The stars at night - are big and bright
Deep in the heart of Texas.
The prairie sky - is wide and high
Deep in the heart of Texas.
The sage in bloom - is like perfume
Deep in the heart of Texas.
Reminds me of - the one I love
Deep in the heart of Texas.
The cowboys cry - ki-yip-pie-yi
Deep in the heart of Texas.
The rabbits rush - around the brush
Deep in the heart of Texas.
The coyotes wail - along the trail
Deep in the heart of Texas.
The doggies bawl - and bawl and bawl
Deep in the heart of Texas.

Howdy.... I didn't actually know the lyrics to the Heart of Texas song... so posted them today.... It reminds me of a scene in Pee Wee's Big Adventure movie:



John had to work from noon until 8:00pm - so he had his morning free. He called Paul B. in St. Louis and confirmed that we can stay at his place next weekend when we fly to St. Louis, MO for the "Celebration of Perry's Life". Paul lives close to the park where the celebration will occur, so it should work out well. It's really nice of him to let us stay at his place - a cool old Victorian house. I'm looking forward to seeing our St. Louis friends, but I wish it was under different circumstances. It is going to seem strange to go to St. Louis and not see Perry....

I was dragging butt all day today - could not get woke up. I did not sleep well last night so I hope a good nights sleep this evening will rejuvenate me... John feed me ice cream after 8:00pm yesterday, so that probably messed up my sleep.... At work I'm going through a period of change. I'm now working on the Quickr project more and will be providing some training sessions starting next week. The change of pace is nice and the Quickr stuff is pretty easy to do, so I'm not complaining - at least not yet

Yesterday it was overcast out and the temps were a bit lower - in the lower 90's. It made a big difference and the air conditioner in the MoHo was able to keep up pretty well. For the next four days the temps will be over 100 ° during the day - so the A/C will not keep up very well. We put our box fan in the bathroom to blow air from front to back. The theory is that the front tends to be warmer - so the fan blows the hot air back to the air intake of the AC where it will cool down. It seems to be helping a bit. We are considering purchasing a portable air conditioning unit that we would put in the bathroom to help keep the temps down.



Using a portable unit would prevent us from having to cut a hole in the roof and install a roof AC unit. Our MoHo has "basement air" so there's no air conditioners on the roof to leak and cause black streaks and I would like to keep it that way. The main downside to the portable unit would be that we would need to find a way to run the vent pipe outside - I'm sure John could figure something out.... We are still wavering on purchasing it...

We will have a minor announcement to make on July 10th. It is nothing major and, no, I'm not changing jobs... don't want to mention what it is yet, but want to give you a reason to check back with us to see what it is

July 4th is on a Saturday this year, so I get this coming Friday off of work. It is nice to have the day off, but will suck to miss a full day of pay.... oh well.... John will be working all day on Saturday and Sunday, so we will have to find something to do on Friday. Perhaps we could tour the Bureau of Printing and Engraving like Jim and Garret did this week.. I will have to check and see if they are open on Friday...

That's it for today.. My eyes are getting tired, so I'm going to head to bed a bit early, read and fall asleep....

Hello all, John here.

Well, Jim and Garrett are sadly gone. They hit the road fairly early yesterday AM. It was nice to meet them and we had lots of fun with having friends here in the park with us. Reminds us how much more we need to get out and do things! Hopefully we will run into them in the future.

Changing Subjects quickly, I want to announce that my Sister Jamie gave birth to her third child. Logan Joel Drahiem. She has yet to send me a picture. She said the labor was easy compared to the girls, and that they were both doing well. Bob (he husband) is still in a lot of pain from his car accident last week, but is trying to get up and around. Hopefully the drama will be over for them for a while!

The park here has been Interesting to say the least. We have had the police here twice in the last two days, once on a welfare check, and the second time for a family dispute between father and teenage sons. Work life has been typical as nothing has really changed, and it still really sucks. I was pretty pissed off yesterday again after killing myself to get more done than the "Great Plan", I was basically told to go do more and then accused of breaking yet another machine I had not touched in over a week, in the end it turned out the two geniuses just did not know how to properly turn it on (Yes Bright One, the Big Yellow "On" Switch works). Add the Fun Filled Days of Al with the Obnoxious Guests and I am sure the holiday weekend will be just a freakin' riot.

Change is in the air here, but I won't spill the beans until the necessary parties have been properly informed, so stay tuned for some minor updates in the next day or so.

My eBay auctions all ended, and sold for actually decent money. I have received payment on two of them, and I think I am getting burned on the third item. This will be my second non-payment auction, so I guess I am not too upset, and if I would have caught it earlier, I would have barred the bidder as he had no feedback. I will be offering it up as a second chance to the other bidders, and then re-listing if needed.

We are getting excited for our trip back to Saint Louis. We wish it was under better circumstances, but we still are happy to go to see all our friends there. I need to make some final arrangements this week yet, but we should be set to fly out on the 10th.

Other than that all is well here in Sunny DFW! The weather hear has cooled some, but then its is hard to notice it when temps are still in the mid 90's down from 105's, At least the A/C is keeping up now. We did bring in the box fan from the storage compartment, which moves lots of air and makes a pretty big difference on the inside of the coach in hot weather. I am trying to put of what I feel in the inevitable of adding a third A/C on the roof. I really don't want to spend the money or cut a hole in the roof for somehting we will only really need to use a very limited time (Hopefully) as we have no intentions of staying here long term.

Anyhow, That is all I got for now!

Stay safe and have a good day!

John

Greetings from the Lone Star State....

Sorry for the delay in doing a blog entry - we have been enjoying having Jim and Garret around and our blogging has suffered. So we need to get caught up with what we have been doing.

On Saturday Jim planned a fun trip to the Ft. Worth Stockyards. John and I had been there a few months back, but did not see everything. Our second experience was a bit different because it was really hot outside, it was very crowded and we had to pay $20.00 for parking. Not complaining, but just noting the differences in our visit. The first thing we did was Pawnee Bill's Wild West Show. The shows was in the air conditioned Cow Town Coliseum. The AC felt wonderful! The show was somewhat short and simple, but showcased some trick riders, some shooting of guns, singing and tricks with lasso's. I enjoyed singing along to the ballads the cowboys sang - "I'm back in the saddle again.....". We had 1/2 price tickets to the show - so the price was right. It was worth seeing.... once... I would like to go back and see a real rodeo sometime.... when it is not so hot outside..

After the show we walked over to the Cowtown Cattle Pen Maze. All four of us did the maze - you get a card with the letters M-A-Z-E on it and you find your way around the maze in search of the four stations that have paper punches in the shape of each letter. Punch each letter and get out of the maze as fast as you can. Jim had the fastest time at 16 minutes. I ended up taking 21 minutes - but I was still quicker then John who came in last... The maze was tougher then expected - it got a bit frustrating constantly walking into dead-end paths and having to turn around and try another way....

Check out Jim and Garret's 6-29-2009 blog posting - it has lots of pictures of everyone.

We then attempted to dine at Joe T. Garcia's Mexican Restaurant, but the line to get in was long, it was hot outside and we said the heck with it. We ended up at a Chili's close to the RV park - which was just fine with me... I like their fajitas.....

On Sunday we had Jim and Garret over for supper. I made a pan of enchiladas and a pan of corn casserole with avocado dip. Everything turned out good. To help keep the MoHo cooler, I prepared everything and then baked it using the stove in the KOA clubhouse. I got to watch over the over while watching German children fight, whine and be little monsters.... One older lady came in and asked me if those were their kids - I said "OH - NO!!" She then proceeded to yell at them, tell them this was not their living room and either straighten up or she would call the campground office. It helped for 5 minutes... I ended up yelling at one little boy who kept holding open the door and letting the hot outside air in.... The food turned out good - there was not much left - just enough for John to have for lunch today.

After supper John did the dishes (very nice of him) and we hung out talking about top-secret, gay mafia, blogging tactics that I'm not allowed to divulge... unless you know the secret bloggers handshake and have the correct decoder ring. We (except for John) then went swimming at the KOA pool. Our arrival in the pool chased away most of the straight people. Within 5 minutes of us splashing around, everyone else was running with their children through the gate... Works for me.... The water in the pool is very warm, but it still felt good and we ended up staying in until almost 10:00pm....

This morning I really did not want to get up... My butt was "stuck to the mattress" so John got up and got ready for work first then tossed my lazy, gay ass out of bed... I ended up getting to work 15 minutes later then normal - no big deal - I ended up in a meeting and left work 15 minutes later then normal. I was tired at work, but managed to plod along and got a few things accomplished. During my lunch break I stopped by a post office and send off two packages for John. One of them was an item he sold on ebay and the other was the old ham radio power supply going back to friend in Wisconsin..

Tonight is Jim and Garret's last evening with us... they will be continuing their journey in the morning - leaving us to be "the only gays in the village". We went out to eat at a local Italian restaurant named Birra Poretti’s Italian Restaurant and Irish Bar. It seemed like a strange combination (Italian and Irish), but I really did not see much of the Irish influence... I had a linguine dish with asparagus and prosciutto in a olive oil/cream sauce - it was really good.

Here's a picture I stole from Jim and Garret's blog of us at Birra Poretti's:



It was great being able to meet them in person after following their blog for almost a year. Having someone in the park to spend time with was a treat. I hope our paths will cross again in the future......

Howdy, Derek here in Arlington, TX....

I made it back from Philadelphia last evening on time without any major problems. The flight home was interesting because one of the passengers had a "medical emergency" two rows in front of me. It appeared that a guy in his mid-40's passed out and his wife called out for help. The amount of assistance from the stewardesses was quite impressive. They got medical equipment out right away and asked if there was anyone on board with medical training. Two nurse type ladies came to the rescue. One of the stewardesses used the radio telephone to call somewhere for medical information. He was stabilized and one of the stewardesses sat with him for the remainder of the trip. In the end it appeared that the guy had just passed out/fainted. Once we landed the plane quickly went to the gate and everyone was asked to stay in their seats until the guy with the medical problem could leave. He was able to get up and walk out by himself.... I was watching season 1 of "Six Feet Under" on my iPhone when the medical emergency happened.. so I was thinking that the worst would happen......

I really did not want to get out of bed this morning at 6:30am and go to work, but I reluctantly did. Sleeping in my own bed felt really good and I slept like a log... Work was work... nothing exciting. Several people asked me if I was now a "Quickr Expert" and I was like "absolutely... yes I am... I can handle all of your Quickr issues now with ease..." trying to be as much of a smart ass to them as they were to me... it was fun.... I did not have any big issues or fires to put out today - so it was pretty much a non-event being back in the office. I think being online and in contact all week helped to take care of small issues before they escalated and people panicked.

The weather in PA remained overcast on my last day there, but it did not rain and was not nearly as hot and humid as Texas. Here's a picture I took of my car thermostat when I left work this evening showing a temperature of 109 ° :



Last night John was commenting about how there were lots of new arrivals in the park over the last two days and then on the way to work I heard that American Idol auditions were being held at the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium here in Arlington - so my guess is that some of the influx was from Idol wanna'be's parents who decided to bring their RV to the KOA for the night and then head over to auditions. It will be fun to watch the Dallas auditions this fall on TV knowing that we were close to it... and no... we did not try out to be the next American Idols - the age limit to audition is 28.. Perhaps I can get a job as a plushie at Six Flags in the 100+ temps... that would be fun...

Sunday it is expected to a little cooler outside - a high of only 98 ° ... not exactly cooler in my book... I work in the air conditioning all day so I have no tolerance for humidity. John's supervisors at work have been limiting mowing to just the mornings when it is a little bit cooler outside. John still goes through 2 or 3 shirts a day because they get completely soaked with sweat. His working conditions really suck - I feel sorry for him.... but he does look hot - all tan and sun kissed... woof! Maybe I can be sneaky and take his picture tomorrow before his middle finger sticks up

This evening we went over to Jim and Garrets for supper. We had yummy cheese burgers with tots and baked beans - everything was yummy!! We when hung out chatting about this n that and also making plans for a side trip tomorrow. We are going to head over to the stockyards in Ft. Worth to check out some indoor touristy stuff.....

I'm off to bed... my eyes are tired and I'm still getting used to being back on central time....

Hi... This is Derek outside of Philladelphia, PA again... my last full day here...

The weather has been in the upper 70's and very overcast. Today it looked like it could start raining any minute, but it has not done so yet....

I'm typing this while watching Earth Girls are Easy on Showtime. It is fun watching lots of "soon to be big stars" in this corny movie - Gina Davis, Jim Carrey, Jeff Goldbloom and Damon Wayans. There's so many bad quotes in this movie like "Aliens can still be dates" or "Do they have Margaritas on your planet?"... Seems like many 80's movies had really bad music in them - songs created just for the movie that sound somewhat like top-40 songs, but not really.... This movie had a song by the B-52's that I've not heard of before.... I'm giggling while watching the movie... shaved aliens are hot...... I've seen this movie at least a dozen times, but I can't resist it - it's such a delicious 80's mess of a movie.....

The training class was fun today. We went over some new functionality that is unique to the new version of Quickr. The main thing is the "Quickr Connectors" - an extension to Windows/Microsoft Office and Sametime that lets you interact with documents stored in a Quickr, without needing to bring up the Quickr in a browser window. It it not "earth shattering", but it is better then going to a Quickr web site, hitting a browse button, locating the correct file, uploading the file to the Quickr and then repeat for the other files... The Quickr Connector lets you drag and drop documents into Quickr and to also do a File Save in Word or Excel and have the file go directly to one of your Quickr's. It is a very handy new function....

After class I took care of some programming tasks for work (I can log in remotely to work servers) - nothing big - just some small changes and a few emails. Then I went back to the Exton Square Mall to purchase a gift for John and eat supper. I found something that John will like, but can't say what yet... For supper I had a Turkey Club tossed salad from The Salad Works in the food court. The salad was tasty and much better then the crappy cheese steak I had the other day:



Tonight I need to get everything packed in preparation for checking out of the hotel in the morning and heading back to Texas. Should not be too difficult to do - I have been keeping the hotel room neat and tidy - I clean the room before the cleaning lady gets here... Don't want her to think that I'm a slob....

I need to get going. I miss John and Prince very much and it will feel good to be back "home" in Arlington, TX....

Hi - This is Derek in Pennsylvania....

My first day of training went well. The class is small, so it is very casual and everyone gets lots of individual attention. Today's class was all about how to manage Sametime communications. The topic was not earth shattering, but I did pick up lots of little "nuggets of knowledge" that will be helpful. The time in class went by quickly, which is usually the mark of a good class. The instructor is fun and keeps things upbeat and interesting. Tomorrow we are getting into Quickr - what I really need to learn all about.

Right now I'm watching a bit of the Jon & Kate, plus 8 - their big divorce announcement - it is kinda uncomfortable to watch. I believe they live about an hour from where I'm at. Don't think I will watch the show all the way through - I never found either Jon or Kate to be overly endearing or interesting....

I talked to John on the phone and he had a long, hot day of mowing grass. His boss was less then affable today, so he is in a bit of a pissy mood. I believe that some Facebook chats, ham radio and supper should help his situation.

After class I went back to the hotel, changed into some jeans and then went to a local shopping mall for supper. I had a Philly Cheese Steak sandwich from a vendor in the food court - it was just ok... I didn't finish the sandwich or the fries, but the coleslaw was good.



After eating, I did some mall walking for 45 minutes thinking about how I should watch what I eat more and go on a diet... The mall was really dead - not many people at all - so the kiosk vendors kept bugging me.. seems like the ones selling lotions are always the most aggressive... I walked past a fountain that had sculpture of birds in it. Each time I walked past it I kept thinking that the birds were really tacky - they looked like they were continually puking water... Here's a short video I took of them with the iPhone:



The iPhone makes it really handy and easy to take videos and post them on YouTube - so now I have one less excuse for not adding more videos to the blog... I'm still working on getting the new MacBook Pro configured and working. Seems like the more I use it, the more items I need to install, configure and copy over to it.. I'm looking forward to having it all setup and to start working on some fun programming projects with it..... John asked me why don't I make my own iPhone app's .... I should give it a try... Perhaps I could make a ham radio logging app for it.... Hmmm...

I emailed Jim and Garret to see if they have anything planned with John - they are going to supper and a movie tomorrow evening... I wanted to make sure John was being social and did not stay hiding out in the RV each evening in front of the ham radio....

Not much else going on.... going to work on computer, watch tv, chat with John and get to sleep.....

Greetings from Arlington, Ye'All...

Jim and Garret made it here this evening. It is really nice to have friends in the park. This is the first time we have meet in person, but have been following each others blogs for past year... so it it like we're old friends who have crossed paths... Jim likes to say that "we're slippery" since we left San Lenadro, CA and then Palm Springs, CA before they made it... I figured that with our track records, John would quit his job and we would hit the road before the arrived.. but nope - it worked out - Yeah!!

We all went out for supper to a Spring Creek Barbecue that is close to the KOA. I was hungry and the food was tasty. My main complaint is that they did not have Pork BBQ on the menu - so I had a combination Beef/Chicken platter with side of potato salad and mac n cheese. It was fun chatting with Jim and Garret in person, talking about our travels, future places to visit and about our schedules. I'm heading out for training tomorrow and will return on Thursday, but John will be around in the evenings - so I'm sure they will have some fun...

I spent all evening yesterday and most of today working on getting the two iPhones and the new MacBook Pro all configured. Getting everything configured has been interesting. I ended up setting up my Mobile Me account as a "family account" so John can have email, and sync his data from "his computer" to his iPhone. His computer was actually "our computer" until yesterday - so now it is like going though a messy computer divorce - I'm having to get all my stuff off of his computer so he can "move in".... I have copied off all of my iTunes Music, Videos, Applications, Photos, Documents, Mail accounts and etc and transferring it all over to my new computer. Then I'm also having to move stuff from my old PowerBook G4 and the Dell PC. It will be nice when it is all done, but it is taking lots of time to set everything up.

I ended up purchasing a new copy of Parallels for MAC and Windows XP so I can run the Lotus Notes Domino software on it. Fry's only had OEM versions of Windows XP - but it worked out fine. I setup Boot Camp so I can boot the MacBook Pro directly into Windows without having to load OS X. Then I installed Parallels and it recognized the Boot Camp version of Windows XP. Parallels will let me run Windows at the same time I run OS X. I have not setup much of the Windows XP stuff yet - I just got done copying all of the important files off the Dell - so I can just take the portable hard drive with me and work on it evenings at the hotel. I will eventually setup a Linux environment - but don't need right away....

I think I finally have my iPhone synched up with my new iTunes setup. I've lost my play lists, but that is no big deal. There's also a few apps I purchased that are on my iPod Touch, but not on the iPhone yet.... I have not played around with my iPhone much - I'm hoping that the video recording capability of it works well enough so maybe I can do some video blogging... would be a bit of a change from typing... I want to find a way that I can take pictures and videos and have them posted to the blog automatically... that might be asking for too much, but I think that I can figure something out with Automator built into OS X.

John put some stuff for sale on ebay today - two 30 gig iPod Videos and a SWR meter. We will eventually also sell my old Mac and the Dell Laptop... With some luck, we may make enough to reimburse the cost of an iPhone, or two.... Main reason for selling the stuff is that we don't need it anymore, so why take up space with it....

I have not started to pack for tomorrow yet. I did laundry today so it should not take very long to get everything in the suitcase in the morning.... famous last words....

Before I head off to bed I need to print out my e-tickets, rental car and hotel information so I know where I need to go and etc.... have a good night....

Hello All, John here... With news and commentary from Hot and Humid Arlington, TX.

First off, Work... Oh how I like to bitch about work. So, yesterday I closed (12:00 to 8:00 then lockup at 10:00), and Al was Unusually nice to me for what i didn't quite get at first, but then his motives surfaced. I started off with finishing the grass up, and went to grab the weed eater, and he stopped me telling me that he would take care of it.. Cool! It's hot out and if there is anything I hate doing more than anything else is weed eating (mostly because I am normally in shorts and I hate being covered in "Organic Matter" all damn day. But, in either case, I would have done it... I then finally talked him into cutting down a tree that has been dead forever and the person in the site left temporarily, so we could get at it without dropping it on his RV, so we did that. By then it was almost 4:00, time for him to leave, and he cornered me then about working today. I told him Tuesday that I wasn't Scheduled for Friday, reminded him Wednesday, and then Thursday Night he wants ME to confront Chuck about it. Sorry, I don't want to work I told him. More directly, the day off is worth more than the $40.00 I would make working. So I listen to his "We really could use you tomorrow" speech, and "We have so much to get done", blah Blah BLAH! I relented with, "If there is something specific, I will help you out, but if it is 'weed eating' I am really not interested." He then wanted me to talk with Chuck, and basically told him that it sounded to me like that was a "Maintenance Supervisor's Job". In any case, I dropped it and choose not to talk to Chuck, since I really did not want to work anyhow.

So, this AM, I was in the middle of a conversation with a Friend in WI, and I hear a knock on the door at 9:00. Fuck that, I ignored it. 9:30, Knock again. Ignored it. Then my phone rang. It was Al, and he said that "Chuck wanted to know why I wasn't at work". It is bad enough that he has to pressure me, but then straight out lie to me? Ok, Maybe Chuck didn't realize that I wasn't scheduled, fine, still not my problem. Maybe if Al wasn't such a douche to me most of the time I would have went in, maybe. The bottom line is, I wasn't on the schedule, and I wasn't coming in, if he doesn't like it tough, and if Chuck is that scatter brained that he can't schedule 8 people, again, not my problem. So, I am sure I am right up on top of the Ass Hole list at KOA today, but the great part about it... I don't get paid enough to care! Maybe it is time to move on...

Moving on... It is New Technology Day! Derek's reward to himself for completing the part time project was a new computer that he could use for development and personal stuff. He wanted another MacBook Pro, the new one, so I picked up the one and only in Arlington. Since today was the release of the iPhone 3Gs, I figured Best Buy would be Mobbed, along with the Apple Store, but Best Buy was closer, so I went there. Amazingly there was no line for iPhones, so I jumped at the chance to grab 2 of the new 32gb ones, the last two they had. Derek has wanted an iPhone since they came out, and I wouldn't mind one either... My big hold back has been the AT&T network, but most I talk to say it is usable or haven't had any problems. Everyone I have talked to LOVES their iPhone, and we decided we would try them. I decided not to Port our numbers, and get two fresh ones. Partly because we seem to be getting a lot of telemarketers lately, and secondly because I was able to get two sequential numbers. If you normally have our phone numbers and do not get an E-mail in the next day or so from us, PLEASE SEND ME AN EMAIL, and I will get it off to you. Now Derek needs to spend the weekend setting up his new computer and getting all his CRAP off mine! It will be kind of nice to have my own computer again. I'll let him explain more about the techy stuff.

Moving on again... I want to thank everyone who has sent congrats to me for the upgrade. It is nice to see that people still read the blog! Actually it will be interesting to see the numbers again at the end of the month as we tend to be on a big upswing again. I also want to make a comment about the Blog itself. Recently it has been brought to my attention from a old friend that sometimes I am hard on certain segments of the population, and I want to be really clear that my intention is never to alienate anyone. Our aim at keeping this Online Journal is about staying in touch, and keeping an online record of general events. It is by no means a complete record, nor is it meant to be that. It is also written from our point of view, which you may or may not agree with or even like to read. Understand that our goal isn't to judge people, but to share our thoughts on what we experience, we do not expect everyone to like everything we say. I feel being honest is worth more than making people feel warm and fuzzy. That being said, I do realize I (especially I) can be slightly (just a little) judgmental, controlling, and expressive of my opinion. Take it for what it is worth, about as much as you have paid to read it!


Anyhow, That is all I care to write for now! Derek can add some pretty pictures later if he desires!

See ya!

John

Hello All, John here.

Good Morning. Yes, I know, I am bored... Working nights at the KOA the last couple days. I don't so much mind the shift, as it is sort of the lazy person's shift, and I can do more of the things I like about work camping (interaction with the cool people, and mostly avoiding Al), but not going in until noon sort of throws me out of whack schedule wise. I still get up early so I have all this time to kill before noon, and I can't really go outside or I will be barraged by the King of Ass Clowns... Not to mention it has been Hot as hell here, and going outside means that I will literally melt. They keep saying it will get hotter, but I am not sure how it can, as you can hardly breath when you walk outside the way it is. Yesterday I pushed about 20 sites before had enough... I only have another 10 or so left. In the 3 hours it took me, I think I had to drink over 2 gallons of water to stay hydrated. It is getting a little old having to come home at lunch to shower and change clothes because what I am wearing is literally wringing wet. I also can report the KOA really does mean Kids on Attack, as since school has let out, we have had nothing but monsters running around. Our housekeeper is going crazy keeping up with them, and for some reason I am still in shock as to how these parents think it is just "Ok" to let them loose and destroy our property. I do think we should instate a new rule, a leash law for any child under 18. I get really frustrated at night when I have to lock up the pool and the brats pretend they didn't hear me.

In the HAM world... The ULS (ULS) has updated my FCC listing and now am a "Real" Amateur Extra class, and no longer have to use /AE on my call when on the extra bands. I was glad to see they went quickly, as my general took a couple weeks. When I was going through the Admin section of the ULS I saw they preformed a "Relight Review" of my upgrade. I am not certain what that means, and since I was granted the upgrade I assume nothing was wrong... A friend said they probably questioned my grant because I am in Texas. I'll let you all draw your own conclusions to that statement. Most of the call sign databases have not updated yet, but they will in time.

Yesterday morning I caught myself up on QSL cards, I was about a month behind. I try to keep a rigid process down as I send computerized logs into the ARRL LoTW, and eQSL, along with sending out paper cards. It isn't like I had a lot of contacts in the month (20 or so) but it does take a lot of time to write the cards out and address all the envelopes. I wonder how the big guns do it? I guess that is why QSLing is somewhat of a dying art. I still need to send the new design off to a printer, I have been being lazy with that. I want to find a quality photo printer that can do them reasonably, but my search hasn't yielded anyone who's work I have though was spectacular yet. I am sort of waiting for my next round of cards to arrive, so I can see who everyone else is using also.

We really have no big plans for the up coming weekend, but we should go do somehting as Derek is leaving me Sunday for almost a week for training. I really do hate it when he goes, I worry about him, and get really lonely. Prince and I will have to make do though, as this training is a big thing for him especially since he gets paid to go, and they are paying for it, which is EXTREMELY rare in the consultant world. The bad part is that now it will become harder to exit Texas when we have had enough. I think we are both hoping that his current employer might be willing to do some sort of "work-mobile" situation in the future, as changing jobs right now isn't the brightest idea, and doesn't look like it will be anytime in the near future.

Anyhow, that's all I got...

Have a great day! John

Greetings from the urban area with the second most angry, aggressive drivers in the United States - the first is New York City.... I blame the bad traffic in the greater Dallas area on over privileged, self-important dinks in suv's.... just my observation....

I found out this morning that the IBM Quickr training will be a reality for me - so I will be flying from Dallas to Philadelphia this Sunday, returning on Thursday night. John and Prince are already giving me the guilt trip for not taking them along. I would like to, but John's work schedule is such that he really can't give such short notice to have a week off... I'm looking forward to the training, but it will be sad and lonely not having John around.... I will have to sit in my hotel room in the fetal position, rock back and forth and cry myself to sleep.... (Do computer stuff, watch TV shows he does not like and chat with him online is more like how I will spend the evenings....)

Tonight I'm taking care of Father's Day presents - hope I have everything ordered in time for delivery by Friday. I paid for faster delivery to help my odds....

Now that John passed his ham radio exam, he is kinda bored tonight - nothing to study for and worry about... He spent most of the day mowing grass out in the sun and heat. He has mowed 80% of the park in the last two days and should finish up tomorrow - at least for now. I assume that the grass will dry up and stop growing come July... The side effect of his job is that he has a nice dark tan, sun bleached hair and a sunny disposition.....

Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-list is on (via DVR) - she is so funny... I died laughing last week when she said "I don't go to your job and knock the dicks out of your mouth" while on stage with Bette Middler.....

Welcome from a hot, hot, Texas....

The temps were in the upper 90's - very close to 100 °. The A/C in the motor home is not keeping up very well during the day - right now at 8:00p, the temp inside is 83 ° it will cool down in the next hour or so as the sun sets.. John is thinking about adding a ceiling air conditioner in the bedroom to help with cooling. Not sure I want to try sleeping with an air conditioner above me and one under me... The dual compressor basement air in the motor home is in the general area of under my side of the bed....

The AC at work is also not keeping up very well - in the afternoon the smell of computer consultants (curry and body odor) wafts through the air. I have a oscillating fan at my desk that helps keep me cool...

I signed up for Quicker training through IBM today, but in order for me to sign up for a class, I need to have an IBM Customer #. I got signed up for the class and for the IBM Customer number, but it takes three to five days for the customer numbers to be assigned - so I will not know for sure if there is room for me in the class until Wednesday at the earliest. I'm sure the short notice airfare will be cheap..... You would think IBM would have their stuff together a bit better.... If the training comes together I will be going to Philadelphia, PA this Sunday and return the following Thursday....

I spent most of the day wrapping up a small project - I finished it up by adding a way for the system to automatically send emails to people who submitted documents in the last quarter... so much fun... at least Lotus Notes does a nice job to doing emails..... Then I spent the remainder of the day reviewing a Quicker manual - went over how the basic functions of it work. It is very similar to how QuickPlace worked, but just a little more advanced functionality and pretty looking.

The drive home from work took me 90 minutes because of several accidents - it sucked driving 2 to 5 mphs for 20 miles..... I was stuck behind an old light blue Ford Fairmont car from the early 1980's. It was actually in decent condition except for the paint job being all chalky from the intense sunlight here... It's been awhile since I've seen a Fairmont on the road....

John got all of the cabling done on the ham radio setup yesterday. He ran some tests and found that one of the connections was not right. After some adjustments it is all working well - he says that the reception is much quieter then before with less interference. He is also able to tune on 6 meters a bit better then before. He says that the results of the improved cabling was as expected.

Not much else going on - we are watching True Blood on HBO... John is into the show more then I am, but Ryan Kwanten is quite the hot dish to watch....

Howdy, from a hot and humid Arlington, TX...

It is already really hot and humid outside and it is only 10:45am - this will be the hottest day we've had so far here... expected to get up to 97 ° outside...

The Ham Com 2009 was lots of fun yesterday. We arrived around 10:00am and checked out all of the vendors and tailgaters. We did not purchase any big ticket items - just more connectors for the coax, magazines, a used cash box and a digital clock that displays GMT. I saw some a cool "IBM Convertible" computer that I wanted, but John would not let me get it. IBM Convertible was the first laptop sold by IBM. We found an older TNC Packet Modem, but John would not let me get it. I found a cool "CW Keyboard", but John would not let me get it. It was a keyboard where you press a key and it generates the Morse code for the key you pressed.

Here's a picture of a cool Halicrafters TV set - from the late 1940's - early 1950's that one of the tailgaters had for sale:



Here's a short video of the tail gate area and John purchasing a cable with connectors on it:



The outside area was in the direct sunlight and was very hot. The guys from Texas did not seem to mind the heat, but I would only deal with it for 15 minutes before heading back inside to the AC. It was fun to check out the vendors selling new stuff inside. John pointed out all of the stuff he would like to obtain someday.... I asked him how much he has spent on ham radio equipment since he got into the hobby and he came up with the figure of around $25,000.....

The local American Red Cross was there showing off their emergency communications van. They have lots of radios and satellite radio/telephone installed and ready to go to support emergencies. Here's some pics I took of the van:





I then attended a few sessions. One on Starting HF Contesting, 6-Meter DXing and HF Contesting. The first two were a bit disappointing - the speakers really didn't bring anything new and exciting to the topics. The HF Contesting session was interesting because it talked about ethics during contests. There's lots of little unethical "tricks" operators can do to give themselves an unfair advantage during contests and the presenter explained the most practical course of actions to take when you observe people cheating. Main options are to just leave and don't participate with cheaters, and to nicely ask them if they know they are breaking the rules. Ham radio operators don't gain money from contests and operating. The main thing they gain is a reputation for the type of operator they are.

We meet up with members of the Rainbow Amateur Radio Association (RARA) and hung out with them for most of the afternoon. We waited around until the 5:00pm drawing for the unclaimed prizes and the grand prize - a Yaesu 857D transceiver. Nobody in the group won any prizes. After the drawing we waited around for the traffic to die down and then headed over to a Texas Roadhouse restaurant for supper. I did not have anything to eat since breakfast, so I was a bit hungry. I enjoyed a large Miller Lite, 12 oz Ribeye with salad and potato while taking part in the the ham radio conversations going on.

We made it home by 10:30pm. The GPS took us on a strange route to get home and we had to go through two Toll roads. We don't have a TX Tag (Electronic toll collection device) so we had to go through the manual lanes. The manual lanes don't have real people working at them, so you have to take your dollar, put it in a change machine to get quarters, then drive ahead a few feet and put them in the change collector to pay the toll. Could they make the process any slower? The car in front of us decided to get $3.00 worth of change and then ended up putting it all in the change collector because it was not working properly and giving them a green light to go... I need to see about getting a TX Tag....

This morning John was up early working on redoing all of the coax wiring for the ham radio. He ran cables from radio inside, through holes in the floor (holes were originally where seat belts were attached) and to the back of the mo-ho where the antennas are. He has the cables setup so he can disconnect them from the outside and not have to re-run them through the floor holes again. He has it all about done and ready to test out and see if there is any improvement in the signal quality and amount of interference. The new coax cable is thicker then the old cable so I think it should do the trick. He just took off to Pep-Boys to get some more plastic tie straps to secure the cable to the antenna...

That's it for now... I'm off to get laundry done, think about all the cool stuff at Hamfest that I did not buy, and stay cool....