Weekend Caption/Photoshop Contest

Sticky until Monday -- Scroll Down for New Stuff

Got a better caption or photoshop for this photo? You could win a coveted Blog Ad on my side bar! Leave a caption or photo link in comments, or Email a pic to me at the address in my profile. If you're sending a large animation, please provide a hot-linkable URL. You need not own a blog to win! I'll advertise your favorite charity, web site, or even those slightly-used brassieres you've out-grown.

Check out the links in Drinks Ordered for photoshops!

Judging begins Monday p.m.

Winner!

Serr8d of The Cutting Edge wins with:

"This is my Gisele Bundchen, come hither look! Wanna see my inflatable derriere?"

Other Contests:
Support Your Local Gunfighter
Family Security Matters
Outside the Beltway
RT's Ponderings
Wizbang

"Enough with the Pictures, Mom!"

h/t Chris

IPSC Haiku

My contribution:

Shooter, Make Ready
Stand by... BEEP! Bang-bang-bang-bang!
Unload and show clear.

More here.

Back to School BATF

If you thought my rifle stage brain fart was something, get this: yesterday was the First Day of School, NOT next week, as somehow my brain was thinking 29th and my schedule was saying 26th! No, I wasn't tippling at the bar mid-week! Even now, the glass of podo-ju is sitting in the fridge waiting for 5 o'clock and dinner to roll around.

As for the other accoutrement, it's time to remind myself that I'm a poor college student again and no longer on summer vacation. Thankfully, a fellow film studnut tipped me off to the reading assignment, so I won't be too far behind. Thanks, Lauren!

The Government Can

Tip o' the hat to j-wyles

Skivvy Nine! - Summer Reading

I had a buttload of books I wanted to read this summer and with the new reading glasses perched on my nose, I dug into the pile last night.

I had to read "Skivvy Nine!" first, seeing as how I'd actually met many of the characters! Chief "T. Wyman Beal" had so lightly fictionalized his tell-all journal that you can divine the cast of real names based on the initials of the names in the dramatis personae. So Chief "Timothy Wyman Beal" was really CMSgt T. Wayne Babb, the incoming Operations Superintendent of the 6903d Electronic Security Group (SKIVVY NINE) the spring I left my second tour there in 1987.

"Skivvy Nine" doesn't read like a novel, but a journal written by a Senior Non-commissioned Officer who wanted to keep track of things, a diary peppered with many colorful turns of phrase. Intelligence professionals of his background tend to be very literate people, so I can understand his frustration with the petty chicken-sh*t he got from his Command Section admin people. Without getting too deep into what Skivvy Nine is or does (we could tell you, but then we'd have to kill you), "Beal" recounts his eventful and oh-so stressful tour at the USAF's premier intelligence unit in the Pacific, now designated the 303d Intelligence Squadron, but always SKIVVY NINE.

Not a war story, though the unit plays war games throughout the year (and the story), "Skivvy Nine" gives the reader a front seat to the distasteful spectacle of political back-biting and random acts of incompetence that occur at the upper levels of an intelligence unit. If you're in the biz, this story is timeless; if you're in the military, you're sure to find parallels around you. Quail not, dear Reader, for despite the knuckleheads in the top offices, Skivvy Nine never fails to "Keep the Morning Calm" through the professionalism and dedication of its Operations troops, especially the USAF Korean prima donna linguists and those lesser ops folks and maintenance pukes professionals who orbited around worked side-by-side us. Yeah, the Chief writes about that, too.

Get a copy here.

My Cousin's DeerCam

Actually, the pic data says it's a Moultrie Game Camera.

My cousin lives across the hollow from Mom (darn, that sure sounds hillybillyish, dunnit?), so one of these guys might end up in her freezer, courtesy of Lil Bro's Remington 760. Mmmm... venison.

Geek Content Warning!

Yes, there are contented geeks here!

I think her priestess-thief's name was Fellina, but Jon and I somehow just called her "Slicky Girl," from the Korenglish slang for "female thief." Her T-Shirt, as well as the BlogFace, come from Rich Burlew's webcomic Order of the Stick, which we all follow regularly. I'm sure she won't mind being compared to "Haley Starshine," and Haley's new hairdo.

Yup, we had a geekin' good time with Jon's adaptation of a published adventure, drank some really good beer, then later adjourned to examine the preseason Cardinals and try to avoid ankle-bites from his two ferrets.




BTW, that's "Garand Ironstaff" there at right (in the "pocket"), saying, "You know, I'm an Enchanter... and Owlbears just aren't my ball of wax, you know?"

It's been a relatively bloodless adventure so far, mostly because Garand's a Nice Guy (and has sort of had the mantle of party leadership thrust upon him) and we've spent more money on bribes than our employer has promised for our hire. We're not in it for the money, obviously. We're here for the beer!

Update: Whoohoo! This is my 4,000th post on this humble blog! That might not be accurate by G00gle-count since I reverted some posts to Draft status when their photo hosting went away and I couldn't find the pics to renew them. Anyway, thanks for stopping by and commenting! It keeps me going.

Update Update: Looks like James Rummel had a fun gaming session too!

Gun Fun in the Scorching Sun

I gave this match a rather small round count seeing as how it's a summer match, so I really could have shot my little single-stack SIG. The match was lightly attended (as expected) with only five of us shooting all three guns. I saw we got some new shooters who heard about us from the Thursday Night Match... maybe we'll see some more long guns out there as the weather cools down.





And finally, here's what happens when Mister Fancy-Pants Stage Designer gets too excited and doesn't keep his frikkin' head in the game:

Weekend Caption/Photoshop Contest

Sticky until Monday -- Scroll Down for New Stuff

Got a better caption or photoshop for this photo? You could win a coveted Blog Ad on my side bar! Leave a caption or photo link in comments, or Email a pic to me at the address in my profile. If you're sending a large animation, please provide a hot-linkable URL. You need not own a blog to win! I'll advertise your favorite charity, web site, or even that spare wedding gift toaster.

Check out the links in Drinks Ordered for photoshops!

Judging begins Monday p.m.

Winner!

KeesKennis wins with a Photoshop!



My apologies for slacking off on the links again. I was out of town having too much fun. More on that later.

Cool

Directing and editing must have been a cast iron beyotch!



h/t to my Kommunist Kousin

Lookit the Grouse! Lookit the Grouse!

The local Walgreen's had some Honduran "Blender's Gold" singles I thought I'd try over the next week.

I'll probably shoot the P229 in Sunday's match (haven't shot it since my very first USPSA match at Cactus). It shoots like a laser but there's that long first DA trigger pull. There isn't a lot of pistol in the multi-gun format I designed, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna reload if I don't need to!

I wonder how many readers of W.E.B. Griffin's Brotherhood of War series tried The Famous Grouse after its prominent product placement therein?

BATF

Bar, Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms.

[hums]
"These are a few of my Favorite Things...."
[/hums]













Update: Since Jon wants me to shoot the P-239 in Sunday's match (I have only two 8-round mags for it), maybe I should bring the Mini-14 for his amusement also. I've got one 20-rounder and a five-round magazine.

Best Caption EVAR!

From Gandalf23

Rum, Please

I just need to rest my eyes on something pleasant while they're still dilated. The rum helps me focus.

i i i i !

Made my first adventure to the optometrist today with less than 20/20 or 20/15 vision. It's the A-word... "astigmatism" and while bi-focals were an option, I opted to go with the distance glasses and get a pair of 1.0 reading glasses at the drug store. Part of that is vanity and another is the practical shooter in me wanting the whole lens to see through.

I'd been putting off getting my eyes checked for a year, but Jon jolted me into action by asking me to look over some Korean legal document and help him translate. Boy, the small print in my KOR-ENG dictionary kicked my ass! Now I'm resting in my dark hermit cave after having my pupils dilated with eye drops. Apparently, the eyes were otherwise in good shape, welcome news with glaucoma running in the family [knock on wood].

I won't have the new glasses til after the first week of school, so I'll muddle through Sunday's match like I've been doing... bringing a scoped rifle whenever there's going to be any distance shooting involved. Who knows, if I get my eagle eyes back, maybe I'll shoot the SOCOM in the Superstition again next year?

Weekend Caption/Photoshop Contest

Sticky until Monday -- Scroll Down for New Stuff

Got a better caption or photoshop for this photo? You could win a coveted Blog Ad on my side bar! Leave a caption or photo link in comments, or Email a pic to me at the address in my profile. If you're sending a large animation, please provide a hot-linkable URL. You need not own a blog to win! I'll advertise your favorite charity, web site, or even your favorite Blood Mary recipes.

Check out the links in Drinks Ordered for photoshops!

Judging begins Monday p.m.

Winner!

Desert Cat wins with:

**chugga chugga**

Mmm, *smooch!*
**mixa mixa mixa**
*unsmooch!*

*gulp* *gulp*

Redneck bloody mary's...

Other Contests:

Family Security Matters
Support your Local Gunfighter
First In
Outside the Beltway
RT's Ponderings

Keep Cool!

Smores!

Something for Sondra K?

Or maybe not.

Indy Friends

I was feeling sort of miserable (with the heat turned up) as I left Michigan and feared showing up on a blog friend's doorstep looking like a wet rat. Fortunately, the evil weather cleared up right around Fort Wayne, so I was able to change into clean, dry clothes and shoes and appear as the desert rat I am, not the soaked Mitten State variety. My friend Brigid (Home on the Range) leaped into action when she saw a visitor in distress at her door... specifically, she rushed my soaking wet rifle to her garage and got a fan blowing on it and my wet mags and ammo.

Next, she slapped some steaks on the sizzling skillet and treated me to a delicious dinner (I brought the adult beverages to go with it). Barkley was a bit miffed that he only got a few green beans out of the deal, though I'm sure there was some leftover steak bound to make the doggy happy.

Brigid invited me to the Indy Blogmeet Sunday, but I was getting a touch of Get-Home-itis (and had run over a year's quota of socializing between my Reunion and the Match), so I passed on my regards to the other Hoosier Amazons (Tam and Roberta) and made my departure on a lovely Sunday morning. It was nice to see St. Louis in the daytime, since my other trip through was on a rainy night.


The rest of the trip was uneventful. I stopped a several rest areas in New Mexico for naps, then made the Left Turn at Albuquerque for the final dogleg home.

And thanks to Lisa the Biker Chick, Home was still in one piece when I arrived.

Forget about the Cow

...pissing on a flat rock!  It rained like Zeus pissing on the Mt. Olympus foothills!

It could, in an alternate reality, have been the highlight of my return trip, but my visit to the Michigan ACTS league was one of those experiences that balanced a whole heap of good things with a crap sandwich. I knew when the first words of welcome there were, "Hey, Asshole!" that I would fit in okay. High-mileage traveler "Jimmyjet" scored me a special match discount (free!) and introduced me to many folks I'd only known by forum "handles" until then. It it had been raining all night and shown no sign of let-up, but this was a hardy bunch whose range access wasn't choked off by rain-swollen washes, so they were ready to get wet and shooting. The introduction of frequent lightning changed things immensely. We adjourned to Centerline's Clubhouse to wait out the worst.

I was the only shooter to bring a cased rifle, but that was more because I didn't bring a range bag to hold all my mags and ammo, so the pouches served me nicely.  Since my SOCOM-16 had already gotten soaked when my truck cab sprung a leak on the trip north, I wasn't afraid to get it wet (the rifle case is still drying out).  Only the hex nut under the front sight shows signs of rust.

It took a moment for me to get used to the range's lack of a designated "safe handling area" like most AZ ranges have, but when in Rome.... There was a lot of show 'n' tell going on and many of the shooters wore their rifles throughout the day.  The hardware ranged from plain jane AKs to high-end ARs (including one in 5.7); I think I had the only Thumper there, but it was a light turnout. 

The only stage I shot before Zeus decided to sprinkle us with more lightning was "Barb's Revenge," designed by the petite Match Director to get even for all the times she's had to drag the rescue dummy they use.  You do not want to see me shoot it... I was utterly destroyed by the lack of traction (wearing old sneakers with no tread left will do that) in the muddy grass and my general lack of physical fitness.

Turns out this was the first match in league history to be cancelled due to weather!  More pics at the ACTS Forum. 

Thanks again to a fine bunch of folks!

Weekend Caption/Photoshop Contest

Sticky until Monday -- Scroll Down for New Stuff

Got a better caption or photoshop for this photo from Lil Bro? You could win a coveted Blog Ad on my side bar! Leave a caption or photo link in comments, or Email a pic to me at the address in my profile. If you're sending a large animation, please provide a hot-linkable URL. You need not own a blog to win! I'll advertise your favorite charity, web site, or even your favorite variety of Charmin bathroom tissue.

Check out the links in Drinks Ordered for photoshops!

Judging begins when I get home and unpacked.

Winner!

This week, Deathlok of The Temerity of High Maintenance wins for his body of work and not for any specific caption (although the "Kodiak Moment" was pretty good!).

I need a nap.

Hooftytown Hoplophilia

Before the 1979 graduates of Hooftytown High School convened at the reunion, my buddy BKZ dropped by to bust some caps with me.

His first experience with the SOCOM-16 resulted in giggles.  Now, if he can only persuade Mrs. Z to let him get one....