Preparing for 4th of July

Pit dug for pig to be roasted in - Check. Pineapple and taro root to stuff in pig – Check. The pit just needs to be lined with rocks now.

The pit is only the beginning. More below

More of Montana

During my very first trip to Montana, I left the Big Sky Practical Shooting Club for a bit and explored Missoula with Lisa’s cousin, Kellie, and her friend, a University of Montana student. The trip to Montana brought my states visited count up to seven. We ended up having lunch at a nearby park.

We couldn’t stay at the park for very long because it was hot and the mosquitoes were hungry. But it was a very lovely little place. More photos below

What about the zombies?

As I mentioned in my last post, I was surprised at what seemed to be an emphasis on the shotgun at the shooting competition. I’m used to pistols and rifles and before the competition had really only seen the shotgun used in movies for things like deterring zombies. Maybe the two stages I didn’t see didn’t require its use so much, but because it seemed so popular, I decided to ask my dad how come I never saw him with a shotgun. The conversation went something like this:

 

Dad, how come I’ve never seen you shoot a shotgun before?

I don’t like to make a mess. I like clean, precision shots.

Missoula Multi-Gun Match

UPDATE: Bill won second place out of 34 shooters.

I spent yesterday at a shooting range in Missoula, Montana watching Lisa’s uncle Bill compete. The match had five different stages and required skill with the pistol, rifle and shotgun. Though I’ve spent some time at ranges, I’ve never been to a shooting competition before. It made me realize I have had limited exposure to shotguns. Bill is pretty good, and that’s putting it modestly. He did well at the competition, but as the scores aren’t out yet, how well exactly is still unknown.

In addition to the guns, there was other impressive equipment. Did you know baby strollers can be converted into gun strollers? The competitors call them gun carts, but they’re strollers. It seems like some kind of contradiction to turn something made for carrying new life into something for carrying high-powered weapons.

A couple more photos below

My first Hoopfest

I went to Hoopfest this morning. I wanted to see what all the hoopla was about. I stayed just long enough to watch one of Lisa’s cousins in his first game and for a quick walk around Riverpoint park. Then the crowds and heat began intensifying and it was time to go.

More pictures and details below.

It’s the small triumphs with technology that sustain me.

I struggle with technology, though I’m sure this comes as little surprise. This lack of skill and experience is why I accidentally hung up on several people today while on the job. There are just too many buttons on phones. I kept forgetting to put people on hold, so I dropped the line when I tried to transfer them.

I still struggle with Twitter a little bit too. I need a brief tutorial. I could look at the one online, but that’s online and requires the use of technology, so I’ll wait until I come across a real person to show me.

These small mishaps make me so happy when even the smallest bit of technology goes well for me.

Belated Father’s Day post

I talk too much, especially when I finally become comfortable around people. More disturbing to me, however, is how more specifically, I talk about my father too much. I’m not exactly sure why I seem to talk about  my parent so much more than others talk about their parents, but so it has been since I was a young child. Maybe it’s because we’re so close. Maybe it’s because I admire him in many ways. But probably, it’s because he does stuff that makes for good story telling.

Now would be the spot where I’d include a classic example, but most of them are controversial enough that I’m not sure I want them shared so publicly. And because I do talk about  my dad so much, most of you who read this blog have heard the good ones already.

If my father had a hero, it’d be a combination of Clint Eastwood’s character in Gran Torino and Michael Westen. No doubt there’d be quite a range of responses if you asked people what they thought of my dad. But no one would deny that he has been a most excellent father. In tribute to that …

Happy Father’s Day.

Not my usual roommates

Since I blogged about last summer, I guess it makes sense to say a little bit more about this summer. There was no way I was going to be able to afford summer rent because my internship is unpaid, so I’m doing what any reasonable college student would do. I’m mooching off friends who hooked me up with their relatives. Lisa’s relatives were gracious enough to open up their home to me. It also came with a couple pretty adorable roommates. They’re not children or kitties.

A brief return to last summer

I’m slightly concerned about my return to blogging. It’s been hardly half a week and I’m already drawing blanks. I would like to blog about the first day of my internship, but I’m not entirely sure that’s a wise decision. I’ll ask about it tomorrow.

Until then, I did find the following little gem in my blog drafts. It was a short post that I wrote last summer when I stayed in Pullman and worked at Ferdinand’s Ice Cream Shoppe. I don’t remember why I didn’t publish it. I guess I wasn’t very happy with its tone. Maybe I thought it was too short. But right now, I’m not feeling so picky.

Sometime in May or June 2008 …

I saw Aron Baynes walking by Bohler Gym. He is still tall.

On my way to work one morning, I passed a robin that was trying to hop away from me. Apparently it was too fat to fly.

A little girl trailed behind me yesterday as I was cleaning Ferdinand’s observation room. She wanted to show me how she could pull a penny out of her ear. I asked her if she had any quarters in there. She didn’t.

Tweet Tweet

It looks like my internship in a congresswoman’s district office this summer will consist largely of office work. Luckily, I take a strange kind of enjoyment in answering calls and connecting people with information they seek. I hope a summer of doing just that won’t strip the joy away. I just had orientation today. I don’t officially start until Wednesday. I’ll be working two days a week, which should leave me plenty of time to begin work on my thesis. Oh the joy.

I also joined Twitter today, but I’m still figuring it out a bit. My computer is having issues with it, and I’m not sure I completely understand its purpose. I really just want to follow others, more than I want to be followed, but it seems silly to have an account and not use it. Hopefully I’ll have it figured out in the next couple days. I already accidentally started following someone who I thought was someone else. They had only two followers and now I have unfollowed them. Awkward.