Go Ahead... Make My Day...

Ok, so here I am again, not much to report since the last time except some small time b/s. Mostly for stuff later on in my message thingy things. I went out on sunday to the shooting range with my buddy Tony from work. For those of you who know me well, but not quite that well enough? Yes, there are guns in our family and yes, I am going to inherit them from my dad. Dad no longer hunts or shoots for that matter and figured that since there's a guy at work who likes to go to the shooting range, I figured it would be something in common with someone at work to go and do stuff with.

So, here I sit with a sore shoulder from a recoil I wasn't all that expecting. The last gun I had fired... well, let me rephrase that as the ONLY weapon I've every fired in my life was a .22 calibre gun WWWAAAYYY back in '90/'91 when I had a brief stint in cadets. We basically fired the same weapons as dads only they had a .22 conversion. The weapon I fired?? A Lee - Enfeild Mark 3 .303 caliber... damn that sounded like a cannon going off compared to the guys who were beside us. The stamp on it was 1917 and man... what a good looking weapon. It brought a little bit of attention to the people around us seeing a beautifully kept weapon such as that. If I decided to sell it, it won't fetch much, but it now has more sentimental value in it than anything else.

When we got in there, there was a guy beside us sport shooting .22's and it was like small little slaps, he had bigger weapons with him that he shot once or twice for fun... but when I brought out my .303.... man... it was LOUD. Next time I go, even though I used the range ear muffs, I'll need to bring some ear plugs with me to double up on the ear protection. I doubt it would have been so loud in the open, but in a small enclosed space... but DAMN IT WAS FUN!!! I have to say, that this is one of the CHEAPER hobbies I have delved into. At a little over/under a $1/round... 20 rounds doesn't go very far fun wise.

Now, I thought I knew what I was doing and what I had to do, and there is no such thing as a stupid question, but I felt quite dumb asking the simplest of questions when it came to even loading my weapon. I guess, that the more I go out and the more I do, the more confident I'll feel when firing my weapon. Getting back to the recoil of this gun. It put me back a little... I won't fib here. I wasn't expecting the recoil that came from it... So, putting 3 or 4 rounds down range I needed to steady myself. After seeing my buddy Tony put a few rounds down range and got into a good pose to cushion himself and get a good round off (he's the one who put it in the center mass, CX), I figured I could give it a try. Got a good position, steadied my self and sent a round down range, and in the instant I pulled the trigger, the 4x scope that fits on this gun came back and the top of the scope hit my eyebrow. No broken skin, or black eye... but its still a little tender. And yes... I did learn my lesson and won't be doing that for a while.

Just for the record... out of the 20 rounds that went down range, 17 hit the target area and 15 would have actually hit something.

Later

~Chris

Edmonton International Carshow and other stuff...

So, here it is, the Edmonton International Car Show. Yes I know there wasn't much to look at this year and it was surprisingly depressing seeing all the cars and the women I couldn't afford. It was a healthy mix of dates (more on this later), husbands and wives, two guys out looking at cars for a future buy. Now, I've been to this type of car show a number of times and each time I've lost my intrest in these kinds of "dog and poney" shows. I have had no intrest in buying a car lately let alone a new car, but I must admit. It was a good time to get out and spend time with the "old man." There were SOME good looking cars there, but NO Viper or Viper concept, it's nice to see that Ford comes out with a concept or two, the polished aluminum Shelby GTR and the new Bronco. GM had their new H3 truck concept (looks a LOT like the old Jeep Comache based on the Jeep XJ Cherokee line). Those were the only notables to mention there. I saw the two cars I wanted to see, my Mini Cooper S Ralley edition (I would show the car but there were 2 people sitting in the front seat that I didn't know so I won't show) and my Infinity FX4.5. And that ladies and gentleman was it. Sure they had the Fararri's, the Bentlies, the Aston Martin's but really... It's nice to drule and all, but I've driven them in Gran Tourismo 4 and they really aren't all that impressive of a car :P

Now onto the dating aspect of this kind of event. I saw a LOT of guys bringing their girlfriends with them (dragged or not) to look at all the "baller" cars and all that stuff. Now, I have to talk this through because I saw a lot of bored lookin' girls walkin' around that show saturday night. And I'm talkin' about the pouty *I really don't want to be here* face because really, even I would say... they all look the same. If your girlfriend is the type of "it's blue, has 4 wheels, I'm good" type... then don't bring her. Go with your buddies and take her out afterwards. These were huge halls and even dad and I took us 2.5 hours to breeze through. We saw everything we needed to see, sat in cars that we wanted to sit in. Fun all around. If your girl wants to go with you, PLEASE make sure she doesn't wear anything with heels. It's a HUGE show and LOTS of things to see so after about the 30 to 45 min mark (unless she's a bubble head princess, no sence no feeling, rt?) you'll probably be hearing the "are we almost done yet?" because really, they do, all look the same in the end right? They all have 4 wheels, funky colors, and fun options. But beyond that...

The girls there were plentiful, tight jeans, all lookin' tight and pretty but really... really... unattainable. And yes, unless they and their partner, were looking for a new vehicle were giving that pouty *I really don't want to be here* face. Again, you can only see so many BMW's, Cadillac's, Audi's... well... I'm sure you're catching on by now. I would have taken pic's of these girls but I would have looked highly suspicious taking pictures of girls that were no where near cars. On our last round of Hall D where all the exotics were, the Edmonton Grand Prix models were there. And I was astonished to see that a majority of them were on the more offensive side of ugly. That's right, I did say, offensive. These girls did not look good at all. All gooped up, way too tanned and well... I'm sure the lycra uniforms/outfits they wore weren't all that comfie either, or were they flattering to the eye (think hooters girls and how bad those short shorts look).

As for the other stuff. Op Red Tape is going smoothly, except for my trip to Edmonton and my impending purchace of another chopper/lowrider bicycle but that will give me lots of fun for the upcoming summer. I'm hoping to find myself a cruising partner but again... has remained yet to be seen.

The No Tim's diet is... well... struggeling. Me going on evenings this week (again, yet another strike against my no tim's diet) doesn't help as at 10pm I need a small pick-me-up and some fresh air, so off to Tim's I go. Anyway, that's it for now


~Chris