Anyhow, I was also feeling the urge to post something this evening, and although I don't have a specific topic in mind I'd figure I'd call tonight's The Tuesday Evening Post since I didn't want to call it Odds and Ends, 10/13/09. Although I can be a creature of habit much like the next guy, it's a good thing every now and then to break the pattern and to do something a little different.
So, what's happening in my world? What's on my mind?
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I am going to visit Portland, the one in Oregon, this coming weekend. The occasion is the annual birthday celebration of my godson Alexander. I was present at his baby dedication in San Jose in 1999 and I was present at his baptism two years ago at the Cedar Hills Bible Church near Beaverton (I think that was the name of the church). I have a namesake at that church, his name is also Dave Moser, but his family kept the original German spelling whereas my family had it anglicized by an Irish schoolteacher who married my great grandfather. I told myself when I was a kid that I was going to change mine back to Moser, but that never happened, and if I did that people would mispronounce it more often than they do now......thus, that's why Great Grandma added the "i".
But to get this back onto Portland, Alexander is the son of my longtime friend Ken and his wife Gillian. I was the first friend that Ken made when he came here from Australia, and back then I figured I'd be making trips to Australia to visit him. He instead ended up meeting Gillian, who is from England, and after living in San Jose for the first few years they relocated to Portland since Ken received a job offer from a firm there. I think it was 2002 that they moved up there, and over the years they've come to love it there.
My visits up there I think have been more beneficial to me than it is to them as that I have learned quite a bit from both Ken and Gillian. I could talk to either one of them for hours on end and about a wide variety of subjects. They have been good loyal friends for many years. I really value the friends that I have, and you can't have too many friends of the kind that I have. Alexander will be ten years old tomorrow, and the official celebration will be this coming Saturday. I really look forward to being there.
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There will soon be one less station on shortwave to listen to. Radio Prague of the Czech Republic will likely be leaving the air in a few days. It's due to budget cuts, but like the others, the real answer is that they've been overcome by the Internet.
I'd still like to get back into shortwave listening, but there's a very severe power line noise source in my house that would prevent enjoyment of the hobby. I've traced it to the alarm system in my house. I think I will call up the alarm company and suggest that they send somebody who could re-wire it with an on/off switch that I could control.
I can kill the noise by throwing one of the switches in my circuit breaker to the off position, but that would also kill power to the room that I would do my listening in. That's not really the type of solution that I would like to go with, so hopefully I will be successful in the suggestion that I intend to make to them. This will have to wait until I get back from Portland.
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I have been listening to the police scanner. I picked up the Realistic PRO-2006 in early 1993 and every now and then I dust it off to find out what's happening. You'll hear some interesting things on the "action" bands, that is, the police and fire, but my favorites have been the railroads and the businesses.
One of the more interesting calls that I've ever heard was on the day before Christmas in 1993 when I was living in Santa Cruz. A Santa Cruz County Sheriff's deputy had been called to investigate a deer that had been injured by a car. The deputy was asking for permission to put the poor animal out of its misery, but the dispatcher first wanted to clear it with the California Fish & Game Department.
Fish & Game never responded, so the deputy was given permission to "dispatch" the deer. One minute later the deputy reported that the matter of the deer had been taken care of. He asked his dispatcher to notify CalTrans that a "disposition" of the carcass would be necessary. The dispatcher said she would notify them, but reminded the deputy to fill out the "discharge of firearm" paperwork.
It was all done very professionally.
The only other incident that compares was when the Santa Cruz Police was being sent to investigate someone using the payphone outside of the Safeway on Mission Street one Friday evening. It wasn't that someone was using the payphone.
It was instead that that someone wasn't wearing any clothing, except for some nude pantyhose.
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Speaking of deer, I really regret not being able to fit in more scouting runs this summer. There was just too much going on. The first rifle season will open at the end of the month and I'm sure the hunter pressure in the Whetstone Mountains will be significant. Todd and I were drawn for the middle hunt, which is the middle of next month.
I know where on highway 90 to get off the road, and I know one of the access roads to Coronado National Forest, but I really need to also know how to access the Whetstones from highway 83. I know where the turnoff is, but I haven't taken it.
Regardless, I'm looking forward to it. There's always something therapeutic about seeing a part of the world that few other people get to see. That's one of the benefits of four wheel drive.
(Bachman-Turner Overdrive had a song and album called "Four Wheel Drive". When I got to meet Blair Thornton, one of the co-writers for the song, I was pleased to tell him that I could identify with it and that that was the very first song I played in my truck. I think Blair enjoyed hearing that anecdote. )
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Don't forget to pet a dog or a cat. That's more important than you would think. Sure, the dog or cat will enjoy it, but the benefit for you is that it will help lower your blood pressure, and plus, it will make you feel good making that dog or cat feel good.
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