HERE IS THE HOLIDAY NEWSLETTER WE SENT OUT WITH OUR CHRISTMAS CARDS THIS YEAR:

Hi to all our friends and family again, we hope you’ve had a good year. Can you believe that a whole decade has passed since the Y2K scare was the talk of the town? Most of you who are on our e-mail list have heard the news as it progressed throughout this year, so for your benefit, we’ll keep it brief.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, Jack had another spinal surgery in July. This time it was in the cervical (neck) vertebrae where three of them were fused together with screws and plates. He had a difficult time in the recovery room because his throat was bruised during surgery, and he had trouble breathing on his own. He was on a ventilator for several days and had trouble swallowing for several weeks afterward.. Fortunately he is fully recovered now, eating well and having very little pain. His lower back has been doing pretty well too, so we’re optimistic for the future.
We did a little traveling in October, visiting Charleston, SC and some of the beach towns on the South Carolina coast. The weather was beautiful and warm, so we enjoyed the beaches and sightseeing. Charleston is truly a unique town that’s like visiting the past. Most of the downtown buildings are hundreds of years old, and there are no high-rise buildings anywhere in town. There are beautiful old churches and mansions all over town, and we took a horse & buggy ride around and took lots of pictures. We also visited Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired. It was all very interesting, and we plan to go back to Charleston again, probably several times. Now that our backs are feeling better, we’re looking forward to doing more traveling in the future.
We are both playing bridge on a regular basis and getting pretty good at it. It helps keep us alert and gives us an opportunity to socialize frequently. Dorothy is very active in Unity Presbyterian Church choir and the Christian Ministry charity organization. She also regularly attends book club and garden club meetings. This year she furthered her horticultural education by attending classes and getting certified as a Master Gardener. They also have an organization that meets regularly and helps out at the county extension agents’ office. She really enjoys gardening and spends a lot of time tending to our flowers here by the lake. She has really improved the looks of the place with all the beautiful flowers and plants.
Jack stays occupied with his bluegrass music and attends jam sessions that meet weekly in our area. He continues to get on the air almost daily with his ham radio, and he has a weekly schedule to talk to a couple of other hams. One of them is a friend of Jack’s brother, George, in Nevada and the other ham is a teacher that Jack had in 8th grade, who lives in Butler, Pa. The fishing wasn’t very good this year because we had a long, hot summer and there was a massive bass kill in the lake because the water got too warm. Hopefully they will repopulate by next summer and the catch will be better. Jack and son Mike have been target shooting several times this year, along with some other friends from the neighborhood. Jack has a collection of over 20 rifles & pistols, some that are muzzle loaders with flintlocks or percussion caps. It’s a lot of fun shooting those antique weapons. He also keeps busy managing their investment portfolio, as tough as that is in the current economy.
The kids and grandkids are all doing fine and keeping busy with jobs, school etc. Dorothy’s son, Paul, started a new job as a forensic accountant at Bank of America in Phoenix, and Jack’s daughter Judi got a new job as a hospital administrator in Billings, Mt. Jack’s son, John, got a promotion at San Tan Ford in Gilbert, Az., and he is director of parts, service and physical plant at the dealership. He has been hob-nobbing with the Arizona Cardinals football team because his dealership is one of their sponsors. GO CARDS!! Kathy Bernath got a new job within Bank of America as a senior executive in their CountryWide Mortgage division. That’s a new challenge for her, and is keeping her very busy. The rest of the gang is doing the same jobs as last year. Dorothy’s mom, Mary Jo bought a condo near us in Cornelius, so she is now wintering here, and she spent the summer up in Michigan. We’re glad to have her nearby.
Our cats Kia and Willy are doing fine and staying healthy. Kia is 10 years old and Willy is two. Mike & Kathy lost their big golden retriever, Magoo, this year and he is missed by all.
Well, that’s about all we can think of to write about this season, so we’ll say ‘bye y’all and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

HELLO EVERYONE. I DON'T KNOW HOW ALL THESE ADS ENDED UP ON MY BLOG, BUT PLEASE IGNORE THEM AND READ ON IN MY BLOG.

Unfortunately, I'm having more spine problems, now in my neck. Three of the disks have deteriorated and I have severe pain and numbing in my right arm. I'm scheduled for fusion surgery on July 19, or sooner if they can work me into their schedule. I'll let y'all know how I fare when I get back from the hospital. I'm only supposed to be in overnight for this, so that's a far cry from the weeks I spent in the hospitals with my back surgeries. WISH ME WELL!!

Best regards, Jack

SEASONS GREETINGS FROM THE BERNATHS

Well, another year has passed and the Christmas season is upon us. We hope this finds All of you
happy and healthy. Jack and Dorothy have had their share of health problems this past year, but are coping well with them. In January, thy took a trip to Arizona and stayed a few weeks with son John & his wife Cindy in Chandler. It was nice to get out of the cold, cloudy weather and renew our acquaintances in the old neighborhoods. While there, we visited with the Andersons & Carpenters, and Jack had lunch with some of his ham radio buddies.
Jack’s back pain got worse, and so did Dorothy's after the Arizona trip. We both have been laying around a lot, nursing our pain, but we still get out and play cards with friends occasionally, and Dorothy is active in her church. She also works at a local charity screening people who come in seeking help.
Jack had a really bad time with his back this summer, and is still in recovery. In June, the doctor did some MRI & CAT scans and determined that the fusion that was done two years ago was unsuccessful and needed to be repaired. In July he went in for repair of the old fusion plus another level that had deteriorated. Unfortunately, after 4 weeks the pain was unbearable, so he went in for more scans. Those showed that the screws holding the bones in place came loose and had to be replaced. He went back into the hospital in mid-September and went through the same ordeal all over again. As of now, the fusions are holding up and he is having less pain, although the progress is slow. He still takes high doses of strong pain medicines and the weather effects both of us when it changes. We got an electric wheelchair to aid Jack in. getting around. It has a nice reclining seat that makes sitting more comfortable so he can use it for card games, concerts and movies. We also got a carrier for the chair that fits on a trailer hitch on the back of our car.
Jack picked up some consulting business certifying structural analysis for antenna towers for some hams in Arizona. He has a Professional Engineer's license from Arizona, so he can certify plans for hams who need them in order to get a building permit to put up their tower. He is still on the air regularly with his ham radio, and he’s contacted 300 out of 332 possible foreign countries. They are getting harder to find as he gets closer to the ultimate goal. He still practices his musical instruments and performed for a group of friends at Dotorhy’s church last month. Dorothy still sings every week in the church choir, and she has become quite active in several Bridge playing groups. Her mother moved to our area and is temporarily staying in our house. She plans to find a home of her own as soon as possible, and Dorothy is busy helping her get settled.
Our cats, Kia and Willy are doing fine. Kia is 10 years old and Willy will be 2 in Feb. In fact, they were both born in Feb. so they have a birthday coming soon. Willy sticks to Jack like glue and Kia hangs out with Dorothy. All the kids and grandkids are doing fine, but we haven’t seen any of the out-of-town kids for a long time. Fortunately, we installed “Skype” software on all of our computers and we can keep in touch with the kids by video and do show-and-tell.
Well, that’s about it for the update. Please check our Blog at: http://w6qo.blogspot.com/ for updates, or look for Jack’s Facebook page.
Best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,

APRIL, 2009
I have been real lax in keeping my Blog up to date, and I apologize for that. No excuses, just lazy I guess. My back pain has been getting worse, and so is Dorothy's. We both have been laying around a lot, nursing our pain. We still get out and play cards with friends frequently, and Dorothy is active in church stuff. The weather is warming up now and it's nice enough to go down to the lake and fish.

I've picked up some consulting business certifying antenna tower structural analysis for ham radio towers. I have a Professional Engineer's license from Arizona, so I can certify plans for hams who need them in order to get a building permit to put up their tower.

I'm still on the air regularly with my ham radio, and I've contacted 290 out of 332 possible (85%) foreign countries. They are getting harder to find as I get closer to the goal.

Jack has been included in Who's Who in America, 2008 edition.

I was informed by mail several months ago that I was nominated to be included in the next edition of Who's Who in America. I wrote up a biography that includes my education, job experience, awards, certifications, licenses, etc. plus personal accomplishments and hobbies. The Who's Who books arrived here yesterday, and the following is the posting as it appears in the Who's Who book. It contains a lot of abbreviations, so ask me if you don't understand something about it.

Many thanks to whomever nominated me for this recognition.

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BERNATH, JOHN CHARLES, JR., electronics engineer;

b. Pitts., Dec. 20, 1943; s. John Charles Bernath and Ethel Marie Smith;
m. Dorothy Marie Lavers, June 4, 1988; 5 children
AAS in Electronics Tech., DeVry Inst. Tech., Chgo., 1963; BS in Elec. Engring., U. Colo., Colorado Springs, 1971. Registered profl. engr., Colo., 1972,
Ariz., 1982, Calif., 1993, cert. quality engr., Am. Soc. Quality, 1993,
cert. reliability engr., Am. Soc. Quality, 1994.
Sr. tech. aide Bell Tel. Labs. Inc., Columbus, Ohio, 1963-68;
test engr. Hewlett-Packard Inc., Colorado Springs, Colo., 1968-76;
reliability assurance mgr. TRW Colo.Electronics Inc., Colorado Springs, 1976-81; quality assurance mgr. Motorola Govt. Electronics Group, Scottsdale, Ariz., 1981-92; lead reliability engr. I-Bus PC Technologies Divsn. Maxwell Labs., San Diego, 1992-94, Applied Digital Access Inc., San Diego, 1994-99, JNI Corp., San Diego, 1999-2001;
sr. prin. elec. engr. Orbital Sciences Corp., Chandler, Ariz., 2002-05.
Mem. profl. engr. exam com. Calif. Bd. Registration Profl. Engrs., Sacramento, 1994-98;

cons. reliability specialist. Contbr. scientific papers, articles to profl. jours.

Pres., dir. San Diego North County Bluegrass & Folk Music Assn., Escondido, Calif., 1994-98; dir. Ariz. Bluegrass Assn., Phoenix, 1988-91.
Named MVP, Del Mar Fair Bluegrass Dobro. 1999; recipient 2d pl.. Julian Lions Club Bluegrass Banjo Contest, 1992. 3d pl. 1995.

Mem.: NRA, Am. Soc.Quality (edn. com. Mem. 1997-2000. mem. certification exam com. 1996-99), Prof. Engrs. Colo. (licentiate; pres. 1975-76), Am. MENSA (curr), Am. Radio Relay League (licentiate mem. DX Century Club 1999, 2000). Assoc. mem. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry

Libertarian.

Achievements include development of use of Weibull analysis to determine optimum equipment burn-in cycles; design of method to determine IC die bond integrity by measuring thermal resistance;
research in highly accelerated life testing of electronic equipment; reliability prediction of electronic and electromechanical equipment using statistical methodology.

Avocations: amateur radio, music, fishing, target shooting.

Personal E-mail: w6qo@arrl.net.