Thank the gods for New York City traffic! I was arriving at the hotel and the bellman asked if I had just the one bag out of the trunk and I absent-mindedly said "Yes" and paid the cabbie. The bellman put my bag up near the entrance and just as I started into the revolving door, I realized I was missing something. Panicked I looked to the street to see my former cab with new passengers trying to make its way into traffic. Luckily, I shouted to the bellman and he and I stopped the cab to retrieve the crappy plastic shopping bag I had left in the trunk and the bellman assumed was the cabbie's lunch or whatever. Saved my kids' goofy NC t-shirts -- AND MY 4 FUCKING AWESOME HEAD-CASE GLENCAIRN GLASSES -- from driving off into the sea of yellow cabs never to be seen again by me... Lucky, unlike Brent.
Speaking of which, biscuits were plentiful this morning, btw, and the waitress actually made a joke that we wouldn't get shut out again.
Dan, that was quite the Jam, and you more than did the Mayberry tradition proud! Thanks so much for thinking of it, sticking with it through date/year changes and cancellations, planning nightmares, house rentals, and all the rest. Juggling your family and AnalogPete with his family all at the same time was really impressive. Thanks for making it all happen and even allowing us to bring a little gear along.
My one gear shot! Grado Mania!
It might have been years before we got to meet the one, the only, Duggeh if it hadn't been for this meet, so that's another epic WIN for your meet. Meeting Doug, Pete, Brent, Deepak, Fitz and Scott/manaox2, and seeing all the rest of the crew were the highlights, as always. Of course, it was sad to miss seeing Jacob again and the opportunity to meet Todd and Peter, but more chances will arise.
Here are the few feeble pics I meant to post from the shooting range but MobileMe and my skilz were lacking. Vicki has been agitating for a range run at a few meets since she became obsessed with firepower and this time she pulled it off with considerable assistance from Brent and Jeff. Brent delivered Vicki's newest guns, a Baer .45 and a Yost 9mm, if I have that correctly, and this triggered (get it?!) enthusiasm for throwing some lead. Us noobs were instructed by Prof. VPI who brought 4 guns of his own, and then rented an AR-15 9mm semi-automatic assault rifle (all the while poo-pooing it for being a weak substitute for the real deal ). Justin, Ari, Colin and I learned the basics on a .22 in .45's clothing, then a 9mm rental gun, then the Baer .45, then the Yost (sweetest gun in the bunch for me), the AR-15, and then Jeff's pocket cannon of a .41 Magnum revolver. Brent nearly smacked himself on the head from the recoil of that last beast, and he was holding it with two hands when he fired! Thanks again for the good times Vicki, Brent and Jeff.
The group shot, as previously posted by Gene, and annotated by Nate.
Vicki with one of her new toys. Crack shot, of course.
Jeff attempting to instruct me on the fine art of assault riflery.
"Say hello to my little friend . . ."
Ari inspecting the damage he wrought. Mossad secret agent? Perhaps.
Not my best grouping, but a dead bull's eye at 40 feet with a .45 automatic seemed pretty cool to me. The outlier to the upper right was right as Vicki said "Ooh, look at Al shoot!" I got a little distracted by the attention.
Hopefully Doug can pull out a few hundred of the thousands of pics he took and post them after his victorious homecoming, assuming he can focus and be productive in the sweet spot between his new Quads. In the meantime, Chicago '10 should be on everyone's calendars!
Thanks again Dan and to all the rest of you for making this a killer meet weekend.
