New Ones for today

Well, yesterday and today
Had a nice QSO with OX3KQ on 20 SSB for a band fill. I remember when I was trying and trying and trying, and just could not be heard by stations up there, and now I'm able to have a nice QSO (not a bang/bang, but actually chatting - nice to do sometimes)

Today, so far, it's been V51GB for a band fill - 1 call

Today's QSO

Yesterday/Today, I got 4 band fills
RW2A - 20m SSB
ZL1BD - 17m SSB - still not confirmed, even though I have more than one worked
YO3HKW - 17 SSB
DL5GA - 17 SSB

Won't play in WPX CW - my CW is NOT good enough to contest - yet

A92GR Received

QSL Request sent 2011-05-13 via email, with return postage via paypal

No QSOs yesterday

Yesterday was the first time since I put up the antennas that I went a day without a QSO. Bands were dead.

Another all time new one

After last night's post, I stayed up for a while, and ended up working another all time new one

FO5QB 17 SSB

Brings me to 193 without deleteds - Guess I'd better start sending out QSL cards

New Ones for 5/11

Had a nice QSO with MI0MVP on 15 SSB. Yes, I worked him last week, but he was calling CQ with no one answering so I figured I'd say 'Hi'. It's nice to have a real QSO once in a while. Towards the end, the signal started to fade, but

Worked
OE9MON 15SSB
VP2VQ 20SSB
HP1/IQ6CC 17SSB
ON7CD 17SSB
YL2GB 40SSB
V31XB 17SSB
for bandfills

IS0RXF on 20SSB for a mode fill! I'm NOT much of a CW guy (understatement of the year there) but I had Sardinia on CW, and not phone. Nice to fi;; in the phone, even if it is a band I already had (actually the ONLY band I have)


Brings my DXCC stats (with deleteds) to
10m 33w/27cfm
15m 65/49
17m 57/41
20m 175/159
40m 78/63
80m 24/15 (hey, it's a low wire that makes up for it by being short)
160m 1/1 - QSO from a friends place (not sure which Pete)

and
194/182 overall (2 are deleted, so have to work at least 8 more this year to hit 200, and then get them confirmed - 200 is my goal for the year)

Some more new ones

Had some fun on the radio this weekend. There are advantages to having aluminum up in the air

I worked East Kiribati and India for all time new ones. I also got South Cook Islands on 20m and FJ/O1ST on 15m for band fills (That brings my band totals to 3 on FJ/O1ST - 10, 15 and 20 - all SSB)

On my list of chores - record my files for Field Day, and get RTTY and PSK31 working, and work on re-learning my CW

The Mets

Let's see - they need some pitching, relief pitching, fielding, and some hitting. Aside from that, they're pretty good

Even Mama has her limits

Books I'm reading

I received the book Fuzzy Nation written by John Scalzi

So Far, I'm really enjoying this book, just like I did his entire "Old Man's War" series

New Antennas

Well, the Alpha Delta DX-EE is gone. Oh, it wasn't a BAD antenna, (in fact I liked it), but I got the chance to put up a beam and a rotary dipole

I now have a Force12 C3SS and a D140.

No, the neighbors are NOT happy

In the last 5 days, I've worked SIX all time new DXCC entities, plus an additional 5 band fills

The State of the Union speech I'd like to see

President says to the media ahead of time "It's going to be a short speech"

Back when this tradition started, it was important for the President to give an annual State of the Union address, because, well frankly, it was hard to gather up all the information about the state of the union.

Today, with 24/7 media, organizations like the Government Printing office, and all the press secretaries out there, you already KNOW the state of the Union.

The State of the Union address has become a Pep rally/Campaign speech, which I do not feel is necessary, so I bid you all a Good Night

exits stage

My Review of DOBSON CAP TOE

Originally submitted at Johnston & Murphy

Extra-supple nappa leather upper and sheepskin lining offer an incredibly comfortable fit and feel. Highly cushioned insole, padded tongue and collar for athletic-shoe comfort. Combination leather and rubber sole and stacked leather heel for a dressier look.

DOBSON CAP TOE

Very Comfortable

By KG2V from Bayside, NY on 12/22/2010

 

4out of 5

Sizing: Feels true to size

Width: Feels true to width

Pros: Lightweight, Comfortable, Flexible

Best Uses: Wear To Work, Dress Up or Down

Describe Yourself: Style Driven, Comfort Driven

I actually have the BROWN version of this shoe (20-7510), and they are extrememly comfortable

Some folks talk about them needing maintainence. Guys, leather shoes are supposed to be maintained - brush them down every time you wear them, polish every 3rd time or so, put shoe trees in them every time, and guess what, your shoes will last longer

(legalese)

9/11

Woke up this morning, clear, blue skys, crip, cool, and rememberd another 9/11 just like this

We shall never forget

From Robert Heinlein:

Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.

This is known as “bad luck.”

our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Back to the Gym

Woot – Back to the Gym for the first time since the MD said I could not go back on July 8th (Yes, I have medical clearance)

Short/light workout, as you might expect after what, 5 months of not working out, but I feel good

Casi - A study in Black and White

 

Casi

Sometimes, I hate weekends

Particularly LONG weekends.

A lot of the work at my job runs 24x7, and when I come in after a long weekend, there are usally all sorts of issues to deal with. Sigh

Wire Management - again

How come, in this day and age of way too many wires, we don't see desks, either for the home, or for the office, with good cable/wire management features? Wire troughs, outlets trips build in, etc?

Yes, I know wireless stuff is becomeing more common now, but that just means you'll have a USB or charger cable up to the desk, along with at least one monitor data cable and power cable, probably a keyboard and mouse cable (or else a cable up for the wireless head)