Mattes's Musings by KC2GIK

In case it hasn't been clear before I do have Cerebral Palsy and if you did a serach for my name on Google or even looked through the pages of this blog you'll see while I don 't focus on the topic exclusively, I write about it when the time warran ts. It also gives me a little bit of a license to point out some misrepresentations the general public makes about folks with disabilities. I am also very harsh when people accuse my of using my disability to get sympathy even thou gh I admit I do it on a very RARE OCCASION! I am also extremely critical of people who use it too often.........enter Michael J. Fox. Unlike most celebrities even before he came down with Parkinson's, Fox was someone who people respected, I do too. I am saying not he is flawless nor am I idolizing him, however he has always stayed somewhat above the fray when it came to mixing politics with fame. He's a devoted Democrat but doesn't think if you're a Republican you're going to Hell...

OK here's the scenario my brother made me his best man for his wedding. Two things immediately sprang into my mind, the bachelor party and the toast. Without going into too many details, I, with a lot of help from my uncle, got a group of guys out to Las Vegas. If you're wondering where's that particular entry, keep on looking because I'm sitting on it indefinitely. The second more pressing issue is the toast, not writing it but reading it out loud in front of everyone. It's my decision if I want to read it or not, but I'm getting a lot of external pressure to hand it off to my uncle. Now I have been grappling with this idea for weeks, one day I want him to read it, the next day I want to get up there on my own. Writing speeches is a lot different than writing articles because a speech is not a time to exercise my massive vocabulary or compose these complex sentences. The problem lies with the fact my relatives know how I can drag out my conversations and t...

Well in two of the entries in this online journal I have talked about getting on the air for Field Day which is the last weekend in June. Well after years of obstacles, Ifinally have setup a HF station at home. It consists of you guessed it, a dual band HF rig and my HP. I written about PSK-31 in two previous artciles, so I won't go into too much details aboutr that. However I will say knowing that I can jump on for a few hours during the band openings is a good thing> I even made contact from folks out in Minnesota which was a thrill and a half!! It's not always easy roping these contacts in, but it is sure rewarding when I confirm a contact. One of the extra bonuses is working "Special Event" stations where they give out special certificates when you make contact with them. It's just one of the many thrills of being a ham. After a week o f trying to get them to recognize my call, the answered. So now I have sent away for a certificate that should be here s...