I pen this Bulletin from dad’s desk overlooking Central Park on a sunny, brisk, Christmas Eve.
We celebrated Christmas a week early this year, after much juggling of schedules around work, Nick and Julie’s team sports practices, and commitments to other extended families—that was the weekend we could all be together.
One highlight of the weekend was a game of baseball trivia, where in order to make up for dad’s vast knowledge of the sport, the rest of us were allowed to offer “Seinfeld Clues” to help each other deduce a possible answer. As dad is one of the few New Yorkers to have barely seen two Seinfeld episodes, this evened the playing field somewhat, but dad and Matty still emerged the victors—with dad naming some obscure players from the 30’s and 40’s to close out the match. The game was tough enough it even had a category that involved knowledge of “famous baseball umpires”, which seems an unlikely combination of words.
Bill and Nick placed second, based on their combined knowledge of baseball and Seinfeld, while Julie and I came in a few squares behind in last place. Julie now knows to pick me as a teamate for NFL trivia rather than MLB.
Vince has picked up more work in the Philippines. He is still doing contract work for a San Francisco research group, and he is also setting up an outsourcing company at the request of another former New York employer. The goal remains finding a company to sponsor his return to the U-S of A. That may happen with the San Francisco company, but they are going through a reorganization at the present and aren’t ready to make those kinds of moves right now.
As for our condo, our wonderful tenants asked if they could keep renting our place until September. The timing sounded about right, so we gave them the green light. Meantime, I have been sticking with my plan to spend at least a week of every month, someplace other than dad’s apartment.
Earlier this fall, my longtime Tulane Pal Bob alerted me to a 300 dollar round trip fare JFK to Barbados—where he is currently working as a media consultant. So I grabbed the fare, loaded my work gear, and spent the week working out of his office and finally getting to see his island. Bob had come to visit us on St Martin back when we were in college, and I had been planning to visit him one year when he was back in Barbados…and some 30 odd years later we finally got it done.
The headline photo for this Bulletin is Bob (aka the Dabs) and I at the Kensington Cricket Oval in Bridgetown, where I viewed my first ever Cricket match this fall..
One of Bob’s better heeled clients is Sandy Lane, the resort you may recall as the place Tiger Woods rented (as in every room) for his ill-fated wedding. I tagged along for one of Bob’s grueling assignments—the morning Sandy Hill took delivery of two new Rolls Royce Phantoms.
It was the morning I was set to depart back home to JFK…and in the old days, Bob probably could have swung a ride for me to the airport, but those days are long gone.
Heck, it turns out Sandy Lane charges its own guests three hundred bucks for the airport run in the Rolls. And you know what, the mega-wealthy folks they cater to, seem happy enough to pay it.
There is much to be grateful for as we near the end of 2010. My family and friends are in good health, work has been steady, and Vince and I have found ways to say hello to each other every day even when we are miles apart.
This Skype thing is really simple and amazing for those of you who have not tried it. I am conservative about making technology changes, and kept my old landline the first two months I had Skype—but the sound quality is excellent, so good in fact, that I know do all of my work on Skype—and that means I have to drag around about half as much equipment when I take my work on the road.
For 2011 I already have one trip planned to visit David and Ruth Pardoe at their lovely home on Joy Hill in Huntington Massachusetts. Dave just turned 93, so there is plenty of cause to celebrate. He was my political science teacher and Ruth was the librarian at Syosset High—my school. They are wonderful friends and I will be up there in a couple weeks. And then, sometime this spring, I hope to get down to New Orleans. The HBO series Treme made my heart ache for my favorite city and real home, so I want to take at least a month and spend it there this spring.
Merry Christmas 2010 and All the Best in 2011!
