Holiday Edition December 2012

Dear Friends and Family,

(This is Lynn writing—you’ll hear from Bob later.) I believe that for the first time in the 15 years we’ve been sending

out this family newsletter, we are doing so in December, rather than after the first of the year. What, you might ask, has brought about this miraculous change? The answer is simple: My Retirement!! After spending 38 years as an instructor of English as a Second Language in both the adult division and credit division at City College of San Francisco, I retired on June 30th. My career was definitely rewarding, having taught hundreds of students from all over the world, plus working with my fantastic colleagues in the college setting. I was just so lucky to have had that opportunity.

Now, taking a tip from Oprah, I have gone back to some the pursuits of my earlier years. I am taking a cello class at City College. In competition with our backyard neighbor’s

howling Malamute dog, I now produce some of the more ear-splitting sounds in the neighborhood. I am also crocheting again. My first crocheting teacher, some forty years ago, was a young man who taught a free class in San Francisco. I am also swimming and doing water aerobics several times a week. I credit Mr. Hanula, my Woodrow Wilson High School swimming instructor who would be proud to see that I finally learned to keep myself afloat and that I love the sport. (First period swimming in the days of the beuffont hairstyle was

not my idea of fun.)

In honor of my retirement, Alyssa and Ben both came home, and we all went on a family outing to play bocce ball in Los Gatos. Then, Ben and Alyssa returned in August to help Bob put on a re-

tirement party at our home.

Most exciting, I’m studying to become a volunteer docent for the Nature Ed program at

Filoli, which are gardens and grounds of the National Trust for the Historic Preservation. Successful completion of this 15-week training program will enable me to lead groups of school-aged children on the trails behind the Filoli estate. In the meantime, I’m practicing my trail presentation on Bob, who enjoys taking photos at Filoli. This experience harkens back to my days of hiking at St. Albans Girl Scout Camp and in the Olympics.

Last but not least, in late September-early October, Bob and I spent 10 days vacationing on Kauai. We spent the first five days on the

Poipu (south) side of the island. The first day we took a guided tour of the beautiful Allerton Gardens.

The next day we hiked from the Waimea Canyon rim for three miles, descending 1,000 feet down the Awaawapuhi Trail. Upon finally arriving at the end of the trail, there

was a sign that said “Vistas,” a lookout point...and dense gray fog, which soon turned into

rain. It was a very long hike back to the trail head!

We then drive to Port Allen and drowned our disappointment in Lilikoi (passionfruit) Ale at the Kauai Island Brewery and Grill.

The third day we snorkeled and sailed along the Na Pali coast, and the fourth

day we kayaked along the Wailua River.

Lynn as Filoli nature guide

The Kahn family plays bocce ball at Camp di Bocce in Los Gatos

Lynn practicing her cello

Sunset at Poipu on the south side of Kauai

Starting down the trail...

Lynn stops to admire lantana bushes on the trail

On the fifth day, we were so tired and our muscles so

sore, we simply hung out all day and then drove to Princeville on the north side of the where we spent the remaining 5 days doing more hiking, snorkeling, visiting a native Hawaiian garden, and relaxing and dining in the quaint towns of Hanalei (as in Puff the Magic Dragon) and Haena. The north side of Kauai is still stuck in the ‘60s, with folksingers and jazz musicians entertaining in restaurants, friendly, laid back locals, and a slow pace of life. It was a fabulous trip to Paradise.

Alyssa is still living in Napa and teaching first grade—in Spanish—at the Napa Valley Language Academy, a bilingual immersion charter school. Having completed her first year teaching at

NVLA, she now has a new group of first graders and tells us that this year is going much smoother than last. She even says that this year she occasionally arrives home before dark! Her mother and father, who have visited her class-room a few times, can attest to the fact that she is an

excellent teacher, even though, given

our limited Spanish vocabularies, we don’t understand everything she’s telling her students.

Over the summer, Alyssa and her boyfriend, Steven, took a trip to Spain and Portugal to visit their friend Bea. They prac-ticed their Spanish everywhere, from Granada to Sabiñánigo

to San Sabastian. They even witnessed the bull fight in Pamplona during the world famous festival of San Fermín. ¡Ole! Alyssa also continues to participate in Capeora and is learning to play violin, which is the instrument which all of the children at the NVLA study.

That’s the end of my part of our family update. Now, I’m turning the mouse and keyboard over to Bob, who will tell you about what he and Ben have been up to. So, here’s....Bob!

Ben is still living in Irvine, and continues to work for Headwire.com, a small consulting company located in Lake Forest, just south of Irvine. This company, which has only nine

or ten employees, develops interactive website solutions for various industries including insurance and entertainment. Recently, after two plus years of development, Ben and a colleague completed a web-based budgeting system for use by movie studios. He’s now happy to be mov-ing on to new projects. This year, in lieu of a holiday party, Headwire.com gave each of its employees a Sumo Robotics kit. Each person had one day to build and program an au-tonomous robot from the kit, and at the end of the day, the robots com-peted against each other in a circular arena. Ben says he created a robot that would confuse the others during

the competition. While it didn’t quite work as planned, he was given an award for the most creative robot.

To our delight, Ben has flown home several times this year—including a trip in

August where he assembled an out-door heater to keep guests warm in our backyard during Lynn’s retirement party. He also came home for Thanksgiving, and he’ll be back for a week at year’s end.

As for me, I’ve been watching Lynn enjoy her retirement, and I’m envious! This past year, I’ve been working on three different projects at Stanford, plus consulting to two start-up companies:

Coincident TV in San Francisco and DigiSight Technologies in Portola Valley. In November, both of the start-ups furloughed me at least until January next year, while they try to raise venture capital to stay in business. So for the past two months, I’ve only been working at Stanford a couple days a week, and it’s great!! In fact, I’ve decided that it’s time for me to start winding down my consulting business and start joining Lynn in retirement activities ...like reading and traveling.

We hope that 2013 will bring happiness, health and prosper-ity to all. Please keep in touch.

With Love — Lynn, Bob, Alyssa and Ben

The beach at the St. Regis Hotel in Princeville

Alyssa with her students on “Pajama Day” at the Napa Valley Language Academy

Alyssa & friends at the Pamplona bull ring

Ben assembling a patio heater

Visiting Bob’s mother, Zel, at her assisted living residence in Palo Alto