I was waiting until I had the time to read this to post a review, but I'd rather get the link out there.

A friend of mine wrote a book!

More info is available here.

I read the story as he posted it on his blog, and it was good.  I can't wait to dive in to the book!

Go get yourself a copy if it interests you, and write an Amazon review.  :)

Satisfaction.

Satisfaction is taking a person from total gun newb to multiple purchases in the span of less than a year. I love being able to help that progression along. The person in question had only ever handled long guns (and maybe twice, at that) before I took him to the range to learn to shoot pistols. He has taken this new hobby beyond my expectations. He now has a collector's license and has decided on everything he's buying between now and 10/1. He's acquired at least two AR lowers, has three pistols lined up, an M1A, and is considering an AR10 after things settle down.

He was previously uninvolved in politics, and I even got him to go with me to the protest back in the beginning of the year. One person at a time, we're winning.

Some of you might find this interesting.

A friend of mine is doing a series of posts on the Federalist Papers. He's attempting to translate them so normal folks, not just history and politics dorks, can fully understand them. Go check them out!

Attention locals: get your TP casseroles ready!

The panic is strong with this storm. As Hurricane Sandy slowly works her way toward land, newscasters and locals are panicking. The Mayor has already declared a state of emergency. Those of us who prep for things like this regularly are ready for Sandy, but there's one thing left for us to do.

We have to make our TP casseroles. Normally this is a winter-only recipe, but with the amount of panic I'm seeing around here, I think we can adapt it for hurricanes.

Reposted with permission, and with my edits in bold.

1 Forecast of at least 1 FRANKENSTORM
3 cups of Baltimore News Channel Reporter and TV Crew
3 tbsp of panic
1 closed school system (prior to the storm)
1" of rain, with significant wind
1 gal 2% milk
Doz & 1/2 large eggs
1 full loaf of Wonder Bread (white preferred)
1 Charmin value pack (8 rolls)

Take one mixing bowl and place the Baltimore TV weatherman's forecast of a high risk of FRANKENSTORM on the 6 PM evening news. Watch this newscast until you hear the word "storm," "wind gusts," or "FRANKENSTORM" repeated at least 6 times. At which point we then shake in 1 cup of the Baltimore News Channel Reporter & TV Crew doing live shots before one drop of water can even be seen. This live shot may include canned footage of newscasters looking out to sea for their elusive ratings.

At this point, take one of the 3 tbsp of panic and use it in the mixing bowl of sensationalism. Go to bed, and let the mixture percolate in the fridge over night. At 5am the next morning, arise from bed and check the local news to see that the TV crews are still indeed doing their live shots from last night. If they are, turn on your AM radio to 1090. If at least one school system has closed, look out your window to confirm no rain has hit the ground. At this point, mix in the 2nd tbsp of panic, wake and dress the kiddies so you can get them ready to go to the store.

While at the store, head straight for the diary case first. Eggs and milk are the first things to be picked over, followed by bread. Toilet paper will be the last product to be picked over of the four main ingredients. Do not purchase any other products as this will prevent the casserole from being adequately formed. Use the express lines in the grocery store, and chat with as many people as possible about the yet to occur storm in hopes you will induce enough panic to cause your sensationalism to build to ludicrous speed.

Exit the store to head home, but if you would happen to see any TV crews, make sure you stop and talk with them, mentioning the fact that you were fortunate enough to be the last person to get any of the key ingredients to make your casserole. Safe guard these items with your life because if they should be stolen, your life will most certainly come to a screeching, panic induced end.

Once at home, retrieve your mixing bowl from the fridge and let warm. Once the TV crews report the first drop has hit the ground, you can then mix in 3cups of milk, and your remaining tbsp of panic. Crack open 2 large eggs and place the remainder in the fridge. Fold in one roll of toilet paper and 4 slices of bread. Mix thoroughly until well blended.

Poor mixture into one medium sized casserole dish (preferably Pyrex) and let bake @ 350 degrees until the end of the storm.

Servings are variable by nature, and not known to contain any nutritious qualities.

Oh, and don't forget your pallets of water.

Attention history fans

A buddy of mine - who happens to be a HUGE fan of history, mostly Civil War-related stuff - just got his blog up and running. Go check him out. :)

...Get by with a little help from my friends...

I don't normally talk about my problems on here. Might rant a little here and there, but overall I try to keep this more about gun stuff than personal stuff. I think I succeed, most of the time anyway.

I'm going to break that rule today, for one particular reason. Someone needs to be thanked, because he's awesome.

First, though, here's what I've been dealing with. Back in the last week of July, I went to the emergency room. I was severely jaundiced, in significant pain, very dehydrated, and having a second panic attack in as many days due to that pain. I'm that crazy person who drove herself to the ER despite the pain.

Arrived at the hospital, got through triage VERY quickly, and was booked in a room within 2 hours. While in the ER I sucked down two bags of saline - apparently I was VERY dehydrated. Due to the condition in which I arrived I didn't leave for 5 days - I went in on a sunny Wednesday afternoon and left the following Sunday evening. During that week I had an ultrasound, a HIDA scan, and an MRI. They tested for everything, including a full hepatitis blood panel. I was on a liquid diet until Sunday (my last solid meal that week had been Monday evening). By Thursday evening, I was extremely worried...they honestly thought I had Hepatitis A. I spent that day worrying and trying to figure out how it would affect both Chris and I. Fortunately, by Friday all signs of hepatitis had been ruled out. Sometime during those two days I managed to pass at least one gallstone, and by Friday I no longer needed the dilaudid they had been pumping through my system. Saturday I had surgery to remove my gall bladder, and I was sent home Sunday after my first solid meal in a week.

The stress from that week was almost more than I could handle...and Chris was an absolute rock. Thank god for that man. The following week was spent at home, mostly by myself, stressing over the bills. Few people checked up on me and the only visitors I had consisted of Chris's mother and my parents - I was lonely. And sad that the people I considered my closest friends mostly ignored me. It's a trivial thing, I suppose. Anyway, I have mentioned my situation once or twice since then in comments on other people's blogs, but I never went into the scope of what happened or just why I was worrying.

I recovered rather quickly and my quality of life has improved significantly. It's amazing to me just how long I had been living with something that could have been fixed with a simple outpatient procedure.

All that aside, in my post from October 1 I complained of not finding what I was looking for at the gun show down in Virginia, and left it at that. I figured I'd just keep looking when I had money again. (And, again, we had a great time down there. And I'm grateful for friends who open their homes to us. Seriously, this group of people is pretty amazing.)

And Bubblehead Les swooped in and gave me something that really turned some of my stress and anxiety around. It was a small gift - an ammo pouch packed full of stripper clips for my Mauser - but it's more than I ever would have expected. Thanks, Les. You're an awesome person. May have been nothing for you to send it, but I really do appreciate it. And yes, I'll put the money I would have spent on that towards one of my bills. :)

If this got rambly, I'm sorry. I've got a cold building in my sinuses and I tried my best to write this clearly.

Went to the fun show, saw nothing of import, and drank bourbon. Also, School House Rock.

Chris and I, with MikeW in tow, headed souf to Virginny on Saturday for the Nation's fun show and subsequent blogmeet. I was on the hunt for 8mm Mauser surplus ammo and stripper clips (I only have 5, and I need to remedy that). I also hoped to get my mitts on the re-release of the Savage Model 42 as well as check out prices on SBR uppers for funsies.

Chris, I believe, was simply there to look for things he doesn't normally see as well as shop for ammo. Mike was also ammohunting.

Before heading around the show, we met up with MSgt B, The Miller, TBolt, and Broken Andy. I don't know if other folks showed up before we all dispersed.

What we found was...disappointing, at best. Gun prices were average-to-high. I saw NO SBR uppers whatsoever for sale by the time we got there (though someone I know got lucky), no surplus 8mm, and no stripper clips whatsoever. I bought a dog-related item from a guy with patches and DVDs and some meat from this guy. Dude's meat is out of this world. A++ will buy again and all that. Also, he's super nice and practically begged us to stick around and let him continue to feed us jerky bits. Who am I to say no to free chunks of meat? :D ANYWAY, Chris DID get to see/handle a Seecamp .32, which was pretty neat, and a CZ 52, which he likes for the art deco look. I checked out the aforementioned Savage ($400 at a gun show, might be less at a shop) and not much else. The people at this show were far nicer than the folks at the Maryland show and there were a lot more pistols than at the York, PA show, but still...meh. Chris brought home a box of that cheap Mexican ammo to try as well as a couple of mags for an heirloom pistol in his collection. And Mike also bought meat and a couple bags of reloads. The car smelled faintly of jerky on the way home...

From there we went to dinner at some place around the corner from the expo center with The Miller, TBolt, Broken Andy, and Stretch (and wife). Dinner was...alright, not spectacular. Service sucked. The place was not that crowded for drinks to lack refills unless requested. Conversation was as expected: constant, entertaining, and full of stories. From there, almost everyone (minus MSgt B) headed back to The Miller's for bourbon, more stories, and School House Rock. And a drunk Laura eating Chris's head, zombie-style. Also, kitties (both living and taxidermied) begged for pettins, Marty's lovely wife provided us with a fantastic breakfast, and we came home tired. And my ribs hurt from laughing all evening. TBolt is a funny individual. All in all the weekend was a good one, and I'm thoroughly grateful for such fantastic hospitality from The Miller and his lady.

Post of the month.

Don't believe me? Go read it. I'm refraining from quoting because I'd end up quoting the whole dang thing.

Freestate Gun Range

I think this is the first time I'll be naming a range near us, but this one is worth talking about.

A few months ago, an entrepreneur came to Maryland Shooters with a question for the forum: "What do you want to see in a range?"  Naturally, the masses responded with enthusiasm.  This was unbelievable...a range actually wanted OUR opinions before opening?  REALLY??!?  Everyone listed their grievances with the other local ranges and specified things they absolutely wanted to see in this new location, and the owners took it all in...and thus far, they've made something excellent with it.

The range in question is Freestate, and out of all the ranges I've been to in Maryland, they're the one I'm actually going to join.  They have TWO bathrooms (where most have one, if you're lucky), classrooms, a waiting area with chairs and tables, an onsite gunsmith, a location where a  snack bar will be (in the works right now), and air conditioning on the range itself.  The guys who own and operate the location are courteous, friendly, and welcoming.  The range itself is modern, with an electronic target deployment system and active targets, and a bag bench behind the shooting stalls.  Oh, and they allow .223 rifles AND silhouette, zombie, "bad guy," and animal targets  They have a decent class offering including Tactical Pen.  Memberships are under $300 (cheapest around, from what I've seen...), and I'd say it's worth it.

I waited until my third visit to the range to do my writeup because I wanted to see them under different situations.  Here's a summary of the three visits.

First visit: Fourth of July weekend with Chris, friends MB and P, and myself.
The visit itself was nice enough.  We were given the tour of the place, shown how to use the target deployment system, and set up with two lanes.  Overall the experience was pleasant, but we could tell they were still working on things.  The women's bathroom was lacking fixtures and had a unisex sign on the door.  I brought this up and was told it would be better by the next visit.

Second visit: Two weeks ago with Chris and his coworker, my coworker, coworker's SO, and myself.
This visit was more pleasant (despite a malfunctioning AC system).  We showed up around 10:15 and they were still setting up for the day - apparently they had people waiting outside before they opened at 10.  We were set up on three concurrent lanes and had our shooty fun.  My coworker and their SO had to leave early, so we closed out our two lanes while Chris and his coworker continued to shoot.  While I waited for them to finish up, I waited at the tables and had a nice chat with Randy, one of the owners.  We discussed the range, how business was going, and my opinions of other local public ranges.  I noticed he would not share any opinions of those other ranges and consistently steered the conversation back to his business.  This was incredibly professional, and made me feel more confident about the range sticking around.  Oh, he bought me a soda, but he didn't need that to win me over.  Promised I'd get a membership when I had the disposable funds for it.

Third visit: Last night with my cousin V.
They were busy! It took a few minutes to get us signed up for a lane (part of that was V filling out the initial waiver).  I did notice the clientele differed drastically from previous visits - most notably in the amount of female patrons.  For once, I wasn't the only female adult!  That said, I think the owners/ROs need to clearly define the rules regarding entering and leaving the range area.  There is a two door "airlock" sort of setup, where you must shut one door before opening the other to reduce noise between the range and the lobby.  The doors do not automatically shut, and apparently the individuals who were there last night assumed otherwise.  I had to correct the group more than once (because no one else was doing so).  This is a problem, and one I hope the range addresses.

Overall, I'm pleased with Freestate...and I'm never going back to the range we used to frequent.

I think the best birthday gift...

Is time spent with good friends.

Chris and I went to Virginia for the weekend to celebrate my birthday.  Newbius, NFO, Mike V, my old buddy S, and even my dearest friends L and his wife H (who trucked down from PA) hit the NRA museum and range with us.  We did the museum tour, then hit a restaurant for lunch and had a crazygood time while noshing on some pretty good food and having high-larious conversation.  After lunch Mike and Newbius had to skeedaddle, but the rest of us blew through a good bit of ammo at the range.

I learned:
1 - Gold Dot .45 ammo?  Holy Hannah.  I'm definitely not used to it!
2 - HK USP .45 = Heavy...and thick. Not my bag, but it shoots nice...it's just danged big for me.
3 - I am entirely too likely to drop the muzzle in anticipation of recoil when shooting .45, but I don't do so at all when I switch back to .380.  I really need to get some snap caps to practice more, I think...
4 - I need to lose weight so my holster fits better.  More on the holster later this week...Michael, we've got another winner!

Today we went to the newer Air & Space Museum...and it's well worth the $15 parking price.  Seriously.  Saw the Space Shuttle, the SR71, and a whole mess of other cool stuff.  If you're in the DC area, GO THERE.

Also, we stayed at the Springhill Suites Fairfax, and I can honestly say it's in my top 5 list of non-resort hotels.  If you find yourself needing a hotel somewhere near DC, GO THERE.  The room is EXCELLENT, the bed is comfortable, the staff is pleasant and helpful, and the breakfast is pretty good.  Oh, they'll have a flyer for a local pizza joint in the room...definitely order from there if you've got a hankering.  It's one fo the better delivery pizzas I've had in awhile.

All in all, this was a really nice weekend and I'm glad we decided to stay down there.  I'm also very thankful those who could make it out did.  I love you guys, and I'm glad I got to meet/talk with Mike. 

A close friend of mine asked me to boost the signal...

A woman close to a friend of mine is in a bit of a dire situation, medically.  She's selling crafty goods, both her handmade items and items donated by other people, in the hopes she can cover her bills.  Here's her story.

If you're not interested in the details but would like to see what she has for sale, please take a peek here and here.  Her direct donation link is here.

Thanks for looking.

"How did you become gunnies?"

Jennifer asked and lots of people are answering, so I figured I'd toss in my little story.

I remember, as a child, not being allowed guns.  The boys in the neighborhood had these neat guns that actually went bang, and I was insanely jealous...but terrified.  Y'see, my parents always appeared to be incredibly anti-gun.  They didn't like me having squirt guns, cap guns were a no-no, and BB guns?  Yeah, they didn't exist in my little world.  Heck, even snap-caps were absolutely verboten.  At the time, I though it was because my parents never wanted me to have any fun EVER because they were the MEANEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD.*

This got long, so hit the jump for the rest!

For new gun owners...

In honor of a good friend who recently attained citizenship here in the US (woo, conga rats!), I wanted to share two books worth checking out.

Dirtcrashr has more California-specific info, as well.

Woo!

Looky whose work got a big-time review!

Go read it. :D

New thing!

I've been talking with Jennifer about a good way of supporting her husband Michael and his business. If you recall, I got my super awesome purse of awesomeness from Michael about 2 months ago, and am absolutely in love with this thing.

Well, I think people need to know just how talented this man is when it comes to working with leather. There is now a banner at the top of my blog. Go give Michael some love and order a holster, belt, or purse from him, will you?

Friends are mind readers!

This weekend, C and I had a party...Mike dropped by and decided to bring belated birthday pressies with him.

I swear, the guy can read my mind. He somehow *knew* I needed another mag for my Bersa. He also gave me a nifty Bersa tank top. In exchange, I gave him food and fun for a weekend. :D

Mike, I love ya. :D