BLIZZARD OF '05

Like everyone in Newport...







...our friend and faithful correspondent, Kimberly Jones, is now digging out from Sunday's storm. Not as bad as '78 when New England shut down for the better part of a week, nonetheless Sunday the snow fell fast and furious in Rhode Island, which, from news reports, took the worst hit.



Kimberly always was a good communicant, but of late and armed with her Blackberry (mobile phone/email/PDA) she is even more prompt and prolific. And being a good, upbeat Midwesterner she wrote in the midst of the storm Sunday, "It's gorgeous! Remember all those snowy winters we had in the seventies back home with drifts that looked like waves? Well, we are surrounded by them! It's a whiteout!"



Tonight Kimberly writes, "Well, we have six foot drifts banked all around the house...and of course hardly anyone in Rhode Island knows how to drive in snow."



Ah, we can (sort of) relate here in Hamburg -- it snowed maybe an inch or so overnight, and the taxi ride home from the airport early this morning took nearly twice as long due to all the white-knuckle drivers.



Blame it on Team New Zealand -- had they won the Cup in 03 likely we'd all still be in summery Auckland.

CARNAC THE MAGNIFICENT

Not much one can add...







...to the many great obits one finds today on the web except perhaps for a few personal recollections of the many years spent with him in our living- and, of course, bed-rooms....



It began for me in 1971 at Alice Lloyd Hall, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor -- the nightly routine was Walter at 1830 and Johnny at 2330. We studied or partied before, between or after, but rarely during.



It ended in San Diego in 1992 -- long-time sailing friend, Peter Huston, wrote today saying, "Had a flashback to '92 yesterday when the news came that Johnny Carson had passed away...remembered being at your house in Pt. Loma and watching his last show...." That was in May, of 1992 and Leslie was well along in her pregnancy with Meg who was born in September.



Along with many Americans, we watched Carson "through our toes" from 2330 to 0100 (in the later years, just til 0030 when he shortened his "working day" to an hour, three days a week -- nice work if you can get it!). And if not through our toes, then in one or more of the "phases" Kinsey described (have you seen the movie? my father, Tom Sr., says it is not to be missed).



And that was only 20 years of Johnny Carson's unmatched 30-year stint.



I also fondly recall mimicking Carson by doing many, many "Carnac" routines at parties in the 70's and 80's -- putting on a turban, holding an envelope to one's head and "divining" a seemingly innocent "answer" to the question contained in the envelope which, when opened and read to those assembled, made the innocent answer a punchline to a (hopefully) hilarious joke.



But we could never top Johnny Carson and sidekick Ed McMahon's well-worn routine. For example:



* Carson holds an envelope to his turban-clad head and says, "Shoo-be-doo-be-doo."

* McMahon repeats, "Shoo-be-doo-be-doo."

* Carson rolls his eyes at the predictably and overly obsequious McMahon.

* Carson tears off the end of the envelope, blows it open and pulls out the card containing the "question" and reads it....

* Carson: "What do you look for when tracking a Shoo-be-doo-be?"

* McMahon guffaws then laughs his hiney off, regardless if the joke is good or bombs.



Just now Nathalie "Natasha" King IM'd me from Newport saying, "We have two feet of snow -- it's wonderful! But if someone plows it into my driveway I will kill!" Told her I was blogging Carson. Always the contrarian and perhaps made a bit grumpier than usual by the snow and cold she said, "Carson was great but Jack Paar was far better and Steve Allen was my favorite. Age shows...."



Well, without taking issue with Nat, at least of the "moderns" there can be no doubt Carson was in a league of his own, and he bowed out on top.



Good night, Johnny.

WOMEN WHO PROBABLY WON'T HYPHENATE

San Diego friend Bill Munster forwarded...







...a number of these rather "dashing" wedding announcements. This was the only g-rated one, and a bit of a "sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction" site gag as well?

SIGN OF THE TIMES
Spotted in New Zealand...


...outside of Auckland. And what exactly does $5 buy you? Three horses worth? Or is this like Baskin-Robbins and we are talking scoops here? Didn't stop to ask, LOL, but love the sign.

FACE BEHIND THE NAME

Diana has one of the more...







...interesting surnames among colleagues in the BMW ORACLE Racing team -- it's Diana Puketapu -- which not only is fun to say (pooh ke TAH pooh), but must be Maori or Polynesian, or something, for "nice smile." Diana is our hard-working CFO, and certainly one of the more popular people on the team, and not just because she handles our expense accounts!



P.S. Diana says, "For the record, my surname means 'sacred hill' in Maori; puke = hill and tapu = sacred." She says it can also mean "mountain that cannot be climbed" -- hmmm, think we will leave it at that. ;)

TENNIS ANYONE?

NZ friend and tennis buff Peter Kiely...



...kindly invited a few of us to join him in his corporate box for the finals of the ATP tournament in Auckland last Saturday.







Above are Peter (second from the left) and his contingent with the runner-up in the singles final, Olivier Rochus of Belgium (red shirt, obviously). We were cheering for Olivier because he was the underdog, and because the eventual winner, 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, had his own large and boisterous cheering section of young Chileans and Kiwis.



For the doubles, we supported the German-Swiss pair over the Swede-Aussie duo, inasmuch as I live in Germany and, more importantly, we had Her Excellency Mrs Sylvie Matteucci, the Swiss Ambassador to New Zealand (above, far left) with us in Peter's box along with her doctor-husband Aldo (third from the right). We had gotten to know Sylvie and Aldo during the last Cup when they were, of course, prominent partisans for the Swiss winners Alinghi, and it was good to catch up. Our support was rewarded in the doubles....







Yves Allegro (SUI, black shirt, next to the Ambassador) and Michael Kohlmann (GER, red shirt) prevailed in an exciting match, and Peter managed for us to meet and congratulate them afterwards.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAUL

Brother Paul turns 23...







...today. Shown above at the recent Maui Grand Prix windsurfing event -- not! That photo, found on the internet, is from 1984 when Paul was 23. Today, if my math serves, he turns 44. Happy Birthday Paul!



For more recent photos of Paul, please see the EFB archives, July and December '04.

TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

Email received from Michigan friend...









...Jeff Cox, apparently his first:





Watch out world, Jeffrey is in the 21st century! What do you call a blind deer standing in the woods? No eyedeer! E Me,



Jeffrey

jscox2 [at] juno.com*





All this brings to mind the 19th century utterance "What hath God wrought!" Who said that, where, when and why? Hint: pic above.



P.S. Let's hope Jeff uses his new email for more than the spread of deadly Michigan hunting jokes! ; )



*I post Jeff's email address that way for anti-spam purposes -- I guess it's obvious, but replace the [at] with an @.

CAKE EATERS

While in San Diego during the holidays...









...Meg was invited to overnight at Chez Nicholas with her friends Brooke and Lexi -- daughters of our longtime Cup friends Jim and Linda Nicholas. Of the picture above Meg writes:



It's Brooke on the left. The girl with the blonde hair is Ana, short for Analise, and the other one is Logan. We were making a bday cake for their friend Annie. We had lots of fun!



Sorry to repeat, but how fast they do grow up! And is there something in the water? Why do so many California kids have that sunny, attractive movie-star look?



P.S. Another cute, spur-of-the-moment pic taken with the one-megapixel, no-flash, Nokia 6670 phone-cam. No wonder these phone-cams are selling so well -- having a simple digi-cam on you at all times is turning out to be much more useful, and fun, than I ever expected.

ACUTE ANGINA?

Grandma Jan emailed today...



...to remind us of the punchline to the Acute Angina joke, which the EFB has cleaned up just a bit:



His reply, after she confessed to having "acute angina": "Well your boobs aren't bad, either!"

YIKES -- GRANDMOTHER??

Ruth writes...



Oh how wonderful! I hope you realize how much I enjoy and value this effort on your part to keep us all "one"!



Rebecca's boyfriend's name is Jonathon Voight. They've been together a couple of years now; great guy and a techno geek, you'd get along well.



Derek [Ruth's stepson] had his baby, I guess that makes me a grandmother. He is getting married this summer, that will be a big gig in Seattle.



Otherwise, settling into winter, er, spring (?) here. 55 degrees today with lots of rain following 2 inches of snow yesterday. And lots of schoolwork as I near completion of my college stint. Give everybody lots of hugs!



Love Ruth







"Grandma Ruth" still loves to dance.

PICTURE TIME V
Family Gathering at Sister Ruth's...

...on the "Eve of Christmas Eve" as niece Rachel (Ruth's eldest) said when she kindly forwarded these nice pix for the EFB.


"Grandma Jan" as Meg calls her, strumming for Ruth and friends.


Grandpa Tom, Grandma Jan and Lynn Hill (Tom's spouse, and
the best musician of the whole clan).


Ruth's number two, Rebecca, and her beau (whose name
someone could send me). In the chips? Contemplating the cards??

FRIEND IN THE NEWS

While in San Diego last week...







...I caught up over lunch with John Burnham and John Engle, old friends from the San Diego America's Cup days. JB owns and operates one of the leading "UPS Store" franchises in the USA. "Johnny Jingle" Engle has been named as one of the "50 People to Watch in 2005" by San Diego Magazine for his work at Scripps Health Foundation. An excerpt from the SD Mag Article:



"John Bowers & John Engle -- Between them, they’ve raised a ton of money for Scripps Health Foundation, which solicits contributions for Scripps Health, San Diego’s premier nonprofit healthcare delivery network. Bowers, considered the dean of local fund-raisers, returned to Scripps to serve as interim director of the foundation last year, while also serving as executive director of the San Diego Public Library Foundation. Engle now oversees Scripps Health Foundation in his new role as chief development officer and senior vice president; he has been with Scripps for 15 years. Both men have one thing in common: They won’t take no for an answer."



Nice!

A WINE OR TWO A DAY?

More good news for...







...moderate drinkers (from one glass every other day to two a day) of red wine, courtesy of Peter Huston, in the Forbes Newsletter. No doubt this will please Erwin Zimmet, our good friend and proprietor of Merlot, the popular Auckland restaurant that arguably has the best wine cards in town and, without doubt, the best selection of wines by the glass. I intend to take full advantage while here in AKL for the next couple weeks.

HAPPY NEW YEAR
Long time sailing friend Dick Enersen...



...of Seattle and San Francisco -- cinematographer, bon vivant, and AC spectator control expert -- sent this Cmas email photo of his yacht anchored while cruising in the San Juan Islands this summer, and kindly allowed me to post it on the blog. Seems particularly apropos the New Year as it could be either a sunset or a sunrise?

Here in San Diego we had a low key but nice evening with Terry, Adrian and Olivia at their home -- our last night here as today Leslie and Meg fly today back to HAM, and I am headed to SFO for meetings then on to AKL on Monday.

We hope all of you had a safe and enjoyable New Year's Eve, and best wishes for a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2005!

P.S. Here is a fun little New Year's online card, courtesy of Tom Leweck -- http://web.icq.com/friendship/swf/0,,16961_rs,00.swf.