Ashley Addenda: Ashley (remember the cute curly-haired little girl?) is now 11. She is still cute, but no longer curly-haired and is beginning that dreaded transition from little to big (co-incidentally John's hair is making a transition toward gray). Ashley stays busy with a wide variety of activities. She still goes to Judo and won her division in the State Jr. Olympic Tournament. She has recently taken up basketball, and plays on a team that includes two sets of twins which is named "DOUBLE TROUBLE".

Patrice Profile: Patrice is pondering professional possibilities in the post pre-school progeny period. In the mean time she has been working for a small electronics firm and has been forced to deal with the Federal Communication Commission. After spending some time interacting with that particular branch of the government, Patrice was heard cheering when budget fights caused the shutdown of the government.

The Randalls decide to adopt! John and Patrice decided that they miss the patter of little feet around the house (as if Ian, Ashley, Isis, Snapper, Brownie, and Starburst aren't quite enough), but they don't want to go through that whole pregnancy thing again. After much soul searching and careful deliberation they have decided to adopt. After quite a bit of research they found a family in Oklahoma that has an offspring they are ready to have adopted. Shortly after Christmas they plan to travel to Oklahoma to sign the legal documents and pick up their new family member. Both Ashley and Ian are excited about getting the puppy.

John runs a conference: John has been going to the International Conference on Electron, Ion, and Photon Beams (the 3-Beams) for the past 15 years. In 1995 he and Dieter Kern (a Professor from Germany) ran the conference. John got to pick where to hold the conference and, since he and Patrice had never seen the Grand Canyon, decided that the conference should be in Arizona. John and Patrice took a choo-choo out to the Desert and had about as much fun running a scientific conference as they could stand.

The Randalls on the Internet: Those of you who are trendy digital types can see two members of the Randall family on the World Wide Web. No, we don't have a Randall Web Homepage (yet) but check out the following web sites:

http://www.mit.edu:8001/people/bdsmith/home.html (Sorry The link does not now exist.)

http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~pang/index.html

The first is the home page of one Bryan Smith (an MIT graduate student who is demented enough to have John as an advisor). The gorilla slam-dunking a bass guitar is actually Ashley. The 2nd is the home page for John's favorite conference. John is the Webmaster. Click on John's name to see John in his messy office. While you are there, marvel at the winning entries in the conference micrograph contest.

Relativity Report The Randall Report: Bill and Vee (John's parents) are still doing fine in Houston. Bill has been doing carpentry work for Cindy. Vee went to the DAR National Convention. Brother Mike moved to Minnesota and got a cold reception. We are sorry to say a divorce is in progress. Sister Cindy is still busy running two Gyms with Shelly(12) and Kelsey(6). Cindy has gotten back into bodybuilding and recently won an event as an individual and, with her boyfriend Skip, won a couples competition.

The Stepchinski Saga: Eddie and Anita (Patrice's parents) are still in Houston. Eddie has been busy woodworking making some fine furniture for grandchildren. Brother Patrick, Erica and Leanne(2) have finally finished remodeling the upstairs of their home in Baytown. Erica decided the carpets must go and Patrick won't deny that they are being replaced with Astro-Turf. Brother Nigel, Rhonda, and munchkins Kyle(1) and Caitlin(4) were all doing fine in Houston until Nigel decided to try a helicopter maneuver with his dirt-bike and broke a leg and a wrist. We hope Rhonda sells his all his motorcycles before he gets out of the hospital.