0:30EST-SAT-6/29/2002
- Gun Day is a Fun Day. In the past couple of weeks or so, we've been going shooting with Philbert. This is great fun because he has access to the Oak Ridge Sportsman's Association range and it is cool beyond measure. I'm trying to join them now. I also opted to finally join the NRA. I've always enjoyed shooting but my experiences to this point have been limited mostly to plinking at cans and stuff in whatever part of the surrounding area was not likely to get the cops called on us. This plan was far from fool-proof since we still had the cops called on us almost as many times as not. ORSA has spectacular facilities that allow me to use my rifles to shoot at targets at up to 1000 yards. I'm a big fan of long range accuracy. Trying to shoot an empty Snuggle bottle at a hundred feet was fun and all but doesn't allow me to try to hone my marksmanship skills any. I have FAR more respect for military snipers now that I've had a chance to do what they do and see how much I suck at it. Most of my time has been spent at the bench rest range using my SL8 and 10/22 to punch paper at up to 200 yards. It's a lot harder than I thought, even with a concrete table and a sandbag to rest the gun on. Dammit, I'm rambling again! Fast forward to yesterday (Thursday in my mind). My fascination with Accuracy International began when I found their web page and saw how friggin' cool their work is. Mind you, I've never been a big fan of bolt-action guns and have often been seen foaming at the mouth while singing the praise of semi-automatic weapons but what fan hasn't? I used to own a pretty nice Remington 700 back in the day but it was pretty-much stock and did not impress me. It was chambered in .308 and I really wanted a better round with a flatter trajectory for ultra-long range shooting. A nice .300 Winchester Magnum would be a perfect cartridge (imho). Anyway, back to yesterday... I noticed a few days ago that the contact number for them was a familiar area code. For that matter, the prefix was an Oak Ridge prefix! PRAISE ERIS!!! I called them on Wednesday while waiting for people to get together for the day of shooting and calzone. I talked to the guy for a couple of minutes about products they offered and then asked if they had a storefront so people could walk in and see stuff first hand. He said that they only had their workshop but asked where I was calling from. I told him that I was calling from Wendy's. That must have thrown him off since I guess he was expecting me to say what state I was calling from and not a local fast food joint.
Where?
The Wendy's in Oak Ridge.
Oh! Are you familiar with the Oak Ridge area?
I've lived here for about twenty years. (smile)
Do you know where Lafayette road is?
Absolutely!
Do you know where Midway road is?
You bet!
Do you know where Mitchel lane is?
I took a pizza there yesterday.
I asked if I could go by and say hi to them the next day and he gave me the exact address. When I went by the next day the first thing I saw when I opened the door was a huge ten foot by twenty foot poster of their premier .50 caliber counter-sniper rifle. I was in awe. The two guys there and I kibitzed for a bit and I got to play with several of their wares. I told him how I had wanted one for a long time and decided to build one now that I had the cash. He asked me if I already had the base rifle for the parts I wanted and I sheepishly answered that I didn't have one yet. After a brief conversation about an obscure Johnny Cash song that I still haven't heard of, I asked him if he cold recommend a good place to get a precision bull barrel from. Apparently they used to own another company that all they did was make barrels for their rifles but not anymore. We talked about that for a bit more and one asked me what I wanted to do with such an expensive rifle. 'Punching paper' was the only reason I could come up with. It's true, but a startling amount of people can not imagine spending five to ten thousand dollars on a rifle just to shoot at paper targets. I was relieved to find that these two fine gentlemen were not among them. They asked me what my cartridge of choice would be and after replying .300 Win Mag they exchanged glances and one of them disappeared into the gun huge gun locker (it was bigger than our living room) and came back with a complete upper assembly of the very same caliber to let me drool over. He even popped it into one of the stocks I wanted to get and let me put my grubby little mitts all over it. It is from his personal collection and bragged (rightfully so) about how good it is. He says that the barrel was custom made to be a bit longer than most people like to use for their .300 Win Mags but this is what he has. Fine by me! The difference between a 26 inch barrel and a 28 inch barrel at 1000 yards is noticeable. That, and it allows for a bit more powder diversity when making your own ammo. I cycled the action and then put my finger on the big fat trigger. All I had to do was -think- about squeezing and a satisfying CLICK answered back. I had an ear to ear smile that a Dremel tool couldn't remove. There's no way this trigger was stock! The guy sheepishly said that he really probably shouldn't have polished the sear. At least not as much as he had. BUT HE DID!!! At that moment he became my new hero. He then told me that I could buy the whole thing (minus the stock) for the low low price of a cool grand. My wallet exploded in my hands as I fumbled frantically for a credit card. No fucking way! I was presented with the chance of a lifetime. I was being offered a near complete rifle from the private collection of Accuracy International! No fucking way! This sort of thing doesn't happen to people like ME. OTHER PEOPLE get to be race car drivers. OTHER PEOPLE get to be paid to review porn. OTHER PEOPLE win the lottery. People like me get speeding tickets and rejected by scores of women. Finally something cool was happening FOR ME! When all was said and done, I was on the list for a custom stock and I had made arrangements to buy the upper assembly from him (since I opted not to use my card at that time to save money). I was a happy camper. Since it was close to time for them to go home for the day and we were still chatting happily about guns, they gave me a bunch of A.I. brochures (which are hanging on my wall now above my bed). We talked about how sad the local gun stores had become and they told me of a good one that they like only 30 miles from my house. I'll have to check that out. He asked me where I did my shooting and I told him that I really liked ORSA and that I needed to get my application to them soon so that the board of directors can review it. I want to get it to them before this Wednesday (Gun Day!) or else I'd need to wait another month before they meet. Another grin flashed across his face and he tells me that he's on the board of directors. What luck! I'm happily chatting away with one of the guys who could make or break my ability to join. Oh joy! Joy and rapture! Maybe I should have combed my hair that day... We talked about ORSA for a bit more and he even gave me an application since I hadn't had a chance to print one out yet. I eventually had to leave before I shot a load in my pants. That probably wouldn't have been a terribly good impression.
16:05EST-THU-6/20/2002
- I was rooting through my old mail trying to see if any of it was still worth saving before I completely move over to my new email address and I found some really great ones. Stories like Raggot and Kiki and Happy Fun Ball quotes. A few interesting articles I'd saved, and I'd like to share this one with you. It was sent 'to all of us who are Dr. Seus fans' and is really catchy.
Here's an easy game to play,
Here's an easy thing to say:
If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port,
And the bus is interrupted as a very last resort,
And the address of the memory makes your floppy disk abort,
Then the socket packet pocket has an error to report.
If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash,
And the double-clicking icon puts your window in the trash,
And your data is corrupted 'cause the index doesn't hash,
Then your situation's hopeless, and your system's gonna crash.
You can't say this?
What a shame sir!
We'll find you
Another game sir.
If the label on the cable on the table at your house,
Says the network is connected to the button on your mouse,
But your packets want to tunnel to another protocol,
That's repeatedly rejected by the router down the hall.
And your screen is all distorted by the side effects of gauss
So your icons in the window are all wavy, as if soused,
Then you may as well reboot, and go out with a bang,
'Cause as sure as I'm a poet, the sucker's gonna hang.
When the copy of your floppy's getting sloppy on the disk,
And the microcode instructions cause unnecessary risk,
Then you have to flash your memory, and you'll want to RAM your ROM,
Quickly, turn off the computer, and be sure to tell your mom.
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1:53EST-THU-6/20/2002
- Cool! Vince is back for a few days on leave. We went to the gun store and were horribly dissapointed at the poor selection of interesting guns. After a mere 20 minutes inside, we spent twice that standing in the parking lot baking in the sun and talking about the joy of guns. Then I went to work and talked to Phil for a good long time about guns too. I had sooo much fun. I forgot how much I missed the obcessive conversations about our favorite hobby. Today we went to the Oak Ridge Sporting Associations range and shot a whole lot! Yay, it was fun. I was impressed with my shot grouping at 200 yards, but I was stunned at Phil's skill with his pistol. Puts me to horrible shame. Now I have to get a membership at that range too. A hundred dollars a year is quite a bargain! I'm drunk so my typing is probably -very- poor. I'm going to sleep now. Hopefully I'll do the same stuff tomorrow. :)
2:07EST-MON-6/17/2002
- I mean to update more, I really do! I just forget... I'll spare you the latest computer drama (my PC hates me and the server is still dead) and go straight into talking about GUNS! What with the ban of hi-cap magazines and assault rifles likely to come to an end (about damned time!) and going back on the market, I'm really happy! It means I can finally get a couple of back-up clips for my pistol and some hi-cap magazines for my rifles as well. I'm most looking forward to getting one for my Ruger 10/22. While I'm at it, I'm springing for some new parts for it as well. It's my favorite rifle in the whole wide world (because I can use it all day without breaking the bank). With the new parts I'm ordering, it'll go from looking like this to this. Oh yeah! I've also ordered a box of subsonic ammo for it to see if it makes a difference. I'm not expecting any miracles. Or assassinations (unless pigeons count).
16:06EST-SUN-6/9/2002
- I got to listen to Prarie Home Companion yesterday. It's been a couple of years since I had gotten the chance. I laughed aloud as always. I had almost forgotten how dry the wit was. Although it's not the comedy I usually seek out, it is brilliant in it's own right. Plus, as soon as that show was over, I changed stations just in time for the 80's remix show to come on. For those of you who don't know it yet, there is a network of radio stations that play nothing but 80's music that sprung up this year. I wish the reception was better in town, but it's good enough to enjoy. Um... I'm going to cut this short and go to work. G'night.
5:11EST-FRI-6/7/2002
- I just checked my email and found another plea to update my page more frequently. Apparently people enjoy this stuff. If that's the case and you aren't one of the Ridgemonkey Webring, I strongly urge you to check out the pages of the people I've linked to on the main page. After reading through their pages, you'd be amazed I hang out with these people. I've ranted at great length about friendship and why we all hang out together without much common ground, but you will find anything from a predilection to dick and fart jokes all the way to efforts of verbal eloquence. I got to spend a few hours checking in on my friends pages and catching up on the bits I've missed. I was amazed at who all updated. Especially Lucas. Now I know where he was a few weeks back. I read through Nick's page and wish I could do the things he does regularly. I read Jesse's page and it makes me want to follow through with one of my projects for once. Particularly the paper mache ten foot long ebony hued cock. I actually spent a while thinking of a good way to make it. You know, how I wanted it to look, what I could make it do, if it could be wearable, and how I was going to sneak something like that into his bed without him knowing. I read Holly's page and checked in on the quotes. I'm happy to have made it on there but I really don't remember saying those things. At all. I don't even consider it my own writing style. Maybe I had just woken up or something and wasn't functioning properly yet. Maybe she made it up to make me feel special and/or witty. Conspiracy! I figured that if anything would have made it on there, the bit about Lucas and I spending a week watching lesbian movies would have been a shoe-in. Oh, before I forget, click here and enjoy. Rhys' page made me happy to be where I am as usual. Chuck's page reminded me of what I did the other day and had fun doing. I've got to stop sleeping so much. I feel like the guy in Memento some times. I'm sure there were more things I meant to say but I should have been asleep under a book for some time now. What does all this mean? I've got to finish quitting smoking and find inspiration. I spent all day walking around the house with a headache wishing something would change. I'm used to re-acting, not acting. I need a muse. I need a nap.
3:16EST-FRI-6/7/2002
- I've had so many things that I've wanted to post but have not done so lately and since I have the memory of a gnat, I can't quite write about any of them to my satisfaction. I know that there was something that was important to me briefly enough to want to explore further but you know how good tangents are. They mean so much to you one moment, and then they're replaced in your mind by whatever comes next. Oh yes, something -always- comes next, no? While nobody has come forward to return my beloved copy of Dune, I have found solace in the Wheel of Time series again (book five at the moment), old PS2 games that I bought and never played, and above all else was finding tonight that a friend of mine (who I've never met) listed masturbation as number one on her top ten list. Things like that renew my faith in humanity. We as a people aren't too different, are we? Just think, the next time you're stuck in a foriegn land surrounded by people who don't speak english (Nick or Vince) you can rest assured that the person standing beside you is the best they've ever had, just like you.
2:42EST-SAT-6/1/2002
- FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK! Some cock smoker stole my unopened DVD of Dune. My favorite movie of all time. Fucking thiefs. If someone wanted to borrow a DVD from me they usually just have to ask and I let them. All except that one. The first hint should have been that it was still wrapped. That should have been a dead give-away that I didn't want people borrowing it if even -I- wouldn't watch my favorite movie. Fuck, I hate people sometimes. I think I'll go say Fuck some more.
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