Camera or Video Bleg

With the baby on the way, I need some advice. I need some new video/photo equipment. Both sets of parents live out of state and they want pics and mpeg’s. I’m thinking digital is the way to go.

Let me know what equipment you have found that works good. Right now I’m using a bottom of the line Kodak cx6200. It has no real features other than it works. If possible I’d like something I could use for wildlife photography as well. I am open to any suggestions or info that you might think useful. I’m not looking to go nuts on spending for this gadget but I can afford to drop a few bucks. Fathers day is coming up fast so I’m thinking I might be able to talk some people into buying one for me.

Thanks

Looking for a Job

With a baby on the way I’ve been considering a job change. Being self employed is great and all but I’m seeing two draw backs. The first is health benefits which are costly if I’m going to keep the same level of coverage that my wife’s employer has. The second is I work out of the house and having a wife and kid at home would seriously hamper my productivity.

I just got back home from an interview that I was hesitant about going to. Mostly because I wasn’t sure they’d pay enough to make it worth my while. I haven’t been real eager to relocate, even in the state but here is a live feed from the area.

Here’s a picture I took Saturday.

These are lupine.

Anyway the job is a pay cut, but I do get to live in a decent neighborhood. There was one question that I didn’t answer right. I answered truthfully but it was the wrong thing to say. “Were you born in Wyoming?” No. We’ll see if that hurt me.

Decent pay, decent benefits and above average hunting and fishing; the sacrifices I’m willing to make for the family. Someone should nominate me for father of the year. We’ll see if they want me. The job that is, the family is stuck with what they got.

Catholic Bashing

Easy Gregg, don’t have a stroke this isn’t what you think.

I’m not Catholic, never been Catholic. It’s fascinating to me to see how many people want to bash the Catholic Church. Largely I don’t see the point in it myself. If you disagree with the RCC it’s very easy to go to church someplace else. In the US we have over 3,000 different denominations to chose from that aren’t Catholic, many of them aren’t really Christian either but that’s a different post.

So why beat up on the RCC? For some its doctrine/dogma, for others its rebellion against religion, for some it’s a sadistic nun experience. I don’t get the excitement about The DaVinci Code. It seems to me the premise is just another attack on the RCC and not a very intelligent one at that.

I have read excerpts from the book and seen solid rebuttals of the conspiracy theory that it espouses. I have no intention of seeing the movie. Not because of the content of the book. The last Tom Hanks movie I saw he costarred opposite of a volley ball. Frankly, Wilson gave a much move lively and engaging performance. I enjoy Ron Howard. I like him as an actor and a director. The day I need the guy who played Opie Taylor, to explain religion to me is the day I need one of you, to grab the biggest family bible you can find and knock some sense back in me with it. I'd do it for you.

Pistol League

Last night was my first night to show up for this summers league. I say show up, what I mean is I was there, but I sure didn’t show up when it came to score or times.

The way we normally run firing scenarios is a combination of accuracy, speed and tactical proficiency. The concept is simple: in a real fight you need to score hits quickly and maximize survivability. Those three components are built into nearly every drill we execute.

Last night was a mixed bag scenario. 3 metal plates at distances of 12 to 25 yards set on stands 4 ft high. The front plate was 6 in round the back two were 8in. 3 bad guys (cardboard human silhouettes) 17 to 25 yards one partially concealed behind hard cover.

The course of fire was to draw, engage and clear the plates, then move forward to cover (behind a barrel) and double tap each bad guy, in tactical order. The course required a min of 9 rounds to clear; forcing 1 reload, which could be tactical or emergency (shooters choice). A perfect score was 30 pts.

My utter humiliation started when I needed an average of 2 shots each to clear the plates, once I even had to reload to finish them. I posted my worse score of the night, a 24, before my buddy noticed that my rear sight screw had loosened and that my sights had drifted left by a large margin. We fixed that problem right away and my scores went back above 27. NO, I wasn’t paying attention to my rear sight, in a fight front sight, but I align with those back sights and I was throwing everything low and left. Afterwards I scored a few perfect 30’s and I did it in 9 shots.

Timing: worst total time of the night was 29 seconds best was 20 to clear the coarse. Best draw 2.22, best reload 5.35. When I draw its from a relaxed position, not “at ready” and the draw must be a draw and hit on the target, it does no good to be fast and miss. Anyway 2.22 is ok but I’d be happier at something south of 1.5. 5 seconds on a reload sucks, those need to be less than 2.0. I’ll work on it.

Our club is just for fun and we aren’t in competition against each other. But we do keep score and I’ve got a long way to go. For comparison a world class shooter like Mr. London can draw and clear 5 targets in five shots at under 1.88. If I was foolish enough to enter the state IDPA type shoots, the top guys in those easily clear the scenario in 6 to 7 seconds, even with the reload.

Res Mail

From the mail bag:

"You suck! I came here because someone linked you memorial day post, then I see you bash Bush. You’re not a American, you don’t believe in this country, your just a godless liberal piece of shit. How can you make fun of Jesus and Bush, only a liberal would do that. The post on memorial day was good but it was just BS to cover for you being a liberal."

First off, no wait, Bill is this you yanking my chain?

Sure, I suck, but for the last 9 years only my wife, even then its more of a nibble and tongue thing. Not that its your concern.

I am an American my family has been here since before 1776 and fought for this nation ever since. I didn’t make fun of Jesus. I don’t remember but my Sunday school didn’t teach us the part where he called people a piece of shit.

My gripe about Bush is that he’s too liberal. He ran as a conservative republican and he sold us out. Glad you liked the other post.

Schism

I’ve gotta admit I’m something of a contradiction of nature. My fathers side of the family is 100% pure breed southern hillbilly going back prior to the days of the state of Franklin. What you don’t know about the state of Franklin? Ya’ll must of went to a public school. One of my forbearers was given a piece of land there as repayment for his service to his country.

My mothers side of the family is 100%, brace yourselves…….from the north. They’re not really Yankees, being a Yankee would involve a certain amount of class, they’re more northern white trash (NWT) than Yankee. Here’s how it breaks down by family:

	Ma’s	Pa’s
DUI	Gotta have beer to drive	Yep
Jail time	Yep	Yep
Bastard children	Folks get married?	Yep
Moonshine’n	Yep	Yep
Elected to public office	Nope	Yep
Kilt while hunting	Yep	Nope
Old fridge on the porch	Yep	Don’t everybody?
Car on blocks in yard	And in the fields	Yep
Bath tub in yard	Yep	Yep
Coon skins dry’n in the house	Since 1917	Not since the 60’s, dang the feds
Brand of cigarette	Pal Mal	Marlboro
Born on a plantation	Nope farm	Yep
Picked cotton	Nope, field corn by hand	Yep
Share cropper	Yep	Yep
Cheated cause didn’t read good	What's "read"?	Lost the plantation that way

Now you’d think with that kind of blood line I’d be happy just about anywhere, cept in a city, and you’d be mostly right. The problem is food. See something’s just ain’t the same and that’s what causes me problems.

	Ma’s	Pa’s
Ice Tea	Unsweet	Sugar is what you add the water to
Corn bread	Lots of sugar	Sugar goes in cake and tea
Weird food	Chicken feet	Pickled pigs feet

Now I can eat corn bread either way, depending on my mood and what’s for dinner. I admit it I’ve eaten all manner of nasty crap set before me and called food but I lean towards the chicken more than the pigs feet. I’ve never been a fan of sweet tea, if I want sugar I’ll drink a soda. Today I was making up a big 2 gal jug of tea and be darned if I didn’t automatically reach for the sugar to pour some in. It must be the southern genetics taken over.