I’ve always liked radios & communications gear and back in my airsoft days after jumping from radio to radio, I finally settled on a Motorola XTS 2500 Model 3.  It worked great and I absolutely loved how durable it is, being a klutz not breaking when I fall on it is a big deal. 😉  Anyway recently I picked up another, this time the model 2 without the keypad but meh good enough.  I like the fact it has digital output and ADP encryption (my original is a military version with AES 256 but my new one is from a Washington state police dept) so people can’t snoop on my messages, easily anyway.

The Motorola ASTRO 25 CPS software is not easy to use, I guess that shouldn’t be a surprise and it took me about half a day’s tinkering to get everything working properly but yeah now these two are good!  Due to different firmware and hardware options, I couldn’t simply clone one radio to the other so I had to compare settings and there are so many, it can make your eyes gloss over.  I still have some Baofeng radios, used those when I was still a Scout leader and while I’m not really active, or need radios for anything I still want to get a few more.  Just in case right… 😉

Brandon was a bit bummed out that his hike tomorrow was cancelled so I took him to walk around Darlington provincial park for a walk this morning.  It’s a nice park and while we were walking the trails, in the distance we could hear shotguns go off.  It’s waterfowl season and hunters can hunt in a small area of the park.  Didn’t bother either of us obviously we’re use to guns and what they sound like, just a nice distraction from the droning highway off to the North.

With the heavy rain yesterday, the park was clear of people which was nice.  The paths were a bit muddy but both Brandon and I know rain is just another form of weather and can be enjoyable.  Didn’t rain too hard while we were out but it wouldn’t have mattered as we were dressed for the weather.

It’s the little things like going for a walk with my boy in nature that I love, it may have looked gloomy outside but it was all sunshine and rainbows for me. 🙂

Today I turn 44 years old and when I reflect on how things have gone in my life, I know I’m damn lucky.  I have a wonderful partner in Maggie, an amazing son with Brandon and yeah life is great!  🙂

Sorry for the lack of posts, just haven’t been motivated to blog recently.  Hopefully that’ll change and I’ll try and do better at posting a bit more often but just wanted to mention that things are well on my side. 🙂

I meant to post an update earlier this week, we returned from Punta Cana on Monday but I was suffering from food poisoning and now I’ve tested positive for COVID.  Great, I’ll post some pictures and shit on the weekend hopefully when I’m feeling better.

Man how time flies when you’re having fun, Brandon celebrates his 13th birthday today.  I’m so lucky to have such a great son, it’s been a wonderful journey so far and I am excited to watch him grow into a man.

Happy birthday son and here’s to many more!  We love you more than you can imagine.

Maggie left for China yesterday and is currently waiting on a connecting flight in Seoul, South Korea.  Her father has a massive blood clot in his brain and she felt it was best if she returns home, he’s a good man so we all hope he pulls through.  He’s not that old, early 70s but has lived a hard life and this isn’t exactly a surprise but sad none the less.  He’s alright right now, I’m not sure if he’s had surgery yet or is still waiting but yeah scary stuff.

It’s just Brandon and I at home for the next month to month and a half, I guess we’ll see how things play out but my father in law is in our thoughts.

Went to see the doctor this morning and she says that while my shingles infection has ended, I have post herpetic neuralgia.  I still have pain where the rash was and on my back it’s very itchy which is all normal and should go away in a few months ugh!  Looking online, if I’m really unlucky this could last the rest of my life!  She prescribed me a cream for itch however it’s harsh and she said not to use it for more than 2 weeks and that she could prescribe me a nerve pain killer or narcotic to help with the pain which I passed on.  I don’t particularly like taking pills and will just deal with it…

Sigh what a nightmare this has been but at least I have a great support group at home and at work…  I think what I’m most annoyed at is the fact that this happened in the summer, I don’t feel so bad about staying home all the time in the winter but when the warm weather is here I prefer to be out and about. 🙁

Saturday night on a night vision walk with Maggie I noticed a small but sharp pain on the side of my torso, feels like when you pull a muscle or sleep wrong.  Anyway I figure it was nothing but the next morning it was there and by Monday the pain started to spread to my back and I noticed a small pink spot at the spot where the pain started.  I wanted to go to the doctor yesterday but there were many meetings during the day and Brandon’s BJJ class so I went this morning to see the doctor and after listening to the symptoms and looking at my torso she said I had shingles.

Apparently if you have the chicken pox as a child the virus stays in your body but lays dormant and can flare up at any moment.  It’s not dangerous just painful and it is contagious if there’s skin to skin contact so it’s back to hand washing and distancing for the Sun family.

At the Shoppers Drug Mart while I was waiting for the prescription to be filled, the digital kiosk next to me was talking about the Shingrix vaccine which gave me a bit of a chuckle.  I mentioned to the pharmacist that I thought shingles was an old person thing, he then asked me how old I was so I replied 43 and he just nodded so I guess that means I’m old lol.  I was given a week’s worth of valacyclovir in 500MG tablets which I’m suppose to take 2 tablets 3 times a day so hopefully by this time next week I’ll be back to tip top shape.

Just annoying and painful, oh well gives me an excuse to get out of my chores right? 😉