I have been getting pretty used to the gritty and grippy texture of the new 4th generation of Glock pistols.

Neither my Gen 3 G23 or my Gen 1 G17 have this sort of texture so I thought WWH45D — what would  Hickok45 do — and he’s a huge fan of Talon Grips, which he says, at least in sandpaper, help out with his accuracy and handling, so I ordered a couple sets and they were a snap to install.

Pretty much just use an alcohol wipe to remove any oil, schmutz, or dirt, and then you remove the sticker backing, place it according to the instructions, make sure the three front strap pieces go under the left side panel, and the just blast it with a very hot hair drier until everything shrinks-to-fit.

Err on the side of more heat and also make sure you press everything down and make sure there are no gaps or bubbles. And squeeze and press. Doesn’t it look great!

I installed it myself so it really must not be very tough and each grip was cut perfectly for the pistol I ordered it for.

My Ruger MkIII Target “678″ is way better than me. Reliable, hyper-accurate, solid, durable. You should get one. Even better with a Volquartsen trigger job and a set of ergo grips.

Sadly, they don’t make this tapered-barrel model anymore with the 6 7/8″ barrel, but since they’re bomb-proof, used is as good as new when it comes to an MK — some people actually swear to the MkII Rugers above the MkIII anyway, so get what you like.

Some say there’s nothing better than the MkII Government Target — it was professionally accurized and also came with a 6″ bull barrel, which supposedly does a better job at preventing muzzle vibrations and issues with rapid-fire-associated overheating which can temporarily warp the barrel just a wee bit.

That said, I will never be good enough to concerned with microvibration- or heat-related inaccuracy.

These limited edition Mizuno Wave Rider 15s as my aspirational running shoes.

They’re better, more capable, and bolder than I am and when I wear them I work harder because I really hate seeing weak, pathetic, weekend warriors who buy and use gear they don’t deserve just because they can afford them.

Like seeing a soft, doughy, dude on a weekend ride who’s sporting a Cervélo S3 — that’s me in my Mizunos — and it was even more me when I had another 30-pounds on me.

But, as I work out and as my shoulders become broader and my hips become narrower, I feel more comfortable sporting these awesome running shoes.

And, when I burn through these, I’ll probably get myself a pair of Wave Creation 13 running shoes as well.

Related articles

• Mizuno: Truth in Running (onlineshoes.com)
• STACK Approved: Mizuno Wave Rider 15 (stack.com)
• MJ Approved: Mizuno Wave Rider 15 (mensjournal.com)
• Top Road Shoes for 2012 at Foot Tools (foottools.wordpress.com)
• Mizuno Be: Mizuno’s Foray into Minimalist Footwear? (runblogger.com)
• You: Tradebank Classifieds: Mizuno Wave Creation 13 – Women’s (feonews.com)
• Mizuno Wave Universe 4: A Near Perfect Racing Flat (runblogger.com)

I am reading a galley proof of Glock: The Rise of America’s Gun by Paul M. Barrett as we speak.

I must say that the book reminds me of one of the long-form articles in the Atlantic or the New Yorker — the book covers everything, and I am only through to something like 30% through.

I have read from the inception of Glock all the way through to where Glocks took over being the go-to gun on Law & Order. This is really a reporter’s book but Mr. Barrett cannot hide the awe he feels for the audacity of Karl Walter (chutzpah, actually) as the salesman as well as the generosity of Gaston Glock, primarily because the Glock 17 only cost $100 to make and so profits were upwards of 66% on every pistol.

It is fascinating, it is awesome — I never knew any of this, really, though I am sure you all do, anyway. All that I know about concrete I learned in high school from a long form article in the New Yorker, so sometimes there are books that just go soup-to-nuts. Then again, I am only 30% through so I will reserve a proper review until I am done.

Oh, that said, this book does not read like reading the Encyclopædia Britannica — there’s a narrative and a level of the author writing the book and synthesizing and analyzing what he’s learned and so he does tell a story.

Related articles

• The Best Hollow Books in the Business (chrisabraham.com)
• Glock Makes Significant Donation to Second Amendment Foundation (2ndamendmentright.org)

MAKE caught my eye with these smart and fun cat 5 RJ-45  plug and socket wall-mounted key-chains and mounts, via Lifehacker

Related articles

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• Space Intruders Multi-Tool Keychain (neatorama.com)
• day 275 – four keychains (fourfortheday.com)
• Hello Kitty Flashlight Keychain (neatorama.com)
• GWP keychain with Kingston USB. (theodmgroup.com)
• How-To: Mini Keychain Photo Album (mt-soft.com.ar)
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As you may well know, I have been hiding out in Portland, Oregon. If you have seen Portlandia, you know that you cannot go anywhere in the PDX if you’re not festooned with birds on things. I commissioned Dave Stoops the crack bag-making team over at Black Star Bags to make me a large courier bag with a bird on it in reflective 3M tape.

Yes, I feel your envy boring into me. Well, you can get a Black Star messenger bag — or any sort of black star bag or back star anything — with a bird on it, just like I have done.

I have been remiss. I had intended to write about Free Hollow Books because they made one of the best selection of hollowed-out books for the private, sneaky, secretive, connoisseur in all of us.

This particular book, A History of Russia and the Soviet Union, is gorgeous, bold, bespoke, and is so dull to all but my most bookish friends.

It also fits a Glock 23 pistol perfectly. And the Glock 19, too. And the Glock 32, I believe. Yes, hollow books that are double-secret gun cases! Basically, it’ll fit most variants of the Glock compact pistol along with a couple spare magazines.

After taking to the trails and taking up biking as part of my health kick, and putting on 72.2 mi this month so far, I thought I would actively adore the Surly Steamroller single speed bike that I have been putting my mileage on:

For all of you who know Mad Men, you know Don Draper. Well, it is time for all of you nerdy wusses who don’t know how to man up.  Forget “cowboy up” — cowboys wear high heels, blouses, tight jeans, and their pretty hats indoors.  Learn how to adman-up thanks to this flow chart from The Oatmeal on what Don Draper might do when confronted with a problem, via kottke.org:

Everyone knows that prissy men with wire-rimmed specs, long blond hair, and pony tails are innately douchy douches.

Funny cartoon that could be either completely self-aware or a little naive via PvP Online.

Cute promotion for the new Leica V-Lux 20 12.1 MP snappy via Creative Criminals; however, what makes cameras obsolete is not size or quality or price, it has to do with functionality: where’s the phone?

It’s the phone, stupid!  It’s the inability to live-tweet, live-share, live blog, and live-Facebook that makes us always choose the 5-8MP smart phone over the 10-14MP digital camera, stupid!

I would be happy to buy a camera with a phone (I payed over $700 for the Nokia n95 because of its early 5MP camera with its Karl Zeiss lens — but it was a phone, too)

I thought I would update the situation with the article I wrote about the coolest leather messenger bags.

Well, the fellow that created them got in touch with me because his friend saw my previous posts praising his work. His name is Jesse Heirendt and his company, JD Leatherworks, is making me a bespoke handmade bridle leather courier bag that is being tooled and cut and sewn for me right now.

I will write about it when I receive it, though I am told by Jesse that the bag is almost completely white and totally stiff and brand-spanking new when I receive it and that I should avoid all tendencies to oil, dye, stain, age, or do anything outside of using it constantly.

That it takes about a year of constant use to turn it from the lighter (brand new) bag you see on this post and the darker, weathered, aged one — Jesse’s personal daily bag.

My bag will be something special, however, because Jesse agreed to make the bag a bit bigger in every dimension, so my bag will be shaped and designed and outfitted exactly like Jesse’s personal bag but it’ll be larger at 16″ wide by 13″ tall by 6″ deep, larger than the bag I fell in love, which I requested because I want to be able to make sure that I can use this bag as an “out all day” bag that can carry more than just a briefcase or some-such.

I have always been quite a fan of the United States Postal Service mail bag, be it the original all-leather satchel or the newer bag with a leather-strapped and blue canvas bag.

It is amazing to think about how simple — simplistic, minimal — the action of the Glock line of handguns is.

They’re all almost exactly the same, the entire range, all starting with the Glock 17 service pistol through the 1st generation all the way through the current Gen 4. Above is my .40 S&W compact version of the Glock, known as the Glock 23.

It is broken down completely — or as far as anyone really ever needs to outside of a deep servicing that needs to be done by a gunsmith — though I am told one never needs to do it at all.

And, to be honest, some people swear that a Glock pistol really never needs to ever be cleaned at all, short of running a bore snake through it periodically.

One would expect something as fearsome, dangerous, and reliable as the Glock would be a lot more complex and a lot more expensive.

Not only are they absolutely reliable, they’re also dirty cheap — at least $200 less than anything else.

On April 8th, I went to the NRA HQ Range and spent the entire hour trying to stop flinching. Yes, flinching.

When I started the hour I was doing pretty well — but, after a while, the recoil, kick and bang of the compact .40 S&W round through the light, short-barreled, shorter-gripped, compact Glock 23, makes me anticipate the next hand-explosion, and my wrist automatically pitches the barrel down.

As though I had the nanosecond reflexes to compensate, physically, like a human muzzle break. Doesn’t work. You really have to relax, squeeze the trigger smoothly, and ultimately allow yourself to be surprised at the break.

I don’t believe that this grouping is particularly good but I am a beginner and the little pistol spooks me every time and beats me up — so I am getting used to it so really all I need to do is spend time with it.

I don’t know about you but this pistol, the Glock 23 — and all Glocks are identical in almost every way outside of barrel, slide, and grip length — is the most simple of devices I have ever seen that portrays itself as a firearm, a gun, a weapon.

Four pieces: the slide assembly, the guide rod and recoil spring assembly, the barrel, and the receiver assembly. Any more field stripping is almost never required. Who would have guessed? See?

Listen, I am a pragmatist.  When I was an English Major back in the late 80s and early 90s, I could imagine a world in which I would spend the rest of my life having dates that would include book browsing.  I was a Romantic. Now, while I have publicly stated on Twitter that Powell’s City of Books in Portland, Oregon, would be out of business within three years, I really don’t want it to.

What I did do in the hour or so that I spent in Powell’s with my friend Jean is recommend books for Jean and, get all nostalgic about the days when I was an intellectual and a poet, and then scribble book titles into my notebook to retrieve later via WhisperNet onto my Kindle ebook.

However, after spending an hour at Powell’s I only bought one thing: a pocket sized graph paper pocket-sized  Soft Cover Moleskine Notebook to replace the one I just filled with Abraham Harrison notes.

Mind you, I do believe there will always be bookstores; however, I believe they won’t be even remotely profitable and will instead be the passion of people who made their quick money on Wall Street instead of going into llama-ranching, wine-making, olive oil-making, gallery-owning, newspaper-publishing, museum-starting, live-theatre starting, restaurant-owning, and bed-and-breakfast-running.

Well, not an official Natalie Wood appreciation day but I just sort of want to appreciate Natalie Wood today.  I have appreciated her before in the form of What a Beauty and Talent Natalie Wood Was and I Love Natalie Wood — I know, I know … very sad.

Even though Richard Laermer does not agree, I love the new Starbucks logo.

It boils it all down into the essence.

We have all been so completely inculcated in STARBUCKS==COFFEE that the only logo better than the minimalist 2011 Starbucks logo is the original 1971 Starbucks logo — with bare breasts and all!

Then, the 1971 logo circa 2011 could well have updated “Coffee Tea Spices” with “Coffee Hookers Blow” or whatever it evolves into — have you seen Idiocracy‘s take on the ‘Bucks?

Good luck, Starbucks!  I always look forward to a “Venti Mild” or a “Quad” any chance I get so I always want you to be ubiquitous and I hope I will be able to drink more Starbucks on my trip than I will need to drink Truck Stop or Dunkin Donuts coffee, both of which I hate with a passion.

I really enjoyed Kill the Dead: A Sandman Slim Novel while I was suffering from die Grippe — it is the perfect “I am sick and feel like eating pudding and getting offended” book.  Plus, there are zombies!

I love the profane nature of the first Sandman Slim book. How can such a heretical book that puts its cross-hairs onto the hypocrisy of all this is evil as well as all that is supposedly holy. There’s a lot of reverence for all that is good in this book but a lot of aggro towards the constant contradictions in the realm of the spirit world. It is all that was good about the original Sandman Slim.

What makes any book better, though? Zombies! And yes, zombies always do make things better.

I must admit that I was a little afraid that there were too many gimmicks in this second book — there are loads of gimmicks and in this book, author Richard Kadrey threw in everything including the kitchen sink, that’s for sure.

Luckily, this book and the previous book are completely character-driven and it doesn’t really matter too much what happens in the book so much as getting and opportunity to spend time with the entire cast of characters.  Just like Buffy and Firefly, this is all about the crew and the story line goes from awesome to meh – but who cares!

I ate the book off my Kindle in just a night and a half while suffering with the flu here in Berlin, Germany, and now need to wait until Richard Kadrey writes a third book now.

I bought myself a .22LR Ruger MKIII “678″ months and months ago but it just lay there in its little green plastic box.

Today, I popped out to the world NRA HQ Range to experience their top-drawer firing range out Route 66 in northern Virginia.

When I arrived at the headquarters we have all seen from 66, there were clear signs to the range.

I parked and ported my green codura range bag in and told the lady and gentleman at the counter that I was new. They popped me on the list.

I looked around and it was packed! It was around 11:30 AM on Friday — today — and there was a queue.

They handed me some forms to fill out, a range briefing, and a test. I popped my firearm back into the car in order to use the classroom for the exam.

After acing the test and paying $10 for my range card, I bought a 100 bright of .22LR hollow points, a bright blue muff, cheap plastic shooting glasses, and only five 25-yard paper targets and was assigned lane 7. Lucky seven.

The rules were explicit and all had to do with safety and keeping the business end of the firearm downrange.

The range is an open range which is to say that folks are always firing. Keep the firearm holstered, encased, bagged, stowed, unloaded, and even when sitting empty with the breech wide open — even then and in the case — the barrel is to be pointed downrange.

Safety is key in a space like the range when people are always firing: pistols, rifles, class III weapons (with the proper license), and shotguns (but only with slugs).

I fed the magazines and burned through my brick in only 30 minutes. I would have made it last longer had I not had an appointment at 1 but I loved the time I did have. What a rush.

So, some pretty damn tight groupings at 25 feet. At 50 I could feel like I both didn’t know the pistol very well yet and the muscles supporting my arms and my pistol were not yet accustomed to it all.

At 75 and 100 feet I still hit the target but my 10-round bouts looked like buck scatter-shot. Oh well, nothing some good time at the range can’t help.

I have myself a target pistol. The Ruger MKIII that I have is a target pistol with a 6 7/8″ barrel. I was looking for one with a 10″ bull barrel but I am very happy.

The lanes are very cool. They’re modern and they’re a lot like the cool scenes you see on CSI and other cop shows with the button that sends out and brings back paper targets at the touch of a button.

When I burned through the brick, I locked back the action, removed the 10-bullet magazine, checked the chamber for a round, and then released the bolt and encased my pistol, bagged everything, swept up the brass, then exited stage left.

The doors in and the doors out are doubled to isolate noise and one is to immediately wash hands after leaving the open and hot range.

While I was loading up my trunk, exhilarated and relaxed, I engaged the guy in the van next to me, from Texas.

He told me that the NRA range is something special. More modern, exceptional, organized, and fun than the ranges in Texas, which are all just lanes and space and target.

Great to know such a great resource, adult playground, and training facility is so close. I believe the price is around $14 for NRA members and $18 for non-members.

The NRA range hours are as follows:

Monday: 10AM-5PM
Tuesday: Closed
Wednesday: 5PM-10PM
Thursday: 5PM- 10PM
Friday: 10AM – 10PM
Saturday: 8:30AM – 10PM
Sunday: 8:30AM – 7PM

NRA Range Operational Rules

1. All Federal, state, and local firearm laws must be obeyed.
2. All firearms not on the firing line must be holstered, or unloaded with their action open and the magazine removed, or unloaded and encased.
3. All shooters must pass the NRA RANGE TEST, and complete and sign the NRA RANGE RELEASE, WAIVER, HOLD HARMLESS, INDEMNIFICATION AND ASSUMPTION OF RISK AGREEMENT before using the NRA Range.
4. Owners of Class III firearms must be in possession of any special permits or paperwork required by law.
5. Food, beverages, and smoking are prohibited on the range. (Smoking is prohibited throughout the building.)
6. No muzzleloading firearms may be fired on the NRA Range.
7. All calibers of pistols may be fired.
8. Rifles up to and including .460 Weatherby Magnum caliber may be fired.
9. Shotgun slugs may be fired. No buckshot or birdshot may be fired unless authorized by the Range Officer for a specific course.
10. Tracer, armor piercing, and steel core ammunition are prohibited.
11. Commands issued by Range Officers and Range Personnel must be obeyed immediately and without question.
12. When the command “Cease Fire” is given:
    1. Stop shooting IMMEDIATELY
    2. Remove your finger from the trigger
    3. Keep the gun pointed in a safe direction
    4. Wait for further instructions from the Range Officer
13. No one other than NRA Range personnel may go forward of the firing line unless authorized or instructed to do so by the Range Officer.
14. When the line is declared “CLEAR”:
    1. All firearms must be holstered; or unloaded and benched or grounded, with the muzzle pointed down range, with the action open, ejection port or cylinder up, and magazine removed.
    2. Everyone must step back from the firing line.
    3. No firearms may be handled while the line is “CLEAR”
15. Only NRA approved paper targets may be used.
16. Use the appropriate size target, placed at eye level, to ensure that your shots strike the backstop and not the floor, ceiling or target holder. Firing a shot on the NRA Range that results in the bullet striking anything other than the target and/or backstop, may result in a damage or repair fine and/or your removal from the range.
17. Cross firing of targets is prohibited.
18. All firing from the 50 yard line (i.e. from within the shooting booths) must be aimed fire.
19. If you are going to draw from a holster and fire (unless authorized to do otherwise by the Range Officer), you MUST:
    1. Remove the shooting table from the shooting booth
    2. Stay within the shooting booth
    3. Keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot
20. Only belt holsters, placed on the same hip as the shooting hand, may be used on the NRA Range. Shoulder holsters and cross-draw holsters may not be used unless authorized by the Range Officer during designated training courses.
21. You may collect your own brass that is on or behind the firing line. Brass from other shooters and all brass that falls in front of the firing line may not be collected unless authorized by the Range Officer.
22. Competitions held on the NRA Range will be conducted in accordance with official NRA rules or by the rules of the sanctioning body of the match.
23. Always wash your hands and face immediately after shooting and/or cleaning your firearm. Sinks are located directly opposite the range exit door.
24. NRA Range Officers reserve the right to inspect any firearms or ammunition for safety considerations.

As you may well know, I have always been fascinated by the culture of women — even the cult of women — and it has moved me to study feminist theory and Marxist feminism at GW and then, as a blogger, to explore the culture of women as it manifests in dating, courtship, fashion, relationships, friendships, sisterhood, business, career, motherhood, etc, on this very blog.

Abigail Jones has inspired many of those posts and again with her new article, ‘The Name of the Game’ Love, Loss and What Tovah Feldshuh Wore — A Lilac Dress, a Cowgirl Hat, Her First Tutu.

Abigail interviews four-time Tony-nominated actress Tovah Feldshuh about her life, her career, and her lifelong obsession with, love for, and memories of her historical wardrobe. Via The Jewish Daily Forward.