Happy Holidays, 2014 Edition

Happy Holidays everyone!

2014 has been a year filled with new experiences for the Gregorys! Quinn and Evan both started piano lessons this year. Evan was promoted from elementary school to middle school (he's now in grade 6). Quinn has been learning to play the recorder in class, and after-school art lessons have inspired him to draw and paint some really great works of art. Evan joined the band at school, where he has been learning to play the trumpet. Evan also joined the First Lego League robotics club at his school, and took part in his first robotics competition in November.

As for me, I got my first experience working on the PlayStation 4 this year, as I helped the awesome team at Naughty Dog to ship The Last of Us: Remastered---a "port" of our popular PlayStation 3 game. Trina and I published our first "app" on the Apple app store this year. Trina continues to teach full-time at the University of Southern California, works part-time on various university-related side projects, and as if that weren't enough, she's also almost done earning a Master's degree in computer science! Oh, and just last week I got myself some new wheels---an amazing Tesla Model S. So yeah: 2014 has most definitely been a year of new experiences!

Quinn turned 8 in 2014. He is now in grade 3. His birthday party was themed after one of his favorite films this year, The Lego Movie. So of course Trina and I had to make him a cake in the form of a giant Lego head. At the party, we played "guess the number of lego bricks in the bottle," and had Taco Tuesday on a Saturday! (If this doesn't make sense, go see the movie!) Quinn has been doing very well at school (he's reading at a grade 4 level!)  He has also been really enjoying "Art With Jake," an after-school art class. He has been drawing all sorts of interesting spacecraft, cars, weapons and fantastic creatures. All of the animals he draws boast a black-widow-like hourglass marking---presumably this means that even his flamingo is not to be trifled with!

Quinn and Evan both started piano lessons this year. Their teacher is a wonderful lady named Karyn Adams who lives just around the corner, so the lessons are very convenient for us all. Both boys are getting quite good, and I'm always happy to hear Evan sit down and start tickling the ivories just for fun. Quinn isn't having quite as much fun with his piano lessons, but I'm proud of him for sticking with it. As I keep telling him, he'll thank himself for it later in life.

Evan's also doing well with his trumpet. He's mastered most of the notes (he'd say he knows all the important ones!) and he demonstrated his newfound skills within the last month by playing in his first school concert and his first parade (as part of the marching band). Mom and dad were so proud! (Look for Evan in the upper right-hand corner.)

Middle school has been an exciting, if somewhat stressful experience for Evan. He's had to learn very quickly how to juggle a large number of classes, each with its own rules, customs and expectations. The volume of homework has gone up considerably since last year, and Evan has been getting steadily better at keeping track of everything that needs to be done. A few of his teachers have also been experimenting with some new online and mobile technology in the classroom, including two classes that are completely "paperless." So it's been a very interesting year for Evan, school-wise.

Trina has been extremely busy this year, what with her full-time job as a senior lecturer at USC, plus her part-time jobs working with the Keck School of Medicine and the School of Social Work on various projects. She gave a presentation in Portugal about making mobile apps. And somehow, she also found time to take grad school classes! She's now one semester away from completing her Master's degree in Computer Science. You go girl!

Trina and I also got an opportunity to appear in USC's Viterbi Magazine this year. Trina was contacted by a representative at the rag because they wanted to include her in a series about the hobbies of various faculty members at USC. One of Trina's hobbies is making fancy cakes, so she and I baked two cakes in the form of mobile phones as a little tribute to Andrew Viterbi, the well-known scientist who invented CDMA mobile phone technology, helped to found Qualcomm Inc. and is also the Viterbi School of Engineering's namesake. It was fun to see our pictures in a magazine---and eating the cakes afterwards was pretty fun too.

Trina and I worked on a little iPhone app called Biogram this year. It allows users to measure or enter their heart rate, and then share it with their friends along with a "selfie" and a brief comment. It's the first app I've ever published on the App Store, so that was exciting. I also published the second edition of my book, Game Engine Architecture  (www.gameenginebook.com) this year. It grew from 800 pages in the 1st edition to just over 1,000 pages in the 2nd! I shudder to think how thick the 3rd edition might become. The book has been selling really well, and it has been translated into Chinese, Japanese and Korean! Pretty amazing stuff. I was also proud to be part of the incredibly talented team that ported our hit game, The Last of Us, from the PlayStation 3 to the PlayStation 4 this year.

As well as being a year of new experiences, I'm proud to say that it's been a year of some solid accomplishments for all of us in the Gregory family. We hope that 2014 has been a good year for you as well. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all!

Sincerely,
The Gregorys

Run Like the Wind

Our amazing mom Joyce Osterhus taught us to set goals and achieve them so matter your age. She got her Master's degree from USC at the age of 50. Yesterday, my terrific twin sister Tracy Lee ran a marathon in 4 hours and 44 minutes, my hubby Jason ran a half marathon in 2 hours and 2 minutes, and I ran a half marathon in 2 hours and 14 minutes. Tracy and I are 42, and Jason is 44. We are following in your footsteps, Mom!

Best April Fools Day Ever!

On April 1, 2014, my wonderful twin sister Tracy drove up from San Diego to fool my students and coworkers. It worked!

She walked into the ITP office as me, she had a discussion with my boss and my officemate, and they didn't know it wasn't me. She also started teaching my mobile app dev class, and then I walked in. It freaked out the students. We visited the Viterbi's Office of the Dean and got the best reaction from Jim Moore.

It was a successful day!

Goodbye 2013. Hello 2014!

The Gregory Family certainly keeps busy, so busy that we haven't written a family update in two years!  

Quinn is in second grade and turned seven last March.  He loves playing a computer game named Minecraft, which was the theme of his birthday party.  Here is a photo of him with his cake.

Evan is ten years old and in fifth grade, which is the last year at the elementary school.  In fourth grade, he had to learn various poems such as "Jim" by Hilare Belloc.  He still loves everything to do with computers.  He also loves Minecraft and created his mission report in Minecraft.  We all dressed up as Minecraft characters for Halloween.  Evan is Notch (the creator of Minecraft), Quinn is HeroBrine, Jason is the Creeper (tall, green thing), and I am Nyan Cat (an Internet meme, but also a mod in Minecraft).  Here's a photo.

Jason still works for Naughty Dog and has been one of two engineering leads on the game The Last of Us, which was released last June.  The game has been immensely popular and has won 170 "Game of the Year" awards and counting.  The second edition to his book Game Engine Architecture will be out in March.  Jason will be speaking in February at a conference in Portugal and at GDC (Game Developers' Conference) in March.

2013 has been an extremely busy year for me (Trina).  I started a Master's of Science in Computer Science at USC in order to advance my career.  I am still teaching full-time at USC for ITP (Information Technology Program) and was promoted to Senior Lecturer.  For several years, I have been developing curriculum for a new minor entitled Mobile App Development, which is now available at USC.  I was featured in an article for CBS Local and USC's Daily Trojan.  Before Halloween, I went down to San Diego to spend the weekend with Tracy while all of our boys (husbands included) went camping on Catalina Island.  We dressed up as the DoubleMint twins for a Halloween party.

This past year has brought some challenges and resolutions.  Jason was diagnosed with skin cancer on his cheek at the end of June and had surgery to remove it.  He now has a long scar and makes up funny stories on how he got it.  Jason mum, Rikki Gregory, passed away from cancer on November 7th.  We had a lovely funeral for her in Toronto, ON.  It was a time to celebrate her life and love for her Kenneth and Jason.  You can see photos and read Jason's eulogy on her memorial website.  Here is a photo from our wedding 15 years ago.

In 2012, our beloved cat Mango had to be put to rest.  Our other cat Topaz really missed having a friend, and we missed having another cat.  Through a cat rescue group, we adopted two Persian cats who are brothers and around eight years old.  They are so sweet and have the loudest purrs.  Meet Rocket (aka Rocky) and Apollo (aka Paully).

We spent Christmas with the Provins family in San Diego.  I love to buy my boys and my nephews (Carter who is almost 10 and Cooper who is almost 5) matching pajamas.  Here are the "Candy Cane Cousins" on Christmas Eve.  Tracy and I continued the family tradition and made Swedish bread.

We hope 2014 is filled with love, joy, and peace!