Date: Friday, 28-Jul-95 03:08 AM

Subject: Postcard from Portland

Hi gang,

This is _long_ overdue... please forgive me. I've been far to busy to
find much time for surfing - my connect time month-to-date is usually
what I'd rack up in by the second of the month!

Liz and I arrived in Portland two weeks ago. After a relaxing weekend
at the downtown Marriott we checked out and met the movers at our new
address (that was Monday, the 17th) at 8:30 am. Then the fun began!
Three guys schlepped boxes in 90+ degree heat for 6 hours. Liz and I
spent the next day and a half setting up the living room, dining room,
kitchroom and master bedroom. We worked that Tuesday (7/18) for 10
hours straight with no break (not even for lunch) in the heat and made
amazing progress. My first day at ADP was a week ago last Wednesday
(7/19). Liz continued to unpack, run local errands, and begin her job
search.

ADP, contrary to the impressions I formed of it when I supported them
as a Microdata employee, is a _very_ together outfit. The first thing I
did Wednesday was to attend the weekly project meeting where I was
introduced to many of my co-workers. In the week+ that I've been there
I learned that they are smart, focused and zany - like you guys! After
the project meeting I spent time with Ron Pettit (my boss) getting an
overview of the organization (huge - and growing!) and then sat down
with Terry Johnson (who has been designated my mentor) for the first of
many sessions to bring me up to speed on techie stuff. I spent Thursday
and Friday with Ron and Terry and was assigned my first defect (aka
bug) to fix - a problem with SP-JOBS not showing the account name and
port if the print job was created on a remote host. Last weekend was
filled with more unpacking and errands. Liz and I are slowly learning
our way around here and finding needed services. The streets in SW
Portland are pure spaghetti (the way the EDitor code used to be ;-),
but we're beginning to untangle them. Last Saturday I took Liz out for
her birthday to Jake's, a hundred year old seafood restaurant located
very close to Powell's Books (which we haven't yet found time to
visit). Fantastic dinner! The crabcake is to die for!! Last week Liz
and I got our exercise walking the nature trail close to our house. It
goes quickly into the forest and except for the maintained path, you
have no clue civilization is so close. All you can see are majestic
trees and lush fern - and all you can hear is bird songs. Last Sunday
we walked the Terwilliger trail - a very popular trail which parallels
the twisty road by the same name and affords a view from on high of
Portland stretching out to the east and Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helen's
beyond. It's a hilly hike, but you don't feel the workout or note the
passage of time because the views are _SO_ breathtaking. We've been
back several times this past week. Last Monday I sat through the 3.5
hr. new employee orientation where the benefits package was explained
and an overview of the company was presented. The benefits are far
superior to any I've had previously.  Would you believe the sick leave
allowance for new hires is 30 days/yr.?  Excellent choices of health
care plans, great 401k, stock purchase plan, etc. I've met many
employees with 15 to 20 years of service!! Monday afternoon I had my
first staff meeting. It was short and to the point, but filled with
humor. On Tuesday I fixed the defect I'd been assigned!  I'm quickly
getting a handle on Unix/C and finding my way around the development
system. Making a release here w/CoRA is a lot easier than w/Ultimate
Plus. I spent all day Wednesday and yesterday in the Dealership
Overview Class learning about our software package for car dealers and
also learning quite a bit about how they do business. I picked up a lot
of tips on how to get a good price when purchasing a vehicle ;-). We
visited one of our clients (we don't call'm customers) at the end of
the class - a Mercedes dealership. I'll probably ditch the 944 before
winter comes and get a Ford Explorer. 39th Ave. is being dug up now -
it was gravel when we moved in and they're finally getting around to
paving it. It took our landlord a year to convince the city to do so.
As a consequence, my 944 can't negotiate the street or driveway and is
parked across the road. It's covered in dirt :-( Those of you who know
what care I took of it in California wouldn't recognize it now. I
really wish a had a 4x4 today, but it'll have to wait a month.

Well, it's time to make coffee and wake Liz up, so I'm going to sign
off now. Stay tuned to this channel for more news - and drop us a
line!

we love you and miss you all,
Sandy & Liz
--
Sandy & Liz Herring         permanent address: sherring@ACM.org
Portland, Oregon            provider du jour : pickled@ix.netcom.com
                            http://www.paciolan.com/~gdh/friends/sandy

                          KELSO'S OBSERVATION
  The only one who got everything done by Friday was Robinson Crusoe.

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