2003 Holiday Letter

It is hard to believe, but 2003 is nearly behind us, and 2004 is about to begin.

In May, we were thrilled to attend the wedding of Chris's friend Lauren Weiss to her college sweetheart, Brian Felt. The wedding took place at the Lehigh University chapel, making the wedding weekend something of a reunion and a walk down memory lane for Chris.

The following month, we visited Lauren and Brian at their home in West Chester, PA, during a long weekend in Philadelphia. It was Paul's first trip to Philly, and he really enjoyed seeing the history of the city. While we were there, we visited America's oldest zoo and the famous Philadelphia Art Museum.

July brought a long-awaited promotion for Chris. He is now officially a Solution Project Manager, which translates to increased responsibility, customer contacts, and visibility to management.

Later that month, we once again hosted visitors for the seventh annual Bounty of the Hudson wine festival. It was truly the social event of the summer, and we were happy to see a number of friends and family who traveled from as far away as State College, PA, and Boston, MA.

At the end of July, Paul attended the 2003 IBM Global GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered) Leadership Conference in Palisades, NY. This was an amazing opportunity for Paul, who spent two and a half days with 149 of IBM's best and brightest GLBT employees from all over the world, learning how diversity in the workplace can truly make a corporation great. It was here that Paul met many new friends that Chris and Paul are certain to stay in touch with for years to come.

In August we took a relaxing and much-needed vacation to the New Jersey shore. Stone Harbor was the destination of choice once again, and we enjoyed a week with Mom and Dad Wyble, Chris's sister Erin and her roommate Jess, Aunt Peggy, Uncle Tony and cousin Sarah.

We celebrated Labor Day in Atlanta again this year, visiting our friends Mike and Scott. It was a big reunion, as our friends Jeff and David joined us from Arizona, and Peter flew down with us from New York. Later in September, we celebrated our four-year anniversary!

Paul has had the outstanding opportunity to do some traveling for work again this year. In March, he returned to Montpellier, France (on the Mediterranean coast) to teach a class, and enjoyed his first trip to Paris on the way back home. There he saw the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, and Versailles. In May, he taught a class in London. In July, Paul was asked to represent IBM at a conference called the SP-XXL for the world's largest IBM supercomputer customers. The summer conference was in Helsinki, Finland, and with any hope, Paul will continue to represent IBM at next year's winter conference in Maui, Hawaii in February. In September, Paul went to Herrenberg, Germany, followed by Mainz, Germany and London, UK in November to do more of one of the things Paul loves to do most: teach.

Next year's vacation plans may include Maui in February, as a possible follow-on to Paul's business trip. It's time for Chris to take advantage of all of those frequent flyer miles Paul has acquired in his many trips around the globe! And in the fall, we're planning a trip to Greece with friends.

We have continued our pursuit of graduate degrees this year, and we grow ever closer to being finished. Chris has completed seven of ten classes, and is struggling this fall semester with two classes concurrently. He'll finish up his coursework in December 2004. After a long and busy first half of the year, Paul took a break this fall and plans to finish his degree in the spring. We are also continuing to take classes in American Sign Language.

As always, we hope that this letter finds you and those you love happy and healthy.