Monday, August 06, 2007

Early August thoughts

We've entered the Dog Days of Summer. It's hot and sticky in Central New Jersey. Going outside is like entering a sauna. Humidity level is hovering in the 70% plus region. When it's 11:00PM at night, any it's still in the upper 70s outside; and my thermostatically controlled attic fan is still blowing; then you know it's HOT! There's a heat advisory posted by NOAA for the next two days. I know a lot of people hate this; but this is what I live for! I dream of this kind of weather while I'm out there shoveling snow in the Winter.

I've been putting in WAY too much overtime with the new job. Not enough time for radio or any other kind of relaxation. I did jump into the Spartan Sprint tonight; just to knock loose some of the radio "rust". I made 15 contacts in about 20 minutes worth of operating. It was good to hear good friends on the air like Jim W1PID and Todd N9NE and Paul KD2MX and John K4BAI. By the way, John K4BAI is a top notch and well respected contester. I am proud and privileged to be able to call him a friend. Paul KD2MX was featured a few months back in an article in "WorldRadio" magazine about QRP contesters. Pick it up and give the article a "look see" if you get the chance.

Last night was a special milliWatt Run For The Bacon QRP contest that I put together. I wish I had scheduled it better! I was not able to participate as my wife and I went to the Police concert at Giants Stadium at The Meadowlands. The tickets were purchased back in February as her birthday present this year. I knew there was something nagging me in the back of my head when I scheduled the Sprint for the first Sunday in August, way back when. It hit me just last week that I was going to miss it; and I love milliWatt contests! Maybe next year.

My Palm M130 is starting to give up the ghost. I use it a lot; for work purposes and portable QRP logging purposes. There's a ton of information in there; but I've had it for a bit now and I think it's time for something newer. Not current - just newer. I can't afford current! I'll have to take a look on eBay to see what the most recent generation of Palm PDAs is going for. Then, I'll have to beam over all my information to whatever I get before this one craps out completely. I've grown so accustomed to keeping phone numbers, addresses, things-to-do, notes and various Ham Radio things on it; that it makes me wonder how I ever survived before the days of electronic PDAs. I guess this is what we call progress. I wish I could afford a current, state-of-the- art Jack Bauer kind of PDA that does everything but walk the dog for you; but that's not to be.

Last night was a late night; and today was a long day at work. Time to go to bed. I'll be putting in an 11 hour day tomorrow.

73 de Larry W2LJ

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