The Hargroves' [slightly late] Christmas Letter 1989
Truly, we live in interesting times! The Berlin Wall transformed from a symbol of the Cold War to a chi-chi gift. The end of a decade. The triumph of capitalism! Amidst all this revolution and change, the Hargroves survived pretty much the same.
Roatan: We discovered something that all four of us like to do — diving. So we took a vacation en famille last June to Roatan, an island off the coast of Honduras. We arrived ahead of schedule, only four hours late, after a slight diversion thru Tegucigalpa and La Ceiba. We completed the trip on a DC-3 older than everyone aboard.
But it was all worth it! The island is like Cozumel used to be 20 years ago. It was quiet, with nothing to do except look at the reef life: everything from a friendly Barracuda to a giant Hermit Crab to delicate Light bulb Tunicates. We are completely hooked on diving, except for night diving, that is. The reviews of the night dive ranged from "disappointing" to "I'll never do that again!"
Claire: Astonished and delighted us by becoming the first member of the family to ever letter in a sport. She got her varsity letter in swimming. Ask her about it sometime.
The high point of Claire's year was a visit to Ecuador this summer. There, as part of a public health program sponsored by Amigos de las Americas, she vaccinated 14,489 (!) dogs against rabies. She seems to have made an impression on some Ecuadorians, judging by the letters addressed to "Clarita" that began arriving even before she got home. We wonder what they would think if they knew her family name is "Claro."
Now, Claire is trying to decide where to go to college. Everyone elsie in the family has already made up her mind, but she insists on being part of the decision making process. We are hoping that she will go to Rice the way Hargroves are supposed to.
Charles: Is happy as a clam at Rice. He's discovered what college is really about: studying. Over Thanksgiving he read three books and would have written a paper if Jim's computer hadn't been maliciously down. He's majoring in Anthropology and History, and minoring in fencing. We haven't had the heart to tell him that swashbucklers have gone out of style.
We had the pleasure of Charles's company all summer. He spent his days life guarding and his nights playing Dungeons and Dragons on the computer. Don't tell the IRS. Charles has worked out a way to combine all his interests. He is thinking of archeology. Do you think it is a coincidence that underwater archeology is the hot field?
Jim: Actually managed to get his program published. Arriba! is modestly described as a "new dimension in productivity." That happened in February. When Charles managed to locate a copy in a store in the Mall on May 24th, it was cause for celebration. As you may have guessed, initial sales have been "soft" in spite of generally favorable reviews and some raves, including the December issue of Compute!
Jim responded to the resulting temporary cash flow restriction in classic fashion. He got a job. Now, he is trying to ease Schlumberger into the 90's at their Austin System Center while breathing life into the lunchtime bridge game. He spends his days working on computer graphics under Unix and his spare time fixing bugs in Arriba! In fact, he fixed the last bug just the other night. [Computer joke.]
Linda: After influencing the Pain Management Program from below for years, became Supervisor in July. She immediately discovered budgets and performance appraisals and decided she needed another vacation. She and her mother, Lil, embarked on a romantic return to Clovis, NM, a site of mystical significance to both. They got as far as Santa Fe, where they decided to stay and do a little shopping.
Linda has devoted all her spare time to persuading her sister Mary to move to Austin so we can be close to her and her kids. Last Christmas Mary and the three niece/nephews came for a visit. Do you remember the weather in Alaska last winter? Remember 50 below? The airport was closed for two weeks, so we had lots of time to visit. Linda coaxed Mary back long enough to look at houses. The depressed Austin market is certainly tempting now. We'll jusst have to wait and hope. Sister Leslie may even be coaxed to move here from Seattle!
Happy holidays! We hope you are well and happy! Although we think we live in the fast lane, Austin is pretty laid back. It's a great place to visit. Please keep in touch!
The Hargroves
Tidbits:
Charles favortie class is Caribbean History.
We haven't forgotten birding. We saw four new species this year: Lesser Prairie Chicken, Black-billed Cuckoo, Black-whiskered Vireo, and Cassin's Sparrow. Jim even braved freezing weather to go on the Freeport Christmas Count for the 12th time. To his amazement, it was the second highest species total ever in North America, 225.
Arriba! lists for $195. The street price is about $150. If you can't find it, call me. It's a great aid for writing Christmas letters.
Jim's E-mail address is hargrove@asc.slb.com on Unix Internet. Otherwise use Compuserve ID 74000,1010.
Old song with new significance: Don't Stop, Fleetwood Mac (Rumors, copyright 1976, another good year):
Don't stop thinking about tomorrow,
Don't stop; it'll soon be here.
It'll be here, better than before,
Yesterday's gone! Yesterday's gone!
OOOOOOOOOOOO, don't you look back!
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