What Does 33 1/3 Mean To You?

With two injured feet, I've been spending time chillin'.... reading wikipedia and listening to records. Did I mention we hooked up a turntable to our home stereo? Actually we made a "super duper" turntable by reconditioning an old record player from a neighbor across the alley. I took it apart, repaired the "cueing" lever and installed a needle and drive belt from my old turntable.

Now we have a fancy piece of 80's technology and are ready to play some records. We pulled out some of my favorites from high school:

• Elvis Costello
• The Untouchables
• The Donkey Show
• The Cars

...and gave them a spin. As you can tell, I was into ska (among other things) in the late 80's. I included a before and after picture below to show the progression over 20 years (before being prom in the 80's wearing a suit complete with "braces" and a skinny tie and after being Michelle and I in New Mexico after our most recent trip).

Rude Boy? Come over to our house and we can spin some records!

What does 33 1/3 rpm mean to you?

Vampires in Flagstaff?

From the photo above, you might think a vampire got a hold of my foot. Turns out the same thing can happen when you jump from the bed in the camper and land on a metal rake....which I did this morning when preparing to leave Flagstaff. Ouch. Now both of my feet are officially injured.

Michelle and I arrived back in town this evening. Tomorrow I have another date with my doctor. Lucky summer vacation is almost over. I need a vacation from my vacation.

Greenhouse Gasses? Whats That?

See that black mountain at the bottom of the smokestacks? It's a huge pile of coal for the Choillas Power Plant.

Please turn your lights off when you leave the room.

Eastern Arizona

Driving from Santa Fe to Flagstaff today. Already did 362 miles today and another 100 to go. Taking advantage of flat terrain to memorize cloud types.

Drove past a "dinosaur museum" complete with female manequins in mini-skirts standing by the highway waving. Being a trucker might get lonely.....I'm glad there are others keeping them in mind.

World Class Truck Stop

We are on the road again. We stopped at a truck stop in Grants, New Mexico for some diesel and a driver change.

The truck stop had everything a trucker needs including a wall of CB equiptment, every energy drink known to man, and lots of hot dogs and air freshiner. You could get your prayer on at the drive-up chapel trailer.

Next step.... Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Street Legal...In Arizona

For sale at used car dealership ...street legal sandrail.Low miles I think since it doesn't have any guages (or a dashboard for that matter). It doesn't have a windshield (or any type of sheetmetal) on the front end and no headlights (who needs them anyways). It's registered as a motorcycle and no smog checks in the state of Arizona! Brruuuupppp!!!

Dead Pump

A bearing in the water pump died. Two things happened at once. First, the shaft moved forwards and popped the front seal out (which caused the leak) and second, the fan was pushed into the housing...which scored it and made it hard to spin.

Dead.

Michelle and I watched a movie, went shopping at Home Depot, ate at a 50's diner and read a Navaho newspaper. Keeping busy in Flagstaff!

I Have To Pee...

...that's what caballo blanco (our truck) said as we were leaving Flagstaff. Looks like the water pump died. Michelle and I are chillin' in a movie theater while it gets fixed...

I Love Flagstaff

Michelle and I made it to Flagstaff today. This area is beautiful...if I had to go to college again I'd look at Northern Arizona University. Tonight we parked the camper in a meadow outside of Lake Mary. 20 minute drive from I-40 and its like we are in the middle of nowhere...very peaceful!

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Somehow Mark and I ended up on the subject of weird stuff you can listen to on a short wave radio. One of my favorites are "numbers stations". Below is an excerpt from a wikipedia article on the topic....

Numbers stations generally broadcast artificially generated voices reading streams of numbers, words, letters. They are in a wide variety of languages and the voices are usually female, although sometimes men's or children's voices are used. Evidence supports popular assumptions that the broadcasts are used to send messages to spies. This usage has not been publicly acknowledged by any government that may operate a numbers station,

Normally I would throw this into the "look out for black helicopters on the horizon" conspiracy theorist trash can....but about a year ago I actually heard a Spanish numbers station on my radio. I wouldn't have believed it unless I heard it myself. Is it really for spies? Who knows....but you have to admit its a little weird... Want to hear one for yourself? Click below for a Cold War era recording in German...

HINT: you need to be patient and let the "weird" music play through before you hear the voices.



Below is a recording of a different English station...



The Conet Project is a CD containing recordings of various numbers stations. The Wilco album "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" is named after a famous numbers recording. I couldn't find the complete version on YouTube but I did find a snipit at the beginning of the compilation recording below. You should recognize the voice from a song on the album.



I think the music and sounds are just as weird as the actual voices.