Happy Holidays 2003 from The Kaubells

If our life had a sound track, one of the cuts this year would be "Who Knows
Where the Time Goes."  (If you remember Judy Collins singing this song, you
should probably be keeping up with your retirement account.)  We sang this song
recently at a talent show at the School of Social Work and it's been a joke
between us since then.

We have a lot to be grateful for. . . we both have interesting work, a great
place to live, a great cat (OK, that's a lie), good friends, TiVo and our
reclining sofa, and no crises other than neurotic ones.  We took some fun trips
this year: to Santa Fe in May, to Boulder in July, to Las Vegas in August, and
recently to southern California for Thanksgiving.  Holly continues to do
research on violence against women.  She helped plan two national conferences
and was briefly on the local news discussing a research project (her fifteen
SECONDS of fame).  Matt is feeling more acclimated at AMD (it seemed to take
about four years!) and continues his work on the ACL2 theorem prover.  He took
tennis lessons for a few months, whatever good that did, but he didn't do a
very good job on his New Year's resolution to drink more.

Still, when we started thinking about the events to chronicle in this annual
missive, we were both struck by how little has changed.  We're not exactly
having mid-life crises (no affairs or sports cars).  We just miss . . .  what?
Pajama parties, blind dates, working at restaurants, graduate school, the first
mortgage, the first marriage, the divorce?  OK, we take it back . . . mid-life
is GREAT!

We still like music.  A highlight of the year was seeing a concert by a
middle-aged rocker, Richard Thompson, in an audience of other middle-aged
types.  Just a guy, his guitar, and thirty years worth of great songs.  As for
us, while we continue to play music, it's less often, since Holly has had some
problems with her neck as a result of forty years of playing the violin (again
with the middle-age thing).

We have dropped out of some groups that no longer had any "juice" for us.  But
at the impending invasion of Iraq, we started what we call a "Freak Salon" of
people who felt alienated from current policies.  We've been meeting monthly
since January and have accompanied one another to some rallies and events.  Now
we're focused on the 2004 presidential election, trying to become informed and
possibly active in supporting a candidate.

Since this letter probably won't reach you until after all the holidays have
passed, we can avoid the political correctness issue of what holiday you might
be celebrating and simply wish you a Happy New Year!