Holiday Greetings from Janie and Jerry, 2011 edition
A good year, gone by too fast as usual. A few highlights because I know we haven’t kept in touch as well or as often as I would have liked:
Retirement: Jerry turned 62 in January and is officially retired. The nature of our business has changed (and slowed) over the years, so the timing on this has been just fine. My retirement is still a long way off. Good thing I’m having as much fun with my work as I am.
Travel: This has been a big part of 2011:
February: Another MacMania Geek Cruise, this one from Buenos Aires around the bottom of South America to Santiago. Amazing! Highlights included a pre-cruise tour of Iguazu Falls, multiple penguin colonies in the Falklands, Glacier Alley, and getting some German pastry in Chile. New countries counting toward my 100-country goal: Argentina, Uruguay, Falkland Islands, and Chile!
June: Wildfires in the southwest made it hard to spend much time outside and for much of the summer, our deck (where I do much of my work and spend a great deal of time) was off limits. Our solution? A road trip from Oakland, CA to Los Angeles via Route 1 with a few days in Monterey, Paso Robles, Santa Barbara, and Pasadena. A great, low-key getaway and nice break from the smoke back home.
September: Another road trip, this one to Phoenix for a Zombies 50-year-reunion tour with the Strawbs opening. Wonderful concert, gorgeous drive, and 3 days in Sedona to wrap up summer and gear up for fall!
Work: School funding being what it is (or, more accurately, is not), I haven’t been on the road as much as in years past. This has given me an opportunity to develop a few new projects, including:
New Book: My publisher invited me to edit a collection of chapters from 9 different books (including two of mine) for a “best of...” series they were creating, this one on classroom management. A fun, quick summer project and a nice new title for our catalog.
Podcasts: This is very new territory, but I just taped my 5th podcast this morning. Essentially, these are like radio shows that are available online—on my Web site (as soon as I finish creating the page to post them), on my sponsor’s Web site (EnergizeStudents.org), and on iTunes. I’m still getting my feet under me, but we’ve had some outstanding shows so far. This will probably be a major new direction for me.
eBooks: Another shift in technology that has forced me to rethink the way I’m getting my work “out there.” One of my publishers has embraced this technology, the other, not so much, at least not yet. In the meantime, I have a number of products that I want to make available in electronic form and have been learning about various ways of doing so. Hopefully, by this time next year, I’ll know a lot more and will have a number of ePubs available.
Meanwhile, I still go out to speak when the opportunity arises and very much enjoy the work I’m doing with schools, conferences, and community groups. I’m excited about the jobs that are starting to come in for 2012 and open to whatever chances come up that enable me to connect with people through my work.
No new book ideas at the moment, so a nice break there, but keeping up various Web sites ties up a lot of my time.
Hobbies and other Diversions:
Jerry is still riding his bike a few times a week, and I’ve been pretty consistent about making a few Zumba classes a week.
We started working with stained glass again this fall and are in the process of trying to build a window I cut out about 25 years ago. It’s a pretty complex design and rather intimidating. We tend to work on it a piece at a time and will post photos when we finally get it completed.
I took a glass fusing class and look forward to getting back to making a few new pieces. (The window is taking up all my work space right now.) I’m still beading and knitting and seem to be happiest when I’m making something or learning something new.
Italian classes are on hold right now while I’m working on resurrecting the French I knew pretty well earlier in my life so I’ll be able to get around better on our next trip.
I’m still involved with my book group and always looking for good recommendations. And I’m still using Facebook to keep in touch with people. (Twitter, too, though more for work.)
This year also afforded several opportunities to get together with family and with a number of friends from various times in our lives. We hadn’t seen some of these people in decades and in every instance were delighted at how seamlessly we were able to reconnect. To be sure, one of the best blessings of the past year.
Pets: Still dog-less, coming up on two years this January. That could change this year, perhaps after our next big trip.
Not much else new, really. Just grateful for the good stuff that happened this past year and generally in a good space in our lives. We hope the same for you.
Staying in touch:
Jane Bluestein • Jerry Tereszkiewicz
home/office: 505-323-9044
cell (if no one home): 505-250-3965
email: jane@janebluestein.com • jerry@janebluestein.com
Facebook/Twitter/Skype: janebluestein
Web sites: http://www.janebluestein.com, http://www.fatherskystudios.comView holiday letters from 2007 • 2008 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011