Pieces of April

This past weekend I watched Pieces of April who stars Katie Holmes. The movie was an attention getting low budget film that was inspirational. Its plot revolves around Thanksgiving when April, Katie Holmes, wakes up on Thanksgiving being pulled out of bed by her boyfriend Bobby to begin cooking. As the movie develops, one begins to understand that April has always been a troubled child that has been an outcast of her family. Her mother and her have a terrible relationship that was never healthy at any point, while the her father and siblings have little respect for her as well.

April has decided to ask her family to come over for Thanksgiving and celebrate together, however, the whole family has their doubts that she will even cook, as they actually stop to eat fast food before they show up. Her boyfriend, Bobby, has seemed to install some confidence in April as it seems he is a positive influence for her and her future decisions. He helps in the morning with cooking until he has to leave to get some clothes that his buddy has given him. Upon Bobby leaving, April encounters the major problem of the oven not working in her apartment. She is faced with the trouble of trying to find another oven in her apartment that is occupied with many troubled people who are unwilling to help. The cool part of this movie is watching different people and diverse cultures interact with one another to help April cook her turkey.

Finally the turkey is cooked and ready to be served, but her family that showed and was seen by Bobby on the way home, has suddenly left. April is devastated, as she has put her all into making this Thanksgiving dinner which is a representation of the new April. With all the food and no one to eat it but April and Bobby, they invite all the people that helped in cooking the turkey to Aprils apartment to eat. As they begin to serve, Aprils mother knocks on the door and April answers the door. When she answers, they immediately show sympathy for one another and the movie continues with the rest of the family showing up as everyone is joined together.

The overall review of the movie was that it was an attention getting drama that results in a positive ending with April and her mother reuniting and starting a new relationship. Is it a movie that I would recommend to people? Probably not, but I wouldn't say don't watch it. I enjoyed it for a class film and its a great seasonal Thanksgiving movie.

Purchasing decisions

This year I think I have made the decision to finally purchase a reloading kit to reload my own ammo for my rifles.  The reason why I am finally going to make this purchase is because I am sick of spending $70 on a box of 300 RUM ammunition. I really enjoy going to the range and dialing my gun dead on out to 700 yards. However,  price and accuracy consistency is a problem that comes with factory ammunition. Although for most shooters, factory loads are sufficient enough for their needs, not for me, I always want the best performance out of my equipment possible. This gives me the sense that I have done all precautionary measures to have the best performing gear.

Getting into reloading is an investment of ones time and cost. For a basic set that includes the bare essentials  (still not making the most efficient ammo without considerable time involvement) can cost up to $300-$400, this doesn't even include the dies that are required for each specific caliber your reloading for. Although, when all the equipment is available, possibility of developing the most accurate load for your rifle is very possible. Also, when one has all the equipment to reload, he can generally make 25 rounds for a dollar or less a round, depending caliber specific. This year alone I have purchased $280 dollars of ammo for my rifle. This is just one season of early season shooting and hunting. I think that you can see that a reloading can be very cost effective once the equipment is purchased.

With Christmas coming around the corner, I think I will be asking for some reloading accessories to start reloading my self.

This weekend has presented me with ton of homework and studying for my online Marketing Research class which put a stop to me going out of town for hunting this weekend. However, my hunting buddy Jackson (from elk opener blog) was still going to head out and try to punch his tag. I hadn't heard from him through the weekend which most likely meant he hadn't shot anything. He shoots an older model 270 Win. mag., a well put together cartridge for deer and shorter shots on bigger game like elk. He has always managed with what he has, but is really interested in a new rifle with some more power.

Yesterday I woke up to a text in the morning that said, "Im coming home and buying a new rifle", Needless to say I knew what the problem was. He missed and elk or deer after working so hard through the season to close the deal. I later talked to him when he got home about the situation. The deer was at 280 yards, a common distance for hunting in the west, and he straight up missed. Searched for blood and hair and there was nothing. Being not very confident in his gun before and  extremely upset now, lead him to a quick decision that explain the text he sent me.

I was able to install some truth into him after we talk, but it took some convincing that the gun was not the problem. Regardless of the situation Jackson was in, he was quick to make a rational decision when confronted with a this problem.

Now a gun is not a cheap purchase as if it was Im sure he would have bought a new one before the season, so to make such a quick rational decision to buy a new gun is a bold statement. It was interesting to be a bystander through his problem. I was glad that I could help him make a good choice of holding off on the purchase. Not to mention he just shot it this morning at the range and it was way off, thats another topic, but it was interesting how a serious problem can influence the decision of someone regardless of this financial situation.

After reading the book Predictability Irrational and becoming more aware of the price of "Zero", I began to consider some of my decisions that I have made with the price of zero. It was very interesting to listen to Dan discuss the many experiments they conducted. Its rare to come across free items, but when I do, I usually grab until i can't hold anymore. After reading the section, I considered why I would need so much when really I could probably deal with just one. I believe that keeping the door open is wired into us as we make purchases or decisions.

Im very guilty for contemplating when making a purchase so I could also relate really well with keeping the door open. It seems to me that the smallest feature of a product can be the biggest decision of my purchase. Needless to say, I sometime suck to shop with. I feel the need to alway make the most optimal choice regardless of the product, especially hunting gear. However, when I do swipe the card, I usually have full faith that I made the best decision until the next product is released and is one step above it.

One example of this was the purchase of my Mac laptop. I weight my options and was confronted with a free Ipod and printer with the purchase of it. This was a no brainer but a unique example that involved both of these concepts.