Almost to the End

In about twelve hours or so it's going to be a New Year here in the Mountain Time Zone. I have nothing special planned for tonight. What will happen is that I will have a mostly quiet evening here at home, save for some firecrackers and an "artillery shell" that I'm going to light off when the big moment comes.

Funny thing is, is that I'm not lighting these fireworks out of celebration. I'm lighting them because this is one of the two nights each year that I can get away with lighting fireworks. Fireworks aren't legal in Arizona, not even sparklers, but people who've made the drive to Lordsburg and back to visit the fireworks stores that are open year 'round have them. And plenty of people do have them. I've seen lots of bottle rockets go up each 4th of July.

But getting back to the New Year, it's rare for me to be out on New Year's Eve. The last time it happened was at the end of 2003. I was up in Tempe with some friends to catch a BTO concert, and afterwards we were invited to a private after show reception at their hotel. We chatted with them until about 3:00 AM, after which it was time for everyone to turn in.

And as for celebrating the New Year, I just don't do it. It's not that I have anything against it. It's that I can't see what the big deal is. Sure, I'll reflect over the events of the preceding twelve months, and I might even contemplate what lies ahead. But I don't celebrate it, and I don't make resolutions either. The way I see it, if you need to do something to the point of making a resolution, you should make the resolution right then and there and not wait until the 31st of December of that year you happen to be in to make that resolution.

As for 2009, I got to do some things I wanted to do. I had a high point, and I had a low point. Life goes on, and that's what's important.

* * * * * *

I returned to Tucson two days ago. Trip mileage going to San Jose was 850.1 miles, while returning was 885.4 miles. I took I-10 going in and I-40 coming back.

I really like the scenery along I-40. For stretches it parallels the old US66. At some point I'd like to drive the old 66 back. I'd like to have a babe with me if I ever get to do that.

As for the babe, well, I'm working on that.

* * * * * * *

I think that's going to be it for right now.

See you next year!

I Knew the Way to San Jose

I can't say that I ever liked that song "Do You Know the Way to San Jose" nor can I even claim to know what inspired it, but I know it and used my knowledge to get here on the morning of the 18th. I woke up in Buttonwillow at 2ish, showered, and then it was back on the road under cover of darkness along I-5.

The early morning hours are when it's best to be on I-5. It used to be that it wasn't bad during the daylight hours but that was back in the mid-70s. California's population has grown a great deal since 1976 when I first saw I-5, but I-5 is still two lanes in each direction in the San Joaquin Valley and you really don't want to be on it at certain times during the year.

On one of these trips, I left San Jose on the 26th of December, and I-5 was sluggish all the way down to Buttonwillow. The maximum speed possible seemed to be 50, and that's because there were lots of RVs doing one inch per hour than the trucks they were trying to pass, and all of them wanted to pass the trucks. I wanted to jump off at CA46 and go inland, but the junction in those days did not have a stoplight and the long line waiting to turn left to get to Bakersfield had backed up into I-5 itself.

Since then, I never start the return home on the 26th. This year, like the last, will be on the 28th. I am having lunch with a group of friends of mine on the 27th that I know online from one of the websites dedicated to a hobby we all share.

Meantime, I have been busy here. I have some really good friends here and I've been spending time with them. I've also been treasuring an interesting situation in my heart that I can't divulge right now. All I can say about that is that I'm in for some interesting times next month, once the holidaze are behind us.

In years past I have dreaded this time of year. Right now I'm enjoying it. I really am.

However, when I wake up on the morning of the 1st of next month, I will be saying "Whew! Made it thru another one!"

Buttonwillow CA, 12/17/09

I left the driveway at 5:14 AM this morning. A few hours ago, I rolled here into Buttonwillow, which is right off of I-5. I am dog tired. It was a smooth drive.....I couldn't have asked for much better. L.A. traffic even moved at a fast clip! Well, it helps if you pass thru at noon and not during rush hour. There were some rude drivers.

Anyway, there was great weather! At least until I descended into the San Joaquin Valley which was full of tule fog. There was 400 yards of visibility so it was driveable. It's when the visibility is down to 40 yards or so that you don't want to be out there.

Along the way, I saw this neat bumper sticker:

What part of

SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT

don't you understand?

If I ever see that somewhere, I'm buying one. Left lane hogs are a real peeve of mine.

I'm very tired as that 632.8 miles were racked up on the trip odometer so and I'm going to sign now. I also need to get some supper.

Eve of the Trip!

This will be a short entry tonight. I've already packed one suitcase but some laundry has to finish processing before I can pack another. Then it's off to bed.

I don't know when I will start. If I pop awake at 1:00 AM, then I'm on the road when I'm done showering and getting dressed. Otherwise, I will try to sleep in if the cats will let me.

Some of the Christmas cards have been sent out. The rest will have to wait until I'm in San Jose.

I have a lot on my mind these days. There's a situation brewing that I dare not comment on, lest I jinx that situation. I will have some business to take care of when I get back.

Somewhere along I-10, when Buckeye is in the rear view mirror and Tonopah is beyond the horizon, I'll be playing some BTO.....specifically, "Roll on Down the Highway". It will be the version that is from their Trial By Fire album recorded in 1996, and not the version from Not Fragile, recorded in 1974.

I have a lot on my mind right now.

And........I need this trip.

The Holidaze........

I finally got the Christmas letter finished but I'm not sure I'll get to make the run to Kinko's tonight to get it copied for the Christmas cards. I was almost out the door at work when my boss asked me to compile some "metrics" on the two circuit cards I'm in charge of, so I was detained by one hour. I finally got out of there but had to take a different way home as that the left turn from Valencia onto Kolb is murder from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM.

Taking Ajo over to Golf Links is plan B, and for some reason it's better at 5:30 than it is at 4:30....so I went that way. Halfway between S 6th Avenue and Golf Links I was overtaken by three sheriff's deputies who were responding to a bad accident that was nearby. Upon coming home the local paper's website already had photos up.....and it looked bad too. I'm not sure if someone ran a red light (that's a real problem here) or if someone was texting while driving (which the state of Arizona seems unwilling to outlaw).

Accidents happen year 'round, but they sure seem to be on the upswing during the holidaze. The way some people drive, you'd think man is evolving into ape.

* * * * * * *

From the Department of Corrections: Randy Bachman and Fred Turner will tour as "Bachman & Turner", and not as BTU. The names Bachman-Turner United and Bachman-Turner Union were registered in both the U.S. and Canada, after which Randy and Fred were immediately served with a lawsuit by former BTO members seeking an injunction against the names they registered. Former members Rob Bachman and Blair Thornton own the BTO and Bachman-Turner Overdrive names and have brought this suit, and from what I know of the suit they allege that this could cause confusion among the public and thus deprive the plaintiffs of income.

I was talking to Mark about this last night. Seems as if every successful band from the 70s has these kinds of situations. I'm trying to think of one band that's been immune from members and former members suing each other (or vice versa) and I can't come up with any.

It must be the nature of the business.

* * * * * * *

I am leaving for San Jose on the 17th. That's official. Start time is approximately one hour after my morning shower.....whenever that is. It could be early as 1:00 AM or as late as 8:00 AM.

I'll be bringing the laptop along, and will post while I'm on the road.

I think I need this trip.

* * * * * * *

Word from the Bay Area is that Franz' dad is having surgery tomorrow and it's serious. Franz has been a good friend for over twelve years. I used to work with both him and his dad at Loral AeroSys, which later became Lockheed Martin Space Mission Systems.

Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

* * * * * * *

I'm tired, and it's not yet eight of the clock. I think I'll sign now.

It's Getting Late Earlier These Days

Well the title of this post sounds a lot like something Yogi Berra, the Master of Malapropisms, once said. You gotta love Yogi and his quotations. "Nobody goes there, it's too crowded." "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." "You have to be careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there." And my favorite: "You should always go to other people's funerals, otherwise, they won't come to yours".

The title of this evening's post was thought up with Yogi in mind. I know that a long time ago when I was explaining Arizona's monsoon season I said "It doesn't rain a lot here, but when it rains, it rains a lot"......and I thought that's how Yogi Berra would have put it!

* * * * * * *

OK. The news that I am getting from Iowa has been very good. I mean, very good. Tony is said to be recovering at the rate that your average 50 year old would. He's got a ways to go, but I hear that he's now joking with the nurses.

I've sent word out to Lincoln (Nebraska) that I'm thinking of coming out there next year, with a side trip to Iowa. I'm leaning towards Memorial Day. I think my cousin Marie goes down to Robinson (Kansas) to lay wreaths on our grandparents' graves, as well as the graves of two of my uncles (of which one is Marie's father). If she's doing that next time around, I'd like to be there too.

* * * * * * *

Today there was a press conference in Winnipeg where Randy Bachman and Fred Turner have made it official: they are re-uniting, and recording some new songs (I think three or four have already been recorded). They will either be touring as Bachman-Turner Union or Bachman-Turner United. Interestingly enough, they worked together in 1981 in a band called "Union", and the album that Union put out was, in my mind, one of the best ever recorded.

The new CD will be out sometime next year. I hope that those guys will record a few more that follow.

As some of you know, I have been a big fan of Bachman-Turner Overdrive for many years....as in 35 years now. I never thought back then that I would ever get to meet all of the members, but I have. They have all been very nice to me, and I can never forget the kindness that all of the members showed me on the several occasions that I have gotten to meet them.

* * * * * * *

April Wine, my other favorite band, is also working on some new music. I have been a Wine fan for over 30 years now. Like BTO, they are from Canada, a most beautiful country that has given us a lot of great music to go along with the great beer that they brew.

My understanding is that the new April Wine CDs (three or four of them) will contain new material, live material, and re-worked versions of some old songs. Their last release was Roughly Speaking in 2007 and I highly recommend its purchase.......it was practically recorded right off the floor and there's a very strong blues influence in that one. Trust me, you'll like it.

And.....I've met some of the April Wine members too. They were all gentlemen. They took time to answer my questions and to sign autographs.

Next year could very well be a great year as far as new music goes.

* * * * * * *

Weatherwise, we had our first winter storm last night. Snow came down to the 5000 foot elevation (my house is at 2720 feet) and on the desert floor we had some rain. The wind was cold and chilly, which made it seem a lot colder than it really was.

You might not believe this, but it will snow here in Tucson on occasion. I've seen it maybe three times. The first was Easter Sunday in 1999. The last was in January 2007.

Snow is obviously, a novelty here.

It doesn't snow a lot here, but when it snows, it doesn't snow a lot.

* * * * * * *

I am not immune to the holiday stress. I was feeling it something fierce yesterday. I'm in a much better mood today. Did King Solomon say that there was a time to build and a time to tear down? I felt like I was tearing down things yesterday. Today I felt like I was building them back up.

Anyway, me thinks that I will be writing the Christmas letter tomorrow.

* * * * * * *

I haven't yet figured out when I'll be starting my road trip to San Jose. I've been waffling on that one. A week ago I found myself wanting to leave on the 14th. Yesterday I thought no, I'll leave on the 19th.

I'm now thinking of starting the journey on Thursday, the 17th. And the 17th will be my birthday. I'll be 51 years old that day.

You know, I really don't feel like I'm in my fifties. I think I feel better today than I did ten years ago. I've got more gray hairs in my beard than I did back then, but I really think I feel better.

Either way......when that new music from BTU and April Wine comes out, I'll be young again.

:)

* * * * * * *

I can't resist quoting this BTO song from 1975: "Don't let the blues get you down".

Here's the song if you want to listen to it: LINK

December Already........(yikes!)

Well we're here. December. The last month of the year. The last year of the decade. Gone are the sixties.....the seventies.....the eighties......and the nineties.......and what do we call these years? The double aughties? Whatever they are, we've only got one month of them left.

Make the most of it.

* * * * * * *

Word from Iowa is that Uncle Tony has come thru the surgery and is now beginning a period of recovery that will last him for several weeks. He is going to be in considerable pain the next two or three days, and from there it will get better.

I think in four or five months or so, when his situation has stabilized, I'll get on a plane and go see him and Marge. I'll see if I can talk my cousin Dusty into meeting me there, although he might tell me he won't be available until the summer sometime. Then again, maybe sooner.

* * * * * * *

I'm not sure how prolific a writer I will be this month. There's this business of the holidaze. I was out this evening buying some Christmas cards, and I want to get these started now. Looking back, I should have started filling them out in July, and not sealing the envelopes until the annual letter was put in them. Then I could have chucked them all in the mail the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, and some folks would be getting their very first Christmas card on Black Friday.

Maybe next year?

* * * * * * *

And speaking of the Christmas letter, what do I write? I used to be very good at writing them off the seat of my pants (like I do a lot of these blog entries) but what do I say? There was a high point this year and there was a low point that followed. I could brag again about how well things are going for me at work (which they are), but do my friends and relatives really want to hear that again?

I could do a month by month summary. I've done that before and have been able to inject some humor into it, especially that year where I had to have my roof done. In one month when I got the estimate, the roofer joked about how I might want to knock off some liquor stores. The next month when it became time to send the check in (I paid it all off in one fell swoop) I joked about wanting to knock off some liquor.

I don't think I have all that much to joke about this year. However, it wasn't really a bad year. I made it back east, and I made it to Portland. I made it on a deer hunting trip, and I traded emails with Fred Turner of BTO a few times. I had a full blown biopsy for prostate cancer (which turned out negative), and I took twenty pounds off.

I'm sure I'll come up with something, but I don't think I should write that letter tonight.

* * * * * * *

I think this will be it for now. I'm somewhat short of rest as I write this.

Thanksgiving Eve and Some Memories

There's always something special about the Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving. It means some time off from work for most of us, reflection for others, and anticipation of the meal that we're going to have the next day. Tomorrow I will be up in Gilbert, that's in Phoenix metro, to spend the day with my cousin Todd. His wife Annette, who happens to be a damn good cook has graciously decided to provide the meal for us. Todd and I kicked around the idea of preparing the main dish on the barbecue grill, but Annette wouldn't hear of it.

Yes, I know, turkey is traditional. And I'm a fan of tradition as much as the next guy. Yep, gimme some turkey, some stuffing, a load of those mashed potatoes and slather on that gravy. Baked beans? Sure. Pumpkin pie? You betcha. (I didn't mention cranberry; I've never been a real fan of that). Then off to the back patio for a long conversation ranging from next year's deer hunting trip and where to go, or maybe getting the clan together in Palm Springs or something. I figure it will be one of those days that will again be filed away under the Memories section of that organic computer that God gave me that I call my brain.

As I think about tomorrow and the drive up to Phoenix, I can't help but think about previous Thanksgiving Eves and the memories that they have provided me over the years. There are a few of them that stand out, a few that I come back to whenever another one of those Eves arrive.

The first one I think about is the one in 1975. That was Wednesday the 26th of November. I was not yet 17 years old, and we were living in Virginia at the time. We knew next month that we were moving to California. That evening my dad took us all up to Hatboro, Pennsylvania, so that we could have one last turkey meal with my Uncle Buss, Aunt Anne, and cousins Gary and Margie. Buss is one of my dad's older brothers, and while we were living on the east coast we would try to see them from time to time.

That particular day my mind was more on the purchase of the first album recorded by Bachman-Turner Overdrive. I had been a huge fan of them for over a year at that time, and I was looking to complete my musical library with every last song that they had ever done. I've always been partial to that album. It had a lot of great songs on it: "Gimme Your Money Please", "Hold Back the Water", "Blue Collar", "Down and Out Man" and "Don't Get Yourself in Trouble" were my favorites. Not only did it have some cool songs on it, the design and artwork of that album was the best that I had ever seen, and I think it's the best that I'll ever see.

Another day that comes to mind was one here in Arizona, in 2003. I drove up to Chandler (also in Phoenix metro) with Peggy. Peggy was a former girlfriend of mine back in 2002. We had really had quite the passionate romance but I wasn't able to jump in feet first on that one. It was the first serious romance since my divorce in 1999, and my mindset of the time was that I wasn't ready for a serious relationship. Somehow though we have managed to remain good friends over the years. I'm still in touch with her. She's living full time in Palo Alto, California these days. Eventually she'll return to Tucson but her job is very demanding and I suspect she'll be up there for the next several months.

Anyway, on that day of 2003, I left work early to pick her up. We drove up to her sister's, and after a run to Sam's Club and Fry's Electronics I was relaxing in the hot tub with her and her sister. Her sister had this Siberian husky named Bo, and ole Bo was really quite the character. He'd place his head in my lap knowing that I would instinctively scratch it. If I stopped scratching, he would growl at me. If I still didn't resume scratching, he'd start barking. Dang, he was as assertive as a cat when it came to wanting attention!

I don't think though that this evening is going to rank up with the two aforementioned evenings, aside from the fact that this year I have a blog whereas I didn't the years before. I can't remember what I was doing last year on Thanksgiving Eve. I do know that in years past I took the whole week off from work. I wanted to do that this year but I'm saving what little vacation time I have left for the year for next month's road trip to San Jose.

On another note, I am mindful that a lot of people this year don't have as much to be thankful for as I do this year. I don't know why, but that bothers me. I can in one way identify with them, having been there once. That was in 1998, when some severe adverse circumstances were going on for me.

I hope that those others can find their way out like I did.

The Half Dollar

One of the more unknown coins in U.S. coinage is the half dollar. This is a coin that a half century or so ago saw regular circulation alongside of dimes and quarters. In those days they were made out of silver, a 90% silver alloy to be exact. They had various designs, with the most beautiful of all time being that of the Walking Liberty, which was minted from 1916 thru 1947.

In 1948, completing the move towards placing historical figures on our coins, Benjamin Franklin's portrait started appearing on the front with the Liberty Bell appearing on back. These continued to circulate for several years, until coming to an abrupt end in the 1963-64 timeframe.

A confluence of events led to the demise of the half dollar as a circulating coin. One, the assassination of President Kennedy took place, and a decision was made to have his portrait appear on this coin beginning with the 1964 design.

Two, there were rumors that coins would no longer be made out of silver. At that time the price of silver had this semi-official fix of $1.29 per troy ounce. Some say that the silver supply started shrinking, thus placing an upward pressure on the price of silver. With escalation of military activity in southeast Asia and a social policy to win the war on poverty, more dollars needed to be printed/issued. The inflation that is guaranteed to follow with these kinds of policies would bring about a situation where the metal in the coin would be worth more than the face value of the coin itself.

Three, the Kennedy half dollars were much sought after by the public. Everyone it seemed, wanted a keepsake of the late President. From my reading, it seems as if people were lining up at the banks to buy these things and to start hoarding them.

From my conversations with a co-worker who worked as a cashier in that time frame, he told me that the half dollars disappeared overnight. You couldn't get the Franklin halves either, and coin shortages for dimes and quarters were being reported. Mintage figures for dimes and quarters show a significant ramping up in 1963, and when 1965 started the date was frozen and coins dated 1964 continued to be struck.

Congress then passed a Coinage Act removing silver from the dimes and quarters beginning with the 1965 date. "Clad" coinage then began, but silver coins were struck alongside the clad coins. I've read where 1964 dimes were minted until early 1966, which explains the high mintage figures for 1964. With the passage of this coinage act, the half dollars were minted with a "silver clad" alloy, their silver content being reduced to 40%. In 1970 Congress passed another act which removed silver from half dollars completely, and authorized the minting of the Eisenhower Dollar. At that time I was in the seventh grade, and on those occasions where I got a half dollar in my change I kept it. I was then aware that clad halves were coming out, so I didn't bother saving any of those.

Here we are a few decades later. The half dollar is still a circulating coin, in the sense that the Federal Reserve will order some for their inventories to meet the demand for them. The thing of it is, is that the last year the half was struck for circulation was 2001. I have read where the Fed believes that they won't need to order any more half dollars for use until 2050, as that existing inventories are sufficient to meet what little demand that there is for this coin.

So why am I writing about half dollars this evening?

Well, I've been a coin collector since I was a kid. I occasionally will ask for rolls of half dollars at the bank, in the hopes that I will score some silver halves or some silver clad halves. I have gotten some silver clads before but I can't remember how long it has been since I came across a 1964 half in a roll. Probably never; I did get a few when I was a paperboy, but never have I gotten a 1964 half in my change.

As for the last time I got a half dollar in my change, I'm going to say it was in 2002 and it was from the coin shop on Speedway in midtown Tucson. Coin shops will hand out half dollars in change in an effort to spur further interest in coin collecting. Aside from the coin shop, the time before that was at a movie theater in 1993. My then wife and I had gone out to see a movie at a theater in Capitola and the fifty cents change that came my way was in the form of a half dollar.

These days if you want to get some half dollars, you have to ask for them at the bank. As I've stated, I do this occasionally, and this morning there was one of these occasions. I bought two rolls of halves, face value $20 for the two rolls. In addition, I picked up another $11 worth that were loose from another teller.

I didn't score any silver this time, or any silver clads. But I did score some keepers. There were six of them: a 2002P, two 2002D, two 2007P and one 2007D. There have been half dollars minted every year since 2001, but they haven't been minted for circulation. What the Mint does with these is that they include them in mint sets, and they also sell these in bags and rolls to collectors who are willing to pay the premium to get them. Mintage of the 2007 halves were 2.4 million for both Philadelphia and Denver; thus I scored some low mintage halves that are worth more than face to a collector such as myself.

I will be keeping one each of the 2002P/D and 2007P/D halves. This leaves me with a surplus of two halves. I haven't done the eBay thing in a long time, but I do participate in a forum for coin collectors, and I plan on putting these up for auction.

As for the remaining halves that aren't keepers, well I've got a bunch of them. Some $28 worth.

I plan on ditching these at convenience stores and in the company cafeteria. The cashier working the express lane at Safeway is also going to see some of these. My own efforts won't lead to an island of circulation of half dollars on the east side of Tucson, but I'm sure that some of the cashiers will get a kick out of some coins that they can buy out of the till to give to their kids.........or to keep for themselves.

Some more reading

OK, so I lied last night when I said I wouldn't be posting for the next few days.

What happened was that I forgot to pass along a link that I found interesting. It's the latest column by Dr. Thomas Sowell.

It really isn't my intention for this blog to be a an ongoing political commentary, but sometimes I will come across something that I want to share. I have been a regular reader of Dr. Sowell's column for several years, and there are just some columns that I feel the need to tell you about.

Click here, where it says "here".

* * * * * * *

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

It will make you a better person if you take the time to do that.

Tuesday, 11/17/09

Tony's surgery is being put off until the 30th. My cousin Kirk (Tony's middle son) was able to locate a surgeon who has more experience with this type of surgery. Kirk obviously is well-connected with the medical community; he once studied under one of the nation's top dental surgeons and I'm sure he knows who the top dogs are in several specialties. If he doesn't know, he will know who knows and he will make use of their advice.

* * * * * * *

It is with some sadness that I report the passing of noted shortwave/ham radio author Harry Helms, who lost his battle with cancer two days ago at the age of 57. I first read one of his articles in the November 1977 Popular Electronics magazine, where he wrote a fascinating piece about pirate radio. A few months later another of his articles dealt with "mystery" signals and clandestine stations on shortwave, including that one numbers station out of Cuba that I've briefly touched on.

Mr. Helms was quite knowledgable about the oddities in radio that were out there, but he knew a lot about some other things. He authored a book called "Top Secret Tourism" which I've been meaning to get a copy of. This book is about places that are not generally known to the public, such as Area 51. He was careful to caution his readers about respecting the signs that restricted access and trespassing.

I stumbled across his blog some six months ago, and he didn't know this but he was inspiring me to create this blog. I never contacted him via his email; he had enough on his hands as that he had been a terminal cancer patient for nearly three years. He was open about what was happening with him, and he faced that battle with dignity.

He will definitely be missed.

* * * * * * *

As of late I've been reading The Templars by Piers Paul Read. It's a fascinating history that goes into great detail about the rise of both Christianity and Islam, and the Crusades. The role of the Templars in this period is also examined in great detail.

Up until a year or so ago, this was one of the several areas of the world's history that I've been largely ignorant of. It isn't taught in public schools and if you learn it at a university you're either a history major or you took the class as an elective.

I will grant that a better understanding of the American nation can be gained by studying our nation's history, which typically begins with the voyages of Christopher Columbus. Yes, anyone graduating from high school in this country needs to know American history.

However, I'm wondering if maybe we should go back even further and make our children learn about medieval Europe, and the development of the legal system in England. It wasn't until I read a Supreme Court decision regarding the Second Amendment that I became aware that a lot of our "law doctrine" or concept of rights, if you will, emerged out of England. That in turn goes back to the Magna Carta, which most folks have heard about, but almost no one can explain how that came into being and why, or even what it said in the first place.

Getting back to the Crusades, I think it would do us all well to be knowledgable about them and what was left in their wake. I think the influence of the Crusades is still with us, even though many of us are largely ignorant about it.

* * * * * * *

That's it for this evening. I don't think I'll be posting for the next few days.

The State of the World as it is on Monday, 11/16/09

News from Iowa is that Uncle Tony will be undergoing open-heart surgery tomorrow. He will have a new valve put in and if necessary, a bypass will also be performed. He is 87 years old and it must be scary for him and for his family to be undergoing this.

I can't help but wonder what would have been happening to Tony if Obamacare were under effect right now. I think some bureaucrat would have concluded that Tony is too old for this surgery, so why waste a surgeon's skill on him? Never mind that Tony was off fighting the Nazis in his younger years. Never mind him raising three talented children, who all are working in various areas of the dental field. Never mind that he was a good husband to my aunt Marge and helped my dad out on something more than half a century ago (I don't know the details of that; very likely a private matter).

Enough about politics.

* * * * * * *

I had my first post-Kathleen date over the weekend. This chain of events was set in motion about three, maybe four weeks ago when I "unhid" my profile on Match and snuck in a clue about how I could be reached by email. Within a day or two of doing that, I was contacted by a lady that I will only identify as Debbie (I don't disclose last names here except on very rare occasions or if the person is famous.) There was an email exchange of about three weeks or so. We spoke on the phone Friday. We met at an Italian restaurant on Saturday.

I really liked her. I found her to be very attractive and she was very good company. Thing of it is, is that it was really hard to tell if the chemistry was really there. I was really hoping that she would have wanted to adjourn to a dance floor that was up the road by a few miles, but I didn't think that I would get away with that suggestion, so we said goodbye in the parking lot.

I haven't heard from her since then. I'm not sure that I should write or call. My own thinking is that more time would have been needed to really know, but experience tells me she would have been another Dyanna.......great company, attractive, and fun.........but no special magic.

Since unhiding my profile on Match, I have gotten lots of email from them encouraging me to become a paid member. I get told about how someone looked at my profile and was checking me out. Well, just because someone was looking at your profile doesn't mean that they're really interested. I've checked out plenty of profiles myself. Some of them just flat out remind me of an April Wine song......"looks good from far.....but it's far from good".

Anyway, with Debbie, I'm taking no further action. Now that this is a closed chapter, I'm making it public here.

Maybe it's time to see if this one chick up in Phoenix who's on eHarmony is interested.

* * * * * * *

I am really wishing that I had bought more gold when it was $300 an ounce. As the present administration is continuing the work of the previous administration in destroying the dollar, gold is reaching for record highs these days. It's in the mid 1100s right now.

Is it really going to reach $2000 an ounce?

I'm thinking of buying two ounces, and selling one of those ounces in case it does reach $2K.

Then again, it might be wiser to hold on to it. In trying to determine what the money supply is by reading the Fed's website, they have three different definitions.....as if they really don't want you to know how much money is out there.

But no matter which set of numbers you look at, with the multitrillion dollar debt and deficits in front of us, they'll just print more even if the dollar goes the way of the Italian lira.

I'll never forget handing over 4000 lira to buy a soda when I was in Rome in 1995. I'll have to check, but I think a century ago there was a 20 lira coin that contained 0.1867 ounces of gold.

* * * * * * *

Last night I checked out the remake of "The Prisoner" on the AMC channel. I've long been a fan of the original series that Patrick McGoohan starred in. This remake? Well, I was only able to last twenty minutes.

The original series is just fine. It shouldn't be messed with.

* * * * * * *

Time now for some supper.

The 2009 Deer Season Report

The middle rifle season for Arizona opened on Friday of last week. Todd and I went out over the weekend in unit 34A, Whetstone Mountains, where we were drawn for antlered whitetail. Whitetail or Coues Deer are found at elevations exceeding 5000 feet, and our whitetails are not as large as their midwestern cousins. Plenty of permits are issued for whitetails, but hunter success is at best 23% and that figure was for unit 34B, which we hunted two years ago.

We did all of our hunting in French Joe Canyon, which is off Arizona state highway number 90, about ten miles south of I-10. That was not the canyon that I scoped out earlier this year but I do know that whitetails like canyons as that I've seen plenty of them in Ramsey Canyon which is near Sierra Vista.

On this hunt, we didn't see any deer at all. No other wildlife save for some hawks and crows. We found areas where it was obvious that the deer had bedded down recently. We found some of their scat, and we noted that some mesquite trees had some of their lower branches stripped of leaves, which told us that deer had been feeding there. But as I said, we didn't see any deer on this trip.

We called it quits Sunday at sundown. The season doesn't close until sundown on Thursday, but Todd was not available this week, and as circumstances would have it, the clutch in my truck went out this morning and it's in the shop right now as I type this.

Good luck? I'm going to say that it was.....it would not have done us any good had I lost the clutch some thirty miles from civilization, where the roads are primitive and four wheel drive is a necessity.

I think though that next year we'll apply for mule deer tags, and return to 34B. I've been told by a co-worker that the muleys are plentiful down Green Valley way.

* * * * * * *

Word from Iowa is that my uncle Tony is not doing very well as of late, and is a candidate for some open heart surgery. He's 87 years old and as such the decision will not be made until this coming Friday. My aunt Marge is understandably very concerned about this. I've been out to Iowa before to see them. They lived most of their lives in Lincoln, Nebraska, and moved out near Iowa City some five years ago to be near where two of their sons (cousins Kirk and Todd......this is a different cousin Todd than the one I go hunting with and who lives near Phoenix).

Tony served our nation during the Second World War, and the B26 he was on was shot down over Yugoslavia behind enemy lines during the war. Those who survived the crash were aided by the resistance and they were in hiding for about six weeks. Some years after the war, he met and married my aunt Marge, and they lived in Lincoln where he had a job with the Nebraska Highway Department.

Marge and Tony have been damn good Americans all of their lives, and their children have gone on to become exemplary citizens as well.

I'll be keeping them in my thoughts and prayers.

* * * * * * *

With my truck in the shop, I took today off from work and I'll be taking tomorrow off as well. This gives me a chance to catch up on some miscellaneous projects around the house, including this evening's blog entry. I'm somewhat torqued over this clutch job. I seem to be going thru clutches a little bit more often than I should.

However, the truck has over 315,000 miles on it. I haven't had to make a vehicle payment in over nine years. But one question that will come up is, should I think about getting a new truck?

I'll make that decision sometime in the middle of next year. I used to think that my "day of reckoning" on it would come at 160K miles........then I pushed it off to 200K......then 250K. I decided to go for 300K miles, and I'm past that now.

I may have my day of reckoning at 350K. It's been an extremely reliable truck since I bought it in November of 1995. It's a 1995 Toyota Tacoma in four wheel drive.

Now you know one reason why General Motors has lost market share.

Some Interesting Reading

I stumbled across this link earlier today. It's provided by http://www.kitco.com/, a website from a precious metals firm headquartered in Montréal.

I've been a fan of the precious metals for years when it comes to long-term investments. The only mistake that I made in that regard was not buying more gold back when it was $300 an ounce.

At least I acquired plenty of silver, mostly in the form of pre-1965 U.S. coins, when the spot silver price was $4.50 per troy ounce. I've since seen it breach $20, and although silver took a hit today it closed at $16.21.

Of course, a website dealing in precious metals is going to have commentaries that are favorable towards gold and silver. Regardless of how you feel about the precious metals and/or stocks and bonds, I think this one's worth reading.

Them Ole Pizza Nightmares

I don't know about you, but sometimes when I have pizza for supper I can get some free entertainment later on that night in the form of weird dreams. Some are absurd, others vivid, and still others will fall in the "nightmare" category. Whatever the type of dream, there are some that you just won't forget. These types of dreams can also occur whenever I have Mexican food or barbecue.

Last night I had pizza, and I knocked off a few beers too. It was a long day at work, as that I had to be there at 5:30 AM to attend a meeting via telecon that was being chaired on the east coast. I hadn't felt like cooking, so the fare last night was a Safeway pizza with two Coors Lights to follow.....or maybe it was three.

I also wasn't able to fall asleep last night when I should have, as that I had to repeat this 5:30 AM thing again today. I set the alarm for 3:45 AM after which I entered the realm of the subconcious.

The subconcious is one of those entities that is probably among the least understood. A co-worker of mine once referred to it as "The Garbage Can of the Mind". In the subconcious, practically anything goes. Whatever it is you can't do in real life is something that you can do in the subconcious. You can float in the air, you can visit other countries, you can meet famous people, you can walk around naked in the grocery store and not be arrested, and you can also live out some encounters that can't really be described here. Garbage Can of the Mind? That sure seems to fit.

Last night's adventure, or I should say, this morning's adventure took place in Lordsburg, New Mexico. In this dream I had somehow picked up my Remington model 870 shotgun from some lady who was storing it for me. During the course of the dream, I was a passenger in a car with the shotgun, and the driver took us to Lordsburg. One of the passengers then grabbed the shotgun and bolted out of the car. He started threatening people with it, and it was apparent that I wasn't going to be able to talk him into giving me back the gun.

In real life, and in the dream, the Remington only had a capacity of three shells. It's a hunting gun, and thus has a "plug" in the magazine to limit the capacity. (This is due to a federal law that regulates duck hunting, which is what I bought the shotgun for when I lived in California). In the dream, this madman was threatening people, and he pulled the trigger. That was one round gone, and two more to go. Two more rounds, but he still had to be stopped.

I took cover, hiding in a room in an old abandoned gas station. I had my cellphone with me, and so I dialed 911. I really needed to stop this guy and I needed to stop him fast. I was going to get help and get this taken care of before he killed someone.

I didn't get an answer when I dialed 911. I instead got that aggravating "menu tree" that you get in real life when you are trying to call someone. I then pressed "0" to get the operator, and I instead got a canned message that said "you have made an incorrect entry. Please listen to all of the menu options before making a selection." And then it was back to if your call is for this type of situation, press 1, for that type of situation, press 2, our resources are very limited so please do not pick the wrong selection, and for this press 3, for that press 4....and on and on and on. The madman is talking loudly and waving a shotgun, and I've got to put up with a menu tree!

The saga ended when the alarm clock went off. It was one instance where I was glad to be rousted from a dream.

So why Lordsburg?

Good question. I go to Lordsburg occasionally to get fireworks, which are not legal in Arizona. I know that I was thinking that I need to do another trip there, and to get this done sometime before the holidaze. I can't remember if I was thinking about needing to go there yesterday, but I do know that I felt the need to get there.

Why the shotgun? The last time I had my Remington out was when Todd and I were looking for rabbits over in Graham County, and that was at least two years ago (we didn't see any rabbits either). There's a possibility that we might go out for quail sometime, but I think the next time out will be for whitetail deer in the Whetstone Mountains.

What's really funny about this dream is that it closely paralleled one that I had in high school. I was living in San Jose when I had this dream, and in this dream my friends and I had discovered this counterfeiter. The counterfeiter was somehow onto us and was wanting to kill us. I found a payphone in the parking lot of this shopping center near where I lived, and I dialed the operator to summon some help. Instead of the operator answering, I got a recorded announcement saying that "the operator will be with you shortly. In the meantime, please listen to the following commercial." I was forced to listen to that commercial, after which "the operator will be with you shortly", after which they played another commercial.....and then another commercial....and then another! I was really glad to wake up from that one too.

I have several other dreams that I could tell you about.....some of them funny, and some of them just plain weird. Those will have to wait for another entry, as that I'm very tired, and I expect that I will be needing to return to the Garbage Can of the Mind shortly after this posting.

* * * * * * *

Portland was a blast! I got to meet Dave Moser again on this trip, where I learned that he also worked in aerospace engineering. He worked on the Apollo Project, while I worked on MILSTAR, BSTS, Ikonos, Superbird and Globalstar (satellite projects).

Ken and his family are doing very well. I'm thinking of going up there twice next year. I'd really like to do some fishing there, but my godson isn't interested in fishing.

* * * * * * *

We're having budget problems at work (this is a rare moment, me talking about work). Our systems team will shrink from four people down to two. I'm one of the two who gets to stay, though I could have volunteered for the assignment that was offered to the two who are leaving.

Eventually I'll have four circuit cards to be responsible for. I was a year ago responsible for all four but we hired a few folks who took some load off of me. Now that we're rolling them off, I'm taking them all back.

I'll be busy, but it's better than not being busy.

* * * * * * *

One of my cats right now is demanding my attention. So I'll now be following the advice that I so much love to give.

He's a good guy, so he'll get his pets.

I'm sure the other one will want his too.

Greetings from Portland!

Hello from the City of Roses!

Well, I'm not actually in the city limits of Portland itself, and I'm not even in the same county that Portland is in......but my hosts Ken & Gillian have their mailing address as being in Portland. They live about a mile or two north of Beaverton, in an unincorporated area of Washington County.

This is not my first time here. In fact, I can't remember how many times I've been here before now. I do know that I was not here last year, but was here the year before.

Years ago when Ken told me that he had gotten a job offer in Portland, I advised him to take it. His family moved up here in either late 2001 or maybe early 2002. The move was pending when I visited him in San Jose in October 2001, and I remember telling him that when you get on the freeway that takes you out of San Jose, it's going to be a weird feeling knowing that this time you're not coming back. I know all about that feeling, having experienced it on 2/23/99 when I left to start a new life in Arizona.

But getting back to Portland, I really like it here. I don't know if I would like living here since I'm better suited for sunshine and warmer temperatures, but at the same time I really appreciate the beauty of Oregon. I've been out to the coast before and have spent a few days in Neskowin. I've been up and down the Columbia River Gorge a few times, and across the river at Mount St. Helens. I'm thinking of driving down to Salem on Monday to check out the state capital, but the Multnomah Falls (which I've seen before) are tempting. It isn't every day in my life that I get to see another part of the country, and whenever I'm on trips I definitely like to play "tourist".

I think I can also understand why coffeehouses are popular in the Northwest. It's due to the climate. When it's overcast and cool, you don't feel like being on your back patio knocking off a beer. Instead you want to be on your back patio knocking off a cup of Joe, and with the view Ken has from his back deck I can hardly wait to be sipping a cup of that kind of brew sometime tomorrow afternoon.

Interestingly enough, microbreweries are big in Portland. I was up here twenty years ago at a brewer's festival during July. I enjoy a great beer now and then, and you can't beat a nice handcrafted brew on some days.

But in October, it's coffee weather, and even though it's rare for me to drink coffee, the thought of having a cup tomorrow is something I'm looking forward to.

* * * * * * *

It's really been interesting to have watched Ken's children grow up over the past several years. All three of them are musically talented and I'm hearing his oldest daughter practice the harp as I type this. They're also a real joy to converse with. They've asked questions that I wish more adults were capable of asking.

* * * * * * *

I return home to Tucson on Monday evening. Hopefully. Yesterday when taxiing away from the gate the pilot brought us back to de-plane us due to what may have been a computer glitch or a mechanical problem. I was re-booked on to a later flight, but I don't think I have the later flight option on the way home. I connected in Phoenix on the way up and will be connecting in Phoenix on the way back down.

* * * * * * *

That's it for now. Don't forget to pet a dog or a cat.

Odds and Ends, 10/15/09

Tomorrow is the birthday of C.F. (Fred) Turner of Bachman-Turner Overdrive fame. He will be 66 years young and I hope that he will find tomorrow to be a very special day. I'm in occasional email contact with him and it's an honor that I can claim to know him. He was always a class act; very nice to the fans and very down to earth. I probably ought to invite him to read this blog. I'd also like to invite him to stop by my house here in Tucson so that I could fire up the BBQ and fix him the meanest ribs he's ever had in his life.

Happy birthday, Fred! Thank you for the feeling!

* * * * * * *

Remember that power line noise that I was complaining about two nights ago? It's gone. I turned on my Grundig after posting it, and it's gone! I checked yesterday and today and it's still gone!

Does a problem really correct itself just like that? Did I make it go away by complaining about it here?

I guess I could test that by complaining that I never win big in the lottery.

Somehow, I don't think that problem would go away if I did make such a complaint.

Of course, the problem really is is that I don't play the lottery in the first place.

* * * * * * *

Trivia time: which is the largest U.S. city that is not served by an interstate highway?

Answer: Fresno, California.

* * * * * * *

I am pleased to report that I am now down 25 pounds from where I was when the year started. It was mainly due to some medical advice. I began a low-carb diet in mid June and I cut out all the sweets (save for the occasional dish of fat free ice cream). I also did a lot of "power walking", though there hasn't been time for that as of late. I really need to make some time for that, especially since we've got cooler temps in the evenings.

* * * * * * *

I've been researching handheld police scanners in addition to shortwave radios. I'm not sure that I listen enough to the desktop scanner that I have now to justify the purchase of a handheld, but with the handheld I could have it with me in the garage or on the back patio.

I can't really say that I'm a police buff. I bought the scanner that I now have when I learned that the government was going to ban some certain types of scanners. That had the effect of making me want to own one, thus I felt the need to get one of those while I still could. And even though I've had it all these years, I haven't spent a lot of time listening to it.

Funny thing though, is that I always liked the "cop" shows when I was growing up. I can have the real deal here in my own home, and I'll admit that I've turned it on when I've heard sirens in the neighborhood so that I could find out what was going on.

* * * * * * *

I don't presume that I'll be posting from Portland, but I figure I'll be showing Ken & Gillian this blog. I haven't really emailed everyone to tell them about it. It is for right now, a means to entertain myself.

I'm thinking of posting some photos and some scans of collectibles.......maybe incorporating something of a scrapbook, or a show and tell.

If it sounds like I'm making this up as I go along, I guess it's because I am.

* * * * * * *

Don't forget to pet a dog or a cat (you knew this was coming, didn't you?)

The Tuesday Evening Post

I was at a newsstand a few days ago looking for some magazines devoted to electronic kit-building. Not only am I feeling the urge to resume shortwave listening, I'm also feeling the urge to build an electronic kit in my garage. The temperatures are cooler now and being in the garage during the evening can be pleasant. I didn't find what I was looking for, but I noticed that there were some copies of The Saturday Evening Post.......I mean, I remember hearing about them when I was a kid, but they're back in commission?

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?

* * * * * *

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.

* * * * * * *

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.

* * * * * * *

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.

* * * * * * *

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. )

* * * * * * *

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.

Shortwave Radio? Or the Internet?

Many years ago I developed an interest in listening to distant radio stations when I encountered CKLW on my brother's pocket transistor radio one night in the fall of 1973 (this was mentioned in a previous post). I spent many nights tuning in those distant stations, and by the following year I was listening to shortwave radio. I also got my ham radio license in 1974, and spent many countless hours talking to other hams.

Two years later I built a shortwave radio out of a kit from Radio Shack. After assembling it I connected it to an antenna and was able to tune in Radio Habana Cuba quite easily. Radio Canada International was also booming in, as well as Radio Nederland (as it was then called) being broadcast from their relay in Bonaire. Although building the radio was neat (I had built an AM radio some two years earlier) it was "cheap" and wasn't getting me very much so I got my Hallifcrafters SX-28 receiver (vintage 1940) out of commission and went on to tune in other stations from all over the world beginning one or two nights after that. Later receivers included a National NC-183, a Yaesu FRG-7 and a Kenwood R5000. I not only listened to the international broadcasters, but I also spent time listening to the Coast Guard, the military, the maritime stations, pirate stations, and "numbers" stations (I should write a separate post about the numbers stations sometime, but if you want to learn more about them then click here.)

I've since sold the NC-183 (I now wish I hadn't), the R5000 has bit the dust, the FRG-7 tuning knob doesn't work anymore, and the SX-28 is in the closet awaiting a restoration that I intend to do when I retire. I do own the Grundig YB400 which is a decent portable and can get the powerhouse stations, but it isn't really suited for "DXing" the maritimes and the military. Many of the maritime stations have left the air as that satellites now provide the bulk of ship-to-shore communications. I think the air traffic control stations are still on the air but I haven't checked. I am thinking of purchasing the ICOM R75 communications receiver, but as I have said in previous posts, "things have really changed". Many of the international broadcasters are no longer broadcasting to North America, instead providing real time audio via the Internet, or "on demand" programs. Instead of tuning in Deutsche Welle to find out what's happening in Germany, I can now go to their website and listen to a temporary audio archive, as I found myself doing two evenings ago.

So the question I am now asking myself is, should I get back into serious shortwave listening?

I'm leaning towards it, but what's holding me back right now are the changes that have taken place.

I haven't actively listened since 1998. Back then I could tune in dozens of stations, learn plenty about the world's events, get viewpoints not available in American media and there were the "utility" stations: that is, the aforementioned military, maritime and aeronautical stations. I could send in reception reports by what we weren't yet calling "snail mail" and in a few weeks or maybe a few months I would get a "QSL" card from that station verifying my reception of them. My goal was to get as many stations and countries QSLed, similar to what I did with ham radio. With many of the major broadcasters no longer broadcasting to North America, my opportunities for collecting QSL cards have diminished, and the bands seem a lot less crowded. If I do go back to active shortwave listening, I must realize that it won't be nearly as much fun as it was thirty years ago.

Another reason not to go back is the internet itself. I found that listening to the likes of Radio Australia, Deutsche Welle and Radio Canada International kept me extremely well informed about world events. I can still get that information by live audio stream if I want to, so it's not like I need to own a shortwave receiver to find out what's really happening in the world anymore. As I write this, I learned from Deutsche Welle that Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the UK is in trouble and that Chancellor Angela Merkel will continue to govern. Sure, I read that on the Drudge Report, but an audiocast report from the Internet was like tuning in to Deutsche Welle all over again except that this time I was clicking the mouse instead of twisting a few knobs. I can make the case that I can be just as well informed relying on the Internet alone. This time, I can get FM stations out of Toronto that I couldn't get before and I'm sure that getting them out of London would be just as easy. That ICOM R75 would set me back six hundred dollars if I use a mail order firm that I've done business with before; more if I have optional filters and other goodies installed and knowing me I just might want them installed.

In spite of the expense and the changed radioscape, there are reasons to go back to listening.

One, I'm one to rotate my hobbies. I have several of them, and the radio hobby is something that I haven't touched in quite a while. I was talking to Mark last night about shortwave, and I mentioned that I might also get back into being an active ham radio operator. The fact is, is that there is a modicum of technical expertise in the hobby. No, you don't need a degree in electrical engineering to succeed in that hobby (I was doing both ham and shortwave before I got my EE degree) but you do have to know a few things about antennas and radio propagation if you're going to try to tune in, say, the Cook Islands. I haven't checked but I think Radio Cook Islands might still be on the air, and I'm not sure that you can get them via the Internet. Either way, it's been a while since I've actively listened, and I'm feeling the urge to get back into it.

Two, the intrigue of the numbers stations is still there. Some thirty years ago I had a fascination with that five digit numbers station that was operating out of Cuba, and that station is still on the air. Those transmissions are not officially licensed or sanctioned, yet they continue. Those transmissions do not officially exist, yet they're there, and any experienced shortwave listener who's ventured outside the international broadcast bands has encountered this station. That sort of stuff has always fascinated me.

Three: there are still several stations out of Africa and South America that are still on the air. My guess is that many of the Chinese regional stations are also still on the air (I'll have to check), and those can be interesting to tune into even if you don't know the language. I'm sure that I could get them in the early morning hours here in Arizona. I think that the Canadian domestic shortwave relays are still active; I've got cards from CKFX in Vancouver and CFVP in Calgary.

So, am I going to get back into shortwave?

I think I will, but I need to do some more research, and I need to make a trip to Phoenix to visit a ham radio store that will let me play with the R75 for a while. Interestingly enough, a good friend of mine here in Tucson is also thinking about shortwave, and I think we'll go to Phoenix a few Saturdays from now.

* * * * * * *

I am pleased to report that Mark's dad is making an excellent recovery from his surgery. As I've said before, I've long regarded Mark's parents to be a second set of parents.

* * * * * * *

Mark was asking about eHarmony. If the past few weeks are a reliable indication, eHarmony is likely going to make match.com look good, and that's not an easy thing to accomplish. I may re-activate my match.com membership sometime after I return from Portland.

* * * * * * *

You don't have to stick your hand in the fire to know that it is hot.

Likewise, you don't have to pick up a rattlesnake by the tail and start swinging it around like a rope in order to learn that the rattlesnake won't like it.

Unfortunately, there are some people out there who that won't be obvious to.

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!

* * * * * * *

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.

* * * * * * *

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.

* * * * * * *

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.

* * * * * * *

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.

* * * * * * *

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

Telemarketers, Part II

In my previous post I detailed one method of dealing with telemarketers. In tonight's post I am going to propose another solution, this one of a regulatory nature. But first, some background, based upon my research.

For several years individual states passed laws and handed down regulations to control telemarketing. Repeated abuses of these regulations by the telemarketers themselves is likely what led to the Federal Trade Commission instituting a national "Do Not Call" registry in 2003. That regulation was of course, fought by the telemarketers, but if the behavior of this telemarketer is any indication I have to wonder why they fought this regulation if they had no intention of obeying it in the first place. In addition, there are several loopholes to the "Do Not Call" registry, most notably that which exempts politicians and their political campaigns. The loopholes notwithstanding, the "Do Not Call" registry is something that should be replaced with what I call the "OK to Call" registry.

There are three reasons why we should make this change.

First of all, a person shouldn't have to ask to be placed on a "Do Not Call" reigstry in the first place. There can be a lag time of up to 90 days when you ask to get on "Do Not Call" before you're officially there, during which your phone company will gleefully provide your new telephone number to telemarketers that include themselves. During that lag time, the new telephone number holder can expected to be barraged with all sorts of unwanted sales pitches, and nothing can be done about it.

Second, the telemarketers are going to violate the "Do Not Call" list anyway. Sure, those of us who are on it don't get anywhere near the number of junk phone calls that we used to, but if you've clicked on that link I provided earlier you are going to learn that there is no shortage of telemarketers who will flat out disregard the "Do Not Call" list. They can call you from outside the country, they can claim that you had a past business relationship with them (that's another loophole), they can claim to be a non profit agency, or they can claim to be taking a survey. The point is, is that the registry as currently set up falls short of achieving the desired results.

Third, establishing an "OK to Call" registry would keep telemarketers occupied with those who actually want to receive the calls in the first place, assuming of course, that there is such a thing as a large number of telemarketers who are willing to obey this kind of law. Granted that the "OK to Call" registry is going to be a very short list, but with some 300 million Americans or so I'd think that there'd be a hundred thousand or so who really wouldn't mind getting these calls. Of course the telemarketers are going to argue that one hundred thousand is a small number, but my response to that is that if they really think that then they should go to the bank and ask for one hundred thousand pennies and take them all home and count them. I might even be off in my estimate, as that there might be five hundred thousand Americans who are lonely and would like someone, even a telemarketer, to call them up and ask them how they're doing.

Of course, one question is, is how do we pay for setting up an "OK to Call" registry?

First, anyone who decides to become a telemarketer should be forced to buy a license from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). I'd be tempted to make the license fee something like five hundred million dollars, but if we do that then they'll set up shop in India, so we're going to have to make the license fee a lot lower. I propose five hundred dollars for a company license if they operate from within the United States, and fifty million dollars for each license for every caller in India that they would like to use.

Second, those who wish to be on this list should also pay. I think that anybody who wants to be on this list should pay a one time registration fee of one hundred dollars. If they're lonely and they want people to call them, a one time fee of one hundred dollars would be cheaper than several psychriatric visits to address their loneliness issues. Furthermore, anyone who is stupid enough to want these calls should be fined one hundred dollars in the first place.

Third, there must be no loopholes whatsoever for a telemarketer not wishing to use the "OK to Call" list. None whatsoever.....absolutely, positively. If a telemarketer is caught violating this rule, they should be fined ten thousand dollars, and then forced to watch stupid commercials for thirty days while strapped in a chair if it's their first offense. If it's their second offense, then the fine should be twenty-five thousand dollars and they should get one hundred days in the chair. As for the stupid commercial that they should be forced to watch, I'd like to suggest that one of that loser singing about his credit problems while driving that clunker......make them watch that one over and over during their waking hours. (That might be a violation of the "cruel and unusual punishment" clause in the Constitution but I think it's worth a court ruling).

I'm sure that there are some other reasons that I could come up with as to why we should do this, but it's been a long day and I'm starting to get tired. If you can come up with a fourth or a fifth, then please feel free to post a comment.

* * * * * * *

I had a meeting with one of my financial planners today (I use two of them). We're on the same page. For the first time he mentioned precious metals and other commodities as an investment. He was open to gold and silver the last time we talked; now he's volunteering metals and commodities. He said that inflation and devaluation of the dollar is a concern of his. He sees more upside potential in silver as I do.

I've been a fan of the precious metals for several years now. I bought lots of silver back in 2003; I now wish I had bought more of it. I did buy some gold too, and yes I should have bought more that as well. But with multitrillion dollar deficits and a concern that the Chinese will stop buying our debt, I have to wonder if we're in for some hyperinflation of the dollar.

I may start buying gold again. And some silver.

* * * * * * *

Interestingly enough, my employer has issued some guidelines for those of us who are involved in social networking sites or blogging. I can identify who I work for, but if I do so I must abide by their code of conduct, and make it clear that I'm not speaking for the company.

As it is, I'd rather not identify who I work for, but that's not because I want to talk about work and the people I work with/for. It's instead that real people are involved, and what they do in the workplace is not for public consumption. I don't think they would like it if they were to stumble across this blog and then read about themselves. Additionally, when I come home my employer ceases to exist. I have the work life and I have the at home life. I'd rather keep a wall up that separates the two.

* * * * * * *

I will be in Portland, Oregon for a few days next month, visiting longtime friends Ken and Gillian and their family. It's something that I do every year, save for last year when they were down here in Arizona.

If my budget and vacation time permitted it I would try to make it up there once a month or so. Ken and I have been good friends since 1988, and I have known his wife Gillian since 1990. Both have been with me thru the good times as well as the difficult times.

I think Oregon's a neat state and I always look forward to going.

Telemarketers, Part I

One of the several aggravations that life presents us with is unfortunately, those people who most of regard as only slightly better than child molesters, and those people are called "telemarketers". They have been an annoyance to anyone who has ever possessed a telephone number, and even though there are now a lot more laws and regulations on the book that regulate their activity, the reality is that the bastards will still call you even if you've taken the time and trouble to get yourself on the "Do Not Call" list.

So tonight's commentary is going to be one method to deal with them. I really wish that I could claim credit for this as being one of my original ideas. The thing of it is, is that I can't. What I am about to pass along to you was inspired by a column written by the late Mike Royko, and my recollection is that he wrote about this sometime in 1987. I filed it away in my memory, and it wasn't jogged until a telemarketer cold called me at 7:00 AM sometime in the first half of 1992 when I was working for Lockheed in Sunnyvale.

I first thought it was my good friend Chip calling me up, but when I answered it was some fellow from Shearson Lehman American Express instead, and judging from his accent, he was not someone who grew up in North America.......not that it mattered really, unless he was inexperienced in dealing with North Americans such as myself who frequently suffer from a sense of humor.

Anyway, I don't remember the guy's name, but when he introduced himself and stated why he was calling, a light went on in my head as I was remembering what Mr. Royko had written some five years earlier. He wanted to know if I was interested, so I indicated that yes, I wanted to hear more. The result of course, was that scripted speech of what a great investment opportunity would await me if I were to consider using the services of Shearson Lehman American Express. I was treated to a rundown of what their return on equity of the previous five years had been, followed by the obligatory disclaimer that past performance was of course not a guarantee of future performance. I patiently waited for the canned speech to end, as that I knew exactly what I was going to say once he reached the end of it. It seemed to go on and on like someone taking fifteen minutes to tell a bad joke, but he eventually came to the end, and asked me what I thought.

I responded with "This sounds really good. I'd like to invest one million dollars."

There was a pause.

Then he said something to indicate that he wasn't sure that he had heard me correctly.

I came back with "You heard me. I'd like to invest one million dollars, with one condition". I was for the first time in my life, applying Mr. Royko's idea. I wasn't sure what the reaction was going to be, but that didn't matter as that I was having some fun.

"What condition is that?"

It was at that point that I repeated what Mr. Royko had suggested.

"If my investment fails, then you agree to kill yourself."

A pause. A pause of about two seconds. A pause long enough to where the gentleman from Shearson Lehman American Express was processing what he had just heard. A pause that was long enough to give me time to wonder whether or not he was going to take me seriously. And a pause short enough to where I could keep myself from busting up laughing over what I had just said. A pause that was followed up by his response.

"Mr. Mosier! One does not bet one's life on an investment!"

I then thought, he fell for it! He fell for it! He took me seriously!

Then came my response.

"Well why not? Do you have any idea how hard I had to work for this million dollars?" I also stated something to the effect that if I was going to invest this million dollars with a firm that had a good track record like his, that I expected a return on my investment that he was willing to guarantee to the point of killing himself if my investment were to fail for some reason. While I was rambling on about this, he kept saying over and over "time out" and when I got done, I waited for his next statement.

"Mr. Mosier?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you very much for your time." He hung up. That was it. That was the end of the conversation about investing, and I never heard from Shearson Lehman American Express ever again.

I have no idea if the gentleman ever discussed this with his supervisor or his co-workers. There is no way of knowing if anyone he knew at that firm suggested to him that he was the victim of a joke, or the victim of someone messing with his mind. I think I'm reasonably sure though, that no one had ever suggested to him that he agree to kill himself if the investment failed, and I'm reasonably sure that he would remember the conversation if he were to be reminded of it.

In the years since, I have had several other telemarketers call me. I have used other means to deal with them......some that were not as laughable, and one instance that I'm not sure that I would ever want to recount to anyone. I'm not getting junk calls like I used to, with the exception of those years in which we are having an election, in which case I am inundated with "robocalls" that defy the kind of interaction that I had with the gentleman from Shearson Lehman American Express.

Unfortunately I don't have an amusing method to deal with the "robocalls".

* * * * * * *

I am pleased to report that eHarmony is no longer crashing the browser. Perhaps sending in those error reports to Microshaft, excuse me, Microsoft, helped with ending that.

However, I think I've exhausted all of the Arizona and southern California matches, as that my new matches seem to be coming from Colorado and El Paso, Texas. I guess I'll have to start dialog with those out of state women.

* * * * * * *

Work is going real well. I have decided against posting anything about corporate activity or politics. My situation is extremely good there, but the less I say about what's going on the better that everyone else will be. I will say that I am a candidate for promotion next year.

* * * * * * *

I'm having a lot of fun with this blog. I may not be posting for the next few days; I have transitioned to a "new normal", and I will likely be on the dance floor the next few nights.

Test Post

This is a test. I'm trying to figure out some things here. This post will be removed in a few days.

Precious metals prices

April Wine



A photo of my cats. Moe's the black one, Larry's the grey one.

Trying Again with the Online Dating Thing

I don't like to admit it. I mean, I really don't like to admit it. I don't like to admit that I have in the past, used online dating services and have started using them now. Like a lot of things that emerge, it has some plusses and it has some minusses but there are some days when it's hard to tell which one of those is ahead.

I first tried the online dating thing back in 2002 sometime. That was match.com. I think what inspired that was a friend and co-worker having some success in meeting dateable women, and I thought what the hey, I'll give this a try too. I signed up for match.com for three months, and at the end I couldn't wait for the subscription to expire. I was finding that participating in local singles events and going to the Sunday Singles dances (which we haven't had now for years) was plenty of fun and was enabling me to meet women.

Sometime around early 2004, I decided to give match.com another try. What happened then was that I wasn't impressed with the "selection" that the singles groups had. Oh, there was never any problem meeting women. The problem was meeting dateworthy women. Let's face it. There are a lot weirdos out there, and yes, we have them on my side too.

In the second half of 2004, match.com was actually starting to "work". I dated this one lady named Jennifer for about 2 1/2 months. I liked her, but not to the point of wanting to get serious with her. Then Kathleen came along after I told Jennifer we weren't going to make it, and my sense then was that "hey, this can actually work!". Two months later Kathleen ended it because of medical issues (hers), and it was back online again. Match.com didn't seem to "work" for the rest of the year though it did introduce me to Dyanna in 2006. I always liked Dyanna and thought she was quite the babe, but for some reason we couldn't seem to have an intimate conversation.

Now I'm back on the market, and I'm using eHarmony now. I have heard this come highly recommended by a friend and co-worker, and after going through their lengthy battery of questions I was initially impressed. Some of that shine may be wearing off, but then again maybe it's also the process of getting used to how it works. The jury is still out on this one, but here's what I've learned so far.

One, for some reason eHarmony likes to crash the browser. I know that I haven't got the latest and greatest Internet Explorer version installed, but I'm not going to use IE8 until we're using IE8 at work. Even if I were to be using IE8, some of your super slick websites may ferret out some glitches with the browser. Regardless, it's a bit frustrating trying to review your matches when the browser keeps crashing.

Two, eHarmony does real good at finding you matches some 500 miles away from you. OK, maybe their matching criteria is so strict that I've already managed to exhaust the Tucson-area matches in two days. I'm getting a lot of matches from southern California, and I'm "closing" them as that I'm not sure the distance thing will work in the first place. Yeah, I like to get in the truck and visit San Diego from time to time....there's some interesting rock formations near the Imperial County line and San Diego is a neat city. I considered relocating there about twenty years ago. But I think that's out as far as driving to meet someone goes. I don't even like to go to Phoenix to meet someone, but at least I can get to Phoenix and back in the same day.

Three: I'm now going to say something good about eHarmony: I get the sense that they really want to see their customers succeed in finding a match. I wrote in a question about whether or not it was possible to talk to a "live" person rather than email, and within 24 hours they got back to me on that one. Yes, it is possible, there's an 800 number available 24/7. And they're responsive in another way. A lady in Capistrano Beach that I turned down wrote in to them to ask them if I would reconsider....and a customer service rep advised me of that. If I want to re-open the match, let him know and they'll take care of that.

Four: Something else good to say about eHarmony: their screening process weeds out the scammers. I've been contacted by Nigerian scammers on Match and on another site. Although they are taken care of quickly by Match, the scammers won't have the patience to wade through the questionnaires that eHarmony throws at you. eHarmony also offers an identity verification service that's "free" with their higher-priced package (which I've signed up for). No scammer would go in that far.

Five: eHarmony also has some other bells and whistles that I haven't yet taken the time to explore, such a s a secure two-way anonymous phone call setup. You can talk to your match without having your phone number revealed to that match. Since I've got some cellphone minutes to burn I might do that if I am talking to someone outside of Tucson (big "if"). I haven't had any problems though with women misusing my phone number.

It is way too early to rule on whether or not signing up on eHarmony was the right thing to do. All I can tell you is that I don't have buyer's remorse on it yet. But I also don't know if I'm going to continue if no match is found when my term expires.

I just wish that there were more "eligible" (by their standards) women in Tucson to choose from.

* * * * * * *

Kerry Livgren, who got a mention in my last post is recovering from a stroke. From what I can tell his family is encouraged by his progress thus far. There is no way to contact him, (he's got a lot of irons in the fire anyway), but I hope that he'll be making some more music. I have some of his post-Kansas CDs and I recommend them. I should get some of his other CDs.

* * * * * * *

My cousin Kathy is visiting her brother Todd up in Phoenix. She and her husband came down to Tucson on Friday along with Todd's family, Amber and Annette. We hiked Sabino Canyon after sundown, and we were down in Tombstone for most of yesterday. Coming back, there was a really nasty storm that included hail. We had supper at the TTT truck stop off I-10 in Tucson before they headed back to Phoenix.

This was the first time that I really had time to "visit" with Dan. He's a good guy; the kind of guy you would want with you if you were to go out deer hunting. At one point in Tombstone yesterday him, Todd and I were solving the world's problems while the women were shopping.

After the previous weekend, their visit was therapeutic. I needed it.

Odds and Ends, 8/31/09

Before I forget, I would like to acknowledge and thank my former mother-in-law, my friends Mark, Gillian, Ken, Barb and Elizabeth for their moral support while I was dealing with my breakup. I have probably forgotten someone, and my apologies if I have. In times like these you become aware of who your friends really are. I also wish to thank my family.

* * * * * * *

The monsoon season in Arizona will be winding down soon. The season typically starts around June 30th, and lasts until early September. We get, if we're lucky, lots of thunderstorms. And I mean the word lucky, as that I enjoy thunderstorms, and we need the rain.

* * * * * * *

Corporate politics can be very interesting at times. I need to devote a whole entry to what's going on at work right now. Suffice it to say that I'm in a very good position with my employer. I can't identify them; I have to be careful what I make public here, and I'm not going to divulge any trade secrets or proprietary information. I can however, write anecdotes about what's happening, and what I'm learning.

* * * * * * *

From the Unforgettable Lyrics Department: a quote from the old Kansas song, "Two Cents Worth", penned by Kerry Livgren: "There's too much craziness here. In twenty-five years I have used all the tears in my eyes." I thought of that song yesterday, or maybe it was the day before, when I was in pain. I remember first hearing this song back in 1977, when a good friend of mine named Hal Liming was sharing it with me. I found those lyrics interesting then, and I still do now. They seem to have some intensity behind them. I probably ought to see if there's a way to email Mr. Livgren to see if he will tell me what he was thinking of when he wrote that song. That answer may also be in his autobiography, which I have, but haven't read in years. Maybe I'll look there first.

Unfortunately, Hal Liming is no longer with us. He introduced me to a lot of interesting music, some of which I still listen to today. We lost him in August of 1981 due to an accidental death.

* * * * * * *

In addition to enduring the end of a relationship, my refrigerator suffered from the effects of a lightning storm two weekends ago, but I didn't become aware of the problem until last Wednesday. A power surge took out the compressor and a few other parts. The new compressor gets put in tomorrow. Meantime, I am fighting some nasty food odor problems created when the food spoiled. I've got a pan of bleach in both the freezer and cold storage compartments. I also sprayed the insides with Formula 409. The stench was really bad.....you don't want to know how bad. I'll follow up with baking soda next. In a few days I hope to start re-stocking it.

* * * * * * *

And finally, I'm thinking of giving eHarmony a try. I've been in and out of match.com for the past several years. Although match.com will result in dates, the reality of that site is that 98% of the women you meet aren't matches, even if they tell you it's a 100% match. I saw one of the old girlfriends on there get rated at that score.

eHarmony will run you thru quite the battery of questions, and they charge more. I think though that they're much more diligent in their matching process, and I don't mind paying more if the quality of matches rises commensurately. With match.com as a starting point, that probably won't be too hard for them to do.

I'll probably go ahead and pay the fees, but it will be a few weeks before I'm ready to meet someone. There was still some residual sadness today but at least I didn't break down in uncontrollable sobbing.