Bang Bang

Today was the first I'd ever fired a gun.

Bill and Tammy have recently joined the Front Range Gun Club - mostly for the experience and to decide if they'd like to purchase a firearm. They actually find that they enjoyed the sport of target shooting. Their membership allows them a certain number of guests each year so Bill invited me and Ron to go target shooting today.

Ron already owned a couple of handguns (a Beretta 9mm and a .38 revolver) so we didn't need to rent any from the club (though they had quite the selection). Bill bought some ammunition from the club along with a pair of 'zombie' targets for us to shoot at. Bill also had some spare safety goggles and ear protectors that I borrowed.

I have to say that having never been at a shooting range before, I thought this place was pretty top quality. They had about a dozen lanes and it wasn't too busy. The targets are stapled to rectangles of cardboard and a computerized control lets you move the target out to the range you want.

I tried both of Ron's handguns and decided that I kind of like the revolver a bit better. Both had kick to them but the revolver wasn't quite as pronounced. Also, the ejecting cartridges from the 9mm could be distracting. (A couple bounced off my head - glad I was wearing the required cap!) I noticed that I had a tendency to tense up just as I fired...and it'll take some getting used to not to squint when I'm aiming. All of my shots hit the actual target...but tended to drift to the right and slightly down. Probably has something to do with my stance or my squeezing of the trigger.

I also realized that gunshots are very, very loud. The ear protectors that Bill loaned me muffled out a lot of sound...but I could still hear the shots as audible cracks and could 'feel' the reverberation of the shots both that I made and my friends made. On the other, for whatever reason, I found the smell of gunpowder to be rather pleasant. Hopefully, that isn't a coloring of my character or something. :-)

I think the experience was pretty cool though. I finally got exercise those Second Amendment rights of mine. I don't think I'm quite ready to run out and buy myself an arsenal to stash at home...but I think I may tag along with Bill again every now and then. Whether or not I actually have a need to use a firearm, I suppose it's just one of those skills that it doesn't hurt to have.

All in all, pretty cool. Thanks to Bill for taking me and Ron out!

As always, thanks for reading - hope you're having a great day!

Trivia Night

Meant to post this last Wednesday when Kate and I along with our friends Ron and Erin tried out a trivia night at the Trailhead Tavern. Erin had done this sort of thing before and was eager to recruit more people into it. The trivia night is hosted by an organization called Geeks Who Drink - a group of people who enjoy both obscure trivia and alcoholic beverages.

Well, naturally Kate and I don't drink. Neither does Erin. Ron had to have a couple of beers just to keep us honest. ;-)

At any rate it was a lot of fun! The Quizmaster (Quizmistress?) was a little foul-mouthed and rude...but despite that, we had a good time. Between the four of us, we had enough obscure knowledge from different areas that we did pretty well. Out of something like a dozen teams, ours came in 3rd! W00t!

(BTW, our team name was "We Can Haz Cheezburger" - since we're all fans of the LOLCats website.) :-)

Here's a shot of my teammates that evening...



Here's the one that's posted on the Geeks Who Drink blog...



(Yes, Ron has some sort of psychological aversion to showing up on camera...) ;-)

And here's Erin with our 3rd place trophy....



We don't actually keep the trophy. (Which was good - the thing was kind of ugly.) We just add something permanent to the thing and return it to the bar.

So I think we're pretty well sold at this point. There's another timeslot starting up on Sundays at the Stonehouse Grille. The Quizmasters are a pair of guys that Erin has seen before and really liked. Might have to give that one a go as well...

That's it for now. Thanks for reading - hope you're having a great day!

Mini-Golf at Fort Fun

So...while Kate was visiting with Dana down in Florida, she got it into her head that she enjoyed playing mini-golf. I've been promising her for months that we'd find time to get the gang together and go out for a game sometime. The only spot that I knew of was the mini-golf courses at Fort Fun, a local activity center.

We gave it a go on Wednesday evening after Bill got off of work....and had a blast! We were none of us particularly great at the game so no one felt particularly self concious about their performance. Most of us still managed par or one over par on the majority of holes. Bill and Kate both managed a couple of holes in one. My moment of the night was sending the ball out of the playing area and bouncing it into the water nearby. :-/ Oops.

Here's some pictures...


Entrance to Fort Fun


Ron tees off while the ladies look on


Bill's turn to tee off


Tammy and Kate try to get their shots around the rocky obstacle


Me trying for a rare par

And here are a couple of shots of the mini-golf course itself...





We're pretty sure we're going to have to do this again. If for no other reason then I have to beat Bill at this game. :-) Although we may have to try Laser Tag as well. And maybe the Mini-Bowling. Yeah, we'll be back. :-)

Thanks for reading. Hope you're having a great day!