So, the first post of 2021. I must admit, I did not finish 2020 on a good note. Not only did I throw my back out yet again, the fifth time this year, but I had to pay a long overdue bill for shoddy dental work in Asia over the last 30 years. I had a jaw infection start and I have never had one of those. Wow! That is some kind of pain. Naturally, it happened just before the long holiday weekend of New Year’s. So, I have been dealing with it for almost a week, but I have at least been prescribed some antibiotics, and I am able to get in to see my dentist on Monday. And then I can start shelling out enormous amounts of cash to pay for my laxness in looking after my teeth. Well. Nobody to blame but myself. 😊

Other than that, and without mentioning of course the für immer verdammt virus, 2020 was a relatively good year for me.

I’m thankful for where I’m living and the friends that I have, and that I was able to spend time educating myself, such as on amateur radio and emergency medical care. I refreshed my shooting skills, and I have, back allowing, gotten to the point where I can ruck under load for a fair distance at a fair speed. No complaints for any of that.

I finally got my SATL Assault ruck from Mystery Ranch. Mystery Ranch is a military gear company based in Bozeman, Montana. They have a number of military contracts, and a very good reputation in the special operations arena for the equipment that they produce. After much dithering I finally bought the ruck I was interested in. Imagine my surprise when it arrived, and pasted right to the front, is a patch which, as you can see in the picture, says Mystery Ranch Clark Field, PI. It was surreal. I looked at it and I’m thinking, “How could they know that I live there.”? And I finally realized after about 30 seconds that must be where they have an Asian production facility. And so indeed it turned out to be.

The next day, I took that ruck out, loaded it up with about 45 pounds, and hustled out for a two-mile loop. Wow! What a difference a properly constructed ruck makes. I was really able to go without stopping. Not saying it didn’t hurt. It was a bit painful from the point of view of physical exertion. That’s the heaviest load I’ve carried for a while. But I was able to do it. Very, very happy with that piece of gear.

As we can see, vaccines do appear to be coming available, as are mutated strains of the virus (although I hear they seem to be much less virulent than the original strain, but I am unsure of the veracity of that particular datum).

I was remarking to my friend just last night that if the majority of the world’s population was above average intelligence (but then again – that’s why it is average 😊), they would ban / jail politicians for the absolutely pathetic job that they did dealing with this particular issue. Imagine if Russia, China, and the United States had gotten together to working in full, open, transparent concert to control and remediate the issue with this virus? I wish there was a better way to shame all of them in public. Xi Jin Ping, Trump, Putin. All of them are just an absolute disgrace to the human race. Well, having gotten that small rant off my chest, I’ll drive on.

I did start taking my Turkish classes again, I feel like they are going well. Last 10 days has been an absolute waste though on that front, between driving up to Salt Lake City to see family, and falling ill in the truck on the way back down, I’ve done almost nothing in terms of study for that last few days.

Pain is a terrible thing to manage. Today, for the first time in six days, I am basically not in much pain. What a relief that turns out to be. When the pain is there, in my back, or my jaw, I find myself utterly unable to concentrate on anything whatsoever. I hate it.

My trip up to Salt Lake City to see the family was nice. I shot with my son and daughter-in-law. That was kind of cool. Literally, it was 32° and snow barely drifting down the as we shot at the outdoor range.

I hit a milestone in December with this blog. Thanks, no doubt, to my friends that I met in the wilderness first responder course. And I thank them for that. I hit a new high watermark of 20 subscribers to this popular blog. 😊 – Who knows? Maybe I could double that this year.

A couple of random thoughts …

Hey! Everyone have a really great new year! :-)