New Pistol, Llama MiniMAX .45 ACP

I've had my eye on this pistol for a couple years now, and it's so inexpensive that I finally just bit the bullet (har) and picked one up. As we were so very busy this weekend, and I picked it up (literally) in about 15 minutes as my wife and I were on our way out on a date, I have not yet had any range-time with it.

I did get a nice, locking, two pistol case, as well as a holster that I'm not very impressed with now that I've had the pistol in it -- so I think I'm going to return that. We also hit Sportsman's Warehouse and I picked up some snap-caps (dummy practice rounds), so I could get a feel for the slide and the magazine.

There was one minor scare just as I chambered the first snapcap, though. The slide stop jimmied its way out a little and I had a helluva time getting it back into place. I've read that the Llama is a bear to break down and reassemble the first few times... What's weird is that I pushed and cursed and cursed and pushed and it wouldn't go back in place and I was really beginning to get paranoid about my brand new pistol. Of course, the whole time I'm doing this, I've got the slide back and my finger wedged down into the chamber to try and hold it open so the pin's got a clear path. And then, just as though assisted by divine touch, I went to try to push the slide stop back in place and it snickted into place perfectly.

Some specs:

• Caliber: .45 ACP
• Number of shots: 6 + 1
• Overall length: 7.3 inches
• Barrell length: 3-11/16 inches
  
• Weight, unloaded: 35 ounces
• Height: 5 inches
• Sights: fixed
• Stocks: neoprene
• Finish: matte black

I've got maybe two range dates this weekend, but I'm itching to get there sooner, so as soon as I've got some more info on accuracy and range works, I'll post again (about the pistol).

Boycott Sony

Short and sweet...

http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,69559,00.html

A day late and ...

So, this morning I was on the treadmill watching Sports Center. They covered the T.O. debacle and covered his (new) apology in full. I was listening to my iPod, so I ended up reading the closed captioning and as I read, I thought to myself, "Wow, he's really pulling out all the stops and apologizing to everybody. That's a whole bunch of crow to eat."

Maybe, if you watched it, you believed him. I started to.

Then his agent, Dork Rosendufus, got up to the mic and started yelling about how great a player T.O. was and how it was a damn shame, and hey, we've apologized, so you should respect the greatest player ever to walk the face of this Earth. And, to my shock and awe, blew off all the real, hardball questions the reporters were asking.

Now, Terrell, I know the last thing on your mind is taking advice from an overweight deskjockey, but (and I speak as a True-Blue Hothead) you do not get up in front of the world and cotow the way you did and then have your agent get beligerent and righteous on your behalf.

That's uncool. Not to mention, a complete lack of spine. Hindsight being what it is, you should have issued the apology when it was originally called for (or said, "screw that, I don't have to") and let it stand on its own, without any help from that jackass you call an agent, Drew Rosenhaus. Did you truly expect the Eagles to say, "Gee, we'll let you back in the club." after that good cop / bad cop routine?

Sorry, but it's a dollar short.

Wow.

Sony, Rootkits and DRM Gone Too Far

Unbelievable.

As a software engineer, I attempt to write good code. It's never perfect, and rarely bug-free, but it is never intentionally malicious.

I didn't have a ton of respect for Sony in the DRM arena in the first place (at least ITMS pretends to respect fair use), but I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to make a conscious decision from here forward to avoid Sony products. Certainly, I will be avoiding the Sony music label.

I sure wish mainstream media would pick this up. Let the spin doctors deal with it.

November!?! Already!?!

So, I'm still trying to figure out where 2005 has gone.

It's been busy, but has it been productive?

I'm still thinking about that.

Maybe I'll pontificate more later.