Father of the bride speach

My name is Don and I am Michelle’s dad. As the father of the bride, I have the privilege and honor of making the first speech and toast to… Jason… and… Michelle.

First I’d like to acknowledge and thank all of you who have traveled a distance to celebrate this occasion. It’s wonderful to meet so many new friends and share with all the old ones.

Michelle is probably worried that I will say something inappropriate or somehow embarrass her in some other way.  You know - I haven’t planned to - but it won’t be out of character if I do.

Growing up and competing with two older brothers honed Michelle’s analytical eye and smooth smile that can charm you out of whatever it is she wants. As she matured, she developed the princess role in the family. 

We probably should have known early on, that Michelle would end up in nursing. I remember her not wanting the shot she was going to get to help her get over pneumonia; or when she fell from the top bunk and cut her eyelid open on the base of a metal chair; or when they stitched it up; or when they took out the stitches, she was a champ. She returned to the emergency room for an encore visit in the first grade after she broke her ankle on the new playground equipment; and again a couple of years ago when she twisted her ankle at the Junior College parking garage.

Michelle, you look beautiful today. You should know that your mother and I are very proud of you and your accomplishments. Keep up the good work sweetie, we love you.

Jason we are happy to welcome you and your family into our family. We are very grateful for your mom Lisa, and your dad Steve, brother Ryan, son Noah and all your relatives who have joined us in this celebration today. We are glad to know you and your kind spirit. May each of you always love and cherish each other as much as you do today.

For a long, loving and happy life together. - To Jason and Michelle.

A word on Word Processing

My first real job out of college was as a technical writer for Multisonics, Inc., a manufacturer of computer based vehicle traffic control systems. Way ahead of their time, Multisonics was one of the first companies to use microprocessors in commercial applications in the early 1970’s. To document or describe the controllers or systems we would write long hand on a lined paper tablet and give it to a typist who would type a rough draft onto regular typing paper. After we proofed the rough draft she would retype the material onto clay-backed paper. Our graphic artist would cut and paste the pages onto art boards; one board for each page in the document.

From the beginning, I thought this process laborious and time-consuming.  It could be messy if something changed and had to be re-inserted into the master and reprinted using an offset printing process. The documents we created included schematic drawings and were user manuals and maintenance guides for troubleshooting and programming the intersection controllers.

The first word processor I ever saw was an IBM Selectric typewriter with an interface / converter attached to it. Having to type the material the first time didn’t bother me. It was just as fast as writing it long hand.  Using a computer to save the file for later use made a lot of sense especially when it came to changes or corrections.  But alas, I could not get the software department to develop a program to run on our computers.

By the end of the decade, personal computers began to appear and one of the most obvious applications needed was a word processor. Tandy had one for their TRS-80 and most personal computer suppliers had one. Before long there were many offerings on the market including Word Star and Word Perfect. 

The evolution of the personal computer industry allowed me to move into new roles with a focus more on selling and marketing products than documenting them but like everyone else. I had my personal favorite too. The passion users developed for word processors was akin to religion. People would explain why their favorite was the best. I remember well the National Computer Conference in 1979 where Exidy introduced a word processor pack for their Sorcerer personal computer. People were begging for an early release copy and would promise almost anything to get their hands on one.

Word Star, Word Perfect, and many others were supplanted by Microsoft Word then Word for Windows. New features were introduced that made word processors very useful, like spelling and grammar checkers, mail merge routines, and forms processing applications.

Word processing made the typewriter dated at best or extinct at worst. The evolution of the printer has trailed behind the word processor and seen technology shift from impact, daisy-wheel, dot matrix, laser jet and bubble jet printers.

Millions of people use word processors every day now and it makes me feel a little warmer inside knowing I had a tiny part in pushing the need for word processing forward.

Hello 2012

Starting off another New Year and lots of tragedy in the news. Italian cruise ship capsized on its side; Penn State Football coach suffers personal tragedy is diagnosed with cancer then dies; Gabby Giffords resigns from Congress and we’re all a year wiser.  The race for the Republican nomination for president is providing lots of entertainment too (I’ll keep my opinion to myself). The San Francisco Forty Niners had a good season, the Oakland Raiders did not and the Raider’s owner passed away.

We got a new fence thanks to my son Kevin and my daughter-in-law Natalie. Natalie’s brother Matthew did most of the work. The fence looks great now. Natalie is finishing her Masters degree in Psychology and Kevin is working his way through the MBA program at the University of San Diego. They both love San Diego and miss being home with family too.

My daughter, Michelle, is making preparations for her July wedding and starting the second half of her Nursing program. My kids are all grownups and it’s kind of weird. 

My sister, Vaughn, is recovering from cancer and six weeks of radiation treatments. That got my attention and I finally honored the requests of several doctors and nurses to have a colonoscopy done. I should not have worked so hard trying to avoid it. It wasn’t worth all the trouble. So if you are stressing over this procedure, don’t. I think the two-day preparation and difficulty making a successful IV connection were the worst part of it.

My brother Mark is having a hip replaced and getting prepared for retirement. We’re all a bunch of ‘old farts’ now. I am trying to maintain a positive outlook, although you might not be able to tell from this blog entry. I will be attaining an age I never thought I would reach and I am humming the Beatles song “When I’m Sixty-Four.”

Letter from Shelley on 911

Hello family,

Just thought I would share with you what I saw today while traveling from Santa Rosa to Livermore, to Manteca, and back to Santa Rosa:

Today I saw two things that really struck me, first, the amount of American Flags everywhere, and I mean everywhere. Our entire neighborhood had their flags up, almost every freeway overpass had an American flag either standing on a flagpole or hanging down over the overpass for oncoming traffic to see. The more affluent communities, like Danville, San Ramon, and Alamo, had beautiful live red roses intertwined on the overpass railings for the drivers to enjoy, with small flags in between the roses, and a huge flag hanging down in the middle. In Tracy there is a huge cross that is burned into the landscape, it says "Jesus saves", and it had 8 American flags all around it. In Vallejo at the marina, all the boats had their American flag flying at half mast. In Manteca, the city purchased 2,000 (yes I did say 2,000) 8' American flags that were standing 15' apart all the way down main street on both sides, and all the way down the center of town on both sides. The city had installed small flag holders into the sidewalks. Wish I had my camera for that one, it was amazing, talk about small town patriotism, and with the wind gently blowing, it really captured your attention. Amazingly, on one freeway overpass, there was a Priest or minister holding and waving a large American flag with one hand and pointing to Heaven with the other. No joke.

When Kevin was in Afghanistan I started to notice the American flag much more than usual, and of course, it took on a whole new meaning for me. Suddenly I was seeing the flag everywhere I went, having never paid much attention before he was deployed. Now I can't take my eyes off of the flag when I see it. Not only does it remind me what a great country America is, but also how proud we are of Kevin and all the other soldiers out there, and how lucky our family is that Kevin came home safely, unlike many other soldiers who didn't come home alive, may they rest in peace.

Here is the 2nd thing that struck me today. My spiritual self, loves to notice white birds, especially Egrets, and Egrets love to hang out on both sides of Hwy 37 and along my drive to the Benicia bridge while I am driving to visit my parents. The reason a white bird, especially one that is in flight, captures my attention so much is that it makes me think of the Holy Spirit. It makes me think that someday when we all die, we will be free and in flight in heaven, just like birds are here on Earth. When I know someone who has just died, like our friend John Sutherland who died recently at age 62, and I witness a beautiful white bird in flight, it makes me think of that person, and that they are free now. It's kind of hard to explain, but the bird is telling me that the person's spirit is out there and very happy.

So of course, I look high and low for my friends the Egrets, and do I ever see any? No, hardly ever, and if I do see them, there may be one or two, or perhaps on a good day there will be 3 along my drive. But not on this day, Sept 11th, the 10th anniversary of one of our nation's worst tragedies. Today I see literally HUNDREDS of Egrets, many in flight, along Hwy 37, some beautifully gliding right next to my car, and I can tell you that what popped into my mind was the spirit of all those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. What an unbelievable sight, reminding me of all whose lives were lost on that tragic day. We have lived in Santa Rosa since 1988, and never until today have I ever seen hundreds of Egrets along my drive. Funny how God reminds me of his Holy Spirit.

Love to all,

Shelley

My How Time Flies

It’s June, July, August already and only my second post this year! Time to catch up.

Kevin and Natalie are now residents of San Diego where Kevin will be teaching ROTC at the University of San Diego. He and Natalie are within visiting distance again.

Michelle and her beau, Jason King, got engaged! Very romantic -- at our house so we had a front row seat of the whole thing. Very sweet.

Our elected officials have decided to “play Chicken” with the economy over raising the debt ceiling and balancing the national budget. The Japanese women won the World Cup!  More news anchors coming and going. Adios Elliot Spritzer from CNN.

One of the first papers I wrote in my first college English class was an essay on Freedom. 40 years ago I thought freedom wasn’t really free. I believe you have a responsibility to bear in order to be free. Obeying the law, because we are a country of laws, etc., right down to telling the truth and doing the right thing.

That’s pretty much pie in the sky nowadays. I am saturated with news about folks telling lies and twisting stories to avoid discovery or gain in stature somehow, or worse. If more naive people like myself, would believe the responsibility they owe is for the freedom they earn for “playing fair,” this world would be a better place.

I quoted the book “Easy Rider” (and confess that I saw the movie first.) It was an early independent film and is a classic. There are some interesting things about freedom in the book and I encourage you to get a copy and read it. Or you can see the movie online.

Beware the Ides of March

Were it not for Julius Cesar by William Shakespeare I wouldn’t know what the Ides of March was. 

It has been a few months since I added to my blog and I’m long overdue. There have been so many tragedies the first few months of 2011; it’s hard to know where to begin. In January a lunatic shot congress woman Gabriele Giffords in the head at point blank range. In February, the Middle East was smitten with a revolt by people who decided to take matters into their own hands with the help of social media, overthrowing the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt; and still trying in several other Middle Eastern and North African countries as of this writing. Then March 11^th Japan endured a 9.0 earthquake, massive Tsunami and multiple nuclear power plant melt downs. This has been Apocalyptic.

Some folks predict the position of the lunar orbit on March 19^th will cause more catastrophes. Like we haven’t had enough already?

Looking back to an archived post, I predicted the economic downturn and severe unemployment when I suggested we would all have to figure out how to get along with less but no way did I see these disasters coming. The magnitudes of the crisis in Japan exceeded everyone’s worst-case scenarios.  Our own reactors are built to withstand a 7.0 earthquake. We didn’t foresee a 9.0 and we are in trouble as well if we get one that big. Tsunamis are fairly rare but we have seen two devastating occurrences of these tidal waves in 7 years. 

Even the anti-nuke folks never imagined multiple power plants failing simultaneously which might result in uninhabitable regions of the Japanese island nation for all eternity. Who knows, Japan could become its own solar generator. The events are almost unfathomable. I thought last year’s BP gulf oil spill was the worst catastrophe of the modern era but these events eclipse even that. 

Natural disasters, like other miracles in our lives, are always difficult to understand.                                                                                                                                                  

John Sutherland – Rest In Peace

After I graduated from San Francisco State in December 1975, I went back to playing the drums at Spider Murphy’s in Old Sacramento with a band called the Night Owl Express. The first real gig that came along after SF State was a Technical Writing job in San Ramon for a company called Multisonics in 1976 and that’s where I first met Bruce Odelberg. Bruce and I struck up a friendship and he suggested I move into the old 19th-century house in Sunol with him to share the rent. There were four of us living there at that time, Bruce, myself, John Meyers and John Sutherland. The house was very large, great for parties and we each had our own rooms.

Sutherland was a friendly guy and we hit it off right away. John was very likable and a fun-loving laid back individual. We were all the same age, and John worked nights for Yellow Freight while Bruce, John Meyers and I worked in the daytime at Multisonics.  John was especially kind to me making sure I was included in many social activities. He had a great sense of humor and figured out early in life that his ego didn’t matter. Everyone who met him liked John; he was a lot of fun to be around. 

Money was pretty tight for me in those days and I remember it was John who loaned me the money to go to Great America on one occasion. He gave me a pair of work boots for a fishing trip we took in the Sierras. The three of us spent a good amount of time camping, fishing and hanging out together.

On one fishing trip to the Klamath River, John brought his bride-to-be, Lynn and the four of us (John, Lynn, Bruce and I) slept in the same tent during our week long trip. We not only fished for steelhead we caught quite a few and Bruce’s mom and dad smoked the fish at our campground. 

A few months after they got married, I married my wife Shelley; Bruce was my best man and John was a groomsman in the wedding. We bought a house in Dublin just down the street from John and Lynn and shared many weekend barbecues at the Sutherland home. We had a few margaritas too. Some of the best times in those days were spent with John and Lynn. Once, John decided to use gasoline instead of lighter fluid to start the barbecue; I think he used it to kill weeds in the lawn too. Shelley and Lynn cracked me up when they posed for a picture, each wearing half of the same pair of broken sunglasses.

It wasn’t long before our families grew. First with the birth of their son Ian whom Shelley used to visit as often as she could and then with our son Brian. Our second son Kevin came shortly after Lynn gave birth to the twins, Sadie, and Lucy and by then the Sutherlands had moved to Pleasanton and Shelley and I were living in Livermore. I remember visiting John and Lynn and giving them a box of condoms in case they were having too many babies. We all laughed. John was a good husband, father and a great son. After his mom passed away he would spend time with his dad whose health was failing.

Some of my favorite music came from John. He introduced me to the Story of Jesse James which is a compilation of songs by a variety of artists including Johnny Cash that retells the legend through songs.

Shelley and I moved to Santa Rosa after our daughter Michelle was born and would stop in to visit John and Lynn on our annual holiday sojourns to Livermore. When they moved to Redding, we stayed in contact with Lynn with annual Christmas cards. Our kids grew up, went to college, got married and started families of their own. 

So we were greatly surprised and saddened to hear that John passed away on October 5^th, 2010 at the age of 62. Be thou at peace.