Odds and Ends, 9/27/09

Randy Bachman of Bachman-Turner Overdrive fame is 66 years old today. He's had quite the career in music, having been a founding member of the Guess Who before starting BTO afterwards. It was announced a few weeks ago that he is reuniting with C.F. (Fred) Turner to start touring again. They are not re-forming BTO, but it is expected that they'll be playing a lot of BTO songs on their tour next year in Europe. The only North American tour date so far will be in Winnipeg, and if they don't come stateside to play then I'll be giving some serious thought to flying up to Winnipeg to catch them.

Happy Birthday to Randy Bachman!

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Word came in almost an hour ago from my friend Mark that his dad has colon cancer and will be having surgery in a few days. I've known Mark's parents for years; they have been having a well enjoyed retirement in Modesto California for over ten years. I've always regarded them as a second set of parents during all the time that I've known Mark. Mark and I go all the way back to 1976 in high school. He was the first real friend that I made after my family moved to California.

Don, you'll be in my thoughts and prayers.

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No real movement on the eHarmony front. They keep matching me with women in southern California and Colorado, and I keep closing the matches. A few from southern Arizona will turn up as matches but they're not responsive so I close those matches too.

The only good thing about all of this is that I have time to take care of some projects around the house. Today's was fixing the leak in the spa. Yesterday I didn't do very much aside from catching up some reading and re-establishing contact with a good friend of mine who is spending a lot of her time in Sunsites. I encouraged her to start blogging; she has lots of interesting stories and insights. I could spend hours talking to her.

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It hasn't rained in over a week, so monsoon season is officially over. Last weekend it threatened a little, but that was it. The A/C's been turned off and I'm now back to using the swamp cooler. Lows during the nights are in the mid60s and highs in the days in the low to mid90s. It's a dry heat, and actually doesn't feel that hot.....it's quite pleasant if you're out there to catch rays.

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My interest in shortwave radio may be returning. I picked up the latest copy of Popular Communications this afternoon since it had an article on the Hallicrafters S38 receiver series (I own the S38C). I've also got some other Hallicrafters models.

Years ago I used to spend time tuning in distant stations from all over the world. In the mornings I could get the Chinese domestics. In the evenings it would be South America and Europe, or Australia/South Pacific if it was summer.

Many of the major broadcasters have since left the air. That started about ten years ago as the Internet started to emerge. Twenty-five years ago you couldn't help but encounter Radio Moscow everywhere in the dial (Radio Moscow was always a bit of a nuisance) but they were long ago replaced by the Voice of Russia and I can't recall ever hearing the Voice of Russia.

As I said a few weeks back, things have really changed.

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Don't forget to pet a dog or a cat.