Anyway, he was talking about how Memphis was a blues and rock-n-roll town, and I interjected that he didn’t have to tell me, because I live here.

“You do?  In Memphis?”

“Yep.”

“You ever been to Range Master?”

The answer to that is, no, I have not.  I did my CCW training at Range USA, and because it’s familiar, I’ve been going there for all of my shooty goodness since last summer, when I first started this whole process of being a gunny.  I like the folks, it’s a very low-pressure environment, and they usually have plenty of lanes open, which is great for someone who’s impatient (*coughcough*).

Apparently Michael’s pretty good friends with Tom Givens, who runs Range Master, and has a book on armed self-defense for private citizens (available only at the Range Master website).  He (Michael) told me he’d hook me up with Tom so that I could gain some insight on tactical defense, which is something I’d like (and part of the reason I was jonesing so badly for the Para/Blackwater trip).  Cool.

So he introduced us via email, I followed up with Tom, and I’ve been invited to observe a Tactical Shotgun class this weekend (unfortunately, due to prior engagements, I will only be able to attend half of it, but that’s still pretty awesome).  Jesse will be coming with me, to catch whatever I miss, and possibly to write up his own perspective.

I’m being sent a DVD to watch so that I’m prepared for what I will be seeing this weekend (swag rules, yo), and you can bet I’m going to be writing about it here, in case any of you folks from this area have any questions about the range that can’t be answered by the website.

Range Master also sponsors and event called the Tactical Conference, and this next year it’s going to be held in Tulsa, OK, at the United States Shooting Academy.  The calendars on both sites (Range Master and USSA) don’t yet include 2009, so unfortunately, more information isn’t available for me to link.  I’ve been invited to attend as a member of the media, and am strongly considering it - oh, what am I saying?  If nothing else more urgent comes up, I’ll likely be there with bells on.

So look for some posts in the future about events from Range Master, as well as some reviews on the classes, atmosphere, staff, and the range itself.

If the way I’ve been received by Tom is any indication, I don’t think I’ll be disappointed.

Stay tuned, y’all.

Oookay.

Now, I’m not here to Muslim-bash.  However they want to deal with things in their countries is fine with me, as long as they don’t come here and try to implement those laws into a society that has largely overcome the “men are always right and woman are dirt” philosophy.  I said “largely”, not “totally”.

England is holding their cheeks apart and applying the lube with this ruling, however.

Sharia law is a religious set of laws from the Koran.  Granted, England is not the U.S. (thank god for that), and several of their courts are heavily influenced by the doings of the Church, but their laws, at least in terms of marriage, are designed, like ours, to at least attempt to keep everyone happy with regard to pre-conceived terms.

Say a couple signs a pre-nup, then decides to get divorced.  In England, the pre-nup would be honored, and the couple would part ways, if not happily, then at least satisfied that at least one promise in their marriage was kept.

In Sharia law, the man can say “I divorce you” three times to his wife, and that’s that.  He gets everything, especially if he goes to the religious leader and says, “she slept with someone else.”  In Muslim society, women are regarded, in many cases, as liars, particularly when it comes to things like adultery.  The reasoning is, “why would she ADMIT to adultery?  See?  She lies!  She’s just denying it to save face!”  It sounds ridiculous, but it’s the same sort of attitude employed by police officers doing searches (”if you’re innocent, why can’t we just look around your house?”).

That sort of attitude should not be welcome in any Western society.

Unfortunately, England seems determined to become a Muslim country.

Being white is not a crime, y’all.  But apparently someone in GB didn’t get that memo.

I think I have the energy to ride my bike for an hour or two, then mow the lawn, weed-eat, and get started on prettying up the areas of the yard where there are nothing but weeds and vines.

Alas, I must finish this spreadsheet.

Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is awesome, though.  Truly.

And, HELLOOO:  It’s MICHAEL BANE.

If you’re not able to tune in to the cast at air-time, you can download the show later to listen at your leisure.

So here’s tonight’s schedule:

1.  Airing our interview with Michael Bane

2.  Talking more about the Para-Ordinance/Blackwater trip that 10 lucky bloggers will be making.

3.  Talking about stupid news for the week - most of it is out of Great Britain, surprise, surprise.

4.  Blogger Highlight

Feel free to call in after the interview segment with Michael Bane airs, to ask questions, make comments, and share your thoughts on Para reaching out to the New Media, aka bloggers.

If you’re one of the lucky winners, you can call in and say “woo hoo!”, as well, and you’ll be in good company, as Ahab is one of the folks voted in.

Recap:

Michael Bane interview on

Gun Nuts:  The Next Generation

11pm EST on Blog Talk Radio

TONIGHT

Call in at (347) 539-5436

$90 is not a bad price, if it’s life-sized.

Due to time constraints, and the fact that he is a very busy man, we’re going to be pre-recording the interview and then running it during our regular show.  You can feel free to call in afterward if you’d like, but during the pre-recorded portion, no call-ins will be accepted.  We do encourage callers, though.  Seriously.  Do it at (347) 539-5436.

We’re going to be asking Michael how the Para/Blackwater Contest came about, talk about how FREAKIN’ AWESOME IT IS, Ahab’s going to go all fanboy about how he’s one of the winners of said contest (shut up, dude, you know you are), and then we’ll probably round it out by letting Michael talk about the experience itself (as well as the freakin’ sweet gun that you guys are going to be able to test-fire).

After that, we’ll go back to highlighting a few stupid news stories (Wachl Lukis is going to think we’re stalker fanbloggers or something - I stole two of them from her), and then we’ll round out the show with our Blogger Highlight.

Be sure to tune in at 11pm EST!

Being such a newbie to shooting sports, and also not concentrating so much on gun postings here in my blog, I’m not terribly surprised to have not been voted in.  I can’t say I’m not disappointed, but I’m fairly certain that at least the three folks listed above will appreciate the tactical aspect far more than I.

Congrats, you guys.

I got a doctor’s appointment for Wednesday morning.  I haven’t been to the doctor in two years, and ordinarily wouldn’t go, but some weird stuff’s been happening for the past few weeks (read:  slightly alarming and irritating), and my process-of-elimination way of normally dealing with illness and inconvenient health issues isn’t working (also, I can’t exercise any more until it’s taken care of, so it’s REALLY cramping my plans to get back into shape, noticeably).  So, doctor it is.  I’m lucky to have gotten an appointment that quickly, since I’m a new patient without insurance. 

We’ll see how it goes.

It’s going to be a long 45 hours.

So if I snap at you, it’s nothing personal.  I’m kind of hanging in the wings today in an effort to reduce any sort of communication with folks, so that I don’t inadvertantly piss anyone off.  I’m going to blame PMS, because it’s easy, even if it’s not entirely true.

Yeah.

To replace two tires, I’m looking at around $250 (that’s with tax), for the cheapest ones I can personally find.  Daaaamn.

If the tires were standard, I could replace all four for about that amount.

The good thing, I guess, is that once I get this out of the way, I won’t have to do it again for a while.  The way I drive, it’ll be six years before I have to make another tire purchase.

Unless I run over another grouping of asphalt nails (no shit, I didn’t think such a thing existed) like I did when I lived in STL.

Sooo…that’ll be fun.

___

I’ll likely have some good posts in a day or so.  Right now, I’ve got other, more pressing matters on my mind, the likes of which I’ll post about as soon as I have any idea what’s going on with them.  That’s nice and vague, isn’t it?  Sorry, but I don’t want to worry anyone, or make myself look any more like a neurotic retard than I already do, by posting about it before I have any concrete details.