So, one of those little known facts about me is that I hold one of those amateur radio license thingies. I rarely use the things, but occasionally, it comes in handy.

You see, I’m sitting at home not just to clean my room, but to also be the emergency contact between my sister’s Brownie troop and the various Brownie parents. Of course, Little Grass Valley is way the heck up in the woods, where the wonders of modern communications devices fail to work.

But a good old fashioned amateur radio and two folks with licenses (that would be my dad and me) and we have a secondary channel of communication that doesn’t involve somebody driving into La Porte, which is about the edge of cellphone signal land.

Of course, I don’t plan to have the thing on all the time — there’s only so much battery power, after all. But it’s still kinda nifty.

[No, I’m not procrastinating; I’m out here because I just finished the 1 PM call.]