2009 Christmas Letter
If I have your address, you'll be getting a Christmas card and one of these letters. Er, though it may arrive after Christmas, at this point!
Dear Friends and Family,
Merry Christmas (or other winter holiday of your choice, customization charge may apply). It seems that this winter is busier than the last, leaving little time for the niceties of Christmas: decorating the Christmas tree, putting up lights outside, finding just the right present, and baking cookies. We still have the important part: communicating or spending time with loved ones near and far.
In January, Phil was promoted to the rank of Advanced Technologist at GE Water, where he works as an analytical chemist in the R&D department. He's more of a mad scientist every day.
In April, Abra tore the ACL in her other knee, much to her distress. By late July, the swelling from the original injury had gone down enough that she could have knee surgery to replace the ligament. She has since spent a lot of time on painkillers, with crutches, on the couch, with a knee brace, in physical therapy, and with a cane, in that order. She's doing much better, though she still isn't allowed to try anything interesting until January.
A couple of days after she had surgery, we gained a new addition to our household. At 9 PM, a pack of feral neighborhood children knocked at our door. They held a tiny black-and-white kitten only a couple of days old, his eyes still shut and his umbilical stump still attached. They told us that the mama cat rejected him and though they'd been feeding him 2% milk with an eyedropper (not recommended), they couldn't take care of him anymore. Phil couldn't say no, but we didn't expect him to live. Fortunately, Abra was home all the time, and she naturally woke up every four hours (when the painkiller wore off) to feed and tend to the kitten. He thrived, and we've named him Fu Manchu. He's adorable and loving when not trying to bite our faces or destroy the world. The other cats live in terror.
In late August, our house was hit by a tornado. Yes, we live in the heart of Minneapolis. Yes, fortunately, it was a small tornado. It took out half our large maple tree's branches and caused us to replace our roof, fences, trim, stucco, and other incidentals, but overall we did okay, as our house was still inhabitable during the repairs. Though we didn't do as well as our neighbor--he gained a 10-foot rowboat out of it. The boat just appeared in his back yard, nobody knows from where.
In November, GE sent Phil to Singapore for two weeks to advise at a new water filtration membrane-making plant they're setting up. He made Abra horribly jealous by rhapsodizing about flying business class and describing the wonders of Singapore. He was amused to note that an absolute military dictatorship and rampant free-market capitalism get along swimmingly.
In December, "Salvaging Scottwell," Abra's short story about an obsolete police dog robot that gets an upgrade with unplanned results, was published online at Jim Baen's Universe. This is a big deal because it's her first (of many, hopefully) professional-level publication. Yay!
This year had lots of ups and downs. Overall, we hope next year is more peaceful. (Hey, why are you laughing?)
Peace and love,
Phil and Abra Staffin Wiebe