I don't usually pay much attention to Hollywood celebrities, and I was certainly not in tune with Mr. Reford's pollical views. He has a special place in my heart for one reason - this ......."The Natural", one of the better baseball movies ever made.
If you're a fan of the game, you gotta love Roy Hobbs.
72 de Larry W2LJ
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with family. There was good food, good laughs and a very enjoyable day. But I did not get the chance to get online and share my wishes for you for a Blessed and Happy Easter. We Catholics celebrate the actual Easter holy days for a week - an octave, so technically, I'm not too late.
72 de Larry W2LJ
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Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock.
The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear.
The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord.
And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”
And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying:
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.
When the angels went away from them to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.”
So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger.
When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child.
All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds.
So why is the line "you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” so important? Because these shepherds were not your ordinary any-day-of -the-week Bethlehem shepherds. These were the shepherds of the Migdal Eder, which was very close by to where Jesus, Mary and Joseph were. It was a place reserved for raising lambs for temple sacrifice. When an ewe birthed a lamb, the shepherds would immediately clean it and then wrap it in blessed swaddling cloths supplied by the local Rabbis. These lambs were wrapped and laid in mangers so they would not get hurt, and become blemished and unfit for sacrifice.
No ...... these angels knew EXACTLY who they were telling the Good News to, and how the meaning behind this all would be immediately understood.
Merry and Blessed Christmas!
72 de Larry W2LJ
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Here in the U. S. of A, it's Veteran's Day where we honor and celebrate those who have sacrificed their time in order to have served our country in our Armed Forces. A HUGE THANK YOU!
Yesterday was a mixed day. I was happy because I did get to the car at lunchtime and made a POTA contact on 20 Meters with WS4Y at US-1873 in Florida. That was nice. Then, up the band a ways, I heard NV4H in New Mexico. re-tuned the ZM-2 until the red LED went out, as per the instructions, but for some reason, I still got a high SWR warning on the QMX and it went into self-protection mode and would not transmit. I still have a lot of "getting used to" with the QMX ahead of me. I guess I've been spoiled by how easy the KX3 is to use..
When I got home, I was saddened to learn of the passing of two people:
The other person whose passing away touched me is James Earl Jones.
This clip, from Field of Dreams, is one of my absolute favorites. The world will remember him as the voice of Darth Vader and the voice of CNN, but to me, James Earl Jones will always be Terence Mann, delivering perhaps the finest soliloquy about baseball that I've ever heard.
RIP Eddie and James - I hope you get to meet each other on the Field of Dreams.
72 de Larry W2LJ
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A couple randon photos. If it's not too hot, I'll give the AX1 and extended whirl from one of the picnic tables here where we're staying.
72 de Larry W2LJ
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I'm a child of the Space Age - I grew up watching the launches of Shepard, Glenn - the entire Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs are my childhood and young adulthood memories.
I found this on the internet the other day. It's a film about the flight of Apollo 15 and Commander Dave Scott is one of the producers.
It's 55 minutes long, but is very well done and is worth the watch, IMHO - especially if your a space nerd/geek like I am.
https://film.apollo15hub.org/?fbclid=IwAR0dXWeMfYpJBomb3WFLAubahiTF3waPNbPwADQHG1Gay6oeDfM8b1cDVjA
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
72 de Larry W2LJ
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No radio time for W2LJ this past weekend. It was time for decorating the interior of the house and also time for the annual Christmas light fight. I was too busy setting up the tree (artificial - real ones play havoc with my sinuses) and just about pulling out my gray hair over Christmas lights. It is so frustrating to have strings of lights where entire sections go dark.
I look at the sidebar of my blog here and I see a total of 38 posts for the entire year of 2022. Holy Shamoley - that's pretty bad! I know some of you are probably wondering what's been going on.
Frankly, my attention has been divided this year. I chronicled the work accident that I had with my hand last January and then how I was diagnosed with prostate cancer shortly thereafter. It's been an interesting year to say the least.
Fortunately, as previously mentioned, the cancer diagnosis came really early while the situation remained very treatable. In fact, just this last Friday, I just finished a nine week round of radiation therapy, rather than opting for surgery.
For those who are not familiar, that means nine weeks of radiation exposure every day, Monday through Friday for nine solid weeks. Each treatment was about 15 minutes long and was absolutely painless. The main side effect was intense fatigue, and I did end up telling my doctor that I now know what a microwave chicken feels like! Extreme tiredness from the therapy, in addition to working full time left me with no desire to even so much look at a radio. The thought of undertaking a portable operation or going down to the shack seemed akin to climbing Mount Everest. Most evenings I was in bed before 8:00 PM. I still can't manage to view one of my favorite television programs, "Blue Bloods" which airs on Friday nights at 10:00 PM. I'm out like a light way before that!
My doctor had mentioned that I tolerated the therapy very well, all things considered. Most patients, according to to him, are not able to finish the course of treatment in one shot. Many times the series of weeks need to be interrupted so that one or more breaks can be taken. He was amazed that not only was I able to finish the course of treatment in one shot, but that I was also able to continue working full time simultaneously.
I have to tell you, there was also a lot of driving involved. I'm a contract worker here where I work, so if I'm not here, I don't get paid. To maintain a 40 hour per week paycheck, I would wake up super early (4:00 AM) and come to work super early, put in some time, leave for therapy (at a hospital back near home) and then return to work to finish out the day. That meant putting about 100 miles per day on my car, and with gasoline prices doing their roller coaster ride over the last few months that also taxed my wallet. Needless to say, any Ham radio purchases that I may have been considering are on an indefinite hold.
None if this is to call attention to myself, to pat myself on the back or to engage in a self pity party. I just wanted all of you to know that I have not gone the way of the Dodo and am in no danger of extinction. As my energy level slowly returns to normal, my passion for radio and blogging will also return. But I do want to impress upon my readers, especially the "more mature" ones - make your you get a PSA test on a regular, yearly basis. That, and the grace of God are what led me on this journey which so far is looking very good and may have very well saved my life.
You know, the irony of all this is that I went totally QRP back in the very early 2000's because I was concerned about the effects that high levels of RF might have had on my kids. I didn't want to take any chances with their health considering that my wire antennas were anchored to the house, near their bedrooms. Now 20 some years later, I myself got to experience the life and times of a frozen microwave dinner!
72 de Larry W2LJ
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Thinking of you in your time of mourning.
If there was ever someone who was the epitome of service to their country, it was Queen Elizabeth.
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God save the Queen! Long live King Charles III
72 de Larry W2LJ
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53 years! Where did the time go?
Buzz Aldrin is the only crew member left. The flight jacket he wore during the mission is up for auction with Sotheby's and is expected to go for more than 2 million. Wow!
I was 12 years old and was absolutely GLUED to the TV set that day. If you're old enough to remember, where were you?
72 de Larry W2LJ
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In Sunday's Skeeter post, I mentioned a story about pencil and paper. I know such methods are "old school", but ..........
Last Saturday, I went into a local auto parts shop to by floor mats for the car we recently purchased for our daughter. She is going to be commuting back and forth to college this year and she needed some wheels. I looked around inside the shop and found a set that were the right size and the right color.
I took them up to the clerk behind the register to finalize the purchase. That's when it started.
"I can't seem to ring this up. The computer thinks we don't have any stock, it won't allow me to continue."
"But you're holding them right in your hand!".
"Let me try another register"
Same result - the computer running the register(s) thinks there is no stock No stock - no purchase - even though there most definitely IS stock on hand.
I offered a solution. "Why don't you just ring it up manually, then?"
That's when I got "The Look". You know ...... the look like you're a visitor from another planet, you have three heads and you've just asked this guy to take you to his leader.
"Ummmm ..... we can't do this manually"
What the bloody heck? "You can't do a manual transaction?", I asked - somewhat dumbfounded.
"No, this is a problem for the IT Department. They'll have to fix this. I can hold these on the side for you if you want to come back another time."
I took the mats, politely said "No, thanks" and put them back on the rack and left the store.
I hate to sound like an old geezer, but I remember my retail days when cash registers were mechanical, the electric ones could be overridden, and if you wanted a receipt we wrote it up using a pen on a receipt pad that had carbon paper to make duplicates.
How is commerce going to continue with such a reliance on the internet and computers if and when the fecal matter hits the rotary air oscillating device?
Is it a generational gap thing? Is it a laziness thing? Is it something else? This was by no means a major transaction - but what if it was? Suppose I had items that totaled up to hundreds of dollars? You turn that away because you can't perform a manual transaction? This boggles my mind.
We ..... and I include myself in this .... rely on computers way too much. To relate this to Amateur Radio, I think from now on, I am going to print out my Amateur Radio logbook and regular, periodic updates and keep it in a 3 ring binder someplace - besides keeping it backed up on a thumb drive and on Google Drive. There's just too much data - 43 years worth of QSOs to lose should something happen. But, on the other hand, I suppose if something of that magnitude were to happen, my personal Ham Radio history might be the last thing I'd be worried about, anyway.
But still ............ I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this.
72 de Larry W2LJ
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Joyeux Noël.
Frohe Weinachten.
Feliz Navidad.
Buon Natale.
Feliz Natal.
Vrolijk kerstfeest.
Crăciun fericit.
Wesołych świąt Bożego Narodzenia
From my house to your house, wherever it may be:
A Very Merry and Blessed Christmas to you and yours!
72 de Larry W2LJ
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I guess just everybody around the globe knows that the US Presidential Election is today. I feel really strongly about this and want to share this - because I feel it's important.
No matter what happens today - no matter who wins this election - the sun will rise tomorrow, the earth will keep spinning. There's more to life than politics. Take time to smell the flowers, enjoy sunrises and sunsets, talk with friends, share time with family. Pet your dog or cat. Get on the radio! Live again ........ and the best part of all? NO MORE POLITICAL COMMERCIALS! (At least for now).
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
