And Now, For Something Utterly Different

The last few days I've been sick. Pretty miserable sick for a couple of days, with the full body-aches-fever-sore-throat thing, coming together to give me a general attitude of just wanting everyone to let me lay in bed and die already. Of course, I can't just lay in bed, and I've watched all of my DVD's so many times that unless I get a craving to see Save The Last Dance again (shaddap) they're really only good for putting me to sleep. So I read. A lot.

I'll just pause here a moment to sing the praises of e-readers. I think I'll always prefer dead-tree editions, but e-readers are VERY convenient. Without my nook I'd have been stuck with the same problem in books that I had with the DVD's. Ok, less so, because I can re-read books way more times than I can watch movies before they're just not any fun anymore.

Anyway, I was running short on reading material and decided to pick up a few more e-ditions for my library. Unfortunately all of my favorite standby authors failed to have anything new magically be released just in time to save me from dying of boredom as well as some weird flu that left one lymph node swollen and tender while the other returned to normal.

Fellow GBC'er (ya'll remember the Conspiracy, right?) Vine* answered my cold-med doped out plea for recommendations, instantly, with two words.

Little Brother. (By Cory Doctorow)

When I hit B&N and it was available as an e-book (I frown on their suddenly having to brand everything nook, when they were so sensible about it before, and I think the term "nookbook" should be reserved for books with recipes for getting laid.... which QP should write) I grabbed it. Knowing Vine's personality and having done a bit of taste-comparison with him from time to time, I figured it would be an interesting read at the least.

Just finished it. The verdict? If you haven't read it yet, you should. Some reviewers have called it the younger sibling of Orson Welles's (authors note: I've stared at this for ten minutes and I can't figure out why even though I know it's incorrect, Welles' sounds more "right" ) 1984. Or something like that, anyway, I'm too lazy to go find the exact quote at the moment. And I'm still a little hazy with meds**, thus all the parenthetical digressions and the link whoring.

Personally, I think it's a better illustration of the hazards of too much government, easier to relate to. I won't give out any spoilers, but it's a well written book that works simultaneously as an entertaining read and a social commentary. Not many authors can pull that off, frankly. You either wind up with a well-written social commentary with the bare bones of a plotline and characters, but lots of details about how the world could be run better (either directly or through satire) or a good story that has vague hints of social commentary in there somewhere, if you want to go back and puzzle them out.

Excellent book, two... well, I was going to say two thumbs up but that's been taken and I haven't thought of what my personal seal of approval is going to be, or even what the scale is. Considering how much stuff I wind up reviewing just because I probably should figure that out. Anyway, I liked it a lot.

But what I liked the most was after the end of the story.

At the back of the book is an afterward from a security expert, Bruce Schneier. Basically, he says that any security system is only proof against the designer, until and unless it has been tested by someone else, and the more someone elses that test it, the better. Including what I can't stop thinking of as "guerrilla testing." Ordinary people, figuring out ways around security systems not because they really want to get around them for the most part, but because they like the puzzle.

The key to being a socially responsible guerrilla tester is publicizing your results. If everyone knows how to open a Kryptonite bike lock with a bic pen, then the people selling you crap to make your other crap more secure have to figure out a way to keep any jerk with a pen from taking it anyway.

Schneier finishes his afterward by encouraging readers to go hack a security system. Now, I'm no rabble rouser, generally. But I think the whole concept is great. It makes sense that if something is secure against one person, it's only sure to be secure against that person, and anyone dumber than them. But if a million people take a crack at it, some of them are bound to be smart. Or, at least, they're bound to look at things in different ways, and notice that a Bic pen would fit in that hole and I wonder what would happen if I put it in there...

So, faithful readers (do I have any of those anymore? I've been a bad blogger...) what hacks do you know about? Have you figured out a way around some security system, physical or electronic? Have your friends?

Comment and tell me about them. If you're shy or might get in trouble, comment as Anony-mouse.

Myself, I'm no genius at this stuff, but I did once break into my apartment when I'd locked myself out. I did it by taking off the screen on an open window, but hey, it counts, right?

*Yes, Vine has a blog now. Go bug him to post more, I want to see what he's got to say, but he's being shy.

**I've been told before that I make parenthetical digressions in conversation, too. My best friend R once told me that she could practically see the parentheses. I try not to do it too often in my writing, but tonight I blame the cold meds. Just be thankful that I'm not posting at the peak of the med-high.

Oh God My Job Edition The Third

In which a stray cat saves my entire night.

I was grumpy tonight. Rather catty, even, since my help was gone at 7:30 and half of the stuff I'm not really supposed to do while I'm by myself hadn't been done. She got some stuff done for me and kudos to her for that, I appreciated it, but having to take trash out after I lock the doors on top of everything else just aggravates me.

However, as I was outside locking up the ice coolers, in preparation for locking the doors, and having a quick smoke while I had half a moment, I stumbled across "our" stray momma cat.

She hangs around the store and snags food out of the garbage cans, to feed her never ending trail of kittens. Now, this town is pretty much full up on stray cats and we don't really need more kittens running around alleys, but I can't get mad at her for doing what comes natural. If I catch her when she's not nursing, I'll probably try to get her in a carrier and get her spayed, but I won't mess with her while she's got nursing babies.

I've been trying to buddy up to her a bit, thinking if she befriends me I might be able to love on the kittens some (because they're adorable, of course, but also because I just might be able to find a few of them homes and reduce the stray problem if I can lay hands on them) and I've been very careful not to frighten her unduly. She's been gradually getting closer to me over the last few months, but has steadfastly kept out of touching distance.

Mostly she's been giving me that "Well, drop some food already" look. Tonight though, she seemed to come to a decision all at once. I was speaking softly, distractedly, to her, as is my usual habit, since she was between me and the ice cooler that I needed to lock. She tensed and I figured she was going to walk away, but she paused while I took another relaxed step, then came right up to me, and rubbed against my leg.

I leaned down and held my fingers out for her to sniff, which she did, and seemed to decide that even though I smelled like cleaning products, I would be allowed to touch her royalness anyway.

She loved on me for about five minutes, while her kittens peered around the corner, obviously confused.

If I can get her to come for some attention every night, eventually the kittens will decide that what's good enough for mom is good enough for them. It shouldn't be that hard to find homes for a gray tortoise shell, a black short hair, and a gray-and-white ball of fluff.

Also, it is so easy to tell who momma cat prefers to cavort with, since every litter has one gray and white kitten, marked almost identically to the tom that I see occasionally wandering around that area of town. The current one is extra adorable, having inherited dad's coloring, gray mask and top of head, down the back and tail, with white nose, chin, belly, chest, and legs, with mom's long hair, which at this age makes him or her a little powder puff.

Tonight, I got a victory that I wasn't really expecting. It certainly improved my mood immensely.

On The Phone

Was on the phone with a friend at work tonight, who doesn't keep up with the blog, and telling him all about what he's missed in my life since the last time we talked.

Part of that was the episode with Stingray for the pie.

"No, I literally put lips to ass for this recipe, I'm not being figurative."

"Wait, bare ass or were his pants on?"

"Bare ass."

"..............."

"Don't say it, the pie is totally worth it. I'd do it again."

"So basically what you're telling me is that your dignity was tasty."

"My dignity is delicious."

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!

So, having a few moments and a lack of anything else to do, for once, I updated the bloggers I've met list, made some changes on the blogroll, and added the suh-weet new logo that JBOMultigun put together for me ages ago.

Check out the new people, they all rock, and since it's been so damn long since I've updated the list, if you've met me, and you're not on my list, yell at me, and I'll fix that.

Belly Band

So, I've been carrying the P32 in a Uncle Mike's belly band, and it's been long enough that I think it's time for a review.

First off, I was dreading belly band carry, even though it fit the necessary criteria nearly perfectly: highly concealable, low risk of printing or flashing, even when I forget about it.

I'd heard a lot of stories about how uncomfortable and hot belly bands were, as well as how difficult it was to keep them in place without cinching them down to Victorian Era Duchess proportions.

I'll note here that all of those stories were from men, because I think that perhaps women have an advantage when it comes to belly bands.

It's called a waist.

For me, I don't have any problems with the belly band staying up, so to speak. It straps around the narrow part of my waist and the shape of my body helps support it.

It's not entirely comfortable but it's not uncomfortable enough to turn me off of it as a method of carry.

The Uncle Mike's specifically, I could take or leave. It's the only belly band I've tried so I don't know if it's the best or the worst, but I'll give a run down of my likes and dislikes on it.

Likes: It's a mesh material, so it breathes. I don't wind up with a super sweaty strip around my stomach. The elastic is stretchy enough to move with me, but stiff enough to be secure. It also has an adjustable velcro strap to secure your pistol, so you can carry more than one gun in it if you like.

Dislikes: The seams are fairly stiff so if you're not paying attention when you strap it on, and one gets rolled under, it can get pretty uncomfortable. The holster pocket is a one size type thing, so if you don't get the retention strap adjusted just right there can be some wash. The draw is a little awkward, too, since I position the pistol directly in front. Boobs create great camo for the pistol, but without some practice, they can really get in the way of your draw.

All in all, for what I need it for, the belly band is a win. I'd put up with a lot more discomfort and dislikes for the conceal-ability, and the horror stories turned out to not apply as much as I expected.

If you've got a pocket pistol but your pockets aren't big enough, or you need a deep concealment option for some reason, I'd say consider the belly band, over all.

Finally, Some Relaxation

Wednesday night I worked, closing as usual, to get up Thursday morning, drive mom to PT, then back home, and head south to Elsewhere, TX.

It was a very, very long day Thursday, but it was so worth it. Hanging out with Phlegmmy Thursday night was a blast, and she's totally right, her bathroom rocks.... an appropriate setting for a bath goddess, indeed.

Friday I followed in a state of awe as she flew through stores like a stylish whirlwind, accomplishing a purely shocking amount of shopping in a minuscule amount of time. The thing that took the longest time was when LawDog and I got distracted in Sam's by the lure of free cutlery, which lure faded when we realized the enthusiastic man wasn't giving away the knife he was sawing on the hammer with, but a cheesy paring knife.

Then, back to the house where I mostly tried to stay out of the way, and did accomplish hosing off the deck chairs. I always feel awkward when someone else is cleaning their house and I'm there. I want to help, and then I realize I don't know where anything goes, and I remember how annoyed I get when someone puts things away in a place that, to me, seems completely wrong-headed, so unless I'm specifically given a task, or can find something that is extremely difficult to mess up, I just try to stay out of the way.

People started arriving Friday evening and the party was fabulous, as all of Phlegmmy's shindigs are.

Can I just say right now, for the record, that I accept absolutely no blame for any anatomically correct chocolate treats Evyl Robot may come up with. And I'd like to thank Jennifer for letting me be on the other side of the ass grabbery for a change.

One of these days I'll have to get the motivation up to update my bloggers I've met roll, since there have been several additions.

The Farm Fam came home tired, but smiling. We all needed the relaxation and had a lovely time, lovely food, and lovely company.

Tonight, I work. Tomorrow, we're off to Denver for a visit with the surgeon... must remember to grab some steaks, since I did promise him if he fixed mom I'd bring him T-bones.

I'm going to be exhausted for a while but it's in a much better way than I've been dealing with, and I must remember to do something like that more often!

Caffiene Shakes: I Has Them

When you're short on sleep need to go, No-Doze is your friend. When you basically run on it and sugar for a weekend... not so much.

However, it was totally worth it.

Now I just have to figure out how to put my eyes back in my head and make my body stop vibrating.