Wow, I spent a lot of money last month. I’m watching my bank account get smaller and smaller, but then again I do still have a job so I can’t complain too much. I wondered what presents I bought myself for Xmas (since you get them for the ones you love, after all, and who else is buying presents for me?) and there’s a 42″ HDTV (because it was on sale), some $30 light switches (because I’m crazy — they don’t seem that different than the $3 ones), and a $100 CW Reader/Keyboard/Keyer kit.

Let me explain what a keyer does. It helps you send Morse code with two switches, one that sends the dits and one that sends the dahs. A CW Keyboard lets you type a message on a QWERTY keyboard to be sent out in Morse code. Finally, a CW reader listens to Morse code and then decodes it into text. The kit I bought required soldering and other sundry assembly and required me to wear a magnifying visor.

I should point out that Morse code has been declared obsolete and is no longer used in commercial service such as messages from ships to shore. It’s not even required on ham radio tests any longer. But of course, as soon as they declared it obsolete, I decided to start using it again. Using a CW Reader is cheating, but I decided to buy one to play with anyway.

Other than that I was watching football like a manly American male, and I think I’m also hooked on Community. Curse you Sean!

P.S. I’m already caught up on episodes of Modern Family.