01.01.01

Friends!

We hope this note finds you and your loved ones healthy and happy.  2000 was a crazy, frenetic, ultimately wonderful for year for us.  More than ever we appreciated having so many tremendous, beautiful people in our lives--it made the bruising moments easier to handle, and the sweet moments glorious.

Mark’s employment rollercoaster was at the center of much of this craziness.  After more than seven years at the University of Washington, the last three spent at its educational technology unit, UWired, he dove head first into a high tech startup led by a good friend.  It was a tough decision given his passion for education and considerable pride in the work he and his teammates did at UWired.  After two months of rapid learning and hard work at the new venture, webStrategic, the promised venture capital evaporated days after the April NASDAQ crash and Mark unexpectedly began looking for a job.  He ended up, somewhat shell-shocked, but eventually delighted, at RealNetworks, the folks that pioneered music and video on the Web; as an added bonus, he gets to work with his good friend Jonni.

Switching jobs—and industries—three times in six months made for a very blurry year for both of us.  Thankfully, Dia’s support and encouragement never wavered, even as she was adjusting to her new career representing Pre Paid Legal Services.  She’s been boss-free for over a year now, working out of her home office (or anywhere she has her phone) and honing new skills such as removing purring cats from the keyboard.  More importantly, she gets to wake up everyday knowing that she’s helping make “equal justice under law” a reality.  It’s a concept she can get definitely behind.  As business gets better everyday we’re both happy that she chose autonomy over the ‘security’ of the high tech corporate world (see above).

Dia used her newfound time freedom to tutor grade-schoolers from a neighboring housing project in math and reading, assist courses run by Seattle’s Excellence Foundation, volunteer with homeless youth and (somewhat) regularly walk our neighbor’s dog Nebbie.

We continue to march, or at least inch, toward the vision we have for our house.  The new deck out back, built by our stalwart friend Nick, made the summer one long, barbecue-ridden fiesta.  We carved out herb beds and laid paths to flank the deck, and now have a lovely vantage of the three-quarters of the yard yet to submit to our will.  There is rumor that we will soon paint our bathroom.

The highlights of the aforementioned summer entertaining were positively delightful visits from Mark’s folks in August and from Dia’s mom, sister Janae and our beautiful niece ten-month old Camryn in September. When we didn’t have visitors this year, it seemed like one of us was traveling somewhere. 

Dia’s work took her on trips to Vancouver, Oklahoma and Texas that she enjoyed immensely; she reveled in a sun-drenched week in Maui with her family.  Mark traveled to Nashville to a receive an award for his work at the UW, and work had him in several places, most notably a week in Paris (actually DisneylandParis—trés weird), an election night trip to Boston where he had the chance to see his longtime friend Bob for the first time in a decade, and two jam-packed, 24 hour visits with his brother Brian in Chicago.  Together we had great visits with Dia’s family in Oregon, a fun and beer-filled week cavorting with good friends Jay, Karin, and Scott, a last minute junket to Las Vegas to see Prince (no longer ‘the artist formerly known as’) perform, and a post-Christmas trip to San Francisco to visit our friend Dennis and attend the wedding of Mark’s cousin Shawn.  This family reunion was a nice way to end the year, spend time with Mark’s aunt Bo, and get to know our soon-to-be-sister-in-law Natalie (brother Brian is engaged!).

Thankfully, everyone in our lives is healthy (including our cats Camille, Alex and Kiki).  Most notably, Mark’s mom continues to be cancer free.  Dia is fighting the urge to adopt a doggy, but we think this might be too much for seventeen year-old Kiki to endure.

With the New Year here, we find ourselves thankful for everything 2000 brought our way--even the unwanted stuff.  Deeply in love, with a life filled with wonderful people (and if you’re reading this it means you’re on that list), this is the year we learned that accepting what life tosses your way means that everything always works out. 

Lots of love,

Mark & Dia