Hi Friends, December 16, 1992
Marsha has convinced me that I should mail Christmas cards before Christmas this year and that I should limit my letter to a single page. Since Christmas is already near, I will curb my loquacity.
I hope you all have had a pleasant 1992 and I wish you the very best for 1993 and 1994 and 1995 and on and on. I sincerely hope you are enjoying the gifts of good health and good spirits.
My family is mostly in good health and spirits. Mom is enjoying retirement. Carol and Bob, her husband, are the exception. Their pickup was struck from behind this summer. Bob is suffering from a bone chip in his hip. They had to cancel a trip to Florida for an operation. Eric, Carol's son, bagged two deer this season. He shot one with a bow, the other during shotgun season. Carol brags about her full freezer. Dale and Carolyn came south twice this summer. Carolyn is losing weight. Dale, Marsha and I are gaining it. A good family is a priceless treasure.
I've had mixed results from my first full year of employment. Primarily I'm happy to earn money. This job has been satisfactory in that regard. I'm also happy to have saved a significant portion of my income. For three quarters of the year I liked working on an Altos UNIX system for Z-Label. However it has soured in the last couple of months. The owner and the general manager do no planning, have an atrocious personnel policy and believe in management by crisis. They treat me well at the moment, so I'm not disgusted enough to quit. I enjoy earning money, so I'm going to start looking for another job in 1993.
Marsha and I are quite compatible. I enjoy her company, her intelligence and her sense of humor. She also enjoys the West, hiking and camping. We both struggle to maintain out fitness and positive outlook despite the frustrations of working for incompetent management.
We have been running several days a week and have just joined a racketball club for the duration of the frozen months. She beats me.
It amazes me that I have absolutely no "free" time. I get up in the morning, shave, dress, eat, go to work, ride the bus home, run, walk the dog, stretch, eat, bathe and return to bed. That fills up five days a week. On the weekends we run errands, shop and putter period. How do people survive that schedule for twenty or thirty years ??? Amazing !!!
Vacations !! After a six month probationary period, I began to accrue one day per month of paid leave (i.e. vacation OR sick leave). You know how I love to travel. Guess how I cope. When they hired me I told them that I was committed to two camping trips. They allowed me to take leave without pay. Marsha and I took her son and his girlfriend to the bottom of the Grand Canyon during a snowstorm over Spring Break. They loved it. In late May we joined my friends John and Linda for a week of Sierra Club trail maintenance in the New Mexico Gila wilderness. When the airlines reduced fares to half price I flew and drove to Rural Retreat, Virginia to vist with Cousin Jessie. She's 93 and still going strong. We had a fine visit. She's a Mechem cousin and reminds me of my beloved Aunt Mamie and of the stories of her Aunt Mary Mechem White. Recently "Z" sent me to COMDEX in Las Vegas. I took off for Zion immediately after COMDEX closed. You've all heard other stories of my camping trips and adventures, so I'll spare you this time. I am writing in great detail for Cousin Jessie. Write if you'd like a copy.
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