Meta tags:
description= Originally a pair of views on gaming, it s now musings by Redbeard on video games (mainly MMOs), board games, RPGs, and other geeky hobbies.;
Headings (most frequently used words):
2025, 2026, to, wednesday, tuesday, august, mmo, rpg, what, the, 11, saturday, january, november, 12, podcasts, blogroll, links, in, little, something, do, part, thursday, april, 23, march, 17, 14, friday, october, 31, september, sunday, 24, 16, pages, reference, youtube, channels, blog, archive, blogs, mothballs, past, pc, contributors, labels, is, goal, anyway, this, ll, be, your, big, chance, get, away, from, it, all, now, state, of, redbeard, day, brood, about, stuff, short, post, mortem, time, marches, on, goes, around, when, you, re, too, meh, for, midlife, crisis,
Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (557), and (264), that (208), you (111), but (103), was (102), for (98), ago (75), this (69), with (64), have (64), from (54), radio (54), not (54), are (49), what (45), about (45), years (45), people (44), there (44), all (42), had (42), when (41), they (39), some (37), more (36), just (36), can (36), share (35), get (33), exam (33), one (32), amateur (31), like (31), class (29), time (28), were (28), out (28), been (28), game (27), those (27), january (25), could (25), who (25), over (23), then (23), because (23), than (23), while (23), #september (22), october (22), november (22), did (22), their (21), wow (20), august (20), has (20), still (20), into (20), now (20), games (19), april (19), going (19), before (19), them (19), much (19), really (18), blog (18), old (18), february (18), march (18), may (18), your (18), year (18), take (18), yes (18), well (18), classic (17), december (17), july (17), don (17), things (17), ham (17), license (17), work (16), self (16), playing (16), june (16), days (16), last (16), being (16), got (16), past (15), months (15), posts (15), know (15), few (15), back (15), would (15), such (15), even (15), didn (15), how (15), any (15), gaming (14), redbeard (14), day (14), 2025 (14), 2026 (14), part (14), make (14), also (14), bit (14), wasn (14), since (14), off (14), questions (14), stuff (13), fun (13), here (13), anything (13), which (13), after (13), comments (13), posted (13), thing (13), thought (13), way (13), simply (13), other (13), sure (13), another (12), context (12), getting (12), age (12), labels (12), show (12), need (12), first (12), own (12), pinterest (12), facebook (12), email (12), something (12), too (12), good (12), want (12), general (12), parallel (11), mmo (11), books (11), blogthis (11), away (11), lot (11), used (11), find (11), couple (11), think (11), around (11), said (11), myself (11), real (10), her (10), never (10), post (10), long (10), very (10), started (10), doing (10), found (10), watching (10), lab (10), video (9), week (9), blaugust2025 (9), two (9), play (9), again (9), hobby (9), until (9), our (9), bands (9), enough (9), most (9), see (9), question (9), once (9), hams (9), others (9), extra (9), yeah (9), study (9), technician (9), test (9), instructors (9), only (9), writing (8), musings (8), memes (8), month (8), night (8), weeks (8), actually (8), say (8), little (8), through (8), quite (8), community (8), why (8), taking (8), pass (8), right (8), morse (8), code (8), isn (8), knew (8), online (7), love (7), end (7), battle (7), same (7), hours (7), times (7), house (7), answer (7), these (7), likely (7), discovered (7), point (7), let (7), working (7), won (7), nothing (7), keep (7), already (7), term (7), down (7), issues (7), understanding (7), requirement (7), learn (7), tools (7), search (7), world (6), life (6), star (6), retail (6), music (6), free (6), car (6), goal (6), watch (6), its (6), home (6), maybe (6), made (6), try (6), either (6), easily (6), else (6), movie (6), official (6), having (6), took (6), wanted (6), went (6), early (6), entry (6), course (6), done (6), thinking (6), worth (6), doesn (6), where (6), use (6), both (6), level (6), fcc (6), meant (6), understand (6), reports (6), tech (6), process (6), practice (6), arrl (6), walkthroughs (6), anniversary (5), reading (5), toons (5), shortwave (5), rpg (5), entertainment (5), mmos (5), meme (5), monday (5), hobbies (5), gen (5), electronics (5), era (5), classes (5), gone (5), under (5), new (5), visit (5), better (5), high (5), saturday (5), should (5), name (5), older (5), midlife (5), crisis (5), his (5), best (5), kind (5), mid (5), although (5), rest (5), looked (5), current (5), 1982 (5), song (5), book (5), came (5), guess (5), put (5), reason (5), seen (5), passed (5), advanced (5), far (5), various (5), correct (5), mean (5), longer (5), using (5), whether (5), might (5), kept (5), hard (5), above (5), given (5), someone (5), rather (5), without (5), provide (5), ever (5), several (5), per (5), realized (5), help (5), least (5), idea (5), via (5), material (5), told (5), pressure (5), tests (5), upon (5), following (5), connections (5), mail (5), blogger (4), youtube (4), warcraft (4), videos (4), television (4), wars (4), raid (4), podcasts (4), mobile (4), massively (4), guild (4), con (4), gear (4), friends (4), ffxiv (4), fantasy (4), boardgames (4), blogging (4), blaugust (4), adventures (4), azeroth (4), convention (4), campaign (4), short (4), episode (4), shintar (4), come (4), thoughts (4), raiding (4), break (4), water (4), brain (4), model (4), cost (4), 90s (4), decade (4), tuesday (4), during (4), big (4), later (4), became (4), deep (4), fall (4), head (4), store (4), felt (4), shop (4), decided (4), experience (4), spent (4), terms (4), personal (4), laptop (4), included (4), themselves (4), needed (4), behind (4), great (4), begin (4), soon (4), turned (4), die (4), published (4), taken (4), next (4), depot (4), milwaukee (4), coffee (4), morning (4), building (4), she (4), pretty (4), mind (4), wrong (4), internet (4), lack (4), dropped (4), research (4), important (4), reality (4), money (4), equipment (4), due (4), putting (4), basic (4), known (4), exams (4), each (4), answers (4), exactly (4), mhz (4), website (4), does (4), recognize (4), google (4), arcane (4), however (4), error (4), page (4), wrath (3), red (3), swtor (3), steam (3), trek (3), social (3), civilization (3), security (3), satanic (3), panic (3), pandaria (3), operation (3), spread (3), final (3), outland (3), microsoft (3), effect (3), works (3), intro (3), honest (3), chat (3), series (3), fiction (3), family (3), drama (3), diablo (3), conan (3), blizzard (3), bards (3), shows (3), airwaves (3), 2021 (3), 2020 (3), altoholic (3), rise (3), 2022 (3), second (3), anyway (3), paizo (3), links (3), four (3), small (3), sky (3), goes (3), podcast (3), adventure (3), gamer (3), decline (3), set (3), project (3), sunday (3), full (3), lord (3), waiting (3), pages (3), look (3), eta (3), nad (3), receiver (3), call (3), probably (3), ebay (3), start (3), job (3), run (3), ton (3), cars (3), 80s (3), place (3), close (3), partner (3), 1981 (3), grade (3), rock (3), lunch (3), popular (3), care (3), decades (3), alan (3), parsons (3), surprise (3), chicago (3), bulls (3), eye (3), began (3), hear (3), immediately (3), band (3), always (3), fit (3), picture (3), among (3), called (3), wife (3), local (3), afterward (3), holy (3), certainly (3), fan (3), sat (3), buy (3), weren (3), windows (3), stopped (3), saw (3), trip (3), shirts (3), nice (3), paint (3), finally (3), write (3), fascinating (3), coming (3), mom (3), collection (3), result (3), happens (3), whenever (3), feel (3), check (3), present (3), access (3), account (3), will (3), happened (3), seeing (3), train (3), inside (3), outside (3), vhf (3), uhf (3), active (3), spectrum (3), operators (3), common (3), instead (3), path (3), provided (3), initial (3), club (3), changed (3), beginning (3), number (3), less (3), absolutely (3), quickly (3), order (3), become (3), read (3), amount (3), starting (3), certain (3), talking (3), toward (3), greater (3), communications (3), licenses (3), org (3), obviously (3), helene (3), power (3), forms (3), retirement (3), deal (3), left (3), passing (3), admitted (3), saying (3), attempt (3), classwork (3), figure (3), students (3), replied (3), coordinators (3), learned (3), weight (3), fine (3), sleep (3), matter (3), fuck (3), believe (3), despite (3), person (3), sort (3), wednesday (3), chance (3), hasn (3), bank (3), indexed (3), details (3), results (3), indexing (3), walkthrough (3), showing (3), simple (2), theme (2), powered (2), wtf (2), season (2), discovery (2), bosses (2), light (2), earth (2), warrior (2), draenor (2), voice (2), art (2), vanilla (2), update (2), twisted (2), nether (2), blogcast (2), trailers (2), total (2), war (2), thanks (2), tbc (2), valley (2), sports (2), soundtrack (2), skill (2), invasion (2), role (2), award (2), pvp (2), pcs (2), pathfinder (2), pandemic (2), school (2), novels (2), news (2), newbie (2), neverwinter (2), nerd (2), names (2), movies (2), core (2), mists (2), market (2), lotro (2), league (2), legends (2), kickstarter (2), instances (2), dawn (2), heavy (2), metal (2), group (2), content (2), graphics (2), friday (2), fail (2), drivethrurpg (2), development (2), cooking (2), comic (2), college (2), changes (2), cataclysm (2), card (2), burning (2), crusade (2), blood (2), blogs (2), lair (2), beta (2), arcade (2), alts (2), alliance (2), pally (2), manual (2), welcome (2), 2009 (2), 2015 (2), 2024 (2), 187 (2), coast (2), solved (2), cleaning (2), com (2), players (2), gift (2), recent (2), survival (2), hat (2), blogroll (2), clank (2), bonus (2), random (2), join (2), party (2), zone (2), live (2), gypsy (2), channel (2), reference (2), girl (2), checking (2), review (2), many (2), ancient (2), atheren (2), mad (2), max (2), seem (2), ready (2), legend (2), grind (2), dungeons (2), kurn (2), everquest (2), guides (2), hatred (2), system (2), overpowered (2), ootinicast (2), room (2), contact (2), wonder (2), corrected (2), happy (2), moment (2), sense (2), barrier (2), route (2), friend (2), mine (2), stand (2), pioneer (2), 1980 (2), audio (2), picked (2), buying (2), fix (2), nah (2), parking (2), price (2), costs (2), fast (2), son (2), album (2), released (2), roll (2), reaction (2), watched (2), generation (2), rediscovered (2), songs (2), together (2), ought (2), wrote (2), sirius (2), basketball (2), fans (2), higher (2), concept (2), tell (2), deeper (2), average (2), larger (2), beyond (2), road (2), met (2), today (2), bookstore (2), sale (2), couldn (2), marches (2), kid (2), laptops (2), kids (2), hell (2), acer (2), brand (2), remember (2), line (2), built (2), touch (2), stop (2), problems (2), nose (2), youngest (2), nearby (2), previous (2), story (2), reprint (2), wear (2), torn (2), concert (2), shirt (2), speaking (2), chest (2), especially (2), gave (2), topics (2), related (2), history (2), along (2), posting (2), yet (2), expected (2), pulled (2), interesting (2), heater (2), needs (2), argue (2), immediate (2), merely (2), grandfather (2), died (2), relatively (2), brood (2), mortality (2), obvious (2), example (2), katherine (2), suppose (2), ebook (2), rades (2), remain (2), accounts (2), net (2), removing (2), brought (2), apart (2), yesterday (2), lost (2), museum (2), tea (2), oldest (2), thursday (2), pondering (2), blind (2), often (2), stuck (2), religious (2), push (2), seriously (2), stipend (2), wait (2), hey (2), approaching (2), exercise (2), electrical (2), sounds (2), basically (2), database (2), encouraging (2), enthusiasm (2), decision (2), okay (2), laughed (2), state (2), rush (2), spend (2), icom (2), activity (2), welcoming (2), bad (2), dayton (2), hamvention (2), exist (2), surprised (2), heart (2), human (2), interaction (2), bar (2), cross (2), minute (2), pain (2), interested (2), particular (2), ones (2), led (2), addition (2), shack (2), subject (2), give (2), link (2), hurricane (2), almost (2), form (2), filled (2), himself (2), volunteer (2), interest (2), specific (2), trying (2), relax (2), theoretically (2), drop (2), hold (2), government (2), appears (2), bean (2), talk (2), asked (2), brutal (2), answered (2), selected (2), nope (2), easier (2), though (2), slowly (2), trouble (2), minutes (2), making (2), turn (2), members (2), bright (2), itself (2), focus (2), asshole (2), normal (2), encounter (2), concepts (2), between (2), gets (2), studied (2), caffeine (2), accept (2), learning (2), front (2), door (2), necessary (2), crowd (2), encourage (2), crap (2), mere (2), quest (2), sell (2), inn (2), doctors (2), cheated (2), death (2), success (2), external (2), knowledge (2), admit (2), chase (2), brush (2), case (2), company (2), decide (2), memories (2), deny (2), fascination (2), within (2), perhaps (2), lesser (2), struggle (2), maintain (2), numbers (2), physical (2), generative (2), creative (2), control (2), likened (2), argued (2), projects (2), comment (2), actively (2), utilized (2), scratch (2), cardwyn (2), alternate (2), impact (2), usage (2), junk (2), move (2), sender (2), ask (2), somehow (2), engaged (2), shared (2), sporting (2), utilizing (2), judge (2), meta (2), points (2), kata (2), karate (2), reproduce (2), journal (2), engage (2), bhagpuss (2), label (2), zul, gurub, zelda, xenoblade, chronicles, insider, hardcore, events, women, witcher, winter, veil, winning, wildstar, wildermyth, wil, wheaton, wii, weddings, weather, warlords, warlock, reforged, acting, upgrades, ulduar, ubisoft, tyranny, trion, traveller, transferring, titan, theorycrafting, secret, thanksgiving, tetris, tera, tanks, tanking, talents, tabletop, sucking, subscriptions, stardew, starcraft, spoofs, splatoon, sparkle, pony, contract, soap, opera, snl, smosh, skyrim, sindorei, sid, meier, shaman, screenshots, scourge, scanners, savage, worlds, runequest, rpgs, romance, roles, rogues, rift, reviews, retro, ret, spec, restaurants, neat, lead, races, quitting, quests, pve, pugs, ptr, pro, wrestling, postmortem, ponderings, planetbase, pillars, eternity, photos, pets, permateam, patreon, kingmaker, patch, parody, pandaren, paladins, p2w, overwatch, lesson, runescape, ohio, renaissance, festival, obsidian, nostalgia, non, nintendo, ninjas, initiative, neve, naxxramas, nanowrimo, sandrock, portia, evershine, mounts, molten, mods, mobas, missives, silvermoon, miscellaneous, minis, minecraft, metagame, merp, media, matt, colville, mass, marvel, heroes, mages, madruga, lowbies, lore, liebster, lfg, tool, leveling, letters, legion, kotfe, karazhan, joystiq, josh, strife, hayes, jason, schreier, jade, empire, interviews, idiots, humor, housing, horizon, zero, horde, hor, holidays, hogwarts, legacy, heroic, universe, healers, hardware, hacking, gurps, groundhog, gold, farming, gnomes, genealogy, gary, gygax, gankers, gamergate, gambling, mechanics, funcom, lecture, fps, shooters, fortnite, forsaken, fomo, flashpoints, filk, felicia, fate, fashion, fandom, failpug, factions, facepalm, f2p, expansions, eve, esports, endangered, species, list, elder, scrolls, dragons, dragon, draenei, dps, documentaries, discworld, discord, houses, developer, appreciation, man, dancing, dalaran, dailies, cyberpunk, 2077, crowdfunding, crafting, cosplay, corruption, corporations, convoy, l85, console, cons, exiles, computers, complainers, colossal, cave, cheating, census, bungie, bugs, buffs, brewing, bots, boob, plate, elves, blogoversary, bloggy, mas, blogcasts, blizzcon, blackwing, blackrock, depths, black, desert, bioware, bethesda, bayonetta, battlegrounds, royale, baldurs, gate, atari, ars, magica, arena, archeage, aq40, anthem, anniversaries, alterac, aircraft, aion, addons, activision, blaugust2024, blaugust2023, blaugust2022, blaugust2021, blapril2020, souldat, deftig, satyana, ehna, contributors, pugging, miss, medicina, achtung, panzercow, stoppable, force, lazy, npc, cow, cynwise, jazz, panda, spinksville, manalicious, rage, megadirge, dàchéng, diaries, ravalation, bossy, giant, spoon, eight, daily, frostwolf, druid, edition, null, signifier, wanderings, mothballs, 153, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 110, 161, 151, 2023, 175, space, goats, irrelevance, speed, intruding, verse, tale, extremes, writer, forces, respond, wheth, spring, archive, rpggeek, rpgnet, forums, plans, ardwulf, letter, amanita, spirit, gifts, scions, statement, monte, cook, gnomecast, 235, considerations, gnome, stew, ends, 9pm, central, atlas, brp, release, orc, hearth, harrowing, roleplaying, chaosium, inc, alien, evil, productions, armor, 018, andorra, country, considered, 104, wpc, traits, fear, boot, afterparty, versus, midsummer, dream, columbus, pointy, studios, syl, ravanel, griffon, jasper, hour, channels, champion, wowhead, wowpedia, swtorista, spoiler, touched, motivational, moonfang, darkmoon, stream, schedule, confessions, 213, xiv, endwalker, chick, wandering, nine, galactic, antics, ramblings, videogame, spotlight, blessing, kings, sad, alas, weakauras, hunters, ark, evolved, dedicated, server, welps, genie, prompt, yeebo, fernbottom, palace, tome, direct, chapter, jinxed, updates, gnomecore, trolls, bodhi, rana, exploring, neighbourhood, homes, decor, zeirah, fanfest, aywren, geek, keystone, completed, healing, keys, seasonal, myth, umbral, achievements, kaylriene, voidspire, stance, hounds, dynamite, jvt, workshop, e33, horse, jump, bio, turtle, crescent, grove, stormwrought, ruins, priest, cause, screenshot, promenade, 296, kamalia, alia, treading, commando, dump, corner, helpful, advice, inventory, notes, midnight, noob, previews, item, merging, exaltation, 503, republic, refrain, moving, episodes, 346, 348, 563, windrose, dark, companion, site, subscribe, atom, sometimes, period, progression, easiest, stealing, thunder, module, expedition, peaks, trusty, t751, repair, stick, vsx, 2000, chugging, basement, 780, manufacturing, 1978, oleg, vintage, pricing, bubble, afflicted, 1970s, driven, prices, demand, prohibitive, locally, 1987, choice, 2000s, ford, mustang, pontiac, firebird, compared, fact, 2002, mercedes, apartment, him, north, technically, aware, meh, seminal, grammar, counts, chosen, fill, spot, 8th, girls, recess, looking, amazed, nuns, jack, diane, casbah, sorry, tron, type, blade, runner, newer, generations, rediscover, 30s, 40s, surprising, guy, piece, introduction, nba, synonymous, michael, jordan, synthesizer, charts, faded, view, except, albums, liked, lyrically, pop, sonic, hits, studio, tiger, 7th, knee, puberty, dove, headfirst, science, rings, rank, favorites, khan, barbarian, rocky, ridgemont, discovering, lodged, wandered, stacks, espied, wistful, reminded, boardgame, visited, boardwalk, closed, owners, retire, begrudge, hope, continue, bookstores, stores, drag, grandparents, trends, quality, flimsy, viable, aspire, nicknamed, expire, poorly, bottom, consumer, refuse, dell, courtesy, refused, spin, unless, perfectly, flat, tilt, hair, overheating, pic, leaves, everywhere, roam, steady, flow, customers, parents, grandkids, scouting, slow, handle, reacquaint, brands, models, handled, naturally, microcenter, friendly, flgs, yottaquest, cleveland, 19th, worthy, suspect, knock, offs, originals, glance, wearing, manage, 1989, dust, 2xl, size, wore, painted, rooms, aunt, splatters, recently, curious, enterprising, soul, management, across, impetus, geeky, nature, strictly, appearance, wilhelm, arcturus, employment, telecom, written, needing, sending, drafts, readers, feedback, annoyances, multiple, shattering, usual, leaned, interests, signups, fanfare, mortem, checked, servers, hot, begun, leaking, sign, rusted, replacement, plumber, replaced, asap, catastrophic, failure, gallons, floor, siblings, consulting, experts, obsession, tumor, young, david, eddings, belgariad, anymore, authors, 70s, barbara, hambly, janny, wurts, kerr, kurtz, classics, fritz, leiber, fafhrd, grey, mouser, print, publishers, shown, inclination, yank, logged, balthan, purges, inactivity, orcish, army, knife, puggers, anonymous, gains, vanish, ownership, characters, difficult, avalon, hill, landfill, somewhere, stamp, attended, funeral, brother, laws, understandably, statue, czech, immigrants, irony, political, climate, tracks, restaurant, fanatic, rocks, including, rebuilt, saloon, taproom, topless, statues, added, snarky, additional, public, proof, green, collectivo, lakefront, chilly, weekend, housed, pumping, station, river, pre, frostweave, purple, tunic, frost, spells, screencap, status, 30th, busy, retired, cheaper, idiot, missing, aspect, stories, professional, telegraph, broadcasters, shying, embraced, 1920s, interchangeably, derivative, derisive, fisted, planning, changing, rebelled, against, religiosity, televangelist, scandals, 1980s, gathering, paraphrase, jesus, yay, begins, monthly, thousand, dollars, chunk, change, aside, repairs, wreaked, havoc, finances, happen, summer, late, antsy, structure, forgotten, daunted, pressed, pulling, memory, misremembering, gain, theory, xkcd, cracked, open, yep, loved, articulate, ahead, axes, nutshell, created, slop, whose, input, valuable, specifics, thriving, grousing, requirements, riff, raff, countered, pointing, shenanigans, reddit, reconsidered, step, diving, parts, websites, actual, opinions, reveal, biases, intending, reviewing, data, laborious, radar, suddenly, factor, unlike, cash, audiophile, spends, stereo, halfway, decent, setup, reach, 1000, woodworking, potentially, expensive, careful
Text of the page (random words):
on t sleep well the night before an exam no matter what it is from facebook i was supposed to arrive by 8 45 because the exam coordinators wanted to get started right at 9 but when i did i discovered that the instructors were already there rooting us on one of the class members had taken her exam earlier so she didn t need to show up but she came to cheer us on as well those small things meant a lot because i was really nervous i should be fine i told myself as long as i don t get the exactly wrong question for each part of the exam in each section there s one question that gave me trouble but what were the odds that i d get them all in one randomly selected exam you can guess what happened when i started i looked over the exam and immediately thought holy shit it was a nightmare come to life it had that smile on its face too from theprchiro via cheezburger i took a few deep breaths and calmed myself down it s only 15 i thought to myself i can take it again if i flunk then i started slowly working on the questions i knew i answered all of those questions then started working on all of the ones that i hadn t seen very much or i had trouble with after that i was down to a couple of questions that i just guessed at and then spent another 5 10 minutes just making sure i didn t do anything stupid like selecting the answers in the wrong row i then had to wait another 5 minutes for my turn getting my test graded i passed that was a huge weight off of my shoulders i took a deep breath and inquired about taking the general test in short order i was back at my seat with a new set of questions to work on and this time i relaxed a bit the hard part was over and now it was time to just go for it for some reason i found these questions easier even though i knew i was going to get more wrong than the technician exam i m not sure why but my suspicion is that the pressure i was putting myself under was gone so i found it easier to not dither and simply select answers i finished turned in my exam and soon learned i passed the general exam as well do you want to try for the extra one of the volunteer exam coordinators asked sure let s do this i replied with an enthusiasm i didn t feel i sat down with the highest level exam looked at the first question and i knew the answer hey i thought i can do this then i got to the second question uh nope yeah this from 9gag oh that last exam was brutal positively brutal i knew almost by the 3rd or 4th question that i wasn t going to pass this exam hell i wasn t even going to get 50 of the 50 questions on the extra exam i answered about 15 20 for certain and took a stab at 3 6 more then i just selected a for all the rest there was no penalty for just guessing so why not so another of the exam coordinators asked as i turned in my sheet how d you think you did you know how you re in college and you re in a seminar listening to professors talk about their research and you have absolutely no fucking idea what they re talking about it was like that they all laughed yes this mr bean skit was going through my head while i was taking the extra exam from pinterest and mr bean obviously it turns out that while i did fail i got 20 questions correct they told me i did a great job for going in blind on that extra exam and now i had something to shoot for once i filled out some forms i went out into the waiting area where everybody else was hanging around to see how i did passed the general and bombed the extra i replied i got congratulations from the rest of the students and the instructors and once i d signed a few extra documents we all left the building i d like to say that my journey was just beginning but the reality is that it s kind of on hold right now due to the government shutdown the fcc won t process the paperwork until the government reopens meaning i can t transmit on my own equipment until my license appears in the fcc database so i ve got time to relax a bit and try to figure out what starter radio to purchase before i dive in still four of us in the class have gotten to know each other fairly well and we even met last saturday for lunch the club that sponsored the class and the exam was very welcoming and i think i m going to join that club and see how things go so now you know what i ve been up to for the past couple of months system admin class for hp ux while i knew unix since i coded on silicon graphics workstations back in the 90s the sysadmin side of things was new to me so i was sent off to a couple weeks worth of classwork two dropped but one of them had to drop because work kept them from attending regularly the other simply stopped coming yes i ve done that before posted by redbeard at 6 00 am 6 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels adventures over the airwaves amateur radio memes self tuesday november 11 2025 a little something to do part 1 last year i began pondering what i was going to do when i retired the semi official retirement age for my generation is 67 when you can get your full benefits from social security so i ve got approximately 11 years left it s a decently far enough way away but not far away enough for me to be wondering what i m going to do when i hang it up obviously the first thing i d do is not much really i already work from home so i don t have a commute to deal with but i am on call 24x7 so okay my work is pretty much integrated into my life even when i have a day off i still check work email and occasionally take care of things because murphy s law is a real bitch if i m not doing that well it ll take some getting used to but i m sure i ll survive when my dad took early retirement at age 55 he wasn t sure what he was going to do either and he annoyed my mom to no end when he was simply there all the time inserting himself into how she had been running things for decades so he eventually decided to volunteer as a second job he became a chaplain for one of the local hospitals which he did until he died i have absolutely no interest in anything vaguely resembling religion so that specific path isn t one for me but that did give me an idea well that and hurricane helene last year originally by jabin botsford via getty images and the washington post found on grist org when the remnants of hurricane helene smashed through the appalachian mountains in the carolinas last year almost all forms of communications were lost cell towers destroyed power lines torn apart you name it the one form of communication that filled in the gap until power and telecommunications were restored was that of amateur radio operators huh i mused it had been a long time since i thought of ham radio seriously at least longer than i d been playing wow so that should give you an idea as to the time frame i m talking about i ve known the occasional ham and i encountered them when i worked at radio shack or obviously when i went up to the dayton hamvention but my last trip to that convention was in 2006 but now watching the news reports about helene and how ham radio provided a vital link to areas that had no communications or power for a couple of weeks or more i realized that was something i could do i have a history of tinkering with electronics and radio in addition to my posts on the subject this one included when i was a kid i had my share of electronics kits from radio shack the later ones had a numeric led but this was the model i had from hackaday this was my first kit no not the real thing but a picture of the model yes it did work but i had to hook up the wire to a water pipe to hear anything from radiomuseum org if i was interested in radio and electronics and i knew some hams why didn t i become a radio amateur back in the day well there were a few reasons in no particular order there was a morse code requirement it used to be that you had to learn morse code to get an amateur radio license and the more advanced you went the greater the proficiency you had to demonstrate in terms of words per minute in 1991 the federal communications commission the fcc dropped the morse code requirement for the technician license which was a common entry level license in 2007 the fcc did away the morse code requirement for all amateur radio licenses in the us that doesn t mean that morse code isn t used it s actually more popular than ever but the people who use it are those who want to learn it rather than they have to learn it still that there was a requirement meant that i d have to learn it and i knew it d be a bit of a pain the older i got the more that morse code requirement looked like a problem the hams themselves like any activity you have those who are welcoming and those who are gatekeepers those who are nice and those who are assholes both the good and bad thing about going to a major amateur radio convention like the dayton hamvention is that you get to see a lot of hams in action in as much the same way as you can go to a comic con or gaming con and see the best and the worst of your community what i saw of some of the amateur radio community was really off putting i now know that s not that great of a surprise i m a gamer after all and we do tend to have certain elements of our community that people like to pretend don t exist but it still surprised me that a hobby that at its heart was about communicating with others you d find people who had real issues with basic human interaction and no i m not talking about people on the spectrum but people who thought it a badge of honor to not use basic hygiene or be racist sexist toward others it s not a high bar to cross but some of the ham community seemed to have issues with not being a dick toward certain people the money factor let s be honest here for a moment while radio might not seem like a hobby that you can easily spend a ton of money on unlike the amount of cash an audiophile spends on stereo equipment the amount of money just getting a halfway decent starting amateur radio setup for the hf bands can easily reach over 1000 gaming pcs cars woodworking yeah they re all potentially expensive hobbies too just like amateur radio but when you re starting out that initial cost can be a barrier to entry when you don t have a lot of money well there is the used market but like anything else you d better be careful and do your due diligence to me the vhf and uhf bands weren t real ham radio so i never really thought about them much the icom ic 7300 currently 1099 at ham radio outlet as of november 6 2025 it s actually 300 off the regular price with coupon picture from icom america so yeah amateur radio as a hobby wasn t really on my radar until suddenly here it was once i reconsidered amateur radio as a hobby the next step was to start doing some research and for me that meant diving into various parts of the internet i didn t want to go to books or official websites but rather i wanted to hear read from actual hams what they thought of the state of the hobby i realized that just like any other hobby it was important to understand the context behind people s opinions so i made sure to take my time and not rush things over time people will reveal their biases even if they weren t intending to share them that meant reviewing several months worth of data while it sounds laborious in reality i found it quite fascinating okay i laughed from reddit some people had axes to grind that s the internet in a nutshell and others were basically ai created slop again welcome to 2025 s internet but i did find quite a few hams whose input was really valuable i won t go into specifics but let s just say that in general i discovered that amateur radio is thriving right now a few hams were grousing about the lack of morse code requirements which to their mind kept the riff raff out the cb radio people is what they meant but others countered that by pointing out that shenanigans have been going on some of the amateur radio bands long before the morse code requirement was dropped but there were hams who loved their hobby were articulate and wanted to help people and were very encouraging in their enthusiasm for ham radio it was at that point that i made a decision to go ahead and buy this yep the same book i posted about a while back basically you could study the license manual for the entry level amateur radio class the technician class take the test and become a ham once your license shows up in the fcc database sounds simple right i cracked open that book started reading and that s what it felt like thanks xkcd yeah i d been away from electronics and electrical theory for far too long there had just been so much that i d forgotten that it daunted me i pressed on and kept reading but i realized that my brain was pulling random stuff out of my memory without any real understanding of where it came from and then i just as quickly discovered that i was misremembering things which is not good when you have to pass an exam in order to gain your license so what did i do i put the book aside for a while both work and car repairs wreaked havoc on my finances for a few months so absolutely nothing was going to happen over the summer but late august i began to get a bit antsy maybe i was approaching this all wrong i needed to exercise my brain but i also needed some structure i needed a class it used to be 65 years old but it was changed about 10 15 years ago beginning with gen x yay us but seriously the official age is just a number because the age you begin taking out social security can be several years before to a few years after that official age if someone begins taking ss early they get less of a stipend per month but you get access to it early if you wait until after your official age you can get a larger monthly stipend hey a few extra thousand dollars per month is a good chunk of change for waiting until 69 instead of 63 yes yes i know i ve said it before i m not religious at all while the rest of my family is very religious i m not planning on changing especially since i started down my path when i rebelled against said religiosity the satanic panic and the televangelist scandals of the 1980s provided the initial push and it s been gathering steam ever since to paraphrase someone i might not mind jesus or others it s their fan club i have issues with there s a couple of stories as to why amateur radio operators are called hams the most common one is that ham was a derivative of the derisive term ham fisted by professional telegraph and then radio broadcasters rather than shying away from the term amateur radio operators instead embraced the name in the 1920s and it stuck ever since so no it has nothing to do with cooking a ham or anything like that i use ham and amateur interchangeably and most hams do as well and that was me being blind to what amateur radio was about vhf and uhf ham bands are often more active than the bands in the shortwave spectrum and the cost of entry there is much cheaper as well again ...
|
