Christmas Blog 1999

Season’s greetings to all! Hope you have all had a good year and wish you the best in the future!

As usual, our year hasn’t been filled with excitement, but we are finding that, as we "mature", we prefer the slower pace. We are trying to adjust to the fact that our fledglings are beginning to leave the nest. While we miss them when they are gone, it is nice to have some private, quiet time too. We actually had about ten days in August when there were just two of us!!

Our household suffered two losses this past year. Our dog passed away in August. She got into some garbage that had a container of rancid fat. The vet said the large fat meal itself might have shut down her pancreas or toxins in the rancid fat may have been the cause. She had been having occasional epileptic seizures for the past several months and the symptoms were quite similar, so we didn’t take her to the vet until it was too late. She was only 6 years old and we expected her to be with us for a long time yet.

Our second loss was not as dramatic, but it saddens us also. We lost our Darren to the siren song of the west coast. He went to Vancouver on a co-op work term as part of his university engineering course. He was supposed to be there for eight months and return to the University of Regina in September. However, he really liked living away from home with some other guys. And he really liked snowboarding in July. Finally, he decided that he was going to stay out there and go to school at UBC. He was too late to register for this fall, so he plans to enroll next September. In the meantime he is still working for Cominco Engineering Services and having a great time living the single life.

Carla spent the summer in Ottawa working for Nortel Networks. She enjoyed her time there and would willingly return after graduation if that is where her opportunities lie. She has to complete the current fall semester and the succeeding winter semester to graduate in the spring. She has started her job search, with Calgary and Ottawa being the most likely destinations at this time. She also is looking forward to being independent, but we know she will miss our company, our cooking, and especially our humour.

Laura made two trips to Japan on modeling contracts this year. Her first trip in January and February was a good experience. She made a new friend, got some work, and had a good time. The second trip in September and October was less enjoyable. She was in a bigger agency that was less personal, the accommodations were not as good, and she didn't get any work. She has an opportunity to go to Taiwan at a later date, but, after completing two semesters of school by correspondence, she wants to return to school in the new year and consider her options after that.

Celeste continues at the Industry Development branch of Sask Agriculture and Food. She still enjoys her work and it doesn’t appear that there will be any downsizing for now, so she may be there for a while longer.

Glenn remains with Nav Canada, working in the airport control tower. The atmosphere at work continues to deteriorate under Nav Canada. A new labour contract resulted in a nice salary raise at the expense of more days of work, netting a small hourly increase. Shift scheduling was changed substantially for the worse. Before, during, and since negotiations, it seems that top management tries to dream up at least one new irritant every week or so. Early retirement at age 50 is an increasingly attractive option. Fortunately, Regina tower is out of sight, out of mind and has been spared the worst so far. Controllers here are keeping their heads down, trying to stay invisible.

Glenn and Celeste did some traveling this summer, visiting their far-flung young’uns. No, they didn’t go to Japan to visit Laura.

Glenn had to attend a brief course in Ottawa in February, so Celeste tagged along to visit her sister (Angie) and family. We were there during the winter carnival and many of the activities were across the street from our hotel. We had a good visit and an enjoyable time.

In May, Glenn had a familiarization flight to Vancouver through work. This consists of riding on the flight deck to liaise with pilots and visiting another control unit at destination. Glenn visited Vancouver tower. Celeste went along to visit Darren. Although Darren was working most of the days we were there, we all managed to get together in the evenings. We don’t know about Darren, but at least two of us enjoyed the visit.

Glenn, Celeste, and Laura all traveled to Ottawa over the Canada Day period to visit Carla and Celeste’s sister (Angie) and her family. We used Air Miles to fly there and rent a car and we stayed at Angie’s place, so the trip was pretty economical. Celeste’s brother’s (Kevin) family was there at the same time, so we went everywhere in a big crowd. The four of us from our family also took a one day side trip to Montreal and took in some sights.

In early August we visited Vancouver again. We had planned to bring home some of Darren’s things so he had less to bring home in the car. When he decided he was staying, we decided that we would drive out there anyway for a visit. Laura flew out the day we left in the van. She had to apply for her visa to go to Japan and wanted to visit her friend from her first Japanese trip. We only stayed a couple of days and the three of us drove home.

That’s about all the excitement we have had around here. Best wishes to everyone at your house for the holiday season and in the new year.
Glenn, Celeste, Carla, Darren (in absentia), and Laura.