Friday December 23, 2016

Blog time 1140 at Panera

Thank God it's Friday, retired folks look forward to the weekends just like working folks. I am whooped and look forward to a relaxing Christmas weekend.

Missy and AJ are coming in late tomorrow.

The temp got below freezing last night so little snow melt.

I expected the sidewalks to be slippery because of thawing yesterday and freezing last night. I was right and glad I put on my grippers.

The Y was crowded with folks and students enjoying their Christmas break.

The world is changing fast, I read today that India has overtaken the U.K. as the world's fifth largest economy. Yet the U.K. still gives India foreign aid.

The world is no longer Euro centered.

At home I tried to move a TV into the living room. I found a cable chord but after hooking up the TV found the cable chord was dead. The best laid plans of mice and men are screwed by dead cables.

I got my stuff out of the downstairs bath and moved it upstairs. Missy and AJ will now have a clean bathroom.

Nancy fixed fried egg sandwiches and black bean soup for dinner.

We watched several shows on Acorn before calling it a day.

Blast from past. In December 1965 Nancy and I were living in a furnished apartment at 875 Woodside Road in Redwood City, CA. In early December the firm I was working for folded. The owner moved to Hawaii without telling anyone. He still owed me two months pay.

Nancy was pregnant and we had no health insurance or paycheck. Nancy typed up my resume and I started knocking on doors. I knocked on a lot of doors. I started in SF and moved south.

I had spent several weeks looking with no luck. On a Friday before Christmas I was in Palo Alto in late afternoon. I was tired and ready to head home.

I remembered the name of a small firm near the Bayshore Freeway so I said one more stop.

The name of the firm was Charles McCandless. It was starting to turn dark when I walked in about 1600. I asked the receptionist if they had any openings. She said sit down and took my resume.

Fifteen minutes later a short stocky man smoking a big cigar came out. He gruffly took me into his office. He looked at my resume and asked what salary I wanted. I told him and he said to report at 0800 the Monday after Christmas. My shortest interview on record.

The stocky man was Marvin Naughein a graduate of Stanford. He played quarterback for Stanford. During WWII he was a bomber pilot flying over Germany and his plane was shot down. Marc bailed out. Marc's parents spoke German so he picked up the language. He was able to get in contact with the underground. They escorted him to the Dutch coast where he was picked up and returned to England.

I loved working for Charles McCandless. The job was a great Christmas gift for Bob and Nancy.