If you remember last year's Christmas letter, I told you that Lori was getting bored having just 3 babies to take care of (that is, me and the 2 cats) and that she was lobbying for another. Well... she persevered. There's a brand new baby in the house, and despite the fact that the other 3 of us aren't getting nearly as much attention as we used to, we're all pretty happy about it. Hunter Joseph was born on September 19th, and the 3 months between then and now have pretty much been a blur. A Very Nice Blur, mind you, but a blur nonetheless. So, if I fall asleep during this letter, just hang in there - it's guaranteed not to last very long.

Actually, Hunter's a very good baby, and he's already sleeping through the night (which is great because it leaves Lori and I to our favorite physical activity... also sleeping). You've probably already read Hunter's First Note, so I won't "belabor" the details of the birth. I'll just summarize by saying that an epidural is a very good thing. Now that the ordeal is over, we've come to the opinion that it was a wonderful thing and should be tried by everyone at least once.

To keep Lori distracted during her pregnancy, we turned to our other favorite pastime - home improvement. Having gotten a couple of early glimpses of the pregnancy-induced "Mrs. Hyde," and having received good counsel from a number of post-pregnant friends on the relationship between temperature and temperament, it seemed that air conditioning was a high priority. (There are a couple weeks in every San Jose summer where even mad dogs and Englishman hesitate to step outdoors.) So, we installed central air. But wait... that's not all. What's central air without central heat? And, while we're at it, let's rip out those floor furnaces (they're not baby-proof after all). Well, shoot, now we have to redo the hardwood floors, and... you know, the kitchen really does need updating. (At this point we probably should have just thrown in the towel and moved far away, but we were caught in the momentum of the urge to nest. Let's continue.) So now we looked hard at the kitchen. We pondered it, we measured it, and in the end, after much consideration, we obliterated it. Oh, it's true we could have just refaced the cabinets or repaired a few appliances or just replaced the linoleum. But in for a penny, in for a pound (many, many pounds... of pennies), and we ripped out the whole damned thing. After several months of cooking and eating in the bedroom and washing dishes in the bathtub, we finally have a wonderful new kitchen. (And it's just our bank account that's obliterated.) Now that the ordeal is over, we've come to the opinion that it was a wonderful thing and should be tried by everyone at least once. (And if you choose to try it, please call for lessons learned. For example, when putting central heat into an old house, instead of ripping out all ceilings, floors, and walls to add insulation, simply choose a furnace large enough to heat the entire neighborhood to a comfy 70 degrees.)

Other milestones this year... I turned 30. Today in fact. (And I just got off the phone with my brother, Derik, who simultaneously turned 25. His birthday is a day later, but he's on the East Coast, so there's a 3-hour window when it's both our birthdays. If you're having trouble with this one, call me and we'll work through it.) I don't feel older - I guess you never do (despite the hints from many of your various, formerly moving parts). I do remember asking God once to let me keep my hair at least until I was 30. Depending on your viewing angle, you might say that He delivered. (Although I think I might have been more specific, since my idea of keeping it had only to do with my scalp and nothing whatever to do with my nose and ears.) By and large, though, any significance in the big 3-0 is lost when compared to becoming a parent.

So, more about Hunter. Popular wisdom dictates that newborns should be sequestered at home and not exposed to lots of people with their lots of germs and that new mothers should be allowed to rest at home and recover from the trauma of childbirth. With this knowledge firmly in one hand and our three-week-old baby in the other, we hopped on a plane for Europe in mid-October. Like our trip to Maui last year, this one to Paris was Sun Microsystem's reward to Lori for a another outstanding year of sales. How can you pass up a free trip to Europe? Our thanks to Hunter for showing up just in time for me to get him a passport. (Yes, babies need passports with real names and real pictures, too. Since we didn't know if we were going to have a Hunter or a "Huntress," there was no easy way to fake it.) In truth, he travels quite well (so far). And with 3-hour "days," he doesn't even get jet-lagged.

We kept quite busy in Paris. We did some sightseeing on our own (Notre Dame, the Seine, the Eiffel Tower), but Sun took care of the big events and on separate nights rented out the Louvre Museum, the artisan town of Montmartre, and the Palace of Versailles. (Apparently when you send 3700 people to Paris, you have the critical mass to rent out entire towns.) It was a spectacular trip. And Hunter was the hit of the costume ball at Versailles. (And I was probably the hit of the retail shops near our hotel as I, not speaking a word of French, attempted to act out the use of various pharmaceutical devices required by new mothers and babies.)

From Paris we took the Chunnel train to London, where we visited our good friends, the Bartlett's (who upon seeing us with our new baby immediately fled the country, leaving us their flat in the city for the duration of our stay). In London we were on our own, and with our bus passes in one hand and our diaper bag in the other (Hunter was in the papoose), we covered the entire city in just a few days: Tower of London, Picadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, you name it. And now Hunter can say that he's seen all the wonders of Paris and London. (Perhaps "seen" is an overstatement, since his eyes were welded shut for most of the time.)

Now we're settled in at home again, and Lori is getting used to being a full-time mom. She's a natural. And apparently it doesn't keep her so busy that she can't paint the entire inside of the house (with a little help from "Wagner power painters" - me and Dad). It seems that the nesting instinct is still quite alive and well. When I asked her what she wanted for Christmas, she said, "new toilets." Ah, what a romantic. (No, I didn't get her toilets. I know how this game works.)

1997 was a great year for Fourth Planet. We started paying salary (and that alone would make it a great year), we hired our first employees, and we've completed the beta version of our first product, which we will release in the spring. (A beta version is an initial software release for user-testing.) We've narrowed our focus to the visualization of large computer networks, which promises to be a very large and lucrative market. What's more, we have cool shirts with our very own logo.

In October, the Air Force called me up and asked me what I was doing one weekend every month and for two weeks in the summer. I said that it depended on what it was they had in mind. They said, it's something very interesting. I said, how interesting. They said they couldn't say. I said, it sounds interesting. They said, it is. So, I shaved off my beard, put on my uniform, and went to see if it really was interesting. It is.

Since we weren't yet busy enough, I decided it was finally time to learn to fly this year. Recent events (depicted above) interrupted my schooling here and there, but I'm ready for my check ride and should get my license in January.

That about covers it. Please drop us a line and let us know what's happening with you this holiday season. And if you're in the Bay Area, please come visit. We still have a guest room (well, guest room/Michael's closet/office/music room).

Love,

Michael, Lori, and Hunter (the Travelin' Man)

Meanwhile, the cats are wondering when our new houseguest is finally going to leave. (He keeps taking all the comfortable spots.)