Eric Schlesinger:  

Life Time for my annual update of my story. Last annual update was about 5 years ago. . . Hmmm. 50 years now, into this minimal space. It won't be easy. Not for me. Northwestern University. Graduated, 1972, took me an extra year because I was already working full-time at a computer company - not by any great sagacity on my part, but it paid well and I discovered I actually liked the work. And at graduation, I didn't have to scramble to find work. Then I spent nearly 50 years now of working at every level in the computer world, and in Big Companies and small [such that they don't even exist anymore, most of them]. The last 20-ish years were spent at Sun Microsystems (then Oracle Corp after they bought us). Stayed until Oracle decided to retire me in 2016 - actually at least partially by my suggestion. Happily married along the way, now with 2 kids - a daughter and a son. And a stepson of who completes the crowd. Do some of the usual things with the usual success with them - but I like them alot and love them alot. AND we have 6 grandchildren - 3 boys, 3 girls, the latest born just a couple months ago in 2021. My daughter got her RN, got married, then divorced, and then remarried to a fine man who treats her and our granddaughters exceptionally well. He went back to school on his GI Benefits, and now has his MA in Education (awarded in May, 2016), and working, and taking care of them - and making us very proud to have him in the family. Our daughter has been working as a manager of Patient Care Coordination at a hospitals in Lowell, MA - and in a few weeks finishes her MS in Public Health. My son has grown into an admirable young man, though moving to another new field in university cost him being able to finish his degree on time (like father, like son). Like his father, who tried several majors before settling down, our son ended up majoring in communications and minoring in digital graphic design. And then, thanks to poor counseling/advising at the university, he needed to finish his language requirement (which they sort-of forgot to tell him about) after the fact/on his own. He did that, and his diploma was delivered to our house: "Cum Laude", a pretty impressive achievement. He's been moving ahead in the Computer World (what else do you do with a Communications degree?), and is in demand at his company on most all projects, and for most all functions - which is both a source of pride and occasional frustration for him. And he's just been accepted to Indiana University for their MBA program, with the possibility of a dual masters in Computer Science. Our other son and his wife have worked for one company in Connecticut for years, though recently they are branching out. And he, like me, is playing in a moderately successful local band doing covers of 60s - 90s music. Their sons are all doing well enough, although the oldest was involved in a ho...Expand for more