As if you needed proof that it SUX2Bi
It has been really interesting the past three months. In September, we moved about 2 miles from out last hideout. The cops have not yet found us, so things are great from that perspective. Not so much so with the rest of things.
If only things went to plan
Life still is not what it should be and nowhere near where it needs to be. The new place wasn’t ready on the designated move-in date. We lost five (5) days of overlap. This put us so far behind that many of the boxes remain unpacked and stacked in the office. Worse: Many of the discrepancies identified on the Move-In-Checklist remain uncorrected. This means we can’t unpack those boxes and get on with our lives. We are also hesitant to add items to the discrepancy list, even though this means we are paying for services and features without the benefit of their use.
At least we had our priorities straight and got the coffee bar working on Day One of occupancy, which was really day six of the move… All Ya’ All are invited over for a cup of Joe, espresso, or Joe laced with expresso. If you press us, we can even work a coffee press for you. Just find and mention the hidden discount code to get the 150% Friends and Family rate.
Into Each Life a Series of Natural Disasters Must…
A lot of folks call these opportunities because they are too cowardly to use accurate terminology. I call them failures. These are an indication of how far our society has fallen. You need examples?
- GTA: The towing company had issues with us parking in the Disabled Slot because these supposed professionals claim they never before encountered the blue sticker in the upper left of a license plate, even though Alabama retired the old plate with the handicapped background and has used this for more than a year. I had to run out (with two friends accompanying me) and stop them. The Malibu was already hooked to their truck and was being rear-end towed while in PARK with the Parking Brake engaged. Mobile PD refused to take a report for GTA (Grand Theft Auto). The owner of the towing company would not respond to our calls for almost a week.
- ISP: Our Internet Service Provider (ISP) was happy to upgrade our service but insisted that I use their cable-modem/router instead of the very expensive (and considerably more capable) unit I own. We spent the first month with upload speeds almost approaching those I used to enjoy with my Practical Peripherals SA-1200 connected to my Mac SE in 1987 (8 MHz @ 8-bit). The reasons why I didn’t use this analog standby to boost performance? I don’t have a landline and an RS-232 connection. I also don’t have a computer old enough for this to make sense. In all honesty, I probably could have uploaded to the website at 2k, but I wanted the images to load before the next Presidential Election.
- Host Service: The new host site failed to transfer my primary website. Or the old host site failed to permit the transfer. Or the two conspired to prevent the transfer. Or they were both negligent or incompetent. Maybe there was a touch of “E: All of the above.” This resulted in loss of email as well as a total loss of my old layout for my primary website. What made it worse is that they failed to notify me. Because I wasn’t able to connect (See ISP, above), I didn’t notice this until after my old site deleted my prior efforts.
- Microwave: A large package store delivered the new 1250 W microwave two days before our scheduled move in date. If that wasn’t enough, they took the term “drop ship” quite literally. The box was upside down, with crushed sides. Were it not for 4″ of Styrofoam inside of the cardboard, surrounding the unit, it would have been returned as damaged beyond repair. Were it not for the environmentally unfriendly Styrofoam we would have dramatically increased our carbon footprint.
- Movers: For some inexplicable reason, the highly rated moving company decided to send two kids with about two weeks of combined experience. It was their second move of the day. Naturally, the first move involved three flights of stairs. They were exhausted. As were their supplies. They didn’t have a cover for our overpriced Sleep Number bed; they made up for this by taking almost an hour to wrap it and nearly another hour to get it from our ground-floor residence onto their truck. In keeping with the general theme, their kluge wrapping job lasted about three feet of transport–didn’t make it out of the bedroom. They might have taken more time had I not removed the doorknob against which the bedframe was jammed. Somehow (shockingly!) in the process of playing bumper cars with the doorknob and bedframe they also managed to dislodge and drop machine screws from the very expensive articulated pedestal. Just to make sure the other heavy items were not jealous of this special treatment, they damaged the door of the new washing machine and dropped the leather couch–tearing the leather in three places and damaging the mechanisms for the dual recliners. Did I mention that they somehow managed to crack/break the wooden portions of the frame on the rest, giving it some sort of Avant Garde look where the leather caves downward? They definitely are not music lovers, as evidenced by them dropping the Denon AVR stereo which consequently lost half of the rear panel inputs. At that point, I wasn’t much concerned about the nightstand and it somehow taking on the appearance of a piece of modern art (or of a pile of firewood). Seemed par for the course, these guys being budding young artistes…
- Mailbox: Just to make us feel welcome, the lock on the mailbox was replaced. Unfortunately, someone else had a key and was screening our mail for us. Sadly, they took the “good stuff” and left the junk/bulk mail. On the other hand, it seems the prior resident had a predilection for female clothing. This would not have been noteworthy had the prior resident been XX instead of XY–but who am I to judge?
Understand why nobody saw us at any of the local ranges?
We needed a break from our dull existence. What better way to refresh and regain perspective than to purchase yet another handgun?
New Toy: Taurus G3
You can never have too much money or too many firearms. Depending on how many miles you are hiking, you might have too much ammo. (It is possible. Remotely possible though possible.) But you can rectify this by unloading as you walk. Just collect your expended brass so that you don’t piss off the Greenies. What can make this even better? Adding a Viridian E-Series Green Laser! Let the Greenies bitch about that.
The only issue with a new toy? You need to sight it in. Unfortunately, it had to wait because there were so many unorganized and unopened boxes. As always: Work before Play. (Dammit!) It was almost two months before we were sufficiently settled to hit the range.
Veteran’s Day, November 11th
And what an appropriate day we choose to play with our toys. We had a great time at SRT Mobile | Mobile AL | Facebook (Mobile AL). All except for being next to folks who couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn at 10 feet. I have to admit they did much better when they brought the target in to 5 feet…
Taurus TX-22
I started with my Taurus TX-22 at 25′. I was rusty. Not my name. I was technically rusty, not physically rusty. Because I am old I might be dusty, or I might smell musty, but it doesn’t mean that I can get rusty. Trust me…
Taurus G3
Sighting is always interesting. I start by assuming that the factory did an adequate job of installing the sights. Then I put the laser’s dot at the top of the centered front. After that, it is just luck. I didn’t grip the G3 and pooched the first shot really low and left. I tightened my grip and was still low and left at the 7 O’clock position, but acceptably close to the center. It was a great group except for the single flyer. I adjusted up and right, hitting the bottom of the red oval at center when targeted. I overcorrected and was a bit high when targeting the lower dot. The last round was pretty near perfectly in the red dot at the right.
I gave Boss Lady the correctly sighted G3 and let her fire a few rounds. Her first shot was dead center. The remaining were fired in rapid succession. Not bad for a first try with a new toy.
NOTE TO SELF:
Consider reconsidering the potentially negative consequences of teaching someone how to shoot when they live in close proximity and know where and when you sleep…