Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Titan

Another one of my interests, is Astronomy and Space Exploration. This evening, I've been watching the raw images coming in from the Cassini Spacecraft's fly-by of Saturn's Moon Titan. Some really interesting images so far ... and they are supposed to be getting even better later tonight as Cassini gets even closer to the surface. Looking forward to seeing the later photos with a bit of processing added!


A close-up unprocessed photo of Titan's surface

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Tuesday, October 26, 2004

Getting caught up

Been a bit under the weather with a cold the last few days ... I guess it actually hit Friday. So, needless to say, haven't been doing much of anything ... just hoping to get rid of this bug. But, things are improving, so maybe another day or two, and we'll be back to "normal" (whatever that is!).

After spending the weekend playing Golf with his buddies, my brother headed back home to Birmingham last night. Always good to get together to see each other. Haven't been up to visit him in a couple years ... I guess I should go up again sometime. The Birmingham area is really nice.

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Saturday, October 23, 2004

Hard Day

One of my "hobbies" in Ham Radio. Part of the mindset of Ham Radio, is the desire to help ... either during emergencies ... or to just lend a hand to other Hams, to help them build their "stations". Spent today helping put up a BIG new antenna up a tower at 90 feet at one station ... and then helped take down a similar antenna from 80 feet at another station! (It was just one of several antennas that were damaged during the Hurricanes that hit us here in Florida.) By the time I got home ... I was beat. But ... it made two people happy, so it was all worth it!

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Friday, October 22, 2004

Good Humor

Checked out a show at the local Comedy Club this evening with a couple friends of mine. Saw a woman by the name of Janet Williams. The show was a bit on the raunchy side (definitely not PG-13) ... but very funny (probably because a lot of what she said had a bit of truth to it!).

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My brother visits

My brother Jeff, who lives in Birmingham, Alabama, arrived yesterday for a short visit. We went out and played a round of Golf yesterday afternoon. My game wasn't that great (as usual ... maybe I need to play/practice more), but had a good time anyway. Last night, we headed over to a local bar/restaurant, had a few drinks and shot a few games of pool. He and some of his buddies, are headed over to Sebring today, for a weekend of Golf. Sounds like it would probably be fun. Even though I do like Golf (but not any good) ... 4 rounds is probably more than I could stand!

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Wednesday, October 20, 2004

E-mail is good!

It's always a pleasant surprise to receive an unexpected e-mail! Received one this evening from my friend Sabine ... the young lady from Germany I met a few weeks ago! She's been working on the East Coast of Florida the last couple weeks ... and will be returning to Germany on Thursday. Hoping we'll be able to keep in touch and maybe even see each other again at some point in the future! We had a great time!


Sabine

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Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Sports Woes

Watched another dissappointing 28-21 Tampa Bay Buccaneers loss last night ... this time on Monday Night Football. The game wasn't too bad, especially since they had a chance to win ... but 2 turnovers hurt them badly, with the Rams scoring TD's on both. The way they played last year and so far this year, it's almost hard to believe they were Super Bowl Champions 2 years ago! But it must be true, since I have the T-shirt saying so and remember being at the Super Bowl Parade in downtown Tampa.

Sure would be nice if the Stanley Cup Champions were playing hockey!

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Thursday, October 14, 2004

The truth is ....

I'm not a very political person, but for some reason, this year has been different. I've actually paid a bit more attention to what the candidates have been saying (even though some of it may not be quite accurate). At least we have the freedom and tools to seek out the truth ... which, in the end, should help someone make an informed decision.

Since I'm a Canadian, I can't vote for our next President. If I could, it would be for the best person for the job. I really don't believe I'd be able to vote along party lines, if I thought the candidate of my party was doing a lousy job.

Did a little surfing on the Web this evening, and ended up at Factcheck.org (the address DC got wrong in his debate with JE). It was little surprise, that both candidates don't quite have their facts correct ... but after reading a few of the articles, it was no surprise to see which candidate was a little closer to the truth ... and which one wasn't!

One example from Factcheck.org, of a great ad (depending on which side you're on), is an article titled Bush Ad Twists Kerry's Words on Iraq. It makes for interesting reading, since everyone knows the "flip flop" ad it's referring to. The article ends with the quote "But aside from the $87 billion matter, this Bush ad is a textbook example of how to mislead voters through selective editing." Misleading seems to be something that's going on quite a bit lately.

I think it was one of my teachers in school, who said the test for voting for President is to ask yourself one question, "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" It's certainly a valid question this election year.

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Monday, October 11, 2004

Photos

Today, I decided to start posting some of my photos. Follow the "Photo Album" link on the right to have a look. I have some more to add ... which I'll try to get to as quickly as I can. Enjoy.

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Saturday, October 09, 2004

New Friends

The past couple days have been the usual ... not much happening or worth writing about. I did, however, receive e-mails from my "new friends" that I met at Oktoberfest last weekend! Gela wrote yesterday (and I've had to practice writing German), and Sabine wrote this morning! It was nice to hear from them.

Did watch the Presidential Debate last night. It started out as a rehash of the last debate, but eventually it got around to new things. I did find one nice bit of irony from the whole thing. GB was talking about JK's "wrong war" comments saying it would be very difficult to get a coalition of Allies, if it's a "wrong war", as JK calls it.

GB - "They're not going to follow an American president who says follow me into a mistake." Hmmm ... isn't that exactly what happened?

GB gave a very good explanation about why there is no solid coalition of Allies presently in Iraq! Kind of reinforced JK's position.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ron, you're my hero.

12:12 PM  
Blogger Ron said...

Of course ... Poland! How could I forget?

2:39 PM  

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Thursday, October 07, 2004

Quote

"The real proof that there is intelligent life in outer space is that they haven't come here."

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Punta Gorda - 7 weeks after Hurricane Charley

Made a trip down to Punta Gorda this evening ... my third since Hurricane Charley devastated this little town. The cleanup is pretty much completed, but the tarped roofs, the piles of rubble that until recently were homes or businesses, and the buildings that haven't been torn down (looking like a bomb had gone off inside), are still vivid reminders of what kind of damage the Hurricane did.

I think the one example of the Hurricane's power that will always stick in my mind, is a pine tree along the southbound lane of Interstate 75. While many other trees were either toppled or were snapped in half like a toothpick, this one tree stands out, because it's simply bent (not broken) about 90 degrees! It still amazes me to see this tree just bent like that without actually snapping.

Went to one of my favorite spots, Harpoon Harry's, a nice bar & restaurant. It's located right on Charlotte Harbor ... ground zero for Hurricane Charley. It had been closed due to Hurricane damage, but just recently reopened for business. It still looks the same ... except for the missing dock that ran around the outside of the building. The pilings were the only things left.

Looks like it might take quite some time for this scar on Punta Gorda to completely heal ... if it ever can.

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Tuesday, October 05, 2004

Finally Blogging

Well, after some time, I've finally decided to start posting my own "blog" as a way of sharing, and maybe remembering, some of the things I've experienced. I don't know how exciting or interesting this will be, but may get better as we go along!

While it was a few days ago, did spend last weekend at our local Oktoberfest ... and had a great time! Met some really great people from Germany ... Helmut, Siggi, and Sabine (who made it especially fun!).

Also got to meet and visit a bit with Roland, and the very appealing Gela, from the German band Musikuss, who were flown in to play. They were really great! Here are a couple photo's from their Web site.



I also heard about a band Jennifer and The Venturas, but have never heard them play before. They were also at Oktoberfest, and they were very good as well. If you get a chance, check them out!

Well, that's it for my first post. Will try to keep 'em coming when I've got something worthwhile to say.

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