I have always thought, that when I finally sat down to write about that very strange year in my life, I would borrow from George Orwell�s �1984� title. Actually this has nothing to do with Big Brother watching over me, but someone surely was.

That year I was working for a computer manufacturing company. My job consisted of being assigned to TDY (temporary duty) positions as needed, in various capacities.

In reality, the �stuff� started the last week of 1983. That week, I went to Houston to work on a proposal for the government of China. I flew into Houston�s Hobby Airport. When I arrived, they were having a terrible windstorm and the temperature was hovering at about freezing. I know this, because I had to wait outside the lower lobby for what seemed to be hours (probably less than � hour) for transportation to the hotel. And of course, I didn�t take a winter coat to a southern city. First mistake. With the humidity that I was not used to, and the strong winds, I was probably as cold as I have ever been.

I arrived at the hotel and checked in. It was a good hotel and the room was nice. I got ready for bed and turned on the T. V. They were reporting that they were experiencing a cold snap that they were not used to. I guess that everyone who had a fireplace built a fire to keep warm. Don�t these people have heaters? The wind was blowing the sparks from the chimneys onto the shake roofs. There were fires all over Houston. I sure was glad I was safely tucked in. Then I noticed that it was cold in the room, and discovered an open window. It was stuck and I wasn�t strong enough to get it shut. Had to call housekeeping for help, and they said they would send someone to my room right away. So I got dressed again and waited, and waited and waited. Some time later I realized that there was no longer any running water. I guess housekeeping got very busy with the new problem. I lay on top of the covers in my street clothes all night waiting for someone to close the window. I didn�t sleep real well. In the morning, about 6:00, we still had no water. That meant no tooth brushing and no shower. Aha! It dawned on me that I had better get myself down to have breakfast, before they ran out of clean dishes. I got myself together as well as I could without water and went down to eat.

When I got back to my room, the phone rang and the person who was supposed to pick me up, said he couldn�t, and to just take a cab. OK. Still no water. So I dressed as if I thought I had had a shower and went to the office. Fortunately, I arrived before the rest of them and also, fortunately, I found an unlocked restroom. I brushed my teeth, put on my makeup and fixed my hair the best that I could. I then presented myself to the local branch for my assignment. I was teamed up with one of the branch personnel to write the very lengthy proposal. He asked me if I minded if he �chewed tobacco�, and not seeing that it would bother me, I told him to go ahead. Another mistake. Have you ever seen a �chewer� using a white Styrofoam cup as a spittoon?

We worked very hard putting this proposal together, and if I do say so myself, it looked pretty darn good. So good in fact that the account manager thought that if we win the contract, my partner and I would be the technical support on the account in Beijing. Ugh! I really don�t want this. I, even at one point in my career, turned down a transfer to Honolulu, for Pete�s sake. Good news. We didn�t win. I changed hotels the first day to one with running water, and the rest of the trip was uneventful.

Next assignment is to Cape Canaveral for a programming assignment. Since they started retrieving the booster rockets from the ocean following lift-off, additional code was needed to re-introduce items back into the inventory system. Got packed for a 60-day stay in Florida. At least, I probably won�t be cold, and in January, not a bad assignment. Now, to go from Albuquerque to the Cape will not be a direct flight. I flew to Dallas, then on to Atlanta, where I had to change planes. After a four-hour layover, the flight was called and we all boarded. Doors closed and then the plane�s engines would not start. Now, I have flown all over the place for many years, but this was a first. Off we all go, and of course they herded us to their courtesy room so we wouldn�t take another airline. The flight was called a couple of hours later and we all boarded, again. The bad news. They fixed the plane. We were on the same plane. I am a pretty good flyer, but that made me a little nervous. I am still here, so you know we made it just fine. However, I am in Cocoa Beach where I belong, and my luggage is visiting Fort Meyers on the other side of the state. It is 1:30 a.m. and the last flight of the night has left Fort Meyers. They will send the luggage in the morning. Know what this means, don�t you. No tooth brushing again. No business clothes, makeup, etc. What a shame, I wasn�t able to go to work the next day. My luggage did catch up with me the next morning, as promised. I rented a car and drove to the motel and finally to bed.

Upon arrival at the job site the next day, I wasn�t to find a modern office building, but an abandoned airplane hanger. Pretty scruffy and dirty, but workable. This turned out to be a good deal because we could wear jeans or shorts and tennies.

When I first accepted the TDY assignment after finishing a three-year stint at one site, my good friend, Irene, who loved to travel, said she was going visit me wherever I was sent. I guess Florida in winter sounded pretty good to her. I put in extra hours, so I could have Friday off when she came.

My whole three months in Florida were spent at the same motel. I got to know the motel employees pretty well, especially the day clerk. She and I would occasionally go out to dinner or over to her apartment for something different to do.

I picked up Irene at the Cocoa Beach Airport on Thursday night. For some reason, she arrived with her luggage. I told her that I had tomorrow off, and had made plans to go on a one-day gambling ship cruise. She was elated. It just goes out past the 3-mile limit, sails down to around Miami, and returns to Port Canaveral. She and I thought it sounded like fun. And with all of that good food, how could we miss. I also love to play blackjack.

We went down to the port the next morning. And like any cruise, we had our pictures taken, boarding the ship. We rented a cabin, so we would have a place to store our �stuff� and to have a private changing room. We spent a lot of the first part of the day just getting our bearings. I located the blackjack tables, and decided that I would play later. We had a wonderful buffet lunch. Food, as anticipated, was excellent. We dined with 2 elderly sisters who were very nice and interesting. They would also be our dinner companions. After lunch, I waddled to the blackjack tables. Dumb that I should wait. The dollar tables had suddenly become the five-dollar tables. Too rich for my blood, so we wandered over to the swimming pool. Ugh! The water is from the ocean and I thought, very dirty. Wouldn�t filters have been a good idea? Anyway, forget the swimming part. We had a fun afternoon exploring the ship, sunbathing, etc.

As early evening approached, it was time for dinner. We could hardly wait, because we have already had a sample of their food at lunchtime. After a delicious feast, we made arrangements with our dinner companions to meet later in the lounge to continue our conversation.

We met as planned and I ordered a 'Bahama Mama'. This isn�t really what I wanted, but I got to keep the souvenir glass. This will become important later. After a while, there came an announcement over the P. A. system saying that the pictures, which were taken while boarding, were ready to be picked up. Irene decided to go to get them, while I stayed with our new friends. After she had been gone for a while, the fire alarm sounded, and again, the P. A. system giving directions to go up on the main deck. This is a very large ship, and I was afraid of getting separated from Irene, so I stayed in my seat while the lounge emptied and I argued with the help that I didn�t want to leave just yet. Finally, Irene showed her face. Fortunately, she had the same thought as I did and we stuck together after that, not that we could have done anything else. At the stairs going up to the main deck, we were all handed life jackets and told to put them on. So we did, beats carrying them.

We were all herded into various areas of standing room. Now, do you think I left my Bahama Mama behind, not on your life. Actually this turned out to be good, because I am constantly thirsty, and I had something to sip on all evening with the melted ice.

I wasn�t scared, because I had a life jacket on, I could see the lifeboats below and I could see the lights of the shoreline. So I felt pretty secure. I sure am glad that I DID forget about the sharks until we were back on terra firma. The P. A. system was pretty busy all evening. The captain kept coming on and reassuring us that everything was under control and that it was just a small kitchen fire. Of course I guess that all of the thick black smoke that was blowing past us was nothing. And this went on for several hours, while we made our way back north to Port Canaveral. At one point, Irene looked over the railing and saw all of this black sooty water beneath the lifeboats- something was sure burning.

While coming into port, we could see all of the fire engines from the small towns all around. Also of course, the television crews and the rest of the media were there. When we docked, it became quite obvious how panicky the crew was. They were literally yelling the directions to get off the ship to us. I am surprised that we didn�t see them in their own lifeboats rowing to shore.

When everyone was off of the ship and into the terminal, it became obvious just how many people were on board. The terminal was packed. People wandering around aimlessly trying to figure out what to do. It turns out that there were about 900 passengers plus the crew, which I would guess to be about 200. After some time, they let the passengers who had rented lockers back on the ship to get their belongings, so there was hope for those of us who had cabins. And by the way, I was a real trooper- still had my 'Bahama Mama' glass, although now empty.

After a couple of hours, they decided that they were not going to let us back on board. Now, this becomes a real problem. Everything we had brought with us was in the cabin including our purses. Between the two of us, we had less than $100.00 and not one quarter to be had. One of the clerks at the cruise lines� counter finally gave me a quarter after begging for almost an hour for change to use the telephone. Not having my purse, I also did not have my car keys and I needed to call for a cab. That was one of my dumber moves of the night.

The cab dispatcher said they would send a cab, but when we went out to wait for it, we saw that every cab that existed in southern Florida was already sitting there waiting for us. The news of the fire had been all over the television and radio. So we hailed a cab and returned to my motel, at about 1:30 am. The night clerk was sure glad to see us. He knew that we were on the cruise and with all of the news, was worried about us. Time to tell you that I was wearing a white blazer. Now you can imagine what it looked like after our evening, very gray with smoke- some of it rubbed in by the life jacket. The night clerk told us that we really smelled like smoke, too. After some settling down we finally fell asleep. We will figure out where we are in the morning.

Where we were was without a car, to start with, and very little money. We had no credit cards, and Irene�s travelers� checks are where? Good guess, on the ship. My checkbook for my local account was in the same place. And there was the little matter of my prescriptions I had just had filled as a result of a trip to the dentist. And the list was just beginning. I called the cruise line to see if we could board yet and the answer was �no�.

First things first, we need transportation. I called the car rental agency only to learn that they did not keep spare keys. When you think about it, it really does make sense, because cars are sometimes not returned to the same city. So I called a locksmith and he agreed to meet me at the car.

Then I went to the lobby to talk to the day clerk, and she greeted me with �I have the $20 that I owe you�. The way that looked to me, it could have been $1,000. Boy, now I have $70 cash. We borrowed her car and returned to the port to meet the locksmith. He arrived with a key that already fit the car. Jeez, I didn�t know they could do that. Then he wanted payment of $80. The vultures were hovering. I explained that I only had $70 to my name, so he agreed that I could pay him $50 now and owe him $30. Ok, now I am down to $20.

We took the hotel clerk�s car back to her and started our day. We went to Sears to get a couple of purses. I went to the credit department and explained that I didn�t have my charge card and could I get a temporary. They said there was no problem, just show them some identification. What? I don�t have identification, if I did, I would have my charge card wouldn�t I? Anyway, it finally worked out and they gave me a temporary card. While Irene was waiting for me, she was reading all of the promotions on the walls and the brochures. She discovered that with my Sears card, which I now had, I could get $50 cash. Sounded good to me. So we got purses and $50. Good day! We felt so rich that we went out to dinner to celebrate and blew most of our money, but I so loved the French Onion soup at this particular restaurant that I wanted Irene to taste it.

The next day it occurred to me that I still had the rest of my check order in my drawer. Ah, problem solved. Good thing too, because tomorrow is a planned trip to Epcot Center.

Monday, I had a few errands to run resulting from the fire. I went to the bank to get cash, paid off the stinkin� locksmith, got a new prescription from the dentist, had it filled and then we were off for the 2-hour drive to Epcot. We visited the different country�s pavilions and settled on Canada�s for lunch. It was delicious. Then we headed back to the motel. We were still in a minor state of shock from the fire and weren�t very good tourists. Kind of a bummer day!

I called the cruise line to see if we could get back on yet and the answer was still �no�. This is not good, because Irene has to go back home tomorrow. All Irene could talk about not having in her possession was her newly purchased swimming suit. She fortunately did have the good sense, however, to separate her travelers� checks from the serial number list, and save it at the motel, so at least she could get a refund.

Well, Irene went home without her belongings. Nothing could be done about it. The ship burned for at least 2 weeks. Finally the cruise line called and said they had our belongings, so I raced to the port office to get them. What there was of them! It seems that the crew helped themselves to what they deemed to be theirs, before the items were returned to us, probably while we were still on board.

Among the missing items were Irene�s new swimsuit, her beloved cut glass liquor bottle which had been given to her many years before, my bottle of liquor, a few items of clothing, cash and my brand-new $400 camera. The cruise line had limited liability of $300 per passenger, so my homeowner�s insurance paid for the rest.

Everything that was returned however, was soaked with soot-tainted water, so I had to get the paper items dried. I felt like a thief going through Irene�s wallet, but I had to get things dried. I laid out all of the pictures and papers of ours all over the motel room- everywhere except the bed. When I was through, the room looked like a Chinese laundry. I had to throw away the leather purse I had taken and the suitcase. When all was dried, I gathered Irene�s billfold items, packaged them up and sent them to her by registered mail. She was pretty happy to see them. The rest of her items I took back home with me.

Enough of the cruise ship fire story already, there is more to this 1984 tale that must be told. I got a call from my house sitter telling me that someone had broken into the house.

The flight home to check out what had been stolen was not uneventful either. I was talking to the lady sitting next to me, when I noticed an unusual sound and told her that I thought something was wrong with the airplane. A short time later, the pilot came on the P. A. system saying that there was something wrong- they couldn�t get up to speed and that they sure couldn�t fly to Albuquerque this way so we were returning to Dallas. Well fine, why doesn�t this surprise me? When we arrived, there was no waiting to land, went directly in. They had cleared the runway for us. We landed safely, out the window we could see all of the emergency equipment which had come to meet us and I told my seatmate that I was getting a little tired of being greeted by fire engines. We changed planes (at least this is a different plane) and arrived in Albuquerque without further incident. And my luggage made it also.

Back to the robbery. I had two pretty good-sized dogs that live in the house, and where were they during all of this? Warren told me that the policeman said that the dogs probably had shown the robber where everything was. Very little was taken, the main thing was Warren�s ring. So I returned to Florida. It couldn�t have been a month later, when Warren called me and said the house had been broken into again. I was almost through with my assignment, so I didn�t make a special trip home.

Upon my arrival home, I did an inspection and discovered that all of my good jewelry and a small television were taken. I really thought this was strange, since there were a lot of other things that could have been taken in addition to what was already taken. So I put on my detective hat.

There were no signs of a break-in and both robberies had occurred while Warren was at work, in the daytime. There also had been no other robberies in the neighborhood that I was aware of. I had a glass panel along side of the front door, so I couldn�t leave the key in the deadbolt- I had put a key in case of fire on top of a nearby room divider. Same problem with the back door, it was full of glass windowpanes, so the key went on top of the mantel next to the door. Warren was a very lonely guy. I suspect that he had met some new guys and invited them back to the house where they just lifted one of the very visible keys. Warren did notice that a key was missing after the second break-in and he had the locks changed. The robberies stopped.

Next assignment was to Buffalo, New York. Well, you can�t always go to Florida in the winter, but it could have been Buffalo in the winter and Florida in the summer. Both equally bad! But at least it was now springtime. So off I went to Buffalo. For the first time, I got sick on the airplane and upchucked. Pretty embarrassing.

When I checked into the very nice Marriott Hotel, they wanted to put me on the 17th floor. I explained that I had been having a rather bad year and would really appreciate a ground floor room, which they gave me.

Buffalo wasn�t all bad, close, but not all bad. The people were nice, and I tamed the irate customer. Must have done my job right, because before I left he signed a $5 million contract. The nice people however, didn�t keep me from eating dinner alone for 105 days. One of the great benefits, as it turns out was that the Marriott Hotel, where I stayed issued points for staying there. They work like frequent flier miles. So with a stay of over 3 months, I accumulated a lot of points.

The points were spendable for hotel stays, airline trips on TWA and something else, which at this point I cannot remember. I had so many points, in fact that I could get 2 tickets on TWA to fly anywhere that TWA had flights for. So, in 1985 I took my godmother to Italy to visit a lot of the religious sites. Broke a rib while there, but that was another year, and part of another whole story. Unfortunately, Marriott had no hotels in any of the cities we visited, so I had to cough the money up for those.

Time passed in Buffalo without a problem, amazing, huh? I was talking my friend Ruth who lives in Detroit and she said that she had a free airline ticket that was about to expire. With Memorial Day weekend coming, she wanted to go somewhere. We decided on Boston. Neither of us had ever been there.

We had a great time in Boston; of course I always do when I go somewhere with Ruth. She really makes me play tourist. We took a tour bus all over Boston, and went to Lexington and other nearby touristy attractions. We went to Boston harbor and toured Old Ironsides and also took a tour boat on the harbor. Why would I get on another boat, and why is this important? Well the ride was fine, but when we returned to port, the dock was on fire complete with fire engines again. Wow! My life is really getting exciting and about time, too.

The rest of the Boston trip was fun and uneventful, just thought I would tell about more fire engines.

One night we had a terrible rainstorm and part of the hotel flooded- missed my ground-floor room though, wonder why. I did make it to Niagara Falls and got to see them from the American side this time. I finished my assignment without further ado and returned to Albuquerque the first part of July. Jeez, this is only July?

July and August is monsoon season in Albuquerque. One day we had a horrific thunderstorm. I watched out the kitchen window as my wall came down. I had to go out in the rain to at least put the cinderblocks back in place so the dogs thought they couldn�t get out. Lightning hit the transformer almost in my backyard and the lights went out. When the repairman returned the microwave he said that the innards were really melted. This is when my insurance company got mad and raised my deductible. I changed insurance companies.

I got a call for a long-term assignment in Huntsville, Alabama. Long-term means setting up residence and taking your own car. After the experiences I had already had, I was not going to drive the car I had that far for another �what now?� experience so I bought a brand-new car and made it without incident. The ice storm in Huntsville was fun. At least no one hit me, and I finally managed to get up a really steep hill to my apartment. You should have seen the birds coming in for what they imaged as a landing and walk away- in truth it was a landing and skid down the hill. Very funny!

Well, that�s it. I made it just fine through the rest of the year.