This message written on January 9, 2002

A Message from the President

Hi Everyone!

Welcome to the MOK Leisure Unlimited web site. It's been, as best as I can tell, about THREE YEARS since I last updated this message, and since I have two children now, I figured I owed it to my 2 1/2 year old daughter to at least have her existence acknowledged on my web site.

I am getting old. Grey hairs are shooting out from the sides of my head like Las Vegas fountains (why do they grow faster than the others?). Body parts are failing so often that if they were schools, George Bush would be pushing congress for a reform bill. I have so little time that it's been 16 months since I wrote my last (and only) soapbox article, which coincidentally was about not having any time. Go figure. 

My kids are kicking my ass. They get bigger, stronger, and faster while I get weaker, slower,... and fatter. My job at Compaq is in jeopardy due to the fact that HP is buying us, and we're down to only one income now that Barbara is on unpaid leave to spend more time raising our children. And don't even get me started on the house.

Why, just this past weekend, Audrey (the 2 1/2 year old daughter) managed to remove the safety pin and depress the handle on our dry chemical fire extinguisher, covering just about everything in two rooms of our house with a dry fine chemical powder. Later that same day, while traveling in our car, Bruce (4 year old son) gagged on a Pepperidge Farm cheddar cheese goldfish cracker and puked all over himself, the car, and the car seat. And still later that same day, while we were continuing the cleanup of the chemical powder, the heating system in my house failed. It was Saturday night, 10:30PM, and it was 27 degrees outside.

Yea, life sure is a lot more hectic and complicated than it once was. But don't misunderstand the above paragraphs. Life is good. No, I mean really good. I just love complaining. It's just my way of dealing with life's little hardships, and even more than that, it's funny. If telling these stories wasn't funny, there would be no reason to tell them at all.

Life is actually pretty darn good. I've got my health (sort of), a beautiful wife who genuinely seems to sort of like me, two really great kids (however painful it may be to raise them), a great job (at least for now), wonderful parents and sister, a super extended family, and of course, you folks... my friends. 

I have said this time and time again, that it is the people (you) that make MOK Leisure Unlimited so great, not me. The value of the whole far exceeds that of the sum of the parts (did I say that right?). And it's getting all these people together and seeing everyone enjoying themselves in a care free relaxing environment,  that makes it worth spending like sixty bazzilion hours on the trips and this website.

So the moral of the story is, if you keep showing up, I'll keep planning the trips.

I really hope I get to see each and every one of you sometime soon, whether it be at an MOK event or somewhere else.

Carpe' Diem!

Mitch

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