1981

Okay, kids, I must dispense with my usual repartee this month, and I have two very good reasons. First, Ronbo (a.k.a. First Boob II) has been diddling with our tax code and the Monroe Doctrine this week: and it's gotten him a CG rating (congressional guidance advised). For members of the fourth estate, that means far too much work.

But of more pressing interest is that I've weasled a press pass to the first Cubs/Mets game of the season, and I have to catch a plane for La Grande Pomme. So, herewith are some dispatches, absent my accustomed pretense of a cogent narrative thread.

To begin with, a correction. Brian Alpert is not at Stanford Business School, as previously reported; he is finishing up at Georgetown Law, and I have it on good authority that he's roaming the streets of Washington in search of a tort to saddle me with.

Additionally, I must violate my nascent commitment to avoid writing about friends, due to two major developments. First, Vaughn Halyard has left IBM for the world of computerized keyboards at New England Digital. The Techno-Tsar will be opening that outfit's Chicago studio after spending the summer helping Quincy Jones pull together some production work. By the way, Vaughn is also engaged (!) to former IBM cohort Stacey Griggs. I have no time to elaborate on the gory details.

Now the reason for my second quasi-ne-potistic violation is that Thom Smith is pregnant. That is, his wife, Teresa, is.with child. So the city of Pittsburgh will soon have a loonball-in-training, the likes of which it has never seen. The mind reels.

In other '81 action: Mark Molloy is engaged to Jean Donnelly (BC '82). Mark is in Hartford working for Aetna and getting an M.B.A. from RPI.

Similarly aligned with the world of initials is Bob Miner. Writing from Winthrop, Mass., Bob sounds like he's leading a life that's a cross between the lyrics of Alan Sherman and Bruce Springsteen: "Finished my M.S.M.E. at MIT/ Starting up at Cognition Inc. out on Route 128." But lest you think he's lost in the asphalt jungle of Taxachussetts, Bob also reports that he's engaged and will be married next spring.

Far ahead of these mere beginners is Robert Drye, who reports that he and his wife will be celebrating their fifth anniversary and third child this summer. He's at Mary Hitchcock . . . they live in Plainfield.

Mark Pomper reports that Steve Smith,Joni Nichols, and self have all graduated from Duke Med School. While Steve and Joni head off for internal medicine internships at as-yet-to-be-disclosed locales, Mark will be going into neurosurgery at the University of Chicago.

And as long as I'm talking about Chicago, let's tolerate a word from Steve Kroll, who is working for the 200-man law firm of Chapman and Cutler. "The firm," says Kroll, "specializes in automobile repossession, bail bonds, government bankruptcy, and organized crime defense." Same as he ever was.

Likewise still in Chicago, says Kroll, is Steve Anderson, who is working for Merrill Lynch after getting an M.B.A. at UChicago. Kroll also reports frequent sightings of ShepBurr. Shep is regional manager of a company that manufactures display equipment for trade shows, and Alex Dmyterko is also working there, apparently in some type of partnership with Shep. (They're allegedly changing their names to Tony and Guido so that they can open up a small pawnbrokerage on the near south side.) Last on the Chicago roll is Jeff Steen, who is serving as clerk to some federal judge out there.

Now I'm really runnng out of time, so here are some quick hits: Douglas White has taken a step up the ladder at Whitehall Laboratories, where he has been promoted to southwestern regional manager and moved to Dallas to oversee all facets of the company's over-the-counter drug business. Now if we could only get him to distribute some free samples . . .Peter Bogin writes from Paris, where he has been living since graduation. He says he'll soon begin work for the International Energy Agency. And Chuck Bowers was in town recently, following his graduation from University of Arkansas Med School. While he has yet to explain what a residency in otolarynology is, he did mention that Dave Mercado is engaged. (No word on who the fiancee is, but Rich Kehl is slotted as best man.)

Now I'm done, through, finished. And there's nothing you can do, 'cause I'm already on my way to Shea Stadium. So nan' nan' na na.

1640 19th Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20009