::::: : the wood : davidrobins.com

My name is David Robins: Christian, lead developer (resume), writer, photographer, runner, libertarian (voluntaryist), and student.

This is also my son David Geoffrey Robins' site.

I'm sold: rest of domains moved to freedns.afraid.org

News, Technical ·Sunday February 26, 2012 @ 17:00 EST (link)

The last time Bright House changed my IP for some random reason (I have my doubts if there's ever a good reason for in-use dynamic IP addresses to change), I moved one domain (i4031.net) over to freedns.afraid.org, since after looking around they appeared to be the best free DNS provider that allowed for automated updates. That was back in November. They just did it again, so I took the plunge and moved the rest of my domains over. It was a bit of a pain, but when they went and changed my IP again just a few minutes ago, it just took opening one URL to auto-update all the A (address) records. (If they start regularly changing the IP frequently, I could hook it up to a DHCP client script easily.) Anyway, I just wanted to say what a great service freedns.afraid.org is (they ask for a mention but don't require it, nor do they advertise on, frame/wrap, or redirect your domains without asking, or AFAICT do anything else remotely underhanded). Great lightweight (oppose GoDaddy's!) DNS manager; programmatic control; DNS dumps in XML or ASCII; they are far superior to GoDaddy in all ways for DNS management.

(As an aside, Firefox seems to have a bug where sometimes, at least with a laptop trackpad, it will ignore clicks on a web page (URL bar is fine); it seems related to having a site in another tab that is either slow to load or failing and retrying; at least, closing a tab with a slow-loading page in it made clicking work again.)

Books finished: Foundation and Empire.

Work, Florida, Libertarian Papers

News, Work ·Sunday January 29, 2012 @ 14:36 EST (link)

General status and a few comments since I've been here a couple months (started November 14). I can't get too specific with certain things: when I was interviewing they couldn't even tell me how many developers they had (small competitive vertical industry), so presumably I can't reveal that either (and I'm sure signed something to that effect). Like at Microsoft, I have an office with a door; I would guess maybe half the developers do, and there are some open plan or shared offices. (Unlike at Microsoft, I also have a window outside—but no window to the hallway—which is nice, but it gets pretty hot at certain times of the day.) I'm working in C++ (also safe, since their job descriptions say as much), Windows (MFC projects, but it's not so bad). There's no problem parking in front of the building (which you can go find with Google Street View if you want). I tend to get in earlier than at Microsoft (0830 here, 1030 there), to be there when most people are there, and of course leave a little earlier too. It brings back memories of getting up pretty early when I worked in Toronto, to avoid the subway rush. I'm not sure I can say which project I'm working on, so I'll provide a link to the Learning Systems Group and leave it at that.

As in Word, the code base is quite old (20 years I think, vs. Word celebrating 25 in 2010), and has naturally developed some cruft. Fortunately, my manager believes in continuous refactoring, provided that features get developed according to schedule and there's some business justification. Some interesting features for the upcoming release—naturally I can't spill anything there, but I'll post something after we ship if I can be at all specific. I'm working with a good group of people; only one of the people that interviewed me, though (and the interviews asked good questions). We go out to lunch a couple times a week; frequently Mexican-style places (but usually not staffed with people of Mexicans descent; not far enough south perhaps?), although there's one guy that's more adventurous and we go for Thai etc.

After hours and when I have time I've been working on a code review tool (Apache, mod_wsgi, Python 3, Javascript, and PostgreSQL, with Mako templates for separation, jQuery and jQuery UI on the client side, and mod_auth_sspi for domain user authentication; the username is used by the system). Since it's server-based, I can and may also write a .NET—WPF—client for it; except for one request that sends back XHTML rather than JSON (it helped with SPOT), all of the server requests are already suitable, and WPF looks like a fun toy and a good technology to learn. I could also maintain a persistent server connection to get immediate updates rather than polling periodically like the web client does.

So, Florida. We haven't done a lot of traveling yet; the apartment, once organized, is about the same. The bedroom furniture was a bit of a trick to get in since the door is diagonal and cuts off one side, but it's all worked out just fine. We solved the sliding block puzzle of the living room after the movers left and it's spaced pretty well. There are a few boxes here and there and the study isn't set up—we just use our laptops on the couch—so other unpacking happens as the spirit moves. We've found the equivalent stores for groceries, and a Costco, and Amazon doesn't charge tax here so that's a bonus. In a way it's nice to have a garage, but since our other exclusive parking space is in front of it, sometimes not as convenient to get in and out. We'd like to take a drive down to the Keys; after the first time for the novelty, though, we've been recommended to take the ferry. In May we're heading up to Canada for Sharon's wedding anniversary; no big trips before that, except Honey might go up for her mother's birthday in March.

I finally got around to finishing and submitting my article for the journal Libertarian Papers; I'm happy with it, although they (or rather, the new editor, Matt McCaffrey, who took over for Dr. Stephan Kinsella just this month) may have a few editorial or style changes for me to make still. It's good to get that finished; Dr. Kinsella had recommended some style fixes, terminology clarifications, and further reading I may have wanted to incorporate; I made the style fixes right away but just got the rest done this weekend. It's an article about punishment, specifically questioning one aspect of Dr. Walter Block's ideas on the subject.

It is also my birthday tomorrow. We're going to go out to eat at the end of the week.

Books finished: Foundation, The Colour of Magic, God Emperor of Dune.

Christmas 2011 at Hedricks

News ·Saturday December 31, 2011 @ 18:56 EST (link)

For the first time in many years, we were able to drive to be with family for Christmas. It was Honey's family's turn (lucky them!), so we made the 14-hour drive to WV on Friday the 23rd after work, and arrived early Saturday morning. Technically, I wasn't supposed to be able to take vacation—even if it was accrued—until I had worked there 90 days (some probation period that seems rather silly in an at-will state), but the company is flexible and didn't mind letting me take a couple days and rearrange the holidays so I would work on the 23rd and 2nd and be off the entire week between.

So, we had a nice visit; dinner at Papa Pollock's on the 24th, delicious turkey. It was on the 24th because there was church on the 25th—morning only; and let's just say the same people that ate showed up at the Lord's supper, although the second meeting was rather better attended; including a handbell choir and a little girl that needed to be excused from the stage to go to the bathroom.

I caught a bug sometime during the week; sore throat to start, cough added later, and difficulty sleeping; so I caught sleep whenever I could. I also logged into work a few times, did some coding and code reviews, but not as much as I'd wanted to, being unwell; although it was all extra.

Dad Hedrick took me out to a local range to shoot one day, although he didn't want to shoot because he figured with his cataracts he'd waste ammunition, even though I told him it (at least the .22) was cheap and I had decent scopes. That was at the Baileysville public shooting range; I only shot the Ruger 10/22 and Glock 34; the AR wasn't feeding well and probably needed a good cleaning, and the red dot batteries had finally died (they were the ones that came with it).

Emily was happy to see us, and Honey played various Mario and Guitar Hero games with her, and we played Euchre (Emily and I won the first game but got beat in the rematch).

The Hedricks' faucet gave up the ghost in the middle of the week, so dad and I were tasked with picking up and installing a new one. The old one was determined to stick around, but eventually I got in there, saw the nut that was holding the stubborn horseshoe washer on, sawed off a protruding bolt with a hacksaw, and then hammered in a socket (11/16") since the nut was blocked by the hot/cold leads, and ratcheted the stubborn nut off with the help of an extension. After that installing the new one was fairly easy; although we thought we had a dud—it leaked—until dad tightened up one of the nuts on the new part that we thought was factory and thus not fixable.

For Christmas I mostly got polo shirts, mainly for work—I'm not really wearing T-shirts any more at work—and gift cards, all great and useful; and we gave mostly gift cards too, except some Looney Toons DVDs for Emily. We ate at Shirly's (China One Buffet) on the day before we left.

We left at little after 1300 Friday, and got home very early Saturday, which let me—us; Honey caught something too—spend a few days trying to recuperate and relaxing around the apartment. There was a cold snap when we got back (left in the 80s, back in the 50s) but it's supposed to get warm again soon.

Books finished: The Diamond Throne, The Ruby Knight, The Sapphire Rose.

The $400 license plate

News, Political ·Saturday December 17, 2011 @ 22:38 EST (link)

I was rather disgusted at the extortion conducted by the gang of thugs known as the state of Florida when we went to get license plates for Honey's car: just about $400 for all of it. The largest part is called an "impact fee" ($225) which is required when bringing cars into the state or buying a new car (although it is transferable from another vehicle registered in the same name). A license—any license—is merely protection money; a promise not to do harm for some period of time to a person engaging in a peaceful activity. Sort of a, "Nice house, wouldn't want something to happen to it…" demand to, well, anyone they want money from, from hairdressers to hepatologists.

Calling that $225 part of the extortion an impact fee is laughable on its face. First, they do no emission test; but that's not the most obvious flaw, for it could be reasoned that the condition of each car averages out. No; what gives the lie is that it cannot be transferred from someone leaving the state (and thus taking their car and its "impact" with them) to someone entering (net theoretical "impact" change, zero). So why do they charge the fee? Because they have more guns. That is all there is to it; and I challenge anyone to find any other valid justification.

So, I designed and ordered a bumper sticker today from makestickers.com; black on white; silhouette of a gun, pointing up (fit better that way; looks like a 1911), text:

$400 PLATE FEES
=
STATE EXTORTION

They should arrive soon. It won't do anything about the cost, but it'll let people know how I feel about it. I'm happy to provide the PNG file if anyone wants it (or the Paint.NET file with the layers), for other Florida residents that have bad memories about being robbed, although apparently the higher fees are only two years old so many would be grandfathered in. Damn, the whole state is geared towards grandfathers, it seems (see also the property tax exemption). That's the downside of living in God's waiting room, I suppose (and of the majoritan tyranny called democracy). Our cars will be sporting the stickers soon.

New Arduino, project progress

News, Technical ·Saturday December 17, 2011 @ 21:56 EST (link)

I have an idea for a project, and I remembered an IEEE Spectrum article about a guy that set up a microcontroller called an Arduino to respond to tweets and update his office door ("Send a Tweet to your Office Door", June 2011). I looked into it; it seemed right for the project, based on what others had done with it, and the price was right: the board sells for under $30 (an explicit goal of the creators, a group in Italy). So I ordered a bundle with the Arduino Uno (1.0) and a breadboard and pack of jumper wires, which arrived last week. I ran the Blink example, worked fine; then I looked for something bigger and better. First I had to brush up a little on current, voltage, and resistance—I never took any formal electronics courses, but the Internet has plenty of information, although it requires sifting as always. (The Lounge was also very helpful.)

I wanted remote control, and this post had some great information, so I picked up the Radio Shack 38kHz IR module and connected it to the 3.3V Arduino power via the breadboard and the other side to ground. (I later added a 220Ω resistor, although it was working fine without it, but I didn't want to burn anything out.) In that first trip to the Shack I also grabbed a 9V snap connector (actually I had to buy a pack of them) and a size "M" DC power plug (5.5mm outer diameter, 2.1mm inner diameter) to connect it to the Arduino. It is normally powered via the USB connection, but of course that won't be possible at a remote site. I wired the signal pin of the IR receiver to a digital input pin of the Arduino, and built a basic program around the IR library from this page to decode and dump received input, and then write a basic program to turn the on-board LED on and off when the power button of an old Sony remote was pressed.

The project requires moving a motor, however (or an actuator perhaps, such as one of Firgelli's line of micro linear actuators), but since a motor is so much cheaper I started there. The Radio Shack 1.5-3.0V DC motor I had picked up drew 0.98A of current, or 980mA, and the Arduino is only rated for 40-50mA. I definitely needed another power source.

Back to Radio Shack (and I'd buy somewhere else if I knew somewhere cheaper with good selection, but I haven't found anything, although I've joined a local microcontroller meetup group and will ask there). This time, I picked up some resistors (a few to have around: pack of 5 each of 100Ω, 220Ω, and 1kΩ), an SPST reed relay, and a 2-AA battery holder. The relay allows for opening and closing a switch in another circuit (which might be passing more current) by energizing its coil. Since the relay itself is a 250Ω resistor, I didn't add a resistor there; I just added it in parallel to the existing 3.3V connection, put batteries into the holder (1.5 x 2 = 3.0V) and connected it to the second power strip on the breadboard, and made a circuit with the motor, battery, and the switched pins of the relay. I connected an Arduino digital output pin to the coil (other side to ground) and (once I remember I had to configure the pin to OUTPUT), was soon toggling the motor on and off with the remote, although I don't have a good setting or connector for the motor: I need to pick up some alligator clips and something to hold the motor. I may eventually want to slow it down (first by just using one battery, perhaps, and then with something more complex such as an H-bridge), but I'll see how it does with a moderate load first.

Nonetheless, I was glad to have it working thus far. The next steps are going to be more on the mechanical side of things: picking up bits and pieces from Home Depot to build the frame of the device, a gear to attach to the motor, etc. Eventually I'll want a soldering iron and PCB, project box (a tidy-looking box to put all the non-exposed parts in, with a hole for the IR receiver and motor control leads), and other finishing touches, but it's still very much in the design stage so I don't have to learn to solder just yet. (Keeping this equipment kit link here for reference.)

Text::DHCPLeases bug

News, Technical ·Friday December 16, 2011 @ 00:01 EST (link)

I got Honey a laptop (a Hannspree) for her birthday yesterday; and I went to add it to my local auto-DNS updater (an old Perl program I wrote that monitors the DHCP leases file and updates the local TinyDNS source file for certain hosts). Even after adding the new machine, Riva, it wasn't appearing in the DNS. Turns out that the Text::DHCPLeases module that I was using didn't understand the rewind binding state entry and it was matching binding state and clobbering that value; and my program skipped over items without a binding state of active. I made a local patch, and would like to submit a more general patch but really, the whole parse approach needs reworking using something like Parse::RecDescent or at least more systematic tokenizing and translation.

New range, old range

News, Guns ·Saturday December 3, 2011 @ 20:16 EST (link)

On Wednesday we went to the Wyoming Antelope Club Florida Chapter (only chapter!) monthly general meeting, where we became members of the range ($200, family membership) and ate in the log house there with (mostly older) range members. The general meeting was a fairly informal affair, with updates given by the various disciplines and some general notes from the treasurer. We talked to him afterward about becoming Range Officers; not merely from a desire to volunteer, but also because ROs get to shoot when the range is closed to members and public, and have the $3 daily fee (per person, not family) waived. But more about that in a moment.

I went to shoot for the first time today (first pistols, then, since it's so convenient to our apartment—literally just five minutes drive—again to shoot the SCAR), and wanted to get down some observations, especially compared to our old (outdoor) range, Snoqualmie Valley Rifle Club (SVRC) in Washington.

First, Range Officers, as I have already mentioned. WAC (not to be confused with this WAC) has them; there were three on the line and one in the gatehouse admitting people; at SVRC you're your own range master (works out fine except for when uppity liberals flip switches). Their reason for it is because they're in a built up area, with lots of people around. Fair enough. The ROs wear orange caps and T-shirts, with their name clipped to the cap. When a cease-fire is called (via the microphone in the gatehouse), first a two-minute warning is given (empty your magazines; don't reload), then people are asked to make safe and stand behind a yellow line about two feet back from the shooting benches, and the ROs check that all weapons are indeed safe before declaring the range cold. To end the cease fire they similarly verify that nobody is downrange and declare a hot range. There are no mechanical alerts like the buzzer and lights at SVRC but it's quite clear (and easier on the ears).

SVRC does not concern itself with open or concealed carry of firearms in holsters; holstered firearms are forbidden at WAC (unfortunate, because at a range is one of the places one may, if the property owners permitted, open carry a firearm). Also, even cased firearms may not be carried at WAC when the range is cold. And they say only one shot every two seconds (but you can load full magazines "now"; apparently you couldn't at one time), although they don't seem too picky on that and would probably only go after someone whose shots were off-target or was doing double-taps.

At SVRC you put up your own target stands (wherever you like at the pistol range; in iron stands in preset sockets on the rifle range); at WAC, each set of lanes are fixed length with berms at the end (IIRC, 5, 7, 10, 25, 50, and 100 yards), and you hang your target at the end on hooks through two holes at the top of the cardboard (which they provide; at SVRC you must bring your own, although there's usually extra around). Paper targets may not extend beyond the edges of the cardboard, and are usually stapled (or stuck via adhesive backing). Some of this certainly is influenced by them being busier and having less space than SVRC.

While SVRC has benches and lanes in both rifle and pistol areas, the target area is not so divided (except for the iron sockets); WAC has color matched targets and lanes. It's also mostly covered over (slatted wood with gaps over the lanes; not sure why), whereas only the shooting bench area is covered at SVRC. Like SVRC, if it's not too busy they don't get too worried about people using multiple lanes (based on my limited experience they don't seem to be sticklers for any rules except safety, which is how it should be) to have more targets to shoot.

There's fencing to ensure people only enter at the gatehouse, where one of the range officers takes payment, handles questions, etc; it's open at the back (range side) and has a payment ledge at the side.

The membership is also more: $200 first year, $130 subsequently vs. $115 and $75 I believe. Supply and demand, also the facility at WAC is a little nicer. They also seem to have more events at various times. But a downside is that WAC is only open certain hours; some days 1-5, some 12-5; closed completely Mondays and Tuesdays I believe.

So, different but not bad; looks like a good range, and it's great that it's so close. I literally hear gunshots from my office at work, too. Music to my ears.

Avalon at Bear Creek apartments: shady dealings

News ·Saturday November 5, 2011 @ 21:19 EDT (link)

Honey writes:

We moved in to Avalon at Bear Creek on August 14, 2009. Our lease was set to end on August 13, 2011, and we renewed (for a third year). We ended up moving out November 5, 2011 and gave our notice that we were moving out on October 10, 2011, paying to break the least as in the contract. As per the lease we knew we were supposed to give 30 days notice.

While we lived at Avalon at Bear Creek, I thought that I had a good relationship with the management. I always called maintenance right away when there was a problem, and had good conversations with the maintenance staff. We had lots of problems with our refrigerator after move-in. They came over to "fix" it 3 times before finally replacing it several months later. Just to give some insight into the "relationship" that I thought that I had with the staff there. I spoke openly with Glenn Mason (manager) and Melissa Maxwell (and even Christy, who worked in the office) there. They knew when we went on vacation (so they could get our mail for us and keep an eye on things while we were gone). I was very open with them when I had family problems (I lost 2 family members back to back) and they pretended to care. I'll leave Melissa out of the equation, because she moved on to greener pastures after we renewed our lease the first time. On our first renewal our rent increased significantly. When we first moved in to Avalon at Bear Creek we were paying $1062 per month. We also paid a security deposit of $250. Included in the $1062 was an $8 trash charge. Our pro-rated first months rent totaled $617, we paid an application fee of $42 and a non-refundable Amenity Rent/Common Area fee. We lived there for one year and everything was fine; we were invited to continue to live there and were informed that our rent would increase the second time around.

After our first renewal our rent increased to $1251 which included the trash fee and a $30 parking fee for the carport that we were renting. This is the year that my family problems came up and I spoke with the people there and they pretended to care about me and my feelings. Also during this year we went to the barbecue they had for the apartment community and won a $100 gift certificate for the month of September, which we took in the month of October because we had already paid our September rent. I should also note that sometime during this year I overpaid by at least $100 (I think it was $129 because that's the amount they kept over the security deposit upon move-out). At the end of our lease term we received another invitation to renew and while we were considering moving out east (somewhere) we weren't actively looking yet, so we decided to sign our lease for another year. We knew that there was a good chance that we would have to break the lease, but we knew the penalty for that and were prepared to do that when the time came. We also noticed that our rent was to increase yet again to $1434 per month including our carport.

I'll also note that when we renewed our lease the first time David read through the lease, but when we renewed the second time it was my turn to read through and know the terms. While I was reading through it caught my eye that we only owed the apartment complex a 20-day notice that we would move out early. But when we signed the lease for our second renewal I asked what the protocol was for early termination of the lease. I was informed by Glenn Mason that it was 30 days written notice and a month and a half rent to get out of the lease. David started looking actively for a new job around September and we thought it would take a while to find one that would make him happy and a place that we would want to move to, but it only took a couple of months. As soon as David had his interviews and we decided on a place to move I informed the apartment complex that we would be moving out in early November. I was unsure of an exact date because we had to give the moving company a 4-day window to pick up our stuff. I gave them 30 days notice on October 10, 2011 and we moved out on November 4th (lease termination was November 5th). I should note that I paid through November 9, 2011 in full all at once.

We set the pre-move-out inspection and I discussed things with the maintenance manager. I informed him that we would not be cleaning the apartment or the carpet in the apartment (since they would charge for it anyway). I was informed that the prices for these items would be approximately $125 for cleaning the apartment and the carpet cleaning would be approximately $80 (they were actually $135 for cleaning the apartment and $82.12 for cleaning the carpet). I was told the final water bill would also be included in the move-out charges (this bill was $49.21). I was also told that if there was any paint damage that that would cost us as well, but he wasn't sure of the numbers for that. The maintenance manager informed me that as of that day everything looked fine and that painting shouldn't be a concern, at least as things looked to him at that time. I asked if I needed to touch-up any scuff marks on the walls and he told me "No, they are considered normal wear and tear." I asked this question twice and got the same answer both times. (Note: we filled out a paper when we moved in and a paper was filled out for us when we moved out that list all damage to the apartment). Now when we were moving out of the apartment the movers were very careful to not hit the walls or doorways. As they were finishing up the maintenance man came for our move-out inspection. He informed me that he could not do it (or any of it at all) because there was still furniture in the apartment. All the furniture was moved away from the walls in anticipation of the move-out inspection, but the man would not even do a preliminary walk-through with me because it was nearing closing time and he didn't want to "waste" his time. He informed me that he would do the walk-through on his own the next morning (he asked if I would be there to supervise, but I informed him that we had a long drive and would not be present). He told me that he would take pictures and let us know anything he found. I did my own walk-through before we left and saw no damage in the apartment (other than dirt and scuff marks that I had already been told not to worry about twice).

We did not hear anything from them for a while; then one day we received a phone call telling us that we owed the apartment complex an amount of $183.33 more on top of the $250 security deposit and the $129 I had overpaid sometime during the last year because they had found "damage" and had to charge us for four hours worth of painting. They sent us an itemized receipt that had a charge of $160 worth of painting, but there were no attached pictures as the receipt claimed. We called them back after receiving this statement and were sent the pictures via e-mail. We looked at the pictures and could not see any damage except for the dirt we knew we were going to have to pay for anyway, but on further examination of the itemized receipt we saw a charge for accelerated rent in the amount of $186. I called the office in Redmond, WA and was told that that charge was in error and they would inform corporate of this (I spoke to Christy). They did not "take care of it" as they said they would and so I made several phone calls to the corporate office and was told the same thing every time. This charge was not really on the receipt; it was just a separate way they inputted the rent that we had already paid. I knew this was bullshit. I went round and round with them and told them that we were disputing these charges (the accelerated rent as well as the so called damage they were claiming). I waited for weeks before I finally got a phone call saying that the dispute was overruled and they were not going to give us any of our money back. They also told me that they were sending this to a claims company and all our disputes had to go through them.

Out of the blue the next day I received a call from a woman named Jessica in the corporate office and she dealt with post disputes from customers and was the one to explain exactly what happened and try to reconcile with me. I told her the same thing I had told everyone else: I was told that David and I "left on good terms" and that we "should not be charged accelerated rent because we had already paid everything we owed them." She told me that "no, the accelerated rent was a different charge and that it was charged to us because we left earlier than we said and didn't really give a 30 days notice". I said "No, that is incorrect" (I got very angry), and I told her again "no, we left on good terms, I asked Glenn Mason and he was the one who informed me that we left on good terms". She said "the people in Washington are the ones who filed this additional claim against you". I said (in passing) "well, I read my lease and if I recall correctly we were only required to give a 20 days notice, but I gave 30 days to be nice and to make sure I had it covered". She said "You are exactly right, I don't know why no one caught this before, but in the state of Washington you are required to only give 20 days notice". She then said, "let me call the office in Redmond and find out why they are charging you for this and if there is any reason they have a right to, but if it's in your lease then I will personally take the accelerated rent payment off". She also was going to look into the so-called damage they were claiming. I had made the case to her that I could see one or two hours of painting but not four. I said "they could paint the entire apartment in 4 hours".

I received a phone call from her the next day and she told me that she was taking the accelerated rent payment off and that she was personally going to check into the "damage" to see if the apartment complex in Washington was just being petty (she told me that she wasn't able to get in touch with anyone at the Redmond office so she would look into the damage that evening and get back to me the next day). She promised me that she would do what she could, but she wasn't sure if she would be able to help me so that we wouldn't have to pay for the "damage". She called me back the next day and told me that with the picture number #299 showed wall damage and the other pictures showed scuff marks. She said that since that picture was in there there was no way she could take the damage off. She also said "we normally don't charge for scuff marks, but since there was 'proof' of them as well as the wall damage, [she] couldn't take that off".

I informed her that I suspected foul play on the part of the apartment complex and that "I can't prove it, but I think they took a sledge hammer and did the damage themselves". I also told her that I had nothing against her personally and that I appreciated the effort that she put into helping me when no one else would. I told her that when I told my story that I would not say anything bad about her, and I haven't. I also told her that she should have the corporate office look into the dealings of the Redmond office's business practices, because they are less than noble and I didn't want others to be treated the way that we were treated. She apologized and said "I'm sorry you feel that way, I hope this doesn't make you think less of our company." I told her I understand what you are saying, but I would not recommend anyone staying at any of their complexes around the country and that there was no way that I was keeping my story to myself. I told her that no one there could stop me from telling my version of what happened and also what I thought happened after we moved out. I made sure she knew that I wasn't threatening her or her company, but also made sure that she knew that our story would be made public. She told me that I was welcome to call her to chat anytime about anything and that she wanted to be my friend. I appreciated that because I opened up to her and told her what I felt had happened and how I had been treated after my family problems and that the office out there had treated me like I was some sort of criminal (at least in my eyes), and they were threatening our good names and our good credit when we did nothing wrong.

A few weeks later we received a check in the mail in the amount of $2.67! This just feels like another slap in the face after all we've been through because of them.

Books finished: The Golden Age.

Minor mechanical work

News ·Saturday October 22, 2011 @ 16:47 EDT (link)

Finally got the ABS sensor fixed on the Solara (brakes itself are fine, light has been on for a while); took it to Autosys as usual. Also needed one new tire, and got their oil change special. Autosys remains a quality place, with fair pricing (when the Microsoft discount is figured in), and I'd recommend it.

Books finished: The Moral Underground.

Lounge shoot the third

News, Guns ·Sunday October 9, 2011 @ 23:06 EDT (link)

We (Garrett and I, since everyone was technically our guest) took the lounge folk out to SVRC again; perhaps it will become a monthly thing, so long as codgers and sand and boards stay separate. I was there 1030 to a little past 1500; Garrett had to go a bit earlier. There were some other shooters there—didn't have the range to ourselves like before—but as seems typical with "gun people" everyone was for the most part polite and civil. Dmitry, who came to shoot my SCAR-17S (yes, I gotta talk about the SCAR always), asked about people leaving (expensive) gear and guns on the benches while we were at the far end eating, but I wasn't worried. Speaking of the SCAR, this was the first time I had stood next to it being shot, and it packs quite a wallop—but not to the shooter! There was much enjoyment of shooting it by Dmitry, Vu, Tim, and Max.

There was a good sized group, and several plan to apply for membership now, which will be nice; we need a better member-to-guest ratio. The food as usual was excellent—Max and Tim's sous-vide pork and various additions (Christine's brownies were also excellent). Jim's Mini-14 was much better to shoot; last time with different hardware the trigger was horrible; maybe it was cleaned this time (his theory). Tim's Remington 700 in 7mm, wood hardware, trigger job was a delight to shoot (I'm sure the meese will feel the same way), as was his SIG P226; I shot some clays at the end of the pistol range (thanks to whoever let me shoot their clays!); 5 shots, 5 hits, then I chased them around with the rest of the mag. I had been looking at the Elite Dark with the SRT, so may pick one up.

It was good to meet a bunch of people FTF for the first time: Christine's husband Kent; Haidle; I think I'd met Fritz's wife before but it had been a while; Dmitry of course, although he's not lounge; Ron and family; Ben again (new lounger, old shooter), and to see various others again. Although it was damp and drizzly a good time was had… as planned I shot some holes through my map of Manhattan and got some closure for that possibility. Had some feed trouble with my metal AR-15 mag (the one it came with, not a PMAG), but I suspect the AR just needs cleaning. As does everything else. Oh well.

Books finished: Robinson Crusoe, How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes, The Jehovah Contract.