Year in Review 1994
GreetingsThe text of my original 1994 review was re-packaged, as shown in the table of contents below, for easy reading.
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Japan Customers
I traveled to Japan another 7 times. Since I initiated work on Japan in 1990, I’ve been there over 40 times. Business is growing. This year two customers went into service and a third signed a major contract. Work keeps me very busy!Elections in 1994
This year the Republican Party, using a libertarian message, delivered a hammer blow to the welfare state. The first “victim” is socialized medicine. In a few years, historians will see the linkages between this event and the fall of the Berlin wall and dissolution of the Soviet Union.Honolulu Marathon
Last December on the Tokyo to Honolulu flight, I was seated next to a Japanese businessman who had run in the 1992 Honolulu marathon, but failed to meet his target time. I decided on the spur of the moment to run in the 1993 Marathon (25,000 runners, 65% Japanese) the next day with him and 2 of his younger Japanese friends. I had no training and no exercise in 1993, but I hoped that would be offset by our 7-hour target time. I created an Excel spreadsheet to show the clock time at each of the 26 milestones at 6, 7 and 8 hour paces. The Japanese were impressed when I gave them their copy at breakfast. It really helped us, but 26.2 miles is a very long way! I achieved my goal with a time of 6 hr 52 min!! See my certificate of completion. The time of the Japanese businessman was 6hr 58m beating our target and his friends just missed at 7hr 2m. My first Marathon was a real adventure! It took me about three days before I could walk without major pain!Ecuador and the Galapagos
In March, I visited Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. In Quito, I discovered people from work also on vacation there! In Guayaquil, every store, including MacDonalds, had a guard with a gun, usually a machine gun. The highlight was 4 days on a yacht cruising the Galapagos Islands. Here Darwin invented the theory of evolution. The animals, protected by law, have no fear of people. You have to make sure you don’t step on them. A true wonder of the world! I just learned my father was here in 1942.Family Tree
After the super special wedding of Renee Latimer in Vermont, I achieved breakthrus that genealogists dream about. The house that my ancestor, Ford Plaisted, built for his bride Sally Cummings in 1800 is still in use! I solved a major blockage by discovering Sally Cummings’ father. This led 6 generations back to the beginning of the Cummings family in America and 50 new ancestors. One couple appears three times in my tree! triple Also an ancestor couple who denounced a woman who was one of 14 executed in the Salem witch trials in 1692. The private cemetery of the Plaisted’s is in a circular clearing in a New Hampshire primeval forest with an American flag on the grave of a patriot in the Revolution. I now have identified over 500 ancestors and over 200 immigrants in America. This is a stunning achievement.My Father’s 80th Birthday
In September, my brother and I flew to Dallas to celebrate our father’s 80th birthday. It was very nice. Just the three of us. My father keeps to his no fat diet and has added hand weights to his walking exercise. Works on the family tree too.My 50th Birthday
I celebrated my 50th birthday in Japan (fourth birthday in a row in Japan). I also celebrated in America. It was a shameless milking of the event. While it was nice to have all the attention, I’m glad it’s finally over.Chile and Easter Island
In November, I visited Chile and Easter Island (Rapa Nui). Chile is a very pleasant country. Speaking some Spanish would be a help for tourists. Easter Island is a wonder of the world! I assembled a Swiss guide who has a wife from Rapa Nui with a German couple who live in Venezuela. The four of us spent three intensive days traveling around the entire Island. The guide told us that we saw more of Easter Island than people who have lived there their whole life. I understand how the statues were made, moved and erected. The big surprises were learning that Easter Island had been cut off from the rest of the world for 1400 years and how it had degenerated into cannibalism due to over population and the near annihilation caused by the slave trade in 1862-1865.Other Travel
I also visited old neighbors, Dan and Darlene Kellner and their two sons, in their house on a golf course in Texas. In addition I visited the Bonanza ranch, which was used as the setting of the television program in Lake Tahoe. This year I had additional training at MIT on Japan and Japanese culture.
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