Don't forget to bookmark my site - http://guy.distaffen.com
God bless the U.S.A.
(Click on any of the icons above to visit that site)
I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in the early part of 2005. The doctor is trying to find the best method of keeping it under control.
My neurologist started me on Copaxone, then switched me to Avonex and, finally, to Rebif. The Copaxone didn't seem to work, and the side effects from taking the Avonex got to be too much for me. We are hoping that the side effects with Rebif will be more bearable and that it will help. So far, it seems to be.
The Rebif injections is subcutaneous only, although three times a week, so it shouldn't be as bad as the Avonex, which was intramuscular, once a week.
After being on Rebif for over 10 years. I have been very happy with the results. However, with only 8 injection sites, and doing injections 3 times a week, I have begun to get a lot of scar tissue at the those sites. We are trying a new, oral medicine, called Mayzent taken daily.
I was diagnosed with bullous pemphigoid in 2007 and the doctor seems to have it under control with Cellcept, and I have finally stopped taking Prednisone after almost 5 years. This is a fairly rare auto-immune disease, that has plagued me worst then most cases, according to my doctor. It took almost 10 years from diagnosis, until we got it under control.
The Amateur Radio Service is fondly referred to as ham radio and the operators as hams. (No one is really sure how these terms came about, there are a lot of different theories out there.)
My interest in ham radio was sparked by my uncle, WB2EMF (SK), back in the '70s and increased when my brother, KF2YS, got his license in the '80s. I got my license, KBØSWS, in 1995 while living in Colorado Springs, CO. That is the reason for Ø in my callsign.
We are becoming a large ham family. My wife, KC2LNZ, got her license in 2003 and in 2007, my nephew, KC2RTE, my niece, KC2RTH, my sister, KC2SJF (expired), and her husband, KC2SJE, and in 2009, my niece KC2UJD, got their licenses. Also, my mom's cousin is W2JIT.
A few hams of notoriety:
Walter Cronkite, KB2GSD (SK)
Barry Goldwater, K7UGA (SK)
Chet Atkins, W4CGP (SK)
Steve 'Woz' Wozniak WA6BND / WV6VL (expired)
Larry Junstrom, K4EB (SK)
Ronnie Milsap, WB4KCG
James 'Lance' Bass, KG4UYY (expired)
Joe Walsh, WB6ACU
Stu Cook, N6FUP
Note: (SK) is silent key, meaning that the ham has passed away and no longer operating. (expired) is the license was not renewed.
Every spring, my brother and I used to the Rochester HamFest at the Barnard Carnival Grounds in Rochester, NY. Originally, it was at the Monroe County Fairgrounds in Henrietta. We liked to check out the new ham radio equipment, the deals at the flea market and learn the latest news and information going on in Amateur Radio.
The last few years the HamFest has been getting smaller, with fewer vendors. I guess this is a nationwide trend.
Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) provides emergency communications support as a public service during a disaster. Wyoming County ARES/RACES supports our local government agencies and the Genesee Regional Red Cross of the American Red Cross, in times of need.
I am an Assistant Emergency Coordinator (AEC) for the Wyoming County ARES. I am the Net Control Station for the 12:00 PM (Eastern Time) Saturday session of the Wyoming County ARES Net. Also, I am the Webmaster for Wyoming County ARES/RACES.
Some examples of ham radio during emergencies:
After the New York City terrorist attack in 2001
The Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004
Hurricanes Katrina, Rita in 2005, Gustav and Ike in 2008 and the recovery afterwards.
Wildfires in various states and throughout the years.
SKYWARN gives the National Weather Service (NWS) real time reports of severe weather, so that they may issue the proper warnings to the media. I am active with the WNY SKYWARN, which reports to the NWS in Buffalo, New York via Amateur Radio. This gives me an opportunity to combine my interest in Amateur Radio with my interest in the weather.
My biggest interests, though, are...
Lizzy and I started dating September of 1999. I married Lizzy in April of 2002. We currently live in Gainesville, New York.
In 2006, our daughter, Lily Ann, was born. She is definitely our pride and joy.
In 2018, our son, Isaac John, was born. He is, also, our pride and joy.
Check out Lizzy's personal web page. She has put a lot of work into it, and has a lot of pictures of our beautiful daughter. Although, between work and raising our daughter, she hasn't had as much time to work on it.
This web page is always under construction.
It is constantly being tweaked and hopefully make it better. Check back often to see what changes have been made. Whenever any changes have been made, the updated date at the bottom of this page will show when it was done.
After trying Frontiernet, who had offered us a deal, the first year free and the second year for $30 per month, so we had switched to them. They advertised a downstream bandwidth at the same as Road Runner at 10 Mbs, the actual downstream was noticeably slower, at about 3.8 Mbs. However, Frontiernet has been talking about putting a 5 GB cap on their service. Frontier has backed off on their plans of a cap, after it made the news, in which they interviewed me. Also, looking at the logs from the firewalls and router, there was a lot more intrusion attempts from other Frontiernet accounts which slowed the speed overall.
Time Warner Cable has been bought by Charter and their internet is service in our area is called Spectrum. After constant increases in the price of cable TV, we dropped the TV and upgraded our Internet to their Ultra and are getting 400 Mbs with 20 Mbs up, now.
A letter to our cats.
I have been working on a web page for my mother, Darlene Distaffen, to advertise her art work and portraits that she sells.
I have recently, started working on a web page for the Rock Glen Baptist Church
Local Periodicals:
The Warsaw Penny Saver.
The Daily News, a daily paper out of Batavia, NY.
The Warsaw Country Courier is a local, weekly paper that is distributed every Friday.
