Subject: Weekend Update: September 19-23
Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2000 16:08:44 -0400

The kidney operation was a big success.  That's the headline, but it
was not without a few wrinkles to endure.  Apparently, when they
opened up the Pastor, the organs were not color-coded like in the
"Kidney Operation for Dummies" manual.  Seriously, though, there were
some painful but not life-trheatening complications.  At one point,
our Pastor's anesthesia wore off and he was fully sensitive.  They
also had to keep the Pastor "open" because they had to do some
unexpected things in Juan Rivera before the organ could come out of
John and into Juan.  I am sure we'll hear more of the surgery in the
coming weeks - perhaps he'll show the congregation his scars!  Both
John and Juan are home now - kidney in both are working fine.  Now it
is a matter of healing up, taking those percoset pain pills and
fluffing those pillows.  Great heaving sighs of relief and happiness
echo throughout the halls of the church.  For those of you outside the
area, you can send an email note to John White at
WJohnWhite@yahoo.com.  I don't know when he'll be up and about to get
them, but you can stuff his mailbox if you like.  :-)

The week for the rest of us seems rather insignificant but
insignificance isn't about to stop me from including it in this open
journal.  I fired someone last week.  I won't comment further about
the details except that it was one of my most difficult tasks in my
first year as a manager.  After the adrenalin stopped flowing, my
resistance was pulled under and I caught a cold and touch of
bronchitis, but I got my pills early on recognizing symptoms that I
have had before.  It made for a lousy week.

When the weekend arrived, we took our younguns to the church so that
they could spend a really cold night in a tent at the district
campground before ascending and descending Mount Manadanock on
Saturday morning.  There are some nice things about having both Emily
and Andrew in the teen group now: Joy and I went out for a nice dinner
after dropping them off and later that night had the whole house to
ourselves.  Too bad my cold still had a hold of me.

By Saturday, I was feeling a little better and lots of work needed to
get done.  Winterizing the homestead continued apace with the stowing
of pool furniture, closing the pool, decorating with cornstalks, and
picking the grapes and other fruit.  Joy is making grape jam today.  I
asked her to wash and buff her feet before stomping the grapes.

When Mandy went to college her first time, we thought it best for her
not to come home until at least October, to get her settled and
integrated.  It was a difficult month for me as I recall and told both
Mandy and Jessie that I didn't know if we needed to go a whole month
before they could come home.  Well, October is nearly here and we've
had to subsist on phone calls alone because the girls have been too
busy. Such is the way of things. Perhaps they'll catch a ride home on
a Sunday afternoon soon.

Mark
--
+---_-----------+ Mark Metcalfe, metcalfe@cadence.com
| c a d e n c e | Cadence Design Systems, Inc.    Phone: (978) 446-6451
+---------------+ PCB Systems Division, Technical Communications Manager