ARRL FD 2006 SK CL DE NZ5G *

Chris (KK7SM) and I went to Canyon Lake this year for Field Day... it was much nicer than trying to sleep at roadside parks! For one thing, no drunk college kids pulling up at 0300 and tossing beer bottles out of the car... plus, we could put up a real campsite rather than sleeping in the truck!

Our plan was to have everything ready well ahead of FD weekend, including all the cables needed to run RTTY/PSK and the CW keyer; However, thanks to Fed/UPS, plus some not-so-clear diagrams and other factors, we ended up with non-functional cables, putting RTTY/PSK on the back burner... so we made the call to go almost totally CW this year - I think we made 6 phone contacts, and then we bailed and ran CW for the rest of the time that we operated. It was rather warm and humid, so we were taking frequent breaks, and we ended up calling it a day much earlier than last year... even so, we came only 4 points short of our score last year! I'm sure that if we had known that, we would have stayed on for 3 more CW contacts... oh well. We were able to copy the CW and RTTY Field Day bulletins; receiving was not the issue, it was the transmit side that was jacked up. And, as a sign of being at the bottom of the sunspot cycle, we almost exclusively operated on 20 meters... we made a couple of contacts on either 10m or 15m, but 20m was where it was all happening - to paraphrase the commercial, "Hooray, 20m!"

We are already plotting for next year; I think we are going to switch from 1C (mobile) to 1B (battery power), so that we can use better antennas... some of the battery-powered guys we ran into almost blew our speaker out, and you know that they weren't running 1500w on battery power (unless they were operating from the U505)! However it works out, though, we will definetly have a good time doing it - Field Day has gotten better every year! We had awesome chow on Friday night (thick steaks with beans and garlic potatoes) and Saturday morning (Beef sausages, scrambled eggs), and lots of good camp coffee... too bad it wasn't about ten degrees (F) cooler... that's what we get for having Field Day in June though - would it be so hard to have it in March?? :)

* If none of this made any sense, go to the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL) website and find out more about Amateur Radio - or just ask that guy/gal with the funny tag and all the antennas on their vehicle :)

Ghana 2 USA 1 - Our Cup Run Is Over :(

Italy did their part in defeating the Czech Republic (ITA 2 CZE 0), but we couldn't hold up our end of the bargain - it is full time, and that means that we are finished in World Cup play. Unfortunately, I was unable to watch or listen to the game, so I had to follow the BBC live updates on the BBC Sport website; there were a number of interesting observations made, and it seems like we may have gotten the wrong end of a number of questionable calls; particularly the penalty kick at 49' (4 min stoppage?? wow). However, our side still had a number of chances to score that were squandered, so you can't say we didn't have the opportunity to advance... and it is good to see Ghana advance, especially the way they are playing right now. It would have been really nice to see us go forward though; every four years the state of football in the US improves dramatically... the more we play world-class opponents the better we will become (and keep the NBA/MLB/NFL/NHL mindset away, especially with regards to television coverage). I was also glad to see the US side finally show up and play two good matches, after the utterly dismal effort in the opener vs. the Czech Republic. The only thing left for the US to do now is to be classy and not incessantly whine about the refs, the calls etc., and just enjoy the rest of the Cup.

one down, one to go....

Well, I'm not sure what the regulars thought, but we had a pretty good time at The Water Tank on Monday night; most of the other folks there for Open Mic Night seemed to be regulars, and the music selection ranged from C&W (Butter My Biscuit) to 70's Lite Rock (Summer Breeze) to Top 40 (Sex & Candy)... then The Humiliators took the stage! We had to modify the playlist a bit - "Left for Dead" would have gotten us tossed off the stage, I think, but we put five solid tunes out while we had the spotlight - "In Your Eyes", "Sabado", "Detroit Rock City", "Fight For Your Right (To Party)" and "Shine". I'm just glad that no beer bottles were thrown our way :) Now that that's out of the way, I think we are gonna squeeze one more gig in before the July Party Weekend - for details check out The Humiliators MySpace page.

...they call it "riding the gravy train".....

ok, so maybe we're not gonna be playing to 60,000 screaming fans, making millions of dollars, or becoming Colombia's leading export partner ;) but for The Humiliators it's a step in the right direction... We're playing an open-mic at The Water Tank (US183/McNeil); it's a good chance to work out the kinks before our back-to-back gigs in July. If you are in the Austin area, come check us out at 9ish tonite!

by the way... which one's Tommy???

one more hurdle overcome by sheer stubbornness... we finally settled on a name for the band: Tommy English and the Humiliators - like most band names, there's a story in there, but it'd take too long to tell right now... catch any of us over a beer and I'm sure you'll hear it :) you can go to www.thehumiliators.com to find out more. We go into the studio this Saturday to record some original material; you can download a demo track from the website.

wow, what a difference a day makes...

the cool front finally made it! High temperature for today is 58F, and it's only supposed to get up to 85 on Monday... football weather, just in time for the OU-TX game on Saturday! I hope that's a good omen for the Sooners, but they will need some good football to beat UT - they are really looking good this year, while OU is trying to rebuild... it will be a good game, though - they always are :) Everyone in the office is psyched, and I'm getting more razzing than usual - understandable, since it's been 5 years of Sooner domination :) the backlash, should UT win (and admittedly, they should) will be huge - but I'll still fly the flag, baby! However, should OU prevail... I'm not vindictive, mind you, but it *will* be sweet ;)

random late night thoughts

- Serial Experiments Lain is one far-out trippy awesome anime
- Brett Favre doesn't deserve the team he has this year
- I can't wait until the band starts playing again
- I wish it was as easy to make money IRL as it is online: Saturday we made 32M ISK in 5 hours on EVE Online... unreal
- Boy, the trash truck dudes aren't gonna like me in the morning - that can's gotta weigh 50 pounds :)

ok, looks like we might have some cooler weather on the way... apparently there is a weak cool front working its way towards us, and the highs are only supposed to be in the upper 80's, with a 60% chance of rain. I suppose that is what we get for living only 6.4 degrees north of the tropics, but I do sorta miss seasons :)

Well, here it is... my first post from my phone - isn't technology fun? :)

fall 2005 update

Fall is here, though it seems that the only difference between fall and summer so far is that football season is here :) it has been brutally hot, and no relief from either Katrina or Rita... although to be honest, I cannot complain about that, knowing what those folks are going through right now. It was good to hear that Aunt Lou and family are safe, although I understand they lost everything but a few items in the floods.

What the hell is going on with these idiots on the "news" channels who seem to think that standing on a seawall or beach in a 65 knot wind with 20 foot seas crashing behind them and horizontally-driven raindrops the size of junebugs constitues "journalistic drive"? What goobs... half the time you can't even tell what they are trying to say over the wind, and even if you could, it would probably be something like "as you can see, Bill, the wind is really strong here" - brilliant! :P

El Gato Felix has taken a brief siesta - we're taking a month to relax and get the creative vibe back... I've been working on some different stuff than I normally get to play, which is really cool - some jazz, some prog rock... all sorts of bass goodness :)

New year... same ol' Caribou

So, it's 2005 - what does that mean for the Elder Caribou?

• Another 3 weeks before I quit writing "2004" on my checks
• The second half of league bowling - our team is currently in 3rd place
• Hopefully we will find a singer and possibly another guitar for the band - we are so close I can taste it...
• Look for another set of wheels in the driveway this spring - the pickup needs a break after almost 225k miles
• I'm looking forward to Grande Caribou getting his upgrade for his ham ticket - it will be nice to be able to talk on HF
• More time in the woods/at the lake this year
• Two words - Key West

There is more, to be sure, but I need some material for the next post :)

Wow! Where does the time go?

I can't believe that it is the middle of September - there has been so much going on here that I have only now remembered to update the site! Let's see... Paula is doing ok, she is really becoming quite the anime connoisseur - we need more book/dvd shelves :) I have started bowling in a league on Tuesday nights... so far, it's been fun but don't look for me on the PBA Tour; on Wednesday nights, I am playing bass in a band with some guys from work; our goal is to play a company function sometime next year, then maybe a gig or so a month around Austin; we all have day jobs, so there's no danger of us quitting to do this full time :) if we make any money at all, thats bonus - it's fun to just be playing again.

I am working on cleaning the website, making some style and organization changes - I am also going to move a lot of content to my internal servers here. This will give me more space and control over what I can put on the site. The external page will remain, however, as a portal to the internal site - we have been having some issues with connectivity lately, so I want to keep something out there that is not on the residential network.

Well, enough for now... look for the new changes on the site soon! later!

buffer dump

Lots of things have happened since the last entry... Paula and I went to South Padre Island, ostensibly to pick up a computer I bought from Chuck; however, we all know the *real* reason was to go play in the surf! We had a great time down there - it was great to see Chuck again, and the island was mostly empty since we went the weekend before Memorial Day. The people were all really friendly and we had a great room at a hotel right on the beach! (Ok, our room wasn't *right* on the beach, but we only had to walk about 100m to get there.) I think we have found a new weekend getaway destination! It's only 6.5 hours drive, too, so it is an easy weekend trip.

Dad went to the specialists, and the news was not as bad as it could have been, but it there are still things that must be dealt with... so we are still keeping him in our thoughts and prayers. We will be going up for my sister's wedding, so we will get to see him then.

Yes, that's right - Johnna is getting married again! She seems much happier this time, so that's good. At least Tim can keep a job :) So, they are going to have a wedding at the church in Roosevelt; hopefully, this time I will be able to avoid having an accident on the way to the church (like the first time - not good).

Justin and Jacob and I have been playing Diablo online - it is the easiest for Justin to connect to since he is on dialup. We have a great time, although I have to remember that in Diablo, my arrows can hurt the other players (heh). Justin has really leveled up his character, so it's hard to keep up until I can catch up with him. Jacob and I have been playing Ultima Online; it's our first foray into the MMORPG realm of online gaming, and it has had its ups and downs. We finally found a shard (server) that has a good mix of people, although it has the obligatory rabid-dog players, bent on killing all other players on sight. We can usually avoid them, though, except when we need to go to "their" areas - the parts of the world where player-killing is legal, that is. Hey, it's all part of the game! I like it so far, and if it works out, I may be willing to pay for Final Fantasy XI - it looks really good, but I wanted to be able to try the MMORPG thing first before I dropped $100.

more later :)

ok, we're not dead... we're feeling much better...

Lots going on lately - I finally finished the arcade cabinet, so that isn't taking up almost all of my free waking hours... except when I get the jones for Galaga, that is :) Paula is glad to have her laundry table back, as well as no sawdust filling the garage. The office chair finally gave up the ghost, so we are down to just one chair in the house - an old grade-school chair that Paula has had for a while. I think it is time to buy chairs ;)

Dad is doing okay for now, they are still doing tests and such but the outlook is better than it was... he is going to OKC in two weeks, and they will be able to figure out what is going on (we hope). He is still not getting enough sleep, though... give him a call whenever you can.

I am looking forward to getting back on the air with my Amateur Radio station - I haven't had much time to do so lately, but I have the new computer set up, and I am looking to build a couple of new antennas. Justin is finally working towards his 5 WPM CW test, so hopefully we will be able to start making skeds before too long.

Jacob, Justin and I have been playing Ghost Recon online for the last 2 weekends - we are having a blast!! I can't wait till we can get Joe in as well - of course, we *really* need to be playing Operation Flashpoint, but it has been hard to find copies at retail for Justin. That game rocks! Jacob and I did "weapons trials" Saturday night with some new Bradleys we downloaded - those are some tough IFV's! I think they are tweaked a bit, but who cares - it's a game!!!

Wow! has it been that long??

I am sure by now that you all think we have vanished from the face of the planet - no, but sometimes it seems that way :)

We made our speed run to Oklahoma over the weekend... what a marathon! 19 out of 36 hours spent sitting in a pickup... ugh. The whole trip was laid on to pick up our 10 sticks of Blue and Gold sausage from my brother's freezer (before he ran out of *his* order), plus we took some other bits and pieces with us... then on the way we found out that Dad was in the hospital getting re-hydrated. Fortunately, we didn't have to go to Hobart to see him - they released him and he was home by mid-morning on Saturday. So, since he didnt have to work we got to see more of him than we had hoped. We got to Cooperton at 0200 on Saturday, and I stayed up till 0330 talking with Justin... I am just almost too old for that anymore ;)

I am hoping to finish my arcade cabinet project soon, so I can get back to doing other things ...I haven't touched my radio in a long time; any skill I might have regained at the morse key has probably vanished. Oh, well - nothing for it but to start up again :) now, if only my brother would get his code test out of the way.... ;)

Just found out that Jacob has jumped on the broadband wagon - woo hoo! Now we can play Operation Flashpoint and Ultima Online at real speeds, and no more modem crashes! I am sure he will like it, especially now that he can ditch AOL :)

New washer/dryer!! plus other ramblings....

We got a new washer/dryer with part of our tax return! the old ones were on their last legs, so after many years of service, they were given a proper retirement (Best Buy hauled them off) and we now have a new pair! It is strange, though, to not be able to hear them running down to the end of the block, much less standing in the garage :) Also strange - the dryer has a light in it, like a fridge! (Okay, I know, I just came into the 21st century :) ) who knows what newfangled contraptions they'll come up with next?

I have been working in Austin for about a year now - it was the first week of April last year when I started with Oracle as a contractor - it doesn't seem that long, but there you are... time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.

(ugh.)

Where does the time go??

Wow - it's been almost a week since my last update! A lot has been going on - I have been working like crazy on my arcade cabinet, trying to keep our dogs from killing each other and bugging us to death, and of course the normal workday stuff... you know, life :) anyway, I am still going to include the tale of the Elder Caribou for those who haven't heard it before. I just have to find the cycles to sit down and do it.

In other news, it rained last night rather hard, starting about 0300 - I woke at 0430 when the hail started in, came in to shut the computers down and disconnect the antenna from the Icom. Afterwards, I didn't sleep very well, partly because the dogs were freaking from the thunder. There was flooding in the low lying areas and it took an hour and a half to get to work because of flooding and accidents. Why don't people learn to slow down and get off the phone when it is raining?? geez. Of course, all the rain means it is time to mow the lawn again, once it dries up a bit.

Things that make you say, "Hmmmmm"...

Ok, if anyone is wondering what the big deal about Caribou is, stay tuned - I'll explain it all in a post in the very near future. Some have already heard the tale, some were there when it happened, but it is a tale that, as a tagline for one of my favorite movies once read, "makes Ben Hur look like an epic!" Now that I have your attention (to varying degrees, I am sure), you'll just have to wait, and keep checking this site if you want to get the sordid details... or you could pop off for a coffee or whatever... your call.

Deep in the Heart of Texas...

Well, it is official - Paula and I are now Citizens of the Republic of Texas! After careful consideration, we came to the following conclusions:

1. We have been here longer than anyplace we have been since leaving Tulsa to become gypsies.
2. We do not plan to leave Austin in the forseeable future ( of course, we haven't *planned* to leave any of the places we have lived...)
3. We really *like* living in Austin, even though they don't have Braums or Hideaway Pizza :)

So, we went to the DMV, turned in our Oklahoma DL's in for Texas DL's, got the pickup tags changed over, and poof! Texas is our official home! One might even say that I am returning after a 35-year absence (if you don't get it, ask me after class). Now, before anyone gets any goofy notions running thru their noggins, let me make one thing "perfectly clear": The Crimson and Cream will always fly over this house. I live in Austin now, and UT-Austin is a good school, so I will pull for the 'Horns as long as they are not playing Oklahoma... but the "Eyes of Texas" will never evoke the same emotions as the Pride of Oklahoma playing "Boomer Sooner", I don't care *how* long we are down here. So, I don't want to hear any yakety-smakety about "going over to the enemy" and I don't want to find any severed Longhorn heads in my bed - let's just stick to the Capt. Steubing jokes, okay? (You know who you are...) Oh, and Mom, did you know I was going to move here when you bought that Longhorns rug for me back in Junior High? Go figure :)

Trip to Oklahoma

What a weekend! I took a comp day on Friday and we spent the weekend in Oklahoma... first item on the agenda was a lunch date with Braums! One of many culinary delights that hasn't made it this far south of the Red River - along with Taco Mayo, Del Rancho, and Hideaway Pizza! We also wanted to hit Meers and say hi to our favorite waitress, but it just didn't work out... oh well, there will be another time :)

Once we made it to OKC, Paula and I split up - she and Tammie went to do their shopping, and I took the dogs with me to do mine... Paula scored lots of new clothes, with the help of Tammie - I think Paula is finally learning that it is okay to spend money on herself :) and I picked up a great little ham rado for the pickup. At 6pm, we all met at NorthPark Mall in the Village to have dinner at The Shogun Japanese Steakhouse - a tradition for us going back many many years; I love the food and atmosphere... though I'd probably kill someone if I tried to sling those utensils around like they do :)

After dinner, goodbyes were said and then it was off to Cooperton Valley... As we drove in, Justin and I were able to talk farther than ever; we were able to start talking just inside the Kiowa county line, although I was able to hear him before that - his radio / antenna combo rocks! Stayed up till 2am talking with Dad, since he was working the 3-11 shift, and so wouldn't be awake for a lot of the time we were there. Dad and I both like Cowboy Bebop, so we watched Ep 1 on my laptop since he had not seen it. Saturday was spent helping Justin with his new PC and reviving some old skills playing Sub Command - he isn't too rusty; after a short command tutorial, he proceeded to hunt down and sink Yours Truly in very short order!

Mom is doing well, and she is actually learning to be a computer geek :) I am amazed at all she has learned to do in such a short time! She also is going to be moving to the Grand Piano at her church, since the Harmons are moving to Carnegie - it is so bizarre to see the gym that I sweated and bled and played in for so many years at school turned into the First Baptist Church building! :) Dad will be going to the specialist Tuesday to have some tests done so they can find out how best to help him. They are both losing weight, since they have been on their diet... it's tough sometimes (how do you live without potatoes?) but they are champs - we love you both!!!

The trip back started out well enough - we saw some elk and wild turkeys in the Refuge - but what should have been a 6 hour trip turned into 9 1/2 hours thanks to all the Spring Break traffic on I-35 between Fort Worth/Dallas and Austin - all the students from Baylor, A&M and UT-Austin seemed to be on the road with us, and no one wanted to give an inch, so during one stretch it took 1 1/2 hours to travel 15 miles - what fun! Killed our gas mileage for that leg :) Speaking of which, the truck sure likes it better when she has clean plugs :)