Yes, all, I'm still around.
Many things have happened and changed since I started that thread. Before I go into them, I'll also state that I'm also surprised for the 99.999999999% positive response I got. the .000000001% guff was a PM from someone called Model of 1905 that apparently won't receive PMs back. Oh well, no harm done.
The past seven years have been interesting in the whole gun-hobby area. I went shooting, obviously. I went again. I bought a Ruger 10/22 from a friend who never used it anymore, and began trying to hit targets, rather than blast away at old appliances and soda cans like the first couple of times. I got good enough that I could hit a baseball-sized target at 50 yards, and "promoted" myself to an SKS back when Yugoslavian ones were $150 and ammo was $3/20.
As time went by and things changed I ended up selling off both of them --hard times, and rent needed paying. A close call with a neighbor's place almost being burglarized pushed me to buy an Argentinian 1911, but I never shot it much since it kept tearing the skin near the base of my thumb up. Sat mostly on the bedside table for a couple of years.
Then, around Thanksgiving of 2008, in two separate instances, my fiancee and my brother had close calls with.. bad people. Neither were armed, but fortunately neither were the other people. My brother and I then decided it might be best if we got carry permits, much to the chagrin of my fiancee. We both did, and I traded the 1911 for a CZ P01. Ammo is less expensive, but it holds more, and it's a lot more comfortable to shoot. I carry now whenever I can, isn't often though because I work at an airport.
Anyway, I've been dropping by and just reading more than anything else, not feeling much need to log in. A friend I have on another forum brought this thread to my attention, so I thought "what the hell."
Best wishes.
PS danprkr, I didn't receive your PM, if you sent one.