Month: December 2010

Customer Service Wins

/ hsoi

This time of year is full of commercial transactions, which inevitably means a high chance for customer service fail.

Most things went smoothly for me this year, and a couple really good ones I wanted to point out.

First was amazon.com. One package was to be delivered some days ago. It went by FedEx SmartPost. The tracking said it should have been here by now, but wasn’t. USPS tracking only said “we’ve received shipment information”. I called Amazon’s customer service because the items were gifts for the kids and I wanted them to be here in time. A very friendly and helpful gentleman named Pat handled my call. He listened to everything, looked things up, and when the tracking numbers all were a bust he said he’d call me back. When he did he said he tracked as much as he could to try to find things but no luck and no one has any idea where the package is. So since it was vital for Christmas, he sent out another shipment UPS 2nd Day Air. I thought that was cool. I didn’t have to ask, there was no prompting, he realized the greater problem: making kids happy on Christmas morning, and worked to solve it. That’s a big win, and one reason why so far I continue to enjoy shopping with Amazon.

Second is Bonny Doon Vineyard. I ordered some wine to be shipped as a gift. Due to the fact it’s wine it really should be shipped quickly, at least 2-day air. Well, one of the shipments is going to a location not too far from the Vineyard, so within a few hours of placing my order I was contacted by someone at the vineyard saying they could change my order to standard Ground shipping, it’d still be there in time, and cost me less. Hey that’s cool! Looking out for your customers like that is really nice.

We’re all quick to point out when things suck. We should also be so quick to point out when things do right and well.

Back from the range

/ hsoi

Just returned from the local indoor gun range.

I’ve been wanting to rework my AR’s, so I’ve been swapping parts, buying a few new things, putting a few old things on the shelf. Still not at my 100% ideal setup, but close enough for now… especially since more changes require money, and right now I’m drained.

So the range trip was for two things:

  1. Re-validate the 6.8 SPC to ensure it was still holding zero.
  2. Zero the rebuilt Bushmaster

The Wilson Combat 6.8 SPC upper now rests atop a Rock River Arms lower, still with the RRA 2-stage match trigger. Shooting the Silver State Armory 6.8 SPC 85 grain Barnes TSX tac-load, shot just fine. If anything, it’s evident that I am the weakest link. 🙂

The main focus was to work on the Bushmaster. I wanted a lighter gun, so this is a minimal setup. I started zeroing it at 50 yards with some Georgia Arms “canned heat” 55 grain FMJ, just to get things on paper. A lot of twisting of knobs and adjusting the front sight post, and things were looking good. I switched to Hornady TAP FPD .223 Rem 75 grain. A slight tweaking to the sights and things were good. Then I got to the real meat of it all: the Aimpoint Comp M4s. A bit of adjusting, a bunch of playing and oh… what a sweet sweet optic.

The thing is? I can’t tell you much about it here. I received the Aimpoint on T&E for TacticalGunReview.com. So my experiences and results are going to be written up there, not here. I’m working on the write-up, but I have a little more field work to do before I publish it. When I do have it all up, I’ll of course link to it from here. I’ll just say that yeah, I dig that Aimpoint. 🙂

And… if you could guess by my previous post, going to the local indoor gun range is always an adventure. I prefer to go mid-week first thing in the morning: i.e. about as dead as it can be. But due to schedules, I had to go in the afternoon. The place was busy and I had to wait for a lane. Once I got one… boy, it was noisy in there (this is why you wear both ear plugs and ear muffs). It was also a continued reaffirmation as to why I generally try to surround myself with competent shooters. While most of the folks there weren’t bad, there was much room for improvement. Folks, this is why it’s essential to get good training. If you really want to tighten up those groups, if you want to stop throwing all your shots low-left, find a good teacher… I happen to know one.

As for some tips:

  • Again ladies, you may have nice boobs, but for your own well-being, cover them up. Hot brass down the shirt is no fun.
  • If you want to thumb-cock your revolver that’s fine, but there’s no need to point it up at the ceiling every time you do so.
  • When you (un)case your firearm, please do it on the benches so the muzzle points downrange… not on the floor behind the line so the muzzle points towards everyone on that side of the line.
  • We all know about ear/hearing protection, but eye protection is important too.
  • Wash your hands before you touch anything you care about: your eyes, mouth, food, etc.. Not that there was food on the line, but many people were handing guns and ammo, then just leaving. There’s a sink, use it.
  • If you want to borrow the extra benchrest that’s sitting unused next to me, all you need to do is ask.

 

Nice boobs, but….

/ hsoi / 21 Comments

Ladies. A friendly tip.

You may be blessed with an ample bosom. You may enjoy wearing clothing that shows off your cleavage.

That’s all well and good… unless you’re at the gun range.

Nothing says “poor wardrobe choice” like getting a hot piece of brass stuck between your boobs.

As well, it leaves a mark, it hurts, and you can’t do much to control the muzzle of that gun in your hands while you do the “hot brass dance.”

Wear a top that closes around your neck. Your boobs thank you… as well as the guy in the next stall (me) that doesn’t like loaded guns pointed at him.

No big rush

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

I’m on vacation for a little while.

That means, I’ll get around to things whenever I want to get around to them. Blogging included. 😉

Not going anywhere on vacation, just staying home and getting things done… including spending lots of time with Wife and Kiddos. But I do have to remember to unwind. I was going to reconfigure some AR’s on Saturday night, then go to the local indoor range to re-zero them on Sunday, then this morning to the local outdoor range to do some work with them. But alas… none of that happened. Things like naps, sleeping in, playing with doggie, cuddling with Wife… they took precedence.

But this morning I did get to reconfigure the AR’s. I’ll get to the range eventually. I’m excited to see how this all works out.

More later.

Sunday Metal – Slayer Christmas

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

Everyone likes syncing up Christmas lights to music.

About time someone did it to SLAYER!

The light show is ok for the most part, but I dig the increased chaos at the end.

SLAYER!!!!!

A good day, a good night

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

Spent the day at the in-laws. Annual Christmas gathering. Good people. Good food. Good time.

Took Sasha up with us. That was… mixed. New place, new people, new dogs… she was very stressed and defensive at first. She mellowed out some as the day went on, but overall she didn’t do as well as I hoped (but kinda what I expected *sigh*). She needs this, and I think with more exposure to the people, the place, the dogs, she’ll get better; she’s better today than she was 2 months ago. But still, in this regard it was a stressful day for us and everyone. *sigh*   Wife found a Kuvasz-specific trainer somewhere in the area (to our luck). I don’t think we’ll go back to Triple Crown, not anything against them, just I think if this lady can truly give deeper insight into this breed, that may help.

Found out my brother-in-law is home. He’s a Commander in the US Navy, this last tour had him as the Air Boss on the USS Peleliu. They just docked today in San Diego. Joyous because he’s home safe. Joyous because he gets to spend Christmas with his family. Joyous because he’s soon to retire… and then we can go hunting together!

Got myself a bio. Gosh… it makes me look official and qualified. 😉

Got me a good Wife. I spent the drive home just rambling on to her about what was on my mind, be it the tedium of my plans for reloading .308 Winchester… or my continued indecision about my martial arts direction… or just that we need to go out on more dates. YES WIFE! I KNOW YOU READ THIS! I CAN’T WAIT FOR OUR NEXT DATE!! 🙂

Truly, life is good. It’s not perfect, but it’s good.

Good night.

Things that make you go YES!!!

/ hsoi

11-year-old girl fends off 3 armed home invaders… with her pink .22 rifle. 🙂  (h/t to Chimera)

But but but… you say that children aren’t supposed to have access to guns. Well, you draw your own conclusions about what could have happened to this responsible and brave little girl if she didn’t have her rifle.

Drought + wind = high fire conditions

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Most people associate “drought” with “summer”. They think because it’s cold out right now, we don’t have “drought conditions.”

But folks, drought means lack of water. We haven’t had any good rains in Central Texas in some time… we haven’t even had a poor rain. Just no rain.

I watch Sasha run around in the back yard… kicking up dust. If she tries to dig a hole, she’s rifling through loose dust. There’s no moisture.

Couple this extreme dryness with all the high gusty winds we’ve been having? That’s a recipe for fire danger.

I’m saying this because I know people love their fireworks. As we approach Christmas and New Year’s, I know people are going to want to shoot off fireworks.

All I’m asking is for people to think — just a little bit — about coupling fireworks, wind, and extreme dry conditions. Don’t think it can’t happen to you. “Oh, I’m safe” and maybe you are, but shit happens. If you’ve never seen how fast a fire can spread, you’ll just have to trust me that you won’t be able to keep it under control. I don’t want to put a damper on people’s fun, but an out of control fire, someone’s house burning down, getting charged for a crime due to the use of illegal fireworks and things burning… well, that’s going to be a lot less fun, isn’t it?

Be safe.

Kinda creepy… Big Brother in Austin

/ hsoi

One of the local Austin news stations posted 2 stories on the same day that when taken together, it’s a wonderful “Big Brother” “all in the name of public safety” moment.

Downtown safety cameras could keep an eye over Austin.

More than a dozen public safety cameras are likely headed for Downtown Austin.

[…]

“We’re trying to protect assets,” Downtown Austin Alliance spokesperson Bill Brice said. “East Sixth Street in particular is an area in which visitors, conventioneers, locals and a lot of special events draw thousands to tens of thousands of people every weekend of the year. We know that it’s important to protect those assets and make sure that, that particular district remains safe for everyone who enjoys it.”

But the gem is from APD Top Cop, Art Acevedo:

“The bottom line is everybody knows that when you’re walking down a public street, there’s absolutely no expectation of privacy. There’s no expectation of privacy from the people around you. There’s no expectation of privacy from the government and that is something that people know, they’ve known for many years,” he said.

This is true. But officer, I hope you also realize this means that the citizenry is open and free to film the actions of you and your officers. Just remember that, Mr. Gander.

I do think his last statement is a little chilling… that there’s no expectation of privacy from the government.

Now couple that with the second news story about area law enforcement coming together to share intelligence information:

The Austin Regional Intelligence Center is open for business.Ten area law enforcement agencies will now share information through a centralized “fusion center.”

[…]

By sharing information with other area law enforcement agencies, Police Chief Art Acevedo said, they’ll be able to recognize trends and identify suspects more efficiently.

Fair enough. But of course, people fear breach of privacy rights.

Acevedo said they’ll work to ensure constitutional rights are protected.”Our challenge, and the challenge to all the members working in this center, is to make sure we police with respect to privacy rights,” Acevedo said.

But Chief, I thought we shouldn’t have any expectation of privacy from the government?