Last night, before going to bed, I listened in on the local ragchew net on the ham radio. I hadn't listened to it before, and wasn't planning on checking in, but it was informal enough that, with yarbiedoll's encouragement, I decided to check in. I had a little bit of mike fright, but worked out OK. Sounds like a good group of guys, including one guy who I think I know from church, but it's on Wednesday nights, so I'll probably not be a regular on that one since I'm usually at church on Wednesday.

This evening, my buddy who told me about last month's class sent me a text message telling me to get on the radio. Kinda funny. I did, and we chatted for a bit. One of our instructors joined in for a bit, too. I'm starting to get more comfortable with it.

My ticket from the FCC arrived in the mail today. So now I'm completely official and everything. I need to find someone with a laminating machine who can laminate the pocket-sized card for me.

Finally, the other thing that came in the mail today was my study guide for the General test. I don't know if I'll be able to learn the material in time for the next testing session, which is in nine days, but I may be able to do it. If not, the next opportunity is on December 8, but it conflicts with a geocaching event that I want to go to, so I'm really going to try for the one next week.

If anyone wants to give me a bunch of money so that I can buy my own equipment, feel free to PayPal it to me. Or, if you happen to have unused equipment, I'll be happy to cycle the batteries for you indefinitely. Just get in touch with me. ;-)