We will be moving back to California during January – our house is ready, and it will be nice to be back in the place we made our own through extensive re-modelling in 2002. We will of course be leaving behind our friends and my family, but with low-cost air travel, e-mail, and cheap phone calls, we hope to stay in touch.

Our possessions are ahead of us – probably somewhere close to the Panama Canal by now. They are expected in Oakland on December 24th, and if customs clearance proceeds as expected, we should be able to start unpacking quite quickly – perhaps even in the first or second week of January.
Lots more to say – but the most important point is simple:

Thank you all for your support and friendship over the last year, and let us wish you every blessing for Christmas and the New Year!

Tim, Marina, Caelean and Jeremy

This was a walk over a period of four or five days in 2004 – our first year in the UK.

A group of Marina’s friends came over, which was nice, and they walked across the hills, from pub to pub.

These are not new pictures – just moved from the old site for your amusement.

Wishing you a Happy New Year and a Happy Chinese New Year!! Gung Hay Fat Choy (Wishing you prosperity) as the Chinese would say. It’s hard to believe it’s been over a year since our house remodel has been completed. We’re continually doing things to turn our house into a home. There seems to be an endless list of things to do, but we’re making progress. In the next year, we will be focusing more on the outside rather than the inside. We’ll extend the lawn and build a play area and perhaps put up a swing or two.

Tim started the year at Simplex Solutions, which was then acquired by Cadence. This is the company we both joined in ’89 and this is where we met. Tim has a very different role now. He’s VP of Corporate Strategy, and doing a lot of other things to do with investor relations and customers. He is enjoying the work and learning a lot from being part of a strong team. It’s challenging because the company and the industry are changing fast. This year he will travel a bit more than last year – so far trips to Tokyo, New York, Toronto, Ottawa and Boston, with the UK, Munich, and possibly India to come.

Marina ran her third marathon in April at Big Sur and did her best time ever. She’s currently in a strength training circuit for improving strength and running performance. She’s taking more pleasure in organizing and cleaning house, which is something she absolutely cannot understand. If she’s not in the gym or on the road, you can either find her in Caelean’s or Jeremy’s classroom, or organizing a school or personal project. We thought we’d get the boys involved in our newsletter this year and this is what they have to share.

From Caelean’s Journal written in December:

“My last (soccer) game the skor was? 2 to 0! The last game was the funist gam of the yeer. They wer the hardist players. My Christmas tree is smoll and green, sit’s in a pot. My tree is in my haws. There are presens around the tree. I like to play soccer. And I like to geting precens. And I like to get jrest up. For Hall(oween).”

From Jeremy:

“I did not play soccer last year. I went to Mountain School and I was only three.” (He turned 4 in August). “That’s all!” Lots of love from our family to yours.