By the end of 2001, I felt I had made significant strides toward ceasing what I had become (pre-2001). In these past two years, I feel I've progressed beyond just ceasing. If you will allow me some immodesty, I'll go so far as to say that I now find myself confidently jogging down the road to what I might become (2004 and beyond).

To recap my own vanities for the years 2002 and 2003, I choose a similar, but different, navigational metaphor as theme:

From "Turning" to "Turned" (2002-2003)

January 2002

• Received a speeding ticket on January 1st to inauspiciously start the year; I felt I was improperly cited and didn't care for the officer's attitude, so I decided to challenge it.
• Signed a 6-month lease to rent half of a duplex that was built by a friend of a friend of my stepmother who decided she wasn't quite ready to retire and move in to the home she had just built. It had sat empty for a year; she wanted somebody to occupy it but she didn't want to rent it to just anybody; since I wasn't "just anybody" but a "somebody of limited means," we made a deal that I would rent her 'new' 2000 sq ft, 3 bed/2 bath duplex for $500 a month plus utilities.
• Began working for the Institute of General Semantics on a part-time basis as "Director for Programs."
• Formed the Dallas-Fort Worth Center for General Semantics; gave my www.ThisIsNotThat.com website a makeover to become www.thisisnotthat.com with the intent to develop a general semantics "practice" to consult and teach in order to supplement my part-time pay from the Institute.

March 2002

• Proposed to the Institute's Board of Trustees to move the Institute's library and archives from New Jersey to Fort Worth and establish a public office under the auspices of the DFW Center for GS; proposal approved.
• Assisted my ex-wife Cheryl sell her house in a rather short period - 3 weeks from the day the ad appeared in the paper to closing.
• Began search for appropriate and affordable office space.

May 2002

• Signed lease on office space at 1412 Texas Street near downtown Fort Worth.
• Moved 2,000 books, 35 file cabinets, and a 20-foot moving van full of other items from New Jersey to Fort Worth, assisted by my daughter Stacy and her friends Emily and Leah who had just completed their freshman year at college.

June 2002

• Through the adult education center Fun/Ed, offered 4 classes:
      — Untangle the Tangled Webs You (verbally) Weave
      — Writing for Self-Awareness and Expression
      — How to Ask a Question
      — The Semantics of Dating
  
• All Fun/Ed classes canceled for lack of enrollment.
• Joined the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce.

July 2002

• Stacy, my "Hey 19"-year old daughter, served as Maid of Honor in her friend Candice's wedding.
• Worked as administrator for the Institute's week-long Seminar-Workshop at Alverno College in Milwaukee; however, "just because I administer doesn't make me an administrator."

August 2002

• Benefited from a nice article about me and the DFW Center printed in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which resulted from a chance encounter on the street with well-known local journalist Bob Ray Sanders.
• Resurrected (temporarily) my Chanticleer Calls vanity journal.
• Attended my decade-noteworthy High School Reunion with about a third of my 54-member graduating class from Olton High School. (Olton is in the Texas Panhandle and locates halfway between Hart and Hart Camp, and halfway between Earth and Halfway.)
• Fun/Ed went out of business; my classes were again canceled (but not for lack of enrollment this time).
• Successfully defended myself in court (238 days after the event) on the January 1 speeding ticket allegation. (Actually, the citing officer didn't attend the hearing so the case was dismissed; that technically in no way diminishes the righteous justice of my defense.)
• Accepted speaking invitation from the Chamber of Commerce to talk to their group of Action Ambassadors. (40 attendees)

September 2002

• Exploiting the publicity from the Star-Telegram article, offered a free Orientation Session in general semantics to the public. (6 attendees)
• Gave a presentation on some basics of general semantics to a group of clients of my career coach, Helen Harkness. (20 attendees)
• Spoke to a local Writer's Group on the topic "Does Your Writing Make Sense?" (7 attendees)
• Submitted proposals for Continuing Education classes to four local schools: University of Texas-Arlington (UTA), Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas Christian University (TCU) in Fort Worth, and Tarrant County College (TCC) in Fort Worth. Received no reply from TCU, positive replies from UTA, SMU and TCC.
• Drove to New York City for quarterly Institute Board meeting and the end-of-living celebration for Charlotte Schuchardt Read, who died in July. Returned with carload of archives items.

  

October 2002

• Gave a presentation at the downtown library's annual "LibraryFest" activities. (5 attendees)
• My maternal grandmother ("Mom") died at age 89, eight years after suffering a stroke from which her doctor had said she would never recover and wouldn't survive off life support equipment. He was right, and he was wrong.
• Because I got sick at the last minute, postponed trip to Las Vegas to do some coordinating work for planning the Institute's October 2003 International Conference in Las Vegas.
• Because I got sick at the last minute, canceled trip to Concord, California, to discuss the worsening financial situation with the International Society for General Semantics.

November 2002

• Drove to New York City for the Institute's annual Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture and for our quarterly Board meeting; presented financial analysis that highlighted the dire prospects for the International Society and suggested that one organization would serve the interests of general semantics better than two.
• Joined the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), drove to Atlanta to attend their annual convention to assess the prospects of the Institute and general semantics making inroads within their organization/membership.

December 2002

• Flew to Las Vegas and completed the planning work that had been postponed from October. Established academic and administrative contacts at UNLV; decided to change hotels from the Stardust to the Orleans.

January 2003

• While idly surfing the Internet, stumbled upon a website for a local neighborhood association; saw a picture of my great-grandparent's house that dated back to the early 1900s and sent them an email stating my limited knowledge of the house. Received a reply from the association's webmaster that showed he knew more about my grandparents that I did. He put me in contact with some of my distant-and-unknown-to-me-relatives, thus beginning a period of genealogical interest and investigation into my Eitelman family background on the south side of Fort Worth in the Fairmount neighborhood.

  

• Submitted a proposal to the NCTE 2004 annual convention to present a 75-minute panel session on "General Semantics and Critical Literacy: Interdisciplinary Approaches That Enable Students to Become Better Problem-Solvers and Critical Thinkers," (pdf file) included the participation of three colleagues - Gregg Hoffmann, Andrea Johnson and Katherine Liepe-Levinson.

February 2003

• "Untangle the Tangled Webs You (verbally) Weave" classes at UTA and TCC canceled due to lack of enrollment.

March 2003

• "Untangle the Tangled Webs You (verbally) Weave" class at SMU class canceled due to lack of enrollment.
• Notified that our proposal for the NCTE convention program was canceled due to lack of enrollment. NO! NO! - it was actually accepted! (Dude!)
• Obtained Institute Board authorization and budget to prepare for attending the NCTE convention in San Francisco in November, to include buying exhibit space for a booth during the 3-day convention, preparing exhibit materials, brochures, etc.
• Drove to Clovis, New Mexico, to meet my uncle and cousin for Mom's internment service.

April 2003

• Thanks to my inside-the-Beltway source and former Humperdink's beer-drinking-trivia-playing buddy Katy Beth Miller, established contact with Amelia Murdoch, President of the National Museum for Language (NML) in the D.C. area. On the way to New York City, stopped by to meet with Amelia, NML officer Whitney Reed, and Bob Pula to discuss donating a sizeable collection of Allen Walker Read's linguistics library to NML. (Allen had died in November 2002 and left his estate to the Institute.)
• Rented a large cargo van and drove to New York City to pack up and bring back to the library about 400 books and archive materials from the Read's apartment across from Columbia University. Met Whitney Reed there and assisted him in selecting approximately 300 books for the NML collection.
• Invited to give a presentation on dating as an adult to the DFW Single Gourmet organization at the Tower Club in downtown Dallas; over 100 people attended and feedback I heard was appreciative and positive.
• Attended Stacy's "Sing Song" program at McMurry University, which ended her social club pledging period with the pre-eminent club on campus (of course!) - T.I.P. (Ahoy, Stace!)
  
      
• Delivered over 30,000 pages containing the entire 60-year catalog of the journal ETC: A Review of General Semantics and the General Semantics Bulletin to a high-speed scanning company in San Antonio; six weeks later we had over 300 individual issues scanned into PDF format on three CDs.

May 2003

• On the way back from New York City, deviated north to spend a night with Irene Ross Mayper in Ridgefield, CT, and a night with Bob and Ginny Potter in West Cornwall, CT. Bob drove me the short distance from West Cornwall to Lime Rock, where the Institute called home from 1946 until the early 1980s. I got to visit inside the 19th century mansion that has been carefully restored by the current owners. Driving home and reflecting back on the visit, I had the strong sense that the Institute really needed a 'home' with a sense of permanent and physical place.
• Attended Game Seven of the Dallas Mavericks/Sacramento Kings (hiss!) Western Conference semi-finals with Stacy; best spectating experience of my life.

June 2003

• Hosted the Institute's quarterly Board meeting at the Center in Fort Worth, which resulted in several momentous decisions for the organization:
  1. to pursue merger with the International Society for GS in California;
  2. to consolidate Institute operations by moving the business office function from Brooklyn to Fort Worth;
  3. to have me assume leadership of the organization after the consolidation and merger;
  4. to begin a search for appropriate property in Fort Worth to purchase as a 'permanent' home for the Institute.

  

• My maternal grandmother ("Grandmother Stockdale") and ancestral link to the Eitelman family died just short of her 96th birthday.
  

July 2003

• Sent a letter to the Mayor of Fort Worth advising him of the very positive experiences of our Trustees who visited Fort Worth in June and our decision to move here; copied the letter to my contact at the Chamber of Commerce (Diana Dugan); she contacted the Tarrant County editor for the Dallas Business Journal, and a week later there was a nice profile in the DBJ about the Institute and me.
• Flew to Concord, California to meet with Jeff Mordkowitz and Paul Johnston to begin merger discussions and resolved the major issues related to Paul's and Emily's employment.
• Began working with a graphic artist at The Color Place on the graphics needed for the NCTE convention.
• Drove to Milwaukee with Stacy to attend the Alverno advanced general semantics class taught by Andrea Johnson; I helped Andrea and Milton Dawes teach, and Stacy attended as a student for 3 hours of credit toward her Communications degree; Stacy flew back to DFW by herself, changing planes in Atlanta to get back for a John Mayer concert. (I'm sorry, that should be THE John Mayer concert.)

  

• Notified by my inside-the-Beltway source and former Humperdink's beer-drinking-trivia-playing buddy Katy Beth Miller (who doubles as William Safire's research assistant - yes, THAT William Safire) that his forthcoming book on language will include his April 9, 2000, New York Times Magazine column in which he mentioned my www.ThisIsNotThat.com website. The book is due out in June 2004.

September 2003

• Presented two continuing education classes at TCU - "Become the Webmaster of Your Own Domain" (6 attendees) and "How to Be a Non-Conformist While Looking Perfectly Normal" (5 attendees).
• Presented my continuing education class at SMU - "Lucid Dating for Adults" (23 attendees); a reporter from the Dallas Morning News attended the class and wrote an article about it. Anticipating its publication, the SMU curriculum director and I decided to expand the number of class sessions and offer it twice in the spring semester.
• The Institute's Board of Trustees formally approved details for the strategic changes discussed in Fort Worth in June, which included authorization for me to hire a full-time assistant and for me to become Executive Director effective January 1st.
• Trustee George Barenholtz came to Fort Worth to look at several properties we might consider purchasing. When he left, we expected to purchase the Newkirk Building, built in 1926 and extensively remodeled and updated six years ago.

October 2003

• Had second thoughts about the Newkirk Building due to location, neighborhood, etc., and shifted our attention to another property we had looked at, 2260 College Avenue in the Fairmount historic district on the south side of Fort Worth. This 4,500 sq ft building was built in 1932 as a neighborhood Safeway, and is only five blocks down the street from my great-grandparents house, in which my father was born in 1933.
• Jeff and George came to Fort Worth to look over the College Avenue property and negotiate terms. The deal was done and the contract signed, although it took several days to iron out a few details like the closing date.
• The Board of Directors of the International Society for General Semantics and the Board of Trustees for the Institute of General Semantics formally approved the merger plan.
• Spent two weeks on the road to/from Las Vegas; coordinated and taught at the Institutes' seminar-workshop, then played master of ceremonies during the 3-day International Conference.

  

• Unveiled the booth graphic and a new brochure developed for the NCTE convention in Las Vegas to much positive reaction.
  
        pdf file
• The Dallas Morning News article wasn't printed.

November 2003

• Drove back out west to California; spent three days in Concord going over merger details then three days in San Francisco for the NCTE convention; Gregg, Andrea, Kathy and I did a fine job representing the Institute and general semantics both in our presentations and the booth; I was almost picked up by an attractive blond in a downtown San Francisco bar/bistro, but she apparently mistook me for somebody else. (Seriously, just ask Andrea.)
• Completed the acquisition of the College Avenue property on November 25th.
• All required paperwork submitted by our attorney to the states of Illinois and Connecticut to effect the merger of the Institute and the International Society, effective January 1st.

December 2003

• Retained Mark Gunderson, architect, to help us remodel the building with hopes of moving in prior to the expiration of our current office lease in May.
• On December 29, without any notice, the Dallas Morning News published the article about my "Lucid Dating" class at SMU. The first section that begins in January filled up in less than two days, which caused the SMU to change room assignments in order to register more students. Here's the article on the DMN website.
• Received four outstanding resumes in response to the job description prepared for the assistant position. After selecting the top two for phone interviews with a few other Trustees, we reached a consensus on Jennifer Carmack. I extended an offer to her yesterday and she accepted on the spot.

Looking Ahead

Peering into 2004, I can anticipate the following:

1. I'll complete the continuing education classes at SMU ("Lucid Dating") and TCU ("Lucid Dating" and "How to Think for Yourself in an Election Year").
2. I'll celebrate the beginning of my second 50 years.
3. Stacy turns 21 in June and we're already planning a trip to Las Vegas to celebrate, possibly in conjunction with b) above.
4. Merger transition activities will begin immediately and be completed by April 30th.
5. We'll move into the new building by May/June.
6. We have four seminars scheduled - three in Fort Worth and one in Milwaukee - plus a student conference tentatively planned for the fall in Chicago.
7. We'll support at least two national conventions in San Antonio (March) and Indianapolis (November).
8. We'll continue to become a part of the local Fort Worth educational and not-for-profit communities, and we'll pursue relationships with other national organizations with similar interests, such as the Alliance for a Media Literate America (AMLA).
9. Lots of stuff will happen that I cannot possibly anticipate.

• If you want to learn how to do something, you have to be willing to do it poorly in order to learn how to do it better. (GK Chesterton's quote that's on my website: "If a thing is worth doing, it's worth doing poorly.")
• Patience.
• Once you've won the war you can quit planning the battles.
• Patience.
• Momentum not maintained is momentum that won't be regained. (Or, "It's easier to turn a moving car than one that's parked.")
• The difference between humans and monkeys is that humans fight even when there are no bananas. (Thanks, Vanessa.)

Steve