Jenn and Tom arrived yesterday and they brought Billy Rae and Miley.

Eric and Elizabeth came and we had a big dinner.

Tom played Blazing Aces on Wii and surpassed me within two hours!! I will have to work on that game.

Today is Veterans Day 2009.

Hurricane Ida came ashore yesterday on the Florida Panhandle and the remnants of the storm are now affecting us here in Hampton. The rain started last night and has pretty much continued all the way till now. It is a pretty gray, damp, and dreary day. The TV weather news is saying that we're going to have rain all the way until Saturday and that we are actually having a nor'easter.

Applebey's and Golden Corral are offering free meals to veterans today. I thought about going out to Applebee's but this weather is not very pleasant, so I think I will stay in.

As usual I am listening to the scanner and there is a emergency situation going on in the James River. There was supposed to be a swimmer in the water and Newport News sent out investigations and so did Isle of Wight and Virginia Marine resources commission. It wasn't too long that it was discovered that these people were in a canoe and the swimmer was back in the canoe and they were headed to the Pagan River in Smithfield. It amazes me that in this technological age with nearly instant communications capabilities that we cannot communicate better with cities surrounding our own. From what I heard on the radio no one made any attempt in Newport News to contact Smithfield. I was tempted to call Newport News dispatch but I decided against it. Let them waste their gas and time if they want to and have their heads up their asses. After I heard Smithfield Fire Department had found these canoeist and were clearing the scene, I decided to go ahead and call Newport News Fire dispatch. They seemed interested in what I had to tell them and they did pass on information to command that they should call Smithfield Fire.

Through a number ways I just realized that my 16 year e-mail address-skypilot@writeme.com is no longer forwarding e-mail to me. I have over 800 e-mail messages in the queue mail.com. They now want $30 a year for the service. I can keep the e-mail address but it will no longer forward the e-mail. I have a lot of work to do because I need to go through all of that e-mail to see where I need to change e-mail address to one that will forward. I am sure that there are at least 30 to 40 sites that I will have to visit to change my address.

Rainy day and pretty heavy rain at times. Very unusual for this time of year.

I am off to Newport News and other errands. Went to City Hall to drop off the pictures from the Employee Fest.

Then to Plaza Azteca to drop off pictures to Hector - he was the entertainment at the Employee Fest.

And then to the sleep doctor to have my CPAP checked out. Everything is ok with the CPAP machine.

When I got home there was a message on the answering machine. It was from my cousin, Mike. My uncle Mike passed away today around noon.

Mike was 86 yo and the last of the "Greatest Generation" of my maternal family. Mike was a great guy. He enlisted in the Air Crops in 1943. He served as a radioman, dorsal gunner on a B-17 flying out of England. His B-17 was shot down over German in Oct 1944 and he spent the rest of the war as a guest of the German Luftwaffe. Mike was a real hero. On his way to bail out, he heard that the tail gunner was wounded and trapped. While wounded himself, he risked his life to help the tail gunner exit the plane. Uncle Mike will be missed.

I feel so fortunate that I got to spend a lot of time with him last year. I visited him on two occasions. It was during my second trip in December that I found out more about his "shoot down."

Went to Riverside Regional Medical Center yesterday for my pre-op labs and x-ray. It was pretty busy and I was there for nearly two hours. I sure hope my brief visit to RRMC is better than my 4 days stay at Mary Immaculate Hosp last year. It really ticks me off that I will not know the time for my surgery until the day before the procedure. Susan is supposed to take me and Joe will pick me up. Susan just started her new job and I hate to have her come all the way back from Norfolk to take me to the hospital. I sure like the valet parking at RRMC. It is so nice not to have to look for a parking space way out in the "back 40!" And, there is no tipping!

Ace Hardware called to tell me that my lawnmower was ready. The small engine guy told me that there was nothing I could do to keep the situation from happening again. You cannot buy gas in VA that does not have ethanol. Someone mentioned that gas without ethanol can be obtained in N.C.

Today was a dreary day. Overcast all day and a little rain. Not feeling so good. Sure hope I am not coming down with the flu. They would probably postpone my surgery. I hear that I am in for quite an ordeal with my shoulder surgery, but it can't be any worse than my knee replacement surgery. I am a little worried about sleeping - I have never be any good at sleeping in where other than in bed. I have heard that it is really hard to get comfortable laying flat in bed. Oh well, my easy chair is pretty comfy. I think I am going to ask for some sleep aid meds.

Rained quite a bit last night, with thunderstorms. The weather is supposed to be nice this weekend with temps in the mid to low 70s. That will be nice for yard work. I have to borrow a mower cause mine is still in the repair shop. Hopefully Stretch will let me use his. I need to put down the fall grass seed.

I heard from my cousin Mike that his dad (Uncle Mike) is not doing well. Mike says - "Dad is getting weaker. He will likely be moving down to the other floor soon and out of the apartment. The fluid build up is competing with the kidneys. If they flush him too much the kidneys malfunction. He is hanging in there and goes up and down. The Tampa folks went to visit today. No report yet."
I'll call Mike later today to see if he got a report from Chris's family that visited.

I checked airfare to ORL - $164 round trip. Not a bad deal and much cheaper than driving. Of course I will have to rent a car.

Susan is teaching an acquaintance to drive.

Well, Bay Days went ok. I worked the City Hall first aid site from 6pm until closing at about 10:30. Nothing really happened expect a little boy fell and had a small abrasion on this scalp.

The USAF Langley group called the Blue Aces played on the main stage. They were very good and I have made a not to try to see them again. It was weird seeing a people dance and sing while wearing BDUs.

I didn't work Bay Days on Sat.

Bay Days again on Sun from noon to closing at 6pm. Again nothing much went on - put on two band-aids! It was fun watching all the people.

I have decided that it is good not to be an ALS provider any more. I can just sit back and watch other do their thing, and help out where needed - not to be responsible!!

Went out this morning and filled two two gallon container of gasoline - just in case the power goes out. The Tropical Storm is supposed to drop 2-3" of rain. I'd rather be ready.

This is IAFF MDA "Fill-the-Boot" week. I went out and took some shots of three stations working intersections.

Getting ready to go to Pittsburgh on the 5th of Sept for the Imhof reunion. I called my cousin Maggie to see if I could stay with them, but they are going out of town. I could stay with my other cousin Peggy, but Susan says the she does not have A/C. So, I went on the Internet and found that there is a USAF Inn at the Pittsburgh International Airport. I was able to make reservations for the three nights that I will be in the area.

My Review of PRO-106 39,000-Channel Digital Handheld Scanner

RadioShack

Always be in the know with this digital handheld scanner.

PRO-106 39,000-Channel Digital Handheld Scanner

The Best

SkyPilot49 Hampton, VA 8/28/2009

 

4 5

Pros: Clear Signal, Lightweight, Excellent Reception

Cons: Difficult To Program

Best Uses: Emergencies, Listening to local PS

Describe Yourself: Avid Adventurer

Primary use: Personal

This is my 6th scanner and my second Radio Shack/GRE scanner. The Pro-106 is by far the best scanner I have ever had. It also has the best "ears" of any scanner I have ever owned. I am able to receive a city FD that I have ever been able to copy.

A third party programming/control software is a must because these trunking scanners are tuff to program manually.

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I needed to do some things around the house today.

I noticed that the spa cover lid removal mechanism was messed up. When taking the system off, I found that the bracket by the wall was severely rusted. So, I sanded off the rust and painted with Rust-Oleum. Everything went back together, but I could not use the same screw holes.

I had an idea about refilling the spa. I connected both 100' sections of the garden hose and spread them out in the back yard. The tap water temp was 79 degrees and the temp of the water coming out of the hose was 90 degrees!!

I needed to do some things around the house today.

I noticed that the spa cover lid removal mechanism was messed up. When taking the system off, I found that the bracket by the wall was severely rusted. So, I sanded off the rust and painted with Rust-Oleum.

In order to put the cover mechanism back on, I had to drill new holes on for the from latch. It went back on ok.

I also drained the spa and put in new water.

Have not been feeling well the last two days. I have horseness and sore throat.

Looks like the steroid injection is wearing off. I don't have any neck or arm pain, but I wake up with just a section of my right hand numb.

Rush Limbaugh made a great joke today:

What do Barrack Obama and God have in common?

Neither one of them have a birth certificate!

I made it through the day and finally got some sleep from about 7:30 to about noon.

I am feeling better and maybe the steroid injection is working.

Well, the day arrived and I showed up at the neurosurgeon officer at 2pm for my neck steroid injections. Now, I have had several injections into a joints in the recent past. My most recent was in my right shoulder at the orthopod. However, I am a little anxious about this one - hell an 18 gauge into your neck very near you spinal cord!

I have confidence in the doc as he is probably 65 or so, so you know he has been doing this for a while. Also, this is the first joint injection guided via fluoroscopy.

I laid down on the table in prone position and a pillow under my chest. The tech rolled the fluoroscope over to the table and it encircled me. The doc pulled his chair to the head of the table - above my head. He cleaned the area and then entered some lidocaine.

The next thing was interesting - the doc enters a catheter on needle and withdraws the needle. The he injects the steroid. There was an electrical tingling down my left arm with the cath, but I only experienced pressure with the rest of the procedure.

They had me hang around for about 15 min to make sure that I did not have any reaction to the procedure.

At home about two hours later, I started to have a headache and my right arm was hurting more than usual.  I took some Ibprofun but that did not seem to help.  Went to bed about 11:00pm but could not sleep.  Went downstairs and messed on the laptop until about 2:00am.  Still could not sleep - having a pain in my right elbow that seems to be keeping me awake.

Went downstairs again and went to work on Susan's church videos.

I did not sleep at all.

Hampton Fire Div. promotion ceremony this afternoon at City Hall.

(First of all, I am disappointing cause I am shooting with the Nikon D-200. I had to send the D-300 in to Nikon for repair. She won't focus right.)

As usually, I arrived early to make sure all my stuff was in order.

Council chambers was crowded.

I am proud of all the promotes, but some even more so as I trained several of them.

Photos: http://photobucket.com/promotion_6-5-09

Others, well there is much to bee seen.

My right arm and neck are still going good. I am especially happy about the lack of numbness.

I am amazed - I am nearly pain-free in my right arm and I can turn my head 180 degrees without any pain. No numbness either.

Susan and Mom left for Pittsburgh this morning. I will be by myself for at least 10 days.

Sometimes I just want to throw my scanner against the wall! What happens to people when they pick up the microphone? Does all their common sense just fly out their ears? I can’t believe what I hear on the radio sometimes. For example, something I heard today:

EMS-1: "EMS-1 to Medic-10"

Medic-10: "Go ahead EMS-1"

EMS-1: "Medic-10 go to Tac-1"

Medic-10: "10-4"

EMS-1 (One Tac-1): "EMS-1 to Medic-10"

Medic-10: "Medic-10"

EMS-10: "Check your Opticom, it appeared to on when you were at the scene."

Medic-10: "10-4"

Gesh, 8 transmissions when all of this radio traffic could have been made via two radio exchanges. First of all, this could have been made on the primary channel. What, you worried about embarrassing Medic-10s crew?
"EMS-1 had to know that Medic-10 crew were in their unit or he would not have called them.)

“EMS-1 to Medic-10 check your Opticom.”

Medic-10: "Medic-10 is clear EMS-1, will do.”

All that effort for such few words that could have been exchanged in 15 seconds.

So, some will say, well what if Medic-10 had not heard EMS-1's first call. So what, you wasted 3-4 seconds. More often than not, the other person is going to hear you!

"Brevity is the key to successful communications."

Another thing: Formality and politeness should be forgotten on the radio. "Yes/no sir/mam, thanks/please, if you wouldn't mind," have no place on the radio. Say what you "have to say" and be done with it. The fire chief is not going to be offended that you did not say "Thank you, Sir" when he told you there was a hydrant in front of your fire building. "Clear Chief" would do just fine.

One more thing. There is no need to "ask for permission" or get the dispatcher's attention. Pick up the mic and say what you have to say. What do you think the dispatcher is doing? Off making a pot of coffee for the boss? No, the dispatcher is sitting at the console waiting with his/her headset on waiting for your call!

Squad-1: "Squad-1 to Communications:"

Comm: "Go ahead Communications"

Squad-1: Communications Squad-1 is returning to the station, no injuries."

Comm: "Clear"

Some people say this is wrong. Well, if it is wrong, why don't people do it ALL the time? Can you imagine the hold up if every apparatus when through this procedure when they were responding to a fire call? Seven vehicles would have to make 28 transmissions on every call. And then 28 more when they left the scene, they 28 more when they got back to the house.

Engine-10: "Engine-10 to Communications"

Comm: "Go ahead Engine-10"

Engine-10: "Engine-10 returning."

Comm: "Clear Engine-10"

Multiply that by 7 apparatus!

What's the difference form the other situation.

What really kills me is this exchange:

Medic-7: "Medic-7 to Communications"

Comm: "Last Unit?"

Medic-7: "Medic-7 to Communications"

Comm: "Go ahead Medic-7"

Medic-7: "Can you give me the run number for this call."

Have some common sense people and think before you key the mic.

I don't know if it is psychosomatic, but my arm and hand are hurting worse then ever. I saw Dave the other day and we shook hands. He squeezed a little too hard and I winced. One problem I have is wondering what part of the pain does the pinched nerve play in the pain. Could any part of this be arthritis? I am thinking about calling the orthopod and asking them to schedule an MRI on my shoulder before my July appointment.

Well the MRI showed that I have a pinched nerve at C-7/T-1. This is probably causing the pain and numbness in my right arm. Dr. McAdam said that I can do one of three things - 1) do nothing, 2) have a steroid injection in my neck, 3) surgery. I don't want to rush into surgery and I certainly don't want to do nothing. So, I will have steroid injection in my neck next Monday.

I used to be pretty worried about injections into joints, but after having numerous injections in my knees and lately into my shoulder, I am not too worried about this. Dr. McAdam has been doing this for a long time and I am sure he knows what he is doing.

I had the steroid injection in my neck. It went ok but there was an "electrical" shock sensation when the doc hit a certain point.

I went to McDonald's for breakfast this morning. I forgot my newspaper so I had to buy another one at Farm Fresh - I didn't want to run back home just for the paper.

I sold a pair of boots on eBay this weekend, but I ended up getting the short end of the deal. A bidder asked how much to ship to Canada. I went on the USPS site and put in their address and it came to about $14. Some how I miscalculated and it turned out to be $26. I doubt if I will ever send anything to Canada again.