Trees. All I could see from Route 44 was trees. Many, many trees. How many trees? Exactly 251.1 million maples, hickories, pines, hemlocks, ashes, and oaks of all colors, with trunks 5" or greater in diameter, according to an online survey I later found on the Web. Once you get away from I-95 and the coast, Connecticut seems to be one large forest, its towns peeking out from barely adequate clearings. And not just "seems"—the same online survey says that 57% of the Constitution State's 3,205,760 acres are officially classified as "forest."

It's always good to tear into a good steak with Tor Sivertsen, Conrad-Johnson's main marketing man.

It's always good to tear into a good steak with Tor Sivertsen, Conrad-Johnson's main marketing man.

It's always good to tear into a good steak with Tor Sivertsen, Conrad-Johnson's main marketing man.

It's always good to tear into a good steak with Tor Sivertsen, Conrad-Johnson's main marketing man.

It's always good to tear into a good steak with Tor Sivertsen, Conrad-Johnson's main marketing man.

It's always good to tear into a good steak with Tor Sivertsen, Conrad-Johnson's main marketing man.

The creator of Koetsu phono cartridges passed away on Sunday, January 20, 2002, just a couple of months short of reaching the age of 95. A wake was held in Chiba, Japan on January 22; the funeral took place on the following day.

The past several months haven't been kind to the electronics industry. Most manufacturers are suffering from slow sales and backlogged inventory. But one company is painting a slightly different, if confusing, picture. Unless you've drastically slashed margins while quadrupling sales volume, the phrase "record quarterly sales but decreased profits" appears self-contradictory. Yet <A HREF="http://www.sony.com">Sony Corporation</A> is claiming exactly that for the last quarter of 2001, the company's third fiscal quarter. (Most electronics manufacturers begin new fiscal years April 1.) On Friday, January 25, Sony announced a 14.4% decline in overall profits for the final three months of 2001, due to sagging demand for consumer electronics products. The company reported that sales of electronics decreased 2.8% to &#165;1.55 trillion, with operating income for its electronics unit down a stunning 47% to &#165;71 billion. The same announcement claimed an all-time quarterly sales record for Sony Corporation as a whole.