kentomatic

AR-15 Optics: Eotech, Larue and Primary Arms

kento — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 23:05:07 +0000

I’ve had my primary AR-15 for about 5 years and its gone through many iterations of optics. I’ve tried the standard carry handle sights, Eotech 512, Millett DMS-1, and now finally what I consider to be the best of all worlds: Eotech 517, Primary Arms Deluxe 3x Magnifier, Larue LT755(T) Flip-to-Side mount and Troy BUIS.

The Eotech 512 that I previously had was great, but even at 50 yards, I was shooting 6″+ groupings. The Millet DMS-1 brought those grouping WAY in with the 4x magnification, but it was heavy, didn’t seem extremely durable, required a lot of eye relief and while it could be dialed down to 1x, it wasn’t a true 1x where it was easy to keep both eyes open. The DMS-1 reticle was also hard to see in sunlight.

The Eotech 517 has a built in 7mm riser, so you can get a 1/3 cowitness with your BUIS, helping the reticle clear the front sight post. The riser also allows you to push the optic forward and it overhangs the front rail (without touching it). The Larue mount is extremely solid in both positions, the Primary Arms glass is very clear and the 3x magnification makes for very accurate and consistent shots. Larue makes two LT-755 mounts, if you’re going to align a magnifier with a standard Eotech (like the 512), get the (S)hort version. If your Eotech has the built in riser (like the 517 or 557) get the (T)all model.

the weirdest, best remedy for fire ant stings

kento — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 21:50:06 +0000

being new to living in north texas means constantly learning new things, often the hard way. i was out watering my lawn when i stepped on a fire ant hill. by the time i felt the first sting, there were about 20 ants on my (sandled) feet. i quickly hosed them off, but not before i had 6 stings that were quickly swelling and hurt like hell.

the last time i got bit by a single fire ant on my foot, it hurt and itched for 2 weeks, so i knew that this was going to suck. my neighbor who saw me jumping around like an idiot told me to soak my feet in Worcestershire sauce – being desperate, i put some paper towels on my feet and soaked them with the worcestershire sauce (the paper towels help keep the liquid from running off) for about 30 minutes.

to my amazement, all of the swelling went away, and didn’t even leave a mark! there was still some irritation so i applied some hydrocortisone to each of the stings and now feel almost no discomfort at all.

crazy texas ants, and crazy texas remedies.

weight weenie – ’96 specialized stumpjumper m2 (21.2lbs)

kento — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 03:39:04 +0000

this winter i got around to riding and tinkering with my ’96 stumpjumper mountain bike that i’ve had for a while. i built it up for a rosarito-ensenada ride a couple of years ago and just used it as my riding-around-the-neighborhood bike since then.

i didn’t mean to make it a weight weenie bike, but after changing the front suspension from a rockshox indy sl (which was already really light) to a rockshox sid, i just kept changing things here and there until i shaved off nearly 4 pounds.

here are some of the components that made the biggest difference:

full carbon handlebar – 103 grams

kcnc scandium seatpost – 136 grams

kenda klimax tires – 345 grams

selle italia slr saddle – 135 grams

performance lunar light tubes – 99 grams

rockshox sid – 1394 grams

at this point it’s going to be close to a $1 a gram to go any lower, so it probably will stay at its current weight. overall the ride feels great and pretty sturdy (although i’m a light rider at 140lbs). this summer i’m going to pick up one of my road bikes that i left at my mom’s place in california and will probably take that through a similar process.

keys found! membership card pays off

kento — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 02:58:20 +0000

This Saturday morning I was heading out and couldn’t find my keys. I checked all the usual spots and every place else and they were no where to be found. I let my daughter play with other sets of keys to see if there was some place in particular she’d leave them with no luck. I usually leave them on the counter so it would have been unlikely that she ever had them to begin with. I got my spare set and headed out and figured I’d continue the search when I got home. When I pulled back into my garage, I had a faint memory of setting my keys on the trunk of the civic as I got something out of my trunk on Friday night. I then remembered that Taka took a late night run to Albertsons and that my keys probably went with her.

I got on my bike and rode the route she takes to the grocery store. I didn’t see them and it was starting to rain so I gave up. This morning I got a call from a girl at LA fitness saying that someone had found my keys, noticed the membership card on my keychain and dropped them off at the club. The gym is at least 5 miles from wherever the keys fell off the car so some good Texan went out of their way to make sure they got back to me.

Getting my keys back saved me at least $150 in changing locks, and new key fob and wave-cut key. LA Fitness is the only gym i’ve been a member of that has the mini membership card for the keychain and I never bothered with all of the other keychain cards like those from grocery stores, but I’ll always be sure to have one on my key chains from now on.

more dents in the s2000 – found a new pdr guy

kento — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 02:51:50 +0000

Almost exactly 3 years ago I blogged about my first pdr experience as I was amazed by the process and how much less it cost than traditional body work. Today I found a new pdr guy who did a great job pulling out the dents i’d racked up over the last few weeks.

Brian and his wife from New Visions Paintless Dent Removal came out to my office in Irving and pulled out my dents during the lunch hour. They were really friendly (like everyone here in Texas), did a great a job at completely removing the dents and charged a very reasonable price. As careful as I am with where and how I park, i’m bound to pick up a few more dents down the road, and I’m definitely going to be calling up Brian when I do.

New Visions Paintless Dent Removal
www.dentgeeks.com
972-816-4555

macbook air 11 case and sleeve options

kento — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 02:16:21 +0000

at least at this point there are very limited options when it comes to cases for the new 11″ macbook air. i had been looking at sleeve cases at sfbags, but at almost $50 kept looking.

At only $12.21 shipped, the CaseCrown Double Memory Foam Sleeve with handle and front pocket sounded worth a try. I received it today and the fit is perfect. Originally designed for the Acer Aspire 11.6″, it’s extremely thin and the front pocket is perfect for the charger and some other random stuff.

my first mac – macbook air 11.6 first impressions

kento — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 01:04:24 +0000

i’ve always been a pc guy. two of my best friends long ago went the way of the mac and i shunned them for it. my mom has a mac, hipsters have macs, and now i do too. when the new 11.6 macbook air was announced i pretended not to care but it was too sexy not to. it wasn’t much bigger than my iPad that was seeing limited use anyway and was a full functioning sexy as all hell computer. i bought it with the excuses that i could sell my ipad to eat a third of the cost, write it off on my taxes for another third and learn mac osx operating system to broaden my computer knowledge. if i hated osx i could just run windows 7 on it and still have the amazing apple hardware.

i’ve had it for less than a week and i’m still in awe of it. the build quality is unlike any other laptop i’ve ever owned. like all apple products the design is very svelte, it’s extremely light and impressively sturdy. osx is a breeze to use and at this point i have no intention of even installing windows on it. the multi-finger gestures on the trackpad are so intuitive and useful – when i switch back to a windows laptop i’m left fruitlessly swiping my fingers in every which direction.

while the the 1.4Ghz processor is slow by current standards, the “instant on” features of the ssd and faster osx make the laptop feel faster than my 2.8Ghz dual core dell. i’ll post an update after the honeymoon period starts to fade, but i have a feeling that the macbook air will be a the gateway drug for me into the cult of mac.

(photo courtesy of engadget)

framing a bathroom mirror with trim

kento — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 23:28:31 +0000

i remember mike asking me a couple of months ago if i had any home improvement projects to do and flippantly replying that “it’s brand new, what would i have to work on.” turns out it wasn’t more than a week or two before i was finding all kinds of things to perfect or update.

taka and i watch quite a bit of hgtv so we’re always finding new things to do. one thing that she had disliked about our place since we bought it was the builder-grade (hgtv term) guest bathroom mirror and light fixture. the mirror was just a standard mirror screwed to the wall with those plastic clips on the edges to hold it on. the light fixture was even more generic (which when we were at home depot looking for a replacement found was only $13, ugh).

The light fixture was very simple to replace and alone made a big difference. Framing the mirror to give it a custom look was a bit more involved but only took a few hours and only cost about $25. We measured out the edges of the mirror and bought the correct length of pre-primered MDF trim for about $20. Using a miter box i cut clean 45 degree angles and used liquid nails adhesive to simplly glue the trim onto the mirror. making perfectly square cuts and fitments require lots of measuring and leveling so if you try this yourself, take your time. after assembled and glued we painted it with the same trim color as the rest of the bathroom to bring it all together.

before:

after:

bottle rockets and my kid doesn’t care

kento — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 23:10:15 +0000

they sell real fireworks here and jasmine couldn’t be less interested in them. she doesn’t appreciate the freedoms she has.

walmart is the cheapest place to get tires installed (along with everything else)

kento — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 04:04:52 +0000

i remember when i was back in california, walmart was a place i would have been embarrassed to be seen in. i think the only times i ever went there was with eric on weekends to get random fishing and other cheap stuff.

here in north texas, walmart doesn’t have the same stigma, and it really is the cheapest place to get just about everything. i had bought 2 new rear tires from tirerack.com for my s2000, and had to get them installed. i called NTB: $65 for install/balance. discount tire: $51. pepboys: $42. walmart? 14 freaking dollars. they’ve got the same mounting and balancing machine at the other places and do the same job for a fraction of the price. they also didn’t require an appointment, i was in an out in about 15 minutes, and got to buy other cheap stuff at walmart while i was waiting.

save money. live better.