She never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders: She is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage. ... she never wounds 'till she has generously given notice, even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the danger of treading on her.
-Benjamin Franklin


Thursday, January 19, 2012

Buying stuff makes me happy

I'm usually a pretty happy guy. I joke about everything, and I deflect with humor, too, so even when I'm not happy I appear happy. I don't generally burden others with my not-happy time.

(Except you guys. You put up with all my pissy little shit, and you don't get mad at me when I say "fuck." What's not to love? Come here; give us a hug, eh?)

Anyhoo, I'm a little freaked out. The short version of the story is that my back is fucked up real bad, and I'm a candidate for spinal surgery. I have a surgical consult next Thursday, and I get to have a provocative discography (or, as I like to think of it, a Living Fucking Nightmare wherein I get injected with something specifically to cause me pain). Needless to say, I've got a lot on my mind.

So, on the way home I noticed that a former Aaron's had been emptied and replaced with a new place called Top Brass Military and Tactical. My curiosity got the better of me. I expected to walk in and see a bunch of full-blown gunshop commando types. Not so.

The place was nice. It didn't have that hole-in-the-wall milsurp store feel to it. The staff was dressed from head to toe in 5.11 apparel, which I pardoned since that brand takes up probably 40% of the floor space in that (surprisingly big-ass) store. Folks were clean-cut and very polite.

I walked around and looked at everything. It was more-or-less like Cheaper Than Dirt opened up the roof and puked in the middle of the store. Everything from AR/AK accessories (even PMAGs! Both with and without windows! And a shite-tonne of 'em!) to MOLLE everything to, what's that? Looks an awful lot like a neatly stacked ~15'x15' pile of ammo cans... Score. Each and every one of them was in Grade I condition. Maybe a couple of dings and a touch of rust on the hinges, but as far as I can tell they all had brand-new seals in them. I bought two .50 cans for $15 each. I'll go back for a few of the $10 .30 cans.

"Hey, Tweaker," you are surely asking, "Why not go ahead and get some .30 cans now?" A fine question, you smart whipper-snappers. I had spent enough money between the ammo cans and my shiny new Streamlight ProTac 2AA that I bought to replace a 2AA Mini-Maglite. Now that was money well spent! It's just a touch smaller than the Mag, and will drop into my Nite Ize Pock-Its XL pointing down (the Mag had to point up). A 120-lumen ray of sunlight screams out at a touch of the button on the back - no more twisty for me! - and, buddy, we're gonna do some seeing!

So there. I spent some money. Got something I needed, and something I wanted. In a pretty cool store. I can haz happy time? Yeth. Yeth I can.



tweaker

2 comments:

  1. Really sorry to hear about your back. Advice from one who's BTDT: Don't, repeat, don't let them perform a spinal fusion unless there's genuinely no other choice. It's a last resort.

    How do I know this? Trust me. I know this.

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  2. Agree on the spinal fusion. There is no going back once it's done. On the other hand, I can actually feel my fingers again and I don't drop shit because of the "stingers" running down my arm.
    The wife is next- four level scoliosis requiring fusion. Back pain that morphine barely dulls. Yeah, I'm tired of hospitals.
    Tim

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