Dear family and friends,

There’s a light dusting of snow on the ground and a few flakes in the air, rather welcome to set the holiday mood after a long, warm fall—we’re just glad we don’t live in Buffalo with their seven-foot snow fall! Walt and the kids may get a chance to do some skiing yet this season. While they ski, I curl up with a book—nowadays I’m reading about India and Bangladesh, in preparation for a trip I’ll be making in February (more on that later).

David is six feet tall, a sophomore in high school and on the high honors roll. Jean, a senior, is driving now and writing the dreaded college essays (agonizing over them through most of the Christmas break…). Sue has been working full time for the past year, but will “retire” in January to devote more time to Ten Thousand Villages, family and painting. Chelsea, our dog, is over eighty-five in dog years, somewhat deaf, but still full of happy greetings when we come home.

We wish you the blessings of peace, contentment and a bit of adventure in the coming year.

Sue, Walt, David & Jean

Automotive Adventures by Jean

I hit the road this year and have discovered an unusual talent for finding excitement thereon. (Perhaps it’s compensation for the many hours of boredom circling the parking lot with my oh so patient tutor.) Dad insisted on building up my navigational skills, which were and are non-existent, and I lead us into the clutches of an abandoned industrial site and into the wilds of lower North Versailles. Motorcycles did wheelies in the lane beside us, deer crossed entrance ramps, and I learned to change a tire in twenty minutes during rush hour. Despite all this, I did pass the driving test my first time.

University Research

Walt’s brain imaging work continues (check it out at www.pitt.edu/~schlab). This year he has been working on tracking learning to identify a common network of brain areas that support learning. His lab has found common areas involved in learning verbal and non-verbal materials and areas involved in processing feedback.

Vikings Rule the Waves

Out on the river at 5:30 in the morning six days a week, the Central Catholic Vikings rowing team warms up (and wakes up) as their nine-foot long oars ply the dark water which still reflects starlight and street lights at that hour.

And what has all this early practice achieved. So far David has won two medals: one gold at the Head of the Ohio (the third largest fall regatta in the USA) and a bronze at the Pittsburgh Scholastic Sprints and many more awards hopefully on the way. (That’s David, on the far right.)

E-Prime Ships, PST Advances

What took 21 person years to develop? Walt’s company Psychology Software Tools(PST) (www.pstnet.com) has finally released E-Prime version 1.0 mailing out 2000 systems in the first week of 2002 (Jean and David helped packing). The staff has produced a fine product. E-Prime is a massive improvement over previous products but was a great technical and economic risk to produce. Now that the system is solid and adopted in over 38 countries, PST can focus on enhanced features and support for multiple platforms. PST is co-developing a new version of the functional imaging system (called IFIS, see www.mridevices.com/ifis). Working with a larger company presents new challenges, opportunities (e.g., sales to Siemens), and benefits (e.g., reduced economic risk, and time commitments from Walt). The latter two benefits are particularly appreciated by the Schneider family.

The Hunt for College by Jean

What, you think I’m writing one more essay? Ha! No way!

by the parents

We spent weekends and our vacation this past summer visiting several colleges in Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Jersey, meeting admissions folk and tour guides who can walk the whole campus backwards (one even in flip-flops!). “The List” grows and shrinks, finally stabilizes at around eight schools. Test scores and transcripts get sent off. All Jean has to do is finish the essays (each school seems to want a different one, or a “supplemental” one even for the “Common Application”…)

The best thing about the whole process is that it will be all over before we write you another newsletter and we’ll get to tell you what a great first semester Jean’s been having at college.

by David

That was the most B-O-R-I-N-G summer vacation I ever had!

Of Puppets, Paintbrushes and Snakes…

Sue’s had a challenging year working for the University of Pittsburgh’s Generations Together program as Arts & Education Director. The main job is to place senior artists (over 50 years old) in schools and other community settings to work with kids. It’s been great getting to know the artists, putting projects together and seeing the kids’ delight in their final products—puppet shows, art exhibits, frontier festival.

Last Spring, we put on a 3-day festival attended by more than 800 students, teachers and artists. The theme was “All Creatures, Great and Small”, so in addition to the arts workshops, gallery exhibits and performances, Sue arranged for “creatures” to be there as well: parrots, insects, fish, lizards, and SNAKES!

“This was definitely NOT in my job description!”

During the summer, Sue created a new program that hired teens (including Jean) to work in adult daycare facilities with Alzheimer patients and artists to create paintings, poetry, photo portraits, ceramic tiles, and quilts. The teens and another group of higher functioning clients also put on a great musical theatre review. The best part was the relationships that developed between the teens and the seniors. One teen captured the heart of the program when a senior said, “I’m from the past and you’re from the future—we have nothing in common.” Seth answered him, “Let’s come together in the present. Here we can be friends and help each other.” Two of the fourteen teens are now considering careers in geriatrics as a result of the program.

Although the job has its good points, Sue will be leaving the position to spend more time with the family, traveling, on her own artwork and especially helping Ten Thousand Villages.

You can’t do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth. --Evan Esar

“The little store with a heart as big as the world”

Ten Thousand Villages in Pittsburgh crossed the $1 million mark in sales since our opening in 1998. This represents full-time annual income equivalents for more than 800 families in 30 developing countries around the world. Our little store (only 10 and a half feet wide) is the second highest selling store of about 80 contract stores around the United States (see www.tenthousandvillages.com for a store near you). We have some 80 active volunteers who staff the store, under the direction of the manager and two part-time assistant managers. Early next summer we will be moving to a bigger store, almost next door to where we are now. We can’t wait!

Jean and Sue continue to volunteer at the store; Sue serves as President of the Board of Directors. Sue’s also getting a reputation for being an irresistible advocate for the store. Recently she was walking half a block away from the store when she overheard two guys mention that they wanted to get some handmade soaps for a gift basket but the store they were looking for was no longer in business. Sue spoke up, led them into Ten Thousand Villages and proceeded to help them quickly select a basket, soaps, candleholder, mug, scarf and other items for a lovely, thoughtful gift. They came in desperate and left happily amazed—and having spent $100! Now that’s what we call effective customer service!!

For three weeks during February 2002, Sue will be part of the annual Learning Tour to visit some of the artisans who make the products sold in the store, specifically in India and Bangladesh. With ten others, she will meet papermakers, metalsmiths, potters, jewelry-makers and fiber artists and learn about their lives and the difference working with Ten Thousand Villages makes for them and their families.

“I’m especially eager to meet the papermakers in Bangladesh, partly because I love handmade papers and make paper myself,” Sue explains, “but also because theirs was one of the first and most touching stories I heard when we were starting up the store.” TTV store designer Jim King sat at our dining room table when he told how, several years ago, he started working with eight unemployed women in Bangladesh to produce paper from local jute factory waste products and indigenous weeds. Since then the project has grown to support some 800 women making paper and related products (gift bags, cards, boxes and stationary sets). Without this work, these women (many of whom were abandoned by their husbands for failing to produce male children) would have little or no opportunity to support themselves except through begging or prostitution.

The mission of Ten Thousand Villages is to sell the handicrafts and tell the stories of artisans in developing countries. “Through this trip, I hope to be able to tell their stories more vividly and authentically,” Sue says. She’s already beginning to line up speaking dates for when she returns.

Buried Bill Found

You may remember from last year’s news that Sue has been playing Where’s George (WG), tracking our cash in its journeys across the USA. We had buried a bill in a bottle on a Michigan beach, along with a postcard to notify us when it was found. Sure enough, this summer after spending a year underground, the bill was found by a family from Philadelphia. We received the postcard—but they have yet to enter the bill in the WG database. Maybe they’re keeping it for a souvenir…

The Schneider Times

Published almost annually, usually around Christmas, New Year’s or Valentines Day—whatever….

Send your news, comments, cartoons and fun stuff to:

The Schneiders

OAKHAVEN

511 Bevington Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15221

Phone: 412-242-6751

Emails:

Sue: sues1514@hotmail.com

Walt: wws@pitt.edu

Jean: schneider_jean@hotmail.com

David: teon7@hotmail.com

The Puzzler

Last year’s prize winners were Kay and Charles Shearer of Hot Springs, Arkansas. Each year a prize is awarded, really! (I pick out a special prize depending on who wins—Kay got a big jar full of her favorite candy; others have received a subscription to Games magazine, books, or family-friendly rubber stamp sets.)

All correct entries received by February 20, 2002, will be entered in a random drawing to select the winner. Mail your entry to: The Puzzler, 511 Bevington Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15221. Cleverly decorated envelopes will receive special consideration. Or email to sues1514@hotmail.com.

“A riddle without an R is just an iddle…”

but in the case of this puzzle, removing the R from one word creates another word. For example: Remove the R from a vehicle a pony might pull and you’ll get an animal worshipped by ancient Egyptians. (CART=>CAT)

1. Remove R from what stops your car and get how cookies are made.

2. Remove R from what you might use to cover a boat in storage and get a percussive style of dance.

3. Remove R from a very sore throat and get how one begins a long journey (—with a single _____).

4. Remove R from a large deciduous plant and get an essential piece of golf equipment.

5. Remove R from a type of jet and get Tommy Jones’ middle name.

6. Remove R from a fish and get a headdress worn by old-fashioned baseball players.

7. Remove R from one revolution around the sun and get a cheer.

8. Remove R from an obnoxious kid and get a piece of sporting equipment.

9. Remove R from a prank and get half of what a clock says.

10. Remove R from strong desire and get where Osama’s been hiding.

11. Remove R from a tool to untangle hair and get “Dubya”.

12. Remove R from Giuliani’s job and get something to put on a sandwich..

13. Remove R from something you might take to relax and get pay for a restaurant attendant.

14. Remove R from how you might break your car and get a nickname for money.

15. Remove R from what not to do when you’ve been drinking and get a way to get into a pool.

16. Remove R from a popular adult beverage and get a flying insect.

17. Remove R from a common emotion at Halloween and get schoolyard trouble that will get you suspended.

18. Remove R from a wayward cat and get it to ______ home.

Puzzler Entry Form:

Name: _______________________________________

Email address: _________________________________

1. __________________ => ____________________

2. __________________ => ____________________

3. __________________ => ____________________

4. __________________ => ____________________

5. __________________ => ____________________

6. __________________ => ____________________

7. __________________ => ____________________

8. __________________ => ____________________

9. __________________ => ____________________

10. __________________ => ____________________

11. __________________ => ____________________

12. __________________ => ____________________

13. __________________ => ____________________

14. __________________ => ____________________

15. __________________ => ____________________

16. __________________ => ____________________

17. __________________ => ____________________

18. __________________ => ____________________

Extra Credit: Give us one of your own “iddles”:

We are all worms, but I do believe

that I am a glow-worm.

--Winston Churchill