So, I paid a visit to Woodsdale Park today to check on my cache, and pick up Team Shawn_Woerlein’s Geico Travel Tag

I thought it was kinda cool that the Gecko decided to pay my cache a visit.  While I was at the cache, I grabbed a few pictures.  I’ll probably show him around a bit before I drop him off in another cache.  After all, Geico offers motorcycle insurance.  I’m sure the Gecko would enjoy a motorcycle ride or two right?  We’ll see.

Apparently Geico sent out a bunch of these guys and you can actually track recent movements here.  This was apparently in conjunction with a GPS give-a-way, but sadly, I appear to have missed that.

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I was amazed to see this bulletin cross the feed today.   I didn’t know Fred personally, but I certainly benefited from his efforts supporting Amateur Radio.   73 Fred.  I’m sorry I didn’t have the honor of working you personally.

Steve, KF8KI

———————————–

SB SPCL @ ARL $ARLX002
ARLX002 Fred Maia, W5YI, (SK)

ZCZC AX02
QST de W1AW
Special Bulletin 2 ARLX002
>From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT March 30, 2012
To all radio amateurs

SB SPCL ARL ARLX002
ARLX002 Fred Maia, W5YI, (SK)

The holder of one of the best-known US Amateur Radio call signs,
Frederick (Fred) Maia, W5YI, died of cancer Wednesday, March 28. He
was 76 and was a resident of Arlington, Texas.

Fred was a leading Amateur Radio journalist for nearly 35 years and
a pioneer of the volunteer examining program adopted by the FCC in
1984.

Maia published “The W5YI Report,” dubbed “America’s Oldest Ham Radio
Newsletter,” from 1978 to 2003, and has been a CQ contributing
editor since 1985. His regulatory affairs column, first titled
“Ticket Talk,” then “Washington Readout,” offered news and
perspective on FCC Regulations and ITU actions. His final column
will appear in the May 2012 issue of CQ.

After the FCC adopted volunteer examining for all levels of Amateur
Radio licensing in 1984, Fred became the first Volunteer Examiner
Coordinator (VEC) appointed by the FCC. Fred subsequently founded
The W5YI Group in 1986 to develop, publish and sell amateur and
commercial radio license study materials. In the realm of FCC
commercial radio licensing, Fred formed National Radio Examiners to
provide examination services.

Maia served as President of the W5YI-VEC until his retirement in
October of 2000 when he sold The W5YI Group study material products
to Master Publishing, Inc. The retail operations were purchased by
General Manager Larry Pollock, NB5X, newly appointed President of
the W5YI-VEC and National Radio Examiners organizations. Maia
continued writing “The W5YI Report” newsletter until July 2003.

A graduate of the US Air Force Radio Operators School, Fred was an
avid CW operator. He was first licensed as a teenager as W1NTK in
Brockton, Massachusetts, where he grew up. Maia was later licensed
as W5UTT, and held DXCC CW awards and EU-PX-A CW. He was a member of
QCWA and Life Member of the ARRL.

For several decades, Maia also served on the National Conference of
Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (NCVEC) as a member of the Question
Pool Committee that oversees the development and maintenance of the
Amateur Radio license examination question pools.

ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, commented: “Amateur
Radio is healthier today because of the tireless efforts of Fred
Maia. While Fred did not always see things quite the same way as the
ARRL, in my experience he always had the best interests of Amateur
Radio at heart. He was a major figure who will be sorely missed.”

He is survived by his wife, Doris, and two daughters. A memorial
service will be held at 3 PM, Saturday, March 31, at Moore Funeral
Home, 1219 North Davis Dr, Arlington, TX 76012.
NNNN
/EX

I started feeling old.   I remember reading an article a couple years back talking about how that year’s college freshmen couldn’t understand analogies like “you sound like a broken record” because they had never experienced a broken record.  They probably hadn’t even ever seen a vinyl record.  You used to “spin” records.  At least that worked for CDs.   I guess before long, even that won’t make sense.

I wonder what the newest analogies will be considering kids these days are growing up with iPods and other such digital players.

“Dude.  Your bitstream is out of order!”

or perhaps:

“Dude.  You take up too much bandwidth!”

Yep.  I think I’m starting to get old.

Edit:  a couple more alternatives thanks to Yahoo Answers

23 Adult Truths

1.  Sometimes I’ll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not
know what time it is.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize
you’re wrong.

3. I totally take back all those times I didn’t want to nap when I was
younger.

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a  fitted sheet?

6. Was learning cursive really necessary?

7. Map  Quest really needs to start their directions on # 5. I’m pretty
sure I know  how to get out of my neighborhood.

8. Obituaries would be a lot more  interesting if they told you how the
person died.

9. I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t at least kind-of tired.

10. Bad decisions make good stories.

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work
when you know that you just aren’t going to do anything  productive for the
rest of the day.

12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don’t
want to have to restart my collection…again.

13. I’m always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me
if I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical  report that I swear I
did not make any changes to.

14. I keep some people’s phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to
answer when they call.

15. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

16. I  disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or
Saturday night  more kisses begin with Miller Light than Kay.

17. I wish Google Maps  had an “Avoid Ghetto” routing option.

18. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and
hunger.

19. How many times is it appropriate to say “What?” before you just nod
and smile because you still didn’t hear or understand a word they said?

20. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to
prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and
sisters!

21.  Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty,
and you can wear them forever.

22. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car
keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey
- but I’d bet everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet
away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time.

23. The first testicular guard, the “Cup,” was used in  Hockey in 1874 and
the first helmet in Hockey was used in 1974. That means it only took
100 years for men to realize that their brain is also  important