Seaside Hamfest and WWARA Talk….

Attended the Seaside hamfest this weekend. I am pretty sure that I attended my first one 30 years ago or really close to it. I enjoy seeing people and hanging out, but there is little at the hamfest that actually interests me. I bought my normal bag of adapters and misc. connectors and then tried to wonder around the main flea market area. Since I’m still not doing great with the leg thing, I ended up going back to the room to rest after an hour.

My main reason for coming this year was to give a talk on the WWARA and repeater coordination. The idea was to hold a short membership meeting during the talk (which I managed todo in less than two minutes) and then give a talk about what repeater coordination actually is and some of the things the WWARA does for regular hams. The room was nearly filled and people were asking questions, so I’m going to call it a success. Here is a link to the talk.

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Week 6.5 Post Hamstring Surgery

During my four week post post-op follow up with the doc, I got a bunch of really good news. I got a schedule for slowing adding weight to my right leg (50% that week, then 25% a week) and he increased the brace so I could sit up to 80 degrees and then 90 degrees the following week. On week six, I was allowed to ditch the crutches and brace completely. March 29th was six weeks from my surgery, when I woke up that morning I ditched the brace and move the crutches to the corner.

I had already been slowly adding weight bearing to my right leg for the last couple weeks. My PT guy pointed out that 75% weight bearing, I could stand without the crutches, because I was only going to put 50% on my bad leg. When I realized this, I went pretty quickly to ‘walking’ with the crutches. I was only really using them when going up and down stairs.

Rosie was pretty amazed to see me walking around on Tuesday, she said that I was walking normally and couldn’t believe it. I get tired still if I go for any long distances and need to take stairs slow, but so far so good. Back to work next week.

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Week 2, Post Hamstring Surgery…

For those that don’t know, almost a year ago (August, 2017) I tore most of the hamstring from where it attaches to the bone on my right side. The doctors call it a “Proximal Hamstring Primary Tear”, unlike most other hamstring tears, this won’t ‘heal’ on its own. Diagnosing the whole thing took a long time, because it isn’t a common thing and you can’t really tell without an MRI. So I tore it in August 2017, did the RICE thing for six months with it never really getting better and in December 2017 jump through the hoops to get an MRI.

The first orthopedic surgeon I saw was pretty amazed that I wasn’t in more pain considering how bad the tear was, but because I was functioning, he was strongly recommending  just changing my lifestyle and dealing with it. He (correctly) pointed out that the recovery from the surgery to fix is one of the worst he knows. I noodled on this for several months and did the PT he recommended to make everything around it as strong as possible, but ultimately I realized I was living with a time bomb in me. I finally went and got a second opinion, but this time I went to a specialist for sports  (the same doc that fixes the Seahawks actually) orthopedic surgery. The second opinion was basically the same as the first, it is a really bad tear and the surgery recovery sucks, but he said if I do the PT, there is no reason I can’t go back to Tae Kwon Do.

So there was more hoop jumping, finally was able to schedule the surgery for April 17th. That was almost two weeks ago now and everything went great. The doctor was happy with the outcome.

This was the third major surgery I’ve had in the last seven years, the previous two times were on my knee. In the past I bounced back quicker, with fewer issues, but every bad thing I’ve been told about the hamstring repair is turning out to be true. The first problem was my boding restarting from the anesthesia. I have never gotten constipated, but this time it was four days before I finally had a bowel movement. I was doing all the things you were suppose todo, but nothing was moving. Luckily once things got restarted, everything has been fine since.

So I knew that I’d be on crutches for six weeks after the surgery and there is no weight bearing for at least the first four weeks, then you are suppose to get limited weight bearing and ultimately walking without crutches. But the restricted movement thing is really annoying. I have to wear a brace for six weeks, but it isn’t to ‘support’ my leg, it is there to make sure I can’t bend more than 36 degrees at the waist. Basically they don’t want any stress put on the hamstring, which means I can’t sit up. That means eating is a real challenge, even sitting here on my laptop is a big issue. I got a special stand that hold my laptop up and I have pillows supporting me, but I’m only good to be in this position for about an hour.

Then there is the location of the actual surgery. There is no nice way to put this, it is in the middle of my right butt cheek. So even if I could sit up, I can’t sit in a chair because of this four inch hole that is slowly growing back together. The first week was really bad, but last two weeks ago the pain backed off a little bit. I stopped taking the narcotics about six days after the surgery during the day and switched to Tylenol, only taking a pill at night. Then around the time I went in for the 10 day post-op check up, I stopped taking them at night. I still can’t ‘sit’ in a normal chair, but the hole is becoming less and less of an issue.

I had the first post-op appointment on Thursday last week and the PA said I was healing very well. She put some jerry-strips on, but said don’t worry if they fall off the next time I shower.

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This makes me a little sad….

Link to original Twitter Post…

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Another day, another HamWAN site….

Spent most of Friday afternoon and Sunday afternoon working on the Beacon Hill HamWAN site. Here are the pictures from the two days.

Friday I finished the rack build out, which was mainly getting the UPS batteries wired up and assembling the PDU and Switch. With that working, I was able to configure enough of the PtP link to Baldi (which Bart had installed the previous weekend) to allow the admin group to get into the site.

Today the crew got the S2 sector installed (what I call the Kenny sector, since it points at my QTH) and another PtP antenna for Haystack. They were all at least talking to each other when we left, but I think more admin configuration is needed. (where is DHCP guys?)

Next weekend is another PtP dish for Gold and then S1 / S3 sectors. Got to use a rotary hammer today to drill holes in the concrete for the PtP dish. That was cool….

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Lyman Hill install of 224.78….

Forgot to post these pictures of the trip to Lyman Hill last month. The trip was to install the new 224.78 repeater. The most interesting thing about the trip was the ‘crowd’ we found when we got up there. Another amateur group was working on their repeater in another building and the WireISP guys were there. (the incredibly messing / scary rack next to the repeater is the WISP)

Here are the pictures I took….

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Beacon Hill HamWAN install, day1…..

Spent the afternoon helping out with a new HamWAN site installation. About half the day was spent hauling up all the equipment. (Full size Dell rack, batteries for UPS, four dishes and three sector antennas) I spent the rest of the time trying to install the UPS, which was really a bunch of rare parts. What I got done will need to be yanked out and re-done on Friday, since I was working with a bad set of assumptions. (No worries, it will be quicker the second time :-)

Like an idiot I got no pictures of what I did, but did get a bunch of pictures of the outside and the one dish Bart got mounted. (Mostly, it will also need some additional work)

NOTE: Here are the pictures Tim took….

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Paris, day eleven…..

Last full day in Paris is almost over. And if you havne’t noticed a trend so far, things didn’t quite go as planned. I overslept a bit, since I was awaken around 4am by someone yelling in the street. He was at it for nearly an hour and it took me a while to get back sleep again. No clue what is was, I am guessing it was workmen doing something, since he wasn’t so much screaming, but yelling at people todo things.

So late start meant I missed breakfast in the hotel. This has been the safest place for me to eat by far in Paris. I tried a couple bites of a almond croissant Rosie brought back and just had my tea. We finally hit the street close to noon and headed towards the Eiffel Tower. It is a nice long walk from our hotel, close to an hour according to Google Maps. I haven’t mentioned this yet, but walking with Isaac and Rosie is a little difficult for me. They are both MUCH, MUCH slower than I. Which means I am either having to stop all the time to wait for them, or running into the back of them. So I suspect the walk would have taken longer than the estimated 60 minutes.

We took off towards the Tuileries Gardens and then hung a right onto the Champs Elysé. This was one of the planned places to visit, which I had figured wasn’t going to happen. But it was basically on our way and mostly in the right direction. Again, it was one of those situations where you could tell it was really pretty in the spring/summer, but today it was blah.

Champs Elysé

As you can see, the sky was pretty grey and it had just started switching from the misting to raining phase at this point. As we kept going, it switched from raining to dumping serious water on us, which was made worst by the wind starting to blow it sidewise. At this point, Rosie declared we had got close enough and were were heading back to the hotel.

This was the best view of the Eiffel Tower I got….

Eiffel Tower, sort of

At his point, we ducked into the closest Metro station to get out of the rain and figure out what todo. Initially Rosie was thinking of Uber, but we eventually just figured out the Metro system. The underground train system in Paris is called the Metro and it appears pretty decent. We hadn’t bothered using it all week, since most everything was closest enough to walk to that we wanted to see. (And we had gotten seriously lazy)

In London I had downloaded an app for my phone which would take the beginning and ending points and tell you which trains to use. I hadn’t planned on using the Metro in Paris, so I never looked for a similar app. But between GoogleMaps and Rosie decoding the signs, we figure out how to get back to our hotel.

Metro station in Paris

I was really hoping that once it stopped raining and we dried out, we’d make another trip on the Metro to see the Eiffel Tower, but it didn’t happen. Rosie and I ended up taking naps, while Isaac watched tv shows on his iPad. We finally got moving around 7pm and walked across the street to have noodles.Tomorrow we fly out in the morning back to the States. Since the trip home is naturally longer, I decided to add a layover in Dallas. We are on the plane from Paris to DFW about the same amount of time as the flight from Seattle to London, but need another three hours to make it the rest of the way home. I figured a 2.5 hour layover to get off the plane, stretch and move around was a good plan. It means we won’t get home until nearly 8PM on Friday, but I think it was a smart move.

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Paris, day ten….

We jumped the shark yesterday. All of us are ready to go home and having a hard time forcing ourselves todo anything except lay in the hotel room. Yesterday we set aside for the Louvre, and we did a pretty good job of getting up and walking over by 10:30am. (It doesn’t actually open until 10am) But once we got to the entrance, we realized the line for the people without tickets was huge. As Rosie and I tried to figure out how to buy them online, we stood in line. So you can buy tickets online, but you have to physically print them. So we stood in line for about an hour to get into the door.

Glass Pyramid @ Louvre

By the way, I didn’t know this until yesterday, but the big glass Pyramid at the Louvre is actually surrounded by three smaller glass pyramids.

Backside of Glass Pyramid @ Louvre

As you can see, the line was pretty crazy to get in the door. We found out once we got to the front, it was really just waiting for security. Everybody was having their bags searched (through x-ray machine) and then you personally walk through a metal detector. Later in the day we saw a bunch of soldiers in their full kits and rifles out in one of the main court yards.

Line to get in Lourve

After got inside and bought tickets, we took off in a random direction. We spent about 45 minutes walking around what I will call the Roman/Greek statue section. Rosie and Isaac were really into this, I just sort of followed along. Isaac had done a paper for school on Greek gods, so he really enjoyed see them. I managed to download the Louvre app for my phone and started trying to figure out where different things were located. (The Louvre has free WiFi, which was nice, since it allowed the App to track you)

After getting through one part of the Roman/Greek statue section, we doubled back to the main courtyard and got lunch. Food has been pretty tough on me since we got to Paris, about two out of three meals has got me sick. We had Pho for dinner last night, which I was Ok with, but it got both Rosie and Isaac sick.

Anyhow, after lunch we decided to split up. We really wanted to see different things. I told Rosie and Isaac about the spnix, which they took off to see and I tried to find the Italian artist section.

Spinx and Isaac Selfie

Here is my suggestion for anybody planning on visiting the Louvre, spend some time planning out your visit ahead of time. The first problem is the place is just huge, I sort of doubt you could physically walk the entire thing in a day. The second problem is the layout is super confusing. There are actually five levels, three of them underground, but you can’t get between levels at all junctions. Additionally it is designed so you can get from one major section to another, without going back to the common center court yard. It took me about an hour to figure out the second point. I knew were I wanted to go, but I couldn’t figure out how to get there. I saw a bunch of amazing things and eventually even found the Mona Lisa, but I was just ready to head back to the hotel after three hours. I think Rosie and Isaac did a better job seeing things.

Suit of Armor @ Louvre

I found a room full of medial weapons and this full suit of armor. I sort of wish I had some reference for size, but I think Isaac might have been to tall to wear it.

Bottom of Glass Pyramid @ Louvre

So the glass Pyramid isn’t technically a pyramid, since there is a mirror image below it. Making it really a glass diamond. Lots of people were taking selfie’s, but lining things up so it looked like they were holding the diamond on their hand.

View out of Glass Pyramid @ Louvre

I actually thought the view out was pretty amazing. This is one of the few outside pictures that I didn’t lighten up. You can see just how ‘grey’ it was outside. The entire week has been like that, next time we will have to come in the spring time.

Mona Lisa

Here is its, the most famous painting in the world. This picture is cropped and taken about 20 feet back. The mass of people in front of the line was crazy and the line is a good 10 feet from the actual painting.

Several random comments. I was surprised by how big it was, I expected it to be much smaller. The other really surprising thing is this was the  most security of any painting / exhibit. You could touch all of the statues and most stuff didn’t have any glass over the paintings. The other interesting thing, nobody was touching/climbing over ropes to get closer. People were being respectful. I felt horrible, because I doubt it would be that way at home.

Hallway @ Louvre

This is just a random stair way I came across. I really liked the look and it was one of those rare instances where there wasn’t a ton of people around. It also gives you a good view of the architecture. Most of the stairs and hallways were stone/marble.

Random Furniture Rooms @ Louvre

At one point when I got lost, I came across this section which had full rooms from old French palaces.  There was nothing but a low rope separating you from the exhibit.

Another random staircase

I might have mentioned that I was getting tired. This is another staircase that looked cool to me. While there were a lot of people in some sections of the museum, there were others that were nearly empty. This was one of the empty ones. I have to wonder if it is was because people weren’t as interested or they couldn’t find them.Eventually I met back up with Rosie and Isaac. They were late, because they were making a run to see the Mona Lisa before leaving. It was actually pretty easy to get to it, once you realized which of the half dozen ‘entrances’ to take.

Isaac Selfie with Lisa

As we headed out of the Louvre, we came across a Apple Store. I might have known there was one here, but had forgotten. It was a pretty good size store to, I guess the Louvre is part shopping mall now. There were dozens of stores you had to walk past to get out.

Apple Store @ Louvre

I also found a set of Amazon lockers, I guess people may want to have their deliveries shipped to the Louvre to pick up on the way home.

Amazon Locker @ Louvre

We honestly didn’t do much else the rest of the day. We came back to the hotel and Rosie took a nap, while Isaac read. I had to run back to the SFR store and top up my iPhone SIM. It seems that I had burn through 5Gb’s of data on my phone since Monday. I was a little shocked by this, since I had used less than 3GB in London and we were there seven days. While I was waiting to puchase the top up, I poked around and discovered what happen. I had told my phone to update a bunch of Apps on Tuesday. I used 3GB alone on that little transaction. I have been doing EVERYTHING via my phone since getting to London, including turning it into a hotspot for my iPad and Kindle. The hotel WiFi doesn’t work very well, so it was easier to just use the cell. (And faster) Oh well. It was only 30 EUR to buy another 8GB (cheaper than buy 2GB). So now I am trying to burn through 8GB before going home tomorrow. I may download a movie to my phone via Amazon Prime or something.

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Paris, day nine….

So the day nine actually got off to slower start than day eight. Rosie manage to get up early and go to her Crossfit class. I ended up sleeping until 10am, which I obviously really needed. I woke up with the cough basically gone. Since we missed breakfast in the hotel, we ran over to the close Starbucks to grab something. (Yes, we love Starbucks. I am OK with that.). I don’t think the weird sandwich I got at SB caused my stomach to get pissed, but it certainly didn’t help. I have been dealing with a very upset belly all day. So we basically took today off from site seeing. Basically the food in Paris is trying to kill me. (For those that don’t know, I am super sensitive to dairy. I feel like I got several good doses of it)

So I spent most of the afternoon in the room. Later in the afternoon, Rosie and Isaac went for a walk and found the Hard Rock Cafe in Paris, where we decided to have dinner. The food was OK and less likely to continue poison milk.

Hard Rock Paris

After dinner, we walked back down by the big mall we went to earlier and found the Apple Store. This must be one of the flag ship stores, it was really amazing. I had never been in a multi-floor Apple Store before and certainly not one with a basement. I am pretty sure this was originally a bank, because the accessory section was inside what looked like a real vault.

Apple Store – Paris, Acessory Vault

The main floor had the normal display tables with macs, iPads and iPhones. You can see the second floor, which wrapped around the big open space of the ground floor in the picture.

Apple Store Paris

The upstairs was full of Genius Bar tables and people getting help. So this was on a Tuesday night, around 6:30 and the store was pretty full and all the spots at the half dozen Genius Bar tables were full.

Apple Store Paris, Genius Bar

After the Apple Store, we just walked back to the hotel and spent the rest of the evening in. The plan tomorrow is to get up early (meaning before 10am) and be ready to hike over to the Louvre. Most of the stores and museums here don’t open until 10am, which fits my time table just fine. The plan is to spend the whole day there and then have dinner. Hopefully it will be dark then, so we can see the Eiffel Tower at night. We have pretty much given up on the idea of going up it, everything we have read has said the wait can be four hours or more. Plus I don’t have any desire to hike up that many stairs.

Random Notes:

So Paris is the city of scooters. I saw a fair number of them in London, but nothing like here. They are everywhere and so many different kinds/sizes. Plus there are nearly zero motorcycles, it is all scooters. (The difference is a scooter has a seat like a chair and you don’t use your feet for anything.) With so many scooters and zero extra space, you find these rows of them all over the sidewalks.

Scooter Row

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