MacGyver

I have some friends who nearly swamped a bay boat trying to pull in a net of mullet that had hundreds Of pounds of fish in it. I didn’t realize there was such a market for mullet roe - but they make a bunch of money sending it overseas.

I would have liked to have seen that.

I’m cheap and would probably change it myself before I paid a quick change place $90. But, from a materials science perspective, the modern synthetics do perform better by every measurable standard. If you’ve got a car that calls for 5W-30, I’d probably stick with whatever I’ve been using. For a lot of new cars, they’re engineered to use synthetics - and that’s literally your only choice. I bought a Toyota truck not too long ago that uses 0w-20. It’s literally about the consistency of a bottle of water. There’s not a conventional equivalent for that stuff.

I learned to throw a big net in the intercoastal hunting for shrimp - and it may be that you're just better on what you learn on. I don't know that I've ever heard the phrase "as many gar as I can to fill up the freezer." But that comes from a guy who regularly eats ladyfish - so I'm not opposed to it. I'm assuming cleaning a gar is about the same as a ladyfish. Do you scrape the meat off the bones with a spoon?

They work fine - or at least as well as the person throwing it. I actually think the smaller ones can be harder to get a good throw out of than one that's a little bigger. But, throwing over water that you don't know what's at the bottom - smaller is good. I was in the back creeks at the southern end of Priest the other day and there were dozens of schools of shad - thousands in each school.

I’ve got exactly zero issue sticking a $250 knife in my pocket. For me, it may be the fact that a $200 sprint run Spyderco PM2 is about as perfect as a knife gets. If I was going to spend that much on a knife for my wife - I’d probably let her pick.

Those are definitely niche knives. It looks like most of his Damascus is a VG-10 core - which is a good, serviceable steel. It's going to be harder to sharpen than most knives you're used to. For me, function defines form on a knife. If I'm being frank, I just don't see one of these as an EDC type knife. If I'm going to spend more than $1000 on a knife - and truthfully I can't even think of a scenario where that would be the case - I'd go with a maker I know personally and commission something that's one of a kind. If I wanted to spend several hundred on knives right now - Rick Hinderer would need to do a run of XM-24 Skinners. Or, I'd go with a custom kitchen set from someone like https://www.leucadiaknives.com.

That’s interesting. Learn something new every day Craziness in grey areas - standard ATF I suppose. That said, there’s no way in the world I would either sell a registered lower, or be in possession of a previously registered lower without a verification of its status on the registry.

When I was a kid, I had breakfast at some civic affair that my Boy Scout troop help usher - or at least that’s how I remember it. I wound up sitting at a table that included both Truett Cathey and Dave Thomas. They were both incredibly kind to a kid who was maybe 16 years old. But they imparted some wisdom to me that day that I’ve never forgotten. They were talking about the early days of Chick-fil-a and Wendy’s. They talked about sending folks to work at McDonald’s to figure out how they did stuff. One of them told me, “if our people had come back and told us that the McDonald’s people were hanging from their toes while making the fries, we would have had our employees hanging from their toes making fries.” The other one told me, “have something that makes you special, but if your competitor is doing something well, learn from them.” I watched those two men - who truthfully were fierce competitors - talk about the things the other did well and what they’d learned from one another. I’ve never forgotten that.

That’s a lot of earned wisdom in a short, easy to consume package.

I'm quite content sitting on the beach and surf fishing for an entire week. Lots of stuff running as the water warms up in June. You can take your freshwater gear - just keep it out of the drink - and rinse it off well at the end of the week. Or, just come by and I'll loan you a surf rod. If you do get bored, between St. Augustine and Savannah is Saint Marys, GA. The ferry ride out to Cumberland Island is worth the ride. Seeing the wild horses that the Carnegies let go is pretty cool. It's a couple of hours away - but if you're driving down - renting a Jon boat in the Okefenokee Swamp is a lot of fun, too. You're early enough to not get completely overrun by mosquitos - and likely to see a bunch of Georgia's finest gators.

Magpul MS4 has pretty much become my goto. I use it for everything.

Once it goes on the registry - it's an NFA item from then on out unless you go through the process to take it off the registry. It doesn't really matter if it (the upper) has been pinned and welded or not. If (the lower) was registered as an SBR - it needs a form 4. If you're talking about buying a rifle from a shop that isn't already an NFA item and has a pinned and welded upper - then it's not a SBR and a regular 4473 would be fine.

I love the old part of Florida. It’s grown up a lot - but it still retains some of the old Florida feel. In that part of Florida, paddling the springs is a lot of fun. You’ll be out of prime manatee season, but it’s still fun to paddle the crystal clear water. Salt Springs isn’t far far. Crystal River is a lot of fun if you’re ever on the other side of the state - but it’s probably 100 miles from St. Augustine. It’s worth it though. My kids would get in the car right now if I told them We could go paddle the springs.

Last year I told my kids if they wouldn’t whine about getting their flu shots - I’d let them spend the $10. Smartest parenting decision I’ve made in years. They walked out of there with a case of Mountain Dew, a flat of Mexi-Cokes, and the largest jar of Nutella I’ve ever seen. They make a good sandwich at that deli counter.

For what it’s worth, if you know anyone who’s going to get the vaccine, but hasn’t yet - just send them to Publix. I had my second shot yesterday. It was super easy. No wait, super efficient. I doubt you even needed an appointment, but you can schedule a time online.

I got to shoot some one time on as a part of a “pro” shoot at a range with a whole bunch of ordnance professionals from different organizations/agencies. My favorite target of the day may have been tannerite strapped to 20# LPG tanks at 1000 meters. There was no question as to whether you hit it or not.

GE has been re-shoring some manufacturing over the last decade or so. It’s been a long slog. Once you lose that capacity - whether individually as a company or as a nation - it’s really hard to get it back. All that to say - I hope the next decade looks better than the last one.

You didn’t ask - but I might square away the I/we thing before I contemplated making any major life decisions. The cash offers from corporate buyers isn’t limited to the big cities. It’s increasingly everywhere. There’s not a lot of kicking the tires in this market. You’ve really got to be ready to move.

Fresh corn tortillas - much like fresh flour tortillas - shouldn’t even really be compared to their packaged cousins.

GE was once one of the most fabled manufacturers on the planet. They made everything. Like so many companies - one of which your wife is intimately familiar with - their management team decided they could make more in financial engineering than actually making product. They were wrong. It's a shame. That capacity is really hard to get back. We had a similar experience with two top of the line GE appliances that were in our house when we bought it. Both the washer and the dryer continually had problems. When I would repair it - every time it was like it was the person on the assembly lines first day on the job or their last day on the job. The quality control was terrible. There were literally zip ties that were so tight they ate through the wiring with the vibration of the machine. I don't know that I could be talked into another one. That said, the best oven I've ever had was a contractor grade gas range/oven from the mid-nineties. That thing held temperature more consistently than any oven I've ever owned since. It probably didn't cost $150. I'd love to have it back.

You should definitely make Caracasville at the Farmers' Market your first ones. You'll be hard pressed to find a better example. If I recall, Friday - Sunday lunch hours.

As far as fast food goes, I’ll take chipotle all day long. For seven or eight bucks you get two meals out of stuff that started as whole ingredients this morning. When I’m traveling, I dig the breakfast sandwiches from Starbucks. Again, whole foods and pretty tasty. I could eat the sausage, egg and cheese on an English muffin every day. I don’t know what sort of magic is in those ovens they use - maybe @RED333could tell me - but man they get those things hot fast. If I want a burger that I’m not cooking myself, it’s Hugh Baby’s here in Nashville. A good burger, fries that taste like they’re cooked in beef tallow (like the McDonald’s of old - millennials, I’m sorry you never experienced these), and good shakes.

Remember the last part of tariffs is ffs.

It ought to be noted - and this should get a lot more coverage - 14 days after your last vaccination, you are well protected against serious disease and are quite safe. You don’t need a mask to be protected from contracting a serious of Covid-19. And, what’s more - there’s a growing body of evidence that suggests that you’re not going to spread the virus to anyone else either. There was quite a bit of risk associated with the disease - but we’re just not awesome as a society about assessing risk. Once you’re vaccinated - the risk to you is quite minimal. That said, I expect to be wearing a mask through most of the rest of 2021. Two reasons for that: 1. Most of the businesses around me require them - and nobody making an hourly wage needs to deal with all that. 2. Were I to lose the mask right now - all the Brentwood soccer moms in Target would represent a far bigger risk to me than Covid-19 does.