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Sailor Grateful for Maritime Mobile Service Network Assistance, story at the ARRL site. The summary is that the husband of a couple sailing in the Pacific 200 miles off the coast of northern Mexico had a medical emergency. The MMSN got them linked up with the US Coast Guard in southern California and their on-duty MD, and ultimately arranged for timely transport back to the US.
You (yes you) can tune in to the MMSN on 14.030 MHz USB between 1700 and 0200 UTC – that's 12 noon to 9 pm CDT – any day of the week on something about like this. (receive only, so no license needed) Usually it's not quite so active as in this week's story, but then you never know.
What a way to end a ten-year recreational circumnavigation of the planet.
You know how hard it can be to compare some random plant to the picture you sort of memorized from a book? It looks close, maybe, but it's still quite different than the reference sketch in some field guide? Well surprise, the appearance of poison ivy is all over the place. Article at NPR.
Those four examples hardly look like the same kind of plant. This has all kinds of implications for outdoor activities.
Likely the last real burst of cool-ish weather we'll see until late September:
Lows in the low 70's, highs in the high 80's. Looks like it'll be nice for a couple of days. Make the best of it while it's here.
After an hour or so of perusing the kitchen and bath section of the local Lowe's for counter and sink ideas, I got a call from my contact in New Orleans – "hey, you've been looking at day packs and I need some bike gloves, you wanna go to Massey's and then get some coffee?" Don't need to twist my arm twice.
Massey's was a success. We spent some time comparing and contrasting two packs in particular, the Osprey Talon 22 and Escapist 25. The difference in capacity was a wash, but the Talon seems to have slightly better back-panel ventilation and with a ten pound test weight somehow it felt narrower, less blobular, more bike-able. The Escapist has its own plusses too, like an integrated rain cover, but in the end the Talon won out. Got the electric green one. It's a funny thing, but I bought a really great day pack my first week in college, been needing another one ever since that one blew out about ten years ago. May have found it, I'll let you know in another ten years.
Then it was off to Coffee Science, a new place opened just last winter by a true master of the brew. The coffee was wonderful, and now I'm pretty well ruined now from ever drinking a bad batch. Mostly I hung out while Tom the owner and The Darling Daughter talked about on-line marketing. The the place was meticulous without being fussy, right down to the tube amplifier sound system. If you're in the neighborhood (410 S. Broad St.), be sure to stop in.
Listened to Dom Flemons' new album all the way over and all the way back. More on that album later, but on the whole: thumbs up, go buy at your earliest convenience. Took Hwy 90 for the late-afternoon drive home, that's somehow always better than the mad rush of I-10. It was a good day well spent.
Sailor Grateful for Maritime Mobile Service Network Assistance, story at the ARRL site. The summary is that the husband of a couple sailing in the Pacific 200 miles off the coast of northern Mexico had a medical emergency. The MMSN got them linked up with the US Coast Guard in southern California and their on-duty MD, and ultimately arranged for timely transport back to the US.
