Some people like to recount warm and fuzzy memories for the holidays, I like to reprise my letter to my friend Dave, one of my friends when I lived in Puerto Rico.

12/23/00

Dear Dave,

Thanks for the card, I just got it today. Forgive me for not getting
in touch with you sooner, although I have tried to call several
times. I knew you were still there because of your answering
machine, but I never seemed to get anyone at home.

As for me, things are about the same. I'm still a minor technocrat
with local government, still married to the same woman, and still in
good health. Things have been going badly at work, mostly politics,
and my stepfather died this year, which was a blow, but all in all I
can't complain. Things are ok, although I'm enough of a pessimist to
expect the other shoe to drop at any time.

Mme Reclus and I finally broke down and got a PC, so if you're inclined to do so, you can email me at eliseereclus@babalu.net. Mme Reclus has really taken a shine to the damned thing, and has already far outstripped my meager skills, but I hate it. I've spent my whole life working with computers and I've grown to despise the entire concept, and the whole culture that's grown up around it. I don't like what it's doing to the way we work, live and think. Don't get me wrong, I'm not some kind of throwback or neo-Luddite, it's just that I've always seen data processing as a scientific tool, not an end in itself. I resent the fact that's it's becoming harder and harder to participate fully in modern life without relying on Mr Gates' devilish machines. Also, the skills I have relative to computing, such as writing code and designing algorithms, seem increasingly irrelevant to the new technology. At work, I spend very little time using the computer to solve my problems; I spend most of my time solving computer problems, instead. I suppose they've done to data processing the same thing they did to Christmas, football, and television: turned it into a commercial cesspool. This was the technology that was going to take us to the stars, instead we use it to peddle pornography on the internet and extort money from consumers. The business majors have finally won.

So what do you think of the new leadership in Washington? "Meet the
new boss, same as the old boss". I'm afraid we're sliding into a new
dark age; maybe the old Biblical prophecies were right. I have seen
the four horsemen: right wing politics, religious fundamentalism,
corporate welfare economics, and the commodification of all human
activity. The 21st century is going to be a doozy, and I feel totally
unprepared for it. I'm also old enough and wise enough to know that
my best years are behind me...I'm facing the supreme irony of middle
age: the knowledge I have gained so painfully gives me little
advantage against those who have not yet learned its value.
I still don't have a boat, it seems there's always higher priorities,
a remodeled bathroom or leaky roof. It's been years since I've even
been on a boat, or for that matter, seen a really dark sky. Still, I
don't want to give the impression that my life is totally desolate.
I have a nice home, a good wife, and fairly interesting work that
doesn't tax me too severely. Somehow though, I always thought there
would be more. After I came back from Puerto Rico, I was determined
to do somethng worthwhile with my life. Sure, I wanted a comfortable,
middle class existence, but I also wanted to do something interesting
and useful to others. I assessed my talents and chose a career that I
felt would be of value to the world: the monitoring and management of
the natural environment and the earth's resources through technical
means. I went back to get my Master's and undertook a severe
apprenticeship in industry, so I could bring more than just academic
skills to my new profession. In the 'seventies, I could think of no
more vital and noble work than that. Now, after twenty five years in
the remote sensing/geographic information systems field, I can look
back and see that I have left nothing of any lasting value. The
crowning achievement of my working life has been the Broward County
Atlas of Golf. And it is already out of date.

Well, that's enough bah humbug for one night. I guess Christmas has
always depressed me: my friends leave town, there's nothing good on
TV, and the bars are all closed. Stay in touch and take care of
yourself.
ER