Tim James

That almost sounds like a bad thing. Playing with pretty toys is half the fun!

You think they could have given Max a class before the nationals? Just maybe?

There was such a system, though not sanctioned by USPSA. Our forum member, Dowter devised it. Dowter hasn't been around in a long while and I don't know that he is still shooting. You should be able to find a thread on it, started by him, on the forum. He did comparative rankings, using the Nationals winners as the 100% basis for comparison. Pretty neat, and seemed accurate. Here are the threads:http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?...ic=2635&hl= http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?...c=2630&st=0 I'm not sure how this compares to the Elo system because I haven't thought about it much, but I'm glad someone at least tried something!

It's more than just knowing how cars work. I know that, but I don't interact with salesmen very well. I'm just a simple man who would rather pay an established market price than sit around haggling, but that kind of thing does not exist in some industries. You also have to be aware of the fair value for certain jobs and either have the personality or experience to know how and when to challenge someone. For planned work, I would encourage calling around beforehand, because I'm usually too lazy to tell the guy to go to hell after the car's on the lift. It's not worth my time at that point. Of course that's more difficult when they call in about additional work, but that's what this thread is about, isn't it?

I've always wondered why USPSA doesn't consider a statistical method like the Elo system in chess and other games: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elo_rating_system Elo-type systems are usually used in 1-on-1 games, but I wonder if it could be adapted to work with 50-100 people competing against each other at once? This would not fix the class-prize issue because there could still be serious sandbagging until a prize match, and it would also encourage people to protect their ratings by not shooting certain matches or dropping out early, but at least it's a well-tested way to rate match performance.

You have to experiment and decide on the technique that works best for you. Make sure you try left-handed because that is definitely an option.

Since I do my own work on my '92 Mustang, I consider mechanics' fees a "tax" I have to pay when I take the girlfriend's car in or I need a rare welding job done to my car. I don't know how to interact with those people (who are basically salesmen) because I never need to use them. I usually shrug it off because I realize I'm well ahead of the game. I will have to coax the girlfriend into buying an enthusiast-type car with a large Internet presence so I can learn how to do all the work myself. Like a BMW or something rather than a random people mover. Tow vehicles are a different story from what I hear, but I'll worry about that when I get there.

Besides Malabar, what other ranges in Florida are laid back with good support for action shooting practice? I've always been curious if I'm going to be very disappointed when I move out of this area.

What did you do, some sort of lasik thing? I wasn't aware that you get more field of view from that procedure. Is it the same effect you get when moving from glasses to contacts, or is it limited to situations like watching a gun sight?

The breakdown of the subforums here always seems to make sense until I start thinking about making a post, so I'll just throw this here. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?i...mp;lid=tab1pos2 ESPN article on Brad Lidge, a closer for the Astros, who seemed to lose his abilities for a while after a difficult outing in the 2005 NL championship series. The flow of the story makes for fairly interesting reading, but the content will probably be a little simple for the advanced thinkers on Zen and performance here.

And why do you think she wants that doll? Because someone gave her one when she was little and had no clue about it! Are there any child psychologists in the forum to help us out here?

There are a lot of variations on this story, although this one is a little mushy. For an expansion on this idea, read The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

I know, it is due to the Zen/sensei style around here. I just have to poke fun every now and then so no one takes themselves too seriously. Plus I was just being the lazy new shooter that wants it the "easy" way. Anyway, I understood him, so carry on!

Someone on this forum always has to throw in a clever retort. I'm no expert at this, but I find it easiest to see when I shoot fairly rapidly. Something about the sights bobbing up and down in a regular cadence makes it much easier to watch than if I'm just firing one shot. I don't think I get enough information to call each shot though, so there is still more work to be done.

Just a quick comment that I bought his 2nd video specifically for this reason and wasn't really that impressed. The slo-mo is kind of dumb because they don't have a high-speed camera or anything. You just get the blurred "snapshots" from regular film. Maybe this would help some new people; it could be that I was already beyond that point or something. ( ) Especially if he can track them fine with a .22, I don't think that video would help. It's not bad, I just wanted to comment on that. And it's a shame no one has improved on what he's done: some sort of high-speed setup where you could see the orientation of the sights on firing in order to call shots would have been really cool. It'd be like a little quiz -- where did the instructor's shot land? how about now when it's faster? etc.

Missed this match because I didn't realize I had left my keys in my girlfriend's car until after she went to work. So I went back to bed. Did Jeff Frahm give any updates about the PMRPC match director position? Are they having a match next month or is it going to be a practice as of right now?

So is your wife impressed?

I got excited when I saw "pharmacy" and "St. Petersburg" because my fiancee goes to UF Pharmacy school at the Seminole, FL campus. I take it St. Pete College has its own pharmacy school?

I don't have cable (which has to change soon due to the fiancee moving in) so I had to ask my friend with a DVR if he grabbed it for me. Whew, he's got it! I also want Travis Tomasie to teach me how to call shots. Let's see it, Travis!

Post some more pictures and details so we can live vicariously.

OMG the XZ&ock is the new hotness! You must get it!

I watched that and thought, "HERE COMES THE SOUND WAVE!" Now some mechanical engineer is going to come in and tell me that the velocity vector of the air doesn't correspond to the sound wave. They spoil all the fun.

I am also available to help you with "mikes, deltas, missed positions, missed sequences." Looking forward to the PMRPC match this Saturday. I've only shot one time in the last 2 months. Got my first new computer in almost 8 years, so I've been having fun shooting fake guns.

How can you say that ROing didn't affect your match when you said you didn't have a plan for a lot of stages? Maybe next match you should just paste targets and not talk to anyone (except maybe after a run to ease out the adrenaline). Just focus on the shooting and stages and see what happens. Of course, you might explode if you tried this. Obviously I'm no expert, but I thought I'd offer my non-mystical, fundamentals perspective.

Your video sucks. It doesn't have any hip music to go along with it.