Jeff and Karen‘s 2008 Christmas Chronicle
Hello and good-bye to 2008
So often the earlier parts of the year seem uneventful in retrospect, but I‘ve taken notes since some rather unique things have happened. And since I don‘t have to worry about the length of the letter, I can share every boring detail. So get a cup of your favorite caffeine, sit back and read on.
January
In January, Karen and I had a very special MLK holiday this year. Tom McAlexander, our brother-in-law from Hawaii, was part of a choir singing at Carnegie Hall. Many jokes ran through my mind (“How do I get to Carnegie hall?” “Practice, practice, practice.”) and, even though I was not in a position to perform onstage, it was a thrill to stand on the stage. I was excited because we were there a few days after the 70th anniversary of Benny Goodman‘s historical performance on the Carnegie stage. It was said to be debut of swing to the cultural halls of America. (Hey, it was something I could relate to immediately.)
We sat in on the rehearsals and this was fascinating to watch. I never understood the purpose of the conductor for a choir. (“Job requirement: Must be able to wave small stick and point to people in the choir.”) I figured he just set the timing. For this performance, I didn‘t know the score of the concert or what the music was intended to sound like, but I listened to the conductor “color” the sound through changes in enunciation, the volume of the altos over the other vocal ranges or “punctuating” a phrase. (There, I‘ve presented all of my musical knowledge in once sentence.)
The concert was good. I might say great, but it was a mix of Japanese, Latin and English. Some sections were very beautiful, other parts were... musical sounds. Imagine Philip Glass writing choral arrangements. There was a video in the background of one section when another choir was singing. It was a bit over the top and the choral choreography was... unusual.
February
February featured another musical treat. I had seen a performance of a small musical group, Pink Martini, on David Letterman one night. They performed their own song “Hey Eugene,” about a woman who is trying to get in touch with someone she ran into at a party. When I checked out their other music, they did some American standards, as well as European standards. When I saw they were performing at the Kimmel Center, the new performance hall in Philadelphia, Karen and I went with Keith and Dottie as a small Valentine’s Day celebration. In addition to the music, we greatly appreciated that the ensemble was dressed up for the performance. The men wore tuxedoes or suits and the lead singer, China Forbes, wore a long evening dress. It’s a sad statement on performers when we are shocked by elegance.
March
March was the month of my mid-life crisis. You may recall that Karen got a new car last year, another Mazda Miata. I was still driving my 1998 Chrysler Cirrus, which was starting to clank and look a bit tattered. While running an errand one day, I passed a Pontiac dealer with a bright yellow, convertible Solstice. The front has a grill that resembles a classic Bugatti sports car. It has nacelles, ridges on the trunk that flow from the shape of the headrest of the seat that reminded me of the Bat Mobile from many years ago. And it was YELLOW. (Pontiac calls the color “Mean.”) As I’ve aged, I’m not so insecure about being seen. Most people probably look at me and yawn, but you can’t miss this beautiful car.
After a few weeks of research and stress, I bought one on April 2nd. It has On-Star, a built in phone, a locator should it get stolen and an abundance of car information, like tire pressure, oil life, mileage and instant MPG. It has XM Radio receiver, but I didn’t sustain the subscription. It has a latch in the trunk that you can use from the inside to open the trunk. This would be possible if you have a 6-inch waist and are no more than 4-inches thick anywhere on your body. I drove it to work every non-rainy day, the wind blowing what is left of my hair, covering the passenger area with the tonneau cover when I arrived at work. The top was down for two months.
May
In May, we took a trip to Bonaire with the Fin Addicts for our SCUBA certification. The diving on the island is amazing. The island caters to divers and all of the 100+ diving spots around the island are marked. We did a “giant stride” off the rocks at Oil Slick Beach, crawled over the rocks, stepped off the back of a boat and down the steps at the pier.
I found diving easy (after my 10-weeks of training) and found myself being fascinated by the fish, coral and other critters under water. I had to be reminded to check my air and to keep my diving buddy in sight, but it was so amazing seeing all of the stuff. The fish weren’t really afraid of you (they could easily escape from you). The eels would warn you with a gaping jaw. Some of the little fish would try to chase you as they protected their eggs. I realized I was a guest in their world.
We dove at the Hilma Hooker, a boat seized by the DEA and sunk for the benefit of divers. It was pretty much a metal can under water. However, since we were nearly “weightless,” it was a peculiar perspective seeing doors upside down, while the light was telling your brain neither you or the door were upside down.
We also had a night dive at the resort. Night dives are eerie. Everyone wore small flashlights, attached to the regulators, to see each other. It’s like a mob of lightening bugs that never blink. Dave was my diving buddy for the night, but one lightening bug looks like another. Karen was partnered with Keith. She had problems with the seal on her mask and ended up being towed to the dock. I didn’t take my camera on this trip, but I did see a long green eel scurrying away from us.
Both Karen and I got our certification and I got a few good pictures along the way.
June
Towards the end of June, the bank notified me and my fellow deployment managers that we were being replace by in-house staff in the next three months. To be clear, I work for a company that supplies staff to international banks. My team mates are in New Castle, England and Hangzhou, China. I was the only US based manager.
Things were chaotic in the bank and I was extended to the end-of-November. After that, I have been “put on the bench.” I have an interim assignment integrating the best practices of the Project Management Institute with templates that we will use for new clients. (Our management is optimistic that we will find business in the economic down times.) I can continue to make mortgage payments for now.
I enjoy the people I work with, in the US and out. The official language of communication is English, but there are some wicked variations among those who have grown up with it (southern UK, northern UK, US, Caribbean and India). Those who have learned it later in life suffer the same stumbles of language that we do in English with typos and brains moving faster than the fingers can hit the keyboard. Then you have those situations where everyone around you in the office is talking about a subject and you presume the person five time zones away is following the conversation when you type them a message. I’ve learned a little bit of Portuguese that I exchange with the developers in Brazil and my few Russian phrases evoked a chuckle from Alex in the Moscow office. I also am amazed at how “cluttered” the English language is with odd phrases and how well those in other lands pick them up. My favorite was an exhortation from China to “hold the horse!” I myself have made the guys in Brazil chuckle when I responded to their “obrigado” (“thank you”) with “Bem Vindo” (“You’re welcome,” the web site told me). It is actually an invitation “You’re welcome to my house.” The proper response is “de nada.”
We’ve shared blogs and photos and discussed some things in the news. Two of my co-workers in China had family in the area hit by the earthquake in southern China and several people from overseas congratulated me on the election of our new president. “Johnny” in China was happy to say he “supported Obama too!”
September
In the beginning of September, Karen and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary. We took a two-week trip to Paris and areas surrounding Normandy. We’d been planning it for two years, taking a conversational French class, watching Travel Channel shows about France and browsing the travel guides. Between SCUBA, the layoff and other stresses, I didn’t plan very much. Karen did a better job than I did and we left for Paris with a roster of sights.
One thing that I did, which was a great idea, was to buy a GPS adapter for my cell phone. This removed a lot of stress wrestling with maps, asking locals for directions and trying to determine street names in heavy traffic. For the day-by-day recount of the trip, see the blog Karen wrote and we posted (almost) every day from our trip here.
We only had one mediocre meal during our trip. The food was fantastic. Even McDonald’s was good. (They had free wi-fi access, so we stopped to log in, post to our blog and search for a place to stay in our targeted destination.)
October
The last professional sport that I sustained interest in was baseball, which was ruined by the strike several years ago. However, I have enjoyed watching an occasional game. Well, the St. Louis Cardinals did not make it, but the Philadelphia Phillies did not choke at the last minute, kept it together and won the World Series. It was fun, with friends and co-workers who were really into the team, watching the games, talking about the games and talking to those who got a chance to go to the games.
I was also interested in one player for the Phillies, Jayson Werth. They said he was born in Springfield, IL, in May of 1979, when I was graduating from high school. That’s about all the connection I can claim. It was a nice feeling to share that small bit.
November
The happiness from the vacation lingered for a few weeks but was eventually crushed by misery of the election. While I am extremely happy with the results of the election, it saddened me with the ignorance and hatred displayed by some people of this country at some of the rallies and new shows from both sides of the fence. I liked the John McCain of 2000, but this latest version bothered me. The thinking John McCain was gone. His VP choice, Caribou Barbie, Bible Spice, Jane Six-Pack, Northern Lite, The Drilla‘ from Wasilla, The Niemann Marxist or Governor Mooseburger Sarah Palin, was very scary. I’ve known people like that who were so certain in their religious, social and scientific knowledge that they refused to acknowledge any other views. I thought the throwing of nasty barbs is rather tasteless, but if the twaddle of gasbags Limbaugh or O’Reilly (O’Really?) can spew hatred and stand behind their redacted version of the Constitution to do so, well, if you live by the sword, you shall die by the sword.
I was also tired of these interviews with “undecided voters,” who have crawled out from under a rock and, after what was easily a two-year campaign, said they still did not have enough information to decide. I can’t imagine standing in line behind these people at the vending machine or at a fast-food restaurant.
December
As we finish out the year, I’ve thrown myself into working for the kitties with Cat Tales. We have 18 days of gift wrap at Barnes & Noble, 7 days of pet pictures with Santa at two stores and a holiday raffle. It’s good Karen and I have agreed not to exchange presents this year, I won’t have time to shop. (However, I have been able to find stuff on the web.)
I adopted my own present, Lucky. He’s a young orange tabby and has seven toes on the front paws and six on the back. He’s a happy little cat that starts purring when you pet him and you can’t help but smile when you see him walking towards you with these huge paws. That brings the kitty count back up to seven. (Meiko left us to be with another family last year. She is the only cat in the household and has all of the attention lavished on her. She is very happy.)
We wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah and a Happy New Year!