I thought I'd put some comments down as to what the past year meant to me. Some items are purely personal, others are varying degrees of global.

• Ferret Magazine featured Karen in an article on the top ferret doctors in the country.
• Karen spoke at the International Ferret Symposium. This event was held in Las Vegas, and she brought me along. We both had a great time, although as things work out, I would have won a lot of money had we stayed until the evening we left - we left first thing in the morning of Super Bowl Sunday. Karen enjoyed the pirate battle at Treasure Island, and we both had some wonderful food, such as a trip to Yolie's (with Tom and Lisa Wagner), a wonderful Brazilian restaurant.
• We spent 10 days in California, starting with ConJose (the World Science Fiction convention - http://www.worldcon.org) (we met Karen's cousin Greg and family for a wonderful dinner), followed by a week of meandering. A highlight from Con Jose for me was a performance of "Lux Radio Theater" doing Star Wars. This was an outstanding job, and had a wide range of impersonations performing the various roles - half the fun was the "casting" - Rin Tin Tin as Chewbacca, and Bela Lagosi as Darth Vader. I was dying to find out what they had in mind, and when he uttered his first line in that easily identifiable accent, the house exploded.
  Outside the San Jose convention center is the SJ Museum of Science, and outside the MoS is a wonderful Rube Goldberg marble contraption two-stories high with at least 6 separate paths (and a couple minor variations). We visited the Getty Museum with Karen's cousin Vince and family, and drove back north on the Pacific Coast Highway. We stopped at Hearst's Castle (I love that place) for an afternoon of gawking. We met Karen's uncle Jim and after a lovely lunch, took a walk through Muir's Woods. Chris and rv took us through a walk through Chinatown (SF), including an amazing meal of Calamari and Moo Shu Duck, and a couple trolley rides, dinner at The Stinking Rose (an all garlic restaurant), and a tour of the SF Aquarium.
• Karen is working on a new book with a friend. More details as it nears publishing.
• My transmission died at 54,500 miles (50,000 mile warranty). Two notes here - Mazda replaced the transmission for the cost of labor only, about 1/3 what it would have cost otherwise. The other note - if you see your "overdrive off" light blinking, pay very close attention. It indicated to me that I had 2 days worth of driving left before it died on me.
• This led me to deciding it was time for my mid-life crisis, so I replaced the Mazda - with a Jaguar S-Type (used, 2000 model). I cannot tell you how much I love my new car!
• Two weeks after I brought home my new delight, Karen pulled a surprise - "I'm thinking of getting a motorcycle." Since she was very supportive of my getting the Jag, I had to agree, of course. Since then, she took the class at Ironstone Ventures, and has gotten her license (and not lost any of her enthusiasm). A bike is very likely in her near future.
• My Worcester Brown Stockings won first place in the Artichoke League (roto-type fantasy baseball). I was able to beat the unbeatable, Dorian and Jim's juggernaut had won (usually running away) at least 4 years in a row.
• The New England Patriots won the Super Bowl. This would have been particularly lucky for me had I left Las Vegas the next morning instead of the morning of the game, as I would have been able to make (or rather, collect on) several bets.
• Memorials: Ann's cat Lucy, a companion of mine as well for several years; Chuck Jones (of Warner Bros./Bugs Bunny, etc. fame); Ted Williams ("The Splendid Splinter", who may have been the best hitter of all time - if you think some of his totals were a little small, remember that he also fought not only in WWII, but in Korea, and missed several years of baseball!; Sid Sackson (one of the best all-time game designers, responsible for Acquire, Samarkand, and many more); Robert Urich (Spenser for Hire); Leo McKern (Rumpole, also appearing in Ladyhawke and The Prisoner); Kevin Smith (the actor who played Ares in Hercules/Xena); The British Queen Mother and her daughter, Princess Margaret (Queen Elizabeth's sister); classic SF writer Damon Knight (who wrote books and screenplays, including the classic Twilight episode "To Serve Man"; fantasy artist Ron Walotsky; Former Baltimore Oriole pitcher Dave McNally; St. Louis Cardinal pitcher Daryl Kile; Hall of Fame knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm; St. Louis Hall of Famer Enos Slaughter; Baseball announcer Jack Buck; Dick Stuart (former Red Sox, nicknamed "Dr. Strangeglove"); Director John Frankenheimer (Manchurian Candidate, Ronin, The Birdman of Alcatraz); John Entwhistle (Bass for The Who); Hall of Fame quarterback Johnny Unitas; Richard Harris (who will be remembered by the youngest generation as Albus Dumbledore, and probably not as King Arthur of Camelot); James Coburn (Magnificant Seven, The Great Escape, Our Man Flint, In Like Flint, etc.); Jonathan Harris (immortal as Dr. Smith from Lost in Space); actor Dudley Moore; Glenn Quinn (Doyle from the first season of Angel); Biologist/author Stephen Jay Gould; Ann Landers; actor Ray Stricklyn (who appeared, among other places, on Wiseguy); Linda Lovelace (Deep Throat, the war against pornography later in life); Triple-Crown winner Seattle Slew; Golf legend Sam Snead; Joe Strummer (lead signer from The Clash); Country legend Waylon Jennings; Milton Berle; Jazz master Lionel Hampton; Dean Riesner (Screenwriter of Dirty Harry, The Enforcer, and some episodes of The Outer Limits, etc.); Roone Aldridge (creator of Monday Night Football and the Wide World of Sports); John Meredith Lucas (wrote, produced, and/or directed several episodes of the Original Star Trek, among many other shows); Dave Thomas (of Wendy's); William Rosenberg (founder of Dunkin Donuts); news broadcaster Howard K Smith; signer Rosemary Clooney; Peggy Lee; actor Rod Steiger (On the Waterfront, In the Heat of the Night); actor James Gregory (Inspector Luger from Barney Miller); Henry Chauncey, the man credited with turning the SAT into an admission standard used by thousands of colleges and universities; Senator Paul Wellstone; former US Supreme Court Justice Byron White; Designer Bill Blass; Jam Master Jay (of Run DMC); Jay Chiat (ad man who created the Energizer Bunny and Apple's 1984 ad;