Additional Goodies for the Walther P22

As I slowly get myself acclimated to handgun ownership, I'm starting to pick up items here and there for the Walther P22. Over the past 2 weeks I've purchased the following:

• Holster
• A-Zoom Rimfire Training Rounds
  
• Gun Slick® Roll - up Cleaning Mat Kit
• Small Shooter's Bag (not pictured)

I'm not going to conceal carry the P22, so I decided to get a plain holster that would fit the handgun with the attached laser. I picked it up from eBay for roughly $10. Now, if CA should ever decide that it would allow for open carry, I'm set. :-) (HA...like CA would ever allow for open carry.)




The A-Zoom Training Rounds have been a very useful tool. Rather than handle live ammunition inside the house, I can practice loading/unloading the magazines and simulate loading/chambering the P22. I picked them up at the local Turner's Outdoorsman for about $8.




The Gun Slick® Roll - up Cleaning Mat Kit I got from Amazon.com for roughly $25. I just figured that it would be easier to purchase a kit that had most of the items I would need to clean and keep my gun pristine. It's a nice little kit - it has most of the brushes and rods I'll probably ever need, cotton patches, a bottle of Gunslick Ultra Klenz Advanced Gun Cleaner, a bottle of Gunslick Ultra Lube Advanced Gun Oil, and a gun mat. The gun mat could be a bit thicker, but it should do.

The shooter's bag I got from a member of Calguns.net for $10. It's a small black bag that should hold more than enough ammunition for my purposes, has 6 outside pockets with velcro closures, and a shoulder strap. So far, I've been able to fit all my handgun items into it and still have room for more. It's a handy little bag.

The next item I would like to purchase is a gun safe. I don't like keeping the cable lock on the P22 and the gun case that came with the P22 isn't all that secure. I'm looking for gun safe that will hold 2 handguns as I have a standing agreement with the wife that I would own no more than 2 handguns. Any suggestions?

The NRA's Newest Member...Me

If you want to own a firearm and you live outside of California, consider yourself lucky. This state puts a lot of small barriers that you have to hurdle in order to exercise your 2nd Amendment right. Mind you, they're not big barriers; but put enough small ones in the way and they become a major barrier. If you weren't truly serious about owning a firearm, you would say "Forget it" and I'm sure that's what the state would like.

In order to own a handgun, I had to do the following:

• Take a Handgun Safety Certification Test
  (Normally, I would say this is a good thing, but the fucking test is so easy that you may as well not have the test at all.)
• Pay $25 for the Handgun Safety Certification Card when you pass the test
  (Basically a tax for the right to own a handgun in CA.)
• Purchase your gun and pay L.A.'s 8.25% sales tax
  (Starting April 1, 2009, the sales tax is going up a full 1% because the state government can't fucking do their job. They would rather increase the sales tax on everyone rather than let their special interests, i.e., the various labor unions, lose any of their fucking jobs.)
• Wait 10-days
  (Because you need a cooling off period as you may be buying the gun to commit a crime. And if you already own a handgun and had gone through the waiting period, you would have to go through another 10-day waiting period for every subsequent handgun purchase.)
• When you pick up the gun, you need a CA-certified gun lock before you can leave the store.
  (If you don't have a certified lock, be prepared to purchase one. Prices range from $5-$10.)
• If you want a permit to carry a concealed weapon, good luck with that!
  (In the county of Los Angeles, it's nearly impossible to get one.)

All I can say is, "What the fuck!?!?!" Can the state put any more hurdles to law abiding citizens who want to exercise their right to own a firearm? Enough is enough. I decided to join the NRA to defend our right to own a firearm. Luckily for me, I spotted this great NRA Bonus Offer and was able to get a free one year membership! That's right, FREE!

I joined today and am happy I did. I just wanted to share the offer with others out there who value their rights as guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. If we let the government take away one of those rights, who is to say they won't take away the rest?

Class Action Suit Against Best Buy

Look at what we have here - Class Action Suit Against Best Buy for allegedly violating it's "Price Match Policy" in New York. From the article:

Among the major revelations listed from evidence within the decision based on internal BB documents, depositions of current BB employees and declarations by two former BB employees are the following allegations:

• Best Buy had an undisclosed Anti-Price Matching Policy
• Corporate headquarters disseminated the anti-price matching policy to regional managers, store managers, assistant managers, and necessary store personnel
• Best Buy taught its employees how to deny price match requests in its training facilities in New York
• Best Buy provided financial bonuses based, in part, on denying proper price match requests
• Best Buy denied more than 100 proper price match requests per store per week.

As much as I do not like Best Buy, I have not experienced this. I have had Best Buy price match more than a few items over the years. It could be that I'm in Los Angeles, the price match for each item was under $30 or that this is a new; but given my most recent experience at Best Buy (view previous rant) and previous related post, this does not surprise me.

The Flirty Bus Driver from The Chronicles of Bus #10

When you take the bus, you inevitably meet all types of bus drivers. Here's how I've been classifying them so far:

• Fast bus drivers - these drivers drive fast and change lanes often to get to the stops on time
  
• Conservative bus drivers - these drivers are not concerned so much with speed but being safe (i.e., seldom change lanes)
• Speedy Gonzalez bus drivers - these drivers are faster than the 'Fast bus drivers' and will run red lights
• Nice bus drivers - these drivers are nice, will say 'Hello' when you step on the bus and will let you ride for free if s/he recognizes you as a regular passenger and you're either short on change or you forgot your bus pass
• Mean bus drivers - these drivers don't want anything to do with you (they never say 'Hi' even if you say 'Hello' first), have a scowl on their face, and are generally unpleasant
  

Today, I came across a new type that I'm adding to the list - the Flirty bus driver. This bus driver is like the Nice bus driver, BUT he makes sure to really chat up the ladies when they get on the bus. You should have seen the driver this morning!

Bus #10 has a lot of passengers who are office workers and community college students. The bus driver said 'Hi' to everyone as you got on and 'Have a nice day' when you got off; but he had more to say to you if he thought you were attractive (i.e., pretty female). His comments weren't out of line or anything like that; but you do notice that he'd ask the ladies if they had a nice weekend or tell them that they look nice today.

Expecting Too Much from Government

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas had this quote that I found interesting:

"The message today seems more like ask not what you can do for yourselves or your country, but what your country must do for you."

I'm not a big fan of Justice Thomas, but the above rings true. We see it too often - people want the government (city, state, and Federal) to take care of everything. I pay my taxes, so I expect XYZ; or the government owes me, because of ABC. Unfortunately, our government has over-extended itself. In trying to do everything, the government does nothing well. When was the last time you were truly satisfied with anything from the government?

It seems that people with personal responsibility are harder and harder to find. What happened to picking yourself up, working hard, and doing the very best you can? What happened to the limited role of government in which the government does a few things very well (such as keeping the basic infrastructure maintained, keeping law & order, maintaining public education standards) and then gets out of the way so that its citizens can work towards becoming successful & happy?

Best Buy Not Honoring Its Price Match Policy?

Some of you may have read my previous Best Buy rant and know that I have no love for them.

Well, I spotted this article on HD Guru and it looks like Best Buy is doing its best to deny their customers a price match when competitors are selling the same item for less. According to the article, Best Buy's "salesmen have been instructed by management to not honor its price match policies in order to increase the store’s profit margin."

Be prepared with the following (per the HD Guru article) to improve your chances of getting a price match:

• Don’t have a competitor’s ad in your hand when entering the store. Produce it after you establish the store has the item in stock.
• Don’t say you have been shopping around and know exactly what you want to purchase (the sales person may get suspicious of a price match and simply tell you the TV is out of stock). Do give the salesman a general idea of what type of HDTV you desire ( i.e. 46” LCD) and let salesperson suggest the HDTV you want to price match.
• Don’t make a scene if you get murfed. It won’t accomplish anything. Simply leave and, if you desire, call the store’s corporate customer relations department. It may contact the store and tell it to honor the price match policy (because you complained).
• Do ask the salesman if they offer extended warranties (even if you don’t want one) and inquire as to how many years coverage you can buy, because you want the longest protection you can buy (the salesman’s belief that you will be purchasing an extended warranty will motivate his manager to match the price.) You may purchase the warranty and cancel it at the checkout or the next day without penalty.
• Indicate you will need cables and accessories and tell the salesman you want the best—more motivation for the salesman to get his manager to honor the price match.

We shouldn't have to go to these lengths to get Best Buy to abide to their own Price Match policy (which should be clearly stated at their return/customer service counter). It's time for us to vote with our wallets and shop at reputable stores that will treat their customers right!

Walther P22 in My Possession!

Well, the 10-day waiting period is finally over and look at what I finally picked up!



That's right - the Walther P22 and all its goodies are finally in my possession! Here's what I got:

• A 'like new' Walther P22
• Walther Lasersight
• Walther Red Dot Scope Sight
• 4 magazines (each holding 10 rounds)
• Walther P22 Case
• Gun lock (not shown)

Here's a close-up of the P22.



As I stated before, this is my first handgun and hopefully not my last. I have my eye on the Walther P99 and figured the P22 would be a great first "training" gun. It feels good in my hand - not too big and not too small; the one magazine with the finger rest makes it even better. I'll have to see if I can get the finger rest plates for the other 3 magazines.

I plan to take a "Basic Handgun" course within the next few weeks to get the fundamentals down. Right now, I'm sitting on 450 rounds of .22lr for the P22 - 400 rounds of CCI Mini-Mag (for shooting at the range) and 50 rounds of CCI Stingers (for self defense). Of course, .22lr caliber doesn't have the "stopping power" that the bigger calibers do, but it will do...for now.

Pickup Technique from the Chronicles of Bus #10

Let me tell you about the attempted pickup that one of my male brothers tried on the bus the other day.

I'm sitting on a bench that seats 3 people. I'm in the middle (the seat that has the most room) and my male brother is sitting directly to my right. I've seen the guy before as he's a regular on the bus. He looks like a nice guy and has the look of someone you can trust. He's usually reading a book while listening to his MP3 player. He's a bit nerdy/dorky though, as he's the type to carry a dictionary with him to look up words he doesn't know when he's reading.

Well, a girl sits directly to my left and he attempts his pickup. The girl has her earbuds on and before she can even sit down, he attempts to start the conversation (remember, I'm sitting between the 2 of them).

Guy: "What are you listening to?"
Girl: "Excuse me?" (as she removes one earbud)
Guy: "What are you listening to?"
Girl: "Alicia Keys." (as she reinserts earbud)
Guy: "Oh, she's good. What album?"
Girl: "Her latest album." (she removes her earbud and realizes she's probably going to have to talk to the guy)
Guy: "I haven' heard that entire album yet. I've seen you at the bus stop before. Do you work in the area?"
Girl: "Yeah."
Guy: "What do you do? I'm a computer engineer."
Girl: "I'm an administrative assistant."
Guy: "An assistant? So do you answer phones, get stuff for people? Is that what you want to be? Don't you want to be promoted to a manager or something?"
Girl: "Yeah. I may go back to school soon." (as she answered in a somewhat annoyed tone)
Guy: "What will you study?"
Girl: "Will pursue my Masters."
Guy: "In what?"
Girl: "Business."
Guy: "I didn't catch your name. My name is XXXXX."
Girl: "My name is YYYYY."
Guy: "Oh, I think I caught your name before. Maybe that was someone else."

By this time she is clearly not in the mood to talk any further. She puts her earbud back on and pulls a magazine out of her bag. He notices and says:

Guy: "You look like you're very involved with your iPod. It was nice talking to you."
Girl: She simply nods her head and doesn't even answer.
The conversation is clearly over!

You have no idea how much strength it took for me not to laugh out loud. I'm no ladies man but even I could tell that the girl wanted nothing to do with him, especially after he insulted her twice in the conversation - first by questioning her current career choice and second by forgetting her name (or feigning to have her confused with someone else). Very smooth!

I will give props to my man for starting the conversation and trying to keep it going. He kept trying, just like "The Litte Engine That Could".

CCI Mini-Mag HP

According to the Walther Forums members, the ammunition of choice for the Walther P22 is the CCI Mini-Mag HP. We happened to pass by a Walmart and decided to drop in since some Walmarts do carry ammunition. I guess I got lucky because this store did have the CCI Mini-Mags on hand.



I bought the last 4 boxes on the shelf and now have a total of 400 rounds. This should last me a little while at the range! Each box was $6.47. The Mini-Mags are high-velocity, copper-plated hollow point rounds. They are 36 grain in weight and rated for 1260 feet per second (FPS).

Here's a short video I found on YouTube discussing ammunition for the Walther P22:


The clock is ticking down until I am officially allowed by the state of CA to pick-up my P22. I can't wait to try these with my pistol!


Update 4/11/09: Please view this post for a review of the CCI Mini-Mag and CCI Stinger with my Walther P22..

Future NRA Member (with a Walther P22)

As some of you may have read, I recently took the CA Handgun Safety Certification test in preparation of purchasing my first handgun. Well, I finally did it and purchased a Walther P22.

I decided on a .22LR semi-automatic pistol (rather than a bigger caliber, such as 9mm or .40 cal) as I wanted a smaller caliber pistol to learn the basics of safe shooting and marksmanship. The P22 felt good in my hand and would be something I could comfortably handle for long periods of time at the shooting range. It also helps that .22LR ammunition is less expensive than the other calibers; for example, a box of 100 high quality rounds of .22LR is approximately $6, while a box of 50 rounds of 9mm runs $13. This affords me more practice rounds to develop my shooting skills before moving up to the next level.

Here's a little preview of the P22:


I don't have the P22 yet as CA requires a 10-day waiting period before you can take any handgun home after purchase. However, I'm anxiously awaiting the pick-up date and have been busy looking at accessories for it. I'll definitely be getting extra magazines for the pistol, good ammo, a lockable gun case, and a cleaning kit.

I bought the P22 from a private party for $300 (plus $35 in transfer fees). It's basically a brand new gun and it came with the Walther laser and Walther scope. I got quite the deal as this entire package is over $540 new from the store.

I'll be sure to post pics when I finally get the P22 home.

Review: Baccali's Baked Pork Chop Rice

A long time coming, but finally a baked pork chop rice review.

Baccali Cafe & Rotisserie in Alhambra, CA has been around for quite some time. I've had their baked pork chop rice before, but never got the chance to post the review. I tried it again tonight and can say that it's consistent.




Per an earlier post, I judge baked pork chop rice on the following criteria:

• Tomatoeness
• Flavorful rice
• Lightly fried pork chops
  
• Amount of cheese
• Overall texture

Baccali's Baked Pork Chop Rice:

• Did not have enough tomato taste to the sauce
• Fried rice base w/ eggs and mixed veggies; however, it was a bit wet/soggy
• Pork chops were plentiful, lightly fried
• Good amount of cheese
• Overall texture was okay

On a scale of 1-5 (with 5 being the highest), I give Baccali's Baked Pork Chop Rice a 3 rating.

Legislating Wealth, Taking Away Freedom

I found this quote online while reading about the economy. I thought it is very appropriate to what is going on with the budget mess in California and what may be happening too at the Federal/National level with the President's proposed budget.

"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the rich out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply the wealth by dividing it." - Dr. Adrian Rogers

Tech Support from "The Chronicles of Bus #10"

After much thought and discussion with the wife, I have decided to name all my bus postings under the title of "The Chronicles of Bus #10". Today, I bring you Tech Support from the Chronicles of Bus #10:

People do a lot of things on the bus. Some read, some listen to their iPod/MP3 player/CDs, some surf the net or text message on their cell phones, and some sleep. There is one woman on the bus that likes to make phone calls on the bus.

I've heard her talk to her friends, people at her office, bill collection agencies, etc. but today's call with Dell Tech Support was the best. I know you're probably asking why I'm eavesdropping, but one can't help it. When you're on the f'ing bus, it is LOUD. To have any chance of the other party hearing you, you almost have to yell into the phone. Even with my music on, you cannot help but hear this woman's conversation.

Her conversation with Dell Tech Support starts off with a negotiation on the cost of the call. She's trying to knock down the $29.99 cost in half by using the 'I've been a customer since 2006' line. Obviously, it doesn't work and she relents by agreeing to pay the full amount.

She then describes to the tech that her computer isn't working right. The computer is slow, sometimes it just restarts itself, etc. The tech then starts giving her directions and she furiously starts writing these instructions down. As she's writing, the tech must have stopped talking because she starts asking 'Hello? Are you still there?' The tech responded and she asks 'What do I do next?' Next thing I hear is her saying to the tech that she doesn't have the computer in front of her because she's on the bus and her computer is at home.

I surmise that the tech stopped talking because he was expecting the woman to try those instructions on her computer to see what happens. He must have advised her to call back when she's in front of her computer because she asks him for a direct number and his extension.

The kicker is she then retracts and says, 'Since I'm paying for this call, shouldn't you call me back when I'm in front of my computer?' She then proceeds to tell the tech to call her back in the evening when she is home. She also confirms that she should not be charged for another tech support call because it's not her fault she's not in front of her computer.

I don't know about you, but this was quite funny and I had a good chuckle. I wonder if other people call Tech Support while they are riding the bus? Feel free to share your favorite Tech Support stories in comments.