December 3, 1998
Season's Greetings to All Our Family and Friends
It appears to be that time of year again. As I drove to work this morning, the first
snowflakes of the season were swirling around in the headlights. So I guess the holidays
can't be far behind.
We had a very busy year, sports wise. We started off the year in late December when we
attended the first annual Humanitarian Bowl game held in the expanded BSU stadium. Our
football team lost their coach at the end of the summer. Houston Nutt was picked to be the
new head coach at Arkansas and they are paying him about four times what he was getting in
Boise. Great for him and Arkansas but hard on our team; they have now had four coaches in
four years, with the first one dying of cancer. Our Big West Champion was Utah State, and
most of the people around us were cheering for Cincinnati to win, which they did. This
year, believe it or not, we will be cheering for our archrival University of Idaho to win
over Southern Mississippi. We were glad to see an Idaho team in it this time, as it will
be good for the game and the city's economy. We started the New Year by attending a couple
of hockey games. We have a pro league in Boise now, the Idaho Steelheads, and they have
become very popular. Last Christmas I opened a present and it was a book titled Hockey for
Dummies. I looked perplexed until Dan told me to look inside, where there were two tickets
to a game. I loved it, so much so that I gave him another set of tickets for his birthday.
We also continued to attend all the Boise State home basketball and football games, as
well as one away game in November. We attended the BSU/Nevada game in Reno on Halloween on
the way to a business conference in California. What a great time we had, although we lost
the game. We found it rather bizarre that they sell beer, wine, and Jack Daniels right
there at the game. We spent two nights at the Circus Circus casino attending several pre
and post game parties! In March we attended the NCAA basketball first round of matches
that BSU hosts every third year.
Dan and Gail at Andy and Amy's Wedding, June 1998
We saw such teams as Nebraska, Temple and UCLA. We continue to cheer
for the Raiders, though some times we sure wonder why. I suppose the next thing for us
will be ice-skating. A huge new double rink with food court and all kinds of amenities
just opened last week at the outlet mall a mile from us. I can just see Dan and me gliding
across the ice.
We did the usual amount of traveling this year. In February I went to Fresno for a few
days to visit Mother and Karen, thanks to a free flight coupon from a trip the previous
summer. In March we both went to Chicago for a seminar and were able to spend a little
time with Cinda, Andy and Amy and Dan's brother Gary and his family. We also spent an
afternoon antiquing with my cousin's wife, Carolyn, and her daughter who was visiting from
California. The big vacation trip for the year came in June. We flew back to Chicago for
Andy and Amy's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding, naturally, with such an attractive
bride and groom! Susanna was there from Albuquerque and read something during the
ceremony. Dan's sisters from both Pennsylvania and Salt Lake City were there with various
family members. It is always great to see everyone at these family milestone
get-togethers. We did manage to fit in some sightseeing up in Lake County at the Curt
Teich postcard archives, as well as some of the usual antique hunting. We also had a
fabulous brunch with my cousin Ed and his wife Carolyn at their beautiful new home in
Naperville. They have a garden even an English gentleman would envy. In August, we went to
a library conference for three days in Sun Valley. We stayed at the Sun Valley Lodge,
which is always fun and full of history, and we even had a vendor buy us a fabulous dinner
out by the ice rink. Rudy Galindo was appearing that night at the ice show. I was hoping
to see him practicing, but didn't. We saw the rest of the ensemble practicing, though,
including Elizabeth Manly. The weather was absolutely gorgeous in Sun Valley.
As I mentioned above, at the end of October we headed for California (with a two-night
stop in Reno), where I attended the Internet Librarian '98 Conference in Monterey. Dan
spent the week at his mom's, helping her with some paperwork and projects, and also
visiting with his brother Irv. Irv and his long-time lady friend, Paula, surprised
everyone by getting married in August. This first year will be hard for them, since she
was committed to teach in Illinois, and he is teaching at a business college in Salinas,
California. So they have a bi-coastal marriage, so to speak, until June. Irv will be going
to Chicago for Christmas and they are having a reception for them on the 26th.
Unfortunately, we will not be able to go. While we were in California, I went to Fresno to
visit Mom and Karen for a couple of days, and then we met Dan at my niece's in Livermore.
We had our usual birthday celebration for Karen. It is always great to see Julie, Steve
and their families. We had quite an adventure getting home. It was snowing over Donner
Pass and we could not get through, despite going almost to the top of the pass before we
were turned back. We returned to Sacramento and headed north. We ended up spending the
night in Bend, Oregon, and getting home the next day. We sure were glad to get home. But
then one week later, we went to Salt Lake for Thanksgiving. We had not been there in two
years. Dan's mom was there too and we got to see Dan's niece Sunny, her husband Casey, and
their daughter Megan, including a visit to their new home in Layton.
Dan left this morning for one final trip of the year. It is unfortunately a sad trip. His
former stepson, Ken, Susanna's brother, who was 29, passed away on Thanksgiving Day.
Susanna and Lorraine and Steve (the other brother) had been with him in LaCrosse,
Wisconsin, for several weeks. Dan decided to fly into Chicago today and Cinda will pick
him up and they are driving to LaCrosse tonight. There will be a celebration of his life
on Saturday. We both felt it was important for him to be there for his daughters as well
as to pay his own respects to this wonderful young man whom he helped raise for over eight
years.
We have been very lucky this year. Both of our jobs are interesting, busy and challenging.
It has been a difficult year for HP and there was some more downsizing across the company.
Fortunately the situation in Boise is pretty good; we are still selling lots of LaserJet
printers, which is the major product we make here. My job so far has survived all the
cuts, although it continues to change with the times. Dan and I both spend most of our
time on the Internet, hardly ever touching books. I do a lot of research and he does a lot
of training and supporting users, as well as developing new systems and services.
Our kids are all doing well. Andy is now a webmaster for Follett and very involved in many
aspects of the Internet. He and Amy just bought a house in McHenry, Illinois and are now
learning the joys of homeownership...like cutting up fallen trees, buying a shop vac,
building shelves, and so on. Cinda got her masters in urban planning and policy in May,
and is now working for a small architecture firm near where she lives in Wheaton,
Illinois. She says there is plenty of work to do, and she is gradually getting into a
variety of the things she particularly enjoys and excels at.
Susanna is living with her mom (and numerous animals) and works with animals as an
assistant in a veterinary clinic. She really likes the work and it has made her think
about moving in that direction for a career, although no decisions have been made yet.
Chris and Laura and their kids are very busy these days. Laura's dad passed away suddenly
last February. They have since leased out their mobile home and moved out of town about
four miles to live with her mom. The place is six acres and much too big for her to take
care of by herself. They have built on a couple of rooms and are planning other additions.
One of their first projects was installing their hot tub and a new deck. Chris and Laura
still commute every day to Boise to work, about 45 minutes each way in good weather. Jayla
is in 1st grade and Tony is in kindergarten. They ride the bus from their place and
Grandma Stevens (Laura's mother) makes sure they get on and off the bus every day. Jayla
was involved this fall in a cheerleading group. Our first reaction was "cheerleaders
in first grade?" However, it is a community group that cheers and also performs
dances at the local Optimist football games. It is a great activity for her to have, and
provides some social and dance training in a small community.
We continue to play a lot of bridge, in addition to all our sporting activities. We work
in the church bookstore one Sunday a month. I deliver Meals on Wheels to about 15 homes on
Mondays, since I only work Tuesday-Friday. We have been very lucky this year and have
neither one been sick, with not even a cold. We try to not over-commit and plan lots of
down time for just us. We got a second computer in February and Dan got them networked
this spring. So now we both have our little computer work areas. (I won't comment on which
area looks neater). I have started putting our financial stuff on Quicken. It is great,
especially since we have been doing some retirement planning. We just finished refinancing
our house; we couldn't resist the 5 3/4% for a 10-year loan from the HP credit union. I am
56 and Dan will be in February. So we are now on the 10-year countdown to retirement. Not
that we plan to sit around and stare at the walls after that, but we'd like to have the
house and other things all paid off. We have all kinds of things we want to do together
when we have more time. We would like to travel to some postcard and/or antique shows and
deal just enough to pay our expenses. That's just one idea. I'm sure we will find many
more. But for today, we are very content.
We hope that everyone has a peaceful holiday season and a prosperous New Year.
Dan dan@84.com
and
Gail gail_lester@hp.com