Friday Feedback

Range Day

Last week I made it to the range in time for the orientation class. The “Range” is large enough to take about 45 minutes to get the orientation tour. It was about 20 minutes of filling out forms. It was another 2.5 hours waiting for people to take the range safety and operating procedure test.

You need to score 90% on the SOP test to get your membership. I was unhappy because I got 2 wrong and scored a 95%. I passed on the first attempt. Nobody else passed on the first attempt. There was a membership person overseeing the test taking and answering questions.

The two questions I got wrong were about the 50/100/200 yard rifle range. The range is split between the 200 and the 50/100 targets. I consider them to be two separate ranges. But, there is only a single firing line. I messed it up because I was thinking of them as separate. 2.5% off.

The other was just as stupid.

I almost walked out. The gentleman taking the SOP when I first got there was not doing well. He was failed and was denied membership.

As I told the orientation officer, if they had passed him, I would have taken my money and walked back out.

How nice is this range? Let’s start with “The Range is closed, but here’s a bay for you to shoot in”. The 600 yard rifle range extends over most of the full range. When the 600 yard range is in use, all the other ranges are closed. But they open up the bay just outside the gate for people to use while waiting for the rest of the range to open.

The 600 yard range is scheduled for Thursdays, 0800-1200.

Next come the two trap ranges. The lower one has all the stuff for shotgun people. The upper range has a pavilion. The clay launcher is fully automated. You yell “pull” and the machine does it. No humans except for loading more clays. $5 for 25 clays.

Next is the 50/100 and 200 yard ranges. Then the rimfire bay, both rifle and pistol, .22 and .17 rimfire.

Next are the pistol bays; the first is for paper targets. Don’t draw from behind the bench; use the open slot or off to the side. Place your targets where you want. Then there is the steel bay. Pistol calibers only, no magnums. So I can’t shoot my .357 Mag rifle or pistol in that bay. .45ACP and 9mm all day long. Finally, is the “carbine bay”. Carbine is defined as “yes”. This is for people that want to do two gun practice.

There are more bays that are only open during competitions.

Finally, there is a 25 yard indoor range. As a member, I can use the indoor range 24 hours a day except when it is reserved for a group.

If things don’t break, I’ll be there today.

Food Budget

We eat well. We eat darn well. With the children gone off to university, we eat even better.

My wife grew up with “Love is food, food is love.” While the children were living at home, she constantly purchased crap food for them. I’d guess that 25 to 35 percent of our food budget went to crap food. Today, we buy almost no crap food. Our budget has gone down slightly.

At the high end, we spend about $8.30 per person per day. When we are running short on cash, I reduce that to $5 per person per day.

Here’s the thing: I’ve been using that $5 per person per day for the last 40 years. It has always included nice food.

There are people who have never used a budget. Much less used a budget for food. My wife was like that. For years every meal required a trip to the grocery store. And every week we tossed the dead food, because she doesn’t like leftovers. I eat them for lunch.

We now use a budgeting grocery shopping list. Everything we want for the week goes on the list. We have a chat channel just for groceries. If you think you are going to need it next week, you say it and it gets added to the list.

We don’t buy it if it isn’t on the list.

If you need help budgeting for food, please reach out to us if you want help. If you are hungry, please reach out to us if you want help.

I have sent care packages to people around the world.

Surprised Shooting

Firearm skills are a perishable skill. I finally had a chance to put rounds on paper out of my .357 wheel gun. It actually shot much better than I thought it would. Well, it always shoots well. I, on the other hand, can easily fail.

I’m looking forward to finding out what some of these WWII rifles I’ve collected can really do at range.

Head, Swivel, Keep

Stay strapped. Stay out of stupid places. Stay away from stupid people. Nothing good happens after midnight; don’t be out and about at stupid times.

The next couple of weeks will be touchy. Be careful.

IPKVM

I’ve used Keyboard, Video, and Mouse devices in data centers in the past. They are great when you have many servers that you need to work with but don’t want to have multiple monitors and I/O devices for.

In one data center, we had a KVM with ports on the front for video out and keyboard connection. The monitor, a big-ass CRT, was on a cart. You rolled the cart to the rack with your server, plugged the CRT into power, and connected things up. You then had console access to 8 or more servers.

The price of a four-port KVM is down around $35. I have them in all the data closets. This made life much easier.

What I really wanted, though, was a KVM over IP. With this type of gizmo, you can access the console of a remote server over the network.

The cost of a four-port KVM starts at around $400. An 8-port runs around $650. For that, I’d build out another server.

Enter the iGL.net Comet and, shortly, their upgraded version. Plug a USB C into the side for power. Connect HDMI and USB to the computer. Plug in the Ethernet.

A few minutes later you have web access to the console of that computer. $89 for the gizmo. I have them plugged into the regular KVM.

Now I can select the computer I want on the KVM, go back to my desk, and do all the console work I need to do remotely.

The only issue I have is that if I have it in full screen mode and do any editing, the first time I press ESC, it reduces the size of the window.

vim uses the ESC key to leave insert mode. emacs uses the ESC key as a lead character for META control sequences.

If you have a need for remote access to a console, give it a try.

Oh, I had a friend who required support. I had him pick up one of these IPKVMs. I was able to reboot his computer remotely, configure BIOS, and bring his Linux back to life from 1500 miles away.

The hardest part was getting him to use the correct USB cables. I was attempting to use the power only cable(s) instead of power + data cables.

Question of the Week

What was your favorite range and why?