2025-06-05 00:57:00
Lately I’ve been trying to get a 5 km run/walk in once a week, in a (perhaps unrealistic) attempt to improve my endurance. So it was fortunate that this week’s effort coincides with the latest Apple Fitness “Limited Edition Challenge.” Hoot!
I’ve recently noticed that my running posture (and thus my breathing and recovery between running segments) is much improved when I “think” my chin up and forward. No surprise there, I suppose.
But I also noticed today that my knees and hips were much happier if I also think my toes forward and focus on landing my weight straight down into the running surface, rather then slightly forward. (I run on the balls of my feet, btw.) I assume seasoned runners know all this already, but I am still in my “discovery” phase.
Cheers, all!
2025-05-31 23:00:00
This weekly update is very late, so in addition to sharing the goings on from last week, I’m also going to share a few things that lately have me excited for the future.
✈️ Last weekend, we traveled to San Antonio to attend a two-day conference on the subject of living abroad. We learned about visas, residency, health insurance, and even paths to citizenship in other countries. We heard from numerous people who have done what all of us attendees hope to do—or are at least contemplating. It wasn’t quite overwhelming, but it was a lot to think about and Marlene and I are discussing our options. Of course, a lot depends upon her job situation and how long she chooses to keep working.
⏱️ Speaking of retirement, I’m at roughly the one-year mark before I punch that timeclock for the last time. Since making the decision and setting a target date, it’s like a weight has been lifted. My entire outlook on work has changed. I go to the office (yes, the actual office) with a smile on my face.
🇲🇽 As part of our research and planning for the possibility of living abroad, I’ll soon be traveling to Mexico to do some fact-finding. It all came together unexpectedly, which adds to the excitement!
🇪🇸 After a lot of hemming and hawing, and after studying several different languages over the years (and mastering none) I’ve recommitted myself to learning Spanish. I think it’ll be the most versatile for me, and will helpful to know if I pivot to another Romance language.
🇵🇹 We are also tentatively planning a visit to Lisbon later this year. Portugal has been on our list for a while, so that’s also very exciting!
🎙️ Since attending Hamvention a couple weeks ago (and as always happens when I go there) my enthusism for the hobby has been reinvigorated. I’ve accumulated a few projects to restore some old equipment and I’ve reorganized my shack too.
📻 I recently had the unenviable task of dispatching all my dad’s gear. He had a nearly complete Drake 7 line, as well as some vintage Heathkit pieces. The silver lining is that a longtime friend (and one of my dad’s ham radio mentees) accepted the challenge of restoring all of it and giving it a good home. He plans to reproduce my dad’s shack as faithfully as he can—he even took the desk and shelves and everything! He’s already started and has sent me some pics, which I hope to share online soon.
🏕️ As I look to the future, and how living with less will impact how I engage with ham radio, I’m thinking a lot about portable operation. There are some really great opportunities to operate in parks and while hiking and I think these will be a way to keep things fresh by taking the hobby in a new direction.
🎵 My Morse Code skills have gotten a little rusty over the years, so I’ve been practicing using Morse Walker and the ARRL Code Practice. Gonna need that for portable operation!
📨 I’m still working on scanning my dad’s vast QSL card collection. There’s still a lot of work to do, not the least of which is figuring out how to display it online. (I’m thinking about learning 11ty or Hugo for this project.)
Marlene always asks me if I’m afraid I’ll be bored in retirement. My answer is always the same. “Of course not!” I tell her, because I have a stack of hobbies—ham radio, photography, blogging, biking, hiking—and projects to last me for years!
I hope your plans are coming together too. Cheers!
2025-05-26 09:35:00
Earlier in the week we passed the 275,000 hours mark together. Today we celebrated in San Antonio Texas with some margaritas.
2025-05-21 05:33:00
This was actually a pretty busy week, now that I stop to think about it. There were three big events that captured much of my attention: The Eurovision Song Contest, Dayton Hamvention, and a two-day Data Expo hosted by my employer.
❤️ The Eurovision Song Contest Semifinals and Grand Final took place this week, and as usual I rated the entries from all three events. I was not too impressed with this year’s field; none of the songs earned a “loved” rating from me.
🎶 I made my first Crucial Tracks entry.
🧮 I spent a day and a half at an offsite mini conference hosted by my employer. This year’s event was the biggest yet, and there were a lot of interesting presentation from both colleagues and vendors. One of our vendors invited me to dinner on Monday night at a very nice restaurant here in town and it was very nice. Time well spent.
📫 New posts this week: I took a walk in the rain on Monday, and finally posted my response to the Blog Question Challenge: TV Show Edition.
🎙️ On Friday, I attended the Dayton Hamvention[^hv] in Xenia[^dayton]. I spent the day walking around the flea market, where I picked up a nice (but not too nice) clean Astatic D-104 microphone with a basic “G” base. I plan to update it with a new electret element and get it on the air. Fingers crossed.
📚 I picked a couple of books from the ARRL booth, including Salty Walt’s Portable Antenna Sketchbook. It looks like it’ll be an interesting read and there might even be something useful in there, but he should have called it Salty Walt’s Book of Verticals, because there’s nothing substantive in there that isn’t a vertical. And no, I didn’t stand in line to get my copy autographed. Psh.
🏔️ As I look toward retirement, I’m starting to think about getting into portable operation. I attended a Summits on the Air forum, which was very instructive. I also spoke with the folks at Elecraft, who I can now blame for landing the KX2 transceiver right at the top of my wish list.
🗺️ Special thanks to Paula K9IR for pointing me to CalTopo, and for several other helpful tips. Thanks also to the anonymous ham who recommended the SOTA Goat iOS app.
🏆 I did NOT win a door prize this year. Boo.
📻 Since inheriting my father’s Icom IC-7300, it’s been sitting on a shelf. I decided this week to swap out my Yaesu FT-DX1200 and post it for sale. It’s a little bit sad because I really love the 1200 but the 7300 is smaller, newer, and a bit more modern.
With the installation of the 7300, there’s a lot less stuff at my radio desk. But now there’s also a lot more crap on the floor and in places it doesn't belong. My office really needs a good cleaning and reorganizing. My big plan was to do that Sunday, but that didn’t happen.
🐙 Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky (12%)
🧠 “Brain Drain” by Scott Galloway
👔 Suits LA Finished season 1. I can understand why the canceled this show, but I’m a little sad too. It wasn’t good, but I like watching it. Just like the original Suits.
That’s all for now. Next week includes the start to a long holiday weekend, so it’ll be a short work week. (Very excited about that.) Until next time, stay funky.[^funky]
[^dayton]: It’s been in Xenia since 2017. Before that, it was in Trotwood. Close enough.
[^hv]: Did you know that Hamvention is a registered service mark?
[^funky]: The good kind.
2025-05-20 06:05:00
Sure, there are a lot of variables so the truth may vary considerably from what’s shown. But it’s a good reminder that strong passwords and a secure password vault are necessities these days.
Source: Hive Systems
