This is the year that Chrismukkah sweeps the nation

Hi everyone! Even though 2004 wasn’t a stamp free year like 2003 was I really liked the online holiday letter, and decided to do another one.

Overall I’m doing very well. I still live in downtown Seattle, work for Microsoft, play lots of soccer, and try (often unsuccessfully) to keep up with my friends and family. This letter is all about my highlights for last year. I hope you enjoy it.


New York Trip

Back in those days, going to America was like going to the moon.
-From a display at Ellis Island.

In April my office moved from downtown Seattle out to the suburbs. I wasn’t too pleased with this, but they did give us a free day off while they shipped all our stuff across town. I took advantage of that and went on a fabulous whirlwind trip to New York City with my friend Matt. We have some college friends who live in Manhattan and were willing to lend us a couch to sleep on.

I’d never been to New York before and I had a wonderful time. It’s amazing how different it is from Seattle. The space, people, and culture were a great vacation. I’ve been looking at more traveling abroad recently, but I have to remember that there’s lots of culture differences in the US too. There are lots of cultures to experience right here at home - no passport required.

You can read about the whole trip here.


More Rafting

Every day is a bad hair day on the river.

I was a whitewater raft guide again this year. Last year my season was cut short by injuries, and this year I didn’t raft as much as I’d like because I couldn’t let go of all my other activities. I spent most of the summer trying to raft and still play on my weekend sports teams and keep up with friends socially on the weekends. This all got to be too much for me about halfway through the season and I had to back off of rafting a bit.

I love being out there, but it takes a lot of time. There’s lots of driving involved and the days on the river are long. It’s worth it while I’m there, but if I’m always trying to rush back to Seattle it’s too much. This year my goal is to shy away from some of those other commitments during the summer and spend a lot of time out on the river.

As always, if you’re interested in going on a whitewater raft trip let me know! They’re great fun and I can take you out on a couple of different Northwest Rivers.


Seattle Storm

Even though I’m planning on cutting back this summer to have more rafting time, I won’t be cutting back on Storm games (The Storm is Seattle’s WNBA team.) I’d meant to go to a game to check it out each of the last few years. But it wasn’t until this summer that I actually got around to it, and after the first game I was hooked!

I have trouble being a fan of most pro sports. The whole thing doesn’t resonate for me. I feel like the money, egos, and business involved remove it from being sport. This is why I’ve always liked college sports more then pro sports. And it’s one of the many reasons I really like the Storm. There’s not much money in it (Lauren Jackson, a Storm player considered one of the best Woman players in the world, makes $86,000 a season) and it’s clear watching these women play that they are grateful just to get a chance to play for a living. They play as a team, and for me they are a clear example of pure sport.

The other major reason I like Storm games is the great energy in the arena during the games. The crowds are amazing. They’re high energy, involved, responsible (no crowd ugliness or drunkenness) and engaged with the game. I convinced a friend who’s a long time sports fan to take his family to one of the playoff games – he said it’s the most fun he’s ever had at a sporting event. And he’s from Wisconsin where he went to lots of Packers games.

The Storm had a fantastic season, earning the second best record in the league. Then they won every game at home during the playoffs, eventually winning the WNBA championship. It was great fun being there during their playoff run. I’m a season ticket holder for next year and I can’t wait for the season to start in May (plus the weather will be nicer in May, another bonus.)


Work Update

Work has been pretty uneventful. The biggest change was the move from Seattle to Redmond. I’m still working on the test team for Office graphics. I can’t talk about what I’m working on too much, but the short version is we’re overhauling the graphics you can make in Office. I’m really excited about the work, and by this time next year I’ll be able to brag about it to the point of obnoxiousness.


Election 2004

This is a man that lost the popular vote last time and interpreted that as a mandate. This time he won straight up, 51 to 48 percent. To him that's a shut out! You can be sure things are getting done around here.
- The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

I was mostly ok before the election, and I came to terms with either candidate winning (although as I’m sure you all know I’m not a Bush fan.) But since the election I feel like I’m living in the twilight zone or something. Privatize social security, overhaul the tax code to only tax income (and not wealth), ridiculously irresponsible fiscal policy – it’s just nuts. The absurdity of it all is almost too much to take.

The political debates I have with people now just work off a baseline that we’re going downhill, the conversation is instead about how much damage it will do and when the whole system might collapse. It’s pretty depressing for me, and I’ve started reading books about empires in decline and their attributes. I’m hopeful that’s not the path that we’re on, but my fears are outweighing my hopes these days.

I don't think of myself as a political zealot, but I'm having a hard time understanding what's going on. In the past I would look at policies that I didn't agree with and at least I could see the policy as a valid potential solution - not the one I'd choose, but one I could visualize working. With the current republican party I can't do that any more. Maybe I'm just missing something - if any of you would like to try to explain it all to me I'd be most grateful.

In other news Washington State is still having lots of drama in our governors’ race. We’re on a hand recount now and with a slim margin of 42 votes (out of 2.8 million cast) the big legal conflicts are about what to do about disqualified votes because signatures on the votes may or may not match signatures on file. Lots of fun and drama has ensued.


Big Lifestyle Changes

It's a great thing when you realize you still have the ability to surprise yourself.
- American Beauty

I’ll finish out on a much happier note. I spent the first half of this year trying to get in better shape, lose weight, and be all around more healthy. That went well, but by the end of the summer it was clear that I’d plateaued. I realized that I needed some extra help.

My health club offers this super intensive lifestyle and weight management program. I had some friends who did the program and just raved about it, so I signed up this fall. The results have been spectacular. It’s a little strange; it feels like a dream. I’m afraid I’ll wake up tomorrow and I’ll be back to my old self. I guess this is why change is usually slow, it’s a shock to the system when it’s this fast.

All told I’m down close to 50 pounds for the year, and I get all kinds of astonished looks from people who haven’t seen me in a while. Very few of my old clothes fit, so my day to day wardrobe has been pretty repetitive since I haven’t gone on a shopping spree yet. But new clothes isn’t the only perk. Joints that have been bugging me no longer hurt, I’m faster, quicker, and can jump higher when I play sports, and I can run for much, much longer then I ever could.

You can read all about it in: How I Lost 30 Pounds in 10 Weeks.


12K’s of Christmas

There’s no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.
- Sir Rannulph Fiennes

Speaking of running for a long way, I decided to finish out the year with a challenge. I’ve never been a runner, but I’ve been running a lot as part of this new exercise program. A few weeks ago my trainer challenged me to do a 12 K run. I’d never run that far in my life, but it seemed achievable based on the runs I’d been doing.

Only in the Northwest will you find a few hundred people who will show up on a Sunday morning in late December in the cold (~40 degrees), wind (whipping off the lake) and rain (heavy for Seattle) to run 12 kilometers. Not only did I finish, but I had a very respectable time of 67:25.

No kidding, if you’d told me at the start of the year that I’d be running a 12 K (especially that quickly) I would have laughed at you. It’s amazing what can happen with hard work, determination, and professional guidance. I’m really happy with the whole thing, and expect to keep it up next year.

I hope you all had an equally great year. I’d love to year what you’ve been up to, and I wish you a most excellent time in the coming year.

Happy Holidays!

Chris