Archive for category Personal

I ask to be placed on companies no-call list. I start getting sexually harassed from sales person.

My wife and I have considered tearing down an old wooden building on our property and construction a slightly larger steel building. We decided to do a little research and find out some rough numbers of the project cost. About a week ago I filled out a form online requesting an “instant quote” from usbuildingsdirect.com.

Exactly 24 hours later I received a phone call from a sales person. This sales person, before announcing his name or the company he worked for, started asking about the weather, and if I had got all my Christmas shopping done. After stopping him and asking him who he was, he went into his sales pitch. “It’s the end of the year”, “we have inventory we have to move”, “I can get you great pricing”, “we can store the building for you”. About 15 minutes into the phone call he had still not given me any type of price. I asked him to not call again and we disconnected.

Later that day I got a call from someone stating to be his manager. After expressing my dissatisfaction, he acted concerned asking exactly what the sales person said.  I expressed that his company used high pressure sales tactics and I was not interested in dealing with them. He then hung up on me.

Everything seemed fine after that.  Although annoyed, I was done dealing with them… until today.

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My First Firearm Purchase

My Sigma

The Gun

A few weeks ago I ended up buying a Smith and Wesson Sigma 9MM Pistol. I had wanted a hand gun for some time for personal and property protection. There was a lot of unrest and rumors going around my area after hurricanes Rita and Katrina, and at the time I would have felt safer knowing that I had a firearm in my home.

I had done some research and wanted to get a Glock. When I went to Academy the showed me the S&W Sigma. The Sigma is a clone based off the Glock (so much so that Glock sued Smith and Wesson, and S&W Settled). I read reviews online and the main negative seemed to be the excessive trigger pull on the Sigma. Because of the few cons, and the Sigma being 1/2 the cost (I paid about $330 for it w/ 2 Magazines and 2 Extra via Rebate) I decided to buy the Sigma.

The Experience

Left Handed, 10 Rounds at 7 Yards

A few days after my purchase I went with some co-workers to a shooting range. I loved shooting the gun! It was my first time ever shooting a hand gun, I didn’t find it to hard to use / aim and I was happy with my shooting results. I did get to fire a few other guns while I was there. I quickly went through a 100 rounds of ammo.

I am happy with the Sigma. If I would have known how much fun I was going to have shooting, I probably would have purchased the Glock. The trigger pull causes a little hesitation when shooting, allowing the gun to wobble around a little while pulling the trigger. I found with the other weapons that had a lighter trigger pull, I was more accurate. If this is a home protection gun, it doesn’t matter that much. For something that you want to take to the range and target shoot with often, I would recommend the Glock.

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Two take-aways from Managing the Grey

Recently I’ve been listing to the “Managing the Grey” Podcast.

Two take-aways that I found really inspiring:

Only Accept a project that makes you say “hell yea.” This concept reminds me of the book Free by Chris Anderson where he explains that you have a finite amount of time and money. When you are low on money and have more time, then you will do a lot of things. When you are low on time and have more money you will start to hire people to do those tasks for you (Taxes, Washing your car ect). With time being finite, don’t waste your time on projects that you are not excited about. It will drain your time, and possibly keep you from a project you really want to work on.

“Make today a good day”: CC says that he tells his children each morning to “Make it a great day.” I think that is a perfect outlook on life. Don’t wait for things to happen, make them happen. You are in control.

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Starting Over

Hi all,

I’ve decided to re-create my blog from the ground up with a better, more focused category structure. I will be porting over some of my old blog post, but not all.

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