TICKED!!

Background:
We have a couple of different family members who are each having July weddings.
Instead of buying a gift, we bought each of them a Visa card that can be used anywhere like a regular credit/debit card (vs a WalMart card that can be used only at WalMart).
I can't activate it...or more like I won't. It cost me fifty-six bucks each to buy the cards and load $50 on each... but when I called the 800 number (and also tried the online activation) they expect me to give them all sorts of information that I'm not willing to do! Like my fricken social security number!! I kid you NOT.
It's like buying flowers for someone and being required to write down your SSN on the card before sending them or giving them! What is up with THAT??
Don't believe it? Here's the screen shot (note that I only got from page one - entering the number on the card and the activation number on my receipt...to page two where I would not give any of that private information!)
There are FIVE pages of personal questions in total!
WTF?!!?? (click to make the pic bigger)

Tuesday Shootin'

When the World Market store was going out of business, I picked up this bag for ten bucks. It's meant for a laptop, but it makes for a really nice mini-range bag if you're only taking minimal stuff.

Today we just took the .22A and the Savage MkII. They ammo share, so other than the extra mags, the stapler/targets, and the first aid kit, there wasn't a reason to carry the big bag of tricks.

MiniMe was kind of getting upset because she wasn't hitting what she was aiming for... but then again, she wouldn't listen to me. Finally, I said, "You have two choices. You can either listen to me and hit what you're aiming at...or you can just put holes all over the paper."
She said, "I just want to put holes all over the paper", so I said, "have at it...there ya go..."
And so she did.
We were standing about 30 feet away and shooting at paper plates being held by my Jammit stand.

I'm no marksman, and I'm not especially happy with the lack of tightness in my groups, but here's mine:

Here's hers:

To top it all off, she took a piece of flung brass right down the shirt and it sizzled her stomach before she could free it.
We cleaned it up and put burn gel on it, but it blistered pretty quick.
I think it wasn't her best day.
Ouch.

Happy Independence Day

Click each for a bigger pic:
Enjoy!

Why do people do it??

I understand that people travel with pets.
I also understand that sometimes people like to take their pets places that they can't easily walk to (a pet store that encourages bringing them along, a dog park, a beach run, etc.).
What I do NOT understand is the thought process that says, "hey, it's a hot day. I think I'll stick my dog in the car, go to WalMart, and leave him there with all the windows rolled up while I go shop in air conditioning."
I'll go one step further to say it borderlines retardation when the car license plates are LOCAL.

Shifty Powers

I posted here about Band of Brothers, the awesome true account of WWII.
I found out this morning that one of the men that the story unfolded around has passed away. Here's a write up from his town's local paper:

Veteran a part of 'Band of Brothers'
Darrell "Shifty" Powers, who died at age 86, was a hero on the battlefield and to his family.
By Neil Harvey
981-3349

In a 2001 interview with The Roanoke Times, Darrell "Shifty" Powers talked about some of his experiences during World War II.

Powers, a United States Army paratrooper and sharpshooter, belonged to Easy Company, part of the legendary 101st Airborne Division. He recalled a bitterly cold day in the Ardennes when he was able to draw down on a German sniper, sighting his target by the misty cloud of the man's breath. He killed him with one shot.

"Right there," he said, touching his forehead. "Between the eyes."

But Powers, of Dickenson County, who died Wednesday of natural causes at age 86, was also reflective about such matters.

In the second-to-last episode of "Band of Brothers," an HBO miniseries that documented Easy Company's wartime exploits, Powers spoke on camera about the soldiers he fought and also hinted at the intrinsic tragedy of combat.

"We might have had a lot in common. He might've liked to fish, you know, he might've liked to hunt," Powers said. "Of course, they were doing what they were supposed to do, and I was doing what I was supposed to do.

"But under different circumstances, we might have been good friends."

Powers, who got the nickname "Shifty" playing basketball as a youngster, served three years in the Army during World War II and later worked as a machinist for Clinchfield Coal Corp. He found renewed notoriety when his military experiences were depicted on film and in the Stephen Ambrose book of the same name.

"He actually hadn't talked about it, his war years, until the book came out," said his daughter-in-law, Sandy Powers. "He gets fan mail from all over the world, and calls."

"For me and my kids, it's just amazing that our regular, sweet uncle was such a hero," said his niece, Cheryl Gilliland of Roanoke. "It sure changed his life in later years. He went places and met people he never would have otherwise."

Darrell Powers met a German soldier in 2005 who had fought against him at the notoriously brutal siege of Bastogne during the winter of 1944.

According to his son, Wayne, he had in September been scheduled to travel to Iraq to meet with U.S. soldiers, but health problems prevented it.

"He was so disappointed. He wanted to meet with the soldiers so badly," Sandy Powers said.

One of his closest friends, Earl McClung, of Colorado, in 2001 called Darrell Powers "a heck of a good soldier and a heck of a good shot."

"And he was there every time I looked up," he added.

"Our family had four boys and one girl, and I'm the only one left," said Powers' sister, Gaynell Sykes of Roanoke, on Wednesday. "He was a great brother. I know he was great at a lot of other things, too -- great father, great son, great husband."

Happy Father's Day.

Slow News Day?

Hussein, our Arabian Ninja leader, has used his mad skilz to kill a fly, sans shiruken.
Do we know if this fly was an endangered species? Do we know if it’s protected?
After all, if California farmers have to cut their water consumption to placate the environmentalists over smelt and salmon and Florida turtles get a $3.4 million stimulus project... I’m just sayin’.
I’m sure as you’re reading this, Ingrid Newkirk is amassing her PETA posse and having her lawyers add some fly related bequeath to her kooky will.(That’s one whacked chick)
You might think that with the Iranian Fraud – er…I mean “election”, North Korea testing missiles that experts say have the capability to reach and strike the U.S., the struggling Oconomy, Gitmo’s detainees being released and sent home, War in the Middle East, and a host of other news-ish-ness abounding, Obamessiah swatting a fly would be less than dominating headline news.
Guess not...
Well, at least someone had the good sense to remix it and load it to YouTube.