Range time: $12
Box of 5.56x45mm ammo: $5.95
Firearm rental: $8
Having the privilege as a citizen of the Greatest Nation on Earth to walk into a gun range, spend some time firing an AR-15 and enjoy some good conversation: Priceless 
The hotel had a nice "continental breakfast". I had cold cereal with milk, orange juice, "mocha" coffee, a bagel and a bowl of fruit. Its 10:30 in the morning and I'm going back to bed.
So far today is going better than yesterday.
1) Rainbow Sherbet for breakfast.
2) Don't need to be in the office until around 3pm.
3) Hotel is located close to Half Price Books.
cool.
I have neglected my email. It was just chock full of goodies. Here are a few that I like.
"Did you know that convicted foreign child molesters are eligible to immigrate to America? Well, you will after watching this devastating new television ad from [Vernon Robinson] campaign's ad team."
No joke - watch the ad.
Here is the latest news on important immigration bills from NumbersUSA.
You never can tell what John McCain is gonna do next when it comes to national security but yesterday on Face the Nation he was asked about John Bolton (US Ambassador to the UN) and he said "He's smart, he's tough, he will respond to these guys. And he could talk back to these two-bit dictators who have the airfare to New York." Read it yourself here or here.
An interesting article from Melanie Morgan, chairman of pro-troop Move America Forward.
Dr James Dobson says "We're at War with Muslims" but please Don't take his word for it - Ask the Muslims.
And apparently the old line the Democratic party used to throw at the Republican party has come home to roost. It seems that the Democratic party has been sold to the highest bidder.
The truth will set you free, but it will make you miserable first.
Its been a really L-O-N-G day today for me. Tomorrow should be better... we'll see what happens.
Right now I'm looking to enjoy a bratwurst hot dog with relish and spicy brown mustard, a Sobe Liz Blizz, Snickers and maybe an ice cream sandwich. I'm listening to the show "Blue Monday" on kut.org (you gotta love college radio stations). Our hometown college radio station used to have a show called "The 90 Minute Blues Hour" - naturally, the show was 45 minutes long :-)
Good hot dog. Do I even want to check the news?
just for fun, click here for the current Days 'Til Christmas. (don't panic)
The only thing that I have planned for this year's holiday season is that late in November we'll probably see Santa Clause 3. (I'm looking forwared to this one)
So far I haven't bought a single gift but I am closer to selling stuff on ebay.
Previously Daughter had been having a problem with talking in class. Actually, I should say the problem was that she had *no problem* with talking in class. The teacher, however, found it a little distracting. :-)
The lovely way that genetics works, apparently Daughter got her "gab gene" from me. Fortunately, as she grows, it obvious that she got her "good looks gene" from Mommy. (and we're all quite relieved :-)
The good news is that Daughter is learning to only gab at the appropriate times and so her behaviour marks in school have improved drastically lately. This is due (in no small part) to a bribe that I came up with. She had been good all week - not a single time called down by her teacher - so last Friday (9-15) the 3 of us piled into the car and set off for a "surprise" destination. When we pulled into the local first run movie theater, she was elated. And I told her "Every week that you are on all green, we'll go see a movie.".
We saw "Everybody's Hero". Its a G-rated animated film that Christopher Reeve and his wife Dana worked on before their deaths. No plot spoiler here. Daughter liked it so much (and she was "all green" again this week) that it looks like we're gonna see it again tomorrow (9-23)
I am happy to report that, according to this dictionary.com article, [3rd entry from the top under 'Regional Note'] the word "ya'll" is not only "The single most famous feature of Southern United States dialects" but it also "functions with perfect grammatical regularity". Wow, I wouldn't have believed that "grammatical" was a word if I hadn't seen it on dictionary.com. :-)
I can hold my head high knowing that by using "ya'll" I am defending the "distinction between singular and plural" forms of you; a distinction that "began to blur as early as the 13th century" in the English language.
What's more, I'm not even gonna be snooty about it. If you druther use "y'all" over "ya'll", well I won't even hold it against you.
This evening a good friend and i went here and wasted a little ammo and sent a couple of paper targets to their final reward.
Yeah, buddy.
I've said it before and I'll say it again - the Second Amendment protects ALL our other freedoms. (Peace Through Superior Firepower :-)
"Generation 9-11" was the title of the cover article of the "Weekend" magazine in our local Sunday paper. It was an article about 6 kids that were born 9-11-01. The article wasn't really heavy reading but it got me to thinking - is this how the latest generation will be named?
The good news is that these kids (and other kids born since then) probably won't be hung with such a morbid moniker. I'm pretty sure that future journalists will find a fitting catch phrase for these youngsters. My father's generation is not called the "Pearl Harbor Kids" and my generation isn't known as the "KDD's" (Kennedy Dead in Dallas), despite the fact that those were earth-shattering events.
Even though it is still larger than life right now, we will overcome this national tragedy just as we have overcome other national tragedies in the past.
The best news is that some good friends of ours had a baby today! And it happened on day 150 of my blog - I couldn't have planned it better myself. :-)
According to this article, "a Christian member of [Iraqi] parliament, criticised both the Pope for making his comments and Muslim leaders for responding with words that could enflame passions." (emphasis mine)
Well, I guess it is slightly refreshing that some responsibility for a bad situation is given to Muslim leaders. The problem is that this article is like most of the news coverage that I've heard about the Pope's comments. Most reporters seem to act as if the whole of the Islamic community are completely unable to stop themselves from committing atrocities at the slightest hint of "provocation".
Give me a break! This is like making excuses for a bad child. This is completely typical of our "blame somebody else for your mistakes" tendency these days.
If you think that I am exaggerating, let me review:
Salman Rushdie published "The Satanic Verses" = Iran's leader Ayatollah Khomeni issued a decree for his death (incidentally in Feb 2006 the Iranian state news agency reported that this decree will remain in place permanently);
Cartoons of Mohammed were published in a Danish newspaper = Muslims rioting around the globe (check the article for the box titled "Wikinews has previous reports related to this article");
Two men peacefully stand by a Muslim march in Paris = the Police have to take the men away for their own safety (you have to watch the video if you haven't already);
The Pope includes a quote about the violence of Mohammed in a speech = a nun is killed in Somalia and churches are firebombed by Muslim extremists ;
Jews are trying to secure their ancient homeland = the Iranian president calls for the complete destruction of Israel.
I wasn't even looking for it and found this list. And now Hamas is a recognized political party?!?
Is all this overreacting getting old to anyone else, or am I the only one?
i updated the blog template. Rearranged several of the blog links. Rearranged a couple of the sidebar categories. Added the category "Miscellaneous Useful Links" - check out the new links.
i've run across quite a few blogs that i would like to link to but it would make the sidebar really long. more later.
Check the transcript of yesterday's press conference here at washingtonpost.com - it isn't perfect, but I think he did a good job.
Things I have learned about Mexican Independence Day (Deisiseis de Septiembre - 16th of September) while living in south Texas (Hidalgo county):
There are 17 verses to the Mexican National Anthem.
Truth:There are 10 verses, 2 of which are no longer sung because they refer to politically unpopular people.
The Mexican National Anthem was written by a Frenchman.
Truth:He was Mexican but his father was Spanish.
Also (no disrespect indented) every time that I have asked any Mexican friend of mine (including my wife) "Do you know every verse to the Mexican National Anthem?" the response has been universally the same - "Are you kidding ?!?"
Truth:I wrote this then went and asked my wife to see if she would sing it and she said "The whole thing?!?" (She still doesn't believe that it only has 10 verses :-)
A good friend of ours was born on this day.
While it can be argued that the American Revolution was fought because of "taxation without representation", the Mexican War for Independence (1810-1821) was fought over the right to own land. This should not be confused with the Mexican Revolution (1910 -1920) sometimes also called the Mexican Civil War.
Incidentally, Cinco de Mayo celebrates a Mexican victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla (1862) and has no direct connection to either Mexico's War for Independence or Revolution/Civil War.
It is interesting to note that 4 men (Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata, Jose Maria Morelos and Miguel Hidalgo) are often pictured together as "Heroes of the Nation" even though they were not comtemporaries of each other (much like the North American Mount Rushmore, I suppose) . Miguel Hidalgo started the War for Independence with his Grito de Dolores, so he is considered the "Father of the Revolution" and the "Father of the Nation". This is also sort of a play on words because Miguel Hidalgo was a priest.
So I said to my (Mexican) wife, "Tell me something that I don't know about diesiseis de Septiembre". And she told me "Well, the Mexicans were fighting for their independence from Spain and the war lasted over 10 years." (Good grief - somehow I never got that factoid before)
My wife's grandmother was born during the Mexican Revolution, however records are sketchy as to the exact year of her birth. She passed away in 1999.
On one other fun note, these guys tried to start another revolution in Mexico Jan 1, 1994. Shooting stopped on Jan 12, 1994 but the group remains active. And, if things "happen in threes" and the cycle remains the same, then Mexico is scheduled for a revolution in 2010. (yikes!)
I recently ran across these. Struck me so funny that I had to pass them along.
How to Dissuade Yourself From Becoming a Blogger
How to Write A Famous Blog
How to Defeat A Myspace Addiction Remember, real friends don't let friends be MySpace addicts.
How to Lie Wow. I just can't believe that we actually need to tell people how to lie in this culture. I'm pretty sure that everybody that I've ever met knows how to lie. (We're such perfectionists in this culture :-)
Well I resisted the temptation to rant yesterday. I watched several different commerative services and some of my favorite websites had special tributes, too. I was pleasantly surprised that, for the most part, the politicians left the politics out of the memorials.
Like every American, I feel a great sense of loss touching the events of September 11, 2001.
Even though I did not know anyone that died that day, for some reason, every year on September 11, I am also reminded of my own personal losses. It has become "Memorial Day" for me.
Most of my current friends know of the death of one of my very best friends from advanced stage lung cancer on Sunday, June 29, 2003; however, he was not the first friend that I have lost to disease.
About 1991, while I was living in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, a good friend from college died from leukemia. Both of these friends were, at the times of their deaths, younger than I am now. Both were married with children.
Recently, in a rather short period of time, I found out that at least four of my friends will be moving. Some sooner, some later, some sorta far away and some really far away but all moving away. Change is the only constant. Progress is optional.
The battle continues. The American Embassy in Damascus, Syria was (unsuccessfully) attacked today. Life goes on.
A Retrospective [with subtitles because I'm so self-important]
No, I didn't actually go back and count every single entry that i've posted. i'm just "trusting the machine" on this one. When i logged in today it said that i had 49 posts. So this would be #50. And there was much rejoicing... (nod to Monty Python)
As i'm writing this the "Count Up" has just passed 139 days, 2 hours. What have i learned in this time blogging? Probably not much that will contribute to the sum total of human knowledge but lets give it a shot.
i like to do things right but my neurosis is sort of "Lazy" meets "OCD". So that would be my estimation of right when it comes to hobbies. For instance, if you're paying any attention at all, you'll notice that i don't follow the rules of English 1201. (You know, the spelling, grammar and punctuation class - whatever the number is...) But i'm not here to make the world a more "Grammatically Sound" place. i'm still trying to figure out where this whole "blogging" thing fits into my life. My cell phone that takes pictures and using downtime in airports with wireless internet have helped. But i digress... (nod to Peter David)
A few days ago it occured to me that the 150 day mark for the blog is coming up. i'm still deciding if that is significant and/or what i want to do for that occassion and/or other "milestones". So far i've only noticed people mentioning annual milestones but comics are measured by issue # and not year and the whole "blogosphere" impresses me as a lot of "episodes" more than dates. You can read old blogs so isn't that more like syndicated TV?
MAKE IT COOL
i won't repeat my personal blog chronology but i will say this. i'm still experimenting with the internet (aren't we all?) and so far, blogging is the most "fluid" thing that i've found. Okay, Wikipedia probably makes it a tie for first. The other day, i actually edited this article - i told you this was gonna be self-important :-)
Every time that i see a blog where somebody has, on each entry, things like "Listening to [CD photo] right now" i am secretly envious. Right now i am "Listening to" the white noise of fans - a desktop oscillating fan and the fan in my laptop. Seriously, i hear so much noise every day at work that, given an opportunity, i tune everything out. If you ever see me sitting in an airport typing on this machine while i'm waiting for my flight, don't assume that i will see you or hear you.
Recently, a couple of my friends have been encouraging me to get a myspace page. One actually told me "Man, you have to get a myspace page." While i really wanted to say "i don't have to do anything of the sort!" i decided to humor my friend so i said "oh really...why?" Now keep in mind this friend is under 30 (no disrespect intended to anyone) so the word "cool" got thrown around a lot and i'm human, i like cool, so i said that i would check into it.
The funny thing is, i think what i meant when i said that and what my friend heard were two different things. i believe this is true because the next time i saw my friend, the conversation started with "Dude, i can't find your myspace page."
Like i told my friend that i would do, i did check into myspace. But not by checking out myspace. i went for what is known as "third party research".
The good news is that after much searching, i found a GREAT article that eloquently expresses the shortcomings of myspace.
The bad news is that the author feels so strongly about myspace that he uses the occassional colorful phrase (to put it mildly). So now i'm left with an ethical quandry: i want to link to the article but i can't in good conscience link to an article with so much profanity. Copying and "censoring" his article would be plagarism. But if you send me an email i will send you a link to it.
And btw, unless drastic changes happen, there is NO WAY i'm getting a myspace page. 
I really hope posting this icon doesn't violate anybody's copyright.
Okay, FINALLY, as promised... my pictures from Austin. The big thing that I was worried about on my trip to Austin was a presentation that I was scheduled to give on Wednesday afternoon.
Even when traveling for business I am a tourist, and I told the audience "I've never been here before so if ya'll would help me out for just a minute and smile..." and I took out my cell phone and took this picture. (this is, without a doubt, the absolute worst picture that I have ever taken - but its significant to me :-)
In my haste, I apparently hit the "zoom" feature on the cell phone. Its a pretty useless feature because it just takes a smaller picture that is not obviously "zoomed". You can sort of see how big the room is (note lady waving her arms in the back) but all the seats aren't full. I know many of the people that were at the meeting but, from this photograph, I can't recognize a soul.
As I explained in the blog post of Aug 23, the size of the presentation grew quite a bit after I arrived in Austin. Much of the information had previously been distributed to various committees (by email) but this information had never been formally presented.
Those of you that know me know that my posture is not normally the best. I was determined that I would not be caught slouching during this presentation so I consciously stood up to my full height all day long and by the time of my presentation I wasn't even thinking about it.
Caught with my mouth open (naturally) and a little red eye.
Congress Avenue Bridge - home to "the largest urban bat colony" (over a million strong)
The signs says "CAUTION Never Touch Grounded Bats" (words to live by - really)
My good friend Emmanuel, myself and one of our co-workers (in the mirror) at Chuy's Mexican restaurant. Since the day that Emmanuel was hired, one of our supervisors has (repeatedly) confused our names. This gives us a great deal of fun, because, just as sure as God made little green apples, all we have to do is be in the same building and she will call one of us by the other's name. Emmanuel and I have told her "Monte is the tall one" but it doesn't help - she still confuses our names. It just makes me laugh and, unfortunately, that embarrasses her. This lady really is one of the sweetest people I know and the whole thing just demonstrates that she has a LOT on her mind.
The "promotional" shot of our hotel. This is a view of the hotel's north face, over "Town Lake" (its actually a river running through a city but somehow "City River" just doesn't have the same ring to it). Through some mysterious clerical error, Emmanuel and I were stuck on the very non-picturesque south face of the hotel. We got to see a billboard that rotated ads for Shiner's Beer, Bacardi and a local news station that uses an iguana in their ads - you gotta love Austin.
The view from the 17th floor of our hotel. Looking to the north. I took this shot while we were waiting for our luncheon to start. Here you can see downtown Austin, the Congress Avenue bridge (from the top) and Town Lake.
Downtown Austin, at night, from the ground. In the foreground is one of the "guano barges" (my friends and I came up with this term). These are tourist boats that, for a fee, you can board and ride under the bridge to see the bats as they set out on their evening trek. Even though the roofs of the tourist boats have been decorated by pigeons - you know "guano barge" is just more colorful than "tourist boat".
Shots from inside the hotel.
The ceiling during the day. Cool.
The interior of the hotel is open with a "triangular" sort of set up. This is a view down into the right angle part of the triangle.
This is a view up into the tight angle of the triangle. Notice the bright light coming from the translucent ceiling.
Looking down the tight angle from the 16th floor.
Looking down from the 11th floor. In this shot you can see the triangle pretty good. Just as a point of reference, our room was in the row of rooms on the left. I'm standing in the tight angle. The three corner are a right angle, a tight angle and the elevators.
Looking down from our room. (5th floor)
This is a shot of the elevators coming straight out of our room.
Then one day I took the stairs and I knew there was a photograph there - even in this most non-descript part of a beautiful hotel. This is looking down the stairwell from the 17th floor.
This is as high as you could go on the stairs. There was a door (with a loud noise on the other side) that said "NO ROOF ACCESS". I did not open this door. Emmanuel tells me that not opening that door was probably one of the best decisions I've ever made.
Today I was reminded of why my forebears left England.
While I was checking the net for news this morning, I was reading the Washington Post online and found this pic on washingtonpost.com - check out the blurb explaining it.
This frame grab provided and digitally manipulated by the British television company Channel 4, released Friday, Sept. 1, 2006, is taken from the upcoming drama "Death of a President." In the film, shot in the style of a retrospective documentary, President George W. Bush is assassinated by a sniper. The program uses actors and digital manipulation of real footage to show a fictional account of Bush being gunned down after delivering a speech in Chicago. Channel 4 plans to show the program on Oct. 9 and it is also scheduled to be shown at the Toronto Film Festival in September. (AP Photo/Channel 4/ho)
Photo Credit: AP Photo
[Bad Brit]
