Sunday, 4/22/18

It seems that as of late I haven't had the time or the motivation to be checking in here.  Sometimes it's both.  Like a lot of people out there I'm scratching my head over the Fresno State professor who is screaming for attention in a most horrible way, and I'm wondering if former FBI director James Comey played football without a helmet when he was in college.  I could comment on that, and even thought about it doing just that, but it's not that there's very much I can add to these two grotesque little plays going on on the world's stage.  It's no bother to me if both of these continue acting the way that they are, but if they get too much attention then the Hildebeest is going to inject herself back into the news.

That said, all is pretty much well with me.  I am continuing in the assignment for that company on the other side of town.  I'm having a blast developing test procedures to verify performance of specialized aerospace equipment when subjected to shock, vibration, magnetic fields and electromagnetic radiation.  A job that makes you think is a good job as far as I'm concerned.

The client has let go two contractors, which I think is their way of getting the skill mix that they want.  A lot of us are concerned about the impending departure of a well-liked and well-respected senior manager.  From what I'm able to tell the replacement will be a hand-picked successor and I don't see things changing very much.  Change is inevitable and can be scary, but it must also be realized that it can be good.

On the personal front, I am still busy with amateur radio, but have slowed things down quite a bit.  One reason was a desire to vary what I like doing in my spare time.  Another reason is that conditions haven't been the greatest, though with today's solar numbers it's possible I will disturb the ether later on this afternoon to see if I can get through to Japan.  Nebraska, Michigan and Ontario all had "QSO parties" this weekend so I made contacts with all three.  I'd love it if some more the Canadian provinces would have QSO parties, as that it's an opportunity to bag those that are more difficult to work.  

Anyway, that's pretty much it.  I'm hoping for a quiet pleasant Sunday afternoon, where I can catch up on some yardwork and some laundry.  And some reading as well.

Javelina, the IRS, and More

This past Sunday afternoon I was in my garage, programming a new ham radio that I purchased (I'll get to that shortly).  I was testing out repeater frequencies and subaudible tones when I heard some animal footsteps nearby.  I'm thinking OK, the neighbor's dog got loose again.  I've met the dog, she's a real sweetie but shy, and can wander whenever she feels the urge.

Well it wasn't.....(dang it, what is her name?  Lola?  Lulu?  I think Lola).  I looked up in time to see two javelina, one of them halfway inside the garage and the other just about ready to enter too.  We ended up spooking each other, though one of them stopped to turn his head to get one more look at me.

It was captured on video.  Sheila installed a security camera last November.  We've captured videos of these interesting denizens of the Sonoran Desert, and this one is the best.  Enjoy!

VIDEO

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The Internal Revenue Service is after me.  Well, someone out there wants me to think that.  I've once again gotten the robo-call from the robotic female, informing me that four serious charges are against me, and that "local cops" will take me into custody if I fail to return the phone call within 24 hours.

I've gotten two, maybe three of these calls before. 

So far failure to return their phone calls has not resulted in me being granted long-term accommodations at Leavenworth.

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As you've just read, I'm still busy in ham radio.  Last week I purchased a mobile 2 meter rig, though I'm using it as a base station.  Ham Radio Outlet had a special on this make and model, and 30% off of a newly introduced radio will capture my attention.  No, I'm not in the market for another rice box for HF (high frequency) work, but I have been wanting a 2 meter base station for some time as that my handheld on some nights won't hit the local repeaters well.

I'm pleased as punch with the purchase, even though 2 meter operation can make you feel like a CB operator at times.   Yes, some of us hams look down on CBers, and I've been one of those hams more times than I can remember.  That said, when the CB craze of the mid 70s got going, some of the more technically inclined CBers went on to get ham radio licenses and swelled our ranks.....which is a good thing. 

Anyway, there were some GREAT conditions on the 20 meter band a few weekends ago.  In one session, I worked 19 different countries, or more accurately, DX entities which are counted as "countries" for awards purposes.  Hawaii counts as a "country" due to its distance from the mainland, as does Alaska.  I  worked Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands, but I also got Asiatic Russia, Japan, Ecuador, French Guiana, Suriname, and some others.  This past weekend I was again able to work Russia, Japan, and Ecuador. 

One local ham told me there was a sporadic E opening on 10 meters to South America, which I think helped out on 20.  The openings to the Far East though was good old fashioned daylight propagation.  I think maybe the equinoctial period we're in right now had something to do with it too.

That said, that's a wrap, and time now for a cold one.

SITREP for Sunday, 2/18/18

Lately I have been overwhelmed.  Overwhelmed in a good way.  Overwhelmed with the amount of blessings that I am currently on the receiving end of.  There seems to be a break from the "buzzard luck" that I've had off and on over the past six months.  Well, that was more blessing than buzzard luck, as that the surgery worked well, I'm working locally, and I get to sleep in my own bed with my own lady.

The job itself is intense.  I am constantly busy from the moment I arrive to the moment it's time to close up shop and go home.  I get going, and I look at my watch, and I think, has two hours gone by already?  There is some pressure at the client company.  In the past they've suffered from turnover as engineers have left to find something less frantic so that they can have their nights and their weekends off.  I have noticed that everyone is going home at 5:00ish.  They also have a new policy.  If the managers ask for their people to come in over the weekend, then they have to come in too. 

In my case they have to pay me overtime if I come in, as that I'm on a contract with the client company.  I could use some extra shillings to catch up on some bills, but I'm not going to volunteer for it.  My projects are being done on time and yes, I have to be innovative to keep them on time.  I'm allowed pretty much to do things the way that I feel they should be done, but I also have to adapt to changing priorities as the design of the equipment gets under way and matures.  Working on hardware intended for commercial aviation is new to me and interesting.  Yes, it would be great to go back to satellite engineering, I'll admit that, but I would have to relocate to do that and if I have my way I'm staying in Tucson.

Aside from work, I have been active in ham radio and having a lot of fun in spite of the low sunspot numbers affecting propagation on the higher frequency bands.  Most of the other hams I talk to are stateside or in Canada, but I get the occasional "DX", which means Caribbean, Oceania, Asia, Europe, or South America.  I was able to talk to France a few weeks back.  Yesterday I QSO'd Curacao.  QSL cards from foreign countries have also arrived.  I got a really neat card from Costa Rica last week.  I'm saving the envelopes for these.  I'm not a stamp collector, but these foreign stamps can be and are, artwork.

I think at this point I'm going to sign now.  I have a long intense week ahead of me that starts tomorrow.  But the best part of that is being home with Sheila seven nights a week.

Back in the Workforce!

After being out of the workforce for 27 days, not that anyone is counting here, I am now officially back in the workforce.  The job that got away from me came back, due to a red tape issue with the client company.  The arrangement is that I'm owned by one company and assigned to another.  I know the client company very well.  Without going into details, I will be in a systems and test engineering role, and gaining experience within the commercial aerospace industry.  After this assignment is done, it will either be extended or I'll get some other work if that becomes available, and from what I know of the industry, odds are that it will.

This will not have me on the road as much as my last gig did.  I may have to go up to Phoenix a few times, which is OK.  I don't mind company travel every now and then.  I have been in situations where I have been away from home more than I have been at home, and that can take its toll.

The new company is treating me very well!   If I heard them correctly, I will be working on some tasks from their business office.  I was delighted to hear that.  I mean, I can do the commute every day if I have to (the medical device firm that I worked for is up the road from the client) and if I can set my hours for a 7:00 AM start then the commute isn't that bad.  Coming home might be a bear at times, especially if there are wrecks, and I have taken alternate routes more times than I can remember.

It's nice being back in the saddle again.  It took some patience on my part to deal with the delay (I had honestly thought that it was going to fall through). 

What's also nice is that I am gaining experience on a product line that I haven't worked on before, and that in itself will help my marketability.  If I have my way, retirement is still some years off, and as long as engineering is fun I'll stay in the workforce. 

The Situation Report as it is on Saturday, 1/20/18

It is coming up on three weeks on being out of work.  During that time an interview has taken place, and a job offer that soon followed, but I am not back to work.  I was to have started last Monday, being contracted out to one of the local aerospace firms, but that is now on hold.  So I'm out pounding the pavement so to speak, and trying to deal with that situation as best as I can.

I could write a few pages on it.  I mean, it was a letdown.  It was a great offer with better benefits.  And the start date has been "postponed".  I haven't heard anything since I got that news, and to be on the safe side the search is continuing.

* * * * * * *

As for the old job, I was told by the customer that when the new company takes over that contract, that they hope I'll be back.  I am open to returning to that position, but I can't wait the six months or however long it's going to take until the work is transitioned over to the incoming company.  I have already applied there but there are legal issues that have to be worked out between the winning contractor, and the losing contractor (not my former employer).  My best information is that this won't be settled until mid-February at the earliest, and even then that doesn't mean that the task will be funded right away.

That said, I went ahead and applied to that new company.  Their reputation is good.

* * * * * * *

What this is teaching me is that I am not ready for retirement.  Yes, a sabbatical every now and then is nice, and there are things I need to do around the house.  I'm already doing some of them and catching up on some things.  I enjoy my ham radio activities.  I enjoy writing and I'm re-reading some science fiction novels from Isaac Asimov.  I did one book review several years ago and I should do another while I'm on hiatus from work.

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As you might well now if you've been a regular reader of this blog, radio has been a passion of mine for several years.  As in over forty years.  As since high school.  And I've been enjoying ham radio again, even though conditions aren't the greatest.

Conditions haven't exactly been the greatest.  The bands don't seem to be as crowded. 

That said, I've been having a great deal of fun. 

* * * * * * *

I am overdue for a Pat DiNizio tribute post.  It's something I want to do.

In the meantime, here is one of the best songs ever recorded:

Drown in My Own Tears

It's Been One of Those Weeks

On the eve of turning 59 years of age, I am in the process of concluding a week that fortunately, is not one of those types of weeks that you get every week.  A few days ago I learned of the passing of Smithereens frontman and lead singer Pat DiNizio.  I knew that he had been in ill health these past few months, but he was posting just three days before passing that he was on the mend and was expected to start touring next month.

I had the pleasure of meeting him while I was exiled in Las Vegas, and was impressed by just how a nice guy he was.  I had never met him before and yet I got to meet him backstage not once during the soundcheck, but again before they were to take the stage.  I chatted with him for several minutes afterwards.  If I had signed up for Facebook I could have interacted with him some more since he was a social media hound, but I don't do Facebook and do not plan to in the near future if at all.

I should create a separate post highlighting some Smithereens songs.  He was a gifted songwriter, touching upon a wide range of thoughts that can reside within a human soul.  I had wondered if some of them were as a result of a personal tragedy that he had experienced, but in an interview I learned that the song I had in mind (Blood and Roses) was inspired by a short story that he had read.

Needless to say, I was in something of a funk this week.  But there was more.

Yesterday I learned that my current employment is coming to an end early next month.  To be honest, I had seen the writing on the wall, and have been in discussion with recruiters these past few weeks.  We've been beset by retirements, resignations and layoffs since our firm lost the contract to another company.  The contract transition is being held up by protests from another losing firm, and the government cannot fund the task orders until this is resolved, and that won't be until mid-February.

Even then, the infrastructure we were using for testing is not properly working, and the government can't replace it until Congress passes a budget, which is something they haven't done for several years.  I made the decision some six weeks ago that I needed to start looking.  There was one possibility with a local firm that produces medical equipment but they cancelled the requisition.  A return to a former employer in Oro Valley is a possibility but there won't be a decision on that one until the holidays are over.

I have had some people I know suggest a return to the firm where I was laid off from in 2014 as that they are now hiring like crazy.  I was hesitant to pursue that option, but I have now, through my own sources and methods, started the process of taking a pulse there. 

There's also another former employer that's been after me for the past six weeks.  That would involve a relocation to Texas, in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, and a good friend of mine who is going over told me of the offer package that he got, and that is now under consideration. 

I am not feeling the attachment to Tucson that I used to feel five years ago.  The city council is running The Old Pueblo into the ground.  Our roads are the worst of any major city, the police department response time is such that you get put on hold if you have to call 911, and in spite of sales tax increases that have passed it isn't getting any better.  Sheila and I do not feel like we are going to retire here and although we don't want to leave Arizona, what if the pastures in Texas are better?

A recruiter from that firm contacted me again this week, and yesterday I submitted a resume.  Housing prices are slightly higher than they are here, but if I score the same percentage of salary increase that Mike K did, then I can get that, plus enough land to erect an antenna farm.  That would allow me better access to the lower frequency bands for my ham radio activities. 

So the question that will have to answered is, will the quality of life there be substantially easier?  Will the job be something that I can't wait to tear into to?  I would get such a job if I were to go back to that medical device firm.....I really enjoyed working there, and gave me even more satisfaction than satellite engineering did.  I'll have to see what kind of opportunities are over there in the Metroplex.  Sheila and I will have to consider if Texas is where we will be when we retire.  Arizona, in some places, offers great locations, but Flagstaff and Prescott have gotten expensive, and Kingman won't work and neither will Sorry Vista.  Silver City in New Mexico is a place we would like, if we got far enough out into the country but not too far away from supermarkets and medical care.

Another question is, do I do a contract job for six months out of state, and then come home?  Things in the industry are picking up (they started really picking up the day after Hillary lost). 

I am not worried about a long period of inactivity, but I am also aware that I may have to make some tough choices.  It won't be the first time; I had them to make in early 1999, and that's how I got here.

We are not in a society where most of us end up growing up in the town we were born in. 

You follow the money.

Judge Roy Moore

A few weeks ago the national news was overrun with the allegations that Senate candidate Judge Roy Moore had some 40 years ago engaged in improprieties with those females who shall we say, were under the age of consent.  Immediately he was guilty in the court of Organized Media.  Establishment Republican Mitch McConnell emphatically stated that Moore would not be admitted to the Senate if he won.  Jeff Snake said he would vote for a Democrat, and there was this cacophony of outrage over the whole thing.....some of it of which I'm not convinced is sincere.  One of the accusers produced a yearbook alleged to have been signed by Moore, but curiously is refusing to allow forensic testing on it to see if the signing was "recent".

Then a few days later, we had photographic evidence of Senator Al Franken of Minnesota groping a sleeping journalist and smililing like the Cheshire Cat about it.  I don't know why or how that one broke, but more accusations against more people have followed, and Organized Media is trying to convince the masses that maybe they should have believed Bill Clinton's accusers.

Meanwhile, it appears that Judge Moore is going to win the election, and Mitch McConnell now seems to be walking back his earlier statement that he would see to it that Judge Moore is not seated.  Oh, there was also speculation that the Alabama Republican Party would through some obscure rule nullify the outcome and have the election done over again.

I could point out that Roy Moore's accusers waited a long time before coming forward.  Now I can understand a victim remaining silent about something like that (I once dated such a victim), but hasn't the atmosphere gotten more comfortable about coming forward?  I'm not talking about the attacks on Bill Clinton's accusers, which certainly would have stymied victims from speaking out, but that was over 20 years ago, and things have changed.  A victim can now come forward and her accusation will be treated under Napoleonic rules.......the accused is guilty until proven innocent, though I'm going to add that some people would never accept proof of innocence.

Now this isn't to say that all of Judge Moore's accusers are lying.  I don't personally think the lady with the signed yearbook is telling the truth, else we would have had the forensics done by now, and if true then Moore would have been forced out of the race by now.  The others I can't speak for.  In the case of Al Franken, well he's apologized (he had to because of that photo).

But let's get back to the Judge.

The voters of Alabama will decide whether or not he is going to the Senate.  It isn't for me to tell them which way to go on this.  I am not a citizen of Alabama.  I do have a desired outcome for this, and I'll get to that.

My desired outcome is this:  Judge Moore wins, and Mitch McConnell denies him a Senate seat.  It isn't that I want guys like Moore away from the Senate.....very much to the contrary.  We need 65 of him in the Senate.

It's that I want the Republican Establishment to be exposed as for who they really are:  a bunch of elitists who are not going to keep the promises they made to their voters; promises that they never had any intention of keeping in the first place.  They don't want to repeal Obamacare.  They don't want to build the Wall.  They don't tax cuts for the middle class.  What they want is power.

Another reason is that if Mitch McConnell really does keep Roy Moore out of the Senate, then his next primary challenger just might win.

Yes, that will kick that can over to another Establishment Republican.  And when that happens, we take that guy out too.  And the one after him.  And the next one.  We keep doing this until we get statesmen, and not a bunch of useless fatass politicians.