Greetings! First let me wish you a wonderful and special holiday season! I hope you get to spend quality time with family and friends and enjoy the true spirit of this time of year.

Now for the annual lowdown.. 1996 was a year full of fewer, but more quality events and two more travel dreams come true.

In order to pay for it all, I'm still working as Marketing Manager for at the natural products publishing company, writing and producing the marketing pieces for our three magazines and two Web pages. It's can be quite stressful, but I really like the people, the industry and what I'm doing. We're hiring another person, so things should ease up next year.

I made up for the minimal travel last year and went to the last two places that I've always wanted to go to. Now I'll just have make a new list.

I met my friend, Barbara, in New Orleans over Memorial Day weekend. Wonderful food, spooky swamps at dusk, majestic plantations, informative tours and of course, Bourbon Street, which defies description. We had a blast...but boy was it hot!

The crowning jewel, and one of the best vacations I've ever had, was to Switzerland in July. After developing a close friendship with a former co-worker, Dulce, over e-mail, she invited me to visit her. She lives near Thun and works in Bern. The area was beautiful beyond my expectations.

After spending some time around the Interlaken region, I spent a few days traveling alone in Zermatt. I hiked around the Matterhorn, relaxed, shopped a little and ate a lot. The weather was great and the view of the mountain from my hotel room was unforgettable. Dulce, her boyfriend Dani and I met in Milan Italy and drove to Verona to see the Opera in the 2000 year old marble arena. On the way back to Zurich, we roamed around Sirmione (an Italian beach resort) and stayed in Lugano/Marcotte at Dani's sister's place. The last night was spent in Zurich, where Dani, lives. The nightlife there is exhilarating.

The interesting twist to the story, is that Dulce was trying to get me a job at her company, the Swiss PTT (Public Telephone & Telegraph...like AT&T.) I had an interview with several people and even discussed benefits and an incredible salary. I was so confused about the possibility of moving that I was disappointed, but relieved, when it turned out they wanted someone with much more technical experience than I had. So is life!

There were a few other trips, like the two trade shows my company produces. One in Anaheim, were I stayed an extra day at Disneyland. And the other in Baltimore, where I stayed an extra day in DC with my friend, Georgina.

I was supposed to go to San Francisco in November, but cancelled as I had too much else going on that month.

I will be spending a couple days at Christmas with Barbara's family in Salt Lake and plan to get a little skiing in while I'm there.

There were also a few long weekends and "micro vacations"

Once again, I did Ray's raft trip and gourmet camping weekend on the Colorado River. This time I invited a bunch of my friends. It was a great time as always. He's already reserved the campground for next 4th of July and this one is going to be a big one...I think he rented the whole place and may even have a band!

On the way home a friend and I stopped in Aspen and finally went up to the Maroon Bells, which I had never seen though I'd been to Aspen several times. The Maroon Bells are the most photographed mountains in Colorado. A unique and beautiful mountain range overlooking a lake.

A couple other outings included a day fishing at Estes Park and an afternoon exploring the tiny town of Hygiene and stopping at a spa. Recently I spent a night in Colorado Springs with a friend. We had tickets to the Air Force/Navy game, but through a comedy of errors, I never made it...but I did see the pre-game air show of fighter jets Stealth bombers. That was what I really wanted to see anyway.

Next year I'm thinking seriously about going to visit my old and dear friends in Rangeley Maine around foliage, after our Baltimore trade show at the end of September. I haven't been there in about 20 years. I hope to get some of the old crew to come up, so if any of you out there are reading this...give it some thought. I'll be in touch.

As well as going away, I had quite a few visitors this year. My friend Lisa and her boyfriend Bill came out from PA to go skiing. I met Corky, an old friend from Rangeley, while he was out skiing in Breckenridge. Georgina visited a couple times from the DC area and Barbara came out too. Mom came in April, my brother, David over labor day and my Dad just came out in November.

I'm still renewing old friendships this year. Sue and Jim, old high school friends, just moved to Fort Collins. We got together a couple times here and there. It's great to renew those old "gold" friendships.

I also saw my oldest friend, Lisa last Christmas while I was back in CT. We've known each other since I think before nursery school in NJ? Our parents are still friends and a visit to see their family (after 25 years or so) was really special. During the same trip I also toured the mansions in Newport, RI for the first time. That week I did the Christmas route from Dad's in upstate CT to my ex-stepmother's in New Canaan to Mom's in NY city.

I hope to renew another old Westport friendship this holiday season. You'll know who you are as I'll be sending some old photos along with this letter. I would love to hear from you!

There were several weddings this summer too. Dad got married on the coast of CT in May. My friend Kathi took the plunge in Boulder in June (her dog, Peabody, was the ring bearer). My step brother, Hugh, had a Korean wedding in Denver in July and my friend Kathleen did a small one in Evergreen in October.

It's been a pretty quite year for concerts and the first year in 15 that I didn't go to Red Rocks (our popular outdoor natural rock amphitheater). Sting was the only big concert I saw this year. I went to a fair amount of smaller concerts though. The Cowboy Junkies and Ben Harper, Los Lobos and Taj Mahal (who I met and interviewed), Karla Bonnoff and the old band Firefall (they're from Boulder). This summer I also saw Bare Naked Ladies, Dead Can Dance and the Brian Setzer Orchestra.

It was a pretty good year for parties. One friend's 30th birthday party and two more friend's 50ths. A couple friends went to Cuba then had slide shows. Last December, and again this month, your basic holiday parties. Of course I went to the annual Spaghetti Bowl again (a contest for the best spaghetti sauce and an excuse to watch the Super Bowl). Again, I didn't win. And, once more, to Michaels annual Black Tie party. This was also the first year I missed the annual Kinetic Conveyance Race (wacky human-powered water/land/mud vehicles and the thousands of spectators), but I was having more fun in New Orleans.

I had Thanksgiving dinner at the home of my friend John, the food editor for the local newspaper...yum! I did Passover, Rosh Hashana and Hanukkah with friends and had a few dinner parties of my own. There were various barbeques and birthday parties as well as a couple Halloween parties. Early in December some friends had an "all excuses" party (including my first 39th birthday) at a dance studio.

Other stuff includes plays: The Miser put on by the local Shakespeare Festival, a benefit Cabaret and a a couple other small plays.

Some summer festivals I enjoyed were a Jazz and Soulfood event at a local high school and the Greekfest in Denver. I stopped by the Boulder Octoberfest after work for a few beers and brats and went to the annual Peoples Fair in Denver on Labor Day.

I've had a few interesting "animal" experiences this year too. I minimized long-time fear of spiders by petting a tarantula on several occasions at a local butterfly and bug center. It must have worked, as I found a black widow spider by my mailbox one night. I actually turned it over with my key to see the red hourglass and walked away without killing it.

Believe it or not, I joined the Colorado Bat Society after a "bat hike" put on by the local forest service. I may be trying to spot and count bats around Boulder next summer...weird huh?

White alligators are very rare and it is said that "if one looks at you it's good luck". While at the New Orleans aquarium, their white alligator swam right up to where I was looking in the window and stared me down for a few minutes. Guess I better start playing the lottery.

The best one though is that a couple of bald eagles lived by my house last winter and have returned again this winter. I've seen them many times and even "chatted" with one once that was in a tree above me.

I skied on my new knee twice this year at Vail and went snowshoeing in Rocky Mountain Park, which was great! I love that sport. Did the sporting event thing several times and went to a few Avalanche, Rockies and Nuggets games (my company raffles off tickets.)

Hiked, danced, went on an herb walk, and even got the nerve to install a memory chip in my computer all by myself.

Again this year, I am involved with the Taste of the Nation Event to raise money for the hungry. I'm still working on the committee that organizes the restaurants that cook for the event.

I spent some bucks on home repairs this year. I replaced the water heater and did major repairs on the furnace in my rental unit and bought a couple new matresses for my own place. While in the mode, I pretty much finished decorating this place after four years of living here.

Had two fender benders and caught, and turned in, another a hit & run driver this year...it's becoming an annual good-deed for me.

So that's it for this year. I'd love to hear about your year too. Staying in touch can really be worth it!

Warmest Wishes and the Best of Holidays!