Don's eDiary

An eDiary of Some of the Key Things in Don's Life

As some of my memories are starting to slip away in my 70's, I've set up these eDiary pages for some key threads that meant more to me than any others…
they may well get "tweaked" as I recall others and/or get replaced! I started these eDiaries in the mid-80's, organizing into decade-based pages… each are sorted by year and months, showing from Jan to Dec;
click on any of these sections to visit that decade?
Main page | 2010's | 2000's | 90's | 80's ( this page ) | 70's | 50's-60's

You should also consider visiting my family tree profile page that shares info about me or view the Global Places that lists where I've visited? For a more "historical" perspective, you could start your visit at the very end of my eDiaries & then scroll up to read them backwards in time? Also, the embedded content of the textualized events reflects the time of the events vs. current time—view the pages full-screen?

I updated my eDiaries regularly until the creation of FaceBook's 2011 "eHistory" feature, whereupon I stopped… sadly, my account then crashed out in 2019 ( while I was updating my profile ) and I had to redrill some of the "lost years" to get them back!

Have fun, regardless ;)

The Decade of the 80's…

As many events occurred for me after the end of the 70's, my selected 80's memories are tabulated here…

Enjoy, as you choose!

Month	Selected Events sorted by Year—oldest 1^st
January	In 1980 I advised my bosses, Eric Burnett & Dennis McDivett at my work in Burroughs in London that I needed to be transferred to the United States branch, without sharing the actual reason—the pending birth of my son, Stu ( see more details here? ); I also shared that if they can't do that, "I'll quit & find my own way" In 1985 I got my new Mercury Lynx car In 1987 I was hired at GE Medical in Waukesha, WI full-time on the 8^th, after consulting for 6 months & some considerable negotiations following the tax law changes; I also brought my family to Wisconsin shortly after this I began as a Senior Software Systems Analyst, with technical/project leadership of varied software developments over a 3½ year period in a number of areas of the ADVANTX X-Ray control software system, with teams of up to 25 engineers—I became an Engineering Functional Manager in July, 1990 - Software team leader for several positioning devices for the ADVANTX product line—an X-Ray diagnostic imaging control system (5MM+ LOC) networked multi-processor/multi-tasking architecture… the positioner subsystem architecture was based on Intel 80x86 µ-processors, with up to 100,000 lines of PLM-86 code in each device - Team leader of 8 software engineers with several suppliers to develop real-time software for applications, diagnostics & calibration for each positioning device - Lead role in the software group for redefining & improving critical processes for software design & development - Software coordinator for Model Period 7, a major ADVANTX product release, planning/executing all software deliverables - Drove significant process improvements related to this position; coordinated & directed the activities of 25 engineers, as well as communicating all software needs & issues to cross-functional groups (Mktg, Mfg, Svc, etc.)
February	In 1988 we got our new Mercury Tracer car
March	In 1982, my 2^nd son Alex was born; he sadly passed away at age 19 in 2002… In the spring of 1985, I left Fairchild Industries & went on to form my business, Creative Logic Software, LLC where I purchased my 1^st IBM Desktop PC with my business operations—I closed CLS in late 2016 with my retirement after several years This was after my quite short stint at Case Rixon, producing modems & electronic equipment at 2120 Industrial Parkway in Silver Spring, MD
April	I lived in a flat in Friern Barnet for a few months in 1980 ( a view from my window ) after moving out from Jane I brought Ms. T ( who was carrying Stu at ~5 months ) to England at that time & we later became engaged ( although I was not yet completely free of Jane ) We got our new Chevy Citation in 1981
May	Many of our houses are grouped here—not all were in May! For more information on these, see my history, my Bio and the list of all the places where I've lived? Jane and I lived in & around London in 1978 where we had brought our 1^st house in August… Shortly after my US arrival in July of 1980 ( shared below ), Ms. T and I rented our 1^st US apartment for a year+ on the 4^th floor at 14111 Castle Boulevard, Silver Spring, Maryland—behind the mature trees, see closer views of the front & the rear Mum & Alan flew in from Bournemouth ( via London ) to visit, touring Virginia, Pennsylvania, etc, where Stu was teething loudly in the back seat of the car! We moved in Nov'81 from our flat in Castle Boulevard to a rental house in Sterling Park, Virginia where we lived for 2 years In Nov'83, we brought our 1^st US house, an end-row townhouse in Germantown, Maryland, quite close to my work at Fairchild Industries In July of 1986 I found & rented a place at the Monterey Apartments in Waukesha, WI for a few months; I had negotiated & secured a CLS job at $35 an hour for six months at GE Medical Systems—this move became my most significant major life/work change for the next 22+ years… On Wednesday, July the 2^nd I packed up my bags from our Germantown home & drove my Lynx out west for 750+ miles, stopping overnight en rout & checking into a nearby hotel late afternoon… I slept quite well after the trip & early on Friday the 4^th, I dressed nicely in my hotel room, grabbed breakfast there, drove over to GE Medical Systems & parked there at around 7:30am… Was wondering as I arrived why the huge parking lot was totally empty of cars—as I attempted to check-in at the guard-shack, I discovered that GEHC was closed for the July 4^th holiday! As Monday the 7^th was also part of their annual holiday event, it was Tuesday morning before I was actually able to formally arrive. Mark Egide was called by the guard-shack to come & escort me to my desk with a temporary ID badge; he took me across the facilities describing as we walked the cafeteria, the bank, toilets, etc to my small desk ( next to Gail Kaishan ) and presented me with several large 3-ring fully-loaded binders describing the ADVANTX system which he said "Read these… John Raker will be in shortly" John came & found me around 9am or so, introducing me to the team; see my 22+ years of work here? In early 1987 I moved my family out ( with my GEHC work ) from our Maryland home that we sold to a rented ½ duplex on Jill Court in Waukesha We found & brought a house in May, 1988 at 146 East Greenland Avenue in Oconomowoc, WI that had been built in 1923 with a huge garage, a tap for a hosepipe, a drain & an attic as well as a large storage barn; we moved into the house Based on available historical information, the property had been a key part of the Montgomery Ward family estate at "Knollward," the nearby 15,222-square-foot palatial summer mansion that was built in the 1920's on the shores of the Lac-La-Belle lake by Ms. Marjorie Montgomery Ward Baker, the orphaned niece and adopted heiress of Aaron Montgomery Ward; our house was where their driver had maintained their cars in the huge garage View info on the property here and another view of the mansion here? After juggling the multiple stupidities of my ex-wife, I moved out to my Hartland apartment in Jun'94… I then moved with my then-soon-to-be wife to a rental house on Keesus Lake in '96 & a few months later we brought a big house near Sussex, WI & moved in… After several years there in the 90's, we built our "Palace in Nirvana" house happily arriving there in Nov, 2004! We lived there happily for 10+ years until on Thursday, October 16^th, 2014 we moved south across the county to Alpharetta, GA for the birth of Landon Our 1^st year there was spent in a rental house; on Wednesday, September 30^th, 2015 we moved across town into our current house in Roswell… We also ended up selling our "Palace in Nirvana" house on Monday, June 15^th, 2015 as maintaining 2 properties was difficult! A sad day As a final note for May, on Friday the 15^th in 1981 I received my permanent Green Card to reside in the US at the Citizenship & Immigrations Office, 31 Hopkins Plaza, Baltimore, Maryland
June	I learned around this time in 1980 that my transfer to Burroughs in the US had finally been approved & I started planning for the move… I had sold my 1^st car ( the Hillman Husky Imp ) in May for £250 & had purchased a Moped; it worked fine to-and-from work, but it took me 5+ hours to get to my Mum & Dad's house in Bournemouth at 25+ mph!
July	Many, many of my birthdays were held with dozens of parties & gifts—just a couple are shared here… More of my birthdays are shown year-by-year in the 90's, 2000's etc My 25^th birthday "gift" on a Friday in 1980 was my 2^nd major life event ( & perhaps the most significant ) that began with my one-way London departure late in the evening of Sunday, July 20^th 1980… My 2 other major life events were my 1^st, my military accident in 1976 & my 3^rd, the brain tumor in 1998 Also, see my childhood years, Soltau and my time in & around London? I arrived in the afternoon of Monday, July 21^st ( for the 3^rd time, with a 1-year residential visa in my passport ) at the JFK airport in New York, hauling along a pair of suitcases that were each heavily-filled with "my whole life," carefully filtered prior to the departure… Ms. T and her sister Marlene picked me up & drove me to their home; we later found an apartment in Silver Spring, Maryland & I moved in In 1981 on my 26^th birthday Jim & Bev Ashford came to visit; their son & Alex were then conceived! In 1986 my birthday gift was to start a 3-month contract with at GE Med on July 4^th ( on the 5^th actually!! ) which changed my life
August	On Saturday, the 9^th of August in 1980, my divorce papers from Jane arrived from England, allowing me to formally marry Ms. T on August 21^st Stu was born on the 30^th, 10-days late ( he was due on the 20^th ) and we were subsequently married in September at her mother's church In 1986 we had a 3-week family trip up to Millinocket, Maine with a lakeside cabin ( similar to one anyway ), stopping by Niagara Falls . en route A snap of Alex with his lobster badge and one of Stu with his lobster Stu at Thunder Hole On our route home ( after a week at the cabin ), we drove via the town of North Pole, NY where we also met Santa-Moose!
September	After working for a few months in the basement of the World Bank HQ in DC for Burroughs with Willis Davis and Dan Johnson ( who I recall took me, a very, very white boy out for a beer at a very black bar as the shift ended!! ), I was introduced to the technical guy ( who’s name still sadly evades me, yet I can see his face ) around this time who personally & individually controlled the critical global financial structure in those 7700 computers… access was locked out under the password "UnShackleMe" which is what popped into my head in June of 2026! Another event ( the precise date is sadly fuzzy ) during my night-shift work was when a large water-pipe burst several stories above us… this started flooding the computer room & I hit the emergency off switch, saving some of the hardware; we were down for several days but got it all back up Not in September, but related to the place, as I left a night-shift around 7am the sidewalk was a literal skating hazard… sure was scary! At a 1981 job-fair in downtown DC around this time, I met up with Ted Stathis; he brought me in to join with Fairchild Industries in November '81 ( which is shared below ) In 1985, I took my family to Europe for our fabulous 1^st UK family & friends visit!! My genealogy research began in 1988; view my development page here or the older one here?
October	In 1980, Stuart came as a baby with Ms. T from staying at their house in Paoli, PA to our apartment on Castle Boulevard, in Maryland ( see above ) In 1985 we got our new AeroStar van
November	In 1981 I moved my family ( just Stu; Alex arrived in 1982 ) to a rented house in Sterling Park, Virginia ( a 35+ mile commute back to work! ) I also moved on from my 3½ years with Burroughs starting work at Fairchild Industries as a Software Engineer. I designed & implemented embedded real-time control applications, becoming the Lead Engineer for teams of up to 8 software engineers responsible for overall systems & software design with timely delivery of high-quality product software & planning, deploying training & technical reviews of team members & other engineers, configuration management of all project software. I coordinated team members there for 3½ years with work for several systems: An Avionics Reconnaissance Sensor Control Subsystem A MIL-STD-1553 Bus Control & Monitoring Unit A remote-site Diagnostics Package ( that ran on a large communications network ) A 16Mbps major Satellite TDMA Communications Encryption System, encoded with the Pascal language In 1988, I was annoyingly diagnosed with type-2 Diabetes: my A1C was @ 8+ & my blood sugars >380… started taking meds!
December	As there were far too many Christmas's to share in detail, I did get some awesome gifts like these, captured in '99!

Return to the top or visit my Home Page

The End of My 80's Decade…

Well, that's the end of my selected events from the 80's decade… visit the more recent decades here? You could also go to my Bio summary page, the personal profile that I created a few years ago, a page that shares my many years of work, my family tree page or visit my FaceBook where you can scroll down to view my events year-by-year

As I expect that parts of my eDiary will improve and/or change as I tag some more year-by-year info, or clarify some of the threads… watch this space! Please also visit my privacy page to be aware of some legal stuff?

As a final thought, view some snaps of me & my family in my older album? Enjoy!! ;)