"Here I am on the delightful island of Alameda, living in a Romantic Victorian enjoying the daily afternoon sea breeze. I have a lovely, intelligent wife, 2 computers and a plateful of breadsticks. Life is grand."

What more can I add? Perhaps that I am once again a man of leisure, having left my post in the crumbling ruins of the evil lab empire (see VC 29 John 2). Fortunately, Betsy has taken up the slack with a technical writing job at a pharmaceutical company just ten blocks from home. We are still teetering on the edge of financial ruin, but San Francisco is a great place to teeter and we are, on the whole, very happy.

Betsy's quilting career is picking up steam. Last week she taught her very first quilting class (to three students, only one of whom was injured). She is networking up a storm. And last month she took first place and best in class for a quilted vest at the prestigious Marin Quilt Show. Also, one of her software reviews appears in the November issue of Wired Magazine.

And me? I am mostly just very sleepy. This always seems to happen to me in the Fall, even in the subtle climate of California. The days grow shorter and some misplaced Smokey-The-Bear neurons in my brain argue for hibernation. I am very sleepy. And so good night my gentle Archipelagoans. And happy five year anniversary!