Tom's Diary

Mary Ann,

It turns out that I will not be able to make it up there the weekend of the 11th. Our bowling league just announced our yearly bowling banquet. It happens to be on the 11th. And being that our team finished in 1st place last year, I wanted to be there to get the awards and recognition. :–)) Sounds like you’ll be busy with your other guests that weekend anyhow. I will be at Mom’s over Labor Day weekend. So if you guys get up to her place, I might see you then.

It looks from the email you sent, that you were unable to view those pictures I sent you. Is that right?

Well, gotta get back to work. Talk to you soon.

Tom

Hi Chris.

No problem about the alumni. I was feeling a bit awkward about it anyway. Just curious. Who opposed my attending?

I’ll still be home for Labor Day weekend and am going to try to get to part of the football game on Friday night. My train gets to Altoona at about 7:50 PM. So, I might be able to be there for the second half.

Glad you liked the email. It was from the heart.

Well, I’m off to bed. Have a good week, and I’ll see you this weekend.

Later.

Tom Hesley

Hi there, [Tamara].

Nice to receive your email.

Oh, all Is well at this end.

Looks like Ron and Matt will be able to join in on the ham radio fun next year at camp, now that they have their tickets. That’s wonderful.

Rick is making some headway with getting the Beacon Lodge Amateur Radio Enthusiasts (BLARE) club up and running. He has filed the necessary paperwork with the FCC. Next year, potential hams at camp will be able to operate 3rd party, using the club’s call, which I believe is going to be W3BLC (for Beacon Lodge Camp) or something like that. It’s very exciting.

On to Microsoft: No, I haven’t finished those courses. I’m not sure now if I’ll get to them or not. My job responsibilities have changed considerably since January. And I have to begin working with a new system in the next few weeks. Learning all that is required to do that, will be most challenging, and will not leave much time for the Microsoft studies. And it appears as though things will continue to be busy for the rest of the year. So, as fate would have it, I may not get to complete ALL the certification courses. But I did enjoy studying them. We’ll just have to see how it goes.

Best wishes on quickly finding other work, once you get laid off. You’re bright, and will probably have little difficulty.

I’ll mention to Rick that you’ve been trying to raise him tomorrow night, when we dine together at the Broadway.

Give TK my congratulations on passing his general. He’ll be and extra before he knows it if he keeps going at this rate. When are you going to get your general?

Carl sent me a tape the other day. He’s back to work and water skiing, and is doing well. He can never stay away from the water for very long.

Well, time for me to run as well. Thanks for the line. And take care.

 
Tom Hesley

Dear sister Mary Ann,

Hi there.

Glad you liked the email.

I will be at Mom’s for Labor Day.

I was also thinking of coming up to your place for the tale gate party. I’d probably ride the train to Lewistown. The available stops are Lewistown, Huntingdon, and Altoona. So, pick the stop that is most convenient for you. I’d probably come up on Friday September 10th, at roughly 6:30 PM, and go home on Sunday, September 12th, at 1:00 PM. Let me know if you can accommodate me and I will get you more detailed specifics of my trip, such as the location of the Lewistown train station.

I can work with Joann over Labor Day on the email issue.

Yep, I’m behind on the house work also. I just bought a real nice leather office chair and file cabinet, and just finished rearranging the office to fit them in. Had to move and re cable two of my computers. *yuck*

Been thinking about buying a digital camera. That would make it much easier and faster to send pics over email, like this one.      Can you view these? Just double-click the attachments. What will likely happen is that your web browser will start and the pics will display in there.

…

The first picture is a yellow rose. The second portrays the last woman to steal my heart (about two years ago). Her name is   [Vee], and she sent me these a while back. If you can see them, then,, once I get a camera, I’ll be able to send you pics of life here in Philly.

Got to go for now. Talk to you later.

Tom

Mary Ann,

Most people probably do not discuss this stuff until it is too late, because it demands a discomforting level of thought to address fully and correctly. But after thinking about it a while, I’ve discovered that my answers are pretty simple, actually, though perhaps a bit verbose. So, here goes. . .

Concepts That Make Me Happy

• Good Health,
• Winter, spring, summer, and fall times,
• Times of sleep,
• Being awake,
• Dreaming,
• Computers, and ALL technology,
• Reading,
• Writing,
• Beautiful women,
• Music,
• Riding trains, busses, cars, and planes,
• Vacations,
• Working hard,
• Getting a hair cut,
• Taking a bath,
• Eating,
• Visiting friends,
• Puttering around in my office,
• Christmas decorations,
• Sadness, followed by enlightenment.

Regrets

I have no regrets. That is to say, I would not want to go back and change anything about the past. I would not even want to trade my eyes for ones that could see 20 / 20. There are no unresolved issues or hostilities within me anyone. Our parents did the best they could and I have unbounded respect and awe, for what they accomplished together, particularly in regards to us kids. Now heaven knows that I disagreed with them often. But as the years progress, I become more and more aware of their high degree of dedication to us, the sacrifices they made, how much they wanted for us all to be successful, and their kindness, even when they seemed mean and angry. And after hearing about so many dysfunctional families on the news these days with their catastrophic problems, I realize now that our family life was pretty darn good. I’ve come to view OUR childhood years as a paragon of healthy family living, all things considered. And I rejoice in the memories of back then.

Fears

I do not fear growing old, getting sick, nor even dying itself. I am comfortable with all the possible alternatives that might happen after death (at least, all the ones I’ve considered). I will be at peace meeting God in all His glory (Christianity), moving on to a new life (reincarnation), or, if it be so, simply passing away, into oblivion. Oblivion, where there is no life after death at all, where consciousness fades back into the nothingness from which it came when we were born (atheism). Not even THIS possibility frightens me anymore.

However, I DO fear dying without having experienced lasting mutual love and attraction with a good, honest, caring, and beautiful woman. I pray that someday, I will resolve this issue permanently, either by becoming involved with such a lady, or, learning new ways of seeing the issue so it becomes a NON issue. I hope that I will have the answer, one way or another, before my lungs fill with air for the last time.

Anyway, that’s enough philosophizing for now.  I hope that should you survive me, you will know that I did not die with hate in my heart. Damn, I feel good ! ! ! 

Do you know if Joann and Kenny ever got set up on AOL? He did install a phone jack next to his computer. So now, it should be just a matter of them getting signed up.

On the computer for Mom: If you can get it to her house, I will set it up for her once I check it out and see what more she needs. When you get this computer, be sure to ask the original owners for any software licenses they might have that came with it. That way, we won’t have to purchase Windows for Mom. Or, if we do, we can get the ‘upgrade version’ which costs half as much as a full version. She really wants one by the way. She was just asking me the other day if she could buy one of mine from me. I told her that we’d arrange something.

On automatic spell checking on your email: Did you ever contact your ISP about this? I’ve been browsing the book stores and as of yet, have been unable to find any documentation on Eudora.

Later.

Tom

Dear [LisaK],

Hi there! Wow, what a surprise. Fancy, seeing you on the Internet. It’s great fun exchanging email, browsing the web, participating in chat room discussions, exchanging pictures, Etc. You’ll really enjoy learning the technology, and using it once you become an expert at it.

Yep, I remember you. Couldn’t forget all those evenings on your porch on 2nd street with the gang. How hospitable you, Beebee, and the rest of your family were. It would be nice, sometime, to have a Porch Reunion. Seeing how all of us have changed over the years, would prove most intriguing.

All is well with me. I’m really enjoying life here, in the Frankford section of the city, in Northeast Philly. My address is:
PHILADELPHIA PA 19124

I’ve been living in the Philadelphia area for just over two years now. Moved here just after Dad died. Doesn’t seem like two years by any means. Seems like yesterday.

I’ve been meaning to thank you for all the help and support you gave us when Dad passed. Mom really appreciated your assistance with keeping the house organized with all the people going in and out. Your presence was comforting, made that time of mourning much less painful, and showed how genuine friendship can span all the years. Though I hadn’t seen you for almost a decade prior to that time, when we needed you, you came from the past to be with us. And we DID need you. Dad’s death was certainly premature. He got no chance to enjoy his retirement before becoming ill. And though we all had a year or so to prepare for his departure, when the time actually came, we were NOT prepared emotionally. But having you there helped to ease the shock. Ah well, I know I’m not doing a very good job at expressing the sentiment here. But I’m sure I speak for our whole family when I say that I have never seen the friendship role played so well as when you played it then. You’re the kind of friend that most people spend their whole lives trying to find, and we feel blessed that you found us in that time of need. Thanks, thanks, thanks!!!

Anyway, on to other things. The job is going well. Working from home is nice. Much quieter than the campus cubes were. In fact, the head of the home basing program just wrote an article about my experiences and how well it has been going. She just sent it to me for my review. She wants to sell the idea of home basing to the rest of the company. Might make getting computer and administrative support easier if people understand how us folks manage to get things done from home. It’s great.

It is good that you were able to leverage your teaching skills in teaching computers. That should really help quickly get you up to speed on this ‘90s stuff.

Well, gotta get back to work. So take care. It was terrific hearing from you. Write soon.

Take care.

Tom

Just ordered this today. $159 total. I plan on using it with some 4GB Micropolis hard drives in a RAID configuration. This is for my Microsoft MCSE certification studies.

Tom Hesley

Congrats Ron, on passing your exam. Great feeling, ‘eh?

Well, on this program, I still have no time to work on this. I have much studying to do to get ready for a change in my work responsibilities being made this fall. Sorry I cannot help. You’ll need to find someone else.

Later.

Tom Hesley

Mary Ann,

Have a good weekend yourself.

I’m pretty busy as well. I did get caught up on all my email from vacation and unpacking from camp. Now tonight, I have to go grocery shopping to restock the refrigerator. Jenn is visiting tomorrow and so I’m getting things all tidy around here tonight too.

One other thing: On this issue about Mom and [her boy toy], I think it would be a good idea for us to plan a family meeting on this sometime soon. First, the kids (us five) would meet WITHOUT Mom, then, once we decide on the stand we’re going to take (if any), have another meeting with Mom present to express our thoughts to her. This would allow everyone to get their feelings on the table, to express and address rumors they’ve heard, and might make us all feel a bit easier about his new role in our family. Also, I get the impression that the records Mom keeps on her assets lack sufficient detail to prevent squabbling among us, when it comes time to divide up the estate. With that in mind, I’d like to begin working on getting a detailed list of her assets together so that we all have a copy. We all should also have (and review together) a current copy of her will. What do you think?

Well, gotta go. So have fun with Tom’s Mom. I bet the kids like having her there.

Tom

On the screen saver, don’t know why it isn’t working. Sometimes, certain programs, when run, disable the screen saver, sometimes by accident, sometimes by design. You may have such a program on your system. Unfortunately, these can be difficult to find. You have to do it by disabling all extra programs. The screen saver should then work. Then, you enable each program again, one at a time, until you find the one that stops the screen saver. A call to your computer vendor’s support number may be able to help diagnose this. Computer manufacturers often put their own add-on software on their machines, above and beyond what is in Windows 98. They should be able to tell you if any of their programs is causing this.

Went up to see Jen last night. We had plumbs, grapes, cherries, ice cream, and crumb cake for dinner. Tonight we’re going to have a vegetable stir fry and more fruit. It takes an hour to get to her place on the bus. I’ll probably get up to see her a couple times. She’ll be a great friend, although at this point, I do not see the relationship developing into anything mutually romantic. But time will tell I suppose.

I finished all that email. Many of them were messages sent to a group, not specifically intended for me. And some were automated messages that our programs sent to me as part of their routine operations. So I didn’t have to actually read all of those.

Well, gotta get back to work. Have a good morning. Going to be a beauty here (high today of 88 degrees with low humidity).

Take care.

Tom