Hargrove’s Annual Letter 1993

USPS, etc. (“Snail mail”):            6100 Bend of River, Austin, Tx 78746-7201 USA
email:                                       hargrove@austin.wireline.slb.com            or
                                                74000,1010            (compuserve)
fax:                                           (512) 327-7266
voice:                                        (512) 327-5611

We’ve made a few changes in the letter format this year. First, you’ll notice that we are admitting that the letter doesn’t always get done by Christmas. Second, we are sending each of you a personalized letter, rather than a copy. So, if we think you are “cat people,” for example, you’ll get to hear about our commensals. This way, we get to use some of the material that used to wind up on the cutting room floor.

This contains all the snippets.

Hope you had a Merry Christmas. Best wishes for 1994.                       Jim and Linda.

The Year

Linda: Is still in school, but expects to finish next May. She will then be qualified as a Nurse Practitioner, just in time for health care reform. She is already famous, at least locally, based on a nice picture, with an accompanying article, in the Austin American-Statesman about the role of nurse practitioners. She is still working at Hospice part time, arranging care for terminally ill patients. She plans to take some time off this summer, with vague plans to learn Spanish by traveling in Mexico.

The highlight of the year for Linda was her “month to be right.” Jim agreed that she could be right all the time instead of him, but only for a month. Jim has since tried to argue that the month was August, but Linda says, “No, it just started,” and of course, she’s right.

Jim: Is still slogging away at Schlumberger, where he is beginning to acquire a reputation. Those of you who have worked with Jim in the past know what that means! His new passion is tennis, which he took up just to get his cholesterol under control. That proved impossible without drugs, but he remembered why he liked tennis. “I love the sound the ball makes when you hit it just right!” He recently discovered that he can beat other people at the “3.0” level, the bottom of the ladder. His summer plans are to retire, letting Linda support him, and try to improve to 3.5. First, though, he has to improve things in the home office, where the computer he bought last year is hopelessly outdated. Even so, he is fond of pointing out that the office at home is better equipped than the office at SLB.

Charles: Is studying Archæology at UT. He discovered Geographic Information Systems as part of his course work and developed an interest in applying it to Mesoamerican sites. The field today has come a long way since Jim developed one of the first GIS for Synercom in 1972. We were pleased to find a “History of GIS” in one of the texts that listed both the Synercom and CalComp systems as steps along the way. Charles is planning another trip to Belize this summer to work on a dig.

Charles has done a lot of traveling this year, twice to California, once to Nashville, to visit Amy, another Archæology grad student. They took the long way home from California last summer, visiting several Anasazi sites in New Mexico on the way.

Claire: Thinks she will never finish at Rice, but actually has an easy last semester to get through. Now that the rugby and intramural football seasons are over, there isn’t much suspense left in the year. She is taking Portuguese (or Brazilian, if you prefer) in preparation for a trip to Brazil for Amigos de las Americas this summer. This year, she will be a “route leader.” She took the MCAT test for med school, and got a great score. Naturally, she has decided to take a year off, following Charles’ example. She has announced plans to travel to someplace warm with a good beach. We doubt that somewhat, as she has lately developed a fondness for Austin and her latest beau. We think that’s better than Australia, or Paraguay, or Ecuador, or even California.

Travel/Birds

This was a great year for traveling, especially since it began in Australia. We managed to work in several short trips. Jim parlayed two business trips to California into birding expeditions. Here are some of the highlights:

Our first outing was to Washington state in May. Jim had a computer conference in Seattle. Linda tagged along, and with her sister Leslie along as a guide, we set off to circumnavigate the Olympic Peninsula. Naturally, it was cold and rainy the entire weekend. The only respite we had from the constant drizzle was near Port Townsend renowned for being in the “rain shadow” of the mountains. It was there, near the old Point Wilson lighthouse that we got lucky. We found a flock of Horned Grebes in full breeding plumage. We are used to seeing this bird, when we see them at all, dressed in drab brown for winter. What a difference! The breeding bird is a dramatic mix of jet and copper, with flaming feather “horns.” Harlequin Ducks in spectacular plumage were also a treat.

In the summer, we traveled to Minnesota to visit Lil and other relatives. Lil had always told us how beautiful Minnesota was in the summer. So we spent a weekend at the Lutsen resort on the “north shore” of Lake Superior, north of Duluth. This is beautiful country, and comparatively wild. Our experience in the Twin Cities didn’t prepare us for Northern Minnesota. We spent the days driving around the area and hiking along the curious, root beer colored Cascade river. The 70 degree temperature made hiking a pleasure. Then we visited for a couple of days in Minneapolis before Jim returned to the August sauna of Austin. Linda opted to extend the trip to Cheyenne, Wyoming to visit our former foster kids, Rosalind and Bubba.

In California for the SIGGRAPH convention, Jim and a friend made a mad dash to the Salton Sea in search of the Blue-footed Booby. It seems that if you brave 120° temperatures, you should be rewarded with a view of the bird you are looking for. This time, though, the bird didn’t appear. To be strictly truthful, we don’t know what the temperature was that day. We asked, but there are no thermometers in the area. “We don’t want to know how hot it is,” was the explanation. Ironically, a Blue-footed Booby turned up most unexpectedly in Granite Shoals, near Austin. This was so remarkable that it made several national news reports. The bird could usually be found sitting on the end of a diving board, where you could walk up close enough count the feathers. The bird represented a milestone of sorts: it was the 401^st bird on our Texas list.

  Freeport Christmas Count

This year, both Jim and Linda went on the Freeport Christmas Bird Count. Jim always goes, but Linda tries to pick years with good weather. This year she was faked out by a slow moving cold front. It was supposed to move through the area on Friday, resulting in a beautiful day. Instead, it stalled, leaving us with a dull, overcast sky that threatened rain all day long. The temperature, though, was moderate, and the mosquitos were tolerable. When the day is truly gorgeous, the mosquitos can be fierce. There’s always a tradeoff.

The numbers of birds seemed quite low compared to other years. The species total, 209, was also lower than other years. Our group had only two “details” birds, a Stilt Sandpiper and three Henslow’s Sparrows. Even so, we had a great time. There is something really fine about a day that starts with a huge flock of Snow Geese lifting off all at once, their cacophonous calls drowning out all other sounds.

On top of that, the Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge, where the count is centered, shelters about 2000 Sandhill Cranes each winter. You can hear them all day long, even when they aren’t anywhere in view. Several times during the day, we found ourselves studying “Crane birds.” You think you are looking at a curious red bird with a long streaming tail. It moves up and down in an awkward flying motion. Finally, you realize you are watching a Crane feeding in tall grass.

Maybe you would like to join us next year. Just let us know.

Cats

It all began one night when Taffy, our oldest and best cat, climbed the oak near the house, jumped over to the balcony and demanded entrance to our bedroom. Once inside, he discovered his favorite place on the corner of the bed occupied by Fat Cat. Annoyed, he turned to his second favorite place, the brown chair, and found Ugwump sleeping on it. Disgusted, he stomped out of the bedroom – which isn't easy for a cat – and we never saw him again.

A few days later, Linda, while searching the neighborhood for her lost child found only more orphans: five abandoned kittens sleeping under the old bridge. We had a household of kittens. Fat Cat didn't appreciate them at all and took to sleeping outside. One night he didn't come back. Alas, we did find him several days later. So we were down to Ugwump and five adorable kittens. Ultimately, we gave away three of the kittens and kept the cat population of the house at three:

·         Uggie or Ugwump: We named her shortly after we acquired her – or after she acquired us. We rescued her from certain death, but she has never displayed appropriate gratitude. When we got her she was undoubtedly the ugliest cat we had ever seen. Now, she has filled out a bit and is only homely, but the name has stuck.

·         Queenie Beanie Tetrazzini: Usually simply known as Queenie, she shows more of her Siamese ancestry than her sister. She has the build and disposition of most Siamese cats, but only part of the coloring. We expect her to dominate the establishment when she gets a bit larger.

·         Sweetie Pie: Our favorite, who is lovely and lovable, her Siamese heritage dilluted by liberal addition of Domestic Longthair, and slightly “challenged,” especially when it comes to using the pet door.

  Non-Feline Animals

Our house has been a veritable zoo from time to time this year. At the moment, in addition to the permanent residents, an ancient dog, two kittens and a cat, we have two ferrets and an iguana we are keeping for various people. So far, we have kept the ferrets and the iguana apart, which is quite a trick. Ferrets delight in getting into places that you don’t think they can fit. Hide-and-seek is their favorite pasttime. Fortunately, the iguana is fairly torpid, so we can keep an eye on him.

Outside, we have a number of hangers-on. Several racoons, possums and squirrels consider our home part of their feeding grounds. All seem to be doing quite well. They are adept at emptying bird feeders during the night. Charles and Jim have each seen a Gray Fox in the neighborhood. We’ve logged 37 species of birds in the yard, including flying overhead. Finally, there are the deer, lots and lots of deer.

Computers and Such

Jim writes:

This year, I had the great fortune to attend two conferences for Mother SLB, both dealing with the central issues of computer software today. The first conference was the Microsoft OLE 2.0 Developers’ Conference in Seattle in May. This dealt with µSoft’s plans for “object oriented” programming. In spite of my claiming to be an expert on everything OO – or maybe because of it – I went with much skepticism. I came away converted. Maybe OLE isn’t the best way to organize programs, but it is good enough to be a major influence on the software we will develop in the next few years. I have a new rule: Don’t bet against  µSoft!

The second conference, the COSE/CDE Developers’ Conference in October was just as much of a revelation. COSE/CDE stands for Common Operating System Environment/Common Desktop Environment. This proves that “common” and “environment” are essentialy parts of any new buzz phrase these days. The major Unix™ vendors have gotten together and agreed on a standard that will eliminate the differences between the different flavors of Unix™. They have even agreed what the ™ means! Now, where have I heard all this before? Does “too little, too late,” sound about right? Prediction: The big U has begun a long, slow slide to oblivion, just like some computer companies I used to work for.

I wrote a trip report about COSE/CDE that even my brother characterized as both informative and entertaining. He showed the report to his boss. She remarked, “My God! It runs in the family!” What do you suppose she meant by that?

The Home Office

As you may know, we have a computer based office in the home. We call it “Suite 202.” After sharing a computer for years, we broke down and bought a new one for Jim last Summer. Linda inherited the old 386. “At least it won’t be different every time I turn it on.” Then we upgraded the printer to the newest Laserjet, got a fax modem and some software to drive it, and now we’re ready to plug in.

In case you are in this same situation, we have a couple of tips to share:

1.        Laser printers are worth it, especially the new ones that print at 600 dpi.

2.        WinFAX is a pretty good way to deal with faxes, but the character recognition software is still awful. FAX modems are a nice, inexpensive addition to your PC.

3.        You can print your own business cards on a laser printer. You just buy the stock (we use 1-800-Apapers to order ours) and put whatever you want on them. You can print as few as 10 at a time. This saves a lot of paper, as some of the information always seems to change before you use up a box.

4.        Visio is a great product for producing drawings on the PC. It supports OLE 2.0, so you can easily include the drawings in word documents, etc. It isn’t art, but it handles things like org charts and such very well. Highly recommended.

In spite of all the new equipment, Jim still claims he needs a more powerful machine.

Bridge

This was my favorite bridge hand of the year. The game was IMPS. This was the first hand of the round. Dealer: West. Vul: None.

The bidding:                

Opening lead: 4♥. RHO plays the King.

I held the East hand. The first bid was automatic, but I stretched slightly on the second. Precision lets you get away with this bid because the hand is limited by your failure to open 1♣. I took a long time before bidding 6 ♦. I tried to think of a hand that was worth a slam try, but wasn’t good enough to open. I finally decided that partner had to have good trumps, and a black King in addition to the Club Ace. So I took a shot at it. The slam is a good one, but there are too many ways to play it. You can’t cater to everything.

Most people when given the hand play it the way I did at the table. I won the opening Heart lead, ruffed a heart low, played one high trump from the board (both followed) and led a spade to my Ace. Nothing remarkable happened, so I ruffed another Heart, and played AK of Clubs. The Queen fell on my left on the second Club, but I ignored that and led another, ruffing with my 9. Alas, the 10 ♦ appeared on the table, followed by a Spade. Down 1. This line of play is about 75%, but I think there is one even better.

I should have won the heart lead, led a trump to the Queen, and returned a low spade, assuming that both follow in trumps. Then, if no spade honor appears, I can stick in the 8! This wins in a number of cases: whenever the spades are 3-3, or when you find a singleton or doubleton honor on your right. Moreover, if LHO returns a trump when in with the spade, you can let it run to your 9. Then you can use the final trump and the clubs to set up the spades in dummy. A priori, this is about 80%. It is even better when you consider the opening lead. Surely the leader would have led a Spade instead of a Heart if he had either a singleton, or the KQ. When you eliminate those from the equation, this line is almost a cinch. At the table, RHO had the doubleton King of Spades.

We lost the match because of this hand.

Jim’s Philosophical Nonsense

Several years ago, I noted in this letter that I had given up trying to find the answer to “Why is there anything at all?” I started working on “Is there anything at all.” It has taken some time, but now I think I can state unequivocally that the answer is, “No. You’re imagining everything. Or maybe I’m imagining everything. Probably we’re both imagining everything. Think about that!”

Somehow, this still doesn’t seem like the end of the questions.

Pillow Talk

We lay together in the warm and comfortable afterglow of lovemaking. Our legs were entwined. Her head rested in the depression of my shoulder. The music, her choice, was a CD by K. T. Oslen. The song, “Do ya?” was appropriate, especially the line “Do you like the feel of my body lying next to ya?” She couldn’t let the moment pass. Raising herself on one elbow she whispered, “You can be very exasperating at times, but I wouldn’t want to live without you.” After a brief hesitation, I replied, “I think that’s one of the nicest things you’ve ever said to me.”

We both laughed.