1/3/14

Wednesday morning I was awakened by a text form Larry saying he was just about ready to go to the gun range.  I got dressed and gathered up the Judge, the .38 revolver, the Bersa, my 9mm carry gun of course, and the Tavor.  I headed out to meet him at the Shooster’s Club because we KNEW they were open every day but Christmas and Fourth of July… well, not so much.  They added a bunch of not-open days to the calendar when we weren’t looking and NYD was one of them.  We met at the McDonald’s on Meacham and I-35 to discuss options.  I called Winchester Gallery but they were closed.  He called Quail Creek, the outdoor range north of the speedway, and they were open!  We took off up the freeway.  I paid for the range time and we headed to the pistol area.  We had to wait for the range to go cold before we could put up our targets, of course, but we shot at some of the existing ones before then.  I was passible with all of my guns.  Larry did about the same as me with mine and his… perhaps a little better actually.  He was pretty good with his CZs and about like me with all the rest.  When we’d burned up all the ammo we were going to with pistols, we moved on to the rifle range with the Tavor.  Larry bought 80 rounds of .223 Remington ammo because the stuff I brought was unacceptable to the range.  We waited for the range to go cold, put up two targets, and waited for it to go hot again.  When it did, we loaded the three magazines I'd brought with 20 rounds each and I emptied the first one.  I was a bit to the right and spread a bit high and low.  I handed off to Larry and he emptied a magazine.  He was off to the right but clustered a little better than I was.  I loaded the last 20 rounds while he was shooting and then gave the optic several clicks of left adjustment.  I popped off another magazine and was closer to the center… but still had some spread.  I asked if Larry wanted the last magazine but he deferred.  I sat down and shot ten rounds from the bench and then insisted he take the rest.  He did.  When the range went cold again, we went out to assess out targets.  His was much tighter than mine but we were both well inside the silhouette.  Larry kept his target and we packed up to leave.  Oh, as for the muzzle brake, it worked really well.  Behind the gun, as in while shooting it, it was relatively quiet with low recoil and little muzzle flip.  Standing near it though, there was a definite “THUMP” from the redirected gasses hitting you in the face… and it was louder.  From there we went to Smash Burger for lunch.  Mom and I frequent the one on Camp Bowie but Larry had never been.  I'd talked about the burgers and he wanted to try it.  He seemed to like it… no, he definitely liked it.  He keeps saying things like, “We need to go back to Smash Burger,” and “They ort to build a Smash Burger closer to work.”  By the way, he really does pronounce “ought” as “ort.”  Anyhoo, after lunch we went to the Academy Sports and Outdoors across the parking lot so I could replace the ammo I'd shot.  I bought 100 rounds each of 9mm and .380, and fifty rounds of .38 Special… at almost $200.00 I might add!  From there I went home and cleaned the guns.  Yesterday I was babysitting the installation guys in the new TOB conference room and talking to one of the Telecom/Technology guys.  I asked him if he had heard anything about the job posting for which I had interviewed.  He said he knew that they had interviewed an outside applicant with more experience in project management and stuff but had not heard anything more than that.  Within a minute of that revelation, he took off out of the room without a word.  About five minutes after that I got an e-mail from the lady doing the hiring asking if I could meet with her about the posting.  I agreed to the meet time and settled in to wait.  I was nervous.  It was all I could do to NOT call mom and tell her I might be about to hear something.  It was also difficult not telling the install guys.  Eventually the meeting time came and I was informed that they went with the outside applicant.  I'm upset, not surprised, but a little annoyed.  I'm not surprised because from a “bottom line” perspective, what they did WAS best for the company.  I'm not going to ever argue that.  It just goes to show another reason why I don’t want to work for THAT department.  They have no… I'm not even sure what it is they don’t have, except to say that apparently loyalty, dedication, and years of service mean little to technology-minded corporate shills.  I think other departments here would have treated me a little better.  I'm sure I would have been strung along until the new guy showed up to say, “Hi!  I'm your new boss, Ben Dover.”  So, what I'm saying is… hell, I don’t know what I'm saying.  I'm annoyed, yet relieved.  I wasn’t really sure I even wanted that job, but it was better than what I'm doing now.  Well, maybe not better than what I'm doing NOW, now; but better than what I will be doing now, soon… sort of thing.  Or perhaps I'm just burned out and want a change.  No, the thing is I fucking HATE technology and that is exactly the road down which this job is going, more and more technology.  I don’t know what all this means for the future… I hear the Post Office is hiring.