Drew Kirkman

So I’ve been incommunicado for a while here. Sorry ’bout that.

What have I been up to? For starters, I ended up not leaving my job as I said I had planned to in a post just over a year ago, and then the firm I work for proceeded to merge with two others, leaving me with all the integration and upgrades and training an influx of new users on a completely different working paradigm than they were accustomed to. I spent months planning and implementing new systems, and I am nothing less than proud of my work.

I also traveled a bit near the end of the year. I visited so many new places and saw awesome things. In November, I traveled north with some friends and visited Detroit, went to my first NHL game (more on that later), and saw Canada. This year I hope to be able to cross the border, after getting my passport updated to reflect the new/old name I seem to have picked up in the past couple of years.

A few weeks after the Detroit trip, I traveled solo to the west coast. It was the most amazing experience I’ve had so far, finally traveling by plane and being in places that most people can only dream about. I remember lamenting the fact I’d only been to two states on my blog in the past; this number has ballooned to ten since then. I’m actually planning on adding a couple to that list later this month.

I’ve been through a lot of ups and downs, and I’ve met new people who have done nothing but help me stay more up than down. Shout out to my homies. You know who you are.

I also seem to have become a fan of ice hockey recently. I have gone to some NHL games and now I’m reppin’ my Preds all over the place. Here’s my collection of pucks:

I still have yet to drop the money on a jersey. It’ll be Nashville #35. Rinne FTW.

Anyway, I’m going to try to write more these days. I have an iPad now and it goes everywhere with me, I just have to remember to do it.

PEACE OUT, HOMESLICES

By now, you know that if I write a blog entry about something, it’s pretty important. At this point, I would like to talk a bit about this whole “Occupy Wall Street” movement.

Do I think it’s a worthy cause? Yes! There’s no reason for us to sit idly by and take the growing wealth gap day after day without complaint.

Am I glad this is happening? Absolutely! More power to the protesters!

Do I want to hear about it every five seconds and have it shoved in my face on my Twitter feed and Facebook stream? ABSOLUTELY NOT.  This is Iran all over again. I use Twitter and Facebook to see new things, not an endless stream of reposts about one thing. If I want to know more, I would like to actively pursue this knowledge myself.

I really do think the fiscal behavior of Wall Street at the expense of Main Street is a grotesque reality that someone has to do something about. I am happy to see protests ongoing in our own nation. However, the level of circlejerkery (yes, I totally made that word up) surrounding the events is starting to get rather sickening.

Maybe it’s just me, but I prefer more quiet forms of support to a cause than overdone lip service.

So, WBC is coming to Owensboro.

How convenient it is that this week the Supreme Court upheld this group’s right to do what they do. I, of course, agree with the decision, and I think it’s dumb that a lot of people don’t. Free speech is a right guaranteed all Americans in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. I would like to point out that “all Americans” includes this group. I like the fact we can’t shut them up just because we don’t like what they say. It may be hateful, it may be spiteful, and it may be painful. However, if we were able to silence them over their words, who’s to say someone couldn’t silence you over yours? I’m sure we all say and believe things at least one other person doesn’t agree with. As Voltaire once wrote, “I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write.”

I’ve also heard some whisperings of some planned counter-protests. I’m going to go ahead and say I don’t think this is the best idea. What a lot of people don’t know about WBC is that a lot of them went to law school. They bring their own video cameras, and they will use them. People tend to do stupid things when WBC shows up, and when you do, they will show you no mercy in the courtroom.

The best treatment for these people is ignorance. If you are perturbed by their presence, they win.

Last weekend I took the FCC amateur radio license exam.

I passed for a Technician class license, of course, and also took the General exam for good measure. Didn’t quite make that one.

However, I am now licensed and the day my grant showed up on the ULS I ordered my first radio. Just about everyone these days starts off on an HT so I bought a Kenwood TH-F6A. I’m pleased with it so far, and a big plus is that K4EFG is envious of it. Maybe I can get him to pick one up as well.

I’ve only engaged in a couple of QSOs, and maybe sometime this weekend I’ll explore the local IRLP-connected repeater. I find the concept of linking repeaters via the internet quite interesting.

My vanity callsign application is pending; I had an inkling of a thought that I liked the call I was assigned for a bit after submitting the application, but that has gone away. In a couple of weeks it should be approved. I’m trying not to register for many online ham communities until this goes through, just in case it’s a pain to change your callsign in their database.

This is all new to me, and I like the community on the air already… they’re friendly to noobs like me. I look forward to getting involved in the local club, volunteering in the local ARES net (I’ve been a trained spotter for years), and other cool things you can do as a licensed amateur.

I guess there’s no better time for this blog to go somewhere.

73,
Drew KK4AHG

Note: I haven’t confirmed this will work yet, but this is what I am about to do. I will update this post as I progress.

Google Voice now allows you to port in your existing mobile number. Great!

But what do you do if you’re locked into a contract? I am, and I have a game plan after talking to several Verizon Wireless representatives searching for a straight answer. Hopefully it helps you! This may also work on other carriers, so call to make sure. Also, don’t do this if you can’t do without your phone for at least a day.

The process is simple. Just port the number to Google Voice. It will cancel your wireless service and you will be put in the queue to be charged an ETF. However, if you call back and reactivate your line, usually within 30 days, your carrier will give you a new number, will not charge you an ETF, and will waive any activation fees since it is counted as a “win-back”. You can then add your new number to your Google Voice account and almost pretend nothing ever happened.

If you’ve made this switch, leave a comment and tell me about your experience!

I was told once that someone good at what they do knows when it’s time to move on.

For me, I have realized now is that time. I had an eye-opening experience at the social media conference this week and realized that I want to focus more on my passion of public safety and new media. I need more time in my life to work on perfecting and expanding the TriStateAlerts service.

As such, last night I informed my boss I would be leaving the firm once busy season is over in April.

At the SMC event this week, which was about reporting weather via Twitter, I met a lot of people who knew who we were, what we’re doing, and took the time to express appreciation for our efforts. It was a moving and humbling experience. We made our mark. We have the attention of everyone from casual Twitter and Facebook users, up to the local media, all the way up to officials at the weather service. While I won’t say we were all the buzz at the conference, we were a faint one.

I’m sure my friends will have questions and offer some support as I venture into the next chapter of my life. I’ve solved a lot of problems and grown quite a bit over the past 18 months. As for now, I have twelve weeks to find a day job with the pay to take care of the bills and the flexibility to allow me to work on the things I need to. I’ve gotten a few leads. Let’s see how this goes…

Listen, I know when you reference a bunch of people plus yourself, it’s tempting to use “and I”. Hell, it was probably drilled into your head in elementary school.

The reason for this was to drive home that you always come last. It’s not to say that you always use “and I”. Sometimes “and me” is correct. Here’s a quick tip how to tell:

Take out all the other names + “and”. Any mistakes will become blindingly apparent. For example:

My brother and I went to the lake to fish. / My brother and me went to the lake to fish.
I went to the lake to fish. / Me went to the lake to fish.

Unless you’re Cookie Monster, you’d probably want to go with the first one, right? (Cookie Monster would probably also drop the “the”…) Here’s another:

Would you like to go grab Chinese take-out with my girlfriend and I? / Would you like to go grab Chinese take-out with my girlfriend and me?
Would you like to go grab Chinese take-out with I? / Would you like to go grab Chinese take-out with me?

You be the judge here.

A tricky one is when you’re labeling things, say you’re naming a folder of photos of you and your best friend where you just mention your names. It would be more appropriate to use “and me” here. You’re basically saying, “This is Jim and me.” “This is me.”

For those of you who want a smug sense of enlightenment, all you have to remember is the positioning of the list of names affects what is appropriate. If it comes before the verb, you generally want to use “and I”. If the list comes after the verb, you’ll usually want to use “and me”.

Just like any other time I offer advice for a better life, this will probably go unheeded. When I say “better life”, I mean my life in that there is less annoyance in it.

I was working early this morning when I heard a small noise behind me. Mind you, there’s normally a lot of noise coming from behind me on account of the rack full of servers in my office, but this was different.

I whirled around to hunt for the source. For several seconds I listened intently, hoping to hear the series of faint clicks and clunks again. Nothing. I spun back around to return to my work, installing new software on our terminal server. The noises started again and as I snapped away to look behind me, the laser printer sitting there spat out a piece of paper. On it was a short message:

I am the sacred oracle of Gonmibnt. Ask me anything and I will give you the answer.

After that, a small puff of smoke wafted upward from the vent at the back of the printer. “Derp,” I said. The status screen lit up.

So, maybe I can help some people. If you need the answer to something, like help with your math homework, advice about relationships, or just about anything, post it in the comments and I’ll ask the printer. I’ll post its answers here on my blog.

Since changing my last name back to Kirkman, I’ve taken the liberty of doing some research on the family. I take pride in knowing much more, and caring to know, about my roots via my grandfather than any other path of my lineage.

According to this page, the Kirkmans in Kentucky originated in Maryland, which is where they settled after coming here from England in the 1600s.

William b. 1775 in Maryland became a farmer and moved to Todd County, Kentucky, where the town of Kirkmansville was named after his family. His elder brother Thomas b. about 1766 in Maryland moved to Christian County, Kentucky, having lived in Tennessee in the 1820 census.

My grandfather, William Grant Kirkman, was born in 1937 in Todd County, Kentucky. I’m not exactly sure where; I’ll have to ask him sometime. I do know I have some family in Elkton, the county seat, a few miles south of Kirkmansville.

I actually went on a random trip with some friends this weekend and visited Kirkmansville. Of course, this time it was primarily to get a picture of me with the Kirkmansville sign…

Now that we have that out of the way… I have arranged with Dariush to go back during the day sometime to go to the local diner. A coworker of his says they have some pretty good plate lunches. This would also be a good opportunity to speak with some locals to get more information. For example, is everyone who lives in Kirkmansville a Kirkman? If so, that would be pretty awesome.

I’m halfway tempted to make a sort of documentary about me and the family history. I can start in Kirkmansville and work back from there. I know the creator of The Walking Dead is a Kirkman and lives in Kentucky. This is information I gleaned from mistyping my domain name here… but that is a completely different story. Mayhaps I can enlist the assistance of my friend PJ, who is a fellow independent filmmaker. I may be calling him about this very soon…

Anyway, that’s my spiel about my ancestral pride. I’ll keep you faithful readers (as if I have any) posted.

That sounds like an argument for prohibiting divorce.

-Judge Stephen Reinhardt to Charles Cooper, attorney for supporters of Proposition 8,
after Cooper underscored the importance of heterosexual marriage to raising children