The Manly End

My friend Richard gave me a cigar for Christmas / New Years so I saved it until now and brought in the 2016 extra manly style, with whiskey and a cigar. Gurkha - Hudson Bay.

Grandish Theft Auto V

Ending the year by finishing GTA 5. The world was amazing, as living and breathing a digital city as you can imagine. The graphics blew me away. Unfortunately of the three main characters you play I didn't like any of them so it was hard to get into the story, a story that was choppy at best. Still just wandering around the town was a lot of fun.

Preds vs Rangers

Now that Christmas is past I can let the cat out of the bag, Mari got me a Predators ticket pack! The first game was against Colorado so she had to tell me early. Dad and I went to this, great game 5-3 win.

Four Of A Kind

The furry family finds fatherly affection.

Roadkill

Payton wanted to see this, and it was his birthday so who could argue? The horror... the horror.

Dog Approved

We thought the dogs would be scared of him, but all three found him more of a curiosity or toy than something to be afraid of. They must know he's light side.

BB-8

From Casie and John, this little guy has rolled all over the house. Toys have really gotten amazing.

After

Christmas morning.

Before

Christmas eve.

First Contact

We welcomed Elliot into our world today, my parent's new dog. He got along well with everyone, even the dominance insistent Tara.

Early Bird

51 years ago, on December 22nd, 1964 the Blackbird took it's first official flight. To celebrate that day a list of stats was released. In another "only interesting to me" file, here they are:

• 35 miles per minute or 3,100 feet per second is how fast the SR-71 could fly
• 170,000 pounds was how much a fully fueled and outfitted Blackbird weighed
• 59,000 pounds was what one weighed empty
• 107 feet, 5 inches is the length of a Blackbird
• 85,000 feet is the official Blackbird ceiling, although it supposedly could fly higher
• 34,000 pounds of thrust were what each of the SR-71’s J-58 engines put out in afterburner
• 17,300 total sorties were flown by the Blackbird family of aircraft
• 3,551 of these sorties were operational missions
• 11,675 hours were spent over mach three
• 53,490 total flight hours were amassed on the fleet
• Just 8 crew members had more than 1,000 hours in the jet
• Only 86 SR-71 pilots and 86 RSOs flew operational missions
• 385 total persons have reached mach three in a Blackbird, including 105 VIPs
• 478 total people have flown in Blackbirds
• 32 SR-71s were built
• 50 total Blackbird family aircraft were built (A-12, YF-12, SR-71, M-21)
• 1 hour and 4 minutes was how fast the SR-71 could go from Los Angeles to Washington D.C.
• $33,000,000 was the cost to build a single SR-71 Blackbird
• 900 degrees Fahrenheit was how hot the SR-71’s skin got during high-speed runs
• 3,200 degrees Fahrenheit was the temperature of the J-58 engine’s exhaust at maximum output
• Over 1,000 missiles were launched at the SR-71 without any losses
• 5 pounds is how much weight a SR-71 crew member could lose in their pressure suit during a four hour mission
• 85 percent of the Blackbird’s skin is titanium, the other 15 percent is carbon composites
• 2.5G was the SR-71’s structural stress limit
• About 16 “starts” per engine worth of Triethylborane (TEB) were carried on an SR-71 mission as the Blackbird’s engines could not be restarted in the air without the TEB accelerant.
• 140 degrees Fahrenheit was the flash-point of the SR-71’s JP-7 fuel. Normal jet fuel has a flash-point of 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
• 56 KC-135s were converted to KC-135Q/Ts that could refuel Blackbirds
• 20 of the 50 Blackbird aircraft family were written off in crashes and mishaps
• 6 inches is how much longer the SR-71 would grow at high speed due to heat expansion
• Zero was the number of computers used to design the Blackbird

The Holidays Are Upon Us

Christmas and New Years approach! Got this cool little image in an e-mail from Epiphone Guitars.

Finally

Star Wars VII. Every bit as good as I could hope it would be.

Cheap Trip

Kroger points plus already cheap gas means prices unseen for many years.

Preds vs Colorado

Watching the Preds vs Colorado.

Fat Traditions

Don't judge me.

Corny Traditions

Oh yes, it's Christmas Garrett Popcorn time again.

Light Adjustment

We put lights up outside for the first time this year.

Silvery

And now decorated. Christmas is on!

Greenery

We got our live tree today, and we think it's one of the prettiest we've ever found.

Flipped

The back of the quilt.

Christmas Cover Up

An early present from my parents, a king sized Christmas quilt. As always the detail they put into them is amazing, I can't imagine how much thread it took to do all that quilting.

WOTM

December.