Chet's Blog

Maybe I’m Back

2010-09-27T18:02:00.001-07:00

Good grief, it's been almost a year. Guess I started using Facebook as my substitute. I now have MS Word 2010 set-up to do posts, so I'll see if I can't be a bit more dedicated. More later, we have company over for dinner.

Spoke Too Soon!

2009-10-12T18:55:00.000-07:00

Well we thought the new heat pump/furnace system was working okay. But we found out differently this weekend. Sunday and Monday mornings were cold in the morning, less than 35 degrees. It was cold enough that the heat pump was not able to contribute to heating the house. That means the furnace is supposed to kick in and provide heat in auxiliary mode until the heat pump can get some warmth out of the air.

Well the temperature in the house dropped to under 60 degrees no matter what we did. Remember this system has not even been in three weeks yet. Washington Energy sent out a tech today to figure out what was wrong. Turns out the idiots who did the installation didn’t turn the gas back on to the furnace. A gas furnace needs gas to provide heat (duh), and since it wasn’t getting any gas, we weren’t getting any heat.

Seriously folks, if you live in an area serviced by Washington Energy Services I suggest you talk to at least one other company before deciding on WES to do any work for you.

The Heat Pump’s In...

2009-10-07T05:19:00.000-07:00

And it seems to be working. Of course the hot weather is gone, and has been since the installation so I don’t know how well it will do with the cooling during hot weather. But so far the system seems to be working fine. The only problem was that they did not install the thermostat we paid for. They claimed it was possibly due to the type of wiring we had, and that the one we got installed was actually an upgraded model.

Not sure I believe that, but this one seems to work fine so we aren’t making an issue out of it.

Let me just say that if you live in the Puget Sound area, make sure to get at least one other bid than just a bid from Washington Energy Services. I think they are a bit high priced and they can be a bit difficult to work with. That’s all I’ll say on that subject.

No More Birds…

2009-10-06T01:39:00.000-07:00

For the first time in thirteen years I no longer have the budgies talking (singing) to me as I head in and out of the garage. I recently found that I was having a difficult time getting into the mood to take care of the birds on a daily basis like they need. Since that isn’t fair to the birds; and can even be deadly to them if you go to long without taking care of them, I thought it was time to get rid of my birds and equipment. (p.s., if you want to see what my birds looked like you can check them out on my web page at http://mysite.verizon.net/resom1a2/avirypho1.htm.)

A fellow breeder and exhibitor who lives nearby bought out my entire stock of birds and all my equipment. It’s kind of strange having a garage that is actually able to hold a car now, instead of being full of birds and equipment.

I am pretty proud of what I was able to do with my birds. I made champion exhibitor within a few years and had established a very well known line of Lutino budgies (a yellow version of an albino with pink eyes).

Help, I Should Be Sleeping!

2009-09-24T10:56:00.000-07:00

Here it is 10:45 am which is prime sleeping time when you are a grave shift worker and I am wide awake. Washington Energy is here today putting in our new furnace and heat pump and someone has to be here with them all day. And of course I got elected because I’m normally home during the day.

Almost as frustrating, I can’t access my main computer since that room is where they are working to replace everything. So I am on my older laptop upstairs and for some reason it wants to hang up every time I have more than one program at a time open. Guess it’s about time to check for malware and other problems. Hopefully I can get this posted first.

Looking forward to using the heat pump, although now that it is fall I probably won’t benefit from the cooling abilities until next year. We are pretty excited about this change, heat pumps are supposed to be pretty efficient so maybe there will be some energy (cost..) savings.

Oh tomorrow I get to stay up all day also. The electrical inspection is sometime tomorrow and they won’t give you a specific time. If I’m lucky I hope to get back on schedule before I have to go to work this weekend.

Happy Birthday Delores!

2009-08-31T18:29:00.000-07:00

A very special Happy Birthday wish to my wife Delores. She hits the big 60 September 1.

I’ve been lucky enough to spend almost 23 of those years with her.

(Delores is on the left standing with Lee Ann Womack at a recent concert)

Birthday Wishes

2009-08-20T18:18:00.000-07:00

Some August birthday wishes (a few late)

I want to start doing birthday wishes to our family members, so let’s start with everyone in August

Happy Birthday

Aug 8 – Grandson Justin Yuhas
Aug 20 – Son-in-law Danny McCants
Aug 21 – Daughter Diana Calderon
Aug 21 – Granddaughter Samantha Calderon
Aug 27 – Son-in-law Silao Filao

A Rant on Courtesy…

2009-08-11T19:11:00.000-07:00

We had an appointment for 6 pm this evening for Washington Energy Services to come to the house and estimate a full replacement system for our furnace. More than likely several thousand dollars of work. At 6:55 pm, the guy calls to say he’s just leaving his previous appointment and won’t be here for another 15-20 minutes (can I really believe that?).

Told him to just go ahead and go on home and we’d call the company to reset an appointment. Maybe if they can make us a heck of a deal we’ll consider using them instead of one of the many other companies in the Everett area who provide the same service.

What I want to know; if he had a cell phone available to call me at 6:55 pm why couldn’t he have used that cell phone an hour earlier to tell us what was going on? Is that not a common courtesy?

The Heat is Gone & the Bird Show

2009-08-04T15:12:00.000-07:00

As of 10 minutes ago, it was 69F at Paine Field airport, just a couple of miles from the house. That is 35 degrees cooler than last Wednesday at this time. Let’s hope this continues. Not only are my birds happier, but I am much, much happier when the weather is cooler.

We had a great bird show this past weekend in Kelso. So far in 2009 it was the largest budgie show sanctioned by the American Budgerigar Society in the US. We had 234 birds entered in the show, including some from California and some from Canada. Again this year, the Red Lion Hotel and Conference Center in Kelso really went all out to make for an enjoyable experience for all the exhibitors.

The winner was a light green cock bird owned and exhibited by Larry Harrell from Bremerton. If you’d like to see some of the photos from the show, you can find them on my Flickr page.

Too Hot for Me and the Birds!

2009-07-28T11:38:00.000-07:00

We have a bird show this weekend and neither me or the birds are in the mood. Although budgies are native to Australia, the birds we have bred for show over the years are no longer native desert birds. The heat bothers them just as much as it can bother us.

And for the Puget Sound area we are having a real hot spell. Cliff Mass’s blog says that we are, “going for over 100F tomorrow...and Thursday as well.” 100º F is apparently the highest ever recorded temperature for Seattle since they’ve been keeping records. So we’re are very likely to break that record in the next couple of days.

I find I’m spending most of my time in the basement of our house where it is probably 20 degrees cooler then upstairs. Good thing the basement is finished and the computers and main TV are in the basement.

Where Was I When?

2009-07-19T01:49:00.000-07:00

The 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon and the death of Walter Cronkite got me thinking about where I was for some of the happenings over the years.

November 23, 1963, the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. I was a freshman at the University of Washington in Seattle. I had stopped at a small grocery store in the U District while walking back to my dorm from class. All of a sudden a young hysterical girl came into the store screaming that Kennedy was dead. None of us believed her until we got to a TV and saw the news coverage. That was a pretty sobering event; and I would guess that anyone who was alive and more than just a toddler can tell you exactly where they were when they first heard the news.

July 20, 1969, As Neil Armstrong from Apollo 11 took the first steps on the moon by man; I was sitting in my apartment at Knickerbocker Circle in Hampton, Virginia. I was down to my last 60 days in the Army and stayed up most of the night to watch the coverage. I was watching on a small Black & White TV I had bought at a Sears store. I bought it with my first, ever credit card. Thank you for that Sears.

May 18, 1980, Mount St Helens in the Southern Cascades in Washington blew up. I was still the Army Reserves and it was our drill weekend. We didn’t even know the mountain had erupted until one of our soldiers came back from church and told us. Needless to say, the rest of the day was spent in front of the TVs in the cafeteria. Living in the Puget Sound area we only got dusted with ash a couple of times, I sure would not have wanted to live in the main patch over near Yakima. We had some friends who lived there then and they say it was like nighttime at noon.

Any other significant events I’ve forgotten? Where were you for these?

July 1st and All is Well

2009-07-02T04:20:00.000-07:00

I am about 3/4th of the way through my first grave shift of the year. Only two more hours and then I get to go home and try to sleep on what is going to be one of our hotter days of the year. I’ve been working hard the past week trying to get my body turned around so that I can stay awake all night and sleep during the day.

The past couple of days I’ve been able to keep my eyes open until 4:00 am, so I should make it to 6 am without too much trouble. After a few more days of this, I should be pretty well adjusted. By December 31st I won’t even remember what it is like to work when the sun is shining.

We are half way through 2009. The year is going pretty fast, but so far everyone in the family seems to be hanging in there without any major problems.

Grave shift, which for us is 10:00 pm to 6:00 am, is usually slowest shift. That’s kind of why I’m hoping I’ll be able to be a bit more dedicated to regular updates to the blog. At 4 in the morning when nothing is going on is a good time to jot something down to blog about.

Right now, on my first full night, I’m not really thinking straight, so I’ll quit for now, and try again in a night or two. Happy Fourth of July to everyone, Have a Safe and Sane Holiday!

Going to the Overnight Shift

2009-06-26T20:36:00.000-07:00

Only two more swing shifts after tonight and then I switch to grave shift for the rest of the year. I don’t think I’m looking forward to it, but at least I won’t have to set an alarm clock. That’s one good thing, of a very few good things, about working the grave shift. It’s usually the quietest shift in our dispatch center. That makes it interesting sometimes trying to stay awake. Then, just as you are getting nice and comfortable, an officer goes in pursuit, or someone tries to break into a house.

Switching to grave shift may help me be a bit more active on the blog. At least I am hoping that the reason I haven’t been active the last few months. We’ll certainly see over the next few weeks or so if I can be a bit more active.

Hope everyone has a safe and fun July 4th.

Memorial Day

2009-05-25T09:47:00.000-07:00

What more can be said?

Our country is strong and free thanks to all of our veterans. Please spend a moment remembering the sacrifices they have made so that we can enjoy the life we enjoy today.

Memorial Day graphic courtesy of Doc’s Patriotic Graphics at http://geckocountry.com/milgraphics.htm.

Here Again...

2009-05-15T19:35:00.001-07:00

I am still here, although I haven’t been very good about keeping up to date with this blog. I think it is a function of the shift I am currently working. I work as a 911 dispatch supervisor and am now working the evening (swing) shift. When I work swing shift I normally get home right about 10:00 pm. Then I like to watch one or two of the shows that have been taped, before heading for bed at midnight or close to it. I almost never get on the computer when I get home at night.

Since I don’t have to be at work until 2:00 pm, I never set an alarm. When I get up, I have to have my coffee and read the paper. Then take care of the birds in the aviary before getting to the computer or finishing up on any shows I still haven’t watched. To make a long story short, I don’t spend as much time on the computer; therefore I don’t spend as much time as I should keeping up with the blog.

I’ll try to do better over the next month or so, and then when I get to the grave shift starting in July I should have plenty of computer time.

Remember that Memorial Day is coming soon. Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May (on May 25 in 2009). Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in the military service. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War (it is celebrated near the day of reunification after the civil war), it was expanded after World War I to include American casualties of any war or military action. The traditional day for the Memorial Day observance is May 30, however, it was changed years ago to be the last Monday in May to give a 3 day holiday.

Be good; honor our military, our vets and the vets in your family. Delores and I hit several different cemeteries before Memorial Day to place US flags at the grave sites of the veterans in our family.

Happy Birthday Chet…

2009-04-04T13:02:00.001-07:00

April 4, 1945; boy that seems like so many years ago. Sixty-four to be exact since I was born at Mount Vernon General Hospital. Don't bother looking it up, there is no such place anymore. I don't suppose there's much chance I'll see another 64 years, but I would certainly appreciate a few more good ones before I go to whatever reward there is set up for me (grin).

It's been an interesting span of time. I was born just a few days before President Roosevelt (FDR) died, only a few months before WWII ended with the surrender of Japan. I remember quite a few years as a kid where there was no TV in the house. We'd sit in the kitchen some evenings and listen to shows on the radio. I remember The Green Hornet and The Shadow. I remember listening to Let's Pretend and You Were There records on our record player. They were 78s, not 33s or 45s. Took several records to tell a whole story. Our first TV was a huge console with a small B&W screen; at least to me the console seemed huge. We got this TV when I was probably in the 3^rd or 4^th grade. No cable or FIOS back then; we got permission to put an antenna on the roof of the lumberyard next door and then ran the antenna wires across the street to the house.

Still no computers, but I was here for the first electronic calculators. They didn't do much and to begin with they were pretty expensive. I always told my first wife that as soon as I could find one for under $100.00 I was going to buy one. Got one in the 70s sometime at the Bon Marche (also no longer around) for $99.99. It could add, subtract, divide and multiply. And it had to be plugged in. My first computer was, as I remember, in 1982. That's when I bought an Osborne 1 portable computer, small monitor and dot-matrix printer for just over $2,000. This computer had no hard drive (they were another $2,000 for only 5 Mb of storage).

I don't remember a time we didn't have a telephone, but when I was a kid in LaConner, the phones were all 4 or 8 party lines. When you wanted to make a call you had to make sure no one else was using the phone in one of the other homes. It wasn't until my ex and I moved to Seattle after my US Army service that we were finally able to get a private line phone. Now, just in our family, we have a regular phone with extensions in 4 rooms, and we each have a cell phone. Oh, and three computers for two people.

Wonder what my parents, much less grandparents would think of life today?

Just Did It Anyway.

2009-03-23T15:29:00.001-07:00

Just made a Twitter site, my user name is ChetSwanson if you are interested. It doesn't have anything on it right now.

Help; I’m Lost…

2009-03-23T15:00:00.001-07:00

Okay, we have the telephone, we have letters, we have email and we have blogs; now we have texting, MySpace, Facebook and Twitter.

Can someone please tell me what purpose there is to the last four? Guess I'm getting old, but if we have all these fancy ways to socialize how do we manage to keep our personal and work lives organized? Guess I'm getting too old. I now have Facebook and haven't got a clue what purpose it has. All I see is that any time a friend, or a friend's friend makes any kind of comment it shows up on my page?

I suppose I'm going to have to learn to adjust; and then maybe I can be cool and know what's going on.

By the way, congratulations to Sean and Melissa who announced their engagement at dinner yesterday.

Tickets to Elton John & Billy Joel

2009-03-16T13:10:00.001-07:00

What an interesting experience today. Tickets for Elton John and Bill Joel's show in Seattle this November went on sale at 10:00 this morning. I was sitting at the computer logged into the Ticketmaster website just before that. I was supposed to try to get 3 good tickets for my wife and a couple of friends. Every 10 seconds or so I would hit the refresh button hoping to catch the site just as the tickets went on sale.

Bingo, all of a sudden I was ready to go. I requested 3 "best available" tickets and got three on the floor about 1/2 way back from the stage. Then things started going downhill. I called my wife to see if they sounded all right. She wasn't sure that we wanted the floor tickets, so had me try again. Everything went to pot then; the next set of tickets was at the farthest end of the venue from the stage. Nope, try again. However, that was probably a big mistake because no matter how hard I tried I wasn't able to find 3 tickets together. So even though it was only about 8 minutes into the sale, we ended up with 2 tickets, not three. Sorry ladies.

Oh well, Key Arena is a fairly small venue, so even though the tickets are still some distance from the stage, the girls should still enjoy the show.

I'm Really Still Here...

2009-03-11T12:47:00.000-07:00

I have certainly not been very good about keeping up with my blog on anything resembling a regular basis. For that I apologize. It isn’t that I don’t have anything to say. Heck I always have something to say, even if it doesn’t make any sense. Just too many things going on at home with too little time, and I haven’t been able to just sit down and write anything.

The show season for our budgies is just about here for 2009. The first show in the Northwest is only a month away. The Northwest Budgerigar Society will hold its show in April in Tigard, Oregon. I don’t have many birds that are in show condition right now but I’ll try to put together some kind of a show team so that I can support the show. Want to see some photos from past shows, or even some of the budgies? You can link to the photos at my Flickr site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/12359546@N05/sets/. Photos from three of our recent Northwest shows are linked to from this page. Also on this page is a set of photos of my aviary and some of my birds. The Washington club has its show in late July in Kelso, Washington and the in October the Cascade clubs holds their show in Tigard, Oregon.

This has been my third poor year of breeding birds in a row. I started setting up my birds in early October and so far have only banded 16 chicks. That’s way behind what a normal year should have produced. Part of the problem this year is me, not the birds. Since I’m uncertain about staying in the hobby I think I just haven’t been in the mood. I find that I have to almost force myself to go out on a daily basis to take care of the birds.

My small troubles about the birds make me wonder how my dad’s family managed to be dairy farmers for so many years. Twice a day, 365 days a year you have no choice but to trudge out to the barn and milk the cows. At least I can sneak in a weekend now and then by making sure the seed jars and waterers are full.

‘Nuff for now, just a few more weeks to my 64th birthday; that’s a lot more years than I would have though anyone could live when I was a kid. Of course my dad’s mother lived to the day before her 101st birthday, and one of my dad’s brothers will be 98 later this year; so maybe I have good genes.

Oh My – 50 Years Ago is a Long Time Ago..

2009-02-12T18:26:00.001-08:00

I was going through some of my old photos and found this photo, which, with all the cute kids is my 8^th grade graduation picture. That was in 1958 at LaConner Elementary School (no junior high at that time). I'm the really cute kid in the back row, third from the right. Not sure, I have a very good memory any longer. sitting here, I'm having a terrible time remembering who everyone is. The boys in the back from left to right are; John Robbins, Charlie Elde, can't remember the next two, then Chuck Beassner, then another question, then Greg Johnson, Fredrickson, Jim Dunlap, Yours Truly, Harry Jackson, and another question mark. The next row down, is Tom Bergman, Sig Gildness, Miriam Lee, Nancy Cram, Patti Bell, two questions, Terry Nelson, and Chet Pierson. In the front row are Sally Wagner, another question mark, Vicki Overway, Donna Olson and another question. All the boys are wearing their suits with ties. The girls are all in dresses and their corsages. What a nice looking bunch. I hope I have everyone's name right; been a long time since I've looked at this pictures.
I went from grade school to the LaConner High School graduating from there in 1963. I'll dig out some more photos soon and post them for your laughs.

Today in History

2009-02-01T09:46:00.001-08:00

As a Vietnam veteran I was intrigued to be reminded that today, is the forty-first anniversary of the day (February 1, 1968) that Richard Nixon announced his candidacy for President of the United States. On that day I had finished tour in Vietnam and was back in Korea to finish up assignment there prior to returning to the States for my last tour before leaving the active duty Army.

One thing about today; today, like any other day is a good day to remember all of our Nation’s veterans; if you see a service member today, tell them thanks. As a Vietnam Vet I can tell you that is one of the most important things you can do.

The 1968 Presidential election was the first one for which I was old enough to vote. Since both sides of my family had been Republicans since there has been a Republican Party I voted for Nixon. Now that I have matured I only vote for the more moderate Republicans in the elections. Of course that means I haven’t had the chance to vote for a Republican in many years. I still call myself a Republican but I am way too moderate, perhaps even liberal, for what now calls itself the Republican Party.

Vacation's Over

2009-01-27T13:24:00.001-08:00

Play time is over; I had to come back to work this week. I really enjoyed taking the time off. I was able to catch up on my reading, and my movies. Sadie, our pug, enjoyed my vacation almost as much as I did. She has a lot more fun when someone is home with her most of the time. It gives her a lot more bed time.

I’ve been back to work for three days now, and the difference in my attitude is amazing. I just hope it lasts. I find I get grumpier and grumpier every year I get older. Maybe grumpier isn’t quite the right word, but it will have to do.

Seattle area weather is a bit more normal than it was in December. The rains are supposed to be coming back this week, and the temperatures have gotten back up into the more normal winter range for our area. We did have a 1/2 inch, or less, of snow on Sunday, but it didn’t affect the roads at all. Early this morning some areas got a dusting of snow, but I haven’t seen any yet.

I deleted my link to the White House blog. It’s there, but the link doesn’t seem to work correctly. If you are interested you can go to the updated White House website at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/.

Take care, more later I hope.

Proud to be an American!

2009-01-21T10:49:00.001-08:00

God Bless the United States of America! A new time has come to the US Government; we have a President who will govern based on ideals not ideology.

We now have a government that, in my opinion, will not ostracize those of us who do not agree with the ideology of hating anyone who is different.

Being on vacation, I spent my day yesterday watching the inauguration of Barak Obama as the 44^th President of the United States. It was a very personally moving day for me. I was amazed at how emotional I was watching the ceremonies. I cannot think of words to properly express myself, so I will just leave my thoughts where they are now.

Vacation & Other Thoughts

2009-01-16T10:02:00.001-08:00

I am in the middle of a few days vacation. I had forgotten how nice it could be to take time off for something other than my bird related hobby functions. I've caught up with some movies I wanted to watch. And I have been able to do some reading without having to watch the clock. I think that today I'm going to start on the Harry Potter series, and read those books one more time. My wife sometimes wonders about my sanity, but I have always felt that if a book is really a good read the first time, it only gets better when you read it again. Some of my books I have probably read as many as 9 or 10 times. As an example, I have read all my Heinlein books at least a half dozen times each, some even more. I have always loved reading, and hope to keep it up right until the end (grin). When I was a kid, I was one of the best customers our small library in LaConner had. I must have read a majority of the books they had in the library. Of course, it wasn't a big library so that probably doesn't say much.

One more week and then back to the grind. By then I should be refreshed and ready to go. I haven't done anything exciting yet, but I may try to go visit my uncles next week up in Skagit County. Haven't been up there for several months even though it is only about a 45-minute drive.

We've now been on Verizon FIOS for two weeks. I cannot believe how convenient it is to have a Digital Video Recorder, like the Verizon Multi-Room DVR. Before the switch, we had a VCR for every TV. There were times that we would have as many as three of our VCRs set for shows to make sure we got all the shows we wanted to watch taped. With the DVR, all I have to do is set it up once and the shows are recorded; in my case, every time the show is not a repeat. Just this one factor has made the switch worthwhile. It is kind of interesting to see just how many channels are available through the system. Of course, 90% are channels that we may never watch. But, hey, they are there just in case.

The only concern I have had so far is with our local NBC affiliate, KING-5, in Seattle. There seems to be a problem in the system with the volume for that channel and that channel only. If I have the volume adjusted for KING-5 and then switch to another channel, I have to immediately lower the volume because all the other channels are louder than 5. I originally thought that was related to one of the set top boxes, but it doesn't appear to be that way. One of these days I'll get around to checking with Verizon and see what they think. But for right now I'm having way too much fun exploring all the things that FIOS TV brings to the plate.

The snow is gone, the rains have mostly stopped; the area is finally getting some normal Winter weather. We have been getting a lot of fog, but they weathermen claim that should be gone by later this weekend.

The New Year has started, and we are about to inaugurate our new President next Tuesday. I am excited about the change coming to our country. I wish all the best to everyone for the New Year.

Vacation Time & Other Thoughts

2009-01-10T08:59:00.000-08:00

In the 911 dispatch field we work some strange shifts. Today, a Saturday is my Friday for the week. Tomorrow I start a short vacation; the first one in years that isn’t related to my bird hobby. Don’t have a lot planned, but after the last few weeks at work and all the weather related business we had, I felt that I needed some time off.

I am going to try to catch up with some reading. Then I want to watch the Star Wars and Star Trek movies one more time. I just finished reading W.E.B. Griffin’s Black Ops, the fifth of his Presidential Agent series of books. I was a little disappointed with the start of the book. Most of Griffin’s books are a bit “tighter” all the way through. This one started out slowly and, to me, disjointed. The last few years Griffin’s son has been co-writing some of his books and with Black Ops it seemed that the son may have written the first few chapters and then the father took over and finished. W.E.B. Griffin is a pseudonym for William E. Butterworth. Under that name he has also written many books, including numerous juvenile fiction books.

The weather has really been a huge factor in our lives here in Washington State the past several weeks. Leading up to Christmas we got a lot of snow which lead to some real problems for people getting around the area. Eastern Washington, specially the area around Spokane is still having snow related problems. Then, just in the past several days those of us in Western Washington got hit by a lot of rain, which fell in a short amount of time. We really had some road problems, and made the national news. If you were in the Puget Sound area (near Seattle), the only way to get out of the area was to fly. A 20-mile stretch of I5 was closed south of Seattle, and all three of the roads across the Cascade Mountains were closed due to avalanche concerns. Each day the Interstate and passes were closed cost the economy about $16,000,000 according to news reports I saw.

That just about does it for today. I hadn’t written anything for awhile and thought I should catch up a bit. I’ll try to do better during my vacation.

All the Best.

Welcome Verizon FIOS, Goodbye Comcast

2009-01-03T13:50:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was the big day; a couple of Verizon technicians were here and got our FIOS (Fiber Optic) service operational. We now have our "cable" TV, telephone and Internet service all through Verizon FIOS.

Obviously, with only 24-hours I can't give you a very comprehensive report on how the service works, but so far so good. I was impressed with the technicians and the work they did. One tech got here around 9 am and gave us a run-down on what he would be doing. Shortly after that, another tech arrived. Her installation for the day was cancelled at the last minute so they had her come to our house to help. The installation was very smooth, and everything was explained to us before they got started. It probably made a difference that there were two techs here, but the installation only took about three hours, maybe even a few minutes less than that. All the TVs are working great, the Internet is working and they even took the time to set up the wireless on the new router with our two laptops.

From what I've seen so far, if you have Fiber Optic available to your home jump through any hoops you have to to get the service.

Delores has already started using the unlimited long-distance calling within the US.

On a different topic; we had some friends over last night for cards and dinner. We had finished our first game of pinochle and were about to have desert when Delores started yelling about a flood downstairs. We had a good layer of water on the laundry room floor and it was slowly spreading into the office, which is just next to the laundry room. It seemed to be coming from the downstairs shower drain. We got it stopped and got the water sopped up. But boy did that sure ruin the mood for more cards. This morning a plumber, who Delores knows, came by and found the problem. The drain pipe from the kitchen sink area runs down the wall just behind the shower. That drainpipe had gotten plugged somewhere near where it feeds into the main house drain to the septic system. Kurt, the plumber, found a "clean-out" joint hidden behind a wall. We got access to that and snaked out the drain. Works great now; wish we would have know about it before. We might have been smart enough to pay attention to it and clean it out now and then.

By the way, the wives beat us in the one game we did play.

Goodbye 2008, I Think I Will Miss You.

2008-12-31T18:34:00.001-08:00

Only about five and 1/2 hours left in the year 2008 here in Everett, Washington. It has been a very interesting year. The US economy is in the toilet, millions of people in the US are unemployed, and things just keep looking worse and worse. Nevertheless, looking back at the year, I have to say that there have been many things in 2008 for which I can be thankful.

For the first time in many years, our family is fairly stable this year. No one is in trouble; everyone seems to have their health. And everyone has a roof over their heads. Not everyone can say that.

I am looking forward to seeing just what 2009 will bring to the Swanson family. One uncle, on my dad's side, will be 98 in 2009, one aunt, on my mom's side, will be 92 this year, and I will be 64 in April. All of our kids are in their 30s or 40s, and we have a bunch of grandkids, all growing up way too fast.

To all of our family; our friends and our co-workers, Happy New Year and may all of your hopes and dreams come true.

Comments

2008-12-29T09:07:00.000-08:00

I have had this blog set up so that all comments had to be approved before they were posted. I haven’t seen any problems with the few comments so far, so I have changed that requirement.

Please keep your comments clean, etc., or I may have to go back to reviewing them before they get posted.

Hmmmm…

2008-12-28T14:53:00.001-08:00

You try to treat people like adults and they act as if they are in junior high school or something. You try to always back up your people and then they dump on you.

Guess it is time to quit being a nice guy.

Two O’clock in the Morning?

2008-12-28T03:51:00.000-08:00

So here it is, O Dark 30 in the morning and I’m awake and at work. Unlike a lot of jobs, in the 911 dispatch job you have to have a butt in the chair. So if someone is on vacation, or calls in sick, someone else has to work. This morning it was my turn to have to come to work early for someone on vacation.

2:00 am on a Sunday morning can be a terrible time to work. You have to get up around 1 to get ready and get to work by 2. That means you are probably getting at least a couple hours less sleep than you normally would. Then you get here and business slows down; meaning that you are already tired and nothing is going on to help keep you awake.

One thing I did find this morning while perusing the website of the Seattle Times newspaper was an article about an 80 year old grandmother in Yakima, Washington who is a dedicated blogger. You can read the article at: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008565994_octogenarianblogger28.html and if you would like to see her blog, it is at: http://www.petpeevesandotherrantings.blogspot.com/. It was kind of fun reading some of her blog entries.

If my mother were still living she would be 94 now. I can really see her as an Internet user and blogger. She was always interested in new technology, but by the time of her death in 1989 the Internet and home computers were still in their infancy.

Okay, that’s enough for right now, time for a nap (grin). Take care and enjoy the rest of the year.

Great Times Were Had By All – Almost

2008-12-27T10:35:00.001-08:00

Well the Christmas holiday is gone, now we are just counting down the days until the New Year arrives.

We’ve had a good holiday so far; Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were full of friends and family, and made the season very enjoyable.

Christmas Eve we had a small group at the house for Prime Rib dinner. We had a good time and everyone enjoyed the food and the visiting. The snow was still falling and the roads were still pretty nasty; so two of our friends were not able to make it out of their complex to come to the dinner. They missed some really good food and some nice chatting.

Christmas Day was really special; for the first time in years almost everyone one of our kids and grandkids made it for Christmas Day breakfast. The only ones who were not here was Diana and her family from California, and grandson Sean and his girlfriend who couldn’t make it to our place on the roads. Even our two sons, who haven’t been able to make a Christmas for several years where able to be at the house, for breakfast, gifts and visiting.

My granddaughter, Danielle, and I spent a lot of time talking about the Twilight series of books (see my 12/8/08 entry) and how much we both enjoyed them. That was much to the disgust of most everyone else at the breakfast since none of them could understand the attraction of the books. She was ecstatic because Delores and I gave her the set of Twilight books. Even though she’d read them, she didn’t have her own copies. Turns out Danielle is a budding artist. One of the gifts she gave me for Christmas was her own drawings of the cast from the movie Twilight.

By now you know all about our snow. It started almost two weeks ago, and kept right up until last night at our house. It’s been years since we’ve had so much snow on the ground at our house at one time. I would guess that over the two weeks we probably ended up with 12-14 inches at home. The coldest I saw was 8° F at our house one morning as I was waiting for the truck to warm up so I could drive to work. I’m all done with snow for the winter. It can stop right now and not come back. Snow is sure pretty, but only if it isn’t stuck to the roads (Grin).

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2008-12-24T08:11:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays.

Its Christmas Eve morning and it is still snowing in the Puget Sound area. At least it’s warmer than it has been, so maybe we’re seeing the last of the snow fall. It sure is pretty having everything covered in deep white snow. But when you have to be to work no matter what the roads are like, I would just as soon it never snowed.

Tonight we are doing a small Christmas Eve dinner for our friends. Then tomorrow morning we have maybe as many as 14 of our local family members coming over for Christmas Day breakfast and gift exchange. It will be nice to see everyone on this great holiday.

I hope you and yours have a wonderful holiday season and are looking forward to the New Year with as much excitement as I am.

I just hope 2009 goes a bit slower than 2008. That might be a function of age; I sure do not remember time going so quickly when I was a kid. Now, it goes way too fast.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Christmas

2008-12-21T15:16:00.000-08:00

p.s., Christmas is just a few days away now. If you haven't bought my present yet, you still have time.

Comcast vs. Verizon FIOS

2008-12-21T15:09:00.000-08:00

Boy was I shocked a few days ago; a local TV station had a segment that sometime shortly after the Feb 2009 conversion to DTV over the air, Comcast was going to require those of us on extended basic cable (analog) to put in set top boxes or loose over 1/2 the channels to which we currently have access. And this was after I had received written assurances from the corporation that as a Comcast customer I (we) would not have to do anything, nor would our service be changed, until at least 2012.

Comcast was even going to be nice to us and give us three set-top boxes to use. Of course I have six TVs, so I was going to have to pay for the extra boxes.

I have really been on the fence lately about the whole TV/Phone/Internet thing. I have never been a real fan of Comcast, but up until very recently if you wanted easy to use, comprehensive TV viewing, without a set-top box you had to use basic cable through Comcast. All of a sudden there is no longer an option, other than a physical antenna on top of the house, to get TV without set-top boxes.

So, Delores and I bundled up for the weather and went over to the local Verizon phone store a few days ago. We currently have our Internet (DSL), cell phones and home phone through Verizon. Talked to the rep about upgrading to FIOS; and then made our choice. Can’t tell you yet how it is going to work; our next door neighbor has it and loves it. But, we’ll know sometime on January 2 which is when our install is scheduled.

And best of all, even with all the boxes that we are going to have to us (same with Comcast), the price is still very similar to what we would have paid with all services, but upgrading Comcast to digital. And it is fiber optic to the house, not just to a local node and then on copper wire throughout the neighborhood to our house.

I’ll let you know how it works, but I’m sure looking forward to it. Our Internet will be faster, our TV will be better, with more channels, and that will make me happier (grin).

About Time to Give Up a Hobby?

2008-12-17T14:17:00.001-08:00

After doing a lot of thinking, it has become time to give up a hobby. For the past 12 years I have been involved in the exhibition budgerigar hobby here in the US. I've had a lot of fun and managed to move up in the hobby to Champion Breeder status. I am one of the few in the country who breeds quality Crested budgies and shows them on a regular basis.

For most of the time, both my wife and I have really enjoyed the hobby and the friendships we have made. In fact, the socializing and friends have been the best part. However, like many things in this day and age, the hobby is changing. Before a TV in every room, and computers, and game consoles, people were more engaged in outside the home activities. Eastern Star, Masons, exhibition budgies, all sorts of things like that have suffered, as we've become a country of stay at home to play people.

A couple of years ago our very best friends in the hobby, who had just retired, moved from Washington to Arizona. Now we don't see them as often, and hardly ever get to see them at bird club meetings and other functions. That means that both Delores and I have lost of lot of the fun feelings we have had in the hobby. Now it is almost like a job instead of a fun hobby. You have to do it because it's an obligation, not fun.

So over the next few days, Delores and I will chat a bit more and then make a decision about leaving the hobby. One thing, like all the hobbies I've chosen over my life, this is an expensive one. So leaving the hobby will save money (grin).

More later on this and other subjects.

Where’d the Photo Go?

2008-12-15T12:32:00.001-08:00

Guess photos don't post correctly using Word 2007 for doing my blog. At least the photo I thought I was posting isn't here. Take a look at my website (link below) for some photos.

It’s Baby Season

2008-12-15T12:30:00.001-08:00

It's that time of year of the Exhibition Budgie Hobby; time to find the perfect pair of parents for the ideal babies for the next show season or two. I actually paired up my first pairs of birds about 7 weeks ago. As of today, I have banded 10 chicks already this season and have several more ready to band within the next few days.

The photo here shows four chicks born last year in their nest box. I haven't taken any photos of this year's babies, so I cannot post them yet. If you would like to see some more photographs of some of my birds, you can find them on my Aviary web site.

I am a champion exhibitor and member of the American Budgerigar Society. I have been breeding and exhibiting budgies for about 12 years. It's a great hobby although it is kind of like being a dairy farmer (grin). Someone has to take care of the birds every day, so you have to have an understanding wife or friend before you can go anywhere for a weekend, like to a local bird show.

If you would like to get more information on the hobby, you can email me at eastmontaviary@gmail.com.

Not much of a post today, but I had to get up early on my day off and drive my wife to work because of the weather here in the Seattle area. I'll need to leave soon to pick her up at work, so I only have this short time to write anything down.

Only 9 more days to Christmas

Let’s Get Down to Brass Tacks – Job Related Venting

2008-12-12T15:56:00.001-08:00

Or however the saying goes. I briefly commented on my MySpace page a week or so ago about this topic, but I just have to go at it again here.

Why is it that people who do not like their jobs, who do not like their bosses, and who do not like their co-workers, continue to work for the place they hate so much? I realize that the job market is in the tank right now because of our economy. But, in my profession (911 dispatcher), if you have been in the job for a few years, you can find a job almost anywhere at any time. Right now, there are at least three other dispatch centers within a reasonable driving distance that pay as much or more than our agency does. So if you hate your job so much, why not go to one of the other places?

They all have comparable pay, comparable benefits, and a state funded retirement plan. Either quit bitching or leave! Most of us are getting tired of listening to your crap. And you know who you are.

That's my 2¢ worth on the issue. Here's your chance to comment and tell me where to go.

Fun Days at Work

2008-12-10T17:48:00.001-08:00

The last two days have been somewhat interesting. We have had to have our carpet replaced in the dispatch center. But, it had to be done while we were working. [Has to be someone there to answer the phones if you call 911.] Turned out that our original carpet from the facility remodel aggravated the static electricity problem. So, if you had a charge built up, then touched a radio, you would wipe out the equipment. The new carpet is made to be "grounded" and supposedly does away with the problem of static electricity.

So we have been moving from one console to another while the installers worked. All our manuals and other documents that we use often were not in the right places, so we've really been stressed making it work, so that the changes can be made. Hopefully they are all done now.

The fun of the season is starting. Our Christmas cards are in the mail, and yours are starting to arrive in our mailbox. Most of the gifts have been purchased and wrapped and now we'll just sit around, watch the TV specials and have eggnog or two. We have a lot to be thankful for this year and hope you do also. We have our health, we have our jobs and we have our family and friends.

Are you from the Pacific Northwest? Do you know who J.P. Patches is? Local PBS station Channel 9 is having a two-hour special tonight titled J.P. Patches 50th Anniversary Party. Having been a Patches Pal when I was younger, I am all set to watch the show. Wikipedia has a nice article on JP Patches at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JP_Patches.

How About them Politicians?

2008-12-09T18:16:00.001-08:00

You have to love Illinois politicians. One of the wonderful things about this country of ours is that you are innocent until proven guilty. But it sure looks like Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois is on his way to Federal Prison. Trying to sell a seat in the US Senate; puts him right up there with the best of the crooked politicians that we've seen over the years.

Enough of the bad stuff. There are only fourteen days left until Christmas. Time to get your shopping done if you haven't already finished. Gotta love the Internet, except for Delores' new tires for her Highlander, we've done the majority of our shopping on-line. Costco had a heck of a deal on the Garmin nuvi 750 GPS, so that was my Christmas present. So far it has been "spot on" getting me to work and back home. Since I've been driving back and forth the exact same route every workday since 1990, that isn't much of a challenge. What I do find interesting is that by the time I pull into my driveway at home, it is determined to tell me that I have gone 400 feet past my home address. But hey, the little lady can actually pronounce Bedal Lane correctly, so I can't ask for much more than that.

More next time, just about time to go watch one-hour of repeats of Two And A Half Men on local channel 13.

What I’ve Been Reading Lately

2008-12-08T14:35:00.001-08:00

Well the first entry worked well, so I thought I'd talk about some of the reading I've been doing lately. One of my favorite leisure time activities all my life has been reading. Although I prefer fiction, I've read a lot of different non-fiction books, along with my fiction. Some of my favorite authors have been Louis L'Amour, Robert Heinlein, J.A. Jance, and W.E.B. Griffin.

Recently I read the Twilight series of books by Stephenie Meyer. Even though the target audience for these books is teenage girls, I'm a 63 year old grandfather who enjoyed them so much that I have read series twice already and will probably read them again in the near future. I had seen an article in the Seattle Times newspaper. The books sounded interesting because they take place on the nearby Olympic Peninsula in the town of Forks, Washington. We bought the first book, Twilight, and I was hooked within the first 100 pages. I immediately ordered the other three books, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. I hope Ms. Meyer finishes book 5, Midnight Sun so I can read more of the adventures of Bella and Edward.

If you have not had the chance to read any of the Twilight books, you might want to give them a chance. Moreover, if you have any teenage girl relatives the books will make a great Christmas present if you can find them.

I also just finished Brisingr, the third book of Inheritance cycle by Christopher Paolini. I've enjoyed all three books, but was a bit disappointed after reading this book. For some reason I had it in my mind that this series was going to be a trilogy and that Brisingr would be the final book. But it isn't, there is going to be a fourth book in the series. So I'm just going to have to wait for the fourth book to find out what happens to Eragon and his dragon, Saphira.

Welcome to my Ramblings

2008-12-08T11:03:00.001-08:00

I just started this blog so that I can ramble on about things of interest to me, and hopefully to others. Right now, I'm just testing using MS Word 2007 to do my posting. If this works, I'll come back a little later and add some real content.

Chet