Ricky Bobby -or- Never complain about your job on your blog if you want to keep said job.

I like going fast. I want to be fast. I hate slow, I hate waste, I hate inefficiency.

So the fact it takes CHP/MSF 7 days to teach us how to instruct a 15 hour class drives me crazy.

And I also don't agree with some of the evaluation criteria, specifically the timing. I know from my shooting job that it takes the average person 0.3 of a second to react to a stimulus and make an action. So when I'm timing and grading a student with a stopwatch, manually operated by me, using an evaluation standard in increments of .6 of a second, there is no way you can truly and accurately measure and grade the student. The margin of error in the humans timing the student's actions is too great.

Dumb.

So here I sit, 3 hours from home and 4 more days to live in a cheap hotel, moving slower than I'd like for a job that I'm not even sure they will have hours free during my schedule. (oh, and they want me to work for free for 4-6 days after this training!! serious?!?!?!?!?)

Please time, fly fast and straight to my desired destination.

Do you think I am?

On one of my social media accounts there is a picture of a badge I wore on my body armor in Iraq that says, "infidel". I received a comment on that picture the other day saying, "You are killing innocents and proud. #terrorist".

Terrorist. Noun. One who uses violence and intimidation in pursuit of a political aim. I was a paid employee of a private military contractor doing a job related to anti-terrorism/force protection. I was an acknowledged actor of a private company with the military as a customer to whom I provided a service with no political agenda. Do those definitions match?

Can this person deduce all of my actions and intents in a war based off of one photograph of a patch? Would someone in AQ or ISIS consider me a terrorist? Enemy combatant? I wore no uniform, but I was held to the SOFA and UCOMJ. The nature of private contractors in combat roles does need more legal and ethical study, I will grant that.

You might be able to throw terms like "mercenary" or "war profiteer" or whatever at me and maybe, maybe, make it stick. The phrase, "I was just doing my job" has a hauntingly and hollow ring to it when you hear it uttered from your own mouth.

But I am not/was not a terrorist proudly killing innocents. You want to see that? I can show you the videos and pictures online of just what that exactly looks like and then see the difference between me and them.

Have I ever killed anyone? I would never answer that question.

If I had, were they innocent? No, they would not have been.

Would I be proud of such an action? If I was proud of it, you would have heard me say that I'd killed someone.

I don't think the accuser's claims stick. Do you? You have almost 7 years worth of my adult life here to read and make that judgement. Or email me and start a conversation. rowdystyle@gmail.com

Who and or what do you consider makes a terrorist? When would killing be justified? Who are the enemies of your God, your country, your ideals, your family?

Who or what would you die for? Kill for? Do you think I'm a terrorist?

Error Flynn

I might have spoke too soon in my last post. I went from winning one weekend to almost last another. And almost all of the blame is to be put on myself. The match was hard, but not so hard as to have my A game result in the type of finish I had.

The 2014 Smith and Wesson Indoor Nationals definitely became a learning experience for me at the conclusion of it, but that is what they say, you learn more from your losses than your victories.

I may not always like guns, but I always like winning. So I normally take losses very poorly. Sometimes almost to a childish level. But I must be maturing, as now I just know what I need to do better in the future. I know what I did well.

I was beaten in this match, but I did not quit. Through each stage (course of fire) I still gave my best, even knowing I had made errors previously that put me out of match contention. I've been getting better at mental toughness.

Now my ability to shoot a pistol accurately at 20-30 yards, that needs to get better for sure! And my ability to shoot in low or now light, that's on the list as well. Accuracy in all conditions being job one for the next long bit of practice sessions!!!

That will have to wait though as for the next 8 days I am up in Camarillo/Ventura working on the CHP training for teaching the motorcycle course for them. More hotel living.......

Erol Flynn

The title for one of the biographies for Erol Flynn is entitled "My Wicked Wicked Ways". I'm trying to make my shooting competition biography able to be called "My Winning Winning Ways".

In 2013 I took first place in two state tournaments and 10th in the national match. Twenty fourteen is starting off good with a state match win already in February. This weekend I went to North Carolina and won their state IDPA match in my classification.

So I now go into the 2014 Smith and Wesson Indoor National championships looking to finish in the top half of the expert field this weekend in Massachusetts.

Thank you to: Academi. Automatic Accuracy. The Blue Bullets. Comp-Tac. 5.11. XX2i. Super D.

Now with video!

Warrior Dash

This year I'm healthy and have no excuses. So I wanna do Warrior Dash again on April 5th, Saturday. Who is down to actually RUN RUN this thing with me?

This is me from a previous run. Leather loin cloth, fake blood, arm bands, black cammo inspired by Ahhnald S. in Conan the Barbarian.

Who's down and who's afraid???

It's always something!!

Woke up to a broken water heater flooding the garage. $2,000 bill to fix that and the water damage. Threw my whole day off in the efforts to stop the flow of water and get someone to come do the fixing.

Missed my morning run. Missed dropping off my racquet to get restrung.

Then I didn't pay enough attention to my hearing protection at practice and can't hear out of my right ear.

But the worst really? Due to my lead blood level my doctor emailed me saying to stop all lead exposure for 3 months. Translated, that means stop shooting. Uh what?? Freak!!

Not gonna happen. Can restring racquet later in the week. I can run or work out in the evening. I have the money in savings to pay for the heater repair.

But I can't stop shooting for 3 months. Health issues made me quit jiu jitsu. Why does it have to come into play here too?!?!?!?!?!

Professional Development

This weekend I'm in Palm Springs attending a conference to earn Continuing Education Units for my nuclear medicine license. The morning session I attended was about one's resume and professional development to move into jobs beyond a staff technologist at a hospital. (Because everyone in the field is quick to point out there are NO jobs available as a staff tech)

One break out group session was about writing your resume and cover letter and as part of the hand outs issues were listed that will kill your chances of getting a job if they're on your resume.

As you can guess, I have every single dang one of them!!! Freak!! And not weak, barely applicable versions but nice strong examples of each of these resume killers. (They are listed below exactly as on my handout)

-Employment gaps
-Evidence of decreasing responsibility
-Short term employment at several jobs
-Multiple shifts in career path

Looks like using a professional resume writer in San Diego is $250-400. Hmm....

Since I can't relocate for a job (their first advice) the advice for me was to either get a Masters degree in almost anything or to find work where my skills can transfer but that is not in nuclear medicine.

Here's a picture of me lounging during the break, take that all you people loving your job in a cold snowy place.

Occupational Hazard

So almost everyone who asks me what I do and I tell them that I am trained in nuclear medicine, I teach motorcycle safety for the CHP and I'm a semi-professional pistol shooter. Quite the resume, no?

Well the professional shooter thing has its occupational hazards. In nuc med I'm exposed to people with diseases when I have a weak immune system. Not to mention handling all that radiation I inject into people. Motorcycle safety has me in the sun for extended hours and if I don't pay attention an errant student could plow into me on a 350 pound motorcycle, doing some damage.

Shooting? Well again there is the standing in the sun all day. I'm a red head, so I don't want cancer really. And I guess someone could shoot me, by accident of course. That'd suck. My latest visit to the doctor revealed the main hazard of trying to shoot guns for a living. Lead. My blood lead level is almost twice the limit of high normal.

Component Standard Range Your Value
LEAD, BLOOD <=4.9 mcg/dL 8.9

The Library

I enjoy reading. I really do. Sometimes when I have nothing to do my favorite thing to make something to do is read. I read every day for pleasure. Do you get that I like reading?

Well after being angry old white guy about the Coke commercial I thought I'd show you my true diversity in two of the last books I read on a whim in December.

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. In French. Which is OK, 'cause I took 3 years of the Francais in high school. And I have the English version memorized well enough to quote passages on demand with at least 80% accuracy.


And then might as well read an academic book bout modern piracy off Africa while I'm at it. Finished this treatise up in 2.5 hours.


How many other people in THE WORLD do you think read these two books in combination during the same month? Two? Four?

Twitter 43-Coke 8

I have to admit when I saw the commercial from Coke singing America the Beautiful in multiple languages I was upset. So was I just being conservative, white, male crazy or did it truly hit a genuine patriotic nerve.

#boycottcoke ? Maybe but I'm not sure that multiculturalism is the best reason why to boycott them. Empty calories and caffeine dependence would be my main reasons.

So think about it from another country's point of view. What would you think if a prominent food or beverage commercial in Norway, France, Germany or Greece aired a commercial where that country's anthem was sang in English or Russian or Mandarin. I've been to those countries and I can 100% guarantee you they would be pissed off, burning tires in the street mad.

Now go back and think about your reaction to that commercial again. What do you think about it now?

Me, I think it's in poor taste and just aimed at sales of Coke in non-English speaking markets. In the US and abroad.

Really, picture Bimbo doing a commercial where a popular Mexican nationalistic song was sung in English. Yep, that's what I thought.

Coke loses. Twitter wins.

Do you know who I am?

Again, today seems to be drawn back to the antics of "famous" people. There are countless stories of someone getting in trouble and then saying to the police, "Don't you know who I am?" in hopes of not being arrested or whatever.

Even John Kocinski said it and he's famous to only a few people. (a really good motorcycle racer a long time ago who uttered these words after getting pulled over for speeding leaving Laguna Seca)

Well it happened to me today. Kinda. I was at the range practicing and they gave me a whole side to myself. Yeah, what are the odds of that, having half a shooting range to yourself in the middle of the day. So I take advantage of it and shoot in a way I wouldn't if there had been other people on my side. Nothing crazy, but stuff you normally aren't allowed to do indoors.

I'm between drills and an employee comes in to talk to me. A USPSA GM at that, he says "Hey the boss saw you through the window and was like 'Who the hell is that kid shooting like that? He could mess something up'. So I said to him, do you know who that is? He's one of the best IDPA shooters in southern California."

So in this case it kinda worked. I didn't get in trouble and just changed the drill I was doing a bit. The guy and I talked for a while and it was a great exchange. And rather than being the entitled jerk saying the phrase, someone else said it for me in my defense.

You know what...

I could give less than a sh!# about an actor who died of a drug overdose. Artist or not, what a poor use of resources. Sickens me this gets coverage and people are sad over it. Guess what, there are people out there not only dieing, but getting killed for their beliefs and you don't hear a thing about them.

Sad, this celebrity worship crap. Hopefully he saved some money from playing pretend for a living to help his kids out.

According to the CDC there were over 39,000 drug overdose deaths in the United States during 2010. Cardiovascular disease killed 780,000 in the same time period. Accidental firearms discharge was 600. Homicide by firearm was 11,000. Alcohol was the cause of 25,000 deaths.

Table 10 in the CDC report. Page 41.

You want the best return on your tax dollar investment? You do pay taxes right? You're not one of those people who makes money at tax time right? Why should you get a refund when I have to pay over $50,000 in taxes a year?

You want the best return on investment? Dump more money and brain power into healthcare. And stop eating crap, sitting around watching drug addicts, while you smoke and drink and eat Carl's Junior. You're the problem if you are..............

What does the shark say?

Something a lot more meaningful than a fox, that's for sure!

A few years back I had a two day interview and test session to a graduate program I really wanted to start. It was crazy! A two hour written test equal to the hardest anatomy and physiology test I ever took in undergrad. Tons of interviews and team exercises where they paired you with other applicants and gave you a problem to all solve together. And then watched, silently taking notes.

So when I finally got to an interview that was just be and 3 other people it felt like things had relaxed some. Really, a two day interview? Goodness..... The first question was pretty simple. I had guessed it before hand and had prepared for it. If you hadn't it would have taken you off guard. Basically how you'd deal with a patient who was indignant and obviously didn't trust you. No sweat, done that tons of times.

But their second question then was the classic first date question of, "If you could describe yourself as an animal, which one would it be and why?"

To which I instantly replied, "Great White Shark!" I can still see the look on their faces. So what comes next of course is the why. Elaborating, or maybe in this case defending, on my choice of animal.

"Why did I pick a Great White Shark (GWS)? Well because they are perfect. They've been around for millions of years and are the perfect example of evolution. All the worthless stuff discarded and only what is essential remains. And then what remained was perfected. Great White Sharks are unrelenting, always in motion, masters of their environment, apex predators, perfectly designed. Oh, and they don't get cancer. I would like to think of myself as having the characteristics of a GWS. Lean, efficient, always moving forward and maybe sometimes a little misunderstood."

I was wait listed to the program but never made it in. Nor did I even get an interview the second year I applied. Or for any of the other 13 graduate schools for this program I applied to...................... Sniff.

But next time I'm going to say I'd like to be associated with dolphins. Everyone loves dolphins and I'll be able to say I'm a dolphin because, "I'm playful, intelligent, gregarious, enjoy the ocean and am athletic."

Probably much better. Probably.

Who are your 5?

I heard a saying the other day that I thought about for a while and tried reasoning it out for myself to see if it was true. I mean, normally when you hear a saying you don't have to think about it much. You just hear it and then maybe post it to Tumblr or Instagram.

What is the saying in question you ask? "You are the average of the 5 people you hang out with most."

And after self monitoring and noticing what I do I think the saying has some validity. Which I guess makes me currently an amalgam of the 5 people. And maybe a runner up or two.

-Super D
-DorrDuc
-RobotGo
-myself
-??

maybe Mr Hammond? AK? Massgrass? Mysterious Eric? Frankenstien? Killer? A majority of my time is spent with three people and the other two, well one isn't even a real person. I don't think my cat counts. I doubt "everyone else" counts, but I can tell you I do see the effect on my of the people I do hang out with.

Who are your 5??