Dec. 20, 1995---->
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We hope that this
Christmas Greeting finds you and your family healthy and happy. 1995 has
been an interesting and challenging year for the Reston Hudson family.
Scott finished high school and started college. Bonnie and Wayne took a
Smithsonian Tour of Munich, Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Graz and Salzburg.
Bonnie continued teaching violin and performing; Wayne continued commercializing
NASA technology; Rhett continued his graduate studies and Kendra continued
searching for her destiny. The single biggest event of the year was our
second trip together to Europe. We took a Smithsonian Tour of what a century
ago was the Hapsburg Empire, it included Munich, Vienna, Prague, Budapest
and Salzburg. We walked the streets, were awed by the cathedrals, cruised
the Danube and toured all the standard local sights. The Hapsburgs were
really focused on their luxuries, art treasures and castle constructions,
while the people starved, suffered health problems, fought their wars and
somehow created enough wealth to pay the bills. We visited Jan Psencik
our recent foreign student in Prague. Bonnie has about thirty-four violin
and viola students ranging in age from 4 to 18. She frequently has quartet
jobs for weddings, but her favorite time is spent performing chamber music
with friends. Highlights of 1995 include performing the Brandenburg Concerto
No. 6 on viola and participating in Reston’s musical walk where her string
quartet performed the “American” quartet by Dvorak. She is in her fifth
season as conductor of the “String Ensemble” of the Northern Virginia Youth
Symphony Association. The orchestra gives three public performances a year.
Her most recent performance was reviewed in the Washington Post. Scott
finished high school at South Lakes in the spring and started college at
Virginia Tech in the fall. Scott has a strong desire to have his own business.
He started several during the year ranging from computer installation and
problem solving to an on-line merchandise catalogue sales business. Until
he strikes it rich, he studies agriculture. He has also been part of the
Tech robotics team that is building an autonomous golf cart. Kendra has
spent the past year pursuing her interests in video production in Durham,
North Carolina. She produced a video for the NAACP on race relations that
is being used for campus orientation workshops. She was part of a local
movie crew and assisted the director of Good Morning America on their November
shoot at Duke. She has also gotten very interested in inline skating and
in October she finished an 85 mile skate from Atlanta to Athens, GA in
under eight hours. Rhett continues his graduate studies at Virginia Tech
in Blacksburg Virginia. He passed his qualifying exam on the first attempt
and has almost finished up the required course work for a Ph.D. Rhett continues
as a research assistant in the Electrical Engineering Department. Rhett
has been getting more interested in finishing up his thesis and moving
on to the private sector where he hopes his skills at microprocessor design
will be appreciated and rewarded. The last year anywhere in the federal
service has been frustrating and this has been especially true at NASA.
Wayne gets a lot of satisfaction helping transfer NASA’s technology to
the private sector for quality of life and economic benefit of the country.
Nevertheless many NASA programs have been paralyzed by the political budget
wrangling. NASA may very well be on continuing resolution all year, which
would be very inefficient. The November furlough gave Wayne and Bonnie
a chance to practice retirement. We learned we need separate phone lines
for the computer and for Bonnie’s violin business. Finally if you want
more details try visiting some of our family on-line home pages -- http://nctn.hq.nasa.gov/,
http://fiddle.ee.vt.edu/succeed/rhudson/home.html, and http://fbox.vt.edu:10021/org/ANRobotics/robotics.html
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Feb. 21, 1996---> Lent reminds me of Crayfish! Crayfish are one of those things that evolve as a food of very poor people who are trying to get a minimalistic food source. Then after a while it becomes a sort of signature food of the culture and then a traditional meal. I guess you have to eat many of them to fill your stomach.It was very rainy in northern Virginia yesterday and it is still raining now. Mom is not feeling very good her back is bothering her.I hope she just strained it shoveling snow. she has to try to sleep sitting up in a chair. This would be no problem for me but for Mom it is strange. So far 29 people have visited the Hudson Family Home Page. Yesterday I received a message from Mark's father saying that he was linking to the page from the Farnsworth Page. I'm going to have to get to work and add some bells and whistles. So far I haven't been able to learn how to do frames but I will continue to work on it. What I need is an example of some good frame pages so that I can find out what I am doing wrong. One other new technical thing is that in Monday's paper there was a discussion about a company in Alexandra where they are experimenting with a cable TV modem that uses the TV cable line to connect to the internet. The article claimed that they could get baud rates of 10 million. 10 million! This means real time video. He is talking about charging 30$ per month. There are people trying to move into the apartment building because they want ot be part of the experimental group. The surf is up and the living is easy! Spring is just around the corner and I'm ready! Yesterday I created my first successful frame page! When frames explode on the scene in the next months, days, hours, minutes, seconds I'll be ready. I am really getting a creative surge from the INTERNET! It is so great chasing the edge of the explosion! I know I'll never catch it but the pleasure is in the chase! I have also been able to establish the NCTN home page as a storefront. I am at the point where I get about a dozen customers that I actually dialogue with everyday. The number of hits is beyond 3000 and will probably break 4000 next week. Also coming soon will be a facilities data base that we have been putting together for about the last year. The ony thing that is better than desribed above is that I'm hyped on JAVA. I got a set of CDROMs from the class I took a couple weeks ago, EGOR look out!!!
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Feb.27, 1996
This morning at 3:07 I came here, to my window on the crystal wind. Unfortunately the window was stuck shut and I couldn't get it open to breath the wind. I pulled and pulled. I pushed and pushed. It wouldn't budge! I could remember what the wind was like but I couldn't reach it! I remembered what the wind smelled like but I couldn't reach it! I could remember its feelings, but the window wouldn't budge! I knew that the wind was blowing, but I couldn't reach it! They say when the tree falls in the forest if no one is there it makes no sound! Unlike the tree, the cyberwind is there even if I can not be. I just know it is! I just know it is! I just know it is! * Thank goodness that Erol's is back and so am I!
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October 18, 1996 I enjoyed seeing you last weekend. Thank you for coming to my birthday party. Mom and I spent the rest of the weekend in Staunton and driving thru the mountains. We visited Woodrow Wilson's Home in Staunton as will as the large number of 100-150 year old homes. Although both Lexington and Staunton were small they both seemed to have a great number of amenities. Probably because of the colleges and universities located there. We drove out 250 West and cut across 220 South thru Warm Springs and Hot Springs. We visited the Historical Farms near Staunton, they show how various immigrants farmed before they came to the US and how there styles were blended together in America. We walked thru the Homestead, and considered going there next year until we discovered the price which would make a weekend visit 2000 to 3000 dollars. This is unbelievable to me, but they are filled up so someone is paying it. Maybe the economy isn't so bad after all, or maybe all this extravagance is an example that it is bad. On Monday we visited Cyrus McCormick's Farm. Before the invention of the reeper 90% of the people had to work at agriculture to feed themselves, now 2% are farmers and they not only feed everyone but they have surplused that they sell to the rest of the world.
Hilary had a good weekend visiting Eric's Family. Uncle Dave is visiting this weekend, he is burning some excess vacation. We got what seems like a good offer for grandma's house, so the sale is in the works.
This is my first week at GSFC as an official employee. So I have a GSFC badge and I moved my computers into my GSFC Office and I am getting them integrated into the GSFC network. I need to get an new IP address and get email etc. Some time in the next month I should get some new furniture, right now it is like a warehouse with old metal furniture. But I did get the carpet cleaned and the humidifer that Mom got me for my birthday is working well.
Scott how is the car running? It is nice having a little more room in the driveway, but I miss the Buick.
Kendra any news on Mark's program appearing in PC Magazine. I subscribe to it so let me know when it is going to appear I don't want to miss the article. I really feel that there is a need for a program to manage stock or mutual fund portfolios. Quicken doesn't do very well and it is a very unstable program.
I have now moved all my resources into treasury bills and home equity. I expect a major stock market downturn by the end of the year. It could happen anytime after the elections. When this happens it will be a major buying opportunity.
Web News:
Two historic items.
The first online piano lessons
http://www.ecity.net/~wngdsm/piano/index.html
and
The creation of an online power point viewer
http://www.net-scene.com/
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October 25, 1996
Today might be the day that I get my new furniture at work. It is supposed to be on the center and was supposed to be delivered either yesterday or today. Since I moved into the Office of someone who had been there for 30 years, it has taken me quite a bit of time to get things cleaned out but this is finally happening. I did succeecd in getting my computers moved to GSFC so that now I have to get them setup. It has also taken time to get setup on email and most importantly with payroll. My first Goddard pay should be next week. I have submitted my preliminary recommendations and the Director of Engineering liked what I told him. I think GSFC is getting ready to have a restructuring, probalbly after the election.
The stock market is bouncing around 6000. I think that something around 6100-6200 will be the rough peak and then it will drop 10-30%. I don't know when it will happen exactly. If the Democrats win control of the Congress and Senate it could happen this Fall in a couple weeks. My general plan is to buy back in as the market falls. So at minus 5% I will buy a little at minus 10% I will buy more etc.
It is also time to rake leaves, test run the new snow blower and get ready for basketball.
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Hudson Bews
Sat, 2 Nov 1996 06:36:48
This is the weekend that we make our trip to Somerset PA to pick up Carol. Next Week Bonnie will take her to Florida. Carol has purchased a new house and has put hers on the market. So we have another pack and cleaning operation coming. Maybe we will all go to Cleveland at Xmas and help pack. Sally has been doing a lot of work already. We are worried that she will hurt her already injured back.
Yesterday was the opening of the 96-97 Washington Bullets Basketball Season. The Bulletts Player Orlando and won!!! The new talent looks good. I am projecting 60 victories!
Mom and I have gotten interested in a home over on Wakerobin Ln, which is acrosses the street from South Lakes High School. The house has 95 feet of frontage on Lake Audobon. In we follow thru I will take a step towards having a booze barge. It may be to expensive. It has been on the market for a year.
At Goddard everything is going well. The restructuring process has been announce. Monday I make a proposal for how I think at least my corner of the world should be organized. The time change caused a change in the traffic that has made the beltway denser at 4-5 when I have been traveling it. It is even denser later 5-6. So I either have to leave by 3 or wait until 6:30.
I hope that everyone is planning to come home for Thanksgiving. I am planning some new dishes that will dazzel and suprise you.
By the way I got pointplus working. You will have to download the viewer to see it --- http://afc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nctn/wrh/4ttrec1.htm Another great site for function and artistic look is the Carnegie Hall site http://www.carnegiehall.org/ It has look and feel!
What is new with all of you?
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Fri, 8 Nov 1996 05:19:20 As you all know Mom has been away all week, she took Nina back to Florida. I took the opportunity to go on a small pre-holiday diet by skipping supper I have been able to lose a few pounds. Mom returns home on Saturday so I have to clean up and put the furniture back where she likes to have it.
At Goddard we are now deep into restructuring, the big difference this time is that everyone trusts the center director and has confidence that he has the best interests of everyone in mind. At HQ everyone felt that Goldin was going to stab them in the back and was just setting the stage to do it. The commute got much worse when the time changed. It seems that people leave work by sun time rather than actual time (maybe to get home to kids before dark), anyway the number of cars on the beltway is alot greater at the times that I go home. I have been trying to adjust to earlier hours, but I can't always get away from meetings which always seem to be scheduled for 3 or 4.
The leaves are almost all down and I have been raking them steadily. I probably have one more week of rough raking and them a week to do the final clean up. My grass planting this Fall was very successful and I am trying hard to keep the new grass from getting killed by the leaves. I started up the snow blower last weekend and it is a monster. There maybe a few flakes this Sunday so I'm ready.
Thanksgiving plans --- let us know when you plan to get home for Thanksgiving it is coming up soon. Scott I hope you will be able to give Rhett a ride home so you can share driving on 81. Kendra are you and Mark planning on going to Greysville?
The stock market gets scarier by the day. Now that the pantload is back as Pres. disaster is around the corner.
Has anyone tried pointplus?
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November 15, 1996 Six weeks to Christmas, it is time to write your letters to Santa Claus. Let him know what you might need or want. For my part I want to get a scanner so that I can digitize the pictures that I got from my mother. I would also like to ask each of you to write me a short poem. My plan is to ask you to do this every year. We can read them on Christmas morning. I wish I would have thought of this earlier. I'll publish them along with some that my mother wrote and some that some of us have written for other purposes. Please no roses are red, but that is the only restriction.
Other Cews: I know the stock market is booming! I admit that I could be wrong, but my instinct is to still look for the correction. Things are too good and there will have to be some black clouds on the horizon soon. The more sharp the rise the farther the correction will go. I'm getting ready to make purchases at multiple points. In classic market corrections the market will fall 2/3 of the way then stabilize and then go down the last third. My plan is to purchase a S&P 500 index fund. You can find them described in the Vanguard Fund information book.
The lady who is buying grandma's house had her primary loan and her bridge loan approved. The deal should close in the second week in December. Then all that will be left is to figure out how to do the taxes.
This is Chad's 17th birthday. Sally has brought him to VA for the weekend. We might see him but we are not sure yet. There is a lot of strife in Sally's family, Hiliary feels that they all hate us. Sally's father is also very sick which doesn't help. Hilary has been going up to NY every other week to spend with Eric. so far things seem to be working out well.
I think I told you that Nina purchased a house in Strongsville and that she is in the process of selling her house in Middleburg. The other Aunt Sally has been left the unenviable task of cleaning things out and holding a garage sale. I think she should get to keep the money that she earns and maybe even get some additional pay for the job but it doesn't seem to working our that way.
We had our first snow yesterday. It snowed all day but the ground was so warm that it didn't last very long and the roads weren't effected. My commute is going well, but winter road conditions will be a challenge. I have to test out the Metro as a backup. I can take the orange line end to end and then grab a bus on the Goddard side. I haven't tried it yet.
Looking forward to seeing you at Thanksgiving. The cranberry sauce ingredients are ready.
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December 15, 1996
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We hope that this Christmas Greeting finds you and your family healthy and happy. 1995 was a traumatic and challenging year for the Reston Hudson family. Wayne’s mother died in June and a good bit of time has been spent dealing with that loss and all the details associated with administering Eleanor’s estate. This was also a winter of giant snow storms and government shutdowns. I just bought a new snow blower so I am ready for this year. Kendra and her friend Mark incorporated a computer programming business. Rhett continued his graduate studies at Virginia Tech. Scott moved into his sophomore college year and distinguished himself by creating an internet presence for the Horticulture Department. Bonnie and Wayne took a Smithsonian Tour of France, starting in Paris and ending in Nice. Bonnie continued teaching violin and performing and Wayne migrated from NASA Headquarters to Goddard Space Flight Center. Eleanor Virginia Hudson Died on June 10, 1996. Eleanor Virginia Hudson loved us all without any reservations! She nurtured our lives. She celebrated our successes. She overlooked our flaws and failings. Her love was constant and unqualified. The power of her love is with us now and it will be with us always -- supporting us, strengthening us, challenging us to make the most of our talents. The theme of her life was love for her family, friends and everyone. Her hope would be that we would follow her example and love each other without reservation! Bonnie has about thirty-four violin and viola students ranging in age from 4 to 18. She frequently has quartet jobs for weddings, but her favorite time is spent performing chamber music with friends. Highlights of 1996 include performing the Brahms Piano Quintet in F Minor. She is in her sixth season as conductor of the “String Ensemble” of the Northern Virginia Youth Symphony Association. At this moment they are making final preparations for the annual Winter concert. Scott finished his freshman year at Virginia Tech and worked over the summer setting up a computer server for the Horticulture Department and helping the professors learn how to use it. The Department operates a demonstration garden on campus and Scott has created an internet window to the garden at http://www.hort.vt.edu/VTHG/index.html. I keep arguing that since Scott is now a university staff member he should receive free tuition, so far the only response is the next bill. Kendra continues to live in Durham, North Carolina where she has focused her energies on multiple jobs, video productions, inline skating and the incorporation of a computer software business with her friend Mark. Kendra and Mark skated the 85 mile skate from Atlanta to Athens, GA for the second year and both improved their times significantly. Kendra broke her arm during the year and is still working on rehabilitation. If you have an interest in inline skating you might be interested in visiting http://www.mindspring.com/~fc-inc/skate/. Rhett continues his graduate studies at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg Virginia. He taught an introductory C++ computer programming class this past semester and seemed to enjoy the experience. Rhett continues as a research assistant in the Electrical Engineering Department with a research interest in reprogrammable microprocessors. Last year Rhett became a member of an service fraternity and has put quite a bit of effort into the many projects they sponsor. Rhett has also been getting more interested in finishing up his thesis and moving on to the private sector. This past year Wayne came to the conclusion that he wasn’t quite ready for retirement. He transferred to the Goddard Space Flight Center and immediately got involved in the center’s reorganization. After several years of constant restructuring he not only feels somewhat like a jigsaw puzzle, but he has been taking a greater interest in escaping to the crystal wind of the internet. If you want to join him you might visit http://www.erols.com/whudson/hfamx.htm
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December 21, 1996
To: rhudson@vt.edu, Kendra Hudson
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February 22, 1997
Yesterday Chad Hudson was in a car accident, He rearended three cars in Olmsted Falls. Chad wasn't hurt, but this accident reminded me of my accident in August of 1989.
I don't know if you remember, but in August of 1989 I fell asleep on the trip back from taking Kendra to college. At the moment I fell asleep I was going 70mph in cruise control. The van went off the road, when the right front tire hit the grassy hill that ran parallel to the road. The van rolled along a diagonal from the right front to the left rear. I woke up at the moment that the right front wheel hit the hill. I didn't have time to take any action but I did think that I was about to die in the next second or two. My life didn't flash before my eyes. The van came to rest upside down with the engine still running. My first image was of a giant fireball like you see on TV car crashes. I turned off the engine. The driver's side window was gone so I released my seat belt and climbed out. People who saw the accident didn't think anyone could survive it. Other then a few small cuts and bruises where the seat belts engaged, I was fine. This is ten seconds of my life that I remember everyday.
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March 1, 1997
I would like to have a piece of software that fetches me my daily dose of specialized information:
The News headlines listed as hyperlinks so that I can read any I choose. Science News also hyperlinked The Bullets and Redskins News and Magazine Articles NBA and NFL standings plus yesterday's results Articles on The Duke Basketball and VT Football General Mutual Fund Sector information Daily results of my funds Running Plots of my funds Dilbert, BC, Doonesbury and Olephant cartoons Alerts on Movies and Art Exhibits It would also be nice if these daily searches were stored so that I could search past versions
The way I envision this it would be availiable to at some specific time everyday say 4:30am and it would be updated during the day.
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March 14, 1997
This was a big week for me, I think I finally have gotten final approval for the creation of the Institute for Advanced Concepts. Wednesday I briefed the key NASA Committee and there was no objections. The ultimate test will be when they send me the money. You can find out more about the Institute if your interested at http://nctn.hq.nasa.gov/nctn/wrh/aci/iac.htm But don't circulate this url because We have to go thru official procurement channels and we don't want anyone to have any unfair advanced knowledge.
This was also the week when we have made the decision to put ceramic tile in the kitchen. We have finally found a color that matches Ashby. I was supprised how hard this was to do, I guess she is a very unique combination of brown and grey. If they put in the kitchen floor at the same time that they are are renovating the bathrooms, we will be living in the tree house and peeing behind the back fence.
We are now also approaching the time when income taxes are due. If yesterday's 160 point dip continues it might be a very good buying opportunity. Scott's income taxes are in. The Eleanor Hudson Estate doesn't have to pay taxes (I have to double check this). Carol Otto has a big bill because of capital gains, she might not be speaking to me now after I calculated her taxes. The rest of you are on your own. Don't forget about State Taxes. I don't think Scott owes any.
My video conferencing initiative has been highly successful. I have established a link between home and work and between point to point at work. The one last remaining element is to successfully communicate with Rhett at VT. Based on my experience I think I will be purchasing the Connectix Video Phone System. It has all the basic requirements and it is affordable. I currently spend about $200 a month on telecommunications, so I should easily recapture the expenses of the system in a few month. Now you know what your Christmas and Birthday Presents will be.
It is also time to get the Crabgrass killer on the lawn.
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March 29, 1997
Letters from a Comets Tail Copies
Last night on the way home from work, I had a blowout traveling at 70mph in the inside lane on the National Capital Beltway.
To my suprise I found myself on an alien space ship that is flying in the tail of Haley Bop Comet. Isn't that out of ecliptic! Luckily the aliens technology allows me to still contact my erols account back on earth so my messages will still come via the same address. I am paid up for the rest of the year so no immediate problem. Since we are traveling at nearly 25,000 mph I am not sure how long we will be able to maintain contact.
So far the aliens have been sort of aloof, but there are a group from California that is also on board. They are computer people and we are setting up a local area net. I believe that the aliens didn't really know that we were coming and that they are having meetings to determine what to do.
May 31, 1997
Today was a monumental day for me at GSFC. It was the first time that I received a resource transfer from NASA Headquarters. I have been working on creating an Institute for Advanced Concepts: http://afc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nctn/wrh/aci/iac.htm I am just about ready to release the solicitation for the creation of the selection of the Institute host center. The Institute will be at a University or at some research organization. The Institute will then do a solicitation and select advanced concepts. These will be studies and we will fund maybe 20 to 30 per year. The budget will be $4M/yr. Anyway yesterday I got my first resources.
The Institute will be operated entirely online using the electronic management system that we use for the SBIR program. Over the last few weeks we have been building the "handbooks" for the institute. My friend Barry Jacobs is the inventor of this capability. It was developed primarily thru SBIR awards.
I have also been involved in the GSFC reorganization. This is the first time in 30 years that GSFC has had a major center wide reorganization. I have been selected to be the chief of the Technology Commercialization Office. If you want to see what we do you can visit http://afc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nctn/wrh/tco/tcoorg.htm Last week we had our big unveiling of the organization and we now are starting to hire people to fill the position. In the nine months since I came to GSFC I have hired more people than in the rest of my NASA career. Choosing the right people is perhaps the most important thing.
On the home front. Wedding plans are coming together. Kendra had a shower in Ohio last week and she is having a shower here in VA today. Mom has done an excellent job of planning everything. The ceremony will be at South Lakes Church and the reception will be at our house. I have the lawn looking very good. This has been a perfect spring for growing grass. Cool temperatures and the last week or so lots of rain. Mom also is planting a tremendous amout of flowers so the yard will look great.
March 27, 1998
This afternoon at about 4:00, I
ran a mile in 10 minutes.
As far as I can remember this is
a personal best.
I am sure that when I was 18, I
could have done much better but I am
not sure that I ever did it. It
is at least the fasted time in my
memory. When I was in high school
I did once run a half mile in 2
minutes and 19 seconds. I also
once ran 100 yard is in 6.5 seconds.
But both of these were done when
I was 17.
I plan to run at this 6mi/hr rate
for awhile until my heart rate
comes down some. For the last three
minutes my heart rate was at
about 150 bps which may be a little
high for someone my age.
April 5, 1998
This morning at 5:30 Mom left for Florida to bring NeNa
back to Ohio
for the summer. NeNa has been having a hard time she
has a bone spur
in her foot and it makes it very difficult for her to
walk. Also she
has been very concerned about Sherrie. The long drive
can be tense,
but I try to convince Bonnie that it is valuable one
on One time with
her mother and that she should think positively about
it. I hope that
NeNa has maintained her car, I'm always concerned that
they will
breakdown some place.
This week we also get our new Furnace and AC installed.
The old one
is 26 years old; we were lucky that the AC made it thru
last summer.
Hilary has decided to extend her stay in Kendra's old
room until
September. This will allow her to get her finances under
better
control. I think it is a good thing, rent is like $800/month
and
really our schedules are such that I see Hilary about
once a week on
Saturday afternoon. The only bad part is that Hilary
is having a
negative influence on Ashby. Ash now almost always sleeps
in late,
doesn't want to exercise, only wants to eat pizza crusts
and the
ultimate last week I found an empty beer bottle
under her bed.
May 9, 1998
The absence of something can very often make you appreciate
it even
more than you did before it vanished. This is the second
mother's day
when I didn't have a living mother to celebrate.
I feel left out! I really feel the absense of the loving
human spirit
that was my mother. I understand how lucky I was to have
her as a
major part of my life. I think I always appreciated
what a special
person she was. But she was such an ever present element
that I know
that I did take her for granted. Her unconditional love
gave me the
confidence to take on challenges that otherwise might
have seemed
impossible. Her high expectations made me strive to meet
them. The
compassionate, humble, and giving way which she
lived her life
remains today and forever a beacon for us all to follow.
December 12, 2000
Hudson Family Christmas Letter,
December 2000
Seasons Greetings and Happy New Year! We hope that this Christmas
Greeting finds your family happy and healthy. The past year has had several
highlights for our family—Wayne retired on 12/31/1999 and has spent the
last year making the adaptation. Rhett passed the oral defense of his Ph’d
dissertation and bought a townhouse in Columbia, Maryland. Scott changed
jobs and is now working for VCampus a company that provides online education
and training programs to commercial and governmental customers. We took
a Smithsonian tour of Greece, which included – visiting the temples and
museums in Athens, the ruins at Mycenae, Delphi, and Epidaurus.
We are delighted that our children are living nearby, we realize it could change at a moments notice so Bonnie and I are enjoying it. Kendra and Mark continue to thrive in North Raleigh. Kendra had a very successful inline skating season making significant improvements times at all distances. Kendra has just completed a course income tax preparation and she is taking a part time job working for H&R Block. She also continues to work on improving their home and yard and overseeing the activities of her dogs Donut and Woody. Mark is currently working a program that supports online prescription purchases. Mark had surgical repair of his knee in the spring, so he has been off the inline skate tour this year. His knee seems to be healing well and he looks forward to getting back in action.
Scott still hasn’t become a dot com billionaire, but he is refining his business plans. Scott works in the operations division of VCampus, his group has the responsibility of making sure that all customers can get instant access to their educational courses any day and time. He continues to live at home, but he is saving up to possibly purchase his own home. Bonnie and I are enjoying having his companionship.
Rhett has defended his thesis, and he should get his Ph’d diploma in January. He has been working at Annapolis Microsystems in Annapolis, Maryland for one and a half years. The company’s forte is reconfigurable computing – that is computers that can adapt their physical configuration to more efficiently solve classes of problems. Rhett has developed interests in sailing and home ownership.
Bonnie continues her schedule of teaching violin, conducting and performing. She has about thirty-four violin students most ranging in age from 4 to 17. She frequently has quartet jobs for weddings, but her favorite time is spent performing chamber music with friends. She is in her tenth season as conductor of the “String Ensemble” of the American Youth Philharmonic Association. This year she join became the assistant concert master of the Loudon Symphony Orchestra. Bonnie’s mom timed her Christmas visit to be able to enjoy the Christmas student recital and orchestra concerts. And Wayne finally did abandon life in the fast lane on the beltway. He has spent his first year of retirement taking courses in history and literature. Join our family online anytime for a visit at http://www.erols.com/whudson/hfam.htm or email us at whudson@erols.com. Hope to hear from you or see you soon!