I Don't Usually Go Christmas Shopping On Black Friday...

 ...but when I do I buy myself something nice. Really, I was not intent on making any purchases yesterday and definitely was not about to go out to stores to do any Christmas shopping nor any other shopping. Black Friday is just too crazy for me; the lines I have seen outside of some stores over the years have been long and sometimes there for days with people camped out in tents while waiting before the sale event. The last time I waited on really long lines for many long hours was for tickets to see Led Zeppelin at Madison Square Garden and for one of their shows at the Nassau Coliseum in Nassau County NY (I was on the line for well over 24 hours in freezing cold for the one at the Coliseum). That was back in the 1970s. I got great tickets for both shows but had to settle for listening to one of those shows broadcast live on the radio because I wound up in the hospital after an emergency appendectomy; I did not eat Quarter Pounders with cheese for years after that because it was after eating one that I had the appendicitis attack but I digress so...

 

As I said, I usually do not shop on Black Friday but I unintentionally wound up doing just that yesterday and I got myself a nice Christmas present. For a good many years of my adult life,  I have figured if I am going to essentially be Santa Claus for others then I may as well be Santa for myself too. Now mind you, I did not get off the couch to shop at any stores; instead I was scouring the Internet at first looking at some things on the Beretta site (not guns) and then merely looking at Black Friday deals related to firearms. I was not seeking to get myself something but was just killing time and wondering if I should get my son anything else firearms related for his birthday when I came across an advertisement for this at $359.99: 

 

 

 

 

That is a Beretta APX A1 Carry (click on the link for specs and such) 9mm pistol. I was not looking to buy it but it did seem like a great deal. After seeing ad, I checked out the pistol on Gun-Tests Magazine's website. The APX Carry got a best buy review from them and an A rating so I figured its A1 version would be just as good. I was beginning to get intrigued and then went to check on prices for it at AmmoSeek.com. That is where I saw that the Sportsmans Outdoor Superstore was offering it for $60 less. That hooked me.

 

Since the price of this one was only $299.99 and that there is a currently running $100 rebate offer from Beretta on them, I ordered one almost without hesitation. Yeah, I admit, I hesitated a bit because finances are not all that great right now but what pushed me over the edge was that I'd be getting a Beretta at a Hi-Point price. Imagine that a Beretta for $199.99 plus tax after the rebate and I got free shipping too. How could anyone who is a Beretta fan turn down that Black Friday deal! I can only hope (and I guess expect) that the quality of this little gun will be as good as what went into the making of all of my other Berettas. It will be my first striker fired, polymer frame, Beretta pistol but definitely not my first Beretta. I kind of, sort of almost definitely a fan of Beretta pistols - being I already own ten of them, I suppose that probably qualifies me at least as a bit of of a fan.

Merry Christmas, ahead of time, to me from me. My thanks to  Bartolomeo who started it all in 1526, to Pietro who modernized the company and to all the others in the Beretta family who have made & continue to make some of the highest quality firearms the world has ever seen. Thanks also need be given to the big guy upstairs who gave us his only begotten son as the gift that started it all. 

 

For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son: that whosoever believeth in him may not perish, but may have life everlasting. (John 3:16 )

 

Christmas, as I see it, has always been about giving; albeit, maybe not to ones-self but can you blame me? After all it was 'such a deal' (Murry the vendor, personal communication); so, how could I resist. I hope your Christmas shopping works out as well as mine has so far.

All the best,

Glenn B

I'd Give Thanks To Be Virile Enough For This...

 

 

But as I am, I have to settle for giving thanks that I am still breathing and ambulatory. Oh well, truth be told, I am thankful for a lot of other things too but a man can dream!!!

 

By the way, I have no clue as to who is she, so if anyone knows - give me a clue (and if you know her number). As I said, a man can dream.

 

All the best,

Glenn B

Happy Thanksgiving

 

 

I wish for all of my readers & for everyone in general, in our great nation, to have a very happy day of Thanksgiving. Here is hoping you have had a lot to be thankful for over the past year. It's been tougher than some other years for most in the world but at least we can be thankful for some things like living in the USA, having family & loved ones - loving spouses, dear children,  sweet grand-kids - all who hold us dear, food on the table with regularity, good health, prosperity, a decent job, a good retirement, opportunity to do better, a respectful lifestyle, good health, access to medical care when needed, educational opportunities and on and on. We may not have the best of each one, we may not even have each & every one but I would hope we all have at least something to be thankful about and that we realize what we have and are happy about it and give thanks for it. I also hope the next year is better for each of us. 

 

All the best,

Glenn B

Ballseye On Tipping

Many years ago, probably around 20 to 25 or so - a waitress asked me if I wanted change after I paid for a meal with a higher amount of cash than the cost of the meal. I do not recall the exact amount but as an example let's say I paid for a $41.00 meal with three twenty dollar bills. I was amazed at her brazenness and told her so, that was the first time a waitress had ever asked me if I wanted my change. Normally, the proper server etiquette was to take the cash bring the change and collect any tip left after the customer got up to leave. I wonder did she really expect me to give her a 41% tip (and yes those numbers while not exact are a good example because I recall whatever was the tip amount, it would have been extraordinary then as it still would be now, especially after her poor service). Shortly after that, it seemed at least half of the wait servers in restaurants were doing it - that is asking if the customer wanted change. I have always considered it quite rude.

One time, I left a waitress a $75 tip or so, as I recall, for serving just me at a restaurant in DC. She was not only a good waitress but had gone up and down the line outside the restaurant to try to seat folks as appropriate sized tables for each party opened up. She pulled me out of the line, which prevented a long wait for me and seated me at a seat along a wall ledge. She even got me a second seating after first seating me next to three or four drunken gay idiots who were being very obnoxious and were trying to hit up on me and other patrons seated near them. Her table service was also great. She deserved that tip as far as I was concerned and what more she showed how much she deserved it when she  chased me down the street, in the rainy coldness of a winter's night, after I left the restaurant to ask if I had realized how much of a tip I had left for her. I guess she had thought I had made a mistake. She was extremely grateful and shed at least a few tears when I told her there was no mistake and she was the best waitress to have ever served me. I don't often leave that high of a tip, it was probably 1.5 to 2x the cost of my meal but I am not a bad tipper either.

Well, last night, I stopped at a Sonic to grab a quick bite. I usually give the Sonic servers a buck or two and whatever loose change I get back after paying. The total I owed  last night was $10.10. I handed the server, who brought the meal to my car, a twenty. She quickly folded it in her hand and as she was already turning and stepping away from my car without offering me my change, she asked: "do you want change". I reamed her a new asshole, telling her of course I wanted my change and how dare she act offended (which she did) when I said I wanted it. I handed her back the bag of food and told her I wanted my money back and while she acted more offended she did give it back to me. She also seemed flabbergasted that anyone would say yes they wanted their change. I took my twenty back and left but only after telling her she should be ashamed of herself for expecting a 98% tip! Are the woke of today, who look at jobs at fast food places as career choices, all getting as ridiculous as her seemingly expecting a 98% tip for walking maybe 25 feet over to a car to hand you your food! 

All the best,

Glenn B

Proud To Say This Unpatriotic Scumbag Was Already Not On The List of Singers...

 ...in my collection of music but if he had been, he'd have been taken off it today. I can understand that maybe he is an infirm old man at 71 and that maybe he has a valid medical reason for not standing during the national anthem as was reported he did not do. Yet, to allegedly be stuffing his face with popcorn - while others in the huge crowd stood, hand over hearts, to sing the song that symbolizes the struggle & strength of our nation in the war of 1812 - was, I think, a show of utter disrespect for the land that helped make him rich. So, I think he deserves a good hard fucking down his throat with popcorn balls until it hurts so good. (I say that last part figuratively; of course, I am not suggesting that anyone commit an act of violence against him although he probably, in my opinion, would deserve a good ass kicking if it was legal to do so.) I  suppose boycotting him & his music will have to do. That is my opinion on it.

 

Don't know to whom I am referring, it's John Melloncramp Mellencamp, more at the source: https://www.foxnews.com/sports/john-mellencamp-sits-national-anthem-colts-eagles-game

 

All the best,

Glenn B

Inflation Sucks...

 ...your hard earned dollars right out of your pocket and your bank account(s). I went to Costco with my son & his girlfriend yesterday and spent $360 on mostly groceries and a bit on toothpaste and a sleep aid. That did not include a turkey, we had to go to Walmart for the bird and some baking needs because the fresh turkeys at Costco were about $3.50 per pound and they were out of frozen (they had been going for only .99 cents per pound - such a deal in hard times). As it was, Wally World's frozen Butterball turkeys were $1.18 a pound. That was not bad at all but everything else was ridiculous at both stores and gas & diesel are not getting any less expensive. Watch the video (it has been taking a few to several seconds to load).

 

 

Christmas dinner is going to be a pauper's delight as compared to what we will have on Thanksgiving because I can not afford another expenditure like the one yesterday. The upper I planned to get myself for Christmas may have to wait. Seriously, two hits like that for a couple of feast-like meals just a month apart along with the bills for Christmas presents, the additional expenditures I laid out for some ammo & gun stuff I purchased earlier this month and in October is going to be just too much for me and I need to dig pretty deep into my savings to get it all paid off when the credit card payments are due. I may have to get a job to replenish the bank account - perish the thought but I kid you not - it may become a reality that I will need to go back to work in retirement and that may suck more than inflation.

 

Add to all that, all the fuckers in Washington, at least those with any sense at all, keep telling us it is going to get worse, much worse for our economy. Of course, that arsewipe in the oval office keeps telling us what a great job he's done to keep inflation at bay and how things like gasoline a less expensive under his watch (an outright lie kike most things he has said about the economy & the causes of the current inflation crisis).f course, bear in mind he really does seem to be a perpetual liar and more than merely somewhat demented. He is the one responsible for this quagmire in which we find ourselves paying much more for the necessities than we have paid, relative to our incomes, in over 40 years. How there was not a red wave in the elections is beyond me because 99.5% of the dems seem to support his claims that he is saving the economy while they actually seem to be fervently assisting him to destroy what was our thriving economy.

 

I kid you not, if I only spend on rent, utilities, dog food & treats, gasoline & normal car maintenance - it will take me at least 6 months to recoup what I have spent in the last few weeks and what little more I will spend on the few Christmas presents I have yet to purchase. Last year, spending on the same things at the same rate of making purchases as I am now, might have taken me two months of belt pocketbook cinching, at most, to make up.

 

I think that the Grinch & Scrooge (before him having been visited by the spirits of Christmas) had nothing on Joe Biden regards to destroying the spirit of giving at Christmas! 

 

All the best,

Glenn B

Me & My Psyche On A Productive Retirement

 

Whoever wrote that is a genius who has figured me out completely when it comes to how I live the retired life.

 

All the best,

Glenn B

Talk About Inflation & Overpriced Goods

 I was looking through my email today and opened one from Speer Ammo.com. It included a link to purchase what they call their "Speer Mushroom Effect T-shirt". I took a look at the webpage for the shirt; I liked what I saw, in fact I was rather impressed with the look of it. I was about to order one for myself and one for my son until I saw the price. They are asking $35.99 for the shirt plus shipping & tax. The cost before tax but with shipping for two shirts was shown as $76.98! 

 

Are they out of their minds asking that much for two t-shirts - I think so! Fuck Joe Biden the inflation causing apparently dementia ridden anti-American, commie loving,  rights hating, money grubbing corrupt moron (Yes that is my opinion of him. ). As I see it, his economic policies are likely in great part to blame for outlandish prices like that!

 

As for Speer, I love their pistol and rimfire ammo and pay somewhat higher prices for it than other brands but that does not mean I am about to shell out $35.99 plus tax & shipping for a t-shirt. Would you pay that much for one?

All the best,

Glenn B

This Video Makes Me Want To Pick Up A Browning

 If you are interested in firearms history, you likely know that there probably is not a more eminent figure when it comes to firearms patents and models than John Moses Browning. If you'd like to know some of his history, watch this video. It is just under an hour long but I think definitely well worth your time: 

 

 

All the best,

Glenn B

Had A Bit Of Range Fun Yesterday...

 ...and a good bout of satisfaction. The fun was just being at the outdoor range and shooting. I did not even bother to set up targets especially after seeing the unsafe actions of two of the yahoos who were also present at the range but truth be told I did not intend to shoot at targets anyway. When I got there, all points were occupied by shooters and a cease fire was just commencing. It also started raining as soon as I set foot on the range proper. So, I took a seat at a picnic table under the roof of the bench area. Four or five shooters walked downrange to check and set targets. As they were downrange one of two shooters who remained at the benches was fiddling with the scope on his rifle - with the rifle pointed downrange. The bolt was open but I have no idea if there was ammo in the magazine or chamber. It was fairly concerning since no one should be handling firearms in any manner while others are downrange.

 

What was even more concerning, even a bit scary, was the guy at the next bench to the scope adjuster. This other guy was sitting at his bench loading his magazine. The magazine was internal and he was loading the rounds from the top. I have seen lots of stupid & dangerous things done at various ranges across the country in at least 13 different states but have to say that the most unsafe shooters & some of the worst range safety transgressions I have ever seen have taken place in Arkansas. It's really like some shooters here were taught by Billy Bob BoDinkus (familiarly called Uncle Bubba). 

 

The lack of range safety at the particular range, where I shot yesterday, is astounding and that is probably an understatement. That's why I went there yesterday, it was a weekday and weekdays when I've been there have almost always resulted me in being there alone or maybe with one other shooter. Since last year or maybe the year before, if I got there and found anyone else shooting, I'd watch that shooter for awhile to see if he or she was being safe. If so, I'd stay, if not then I'd get my butt back into my car and head back home. Yesterday only those two seemed to me to be idiots. Since the mag loader left shortly after I saw him loading when others folks were downrange and since I was not going to go downrange (as I said above, I did not bother to set up any targets), I decided to stay. The scope adjuster had not done anything else I saw that was unsafe and everyone else seemed to have good range etiquette. 

Well, after waiting about 20 minutes two guys left the range and I took a seat at one of the shooters' benches. First off, I shot a 12 gauge Remington 870 Express. I got that gun from my favorite gun getting place - a Hessney.com auction. When I got it goes to show why I sometimes refer to myself as THE Great Procrastinator. I had the high bid on it in the Hessney online auction of December 11, 2021 so it was exactly one month short of a year when fired it yesterday for the first time ever. Even though I only shot 5 rounds through it, it was fun. It was also quite satisfying because it functioned flawlessly. 

 

 

Normally, back when I was not an arthritic & aged arms aficionado - when I was an agile, ardent & adroit arms aficionado - I would have shot at least 50 rounds through a new shotgun to check it out, maybe even 100. That did not  stop even after I was diagnosed, in the 90's, with a partially torn rotator cuff in my right shoulder, I liked shooting an 870 12  gauge that much. Well, at least it did not stop for many years of ever increasingly intimacy with Arthur I. Tis. After that got really bad I dropped the round count, that I'd shoot through 12 gauge shotguns, down to 20 or less per range visit. Then as Arthur I. Tis became an even worse pain in the neck, shoulders, back, hips, knees and just about every other joint the round count went down to ten or less. 

 

The funny thing is that when my right shoulder is bothering me, as it was yesterday, shooting an 870 almost always makes it feel better as if the recoil pushes something back into its proper place in my anatomy. Has not bothered me since then which is nice. Of course, the fix is only temporary. If I shoot a 12 gauge too much though, it makes it worse but taking only a few shots with one has the opposite effect. Maybe I should shoot them more often but then again I truly believe that shooting shotguns as much as I did when I had collateral duties as a firearms instructor/range officer and free ammo was the cause of the rotator cuff issue. Anyway, it was fun and satisfying shooting it.

 

 

After the 870, I shot my newly acquired and second Beretta 92FS Compact L, Type M, pistol. Shooting that one yesterday showed that even THE Great Procrastinator can sometimes do things without putting them off for what usually seems like way too long. I picked up the Beretta at my local FFL the day before yesterday. Shooting it was also fun & quite satisfying. It came with two OEM magazines and I have another three of them and one aftermarket mag that I already had for my first Beretta 92FS Compact L, Type M. It too functioned flawlessly. I guess I put about 100 rounds through it.

There was one more gun to shoot. That was my Charter Arms Pathfinder revolver in .22 WMR (.22 magnum). I had shot that one before and while it is fun to shoot, it is only fun when it actually fires. The thing was it did not always fire when the hammer dropped. So, I bought a new mainspring for it a couple months or so back, a heavy duty one, and I installed it a few days ago. It wound up that shooting that one yesterday was a bit of a bummer because the new main spring did not change anything. Back to examining it again I will be sooner or later as in whenever I find the time and the initiative to do it. I suppose I should really take a good look at the firing pin and at the transfer bar. Hopefully I will figure out the problem and then be able to find the part that will be the solution whenever I decide to get it done. I really like that particular model revolver and would hate to have to sell it as a parts gun.

Fun and mostly satisfying day at the range and no targets were needed because I was just shooting them to see if they functioned as they should. What was it Meatloaf said: "Two outta three ain't bad..."

Maybe two out of three isn't bad but I sure wish it had been three out of three! 

 

All the best, 

Glenn B