• Front Sight Firearms Training Institute
• Ignatius Piazza – founder of Front Sight
• Ignatius Piazza blog site
• Front Sight – in Cybercast News Service
• Ignatius Piazza – in El Mercurio
• Ignatius Piazza – in Gun World
• Front Sight – in Gun Web
• Ignatius Piazza – in Handvapen Guiden
• Ignatius Piazza – in Las Vegas Sun
• Front Sight – in Los Angeles Times
• Ignatius Piazza – in San Francisco Chronicle
• Ignatius Piazza – in Small Arms Review
• Front Sight – in The Mail on Sunday Review
• Ignatius Piazza – in Times Democrat
• Front Sight – on BBC News
• Ignatius Piazza – in Chicago Tribune
• Front Sight – on CNN
• Ignatius Piazza – in Fort Worth Star Telegram
• Front Sight – in Guns & Ammo
• Ignatius Piazza – in Las Vegas Life
• Front Sight – in New York Times
• Front Sight – in Satna Cruz Sentinel
• Front Sight – in US News & World Report
• Ignatius Piazza – in Washington Post
• Front Sight – in London Times
• Front Sight – in Financial Times
• Ignatius Piazza – in Forbes Magazine
• Front Sight – in Black Belt Magazine
• Front Sight – in Sierra Times
• Ignatius Piazza – on Reform America
• Front Sight – in Icon Magazine
• Front Sight – in El Pais Seminal
• Front Sight – on USA Today
• Ignatius Piazza – in Las Vegas Mercury
• Front Sight – in Pajaronian Register
• Ignatius Piazza – on World Net Daily

This weekend I attended two recitals. At my middle son’s piano recital, I was anxious for it to be over so we could leave in order to get to the other recital. When it started, however, I was forcibly reminded about why we have recitals and how important they are to the youngest players. I guess I’ve become jaded listening to the same mistake in the same concerto, over and over. I had forgotten the excitement and energy in watching a little one put the cushion on the piano bench so that they could reach the keys in order to play the “Mozart Variations on a Theme” (a stellar piece) or Black Cat Boogie. Not to mention the excitement of the parents with their video equipment and cameras. I don’t think I even thought about taking a camera to either of my son’s recitals.

Yes, I’m one of the slacker mom’s whose first child was videoed for every Halloween parade, every dance contest, every violin recital and all the record of the youngest is him at 3 dressed like Cruella deVille shouting, “Get me those puppies!” And video of the middle child? Well, if video is the only record, I don’t have a middle child. He does have a huge collection of academic trophies and certificates to prove his existence in the family files. So there may not be moving pictures but he does leave a record.

Luckily at my younger boy’s performance, they had professional videographers taping the entire 2 days and all of the concert performances were available for $25. So, if I can figure out how to copy the track of his performance to the computer, those of you interested will be able to see the intense concentration which makes my youngest look like a Cabbage Patch doll playing Boulevard of Broken Dreams.

Maybe I should get the camera out and take it to the next LaCrosse game so that the middle one has at least one moving picture for posterity.

I really wish the lawn was emo, then it would cut itself.

At my husband’s insistence, we went with the local cable carrier for service. I should explain that we don’t have cable TV. We do have a cable that goes from the antenna on the roof to a hole in the house and connects to a box in the basement that then goes to the TV. I just never saw the point of paying for 40 channels of nothing to watch.
Needless to say, scheduling the installation was interesting since the scheduler couldn’t wrap her mind around the idea that I don’t have a cable running from the street to my house. Apparently I’m some sort of Stone Age throwback since not only do I have just 2 television sets in a house of 5600 square feet, they receive neither C-span nor ESPN.
Well, the scheduler must not have believed me because when the installer arrived the first thing he asked was, “so where is the cable outlet?” He had to call a supervisor when I responded we don’t have one, that’s why we needed professional installation instead of doing it ourselves. It took the supervisor coming out and verifying that, yes, there is a box on the side of the house but it has absolutely nothing in it to convince everyone that I’m not a nut job. (or maybe it did convince them that I am a nut job but at least I know what I’m talking about.)
When we told the cable guy that we would be adding a router so that we could run an in-house wireless network he told us that we would want to have the box in a different location from where we originally wanted it. A quick call to a friend in CA confirmed that the cable guy was right (I guess that makes us even on the double checking with outside sources.) So while the cable guy was trenching the yard to come from the street to the house, DH was drilling a hole in the stash room wall and the cable guy gave us the cable to run from one end of the house to the other. DH was ready to connect before the cable guy was. This earned DH major kudos since, he was faster, it was correct, and he knew what he was doing. Once it was connected and Martin (the cable guy) was packing up to go, DH noticed the line to the antenna on the roof was not in the box inside the house anymore. Yep, Martin had pulled it out and left it lying on the lawn. Since he couldn’t believe that we were only having internet service and we weren’t adding cable TV, it took some major convincing (and a threat of legal action) to get him to drill a new hole in the stucco to put the antenna cable back in the house.
So, I still have my free TV service and we can now have all 5 members of the family on the Internet at once.

8 Random Things – The Rules

Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged write a blog post about their own 8 random things and post these rules. At the end of your blog you need to tag 8 people and post their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

My 8 random things…

1. I like cookie dough better than cookies
2. I wore a Mohawk in college.
3. I don’t remember the real color of my hair
4. If I gave you the list of ingredients to my favorite dish you would gag! It’s maksalaatikko (a Finnish holiday dish).
5. I haven’t cooked in months
6. My husband bought me a Rolex watch for our 20th anniversary
7. I sold a poem to a magazine when I was a teenager.
8. All the editorial letters I’ve submitted to newspaper have been published.

Okay, I tag Onilyn, Nicole, Moira, Autumn, Darla, Allie, Brenda (if she’s around), and Glenda

• Then skydiving may not be for you.
• Then grenades are probably not a weapon of choice.
• Then plan in advance on a re-take
• Then enjoy the practice
• Then hire someone else to do it
• Then find a corner to go cry in.
• Then find someone else who has failed and form a club or file a lawsuit.

Any others you care to contribute?

Last year I knew it was Sunday morning when at 7:30 am Bob the retired neighbor would start mowing his lawn. I admit I was dreading that part of spring. Imagine my surprise when this Sunday instead of the annoying buzz of the lawnmower, I woke to the beautiful purr of a Harley Davidson engine. I have new neighbors across the street. I met them once when they first moved in. They told us then that they were bike people. Well, bike people around my neighborhood usually means the stereotypical granola, Birkenstock, pedals to work type person not someone with a lovely black and chrome Softail or a black, flame-painted chopper complete with sissy bar. It makes getting up early on a Sunday morning quite pleasant. I think I really like the new neighbors.

Home working on my needlepoint cranes.

I know I started them in January of 2006 and I took them to CATS in Vegas and the only picture I have of them at the moment is before CATS. But I would really like to enter them in the State Fair which means that I have to have them to a framer by sometime in June. When I was at CATS, I showed them to Liz Turner Diehl and she helped me come up with a stitch guide that is turning out absolutely incredible (not to mention she did in on the back of one of her bead patterns so I got a free bead pattern as well).

The problem is I have homework, kids, a job, housework and other stuff to do before I can stitch. In order to get my stitching time in, I stayed up until 3 am last night. It was worth it.
I have told you I only need 4 -5 hours of sleep a night right?