Many thanks to Starbucks for treating me and people like me as if we were responsible adults!
And I paid cash for it too.
Nothing Says I Love You Like Coffee
Posted by daddybear71 on February 15, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/02/15/nothing-says-i-love-you-like-coffee/
Quote of the Day
You keep trying to start a fight, but I’m just glad you’re still alive! — Mr. Incredible
Sounds like love to me!
Posted by daddybear71 on February 14, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/02/14/quote-of-the-day-17/
30 Days of Twain – Day 13
Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.
My Take – Yeah, it’s been said before, and it will continue to be repeated. But it’s one of my favorites.
Posted by daddybear71 on February 14, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/02/14/30-days-of-twain-day-13/
Thought for the Day
To wives and sweethearts! May they never meet!
Posted by daddybear71 on February 14, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/02/14/thought-for-the-day-21/
Today’s Earworm
My Take: Yeah, it’s a Hallmark Holiday, but it’s also a good day to remember that your beloved isn’t always looking to make you crazy. Sometimes they actually want to make you happy, and it’s always a good thing to reciprocate.
Now, if y’all will excuse me, I have to call the belly dancer service to have someone stop by Irish Woman’s office this afternoon.
Posted by daddybear71 on February 14, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/02/14/todays-earworm-47/
Better Off
Peter over at Bayou Renaissance Man links to a New York Times essay by a young woman who plans to break up with her boyfriend on the day that he deploys. Now, she’s been totally honest with the young man in that she has no desire to be a long-distance girlfriend and be there for him when he gets back. She seems to care about him, as evidenced by the nightmares she reports about his well-being while deployed. And they seem to only have been dating for a few months, so it’s not like there is the obligation that a long relationship would give both of them.
But she is going to walk away from a man who loves her because she can’t handle the loneliness of having someone she loves far from home. She’s honest enough to say that she doesn’t think she can deal with the worry and anxiety of him being in harms way for so long.
So for her honesty, both with herself and with the soldier, I give her a lot of credit. A lot of young people will get caught up in the rush of deployment and try to make something that hasn’t fully mature permanent. It’s a romantic fantasy of the dashing young soldier marrying his sweetheart just before shipping off to some godforsaken battlefield, and there is no more overused female stereotype as the virtuous wife and girlfriend who sits by the fire, bravely pining away for Johnny to come marching home.
So I think they’ll both be better off not being involved as he deploys. She gets to clear her psyche so there won’t be any guilt if she finds that anxiety and those nightmares fading over the coming months. He gets the security of knowing that no-one is cheating on him while he’s away, and he comes home to a clean slate for his post-deployment reacclimatization. What man doesn’t want to come home to an empty apartment and a schedule totally free of romantic entanglements?
Who knows, maybe she’ll realize that she truly cares enough for him to try to keep their relationship working in some form while she’s away, or maybe she’ll discover some other toy to fascinate her for a while so that her self-doubt can work itself out. Either way, she’ll be able to say that she was strong for herself rather than for someone else. She’ll remember that this is the time when she was loyal to herself, instead of the man who loved her and would have gained strength from knowing that someone back home was there for him. He can say that he knows that she was there only for the good times, not to be there as a friend, if not a lover.
So I wish them both luck. I hope that in one way or another, she discovers she’s made the right decision. I also hope that if she follows through with her plan to let him go, he finds something or someone else to give him a reason to look forward to going home.
Posted by daddybear71 on February 14, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/02/14/better-off/
News Roundup
- From the “Rocket Surgery” Department – The European Space Agency has announced that their latest rocket, the Vega, has made its maiden flight. It is expected that the Vega will be used to lift satellites into orbit alongside its larger models, the Soyuz and the Ariane. That is, it will be used for that purpose until the engine quits and it starts to rust through. Once it reaches that state, it will probably be replaced with a more efficient Japanese rocket and sit on blocks in front of ESA headquarters until sold for scrap to pay for tickets to see Van Halen.
- From the “Self Correcting Problem” Department – A man has been going to high school athletic matches and jumping on the backs of athletes. Apparently someone didn’t get enough hugs as a kid, and now he needs attention. The man has been convicted of several crimes connected to these acts, but that doesn’t seem to deter him. My guess is he will continue to do this until he jumps on the back of a rugby player or the fathers of the athletes he’s messing with start wearing steel toed workboots to the games. After that, the problem will be taken care of all by itself.
- From the “Want Fries With That?” Department – A McDonalds manager in Australia is under arrest after throwing hot oil on a man who came across the counter at him. Police are trying to decide if the man acted in self defense. I’m not going to try to influence your views on this, but I plan on having McDonalds for lunch tomorrow to go with my Starbucks.
- From the “Four Rules” Department – A woman in Florida was shot in the head after a parishioner at her church took his gun out to show it to someone else, but forgot that even when you take the magazine out of the gun, there may still be a bullet in the chamber. Heck, I’ve found that bullets sometimes grow there all by themselves, even after you swear you checked it. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: By our dumbasses shall we be judged. This idiot broke at least two of the Four Rules, and because of his bad judgement, a young woman is badly wounded. Here’s hoping she pulls through, and that this jerk serves as a good example of what not to do.
Posted by daddybear71 on February 13, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/02/13/news-roundup-24/
30 Days of Twain – Day 12
The funniest things are the forbidden.
Posted by daddybear71 on February 13, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/02/13/30-days-of-twain-day-12/
Today’s Earworm
Posted by daddybear71 on February 13, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/02/13/todays-earworm-48/
Product Review – 5.11 Tactical Pants
Along with the polo shirt that 5.11 Tactical provided for review, they also included a pair of their their Tactical Pants. These are cotton cargo pants that seem to be built for rough duty. They are well-fitting, tough, and comfortable. They are a bit of overkill for the guy who wants a pair of cargo pants to wear while heading down to Starbucks on Valentine’s Day, but they make great pants for outdoor work, sports, and anything where you need something that will stand up to abuse and still look good.
The pants are made of a cotton material that is somewhere between denim and canvas in thickness and strength. It’s very comfortable and breathes very well, but is stiffer than the material in jeans or khakis. It’s also tough. I wore these mens cargo pants while doing yard work, running around in concrete and steel buildings, moving wood and running the chain saw, and while doing construction work around the house, and all they did was get dirty. In comparison, the name brand cargo pants I bought at Superdupermegamart at Christmas time have several holes ripped in them, and are very faded.
Speaking of getting dirty, I couldn’t keep them dirty. I got these things filthy with motor oil, chain oil, dirt, fake blood (semi-intentionally), real blood (unintentionally), and just about every other funky thing I could find. The only thing that took more than one washing to come out was red clay soil, and that didn’t stain permanently. The only thing I noticed after 20+ cycles through the wash was that the edges of seams started to fade a bit. The pants didn’t wrinkle if folded or hung up promptly after being removed from the washer dryer, but did get wrinkly when left in the bottom of a gym bag for a few hours. Then again, these aren’t dress pants, so I didn’t mind them wrinkling a bit.
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| Some minor fading along edges |
The construction of the pants is designed for hard use. All places where seams come together are reinforced with extra stitching and material. The knees are doubled over, with an interior pocket for knee pads if those are necessary. The closure for the pants is a snap, which seems to be pretty rugged. I personally prefer the rivet type closure you find on jeans, but this snap does not seem to be as delicate and prone to breakage as you find with other snaps and sewn-on buttons.
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| Snap Closure. I was evil to this thing, but it never popped open unexpectedly or broke |
The pockets that have closures are secured with hook and loop material. The patches of this material are put on with double and triple stitching, so they’re not going to come off under rough usage. However, like anything else using hook and loop, you’re going to make an unmistakable noise when you open a pocket, which is less than optimal when trying to be quiet when hunting.
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| Left thigh cargo pockets |
One thing that I found missing on these pants was a shallow hip pocket on either side for a wallet. There are deep hip pockets that go down to mid thigh, and those are quite roomy and good for keeping tools, magazines, and other things you want handy but not sliding around. I tried carrying my wallet in one of these pockets, but it wasn’t comfortable having a wallet banging against my thigh while I was walking or pressed up against my leg when I’m driving or sitting. I found that the wallet could easily go in one of the cargo pockets with no discomfort, though. I’m just a creature of habit, and I always reach for my wallet on my hip.
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| Rear pockets |
The other pocket issue I found was the width of the opening for the front pockets. These are nice, deep pockets that beg to be used for pocket carry, but I found that the opening was very tight for my hands when retrieving keys or trying to practice a draw from a pocket holster. Now, keep in mind that I have very large hands (No commercial glove maker makes gloves big enough for me), so someone with smaller hands might find them more usable. One good part of these openings being so tight was that I never had a problem with the sundry small items I carried around in them falling out. Once it was in the pocket, it stayed in the pocket.
One nice fixture for me was the pocket that sits on the front of the left thigh. I found this very handy for carrying either the reloads for my carry gun or a pocket knife and flashlight. Two single-stack magazines had a lot of room left in the pocket with them. Two double stack magazines were held very snugly.
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| Additional thigh pocket on left side of pants |
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| Single stack magazines left a lot of room |
One other feature that I had to figure out was the strap of webbing across the right hip. I eventually had to ask 5.11 what it was for, and their answer made sense at once: it’s for carabiners. These pants were originally designed for climbers, and this was a convenient place to put all of the carabiners and other things that clip on for that sport. Lo and behold, it was perfect for clipping on a knife or keys with a carabiner. It was loose enough that clipping things on was easy, but not so loose that things flopped around.
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| Der Strap |
That “just right” model seems to work for the rest of the way that the pants fit. They’re snug where they need to be without being tight, and they’re loose where they need to be without being floppy. There was enough room underneath them for me to add a layer of thermal underwear when it was cold without looking like the Staypuft Marshmallow Man. The pants moved very well as I stretched and worked with no binding. I have it on good authority that they looked good on me. However, these are definitely not pants for office wear. These are work and play pants, either because you’re kicking in doors, walking through the woods, or working around the house and yard. I got no weird looks at the grocery store, but interestingly enough, got some quizzical looks at the gun store.
Overall, I’d rate these as a good value. The one thing that I see missing from them is the aforementioned pocket for a wallet, and they definitely can’t have double use as something you could wear to the office and then wear on the weekends. They price out at $54.99, but I expect that they will last for years with proper care.
Disclaimer: 5.11 Tactical provided me with the materials for this review, but I received no other compensation for doing it. I offered to return the pants when I was done with the evaluation.
Posted by daddybear71 on February 13, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/02/13/product-review-5-11-tactical-pants/
DaddyBear
DaddyBear’s Den 