Shopping & Some Guidelines

MRE's!! "Meals Rejected by Ethiopians?" Yup. "But why, h47, why? Didn't you get a ton of fast food gift cards for Christmas? Don't you have a job so you can buy food?" Supposedly, but I was gonna be in SoCal, and as it so happened, getting thrashed about for 8 hours plus everyday, as well as starting at the grossly (to me) early hour of 8:30 AM can really restrict your ability to pop out and grab a bite when you have NO IDEA whats around and are tired enough to go to bed at 8 pm.
So! In my planning, I had no idea how much spare cash I would have, nor what food options there would be, and I have been brainstorming new ideas for Con foodstuffs as well and came back to all my old scout/JROTC/camp days and remembered these meals in bags that "don't go bad." Shortly thereafter, my research began!

I highly recommend MRE Depot (as of this posting, the site seems to be down but it's often one of the first hits on Google, even on multiple test searches from other boxes) as a resource as well as the wiki. And, if you don't have a friend in the military who's willing to buy a bunch at their commissary/PX/BX/NEX/whateva it's called, or if you don't wish to brave the questionably legal and safe Ebay auctions, there are many civilian options that are almost exactly identical. I was lucky enough to catch a Knapp on his way home and he supplied me with a batch, BUT if your in SJ and need some E-prep meals, there is a couple resources.

Steven's Creek Surplus $104 (taxes?) No shipping. local business, please buy there as they have a bunch of stuff I'm not entirely sure where else to get them for less than "custom" prices. Specifically, good boots, dickies gear AND . . . . . HATS! That's right, fuckin "mad hatter" style top hats for like, 30-60 bucks, I almost bought one then and there, but I'm waiting till the end of Jan for my B-day to go by in case I get some extra cash.

In semi-related "grr, me man, me like smash & survival" news, I also want a Strider knife. Specifically an XL AND a PT. An XL (which are "custom only" effectively) because I have an obsession with HUGE blades, I mean, have you read this post?

I want the PT  . . .

For more pics clicky!

 so I know I have a knife that's okay anywhere and everywhere no matter what I'm doing.*

*Reference: I am NOT a lawyer nor do I pretend to give advice when it comes to legal matters, but what I HAVE FOUND, FOR MYSELF, in my own research into knife laws & regulations is that there is no length limit in California for fixed blades or folders, BUT many counties, and sometimes cities, have specific situational limits, and most of them seem to bottom out at the 3inch length limit for folders. Hence, my desire for a small pocket knife that I KNOW I can brutalize that is still very awesome.
If you think this information is incorrect, I don't care, write about it on your blog, I don't want this to be a debate about blade regulations, I'm simply laying out these guidelines that I follow and that give me an excuse to buy more knives, heh.