THE LITTLE PEOPLE LOG

Where life is beautiful all the time.

Since 6/20/06

For those of you who want to read my commentary on, well, just about anything, click here: Little People Blog

Thank you Paul W7MAG and Art W6OBB, and all you mahvalous Hamcams hams, for getting so many people to come into the tent.

KN6Z would like to welcome Little People Network announcer, Art Bell.

Click here for Art Bell’s Little People Network promo: Promo

All the different Little People Network stations that checked in on 3765 kHz the week of 12/09 – 12/15, our RECORD for one week.:

KN6Z, KD7BCW, NZ7J, N7EN, W5HO, KE3KR, NR7Q, AG7G, K6MJD, W6FE, KB5B, W7LW, K6HTM, AF7J, W7LNG, KI6U, AE6FG, WQ6I, AD5SU, KT0DD, N6NP, K6AII, KE7BBX, WJ6Q, K7PSK, VA7MJS, KG6TT, AD9DX, AA8KB, AD7HP, KF7J, KC7ZNA, WA7PZR, K6LDO, VE5ANB, K6ZSR, N7TH, W7RU, K6FEJ, WB7EUH, AF6D, KG6TT, K7PRS, WG6K, WB6GGY, KO6QK, WY8I, W7KOL, K6PIC, KF6VOM, XE1HDD/W6, AD7HP, KF7J, KB1UM, WY8I, WA7CO, KE7GET, NO5I, KC0HLX, W1VO, VE7AYQ, AF6D, WC1E, WA6DAC, W7ZCX, K6USY, KD8CFU, N7FDI (Echolink/Cross band). Sixty-three different stations, not counting the blues or non-extras, smashing the old record of forty-four.

Barney Hall of Fame: Ben KD7BCW, Eric W7ZCX, John W6FE, Cary KD7KAU, Mike VA7MJS, Mike KB1UM, Duane AG7G, Joe KO6M, Bruce W6RAT, Terry KB5B, Chuck KE3KR, Moody WQ6I, Bob AF6D, Mike AA8KB, Conrad N7EN, Randy KC7ZNA, Gary ZL3SV, Mark K6FEJ, Mark K6MJD, Larry W5HO, John K7PRS, Gregg AE6FN, RoboLon KE7BBX, Dave WA6DAC, Bruce N6THN, Gary W6FH, Kevin K7TST, Art W6OBB, Kevin AD8Q, Iain K6IAM, Bob K6MIT, Tom W7PD, Keith KD7KZV, Stan WG6K, Mike AD5SU, Phil WB6GGY, Bob K6AII, Adam AF6ME, Greg W6EZV, Buddy W7JPL.

The EGO Grid

You-Can-Count-On-Me Tier

3688 KHz	Sun 11/1/09	Mon 11/2/09	Tue 11/3/09	Wed 11/4/09	Thur 11/5/09	Fri 11/6/09	Sat 11/7/09
“Is my hair alright?” KN6Z Glenn “Messianic Cult Leader” San Diego		S8 noise	S9 noise	S9 noise	S9 noise	S9 noise
KD7BCW Ben “The Horizontal Ham” Salem, OR. Commander, Northern Alliance		+15	+15	+20	+15	+20
K6AII Bob “Ready to Rumble” Rancho Cucamonga	B	+25		+20	+20	+25
KB5B Terry “Hillbilly” Tucson	A		+15	+20
N6DQ Ryk “Yoda”	R	+25	+20	S9	+25
N7EN Conrad “Mr. Normal” Gilbert, AZ.	N	+30
W6EZV Greg “The Entity” Burbank	E	+40				+30
W6FH Gary Nevada City	Y	+20
AG7G Duane “Mr. Sunshine” Yuppyville		+5	+5		+15	+15
WB6GGY Phil “Mr. Clean” Twainhart	F	+30		+20	+20	+25
W5HO Larry “HO” New Mexico	R	+20	+20	+20	+20	+S9
W7HW Duane “Hot Water” Silverton, Or.	E	+20
WQ6I Moody “Moody” Claremont	E	+50	+40	+40	+40	+40
W7 JPL Buddy “Spaceman” Pearblossom, Ca.	B		+15			+20
WG6K Stan “The Elitist Neanderthal” Aptos a.k.a. “Moldy”	I	+30		+25	+20	+20
KD7KZV Keith “Psycho” Payson, Utah	E	+5	+5			+15
N6LN Jack “I Ball” Palos Verdes		+20	+25			+20
VA7MJS Mike “Canadian Bacon” Lund, B.C.		+10
W6OEZ Doyle Madera County
AD5SU Mike “Bike Mike” Williams, Az.
N6THN Bruce Vacaville			+20		+20
KB1UM Mike “Music Mike” Seattle		S8		S9	S9
W7ZCX Eric Portland		S8	S9		Via BCW	Via BCW

Barneys in purple. Miss a week and I kick your ass off. To get back to Heaven you will have to do four weeks in Purgatory.

On-Again-Off-Again Tier

(If you don’t like it down here, then make yourself less work for the Grid Meister.)

AD7VH
WJ6Y				+40
WA4DNS
KD7SLY
VE6RBP
NK7Z
KE7FAE	+20		+20
VE7ANB/7
K7BNY
N6NWX		S9
K6ERQ		S9
NZ7J		+20	+15

Four weeks in a row on the lower tier gets you promoted to the upper tier. Your appearance/position in the LPL reflects your participation on 3688, not necessarily your motivation, and it certainly does not necessarily reflect the Grid Meister’s opinion of your value as a human being.

The Little People Top Thirty, geographically. Thanks Duane AG7G and Bob AF6D.

Amp Repair Story Latest installment 10/25/09.

Bike Story The same story posted previously in the body of the nightly remarks.

Friday night KN6Z checked in about 12:15. We talked about Jim Dandy fried chicken, again. They have clams and shrimp, too. Woo-hoo. Nothing memorable was discussed tonight. Fourteen dog night.

Thursday night KN6Z checked in at 12:05. I opened with Jim Dandy chicken tonight. BZ and I are going to make the scene at the Jim Dandy in the hood. I think I’ll bring the scull splitter with me that I bought at the Vista Highland Games this year. We talked about jamming, and around jamming, for a while tonight. Nobody panicked, and the storm just blew itself out, as it often does. I need a big, honking inductor for my L/R time constant physics lab. The RC time constant lab was a big success, so now I want to do the same thing with an inductor. I got advice from The Little People. We discussed the shooting at Fort Hood, on and off all evening. Stan WG6K read us the names of some big political contributors listed at campaignmoney.com. That led to some interesting tangential topics. We discussed the problem of talking politics with friends and family who don’t agree with you, and get pissed off at your bullshit opinions. So stick with like minded people, and people who can cope with an opposing opinion. Fourteen dog night.

Wednesday night KN6Z checked in at 12:00. Took a while for things to get rolling. I went up to 3688 and dug up Stan WG6K, and led him down to the new freq. It stayed kinda slow, tonight. I wonder if some of the gang could not find us. We had a lot of laughs over a story I read about a guy who has been arrested for raping a 21 year-old horse, and it wasn’t his first time. He has a history of sneaking into some woman’s stable and doing her horse. He’s finally gotten some jail time. He never tried to rape the woman, just the horse (your joke here). Anyway, obvious jokes were had by all. In another story a guy who ripped his Blockbuster uniform pants in a skateboarding accident, and who was afraid of getting “written up” at work, decided to stab himself in the leg and tell his employer that he had been mugged by some Hispanics, as an excuse to miss work. Trouble was, the cops saw some outdoor Target-store video that showed no mugging. He also scratched up his face with a knife. Stan attended his mold-making class tonight, and reported to us on the zany goings on. We spent some more time on the Swine Flu tonight, and a story on Spaceweather.com about a meteor that exploded in Earth’s atmosphere today. And a happy Guy Fawkes Day to everyone. Thirteen dog night.

Tuesday night KN6Z checked in at 12:00. We spent much of the evening changing frequency. It was fun for a while, but then it stopped being fun, so we stopped changing frequency. The new (for now) Little People freq is 3680. It’s better for the Pahrump receiver, the best God damned online receiver in the world. I was busy on the side tonight trying to straighten out an online banking problem, so I wasn’t paying much attention and consequently don’t have much to report. The Little People, however, were paying close attention to me and whether I was still on freq. If I turn off the radio, they all just disappear. And I don’t mean they turn off their radios, I mean they freakin’ cease to exist. NASCAR and racing was the topic du jour, at least while I was paying attention. We wrapped up the evening teaching Moody WQ6I about good fried chicken. Thirteen dog night.

Monday night KN6Z checked in at 12:00. Thanks to all who gave me good tips on capacitors and my RC time constant lab, including Orv K6UEY, Mike KB1UM, and SWL Mike. I want to compile a top-ten list: Top Ten Reasons to Love Orv K6UEY. I’m taking submissions, of which I’ll probably get hundreds, but I’ll have to winnow them down to ten. First submission: Orv knows Art Bell. There was some jamming going on up the band, which was mentioned tonight in passing, and that somehow morphed into talk of 75 m history and mythic figures such as Orv. Duane AG7G did some of his usual whining about why Orv won’t get on the air with us, and then went on to tell us about his (Duane’s) ten mile drive with his kids to get nasal pig-flu vaccinations. Normally the nasal ones are for kids and sick people only, but Duane scored one cuz he’s a health care worker. Jack N6LN told us some interesting stories and history of mirror making. So then a shit load, if not a fuck ton, of glass and mirror talk broke out. All the mirror talk is a reflection of who the Little People are. Speaking of reflecting, Ryk N6DQ is back from Arecibo, where he saw the 1000 foot radio dish. He also did some para-kiting (my term), where a boat drags you up as you hang from a parasail. We talked about some Japanese girls who managed to fall out of, or escape from, their parasail harness and fell to their deaths. Parasailing naturally leads to talk of hearts and heart transplants. Ryk N6DQ told us a lot about his heart transplant and his experience as the new user. Jack applied his medical expertise to fill in technical holes in the story. And welcome back to Conrad N7EN, who’s been in Paris. I’m sure all those arrogant Parisians love us now because they’ve met Conrad – Mr. Normal, Mr. Nice American – and think he’s representative of the rest of us. We finished off the evening talking about what everybody did for Halloween this year, how many trick-or-treaters there were, etc. Eighteen dog night.

Sunday night we got home in time for radio, but I just had too much to do to prepare for Monday. I got some big, honking 10000 micro farad caps for the RC time constant experiment I want to do in my physics lab tomorrow. With a 10K load resistor, the amp or volt meter changes slowly enough for the students to read and record data. They will fit an exponential equation to the graph of current vs. time and extract the time constant, to be compared with the theoretical value. Here at the ham table I got 125 s experimental, compared with the theoretical value of 100 s. Best I could do.

Saturday night KN6Z checked in about 12:30. No check-ins were taken. I left the freq for a while to get some work done, but when I came back it was all music.

The EGO Grid

You-Can-Count-On-Me Tier

3688 KHz	Sun 10/25/09	Mon 10/26/09	Tue 10/27/09	Wed 10/28/09	Thur 10/29/09	Fri 10/30/09	Sat 10/31/09
“Is my hair alright?” KN6Z Glenn “Messianic Cult Leader” San Diego		S8 noise	S9 noise		S9 noise	S8 noise
KD7BCW Ben “The Horizontal Ham” Salem, OR. Commander, Northern Alliance					No ego report
K6AII Bob “Ready to Rumble” Rancho Cucamonga	B		+20	B	+20	+5	B
KB5B Terry “Hillbilly” Tucson	A	+20	+20	A			A
N6DQ Ryk “Yoda”	R			R			R
N7EN Conrad “Mr. Normal” Gilbert, AZ.	N			N			N
W6EZV Greg “The Entity” Burbank	E		+40	E	+40		E
W6FH Gary Nevada City	Y			Y			Y
AG7G Duane “Mr. Sunshine” Yuppyville		S9	+10
WB6GGY Phil “Mr. Clean” Twainhart	F	+25	+30	F	+20		F
W5HO Larry “HO” New Mexico	R		+15	R	+20		R
W7HW Duane “Hot Water” Silverton, Or.	E	+15		E	+20		E
WQ6I Moody “Moody” Claremont	E	+30	+50	E	+40	+20	E
W7 JPL Buddy “Spaceman” Pearblossom, Ca.	B			B	+20		B
WG6K Stan “The Elitist Neanderthal” Aptos a.k.a. “Moldy”	I	+20	+20	I	+20	+20	I
KD7KZV Keith “Psycho” Payson, Utah	E	+10	+10	E	+15	+10	E
N6LN Jack “I Ball” Palos Verdes					+25	+15
VA7MJS Mike “Canadian Bacon” Lund, B.C.
W6OEZ Doyle Madera County			+5		No ego report	+20
AD5SU Mike “Bike Mike” Williams, Az.			S9
N6THN Bruce Vacaville		+20	+20		+20
KB1UM Mike “Music Mike” Seattle			S8		S8
W7ZCX Eric Portland		S9	S9		+10	S8

Barneys in purple. Miss a week and I kick your ass off. To get back to Heaven you will have to do four weeks in Purgatory.

On-Again-Off-Again Tier

(If you don’t like it down here, then make yourself less work for the Grid Meister.)

AD7VH	+20
N6YW
N6NWX
WJ6Y		+20	+30	+35
WA4DNS	S7
KD7SLY			+5
VE6RBP			S8
NK7Z			+10
KE7FAE			+20	+20
VE7ANB/7			S8
K7BNY				S9

Four weeks in a row on the lower tier gets you promoted to the upper tier. Your appearance/position in the LPL reflects your participation on 3688, not necessarily your motivation, and it certainly does not necessarily reflect the Grid Meister’s opinion of your value as a human being.

The Little People Top Thirty, geographically. Thanks Duane AG7G and Bob AF6D.

Amp Repair Story Latest installment 10/25/09.

Bike Story The same story posted previously in the body of the nightly remarks.

Saturday night KN6Z checked in about 12:30. No check-ins were taken. I left the freq for a while to get some work done, but when I came back it was all music.

Friday night KN6Z checked in at 12:00. A few checked in, but nothing spectacular. Then we got jammed out and people scattered for a while. A bit later we re-grouped and a few more checked in. I was fooling around with some capacitors and resistors and stuff that I need for a physics lab on Monday. I got some good advice from Stan WG6K and Bob K6AII. My mom has doctor’s orders to flood her sinuses with a “Neti Pot.” The gang discussed sinus irrigation with me, and we had some laughs over some related youtube videos, and the general topic of forcing stuff into openings in your body. Eleven dog night.

Thursday night KN6Z checked in at 12:00. Calgary Pete VE6RBP dropped in on us tonight after a long hibiscus. It was good to hear him again. Well, “hear” him again. He had serious power and antenna limitations. And another long, LONG lost Canuck dropped in tonight as well, Adrian VE7ANB/7. We are sad to report that Adrian lost his wife a couple of years ago. He’s on the road in his fifth wheel, getting his bearings. He was interested in the goings on of the Little People since he last talked to us, back in the Art Bell days. He was very interested in Art and his wife and child, where they are living now, and how they are doing. Adrian was also very pleased to hear that Ben KD7BCW has married, and now has a baby. Oh, God, I wish Adrian would drop in more often so that we could talk more about Art Bell. Moody saw the new Michael Jackson movie and said it was really good. Becky Zed wants to see it, so with Moody’s endorsement, I guess we’ll see it. We moved on to a story about assisted suicide in Switzerland. They’ll off you if you want. They get an awful lot of people from other countries, coming in to get themselves offed. Well, the government is worried about their “Heidi-and-cowbells” image, so they are going to get more restrictive with the suicides. There is fear that in anticipation of the new restrictions, a flood of patients bent on suicide are going to pour into Switzerland. And we wrung our hands over sperm and eggs that have been made from stem cells. No man nor woman required. It will be the end of civilization, like test-tube babies from the sixties, and gay marriage. The Internet recently celebrated it’s 40^th birthday, but Al Gore didn’t make the scene. Floyd KD7SLY and I talked about the new NASA launch vehicle, and how much technology from the old moon missions will be recycled for the new moon missions. Joe KE7FAE told us wondrous stories about his sailing adventures through the South Pacific. He picks up women along the way and keeps them for months. Twenty-two dog night.

Wednesday night KN6Z opted for sleep.

Tuesday night KN6Z checked in at 12:00. First up was NASA’s test of its next-generation spacecraft, the Ares I-X, except that is isn’t up, YET. Texas Mike AD5SU checked in from Austin. He’s not out at his construction site, which is why he was able to check in. A drunk drove through Mike’s barbed wire fence, pulling down about 50 feet of it. Mike’s neighbor’s cows got out. Mike has some fence repairs on tap for tomorrow. Mike promised to send a pic of the carnage. Moody WQ6I axed me for the low-down on the U2 concert, so I gave a brief account. I promised to write about it. It’s Erick W7ZCX’s birthday, so happy birthday, Erick. Eric is going to see Ben KD7BCW, tomorrow. Eric says he’s going to “make him happy.” Hmm. And happy birthday to Terry KB5B’s wife. Somehow we got to talking about lemons, and crosses of other fruits with lemons. Stan WG6K has some “knarly” lemon trees, he says, in answer to Duane AG7G’s suggestion that maybe Stan had “pussy” lemons. When they get dry, they shrivel up and the lemons fall off. Sort of like my balls. And the lemon talk went on and on. I lost track of it. I informed Stan of a product now available called Fermone Advantage. It will make women flock to you. So that got Duane onto his favorite tear about how we short circuit natural selection by keeping alive people who should not reproduce. Duane wonders how really fat people manage to reproduce. Duane and Stan moved on to debate which religions are most nonsensical. Sixteen dog night.

Monday night KN6Z finally checked in with The Little People. People remarked that the net has missed me, and wanted the low-down on up to what I’ve been. Duane AG7G thought it was just ultra cool of BZ and I to have made the big scene at the Rose Bowl with U2. We were talking generally about getting tickets for various sports and entertainment events at stadiums, and all the people desperate for tix and the scalpers selling them. Duane went on to discuss the 6-0 Denver Broncos. He’s nervous about their upcoming game with the Colts. NASCAR came up somehow in the discussion about sports. Duane thinks all that NASCAR fans really show up to see is CARnage. Race cars cart wheeling down the track, with heads and limbs flying out everywhere. Duane repeated that assertion several times during the evening. Duane also wants to see more women and homosexuals in NASCAR. He wants to see some pink cars. And he also wonders why blacks are under represented in NASCAR. Moody WQ6I points out that there may be no racial factor, but that car racing is just very expensive to get into. All the NASCAR talk brought some new blood out of the woodwork, including John WA4DNS, near Bristol Motor Speedway in TN. Because of all the NASCAR interest tonight, we have decided to have a NASCAR night regularly. Duane AG7G offered to bring up NASCAR regularly, if Duane W7HW would bring up the Brady Bunch regularly. No deal was cut. My discussion of the traffic nightmare around the Rose Bowl prompted Duane W7HW to confess that he drove illegally across a dirt median once, in an escape from a huge traffic jam. I’m glad Duane got that off his chest. He’ll sleep better now. I’ll write up the details of our U2 adventure another night. Just to whet your appetite, Bono was not that impressed that we were Bell-friend. Thirteen dog night.

The EGO Grid

You-Can-Count-On-Me Tier

3688 KHz	Sun 10/18/09	Mon 10/19/09	Tue 10/20/09	Wed 10/21/09	Thur 10/22/09	Fri 10/23/09	Sat 10/24/09
“Is my hair alright?” KN6Z Glenn “Messianic Cult Leader” San Diego	S8 noise	+10 noise		S9 noise
KD7BCW Ben “The Horizontal Ham” Salem, OR. Commander, Northern Alliance	+10		B		B	B	B
K6AII Bob “Ready to Rumble” Rancho Cucamonga			A		A	A	A
KB5B Terry “Hillbilly” Tucson		+10	R	+20	R	R	R
N6DQ Ryk “Yoda”		+20	N	+20	N	N	N
N7EN Conrad “Mr. Normal” Gilbert, AZ.	+20	+20	E	+20	E	E	E
W6EZV Greg “The Entity” Burbank	+35		Y	+25	Y	Y	Y
W6FH Gary Nevada City
AG7G Duane “Mr. Sunshine” Yuppyville	S9	+10	F	+10	F	F	F
WB6GGY Phil “Mr. Clean” Twainhart	+20	+35	R	+20	R	R	R
W5HO Larry “HO” New Mexico	+10		E	+15	E	E	E
W7HW Duane “Hot Water” Silverton, Or.			E		E	E	E
WQ6I Moody “Moody” Claremont	+35	+35	B	+30	B	B	B
W7 JPL Buddy “Spaceman” Pearblossom, Ca.			I		I	I	I
WG6K Stan “The Elitist Neanderthal” Aptos a.k.a. “Moldy”	+15	+20	E	+20	E	E	E
KD7KZV Keith “Psycho” Payson, Utah	S9	+15
N6LN Jack “I Ball” Palos Verdes	+20	+20		+15
VA7MJS Mike “Canadian Bacon” Lund, B.C.		+10
AD5SU Mike “Bike Mike” Williams, Az.		+10
N6THN Bruce Vacaville	+10			+15
KB1UM Mike “Music Mike” Seattle		Barely there		S9
W7ZCX Eric Portland	S8	Barely there		S9

Barneys in purple. Miss a week and I kick your ass off. To get back to Heaven you will have to do four weeks in Purgatory.

On-Again-Off-Again Tier

(If you don’t like it down here, then make yourself less work for the Grid Meister.)

AD7VH		+20
N6YW	+10
KF6CZH
N6NWX	S9	S9	S9
WJ6Y		+40

Four weeks in a row on the lower tier gets you promoted to the upper tier. Your appearance/position in the LPL reflects your participation on 3688, not necessarily your motivation, and it certainly does not necessarily reflect the Grid Meister’s opinion of your value as a human being.

Saturday afternoon KN6Z and BZ drove to a park on Coronado Island. We sat and watched the wedding not happening. It was a long time before the bride showed up. When it looked like they were getting serious, we got out of the car and walked over. Just as we arrived, the bride was handed off to the groom who was waiting on the steps of a gazebo where the minister was to perform the boring ceremony. We got through that and had fun looking at all the people. The bride was the niece of an old girlfriend of mine with whom I have stayed very close for over 27 years. I’ve known the niece for most of her life, and know many of the other family very well. My old girlfriend was quite something in her day, and good looks run in her family. The bride was a real beauty. We hung with lots of beautiful women Saturday night, many of whom I knew as children. Two of the children who have blossomed into gorgeous women were waving to me, but I didn’t recognize them. I’m sure to them it seemed that I was looking right at them, but not acknowledging them. Problem was, standing next to them, was another young woman in a short, tight, black skirt, who was bending over and sticking her ass at me. Her bare ass and thong were showing right through the sheer skirt. It was quite a show, and I was staring, but not at the girls who were waving at me. I was looking right through them. At the reception I was sitting at a big dinner table, next to a blond on my right, about my age, who had her hand on my leg/knee more than was necessary. Well, I’m pretty used to this sort of thing, of course, but BZ was sitting right on the other side of me! The blond was really ballsy, but very nice to BZ. She is on the man hunt all the time, I think, and I wish I could introduce her to my best friend who can’t get a date. I went to the bike store today and bought cable locks, and u-bolt locks, for our bikes. Hopefully our bikes will be waiting for us after the U2 concert at the Rose Bowl, Sunday night.

Friday night KN6Z checked in at 1:20, but there was nobody left on freq. I drove up to Pasadena this evening with a friend, to check out the bike route BZ and I are going to ride to the U2 concert at the Rose Bowl on Sunday, and to check out places to lock up the bikes. We are going to park as close as possible, then ride the bikes. I really have no idea how close we can get. I don’t expect we’ll have to ride more than a couple of miles, but even three or four is easy on flat cement. This will be the biggest concert event in the history of the Rose Bowl. Sell-out crowd of 95,000. Traffic due to accidents and construction was horrendous on the 605 tonight, north and south, so I got back very late. We have a wedding to go to Saturday at 5 p.m., with reception to follow, so I kind of doubt I’ll make the radio scene on Saturday night. Sunday night at 7 p.m. is the U2 concert, after which we have to drive all the way home from Pasadena, so don’t expect me on the air Sunday, either. Ummm, Monday I’m being abducted by a UFO… Look, I’m just kidding. Speaking of just kidding, one of our greatest SWL fans, Mike, is taking the Amp Repair Story a bit too seriously. I’m just kidding, Mike. Any similarities the perfessor character bears to persons alive or dead, is purely coincidental. The character hasn’t lost faith in Ohm’s Law, but has lost faith in the calibration of test equipment. Anyway, don’t give up on me, Little People. I still love you and Becky Zed still loves you; and we talk about you all the time.

Thursday night KN6Z took a nap, woke up at midnight, took out the trash, and went back to bed. It’s been one helluva week. End of story.

Wednesday night KN6Z checked in about 12:00. The big news tonight was the plane crash that killed four hams. The Little People speculated on causes. KN6Z read a short physics blurb that says we all have atoms in us from everybody who ever lived. Some said it was bullshit. I think it’s a pretty straightforward calculation, actually. There was some talk of the Orionids meteor shower and related topics such as: over how large a radius a meteor can be seen, meteors that make it to the ground, and unexplained lights in the sky. Mike KB1UM has been sick with flu and he has been trying to figure out what flu he had. So we went on to talk more about flu, Swine Flu, and flu shots. We got onto the topic of beautiful TV actresses, such as Barbara Eden, and the TV shows they were on. All TV talk converges on The Brady Bunch, so a spontaneous Brady Bunch night sort of broke out very late. It got a bit adversarial for a few uncomfortable minutes as Duane AG7G was being grilled by Jack N6LN as to Duane’s love for The Brady Bunch. Jack even suggested that Gilligan’s Island was better than The Brady Bunch, and that was the unkindest cut of all. So Jack and Duane went on and on with a “which shit is shittier” duel. Duane and Stan WG6K had a touching moment of usher love. Fifteen dog night.

Tuesday night KN6Z’s ass was kicked. Sorry, my darlings. I went to bed at, like, 1 a.m. and actually went to sleep. Tuesday is Hell Day, this week especially. Barney freebie.

Monday night KN6Z checked in about 12:00. Tonight the Little People welcomed John WJ6Y near Bass Lake in Yosemite. Phil WB6GGY grew up around Bass Lake and enjoyed talking to John for a while. Duane AG7G axed me if I watched Monday Night Football, tonight. I was surprised at the question. I didn’t even know that Duane liked football. He does like the Denver Broncos and he hoped that I had watched them beat the San Diego Chargers tonight on MNF, so that he could rub it in. I didn’t see the game. He rubbed it in anyway. We briefly discussed a story on Drudge about a man who stabbed his teenage son in the stomach with a corkscrew, during an argument over a clogged toilet. Obvious jokes were had by all. The gang somehow got started talking about carbon footprints and global warming and exhaled a lot of green house gas getting all worked up over climate change again. Duane was surprised (horrified?) that I have updated the Amp Repair Story. He axed me what more I could possibly have to say on the subject. I recommended that he try reading the update. He might find an answer. Jack N6LN suggested that I add to the story by “making some stuff up.” At the end of the evening we were talking about bad language, pot smoking, tobacco smoking, infinities, and senses beyond the usual five. Stan WG6K said he was talking recently to somebody who has an “adverse opinion” of me. Hard to imagine, eh? Seventeen dog night.

Sunday night KN6Z checked in about 12:00. Billy N6YW has been checking in from down Baja way, but checked in from his home in Venice, tonight. His pad in Baja is near the Bufadora. We discussed the Bufadora a bit. Conrad N7EN will be leaving us for a while; next week, I think. He’s going to Paris, France. I’m sure the French will change their minds about Americans once they have met Conrad, although Jack N6LN says that most Europeans actually do admire us, but they won’t admit it. Bruce N6THN has been to the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco, recently. He told us about his adventure and some of the art he saw. He’s an art lover, and I’m an Art lover, too. Bruce and Duane AG7G discussed interstellar communication for a while, and worried about the effect of the Earth’s rotation on interstellar transmissions. It would be no more an issue than driving in circles while on your cell phone or on the ham radio. Saturday night KN6Z and BZ were back at Disneyland, of course. We took the vodka phone this time. We went on Splash Mountain a couple of times, as we usually do, but I normally get stuck in the back of the log, with BZ in front of me. This time I was in a middle seat, with a young woman in front, and BZ in back. The seats are very low so our knees are high, and the seat backs are very narrow and close together, so the young woman’s shapely figure was sort of in between my legs. During the slow, leisurely parts of the ride I was enjoying the warmth of her flanks on the insides of my knees, and the warmth of her hips on the insides of my calves. All the while I was also enjoying a shoulder massage and hair stroking from BZ who was sitting right behind me. I felt like an absolute cad, and it ruined the whole lovely ride for me. The line was short so we got right back on. During the short wait in line, an eleven-ish boy in line with us was staring at me like he knew that I knew Art Bell, or something. His big, round eyes were always on me. He just seemed star struck, understandably. He just MUST have somehow known that I was Bell-friend. I overheard his mom mention that Splash Mountain was exactly twenty years old, and when she saw the interest in my face, she started talking to me. She told me how she had been one of the first riders on Splash Mountain – one of the guinea pigs – and on her first ride the attraction broke down and she had to be evacuated. That was exactly twenty years ago. Well, when her kid saw his mom talking to me, he was positively awe struck, understandably. He simply could not look away. It was like he was hip-mo-tized. I could feel his glassies burning into me. He was fixated. When it came time to board the log, BZ sat behind me again, and the kid’s youngish mom tried to sit between my trembling loins, but the kid EJECTED her, so he could sit in front of me and twist around and commune with Bell-friend for the whole damn ride. And he did, Little People. He did. Today, Sunday, BZ and I went north-east about 45 minutes drive, to the last Oktoberfest opportunity around here – the Ramona Oktoberfest. There was only about an hour and a half left when we got there. We were trying to enjoy some Arrogant Bastard beer, when an aggressive MC in lederhosen dragged us up front to dance with a bunch of other couples. So we danced this German wedding dance. I was full of beer and just wanted to sit and drink, not jump around. Blah. The kraut released us finally, so we got some more beer and I got a bratwurst. BZ then competed in the women’s stein-holding competition. She made a good showing. There was no men’s contest while we were there. BZ wanted something vegetarian to eat, so we went to an Indian fry bread food booth. Indian as in native American. There was an Australian in there selling Indian fry bread at a German Oktoberfest. Weird. The whole thing was a really weird, red neck Oktoberfest. Ramona is a red neck town. Fifteen dog night.

The EGO Grid

You-Can-Count-On-Me Tier

3688 KHz	Sun 10/11/09	Mon 10/12/09	Tue 10/13/09	Wed 10/14/09	Thur 10/15/09	Fri 10/16/09	Sat 10/17/09
“Is my hair alright?” KN6Z Glenn “Messianic Cult Leader” San Diego	S6 noise	S6 noise		S5 noise	S8 noise	S9 noise
KD7BCW Ben “The Horizontal Ham” Salem, OR. Commander, Northern Alliance	No ego report	S9	B	S7	No ego report		B
K6AII Bob “Ready to Rumble” Rancho Cucamonga			A		+25	+20	A
KB5B Terry “Hillbilly” Tucson			R				R
N6DQ Ryk “Yoda”		+10	N	+10	+20	+20	N
N7EN Conrad “Mr. Normal” Gilbert, AZ.	+15	+5	E	+5	+20	+15	E
W6EZV Greg “The Entity” Burbank	Barely there	S9	Y				Y
W6FH Gary Nevada City