21 April 09
On The Air At 1.5 Watts
At long last I’ve got my Small Wonder Labs SW-40+ rig on the air! I’ve had three contacts with it so far, two into British Columbia, and one to Oregon. Not bad for one-and-a-half watts of output! I love the minimalism of this rig. Two knobs and a Morse code key: that’s it for controls.
19 April 09
Another Weekend With No Tomatoes Planted
It’s supposed to be a record-high temperature tomorrow, and me with nary a tomato seed planted. We did pick up three seedlings at Picnic Day yesterday along with a pepper and marigold, rescued today from Numenius’ office.
I’m back knitting after the cat-bite interlude. We cooked lentils and quinoa with chard from the garden, threatening to bolt, having given a bunch of it yesterday to J&B. Today feels very cuspy.
Yet it’s already tonight, and my big challenge of the morning will be to see if Union Pacific steam train #844 comes by my office window before my 9:00 am meeting. Follow it on Twitter.
17 April 09
Amateur Radio for the Campus
Today we had the first face-to-face meeting of the new UC Davis Amateur Radio Communications team. Several years ago, in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings, the campus put out a call for ideas for emergency preparedness and one of the local hams thought it would be a good idea to establish an amateur radio network for the campus. After much explanation to the powers that be, many of whom who had never heard of amateur radio, this idea was endorsed and several hams started working with the campus Emergency Operations Center to establish this team. This past December, the group started holding weekly on-the-air nets (every Monday at 12:30 PM) and since that time our net has grown to well over twenty participants.
After work today we got to meet each other in person and tour the Emergency Operations Center, which is where the group’s equipment is set up. There is a dedicated room for the amateur radio operations, and the equipment includes a tall antenna on the roof, a dual-band base station, a digital scanner, and soon a repeater. It’s great to see both commitment from the university in supporting this effort and a lot of interest and participation from the hams on campus.
In other radio news, the transmitter section of the SW-40+ that I’ve been building has decided to wake up after weeks of troubleshooting. It’s time to get the rig on the air!
15 April 09
Gansey Physics
One of my fellow Ravelers has spent a tremendous amount of time and effort investigating the history of knitting, in particular the knits used by fishermen in the past. In the days before microfiber, wearing something that would prevent hypothermia while at sea was literally a matter of life and death. A store-bought gansey that was not in the least bit wind-resistant launched Aaron Lewis into the quest for how they REALLY did it.
Aaron has a large number of excellent posts but the current one is a great place to start. I am wearied in advance by his stitch-count-per-inch but recognize its wisdom. Added, then, to the blogroll, and at some point in my life I will learn exactly how to use a knitting sheath. (I get the concept, but not the mechanics quite yet, though the sight of those beautifully turned wooden objects that actually have a function has me reeling…)
12 April 09
You Know You've Been Standing In One Place Too Long
…when a squirrel runs up your leg. This happened during yesterday’s outing: I was finishing up this sketch of an azalea in front of the State Capitol at the time.
11 April 09
A Birthday Sketchcrawl
Today was the 22nd Worldwide Sketchcrawl; it was also Numenius’ birthday. We arrived at the Capitol in Sacramento at 10:30 and were asked more than once whether we (two of us) were the anti-bank bailout demonstration. Well, we were, I suppose, subverting the dominant paradigm, that of digital cameras. Raise your right fist full of pens, people.
We went for a quick hot chocolate to the Temple Cafe (open 365 days a year, equal opportunity to all religions) and moved on to the library, where we spent a pleasant hour or so browsing and sketching. On to Art Ellis for some watercolors, rice paper and bookcloth (N took a quick detour to the electronics store), and we ended up at the Crocker Art Museum for a look at the Buddhas exhibition which was excellent and is now in its final week (it ended up being, for me, a crash course in the history of Buddhism, well worth it for that reason alone, but some of the pieces were stunning; I particularly loved the calligraphed palm leaves).
Home, and Thai Nakorn for dinner followed by yoghurt at Cultivé. What a day. A purple day: I used a purple Micron for my sketches for the first time, and azaleas were in profusion…
A post-script: Jobs we’d hate to have #747: the graveyard shift at the bail bond office.
11 April 09
Davis Joins Cooperstown
The city of Davis has just been selected to be the new home of the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame. This hall had been located in Somerville, New Jersey but was forced to relocate due to a redevelopment project. More than 25 communities submitted proposals to be the new home, and the choice eventually came down to between Greensboro, North Carolina and Davis. According to the chair of the selection committee, Bill Brunner, “The distinguishing difference between Greensboro and Davis was that Davis was so bicycling friendly…all those bike lanes and the sheer number of people who use the bicycle as a method of transportation or recreation or sport.” Nobody knows where in town the hall will be permanently located but the city would like to see the hall and museum open in a temporary location in the next six months.
10 April 09
What to Do
The Archdruid Report Offers some very sage advice about what to do in the coming post-industrial future.
Typing is something of a chore so I will give you the punchline: Learn a thing. Give up a thing. Save a thing. Worth a read.
8 April 09
Cat Bite Tuesday
I returned home this evening after waiting out a rain shower to find Pica having a cat bite party with our neighbor Leila. This tale begins with Leila’s housemate Mary befriending a feral cat around here that she’s named Sophia. A couple weeks ago, with Pica’s assistance Mary tried to take Sophia to the vet to get spayed. The cat however bolted when she was almost in the carrier, and early this morning was the time for a second attempt. About 15 minutes after going across the street to help out this morning, Pica returns holding her hand in a paper towel, saying she needs to go to the hospital, and oh, Leila got bit too. The exact sequence of the events cannot be recalled by Pica, Leila, or Mary.
Anyway, Leila came over for a dinner of dal and to exchange war stories and tales of antibiotics (two separate courses for Pica; a big shot and one course for Leila). Mary comes by later and enjoys some dal. All parties are joking about the incident now, except for the poor cat, who is now under quarantine at the vet’s.
5 April 09
Spring
This weekend, I
a) listened to the last exhibition game of spring training. The Giants beat the Dodgers.
b) finished my first sweater in over 30 years. (Also my first top-down sweater ever, my first seamless sweater ever, my first i-cord bindoff ever. Photo soon added.)
c) led a bird walk in Cold Canyon whose focus was birdsong. We heard mostly orange-crowned warblers and wrentits, but on the way down the path heard then saw two gorgeous black-throated gray warblers.
d) met a bunch of Jacobs sheep and their lambs up close and personal.
e) bought a bit of Jacobs roving and a spindle.
f) planted six Japanese cucumber plants, a gift from the landlady. It’s too early to plant cukes, but six is too many, so if some don’t make it, oh well.
g) failed to clean the house.
h) failed to make a start on taxes. Numenius says he is.
i) am currently listening to the first real baseball game of the season. Atlanta is beating the Phillies, 4-0.
j) have somehow managed to get a bit of sunburned cheeks. It was a gorgeous weekend, much of it spent outside despite all the knitting.