Merry Christmas 2008
Thursday, December 25, 2008 at 11:20AM Happy Holidays to All!
We have had a year of big changes in 2008 on many fronts--work, play and home.
On the home front--Nicolas turned 14 on December 20th---yes 14! There's no doubt he's a teenager now. His love of sports is 24/7 and currently participating in a baseball camp to get the basics down. We're no longer worrying about retirement because Nicolas has decided to be the Cy Young winning pitcher for the Boston Red Sox in 2018. Just in case that doesn't work, he's also working on having the option to quarterback. He can throw almost a full block long pass! At school, he's switched from playing the Euphonium (think mini tuba) to playing the trombone--but his hope is to work on mastering the bass guitar. This past summer music camp turned him into a Jazz aficionado. His iTune's list is so eclectic and Jim and I are proud to hear everthing from Miles Davis to AC/DC booming on his playlist.
Last Christmas, we welcomed into the home a chocolate colored standard poodle puppy we named Luis. Amid all the alergy and asthma concerns for us--just like the Obama's we settled on a dog that doesn't shed and is raised largely indoors. Luis has even been trained to use a "cat box". Hey, my Animal Learning professor at UT would be so proud. It can be done!
On the work front, we fortunately seem to have jobs for 2009! Jim continues to toil in the salt mine of Applied Underwriters making money for Mr. Buffet. I am in the process of exploring some exciting new work opportunies for 2009 and I'll share more news about that as it unfolds.
A big highlight for 2008 was taking Nicolas to Mexico for 2 and a half weeks while I had a chance to teach at the Instituto de Tecnologia de Monterey's Guadalajara campus. The Tec is a prestigious technology school and thought of as Mexico's MIT. Along with my colleague Michelle Messina, we taught a leadership and team development class to the management teams of several early stage companies that are part of the university's incubator and accelerator program. We also set the stage for developing a long term relationship with the university to continue teaching and to work with the regional chamber of commerce. Guadalajara is considered the Silicon Valley of Mexico. Nicolas and I stayed at their state of the art campus dormitory and one of the coolest days was when we had about 2 inches of pea sized hail. We hope to return next summer for another teaching stint and so that Nicolas can continue learning a lot more Spanish!
We hope you enjoy a joyful, healthy, and happy New Year! Best Wishes, Maria, Jim and Nicolas