This video was made after 18 hours of no power in Fort Worth (Texas).  We got power back 2 hours after this video was made.

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  It is 56 with rain today.  The low tonight will be 35 F.  Now Friday the high will be 40 with a low of 27.  So I wonder if we are going to have some ice on the ground?

  I do not have to get out in it so I guess it does not matter to me.

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  I ran the digital box scan and came up with about 60 channels of digital over the air TV stations here in Fort Worth (76116).  Now many of those were a signal but no television shows and some just had a test screen up and I guess they will add shows later.
  Many of those were Spanish speaking stations and many were church channels.
  So right now I am not sure just how many of those channels I can find anything on to watch.  But I do have TV now.  I can get the news, weather and the main over the air networks.

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  This sucks… More snow in Fort Worth.  Today is December 29th of 2009.  I have been here about a month and a half.  I was in Miami FL for five years.  My son sent me an email from Miami the other day … He was out riding his bike for five hours and got a bad sun burn. 
  I am not going to get a sun burn that is for sure.

  My ex-wife (Darlene) signed up for a dish to get TV.  She enjoys watching TV.  She is getting the dish installed for $15.00 and will get 200 channels for $30.00 a month for one year.  After that it is $60.00 a month. 
  I wonder if they allow dish antennas installed at this apartment complex.  I have seen a couple of them but they might have been installed for a long time and they might have a new rule that you can not have them.  I she will find out.
  I think 200 channels for $30.00 a month is an excellent deal. 

  Update:  12/30/2009  They allow dish antennas here but there is a $150.00 deposit that you have to pay.  Also they only allow the antenna on the patio or fence not on the roof.  Darlene can not get dish satellite TV since the dish could not hit the satellite.
                   She canceled the dish TV and called Charter Communications.  She is going to get TV, phone service and Internet service from them.  She will pay $120.00 a month.  She canceled her AT&T phone service and DSL service.   Charter will do the "install" on Saturday. 

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It is December 24th (2009) at 9:30 AM and it is snowing in Fort Worth.  Merry Christmas to one and all.

  Yesterday the sun was out and it was a nice warm day.
  Today no sun and it has been raining and now we are getting some snow.
   It is 37 degrees at this time.

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  I had a good mail day.  I got my AARP MedicareComplete membership card in the mail today.  I was worrying because I had not heard from them.  I got the card and they say the membership kit will be here soon.
  They picked a PCP doctor for me.  I was going to pick a woman, I looked up on their site, but I guess I will just go ahead and see  Doctor Todd Cowan.  Yes, I know I can change PCP doctors.
  I did a little search on his name and I found three people rated him at www.Vitals.Com.
  One said this:

“Dr. Todd Cowan is one of the best doctors I have every had the pleasure of meeting. He is caring and will give you the information and assistance that you need to get in better health and to stay that way.”

One said he was not responsive to phone calls.  But the other said the following:

”Dr. Cowan’s problems are all his fault. His clinic is absolutely way overbooked. It seems that they see way too many patients there and are perpetually behind. It also seems that they see mostly low income and low coverage patients. That isn’t bad in itself, but it the fact of less money per patient obviously has ramifications for the quality of service. If you have a good health plan or the money to spend, this isn’t the doctor to see.Finally, he is friendly easy to talk to. However, I always feel like he’s in a rush to go somewhere else. He talks to me for only a few minutes and in that time I don’t feel like he’s cares about me understanding my medical problems. I will be getting another doctor once I have time to search.”

  I  am going to give him a try.  Hell, I belong with the low income patients but with Medicare (national health care for people over 65) I can afford any doctor I want.

  I got a photo Christmas card today from a friend in Kansas City.  I love photo Christmas cards.  I think Darlene and I only sent them out a couple of times.
  I am not sure how my friend in KC ended up with such good looking grandkids.  Smile

   I also got a cute little holiday card from Charter Communications.  They want me to switch to Charter today and get “free installation” and their “Charter Bundle” for $59.97   SMILE

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A lot of very smart and skilled people read Howard’s Notebook.  Do you think the above “high speed Internet” is worth $55.00 a month?  (Truth is I get it for $45.00 a month for 24 months.  When you do see above a nice connection it is a connection to Fort Worth.  I am in Fort Worth and am getting my Internet from Charter in Fort Worth.

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  It looks like it might be a nice (winter) day in Fort Worth.  It is 0800 and it is 25 degrees here.  It is going to get up to 45 degrees here today.  Of course it will be 85 degrees in Miami.  Oh, Miami I miss you so much.  In my old home town of Kansas City (MO) it will get to 26 today.
  The fighter aircraft are starting their flights.  I think they must be from the Carswell Air Force Base.  I am not sure if they still call the base Carswell or if it is now called NAS Fort Worth?
  I see a lot of aircraft in the air from the base.  I mostly see fighter aircraft I think. When they have their air show in 2010 I can find out more about the base. 

  I think I will go back to bed and take a little nap.  I can sleep well the Navy is in the air flying over head to watch out for me.

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  I want to thank Dick, Milford and Terrance Evans and others.  A number of you have sent money, some have ordered things for me and Terrance sent a BestBuy gift card.  Thanks to all of you and all the others this time and over the many years.  You have been very kind.

  I am worrying about my ex-wife and my son… Darlene has access to MITS (Mobility-Impaired Transportation Service) and she and Jimmy went on it early today to take Jimmy to see his doctor and to go to Wal-Mart and they are not home yet.  I told her to take my cell phone.  She and Jimmy do not have a cell phone.  They would not take it.  It is cold today and the wind is blowing.
 
(For my Republican friends out there…MITS is not free you pay a fee.  I am sure the fee is less than a cab would cost a person.  Also for those GOP friends Darlene can not walk.  She is in a wheel-chair full time.)

Update:  Darlene and Jimmy make it home OK at 1930 hours.  Jimmy got medication from his doctor for one month and he will see him at the end of December again.
 

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  James, my son, took this photo early December 3, 2009.  We were getting snow.  I went out about 30 minutes later and it was just cold rain coming down but there was still snow on the ground, roofs and cars.  On me was just wet cold rain.

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  I will keep this short for right now…  Charter Cable did show up on time today.  But the guy only had a work order for Internet service.  He knew nothing of tv or phone service.
  He still wanted and got $80.00 from me.
  So much for “Free installation”  and also the “30-Day Risk-Free Trial!” they never heard of it.  I guess you can forget “promo code 505458” ….

  But that is not the entire store.. Yes there is more…
  There adv, that they sent me, says “Connect multiple TVs in your home at no additional cost” … WELL.. this is Fort Worth and they are not allowed to install anything in an apartment.. There was a cable jack in the living room.  He turned it on… took him about 10 minutes or less… 
  So that left me with a choice.. I can run 25 foot of cable all over my new apartment and I am not going to do that.. Or I can move my new desk out of the bedroom to the living room…
  Or I can go WiFi which I was trying not to do…  So I had to bring up the WiFi router from Dar’s place…  That puts me sharing Internet with Russell which I was trying to get away from because I seem to come last in bandwidth when he is watching movies/tv and playing online games with his computer and Xbox 360.
  So  we bring up the WiFi router… 

  I talk to Charter on the telephone..  I tell them forget the tv and the cable…
Since I was not getting them why was I charged $80.00?  
I will not go into all of that.. 
Also.. remember I was told I was getting a land line phone so I switched my cell phone from $50.00 a month unlimited to pay as you go.. so talking to Charter cost me $4.00 just for that one call.
  Anyway..  Since I had the guy on phone..  I said upgrade me to 10M down for $10.00 more a month .. He said I could try it for free for one month (we will see how that goes)..
  Well.. he attempted on the phone to upgrade the Charter modem.  It was a Scientific Atlanta modem.  Never heard of them.  He could not get it to upgrade to 10M.  So I had him on the phone and I went to my junk box and pulled a old cable modem and hooked it up and he upgraded it to 10M.  

  I am going to come back to this subject again and again.. I am sure..

I just did a speed test and I got 2.31 M down.  That is the slowest Internet speed I have had in years.
  But I have an old and fucked up WiFi card but I can not blame Charter for that… But I was not planning on using WiFi.

  Well I am going to see if I can get an old different USB WiFi card to work…  I do not have money to buy a new WiFi card right now.. Charter has all my money for the month.
  I THINK Russ be getting high speed Internet service right now…  But..
I do not have time to check. 
  I need to fix this problem…
  I will try and get an old USB WiFi card working.. It has never wanted to work.. Maybe it will take pity on me.
  I may see about installing Linux again and see if the old card will work with Linux.

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  Before I left Miami I checked to see who the cable service company was for Fort Worth.  I was not happy to hear that it was Charter.  We had their service when we first moved to Miami until they sold out or did something and we got a different company.
  I was not happy with Charter Internet service.
  They do not get good reviews…I checked on the Internet before I moved here.
  My ex-wife and son, that live here in Fort Worth, have DSL service from AT&T.  So I told my ex-wife that I would give her $100.00 a month and that Russell and I would use their service via WiFi.  I had them upgrade to 5 M down.  Now $100.00 is more than it cost them for Internet and phone service.  I made it more to help them out.
 
  Well Russ and I been using their service via WiFi.  Russ is playing games online and watching TV via his XBox 360 and I do not know what all he is doing.. My son is down stairs playing online games sometimes.
  My ex-wife does some eBay stuff online to try and make a few dollars.

  I use almost no band width.. What I do posting to the blog and reading my email….that is about it..  The Internet service that I am getting sucks …
  Are you ready for this?
  Charter sent out their special offer:   Basic Limited cable TV $9.99 for 12 months,  High Speed Internet $29.99 for 12 months and telephone service $19.99 for 12 months.  Their “high speed” Internet service is 5 M down.  For $10.00 more a month I can get 10 M down or for $25.00 more a month I could get 20 M down.
  The total is $59.97 a month.  I called and signed up for the service. I do not own a phone and I do not own a TV set.  All I care about, right now, is the Internet service.
  They did lock in the Internet service price for 24 months.  I can upgrade the speed anytime I want and I might just do that one day.
 
  I will keep paying Darlene $100.00 a month to help her out and Russ is going to keep on using their WiFi connection.  He is sleeping and does not know that I have ordered cable service.  But I need dependable Internet service so he can keep using their WiFi service and I will be the only one using the cable Internet service.

Continue reading »

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  I was doing some searching on the Internet and I found a site about SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program).  I guess it is the "food stamp" program but they do not call it that anymore.  It could be that it was never the real name for the program.
  I took an online test and if you are in Texas here is the link: Texas SNAP Estimator

  Now it is just an estimator and I was reading at a Texas news website that it takes months to get "food stamps" in Texas.  Texas does not have enough employees and the ones they do have are not trained very well and are over worked.
  I took the online test and it says that I could get $274.00 a month in SNAP benefits.  I am not planning to sign up for real but that is a lot of money for food.  If I could buy $274.00 a month in food I would be eating like a rich man. 
  With the unemployment rate at 10% in the United States and people losing jobs keep in mind that this is one thing that could help some Americans. 

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  Next year I am going to have a great view of an air show right from my patio.  I am on the second floor and my apartment even sits on a bit of higher ground than apartments around me.

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  My late box showed up today.  It is 18×18x18 in size and had a lot of junk in it.  There were a lot of cable and computer stuff that I will never use.
  There was my Logitech QuickCam 9000 Pro.  I am running Ubuntu and the question is will the camera work with it.

 Here is a photo taken with it just now…

 
  Cheese did not work but messing with it more may get it to work.  But I installed quvcview and it worked.  Now the question is … Will it do videos and will it do videos with sound?
  We will know soon.

  I will have a computer desk soon.  It is on the way. 
  So I can turn my attention to getting a office chair and then what should be next?

   I had a real American donut from a donut shop.  The guy spoke English and there was no Cuban "donuts" and no Cuban coffee.  I feel like I am in America again.
  The drivers here in Fort Worth do not try and run over you and on my scanner I hear the police doing traffic stops.  I never heard the Miami/Dade police doing traffic stops.

    I am sitting in front of my box "desk" with the keyboard on my lap and I can look out at real America and not a third world city. 
   I wonder where should I put my desk in this big room.  I may make a video of the room and you can leave advice.  I am thinking in front of the window.  But then anyone that came in the room could see what was on my desktop.  It is not good if you are reading mail and talking about someone and they walk in your room and see the email about them right on the desktop.  Smile

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  I am a ham radio operator, right now with out a HT, and my call sign is NØUWY.  I have been a shortwave listener since 1955.  I know that shows how old I am.
  For the last five years in Miami (FL) I saw very little ham radio activity on repeaters.

  Now I am living in Fort Worth and I am finding a lot of activity on the repeaters.  I can not wait to get a HT. 
  Right now I am listening to K5MOP 444.300 mHz and they are relaying the IRLP node 9877 and it is NASA  getting a shuttle ready for for launch. 
  I may be wrong on a calls sign or something my hearing is not very good.

  The Dallas/Fort Worth area is big on D-Star and I think all of Texas.  I am not sure that Miami even had a D-Star repeater.
  I would love to get a D-Star HT but the cost of one is $450.00 so I may just have to go with a cheaper HT.

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  We made it to Fort Worth.  More details are at ShowMeBlog. 

  Here is a little video of me out walking in Fort Worth

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  I used PriceLine to buy  the tickets.  Russell and I will be flying from Miami to Fort Worth on Friday the 13th.  We are flying direct.  It will be a three hour flight. 
  We could have got a non-direct flight on a different airline for $75.00 and that is a great price.
  Our ticket cost us $120.00 and that does not include taxes and any extra charges the airline may have for bags and stuff like that…. Ken will drive us to the airport.
  Right now the plan is to get a cab at DFW.  The cost of the cab will be about $80.00 to get us home.  YES, almost the cost the flight and more than the discount ($75) flight.  We will look into something cheaper than a cab … but right now that is the plan…  I do not have a problem flying on Friday the 13th.

  I checked the price of boxes at the The UPS Store…My God … their boxes must be made out of gold.  But they are nice boxes and they have all sizes of them. 

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  I was approved by the apartment complex in Fort Worth.  The plan is that Russell, my grandson, and I will move in on November 13th.  I am going to miss Miami.  I am not looking forward to having to get my stuff to Fort Worth.  It is going to cost a lot of money when I get there… having to get things… 
  I am tired of moving.  I never did think I would end my days in Texas.
  But you never know what is ahead for anyone.

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  I filled out the online application for the apartment in Fort Worth.  They wanted a lot of information.  I expect to be approved.  I am sure there is going to be more that I have to do.  I am sure they will send me a printed form to fill out and want a deposit.
  Russell and I plan to move about the middle of next month.
  
  We have lived in Texas.  Jimmy and I moved from Orlando (FL) to Carrollton (TX).  Then Darlene, Russell, Jimmy and I moved from Carrollton to Hillsboro (TX).  Then Ken and I moved to Miami (FL).  Russell moved here later to join us.
  We have been in Miami for about  five years.

  I did think of one good reason, other than family being there, to live in Fort Worth.  I am a amateur radio operator (“ham”) and they have an excellent D-Star repeater network in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

“D-STAR (Digital Smart Technologies for Amateur Radio) is a digital voice and data protocol specification developed as the result of research by the Japan Amateur Radio League to investigate digital technologies for amateur radio. While there are other digital on-air technologies being used by amateurs that have come from other services, D-Star is one of the first on-air standards to be widely deployed and sold by a major radio manufacturer that is designed specifically for amateur service use.

D-Star compatible radios are available on VHF and UHF and microwave amateur radio bands. In addition to the over-the-air protocol, D-Star also provides specifications for network connectivity, enabling D-Star radios to be connected to the Internet or other networks and provisions for routing data streams of voice or packet data via amateur radio callsigns.

The first manufacturer to offer D-Star compatible radios is Icom. As of December 30, 2008, no other amateur radio equipment manufacturer has chosen to include D-Star technology in their radios. Kenwood re-brands an Icom radio and distributes it in Japan only…”  Wikipedia

  I am not sure there is even one D-STAR repeater in the Miami area.  Now, of course, there is one little problem for me.  I do not own a D-Star radio.  It would cost me $500.00 to get the radio above and that is the lowest priced radio they sell.  I am not sure when I can afford one.

  If you can think of any other good things about Fort Worth PLEASE send me an email or post a comment.  My email address is:  showmeblog@gmail.com

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