Latest diary page with links to entries from previous years
June 24&25, 2000: Diether and Jutta had a relaxed weekend at the Greenfield retreat, and then coffee and cake in the backyard in Cupertino on Sunday, followed by evening mass at Queen of Apostles. Ben had been assigned to weekend work, and could not join.
June 19-23, 2000: Diether's parents left for their trip through the area north of San Francisco. On Monday night they reached Jenner. They continued to Fort Bragg, Crater Lake, Portland, and The Dalles in Oregon.
June 18, 2000: In the morning
Jutta, Ben, Diether, and his parents had breakfast at the family
home. Ben went to work, and 
the rest of the group
strolled through the Hakone Gardens in Saratoga. After lunch and
some rest in the afternoon, they went to a graduation party of
good local friends. With all the good time at the party, they
missed the evening mass. Back at home, they prepared for the trip
of Diether's parents to Northern Caslifornia, Oregon, and
Washington.
June 17, 2000: Jutta, Diether, and his parents spent a quiet day at the house in Cupertino, interrupted by local shopping excursions.
June 16, 2000: Diether took 4 hours of vacation in the afternoon to see and hear the Stravinsky opera "The Rake's Progress" in the San Francisco War Memorial opera house with Jutta and his parents. Before the performance they had an excellent dinner at Stars.
June 15, 2000: Ben returned from Los Angeles in the early afternoon via Highway 5. The family and Diether's parents had dinner together in the evening at the house in Cupertino.
June 14, 2000: This was another warm day, but Diether and his parents had dinner at home. Jutta returned from her trip. The flight was very late, but received a waiver to land despite the curfew of the San Jose International airport at 1:20AM in the morning of Thursday. Diether picked her up. He saw the plane from 280, and arrived at the airport, when the plane landed.
June 13, 2000: A very hot day with temperatures above 100F. Ben left the Bay Area in the morning to visit friends in the Los Angeles area via highway 101. Because of the heat, Diether and his parents had dinner at a restaurant. Because of a controlled power shutdown to protect the net from overload (the first ever) most restaurants on Stevens Creek Blvd very too busy. They finally got a table at Tsunami Sushi in the Oaks Center across from De Anza College.
June 12, 2000: Diether took Jutta to the airport for a 6:30am flight to a business meeting, and worked a very early shift.
June 11, 2000: The family without Ben, who had to work, and Diether's parents spent a quiet day at the house, eating leftovers from the party for breakfast, lunch, teatime and dinner. Diether worked on the party photos and the website. In the evening the family attended mass at QofA.
June 10, 2000: The morning was busy with preparations, and in the afternoon friends joined the family for a summer/ birthday party. Approximately 100 friends came to enjoy the afternoon in the backyard of the family home. More than 50 photos of the event are shown in the "Special Events" section of the website. (Please email for the password.). The party started at 2pm and ended at about 8pm. After party chat and cleanup with Vicky and Kerstin ended at shortly after 11pm. Ben could not join the party, because of his senior ball in San Francisco.
June 7, 2000: Diether's birthday, and a normal school/work day for Diether, Jutta, and Ben. In the evening the family including Ben, who took off from work, and Diether's parents had a good dinner at home.
June 5, 2000: Diether is on jury duty assignment for the week. He has to show up in court on Monday morning, and is assigned to panel number 3. After a wait in the morning, a lunch break, and another 1 1/2 hour wait in the afternoon, the case for the panel is seetled, and the panel members are dismissed to go back to work. This worked out fine, because some important work meetings were planned for Tuesday. The work group was prepared to have 2 group members take Diether's place in the presentations in case of jury duty responsibilities at the same time.
June 4, 2000: 
Jutta
and Diether left Cupertino at shortly
after 6am for the country retreat in Greenfield, and the parents
followed in a second car about an hour later. Immediately after
arriving at the trailer, Diether and Jutta performed a GPS survey
of a road on the property. The parents arrived, after the survey
was completed, and Diether and Jutta showed the high part of the
property. Around noon, they started the return trip, stopping for
lunch at the Harvest Inn in Soledad, enjoying good food and
friendly service. Then they took some country roads to show the
beautiful scenery of the Salinas Valley. They were forced to take
another detour because traffic on 101 between Prunedale and
Gilroy was stopped because of a very serious accident next to the
Flea Market on 101. At home Diether evaluated the GPS survey. In
the evening the family except Ben, who worked, attended the
evening service at Queen of
Apostles in San Jose.
June 3, 2000: Jutta, Diether and his parents drove to Santa Cruz in the morning. Ben had to work. The parents rested on the wharf, Jutta went swimming, and Diether photographed the life on the beach (to be featured in a future photo collection). At everybody joined for lunch on the wharf. In the early afternoon they observed the stalled traffic into Santa Cruz on their way back to the Bay Area. Teatime and dinner took place at the house in Cupertino. In the evening Diether and his father, a professional surveyor from Europe, performed some calculations to match a survey of a road with a satellite image.
May 28, 2000: Diether's parents arrived in
San Francisco from Luxembourg, and Diether and Jutta picked them
up at the 
airport. Ben had taken the day off from
work to be around for his grandparents. Diether's parents were
tired and went to sleep at about 5pm. Then Ben also worked some
more on his Fiero with his friend Curtis hoping to complete the
work late at night.
May 26&27, 2000: Diether took a vacation day on Friday. In the afternoon he and Jutta drove to Greenfield to enjoy the retreat and to perform some maintenance (move some wood to from the C-parcel to the B-parcel). The days were warm (80s to 90s) and clear with occassional strong winds. The insects (mosquitoes and orange-red biting flies) on the mesa were aggressive. On Saturday evening they returned to Cupertino.
May 22-24, 2000: Diether attended the ASM conference in Los Angeles.
May 20&21, 2000: Ben worked at his part-time job on the weekend. Because hot weather was predicted, Diether and Jutta went to the beach in Santa Cruz on Saturday, where Jutta went swimming in the ocean. On Saturday Diether and Jutta drove from Santa Cruz to Half Moon Bay on highway 1 to have lunch at the Italian restaurant Pasta Moon. On Sunday, they ate at the Italian eatery Riva on the Santa Cruz wharf after Jutta's swim in the ocean. While Jutta was in the ocean Diether took pictures of the beach life (to be shown later in the photography section of this website).
May 15, 2000: Jutta and Diether had to get up early; Jutta for a 6 am phone conference for her job, Diether for a 6:30 phone conference with the East Coast, and a 7 am video conference with Europe.
May 13 & 14, 2000: On Saturday morning Jutta and Diether drove to the weekend retreat in Greenfield, while Ben stayed home, because he had to work on his job like on previous weekends. In addition to his work, Ben had changed the front tires of the Oldsmobile. Hiking and sunbathing was disturbed by aggressive mosquitoes; Diether also worked on controlling some thistle weeds close to the house. On Sunday Diether and Jutta had another hike in the hills, laterDiether worked in the house on some rodent control (steel wool to block their entrance into the house). In the mid afternoon, Diether and Jutta returned to Cupertino to enjoy the newly repaired jacuzzi and to have dinner with Ben at home. Ben left after dinner to meet some friends at Starbucks, Diether worked on the website, and Jutta completed the work in the kitchen.
Week of May 8, 2000: Diether spend 2 nights out of town on business, Jutta one; both not too far from home in the Western US less than 2 hours by airplane.
May 5 to 7, 2000: Diether and Jutta spend the weekend at their weekend retreat in the Greenfield area. More than an inch of rain has fallen since the road was cleared, reducing the dust substantially without any significant road damage. On Saturday morning they met the potential buyers of the front parcel during our drive to the top of the property, and enjoyed walking and sunbathing. They also cut a new trail through some brush.
April 29&30, 2000: Diether and Jutta enjoy the ocean and city in Santa Cruz having lunch on the boardwalk and coffee in the city. On Sunday afternoon Diether drops off Jutta at the San Jose airport, from where she flies to a company event. Diether uses the opportunity to take photos of landing airplanes.
April 28, 2000: Diether picks up Jutta late at night at the San Francisco airport, returning from the family reunion in Europe and a company meeting on the East Coast.
April 23, Easter Sunday 2000: Diether and Ben attend the Easter service at the Queen of the Apostles church at 9 am on Sunday morning. After church Ben stays home to rest after a long night, and Diether hones his photography skills by taking pictures of the Hakone Gardens in Saratoga. At about 3 pm Ben and Diether have a late lunch, sitting outside in a Saratoga restaurant. At 5 pm Diether attends a rosary service for the deceased husband of a friend from work. Diether and Ben finish the day with dinner together.
April 21-22, Easter weekend 2000: Diether and Ben are on their own for this Easter weekend. Diether had to work on Good Friday, and Ben is working hard at his new job, putting in time on Friday and Saturday. On Saturday afternoon Diether took more photos of Monta Vista and the Regnart open space.
April 19, 2000: Jutta travelled to a family reunion for her mother's birthday on April 22. Diether took her to the SFO airport in the afternoon. She had to stand in line for more than an hour at the Lufthansa counter, before she was checked in. She is very unhappy with the Lufthansa service and prefers to go through Paris on Air France.
April 15 &16, 2000: Diether and Jutta left
Cupertino before 7am to make a tractor dervice appointment in
Greenfield for 
maintaining some of the roads
on our property, cutting a connecting road, and clearing some
brush. Diether also burnt some old cut brush and old cardboard (the
box of the infamous electrical water heater, described in the
late 1999 and early 2000 section of this diary). Late in the
afternoon, Diether quickly made some drain channels in the road
to prepare for the next rain. Ben joined us after his work at
about 7pm followed by the family of his girlfriend. We had a
pleasant dinner together. On Sunday morning, everyone except
Diether and Jutta left early. There was a partial power failure (lights,
coffee-grinder, and toaster worked, but the water pump did not
get enough pwer). Therefore Diether had to carry water into the
house in a bucket. Based on this and on the predicted rain
starting early, Diether and Jutta started the return to Cupertino
at 11am. After lunch at home, they went through some paperwork
and enjoyed the Jacuzzi. Ben returned from work at about 7pm for
dinner in the family.
April 3-14, 2000: On Monday, April 3, both Diether and Jutta went on business trips to different destinations on the US East Coast. Ben stayed at home, while the parents travelled. He also started an after school job at a local photo retailer. Jutta returned on Saturday, April 8; Diether stayed over the weekend for another week of East Coast and Midwest meetings. During the weekend, he worked on the manuscript, looked at some new countryside, and visited a friend on Sunday evening. He returned to Cupertino in the afternoon of April 14.
April 1 &2, 2000: On Saturday morning Diether,
Jutta, and Ben drove to their Greenfiled retreat to install a
reflective roof cover over the big storage shed. It was a very
warm summer like weekend, and we waited with the job until the
work area was shady after 4pm. Ben and Diether worked on the roof,
while Jutta was passing the sheets of cover material up. Then Ben
sat on the roll-over bar of the Wrangler to attach the cover on
the sides of the shed.
We had a quiet Sunday morning, and Diether took some photographs
around the house. Aftyer lunch, we returned to the Bay Area.
March 28-31, 2000: On Tuesday Jutta and Ben got a radio for the old Oldsmobile, because the original was broken. They had to go back on Wednesday, because the speakers had not been installed properly. Then Ben got a new antenna for the car and on Wednesday evening he started the installation with some of his friends, which required removing the hood and the front bumper. On Thursday the antenna was installed, and the front-bumper mounted, but the hood is not re-installed yet; four people are needed to do the job. Ben and his friends are becoming experts on car repair.
March 24 to 26, 2000: Diether took half a vacation day on Friday to enjoy the afternoon in Cupertino with Jutta, before they drove the Wrangler to Greenfield on Friday evening. Traffic was quite light after 6pm. The weather forecast was for a cloudy weekend, but in the mountains west of Soledad we had almost 100% sunshine. Jutta took a sunbath with the result of a slight sunburn, Diether cut brush to clear a few trails for walking. We also discovered a new small meadow in a brushy area of the 2221 ft hill.
March 18 to 19, 2000: Ben had driven the Fiero to Oak Park to see his girlfriend. Diether and Jutta drove to Greenfiled on Saturday. On Sunday they met Ben in Greenfield, where Jutta changed cars to return to Cupertino in the Fiero, while Diether was driving the Wrangler.
March 13, 2000: In the morning Diether took the "Metro" from "le Gare de l'Est" to "L'Etoile". The trains were very crowded, and he had to let one train pass, because of the luggage. After taking a few photos of the "Arc de Triomphe", he continued to the "Charles de Gaulle" airport by the "Air France" airporter bus. A smooth non-stop flight on United Airlines returned him to San Francisco, where Jutta picked him up and drove him home. During Diether's absence, Ben had repaired the heating system of the old Oldsmobile Delta88.
March 9 to 12, 2000: Before returning to California, Diether spent a long weekend with parents, brother, sister, and inlaws. There were many nice family discussions. On Sunday afternoon he took a SNCF train to Paris after buying the ticket through the Internet from his parents' house. He stayed overnight close to the "Gare de l'Est".
March 3 to 9, 2000: On Friday evening Diether had to leave for a business trip overseas. He worked there with some associates from another site until Thursday.
February 25 to 27, 2000: On Friday afternoon Diether and Jutta drove to the weekend place in Greenfield. When we arrived, we saw, that the creek was now running well, and at one time actually was running over the bridge. On Saturday morning we hiked for several hours to the higher elevations of the area. When we returned, we met a few people, who are interested in the parcel, which is for sale. In the afternoon, we did some work around the house. In the evening it started to rain, and the rain continued through the night into the next morning. On Sunday around noon, we returned to Cupertino. In the evening, we picked up Ben at the San Jose airport.
February 21 to 24, 2000: Ben had his spring break at
school, and Jutta and Diether took a vacation. On Monday we drove
from Cupertino to Westlake Village, and had dinner at the house
of the family of Ben's girlfriend in Oak Park. In the next 
morning, on Tuesday, we drove on to Long Beach to
tour the campus of CSU Long Beach around noon with an official
campus guide. We all liked the university very much. We had a
late lunch in Huntington Beach, and continued to the San Diego
area, where we had dinner with one of Ben's friends. We stayed
overnight in a hotel in La Jolla. After checking in Diether and
Jutta had a nice stroll through downtown La Jolla, and a glass of
wine in a place overlooking the ocean., while Ben stayed at the
hotel. On Wednesday morning we toured the campus of CSU San Diego
without a guide. We liked the university, too, but not as much as
Long Beach. After a tour of the gas light district in downtown
San Diego, we had lunch close to the airport in a restaurant
overlooking the San Diego bay. In the afternoon heavy rain
started and we drove north to Long Beach, where we bought some T-shirts
on the CSU-LB campus. In the evening we drove to Huntington Beach
to stay overnight. On Thursday morning, we walked the pier of
Huntington Beach and took a few photos of snow covered mountains
in the distance. Then we drove to Oak Park to drop off Ben to
stay with his girlfriend until the weekend. Jutta and Diether
returned to Cupertino and arrived at around 8pm after a lunch
stop in Capenteria, and a coffee break in Atascadero.
February 19 & 20, 2000: On Saturday morning Diether returned from a business trip to the East Coast. The family enjoyed the afternoon in the Cupertino area. On Sunday evening a friend (Matthias) visiting from Illinois (physicist from Germany) and two local friends came over for dinner and some pleasant chat.
February 12, 2000: The electrical system in our Greenfield cabin seems to be fine by now. We went to the cabin this weekend to meet a realtor friend Mike to list part of the property for sale. Diether had a good hike with Mike to the high elevation part of the area, while Jutta stayed at the cabin.
February 5&6, 2000: While Ben attended a school
event in Oakland, Diether and Jutta drove to Greenfield on
Saturday morning to check out the cabin, and to relax. On
Saturday afternoon, they managed to burn a large pile of brush,
while constant rain made sure, the fire was safe. Later after
they enjoyed a bathtub full of hot water from the new electric
water heater, the saga of the water heater (see January 14, 1000
und 1999) continued. After the visit of the electrician earlier
in that week, the ceiling lights in the dining area and the
master bathroom worked again. But they found, that the water
heater trips the fuse after the water reaches the preset
temperature. The electrician was notified.
In the evening the rain stopped and the stars became visible.
After some fog in the morning, a blue sky appeared on Sunday
morning and Diether and Jutta hiked on the hill for more than two
hours. In the afternoon they returned to Cupertino, and attended
the evening mass at Queen of Apostles, where the pastor
celebrated his 65th birthday.
January 29, 2000: Jutta and Diether enjoyed a evening wine tasting party with some friends.
January 24 to 29, 2000: On Monday afternoon Diether started a business trip to the US East coast. The long term parking lot was very wet from heavy rains, and because of the rain the plane arrived late at SFO. Finally the flight left more than 2 1/2 hours late to arrive at its destination at about 1 AM the next morning. It was not cold and the sky was clear. Therefore Diether and his associate were surprised, when the car rental agent told them, that a storm was moving in. We reached the hotel on dry roads. At 7 am in the morning the local business leader phoned Diether in the hotel to tell, that the facility was closed because of one of the worst smow-storms in the area in the past ten years. The opportunity to sllep a little longer after a late night arrival was not unwelcome. Diether had a very good business meeting with other company members in the hotel, the locals could not attend because of the weather. The food service took very long, because most employees were not able to come to work. The next day, on Wednesday, the local company employees joined the rest of the group in a hotel conference room for the originally planned meeting. After some more normal business in the company's facilities Diether returned to SFO on Saturday morning.
January 22&23, 2000: Diether, Jutta, and Ben went to Santa Cruz on Saturday for lunch on the wharf and a pleasant stroll on the beach.
January 18, 2000: All the family had dinner with a business visitor from the East Coast. We had a very pleasant discussion, and because Diether had some wine for dinner, Ben was driving the guest to his hotel in Mountain View after dinner.
January 15 & 17, 2000: With Ben providing shelter
and transportation to four students from Southern California from
Friday 
late night to Sunday afternoon, Jutta
and Diether spent the weekend in Cupertino. On Saturday and
Sunday morning, we (D&J) had the opportunity to meet Ben's
guests. During the days until late at night, they were busy with
meetings. On Saturday, we (D&J) had lunch at a small
restaurant in Morgan Hill, on Sunday on the whark in Santa Cruz.
On Sunday afternoon we worked on an urgent work project, which
was early Monday morning East Coast time. In the evening all
three family members had a pleasant dinner together.
January 14, 2000: Jutta and Diether took a day of
vacation to go to Greenfield to have the electric water heater
installed. The appointment was for between 8am and 10am and at 1pm
the contractor showed up. He finished the work in a relatively
short time, and we have warm water again. The ceiling lights in
the master bathroom and the dining area, which lost power during
the installation of the electric system for the water heater (see
December 1999 diary) are not working yet. While the gate was open
for the contractor, our new neighbor Wayne drove up to introduce
himself. We were pleased to meet him so early after he bought the
lot next to ours.
After cleaning up a bit, we returned to Cupertino, because Ben
was hosting four students from Southern California for a CASC
event in Cupertino.
January 8, 2000: Jutta and Diether got up, had
breakfast, and bought balloons for Ben's birthday at Albertsons.
At 10AM the 
phone calls for Ben from Europe came in,
and shortly later he had breakfast and opened his presents (select
View Image in your browser to enlarge the photo).
January 2, 2000: After spending time walking the Paloma Creek countryside in the morning, Diether and Jutta drove back to Cupertino in the afternoon. We had an early dinner at home, and then some excitement about Ben not phoning from Burbank to confirm his return flight. We drove to SFO anyway, and picked him up from the scheduled flight. He had enjoyed his time in SOuthern California very much, and was excited about having listened to air traffic control during the flight from BUR to SFO.
January 1, 2000: Diether, and Jutta enjoyed the outdoors around the Greenfield retreat, while Ben watched the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl game in Pasdena with his friend and her family.