Nevada

I spent a few days in Tonopah Nevada for work this week. The drive from Las Vegas to Tonopah takes about 3-1/2 hours on US95. Although the region seems stark and dry for someone from the northeast, the scenery is very beautiful, especially near sunrise or sunset when the mountains stand in stark contrast to the background. Most of my time was spent a little east of Tonopah itself. I saw many coyote, antelope, jackrabbit, and wild horses. The coyote are especially active after dark. They are not very shy of humankind. They will pause by the side of the road as you go by, but won't run off. I contrast this with the coyote I have seen in NH which are very furtive. I'd like to go back sometime on vacation to try my hand at hiking the ridges all about that area. I better research the right time of year to go since summer and winter are probably both pretty tough.

Righteous Kill

My wife and I saw Righteous Kill with friends tonight. Pacino and Deniro starred as 30 + year cops investigating a series of killings. A pretty predictable ending, but still an entertaining film. They show both guys practicing with both pistol and rifle, and doing quite well. I wonder how much police officers really practice. I know they are very busy with work. I have a friend who is a good IDPA shooter who says most of the police around here don't practice enough. Not sure if he is correct. I know that for a while there was an FBI agent who practiced with us. He was very good. He was shooting a 45 ACP while most folks were shooting 9mm. Very accurate, and nice big holes. Back to the movie and our two detectives, during their practice session with their rifles, they were tested against good and bad targets. The targets kept flipping and they had to determine whether to shoot. I've seen that kind of thing in video games, but not in real life in the places that I shoot. Do some places really have that? Looked like fun. The alternatives to Righteous Kill offered by our friends were the new Nicholas Cage and George Clooney flicks. I had to explain that I was boycotting Clooney because he is a left minded actor with a big mouth and the mistaken impression that we care what he says. Hope there are more of us out there willing to hurt the left most portions of Hollywood where it counts - in the box office.

Comcast and User Owned Modem

Lost Internet service yesterday afternoon. Isolated the issue as far back as the modem. Reset it to see if that helped. No go. Called Comcast and they talked me through the same process. Said the modem was offline and probably broken. Other service in the neighbourhood was still live, as I could see their unprotected wireless networks and actually see that they still had connection. I made an app't for Comcast to come over and check it out. When I got home today, the modem was up and running. No issue. The service person asked if the modem was user-owned. I said it was. He said that Comcast occasionally loses user-owned modems from their database. Although they are able to add the modem back into the database via the tech call, it sometimes takes 24 hours to operate again. Yee haw. Glad the service is back. Kind of an Internet addict.

What to do with limited personal time

Bowling season has started again. I've started as a substitute this year. With my kids' soccer and v-ball seasons in full swing, there is very little time for hobbies. I've been shooting once every two to three weeks this summer. Not as much as I'd like. Not sure I really want to bowl anymore. I've been bowling for about six years, and slowly getting better, but there isn't much real value to it like there is with shooting. I have my average up from approx 160 when I started to 194. (Got my first and only 700 series 15 months ago with a 238-213-266). I doubt it will go higher without bowling more, and I can't see doing that. Actually, its likely to go down from there as I age. I expect I'll bowl less this year and shoot more often. Plus my wife will shoot with me, and she doesn't have any interest in bowling. Although she will stop by for a brew.

Wilson Combat Protector

As you can tell from the blog subtitle, I support the RKBA. I've owned one pistol, a Performance Center 5906 9mm for years. This year, I decided to make a few purchases in case a Democrat won office and decided to put a stop to that. I picked up a Colt AR-15 carbine, a Remington 700 rifle, used HK Benelli M1 shotgun, SIG P250 (my wife likes this one), and my favorite - a Wilson Combat Protector model 1911 in 45 ACP. The 1911 fits my hand perfectly. I am not a great shooter, but I do shoot much better with the 1911 than with the 5906. Just feels right, and it is a thing of beauty. Looks like this one from the Wilson Combat web site, but with the ambi safety.

Just getting started

Like so many others, I am motivated to start blogging by the presidential election. I can not believe that Barack Hussein Obama is candidate for president by a major political party. Even if you ignore the limited experience, past ties to terrorists such as Ayers, and penchant for avoiding direct answers, he is a socialist. Socialism only works for those that have no interest in working for themselves. Everyone else is better off under capitalism. God forbid we should sink so low that we would want to live that way.

I did not come into this election season a big fan of John McCain. McCain-Feingold still pisses me off. I still can't believe that the Supreme Court upheld. That being said, the GOP candidate had my vote anyway when BHO and HRC were the Democratic options on the table. Although Palin is also very limited in experience, at least her beliefs are more aligned with my own. Also, she seems to walk the talk. Lots of folks say they are pro-life, but she actually acted that way after saying it. Similarly with supporting the war in Iraq. Pretty powerful message. They've got my vote and hope very much they pull it off.