I'm Not Dead Yet

Both my computers 'sploded, but I didn't die. I have a borrowed monitor for the desktop and a battery on the way for the laptop, and some hope that I'll be back on a daily basis soon. Right now I'm typing this on my parents' super-fast new machine connected to their super-slow dialup connection. I came down here to steal their newspaper while they're at the antique show, but that's so 20th century. This is too slow to allow me to check my email via the web client, so if you sent me an email, I haven't gotten it. Sorry.

A few things I've been doing while not posting much:

• More IPSC shooting, using the P220 and the Glock 30. Still not placing last. My new goal is to finish in the top 50% of Production class. Last night was a relatively boring classifier match, just three targets on each side of a barrier with a mandatory reload before switching sides, with no-shoots between each target and the next. But it was a big night for the boys, since they both got to go. Last week, Donovan made it, but Kane's behavior just wasn't up to par. Last night, we stayed until the end as Kane picked up brass and pasted targets and generally charmed everybody.
  
• Refinished the old P220 using Lauer's DuraCoat in "HK Black." Years ago, pre-child, the gun was between the mattress and frame of a waterbed when my dog punctured the mattress and flooded the frame (and then the bedroom.) My SIG was built in 1989 and has that awesome SIG-Sauer bluing that was essentially surface prep for rust. I stripped all that rust but then left the thing in the white for the longest time.
  This week I fixed that. The HK Black DuraCoat worked really well, although the airbrush didn't really start working until I ditched the CO2 canister and hooked up the air compressor. It turns out that it matched the coating on the aluminum frame perfectly. So far, it's been impervious to everything I've done to it. I'm still experimenting with colors for the bar and dot in the sights. I'll probably go back to white, but I'm using metallic gold in the front right now and it's kind of neat--like shooting an old revolver with a gold bead.
• I went nuts on laundry the other day and actually got all of our laundry done. There was no dirty laundry anywhere in the house. It lasted almost an hour.
• I'm working on finding out what I have to do to get my Master's finished this year. I believe my certification requirements have been met, but I would only need one more class to get the Master's. Might as well.
• Still working on that upstairs bathroom I started so long ago. It's been a great summer, but it's been busy. I offered to make a bet with My Bride that the bathroom would be done by Christmas, but she declined. Maybe she's learning not to underestimate me. That would be nice.
• Today I cleaned our bedroom. This sounds like a small thing, but the clutter in there was unbelievable.
• Tomorrow the Camaro goes to the Chevy dealership. I've managed to convince myself that the heater core and its connections are fine, and the intake manifold doesn't seem to be leaking, but I finally noticed that when I pour water into the radiator, it actually runs out from somewhere on the passenger side of the block, apparently below the exhaust manifold. I can't see it, but it's a steady stream until the water runs out. I'm worried that they're going to tell me that the block has actually cracked and there's water pouring out of the water passage in the block itself. That would probably cost more to fix than the car is worth. Then the question becomes this:
  Do I go full-on redneck and part out a Camaro in my backyard? Or do I try to sell it to some kid who wants to throw a 350 in there?