Hello Boys and Girls; what's new?

We're up to our eyeballs in our classes at SMA; just completed our midterms (actually I've got one more to go) and doing well in our classes. I passed my EPA examination to certify as a refrigeration technician (which was part of the Refrigeration and Air Conditioning curriculum). We just got our registration papers for Spring Quarter; 3 more classes for each of us and then we're underway again...Yeah!

The Seattle Boat Show just completed. Dorothy took several classes from our friend (and weather- router across the Pacific) Lee Chesneau, while I took classes from Nigel Calder - mechanical and electrical guru of all do-it-yourself cruisers.

Our daughter Kate flew up from Santa Rosa for a weekend visit, coinciding with Dorothy's 35th or 39th or 45th birthday (depending who one listens to). During Kate's visit we also got the chance to reconnect with her childhood friend from Sebastopol, Sandy, who now lives in Seattle doing commercial photography. It was great seeing her all grown up. During her visit to DavidEllis, Sandy took some great photos and here's a link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ratstarphoto/
Photo at the top, is daughter Kate aboard DE and Rusty using me as a chew-toy.

Our Hong Kong friend, Andrew and his family - Celia, Clara and Calvin - just got into Vancouver for the Winter Olympics. We'll drive up on Sunday to visit with them. It'll be great to see Andrew; I've missed hanging out with him since we left HK end of May.

John and Jerri, who have DD462-03 Peking, are just about to cross from Florida to the Bahamas; I spoke with them today by phone, thrashing out SSB issues and talking about their Caribean plans for the next year. John and Jerri visited with us in Seattle just after Christmas.

We may give a lecture about our voyage across the Pacific in May at the Anacortes TrawlerFest. More about that as it develops.

And hey, during the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympics, how about that sequence where stadium floor turns into an ocean and the whales go swimming across it? Cool!!

Rusty's been running with Dot in the mornings (my knee just can't handle it, so I row on our C2 here in the condo, and walk a couple mornings a week). Life's pretty tough for Rusty - exercise; plenty of food; people making a fuss over him wherever we go; and visits to the boat so he can poop on the deck (one of his best things).

We've been told there was 8" of snow on the pier where DE is currently docked last winter, but so far this year, other than a week or so of very cold weather prior to Christmas, it's been only a little cold, and kinda rainy. This past Saturday afternoon, was actually sunny and warm-ish.