Browncoat weapon lust

Ok, my geek is showing. This is where my fetish for knives crosses my geekery. I’ve been looking for months for where I can get Jayne Cobb’s Bowie Knife from Firefly. I’ve wanted a big-ass bowie knife for years. I’ve got balisongs, switchblades, straight-razors, tactical folders, bayonets, daggers, throwing knives, a million kitchen knives, machetes, […]

Ok, my geek is showing.

This is where my fetish for knives crosses my geekery.

I’ve been looking for months for where I can get Jayne Cobb’s Bowie Knife from Firefly.

I’ve wanted a big-ass bowie knife for years. I’ve got balisongs, switchblades, straight-razors, tactical folders, bayonets, daggers, throwing knives, a million kitchen knives, machetes, pukko knives, buck folders and buck hunting knives, swiss army knives, opinel folders, gerber folders.

But I don’t have a bowie knife, and I’ve wanted one forever.

So I just ran across something on a browncoat site identified that BFK (Big Fuckin’ Knife) Jayne carries. And of course, I want one.

The Rough Rider Patrick Henry Liberty Bowie Knife:

Bowieknife2

Of course, it can’t be that easy. It’s out of production. The only company I can find that has them for sale is taking back-orders, but can’t tell me an ETA. On the other hand, I know a guy (who is an order of magnitude higher in geekdom than I) who makes an exact replica of Jayne’s sheath. Which means that, if I can ever find the goddamned knife, I also can get the sheath I want.

Ok, now, who’s giggling at the word ‘sheath‘?

I know. I know. Geeky. I can’t help it. I have weapon lust. I must have that knife.

…surprise?

I just got hits in my logs from “buckeye, arizona” and from “surprise, arizona”. And I’m thinkin’… Well. You know what I’m thinkin’.

I just got hits in my logs from “buckeye, arizona” and from “surprise, arizona”.

And I’m thinkin’…

Well. You know what I’m thinkin’.

forty-four one hundredths

I’ve tried several times  to do the hundred things about me meme but i never ever get it done. But Hiromi went with 20 out of 100, Syl did 69 things (no wonder I like you, Syl), circe did 20-ish things. And those seem vaguely doable goals. So I started going and was going to […]

I’ve tried several times  to do the hundred things about me meme but i never ever get it done.

But Hiromi went with 20 out of 100, Syl did 69 things (no wonder I like you, Syl), circe did 20-ish things. And those seem vaguely doable goals.

So I started going and was going to do thirteen, and then was going to do thirty-three, but somehow we wound up at forty-four, which is my age, and a really good calibre for a gun.

Thus, forty-four things about me.


  1. I can drive really really well when i’m drunk.
  2. I can’t resist cookies, or peanut-butter candy. No willpower at all.
  3. I can’t sit still after i eat. i need to jump up and move around. Actually I just can’t sit still at all unless I have something to do with my hands. My laptop and wireless access is the only thing that gets me through meetings.
  4. I collect rhinos.
  5. I don’t like library books. I want to own a book – I want it there when I want it, and if I love it, I never want it to go away.
  6. I don’t like talking on the phone.
  7. I don’t think the rules apply to me. Ever.
  8. I fall in love too easily.
  9. I hate fruit and chocolate together. I find the idea nauseating.
  10. I hate having my picture taken.
  11. I hate making plans. I would rather wing everything.
  12. I hate microwave ovens. I’d rather not have one in my kitchen.
  13. I hate when people think they’re really good at something, when they actually suck at it. I take it as almost a personal affront.
  14. I have a superstition about fortune cookies. If I read the fortune, I must take a bite of the cookie. I don’t even like fortune cookies, so I take a tiny bite and then abandon the rest.
  15. I have trouble reading books that are the least bit badly written – yet I prefer erotica that’s very dirty and I don’t care if it’s badly written as long as it’s hot. I love non-consent, incest, any sort of weird taboo stuff. Basically anything out there beyond the range of things I’d do in real life is the stuff I find most erotic in writing.
  16. I interrupt people. I try not to do it, but if you’ve ever talked to me, even once, I’ve interrupted you. I try every day to not do it, but can’t really say if I’m getting better or not.
  17. I love hats, I own a couple dozens of them. Yet I always feel vaguely dorky when I wear them.
  18. I love women who belch like men when they drink beer.
  19. I never, ever fasten my seatbelt until the car is moving.
  20. I play with knives.
  21. I still read my email with a command-line, text only email reader (mutt). I’ve tried. Really. I can’t even think if I’m not composing with the vi editor.
  22. I talk with my hands. I need to move and gesture to communicate. It actually used to make me uncomfortable on the phone until I got a head-set.
  23. I think gray hair is sexy on women.
  24. I think gun laws are unconstitutional, I think drug laws are insane, I think speed limits cause more accidents than they solve, and I think radar and speed traps are a violation of entrapment laws. My general opinion is that laws make life less good in almost all cases.
  25. I think of myself as five inches taller than I actually am, and I think of my voice as being much deeper than in actually is.
  26. I thought the apple iMac was a terrible idea. I thought the web browser was a stupid idea. I didn’t think people would really ever want to buy laptop computers. I thought yahoo and google were companies that could never make money.
  27. I used to drive a forklift for a living, and i was great at it.
  28. I will eat almost anything, no matter how weird.
  29. I’ve got a waiting list for if I ever figure out how to clone myself. There’s some debate about who would get the original and who would take a clone.
  30. I’ve hated milk since I was a kid. I’ve never understood how people can drink it
  31. I’ve never done my own taxes. Not once.
  32. I’ve wanted a harley since I was a kid, long before dentists and doctors decided they were cool. And now I can’t afford one because doctors and dentists think they’re cool and will pay 30k for one.
  33. If it were just my choice, I’d pack up and leave for Hawaii today – sell everything, quit my job, go with nothing but my swimsuit and my dive gear. Walk off a plane and start a new life.
  34. Loud noises make me jump. No matter how many times I go to concerts where there are exploding flash pots, no matter how many times I blow off m80s, how many guns I shoot, still, if it’s at all unexpected, I will always jump.
  35. My all-time favorite car is the Jaguar E-type. Second would come some sort of seventies muscle car; chevy nova, GTO, the car on Supernatural, something like that.
  36. My favorite bands are always changing but two that have never been off the top five: XTC and Genesis. Though both only up to a point (Genesis, up til Steve Hackett left; XTC up til Terry Chambers left).
  37. My favorite books, as least right now – in no particular order: Mystic Pig, Lord of the Rings, Chump Change, Last Call, On Stranger Tides (which is back in print – yay!), Song for Arbonne (hell, all of Kay – all of it), Curse of Chalion, A Drink Before the War (the whole series, really), Under Cover of Daylight, Ask the Dust, Welcome to the Monkey House, Gate of Ivrel, Chanur. This list could change tomorrow but many of these books will stay and have been on this list for years.
  38. My finger and toe nails grow incredibly fast. So does my hair.
  39. My first tattoo was almost the Rush red star logo, and a close runner up was the Blue Oyster Cult logo. I got talked out of those, and I’m ok with that.
  40. One of my favorite sports is figure skating
  41. The cup I use is a huge factor in how much I enjoy a cup of coffee. I have three or four favorites, but which I go for first varies from day to day.
  42. The only thing I miss about no longer having long hair is hair ties. I miss my ponytail when I see cool hair ties.
  43. When I was a kid my favorite movies were 20000 Leagues under the Sea and the Incredible Mister Limpet. Maybe there’s a pattern there.
  44. Whenever I hear the word clone I get the Doctor Evil Rap stuck in my head – From the moment I heard Frau say I had a clone /I knew that I’d be safe cuz I’d never be alone / an evil doctor shouldn’t speak a lot about his feelings /my hurt and my pain don’t make me too appealing.

more happy

Happy Birthday to m’man Ray. Love ya like a brother, man. Have a good day. Eat until you fuckin’ bust.

Happy Birthday to m’man Ray.

Love ya like a brother, man. Have a good day. Eat until you fuckin’ bust.

if you knew sushi

No, I didn’t run off today and play hookey. I didn’t go get tattooed or blow work off to go drink beer or ride my motorcycle in the blue blue sunshine. I didn’t even blog much. Instead, I worked. Or at least tried to, though I’m finding concentration hard without a day off. Somehow this […]

No, I didn’t run off today and play hookey. I didn’t go get tattooed or blow work off to go drink beer or ride my motorcycle in the blue blue sunshine.

I didn’t even blog much.

Instead, I worked. Or at least tried to, though I’m finding concentration hard without a day off. Somehow this many straight days working doesn’t play like it did when I was in my twenties, when I could do 12 hour days seven days a week for months and still go out drinking at night. And work well, and hard.

Meetings, and shell scripting, and the usual users with problems who need help right now but can’t describe the problem; that’s my day. And tech support for newly mac’d friends, which is the good part. I wish I could get paid to only support people I like.

Now that the sun’s out, finally, I’m immediately taken with the desire to get out, to be outside, to feel the sun. It’s suddenly so much harder to get anything done when out there is so stunning, warm and clear. I think about sailboats and sunny shorts and being deep under water, and it’s oh-so-hard to care about work. Daydreams rule me when it’s like this. It makes me want to run, and it also makes me want to write. I’m having ideas for stories again after months of not really feeling inspired, but as always I run into the time shortage that rules my life. I have to go do something all the time. A day, a week, a month, does not contain enough hours to manage all the things that must be done.

Maybe I could give up sleeping.

No, I’d rather give up working.

I had a daydream today about asking the chef at my local sushi bar for a job. I have the knife skills, easily. I know my way around a kitchen, I know sushi (if you knew sushi, like I know… Sorry.) I can do the whole shtick, the shouting and bravado. Man, how much simpler things would be, fun fish and drink with customers all evening. I can make a killer spicy tuna, and poke that tastes just like you get in Hawaii. Who cares that I’m not asian, man, I can do this. I wonder if they’d let me work in a kilt. It makes me understand the temptation my friends have to get the fuck away from computers, to do work where they’re not sitting down all day. I’m not made to sit still this much, not made to do work that’s so abstract. I need to do something that makes a difference now.

Instead, I’m going to go write another shell script. ‘Cause someone has to.

I need to get tattooed

I need to get tattooed. I’m having a complete ink-junkie moment. I don’t even care what I get right now, I just need to get tattooed. I’m having a very strong urge to blow off work and just go. I don’t have any plan for where to go or what to get. Oakland, Santa Cruz, […]

I need to get tattooed.

I’m having a complete ink-junkie moment. I don’t even care what I get right now, I just need to get tattooed.

I’m having a very strong urge to blow off work and just go. I don’t have any plan for where to go or what to get. Oakland, Santa Cruz, maybe one of the local shops I know by repute but haven’t been tattooed at.

I don’t care. I just need to get ink.

*sigh*

More Alarms

Ok, there’s a scene in a movie – and this is stuck in my head like an earworm, like a song frag you can’t get rid of and can’t identify, the way Soho’s Hippychick used to stick with no song name or band name or other useful lyrics, just ‘no hip, hip, hip, no hippychick’. […]

Ok, there’s a scene in a movie – and this is stuck in my head like an earworm, like a song frag you can’t get rid of and can’t identify, the way Soho’s Hippychick used to stick with no song name or band name or other useful lyrics, just ‘no hip, hip, hip, no hippychick’.

Someone out there has to know what movie this is.

Here’s the scene. This is like a modern-day crime kinda movie, not sci-fi or anything. Some psycho – and I’m thinking Malkovich , Spacey, someone like that – has some woman held captive. He’s, I dunno, threatening her, torturing her, something. He’s got her tied up.

But she’s angry and defiant. She spits in his face.

And he looks at her with these freaky dead cold eyes, wipes the spit off his face with his hand, and licks it off his hand.

The image stuck. But there’s no damned context. Who the hell is this? What movie is this?

It rattles around in my head, like ‘Perth Amboy’ in Thurber’s head in More Alarms at Night. Help me out here before ‘Threaten to get Buck’.

Happy Birthday

Because I’m just that sort of friend, Doxy, I forgot yesterday was your birthday. I keep tellin’ people, I’m an asshole. Anyway, a big moronosphere shout-out to Doxy. Happy Birthday, baby. You seem to have stopped blogging again, but I’m hope you’re havin’ a fine ol’ day of it. It also seems to be Gina’s […]

Because I’m just that sort of friend, Doxy, I forgot yesterday was your birthday.

I keep tellin’ people, I’m an asshole.

Anyway, a big moronosphere shout-out to Doxy. Happy Birthday, baby. You seem to have stopped blogging again, but I’m hope you’re havin’ a fine ol’ day of it.

It also seems to be Gina’s (mrs Ray) birthday.

So mid-april spankings all round.

Like a dream that has no dreamer

I’m in one of those song lyrics phrases. A couple days ago it was Spiriitualized – and yesterday if I’d bothered, it would have been Hüsker Dü. But now I’m suddenly in a Be Bop Deluxe phase. Like a square peg in a round hole Like a harp without its strings Like a sailor who […]

I’m in one of those song lyrics phrases. A couple days ago it was Spiriitualized – and yesterday if I’d bothered, it would have been Hüsker Dü.

But now I’m suddenly in a Be Bop Deluxe phase.

Like a square peg in a round hole
Like a harp without its strings
Like a sailor who sails no oceans
Like a bird that has no wings

Without love, I am a desert
Without love, my light is dim
Without love, I have no treasures
Without love, I cannot win

(Without love) We are like ships in the night
(Without love) Selling our souls down the river
Sailing away and forever our pleasure is blue.

Like a dream that has no dreamer
Like a cloud without a sky
Like a truth with no believer
Like a mother without a child

Without love, I have no pleasures
Without love, my light is dim
Without love, I have no treasures
Without love, my chance is slim

(Without love) We are like ships in the night
(Without love) Selling our souls down the river
Sailing away and forever our pleasure is blue

     —Be Bop Deluxe, Ships in the Night

Be Bop Deluxe are in my top five Best Bands Ever list. You really should hear them, if you’ve never done so. They’re amazing.

cobbler’s elves

looks like I’ve got one of those all-weekend pushes coming – a project that’s due for release monday (this is internal tools stuff, not product. I don’t do product, man) needs the cobbler’s elves to do magic behind the scenes. So I’ll be at my desk, or some variant of my desk, most of the […]

looks like I’ve got one of those all-weekend pushes coming – a project that’s due for release monday (this is internal tools stuff, not product. I don’t do product, man) needs the cobbler’s elves to do magic behind the scenes.

So I’ll be at my desk, or some variant of my desk, most of the weekend, getting data moves and tools tested so that no one notices a damned thing on monday.

That’s the essence of what I do, most of the time. make it work, so users people notice anything changes.

If i’m lucky this won’t be a really major push. I’d actually like to see the sun if it pops out this weekend. But we’ll see…