What the Junk?!

Sorry about yesterday. My friend had a package delivered here yesterday. He came by with food for both of us. We ate and he ended up staying for several hours. After he left, I had to get ready for a NaNoWriMo virtual write-in. I did that and got my day's writing done. I only added a couple of words after that.  Then, I got caught up in watching a Livestream from Hawaii. After that, I listened to the Shortwave. By that time, it was well after eleven. I figured today I would go ahead and blog since I'm finished with today's writing. I'm at 8190 words on day four! :D

I have accomplished all my chores for today. Bed linen and hair washed, yesterday's laundry put away, and I wrote. I had a few other things that needed doing and I did those too.  Now, I'm going to relax a bit like I did yesterday. I have an Amazon package that was supposed to arrive tomorrow, but now it's coming today. I was hoping it would be here by now. Oh well! I listened to the Shortwave a bit earlier yesterday and that was nice. It was fun to listen at a time when I usually don't. I might do that again today. I just wish the Prime truck would come! :)

I didn't want the day to pass without a post. I haven't done much today so there isn't a lot of excitement to draw on. lol

I did write and listen to the Shortwave. One interesting thing did happen twice, though. The power went out. It went out once this afternoon before six, and then again right after eight. The first time it was back in less than five minutes. I'm not sure about the second time, because I ran out to get dinner since I was hungry and I couldn't fix anything in the dark. The place I went took a lot longer than it should have. By the time I got back with my food, the power was back. Not sure why it went out twice, but I have. candle and a flashlight near my bed just in case it happens again. If it had been out when I got back, I would have eaten by candlelight and/or flashlight and then got on the Shortwave as usual. Battery-powered radios FTW! :D By the way, the rechargeable batteries are great!

It was the first of the month, so I went to Starbucks. I got my favorite, a peppermint white mocha. I didn't do anything else while out because I've been feeling bad all day. I had a sore in my mouth from a popcorn kernel. Me trying to get it out, caused a sore and it's been bothering me. I took some Excedrin and that helped a lot. Then coffee didn't hurt either. :p

I've been writing an intense couple of scenes in one of my works. It's been so crazy, but so good! I just edited a bit of what I wrote today and added a few words. I think I'm happy with it for now. I'm going to get off this computer, figure out dinner, and then listen to the shortwave.  I just need to figure out what I want to eat. Ack!

Yes, I was supposed to post last night and give an update on how my antenna worked. I got into stuff and never got around to making a blog post yesterday. Oops! Sorry about that. I have used the antenna for three nights now. It does help! I might be able to get it even better with some work, but it had me getting clearer transmissions on several bands. I picked up a Ham radio operator in Georgia (the state, not the country) and that was cool! With the antenna off the radio, it was static and hard to make out anything. With the antenna on, I could hear him clearly. I wasn't able to pick up the people he was talking to clearly when they came on, but it was cool to be able to hear him so well. I have picked him up two nights in a row! Also, the station from Canada that I had. a hard time hearing was clearer with the antenna. I will work and make it even better as I go.  

I haven't finished listening for tonight. I took a break a bit ago to get a few things done. I plan to check back in right at ten and listen a bit longer.  A lot of programs come in then. I've even been using Google translate to get the gist of what the foreign language broadcasts are about. That is cool.  Sometimes the translations are really good and sometimes they are comical! An example:

"Let's come to the end of our grandmother." 

This was from a station I found last night that was in the Urdu language. It's a language spoken in India and Pakistan. Cool! I love being about to get a glimpse into our cultures even if it's not in English. 

My shortwave antenna came today. I will try it out tonight at the usual time. The signals are stronger in the evening so that is why I listen then. I'm hoping that tonight I'm able to pick up some new stations I haven't been able to before. I really hope so. in any case! I will post about that tomorrow. I would have done it tonight, but after I listen to the Shortwave, I'll probably not move back over to the laptop.l Since I missed last night, I didn't want to go another day without posting again. I still am not sleeping well, so I'm extremely tired. I hope that gets under control soon. I think it's a combo of my brain won't shut off and the heat. Not a good combo!

That was me falling on the floor. :p I didn't actually fall on the floor, but I felt like it! I got two chores done today before lunch! I went out and mowed. That is never fun. I got that done and came in and got my writing for today done. Another great day of writing. I then decided to get the other chore I needed to do done. I went to the grocery store. That wasn't as bad as I was thinking. It wasn't too busy, so that part was nice. I needed to get a few things and I got them and a lot more. I'm fully stocked for a bit, so that is great.  

After I got home, put things away, ate lunch, and relaxed a bit, I wrote more! Yes, I added to my word count. I went in to just tweak a few things and ended up adding more words. I'm not complaining one bit!  It was nice to get more done. Now, I'm going to get off the M1 and relax a bit before doing my nightly Shortwave listening. I just ordered a different kind of antenna on eBay last night. I'm hoping it will help me pull in more channels. We'll see. I'll update you about how it is when I receive it. The best thing about it is that I can use it with my current radio or any future ones I get because of the way it's made. :)

I moved back to one of my other current works and the last three days of writing have been intense! There is a lot going on and it's crazy. I had to edit the works several times to get them where I want them. I have tomorrow's session all ready to go and it's going to be just as intense as the other stuff has been.  I think it's going to be great when I get done.  It was easier to go back to this work than I was expecting, so that was nice. I just felt the pull of that version of my characters. I heeded the call and they are performing magnificently! Tomorrow's output is going to be hard, but worth it. 

I'm going to do some Shortwave listening after this. Last night, I finally was able to pull in a Canadian shortwave channel. That was cool. I used to listen to Radio Canada International a lot back in my old Shortwave days. Looking at the website, I don't think they are on the shortwave bands anymore, but they are still a thing so that is nice. The station I got last night was...CFRX  I had to look at my notes. I hope to pick them up again. :)

So, it's my birthday. Another year down in this so-called life. I didn't do much. I had a delivery from Amazon Prime. I bought myself some rechargeable batteries to use in my Shortwave radio and they came today. Exciting, huh? :p

I was able to get 8 AA batteries. My little Eton takes four so I can use four and have another set charging or charged ready as a backup. They were less than $10 so that was a great deal. I tried several different 6-volt adapters and all caused static so batteries were the way to go. I didn't want to have to keep buying batteries all the time, so I went for some rechargeable ones.  I can't wait to try them and see how long they go. That last set of regular batteries that I put in my radio have lasted a lot longer than the first set. I was able to turn off the lighted display when it's not in use and that helped immensely!  I've been on this set for at least a week now. The others had only lasted a few days. I'm hoping to get at least a couple of weeks' charge out of the rechargeable ones when I start using those.

I had to run out to get my birthday drink from Starbucks! I also got gas while out because I got 20 cents extra off of gas today because of the reward card I use and it is my birthday. I already get 5¢ a gallon off with them, so today it was .25¢. I washed Goontz while out and went by the grocery store. I wanted a small cake for my birthday, but like last year, all they had left was chocolate. ~_~; I got cupcakes instead. Of course, I FORGOT that I bought cupcakes when I got to Starbucks and got a lime-frosted oat bar to go with my latte. :p Oops. 

I went by the post office while out. I haven't checked my box in a while. I also needed to mail off something. Hopefully, I'll get a QSL from that soon!  I had a yellow card in my box so now I have to go back during regular hours and stop by the desk. Not sure what that is. Nothing has shown up in informed delivery. Hmm.

So, busy day, I totally forgot that I do laundry today and just put that in to start washing a bit ago. I probably will not be putting that away today! lol. Right now, I'm just trying to cool down from all the running around. I want to pull out the Shortwave and see what's going on the bands. I meant to get to that earlier but it's been a day!

Yes, I figured I would post now so I don't forget later. I plan to get out the shortwave radio in a bit and listen at an earlier time to see what new things I can discover. I've already done my daily writing. That was pretty good, I got a little over 2000 words. I also got an idea for another story that I had thought about doing years ago. I actually did write a bit of it back then, but I think it can be re-started and done well. I'll think about it. My current story is going well, but this one popped into my head after seeing a story that reminded me of it. I am not sure. I'll have to go over it. I already know I want to change a few things that I remember from the original idea, but it's going to be the same story, only better. We'll see how that goes. For now, I'm doing okay with my current story. :)

So, my friend texted me today and asked if I wanted to go to South Boston instead of our usual Reidsville trip. I was up for a change so I said yes. We drove up and went to the Goodwill there. He also went to a few pawn shops and then we went to a local Italian place that we both like. I got a small pepperoni pizza and he got spaghetti and we both enjoyed it. My pizza was the best I've had in a while, too! So tasty. That was a nice change. At Goodwill, I found a Myrtle Beach coffee mug with a picture of the beach on it, it's pretty cool. I also found a jack o lantern ceramic tealight holder and a Silhouette Mint for $3! Score! I just need to get ink and the 'papers' for it to make the stamps, but I was able to find those online. Nice find. I was able to get the software online for it easily and it works on my current version of Mac OS so I'm happy. I was able to get a few cute free designs from them and I'll research more later. I have to get the stuff to work with first. I'll do that soon. It was a small thrift, but I a pretty good one. Plus, the food was great! I am getting out the Shortwave radio after this and scanning for a bit. I meant to do it earlier but I'm just now getting caught up on everything else. I made myself a good logging sheet that I can use when I'm listening to keep track of what I'm listening to. I will then save these and I can bind them in a booklet later on. 

So, the current story I'm working on needed some info today. I looked up a few things on Google back in June and couldn't remember/find them again. So, I went into my Google history and was about to go back to those days and search the things I had gone to and found what I needed. Yay! That is always good.  I needed the information for what I'm writing tomorrow. I'm glad to find it. Now I can write easily tomorrow with the information I located. :)

I wrote a good amount today, I hope to write just as much tomorrow. I listened to the Shortwave again last night and tonight. I got my first e-QSL! Very cool! Instant gratification. lol. I was listening to a broadcast last night and checked out their station and found that you could submit listener reception via email so I did and got the e-QSL pretty quickly. I still might send then the information via snail mail. I'd love a physical QSL to add to my collection. :)

I wanted to get my post in early as I'm about to get out the Shortwave and scan the bands. Woo boy were they alive when I listened last night. It was great!  I have all my Sunday chores done ahead of time, so I'm going to enjoy some nice relaxing time.  It's clouding up and I think it's about to rain. A nice storm would be a fun way to relax. Plus, my shortwave runs on batteries, so if there is a power outage, I'm still good. :P Thank goodness it has cooled down some here.  It will get hot in here if there isn't power, but it won't be as bad as it could have been just a week ago. I'm ready to relax and listen. :)

My friend and I went on our usual Friday thrift trip. I bought more than I should have as I had an unexpected, but urgent, bill pops up.  We went our usual route. I found a small, cute black Fossil bag in Salvation Army along with a pouch, and a Vermiso machine like the one I found and left at the Goodwill in Walkertown last week. This one was only $7.99. The fun part begins now trying to find pods to fit it. Starbucks doesn't make them anymore, but there are a couple of other brands that make them. All expensive, of course. Ugh. Oh well.  

At Goodwill, I only found a cute notebook in a zip-around 'case', I am pretty sure I can swap any A5 notebook. I'll check tomorrow. At Walkertown, I got a few cables (They have this bin of all kinds of assorted cables. I got one that fits my little Shortwave radio, but like the one I bought on Amazon, it makes static, too. :( At least it was only a dollar! I also found a nice USB C cable.  I got a little notebook in there, it's a daily wellness journal, and I got a vintage Password game.  At Mayodan, I found a cool Starbucks tumbler with München on it! Neat!  It's a vintage city tumbler. I've never seen one from out of the country, so that was a nice find. I think that is all? Oh, I got some wet wipes in one Goodwill and some sanitizing wipes in Salvation Army, and a cute novelty pen. I think that was everything. Now, I'm going to try to wind down and relax a bit while listening to the Shortwave. I really wish I could find a power cord that doesn't make static. 

Oh, almost forgot, I passed up a Starbucks mug in the Reidsville Goodwill. I am pretty sure I have the exact one or a similar one, so I passed it up. It was $2.99. If it had been .99¢, I would have just gotten it.

So, tonight I was browsing through the Shortwave bands and found a 'new' station coming in very well. It was Radio Romania International and they were airing a music program with various songs. They were transmitting in French, too! I actually caught a few words that I understood, so that was even cooler. I'm hoping to transmit my info and get a QSL from them. That would be so neat. I haven't gotten a QSL in years.