T H E 6 T H F L O O R

Life in 6 Land

Interested in Scouting

It was the annual open house at my son’s school last night. He is 6 years old, in kindergarten with an excellent teacher! Working in his class one day a week allows me some time to see what sort of progress he is making, when compared to his other classmates. At times I have been very impressed at what this little sponge is soaking up! In my opinion, he’s probably one of the top kids in his class when it comes to the “basics” of what kindergarteners should know before they move on to first grade.

I know many parents will say their son/daughter is doing their best or the best in the class. I am sure my opinion comes as no surprise. He enjoys school, then again didn’t we all at that age? The open house was also a time to see projects the kids had been working on, some of which I had not seen in the time I have spent in his classroom. He was excited to show my wife and I what he could do and who some of his friends were.

The highlight of the evening for him, as it was for most of the kinder, was the egg drop. The rules were simple, devise a way to prevent your egg from breaking when dropped from the school roof. The dimensions of your “delivery package” could be no larger than 7″ x 7″ x 7″. The box we used was 7″ x 7″ x 4″. My wife cut two plastic water bottles in half, secured the egg in the middle of the bottoms and taped them together. The bottle was then pushed diagonally into the box with padding surrounding it. We then taped the box shut and placed his name and teacher on it.

His drop was successful, the egg did not break and he was awarded a “My Egg Did Not Break” certificate for the efforts. He was quite excited about the success! For me the highlight of the evening, aside from watching my son run around with a big smile on his face, talking to classmates was visiting with the local assistant scoutmaster of the local Cub Scout Pack, who had a table set up and was fielding questions.

Years ago when I was in elementary school I was involved in Cub Scouts with friends I went to school with. While I never made much past Wolf or Bear, I did have a great time from what I can recall. I do vividly remember the Pinewood Derby and making my racer. Along with this event there were many other  things I learned that have remained with me growing up. I feel this experience is invaluable for young boys growing up.

Although looking over the awards some, of them don’t make much sense. For many of the awards, you must accomplish a specific number of tasks. I believe growing up I was too involved in sports to make time for Cub Scouts, thus ending my scouting. For my son, he is curious about many things, many of which are encompassed in scouting. I am a bit confused not seeing any sort of Morse code award that falls under Language or Communication. Okay, so maybe my amateur radio bias is showing through.

At any rate, I spoke with my son last night and showed and talked to him about some of what Cub Scouts participate in. He seems to be excited about this venture, as well as going into first grade. With any luck this will stick with us through the summer and come November he will join Pack 152 in Oakley and start working on his Tiger Cub rank on the road to advancement.

Radio Returning?

Got some good news yesterday, as it looks like I will be back on the radio as early as next week. I e-mailed Byron, WA4GEG, who has been working on my Yaesu FT-1000MP. It has been at his shop for just over a month, since encountering issues on the 15 meter band. Byron writes, “I have your transceiver repaired, and have been running it for a week now to make sure everything holds. The VCO the affects 15 meters needed repair. Everything else looks good.”

It’s now a race against the clock, as the CQWW WPX CQ Contest begins next Friday at 0000z (5pm PDT). With any luck it will get there as late as Friday and I should be set to operate up to 36 hours of the contest. Not that I will be able to stay awake, which has been a problem in the past. I spoke about this contest on April 4th in WPX on the Horizon.

Not having a radio has put some of my planned worked on hold. I was able to fix my vertical antenna, thanks to SteppIR and remount it in the backyard. Unfortunately with my knee surgery and no transceiver, I have not been up on the rooftop to see what work needs to be accomplished on the hex beam. With any luck, it will plug and play and I will be able to get on the air quickly, if needed. Again, this is dependent on the arrival of the radio back to my house.

As for the contest, I will provide one further update later next week to summarize my goals. If I can put in a full effort and solar conditions are better than what I have seen the past month or so, I should be able to pull off my goal from 2010 of 1 million points. This would be far and away my best showing in any contest I have entered since 2009.

Knee: Post Op

I had what was hopefully the final appointment with the orthopedic surgeon on Monday and he released me to start being more active with the knee. the stitches were removed and sutures were glued on to the three incisions on my knee. I was also provided a comparison of what a healthy meniscus looks like and what mind looked like when he got in there with his light and camera. In the image, the healthy meniscus are the top two images. The lower two images are how mine looked.

My meniscus was torn on the medial (inner) part of my knee and bent back 180 degrees causing the pain, which in turn caused the pain and swelling I had been experiencing for 2 months. He trimmed out of the torn piece of meniscus, while preserving a majority of the meniscus on the front and anterior of my knee.

I only worked out once last week after my surgery, doing 30 minutes on an elliptical machine. Last night was the second time I worked out and noticed a firm bump on the front of my knee. Thankfully it coincidences with one of the incisions, so hopefully it’s just a matter of time before than swelling (if that is what it is) decreases and the pain subsides.

I still have pain on the inside of my knee, more where the ligament is located at. I am sure we would have seen something on the MRI, but that pain has not gone away. I will give it 4-6 weeks and if the pain still exists might request my MRI and send it to another doctor for a second opinion. Thankfully I have very little pain now walking up stairs or during my daily routine.

Starch is the Solution

As many readers to my site know, I now eat a plant-based diet and have been meat, dairy and oil free for just over 6 months now. I feel great and with the addition of exercise I am starting to see a physical change in my appearance. My blood numbers have dramatically improved as well because of this way of eating. All this in only 6 months, but saw initial weight loss in less than a few days. Is this lifestyle change for everyone? Yes it is, but it’s up to each individual to make the necessary changes that lead to a different mindset in order to be successful.

Before fully committing to Dr. McDougall’s, The McDougall Program: 12 Days to Dynamic Health I read the entire book and did quite a bit of additional research and discussion online that resolved many commonly asked questions. What was even better, I didn’t have to buy his book, as Dr. McDougall offers his 12-day program mentioned in his book for FREE! It even provides a condensed background into the research and details surrounding a starch based diet.

Just last week Dr. McDougall released a new book, The Starch Solution. I am only a chapter in, but I am enjoying his words of wisdom as it relates to a plant-based diet that centers around a staple in world civilization for thousands of years. Starch. This has been his platform for 44 years and how he promotes his healthy diet, which as I experience, is a change in lifestyle. Nonetheless the results have been amazing.

I believe in Dr. McDougall and his starch solution I am willing to make an offer to those who read this post. If you are interested, I will buy and ship you a copy of Dr. McDougall’s book, The Starch Solution. I have no pecuniary interests, just trying to assist others by spread the doctor’s good word on this road to health.

Many won’t take me up on the offer though. Having the determination and willpower to cut out meat, dairy and oil in your diet is seen as “extreme” by many people I talk to. Still, the results I have experienced in 6 months have been like nothing I have seen previously. So, if you are serious in changing your lifestyle and getting healthy I will back my offer to you.