Holiday Update 2003

Hi All,

As usual we're running behind with our holiday card, about 2 months behind. We're also pretty far behind on our seasonal update. Considering the date we can't really call this a holiday card, nor can we in all fairness call this a seasonal update, so how about we call this postcard a Holiday Update.

So now that the whole naming thing is taken care of we can get to the first part of this postcard, an update on Demaris and Jay. At the time of our last postcard Jay was busy applying for every job under the sun and doing odd computer consulting work, Demaris was happily doing the actuary thing at Safeco and the garden was scorching under the hottest Summer in Seattle in the last 50 years.

The biggest news is that Jay found a full-time job back in September. You'll probably be able to equate that point with Jay's dropping off the planet (communications-wise). The job is a position as a Software Engineer for Northrop Grumman in their Information Systems Division. Although Jay's employer is Northrop Grumman, he's actually assigned to work for the U.S. Army on an independent assignment which lasts for 1 year with a 3 year renewable clause.

To be more specific, Jay works for G7 in I Corps Headquarters on Fort Lewis. His contractual task is to build a training management database system to support the Fort Lewis Schools. He's the only technical person assigned to the task although there are lots of military folks to keep him company. The job has some strong pluses: useful, fun, good folks to work with, low stress, fond memories of the Army life-style from Jay's Army days, get to work with the elite infantry - the Stryker Brigades and lots of cool toys. However the job has some problems as well: very isolated from other technical folks, working for "government wages" and the most severe is that Jay has to live in Lakewood (south of Tacoma) 4 days/week. So Jay has an apartment next to the post that he lives in Mon-Thursday. It's not ideal but it's a temporary thing....

Now that statement about it being a temporary thing is because of Safeco. Demaris has been happily doing the actuary thing, studying for tests & working at Safeco Life & Investments. However, Safeco Corporation has decided to focus on being a Property & Casualty insurer and is selling the Life Company. When the sale occurs, one of two things are likely to happen. 1) They'll offer to move Demaris to the corporate headquarters of the purchasing company or 2) They'll lay everyone off and Demaris will have to find a new insurance company to go work for. Although it is possible that either of these two occurrences will lead to Demaris landing a position in Seattle, it's incredibly unlikely. So when things happen Demaris will probably move down to Lakewood to be with Jay until she finds a new position and then we'll both move to wherever her new position puts us. It literally could be anywhere; it's a field in which it's pretty hard to limit a job search to one particular city.

Other than that, Jay is also still working a couple of part time jobs. He's working as a Tournament Organizer for Magic the Gathering events in the Seattle area, as well as being the "Electronic Communications Manager" for the company that runs the premier Magic the Gathering events. These events range from 50 person tournaments every couple of weeks to quarterly major events that have over 500 players. And of course Jay's still doing computer consulting work in his copious spare time. Demaris spends most of her free time studying for actuarial exams.

Finally, the garden. It survived summer, we had several artichokes, a good crop of parsley, oregano, marjoram, thyme, rosemary and basil. The summer was far to hot for our dill to manage. Now it's winter and a very cold one. So there's not much happening except the plants are cut back and we're fighting the first of the Springtime slugs. If you've never gardened in the Pacific Northwest you don't know how bad slugs can be. We thought they called them banana slugs because of their coloration. I regret to report it's due to their size. The garden gets heavy Sluggo every couple of weeks right now.

So as usual we'll follow this diatribe with some photos of things we've done and links to albums in case y'all want to review more pictures. Thank you for you time, your attention and your e-mails.

Demaris & Jay Schneider