Preface
Stan: Thank you for a lovely Las Vegas vacation with my
family. I can’t believe that with years’
planning, and persistent longings have finally come to fruition to visit your
retirement dream home in Sun City Anthem in Henderson, Nevada on the Memorial
weekend 2016.
Unlike the Europe trip we took in the past as a family
together, my memory was in August 1999 before my Y2K project was done. Both our children were in teen, and young adult
stages whose inspirations drawn from the precious European history were
abundant. However, this Memorial weekend
trip, I took in the sights – not of the lights and glitz of Las Vegas Strip from my time-share
resort, Marriott’s Grand Chateau balcony, but of my grandson, a 2-year-old
toddler, Forest’s curious and attentive expressions. These are the unforgettable memories and I
will treasure for a lifetime.
So, the following is the story line:
Las
Vegas’ Skyline Views
From our Marriott’s Grand Chateau (green-roof)
room, we can stretch out over miles of the city’s skyline views. Forest would call out when the monorail
weaving through from MGM Grand to other Hotels/Casinos, such as Bally’s, Paris,
Flamingo, Harrah, etc. We took a few
ride. It’s quite convenient to hop the
Hotel Children’s museums and Forest was thrilled!
My
Grandson, Forest’s Adventure in Las Vegas
Forest inherited Thomas the Tank Engine from uncle Eric. Little Forest now operates the fleet of Friends Engines that grandmother can’t
keep up with all the Engine names. He
once corrected my pronunciation “ Mavis”
when I read him the bedtime story with the incorrect Mavis the Diesel Engine.
Shark Reef Aquarium, at Mandalay Bay. Thanks to Kris's recommendation. It’s a wonderful place to see thousands
different species of fish; from stingrays,
sharks, Green Sawfish and golden crocodile, etc. I wonder if Stan’s Corvette is a Yellow Stingray Model?
It’s So
Hot!
Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area
– The Cole family is used to hiking in places where the air is clean here away
from The Strip where you can’t
escape the smell from hordes of tourists’ sweats outdoors, the showgirls’
perfumes indoors and the choking smoke drifting in the casinos. It’s amazing to know that the whole arid area
was under an ocean basin millions years ago.
How we are able to cope with the earth entering into probable another
new geological epoch, only my grandchildren and their descendants will have the
opportunity to adapt.
Hoover
Dam
Hoover Dam Lodge Café where Forest found relief on
the chair. He was complaining about the
heat. I did not blame him. It was 107 degree that day! This is the world’s most impressive dam. We had to bypass it by driving the impressive
Hoover Dam Bypass, a.k.a. Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, opened
on 10/19/2010. However, you couldn’t see
the spectacular dam around you when you were driving it. I wish it weren’t this hot; otherwise, I
might be able to overlook the dam on top of the bridge walkway. Oh, well!
I hope Stan will invite me back again!
Marriott’s
Grand Chateau.
Roof top pool, Marriott’s Grand Chateau.
Beanbag games with Forest at Marriott’s Grand
Chateau. The resort offers plenty of
on-site amusements and entertainment for guests of all ages and interests. From natural exploration to relaxed yoga and
puppet time, there’s something for everyone!
Discovery
Children’s Museum.
Discovery Children’s
Museum. Again, We took Kris's best
advice and detailed printout. Here seems
to look like Forest’s school, he really feels at home. And we, adults are participating with him for
hands-on learning and fun.
Clark
County Heritage Museum
Clark County Heritage Museum. Forest had great time exploring the real old
trains exhibited outdoors. We also
roamed around the sleepy ghost towns with historic homes. The pedestrian life living in this arid and
parched land probably says a lot about its heyday for the past hundred years
ago. Again, thanks to Stan’s idea. This is better than those exotic skimpily
clad “faked show girls” who mingled with The
Strip tourists alluringly from behind the colorful fans and feathers
touting business. A Sin City? Is it too early to
introduce this word to Forest?
Ethel M
Chocolate Factory and Botanical Cactus Garden
Ethel M Chocolate Factory. The live chocolate making was closed due to
Memorial Holiday. We bought their
signature treats packed with boxes of icepack to visit Stan. The Botanical Cactus Garden boasts that it is
Nevada’s largest and one of the world’s largest collections of its kind. Oh, I wish it weren’t that hot! 107 degree!
There’s no way to enjoy those beautiful and extrinsic flowers under this
brutal heat! How Could Stan Stand This Heat!
O.K. - Stan
the Man
Once upon a time there were two computer programmers who
worked at Montgomery County Government, Maryland in 1986. I started as a rookie “new kid on the block”
programmer from Department of Energy with only 6 years of IT experience, while
Stan, a.k.a. “Stan, the Man” was an
old seasoned programmer, nearly 20 years of heavyweight IT “Mr. know-how”; 10
years already at the County, 7 years at Vitro Labs, a defense contractor, and 3
years at Roberts Brothers, an automotive company. We had worked side-by-side seamlessly
together for County’s Payroll and Personnel System among other ten fellow
co-workers.
As you may understand, from the constant hard-grind, day
in and day out, in this bureaucratic government agency, it could easily sap our
morale just from the perpetually increased demands. However, Stan and I cliqued for some reasons
that I couldn’t even tell today. Our
personalities were so different - we argued, we compromised but always worked
together to get the job done. He was
laid-back but professional like [sic] Scotty in 'Relics' of Star Trek Next Generation while I was a gung ho type driven
to the extremes about my work ethics: “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do.” But, he also has that rare intuition of a
salesman’s ruthless chemistry. That’s to
say we truly have the exact opposite miens in both chemistry and charisma. Even though we approached the problem
differently we both had the same goal, solve the problem and make the users
think we were [sic] Gods.
Two-people
Duo
From those days onwards, no doubt we became great Payroll
and Personnel program experts and were hardly ever seen out of each other’s
company in the office. Department users
would give remarks: “Oh, oh, is there something wrong in the system we did?” when they
saw us together for meetings or any client’s interactions. Gradually over the years, through County
Government’s re-org process from IBM’s “Mainframe
out and Client-Server In” industry trend, County Government had no choice but to
start the campaign of thinning the deadwood in the forests. The ten-people team became two-people
duo. Stan and I survived to hold down
the fort.
Dark
Horse
Under Stan’s tutelage, I often beguiled the most peers and
Department users as a Dark Horse,
due to the elements of debugging skills, problem-solving techniques, fast
learning and passion for work. During
his last year at the County Stan began passing the baton to me as he was
finalizing his retirement plans. I could feel it. I complimented him on his [sic] privileged lam-duck session. That was in 2005. When I delivered his retirement speech on
January 20, 2006, he had long laundry list of accolades, and “Laser Pay Check”
was one of his many star-projects among other accomplishments.
Janice’s
Reflections
This Dark Horse
began to become the rare breed of Mainframe sole torchbearer in Montgomery
County Government’ IT Department to migrate DB2 Z/OS to Oracle Database for
County’s Payroll and Personnel System.
Yes, it’s hard, but it’s not impossible.
Yes, I had it done successfully by January of 2013! The tremendous pressure fell upon me was
beyond description. I was so proud even
though the physical and emotional tolls were never in my concerns. I love
the system! But, don’t ever think you
are truly indispensable as you may think!
Looking back, I knew the new management was operating in a cutthroat
business. The bottom line was to
constantly shifting from one level to another and it’s that skill that I could
keep my heads above water. I officially
retired on 1/1/2014 for my new grandson’s birth as the full-time unpaid
grandmother. He was only three months
old.
Sometimes, after Stan already left Maryland for his
retirement home in Las Vegas, when I went into the Computer Center alone,
freezing cold or miserably tired crawling out from the cozy bed, to respond the
system problems in the middle of night, I often missed the time when Stan would
drive all the way from Poolesville, Maryland, just to keep me company even
though it’s not his on-call week. I was
so glad that his wife, Kris, was much supportive under this circumstance. One thing I shared in his retirement party,
once and for all among County’s 120+ well-wishers that Stan and Kris's wedding
date of October 8th was next to Ben and I - October 7th. Stan would always either half-heartedly
remind or brag to me about how they exchanged this and that while Ben, my
husband either totally forgot about it or needed to be reminded by our children. I said, “Kris, you are so lucky to have
someone like Stan, the Man.”
Their
Retirement Home
Now, look at his dream house in Sun City Anthem in
Henderson, Nevada! He and Kris gave us a
grand tour of the spacious three bedroom retirement house with the spectacular
mountain views by day, and breathtaking Strip
views by night, as well as the crystal-clear backyard swimming pool and Hot-tub
waiting for us to dip in. But I told him
to save for the next visit. The
centerpiece featured stunning thatched-roof Palapa across from the beautiful
pool and Hot Tub and next to the professionally landscaped rock garden that has
decorated with rustic boulders and small colorful rocks with different kinds of
desert cacti and marvelous ceramic sculptures. They even have an assortment of
seashells to remind them of the good times spent at the Atlantic Ocean. It’s just fabulous. We sat there enjoying the cool refreshing
strawberry-flavored water brought out by Kris while my grandson, Forest, my
daughter, Celeste, and son-in-law, Hans, were cooling off by the pool.
Look at Maryland’s historic snowstorm, Jonas, on 1/23/2016
– 1/25/2016 dumping 30 inches of snow in my community.
The smaller one, 6 inches, not in the picture, just a few months ago on
3/5/2016 seems to be a nuisance and inconvenience only.
Boy’s
Fancy Collection – a Car Connoisseur
The most amazing is Stan’s unique hobby of antique,
classic and vintage car collections.
Most of them are decanters. Now,
I know where he found them from his annual spring and fall trip to Carlisle Car
Show in Pennsylvania. Apparently, he has
one little fellow to add in his fan club now.
See Forest’s being totally enamored with his cars in the cabinets!
Besides the Pug dog, Rambo,
that they were dog sitting that week, I was also lucky enough to finally see
his War Bonnet Yellow Corvette that Stan was so proud to showcase to us in the
separate dream garage with the floor painted the identical yellow. How he spoils his baby! [Yes, he confirms
that this 1972 Model 3 is a Stingray.
But it’s not Jerry Seinfeld’s 1963 Split Window C2 Baby Blue Stingray that
he drove around with POTUS Obama on the White House grounds getting coffee.]
For a car enthusiast like Stan, I can imagine he must have
spent some time often in this workplace, playground and sanctuary that are
worthy of his precious baby!
It’s well documented that Stan is known to be the most
practical pragmatist in the County Government circles. He values things for most of their utility
and cost saving. To this day, I and
among many others still consult with him when we run into problems of anything
ranging from insurance to pension taxes that he so fortunately enjoys the 0%
state income tax in Nevada. Not even
talking about the unbelievably low property tax.
Epilogue
I am forever jealous about him! Maybe I should start to think about things
that I want to do. Then I can become
more laid back and not so gung ho!
First, if I want to become his neighbor, I need to have Ben’s OK, nice
taxes or lack thereof otherwise, it will become “three is a crowd.” Then, I should learn how to sustain the brutal
heat to become one of the smelly Nevadans out on The Strip. Stan:
“that is
why they make air conditioners.” The
above two may take time, but one thing I can do is to start preparing the
cabinets to keep my grandson’s matchbox car collection that he has now.
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