|
What a memorable year! Once again I traveled over 100,000
miles & spent over 2 months away from home including
a month+ overseas. I made trips to Brazil, Hong Kong,
Singapore/Malaysia, 3 to England, Switzerland, Las Vegas,
New York, Connecticut, 2 to Atlanta, Vermont/Montreal, 2
to Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New Orleans,
Houston and Salt Lake City.
I worked another year at Lucent and have enjoyed
leveraging my experience working with an outstanding team
contributing to the business.
I was elected Treasurer of the Chicago Chapter of the
organization for people who have been around the world.
Highlights: the talk on "Sue" the world's most
complete Tyrannosaurus Rex, the architectural tour of
Chicago, the talk on the trip around the world in a 2
person plane and selecting Alex Ortolani, a
Northwestern student to be sent next year on a
circumnavigation.
The Scholarship established in my mothers memory for her
high school's class salutatorian was awarded for the 2nd
time in 99. Luke Struve, this years winner, is a
noted saxophone player and is now an Iowa State student
(my father's alma mater) with plans for veterinarian
school.
My nephew PJ re-married this year. In September, he and
his wife Amy, my brother and I took my father to dinner
on his 85th birthday. On October 18th, PJ and Amy had
their first child, a son, Cortlan Alexander Parrish.
The hospital put his photo and his parents photo on the
web. PJ e-mails us digital photos of Cort, who is a very
handsome child!
In the New York Public Library, I discovered a book on
Mohawk Indians that devoted the whole first chapter to Hilletie,
my great (x8) grandmother. She was a remarkable woman and
she translated the Bible into Mohawk. At Oxford
University I verified that my ancestors graduated in
the classes of 1581, 1614 and 1625. The last one had a
Masters from Cambridge.
This year I had my photo taken with a number of famous
people including Louis Rukeyser, host of Wall
Street week, Ted Turner of CNN fame, Jose
Piñera, the father of the Social Security
privatization movement, Barbara Branden, author of
The Passion of Ayn Rand, made into a movie
this year, and Margaret Thatcher. I remarked to
Lady Thatcher that it was my birthday. She quipped:
"They have arranged such a marvelous banquet for
you." -- of course, the banquet was for her.
On April 22nd the U.S. Postal Service had a First Day of
Issue ceremony in New York for the stamp honoring Ayn
Rand. The room was packed to overflowing. There was
electricity in the air. I was in the front row. Nathaniel
Branden, once Rand's intellectual heir, came in 5
minutes before the ceremony and sat next to me. He
recognized me because I have attended dozens of his
lectures over the years. Leonard Peikoff, the heir to
her will, gave the main address. I took a History of
Philosophy course from him in New York in 1966. David
Kelly, noted Objectivist Philosopher, was there. Alan
Greenspan, another of Rand's protégés, didn't
make it. Ayn Rand would have been pleased with the well
designed 30 minute ceremony. The music and narration from
the award winning film, Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life were
used to set the stage. It stressed her love of
individualism. Although Ayn Rand was honored for her
enormous achievements as a philosopher and novelist, I
learned that she had also collected 50,000 stamps.
My neighbor, Kay Porche, had to have her wonderful
150 year old Dutch Elm tree cut down after it got Dutch
Elm disease. I replaced my outdoor shed and bedroom
awning.
I highly recommend: The First Immortal, a
vision of how technology may extend our life spans
indefinitely and Guns, Germs and Steel an
analysis of pre-history which explains the distributions
of history's winners and losers. People who have read
these books on my recommendation have thanked me. Please
consider reading them.
For the 4th time, I attended Louis Rukeyser's Investment
Conference in Las Vegas. Saw another Cirque du Soliel
show. Wow!! I attended the Money Show in San Francisco
where I talked to Paul Kangas of the Nightly
Business Report. I also attended the Jim Blanchard
Financial Conference in New Orleans. Jim was the person
who led the fight to legalize gold 20 years ago. He died
this year. Main speakers were Steven Ambrose, who
wrote Undaunted Courage, Charleton
Heston, and over 50 financial experts. I learned that
next year the Dow will close between 2000 and 14,000?!
It's confusing to hear so many widely varying expert
opinions?!
I attended the intellectually thrilling week-long
Objectivist conference held at the University of Vermont.
One highlight was Jose Piñera's talk on the
privatization of Social Security in Chile. He received a
standing ovation. Thanks to Piñera, 7 countries have
been privatized, prying the politician's hands off of
people's retirement money. We need privatization in the
US to avoid bankruptcy. Our Social Security system
started in 1935 is a copy of the 1925 Chilean system
which failed. The highlight after the conference was a
hike up Mt. Washington, the tallest peak in the Eastern
US. See my photos
of the climb.
This is the largest exhibition in telecommunications and
is held in Geneva, Switzerland every 4 years. This was my
5th visit. Since 300,000 attended I had to stay in a
hotel in the French Alps and spend 4 hours a day on a
bus. It was worth it. The revolution in
telecommunications is gaining speed. This year the focus
was on the intersection of wireless and the internet.
Mikhail
Gorbachev gave a speech in Lisle, IL on his birthday.
3000 of us did the neighborly thing and sang "Happy
Birthday". Times have changed since the Berlin Wall
was torn down. Among the beautiful things I saw this year
were the Getty Museum in LA, magnificent Blenheim Place
in UK, where Winston Churchill was born (he is
buried nearby), and the Morgan Library in NY with its
superb collection of ancient books. I visited both
tallest buildings in the world: the Petronas Towers in
Malaysia and the Sears Tower in Chicago while
entertaining friends, Jan Eilers and his girl friend Bianca, from Germany. The view is
magnificent. They also enjoyed seeing the Museum of
Science and Industry with the U505, the German
submarine captured in WWII. Saw Tap Dogs, a tap dancing
event, with them.
Well what's going to happen as the year rolls over to
2000? No one knows. Some argue that the Y2K event will
not peak in January but in the second half of the year
after an accumulation of problems from long supply chains
and computers corrupting databases. The one certainty is:
Clinton will take credit for the successes and blame
failures on others. One hope is: the IRS will fail in
converting the income tax and we'll get a simple flat
tax.
My best friend from college days was killed in a car
accident on November 17 on his way to work. He left a
wife and 3 children aged 21, 19 and 17. I attended his
memorial trilogy on November 20, 21 and 22: an outdoor
non-religious service in a forest clearing in Houston
on a cloudless 75 degree day, an indoor non-religious
service in Salt Lake City during a snow storm and
the scattering of his ashes on Snowbird at 11,000
feet as the sun was starting to break thru the clouds.
These were all very emotional events. We'll all remember
Alex. |
