Subject: Weekend Update: December 14-18
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2000 10:03:21 -0500

Last Thursday, Rich Gonzalez had an extra ticket to the Nutcracker
in Boston, so he graciously extended an invitation to the gem in
my family, Emily Pearl.  Joy brought Emily to Chelmsford and the
three of us met Rich where he works to deliver the goods (Emily)
for her serindipidous opportunity.  Rich then picked up the rest
of his girls and headed to Boston. As Emily told it, they went to
the Wang Center to pick up their tickets and were informed that
the show they were to see was some ways down the street in the
Theater district and not at the Wang Center.  Nonetheless, she
thoroughly enjoyed the night out with Rich and his entourage of
young people.  Joy and I had seen the Nutcracker 23 years earlier
on  that same date (a birthday gift from my mother) and Arthur
Fiedler conducted.  We were in the seventh row, center.

After dropping Emily off, Joy and I continued on to Quincy where
our college girls, Miranda Joy and Jessica Rose were finishing up
their Fall semester and readying to come home for a few weeks for
Christmas.  Joy and I ate at the 99 for my birthday dinner before
picking the girls up.  We also brought Amber, Miranda's roommate,
home with us for a few days.  Her flight to Washington State wasn't
until Monday of the following week.

On Friday, I had hoped that my cold was winding up well enough
to sing effectively in our Church Christmas Cantata that evening.
I was feeling much better than the beginning of the week, but
residual effects caused me to be more prudent in singing the
songs that led up to my solo. I didn't know what would come out
until I started into the song.  Thankfully, the song went well on
both Friday and Sunday, despite it all.  I was disappointed that
I was unable to hit the high notes clearly but that I could sing
as well as I did was no small feat.  The comedy of Friday evening
came as I tried and failed to raise the movie screen some number
of times.  When I gave up, Robert Linton gave it a try and to my
relief was also unable to raise the screen.  However, Steve Long
left his post in the sound room and lifted the screen in one pull
to the delight and applause of the distracted assembly.

In the Spirit of share-and-share alike, Joy was catching my cold
as I was coming off of it.  But we had a big Christmas party
scheduled for Saturday night and no real way to cancel it even
if we wanted to, which we did not want to do.  Everyone pitched
in to minimize the workload Joy had to prepare for the party, and
we drugged her up with decongestants and acetomenophine which
did her well for most of the party.  I didn't make an accurate
count but we welcomed between 50 and 60 people, and I was very
happy to have several families from Pepperell show up.

I know there were a number of families who couldn't make it for
some reason or another (weather, illness, forgot, etc.) and we'll
attempt to remedy that at a later time. Joy and I have often talked
about hosting some parties in period costumes dating to the Victorian
era, just for the fun of it all.  Not a few people have commented
that we are an anachronistic couple anyway.  If you have seen any
of the period photos we've taken, you may get a sense of what I mean.
Anyway, Joy made a Victorian dress for the party and she did a
very professional job of it! (The girls did her hair and took pictures
and at some date I'll post them.)  Some thought the dress looked
liked it belonged to the Renaissance period but Joy informed me that
dressing up in the Victorian period had a Renessaince look to it.
The girls want Joy to make them dresses as well and perhaps someday
I'll get a get-up and we'll research a bit more for a fun theme party
in the future.

New England has been having strange and interesting weather.
On Sunday morning, it was pouring buckets and my paperboy son
asked if he could be driven on his route.  This is something
Joy normally does, being the most excellent mother that she is
but she was on the down-slide into what's turned out to be a very
nasty cold (because mothers can never rest like fathers can when
they get sick).  I stumbled out of bed to help out - the Sunday
paper is too big for Andrew to do in one trip by himself on a
good weather day.  I didn't ask him for a portion of his
Christmas tips, but we are borrowing from him when we are
low on cash!

Today, north of Boston is white and we believe it will stay cold
enough throughout the week to ensure a White Christmas.  I think
Joy turned the corner on her cold and should be back to normal
by later this week.  That is gift enough for me!

Merry Christmas everyone!  And God bless us! Everyone!

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