My mother, my sister from California, and I went to a local Perkins restaurant. We enjoyed our food, and we decided that Perkins was much better than I.H.O.P.

        Daniela Thomas sent e-mail. I had informed her about my extinct e-mail account to which she had a habit of sending e-mail. Daniela now sends e-mail to emanimal@yahoo.com. Daniela said she is looking forward to the end of her husband's fellowship in San Diego. Daniela will meet her husband in Las Vegas, and from there they will drive across country to visit places including Salt Lake City, Jackson Hole, the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore and the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally,  Minnesota and Wisconsin for a couple days, Mackinaw Island, and Toledo. Finally they will return home to Philadelphia by mid August.

       Tracey and I went to Winton Woods for some exercise (walking). Tracey told me that her son Tom, who worked for me while he was at UC, has decided to go into the Coast Guard. I wish Tom good luck, and I hope his mother doesn't have too much to worry about with Tom being in that branch of the Service.

        I agreed to a dinner with Sofia Wick and family and special guest Michele Ferrara tomorrow.

       I did have dinner with Sofia Wick and Aidan Wick and special guest Michele Ferrara. Also joining us was extra special guest Jason Ferrara. Sofia and family will relocate to Cleveland on August 1. The Ferraras are planning an annual family vacation starting later this week. It was certainly great to see all my old workers again, and I agreed to go ahead with planning for a reunion. I will just have to decide on a day and see who shows up.
        I should add here that our dinner was at Bombay City Indian Restaurant on Wooster Pike. The food and environment were very good!
        Below are a couple of pics from the event. You should know who is who by now.
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        Shannon Rose sent an amusing e-mail forward about a cowboy in a gay bar.

        HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ?

        I made progress with projects at work. At home I transplanted a tomato plant from a pot to the ground.

        Daniela Thomas sent more e-mail. She reminded me again about her excitement anticipating her cross country trip. She was happy to announce again that her sister has had another baby,  and Daniela is making plans to visit the family. Also, Daniela was sad about the end of the Newsletter as we know it.

        Jennifer Jones sent a link to an article about a cat that senses when elderly patients are about to die. I had seen a piece about it on Countdown with Keith Olbermann this evening also. Oscar the seems to be the Grim Reaper's pet. Also, Oscar the cat could have been a guest star on that show that was on Showtime, Dead Like Me.

        I talked to Vickie Estes. She is doing sorta okay. She is worried about the health of a couple of her cats. Also, unrelated to her own cats, Vickie wants me to pass the word that there are some cats that need a home (from O'Bryonville Cat Rescue), but the cats are feral and would only be able to live outdoors or in a barn or something. So if someone has some stretch of land or a barn that could support a few cats, that would be appreciated. Of course Vickie asked if I were myself ready to take on a domesticated cat or two. I said that I could not do it under current circumstances. It would be an unfair burden to my mother. If I lived alone or with someone other than elderly parents, I would be willing to sign up for more pet ownership. Right now I can't.

        I went with several family members to a cousin's wedding. It was a nice but smaller affair than I had expected. Other than the lack of groomsmen, the other thing that stood out at the ceremony was that someone performed a solo "praise dance" in addition to the usual reading of bible selections and solo songs. The praise dancer was dressed in white dance tights and a colorful long skirt. It was kind of a ballet or jazz dance kind of thing.

       HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ??

       K.F. and I rode our bicycles in Winton Woods. I drove us there. I have a detachable rack for my car that allows me to carry a couple of bikes.
        It was K.'s first time in the park. She was impressed. Later we had lunch at a Perkin's Restaurant.

        Tracey called to say that her her first day of work at her new job went well. Tracey also offered me a couple of old candy dishes she was going to give away to charity anyway. I had said I was looking for a special glass candy bowl for my mother to replace one where I had broken the glass cover.

        An ordinary Sunday. I got some reading and DVD viewing done. I ran an errand to the grocery store for my mother. I thought about an old Labbette whose birthday is today, but this woman is someone I haven't heard from for many years. She was a dancer, traveler, French speaker (as a second language).

        I did some shopping after work.

        Tracey and I went for an extra long walk in Winton Woods. Tracey is adjusting to the recent changes in her life.

        I  drove to and from the airport with my mother.  We picked up my sister whose flight was delayed, so my sister changed her flight to tomorrow. My sister gets to spend an extra day with us.

        I have not seen The Simpsons Movie. Peggy Gala was very interested in seeing it, and I hope she has seen it and enjoyed it. I hear and read mostly good things about the movie, and I am always happy when The Simpsons gets good press and attention. I have noticed that the movie is playing at The Esquire in Clifton, and I may see it sometime this weekend.

        My  mother and I transported my sister to the airport again. This time her flight came at a reasonable time.

        K.F. and I went to Olives Restaurant on Ludlow for lunch. The restaurant is in the same building where Uno's once was. The atmosphere and food were very pleasant. The pricing is somewhat like Applebee's. The menu is somewhat like The Olive Garden. I would encourage people to go to Olives for lunch or dinner. They have a brunch on Saturdays and Sundays. I may have to check that out sometime.

        September of 1977: That was when I first started working in the Language Lab. I was 22 and had not graduated from college yet. It was the age of disco music. Saturday Night Fever was a phenomenon at the box office and on the radio. I actually went to a couple of discos with some new friends and co-workers. Sometime later, Vickie Estes, who had hired me to work in the Media Center a year earlier, gave me a parody record sung by Muppets called Sesame Street Fever. It was a fun record.
        Anyway, at the time, I did not suspect that I would still be working at UC in the Language Resource Center 30 years later. I did not know I would meet all you fun, lovely people along the way. Things could have been so different, but I'm glad that they weren't.

        HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ?

        I found out that my sister made it home at 4:30 a.m. today! She had a long night of travel across the country.

        Dr. Donna Summers called to confirm that her date to visit me in Cincinnati at UC is Tuesday, August 7. I'm looking forward to it.

        It was monthly grocery shopping time with my mother! That took about 2 and a half hours.

        Shannon Rose sent an e-mail forward.

        We did a second part of grocery shopping which took about 45 minutes.

        Kavita Sherman sent e-mail. She and her family had just returned from vacation. Work is busy, but things are good with the family. Kavita acknowledged the ending of the Newsletter and how I would have a lot of free time--or not.
 
 

        I helped my sister decide on buying a notebook computer at Microcenter. I helped get the computer set up at my sister's house. I made sure the Internet connection was working; the battery was charged; the antivirus anti-spyware was up and running; the printer was working; Office 2003 was installed. I suspect the computer will be a welcome improvement over my sister's previous Windows '98 model computer. Her new one has a version of Windows Vista and enough memory to have Vista run smoothly.

        I did my best to avoid the heat. The temperatures were in the mid 90's in Cincinnati with the usual high August humidity.

        About the title? Hey, you figure it out! Let it be a "final mystery." It's not that much of a mystery for people with long enough pop cultural memories. [Do a search for "That Was the Year That Was."]

        Yep, it's finally here -- THE VERY LAST NEWSLETTER!

        As I head towards retirement,  no matter what happens from here on out, a line from a song by The Waterboys applies:

        "That was the river. This is the sea."

        Anyway....

        This won't be the most original way to end the Newsletter, but it seems appropriate on several levels.

        I THOUGHT I could! I THOUGHT I could! I THOUGHT I could!