Links in the chain

Links in the chain was Originally Posted on November 2, 2003 by lavarock

This has been a month of changes with events all connected like links of a chain. The memories come fast and furiously and even I cannot keep track of them in any order.

Years ago I went to a military school in Virginia. I became good friends with another student named Chuck. Chuck had a neighbor named Marc. Over the years we all became good friends. Chuck was a CBer and so was Marc. Marc then got interested in Ham Radio and I followed.

Marc and I became active in the Montgomery Amateur Radio Club. Another friend named Jeff soon joined the group. Years later, Jeff’s neighbor Steve appeared on the scene.

Marc was working for Hewlett Packard, a place I wanted to work. The company was well respected, but I held off applying because many employees I knew had degrees of some sort.

I had many jobs during those years; most having to do with telephone equipment, satellite TV, ham radio and electronics. I finally settled down in a company, which had a Hewlett Packard computer, and I became a System Manager. The owner’s daughter, her husband and I would soon co-purchase a house as an investment.

Jeff was working for a modem company and soon came to work at the same company as I did. I think even Jeff’s brother worked for the same place for a while.

Steve, Marc, Jeff and I co-purchased a Ham Repeater (some Ham equipment). I ended up with it when I relocated to Atlanta.

Over the years, Chuck and I would talk, but drifted apart. Marc and Jeff drifted apart. Ham Radio and I drifted apart.

With Steve, Jeff and Marc all up the DC area and I in Atlanta, I only saw them occasionally. Jeff and I went on a trip to Hawaii, Steve ended up also at Hewlett Packard and Marc left Hewlett Packard and wended up at Agilent (the HP medical company spin-off). Jeff ended up working on Capitol Hill.

On my first Hawaii trip, I met and became friends with a family on Kauai. Over the years I got his wife involved in computers and it helped her in her business.

Forward to the present. Chuck is moving from the DC area to the west (Midwest?), I can’t remember exactly where.

I was off to a Hamfest (swap meet) yesterday to sell much of my old Hewlett Packard test equipment and yes, that old repeater that all of us had bought. I received an email from Marc that he had been planning to make a surprise visit to Atlanta on business and that we were to have lunch! Unfortunately, as he was making reservations, his Mother passed away. The Atlanta trip has been cancelled.

Steve still works at Hewlett Packard, but they are still “downsizing” and many people are still concerned that their jobs will go away. Steve had his name on one such list, but lucked out; that time at least.

I moved to Atlanta over ten years ago and brought with me a radio scanner. It was manually programmed with hundreds of police and fire frequencies for this area. Over the years, I guarded that scanner, replacing the batteries so as not having to manually reprogram it. Yesterday I pulled the batteries out of it and it will have now lost all of that programming. I hope to use it in Hawaii.

I started going to Hawaii because I heard an airfare deal on a local radio station talk show (Clark Howard). Now I will only be able to hear his show occasionally, via the Internet.

All my favorite radio stations will be left behind and the radios will soon pick up new tunes; Hawaiian tunes. It appears that classic Rock and Roll stations are few and far between in Hawaii

I have one more stop planned at my old office. Many of my old friends and co-workers have gone off to other jobs and other places.

Me? I’m done selling at the hamfest. I made about $320 from equipment in the garage and will give away or trash the last of the stuff. I have been making great progress on the house and will have it listed within 2 weeks, when I head back out to settle on the Kona side in Hawaii. On the way, I’ll be stopping by Kauai to pay my respects. My computer friend there has passed away recently.

In a wry twist of fate, as I type this and mention radio stations and Rock music, the station I’m listening to plays an old Beatles hit. The lyrics are quite fitting, as they also become a link in the chain. I post them here for your consideration…

[b]”There are places I remember all my life,
Though some have changed
Some forever, not for better
Some have gone and some remain.
All these places have their moments
Of lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I loved them all.
And with all these friends and lovers
There is no one that compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
And I know I will never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know’ll often stop and think about them.
In my life I loved you more.

And I know I will never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know’ll often stop and think about them.
In my life I loved you more
In my life I loved you more.”[/b]

I couldn’t have said it better myself…