I figured out I am totally fucked as far as Mick and Ralph's go. I paid the dude at the Atomic Wrangler to raise my standing in Freeside, but I'm still listed as a DARK HERO and everyone hates my dick. Probably because I killed the Van Graffs, I guess they were tight with Mick and Ralph. I might go back and kill Mick and Ralph off, fuck them.
Anyway, I found the Katana at the Gun Runner's finally. It was like a week or two in game before it showed up there. I had already bought the upgrades ahead of time so I was very pleased to see it for sale. I had been checking with Chet in Novac, Alexander at the 188 and the Gun Runners every couple of days and it randomly appeared.
I like it - not just for the extra move in Vats (which is almost a guaranteed kill for most humans) but if you hold down the attack button, you can attack from afar with a like running attack. Not only is it affective in real time fighting, I've also used it to avoid some DeathClaw attacks, although it isn't very affective against a Deathclaw.
Like Synch, I have been funding my GRA purchases by killing off the Legion Assassin's, then selling all their shit after combining/fixing it all up. Most of their weapons go for an easy 1500 before being fixed up. I'm back to the +50,000 cap mark.
I won't be getting RAGE until probably some time next year. I'm way too overwhelmed with my backlog for it to already be the holiday season!