07/17/10

I have a wife, been married for 23 years, and together for 25 years.  Judy has little interest in my hobby of Ham Radio.  I often travel extensively with my work, and try to bring a radio with me when I can.  I have two children.  Daniel is 18, and in his first year at the University of British Columbia.  I think he will write his Ham Radio ticket one day - but not for a while.  Meaghan is 15 - Grade 10 - Ham radio is just plain embarrassing to her.  Now her friend Maddy loves the thought of talking to people around the world by radio.

I enjoy wood work, carpentry and cabinet making.  Most of my tools are at my brother's place in Gibson's right now - he is building a house, and I have helped out where I can.  Well at least prior to the summer, when my work got especially stupid, and I wasn't in town and able to help out.  I enjoy pistol and rifle shooting, and hunting when I can make the time.  I do my own reloading, and have worked up a number of loads for several of my rifles and pistols that work very well. I need to make more time for my hobbies!

I work a lot.  I love it.  I do Management Consulting, as well as Project Management, Transition Management or whatever else is a challenge.  I like ugly projects - ones that are in trouble, or are going to be difficult / impossible to do.  This summer has been a pretty hectic time, with the worst stretch being late June, July and early August.  I went to Toronto for 4 days, and returned 43 days later.  Those were challenging days.  They were also the days that I decided to really leverage my hobby, and start doing some mini-DX-peditions.  Belize was the first.

As part of my Amateur Radio hobby, I was fortunate to be asked to create the concept of a Grab & Go Kit for the Surrey Emergency Program Amateur Radio (SEPAR). Leading a small team , we worked through the concept, sold it to the Fire Department, and subsequently the city.  We have now completed three of these kits, and I do have to say I'm really impressed with what a talented group of amateurs were able to conceive of, and then subsequently build.  Here is a link to the start of the story http://separ.comm.sfu.ca/current.html  More details to follow as I get time.  There will be an article written in the TCA (Canadian Amateur Radio publication), as well as put on the web.  We plan on making the engineering drawings available as well.

In addition, I have recently started working with a group of amateurs to propose a Special Event Station to VANOC (Vancouver Olympic Committee) for the 2010 Olympics - stayed tuned - this could be a very exciting opportunity.  A meeting was held with VANOC in early December, 2008 - I think we are going to find some mutual ground that we can work on for showcasing the 2010 Olympics through Amateur Radio.