12/31/1999

It's a strange night. I'm at work, watching CNN on a big plasma HDTV screen in The Center (the Thomson support center) while the date rolls progressively around the world, and fireworks go off, and nothing else happens, despite all the predictions of doom. In the meantime, I've been updating the web page a bit, and thinking a lot about the past. Not surprising, given what all has happened since the last time I updated it.

Mom died in September. Trying to formulate words around Mom's death kind of overwhelms me. It's scary the degree to which she served as an anchor for me. For the whole family. Some day I'll try in words to do justice to her extraordinary strength, character, and humanity. For now, I just cling to the feeling that I still have a connection to her. I need to have that.

Dad is slowly but surely finding his way through the loss of Mom. It's just so true that you can't ever really prepare yourself for this. He's doing really well. She'd be proud of him. I don't think I can talk about this any more tonight.

In June I moved out of Hampton after 10 years there. Stan McCall, a great guy, and a wonderful landlord, unwittingly sold the house to the spawn of Satan, who decided he wanted to live in the apartment I was in, so he evicted me. I'm in not-all-that-temporary temporary housing with a friend (nails) and his Mom (Jill) in a beautiful, spacious house in central New Hampshire. The commute's long, but both the conditions and the people are such that I'm frankly in no hurry to move. They seem to feel the same way. I hope they're not just being polite.

I have moved, within the same job, from Medford to Boston. I like it in Boston a *lot*, although it turns what already was a really long commute into a really heinous, endless journey every day. It's not clear where the job's going. We'll see. It should be an interesting year.

My brother Bill and his wife Michaela have retired, sold their condo, and left the New Jersey area for good. For Bill, it's been about 20 years there. For Michaela it's been her whole life. They've moved in with Dad while their new house in Georgia is being built.

My brother Pete's building a huge, incredible apartment in Paris, having finally found that once-in-a-lifetime situation. I can't wait to see it completed. I've seen the torn-apart place, and I've seen the blueprints. I can't get my mind completely around it, so I'll wait until it's done.

My niece Pam has abruptly left her new life in Atlanta to go work for her brother's company in California. I haven't talked to her about it. That's must have been a tough decision. Good for her.

My Nephew Richard and his wife Kristen made a baby, Colin! He's been featured on my site, as a matter of fact. My nephew Bill and his wife Patty have a second one, now, too. In addition to my Goddaughter Caitlin, they made a Nicholas too.

I'm waiting for people to start sending me pre-scanned pics. My scanner's on the fritz again.

I quit smoking Christmas Eve. I proposed to Pete that we quit as a Christmas present to Mom. He liked the idea, so we did it. I've been a week with no patch/gum/Wellbutrin etc. Just plain old cold turkey. It's tedious. It's going ok, though. I'm pretty determined. Mom really wanted this, and so does Dad.

Assuming the missiles don't fly when midnight hits here, I'll do some more updates soon.

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