Project cookie tech or the quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe

              Two months ago amidst the hulking shapes of my newly acquired kitchen gadgets, I started project cookie tech.  Cookie tech ™ was my attempt to build a bigger better chocolate chip cookie.  I had the technology.  I had the ingredients.  I was sure I could do better than the packaged chocolate chip dough packs at the grocery store.  I knew it would not be easy.  I knew it would require devotion.  So began my quest—for cookies! For world domination! For science!  Muhahahahahahaha!!

 

Before we begin dear reader, you must understand something.  My wife loves desserts.  She has sampled coco delights across the country.  Her quest for confectionary perfection is endless—boundless—a glorious obsession that has driven baristas mad, waitresses to ruin, and threatened the very fabric of the time space continuum.  When I say that I wanted to make the perfect chocolate chip cookie I knew that my soul rested in the balance.  This was a life’s work—good work—but fraught with peril.

              As any good scientist, I began with research.  Making cookies is not art, it is science…science!  Every step of the process has been painstakingly investigated.  However, opinions on what is the “perfect” chocolate chip cookie and how to reliably manufacture said wonder vary widely.  I drew inspiration from three sources.

The kitchenaid chocolate chip cookie recipe that came with my mixer:

http://www.food.com/recipe/kitchenaid-chocolate-chip-cookies-443024

This is a standard no frills recipe.  You get cookies—no muss—no fuss—just the basics.

 

The Alton Brown chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe:

http://altonbrown.com/the-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookie-recipe/

This is a slightly better recipe with a few tips and tricks mixed in.  I learned a lot contrasting the results of the kitchenaid and Brown recipes.

 

The New York Times chocolate chip cookie recipe:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/dining/09chip.html?_r=0

If you love cookies, then you must read this article.  It is a beautiful, dare I say it, sweet and buttery treatment of the lineage of this iconic dessert.  From these three fonts of wisdom I took my inspiration.

              One thing was clear, not all cookies are created equal.  Chewy, crisp, gluten free, silver dollar, gigantic, light, fluffy, dense, thick, wafer-thin, there are endless variations.  Fortunately, for me that is, my wife and I have similar tastes when it comes to this delicacy.

·       They should be chewy—not crunchy—not doughy.

·       They should be big enough that you can take a bite out of one and have plenty left to nibble.

·       They should be thick with melted chocolate—not delicately seasoned.

·       They should keep their consistency over time—not drying out after a couple hours.

·       The recipe should be simple enough that I can make it without a bunch of fiddly details.

 

Then I made about 150 cookies over a month and a half.  Heed my words, learn from my mistakes.  What follows is the wonder of the age—a cookie so perfect that I yet live, my soul my own—for the moment.

 

Ingredients:

·       1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted sweet cream butter.  Make sure to get real unsalted butter.  The amount of salt matters when combined with baking soda and flower.  Butter and milk fat in general are the binding agents that give the cookie its rich flavor.  Do not skimp on quality.

·       1 box or 2 cups packed dark brown sugar.  Make sure this is fresh and not dried out or solid brick-like to the touch. brown sugar should give a little under pressure due to the molasses content.  If it does not your cookies will not have the desired texture.  Do not substitute granulated sugar.

·       1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk.  Separating the egg is the only fiddly part of this recipe.  Eggs provide the second binding agent as well as some of the protein for the chemical reactions to mature correctly.  You would not think that the loss of 1 egg white would make that much difference but I assure you it does.

·       2 teaspoons vanilla extract or optionally 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon coconut extract.  This is what gives the dough its mellow character.  The coconut melds well with the buttery sugary tones of toffee and caramel created by the brown sugar and butter.

·       Optionally, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon.  I know this is not part of a traditional recipe.  I tried it in one of my batches and it sets off the chocolate really well—especially if you are using 60% or better premium coco.

·       3 cups high quality all-purpose flower.  I tried cake flower, bread flower, all-purpose flower, and mixtures thereof.  All-purpose gave me the best results.  Changing the type of flower changes the amount of gluten and protein which changes the arability and texture of the dough.  I recommend gold metal or king Arthur flower for preference but feel free to modify as desired.

·       1 teaspoon baking soda and 1 teaspoon salt.  I like this version because there are no fiddly fractional amounts of baking agents.  Be sure to get the quantity exactly right, these are the magic powders that make the process work.

·       12 ounces’ semisweet chocolate morsels or 12-16 ounces of the darkest purest chocolate you can find.  I used a 12-ounce package of nestles morsels

https://www.amazon.com/Nestle-Tollhouse-Sweet-Morsels-12-Ounce/dp/B0043ZFM56

and a 1-pound package of Valrhona 72% chocolate disks

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I5UZ2UK/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

in testing.  Actually I bought so many packages of the Nestles morsels that my grocery store coupon generator continues to dispense discounts for them on every other purchase.  You can definitely taste the difference in the chocolate.  I suggest getting the recipe right first before dropping $16 or more on quality chocolate but even with the Nestles the results were excellent.

 

Instructions:

·       Remove all ingredients from the refrigerator and let come to room temperature.  The butter will be handled in step 2.  Everything else needs to be at the same temperature for best results.

·       In 20 second segments, melt the butter in a microwave.  The objective is to render the sticks into liquid, not get them sizzling hot.

·       Add your melted butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon to the bowl of your stand mixer.  Put on the second setting—scraping the side of the bowl every 30 seconds—until the brown sugar is incorporated.

·       Separate one egg.  Add one whole egg and the separated yolk to a bowl with the vanilla and coconut extract.  Beet the mixture with a fork until fully blended.

·       Add the egg mixture to your stand mixer’s bowl and process on setting three until fully combined (approximately 2 minutes.)  Depending on the shape of your bowl, you may have to scrape brown sugar dregs off the side for further incorporation.  Continue until the mixture is soft and creamy and the ingredients are evenly combined.

·       Sift together the flower, baking soda, and salt.  I put my sifter into a mixing bowl, measure out my ingredients into the sifter, and then pick up the sifter and slowly turn the crank until everything is processed.  This has the added benefit of catching any overflow—there is no net loss of material.

·       Put your mixer on setting 1.  Over a couple minutes’ scoop in the flower mixture giving time after each scoop (usually a 10 second count) for the new material to mix into the dough.  After the flower mixture is completely added, move the mixer up to setting 3 for 30 seconds.  Your objective is to get everything mixed with no dry pockets of flower.  You do not want to over-mix the dough or the cookies will not rise and fall correctly.  You may need to scrape the side of the bowl to make sure all the material is getting blended before setting the mixer on the faster setting.

·       Scrape the side of the bowl and knock residual dough free of the paddle before turning the mixer to setting 1 and slowly adding the chocolate over a couple minutes.  If you add it all at once or if you add it too quickly the mechanism may jam or fail to incorporate the chocolate completely.  Do not over-mix.  You want to stir the bowl just long enough that the chocolate is evenly distributed. 

·       Cover the top of the mixing bowl with foil and let sit in the refrigerator for 24-36 hours.  This process lets the dough firm up, allows the gluten to relax, and lets the moisture permeate the starches.  Do not freeze the dough—the moisture cannot permeate if it turns to ice.  Play around with the time left in fridge—it will impact the end texture and color.  I like 24 hours but others may wish to go as long as 48.

·       Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Do not move it up to 350 or 375 as many recipes recommend.  Trust me, there is a method to my madness.

·       Line two half baking sheets with parchment paper.  I used to use the silicone baking mats but parchment paper is so much easier to clean up and I never get even slightly burned bottoms with this method.  Make sure there is enough paper to cover the edges of the sheets.  The dough will burn if it contacts the bare metal.

·       Using a large cookie scoop

https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Grips-Large-Cookie-Scoop/dp/B0000CCY1C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1474395950&sr=8-1&keywords=good+grips+cookie+scoop+large

Evenly lay out 3 rows of 4 cookies (12 total) on each sheet.  Ideally this should take some work since the dough should be very firm.  The cookie scoop ensures each cookie is exactly the same shape and weight.  The flat underside of the cookie should rest on the paper with at least 3 inches clearance between each dough ball.  The size of the cookies is important.  If you make them smaller then you will not have enough surface area to generate the desired gradients of texture and flavor.  Do not take the dough out early, you want it good and cold as you are scooping it.

·       Put the sheets in the oven on individual racks.  Set the timer for 7 minutes and close the oven door.  After 7 minutes, switch the sheets so that they occupied the rack the other sheet started on.  Close the oven door and set the timer for another 7 minutes.  Just before the timer is about to go off, turn off the oven entirely.  This is where the magic happens.  As the dough balls warm, the outer layers soften and spread.  The cooler center takes longer to cook leaving the outer edges golden crispy brown and the centers soft and perfectly cooked through.  You switch racks to make sure both sheets cook evenly in relation to the heating elements.  Depending on how your oven cooks, you may want to let the cookies sit in the reduced heat for a couple minutes.  The longer than average cooking time and lower heat lets the cookies spread without getting too crispy or too thin.  Those last three minutes make or break the recipe.  See what happens right after the timer goes off and adjust accordingly with future batches.

·       Remove the sheets and let sit for 5-10 minutes.  As the cookies come out of the oven they should have risen slightly.  Do not bump the sheets or bang them around.  You are letting them sit long enough for the dough to settle down and condense much like with quick breads.

·       Once the cookies have sunk and cooled slightly, transfer to wire racks and let sit until completely cool or if you cannot wait—and who could blame you—have a couple with milk or your morning coffee.

·       For me, the cookies are best 24 hours later after they have been left in a container post initial feeding frenzy.  The brown sugar causes the cookies to become slightly chewy—not soft—with the perfect mix of flavor and texture.

·       You can freeze the dough after it has set in the fridge for the allotted period of time.  It should be used within one month—up to a year if you vacuum seal it first.

 

That is the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe my friends.  I give it to you.  I Release it into the wild.  Be afraid, very afraid;)

Reviewing Pathfinder Rise of the rune lords adventure path card game

The following is my Amazon review of ROTRL.  I will talk about playing the pathfinder card game in more detail later.  For now, enjoy this review.

 

Overview:

            Rise of the Rune Lords (hereafter referred to as ROTRL) is a deck building adventure card game for 2-6 players based on the RPG of the same name.  Participants select characters, complete narrative encounters, and develop their decks.  The narrative campaign is comprised of two introductory modules, a base set (adventure pack 1) and five sequentially numbered scenario kits—each of which contains 94 treasure, monster, trap, and location cards required to play six distinct adventures.  The full experience encompasses 38 encounters each usually lasting between 1 and 2 hours.

 

Note:

While this is technically a review of the ROTRL base set, it is difficult to discuss the starter box without addressing the campaign and supplementary materials.  I have tried to clearly distinguish between the base set components and other products.

 

Materials:

            The base set comes in a high quality game box typical of euro card products like dominion and ascension.  It is big enough that your player decks, selection of locations, misc loot, hazards, and monsters will all still fit in the box including expansions and bonus cards.

            The base packaging includes an instruction book, more than 400 cards, a set of RPG dice (d4, d6, d8, d10, and d12), and a plastic card organizer.  The cards are your usual euro card stock—plenty durable in the short term but easily destroyed if care is not taken.  We found it easiest to sleeve our character decks and use dry erase markers on top loader sleeves for our characters.  This protected our decks while keeping a physical record of our advancement that did not require separate character sheets.  The cards are well written and illustrated—though the lack of flavor text was a missed opportunity in my opinion.  The instructions cover game play cleanly with a couple of quality oversights.  I would have liked a mechanical guide that clarified which rule takes precedence when two actions conflict and a robust index but for the cost and form factor the materials are more than adequate.

 

Game Play:

            The campaign begins with players picking a character from the provided options including monk, bard, fighter, barbarian, cleric, ranger, wizard...etc.  Each character has a pre-set distribution of cards chosen from items, weapons, armor, allies, spells, and blessings.  Their character card provides a range of attributes and special powers which will improve each time an adventure module is successfully completed.

            At the start of a mission players build the scenario board by building 4- 8 location decks.  In most cases this will consist of several piles of loot cards, monsters, and barriers specified by the location (a wizard’s tower has more spells while the guard tower has more weapons.)  The number of location scales with the number of characters so smaller groups are not disadvantaged.  The adventure boss and their henchmen are randomly scattered among the available locations.  Each location requires a particular skill check, combat, or card sacrifice to close.  As the group completes the 6-adventure expansion packs more challenging foes and more valuable treasure are added to the random pool raising the risk-reward potential of future sessions.

            A game consists of 30 turns regardless of the number of players.  While larger groups have more resources, they have less individual player turns to achieve their objectives.  The players successfully complete the scenario when they defeat the boss while preventing him from fleeing to open locations.  So players have to balance the desire to collect all the loot with the need to close locations and find the boss before the 30 turn clock runs out.  Most characters have cards which can be played to benefit themselves or others.  Since they often face challenges they cannot overcome individually, the collective management of cross-party resources combines with strategic exploration to make collaboration essential.  Sometimes you will need to give up your resources so the wizard can acquire a valuable ally.  Sometimes you will be blessed by the cleric so you can close an open location with a particularly difficult challenge rating.  Group priorities change depending on game state and available resources.  Good players will work together.  Poor players will try and turn the adventure into a group contest—and probably fail.

 

A note on additional products:

            New players should be aware of the economics of the game.  Currently, Paizo offers 3 adventure path sets with a fourth on the way.  Each path begins with a base set ($45) good for 2 introductory adventures and the 6 adventures in the first expansion pack.  To get the full campaign experience, players will need to purchase 5 additional adventure path expansions (aprox $20 each.)  The base set has a great deal of replayability due to the random scenario mechanic but if you want to go all the way, it will cost around $150 for the full 38 mission treatment.  If players want to spice up their options, they can buy a character expansion pack which features alternative character configurations ($20.)  Tack on a set of character play mats ($40) and the total runs over $200 per path.  Outside the four adventure paths, players can also purchase dedicated class expansion packs featuring extra loot for those seeking a better treasure distribution.  There are currently three special release goblin characters and two associated class expansion packs ($30 total.)  You can buy a dedicated scenario mat to help organize locations and scenario decks too.  My group enjoyed running through ROTRL so much that we bought the 2 complete following paths and have pre-ordered the fourth.  That being said, even if you only want to play the base campaign without all the bells and whistles I feel it is only fair to put the cost in perspective--$45 is about a third of what you will end up spending for one of the adventure paths minimum.

 

Why should you buy ROTRL?

            If you like truly cooperative games, if you want to level a character and enjoy some table talk without the need for a game master, if you used to role-play and can only spare a couple hours a week now, if you like big modular gaming frameworks, ROTRL is for you.  It took five of us over a year to complete the full 38 module adventure path.  We loved every minute of it.  The mechanics do an excellent job of recreating the intuitive feel of playing an old school RPG character while blending in modern deck builder elements.  Even if you stick with the base set and never get a single expansion kit this is a fun game with a lot of replayability.

 

Why should you avoid ROTRL?

            If you dislike organizing hundreds of cards, if you do not like working with detailed rule sets, if you do not want to have to buy each of the supplementary card packs, if you are not interested in playing an on-going game over multiple sessions, then this might not be the game for you.  

Project Status

              Every once in a while, I like going through my projects and seeing what I have going on.  It helps to compare the list to previous entries—sometimes I’m up on points and sometimes, not so much.

 

Warmachine:

·       All pig casters done

·       Both meat threshers done

·       All my current beasts done

·       Still have 2 razor backs and 2 units of slaughterhousers to do

·       Khador new battle box in process along with matching older jacks of the same type

·       Man-o-war units almost done—should be complete by mid-September

·       Still have Jr war caster, Dragoon, and angel of retribution to put in the pipeline

·       Need to get Jayson to repaint my marauders so that everything matches

·       Need to obtain and add classic B1 and metal s1 to pipe line—going to grab Z1 and I1 later but these two will do for now

·       At minimum looking at getting the upcoming shock trooper command attachment

·       All collections currently cased and ready to rock

 

Flames of War:

·       French are completely done save for three objectives which Jayson has said are on their way

·       Fourth Indians are mostly done but still need a finishing gloss.

·       If Deathquaker goes on this route, need 8 transport trucks, 3 Matildas, and a second unit of portees to round out the force.  Was going to go with carriers but everything in the army is already so expensive, I do not see cheap machineguns making their points back.

·       I will probably end up going with a custom transport for this force if I ever expand the selection.

 

Blood Bowl:

·       Dwarves are done

·       Amazons are on the list as soon as Jayson finishes up with my existing warjacks for warmachine

·       Debating working on a better system for playing the game—board, templates…etc.

·       Teams are cased

 

Man Cave:

·       Desk and project space are done

·       Storage is adequate for the moment—will need to find better/more options in future if collection continues to expand

·       Would like to get into local versions of my survival radios at some point in 2017

·       Would like to see if I can re-wire cable to get direct internet access here so can work from home reliably

 

Guns:

·       AR10 has magazines, buis, a stock of ammunition, and loading tool.  May end up selling if the election panic ramps up though—especially if Hilary wins better be prepared for a more restrictive environment

·       Need to learn how to take down and clean shotguns, lever actions, and 45 pump rifle

·       Learned how to disassemble and clean 1911s

·       Learned how to disassemble and clean my revolvers

·       Have a reasonable stock of home defense and range ammunition

·       Got the ultrasonic cleaner up and running (thanks wmtg)

·       Need to figure out what I am going to do with two family restoration pieces got from J—currently not sure if the work will justify the end product

·       Need to get a bigger and more consolidated gun safe so I do not have all these keys and stamped sheet metal boxes

·       Need to get holsters for 1911 and possibly the black hawk—depends on intended final use

·       If keeping the AR10, need to pick up a solid optic

 

Misc Projects:

·       Set up a secure home defense model that is kid safe

·       Put serious effort into hitting range and possibly self-defense class

·       Kull and organize board game collection

·       Start work on getting back into dragon dice

 

That is all for now.  I am making Progress—especially warmachine and blood bowl.  The key is apparently not buying anything else until I clean out my existing back log. 

The start of three things

I have decided to use the “three things” email as a weekly writing exercise.  I will copy the results into my blog(s) and send it to my discussion list—thereby forcing me to keep up with my craft in some small part.  So with no further ado:

 

1.        Star Wars or Star trek and why?

This is one of those questions that would have received a different answer depending on when you asked me.  Growing up, Star Wars was that classic movie series I watched when U.S.A. ran its Christmas marathon and when my grandparents’ friends wanted something to amuse the kids while the adults talked about adult things.  It was a fun piece of distraction but nothing special in-and-of itself.  Star trek on the other hand was one of the few shows that I loved, that my parents let me watch, and that seemed to get bigger and bigger the older I got.

My local cable affiliate regularly ran marathons of the original pulpy series.  Late Saturday nights were characterized by Wild Kingdom, inspector gadget, the Muppets, and Nickelodeon’s star trek cartoon.  Afterword’s we would go night-sledding in my back yard where I would pretend that the house lights were shuttle landing lights while I slid down a hill on an alien planet into the mysterious darkness of a Vermont winter evening.  I remember watching the original first episode of star trek the next generation—again while my parents were having a party.  I loved Data and Worf.  Reading rainbow did an entire episode on STNG from Geordi’s perspective.  I even had a couple packs of the associated CCG when I was in high school.  I got all the novels I could find on audio from the library of Congress.

              STNG’s high production values, interesting characters, and revealing outfits seemed fresh—edgy—scandalously adult to my elementary school sensitivities.  The original series was interesting—gritty—ruff in a way that gave it a certain charm long before I knew what the term “pulp” meant.  People forget sometimes that while Star Wars was a movie classic, star trek was a cultural phenomenon—especially during the late 80s.  Star trek was the bigger “thing.”  I played with Star Wars toys, colored in a C3PO coloring book, played Star Wars video games, and even listened to a dramatization of the movies on public radio—all from a very young age.  Both franchises were present—trek simply was expanding at the time while Star Wars wouldn’t hit critical mass until the 90s.

              Star Wars didn’t start to grow on me until a friend introduced me to west end’s original d6 RPG.  At the same time super Nintendo had a video game that would let you fire away with blaster, homing missiles, drive a land speeder, pilot an x-wing, battle with lightsaber, and get tons of extra lives using the classic Capcom cheat code.  The graphics and sound were so advanced at the time that it felt like I was playing in the actual movie.  I watched friends play x-wing the computer game, played the Nintendo and the classic Atari cartridges, built force sensitive x-wing pilots in the RPG, and re-watched the movies over-and-over again.  In college I watched all the remastered movies in the theatres on opening night.  My two first VCR tape purchases were a complete collection of James Bond titles and the Star Wars trilogy (the originals thank you very much George.)  Post-college, I read the endless collection of novels, played the West End RPG with friends, watched the prequels, and debated the nature of good and evil—dark side VS. light side endlessly.

              Star Wars seemed to age better than trek despite Lucas’s ham-fisted attempts at revitalizing the franchise.  Leia Organa Solo was a bad ass force-wielding, blaster shooting, negotiating princess who was equally at home in formal garb or slave bikini duds.  Han was a gritty take no prisoners softy with a heart of gold and an iron fist for his enemies—he shot first damn it.  Mara Jade and Lando started off as supporting characters who grew into heroes in their own right.  In addition to the characters, I found continuity issues in the world of trek.  What gave the federation the right to decide what was best for everyone else?  The conflicts that energized me in middle school seemed trite and campy as an adult.  Books like red shirts did a great job of satiring the genre to the point where I still enjoy watching old episodes—I simply cannot recapture the wonder they evoked in my formative years.  So short answer—Star Wars.

2.       What is the hottest thing you have ever eaten?

That would be the mad dog collectors’ edition hot sauce:

https://www.amazon.com/Mad-Dog-357-Collectors-Keychain/dp/B0007WEG4W/ref=sr_1_3_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1469786907&sr=8-3&keywords=mad+dog+hot+saucee

They call it a sauce but I cannot figure out who would use it as a condiment.  It is made with 6,000,000 scoville pepper extract.  I made a five-pound batch of jerky recently using a splash of this stuff and woooo boy!  My hands burned for 24 hours just from folding it into the meat.  I can only eat two pieces of the resulting death sticks before I have to down a glass of milk.  The really crazy thing is that the company that makes this stuff has a sauce called plutonium extract which is 50% hotter.  If you are interested in what it is like to take this murder sauce straight, the following video will be instructive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aEJOe48Kto

So, not going to give that nonsense a try without some major rewards in the offing and probably not even then.

3.       Which fictional character most inspires you and why?

I hate having to choose.  If I have to pick just one though, it would be paladin from the TV western “have gun, will travel.”  He combines several elements I admire—taste and courtesy—a sense for what is right even in morally gray territory—the ability to persevere in the face of physical and emotional challenges—the desire not to use violence to solve problems while retaining the ability to do so when circumstances require.  I love the fact that he grapples with what is right and wrong—not just when he is justified in throwing down.  It makes for a character equally at home ruffing it on the range and debating poetry over a game of bridge in the salons of high society—a warrior poet in the true sense.

Buying ammunition and such

              I got into guns after the 2008 election.  Since then I have learned a great deal about the economics of the hobby.  There are a lot of variables at play—what laws are likely to pass in your region, how the upcoming candidates are set V.S. gun control, how National and state congresses look to shake out, how many supreme court slots are coming up for nomination, and what events have recently spurred the second amendment debate.  I would find the entire process fascinating if the future of one of my favorite activities did not hang in the balance.

 

              The 2012 election was an exercise in chaos theory for the people of the gun.  Obama, he of the clinging to guns and religion fame, had proven that gun control was high on his personal to-do-list.  Romney was not a noted second amendment supporter either—a practical politician in his way but not exactly the bulwark candidate the gun community wanted.  Rhetoric was heated, fears of national gun control were rampant, and shelves were empty of common ammunition types and platforms.  Newtown and the Colorado movie shooting simply enhanced the 2a community’s belief that dark days lay ahead.

              Although the media enjoys mocking the firearm related fearmongering that precedes National elections, the community’s fears were justified.  In 1993, the Stockton school yard shooting resulted in the death of five elementary school students, the shooter, and the wounding of 28 other individuals.  That event precipitated the 1994 Federal assault weapon ban—and Stockton occurred before the dawning of social media, the internet news cycle, and today’s deeply partisan politics.  The1981 attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan and the 1933 attempt on FDR both lead to landmark restrictive firearm laws.  The United States has a history of reactively legislating guns after National tragedies—and New Town was more than five times as deadly as the Stockton shooting.  So while there was definitely a period of panic buying pre-election and post Newtown, that panic stemmed from multiple historical benchmarks.

              Frankly, I hate panic buying.  Heeding the call of the falling sky strikes me as the worst kind of group think.  Giving into mass hysteria harkens far too close to a loss of reason for my taste.  Gun owners have plenty of legitimate material to give them pause entering the 2016 election cycle without falling prey to chicken little syndrome.  Between multiple large scale terrorist strikes in Europe, the San Bernardino and Orlando shootings, the wife of the president who signed the 1994 AWB carrying the Democrat’s torch, Republicans publicly working for a compromise bill on no fly-no buy, and the recent shooting of 11 Dallas police officers at a black lives matter protest, the 2016 election cycle looks primed for gun control to become a defining issue.  More broadly, democrats have seaced to view gun control as the electrified third rail of politics.  California just passed a Pandora’s box of restrictive firearm related legislation in a state that already boasted one of the strongest anti-gun pedigrees.  Heller and McDonald have been tempered by the Supreme court’s inability/unwillingness to clarify issues such as may issue concealed carry, assault weapons bans, and restrictive firearm ownership requirements.  It seems unlikely that the 8 member Roberts court will strike a blow in favor of gun rights before they get their ninth justice—and depending on how the election goes not even then.  Fear is not my goal.  There is a cycle to these things—I just want people to make informed decisions in times of crisis.

              As the song says, “to everything there is a season.”  The cycle starts around July during presidential campaign years.  Common ammunition begins to rise in cost.  Bulk deals sell out quickly.  Popular platforms—especially semiautomatic rifles and magazines—are harder to find.  September—after the conventions are done and the attack adds ramp up—is when prices start to skyrocket.  The panic starts.  People lose their minds.  In November—forget it.  Popular military calibers—9mm, .45acp, .223, and .308—can only be had at gold plated prices when available at all.  You can still find self-defense ammunition but cheap range ammunition is a thing of the past.  Popular recreational calibers like .357 and .22lr simply cannot be found.  Reloading supplies like powder and primers vanish.  Suppliers buy out any excess market capacity.  Hoarders buy up everything—and I do mean everything.  Market momentum and scarcity keeps the storm going well into the following summer.  Two years later—as the midterms are cranking up—most ammunition types and supplies can be had if not cheaply.  Three years later and prices and suppliers are down to desirable levels again—just in time for the next National panic.

              So in no particular order, here are my suggestions for the upcoming ammunition desert:

1.       If your state is going to outlaw something, buy it now.  Even if you don’t get to shoot for a while, better to have the rifle, handgun, or magazine you want.

2.       Even if you have to split the cost with someone else, buy at least a thousand rounds of handgun or 500 rounds of rifle ammunition for your favorite firearms—more depending on how often and in what volume you expend gun food.

3.       The preferred order of purchase should be platform—magazines (at least 6)—and finally ammunition.

4.       There is no substitute for a handgun or rifle and a couple thousand rounds of .22lr.  The cost per round is low enough that you can stock upwards of 5,000 rounds for less than $500.

5.       There is a saying in banking, the best time to start saving was yesterday.  The second best day is today.  Buy it cheap and stack it deep.

 

You do not have to buy in fear.  Ammunition prices and supply will normalize eventually.  Buy smarter.  Buy defensively if you have to but do so with full knowledge of your options.  Your wallet will thank you—as may your range partners when you are the only one with gun food in 2017.

Contest Results

              My weight loss program ended May third; so I have been resting and refueling for the last week.  I am so stuffed with protein it is not even funny.  Starting Monday, I am back on the “plan.”  Letting myself go for a couple of days was fun at times but generally left me feeling uncomfortable.  I just do not enjoy fried and/or heavy food any more.

 

 

My results from March Eighth through May third:

Final weight 233.6=Lost -28.2 lbs.

Final Body fat: 31.7%

Lost -3.7%

Lost -18.62 lbs. of pure body fat

Lost -9.58 lbs. of lean muscle mass

 

Girth measurements in inches:

Arm- no change

Chest -2.25

Waist -1

Abs -3

Hips -3.75

Thigh -1

Total -11

 

              I took third place overall and first place at my location—far better than I expected.  Some observations with thoughts and musings to follow in a separate post:

 

·       The body fat measurement came after a full workout so was affected by my general dehydration.  I do not take the electro-tester thingy seriously because it is so easily affected by the amount of water in your system.

·       I, like most people in the contest, did everything I could to push the end number down including working out before the weigh in, changing to a dry shirt, and exercising three out of four days at the end.  Weight is not “just a number.”  It is a statistic that can be easily influenced in the short term.  In the long term, it can be a good trend indicator.  This is why I do not sweat the day to day changes or take too much pride in one off gains/losses.

·       This was a fun contest.  In future I may go to the 2 months on and one month off model.

 

While I impressed a lot of the people at the gym, the real test will be seeing if I can maintain the loss and good eating habits over the next couple months.  I can force myself to go without for 60 days.  Doing so on a longer sustainable scale is the real challenge.

Punching off the pounds, mid contest With five of eight weeks out of the way in my weight loss contest, I am beginning to see progress. I am ranked third out of the contestants at my club, not too shabby. Of course the challenge is to maintain that momentum into the latter weeks—those where willpower begins to decrease.

With five of eight weeks out of the way in my weight loss contest, I am beginning to see progress. I am ranked third out of the contestants at my club, not too shabby. Of course the challenge is to maintain that momentum into the latter weeks—those where willpower begins to decrease.




A friend recently asked me what I am doing differently between my previous strength training program and my current slimming initiative. Strength training is characterized by lifting heavy weights, dumb bells, bar bells, and resistance machines, in sets of ten or less. The objective is to encourage the body to increase its muscle mass by forcing it to heal the damage created by heavy lifting. If given enough time to repair, this results in incremental strength enhancement. So strength training requires a consistent exercise regimen focused on building muscle mass, enough quality downtime for the body to fully heal, and the nutritional resources to make those repairs.

Slimming occurs when the body is running a caloric deficit. It is difficult to build muscle while losing weight. Most of the quick weight loss with dieting and exercise comes from water loss. This is why people see big gains in the first weeks of crash diets followed by plateaus. You can burn through several pounds of water in a good workout but 45 minutes on a treadmill will only consume 700 of the 3500 calories needed to burn off a pound of bio mass. Your body will adapt to your current physical needs given the necessary time and resources. The challenge is that if you are cutting, you are not providing those resources thereby forcing your metabolism to pull from your reserves.

In order to focus on losing weight over building muscle, I have:

• Stopped lifting free weights during my Sunday sessions.

• Decreased my caloric intake.

• Focused on quality protein to provide long burning energy.

• Centered more time on being active than on specific exercises.

• Planned more of my time to keep me active and away from the fridge.

• Entered a weight loss contest at the gym and a step contest at work.



I weighed in after the Easter holiday at .4 more pounds than the previous week. Part of that was eating a full Easter dinner but more of it was due to not having a Sunday workout. This past Tuesday saw me down to 248 pounds. I weigh in pre-workout due to transportation schedules. After an hour and a half of boxing and cardio I was down to 244 pounds. The preceding Sunday saw me down to 243 pounds—240 pounds if you count the stripped down weigh in after an hour in the pool. What you measure, how you measure, and when you measure matters. I am going to take a half day off of work before the final contest weigh in. I am going to blow through an hour or two of cardio—probably without shoes since that seems to be how everyone else is weighing in. Until then I would rather weigh in at the same time under the same conditions each week.

This time last year I weighed about 300 pounds. I got down to 235 as of July 2015 by pushing dehydration and my caloric deficit to extreme levels. While I cut pounds I also did damage to my body—damage that my body did not have the resources to repair. By rotating cutting and strength building cycles I have left myself in much better physical condition. Yesterday I went through 15 real pushups—not from the knees but honest hands and tippy toes pushups. A couple of weeks ago I did over a hundred pushups from the knees during my weekly boxing class. I have started using a ball chair at home to strengthen my back and core muscles. I can hold a plank for over a minute. There is still flab to cut. I still have periodic issues with my knees. All that being said, I want people reading this to realize that part of strength building is cutting weight and vice versa. In order to do the cardio you need to lose weight quickly and responsibly you have to have the requisite physical conditioning. You cannot take part in many of the most effective exercise programs if your weight keeps you from running, stretching, and full range of motion. Some of the 26 pounds I gained between July 2015 and March 2016 were fat but some of them were muscle too. That muscle will serve me well in the months to come.