March 19, 1993
Dear Everyone:
A few weeks ago, I got a letter from Barbara Roberts, the governor of
Oregon.
Seems “Hermione”
told her to write to me.
It says so, right in the letter,
"’Hermione
Michaels’
asked me to write to you…" Inviting me to visit Oregon this year.
I guess, having failed to meet us
last Christmas,
“Hermione”
has decided to bring out the big guns.
On the other hand, this could have been part of some big, tourist-drive.
The letter mentioned the "Oregon
Trail Anniversary" and included
lots of brochures, maps and
places to visit. Evidently,
“Hermione” forgot to mention to
the governor that we lived in Oregon for 13 years and already have a
pretty good idea of how to find
Mount Hood.
Or that we visit every summer,
although we frequently don't get any farther north than the prime rib
dinners at the Jacksonville
Inn.
I don't know if we’ll get all the way up to
Portland
this summer; but I confess, I'm dying to have a look at Mother's new fax
machine. When last I heard, it
was in the office, but Mother hadn't had time to figure out how to use
it yet. Unfortunately, as far as
I know, no one has yet to come up with a FAXPlus® to program it for you.
Speaking of VCRPlus® and the
like, I finally had to give up my old VCR, Victor* One. Victor was over
eleven years old. The average age
of a television is seven years and a VCR has far more moving parts.
And Victor had put in a lot of
long hours.
When I bought my condo and moved out of the apartment, I left Victor
with “Jeannie” and got Victor Two. Then,
when “Jeannie” got a newer VCR for herself, I took Victor One back and
used him as a backup (in the second bedroom) for when Victor Two was
busy. I also got a second TV when
the folks came for Christmas in 1989. Then,
when “Jeannie” got a new TV, I took the ancient
Sanyo that we had bought
in 1976 and put it in my bedroom. (Before
you laugh, may I point out that Mother and Dad have
four TVs in their house.)
Last month, Victor One developed a small problem, so I took him to the
VCR doctor. It seems that Victor
had a broken belt, a common VCR malady. I
left him overnight for surgery and pick him up the next day.
The day after that, Victor
stopped working again. I took him
back to the doctor who quickly determined that the problem:
Victor had suddenly developed a
taste for belts. He was
eating them. More time at the
doctor’s, including a whole day spent playing tapes to prove that Victor
wasn't eating anymore belts. (The
doctor did not charge anything for the extra office visit.)
Once home, I discovered that, while Victor could now
play tapes, he couldn't
record anymore. Clearly, it
was time for Victor to go to VCR heaven.
I decided to buy myself an early birthday present, in the form
of the new VCR. (No, I
couldn't consider limping
along on only one VCR. Don't be
silly.)
The latest thing in VCRs this is that VCRPlus® comes
built-in to some models. Not
that I got that model. I just
thought you'd like to know. Victor
Three has settled in nicely. Victor
Two is now in the bedroom, enjoying a long-awaited semi-retirement.
And the Sanyo TV died this last Tuesday.
Of course, about the only thing I used it for was "watching"
CNN while I got ready for work in the
mornings. But you know as well as
I do, how addictive CNN can be. I've
moved the defunct Sanyo into the second bedroom (which is rapidly
becoming a "junk room") and moved the newer TV into my bedroom.
I have no intention of getting
another TV. Instead, I'm going to
cancel HBO and turn in the cable
converter box which the two existing TVs (and VCRs) don't need.
And
for which the cable company has announced plans to start charging its
customers.
In other news…
Many thanks to all the people who called me last Tuesday to wish me a
happy birthday and got to talk to my phone machine instead.
I didn't get home that night
until 7:00, which was too late to return calls to people in the more
easterly time zones.
The reason I was so late getting home is that we've been sort of
overdosing on meetings around here this week.
It's rather like being caught in
the middle of a really bad horror movie: Attack
of the Killer Meetings!, coming soon to a conference room near you.
More importantly, “Jeannie” is
sick. She called me last
night to whisper that she's been to the doctor (a real doctor) who told
her that she had "viral something unpronounceable" and that it's
very contagious. The
doctor wouldn't shake hands with her and the nurse refused to allow her
to use the telephone.
Don't worry about this letter, I saw her last Sunday, before she became
communicable. Evidently, this is
an eye infection which has spread to her throat, explaining the raspy
voice. She is on medication which
would render her incommunicable in a few days.
In the meantime, you should send
her lots of cards and
presents at:
XXXX St. Matthew Pl., #XXX
Concord, CA 94518
Love, as always,
Pete
PS. Disney's
Homeward Bound,
The Incredible Journey. Good
movie. “Jeannie” and I (being
among the taller members of
the audience that Saturday) thoroughly enjoyed it, as did all of the
temporarily-little people.
*Why name a VCR “Victor”?
Because it’s an RCA.
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