Thanks to my Darling Mouse, I continue to enjoy great Chinese meals at my own chair in front of the television set, and am continually learning the finer points of quilt appreciation."

That is Betsy's summary. But more could be said. Indeed, I've been through more changes in the last few months than I have in the last few years. It's been an eventful Fall for all of us.

As foreshadowed in my last hello card, I did indeed cross over the great divide into the land of the gainfully employed. I am now a "Senior Performance Engineer" in the Technical Marketing Department of a company called Sybase. I am designing software control panels to control a labratory full of computers, which we test in order to measure the performance of networks. More importantly (to me), I am part of an absolutely first rate team of people, all of whom are my friends.

So intoxicating is this new life of employment that Betsy and I have taken the next logical step, or rather leap: we are in the painful and mysterious process of becoming homeowners. I have written about this process at some length (see VC 33 John 19); if all goes well, I'll describe the house itself in issue 34.

The Mount Tam Reunion was a smashing success. We were having such a good time, in fact, that we forgot to acknowledge Stuart's birthday. I think it was a grand birthday, even without the candles. The view was, at times, overwhelming, the food delicious (thanks Suzanne and to everyone else who pitched in!), and the conversation first rate. Betsy and I will never forget falling asleep on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge with fogbanks below and shooting stars above. Nor will any of us soon forget the spectacle of a full flock of red-shirted Archipelagoans descending on a bowling alley. Thank you all for coming.

Let's see. Got a Job. Bought a House. What else? Oh yeah: flew a plane. see VC 33 John 9.

Most of the other changes I've been through are not my changes, but the changes of my friends and family. Both Stuart and Paul, in particular, are going through such turbulence at the moment that anyone standing near them is affected. And other friends outside this group have been turned insideout. Also, my father actually ran for the Idaho legislature and was defeated (he is a Democrat). It's been a strange year.

Betsy and Roger and Rose Anne and I just returned from a very warm and cozy Thanksgiving at my grandmother's house in Paradise. We talked to Paul and I can report that he is now established in Seattle with his sister and has survived (just barely) his first treatment of chemotherapy. He sold his Mac (to Janine!) but can still read voice cards on his sister's Mac and, I hope, will find the strength to write a card or two.

Today is the first day of Hanukah, and Christmas is right around the corner (we'll be spending it with my parents in Montana). I wish all of you Happy Holidays and a Joyous New Year. May 1995 be a year of healing for us all.