Well that's interesting.

My blog does not have a lot of readers. That's not really a surprise to me. My inane ramblings are largely uninteresting bullshit that are the product of a diseased mind. People who read this generally read the bits where I talk about products I like.

What fascinates me is my audience. It's an almost even split between readers in the United States and readers in Russia.

So, folks from Russia, what the hell is interesting about my blog? I mean, y'all are quite welcome, but I'm really intrigued as to what I'm saying that would draw an audience from over there. The next highest is Ukraine and I really can't parse that at all. Then Ireland. Huh.

I'm tripping over this.

Review: Korin Design ClickPack Pro

One of my gaming buddies brought it to a game.

The ClickPack Pro looked, at first glance, to be a simple grey and black backpack.

Then my friend showed us the features.

The first thing he did was snap open his knife and slash at the back of the pack. The pack was unmarred. He invited me to do the same with my knife. Same deal. No mark at all. The back of the pack is made with some kevlar weave cloth that's highly slash-resistant. I have no idea if it fares as well against a stabbing attack and I'm pretty confident it's in no way bulletproof.

The pack also has integrated luggage locks and a security cable so you can lock it anywhere or use it as fairly secure checked luggage in an airport.

The pack is loaded with pockets, both on the interior and scattered about on the straps and sides.

It's also billed as waterproof, though I haven't had an opportunity to test that yet.

It's got connectors for personal devices to hook into a power supply, should you opt to put one on the inside of the pack. It's also got small toiletry and cable organizers that are removable

It also fits my laptop, so that's nice.

If I have a complaint at all about the ClickPack Pro is that it's a tad small. When I use a backpack, I like to be able to use a backpack. I want spare room for a water bottle, a jacket, a hat, a book, a few cables, and other such stuff. When I pack the ClickPack Pro for work, it's all I can do to close the thing and there's no spare room for a jacket.

It's a neat idea, and handy for travel, but the ClickPack Pro isn't going to replace my Fidelis Alcon anytime soon as my commuter bag.

Review: The County Comm Titanium Persuader

So in my previous post, I moan and whine a lot. I also comment on how scary the world is getting.

That's probably what motivated me to purchase the Titanium Persuader when I saw it pop up on CountyComm a month or so back.

I liked it so much, that I got another as a gift for someone close to me.

The Persuader is essentially a faux-pen of solid titanium with a tapered point. It looks like it could be a long stylus (or pen, if you don't look too closely). It's pretty much a kubotan, but more slender than you'd usually see. Set in a pocket, it looks just like a pen and doesn't get any odd looks.

It's handy to have available if things are looking sketchy. Even if you don't have any training in using a kubotan, just holding it in your fist and jabbing either end of the Persuader into someone is going to hurt like hell without inflicting some permanent harm.

This assumes you don't ram it into someone's eye socket and go to town, of course. Kind of a disgusting mental image, but I've been watching violent movies lately.

I'm quite happy with this purchase. It's discrete and a nasty little thing to have handy. I expect CountyComm will do a brisk business with these little monsters.

2017's kicks to the balls

Recap:

• Trump is still in the White House.
• Equifax fucked us.
• Nazis are a thing again. Seriously.
• North Korea's got nukes and Trump is in the White House.
• CCleaner malware. Yeah, I use CCleaner. Whee!
• Equifax fucked us royally. Like for the rest of our lives. And who wants to bet there's no consequences for that? Anyone?
• Fucking Trump is still in the White House!

So I've been finding myself tremendously depressed in September. Like "I-don't-want-to-get-out-of-bed" or "I-would-rather-eat-glass-than-interact-with-people" depressed. It's affecting my work. It's affecting my hobbies, though on the plus side, I'm devoting a fair amount of time to this Krav Maga class.

I keep thinking that the next time I step out the door, someone's going to launch a nuke or start a riot or whatever. People feel helpless and really, really scared. And it's rubbing off, goddamnit.

And just to add insult to injury, my Fall allergies have started kicking in.

A shade more than three months left in the year. Ye gods.

Review: TAD Gear Recon RS Pant

I did a bit of shopping not too long ago and got a pair of the Recon RS Pants put out by TAD Gear.

I love them very, very much!

The Recon RS are sort of low-key cargo pants made out of a ripstop nylon-cotton blend. Breathes delightfully but has a tough, rugged feel to it.

And the Recon RS has pockets. Deep and varying pockets!

I do love me my pockets...

There's your normal hip pockets in front, with two "coin" pockets that run pretty damn deep. Inside the main hand-warmer front pockets are two tiny pockets (presumably really for coins) in the interior. Along the front of the thighs are a pair of roomy, zipper-secured pockets large enough for a cell phone. And there's pockets on the rear as well.

Oh, and there's a secret pocket for very tiny things. Shhh! It's a secret!

God, I love this stuff!

All-in-all, I found the Recon RS well-constructed and very comfortable. Gonna have to put aside a few bucks and get another pair or two...

September stuff

I probably should have picked a day other than 9/11, but it is what it is.

It's September already! And it's weird!

The San Francisco Bay Area has gone through record heat waves (for us) and had a really weird bought of thunderstorms (as recently as an hour ago by the time of writing this).

Weird.

Almost time to start thinking about Halloween and all that fun stuff. Anything to distract from the clusterfuck that is life as we know it.

Let's recap, shall we?

• Massive hurricane blasts the unholy hell out of Texas and puts a chunk of Houston under water. Fifty-two inches of water fell at one point!
• 8.1 earthquake hits Mexico. Eight-point-one. Fuckin. Ing. Hell. That's big.
• Hurricane Ivanka-sorry-Irma hits Florida. Sure, it dropped down to Category 4 but that's after nearly wiping clean some islands in the Caribbean.

And still people deny the climate change evidence. Good lord.

It's enough to drive a fellow to drink. More.

What the hell happened to August?

I swear it was just July a moment ago but I looked up and it's freakin' August! It's almost September, for the FSM's sake!

What the hell?

Madness has taken hold, clearly.

In the last month I've returned to martial arts again. This time I'm trying Krav Maga. It's pretty kick-ass and I'm enjoying it, but it's really driving home how out-of-shape I am.

In terms of reading, I just finished "The Barrow" by Mark Smylie, the creator of the glorious "Artesia" fantasy comic. Set in the same world, "The Barrow" follows the adventures of Artesia's brother, Stjepan, a cartographer and probable spy as he and a series of other dungeon crawlers go through a lot of sexual escapades and some seriously fucked up shit.

I've also started reading the Witcher books by Andrezej Sapkowski. Entertaining fare, though the main books are a little chatty and could use a bit more action.