I bought my first handgun (gun of any kind) years ago because I thought it would be fun target shooting occasionally.  I bought a .22, mostly just because the cost of the bullets is much cheaper than 9mm ammo (at the time it was like $2 compared to $9-10 a box).  I was not motivated enough to join the gun club less than ten minutes from my house ( Read more... )

Riding in the rain sucks ( Read more... )

Today was a good day.  It was my birthday and I did only what I felt like doing, and got gifts in the evening (the gifts differentiate it from most any other day off from work :).  I was in the mood to play poker yesterday so I headed over to the casino in West Virginia, and ended up playing poker from about 5:30pm to 4am this morning.  On the way ( Read more... )

I decided to treat myself to significant time off work, so even though It would mean taking more than my use-or-lose leave, I took today off and all of next week.  Initially yesterday all government workers (at least in my section) got email saying we would only get two hours off early Monday.  Since I was taking off of Monday off, that didn't ( Read more... )

It is definitely turning into winter, with highs of 40s to low 50s, and around 30 at night.  I have managed to get out on my bike at least once a week for the past few weeks, and hoping to do that again this weekend (mid 50s).  I am not sure how many more weekends I'll have the motivation to brave the colder weather to ride.  Once I give up totally ( Read more... )

Since tonight is time change so it will be light out when I leave for work, I decided to test how safe and comfortable I felt riding my motorcycle on a highway at highway speeds.  I was not ready to hop on the beltway, so instead I took Rt. 50 to Annapolis, which involved 15 miles on that road.  Most of the way I was averaging 65-70mph, and felt ( Read more... )

I took a nice long this morning on my motorcycle.  My destination was a long, scenic road about 25 minutes from my house.  The drive allowed me to get a feel for driving at higher speeds (a major road on the way I got up to 70mph) and more practice with downshifting (ugh!).  The trouble I am having is when I approach a stop light that is green with ( Read more... )

I rode my motorcycle about twenty miles to a local shopping center to see a movie this afternoon.  I had ordered a (pretty damn heavy) bike chain lock so I could lock up my helmet and my back wheel to the frame, hopefully to deter anyone from trying to steal the bike or my helmet (and so I wouldn't have to carry around my helmet in the mall).  I ( Read more... )

Why is it that I am unreasonably excited I just got a three rack shoe stand that holds nine pairs of shoes/boots?  May it be that I got very tired of kicking other pairs of shoes out of the way on my bedroom floor to get the pair I wanted?  I know I have more shoes than the average guy, but I swear I wear all of them on a semi-regular/regular basis ( Read more... )

After having my last personal training session at Golds gym Friday, I have yet to work out again.  Bad me.  I was planning on doing so after work today, but I got next to no sleep last night, and it was such a nice day that it practically demanded I hop on my motorcycle instead.   So that is what I did ( Read more... )