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So, this past weekend Allison’s dad came up to spend the day with me. Me. Although a good mix of Anya and Allison were in there too.

First task of the day was to go to a local turkey shoot. I had never been to such a thing and thought it would be interesting to see what it was like. Essentially the point is to take a shotgun (second time to shoot one for me) and shoot at a small paper target around thirty yards away. Well, I think it was thirty yards away. Anyway, the point is that whichever shooter gets a pellet the closest to the center of the target wins. Normally you pay to take a shot and if you win you get a turkey. Apparently these are often done for charitable reasons as the local Elk Lodge where we shot was doing.

It was an interesting exercise but I have to say for someone who grew up target shooting it was a bit random to me. I’m used to hitting a target with one bullet at a time requiring precise aim depending on distance. With a shotgun you more or less point in the proper direction and spray a stationary target with pellets. Since you have absolutely no control over how the pellets strike the paper it is pure luck to get one to hit dead center. Some guys apparently use questionable methods to get more pellets on the center of the target but it still does not guarantee a win.

I have to say shooting clays was much more entertaining. That was the first time I had shot a shotgun, with the father-in-law to shoot some clays. You stand out in the woods, your partner pushes a button and suddenly the clay goes flying from a certain position. Then you shoot it before it hits the ground. Far more challenging with skill involved. You have to learn to lead with the proper offset depending on distance and speed of the target. Plus if you hit the thing it goes to pieces in a very satisfying way.

Now the next big thing is to go on a dove shoot and see if I can actually hit a flying bird in the wild. Once I get that down I can then properly provide meat for the family.

After the turkey shoot, I only shot twice, we went to a gun show in Birmingham. I myself had not been to one since I was a kid and that was with my dad. So going to one with my father-in-law was an interesting experience and brought back some memories. Oddly enough it was sort of the same thing that I remembered. A group of people gathering to look, buy, sell and trade items in their favorite hobby. A large room full of enough guns and ammunition to take over the state capitol with plenty of people fully capable of using all that hardware. And not once did I sense anything odd, unsafe or out of place. Well, the .50 caliber sniper rifles for sale was new since they weren’t around when I was a kid. But since I would not mind having one if someone felt the need to hand it over then I won’t complain about them being there.

I think I found the older rifles and handguns the most interesting. The M1 from WW2 is still a popular choice for collectors. I’ve actually fired one and can agree it’s a good rifle. It just seems to weigh too much to have to lug it around with you in the middle of a war. There were several displays of older rifles that I had a huge desire to take to a range to try them out. I’ve always preferred rifles over handguns I think it would be interesting to fire the ones that American soldiers used in previous wars. Plus it was fun to realize I could identify WW2 era weaponry for the Allies, Germans and Russians because of my extensive research in WW2 first person shooters. You always shoot the German with the MP40 first so you can use that. It is usually the best gun in the game and there is always plenty of ammo laying around for some odd reason.

But seeing these people and how they were with each other makes me wonder what the anti-gun people are seeing that I’m not. I did grow up around guns and don’t have much of a fear of them. I respect them but don’t get nervous when I see one. It just seems to me the anti-gun people just don’t get it. These were not the people that cause the problems that we hear about with guns. These people were backyard plinkers, cops, military, wives, husbands, kids and they, for the most part, just wanted to be left alone with the hobby they enjoyed. None of them were the strange people the anti-gun zealots are always trying to make them out to be.

Well, there was that one guy that had his forty-five pound rucksack ready to go for his run through the woods when the government came for his guns. But, come on, some people just need something to do for stress relief.

Needless to say, based on the t-shirts, stickers and flyers at the place I doubt Obama will have much luck getting a decent turnout for his cause in that group.

After that we met up with Allison and Anya who were in Birmingham for some baby stuff shopping and after a quick lunch we were on the way home. Quite an enjoyable day I must say and my ankle behaved itself quite nicely even with all the walking I did.

Sunday was the company picnic where we got to interact with some of the people in the other office for our company that we hardly see. Not much to say since it wasn’t a large event. Some food and playing around with frisbees/football with the kids were the major events. Chatting with the southern office people was good. But I think the Christmas party is a better event for the company. Anya had a blast playing with all the kids there. I don’t think she understood the rules involved with the game but she had fun just running around with them. Allison’s desert, which was some strange concoction of pretzels, cream cheese, cool whip, gelatin and frozen strawberries, was a hit and none was left to be had at the end of the picnic. I liked the taste of it but I’ve never been a big desert kind of guy, I only had a bite to try it.

Wow, a month since the last post? Well, the past week or so I haven’t felt the greatest so I’ll go with that.

Last night, Allison and I drove down to Birmingham to attend the Video Games Live concert performed by the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and the UAB Choir. The concert was created by two game composers, Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall, that features music from video games. That was probably obvious by the title of the concert. My Vegas friend, Ross, attended the concert when it was in Vegas and loved it.

He would since he’s a total geek.

I liked it as well but I’m not a total geek.

Our show seemed similar to what Ross had attended, although since his was in Vegas it was a little more spectacular in nature, I’m sure. Three guys dressed as Pong (two bars and the ball) won the costume contest and some guy played Guitar Hero on stage totally devastating the high score of Aerosmith’s Sweet Emotion on Expert beating the previous score by at least 50,000 points. I was tempted to give the GH contest a shot but I haven’t played in quite a long time and there is no way I could have competed with that guy. A young lady of 20 years got to play Space Invaders on stage with the whole shirt gag and had absolutely no idea how to play Space Invaders. It’s almost as if it needs to be law that you have to play some of the classics before they let you buy the latest and greatest consoles.

The music was excellent and brought back some old memories. I have played video games pretty much all my life and fully expect to be playing them when I’m barely able to manipulate the controller or mouse. In a way a concert like this lends a bit of adult credibility to my hobby. By the numbers it is the entertainment choice of the modern era. I actually owe my career to video games since I went into graphic design from a desire to make the games that I enjoyed playing. Granted I don’t do that anymore nor went very far with it but I am here today because of that desire.

Another element to this concert is that it at last gives some credit to video game music composers. These are people who compose beautiful and compelling music that millions of fans adore for years if not decades. Yet these people get little or no credit outside of their industry. No tuxedo award ceremonies with celebrities nor any time in the limelight. Most of them go through their entire careers without their biggest fans even knowing their names.

I have to say that my favorite music of the night was from Warcraft. With an excellent use of the choir with the orchestra it was music that was rather moving. The next one would have to be from Metal Gear Solid which had an exciting action-adventure feel to it. Most of the music was rather console heavy which bothered me a bit since I’ve always been more of a PC gamer. It would have been good to hear something from Neverwinter Nights, Baldur’s Gate, Diablo, Knights of the Old Republic, Half-Life and… I’ll stop there because the list is too long. But the show was excellent and if it comes to your town I highly recommend it.

In other news, Anya celebrated her fourth birthday this past Tuesday. In a way it is still amazing to me that I have a child with another on the way and yet it also just feels right. And I’m loving every day of it. We kept the birthday a low-key affair this year opting for small things like a party with her gymnastics friends and Allison’s parents who watched her last night so the two of us could go to the concert.

Also, people who make children’s DVDs that do not allow you to skip all the intro crap to just get to the movie either do not have children or hate people who do.

I have to say that I am amazed at the sheer amount of pure hatred that liberals in this country have towards McCain’s choice for VP, Alaska Governor Palin. The number of false stories that have been started by liberal blogs that are just passed along by media outlets without even bothering to do just basic fact checking is astounding to me. The level of negative media attention she’s gotten so far and the constant comparisons of her experience versus Obama’s experience makes me wonder if there’s a sizable group of people out there that are thinking Palin is actually running for President.

After all this, why would anyone in the future wish to run for any significant level of political office knowing that there will be people out there that will knowingly spread false and damaging stories just to destroy you as a candidate?

Is this what we want? Electing people based on who has the fewer scandals made up about them or by the way the candidates feel about the issues?

The news media is failing us in their purpose, reporting the news. The number of “reporters” I hear and see that just gives us opinions and editorials instead of just facts for us to decide for ourselves is disturbing. I wish for the days when reporters were REQUIRED to produce at least two NAMED sources before presenting a story to the public. After all, two reporters managed to do this about a bombshell story and brought down Nixon. Now all we get are made up stories with no efforts at basic fact checking for a very serious effort to prevent a woman from becoming Vice President of the United States.

All the efforts that liberals have made for the progression of women in society are in ruins simply because some wish to absolutely destroy a woman who dares not agree with them.

Very sad.

The level of discussion of remembering September 11th, or the lack thereof, within the media was interesting as well. Do we forget such things so easily?