This has been a different kind of week.

At the salt mine, the week started like gangbusters with everyone running around trying to get things done with a capital ASAP. By mid-week, things settled down and people began disappearing. No, my company was not down-sizing, rather people were going away for the holidays (Passover, Good Friday, Easter -- take your pick).

The holidays impact the Internet, too, and by week's end, Internet activity will be down. For example, you'll notice that people won't be updating their blogs and the bidding on eBay will be less competitive. The former is a bad thing if you are a regular reader of a bunch of blogs (guilty), while the latter is a good thing if you are a regular bidder on auction Web sites (guilty again).

Radio activity suffers, too. But if you are on the air during the holidays, it can be a good thing. Like bidding on eBay, there is less competition and you might nab a new one. I recall easily working a new and fairly rare DX country (whose location escapes me now) one Christmas morning while my family was stationed around the tree itching to open gifts as soon as I got my dupa out of the ham shack.

Two weeks ago, I turned in the list of speakers for the forum (the APRS Forum) I will moderate at the Dayton Hamvention, so I guess it is time to book a room and work out a new route through Akron for my 735 mile trip to Southwest Ohio.

I missed the Hamvention last year, so this year's visit will be treat. The ARRL National Convention will also occur at the Hamvention this year, so it can't get much better than that. I hope I'll see you there and I hope you'll see me, too!

Visibly Spaced Out Update

In last week's Surfin' about N2YO's excellent Web site, I mentioned something that is worth repeating because some people missed it.

One nicety of the Web site is that you do not have to plug in your location because the site determines your home location from your IP address -- probably close enough for most applications; however, there is an option to plug in your exact location or any other location you desire (the "Change your location" link on the home page). That link is on the left side of the page under the "Your Current Location" heading.

Until next time, keep on surfin'!

Editor's note: To communicate with Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU, save a tree and send him e-mail instead or add comments to his blog. By the way, every installment of Surfin' is indexed here, so go look it up.

Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
Contributing Editor