A year of personal successes amidst troublesome times.

This year took us from Hawaii's Big Island, to the Olym- pic Peninsula and Oregon Coast, to Mexico City and the pyramids of Teotihuacan. We also enjoyed a summer visit from Europe by a French exchange student, Aurelia, a gifted pianist.

Adrian has taken an apartment in Mountain View, where he is working for NASA-AMES, developing intelligent agents for the space program.

Arianne is a sophomore at CPS, active in Junior Students of America and winning awards on the debate team.

This was a year of honors for Alice, who was called to Washington to receive the Distinguished Teaching Scholar Award, NSF's highest award for teaching and research. She was also selected to be chair of the UC Berkeley Academic Senate next year, an exciting prospect for which she will be prepping as vice- chair this year. More reluctantly, she's also serving on UC's committee to rebuild Memorial Stadium (a touchy subject in our neighborhood, where access gets blocked by football traffic.)

Dale returned home to Cincinnati for his (gasp) 40th Walnut Hills High School reunion just as the last 17-year locusts were croaking. Enjoyed visitingUncle Howard and Betty Gieringer in Miamitown, then visits from long-lost cousin Terri Lynn, and Alice's Uncle Peter and Marta.

Dale capped his year as campaign chair for the Oakland Cannabis Initiative with a resounding election night victory: 65%-35% for the nation's first successful "tax and regulate" initiative, Measure Z (wwwYesonZ.org). The celebration was damped by the prospect of four more years of a hostile govern- ment in D.C., intent on criminalizing the medical cannabis community, such as our friend Angel Raich, who just returned from a skeptical hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court.

2005 looks to be a challenging year. Not since the '60s have politics figured so pervasively and negatively. Undaunted, we send you our best wishes for a happy & prospeerous new year.