Friday, November 4, 2011

Apologies and Excuses

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I'm a tad embarrassed when I look at the date of my last post on this blog and see how long it has been.  But from "Don's Big Book of Excuses," here are some of the reasons I have been so lax in posting:

  • The day job.  We have many, many positive things happening with our company, despite silly government regulations and scurrilous legal actions.  Still, the time requirement has been considerable.
  • Books!  My latest, "Undersea Warrior," just hit the bookstores this week.  This is the remarkable story of submarine skipper Commander Dudley "Mush" Morton, arguably the most important figure from World War II that most people have never heard of.  I'm doing several events in support of the book, and just yesterday recorded a segment for CSPAN "Book TV" to air nationally later in November.  Details and exact air times for the TV thing will be at http://www.donkeith.com/
  • More books!  At the moment, I'm working on several books: a novel that I'm very excited about; a non-fiction book about a truly fascinating man who overcame gang membership and drug pushing to become a painter and has already gained a huge following in the sports community; another thriller set in submarines, co-written with Commander George Wallace--a sequel to "Final Bearing," which will also be a sequel to the book that will soon be a major motion picture titled "Hunter Killer," set for release in December 2012 by Relativity Media; and a book of articles and short stories set in amateur radio, some of which have appeared in other versions on http://www.eham.net/.  I'll probably self-publish that bad boy when I get around to finishing it up.
  • And still more books!  Just got an ebook version of "Final Bearing" up on Amazon.com.  Click HERE to see and order it.  Details are at http://www.donkeith.com/.
  • Ham radio!  Yes, I have managed to get a few hours in on the new Kenwood TS-590 transceiver and I have been having a blast.  The radio combines tried and true technology with more modern stuff to make a truly remarkable transceiver...especially the receiver.  And with the bands open and the appearance of more sunspots, it is about as much fun as I have ever had in ham radio.  Just last weekend, in what we hams call "radiosport," I participated in a worldwide contest called CQWW and on the ten meter band--not far from the same frequencies occupied by Citizens Band--I had contacts with stations in over 50 different countries.
  • Oh, and a few health issues with my wife, Charlene, too, if we want to include all the excuses for not posting here.  We now know what the situation is and how to deal with it.  It is not nearly as serious as our bout with breast cancer fifteen years ago, but still something to contend with.
So, apology accepted?  I will try to post more often.  But there is the Alabama-LSU football game tomorrow.  And it's a gorgeous weekend coming up and I have leaves to rake.  Then I just checked the DX clusters and the band seems to be open to Asia so...

Don Keith N4KC
http://www.n4kc.com/
http://www.donkeith.com/