SLG Mini Course

[GearScout]

SLG, ToddG, and all the SME and crew that helped out-

Thanks so much for sharing your time and knowledge. Today was an incredible opportunity to learn a ton in such a short time. Having a coach per two shooters was just awesome and something that speaks to the wonderful community Todd has built.

It was also great to meet some of the personalities on the board.

Now I'm off to practice my dry-fire press-outs!

[Dropkick]

I agree, thank you everyone! x10
Once I recover from this awesome sunburn, I'll post back.

[Argus]

This was a great experience. The class was run in a very efficient, safe and professional manner, and SLG managed to get a large amount of information into a very short timeframe. The skills we worked on were covered quite well, and having one-on-one coaching available throughout the class was a huge benefit. I learned a lot and got some great pointers on things that I can work on to improve my shooting.

Thanks to SLG, ToddG and the staff of pistol-forum.com for this opportunity. It was well worth the little bit of grief I got for being out of town on Mothers Day :)

It was good to meet the other forum members, and I am definitely looking forward to doing more training!

[fuse]

my face has been rocked off by how awesome this class was.

many, many, many, thanks.

[MDS]

Echo echo echo the above. Great weather, beautiful NoVa countryside, a good group of dudes (and a dudette, who BTW shot really well,) and a chance to meet the folks behind PTF. What's not to love? The teacher-to-student ratio was 1:2, and the coaches weren't random locals - SLG's generosity is catching, I guess, and all the PTF staff were there to help.

(Well, all the PTF staff that matter - Jay didn't make it. But he was well-represented: there were two PTC hats and two HPG hats, but three LSHD hats. Jay's marketing blitz is working, and maybe his absence was just a way to enhance his mystique... It doesn't hurt that a couple of free LSHD classes were given away. ;))

Anyway, as fun as all of the above was, the real treasure was the contents of the class itself. We started with a short lecture, and then SLG made sure we could hit the broad side of a barn. Then we covered the sort of fundamentals that will apply to shooting quickly, as well as accurately. For myself, I got some seriously good coaching about my stance and grip. I think everyone learned a lot about resetting the trigger, and working with the almighty press-out. And the abbreviated walk back drill at the end was fun, challenging, and gave everyone a taste of what it's like to be dismissed by Todd. (Well, everyone except the Marine that won...)

There was a whole lot of stuff covered in a short time, but oddly enough, the concepts were very "sticky" mentally, at least for me. The way SLG broke down the fundamentals, and put them together one on top of the other, made it easy to remember for later - and also easy to self-diagnose when we take this stuff home to practice it. I shot 310 rounds, and I used about 4 15-round magazines on top of what SLG was budgeting for each drill - so the budgeted round count was right around the announced minimum round count of 250.

So, yeah. Thanks a bazillion to SLG, for taking time out of a busy schedule to spread the knowledge, and for the actual work that keeps him so busy. Also thanks to Todd and the rest of the PTF staff for helping out - this class might have had the best AI lineup of all time. And thanks to Jay for sweet hats and the generous training prizes. I had a blast, I learned a lot, and I'm a whole lot more confident in taking more training in the very near future. Thanks, gentlemen!

[Jay Cunningham]

Sounds awesome - I really wish I could have been there!

[zml342]

All I can do is reiterate what has already been said. This class was awesome! Thank you so much SLG for taking the time to teach us. The building blocks of each drill presented greatly helped to conceptualize and execute the fundamentals of shooting.

And thank you to all of the PTF staff who were also willing to take the time to help out. It was amazing how much I was able to learn in just 4 hours of instruction!

As an aside -- Thanks to the invisible Jay for his support from a far!

[JV_]

Pics will come ... I spent about half the time taking a bunch.

[Matt O]

I just wanted to echo the thanks to SLG, Todd and all the pistol-forum staff for giving us less experienced shooters an invaluable training opportunity. (And thanks for the hat Jay!)

[ToddG]

Huge thanks to SLG for teaching the class. He gave up the weekend in between two grueling weeks of training. Most people would have spent the time recovering, he spent it prepping for and teaching a class.

Thanks to SeanM for all the things he did behind the scenes, for helping out in the class, and for risking the mental health of his better half by subjecting her to our rowdy group. Also, major kudos for resisting the urge to kill yourself when every three minutes someone was asking you, "Dude, tell me what really happened with bin Laden!"

Also, thank you to all of the PTC Staff for sacrificing Mother's Day to help out. Tom Jones flew all the way from New Mexico to be there. There has never been so much quality hands on one-to-one instruction on a firing line before.

To the students, it was fantastic to see old friends and meet new ones. I know I speak for all the SMEs and Staff in attendance, you did a great job. It's humbling to think the pistol-forum.com community has grown so fast with people like you at its core.

Congratulations to vmi-mo for winning the First Annual pistol-forum.com Walkback Drill!

And finally, to the drunk blonde who couldn't stop running her fingers through TCinVA's hair at the bar Saturday night, my most sincere and heartfelt thank you for what will become one of the most awesome forum memes in the history of the Internet.
53

[Dropkick]

This was without a doubt one of those training opportunities of a life-time. Because of all the support from the pistol-forum.com Staff and S.M.E.s everyone there got one on one shooting instruction from a few different people. The class was split in half allowing one string of students to be on the firing line, while the other string was reloading and rehydrating. This kept the day moving forward at a brisk pace because of limited time we had, but no one was left behind.

SLG's instruction was top-notch. He took the process of firing two shots in rapid succession and broke it down into the fine details, and provided drills for each component of the process. Drills you can take back and use during personal practice to perfect the techniques demonstrated. He took the time to immediately answer any questions that came up, and went up and down the line for each drill making sure everyone was okay.

Some of the topics discussed were:
Stance, Grip, Sights, Trigger Control (Prep, Press, Reprep), Recoil management, Presentation, Reloads, Draws

SLG's parting advice was: Practice, practice, practice & trigger time is trigger time (no matter the gun.)

[TCinVA]

It was good to meet all of you and to have the opportunity to offer some level of assistance. As always, it was a spectacular treat to be on the range with people like SLG and SeanM.

Hopefully in the class you were able to get a good read on the people behind PF.com, what motivates them, and what we hope this forum will be about. ;) I'd wager that most of you had no idea you could accomplish so much in such a short period of time. Good instructors are a shortcut to success.

I have to commend the students at this course for being safe, teachable, and eager to learn as much as possible. A lot of information was fired at you very quickly, but as far as I could see you all seemed to absorb it well and showed marked improvement by day's end. It was a pleasure to work with you!

[ToddG]

and what we hope this forum will be about. ;)

Silky smooth luxurious hair...

[TCinVA]

Silky smooth luxurious hair...

Don't hate the player...hate the game.

Listen to the hot dog... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIdjeUPjc5o&feature=related)

[JV_]

ATTN: Students

I'm in the process of weeding out the pictures. I talked to a few of you at the class and only one person mentioned they don't care for pics - actually they said they didn't like candid shots (for him - I'll error on the side of caution and remove all of them for him). I know I didn't make it to everyone. If you don't want the picture posted, I will be happy to trash them, please send me a PM.

Most of the pics are NOT candids, but of the students shooting. Most are over the right shoulder so I caught the back and sides. Less than 5 (of 67 not culled) show enough of a (student's) face to make someone out, the vast majority are partials.

Some of the action shots came out pretty good. I got a few where the slide was recoiling, the brass was in the air, and the steel plate was falling.

[JulieG]

Love all the wonderful comments and to hear it went so well. SLG definitely has great skills ;) and I know he really enjoyed the time with everyone.

[vmi-mo]

A big thanks to SLG for volunteering to do this. It was a great afternoon of pistol shooting. I needed to brush up on the fundamentals and also, different ways of saying/doing things click with people at different times. So I had several specific take aways dealing with press out and reset.

Todd and the other staff, thanks for doing what you guys do, the way you do it.

TCinVa, I wish I had your hair. And for those who dont know, This man has an amazing ability to be a one on one coach. If you get the chance to be coached by this guy, take it.

SeanM. All I can say is thank you for what you have done. I look forward to sending some good news soon.

Fellow students. It was good to meet some locals and make some connections with faces/names. I look forward to shooting more with you guys.


PJ

[JV_]

I'm waiting on approval from a number of the Staff/SME folks on some pictures, so I can't post them all, but here is a small bundle of them: I like the half fallen steel plate!

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-nNpHJ74/0/L/i-nNpHJ74-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-Bn7JmH7/0/L/i-Bn7JmH7-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-K7sXSLG/0/L/i-K7sXSLG-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-fC6sNVm/0/L/i-fC6sNVm-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-DzmDVSL/0/L/i-DzmDVSL-L.jpg

[scothill]

Everytime I have heard this class menitioned I have heard Napolean Dynamite in my head "Lucky".

Good to hear it went well.

[Dropkick]

TCinVA, now that you've shown us your secrets to pistol shooting, how about letting us know what products you use to get such "silky smooth luxurious hair..." ;)

[JV_]

what products you use to get such "silky smooth luxurious hair..." ;)That's easy, alcohol.

[Dropkick]

That's easy, alcohol.

At first I was like "TC doesn't drink," but then I was like "LOL!"

[TCinVA]

TCinVA, now that you've shown us your secrets to pistol shooting, how about letting us know what products you use to get such "silky smooth luxurious hair..." ;)

Hotel shampoo and raw genetic awesomeness.

[JV_]

Next Batch:

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-rhNM4LQ/0/L/i-rhNM4LQ-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-S72B7cX/0/L/i-S72B7cX-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-4NwpvrR/0/L/i-4NwpvrR-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-GxgqJDs/0/L/i-GxgqJDs-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-7SWXdpC/0/L/i-7SWXdpC-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-T7gvTPw/0/L/i-T7gvTPw-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-rncVxcB/0/L/i-rncVxcB-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-XpVQ9qc/0/L/i-XpVQ9qc-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-SjHd6jp/0/L/i-SjHd6jp-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-jZHPsXD/0/L/i-jZHPsXD-L.jpg

[JV_]

This is the remainder:

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-P5fzL2T/0/L/i-P5fzL2T-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-GCvzDHS/0/L/i-GCvzDHS-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-wf2x5mw/0/L/i-wf2x5mw-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-56qcJWS/0/L/i-56qcJWS-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-WgszTMB/0/L/i-WgszTMB-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-fs5SzrJ/0/L/i-fs5SzrJ-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-qJRG5Cr/0/L/i-qJRG5Cr-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-zsn9mDW/0/L/i-zsn9mDW-L.jpg

[JV_]

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-ZmFj7pR/0/L/i-ZmFj7pR-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-9wfcTTT/0/L/i-9wfcTTT-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-zXkXhh7/0/L/i-zXkXhh7-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-bvq6WNc/0/L/i-bvq6WNc-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-T2qrX45/0/L/i-T2qrX45-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-wJd4d5r/0/L/i-wJd4d5r-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-B5QGQdQ/0/L/i-B5QGQdQ-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-nVKGSSw/0/L/i-nVKGSSw-L.jpg

[JV_]

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-gCDj8jN/0/L/i-gCDj8jN-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-9wFPBJR/0/L/i-9wFPBJR-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-qvnm9rb/0/L/i-qvnm9rb-L.jpg

[JV_]

I think the last pic is my favorite.

[Argus]

Great pictures JV. Thanks for posting (and taking) them!

[JV_]

Great pictures JV. Thanks for posting (and taking) them!Thanks, I had a great time doing it. I'm not used to taking pics of anything but my family, so it was a nice change.

[fuse]

Great pictures JV. Thanks for posting (and taking) them!

x100.

Really great stuff man.

[JConn]

I just wanted to echo what everyone else is saying. Thank you to SLG, Todd and all of the staff that helped to make the class an incredibly valuable learning experience. These guys are not only great shooters and great teachers but really great people as well. This made the class both educational and a ton of fun. Also again excellent pictures JV, your camera puts my t2i to shame:D

[Dropkick]

I had brought my camera too, but it was really nice to have a dedicated photographer. Great work JV.

[fuse]

JV can I get high res versions of the 4 pics of me?

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-P5fzL2T/0/L/i-P5fzL2T-L.jpg
http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-qJRG5Cr/0/L/i-qJRG5Cr-L.jpg
http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-T2qrX45/0/L/i-T2qrX45-L.jpg
http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-B5QGQdQ/0/L/i-B5QGQdQ-L.jpg

[Slavex]

thanks guys, thanks for yet again showing me why I sometimes hate living up here on the west coast.

[Frank B]

thanks guys, thanks for yet again showing me why I sometimes hate living up here on the west coast.

It seems, we are sitting in the same boat.

[MDS]

I think the last pic is my favorite.

I agree, it really pops. Good shooting!

[JV_]

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-QkT69mS/0/L/i-QkT69mS-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-F8s8Jbp/0/L/i-F8s8Jbp-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-jwzSVb4/0/L/i-jwzSVb4-L.jpg

[ffhounddog]

Wish I had made it. I had a friend come in from overseas and he is heading back today. Maybe next time. I need pistol shooting training.

ffh

[vaspence]

Huge thanks to everyone who participated in this. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and picked up some great info to apply to the shooting plan/put in the toolbox. Thanks to SLG for taking time to do this and for a guy who should have been tired he seemed to appear at multiple places on the line simultaneously. Very clear direction and explanation was given for all steps. A big thanks to the three guys I worked with in addition to SLG. Tom Jones for calmly keeping me on track while getting comfortable with the P30 DA/SA. This was my first real outing with the pistol and a great way to do it. Josh had great tips for appendix draw/carry and Todd was his normal self although we are getting closer to making me 5'2" while in a shooting stance.:D

I'd have to say that the coolest thing to me was the way it seemed that everyone got the tips/info they needed regardless of skill/experience level. With very experienced staff/SME's and a 1:1 ratio (there were 2 relays) it was a well spent 4 hours.

It was also cool to get to see the gadget in person. I was offered one to demo but as I was determined to get some quality time with the P30 I stuck with the plan. We did get the history behind the name "gadget" at supper after the class when PJ asked why it had such lame name. This led to a physics discussion or lesson or combination of both by Tom Jones that wove its way to how the name was coined. I do believe PJ found all of this satisfactory and is cool with the name now.

Big thanks to Todd for buying everyone supper! Again a big thanks to SLG for his time and for everyone who helped in putting this on, I had a great time, learned a lot and hope to shoot with everyone again soon.

[evanhill]

Looks like SLG maintained his grey man status with one out of focus background shot. You'd think a guy with camera crews coming to his house would be a little bit more into getting his picture taken.

[JV_]

You'd think a guy with camera crews coming to his house would be a little bit more into getting his picture taken.I was in his face, many times, taking his picture.

It's just that every single one came out blurry or was unusable in some other way :)

[LittleLebowski]

What impressed me aside from SLG's excellent instruction, was how squared away the students were. No problematic hobby pistols, no weaver stances, and spare mag carriers and good holsters were in abundance. Proper Isosceles stances were the rule of the day - no exceptions. The students I worked with needed only fine tuning. All in all, I believe these facts speak very highly about the makeup of this forum. We are shooters, not simply owners. Everyone there was truly there to learn.

With regards to SLG's instruction, I will bet money that there are many that have paid for instruction that did not rival the quality of SLG's. I've had the privilege of learning from a few distinguished folks (ToddG, Larry Vickers, Kyle Defoor), and I was making mental notes while Simon spoke and instructed.

[jar]

What impressed me aside from SLG's excellent instruction, was how squared away the students were. No problematic hobby pistols, no weaver stances, and spare mag carriers and good holsters were in abundance. Proper Isosceles stances were the rule of the day - no exceptions. The students I worked with needed only fine tuning. All in all, I believe these facts speak very highly about the makeup of this forum. We are shooters, not simply owners. Everyone there was truly there to learn.
+1. It was refreshing to look at a barrage of photos of people shooting and not groan at anyone's technique.

[vaspence]

With regards to SLG's instruction, I will bet money that there are many that have paid for instruction that did not rival the quality of SLG's. I've had the privilege of learning from a few distinguished folks (ToddG, Larry Vickers, Kyle Defoor), and I was making mental notes while Simon spoke and instructed.

I hear you on this. I literally sat in the truck debriefing myself and writing down the mental notes prior to supper that evening. Good stuff and explained in an easy to understand way.

[Dropkick]

I hear you on this. I literally sat in the truck debriefing myself and writing down the mental notes prior to supper that evening. Good stuff and explained in an easy to understand way.

I was taking notes on my pad the entire time, and I felt like I couldn't write the "good stuff" down quick enough.

[Odin Bravo One]

Hard to say anything new that has not already been discussed, but I will exercise my right to regurgitate the same ideas and pass them off as my own thoughts.

SLG initiated the course description as a "Basic Course", but I would argue that it was probably one of the highest speed, lowest drag courses I have ever attended. One may ask why that is..........because it focused on the fundamentals. HSLD is nothing more than the basics executed on demand, in high speed/low drag environments and/or situations. The true HSLD shooters are the ones that can keep their cool and execute those basic fundamentals when everything has gone to shit. SLG covered the basics in detail, with plenty of drills to reinforce those basics.

I only worked with a couple of students, and has been mentioned, the students at this class were shooters, not merely gun owners. I could care less if someone wants to shoot Weaver, or upside down, or a $7,000 race gun, or a Glock. As long as they are safe, I am of the opinion that the job of an instructor is to teach. The majority of my shooting instructors and mentors teach what has worked for them, as well as different techniques that have worked well for others. But ultimately it is on the student to decide what works for them.

Certainly many of the students who turned out for SLG's course had developed their own "style" of shooting, and as an instructor, the idea should be to identify area's that need improvement, and give the students the technique(s) that can help improve in those area's, as well as explain the why of his/her particular technique. Things like grip, stance, body position, trigger manipulation, etc. are all basic fundamentals that can be done several different ways, with varying degrees of effectiveness. SLG was very in tune with this concept, and worked with each shooter to continue to use their "style" of shooting, and tweak their technique so they gained a noticeable benefit to the change. Not just running out there and changing a student's technique to do it his way for the sake of doing it his way.

The material was fast paced, as there were some time constraints. But the drills performed did an outstanding job of reinforcing the concepts being taught. Each drill built on the one before, and by doing so, gave each student more and more repetitions of the previous drill, but adding the next element until it was being put together piece by piece into a full technique, or techniques. One of my favorite drills to use for Intermediate and Advanced level shooters is the "Now Drill", and I think the students at this course received it well and were able to apply the concept as well as increased their understanding of "Acceptable".

The big take aways for me, which are very much lessons re-learned, or re-validated were:

1) Acceptable is just that. Good enough really can be good enough, especially as it pertains to sight alignment/sight picture.
2) There is no such thing as TOO basic.
3) An open mind is the key to adult learning.
4) Practice is critical in order to improve.
5) Training is necessary in order to know how and what to practice.

SLG hit a few key points regarding mindset that are worth repeating as well. Doing every motion during every aspect of firearms handling, practice, or training properly will make you a better shooter and pistol handler in every single way, as well as train your body and mind to do it right until the right way becomes ingrained into the subconscious. Every draw stroke, every load/reload, every manipulation, malfunction clearance, etc. should be done the way we want to do it if the situation ever arises we need to be able to perform on demand. An administrative load should never be "administrative". The pistol should be drawn from the holster, just as it would be in a dire emergency....certainly it does not have to be done at "I just pissed my pants" speed, but the proper techniques should be applied. The pistol should be brought into the shooters workspace, magazine grasped as it should be, inserted as it should be, action cycled as it should be, shooter maintaining situational awareness, ad naseum. this gives continued reinforcement of the proper technique, and helps to prevent a "Range" mentality that will get you smoke checked in the real world. Having a proper mindset, and using every opportunity to get a good repetition is was addressed repeatedly, and something I encourage all of the students to practice each and everytime they handle their particular system.

I'd like to say thanks to SLG for taking the time out of his schedule to provide this opportunity to the forum members, as well as freely donating his lessons learned, and expertise. I look forward to the next opportunity to shoot and train with you.

Thanks to the forum members who all showed up ready and eager to train, and exhibited solid pistol handling skills, without any safety issues whatsoever. The positive attitudes and lack of ego's made for a very pleasant experience for everyone.

Thanks to TC for the lending of the P30..........saved me about $500, as the shooter borrowing it discovered it was probably not the right pistol for purchase and decided on an M&P instead. Also thanks for the mentorship of a relatively new shooter who was more than a little intimadated by the surroundings, and students who were more experienced. And for keeping me from having to do it.......

Thanks to Todd for his continued instruction, words of wisdom, thoughts out loud, points to ponder, non-contructive criticism, heckling, constructive criticism, and just plain fun to hang out and shoot with. I need to get up there more often to shoot with you. And I need to get you down to shoot with us.

Thanks to JV who took a generous amount of photo's to document the event, and wielded his pistol as well as he wields his camera. Someday I may need to upgrade from my cardboard disposable camera's and actually learn how to take a picture. Great pics JV. Thanks for sharing.

And finally thanks to my special lady friend who graciously allowed me to go out and play pistol student on my one day off this month.

It was a great day, and I look forward to the next time I can be a part of something like this.

[ubervic]

Few things:

1. Wow.
2. Too bad that I couldn't make this outstanding training experience, meet all the great folks and measurably improve/refine my pistol skills.
3. I would very willingly pay to attend & benefit from such a training experience if it were to become available in the future.

[MDS]

I will exercise my right to regurgitate the same ideas and pass them off as my own thoughts.

You know what they say: good men borrow other people's ideas - great men steal them outright.

I want to thank you personally for your coaching during the class. I've been practicing the "heads up" stance you showed me, and it's so much better than my old "shoe-gazing" stance. I still tend to lower my head when I'm not thinking about it, but that seems like something that can be fixed with a bunch of dry-fire while balancing a book on my head...

[Odin Bravo One]

Don't forget to add a little bend to the knees..........

[SLG]

Sorry it's taken me so long to get to this, I just got home from VA last night. Thanks to all for the kind words, I had a great time at the class, and am deeply gratified to hear that others did as well.

As I mentioned before, this class would not have come off, and certainly not been as good, without the excellent help I had from the P-F.com staff and SME's. Todd, Sean(who has a MUCH busier schedule than I do), TC, LL, Josh, JV, GS and Tom (all the way from NM!) were absolutely invaluable in making the class a good learning experience for the students. Any real learning that occurred was due to them.

The students, as already mentioned, not only came ready and able to learn(on Mother's day no less), but with gear that would allow that to happen. This is not a small point, and should be a clue for other groups.

I learned many things from the students as well. Some were logistical, some were pedagogical (probably not a word, and I still don't know what it means anyway), but one of the most memorable things I learned was that shooting is just like playing a musical instrument:-) Along those lines, it was reinforced to me that issues in the world of shooting are basically the same as issues in every other human endeavor. The more you can draw on knowledge and skills from one area, the faster you'll pick up another. The Japanese figured that out a long time ago, but it bears repeating.

Again, thanks to all, and I really look forward to seeing you all on the range in the future.

[John Ralston]

Well, I am jealous too...can't wait for the NE Washington Mini Course...HINT, HINT!!!

[jslaker]

As somebody that's just been watching this thread thus far, I just want to say major kudos to everyone involved with this. It's clear that this was a great learning experience for the people that were able to go, and I hope that those of you that were able to give some time to help on the instruction side don't underestimate the real, positive impact this kind of thing can have on people.

Personally, I'm thrilled when I can get useful advice on a forum from those kind enough to share; this was the extra mile and then some.