Pilot of The Airwaves

Understanding America

2010-09-19T08:34:00.003-04:00

I've been trying to keep myself busy lately, to keep my mind off a recent loss. And while trolling the recesses of Facebook and watching a mashup of the Old Spice commercials and Cthulhu, I came up with an idea for this post. Kim has said to me some time ago I should update my blog. So I am killing 2 birds, with one stone!

So I was thinking about how I could alleviate some tension in the world, and I came to the understanding that the people who hate America, just perhaps don't truly understand us. They get their news form THIER version of Fox News or some other slanted news source, and only see what they feed them. So, I have come up with an idea to help people like the Taliban and Al-Qaeda better understand us as Americans. Maybe show them that we're really not a bunch of worthless infidels at all. But I need your help. I need 10 movies that they could watch AND shows America at it's best! So please, contribute to my list, and help me help us. I'll get it started....

My first suggestion is The Blues Brothers, starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. 2 brothers, trying to do God's work and save their old school from being closed, all while fighting Nazis and crazed American Country Western singers. (Yes, we have musicians here in America that sing BOTH kinds of music.) All this while evading the law and trying to clean their good name. This movie show "All American" values from the get go! It even has an awesome soundtrack to drive your car through a mall too! DAMN I LOVE AMERICA! I suspect even Tea Baggers would endorse this!

So I got it started , please contribute your ideas. And remember to let us know what values it brings out, that is best about America! I look forward to your submission!

Padawan Comedian

2009-11-06T07:47:00.002-05:00

Here's a little exchange between me and the Padawan this morning after discovering that Google was celebrating 40 years of Sesame Street!

Me: Terry come look who is on Google!
Padawan: *LOUD GIGGLE* Cool!
Me: Yeah! Sesame Street has been around a little longer than daddy.
Padawan: Back in Dinosaur Land?
Me: Um... Nooo not THAT long.

My kid is too damn smart for her own good. LOL

No LAN? No StarCraft 2 a.ka. StarCrap!

2009-07-01T20:10:00.006-04:00

OK, I've been playing StarCraft since it came out back in 1998. Some guys at the office were talking about it and said I needed to get on and play. So I went out, paid my $30 and got the game. I wasn't that great at first, but I played and got better. Then when BroodWars came out, I got that as well and played and always had a blast! It was a staple at LAN parties I hosted and everyone of us that played, loved every game. Even today, 11 years later, myself and many of my friends still play it.

But back in the day, we had problems with Battle.net. The free service Blizzard offers to allow StarCraft players, as well as other Blizzard games, to connect and find games, online. Battle.net was laggy. Some times painfully so. So must of us stuck to LAN play till it got to the point where we couldn't always drag our machines to each other's houses, so we looked for solutions. One being a 3rd party server call BNetD. This server was reversed engineered LEGALLY, yet Blizzard saw it as a threat to their business and pushed the idea that it encouraged piracy because BNetD didn't check CD keys to see if they were valid or not. The coders of BNetD even offered to code in a way for the server to check with Battle.net to see if the CD Keys were valid. And Blizzard didn't even have to reveal any of their own code for Battle.net. But Blizzard wouldn't have any of it and shut them down using the DCMA, which has been and is still used to punish a company's competition. It's a widely held belief on the net that Blizzard's motives were out of profit. NOT the users wishes to be able to play in a lag free environment. Because of this, I boycotted Blizzard all of Blizzard's new products. WarCraft 3 and World of WarCraft.

With the announcement of StarCraft 2, I was thrilled and hopeful that Blizzard would not pull another knuckle head move like it did many years before. And then seeing some of the videos of game play of StarCraft 2, pretty much sealed the deal for me until....

Blizzard Entertainment has just announced that StarCraft 2 will not offer LAN play. That all multi player games will go through Battle.net. They say they will offer new features and stats and the like, and it would make for a better experience for players. I have no doubt it would. But what about those people that don't have Internet? Yes, even in the 21st century, there are places where Internet connectivity is to cost prohibitive. Plus, what if you want a simple LAN game with your friends? Bandwidth caps?

They also say it'll help stop piracy. Seriously? Are you shitting me? You really think that connecting through Battle.net and checking a CD Key is going to STOP it? Has it stopped Starcraft 1 from being pirated? No. Yet after 11 years, it's still available in stores like Wal-Mart and Target. Why is that? Because it's an awesome game, has NO copy protection to stop people from playing or installing and is FUN! Dudes, I want to know what you are drinking so I can get some of this magic drink that makes you think this is going to work for you. Really, that is the most stupid, lame ass reason in the world. It WON'T make a dent. If you make a great game, and make it easy for people to install and play, they will continue to play it and buy new copies. Hell, I bought 2 copies of StarCraft Warchest to replace CDs and have extra for people at LAN parties!

Now you want to kill all this? Sometimes a LAN party is more fun then doing it all online. Like chipping in for pizza and soda. Talking smack with out having to type it in because the guy is behind you playing too. And best of all, troubleshoot any problems you or some one else may have because they are RIGHT THERE! And the best of all... NO FUCKING LAG!!

So Blizzard, I know my lone opinion makes zero difference in the scheme of things, but I signed this petition, and the other 25, 000+ people before me that signed and the ones that sign after me all think this is bullshit. Don't get all full of yourselves because of the popularity of WoW. Because, as of right now, you just lost a sale.

OPERATION: BYE BYE CABLE

2009-05-03T14:18:00.004-04:00

So recently, I was going over my finances and discovered I was paying out more then I was making. So that meant, I had to ditch something. And that something was Cable TV. With the switch to Digital TV more channels would be available to the masses for free. So doing some

research, I found out I could get those channels for little money and as good as quality as Cable TV offered. So I decided to see just how good it could be. I first did a few experiments at my friend Miker's house with a simple dipole. Yeah, it was crude and only got him 3 channels, but since he HAS no cable, 3 channels is better than 0, and he was very happy. So after checking out Antenna Web to see what I could possibly get, I got started with planning out what I needed to do.

First up, I needed to know what kind of antenna I should get. Yeah, I could have built one, but I wanted to do this in a reasonable amount of time. And with my work schedule, sometimes that makes it difficult. So first, I tried this one. I got a few more channels then Miker did, but no where near as many was listed from Antenna Web. After doing a little more research and throwing together some ideas, I decided that an outdoor antenna would be the best bet for getting more stations.

So I did a little reading and narrowed down the antenna to this beauty! The same one that is pictured above. After assembling it, I first put it on the shorter mast that has my 2 meter/70 cm antenna, and hooked it up to my LCD TV in my kitchen. I only had 50 feet of coax, so yeah, I moved the TV. After having it scan, it found 25 channels!! SWEET! But what if I put it up higher on the other mast? Hmm. Well, I moved it and found out I actually LOST 10 channels! SO I figured I should just move it back. But only one problem. I was half scared putting up on the higher mast, and getting it down myself wasn't going to happen. So I called my friend and fellow Ham Op Andrew (KC2EUS) and asked him if he could just take it down so I could move it back to the other mast. I'm not too big with heights.

So about 30 minutes later, Andrew showed up and he took down the antenna and discovered a small mistake I had made. I had installed the radials backwards. they were supposed to point forward, not back, so we switched those around and reinstalled the antenna on the shorter mast. After coming back into the house and hooking it up to the TV, I was able to get all the channels I had gotten before. So while I didn't get EVERY single channel on the list, I did get a big chunck of them.

Overall cost of Phase I? $90

So now, with all the new info I now have, it's time for Phase 2! What is Phase 2? Come back and see.

FRAK! I'm getting older?

2009-04-05T01:00:00.000-04:00

And so another birthday is here. Yep, I'm 38 now. When will this linear time thing stop? Ah well. In years past, my birthdays have been really shitty. But this year, oh man. It's going to be AWESOME! How you ask? "Well, lemme tell ya'!"

The plan was to go to N.A.B., the National Association of Broadcasters Expo, in Las Vegas. I was going to go with one of my show's cohost, Bill P. But things fell through and Kim and I decided to go anyways for a little vacation. We booked our flight, made our plans and we're set to leave in 2 weeks from the date of this post. But unknown by me, Kim had something planned. One of the best presents I could ever get! She got tickets to see Penn & Teller! YES, FRAK, YES! I can honestly say this is one gift I will never forget.

So needless to say, this birthday is going to be great, and I get to spend it with someone I love. Who said getting older sucks? The one I'm really waiting for is when I have my midlife crisis and get that Mustang. YEAH!!

Hey you kids! Get off my lawn before I FRAG ya'!!

2009-04-03T13:51:00.005-04:00

So while aimlessly perusing the Internet, I discovered that Quake LIVE is live! Some of you are saying, "D00D! How did you not notice this?!" Well, I'm a busy guy. But I know now that I can frag ANYTIME from ANYWHERE! This is a great thing!

Only one minor issue. The PC I have is not powerful enough to handle Quake LIVE. A measly Celeron 1GHz with 1GB of ram is not enough. So I'll have to use my Mac I guess. NO?! There is no support for Mac yet? ARRGGGHH!!! But there is an alternative! VM Ware Fusion. I have v2.x laying around so I'll try that. OK, I've gone through the install of Windows XP and and VM Ware is running.. OOO! I'm in! I can register! Cool.. setup the controls and the like and then some training! But wait! What's this? Like 1fps? NOOOO!!!!

Ok... Ok.. don't get upset.. Let's try native. Do an option boot into Windows. Hey! That works! I'm playing?! Aw man, but the standard Mighty Mouse sucks for Quake. Well, at least the way I like to setup the mouse. Crap... But at least I am able to get into it. And with another GB or ram or so, I should be able to use VM Ware with no hassles! YES! QUAKE GOODNESS IS MINE AGAIN!

The Great Monkey Conspiracy

2009-03-02T00:27:00.004-05:00

So, is it true? Monkeys are the leaders of the Illuminati? This is what I heard recently. And I have noticed more and more monkey stories in the news. There is something going on and I don't like it.

There may be a power grab involved here. The bedrock of our democracy is at stake! We need to be vigilant and prepared to defend ourselves!

Take hope in our cause my homo sapein brothers. Our cause is just and we will prevail! And remember, never trust a primate!

Sherman? The Wayback Machine Please!

2009-02-26T00:03:00.003-05:00

Yes, I know. I haven't been here. But, you know, some of us need to make the donuts. So what has everyone but up to? Ahh.. I see...

Well, yours truly has been talking and connecting with folks. Not just ordinary folks, but folks from school and the past. Yes, classmates who have lived their own lives and done great things! Sadly, none work for Lucasfilm. But not all of the class of 1988/89 have checked in yet, so there is still hope.

Old friends and crushes long gone. Where has time gone? It makes you think. Things like, "What have I done with my life?", "Have I accomplished any of my dreams?", "Do these jeans make me look fat?". For the most part, I think I've done good. There are still some dreams that need to be taken care of. I think after seeing some old friends who have done better than me, it might be the kick in the ass I need.

And for Mindy: This post is very salacious for you. Right?

YAAA Democracy!

2008-11-04T19:30:00.010-05:00

I don't know what to think of how the election is being covered right now. I'm watching the BBC to see how they report on it. Then it hit me, that another country and a great deal more all over the world is watching this very closely. When was the last time you saw CNN, FOX of MSNBC cover the election for the Russian Prime Minister or President, or Spain's government, as close as some are watching us. That just shows how much the United States is still a major power in the world even though the Bush administration has pretty much frakked it all up for us.

I think it's safe to say that this election is not only making history with every vote cast, but is a crucible for Americans. Burning off the old to allow for growth of the new. Americans want change, and damn, are they taking it. It makes me feel so good to see so many people voting. And I can fel the excitement of this whole thing. I am a witness to a hostoric event. As I'm watching CNN now (I'm flipping back and forth..) they are showing Grant Park in Chicago and the crowd is so excited, they are drowning out the reporter who just tried to do her report. This is so amazing!

I'm going to do some Twittering thru the night, and may add to this post as I go.

Update 8:30pm EST: Obama leads 103 to 49. Damn this is going to be a short night I think.

Update 9:09pm EST: Obama on the verge of taking Ohio, New York is won(No Suprise) and Florida is just about Obama's as well. Plus Pennsylvania to boot! This is pretty much done now.

Update 9:55pm EST: Obama took New Mexico and Ohio. It's pretty well locked up.

Update 11:07pm EST: Obama is President Elect. 44th President. I can not be more proud to be an American.

Well Spank My Ass and Call me 37!

2008-04-05T08:09:00.003-04:00

Greetings from Boston! Another year has gone by, and now, being another year older, I realize that birthdays and safety words go hand in hand. (ARMAGEDDON!)

For some strange reason, people get kinky and want to spank me. While I'm all for having fun on my birthday, I can't help but get the feeling that everyone is a closet Dom. Which it would seem, makes me a Bottom. How it got to be this way, is still a mystery to me and Wikipedia, but hey, I can go with the flow I guess. In the mean time, I plan on hitting up the Sam Adams Brewery here in Beantown, for a tour, and a couple of samples, then maybe a little trip to Little Italy, the North End, for some good ol' home cooking Italian style. Just like Nonnie used to make. Then hopefuly some cake! Nom Nom Nom Nom (Turn) Nom Nom Nom.

Damn it!

2007-12-31T21:56:00.000-05:00

Is it me? Or is the Universe conspiring against me?

Post #100: An Open Letter to George Steinbrenner

2007-10-10T18:56:00.000-04:00

Dear George,

I've been a fan of the Yankees since I was a little kid. Back in the days when Reggie Jackson had a a candy bar named after him. I always loved the Yankees win or lose. And I still do. But I find myself hating the owner. Yeah George, you. You and your gestapo tactics to scare Torre into winning. What, a manager who can rally his team from a slow start to get to the playoffs not good enough for you? This man has gotten your team to the playoffs 12 years in a row. 12 YEARS!!

So he didn't get to the series. Big deal. You know how many times I've heard from Yankee haters they bought there way in with high price talent? Well, guess what. That isn't and has never been the case. It takes a unifying element to bring a team back from the kind of start the Yanks had this year. And that element is Joe. Yet you're ready to fire him. Well, here's a few things to think about "Georgie Boy".

He's loved by your team. You risk losing the team spirit he has created since he came on board.
Even the Red Sox will back him if you fire him!! THE FUCKING RED SOX!!!!
Rivera may go bye bye if you make Joe go bye bye. You got a better closer right now?
Fans will be PISSED!!
Joe is the 3rd most popular manager of the current active managers!!
He is also #2 behind McCarthy in All Time Yankee Wins!!
Nine straight AL East titles, 4 World Series Titles and 12 Consecutive Playoff showings!

And #8, you'll lose me as a fan. A life long fan of my childhood team. And if you do it, you're going to piss off everyone. But then that's what you like to do. Piss people off. So go ahead and decide George. Hope the weather in Tampa is nice. Enjoy the off season, and do everyone a favor. Keep your big trap shut!

Sincerley,
Rich/MobbyG

P.S. If you smell something funny in your car, that's the dead fish I hid in there. Enjoy finding it.

The Boob Toob Calls!

2007-10-04T18:47:00.000-04:00

It's the most, wonderful time, of the year! Sing With Me!

Yes, it's new seasons of ALL my favorite shows. Heroes, Smallville, and Battlestar Galactica. Plus a couple new shows to boot that seem to be early favs. If they survive is another story.

Bionic Woman is first up. A remake of the 7o's spin off of the $6 Million Dollar Man. The original show starred Lindsey Wagner as Jamie Summers, a tennis pro who was hurt in a skydiving accedent. Rebuilt with bionics by the same people who rebuilt Col. Steve Austin, a.k.a. the $6 Million Dollar Man. Back then I'm sure it was good TV. But today, it would be like "Skydiving? WTF was doing up there anyways?" But in the new one, Jamie is a prospective Harvard colleget who puts her plans on hold after her father who is implied to have some drug issues, dumps her little sister on her to take care of. The only good thing going for her, is her fiance', Dr. Will Anthros, who is also a bionics specialist. After a massive car wreck, Jamie is saved by her fiance', who escaped with minor injuries, with bionic implants. The show is produced by one of the guys who does Battlestar Galactica, David Eick. Which is why Katie Sackoff, who plays Starbuck on BGS is in it. But it's cool . So far the first 2 episodes are good. Getting it all going. Can't wait to see where it goes from there.

Next up.. Journeyman. Dan Vasser, a reporter for a San Fransisco paper suddenly finds himself traveling through time, at random, to help people, and in the process alienates his wife and brother, who where at one point dating each other, and tries to do it all without going nuts. His time shifts are preceded by a headache and sometimes are so subtle, he doesn't even know he's shifted through time. While the concept of time travel in science fiction is kinda of cliche', it can make for an interesting show. But hopefully some of the plot points and the way they unfold will maybe keep this show moving along. But I can see this one becoming a cult favorite if it doesn't make the ratings. Time...will tell.

Rasing The Odds It's Going To Be A Good Day

2007-09-11T07:47:00.000-04:00

I saw this on Digg.com and tried to add it using their "Blog It" feature, but had some issues. So I'm just going to add it manually. So FTA...

Too many people catapult themselves into each new work-day, fractious and ill-prepared for whatever lies ahead. Since they begin the day feeling miserable and stressed, just about any problems, however minor, have the power to knock them so far off their best that they have almost no chance of reaching the end of the day in anything except the blackest of black moods.

Here are some ideas to help you slide smoothly into the day instead, feeling relaxed and ready to take on whatever comes along....

Full Article

Terry Got The Camera Again

2007-09-03T13:57:00.000-04:00

Uuuuhhhhh.. DERF!!

Too Damn Quiet!

2007-08-20T12:06:00.001-04:00

Sometimes I check into the Maritime Mobile Service Net on 14.300MHz. But since we're at the bottom of the sunspot cycle, radio propagation on the HF (Worldwide of the non Hams) bands has been spotty to no-existent.
And on top of all that, it's hurricane season.

Lately I've been thinking about when I got into ham radio, I was very into the Emergency Communications end of it. Over the years, I have pretty much not been a part of that. So I'm thinking I should start to get more active in the emergency communication end of things.
Regular check ins to nets and participating in public service events. Lately I've been bored when I'm not around Kim. Even work seems kind of blah. Maybe this ill get my spark going again? I just feel a little lost is all.

Hello World! It's Me Again!

2007-08-17T22:48:00.000-04:00

After many moons of not having my VHF/UHF antenna up, I finally went to the hardware store, got some screws and shims. Then went to Radio Shack for 10' of mast to go with the 5' I already had, and some 4" brackets. Brought it all home and got ready to put up my antenna.

After some handyman work to put some wood in between the studs so the lag bolts could grab on to something, I attached the brackets and fastened down the mast. Put the antenna on the top and used a ziptie to hold the feed line down to make it look neat.

And now, I just finished testing it out. Works great! So I'm on the air on the 2 meter band again from the house! But it was a costly install. Time got away from me and I missed talking to Kim on MSN. So, even though I'm kicking ass on the air, I'm doing it from the doghouse.

But the antenna looks sweet right?

Can't Sleep! Geese will get me!

2007-08-09T16:41:00.001-04:00

So I'm coming home from work, just driving along and listening to a podcast, when I notice a Canadian Goose on the side of the road flapping it's wings and running towards me. So I start to slow down. He keeps flapping and I'm getting closer and there's cars on the opposite side of the road so I can't swerve! Then....

Well.. let's just say I had to hose my car off when I got home.

So I walk in the door of my parent's house, tell my father what happened, and he says.. "Did you bring it home so we could cook it?"

Make Up My Mind Art

2007-07-08T01:50:00.001-04:00

I'm a creature of habit. I like to do things in a certain way at a certain time. OCD? Maybe. But it makes me happy. So "Neener Neener". On my drive home from work, I like to listen to late night AM radio. I've always loved that P H A T sound from AM. So, I listen to a little of Jim Wilke and Jazz After Hours on P.R.I. till Coast to Coast AM comes on with Art Bell. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Well, I got a rude awakening when I tuned into C2C only to hear Ian Pundit on. I was thinking, "Ok. Art's spending time with his wife and new daughter".

BZZZZZZZZTTT!!! Wrong! He retired. AGAIN!

Make up MY mind Art. The only reason I listen to C2C is to hear you. You're the guy that made the show. I tried to listen with George and Ian, but they just don't compare.

So Art, spend time with the family. Enjoy, savor and relish your new fatherhood. I'd love to swap funny stories and tips on parenting with ya'. But know this, I'll be waiting and watching for your return. How do I know you'll return? Well, first the like 5 times before when you "retired", and the fact that for guys like us, radio is in our blood. We radiate RF. Not being on a mic is like not breathing. So I have no doubt you'll be back. It's just a matter of when. But I'm not rushing you. Take your time and enjoy the family. Maybe I'll get lucky and hear you on 3840 KHz some night. I'd love to swap a QSL card with you.

So Jim, it looks like you and I are going to be hanging out for a while. At least till Art comes back to work.

So, Jim, you like ham radio?

Thank You

2007-07-07T14:15:00.000-04:00

Yeah you know who you are....

Thank You - From Led Zeppelin II
(Page/Plant)

If the sun refused to shine, I would still be loving you.
When mountains crumble to the sea, there will still be you and me.

Kind woman, I give you my all, Kind woman, nothing more.

Little drops of rain whisper of the pain, tears of loves lost in the days gone by.
My love is strong, with you there is no wrong,
together we shall go until we die. My, my, my.
An inspiration is what you are to me, inspiration, look... see.

And so today, my world it smiles, your hand in mine, we walk the miles,
Thanks to you it will be done, for you to me are the only one.
Happiness, no more be sad, happiness....I'm glad.
If the sun refused to shine, I would still be loving you.
When mountains crumble to the sea, there will still be you and me.

----------------------

Check out Tesla's cover of this song on their new CD Real to Reel

Where The F@*K Have You Been?

2007-06-18T18:34:00.000-04:00

Well, I've been busy with my podcasts. And they're starting to get out there. So I haven't been over here posting lately.

But if you're an Amiga fan or an old user of a dialup BBS, then stop over and check the podcasts.

S L I D E R S

2007-05-15T21:22:00.000-04:00

I know it's been out a while, but hey, I LOVE THIS FRACKIN' SHOW!! Sliders is the story of a group of four people who travel from one parallel Earth to another, trying to find their way back to their own Earth. Along the way, they find worlds similar to ours but whose histories diverged from our own at some point in the past. Quinn Mallory, played by Jerry O'Connell (Stand By Me, Crossing Jordan) is a genius who creates the device that lets them "slide" between universes. Professor Maximilian Arturo played by John Rhys-Davies (Raider of The Lost Ark, and a whole freakin bunch more) is Quinn's college physics professor who sees Quinn as a genius far beyond his own, but lacks responsibility. Rembrandt 'Crying Man' Brown, played by Cleavant Derricks (Ah just look him up already!), is a washed up singer from the 60's and 70's getting ready to make his big comeback, when he gets pulled into the adventure, and then there is Wade Welles played by Sabrina Llyod (Do I have to say it again?) , who has a crush on Quinn and is his co-worker at an electronics store. Through a miscalculation, Quin opens a portal and pulls in everyone and the adventure begins.

The cool part about this show that I loved was the infinate world they could visit. Apocolyse world, Western World, Soviet World, Stone Age world. I guess not many people got the whole concept as it was greeted with some low ratings. And After one of the major characters was killed off, it just kinda went downhill from there. And when Jerry left the show, that's when it just shit the bed.

Needless to say, I plan on getting the series for my collection. The only thing thogh is, They never really tied up all the strings in the series finale. So here's to hoping Tracy Torme' (Producer) gets around to fixing that.

I AM NINJA!

2007-05-05T21:57:00.000-04:00

Found this on Digg and had to post it! Be a Ninja!

Aftermath

2007-05-02T13:00:00.000-04:00

Users who hate overtly restrictive DRM and the denial from media companies to let us use our Fair Use rights have united and shown those media companies, that we will not be slaves to their restrictive buisness model of greed!

That is what this whole revolt on Digg was all about. Censorship and the media companies who use it as a tool to restrict our lawful rights of fair use with the lawfully purchased content we paid for!

Personally, I think this signals the beginning of a new online revolution. Are you ready for a fight *.I.A.A.? Because there is one coming!

K2RKW, SK

2007-04-26T20:53:00.000-04:00

From The Leader Herald

Gary Dennis Ashe, 68, of Gloversville, passed away Sunday, April 22, 2007 at Bassett Healthcare in Cooperstown after a long illness.

He was born on Good Friday, April 7, 1939 to the late John J. Ashe and Evelyn Elmendorf. He graduated from Gloversville High School in 1957. While still in school, he joined the local National Guard unit out of Fort Drum. He became interested in ham radio as a teenager and got his license to be an amateur radio operator with the call letters K2RKW. In 1973, he and his best friend, Otto Boerner III co-founded the Tryon Amateur Radio Club. Gary served as President for 34 years. He was proud to be a member of the ARRL for over 50 years. He was a former member of the Pine Tree Rifle Club. He held the position of Fulton County Coordinator of 911 and was a member of Sky Warn. He was also a member of the Independent Telephone Pioneer’s Association Alpha Rayne Chapter for 47 years.

Gary went to work for General Telephone Company in 1960, starting out in the telephone repair shop. He retired in 1995 from GTE as an Engineering Manager. He also recorded statistics for the National Weather Bureau for several years.

Of his many interests, Gary enjoyed hunting, fishing, wood-working, spending time with his friends at the Nichol Vly Camp and summers at his family camp on Mayfield Lake. Gary was an avid Adirondack enthusiast. He had much love for his family and was proud of his children and grandchildren. He was of the Catholic faith.

Survivors are his wife, Joyce Berner, whom he married in 1962; and their three children, Deborah Ashe, Jeffrey Ashe (Stacy) and Lissa Talmadge (Daniel); 5 grandchildren, Erin, Eliza, Andy and Libby Ashe and Lauren Henry; his sister, Janice Hanifin (Daniel); and his brother, James Ashe (Michelle), all of Gloversville; two stepbrothers, Brent Bohne ((Barbara) and Brian Bohne (Judy) and their families; aunts, uncles, several nieces, nephews and cousins.

The family will receive relatives and friends from 3 to 7 p.m. today at Walrath & Stewart Funeral Home, 51 Fremont St., Gloversville, where a funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday with the Rev. Wayne E. Jones Sr. officiating. Interment will take place at Prospect Hill Cemetery, Gloversville. In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy may be made to the Tryon Amateur Radio Club, c/o Otto Boerner III, 230 Old State Rd., Johnstown, NY 12095 or to the Nichol Vly Camp, c/o Robert Lanphere, 6 Gillen Terrace, Gloversville, NY 12078.

Meow! Meet & Greet with The Pussycat Dolls

2007-04-25T12:34:00.000-04:00

Stopped into Buzz 105.7 to see Glen Stacey to train for covering his shift while he's out, and I ended up helping out with the Pussycat Dolls concert at the Palace Theatre in Albany. And I got to go to the "Meet & Greet" with Glen, Jon and Buzz 105.7's Meet & Greet Winner, Lisa Pitchard and her son Matthew!

TOP: (l-r)Matthew, The Pussycat Dolls

BOTTOM: (l-r) Lisa (The Buzz 105.7 Meet & Greet Winner), Glen Stacey, Jon Donnelly and Yours Truely.

Hoppy Easter!

2007-04-08T15:30:00.000-04:00

Hangin' With My Peeps!

Happy Easter!

Happy Birthday to...ME!

2007-04-06T00:32:00.000-04:00

Another year has come and gone. Where does the time go? I did get a couple of cool presents. First, my oldest sister came home for a visit with her boyfriend Eddie. They live in New Zealand. Yes, as in down under, shrimp on the barbie, and Marmite. That last one makes my tummy go icky.)

Anyhoo, I got a $5 (NZ) note from my sister. Looks cool huh? Kinda feels like that plastic Colorforms used to be made out of back in the 70's. Plus she let me scan a 50,000 Tahitian Franc. That's like $80 US.

And here I thought my sister was loaded. But, still not a bad day. Got to meet Eddie and see my oldest sister, she finally got to at least see Terry for the first time for a few minutes. Terry had a stomach bug and was throwing up all night. But in the morning she was fine and wanted to go to school for the spring party. But she was tired. She fell asleep on the bed a couple times, while we were waiting for the bus. So when she got home and wanted to right to the bed, I knew she was gonna be out for the rest of the night. But she's on Spring break for the next week, so plenty of time to see her aunt and "uncle" I guess.

PoTAW Podcast: Hold Up There!

2007-04-04T02:16:00.000-04:00

I removed the podcast because as an incessant perfectionist, I found a few things could be VASTLY improved for my podcast. So I took it down for now. Once I have a better offering, I'll be posting it.

Sorry folks..

S.S.D.D.

2007-03-22T22:05:00.000-04:00

So what do you do when you're bored and can't find anything new on the internet? You write a blog post about you being bored, and not finding anything new on the internet.

OK, so what do I do for the rest of the night?

EDIT: OK thought of something. I'll talk about me switching to Macintosh. That's coming up!

EDIT #2: Ok, I actually recorded an audio blog, as a way of working up to a podcast. I'll post it when I get a chance to make a nifty opening theme in GarageBand.

Rockin' Robin

2007-03-18T17:51:00.000-04:00

I'm at work at Q103 and I just saw a robin land in the snow covered side parking lot. Must be spring!

2007-03-15T21:07:00.000-04:00

Brad Delp
b. June 12, 1951 - d. March 9, 2007

Tom Scholz's Official Statement on Boston's Website

One of the first albums I ever owned was Boston's debut album. Now when I say album, I mean on vinyl LP. It was a hand-me-down, but it was mine and I loved the music. To this very day. And one of the things I wanted to do was go to a Boston concert, simply because I was too young when I first listened to them, to go. Now, it seems I will never get the chance to see the original members now. But for what it's worth, it was Brad and the rest of his band mates that made me fall in love with rock n' roll. I remember when I got my first gig at a classic rock station. It was at Q92.3, KQRQ in Rapid City, SD. That was the first time I got to play Boston on the air and I loved it.

So long Brad.

Baby, If You Ever Wondered...

2007-03-14T21:29:00.000-04:00

And so it begins!

The Mighty WKRP finally comes to DVD! Yes! April 24th I shall finally be able to have the most awesome TV show from the late 70's/early 80's in my possession! WOO HOO!

See my previous rant here about the RIAA being pricks about it.

OoO, OoO, That Smell!

2007-03-14T20:53:00.000-04:00

When I was younger, I got heavy into comic books. When I had a job washing dishes, I would take a good chunk of my paycheck, and buy comic books from the local news stand. It was quite possible that I would drop like $60 from one paycheck! And since we didn't really have a any kind of a comic book shop in town, I would have to travel to Schenectady, to Electric City Comics to get some back issues I needed or titles I collected that I would never be able to get locally. And since I was still working on getting a drivers license and had no car, well, that was kind of hard to do. So I settled for what I could get locally. And when I did go down to Schenectady or Rotterdam or something with my friends or parents, I would talk them into taking me over to VanVranken St. to Electric City.

One of the things I remember about those times, is my folks had gone out shopping one day, and I stayed home to watch TV or something, and when they returned, I helped put away groceries and such. In the groceries there were some Renuzit Air fresheners. You know the ones, they look like the Coneheads from Saturday Night Live? Yeah those ones. Well, mom had gotten me one for my room. So I took it up stairs and opened it up and let it do it's thing. At first, it didn't really smell all that great to me, but it wasn't like a skunk, so I tolerated it and did my things that I was doing at that age... read comics.

Amazing Spider-man, Area-88, Incredible Hulk, Daredevil, and a few of Marvel's New Universe titles. Mostly Starbrand, but a couple of Nightmask and DP8. Especially if there was a crossover of Starbrand in it. God bless Jim Shooter for that title. Anyway, when I bought comics, I would read them while laying on my stomach on my bed. When I finished, they would go into the over turned cover from a box of copier paper. You know, the big heavy ones that had like 12 reams of paper in them . When I filled it up with comics, I would take all of them and put them in the empty box that the cover came from, And when that got full, I would buy a storage box and some backboards and bags and bag all my comics. All the while I did this, I would have those Renuzit air fresheners in my room. So now, almost 20 years later, when I walk by the cleaning products isle in a store, if I can smell those air fresheners, my mind goes back to those days. Reading my comics that I loved so much, and still do.

So today I ended up buying a couple of those air fresheners and put one in my room. And now, it fills up my room and with every breath, I go back in time, back into that pocket universe I created in my mind, where Ken Connell and Duck were real. Where Peter Parker was debating telling MJ who he really is. And where Shin Kazama, wanted nothing more then to leave Asran and go back to Tokyo and find his girlfriend Royoko and get even with Kanzaki for taking her away from him. This was where I called home.

But now I'm much older, still read comic books, but the dream of becoming an artist for Marvel is kind of fading now. I don't draw as well as I used to. And I seem to have gotten side tracked with that whole broadcasting non-sense. (Yeah, that'll lead to something. HA! :P )

But it's always nice to go home again. Because you never forget anything that makes home... well... home.

Ray-Diddy-OH!

2007-03-06T19:18:00.000-05:00

'Nuff Said...

Bloody Red Acres

2007-02-12T16:50:00.000-05:00

It seems lately when I see my mom, she's usually watching TV Land. Viacom's cable channel where classic TV shows get new life. And I love TV Land, they play Night Court and a few others I love from when I was a kid and watched TV with my parents. One of the shows my mom watches when I happen to come into the living room is Green Acres, starring Eddie Albert as Oliver Wendell Douglas, a city lawyer who aspires to be a simple farmer and his Hungarian immigrant wife Lisa played by Eva Gabor. The premise, Oliver wants to leave behind his law practice in New York City and move to the country with his wife and become a farmer. So he buys a farm and they move to a small town called Hooterville, and meet a very wide array of characters. Some of which, if they lived in the real world, would be either thrown in jail, or simply killed for the simple mercy that they are too stupid to live! But then we would have no premise to make us laugh at Oliver's dealings with these people. So I got to thinking one day as I watch poor Oliver try and navigate one of his comedic situations with one of these odd people that populate Hooterville. "What would I do if I was in Oliver's place?" I thought to myself. Well, here is what I would do...

Eb Dawson: Douglas Farm Hand
This Guy seems to do nothing all day! I have watched a ton of episodes and he seems to disappear when work needs to be done and show up when he needs money. Seems to me the dude is lazy.
What would I do?: Fire his ass! Let Unemployment fix his ass!

Hank Kimball: Dept. of Ag Rep at State Uni
This guy can't keep a thought longer then 2 seconds. He forgets everything and then goes off on tangents! How did he get his job? He had to have paid someone off. That or he's a genius biding his time till he can throw a coup' and take over!
What would I do?: Kill him! He's a threat to National Security!

Ralf & Alf Monroe: Handymen
These two are siblings, yet one seems to have gender identity issues. This in itself is fine, but the fact that they can't hammer a nail between the two of them tells me that they probably are not bonded contractors. And a terminal case of stupidity seems to run in the family.
What would I do?: Tell them it's adult swim in the gene pool and it's time to get out!

Sam Drucker: General Store Owner
Mr. Drucker seems to be, besides Oliver, the only sane one in the whole damn town! But since he's been there so long, he simply ignores or is immune to everyones stupidity.
What would I do?: Take genetic samples and save them. His stem cells could be used to enhance future generations and protect them from stupidity.

Fred Ziffel: Neighbor
Not the sharpest knife in the drawer, he does seem to have an affinity for animals. Perhaps too much.
What would I do?: Separate him from the rest of herd to cause no further contamination.

Arnold Ziffel: Fred's son
Ok... His son is a pig? Isn't what he did to get his son illegal in most states?
What would I do?: IT'S BACON!!!!

Doris Ziffel: Fred's Wife
Um.. So she's Arnold's mom? Ok.. my head hurts..
What would I do?: Zoological experiments. She's a Hybrid! She's gotta be!

Mr. Haney: Entrepreneur/Con-man
This guy is slick smooth and shrew when it comes to making a buck. He's bilked Oliver out of so much money over the years, it's almost staggering!
What would I do?: This is a toss up. Either be his lawyer and help him make millions in his schemes and charge him a 50% commision, or hide his body in the river and sue his estate for fraud!

Overall, I think that the entire town except for Sam Drucker is a penal colony of idiots, cut off from the rest of the world to save us from them infecting the gene pool. I could be wrong, but you gotta admit. Who in the hell would wanna breed with the likes of these people? I mean come on! Eb? You know he's never been laid! So are we really safe? Only time and Darwin will tell!

You Might Be In Radio If...

2007-02-03T15:27:00.000-05:00

YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF... you have 37 unlabeled 15 minute cassettes in your back seat.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF... you listen to the radio "invertedly", turning up the volume during promos, sweepers, and talksets, and flipping to another station during music.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF... you swear at the competition while driving when you hear a song they beat you to.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF... you've ever heard of a "cart".
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF... you tell someone you plan to go to lunch "coming up next hour".
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF... you have 125 unopened CDs you'll never listen to but never more than $3 cash.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF... you use phrases like "If I was programming the music, I would NEVER/ALWAYS/etc..."
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF... you remember what "When you play it, say it!" means.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF......you drive a $500.00 piece of crap while the sales weasels have $50,000 Lexus.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF......you get a memo about how to report overtime and you wonder which overtime is overtime.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF......two days off in a row is considered a "long weekend."
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF......you can recite the five-day forecast from memory.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF......you work on holidays.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF......you have dozens of tapes of radio stations that play music you don't like.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF......you listen to a station that's barely coming in.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF......your maps are covered with circles and dots.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF......you are a "seasoned pro" after two years in the business.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF......you have a dozen radios, but you need them all.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF......you have copies of both the album version and radio edit.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF......you have recurring nightmares about bad airshifts filled with dead air.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF......you interview the governor and drive off in a junker.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO.....At Christmas dinner, you backsell the Christmas presents, explaining that "Unopened ones around the corner, stick around".
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF....when the hotline rings you break into a cold sweat.
YOU MIGHT BR IN RADIO IF....your production/remote load exceeds your airshift and your friends ARE NOT in radio when they say you "have it made" working 4 hours just playing music.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF....you begin to like the music you are playing even though you have been faking it for years.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF... you can run to the can, drop a load answer a few phones and make it back for the last 15 seconds of a 4 min. song.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF... you keep telling yourself "this chick on the phone really might be hot...this could be the one".
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF.... every time you screw up the Program Director is listening and calls in to tell you how bad you are and he misses the 4 hours of dead air your idiot co-worker had.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF... you're called 10 minutes before a shift starts and told you have to work it and you live 20 minutes away.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF..... you can recite all the spots in a break.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF..... the one time you need the power generator is the one day the electrician didnt have time to hook it up.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF... you have ever had to call a supervisor more then once on the same day at 3 A.M.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF...your chief engineer has ever had to talk you through how to fix a transmitter from over a cell phone.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF... the equipment at your station decides to stop working properly and just go to hell on a holiday weekend when no one can be reached.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF....you recite I.D's and sweepers from different stations just to annoy your friends.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF....when your at home and you answer the phone and give the stations call letters.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF...you answer the phone and tell someone their caller #6
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF....you do an air shift in your dreams.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF...on a holiday weekend, you're the only one at the station.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF... you talk about how much better your competition's webcast sounds over your stations actual broadcast.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF...you are on the air every holiday.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF....you talk to friends in a "radio voice"
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF...you can hit the post on any ramp in your playlist, but can only sing the hooks from songs that are in your music promos.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF...you are well into your thirties and have been hit on by a 13-year-old girl on the request line.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF...you hate everyone's favorite song because it doesn't have an intro.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF...you actually own white cassette tapes.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF...you don't know whether to introduce yourself at parties...with your air-name or your real name.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF...two months ago when you worked at the car wash you could jog a mile without being out of breath and now it is tough for you to get from your car to the LazEboy.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF...you make your friends listen to airchecks and they have no idea what you are talking about.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF...you refer to nighttime as "the weekend"
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO.....if you hear your competition using catch phrases and you pull over to the side of the road screaming, "Thats mine Damnit!" - while your kids look at you as if you've finally snapped.
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO.....iF you tell your wife/girl/boyfriend, "Coming up next hour we'll be hearing from the inlaws, plus we have a new dinner today you're going to really like..."
YOU MIGHT BE IN RADIO IF...you have found that 7-inch reels of tape DO decay over time when stored in the garage.

My Hometown Has It's Share...

2007-01-24T10:15:00.000-05:00

Recently the Gloversville City council, decided to not reappoint our City Clerk of 16 years. This in and of itself really isn't big news. What is the news however was how it was brought about. Four of the council members, decided, outside of the regular meeting or executive session of the council meetings to not re-appoint the City Clerk. It was all done but what I call back channels. telephone calls. Not in an open council meeting nor in executive session. Seems to me some of the council has little respect for their fellow citizens. And as such, I will show no respect for them.

Read the Editorial from the Leader Herald, our local paper, here. I would have to say I group this kind of behavior with the same kind our administration in Washington D.C. seems to be showing us. I'm sickened by the contempt these 4 members seem to have for my fellow citizens.

All I can hope for, is that the ethics committee, recently charged with discovering what is going on, finds them culpable for their actions and that they receive what the so richly deserve! A pink slip, with the follow written on the back...

"Don't let the door hit ya' in the ass on the way out!"

Something Smells Good!

2007-01-06T12:16:00.000-05:00

WOW! What a day outside! Nearly 60 Degrees and a nice breeze outside. Plus someone is cooking something that smells terrific!

And here is a picture from my window. Granted it's not a sunny bright day, but it's nicer then having 3 feet of snow and almost 0 degree weather. No such thing as Global Warming? HA! Bullshit! It's January and 60 degrees. Yeah. No such thing as Global Warming.

Feels more like spring then winter.

OoOO! Prezzies!!

2006-12-29T19:34:00.000-05:00

Well Christmas has come and gone and the Holidays will be winding down after New Years (BTW: Make sure you tune in to my BIG New Years Eve Party). But now we can look forward to all the other holidays that come up in the new year.
But my focus right now is on what I got for Christmas and the addiction it seems to have caused. Well, Kimmie says it's an addiction. One of the gifts she gave me, and I am happy to say the best, was season 1 of the TV show JAG! 6 Discs of pure entertainment!Action, adventure, humor and lots of planes, tanks and guns! Yes, I love this show. It's great! And it only took me 4 days to watch every episode!

Now is that obsessive? I don't think so. I just like the show! But now, it seems I'm on a quest. You see, this is the first boxed set for a TV show that I own. And now I find myself wanting season 2 which is now out and season 3 is coming soon as well. So, is this obsessive? I think not. This is good television and the enjoyment thereof! All harmless entertainment. I mean, can I help it if they made 10 seasons of the show and I want to see them all! I mean, hell, I stopped watching after season 7 I think. It was the Episode where Harm and Mac are going down in a plane. That was a season finale, so I never got to find out what happened after all that. Obviously they survived! But how? Why? What else happened to Bud and Harriet? Gunny Galindez? PO Coates? Tiner? What Happened? See, I gotta know.

Watch Out Dick Clark! BIG RICH is Here!

2006-12-22T14:11:00.000-05:00

12/31 8pm-2am

This New Years Eve, join me on Q103, right after Buffalo Bills Football, as I host a rockin' commercial free party! That's right! Nothing but wall to wall rock till the start of 2007. Then stick around as all New Years Day long you get a 3-fer! Yeah! 3 in a row all day long! Now that's entertainment! So check out the Q103 website for all the details! And remember, if you stay home and listen to me, I guarantee you won't get a DUI, or weird pictures drawn on your face after you pass out!

OMG! He Stoled a slice of pizza! YOU BASTARD!!

2006-10-30T23:06:00.000-05:00

Ok.. I ordered a pizza and some wings and a 2 liter because I was hungry and was at work. Since we can't have food in the studio, I put it on the table in the breakroom. Now besides myself, there is only one other person in the whole building..

So I'm going back and forth between the studio and the breakroom eating and doing my show. So I finish up Last call and head back to the kitchen to eat some wings and get some soda, and what do I see, but the other guy walking down the hall with a slice of pizza!Now I've only eaten 2 slices and I remember seeing a pizza in the fridge a day or so earlier. So I figure that's his pizza or he took a slice of mine. So I check mine and sure enough, a slice is missing!

HE DIDN'T EVEN ASK!!!!! Just walked by and said "Hey You." WTF?!?!

So, do I go for the revenge angle or let it slide. This is not the first time something like this has happened to me or others here at work. This is like #3 for me! A lesson must be taught!

Net Neutrality and the Ham

2006-09-20T11:16:00.000-04:00

de KB2MOB

The net neutrality debate has just been upgraded to a fight. A "Push Poll" done by a so called bi-partisan Commerece committe says that Amercans don't want net neutrality. But it's obvious with the likes of Google and Yahoo and other online content providers as well as thousnads apoun thousands of internet users in the U.S., we don't want the telcos to have control of where the content will go and who can see it! Video and VoIP and such could be restricted as well!

Hams use VoIP to link repeaters, as well as use VoIP to run nets for public service. What if these types of uses were essentially, "taxed" by the telcos. That is bascilly what we are going to see. This could sevrely limit the ability for hams to use the new mode in the for public service. If a club can't afford to keep a repeater linked using Echolink or eQSO or IRLP, then how do we link the repeaters. Oh sure, we could go back to the old UHF links. But then all the experimentaion in the new digital modes that use IP could be held back. Plus, linking a repeater in or near a distaster area with one in another part of the world using UHF the entire way, takes up too many resources. It would be inpractical and prone to outages and interference problems. VoIP has helped to alleviate this problem . Yet we could be taxed for doing a public service in a time of need.

That is what this basiclly is. Net Neutrality is nothing more then a "phantom tax" on the users of the internet to line the pockets and coffers of the big telcos, while restricting the flow of information. We have the power to stop it. Call, snail mail, even visit your represenative's local office and tell them you oppose the big telcos and are for net neutrality.

9/11

2006-09-11T22:03:00.000-04:00

What can I say? Evil people did an evil thing on this day 5 years ago. We should never forget and should never stop fighting evil.

And just for the crass persona in me... Fuck you Osama.

Not for the Money

2006-09-04T01:51:00.000-04:00

There is a saying in radio, that many of us have regurgitated to our friends and family members time and time again...

"You don't do radio for money, you do it because you love it."

Then after the confused looks go away, you explain to them that even though radio pays very little, it's still something that once you get into it, you can't help but do it. I've met people that were in radio and then left never to return. Maybe their illusion of radio wasn't what the real world was like. I've met some that left and vowed never to come back, but just couldn't stay away. And I have met some like me. That are just so enamoured with radio, that it has gotten into their blood and they live and breathe radio.

Radio is not only my occupation, but my hobby. I'm an Amateur (Ham) Radio operator(*), as well as a broadcaster. And I've met a few of my fellow broadcasters on the ham radio airwaves too. What I want to try and explain is why I do what I do. To me it's a simple feeling, but try explaining the concept of love to someone that has never been in love. Suddenly, all the adjectives you have at your disposal, suck. So here is my clumsy attempt to explain it.

When I look at a radio, and listen, I see a world that my mind creates. I have the soundtrack provided to me, but my mind creates the pictures. Theatre of the mind. And from there, the rush comes over me. Look at a battery powered radio. No connections to the world yet a voice, comes out of the air. Listen to AM radio with a really good Hi Fi sound system. If it's a local station and the engineer is worth a damn it has a nice warm full body sound. Almost like chocolate. Smooth and rich. Yeah I know it sound crazy but try and imagine it. You can hear the announcer's voice, his breathing, his sighs, and the rustle of his copy as he reads into the microphone. The sound coming from thin air. Listen at night, with the lights out or very low. Sit back and relax and listen to the announcer's tones relax your mind and body. A voice in the night, talking to no one but you.

Now imagine you are that announcer. You know hundreds of people are listening to you, but you still talk like your talking to only one person. In your mind it could be your aunt, or girlfriend or wife or someone you know. But in the back of your mind you know people all over are listening to you. Waiting to hear what you have to say. Wondering what will come next. There is perhaps a small feeling of power there, but the rush, the feeling of being behind a mic and hitting that button and knowing people are listening to you. But you can't really grasp it. Oh sure, one or two people call you maybe. But what about those that are just listening? At any given time, I could have 5500 people listen to me read the weather. Can you imagine standing in front of 5500 people and reading the weather? Look them in the faces from a stage? How would you feel?

And that is why I do radio for the love of it, and not the money. If this made sense, let me know what you think by leaving a comment. If not, well... can you recommend a good shrink?

*Callsign: KB2MOB

Megatron Revealed! 1st shots of Decepticon leader from Transformers Movie. OMG NO!!

2006-08-26T19:27:00.000-04:00

Ain't It Cool broke these a few days ago, and received a request to take them down in near record time. I don't blame them! Here the photos, with lots of others from the upcoming Transformers movie, directed by Michael Bay.

Oh man. All I can say is Michael Bay, you have RUINED The Transformers. You sir, IMHO are a hack! You will need a reference for McDonald's after this movie tanks. Maybe flipping burgers is your real calling. No, Seriously. You have a reputation for shoddy movies and I think it's safe to say, Transformers will be added to this list. And I plan on encourging my listeners on The All 80's Saturday Night not to go, and save their money.

Just to show you how much I am disgusted by this, I would rather watch Gigli 800 times then go see this movie. I would rather eat a sardine pizza then go see this movie. I would rather [Insert something really really disgusting here] then go see this movie.

Thanks for nothin' Mike.

Robin Williams in "Man of The Year"

2006-08-14T23:46:00.000-04:00

Williams plays a fake news anchor that runs for president of the United States. Very Funny. This is another great must see!

read more | digg story

Super Simple Homemade Radio

2006-08-07T16:38:00.000-04:00

Take some wire, a razor, a safety pin and an ear piece; stir in some MacGyver and you've got yourself an AM crystal radio - only without the crystal! The razor and safety pin act as a diode. It really doesn't take too long once you get the hang of it. Designed by soldiers in WWII, the "Foxhole Radio" is a great weekend or rainy day projec

read more | digg story

CQ CQ de Double XP Weekend!

2006-07-18T16:22:00.001-04:00

I got an email the other day from PlayNC, publishers of City of Heroes. One of my favorite games. This weekend is Double XP weekend! Woo Hoo! Now I can really do some work on my "toons". City of Heroes is one of the only games I'm really playing now. I was playing Neverwinter Nights but after I got broadband again, I just started playing CoH again. And I recently got City of villains too! So maybe I'll make a really good villain toon, and play him/her a little this weekend where I can.

But this weekend is also the Utica Amateur Radio club's hamfest. (Hamfest is a ham radio swap meet. You can buy, sell and trade radios, computers and parts and just about anything!) One of the things I enjoy most about being a ham is the hamfests. Going out and spending the day with friends you talk to on the radio, but don't get to see that often. I like to make it a whole day long thing. Go to the fest, do some browsing, maybe buy some needed parts, have something to gnash, and then relax the rest of the day. Maybe sit back and have a few drinks. That to me is a good day.

Plus I get to spend it with Kim and Terry. And with Double XP weekend on top of it, it's going to be a good weekend!

YEAHGUY!

2006-07-12T19:21:00.000-04:00

So I've been filling in at Q103 doing the 7 to Midnight shift for like 3 months now. This has gotten me a ton more experience and made me feel a lot more sure of my on air skills.

And tonight, as I was settling in for my shift, Jeff Mrozek commented to me that he thought I sounded solid on here. I have respected Jeff as a fellow jock for a while. Mostly because he sounds good on the air and sounds like he has his shit together. After he told me that, I felt waay better about everything I do on the air now. I would love to work full time in Albany. That was my goal when I got back, and a stepping stone twoards my other goal of being a Program Director.

And that won't happen till I get full time somewhere. Hopefully soon.

Random Access V

2006-07-06T16:06:00.000-04:00

Since I've been away.. here's something to make you happy!

Rock on!

RANT: Chapstick for My Ass Cuz Something Chaffed It!

2006-05-25T01:17:00.000-04:00

Ok, here it is. A teen in Illinois posts on his blog he's pissed at his school. He's feeling bullyed by the school. He's expressing himself. All on his own time, own comp and shit, and what happens? THEY SUSPEND HIM! Now he's looking at being expelled for it.

Read about it here.

To me, it seems the that faculty member in charge of the government/civics class needs to re-educate some of his bosses, focusing on the 1st Amendment. You know, that one with that pesky entry about free speech and such? I wonder if they used KY when they screwed the Constitution? Probably not even the common courtesy of a reach around too.

"Do as I say not as I do!". Fine thing to be teaching kids. Listen and obey. This is a major problem in the United States if you ask me (Well I know you didn't ask, but it's my blog after all. ) Too many of us are taking what is given to us at face value. We seem to be too busy to stop and think for a second how something like this will affect us or our children.

Seriously. What are those men and women in Afghanistan and Iraq dying for? They're not playing soldiers boys and girls. They're fighting and dying to bring freedom to those people. The motives for us going in be hanged. We're there and we can't go back. We made a mess and we need to clean it up. But the fact that the most basic of liberties is being stolen from a kid to me is reprehensable, and damn disrespectful. The NSA spying on Americans, Side stepping due process. What is happening to this country? The people that did this to the kid are no more then dictators in my eyes and are drunk on power and playing "Saddam"! Yeah! I went there!

How many kids does this have to happen to? And how long before we realise what's going on? What if it was you?

'nuff said...

May 15th - BIRTHDAY PARTY!

2006-05-15T21:17:00.000-04:00

It's Terry's 4th Birthday. Lots of screaming and fun ensued. Stock in Tylenol has gone up .4%

This Old House...

2006-05-10T22:32:00.000-04:00

Watch out Bob Vila! Kimmie is gunnin' for your job!

One Day

2006-05-10T13:17:00.000-04:00

It's amazing. After a week of not seeing my girlfriend, I got to spend a whole day with her and it all seems to have just faded away. The longing, the hurt, the restlessness of not being with her. In a matter of minutes. What made it even better, was I got to spend it with her and my daughter. Two of the most precious people in the world to me.

We took Terry to the pond and then to the playground at the school. I mowed the lawn while Terry and Kim played, and went for a walk, watched some TV and rest, while Terry wanted to go bak out and walk around. Where do they get all the energy? I need to get into somekind of shape, other then round.

But after doing a shift on Q103 and then coming home, all I can think of is how much I want to be with her again. And the vicious cycle of love and longing start again.

Into The Wild Blue Yonder

2006-04-21T10:19:00.000-04:00

A. Scott Crossfield
b. October 2, 1921 - d. April 20, 2006

One of the fastest men alive has died. Scott Crossfield, who was a test pilot after WWII at Andrews Air Force Base, has died. This is a very sad loss for the aviation world. If it wasn't for Scott and many brave test pilots, some who lost their lives, as well as the engineers during that time, man wouldn't have gone from flying jet planes to sending a manned rocket to the moon in a mere 20 years.

He was the first man to fly at Mach 2 (680.58 m/s or 1,522.4 mph), and unofficially, the first to fly ay Mach 3 (1,020.8 m/s or 2,283.6 mph) successfully, helped to develop a full pressure flight suit which was the basis for flight suits used by the military and by NASA pilots and astronauts. He was a design consultant on the X-15 project and then later flew the aircraft many years later. During WWII he was a fighter pilot and gunnery instructor.

Many people, and I'm sorry to say I am one of them, never even heard of Scott Crossfield till the movie, The Right Stuff, came out. I've seen that move at least 20 times. Even though Scott Crossfield (played by Scott Wilson) was only in the movie a total of 15 to 20 minutes, it still doesn't mean his contribution to aviation or the space program was something minor. He will be missed.

obit

Happy Easter! BTW: The Easter Bunny Hates Us!

2006-04-16T09:06:00.000-04:00

I always thought he was kind of fuzzy and cute and cuddly. Turns out out, he's pretty pissed off!

The Easter Bunny Hates Us

Well... Enjoy!

So I Unpacked, My Adjectives...

2006-04-15T01:07:00.000-04:00

Smart. Sexy. Sarcastic. Cute. Intoxicating. Funny. Crazy. Hottie. Beautiful. Bright. Imaginative. Shy. Reserved. Caring. Passionate. Fantastic. And Awesome!

Just a few words that describe you. You know who you are.

Like Riding a Bike!

2006-04-12T11:43:00.001-04:00

Well the weather is nice and Terry has been wanting to ride her bike, so we went out and adjusted the seat and took a few pics and a few quicktime movies.

She's still working on keeping herself peddling, but she's able to go for a minute or so on her own before she stops and needs help starting.

My father got her a new bike helmet today and we got it just about to fit... It's still a little loose, but we'll fix that in due time.

My only other concern is her getting to South Dakota. Looks like it probably not gonna happen. Her mother is due for another baby and her due dates are around when she would have had to pick Terry up in Chicago. But since she doesn't wanna travel that close to her due date, and it's more expensive to get her to Colorado or Wyoming then on to South Dakota. So I don't know what I can do.

I want my daughter to be able to see her mother, but if I can't get her out there and she's unable to make it to Chicago and I can't afford to get her all the way out there, then I'm stuck, because I want to see all my other daughters too.

The REAL Bedroom Eyes

2006-04-10T08:17:00.000-04:00

I got to gaze into these for about a few hours yesterday.
You tell me! Who has the bedroom eyes huh?

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2006-04-05T02:30:00.000-04:00

Now, by nature, I'm a private man. I don't share a lot of my personal life with people. Especially on here! It's just how I am. If I'm asked about a specific thing in my life, 9 times out of 10 I'll tell you about what happened. So me putting all this out there, is a rare happening. So read this now before I change my mind and take it down...

Today is my birthday. I'm 35. Woo Hoo! Usually, my birthdays pass and are uneventful. The last few were spent in South Dakota and nothing really happened. And before that.. Well, I can't remember them, so I'm either getting old or they were that memerable. The point being, the last few sucked! But this year, something special happened. I got a card and some chocolate chip cookies, from someone that, day by day, is becoming more and more special to me. I'm not going to mention names, but her and I have been seeing a lot of each other when we can. And the time we've spent together has been far from boring.

Talking to her online makes my day better, and seeing her in person makes me feel very fulfilled inside. It's been a long time since I was this happy, and God help me I don't want it to end. She's so damn beautiful! And I'm referring to her inner beauty. The way she is, and her outlook on the world. Not to say she's not a looker, because yeah she is a looker! In my book, she's a hottie, and that is all that counts! But physical beauty is just the outside shell that encapsulates the best part of her. Her soul.

When I first met her, she was kind of shy and reserved. Sometimes I am too depending on the situation. But the more I got to talk to her and get to know her little by little, the more I liked her. I like making people laugh and those that know me, know I can make people laugh. And she is no exception. She has her own sense of humor that makes me smile and laugh too. That's very important. If you can't laugh at life, then you'll never make it out alive. But, it didn't take long before I wanted to ask her out to dinner. And I hoped she would say yes. When she did, I started to get the impression she liked me as well. When she bought me a bag of Swedish Fish, I knew she was interested in me.

I left her just a few hours ago, and man, let me tell you how hard that was! Took me 20 minutes to get in my own car so I could come home! But I could see something in her face. Like she was thinking about something. I don't know what, and I asked her, but she said it was nothing. But I could see it. Maybe my mind was playing tricks? Maybe someday she'll tell me? Or I could be wrong. To be honest, I'm not in a rush to find out. But the look I saw, made me feel even happier then when I was just sitting with her, holding her in my arms earlier that night.

It what I call a "vibe". I seem to be good at catching vibes from others. And usually, I can sense what they mean, or are trying to convey. What does it all mean? Not sure yet.. But I hope it means more time with her, and more of her chocolate Chip Cookies!

I think so deep, I get stuck in the well!

2006-04-01T09:50:00.000-05:00

OK, it's morning. Terry woke me up at the crack of whatever, and has since eaten and is now enjoying some Spongebob Squarepants action on the boob toob. Meanwhile, I sit here and do my usual thing. Check websites, read emails, compose replies, look at pictures, and field requests from Terry.

But today seems a little more calmer then usual. Since it's been winter, the window has been closed. But with the fantastic weather the last few days, I had no choice but to swing open the window and let nature come in. I left it open last night and now this morning, a slight breeze is blowing and rain is starting to fall. Listening to rain is, in my opinion, one of the greatest ways to relax. As a kid, I would go out under the car port of my parent's house and sit in one of the lawn chairs, looking into the street and watch the rain fall, and listen to it hit the metal roof. I could sit there for hours on end, and just feel my heartbeat slow as I found my inner calm. Peace was my bed and tranquility my blanket. Life seemed so simple during those times.

I lost those times not to long ago. I tried so hard to keep them, but it didn't work out that way. One day, maybe a week or so after we brought Terry home from the hospital, a hellaious thunderstorm rolled into town. Me loving that kind of stuff, and being a new dad wanted to share this first experience with my daughter. So I bundled her up, put a little hat on her and took her out on the front porch and sat in a chair with her while the rain fell and thunder and lighting performed it's show. I looked at Terry and told her there was nothing to be afraid of. That daddy was there and that is was something to enjoy. Nature at it's best.

Weird what something like rain will make you think of huh?

Ham Radio: Radio Daze!

2006-03-31T16:46:00.000-05:00

So I spent a little of my tax return on me. For the past few years I have had to use all of it on bills or for my divorce, but this year, I spent some of it on me, and Terry and put the rest in a CD for safe keeping! Things are looking up! But this post is about what I bought for myself. A wicked cool radio! A Yaesu FT-847. This sucker does everything I could want, and then a little more! It does HF, 6 meters, 2 meters, 70 cm and even has satellite capabilities! I could work any of the ham sats or even the International Space Station! Plus using a program called Ham Radio Deluxe.

With this I can control my radio using my computer. I can input a frequency and it will go right to it. I can control all the modes and setup the radio as well as have it automatically input info to my logbook! This is so cool! I can customize the look, and the interface! The pic shown is just a stock interface with a pre setup scheme/theme. But I can tweak it out and make it look really cool! It'll take me a week to figure this out! And all the while I will be listening to stations.

I also built a 6 meter dipole today. Nothing fancy. Just an SO-239 with a couple wires soldered on to it and placed on a piece of plastic from an old tub lid I had lying around. I just cut off a big piece, put a hole in the center big enough for the SO-239 to fit through and a couple more on either side to thread the wires through and give it a little more strength to keep from snapping from the weight of the coax under it. I haven't tested it yet, but will hopefully be able to tonight when Andy, KC2EUS gets home.

After that, the next step is to get the 2 meter antenna up. Since mine is a 2 meter/70 cm antenna, I'll need a coax switch to have the radio hooked in to the one antenna. Lots or wires running, but we'll see how she all works out. The station is coming along nicely, but it's kind of cobbed right now. I want to setup a nice desk with my radio and my computer for a nice simple and elegant shack. All my previous setups have been a mess of wires and coax. I want something simple and clean.

I also want to set it up to do remote control of my radio. I'll keep it closed access to just me, but I want to be able to play with it from work or something. This will keep me busy for weeks. I'll post more as I hack this setup. Later....

73 de KB2MOB

RANT: Islam.. I CALL SHENANIGANS!

2006-03-27T08:38:00.000-05:00

You know.. for a religion that claims to be peaceful and the most tolerant, I'd hate to see what they when they're pissed off. Seems because an Afghan man converted from Islam to Christianity, he broke islamic law and was to be tried and convicted and sentenced to death. Nice to know that Islamic law is very speedy! Must keep the prisons nice and tidy since people aren't there long enough to muss it up.

How is this better than the Taliban? Just because they don't execute women on a football (soccor) pitch in public anymore makes them better? BULLSHIT! The crusades are over folks! Have been for about a thousand years now! It's cool if a christian switches to islam, but you lose one and you behead them? Yeah. Real enlightened guys! I wanna be Islamic too... NOT!!!

Let's see, you discrimate against women, you behead converts, and everyone not islamic is an infidel. And you still bitch about the Inquisition?!? Talk about hypocrites! So let's all sit back and see how they dig themselves out of this one.

I hate to say it, but sooner or later, a christian fundalmentalist group is gonna come along and you are gonna get that 2nd crusdae you seem to be pushing for. When that happens, I'm gonna be the first to point and yell shenanigans and punch someone in the groin!

Q103 Where Rock Lives, @ 103.5 & 103.9

2006-03-23T06:33:00.000-05:00

Right! So I heard that Q103 in Albany needs some part-timers, and I've been wanting to get into the Albany market for a while, but the radio gods didn't see me worthy to be in the market. So I did what I could where I could and now, the gods of the microphone have sen fit to give me my day in the sun. I got hired at Q103, WQBK! ALL HAIL THE RADIO GODS!

I went to the station last night to train for the automation system that's used there and learn the format. Levack was my sensei and showed me how it was all done. Looks pretty easy. After about 20 mins, I was following along on the log and the system seems intuitive. So tonight, I'll be doing some mic time and getting used to being on the air down there. I got to meet some of the folks and the atmosphere down there was really kicked back. Usually at new places, I'm kinda like defensive and very aware till I get to know a place. After like 5 minutes I felt like I was home. It was that nice. Plus I think I found people who's desks are messier then mine. Flounder, Mrozek, you guys are beautiful people.

I can't really find anything on the con side to say about the place. I could knit pick, but that would serve no purpose. I can safely say, I found a dream job. I have arrived.

Well, I can say one bad thing about the place. Jeff Mrozek is a Bo Sox fan, and must be punished. Naaa, just kiddin'.

Rock on...

WTF: "Come F*@k me eyes?"

2006-03-20T17:45:00.000-05:00

Ok.. so here I am single and not really out looking right now, but in the past few months I have been hearing something from the women I am friends with about me. Now most guys would hear this and be like "Oh yeah! I got the power!". Now me.. well, I'm more like, "Where the hell did this come from?!".

They've all been saying that in my pics, I have these "Come fuck me eyes". WHat does that mean? I have this powerful stare that makes women weak at the knees? I have even been told I have a sexy voice! Well, that I may believe, since I am in radio and know how to make my voice convey certain emotions and ideas in order to sell stuff in commercials. So that one isn't hard to accept.

But the eyes thing? They say the eyes are the window to the soul. So what are women seeing in my soul? And why are they looking in my window? Would be interesting to know. So ladies, head on over to my MySpace profile, http://www.myspace.com/mobbyg , check the pics and let me know what is up?

This is not a lame attempt to get women to look at my pics, or feed my ego. Everyone knows it's more then well fed! So help me to understand it. Please be honest and help me to understand. And yes I am a little self concious about myself.. so be gentle ok?

RANT: The Mighty WKRP, BOOOOOGER!!!!!

2006-03-16T08:53:00.000-05:00

Well, I've been a busy little DJ lately. Working between Lite 98.7 and WENT has been trying but fulfilling. Seems the radio career is starting to get to where I want it to be. I've been filling in now again the weekday day-parts and seems like that is adding up to more fill in work, as I'll be covering Annie Croakly's mid-day shift on BigFrog 104. Just call me Captain Kermit. LOL

But anyways... On to what I wanted to talk about here.

The MIGHTY WKRP! Yeah. I loved that show. Still do. But thanks to the legal bullshit that the RIAA likes to pull on people, it's scared 20th Century Fox from wanting to release the show on DVD, because of all the music that was incorporated into the show. And they are reluctant to release edited version because research shows fans would rather have the unedited versions of the show then one without the music. So I guess you could say this is a bash against the RIAA. They bitch and moan and whine they are losing money because of file sharing, so they fire off thousands of lawsuits, clog up the court system and intimidate people into settling these suits or hit them with multi million dollar copyright violations. Nothing like biting the hand that feeds you.

Now being in radio, I think I have kind of a interesting perspective on this, and I would love to know what my fellow jocks think on this too...

Why isn't the RIAA getting the idea that digital distribution is the way to go. They kept saying that it wouldn't work. And when Apple came to them with iTunes, they figured it would flop and they would prove their point. Well we all know what happened there. Now they want charge you more based on if a song is new or popular or not. Um.. guys...

IF THE WHEEL AIN'T BROKE DON'T FIX IT!!!

But it seems greed is the only religion the folks at the RIAA know. So what is my point you ask? Simple. Beat the RIAA at their own game. Buy music from independent labels, or from iTunes. If they up the price, drop your subscription and let them know why. Don't bother with those "licensing" music sites, that let you only listen to the music till your subscription runs out. THAT IS RIDICULOUS! You bought it, you listen to it the where you want, how you want. Don't let the establishment dictate what you can and can't do. Last I checked, this is the United States of America, and we have this little thing called freedom and free enterprise. And both can be used to fight back.

9 True Things You May Not Know About Radio People....

2006-03-04T13:14:00.000-05:00

Found this on MySpace....

1. 50% of our wardrobes really do consist of free t-shirts:

***t-shirts from Radio stations weve worked for, t-shirts given to us for participating in charity events and t-shirts from movie and record promtions. If you are ever at a garage sale and you see more than 2 t-shirts with Radio station logos on them, chances are very good a Radio person lives there. (Make sure you fumigate anything you buy.)

2. Evening DJs get propositioned more than any other air-shift, usually from under-age females. Being seduced by any of these little pixies is also known as walking the jail-bait tightrope.

3. Rule of the Phones: if she sounds sexy, more times than not, she isnt.

***Generally, the ladies who call into Radio stations, in the hopes of luring the DJ into some kind of rendevouz, fall into one of these categories:
1) someone Richard Simmons should be praying next to 2) Stalkers
3) 14 year-old Lolitas who are fully prepared to testify in court. (Please see: Evening DJs.)

4. You can get on almost any Radio station to promote something if you bring the morning show food.

***Morning DJs lose all sense of propriety, right, and wrong when you offer them a cinnamon bun with enough icing to put a diabetic into a coma. Other sure-fire ways into the studio: pizza, subs, ribs (big in the South), donuts, and Starbucks.

5. Youre not crazy: Radio people really ARE weird. Seriously. Some of them are close to psychotic.

***Is it any wonder more and more health care plans in Radio now offer psychological benefits? Mmmm?

6. Yes, we really DO get fired as much as youve heard.

***Radio people get fired because formats change, because ratings go down, because Radio stations get sold, because of budget cuts, because of vendettas, because some drink too much and dont show up for work, because some drink too much and DO show up for work, and because moral clauses in contracts are sometimes broken (Please see: Evening DJs).

7. You dont want to see us in person. Really.

***We usually look: fatter, thinner, older, and younger than you thought. We never equal your imagination. We should be required to wear ski masks on all external outings - for the good of all humanity.

8. Were pathetic whiners. Really.

***We bitch and moan about how hard it is to drag our butts out of bed at 3 A.M. just so we can sit on our ass for four hours and talk. Please.

9. We have a high divorce rate. Why?

***For starters we move around a lot. You should only marry someone in Radio if you either
1) have a personal U-Haul
2) have a relative in the moving business
3) you have tiny little wheels surgically attached to the bottoms of your feet. Besides the moving problem, marriages and relationships of Radio people are constantly tested by fans who come on to them. (Please see: Evening DJs.)

Random Access IV

2006-03-02T21:47:00.000-05:00

Fly By Night - RUSH
Words and music by Geddy Lee and Neil Peart

Why try? I know why
The feeling inside me says it’s time I was gone
Clear head, new life ahead
I want to be king now not just one more pawn

Fly by night, away from here
Change my life again
Fly by night goodbye my dear
My ship isn’t coming and I just can’t pretend

Moon rise, thoughtful eyes
Staring back at me from the window beside
No fright or hindsight
Leaving behind that empty feeling inside

Start a new chapter
Find what I’m after
It’s changing every day
The change of a season
Is enough of a reason
To want to get away

Quiet and pensive
My thoughts apprehensive
The hours drift away
Leaving my homeland
Playing a lone hand
My life begins today

Of BBSing and things..

2006-02-10T03:20:00.000-05:00

Since I got DSL a couple weeks ago, I have been watching Shoutcast TV. Simply for the fact that I don't have cable or satellite in my room/office. It's a pretty nice alternative for TV. One thing I sa on ShoutcastTV, was the BBS Documentary . And since I run a BBS, I naturally watched. One of the things they discussed was the things lost now that BBSes aren't really common place anymore... Here's a quick run down...

The loss of community and comradery. Back then, users treated each other like family. A close knit group. There was one time, on the Mystic Gate BBS here in town, a friend and I wanted to get some new blood in a game of D&D. So I posted some details as to when we wanted to have it and where on the message bases. Sure enough, after a couple days, we had a group of 13 people to play! And somehow we manged to fit them all in. The game lasted for about 2 months or so, and it was great! Let's see something like that on a big forum on the web?
Which leads us to this thought. On those big web forums, if you disappear, how soon before someone notices you're not posting? Or what even happened to you? I've seen boards that get like 4000 posts a day! During the BBS days, 10 was considered awesome! But still... That feeling of being an ant on the ocean floating on a toothpick.. Not there on a BBS.
What about spam? I never saw spam on a BBS. I never got spam on a BBS either.

These are just a couple things that were brought up about this subject. And I think they make a pretty good case for just havign a BBS around. If I can get just 1 non BBS user, or someone that never called a BBS before to log on and keep coming back, I guess I've done my job.

If you're really curious about all this, you can check the wikipedia page about BBSes. Or if you wanna try it for yourself, feel free to check out my BBS. And you can always ask me here.

So Where's My Brown Coat?

2006-01-20T02:00:00.000-05:00

SCIFI.COM | Firefly

I had heard about Firefly, saw the news on some of the geek sites, but I had yet to see any episodes of it. All that changed when I stopped to Miker's one night. Patrick had bought the box set of shows, and they were watching them. I wasn't all that hyped to sit down and watch them, but I'm always up for watching something new. So I sat down and we watched. And got into the stories and the action and humor and the depth of the characters.

It didn't take long for me to get hooked. I had read about sci-fi fans that were kinda skeptical, or even non scu-fi fans that were skeptical. But after watching the movie and then some of the episodes from the DVD set, they just were hooked like me and that was it!

I wasn't a real Buffy fan or an Angel fan. But Firefly... well, let's just say, I hope Josh can get it back on the air. It really seems like a grass roots thing and it has the capability to take off!

So if you haven't seen any of the episodes, check Sci-Fi channel's listing for when it's on again, or dare I say, check out ShoutcastTV and see if anyone is streaming it. This is damn fine Sci-Fi and drama with some good humor in there as well. If you're not a fan of Sci-Fi but like Westerns, well, give it a try. You won't be disapointed!

Next step for me is to watch the movie, and then go out and get the boxed set. I plan on supporting this franchise the best I can.

Ok, I'm tired and Miker just gave me a ton of new books to read. Gotta make some time to read somewhere.

All 80's Saturday Night! Totally Tubular!

2006-01-16T13:24:00.001-05:00

Ok, it's my turn to host the 80's show on Lite 98.7 this Saturday Night at 8pm EST. Since the station streams, I invite you to stop by and listen in. Or better yet call me at the studio and let me know you're listening. The studio line 315-721-0987.

Radically Bodaious Dude!

Pretty gnarly post huh?

Of Chicken Wings and Things

2006-01-16T13:24:00.000-05:00

A Haiku for the world's greatest food... Hot Wings.....

So tastey, so good...
Burning tounge, water can't quench...
My anus burns now

Thank You. All donations gladly excepted through Haikus Anonymous...

Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo

2005-12-24T15:53:00.000-05:00

I know I already ranted about it, but this really says it all!

http://www.illwillpress.com/xmas.html

Ok... Now that, that is out of the way...

First, Merry Christmas to one and all. And just a reminder that it's not the presents that make the season worth celbrating. It's the company and the reason. The reason you ask? Well, about 2000 and 5 years ago, a guy who was nailed to a cross because he said it would be a really great idea if everyone loved each other, was born. This person, taught his fellow man, that forgiving is not hard to do. That giving of yourself feels good and that no matter what, love can be unconditional. And you don't even need to be Christian! You see, popular to contrary belief, Jesus was middle eastern looking and jewish! Well, the jewish part prolly isn't too hard to belive.

Anyways, the point I'm making is that no matter what, the reason for the season is the message one man passed along to his friends and followers. Forgive and love. It's that simple.

Well, I'm off to work, and I forgive my boss for talking me into working tonight. Enjoy your Christmas and be safe. If you don't celebrate Christmas, well, may your holiday be safe and peaceful. See you on New Years Eve!

BTW: What did Santa bring you anyways??

RANT: Merry Fucking Holidays! or PC is BS!

2005-12-17T09:16:00.000-05:00

I've been reading the papers (yes I do have an edumacation), and been seeing it on TV and discussiing it with co-workers, and reading it on friend's blog about how the "Holidays" seems to be getting secularized for the benfit of the masses because it's more politically correct. Well, your uncle Mobby says "BULLSHIT!".

Some atheistic ass somewhere in San Fransisco doesn't like his son to have to say "under God" in the pledge of allegence, so he sues the school district! I think this kind of crap sets off a chain reaction that now has us saying "Happy Holidays" instead of Merry Chirstmas, or Happy Chanuakka, or Happy Ramadon! For Christ's sakes people, do you really think that your view is the only fucking view?!?!

If you would all open your history books to page 1, we will see that this country was founded on christian principles, that say that all men are free and equal! But not at the expense of other's freedoms and beliefs! This was most elequently said by Thomas Jefferson (You guys remeber him right? He was our President or something like that, not sure of the politcally correct title being, maybe something like "The Non-demoinatiol Being in Charge" or something like that?), who said "Majority Rule with Minority rights". That basiclly breaks down to this... The will of the majority will be carried out, but not at the expense of all others with dissenting view.

Seems some freaks, yes I call you freaks because it's my constitutionally protected free speech view of you, say that we need to say "Happy Holidays" instead of the more popular, Merry Chirstmas, or Happy CHannakua, etc, etc etc. How hard is it for someone to correct someone else. If I saw Happy Ramidon to someone that looks to be Muslum, how hard is it if that person is actually Jewish to say, "Oh no, we celebrate Chanakka." Is that so hard? Or how about putting up Chirstmas Lights? But you can't seem to find those anywhere, just "Holiday Lights".

Have we secualrized these cherished religous holidays to satisfy the few who all they can do is whine becuse the stores are closed on December the 25th and they need a fucking Starbucks fix? It seems to me, as a culture, we're becoming more and more bankrupt, losing everything that made this country what it really is. Have times chaged so much that everything needs a title that won't offend, to the exclusions of all others? Wonder what the PC term for Americans in general will be? Mentally unwell.

Well, at least on my little corner of the web, I can say what I want!

MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

And you secualr sons of bitches.... Go fuck a goat!

Remember when computing was fun?

2005-12-08T23:05:00.000-05:00

Amiga OS4 Website

Anyone that knows me, knows that I get passionate about things I like or love. Movies, music, art, computers, etc. One thing that I have been passionate about for a long time is computers. It was Wargames that got me hooked on wanting a computer and led to the years of me pestering my mom and dad for a computer.

Like a lot of others, I got a Commodore 64 (C=64) for my first computer. I loved it. And all my friends were getting C=64s as well. So trading and sharing software was how we all got to play with new things. But later on, things were getting more powerful and bigger in the computer world. The Commodore 128 (C=128) came out. The IBM 8088 was going out and 286 models were coming in. It was the very beginning of the IBM clone days. But there was one computer, that put all IBMs and even Apples, to shame! This computer made computing even more fun! I didn't think it was possible, but it was. I look back on the days I had one of these machines and all I can do is start to get passionate about it. The nostalgia just rushes in and courses through me. Like standing on a holodeck in Star Trek, I can see it all so clearly. My old computer desk, my old monitor (Which I still have and still works!!) All the software, my old dot matrix printer (Color too!). Then my trusty old machine....

My Amiga.....

Lately I've been visiting some of the Amiga News sites I used to regualarly visit. I still have some Amigas in my posession. A couple of A3000s, 2 A2000s, and an A4000 desktop! But my first Amiga was the trusty Amiga 500. I remember when I ordered it. I used what was left from my tuition grants for college after I gotmy books. I had enough left over to buy a new Amiga 500 and get a used 1084 monitor that a D&D buddy had. He had an Amiga but got rid of it. No clue why, but his loss was my gain! When I got my A500, I was on top of the world! I put every penny I could get my hands on into upgrading my Amiga. The Amiga at the time was the best computer you could buy. Preemptive multitasking, low power usage, small but powerful OS. Man! You couldn't beat it.

That's about the time the OS wars started up. IBM and Amiga. Everyside has their points about why their OS was better then the others. I personally could have cared less. I liked what I had, and enjoyed it! Let the IBM people have thier DOS. I had a fully functional GUI, 4086 colors and stereo sound out of the box! And it was all running on 512K (Yes, kilobytes!) of Ram. I later upgraded to 1Meg and was then able to do oh so much more! I added a hard drive and expansion chasis and could plug in cards and I was doing everything I could ever want. I would even spend hours in front of it just tweaking it! Seeing what I could get it to do.

The of course that was also during the latter end of the BBS days. There was at least 3 Amiga BBSes in the area, and maybe 2 or 3 IBM PC based ones. I would call them and that is how I ended up organizing a 13 person D&D game in my parent's cramped cellar. Then the internet started to take off. Dialup was the thing. This was the days of Windows 3.11 and windows 95. Microsoft had established thier dominace. Commodore had gone under and the Amiga was in limbo for an owner. But the userbase was loyal and kept it all together. Aminet was online and anyone with an Amiga could get just about any piece of free software out there. Even software for getting online. How you may ask, do you get software to get on the internet from a site ON the internet when your computer can't get on the internet? Why BBSes of course. People would get the files on PCs and upload it to a BBS here or there, or the authors would post it all on the BBSes. So the software was there, but you could also just use command line to navagate the net. That's how I started!

So I had the software, I learned to set it up and run it and got some of my friends with Amigas set up too! We were getting online and connecting in new ways with fellow Amiga users. It was fantastic! But soon the PC world caught up to the Amiga and it's accomplishments, but it took them 10 years to do it! And I'm sure you're wondering what all these neat things are? Well, the offical Amiga OS4 website can tell you all about it! Then you can see why I had such passion for a computer. The things I could do and imagine doing. Wow! Yeah I could probably do it all on my PC right now, but you know... I just don't think it would be as fun...

Like the Rand Corp...Only Smarter!

2005-12-01T00:02:00.000-05:00

So I'm sitting at the HOP (House of Pestilence aka Miker's House), and were talking about our dearly departed spudgun, Goutslayer. She was a trusty potato gun and was well constructed and was able to fire well past her prime. And sometime ago I decided I would build a new one and name it Goutslayer 2! A tribute to the original.

Well, thanks to the brain trust of the Outback (Watch out Rand Corp!), We have invented a new twist to a honored sport! Skeet Shooting! Here's the twist....

Take a trebuchet and use that as your skeet thrower. Then take a double barrel spudgun and shoot what ever you fling, out of the sky! Granted, it's a Rube Goldfarb way of making french fries, but hey, I got a lot of time on my hands!

The Good Ole Days...

2005-11-27T08:28:00.000-05:00

On my way home from working at WENT, I got to thinking, which I do a lot of, and started to remember the days of when I ran a BBS and when I called up BBSes as a kid. I didn't really start running a BBS till around 1996 or so. But would call them all the time in the late 80s. Some of the ones I would cal in the area were Syncronicty, The Ghost Ship/All American BBS, The Saloon, Twilight Color Lab and a few long distance ones across the U.S.

Back during my days with my Commodore 64 (C=64) I would dialup and log on and get lost in the conversation threads. I would spend all my alloted time up on reading and downloading files. And I would remember the hours I would sit and talk to the guys about what was happening, who was arguing with who, who had done what and what conversation was the best one to read. It also all lead to the BBS Wars in the area, where a bunch of us, basiclly being idiots. You can read a bit about that here on Miker's blog. Back then I was still in high school so I spent many nights during the week doing a little home work and calling the boards.

When I started my BBS, Amiga-Z, I would spend practically all my free time tweaking it or just looking for something new to add to it to make it really cool! This was all before the internet! So it wasn't like I was surfing the web or anything. I was culling through CD-Roms and floppies for programs I could use. I miss those days sometimes. They seemed like a simpler time in my life. All I needed was my computer, a modem and a phone line and I was set. That is untill I started dating more :D

I like waxing nostalgic sometimes. Reliving some of those nights in front of my computer and how I made a lot of friends I never even met in person till years later! One was a guy by the handle of Odin. I finally met him, years later at a computer club that was just getting started.

The weird part is that I mostly remember it all because of the season. In the winter I didn't go out that much because of the cold so I sat my ass in front of the TV and computer. That would explain my size 38 waist!

Blacklisted411 Fall 2005 Edition Now in Stores!

2005-11-25T13:41:00.000-05:00

Pick up the latest issue! Chuck full of all kinds of hacker and security goodness, including an article by yours truly! Available at fine book and periodical establishments like Borders, Banes & Noble, and Waldenbooks! If your local store doesn't carry it, ask them to! Here's some of the goodness waiting for you in the current issue!

The Art of Casual WiFi Hacking

Cheating on Browser-based Games

Free Broadband

How would I hack thee?

The Hacker Chronicles Part V

Auditor: Debian WiFi Hacking

Internet Insecurity

Visit the Blacklisted411 Website

Turkey Nap

2005-11-24T05:26:00.000-05:00

First, to those from the U.S. that celebrate, HAPPY THANKSGIVING! For those that don't, you're probably bitching cuz all the stores are closed. Sorry. And to those around the world, just a quick question... What are you thankful for?

See this doesn't have to be just an American holiday. Oh no. People can be thankful any time of the day or year! And just because you're not an American (We won't hold it against ya :P) does that mean you shouldn't be thankful? What are Isreali's thankful for? How about the Palastinians? Or the other arab nations? How about China? India? South Africa? The U.K.? France, Germany, pick a country or nationality. You don't even have to be christian!!! Athiest can be thankful too, just to no one in particualr. :D

Maybe if Thanksgiving was a world wide holiday, things would be a little more sane. Why can't a muslum be thankful to Allah for his family and friends? Why can't a Taoist be thankful for his place in nature? There is no reason to NOT be thankful for anyone! And so, with that thought and the idea that there is still hope in the world, here are a few things I am thankful for...

My daughters.
My Mom and Dad
My sisters and their families
The friends I made in South Dakota
My friends here in New York
Those that I care about. They made me who I am today and still help to shape me.

I could go on and on, but believe it or not, the space on the internet would be finite for my list. So with that, I'll wish one and all a Happy Thanksgiving. And ask you all again, what are you thankful for?

Smiles

2005-11-22T19:26:00.000-05:00

How can anyone not love this?!?!?!

This parental moment is now complete... move along... thank you... buh bye now... :)

Welcome One and All!

2005-11-22T19:15:00.000-05:00

If you look at the lower right, just underneath the links and such on the main page here, you'll notice a button for StatsCounter.com. I'm a nosey man by nature, so I wanted to see who's checking out the blog. So Installed it and have been watching to see who's been stopping by. Well, the past few days haven't been very active. And I didn't expect them to be since I'm a small time guy with a small time blog. Come on! I'm not Stern!

So I just checked and low and behold, 13 people have stopped by the site on Monday. And we're starting to get some international folks stopping in. The UK for one! Welcome! Have a pint of Guinness on me if you're so inclined. Send the tab to 1600 Pennsylviana Ave, Washington, D.C. Address it to my nom de' plume of G.W. Bush. I'll send it right out as soon as I get it. Also to those in North Dakota that stopped by, how ya doin'?

Nice to see so many out there are even remotly curious as to what I have to say. Must be all those "secret files" on my HD about all you folks... heheh.. it's ok.. as long as I get my money, no one sees the files..

Anyways.. more to come... 'nuff said.

Swedish Fish, Ja!

2005-11-20T11:30:00.000-05:00

I love Swedish Fish. The candies, not Norwegian sea life. If you've never had a swedish fish, I suggest you go to your loacal Target, Wal*Mart, Shop-Ko, Albertson's, Price Chopper, whatever!! Get some!! Eat them!! They are AWESOME!! Mmmmmm. I pop one in my mouth and it just waters waiting for the next one and I haven't even finished chewing the first! It's like heaven!!

Swedish Fish. Get some! Go! NOW!!!!

Delusions

2005-11-18T12:08:00.000-05:00

So I had another dream with the "The One" in it. This one I can't seem to figure out.

But it goes something like this...

I have a new house. Terry and I are still getting things unpacked and settled in. Boxes all over the place, it's a fixer-uper . I can tell because the kitchen walls need a paint job bad! Plus the prevous owners had bad taste.. Yellow wallpaper and Sky blue wall phones? Ugh....

"The One" is there with 2 other female friends I can't place. Well I come into the kitchen and there they are on my phone, that I thought wasn't hooked up yet cuz I still owed money to the phone company. One of them says "So how far does long distance go?" While she's walking across the kitchen to the counter with the handset in her hand. "The One" says something I can't remeber and her and one of the other women leaves. The last friend is standing there and I look at her and ask her if "The One" paid the phone company to get my phone turned on. She nods her head with a small smile on her face.

Then I'm upstairs in the house and it looks a lot like my parent's upstairs. But this other girl shows up, but shall remain nameless.. Anyways, she comes up the stairs bitching about how I don't wanna date her. Well, why would I? I got Tracy... Then "The One" comes up the stairs where we jump to what can only be described as Maple Ave Extention in Johnstown, in a better day when it wasn't so over grown. Nice cool green grass, light breeze, on a summer's day . I'm sitting by the side of the road just enjoying the weather, when "The One" shows up and she sits in my lap, and leans back against me.

Now I'm not gonna lie! Yeah, I thought it was nice.. but weird.. why would I dream that? And what's stranger.. I had Winamp playing and Cheap Trick's "Dream Police" just came on as I was writing this...

Anyone got a number of a good shrink?

War Stories

2005-11-16T15:32:00.000-05:00

Well Miker just posted a story about our BBS days, so I figured I should too and Miker agreed with me. So here is one, that doesn't really realte to the wars, but some of the stupidity that was underneath...

Back then we all had Commodore 64 computers, and we all traded and shared programs with each other, we would even bring our floppy drives to each other's houses to hook them all up and copy disks faster. Sometimes, Our TV's and Commies. Well, I had seen Wargames and I got hooked. That was what made me pester my mom and dad to no end for a computer of my own. After getting one and buying a modem for it later on, I got on the BBSes and made a few friends and got a few contacts that had programs that I wanted to get my hands on. Basiclly, hacking and phreaking tools. One program that I wanted was Phoneman. It was a ll around phreaking tool. It could play Bluebox tones, Redbox tones, DTMF, and it even had a wardialer!

For those who wonder what a wardialer is, it's a program that dials phone numbers and looks for modems on the other end. When it finds one, it then logs the number for you to check out at a later time. Well I played with it here and there but I never really did much with the wardialer at first. But our friend Vaughn did.

Vaughn was kinda the pariah of the group. We tolerated him and did treat him as a friend, but some of the stuff he did was nothign short of annoying and down right asinine. But we accepted him, or more like tolerated him.

Anyways, Vaughn and I were talking and I told him about Phoneman soon after I got it. Now, the people that gave it to me said to not hand it out to anyone. They were the kind of people that wanted tobe greedy and not share. Basiclly be snobs and hold it over everyone's head that they had something everyone else didn't. Well, After I managed to 'social engineer" them to give me a copy, I promptly decided to give a copy to anyone that wanted it, including Vaughn. Now Vaughn had the hacker drive but not the ethics. So in hindsight, giving him a copy was probably a bad idea, but I did it, and that was it.

Every now and again I would venture over to Vaughn's house during summer break from school and see what he was up to, hang out, swap programs, and play games. We both seemed to be the ones that were hooked up with cotacts to get shit so we were the ones that distributed the stuff to the rest of the guys. So I'm at his house, and I show Vaughn, Phoneman. He loves it, mostly because if the wardialer. I tell him I haven't really done anything with it. He said he wanted a copy, I said I wanted a copy of something he had and so we traded. Like dealers making an exchange on a dimly lit street corner.

So a few days go by and Vaughn calls me up using his Commie. Back then, we would hear the carrier whistle of the modems when we picked up so we would switch to our computers and put our modem in answer mode and it would pick up, then connect. And then we would do a direct link and chat. This was back before TCP/IP was in common use, so it wasn't where you could chat and exchange files at the same time. But he called and I fired up my terminal and we chated a bit. Exchanged files and I asked him if he had used phoneman yet. He told me he did and in fact, had found a couple numbers here in town! I asked if I could have them and he sent the list on over. Now I didn't know it at the time, but he had been letting his wardialer, dial numbers in town in sequence.... 555-0001,555-0002 and so on. Later on it would bite him in the ass hard!

So a few weeks go by, and everything seems normal. Then one day I get a call from Vaughn, sounding kinda depressed and upset at the same time. He says he needs a new copy of Phoneman. I ask what happened to yours? He kinda hem and hawed about it and would only say he needed a new copy. But I refused to give him one unless he told me what happened to his. Well, reluctantly he tells me that all week long, he had been having his dialer go through all the numbers in town while he was sleeping. So people at 30 am would be getting a phone call and be hearing the creeching of the carrier whistle in their ear! Naturally, people got pissed! Well, I guess Vaughn didn't put much thought into the use of the war dialer, because he put in a sequence that dialed the non emergency numbers of the police, fire and ambulance service here in town. And all those numbers were assigned, in sequence!! So we can see where this is going right?

First the fire department gets the calls, then the abmulance does. Now not knowing what is going on, they call next door to the cops and tell them. They put a "trap" on their numbers, and when Vaughn's computer calls them.. WHAM! They get his ANI and he's busted! They showed up at his house, took his copy of phoneman, bitch him out and give him a ticket to appear in court. And the next day in the local paper, there is a story, where he isn't named because we're all still considered minors, where a teen placed over 6000... Yes 6000, nusence phone calls!

Well, I made the connection of course and promptly filled in the guys and we all had a great laugh. And I might say, Vaughn got off because he had a good lawyer and played dumb! Those two things seemed to save him from a very big fine!

Well Vaughn had called me like 10 mins after the cops left. And 30 minutes later, I was at his house with a fresh copy of Phoneman. Needless to say, he did stop using the war dialer.

OPERATION: KOBIASHI MARU

2005-11-15T02:02:00.000-05:00

{Insert Mission Impossible Theme here...}

Good Morning Mr./Mrs. {Insert Your Name Here},

We need you for a covert mission of the utmost importance. You and 2 team members will take positions with your paintball guns around the tennis courts near the high school in town, some hours before sunset. There you will maintain a watch on the location and scout out any other viable firing positions that may help in your mission.

Your objective is to wait until a group of teens, who are known to gather there, show up and begin participating in immoral activities such as drinking, smoking cigarettes and smoking pot. Wait for an opportune moment and take your shot. You are to ambush the entire group and get out without being seen.

Should you or any of your team be captured, all knowledge of this operation and your team will be disavowed. Good luck {insert your name here}.

This message will turn into a rutabega in 5 seconds...

Man, I think up some of the weirdest shit! And Just because I thought this up doesn't mean I plan on doing it and I highly suggest no one else do it either... Because you may get in trouble and I would be very ticked cuz it's my idea!

God Help Me! It's All True!

2005-11-09T18:22:00.000-05:00

Miker posted this on the bulletins for MySpace.

20 things that you understand if you live in upstate New York.

1. Your idea of a traffic jam is 10 cars waiting to pass a tractor on the highway

2. "Vacation" means going to Syracuse for the weekend

3. You measure distance in hours

4. You know several people who have hit deer more than once

5. You often switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day

6. You stay in your house most of the summer because you aren't used to the heat

7. You drive at 55 mph through 10 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching

8. You see people wearing hunting clothes at social events

9. You install security lights on your house and garage but leave both unlocked

10. One of your neighbors constantly has bonfires

11. You carry jumper cables in your car and your girlfriend knows how to use them

12. There are 7 empty cars running in the parking lot at the supermarket at any given time

13. Your idea of a huge party is one with lots of cheap beer and some people you go to school with

14. Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled in with snow

15. You think sexy lingerie is silk pajamas from wal-mart

16. You know 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, cold, construction

17. It takes you 2 hours to go to the store for one item even when you're in a rush because you have to stop and talk to everyone in town

18. At least 6 people that you see a day have beards and stains on the front of their shirt

19. Cows are just part of the scenery

20. You or someone you know has a car that sounds like a big truck and can barely make it 20 miles yet no one says anything about it.

Fuck if it all ain't true....

Random Access III

2005-11-06T21:51:00.000-05:00

Been a little busy this weekend.. so another quick update on shite...

Mom came home on Wednesday. She's good and back to her ol' self. Thanks to all who asked how she was and the offers of support!

Built the antenna and discovered it wasn't the antenna after all. Was having the same issue with the radio on the new antenna. So, it's something in the radio. Already talked to someone and he's gonna give it a look over as soon as I get it to him.

Tracy and I kinda both had cruddy weekends, so we tried to comfort each other. I think it worked pretty well.

The radiator in my car seems to have sprung a leak. Figures. I hate that car and it hates me.

A more interesting post will be coming at some point. I just need a cool idea to post about. Till then, hit up the links on the right.

Random Access II

2005-11-01T01:36:00.000-05:00

Just to keep everyone up to speed, (all 6 of you that read this...) here are some things that have been happening lately...

Popped off my newest article to Blacklisted!411, about Aminet.

Spent Saturday at a party with Tracy.

Spent Sunday with Terry at her other grandparents so she could Trick or Treat with them.

Got my supplies to build my new antenna. So I should be back on the air by tommorrow afternoon.

My mom is in the hospital with low blood pressure. Saw her today and she does look good. Hopefully she'll be home soon.

Other then that, make sure you get the fall issue of Blacklisted!411 when it hits the stands, and be listing for me on 75/80 meters very soon! Somewhere around 3885 KHz. Also, if you are an amateur radio operator, send me an email or leave me a comment and we can setup a sched.

And that's another thing. How come no one leaves comments?

2005-10-31T22:42:00.000-05:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

I caught a Care Bear!

Ham and Eggs Radio - Pt. II - Voices in the Night

2005-10-28T10:04:00.000-04:00

I've been doing amatuer (Ham) radio for about 15 years or so. Just 10 more and I'm in at the Quarter Century Wireless Club! Woo Hoo! But for most of that 15 years, I've been kinda fickle about what I have been doing. I really like 2 meters. All my ham radio friends are there. I like doing traffic nets, but from where I am I can't seem to get into the repeater to check it. It sucks!

But over the past few years, I've been getting more and more active on HF. I managed to save up and get a couple of HF radios. One being my trusty Yaesu FT-901DM. This big ol' boat anchor was not my first HF radio. That honor goes to my old trusty HTX-100. A 10 meter only radio that I traded for my second HF radio, a Heathkit! I don't remember the model number, but it came with the matching power supply and speaker and desk mic. It took up my WHOLE desk! I had no room for anything else. But alas, it just sat there for the longest time and I sold it off or traded it for something, I can't remember.

Now fast forward a couple mroe years. The HF bug is starting to take hold again. So I want to get another radio, but the ones I want are like $1000! And I can't come up with that kind of money because it always seems like something else comes up that requires money! My car breaks down or an unexpected bill. So when I was offered the chance to get the Yaesu and pay later, I jumped on it! So I picked it up at Tom's, N2SQO's house one night with a then friend in tow. The friend has since married another friend and tore his heart up and gone "plum loco" since all this has happened and has done myush to get people to be pissed at her! But, her and I go and pick up the radio. All 40 lbs of it! Tube final amp stage, soldi state for the rest. My first tube radio. Oooo.. I could see it all now, the glow of the tubes, the warm audio. I was gonna be in heaven! I already had my general class klicense so I had HF privledges so I was ready to go. I also had an HF antenna that I bought for my HTX-100 but was till in the damn box! An AV-5 from Cushcraft. So I was gonna get to go on the air! But for some reason I can't remember, I ended up getting a G5RV antenna and putting that up instead.

But I was on! I was up and running. I looked up my provledges on the 40 meter band one day, tunes up the radio per the instructions in the manual and started calling "CQ 40 CQ 40, this is Kilowatt Bravo Two, Mike Oscar Bravo, calling CQ 40 and listening!". I did that about 10 times and I finally got someone! WOW! My first telephony contact on 40! I don't remeber his call but we started out doing the usual, "Name here is Rich! And I'm located in Gloversville, NY. QSL?". (QSL is morse code shorthand for did you copy me?) Well He came back to me and come to find out.. He was in Albany. Rats.. no DX there. But it was still fun! 40 meters during the day can get about maybe 500 miles range, and by night go world wide! But I usually was on VHF at night chatting away or out with the guys here in town. I tried a few other bands but didn't seem to get anywhere. I pretty muched stayed away from 20 meters because I had heard that some of the ops on there were kinda rude. Something I later lerned to be untrue. Most were very nice and courteous!

So now you have an idea of how it all kinda started for me on HF. If you're curious how I got started in amateur radio itself? Well, you'll have to read the previous post here. But from the title of this post, you probably thought I was gonna talk about playing radio at night. Well I am.. this was all a setup! Yeah long but you have some back ground now..

Lately, I have found something cool on amateur radio. AM as in Amplitiude Modulation. Ok.. here's the break down. Amplitude Modulation == Amplitutde (noun):The height of a radio wave from its highest point or peak to its zero level or lowest point, in any given sample or at any point along the line of the wave; the power of a sound wave expressed by the height of the sound wave in a given instance. If you could follow that good! If not, well, you can google it :)

Now.. Modulataion (noun): A method of placing one signal on top of another by altering the base or carrier signal in a particular way that can be decoded to extract the additional, modulated signal. Modulation simply takes a baseline signal and alters it to carry the information of a second signal. A radio station modulates the radio frequency by altering its frequency (FM) or its amplitude (AM).

So there you go. Put those together and you go it. AM was the first mode of radio. FM didn't come around till the late 1940 early 50's courtesy of a fellow named Edwin Armstrong. I'll get into him in a later post someday (Remind me ok?). Once the other more efficent or smaller modes like Single Sideband and such came along, AM was kinda pushed aside but still had a devot group of fans. Much like the Amiga computer, which I also am a fan of! But if you listen to an AM radio broadcast, weither it's WGY (810 AM) or WENT (1340 AM), they all have that nice warm round sound to them. I fell in love with that. And so did a bunch of other hams out there. Tuning into some of the AM'ers on 40 meters or 75/80 meters, you can hear the fantastic sound these guys produce with their radios. These guys are affinados when it comes to great audio fidelity. I fell in love with that sound, and now I want to be a part of that. My drawback? I don't know enough about electronics to homebrew any of my own equipment. Oh yeah I could go out and buy what I needed. But these guys take all kinds of joy in building there own equipment most of the time. I want that kind of joy too. So I'm trying to study my manual to get my Extra class license and struggling with the electronic theroy and math. At one point I was taking practice tests and could get a 65% on it. But I stopped for a while and now it's all gone :( . So I'm back to square 1.

But, AM is something that has now sparked my interest in being very active on the amateur bands again. And this isn't an overnight thing. This has been brewing for years! And now I'm finally getting down to doing something about it! Come hell or high water, I'm gonna get this done!

Ham and Eggs Radio - Pt. I - "In The Beginning..."

2005-10-25T11:26:00.000-04:00

So I'm a geek. I've been known to walk around with a radio on my hip or in my hand. Why? Cuz I love radio. How much do I love it? Well, I've been playing with radio since the CB days in the late 70's! Ever since the FCC ditched the licenses for Citizens Band when I was a kid, I payed on the radio. I had the toy 49 MHz walkies with the little morse code button. I even had a toy radio that I remember to this day!

It was a little CB reciever from a show I used to get into when I was a little kid. The show was called "Moving On", and it was about a couple of truck drivers that would help people in trouble in their driving around the country doing their truck driver thing. And they used the CB a lot! And I thought that was the coolest thing! Talking on a radio! So one Christmas, Santa brought me this little CB radio with a built in antenna. It was a 23 channel one and it had the "Moving On" Logo with a big rig on it. And it worked I could hear channels 1 through 23! It was awesome! Then I tried to get on the air with it! But for some reason they could never hear me. That was ok wioth me though, it worked on batteries and I could take it anywhere in the neighborhood! I was in heaven.

It was in and out of my toy box for a year and one day I finally got curious as to what a radio looked like on the inside. So I got a screw driver and removed all the screws, carefully putting them down in a place where I wouldn't lose them. One by one till I could open the case. And low and behold I saw a fascinating world! Transistors, capactiors, diodes, resistors. It was like a Micronauts world! (Remember them?!) I was hooked and that was the end of it. But back in those days, the internet was still for the universities and military. Doing whatever advanced research they did back then.

Then I discovered why no one would hear me! The damn mic cable wasn't even attached! It went into the chasis and was then tied in a knot!There wasn't even any wires to the mic! DAMN THEM!!!! DAMN THEM ALL TO HELL! Well, I was 6 or something at the time, so I didn't really say that. It was more like "Aw poop!". But you get the general idea of my emotional state then.

So a later, we're visiting a friend of the family. And he's got a CB!! Woo Hoo! And SWAT was on the TV!! Man, I was in heaven! So I asked if I could play with the radio, and he said sure. And that's when I fired up his little CB and started calling "Breaker! Breaker!". I learned the "lingo" from the TV "show". I don;t rememebr much of what happened after that other then talking to a lady. I remember her being nice and patient with me. But I enjoyed it.

I then vowed I would have a radio of my own that worked! But mom and dad were dead set against it. I guess that whole mythos about people on the CB being jerks and hoodlums. Well, I did meet my share in my CB days. But soon I was just using friends radio in their parent's car now and again. Like after school in junior high I would hop on the air from my best friend Bronson's father's truck. Talk for a bit till his dad was ready to go home from the union office. And that was basically how I stayed on the air all thourgh Jr. High.

When I got to high school, I wasn't on much. School took up a lot of my time as well as girls in my senior year. Biut after that, when I was working, I managed to get my hands on some radio equipment and hooked it up in the car and home. I met some interesting people I must say. Let's just say, I wouldn't leave my wallet out around them.

But a few years off and on of CB took it's toll on me. Back in high school I had decided to get my ham radio license. I knew nothing of the Amatuer radio service and wanted to find out more! So I hit the local library and found a few books on the subject. I read and learned how it all worked. Around that time, I was graduating from high school, was on the CB and Radio Shack was starting to distribute the Gordon West study books for getting your amateur radio license. So I saved up, and bought one and started to study. At that time I was working at my parish as a maintence worker and had my first car, a 1976 Dodge Dart. I bought it off one of my co workers. It ran great! I could do what I wanted when I wanted. Freedom! I put in my CB and was off! But CB was starting to get kinda stupid for me then. I had been reading about ham radio and knew more about it. People on the air said that hams were stuck up and snobby. Well, the ones that I had talked to locally were nothing like that. They were helpful and answered all kinds of questions. But me being me, said nothing and made no real judgements.

So I continued to study my handbook and listening to my code tapes. Back then, it was required to take a 5 word per minute morse code receive test, as well as a 30 question written one. So I studied and when I felt I was ready, I called the president of the local ham club, Gary, K2RKW, and he called his friend Otto, who's call escapes me right now... And another gentleman got a bunch of propective ham together and we all showed up at Johnstown High School for a testing session. I was pretty nervous because I wanted to get my license real bad. I took the test and they don't tell you how you did right away. But I was no nervous about my test, that I ended up throwing up later!

While I waited the 4 to 6 weeks for my license to come, I bought a radio. My HTX-100 from Radio Shack. I paid about $300 for it. It would only do 10 meters and only pout out about 25 watts of power and could only do Upper Sideband and CW (Morse code). But it was mine and I loved to just listen to it. At that time, the sunspot cycle was pretty high, so I heard a lot of DX (long distance) stations. Surinam was one that always boomed in! France, Germany, the UK, even South Africa and Saudi Arabia! Wow! I was soo itching to get on! Then finally, my license arrived. Back then, the FCC did everything by mail. No websites or phone systems. You had to wait! And you couldn't pick your callsign. You got what you got and you liked it! You could only change it when you upgraded t the next class of license. I ripped open the letter from the FCC to see what my callsign was. I hoped it was a good one. I whipped the paper out of the envelope and looked.. There it was! My callsign! My first callsign!

K-B-2-M-O-B!

"Whoa!!!" I thought.. "That's an awsome callsign!". I loved it! I was so proud of myself. I rushed down stairs and fired up my HTX-100. For weeks I waited to push that tranmit button and now I could! I found a frequency that was quiet and made my first call! HOLY SHIT! FRANCE!!! France came back to me! It was awesome! I had been listening to QSOs (Morse code shorthand for a conversation) for weeks and knew what to say. It was awesome. My first ham radio contact! Sadly I don't have the logs from back then, as the FCC didn't really require them anymore. Nor do I have the QSL card (A postcard stations exchange to confirm a 2 way contact) from my first contact either. But that is ok. It's still a great memory and the start of a cool hobby.

Soon after I got fed up with some of the hijinx on CB. Ham radio seemed more to my liking. Most of the rumors of how hams acted were false. I was one of them now and I didn't act that way. I wasn't into yelling at people on the air and lockig down a channel because I didn't like what they had to say. Yeah, that can happen on ham radio, but justice is dealt out by the FCC, not by going to someone's house and smashing their shit up or clipping their feedlines. So I literally smashed my old CB radio and haven't been on the CB for quite some time.

I've listened in and heard people I haven't talked to in a long time, but I really don;t have any interest in keying up on CB. It's just not as fun as amateur radio. I can do without the constant noise from 30,000 people all talking at the same time on a world wide HF band. Even at night sometimes it was bad. I don't miss CB at all, and probably never will. Name another hobby that can talk directly to the astronauts on the space station or the shuttle directly? Damn few if any!

And so that is my humble beginnings in amateur radio.

RF Burnt!!

2005-10-24T23:38:00.000-04:00

So while I was waiting around for someone to call about a job for me that I applied for, I decided to work on my antenna and signal problems. I got a MFJ-949D antenna tuner and decided to see if my signal issues were just a badly mismatched antenna. Turns out the feed line's center conductor is broken somewhere. And all I can do is replace it. Ugh.. This is gonna suck. So I do have a spare piece of coax, so if I do confirm that the feedline is broke, then I'll be able to at least get on the air I hope.

I seem to be spending a lot of my off time on the radio, which I have a lot of. Tracy (Shoot3rs) and I spend a lot of time together too which is nice. We went shopping for Terry's halloween costume a few days ago. Had to go to 3 different Targets in Albany to find it! But we found it. My daughter is gonna be what she wants for Halloween and have fun! I plan on making sure she has fun as a Care Bear this year! Pics to be posted when they are available.

So what's new with you?

If It's A Whoopin' Your A Wantin'...

2005-10-21T03:41:00.000-04:00

Now since i've been home, i've noticed that I have been getting into some old habits and I really don't like that. The life I had in the mid-west was kinda boring and lonely for the most part, but my general routine I had was great! The only thing I didn't like was working nights. I hated it. But now back here I have the opportunity to work days which will be nice!

There was a job fair for broadcasters at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Albany today, and of course, I was there, pimping myself like a gigalo. Handing out resumes and demo cds. Hopefully, I'll have a shot at some work. If I can get something fulltime, I would be a happy man. Not going to work on a regualr basis is driving me nuts! I'm sure Terry doesn't mind having daddy home all day, but it takes it toll on me. Although I do admit it is nice to have some free time. I can call Tracy and talk on my Yaesu HF rig and chat with friends.

One friend who I have discussed in a couple of past posts, has once again distinguished herself to merit another post. Yes, I'm talking about Amy. What has she done now? Lemme tell ya'!

Amy is the kind of person that likes to bust balls. A lot! And since I've been back and started talking to her again, I seem to be the brunt of it all. Almost makes me think I'm loved! Yeah right! I'll be lucky if she doesn't try to run me over! She accuses me of being a mean daddywhen I try and impose some discpline with Terry and a loser for not being online when she gets on to talk. Stuff like that. Harmless. But somehow, and I know I'll get a lashing for this one.. hehehe... All the abuse I get from her makes me think of little girls or boys who act all mean and nasty to someone that they have some affection for. Could this be the case? Not gonna speculate. Not even gonna give it a thought. I would just bleed from my ears if I did.

The last post I put up she read and said I was gonna get my ass kicked. No clue why. I asked her and she didn't give me a reason. I can only assume it had something to do with a certain picture in a glovebox of my old car.

Anyways, Tracy and I are headed for Target or Tar-zjay if you're so inclined, to look for a costume for Terry. Last year I wanted to get her a Care-Bears costume, but the store was out. So I got her a Dora The Explorer costume. This year I'm going a little more earlier and hopefully there's gonna be one!

Other than that, I do a saturday shift at WENT and got invited to dinner at a friend's house on sunday provided I don't have to work. So we'll see what's up. Aside from that, it's buisness as usual. Whatever usual is. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to find a place to hide. Because after Amy reads this, I have a feeling I'm gonna get a whoopin'!

Kid in a Candy Store

2005-10-18T21:05:00.000-04:00

So Tracy and I were bored Sunday, and Terry was at her grandparents for a couple days. That's typical for me. Always wanting something to do. So we concoted a plan that she would come up and we would find something to go out and do. When she got here, we checked the paper and found a craft fair and decided to hit that up while we waited for my VX5 to charge so I could call some of the guys on the repeaters in Albany and see what they were up to. Well the fair was a bust and couldn't really find anyone on the air, so we ened up going to an apple orchard in Sharon Springs. Man I was bouncing like a fanboy meeting someone from Star Trek!

I had been gone for 2 years and now, I was doing something that I loved doing. I love apples. Crisp, juicy, sweet. They are my favorite fruit! Tracy and I walked around and looked and got some doughnuts and rock candy as well as some apples :D

After that we headed to her friend Tammy's and hung out talking. After which it was a movie at my place. Not a bad Sunday.

Monday I did some work on my Yaesu FT901-DM radio. After that, Tracy came over and we went to Miker's house to hang. Watched some TV and just relaxed. The real entertainment was that Miker was supposed ot get shot with a paintball gun by Patrick and I. But the bastard backed out as usual. But I did get to drink some Guinness!

But today, I go 3 rounds with the ex on the phone cuz she didn't bother to call me when she heard something that was gonna cause a problem. So instead of confronting me and getting the real info, she drags her mom into the mess. Making her cry no less! Aside from her being a mornon, the ex wife needs to find her common sense center to her brain and turn it on! I actually posted it all in the Outback Preservation Society forum.

Then a smart ass know as Amy "The One" Vansomethingorother, has to be a wise ass and play some kind of joke on me.. and I quote...

VanSomething: i have something to tell u
Mobby G: Ok
VanSomething: where did u go?
Mobby G: I'm here
Mobby G: Tell away
Mobby G: Was waiting for you
VanSomething: oh
VanSomething: im here

(I wouldn't have guessed! LOL)

Mobby G: hehe
Mobby G: Ok.. So tell me what you wanted to tell me
VanSOmething: nope
Mobby G: Oh come on.. what was it?
VanAnnoyingMe: nope
Mobby G: Ok.. I'll bite... why not?
VanGetToThePoint: nope
Mobby G: You just wanna make nuts right? Why not? What is it?
Mobby G: <=== Will humm showtunes into your voice mail everyday!
Mobby G: <== Will send you pizzas WITH ANCHOVIES every Wednesday!
VanWiseAss: i dont think so
Mobby G: I'll post on an entry on my blog about the time you suprised me with a polroid of your breats in my glove box!
Mobby G: Thought I forgot huh?
Mobby G: :-)
VanReallyGettingMeUppity: u have to call me to find out

So I call her, and I'm like "So?". She just starts laughing! All she wanted to do was get me to call and laugh at me! DAMN YOU! Now I have tha last laugh! I told the world your devil ways and now I have tha last laugh!!!

BWA-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, now that I have that out of my system.. See if she pulls that again..

(She will...)

Random Access

2005-10-13T22:54:00.000-04:00

So I got some closure with one of the ex's this week. I had been wanting to say something to her for a while now and I finally got to, tonight. Yep. I apologised for the crap I delved up near the end of the whole relationship. Feels good. Yeah it took me a while to even get over her, and I already feel like I have things semi under control in life, it was something that made me feel like a better person. Feels good to be able to talk again about shit. But, I kinda got roped into going to a show where she's doing Home and Garden Party. If she expects me to buy something out of guilt, she's got another thing coming! (Cuz I'm broke.)

So what else? Hmm.. went to a job fair to find a job to cover me till I get working steady again in radio. Man, what a joke that was! I was cracking wise the entire time. For example, walked up to the UPS table and before the lady could open her mouth, I said "What can I do for brown?". The guys snickered, but she was like "Oh, that joke huh?". Boy.. them teamsters have no sense of humor.

"Shoot3rs", the girl I'm currently "involved" with is home. She's been a God send. A good friend. We've been keeping each other sane in our mutual little worlds. Emotional crap is deep and I'm glad she's around with a life line. Somedays I miss her. Others, just talking on the phone or online is enough. Where's it all going? What about Wolfie. Well, got me. I was always one for a Magical Mystery Tour.

And on one last note... The Yanks did pretty good for the way they started this year, but Steinbrenner? Fucking get some manners. You compliment the Angels but nothing for Torre? You're an ass!

'nuff said....

Ulan Colluphid 's Newest Blockbuster: Who is this Wolfie Person Anyways?

2005-10-07T03:00:00.000-04:00

It's after 2am and Terry will be in my bedroom in a few hours and wake daddy up. But I just can't seem to sleep tonight and I need to do something to help me sleep. Most of the time, writing about why I can't sleep helps. So that is what this is about. And as you're gonna learn, I can't seem to sleep most of the time.

We met at work. Wolfie had just started and I had been working for at this job for a while. For some reason, the person she was teamed up with to show her the ropes didn't seem to be paying attention or giving her any kind of help on helping her learn the job, so having soft spot and wanting to be "Mr. Helper", I basiclly told her to tag along with me and I would show her the ropes as it were. Now those that know me, know of my sense of humor and how when I get someone to laugh once, I want to get them to laugh a few dozen more times, and with Wolfie, it seemed pretty easy to do. And her sense of humor fit in with mine, so WHAMO! We clicked and hit it right off. I had finally made a friend in Rapid City after nearly 2 years of having no one that I could say was a good friend.

Most of the time when we talked at work, we talked about life in general and such. Griped about our jobs and talked about old friends from childhood. It was like I was hanging with one of the guys from the Outback, and that made me feel more at home. I had been starting to feel home sick since my wife had left and it was just me and Terry. But Wolfie made a lot of those feelings go away. I started finding myself wondering when her and I would be working next. At this point I really didn't have any kind of romantic interest in her. It was just so much fun to work with her, I wanted that feeling everytime I went in! And I think she started feeling the same way, because she went out of town for a week, and I was kind of at a loss at work. When she got back I had said something about it in passing and she asked me why I didn't just call her. Well, she was busy and I didn't want to bug her. Which she promtly told me she wasn't THAT busy and could have easily talked to me on the phone for a good part of the day if we wanted to talk that long.

But dfast forward a few weeks. I've had a tough week, Wolfie has as well, and Terry is with her mom for the weekend. I ready for some fun. So I stop into work to see Wolfie and see if she's up for anything this weekend. Well, she's been having a stressful week as well and is planning on having some friends over to her place for a drinking party. HOT DAMN!!! A drinking party! AN excuse for me to buy expensive beer and tell bad ass jokes. I was in. NOw believe it or not, I didn't have her phone number or her address. I had never really thought of asking her for it at first, but now was the time to ask since I was going to be going to her place. So We exchanged our info and figured out when for me to come over and all was set. I showed up at her place, met some of her friends and hung out all night. In fact we outlasted everyone else and ended up in her kitchen playing a drinking game that neither of us won cuz we got so into talking. Getting to know each other. How awsome is that? (Yeah I hear the one dude going "Why didn't you fuck her?!?!" Hey pal, shut up! Sit down and listen to Uncle Mobster ok?)

So after that and making a few more friends through her, I decided to have a party of my own. I invited my new friends and Wolfie as well and did a BBQ. Now Wolfie couldn't go to my first BBQ, which kinda sucked but she had to work and it was understandable. So I made sure to schedule one that she could go to. But there was a little hitch. I had to work till 10pm at the radio station, so it couldn't start till I got home at 10:30, which seemed to be just fine for my new friend and Wolfie. So I worked, then the time came to play.

The group arrived and before things got started I told them I needed to go to the store and get some stuff for the BBQ since I hadn't gotten a chance to earlier in the day. So we all piled into the car they came in and off we went to Albertson's! Wolfie and I in the back just being ourselves and singing and bopping to the tunes. It was Tonic playing, "If You Could Only See" was the song. I remember that song because Wolfie and I were singing along to it. And this night was gonna be different from the other times her and I worked or hung out.

So we got back, and the BBQ started. We all drank and talked and watched some questionable movies on DVD. Most of the party goers had crashed and some had gone next door to my neighbor's to visit with them. Wolfie and I were the last hold outs at my place watching movies. After one of these movies was done, we just started talking again. As we started to talk about issues of romance in our lives, I could tell she was holding something back and I asked her if she would want to talk about it with me. I like to listen. She said yeah and we talked. I listened and I felt for her. She felt better getting somethings out. Now at this point, we still didn't know what was gonna happen. We had no clue! She said nothing to me about liking me or anything. Her and I together NEVER came up!

But later, Wolfie and I were both ready to crash for the night and a few folks who were also crashing were still next door, so I told them that the backdoor was opena dnthe Wolfie and I were gonna go to sleep. I offered her my bed and I would sleep on the floor but she said we could share the bed, it would be cool with her. Now remember class, I still had NO IDEA of what was gonna happen and this was NEVER PLANNED!

SO there we are, lying in bed both fully clothed and sweating since this was the middle of summer and my AC was down stairs and didn't have enough BTUs to do the upstairs. But we got to talking again. And we ended up getting on the subject of the opposite sex. That is when I almost let out something that she could possibly take the wrong way. Well, I stopped myself and kept prodding me, literally prodding me, to tell her. She even started to tickle me! Next thing I know.. well, you can guess what happened from there.

But that is not the reason for this post..... (Had ya fooled huh??)

The reason is to tell you why I pine for Wolfie. What it is about her that makes me feel so sad when I think about her sometimes. How I want to freaking bust up shit cuz I can't be with her. Why I am so deeply, passionatly in love with this woman!

In our conversations, Wolfie has told me the reason she thinks guys like her is that she's like a guy herself, but with women parts. Well, yeah, I'm not gonna lie. That is defiently one reason I love her. But there is a lot more. And I've tried so hard in my personal journal (Which all of this has already been covered in much more detail) to explain to her and myself why I love her so much. Well, I know why I love her, but putting into words sometimes is so damn hard. It's her spirit. She so damn passionate about what she belives in. How kinda she is. She actually bought me a 200 minute tracfone card for my phone when I was short on cash. When I asked her why she told me "Because I like talking to you." And she smiled that smile I see in my dreams. I swear it was given to her by an angel. When she wants to be, she can be as gentle as a kitten, and as firece as a lion. She tough when she has to be but so damn easy going the rest of the time. There was one time (At band camp? NO!) we were spending a weekend together, our last one in fact, and I had told her that the entire weekend was about her and nothing else. Well, I did have to work that weekend, but thankfully, it was at the radio station and she could come with me and hang out. But during a break between remotes, we walked around main street in Rapid City. And endined up at the Firehouse Brewing Company for lunch. We sat outside and had a great meal and she said, Good comapny and good food made the day for her. I just sat there looking at her, as I had a habit of doing, and she had a habit of looking back at me and say something like "WHAT?! What are you looking at?" and then smile at me. I couldn't help myself. I had been doing it ever since that first night. She was so damn beautiful. Her hair, her eyes, her lips, DAMN IT! I couldn't help but be mesmerised by her. All I wanted to do was take her and make love to her. RIGHT THERE! But I think the R.C.P.D. as well as the owners would take objection to that though, so I didn't.

But that is just one of the times I remember being with her and all my problems didn't seem as bad. Life was better, home was as far away as before. The world could be ending I could have cared less. She was there. And the fact that my daugter Terry immediately took to her was impressive to me. How well they got along. And how protective of Terry, Wolfie got the more time she spent with her. Needless to say. I was in heaven.

These if for no other reasons is why I am so in love with this woman, yet I can't be with her for now. I have a picture of her sitting here on my desk and I find I can't bring myself to look at it sometimes for the simple fact, I get so damn upset that I can't see her. In a very short time, this woman has taken over my soul and I have no control of it. She's gonna be in me for a very long time, and I'm really hoping to see her soon. In an earlier post I talked about a dream I had about "The One That Got Away". I really don't want that to be the end result of things with Wolfie. If there is a God, or somekind of omnipotent being in the universe, please let me have this one thing that would make me happier then anything. Well almost anything. My daughters are right up there. But her love is worth so much to me, I couldn't put a price on it.

Haiku for Wolfie

2005-10-06T17:35:00.000-04:00

Missing Wolfie today (When don't I miss her?) so I whippd up a haiku..

Fire hair I miss
Her smile I see in dreams
I wait for her call

New Digs...

2005-10-04T01:10:00.000-04:00

Ok... so after a bunch of peer pressure from Miker over at Captain Miker's Bar & Grill, I moved the digs from myspace.com to here at Blogger. I wasn't really worried about it, but I just wanted Miker to shut up.

Anyways, sice my last post, I got my HF antenna up and running for my amateur radio, which is a Yaesu FT-901DM, and also got my computer back together with a new case and power supply.
Terry seems to have been adjusting well. She's been impressing everyone she meets and making out like a bandit. Toys, candy, money.. Wish I was that lucky.

Been thinking about Wolfie a lot. Really miss her. She hasn't been answering my text messages or my voicemails. Makes it even more hard for me. I understand why, but it just makes me think more and more about it. Ugh.. My kingdom for a Slurpee and a brain freeze!

Yeah I know, I haven't really gone into details about her, but I don't want to for some very good reasons. Needless to say, I'm still very much pining for her, even 1700 miles away. But I've been good at hiding it.

The only other thing I think about as much is find work. I'm starting to go nuts not having a job to go to on a regualr basis. I did get hired back at my old station, but I think I got spoiled at my last job since it was pretty much modern when it came to the equpiment and such. Automation, digital editing. Now I'm back to CDs, turntables and carts. Oooo.. whoopie...

I have a lot of shit I want to do and no $$ to start doing it. So if I don't some income soon, I'm gonna freak.

Here's one thing I would like to put out there, or run up the flagpole, and see what folks say.. Now since I have lost some weight, I have been getting some comments from women. Now these aren't like "Oo, did you lose some weight? You look like you did." or "You look good.". These are more like, "WOW! You're eyes look so deep and hypnotic!" or "I wanna run my fingers thorugh your hair!", or even "You have a sexy sounding voice!". Maybe all the years of not hearing anything like that is to basis for my skeptisicim, but it does kinda unsettle me a little. Yeah, it gives me a little bit of an ego boost. I mean who wouldn't get a little boost? But maybe all those years of not having as much confidence in my looks was misplaced some?

So am I now a handsome, lovesick, optimist? You tell me?!