Alfdorf, Germany

I got up at 8:30 and was in to work at Repa about 10:00. Hans had database problems with the routing input program. Apparently the program on the disk had been changed. I recompiled it and it ran without a problem. Drive 0 was on all night and had a probable electrical failure which clobbered the disk. We were able to reconstruct the disk and repair it. The Gier maintenance man came in a cleaned the drive.

I went house hunting with Bill Stevens from about 2 until after 6 p.m. He didn’t find anything worth while. Rent sure is cheap in Schwäbish-Gmünd … 1/4 of the Düsseldorf area. I ate dinner with Bill at the Haghof Hotel — kalbsteak (veal) with broccolli and heart of palm. Steak was OK.

I reformatted the Branch membership list and wrote a file maintenance program and a new print program. I worked on the membership lists until about 3:30 a.m. and then went back to the Haghof and to bed.

I called Mervyn before coming in to work this morning and told him about the mix up at the PostCheckAmt (post office bank). We must watch the desposit slips to see that everything is done properly. I called Nina when I got in to work and found she was sick in bed with a cold. She didn’t take the kids to school and Peter Chasterneuf stayed there to babyshit while Nina stayed in bed.

Bill sure drives his BMW fast. While we were house hunting I thought we were gonners a couple of times while going around bends in the road.

Latest Branch membership listing shows 126 members in 69 families for an average of 1.8 members per family. That’s not many.

Weather was clear and beautiful, again like an early spring.

Transcribed from my journal.

Krefeld and Alfdorf, Germany

Up a little after 7 a.m. Ate breakfast and got ready to go to Repa. Filled both cars up with gas. I went in to Ehrenreich and copied the TRM report and mailed it to Br. Hoffman. Had meeting with Jänigen, Giersch, Stolpe over the Standard Cost system. Must check handling of c, x, and e inventory parts when the affected parts file is written. Everything seemed clear.

Nina called and said the PostCheckAmt (post office bank) called. Our last (church donation) deposit wasn’t in order. The deposit slip said DM 845.70 should be there but only DM 385.70 was. I called Mervyn who said he’d check on just what was deposited.

I mailed DM 10.40 worth of envelopes and went to the auto insurance company to see why we’d been billed again. They took the second bill and said they’d bring it in order.

I left for Repa at 11:54 a.m. It was 439 km from Ehrenreich to Repa. Averaged 73 km/hr, but that includes an hour stop in Köln for a Big Mac. Other than the stop at Köln I averaged 91.4 km/hr. I called Mervyn underway and he said he deposited the Östreich check for DM 845.70 and cash for DM 385.70. Apparently, they’ve misplaced the deposit slip for DM 385.70 and the Östreich check., thus getting wrong deposit slip with the cash. I must call them tomorrow morning.

I arrived at the Hoghof Hotel at 17:15 and got to Repa at 17:52. I stayed until almost 9. I entered the cost file print program and half of the cost file maintenance. Got a logic error by deletions which must be thought out.

Had entrecôte at the Haghof for supper and went to bed about 10:30.

Weather very good — few clouds and no rain.

Transcribed from my journal.

Krefeld, Germany

I picked the missionaries up at 7:45 for a quick Missionary Correlation Meeting. We discussed the possibility of renting a glass advertisement space for putting a display up about the Church. We decided to emphasis missionary work until Missionary Week of April 14th.

Br. Hoppe came to Priesthood meeting. Sunday School class was over the baptism of Jesus, selection of the apostles, and the miracle of Cana.

I talked to Ingeborg Von Royen about a stake mission. She’ll think it over.

I drove to Dortmund for meetings and got there just in time for the start. Good meeting. The Stake Patriarch was there. We got the new yearbooks for the Branch. I stayed for just 45 minutes of the Stake Quarterly Priesthood Meeting. We had an argue-er there; he had something to say about everything. I went by the Grühn’s to see if their kids were going to Sacrament Meeting. They weren’t.

I arrived at Church 10 minutes before the meeting and found nothing ready. I must remember to make assignments next time. We had a good Sacrament Meeting. Sister Bolyer, Trieschmann, Br. Miller, and Br. Hoppe spoke. 29 present. After the meeting I drove the Wright’s home.

They and Peter came over later and we got the financial report finished. We sorted out all the Sunday School, etc., newsletters and prepared envelopes for everyone. I took Mervyn and Lynn home. Peter spent the night.

Transcribed from my journal.

Krefeld, Germany

Up at about 7:45. Took Jimmy swimming at the pool by the convention center and stadium with the Cub Scouts. We were there until about 11:00. I had a good time, but the water and building sure were cold! I went by Trautmann’s and discussed Relief Society and Primary problems. We’ll probably have to reorganize everything to get leadership which can run the organization.

I took the consolidated reports to Brother Hoffman and then with with Peter over to Hansen’s to see if we could get their car to run. After jumping, it started. I cleaned the sparkplug wires; one is bad. I told Sister Hansen to take the car to a garage to have it tuned up.

I went back to the house and put Nina’s bicycle tire on. I looked for the leak in the Mercedes but couldn’t find it. Looks like a hose from the water pump is leaking. The car needs points and plugs pretty badly. It would get better gas mileage if repaired.

I went Home Teaching with Br. Schroeder. Br. Miller went with Br. Rudloff. They went to see the Von Royen’s. Lots of spiritual problems at that house.

Br. Schroeder wanted to find a new apartment. We went to look at one and found a very unfriendly landlord. He raised the rent when he saw us. We went to the Hansen’s, Grühn’s, and Tourne’s. We were back to the church at 9:30. I drove the missionaries to Heile to find an address for a referral and then drove them home. I was in bed by 11:30.

Transcribed from my journal.

Krefeld, Germany

Traffic moved right along today and I was in to work about 8:30. I spent most of the morning moving from my own office into a big office upstairs with Keller and Blumel. By noon I still hadn’t all the stuff put away. I bought a battery for the clock and hung it up under the flashing number sign.

I talked with Bill Stevens about overhead rates for material. He says a flat % on all material and outside operations. It’s the easiest way to absorb it.

One roast beef and one peanut butter sandwich for lunch. Peanut butter was good!

Gordon (Plummer) called and revised his travel schedule again. He comes in here on Wedensday, 15 Jan. Wants me to fly back on the evening of the 16th. That should be no problem. We’ll then fly together to Munich on the 21st, if all goes well. He also told me about a pay raise. Base pay raised $100/month to $1,433, making annual pay of $17,196 Housing allowance raised to $4,224/year and living allowance raised to $7,116 per year. Total package is now $28,536 per year.

Peter (Chasterneuf) and Brother and Sister Wright came over. Watched TV and played games until about 2 a.m. I drove everyone home.

Transcribed from my journal.

Krefeld, Germany

In to work by about 8:30 a.m. Called Michael Hunt about the possibility of translating the “Total” handbook into German. Henry (Heinrich) has found a firm to do it. Michael will send pre-release copies of the new “Total 7” handbook to get a firm price quote. He’ll also call back by Monday.

Programmed the Standard Cost maintenance.

The weather is rainy and cloudy. Back to the same old stuff. It’s not possible to be nice two days in a row.

Painters came in to paint the Rado Plan room (in the TRW office) today. Sure did stink. No where else to sit.

Telex from Gordon wants me to meet him in Munich on the 15th. Don’t know if he sent it before or after he talked with (Bill) Hoerner after the Steering Committee was postponed. Must call him tomorrow.

The news says that Germany has 945,900 people out of work, or 4.5%, but inflation is less than 6%. Open job positions at the end of December were 193,700, down 33.7% from December, 1973. German economy is the best in the world at the moment, apparently. Inflation rates in Germany were: 1971 – 5.3%; 1972 – 5.9%; 1973 – 6.9%; 1974 – 7.0%. That’s the average per year.

Jimmy had Cub Scouts today and has to go swimming Saturday and must be at the school by 8:45 a.m. There goes another day’s work for me at the gemeindehaus (church building). Reasonable attendance at FHV (Frauenhilfevereinigung or Relief Society) tonight. I went to Hansen’s after FHV for tithing settlement. Brother Hansen’s sheet was not in the book. Mervyn must have it at the house. Sister Hansen had a letter from Sister Mohr. She (sister Mohr) wants to be released from her responsibilities in Relief Society. Sister Hansen was rather depressed. I said we’d talk more about it on Sunday. She should get a new counselor. Hansen’s car is broken — doesn’t start. I may go by Saturday afternoon to see if I can find the problem.

I ate lunch today at the chicken place on Belsenplatz. I bought clippers, a “to do” book, and glue.

Transcribed from my journal.

Krefeld, Germany

Drove Peter to camp and took Paula to train and saw her off OK. Traffic really bad coming to work. Got in about 8:10. Weibrich from BLW called. Trouble with TBDS program. Learned that he hadn’t formatted the files. Still trouble. After 3 phone calls found he’d changed the file names and had a file named wrong … had the slash in the file name.

Programmed the routing print program.

Nina called to say Paula called from Aachen. She’d gotten off at the wrong train station and had to take a bus to Aachen Main Station. Missed scheduled train but found an express train that would get her to Ostende about 15 minutes later than her scheduled train. Hope she makes it OK!

Sent last payment of $48.07 to MasterCharge which should pay off the bill. Good to see it go! Nina also said we received the Church magazines for January again. They’ve definitely got 2 subscriptions on us.

Weather nice. Sunshine and clear skies. First time in a long while. All the missionaries came by. Br. Schroeder’s bike is broken. They had an apointment with Kukula’s. Nina went out to movie with Lynn Wright and her mother. Movie didn’t show due to equipment failure, so they went bowling instead.

Br. Rudloff came over to go over the monthly report and to get TRM Report finished. Found several discrepancies between the two reports. Need to get a new listing fron the computer in membership lists.

Received another bill from the auto insurance — have already paid it. Got to go see what the problem is.

Nina found malt balls at the English movie. Sure did taste good!

Bill Hoener said that the BLW Steering Committee Meeting is delayed until the 24th.

Transcribed from my journal.

Krefeld, Germany

Left home for work about 7:30 or 8:00. Went to airport to cash a check and found out that the account numbers on the checks were wrong and couldn’t cash it. Went to bank, cashed check there and found out we’re about 5,400 marks overdrawn — but $700 check hadn’t deposited. Got to go on austerity budget! Nina came by office and picked up allowance. She and Paula are going shopping and sightseeing in Düsseldorf.

Received Christmas present from Datacom via Gier Electronics. Includes new RPG II manual and assembly listings of Databus 7 and DOS. Also there was a Reference Manual for the new 5500. Looks like a good machine. Virtual memory should not be much of a problem on this machine. Will be interesting to see the operating system for it when developed.

Gordon (Plummer) called in reference to his next trip. Can be here in Düsseldorf either Tuesday and Wednesday of next week or sometime during week of 19th. Talked with Dick and sent Gordon a telex back suggesting week of 19th. I’ll probably go to BLW for the Steering Committee Meeting on 17th.

Peter and Paula were at the house all night. After dinner I went to MIA for a while. 5 kids there (4 Hansens, Weinard) plus Sister Faust and Ulerika. Drove Hansen’s home and Sister Faust to the bus stop. Went home and looked at some slides and movies and went to bed about 11:30.

Sent more checks to Household Finance and asked for interest charges. Also sent letter and info to Church Magazines.

Audi ran problem-free today. Got letter from Elder Davis in Gutesslohn.

Transcribed from my journal.