For to us a child is born,
   to us a son is given,
   and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
   Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Isaiah 9:6

Christmas greetings from Palo Alto!  

My sister Mary is here visiting me, but it's been so rainy that we
have been staying in most of the time.  We're thankful not to have the
flooding that parts of southern California have been suffering from,
though!  We've watched movies, cooked some meals, and baked several
kinds of Christmas cookies -- fun, but not so good for the waistline.

This coming week we will be going to a couple of basketball games and
a musical, as well as heading down to Monterey to visit Mary's
daughter Beth and her family.  Beth's husband Tom, who is a
meteorologist in the Air Force, is currently stationed in Monterey to
work on a master's degree at the Naval Postgraduate School.  Since
they are so close now, I spent Thanksgiving with them this year.

A little more news about my year...

I became a smart phone junkie this year -- I bought a Nexus One (a
Google phone that runs Android) early in the year, and have used it a
lot to access the internet, read and send email, manage my calendar,
take pictures, read books, play games, and even tune my guitar.  Oh,
and sometimes to make phone calls too.

This year I was ill the two weeks before Bible camp, but I got well
soon enough to be able to go and to serve as song leader once again.
I was pretty low on energy, but enjoyed the week anyway.

Once again this year I was lucky enough to get the chance to play with
our VMware house band, Elastic Sky, at the VMworld party.  The main
entertainment at the party was INXS, and we got to open for them with
a 1/2-hour set.  Pretty exciting!  If you're interested, you can see
us on my YouTube channel:  http://www.youtube.com/user/TimothyPMann.

I visited Milwaukee in September.  On this visit I caught up with a
few old friends I hadn't seen for quite a while, and got together with
some relatives too.  I did some genealogical research while in town.
Among other things, I visited the grave of a great-great-grandmother
that I had not been to before.

I've really enjoyed being a Stanford sports fan this year.  Since I
live a mile from campus, I can walk to the home games.  The football
team and the women's basketball team have had a lot of success and
have been lots of fun to watch.  Check out the football team in the
Orange Bowl on January 3.  I won't be going to Miami for the game but
will be watching on TV.


Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!

Tim Mann