2006-12-31
Year complete
Here's my holiday letter for 2006:
Standing here at the very end of the year, looking back on the last twelve months, a lot of the details are lost in the distance. Perspective makes distant objects seem smaller, but some highlights still remain large in our memories: for Molly, it was our trip to China; for me, living on a tall ship for three weeks. Both got us out of our daily routines and made us think about what we want to do with ourselves. Work is still necessary, of course, but we'd like to see if we can do a bit less of it and more of the rest.
In April we went with my sister Laura to visit my parents in Beijing, where they've been living since last June. It was the first time Molly had been out of the country since high school and one of the places she's always wanted to see, as well. Of course, China is a huge country, so we barely got to scratch the surface. We visited most of the popular tourist destinations in Beijing, skipping the overcrowded Forbidden City, and took a weekend trip to Xi'an where the famous Terra Cotta Warriors live. The food, the people, and the sights were all amazing (even if the air was hard to breathe), and the dollar still goes a long way in China so we were living--and eating--like royalty. Molly has written a lot more about the trip in her online journal than I could do justice here. I brought a couple of my old cameras and came back with 31 rolls of film shot, so I've enclosed a few random prints. For the rest of them, visit online: http://www.foveate.com/china/
A few weeks after we returned, I tested my company's very generous vacation policy even more by taking off two more weeks to learn how to be a tall ship sailor. I'll go back to the beginning: last winter, in a fit of boredom at work, I decided I'd rather be sailing around the world. I'd read about the Picton Castle, a square-rigged tall ship where mere humans like me can join up and sail around the world for the low, low cost of $36,000. After a bit of Googling, I found something more reasonable, something that didn't require selling the house and quitting the job and trying to explain it all to Molly. The Lady Washington, a square-rigged tall ship, sails up and down the West Coast and has a "Two Weeks Before the Mast" volunteer training program for only $350. (I should point out here that I'd spent maybe six hours total on boats my entire life before this and I'd never set foot on a sail boat at all.) I had no idea if I'd spend two weeks being seasick, or be thrown overboard for being hopelessly useless, but I sent in an application and they accepted me. As you probably already know because I won't shut up about tall ships, I had a thoroughly wonderful time--so much, that I took yet another week off work to stay on board.
For the rest of the summer I went back and learned basic sailing, first on little 15 foot dinghies, then on a larger keelboat. If we the timing works out, we'll get Molly through the basic keelboat class and then go to the Caribbean to take the next two classes, which will qualify us for bareboat chartering, renting a boat without a captain. And in the meantime, I've started building boats to develop my overall seaworthiness; I've built a couple canoes, and next I'll build a rowing dory for Molly and a small sailboat for me. I'm looking through books trying to find the most ridiculously complex rigging possible for a small sailboat so I can pretend I'm on a tall ship again. I'm a little worried about being too obsessive (I've already plowed through the first fifteen Patrick O'Brian Master and Commander novels since then) but if I have the surplus energy to spend, this seems like a pretty good place for it.
Finally, after a summer that lasted almost through October, the weather inevitably turned around to give us the wettest fall in decades. Our sewer line backed up and we had the entire run out to the city main replaced. It wasn't cheap. And my half-finished landscaping project is on hold until warmer weather, so our yard is half mud pit, half giant pile of busted cinderblock at this point. It's wet and cold and spring can't come soon enough. To help cope with the weather and stay sane, I've been pretty good about getting to the pool. I've been doing long-distance swimming, a mile at a time (currently at 25 minutes for 1800 yards) to train for some open water swims next summer around the Northwest and down in Austin. It's something to do, and it keeps me going through the gray months.
So, looking back, here's my one-word summary for 2006: inflection. In mathematical terms, change in position is motion; change in motion is acceleration; and change in acceleration is inflection. So, while we're not quite on a new path, and we're not sure exactly where the path is yet, we're starting to point ourselves in that direction--or starting to begin to point ourselves. And we think we know where the end of the path is: on a boat floating in warm turquoise water, among islands with infinite beaches, and nothing to do but enjoy ourselves.
Best wishes for 2007,
Dave
Standing here at the very end of the year, looking back on the last twelve months, a lot of the details are lost in the distance. Perspective makes distant objects seem smaller, but some highlights still remain large in our memories: for Molly, it was our trip to China; for me, living on a tall ship for three weeks. Both got us out of our daily routines and made us think about what we want to do with ourselves. Work is still necessary, of course, but we'd like to see if we can do a bit less of it and more of the rest.
In April we went with my sister Laura to visit my parents in Beijing, where they've been living since last June. It was the first time Molly had been out of the country since high school and one of the places she's always wanted to see, as well. Of course, China is a huge country, so we barely got to scratch the surface. We visited most of the popular tourist destinations in Beijing, skipping the overcrowded Forbidden City, and took a weekend trip to Xi'an where the famous Terra Cotta Warriors live. The food, the people, and the sights were all amazing (even if the air was hard to breathe), and the dollar still goes a long way in China so we were living--and eating--like royalty. Molly has written a lot more about the trip in her online journal than I could do justice here. I brought a couple of my old cameras and came back with 31 rolls of film shot, so I've enclosed a few random prints. For the rest of them, visit online: http://www.foveate.com/china/
A few weeks after we returned, I tested my company's very generous vacation policy even more by taking off two more weeks to learn how to be a tall ship sailor. I'll go back to the beginning: last winter, in a fit of boredom at work, I decided I'd rather be sailing around the world. I'd read about the Picton Castle, a square-rigged tall ship where mere humans like me can join up and sail around the world for the low, low cost of $36,000. After a bit of Googling, I found something more reasonable, something that didn't require selling the house and quitting the job and trying to explain it all to Molly. The Lady Washington, a square-rigged tall ship, sails up and down the West Coast and has a "Two Weeks Before the Mast" volunteer training program for only $350. (I should point out here that I'd spent maybe six hours total on boats my entire life before this and I'd never set foot on a sail boat at all.) I had no idea if I'd spend two weeks being seasick, or be thrown overboard for being hopelessly useless, but I sent in an application and they accepted me. As you probably already know because I won't shut up about tall ships, I had a thoroughly wonderful time--so much, that I took yet another week off work to stay on board.
For the rest of the summer I went back and learned basic sailing, first on little 15 foot dinghies, then on a larger keelboat. If we the timing works out, we'll get Molly through the basic keelboat class and then go to the Caribbean to take the next two classes, which will qualify us for bareboat chartering, renting a boat without a captain. And in the meantime, I've started building boats to develop my overall seaworthiness; I've built a couple canoes, and next I'll build a rowing dory for Molly and a small sailboat for me. I'm looking through books trying to find the most ridiculously complex rigging possible for a small sailboat so I can pretend I'm on a tall ship again. I'm a little worried about being too obsessive (I've already plowed through the first fifteen Patrick O'Brian Master and Commander novels since then) but if I have the surplus energy to spend, this seems like a pretty good place for it.
Finally, after a summer that lasted almost through October, the weather inevitably turned around to give us the wettest fall in decades. Our sewer line backed up and we had the entire run out to the city main replaced. It wasn't cheap. And my half-finished landscaping project is on hold until warmer weather, so our yard is half mud pit, half giant pile of busted cinderblock at this point. It's wet and cold and spring can't come soon enough. To help cope with the weather and stay sane, I've been pretty good about getting to the pool. I've been doing long-distance swimming, a mile at a time (currently at 25 minutes for 1800 yards) to train for some open water swims next summer around the Northwest and down in Austin. It's something to do, and it keeps me going through the gray months.
So, looking back, here's my one-word summary for 2006: inflection. In mathematical terms, change in position is motion; change in motion is acceleration; and change in acceleration is inflection. So, while we're not quite on a new path, and we're not sure exactly where the path is yet, we're starting to point ourselves in that direction--or starting to begin to point ourselves. And we think we know where the end of the path is: on a boat floating in warm turquoise water, among islands with infinite beaches, and nothing to do but enjoy ourselves.
Best wishes for 2007,
Dave
2006-12-01
Decemberizing
I think I'm starting to adjust to the new angle of the Earth with respect to the sun, and the associated changes in weather and light levels. November was a sleepy blur, but something seems to be stirring in my head again and I don't feel so slow, dull, and stupid. I made a bit more progress on my China scans:
That's roll number 21, out of.. thirty-someodd. At this rate, I might even finish them before they're a year old!
Back in the pool, Tuesday's mile (1800 yards, rather) came in around 26:30, and last night's just under 25 minutes. I'm shooting for 24, and trying to get my 500 under 6 minutes. I have no idea why. Something to do.
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That's roll number 21, out of.. thirty-someodd. At this rate, I might even finish them before they're a year old!
Back in the pool, Tuesday's mile (1800 yards, rather) came in around 26:30, and last night's just under 25 minutes. I'm shooting for 24, and trying to get my 500 under 6 minutes. I have no idea why. Something to do.
