Friday Fun November 30, 2007
Posted by Mitchell in Guns.comments closed
I think I need to work on my shooting style this weekend.
I forget where I stole this from. Probably from Sondrak. Have a great weekend everyone! Thanks for the visits and advice. I didn’t finish this week’s watercolor painting but it’s going real well so far. I’ll post the unfinished version later so you can see a work in progress.
Just One More Thing About “Mr. Bang-Bang” November 29, 2007
Posted by Mitchell in Guns, Politics.comments closed
I read the Owner’s Manual the night I brought it home cover to cover and I have a few questions for my fellow gun-nuts. The writers of that fine manual took great pains to point out that HOLY SHIT DUDE THIS IS GUN!! THIS THING IS INSANELY DANGEROUS!! OH GOD BE CAREFUL WITH IT!! In big, bold red letters. On every page. Several times. Now, I’m not one to belittle gun safety mind you, but…it seemed a bit excessive – particularly in regards to storage of the item. The manual explained at great length the necessity of keeping the both the gun unloaded and under lock and key AT ALL TIMES. At the very least double locked with both the cheesy loop lock thingy included and a gun safe that you have to buy separately. Optimally, it should be also sealed with a kryptonite cross so that both Dracula AND Superman couldn’t get near the thing*. All this even while shooting it, seemingly. Oh, and the ammo has to be locked away AT ALL TIMES as well, separately from the gun. In another state, preferably.
I may be exaggerating here. But not much. Again, I’m not running down gun safety, but some of this seems to me to be rather excessive, and not very practical if one really intends to have a gun for viable home defense: “Oh, excuse me Mr. Burgler while search for the keys for the gun safe, gun lock and ammo safe! Please don’t come upstairs and kill me while I’m trying to find all this stuff in the dark!”
Am I being Dangerously Flippant? Am I a Loose Cannon if I don’t store my gun and ammo separately? Am I The Worst Gun Owner Ever if I even consider storing it loaded? People keep telling me that one of the nice things about revolvers is that you can do so indefinitely without worrying about important springs getting worn out and the gun not working and whatnot, so clearly I’m not the only one who has notions of this Blackest of Gun Safety Heresy.
I live alone with a cat and I don’t have any kids that come over and play in my house. I’m reasonably certain the cat isn’t going to develop opposable thumbs and super-feline strength any time in the near future, so I’m not greatly concerned that my gun will Fall Into The Wrong Hands at my house. The manual did bring up the subject about gun theft, so I guess that’s something to consider. So, how do y’all go about this? McGoo? Mr. Minority? Weasel? Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
*Apologies to Jack Handey for the kryptonite cross thing.
My PRECIOUSSSSSS! November 27, 2007
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I have it! IT’S HERE!
We have a 72 hour waiting period on handgun purchases here in Nevada, so tonight is the first night I have it home. I can’t stop looking at it an holding it. And opening the barrel and closing it. Cocking it and de-cocking. I bought ammo and a gun cleaning kit too. Since I haven’t actually fired it yet I figure cleaning it is a bit much. It really is a beautiful piece of machinery. And for the record I’ve only done one Dirty Harry, and two Al Pacino impersonations so far. Oh, and one “Hasta la vista – Kitty!” What? The cat was sporting an attitude. Anyway, Castle Yorl’s defences are now significantly bolstered.
I must say I was a bit surprised at the expense of the ammunition though. It was $24 for 20 rounds of the .357 and even a buck more for the .38 SPL +P! At least for the same brand. I complained a bit about that and he picked out another brand that was $22 for a box. They’re both hollow-point rounds so I guess these things would mess somebody up pretty bad. Still, I need to find some cheaper stuff to fire at the range. The guy at the store said that the price for this stuff was going up nearly every day. Anyone have any suggestions? I’m gonna surf around and see what sort of bulk deals I can get.
Right To Bear Arms Exercised November 24, 2007
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Today I went down and bought myself a handgun. I’ve been thinking about it for quite some time and I finally decided to go ahead and get one. What did I get? This one:
This is a Smith & Wesson Model 686 Plus Revolver – 4″, 7-Shot. It’s chambered for .357 Magnum and .38 S&W Special +P calibers.
I went to The Gun Store as recommended by several people and told the guy what I was interested in: a revolver for home defence and range shooting / recreation. He went right for this one, which was interesting as I was looking at this exact model on-line the day before. I rented the six shot version, picked my target and headed over to the range. The place was busy! I was surprised. The range was already crowded and I went back there with four of five other people who were also trying out handguns. I was up first out of our group. The Range Guy loaded up my gun with the fast loader with five rounds in it and handed me the gun.
Happy Thanksgiving! November 22, 2007
Posted by Mitchell in Art.comments closed
Well, we’re entering my favorite time of the year: The Holidays. The first batter up is Thanksgiving. Since I’m single with no kids this means that I have the big dinner with my parents, which for the last 10 years meant that I would be travelling somewhere. Now that they’ve moved back to Las Vegas, it now just means a 10 minute trip up the street! I’m very thankful for that. I’m looking forward to the traditional turkey, with Dad’s homemade cornbread stuffing, whipped sweet potatos, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce and rolls. There’s probably something else in there too. Oh! Dad’s giblet gravy! Must not forget that. Mom wanted to make a pie too, but since we have so much else it would just be too much. I hope everyone has a great day too and remember to take time to think about what you have to be thankful for.
Oh, and here’s some art for you today. I did this on last night in class.
Not bad! Definitely an improvement over the last few weeks anyway. Especially last week when we did self-portraits. Erk – it was teh suxxor.
Finally – go Cowboys! They’re having quite the season this year and who knows? They may Go.All.The.Way!
Where You Put the Lotion… November 13, 2007
Posted by Mitchell in Art.Tags: basket, lotion
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I really like this song 🙂 I even have this video on the ipod.
Flower Power November 9, 2007
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Another week, another watercolor. On Mondays, a little before the class actually starts, the teacher and I go through his pictures on the computer and pick some out for the rest of the class to consider for the week’s project. Why me? ‘Cause I’m Special. Some of the more vocal members of the class were getting a little tired of landscapes so I found a picture of some flowers. The teacher wanted some boats up there too, so we had two pictures people could work from. I went with the flowers.
Meh. It’s been a rough couple of weeks. It might help if I actually practiced doing this stuff on the weekends. But, I’m a lazy, lazy man with an XBox 360. I do have a three day weekend though, and no class Monday night, so who knows? I also need to start thinking about what to do for the final project. I’d like to do something more dramatic and with bolder colors than what I’ve used so far.
Art for Friday November 2, 2007
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Here’s this week’s effort. No, it’s not the BIG one I worked on last week, I wasn’t able to finish it in two days, so I’ll have to take an hour off early next week to go in to class early.
Eh. It’s not compeletly terrible. The instructor did a bunch of work on the trees to try and help correct an earlier mistake on my part. Most of the reddish brown you see in there is his stuff.
I’ve tucked the picture we worked from below the fold.
The Center of the Anomaly 