Well, 2003 as a whole wasn't a bad year. I spent most of the year at a small software firm named "Foliage," which was close to home with all the associated benefits, like getting to go to many of Brie's track meets while she was running cross-country. It was a good place to work, reminiscent of the late-90's dot com companies, but like most software firms, it was a tough time for them. To avoid deep(er) layoffs, they reduced employees pay and eliminated bonuses, a path I agreed with in principle, but which made it financially unviable for me to stay there. I moved on to State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) as a result. Which leads to the obvious question...
Why do guys identify themselves by their jobs?
I mean, what about spiritual growth, adventures of the mind and body, not to mention family? Well, I like to think those kind of things are kind of like dust bunnies... they exist, and they get bigger every year, but they are hidden under the bed so you can safely ignore them.
But, just in summary fashion, what have been the big non-work related changes this year? The kids have grown to the point where the old technique of getting them to do the stuff they are supposed to do, shrieking, isn't working too well. Brie has suddenly turned into the mistress of cool clothes. Will hasn't had any startling changes in interest, but he cringes less when watching movies with kissy scenes. We are still doing intermittent family board games just to ratchet up the interpersonal tension level a bit (Will, if you don't stop building elaborate structures out of the off-board game pieces right now, I'm going to...). I've read a few books, played a few computer games, seen a few movies... nothing enlightening, I'm afraid. The living room is suddenly a room you can live in, between new hardwood floors, new paint, new drapes, and new furniture. I did a home improvement project that actually worked... replacing siding that was decomposing. We had the big trip to Minnesota... that was actually pretty new and cools stuff. Yada yada yada.
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A surprise gift for the grandparents....
and the first big snowfall of the year -> |
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| Above,
Kate's snowed-out Katydids party (in which she still did a fair amount of
business but where we had enough fancy little foodstuffs left over to feed a small
third world nation until they would rather go hungry than eat any more mini-quiches for lunch).
Katydids continues to thrive and grow, absorbing any free time Kate has
after tennis. Kate continues to learn new techniques (and make some
up), taking metalworking and jewelry classes.
To the right, a picture of Britney Spears when she was younger. No, that's Brie, and it scares me. I keep joking about buying a shotgun so I have a conversation piece whenever she invites a boy over. At least, I think I'm joking. And below, Will gets his Red Belt after many years of Taekwon-Do. Next step, black stripe, but that won't be for a while; the minimum period between levels gets longer and longer the higher up you go, and I've noticed that advancement is no longer automatic as long as you've taking the required number of classes (two per week). This is Will's favorite part, board breaking... he did the "jump over someone and break TWO boards" thing for the first time, and wants to change his legal name to "Bruce Lee." |
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