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[Tim Oppenheim <timopp AT gmail.com>]

Don,

Glad to hear your getting along. Sorry about the health issues, but its good 
your past it. 

We built a room on the back of ours and even checking references and staying 
on the guy, I still wanted to beat him. I wish you the best on building. 

Tim

Sent from my iPad

On Apr 16, 2013, at 9:57 AM, Don Bowen <don.bowen AT earthlink.net> wrote:

> I spent from the end of October to the end of February mostly sitting 
> around and walking only with crutches after leg surgery to straighten 
> the leg.  During that time I played with the radio, spending time on the 
> HF and 2M bands.  Before surgery I put some metal in the air.  I also 
> started maintaining the local repeater and I am the net control for the 
> Sunday night net.  We can be found in the Ozarks on 147.390+, no tone.  
> I am an electronics engineer but with little RF experience so more 
> things to learn.  I also spent the time and passed my Extra Class 
> license plus becoming a VE.
> 
> I also spent time designing a house that we hope to build this summer if 
> we can get builders to respond.  This is the Ozarks and there is always 
> something more interesting to do than work.  We had three that bothered 
> to come by and only one has bothered to send a bid.  We were told by the 
> bank and others that builders are hungry but we have not seen it.  As 
> part of that I was recently given enough Oak to build the stairs and 
> some of the trim.  The builder that appears to want the job will more 
> than likely get it.  It is a small county, the builder's wife is the 
> nurse that prepped me for surgery and his mother in law was our 
> grandson's third grade teacher.  His partner is the cousin of the friend 
> who is giving me the Oak.
> 
> I also caught myself up on technology so researched the world of SBCs 
> and thought up some projects but those will have to wait. Arduino, 
> PIC-AXE, Raspberry-Pi, BeagleBone, oh my.
> 
> One of the more interesting things I looked into was 3D printing, I 
> think that is a real game changer in many ways.  Prices are way down, 
> some good ones under $1000.  Some are built with parts from the same 
> printer.  Want a high capacity magazine?  Someone will have written a 
> program for one and you can print all you want.  Why worry if wears out 
> quickly because it is PVC, print more.
> 
> I have also been to the Bay area three times, Los Angles twice and 
> Denver three times, over the last year dealing with family issues. I 
> have a very good friend whom I would do anything for who is getting up 
> in years and is ailing.  I suspect I will be making a few more trips 
> before a final trip in the not too distant future.
> 
> Also our almost 3 year old grandson has a very rare form of cancer in 
> his eye.  He is responding well to treatment but those treatments 
> require my son to make trips to Sloan Kettering in New York.  They think 
> there is only one more trip then the treatment will continue in Los Angles.
> 
> My sister in law fell and shattered her leg into her knee joint a couple 
> of days before I went in for surgery.  She had severe injuries and 
> required several surgeries.  She was about two or three weeks behind me 
> in recovery and brags that she has one more screw than I do in her leg, 
> I am missing a screw.  She was a heavy smoker until just a couple of 
> years ago when she was diagnosed with COPD and that was a leading cause 
> of the extent of the injury.  My doctor said that smoking is one of the 
> worst things you can do for your bones especially if you are female.
> 
> Other than that it have been a slow winter and spring is reluctant to 
> arrive.
> 
> -- 
> Don Bowen           AD0BR
> "A man must keep a little back shop where he can be himself without 
> reserve. In solitude alone can he know true freedom."
> -Michel De Montaigne 1588
> http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/Journal.html
> 
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