I had the opportunity to attend the local Veteran’s Day parade earlier this month.  As always, I got emotional and swelled up with pride when so many Americans came out just to thank me and my fellow veterans for the service we have given to this fine country.  Unfortunately, I quickly became disillusioned when I realized just how many disabled veterans were in the crowd.

So, I decided to do a little research.  While the physical toll of war and military service is obvious from the crutches, prosthetics and wheelchairs so many veterans rely upon, how many other veterans are suffering from a debilitating illness?

When I was growing up I alway’s used PC’s.  I never in my wildest dreams imagined that I would become a Mac convert. I was in elementary school when I saw my first Mac. It was a Macintosh LC and our class used it to learn math and play Oregon Trail. I didn’t really understand the difference between Mac’s and PC’s at the time but I don’t remember seeing a Mac again until I was in high school.

About 2 weeks ago I purchased my first pair of vibram fivefingers shoes and I have not looked back since. Here is my personal vibram fivefingers review.
I had seen other wearing them and after researching the idea behind barefoot running, barefoot hiking, and Vibram’s initiative to create shoes to enhance the experience I was intrigued.  I am a big believer in doing things naturally.

This weekend Ella and were hiking the The Boulevard Trail in the Smokey Mountains.  Being so high up I took advantage of the elevation and began scanning 2 meter frequencies.  My FT-60 stopped at 145.995 mhz and I heard a faint transmission.

“This is ARISSAT-1 RS01″

I immediately recognized this as an Amateur Radio satellite transmission. I did my best to capture the transmission via video (below), however I later discovered that the video camera was actually creating interference.  Thanks to iMovie I was able to tweek the audio in this video so that it was more understandable. Enjoy the video!