Hey Nora ... there's some plump guy in a red suit carrying a pillowcase filled with stuff on the roof!  Better call the police ... it looks like the house has been broken into again.  You would think if they're going to play the burglar they'd at least wear black ... it just breaks my heart to witness the lack of professionalism these days.  What?  It's Christmas?  Oh, well that explains it.  Nevermind.

The year began with a snowmobile excursion to Cle Elum with a big group of Nora's friends from work.  I've never had so much fun in my life (despite getting really stuck a few times).  Until the next morning I never really knew what "Doan's pills" were all about.  Those babies really haul but the hang time on jumps is kinda short and the landing is a bit abrupt.

We did the bowling league "thing" again this year with our friends John and Suzy.  Our team name this year was "Spare Me", which pretty much describes how we finished in the year end standings, however our averages went up quite a bit from the previous year.  Practice makes perfect, they say.  Maybe I'll reach that 200 average by the time I retire.

Nora attended several championship skating events and theatrical performances with her friends over the course of the year.  Together we attended the Pacific Northwest Ballet's performance of "Swan Lake" at the Seattle Center Opera House and then balanced it out later that week by "checking-out" a hockey game in the arena next door.  There was less blood than I expected and no lost teeth!   What's going on?  I guess it's turning into a gentleman's sport.

Rick and I flew down to Tahoe in late February for a long weekend.   We met up with John (Rick's old fraternity bro) and skied North Star, Heavenly and Diamond Peak.  We had a blizzard the night before our last day of skiing which left about 40" of fresh powder on the slopes.  You really haven't had the alpine experience until you've skied through the woods with fresh pristine powder snow flowing over your shoulders as you make your way down the hill.  We made several 20' cliff jumps that on landing compared to falling back on a feather bed.  Best ski day I've ever had.

I took a tumble down a double diamond run skiing in late March that a few weeks later resulted in a steady dull ache in my right knee.  When I finally got around to getting an MRI, it revealed a torn meniscus (tissue between the upper and lower leg bones that cushions knee movements) that required arthroscopic surgery.  I had a spinal anesthetic so I was able to watch the surgery ... pretty interesting to see the inside of your body on a 25" color television screen.  The surgery went well, but it's taken 6 months to get back most of my mobility.

Nora and I took Amtrac down to San Francisco in early June for our yearly vacation.  I highly recommend Amtrac travel ... train rides (with sleeper car) are extremely relaxing and the mountain scenery in upper California was awesome.  Our trip was a week after my knee surgery so I really got the recovery process underway quickly walking around the hilly city.  We did the usual array of touristy things and hit Marriott's Great America ... riding just about every ride they have.  While in the bay area we stopped by Santa Rosa to visit John (Tahoe skiing) and his wife Linda to discuss purchasing a loose diamond through their jewelry design business (more on that later).

In early summer we attended a friend's graduation from med school after about a 6-year stint while working.  Quite an accomplishment, Denice!  Nora and I also enjoyed visiting her friends Judy and Marcia while they were in town.  Marcia and I did time together in physical therapy while she spent the summer here recovering from foot surgery.

We did some car camping and river rafting in windy eastern Washington.  Our tent was shredded during a particularly bad night (45 mile an hour winds) while we attended the Fourth of July laser show across the Grand Coulee dam with our friends Thuy and Marty.  We share fond memories of trying to take down our tents at l am in gale force winds followed by a restful night of sleeping in our cars.   From now on we camp in Oregon.

While at the Blues Festival at The Gorge in George", we saw Robert Cray, Etta James, etc. while ingesting mass quantities of spiked jello we cooked up the night before.  You see they allow you to bring in coolers, but at the entrance gate search they toss out anything liquid with an alcoholic content.  The Gorge is an incredibly scenic natural amphitheater overlooking the Columbia River basin and a great place for an outdoor concert.

I finally succumbed to the pressure from family and friends and asked Nora to marry me.  They say with age follows wisdom.  Love factored into the decision a bit, too!  Strangely enough she agreed to do it.  Since then we've been pretty busy planning the wedding which we've set for June 25th.  Nora's done the vast majority of the scanning of brochures, telephone calls, attending wedding expositions and overall coordination that goes with all of this.  Hard to believe it can be so time consuming to plan and cost so much for a one-day party!  We're planning a month in Europe for our honeymoon.  Neither of us has ever traveled much so we're really looking forward to July.

In August I began working part time on an avionics project for Collins as a systems engineer drafting software requirements.  I've racked up about 6 trips worth of frequent flier miles to/from Cedar Rapids, Iowa since then.  Travel is cool for a while but then quickly loses its appeal unless you vary your destination.  I'm still the information systems (IS) manager for the Collins-Kirkland office which has almost doubled it's staff since I hired in.  Doing both jobs has been quite a challenge!  I'm expecting about 6 more months of double duty.  Nora still manages the computer department at Microcomputer Electronics and works with a great group of people (most of whom are good friends of ours).  She's currently attending classes to achieve a "Certified Netware Engineer" certificate (a prestigious title in the world of IS managers) with only a few weeks left.

We officially finished the garage in September complete with insulation, wallboard finished interior, in-wall heaters, garage door opener and a 6' tall attic for storage.  I sincerely wish to thank everyone who helped during the course of this project.  Building a structure from the foundation up can take forever when you're working at it on weekends and after work, but there's a great sense of accomplishment when it's completed.  We also had the house painted this year (doing the trim and windows ourselves) and had new gutters installed.  Next year I'll finish the driveway and the house will get a new roof.

After 5 years of attending ski instructor clinics at Steven's Pass, Rick and I have finally been asked to be instructors.  We'll get our season's passes and official "Ski King" instructor jackets this weekend.  Persistence pays off!  I'm really looking forward to getting my own group of kids to teach this year.

Nora and I are off to Florida in a few weeks to spend Christmas with my oldest brother, his family and my parents.  Bruce lives in Orlando, so while in town we plan to visit Mickey at Walt Disney World.  The parental units just purchased a condo in Punta Gorda which they migrate to from Wisconsin during the winter months.  They're about 3 hours from Bruce, so we're planning a few days with them as well.  My other brother Dave gave them a PC earlier this year; Nora and I will probably spend a bit of time teaching them the tricks of the trade.

There are two vacant finished bedrooms in the basement.  We hope you'll come to visit so they'll get some use.  If we haven't seen you or heard from you in a while, who cares?  We'd like to.  Come visit.  Call.  Enough said.  We hope that the spirit of the season finds you happy, healthy and pregnant (for those of you who are trying).  That last sentence is the kind of stuff that just spews from my little gray twisted brain.  Anyway ... it's our sincere wish that your Christmas is merry and that you have a prosperous and happy 1994!