Food: Cortadito Cuban Cafe

One challenge of trial work is finding decent places to eat around the courthouse. Our team eventually settled on a hole-in-the-wall right across the street, Cortadito Cuban Cafe.  It's a pretty standard sandwich shop with minimal seating, brought to you by Nicaraguan brothers Alberto Valdivia and Jimmy Rivas, the same guys behind Rivales down the street.

I enjoyed the Cuban and Medianoche sandwiches at Cortadito, though they are on the expensive side...almost 15 bucks a pop.  The café con leche was good, too, especially given that the West Palm Beach courthouse's internal cafe hasn't been open for some time.  That said, I've had better Cuban food in my life (the pastries come from Sysco) and the menu is very limited, so if your trial is going longer than a week, you'll need to find other restaurants.

Rating: 2/4 stars

Music: You Get What You Give

I think people should emphasize the "wonder" part of the term "one-hit wonder" more often. After all, what could be more wondrous than creating a song so perfect for a particular time and place that you remember it forever?

That's how it was for me and my law firm, when the New Radicals' 1998 hit "You Get What You Give" played the day after we won a jury trial. If life sometimes feels like a movie, this was the slow fade-to-black for the end credits, the camera tilting up from the courthouse steps as the sun sets...

Tech: Slay the Spire 2 - early access impressions

I was a big fan of Slay the Spire, considered by many to be the ne plus ultra of roguelike deckbuilding games, so I broke my general rule of never buying "early access" games and picked up the long-awaited sequel, Slay the Spire 2:

The sequel doesn't deviate at all from the formula you know and love - you're still fighting enemies one by one in turn-based battles over three acts, with a final boss at the end of each act.  Even the starting decks of the returning characters - Ironclad, Silent, and Defect - are exactly the same, though most of the rest of their cards are new.  As a result, the initial hours might be a little underwhelming for diehard STS fans.

Where things start getting interesting are the addition of two new characters - the Regent and the Necrobinder.  They have unique mechanics that will change your playstyle drastically.  Many of the Regent's cards generate and spend an additional resource, Stars, that persist from turn to turn, while the Necrobinder summons a skeletal hand, Osty, that can both shield her and smack down her enemies. Like all early access games, the jury's still out when it comes to whether STS2 can become an all-time classic like its predecessor, but it's already a darn good game.

Guns: S&W 632 UC review - The Ultimate Carry?

Introduction

I've been shooting and writing about Smith & Wesson J-frames for 20 years now, so I'm pretty resistant to the "flavor of the month" when it comes to these revolvers.  S&W has put out various iterations of the formula over the decades - the LadySmith models, guns equipped with Crimson Trace LaserGrips, and sundry AirLite versions with scandium and titanium alloys - but I'm still not convinced any of them work better than the good old-fashioned 642.

That being said, when Smith and Lipsey's rolled out a new line of "Ultimate Carry" revolvers, including several chambered in the long-forgotten caliber of .32 H&R Magnum, I just had to see what all the fuss was about:

Revolver Overview

The 632 UC I picked up differs from my 642 Performance Center in a bunch of ways:

First, it's chambered in .32 H&R Magnum, an uncommon caliber that is a little weaker, more expensive, and much harder to find than .38 Special (especially for defensive ammo). The big advantages of a .32 H&R Mag is that it has milder recoil than a .38, you can squeeze a sixth round into a J-Frame-sized cylinder, and you can also shoot .32 Long cartridges, which have even less recoil.

Second, the Ultimate Carry has excellent sights, featuring an XS tritium dot up front, and a black U-notch rear. While perhaps a little imprecise for target work, these are way better than the default sights on the average J-Frame, and comparable to the three-dot night sights on my 640 Pro. The sights are tough and snag free, too.

Third, the 632 UC has some minor upgrades from a normal aluminum frame J-Frame.  It uses the sleeved barrel design of the scandium J-Frames, which gives you a shrouded ejector rod (and theoretically better accuracy), an upgraded "endurance package" action and trigger geometry, and no key lock.  The 632 UC also comes with a set of "high horn" VZ boot grips; I did not care for them, but they'd be great if you have big hands and like to ride high on the gun.

Range Report

Like a lot of gunmakers nowadays, S&W's quality control is hit and miss.  Out of the box, I experienced a lot of failures to fire with pretty standard Magtech wadcutter ammo, so I sent the gun back for repair.  Once I got the gun back, it was reliable, though obviously it's galling to have to do that with a brand-new revolver that retails for well over $600.

At the range, the 632 UC is noticeably easier to control and more accurate than a typical .38 snub. At 10 yards, I could easily get two-to-three-inch groups standing unsupported, which is pretty top-end accuracy for this shooter and this type of gun.  I attribute that mostly to the caliber/ammo and the sleeved barrel, as the trigger, while fine for a J-Frame, was not nearly as smooth as my Performance Center guns.

Fiocchi 97 gr FMJ:

Federal 85 gr JHP:

18 rounds of PPU .32 Long - very low recoil, though I had one flier:

Buffalo Bore 100 gr wadcutter - great ammo, but very expensive and pretty much only available online.  Whether or not a .32 is sufficient for self-defense is a touchy subject.  I will say that whatever load you choose, make sure it has sufficient penetration, like the Buffalo Bore .32 H&R Mag loads:

Magtech 98 gr wadcutters.  There is a decent selection of foreign-made wadcutter ammo for the .32 Long, since it's often used in target shooting internationally:

S&B .32 Long wadcutters:

Conclusion

I appreciate the thought and care that went into the 632 UC, and there is something to be said for a 6-round centerfire snubnose with mild recoil.  But when it comes to actually living with the gun, the esoteric caliber choice is just too hard to deal with.  It certainly might be the "ultimate .32," but I'll stick with my old .38 snubbies, thank you very much.