Markus & Anja's x-mas letter 1998

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Berikon - December 26, 1998
dear friend, It's this time of the year again... the x-mas letter thing. Anja and I decided that we'd distribute our wonderful thoughts and memories of the past year electronically... and if you are receiving this on paper anyway... then get with the program! :) Okay, here's what's been happening in our lives during the past twelve months. Well, to tell you the truth, we've both been working way too much. During the first part of the year
	Anja was extremely busy preparing and practicing for her dance performance that I will explain in more detail later. Along side the dance performance preparations she has been busy continuing her studies in modern, jazz and ballet dance. Along with music theory and anatomy classes, she managed to work 40% at the head office of a Fashion and Clothing Store called Esprit. I am still working for a Swiss Financial Institution UBS AG (http://www.ubs.com), although I've
switched departments. Previously I worked for the web server platforms and engineering team. Now I've switched to the Internet security and access group. My main responsibilities include designing and implementing the next generation proxy cache backbone, firewall architecture, and other web connectivity / security related projects. Apart from all the work, we managed to spend a long weekend in the southern part of Switzerland at Anja's parents vacation house. Usually, our weekends consisted of recuperating from the previous week - Anja on a physical level and me somewhat mentally - although I am still way insane. Somehow I also managed to finally get my Swiss pilots license. Up until now I was using a
validated US license. Obtaining the privilege of Swiss flying involves passing an exam in "Swiss aviation law", successfully completing an alpine flight (equivalent to an American mountain rating), and passing a physical examination with an OFFICIAL Swiss aviation medical doctor thingy and stuff.... Along with that, of course, a lot of paper work... 'nough said... so I guess you can call me Swiss Pilot now!
So summer came along... for Anja's birthday we organized the first major party ever at our apartment. We invited over 20 people to spend the evening and early morning hours at the mighty Estate of Groundfieldstreet (Bodenfeldstrasse) and its surroundings. We managed to
	set up two tents outdoors (hey it was almost warm enough) and our landlord was more than happy to share his powerhouse grill. yeah okay, I guess it was just because we invited him, but even so, we still hope everyone enjoyed the evening as much as we did. And for all the American friends: "It's about time that you get you're a** over here!!!" On to the second half of the year - as most of you probably know, we spent two wonderful weeks in July in the US on the East Coast. Our trip started out in Boston, where we stayed a couple of days with my cousin Eric and his fianc�e Yoli. From Boston we traveled north along the shore up to Acadia National Park. We hiked, rollerbladed, and enjoyed the beautiful nature trails and
countryside of Maine. Finally, our trip looped back down through Boston and on to Cape Cod where we spent 2 relaxing days on the beach. Before returning home we had the honor of attending my best friend's wedding up in Minnesota. Justin and Ren�e showed us how it's done... and those two days will always stay in our memories. Thanks again for the wonderful time.
Then it was back to business as usual - long days at the office, short weekends trying to keep up with the housekeeping and of course lots of hard work in preparation for Anja's dance performance titled "Danced impressions of a journey around the world" (http://www.modern-jazz.com/dc). It wasn't just the dancing, but everything that goes along with
it. Things like organizing the dance floor, the technical infrastructure such as lights and amplifiers, designing and printing tickets and programs, renting props and the list goes on and on. Believe it or not, the Dance Company spent a full week, 10 or more hours a day to set up, prepare, and rehearse the show on stage. Finally the big date arrived - over the course of 2 weeks the dance company performed five times in front of a sold-out theater. Of course the lucky boyfriends of the dancers helped behind the stage serving drinks, keeping non-paying customers out, etc. Judging from the standing ovations they received on every single night, I'd say it's fair to
say that the show was nothing less than WICKED AWESOME. What's more? I have applied at the Institute of Technology here in Zurich (http://www.ethz.ch) as my preferred choice of completing a Masters Degree in Computer Science. At the same time a quick trip to the U.S. in the beginning of November with my
	dad helped me check out the Graduate Program in Computer Science at the UW Madison. UW Madison is my second school of choice for completing my studies in the fine art of computing. The last two months were filled with exciting weekends with friends and family, some classical concerts, ballets, and the Polyball in Zurich (http://www.polyball.ch). I also enjoyed a wonderful ski weekend with the department from work (I actually did start snowboarding) and before we knew it was x-mas.
The family? All is well and let me know if you're interested - at least for the Gallagher part - I will try to forward you their "late" x-mas letter - so be patient! Well, 'nough said... Anja and I wish you a very relaxing holiday season. We hope that you get to spend some time with your friends and family and we are looking forward to next year, when we will hopefully have some more time to keep in touch, invite people over, and take life a little easier.
warm season greetings, markus & anja.