He told me he lost everything in Hurricane Sandy and now has 'a house and a radio' which means to some extent he is a happy camper because ham radio seems to be his passion. He did say he was still recovering from Sandy. I don't doubt it.
What angers me is that while everyone knew about how badly Puerto Rico got hit by Sandy, not a word was said about Cuba that pretty much got hit just as hard. In an earlier post I said Cuban hams were forwarding messages from Puerto Rico immediately after Sandy.
It's pretty likely some of them were transmitting from the ruins of their homes that had been storm damaged using jury rigged equipment.
One of the things I have to do in communicating with people overseas is be damned careful with using American slang.
For example if I called someone a baling wire and junk pile artist Stateside it would draw a huge grin and a feeling of pride from the person I was talking about. I suppose the term 'Redneck engineering' would draw the same look of pride.
If I use those terms on a non-American they might feel insulted. They don't understand the conotations. We know it means the person is VERY talented. They have the amazing ability to create something useful out of practically nothing.
I have to be careful using American colloquisms overseas.
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