Happy holidays! Since in 1999 we had to write out and mail all those wedding thank-you notes, we are invoking (or creating) the newlywed privilege, and substituting this electronic holiday greeting in place of an actual adult holiday card. Some of this info will be old news to those of you who've been reading our almost-multimedia newsletter at http://www.etext.org/Zines/HoltzLusiNation/.
After a 1998 filled with wedding planning, 1999 was a year to enjoy being a spectator instead of a player. We attended the weddings of Paul and Sarah, Uncle Don and Shawn, Amy and Lloyd, and Albert and Rosella. Brian also served in the wedding party for Don and Maura, so the year was not entirely tuxedo-free.
But despite all the weddings, 1999 seemed more like The Year of the Baby. Sure, children were nothing new to a few of our friends and a lot of our older cousins. But 1999 saw the first steps of firstborns Charlotte and Nicole, the births of firstborns Mark Jr., Stanley, Brendan, Kaley, and Oliver, and first pregnancies for Melisse,Kristen, Jenny, and somebody else reading this (wink wink). In addition, Brian's sister Nancy is expecting a sibling for Charlotte, and Dana a sibling for Nicole. The Baby Boom is echoing happily through our lives.
We took a few weekend getaways, but our main trip was in July to Brian's family on the Gulf Coast. We toured New Orleans, Natchez, Vicksburg, and Mobile. But the highlight was visiting with Brian's niece Charlotte. As a Southern Californian, Melisse thought that the Mississippi warmth would be heaven, until she found out about humidity and mosquitos.
We got to see a lot of Jacqueline this year, thanks to her 3-month contract with Karilyn down in San Diego. Dan and Ruth and Greg each came through town this year, and we visited Ruth's new place when we were down south for a wedding. Brian saw Duane on business in Austin, but mostly we only got to see people at weddings and showers. The big exception was our 1st anniversary laser tag party, when almost 20 of our Bay Area friends had a (laser) blast.
Brian's work at Sun is shifting towards a web-based desktop to be built with StarDivision's StarOffice technology. Not counting a trip to StarDivision in Germany, this shift has so far actually increased Brian's leisure time. He's written the first 50 pages of his forthcoming book _Human Knowledge 2000_, which at this pace may need to be retitled. :-) Genentech promoted Melisse to Senior Group Controller for Product Development. She's happy that the FY2000 budget is completed, and that Genentech will close over the holidays in celebration of its stock doubling since summer's public offering.
Brian captained his 5.0 tennis league team to an 0-10 season, with a personal 2-5 record that included 2 of the team's 4 wins and its only 2 3-set losses. He also captained his Sun tennis team to his second Bay Area Industrial Tennis League championship, which shows that captaining probably doesn't make much of a difference. :-) Melisse was winless as a singles sub for her 3.5 team, but was 3-0 in her 3.0 mixed league. Winning is definitely more fun, even though some of the guys she gets partnered with can be royal pains.
We started figuring out our long- and short- term housing plans this year. In a few years, after our jobs' golden handcuffs either expire or can be enjoyed via telecommuting, we'd like to settle in the countryside near Lamorinda (Lafayette-Moraga-Orinda in the East Bay). In the meantime, we'd like to buy something modest on the peninsula to make room for the baby and to diversify out of our Sun and Genentech stock. In mid-December we were outbid on a wonderful 3br townhouse in San Carlos with gorgeous bay views. For the money the winner paid we'd like to think we could find something nice with a yard.
We hope you have a safe holiday season, and that you will continue to touch our lives.
Yours,
Brian and Melisse