The Wild World of TB!

One of the most difficult things about PaintClub 21 in May was deciding how we'd top it for 2010.

That decision has been made.

The 3 unfortunate, inglorious, politically incorrect bastards who brought you PaintClub 21 are back, bringing the uncapped, unrestrained and unclothed fun back to Low Country Paintball February 20th-21st, 2010.

School was in session in May, and we learned our lessons. One of the things we learned was that it's much easier to heat a tent in South Georgia than it is to air condition it, hence the reason that the 2010 event will be held in February.

Now, before everyone goes and starts overreacting like they did last year, indulge me for a moment while I say some things up front that will hopefully lay to rest any fears and prevent any moral compasses from going into a proper tizzy:

You have to be APPROVED AND VETTED be accepted to PaintClub 21. Later Press Releases for the 2010 event will explain the process.

There will be NO ALCOHOL on the field, AT ALL! At this year's game, if you drank, you were done on field. The same will apply this year, obviously.

There will be NO NUDITY ON FIELD! However, there will be plenty of nudity in the main tent and in the Ding-Dong tent AFTER Executive Chef Bill Bain serves dinner AFTER everyone's done playing for the day.

Now that we have that out of the way, stay tuned to selected, worthy websites and publications like The Ford Report, PBJunkie.Com, and Shooting Hot Magazine for more information on this one-of-a-kind event that can only be described with one word:

Epic.

Stay tuned to www.paintclub21.com to register once we're ready to start taking registrations.

The cardiologists released Ken on Thursday after a night of observation. Still don't know what caused the Atrial Fibulation, but maybe recent developments will shed some light on it.

What recent developments?

Ken was readmitted to the hospital today. Initial thoughts were that he had an abcess in/on one of his previous surgical incisions. Yes and No.

Ken just got out of surgery. To repair a fecal fistula. He hadn't been back in his room five minutes when I called and talked to him.

I won't go into the details, but a fistula is a permanent abnormal passageway between two organs in the body or between an organ and the exterior of the body.

More info here: http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/fistula

He might get discharged as early as tomorrow, but could be at late as Monday. Will be going home with a continuous wound suction pump...which is awesome, as they 'supercharge' healing and decrease healing times!

He's resting comfortably at present. Keep him in your prayers.

Something that you just couldn't shake? Had a feeling in your gut (or your heart) that someone, someone important to you was in trouble?

I had that feeling today. I had it about my very good friend Ken 'Ninja' Prejean.

Now, I've been getting some LSU text messages from him (even though Florida and Tebow did beat our beloved Tigers on a Saturday night in Death Valley) and some bulk political humor mail that he sends out to just about everyone in his email addy book, but I'd not talked to him in a few weeks.

Which is strange for Ken and I.

But, I've been busy with work and helping my daughter plan her upcoming wedding and Ken has been busy healing and geting back into the swing of his own life. Last time we did talk, he was feeling good, back at work and looking foward to playing some paintball in November. I'd been reading his posts on Viper's forums, so I knew he was doing pretty good anyway.

So why couldn't I get him off my mind?

I decided I'd send him a text (as I was right in the middle of working on some stained glass)...a simple one that said, "Haven't heard from you in a while..how are things going?"

His answer blew me away.

"In hospital now. Passed out today at work. Heart rate 170. In Atrial Fib. Better now, but waiting on the cardiologist."

They're going to admit him overnight for observation, since they're not sure what is causing it yet. He started his latest round of chemo on Monday, so that could be the culprit. He's not happy they're admitting him, but I told him to let them check him out (like his wife was gonna let him go home...lol).

Like I said in earlier posts about him: He's been diagnosed with cancer, had two surgeries, one that put in him ICU for nearly a week. He'd lost weight with his first round of chemo, and will have go through it all over with his post-op chemo. He has thousand of dollars in medical bills looming over his head, with no health insurance and no short term disability at work.

Keep Ninja in your prayers and please send all the healing/good vibes you can his way.

~update, as of 9 pm, Ken's heart rate and rhythm is back to normal!

"That's right...Tiger Stripe Paintball which has been doing business as Special Ops Paintball is winding things down. Slow sales and the general economy have forced this decision.

That's the Bad News!

Now for the Good News!

I am starting a new company.

The new company is Extreme StitchWorks and is a Soft Goods Manufacturing company. We will specialize in providing custom Soft Goods as well as small to medium sized runs of production Soft Goods manufacturing. We will do this for the paintball industry as well as other industries. Players and teams will be able to purchase custom Soft Goods products from packs, vests, and apparel to gear bags and accessories. Dealers and manufacturers will be able to access our production capabilities to bring in existing products or to have their own products developed and manufactured in small enough quantities to be able to offer low risk innovations as I will be able to offer very reasonable MOQ's (Minimum Order Quantities) at wholesale prices.

Soft Goods have been recognized as "What we do (did) best" at Special Ops Paintball and I plan to continue to bring the players the gear and accessories that they want and it will all be made right here in the USA.

I will also be leasing the rights to the Special Ops Brand so the brand itself and the store site www.specialopspaintball.com as well as this forum, will continue on. Effective immediately, my new company (Extreme StitchWorks) will take over fulfillment of all existing and incoming orders. Resale items and close-out items will continue while current supplies last. Special Ops Soft Goods and select Hard Goods will continue to be available indefinitely.

So, while this is a sad day, I am very excited that we (Extreme StitchWorks) will be able to continue to bring you new and innovative Soft Goods and that we will be able to continue this forum. Please watch for some great new products that we have in store for you over the coming weeks."
__________________
Brian "MOATI" Russell
Extreme StitchWorks
Brian.MOATI.Russell@gmail.com

Actually I am not surprised, they bought Cops 911 and then ruined the product with their mil-sim ways. If you look at the rise and fall of the company from the excessive equipment and the elite weekends, one can only surmise that is was a matter of time before they went the way of the dodo bird. Guess these other companies better take note, not even 'woodsball' will save you.

Press Release from Tippmann:

New Product Update from Denny Tippmann, Jr.

Denny Tippmann, Jr. and the team from Tippmann Sports want to invite all Tippmann owners and anyone in paintball to see Tippmann’s first electro pneumatic marker using the .68 caliber paintball platform. This is a new technology that will take woodsball and scenario play to a whole new level, and provide our loyal Tippmann players with the marker they have been asking for.

We are officially launching this marker on Wednesday, October 21, at 1 pm Central Time on our Tippmann web site at www.tippmann.com. In addition, this launch will also be on our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/tippmann, MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/tippmannsports and YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/TippmannSports. Players may also comment on this new marker by visiting us at http://www.twitter.com/tippmann or on our Tippmann Forum at http://tinyurl.com/yzgx7zs.

We look forward to seeing you Wednesday, October 21, at 1 pm Central Time.