I won and lost more jobs in this one year than in the previous ten. I got married. I flew in a helicopter. I finally got to see my old boss Rick play the fiddle in his bluegrass band. I saw things I thought I'd never see, like Paul in a tuxedo. Betsy and I found a place of our own. I had my head examined. I ate Chinese, Indian, Mexican, Korean, Japanese, Morrocan, Afghastan, and Thai dinners all in the same week. I voted for someone who actually won! And I danced among the Hoosiers with a yarmulke on my head.

Job-wise this year ended with a whimper, not a bang. After being chewed up and spit out of the lab, I was greeted with a half dozen vague yet promising offers, but these gradually evaporated. I decided to join a friend of a friend, Henri Poole, in his fledging multi-media enterprise, a company called Spatial Data Achitects. I commuted into the financial district of San Francisco to work on CD-ROM books and trade show kiosks.

It was an educational experience, but unfortunately not a very profitable one. Henri is a brilliant visionary and a first-rate programmer, but he was somewhat difficult to work with. And it is very hard to start a multi-media company: a bit like forming a movie studio from scratch. It gradually became apparent that Henri was having cash flow problems, and his problems were my disasters. As the year waned so did my workload, and the paychecks, already meagre, stopped altogether.

So I begin the new year unencumbered by regular paychecks. I have swallowed my pride and re-introduced myself to various temp agencies. I have completed (I hope!) a four month battle over the medical bills resulting from my CAT scan. Betsy, meanwhile, has been having ups and downs as a temp working for Rebok. After endless hoop-jumping it looks like she is about to become a permanent employee. Our gift-giving theme this year was SHOES SHOES SHOES!

All of this is reason enough to be tired. This reason I am happy can be summed up in one word: "Betsy."

Merry Christmas, everyone! Happy Chanukkah! And a Delirious New Year!