Ok I just wanted to get things squared away a bit and see what was going on with the site.

I've been going through emails today and trying to handle as many issues, questions, and comments as I can! Here's a quick summary of what happened and where things sit!

1) Shot show was a great ride! We met a number of guys from the site as well as from the industry. I want to give mad shouts to all the guys we met up there, from 1GunRunner to Jojo, every one of them (ok maybe not Tim and Shawn -- EVIL BASTADGES!!! [=D]) were great guys and a lot of fun to meet and hang out with. We definitely need to up the number of events we do!!! I will try to plan a few extra events this year such as another AR15.Com Shoot (TBRS???) and perhaps a first for our crew, an annual HUNTING PARTY. [=D]

2) Site did not crash, the power went out in western NY for a few hours and the backups failed. (All but one!) This caused the site to be offline until we got someone in there to manually boot the machines!!!

3) Speed has been horrible due to the ISPs router being off it's rocker. There is a large amount of packet loss as well as spiking and we hope they resolve it soon. We're looking at new ISPs again as last year was horrible when we were led astray for 6 months hoping to get service from a company which had it's head up another region of it's body. We'll keep everyone posted as progress is made in this area.

4) Mail services from the site were down for a few days it seems so mail is backed up and being sent out. This means that those whom I have helped manually to change their passwords should get emails soon and can discard them. Those who have been waiting on them will finally be all set. (The problem stems from the ISPs main DNS server crashing and not being online still...)

5) Current scheduled work!!! I've got a few things which are in the works including the new EE which I got back into working with and still shooting from the end of Feb, although March looks more realistic. I'm also in the process of rebuilding a brand new Advertising Engine (corporate level engine... very big, strong, and flexible!). Finally, a new WebStore (fully integrated), is being completed. This all goes hand in hand with normal fixes and additions common to the site. (I will also throw a small mention of the archive server which also is getting worked on as we speak. A new archive engine design is in place and work is finally beginning.)

6) Hardware issues. New hardware is in house and being prepared for setup in the closet or new ISP. (whichever comes first!) A pair of new gigahertz systems, new drives, and so forth will go into play shortly!!! (Dedicated services for picture sharing, advertising, archives, and so forth are coming!!!)

I apologize for the downtime, the problems, and am working very hard to get things back to normal and make it doesn't happen again!!!

Pictures and stories from the shot show will be coming in the next day or so as I get through all the issues and emails which piled up! Edward took all of the pictures, so you wont see any of my pathetic attempts at photography, but we'll all need to wait on him for the pics!!!

Two words for ya...

Texas Shoot

]=)

Maybe we can get that old bastard DonR interested in throwing together another TBRS down there and taking the party back to the range!

The view from my new office is great GoatBoy, thanks for the promotion! Now if I could only get a reserved parking space like Don_R has I'd be big time.

Yeah I was FUBAR Saturday and Sunday. I missed the two things I really wanted to do, Party and FrontSight... I kick myself for missing it, but such is life.

I got the flu before I flew out and I was a mess on the plane. First two nights in vegas I took it easy and was in bed by 9pm. I then hit the casinos as I felt better, and I think the combination of smoke, flu, and exhaustion (up to 2-4am gambling!) knocked me on my arse!!!

Monday was pretty tough as well, but I managed to get out for the day although I didnt gamble when I got home. (Went straight to bed!)