Crash!

        Firefox is unhappy again.  Or maybe it's my hardware.  

        Either way, this is exactly why the Raspberry Pi sits quietly on one of the pull-out typewriter shelves, ready to be powered up.  I can troubleshoot the big machine once I've made a blog post.

        Oh, here we go: a massive Windows update has jammed things up. That'll do it. Guess it's time to give the Windows-based laptop and Surface a quick drive around the block, too.

Should Post Something

     Major sinus headche-thing going on.

     Nice BlogMeet yesterday but I couldn't stay -- stress or whatever, suddenly felt ill and had to leave.  Went home and slept.  And I'm gonna go sleep more now.

BlogMeet Ahoy! Abaft The August Stern...

     Or some such nautical thing.  It will be after the Indy 1500 Gun Show this coming Sunday.  Official start time is just a little earlier than full "after:" 3:00 p.m. at the Broad Ripple Brew Pub, we will be having an Indy BlogMeet.  Be there!

Good Night, Good Night

     Dinner at Dick's Last Resort with the blog-survivors of NRA AM 2014!  Oh, the horror!  The horror!

     It ain't BF Egypt, but you can walk to it from there.

     ...The motley multitude.  Tam's there, hiding behind Kathy Jackson, along with a whole sleeeeeew of Your Online Pals.

     (Earlier that day: Volley Gun!)

Nice BlogMeet

     Tam took pictures.  At the BlogMeet, that is.  Me, I am not feeling so hot.  I cleared the walks before showering before the BlogMeet and I seem to have worn myself right out.  (I dunno how well late lunch is setting, either.)  I've been in bed and I'm headed back there.  Y'all be good, now.

Snow Everywhere, Back To Bed

     T'heck with this weather.  I'll see you at the BlogMeet this afternoon.  Meantime, I'm gonna go lay down.

So, I Went To The Gun Show, the BlogMeet...

     ...And to bed, very early.

     Tam wanted to ride bikes to the Indy 1500, and to noon o'clock me
it sounded like a great idea for many reasons.*  So we did, and we walked the whole show, and said Hi to Mike Z. and the bookseller lady and a few zillion other folks, and then time was a-wastin'.

     Tam was riding straight for the Brew Pub and the BlogMeet -- it's straight up the Monon but I needed to stop by home.  My energy was flagging and I figured I'd switch to car or motorscooter.

     Made my stop and decided the trouble of parking (and, in the case of the scooter, changing shoes, pre-flight inspection, etc. etc.) was just too much, and set out on the bicycle instead.

     Enjoyed a perfectly fine BlogMeet with at least 99 amd 44/100 of the Usual Suspects--

     And a perfectly fine barbecued brisket sandwich and realized to my horror I could hardly hold my eyes open.

     Made apologies, made my way home (downhill most of the way, or I wouldn'a), made my way to bed right about 5:30 ex poste meridiano and except for a brief bout of wakefulness elevenish, snored there, largely insensate, 'til right before six ayem, when Huck the Cat began trying every trick he knows to get the Big Giant Monkey In Charge Of Morning Feeding (me) outta bed.

     It was a pretty good Sunday.

     Oh, yeah: I bought a gun, another Savage .32 handgun, this one the "1917" model, with trapezoidal grips.  Tam is trying to buy it from me already, since we both collect Savages and neither of us had a 1917.
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* Like, you get in the Fairgrounds free for nothing.  Also, try as I might, I'm not getting any taller and that leaves only one other variable on that persnickitty chart in the doc's office.

Gun Shooooow!

     Y'know, I'd post something lengthy and thought-provoking, but there's a gun show today and I wanna go see it.

     BlogMeet at 3:00 this afternoon, hostessed by Tam -- see details at upper right!

Indy 1500: Tam BlogMeet?

There's an Indy 1500 Gun Show this weekend.  I'm trying to convince Tam to schedule a BlogMeet for that Sunday, the 25th.  Whaddaya think?

You May Have Noticed

...That "the next Indy BlogMeet" area is blank.

     It's no secret that I have been trying to get out of scheduling these events for quite some time -- even though I enjoy them (though with my declining hearing, they are something of a challenge), and the overwhelming majority of the attendees are fun folks indeed, there are down sides.

     Ever since we had an outright white-supremacist type show up at one, all smiles and sidling remarks about "those people," and not get found out (as more than merely a jerk) until after the event, I've been reluctant to have open meetings; I have no interest in facilitating the recruiting efforts of such scum and would as soon spare our local pubs and eateries the bother of hosting public confrontation.  I went to invitation-only for the next few BlogMeets, which was not entirely satisfactory.

     Recently, I had someone try to "win" a disagreement by attempting to divvy up mutual friends, the majority of whom are closer friends to that individual than to me already.  I won't play that game; bedamned if I will put friends in the position of choosing up over issues they have not themselves raised and may not even have strong opinions on.  Nope, instead I will bring to an end any situation where they might feel obliged to choose.  That includes, at least for now, BlogMeets.  Tam K. can set 'em up if she feels so inclined, or whoever else wants to.

     Racist scum are bad enough; clique battles are the last straw.

     Peer pressure won't work on me.  I'm not very social or sociable and there are something like 4,000 books filled with friends lining the walls of my dining room.

     (ETA: I will probably do one (1) BlogMeet during the 2014 NRA convention in Indy, because I'd like to do that; but please note that attendance will indicate nothing other than an interest in firearms and blogging.)

     (Fuzzy Curmudgeon, please e-mail me, I need to return your book.)

Tam's "Mini" BlogMeet

     It was not so mini -- nearly a dozen of us gathered at BRBP:

     Tam took the photo, so she's not in it.  Names/faces may not match but here's the best my notes have, starting at lower left and proceeding clockerwise (or anti-widdershins): Periodic Emma, TBeck, Mr. B, Midwest Chick, T (or K?) at the end of the table and K (or T?) barely visible behind Old Grouch, followed by Fuzzy Curmudgeon, The Jack and Yr. Crspndt.

     Tam and I had biked to the gun show, walked the entire show (saw some cute items but still don't have cash for an S&W Bekaert .22 target revolver, which is what I want, that and an H&R 999, which never ever shows up at the Indy 1500), biked back home at a high rate of speed and then on to the BlogMeet.  I stopped and changed bicycles, there being no reason to not ride the high-wheeled Ordinary, and was therefore a bit late.  Things were well underway by the time I arrived, the usual three or four conversations shifting and drifting.  It was a fine time -- Mr. B handed me a singing kitten birthday card [ETA: provided by Old Grouch] that must be heard to be believed!

Indy 1500 Gun Show

Yes, it's this weekend!

     Tamara is setting up a mini-BlogMeet for Sunday afternoon.  Late word was 3:00 p.m., at Broad Ripple Brew Pub.

Oh, and PS: Thanks to everyone who wished me Happy Birthday!  Wow -- way more than I would have expected.

Saturday: BlogMeet, Art Fair, Movie

     Do I look tired?  Sleepy?  It's been a busy couple of days!

     Saturday's main event was -- of course! -- the BlogMeet:

     Owen, Old Grouch, Turk Turon, me, Tam, Shootin' Buddy, Joanna.

     After awhile, The Jack arrived, too:

     (Also, in background, Nameless Visitor Dog and barely-visible Owner.)  It was a fine BlogMeet, though I must admit I listened way more than talked, sometimes with my eyes closed.

     You see, we visited the Broad Ripple Art Fair in the morning: a nice bike ride, a lot of walking, and  whole lot of art:

     The next time someone talks to you about "accessible" art, show 'em this tabletop zoo!  I have many more photos but no time to edit.

     After the BlogMeet, we went to the new Star Trek movie.  What can I say?  The usual heavy-handed story-telling, Jim Kirk chews up the scenery, Spock is quizzically skeptic, Bones is a curmudgeon, Scotty pulls a very big rabbit out of a very small hat, evil is (after much struggle) vanquished and the good guys win!  Some nice nods to earlier films, wonderful sets, terrible physics: like James Bond films, you know what's going to be inside when you buy it and the fun is seeing how they do it.  I liked all of it except for the nazified StarFleet uniforms and the painfully drawn-out resolution of one bit of foreshadowing. While the slightly-emo new generation Enterprise crew sure ain't the Old Guard, they're a remarkably respectful reinterpretation of the originals and easy to like. Either you're happy to see Jim (or James) again or you're not.  I was. 

May BlogMeet DAY Change!

     The May Indy BlogMeet will be this coming Saturday, 3:00 p.m..  It'll be at Fat Dan's Deli 5410 N. College Ave, in the beating heart of SoBro. (BTW, they do have the beers, etc.  Downside, they are Cubs fans, but hey, that means they're optimists, right?)

     Why a day early?  I'm glad you asked-- See, there's a bunch of family birthdays at about the 2/3 point in May, most saliently my Mom's: she'll be 82 this Sunday!   I darned well will be there.  My baby brother turns some preposterous age two days later and a week after that, someone else has a b-day; can't remember who and she stopped counting some while back anyway.

     Attractions at the May BlogMeet include internationally-famous "Turk" Turon, star of stage, screen and smaller screen.

A St. Patrick's Day BlogMeet

     Brugge wasn't too crowded; they'd made some concessions to the holiday (green T-shirts on some of the help) but the main drinking-green-beer action was down the street: Belgians treat beer with a little more respect than that!

    Clockwise from lower left, The Jack, Fuzzy Curmudgeon, Shomes the Younger, Shomes the Mrs. and Shomes the Shomes, the talented Ms. Joanna and the hat-wearing Tam.  Also, Our Host (upper left), who drives a snazzy red and white Willys civilian Jeep in all weather.  (Yes, that's right, A] drives kewlest of Jeeps; B] knows what it is for.  Man like that, you've got to admire.)

March BlogMeet: The 17th!

     Why not? With any luck, the worst of the green-shamrock idioten (with proud Irish names like "Smith," "Rameriez" and "Kaczynski"*) will have drunk their fill of green beer the day before.

     Sunday, 17 March, 3:00 pm, let's try Brugge for a start, with fade-back to the Ripple Bagel Deli as an option if Eire has invaded Belgium.

     Remember, this is Indy 1500 Gun Show weekend, too!
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* And that's the U.S. for you: wherever you are from, if you move here you're likely to find your holidays co-opted and whatever you grew up eating transformed into a fast (or at least middlin'-quick) food.  Then we start doing mash-ups and before too long, you're celebrating Canada Day by eating bratwurst tacos in a pita-bread shell at a faux-English pub in Nebraska.  You want culture?  We're a heated cabinet fulla Petrie dishes and they're all kinda porous!)

Sunday BlogMeet Report

     ...Which I have somehow omitted.  A fair turnout, for a chilly, odd  day: sunlight and snow flurries, by turns.

     Old Grouch, the Jack, the Shomes (Mr. and Mrs.!), Fuzzy Curmudgeon, Don, Joanna, Tam and Yr. Crspndt., plus good pub grub and a surprisingly untattooed waiter.  (Hey, it happens; he probably has a nice big backpiece or something.)

     See you next time?

Overslept, Again/Blogmeet

     I must have needed it.

     Remember, there's a BlogMeet this afternoon.

BlooogMeet Report

[MUSIC: BLOGMEET REPORT THEME,* FROM START AND FADE UNDER OPEN]:

     Good Morning, Mr. and Mrs. America (remember, do not 'turn them all in!'), I'm Roberta X and this is your BlogMeet Report!

[MUSIC FADE OUT]

     Most attendees were more than prompt -- Tam, Turk Turon and Your Correspondent arrived with a degree of promptness and found Shermlock Shomes, the younger (but all growed up, let us be clear!) Shomes, Kerry and Old Grouch already enjoying ale and conversation.  Joanna arrived while we were crossing the parking lot and Fuzzy Curmudgeon was only just too late for the group photograph.

     Kerry brought a particular wonder, an antique Weeden tabletop steam engine that had belonged to his grandfather!

     Possibly a No. 14, a very nice toy engine.  L to R atop boiler: whistle and valve, throttle and safety valve. (Kerry also brought some home-grown, hand-picked artisanal eggs for the kitchen at Roseholme, for which our thanks!)

      Chatter was wide-ranging as usual -- a high point was the Shomes giftage giveaway, three nice stocking-stuffer items for three recipients selected by choice of random number.

      Food?  How 'bout this take on the "Ploughman's Lunch:"

     Yum!

     A fun time for all!  -- See you at the next?
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*Probably the instrumental open from Baba O'Riley; you've got like 1:15 before the lyrics and it works very well as a news theme.

BLOGMEET!

      Sticky -- scroll down for new bloggery!

     I spaced it, I totally did -- there's a (secret) BlogMeet scheduled for SUNDAY, 30 December, 3:00p.m. at Broad Ripple Brew Pub.

     It's "secret" because I forgot to post the info!  Please attend if you can. weather permitting, etc. etc.

     ...Saturday, look for Tam, Turk Turon, Shootin' Buddy and me at (Deus volente, Plymouth Volare) the Kokomo Gun Show!  We're going to try, anyway.  Might even check out the (indoor) range at Roby's Bullseye Outdoors.