New Years Greetings from the Supniks

Martha says: Much of my life is the same since I wrote to you last year except now we’re 71, Gabriel is 7, Ezra is 4, and Elijah is 3. As the boys get older, there’s less diapers and more amazing conversations. Gabe is in second grade and soaks up new information like a sponge. His best friend's grandma made both kids leopard costumes for Halloween. Gabe thinks all grandmothers love to sew! Ezra has learned to play checkers so well I don’t have to make dumb moves deliberately for him to beat me. He wanted to be a challah for Halloween so I showed Ben how to sew his costume by hand while watching the Red Sox win the World Series. Elijah speaks not just in sentences but in full paragraphs and makes great pretend phone calls on the old cell phones Bob turned into toys for my car.

I’m still volunteering at the New England Quilt Museum once a week and glad to have some new helpers. Bob’s sister, Lee, is doing well in Burlington, MA where she can walk to lots of stores in good weather and a free gym in bad weather. I’ve made several quilts for fun which you can see here. Bob and I kayaked on the lakes near Ben’s house all summer and I’m impatiently waiting for snow for skiing again this winter.

We vacationed at Timberlock this summer with no kids (until next summer) so it was all relaxing. I visited my family in Rochester in April where I saw lots of cousins and had lunch with several high school classmates.

We’re still avoiding too much exposure to negative news but were encouraged by the Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives in the mid-term election.

Bob says: Like last year, 2018 was filled with grandchildren, animé, volunteer computer support, and simulation, more or less in that order. Martha and our boys have covered the grandkids, so I'll focus on the other topics.

My animé group (Orphan Fansubs) had another banner year, releasing more than 40 projects. This is a result of getting some additional volunteers, but it's also the result of the increasing availability of older shows, both on physical media and on streaming sites. In 2018, Orphan released some of its best shows ever. If you like serious anime, go download and watch /Hidamari no Ki/ *now*. You won't regret it. In addition, the team created transcription capabilities in Japan for analog media like laserdiscs and VHS tapes. This will drastically reduce the cost of media acquisitions next year.

I continued to volunteer as a computer support person for Carlisle's Council on Aging, with a focus on teaching and consulting about computer security, repairing broken systems, and helping to recycle older electronics for people who need computers. (I've repaired/repurposed almost 80 computers in the last five years.) As a reminder, if you upgrade your electronics, don't let the old systems or mobile phones sit around and rot. They can be of great service to seniors and people in need in your area. Just don't forget to erase all the hard drives and flash drives first.

I finished the Quilt Museum's computer upgrade project, which started in 2017, by purchasing, integrating, and installing a new point-of-sale system. Now I know why people pay systems integrators for that kind of work. All the Museum equipment is now up to date. I also supported the Museum's migration off discontinued membership management software to a different program called PastPerfect.

The simulation work is now in the hands of a group of Internet enthusiasts. I mostly kibbitz from the side. However, I'm still the "go to" guy for understanding obscure hardware/software interactions, and I continue to develop new code on a small scale. I plan on visiting the West Coast in 2019 to spend some quality time in the archives of the Computer History Museum... oh, and with family too. I've been housebound for too long; it's time to hit the road again.

Ben says: 2018 has been a year of growing and of loss. Ezra is now 4 1/2 and has started pre-K at Temple Shir Tikvah. He is having a great time learning about the Jewish Holidays, the Mars rover, and dinosaurs. He made his father very proud when he brought in a regulation UltraStar (Frisbee) for “F” show and tell.

Gabriel is 7 1/2 and in second grade at Happy Hollow. He is deep into anything that has to do with reading or math. We may have a future lawyer on our hands: while he does not like playing board games, he does like learning all of the rules and then pointing out all of the options to his younger brother.

This fall we had to say goodbye to Cecilia, our beloved dog of unknown heritage. Cecilia had been part of our family since before we got married. A rescue from West Virginia, Cecilia was a constant part of our lives and the children’s lives for over the decade. Her absence leaves a space in our lives that we still notice every day, and also serves as a reminder as to how fortunate we are with our children.

Jonathan says: 2018 has been a complicated year. Larissa had to put in a bunch of extra hours to make a difficult work deadline after several coworkers unexpectedly quit the team at BorisFX, but the product got out on time. Jonathan is in the midst of his own sprint to ship the next game for Funkitron, which should be announced soon.

Elijah's 3 now, so we're starting to look for pre-schools for him to enroll in next year. He continues to grow and thrive. He now identifies letters and spells a few simple words (including his name), counts to twenty, and has started to apply lessons about counting to his video games. Elijah likes to sing, tell stories, and explore in the woods. On the other hand, he's three now, and with that comes learning to manage his temper and fearfulness.