Well, that was bizarre.

That was a long blank weekend. Left town early Monday, leaving the blog with a blank white page. Figured that Blogger was screwed up somehow and that they'd probably be fixed by the time I got back. I got home this afternoon from spending the night in Dallas, and the friggin' thing was still blank. I could go into the dashboard and the template, but when I clicked on "view blog", I'd get a blank page. So I went in to the Template and republished, refreshed the screen to view the changes, and there was this nasty orgy of fat people goin' down on the screen. Made me wish for the blank white page again. So here's somethin' better to look at, with a holiday theme.

So all is right with the world. The trip to Dallas was fun. Stopped by my gun smith on the way and picked up a new toy. He built me a Hungarian side folder, but didn't charge me for the build. When I brought up the parts a few months back, he noticed that I had an authentic Hungarian receiver in the kit. Turns out he'd been looking for one for a long time for a build he had set up for himself. I remember him asking me If I'd trade my receiver for another and him saying something about giving me a deal on the build. So I was happily surprised when I asked him what I owed him and he said "nothing". Birthday came early this year.

Drove on up to Big "D" and met up with my buddy and his daughter at a book store near their house in Duncanville, after which we went to an Italian place just off 67 for lunch. Had a big, steaming Stromboli and some good bread. Then we just piddled around for a while. We went to his office for a bit, to a very cool gun store near SMU that specializes in antiques, then to a used CD store. The gun store is Jackson Armory on Rosedale. They have lots of stuff from the eighteenth and nineteenth century, as well as the modern era. They had a really nice old wheel lock rifle that must be 150 years old. Beautiful, but over in the corner, along with the cool old antiques, there were a few crappy looking Rumanian AKMs. Even saw a few Chinese SKSs. I love the old stuff, old civil war era rifles, but Kalashnikovs are like crack for me. Love 'em. Felt like going out to the trunk and pullin' out my nice new Hungarian folder, but didn't want to show off.

Spent a few hours flipping through the stacks at the CD store, and then bought "Grace", by Jeff Buckly. Maybe some of you have heard the cut "hallelujah" from this album. Very nice. Check it out. Later we met up with a friend of my buddies who works as a public defender in Dallas, and his girlfriend, and we headed for the theatre. He has one of those "Had enough, Vote Democrat" signs up in his yard. I tell ya, I can get along with anyone. We went to see "Flags of Our Fathers", and then to Mariano's to eat Mexican food. They hadn't seen the movie yet, and I wanted to see it again. Still very effecting the second time. Thing is, so far the crowds in the theatres I've attended have been very light, and mostly older folks. I wonder what kind of business the movie is doing. MSN says it's third, with about $10.2 mil. in box office so far. Hope the young folks go to see it. It's really good.

Anyway, as soon as we sat down they started asking me to explain all the history behind the film, to put it in context. The P.D. and his girlfriend, also a lawyer in Dallas, were completely clueless about the whole thing, knowing little or nothing about the war and the context. We noted that the flag raising happened at the start of the battle, and that it went on for a month or so after that. He then made a joke about how if Bush had been president then, he would have gone on TV after the flag went up on Suribachi and there would have been a sign behind him saying "Mission Accomplished". I had to bight my tong. Wanted to say something about "Yea, and as soon as you libs realized how bloody the battles were gonna be you'd be calling it a 'quagmire' and looking for a way to quit." The girlfriend said something about how today's generation couldn't have stood the pressure of that war. I tried to say something about how people today are very different from the generation that grew up in the 20s and 30s, but that the guys fighting in Faludjah had done a pretty good job, considering the environment they have to do it in. Noted the journalists traveling with the soldiers to put up the flag on the hill in the movie, and that today's version of Ernie Pile isn't just satisfied reporting the American side of things. He wants to show enemy video of American soldiers getting their heads blown off by snipers too. It didn't go over well. They've made their minds up. That's cool. So have I. Again, I can get along with almost anybody.

Then the subject of the new gun came up. I had to explain the whole process of getting the parts set and having it built, assuring them that it is all perfectly legal. I had to listen to the predictable line from the chick about "why do you need a gun like that?" And really had to restrain myself from saying something like "well, it allows me to have this stupid conversation every time I come up to this town and meet up with you liberal assholes." I explained very calmly that it wasn't a "need" thing, but a "want" thing. After she said something like "I just don't like those machine things", someone happily changed the subject. Ya gotta love clueless idiots with confirmed opinions about things they really know nothing about. I hear she's really good in a courtroom though, getting all those drug dealers and corrupt businessmen off on legal technicalities. So who's doing more harm to society, lawyers or gun owners? It's a quandary.

Got up early this morning and we went to a waffle house for breakfast. There was a 35 minute wait at the Cracker Barrel. We parted there, and I drove home and got to the house by about 1230. The folks called and postponed the planned birthday trip for sis to the Outback till Tuesday, so I'm here doin' laundry and thinking about which Chinese food place I'll patronize this evening. Anyway, I hope all your weekends were fun. I'm gonna' relax and start thinking about my next adventure. I'm getting psyched to go to Terlingua this Thursday. I'll have a short week of school and then four days and three nights of camping and eating awesome chili and barbecue. So you take care and try not to be too jealous. Maybe I'll have pictures to post when I get back.