Viper's OC log

[gghbi]

As such, my 3rd gen Glock 23 has again become my EDC. A while back, I played chemist with the barrel, using white vinegar to strip the black coating from the metal and give it a more contrasty look. I never intend to sell, trade, or get rid of either of these pistols in any way, so I am free to customize the hell out of them both. After doing some thinking on it, I decided to take the "stripped to the metal" look a step further.

Attachment 101581

At some point in the future, I'll strip it back down again and bathe it one more time, to get whatever remnants of the black coating remain. I found a nice leather holster over at Heritage Guild, and I will be filling the etching along the slide with red acrylic when I get around to it.

I see your Glock had termites attack the grip. Does that make it better, or was it just an experiment.

[ViperGTS19801]

Better for me. I wanted to widen the grip slightly, so I stopped it. It fits my hand perfectly now and feels great.

[ViperGTS19801]

I visited my mom again this weekend for her birthday. Before leaving, I made my usual trip to Wawa at Frankford and Linden, followed by a brief stop at RiteAid for batteries she had requested. As I walked back down Frankford Ave, I had a Philadelphia Police Encounter that stands out in stark contrast to the first three I'd survived with this department.

As I strode along the sidewalk, I heard the tires of an idling car sidle up behind me in the street. The vehicle let out two short toots of the horn, and I heard a female yell something inaudible, like "hey" or maybe "yo." Now, in this part of the city, it's common for someone to pick up a friend or family member to go somewhere, and announce their arrival by curbing the car and honking the horn, so I paid the noises no mind. However, as I continued walking, I heard the vehicle pull away from the sidewalk, drive around another parked car, and pull up next to me, this time making sure to be seen.

It was a PPD paddywagon - basically a stripped Ford E350 with benches installed in the back to transporting "actors." Two officers were in the van, one white male driver, maybe in his early 50's, and what appeared to be a female of black/hispanic mixed background. The latter looked very familiar, and it occurred to me after the fact that she may very well have been one of the officers who was working the same van when I was stuffed into it for 25 minutes years ago, while a gaggle of others tried to figure out what they could charge me with.

The driver was laughing uproariously as the van came to a halt. The female officer called out, "Are you out here causing trouble?" It felt like she stopped just short of saying, "again."

"Me?? Cause trouble? Nooooo..." I said playfully. "The trouble seems to find me."

The male officer's laughter grew. He found something hilarious, not sure what. I stuck my hand out, somewhat deliberately, and introduced myself. They each shook my hand, but neither offered their names in return - I mentally shrugged, figuring that if they weren't courteous enough to offer their names in return during a standard greeting, I wasn't going to prompt twice. I stepped back from the van and told them to have a great day, at which point the male officer waved briefly and the female officer returned the pleasantry. They swung a U-turn in the middle of Frankford Avenue as I continued walking back to drop off the batteries at my lifegiver's place.

The way she had said, "causing trouble," along with the U-turn at the end of the exchange, leads me to believe they weren't just stopping to say hello on their way from A to B, so someone probably called about the crazy man walking around in late November in a USA t-shirt who was carrying a ghost gun.

[normanvin]

Last weekend I was out with a few friends. We were at a restaurant and seared at a round table. At one point a gentleman came up and patted a friend on the shoulder and says excuse me. He goes on to say he hasn't felt this safe in the restaurant in a long time.

He says I see you all are armed and both he and his friend were carrying.

[BF750]

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How you doing buddy... Hope you and Pretty in Pink are well.

[spandexlurch]

I just want to say, thank you Viper. I just read the entire log over the last three days while at work. I often don't OC but reading how you've handled your many situations, makes me confident that I can too. As I was reading through I saw the redacted post, I was wondering did you ever tell that story?

[ViperGTS19801]

You are very welcome, I'm just glad to have been able to make a positive impact.

Speaking of impacts, some asshole broke into my fiance's car in the early morning hours of Wednesday. Five days before Christmas, and they stole her purse, wallet, and all contents.

I know, "who leaves purses in the front seat of cars, duh." I know. So does she, now. She got lazy, and won't be making that mistake again.

In the meantime, more than half our family's credit cards and debit cards are either frozen or cancelled, we're going to have to pay $500 to cover the deductible for damage to the car, and she can't do her part-job of being a rideshare driver to make extra income. They didn't just make it hard for us to pay for stuff, but reduced my family's ability to recover from the theft, as well. Assholes. I was telling my neighbor about this yesterday and he said, "I'm glad they didn't make an attempt on the house, too...you would have killed them."

[STBear]

That sucks. Never a good time for something like this but worse this time of the year.

[Daycrawler]

Things could always be worse. They could have stolen the whole car.

[Royinmontco]

Things could always be worse. They could have stolen the whole car.

thats not worse for some people....