Busy, busy, busy. That pretty much sums up my life in 2012. I was supposed to be "retired" from teaching, but I kept getting called in to do different things. Bruce and I began the year with a cruise to South America. We started on the western side in Santiago, Chile, sailed around Cape Horn (only 600 miles from Antarctica), and ended up on the eastern side in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I think my favorite part of the trip was getting to hike a couple times in the Andes Mountains. Since we weren't very far from the coast, it wasn't as rugged as you might expect, but the views were amazing.
I taught an engineering class at SLUH during the spring semester and helped out with the STEM class at Marian Middle School. Since SLUH is so close to our house, I was able to ride my bike on days with nice weather. Trouble is, those March winds can really give you a workout. My teacher colleagues tell me it's much easier working with all boys (SLUH) or all girls (Marian), but I'll have to admit to a preference for working with girls. They get so much more excited about our engineering projects than the boys do.
I decided to stay in St Louis this summer, rather than work in Portland like I usually do. Mistake! It turned out to be one of the hottest summers on record with 14 days of temperatures over 100. I taught kid camps at Nerinx and Maryville U, a teacher academy at Ranken Technical College, and a student/teacher workshop at Parkway High School. Most of them involved robotics, but I thought I'd tryout a few experiments in solar energy - not the best summer to make people work outside.
I worked several technology conferences for Vernier this past year, mostly in the midwest, but one was in Long Beach, CA. When it was over, Courtney flew out and we spent a couple days at
Disneyland and
California Adventure. I could probably go there every single day if I didn't have to fight the crowds. If I were starting my career all over, I would design rides for Disney as an "imagineer."
I spent a lot of time this past year with my two favorite hobbies - art and playing with my
Kindle Fire. I love reading books and watching movies on my Kindle. Luckily, our library has a free online service for e-books, but it has significantly cut into my exercise (I don't have to walk down to the library to checkout books anymore). I've been getting lots of ideas for art projects from watching
You Tube videos and reading blogs on my Kindle. I've even got a translator on it, so I can connect with artists from other countries.
We lost two close family members this past year: my aunt Connie and my sister's husband, Bob. Both of them loved to gamble, go to the boat, and play
Fantasy Football. Bob was never very good at
Fantasy Football, often giving up his good players much to Bruce's delight who scooped them up and won the tournament. My greatest memory of my aunt Connie was the summer we went to her house for the 4th of July. She lived in a split-level ranch on a cul-de-sac in Kansas City. That evening, my mom made all of us (my sisters, cousins, and the neighborhood kids) sit on the front porch while she and my two aunts went out to the middle of the cul-de-sac to shoot off fireworks. The fireworks were in a brown paper grocery sack that they inadvertently set down right next to a lit cigarette. Within a few minutes, the entire bag caught fire and fireworks started shooting everywhere. It was the most spectacular fireworks display I have seen to this day.
But life goes on, as they say, and we were very happy when my niece, Melissa, found out she was pregnant. Baby Violet Sophia isn't due until March, but through modern technology (3-D sonograms) Melissa keeps us up-to-date on her progress. My sister thinks the baby looks like her, but I think she looks more like my two grandmothers, Violet and Sophia. By the way, Melissa says the baby is not named for the grandmothers; she just happened to like the names.
Here's hoping that 2013 brings joy and good fortune and maybe a little adventure to all of you. Best wishes for a happy new year.
