Marathon Olympic Trials

A cool infograph of the runners competing in the Marathon Olympic Trials. It is almost unreal how fast these people are.

Google Drive-ing Down Prices

Good news!

google We've lowered the cost of our @googledrive monthly storage plans, so you can save more goo.gl/cpO91W pic.twitter.com/cGswUBzqi7

American Ninja Warrior

What is wrong with American Ninja Warrior?

My answer - nothing the fast foward button won't fix. I've decided my next physical challenge should be to win American Ninja Warrior. All I need is some super-human upper body strength.

SYTYCD

So I admit it. I like So You Think You Can Dance. I've never had much interest in dancing, but this show has been very entertaining and I have been amazed by the athleticism of the dancers. Last week the episode included a mom who was trying to balance her family and her dream of dancing. That alone was a touching story, but then her little girl got on stage and was dancing. It was so cute, I thought I might have to give up my man card for liking it so much. The episode also included this guy doing what he called "exorcist style." I thought it was going to be really weird, but it turned out to be very powerful. You don't see it in the video, but the dancer himself was humbled and moved to tears by the response from the judges and the crowd.

I didn't need to worry about my man card as this week's episode included this young lady demonstrating aerial pole dancing. (Unfortunately, not in the video.) She is clearly a very talented dancer.

Note: I was going to embed the videos, but the Fox embed code is very lame. For one, it auto-plays. Boo. Also, I embedded two videos, but it just plays the same video in both boxes. I never understand why people want to make things overly complex. Don't they want me to share the content and promote their show?

Past My IT Prime

Oh great. First, no OT for IT workers. Now, I find I am past my prime by several years.

No Guarantee

The Dwindling Power of a College Degree - it was never a guarantee. The last line strikes me as something we should always do: prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

"The increasingly vicious battle between left and right is, at the most basic level, a dispute over how to respond to these new rules. Republicans largely claim that the new rules will make the country richer and, in the long run, will be beneficial to everyone willing to put in the hard work. Few Democrats call for a return to record high taxes and trade barriers — after all, the free flow of cheap goods has helped many, particularly the poor. But many do want a return to the spirit of the old rules, when the government sought to make life more equal, more stable and, for some, less rewarding. The rest of us, meanwhile, should go to school, learn some skills and prepare for a rocky road."

And I'm not sure that I think it is a problem that the best nurse, plumber, or truck driver make a lot more money than the worst nurse, plumber, or truck driver.

Via:

andrewchen The Dwindling Power of a College Degree - NYTimes.com nyti.ms/vNsgnFWed, Nov 30 15:49:07 from Timely by Demandforce

Repercussions for Winning

So you beat a younger, smaller, less talented basketball team by 98 points...

What are some potential lessons for the winners?

• Don't try too hard.
• Using your talents is unfair.
• Aim for the lowest common denominator.
• Don't be too good or people won't like you.
• Life isn't fair.

For the losers?

• Work harder! (Or not!)
• Practice and try again next year!
• How to assign blame - it is the fault of the coach or the administrators.
• If you can't beat them, then get a really good job and buy an NBA team.
• Life isn't fair.

Via No Silence Here

Frontier Firearms and CCA Outpost

I was out in Kingston last week, so I stopped by Frontier Firearms and the Coal Creek Armory Outpost location. This isn't meant to be an in depth review of either location - just some comments from a guy who stopped by each for a few minutes.

Frontier Firearms
I had only been to the old Frontier store once, but the new building is clearly an improvement. First of all, it is new - new things are shiny and that obviously has some appeal by itself. It is big - the retail space is much larger than CCA. It is too bad I didn't need a holster because they have a ton of them. There was also the usual assortment of knives, flashlights, cats, cleaning supplies, bags, etc. (Caught that did ya? There are a few cats that get the run of the place. You'll be looking in a display case and see a small furry one staring back at you.)

As for guns, they had a good selection of long guns. I didn't do a count, but it seems like they currently had fewer handguns than I remember seeing at the old store.

There were three guys working and I spoke to two of them. No one was on the range, but one of the guys was kind enough to light it up and demo the active targets. The range is definitely an upgrade from those at CCA and Gunny's. Both guys were helpful without being pushy. (On my first visit to the old store, they were very helpful in discussing options/pros/cons for a potential AR-15 purchase. They were very patient with my newbie - low speed, high drag - questions.)

I know of several instances of people who have driven the extra miles to get to Frontier due to the company's reputation for good customer service. In fact, my father-in-law skipped by Gunny's and CCA to make his last handgun purchase at Frontier.

Coal Creek Armory Outpost
The Outpost is a small shop. They have a small retail space that currently has some shelves for various gun accessories. They cannot sell guns yet from this location - they are still waiting on the paperwork to make it through the process. According to the guy that was minding the store, they were about two weeks away from getting the approval. (Maybe less now at the time of this post.) He was very friendly and probably would have been happy to chat had I stuck around longer.

The range reminded me of the Lovell Road CCA location, but the new lights make a difference as it seemed nice and bright. There were five or six lanes.

No cats were spotted at the Outpost. There isn't a lot to say since they aren't up to full speed yet.

My Thoughts
Before I share my thoughts... a couple of points of reference.

• I'm all for competition. 
• I'm too big of chicken to run my own shop, so I am no expert on running a small business.
• I believe the goal of business is to make money.

I can only assume that CCA wants the entire Knoxville and surrounding area market for themselves. They are taking the fight to Frontier and must be leveraging the Knoxville store to support the Outpost operation. (I do like the Outpost name - makes lots of sense and fits perfectly.) I am guessing (complete speculation here!) that Frontier had to take on some debt and CCA thinks they could push them over the edge. If it were me, I would have expanded to an under served area like North Knoxville (Powell, Fountain City, Halls). It would build an even stronger foundation for expansions in contested areas. Opening a shop/range where there was none would also be good for the gun community, too. My biggest fear is that the expansion stretches CCA too much and the Outpost takes some of the Frontier business resulting in both businesses folding.

As with most things, time will tell.

Coal Creek Armory in Kingston is now Open

According to this post on the CCA blog, the Kingston store is now open. Let the games begin!