2000 Holiday Letter 
Dear Family & Friends,
Who can believe the first year of the millennium has passed so quickly? So many changes in a year – hard to believe! Guess it’s time to sit down with a cup of coffee and reflect on the past year.
Marc and I are both still working at Microsoft. I’m still in Product Management (marketing) and just finished up one of the bigger projects I’ve managed. I was responsible for the worldwide product launch of Exchange 2000, which began in October and continued until the end of November. I am now on a new marketing team for a product codenamed “Tahoe”, due to a recent re-organization. I’m really excited about my new group. Marc is still working on shipping his product, Mobile Information Server. Marc celebrated his 4-year anniversary as a volunteer diver with greater than 100 hours at the Seattle Aquarium this spring. Every other Thursday, you can see him at 11:00am in the Pacific Coral Reef tank feeding the fish, waving to the kids, and washing the windows.
In January, we took our annual dive vacation. This year we ventured to Belize-- a wonderful country in Central America. Specifically we were on Ambergis Caye in the little town of San Pedro. We had a great week and a half there diving with our friends Todd and Jenny, as well as many new friends at the local dive shop Amigo’s Del Mar. San Pedro is a town where there are no cars, everyone rides around on bikes, and nobody wears shoes. We experienced some of the best diving we’ve ever had and met some great people—we saw upward of 30 bull sharks down at 140ft in the Blue Hole. Quite spectacular.
In March, we adopted the newest members of our family—our Black Lab Duke! We got Duke through Seattle Purebred Dog Rescue from a woman in Tacoma. Duke was 8 months old when we got him and is our little social butterfly. He’s very friendly, loves kids, and won’t stay out of the lake. By summer, he was doing Greg Louganis impressions off the end of our dock showing us just how far he could fly in the air before landing with a big splash. His favorite toy is a tennis ball and he could play fetch for hours. Marc and buddy Neil built a deluxe doghouse for him, Grandma Ann quilted a patchwork cedar bed for him, and Grandma Judy created a personalized collar with his name spelled in nautical flags. He leads a dog’s life.
Marc and I got certified in Dry Suit diving in March and went diving a few times in Puget Sound. In May, we spent some time on the boat with my Mom and Dad. As part of our product launch, I spent a bunch of time in Orlando preparing for and executing our involvement in TechEd in Orlando in June. Marc opted to head for some really cold water, drysuit diving up in Balaklava, BC. with buddies Todd, Barry and Randy. Details on these or any other dives are available in Marc’s online dive log.
In July, I went on a business trip to Amsterdam and was able to tag on a trip to Stockholm where I met up with Marc who was also on a business trip. We were able to take a couple days to explore the Archipelago off of Stockholm. It was fun getting a glimpse of my ancestors’ country. We went all the way out to Sandhamn, and were there for the Gotland Runt—a big 30meter sailing race that occurs each year during the first weekend after midsummer, since it was first held in 1937.
Later in July, we took our annual boat trip in the San Juans and Canadian Gulf Islands. This time we enjoyed a week on a 34’ CHB trawler with Marc and the helm and crew member Duke acting as scout for the best anchoring spots. We saw numerous killer whales, dolphins, and seals as we anchored in a different spot with friends or family each night. Duke loved his week aboard the boat and was most disappointed when we returned home and went back to work. We ended the month with a BBQ for my 30th birthday (ugh!), where I enjoyed the company of good friends and family.
We went to Palm Beach at the beginning of August for Marc’s sister, Lori’s wedding. It was a great weekend where we enjoyed meeting the newest members of our family – brother-in-law Paul, nephew William, and Paul’s extended family. We also enjoyed more time with Ginger and Jackson playing in the ocean surf and in the pool, where they are turning into quite the fish.
September brought an exciting event in our family. Paul and Kari had a beautiful baby girl, Kyra on the 10th, weighing in at 8 lbs and measuring 19” long. My Mom and Dad are thrilled to be grandparents for the first time and I love being an auntie! Kyra is a healthy and happy baby and now sleeps through the night. She has grown quickly and is now in the 98% for length with long legs and long fingers – not surprising looking at her Mom and Dad.
In October, all my work for the year accumulated in our product launch at a conference in Dallas in front of 6,000 people. It was lots of work but well worth it. My team then headed to Nice, France where we launched the product to the European market. I loved Nice, but didn’t get much spare time to do any sightseeing - just enough time to enjoy some great French dinners, cheese, and champagne. After a weeks rest, my team headed to Tokyo and Singapore to launch in Asia. I was able to get a day off in Tokyo to each good sushi and go sightseeing with my good friend from high school, Mark Roth. I got back just in time to get a head cold over the weekend, and then head to New Jersey to share Thanksgiving with Marc’s family. We saw a bunch of Marc’s friends from the east coast and all their new additions to their families. With a couple days of rest, my team finished off our product launch tour with a quick trip to Mexico City for the Latin America launch. Just happened to be the same time that Mexico was inaugurating their new President across the street from our hotel, so the new President, 15 other presidents of Latin American countries, Fidel Castro, and Madeline Albright were all staying in our hotel! As you can imagine, security was tight. We got used to going through metal detectors to get into the hotel, passing security on each floor, and eating lunch next to the Mexican army, swat team, and numerous secret security outfits. To top it off, the New York Rockettes were staying there during a 2-month run of one of their shows in Mexico City. It was quite the surreal experience.
After
traveling 6 out of the last 8 weeks and logging over 65,000 flight miles this
year, I am really looking forward to spending December and the holidays at home
with Marc, Duke, and Tabby. We hope
this letter finds you happy and healthy.
We wish you all a very happy holiday season – Merry Christmas and Happy
Chanukah!
To view an enhanced online version of this letter with pictures from our adventures, please visit our homepage at http://www.kramer.org/seinfeld.
Love,