I'm Going To OKC . . .

¶ . . . It's off to the Great State of Oklahoma (OK!!) come this Monday, but not before I head out with my blaster for some back - to - back pistolero action, IPSC - style, with the boys at Norco Running Gun and then my esteemed fellow gunslingers at Lopez Canyon.
I really like my Postal training excursions to the Sooner State. Hopefully the Owlhoot Trail will take me up to Dodge City, Kansas this go 'round. Yee-Haw!!

Area 2 3 - Gun Championships . . .

¶. . . Went out last weekend to the Area 2 3-Gun Championships at the 5 Dogs Rifle & Pistol Range. It's a little northeast of Bakersfield, east of the Oildale area, and it's quite a range. To me, it seemed gigantic, a neat looking Cowboy town for the Cowboy Action shooters, plenty of action pistol bays, and expansive rifle ranges. I tagged along for five stages with Darin and Rob and got a good look at the action. I even got to talk a few minutes with Matt Burkett!(No, Darin, I'm not asking for his autograph!)
This is another shooting discipline that's definitely for me, but as long as I reside here in Kalifornia, it's gonna be tough. I cannot purchase the proper weapons here. Shooting Heavy Metal is possible, but no optics, and the outlook for tricking-out a Ruger Mini-14 is not very encouraging.
The Battle Born State continues to look more and more attractive, its siren call beckoning!!

A Note On On - Line Poker . . .

¶. . . Just nickel and dime, I know, but I've gone from twelve bucks to fifty-eight dollars this past week playing Texas Hold'em a few minutes a pop a couple of nights.
. . . Would be kind of cool to say, "I bought this shotgun with my poker take!"

Target Practice Notes . . .

¶. . . a brief session out at the range to try what I learned from the Matt Burkett conversation with Brian Enos: starting the fundamentals by shooting from the bench, learning to "call the shot," and learning to keep from blinking. As pertains to the bench work, I took to task the sight alignment on the target and not "waiting for the perfect alignment." As was stated, my gun is already aimed, it's the "mischievous friend" out there moving the target about. What can be done about that? Nothing! Shift more consciousness to the hands and pulling off the shot and . . . my groups moved into the center (from the left) and though not so tight yet, were considerably closer, within six inches. This at twenty five yards. Great! Can' say as I've made any progress toward not blinking or calling the shot, however. I'll keep up the practice, I can do quite a bit with a brief run up there.
Worked a few "Bill Drills," the 50-yard plate a little, too. Some slower, more patient execution seems to be the order for now, let's remember this next match!!

An Intoduction To Trap Shooting . . .

¶ Well, today was kind of neat . . . I went up to the range to help on the work party scheduled for today and I'm quite glad I did! I helped a couple of the guys install a pedestrian gate at the entry (which came out looking pretty good!) and afterwards I got an intro to trap shooting from Maurice P., a fellow club member: singles and doubles. It was really quite fun! I guess I got a chance to shoot at least fifty birds, so it was a pretty good introduction and more of a workout than I had thought. I shot the singles with a . . . single barrel, and the doubles with a . . . double (over and under)! I actually hit the very first few that I attempted!! Can't say that for the doubles . . . they're pretty tough. I inquired about the club's involvement in the "Round Robin," so maybe I'll look into getting a trap gun and pursue this. Sporting Clays look rather intriguing, also. Oh, to have the time . . .

24 January 2005

¶  Up to the range yesterday, Sunday, with great intentions, recently acquired knowledge, and my new Limcat Stealth holster. And another disaster it was, too!! In the box for Stage 5, I reached over to pick up a mag up off of the ground and the gun fell out of my holster! I didn't lock it, something I hadn't accustomed myself to yet (reason, not excuse!). Concept grasped: Do NOTHING other than start the stage after the gun is loaded and made ready! Other items shown to need work:

• Practice my draws


• Acquiring the grip


• Presentation


• Off the table


• GOTTA NAIL THOSE RELOADS!!


• Sight align/picture


• Patience, and


• The long shot!!

  Not an auspiscious start for 2005, so let's get out to the range for those workouts and do the home drills!
MATCH RESULTS

17 January 2005

¶ . . .I just started one of the free website hosting services to see if it's worth the effort to actually get my very own. The one at Tripod looked to be OK as I have a choice of using the "auto" or HTML forms of editing, so I gave it a shot. As soon as it's presentable, I'll link from here to it. What little I've done so far with this weblog and trying to learn a little of writing code from scratch has demonstrated that it all can be quite time consuming, so I'll try to stay motivated and do a little at a time.

¶ . . .Wasn't able to go up to the range for some practice today do to the damage from the weather inclement of late, so I did some reloading and readied-up my pistol for the coming weekend match. I was up there yesterday and the road was barely passable for a sedan like mine. I sure wanted to work on my draw and presentation.

12 January 2005

¶  Trying this with my editor:  Getting ready to start a new pistol season, so lets see if I can put together some of the things I've learned the past two years.I had been practicing some more toward the end of the last year,applying some of the principles I've learned from the videos I "won" in November. The heavy rains of the past three weeks has put a damper on that; however, I should be able to head up to the club Monday for another workout before next week's match. I should also have my new holster by then!

06 January 2005 Redux

Here it is again, colors, tags and spacing edited:
¶ I've been trying to learn how HTML code works and I've had some small victories. I at first only wanted to know how to create hyperlinks without using the whole URL script, but it has now turned into a major educational endeavor!
  My brother told me about this free HTML editor (I'm composing this on it now.) so I downloaded a copy and then looked for and found this tutorial. I'm not sure about the tags for the link colors (it looks like it might alter the background), but let's see if it works!!

06 January 2005

¶ I've been trying to learn how HTML code works and I've had some small victories. I at first only
wanted to know how to create hyperlinks without using the whole URL script, but it has now turned into
a major educational endeavor!

My brother told me about this free HTML editor (I'm composing this on it now.) so I downloaded
a copy
and then looked for and found this tutorial.
I'm not sure about the tags for the link colors (it looks like it might alter
the background), but let's see if it works!!
  (Postscript, 01/07: I had to remove the tags and do the link color from the "compose" window; the tags I used torqued the Nav Bar at the top of the page!)

05 January 2005

¶ ...Ten Days After!! I finally get my car Monday, the day before yesterday. So far after two round trips to work it seems to be OK. I also had to fork out the cash up front for the rental ($352.00!!). Supposedly I'll be receiving a "letter," whatever that means. They sure didn't jump up to pay outright for the rental car, so I'm sure I'm not done with these people yet.
  As alluded to in a previous entry, I guess it was about time for some "s***" to happen to me, but I'll handle it and learn from it(!).

01 January 2005

¶ Well, I made it to Vegas and even up to Santa Ynez, but still using the rental car so graciously "provided" by my friends at Jiffy Lube (appears that I'll have to pay for the rental first. More trouble ahead!). As of this past Thursday they still hadn't "found the part" but they subsequently informed me it would be ready Monday the 3rd. I'll bet.
   An oil change that has taken over a week. Check out Ripoff Report for more horror.

25 December 2004

¶ It's an early morning, 35 mile bus ride to work this morning due to last night's event. Normally, I would have just blown off the workday, but those Christmas ducats are just too appealing (I gotta have a new pistol!). This one bus ride was all it took to remind me of why I don't use rapid transit in this crummy burg and its true raison d'etre. With the "Bus Riders' Union" and proliferation of bums and welfare-sponging slackers here, it’s clear who the MTA serves. If I was a driver, I'd get fired or quit within a week. Here's an example, just one of several, ON THE ONE RIDE:
Bum gets on board Downtown.

Driver: "What's that? That pass ain't no good."
Bum: "I got it this morning."
D: "I've been driving this line all night. Tell me another story."
B: (some slurred, unintelligible guttural)
D: "No, what you really want to tell me is, 'I want to ride for free,' right?"
B: "Uh…"
D: "Man, it’s the Lord's Day, tell the truth. Merry Christmas, take a seat."

These freeloaders are commonplace and the hold up the bus, a particular bane if you have to make connectors. Some people that watch certain TV programs, The Bob Newhart Show, for instance, think that there are public transit patrons like physicians and attorneys actually make up a large percentage of the bus-riding demographic. Not in this town! Not unless all three of their cars are broke down, they too are mentally ill, and someone is holding a gun to their head.

Give me my car back!!

24 December 2004

¶ The next time you hear me say, "That kind of s*** doesn't happen to me, you can remind me of this Christmas Eve...

  Hoping to get a jump on tying up any loose ends prior to another trip to the Silver State for the holidays, I decided I would get my oil changed (this is a Jiffy Lube story). Seeing as how I hadn't had my gear case oil changed since who knows when and they offered me a good price to do so, I told them to go for it. To make a long story short, they blew apart the gear case drain port! Irreparably! I should have known better than let these "mechanics" do anything other than change the oil, and even that is taking a risk. The convenience of JL and its ilk are what make them attractive, or rather an attractive peril, to me when I procrastinate and try the "easier, softer" way.
After an hour (a sure indicator of incompetence) attempting to "fix" (read: jerry rig) the situation, the manager, crestfallen, explained blah, blah, blah, it's Christmas Eve blah, blah, Monday this, Sunday that, blah . . .
In my best form, I didn't get upset (VB is not really vile). I actually felt bad for these guys. I'll make it to Nevada anyway, though somewhat belatedly. What I'll do if they don't rise to the responsibility, I don't know. Hopefully I won't have the need to gaff them for that.
Stay tuned!!

22 December 2004

¶ . . . Last night I was thinking about this blog-thing and I said to myself, "Self, this is the type of vehicle your brother might use as the proverbial soap box." After all, his '90's website "The Judge" was one of the biggest hoots I had ever seen, excellent composition, exceedingly relevant, and was getting so many hits that then-GTE decided they weren't going to host it free anymore!! Utilizing my prodigious detective skills, I conducted a search and found it! (Search time: all of about 3 minutes). Link here for some more great relevance and hilarity: Journal Yellow

21 December 2004

¶ What a revelation! One of the items from the loot that I scavenged off of the prize table after my dismal performance in last month's California Infinity Championship was a certificate for Practical Shooting, Vols. 1-3, by Matt Burkett (Big Time kudos to you folks for the expediency in delivery: one week! I guess my beloved Postal Service should get some credit too.). Good stuff!I took a trip out to the range yesterday and after actually applying the lessons on the proper grip and the "pinch & roll" in the draw sequence I found, much to my astonishment, that my gun, that "shoots left," wasn't; I shoot left!! Hooking, as it were. I couldn't believe it. Further experimentation with "my" grip and the demonstrated version bore this out. However, I don't suffer under the illusion that this is a panacea for all my shortcomings: practice, practice, practice!!
Again I learn the lesson: Follow directions!

30 November 2004

¶ Lets try a foto upload of my rig . . .

30 November 2004

. . . been awhile . . . I'll be back . . . just wanted to see if this was still intact . . . got some of my pistol match musings to write about . . . By the way, I got my "C" classification . . . Wonders never cease!! OUT!

10 March 2004

...been derelict in my entries, here's another postscript: My regular shoot-out February 29th went well, except for a couple of reload fumbles and INSERTING AN EMPTY MAG on Stage #5!! Anyhow, I think I'm making the transition from being the drag rider to an Also-Ran!! If I can just get that "C" classification...thinking about shooting the Silver Buckle in Ridgecrest Memorial Day: PRACTICE!!!
...made a run up to Piru Creek last week, also (March 1st), thought I might pan (got my Gold Maps this week, by the way!), but someone was there... it was starting to rain anyway... so I drove up to the top of Pinos: lots of snow and snowing! Chain signs out, but I made it sans (I had 'em anyway)...
...vacation these next two weeks (13-29), off to Arizona and New Mexico...

16 February 2004

Postscripted, one week later:09 Feb.: Thought I would try a quick hand at some rock hunting, so I went out to Acton, supposedly an agate sight. Too much private property, so I crossed over SR14 to go up Red Rover Mine Road (North), dead ends again at, yup, more private property. Up Sand Canyon Rd. (this is rather nice, attractive properties, oaks), down Little Tujunga, home. Just a leisurely afternoon drive!!