Ben is engaged.

I proposed to Grace on Saturday December 3, 2011 at Stow Lake in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.

Thank you our families and friends (especially Tammy, Mark, Jed and Alana) for everything.

Thank you to Damien Butler at Tiffany & Co. San Diego, I wholeheartedly recommend him for all your jewelry needs.

Check it out:

Ben is gunsmithing.

Recently I took on a project with my budget SIG P6.  I wanted to get the slide looking better than the crappy blue finish it came with.  This P6 was purchased very cheap ($299) as a police-trade in so it was rough appearance wise, however the gun shoots sweet.

What I did is remove the bluing by immersing the slide, barrel, take down lever and recoil spring in white vinegar.  The white vinegar quickly removed all the bluing, but left the bare steel with a tarnished finish.  I rubbed off the tarnish with 0000 steel wool and some solvent.  After this I sanded the slide and used some compound to polish it to a shine.

Next is a new set of springs, a new hammer and hopefully some new grips.

Ben is in San Francisco: iPhone pics

Continued from the last blog... Pictures from SF through the lens of my iPhone4

Ben is in San Francisco: 30D pics

Grace and I have a long history with San Francisco, our relationship was forged there and Grace lived there for 5 years.

I hadn't been in the Bay Area since we visited in December, and Grace when she left her position at UCSF in February.  That is way too long for us not to visit.  We decided it was time to travel to the city by the bay during Labor Day weekend, we stayed with the newlyweds Tamara and Mark at their new Pac Heights apartment.

The thing we love to do in SF is enjoy the huge selection of cuisine the city has to offer.

Places we visited  (in order):  Pizza Orgasmica, Cliffhouse (brunch),  "the best Boba place in SF," Osha Thai (Grace, Som and Jeel), O-Toro Sushi (Tammy, Mark and I), Sheba Lounge, Burma Superstar (April joined us), Fresca (Jed joined us)

We did the normal stuff like go to Haight and Union Square to shop, as well as walk down Fillmore and enjoy what it has to offer.

On Saturday Mark and I drove down the peninsula to shoot Mark's weapons at the Los Altos Outdoor Range.  The range is off of the famous Skyline two-lane highway, we were stuck in traffic as a tragic motorcycle accident necessitated the closure of both lanes for about an hour.

The pictures will be split up between the 30D and my iPhone 4.

Ben is stripping.

Field stripping.

My guns that is.

Fun.