THIS IS DIFFERENT,

ISN'T IT? It looks different.

Welcome to the New Newsletter of the Neapolian Wallace's. This is an experimental newsletter which may be the "Shape of Things to Come!" (HTML).

Give feedback, comments, suggestions etc. (positive and negative) on the new format. If you have a multimedia computer, it gets even better. All you need is a web browser, but a sound card with speakers enhance the pleasure. If you have a connection to the internet, we can have it emailed to you.

If you have access to a computer but it is not connected to the Internet, get the file from someone who has email by copying it to a floppy. Copy the files or UNZIP them by running WDN4.EXE. This will put the files into a folder (directory for you DOS folks) pay attention to where your computer stores the files. Go to that Folder and click on NEWSLET4.HTM to see, hear and experience the Wonderful World of Multimedia Computing!

If the files get too big or numerous, I will ZIP them up and send instructions in the email. It wouldn't too much good to you if the instruction on UNZIPPING are in the attachment would it?

And yes, on the computer, the pictures are in color! I hope I remember to turn the music back on before I send it out. I can only listen to it so long before I want to go POSTAL!

We have big plans for the future. We want to try and incorporate our own Java Script, frames and other fancy stuff. Give us some time to work on them and get them right.

The reason we changed the format was we had to mail all of the newsletters and the cost of First Class Postage has gone up. If we e-mailed them everyone would have to have the same Word Processor for the format to stay intact. This way, using HTML, the basic format will be the same. There may be some differences between Netscape and Internet Explorer but it will be the same format and anyone with a web brower will able to view it in it's intended form.

Big THANK YOU to Barbara for helping me work out the file transfers. Sorry Whitney, I didn't write this one in the third person. Maybe next time. For those of you reading it on paper, the underlined words TABLE OF CONTENTS in the left margin are an Hyperlink Tag that will take you to the Table of Contents of this document. Joy wants to know why it's at the bottom of the document. I can't answer that. I guess it is because I didn't want to clutter up the top of the document. That can be some of the feed back you give. Where to put the Table of Contents.

CONTEST!

Who knows what HTML stand for? Name That Tune!, and who made it famous by singing it in what movie? The first one to email me back with the correct answers will get a Color Copy of the WdN mailed. This also goes to the first person on the Snail Mail list that I receive a letter from with the correct answer. GOOD LUCK! Anyone receiving an advance copy of the WdN can not be the winner of the contest. Winners will be listed in the next edition of the WdN.

Y2K Another Year Closer, Less than One Year Away!

Another year closer. Well, the good news is that when the radios started blasting Prince's 1999, people started to realize this is really going to happen. Most government branches have some entity in charge of Y2K. I guess they all know that the press is waiting to see who fails and on Jan 3, 2000

In the government all you have to do is make all of your subordinates report that you have a plan and/or everything is going good and people start jumping through hoops. Bosses have to sign forms saying that all is being to to prevent everything from going wrong. You don't want to be the one standing in your drawers on Monday Jan 3 and try to explain are reason why you shouldn't be fired. So my boss appointed a Y2K Point of Contact. He wants a person that he can point to while they are standing on the carpet explaining their worth to the company. No, it wasn't me!

While this joker was scrambling around, trying to meet all of these deadline, he had a brilliant flash of the obvious. Why not spread all of my work around to all of the people in the department and the benefits are two fold. He tracks everything meticulously and if you don't get back to him before his impossible deadline, my boss will start an Air Campaign, borraging you with email until you get it done, thus he is off of the Y2K POC, and come Jan 3, he has someone to point to when my boss starts pointing at him.

Now, everyone is wondering what this is leading up to. So, what does this have to do with me? You ask. I say, that the Y2K issue is everyone's concern. No matter what your job, whether with a keyboard or particle board, Y2K will affect you and you need to be prepared for the big day.

Next issue, I would like to mention some of the best place to be and not to be on December 31, 1999 and January 1, 2000. Until then, have fun.

TONY'S TRAVELS

Well, since the last issue was published, there were a couple of visits. The first was in October to Bonny London. This had to be the best visit of all. First because it was great to be in a Large City and second because everyone spoke English, sort of. I was squinting and saying "HUH?" alot. This is one of the few places where I didn't feel like I was wearing a sign that said "Please take advantage of me, I have a lot of money!"

I did the tourist thing, and the Nightlife thing to. I hung out at Picadilly Circus, similar to Times Square and went to plays. I highly recommend London for anyone who wishes to go abroad.

The second trip was to Manasass, VA. What can I say, except being in the States was great and I got a lot of Christmas shopping done for my ladies. I did a quick stop through Gary to visit the family and saw Renalta who was recently released from the hospital after being diagnosed and treated for Multiple Sclorosis. We celebrated Thanksgiving a little early, Then I made a quick trip back to Bella Napoli to spend time with My Girls. I did make a quick trip to Virginia Beach and Thanks to the Keatings for offering me a bed and the Thrashers for allowing me to stay there after I passed out.

REPORT CARD REPORT

O.K.! I can give you the short version or the long version. Here is the short version... Katherine made the Honor Roll. That's the end of the short version. Go on to the next story unless you want to know about the long version.

For those of you who wish to know the story behind the story, Thanks for reading on. We don't like the people who didn't read on anyway.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. The holiday season was rapidly approaching and for Katherine, that means it is a busy time of year. Since her birthday is Christmas Eve, having a party on her birthday is next to impossible and very stupid. So the party was held on Dec 18th, the last day of school before the Christmas Vacation.

The last Base newspaper, The Panarama, of the 1998 was out and it listed all of the Honor Roll Students. I was receiving Congrats from friends and collogues alike for my daughter's name in the paper, but when we looked at it ourselves we discovered that either Katherine's name had changed spelling, or the unthinkable, she didn't make the Honor Roll. Tony know it was a clerical error at the school, Joy had talked with Mrs. Salerno earlier in the week and was informed the Katherine is extremely intellegent, but she doesn't pay attention to detail enough. She failed a section of a standardized test because she didn't follow the directions. The test requested antonyms (opposites) she selected synonyms (same meaning). Armed with this knowledge, Joy ASSUMED (and we all know what happens when someone assumes) that the Honor Roll Student belonged to Mrs. Wallace's, one of the teachers at Naples Elementary, child. Who spells her name Katheryn.

Wrought with dispair, we decided not to mention anything to Katherine until after the party. Specifics on the party are in the next section.

In an attempt to make this long version shorter, we didn't talk about the list with Katherine's name not on there for the next few days. As with anyone, that is a hectic time and we forgot what we needed to talk to our daughter about.

The day before her birthday, Katherine ahnded me her weekly work and requested my signature on the folder that is to be returned to the teacher. Lo and behold. inside was a Certificate for Honor Roll and making the Assistant Principal's List, and the Bumper Sticker stating "My Child is an Honor Roll Student at Naples Elementary School!" Imagine our suprise when we realized that she had in fact made the Honor Roll nd she informed us that her name was in the Panarama, but they spelled it wrong. She had told that to Mrs. Salerno and when she returns to school after the Holidays, she will get a Certificate with her name spelled correctly.

I learned something during that half week of not knowing. I was planning how to put out the Newsletter without mentioning Katherine's Grades or the Report Card. So, in the future, if during a school year, I don't mention the grades, you will know why.

I know what you all want to know. What about Katheryn Wallace. She made the Honor Roll too.

Let's review... Katherine Wallace, made the honor roll. They spelled her name wrong on the certificate and omitted it from the newspaper because her first name is a homophone with a girl who is in the 5th grade with the same last name. We don't like the people who just read the short version.

WOW! I DIDN'T KNOW YOU WERE ON THE NET?

Since Al Gore coined the phrase "Information Superhighway back in the 80s we have come a long way. Computers are in over 50% of American Households and over 70% of Americans deal with computers on a regular basis at work, school or home. (I just made up those percentages, but they sound impressive, don't they?) So, what is the deal? How come every month or so, I am just finding out that there are friends and family on with email addresses and they have had them for years. In an attempt to remedy this situation, I am gonna dump part of my address book in this newsletter and the people on the list are some of the ones who get the newsletter emailed to them. If you didn't want your email address on there, sorry, but it would be in the addressee listing anyway. Yes, the people are in order, they ranked on the amount of email that they send to me. The most are at the top. Phyllis just sent me here first email, thus dropping Ron to the bottom of the list. More people on the list next time.

Tony/Joy/Katherine Work: [email protected] - I check this one regularly during week days, but on weekends I usually don't have anyway to look at this.

Internet mail: [email protected] - If I go to the base, I can check this address at the base library or at the Internet rip off joint where you pay about $1 per hour.

Carlos: [email protected] - If you want to write to someone who was at the tip of the spear that was heading for Iraq, here is your chance. He is on the USS Enterprise CVN-65. Yes, the same ship that Tom Cruise played Navy on in Top Gun!

Cecilia: [email protected] - I can remember this because that's her birthday as she pointed out to me. Good thing she didn't add the year on there, she's getting up there! I thought it was just another random number generated by AOL

Lenette/Rick: [email protected] - I don't know why I remember this one, I guess it is because I had to type it in about 15,000 while I was troubleshooting her PC.

Dad: [email protected] - pretty easy to remember, (if you know what year he was born).

Mom: [email protected] - the 'g' is for Grand, and the rest is kinda obvious. When I first saw that address I thought she was One Gangsta Mama, but I was wrong. ...Wasn't I? She is from G.I.!

Barb/Dickie/Brian/Shawn: [email protected] - Another pretty obvious one Barbara Jean!

Phyllis/Stretch/Jennifer are [email protected]: - I don't know what that means! 8) <--- that's a guy wearing glasses & smiling.

Ron & Sheila are: [email protected] - rcoleman is short for his full name and the 1 is because he is number one in our book, now that Michael Jordan has retired.

OK Boonville, you are next. Who has an email address in Southern Indiana? Anyway, if you have an email address and want it published in the WdN, click on the link below and let the editor know. Feel free to email anyone else on the list. They always like getting mail.

KATHERINE'S HOLIDAY WINDFALL (and ours too)

The first thing everyone seems to ask is if Katherine gets stiffed since she was born on Christmas Eve. Does she get as much as she would if her birthday was in April or some other wierd month. You be the judge.

Party day. We get off work to culmanate all of the planning a prep work Joy has done. Decorating, moving furniture and putting together little treat backs of goodies for the little darling. There were 10 girls in all, including our Little Angel and they started arriving around 6:00 pm. Did I mention this was a slumber party?

They are having a good time playing Twister and eating junk food in the courtyard of our building, then it comes time for the games then Ice Cream and Cake and opening the presents. Katherine get the usual assortment of gifts for a nine year old and from Mom and Dad, a BOOM BOX. WHY? I can't remember. I do know it was my idea to give here that. Maybe I wanted to listen to the Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys all night. Yes, there was one little darling who had to test out the volume every time I started to drift off to slumberland.

Lucky for me, I was called into work early on Saturday morning and Joy was faced with the task of getting them out of the house. Really, I didn't plan to get called, but I may have stayed there a little longer than I had to. (Don't tell Joy)

Next, was the real birthday. Some tradition that Joy started was that if it is your birthday, you get to tell everyone what to do. Thanks goodness Katherine's not Joy! I took the day off to spend it with my baby and we went to the indoor pool on the base and did a little swimming. Joy got off a half day and we ate at the Chow Hall, that is a treat for Katherine, then retired to the crib. Yadda, yadda, yadda and she opened her presents. She got the traditional clothes, Sabrina and Harvey Dolls from Sabrina the Teenage Witch and some CDs and Video Tapes.

Finally, Christmas! She got Spice Girl Dolls, more videos, CDs and cassette tapes. A Sony Playstation with the Spice Girl Game, the Barbie Horse that walks and a Barbie Home, this year's Holiday Barbie, some odd and ends, Warheads (candy), Solar Glow Kit, more clothes and a $50 check which she can deposit into her savings account.

Do you think she got stiffed. I think we over compensated. You make the call. (Another opportunity for feedback). By the way, Joy got a cellphone (she keeps it turned off, so there is no need to give you the number (seriously, it is 011 39347 189-5277)), some video tapes and DVDs (chick flix), a couple little somethings from Victoria's Secret and some Issey Miyake cologne. I got a DVD Player with some DVDs, some VHS Tapes, some computer software, a suede coat and a winter cap. Yes it was a big video entertainment Christmas!

Wallace Celebrity Files

Dateline - 15 January 1999: I get a copy of the Panorama and see my co-worker's wife and son on the front page. The son was in Katherine's class last year. Speaking of Katherine, she enrolled in this school year's Reflection Contest. This year's theme was "Suddenly, I turned around and ..." you fill in the rest. Katherine's subject was "Suddenly I turned around & I saw a lot of Junk Food wrappers. She did a collage and wrote a paragraph on how much junk food there is and how much we eat. The collage was feature on AFN Naples news with a lot of the other entries. Katherine did not win, but her poster was on TV.

Getting back to the Panorama, I called my friend and told him about his wife, he already knew and I went on about my business. I know what you are thinking, this is suppose to be about the Wallaces isn't it? Here comes that part. I go to another base and see a family friend, Elizabeth Clinkscale, and she says, "I saw your wife in the paper!, did you?". I tell her my story about my friend's wife on the cover and she shows me the picture of Joy at work reading a story to her little darlings. The article is about the new Child Developement Center that is getting ready to open at the Support Site (the base where we live) and how they need to hire new workers. Joy aspires to work there and get a promotion. I think I will be happier too. That means more money for the family. We will snail mail (Hi Trece!) the article to you low-tech people, and email it to you guys with email addresses.

REQUIREMENTS FOR TRAVELLING TO ITALY

First and foremost, you need money or luck. The airlines don't usually give out tickets. One round trip ticket, depending on where your originating city is may run you around $500 - $1300 bucks to Naples. Don't plan on flying directly into Naples either. Depending on which airline you get, will determine where your first stop in Europe will be. Alitalia, probably Rome, British Airlines - London, Luftansa - Munich. I have flown on all of these airlines and just a hint. Alitalia is the only one where they clap when the pilot sets the plane down at the destination. I wonder if they are showing respect and gratitude, or if they had reservations about flying Alitalia and got on that flight as a last resort.

Next, a passport or an Active Duty or Reservist Military ID. You don't really need these to get into a country, but if you plan on leaving the airport and staying a while, they will help.

More money, the local currency. There are a lot of places that will exchange Dollars or Traveler's Check for the local currency, but they charge a fee and the exchange rate varies from place to place and daily. Typically, if you go to hotels and airports to change money, I suggest you bring a lubricant because they want to stick you. I tip I learned was use your ATM/Credit cards. You pay a couple of bucks per transaction, but you don't pay the exchange fees that the money changers require. Your bank is a lot more friendly than forgeiner who think all Americans are millionaires and you cut out the middleman. I have heard about the Euro Currency, but have yet to see it. If you did come here with local currency, I would bring good old Lire.

A phrase book or Italian - English - Italian dictionary would be nice. English isn't really big off the base except for some vendors who want to get some of the money in American pockets. One surprise for me was that all of the airports have signs and announcements in their native language, and in English, so you can figure out how to get to your gate and where the bathroom is.

Finally, Identification and information on the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate. These good folks can help you if you lose your passport or have an incident with the local authorities. These papers will also allow you to get on the base and shop at the onbase facilities while visiting Bella Napoli.

We have less than two years left here, so get you paperwork started and buy your tickets. Give us a couple days notice and come on over.