In 1991, I had been working for AT&T for 5 years when I learned of an opportunity to teach at the university level in a Visiting Professor Program that our company sponsored. The program had engineers from our company go to a Historically Black College/University (HBCU) and teach for 1 to 2 years. Our company would continue to pay the salary for the person but your job during that time was teaching at the school.
At that time I had been providing some training in the workplace on a couple different subjects (in addition to my regular software development assignments) and I really enjoyed the teaching. I was still single at the time and I spent some time thinking about the opportunity and I decided to go for it. I was excited about the idea of teaching though it scared me since developing a curriculum for a college course was something that I have never done before. The program was pretty flexible and my plans were to teach some courses in computer science and math.
I submitted my name to the program and I was accepted but it still required approval from 4 levels above me in my own organization (since they would be paying me during this time). There were 10 to 12 different schools in the program and I was originally told that I would be going to Southern University in Baton Rouge or Prairie View A&M University located just NW of Houston. I was excited about the possibility of living in Louisiana as I love the food down there -- it always comes back to the food for me. :) I later learned that I would be going to Prairie View for the 1991-1992 school year to start (most of the program participants decided to stay for a second year after the first was completed).
My supervisor and department head signed off their approvals pretty quickly and then the form sat on my lab director's desk for a little while. I then learned that he also approved it and that it had gone to his boss (VP level) for the final approval. It sat there for some time and then our company released their quarterly results and the numbers were bad. We learned that we would be laying off people for one of the first times that anyone could remember (the AT&T monopoly had been gone for 7 years at this point). My application was then denied by our VP due to the financial situation. I was much more upset at that time that some of my friends were losing their jobs then I was about the door shutting on the opportunity to teach.
In the end I am very happy about how things worked out. I met my future wife Ann during the next year at AT&T and we started dating. Teaching at some level might still be in my future but for now I am content with where God has placed me. But aside from the personal side I sometimes do wonder how things would have turned out if things had gone the other way 20 years ago.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
O Canada...
We got back this evening from our week in Canada visiting Toronto and Niagara Falls. We had been to both in the past but it has been 10 or 11 years since the last visit so my girls didn't really remember either very much.
The trip was enjoyable and the time off work was very relaxing. The highlights weren't super high but I think that we all had a nice time. My oldest daughter, Gloria, just got back from a missions trip to Costa Rica a couple days before we went on this trip so she was tired at times and really wanted to be home. I think that my younger daughter, Monica, probably had more "fun" on the trip for this reason.
I will try to capture some of the highlights by day starting on Thursday 8/11:
Day 1 (The Drive There):
We drove from Aurora to Toronto via Indiana and Michigan. The thing that sticks out most in my mind from this day was that while we were in Canada on the way to Toronto we saw a truck pass over us on an overpass that had the name Flanagan on it. Monica thought that this was amusing and decided that it was a cool name and that she would start using it whenever she was upset. So for the rest of the trip anytime something went wrong Monica was quick to let out an "O Flanagan". I told her to add the O to make it sound more Irish.
Day 2 (Touristy Things in Toronto):
We stayed at a Residence Inn near the Toronto Airport for our 4 nights in Toronto. The rates were pretty good and I used some points from my business trips to get a couple free nights. On our first full day in Toronto we did a couple of touristy things. We went to the look out level of the CN Tower (this is on the 113th floor but you can also go up to the 147th floor for an extra charge). This was the world's tallest tower until about 4 years ago. The second thing that we did was a 90 minute ride on the Kajama (a 165-foot 3-masted schooner). This is probably the thing that I looked forward to the most on the trip but in the end I was a little disappointed as we really didn't "sail" very much though all of our sails were raised. Instead it seemed that a small motor which was used to get us out of the harbor and onto Lake Ontario was used for the full trip and took us out on pretty much a straight line into the Lake and then used to later bring us back on the same line. It wasn't a very windy day but there was some wind so it seemed like we could have done some real sailing but it just didn't happen on this day. Lunch was at a Middle Eastern restaurant near the CN Tower and was very good.
Day 3 (Ethnic Plunge in Toronto):
Our second day in Toronto was used to see more of the ethnic communities in this very diverse city. We got a family full day pass for the public transportation for $10 (a weekend deal) which we used for multiple subway rides and a trolley car ride near the end of the day. We spent a good amount of time at the Kensington Market which is a square mile that is full of outdoor shops and restaurants from all different cultures including Chinese, Korean, Portuguese and Jamaican. We had lunch at a Korean restaurant but while leaving we learned that the restaurant had only "conditionally passed" a health inspection the day before we were there. We saw this on the outside glass door as we were leaving (after noticing some people walk away after reading this). It would have been nice if we had seen this on the way in. The food was good and no one got sick so we were pretty happy about that. :)
We also went to the Eaton Centre which is a large mall in downtown Toronto. The nice thing was that there was a subway stop connected to the mall which made it very convenient on our public transportation day.
Day 4 (Relaxing and Having Fun):
Our final day in Toronto was more about relaxing and having fun instead of trying to be a tourist. We started off by going bowling. However we discovered that the Canadians have two types of bowling - 10 pin which is the same as the US and 5 pin which is something very different. We decided to try something new and did the 5 pin bowling. The 5 pins are arranged in a V-shape with the front pin worth 5 points, the next 2 outside pins worth 3 points each and the back 2 corner pins worth 2 points each. The biggest difference however is the bowling ball which is maybe half the size of the normal ball and does not have finger holes. You also get 3 balls per frame instead of 2. The game was fun. We decided that we wanted to go see a movie after bowling so we decided that whoever won the second game of bowling would choose the movie (from two that we had picked out). Gloria and Ann tied with the best score in the first game with a 118. For the second game Gloria took the lead from the start and led the entire game going into the final frame. After her last ball she was leading Ann by 23 points. With this game you can actually get 45 points in a frame with 3 strikes so the game wasn't over yet but Gloria had already chosen the movie in her mind. Ann then threw a spare (got all 5 pins with 2 balls) and had one more ball with which she threw a strike. This gave her 30 points and she won the game. Monica and I had fun but we brought up the rear in both games. In the end Ann chose the same movie that Gloria wanted to see so it didn't matter who won but it was pretty fun how the game ended.
After the bowling we went and saw Captain America in an afternoon matinee. After the movie we did some shopping at a couple of malls in the outskirts of Toronto and had a really nice day.
Day 5 (Niagara Falls at Night):
On Day 5 we slept in and then checked out of our hotel and made the hour and half drive from Toronto to Niagara Falls (Canadian side). In Niagara Falls we stayed at a small motel that had good reviews on the internet. It wasn't anything fancy but it served its purpose. We couldn't check in until 3:00 so we decided to drive to the falls to get our first look on this trip. We drove through the downtown area of Niagara Falls which was very busy with pedestrians with lots of shops, restaurants and tourist attractions. We drove by the falls and then did some shopping. After checking into our hotel and eating dinner we went back to the falls area and walked close to the falls so that we could see the falls after dark when they were lit up with different colored lights. It was very nice.
Day 6 (Getting Wet under the Falls):
For our last day in Niagara we took the Maid of the Mist boat ride below the falls. We all got ponchos to wear and got pretty wet on this boat ride. This was a lot of fun and is a neat way to see the falls up close. After the boat ride we did more walking to go to the top of the falls and then later back to where our car was parked in the downtown area to do our final shopping on the trip.
Day 7 (Long Drive Home):
We got up early on Wednesday morning and loaded the van and made the long drive back to Aurora. We weren't sure how long it would take to cross back into the states. It ended up being around 45 min or so in the line of cars but once we got to the border we were through in about a minute.
The trip was enjoyable and the time off work was very relaxing. The highlights weren't super high but I think that we all had a nice time. My oldest daughter, Gloria, just got back from a missions trip to Costa Rica a couple days before we went on this trip so she was tired at times and really wanted to be home. I think that my younger daughter, Monica, probably had more "fun" on the trip for this reason.
I will try to capture some of the highlights by day starting on Thursday 8/11:
Day 1 (The Drive There):
We drove from Aurora to Toronto via Indiana and Michigan. The thing that sticks out most in my mind from this day was that while we were in Canada on the way to Toronto we saw a truck pass over us on an overpass that had the name Flanagan on it. Monica thought that this was amusing and decided that it was a cool name and that she would start using it whenever she was upset. So for the rest of the trip anytime something went wrong Monica was quick to let out an "O Flanagan". I told her to add the O to make it sound more Irish.
Day 2 (Touristy Things in Toronto):
We stayed at a Residence Inn near the Toronto Airport for our 4 nights in Toronto. The rates were pretty good and I used some points from my business trips to get a couple free nights. On our first full day in Toronto we did a couple of touristy things. We went to the look out level of the CN Tower (this is on the 113th floor but you can also go up to the 147th floor for an extra charge). This was the world's tallest tower until about 4 years ago. The second thing that we did was a 90 minute ride on the Kajama (a 165-foot 3-masted schooner). This is probably the thing that I looked forward to the most on the trip but in the end I was a little disappointed as we really didn't "sail" very much though all of our sails were raised. Instead it seemed that a small motor which was used to get us out of the harbor and onto Lake Ontario was used for the full trip and took us out on pretty much a straight line into the Lake and then used to later bring us back on the same line. It wasn't a very windy day but there was some wind so it seemed like we could have done some real sailing but it just didn't happen on this day. Lunch was at a Middle Eastern restaurant near the CN Tower and was very good.
Day 3 (Ethnic Plunge in Toronto):
Our second day in Toronto was used to see more of the ethnic communities in this very diverse city. We got a family full day pass for the public transportation for $10 (a weekend deal) which we used for multiple subway rides and a trolley car ride near the end of the day. We spent a good amount of time at the Kensington Market which is a square mile that is full of outdoor shops and restaurants from all different cultures including Chinese, Korean, Portuguese and Jamaican. We had lunch at a Korean restaurant but while leaving we learned that the restaurant had only "conditionally passed" a health inspection the day before we were there. We saw this on the outside glass door as we were leaving (after noticing some people walk away after reading this). It would have been nice if we had seen this on the way in. The food was good and no one got sick so we were pretty happy about that. :)
We also went to the Eaton Centre which is a large mall in downtown Toronto. The nice thing was that there was a subway stop connected to the mall which made it very convenient on our public transportation day.
Day 4 (Relaxing and Having Fun):
Our final day in Toronto was more about relaxing and having fun instead of trying to be a tourist. We started off by going bowling. However we discovered that the Canadians have two types of bowling - 10 pin which is the same as the US and 5 pin which is something very different. We decided to try something new and did the 5 pin bowling. The 5 pins are arranged in a V-shape with the front pin worth 5 points, the next 2 outside pins worth 3 points each and the back 2 corner pins worth 2 points each. The biggest difference however is the bowling ball which is maybe half the size of the normal ball and does not have finger holes. You also get 3 balls per frame instead of 2. The game was fun. We decided that we wanted to go see a movie after bowling so we decided that whoever won the second game of bowling would choose the movie (from two that we had picked out). Gloria and Ann tied with the best score in the first game with a 118. For the second game Gloria took the lead from the start and led the entire game going into the final frame. After her last ball she was leading Ann by 23 points. With this game you can actually get 45 points in a frame with 3 strikes so the game wasn't over yet but Gloria had already chosen the movie in her mind. Ann then threw a spare (got all 5 pins with 2 balls) and had one more ball with which she threw a strike. This gave her 30 points and she won the game. Monica and I had fun but we brought up the rear in both games. In the end Ann chose the same movie that Gloria wanted to see so it didn't matter who won but it was pretty fun how the game ended.
After the bowling we went and saw Captain America in an afternoon matinee. After the movie we did some shopping at a couple of malls in the outskirts of Toronto and had a really nice day.
Day 5 (Niagara Falls at Night):
On Day 5 we slept in and then checked out of our hotel and made the hour and half drive from Toronto to Niagara Falls (Canadian side). In Niagara Falls we stayed at a small motel that had good reviews on the internet. It wasn't anything fancy but it served its purpose. We couldn't check in until 3:00 so we decided to drive to the falls to get our first look on this trip. We drove through the downtown area of Niagara Falls which was very busy with pedestrians with lots of shops, restaurants and tourist attractions. We drove by the falls and then did some shopping. After checking into our hotel and eating dinner we went back to the falls area and walked close to the falls so that we could see the falls after dark when they were lit up with different colored lights. It was very nice.
Day 6 (Getting Wet under the Falls):
For our last day in Niagara we took the Maid of the Mist boat ride below the falls. We all got ponchos to wear and got pretty wet on this boat ride. This was a lot of fun and is a neat way to see the falls up close. After the boat ride we did more walking to go to the top of the falls and then later back to where our car was parked in the downtown area to do our final shopping on the trip.
Day 7 (Long Drive Home):
We got up early on Wednesday morning and loaded the van and made the long drive back to Aurora. We weren't sure how long it would take to cross back into the states. It ended up being around 45 min or so in the line of cars but once we got to the border we were through in about a minute.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Blast from the Past
For the first 23 years of my career I was a software developer which meant that I wrote code (mostly C and C++) and all of the things that go with this (write design documents, code, test, debug, fix bugs,..). The past couple years my job has changed and I now work in customer support which means that I help troubleshoot problems in our customer's network and help fix the problems that do not require software changes. Those that do require software changes go to our development groups where the fixes are generated and then delivered back to our customers.
With the change in job responsibilities I don't get close to the code very often but for different reasons I had a chance yesterday and today to look at some code while trying to understand some tests that had failed in our customer lab. The fun thing was that while doing this I found the problem (aka bug) and was able to tell our development group exactly what needed to be fixed. (Today a test of the patch confirmed that the fix was correct.) This was very enjoyable and brought back lots of memories of doing this type of work on a daily basis. I am very thankful for my present job but it is so much more fulfilling to be the person who solves the problems. Finding (and fixing) a software bug is often like solving a puzzle which is something else that I really like to do.
With the change in job responsibilities I don't get close to the code very often but for different reasons I had a chance yesterday and today to look at some code while trying to understand some tests that had failed in our customer lab. The fun thing was that while doing this I found the problem (aka bug) and was able to tell our development group exactly what needed to be fixed. (Today a test of the patch confirmed that the fix was correct.) This was very enjoyable and brought back lots of memories of doing this type of work on a daily basis. I am very thankful for my present job but it is so much more fulfilling to be the person who solves the problems. Finding (and fixing) a software bug is often like solving a puzzle which is something else that I really like to do.
Monday, August 1, 2011
A Day in the Sun....
On Saturday I took my daughter (Gloria) and a friend (Dawn) to a large contemporary Christian music festival in Zion, Illinois (about 90 minutes from our home). The music festival is called Ignite and is a 3 day event but we went just for the 2nd day which had a number of artists that we really enjoy.
The festival was an outdoor event and held at a minor league baseball park. The stage was setup in right center field against the fence and the audience mostly either sat on blankets in the outfield, sat in the stands (further away) or stood in front of the stage. We brought a nice heavy denim quilt that we use for picnics for our blanket. Little did we know that the ground was wet and sitting on the blanket meant that you were soon wet as well. Most people had brought tarps to put under their blankets but this is something that we missed. After about an hour, Gloria and Dawn ran to a store right outside the ballpark and grabbed a vinyl table cloth and a shower curtain liner. Between these two items we had a nice waterproof pad below our blanket and didn't have any more issues with the wet ground the rest of the day.
The concerts started at noon and went until around 10:45 that night. There were 10 groups and as the day went on the groups became more and more well known and had more and more stage time. The final group of the day was Switchfoot, a group that Gloria and I are really big fans of. I updated Facebook throughout the day and posted the following comments after each of the groups:
One thing that I figured out after later reading my Facebook entries is that someone stole my thesaurus and I use the word "great" way too often. Gloria described the day as one of the best days of her life. :) I wouldn't quite go that far but the day really was excellent between all of the wonderful music and hearing many of the artists share their hearts about Jesus. It is funny that Disciple was the one "Rock" group that we saw (Sunday was an all-Rock day but the one group was enough for us) and their music was very loud yet the lead singer from Disciple was one of the most effective and well spoken speakers in sharing the gospel and other scripture. We had seen this group a couple years ago and even on that occasion I remember him sharing scripture. I was very pleased that they were included in the Saturday lineup.
The festival was an outdoor event and held at a minor league baseball park. The stage was setup in right center field against the fence and the audience mostly either sat on blankets in the outfield, sat in the stands (further away) or stood in front of the stage. We brought a nice heavy denim quilt that we use for picnics for our blanket. Little did we know that the ground was wet and sitting on the blanket meant that you were soon wet as well. Most people had brought tarps to put under their blankets but this is something that we missed. After about an hour, Gloria and Dawn ran to a store right outside the ballpark and grabbed a vinyl table cloth and a shower curtain liner. Between these two items we had a nice waterproof pad below our blanket and didn't have any more issues with the wet ground the rest of the day.
The concerts started at noon and went until around 10:45 that night. There were 10 groups and as the day went on the groups became more and more well known and had more and more stage time. The final group of the day was Switchfoot, a group that Gloria and I are really big fans of. I updated Facebook throughout the day and posted the following comments after each of the groups:
- At Ignite, Finding Favor playing. Never heard of them but they sound very good.
- Josh Wilson was great and Stellar Kart was a lot of fun.
- Bldg 429 just finished. They grew on me and then clinched it at the end by singing a cover of I Won't Back Down by Tom Petty.
- Disciple was loud but good. Christian rock.
- Jars of Clay was very good. First time I have seen them in person. Really enjoyed the songs that I knew. They wrapped up w/ I'll Fly Away. Great stuff!
- Rebecca St. James was great. Lots of praise music. She finished with Blessed Be Your Name. Very nice.
- I don't know why I forget how much I like Matthew West. He was great.
- 10th Avenue North was great. A couple aspirin and an extra allegra are working wonders but no more clapping from me.
- I took off from the concert and headed home (90 min drive) without giving my final entry for the day. Switchfoot was great! My favorites for the day in order were Switchfoot, Matthew West and Josh Wilson. I had seen all 3 in concert before and today even with the great lineup these were my favorites. Though some of the others were very very good as well. (posted after getting home)
One thing that I figured out after later reading my Facebook entries is that someone stole my thesaurus and I use the word "great" way too often. Gloria described the day as one of the best days of her life. :) I wouldn't quite go that far but the day really was excellent between all of the wonderful music and hearing many of the artists share their hearts about Jesus. It is funny that Disciple was the one "Rock" group that we saw (Sunday was an all-Rock day but the one group was enough for us) and their music was very loud yet the lead singer from Disciple was one of the most effective and well spoken speakers in sharing the gospel and other scripture. We had seen this group a couple years ago and even on that occasion I remember him sharing scripture. I was very pleased that they were included in the Saturday lineup.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Faucets and Swollen Hands
Ann was gone this morning picking up Monica from church camp so I thought that I would get some work done around the house. More specifically, we have an outdoor faucet in the front of our house that has a bad habit of dripping if it is not closed very very tightly so I thought that I would try to fix this.
My idea was to try to take the faucet apart and see if I could find and fix the problem though I wasn't exactly sure if I knew what I was doing. The first thing that I did was shut off the water in our basement so that I could work on the outdoor faucet. Once this was done (even this was harder than it should have been due to a very tight faucet handle on the pipe coming into our house) I attempted to take apart the dripping outdoor faucet using a couple of large wrenches. This didn't go so well and I wasn't sure if I was doing the right thing so my next approach was to go see if I could find the right way to do it. This of course meant getting out my laptop and doing a google search on fixing dripping outdoor faucets. This was very fruitful and I had a few videos from YouTube to choose from that showed how to do this. I randomly chose one of the videos and it showed the man doing exactly what I had been trying to do. On the video he made the comment that unscrewing the faucet internals from the housing was a bit difficult but once it was done then you could simply replace the rubber gaskets on the inside. Once I knew that I was doing the right thing I gave it another go and I was able to remove the internals of the faucet.
My first idea was to actually replace the entire internal assembly since it was old and the faucet handle wasn't in very good shape. So I took the assembly with me and headed to the hardware store. I ended up going to both Menard's and Lowe's. Neither place could sell me just the internal assembly but instead could sell me either the entire faucet assembly+housing (pipe) or just the internal rubber gaskets. I really didn't want to replace the pipes in the house so in the end I just replaced the rubber gaskets. The project which should have taken less than an hour including the trip to to the hardware store ended up being over twice that long.
This evening I noticed that my hands (especially the right one) was getting very swollen in both the palm and fingers. After thinking about it I realized that it was my hives acting up in response to all the twisting of the difficult faucet handles that I had done earlier today. My hives are pretty well controlled by my Allegra but sometimes it seems like it is just below the surface waiting for some little extra stimulus and then it reacts strongly like this evening. I ended up soaking my hands in the bath and they seem to be doing better tonight.
My idea was to try to take the faucet apart and see if I could find and fix the problem though I wasn't exactly sure if I knew what I was doing. The first thing that I did was shut off the water in our basement so that I could work on the outdoor faucet. Once this was done (even this was harder than it should have been due to a very tight faucet handle on the pipe coming into our house) I attempted to take apart the dripping outdoor faucet using a couple of large wrenches. This didn't go so well and I wasn't sure if I was doing the right thing so my next approach was to go see if I could find the right way to do it. This of course meant getting out my laptop and doing a google search on fixing dripping outdoor faucets. This was very fruitful and I had a few videos from YouTube to choose from that showed how to do this. I randomly chose one of the videos and it showed the man doing exactly what I had been trying to do. On the video he made the comment that unscrewing the faucet internals from the housing was a bit difficult but once it was done then you could simply replace the rubber gaskets on the inside. Once I knew that I was doing the right thing I gave it another go and I was able to remove the internals of the faucet.
My first idea was to actually replace the entire internal assembly since it was old and the faucet handle wasn't in very good shape. So I took the assembly with me and headed to the hardware store. I ended up going to both Menard's and Lowe's. Neither place could sell me just the internal assembly but instead could sell me either the entire faucet assembly+housing (pipe) or just the internal rubber gaskets. I really didn't want to replace the pipes in the house so in the end I just replaced the rubber gaskets. The project which should have taken less than an hour including the trip to to the hardware store ended up being over twice that long.
This evening I noticed that my hands (especially the right one) was getting very swollen in both the palm and fingers. After thinking about it I realized that it was my hives acting up in response to all the twisting of the difficult faucet handles that I had done earlier today. My hives are pretty well controlled by my Allegra but sometimes it seems like it is just below the surface waiting for some little extra stimulus and then it reacts strongly like this evening. I ended up soaking my hands in the bath and they seem to be doing better tonight.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
High School Reunion
I attended a very small high school in Oklahoma (Varnum High School) with a graduating class of 20 people. Our school does not have normal class reunions but instead there is an Alumni Banquet that is held every other year and alumni from all different classes come back to renew acquaintances. I graduated in 1982 and I went to the banquet a couple times in the first 10 years after my graduation but I didn't see many people that I knew each time and later after getting married and having children the banquet didn't fit well into my schedule.
I was in Oklahoma recently with my family and we had the opportunity to see two very good friends of mine from high school. One of these (Larry) is a friend that I have been close to for over 30 years and I try to see him about once a year when I am "home". The other is a classmate (Gina) that I hadn't seen since our graduation in 1982 but who had recently found me on Facebook. Seeing both of these friends was great and led to discussions of other classmates, most of whom we had not seen since high school. During these discussions the idea came up of attending the Varnum Alumni banquet next year to celebrate our 30th graduation anniversary. However a little later I realized that a banquet was held this year and the next one will be in 2013.
I made the comment to Gina that "I wish that someone would put together a reunion for our class" and later I decided that I needed to be that someone since this is something that I really wanted to see happen. So the plan now is for us to have a Varnum "Class of 1982" class reunion in June of 2012. We have about 11 months to track down all of our classmates and make sure that everyone is invited to the reunion. Two of the women in our class have passed away so there are 18 of us to include.
This past week I have started looking for people both online and through contacts back home. I have contacted 7 classmates so far and have another 10 to find. I think that most of these will be easy to find as either they or some of their family members still live in my hometown. The final 3 or 4 classmates could be a challenge. The classmates that I have reached so far are all excited about the idea and it has been fun exchanging email with them and learning about what they have been up to for the past 29 years.
My guess is that the process of finding people and exchanging mail with them before the reunion next year will be as much fun for me as the reunion itself. I will try to add another blog on this subject later in the year to let you know how things are progressing.
I was in Oklahoma recently with my family and we had the opportunity to see two very good friends of mine from high school. One of these (Larry) is a friend that I have been close to for over 30 years and I try to see him about once a year when I am "home". The other is a classmate (Gina) that I hadn't seen since our graduation in 1982 but who had recently found me on Facebook. Seeing both of these friends was great and led to discussions of other classmates, most of whom we had not seen since high school. During these discussions the idea came up of attending the Varnum Alumni banquet next year to celebrate our 30th graduation anniversary. However a little later I realized that a banquet was held this year and the next one will be in 2013.
I made the comment to Gina that "I wish that someone would put together a reunion for our class" and later I decided that I needed to be that someone since this is something that I really wanted to see happen. So the plan now is for us to have a Varnum "Class of 1982" class reunion in June of 2012. We have about 11 months to track down all of our classmates and make sure that everyone is invited to the reunion. Two of the women in our class have passed away so there are 18 of us to include.
This past week I have started looking for people both online and through contacts back home. I have contacted 7 classmates so far and have another 10 to find. I think that most of these will be easy to find as either they or some of their family members still live in my hometown. The final 3 or 4 classmates could be a challenge. The classmates that I have reached so far are all excited about the idea and it has been fun exchanging email with them and learning about what they have been up to for the past 29 years.
My guess is that the process of finding people and exchanging mail with them before the reunion next year will be as much fun for me as the reunion itself. I will try to add another blog on this subject later in the year to let you know how things are progressing.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
A Game of "Moon"
I wrote a blog entry in 2008 about my family playing the game "moon". Here is that entry:
In January 2010 my brother-in-law who I had mentioned as my partner in this game of moon, Richard Basque, died in an oil field accident. I am currently visiting my family in Oklahoma and last night we played a game of moon for the first time since Thanksgiving 2008. My partner last night was the boyfriend (Robert Menchaca) of my niece Brittany Cagle. Robert had never played before last night so my daughter Gloria helped him out though she also has played only a couple of times. We played against my nephew (Ted Griffin) and another niece's husband (Kris Romines). Ted and Kris are the same two that Richard and I had "handed it to" a couple years ago.
Last night was bittersweet as we were playing a game that we are all very fond of and that has been in my family for a long time but also one which we all have lots of memories of playing with Richard. Last night's game was a marathon session that started around 10 pm. Kris and Ted won the first 2 games. I had mentioned to the guys about the earlier blog post (as they were trying to remember who won the last time we had played). After the first 2 games Kris and Ted wanted to know if last night's results were going into the blog. :)
We decided that we would play the best of 5 games. Robert (and Gloria) and I then went on a roll and won the next 3 games. At this point it was decided (by certain people in the game) that we were now playing the best of 7 games. Robert and I won the next game to go up 4-2 and it suddenly became a best of 9 games. I was thinking that it was around 12:15 or so at this time but when I asked for the time I found that it was actually 1:30 am. This was when the tables turned. Kris and Ted won the next 2 games to tie things up at 4-4. I was ready to call it quits at this point (as a number of us needed to wake up early to do some work this morning). However, no one wanted a tie so we kept going and Ted and Kris won the final game to win 5-4 and we finished the game at 2:30 in the morning.
Congrats and props to Ted and Kris (and to Robert and Gloria for doing great). As I have said before the game is in great hands in our family...
For games, my family has a long history of playing a domino game called "moon". The game is similar to spades in cards though the "trump" in moon changes each hand and is called by the team that wins the bid. My grandfather and great-uncle Louie were great "moon" players as is my dad and a number of others from his generation in our family. My cousins and siblings and I all learned to play the game at an early age at family gatherings at my grandparents' home. Now my generation is playing and teaching the game to the generation below us. It was fun over Thanksgiving playing with my brother-in-law as my partner and taking on my nephew and my niece's husband. The game is in good hands with these young guys though we handed it to them on this occasion.
In January 2010 my brother-in-law who I had mentioned as my partner in this game of moon, Richard Basque, died in an oil field accident. I am currently visiting my family in Oklahoma and last night we played a game of moon for the first time since Thanksgiving 2008. My partner last night was the boyfriend (Robert Menchaca) of my niece Brittany Cagle. Robert had never played before last night so my daughter Gloria helped him out though she also has played only a couple of times. We played against my nephew (Ted Griffin) and another niece's husband (Kris Romines). Ted and Kris are the same two that Richard and I had "handed it to" a couple years ago.
Last night was bittersweet as we were playing a game that we are all very fond of and that has been in my family for a long time but also one which we all have lots of memories of playing with Richard. Last night's game was a marathon session that started around 10 pm. Kris and Ted won the first 2 games. I had mentioned to the guys about the earlier blog post (as they were trying to remember who won the last time we had played). After the first 2 games Kris and Ted wanted to know if last night's results were going into the blog. :)
We decided that we would play the best of 5 games. Robert (and Gloria) and I then went on a roll and won the next 3 games. At this point it was decided (by certain people in the game) that we were now playing the best of 7 games. Robert and I won the next game to go up 4-2 and it suddenly became a best of 9 games. I was thinking that it was around 12:15 or so at this time but when I asked for the time I found that it was actually 1:30 am. This was when the tables turned. Kris and Ted won the next 2 games to tie things up at 4-4. I was ready to call it quits at this point (as a number of us needed to wake up early to do some work this morning). However, no one wanted a tie so we kept going and Ted and Kris won the final game to win 5-4 and we finished the game at 2:30 in the morning.
Congrats and props to Ted and Kris (and to Robert and Gloria for doing great). As I have said before the game is in great hands in our family...
Friday, June 17, 2011
A Strange Week...
This past week has been unusual as my daughters were both gone on trips. My oldest daughter (15) was on an orchestra trip to Spain and Portugal and my youngest daughter (13) was on a missions trip to Nashville with a group from our church. Both girls have been away in the past for camp and things but I think that this is the first time that both have been gone at the same time. It was pretty quiet in the house (too quiet). The oldest got back this evening from her trip and the youngest will be back tomorrow around lunch time. I am thankful that both will be home in time for Father's Day!
The other unusual event this week is that I had an episode of Afib (very irregular and fast heart rhythm) on Wed night as I was getting ready to call into a conference bridge for a late night work session. My work requires occasional midnight sessions where we do updates to the customer's network. The work was planned for 01:00 (CDT) on Thursday morning as we were making updates to a system in the Mountain Time zone. As I was getting ready to call in for this work I realized that my heart was not in it's normal rhythm. The Afib episode went from about 12:30 until 2:15 when my heart came back into a normal rhythm (though it was a few hours later before it was at my normal heart rate). I was able to do my work during this time but it did add to the stress on my end. On Thursday afternoon I talked to my boss about this and she told me to take off the rest of Thursday and Friday to get some rest. So this is what I have been doing for the past day and a half. The Afib hasn't returned during this time and I am hoping that it will be some time before my next episode. I have been on medication for this condition since it was first diagnosed in September 2009. I had a 15 minute episode at the beginning of April this year but this latest episode was the longest I have had since I started on the medication. The episode in April was in the morning on a day that I was scheduled to fly to Seattle for 2 weeks. I was able to make the trip after that episode lasted so briefly but both of these 2 recent episodes have been at inconvenient times.
I am looking forward to the weekend and spending the time with my family. I can't wait to hear all the stories from Spain, Portugal and Nashville.
The other unusual event this week is that I had an episode of Afib (very irregular and fast heart rhythm) on Wed night as I was getting ready to call into a conference bridge for a late night work session. My work requires occasional midnight sessions where we do updates to the customer's network. The work was planned for 01:00 (CDT) on Thursday morning as we were making updates to a system in the Mountain Time zone. As I was getting ready to call in for this work I realized that my heart was not in it's normal rhythm. The Afib episode went from about 12:30 until 2:15 when my heart came back into a normal rhythm (though it was a few hours later before it was at my normal heart rate). I was able to do my work during this time but it did add to the stress on my end. On Thursday afternoon I talked to my boss about this and she told me to take off the rest of Thursday and Friday to get some rest. So this is what I have been doing for the past day and a half. The Afib hasn't returned during this time and I am hoping that it will be some time before my next episode. I have been on medication for this condition since it was first diagnosed in September 2009. I had a 15 minute episode at the beginning of April this year but this latest episode was the longest I have had since I started on the medication. The episode in April was in the morning on a day that I was scheduled to fly to Seattle for 2 weeks. I was able to make the trip after that episode lasted so briefly but both of these 2 recent episodes have been at inconvenient times.
I am looking forward to the weekend and spending the time with my family. I can't wait to hear all the stories from Spain, Portugal and Nashville.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Seattle - Cherry Trees and Parks
On my final trip to Seattle (in May) I finally got to do a little bit of sightseeing over the weekend I was there. Some co-workers and I drove into Seattle on a pretty day. Our first stop was at the University of Washington campus. We walked around the campus and enjoyed the sunshine, the architecture and the cherry trees. A few of the cherry trees were still in blossom when we were there though most had reached their peak a few weeks earlier. (click pictures to see larger images)
The coolest sight was probably a view of Mt. Ranier from the campus (from 61 miles away). It wasn't the clearest day to see the mountain but it was still cool. I really wish that I had brought a real camera on my trip but I had to settle for pictures from my phone. The mountain isn't very easy to see in this picture but it is at the bottom of the path. I assume that the path was built in this direction to point toward this view.
After walking around the campus we drove to a park (Gas Works Park) on the northern side of the lake which is just north of Seattle. The park was once a gas manufacturing site for the city but is now a city park with a large hill for flying kites. The old factory equipment is now a very popular subject for photographers (at least it was the day we were there). The park had a nice view of Seattle across the lake and we were able to watch some planes take off and land on the Seattle side of the lake. If you look close in this picture you can see the plane that is about to land on the water.
Our final stop was at Discovery Park which is on the northwest side of Seattle. The park has a large number of hiking trails and beaches on Puget Sound. We did some walking and made it to the north beach. It was all very nice though by the time we made it back to the car we had had enough walking for the day.
It was one of the prettiest days that I spent in Seattle and definitely a great day to be out enjoying the natural beauty.
The coolest sight was probably a view of Mt. Ranier from the campus (from 61 miles away). It wasn't the clearest day to see the mountain but it was still cool. I really wish that I had brought a real camera on my trip but I had to settle for pictures from my phone. The mountain isn't very easy to see in this picture but it is at the bottom of the path. I assume that the path was built in this direction to point toward this view.
After walking around the campus we drove to a park (Gas Works Park) on the northern side of the lake which is just north of Seattle. The park was once a gas manufacturing site for the city but is now a city park with a large hill for flying kites. The old factory equipment is now a very popular subject for photographers (at least it was the day we were there). The park had a nice view of Seattle across the lake and we were able to watch some planes take off and land on the Seattle side of the lake. If you look close in this picture you can see the plane that is about to land on the water.
Our final stop was at Discovery Park which is on the northwest side of Seattle. The park has a large number of hiking trails and beaches on Puget Sound. We did some walking and made it to the north beach. It was all very nice though by the time we made it back to the car we had had enough walking for the day.
It was one of the prettiest days that I spent in Seattle and definitely a great day to be out enjoying the natural beauty.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Seattle - Umbrellas and Dim Sum...
I have traveled on occasion with my job in the past but recently I have spent quite a bit of time on the road. Between Thanksgiving and mid-May I spent 9 weeks in Seattle over 5 trips. These were the first times that I had ever been to Seattle (other than a airport stop on a flight many years ago).
Seattle was very nice though I am not sure that I would want to live there due to the weather. The stereotype of frequent rain is no stereotype. It rained probably over half the days that I was there and was cloudy many others with no sight of the sun. The only good thing to say about the rain is that it is typically just a drizzle and you can often walk in it without an umbrella. Though it was interesting that there were "public" umbrellas that Microsoft had donated to the mall area where my hotel and work location were located. You just grab an umbrella whenever you leave a place and then drop it off in a bin at your destination for someone else to use later.
One thing that I really did enjoy in Seattle was the food. There were a number of very good restaurants but my favorites were a couple of Dim Sum (Chinese dumpings) places. These restaurants (The Noble Court and Din Tai Fung Dumpling House) were both in Bellevue, WA. I went to both of these restaurants with a large group of coworkers. This is the best way to eat Dim Sum as you can order a large number of dishes and everyone gets to try all the different types of dumplings. The Din Tai Fung restaurant is a chain of restaurants that started in Taiwan and has since spread to China, Japan, ..., Los Angeles and recently Seattle. Here is the process (in the "fishbowl") where the dumplings are put together:
And here is what the final product looks like (image from Din Tai Fung website):
Seattle was very nice though I am not sure that I would want to live there due to the weather. The stereotype of frequent rain is no stereotype. It rained probably over half the days that I was there and was cloudy many others with no sight of the sun. The only good thing to say about the rain is that it is typically just a drizzle and you can often walk in it without an umbrella. Though it was interesting that there were "public" umbrellas that Microsoft had donated to the mall area where my hotel and work location were located. You just grab an umbrella whenever you leave a place and then drop it off in a bin at your destination for someone else to use later.
One thing that I really did enjoy in Seattle was the food. There were a number of very good restaurants but my favorites were a couple of Dim Sum (Chinese dumpings) places. These restaurants (The Noble Court and Din Tai Fung Dumpling House) were both in Bellevue, WA. I went to both of these restaurants with a large group of coworkers. This is the best way to eat Dim Sum as you can order a large number of dishes and everyone gets to try all the different types of dumplings. The Din Tai Fung restaurant is a chain of restaurants that started in Taiwan and has since spread to China, Japan, ..., Los Angeles and recently Seattle. Here is the process (in the "fishbowl") where the dumplings are put together:
And here is what the final product looks like (image from Din Tai Fung website):
Gatorade Bath
About a year ago I was watching one of the local sports teams on TV and a commercial came on that caught my attention. It was a Chicago Bears commercial that was promoting community service. I am not sure if I ever saw the commercial again but I remembered it as it was cute and one of the Bears in the commercial was Tommy Harris (a former all-American defensive lineman from OU).
Well the other day I happened to be online and I saw a reference to a youtube video from a friend's webpage and it turns out that it was the same video. Here it is:
The "rest of the story" is that when I saw this commercial and noticed the Bears who were in it I totally missed that the guy who is receiving the Gatorade bath is a very good friend of mine, Charles Stephens. I talked to Charles at work the next day after seeing him in the video and said "Were you really in a Bears commercial?" and his response was "oh yeah that was just something I did last summer"... :)
Well the other day I happened to be online and I saw a reference to a youtube video from a friend's webpage and it turns out that it was the same video. Here it is:
The "rest of the story" is that when I saw this commercial and noticed the Bears who were in it I totally missed that the guy who is receiving the Gatorade bath is a very good friend of mine, Charles Stephens. I talked to Charles at work the next day after seeing him in the video and said "Were you really in a Bears commercial?" and his response was "oh yeah that was just something I did last summer"... :)
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