mav

  Yep, you got that right.  I still don't understand their behavior.  The van is old and a piece of crap.  Why bring it back?  Heck, my mom drives my truck most of the time.

Several years ago I purchased a new house in an upscale part of Chattanooga.  My house is very private with the driveway going up about 500 feet on a steep hill into the woods. The house cannot be seen from the main road, which is one of the reasons I bought it.  The area is very low crime, and I thought the property layout was ideal for not having to worry about thieves and such.  The driveway and woods are natural deterrents.  I felt so secure that I had never thought of buying a safe or putting in an alarm system.  I had guns, knives, watches, etc... unsecured all over the house.  For almost three years nothing happened... or at least that is what I thought.   My 80 year old mother lives with me, and every now and then she would tell me that she thought someone had been in the house.  She would say stuff like she thought someone had taken a shower or slept in my bed.  Nothing was missing from the house so I would always dismiss it as old age and/or paranoia.  A few weeks ago on a Saturday she told me that someone had been in her van and there was a bunch of stuff in it that wasn't hers.  I dismissed her concern by rationalizing that it was more than likely my nephew's stuff he left in it when he borrowed it a month ago.  She didn't buy my reasoning and was adamant that someone had been in her van.  She wanted to call the police to have them fingerprint or do all the cool CSI stuff to figure out who was in it.  I told her that since nothing was missing that they wouldn't do anything at all, so there is no point in calling them.  I also asked her why nothing was stolen from the house (she would keep a backup house key in her van).  In the end, nothing was done.   A couple of days had went by and I had pretty much forgotten about things until I came home from work that Monday and found my sister and nephew at my house.  When I walked in the house I was informed that the police were on their way.  When I inquired as to why, I was told that it was because someone had not only been in my mom's van, but they had borrowed it by hot-wiring it and brought it back.  The stuff they left in the van was drug paraphernalia (gram-size baggies, drug residue, etc...).  When the police arrived, they investigated my mom's van.  It was loaded with drugs and drug residue.  Whoever borrowed it was using it as a party van or drug dealing.  They were grinding up Xanax pills.  Wow, just wow.  Nobody in our family is into anything like that.  Heck, we don't know anybody that is into stuff like that.  The entire situation was baffling, but it was also very scary.   We have no idea how often this happened, nor did we know if those people had been in my house.  There was a house key in the van, and my mom would swear that someone had been in the house from time to time.  The baffling thing is nothing has been stolen.  I chalked that up to sheer luck and good fortune.  The very next day I took off from work.   I met with security people to install a monitored security system for my house, changed all the locks on my door, installed motion detected flood lights, installed 4 sets of blinds in my kitchen, bought a 1000 lb. Liberty Colonial-50 safe, and commanded that no keys will be left outside the house.    This entire situation has been so confusing, but as I said earlier, I feel very fortunate that I did not have anything stolen.  The other thing I will take from this situation is not to be so dismissive of my mother's concerns.  She still may be a little paranoid at times, but in this situation, she was correct in her observations.    

  LT 20" OBR   - Magpul PRS - Harris BRM-S on a LT-706 QD swivel mount - LT "Troy" battle sights - Aimpoint T2 on a LT107 mount - LT111 scope mount - Nightforce NXS 5-22x56   The scope wasn't exactly what I was wanting, but I recently did a great deal with Cabela's so I thought purchasing the scope from them was the right thing to do.  Unfortunately, they did not have what I was wanting, but I am most certain that I will enjoy the NF.

I took several people to see it yesterday.  It was really good, but it was also incredibly intense and will piss you off.  It was the first time I have ever experienced clapping in a theater, and someone shouted out what could interpreted as a big "F*** You" to Hillary.

I think I am going back to being parsimonius. :)

Simple.  Develop some proficiency with a long rifle.

Nice. A G43 is in my near future as well.

Thank you.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  This year is a little more special to me than previous years because of having an absolutely wonderful woman by my side.  Those are very hard to find, and that is just one of the many things I am very thankful for. 

I picked up this... A LT OBR. I am a little excited about this one. Now I have to buy a bunch of goodies for it.

I think it is pretty cool that someone is making a living doing something they really enjoy.  As far as $800 for a knife, that is nothing in the custom knife world where prices can easily exceed $2k and be in incredibly high demand for certain makers.

That my friend is bad a$$.  The grind looks like a cross between a skinner grind and the grind on my Fischer Archangel which equals 100% pure awesomeness.  You are definitely getting better.

Thanks. I quit smoking 12 years ago, but it was replaced with smokeless tobacco, which is what I gave up in March last year.

I have now been tobacco-free for 1 year. I had used tobacco products for the last 25 years, and I went cold turkey March 1, 2014. I think I have the addiction beat now. :-)

It is hard to beat a good wharnie.  That is nice.

Those are some really nice blades Cap.

I got this new Hinderer Skinner grind several weeks ago at table price. The skinner profile is one of my favorite grinds, and this has been my edc ever since I got it.

Instead of drug testing, how about we cut taxes, repeal onerous laws and regulations, eliminate various departments and/or agencies, enforce existing immigration laws etc...?  Basically, how about we just shrink the size of government and eliminate all the handouts?  If government wasn't involved, things would probably be cheap enough that non-freeloaders wouldn't need assistance in the first place.   We have some 40 plus million on food stamps alone.  It would get pretty expensive doing a monthly drug test on that number of people.  I don't want to pay for that, nor do I want to increase the size of government further, which is what implementing such a program would do.  Anyway, such a policy/law would never be passed at the federal level, but neither would my proposal.  Since I am debating two things that won't happen, I would rather have the one that eliminated all the handouts and shrank the government.

I really like that blade profile.  Nice job.

Welcome to TGO

I didn't see this earlier.  That is pretty sweet.

  Thank you sir.   The reason I asked the question in the first place is my instructors have always taught me that I better be "righteous" if I perform a killing blow intentionally or unintentionally on an individual because of the training I have received.  I pretty much agree with them 100%.  However, I get a little confused when I see or hear others talk about using a killing technique (throat punch) at the onset of any altercation as means of self defense.  I don't know who is "legally" correct.  I will still side with my instructor's advice because someone's death  is the last thing I would ever want on my conscience.

  Not sure what that is for.  It is a sincere question.  I have been here long enough for people to know that I am not trolling.

Does anyone know whether professional training increases the liability of that individual?  For example, an unarmed person attacks you.  While attempting to defend yourself, you accidentally kill this person with your hands or feet (no weapon was used).  No, I am not talking about having someone mounted and beating them to death.  I am referring to a strike that was to the wrong part of the body, e.g. a throat punch or something   Does the fact that you have had training (martial arts, mma, self defense, etc...) increase your likelihood of losing on a wrongful death lawsuit?  Thank you.

I was lurking and saw the thread title so I logged on to see its contents.  I am glad I did...prayers already sent our way.  I pray that God will speak through you to your father.

  I am 40, and that is the first beard I have ever grown.