Bogieblog

Inastuteness can be Bad for Business

I've been talking to my boss the last couple of weeks as he and his wife were interested in learning the art of the handgun (and purchasing one). I explained the class I had taken prior to obtaining one, as well as the class WS and I took last month.

His wife went out and bought a .22, then they went target shooting last weekend with the guy that had sold it to her (kind of bass ackwards to me, but hey, a lot of people do it that way). This guy just opened a shop in Milford and I decided to visit, since I go thru Milford during my commute. I have been kind of looking at Glock 17 and Glock 19 as they can easily be converted to .22 for practice (much cheaper ammo) then back to 9mm for other uses.

I visited his shop on Wednesday. It was a bit on the bare side, but that means nothing as a new retailer would probably be on the long list from suppliers. I looked at the few handguns he had - nothing I was interested in, but did find cleaning tips of the brand that I had been looking for, and got ready to pay.

This guy had been talking to some people who were there ahead of me, but when he realized I was ready, he detached himself (good for him - not pushy and recognized when I was ready for help). When asked if I was looking for anything in particular, I replied that I had been sorta looking at Glocks.

His immediate reaction was, "I have a .22 over here that you will just love."

There are so many things wrong with that statement, it is hard to know where to begin:

• He immediately assumed I wanted a .22. The only reason that I can think of for that is because I am of the female persuasion.
• He had no interest in what my background was (beginner or experience) - just that he had a .22 (the only Glock he had) that he wanted to sell.
• He had no interest in what it would be used for - target shooting, HD, SD, or competition. Each can require different things.
• He had no interest in seeing if I had already done some research and had something specific in mind.

I informed him that no, a .22 won't do, I was looking for a 17 or 19. Oh, well, have a nice day.

So, I will never be in his shop again. Not because he didn't have what I was looking for, because I do not need to spend my money or time on a retailer who is this inastute when dealing with a woman. I will stick with the Manchester Firing Line (range where we go) and Lewis Arms (where WS purchased his handgun) as I have never gotten that type of attitude.

And then, last night I read this - heh!

Spring Weekend

Today was a work outside day. Once the clouds and fog finally burned off, it got up to the mid 50's.

WS went out to cut up trees that had been affected by the ice storm - even the neighbors, which is the one that took our lines out (he gave them the wood).

I set up outside to repot the peppers into larger containers and start tomato seeds. I also started melons (which I have never had success at) and pumpkin seeds from the pumpkins that I grew last year.

After completing the potting chores, I brushed Fuzzy, then proceeded to my next task - removing the straw we had insulated the front of the foundation with. Some of it is still frozen, but at least the hosta, iris and lillies can receive sunlight (they were trying to grow and have little white stalks started). I had to navigate around the mounds of snow in front of the house (still a couple feet tall from WS shoveling off the roof) and go thru more snow to get to the garden where I am dumping it.

The snow should be significantly reduced by the rain and temps we are slated to get tomorrow. Perhaps by next weekend I will be able to remove the straw from around the pots that are overwintering in the rugosas (they get a lot less sun, so thaw out slower).

No Jinx Zone

So far all the hard work of Fargo residents and volunteers has held. Cool weather is helping out - here is hoping that the cool weather holds!

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Congrats to the UNH Wildcats who have won the first round of the tournament - keep it going!

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Saw on the news that Wichita, Ks got way more snow than they are used to. I hope that they get some warm weather soon - to keep it away from ND and to help melt what they have!

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Hopefully all my good wishes will do some good!

Space Station Sightings

Want to see when you can sight the Space Station? Go to their Sitings page and click in the appropriate area to navigate your way to specific cities in yur state.

Found bgy going to the Space Station construction article linked by AMCGLTD.

Iditarod 2009 Winners

Congats to Lance Mackey for winning his 3rd Iditarod in a row. In order, the next 14 finishers were: Sebastian Schnuelle, John Baker, Mitch Seavey, Cim Smyth, Dallas Seavy, Aaron Burmeister, Jessie Royer, Ramey Smith, Hans Gatt, Sonny Lindner, Jeff King, DeeDee Jonrow, Ken Anderson and Hugh Neff.

Larry, Mackey's 9 year old lead dog, is being retired this year. he has run 8 Iditarods (7 with Mackey) and earned the Golden Harness award.

Chad Lidner was the rookie of the year, finishing 30th.

A dozen teams have dropped out at this point, due to the horrendous weather they have faced. Those lucky enough to have found decent shelter, have fared better than those that have not. Jeff King turned around and headed back to a checkpoint he had left earlier because the weather was so daunting.

All teams, regardless finished (or will finish) the race or not, deserve congratulations for even attempting this feat!

Space Station

WS and I got to see the space station as it went speeding by in the evening sky around 7:30 last night. WS had a better / longer view of it on Tuesday, while I was in class. On Tuesday, it was directly overhead while last night it was at about 30 degrees so trees shortened our viewing time. I was wishing i had a telescope so I could see if anyone was waving at us LOL!

Birds and Things

I got home the other day and this guy had taken up residence in the bird feeder. He stayed right there eating for a good 20 minutes (who knows how long he was there before I got home).

 

 

 

He did the same thing yesterday too - or at least I assume it was the same redpoll, since it was all alone.

The pink containers in the background are the heeled-in roses. Besides WS stomping all over one of them while getting on/off his sled, they look like they made it thru the winter okay. Of course, the proof is in whether they actually leaf out later in the spring or not, but they look good for now.

The other roses, heeled-in in another section of the garden, but closer to the upper retaining wall, are still covered under a couple of feet of snow (from wind blowage) so I haven't gotten a peek at them. Most of the yard is covered in a foot or so of snow, so I've been surveying the portions of plants I can see - not that that really tells me much; after all, the branches that were cut off the lilac trees that got decimated by the ice storm are looking like they will actually leaf out - the buds are plumping and greening. I may have to put a few of them in pots of dirt and see if they will root. Additionally, a lot of stuff I can't get to because it borders the driveway and sinking up to my waist in the snow berms is not really my idea of a good time (I've already tried it).

Hubless

Speaking of motorcycles, as I was yesterday, there is a hubless motorcycle out ther that looks pretty cool. Make sure to watch the video at the end.

Scouting

Where I work at, I coordinate source inspections - inspections done at our facility either by the customer or a 3rd party contracted by the customer, in order to ensure that the product meets the specifications before shipping. The other day, an Engineer came from one of our customers to perform source. This was a guy that I had not had dealings with before.

The main reason he was doing source, instead of letting the normal 3rd part perform it, was that he wanted to hand carry the product back to the plant where it would be used. The inspection went smoothly and we had some time to kill while 213 parts were individually packaged and labeled so we had some discussions that one would not normally have.

One of those conversations was about motorcycles. He mentioned that he had a project rebuilding an old Indian Scout (I forget which year he said it was). He also mentioned that he had another Indian Scout that he road all the time. I told him about WS bringing the 61 Sportster home, literally in milk crates and building it from there. I also told him about all the work that WS did on the Wide Glide before getting his new bike a year ago.

We also had discusions on other things, and onced the parts were ready to go, he bid adiou. The next morning, I got an email, responding to one I had sent the day before, that contained the acceptance paperwork (everyone, their mother, and their dog want a copy of it).

2009 Iditarod Update 3-18-09

The official Iditarod site is projecting the race to be over somewhere between 10 AM and 3 PM (ADT) today. Lance Mackey is still in the lead with 15 dogs and is at White Mountain for his mandatory layoff. He is followed by: Sebastian Schnuelle, John Baker, Jessie Royer and Aaron Burmeister for the top 5 places.

The big surprise is that Jeff King is back at 11th (with 15 dogs) and DeeDee Johnrowe is in 15th (with 13 dogs).