The first year of the 21st Century (and the first year of my Next Fifty) certainly was filled with surprises and change!

You may recall from last year's Christmas letter that I started 2001 by being rehired as the VP of Engineering at ZipSend after it was acquired by Colorado-based FrogMagic.  Integration of the two companies went fairly smoothly, but it became clear after the first few months that a "resizing" of the Engineering staff was in order.  So I hired a system administrator and two developers, and the project manager and I were rifted.  My last official act was to host the company's summer outing, a canoe trip along the Russian River.  I continue to maintain good relations with ZipSend/FrogMagic and am serving informally on their Advisory Board.  Unfortunately, the high-technology job market in the San Francisco Bay Area turned around 180 degrees during my tenure at ZipSend.  Consequently, I've found the prospects for employment in the current climate extremely problematic.  In fact I'm about to complete my sixth month of unemployment, which is a real change compared to the multiple job offers I received just 18 months ago.


I spent the third quarter of the year mostly traveling (see below) and the last quarter interviewing and researching potential career changes.  The interviews have not gone well, altho I have been accepted to teach part-time in the University of Phoenix technology program starting in early 2002.  I've been studying for the California realty-sales agent license and expect to take the state exam in early 2002 as well.  My preference over becoming a realty agent is to undertake a new career in financial planning or as a paralegal doing estate and trust administration, but I've been having difficulty figuring out how to break into those fields (your suggestions are solicited!).  Being the "family business", real estate certainly has a strong appeal as a second career--altho there already are over 300K folks licensed to practice real estate in California.  If you have any suggestions for career possibilities, please let me know.  I'd like to make whatever transition by mid year.  More than a few of my friends and colleagues also have been affected by the "technology meltdown".  My best wishes to those of you similarly disposed; this too shall pass.

The other major event in my life during the year 2001 was a new man entering my life, David E. Murphy.  I met Dave in mid-July and we have become fast and intimate friends.  Dave lives in Occidental, just down the road from my home in Monte Rio, and he also is a "dot-com refugee".  Dave enjoys gardening, cooking, reading, and writing.  He's written several dozen short stories in various genres since last spring.  Dave spent much of the summer making additions to his small home in a redwood forest.  At my encouragement, Dave has taken up country/western partner dancing; you'll find us together at Sundance Saloon many Sunday evenings.  We enjoy hanging out, watching reruns of The Simpsons, quiet times, and exploring Sonoma County together.  Dave and I will be co-chairing (with a third bear) the Hospitality Suite at International Bear Rendezvous in February.  Dave has been a very special addition to my life this year, for which I am quite thankful.


My partner Sanford R. Dole is in his second season as Music Director of the Baroque Choral Guild (aka, BCG) and conducted Bach's St. Matthew Passion last spring and an excellent Christmas concert.  He continues his ninth year as Music Minister at St. Gregory Nyssen Episcopal Church (aka, SGN).  Sanford also now has about half a dozen private voice students and offers several classes and symposia each year on singing and the SGN liturgical experience.  Otherwise, our family life continues pretty much as it has the past few years.  Since I've been unemployed, I've been spending the majority of my time up at our cabin (Monte Oso) above the Russian River; complete with satellite Internet connection.  We're spending most of the twelve days of Christmas here, as we have for the past seven years.


My biological family continues to have its ups and down, job-wise and health-wise.  My father and step mother remain healthy and active, nonetheless.  I hosted my siblings in The City in March for the interment of my brother Jeff's cremains in our family niche at the San Francisco Columbarium, followed by dinner at Teatro Zinzanni and the annual meeting of our family realty-oriented limited partnership.  The partnership decided to become more active with our investments, which was meant more work for me, as the General Partner.

Dancing continued as my primary hobby.  I celebrated my 50th birthday in mid-April by throwing a combination square-dancing and two stepping party at Sundance Saloon as a benefit for the the Bay Area chapter of the Golden State Gay Rodeo Association. The picture of me at the left was taken at Capital City Square's Stumptown Stomp in Guerneville last spring.  I also made trips to Portland with Sanford to square dance and to San Diego and Palm Springs with Dave to two-step, and I attended several local dances as well.  As part of the year-long celebration of my fiftieth birthday, I also made dancing trip to Ft. Lauderdale, Milwaukee, Denver, Los Angeles, and San Jose.  I'll be taking it easier in 2002, but I'm helping organize my own square-dance club's (Western Star Dancers) 20th anniversary fly-in (Circulate the Bay) in March and I plan to attend the annual convention (Cloverleafs & Maple Leafs) with Sanford in Toronto in July.

Sanford and I took as our major vacation together in 2001 a two-week walking tour of England in August.  We started in London, staying with Sanford's SGN friends Michael and Jose.  Then we drove up to the Lake Country for several days, then over to the Yorkshire Dales (with a quick side trip to Newcastle where we met bears Derek and John), and finally down to Oxfordshire with an overnite on the way in Nottinghamshire.  We had a truly delightful time, especially in the Lake Country--where we hope to return someday to spend more time.  We also attended the triannual Dole Family Reunion in Sheep Ranch, California (in the Gold Country) in July.

I was reelected in July to ACM Council as one of the representatives from the SIG Governing Board.  In this capacity I made business trips to Vancouver, New York City, and Denver.  As treasurer I attended the ACM Conference on Electronic Commerce in Tampa.


Sanford and I have placed our flat in San Francisco up for sale.  We intend to find another home in the San Francisco area, but I'm now using Monte Rio as my primary mailing address.  So please update your address book: P.O. Box 844; Monte Rio, CA 95462-0844 (+1-707/865-2409).

Please stay in touch. Wishing you and yours the best in 2002!