Weeknotes Week 16 2024: April 14-20

• Interesting week last week that was filled with meetings for the day job.
• Monday evening I met up with a couple of O.G. Sac Valley Mesh people who had set up Meshtastic nodes in Rancho Cordova and Pine Grove, enabling communication to many other nodes in the Sacramento Valley.
  • It was very cool to meet these people interested in offgrid comms in person. Total cold-contact meetings via the mesh at first.
  • We talked at a Thai restaurant from around 4:30pm for around 5 hours about various things.
  • They are ham radio operators as well, but that was not the focus of our discussions.
  • I donated a Rak Wisblock Starter Kit in small enclosure to one of them to get his solar node started while he waits for a long overdue shipment direct from RAKWireless.
  • This initial group is responsible for the start of Mesh networking in the Sacramento Valley. We talked a lot in Meshtastic Discord prior to this face-to-face meeting.
• Good martial arts training week although the inertia was initially hard to combat.
  • I got a chance to train with a black belt guest instructor and it boosted my confidence.
  • I also got a chance to train on spar drills with a different old school fighter who visited the dojang, and he had a lot of good tips for my training.
• Mid-week I went to the dentist to get sutures removed from my dental procedure 3 weeks ago. I am told everything looks great.
• My youngest prepped for a birthday road trip to Coachella, and I hooked her up with the refrigerating cooler and other camping supplies.
  • On Monday we also got her car serviced with an oil changed and lights fixed.
  • Glad she's minding the maintenance of her vehicle, growing more responsible.
• On Friday I learned that a new mentor in ham radio had suddenly passed away this past Monday. It was a shock to me and my group.
• Saturday was a baptism and party afterward with extended family. That was a nice time to gather and catch up.