Our 2016 Holiday Card Letter
Dearest Captive Audience,
Well looka there. Another year in the books. I know you’ve gotten used to these letters being full of the “big reveal” …we got engaged, we got married, The Giants/ Warriors won something big and we attended, and this year’s no different…. we’re moving to Japan! <beat> I’m kidding of course. I put that in just to annoy Joanne[1].
It appears that some years are just…well… years. I know the internet has told you that 2016 sucked and in some ways it did, a lot of cool famous people died, some cool not famous people died, and America elected a guy, whose biggest accomplishment so far was being a buffoon on reality TV and only losing some of the money he got from his Dad, President. But on the grand scheme, 2016 was…fine.
Some part of me suspects that unless California builds a wall to keep out the ‘Murica, that I will be writing next year’s letter from a smoking crater and I’ll have to clear everything with our Russian overlords or Herr Komandante Trump[2], but check in with us after January 20th.
Here in lovely San Francisco we enjoyed a pretty good year. We went to some shows, we saw some baseball, we did some fun things, we kept it real- except for the times when it was important for it not to be real and we paddled our raft forward into the river of time.
Nicole still has the same job at DoubleDutch, it sent her to some interesting places this year, the Philippines, Amsterdam, Phoenix[3]. Her trips to Amsterdam seem have the most promise to turn into another thing, like we’ll pair that with something else like Iceland[4] or <place>[5].
I still have the same job at RevJet and it sent me far less interesting places like Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit. Despite the fact that Detroit continues to be an easy punchline, I thought it seemed like a city that was trying to get it’s feet back. I’m not saying we’re packing for Michigan, I’m just saying- good for you Detroit, but try to play nice with Flint.
We kept our membership at some organizations- SF Jazz[6], Sf Bike Coalition[7], Cal Academy of Science (because: Science!) and we let some organizations lapse- A.C.T.[8], The Green Party[9]. This past month we joined a lot of things out of fear: The ACLU, The Human Rights Coalition, The Environmental Defense Council, Lambda Legal, The Courage Campaign and sent money to a lot of places[10].
We ran a lot less than we normally do this year- we ended up only doing 3 half marathons Berkeley, Santa Rosa and Morgan Hill. 2016 was the year that work schedules made us fat. The Morgan Hill marathon was a treat, but not for the Marathon, for accommodations. We stayed with Fran and Ron and they were excellent hosts[11]. They took us wine tasting and cooked us delicious pasta for the carbo-load the night before the race. Also, as with all the classy establishments, our stay came with a gift bag and a bottle of wine.
Vacations were short and to the point because with my new job I only got 2 weeks and I used a little more than half of that visiting Cora and Asher. Including a trip in the middle of summer where the temperature outside crested 100 with something like 600% humidity[12]. Other than that, we went to places we could drive for the weekend[13] like Paso Robles and Guerneville.
We went to Vegas over Halloween to see Annetta, Bob, Barbara and Jim. This year we placed only two bets: I lost on the Cubs and Nicole won on the Indians. Barbara didn’t win big on her slot tournament, but everyone had a good time and it seems like it’s becoming a thing we do, so if you want to Vegas it up we’ll be there next Halloween. One of the days we are planning on *doing* Vegas- like shows and shots and giant plastic frozen drinks[14], so that should be…um…a thing.
Some of our biggest excitement was a recent trip to Yosemite. On New Years 2016 we sat in and watched Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ eve with his replacement, Whatsisname McHaircutt, while we were doing that we talked about what we’d rather be doing. One of the things that came up was that every year at the Ahwahnee(sic) Hotel[15] they do a “gala event” on New Years. So as the new year rolled in we booked the hotel & the gala for New Year’s 2017.
The party was delightful, we made some new friends, we had a great time, the food was reasonable and the whole thing was a great experience. The hotel is amazing, must be seen, and stayed at if you can. The park is… well… it’s Yosemite. It’s absolutely stunning in every direction and never fails to create a sense of awe & wonder no matter how many times you see it.
The new park services provider[16] was less so. You may remember Aramark as the company that ran your college cafeteria and they have lent that kind of service commitment to Yosemite. They renamed all the places[17] like: The Ahwahnee[18] becomes “The Majestic Hotel” and Camp Curry becomes “Half Dome Village” etc. It’s like they were just slapping labels on things “Let’s rename Bridal Veil Falls ‘The Falls at Yosemite’”[19]. The food was on par with everything you ate in college. So if you’re going- skip any food that’s expensive or make it yourself.
Let me explain…no there is too much, let me sum up: Things are fine. Everybody’s well. No big changes. Tip your waitresses. Three orange whips.
D & N
Comment Section:
[1] If we moved we’d go to New Zealand
[2] Responses accepted in the comments section below.
[3] Just kidding Phoenix you’re not interesting
[4] My choice
[5] Hers
[6] Great shows- if the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble comes to your town: Do Not Miss It
[7] It’s nice to know that someone is making my commute safer
[8] We fell asleep halfway through a one woman show about the mother of Christ that somehow lapsed into a treatise on which Roman gods were hot
[9] You know we’re normally good for a protest vote but the above mentioned reality TV nutjob was too scary
[10] Planned Parenthood, The Democratic Party and yes, The Green Party
[11] As was Hazel, a dog, who pretended to be a parrot and sat on our shoulders
[12] Soon as those kids are old enough to talk we’re going to discuss moving their birthdays to Early Spring.
[13] Usually places that had wine
[14] Followed by sunglasses, mimosas and a feeling of regret
[15] The big fancy W.P.A. National Park hotel built during FDR’s admin
[16] Aramark
[17] Legal reasons
[18] Miwok meaning: The place of the big mouth
[19] Yawn-wa-nee