Garith (Mech, Engr., 2002) and Amy (Latoratory Services, 2002) Helm spent a week in New York City on an Elderhostel walking tour called "Five Boroughs in Five Days".  In addition to seeing Manhatten, Statin Island, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens, they went to Ground Zero, attended a Broadway play and visited friends in New Jersey that they had met on their 2006 Mediterranean cruise.  It was their first visit to the city but they loved it so it definitely won't be their last.

In July, Garith and Amy Helm took a European River cruise down the Danube from Vienna to Nuremburg.  They attended a Mozart concert in Vienna, did wine tasting in the Wachou Valley of Austria and beer tasting in Germany at the world's oldest monastic brewery.  They were surprisingly impressed with Nuremburg, visiting the Nazi exercise grounds and the courtroom where the war trials took place.  Nuremberg is also a very charming and lovely city in addition to it's historical significance.  They highly recommend river cruising in Europe!

Jeff Williams did not have any news about himself, but forwarded the following news of some of his friends:
Karl Krause and his wife have been recently trained to be docents at Calaveras Big Trees, near their retirement home in Arnold.
Ted Saito has been busy organizing once-a-month outings for "old guys" many of whom are LLNL retirees – Jeff has been on several.
Ray Smith is busy raising grapes on the highest altitude vineyard (1/4 acre!) and winery in the Livermore Valley – 2000 ft up on Morgan Territory Road has had record rattlesnake kills this year!  Ray lives near the Gims so may have some interesting stuff to tell about them.
Tom Reitter, along with building a new home in Bodega Bay, has spearheaded a grassroots effort to enable more people to put solar panels on their home roofs – Jeff is getting his installed.

The LLNL Retirees Travel Group meets the fourth Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. from January through June in the Community Room at the Livermore Library, 1188 South Livermore Avenue. The January 27th program is entitled "Islands of the Pacific” by Arlene and Stephen Chin.

The January Retirees luncheon will be held on Wednesday, January 21st, at 11:30 a.m. at the Elks Lodge, Springtown Livermore. The speaker will be Bill Nebo speaking on "Ethics in Research.” The cost is $10 and you must sign up by Friday, January 16th.

Bill retired as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in 2006. He has been actively involved in our community for years including serving as a member of the Board of Directors for the Valley Care Hospital. Bill will discuss his role as a member of LLNL's Institutional Review Board where he considered matters relating to ethics and in particular ethics involving research with human subjects. In this role, he also was involved with genomics related issues confronting the National Institutes of Health.

Penny Johnson at the Pleasanton Library invites Lab retirees to enjoy free programming at the Library, 400 Old Bernal Ave., Phone 925-931-3405. An example of their programs is the upcoming presentation by science writer Steven Johnson on January 15th, Thursday at 7:00 p.m. on Josiah Priestley and his early experiments with oxygen. Their next big push is on Brain Fitness and they will have a lot of programs on neuroscience around March 14th. They also have free music concerts on Sunday afternoons.  

Be counted in as MATHCOUNTS volunteer
Does math count as your expertise? Can you share your knowledge and enthusiasm with local students to help improve their skills and confidence in solving math problems?

Lab volunteers are needed as coaches and mentors in MATHCOUNTS, a program coordinated by the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District in conjunction with the Lab’s Public Affairs Office.

MATHCOUNTS is a nationwide program that heightens middle school students’ interest in mathematics by making math achievement as challenging, exciting and prestigious as a school sport. Volunteer coaches spend no more than one hour each week helping students.

If you are interested in being counted in as a MATHCOUNTS coach or mentor, or want more information, contact Denise Boeder, MATHCOUNTS coordinator, Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District at (925)  606-3276.

To find out more about the MATHCOUNTS program, go to the Web at
http://mathcounts.org/Page.aspx?pid=195.

To find out about the upcoming middle school math tournaments in Livermore, go to the Web at
http://www.livermoreschools.com/_MathCounts/2008-09-19%20City%20Tournament.html

Please send any input for The Retirees’ Corner to Gus or Jane Olson. (Please include the date and department from which you retired.) E-Mail: Jane@LLNLRetirees.org or Gus@LLNLRetirees.org.