Tag: flying

I’m back to trying to put out my annual holiday letter out as a Martin Luther King, Jr Day letter after a couple years of not getting it out at all and last year’s coming out very late.  This year, I’ll only do the hard copy to a few folks that I have absolutely no online contact with.  Without further ado, here is my year in review.

Since 2015 was a contract year for the unions, Sherry and I took our big vacation for the year in January since I knew I wouldn’t be able to take one between the beginning of April and whenever the company and the union settled which in previous years had been about August.  So, we decided to do a Caribbean cruise. I had previously said I had no particular interest in a Caribbean cruise, but I enjoyed it and wouldn’t mind going again sometime.  This was our 3rd cruise, all on Princess. The only real problem was that I had a cough that I couldn’t shake starting our last day at sea. By the time I got home and finally went to the doctor on Monday, it was full-blown pneumonia.  When the nurse told me it had taken her mother 6 weeks to recover, I kind of scoffed, I figured I was in decent shape, it wouldn’t take me that long. I was wrong. It took all of that before I was back to full strength. It was humbling when I had to take a nap after I took my shower in the morning, or when it took me 20 minutes to put my shoes on. I just had no energy.  But I did recover and Sherry went to El Salvador with Eye Care International for the 6th or 7th time.

It was not a great year in the pet department. In May, we lost Xav (who was almost 12) when he was hit by a car. In December, we had to put down Wolf (who was 16). The latter was especially difficult because he was born on the back deck shortly after we moved to this house, so I was there when he was born and with him when he took his last breath.  We are now down to 2 cats and 2 dogs. Morgan, the 12-year-old Irish Wolfhound is showing her age and probably doesn’t have too long left, but for the moment she is hanging in.

For being retired, Sherry has been pretty busy this year. She has been chair of the worship board at Grace UCC which means she has been busy making sure the paraments and banners get changed, that communion is properly setup on the first Sunday of the month, and that the sanctuary is decorated for the various seasons. Fortunately, she will be able to hand some of that responsibility off in 2016. For most of the year, she has spent 3 days per week helping out with her aunt and uncle who haven’t quite accepted that they should probably be in assisted living. She has also spent a good bit of time with her friend Loretta who finally had to retire from OhioHealth herself early in 2016 and is going through chemo again.

I continue to enjoy my work, for the last year and a half or so, I’ve been doing more forensics than malware analysis, but I’ve been having fun. I had the opportunity to TA for my friend Lenny Zeltser teaching FOR610 (Malware Analysis) at 2 SANS conferences this year, so that was a lot of fun, too. I’ve also been busy this year with church. I was again a delegate to the General Synod of the United Church of Christ in Cleveland in June. I continue to do the sound and video at church on Sunday mornings and am the webmaster for both Grace UCC and the Central Southeast Ohio Association of the Ohio Conference of the UCC (CSEOA).  This fall, I was elected moderator of CSEOA and 2nd vice-president of Grace UCC. After not flying at all in calendar 2014, I did get back in the air in 2015 and flew more than I had since about 2010. Also, as I have in the previous few years, I rode my bike quite a bit in 2015 (though mileage was down from the previous 2 years for reasons explained below) including the BikeMS Central Ohio Challenge where I raised nearly $1200 and on the day of the ride was tied for the 4th highest fund raiser. I also rode my fastest metric century (100 km) in Aug, finishing the 64.5 miles in just under 3:53. Two weeks after that ride, however, is when things started to go wrong. I rode that day and my arms felt heavy and I couldn’t generate any power. When it happened again the next time I rode, I knew something was seriously wrong. Thus began the saga that resulted in my cardiac catheterization and stent placement on 9 November (the whole story can be found at https://wordpress.clausing.us/2015/11/my-day/). Since then, I’ve done my cardiac rehab, I’ve ridden my bike a couple of times and was able to generate the power I was used to. People keep asking if I feel better since the stent and the answer is actually no. The scary part of the story is, that except for the symptoms when I was on my bike, I never felt bad and so I don’t really feel any better now. The cardiologist assures me that I’m doing fine and I’ll be submitting the paper work to Oklahoma City shortly that will allow me to get my FAA 3rd Class Medical back and to fly again.

Shortly after I had the stent put in, I learned that my high school band director, Mr. Theis (who I had just reconnected with on Facebook in July) had inoperable terminal cancer.  A number of us decided to go up and visit him the Sunday before Thanksgiving and had a wonderful time visting and reminiscing and listening to recordings of our high school band.  I’m so grateful that I was able to spend those few hours with him (and the other folks who were there that I hadn’t seen in far too many years).  He passed away between Christmas and New Year’s.

Sherry’s mom and my parents continue to do well. They are all in good health. Mom tells me that Dad has slowed down some this year and that is probably true, but he’s allowed, he’s doing reasonably well for 81.

Shane and Jen still live on the west side of Columbus. Shane is nearly done with his vet tech program and will graduate in May. Late in the year, he changed jobs moving from the veterinarian’s office where he’s worked for the last few years to the Ohio State veterinary clinic in Dublin. He works the overnight shift on weekends, but seems to be enjoying it. Jen continues to work as an accountant and took a trip with her sister to Italy in the fall.

Matt and Becky moved from Tampa to Chattanooga in September as Becky’s post-doc ended and she found a new job in TN. Matt continues to be on the road upwards of 20 days per month and I think that is starting to wear on him a bit. They both made it up to our place for Christmas. It was great to have the whole family in the same area code if not under the same roof at the same time.

In the spring, Erin started doing judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu and won some gold medals (as well as a silver and bronze) at various competitions during the summer and fall.  As I write this, she is preparing for her belt test to progress to orange belt in judo, she is white belt (with 2 stripes) in BJJ.  She also switched from 2nd to 3rd shift at Peerless and started back to school in the fall to become an X-ray technician, so she works from 11:00PM-7:00AM then goes to school from 8:30AM-12:30PM.  Not a schedule I’d be very happy on even as a night person, but she’s surviving it.

So, as we begin a new year, we hope this finds you and your family happy and healthy. We continue to be grateful for the many blessings God has given us.

Shalom,

Jim, Sherry, Erin, Matt, Becky, Shane, Jen, Morgan, Missy, Pete, Smokey II