Merry
Christmas and Happy Holidays to all for this, the last holiday season before
the calendar turns to double zero.
Although it’s not technically the last holiday season of the millennium
(that comes next year), it’s the last before the year 2000, and apparently for
most, that’s enough. Although many
foretell of looming disaster related to the Y2K problem, we foresee nothing worse
than the normal delays you might expect with a worse-than-normal winter
snowstorm. So, stock up on milk and
bread, take a few extra bucks out of the ATM, and keep copies of your bank
statements. But, don’t expect the
apocalypse – it’s not happening this year.
All
continues to be well in the Canterbury
household. Nancy served as a Y2K coordinator at Key Bank this year –
she says relax, it’s going to be no big deal – while I continue to work at
PricewaterhouseCoopers. I have been
working on a project in Bloomington, Illinois since March, which means that I leave home each
Monday morning and return Thursday evening.
It actually sounds worse than it is, and Nancy and I make sure to make
the most of our time together on weekends. Our two feline friends, Brutus and Snickers,
continue to be healthy. Despite our best
efforts, Brutus remains fat, weighing in at 19 pounds.
Our
travel year has been quite busy once again.
We spent last Christmas in Florida, visiting Fort Lauderdale, Miami,
and the Keys. Nothing quite like singing
along with the band in Sloppy Joe’s on Christmas Day, especially since it was
the warmest spot in the nation that day!
In late March, we traveled to the Final Four college basketball championship
in St. Petersburg, Florida, where our beloved Buckeyes acquitted themselves
well, while we got in some additional beach time.
For
Memorial Day, we traveled to Chicago and spent the weekend touring the city. In June we visited Washington, DC for a friend’s wedding. After flying in, we headed to the car rental
counter. “Mr. Canterbury, we’re all out
of midsize cars, would you like a pickup truck instead?” Uh, no not really, we’re here for a wedding
after all. “Well, I guess you’ll have to
take a Jaguar then.” OK, I think we can
live with that. A Jaguar is a very nice
car to have for a weekend…..
In
July, we returned to Mammoth
Cave, Kentucky, the site of our weekend first trip together over 14
years ago. We took a three-hour
Introduction to Caving course, during which we crawled around on our hands and
knees in the dark, with our only light being the headlamp attached to our hard
hats. We discovered that it was fun to
do – once. We don’t understand why some
people would want to do it all the time, as a hobby. There was one reason it was nice to be a cave
that particular day, however – in the cave, it was 58°, while outside it was
105°!
The
big vacation this year was two weeks in Hawaii – Honolulu, Maui, and Kona. We
took my parents along for their first visit to the islands, and in fact their
first visit to anywhere outside North America. We had a great time together, learning about
Hawaiian culture, seeing an active volcano, and spending a lot of time at the
beach, bodysurfing. The tans have faded
now, but the memories remain.
If
you have the opportunity, we hope you’ll come visit us in 2000! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Nancy
and Jerry Canterbury