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Intro 1998 1999 2000 2001

Well, another few weeks have passed between journal entries, but I really have little time to do much at weekends. Getting home lateish on Fridays and having to leave Sunday lunchtime gives me Saturday to do anything, and things like the journal takes a low priority.

So, has anything exciting been happening recently? Not really. We proceed onwards to completing the purchase of our new home. Everything seems to be proceeding for the final paperwork to be signed next Saturday. We've booked the movers for Friday 6th August, which gives Cathy a few days to clean. It's worked out pretty neat, because I have an Oracle quarterly business meeting the same day, which will be in Portland of all places. That means I get home on the Thursday evening and can spend some time packing, etc., ready for the Friday, and then help move some smaller pieces in the evening. And we will actually be moved in that evening. Our first night in our own, new home. Man, I can hardly believe it...

What else? Last Friday, 9-Jul-99, saw my 40th birthday come and go. Most of it was spent in New Orleans, a large part in various planes and airports, and a few hours in Lake Oswego. Note that none was spent at home! We had a barbecue with our good friends, Mitzi and David Keating, and his sister and husband. It was only after a short while that I realized that both Cathy and I were imbibing of the falling down juice, so I guessed that we were staying overnight. Sure enough, so I didn't even get to open any presents until the next day.

Because I'm here so little I've been cancelling any refereeing assignments and losing big bucks (yeah, right!). However, this weekend I was assigned as Assistant referee for a couple of games with one of the refereeing co-ordinators for Oregon (an English guy from Northampton), so I went ahead with it. In the end, he switched times, but it was fun anyway. Two U-19 games, which were pretty wild, especially the second, which saw several yellow cards being issued. A good experience.

The kids are all enjoying the vacation, and the weather has been quite reasonable, varying from around 65 to 96f. Cathy is just spending her time keeping up with them.

One thing that working in New Orleans does is give me plenty of time to read. I've finished almost four books now. Three of these have been by Harry Turtledove, in the alternative history genre. Two have been related to the American Civil war. The first is an out and out Science Fiction type story which has some timetravellers going back to 1862 and arming the Confederates with AK-47s (!). The other is a more simple analysis of what if the Confederates had managed to deal a decisive blow to the United States, forcing recognition of the Confederate States of America by France and Britain, thus bring the war to an end. The third is a follow-on from the second, where both the United and Confederate States take part in the First World War. All three are well written andd present a good story throught the eyes of many participants. I'll have to track down more of his writings.

Well, once again my weekend is almost over, and it's almost time to head to the airport for the 6 hours of travelling to reach New Orleans. The bag is packed and I'm charging my laptop. The Oracle one runs NT, which is as much use as a chocolate teapot for running games and stuff. My one runs Win95, so I can at least play Civilization, or a new game I bought, Imperialsm II, while I'm away.

Toodle pip until the next episode!