Passed and...

I passed my Technician in August, and today I passed my General! I'm pretty excited about that. I started in this hobby because I was (and am) a huge computer geek about twenty years ago -- that developed into a long and successful hardware and software career. I missed the "tinkering" portion of the hobby which is hard to find nowadays in computers, and I turned my attention to ham. Needless to say, I'm excited.

Today, though, as I was passing my General, I noted the three VECs that were grading me: the old, white, male, "stereotypical" ham, the young, white, awkward, male, "stereotypical" male, and then the black, female ham. I live in the foothills of Western North Carolina, and as I was taking the exam I could hear the whispered murmuring and friendly discussions among these three, as well as about five or seven others that came together in fellowship.

It made me think that, yeah, maybe we have a long way to go, especially if you take a segment of the community as indicative as the whole, but in my sleepy town in Western North Carolina, there really wasn't a gender (or race) issue, as everyone just came to enjoy the hobby -- on a Saturday -- at a church -- as friends.

Oh, and did I say I passed my General? :)