04/08/2017z

I didn't get home until very late.  About 11:30pm eastern time.  I have recently been in contact with my college roommate.  He is from Japan and we did FaceTime to talk when I got home.  He was eating lunch.  It was midnight here.  It was so nice to see him and catch up with what is going on in our lives.  He showed me around his apartment and I showed him our house by walking around.  His apartment is two bedroom but really not so different than a small apartment here. He did say he has to take public transportation to work each day.  It takes an hour.  I must drive to work. No public transportation here.  I sure wish there were, but I got the impression he would like to drive.

So no ham radio until morning.  SKCC and QSO parties were going on.  I logged TX, PA, and the MS QSO party.  Nothing new for WAS and contests sure do not feel like I am traveling like I do when I make a random QSO.  Because of that I don't have any new town to talk about today.

What I did get today is a digital certificate for the IN QSO Party in 2016.  It is interesting where  we are going with digital things.  Some prefer paper QSL cards, some want digital confirmation of QSO's.  Paper certificates or PDF file of a certificate.  It makes me wonder what value should we put on a piece of paper?  I bet a framed picture will be looked at for many more years than pictures on a USB drive.  How would you feel if you got your college diploma a symbol of much work and financial investment emailed to you as a PDF?  If something was important to the giver or receiver then is a physical item appropriate?  When was the last time you sent a letter to a friend instead of an email?  What should I do with my PDF award?  Here it is.