Christmas 2004

Jan & Dan. In January we drove to Houston to visit David, and help him with remodeling projects – guest bathroom cabinets and shelves, and new hardwood floor in his family room and hallway. David took us to New Orleans for our birthdays, where we stayed in the French Quarter and enjoyed the music and food. Back in Houston, David took us to see Mel Brooks’ very funny musical comedy “The Producers” at the new Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. One Sunday we attended a mass at the huge Catholic Charismatic Center in Houston (the priest spoke in tongues!). In August we celebrated our 40^th wedding anniversary (all our daughters were home for a picnic party at Iverson Park). Later that month we drove to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where we rented a 7-bedroom beach house (swimming pool, 2 hot tubs, volleyball court, pool table, etc.) for a week with David, Suzie and her children, Steve & Jane and their children, Sarah & Kurt and Julian, Betsy and Katy (Nancy & Matt had to work, Peter had school, and Tony had to teach). Janet’s sister, Miriam (Schenectady, NY), also joined us. We had perfect weather -- a week between hurricanes. Janet’s brother, Greg (Phoenix, AZ), visited this summer. We toured a cheese factory, and visited the beautiful Rudolph Grotto Gardens and Wonder Cave.

Janet keeps busy with church volunteer work – Eucharistic Minister, cantor, lector, singing in the choir, teaching 5^th grade religious ed., etc. She also likes baking, going for walks, practicing piano, and working on crossword puzzles. Dan started volunteering at the local food co-op. He also keeps busy working on the house, landscaping, going for long distance runs, and genealogy research. This fall Dan’s father (age 94) moved into an assisted-living apartment in Marion, Iowa. He did not want to spend another winter alone; and he was getting tired of cooking, mowing the lawn, plowing snow, etc. Conveniently, his apartment is across the street from a carwash owned and operated by Dan’s brother, Ed; so Dad can contribute his mechanical skills to any projects.

David, Seabrook, TX, is a senior scientist with the Automation, Robotics, and Simulation Division at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Houston. After President Bush announced a new space exploration vision in January, David has been working on robots for building and maintaining habitats and intelligent control software for advanced life support systems on the Moon and Mars. David traveled extensively for work -- mostly to Washington, DC; and NASA Ames Research Center, CA. He consulted or presented papers at several meetings/conferences in Orlando, Palo Alto, Colorado Springs, Dana Point CA, Carnegie-Mellon U. (Pittsburgh), Vancouver, and Paris (timed to catch the finish of the Tour de France); and gave invited talks at Vanderbilt University (Nashville) and the Centro de Investigacion en Computacion (Mexico City). David was also a judge at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Portland. He has two private research companies -- Texas Robotics and Automation Center (NASA projects), and Technobotics, Inc. (computer vision). David is also Assoc. Editor for the MIT Press series on Intelligent Robotics and Autonomous Agents, and a reviewer for Autonomous Robots Journal. Vacation travel took David to Tunisia, North Africa, with his sister Katy for ten days, with stops in London and Marseilles along the way (pictures at http://www.traclabs.com/~korten/Tunisia). David enjoys working out, participating in a triathlon in Galveston in May and running road races throughout the year.

Suzie, Jerry, Kaitlyn (10) & Michael/”Micha” (5), Middleton, WI (north side of Madison). Suzie & Jerry, were busy managing their business -- Skyline Steel, Inc. (structural & decorative steel fabrication -- one project was providing steel for the new Overture Center for the Arts in Madison. Kaitlyn (4^th grade) loves to learn. She started violin lessons, and joined the Madtown Twisters gymnastics team, competing in meets, and earning awards at almost every one. At the State Meet she medaled in vault and all-around. She practices 3-4 nights/week for several hours; and is currently trying to master a double back handspring/back flip! For her 10th birthday she got a 10-foot practice balance beam for the basement. Kaitlyn had to endure getting 6 more front teeth pulled this year – she is all gums right now – but that doesn’t stop her from eating just about anything! Michael is really enjoying his second year of preschool. He is also quite skilled at computer games and is currently mastering Frogger 2. Micha’s favorite pastime is building things, either with blocks, Legos, magnets, cardboard boxes or anything else he can get his hands on. For spring break they all went to Disney/Sea World in Florida; and in August Suzie and the kids spent a week with some of us at our beach house in the Outer Banks. Suzie & Jerry have purchased 36 acres of mostly wooded land, adjacent to the 280-acre McKenzie Center Conservation Park with “an abundance of nature trails, a wildlife exhibit of native animals including a bison herd, and a wildlife pond.” The land is five miles from their Skyline office, and they are thinking of building a house there. This year Suzie & Jerry hosted the Kortenkamp Thanksgiving dinner.

Steve, Jane, Oliver (5), & Eliza (1), Tucson, AZ. Steve is an astronomer at the Planetary Science Institute. He researches the origins/evolution of solar systems; studying asteroids, comets, and moons. This year he published results from his computer simulations of a strange type of moon referred to as a quasi-satellite. Just prior to getting a paper published Steve was excited to learn of the discovery of the first real objects in this class, two tiny bodies that are exotic distant moons of Earth! Jane is an astronomer at the Steward Observatory, U. of Arizona. She works with a team that operates an instrument on the Spitzer Space Telescope, NASA's orbiting infrared observatory. She regularly travels to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena for Spitzer workshops. This year she also took a trip to Boston for a Spitzer conference on high-redshift galaxies. Oliver is in kindergarten at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. He enjoys his tennis and swimming lessons and is beginning to understand the meanings of "homework" and "school night". Eliza Jane is also at the Jewish Community Center, where she sees her big brother in the halls and likes to sneak over and give him a big hug. Steve and Jane's family traveled extensively this year, starting with New Year's in Wisconsin, then Disney World in Orlando with the Morrison cousins, the Outer Banks for a beach vacation with the Kortenkamps, the Smoky Mountains for a Morrison wedding, as well as what are becoming annual traditions of road trips to beautiful Sedona, Arizona, and equally exciting Lego Land in San Diego. They were also visited in Tucson by Steve’s cousin Tim Kortenkamp. Steve attended a planetary conference at Johnson Space Center, staying with David and helping him remodel his guest bathroom. Steve and Jane have enthusiastically embraced the sport of triathlon. In October they competed in the SOMA Half Ironman (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run) in Tempe AZ, with Steve finishing in 5:11:40 and Jane in 6:08:24. David flew in for the weekend to provide support during the race and to help watch the kids. Jane is hooked on the sport and is training for a full ironman this spring. Oliver did his first mini-triathlon this summer.

Nancy, Matt, Simon/”Sam” (4), Lance (3), & Jackson (1), Madison, WI. Nancy is an audiologist at the U. of Wisconsin Hospital Audiology Clinics. She was promoted this year to head the pediatric cochlear implant program. In March she went to Denver, for a cochlear implant workshop. Matt works late afternoons and evenings as an airplane mechanic at Wisconsin Aviation, Dane County (MSN) Regional Airport. Sam started preschool and really likes it. He keeps asking when someone is going to teach him to read. Lance talks about school all the time and can't wait until he is big enough to go also. Jackson and Lance have become really good friends and wrestling buddies. Lance is into switches and electronics. Sam is into fixing things and building things. Jackson still likes to cuddle and loves to chase and play hide and seek. Recently the Mikels bought their first house, near the airport and Matt's work. Luckily it is a newer house so Matt won't have to spend his little free time trying to fix things up. They also bought Suzie's old minivan with a VCR and TV. This will help when they take the long trip back to Houston over the holidays to visit Matt's family. Matt is training for the Ironman Wisconsin Triathlon (a full ironman with a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and 26.2 mile run). And Nancy has talked all her brothers and sisters into running the Madison Marathon with her in May so they can set a new Guinness World Record for the most siblings running and finishing the same marathon (the current record is 8).

Peter, Iowa City, is in his last year studying for the PhD in astrophysics (astronomy) at the U. of Iowa. He does radio telescope research on interplanetary scintillations, collecting data at the North Liberty, IA, radio astronomy antenna, part of the Very Long Base Array (a series of ten radio antennas spread across the United States and its territories from the Virgin Islands to Mauna Kea, Hawaii). In June, he presented his research at the American Astronomical Society Convention in Denver. Peter's first love is playing French horn (he has a master's degree in French horn performance). He plays Principal Horn for the Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra (making frequent trips home for practices and performances). He plays Assistant Principal Horn in the Des Moines Symphony; and when his schedule permits he plays for the Dubuque Symphony, Quad Cities Symphony, Ottumwa Symphony; U. of Iowa Chamber Orchestra, and the Iowa City Community Theatre (this season – “Man of La Mancha”). In one month Peter played Beethoven's “9th Symphony” with the Quad Cities Symphony, the “5th Symphony” with the Central Wisconsin Symphony, and played with the visiting cellist Yo-yo Ma in the Des Moines Symphony. He also has been tutoring a young French horn student in Iowa City for several years. This year Peter auditioned for several orchestras, including the Florida West Coast Symphony (Sarasota). In June Peter, Tony, and Katy went canoeing and camping in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

Sarah, Kurt, and Julian (5 mos.), Arbor Vitae (near Minocqua, a small resort town in northern Wisconsin). Sarah is the clinical neuropsychologist at Marshfield Clinic’s Lakeland Center in Minocqua. In February, she attended the International Neuropsychological Society Conference in Baltimore. However, the big event of the year was the birth of Julian Luc Gustavo on July 6, an “exhausting 11 days” after his due date. But Sarah did enjoy the following 12 weeks of maternity leave. Julian loves to eat his veggies, is rolling over like crazy right now, and loves to smile at everyone. He wears a Green Bay Packer outfit for every game; and that has seemed to really help their record. Kurt works at home as an artist and a computer consultant via the Internet. He is currently working on stained glass pieces and is editing a documentary about a "UPer" (Upper Michigan resident). Sarah & Kurt enjoy the solitude of their house in the woods, where their dog Summer (a Vizsla) has room to run. They enjoy kayaking and mountain biking. The whole family joined the others at the Outer Banks again this year, for a fabulous beach house vacation.

Betsy Middleton, WI, is a Pre-Kindergarten Teacher at Clubhouse for Kids, Cross Plains, WI, preparing children for kindergarten (printing letters and numbers, self-help and social skills, etc.). She really enjoys planning lesson activities for her class and mixes in fun and interesting topics that excite the children. This past year, she taught about astronomy, natural disasters, tropical islands, dinosaurs, and dragons; building props such as a Space Shuttle and a submarine (for “Ocean Week”). She also organized an Olympics, where the children "competed" in different events with an awards ceremony at the end of the week (everyone winning a gold medal in a different event, of course). Betsy also has an online business called sisterbox.com -- “The faster, easier way to send a care package without losing the homemade touch.” She sells pre-made gift boxes, and has a virtual mall for those who want to individually select items for a gift box. This year Betsy and Sarah researched and organized the family reunion vacation to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Just for fun, Betsy, Katy, and Suzie have started tap dance lessons.

Katy, Madison, WI, is a psychology graduate student at UW-Madison, interested in experimental design and statistical methods, and works as a teaching assistant in these courses. Her research interests are judgment and decision making about environmental issues, and quantitative modeling. She presented her Master’s Thesis research at the Society for Judgment and Decision Making Conference in Minneapolis. Before graduate school, Katy was a research assistant at the Urban Institute, Washington, DC (a think tank for nonpartisan economic/social policy research), and this year she published more of her Institute research –“The role of welfare and work in predicting foster care reunification rates for children of welfare recipients” in the Children and Youth Services Review. Outside of school, Katy enjoys yoga, running, dancing, knitting, and traveling. In June she traveled to Tunisia with David to visit a friend who works for the State Department. Highlights of the trip included visiting Roman ruins, haggling in the markets, riding camels in the Sahara at sunset, relaxing on the beaches of the Mediterranean, and smoking chi-cha in a hookah pipe. Within days after returning from camping in the Sahara Desert, Katy went camping and canoeing with Peter and Tony in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Northern Minnesota. She also took trips to Chicago and DC to visit friends; and was with us at the Outer Banks. In September Katy ran for a team in the St. Croix Valley Triathlon, Hudson, WI. The team took 2^nd place.

Tony, De Pere, WI, is a science teacher at De Pere High School. He finished his student teaching at West Salem High School and graduated from UW-La Crosse in May with three teaching certifications -- Broadfield Science, Physics, and Chemistry. He interviewed throughout the Midwest and was offered four teaching positions (including one from his former high school) before taking his current job. While in college, Tony worked as a driving instructor. After graduation, he taught summer school science in the Wausau school district while living at home. This summer Tony went canoeing and camping for a week with Peter and Katy in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (part of the Superior National Forest in Northern Minnesota) -- "a million acres of wilderness, with over 1,000 pristine lakes and streams, and 1,500 miles of canoe routes.” In November, Dan, Tony, Katy, Joel (Katy’s boyfriend), and Peter attended the play “Copenhagen” at the new Overture Center for the Arts in Madison. Winner of 3 Tony Awards (including Best Play), it is “a haunting story of friendship and danger. In 1941, the German nuclear physicist Werner Heisenberg made a strange trip to Copenhagen to see his Danish counterpart, Niels Bohr.” Tony’s girlfriend, Brenna, is an education major at UW-La Crosse who plans to graduate next May. She skates on the UW-La Crosse Women's Club Hockey Team; and in July she did the MS Sun 75 Inline Skate Tour, a 75-mile skate on the Willard Munger State Trail from Hinckley to Duluth, MN. The entire Trail “is a collection of four interconnected multi-use paths stretching 174 miles from St. Paul to Duluth past some of Minnesota's most dramatic natural scenery and historic landmarks. [It is] the longest paved recreational trail in the United States.”