Three Things

AFSis tagged Boston Maggie, who in turn trapped tagged me, with a meme in threes. As if that wasn't enough, BillT tapped me again! Well, too bad - I can only do this once ... 3 things that scare me: 1. Roller Coasters 2. Losing my mind (more than I already have) 3. Blogging so much that I forget to eat (yeah, right) 3 people who make me laugh: 1. Robin Williams 2. My sister Becky 3. Sugar Buttons 3 things I hate the most: 1. Willfully stupid people 2. A$$hats who write spyware and viruses 3. Losing something that I had in my hands just 5 minutes earlier 3 things I don't understand: 1. Those who don't support the military 2. The ACLU 3. People who refuse to use their brains 3 things I'm doing right now: 1. Reading email and blog comments 2. Planning my vacation 3. Answering a meme 3 things I want to do before I die: 1. Cruise the Mediterranean 2. Visit Alaska's Kodiak Island 3. See my brother become a grandfather, so I have grand niece/nephews to spoil! 3 things I can do: 1. Drive a stick-shift (drove a semi-trailer once - 12 gears, baby!) 2. Anything for those I care about 3. Be happy in most any circumstance, if friends are around 3 ways to describe my personality: 1. Quiet 2. Positive 3. Watchful 3 things I can't do: 1. Keep my mouth shut when I should 2. Speak up when I should 3. Figure out the difference in time to accomplish 1 and 2 3 things I think you should listen to: 1. Alison Krauss sing 2. Yo-Yo Ma playing the cello 3. "Flags of our Fathers" by Keni Thomas 3 things you should never listen to: 1. People who want you to "Get Serious"! 2. Celebrities telling you how to think 3. Hateful 'music' 3 absolute favorite foods: 1. Baked mac & cheese casserole 2. Cornbread 3. Yogurt covered pretzels (mmm, salty and sweet!) 3 things I'd like to learn: 1. Where John hides the keys to the liquor cabinet 2. Why my cat wakes me up 10 minutes before the alarm goes off 3. To ride a unicycle 3 beverages I drink regularly: 1. Coffee 2. Diet Coke 3. Mike's Hard Cranberry 3 shows I watched as a kid: 1. My Favorite Martian 2. The Rifleman 3. The Big Valley 3 people I'm tagging Bad Cat Robot (that'll stop her snickering) Trias of Insanity (welcome to the gang, bud!) 74 of The Bow Ramp

BlogShoot Success...

The First Annual West Coast Milbloggers Shootout was a definite success. The attendence was small select, but there was no shortage of fun - as was reported in several places by others in attendence (Hi, John and Maggie!). Of course, the weekend really started on Thursday night, with Bad Cat Robot and I joining the Armorer and SWWBO for a delicious meal at the 520 Bar and Grill, as ably documented by John in his travelogue, part I. The company was grand, and we could easily have stayed and talked all night, except for the whole needing-sleep thing. So we adjourned to recharge, perchance to sleep. On Friday, Beth and John toured the town with BCR's able guidance. Meanwhile, I worked my fingers to the bone so that I could leave on time to grab some edibles (and drinkables) and trundled off to BCR Labs, for the seekrit Friday night meeting of Denizens. In addition to John and Beth, we were joined by Sgt B and Princess Crabby. The chatter was often zany, always fun, and potentially recorded for use in later blackmail by SWWBO, using her 2GB MP3 cube. We may all be in deep trouble!! Too soon, the evening was gone, and I had to get myself home to grab some sleep in preparation for the Shootout. Saturday's events started with a gathering to break our fast at Alfred's Cafe, which was handy since it shared a parking lot with the Bulls Eye range and Gun Shop next door. I planned it that way, of course. Bad Cat Robot and I met up in the parking lot, and were quickly joined first by Echo9er, and then by Heartless Libertarian. We all went into the Cafe to nail down a table and await our tardy blog-buddies. Finally the remainder of the gang arrived, and we were all well fed (lovely food at Alfred's Cafe!) and had consumed more than our normal daily ration of coffee. So we trooped across the parking lot to the Bulls Eye, and scanned the goodies in the Gun Shop. (Whoo Hoo! I found the rubber grips I wanted for my .357 Ruger! Pictures to follow in a later post.) The Armorer tried to find an item among the rifles that would add to an empty spot in his collection, but (not surprisingly) nothing fit the bill. So we made our way upstairs, checked in and selected targets, and repaired to our shooting lanes to perform mayhem against pictures of Barney and Osama Bin Laden. As you can see, John and Sgt B were able to take out the dinosaur with extreme prejudice, and seemed to take great pleasure in doing so. My personal mission for the day was to ensure that Maggie fired at least one weapon. To my surprise, she was coerced into convinced to fire not just one, but three different guns. First my little .22, which is just plain fun to shoot. Later, to my surprise, she was coached on firing the .44 magnum revolver that BCR brought along! Once that barrier was broken, it was a small step to firing HL's 9mm AR, pictured below. She earned her Denizenne stripes, for sure! There was plenty of happy noise-making, and many targets were maimed. Finally it was time for HL to head off to his family plans. The rest of us had another Tacoma stop planned, though. We had to invade the Corina Bakery, which BCR and I had scouted a few weeks ago. Once there, we each selected some delicious (and LARGE) portion of cake or cookie bar to over-indulge in. Personally, I had heard that the Red Velvet cake was special, so I chose to test it out. Delicious, indeed - but I almost went into sugar overload trying to eat it all by myself. (I failed) The good news, though, is that we got to talk with Walt Gaya. We found that he had a gallery showing of his photography, so off we trooped to find the Art on Center gallery (check Maggie's site for details). Walt's photography is very good, and the gallery had other interesting art photography on display as well. A very worthwhile change in our schedule! That was the end of our day time events, and I'll have to tell the rest of the evening's fun later, cause it's past my bedtime. I'm still trying to catch up on what I lost over the weekend ... *grin*!

The BlogShoot is On!

That's the good news - the bad news is that Francis Marion won't be able to join us. (*pout*) Given that he was the driving force behind getting some fun milbloggers and friends together to exercise our Second Amendment rights, that's a real shame. So here's the rough plan for Saturday, the 15th: 10:30 - Meet at Alfred's Cafe in Tacoma, on 402 Puyallup Ave, for breakfast and greetings. Noon (approx) - Move across the street to the Bulls Eye Indoor Shooting Range at 414 Puyallup Ave. After the shooting, we hope to head to the Corina Bakery on 510 6th Ave. in Tacoma, to help stimulate the local economy. In case that name doesn't ring bells for you, the bakery belongs to Walt Gaya and his wife - you can read more about Walt here. The plan is to take up our handguns (or in the case of Heartless Libertarian, at least, a 9mm AR) and demonstrate once again our superiority over many pieces of paper. I know that the Armorer and SWWBO are traveling light, but there should be no shortage of weapons to choose from, as Bad Cat Robot and I are bringing our collections, such as they are (including her new toy - wheeee!). And I have to imagine that Sgt B will be bringing at least one or two of his own ... selection should not be a problem! One of our missions is to ensure that EVERYone gets a chance to shoot (are you listening, Maggie?), and that we all have a safe and fun range day together. I hope to see Echo9er and AnalogKid there as well - and if you are in the Tacoma area, come on down to the Range! For the locationally challenged, here is a zoomable map with a few markers to help you out.

Happy Birthday, Sgt B!

Actually, Sgt B would prefer this date to be thought of as the natal day of only his current incarnation, with the original birth day being on 10 November, 1775 ... Marines, gotta love 'em! So go slap him on the back and wish him a Happy Birthday, maybe leave something nice in comments to help him celebrate. To get the party started, I'm sending over a few kitties to keep him company! Enjoy, Sgt B ... *grin* Bad Cat Robot and I are doing the Happy Dance, knowing that we get to meet up with Sgt B, and with The Armorer and Lady of Castle Argghhh, and the wild Nor'easter Boston Maggie - and hopefully some other great gun-loving folks - this weekend at the Milblog Shoot! With a Castle Natal Day to celebrate, we should have a fine party!

Lazy Blogging

Harumph ... John accuses me of being lazy, since the blogging around these parts has been lite lately. Well, just spell lazy "B-u-s-y", big guy. I don't have a bunch of smart folks posting interesting things on MY blog every day, like SOME people. However, it is decidedly NOT lazy to post a link to this perfect letter written by a retired Marine Gunnery Sergeant to big-mouth Murtha. (Posted by Bill Faith at Old War Dogs) Go and read the letter, it's not to be missed. Well said, GySgt (ret.) Grimstead, extremely well said. Whoops -- The Armorer already had this posted! My bad...