Mitty Or SBARA?

It's another Friday, and it's one of those days when you just have one too many things going on. Although not as packed as in past Fridays, it was still something to think about. First, a Bell football game against Archbishop Mitty. The other, the monthly SBARA meeting. What made the selection a little complicated was the fact that the football game was the last Bellarmine home game of the season, while the other was SBARA's last meeting for the year. And did I mention that 2014 officers were also being elected at this meeting as well? The choices we have to make....

After much self-deliberation, coupled with logical thinking and detailed rationalization, I decided to attend the SBARA meeting. With my choice, it didn't mean I was off the hook with my responsibilities that were tied to this football game. The other part of this story involved my son, Jake. He wanted to watch the game and was hoping that I would come. Like all the other kids his age, I didn't think they cared much about the game. It was more about hanging out with their friends, and, hopefully, meeting girls. All he needed me for was to take him to and from the game.

I didn't want to let him down, so I made sure he had a way of getting to the game. Fortunately, his BFF, Coby, wanted to watch the game as well, probably for the same reason like most everyone else. So I made arrangements with Coby's mom for a ride. After school, Jake hung around Coby's house till they left for the game. And everything went well. Now, I was ready for my gig.

Yaesu FT-60R

After dinner at my default restaurant, Cherry Garden, I headed to Hurricane Electric's facility in Warm Springs, which was the site for our monthly meetings. Being the last meeting of the year, a brand new Yaesu dualband handheld radio was raffled off, along with some other ham-related goodies and books. Also up for grabs were a couple of knitted scarves -- always a favorite during these raffles.

This month's presenter talked about ARES, or the Amateur Radio Emergency Service -- a service arm of the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL). Poor chap had to wait quite a bit before he could present. Typically, presenters come in and talk during the second half of the meeting. The first part usually covered introductions, news, announcements, and other business of the general membership. Then, a 15 minute break is taken, before the presenter is called in. For whatever reason, there was some spirited discussion about DXing, contesting, and 2x2 callsigns that prolonged the first half of the session. But it was all good discussion, as we all wanted.

The presentation took a little longer than I expected. After 10 minutes into this talk, I was lost and I merely counted the minutes. And each minute seemed longer than the last one. On the bright side, there was the raffle to look forward to, especially the handheld radio. By the time we got to the raffle, it was almost 9:30pm. That, too, dragged on as there were a number of small items being raffled off. I waited in anticipation for the final draw -- the radio. Unfortunately, none of my 12 numbers was called. It was over. I picked up my chair, and another, and stacked them against the rack, before I headed out into the cold night.

Till next year..... 73 es dit-dit.