Decisions

There is Mildly Unexpected Money inbound, and after the Priorities, I have some to play with.

This, of course, means a New Firearm.

The preliminary decision process was easy. I thought about another Garand, but I'm still looking for a place that will let me shoot FMJ and which has a big/long range. So that was out. I thought about a nice little .270 and scope, but, life being what it is, there's going to be plenty of money between now and my next chance to do any open-country hunting. So that left a new pistol.

I am choosing between two. I have always like the feel of a lightened 4-inch 1911, and so I'm thinking about the Kimber Pro Carry.



I love my 1911s, and this is a very carry-friendly pistol. I don't trust the shorter models, and I don't need laser grips and all the other available insanity. I like these, and I know I'd shoot it.

The other option is the Walther P99 in 9mm. (sorry about the retail link, but Walter's website was being special)



I really like the ergonomics on the P22, and I think I'd love the 9. They make a .40, but I have no intention of adding another caliber to the stable. I find the "QA" trigger concept interesting. I may go to a nearby range and see if they have one to rent.

The decision is probably just going to come down to which one feels best in the hand. Both are attractive, and both would be used.

I love these dilemmas.

So there I was

sitting at my desk, pretending to work whilst my employer pretended to pay me. The gal who sits next to me had, it seems, brought Candy to Share.

(This is awesome. I love candy. Sometimes, when the Mister is out of town, I live on nothing but coffee and Sour Patch Kids.)

She offered me some "chocolate Skittles."

And I accepted because, hey - it's candy. Check this out.



Y'all may want to avoid these if they come your way. I received them on Thursday, worked Friday and Saturday, and the vast majority of them are still on my desk, in the bag.

Because really, "brownie batter," "chocolate pudding," and "caramel," are not meant to be Skittles flavors. They start out tasting like a cardboard box, and leave a slight aftertaste of what the manufacturer intended. Slight.

Not a good thing. Consider yourselves warned.

The manufacturer, incidentally, seemed to too ashamed to admit to these. I found a review of them here.

Yikes!

Stupid Travid McGee novels...I've read them all three times or so and I still can get caught up and stay up way too late to finish one.

And now I've overslept. Off to the Salt Mine!

Valentine's Day

Has officially been declared a non-holiday here. The Mister is out of town and I have not felt overwhelmed by the urge to buy him pink heart-shaped motorcycle accessories anyway.

That's not to say I won't crack a bottle of wine and drink it with the dogs by candlelight this evening, though.

Cheerful news

I'd noted that some evil terrorist thug had run into some misfortune in Syria.

But I had to read through the story before I found the good part. It wasn't just your average run of the mill terrorist POS.

Western intelligence agencies long suspected Mughniyeh in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, that killed 63 people. He also is suspected in the truck bombing that year of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, an attack that killed 241 people and preceded the U.S. military withdrawal from Lebanon

Oh, really? Killed a lot of Marines and Sailors that day.

From Military.com, we have this other juicy bit:

Mughniyeh was believed to have directed a group that held Westerners hostage in Lebanon. Among them was journalist Terry Anderson, a former Associated Press chief Middle East correspondent who was held captive for six years.

"I can't say I'm either surprised or sad," Andersen told the AP by phone from the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, where he was sailing. "He was not a good man - certainly the primary actor in my kidnapping and many others," he added. "To hear that his career has finally ended is a good thing and it's appropriate that he goes up in a car bomb."

Terry Anderson was a Marine as well, incidentally. Mr. Mughniyeh apparently did not approve of God's Blessed Corps.



We know the Streets of Heaven are guarded by United States Marines, but I hope a couple of them were detailed to the gates of Hell to kick this fat fucker through. Good riddance.

Very nice

There are some good points to being an independent adult. Some even better points when you are such and your spouse is out of town.

Y'all know what I'm getting at, right?

Yup. Bacon for supper.



Bacon and mixed veggies and nothing else. That's a good thing. And I think I still have sufficient time to air out the house before the mister gets home.

[bummed]

I'm just going to bitch a little bit, 'cause that's where I'm at right now.

So the Mister is out of town, fixing problems in Houston. This leaves me at home with the dogs. One whom [cough black puppy cough] insists upon "acting out" when I'm on the phone by stealing shoes and racing through the house. The minute I hang up, he chills out and curls up for a nap.

Yesterday was my regularly scheduled Monday off, which meant I had to go back to work today. There's some sort of evil virus making its way through my workplace, which is probably linked to the fact that I work in an office full of sedentary people. Not that we have any choice about that, but the whole sitting at a desk thing is like having some sort of insect burrowing into one's ear all day long. Ugh. This is also my week to work Saturday, and that makes me so happy I could spit.

There are politics on TV. Mostly this is Barack Obama yapping about hope and destiny and some other shit that makes me think of an overwrought college freshman who's just taken his first drama class. Hillary was talking, too, but I lost interest and went out to smoke. I caught a little of John McCain, who I'm inclined to like, but who seems to irritate lots of Republicans by not being sufficiently Jesus-freaky/immigration-crazed/socially conservative.

God forbid the party that most of the country is pissed off at runs a candidate with some appeal to moderate America. That sounds like a terrible idea.

I probably should have watched the dog show instead. Then again, I'm just ornery enough this evening that I'd have ranted about that. It has happened before.

Alright. I'm off to bed before it starts to sound like a good idea to drink beer and buy firearms accessories online.

Driving with dog help

I had to zip over to my reserve unit today to do some stuff. Since Jack was being hysterical, I thought I'd take him along.

Now, if I could just convince him that I have my hand on the shifting lever because sometimes I need to move it, not to provide him with a place to rest his head.



[sigh]

It's fortunate he's cute, or, like his first owner, I could be tempted to leave him on the side of the highway.

T'was a fabulous day

to be home. And the weather was nice, too. Yes - I am rubbing it in a little for my northern readers.

(It is currently 1 degree F, with a windchill of -16, in Grand Rapids, Michigan)

In Fort Worth, however, it was around 70 today. Warm enough that when we took the Bad Dogs for a walk, there was panting.



And did I mention I wore shorts for this walk?



And a T-shirt?



I am not 100% in love with Texas, but when I'm walking dogs in shorts on the 10th of February, it's not all bad.

I'm going to go make up the guest room now, because that post may be just enough to push the Michigan crew over the edge and get them on planes.