Thanks

Lately I’ve been getting very rewarding emails. Surprising stuff. One lady emailed me asking for a link to an old piece about sexual morality, to show her sons. She also planned to show them a more recent piece. Another guy said he was planning to resume daily prayer because of me. Other people have told me it was encouraging to read about someone else’s efforts to improve his relationship with God.

Part of what I feel is surprise, considering the mistakes I’ve made. Even when I thought I was doing well, I did things I later realized were wrong. I can’t hold myself out as a great example for others to follow. Every time I start to feel smug about how I’m doing, I find out about someone else who leaves me in the dust.

One of the things I pray for is that I will be a source of good to other people. I haven’t done a great job of that so far. It’s easy to spend your whole life being obnoxious and selfish, especially in times like these, when antisocial, self-glorifying behavior is encouraged and rewarded. So when someone tells me I helped them in their faith, it’s not just good news. It’s an answer to prayer.

There are a lot of things about my work which I would change, if I could. My third book is coming out, and there are things about it I don’t like. I would prefer that my fourth book be edifying as well as entertaining. I hope God will see fit to give me the success I need, to get to a fourth book.

Thanks for the emails and comments. I think the people who write them do me more good than I do, them.

With that behind me, let’s discuss shooting. My Burris Fullfield II scope needs to be shimmed. It’s mounted on my K31 rifle, and at 100 yards, the gun consistently shoots nine or ten inches southeast of the point of aim.

I checked Midway, and they sell shims for a scope bases. But a reviewer says they’re crappy bits of plastic, and that you’re better off carving something out of a blister pack. What’s the best thing to do? I guess I could put something under the rear ring. I’m not sure how to fix the windage error, though.

I’m hoping to crank out some .45 rounds today. I guess I’ll have to buy a package of expensive factory rounds as backup. Damn it.

Now that I’ve covered shooting, let’s talk tomatoes. The few I have managed to grow are cracking a lot, from the stem ends. What’s up with that?

Sooner or later I have to figure out how to grow tomatoes. I do a fine job with peppers and herbs and limes, but those things won’t make much of a meal on their own.

Let’s see what’s happening in the Blogosphere.

Uh oh. Ann Althouse is displaying her dark side once again. I saw this coming, but no one listened. Look for a new book soon: The Electric Kool-Aid Althouse Test. I have a feeling I made that joke before. Understandable; it’s so natural.

Maybe this explains all those colorful photos.

Speaking of photos, Mike Pancier is outdoing himself.

Oh no! A conservative blogger just called Jeremiah Wright a tar baby! It’s ON now! Fortunately, the blogger is black, or at least used to be, before she joined the GOP. It’s Baldilocks. She makes a point which I have been too lazy to make, i.e., in addition to his other flaws, Wright is a really bad preacher.

Wright has decided–get ready for a shock–that criticizing his racist remarks is the same thing as persecuting “the black church.” Dang, I’m glad he told me there were blacks-only churches, before I wandered into one and whited up the place with my ofay Mister Yakub wet-dog-smell pheromones. Like Baldy, I thought the term was “Christian,” not “black.” I guess we were bamboozled by tricknology.

Someone should print a T-shirt. “When it’s Wright, it’s wrong.”

Elisson invited me to participate on his blog while he was on vacation, and I went over and looked a few times and found the place so busy I couldn’t find a place to insert my great wit and wisdom. Then I forgot all about it! Now I’m embarrassed to talk to him. So as a pathetic gesture of contrition, let me link to his piece on the food of the future: whale bacon.

Dennis the Peasant has a new co-blogger, and she’s a major babe! But can’t we say the same of all radical feminists?

Uh oh. Gradual Dazzle is competing with Mike Pancier for the title of Spiritual Heir to Ansel Althouse.

That will have to do for now.