David and Pat Westbay Holiday Newsletter 2021

Greetings, all!

It has been a year of fun and happiness, along with uncertainty and concern, for us here in California. We did a little traveling, got out of the house a little more often, participated in a few more activities, and moved a little closer to what life was like before the coronavirus changed so many things for everyone.

 

At the beginning of 2021, we got our first COVID-19 vaccination shots, followed by our second doses in February. (We got our booster shots a couple of months ago, so we are as protected as we can get at the moment.) By June we felt comfortable enough to fly to Texas to visit our son Ben and his wife Lisa.  We had not seen them in person in over a year by that time, so our stay with them was a real treat. By the fall, David felt safe enough to audition for a play at Theatre 40, where he has worked before. He was cast, and enjoyed being part of the fully vaccinated and protected production of “As Good as Gold,” a new comedy. The production’s run was cut short by a water leak in the school building where the theater is located, but it was fun while it lasted.

 

Both Pat and David took a number of online classes over the course of the year; Spanish and literature for Pat, acting and improvisation for David. We both look forward to more classes in the new year.

 

Early in December, Ben and Lisa came to visit us here in California, and we all went to the two Disneyland parks. That was a great time. As of the writing of this note, we will be flying to Texas in a few days to spend Christmas with Ben and Lisa at their home. We will be back home shortly before 2022 arrives. We are very excited to share the holiday in person with the kids.

 

With COVID-19 cases increasing right now, we are pausing plans for the new year that involve traveling or large gatherings. We hope that things settle down soon so that we can enjoy life as fully as we would like. Meanwhile we will continue with our online classes, video chats with Ben and Lisa, and other such low-risk activities. Life is as good as you make it, and we intend to make it as good as we can while staying safe and healthy.

 

We hope that you have a safe and healthy holiday season and New Year!

 

David and Pat Westbay

 

The Westbay Family Holiday Newsletter, 2020 Edition

 

Dear friends and family,

It is with a great deal of relief that we mark the approaching end of 2020. For us, as for just about everyone on planet Earth, 2020 has been a year filled with struggles, frustrations, uncertainty and sadness. But it has not been without its moments of fun, and joy, and hope.

A lot of the good stuff for us came in the first three months of the year. Ben and Lisa made a spontaneous visit out here in California to see us in January, to help Pat celebrate her birthday. Then we flew to Texas at the end of January to be there for some work being done on the house that we own and were renting to Ben and Lisa. David performed in a few murder-mystery shows. At the beginning of March, we went on a Star Trek cruise which was a great time.

Just before we left on the cruise, news of the coronavirus was starting to get a lot of attention, and we worried a bit about how that would affect the cruise. We got through the cruise with no problems, but within a few days after getting home, things started shutting down. Two other cruises that we had planned were canceled. A play at Theatre 40 that David had started rehearsals for as assistant director was put on hold, with rehearsals moved to Zoom. We still hope to produce the play eventually but no dates are known. In other words, our lifestyle, like the play, was put on hold.

But we have adapted. David and Pat have both been taking lots of online classes. Pat has been taking multiple Spanish classes as well as literature classes (in English and Spanish!). David has been taking a variety of acting-related classes. We go for walks in our neighborhood every day, sometimes twice a day (when the days are longer and warmer). We eat at home a lot more, with occasional take-out meals from our favorite local restaurants. We have frequent video chats with Ben and Lisa which are always enjoyable. We have found a routine which fits us pretty well.

Speaking of Ben and Lisa, they have had a milestone of their own. They bought a house in Plano, TX and moved in a few months ago. Now that they have vacated the house in Grapevine, we are having it renovated in preparation for selling it. The work should be done shortly and the house will be going on the market within the next couple of weeks. If you know anyone who might be interested in a newly updated house in a wonderful neighborhood in Grapevine, TX, please let us know!

We had been making some plans to travel to Plano to visit Ben and Lisa for Christmas, but the pandemic here has reached historic levels and we decided to wait until a better time to make that trip. We are continuing to take all the right precautions to keep from getting sick and to prevent any possibility of us catching the virus and spreading it to others. Our health overall has been good this year and we intend to keep it that way.

We hope that all of you are staying safe and healthy, and that we all will see better days and weeks and months in 2021. Please keep in touch!

David and Pat Westbay Newsletter – 2018 recap

Holiday greetings to all! As I type this, it is December 31 and 2018 will be on its way out the door in just a few hours. This past year has held its challenges and its blessings for us; here are some of our notable news items.

We took several trips this year; some to visit our son Ben and his wife Lisa in Texas, some for vacations. See below for a photo taken while we were with Ben and Lisa over Christmas. Perhaps our biggest trip was a cruise on the Danube River during which we visited Austria, Germany, Slovakia and Hungary. We sailed with our friends from Cruise Trek and had a fabulous time. Over the course of the year we also went to a number of concerts, attended several plays, and enjoyed a healthy dose of the culture that Los Angeles has to offer. In December we celebrated our second year living in our current house in Culver City; we love it here.

Pat has been very busy with her various Spanish classes. She has averaged about four (!) classes per week and really enjoys them. Classes will be starting again once the holiday break ends. She is also still a voracious reader and keeps the book stores and libraries around here in business.

David has had plenty to keep him busy in the acting arena this year. He has taken a number of classes for commercial acting, auditioning, and improvisation. He has acted in several short films, mostly student productions. He also did a number of murder-mystery dinner theater shows. In the spring, he appeared in an episode of a popular YouTube series, “Gal Pals,” which you can view here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhzicggSPH8

Just before Christmas, he acted in a feature film / new media production which should be completed in the coming year. In June, he signed with his first agent! He is now represented by the Osbrink Agency for commercials. He has not booked any commercials yet but expects to land one any day now. He plans to continue his pursuit of acting opportunities as 2019 gets going.

We look forward to what we hope will be a year filled with joy, peace, prosperity, and harmony, for us and for all of humanity. Let’s all do our best to treat each other with compassion and kindness, in 2019 and every year.

Best wishes to everyone, and please keep in touch!

David and Pat Westbay

dpwestbay@gmail.com

Ben, Lisa, Pat and David - Christmas 2018

Holiday Newsletter 2015 from David and Pat Westbay

Hello again, friends. Can it be that another year has flown by? Considering what an eventful year 2015 has been for Pat and me, it is hard to believe that it is almost over. Below is a recap of our year to date. 

The most significant occurrences for us this past year were our losses. It actually started at the end of 2014, when Pat’s dad, Robert Morris, passed away on December 26. He had been fighting cancer for several years, and developed heart issues in the last months of 2014 which finally caught up with him. He was a wonderful father to Pat and her brother Bill, as well as husband to his wife Adele who passed in 2006, and grandfather to our son Ben. We miss him every day. We also lost my mom, Shirley Westbay, who left us on August 3, 2015.  She became ill the previous day, was admitted to the hospital and sedated to stabilize her condition, and did not recover. The doctors were unable to pinpoint the cause of death. She did not suffer, for which we are grateful. All seven of her children, plus her surviving sister, sons- and daughters-in-law, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and numerous other relatives and friends miss her loving and joyful spirit.

Our life here has stayed on a fairly even keel. Pat continues to attend her Spanish classes. I have been acting periodically, including more murder-mystery dinner shows and some background work for a couple of TV shows. I also performed for Sci-Fest LA, in their fundraiser performance of “The War of the Worlds” in January and in “The Lunchtime Show,” one of the one-act plays in the run of the festival in May. I am currently on their newly created Festival Board and am working on fundraising and promotion for the 2016 Sci-Fest LA festival. Be sure to check their website at www.sci-festla.com if you want more information.

Travel is still our favorite thing, and we took several trips this year. As usual, we went back to Grapevine to visit Ben a few times. He is still living in our old house in Grapevine and working for Fidelity Investment Services. He got a promotion in the summer and has become a very highly regarded member of his work group. One of our trips to see him was over Thanksgiving, which featured a joint family dinner with Ben’s girlfriend Lisa and her parents and brother. A wonderful time was had by all. Another trip was a cruise with our friends from Cruise Trek, this time to the Caribbean, visiting Haiti, Jamaica, and Cozumel, Mexico. I also took a short cruise which featured my favorite band, Yes, and other bands that play music in the same genre.

Since Pat’s dad’s passing, we have been spending a good bit of time settling his estate and cleaning out his house in Culver City. We have been taking that slowly, but are now very near the start of renovations on the house, after which we plan to move in. We expect the remodeling to start sometime in January, and for the work to take several months. Living in that house will put us closer to Pat’s brother Bill, whom we have been having over for dinner once a week at the Culver City house to keep up the tradition that he had with his dad these past years.

We wish you peace, harmony and joy this holiday season and in the New Year! Please keep in touch!

Sci-Fest LA 2015, and Getting Back into the Game

In a few days, Sci-Fest LA 2015 will wrap up its run with the final performance of Program B on May 31. I have had the great good fortune to be a participant in this festival, on multiple levels and in multiple roles. When I first heard about Sci-Fest in the spring of 2014, I got very excited to find out that a one-act  festival of science fiction plays would be produced right here in Los Angeles, just a few months after I had moved back here from Texas. Little did I know how involved I would get, and how Sci-Fest would inspire me to get serious again about acting and theater.

After donating some money towards their first Kickstarter campaign and helping as a volunteer to promote Sci-Fest in 2014, I was invited by co-producer and Sci-Fest mastermind David Dean Bottrell (“DDB”) to join their marketing committee for the 2015 festival. I jumped at the chance, because I attended both programs of the 2014 edition and was blown away by the stellar level of excellence in all aspects of the production. I knew that I wanted to continue working with this amazing group and contribute in some small way to the next festival. I attended committee meetings, met other supporters, and learned a lot about how a festival is organized and publicized. Along the way, I took a month of acting classes from DDB and really enjoyed that. I also volunteered to read some of the scripts that had been submitted for the 2015 festival. That was a fascinating process; I read a lot of science fiction plays about a wide range of stories, characters and settings. At least one of the plays that I passed along as a “possibility” ended up being chosen for production in the 2015 festival.

In the fall of 2014, a fundraising event was announced: a staged reading of the original 1938 radio broadcast of “The War of the Worlds” as produced by the Mercury Radio Theater and directed by Orson Welles. The one-time-only performance would star a long list of well-known actors from Star Trek, the X-Files, and other sci-fi-related shows. Plus, a few very generous donors would have the opportunity to actually be on stage, in the performance, playing very small roles alongside the all-star cast.  I made the required donation to get two tickets to this can’t-miss event so my wife and I could see it. After some deep thought, however, I decided that I could not pass up the chance to take one of those donor roles. After all, what were the chances that I would ever get to act in the same play as some of my favorite actors such as Walter Koenig, Wil Wheaton, Armin Shimerman, Tim Russ, Rene Auberjonois, Michael Dorn, Linda Park, Dean Haglund, and Jason Ritter? I upgraded my original donation and secured one of the cameo roles. Rehearsing and performing with these people was one of the highlights of my acting career, at least so far. Apparently I did a reasonable job in my brief role; I think what followed in the coming months may have been partly a result of my involvement with “The War of the Worlds.”

Not long after “The War of the Worlds,” the Indiegogo campaign for Sci-Fest LA 2015 was kicked off. All of us involved in the promotion of the festival started posting countless Facebook notes and contacting everyone we could think of who could help us tell the world that this year’s festival was coming and needed plenty of financial support. As the dates of the festival drew closer, and the casting process for the plays began, DDB emailed me saying that he wanted to offer me a small role in one of the plays that had been chosen for Program A of the 2015 festival, as well as the chance to understudy a lead role in one of the plays in Program B. I was rather shocked; I assumed that the producers would recruit from the cream of the crop of Los Angeles actors, which I have not quite joined yet. I suspect that DDB asking me to be in the cast of this play stemmed from a number of factors: my support of the festival, both financial and in time and effort; my participation in “The War of the Worlds”; and my having attended his acting class. I guess he decided that he could trust me to get in front of an audience and not embarrass myself or the festival. Before he could change his mind, I accepted the offers. Soon I had a script for “The Lunchtime Show” and found that my character may not have a lot of lines, but he is very important to the story. I didn’t think of Tourist # 1 as a small part at all. Before long, we started rehearsing and I met the director and my fellow cast members. All turned out to be great people and fine artists. I would love to work with each and every one of them in the future; I hope that most of them would be willing to work with me again too. I also attended a few rehearsals of “A Billion Tuesday Mornings” for which I would understudy the role of Gerald, an autistic man who invents a device that could change the world. Another great group of people, whom I wish I had had the chance to know better.

Rehearsing and performing “The Lunchtime Show” has been a lot of work but even more fun. Besides the excellent cast and crew of our show, I also got to meet the casts and crews of the other Program A plays; all terrific people as well, who put on four incredible shows in addition to ours. But wait; that’s not all! About halfway into the run of the festival, DDB emailed me asking if I would be available for “Sci-Fest LA Radio Theatre” which was scheduled for Act II of Program B for their second set of performances. They had offered some small roles for big donors again but had not had as many takers as they had hoped. Once again, I chalk up this opportunity to having done the same thing for “The War of the Worlds” as well as my willingness to help out when asked. I accepted and will be going on in Program B for three performances during the final weekend of the festival. I have attended one rehearsal and look forward to joining the all-star cast for the performances.

Being around so many professional actors, directors, technical artists and others during Sci-Fest LA has offered me a number of lessons about the entertainment industry. I have been away from L.A. for over 20 years; I have forgotten many things about the business, and have discovered that a lot has changed in those years. I stayed active in performing while I was away, but almost exclusively in amateur productions. There is a lot that I have to learn or relearn now that I am back in a town where virtually everyone is better informed and more experienced than I am. Some of the differences that I am noticing may go against the habits that I developed in my community theater years, and I’m not sure that the changes that may seem necessary here will sit well with me. I am a bit of an old dog now, and I will have to see how well I can learn some new tricks without compromising who I am at heart. I am hoping that some of the fine folks that I have met through Sci-Fest LA will help me out now and then as I stick my toes into the waters of the L.A. show business ocean.

When I heard about Sci-Fest in 2014, I just hoped to have the chance to see their productions and tell others about them if they were good, which they most certainly were. Having become a member of the Sci-Fest LA “family,” if I can claim that privilege, has been an incredibly rewarding experience for me. I sincerely hope that Sci-Fest LA will continue for many years into the future, growing and expanding until it TAKES OVER THE UNIVERSE, BWAHAHAH!!! And I hope I can continue to be a part of it along the way.

Holiday Newsletter 2014 from David and Pat Westbay

Greetings, friends! Another year is drawing to an end, and another holiday season is upon us. It must be time to send out our news for the past 12 months or so. Read on if you want to know what we have been up to.

Back in January, we left our home of the past 23+ years in Grapevine TX to move back to Thousand Oaks CA, into the townhouse where we lived before moving to Texas and which we had been renting out. The relocation went smoothly and we got settled back into our townhouse fairly quickly. We reacquainted ourselves with Thousand Oaks and the surrounding area, discovering how much has changed and how much has stayed the same. Pat found some classes to take through the local adult school and senior center. David connected with the Los Angeles branch of a murder-mystery company that he worked with in Texas, and has performed with them a number of times this year. He also registered with a couple of companies that cast extras for films and TV shows, and he has worked as a “background” actor a couple of times. He hopes to do more acting work in the coming year. He is also volunteering on the marketing committee for Sci-Fest LA, a one-act science fiction play festival which will be produced in May of next year. Go to www.sci-fest.com for more information about that.

We also took a few trips this year. We went back to Grapevine to visit Ben, who is still living in our old house in Grapevine. He got a job as a contractor with Fidelity Investment Services back in February, and that led to a full-time permanent position with them which started in the summer. He is doing very well there and enjoying it. Our big trip was a cruise of the British Isles area in July. We had wanted to sail this itinerary for several years, and the opportunity came up for us to go with our friends from Cruise Trek, a group we have sailed with before. We visited Paris, France; the Channel islands; Cobh and Dublin, Ireland; Glasgow, Scotland; Holyhead, Wales; and Liverpool and London, England. It was a fabulous trip that lived up to or exceeded our hopes.

Another large part of our lives is visiting with and helping Pat’s dad in Culver City. We drive to his place frequently, take him out to eat, drive him to doctor’s appointments, and generally lend him a hand when he needs it. Being closer to him was one of the main reasons we moved out here, and we are glad to have the chance to spend time with him and offer him any assistance we can. We had a very nice Thanksgiving with him and Pat’s brother Bill.

We will be flying back to Grapevine near the end of the year to spend some holiday time with Ben. We don’t know everything that 2015 holds for us, but we will make it the best year we can.

We wish you peace, harmony and joy this holiday season and in the new year! Please keep in touch!

David and Pat Westbay

texas [dot] westbay [at] verizon [dot] net

We are both on Facebook too!

Sci-Fest 2014, “Evening A” – Science Fiction Lives On Stage

As some of you may have noticed, I have posted a number of items on my Facebook page and Twitter account promoting a one-act play festival called “Sci-Fest” here in Los Angeles. I first heard about the festival back in February; I think it was from one of those “Suggested Page” ads on Facebook that mentioned the Kickstarter campaign for the festival.

I have been a fan of both science fiction and live theater since I was young enough to be a junior Starfleet cadet. The idea that someone wanted to mount a festival combining two of my favorite things, and in the Los Angeles area where I had just returned after 23+ years away, was too appealing to pass up. I pledged some money to the campaign and said that I would be willing to help if the producers needed volunteers. David Dean Bottrell, one of those producers, contacted me and then put me in touch with their marketing director, Greg Hignight. Since then I have been trying to help spread the word about Sci-Fest with some Facebook and Twitter posts.

I don’t have any personal stake in the festival. I don’t have any friends involved; I’m not an “investor” since my Kickstarter pledge will not be repaid to me (nor did I expect it to be). I am just a lover of theater and science fiction, and I wanted to support this effort to bring those branches of the arts to area audiences. I honestly was not sure whether the festival, if it happened, would meet the expectations that I had for it. Last night, I had the opportunity to attend the second performance of “Evening A” of the festival (Evening B will premiere next week) to see the results of the producers’ efforts, and judge for myself.

I am very pleased to report that my expectations were exceeded, by several parsecs. Evening A consists of four short plays: “Forwarding Address” by John-Paul Nickel; “Freedom of Speech” by Adam Esquenazi Douglas; “The Ringer” by Minnesota Plates; and “Kaleidoscope” by Ray Bradbury. All four plays came off very well in every way. “Forwarding Address” is a serio-comic piece about two engaged couples and a disturbing message for them that might come from the future. “Freedom of Speech” is a twist on the one-character-on-stage device; it concerns a day-after-tomorrow criminal justice issue which might not be far from today’s reality. “The Ringer” is right out of the “Twilight Zone” with its unseen horrors lurking just outside and our characters slowly revealing the predicament they are in. “Kaleidoscope” is vintage Bradbury; a group of astronauts must face their destinies after their spaceship suffers a catastrophic accident.

Each play was impeccably performed by its respective cast. I hesitate to point out individual performances, because each play, and the production as a whole, is a true ensemble piece. The design elements, from the sets to the lighting to the sound to everything else, were right on target. There are several video screens above and around the stage which are used before the show begins, during the interludes between plays, and occasionally during the plays; the integration of these video effects truly enhanced the production rather than distracting from it. The videos were especially useful during the unavoidably lengthy set changes, providing a way to keep the audience engaged.

Science fiction and its related genres have been huge players in film and television for many years. They have not had nearly the foothold in live theater. Production challenges have probably contributed to the lack of theatrical presentations of science fiction material. But I believe that this inaugural edition of Sci-Fest proves that high-quality, thought-provoking, enjoyable productions of genre plays are indeed possible and deserve our support. I recommend that anyone who is able to do so should make the effort to attend Sci-Fest, to help make it the success it should be, and to demonstrate that science fiction belongs on the stage just as surely as any other type of production. I, for one, can’t wait until I get to see the plays in the Evening B program.

Get your tickets now before they are gone: http://www.sci-fest.com/

New chapter

Considering that I have just gone through one of the major “life events” that people experience, i.e. moving to a new home, I thought it would be a good time to begin writing something on a semi-regular basis. I don’t know how frequent these entries will be, or how substantial, or what they will be about, but I know that I have wanted to put things on virtual paper for some time now. Maybe this fresh start in a new location will give me some inspiration.

If you are unaware of the reason for our move, Pat and I wanted to be closer to her dad and brother. We both took early retirement from our jobs within the past couple of years, and our son Ben graduated from college (University of Oklahoma) last August, so we decided last year that the time was right to make the move. Ben decided to stay in our house in Grapevine, to take advantage of the job opportunities in the area and the lower cost of living than here in California. Having a girlfriend there also factored into his decision. We will miss him, but will be in touch with him often and will be back for visits.

We arrived in California January 18, having driven from our former home in Grapevine TX starting Jan. 16. It feels strange referring to Grapevine as my “former” home, and I know it will take some time to get accustomed to saying and hearing that. The drive out here was the longest trip that I have ever taken by car where I was behind the wheel the whole way. Fortunately, we had very nice weather the whole trip. The scenery was mega-boring in west Texas, but got more interesting in New Mexico and Arizona with hills and the occasional fascinating rock formation to break up the monotony. We even had time to take a short side trip through Saguaro National Park outside of Tucson AZ. That was a beautiful place, and we wished we had had more time to spend there. 

Saguaro National Park, Arizona

When we finally got to CA, we were several days ahead of the moving truck’s scheduled delivery, so we stayed with Pat’s dad until the truck got to our home in Thousand Oaks Jan. 23. Since that day, our lives have consisted almost entirely of unpacking, shopping, more unpacking, and meeting various technicians whom we engaged to install phone service, satellite TV, etc. And then, some more unpacking. As of today, just over a week after the truck made its delivery, we have cleared the boxes out of almost every room, have most of the furniture where we want it, and are getting an idea of what everyday life here might be like. It will be an ongoing process as we adjust to the house, the neighborhood, our neighbors, and the community. I’ve been feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all, but the stress of the moving experience is dissipating more with each new day. Pat suggested that we start looking at all of the opportunities that the Southern California area offers, figure out which of them we want to take advantage of, and make plans to do so. I signed on to that course of action immediately. We are both excited to jump in and enjoy ourselves in this wonderful region in which to live.

Besides all the things there are to see and do, there are also people here for us to catch up with. Some are friends and relatives that we have kept in touch with since we moved to Texas, and some are friends and relatives that we are hoping to renew ties with. That process will begin very soon. If you are reading this and would like to reach out to us, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment (without including any personal information, you know, to be safe), or better yet send an email to the address you will find in the left sidebar to let us know how to get in touch with you.

We are excited about this new chapter in our lives. I will try to record some of my thoughts and impressions as time goes on. With luck, it won’t be too boring.

2013 Westbay Year-End Newsletter and Moving Notice

The Westbays are on the move! Details below!

Now that we have your attention: We wish you all a very happy holiday season, whatever you celebrate and wherever you are. It has been another year of milestones and changes for us here, and we aren't done quite yet.

The year began with Pat and David both retired from their previous jobs. David started looking for acting opportunities, and soon found some with two companies, doing shows with Keith & Margo’s Murder Mysteries and gunfighter performances with Lagniappe Productions. While these jobs didn't constitute full-time work, they were a lot of fun. Pat continued to take Spanish classes at Tarrant County College, and David took a Spanish class there too in the fall. Both of us are enjoying retirement quite a bit.

Meanwhile, Ben finished his senior year at the University of Oklahoma, graduating officially in August after completing a few summer session courses. He made the Honor Roll again in both the spring and summer sessions, which we are very proud of. He is now back home here in Grapevine, working at Sun and Ski Sports for the holiday season while looking for a permanent full-time job in the financial services field.

The biggest change of all is in the works and has been in the planning stages for several months. Pat and David are moving back to Thousand Oaks, California, in January. They will be moving into the townhome that they lived in before moving to Texas, and which they have been renting out since the move in 1990. The main reason for the move is to be closer to Pat’s dad, who lives in Culver City (on the west side of Los Angeles) and who has some health issues. We are excited to be going back to where Pat’s roots are, and to where David spent a lot of great years before moving to Texas.

Ben will stay here in Grapevine for now and live in our house while he continues his job search. The job market in North Texas is good, and the cost of living is lower than in CA. Also, Ben has a girlfriend here, which is certainly a factor. J Pat and David expect to come back to Texas regularly to visit Ben, as well as friends we have made here over the past 23 years.

We have not set a specific move date yet, but we are targeting the middle of January for it to happen. We will post updates to our Facebook pages, and send official change of address notices when our move-in date is confirmed. We will be here in Grapevine until the move, and Ben will be here after that. If you want to be sure that we notify you of our new address, please email us at the address below and we will send you our new address when it becomes effective.

Have a wonderful holiday season, and please keep in touch!

David, Pat and Ben Westbay – texas [dot] westbay [at] verizon [dot] net

2012 Westbay Family Newsletter

The holidays are upon us already, and so it is time to write up our family news for 2012. It has been a year of milestones for us; read on for the details.

Ben, Pat & David

At the start of the year, Pat had been retired from Verizon for just over a year, and David was still working for Hewlett-Packard (HP) supporting the Belk Department Store client’s telephone systems. Ben was entering the spring semester of his junior year at the University of Oklahoma (OU). We were all in our routines and life went along just fine through the spring.

First milestone: On June 13, David and Pat celebrated their 30^th wedding anniversary. We had been trying to decide on what to do to commemorate the occasion, and eventually settled on a trip to see Niagara Falls. David had been there before but Pat had not, though she had wanted to go for a long time. We flew to Buffalo NY and stayed there, since it is an easy drive to the Falls from there. We visited both the American and Canadian falls; the Rainbow Bridge over the Niagara River has a pedestrian walk which allowed us to park our rental car on the US side and walk over to the Canadian side to see things from over there. You can find some photos from the trip here. While we were there, we got to visit with David’s brother Phil and sister-in-law Bev. They drove down from their home in Burlington, ON, and took us on a drive through the beautiful town Niagara-on-the-Lake and then to their house. We had a really nice visit, but much too short. All told, it was a fun anniversary trip.

Second milestone: In June, HP announced that they needed to cut expenses, and part of that effort would include reducing their workforce. They put together an Enhanced Early Retirement program to try to give some of the more senior employees an incentive to leave the company. They offered a bonus payout based on years of age and years of seniority, plus other enhanced benefits. David qualified for the program; after lengthy discussions, we decided that he should go ahead and apply. At the end of June, he received confirmation that he was accepted in the program, and would retire as of October 31, 2012. Thus, as this message is written, David has been retired for about a month and a half. It has been strange not having to get up early and work five days a week, but the adjustment is coming along well.

Third milestone: On August 12, Ben turned 21. It is hard to believe how fast he has grown up. He is now in his senior year at OU and doing very well. His major is Economics, and we are counting on him to straighten out the US economy as soon as he graduates. J Ben has grown into a fine young man, and we are very proud of him.

Other assorted news: Pat has been visiting her dad regularly in Los Angeles, helping him with errands and keeping him company. She has also been taking some Spanish classes at the local community college here and is enjoying brushing up on that. David and Pat recently went to Las Vegas, where David played in a poker tournament with friends from the poker blogger community. You can read more about that in David’s poker blog here. David has acted in a couple of community theater productions, and hopes to do more of that in the coming year now that his schedule is a bit more open.

We feel blessed to have had a wonderful year in 2012, and look forward to another good one in 2013. You can reach us on Facebook, or via e-mail at texas DOT westbay AT verizon DOT net. We wish you all a peaceful and joyous holiday season, and the best New Year ever!

Yes and Asia at Bass Performance Hall, Fort Worth TX, July 15, 2009

Back in February, the latest band line-up to use the name "Yes" had scheduled a show at the House of Blues in Dallas. I had bought my ticket and was excited at the thought of seeing them at that venue. I had seen Asia there a few months before and enjoyed that show, despite having to stand in the "general admission" area on the floor for the whole evening. Unfortunately, Chris Squire became ill, and the Dallas show, along with the Houston show the night before and the rest of the tour dates to follow, were all canceled. I had to hope that they would reschedule a stop here at a future date.

Fortunately, they did. This time, the tour would include Asia as the opening act and Yes as the headliner. Steve Howe would be the guitarist for both bands, so he was set up for quite a workout. Jon Anderson was still not ready for an extended Yes tour, so Benoit David would be back as lead singer. I was curious to hear how he would do, as I had heard varying reviews of his performances on the fall 2008 tour. I was especially excited that this concert would be at Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, home of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and a beautiful venue with marvelous acoustics.

I was not disappointed. Asia did a fine job in their shortened set, playing songs from their first two albums (on which Steve Howe played originally) plus one from their latest CD, as well as tunes from bands that the members had been in: The Buggles (Video Killed the Radio Star), King Crimson (In the Court of the Crimson King), and Emerson, Lake and Palmer (Fanfare for the Common Man). Everyone played well, and Carl Palmer was the hit of the evening with his usual energetic drum solo.

The Yes set was very good too, although I do have a few quibbles which I will get to shortly. The positives:

*Benoit David carried things off quite well. He may not have the distinctive voice or presence of Jon Anderson, but his voice is well suited for the songs and his enthusiasm was high. As an "understudy" for the job, I thought he turned out to be an excellent choice.
*Steve Howe had no trouble handling the double duty that he signed up for. His playing was spot on, and he too seemed to be having a good time. Chris Squire also was in fine form and voice.
*They played several songs from their catalog that had been neglected by previous versions of the band, and all three of them came off very well. "Astral Traveller" (from the album "Time and a Word") is a song that I have wanted to see performed live for a long time, and it turned out as well as I thought it would. "Tempus Fugit" and "Machine Messiah," both from "Drama," were also welcome treats.

Now, for the negatives:

*The bass was turned up too loud in the mix and often drowned out the rest of the instruments and the vocals. I have read the same comment in reviews of other shows on this tour, so it appears to be a choice of the sound operator and not a mistake or technical problem.
*Alan White did not play with the energy and commitment that I am used to seeing from him. I also read this in at least one other review from this tour, and it puzzles me. Alan has always seemed to me like the member of Yes who was most dedicated to the band and to putting on a great show, but that isn't what I perceived last Wednesday night. I hope that he gets the fire back soon.
*Oliver Wakeman seemed even less interested in the show. For example, he failed to play the short synth solo that comes at the beginning of "And You and I" just before the vocals start. The rest of the band looked at him as he stood there with his arms at his sides, until eventually Benoit looked at Chris as if to say, "I guess he isn't going to play it so I will go ahead and start," and he did. Throughout the show, Oliver looked stiff and detached. His playing was competent, but a bit more stage presence would help him a lot and make for a better show.

Despite these mild complaints, I still enjoyed the show and am glad that I went. I got to meet up with some fellow Yes fans that I hadn't seen in a while, and I believe that I may have witnessed a new fan conversion; a young person who had never seen Yes or Asia before and came to the show at the last minute with a friend of mine who had an extra ticket. It's always nice to see the younger generation appreciating the same music that we old fogeys have liked for all these years.

There are rumors that Jon has been in contact with Chris about possibly rejoining Yes sometime next year. That will be great if it happens. If it doesn't, I will still support the current version of the band if it continues. The show I saw wasn't perfect, but it was still a good performance that indicates that the guys still have what it takes to entertain their fans.

2008 Westbay Family Newsletter

Another year is almost over, so it must be time to post a recap of what has happened in our small corner of the world. I did not sit down and put this together in time to print out and send a family newsletter with our Christmas cards, which may be just fine with many people. But for those interested, here are the highlights of our past year.

2008 started like most years, with everyone returning to work and school after the 2007 holidays. It was life as usual for the winter and spring. Our first big adventure of the year came in June, when all three of us traveled to Scotland. Ben's high school band was invited by the Grapevine Convention and Visitor's Bureau to send a group of students to Scotland as part of a delegation which was going there to establish a sister city relationship with the West Lothian district in Scotland, just outside of Edinburgh. A total of 37 band students (including Ben) went on the trip, and Pat and I went along as chaperones. We all had a very enjoyable time, meeting local residents and band students, participating in the Marches celebration in the town of Linlithgow, visiting and playing at some local schools, seeing interesting sights such as Edinburgh Castle, and playing a concert for the sister city, or "twinning" as the Scots call it, document signing ceremony. You can find a few videos that I took while we were there at my YouTube page. Some photos from the Marches (not taken by me) can be found here.

As soon as we got back from Scotland, I started rehearsals for a play at the Runway Theatre here in Grapevine. The play was "Laughing Stock" by Charles Morey, a very funny show about a New England theater company producing their summer season and their trials and triumphs in trying to mount the productions. I played the artistic director of the company, something of a straight man part to the funny characters around me. The production was one of the most fun that I have worked on, with a great group of people. We had full houses several nights, and everyone who came to see it seemed to enjoy it. That's what it's all about, right?

Soon, August was upon us, which meant marching band camp for Ben, and eventually the start of school and football season. Marching band took just about all of our attention during the fall, with football games and/or band competitions every weekend in September and October. The highlight of marching band season was the trip to Indianapolis in November for the Bands of America Grand Nationals meet. It was the first time the Colleyville Heritage High School Panther Band had ever participated in the Grand Nationals, and everyone was excited about it. Pat and I flew up so we could see the band compete, and I pitched in as a Pit Dad, helping to load and move the band equipment as I have done every year of Ben's high school career. The band performed very well, probably the best they did all year, but they missed going on to the semi-finals by just three places in the ranking. Although they were disappointed about that, the kids all had a good time on the trip, as did we parents who were there.

Besides the Scotland and Indianapolis trips, we have visited Pat's and my familes, and I recently went to Las Vegas to play poker with some of my blogger friends (trip report on that, and more poker blogging from me, here). Ben has applied to several colleges, and has been accepted at the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas at Arlington. He won't know if he has been accepted by his first choice, Texas A&M, for a few more months. Pat and I still find it hard to believe that Ben is a senior and will be graduating from high school in June.

All of us have been in good health, we are happy to say. Pat and I are still employed by Verizon and EDS, an HP company, respectively. Ben is having his struggles in school but overall is doing well. We are thankful for our good fortune, and for our friends and family. We wish everyone out there a new year filled with peace, joy, and harmony. If you want to reach us, you can e-mail us at texas DOT westbay AT verizon DOT net.

Best wishes to all!

The Big Honkin' Las Vegas Star Trek Convention 2007

I finally did it; I went to my first Las Vegas Star Trek convention, the big one put on by Creation every year for the past several years. I had heard about these cons and often thought about going, but never made the trip until this year. The thing that made the decision easiest for me was when I heard that my friend Wil Wheaton, whom I had met on Cruise Trek 2002 and with whom I have kept in touch since then, would be appearing at the convention and selling his new book, The Happiest Days of Our Lives. I knew that Wil would be entertaining in his appearance, since he always does very funny and touching readings from his books, plus there was an impressive line-up of other Trek guests and activities that looked like they could be interesting to see and hear.

I arrived early on the morning of Thursday August 9, the day the convention officially began. I got to the Las Vegas Hilton in time to see another Cruise Trek guest whom I had met previously, Suzie Plakson, in her appearance with Patti Yasutake. They talked a bit about what they have been doing lately, and took questions from the audience. This would be the pattern for just about all of the guests who appeared on the "main stage" of the convention: talk about themselves for a few minutes, then answer audience questions, then go to the back corner of the room to sign autographs for those who had bought tickets for that. I'm not an avid autograph collector, so I didn't buy any autograph tickets, as I didn't see much point in spending money to stand in a long line to wait to spend a minute or two having the guest sign something for me that would likely get stashed away and forgotten. Same thing for the photo opportunities; the prices were too high and the lines too long for me to deal with them. After hearing some horror stories (scroll through the comments at the link to see the various entries) about how disappointing the photo ops were for some fans, I'm glad I didn't consider doing any.

I alternated my time between the main auditorium, the dealers' room, and the secondary auditorium on all three days that I attended the con. Although some people seemed to hang on every word from the celebrities giving their talks, I grew restless listening to some of them and would get up and leave. No slight meant to the actors who were on stage; I guess my son's ADHD was inherited from me. But I must admit that I don't get too much out of sitting in an enormous convention hall listening to people talk about the last acting job they had or the project they have coming up. As I type this, it occurs to me that the size of the room that they had the main panels in was much too large for my taste, and detracted from the experience. I would much rather have been in a smaller room, where it might have felt a bit less impersonal. Also, the room was very dark, with spotlights on the speakers on the stage, and the audience probably pretty much invisible to the performers. I would guess that the lights were kept low to help with seeing the two video screens on the sides of the stage, which were showing the speakers as they talked (when the camera operators could keep them in sight). I don't know if there is a good solution to this dilemma, but I hope Creation finds one.

I spent a good deal of time in the dealers' room, mostly browsing the vendors' booths but not buying much of anything. I didn't have an unlimited budget, and I wanted to make sure that I spent my money on something that I truly wanted and would enjoy. There were a couple of things that I had planned on buying before I even left home: Wil's new book, and the chapbook that he put together which is a collection of some of his reviews of Next Generation episodes for TV Squad. I realized after I got there that the dealers' room might be the perfect place to find Walter Koenig's out-of-print autobiography, Warped Factors, and I was right; I found one for less than original cover price. Score! I got gifts for my wife and son: I bought a T-shirt for Ben from the movie Serenity, with a quote from the show on it which Ben and I both found hilarious when we saw the movie ("Dear Buddha, please bring me a pony and a plastic rocket"; bonus points if you know the reference). For Pat, I got a Star Trek mug with a drawing of the original Enterprise transporter room on it, whose crew members disappear when you fill the mug with hot coffee or other liquid. They were both pleased with their souvenirs when I got them home.

As it turned out, I was the first customer for Wil's books; he mentions it in his blog entry about his experiences at the con. Being the good sport that he is, Wil also posed with me for a fun photo opportunity, which was actually his idea in the first place. By the way, be sure and pick up Wil's new book, The Happiest Days of Our Lives, which should be available for ordering soon, and his other two books, Dancing Barefoot and Just a Geek. They are all excellent reads.

Last two things about Wil:

1. He read selections from the new book and the chapbook at his appearance at the con. He was scheduled to appear late on the first day, after all the other speakers were finished (less competition, good) but at the same time as one of the celebrity dinner parties (some competition, not so good). The secondary hall where his performance was held was much smaller than the huge cavern, and IMO that helped a lot. Wil and the audience were better able to see and connect with each other. The reading went over like gangbusters, and Wil got a well-deserved standing ovation at the end from the packed room.
2. Wil hosted a poker game in the Hilton poker room Friday evening. Having played poker many times with Wil on line and a couple of times in person, I knew I couldn't miss this game. We had a full table and played a mixed variety of games, including Hold 'Em, Omaha Hi/Lo, one round of Razz, and even some Crazy Pineapple. I played fairly well, but didn't get much in the way of starting cards, so I wasn't able to get in on the action too much. I finished the night down a bit, but it was well worth the fun I had playing with Wil, some of his friends, and some fans from the convention. I'll have more to say about that night on my poker blog.

Other highlights from the trip: I got to spend a good deal of time with visual effects expert Ron B. Moore, his wife Barbara, and their friend Glenda during the weekend. I had met Ron and Barb on two previous Cruise Treks, and consider myself fortunate to call them friends. They are wonderful people and were kind enough to invite me to join them for a few meals while we were all there. I also watched Ron's presentations at the con, which are always interesting and fun. I got to chat (much too) briefly with Vaughn Armstrong, another Cruise Trek comrade and great guy. I talked with Charlie and Aaron from Cruise Trek, who had a booth in the dealers' room to promote the cruises for this year and next. There were a lot of very elaborate and outrageous fan costumes, which are always fun to look at and wonder, "How did they sew/build/create that?"

A few not-so-pleasant items: The air conditioning in the Hilton, both the hotel and the convention center, was drier and colder than I would have preferred. I had to go outside into the 100+ degree Nevada heat to warm up periodically. The food in the convention center snack bar, and everywhere at the Hilton, was vastly overpriced. I never made time in my schedule to actually go through Star Trek: The Experience, although I kept telling myself that I needed to do it.

But those minor quibbles did not prevent me from enjoying my first Las Vegas Trek convention. I might even go back again in future years if there is someone or something in particular that I want to see, and all other factors are in alignment. One thing is for sure: if I have an early flight home, I will double-check my alarm so I don't oversleep and miss my flight like I did this time.