Happy Holidays!

2007 has been good to us. Last Christmas season, we rented a new place in Shoreline (North of Seattle), a three-level condo with almost 1400 square feet and a nice location behind a wooded area. Much quieter than our old place in the U District!

Also, early in 2007, Anne got a new job! She’s now working for the City of Seattle as a case manager for homebound people. This includes everything from the disabled to the mentally ill to the aged. It has much better pay and benefits than her last job and she likes her boss. Ironically, the job is at the opposite end of Seattle from our new rental, so her commute is horrendous.

Commuting has also been a challenge for me. I found that the bus connections from our new address to Ballard, the neighborhood where I work, are appalling. I decided to buy a car, just when a co-worker of Anne’s decided to sell hers. So I bought a 12 year old Subaru. It’s a standard, so I had to learn to drive stick for the first time in my life. Now changing gears has become automatic (hah!) and I like my little car.

Over the summer, I went to the Heinlein 100th anniversary convention in Kansas City and made a special side-trip to Butler, Missouri, where he was born. (I will tell the story of how I met four of his nieces and nephews in a future entry). Back home, I joined my company softball team—the PsychoPATHs—and actually made a key run for one of our games.

Anne has taken some art classes, and went to a walkin improv class at a community theater recently. She periodically visits her old college friend, Patty, down in Portland and goes to Karaoke night at Sunset Bowl in Ballard once in a while with her girlfriends from her previous workplace.

In 2008, we’ll start looking for a house to buy somewhere in the southern half of Seattle—between both our places of work. Anne will finish her probationary period at her job and I’m hoping to finish a first draft of a novel I’m working on.

Hope you are having a good holiday.

Happy New Year!