People need to learn how to freaking drive or get the hell off the roads!!!!!!

Case in point is my drive home tonight on I-81 south. I was coming up on the 581 split when I decided to get over for some dumb ass who was so far up my ass I couldn’t see his hood (I was doing 80, by the way) and when I got over he flew past me flipping me the bird. Ok, not deserved but hey, let him exercise his fingers a bit.

The next thing really got me and is the main focus of this blog, I was in the center lane minding my own business when some lady (and I use that term loosely) decided she wanted to come into my lane. Not only didn’t she look but kept coming when I was laying on my horn. She finally got the hint and got back over… Only to do it again 30 seconds later. I once again Laid on the horn and this time hit the gas to get away from her. She then proceeded to get behind me and tailgate me through the split and then pass me on the right all the while flipping off. At this point my blood is boiling but for once my head decided to cool down and I just let her pass. This, I thought, would just stop everything and she’d be in her merry way. I dropped to 70 to gain some distance and continued in my lane. She then drops her speed to 65ish and straddled both lanes weaving as to not let me pass. This went on (with two 18 wheelers behind us) until she ducked off at the Mechanicsburg exit. At least after that the rest of my drive was uneventful.

Just a quick note to the kind lady who did this… think before you drive next time, people can and do die because of the stupidity you displayed today. I hope someday your actions aren’t repeated and you, god forbid, kill someone. As far as you, you can gladly step off the face of this earth and I wouldn’t care less.

Until later…

Today I decided to jump back to WordPress for my personal site instead of Joomla. Don’t get me wrong, I love Joomla and will continue to use it for my business and clients site’s however for my personal site, which is more like a blog, it just wasn’t practical to use such a large application. So, I’m back to my old standby. Now I just need to learn how to do their templates

Until Later…

Tonight, the people of Pennsylvania are one step closer to getting an overhaul of the laws which say when they can and can not use deadly force. Currently, Pennsylvania law states that if you are inside your residence or place of business you do not need to attempt to retreat before you have the right to use deadly force to prevent one or more of the following:

1. Death
2. Serious bodily injury
3. Kidnapping
4. Sexual intercourse compelled by force or threat

In any other situation you must attempt to retreat before you can use deadly force. Also, the law as its currently written does not provide any civil immunity to someone who uses justifiable deadly force. Basically this means that the aggressor or their family can sue the person who used justifiable deadly force in civil court and attempt to get a judgement against them. This effectively turns the agressor into the victim and the person who used the deadly force the guilty party.

What happened this evening is the Pa State Senate added an amendment known as “Castle Doctrine” to an existing State House Bill and will be sending that back to the House for their approval. Barring any last minute issues with the State House, which is unlikely because they passed HB40 (their version of Castle Doctrine) and the original house bill its attached to, this bill and the amendment will be on the Gov’s desk for his signature.

In a nutshell what the proposed Castle Doctrine law does is remove the need to attempt to retreat if you are somewhere you legally can be and it also provides civil immunity against being sued by the aggressor or their families. It leaves everything else in tact, including when you can use force and when you can not. Basically NOTHING ELSE HAS CHANGED!!!

People have toted this as a “gun” bill and have tried to stop it with a lot of falsehoods and other poison amendments. But I need to ask, where in the above paragraphs did I ever mention a gun? If you don’t believe me, look up the proposed law for yourself. What this law does is protects anyone who uses any type of deadly force to stop a threat, no matter how it is stopped. Heck, this law will protect someone who used a dull pencil to stop a threat.

Until Later…

Authors Note: Please remember my disclaimer which can be found HERE.

Why do people have no common sense??? Really, is it that hard to comprehend???? Let me lay it out for you. If you own a gun and have it in your household with a child or someone who can gain access it for god’s sake, MAKE IT SAFE!!!!!

I’ve heard enough stories lately of someone’s child getting a hold of their gun and shooting themselves or someone else that something needs to be done. Now, I’m sure people will say that they have a valid reason to keep their gun loaded, and I don’t condone them at all. Hell, I keep mine loaded most of the time, but then I don’t have a child in my household and its under lock and key when I don’t have it within arms reach.

How can people safely have a gun and children in the same household? The answers are very simple… Keep your ammo in a different location then the actual firearm OR if you need to keep the two together at least get a gun lock (they’re free if you go to your local sheriff’s department) AND USE IT. If you’re using it for personal protection at night, keep it out of view and put it away/lock it up if you don’t carry it with you during the day. It takes just seconds to lock it up or put the firearm and ammo in separate locations, why not actually do it? There’s no reason for you not too, unless you want want to loose a valued member of your family.

I’m going to back and repeat myself; people need to use common sense. Children are extremely curious and will gravitate towards things which are a mystery to them, which one of them could be your gun. Most see Mommy or Daddy with it and want to be just like them, this ends in tragedy way too often. I say you need to take the mystery out of it. Let them see it, let them hold it (Of course after you have unloaded it and make it safe) and teach them about it. A little education can and will go a long way. I know for a fact that when we add children to our household they will have the knowledge that firearms are not a bad/mystical things and they will be holding them and learning the correct operation of them when they’re old enough to apply that knowledge.

People need to think, use common sense, and that knowledge is power. If you can’t or won’t do that you don’t need to have a firearm in your household.

Until Later…

You did what?!?!?! Why did you do that???? Those seem to be the questions I’ve been getting lately from some people and I think it’s time I come out and explain myself… not that anyone needs an explanation seeing that I’m an adult and I can make my own decisions.

About a month ago I made a decision and after a long deliberation, both in my mind and with Jen, I traveled down to Redding’s Hardware in Gettysburg to purchase a handgun… A Hi-Point C9 9mm Compact pistol. Before I get slammed for the brand I want to say I didn’t want to spend a ton of money on something that I may not ultimately get into so I decided to get the no frills entry level model. Sure, it may not look pretty, its heavy, and not easy to conceal but it does go bang each time you pull the trigger. Its basically a gun I can learn with and also have it “just in case”.

After having it for about a month I can say it was a purchase I won’t soon regret. I have about 300 rounds through the gun so far and while I’m still learning how to be a decent shot I can safely say I’m improving with each outing. For all of you saying “He’s never handled a pistol, how does he know how to use it”… It’s not that hard and if you use some common sense it’s not that dangerous. I’m also going to attend a gun safety course towards the end of July just to make sure I’ve covered all my bases.

Now, I’ve been told once you’ve purchased one gun you’re going to want to buy more. I can say this is certainly the case and I’m already looking at my next purchase sometime in the near future.

Now I say, let the fireworks begin.

Until Later…

I’m taking an electronic free weekend. Yup, you heard that right, the geek with all the electronic toys is taking a weekend off from his electonic gadgets and getting back to the finer things in life.

Mark it on your calendars now, starting the afternoon of July 2nd and ending July 5th I’m going to be putting down my laptop, netbook, TV, DVR, PS2, and even my iPhone and heading to the mountains to camp for the holiday weekend. The only technology I will have with me is my cameras and the camcorder. Even the Kindle will be safely tucked away 4 hours south of where I will be at.

Jennifer and myself are planning on heading up to her Uncle’s cabin along with her brother and sister-in-law and roughing it (Yes, that includes no running water too). We’re going to enjoy fishing, swimming, target shooting, spotting, nights by a campfire and possibly a good cigar or two… but most of all we’ll be hopefully rekindling a Wentz children’s family tradition of going camping at the old cabins and having a grand old time.

I’m sure I’ll have some interesting stories to tell after we get back so,

Until Later…

Well, now that it’s summer in downtown Carlisle the drivers around town, especially in the vicinity of Dickinson College, can now relax a small bit knowing that most of the college kids have gone home for the summer. Why am I saying this you ask? Well, the simple answer is the college kids have no concept of how to walk safely through the crosswalks in and around the college. They think that they can walk right out into the crosswalk and vehicular traffic will stop for them. Most of the time this is the case, however I can recall on at least 2 occasions within the last year that there have been people hit in the crosswalks. Now, before anyone starts complaining to me saying that pedestrians have the right of way, I’d like to refer you to the following points in the PA Driver/Pedestrian Laws…

Title 75 Chapter 35 Section 3542. Right-of-way of pedestrians in crosswalks.

(a) General rule.—When traffic-control signals are not in place or not in operation, the driver of a vehicle shall yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within any marked crosswalk or within any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection.

(b) Exercise of care by pedestrian.—No pedestrian shall suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle which is so close as to constitute a hazard.

To my feeble brain, what the above states is that if a car comes upon someone who is already in the act of crossing in a designated crosswalk the driver of the vehicle must allow that person to safely walk across the roadway. However, the second part which I highlighted in red, states that if there is a car so close to a crosswalk that they can not safely stop the pedestrian MUST wait for the car to pass.

Now, this is where the problem lies, College students pay no attention to subsection B… I can’t tell you how many times in the several years I’ve lived near the college that I’ve had to either lay on the horn or jam on the brakes of my truck to stop from hitting one (or a group) of them while they either talk on their cell phones, talk to friends or listen to their MP3 players and walk blindly into the intersection without even a glance either way. It seems to me that they must think they are invincible or a several thousand pound vehicle going 25 miles an hour (or more) can stop on a dime. Let me tell you this, I know for a fact that my Chevy Equinox can not stop on a dime and I would pay good money to have a vehicle which would.

What is it going to take to stop this from occurring? I hope it doesn’t take a death of a student to bring this to a head, but I have a really bad feeling that will happen within the next few years. What can the college do to make this stop? I say public awareness, make the students aware that the crosswalks are there for their protection but yet they need to use their heads before walking into them. I hope something happens soon, before something bad actually happens.

Until Later…