Dr. SETI's 2003 Family Holiday Letter

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2003 Family Holiday Letter

December 2003

Happy New Year 2004 from Paul, Muriel, Erika, Andrew, Bryn, Aubrey, Devin, Curran, Erin, and Associates (honest, we are a family, not a law firm!) This has been a year of healthy change in our blended household. Here is a month-to-month recap of the past year's travels, triumphs, and travails:

We started out January with Paul interviewing grad students at the Penn State main campus, followed by Judges' Training for the upcoming season of Odyssey of the Mind competitions. It was there that we learned, on February first, of the loss of the shuttle Columbia. Paul wrote a memorial song, which he sang for his NASA colleagues in Florida a week later.

After years of false starts (impacted by illness, financial woes, scheduled surgeries, and the death of Muriel's mother Joyce five years prior), in February we finally made the long-planned trek to Orlando FL, with five boys in tow. It was the vacation of a lifetime, and everything we expected. Curran got to pet a dolphin at Sea World, Erin got drenched under artificial geysers, Devin got slimed at Nickelodeon, Bryn and Aubrey got to play the coolest video games at Disney Quest, and Paul was guest of honor at a major ham radio convention.

March saw Paul in the SF Bay Area for the Contact conference and annual Hertz Foundation Interviewer's Meeting. It was there that he got a chance to say goodbye to his old mentor, physicist Dr. Edward Teller, who passed away just six months later, at the age of 95.

April was SETICon month, so Paul and Muriel made the annual trek to scenic Trenton. This year, we had a chance to present Dr. Philip Morrison, another of Paul's most revered mentors, with the annual Giordano Bruno Memorial Award.

We were on the road again in May, twice, for the Trenton Computer Fest, followed by the annual Baltimore Science Fiction Convention (which all five boys attended).

Paul went on a week-long retreat in June, to a Sufi monastery on the Massachusetts- Connecticut border, followed by a trip to California to visit his dad and daughter over Father's Day weekend. Aubrey and Devin were off to staff at boy scout camp (see below), Curran went there as a camper, and Bryn was taking online summer courses at Mansfield University. This left Muriel with leisure to pursue a grad course at Mansfield herself. She hopes to complete an MA in Special Education sometime during the 21st Century.

Paul was traveling again in July, this time in his Beechcraft. He had professional meetings in Oklahoma and West Virginia one day apart, and couldn't have made the connection any other way. During his absence, Muriel took yet another course at Mansfield University. Did I mention that she's getting straight A's in grad school?

In August, Muriel and Paul took Aubrey (see below) up to Rochester Institute of Technology, for a campus tour and open house. RIT is now his first choice for next year.

Paul was in Germany in September, as featured speaker at the European Radio Astronomy Congress. Then back again in October, to be inducted into the International Academy of Astronautics (on that trip, his son Andrew, who lives in Berlin, drove out to Bremen to spend a day with him). Paul spent German Reunification Day in Mannheim with some of his Polish and Russian friends, and is still marveling at how much the world has changed (for the better) during the past dozen years. He's going back to Germany next March, and notes that every time he goes there, he stays a little longer, likes it a little more, and is ever more reluctant to come home. Perhaps he and Muriel will end up retiring to Europe when the boys are grown.

In November, Paul had a gig at Lycoming College; Muriel and the four youngest boys attended, and Devin was a great help manning the SETI Store. Thanksgiving saw all five Bailey Boys, plus their father, aunt, and two cousins, converging on our (mad)house.

December is Philcon month, so all of us will soon make the annual journey to Philadelphia for the East Coast's finest Science Fiction convention. Paul will also interview grad students there, and in State College, Ann Arbor, and Ithaca, for the Hertz Foundation fellowship.

So much for the chronology. Now, an update on each of the kids:

Erin (10) is in fifth grade at Round Hills School, where he is topping out the independent reading and accelerated math programs. Still, though highly gifted, he is no scholar. He remains in Cub Scouts and orchestra, under duress.

Curran (13) played Challenger baseball again this year, but this year, unfortunately, didn't get to play at the Little League World Series. Curran finally got his two broken front teeth replaced last Summer, and underwent an additional muscle lengthening surgery in New Jersey this past Fall. He and his girlfriend Jenna are now in seventh grade Learning Support classes at Lycoming Valley Middle School.

Devin (15) is a Sophomore at Williamsport High School, and this term had C or above in all of his courses but one (we need to work harder on geometry). This year, his Odyssey of the Mind team didn't make it to the State Championships, but he'll be trying again in '04. Last summer, he ran the camp store at Boy Scout camp, and plans to work there again next year.

Aubrey (17) is a Senior at Williamsport High, where he made honor roll (!) this term. He is really excited about studying BioInformatics next year at RIT. His SAT scores are stellar. His summer Boy Scout Camp assignment was in the Ecology department, where he served as assistant merit badge counselor. Aubrey achieved Life rank this year, and is on track for making Eagle before his 18th birthday.

Bryn (19) graduated from high school (by the skin of his teeth) in June, and was conditionally admitted to Mansfield University as a computer science major, subject to his getting grades of B or above in his first two courses. He took those courses over the summer, got an A in each, and proved to himself that he can succeed academically, if he chooses to make the effort. He doesn't seem to like campus life, however, and comes home nearly every weekend.

Andrew (26) continues to enjoy modest success as a musician and DJ in Berlin. He and his group placed second in this year's German hip-hop competition. He tours widely all over Europe, records occasionally in Vienna, and this year took his first real vacation since college - a one-month fishing trip to Croatia.

Erkia (29) has had an eventful year, moving out of San Francisco and into a small cottage in Mill Valley, just North across the Golden Gate bridge. She still runs her modern dance troupe, teaches in the Experimental Performance Institute at New College of California, and this year started on a Master of Fine Arts program there, under a most generous scholarship. She just received the San Francisco Bay Guardian's 2003 Goldies Award for Dance.

Although the kids remain central in their lives, Paul and Muriel are planning to get away from them shortly, to celebrate their seventh wedding anniversary. We're not telling you where we're going (frankly, we don't know ourselves), but we hope you'll drop in on us after the first of January.

Wishing you peace, love and security during the coming year,

Paul, Muriel, and all the kids

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