[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
(meteorobs) GLOBAL PERSONAL
To all meteor workers out there
FROM GRAHAM W. WOLF (New Zealand)
================================================================
I apologise for not having been active on Meteorobs for some 4 months
now.... I have had a whole raft ofserious personal problems to deal
with.....
About two months ago, we had a sudden and unexpected death in the family
from thyroid cancer.... from diagnosis to harp-farm, she took barely
three weeks. In the middle of all this, I had a massive stroke, due
partly to high blood pressure and a blood clot on the left side of my
brain, for which I was receiving anti-coagulant therapy (which is
probably why I am still alive).
The end result is that my speech is somewhat affected, and I have been
partly paralysed down my right side... my co-ordination is particularly
poor... especially my right hand, which was totally paralysed for nearly
two months, but is now quite a bit better!
Whilst away at my sister's house for 6 weeks, recently, my neighbours at
my boarding house, burgled and trashed my room... there were at least
two attempted arsons, and a lot of my astronomy memorabilia and
datadisks (fortunately backed up on my hard drive) were destroyed. I
managed to recover only a small portion of my stolen personal effects.
When I tried to deal with all this through the Police, the Manager of
the boarding house gave me a verbal eviction notice (which of course
violates the NZ Tennancy Act)... effective immediately... now I am
looking for somewhere else to live. The threat of legal action has
meant that I can stay a little longer, but now have to wait some 10
- 12 months for a Council flat on their massive waiting list. The NZ
Government's punitive changes to the Social Welfare system (beneficiary
bashing), now mean that I am some $1,200 worse off than at the same time
last year, and I only had some 9,000 dollars a year of Social Welfare to
start with anyway!
I am now selling a large amount of my remaining personal property,
including several telescopes, and two of my three Nikons to pay some
outstanding bills. I hope to have the money to pay my IMO subscription
(well overdue) in a couple of weeks, now that all my medical bills are
now out of the way. Speaking of medical things, I am going into hospital
soon, to be assessed for possible transplants, since my diabetes is
seriously out of control, and my kidneys are almost shot to pieces... I
don't fancy dialysis either!
Tereska has been a wonderful encouragement to me in all this, and I
don't frankly know how I could have coped without her!
Due to a misunderstanding and communication block on my part, my Council
status on IMO will not be renewed next year, but I hope to rectify the
situation by submitting myself for re-election, by being co-opted at
neaxt year's IMC... I am liasing with IMO Vice President Alistair
McBeath on this.... meanwhile I will continue (health and finances
permitting) to carry on my international meteoritics duties in a
somewhat defacto fashion. I will continue to liase with the IMO World
Council, where appropriate
I am currently submitting at least one oral paper to this year's IMC in
Croatia, which takes place next month, and will be read out, probably by
Alastair. I hope to have it completed next weekend.
I have been doing a lot of physiotherapy, but it appears that the
partial paralysis in my right hand, will probably be permanent... it
makes handwriting, and servicing my computers, for instance... sheer
madness! I am now learning "Windows", and re-engineering my three
computers, and buying an inkjet (HP-400) next month.
I have not done any meteoritics for nearly two months now, and don't
feel particularly pleased by the situation, since I prefer, usually, to
be out there at the "coal face"... putting in my 50 cents worth of
scientific effort.
I have had to reluctantly UNSUBSCRIBE to "METEOROBS", since all that
"cyberspam" has been clogging up my mail-box, and personal messages
were being buried in there somewhere! FEAR NOT, my fellow meteor
workers.... I will continue to send monthly summaries to meteorobs, and
welcome personal e-mail to my above address. HOWEVER, it will take
some 30 days from today, for the 000's of e-mail to "flush" out of the
system. THEN... things on the e-mail front will hopefully return to
normal!
Had a very successful RASNZ Conference in Auckland last month....
presented a total of 8 papers... many of them on meteoritics. Doing a
major meteoritics presentation here in Wellington in two days time. Also
moving to a new room in the boarding house later this week, and am busy
packing what's left of my personal effects, for THAT.
Bye now, and best wishes... no e-mail to me until the first week of
September... there's so much cyberspam in there, it'll just get buried.
If you are desparate to contact me... SNAIL MAIL to....
82-88 Hanson Street, Newtown, Wellington, New Zealand.
Regards:-
GRAHAM W. WOLF