So it’s been an interesting last week. Mainly there was a fire at work and that made the last two days of the work week rather interesting. Put simply, it was pretty long…really so on Friday, as we worked to pretty much put some normalcy into the affected area. This was pretty interesting because this was a weekend to look forward to and I was hoping that it wouldn’t be canceled, it was already going to be quite tiring to begin with.

For those that didn’t fully notice the subtle hints here and there (and not so subtle as well) a trip to Houston was planned. Delayed for a few weeks, but it was planned alright. This was pretty much spurred by a curiosity that Chip had of a place I’ll just call Papa. I’ll try to remember to explain why, unlike other places I’ve gone to and mentioned online, why I have swept this one into obscurity. Normally, there would have to be even more, and better, reasons to go do a four hour one-way trip down to Houston. Some of it was the simple fact that it’s been a long time since I’ve been there, and it was to visit relatives in the yuppity outskirts (The Woodlands) of Houston, so it didn’t really count. Other than relatives, the only thing I remember of Houston is the NASA center. So yeah, I wouldn’t mind going at it to explore the city again.

However, I did have good reasons…three good reasons: Kim, Moni and Jason. Out of the three, Jason is the one I had recently seen, doing his occasional visits back up to the Dallas area. He’s fairly consistent about popping his head up at least once or twice a year, but it would be good to see him again because he also hasn’t seen recently (to my knowledge) Kim. It’s been about two and a half years since I’ve seen Moni while we were both back up in Virginia, my time in the Navy and the Cole wrapping up a content final weeks. Despite being in Texas, the closest I’ve really ever been to her was when I went down to San Antonio to see Sean. Then there’s Kim, where the time between seeing each other is passing six years. The last time I saw her was (I think…bad memory!) back in 2000 while taking convalescent leave back at home after returning from Yemen. I did not get to attend her wedding a few years ago and she is but a short time away from expecting her first baby. It’ll be busy for her after that happens, so it was really the natural choice to jump on this opportunity to go down to Houston.

So, after the long day at work…repairing the damage to the fire that occurred where I worked, it was time to go whether I was exhausted or not (which I very much was). I went and picked up Chip and Dylan, who were waiting in downtown for me, then after a final check of directions took I-45 south enroute to Houston.

We did a quick eating stop while I called up Moni and Kim to help finalize the plans. I hadn’t gotten a response from Jason, so I wasn’t sure if I had the correct number or not. On the way down, we somewhat settled on Carrabba’s which most people like Italian food and I figured the food would be good enough at Carrabba’s without breaking the bank (I was planning to pay the whole lunch and had an undisclosed amount of money…it didn’t matter if everyone all of a sudden grew Chris Appetites, I will be able to pay for it).

Now, I had been warned about the traffic situation in Houston, that there were many areas that are under construction. I was also well aware as to the size of Houston, a fairly sprawled out city covering a lot of ground. I kind of snorted that the outer loop highway running around downtown was a tollway, and I had to test my TxTag to make sure, indeed, that it worked down in Houston. When I got to the toll plaza, I went over to the right where one of the automated booths were to test my tag. Nothing happened as I approached and realized there was no sensor in this particular booth. I’m very sure they did that for people like me. So I threw $1.25 in quarters and continued on my way. Next plaza, they had what is called a “full service” booth that had a sensor and I was in line forever. I watched as the lady in the booth handed a clipboard to the driver to sign…are you kidding me? Finally, after long last…I just blew past her and was rewarded with a green light indicating that my tag works in Houston. Went up a giant High Five type drive to get to I-10…except there were no lights up there, only seeing via my headlights and the city lights below. I wouldn’t be surprised if at least two cars have driven off to their death because of this.

We went ahead and hit up Papa first thing once we realized where our hotel was. On the way there, we were amused by a Maxima and a minivan that seemed to race each other. We got to our location, easily identified by “tricked out” import cars. Though all that was probably done was sport exhausts…and that’s it. We get in and realize the ghetto and emo are the overwhelming personality demographics of this place. I didn’t expect it to be too big, and I was right…their website was fairly different in the pictures that it showed. But I was a little tired, so I’d have to soak it in a little later. Bought a card and played the first MT game, with shifter on the left. Weird but okay, though my beloved RX-8 isn’t in the game. We played for a bit then headed for the hotel and got our rooms. I forgot how much I loved a King sized bed.

Next morning I went to grab a few things and then began doing some final coordinations with Kim and Moni. Chip, Dylan and I found the nearest mall to us and decided to poke our head. Nothing too special in there except for a giant “incinerator” at the food court, and while I was talking with Kim I saw an old lady with biceps that would make Bruce Lee feel inadequate…easily questioning her original gender or her drug free biochemistry. Finally, we figured it was best to go ahead and somewhat “prestage” and use the spare time we had to get to the area. Took the ghetto road of Westhimer (forgot how that was spelled…oh well) and made it to the tollway then I-10 towards downtown. While our hotel sits next to I-10, the highway is closed so everyone’s using the service road. No thanks!

After dropping Chip and Dylan off so they could check out the Galleria, I reversed and headed for Carrabba’s…barely arriving in time. Moni had called and, being the ever early and “hurry up and wait” former Sailor, had called earlier and said she was already there. I just thought she was already inside, but I didn’t see her as I went up and down the restaurant. Finally called her and she was in her car, apparently I did a really cool ninja move (called Get Out Of The Car And Walk Into The Restaurant…Punch) and entered the restaurant while she was in her car. So she came in and we got ourselves a table and did some quick catching up on how things were and, inevitably, reflect on some times in the Navy. Moni’s timer has been reset to zero.

In a few minutes, a person who matched Kim’s description entered. No, Kim hasn’t really changed in appearance…it just sounds more dramatic that way on this blog, I mean…it’s coming up on about seven years since I’ve seen her! So she joined in with the table, her and Moni meeting for the first time when the conversation gets to Pascagoula and gold teeth.

Yes, perfect timing as Jason enters. Kidding on the perfect timing, but heck…what a way to meet up with friends, sit down and join a conversation! This particular Carrabba’s didn’t have what I usually have (pfft, usually have…I’ve only been twice and I’ve had two different things since…but I know which is my favorite and that’s my “usual”!), but I noticed they had the Pollo Rosa Maria which Christine likes so I ordered that. I think some sort of ravioli was ordered by Moni, I forgot what Kim got (for the moment) though I want to say pasta or lasagna…I dunno…and Jason got some Tangfolio…something that started with a “T”!

Oh what stimulating and diverse conversation we were having! There was a table behind and to my left that got a new party and I was aware of one of the ladies constantly looking at our table. Oh well, it’s not like we’re spilling spaghetti sauce on your lap…or are we? So we eat away and the Pollo Rosa Maria was pretty good and I heard pretty much the same thing throughout the table. A little catch up on high school times and a little of catching up on the days on the high seas. Basically, Moni learns I was a loud little trombone player in high school and Jason and Kim learn that somehow, with crazy people like Moni and I in the Navy, we still manage to win wars!

So in typical character, we finish our lunch and I’m busy attacking a tiramisu and we continue the conversation.

The conversation continues even more…

…and continues…

…our table is slowly, progressively being cleared…

…one by one, our plates are taken…

…the bill and tip are taken…

…being military, Moni and I have plenty of sea stories though she pretty much tells most of them…

…our drinks are taken away…

…we talk about more crazy sea stories, stupid people, and how in general the higher rank you are the less common sense you have…

…our napkins are taken away and they pretty much have the table exactly how it was before we sat there…

…so Moni says she finally has to go so she can get into the I Am Smarter Than Thou Club. Actually that’s pretty cool, it gives her something to do whereas she may end up just using that time being on MySpace all night, lol.

So we get up and go and get our picture taken before we all bid farewell to Moni and about five hours have elapsed so far.

In almost typical high school characteristics, Kim, Jason and I begin a diversified conversation at the handicap area of the Carrabba’s parking lot as we begin to note the sudden influx of people into the restaurant.

A guy who came into the restaurant when we started talking is just leaving the restaurant after finishing his dinner and wanted to check the time to make sure he didn’t eat too fast. We’d been talking for about an hour and Kim’s husband is probably wondering if we kidnapped Kim or something.

The conversation slowly slips into the bad drivers in Houston and how many Lexus vehicles have driven by as I identify the different Lexus vehicles (surprise surprise!).

Some guy in a Porsche Carrera shows up, sees the full parking lot and decides to create his open parking spot. Rich snitch.

We continue talking after expressing disgust for Porsche Guy when Jason mutters something and we look over to see an old lady coming out of the parking, about to hit the Porsche with her BMW X5. I wave her to watch out, but she taps the car…we let her go, his fault as far as I’m concerned. Jason was gonna be evil and let her back up into the Porsche…I guess I was afraid she’d have a heart attack if she did hit it.

Eventually, the Porsche guy leaves and we are seeing many near misses in the Carrabba’s parking lot…you don’t have to look too far to see bad Houston drivers. We begin to go our own ways and I’m taking a pic of Kim and Jason with Kim’s camera and begin the countdown…

“One…two…” *HOOOOOOONK!*

We laugh…except that they saw someone in a Lexus SUV hit another car…in the Carrabba’s parking lot. I decide that for every day I’m in Houston, my Mortality Rate increases 30% and I finally officially say that one weekend in Houston was all it took to bump Virginia, where I’ve been for four years, down to second place in my head as having the worst drivers I’ve ever seen.

We get our pictures taken and we head off, to make sure…I lean on my horn as I exit the parking space. Only a deaf, blind person would hit me. Hey! What’s up with that guy? Can you see me or hear me? NOOOOO! *ahem* That’s a heck of a lunch, coming up on seven hours…all of us spent roughly a fourth of our day in an Italian restaurant!
So I get Chip and Dylan, who are watching their own traffic nightmare at the Galleria parking lot as I head that way and we decide not to explore around. Houston zoning laws seem weird, the most random fusion of yuppity and ghetto fused together. How are you gonna have a porn shop right next to the Galleria…which is even bigger than the Dallas Galleria?!?

So we head to Papa when we realize we are hungry…even though I left a restaurant an hour ago, lol. We stop at Jack In the Box where I get a BACON ULTIMATE CHEESEBURGER (I Caps this for someone, you know who…) when I notice three teenagers with which my Profiling Radar goes off. Yes, I profile…did me good while standing watch in the Navy, get over it. They asked for cups for water, but wanted the big cups. Yeah, raise your hand if you know where this is going? Yes, everyone except the cashier behind the counter passes the test. Sure enough, they fill up with the soda of their choice and head out the door.

So we begin eating our food and I want to take a picture of my burger when the door opens and there are the kids again. I guess they drank too fast and came back for refills before heading out the door. That was nuts. The rest of the time, I was glancing randomly out the different windows. How are you going to sit in a fast food restaurant and just anticipate an armed robbery. Thankfully for their well-being, they didn’t do that.

So back to Papa we go…and there’s the Scion xB from the night before, giving some base in the humid night. People break dancing on the sidewalks…and a pizza parlor that is open but with nobody inside. So we play different games, me pretty much just playing MT. Being more awake, I go to try to find the big lounge that I saw on the website. Yeah…right…the flat screen TV they had on the site was on a glass counter at the front that served no purpose whatsoever. Then there was this glass display with all these pastries and such…at least on the website. Real life, giant surplus of Pocky and Shrimp Chips. The only redeeming thing was there were inflatable Loco Rocos in the room, but you couldn’t buy one…so it didn’t really count. After Chip played a cross between some Jedi game and those side scrolling airplane shooters, we headed out. After not really coming up with anything worth braving the streets, we headed back to the hotel…being raced by a raised Ford F-250 that sat about five feet off the ground.

Slept in as long as we could before we had to check out. After check out we decided it was for our best health that we left Houston. Of course, there had to be another example. We were at a four way intersection and my light was red. Traffic on my left and right just got their green light when a biker on the right side left the sidewalk and simply continued on the crossing zone in front of the now moving cars with no hesitation.

I swear we were going to watch that guy die right in front of us.

Somehow, every car missed him…by inches…but missed him. The cars on the left slammed on their brakes as well as he came in front of them.

Yeah…time to go!

It was a bittersweet moment. Very bitter with the overall Houston experience of traffic and such, but very sweet to meet my friends from two different moments in my life and everyone got to hear the other side, which in the end is always a fun thing. I hope to never have such a long time in between again. Kim will have her baby pretty soon and will be really busy, so an early congrats by me. Hopefully I’ll have that baby seat made completely out of Kevlar and concrete, certified by the manufacturers of both the Pope Mobile and the Presidential Cadillac, made and ready!

Sorry for the delay on the post. It’s been a busy week and I haven’t fully rested up from Houston…I have my chance now…time for a simpler weekend! Till next time!

The pictures pretty much tell the story. May they ever be so lucky that I wasn’t there when they did this. I’m not going to say anymore, otherwise this would no longer be a family friendly post.

Oh I need to sleep…but I’m awake, so let me just type this away I guess. First of all, congratulations to Tony…he is a Surface Warrior in the US Navy! What a proud achievement as you can see him standing in the middle of an arena, spotlight just on him with some of the light hinting at the masses of other fellow SW Sailors in ranks around him! Har har har, congratulations to you! You have the knowledge to build an Arleigh Burke destroyer straight from scratch with a bar of soap, a toenail and some cranberry juice!

So the days have been random. The Christopher Assassins whine that my schedule hasn’t been consistent lately. Well, what do you expect. Hey, I was in Ghetto-Town a few weeks ago, where were you there? That was the usual riot of getting stars, enjoying the taunts of people racing against me and what not. Chip, Dylan and I would also diversify on a couple of games. I tried to imitate this one lady that we saw playing the drumming game…yeah, I still can’t do it as good!

This past week, Christine…as a lot of other people do…had Spring Break. This is where lots of students from elementary school to college take a week long siesta after a torturous, grueling and plainly mind numbing body and mind and relax because school is just such a tough learning place! That past weekend was really just a take-it-easy weekend. The weather was nice enough these past few weeks (really nice!) that it was time to do a little grilling for the year. She is also one of the fortunate few to get a sneek peak in learning some cool assassin techniques! Of course, people in the Real World don’t have Spring Break, so there wasn’t a whole lot to be done on the weekdays except to work and look forward to getting out of work. But hey, can you believe it’s already March of the year? I’ll be getting my Memorial Day holiday in May pretty soon before we know it (then Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years again…ugh, Time, don’t go THAT fast!).

Wednesday, we hit up the Gaylord Texan again for the first time this year. KLIF’s new morning host, Jeff Bolton, had just returned from a slightly over two week visit to Iraq. He was tired of what the news was showing here, seemingly not getting the right answers. So what does he do? He takes himself and two other KLIF workers and heads for Iraq. He does a few visits in the Green Zone in Baghdad, but then he puts on his armor and follows his security detail in the thick of things. He spends a good number of days in the hostile zone, including taking a helicopter flight to Fallujah while holding on tight as his Blackhawk swerves in the sky to avoid the rounds being fired at them. The news and stories that he gave are surely and easily very different from what you get on TV…but then again, it’s kind of hard to accurately say what’s going on when you just stay in the Green Zone and report your news on your hotel balcony and chasing the body bags. So, he was having a welcome home party at the Gaylord Texan and we went there, got some shirts and a CD of his shows, ate some good food then decided to be cheap and headed for Backyard Burger where Christine could try some really delicious chicken strips…and now that she knows how good they are, I will dangle them in front of her when she’s back in Lubbock, muhahahahaha!

Also, during this time we finally did a Talking Head show. With myself, Christine and Tony on the line, we made complete fools of ourselves and have further shown that a career in broadcasting is not for us! I also had bought the Casino Royale DVD and let Christine watch herself probably her first ever REAL Jame Bond. Sorry, all you Pierce Brosnan fans, you’re kidding me if you think he was a great Bond! If Arnold Schwarzenegger ever called a Bond actor a girly man, it was Brosnan!

Drawing from my experiences in meticulous planning and going from one event to another, this past Saturday (yesterday in relation to this post) was going to be a big fun filled one. It was St. Patrick’s Day, but it looks like drinking was gonna be minimized, if not outright eliminated. Yeah yeah, I know what you guys are thinking.

First up in line was the Dallas Auto Show. Of course, there was a little bit of Filipino Time with that one. Mainly because we arrived at the train station as the train just arrived (it was early!) and no matter how fast I used the ticket kiosk (which I wasn’t fast anyways because I don’t use this thing often enough), the train went by and we had to wait on the next one. Then Chip needed us to pick up something from him, but he was at work in downtown. So we got off the train and walked the several blocks to his shop and picked up the stuff, as he drove off on a run, eliminating any chance of getting a quick ride to the Convention Center. Feeling that it would be a waste of time to walk all the way back to the train station, probably to watch our train leave when we were a block away, I figured it was time to just walk across downtown Dallas and head to the Convention Center. It was a rather short walk, but feels long because I’m used to driving through downtown and that only takes a mere few minutes. While doing that, we amused ourselves trying to emulate a Marine Corps cadence that I found online, complete with near unpronounceable drill commands. Oh well, we didn’t care about the commands, it’s just hilarious to try to copy what the DI says in the video…watch it, you’ll see what I mean! I also got to relive a Tech Core Moment! Back in Tech Core, we marched to and from school. One day, marching from school and heading off to dinner, I hummed the song to a dog named Bingo, where I stomped and slapped my leg to the beat of B-I-N-G-O. Did a little of that to amuse ourselves on the walk across downtown. But in no time, we made it to the Convention Center!

After a quick look at the dogs the SPCA brought, we headed in to the auto show. I noted that instead of Outrun 2 being brought in like they did last year, they brought out the games The Fast and The Furious. I think they were better off putting Afterburner: Climax in there. Oh well, I guess what they had is better than that embarrassment of a new Initial D game where you can slide down the hill about fifty feet in reverse at a hairpin corner, and even make your car drop off a ledge about thirty feet in height with absolutely no detriment to your car or your times at all. Yeah, new Initial D game is more lame than Time Crisis 4.

For the most part, a good number of vehicles haven’t changed since last year so I didn’t have to worry about combing through the show as much. Just went to see the newer cars that actually interested me. Being us, we made our way straight to the “Asian car” section of the building where most of the Asian automakers are located…I say most because like last year, Mazda once again has a seemingly conflicted identity crisis and has remained to stay next to their Dark Side Emperor, Ford! The G35 sedan by Infiniti and the Nissan Altima Coupe were a few cars we kind of looked at. The couple Altima took a little getting used to but so far it looks okay, I like how the tail light assembly is back to red…which I think looks good for the new Altima. The clear looked cool on the last generation Altima, but the new ones now…I don’t know about that orange streak of a turn signal, doesn’t work with me. Same for the headlights, too much orange. Oh well. Though I didn’t expect them to be there, it would’ve been nice if I could’ve gotten to see a peek of the upcoming G35 coupe and GT-R. At the very least, it would probably draw some of the people in our way to those cars and leave us to be undisturbed.

Which brings us to the main thing we wanted to check out, which is Toyota’s newest Tundra full-size pickup. I thought it would be truly humorous to see little Christine in giant Tundra. I thought it was funny that if the door handles were any thicker, she probably wouldn’t be able to touch her own finger tips when grasping the handle. Inside, Christine noted how almost everything was large inside the truck, yet she needed no phone book to see above the dash. Though she may require two hands to manipulate the gear shifter, j/k! I showed her the wide arm rest and we popped the lid because they say you can put a laptop and file folders in there. Yes, we found out you can indeed put a laptop in there…in a matter of fact, Christine’s head fits in there very well also!

Of course, driving it was what we were here to do. I had gotten the opportunity to drive the truck at the Tundra Prove It event at the Bass Pro shop in Grapevine a few weekends ago. We registered and continued on around the building looking at the various cars from other manufacturers. Wayne wanted me to check out the Jeep Patriot so I ran a bit of an “ergonomics” test on the whole vehicle, which I give an overall score of a “B.” We did end up looking at a few exotics as well and even a few on cars. But with time not on our side because of the above mentioned Filipino Time, we decided to make a quick exit to the Toyota event outside.

There we waited patiently in line and started off with the FJ Cruiser, which we affectionately call the “Tachikoma.” Because we are pressed for time, we don’t ride in the same vehicle. We both got in our separate vehicles and drove over large berms and several bumps showing off a general idea of their off-roading capability. Don’t let the cute and quirkly look fool you, besides…they have three windshield wipers on the front windshield! After that, we stood patiently in line for the Tundra, though time was getting tight. There was a Chinese New Year Lion Dance at the Richardson Library coming up. Yes, the ultimate in Filipino Time…doing the dance so long after the Chinese New Year. But hey, that’s some fun skill so I don’t mind seeing them do it again.

We decide I’ll drive it first just because I want to drive the Tundra again. Then Christine will drive it and I’ll take a picture of her driving it. Mainly this giant dirt hill that they have that you have to drive up and down a steep angle. This dirt hill is somewhere around 20 to 30 feet high. After driving the Tundra (lots of fun!), Christine jumped in and I moved over to where could see the top of the hill and waited for her to go climb up. I told her to roll down the windows if she could, which she did and I overexposed my shots somewhat so that I could get a better picture of her inside the cabin. It was pretty cool!

With that, we ran to the train, but it was the wrong train. I didn’t think much of just taking that train, grabbing my car and driving up to Richardson. So we took the next train and got to our stop when a kid fell down the stairs and everyone just kind of stopped and stood there. After being a little lost, we finally made it to the library just as they finished the show. But in the end, Christine got to pose with one of the lions.

From there, we headed back to grab my car and decided to visit Northpark just to kill time as we were going to meet our Mom at Cheddar’s. The food was good, service not so. But I already commented on that. The iced tea was especially good, as was my chicken fried steak and the cookie monster dessert.

With a little bit of time left, I opted to try the Targetmaster shooting range in Garland. I wanted to go to DFW Gun, but it was further away and the day was almost over. Have been to Targetmaster for a few years and decided to give it a try again. I forgot how big it was inside and I wanted to check out the guns that they had there…but shoot first and then we’ll check them out later. We had the rifle range all to ourselves and we setup and Christine practiced a few drills. Her shots were almost all in the kill zone from 5 to 25 yards away, no problems.

I went and did a four round group check. Yeah, I haven’t shot lately as my shoulder is still hurting. I need to get it checked out. At 25 yards, my group on an empty spot in the targets were a large tennis ball sized group vs the smaller than golf ball size that is usually is. But this was Christine’s shooting time, so I figured I’d wait for another day to work on that myself. At this time, some lady with what I could tell from an initial quick glance was an expensive rifle walked in. She had this look that I didn’t really like and she seemed to want me to look and gawk at her unusual looking rifle. So what, big deal…it’s a Blaser R93 LRS2…a rifle I myself wanted to buy at one time, what’s the big deal? Besides, this rifle range was a mere 50 yards in my guesstimate. What on Earth is she doing bothering to fire the rifle at so close a distance?

We did a couple more drills as the lady about three lanes sat down in her chair (?!?) and sighted the rifle, firing shots here and there. The brake on her rifle could be felt and heard by me even more so than Christine who was just one lane away and shells were falling close to my head. It was at this point where the lady turned and yelled at us for Christine to move up in the lane. Christine was drilling with the rifle much like I do. I am just a few feet back from the lane. The object is to keep the muzzle from hitting the table that was in the lane when going from low ready to up on a firing position. But from about 3/4ths of the handguard on forward to the muzzle was between the partitions of the lane, deflecting any excess muzzle blast and preventing any erroneous muzzle sweep.

As a former line coach, one that actually cared what was going on…not just merely being qualified as one, I would like to hear any “reasoning” she would have to say about what Christine was doing. While some ranges don’t like having loaded guns at the low ready or any other position other than straight ahead, they would list those in their range rules. I found no such rule in this range, and the giant poster of rules was on the wall next to us. I looked once more and saw nothing that said that. But this was supposed to be a happy day, so I saw no need to go over something so meaningless as this. All I could think was the lady was annoyed by the muzzle blast, nothing more. If that’s the case, no room to talk as her larger round was causing more blast than us. Either way, Christine went ahead and went up to the lane booth and fired. Every round she fired, I saw the lady poke her head out from her own booth to glance at us. Uh-huh. If I was the only one in the range, I would’ve probably grabbed a shell casing from the floor and throw it at her the next time her head pops out like a gopher for the shots I fire.

We continued on practicing as Christine now got the hang of firing the rifle. We went on and brought the target a little closer again and worked on speeding up her string of fire while still remaining accurate. At about ten yards she would put a nice tight and quick pair at the target. It was at this time the lady got up and was moving around to all the other lanes and flipping the lights around. She was downright annoying me. Well, just before she did this she began a quick string of fire with her rifle. After flipping the lights in all the lanes but our, she got a broom and started sweeping her brass. I was intently watching Christine as she fired and began to load some more magazines when the lady just said in an ignorant way, “Just letting you know, our range is closed. It’s nine o’ clock.”

She works here?!? I checked the time, it was four minutes after closing. Yeah, time flies when you’re having fun…oh yeah, fun. Of all the ranges I have ever gone to since I started shooting back in 2000, every single one of them gave an advisory when it was getting close to the range being closed. So I called a cease fire to Christine and we quickly packed up ready to go. It’s when I put our guns away that she went over and swept our brass out to the range. Then I noticed it. At the start of the range by the line was just piles and piles of brass, did they ever bother to actually pick up the brass. This is the least clean range I’ve gone to as far as all this brass all piled at the start of the range. I didn’t like her, and her attitude to us both in just yelling at us over some personal annoyance to her (since it wasn’t a listed range rule) to her attitude in almost sneering at us that the range was closed was unacceptable.

We just left the range and went to pay for our range fees. For Christine and I plus two targets, that came to about $37 dollars. Range fees in TX are generally a little more expensive than VA, and this one was even more expensive than the DFW, Gibson’s or Garland. I give props for a 50 yard indoor rifle range, however. The guys behind the desk were cool, it was just this one lady with her overpriced indoor rifle. She even came out and was showing of her full house shots. Her target was a line of tiny cards and I guess you “shot poker” with the targets. I looked at a couple of the shots and I think they were pathetic. Give me my rifle open sight at her distance (30-40) yards and I could’ve probably matched the accuracy she was shooting. You’re showing off hitting 1.5″x3″ targets with a mid-powered scope on a $2,000 rifle from less than half a football field away…SITTING DOWN? Then you go in with the attitude that you have? Not only does your personality suck, so does your shooting. If I want to shoot rifle and the weather’s horrible outside, I’ll probably come back here…she was the only real annoyance. But the trade off of cleanliness, cost and especially her…I won’t be coming back very often. But overall it was good. Christine once again shows she shoots better than a majority of people on the ship, and that includes Aimpoint topped VBSS kids with their gee-whiz railed rifles with stubby barrels.

So she set out early this morning to head back to Lubbock, spring break drawn to a close. I woke up early to see her off and now figured I’d better get this out of the way before I lose the chance later this week to write this. Till next time!

See Christine climb the hill and other pics in my 2007 Dallas Auto Show gallery!

So I hear of that former Sailor who has been giving sensitive material out and praising the attack on the USS Cole. There’s other connections as well as an e-mail he wrote. This guy really got under my skin, hearing the news of him. My coworkers saw me with little emotion and a detached calm on the outside, but that is because my mind was frantically forcing itself to be calm. I don’t know why, but the news of this person made me burn with something that thankfully did not result in a rage.

Hopefully they max out whatever punishment they can dole out to him. Also, for his well being, may this Hassan Abujihaad, aka Paul R. Hall, and I never cross paths. It’s just weird, he wasn’t involved in the Cole attack, yet I despise him as if he did. I can only guess it’s the betrayal of the uniform, fake loyalty can get under my skin sometimes.