It is hard to imagine that it has only been a year since we last corresponded. It seems more like 8 months, which, I suppose if one wants to be technical about it, it was. One might rightly ask “What could have happened in the intervening time that would warrant yet another assault on the English language from the Rosens?” The answer, (to quote a recent presidential candidate) “my friends”, is surprisingly little.

Dan and Kate are still living in Astoria, Queens. Dan still has his day job in mid-town Manhattan selling guitars, and despite himself, has become quite the expert. His guitar family continues to grow, with the arrival of a beautiful Gretsch 6121FTW semi-hollow body, a darling PRS Mira electric that he won as part of a sales contest, and a lovely custom made electric that he built himself out of parts. He continues to hone his skills as a sketch comedy writer, and is getting to the point where he can put together a reasonable portfolio for auditions and the like. Both he and Kate may have exceeded their respective parents’ “foodiness” as they love sampling all that the city has to offer, and concocting their own creations with a growing collection of tools of the trade. When not otherwise busy, they can be occasionally found during the baseball season communing in Red Sox-Safe bars.

Alena is in her junior year at Scripps College, and has developed a not- so-surprising affinity for environmental science. Her major is in American Studies, but her passion appears strongest in her minor, Environmental Policy. For example, her favorite course this term was US Environmental History. She was completely taken with her professor whom she says is the best teacher she has ever had. That’s high praise indeed, because she had some high school teachers whom she has said changed her life! She participates in a number of extracurricular activities, including “Challah for Hunger,” which involves baking and selling of Challah in support of Darfur relief and other charities. In January she will be going to Edinburgh, Scotland, for a semester abroad, and we hope to be able to visit her this spring when daylight returns to the far north.

Anndy is still enjoying her crazy high school kids, and is working 3/4 time this year so that she might fulfill her coursework requirements for her Masters degree, which “keeps her out of trouble.” By “out of trouble”, we mean basically time left over for occasional bites of food and a few hours of sleep. This summer Anndy had arranged to go to Bozeman, Montana for summer school. What was particularly notable about this trip was that she broke her left wrist 48 hours before leaving, which was 24 hours before Glenn’s lab came over for a BBQ, and which was 40 hours before the airlines called and tried canceling her flight. A reasonable person might have assumed that the gods were telling her to forgo the trip, bit I’m sure you already know how this ended. As it turned out, she had a pretty good time out there as she was able to make several trips to Yellowstone for her wildlife management and thermal biology classes, as well as getting her wrist casted. Speaking of casts, Anndy took advantage of the wedding of colleague to get a complete makeover, including the generous re-design of her cast by our artist friend Ilana Manolson. See the pictures below for a before and after.

Glenn has relocated to a new research building (around the corner from his previous digs) this summer, so he spent much of his time in the preceding months purging 26 years of brain slices, papers, and slides to make the transition as efficient as possible. All reports are that the actual move went smoothly, and the new place is great. Because the move didn’t take place until the end of summer, normal vacation time was at a premium, so Glenn labeled this “the summer of golf.” To be sure, this isn’t any different from any other summer (or spring or fall for that matter), but it made him feel as if there were a greater purpose to this otherwise meaningless endeavor. Glenn started a blog this year, which he calls “JB Say What”. While he doesn’t post that often, all indications are that it lives up to its billing as “Mindless drivel by one who should know.”

Despite our status as empty nesters, it thankfully doesn’t often seem that way as we have a steady stream of folks bunking on the premises. Between friends from Pennsylvania whose son plays football for BC and who stay with us for every home game, to a colleague who sometimes doesn’t want to drive all the way back to Providence after late meetings, to friends rolling in and out of town for various reasons, we play a pretty mean game of musical beds, and are never at a loss for company. If you haven’t taken advantage of Chez Rosen recently, be advised that our rates have dropped and we would love to see you.

We hope that this finds you all well, and let’s hope that all aspects of all of our lives on this planet show some improvement in the coming year.