Good deal? I need your input!

For those of you who don't care a whit about firearms, their recreational and serious purposes and the tendency for males of our species to fixate on them, you can tune out now.... 3...2....1....

Ok, I need the help of the hunters/shooting enthusiasts out there.  I have this pistol....

It is the Beretta 92FS, better known as the M9 (more or less) to military folks.  It's one of the most successful handgun designs of all time and a quality piece of engineering by anyone's standards.  It is the make and model that I bought on my 21st birthday in 1999 and have owned in 2 incantations (my first was stolen in 2003 but soon replaced) ever since.  It's a lovely gun to shoot, easy to control and as reliable as any I have ever fired.  With a aircraft aluminum frame, it will last darn near forever.

That said, it is bulky, extremely heavy, underpowered (9mm) and somewhat dated.  For hunting I have been thinking about making the change to a .40 in one of the newer polymer-framed tactical designs but am obviously limited by price (missions work doesn't pay all that well).

That is until tonight when a buddy who is in the market for a 92 asked if I'd like to trade straight up for this....

This is a Smith and Wesson Sigma series 40 (SW40VE).  On it's face it is exactly the type I am looking for.  The Sigma is Smith's version of the popular (and very expensive) Glock pistols.  It is so close in design that they were forced to pay Glock for trademark violations.  It fits my hand very nicely, is lighter fully loaded than my Beretta is empty and seems to fit both my paddle and my tactical holsters.  The stainless slide and polymer frame make it a better all-weather weapon than my Beretta which is a huge plus when hunting.

The downsides....

Though it's newer, it retails at least $200 cheaper than my Beretta, which is still in very good if not excellent condition.  The reviews vary wildly from 'POS' (that's a quote) to 'best gun I've ever owned' and everywhere in between.  On police forums there are a lot of guys that have put thousands of rounds through them without a jam and another that said, and I quote, "It would only be good for an anchor but it's not even heavy enough for that."  The consensus is that whatever you think about the quality, it has a ridiculously heavy trigger (12 lbs) to compensate for its near total lack of a safety.

I am borrowing it for a few weeks (my buddy doesn't need it - he got it in a straight trade for a pop-up camper) and I plan to put in some quality range time 2 Fridays from today in Greeley but I was hoping to get some opinions from my resident gun nuts.  Ask around with any law enforcement friends or family members.  Anyone shot this weapon?

I'm counting on you guys.

Election Satire

I think I've decided to put a moratorium on serious election-related posts barring some massive unforeseen event (I get the arguing out of my system over at my Uncle's blog).  I will instead try for satirical pieces that are hopefully more readable and better for everyone's blood pressure.

This clip is from righty blogger Iowahawk who does some great satirical news posts.  There's a good chance that some of you won't agree with the sentiment but you have to admit that it's funny.  The best line is where he talks about not excluding voters based on their "existential status." It's in bold as my line of the day. I repeat, this is satire.  Some of the numbers and concepts come from actual stories but most is rubbish.

ST. LOUIS - Attorneys for the voting registration organizations ACORN and Project Vote filed an anti-discrimination voting rights suit in the U.S. Federal District court this morning, alleging the United States government is involved in "a widespread, systematic effort to disenfranchise Imaginary-Americans and deprive them of access to polls."

"Participation in our electoral process is a fundamental right, and the foundation of our democracy," said ASDF ASDFG, a spokesperson for the National Association for the Advancement of Imaginary People, one of the groups named as plaintiffs in the class action. "We will not be silent when government denies people access to the polls on the basis of color, or sex, or existential status."

The new suit was prompted by on a series of law enforcement raids of ACORN offices in 10 states over the past week, as well as a reported Justice Department investigation. Federal and state officials say they were acting on tips of fraudulent voter registration forms, after election officials reported a flood of unusual applications submitted by ACORN canvassers. In Las Vegas the Clarke County election commission reported thousands of registrations signed by the Dallas Cowboys, while in St. Louis officials discovered thousands of others signed by Power Rangers, Menudo, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In Cleveland, Ohio Republican officials complained to the Federal Election Commission after early-voting sites barred observers when thousands of Invisible-Ohioans arrived at the polls aboard hundreds of invisible ACORN buses. In Ida Grove, Iowa, Ida County Registrar Debby Ballard expressed concern when a convoy of Chicago ACORN semis submitted 4,000,000 provisional ballots, 17 seconds before a 5 pm deadline.

"I'm proud that Ida County can boast of a 114,312% voter registration rate, but I'm not sure if I can get all of them processed by Monday," said Ballard. "I've got a pilates class in Sioux City."

After the raids, ACORN officials initially blamed the problems on rogue volunteers.

"We are in the midst of our most successful signup ever, registering over 7 trillion new voters in the last week alone," said ACORN spokesman Charles Jackson. "It's impossible to have 100% quality control, and a few misspellings might have fallen through the cracks."

On Tuesday, ACORN said it would dismiss any workers suspected of fraud, and would outsource 40% of voter registration jobs to Banglore Registration Industries.

"The quality control is better in India, and we can save over $35 per metric ton," noted Jackson.

After consultation with attorneys, however, ACORN -- which has received $800,000 from the Obama campaign for registration efforts -- filed a suit claiming the increased legal scrutiny was driven by a political agenda. Amicus briefs were added from several Imaginary Rights groups, adding civil rights violations to the list of complaints.

"Whether we are obituary notices, hallucinatory giant rabbits, or strings of random keyboard strokes, it's time for the chimera community to stand up and claim our rights as citizens," said ASDFG. "We will no longer be silent and invisible. Okay, maybe invisible."

In addition to $3.2 jubajillion in damages and free federal mortgages for homeless spectres, the suit also seeks enforcement of the Americans with Dimensional Disabilities Act. The Act requires voting places to make accommodations for existentially-challenged voters who have trouble completing ballots written in standard 3-dimensional reality. The accommodations include multiple site registration, time travel, and allowances for alcoholics to cast ballots for dependent D.T. phantasms.

"Many of our community inhabit the Tapioca subluster of the 11th Dimension, and it's hard for them to find a convenient spacehole to make it to the local elementary school," explained ASDFG.

A ruling in the suit is expected later this week from St. Louis federal appelate judge Fwinklezorg the Hydragoat.

What a weird coincidence

A few days back I heard that my lovely sister and her super-cool husband had started a blog.  Yesterday I figured I would see if I could find these guys in cyberspace:

Yeah, that was a shameless plug for my new nephew Padraig and I don't care who knows it.

Anyway, with a name like Orf I figured a blog search should turn up their site pretty easily.  I searched "Orf family" thinking it should be a straight forward operation.  When Google, in it's infinite wisdom (there should be a punctuation marks that indicate sarcasm), returned this site, "The Orf Family,"  I figured I'd hit the nail on the head.  

I started reading (there were no pictures) and noticed that there was no update on the birth itself, which isn't odd due to the busyness of the first few days.  I was then shocked to discover that the expectant Orf mama had gestational diabetes.  I had heard nothing of this so I scrolled down to the next post.  It began speaking of situations I hadn't heard about with people I didn't know in places I didn't think Bobby and Joy had been.  I was a little slow in realizing that though the name and pregnancy were the same, this was not actually my sister's blog.  Weird, huh?

Our Orf family can be found here complete with photos and excellent writing.

I also must pass on the fact that Tammi also has a blog but it is invitation-only.  It's every bit was witty and snarky as my lovely older sister is in real life.  If you have Facebook you can contact her (Tammi Gaw) and she may send you an invitation to view her top-secret blog.

And finally, for you political junkies, my Uncle Walt has jumped into the blogging arena with both feet.  He is literally the exact person for whom the blog medium was designed.  He is a lefty - 100% in the bag for Obama - but he's thoughtful, civil, informed and he's no hippie.  I know you're all sick of wall-to-wall election coverage but give it a look anyway.

HopeCenter Profiles: Roman and family

I just learned recently that we have hired Roman full time at the HopeCenter.  I actually don't know as much about him as I should but I do have a great picture of him and his family (courtesy of camp team member David Hyttsten of David's Photography).

Actually Roman had been volunteering at camp for quite some time prior to be being hired.  He is a proud graduate of our GLOMOS pastoral training program, utilizing that information as a Bible teacher for our vocational school last year.  He's an amazingly talented craftsman who can handle welding, carpentry, masonry, forestry (which he also does in sandals) and anything in between.

I seem to recall that his wife used to work at the HopeCenter before my time and she frequently comes by with their daughter to use the camp as a safe playground.  She and Campbell haven't yet figured out how to play nicely together but we are hoping to work on that in the up-coming year.

We are all excited to have them officially on-board with us and I will try to remember to return and re-post with more specific information when I learn it.

Talking with my pocket book... DOWN WITH JACK QUINN'S!

By way of a round-about social commentary I am going to explain how Sarah's and my date night was last night....

I have always said that I don't like government intervention in things that don't concern them.  One of my biggest pet peeves is smoking bans.  If a person owns an establishment and he/she prefers for WHATEVER reason to allow smoking (even if it is designed to DECREASE the family atmosphere), that is their right.  It is, after all, their private property.  Conversely if another person owns a similar establishment and decides for health, economic or astrological reasons that they don't want smoking... even better.  They have also made a choice in how to administer their property.

Now as consumers/customers we all have a choice.  Do we want to keep the status quo and go to a place that is more open to whatever it's patrons would like to do there or do we want to frequent a location that has been proactive in eliminating what most people see as a disgusting habit?  You can even lobby the smoking establishment to change it's rules to make itself more friendly to health conscious patrons.  Those are acceptable choices.  To go run to mommy (aka big government) and tattle on establishment #1 is a 5 year old's mentality.  The bottom line is this....

Talk with your pocket book!

Support places that have the environment that you like and refuse to give another dime to those who you don't.  I don't want a pedicure, so guess what?  I don't frequent nail salons!

That bring me to our date.  We went downtown CS for a little Josh and John's followed by a stroll.  As we walked I recalled that I had been looking for a pub or tavern that shows Premiership football early on weekends.  I figured that the first check should be with Jack Quinn's, the most popular/trendy place in CS of supposed Irish extraction.

We walked in the door to ask the hostess if they showed the games and if they had a schedule of  those they would be airing.  She looked at us and before I could ask my very simple and reasonable question, she abrasively told me that we would have to throw our ice cream away.  Not "we don't allow outside food here" or even more informative "the health code says that you can't bring in food from outside," which I later learned is the case.

Understanding that servers sometimes are very busy and tempers can get short, I explained that I just had a quick question and we'd be on our way.  Before I could continue, yet ANOTHER person (I think the manager) proceeded to jump into our conversation and told me that I wasn't allowed in with outside food (not the food wasn't allowed... I wasn't allowed) in an equally obnoxious tone - still never explaining that there was a health code issue involved.

To add insult to injury, this employee (the first one) of a purportedly Irish-style pub looked at me like I was syphilitic when I DARED ask about something so boorish and uncultured as sport... even one beloved by Irish people.

So.....  I am voting with my pocketbook.  JACK QUINNS will not get a cent of my money... ever.

The nice hostess outside JOSE MULDOON'S kindly explained that bringing  in outside food is indeed a violation of the health code and for that nicety, they will be getting my mealtime business when I am downtown.

Despite this, Sarah and I had a nice walk in the beautiful Colorado evening.  It turned out to be a nice affordable date night with only a touch of "aggro."