Over three years ago I wrote an article on Gibberish about how the Clinton-era assault weapons ban prompted me to buy a semi-automatic AK-47 clone. I believe the ban on “high capacity” magazines ushered in the era of smaller semi-automatic handguns, which made pistols easier to conceal. Funny how a ban had an opposite effect back then: it prompted me to buy a firearm I had never seriously considered before and it made firearms easier to conceal. The gun ban proliferated firearms in ways previously unconsidered.

I knew going into this election that either candidate was going to erode my civil liberties. I’m not going to go into particulars here, except to say that America should be fucking ashamed of itself for nominating either of these clowns as our president.

Anyway, on to the point of this post: there is a CONSIDERABLE scare in the gun owning community that Obama is going to fuck over gun owners. He’s spoken about banning semi-automatic guns, hiking taxes on firearms and ammunition as to make it cost-prohibitive to buy things, and supporting the reinstitution of the illogical Assault Weapons Ban, except this time it will be permanent.

As a result, even though economic times are tough, I’ve had to consider buying weapons soon that I might want to own that might get banned in the next four years. The specter of “gun control” is driving me, and tens of thousands of Americans, to put more guns in more hands.
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I was very excited when the original Rock Band came out for the Xbox 360. Unfortunately, I was unlucky enough to get TWO sets of faulty drums. I wound up returning Rock Band for a refund.

Fast forward a year. Rock Band 2 is due for release, and features some improvements to the game and the hardware. I love rhythm games like Donkey Konga and Taiko Drum Master, and couldn’t resist giving Rock Band 2 a try.
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I surpassed the 45th out of 90 Beach Body P90 Home Fitness program sessions this week. I finished #48 tonight, but wanted to give my thoughts now that I am halfway through the circuit.
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I love Firefly, the short-lived science fiction show about an eclectic band of ex-revolutionaries, mercenaries, runaways and a preacher. One of the main characters was Jayne Cobb, played by Adam Baldwin. Jayne is portrayed throughout the entire series as an emotionless killer for hire. Until he receives a mysterious package that looks a little like this one ….
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I like to eat. I am also lazy. This often creates a problem where I am hungry, but can’t be bothered to cook. I wind up going out to eat, even if I am by myself. I spent about $600 last month on dining out, and then another $250 - 300 on groceries. Granted, sometimes I pick up the tab for my cutie or a friend, but the majority of that expense is spent on solo dining.

So, what’s a geek to do who doesn’t like to spend a lot of time cooking, wants to save money, and loves to eat?

Slow cooking, baby. I start a pot of chili or a pot roast early Saturday morning and let it cook all day. I eat a portion for dinner, then refrigerate and/or freeze the rest.

Here’s my recipe for pot roast, taken mostly from this one on About.com. It is definitely a predator version of your typical pot roast. I am on a pre-diabetic diet; as such I avoid carrots and potatoes.
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I liked my Dyson DC07 so much that I sold it to buy an upgraded DC14. One of the things I really missed from my DC07 was the flat floor brush. About a third of my house is wood floor, and although the Dyson does a good job on the carpet, I don’t like how it performs on wood without an attachment. The DC07’s flat floor brush was low to the ground and easy to use, and I hoped that the Low Reach tool for the DC14 would be an incremental improvement.

Unfortunately the Low Reach brush is a bit too hard-core for hard floor.
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Part of working in the dot-com industry are layoffs. My buddy BushPutin’s employer Pandora suffered some cutbacks about a month ago. Fellow Richmond-based company Circuit City filed for bankruptcy protection, which explains the sheer number of CC applicants that have come our way in the last three months.

Based on the rumblings around the campfire at my work, we’re due for some layoffs, too. Oh, sorry, that’s reductions in force.

At this point in my career, I know there’s nothing I can do to prevent or delay a layoff. I’ve been directly involved in or survived at least a half dozen layoffs and closures. There was never an instance where I said, “I wish I would have done XYZ,” or “I should have done a better job” or whatever. It’s business. Strategies change, products get spun off or killed, and companies shut their doors.

So, what can you do when a layoff may be in your future? Keep working hard, and daydream about what you’d do if you got shitcanned.
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Left4Dead is a co-operative, multi-player shooting game set in a zombie apocalypse. It will be available for Windows and the Xbox360 on November 18, 2008. I have anxiously watched the game’s progress. My love for the zombie genre is well documented, and the concept of blasting the undead with three of my friends seems too good to be true.

Thanks to a tip from Ars Technica member and Gibberish reader Agreschn, I was able to get early access to the game’s demo. I debated playing the game after getting my access key for two days. I was disappointed by the 360’s zombie breakout hit Dead Rising, and the fear of disliking Left4Dead was almost greater than my interest in playing the demo ahead of everyone else.

I also had two competing objectives when I played the demo: I wanted to write as much as possible about the game, but I didn’t want to spoil the experience. Some demos are just a tutorial, some are a random chapter of the game, or is a special-made level. Left4Dead starts you off at the beginning of the storyline: you are one of four humans trying to escape a city overrun by zombies. A helicopter passes by, loudspeakers blaring the location of an evacuation point. I played the first level a few times and the second level once. My initial observations may change once I play the full game, but here they are so far.
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Here’s the problem. You stay pretty motionless while riding a motorcycle. This makes it hard for the body to generate heat to keep warm. This is a major problem while riding at high speeds in cold temperatures. I got frostbite my first year of riding on my toes because I wasn’t adequately protected from the elements.

It’s been a major struggle of mine to keep my hands warm in anything below 40°F at highway speeds. Heated grips and handguards help, but you really need special purpose gloves to keep your hands warm. The problem with buying winter gloves is that they tend to be very bulky. The insulation material makes the gloves look more like a ski mitt than a motorcycle glove, and the fine manipulation required to work the throttle can become lost. I own a pair of Tour Master winter gloves, and it feels like I am not touching the controls at all.

Rev’It makes several winter gloves. Thanks to Dennis over at Beach Moto, I selected the Fahrenheit H2O waterproof winter motorcycle glove. He helped me with the sizing, suggesting an XL that fit perfectly.

Would Rev’It’s high technology help me overcome my cold hand blues?
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I am fortunate to live in a state where I am able to legally carry a concealed firearm. I have possessed a permit for just a touch over twelve years, and I have carried daily the vast majority of that time.

I have written about living with a concealed handgun here before. Part of the phrase is concealed handgun, and daily life presents challenges in our endeavor to keep our weapons out of sight. These challenges may be minor or significant, but they can be overcome with preparation and experience. I would like to talk about a few things I’ve learned or tried to embody these last dozen years, and hope you may consider living by them, regardless if you carry a weapon for defense.
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