It's hard to believe that the end of the year is already here, with 2012 just around the corner. What a fun, busy, hectic, adventurous, challenging and fruitful year it has been!
Evan is eight years old and in 3rd grade. He loves math and science (what a surprise!) Evan's love of video games continues unabated. I asked him what his favorite game is, and he said it's whichever game he most-recently played! Lately he's been playing Batman Arkham City on the PS3, and Dragonvale on the iPad, but he also loves the LEGO games (Harry Potter, Pirates of the Carribean, Star Wars, etc.) Using Scratch, Evan has even been making his own animated movies and games. For his eighth birthday party, he wanted a cake in the shape of a PLAYSTATION 3, and we did our best to oblige:
Quinn is five years old and in kindergarten. It's nice to have both boys attending the same school for the first time! Quinn has made lots of new friends and always makes a point of saying "hi" to them by name. His favorite color is still yellow. (It has been since he was two.) This Halloween, he dressed up as Agent P (a.k.a. Perry the Platypus) from Phineas and Ferb!
Jason is still working for Naughty Dog as a lead programmer. The studio recently released Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. However, Jason hasn't actually been on the Uncharted team -- for the past two years he has been working (in secret!) on an exciting new game entitled The Last of Us, which was just announced at the Spike TV Video Game Awards. (Finally we can tell people what Jason has been working on!) The game is intended for mature audiences, so don't let your kids see the trailer! It'll give them nightmares.
In December, Jason was asked to speak at the Game Connection Europe conference in Paris, France. We couldn't pass up that opportunity, so we both went to Paris for a little vacation. We had a wonderful time experiencing the French lifestyle and spending some much-needed time together (without children!) We visited the palace and gardens of Versailles, la Musee de l'Orangerie (where we enjoyed the works of Monet, Renoir, and Laurencin), and of course la Tour Eiffel! We went up the tower on a rainy night, which worked out wonderfully because the lines were short and view was still spectacular!
In December, Jason was asked to speak at the Game Connection Europe conference in Paris, France. We couldn't pass up that opportunity, so we both went to Paris for a little vacation. We had a wonderful time experiencing the French lifestyle and spending some much-needed time together (without children!) We visited the palace and gardens of Versailles, la Musee de l'Orangerie (where we enjoyed the works of Monet, Renoir, and Laurencin), and of course la Tour Eiffel! We went up the tower on a rainy night, which worked out wonderfully because the lines were short and view was still spectacular!
Tracy and I turned the big four-oh this year! Thank you to all of you who celebrated with us in Los Angeles and/or in San Diego at our "80's" party (2 x 40!) We feel so blessed to have such incredible friends!
I am teaching information technology and programming classes at USC, as well as working with USC's Center for Body Computing developing mobile apps for medical devices. It's challenging work, but it's very rewarding.
Jason's mum has experienced some incredibly challenging medical issues this past year. She was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer in February, but ironically her biggest problem was not the cancer, but a severe case of spinal stenosis (pinched nerves in the spine) which left her in terrible pain all the time. After two surgeries (one to remove a life-threatening tumor, and one to repair the spinal stenosis), and a lot of moving back and forth between Toronto and Los Angeles, she is now relatively pain-free and settled back in Toronto. We don't know what the future will hold for her, but on the whole she's doing a lot better now than she was at the beginning of the year.
Jason's mum has experienced some incredibly challenging medical issues this past year. She was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer in February, but ironically her biggest problem was not the cancer, but a severe case of spinal stenosis (pinched nerves in the spine) which left her in terrible pain all the time. After two surgeries (one to remove a life-threatening tumor, and one to repair the spinal stenosis), and a lot of moving back and forth between Toronto and Los Angeles, she is now relatively pain-free and settled back in Toronto. We don't know what the future will hold for her, but on the whole she's doing a lot better now than she was at the beginning of the year.
We hope that 2012 is a year filled with peace, love and joy!
