Near Total Loss

Early in the morning, the day after Easter, my house burned down.  I woke up around 0430 and for no explicable reason, got up and started wandering around the house.  I was halfway through the house when I saw the front porch completely engulfed in flame.   I started yelling that the house was on fire, and my girlfriend and I gathered up her kids and escaped out the back of the house, with me calling 911 on the way out the door.  It was probably less than 5 minutes between me waking up and the fire getting through the wall and finally filling the house with smoke.  It's also worthwhile to point out that the smoke detectors didn't start going off until then, and we'd have never been able to save the kids if we hadn't woken until they went off.  The fire department was there 5-10 minutes later, but my house was already a lost cause by then. 

As things are settling down a little, I wanted to put together a list of some lessons learned from this; some are specific to owning firearms and some more generic ones, and Shelley has been kind enough to give me someplace to share this.

Here are a couple photos of the house and a couple of the fire. 

Yes, that's a safe in the front corner.  It's a Liberty, and the stuff inside held up....mostly.  The fire was hot enough to melt aluminum, based on my motorcycle missing its cylinder heads and my compound miter saw being mostly melted.  My safe, as well as my range bags with a couple of firearms we'd just been using the night before, was right in the middle of the source of the fire, which started underneath the house.

1.  The fire rating of your safe doesn't mean quite as much when there's a plastic electrical pass-through in the back to power a dehumidifier.  The heat didn't destroy the contents.  But the pass-through melting let in a fair bit of water and smoke.  The guns that were in their plastic containers had enough extra protection to be just fine.  A little smelly, but fine.  The rest all needed to be cleaned and recoated.  Because it took a week for me to get into the safe, the blue firearms (thankfully cheaper Mosins and an SKS) were a little rusted.

2.  Don't waste time contacting your local safe vendor rep.  My local Liberty dealer was on vacation that week.  When he wasn't there, I was too caught up in dealing with basics like food, shelter, and clothes to think beyond that.  If I'd called Liberty that day instead of him, I could have gotten the guns that day, instead of giving the moisture a week to do its work.  I'd also like to mention that all of the firefighters wanted to know the brand of the safe, because they'd seen a lesser fire completely melt another brand of safe before.

3.  Lock up your ammo.  Not necessarily in a safe, but at least keep it in a metal ammo can.  The heat of the fire was enough to send rifle bullets 60-70 feet when they cooked off, denting cars down the street.  The pistol bullets didn't appear to travel, but there were ruptured .45acp cases in the yards across the street.

4.  The NRA has $2500 of firearms insurance available for all members, and it covers loss or theft.  HOWEVER, you have to activate it.  If you don't go to their site (the link can be found here at their membership page) and activate it, you don't have the coverage.

5.  The only reason my neighbors house actually caught on fire was because he had left two gas cans by the corner of his house.  The neighbor on the other side only had melted siding.  If you're going to store something flammable outside of your house, don't leave it close enough that it could light up your home if it ignites.

Related to the fire more generally, what areas burned and what areas didn't was very surprising.  My home had a large vaulted ceiling.  The front and back of the first floor were split by a loft upstairs, and the 2nd and 3rd bedrooms were off of that loft.  So once the fire got inside, it had plenty of room to churn around.  The contents of our half-bath, in the middle of the first floor were untouched, presumably in part because the door was shut.  The next day, the bottles of soap from there were in perfect condition, on top of all the debris. 

Upstairs, the door to the room that my girlfriends son was in was open, and the contents were reduced to charcoal, in every literal sense of the word.  the bedroom right next to it, which had the door shut, had contents that were barely touched.  My extra gunpowder was in that room, and the only thing missing from them was the labels, which apparently melted off. 

Our master bedroom was downstairs, and probably would have been fine if I'd happened to shut the door.  most of the clothes in the dresser were in perfect condition.  The bedroom closet door was open, so most of the clothes in there were a total loss.  However, I had some summer shirts and shorts in a vacuum bag in the back of the closet, and those were perfect.  Other clothes that were inside of some cheap plastic bins were also saved.  Some of my firearms stuff that was under the bed in some plastic bins was also recovered.  My main point with that being that it's amazing just how much heat is deflected by something as simple as a plastic lid or a hollow-core bedroom door.  If you don't have pets, that alone is a good reason to keep every door in your home shut that you can.

As a final comment, I have to say that Progressive has been very good to me so far.  My car and motorcycle were both insured by Progressive, and the house was with Progressive Homesite.  The bike melted in the garage, and the front of the car melted on the driveway.  Progressive gave me very fair value for both of the, including all the aftermarket gear I had on the motorcycle.  Obviously, having photos and online receipts for all that gear helped on that end.  As for the home insurance, they had us in a nice hotel in a couple of days, and in a furnished apartment nearby 8 days later. 

UPDATE:  From what I understand, this product from 3M [http://www.amazon.com/3M-Fire-Barrier-Modable-Putty/dp/B002FYAMPM] should be sufficient to keep the pass-through from melting.  I should also mention that the actual plug portion of it survived; it's the seal around it that failed and let in the steam and smoke.

Reloading Notes

1. Titegroup is a very versatile powder. It has worked out well for nearly every load I do from 9mm and .38 Special up to 45 ACP and 44 Magnum. The only issue I've had was when trying to load 147 grain bullets to power factor (125000) for SSP in the IDPA and Production in USPSA. Out of a Glock 34, regardless of whether I used the stock barrel or a Lone Wolf, the bullets grouped horribly, and even tumbled/keyholed every 5-10 shots. Oddly enough, that same load would drive tacks with every other 9mm I've tried it in (Sigs, Kimber 9mm 1911, and HK P30).

2. For 147 grain 9mm loads, everything else I've tried has worked well. I've settled on WSF as the best so far. But I'm giving Solo 1000 a try before buying my powder in bulk. Too many seem to love the Solo 1000 to not at least give it a shot.

3. With 9mm, I've started running into some stuff with an IVI headstamp. This stuff is berdan primed, which is not the nicest thing to do to your depriming pin. With .45 ACP, A-MERC brass is utter crap. The case wall is twice as thick as any other brand, so I would have to crimp the ever living hell out of it to get it to chamber, which is obviously a very bad idea. So anything with an A-MERC headstamp goes right into the metal recycling box.

My current loads for meeting power factor.

9mm
124g
4.3 grains titegroup

147g
3.9 grains of WSF (3.3 grains of Titegroup would work if I wasn't using a G34)

.45 ACP
200g
5.3 grains titegroup

Match Schedule for 2012

After reading this at Caleb's site, I figured I'd lay out my definite and tentative matches here.

Definite:
NC Ironman IDPA Championship 2/11 Prospect Hill, NC
2012 FL State IDPA Championship 3/10-3/11 Clearwater, FL
The Carolina Cup 6/14-6/16 Oxford, NC
IDPA National Championship 9/19-9/22 Oxford, NC
2012 INFINITY Firearms NC Sectional 10/5-10/7 Creedmore, NC
Championship

Tentative:
FNH VA-MD Section Championship 5/18-5/20 Fredericksburg, VA
2012 EGW Area 8 Championship 8/9-8/12 Fredericksburg, VA

Conveniently, the only matches that conflict with my work schedule at the shipyard are all USPSA matches, which works out well since my primary focus right now is getting Master in as many divisions in the IDPA as I can.

I will say that, after looking at Caleb's schedule, I'll have to look a little more into what I need to do to qualify for the Bianchi Cup and decide if I want to try out the Pro-Am in 2013 down in Frostproof.

Update: As I look at this, I'm realizing that trying to do all of these matches and a cross-country motorcycle trip in the same year isn't very realistic. I guess I can ride to Cali another year.

Marriott just moved way down my list of places I'll stay.

http://borepatch.blogspot.com/2011/11/marriott-casa-monica-hotel-in-st.html

Doing my part to help with the Google-fu.

Chesapeake apparently hates concealed carry

As much as some people seem to hate the idea of open carry, the sheriff here in Chesapeake must be a big fan of it. There's certainly nothing else I can think of to explain why he works so hard to discourage people from applying for their Concealed Handgun Permits here.

I got my first permit while living in Virginia Beach in 2004. The process literally took less than 10 minutes, and that included finding a place to park. I walked in, to a building that allows firearms I might add, handed the woman my paperwork, signed it, paid my fee, and walked out. They even had a nice sign pointing me in the right direction when I walked in the door.

I let that permit expire, since I rarely carried concealed by 2009. Since the law required me to open carry in places that served alcohol, it was just easier to OC all of the time rather than keep switching back and forth. Now that they allow you to CC in restaurants, I decided to apply for a permit again. Here's a little summary of my experience.

I show up at the City Hall complex. I walk to the information counter to find out where to take my paperwork, since I couldn't find that information on their web page. They point me to the courthouse building. Once I get there, I find that the office to apply for my permit is on the wrong side of the security checkpoint, so back to the car to drop off my cell phone. Back to the courthouse, where there are no signs even hinting where I need to go. The guard tells me "3rd floor", and nothing else. So up to the third floor to wander from office to office asking where to go. The third one finally tells me which is the right one, as opposed to "I don't know".

After dealing with my paperwork, the woman informs me that she needs my email, because Chesapeake, unlike every other city in VA, will not mail me my permit. They will email me, and I have to leave work early to come in to pick it up. Then I learn that I have to walk to the other side of the complex and wait some more to get my fingerprints taken. Strangely enough, all of the other cities around here can run a background check just fine without fingerprints. Granted, the other cities also find the VA State Police check to be adequate, so the check is done in about two weeks. Chesapeake, after getting that check back, finds it necessary to run their own check, which drives the wait right up to the 45 day mark required by law. Sometimes they run longer, so you have to decide whether to go in to have your application signed, taking more time from work, or just suck up the extra wait.

If mine goes over 45 days, I may make a suggestion to the VCDL to lobby for a requirement that the city has to refund your $50 fee if they go over 45 days.

Ego

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_east_coast_storm

LEVITTOWN, N.Y. – Torrential downpours from a faded tropical storm inundated the
Northeast on Friday, forcing evacuations, toppling trees, cutting power to
thousands and washing out roads during a snarled morning commute. Water pooled
so deeply in a Philadelphia suburb that a car literally floated on top of
another car.

So a Tropical Storm sweeps up the coast, starting around Georgia. But the amount of rain isn't news until it hits the NYC area. I guess rain only counts when it impacts the "important" cities.

"Temporary" Taxes

A great example here of why you should always throw fits whenever the legislature wants to pass a "temporary" tax.

The Johnstown Flood Emergency Tax

As a result of the damage from the 1936 flood, the Pennsylvania General Assembly imposed an emergency tax on all alcohol sold in the Commonwealth. The "temporary" 10% tax was initially intended to help pay for clean up, recovery, and assistance to flood victims. The tax was never repealed and in 1963 the tax was raised to 15% and again in 1968 to 18% (not including the statewide 6% sales tax). The nearly $200 million collected annually no longer goes to flood victims, however, instead going into the general fund for discretionary use by lawmakers.

Heroes

Let me preface this by pointing out that I spent four years in the Navy, and started boot camp about a month after Iraq invaded Kuwait. Both of my paternal uncles also served in the Navy. My dad's brother was a Russian linguist during Vietnam and his brother-in-law was a nuke on subs for 11 years.

I live in Hampton Roads, home of the largest navy base in the world. This area is also filled with people in every other branch of the military as well. I work at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, fixing one ship after another, to make sure that those ships will not fail their crew when they're deployed. Most of those sailors are good, hardworking men and women. Some of them, like in any group of people, are assholes. But what I'm about to say isn't directed at either of those groups. There's a very special group of military personnel that has motivated this rant. For that select group, I have this to say:

Simply being in the military does not make you a fucking hero.

Let me clarify this a bit. First, there's nothing even remotely heroic about any part of most of the jobs being done by people in our military. Admirable, yes. Heroic, no. Second, and more importantly, if you ever feel any compulsion to call yourself a hero, you aren't. I've met REAL heroes. Not one of them thought that what they did was heroic. Most of them just get embarrassed talking about what they did if people start calling it heroic.

Here's an example of a real hero.

http://www.cmohs.org/recipient-detail/3431/thacker-brian-miles.php

Brian Thacker lived next door to my parents, and flew hanggliders with them. None of us ever knew that he'd been awarded the Medal of Honor until I spotted a picture related to that award in an open box when we helped him move. I had to ask my parents what it was, because I was only 12 or so at the time. Later on, in high school, I was given an assignment to interview someone to talk about their experiences in the 60s. I interviewed Brian, and he described his experiences in Vietnam in detail, except that he never mentioned receiving the CMoH.

Now, because it just can't be posted in enough places as far as I'm concerned, here's the text posted at the link above.

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. 1st Lt. Thacker, Field Artillery, Battery A, distinguished himself while serving as the team leader of an Integrated Observation System collocated with elements of 2 Army of the Republic of Vietnam units at Fire Base 6. A numerically superior North Vietnamese Army force launched a well-planned, dawn attack on the small, isolated, hilltop fire base. Employing rockets, grenades, flame-throwers, and automatic weapons, the enemy forces penetrated the perimeter defenses and engaged the defenders in hand-to-hand combat. Throughout the morning and early afternoon, 1st Lt. Thacker rallied and encouraged the U.S. and Republic of Vietnam soldiers in heroic efforts to repulse the enemy. He occupied a dangerously exposed observation position for a period of 4 hours while directing friendly air strikes and...against the assaulting enemy forces. His personal bravery and inspired leadership enabled the outnumbered friendly forces to inflict a maximum of casualties on the attacking enemy forces and prevented the base from being overrun. By late afternoon, the situation had become untenable. 1st Lt. Thacker organized and directed the withdrawal of the remaining friendly forces. With complete disregard for his safety, he remained inside the perimeter alone to provide covering fire with his M-16 rifle until all other friendly forces had escaped from the besieged fire base. Then, in an act of supreme courage, he called for friendly artillery fire on his own position to allow his comrades more time to withdraw safely from the area and, at the same time, inflict even greater casualties on the enemy forces. Although wounded and unable to escape from the area himself, he successfully eluded the enemy forces for 8 days until friendly forces regained control of the fire base. The extraordinary courage and selflessness displayed by 1st Lt. Thacker were an inspiration to his comrades and are in the highest traditions of the military service.

Decisions, Decisions

It's nice when this is the type of decision I have to struggle with. I could buy this, or both of these. On one hand, I've got a couple of stripped AR receivers that desperately need to be assembled into something useful. On the other hand, the DVD sets are 60% for a few more weeks.

I'm pretty sure the frugal Scottish side of me will win out over any part of me that really wants a 6.8SPC rifle. Granted, it would probably be a harder decision if ammo wasn't so scarce right now. Finding 6.8SPC ammo, or even brass, is bound to be far more challenging than finding baking ingredients.

Why realistic novels wouldn't sell

a.k.a. Why people don't understand the way I think.

Recently, I started to re-read Raymond Feist's Riftwar Saga. As I was reading it, I came across the following passage:

"Follow that trail for two days until you come to a small valley. Cross it, and on the north face you'll see a waterfall. A trail leads up from there, and atop the plateau you'll' be near the top of the falls. Follow the river upwards, until you reach its source. From that lake you'll find a trail again moving upwards, again to the north. That is the only way to Moraelin. You'll find a canyon, which winds around the lake in a complete circle. Legend says it is the tracks made by the mourning Elf Prince, wearing the ground down around the lake. It is called the Tracks of the Hopeless.

There is only one way into Moraelin, across a bridge made by the moredhel. When you cross the bridge over the Tracks of the Hopeless, you will be in Moraelin. There you will find the Silverthorn. It is a plant with a light silver-green leaf of three lobes, with fruit like red holly berries. You will recognize it at once, for its name describes it: the thorns are silver. If nothing else, get a handful of the berries. It will lie close to the edge of the lake. Now go, and may the gods protect you.'

Right.

As I read that, I got an image in my mind of how that would go if I was the hero getting those directions.

"Follow that trail for two days until you come to a small valley. Cross it, and on the north face you'll see a waterfall. A trail leads up from there, and atop the plateau you'll be near the top of the falls. Follow the river upwards, until.."

"Wait, which side of the waterfall was it the trail?"

"The north side. Now once you reach the source of the river, you'll find a trail again moving upwards, again to the north. You'll find a canyon, which winds around the lake.."

"Uh, how do I get to the source of the river again?"

"It's after the trail at the north of the waterfall. Were you listening at all?"

"Sorry, it's just a lot of information. Any chance you could write this down?"

"Oh sure, I always carry a pen and paper when I head out to the woods for weeks. Because that survives really well in the rain."

etcetera, etcetera.

I've heard people gripe at times that engineers are just way too literal about things. But they just have no idea. There's a reason I'm much better at editing than I am at writing.

Mainstream Media

I guess the protests in Iran must have all ended yesterday, because the only thing I've been able to find on any news since then is about Michael Jackson's death. Yes, I get that he was only 50, and that he was a pop music icon. But non-stop coverage about it? For God's sake, protesters are being killed in Iran for having the audicity to stand up to their government. How does that not even rate a few minutes here and there anymore?

Para-Blackwater Weekend

Well, the gun bloggers have come and gone for their little field trip. I'm definitely glad that Curtis and I were able to meet so many of them. I'm even happier that I was able to help out a couple of them buy letting Don crash on my sofa Thursday night and then Greg on Sunday night. Hopefully, I didn't talk their ear off too much while they were there. Sadly, knowing that I'm prone to talk "at" people instead of "with" them at time hasn't been enough to make it never happen.

This did serve as another reminder that I need to get a better digital camera. The Pentax Optio W20 is great for taking outdoor pictures while I'm out kayaking or riding my motorcycle. But it is absolutely horrible with artificial lighting. It rarely focuses successfully, so I usually have to manually focus. Even then, the end result is just painfully grainy. Hopefully, not being able to snap some shots of the guys that stayed at my place, or of anyone at the gun blogger meals, will help motivate me to finally start selling off some of my stuff on Ebay to pay for part of a Nikon D40 or the starter Canon Rebel.

Shall Not Be Infringed (SNBI)

Making Amends - Armed and Safe

As is often the case for me, I found that my comment to this post grew a bit lengthy. So, for once, I decided to just make it a post of my own. The main thing that got my attention in this post was his reference to the "SNBI extremist" slur that floats around some of the gun blogs. To that, I had this to say.


While I do see the "SNBI" mentality criticized off an on, I really don't see people criticizing the belief that "shall not be infringed" means just that. It was my understanding that SNBI was used to refer to people like the following:

1. Believes that just yelling "Shall not be infringed", or similar, in debates/conversations about gun rights is an effective tactic to sway those in the middle with no real opinion.
2. Sees any law pertaining to firearms that infringes in some was as a horrible violation on us, even when it's a law that actually makes things better for us.
3. Believes there's a realistic chance of having every bad gun law (i.e. virtually all of them) wiped away in one fell swoop, and anything various groups do to improve things that still fall short of that are proof of us "selling out".

Frequently, the issue the people who use the term SNBI really isn't with a lot of what the "SNBIs" believe, but with how they present it. It's also with the fact that many of them don't take a long view of things, because that perspective requires patience. I actually had the misfortune to work the VCDL table (www.vcdl.org) at a gun show with someone that personifies what I think of when people talk about SNBIs. He wasn't a bad person. But he came across as almost beligerent when trying to get people to learn more about what the VCDL does for gun rights in the state. All that did was make people that aren't active in the gun rights community want to stay that way even more. He just had no grasp of the fact that we're trying to sell a product, that product being the concept of self-defense and individual rights.

There are a few things that I think are pretty safe to assume are true. First, gun owners are a minority, and gun owners that really care about gun rights are an even smaller one. Second, until we get more people in the middle to look at firearms the same way they do at a fire extinguisher, power tools, or a spare tire, we won't have much chance at getting the court decisions and laws that we would really like to see.

Personally, I refuse to alter my behavior to accomodate those who fight to take away my rights. But I will alter what I say and do to sway those in the middle towards my point of view. The way I see it, the former is just a pointless compromise, because nothing you will change their goal. But the latter drastically increases my chances of adding more people into our fold.

Here's a cause I can definitely support

Seeing how little effort this takes, I decided to pitch into Sebastian's effort.

Breda!
Breda Breda!
Breda the sexy, gun loving, librarian!

Primaries, Voting, and Teaching "Them" a Lesson

“How will [abstaining from voting] send a message? It will send the message that the "business as usual" way of doing politics is no longer acceptable. It will send the message that the American voters demand meaning in their politicians, and if they don't get it, they will turn away and strip them of their power.” – Nikki

As the primaries moved to the point where McCain seemed the obvious one to be the Republican candidate, I started seeing statements like this more and more on the various blogs that I read. Sentiments like this come up, to one degree or another, every election. But it definitely seems more widespread this time around. Every time, some disgruntled group decides that they’re not voting to teach “Them” a lesson.

Whenever I see people talking about this, I can’t help but notice that these otherwise intelligent people just can’t grasp how stupid their words sound. I hate to target Nikki specifically here, since I’ve seen this all over. But her post on this stuck with me the most since, of those that have said this, she's the one I respect the most. As much as I respect her opinion on most things, I really feel like she, and many others that feel like her, are letting their anger about how the primaries turned out blind them to truly effective solutions.

“..the American voters demand meaning in their
politicians,”

Sorry to break this to everyone, but they really don’t. The American voters are morons that demand about as much meaning from their politicians as they do from the shows that they stare at blankly on TV. Honestly, how much can you expect from our “peers” when the top 3 rated shows this week were American Idol, the American Idol results show, and Dancing with the Stars. American voters don’t demand meaning, they demand pretty hair and catchy sound bites. Hell, if they demanded meaning in a candidate, that might mean they were actually intelligent enough to know that the President can’t do most of what these idiots are promising.

Too many people are completely missing the fact that our “peers” are the ones that put McCain where he is now. Granted, part of the problem is that Ron Paul came across as a nut and Fred Thompson seemed to think he could campaign without actually campaigning. But, as far as I can tell, the primaries just turned into a big game of “Whose name do you recognize the most on the ballot.” The American people don’t research candidates, and they most certainly don’t pay any attention to things like past voting records. As I see it, there is nothing substantial we can do to fix things before this election. However, I think there are a couple of things we can do that will make a real difference in the next election, and one of those will require actual sacrifice on our parts.

The first thing we need to do is start reaching out to our neighbors, friends, and co-workers. We don’t need to make them agree with our beliefs. But we at least need to get them to care enough about their own to be willing to research the candidates before picking one the next time around. Honestly, can you imagine how much better this country would be if everyone, in every party, actually expected real substance from their candidates?

The second, and more challenging, is that we need to start getting involved in the primaries. All you have to do is look at the states that do their primaries earliest to know that most of us are effectively shut out of the process. By the time things reach the more populous states, a lot of the candidates have already been driven out of the race. The only way I can see for us to fix this is to take the time to go help campaign for our candidate of choice in those early states. If I think there’s a reasonable chance that my candidate still won’t be running by the time he reaches my state, the most logical thing is for me to convince those voting earlier that he should be their candidate as well.

I’ll be completely honest at this point and admit that I don’t have a clue about how to make that work. But I’ve got 3-4 years to figure it out.

Movies I've Seen Meme

Armed Canadian had an interesting post about the latest meme, so I thought I'd have a little fun with it as well. I would like to note two things: having seen a movie doesn't mean it wasn't under duress, and I'm counting movies that I've seen most of while channel surfing.


Rocky Horror Picture Show
Grease
Pirates of the Caribbean
Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest
Boondock Saints
Fight Club
Starsky and Hutch
Neverending Story
Blazing Saddles
Universal Soldier
Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
Along Came Polly
Deep Impact
King Pin
Never Been Kissed
Meet The Parents
Meet the Fockers
Eight Crazy Nights
Joe Dirt
King Kong (1933)
King Kong (1976)
King Kong (2005)
A Cinderella Story
The Terminal
The Lizzie McGuire Movie
Passport to Paris
Dumb & Dumber
Dumber & Dumberer
Final Destination
Final Destination 2
Final Destination 3
Halloween
The Ring
The Ring 2
Surviving X-Mas
Flubber
Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
Practical Magic
Chicago
Ghost Ship
From Hell
Hellboy
Secret Window
I Am Sam
The Whole Nine Yards
The Whole Ten Yards
The Day After Tomorrow
Child’s Play
Seed of Chucky
Bride of Chucky
Ten Things I Hate About You
Just Married
Gothika
Nightmare on Elm Street
Sixteen Candles
Remember the Titans
Coach Carter
The Grudge
The Grudge 2
The Mask
Son Of The Mask
Bad Boys
Bad Boys 2
Joy Ride
Lucky Number Slevin
Ocean’s Eleven
Ocean’s Twelve
Bourne Identity
Bourne Supremacy
Lone Star
Bedazzled
Predator
Predator II
The Fog
Ice Age
Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
Curious George
Independence Day
Cujo
A Bronx Tale
Darkness Falls
Christine
ET
Children of the Corn
My Boss’s Daughter
Maid in Manhattan
War of the Worlds (1953)
War of the Worlds (2005)
Rush Hour
Rush Hour 2
Best Bet
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
She’s All That
Calendar Girls
Sideways
Mars Attacks!
Event Horizon
Ever After
The Wizard of Oz
Forrest Gump
Big Trouble in Little China
The Terminator
The Terminator 2
The Terminator 3
X-Men
X-2
X-3
Spider-Man
Spider-Man 2
Sky High
Jeepers Creepers
Jeepers Creepers 2
Catch Me If You Can
The Little Mermaid
Freaky Friday
Reign of Fire
The Skulls
Cruel Intentions
Cruel Intentions 2
The Hot Chick
Shrek
Shrek 2
Shrek 3
Swimfan
Miracle on 34th Street
Old School
The Notebook
K-PAX
Krippendorf’s Tribe
A Walk to Remember
Ice Castles
Boogeyman
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Lord of the Rings: Return Of the King
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Baseketball
Hostel
Waiting for Guffman
House of 1000 Corpses
Devil’s Rejects
Elf
Highlander
Mothman Prophecies
American History X
Three
The Jacket
Kung Fu Hustle
Shaolin Soccer
Night Watch
Monsters, Inc.
Titanic
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Shaun Of the Dead
Willard
High Tension
Club Dread
Hulk
Dawn Of the Dead
Hook
Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
28 days later
Orgazmo
Phantasm
Waterworld
Kill Bill, Volume 1
Kill Bill, Volume 2
Mortal Kombat
Wolf Creek
Kingdom of Heaven
The Hills Have Eyes
I Spit on Your Grave, AKA The Day of the Woman
The Last House on the Left
Re-Animator
Army of Darkness
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi
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Ewoks: The Battle For Endor
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Team America: World Police
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Hannibal

Vegas Baby!!

Not very long ago, my wife and I discovered the music of Richard Cheese & Lounge Against the Machine. He and his band take popular songs, such as Baby Got Back and Gin & Juice, and turn them into lounge music. Since he was playing in Vegas on 12/29 and 12/31, we decided that warranted a trip to Nevada over the holidays.

The plan was to fly out Christmas morning, and then return on the 30th. The biggest issue I had was what to do with the rest of my time while we were there. I've never gone to Vegas before because I don't gamble and, since I won't even waste money on a strip club, the other popular past time in Vegas was never really an option either. Fortunately, my wife found out that the BMW motorcycle dealership in Vegas (BMW Motorcycles of Las Vegas) rents some of their bikes out. After a couple of emails with the owner, and a quick post on www.i-bmw.com for some tips on good roads to check out, I had a plan.

My initial plan was to rent a model that I was thinking of buying in a few years. Unfortunately, that only narrowed me down to the R1200RT, the R1200GS, and the K1200GT. Which of those I buy depends a lot on what type of riding I find myself wanting to do at that point, as well as on whether or not my wife spends any significant time on the back of the bike on trips. For the purposes of this weekend, however, the K1200GT quickly became the object of my desires. The primary reasons being that: a) I've never spent any significant time on a 4 cylinder bike and b) I wasn't going to going off-road anyway (or so I thought). So there I was, as the doors opened on the 27th, waiting anxiously to pick up the bike and get the heck out of Vegas.

Day 1 - 12/27 (approx 180 miles. temp: 45F-50F)

The plan for the first day was fairly simple. Since my wife was going to be coming along that day, it was going to be limited to a 4 hour trek along Lake Mead, with a detour to Hoover Dam. The first thing that we learned is that there is no such thing as a quick detour to Hoover Dam. We were barely out of Boulder City when the traffic came to a stand still. Since police in Virginia frown on riding the shoulder, or lane splitting, I spent a few minutes sitting in the traffic until a couple of Harleys with Nevada plates cruised on past me. Taking my cue, I shot up along the shoulder behind them.

Having seen Hoover Dam now, I'd have to say that, if you aren't planning to stay for the tour, it's not worth the hassle. Based on the traffic, it's also possibly the worst way imaginable to get to Arizona from Nevada. My wife and I hit the gift shop, took some pictures, and high tailed it out of there to find someplace a little less crowded. The rest of the ride was pretty nice. NV-166 and 167 along Lake Mead are a lot of fun, though I wasn't expecting the small toll to enter. We did have to take a pit stop for food, and to give my wife time to thaw her hands a little (it was 45F that day after all). NV-169/Valley of Fire Hwy, however, was a bit of a disappointment. The rock formations were beautiful. But there were just too many people pulling onto the road around every blind corner that we couldn't really enjoy it much.

Day 2 - 12/28 (350 miles. temperature: 26F - 55F. Altitude: 8668ft to -250ft)

Today was the ride I had been looking forward to since we planned this trip. After gorging ourselves at the Mandalay Bay breakfast buffet, I split off from my wife and our friend who came along for the Dick Cheese show to start my ride. The first destination was Mt. Charleston and NV-158. Anything that looked that twisty on Google Maps couldn't be a bad time, and my assumption was correct. In no time at all, I found myself more than 8000 ft above sea level, and the temperature had dropped to 26F. The view was absolutely beautiful, the roads were fun, and I hated finding myself heading back downhill on NV-156 so quickly. But Death Valley was waiting for me, and sundown comes quickly this time of year.

Next stop was bustling Beatty, Nevada for gas and food. I had hoped to find some real food there in Beatty, instead of settling for a small sub from the gas station there. But when you live your entire life on the east coast, you grow to expect people, as well as gas stations and restaurants, to be everywhere. From there, it was off to Death Valley.

The first thing I that really hit me when I got to Death Valley was how little there was there, and how far away I could see while still not really seeing anything. "Vacant" seems like an understatement, especially once I passed Furnace Creek Ranch and started riding down Badwater Rd. The other thing that caught me off guard was the salt pack in the middle of the valley. My first thought was "How in the hell is there snow out there when it's 55F?". Even when I got a closer look at it, it didn't really sink in that it was salt. It wasn't until I got home and looked around the internet that I learned what it really was.

After the winding, though somewhat bumpy, trek down Badwater Rd, the ride started straighting out quite a bit on the way back to Vegas. Not being one to pass up an opportunity like straight roads in the desert, I decided it was time to see just how fast I could get a K1200GT to go. It took three attempts before I got my comfort level up enough to really peak things out, and it turns out that 156mph is the fastest I could manage without a gravity assist. After that, all that was left was to fill up again in Pahrump, NV and then head back to the hotel.

Day 3 (244 miles. temperature: 45F - 55F)

Since I had to have the bike back to the dealer before they closed, this was another shorter day. If I had it to do over, I'd have just spent it back up at Mt. Charleston, but not for the reasons you might suspect. I had planned to take I-15 to I-215 and then head down to Searchlight. But, having completely missed the sign for 215, I decided to just go ahead and ride back and forth on NV-164 rather than double back. There's really not much to say about the first part of the ride. Aside from seeing so many joshua trees in one place, there wasn't much to see on the ride. There were a few things I would have liked to photograph. But, being the ADD wonder that I am, the battery for my camera was still in the charger back at the hotel.

I was surprised to see even less at the "towns" along this ride than I saw in Beatty, especially when I hit Nipton, and then Cima, with a low tank. By the time I hit the truck stop at I-15, after putzing at 45mph to conserve gas all the way from Cima, the estimated range on the bike had been flashing "0" at me for about 3 miles. When you live where I do, you sort of expect the find gas anywhere that rates being listed as a town on the map. Obviously, I have some things to unlearn if I plan to spend as much time riding around the continent as I do.

After I hit the interstate again, I was off to Jean, Nevada and Sandy Valley Road. I learned a couple more valuable lessons here. First lesson: Sandy Valley Road ROCKS! I could spend an entire day on here and not get bored. Second lesson: when I set up the route for the day, Google Maps was determed to make me double back through Vegas to get from point "E" on the route to point "F". If I had looked at the estimated travel time once I forced it through Sandy Valley, I might have guessed why. Since I didn't pay attention to that, I ended up learning how to take a K1200GT offroad for about 16 miles. I started out going pretty slowly because I thought the rock/gravel road would turn back to pavement after a few miles. Once I realized that I was wrong, I only had 10 miles left, so I just kept picking up the pace. By this point, I might as well have been on a GS. I was doing 35-40mph, standing on the pegs nearly the entire way, and the K1200GT just ate it up. I couldn't even find a mark on the fairing once I finally reached NV-160.

After this, I headed over to Red Rock Canyon to check out the scenery on my way back to the dealership. Despite the dust, and going over on mileage, they didn't charge me anything extra there. I think the only thing I could possibly think to complain about with them was that they didn't have any dealership t-shirts in stock at the time.

More on reloading

Strangely enough, one of my posts has managed to somehow make the first page on a google search for "homemade ammo". For anyone who is looking at that one, I thought I'd add a little something I've learned from reloading. If you're going to try reloading, my biggest piece of advice would be to start with 9mm ammo. Of the calibers I have done so far, 9mm is the only one so far that appears to be impossible to overload. I had thought that switching to a powder that would only need 5 grains of powder, as opposed to 7 grains, would leave more room in the cartridge. Instead, it turns out that the other powders just didn't pack as well and took up as much room. I also haven't been able to get remotely close to the minimum overall length specified for any max load I have used. The powder takes up so much space that the bullet just won't press down that far.

To put it simply, I have yet to press a bullet in far enough to risk high pressures, and the one time I "double loaded" a cartridge, I had a huge mess on my hands.

Home for the Holidays, and the 10K mark

While my wife and I are effectively boycotting the holidays by heading to Vegas on Christmas morning, I felt like I should at least visit my parents for an evening before we left. Being a bit sick in the head, I took the motorcycle out there and back. I knew going into this that it would be 40-45 degrees on my ride there, and 50-55 with torrential rain and 25mph winds on the way back. But, since days off for bad weather won't be much of an option during my trip to Nova Scotia, I headed out anyway.

The trip out was pretty uneventful. I hit the road at 4pm, so most of the ride was in the dark. The first thing to start feeling a little numb was actually my head. Since I didn't have much luck keeping my first anti-fogging visor insert attached, and haven't taken the time to try again with the replacement I bought, I have to keep the visor cracked when it's damp out if I don't want a layer of fog in front of my eyes. As a result, I have to suffer through wind swirling around the top of my head. Fortunately, as evidenced by the fact that I left the house in this weather for a 4 hour ride, I'm not the brightest bulb. So there probably isn't actually enough blood flow to my head to worry too much about heat loss.

The next thing to start feeling the cold was my legs and my feet. This was the point where "I wonder if Widder makes heated pants to go with my vest?" started popping into my head. Thankfully, less than an hour later, I had reached my parent's farm, and it was time for a hot meal and gift swapping.

On Sunday, things got more interesting. The sky had already opened up, so I was thankful that I was able to pack my hard luggage inside, and then just walk it out to the bike. In addition to my Rev'it Cayenne jacket and Dakar pants, which actually did quite well at keeping me dry through light sprinkles on the trip up, I was wearing my BMW Rainlock Weather Suit. I was also wearing my Rev'it Fahrenheit Gloves (last years gauntlet model, not the current ones) and my Rev'it Atlas H2O waterproof balaclava.

The ride home started with a couple spin-outs in the mud and grass before I finally made my way to the gravel driveway. A little later, I laid the bike down at an intersection in Pamplin City. I foolishly assumed that a truck with it's right blinker on was getting ready to turn onto the road I was leaving, instead of into the gas station to my right. I started moving, and stopped about a foot later. But that one foot traveled was enough to leave me with nowhere to put my right foot. Fortunately, I know the correct way to pick up a bike. So, despite the fact that my bike was loaded up, and the slope was working against me, I had it up in a moment and was right back on the road.

The bulk of my trip was spent leaning about 10 degrees to the right just to maintain a straight line. I managed to get ahead of the heavy rain once I crossed back over I-95, but the wind never really let up the entire time. The final notable event on my ride was when I hit the 10,000 mile mark on my odometer right as I was leaving Suffolk (the "C" location on the google map).

I am happy to say that, aside from a little perspiration, I was dry as a bone once I got home. I already knew my BMW rain gear did a good job. But I was happy to finally own a pair of gloves that fared as well. The Rev'it Hydratex lining definitely did a better job than the Held Ice Breakers I had used on my trip to New Hampshire. As an added plus, the Rev'its were more comfortable and I could actually work the buttons on my gps with them. I think I'm almost done getting myself geared for cold weather riding. Once I find some way to keep my legs as warm as my torso, there shouldn't be anything left.

Concealed Carry Class

Recently, I decided to start putting my NRA instructor certification to good use, and started helping a friend teach his Concealed Handgun Permit class. Granted, there's no such thing in Virginia as a "concealed carry class" as such, or at least the state doesn't give any real guidance on what needs to be covered by a class like that. As such, our class is just an NRA First Steps class, with a little extra time spent on explaining Virginia gun laws.

This most recent class, I had a new winner for scariest response to a question in class. There are a few things we like to stress in one portion of the class. The first is that you don't draw your firearm unless you believe you are going to have to shoot to protect yourself, and you have to have the will to pull the trigger once you draw. The second is that you have to have the self-control to not shoot if the criminal bolts as soon as you draw. There is a third thing we use a scenario to highlight, but I'll get to that in the story.

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Me: "Ok, a guy comes at you with a knife. You draw your firearm, and he hightails it as soon as he sees the barrel come up. At this point, is everything over?"

Them: .....stare blankly, followed by one or two saying "I guess so."

Me: "No. While you go about your business, thinking it is over, the thug is on the phone telling the police that you pointed a gun at him for no reason, and you end up in cuffs. So do you think you should do to prevent this."

Normally, I get more blank stares. Occasionally, I get the correct response of "call the police first?". On Saturday, I heard "So should I shoot him before he gets away then?".

The fact that I visibly cringed at this response was a pretty clear indication to the rest of the class that this was definitely NOT the correct action.

Me: (pulls cell phone from my off-hand pocket) "No. You use this. You call the police before he can. Police will try to claim this isn't true. But when it's one man's word against another, the first one to call is generally considered the real victim. You DO NOT shoot a fleeing man in the back."

As much as I love teaching people to shoot, and helping them be able to carry concealed for their protection, comments like that scare me. It's not his answer to that question that scares me. What scares me is that he may have another screwed up notion about something important, and I haven't thought to include that question in our course. I realize that the state only requires me to conduct a safety course, and that I only have an obligation to make sure what I say is correct. But I still wish that there was some way I could actually prepare a class for every circumstance in a four hour course.