aka, KE7VVU, aka me

A few weeks ago, my wife received an email that was offering an Amateur Radio Operators class for any of the Staff and their family that wanted to take the course.

It was a condensed 3 day course.  I’ve always thought that it would be nice to get my license but it wasn’t really something that I was dying to get.  When this opportunity came up, I figured that I should take advantage of it.  It was free after all.

So I signed up for the course.  There was a ton of pre-homework that we were supposed to do, but with our trip to Montana right before class started and my work being a bit crazy I wasn’t able to do a lot of the assigned work.

I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to keep up during the class.  I even considered not going to the class on the day that it started, but I went.

It was really strange because I found that the concepts, rules, regulations, etc. actually came quite easily to me.  I was still concerned that I wouldn’t pass the exam though.

Last Saturday morning was the exam.  I had taken a few practice exams online and was feeling a bit more confident about the exam, but was still just hoping to pass.

Well I completed the exam within about 20 minutes.  Then I had to wait for another 40 minutes (or more) to get my results.

When the VE came over to give me my results I was shocked.  I had passed with 100%.  So this week I’ve just been waiting for my call sign to be posted to the ULS database, which would mean that I could start using an Amateur Radio (provided I actually had one).

Well, today my call sign was finally posted and now technically I have my Technician Class Amateur Radio license.  I’ll be taking the exam for he General class at some point, but probably not for a while.

One Christmas I was given a 10-speed from Santa (I actually still have it out in my garage today).  During the Summer months, I would almost literally wake up, get on my bike and stay there pretty much the rest of the day and into the evening, until it was time to go home.

I hate to run, but put my on a bicycle and I’ll go (when in much better shape than I am currently) for miles (and miles and miles).

I was all over the neighborhood.  I would ride all over our ward and even got a bit daring and started to ride all over my home town.  One time a friend and I were riding several miles from my house when my Dad drove by in his old beat up tile truck.  I figured that I was in deep trouble, but instead he honked, we waved and kept on riding.  We ended up not too far from where I live now, which for a kid on a bike is quite a ways.

Another time I was riding around a neighborhood in our area early one morning.  The girl that I “liked” at the time lived there (yes, I spent a lot of time riding around in that neighborhood and yes I was a young and dumb kid).  As I turned the corner headed towards her house, her dad came around the corner (I’m guessing he was headed to work because it really was that early in the morning).  I was going pretty fast and took the corner a bit too wide and nearly ran right into the front of his car.  Thankfully he had good brakes.

July was one of my favorite months because that was when the Tour de France (and Winbledon was also wrapping up, but that’s a story for another day) was held and I would read the paper each day checking out the results (yes, I’m old.  The Internet didn’t exist back then).  I remember cheering for Greg Lemond and dreaming of one day riding in just such a tour.  It was of course like many young kids dreams, just a dream, but I’ve never lost my love for cycling, just the time (and fitness) to do so.

So this week when I started hearing rumors about Lance Armstrong coming out of retirement, I was intrigued to say the least.  Well it’s official, he is coming out of retirement.

I think that it’s great and I really hope that he can get back on top.  I just hate to see some of these people come out of retirement and not be on top of their sport, because it tends to take a bit off of what I remember them to be.

So Good Luck Lance, LIVEStrong!  You may even inspire me to get back on a bike, I just need to find one sturdy enough.

I went to lunch yesterday at a Chinese place that I like.  A couple of doors down is a Toy store, only it’s for big boys.  Ok, that probably sounds bad, so before you start thinking I’m some kind of strange freak, let me explain.

They sell all kinds of motorized equipment. Mainly Four Wheelers and Motorcycles.

I’ve been looking for a Go Kart that I can either put together or work on with my Varsity Team.  So I visited the store after lunch to see if they could help me out.

As it turns out, they had exactly what I was looking for.  On an impulse, I bought it.  I ordered a new clutch and bought a new throttle cable for it.  My only problem was needing to break the news to my wife.

Thankfully, she’s still talking to me and I’m not sleeping on the couch.  With some work it should look and run great.

The list of things that I need to do continues to grow.

Things that must get done:

1. Fix/Adjust the blinds on every window in the house
2. Paint many walls/rooms.
3. Hang many things on said newly painted walls.
4. Clean up/out my sanctuary…errr….garage.
5. Finish and Paint the walls in the garage.
6. Add shelves and organize the garage.
7. Work on finishing the basement.
8. Finish redesigning/installing the home network.
9. Finish setting up new home Firewall.
10. Finish setting up new home fileserver.
11. Fix damage done to house this winter.
12. Finish Mud Room Bathroom Shower.
13. Finish Mud Room Lockers.
14. Fix broken door knob.
15. Put up fence around yard/house
16. Finish Fountain and Pond in front yard.
17. Put in Flag Pole in front yard.
18. Finish flower beds in front and back yards.
19. (Start &) Finish RV Pad and gate.
20. Rotate tires on all four cars.
21. Change oil in all four cars.
22. Fix nail pops and other various types of wall damage within the house.
23. Caulk the bathrooms and kitchen.
24. Deep clean kitchen tile floor.
25. Setup computer(s) for kids to use while doing homework.
26. Get Truck trailer lights and brakes wired.
27. Get Van trailer lights and brakes wired.
28. Get into MBA school.
29. Finish MBA school.
30. Finish Wood Badge tickets.
31. Finish University of Scouting tickets.

and the list goes on.

Here is a list of the hobbies that I would like to take up or do more with.

1. Get a Snake.
2. Get a Motorcycle.
3. Learn to be a better cook.
4. Get a Shotgun.
5. Go Clay Pigeon shooting with said Shotgun.
6. Go Camping (more often).
7. Go Backpacking.
8. Do more Mountain Biking.
9. Pick up Basketball again.
10. Pick up Softball again.
11. Get a Black Powder Rifle.
12. Go to target range with said Black Powder Rifle.
13. Get a 22 rifle.
14. Go to target range with said .22 rifle.
15. Take up fishing.
16. Do more woodworking.
17. Learn to weld,
18. Buy snowmobiles.
19. Go Snowmobiling.
20. Tour the world riding the worlds great Roller Coasters.

As you can see the second list is shorter, so I’m thinking that I should start with that list first, though I think that my wife has other thoughts on the subject.  She may even veto many of the items on the second list.

First we drove to Brigham City for dinner at the Idle Isle Cafe.  It was pretty good food, but their furnace was broken so it was extremely cold.  We had to wear our coats while we ate.

For most of the drive it was snowing or the snow was blowing pretty good.  Most of the drive was uneventful.  As I mentioned earlier, I was the first to see the Rigby Water Tower.  Then again, my sister’s weren’t there so I had a distinct advantage.  The background for that is as a child whenever we’d go to Rigby my sisters and I would compete to see who would see the Water Tower first.  Turns out that I won this time

The one downside to not having my sisters (and their families) with us was that they weren’t there to sing one of the Family Travel songs over the CB radio as we travelled.  I was personally introduced to this phenomenon when my family came to Pennsylvania to pick me up from my mission.  It seems while I was gone my family was introduced to a group by the name of String Fever and there was one particular song on the album that my sisters loved to sing especially to my Grandpa while we travelled.  The song is Lamp Lighting Time In the Valley (those of you that know the song will now be humming/singing it for the rest of the day.  For that you may curse me, but my response is simply “You’re Welcome”) so when the song came on my iPod just outside of Rigby, I had to play it over the CB but didn’t sing, for which I’m sure everyone involved was very relieved.

As we approached Rexburg you could see the Temple off in the distance.  It almost looked as if it was floating in the air.  We made it to the hotel and pretty much immediately went to bed.

Friday morning we went through the Temple Open House.  The Temple is very beautiful and it excites me even more to see the Oquirrh Mountain Temple as it appears to be the same basic floor plan.  There is a theme of Wheat throughout the temple and everywhere you look there is the image of wheat.  It’s actually pretty cool.  There is also a ton of wood everywhere.

I was surprised at how organized the Open House was.  I remember waiting in really long lines at previous Open Houses’ but not at this one, everything went fairly quickly, which was good considering we had small children with us.

After the Temple Open House we to lunch at Big Jud’s.  My son has been wanting to go there for quite some time because they have the Big Jud Special on the menu.  It’s a large order of fries and a 1 lbs. (yes, a full pound) hamburger.  He had his mind set that he was going to order it, but thankfully he split it with his Grandpa.  Not only did they order this behemoth they ordered it with Bacon too.  To their credit they finished it.

He ate half of it by himself.  I was surprised that he was able to do so, but he did and he didn’t get sick.  The other thing that was great about Big Jud’s is that they have Cherry Ironport(or Ironport and Cherry as I’ve always called it).  It’s a regional drink that can be difficult to find and anytime I find it I have to get some.  As a kid, we’d get them whenever we went to Idaho, so finding it during this trip was appropriate.

Nearly everyone at our table had one (or more, I had two myself) and my daughter who had never had it before proclaimed it the best drink ever.

After lunch we went to Rigby.  We have a lot of extended family there and it is where my Dad was born and spent a good part of his childhood.  We went specifically to go to the Jefferson County Museum to see some items that are on loan from members of our family.

When we’d go to Idaho when I was younger we’d either stay with my Great Grandparents in Idaho Falls or in Rigby.  When we’d stay in Rigby it was at the Funeral Home in town.  They lived upstairs, the Funeral Home was downstairs and the Trains were in the basement.  I’ve written briefly about the train before (see this post).  My Great Grandpa built the trains by hand and I have many fond memories, as does all of the family I’m sure, of spending time with Grandpa downstairs running the trains.

Because of all of those memories is a place that I like to visit whenever I can.  This time was special to me because most of my children had never been there and those that had probably don’t remember it.  I took a bunch of photos, in fact I finally filled up the 1gb memory card in my camera and had to switch to the much smaller 32mb card.

At first we went to the Jefferson County Museum, because there are a few items of Grandma and Grandpa’s that are on loan there.  Unfortunately I didn’t get a photo of the old fashion phone, but I did get a photo of some of the trains and Grandpa’s old slot machine.

I have great memories of saving my nickels (or as was usually the case, begging them off of my parents), putting it into the slot machine, pulling the handle and hearing that distinctive sound.  They have it near the front door of the Museum so it was the first thing we did when we arrived.  Just a note regarding these photos, before anyone starts jumping up and down yelling and screaming about under age gambling, see that piece of paper on the wall above the slot machine?  It’s a history of slot machines in Rigby and about how it was given to my Great Grandfather and how his son has loaned it to the Museum.  You can play all you want the catch is and it states it on the sign, you can’t keep any winnings, they must stay at the Museum.  So in reality it’s just a fun way for them to raise funds.

There are two other items that are on loan to the Museum, a doll house that was given to my Dad’s aunt no too long before she passed away at age 9 and a display case of some of the trains and buildings from the Funeral Home.

After the Museum we went to the Funeral Home and saw the trains and some family members.  You can see all of the photos that I (and my Dad) took here, but one of my favorites from the bunch is this one.  It’s some of my kids listening to their Grandpa (my Dad) tell a story about the car in his hands.  I’ve heard the story a thousand times, but I never tire of it and am happy that my kids get to hear it too.

After we left Rigby, we did the typical thing that families with young children do when staying at a Hotel/Motel.  Yup, we went back to the Hotel, went swimming and brought in some dinner.  While we were at Big Jud’s earlier in the day I saw a flier that advertised a Snowmobile Scoot N’ Shoot that was going to be that night and the next day.  It looked like a ton of fun, but since I didn’t have any snowmobiles or the the time, I wasn’t able to go.  The one thing was that it was being sponsored by the Hotel we were staying at, so while we were swimming and eating out dinner there were snowmobilers coming and going the entire time.  It really made me wish that I had some, but the event was a Polaris event, so I didn’t see too many Arctic Cats which made it easier to bare.

The next morning, we went to the Rigby Pioneer Cemetery and traipsed through the snow to go see Grandma and Grandpa’s grave.  The snow was pretty deep, up to my knees at times, but it’s always good to pay a visit to them when we get a chance.  It would have been nice to have visited the graves of my other Great Grandparents buried near Idaho Falls, but their headstone is flat and we would have never found it under all of that snow.

We then went to Smitty’s in Idaho Falls for Breakfast.  It’s pretty much a tradition that when we go to Idaho, we go for Breakfast at Smitty’s.  My two sons both ordered the 15 Pancake breakfast.  One finished it, the other did not, but was extremely close to finished.  My guess is that he still had all of that hamburger weighing his stomach down from the day before.

The one cool thing was that when we walked in my son noticed that they had Butter Rum Life Savers at the front counter, so when I paid our bill, I bought four packages of them.  The problem is that my mouth is now raw from sucking on Butter Rum Life Savers, but it is oh so worth it.

After Smitty’s we left for home, stopping at another set of grandparents on the way home to visit.  Overall it was a very worthwhile trip, especially since we don’t get there very often and we don’t know when we’ll be there next.