Merry 2011 Christmas & Happy 2012 New Year

Marcus has turned 4 this year – and that has brought a wave of amazement and joy with it.  Even for the cat! Apparently ChouChou is starting to recognize Marcus as at least a partial human and sometimes will let him touch her and even play.  Due to Marcus’s popularity among girls, Bob often jokes that everywhere Marcus goes he has a “girl friend.”  In September, he started at a new preschool. Almost every morning he would ask Bob “Are we going to the new school?” He loves the activities, toys, outdoor area they have.  On his first day he brought back 2 paintings and proudly asked mom to hang them on the wall for display.  His activities pretty much dominate our daily life.  They include martial arts, Chinese language school, Library’s Sunday family story time, bicycle-riding, weekend’s gym day with Bob. The gym time eats up hours and gives Lan a chance to work on her lesson plans or have some quiet time for sanity.  Lan was very happy that Marcus started the Chinese language school this year, although she has to work hard to make sure Marcus study on a daily basis. The same award system for potty training is now applied to anything, including picking up toys, studying Chinese, helping in the yard, and do well in the martial arts training, etc.

The new school year brought Lan a new challenge. She is now teaching not only high school students but also middle school students. The work has been very busy, and she tries to balance the school work and the family life.  In the spring, she took her class to China for the first time. Many students considered this the trip of their lifetime. They had a great time visiting 5 cities in 10 days. She preserved all the nice memories on a blog. https://sites.google.com/site/cvchinaspringtrip/

Bob, is still working at the Commonwealth as a Middleware Application Developer. His musical endeavors have now grown to three bands.  Other than playing out live, his time is spent mainly palling about with Marcus during the day, and then evenings to unwind in his music studio.  Collecting vintage amplifiers has resulted in one great result.  Long ago in high school a small amp was stolen from him.  It left sort of a “Hole” in his life and he finally found one just like it and snatched it up.  Like many of us now looking to reacquire something we once had long ago as a form of “Closure” – he now has that for him.

 

Merry Christmas 2008

How are you doing this year?  We hope that you, your families, and friends have enjoyed a wonderful year and have had success and happiness.

 

Our year has been marked by some interesting changes.  Our son Marcus has crawled from the bassinette and now runs about the house.  He has started speaking a few words (his first word was “dada”), understands more, and laughs at jokes made by the Muppets.  For a while, his hair was getting pretty long and people asked us how our daughter was.  That finally prompted his first haircut and a rather loud protest from him while the stylist worked.  She earned her tip!

 

Lan is a busy one. While studying for her certification, she is teaching two levels of Chinese at Cumberland Valley High School and Japanese at the community college.  Lan is looking forward to taking students to China for travel next school year.  Not only that, she has passed the test for the US citizenship!  The swearing in ceremony should be soon.

 

Chouchou, the cat, has found a new toy!  After years of gaming with caps from water bottles, she stole a shoelace from Bob’s drawer.  It became her favorite toy.  Wherever she goes, she carries it, calling for us to play string with her.  Charming unless it is late at night when we are trying to sleep.  One thing remains unchanged though, she continues running away from Marcus, while Marcus looks at her and keeps saying “Hi”.

 

Lan’s dad came to visit us in this July.  This time he felt less lonely because Lan was home for the summer break and Marcus made him busy as well.  We were also visited by her cousin this Thanksgiving, who traveled from China for family reasons.

 

Bob continues works at the DPW as an Application Developer.  He is also in two rock bands and recently got an endorsement with Acoustic USA.  Along with being a daddy, he continues the never-ending quest of trying complete finishing the basement and getting the slot cars out.

 

Wish you a Merry Christmas and the Best of the year 2009!

 

~ Bob, Lan, ChouChou and Marcus

Our Year 2007

Our year 2007 has been spiced with both great beginnings and endings. 

 

Our son Marcus was born on 5/6/07 and weighed 8 pounds 4.2 oz. Chou-Chou, our little kitty, was forced to be elder sister in the house, she was smart enough to figure out if she cries just like the baby, mom or dad would run for her – pick her up and play with her.  Chou-Chou also acts very cautious to watch Marcus growing up – she seems to know that some day this “little creature” will chase after her or grab her tail. 

 

Bob had been playing in a band named “Memory Lane” since 1995.  They were formed in 1983 and he also played for them a short time in 1985.  Memory Lane retired and played their last on 6/23/07.  It was sad to see them go, but the band took a place that will be remembered for a long time. Bob currently works for two bands – The Distractions and occasionally Forever Strange. 

 

Lan went back to work after staying home with the baby for 3 months.  This change to motherhood was also coupled the rigors of a new job!  Instead of going back to her previous job, she took a job offer from Cumberland Valley High School and started her new career as a Chinese teacher at the high school level.  Thanks to Bob’s great understanding and support, she is able to focus on developing lesson plans and grading homework most of the nights, while Bob becomes the househusband – does the most cooking and dish washing.

 

Our parents are pretty much the same as usual – managing to live their daily life with some aids and help.  It was very warming to see how the grandparents could interact with their new grandchild.  Due to the distance we can only visit a few times a year.  But we do send a constant stream of pictures and stories.

 

Last year we moved into a new house.  New construction tends to have rather bleak landscaping so we set about changing that.  Lan has planted many flowers, plants, cajoled Bob into planting trees, and we also contracted with a local landscaper who brought in a hedge line and more tree work.  Lan also brightened up the house by developing painting and trim skills.  Bob is still renovating the basement and slot cars remain in boxes.

 

Wish you a Merry Christmas and the Best of the year 2008!

Merry Christmas 2006

Hello everyone and Merry Christmas!   We hope that you enjoy this annual letter and send us some information about yourselves.   

After much shopping about we have built a new house and moved into it in late August.  

Bob’s father’s health has taken a bad turn, but Lan’s father was able to make a trip to USA and see us.  This is his first time in the USA and is currently our house visiting and will return to China in early January.  For him it is a great chance to learn about the USA and also see how we are doing. 

And speaking about how Lan is doing – she is expecting our first child!  So far everything seems healthy and the baby is due in the next May.  So, baby on the way and the family is growing.  In regards to our little kitty – Chou-Chou refused to eat or drink for almost four days after we moved into the new house.  Now she enjoys running around the house very fast – sliding into the turns and sounding like a horse at gallop.  There is also an excellent example of the psycho-behavioral theories of "Association" and "Generalization".  After we played with her using a laser pen (letting her chase the dot – we call it "Red Mouse"), she has developed the habit staring at blank walls in the dark and trying to catch the passing-by car headlights reflected on the wall, shadows from moving trees and just about any shifting of light patterns on a surface.  Perhaps there is room for the advancing field of pet psychologists! 

Many things are routine.  Lan continues working for the Pennsylvania Bar Association and Bob for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  Bob is still playing in  the band "Memory Lane" (also known as "MLB6") so you should catch the show sometime.  We are part time students at the local community college.  Lan is also teaching Chinese at the Little Star Chinese Language School of Chinese Association, in addition to teaching other two foreign languages in HACC.  Slot car racing has taken a back seat to finishing the new basement.  Lan continues to update her popular Blog to share our American life with her friends in China. 

We hope that you are doing well.  Please email with news about your life since we want to stay in touch.   

Wish you a Merry Christmas and the Best New Year! 

~ Bob, Lan  & ChouChou and coming baby ~ 

 

（译文）

各位圣诞节快乐！愿我们的这封一年一度的问候信给您带来佳节的愉悦之情，期盼着您的来信。

经过一番选购，我们最终决定自己盖房子，并与今年八月底乔迁新居。

Bob的爸爸身体状况没什么好转，反而有恶化的趋势；而兰的爸爸则能圆其来美探亲之愿望。这是他第一次来美国，现正小住在我们家，将于一月初回中国。对他来说，这是一个了解美国和我们生活状况的最好机会。

说说兰的情况，她怀上了我们的第一个宝宝！到目前为止一切正常，明年的五月将是她的预产期。

这么说来，三口之家正膨胀成四口之家。小猫臭臭在我们搬家后的头四天进行了“绝食”抗议。现在的她则每天快乐得象小马驹一样在空旷的屋子里奔跑，还时不时做出拐弯时的紧急“刹车”样。臭臭还是行为心理学上的一个良好“例证”。自从我们和她玩上雷射笔后（让她追红色的点，被我们戏称为“红老鼠”），她便养成了一个奇怪的习惯：有事没事对着空墙坐着，守株待兔般等着墙上的光影，然后纵身跃起扑爪空中之影。这些光影多是由路过的汽车的车前灯、或者是树叶随风摇晃映射到墙上的，只要是任何移动的光影都能让她神迷很长时间。

许多事仍然照旧。兰继续在宾州律师协会上班，而Bob还在为宾州政府工作。Bob还在“Memory Lane”（又称MLB6）弹贝司吉它。我们俩还都是社区大学的业余学生。兰除了还在社区大学教非学分外语外，今年开始给宾州中部的华人协会的中文学校上中文课。车模赛暂时不得不停下来，得等我们完成地下室后才能再继续。兰仍然一如既往地更新着她的空间，和她在国内的朋友们分享着我们的美国生活。

请来信或发电子邮件和我们保持联系。祝圣诞、新年快乐！

 - Bob、兰、臭臭及将出世的宝宝 - 

Merry Christmas 2005

圣诞快乐！瞧，我们并不讳言说“圣诞”。(眼下闹得沸沸洋洋的是：一些人因为宗教信仰的不同，认为说“圣诞快乐”对他们是种冒犯，坚持要说“节日快乐”。)

借辞旧迎新之际，和大家叙一下我们一年来的生活状况。圣诞节的好处之一是让人们从繁忙的日常生活中停顿下来，花点时间念叨一下老朋友。哪怕只是短暂的瞬间，彼此也能联络联络。这么做似乎远远不够，但总比岁月蹉跎彼此疏远的好。所以，请同样对我们更新一下你的状况。

兰和鲍伯还在经营着快乐家园。我们现在的居住地址还没变，但已经开始物色新居。和平常人一样对住房总有无止境的梦想——更大、更好，尽管年初我们刚还完住房贷款。为什么不欠银行?!? 不欠白不欠。有时候自己也不明白为什么那么疯狂。但又一想，人生在世只一回，不如趁早好好享受享受。对不对？  

如何照料年老的父母成为我们的忧患。今年我们两边的父亲们入院数次。在美国，我们开始为鲍伯的父母寻觅养老院。兰的父亲在年初动了大手术，目前正在化疗后的恢复期。总而言之，兰在中国的家人照料她的父亲；而我们则在这里帮助我的父母。 

兰继续在社区大学学习，并且开始寻求深造的途径。鲍伯不得不离开校园，因为再也没有什么课程可以选修。但用不着担心，身为计算机软件开发人员，总需要不停地更新知识。获得MCSD证书好象还是最近的事，可眼前很快又需要更新证书了。兰的一外甥女通过在美国的一年学习获得了哥伦比亚大学的硕士学位，现在纽约。

今年年初，兰因Vartan供应公司关闭而失业。经过三个多月的艰苦寻业，她现在宾州律师协会做事。今年也是她第二年在社区大学教外语。三月，兰获得了驾驶执照，如今全由她自己驾返工作单位、学校。七月，为和中国的朋友们介绍、分享我们的生活，她在MSN网上做了个空间，并很快成为非常敬业的“博客女孩”（鲍伯这么叫她的） 严格地说，这个网络空间属于我们俩——兰很擅长描述评论日常生活，鲍伯也受影响贡献了几篇文章。他现在仍然是宾州政府机关应用软件III级开发师。大多数周末随乐队去不同的地方弹贝司。我们俩每周都要去健身房几次，保持强健的体魄是我们共同的目标。今年初，鲍伯将车模赛用的原有的两车道改建成了四车道。兰因为帮忙给车道钉台布、画线获得了赛友们的高度赞赏。臭臭——这只超级猫，很是精通玩耍艺术。她最爱的玩具是毫不值钱的瓶盖子，沙发下成了她的收藏地。她很喜欢玩追捡瓶盖，尤其是早晨5：30左右。有时鲍伯一觉醒来，发现他的手掌心里握着瓶盖子，臭臭则坐等在旁边。

希望一切安好。请给我们写信或发电子邮件保持联系。

祝圣诞快乐、新年好！

~ 鲍伯, 兰 及 臭臭 -   

Hello everyone and Merry Christmas!  And notice that we are not afraid to say the “Christmas Word” in this time of an insane society trying to make it “Not PC”.  J

So – just the annual chance to share stories and see what all of us are up to.  In a strange way that may be one of the good things about Christmas – it makes people stop their hectic day-to-day lives and reach out to each other.  To take the time to remember their friends and touch each other for even the shortest time.  It may not seem like enough at times – but it is far better than an ageless drifting apart.  Please take the time to send us some news about yourselves.

Lan and Bob are still making the happy homestead.  We are still at the same address but have started house shopping.  You know the usual dream – bigger and better but back in debt after paying the current home off earlier this year.  Why not owe the bank?!?  Sometimes it is to wonder why to be crazy enough to do it, but then, we only live once so may as well enjoy the step up as early as we can.  Right?

Both our fathers have been hospitalized several times this year.  It becomes a serious concern as we learn how we take care of the old parents.  In the USA we have started to investigate continuing care communities.  Lan’s father had surgery earlier this year and is now recovering from chemotherapy.  So – her family in China helps him while we help my parents here. 

Lan continues courses at the local community college and is starting to ponder an advanced degree.  Bob has been off campus sadly – for no more courses to take.  However, there is no fear!  As a computer guy his entire knowledge base will be obsolete soon enough and time to take them all over again, again, again – you get the idea.  It seems not so long ago that I got my MCSD and now it is time to redo again.  Lan has a niece living in New York who graduated with a Master Degree from Columbia University this year after one-year study in USA, which gave her chance to visit New York city a couple times in the past year.

Lan was laid off from Vartan Supply Company early this year when the company was closed.  After another three months job hunting and struggling, she is now working for the Pennsylvania Bar Association.  Also, this is her second year to teach languages in the college as part-time job.  She obtained her driver’s license in March and commutes to work and school all by herself now.  July she created a space on MSN (http://spaces.msn.com/members/lanbob) to share our American life with her friends in China, becoming a very dedicated “Bloggirl” (as Bob calls her).  Strictly speaking, it is our Blog – She is very good at writing stories about daily life, and even got Bob to contribute several articles on it too.  He is still an Application Developer III with the Commonwealth and still playing bass in a band on most weekends getting to travel about the state to the various jobs.   We both spend several days a week in the gym – so physical fitness is one of our goals.  Life is not totally boring though.  Early this year, Bob rebuilt his 2-lane slot car track to 4 lanes and since hosted two slot car races in the house.  Lan received many compliments for her contribution to the construction by drawing colorful lane markers for the track and helping with the table carpet.  ChouChou, the super cat has proven a joy as she simply refuses to forget the art of play.  She is one loving cat filled with the joy of the moment.  Her favorite toy is nothing valuable but bottle caps.  Like any hobbyist collection, ChouChou collects bottle caps under our couches (see picture of her carrying one)J.  Sometime Bob wakes up with a cap in his hand and her sitting by.  She likes to play fetch with them – especially at 5:30 in the morning.

We hope that you are doing well.  Please email with news about your life since we want to stay in touch. 

Wish you a Merry Christmas and the Best New Year!

~ Bob, Lan  & ChouChou ~

Merry Christmas

Dated: December, 2003

 

Greetings! It seems that we have made it to another Christmas.  I hope that your last year was something that brought you both interesting life and some good health or prosperity.

 

The year 2003 was something of a life change for me – I got married! Yepper, Ziggy took the big plunge.  I met Lan over two years ago on the Internet.  We were just friends for most of that time and just corresponded.  Considering she was living in China that was a pretty good accomplishment to carry on for so long.  Last year I traveled to see her twice and also met her family.  Her visa finally came through this year and she arrived in Harrisburg Pennsylvania July 31 this year.  We married on October 22, 2003.  Lan is adjusting to American life.  Her English is excellent and she also speaks Japanese and some Russian.

 

We are both taking classes at a local community college, psychology for her, while I continuously update my computer skills.  I have a feeling that I will be in school doing just that for the rest of my life as technology changes.  I also attained my certification as a "MCP" (Miscrosoft Certified Professioal) and am now halfway to attaining my MCSD.  I am still employed by the Commonweath of Pennsylvania as an "Application Developer" (at least these jobs have not been sent to India yet) and really do enjoy the new career.  Lan and I both spend several days a week in the gym – so physical fitness is one of our goals.  Life is not totally boring though.  I continue to play bass in a band on most weekends and we get to wander about the state doing that.

 

I hope that you are doing well.  Please email me with news about your life and I hope that we stay in touch.  Some people feel that it is strange that old friends may only communicate a few times a year.  But that is really part of the joy of Christmas.  It reminds people that there is more than the daily busy life and the routine that we lose ourselves in.  We take the time to remember each other and reach out to rekindle those old times and the new ones to come.  It is time for the broadband thing! 

 

Wish you a Merry Christmas and the Best New Year!

 

 

- Bob and Lan

 

推荐: 如果您连续看2003年2004年我们给朋友们发送的圣诞信,  您就不难找出我们的生活主线； 另外，也能对我的那篇“2004圣诞节”的节日暇想里关于圣诞信的习惯做法有个直观的认识。

Merry Christmas 2004

Hello everyone! I see that yet another year has passed and we are looking at the Yuletide for those moments of remembering others. It gives us some pleasure to write this short letter and I hope that I can hear at least a little bit from you. Lan and I are now celebrating our second Christmas together. She has started to become much more adept at the hanging of lights and decorating a tree. In fact – she just upped my act and got some stuff to do the outside of the house. I do not think that there are any electrical plugs outside – but we can fix it.

The year 2004 started off with our trip back to China for the Spring Festival – they celebrate this much the way we do a New Years Eve. We were able to visit many friends, family and former coworkers in various celebrations about her hometown. One of Lan’s friends is a journalist, who thought our experience of meeting on the Internet was an attractive story. She interviewed us and it was published in the local newspaper after we left.

With Lan’s urging I actually got to go to my high school reunion, which resulted in a trip to North Jersey. It was a 30 year reunion for me – ouch that hurts. While there we decided to stop by the house that I grew up in and say hello. Considering that my parents have not lived there for quite some time that was a bit of a surprise for those inside. The lady of the house got over it quickly enough and gave us a tour while I told stories of what it was like to grow up there. They still have the door jam that my father measured the growth of my sister and I! Hard to think that I was that short once. Between seeing some of my high school buds for the first time in 30 years and the trip to the house it was a moment for memory.

Lan has advanced professionally. She started working as a baby sitter for a family during the daytimes and part-time at a department store in the evenings (excellent for the wardrobe). Job hunting continued and resulted in her getting a job doing purchasing for a supply company run by one of the larger developers in this area. Since she is also able to speak Russian and Japanese, she was able to get a teaching job at the local community college at nights. This allowed leaving the first two jobs and now working as a purchaser and teaching. She is also starting a business that imports some rather nice pieces of Chinese art. Work on her driver license started in May and we wish to have the license done by the early of next year.

In regards to myself, I have finally achieved my MCSD – which qualifies me as a full-blown computer nerd. It does not end the study though as I need keep abreast with the newer technologies coming out. I am still playing with the band (Memory Lane) on most weekends. I guess playing bass guitar in a rock band and still pumping some iron at the gym should help balance the computer nerd part of me. I have also resurfaced into the slot car racing world and joined a league that covers a four state area. So far, just one win to my name –but it is a great group of folks and a lot of fun. I still work for the Commonwealth as an Application Developer – though just got booted up to the beginnings of management. I took this career change to get away from that but things just seem to follow.

The Ziegler house has a new addition. No – not what you think. This one walks on all fours, has a fuzzy face and gets into huge amounts of curiosity and trouble. It is a kitten and was adopted from a “No Kill” group. So far the naming has vacillated over several Chinese words or descriptions. Lan prefers to call her “Chou Chou”, which in English means “Stinky”. It is enjoyable to watch our Baby growing up; we are having fun to notice every change and improvement she has made.

Bob & lan