff. So, I haven’t seen either but I am sure that is where he picked it up. This would have been in the early 1990s.

From my research, it appears that King changed the words so I guess if you get past the first stanza, you wouldn’t recognize it. To me, it sounded kind of like gibberish in the first place. It’s probably a book that I could re-read and get more out of it. I don’t remember a lot of it anyway. But reading the plot summary again, it said that King re-wrote it in 2003 because he thought it was difficult to understand and follow. I kind of agree and I think that is why I don’t remember much of it.

There was a movie made in 2017. From that plot summary, it was a combination of two books (in the five book series). So, the phrase was not in the original play, but in the subsequent movie, then changed by King in his books which have movies combining books together. No wonder I don’t know what is going on.

End Your Programming Routine: Coming from very temperate Oregon, we have not had any rain in Spain. It got up to near 90 at the end of April but we have been seeing highs in the low sixties lately. It is nice to get a taste of summer on our vacation.

June 17, 2022 – Looking for a Quick Win

June 17, 2022 /

I want to start building some rigor into podcasting and unfortunately, the timing is poor with me being in Spain. I thought maybe I would talk about some travel tips today since I have flown quite a bit. In addition, I have flown internationally many more times that I would like and this all fits into what I have up to lately.

At one time, I was a Delta Platinum frequent flyer (back when that was the highest tier) and I even got a Christmas card from a hotel one year. I know a bit about travelling. What I am trying to convey is not the nuts and bolts of travelling or packing tips or how to get the best deals or the most out of travel but best practices.

The Merriam Webster definition of best practices are as follows: a procedure that has been shown by research and experience to produce optimal results and that is established or proposed as a standard suitable for widespread adoption. To be clear, these are most typically opinions from subject matter experts (like myself in this case). There is nothing saying that there are not conflicting opinions labelled as best practices from different sources.

Travelling for business and travelling for vacation are not exactly the same thing but they share a lot in common. Primarily, they are both travel. I think most people in the business world pack and orient toward speed. Meaning ‘How can I get off the plane and get home as fast as possible’? This means no checking bags and keeping things as compact as possible. I am going to let the the podcast speak for itself for the rest of this.

End Your Programming Routine: Bear with me, this is the beginning. I have listened several times and heard the smacks and uh’s too. I mean, I don’t think it is too bad considering these are off the cuff and I don’t have much practice. I anticipate adding some bumper music and working on a more standard intro and exit. But overall, I am pretty happy with what I have here.

June 16, 2022 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

June 16, 2022 /

Last week I talked about how poorly I shot at sporting clays. When I lined my right eye with the barrel, everything is fine until I open the left eye. Then, I was looking at the side of the shotgun. That was weird, but I haven’t shot much from my shotgun in the last couple of years. So, I mounted the gun on the left and did the same thing (with same results) . Hmmm, I know that I am right eye dominant but something is wrong. Maybe it is gun fit? Watch the second video for some additional tips on how to deal with this problem.

Determining the dominant eye is one of the first things you should do as a shotgun shooter. Depending on which eye is dominant, then that should determine how you should actually shoot. Left eye dominant people should shoot left handed. Right eye dominant should shoot right handed.

The objective is to have the best sight picture. There is no way you can shoot accurately if you cannot sight down the barrel properly. It might be hard to switch shoulders but it is much better in the long run for accuracy.

I actually practice a little bit with both. It is a good exercise in case SHTF situations. I am pretty ambidextrous for the most part, but the sight picture is way off with long guns. That then leads to a pretty awkward position to see the sights properly. Handguns I noticed that it is a little easier to get a better sight picture, but my strength in the left hand is not nearly the same. Muscle memory will build though if you try.

End Your Programming Routine: As you know, I am enjoying my time in Spain right now so I am keeping it short. This is a very important part of long gun shooting. Start your kids off right or go ahead and make that shift if you need to. Your success rate will thank you.

June 15, 2022 – Spain Bound

June 15, 2022 /

I know, security experts say not to broadcast your absence over the internet. To that, I say that is good advice particularly for social media. But, either the people closest to us know that we are going or people on this site do not know precisely where we live. It is not that the house is going to be empty anyway.

Today, we are off to eight days in Spain (plus two travel days). I am probably going to do some degree of writing ahead here. But, I don’t think I will do eight days worth. I may opt to post some while I am travelling, but that is not likely. What I am saying is… be prepared for a gap.

This is an important trip. For one thing, the airplane tickets were almost $2000 a piece. This is my first vacation since 2019. Not that taking two years off wasn’t restful, it definitely was. This is my kid’s first time in Europe and leaving the continent. This will be all of our first time in Spain.

We are going to visit our exchange student and his family. We are going to stay pretty close to Barcelona except for a couple days in Majorica with no real agenda. We will see the sights in Barcelona, but most of it is going to be seeing the beach and re-connecting.

There is some anxiety on for the trip as well. From what I have read, for entry we need a passport and a vaccine card within the last 270 days. In order to come home, we will need a Covid test to be negative. I really don’t know what the mask situation or anything like that is currently.

End Your Programming Routine: I don’t want to dwell on the potential negatives. I am looking forward to taking some time off and an adventure. I am sure I will get some content out of this so, look forward to some insight from Spain later in the month. Until then, I am off!

June 14, 2022 – In the Storm

June 14, 2022 /

I talked about the appearance remodel that began Monday of last week. We survived nearly a week without a kitchen. As I predicted, there will be a host of changes as a result. The floor is going to get painted as well as the cabinets. Not all of the the cabinets are going back up. And, I will have to build some shelves to replace the corner unit. The ceiling is going to be torn out with new lights and so on and so forth.

I am not upset, there is no point. But I am not totally happy. I think that it is wasteful to get rid of the cabinets and I think that we are adding less functional shelving to replace it. I am not a fan of painting wood for the most part either. The only thing that I can kind of understand is painting the floor. I will be interested to see how that works out.

There are some things that I just cannot care too much about. And this is going to be one of them. I think that it will be nice when it is done, I just don’t think that it is necessary. This is one of my not going to die on hills.

I think the other issue that I had is that this is going to keep the kitchen in disarray for some unknown time. Enough of that though. I have my own projects to worry about. plus we have deck work starting this week and the fence and now driveway soon.

End Your Programming Routine: After the kitchen is done, there will be one room remaining that hasn’t been touched since we moved in. That is what is the master bathroom. I wouldn’t be surprised if that is next on the list as it is 90’s ugly. Just like I like my furniture buy once cry once, I hope that removing the paneling and adding tile is one of those changes.