Category: Personal

Photoblog – Arctic Weekend

Some photos of this weekend’s insane camping out in the cold and snow. We were on top of a mountain, about 2300 feet (which is high for Pennsylvania), so temperatures were close to 0 degrees F. I went with another blogger, who some of you might know, and met one of my coworkers and her husband up there. A few camping and shooting pictures here:


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My coworker’s tent I nicknamed the Taj Mahal, because of its luxurious nature. The stove keeps it reasonably warm in side.

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My coworker’s husband Steve packing the gear up at the end of the weekend. I owe him a Klondike Bar. I brought up a pack of them, buried them in the snow, then ended up skewering one of them with a bayonet as I poked around for them.http://www.pagunblog.com/blogpics/arctic-weekend/bayonet-marshmallow.jpg
The best way to roast marshmallows is with a Mosin-Nagant bayonet. Nothing like mashmallows eaten with a hint of cosmoline and hoppes no 9. Mmmm.

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Your host enjoying the last of his non-corrosive 5.45x39mm ammo fired out of the AK74. I have a whole crate that’s corrosive stuff, but, unlike with a surplus bolt action, you have to clean out the entire gas system, the flash hider, bolt and bolt carrier in addition to cleaning the barrel out. I had no idea they made 5.45x39mm with corrosive primers, and found out the hard way. I don’t win any fashion awards, clearly, but when in cold weather, if you’re going to shoot a commie gun, in a pinko caliber, you should wear a red army hat.

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My AR-15 being shot by the mystery blogger. Maybe you can guess who this is?

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I decided to take the Mosin-Nagant out into the cold so it could feel at home. Our mystery blogger had a lot of fun shooting it, despite the fact that the rifle brutalizes the shooter, much like the system that produced it. I’ve though about calling that soreness you feel the next morning after shooting that rifle “Stalin’s Revenge”.

Despite the casualty of a Klondike Bar, fun was had by all. Did a bit of hiking, including out onto the frozen lake, and a bit of dead reckoning through snow covered woods. Too much to drink Saturday night, combined with single digit temperatures makes for an interesting morning experience. Had to wait until the afternoon for the hangover to go away before heading out to the range. Both myself and the mystery blogger feel that arctic survival is a lot of fun, and would like to try it again sometime, perhaps for a more protracted amount of time. A bit of advise, though, about cold weather: water freezes. It’s a good idea to sleep with your drinking water, or when you get up in the morning thirsty, you’ll be screwed like I was. Fortunatly, the Taj Mahal had drinking water inside that wasn’t frozen, but I had to walk all the way over there with a dreadful hangover. Not fun! Because I was paranoid about carbon monoxide poisoning, I opted not to stay in the heated tent with my coworkers. Another bit of advise: 0 degree sleeping bags will keep you alive at 0 degrees, but they won’t keep you warm. It makes me want to try Alaska though sometime.

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Arctic Survival Weekend

I’m heading out to do some camping/shooting, even though it’s going to be well below freezing.  Going with a friend and blogger you’re all probably familiar with, and meeting up with one of my co-workers for the camping, and maybe the shooting (if they want to come along, her husband has an expert weapons qualification badge from when he was in the 82nd Airborne).  This is in the mountains of Northern Pennsylvania: the Ricketts Glen area.  Going along is the 16″ barreled AR-15, the AK-74, my 44 Magnum, and one other rifle, but I haven’t decided what yet.  These are the hard questions in life.

Going to have to do some hiking too, naturally.  Anyways… off to freeze to death!  Have fun folks.

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Candians Can Be Crazy Too

It’s not just Americans that can be total loons. This post, in the “Second Amendment” community on my old stomping grounds of LiveJournal, shows that Canadians can be just as batty. The LiveJournal guns community is actually worthwhile, though. It tends to focus more on the interest of shooting. than on the politics, which is refreshing sometimes.

In case you can’t tell, I’m at a loss for things to blog about today. Yesterday was bowling lunch hour with the coworkers. I scored 204 and 213, which beat them all handily (add that to Bitter’s meme of things people don’t know about me — I’m a reasonably decent bowler). After work it was happy hour with some other coworkers and former coworkers. Because of that, I don’t have much to say tonight.

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What’s In a Name?

I guess it’s time I told everyone the story behind the name that no one seems to be able to spell.  I’ve seen people spell it Sebastin, Sebastion, Sebastard, and Sebasturd.  Unlike some folks, it’s not my real name.  I have chosen not to reveal my real name, not because I’m private, or afraid of anyone, but because I don’t want employers, potential employers, or coworkers finding out what I do in my spare time.  Also, it would totally ruin my fantasy of someday meeting Ed Rendell, or any of the other politicians I regularly impugn, and have them say something like “Well, it’s been nice talking to you.” then hit them with “It has?  Ha ha!  I am your arch-nemesis Sebastian.”  Well, OK, that will probably never happen, but I can dream can’t I?

When I was in college, I was a member of a group called The DUsers, which was a MUG (Macintosh Users Group – we were the first in the country actually).  A bunch of DUsers and former DUsers (pronounced ‘doozers’ or ‘d-users’, your pick) ran something called a MUD (Multi-User Dungeon).  When I first went to sign on to play, I tried to use my middle name (John), which was taken, so next I tried my middle name in German (Johann), also taken.   Being a classical music fan and pianist (at the time, I stopped after college, and it ain’t like riding a bicycle), the next thing I tried was Sebastian, after Johann Sebastian Bach, and that one was free.  I’ve been using the moniker for anonymous internet purposes since 1994, and have gotten so used to it, I’d probably answer to it in public.

The MUD that we ran was called The Dragon’s Den.  It’s still operating today, though no one really does much on it these days.  We have a few players left, but it’s mostly a means to communicate with my old college friends; the instant messenger of the early 1990s.  You can still log on.  I’m still Sebastian, and sadly, still follow my habit of logging on whenever at computer.  Old habits die hard I guess.

As for the blog: my college friend and MUDder, David (a.k.a. Zeron), picked out the name.  I thought it was appropriate, because I always thought it would be a cold day in hell before I would start up a real blog.  But someone managed to talk me into it.

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Bitter’s Meme

Bitter has tagged me to blog about 5 things people don’t know about me. I’ll give it the old college try:

  1. I have a few chick flicks in my movie collection. Some of them aren’t my fault, but some of them are.
  2. I am not gay, but I do like some show tunes.
  3. I also think the NRA museum is a great place to go on a date, and I have done it.
  4. In addition to being a shooter and firearms collector, I am also a home brewer.
  5. I don’t care what other people say about Chelsea Clinton being fugly, I’d hit it.

I think I’m supposed to tag people, but screw that.

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Comments Broken

Comments are broken for some reason. I have no idea why. Time to dive into source code.

UPDATE: Comments are fixed.  I kicked the power cord out for my machine Wed night and the time somehow reset to Feb 20th.  Apparently WordPress’s spam feature get confused if it shows comments in the future.  I had to go into MySQL to reset all the Feb 20th entires to Feb 1st as they should be.  I think I need to get a decent SQL editor so I don’t have to do crap like that by hand.

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