kimel

At the request of the topic starter and because some people just couldn't resist temptation this thread is now closed. I am assured there will be more info coming once things are a bit more settled as to when/where/etc.

My golden had a knack for getting skunked so we got to try lots of things. Peroxide/soda/dish liquid thing is the best bet going and is wayyyy cheaper than the commercial preps that don't work as well. If the dog was wearing a nylon collar that got any skunk on it you can just chuck that in the trash. Nothing takes skunk out of nylon, apparently. Even an hour long soak in the peroxide or milk didn't do it. For the face and around the eyes whole milk works well. Not as good as the peroxide solution but that irritates the eyes and nose which milk won't do. Tomato juice is only good for ending up with a pink dog as nearly as I could tell. Don't let the dog drink too much of the milk or you will have another problem to deal with unless milk is a regular part of their diet. Not sure which was worse...the skunk smell or the smelly diarrhea.

Yes, and no, they don't have them either. They all have orders in that are "due any day". This may be only a temporary shortage. Kinda sucks too because once the open blaster is finished I'm taking the rifle and shotgun to Open for 3 Gun so will need a couple more. Let's hope it is just a temporary thing!

My condolences and prayers to you and your family. The memories of the good times will help you through the bad times. Take care.

FWIW...C-Mores of many flavors are becoming hard to find. Apparently they have a small per month production capacity and that capacity is being sucked up meaning dealer orders aren't being filled. I waited to get the C-more for my 9 major project as the last piece figuring availability wasn't an issue. Wrong! I found what I needed but had to get a "click" version (= more $) since I have been taking long enough to gather parts slowly and I'd like to shoot this thing in 2009. I was told by one dealer that the best way to get a SlideRide right now is to buy a Serendipity and modify it. Lots of sites appear to have them but then when you try to order you get back ordered.

Moderators Note: Let's keep this on Tom's original question and not let it slide into an Area 4 bashing contest that will get closed. Thanks! Kevin

At least go back far enough to not shoot that no shoot.

I want stages that present a fair challenge to all competitors and provide multiple ways to shoot each stage so each shooter gets to decide what they think will work best for them. I expect to see props that you don't see every day. Things like movers, target arrays on swingers and drop turners increase the fun factor. I expect the rules to be followed explicitly by all involved. I expect staff that know how to do their jobs and treat every shooter the same regardless of classification. I also expect these staff to be treated properly (adequate staffing so no one gets beat to death trying to do too much, free cold drinks, free lunch) so they don't face the later squads in the day all dehydrated and with low blood sugar (= grumpy). I expect to be challenged by tight shots and long shots; not just a bunch of open targets at 3 yards to hose on. I really don't expect ultra high round counts. 10 or more 32 round field courses just to bump up the round count just isn't a good test of all of a shooter's abilities. A good mix of short, medium and long courses is more fun and a better test. I expect scores to be posted in a timely fashion (within an hour of last shot fired) so those that need to beat feet for home aren't left standing around for several hours facing a long drive home in the dark. Prize tables, raffles, or just trophy matches are all fine with me. It needs to be clear before I send in my registration what sort of match it will be because for some folks it DOES matter. Overall, I expect to have a lot of FUN with old friends and friends I just met. If a match sucks I most probably won't go back again, at least for awhile.

No. They are posted on the USPSA website and printed in Front Sight (which all current members receive, eventually despite the best efforts of the Postal Circus). Rule changes/interpretations happen every year. http://www.uspsa.org/rules/nroi_rulings.php Now that we have our own rulebook the process to getting a rule change put in is MUCH less circuitous than it used to be. The Blue Book (2008 rules) is the first book in a very long time where we actually could get rule changes out.

Yeah...you have some catching up to do from last year when you were being all studious and stuff.

Sounds more like the guy running the counter was planning on stuffing that $5 directly into his pocket. I'd call the owner and have a chat. If you bought a membership that should have come with a contract. Read the contract. If the additional fee for not purchasing their ammo isn't in the contract they can't charge you. I suppose it could be some sort of stupid open ended contract which you were perhaps ill advised to sign in the first place but that's a whole other topic.

Think about it: If the slide is moving at the speed of light then the ejected round has to move at about the same speed and the round being stripped from the mag and moved to the chamber likewise rather quickly. Meanwhile the bullet is putt putt putting along out the barrel at less than 2000 fps. If I recall the speed of light is roughly 300 million meters per second.

PatD: Talk to your doc again. It's too high to correct you to the point where glasses aren't necessary but they can correct your vision significantly. I believe +/- 3.0 is the outer limit for complete correction (or was last time I checked a couple years ago). I'm in a similar boat. Would still need glasses but the correction would get me back to about where I was in my early 20's. In other words, functional without glasses just not reading fine print comfortably. That in and of itself would make it worth it to me.

UPS Stores won't take it. I'm not sure I would just hand a gun to a driver out and about town. I'd be surprised that if you told them it was a firearm that they would even take it. If it was my gun I'd drive across town to the hub.

Tell him if he wants one of these for protection he should just buy a 20oz framing hammer. It will be less expensive, more dependable and far more lethal. And if he gets the waffle faced version of the hammer it will leave really cool markings on the bad guy. We have a number of these show up at the range with some newbie behind it wanting to play the game. I have yet to see one run a full mag and most won't run more than two shots in a row without a jam. One guy spent days doing load development and finally came up with a load that would kind of sort of run sometimes. If he really wants an ugly as sin handgun that runs tell him to go buy a Ruger P series.

I love shooting long exposures at night. I burned miles of film back in the film days doing this. Now with digital it is so much easier. Get some good quality glass and it gets even more fun.

If you have an air leak around the door and humid indoor air is leaking through you have a frozen door. Hair dryer and some time should take care of it.

For lots of us our employers have days they claim are off days so they don't feel obliged to pay us for these days, but we end up working on them anyway because we are on-call 24x7. If I want a real day off I have to leave the area. Looking forward to several days off in Vegas in September and October!

Hardly. An n=1 is never significant.

So it is 17K lines long? That's what data analysis tools are for. That's actually a pretty darn small database from a pure data aspect. I regularly (daily) work with DBs that are millions of records...and those aren't considered "big" by many standards.

First time I did that I was scared as hell too. As I pulled away from my old home for the last time I was about half sick with stress. By the time I reached my new home I was filled with a mixture of fear and excitement. Fear of the unknown but excitement to meet new challenges. I had become very comfortable but also very stagnant. Moving took me out of that comfort zone and brought new energy to me. Nine years later I was again "comfortable and stagnant" so made another move. That one also worked out quite well. Chances are that in six months you will revisit this thread and laugh at yourself as you realize that you made the best possible decision for you, your family and your career. Best of luck and don't let the new career take you away from here!

One must keep in mind that joining a national organization is one thing but retention is very much a local phenomenon. Couple examples: My local club shoots within 10 miles of two major universities, and about 30 miles from a community college and a small 4 year college. With a student population of around 50K above and beyond the local population we see a lot of student shooters. Typically, they start coming out when they are 21 and can purchase handguns which usually means they are Junior standing at school. They join USPSA, shoot with us for a couple years and move on. As you may recall from personal experience, graduation from college starts all manner of other things (new job, new marriage, new family, new mortgage, etc) which pull folks away from the sport. Plus they may move into an area and not have a club or know about any local clubs. That is the "end user" aspect. We can help this a bit by talking to these folks and finding out where they are headed. If we know people at clubs in the area they are heading to help them get hooked up at the new club. Then there is the "club" aspect. This is especially important in areas where there is only one "local" club. If the local club isn't "healthy" those folks may join the club, join USPSA, get frustrated and go away. By healthy club I mean a club that is setting up challenging stages every month that aren't just a rehash of the same stages last month. Classifiers are set up and run correctly and the scores submitted to Sedro in a timely manner. Few things frustrate a new shooter more than shooting a "special" so they can get their classification and then having to wait two or three or more months for the club to get around to sending in the scores so they can get classified. It also means that the stages are set up legally and run safely and consistently. If we are lucky, the new members go read the rules and if they can't make sense of what is happening at the matches in terms of the rulebook we have a BIG problem. Overall, nationwide, the trend in membership is increasing. To me this means a whole lot of clubs are doing a lot of good stuff. I think the more interesting statistics would be: 1) Renewals: What is the trend in renewals? Going up? Annuals renewing as TY or FY or Life? 2) Activity: How many of those new members are shooting classifiers? How many new members join and reach classification in one or more divisions in their first year of membership? How many clubs did they shoot at? Answers to those questions would, I think, give us a better view into the overall "health" of the organization from a membership perspective.

I have an appointment with my eye doc next week (time for new lenses anyway) and will talk this over with him again. My health plan now covers a portion of the surgery. I'd love to be able to at least read my watch without glasses again.

I like reading these success stories. I can't correct to near what you guys are getting but just getting the astigmatism out of the way would be HUGE for me. Doc says I can probably correct to back where I was about 20 years ago though which would be pretty amazing. I just get to the point of going for it and start reading horror stories. Hmmm....

I'll second the Toyota. Or a Subaru. A local had a LR that they were immensely proud of (I think the hope was for a lengthened "member"). After giving them a ride home in my Subaru a couple times (blown engine once, blown tranny the second time) they traded it in on a FJ Cruiser. Haven't given him a ride recently so not sure if he is happier or not.