Running
My 10yo daughter is in Cross Country this year, and this is her finishing her first-ever race with a 10:27.42 mile. This is about 2 minutes faster than an average 10yo beginner, and just a few seconds faster than an average 10yo novice. This papa is so proud of his little girl.
One by one, the penguins are stealing my sanity (yet again)
At this point, I can't even remember where the title of this post comes from. All I know is that ever since I read that somewhere else, every iteration of this blog has had a post with that title. I had to keep the tradition alive. ;)
I am a fan of paranormal shows. UFOs, ghost hunting, etc. I've had some experience which, when I was younger, attributed to the paranormal. I still cannot explain those experiences, but I no longer attribute them to something paranormal. It's easy to miss some detail that would explain things perfectly and have your imagination fill in the rest, especially if it were primed to do so.
But this post isn't about my experiences. This is about a rabbit hole that I just got sucked into by my 10yo daughter. We had taken my girls to King's Island a week or so ago, and my wife had pointed out a restaurant which she thought was the one featured on Ghost Hunters because my 10yo loves watching reruns of the show. This morning, my 10yo wanted to watch that episode, which is S8E01, "Roller Ghoster." My daughter mentioned that she didn't think it was the same restaurant that my wife had mentioned, but thought maybe it had changed names. She was correct on the first count. My wife had pointed out the wrong restaurant.
During my research I discovered a brief post by an area local who remembered a story about a teen who fell to death climbing the Eifel Tower on May 13, 1983. Naturally, since the claim is that it happened on Friday the 13th, the first stop was to verify that the date was, indeed, a Friday. I was somewhat surprised that it was. "Okay," I thought. So, someone made something up because it was a Friday the 13th. But the post did include a name, and searching for "John Harter 1983 obituary" confirms the rest of the story (aside from the underage drinking, but being 1983 and a graduation celbration, that detail isn't much of a stretch). Though it's hard to say if there's more to the article behind a paywall, or of the blurb is all it got, it did make the
This also reminds me of a project I've been meaning to do for the Ghosts of Ohio section of the site. I need to catalog, review, and further research the Ghost Hunters episodes which take place in my home state. If anyone wants to contribute stories related to any of the Ghost Hunters episode locations, or Ghosts of Ohio in general, email me at wintermute AT nitematecafe DOT com.
Tags: ghost-hunters, taps, ghosts-of-ohio, paranormal
Rewatch: Northern Exposure
I just finished a rewatch of Northern Exposure and I forgot how delightfully quirky it had gotten in spots. I also realize that when it was on first-run, I must have stopped watching somewhere during the 5th season.
Overall, it holds up fairly well but definitely has a certain 90's charm. If this were my first watch, at my current age (instead of a younger adult), I'm not sure if that charm would have drawn me in if I weren't already a fan of the characters.
If you were a fan before, it's worth watching again. If you weren't, it's still worth catching a few episodes to see if the charm and the quirkiness draws you in. You'll chuckle a lot, and probably laugh a lot. You'll probably come away caring about the characters, because the show also makes you feel for them.
Tags: tv, northern-exposure
RV Life
This is the second season that I've had an RV in a seasonal spot, and I am quickly coming to realize how much more I enjoy it than having the house. So I am seriously considering whether or not to move into it completely next year when the lease for my house it up. The six months I can stay in the RV costs just over two months of rent at the house (possibly the same, if my rent goes up again), plus the electric bill is cheaper, there is no water or sanitation bill, my internet is half the cost, etc, so I would easily save over $2000/month for the sixe months I were there. I'm WFH, so there's no concern about costs of communiting. I won't have any yard work. There are so many advantages, and I stay at the RV for up to 2 weeks at a time as it is, only returning to the house for laundry (the campground has onsite facilities, though) and lawn care.
I have several smaller concerns, the biggest one is finding a street address to provide to the FCC for my amateur radio license. They will only accept a street address, and if you don't respond to a mailing they can revoke your license. The next biggest is finding a place to move into at the end of the season. I could save the money I'm paying in rent and add solar to the RV, moving it from spot to spot every couple of weeks on federal land over the winter months. Hauling in water and finding a dump station that operates in the winter could be fun, though. The RV does have a thermal package, so heating wouldn't be a major concern. It doesn't get cold enough in Ohio for the propane case to change to liquid, so that shouldn't be a concern either, as long as I keep my tanks clear of snow and ice.
I think the ultimate goal would be to find some land to buy in an RV-friendly area, install a well and sceptic system on the land, and move the RV, once it is solar-equiped, there and live out of it full-time. I could always build shed and solar equip them as well for additional living space, such as a ham shack, laundry room, workshop, etc.
Anyhow, anyone out there still reading my blog? And do they have any suggestions? wintermute@ my domain will get them to me ;)
APRS
I've been playing around with my HT and my Rasberry Pi 5, and after picking up a digirig and appropriate cable, I configured Direwolf on the Pi to act as an I-gate Digipeater. I've configured some other software and am looking for a packet BBS to connect to, but so far I'm not having much luck.
I think it may be time to set up an actual base station, and maybe get a mobile station for my van. And maybe a radio for my RV. Plus build out the deck I had mentioned, since I've gotten a number of parts for it already.
Tags: amateur-radio, ham, aprs
KE8UXR
A couple of years ago, I got my General Class amateur radio license, callsign KE8UXR. Since then, I picked up a cheap Baofeng radio and listened in for a bit, but even after 2+ years, I still have not made me first contact. I'm just not that into voice communications.
This is about to change. I have ordered an inexpensive kit to get started in packet radio, and will be building a rugged "cyberdeck" with my Raspberry Pi 5 for use with amateur radio and astronomy. More information is forthcoming, but I thought I'd start documenting the journey.
As I mentioned, I previously purchased a Beofeng UV-5R HT, which I currently keep in my van in case of emergency. My plan is to use this radio with my Raspberry Pi 5, and a recently purchased Digirig Mobile, which is basically a USB sound card with PTT with cables available to interface it to various radios. I plan on getting a rugged case, similar to a Pelican case, to house the build and will be basically following the millions of online build tutorials for this. I also have a couple of SDRs, including a HackRF, and may implement one of more of these as well in order to play with amateur radio astronomy.
My goals for the project is to have this as self-contained with the ability to use various digital radio modes. It should be rugged and weatherized. It should be battery-powered with the ability to charge via solar. It should include offline resources in case the Internet is unavailable. And it should include astronomy resources as well, as a portable rugged computer will come in handy for that hobby as well.
Tags: amateur-radio, ham
https
While there are many advantages to using https for websites, one major drawback is that it breaks old browsers, making the web mostly useless for vintage computers. While github allows you to view my website via https, it allows me to not force users to use it, which means that users with old browsers can still load the site. And since the css separates the design of the site from the content, and I have kept the design pretty simple, it renders well even in text-only. Because retro-computing is one of my passions, I see this as a major win. :) (And if you ask me, the theme I "borrowed" from elsewhere looks absolutely amazing on a modern browser, and still has a nice retro feel to it, so... bonus.)
Tags: retro-computing
Old Posts
I am going to be going through old posts and importing any which I still find to be interesting, backdating them to when they were originally posted. I will also continue creating new posts as time allows.
Tags: announcements