... |
These are the days of myth and legend. At least that's what I thought.
As time goes on, I meet people who were born later and later. I'm always amazed when some topic comes up and their reaction is, "Oh, that was before I was born. I don't care about that." I am often the same way about events which are occurring at this time. How hypocritical... |
1957 |
The beginning of time, according to Jeff. Ike is in the White House, and there is a chicken in every pot. |
1958 |
Sometime this year, we move into the first house I remember, on Dumbarton Drive. |
1959 |
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1960 |
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1961 |
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1962 |
Off to school! Kindergarden at Wheaton Woods Elementary School |
1963 |
A new school: Harmony Hills Elementary.
I got beat up one day at school by the local bully.
It wasn't much fun, and I decided to avoid a fight from then on.
So far, its working...
Since then, some people have called me a chicken, but I still have my original nose... The Cuban missile crisis has come and gone, but we still practice our air raid drills at school, and will for another year or two... |
1964 |
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1965 |
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1966 |
We move into a newer and bigger and better house on Frankfort Drive.
It's only one block from school, but the local school officials, who,
according to Republicans, know how to run their schools better, bussed
us to another new school a mile away: Rock Creek Valley Elementary.
Star Trek debuts on NBC on Thursday nights - a school night! What were they thinking!! It takes many many weeks of pleading before Mom & Dad will let me stay up late enough to watch. Eventually NBC moved it earlier or to Friday nights - I forget... |
1967 |
I didn't realize it at the time, but fifth grade was the high point of my life. One highlight was when I got straight-A's on my report card. Another was waiting for the bus after school with Lisa. Its been all downhill since then. |
1968 |
Another new school: Brookhaven Elementary.
Finally! This is the school which is only one block away.
However, my brother is bussed to Aspen Hill Elementary School,
a mile in the other direction. Some kind of
Lets- |
1969 |
The family's first trip to Florida!
Dad gets the plum assignment to cover the Apollo 9 launch from
Cape Kennedy, and he took all of us along!
We were five miles away in Cocoa Beach, and I can tell you from
first hand experience, a Saturn V rocket is LOUD! -
even if they only used the second stage...
Florida is great. Someday I'm going to move down there...
The Launch was in February. It was still warm enough for us to go swimming. Another new school: Parkland Jr. High. It's called Parkland Middle School these days. I guess "Junior High" was a too childish sounding name... |
1970 |
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1971 |
In 1971, a record came out called "Who's Next."
I thought it was the greatest recording ever made by any
band at any time for any reason.
I played that record until I could barely hear the music
through all the scratches.
Then, suddenly, ten years later, it dawned on me that the band that recorded "Who's Next" might have also recorded other albums too. At that precise instant, ten years later, I became a Who fan. Everyone always wonders why I'm such a fan. Its probably the same affinity any audience gets with any art. In my case, Pete Townsend's music often sounds the way I feel. |
1972 |
Out of Jr. High, into the real thing, Peary High.
A minor medical problem ends Jeff's life, though he doesn't realize it until years later. |
1973 |
|
1974 |
I couldn't take Driver's Education classes during the school year,
but I get to make up for it in summer school. Yuk!
The good news is, Cindy is in my class!
Yes, some things can make even summer school bearable.
Senior year in high school! Stand back... Between Tech Crew, the new auditorium, Peary Pom-Poms, and a couple of all-night parties that I bailed out on (but shouldn't have), senior year was probably as close as I'll ever get to having fun. Editing music for the Pom-Poms was my first exposure to tape splicing and editing, and the beginning of "JNH Recording Studios." No SoundEdit software back then. It was X-acto knives and sticky tape. I don't recall who's idea it was originally, but the choreographers and I were sitting around one day, and someone said something like, "if only this bit of music were repeated once more." The rest is history. Every routine that year had a custom edited music track. I'd like to think that my music editing gave them a little bit of room to be more creative and that helped them win a few area competitions. In real life, Carrie and Cindy and the entire squad worked hard and did a great job, and would have done a great job with or without me. It was a lot of fun nonetheless. |
1975 |
Prom night. Which is worse: Not having a date? or not going at all?
It was surprising how many people went with cousins and in-laws...
I couldn't believe it when Jeanie's brother-in-law picked her up
on prom night. Jeanie was, and is, pretty nice, and very pretty.
If she didn't have a date, why did I even try?
I was still looking forward to the '72 affliction being temporary.
It wasn't. Indeed it gets worse every day.
Oh... It wasn't obvious? No prom for Jeff. Jeff graduates from high school. Who would've guessed. Somewhere between a 2 and a 3 GPA and 550+650 SAT. Nothing to write home about. |
1976 |
Jeff moves into his own place!
I got my Amateur Radio license over the summer. It took me two tries to pass the code portion, but I prevailed in the end. I joined the Montgomery Amateur Radio Club where I met Mark.
Eighteen year olds have been given the right and responsibility to vote,
and I'm nineteen! Look out!
I was part of that post- |
1977 |
|
1978 |
Some of Joe's terminology rubs off on me -- "suboptimal" --
"And then right before that..." -- "getting ready..."
Joe moved back to Boston, and we only ever got in touch again a couple of times. |
1979 |
|
1980 |
Back during these days, the audio Hi-Fi industry used to
sponsor touring exhibits to show off the newest and greatest equipment.
It's too bad they don't have them anymore, they were great.
I went to one early in the year. It was still winter. It was snowing. There was slush on the sidewalks. On the way out, I stepped in a puddle or something and caught a cold. I thought it was a cold, but I was wrong. Over the next week, my ears got blocked up so bad I couldn't hear. Not quite to deafness, but everything sounded like I was under water. Even headphones. Even headphones turned up really really loud. It lasted a couple of days and then slowly got a little better. In another week or so, all better. It does make a difference -- walking a mile in someone else's shoes... I don't think that I ever deliberately got in the way of someone who was deaf, or blind, or on crutches, or in a wheelchair... I don't think that many people do. But since then, I don't mind very much speaking a little slower, or taking a step to get out of someone else's way... Its a shame that it sometimes takes this kind of experience to make a difference in someone's life. |
1981 |
Jeff becomes a globetrotting Jet Setter!
A two week trip to Johanasburg, South Africa.
During the weekend in between, we toured the countryside and
(at the time) Mozambique border.
We walked across the bridge to the border post on the other
side of the river. We asked them if we could walk around?
They said, "no," and that if we didn't turn around and return
to South Africa, they would shoot us.
We agreed wholeheartedly!
It turns out that about three weeks later, at the next bridge down the river, shooting broke out between the two border posts. We had no idea how close we came... The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful, but I do have a lot of pictures...
One of the press tours was very near the launch pad. When we got off the bus, we were reminded not to wander off because the Marines guarded the base, and had very little patience. A couple of photographers (including me) didn't believe it and walked across the road for a different angle. Seconds later, three or four Marines jumped out of the brush, rifles drawn, aimed at us. We retreated rather quickly.
We watch the launch from right next to the big clock.
|
1982 |
I finally get to see The Who at a live concert. They put on an INCREDIBLE show. I had a pretty good seat and my ears were ringing for days! Afterwards, the critics called it a halfhearted encore of years gone by. I wish I could have seen one of those shows... It's their "farewell" tour, but we know better... |
1983 |
|
1984 |
Live Aid!
Steve and I both have brand new Sanyo Beta-Hifi VCRs. We rounded up
as many friends as we could who had the same decks (about four of us!),
set overlapping timers, and recorded the whole thing.
I still have the deck and the tapes. Fifteen years old (so far)
and it still outperforms any VHS deck I've ever seen.
A few years ago my roommate and I were talking to a couple of pretty girls in our neighborhood. They told us a story about meeting a 27 year old guy with a serious lack of... uhhh... social experience. These girls thought it was hilarious. Of course now that I'm 27, it doesn't seem so funny. |
1985 |
Its 10 year high school reunion time.
The class organizers did a pretty good job.
It was a two day affair, dinner and dancing on Saturday night,
and a picnic on Sunday afternoon.
Unfortunately, when more people who you'd just as soon forget
show up, than people who you'd like to see again, it didn't turn
out as well as it could have.
C'est l'vie - there were probably people there who'd preferred
that I weren't...
Mom finally gives up smoking, but it sort of wasn't her idea. Her father died after a heart attack. She gave up cigarettes that day. It would take a similar experience for Mark to give up smoking, but not for another couple of years. This was when I finally realized how addictive cigarettes must be. |
1986 |
Rose, a co-worker at the time, passes me in the office cafeteria.
I don't recall what I had for lunch that day,
but she made a comment about it which ended with,
"...just like a real person."
Fifteen years later and it still hadn't clicked that my life had ended
back in '72, but Rose knew...
My first trip to the west coast! I am speaking at the S. California HP Users Group in Passedena. Then a trip to Detroit! Speaking at the HP International Users Group conference. Everyone was very nervous about going to Detroit. At the time, they had a bad reputation in the crime category. But not as bad as Washington! We walked from the Convention Center back to our hotel at 2:00 in the morning without incident... |
1987 |
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1988 |
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1989 |
One day while I was sitting at my desk at work, Linda
came walking around the corner and asked me if I would like
to have lunch with her. Up until then, we'd barely spoken
beyond saying "Hi" while passing in the hall.
She never said what prompted her. Alas, she was married.
That was the first and last time anything like that ever happened...
to me anyway...
The Who play RFK stadium two nights in a row and I saw both shows. This is their "Tommy" tour. Again the critics call it a shallow reminder of what the band used to do, but again, it was a GREAT show. Another trip to the left coast. This time to San Francisco. |
1990 |
Linda & David and Rick & April and I scam some almost free
tickets to see the Fabulous Thunderbirds and the Doobie Bothers
at Merriweather.
At least I'm not the only one who likes mid 70s rock music...
Another HP Users' Group Conference. This time in Boston. The strange part was, I had submitted a tutorial style series of sessions, which they liked. Another better known person had submitted a similar idea. They like him better, but liked my outline/curriculum better. So they asked me if they could have the other guy do my presentation? That was pretty weird. The good news was I could visit with Rick and April at their new house in Massechusetts. Kim and Sandy finally get together at the Christmas party. They'll be married in another year or so. Jeff is 2 for 2. |
1991 |
Wedding bells for my sister.
She and Michael get married and promptly move to Miami.
Earlier that year I was trying to get a job in Fort Lauderdale,
and came THIS CLOSE, but it didn't work out.
Back at the office, it was like a bomb went off, and everybody scattered. Marianna and then Becky went to MCI. Linda and Teri both applied for the same job at the same company, but neither one knew it! Both of them ended up there. Rick moved to Boston. I was shopping around too. I went to an interview at the Supreme Court. The thing that impressed me most was their business cards! I would have taken a job there just for the cards. The funny thing was I also interviewed across the street at the U.S. Senate. They had the same business cards! I took the job at the Senate, and then about three weeks later, the guys at the Supreme court called me back, but it was too late. Some of us managed to keep in touch for a little while... |
1992 |
Dad died from cancer in the spring.
This was cancer's rematch.
An earlier encounter a few years earlier wasn't fatal.
When my Mom's parents died, I thought I knew what it was to miss someone.
I was wrong.
Becky and Jamie get married in Phoenix in the fall. I'm 3 for 3. |
1993 |
A year late, but I finally get to see the no longer brand new Camden Yards.
Its pretty nice.
It was even nicer that Sandy went with me.
There are not many women who actually like going to a ball game... with me...
Oh... the O's lost to Cleveland. Sandy and I will catch another game together next summer, but the O's will lose to the Yankees. |
1994 |
This time I thought I'd just ask N. out of the blue to have lunch with me.
She said, "yes."
I don't remember actually fainting, but I think I came close.
I had been talking to her for a while on occasional office business,
and she seemed really nice, and it turned out she was.
N. and I went to a Moody Blues show at Merriweather. It turns out to be one of only three things in which we share an interest. Science fiction is another, and now I can't even remember the third... Sometime during the evening is when she tells me that she's married. (Well, maybe not technically.) Did I mention that my life had ended twenty some odd years earlier? I think that by this time it had finally sunk in. This is it... The grand tour... First a couple of days in Atlanta. Some or another hurricane comes through as I cross the Georgia state line. Zero visibility. Fortunately, I didn't run into anything and nobody ran into me. After few days of ONE BBSCON and hanging around with Mark, off to see my sister and new nephew, Sam. Much better weather in Miami - surprise, surprise. |
1995 |
Mom buys a condo in Florida and starts her migratory life style -
living six months in Florida and six months in Maryland.
Boston (the rock band) tours for the first time in many moons. I went to see them at Merriweather. A pretty good show. Much better than one I'd seen a few years earlier. In that show, it was a lot like listening to their record really really loudly. They even played the songs in the same order as the album. Much better this time... Then, right before that, Doug goes to see the same show the night before. I had big plans for my high school class' 20 year reunion. I asked N. if she would go with me and she said yes! I don't remember fainting, but spent daydream after daydream imagining myself walking into the room with a beautiful woman on my arm. I think N. figured out my plan and the whole thing unraveled. Oh well... Nice try... |
1996 |
My first (and probably last) political convention. I was invited to volunteer at the Democratic Party's National Convention in Chicago. I was part of the crew which put the convention schedules, speeches and pictures on the net. Since the Party covered our hotel room, Chris and I were happy to let Kim and Becky crash with us. It was quite an experience, but you can only stomach people patting themselves on the back for so long... Would I do it again? I could probably be talked into it, but it won't be my idea... |
1997 |
The Who tour again!
This time its their "Quadrophenia" tour.
They play the whole Quad show, but only a few other numbers.
This time I agree with the critics - it was only a shadow of
previous shows I'd seen. Maybe they were right all along...
Even so, a mediocre Who concert
is still better than anyone else's best efforts...
The Who could come to town on a wheelchair tour, and
I'll buy a ticket...
Mom finally sells her house in Rockville and moves to Florida permanently. |
1998 |
There must be something in the water...
|
1999 |
My brother and sister-in-law have a new baby, Sophie.
Born on the forth of July - almost. She was born on the third.
#4 (Neysa and Tim) and #5 (Paul and Marlo) weddings
are both at the end of the summer.
Things must be slacking |
2000 |
Congratulations to whoever invented DSL!
It's taken quite a bit of effort to get it installed, but it works great.
The big problem was (drum roll please) the local telephone monopoly.
They have no great desire to deploy DSL, however, the Communications
Act of 1996 requires that they allow access to their copper.
Northpoint and Covad are leasing copper at cost and making a profit on
services the phone company could exploit if they could get away with it.
So instead, they delay and sabotage Covad line installations while
deploying their own lesser DSL service.
Eventually it was installed and is working just fine. They're back! The Who are touring again after a few benefit shows around new year. They play the Nissan Pavilion again, and its another GREAT SHOW! No horns. No singers. Just Pete's guitar. About three songs into the act, the fans out on the lawn rushed the pavilion and filled up all of the unsold expensive seats. It's that time of political season again. I said I wasn't going to do another convention again, and I thought I meant it. A colleague who was looking forward to going checked the concert schedule in the host city - L.A. The Who were playing the Hollywood Bowl on Monday night! Well, I'm off to L.A. Monday night at the convention was Bill Clinton's night. A lot of "Bill is great" speeches and then his speech. The question was, stay for Bill's speech? or skip out to see the Who? Silly question. IT WAS ANOTHER GREAT SHOW! Maybe I shouldn't be so quick to not want to go to the next convention. I met a new friend or two, had a good excuse for missing my high school class 25 year reunion, and caught up with old friends who I might only ever see at the next convention. So we'll see... |
2001 |
New Year's Day!
In case you somehow forgot, the government reminds you by sending your income tax forms right after new year's day.
My tax forms did not have any good news at all.
The stock market had crashed last year, and now I had to look at
my mutual funds and actually face the music.
It was not a good day.
Fortunately, it was not all bad news. Around memorial day it seemed like a good time for some cross-country travel and visiting some friends and family. First stop - Los Angeles. Actually, L.A. is just a layover for extra credit frequent flier miles. First stop - Las Vegas! I met Mark and his friend at the airport. We went to see Hoover Dam and Lake Meade. We visited with a friend from last year's convention. We saw some shows, including the Fab Four. Not bad. We did some gambling. I won about $500 playing video Keno, of all things. Next stop - LA again for a few extra frequent flier miles, and then off to Miami. It turns out that my mother and sister live a lot farther from Miami than I had thought. Oh well. It was an easy drive. A few days with Mom and my sister and her family and then back to DC. Not much was going on that particular morning. I was running some errands and not at my desk when the news finally hit. Everyone will probably remember where they were when they heard about the bombing on September 11th. I was in the basement hallway at work. As we evacuated the building, everyone could see the smoke from the Pentagon. We were all told to go home, and on the way home I finally heard the whole story. It was not a good day. Then, just to make sure we were really miserable, someone sent my boss a letter filled with anthrax. The letter was opened in the mail room across the hall. I was not exposed, but 30 of my friends were. Everyone was given Cipro. I wasn't exposed so I declined. Everyone thought I was crazy, and they were probably right, but I'm still here. No one in our office died, but five other people did. As ol' Blue Eyes might have said, 2001 was not a very good year. |
2002 |
Off to Hawaii!
Last year's anthrax adventure had closed our office building,
so I was spending a lot more time at home.
My friend in Atlanta called me up.
He said that the airlines are having a sale to Hawaii and did I want to go?
Sure!
Since then, one of my friends from the office has moved to Hawaii and another friend is threatening to do the same. Soon I will have two friends to visit out there. Summertime in Vegas! I was going to check it out because guess who is playing there? That's right! The Who! All the plans are made, hotel rooms reserved, friends warned, but it was not to be. John Entwhistle died two days before the concert. I was going to go anyway. After all, everything was already payed for. I was sitting in the airport terminal when the American Airlines announcer asked if anyone was willing to give up their seat to Chicago? That did it. Now even the airline didn't want me to go. They gave me a $500 Get-Out-Of-DC-Free card and sent me home. So now I have a ticket to Las Vegas and a free ticket to anywhere that I have to use before next summer. Small consolation, but a silver lining at least. I caught the Who tour in Hershey Park. A good show, but John was missed. Over the course of the year, I met some new online friends. It turns out that an online friend of an online friend was in the, uhhh, adult entertainment industry. We met in an online discussion about web programming, surprise surprise. When I offered to help out on a CGI script -- SURPRISE SURPRISE! Could Jeff's ship finally have come in? Could this be the fulfilment of every teenage boy's dreams? No. At least I met a lot of beautiful women. Many of them lived overseas, in Europe or in the far east. I was surprised that so many of them spoke english so well. Some things, however, never change... They were all spoken for. Husbands. Fiance's. Boyfriends. And if they weren't attached, they had no lack of suitors, they just weren't interested. Still, any beautiful woman who takes the time to chat with me... Online friends are better than no friends at all. |
2003 |
Back to Hawaii! When the airlines insist on flying you
back and forth to Hawaii for about $300, who am I to say no?
This time, I went to the big island.
I had lunch with a friend from the office, saw Mark's farm,
and Jessica came over for the weekend and we went to see the volcano.
At least this time, I took some pictures.
Last year, American Airlines convinced me not to go to Las Vegas by offering me $500 to give up my seat. Well, the original tickets and the $500 voucher are only good for one year... so... Back to Las Vegas! I visited with my friend from the L.A. convention and hung out at the Tropicana. Alas, Las Vegas got some of their money back that I'd won on a previous trip. Oh well. The Madalay Bay ticket office wasn't working very well, so I couldn't get tickets to see Pat Benatar, but it was an outdoor concert, so I could hear a little from the other side of the building. It sounded like a good show... At least the rental car company ran out of cars so I got the PT Cruiser upgrade for free. I liked it so much, I bought one by the end of the year. From Vegas to West Palm Beach to visit my mom and my sister. On the way back, I turned in the wrong block at the rental car return and I was ONE MINUTE LATE by the time I got to the gate. Hurricane Isabel came through town in August. Pretty much what you'ld expect... trees down... power outages... I never expected to become a crime statistic though. I was walking to my apartment building on my way home from work when I heard someone behind me and then WHAM! It was obvious what had happened, but I wasn't knocked out, and wasn't even knocked to the ground. It felt like a really really big rolled up newspaper. Anyway, two teenaged kids start saying, "Gimme yo wallet." I'm lucky they were so inept because after a couple of minutes a car came down the street with its headlights on and the kids ran away. A few years ago, Becky was mugged outside her apartment on her way home from work. She was not so lucky. Her mugger had a shotgun. Years later, I finally have at least some idea of what she experienced. |
2004 |
Well, I got a few more frequent flyer miles,
but for all the wrong reasons.
I was down to Florida every couple of weeks visiting my mother.
She had not been well for a year or so.
She died in her sleep a few days after my last visit.
I said I'd never do it again, and I thought I meant it, but here I am at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. It was a lot like previous conventions, except for the whole post-911 war zone that the Secret Service thought was necessary. This year, the surprise phenomenon that we had to deal with was the internet blogging crowd. They were not on the convention organizer's RADAR screen, so we helped set them up, get them around to some of the events, and line up some interviews. I had wanted to visit some friends while in Boston, but it didn't work out. I couldn't get in touch with some, and one took his family on vacation to North Carolina. He was probably the smart one. Went back down to Florida again. I managed to sneak in between some of the four hurricanes this year. Fortunately, only three of them hit my sister's house. Except for some roof tiles and some screens, they fared pretty well. |
2005 |
Last year, my new boss Harry Reid decided that my services were no
longer needed and I was dismissed.
Unemployment is an interesting feeling.
Fortunately, I got a decent severance package,
and had some money in the bank.
I think I got a little too used to it though.
So what to do with all this time on my hands?
Road trip!
I was trying to start some freelance work with my friend. He said we should go to the NAB show in Las Vegas! Another friend said that he was going to the Interop show in Vegas! Alas, these shows were a week apart. What to do for an extra week in Vegas? Well, since I was already half way there... Hawaii! I made reservations way in advance and got some cheap seats to Vegas, and then some average fares to Hawaii. I stayed at the Stratosphere because it wasn't one of the NAB hotels, so I got a good rate by reserving so far in advance. An ordinary hotel and casino, but what a view! National Assosiation of Broadcasters put on a big show. But not four days big. Unless I'm exhibiting, I'll never go back for a whole week. Then off to Hawaii. I stayed with Mark on his coffee farm. We did a little sightseeing. We cleared a few trees. Mostly, we just hung around for a week or so. Then back to Vegas for Interop. My friend was unable to attend after all. Interop is definitely the place to go for a network conference. Everyone is there. Interop sets up a huge network that everyone plugs in to. If you want to see if brand-x can connect to brand-y, try it yourself. Interop was at Mandalay Bay so I hung out at the south end of the strip. There was a good band playing at the MGM, but Vegas can get boring after a while. Unless you have a lot of money to spend. And I didn't. Oh... my other friend in Las Vegas? She moved to Taiwan with her family, and then moved back to Los Angeles. And my other friend in Hawaii? She got a job at the Wall Street Journal office in Hong Kong. Oh well... Art and I went down to Florida to visit our sister. It turned out that a guy I met at NAB was in Miami the same week. I met him in Miami Beach to demo some stuff to one of his customers. They were interested, but already using something else, so it didn't work out. If nothing else, 2005 is going to be a very tax-happy year. I can write off (portions of) both trips as business expenses. |
2006 |
It wasn't a particularly cold day, but having nothing better to do,
I decided to drive down to Florida.
No real plans... no real schedule...
I stayed a couple days with my sister, then moved up to stay
in my mom's condo.
When hanging out with nothing much to do,
might as well not do it in Florida.
Of course, all good things come to an end. As soon as I got there, I got a rather urgent call about a freelance project. They had a sudden immediate need for a project to be finished right away. It was worth a lot of money, so back to Maryland. It turns out that my apartment was sold last year. As is the usual case when these things happen, we all thought we would get kicked out and it would go condo. Or something like that. But nothing happened and we all went on with our lives. Until this year. Suddenly, the new owners were "renovating." Renovating, is the code for kick everyone out and raise the rent. So, I was getting kicked out of my apartment, and I had no job, and my sister half-thought that I was moving down to Florida earlier, so, why not? I rented a U-Haul trailer, loaded it up with my junk, and headed south. The best part, however, was that as soon as I got to Florida, The Who's world tour came to Ft. Lauderdale. Another incredible show. |
2007 |
So, winter in Florida.
I'm pretty sure that winter in Florida is that time of year
when the temperature no longer gets into the 80s.
It happens in January.
If you're not paying attention, it is easy to miss.
By the end of February,
the mercury is getting back up there, and everything returns to normal.
I've moved a couple of times, but had never left the state of Maryland. Moving to Florida required the obvious changes... New Banks... New license plates... New driver's license... I was pretty surprised at how easy it was to get a voter registration card in Florida. I just walked into the Elections Commissioner's office, told them I just moved to Florida, and they gave me a voter registration card. Two of them, in fact. They both had the same information on them, so I couldn't use them to pull something fancy. Not so at the MVA, or whatever its called down here. The Election Commissioner didn't really care who I was, but the license bureau did. Apparently they had directives to weed out terrorists. In Florida, terrorists can vote, but they're not going to drive! It took a few phone calls and letters and copies of documents from Maryland and DC, but eventually they believed I was not a terrorist, and I got my license and new plates. The best part? I got my Amateur Radio plates back. Now I should probably tell the FCC that I moved again, or my friend will start badgering me about it. Again. |
2008 |
(This section was not intentionally left blank.
I just lead an exceptionally boring life.) |
2009 |
My friend Joe and I managed to reconnect.
He moved back to Boston around 1980.
We hooked up once or twice over the years, but that was all.
I don't recall if it was Facebook or LinkedIn or one of the others, but I think it was on one of those social network sites. Joe was coming down to Hollywood for some vertical industry trade show. In August! Who schedules a trade show in Florida in August? I'm guessing they get a good deal on the hotel and facilities. We spent an afternoon reminissing. Turned out he hasn't changed too much over the years. Good. |
2010 |
Caught a cold early this year.
In Florida!
How can that happen?
Well, it was a chilly winter.
I thought it was a cold, but it wouldn't go away.
So maybe it was a flu.
Still it wouldn't go away.
I couldn't eat.
I couldn't sleep.
Finally, weeks later, I started feeling better.
Turned out I lost 20+ pounds. Not only that, but the all-you-can-eat pizza places didn't seem so appetizing any more. And I still couldn't get much sleep.
so... I can't sleep, I guess I turned into an old man. And so begins the year of not becoming a hypochondriac. Joe returned to Florida... in August! It must be some annual thing. This time we started working on a telephony project. It didn't go far, but it was fun and hopefully will lead to future projects. |
2011 |
A friend of mine has been hounding me to get out more and meet some new people.
Friends tell me this all the time and if enough years have gone by,
sometimes I forget and I go along.
So I did and I met Karla.
We chatted occasionally and she didn't seem to get as bored with me as quickly
as most women do, so I asked her out on a real date.
The day arrived and I called to say I was on the way, but she didn't answer.
While I was getting ready and looking for my shoes, I got a voice mail from
my cell phone.
It was Karla.
She said she had returned to her ex-boyfriend.
I'm not sure if Karla is #6 because I may never know if she marries her boyfriend or if it was just a story to prevent me from ever calling her again. I'm 54 now... old... bald... fat... ugly... poor... stupid... boring... Perhaps, now, finally, I will not forget how women see me and spare everyone any future itterations of this story. I imagine a collective sigh of relief from across the land as I say, I think I'm done. |
2012 |
|
2013 |
I'm actually writing the first part of this entry back in 2011.
There is a lot of talk about the Myan calendar ending on 21 Dec 2012,
and it being the end of the world.
By writing this years in advance, I can be the first to say Happy New Year 2013!
|
... |
Over the past few years, a lot of people have gotten excited about the Myan calendar ending in 2012. Much speculation has been made as to exactly how the world was going to end. I never bought into it. However, if the world actualy ended last year, then I was wrong. |
Jeff and Mark witness the space shuttle Columbia's maiden voyage!
We managed to convince NASA that we were news correspondents
from a DC area TV station.