After living in beautiful San Diego for the last 34+ years, I still consider myself a Texan.  There's a saying, "Ya dance with the one what brung ya."  While I was born in Chicago and lived there off and on for several years, it was Texas and its kind folks that "brung me to the dance."  I have long ago lost my Texas accent, but will slip back into a drawl upon hearing the warm comforting sound of anyone who can manage to pronounce "Yes" in two syllables and "You all" in one.

Hi, my name is Mel Moy.  I used to go by "Melvyn" until I realized that I was actually living up to the nerdiness that name implied.  By the time I got to Graduate School, I decided "Mel" would be a better handle.  Oh, I was still a nerd, but why advertise it?  Guys like Mel Torme, Mel Brooks, Mel Blanc, and Mel Gibson made "Mel" a better name to go by.  When was the last time you heard of anyone admirable named Melvyn or Melvin?  I bet we all had the same epiphany. 

After a long career spent first as a university professor, then as a government research psychologist, and finally as a manager of information technology services at a large defense research laboratory, I retired--ostensibly to straighten up my office at home.  I'm pretty good at this retirement thing.  I never once got up and said I wish I was going to the office.  I do miss my colleagues, though--and the paycheck too.  My office at home is still a hopeless mess.

As luck would have it, I married a young woman named Janet who was also from Chicago .  While giving our children ample care and attention at home, she still managed to put in many years working as a registered Occupational Therapist for various hospitals and school districts in the area.  When she saw how much I enjoyed retirement, she promptly decided that was for her too.  That threw my financial projections off a bit.  The way I figure it, though, my astute investments will take care of us if 8-track tapes make a comeback.

We have a son, Stacey, and a daughter, Robyn.  Stacey graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy as an aerospace engineer and Robyn graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in economics.  Stacey spent a significant part of his career as a naval officer working in Special Warfare.   (My wife thinks his penchant for danger and action resulted from my taking him to see "Conan the Barbarian" when he was too young.  I think it's because we never let him have even a toy gun as he was growing up).  Stacey left the Navy in 2004 and became a Special Agent for the FBI.  After just a few years he has become a Supervisory Agent working out of FBI Headquarters in DC.  While working full time at his job, Stacey has managed to complete all his work for a Masters degree from the prestigious Naval War College. We recently attended the award ceremony in Newport, RI.  Outside of work and study Stacey spends much of his time keeping physically fit, shooting qualified, and catering to his beloved Bruce, a Siberian husky. 

Robyn started out in DC as well working for US Airways right out of college, but moved to Ft. Lauderdale in early 2006 as a manager of route planning with Spirit Airlines--an independent, upstart, low cost airline.  Perhaps you have heard about Spirit because they led the airline industry in the practice of ala carte pricing to offer the lowest fares.  They shocked everyone by announcing plans to charge for carry-on luggage.  In 2008, Robyn and her then fiancé relocated back to San Diego--one of her goals in life.  She continues to work for Spirit Airlines.  This was a risky decision in these difficult economic times.  However, Spirit not only has allowed her to telecommute with periodic trips back to Florida for meetings, but has promoted her to senior level management.  We keep our fingers crossed that this arrangement will continue to work to everyone's satisfaction.  Ever since she was a very little girl Robyn always talked about being a "business associate" like all those Japanese businessmen we saw whenever we went out to a restaurant.  Robyn uses her travel benefits to the max.  We never know where she might be headed to on any given weekend.    As I reported on the Home page, Robyn recently married Bill Platt, a gentleman she met when working at Spirit Airlines.  They currently live a handy five minutes away from our house, but are looking to purchase rather than rent. 

Unlike their father, both Stacey and Robyn have decided to lead honest lives by not becoming chronic students until finally forced out into the cruel working world.  As you can tell, we are very proud of both of them.

When Janet and I are not cleaning the litter box for our two remaining cats or trying to figure out who those old people in the mirror are, we manage to take a vacation every now and then.  We even get together once or twice a year with some fellows (John Shockey, Tommy Sellers, and Dr. Charles Jackson) who have been friends since junior high school in Houston.  Our group is evenly scattered from the East Coast to the West Coast.  Talk about keeping it real.  Referring to ourselves as The Armadillos, we've remained in close contact all these years--first maturing and now aging together.  I envy myself for such precious friendships.  If good friends like these are the currency of heaven, I'm a wealthy man.