Hello Everyone,

I hope you will join me in wishing our Don in Hollister a Happy Birthday for August 4th.

I firmly believe we should appreciate those who are our friends, family and associates while they are here. Therefore, I shall begin our well wishes and hope the rest of you will join in and offer your words of appreciation for our fellow board member.

I probably know him better than most of you, just long enough to hear his jokes 3 or 4 times each. He has so many it takes years to know you've heard one of them more than once, so they are good for several recalls. Occasionally he sings. There is nothing like it. In the world of weird and strange, these little tunes are way around the bend, but his voice isn't bad.

I know you've all heard me comment on his driving and honestly, for the most part it isn't that bad. We just have a difference of opinion on what is fast and how fast is enough. He doesn't seem to attract the police that much, but he does get stopped from time to time going 75 down the freeway. They are so relieved he hasn't been drinking and he's terribly polite, they never give him a ticket. He does have a kind face.

At one point he spoke 7 languages and now really only masters two fluently, but good enough so that at last years AGU he was able to interpret for one of the scientists about a project he was working on in Japan with a Japanese scientist who was visiting here. That was nice.

His best quality I suppose is that he is very helpful to everyone. From picking up friends at the airport for working spouses to taking old ladies home who don't have a ride from the doctors office, he is there.

He is also here for all of us to learn from him. You will never find a more thorough researcher as he is. While some of us might accept something at face value, he never does and so he spends a lot of time contacting scientists for clarification on theory, fact and asking whether or not some piece of equipment is working correctly.

No one could have a better best friend than I do. I say that because he is totally honest. If I am off base and he doesn't think I see something in the right light, he's never short on letting me know it. That's what best friends are all about, being truthful.

So Don, the cowboy from Hollister, I wish you a Very Happy Birthday.

Petra