Betsy and I switched again in February. For some reason (we REALLY don't plan it this way) I always get a job during the same week Betsy leaves one and vice versa.

This time I actually have TWO jobs, one day a week back at the evil Ziff Empire writing a users manual and four days a week at Sybase, working for my old boss Gene and my good friend Tom. At Sybase I'm part of a technical enclave in the marketing department of all places, writing demos and doing market analysis for new software products still emerging from the laboratories.

Both of these jobs are contract work that go from month to month, and I hope they keep on going. I've been learning new stuff like crazy, and even spent a week in a special class in Palo Alto. There's been some politics (a report I worked on went all the way up to the CEO and came all the way back down with a resounding thud, blood was spilt, empires rose and fell, etc.) but so far I've mostly been doing creative work for people who appreciate it. How long can this last?

Betsy, meanwhile, has been quilting up a storm, attending (and showing in) quilt fairs, doing volunteer community quilting, travelling to quilt guilds, doing on-line cyber-quilting, progressive quilts through the mail, and, in her spare time, quilting. She is still looking for a technical writing job and both of us have been published in recent issues of Wired Magazine.

Our one big road trip of the season was a jaunt down to LA for a friend's wedding. It was a glamorous cocktail party affair in a Beverley Hills penthouse (I kept peering over the railing and saying "Hey! There's where Ely-May and Jethro used to drive!"). We had a glorious picnic with an interesting artist whom Betsy met online, hobnobbed with several other friends (including a Thai dinner with Paul who just happened to be in LA on business), took a stroll at Laguna Beach where Betsy and I first perambulated in public, and then wandered back through the Los Padres National Forest to a fish taco and carmel apple repast at Pismo Beach (near Stuart's old stomping grounds).

Instead of frittering our money away on silly things like health insurance, we have celebrated our birthdays this Spring in true nerd fashion by giving each other a color printer and a Syquest 105 removable hard drive. Roger also acquired a Syquest drive, and Paul is about to. Someday this technology could make it possible for us to distribute a lavish multimedia version of Archipelago.

And, of course, we had our network TV debut on CNN (see VC 31 John 3).

All in all a very satisfying new year so far. I am looking forward to the big Archipelago reunion this summer!