I am back from the holiday vacation with a new dispatch from
the far north.

MY VACATION

Well, what can I say? It was a vacation...

OK, will elaborate a bit more than that. I had the pleasure
of spending a couple of weeks in the lower 48 visiting
family and friends. It was certainly a nice break. The
Arctic winter is certainly not a very "user-friendly" type
of winter. To be able to jet my way south to enjoy things
like sunshine, grass, and shirtsleeves is very much a
blessing. To be able to share time with family and friends
is even more of a blessing.

Here is a quick rundown of some of the things I
accomplished, beginning with the most absurd travel day in
history:

I arrived at the Fairbanks airport at about 11:00PM on
Friday night, flew to Seattle, had a long layover in Seattle
during which I got to have dinner with brother Keith and
Sally and Parker. Then it was off to Minneapolis for a
quick rendezvous with my sister Karen and her husband Jay,
and their kids Simon and Piper. Piper was just getting over
a sickness, so she was less than her jovial self, but still
as cute as cute could be. While in Minneapolis, I had the
chance to spend about 20 minutes at the Mall of America
seeing a few of the folks who I got to know when I worked
there last spring. Billy Blues, Charlie, and Johanna were
all doing well, and it was indeed good to see them again.
Finally, I had to dash back to the airport to catch my
flight to Lincoln. After a quick flight, I was greeted by
Jim Kuehn, Amy Winbinger, Leland Jordon (who flew in from
Washington, D.C. that afternoon), Kristen Clark, Derek
Miller, and Steve and Helen Jordon. This was at about 11 PM
Central...We all went out to Rogue's Gallery, where we were
joined by Ingrid and Brandon Thaden (Leland's sister and
brother-in-law) for a social hour. It was nice to catch up
a little bit.

On Monday, I had the pleasure of talking my sister Ruth's
first grade class about Alaska. It was certainly a lot of
fun. They enjoyed the stories about the Sun rising at 11:00
AM and setting at 2:30 PM...as well as the Sun rising at
3:00 AM and setting at 12:30 AM. I put them in a circle and
used a globe and a basketball to show how the seasons work,
and why the tilt of the Earth's axis causes seasons, and
sunlight variation. Perhaps it was above most of their
heads, but I think a few of them caught on, and when they
see it again in the later grades, they will remember some
gentle giant from the past saying something similar. We also
talked about mountains, glaciers, bears, moose, dog sleds,
and the aurora. It was a lot of fun, and became fast friends
with many of them. You can see my picture with them (as well
as some others) at http://www.qsl.net/kc0hoj/bmh/trip1.html

I spent Monday afternoon visiting friends and professors
(not to suggest for a minute that my professors were not
friendly) at my alma mater, the University of Nebraska at
Kearney. It was certainly nice to see many of them again,
to cheer on the students who were almost done ("It is MUCH
nicer on the other side!") and to jeer the poor freshmen who
had just started. It was nice to see all of my friends in
the Physics Department, the Learning Center, and the Music
Department.

Wednesday and Thursday I was lucky enough to spend in
Colorado with my good friend Kristen Clark. Kristen is
planning on enrolling at a veterinary technical school out
in Denver, and I traveled with her to see the school, and
just to see the mountains and stuff. We spent Wednesday
evening out with Ethan Forgothislastname,sorry whom Kristen
knows from Bluecoats. Ethan started marching Coats a couple
of years after I finished, so he knew quite a few people
that I marched with, as well. We saw one of his college
professors perform in a jazz quartet, complete with a
version of Autumn Leaves that would make any Bluecoats alum
proud. Thursday, after Kristen's meeting, we drove up
through the mountains to Estes Park. We did some window
shopping in Estes and then made the long haul back to
Minden.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were spent hanging out
with friends and family. Jim Kuehn, Scott Phillips (home
from Kansas City), Bob Needham (surprise visit from Orlando,
only 2 people knew about his visit, Jim and I), Mark Needham
(Still living it up at UNK), Duane Needham (doctoral
candidate at OK State) and Jeremy Bill (down from Sioux
Falls). This was the first time that I had seen Jeremy
since his wedding in 1998. We promised that it wouldn't be
that long before we saw each other again. We had fun
hanging out, debating religion and politics, talking sports,
and of course, playing cards and Stocks and Bonds. It was
the first time that Bob, Jim, Jeremy, Scott, and I had all
been together since we graduated six and a half years
ago...just one of the problems about growing up and growing
old.

After the Christmas holiday, I got to spend some time with
Chris Burchell. Chris is auditioning for the Star of
Indiana, and their stage show Blast!. If you have not seen
Blast!, I would certainly recommend looking it up (
http://www.blasttheshow.com/ ). Anyway, Chris wanted a
little help with some acting coaching, some musical
opinions, and was looking for a general "idea-bouncer-offer"
for his audition tape. That evening, we spent several hours
visiting with Abby and Maureen Carruthers. Abby was in my
class and Maureen was in Chris's class. We had a fine time
of catching up with them, and talking about all of our long
lost classmates. Then we played Balderdash, which is
certainly a lot of fun with 4 nerds like Abby, Maureen,
Chris, and I.

I got to spend a day in Omaha with Leland Jordon, who was on
leave from the Marines. He marches with the USMC
"Commandant's Own" Drum and Bugle Corps based in Washington,
D.C. We had a good time hanging around Omaha, shopping,
spending time with Ingrid and little Mabel. Then, in the
evening, we went to eat with Amy Winbinger, another Railmen
alum and former UNK band nerd (she is now finishing up her
landscape design degree at UNL), Andy Walters (UNK graduate,
now band director at Ralston HS, south of Omaha) and Emily
Balcetis (UNK Psych/Music grad, now working towards her Ph.D
in psych at Cornell). We spent some time at a restaurant
then went back to Emily's parent's house to debate music,
science, education, and politics. That was a fun evening,
to be sure.

When I got home to Minden, that next day, I was
enthusiastically welcomed by my sister Linda, and her
family. Will and Katy were ecstatic to see their favorite
mad-cap, wacky uncle. I got to spend time with them, in
roles as teacher and story-teller, to the ever popular Mt.
Brian, favored climbing wall of the next generation.
Needless to say, we had a great time together. I even got
Will and Katy started on their percussion careers by letting
them mess around with my drum practice pad and a pair of
drum sticks.

Well, that just about does it for my trip. Those were only
the highlights, of course. You can see pictures from my trip
in several of my galleries...interspersed throughout the
Family, Friends, and Trip Galleries. And, you can find the
galleries at http://www.qsl.net/kc0hoj/bmh/gallery.html

GOINGS ON

Well, what is happening in the world...not a whole lot, I
guess.

My "lucky" friends Scott Phillips and Jeremy Bill, as well
as their respective better-halves, Jules and Sus, were
privileged enough to get to be witness to the utter
dismantling of the Nebraska football team at the Rose Bowl.
So, kids...how bad was it?

Other than that, wow...what a boring existence I lead.

Oh, yeah, when all else fails, talk about the weather, and
for me, that is just a chance to show off what kind of a
nerd I am.

Interior Alaska had a jen-ewe-ine heat wave. The
temperature here in Fairbanks got up to 42 degrees ABOVE
zero!!! We are still kind of riding the wave of warmth from
that. Temps right now are around 5 to 10 above zero, which
is very, very nice. We have been receiving a bit of snow as
well, which is desperately needed. The dog-mushers are
having trouble getting ready for big sled-dog races. The
Yukon Quest, which starts here at Fairbanks in just about a
month is going to be really rough because the snow pack is
so shallow.

ITS THE BRITS

In case you forgot, this is the feature of my emails that
reveals how we Americans have abused the English language,
by comparing words as Americans say them and as the British
say them.

The word for this edition is: Mayonnaise

We silly Yanks pronounce the name of this noble condiment as
man-ays.
The Brits pronounce it very nicely as may-uh-nays.

And finally...

INJECTIONS D'HUMEUR

Did you hear that Willie Nelson got hit by a car?
He was playing on the road again.

And another...

A mushroom walks into a bar, sat on the stool, and ordered a
drink.
The bartender says "Hey! Get out! We don't serve mushrooms
in here."
"But why not? I'm a fun guy!"

One last joke...

Waiter: "And how did you find your steak, sir?"
Diner: "Well...I just pushed aside the peas, and
'Bam!'...there it was!"

I hope that you are all sharing these jokes with your
friends and co-workers and so on. That is, in fact, why I
share them with you. I try to inject a bit of humor into
your lives, and you need to do the same to others. Telling
jokes is just about the easiest way to feel better, so do
it.

Well, I hope to hear from all of you soon. So, just hit
that little button that says "Reply" and type a few
words...whatever you want...how you are, how your work is,
that you saw a cardinal flying while wearing a pair of
horn-rim glasses, whatever...just type something.

Brian "Fun Guy" Hartmann