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||||||\strut {\rm$^{\enskip 8}$Louis}\cr
|||||\multispan2\hrulefill\cr
{\ten Keith G.\ Calkins}|
|||\strut {\rm$^4$James}|\vrule|{\rm$^{\enskip 9}$Florence}\qquad\qquad\cr
|||\multispan4\hrulefill\cr
||\strut {\rm$^2$Keith}|\vrule|||{\rm$^{10}$Henry}|\cr
|\multispan2\hrulefill|||\multispan2\hrulefill\cr
{\ten 610 N. Main St.}|
\vrule||\vrule|\strut {\rm$^5$LaFern}|\vrule|{\rm$^{11}$Fern}\cr
|\vrule||\multispan4\hrulefill\cr
|\vrule|\strut {\rm$^1$Theron}\qquad\qquad\quad||||{\rm$^{12}$Lawrence}\cr
|\multispan2\hrulefill|||\multispan2\hrulefill\cr
{\ten Berrien Springs, MI\quad 49103-1013\qquad\qquad\qquad\quad}|
\vrule|||\strut {\rm$^6$Matthew}|\vrule|{\rm$^{13}$Gleeda}\cr
|\vrule||\multispan4\hrulefill\cr
|\vrule|\strut {\rm$^3$Terri}|\vrule|||{\rm$^{14}$John}\cr
|\multispan2\hrulefill|||\multispan2\hrulefill\cr
{\ten December 31, 1990}|
||\vrule|\strut{\rm$^7$Kathleen}\qquad\qquad|\vrule|{\rm$^{15}$Eunice}\cr
|||\multispan4\hrulefill\cr}}$$
\ten
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\noindent{\twelve\bf Dear family and friends,}
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Bah-humbug, April Fools!
Some of you may remember my first x-mas
newsletter in 1986 which indicated
a dislike for such. Well, my attitude keeps softening and the 1987
newsletter was last updated on February 25, 1989. So, after
languishing in my briefcase all this time, it needed drastic surgery.
Now, instead of a strict chronological presentation, a topical
arrangement has been superimposed for clarity. Maybe some year when
I am old, rich, or famous I can use these notes for my
autobiography!
So, thank-you for all the cards and letters---I haven't forgotten them.
Now you will know what keeps us busy.
\cl{ }
\cl{\fourteen\bf Family}
\noindent{\twelve\bf It's a boy}---By
far the most drastic change in the area of family was the
April 27, 1990 birth of our son Theron Latham Fitzhugh Calkins.
He was 6 lbs.\ 6.5 oz., 19.5 in, quite blue at birth
(Apgar 8/9), but pinked right up. His blond hair shows hints of red,
but his long black eyelashes will be envied. Now he is motivating
in a vertical orientation whenever possible and climbing whenever
the opportunity presents itself. He has \rlap4/ \rlap5/ 6
teeth with more
on the way. His name is genealogical in origin.
His initials match his mother's, Theron was a well-liked
big brother to my great-grandpa George Fox, Latham was my
great-grandpa Seward Blackmer's mother's maiden name, and Fitzhugh
means son of Hugh, Hugh being the original
($\approx$ 1638) Calkins immigrant.
As Hugh also means intelligent, other definitions may also apply.
\noindent{\twelve\bf Terri}---has
been on the local district library board since 1986.
They are proud of their new building which opened this summer.
She continued her horseback-riding until she was seven months
pregnant---that became an {\sl in utero} naptime for Theron---he
still likes gentle motion while he naps.
Terri quit her part-time secretarial
work at the AU History department in June 1989
and began working full-time for Interlink as the office manager.
She worked until her
eighth month and Interlink shut it's doors soon after Theron was born.
She has been a homemaker ever since---with diapers every day and
(wonder of wonders) cooking nearly every day! On a sadder note,
Terri's mother suffered a stroke on June 27, 1989. She has
regained some use of her right leg and speech, but use of her right arm
is very limited.
\noindent{\twelve\bf Via}---July
1987 we moved Terri's friend back to Michigan
and she lived with us for about a year. Six months later she
started work with a tree trimming crew along the east coast. Then after
store clerking in Maine and summer camp subdirectoring in Virginia
she was married about November in Florida. For that Terri went to
Florida twice, the second time leaving Theron with me for five days.
\noindent{\twelve\bf Pets}---We
still have Nightskye our neutered female cat found abandoned near
Terri's folks in 1983. She prefers one-on-one encounters and
remains hidden inside most of the time. Fall 1986 we inherited my
Grandmother's neutered female cat Beauty. She is relinquishing her
``top dog" role. Soon after Via moved in, her boss's wife brought
an abandoned male puppy in to work on its way to the pound. When Via
moved out she could not find an apartment which accepted pets---so
Galahad stayed on and soon decided he was my dog.
He is of mixed origin and will not be procreating.
In June 1989 Terri found yet another kitten this time near the AU dump.
He is a neutered male, and although small, Nimrod is top dog. As he
imprinted on Galahad, that's what he thinks he is---a dog---chasing
cats and playing with Galahad
and Muffin, the neighbor dog.\hfill\break
\break
\noindent{\twelve\bf Canoeing}---In
1986, Fred and family canoed down the Pine river near the time of
the July family reunion. This was a one canoe, one day trip.
In 1987, I brought Mathue and Michelle up to the reunion early
and met Fred and family at Baxter bridge which was the middle
point of our two day trip down the Manistee river using three canoes.
Bethany joined us. As I recall, we had
planned on 85 miles, most went 75 miles, and I canoed 65 miles.
As evening approached on the second day, the weather
worsened and I hoofed and hitchhiked to the van to relocate it.
The turtle chases, deer, evidence of bear and the dumped ``dry"
canoe at final landing will be remembered.
In 1988 we made a two day canoe trip on the Muskegon river,
with three canoes.
That was a dry year, and even though we started downriver from
our initial plans, it was exciting. This trip also took in fireworks
at Houghton Lake. The ``road" we took to scout the river was
a roller coaster.
The 1989 James Calkins family reunion was cancelled, so the annual
canoe trip was held in southern Indiana on the Blue river (it looked
brown to us). Fred
brought up Keren, Jephthae and Zadok, while Margaret brought down
Mathue and Michelle. As I went to the Osman Calkins family reunion
at Sherman township and had a blowout,
I was delayed, wandering around at 2 am searching for the
campground with Galahad. The baby vultures and trip into Marango
cave will long be remembered. This was a one day, three canoe trip.
In 1990, my father, Bethany, and Bruce's clan joined us on a one
day, five+ canoe trip down the Pine river.
The Pine river is generally considered challenging,
and in addition it was in flood stage, although that wasn't
obvious until we were committed. Within the first mile I had spilled
Michelle and Bruce had dumped.
Later, we muscled Fred's canoe out from where
a log bent another group's canoe and just minutes later, I dumped
and another one of the other group's canoe ``disappeared" into the
depths. I piloted the disabled canoe down to the landing.
We gained more experience than planned on that trip!
\noindent{\twelve\bf Jaw}---One day in February 1987 I woke up with
my jaw muscle cramped. It did not improve over the next few weeks,
so Terri arranged an appointment with a TMJ specialist. He
pretended the reference came from my dentist and outfitted me with
an appliance which separated my teeth slightly, allowing my front
teeth to clear and my muscles to determine where they wanted
my jaw to be. Physical therapy let things relax and by
late summer my jaw was indicating a different resting place.
An appreciated side-affect was the disappearance of my incapacitating
headaches.
March 1988, an Orthodontist outfitted me with a bianator---a real
mouthful in more ways than one. This made it easier than ever to
just keep my mouth shut. Over the next twenty weeks we
``activated" the bianator 0.25 mm each week thus widening my jaw by
0.5 cm (or about 0.2 in) This gave room for my three lower incisors
which previous orthodontic work had attempted to push forward, pushing
my lower jaw back, causing some of my difficulties. We then
allowed my upper and lower teeth to grow toward each other.
On my birthday in 1989, I got brackets on the top then days later,
on the bottom. A year later they came off and since then my teeth
have stablized into what appears to be a workable position.
\cl{ }
\cl{\fourteen\bf Work}
\noindent{\twelve\bf AUCC}---At
the Computing Center, four of us old-timers were given
paper promotions in 1987 to Assistant Directors. In 1989
my hardware assistant quit and our director since
1980 ``took a lateral position." If that wasn't
enough, the president also placed the Computing Center
under the financial VP, thus bringing more criticism regarding our
ability to support academia. Meanwhile, as our three to five year
conversion off the Sigmas still had a future starting date, I was
able to push through the purchase of
ten new 5.25" 300mb disk drives to replace most of our
15+ year old 100mb drives.
After eight months we got a new director who was given the high
priority tasks of moving us out of the administration building
(yawn---isn't that an old, old story?)
and converting us quickly to U{\eight NIX.}
Bedlam is still the norm, but perhaps that ``year" LeRoy
wanted me to stay and help bring up more Sigma equipment is coming
to an end. The administration has published an April 1992 date
for pulling the plug, although many have stated that that has about
a year's worth of optimism in it---that three to five year conversion
period seems to have shrunk overnight to one to two years, which
is fine---I still want to finish my schooling and begin my career.
Various projects, dualing/moving the Sigma 9's, TCP-V, {\sl etc.\ }
are now on semi-permanent hold, although recent acquisition of
16Mb memory boxes has confused things considerably.
Two trips to California are worth noting in more detail. July 1987
and February 1990 were pickup and delivery service runs from Berrien
Springs to California and back---both times in a Ryder rental truck.
The first time Terri went as far as Phoenix.
The primary purpose for the first trip was
to take some disk controllers to Irvine for refurbishment, pick up
some batteries in Phoenix, install these batteries in Flagstaff and
back in Michigan. In addition there were stops in Hinsdale,
Loma Linda, and a pickup at Flagstaff on the return. Terri's best
friend Via was in Phoenix and was not going to move back when we
arrived. However, Terri quickly changed her mind so we moved her
back to Michigan as well. On the second trip, Byron accompanied
me. We delivered Sigma 9's in Flagstaff and Irvine, picked up disk
controllers and training in Irvine, memory at Western, and returned.
The three hour hike out of the Grand Canyon on the South Kaibab
trail will long be remembered.
\noindent{\twelve\bf$\overline{\rm X}\vrule\underline{\rm D}
\vrule\overline{\rm X}$}---Consulting
work for Telefile continued into 1987 until Telefile once
again declared bankrupcy in September. I even collected from them
on work done in 1988 on the ANSI certifiable
F{\eight ORTRAN} 77. Although
the bankrupcy had some undesireable affects on some, it was not all
bad. In summary, for miscellaneous consulting, the screen editor
and F{\eight ORTRAN,} Andrews received
miscellaneous equipment and four$\pm$ tri-density tape drives.
Telefile felt that our unspent ``teledollar" balance was
offset by the unmarketable C compiler. A large number of Telefile
employees formed
\rlap/S\rlap/y\rlap/m\rlap/m\rlap/e\rlap/t\rlap/r\rlap/y Belobox
and various legal entanglements were narrowly circumvented.
In June of 1987 as Telefile's financial situation was deteriorating,
a mini-TeleXchange meeting was scheduled in Washington, D.C. The
night before
departure I was alerted that the NASA--Goddard Sigma 9 was down
hard for two weeks with little progress on it's repair. I cautiously
indicated that I would attempt to assist---promising nothing, not
wanting to be too presumptuous. In summary, I was on-site less than
six hours and isolated their problem. As it did not show up under
diagnostics, a thorough understanding of both the operating system
and the hardware was required. I was well rewarded for the time spent.
I also went to the last (official) TeleXchange meeting
which was held in February 1988 in Long Beach.
I spent one exciting week in May 1989 in New Jersey with Warner
Computer Systems. They have the third largest Sigma 9 collection, but
will likely outlast the other two (Comshare, OCLC).
\cl{ }
\cl{\fourteen\bf School}
\noindent{\twelve\bf B.S.\ Physics}---Telefile's
bankrupcy allowed me to put several projects on hold
and go back to school. For review let me note that during my junior
year at Bogenhofen I decided to changed my major from Math.\ to Physics.
During the fall of 1978 I took 14 credits of Physics but then
began full-time work. By spring 1981 I was only 7 credits short of a
double major and graduation with honors. But I began taking
graduate courses that summer and graduated with a B.S.\ in Math.
I then finished my M.S.\ in Computer Information Science
by June 1982. I subsequently
took various classes, but as they shut down the Math.\ masters
there was little unifying theme.
I taught some,
my boss, George, quit and then
we started the Telefile association.
During the 1987-88 school-year I got back on track and
finished the requirements for my B.S.\ in physics with honors.
\noindent{\twelve\bf Argonne}---I
had planned to spend the fall of 1979 at Argonne National Laboratory.
That was when LeRoy persuaded me to put my schooling on hold and
assemble Sigma equipment. Nine years
later, fall 1988, I finally went---researching local order in
haloaluminate melts. It was an area which challenged my Math.,
Physics, Computer Science and Chemistry background. My 15 week
virtual absence at AUCC strained things considerably to say
the least (see above).
\noindent{\twelve\bf M.S.\ Physics/Mathematics}---Putting
together my Argonne experience and other classes we have
been able to satisfy most of the requirements for an
interdisciplinary masters degree in Physics and
Mathematics from Andrews University. I still have three
major challenges for that: 1) my Math.\ comps.\ winter quarter
(some material was taken in 1981-82), 2) take electricity and
magnetism, second quarter in the spring (first quarter was taken in
1980), and 3) my Physics comps.\ summer quarter (some material taken in
1978). If you don't use it you lose it.
\noindent{\twelve\bf Ph.D.\ in Physics}---I am applying
to various graduate programs for next school-year. Since Terri
has strong ties to the area, and since Andrews may be encouraging me
to stick around to keep the Sigmas running, {\sl etc.},
I am looking at programs within
``driving distance"---The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor being
the most distant. Although I expect to get some reviewing done for
my comps.\ this summer, two years of the usual Physics graduate classes
will allow me time to really master the material. How long it takes
after that to finish my Ph.D.\ will depend on a complex variety of
factors including the school, research, financing, {\sl etc.}
\cl{ }
\cl{\fourteen{\bf Hobbies}}
\noindent{\twelve\bf Caving/Speleology}---I
have now logged 43 trips into Reeves cave
and have surveyed 1 km---although
Englnsh units were used. Michigan Avenue was my major discovery.
About Christmas 1989 Garre came down to KY and Fred, Jephthae, Zadok,
and I (Keren was sick) went west two hours from his house and enjoyed
Xanadu cave. More caving details are in the
{\sl Underground Movement.}
July 1990, Bruce's clan joined Fred and his oldest three and
I with Mathue and Michelle in a wild caving trip.
It was a new experience for most.
We went to the Mountain Room and Michigan Avenue in Reeves cave.
Cindy decided it was an obstacle course, while the
children had a blast. Returning, Fred found his contacts
and M&M and I spent the night with B&C at McCormick Creek.
\noindent{\twelve\bf Genealogy}---A
phone call from a second cousin of my
father in June 1989 prompted me to dig
out and reorganize my genealogy research. Although we are
still searching for the origin of our ancestor though whom that callee
and I are related, I have been very successful in solving several
other mysteries. In addition, I collected documentation and
established Durkee Calkins as an SAR patriot while joining that
organization. Significant progress was made on the Graves,
Converse, Bullen, Warner, and Blackmer lines, as well as less
spectacular progress elsewhere.
\noindent{\twelve\bf \hbox{T\kern-.1667em\lower.5ex\hbox{E}\kern-.125em
X}}---At Argonne I had opportunity to learn this typesetting language.
It is powerful enough to write a B{\eight ASIC} interpreter in,
public-domain, available on most computers, and not a word-processor.
I am doing my genealogy in it, although I would not recommend that to
just anyone.
\noindent{\twelve\bf House}---Although
progress has been slow, we continue to work on the house.
Terri's blue bathroom is almost finished and the purple bedroom is
looking presentable. Terri and her folks had already worked on
what became the nursery while I was at Argonne.
Fred helped me build a new chimney one week
in August 1988. [I helped him replumb his house one long weekend
the prior October.] I now have enough space in the basement
so that my desk and file cabinets have been moved down there.
I hope to get my books organized soon! The roof of the
garage finally fell in in February 1990 and was subsequently
burned/discarded as planned. Other changes are still fluid as
we assess our time, money and future plans.
Well, that should cover it. Until next year (or so)---
\vfill
\eject
\end