2009 Update

Best wishes to all for a happy 2010. We are ending 2009 in good health and looking forward to changes ahead in 2010.

Jake has completed his first three semesters at Willamette University and just finished a good semester, which included organic chemistry and microbiology . He was a teaching assistant again in a freshman biology class and will have the opportunity to TA next semester. He is looking forward to getting to know the Cascades as a backpacker with the Outing Club at Willamette. He is leaving his options open to pick up chemistry as a second major. This summer he is planning to work at a USDA lab in Pullman, Washington, and will live with his Aunt Rebecca.

Quincy was very active in theater at Las Cruces High School and just completed stage managing the LCHS production of The Wiz. It was long hours, but the production was well received, and she got more experience in theater. She has all her college applications in and has her acceptance letter from NMSU and University of Evansville. She will have her interview with Evansville in January to get into their theater program (it is very competitive) and hopes to hear from Southern Oregon soon (just got her transcript to them). She completed her first two college courses at NMSU this semester and has signed up for two more next semester.

Stu and I are well. Stu continues to enjoy summers off, and I continue to enjoy the benefits, like the deck-and-hot-tub addition Stu and Jake built last summer. We also traveled east, saw family, visited DC (always a favorite), and generally enjoyed rapidly dwindling time to be together as a family. Stu and I both battled the flu of the swine in September, and recovered without major drama.

Teaching remains a highlight of professoring for Stu. He developed a class in food engineering this year and continues to teach the 'Beer Class' (aka Brewing Science and Society) to a full house each semester. His research these days is primarily in experimental design, which means he usually can be found with a computer in his lap. Retirement looms, or at least is a possibility after the kids complete college!

I continue to be a bike commuter (now on my dream bike, with the 30-year old Fuji in reserve as the bad-weather machine) and have enjoyed the extra doses of fresh air. My work at NMSU this year has gotten more interesting, and I continue to enjoy the institutional perspective I have in my current job. Bassoon, book clubs, friends, hiking keep us busy and promise to fill the empty spaces when the kids are both away next year.

The time flies, but it is a privilege to watch Jacob and Quincy develop their own lives. Hard to believe 2010 is about here. Could the Y2K brouhaha really have been 10 years ago? Best wishes to all for a good life in 2010.