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April, 2001

Until now, the baby seemed just like a dream. I have seen pictures of ultra-sounds and my wife looks pregnant, but it still seemed unreal somehow. That is until I went with her to the doctor and actually got to see the ultra-sound pictures live. You could see everything. I saw a head and an upper and lower jaw line. I saw a body and legs and the umbilical cord. It was asleep according to the doctor, that is until the doctor poked it and then it jumped. I guess I would to. It was amazing to see. I even saw its heart beating. Now I know we are going to have a baby and it was awesome to see. The baby is about 5.6cm (2.2inches) and is due around the 29th of November. We don't know if it is a girl or a boy, but we are planning our names for both. At the moment, we are looking at Ian Alexander for a boy and Emily Megan or Annika Marie for a girl.

Update #1

Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 15:47:28 +0100

Hello everyone,

Well, where to begin? First of all, I'm typing on a German keypad and the keys are a little different. You might get wierd looking script when this comes across. Diana and I arrived in Germany the 10th of October 1997. I did not get the job in Potsdam, so I set up the interview here where I'm at now. This was the back up job of those I was looking at. I interviewed on the 22nd and accepted the offer on the 23rd. After arriving, we spent the rest of October getting me registered here and Diana re-registered. There is a lot of bureucratic paperwork here in Germany. My car arrived the 2nd of November and then we really had fun. It took almost a month to make my car legal here. I had to many brake lights, lights that were the wrong color, lights that didn't blink and should and my headlights were just plain wrong. Like I said, a lot of red tape and no one knew for sure what my car needed, even at the government inspection stations. It was easier to get me in than my car. It is now German standard and I am glad to have it. The autobahns are cool. I can drive 100-110mph average. You can get places fast. You can not pass on the right and if there is a speed limit, you had better abey or they might take your picture and send you a bill. I watch the camera go off on someone who was passing me in a 120km/h zone and his face just sank HAHAHA. We spent the last week of Nov and the first week of Dec looking for an apartment. Not as easy as in the states. Good places are hard to come by and there was usually a line of people looking at the same place. We finally found three places we liked. The first one we were third on the list of acceptees, the second one was owned by two sisters that didn't want to let the guy who was trying to re-rent it out of his contract and wouldn't meet with us, and the third is where we are living now. Its a modern apartment building with the European/German/Bavarian flair. It costs about $800/mo incl. utilities and is about 2.4 miles from where I work. Moving into an apartment with absolutely nothing is an experience. The inlaws didn't provide the furniture that we were expecting. So, we spent December going to furniture stores and looking for deals. In Germany, apartments don't have closests. We had to buy them. All in all, we got about $3500 worth of furniture for around $900. Not what I had budgeted for, but better than nothing. We finally got a bed this past weekend. We had been sleeping on an air matress for the past two months (I DON'T RECOMMEND IT). Christmas came in a great Bavarian style. We visited christmas markets here in Munich, in Moosach and in Dachau. Christmas markets are a very big tradition here and lots of Gluwein (sweet,hot wine-good). We went out on the town for New Years Eve (Sylvester here) and it was different. There was no big countdown where we were at. Everybody just got up and went outside where everyone and I mean everyone up and down the streets were lighting off fireworks (the kind you can no longer buy in the states) and drinking champagne. Its legal to drink anywhere and fireworks are only legal for the New Year celebration. Rockets were bouncing off buildings. It was a blast. Diana started her job on the 19th and I officially started on the 2nd of January. She is in a program that teaches here to program computers and solve problems with existing applications. It is a German subsidiary of Platinum Services out of Chicago. She is working with some language called <pl1> or something like that. It deals with OS/390 and mainframe computers. I am working at the Institut of Genetics, The Ludwig Maximillian School of the University of Muenchen. Its on the net and you can see the castle I work in. Its call Nymphenberger Schloss. My job is basically leading to a Ph.D. in genetics. In Germany, you have to have your Masters before you can work on your Ph.D. In a German Ph.D. program, you don't go to class (your suppose to already have done that with the Masters) you just do research and ?publish? and a thesis on your research. My research is looking for novel molecular motors in the fungus Ustilago maydis. I have already done a pre-screen looking for a selective agent that I can use to select out mutants-It worked! Last week I mutated a number of cells and have begun screening for specific mutants based on the prescreen. Its alot of fun and very interesting. I get to use the entire gambit of biology disciplines to reach my goal. Well that is about up to date, now for some questions:

I get to do my thesis in English.

We live 2 hours from the Alps.

We have a friend in Austria who lives at a ski resort and we can go skiing there for free (I brought my skis with me). I also brought my bike and my blades.

We live within 3-4 hours of Austria, France, Italy, Switzerland, Csech, Poland and those little countries Lichtenstein/Luxemburg.

I do not speak German fluently yet, but I'm learning. I can read it really well and can follow conversations fairly well.

Cable comes with our apartment and I get to see the NBC super channel and CNBC late at night and early in the morning. Leno comes on at 2000 and the Today show comes on at 0800, of course they are from the previous day. On Saturdays, I get to watch Mr Rhodes, Union Station, The Profiler and Mancuso FBI. I think all these shows bombed in the states. I also watch some old shows dubbed in German (Cosby just doesn't sound right in deutsch) and German shows that are not bad.

Well, that should be enough for now. If I left out any answers, please ask again.

Miss you all and keep me up to date on whats happening, Randy

Update #2

circa Sep.Oct 1998

Hello everyone,

I know its been along time since my last update, but we have been extremely busy. I left off last time with Diana and I being here in Munich in January so I'll start from there:

Jan-Mar.

Not much happened except to get settled in to our new surroundings. Diana finished her training after two months and went to work in a sub-group of Platinum Services that has an office at Allianze-an insurance company. She writes programs to interconvert requests for data with the proper data tables, cross referencing, etc. so the wanted information is abtained (at least that is as much as I know of what she does). I have continued my research with no real amazing results yet. We went to visit a friend in Austria, right on the border to Switzerland in Febuary. We went down for the weekend and went skiing Sat and Sun. Her father manages a resort so we got to go for free! It is quit different skiing in the alps. Diana was scared at first because she thought she was going to ski over the edge of the mountain, but after a couple of hours skiing she started to have a lot of fun. It does look as if you could ski off the side! The resort we were at is call Gargellan and has a sister resort in Switz. and you can ski around the mountain and ski both resorts with one lift ticket. Prince Charles does that but starts from the other side. He wasn't there that weekend and Diana was not up to the rough skiing it would take so we didn't do it, but plan to sometime. We went to the "Mickey Mouse castle" from King Ludwig the second in January. It is an amazing castle. It has indoor plumbing, central heat and air, and was wired for electricity-all this in a castle built in the 1880's. It also has a cave on the fourth floor. It seems that putting cave in your castle was the thing to do back then, other castles have them too. The central heat and air comes from flu's that run out of the kitchen where big ovens used for cooking also heated the place and the air was more wind than A/C that funneled the heat out-remember it doesn't get very hot in southern Germany in the summer especially at the base of the alps which is where this castle is. On that Sat trip we also went to Oberammergau which is the fore-runner to Gatlinburg. A tourist trap, but full of neat wood carvings, xmas stuff, etc...

Apr-Jul:

We had two visitors from the states which was quit pleasant. One Friday night I got a call from David Auble whom the last time I saw was just before moving to Maryland. I knew he was close by, but didn't know just how close. He was about ten miles doown the road in Germering working on high altitude planes weather data equipment. Diana and I toured him around Muenchen and just had a nice visit. The big place everybody has to go is to Marienplatz which is the town central shopping district. It is also where the Christmas market is held and where the Glockenspiel is. The Rathaus (city hall-information house) has a big tower with a clock and life sized figurines that move around to music and bells at 5:00pm everyday and that is the Glockenspiel. Later, Van O'Neal a friend of mine from D.C. (he is the president of the UT alumni chapter there and I was VP) came to Paris to visit with his Parisian friends and instead of going to London as usual he and another tourist friend from Chattanooga came to visit Diana and myself. Basically we did the same thing and toured them around and had a nice visit. It is worth noting that one night we grilled out on our porch and had some local German friends over as well. We sat back and had good wurst and beer and listened to Jerry Lee and Patsy Cline. It was an interesting feeling.

In late April, we got a dog. A Jack Russell Terrier and named her Daisy. She is a pretty cool dog. She loves to play all the time. She was a wonderful puppy and didn't chew up anything and became completely housebroken in no time. She has now reached her terrible twos in puppy-dom. She now likes to chew everything. Her favorite stuff is anything she can get in her mouth and shake her head to shredd like kleenex, papers, magazines, etc. She has even pulled books off the shelve to eat on and shredd. She is not doing that much anymore!!!! She doesn't chew on the furniture or our shoes luckily.

We live very close to a lake and when the weather got hot enough we would go there and swim. Here in Germany things are different. Anywhere you swim is semi-naked (women are topless) and there are places at about every lake for total nakedness, which is where Diana and I go. I almost lost all traces of my tan lines this year. Its a trip to be naked and out in the open and you can take and drink beer too. The other naked people ranging in age from 0-90 are just as strange with or without clothes so its all quit normal. I got to go more than Diana because on the first of July I had an acute appendicitis attack and got emergency surgery. I was in the hospital for three days. They wanted me to stay longer, but I convinced them that I was ready to go so I was freed on the 4th of July. The medical care here is top notch and is nothing like what is portrayed as bad socialist medicine by the hate mongers in the states. I got to choose the doctor and the hospital and everything. They want you to stay and get well unlike in the states where the insurance company wants you out the door as soon as possible to save money. At the hospital, they have a little park in back so patients can walk around and get stronger. They also had a beer garten out in front of the hospital. It was truly unique and amazing. After I went home, my stomach needed much exercizing for the next three-five weeks, so I went to the lake every afternoon and went swimming. I got to see the same naked people there week after week.

Aug-Oct:

In August mom and dad came for a visit. We started out doing the same thing as before and toured them around Munich. Then we went on a southern European tour of the alps. First, we went to Salzburg, Austria and spent the day. We stopped in a quaint little town below a castle on our way towards Italy. The gasthaus (German hotel) had only a shower in the room, the bathroom was down the hall. It did have a pee-pot in the bedside table. The town was typical of all of southern Austria with alpine type houses and flowers hanging from every window. It was beautiful. The next day we travelled awhile and then boarded a train, car and all, and were transported through a mountain to another valley. That was a trip. The next valley was as beautiful as the first. There are hundreds of these little valleys throughout the alps. Its llike being transported back in time to alpine farm living. We crossed the border and the top of some mountain and were now in Italy. As we descended the alp, we came into a very depressed looking area. Dad wanted to go back to the beautiful Austrian side, but we were heading for the Mediteranean See. The very depressed looking area was actually only alive in the winter with skiing, and is not a good area for farming and everybody was on vacation. the factories in and around europe all close during August so the workers can go on vacation when its hot and nice. There are few places with A/C here. We made it to the Med in late afternoon at a place called Caroale just northeast of Venice. We spent the night in Treviso, a beautiful little town north of Venice. One of the people here at the University is from Treviso and says its a wonderful place to live. The next day was probably the best of the whole trip. We headed out and over the Dolomites. We finally got to see alpine cows up in the mounttains during the summer. The Dolomites are breathtaking mountain-tops. They're like the Chimneys only bigger and a thousend times more. We stopped for lunch at the top and had the most flavorful wine I've ever had and it was from tap not a bottle. It was fresh and fruity. As we came down the other side we ended up in a huge valley that was completely unexpected. The valley we were now in runs from Trento to Bolzano along the Adige river. The valley was green!!!! and full of apples, grapes, grapes and more grapes, and of course wine. The valley was also full of old and I mean old castles. At every vantage point along the sides and on the hills in the middle there was a castle. This region was heavily fought for over the ages. If you go there you'll know why-it is so productive. This region is quit German as well, even though it is in Italy. The Germans held for a long time in the past. We stayed at another gasthaus along the Etch river, which combines with another river to make the Adige. The valley is known as Val Adige and is its own D.O.C. wine region. Once again we were boarding below a castle. Right up the road was another castle, which had been turned into a brewery and had the best beer (Forst beer) I've had outside of Germany, and with dad along we had every beer we could find that was locally made. This was my favorite place and in the spring Diana and I are going back there to go camping and bicycle riding up and down the valley. The next day we headed for Switzerland. Along the way we saw more alpine cows and glaciers and glaciel lakes and rivers. Water running off an ice capped mountain is damn cold, but I had to touch it and taste it. We stopped just before leaving Italy and got some wurst (it was a German region of Italy) and bread. The wurst was made of pig and horse!! This was for lunch. In Switzerland, we stopped in a cool little village and got cheese locally made and we went shopping for other things while there. Now we looked for a picnic spot and found a nice one along a river in a Swiss Nat. Park. We had horse wurst, swiss cheese, bread and wine. Oh yeah, dad got his really stinky cheese and it was. Next stop Lichtenstein, but just before the border we hit Heidi land. Yes, the Heidi from the movie. We stopped long enough for a picture of a sign. The border to Lichtenstein looked bizarre. It looked like an army training ground only very small and then there was a bridge with flags along side and that was it. I joked that the Swiss army trained there to strike fear into he hearts of the Lichtensteiners (the smallest country on earth). Lichtenstein was interesting. It too was a valley in the alps. We stayed there for the night and I don't think they are a very happy people even though they have no taxes. The place we stayed was ok and happy. We got stamps and mailed postcard and headed home the next day. The last days trip was slightly rainy but fun. We crossed back into Austria. The only place we got stopped at the border was between Italy and Switzerland-hum. In Austria, we didn't get to see much but what we did see was nice. At the Arlberg pass, we decided to go through the tunnel. This tunnel was enormously long and took 15-20 minutes to travel through. I'm thinking it was 18kilometers long. We stopped in Oberammergau and did some shopping and then back home to Munich. Five different countries in four days, in all, seven countries/five days. It was a wonderful trip!!!!!!!! I think mom and dad had great fun and I know Diana and I did and so did Daisy (she went with us and hotels in Europe except dogs regularly)

In September Diana and I went to Romania. Daisy's best friend-Lady-has owners that are from Romania originally. They asked if we would like to go with them and we said yes!!! On the way we stopped for lunch in Hungary and I had real beef stroganoff. Hungary is cheap and there is a roadside market just at the border to Austria. We stopped ther on the way back to get Christmas presents for everybody on our list here. This time we got stopped at every border and even Daisy got her passport checked coming back. Diana had to pay for a VISA in Romania, but I with an USA pass didn't. We spent the first night in Timisoira with friends of Marias and Brigitta. They were just to nice. Romania is extremelly cheap and in the throws of recession, but some are doing well. Its amazing to see truly poor people helping each other out and trying to do better instead of robbing, bitching and gripping or destroying the very place you live. Timisoira is a college town and is where the revolution started. I have a picture of an old Official building with bullet holes in it and the first floor is now a McDonald's. Go capitalism!!!!! In the square, they were having a promotion for Fanta pink grapefruit drink and giving away prizes to those that could throw a frisbee through a target. These people have never seen a frisbee before and they were horrible. Diana said I should show them how, but I didn't want to show off. The next couple of nights we stayed at Brigitta's parents house. They live on a farm and have chickens, pigs and grow things. Daisy loved the chickens. She got into the pen and jumped a chicken. Everybody yelled for Daisy to stop and she just looked up with feathers in her mouth as to say I was just playing with it. As far as I know the chickens were okay-all four times she got in!!!! We then went fishing on the Donau (Danube) at the border of Yugoslavia. This was really interesting. There were border gaurds (actually the Romanian army soldiers) walking up and down the road where we were all the time. We caught a few fish and had a nice fire that night. We sat around and talked and drank homemade schnapps made by Brigitta's father. I saw the still and it was just like in Tennessee. Later on two border gaurds joined us. First they were checking us out and later they were just hanging out until their duty was over. One guy sat and talked to us and asked about me and stuff and my military experiences (they don't see to many Americans fishing on the Donau in Romania just across from Yugoslavia and he was interested in why and things about me and USA). Marias gave him some Vodka which I thought was not good seeing as how the guy has a maschine gun, but that is what is expected and accepted in parts of Europe. His cohort after seeing we were friendly ccame up and stretched out on a blanket for a little nap by the fire. It was all just too unreal and unbelievable, yet a real learning experience. The next day we headed back to Brigitta's family's house, spent the night and then headed back to Munich. The second night we were there we went out to a disco. Inside you would think you were in any disco in Europe and not in Romania. We took a taxi to get there and it was maybe two dollars for seven miles and five people. In the disco drinks were about $2 and beer $1. The music was great. It was latin night. The flee markets in Romania were pretty interesting as well. Everything you want (there is not much of everything) and cheap. Diana and I will probably go back to Hungary soon, maybe for a weekend.

Well, thats enough writing for today. Next time I'll start with Oktober Fest.

Love to all, Randy&Diana&Daisy