Day 27 & 28: Dallas, TX - Shootout at the O.K. Corral

Day 27 & 28: June 26th and 27th, Dallas, TX. On these two days, I would have the opportunity to reconnect with a good friend and former classmate at RPI. We were roommates from 1986-1988 and hadn't seen each other in over a decade. Scott Lowden is originally from North Carolina and we use to refer to him as Rapper, not because he was into rap music, but because he loved to rap or just talk about anything and everything. The nickname rings true to this day, and I always enjoy hearing what Scott has to say. When at RPI, he was in the Navy's ROTC program, and went into active service immediately after graduation. He told me that few are given orders so soon, but he ended up being called to his ship days after receiving his diploma and began his Navy career. After serving in the Navy, he found his calling in computers and has worked for SAP, a large software company based in Germany that develops corporate business solutions for Fortune 500 companies. This company was founded in Mannheim, Germany by five former IBM employees back in 1972. Today, they are the third largest independent software vendor with over 12 million users. Scott has moved up the ranks and is now in charge of government sales, meaning that he ends up flying to Washington, DC often.

I spent the 26th visiting Scott at his home in Flower Mound, TX. The moment I asked Scott how the city got its name, we just happened to be driving by the actual flower mound. Scott described its origins, and Wikipedia explains it as follows: "The town derives its name from the prominent 12.5-acre mound located in the southern portion of the town which is covered by wild flowers. The most widely accepted explanation for the mound is that it was a sacred ceremonial ground of Wichita Indians in the early 1800s. Though surrounded by commercial and residential development, the mound is privately owned so as to be protected from further development."

I met Scott's lovely wife Carol and their two children Hope and Emily. The kids arrived back from the pool with a friend and I proceeded to dazzle them with magic tricks. It turned out that they had some magic tricks of their own to show me! Since they were fellow magicians, I shared some of my secrets. Scott and I then went out to pick up some takeout. That's right, you guessed it: Tex/Mex! Here, Scott and I enjoyed a beverage at the bar while we waited for our order.

On the 27th, Scott had scheduled some time at the DFW Gun range in Dallas. He is an avid shooter, something I remember from college. An amusing story I recall from that period is when Scott purchased a shotgun and decided to saw off part of the barrel. It was sawed just above the legal length, but it was a rough cut. I actually kept the portion he sawed off as a souvenir and still have it to this day. When Scott opened his gun safe to show me his arsenal, there was the shotgun. He had a variety of guns, but the most striking were two guns that would be illegal in New York: a fully automatic Mac 10 machine gun and a .223 machine gun. The federal ban on fully automatic weapons had been lifted, but not in New York state. Scott is very well versed in the law and obtained all of the appropriate permits and certificates needed to possess such weapons. Of note was the $200 federal stamp that must appear on the documentation. It looks like a postage stamp, but is federally issued for this purpose. The history of the $200 goes all the way back to the days of the Tommy gun. In order to make it more difficult to obtain these guns, the Federal government imposed this $200 tax, which was very expensive at the time. They have never raised the fee.

We spent the afternoon target shooting both with the fully automatic guns and several handguns that Scott brought along. My favorite handgun was his Beretta. Not having shot in quite some time, I was actually very pleased my accuracy at 10 and 15 yards. I had some very good groupings. I had a good instructor back in New York who taught my the sight picture, body posture, breathing, and how to pull the trigger. He said that pulling the trigger should not be a jerky motion but very smooth. The actual firing of the gun should almost be a surprise. I was shooting the handguns with just one hand and naturally there will be a little motion or swaying, but if you wait and fire at that moment when the site picture is correct, you can shoot very accurately. We had a lot fun at the gun range and Scott enjoyed our time together because he doesn't often find the time to go shooting.

Here are some Quicktime movies of Scott and I shooting the fully automatic Mac 10:
Scott movie
Joel movie


Upon returning to the car, I was reminded that I was in the south, where I had experienced 100 degree temperatures since Miami. The digital thermometer in his car read 105 degrees! Northerners like me are just not used to this oppressive heat. I was counting the days when I would begin my journey northbound towards cooler weather.

It was truly great to see Scott. As is the case with many of the people I am visiting on this trip, it had been many years since we had last seen each other, so there was much catching up to do. You learn about all the new things in each other's lives, but realize that deep down we are the same people we were 20 years ago. Reconnecting, it is almost as if that time never passed. You end up just picking up where you left off, and that's what I am enjoying most about this trip. By reconnecting with an old friend like Scott, I've bridged the gap of a decade of silence and reinvigorated a friendship, something I place a very high value on.

About 7 years ago, I suffered from some serious health problems. While not a physical ailment, I suffered from a debilitating anxiety condition which some would refer to as a "nervous breakdown". I couldn't work or drive at the time and it felt like I would never get better. At that moment in my life, I truly had an epiphany. I realized that my priorities were misaligned and that this was what had led me to my nadir. In an instant, I set out my new priorities: #1 - Health, #2 - Friends and Family, #3 - Everything else. I am not defined by my career or how much money I make. My happiness is derived through the relationships I maintain with my amazing network of friends and family. I treasure my connection to them, and herein lies the purpose of this trip, to rekindle old friendships and strengthen those that have been ongoing. None of this is possible with priority #1 which is my own health. Having lost that for a while, I can safely say that without that, none of the other priorities are possible and true happiness is more difficult to accomplish. It amazes me how many have not discovered these three simple priorities and end up chasing the dollar instead, sacrificing the more important aspects of life - health and relationships.