A PARTY OF 2

(2 Brian's)

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Yes indeed, the Birthday was on Friday, and usually I take that day off from work, not because I think it's special, but to avoid a bunch of "Happy B'day" pats on the back! To top if off we had visitors and I was supposed to be there early should they have any notebook pc connection issues (they always do), and I was running late...

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On the fly when I walked in the front door I was already snagged to re-configure the small conference room for the portable projector, a notebook and network access, so I dumped my stuff in my office (after removing balloons from my door knob) and spent the next hour or so doing just that. Of course, it was never used.

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So back to the office and more b'day bags on my desk. This is all cool though because I have only a small circle of trusted friends at work and no one outside that circle really knew what day it was, so when it comes from really good friends, it makes for a great day. Now, the outer circle of people when they find out another b'day passed, come up with the theory (after all, they are Scientists) that I don't like celebrating b'days because of the age factor, but that doesn't really bother me, after all I've often said I was born old (well on one side of my brain) while the other side of the brain is still in it's mid-20's.

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What bothers me are the artificial folks I don't like, and they know I don't like 'em, and they know I know they don't like me, yet they'll show up for free cake and ice cream anyways with fake smiles on their faces. That's what bugs me, and that's why I trust my inner circle, and only them. Of course it's not a one way street, as they'll trust me with their thoughts and feelings, knowing I won't run down the hallway like Homer Simpson, blabbering off at the mouth. Always thank the big guy for those friends in your inner circle - it's a life long relationship. Enough on that...

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I don't know about you, but I've been a Pink Floyd fan since the early 70's (before they had music with words in them), and every now and then you hear about a possible reunion, but in the back of your mind your remembering how un-well Waters and Gilmour got along at the end (actually quite bitter) and so you forget about it.

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Well, David Gilmour just came out with his 3rd solo album (hard to believe just 3 solo discs after all of those years) called "On An Island" and I had the usual discussion (right brain vs. left brain) on whether or not to buy it, after all, it HAS been many years, and questions do arise, like: Can he still carry a tune? or the typical fear that, because he was in Pink Floyd, he has to prove that he can do music that doesn't sound like Pink Floyd, which usually pisses off the person buying the CD.

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Cut to the chase - I bought it. Now, to answer those two questions:

1. His voice is GREAT, like he just came out of the "Wish you were here" sessions.
2. Rather than go the other way, David embraces his Pink roots and while it's not they typical Pink Floyd album, it's enough to where someone walking by your office might pop their head in and ask: "Is that Pink Floyd you're listening to??"

It took about 2 complete listenings to get hooked, and now if it's not playing on my PC, it's playing in my head. Suffice to say, if you're a fan, give it a shot (it's only $9.97 on Amazon, which is cheap for a new album/CD). I give it 4 out of 5 Stars!

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The Cobra 2000 GTL, probably the last great Base Station we'll see now that most rigs are coming out of the China crapper. If you see some EBay auctions for the Uniden Madison, they'll say "Just like the Cobra 2000", and from what I've seen, gather a rather hefty price for them but I'd like to point out a couple things:

1. While the circuit board may be the same, where is the frequency counter??? Why pay about the same amount a Cobra brings for a Madison and end up with just a "Clock"?
2. The Madison is just plain ugly compared to the 2000 (IMHO), and I'm not a big fan of round meters either.

I'll leave it up to you, the buyer/bidder, but I truly believe the fact you get a built in Frequency Counter (not just a dumbo frequency display as some other bases, I won't mention have) tips the scale in the Cobra's favor.

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BOOK REVIEW:

"TODAY I AM A HAM"

By

Ethelyn M. Parkinson

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I read this book when I was a teenager, and it's geared for a teen, maybe even a pre-teen - but it happened to be on the bookshelf at my grandmothers house in Maine when I was up there for a visit. It was night time, I was bored and by golly if this book didn't catch my interest (after all, I was into radio communications at that time). Needless to say, I didn't put it down until it was finished (only 211pg's) and from time-to-time I'd pick it up and read it for years after that...until it got lost. By "lost", I mean probably thrown out by the "Ex" from my first marriage during the separation/divorce period.

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Suddenly, out of the blue, I remember the book! And I'm thinking to myself "Fat chance of finding it again, I can't even remember the title". But I did remember much of the book:

A young lad, whose father happens to be the towns coach, fails once again to make the team. He is interested in radios and whenever he gets a chance he stops after school to hang around his friends "shack" and they both practice sending and receiving code. The story follows Eric's journey into becoming a HAM radio operator, with the help of a local Elmer, and the things he has to do to scrounge up parts to build his transmitter.

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Naturally, he has other problems, like 3 sisters, and his feelings about letting his dad down by not making the football team, but the book keeps it on mark with his scrounging, and scraping to come up with the stuff he needs to get his HAM license. He does get his Novice license, but only has 1 year to use it and upgrade (Ed.-remember those days??). So what could I do? How could I find it?? Easy enough: I logged into the "Worldwide Radio Forum", selected the AMATEUR RADIO category and figured it was worth a shot to see if anyone had read this book, remembered the book, etc. I know, it was a shot in the dark, but when I checked back a short time later, there were already replies that said "It sure sounds like Today I am a HAM" along with their own comments on how much THEY liked the book!

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From there, I went to Amazon.com because they have hundreds of used book stores linked into an inventory database, and did a search for the book. 4 days later it arrived in the mail and once again, I didn't put it down until I finished it. The paperback was in fair-to-average condition, but I went back to Amazon, repeated the search and ordered a used hardback copy. This is one book I won't lose again, and if you're trying to get a young person interested it might be just the ticket. Five out of Five stars.

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'Nuff Said,

Woody

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