December, 2003

Happy Holidays from the Soldans

I think our family clocked more miles travelling, and using more diverse vehicles this year, than any other year I can remember. Why? I hiked the Grand Canyon, Alice, Panzer (our 100 pound German Shepherd), and I took my parents on a RV trip to the western U.S., and Steve managed to circum- navigate the world by plane, boat, van, train (including a trip *under* the English Channel) and car. I also met Steve for a week in Rome during his European travels, where, among other things, we celebrated his 24th birthday together at the Vatican. More about these trips later.

As 2003 began at work I was putting the final touches on the set for "The Tibetan Book of the Dead." This set included a 20' diameter mandala, which was raked, and a 20' diameter human skull standing upright near the back of the stage. It was a huge job to build both structures, and make them safe for actors to climb on. Additionally, the set had to be transportable, since the show was being considered for a competition in Illinois. If we would have been invited to the competition, we would have had to pack it all up in a 20' Ryder truck, drive to the site, and would have been given 4 hours to put it up, performance time, and 1 hour to strike it.

About the same time, one of my colleagues wound up in the hospital, and I agreed to cover her class for a few sessions. It happened that she was sicker then we originally thought, and had to take medical leave for the rest of the semester. Her class was, "African American Films," which was a challenge for me, being quite naive about films in general, let alone African American ones. With help from some books I purchased, and great understanding of the students, we made it through fifteen weeks of interesting films and their history.

I often enjoy spending the winter months planning something for the coming warmer months. Since I was still smitten with the Grand Canyon, I again planned a trip there for early May. National Park Service regulations say the first day you can apply for a hiking permit is the first day of the month that is four months from the month you will hike. That meant January 1 for my May hike, so I parked myself in front of the fax machine on New Year's Day, and kept submitting my permit application until it went through. This can be a daylong ordeal, since everyone else that wants to hike in May could be trying to fax at the same time. Amazingly, it went through in about 15 minutes, and I was able to come home. Then began the job of carrying 50# of dead weight in my backpack two miles a day to get into condition for the hike.

Alice turned 55 last January (:-) I have her permission to announce this), and she has been with Michigan Tech for nearly 30 years now. About the time of her birthday, word began to come down from the State that funding for higher education would be cut. Both of us became quite concerned about the future of public education, as well as our jobs. I had a visit from my Department Head saying that if the cuts transpired as anticipated, my job (professional staff, and therefore non-union, non-tenure) would have to be cut. I was surprised, of course, but quickly resigned myself to the fact, and began to plan accordingly. Much later in the year we found that the cut from the State was less than anticipated and I was able to stay on. Alice was worried about her students, but so far there has been no indication that the Clinical Laboratory Science Degree Program will be cut, which is fortunate because there is currently a nationwide shortage of clinical lab personnel. The coming years will continue to be challenging, since the people of Michigan are not calling for an increase in taxes, and politicians are unlikely to do it themselves. We'll just have to wait see how this works itself out. We are both believers in public education, and hope to see that low and middle-income families will still be able to finance a college education for their children.

Following his graduation from Macalester, Steve felt the itch to travel. Connecting with a world wide "working adventures" organization called BUNAC that specializes in such things, he planned a trip to New Zealand (NZ) on a Working Holiday Visa, and left January 15, 2003. After a stopover in Fiji, and short stay in Auckland, NZ, he went to Kerikeri in the northern part of the North Island, where he found work thinning Mandarin oranges. He then moved south to Hastings, still on the North Island, and picked those wonderful NZ apples (Braeburn, Fuji, etc.) for several weeks. Around this time, he purchased a used full sized Ford van, which was with him for the rest of his stay in NZ, and learned to drive on the left side of the road; an adventure in itself. He used the van to move himself and his possessions to Wellington, NZ's capitol, near the southern tip of the South Island. He found work as a waiter at the Fisherman's Table restaurant there, and a room in a 'flat' with 4 other young people, so he decided to live and work in Wellington throughout the NZ winter and spring (our summer and fall), until the last few weeks of his stay in NZ.

By the end of the academic year in May, my conditioning regimen had paid off with leg and back muscles of iron. I left for my Grand Canyon hike and had a great time; different than the previous years, but excellent in every sense of the word. More details of this trip are available here.

Shortly after I returned from the Grand Canyon trip, my parents drove up from Lansing, and we stuffed ourselves, Panzer, and enough gear for two weeks into our Dodge Minivan, and headed for Minneapolis. There we picked up a medium sized rented motorhome for a trip to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons National Parks. Alice and I had worked out the itinerary and made all the reservations during the winter, and most of our plan worked fine. We had to do a little adjusting along the way though, since we had some mechanical difficulties with the vehicle we rented. It all worked out for the best, and we saw some amazing scenery and wildlife on this trip. If you're interested, more information about this trip is available here.

During the summer, Alice and I again volunteered our time at the Estivant Pines Nature Sanctuary near Copper Harbor, doing mostly trail work. We also put in some long days for the North Country Trail Association building walkways across wet areas in the trail on the Baraga Plains. I spent a day with the skill saw (in a rainstorm as it turned out) pre-cutting the treated 2x12s, 2x10s, 2x8s and 2x4s. Then we worked with a crew, some from the local NCT Chapter, and some from the Ann Arbor Sierra Club, to haul tools, lumber, and ourselves to the sites where the bridges were to be built. During the actual building, the weather was fine, the bugs were hungry, and we accomplished a lot during the time we spent. One of the best things about such projects, at least for me, is the fine people you meet. We all shared a common belief that helping hikers on the North Country Trail is a good thing.

Our last day of summer vacation was spent canoeing at the Sylvania Wilderness Area near Watersmeet, about an hour and a half from our home. Alice and I both love to canoe, and have taken a trip to the Boundary Waters, but had not yet visited Sylvania. We had a great day, and plan another visit next summer for sure. This is a jewel of a place, and so near us that day-trips are very reasonable.

Michigan Tech offered an early retirement program last academic year, which several faculty and staff accepted. Among them was Debby Bose-Filer, Alice's co-worker and the other Co-Director of the Clinical Lab Science Degree Program. Alice was promoted to Director as of the beginning of this academic year. The Department was fortunately able to hire an alum, and specialist in hematology, Karyn Fay, to teach Debby's courses, but without a permanent faculty member in that position, it's been quite a challenge to complete all the tasks necessary to maintain the program. So far all is well, but due to the additional upcoming State cuts we now have a hiring freeze, and yet other challenges. Alice's year has not been boring. We certainly live in interesting times.

In October, Steve said good-bye to NZ's North Island, and drove his van onto the ferry for a trip across Cooke Strait to tour the South Island. He reported that the crossing was an interesting ocean going experience aboard a very large ship. The South Island is much less populated than the North, and the wildlife is abundant and varied. He actually saw some small endangered yellow-eyes penguins, and an albatross colony (BIG birds). In early November, he sold his van, boarded a plane for Auckland, and flew on from there to Kuala Lumpur, Indonesia. Unfortunately, he arrived there sick with tonsillitis, so missed a part of his 3 days in KL. As he began to feel better, he ventured out more, and was able to visit the Petronis Towers, and a few other sites.

Then it was off to the airport for the next leg of his around the world trip, this time to Rome for a week with me. Steve and I had been planning this trip for some time. I arrived first, found the hotel we had booked, and figured out the lay of the land. He arrived early the next morning. We had a wonderful week together in an amazing place. More is available about this trip here.

I left Rome early the next Saturday, flew to Amsterdam, then on to Detroit (due to a mix-up at the airline), then Minneapolis, and finally home around 11:30 PM; about 26 hours. It sure was good to get back into my own bed. Steve meanwhile, continued across Europe via the fine train system there. He toured Venice, Berlin, Salzburg, Hamburg, Munich, Amsterdam, Paris, and then traveled *under* the English Channel (via the Chunnel) to London. There he visited some friends from college for a few days, and then flew home. His plane was due at 11:30 PM, December 4th, and arrived right on time. We were both really glad to see him again. As we were hugging hello, the lights went out at the airport, due to a massive power outage that affected northern Wisconsin and all the Upper Peninsula! Our kid sure knows how to make an entrance.

Steve stayed at home for a while, and is now actively moving his stuff to an apartment in downtown Houghton. Meanwhile, Alice and I are dealing with the realities of more budget cuts at the university. Neither of us is sure where these budget woes will lead, but we continue to try to do our best for the students.

And that is the year in a nutshell...

We hope that 2003 has been a good year for you, and we wish you a pleasant, peaceful holiday season as well as a joyful 2004.

Ted Alice and Steve