The Magendanz Family Blog

We’ve always appreciated the annual letters we receive from friends and family with recent photos and highlights of the year’s events, but have been lax in reciprocating.  As New Year’s resolutions go, this seemed like something I could easily rectify, so I put it on the list.  Even now I’m late and cheating by using the Internet, but we geeks are usually given a little more slack when it comes to gratuitous use of technology…or hyperlinks, as the case may be.  But by any measure this was a remarkable year, and it’s really due a few remarks.

 

 

No, you’re not imagining it.  Quinn is actually taller than Galen now.  Although just past his 12th birthday, he’s been at the puberty party for at least a year, complete with voice changes, body odor and embarrassing hair growth…but fortunately no girlfriends yet.  His size has been a great advantage in sports, however, and he’s been an outstanding goalkeeper for his soccer club, which placed 2nd in their PDL division again this year.  This fall, he also competed in cross country and wrestling, all while keeping a straight-A average in his first year at Maywood Middle School.  During the spring last year he also took 2nd place in his division at the regional Math is Cool competition, the highest individual placing for anyone in our school district.

 

Duncan turned 9 years old in June and is currently in 4th grade at Maple Hills Elementary.  He plays soccer in the Recreational league, but extended his season this year to include some indoor soccer.  His latest passion is gymnastics, which he started this fall.  Duncan has also taken a keen interest in some new additions to our family, a pair of domestic shorthair kittens we adopted last spring named Tiger and Spot.

 

Galen continues to work at Honeywell as a Principle Product Engineer building MEMS devices and I work from home as the User Experience Manager for Jetstream Software prototyping new software designs, usually for Microsoft but also for other local clients like Entellium and Nike.  Both of us are pretty happy with our employment situation right now, and working from home allows me quite a bit more time for the family and community.  In fact, just this year I started getting much more involved in local community service groups, becoming Treasurer of the Kiwanis Club of Issaquah, helping build the Safe Roads for Issaquah PAC, becoming South End Team Leader for Stand for Children, lobbying for Core 24 with the League of Education Voters, serving as Legislative Chair for the Maywood PTSA and building their new Web site, serving as delegate to the King County and Washington State Republican Conventions, being elected Caucus Chairman and Precinct Committee Officer, and culminating in my appointment as the newest Director of the Issaquah School Board this fall.

 

[Aside: Of course, my newfound desire to get involved in local politics all stemmed from a “Jerry Maguire moment” I had back in March when the City of Issaquah chose to abandon a major road project that would have relieved traffic congestion through our school zones and improved regional access to I-90.  Those of us outside of the city limits who commuted through this congested area and had the most to gain had no representation on the City Council, and so when a client left me with some spare time the boys and I took to the streets to try to turn public opinion.  Unfortunately, campaign promises made during the last election ensured the outcome would be a foregone conclusion, but the experience was a great civics lesson for the kids and I was determined to stay involved and make a difference, however I could.  The rest, as they say, is history.]

 

Our big family event this year was a trip to Europe, which began just after the kids completed their school year and lasted for three weeks.  While there was some initial bitterness at how we timed the event for the historical low in purchasing power for the U.S. Dollar, this was a trip that had been in planning for years and we were not to be deterred.  We started with three days in Paris, continued via train to Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland for 3 more days exploring the Alps, had a quick overnight visit with our friend Armand and his family in Zurich that was fortuitously timed for the Euro 2008 games, and then dropped down to Trento, Italy to spend 5 days with my Aunt Donna and her family there.  After a fantastic ride across the Austrian border with the whole extended family and a day trip to Venice, we set off for 3 days in Cinque Terra along the Italian Riviera, explored Rome over the 4th of July weekend, and returned to the U.S. with an overnight layover in London.

 

Inspired by what we saw in Europe and the escalating costs of gasoline, this summer I purchased an electric Vectrix VX-1 maxi-scooter.  (Mine is actually silver.)  It’s made in Rhode Island and is highway legal, with its speed limiter set to 64 mph but clearly capable of more since it accelerates from 0-50 mph in 6.8 seconds.  While it only has a range of 40-60 miles, I’ve already logged over 6000 miles riding and have yet to burn one drop of gasoline, replace oil or plugs, or get a complaint about the noise (except maybe that you can’t hear it coming).  At less than a penny a mile, it's the cheapest way to get around town that doesn’t involve showering upon arrival.

 

This summer and fall we also got to share a couple of weekends with my sister Lora, who has been visiting my old Trident submarine base in Bangor in her new role designing nuclear power plant simulators for the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory.  My father also visited at the end of August, spending some quality time with us at the beach in Horsehead Bay and accompanying us to the Ellensburg Rodeo.  We spent this Thanksgiving in Saratoga Springs visiting Lora and Julia’s families and capped off our White Christmas with a 9-day trip to visit Galen’s sister Kacey’s family in Carlsbad, CA, where we visited SeaWorld and I managed about 200 miles of recreational cycling along the beautiful southern California coast.

 

In tough economic times, it’s easy to lose sight of all that we still have.  We were blessed this year with loving friends and family, and we can’t help but wish for more of the same for everyone in the years to come.  Happy New Year!