This Christmas finds us much the same as last, but with at least one significant change - I am no longer Air Force Captain Wagner. That means I...

a) was promoted to Major five years below the zone and am now commanding a space wing at an unknown base somewhere in the central US,

b) was recommissioned by the Navy and am now commanding an aircraft carrier last seen somewhere off the coast of Guam,

c) was court-martialed for insubordination and am now breaking Very Large Rocks into Much Smaller Rocks at Ft. Leavenworth, or

d) have become a civilian, grown a beard, and am pursuing the American Dream in the Silicon Valley.

 

I left the Air Force in May to start a new company with several coworkers from NASA. Named Fourth Planet after our Mars rover work, the company is pioneering the field of visualization software. If you don't know what I'm talking about, well, that's because we're pioneering it, like I said. At NASA, the team created 3-D software to control robotic vehicles remotely - for planetary exploration. Now, the six of us "planeteers" are turning our visualization tools on other, commercial problems like computer network monitoring, wind tunnel testing, web site management, firefighting, and more. That's a diverse group, I know. You really to have to see it to believe it... and understand it. (For those who are a bit rusty on their planetary science and are still puzzled over the company name, the order is Mercury, Venus, Earth, and then Mars. I leave the remaining five for you as an exercise.)

Lori is still working at Sun Microsystems, still enjoying it, and still doing very well there. She was just promoted in October to be the inside sales rep for AT&T. That's a good thing, since she is supporting the family while Fourth Planet... evolves.

In October, Sun sent Lori to Hawaii for sales club. That was a thank you for meeting her sales goals for the year. (By my count, they should have offered to send her twice!) She was kind enough to take me along, since my benevolent boss (that would be me) gave me the time off. We had a wonderful time in the sun and in the water, spending a few days each on Oahu, Kauai, and Maui. It would take a separate letter to list all of our activities, so I'll just say that Lori got in her beaching and I my diving.

Lori's favorite pastime is still working on and around the house. This spring and summer, she planted a beautiful flower garden in the front, and a very tasty fruit and veggie garden in the back. Depending on what time of year you come by, you may be plied with lemons, apricots, oranges, pears, tomatoes, garlic, basil, roses, irises, or watermelons. Actually, watermelon (singular), but it was a really big one. We have slowed a bit on our home improvements this year. Even so, in the past twelve months we've replaced the lawn, renovated the laundry room, and mounted a ceiling fan in the living room. (The last job seems much more impressive when you consider that 1) it's a vaulted ceiling, 2) the sturdy center beam where the fan now hangs was still a tree when Lori said "it's hot in here," and 3) the impromptu skylight, which I created with my foot while taking measurements in the attic, was not well received and had to be... reversed.)

To take an occasional break from the stress of the Silicon Valley startup scenario, I go "get wet" in the cool waters off Monterey once or twice a month. Sometimes it's just for fun, and sometimes it's to assist in technical diving courses there. If I had my druthers, the water would be a few (like thirty) degrees warmer, but despite the temperature (and the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man costume) there really is nothing like diving a kelp forest with the otters, harbor seals, and other local inhabitants.

Well, that's about all of the news for us this year. Work is keeping us fairly busy for the time being. It's still just the four of us - Lori, me, and the two cats, Tigger and Jezebel. But there has been some talk about bolstering the family size, most of it from Lori. I don't want any more cats, so who knows, she may just win out. We'll keep you posted.

(Speaking of family, here are a couple of family pictures as a bonus for the websurfers in the audience.)

Have a happy holiday season, and if you find your way to San Jose, please drop in.

Love,

Michael & Lori