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WX4QZ > ALL 26.04.22 02:57l 208 Lines 8308 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 37447_NS2B
Read: GUEST
Subj: PCL NET SCRIBE APR 25 2022
Path: IW8PGT<I3XTY<I0OJJ<EA2RCF<LU9DCE<VA3TOK<VE3KPG<N9PMO<NS2B
Sent: 220426/0037Z 37447@NS2B.#WNY.NY.USA.NOAM BPQ6.0.22
PCL Net Scribe April 25, 2022
WX4QZ, Daryl, Arkansas (Net Control And Scribe)
NS2B, Bob, Sysop
KF5TVG, Bob, Oklahoma (Early Checkin)
VA7RBP, Rick, Canada
**
WX4QZ (Replies toward the bottom):
GE to all on the net...good evening, like good morning
or good afternoon, is an opinion...not a greeting (hi hi).
Sorry I've been away so long...either power issues due to
infrastructure work, or thunderstorms on Mondays have kept
me away. More storms are forecast this weekend into next
week, so I may be gone again next week...if lightning
doesn't take the stuff out first...that's the way my luck
has run lately...more like since October, 2019.
Speaking of being gone, I'm being stripped of the home
health care, because I'm not "homebound" (stuck at home),
even though I have congestive heart failure, and use a
walker to get around, and still have transportation. I
wish they'd told me this when they discharged me from the
hospital last month.
The only way I can get that status is to sell the car, but
while I could get groceries and medications delivered, I
couldn't get to the Post Office Box, or to things like doctors
appointments, church, ham radio exams, square dances, etc. --
basically, I'd be stuck at home 24/7/365. After what Uber did
to me last month, I'm leery of using Lyft. And, with the price
of gas, I don't want to impose on folks for transportation.
All my friends work and have family during the day, so I'm
out of luck.
I'm supposed to have cardiac ablation surgery consultation
in a month, but if I sell the car, the consultation and the
surgery goes by the boards.
Wednesday marks 15 years since I lost my XYL (it feels like
yesterday); like I needed something else to cry and be upset
over. And, with the power issues, I lost all the food in my
icebox last week. Then, I got chewed out for eating food with
too much sodium, but I can't afford the low sodium foods...so
I didn't even eat 1000 calories the next day. If I didn't have
to take food with my medications, I'd eat very little for 1 day,
then fast for 2, before eating very little again. That'd be one
way to lose some of this weight. It is too hard to stand in one
spot for more than 15 seconds, without my legs spasming, and a
risk of falling to the floor...even on the scales at the clinics,
I have a problem.
All I want to do lately is cry. I'm tempted to just sell the car,
kill the internet and cellphone, cut myself off from the outside
world, send back my VE credentials, and just disappear for awhile.
Ever since my Mom died, very few things have gone right for me...I
feel as if I'm cursed. Even the hobbies aren't a diversion for me
anymore. I guess the computers will be the next thing to crash,
with a glitch engineered by Microsoft. But, this old dog does not
want to learn new tricks, especially with a new operating system
(i.e. Linux).
We've had a very stormy spring, with a lot of severe weather
and flooding...and as noted, more is coming in later in the
week. We likely won't be able to buy a drop of rain come summer.
So, until the weather calms down, you may not see me again for
a bit. I can't even get the lawn mowed, due to all the rain,
and the wet grass...I hope the city doesn't fine or arrest
me, but all the lawn folks are backed up right now. If I had
the resources, I'd have all the trees, bushes, and ivy removed
and killed off...if not the lawn as well.
The FCC wasn't processing license deals from the VEC for a few
days last week...but I guess the potential "loss" of the $35
fee per each new or renewed license, or vanity callsign request,
had them work overtime to get the glitch fixed. I can get the
hamdata US callsign info off my smartphone, but not from any
of the web browsers.
And, I am locked out of the ARRL website, since they made that
change...I can't logon, let alone look at QST. It won't work
with Firefox or Opera, and I had too much trouble with Edge
and Chrome. I wasted nearly an hour on the phone, trying to
get logged in. So my ARRL Life Membership is now just a sheet
of paper...maybe my license should be just the same way...as
I have to run D-Star on a Windows 10 system, due to issues
with Windows 11. I don't want to know what else will go wrong
in my life.
I thought there'd be a shooting, riot, etc. next door late
last week...from 10pm Saturday night to 3am Sunday morning,
there was yelling, shouting, screaming, etc. -- I thought
for sure that gunfire would be next. But, if I had called
the police, they would likely have vandalized my house and
killed me...so I kept quiet. I was lucky to get 3 hours of
sleep that night. No place is safe anymore, it seems.
**
NS2B:
Sorry...catching up on that diatribe.
All I can say Daryl - hang in there - it's bound to get better.
Saturday was 3 years since my XYL passed - I just watched TV.
Even though the weekend weather was pretty nice. I did manage
to get out yesterday and went down to Letchworth Park. It's
billed as the Grand Canyon of the East. It was a nice day just
to walk around and be outside.
On the radio front, I got JS8Call installed - haven't seen
a lot of activity there yet - I'm mostly just watching it
trying to figure out how people use it. I probably should
watch a YouTube video on it.
Started working on my garden patch today - still 3 weeks away
from planting here as frost is still likely. In fact, we were
at 81 today, but the weatherman says snow in the higher
elevations on Wednesday. Gotta love western New York!
I hope the weather holds out for you - it's nice having you
around!
Re: Win 10 - I find it's almost more cost effective to go to
Tiger Direct, and buy a refurb computer that comes with the OS
on it - I think the last one I bought like that was $179.
***
VA7RBP:
Good evening Daryl and all on the Net.
We had a hectic week. Arlene and I drover to Penticton to
pick up a sewing machine she's been watching for, and
had a nice dinner with her cousin there, and back home
the next day.
I've been fighting with PC's again. this time, I can't even
load Windows 7 onto the thing. Microsoft cracked down on
reusing your old product keys, and just gives me an error
message now. I was thinking about picking up a new Windows
10 package, but not at $120 a shot. So, I loaded in Debian
11, and now I'm fighting with that.
Not a lot happening on the radio front. I've been having
trouble getting and keeping links up on 20 meters and 40
meters.
Been doing some JS8Call on 17 meters...trying anyway.
Still have a bunch of bench projects laid out, crying
for attention. Started taking a break from it by doing
some book reading.
Our temperatures have gotten up to 70F a couple days this
week and I managed to work on the garden planters a bit
putting in a couple of bags of black dirt and some manure,
but planting is still weeks away. Temperatures in the
mornings are still in the low 30s, so only doing that stuff
in the afternoon.
Regarding the refurbished computers, someone on our
noontime net suggested the same.
Next week, Arlene and I will be heading for Vancouver
Island for the week, so it looks like it'll be the 2nd
week in May back on the air for me.
***
Replies from WX4QZ:
Bob, my cousin in Erie said they've been getting snow lately.
They likely won't plant their garden until after Mother's Day.
I haven't fired up either the stove or the TV sets in 4 years...
no desire to cook via the stove, let alone watch TV. Hard to
believe that it's just 2 months until Field Day.
That refurbished computer may not be a bad idea. Windows 10
support is supposedly good until October, 2025. But, I like
the old legacy software.
Rick, I heard 20 meters was wide open yesterday, but it has
likely closed back up today.
As for the PC's, all the doors on the BBS had quit working.
Someone suggested changing the door dropfile from DOOR.SYS to
DORINFO1.DEF -- and that solved it. I think it was the length
of the DOOR.SYS dropfile that caused doors to barf. I had to
reinstall and test out over 400 doors...not difficult, but
tedious to be sure. I was at the computer way too long over
the weekend.
Hope the sewing machine works...I've got to poke more
holes in my belt, with all the weight I've lost. And,
I agree...$120 a shot is too much...so much for "no
OS past Windows 10".
***
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