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!

Evan Reciting the Poem 'Jim' by Hilaire Belloc

During grade 4, Evan memorized many poems.  Here is Evan reciting one of his favorites - 'Jim' by Hilaire Belloc.  There is a treat for Star Wars fans at the end courtesy of Jason.

Evan's 4th Grade Mission Project

Evan did his 4th grade California mission report on Mission San Francisco Solano. He created a model of this mission in Minecraft, a very popular video game. Jason helped him create a video of Evan moving through the mission. Then Evan played the video and recorded the audio in one take. The commentary on the video is all Evan. It really shows his personality. We are so proud of him!

Peace, Love & Joy

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!

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.

We hope that 2012 is a year filled with peace, love and joy!

Mum's Surgery is a Success

Jason's mum had surgery last Monday to help with her colon cancer. She is recovering in Toronto, and Jason is home!

It's already 2011?

Wow, 2010 flew by. Since I post photos and info on Facebook, I haven't updated this site in a year. I seem to be behind on everything these days. I didn't mail out Christmas cards for 2010 until January 6, 2011. Since it was Epiphany and the last day of the Christmas season, I justified it to myself.

So here is a review of 2010...

Evan is seven! (Isn't that fun to say!) For his birthday, he had a Scooby-Doo themed party, and we dressed us as the Mystery Inc. gang. Evan is in 2nd grade and is doing various projects for school. For his sea creatures project, he made a blobfish. Yes, it is a really fish, and I included photos of real blobfish on the left and his version on the right. To no one's surprise, his favorite subjects are math and science. His still loves playing video games. Currently he is working with Daddy on making his own game using the Python programming language.

Quinn is a very energetic four year old. For his birthday, he had a Harry Potter themed party. The house was decorated like Hogwarts castle, we made chocolate frogs, and the cake looked like the "Monster Book of Monsters." He even got a Harry Potter wand as a present. He is in a pre-k class. Yellow is his favorite color, and he wants to wear it almost every day. He loves playing with LEGOs which we find all over the house.

Jason turned 40 this past year! We celebrated by having a party with family, friends and his Naughty Dog co-workers. He still loves making video games. His book Game Engine Architecture has sold thousands of copies. He is a published and paid author. I am very proud of him!

I (Trina) am teaching full-time for the Viterbi School of Engineering at USC. I've been teaching programming and web classes. I love it! I recently joined an adult co-ed soccer team, so I can get in better shape and have fun with friends. I'm turning 40 this year.

We love watching the shows MythBusters and Head Rush. Evan decided he wanted to dress up as Jamie Hyneman, so Jason dressed up as Adam Savage. Quinny wanted to be Scooby-Doo (or Scooby-Q), so I dressed up as Velma.

In June, we went to Toronto to visit family and friends. It was a blast! We spend one day at Canada's Wonderland and another day at the Ontario Science Centre where we got to see the Harry Potter Exhibition. It was wonderful to spend time with family and friends. We loved seeing Jeff and Wendy and Juliana, Benjamin, and James. Other than Jason's mum, who won't let us take her picture, the most important person we spend time with was Jason's Uncle Wilf. He passed away right before Christmas at the amazing age of 98!

In November, we had a photo shot with the Provins Family by Tracy's friend Tessa at Grin and Share It Photography. She is amazing!

Wishing you a year filled with love, peace and joy!

Trina, Jason, Evan and Quinn