My normal commute: ~55 minutes
My “school’s out” commute: ~40 minutes
My “There is precipitation on the ground, in the air, in the forecast, or it possibly looks like it might rain sometime this week” commute: ~1hr 15 minutes
Today I made it to the office in 26 minutes, and I stopped for breakfast on the way in.
Himalayan cut like a lion
I know I’ve talked about this before, but since I can’t find a link I’ll mention it again. There is a neighborhood in Nashville called East Nashville, or just “East” to some people. East Nashville has been “up and coming” or “in the process of gentrification” for at least the last 15, probably 20 years. Young, white liberals moved into pockets of East Nashville surrounded by MDHA housing projects, section 8 housing, and halfway houses for felons and druggies. These things were already there, haven’t gone anywhere, and by the looks of things aren’t going anywhere any time soon. It’s quite easy to find a condo that last sold for $250,000 nestled between a four unit cinder block apartment and a crack house.
New residents and business owners in East Nashville are shocked, SHOCKED! to discover that these neighbors see them as income sources. New restaurants are frequently robbed. So are residents. Usually no one is hurt, but that’s not always the case.
So, what do these people do to combat crime in their area? Install alarms, surveillance cameras, and “No Guns Allowed” signs. You know, because criminals are deterred by signs. By and large they shrug violent crime off as a cost of living in the “right” zip code.
I try not to go to East Nashville because of the combination of high crime and victim disarmament policies. Pretty much every restaurant in the area is posted, but yet East Nashville still has the highest violent crime rate in the area. Unfortunately, my wife and I have several friends who live there so I can’t entirely avoid it.
Apparently they think SOPA is just great.
I’ve never used GoDaddy since I always felt they were a bit sleazy.
I switched all my domains to NameCheap.com earlier this year and they are awesome. They are so awesome, in fact, that if you use coupon code SOPASucks they’ll transfer your domain for $6.99.
Go do it. Now. GoDaddy is like the Bank of America or GM of domain registrars. Eff em.
Last year, Republican Speaker Beth Harwell told legislators not to bring up gun bills.
Looks like the leadership is doing it again this year.
Remind me why I spent so much effort getting a Republican majority in the TN House? I have forgotten.
If YOU get caught selling counterfeit goods, expect to get raided, your stuff to get confiscated, and spend some time in prison.
If a Detective gets caught selling counterfeit goods, expect them to keep their jobs while authorities decide whether or not to demote them. Jailtime is for those other people.
Please update your scorecards.
Oddball and I go way back. He and I ran in the same circles in high school, and we think we might have run into each other back then. We really started hanging out about 7 years ago when I moved back to Nashville and started getting involved with a local group of geeks.
When I started this blog, I knew from day one that I’d bring him on eventually. He’s the guy that helps me put on “New Shooter Range Day” and I often ask him to join me when I’m taking someone new to the range. His firearms focus is more from the historical perspective than mine (his only EBRs were bought from me). Loves his Nagant and .22lr revolver.
He also loves his cars. I’ll let him tell you about his Fiero.
And of course, since I met him through a group that puts on a hacker convention every year, he’s got mad tech skills, too!
My goal for 2011 was to get a suppressor. That’s still in progress, but I’ll call that a success.
My goal for 2012?
Take as much training as I can. Cool guy gear is nice, but being able to run what you brung is more important IMHO. I had a blast at LuckyGunner’s event last year, and the highlight was the training class from Rangemaster. It really whet my appetite for gun school.
I’m already signed up for an NRA Certified Pistol Instructor class. With that, I’ll also be able to become a state certified Handgun Carry Permit instructor–but that’s not the point of me taking the class. The point, for me, is to be credentialed. I have this feeling that if I’m credentialed, new shooters will be more comfortable taking instruction. Might be just in my head, though.
I want to take four other classes throughout the year. I am open to suggestions on where to go and what to take. Right now, I think I want to take classes that cover:
So, anyone have suggestions? I’d like to stay within 200 miles of the Nashville area if I could, but I may be open to classes farther away. I certainly don’t want to have to pay $500 for airline tickets to a $90 class, though.
One more criteria: Weekend classes > weekday classes. My son is due in February and I’m pretty much going to burn all my vacation for that.
