Great Customer Service From Hydrapeak

My Hydrapeak bottle, which has been excellent in keeping cold water available, and I use regularly at jitsu, developed a problem. It somehow got water in between the inner wall and the outer wall of the bottle.  It wouldn't drain out and added a bit of weight to the bottle, not to mention water stuck in there sloshing around and probably mixing with the drinking water inside probably wasn't very healthy.

Turns out Hydrapeak has a great warranty on their bottles and they stand by it.  I contacted them and after sending them some pictures they sent me a new bottle at no costs which is rather impressive.

So yep, I can definitely recommend Hydrapeak as a water bottle.

A Night Out On The Farm

Bowers Farm that is.  Bowers Farm is a local farm owned by the local school board that runs a ton of educational activities for students, and it was having a Bourbon and Brews festival as a fundraiser tonight. So, we decided to go with a couple friends.

We parked in a parking lot near the farm and took the provided shuttle bus to the farm itself.

The place was packed and yet the crowd was very well-behaved throughout and very civil, if rather exuberantly friendly, and a tad (or more) inebriated.

We checked in at the gate, got our wristbands (yes they did check everyone's ID on entry to be sure everyone was of legal drinking age) and drink coupons.

Then we moseyed from building to building, sampling different brews and drinks as we went. All sorts of lovely samples to be had.

Each building or tent setup had a variety of Beers, ciders, wine, or harder stuff and the guide provided at entry made it easy to find what you might want to try.

Lots of beers I had never heard of were available to taste, with rather healthy pours, so I got to try out quite a few new ones, which was quite nice.  Lots were from Michigan breweries and it was neat to sample them.

The downside was with the crowd they had all of 2 food trucks and a pizza place working for food. They could have easily had four times the number of food trucks and not had any issues.  Line ups were very  long to order food, then getting the food after we ordered took over an hour and that was from the taco truck.  Upside, it was plenty of time to mosey around to try even more drinks, but an over hour wait time from a food truck is pretty slow.

We had gone to the taco truck as the line to order there was at least moving a bit, and the line for the BBQ joint hadn't moved an inch in the 10 minutes we had stood in line there.  Once the food was ready, it was in fact excellent. The long wait, cool night, and multiple drinks may have helped make it even tastier. I had a steak burrito that really was excellent, and Tash had a coupe tacos that also rocked.

We wandered around some more without further drinking to further burn off the alcohol, and then instead of taking the shuttle had a nice long walk to our car and headed home.  'Twas a nice and enjoyable night out, and a nice change of pace.

Well, If An Appliance Has To Break

An appliance choosing to break on CyberMonday when sales are on for its replacement is at least a considerate thing for it to do.

The clothes washer decided to spin its last spin on Monday.

Being 8 years old and having been used on a near constant basis, it's bearings and shaft and drum had decided to give up the ghost. It had been sounding like a jet engine on overdrive ripping itself apart.

Repairman said it would cost more to repair than to replace, so replace it we did.

A decent sale on appliances was found, delivery and removal of the dead machine arranged, and I removed the shipping bolts and installed it. Easy and not a leak to be found when I ran it for the first time.

The upside is it is whisper-quiet by comparison, and the spin cycle actually gets a lot more water out of the clothes than the previous machine. Perhaps 8 years worth of improvements to washing machine technology actually improved the product, or we were so used to a dying machine that the difference is noticeable for that reason alone.

Hopefully this one lasts at least another 8 years, and it would be nice if it lasted longer than that.

Sunday Miscellaneous Day

Woke up and did the driveway yet again as another thin layer of global warming fell upon it overnight, requiring cleaning to make it passable. On the upside its a good workout and now that the yellow ball in the sky has finally deigned to visit, the remainder of the snow has melted off, hurried along by a decent application of ice melter making my driveway now both passable.

Next I headed off to teach the legal portion of another NRA Instructor's CPL class. A good class of six serious students and they listened well, asked good questions and enjoyed the presentation and are now briefed on Michigan's CPL and deadly force laws, which is good.

Then it was home repair time. The water feed tube for the humidifier had snapped in half when I went to change the filter. The tube, being semi-flexible plastic, broke as the filter was being put back in, which was pretty annoying as it broke under almost no pressure. A replacement was ordered via Amazon and I changed it out with a new tube assembly including the brass nut and plastic lock washer. Now it works with no leaks (so far nayways) and we'll no longer be giving off static shocks soon. Overall, not as bad a repair as I feared.

Lots of little things getting done today.

I think i'll do a little dry-firing to celebrate the lack of leaks before we head out to a family holiday party this evening.

A Bright Idea - A Pack Of Lights

As days get shorter, dog walking gets colder and people drive even stupider it was time to get a better flashlight for walking the dog and other duties. The cheapy ones I was using were the multi tiny LED type with the 3 AAA battery insert and were only good for letting a car know you're there but not enough to actually see what you're doing. It was free, but still.

So on Black Friday I decided to take a chance and ordered from Amazon the Goldenguy 5 Pack Mini Cree Q5 LED Flashlight Torch 7w 350lm Adjustable Focus Zoomable Light (Black). For the price, which then was $13 and even now is still very good at $18 for a five pack of lights, I figured it would be worth the risk.

I was pleasantly surprised when I received them to find that every single one of them worked.

As an upgrade its impressive - 350 lumen and with a single AA battery its single rectangular Cree LED throws and impressive amount of light. Excellent visibility in the dark, the focussable light can be broadened into a round beam or tightened into the square focused ray of light to really punch through the darkness. The strobe function is pretty good to let cars with their highbeams on blinding you know that you're there and get their attention away from their cell phones.

The case is rather a heavy duty feeling aluminum and has the weapon-light style frame with push button on the rear and an rectangular instep on the tube for holding it in a fist for illumination, or punching with it should such a thing be needed and the bezel has a few sharp points for such a use.

For $2.60 (now $3.60) a light they're practically disposable for what used to cost twenty times that. I've replaced the crappy flashlight in my car, and the dog walking jacket, and now each member of the family also has a bright pocket-sized flashlight with impressive illumination to carry around.

Not a bad deal at all.

New Cool And Crisp Shades

My last pair of el cheapo sunglasses recently broke and I needed a replacement now that the big ball in the sky is visiting Michigan once more. The last set made it a bit hard to see the instruments inside the plane and the face of iphone devices due to it being polarized and I did not want the replacements to pose that issue.

So I got a pair of these:

To say they're the best sunglasses I've ever tried may be an understatement.

They really effectively block bright sunlight and cut out the glare yet make everything crisper and clearer - it is pretty amazing how much clearer I can see while driving with them on in bright sunlight compared to the old pair. I've also felt my eyes are less tired after driving using them compared to driving without sunglasses or with the older pair.

I can also see the screens on ipads and iphones without an issue while wearing them, which is good. I'm going to try them out flying this weekend.

Man Wins The Americana Artifact Lottery

A man buys a photo for $2 in a junk shop.

It turns out the "junk" photo isn't junk, instead it's an authentic photo of Billy the Kid.

Oh, and it's worth not two dollars but around five million dollars.

The Detroit Free Press: Billy the Kid photo purchased for $2 in junk shop, could sell for $5M

Oh, and we also learn from the photo that Billy The Kid and the gang knew how to play croquet.

Darn nice find there, Mr. Guijarro.

SIGnificant Muzzling

On my way to do something, I was behind this gentleman, who was busy talking to another fellow on the sidewalk as we went from the parking lot to the building.

Unfortunately the picture isn't great, but that's the business end of a SIG 226 pointing back at me from his shoulder holster. It looked bigger in person.

This is why cover garments over shoulder holsters are appropriate for providing some concealment rather than not having one on, and it illustrates an issue with most types of shoulder holsters - you're pointing a firearm at anyone behind you whether you know they're there or not.

On entry to the place I was going, I went one way as he and his friend went another, and the badge around his neck made it easy to see he was a law enforcement officer of some sort.

Not a huge deal but certainly a very public display of a firearm that's rather atypical around here as most officers and civilian open carriers I've seen are outside the waistband carry types.

It was an interesting illustration of the muzzle direction issue posed by shoulder holsters.

More Shiny Stuff From Magpul

Say Uncle blogs that Magpul has just come out with a new line of tint-able mags, where starting with the sand base you then can tint them however you wish.  Check out the video he embedded on his blog to see more.

In their native sand color, they could almost be called "Ghost Mags" and cause antis to break out in cold sweats.

Yes, Magpul has made PMags to dye for.

Stop The Snowy Downward Slide

Now that the snow is well and truly here, I've been shoveling the Driveway of Doom™ for what feels like everyday now and doing some decent slipping down it while doing so.  This makes for some interesting moments, the funniest when I'm doing a row with the shovel uphill and I reach the point, midway on the driveway where with the incline and slick layer of snow I cannot keep moving forward and start slipping back and it takes a lot of concentration to just stay in one place.  Doing this all winter will suck.

So, I picked up some Stabilicers Traction Cleats  on Amazon and gave them a try, and they arrived yesterday.

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First impressions: Very easy to put on and remove from boots or shoes.  When I went out this morning to shovel the increase in traction was quite measurable and at the point where I was usually struggling to remain standing or make any progress uphill these helped me make it up no problem at all.

While they're not for indoor wear, if you've got a crazy driveway or are concerned about walking in snow and icy conditions they may just do the trick for you. 

We'll see how long they last, but for $12-$17 depending on your size, they're worth it, especially as they both help me clear the driveway quicker and stop me from falling while doing so.

Thoughts Of A Sunny, Warmer Time: Orlando Trip T-Shirts

Now that I just spent 45 minutes scrapping the snow from the Driveway of Doom™ in thew howling wind. it's time to think back to warmer times and climes without this annoying thin layer of slippery stuff.

There were many fine T-Shirts to be seen and had in Orlando during our trip that deserve a mention:

Of course there was many a Harry Potter Shirt:

There was even a Harry Potter Shirt with a legal theme that was quite perfect:

Then, after spending a day walking around Universal Islands of Adventure, with a special attention paid to Who-ville with the kids I truly fit into this shirt:

In Downtown Disney where we went browsing, strolling and light shopping for a day there were a plethora of T-shirts that just kicked over the giggle box or were just so right and would truly fit some bloggers I know:

One for Tam:

One for Murphy's Law (Yeah, I had to buy it for him and it was part of his Christmas present):

For everyone else:

Oh, and there's one I found for Old NFO that will remain a mystery for now.

WD-40 - Is There Anything It Can't Do?

Other than not using it to clean or lubricate firearms (it tends to gunk up the mechanisms over time), WD-40 has a ton of uses beyond separating rusted metal, lubricating locks, and making hinges stop squeaking.

Readers Digest has a ton of additional uses for WD-40 that I never knew were possible with the stuff.

13+ Amazing Uses for WD-40

Very neat, and some of these tips will be very useful.