Firearms Friday: Time For Competition?

For the past two years I have been interested in participating in one of the many competitions that can be found at ranges throughout the area. It is one of those things where I just want to see how well I would do against not only others but against myself. This is especially true now since it has been way too long since I have gotten in any significant range time and while I am certain that I can be effective I would be much slower and not as accurate (I am not hitting the ten ring at speed at this point).

With no real significant plans in the books for the summer it might be possible to practice a bit and spend the day at a competition somewhere nearby but there aren’t any real long term certainties these days. And, at this point, given the limited opportunities that I have to get on the range would it be time well spent to dive right into a competition or would it be to simply feed my curiosity. The more practical option would be to spend the time practicing and also doing a few range tests on some firearms.

This year will also be the time to get back to building as there are several projects that I would like to complete with one of them being to outfit my 5 inch Smith & Wesson M&P 9 Pro CORE. I’m not talking about any major changes as the items that I will be adding include extended base plates, extended magazine release, co-witnessing optic, and maybe a new trigger. With the exception of the trigger, I have everything ready to go. It should be pretty nice by the time everything is complete and I am really looking forward to taking this competition gun to the range. Maybe some friendly, informal, match ups with friends are in order.

Moving forward it is all going to come down to time management with regard to this sport. Practice comes first, builds and maintenance second, and competitions are third. That is the general prioritization that I have to work with now that life has become full of interesting events, unique experiences, and once in a lifetime opportunities. Competitions would be nice as I could test my limited skills and maybe travel a little but, in the end, it wouldn’t be worth the time as, given my schedule, it would have to replace something else. Now if I were paid to compete, that would be a different story altogether… but I don’t see that happening in this lifetime.  

TMI Tuesday: Watch The Winkie!

We are currently operation at DEFCON 2!

It is pretty much guaranteed that when I get home after work our son’s diaper is going to be a little bloated. At nearly 12 pounds, he doesn’t really hold anything back. However, most of the time it is not what you usually think of when you hear about the droopiness of his drawers. While sometimes it is of a stinky nature, most of the time it is the flood waters that are testing the limits of the dam. This is confirmed by the bright blue racing stripe that appears on the front of the diaper.

Of course, whenever in doubt just wait for the crying to begin… our son is not a fan of the squishiness. These are the easy diapers to change… most of the time. Regardless of what he just finished doing, whenever the seal is broken and the emanations are exposed, the shields have to go up… there is just enough help back that a launch could occur at any moment.

While the nerves don’t take to kindly to the free flowing of flatus, it is the tinkle that usually causes the most trouble. At least with a number two you can hear him pushing and watch as his face turns a deeper and deeper shade of red. When it comes to the whiz his only tell is when his winkie decides to imitate a cold war missile drill. The launch could happen or it might not. Best thing to do is prepare the defenses and hope for the best.

My wife and I have discovered that you can really change a diaper quickly when under the threat of attack and most of the time the new diaper is on before the rain begins to fall. When this happens we just hope not to hear thunder which pretty much guarantees that precipitation is eminent. That is when we see the redness disappear and the smirk slowly grow into a full smile… at least it tames the fussiness for a moment.

In hindsight, all of this is a simple source of amusement. Thankfully, we haven’t had any major issues with changing our son… not like the rainbows that we encountered during our first month. With that said, we still have to remain cognizant of the limits of the diaper sizes. Our son is growing quickly and so are his volume requirements so we are continuously cognizant of the issue of proper containment. Hopefully we can continue limiting the onesie casualties, stay ahead of the growth curve, and make sure we keep changing him as fast as possible.