HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
12/9/91

I hope you all had a wonderful 1991! Mine was very enjoyable, although somewhat quieter than usual...which was actually comforting following a rollercoaster year in 1990.

I began my new job. It turned out to be as great as I had expected. A fantastic boss, great people, 1 mile from home, double the salary and I really enjoy what I'm doing (contract administration). But...as some of you may understand first hand, the economy is tough and we have had two layoffs in the last few months. I have survived so far and am keeping my fingers crossed.

In the meantime, I took the opportunity (over the first few months of my good fortune) to replace or buy most every electrical appliance possible. Eight to be exact. I certainly did my part to keep the economy healthy. (And I thought I'd pay off the credit card by February-Ha!)

I'm still in the same condo...it's been 8 years...hard to believe. I actually came close to beginning a new house hunt a few months ago and was two days off from going to my first showing when we had our first layoff. I'm putting that dream on the back burner for a while, but hopefully have it to look forward to sometime next year.

Vacations/Trips - Again, a rather quiet year. With the new job, I found it hard to leave for more than a long weekend at a time. Although, I am going home for X-mas in a few weeks which will be my first full vacation: Yeh!

I went on a cross-country ski weekend to Crested Butte last spring with 9 other friends. It was lots of fun and I finally felt like I crossed the threshold of fear on my cross-country skis, got control and really did well. I skied about 6 more times on day trips also (downhill & cross-country).

On July 4th I went to Santa Fe and Taos with a girlfriend. We shopped till we dropped, ate great Mexican food and stayed out late every night. We even had a wild adventure with 6 people we met in a bar which inlcuded a late night liquor store, a jeep, singining in an adobe hut ,a grandfather buried in a church parking lot and a priest in a bathroom. Remind me to tell you about it sometime. It was lots of fun, and good to see my friend in Taos who I hadn't seen in many years.

On Labor Day, I went to one of my best friend's wedding in Park City Utah. We all stayed in suites at a wonderful hotel for the long weekend. Went spelunking on a cave tour, down the alpine slide and just generally enjoyed fun, friends, food and a great swimming pool. The wedding was beautiful and the weekend very relaxing.

I went back to Taos on Thanksgiving for another visit with my friend and 20 inches of powder skiing!

Again, I went to plenty of concerts. Sting, Paul Simon, Santana, Grateful Dead, Jethro Tull, Boulder Philharmonic, two jazz festivals, the American Music Festival, the Blues Fest as well as some more obscure shows like Mickey Hart & Planet Drum. That's the drummer from the Grateful Dead with an entourage of some of the best drummers and percussionist in the world (Africa, Brazil etc). I though I'd be bored with all that drumming, but it was the most incredible concert I've ever seen! And of course I spent evenings at the Denver Jazz clubs, including a night when I won free tickets for myself and 20 of my closest friends. I also made it to two productions of the local Shakespeare Festival...Comedy of Errors and Julias Caeser.

There were a few fun parties of course too: A horseback riding birthday party with a hayride, a Grand Prix party, a Hat party, three Halloween parties, black-tie holiday parties as well as several wedding and baby showers. And of course, as always, a dinner parties. I organized a lasertag party one evening which was a riot. I also organized my second annual party in the park, which unfortunately was rained out; or should I say flooded out. The storm was so bad that the park was under several feet of water and we had our first sounding of the emergency tornado siren ever in Boulder. A great day to have a party!

Now for the big event of the year.....I went bungee jumping out of a hot air balloon! 150 feet in the air with a 50 foot cord that stretched out another 50 feet. It was both the most exciting and frightening thing I have ever done in my life. It was an incredible experience that I'd "highly" recommend, but I can also say that once was enough.

A few other isolated activities: Visits to the Art & Natural History museums and of course the zoo. A single golf lesson, but I had good intentions. I bought rollerblades and fooled around with them a little. Never did take out my sailboard or go camping or fishing this year...oh well there's always next summer. I kept myself busy making lots of jewelry for my friends and family. Mostly earings and button covers. It's a lot of fun and my own earing collection is reaching over 100 pairs.

Well the year is closing on a wonderful note. It has been a healthy year and thanks to a number of very special friends...some new and some old...it has been one filled with love and happiness, lots of fun and adventure. I hope yours has been too - and continues to be so long into the future!

Warmest Wishes and the Best of Holidays!