Hello, family and friends:

Two themes will be prevalent in this Christmas update: teaching and travel. First, teaching: Last year at this time I was about to finish course work on a Certificate of Advanced Study in Digital Image Management. That goal was accomplished in May, so now I've moved to the "other side" of the classroom. The University of North Texas School of Library and Information Sciences asked me to teach a class in their "minimester" (teach all day, 2 days a week, for three weeks). I guess they felt I did a good job for them because they asked me to teach again in the Fall at their Houston extension. And now I am on the schedule for Spring and Fall 2001 -- this may be a permanent part-time job.

I still have my full-time job of Archivist and Special Collections Librarian at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and I am excited about the progress we are making in that department. Many of our collections had never had finding guides created for them and some of those that had been created were not accurate. (Finding guides are documents that help researchers know what is contained in collections of material donated by individuals or institutions. It is similar to an index in a book. It helps you find something without looking through all of the material.) My staff and I have made one of our priorities to get these finding guides created and get them on-line and searchable via the Internet.

The second theme for the year was travel. First, as a part of the Certificate of Advanced Study, I was asked to be part of a group going to London. My part of the group went to the National Gallery and talked with the person mostly responsible for the digitization project they are about to begin. Within a little over a year, they hope to have a digital representation (searchable on the Internet) of half of their extensive collection. This will be really exciting to see when it is available. (For pictures from all of my trips, check the web site.)

My second major trip for the year was to Yellowstone National Park. Some friends and I flew to Salt Lake City, then drove up through Idaho into Montana. Using West Yellowstone as our base, we ventured into Yellowstone National Park and down into the Grand Tetons (Jackson, Wyoming). Before heading back to Salt Lake to fly home, we took a rafting trip on the Gallatin River. This was one of my favorite trips.

My last bit of travel for the year was to brother Nick's wedding in Hutchinson, Kansas. I flew into Kansas City, Missouri and drove over to Hutchinson stopping on the way in Abilene at the Eisenhower Presidential Library. After the wedding, I drove up into Nebraska and saw the Omaha Zoo (remember Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom? -- they have a great zoo). From there I drove over to Des Moines, Iowa (actually, Clive) to see some friends (Marc, Amy, and Colten "Tex" Johnson -- Marc and Amy like Colten so much, they've decided he needs a little brother or sister, but that news is for their letter). After spending the night in Clive, I headed back for Kansas City and caught my flight home. [Speaking of an addition to a family, the Hintons (my sister's family) have added Dwight since last year -- now Greg has another man around the house!]

It's been a busy year, but I've still made time for my regular Christmas traditions. I attended the Seminary's performance of Handel's Messiah and the Fort Worth/Dallas Ballet's performance of The Nutcracker -- both excellent as always. I also am in the midst of shopping for my "Angel" -- I adopt an "angel" from the Salvation Army's Angel Tree.

I hope your last year of the 2^nd millennium has been great and the next millennium will be even better.

HAPPY Y2K + 1!

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