Feels like the first time

Under the category "A First Time for Everything,"
Chris and I took Cole to the range Yesterday.

First time with 20 Ga.

I'm extremely thankful to have someone of Chris' background and high skill to methodically teach Cole all the particulars of gun safety and hunting.

I'm not quite as interested as Cole but it's a good skill to have. A longstanding healthy (and rational) fear decades ago is what led me to my current familiarity with pointy tools.

New trainer toys

Finished some new trainers recently.

Another Barung for Mike Blackgrave's students (2 actually)

This is a surprise for Mike. A trainer based on blade blanks he sent to Mushtaq. This one has teak handles and feels REALLY good in the hand. This is off a Yuli Romo design

Had this one in the works for a long time, finally completed the zebra wood handles. The design is Mushtaq's

A Barong to be given as prizes at the Pacific Island tourney a few weeks ago. It looked like at the last minute we were going to have to give out IOU's and I didn't really want to do that so I spent every available minute for 4 days working on trainers.

Cole's one off fantasy design using leftover scraps. Somehow morphed into a pretty darn good Kuku Macan.

The assassin Barong. Gave this one away at the tournament too. I really liked this one. Small enough to fit up the sleeve ala this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EN4UNKNsjjc

The handle was alot of work so I started the other barungs for time's sake.

Michael Crichton ~ 1942-2008

On the web:
Best-selling author Michael Crichton died unexpectedly in Los Angeles Tuesday, November 4, 2008 after a courageous and private battle against cancer.
He will be profoundly missed by those whose lives he touched, but he leaves behind the greatest gifts of a thirst for knowledge, the desire to understand, and the wisdom to use our minds to better our world.

I've read and enjoyed the majority of his books, Sate of Fear the maybe exception. It was thought provoking but a little too onesided.
Reading up a bit I didn't realize he had written and directed Westworld which was the first feature film that used 2D computer generated imagery (CGI) and the first use of 3D CGI was in its sequel Futureworld.

Ironically probably my favorite was "The Great Train Robbery" loosely based on historical events surrounding the Great Gold Robbery of 1885 because his attention to historical detail and setting (similar to his penchant for extensive scientific research on his more recent books) made it quite enjoyable.

Very stirring

Stayed up way past midnight to catch what promised to be a monumental acceptance speech.

It was that and more.

I must say McCain gave one of his best speeches. Perhaps if he had campaigned like that....

And when Obama said "the UNITED States of America"....

What a difference the emphasis of one word can make.

But I gotta be honest, all the hype about Obama being African American?

Now I know it's important and monumental. But for me, it was really irrelevant.

He was the candidate I felt best suited for the job (overwhelmingly of course).

For me, it was in his manner, intelligence, the respect he garnered and the plan he shared.

It sort of bothers me that race would overshadow that accomplishment.

It's probably an ignorant view but race was really a non issue (and I think it should be).

But don't get me wrong, I was very moved by all the excitement I saw of what people never thought would happen.

And yeah, I had to get extra caffine this morning.

I did my part

We hit the polls at around 7:10 and the wait was not really that bad. Around 25mins.
It was around 15min during the last election around the same time of day. By the time we left the line was actually quite a bit shorter.
I knew I wanted to get there as early as possible as I sure didn't want to listen to all the hype the rest of the day on the news about how terrible the lines were.

Did you do your part?

Taking a stand update part duh - the night before

Well, now they didn't even bother with running over the sign. This time they took it right off the stakes and left.
Barack, hurry up and win already. Shut the bastards up, please????????

Flyleaf - So I thought

Not your run of the mill lyrics here.

From their official website http://site.flyleafmusic.com/ :

while many loud rockers reopen old wounds by singing about their broken homes and broken hearts, Flyleaf confront past traumas to heal old scars and prove in the process that hope shines brighter than despair

Flyleaf's self-titled debut album echoes with songs about abuse, neglect, addiction and dysfunction, and messages about overcoming adversity. And the band's wide array of brooding beats, atmospheric textures and lunging riffs compliment Mosley's emotionally revealing lyrics, which range from breathy and beautiful to scathing and aggressive



This has now become a new hard rock genre known as Positivism.