Release 6.0: Milpitas, 12 Aug 1999

...and, indeed, VA did reserve the range on the last night of LinuxWorld. We used it all; there were over thirty people there, filling every lane in pairs. Everybody was high on the news from the Red Hat IPO -- from the opening price of $14 it had gone to $72 in the midst of a general downturn in technology stocks.

My bud Doc Searls (the Senior Editor at Linux Journal) made it to this one, and we knocked the rust off shooting skills he hadn't exercised for thirty years. We were mostly shooting a compensated Springfield .45 semi, with a few cylinders out of a Ruger .357 revolver for variety. I remembered once again why I suck with revolvers (my hand doesn't fit the shape of a revolver butt well). The .45, which I'd shot before, was very comfortable but had chronic short-cycling problems (I think it needed a good cleaning). Despite these minor obstacles, a good time was had by all.

Amusingly enough, the outing even came in under budget. Rob Walker told me later that Larry had released $947 for the night (including the range rental and ammunition and targets for everybody) and we ended up with $500 left in the kitty.