April 2010 Archives

Crazy

I don't think the criminals in this story were trying to actually hit the kayakers, but were either trying to run them off or scare the shit out of them for fun. I suppose it's possible that they were just really bad shots, and really were trying to kill them. Either situation sucks.

I hope they are caught and prosecuted for attempted murder.

The gun nut in me ponders what rifle would I take kayaking, if I were a kayaker?

From the article, I assume the distances here were pretty long, possibly over 200 yards, which would make anything in a pistol caliber not all that useful.

I also assume there's not a lot of room on a kayak for a "real" rifle. Maybe something like the M6 rifle in .22 Hornet, or even better the Kel-Tec SU-16.

OBAMA: In all, we've passed 25 different tax cuts last year. So I've been a little amused over the last couple of days where people have been having these rallies about taxes, taxes. You would think they would be saying thank you. That's what you'd think.

"vajazzling"

Is there "pejazzling" ... on second thought, I don't want to know.

I got a nastygram from the HOA today. They said I had "drink containers" on my lawn.

I just threw it away because I don't leave "drink containers" on my lawn, and it certainly wasn't there yesterday.

My wife got all pissed off though and called the HOA. Turns out what they actually meant to say in the nastygram was that my trashcan was in the driveway.

The only thing I can figure was that the other day when I was mowing the lawn I had to move the trashcan out of the garage to wheel the mower out.

That, or they are just making shit up.

Oh, man, shotgun matches are fun.

I have a Mossberg 590 that prior to today I had shot exactly 10 times. At one time it was my primary home-defense gun, and sat at the ready on the top shelf of the closet. Then I took Defensive Long Gun at KR Training, and decided my AR was the best tool for the job. Since then, it's been a safe queen.

So anyways, despite having shot untold number of rounds through shotguns while bird hunting, I was a little worried about being unfamiliar with the gun and using it in a match. Turns out, it was a non-issue.

It was so much fun being able to smoke the Texas Star for once. With a pistol that thing frustrates the heck out of me, and I have never been able to shoot one clean. With a shotgun, I was able to make short work out of it, 5 shots, 5 hits.

What does suck about shotguns is the reloading. Even a simple stage with only 2 reloads took me 40 seconds. I guess if I stick with it I'll have to get some shell carriers, using the ammo belt felt like one long fumble.

I think I shot pretty well. I cost myself 5-10 seconds on one stage because I failed to count to 6 properly and only loaded 5 rounds. On the last stage I took my head off the stock for some reason and had an extra reload as a result of the misses, that was probably an extra 20 seconds. Other than that, I felt like I shot pretty darn good, especially for my first time.

The Mossy ran great. I had one hull get hung up in the ejection port, but one advantage of being a lefty with a shotgun is that it is easy to diagnose and correct. What was amazing to me was how few guns in our squad ran well. It seemed like maybe 25% of the shotguns ran 100% in our squad, so I was pretty pleased with my gun.


Update:

I came in 2nd out of 7 in the pump division. I'm pleased with that, and I think I have a lot of room for improvement.

We had a little dinner party last night, and at the very end, I unleashed miracle fruit on my unsuspecting guests. (Thanks to Robb @ Sharp as a Marble Blog for inspiring me.)

Miracle fruit alters your perception of food and taste. Sour things, and bitter things to a lesser extent, suddenly taste sweet.

Now, I could tell my friends were a little skeptical. I think a few thought this was some kind of practical joke to get them to suck on a lemon, but after tasting that first lemon wedge you can see their facial expression change to a look of shock and wonderment. It really is a neat experience.

Here's a list of some stuff we tried last night:

• Strawberries - become intensely sweet and delicious. It's like they have metamorphosed into the archetypal strawberry. Just really, really good.
• Lemons - you won't believe you are eating a lemon. To me it is like eating lemonade. I don't know how else to describe it.
• Limes - how can this be a lime? Nom Nom Nom. Limes were several people's favorite.
• Grapefruit - Wow. Just, wow. One person said she had never liked grapefruit, but she loved it with miracle fruit. Definitely one of my favorites.
• Pineapple - sinfully delicious, I thought. Others said it wasn't as impressive. Wide range of responses there.
• Salt & Vinegar chips - I didn't get much effect on these. Some people said they were a little sweeter.
• Beer - completely ruined. Blech.
• Kiwi - Yum. It disappeared quickly.
• Raspberries - Awesome. Not a hint of sourness, just delicious berry flavor.

Had a couple people ask where to buy them, and if they could take some home.

I'm trying to get back into shape again.

I tried not to get too fat over the winter, but a couple of work projects, Holidays, and coming down with 3-4 colds pretty much hampered that.

Anyway, I was up 13 lbs from my low last summer and decided with spring coming on that it was time to start my fitness routine in earnest.

I've lost 5 lbs in 2 weeks and starting to get into it. My goal is to beat my low from last summer by 10 lbs. So, 18 lbs to go.