Dawn and I were going to buy a LCD together for Christmas this year, but Tom surprised us with one when I was visiting in Atlanta. That led to quite a bit of deliberation about what to buy each other for Christmas and our birthdays. (Dawn's birthday is also in January.)

What to buy, what to buy...? When Dawn and I go shooting, we always feel like we'd like to have an extra pistol. To be fair, Dawn has many extra pistols including a .38 Special that makes quite a bang when we fire it. But we don't (or didn't) have a 2nd .22 target pistol. Usually we alternate between Dawn's rifle, a Clark custom 10/22 Ruger, and her Ruger .22 Mark II pistol. But then we're in separate rooms and end up renting something if we want to bring Carly along for example.

Well, I've had my eye on a Browning Buck Mark ever since I shot one up in Atlanta with Tom. I liked the feel a little better than the Mark II, though the Mark II is an absolute pleasure to shoot. But did we want a 2nd Mark II?

The don't make the Mark II anymore. Now you're looking a Mark III unless you want something used. Dawn and I spent a LOT of time at the store holding different Brownings and Rugers trying to decide what we preferred. The Mark III feels different than the Mark II, though there is a variant that is very similar. ( And there are plenty of variants of the Buck Mark as well.)

But to make a long store short, this is my new (and first) gun.

I was going to get the variant with a wooden handle and with a fiber optic site (the same that I shot in Atlanta), but when I held this lighter composite model with rubberized grip, it was beside myself. The gun is just wonderful to hold, and this is what Dawn bought for my Christmas/birthday present. ("Thank you Dawn!")

We had such a hard time though deciding between this gun and the other variation, that Dawn decided she wanted the other for herself. We'd been talking about the idea of matching guns for Christmas, but this opportunity for an impulse "coordinating guns" purchase was too much for her to pass up.

Her gun does not have the scope as shown above, but it is the only photo I could find. I absolutely love both of these guns in their own way. Dawn just walked in and said she's going put the rubberized grip on hers as well, which makes me a little sad because the wood really gives this gun a lot of character. But there is no doubt that the rubber grips feel really nice. Her's has the fiber optic site, and is about a pound heavier than mine.

The second Buck ark is not what I bought for her present, however. She decided it was time to own a .9mm gun. Dawn is a Ruger girl and so is now a proud owner of the Ruger P95.


We can't actually get the guns until next week because of the 3-day waiting period, and that is just driving us insane.

We're going to wait until later in the year to buy some targeting scopes for the Buck Marks. We don't want to go overboard on our shopping! But I can't wait to try them out.

Tom and I were on a crazy puzzle-game rampage this Christmas week, so I thought I'd blog a little about Luminosity. I don't remember how I stumbled across this site, but I've had a lot of fun with it last year. And I notice that when I was play through all the games on a regular basis, I'm more productive in general, and my mood is better overall.

I should clarify by saying I'm more productive when I don't pull an all-nighter trying to get to the next level on some game, like I did with the final level "Bird Watching". And Tom apparently blew several hours trying to improve his speed scores yesterday when he should have been working!

It's very addictive. In fact, I find it as enjoyable as playing Warcraft in a way. Tom thinks it's because the quick reward system is similar, and I agree. Although, this is also much more fulfilling. (Unless you're running a large guild for leadership experience.)

Beyond the instant gratification though, Tom and I are very competitive. And now he's trying to catch up to some of my scores!

I've read that a score over 1600 BPI puts you in the 99.9th percentile for that game. So if you're competitive too, here's my Color Match score. I think I still have some room to improve, so hopefully I'll break that 1600 mark.


These games are just like physical exercise though and require that you work out each day to improve. I've noticed that having not played on the site for a couple months that I'm having trouble playing the levels I attained previously. My highest score on the last level of birdwatching is 20500 and right now that seems utterly impossible to duplicate. My BPI for that game is only 1212 however, so someone out there has eagle eyes like Dawn. (When we're kayaking Dawn will sometimes whisper something similar to "Look at that small dark bird covered in mud in the shadows under that bush on the other side of the river!" My response is always "Um, where again?")

Like the piano, improving also requires starting slow. And as my old piano teacher could tell you, I'm not very good at slow! I'd get a lot better, faster if I could learn that discipline.

Anyway, I recommend the site. There is a free trail that doesn't require a credit card or validating your email address. If you like the site, it's only $10 a month; and if you play there regularly I think you'll really notice the positive effects.

I just stumbled across an awesome puzzle game called Auditorium. I played through the first three levels. Sadly, the other levels are unavailable until they release the full version.

But if you like puzzle games at all, this is worth trying.

I'm a sucker for the pretty music and lights -- I think I bought the PS3 just to play Flow.

I was just telling Dawn about Obama's choice of Rick Warner to lead the inaugural.

...Proposition 8, California's ban on gay marriage, which Warren strongly supported. In fact, he has compared same-sex nuptials to approving polygamy and pedophilia.

Dawn looked down out Pumpkin sitting on the floor next to us and said, "Pumpkin it'd be just you and me... if only you were a kitten." (The Mormons actually go on to say that homosexuality inevitably leads to bestiality.)

That cracked me up and I had to share. People like Warren with their ridiculous and hateful bullshit make me want to scream. If there is a hell, he'll be there. And I won't feel sorry for him.

One of my bigger problems at the moment is a tremendous backlog of pictures that I need to edit. I've gotten better at culling my pictures immediately after a trip, but editing and printing is another matter.

For lack of a decent laptop, I'm trying to get a little photography work done before heading up to Atlanta for a week. In the midst of that, I stumbled across this picture, which I did edit, from our vacation out to Utah last summer.

I'm really hoping to put up a gallery on photo.net soon. If you've never been to photo.net there are a plethora of breathtaking pictures and amazing photographers there.

 

 

 

 

Not much for a blog post tonight -- I'm busy working, have a TON of work left to do and Dawn and I are leaving for our road trip tomorrow.

But I'm taking a 5m break and am writing to say that the last episodes of BSG are just a month away. Who is the 5th Cylon? Can they keep the end from being cheesy? Will they go down in history as one of the better sci-fi series to date? The only thing I know for sure is I can't wait!

Someone made a great YouTube video that pretty well sums up how I feel about the Nikon D3x. I was just telling Dawn today that I might want to switch over to Canon in a few years. Here's the rub: When I update, regardless of whether it is Nikon or Canon, I'm going to have to buy new full-framed lenses. (The D200 and D300s uses DX lenses.) Basically that means I'm starting over. And if I'm starting over, I have the luxury of again asking myself "Nikon or Canon?"

I won't be upgrading for quite a while mind you. The equipment I have now is more than adequate. In fact, it's fantastic. And if I ever need to shoot low-light in a cathedral for example, I'll easily rent a couple D3s for the weekend.

But I'll be thinking about some new gear when the next generation of cameras arrives. (That is, if they do more than just add the ability to shoot movies. I'm going to be looking for greater dynamic range and more pixels of course.) And if Nikon hasn't wowed me by then with their new professional models, and by producing some long overdue lenses, Canon may get a new customer.

More and more I'm very impressed with restaurants (and other businesses) that get it right. And on the other hand, I feel terrible for the restaurants that don't. Mom and I had dinner at a new seafood restaurant tonight that just didn't get it right.

Walking in, I thought the atmosphere was very nice. But it went down hill from there. Mom is drinking a lot of sparkling water now, like Dawn and I. Especially with a little lemon or lime, it's a great replacement for soda. And it has a little kick that still water doesn't have, of course, and is nice when you're having dinner. They didn't have sparkling water. "Oh well. Just a bottled water then..." They don't carry bottled water. Mom went through a few options before she just settled on "a glass of coke."

That wasn't the worst part of the experience by far, but it bugs me when restaurants don't have sparkling or bottled water. I know some people think bottled water is dumb, but it beats the hell out of soda, and I don't drink alcohol. And though I'm sure some tap water is just fine, I've had plenty that tastes like dishwater. Just give me my damn bottled water.

I was annoyed too that Mom had to order soda, especially when she is trying hard to lose weight right now. But we come to the second topic that I think the restaurant missed on. The menu it was very hard to order anything on the menu that wasn't friend, or included a lot of carbs. This is a big miss in my book, because lots of people are watching their weight these days.

I should say here that the theme of the restaurant was a good one: sustainable seafood. They don't serve any seafood that isn't farm raised or sustainably fished. Let's just say there was a lot of shellfish on the menu. And trout. And a certain type of salmon from Alaska.

I decided to try the diver scallops. No carbs really, and when prepared well, I enjoy scallops quite a bit. --I had every reason to expect the food here would be exceptional. And to be fair, apart from the fact they weren't cooked all the way, they were quite good.

Mom saw me questioning the first scallop I guess when we started dinner. It tasted fine to me, had no bad smell of any sort, but it was a little cool in the center. I was confused because the top was charred (is that the right description?) nicely. But I guess that was done independently of the basic cooking.

Despite not really liking scallops, Mom reached over and helped herself to a bit and immediately made me send it back. We were sitting right by the open kitchen, and was able to watch as the head chef examined the dinner when the server brought it back. Sure enough, the head chef/owner acted displeased toward the cook who prepared the dinner and stood over him as he prepared a new plate.

The owner brought out the new plate, apologized, and sure enough it was very tasty. But it's hard to completely enjoy your dinner after having just been served partially cooked seafood. In fact, I was feeling a little funny on the right home wondering if I would be waking up on death's door in the middle of the night. (A quick search on Google reveals however that you can in fact eat completely raw scallops if they're fresh and good.)

Additionally, Mom's shrimp was overcooked. And the service was really just average.

Though very new, you can't afford to provide guests with anything other than a perfect experience in the restaurant industry. We won't be back. We won't recommend it. And that just kills me. It's a locally owned business, which I love to support. I love the idea of a sustainable seafood restaurant. And having a new trendy place in this small town is nice.

I suppose we could give it another try later, but it doesn't really work that way with restaurants. And I have more and more respect for restaurants that get it right from the very start and then keep it together later.

I think you have to click on this to make it bigger. Anyway, I don't think this is supposed to happen!

I've been just terrible at updating the blog. It's much easier to post good YouTube clips.

But you know as I sit here, supposedly working, but actually distracted (as I often am), I'm drinking tea. --And that does deserves a good YouTube video, because it's really not enough to blog about.

"Drinkin' tea, Drinkin' tea, What it do is magic!"

(Mostly it makes me tinkle a lot...)