A Curious 12 months for John:
This has been an interesting year for John. To begin with, his continued insistence that he is not
really that old has come up against the facts that: 1) he attended his 40th High School Reunion this year,
2) he finally got a set of prescription glasses, 3) he had surgery on his knee (its doing much better now thank you),
and, 4) this year will see John move to within a year of being (by his own admission) an Old Geezer!
In spite of his encroaching decrepitude, John, enabled by the amazing Jim Von Ehr, has managed to stay out of
the way of an incredible group of scientists and engineers at Zyvex Labs so that significant progress has been
made on our plot to rule the world via atomically precise manufacturing.
This year also had a number of firsts for John. Before 2010 he had never: 1) received a Distinguished
Engineering Alumni Award from the University of Houston, 2) been invited to be the Science Guest of
Honor at a Science Fiction Convention (FENCON VII), or 3) performed a wedding ceremony (Alice and Andrew McCormick).
WAIT! What was that last one? Performed a wedding ceremony? It turns out our dear friends from our
Boston Days, the Flanders (Dale and Julia) were marrying off the eldest daughter Alice. It seems that
the Randalls and Flanders are close for a number of reasons. Alice and Ashley were born within a few days
of each other. So too are Ian and Lauren virtually the same age. Julia and John are exactly the same age
(twins separated at birth) and John and Dale went to different schools together, but I digress. The point
is that Alice wanted to marry Andrew (a marvelous young man that accomplished the amazing feat of gaining
Dale 's respect). And for some unknown reason Dale and Julia decided that they wanted John to perform the
ceremony. How would this be even remotely possible? In Maine (where the wedding
was held) to perform a wedding ceremony one needs to be A) a Justice of the Peace, B) a friend
of a Maine Court, C) a lawyer, or D) an ordained minister. For A) you have to be elected, B) you must know
a Maine Judge, C) you have to pass the Maine Bar Exam, and D) you have to spend 10 minutes online.
Being a pragmatist, John went with D). The ceremony was a wonderful event on a spectacularly beautiful
Maine day that was only upstaged by the bride. The post nuptials party was particularly memorable. Other
than his own wedding to Patrice, John has not enjoyed a ceremony as much as this one.
The Relativity Report:
This has been a hard year for the Stepchinskis. In February, Patrice 's father Eddie passed away suddenly.
He was a kind and gentle man who cared more about his family than anything else.
Patrice 's brother Patrick and his wife Erica have been traveling around the country with daughter Leanne, who is about
to get out of High School (but has not picked a college yet). Their son Allen has just entered High School.
Patrice 's other brother Nigel and wife Rhonda have their eldest Caitlin at College Station (Aggieland) and youngest,
Kyle, in High School. On the Randall side the bad news is that John 's sister Cindy and husband Skip after basically
retiring, made a large and very conservative investment in a CD with a company that was reported to be rock solid.
Unfortunately, this did not turn out to be the case. If there is a positive, it is that Cindy is nothing if not
resilient. She has gone back to work and is doing well. She and Skip still have some hope of regaining some of their
investment. Their two Shelly and Kelsie are both out of the house. Kelsie is in school and working. Shelly and her
husband Matt moved back from Chicago. Shelly is working for Ricoh and Matt is in school. John 's mother Vee is still
going strong in Houston. She continues, with Mike 's help, to lead an active and productive life.
The happiest news on the Randall side is that John 's brother Mike married the wonderful Margaret Shelton.
She is a Professor at the University of Houston and like Mike an avid biker (the non-motorized kind).
They are both active in riding in and organizing major bike races for charitable causes. We couldn't be happier
for Mike and Margaret.
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