Three Headed Dragon

Greetings! I hope this note finds you well. I am feeling good and looking forward to Christmas. It has been a great Christmas season so far and there’s more great stuff to come.

Marriage: Stephanie and I enjoyed our one-year anniversary (November 19th) by having a weekend up in wine country. Saturday night, we dined in Santa Rosa at a bistro called ‘Shiraz’ at their exclusive “Fountain Table”, which was like having our very own restaurant, surrounded by fountains. Sunday was a spa day in Calistoga with a mud bath, hot mineral soak, towel wrap, hour-long massages and facials. Being pampered in the wine country was a good way to celebrate each other and the great year of being together and just enjoying quiet time together.

Family: Stephanie was made an auntie for her first time (on the Kollmeyer side of the family)! Her brother, Chris, and his wife, Cammy, had their first little boy, Quinn, on July 23rd. They are living in Scotland now but have come to California for Christmas and some visits. In addition, my sister, Laura, and her husband, Robin, are had their second little boy, Spencer, on December 15th. We’re looking forward very much to welcoming Cammy’s Quinn and Laura’s Spencer to the families this Christmas season.

Moving: We left San Francisco this last July, my home these last ten years. We moved to Oakland, near the tree lined neighborhood of Piedmont. It’s a spacious one bedroom in a stylish 1920’s Moroccan style apartment building. We have quiet neighbors, easy parking and lots of storage space, all things unheard of in San Francisco. It’s alright...

Social Life: Moving to Oaktown is a little hard on our San Francisco based social life but we still attend many great parties. We enjoyed NYE at Deon and Jane’s Warehouse, dressed as pigs in space for Halloween (we were a convincing ‘Link Hogthrob’ & ‘Miss Piggy’), and enjoyed co-hosting a fantastic Bad Santa & Naughty Elf Christmas party at my old apartment in Potrero. This 5th year was easily the best yet. Joanna brought her shot-ski and Erik’s set up the portable exotic dancer pole, taking the party to new heights of fun and debauchery. (pictures available on request)

Camping: We went camping many times this year. A truly outstanding trip was backpacking in to Wheeler Lake in the high Sierras, with Stephanie’s Dad, willy. Other highlights included 4X4 camping at Duck Creek with Deon & Jane, as well as camping with them in Red Rock Canyon State Park this Thanksgiving long weekend.
We also did the annual trip to Burning Man. It was a great year as our camp really came together and the art and energy of the event was more intense than ever. We camped with Bob & Kat (newlyweds who are now expecting), Shannen & Jeff and Dave. One memorable evening, our friend Zach arrived like a celebrity, riding his massive 18-ton turn of the century steam engine, to dine at our camp for a Friday night sit down dinner. We later ride the engine across the playa (the dried-up lakebed which is the center of the event’s art) like rock stars!

Canada: I visited Whistler BC for the yearly Whistler Stupor Bowl guys’ weekend. I shared a room with Brian instead of staying at the insane frat-house. It was so much more civilized that this time we actually skied both days.
Stephanie and I went up to Vancouver at the end of May. It meant a lot to me to have the privilage of showing Stephanie the house in which I was raised, the Catholic school I attended (Vancouver College), the university at which I studied (University of British Columbia), where I played ice hockey (Arbutus Club), where I worked as a lifeguard (Vancouver’s beautiful beaches), the Theater I use to work at (Theater Under the Stars in Stanley Park), my favorite park (Whyte Cliff Park) and Whistler (the ski resort). We had a busy 4 days. The weather was terrible, but we had a great time anyway. For our last night in town there was one special English Bay sunset we enjoyed from the Sea Wall. Beauty was all around us as an extraordinary happy, warm bliss engulfed us with the post-sunset evening twilight.

Sports: I went thought the pain of trying a couple new hockey teams and settled on “The Citadel”. We’re middle of the pack and doing better each game. Each time I skate I remember how much I love and need to play hockey.
Breakout (the boat on which I race) had a rejuvenating year. Lloyd, the skipper and boat owner, is very pleased have picked up so eager and talented new race crew. I have moved from a student to a mentor, showing the newbies how to run the boat. As well, I’m flying the spinnaker now, a huge responsibility. We picked up a victory in our first race.
Stephanie and I had ski trips up to Tahoe this year. There were also some stellar ski days with Brian and one with Pete.
I joined the Oakland YMCA to get in shape, finally lose some weight and have the energy to play a meaner hockey game, ski better and just feel better about myself overall.

Work: I’m still at Visage Mobile as a computer programmer. It has been a rocky year with the uber painful ESPN account, on which we tackled many complex issues, only for them to give up and pull the plug for “tax reasons”. It was disappointing, but I will not miss their stress and pain. In the last few months things settled down and we have time to work more cogently. I had a very nice boss, Tor, start and leave in the same year. We still have other viable customers and now there are new opportunities which, with luck and hard work, could take us very far.

That’s all for this year’s newsletter! Have a Merry Christmas, great New Year and a Happy Holiday!