On Visiting the Mothership

On a recent trip home to Concord, I had the opportunity to go to Cupertino, where the Apple campus is located.

Well, okay. In all fairness, I had to talk my beautiful and charming bride into stopping as we went to visit her aunt in Half Moon Bay. But as I was going with her to work on a few items on her aunt’s Mac, I figured this was as good a chance as any. And after being left on my own for better than five hours there with what seemed like little to do at the time, she bought me dinner as well as my lunch expense. Not bad for a day’s semi-work.

Now it’s no secret that I am working on becoming Apple Certified in a number of things. I have already been certified in iLife, and am working on both iWork and Mac OS X support. While I will never write a lot of code or build new hardware, it will be a good backup in case the economy tanks again or further. But it isn’t something I can pursue in earnest; quite frankly it isn’t cheap and it takes time and I am short of both of those kinds of resources. On the other hand, I can earn much of it back in a few repair and update jobs, if and when that time comes.

Now you need to understand that from Concord, Cupertino is a good hour plus away and wasn’t exactly on our way. But we had plenty of time, and Deena really was a good sport about this. When we got there, we drove around a bit the campus, which is huge. We walked in the front entry, looked around, and walked out as we would need an ID badge to go any further. (You can see some pictures here. I can't say I took them, however.) The only thing that we could determine that was open to the public was the Company Store. There, along with all the usual suspects of Macdom that I could just as easily get at my local Mac Store, were the t-shirts, hats, water bottles, pens, keyrings, etc. all with the Apple logo on them that one simply can’t get anywhere else. Of course I bought stuff; don’t be silly. (I even got the t-shirt that says “I visited the Mothership,” from which I took the name for this post.) But that isn’t really the point.

The point is, I guess, that I actually got to see some of the place where things like Macs, iPods, Safari, and most of the stuff I use day to day got brainstormed. And while it really won’t change my life all that much (if any), it was neat to simply go and look. I can say “I’ve been there. I’ve seen the Apple campus.” (To which many of you will yawn and say “who cares.”)

But beyond that, there actually was a deeper meaning. It’s called a working vacation. Another poorly kept secret is that we both are in real need of a true vacation (which won’t happen until August), and that we both needed to do things. I work online and really couldn’t take much time off right now. Stuff is backed up rather nastily. Deena had school stuff that had to be done. We both were ragged, dog-tired, and in need of a break from the same-old. Mom needed some help with a few things down south, and so off we went to help her out.

This qualified as a day off from a busy schedule of helping mom out. My regular work sat mostly undoable (no wi-fi connection, which in hindsight was a blessing). This allowed a logjam of pent-up mental stuff to drain-along with some fatigue, some frustration, and a few other buggered emotions. While I was waiting for Deena and her aunt to return, I took a few phone calls, logged some long overdue paperwork, and caught up on some reading. (I also did the few things to her aunt’s Mac that needed doing.) This downtime-which started off by visiting 1 Infinite Loop-was what this doctor needed to do a little brainstorming of his own to help rectify a nasty set of issues. Realistic, workable plans got made and have already been implemented. This has lowered my stress level, and thus will make me more productive.

The only thing that really got changed was perspective. Issues and problems I faced when I left are still there, but now I have some personal resources to deal with them. I’m not totally drained, and if I take care of myself and follow my planning, things should lighten up in roughly two to three weeks.

That change started by taking some down time and visiting “the Mothership.”

Enough for now.

On Shortwave Radio

Shortwave radio listening (or DX’ing) is another hobby, somewhat like stamp collecting, that seems to have fallen on hard times. You can sort of blame this on the internet, I suppose; with stamps, e-mail is the method of choice for sending letters all over. Many nations have figured this out and either reduced their shortwave radio broadcasts, or cut them outright.

As a hobby, it’s not like baseball or football cards in that you can collect a set of them relatively easily as there is a card shop or two in every city, it seems like. The same can be said of comic books; and with both not only is condition a factor, but then, you have to put them somewhere. You try storing ten years of comic books; if you take ten titles a month, that’s 120 issues a year...and that doesn't count back issues!

Nor is is like collecting coins in which you really need to quit looking at your change and start with things like proof sets in order to have a collection worth something. Trust me on this one. You might have a complete set of old wheat ear pennies, but if they look like they went through the mill, they won’t be worth more than about 14 cents each, if that. Better you should collect proof sets.

For openers, to listen to DX programming...you need to have a shortwave radio. They are not cheap; in fact, a really good one will set you back over a hundred and fifty bucks or more. I actually have two: A DAK model DMR-3000 (which is small and digital) and an older Realistic DX-150A (which is a large boxy thing and analog). Both are in really good shape.

You will also need a good antenna; the best one I ever had was about 100 feet of copper wire that ran the length on my folks attic, and out to a tree in the backyard. Currently, I use a small powered antenna with a core made from all that old wire. Not as good, but serviceable.

Then there’s trying to get a signal here. As alluded to before, many nations have cut their DX signals to North America, making it a little harder than before to get a signal worth listening to. With the DMR-3000, I can punch in the frequency and hopefully get something. With the DX-150A, it’s fiddling with the dials and hope it pulls in a signal.

Once you have a signal, you log in your log book the frequency, the time, what you heard, the broadcaster, and several other bits of info. Then you send off to the broadcaster for verification, using your own cash to do so (unless they have an e-submission form). They often will require you, if you want a response, to enclose some sort of remuneration. (It used to be a International Postal Money Order. Today, it may well be PayPal.)

What do you get once you’ve actually logged something and sent off a reception report? If you’re lucky, something called a QSL card. And if you’re really lucky, a few other goodies such as pennants, pins, buttons, patches, etc. (You can click here to see a number of my QSL cards.) Oh, yes--you’ll also be added to the their mailing list for a year or two. Or three.

It sounds easy, but it’s not. Sunspots, weather conditions, time of day, antenna length, signal strength, the number of trees in your way, power lines, and a host of other factors can keep you from getting anything fit to log in.

So, why bother at all?

Well, it can also be fun and somewhat educational. Granted, with the internet you can just go to a country and and see if they have a podcast in English, but that does not teach you things like patience. Fiddling with the knobs on the radio, waiting on the mail, and waiting sometimes for the station ID (especially if you just missed it) teaches one patience. It does not teach you several other things. (True enough, however, listening to a podcast does teach you some about the host nation.)

It also teaches you perseverance. Because every year or so, these QSL cards change designs, many of them. So for some of your favorites, you have to go back and mail a new report, to get a new QSL card. (Of course, some never change. I have several from a DX station that essentially hadn’t changed in ten plus years.)

Every once in awhile, I’ll pull out the DX radio and see what I can catch. Even Canada-which is only 360 miles or so from where I live-isn’t really easy anymore, but I figured I’d start there and see where I could go to after that.

Hmm-makes me wonder where I can get some stamps for an old album I have....

Enough for now.