Some time ago, I mentioned my recent involvement in amateur radio, a hobby most associated with old men, geeks in white short-sleeve shirts with pocket protectors, and survivalists. And it is true that we have people who fit all of those stereotypes in my club. I obviously don’t; I’m not an old man, I don’t wear white short-sleeve shirts, and I’m not a survivalist.
I’ve wanted to get my ham ticket (license, for you civilians) for a long time. Unfortunately, before 2007, you needed to be able to both send and receive messages in Morse code, something I can’t do on a bet. The FCC decided to drop that requirement because it’s silly, so the primary obstacle to achieving this goal was removed. It also helped that I had a shitty job at a call center where I spent the bulk of my time making outbound calls, which left me with a lot of time to study. It also speaks volumes that I managed to study enough to pass what are some very difficult exams with a lot of technical information. Once I passed the first exam (out of three total), I joined my local radio club.
All I have right now is a small handheld two-band transceiver, which is adequate for most day-to-day use, but for most of the good stuff, I’ve been using a friend’s rig (radio, for you civilians). So far, I’ve made contact with a bunch of states and Canada. I think it’s a lot of fun and it’s worth all of the work I’ve put into it.
So what blows y’all’s skirt up and how did you get into it?
But is it a trick… It says MMP, but it looks like a regular post… No code words. No Swampy. no FCM.
Horses. As a kid I pestered my folks into whatever riding lessons, or riding on relatives’ horses or ANYTHING ON A HORSE, we could figure out. We didn’t have much money, so it was eked out around the edges, usually summers.
In college, I became that barn girl. I worked to earn extra money, joined the school team and spent all my extra time with horses. I started mainly western (high school), but in college competed in hunt seat and jumping, then moved on to dressage. After college, I kept up the dressage. I gave up my last horse about 7 years ago. My kids were very young, and my horse at the time turned out to be dangerous. I’d like to get back into now that the kids are older.
Morning, mumpers - another hot one over this side of The Pond and I work in a building that has no aircon and very few windows that we can open without having to climb halfway up the walls.
Sunny, the others will be along later, it’s a bit early in the day for those old folks…so make the most of Moooom’s absence and put that drink down without a coaster!
My favourite thing, well that would be live music and comedy. I spent so much of my summers (and still do) at music festivals and outdoor events. I guess I have just never grown up because it’s still such a fun thing to do.
Good morning! Yesterday’s forecast said we could get 1-2" of rain overnight. We go nothing. Stoopit weather! Now it’s looking like we can’t expect any real rain till next week.
My interests/obsessions over the years have been many.
[ul]
[li]Ballet - I wanted to dance when I was a kid, but there was no money for lessons, so the best I could do was check out ballet books from the library, then swipe my mom’s classical records and play them on my crappy record player in the basement while I “practiced.” I finally took lessons when I went to college the first time, but age 18 isn’t a good time to start ballet, so the world missed out.[/li]
[li]Music - I had accordion lessons at 7, and when I was about 12 or 13, I bought my first guitar and taught myself to play. I was going to be in a rock band!! Unfortunately, my two friends, who were the rest of the group, had close to zero musical talent, so that never happened. I did, however, continue with my guitar for many years, altho I haven’t played it now in quite a while. In fact, it’s in Orlando with my daughter.[/li]
[li]Flying - when I was in the Navy, I had a roomie who was taking flying lessons, so when I got to San Diego, I joined the flying club and got my license. For several years, I flew quite a lot, getting my instrument ticket and getting within about 4 hours of my commercial license, when I suddenly quit and never flew again. Sometimes I miss it, but mostly not.[/li]
[li]Sailing - still in the Navy and just back from a 6-month deployment to Sicily, I decided to take sailing lessons, which led almost immediately to marriage and about 27 years of boat ownership, including 2 that we lived aboard at various times. Then came retirement and the realization that owning a boat at that point just wasn’t worth the cost when we calculated that we were paying about $500/month (without boat payments, since we owned it outright) just to have it sit in the marina, insure it, and do minimal annual maintenance - any trips would be added cost on top of that. We could always charter if we wanted to, but so far, we haven’t wanted to.[/li]
[li]Pottery - I was just a bit past my 50th birthday and I decided to take lessons because using the wheel looked like fun. I now have my own studio full of stuff and 150# of clay that I just bought to continue making stuff. We’ll see how long this obsession lasts.[/li][/ul]
Oddly enough, there’s still a part of me that wishes I could have been a dancer…
Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffienatin’. YAWN 'Tis 78 Amurrkin out with a predicted high of 97 and a heat index of a hunnert and ten! Also, we have a 50-60 percent chance of rain/tstorms/apocalypse today and a cool down to ninety Amurrkin tomorrow after the “front” blows through. I hope we get the storms. I lurves me some tstorms!
I am delayed goin’ into the orifice this mornin’. I got a text sayin’ there’s a problem with power to the buildin’ (yet again!) and the buildin’ would be open around nine this mornin’ as the problem is bein’ worked on as I post. I notified assistant via text so I guess I get to hang out at da cave for a little while. No worries, I can irk from here just as well as the orifice. Matter of fact I have a conference call (ick!) at eight-thirty this mornin’ so I’ll just do that from here. My life is just so excitatin’.
Ya know I really don’t have a passion. Well, there’s OYKW, but I don’t think that’s what Rockin’ is talkin’ about. However, I do think amateur radio is cool. Kinda like teh intartoobz except one talks instead of types.
Ok, I need more caffiene and rumbly tummy wants to be fed. Then, I suppose I should go ahead and purtify for irk, alas and alack.
Departure time to Maine is just over 24 hrs. I am 3/4 packed, just waiting to put in the last minutes stuff tomorrow am. Will irk for a couple of hours then have a co-irker take me across the street to the h-airport. Am super nervous as I have another co-irker who was supposed to return today but flight got cancelled and she is stuck in Tulsa for another day.
Hobbies for me include but not limited to:
Reading (Sci/Fi, Fantasy, Autobiographies)
Computer games (Diablo, EQ2, Star Wars)
Live Action Role Playing (LARP) Actually haven’t done this one in a couple of years but dedicated 10+ to it. I have WAY TOO MUCH costuming to really let it completely go. I still go to pirate/ren faires.
Growing up, all my passions were connected to my dream of becoming a Broadway Diva - dancing, singing, acting, designing, etc. But I’ve also always had a fascination with astronomy; not enough to study it in school, because Broadway, but I loved watching the constellations, going to planetariums, reading about how the planets formed, all that, as long as it was on my terms.
Lucky I always get nervous before I fly. I’m not afraid of flyin’ but I do not like to fly. I accept it as a way to get from point a to point b faster than drivin’ but I still don’t like to fly
It’s a hot sticky morning, or maybe I’m just hot and sticky because I’m pissed off already.
Wake up in the morning and I gotta pee and I can’t get in the bathroom because some POS is in there. I know I shouldn’t get mad that they have to use the bathroom too but dammit they are in my way and they were supposed to be gone 2 years ago. Damn liars!
So then I go all the way downstairs and okay I did get a thrill out of flushing the toilet while one of them was in the shower. I come back up and my bedroom door is open. I do NOT leave my bedroom door open so one of them for whatever reason opened my door. So I told them they had better never touch my bedroom door again (I left out the part about slitting their throats if they do) and then I jumped on them that they need to clean up their dogs piss stains off that carpet because I’m tired of hearing mom bitch about them and that they both need to grow up and take care of their dogs and stop leaving their shit all over the house.
Fucking selfish rude obnoxious assholes the both of them.
And thusly starts my day.
Oh course knowing my mother she will deny bitching about the piss stains because she doesn’t want him to be mad at her - like why she cares I have no idea - but she’ll get a clean carpet, and I’ll be the bad guy in all this.
Ans while I’m on a bitch roll
I sent the realtor an email about two houses that just came down in price that I want to see. Of course she is out of town AGAIN and then sends back to me that she won’t be back until Wednesday *and * she’s not sure she can get a baby sitter. Well, excuse the hell out of me but I don’t want to hear that she doesn’t have a baby sitter. That is NOT my problem, my problem is that I am missing out on seeing houses because she is not available and I lost out on the last contract because she couldn’t write it the same day we saw the house because she didn’t have a sitter and had to get home, and then she went away for the weekend. I doubt if either one of these houses will be available after today, it was a pretty weekend and the houses were priced to sell.
I’m sure they will both have contracts on them by tomorrow.
I like hockey(bet you didn’t know that). I remember the 1980 Olympics, and they held the 1988 Olympic hockey trials in Greensboro, so Dad too me to see that. I also like to draw a little. And so I have inspiration for the toons, I adopt weird dogs. I also cook(We tailgate at hockey games, so it ties in with that ,too)
Sari, good lick with the houses. Have you thought about getting another realtor? Someone more competent and mre energetic, like a small primate or something.
My obsessions are reading (obviously), thinking out stories in my head (one of which is actually making it out of my head through my hands now :eek:), crocheting, especially recycled crocheting (making things out of plastic bags or old t-shirts), cross stitch (which I really need to get back into), and playing far too much Skyrim.
I used to play viola, but it broke (nothing major) and I need to get it fixed. I’ve been needing to get it fixed for over a decade. I may actually still know how to play it.
rockin’ my old neighbors in Pirateville were ham operators. They were cool folks.
**sari **- can’t you complain to her boss? And I guess I’m out of the loop, because we never had any contracts with our buyer agents, just when we were sellers - is this something new?
Back from erranding and about to go out and start pulling up stumps in the front yard - good times!
a contract with a buyer is a scam. Realtors work for the seller. Contact the BBB and/or Consumer affairs.
btw - have you checked her credtials/rating on Realtor.com? You can also give her a bad rating/review there
I do like to cook but I’d hesitate to call it a passion. I’m not in the kitchen whippin’ up gourmet delights, just good food.
Sari you need to complain loud and long with that realtor’s boss. I know she has one. I’m with Rosie on givin’ her a bad review as well. She’s inconsistent, incompetent (IMO), and unreliable.
Oh, and howdy from the orifice. I shall shortly take off to the southeast forty. I need to visit four places in three counties before the storms that are allegedly comin’ in get here. Fortunately two are across the street from each other so this is doable.
FCM the last time I bought a house there were no buyer and seller agents, there were just agents. I signed with the listing agents to sell a house, never signed with a buyer agent.
The day started irritating and it’s been one more annoyance after another. Nothing to get upset over but annoying anyway. Maybe all the bullshit will be done and over with today and the rest of the week will go well.
So my passions
My first love was horses and my parents refused to even let me take lessons. However when I was 16 and could drive I got a job and bought a horse and had him until Sah-son was a toddler. Then it became having to choose between feeding my horse and feeding my son, so the horse went off to be a companion to another horse.
If you had ever seen my horse with my son though, my horse was so sweet and gentle with Sah-son. The horse would stomp on my porch for my son to come out and play or sometimes my son would open a window and my horse would stick his head inside for my son to pet him. They were great buddies and my horse tolerated a lot from my son, like trying to climb up his leg. Also, my son would take out an fistful of fruit loops to my horse and my horse would gently lick the cereal from between my sons fingers.
I had a lot of mini heart attack moments with those two but my horse seemed to understand and was very gentle and careful with Sah-son.
My biggest regret was giving my horse away but at the time I saw no way out, I just couldn’t afford him anymore.
My other passion was belly dancing. I started out for fun and as a way to entice my bf of the time. Eventually I got good enough to dance professionally. The best compliment I ever got was when a group if Iranians thought I was Iranian (and believe me I do not look Iranian) and if I wasn’t they were sure I had trained in the Middle-East. I know there were a lot of better dancers out there, it was my attitude that made me good. I never went out with a ‘look a me, I’m a star’ attitude. I went out with a ‘this is a party and we’re all going to have a good time’ attitude. I was always laughing and smiling and if a man gave me any grief I’d give it right back - in a teasing way. One night there was a man in his 80s who kept lifting up my skirts to look under them. He looked really good for 80 and I was surprised at his age. After the 3rd or 4th time he tried to lift my skirts I said, ‘wow you really must be in your 80s if you can’t remember what’s under there!’. I know other dancers that would have stopped the show and insisted he stop or they would leave. Why? Make a joke about it and keep going. If somebody wanted to get up and dance too it was all good, I’d tie a few veils on the guy and tell him to walk this way and make him do all the slinky sexy moves. Sometimes I’d even sit down and clap and tell him to keep going. It wasn’t about showing off, it was about having fun.
However, I do think amateur radio is cool. Kinda like teh intartoobz except one talks instead of types.
I also cook(We tailgate at hockey games, so it ties in with that ,too)
