Christmas Card 1997

(Cross-country skiing at Lake Tahoe)

The best news of 1997 occurred Dec 31, 1996: Leslie and I got engaged on a cross-country ski trail at Webster Park (thankfully the snow finally came!). Not a bad way to jump-start the new year. After 2 refreshing weeks at home, we headed out to Lake Tahoe with Leslie's folks. Forecasts of rain meant that we had the slopes and the badly eroded x-country ski trails to ourselves.
In March I went to Cape Canaveral to watch my friend Ed Lu take off on the Space Shuttle Atlantis. Kevin Looney and I marked the occasion properly with a couple dozen donuts.	I managed to get to Vancouver in April for the annual MRI conference (the next one is in Australia, beauty eh mate). Leslie got(?) to meet some of my wacky relations in the Seattle area. I also received an American Heart Association fellowship for another couple years of funding here at UCSD. Whenever I pull up to our favorite ice cream bar I think fondly of all those AHA contributors who have made all this possible :) I am also looking into a couple faculty and industry positions and Leslie is looking for an elementary teaching job in SD, so our futures are wide open. Leslie and I also took a short skiing trip to Utah to visit her sister Wendy, and another short trip to Virginia this fall to visit my brother Brian.

The year that was 1997

The best news of 1997 occurred Dec 31, 1996: Leslie and I got engaged on a cross-country ski trail at Webster Park (thankfully the snow finally came!). Not a bad way to jump-start the new year. After 2 refreshing weeks at home, we headed out to Lake Tahoe with Leslie's folks. Forecasts of rain meant that we had the slopes and the badly eroded x-country ski trails to ourselves.

In March I went to Cape Canaveral to watch my friend Ed Lu take off on the Space Shuttle Atlantis. Kevin Looney and I marked the occasion properly with a couple dozen donuts.
I managed to get to Vancouver in April for the annual MRI conference (the next one is in Australia, beauty eh mate). Leslie got(?) to meet some of my wacky relations in the Seattle area. I also received an American Heart Association fellowship for another couple years of funding here at UCSD. Whenever I pull up to our favorite ice cream bar I think fondly of all those AHA contributors who have made all this possible :)
I am also looking into a couple faculty and industry positions and Leslie is looking for an elementary teaching job in SD, so our futures are wide open. Leslie and I also took a short skiing trip to Utah to visit her sister Wendy, and another short trip to Virginia this fall to visit my brother Brian.

Leslie got me back by taking me to her sister Rebecca's wedding where I meet all her relatives from Texas and Tennessee. The rest of the summer was spent working hard as all in San Diego do all year round. That's Leslie with the kite.

I've moved up the coast a little bit with my JHU friend Craig, about 1/4 mile up from this beach (photo from atop the ferris wheel at the Del Mar fair).

I am again looking forward to a real winter and another Christmas spoiling (spoiled by?) all the O'Dells and our friends.
I wish everyone a very merry holiday season
and a great New Year!