Mark A

Big Poppa, we have some pretty detailed pre-job briefings before the chopper hits the skies. We go over each lift in different stages. The pilot tells us what he will be doing and the route for each piece. Then he tells us where he will bail and where we should go if a problem develops (fancy speak for run like hell...) They off load most of their fuel before the lifts start so that they can maximize lift. So, time is precious. Usually the job goes really fast once it starts. A job that might take 2-3 hours with a crane is done in 20 minutes with a helicopter. Mark

Thanks for the comments guys. Every now and then a boring air conditioning job gets to be fun. This pilot was really good (they usually are) and I think some of the angles contribute to things looking closer than they really were but it was still some tight flying. They set the sign on the new pinnacle building before we did our job. That was some great flying in tight quarters. I didn't know they were doing it until they were almost done or I might have gotten some good pics of it. Mark

overehead one was taken from the top of the regions building. Pucker factor was a bit high but not too bad. I just had to figure out a tether for the camera as dropping it would have been really really bad... the rest are here http://www.pbase.com/alexander_family/regions_lift_11-22

We replaced 3 cooling towers on the Regions Bank building in downtown Nashville on Sunday> helicopter lifts are always fun. Mark

and back to the my 239 in comptac mtac for the first time in a couple of weeks

Man I thought this was Sat & Sun. I'd planned on going by on Sunday. Totally missed this one...

Went old school (for me) today and carried my 229 in .40. I don't get that one out very often. mark

If you look closely at gold you will see that after you adjust for inflation, that gold basically offers a 0% rate of return. So, if you buy actual gold (and not a certificate representing gold) you would have a tangible assest but it may not make you any significant gains as far as investments go.

Ok, I see. Well, maybe next year I will be one of those alumni... Mark So far only a little toe is in the dark water. I'm still a Sig guy but need to know and understand this black polymer thing I just picked up...

hmmm, I've been traveling a lot lately and somehow missed his class. Having just jumped to the dark side I think I could have really used this info. Maybe it will happen again ssoon. Mark

well I don't...

Love mine. I like to shoot a lot and 22 ammo is so much cheaper and easier to find. We have one kit for a 226 and one kit for a 229 and both run flawlessly. Mark

David, yes it was at the base in Smyrna ... Here is my take on the class: I agree with my new fly fishing buddy: I felt safety was handled very well. The class had a decent mix of rookie to veteran shotgun shooters. I felt Bo did a good job of explaining the basics and working with the newer shooters while at the same time keeping things interesting enough for the more experienced shooters. He took plenty of time during the various tasks to explain what was happening and why. I’m guilty of not spending enough time doing patterning and accuracy tests with my shotgun. Having hunted all of my life with shotguns I feel I can shoot them pretty well. But, getting on known distances and seeing how various rounds shot was very eye opening. I brought a lot of different ammo (6 different brands of slugs and 6 different types of 00 buckshot. The slugs were fairly close in accuracy but the 00 buck was all over the place. More about that in a minute… I think the time we spent patterning at different distances, and more importantly, talking about the real world application of distances in your home was worth the price of admission all by itself. At the end of the day, I had a great time, felt completely safe while doing so, learned a lot about the practical self defense application of a shotgun and made a few new friends. So for me the class was a success and a great value. ... When I get home and can get all of the various rounds listed I will report how my shotgun did with various rounds. For now, Hornaday TAP 00 buck and Brenneke slugs were the best out of my gun. I shot a Remington 870 with an 18 barrel and an improved cylinder choke. One other thing is that this was the first time out with my new trijicon ghost ring sites. Having only shot over a single bead all of my life I was curious to see how I would like these. The short answer was I liked them a lot. I need to get back out to the range and really dial in the distances but I was very pleased with how quickly I was able to acquire the sight picture with these sights. I can’t wait to get back to the range with some more Brenneke slugs and really fine tune the sights in. Mark

Manual of arms for me. I want to make sure each one works the same so that I won't fumble when it counts. After that, all the major brands have pretty much all of the calibers covered so pick the platform and add calibers as funds allow...

OK, ready for this to happen and just to jinx us, it looks like the weather is going to be good... I had to search around a bit but I am now in possession of 6 different types of slugs and 6 different kinds of 00 buck. Some high end, some medium, some cheap, and some low recoil. Don't know if I will get to try them all out or not but I wanted to do as many comparisons as possible. Mark

Am I the only one that thinks Vince hit who he wanted to throw to? It is a lot warmer on the sidelines... I think the Titans are stuck. Kerry is winding down and Vince obviously can't play. The rest of the league must know this so no one is going to trade for him. How much longer is his contract?

this may or may not be a consideration but I wouldn't worry about the slide release. Some pistols don't have them at all. If you get in the habit of racking the slide instead, you will be good to go if having to deal with an unfamiliar pistol. I'm a bit biased towards sig but I have to friends with 2022's that absolutely love them. Mark

Sig 239, 229 and 226 here, all with 40 and 357 barrels. The 239 is what I carry mostly, the 229 goes in my vehicle and the 226 stays by the bed. I like the manual of arms for sigs in general and they usually shoot pretty good... Mark

Are we still on for tomorrow?

20th is good for me

Ok, done Mark

well, if this one goes, I'm in... Mark

Any updates on this? Just thought I would ask... Mark

Shooting in football pads and helmets? Sounds On a more serious note, I should know in a day or so if I can make it that Sunday. I have a small portable gas grill I could bring if the BBQ thing gets too hard to organize. Everyone could bring their own fixings and cook their food of choice on the grill as they got hungry. Mark JH, we've been known to hook up the camper and head to games to tailgate. We don't usually worry about getting into the game as we watch it on satellite and tailgate through the entire game. If that sounds good let me know.

Thanks, this is pretty much where I got a bit confused. I didn't know if it had been knocked around or not.