Hello anyone who might be reading this... I've finally gotten around to updating this site and removing the 6k+ spam comments that were filling up my hosting account. I'm not sure if I'm going to start putting actual content here or not (probably not) but at least the site got a facelift. I'm leaving the old content here so anyone who saw it earlier might still be able to see it.   Read the rest of the entry...

I recently picked up a Taurus 38s at the local gunshow. They had it at a good price, and it had the ammo and trigger types I was looking for, but I must admit it was somewhat of a impulse buy. I had spent some time looking at different types of pistols. I started looking with the different types of ammo, as that is something that can be decided easier with just charts on paper and does not require as many trips to the shooting range. The two main cartridges I found at first was the 9mm and the .45 ACP. Both of these are easy to come by (the range rents them), however I found that I really do not like the amount of recoil that these produce. After some further research I found the 38 Super cartridge. Some internet forums had proponents of this type of ammunition touting its lower recoil to foot-pounds of pressure ratio. A quote from here: The Super .38 was developed in a joint venture between Colt and the law enforcement officials during the turbulent late 1920s in the United States. Criminals such as John Dillinger, Lester Gillis (Baby Face Nelson), Clyde Barrow, and Bonnie ...  Read the rest of the entry...

So... adding to the blog the newest entry in my arsenal (now consisting of this one thing!) is a Mossberg 590A1. Having never owned a gun before I am excited to be able to exercise my 2nd amendment rights :). Here is what they look like new: Mine has a few self-installed modifications... I added a knoxx folding stock (in the hopes that Betty could use it), a rail-mounted red-dot sight and a shell holder. The shell holder is useful for how we plan to store it: unloaded with shells attached. We have no children in our house, nor do we invite any over as company. With the swords in the livingroom I would say that our house is already about as kid-unfriendly as it can get. Short to say, we are not allowing any kids in anyways so the shells stay near the gun. The sight is kind of cool, and mostly for range use: A "red-dot" sight is called such as it projects a dot into the middle of the tube when it is looked at. It's easier to see a picture then anything else: This sight is made by "tru-glow" and I got it online for sub $90. I'm honestly quite ...  Read the rest of the entry...

So I've been spending a lot of time at work staring into my laptop's screen at work a lot recently. Little laptop screens are not the best thing for eyestrain, but after some luck I've got 3 unused flat panel monitors in my cube. I've got it plugged into one of them so that I'm not quite so eyesore when I get home each night. Still... using only 1/2 of the available screenage in my cube disturbs me. So I went on a hunt, and found this piece of software. ScreenRecycler allows a (mac only, sorry) computer to use the display of whatever older computer you have laying around to drive a secondary (or third, in my case) monitor into a computer with only one video card. It's much nicer to keep some picture on the displays I've got sitting around. It uses VNC in order to pipe the video to the remote screen so the refresh rate is not-so-great and 3d is not possible, but it works pretty well for $25. I'm not sure you can do this with (existing software) for a linux machine even....   Read the rest of the entry...

So I'm sitting in my livingroom working on my work stuff and my neighbor comes over. She wants to know what kind of computer she should get because her computer "does not have enough megabits". My neighbor knows nothing of computers it seems. I followed her into her apartment, and what do I see but one of these: It's an iMac. As in the ORIGINAL 233mhz, 5GB HDD, 2MB vram, OS 9.2 mac. Its the revision A iMac, in the first released color. It's an antique. *_* After some discussion, I found out what not enough megabits means. My neighbor had bought a printer at costco and the iMac could not talk to it. She wanted to get a new computer for "cheap as free". Of course, computers are not free, but with my neighbors it does not matter. They have 5 people living in a one bedroom under one income. It kind of reminds me of my own family actually. After doing some searching I came to the conclusion that even if they upgraded the iMac to the newest version of the OS that it could run, it still would not drive their printer. Returning the printer was out of the question ...  Read the rest of the entry...

Well it is that time again. A test is running here so I'm stuck waiting for it to finish. I've been spending some time trying to figure what I should replace my incredibly crappy knives with. My knives are the "gotten free in College for filling out online surveys" kind. Plastic handles, cheap thin stainless, crappy serrations. I started out by looking at the normal names, and I found myself completely unimpressed. The workmanship of even "high end" Henckels was extremely inconsistent. They had double beveled edges, and the sharpening was not the same angle throughout the blade. Since I'm also into Japanese swords, I figured I would look at Japanese made knives. After some googling (and a trip to the local kitchen store) I found "Shun" knives. They are made in the same san-mei style that a tanto would be made out of, and also they use the same steel that is used in performance swords. The steel is probably overkill for a kitchen knife, but the workmanship is quite good. I also found some videos for them done by Alton Brown (the guy from good eats): (Warning! the following videos contain advertising!) This is an ad for their steel. Its ...  Read the rest of the entry...

Hello all, Being that I never really seem to update this blog, I think I'm going to start posting interesting stuff here. Here is a drink I made tonight: Canadian Summer: 1 oz Canadian Whiskey 3/4 oz white creme de caco 2 tsp. green ceme de menthe 2 ice cubes top off with club soda in highball glass The drink is really smooth with Crown Royale whiskey, with basically no kick. If you don't stir it much the bottom of the drink is much sweeter then the rest of it, which I liked. This drink is green, very green. Very soda-like with the bubbles from the club soda. Pretty good for a first time.   Read the rest of the entry...

This recipie makes 2 8 Frozen Strawberries 8 ice cubes 2 small shots water 2 large shots Rum 4 teaspoons sugar 2 small shots lime juice (By small shots I mean 1/2 OZ and large shots are 1 1/2 OZ)   Read the rest of the entry...

We moved... more pictures are coming soon.... but the DSL is working now:   Read the rest of the entry...

So... I got a knife :) This one is a gift from my Mother. Heh, go figure that my Mom now will buy me sharp pointy things :P This is a Japanese Tanto, it was used as a close-quarters knife and also as part of the formal uniform for ceremonies. The says contains a small kozuka knife. The kozuka was used as a utility knife, as it is too small to be used for fighting. Think of it as a Japanese pocket knife.   Read the rest of the entry...

Hello Cantalope... meet my pointy friend. Mmmmm... melons... hehe   Read the rest of the entry...

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I posted this in the sword forum I frequent, and I'm reposting it here :) Hello all, A few weeks ago I came across this thread, which mentioned a new, untried cheap katana source: As I was looking for a project blade I decided to snap one up. Sukotto Swordworks. They sell katanas on ebay , starting at a penny each (although now they seem to have upped their price), and they also have ones on their website for $150. I managed to grab mine for $68.98 shipped. The seller shipped through UPS and was very helpful throughout the entire process. I e-mailed a few times with questions before the sale and once after the sale about the fittings. I always received next-day answers. Since I am a newbie to sword collecting (and a poor graduate student) I can not afford nice swords quite yet. As a result of this, the only thing I have to compare my Sukotto with is my Masahiro. I also have an iaito, which was imported from Japan, however comparing an iaito to a katana is not fair. The iaito did wind up in a few of the later pictures. Basically I found that even compared to other cheaper ...  Read the rest of the entry...

Yet anther wierd thing... I was passing by the health center on campus yesterday. It was after all the eateries on campus closed, soI went in to try to find a drinking fountian. I wound up with a new perscription instead: :P   Read the rest of the entry...

Betty's gift to me has finally arrived :) Picture goodness: (Really huge uncropped picture warning!) Discriptions are on the page with the images.   Now I need to make myself not play with it until summer when I can take the time to get lessons. :) For now it gets to sit on the holder next to the Katana.   Read the rest of the entry...

I would like someone to explain to me why I am suddenly so old that the games I rememember are called classics? They were fun, but the hardware is no more.... ... or so I thought... Someone made a VM-like program which emulates DOS+himem+sound+mouse under WinXP. Here it is with Hyperspeed running in it. :) W00t! Also here is me beating the game again for old times sake ^_^     I love the typo in the endgame screen... Now that's classic gaming at it's best :)   Read the rest of the entry...

Hello all, I have found myself a hobby that is outside the computer, about as far away from the computer as it gets... I've gotten a real katana for my spring break present to myself, and Betty went off and bought me a Iaito (non-sharpened pratice sword) for an aniversery gift. (Our one-year is in 1.5 weeks yay!) ;) The iaito will not arrive for about 14 weeks, as it takes some time to smith it... I found this little beauty in Chinatown San Francisco while we were up there visiting Betty's folks. Her Dad has this odd notion that since I was looking for a real (not wall-hanging varity) sword, that I was out to go cut someones head off... Hrm... I guess the man is very traditional. I found the traditional cleaning kit for a katana in a local shop. The steel that a katana is made out of is designed to never crack. As a result, katanas can usully cut right through other types of swords. The downside to this material is that this type of steel is prone to rusting, hence the cleaning process. One needs to oil the sword once every three months to keep oxygen off the blade. I ...  Read the rest of the entry...

Alright folks, I've officially moved in with Betty now. The new place is all kinds of awesomeness... This is the floorplan of the place... It basically has one big livingroom, with kitchen in the middle of the livingroom (it works out very well), with the bedroom and bath hidden in tha back part of the house. There is a huge glass sliding-door at the front of the place, with a gate outside. I can't get photos because it's raining outside. Pictures follow (with thumbnail goodness): We have enough room for a kitchen table (yay!) And a DISHWASHER YAY! hahahaha.... ou know you are at home when there is a dishwasher.. The odd livingroom setup. It will become mroe apparent in a minute. The couch, with a big machine behind it. My desk, also in the livingroom (this place has 2 rooms), behind the couch and near the front door. That big machine behind the couch was a big fat projector. Here is a movie on the wall... More posts to come soon. Finals week is on me...   Read the rest of the entry...

Hello all, time for an update. Wierdness has happened with Betty's family. They have decided taht her rent was too expensive, so they now want her to find a cheaper place... The only porblem is that there is no cheaper places. After about a week of trying to find a non-existant place that is under $750 for a one bedroom in santa cruz, Jason (Betty's brother) has suggested, and gotten the approval of Betty's parents, for me to move in with Betty... Short to say this is a good thing, moving in with my girlfriend and all, but this does put me in an odd suituation when they come down to visit. The new place is quite huge, as we seem to have found quite the good deal. It was pretty random as well: we were driving down a road that we rarely drive on, to a meeting with Nils on campus on a Sunday... when we saw an apartment comples which had their phone number on a sign outside their front door. I called their number, and got a prompt response that we should come and look right away. The place is quite nice (one of those places that rents to ...  Read the rest of the entry...

Hello all, Its been a while.... Been working on my school for a while... its been keeping me busy... For those of you who have been keeping up with it, there is a mold problem in the house where I am living. Gawh! Mold is the evil kin of all things bad, and it cant be healthy to live in a place where the walls are growing. ... So I am moving... Again... carigslist is actually a help this time, instead of being a hinderance, so I'm finding places with relative ease... The only problem is all of the places are really >>>small   Read the rest of the entry...