Living Happily Ever After
Volume 3 - December 1996
Seminole Wind
At the end of last year, we decided to leave school and had not
yet secured employment. Since we felt we had exhausted the possibilities
within a reasonable proximity of Stillwater (ie: Dallas, St. Louis,
Kansas City, Wichita, etc.) we thought we would try basing our
search from Florida. We spent the first month of 1996 moving
between Liston's parents' in Orlando and Caroline's Mother's in
St. Petersburg, trying not to outstay or overeat our welcome anywhere.
Just as Liston's jobsearch was getting downright frustrating,
it occurred to us that perhaps Caroline should find one of those
abundant opportunities for Non-certified speech pathologists in
Florida. Thanks so much to Iris Anderson, employment for Caroline
was secured in a matter of days. We hopped on the Greyhound bus
and went to Oklahoma to pack up our stuff. We had the great fortune
of moving while 12 inches of snow fell. We drove through the
ice and snow back to Tallahassee, Florida. Caroline works for
the Leon County Schools as a Speech and Language Teacher/therapist.
She currently shares her time between 2 base schools (Astoria
Park Elementary & Gretchen Everart) and 2 pre-schools. Caroline
provides therapy for children ranging from preschool to High School.
Liston continued his search and found what sounded like a fantastic
job at the Florida Department of Education. During his employment
at the DOE he played a big role in creating their current homepages
located at http://www.firn.edu/doe.
How nice it was to finally be a DINKY household. (Dual Income, No Kids [Yet])
Welcome to the Real World.... or maybe NOT???
Liston and Caroline both retuned to school at Florida State University
in August while continuing to work full time. Caroline enrolled
in the Communication Disorders graduate program as a Special Student
in hopes that they will accept her outright for next year. Liston
began taking classes in the Industrial Engineering Department.
He liked it so much over at the college that he quit his "real
world" job and took on two part time jobs at the college.
He spends part of his time as a Research Assistant working with
Lockheed Martin on Virtual Manufacturing database creation &
management and part of his time as a Systems Administrator for
the College fixing computers & installing software.. Liston
has also been nominated for an inaugural position on the the FAMU-FSU
College of Engineering Alumni Association Board of Directors.
For those of you who have received a ballot in the mail, PLEASE
remember to vote for him.
Let's hear it for technology!
The wave of technology is really growing. We hear of more people
getting connected all the time. If you have recently gotten on-line
with an email address or homepage, please let us know. Caroline's
permanent email address is careb@pobox.com while Liston
can be reached at bias@pobox.com.
You can also see Liston's homepage at http://www.pobox.com/~bias which is
packed with all sorts of information including useful links, past newsletters,
and awesome pictures!
Air Miles
We seem to have traveled a little less in the air this year. In the
miles we did fly, we managed to go to Puerto Vallarta, Los Angelas,
Norfolk, Ft. Lauderale, and Liston also went to Pittsburgh to utilize a
free ticket and visit Darryl. We have also flown back and forth to Tampa
a few times.
Land Miles
We don't even want to know how many miles we have
driven this year. Being in Florida has made it a lot easier (and
possible) to visit family over the weekend and we have taken advantage of
our location making many weekend trips South. It seems that since our
car is only a year and a half old and has 30,000 miles on it, we are
driving too much.
To work or not to work
We were really ready to find jobs, but we did not want to miss
out on our trip to Puerto Vallarta. Lucky for us, they hired
Caroline AND agreed to let her leave for a week at the beginning
of March. We used our free Delta tickets and went to PV via LA.
Once we got there, Lily, Jason, Danna, and Michael (friends from
Oklahoma) met us at the airport and we were off to Lily's timeshare.
We had so much fun riding on these funny busses to get around
town, lying on the beaches, going on tours, and shopping. The
fajitas and tequila were oh good too. Overall it was an awesome
trip! Other trips included wonderful, but but short, weekend
trips to New Orleans, Daytona Beach, and Orlando. We also took
an awesome cruise to the Bahamas where we stayed in a cabin and
had full-course meals 3 times a day... Wowee!
We also enjoyed making Veteran's Day a long weekend and going
to Norfolk so that Caroline could meet Liston's aunts, uncle,
and cousins. We spent time with Liston's dad showing us around
where he grew up and all the places he lived. We also saw where
Liston was born in Portsmouth and trecked over to Old Williamsburg.
Thanksgiving was a fun long weekend where we got together with
Gillian and Sylvia and zipped to Ft. Lauderdale for a wonderful
visit with Grandpa Charlie and Ann. We enjoyed having a delicious
Thanksgiving dinner, and got to spend some fun time with the grandparents
playing cards and visiting! On the 7th of December we drove
to St. Pete and back to celebrate Caroline's Mother's 50th birthday
with a big surprise party.
Here's to Alpha Phi Omega!
Caroline & Liston found their way into the Winter 1996 Alpha Phi Omega
National Newsletter (Latest Torch & Trefoil at http://www.pobox.com/~bias/apo)
for their efforts in rechartering the
Chapter at Oklahoma State University on December 16, 1995. Caroline &
Liston both received Distinguished Service Keys (highest honor of
fraternity) for their efforts as well as other awards. Right now, we
are not very active in Alpha Phi Omega because of our current busy
schedule. We plan to make more time for Alpha Phi Omega in the spring
as we have secured contacts in Iota Rho Chapter here at Florida State
University. Liston has recently been appointed to the National
Electronics Committee for the fraternity.
How Sweet it is
Being students at the home of
the NUMBER ONE Florida State Seminole football team has made it easy to
catch football fever. We have enjoyed going to the home games and
visiting with Liston's parents and Caroline's co-workers at tailgate
parties before the games. We have also managed to attend a couple of
Basketball Games. We plan to be more active in attending sporting events
along with other school-sponsored activities in the Spring now that we
have some predictability to our schedules.
Coming Soon...
As the New Year fast approaches, we have been finalizing our plans for
Christmas and the coming year. We are looking forward to visiting our
parents and short trip to Bonita Springs to see the chubbies and go to
Twisty Freeze. Next summer we hope to visit Bar Harbor, Maine for a
couple weeks seeing relatives and enjoying the break. We also hope to do
a bed & breakfast in St. Augustine. The rest of year is up in the
air right now other than work & school.... ick on pictures for larger
image):^M
^M
Pictures Included in Newsletter (click on pictures for larger image):
Caroline & Liston get ready to enjoy a sightseeing+ cruise
in Puerto Vallarta with friends Michael, Jason, Danna, and Lili.
Caroline & Liston Board Ship for Bahamas Trip
Date Posted: 12/19/96
bias@pobox.com
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