sandt38

You ride a quad with sport bikes? WTF. I assume he meant sport quads. Word. I've only ever heard of sport bikes referring to street bikes, eg R6. sorry, growing up we always called our fourwheelers "bikes" for some reason. Same here.

I love the cutter. I smoked a Monte today just to try it. It cut so quickly it shocked me. It is SUPER sharp. I have a Stackhouse dual blade Guillotine that I like, but it requires a wide grip and I tend to twist when cutting. I just like the way the Xi2 fits in my hand. My buddy has the Colibri cutter that is shaped similar to my Xi2, but it is bigger and feels clunky. The good thing is that it has a lifetime guarantee. If it goes dull I can return it to them and they will replace the blades. If anything happens to it at all, they will repair or replace it no questions asked. I do like their Phantom cutter... I may grab one. It is real carbon fiber, and soooo sexy.

Got my new Xikar gear today. I have to show this off. It's pretty gear. This was a gift from my Uncle. I got a 5 finger Xikar ashtray, a 2 blade guillotine style Xikar Xi2 cutter, and a single torch side ignition Xikar Executive II lighter all in black. I added a compare with a standard Bic lighter so you guys get an idea of the size. Also just to gloat a little I tossed a few high end sticks in the tray. An Ashton ESG 24 year Salute, an Ashton VSG Prestige (Churchill) and a Davidoff Millennium Blend Churchill respectively.

You ride a quad with sport bikes? WTF. I assume he meant sport quads.

They are kind of pretty. It's kinda like that one chick at the bar. Cute to look at, but cannot make a sammich or do anything else worth a damn. J Yeah, but you can fuck her.

Love my sport quad. I highly suggest you invest in one. I have a built TRX450R. Fucker is a blast. There is no such thing as first gear on that hoss.

Awesome Neal! I'm on my way!!!

^^ Has been reading WWWAAAAYYYY too much about cigars over the past couple months... Damn my need to know mentality!

Yeah, you have to get some sort of "license". But you can still grab them in Canada, central and South America, and many European nations. Obviously the Easter European markets are flooded with the "Soviet Block" nations still trading heavily with Cuba. Honestly some of the most famous Cuban cigars were rolled in countries other than Cuba, they just used Cuban tobaccos. The climate and soils are just perfect for the proper growth. Cuban seed leaf is decent, but the climate is really what makes it shine. Sure, Flor Del Fumar and H Upmanns (JFK had every H Upmann that could be found bought up for himself the day before the embargo, totaling over 1200 sticks) were grown and rolled in Cuba and are arguably some of the best Cubans, but Consuergas, H. Anton Bocks, Hoyas, and Cuesta Rey Jacks were Cuban leaf grown in Cuba and blended and rolled in Tampa Fla in the 50s and 60s. These are still highly prized, very pricey sticks still sought after today. The Upmanns still command over $400 a stick. I found a source and am considering grabbing myself a single stick for Christmas, or thereabouts. I just want to taste what all the hype is about. I know I went way around my elbow to get to my asshole here, but my point is that while the makers have moved away, some nice blends coming from real Cuban leaf rolled outside Cuba is a very real possibility.

Likely longer. We still will not be able to buy or sell them in the US. What this easing of the embargo is doing is allowing us to travel into countries that we can buy Cubans in, and bring up to $100 worth of tobacco or liquor from Cuba back into the US. Again, you still can not buy or sell Cubans within the states, based on the reports I have read about the embargo changes. http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/17/politics/cuban-embargo-questions-answers/

I had a few true Monte Cubans in Italy. They were very nice. Unfortunately the Montes I have snagged in the States have all been boring. I don't see myself investing in many more. Sadly, I don't dig wine. Monte Cristo also has the jacked up ash due to their rolling techniques. Plus side is soon you will be able to get Cubans in the US. I have had a few and none have really impressed me. Especially the Cohiba. J Quality has taken a huge dive thanks to our lack of trade 20 years ago I think you'd have a different feeling about it all.One mans Cohiba is another mans White Owl. The Cubans I have smoked were gifted to me from an Italian 2 star General while in Iraq for giving his driver directions. Possible they were counterfit, but considering they can get them legally in Italy.....I doubt it. I do agree that the golden age of cigars was the early to late 90s. Since then QC, and inventiveness in blending has taken a nose dive in favor of the bottom line. J Honestly the Cohibas I have smoked in the States have been rather boring as well. Not bad, but not great. For $4 a stick it is hard to complain though, where the Monte Epics are rather overpriced. I have never tried a Cohiba Cuban. And yeah, Cubans are all over in Italy, and not excessively high in price either. I gave ~15 euro for a Monte Churchill and ~12 for a dog walker. I have to agree with Sean in the respect that after the embargo the quality of the Cuban has degraded with the reduced market. Most of your master makers and blenders have moved on to the more profitable Nicaraguan, Dominican, and other markets. The really close, uniform cell structure of Cuban tobacco is what makes them so flavorful. Yes, sadly as with everything I get involved in I have spent WAAAAYYY too much time reading and learning about cigars. I think if the makers and blenders see the money back in the Cuban market we will see a much different smoke.

I had a few true Monte Cubans in Italy. They were very nice. Unfortunately the Montes I have snagged in the States have all been boring. I don't see myself investing in many more. Sadly, I don't dig wine.

I grabbed a Montecristo Epic in Toro last week. I smoked it Friday night. It was good, but not spectacular. It had a really good flavor, but it was pretty uni-dimensional. I was shocked at the dark grey ash. This is a sign of a grower trying to manipulate the soil through heavy fertilizers. While I did enjoy it, there is no way in hell I am spending >$10 a stick for this. Tonight I decided to grab a new Davidoff. I really stepped it up tonight, snagging a Davidoff Millennium in Churchill. The pretty puppy ran me $32 out the door. I am going to try this after a few days leveling off in the humidor. My uncle sent me a cool gift. CI has a gift set with an Xikar Xi2 cutter, an Xikar 4 finger ceramic ashtray, and an Xikar Executive 2 lighter all in black. It should be here by Friday.

Hence multiple posts to reply to a single post... This shows impulsivity control issues to me. Very quick to type a quick reply before thinking out everything one wishes to say. I struggle with this myself in my day to day life, as does my oldest. It was a joke. But the impulsive answer was appreciated.

Hence multiple posts to reply to a single post...

I use some cloud storage, but tend to keep the information stored on a cloud lacking interest for potential lurkers. Mostly just pictures of a safe nature. I use ASUS Web Storage.

Nightforce recently released a scope that fits my needs and is just a bit over what I want to spend, but I can justify it. http://nightforceoptics.com/shv-5-20x56/ Looking at the 5-20X56 with the MOAR reticle. I found it for $1177. Honestly, to get into Nightforce for that cost I'm on it. The reviews are stellar.

I'm not really a fan of tactical weaponry, I am more of a utilitarian traditionalist, so I have nothing worthwhile to interject here. I just didn't want you to think I was ignoring you. But how about a grenade launcher!

Why are you not sold on SSD? Is it because of Sean's bad luck? In theory the 8GB should be plenty for a OS and a couple programs, but I can say I have no idea of the Read/Write speeds of the hybrid SSD. In terms of a HDD a 5400rpm is a bit slow, but pleyny usable.PS - Just checked my HDD (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148371) which ironically cost more for something that is half the drive (at best) as what you proposed and has worked just fine for me. Not just Sean's bad luck. I know of numerous premature failures. When you consider the ratio of SSDs to traditional platter HDDs out there, the percentage of failures is tremendous comparatively. I have far too much info on my drives that are terribly important to me to take that chance. Unfortunately the failed drive had a ton of info I cannot recover. Some of the information were case study information, captures, videos, and PP presentations that have cost me a lot of income... not only that, but the information lost are references I saved that I may never be able to recover. This drive is only the second failure I have ever had, and this one was from physical impact... not really a drive issue. I have no one to blame but myself for this loss. I also have some old externals that are 7 years old and still function.Time for more backups. SSD has a much lower failure rate than HDD in consumer products. Like crazy less. Order of magnitude maybe. This is taken up in fall related deaths, and climate changes in laptops. In enterprise servers that changes.Even so, it's no more than 1% or so in the applications I have access to. That's mostly university and small server data. SSD also makes up for the cost difference in power savings and cooler running. The most common failures are related to firmware death, or the SSD being old. If you have a 5 year old drive of any kind you are kind of on borrowed time already. In every system we have built with an SSD I have never seen a complete fail. We have in HDD after months of operation though. Either way most failures on either side are firmware related. I just had to completely wipe my machine as Windows lost itself on a BIOS update. Stupid fucking error durring start up. Even then I was able to image the RAID and get all the data back. I had to move up to Windows 8.1 though. Lost the 7 CD key somewhere..... What? You are reading Samsung releases, not real ones. Per GB stored SSD's have WAY higher failure rates.Per GB sure. Per drive, nah. When you consider that most SSDs are MUCH smaller than their platter counterparts your second statement doesn't hold water.

Why are you not sold on SSD? Is it because of Sean's bad luck? In theory the 8GB should be plenty for a OS and a couple programs, but I can say I have no idea of the Read/Write speeds of the hybrid SSD. In terms of a HDD a 5400rpm is a bit slow, but pleyny usable. PS - Just checked my HDD (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148371) which ironically cost more for something that is half the drive (at best) as what you proposed and has worked just fine for me. Not just Sean's bad luck. I know of numerous premature failures. When you consider the ratio of SSDs to traditional platter HDDs out there, the percentage of failures is tremendous comparatively. I have far too much info on my drives that are terribly important to me to take that chance. Unfortunately the failed drive had a ton of info I cannot recover. Some of the information were case study information, captures, videos, and PP presentations that have cost me a lot of income... not only that, but the information lost are references I saved that I may never be able to recover. This drive is only the second failure I have ever had, and this one was from physical impact... not really a drive issue. I have no one to blame but myself for this loss. I also have some old externals that are 7 years old and still function. Time for more backups. SSD has a much lower failure rate than HDD in consumer products. Like crazy less. Order of magnitude maybe. This is taken up in fall related deaths, and climate changes in laptops. In enterprise servers that changes. Even so, it's no more than 1% or so in the applications I have access to. That's mostly university and small server data. SSD also makes up for the cost difference in power savings and cooler running. The most common failures are related to firmware death, or the SSD being old. If you have a 5 year old drive of any kind you are kind of on borrowed time already. In every system we have built with an SSD I have never seen a complete fail. We have in HDD after months of operation though. Either way most failures on either side are firmware related. I just had to completely wipe my machine as Windows lost itself on a BIOS update. Stupid fucking error durring start up. Even then I was able to image the RAID and get all the data back. I had to move up to Windows 8.1 though. Lost the 7 CD key somewhere..... Yeah, sorry, my mind is unchanged. As I said, I know of considerably more SSD failures than traditional platter drive failures recently. Not taking that chance.

I'm on a .338 Lapua of the 3. But the 50BMG strikes me as useless for a civilian round. The .375 is cool, but I don't need to be shooting over a mile. The .338 can squat at a mile, and is much more affordable to shoot, overall... plus load data is readily available. Also, and most importantly for me, it is the most comfortable to shoot. I don't need a lot of kick to love the gun... I do need a lot of accuracy. I contemplated a .308 but feel the 6.5-284 just seems like a more practical round. One of my co-workers loves recoil, but he is an awful shot. He has a .300 ultra win mag, and a .50 Beowulf, and they have created a recoil flinch he can't get rid of. I purposely loaded 3 shots instead of 4 in my 22-250 because he was pulling it low and left. Even with the 11.5 pound beast (yes, it is a very heavy small caliber rifle) and a feather recoil he was flinching. Just something for you to think about. I just want to shoot comfortably. It assures a better shot. We think almost exactly the same. The 50 is the least interesting. The 338lap and the 375 come close to the same to shoot, or was last time I looked. Lap brass was near the price of gold! Lap brass is very high, almost 2.5X as much as Winchester for the 22-250. But it comes with drilled, not punched flash holes, it is annealed, and it generally comes sorted, as most boxes of 100 should be within .05 gr.

Why are you not sold on SSD? Is it because of Sean's bad luck? In theory the 8GB should be plenty for a OS and a couple programs, but I can say I have no idea of the Read/Write speeds of the hybrid SSD. In terms of a HDD a 5400rpm is a bit slow, but pleyny usable. PS - Just checked my HDD (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148371) which ironically cost more for something that is half the drive (at best) as what you proposed and has worked just fine for me. Not just Sean's bad luck. I know of numerous premature failures. When you consider the ratio of SSDs to traditional platter HDDs out there, the percentage of failures is tremendous comparatively. I have far too much info on my drives that are terribly important to me to take that chance. Unfortunately the failed drive had a ton of info I cannot recover. Some of the information were case study information, captures, videos, and PP presentations that have cost me a lot of income... not only that, but the information lost are references I saved that I may never be able to recover. This drive is only the second failure I have ever had, and this one was from physical impact... not really a drive issue. I have no one to blame but myself for this loss. I also have some old externals that are 7 years old and still function. Time for more backups.

Picked my son up a ruger 357 single action revolver for Christmas. Nice gun and as close as I could find to a true cowboy gun. Does it blast .38 specials? Yes.

Someone tell me about this drive... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178340 The drive in one of my lappys took a shit. I'm not sold on a straight ssd, but I am willing to consider a hybrid. I know and trust Seagates, and will be replacing a WD drive. It is going into my i5 Asus lappy, and I will reinstall Win7.

I'm on a .338 Lapua of the 3. But the 50BMG strikes me as useless for a civilian round. The .375 is cool, but I don't need to be shooting over a mile. The .338 can squat at a mile, and is much more affordable to shoot, overall... plus load data is readily available. Also, and most importantly for me, it is the most comfortable to shoot. I don't need a lot of kick to love the gun... I do need a lot of accuracy. I contemplated a .308 but feel the 6.5-284 just seems like a more practical round. One of my co-workers loves recoil, but he is an awful shot. He has a .300 ultra win mag, and a .50 Beowulf, and they have created a recoil flinch he can't get rid of. I purposely loaded 3 shots instead of 4 in my 22-250 because he was pulling it low and left. Even with the 11.5 pound beast (yes, it is a very heavy small caliber rifle) and a feather recoil he was flinching. Just something for you to think about. I just want to shoot comfortably. It assures a better shot.