NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS? Unfortunately, there is not much news! This, of course, is due to the fact that you folks haven't been forthcoming with stories and/or pictures! In last month's Keidel Update, I mentioned that my daughter Heidi has a new job. Well, I am also happy to announce that she is finally online. She decribes her current venture thusly:
"My new job is at the local newspaper, the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin. My title is "Advertising Billing Coordinator", I'm sure because they had no other name for what I do. It is in the accounting office, so I get to use the skills I went to business school for. The main purpose of my job is to determine what percentage of the paper is news and what is advertising each day. Also, what is paid advertising or unpaid ads. I also check to make sure every ad is the size it was meant to be and was billed for. I enjoy it very much and the pay is good. It is a "job share" position, which means I split a full time position with someone else. The person I share with has done the job full time for twelve years and just retired. So we each work half of the week. The second day after I started there, someone in the department gave their notice. The newspaper doesn't hire new employees in the first quarter since the circulation is down, so they can't replace her until April. The supervisor asked me to help cover that position for a few months before settling in to my new hours and I said yes. So, for the time being I am working four days a week, two covering for the cashier, and two in the coordinator job. But I work only until 2:00 in the afternoon to keep my hours at the level I want. In April, when they restaff for the cashier, I will work Wed, Thurs, and Fri, every other Fri a half day. I am looking forward to that, even though I will have to get a sitter for the kids in the afternoon. It is a good company to work for, very good benefits, and I get paid holidays and vacations even though I work half time. ( I get half of what a full time employee gets.) I expect to be very happy there."
Well, that sounds great to me and
I certainly wish her great luck with this endeavor. I am currently
trying to coordinate my family's schedules to perhaps realize a trip
during Easter vacation, as granddaughter Rachel's third birthday
falls right into that time frame.
THAT'S THE
BREAKS! George Lewis
Keidel F1113-277 finally has his cast off his wrist. Though he opted
not to have pins and screws holding him together, the cast seems to
have done a good job. George has one more check up, but reports
feeling well. In a different part of the country, young Richard
Clinton Sawvel III D1323-2 just broke his arm! This is on top the
collarbone break he suffered recently!
THE RETURN OF ELEPHANT
MAN? The first year we
lived in this apartment complex, dubbed by me: the jail cell blocks,
we had an extremely noisy upstairs neighbor! There was always
thumping as someone ALWAYS clomped noisily back and forth from room
to room. The incessant noise was totally distracting and intolerable
to my already impaired concentration. We dubbed the upstairs neighbor
Elephant Man and really enjoyed our 6 weeks in Germany (summer of
'97) WITHOUT having any upstairs noise! After we returned, we only
heard the familiar thumping for about a week. A week after that, a
new guy moved in. By Christmas '97 I was ready to send him a Thank
You note, as he was the quietest, most considerate upstairs neighbor
one could have. I rarely heard him. A few weeks ago, I heard unusual
commotion upstairs. I went up to investigate, thinking that perhaps
someone was cleaning out his apartment while he was at work! It was
he and he explained he was moving! This past weekend, the new guy
moved in. While he is not as bad as the '97 Elephant Man, he is
nowhere as quiet and considerate as Mr. Gillis, who just moved out.
The new guy seems very inconsiderate and loud, really taxing my
patience and concentration. It takes a lot of self-control not to go
upstairs and solve the problem violently!. This is probably giving me
ulcers!
Our lease is up in June and I will
not take on an additional year's "sentence" in this penitentary! Of
course that means that our rent will be raised as we then take on
"tenant-at-will" status, but we will be free to move out whenever we
find an alternative, without having to break our lease! We are trying
to get pre-qualified for a mortgage, but because of our poor credit
history things really look bleak! Stay tuned to this site; I will
keep you posted about my efforts not to "lose" it!
EXILE
CONTINUES! On the other
hand, it seems we ARE sentenced to remain in Leominster,
Massachusetts! Armin is very comfortable in High School here and
enjoys being on the wrestling team. In fact, he is turning into a
jock! Now that wrestling season is over, he is doing soccer and even
envisions himself playing football when that season comes. He nixes
ANY notion of moving out of Leominster before finishing High School!
So, I have an additional 6-year sentence after this coming summer, as
that is when Willy enters Jr. High!
Ha-Yo has found job locally, so
she doesn't have to commute daily to Boston; a task which was causing
a lot of wear and tear on her car as well as her own health!
There now, I warned you! If you
folks won't send me pictures and stories from your families, I'll
just have to bore you with old pictures of me and my exploits. This
picture shows me at the helm of my cruising sloop Nibelung, under full sail on the Hudson River. The year is
1974 and my little Heidi is just one year old. This is the boat which
I frequently took cruising, one or two weeks at a time, to the North
Shore of Long Island, up to Connecticut, or even just up the Hudson.
This was during the time that I was on a break from the military and
working as Director of the Berlitz School of Languages in Forest
Hills, Queens, New York.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! to my special friends Sandy Keidel D134 in Michigan, Helga (Keidel) Freitag F1112-1112-2 in Ahlheim, Germany, Francis Joseph Keidel J1132-C1 in Minnesota, Elsie May (Fresh) Brown F 1113-2112 in Pennsylvania, Volker Keidel F1112-1112-1 in Bebra, Germany, Sheri Lynn Euler D1321-1 in Alaska, Rachel Emily Melzer A1112-3131-2 (my grand daughter!) in New York, Daniel George Keidel N121 and his daughter Mary Elizabeth Keidel N1213 in Idaho, Scott Alan Keidel S1121 in Ohio, and Benjamin Keidel A1111-1111-2 in Salzgitter, Germany. I apologize for last month's erroneous bithday listing of Christen Marrie Euler - her birthday is not until May!
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! to Francis and Rose Marie Keidel in Minnesota, Walter and Heidi (Keidel) Melzer (my daughter!) in New York, and to my lovely ex-wife Mary Jane for completing 15 years with the Health Department in Binghamton, New York.
This
month in Keidel Family history April