The Blag Switch

Ever have “one of those days”? I’m definitely coming down off of “one of those weeks.” And apologies all around for dropping off the map during it. But between the car breaking, busting my ass on a long week at work, and various time-intensive projects and snafus, I’ve been pretty short on time.

Today was good, though. It’s about time I had a nice, relaxing day. My folks were in town for my great aunt’s 80th birthday, so we took the birthday girl out to lunch. It was nice to see my aunt again. I’ve never been particularly close to her, but she’s a sweet woman, and incredibly sharp. It was also good to see the folks again. I’m re-learning just how easy it can be to get wrapped up in work at the expense of neglecting important people in one’s life.

After lunch, dropped my aunt off and went out to the range. I’ve been wanting to try out the Spokane Rifle Club range for awhile, and with Dad in town and the weather a gorgeous 80 degrees, it seemed like the perfect day for it.

So Mom, Dad, Becky and I headed out there with my Sig-556 and my Mosin-Nagant, neither of which I’ve really shot for lack of a good range. The Sig’s proving to be fun, but the BUIS on it suck. The Mosin, on the other hand, is a LOT of fun. And I’m pretty decent with it, too. My first 5 shots were on paper and my second five were not only on paper but decently grouped.

Tomorrow, Mom, Dad, and I are off to breakfast before they head out of town, which will be great. Even though my parents DO get up at 4am every morning, so breakfast with them will mean me rolling my lazy but out of bed by 8am or so. Which honestly, is probably a good idea anyway, since I’m trying to be more of a morning person. (Not an easy task when my biological clock seems to think that “bed time” falls somewhere around 4am.)

And on that note, I think it’s reading and sleep-attempting time.

Well, I guess it wasn’t really an “Escapade”.  And the use of initial capitals and the definite article might be a little much.  But it certainly was pretty great.  There will be pictures as soon as I find my camera.

We left late Friday and, after changing our destination a few times en route, we decided to hit up the Four Lakes region in Northern Idaho.  It was getting pretty dark by the time we bumped and banged our way up the rocky trail to the trailhead, so we decided to set up camp there for the night.  There was another group there, so we set up our tents on the far side of the road from them, accompanied by one of their dogs who was small, yappy, light-obsessed, and (Becky rightly suggested), quite possibly possessed of demons.

Once tents were pitched and food eaten, we slept.  Trevor and Aaron had both brought tents and crawled into their respective temporary abodes.  Becky and I, on account of it being a beautiful night, started the night out under the stars.  Unfortunately an unusually cold night and an as-of-yet unidentified large animal sent convinced us to move into Trevor’s tent.

Circumstances (Trevor’s sleeping bag proved to not much of a 40 degree bag and DEFINITELY not a low-30, upper-20s bag) of the evening convinced us that spending another night would be ill-advised.  This would prove to be fortuitous.  The next morning we got up early and had a leisurely breakfast of camp pancakes before striking camp and heading out for Lake Estelle.

The hike up was pleasant, with only a few really steep bits.  The lake itself was gorgeous.  It was clear and still and still incredibly cold with mountain runoff.  (We passed a few patches of snow in the upper parts of the trail.)  We all took a brief swim before lounging around in the sun and enjoying the remote, pristine beauty of the place.

The hike out was pleasant and uneventful.  The day was clear and warm and generally perfect for hiking.  We saddled up and headed out.

The way down the mountain proved to be just as bumpy as before.  Unfortunately, it looks like this trip managed to wound our faithful ride, my wonderful van Rossinante.  We got to the bottom of the mountain, but we hadn’t gotten very far down 200 toward Sand Point before the van started having shifting problems and then, when I pulled over and tried to turn it off and restart it, refused to start.  Coolant was very low, the engine very hot.  Water and time failed to revive it.  Then I noticed the oil pressure meter: zero.  It was very far from zero when we’d started down the mountain.  Fortunately, the resourceful Mr. Lewer has a AAA membership (despite not owning a car) and we were able to get a tow back into Spokane.  So currently, the van’s dead at an auto shop on Division.  I need to call them tomorrow early and let them know why they have a strange new van in their parking lot.

Hopefully I’ll be able to get Rossinante back on the road sooner, rather later (being a contractor means client meetings means a vehicle is pretty much a necessity.)  As for the weekend itself: the camping and hiking were excellent, the van troubles sucked, the company throughout both was amazing.  Thanks much to Becky, Trevor, and Aaron for sharing the weekend with me.

Off camping with some friends, so no posts this weekend. Back probably late-ish Sunday.

Have a great weekend, all.

Sorry, couldn’t resist the Zeppelin reference.  The Ocean to which I’m referring, of course, is my Helio Ocean.  Looks like Helio, the makers and service providers for said device, have been bought out by Virgin Mobile.  They’re saying that the service and the contracts will remain completely the same, which is good.  I’m rather a fan of my Helio.  It’s got great coverage, fantastic features, and it pretty much Just Works.

Unfortunately, this means I owe a “You Told Me So” to my friend Paul, who was saying something about Helio being ripe for a buy-out just a week ago.  I was, however, right when I contended that I my service will probably not be in jeopardy.

So anyway, Helio gets bought out.  Effect to the end-user?  Probably none.  All in all, I’m pretty happy with that.

So I’m trying to turn myself into a morning person.  That means, among other things, not having any caffeine after 3pm.  After not much sleep last night, and no caffeine since about 2, it’s 5pm and I’m already doing the jittery, headache-y withdrawal thing.  This does NOT bode well.

For the record: my normal intake of caffeine for a weekday is somewhere around 150 ounces of diet soda and two or three cups of black tea.

We’ll see how I manage.  I’m still hopeful despite the fact that I’m jonesing pretty bad at the moment for some diet pepsi.

Now, I don’t mean to belittle a man’s death, but does Tim Russert’s really warrant this much media attention, or is this just the press feting one of their own and assuming that the public cares as much as they do? I mean, I’m sure Mr. Russert was a fine, upstanding man. He was probably a good husband (if he was married), a good father (if he had any kids) and etc. But is his death news other than in passing? Do we really need articles dissecting “What Happened to Russert?“? (Hint: He passed away tragically from a sudden cardiac arrest. There, I answered in one short sentence what the Newsweek article mumbles on about for a full page.)

His death was, no doubt, a tragedy to his friends, family, and coworkers. And maybe this makes me a cold-hearted son-of-a-bitch, but I’m having a really hard time understanding why the rest of us should care enough for it to warrant round-the-clock news coverage.

Rest in Peace, Mr. Russert, but forgive me if I don’t lower my flag to half mast for you.

A few weeks ago, my friend Meagan and her friend Diana were up for the annual Sasquatch! Music Festival. (Which, by the way, was as amazing as ever.) We got back to Spokane afterwards and Meagan had an extra day to hang out. It’s a pity she only had a day, since a mere 24 hours is not enough time to get the full Spokane experience. But after a brief debate over what we wanted to do (Me: “Well, if you wanted, we could go to the range.” Her: “Okay!”) we grabbed eyes, ears, ammo, and guns and (after the obligatory safety lecture and mechanics lesson) headed off to Sharpshooter’s.

Turns out Meagan had never fired a gun before. Which is a bit of a pity, since she turned out to be a complete natural. I’ve had the pleasure now of introducing a half dozen people to shooting sports and she is by FAR the most capable of all the new shooters I’ve had the pleasure to work with.

Case in point (photo only shows 6 rounds, but 9 of 10 fired were on the target):

She got a chance to try my CZ-75 and my Marlin model 60. She definitely seemed to enjoy shooting both and did a fantastic job with them. She had no flinch to speak of. Well, that is to say, she didn’t have any when she wasn’t catching hot brass down her cleavage. (Note to self: next time with a female shooter, recommend high-collared shirts.) I will say, however, that she handled the hot-case-down-the-shirt situation admirably. Without being even having to be told, she display excellent muzzle control and guncraft. Finger went off the trigger and the muzzle stayed firmly downrange while she gyrated and picked at her shirt to get the case out.

Which was really sort of a theme for the afternoon; Meagan turned out to be a real natural. By the end of the afternoon, after having started at about 10 feet, we’d rolled the targets all the way out to the end of the 50ft lane and she was still putting the shots right where she wanted them more often then not.

A safe, fun time was had by all. Meagan seemed to thoroughly enjoy herself and she shot quite well. I hope to get the chance to take her out again some day. (Unfortunately, her prospects as a shooter are somewhat limited by her current state of residence. Meagan was up visiting from California. And with gun laws like those, I imagine getting into shooting sports in any serious sort of way must be significantly more difficult.)

Just a heads up that there’s a couple hundred new photos (of varying quality: I uploaded them all sans discrimination and will sort through them when I get a chance) up on my Flickr page.  Topics covered include a trip to the range with my inimitable friend Meagan, Sasquatch! Festival 2008, and a day out on my brother Brian’s new boat.

You agonize for a good half hour over what to name your new wireless network.

Well, I have two posts that I’ve been meaning to put up, but both require pictures.  Which normally wouldn’t be a problem, except that a.) I can’t find the cable for my camera and b.) I can’t seem to log in to my flickr.com account.  Fun!

At any rate, life’s been pretty insane the last week, hence the light posting.  I got back from Memorial Day/Sasquatch! Festival weekend and had to do five days worth of stuff in four days, and, considering I was behind when I LEFT for Sasquatch, well, it’s been a hell of a week.  Still, it seems to be straightening out.  This weekend I should be able to finally get back to work on my thesis (which I’m hoping *fingers crossed* to have done this summer.)  I’ll also be helping my lovely flatmate Kenlyn move in, cleaning up my own moving debris (still scattered liberally around), and playing with my new stereo setup.

I’ll also hopefully get some reading done.  I’m just starting the first volume of The Last Lion, William Manchester’s biography of Winston Churchill.  It’s quite good, even if Manchester sometimes lets his love for his subject get the better of him.  (It’s by far the most sycophantic biography I think I’ve ever read.  That it has still so far managed to be a phenomenal read is testament both to Manchester’s writing skills and to just how interesting a man Churchill really was.)

At any rate, such is the news.  If I can get the camera/Flickr situation sorted out, then there will probably be another post or two up this weekend.