[ETS/PARC List] Scipione 2015 Chistmas Letter

[E. Drew Moore]

EtsNJ members,
Shown below is 2015 Christmas letter from Paul, AA2AV, past president of 
ETSNJ, and his family. If anyone is interested in buying a large log 
cabin overlooking  a great countryside or loves to shovel long driveways 
this is the place for you. Merry Christmas and a Happy new Year to all.
73,
Drew
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The Scipiones
6181 Stone Hill Road
Livonia, NY 14487
 
Dear Family & Friends,
 
This will be the last of our 12 Christmases in the big log 
home atop Stone Hill in Livonia. Every one has been blessed and 
enjoyable, but it’s time Linda and Paul made some lifestyle changes. 
With a little luck and good health, we will be writing you next 
Christmas from a new home in Asheville (Weaverville) North Carolina.
 
Paul finally decided to retire from teaching at SUNY Geneseo and embrace 
his third career – (1) commercial MR; (2) academia; (3) writing -- 
following the success of his 10th book, A Nation of Numbers: The 
Development of Marketing Research in America, which is now in its second 
printing. Paul’s publisher set up his official website and quarterly 
blog (www.nationofnumbers.com <http://www.nationofnumbers.com/> ) and he 
has been giving speeches and doing book signings. He is now working on 
books #11, (Tapestry Lifestyle Segmentation and Mobile Aps – for ESRI) 
and #12, Five Wise Men, an Iraqi War sequel to his Vietnam War 
novel Shades of Gray(1988). He is also trying his hand at short stories 
(the latest is “Santa Gets a DWI”) and feature articles, including two 
for Car & Driver. Paul goes to aqua therapy two mornings a week and is 
on a new med (Ampyra) for his MS, thanks to his wonderful doctors 
at URMC and VA. Ampyra has brought noticeable strength and control back 
to his legs, so he can forego infusions for now. He is also 
enjoying more quality time with Linda, including doing a little cooking 
and enjoying lots of movies with her.
 
Linda has gone into hyper-drive in our efforts to throw out all the junk 
that we foolishly brought up to Livonia from Metuchen. Each week we fill 
at least half-a-dozen big black bags and also make frequent jaunts to 
the Livonia Recycling Center. Paul throws out all the old car mags, 
business mags and academic files, while Linda shreds and bags 
every-thing else. Leigh and her fiancé Alan will inherit lots of 
our home furnishings for their apartment, saving Linda and Paul a lot of 
moving $$ and having the fun of decorating our new home down south. But 
we have decided to sell our baby grand piano for a nominal amount to the 
folks who buy our log home, since it would be impossible to move it out 
now. We also sold our John Deere tractor to our neighbors and will rely 
on a local friend for plowing snow this winter and handling the lawn 
until we sell. Unbelievably we haven’t had a single inch of snow yet 
this winter!
 
Leigh left her job at the Goodwill store in Geneseo over the summer and 
now manages a pizza shop in Orchard Park (suburb south of Buffalo), 
where she lives with her fiancé Alan Tomasik. She briefly worked at 
Buffalo’s famed Eckl’s steakhouse, but it was just her luck that the 
place closed after more than 70 years! Alan and Leigh enjoy season 
tickets to all home Buffalo Bills games (on the 45 yard line) 
and their pets, Bruno the German Shepherd, cat (Kittie) and frisky 
little gerbil Ziggy. Although she doesn’t have much free time, 
Leigh is taking classes at Erie County College and Empire State College 
(SUNY online) and hopes to finish her degree in business soon.
 
Chris will celebrate his 21st birthday this coming March 30thand is now 
a junior, majoring in Accounting at SUNY Oneonta and Empire State 
College for online courses. He hopes to follow us south after he gets 
his Bachelors degree and work on a Masters to prepare for his CPA exams. 
Chris shares an off-campus house in Oneonta and has a summer job working 
for a greenhouse business there. Chris’s major non-academic interest is 
his girlfriend Isabel Zwick, a senior at Hartwick College in Oneonta who 
comes from NYC, where her parents are real estate entrepreneurs. 
Although he no longer plays football at Hartwick, Chris works out daily 
and enjoys playing pick-up basketball with his buddies. His 
big Christmas present this year is a set of pots-and-pans so that he can 
try more of the recipes that Linda sends. Chris is way beyond 
macaroni-and-cheese!
 
Our granddaughter Lexi (Alexis Wickey) celebrated her 6thbirthday on Sep 
13th and is now a first grader but already reading at a third grade 
level. She also loves Math & Crafts and is taking piano lessons and 
gymnastics. She and her older sister Natalie (9) take lots of 
interesting field trips with their home school group in Springwater and 
are thrilled that their family has recently adopted 3 year oldValentina. 
Now Lexi enjoys being a “big sister” and helping the family take care of 
numerous pets, including their dog Bentley and her kitten Bella. 
The Wickeys just got back from a trip to southern CA, where the girls 
were thrilled to fly jets and go wading in the Pacific Ocean for the 
very first time.
 
We are sorry to report that our beloved Brittany Spaniel, Sparky, died 
on July 18th. Although Sparky had many medical issues, he was a brave 
little guy and thrived for many years on a cocktail of three meds (for 
seizures). But Sparky will still move south to Asheville with us -- in a 
fancy wooden urn. Love you, Super Spark!!
 
We decided to downsize to half the space, all on one level (especially 
for Paul’s MS) in a community with real sidewalks, street 
lights, sewers and close-by neighbors. We are closely monitoring 
available homes in several 55+ communities in the suburbs of 
Asheville. We don’t care for Florida and worry about coastal storms, so 
we looked for a place, south and inland, that offers four 
moderate seasons, great scenery, quality healthcare and low taxes. 
We“auditioned” several cities in NC and TN and fell in love with 
Asheville. Took the charming trolley tour through funky downtown 
Asheville, the river arts district, the Biltmore and Grove Park 
Inns, all surrounded by majestic mountains, the Blue Ridge Parkway 
and French Broad River. Just the right size, wonderful cultural and 
educational activities (we look forward to signing up 
for Osher Lifelong Learning courses at UNC/Asheville) and restaurants of 
every possible cuisine. Asheville even has a VA Med Center. We are 
confident we will find an existing home because we don’t want to go 
through the hassle of building another custom home. Stay 
tuned. Hopefully next Christmas we will have an 828 rather than 585 area 
code.You are welcome to make our home your halfway stop on trips to 
and from Orlando and Tampa.
 
Much Love,
Paul + Linda + Leigh + Chris