1988

Thanks to those of you who wrote wondering why I skipped the last Class Notes cycle. My organization has been going through a metamorphosis, for lack of a better word, resulting in my role, responsibilities and air miles growing to a point where I needed to disappoint somebody, sometime.

Dennis Shehan has taken the start-up plunge. After 12 years at Intel, he's working in a start-up company with an emphasis on wireless (I like that), called Varatouch, varatouch.com. Cool technology associated with input devices (joystick, navigation disc) for handhelds and cell phones. He's VP of strategy and business development, so king of strategy, roadmaps and partnerships — you have a bit more influence when you have 84,000 fewer employees in the company. Dennis says he's got a bit more gray hair, but attributes it to the ensuing prospects of daughters driving and dating, not age, of course.

Heather Donnelly Annaloro sent a note during the holidays. She and Charlie spent some time in Sarasota, Fla., late last year. At about the time I'm writing this, they were planning to enjoy some skiing, as Heather is very well known to do.

Can I hear you say Proudfoot? Yes, I heard from Hanne and Mark Proudfoot. Funny, Hanne started off with the phrase "always aim to please." She knows I, like you, anxiously await the next installment in the adventures of Proudfoot. Hanne hit her high school reunion in Denmark, very cool. Also had a cool ride behind a reindeer sleigh in Lapland, Finland. On top of that, the Proudfoot brood passed through Phoenix, Houston, SanFran, Minneapolis, NYC, San Antonio and Chicago. Running out of push pins, but the wall map is completely covered anyway. The couple has four kids: Danielle, Thomas, Steven and Kristen.

Pat Ciriacs and family are getting through the fun and challenges of life up in cheese country (Wisconsin to the rest of us). Recall last year his company was sold to a company called Creation Technologies. It's turning out great Š he's facilitated server leadership development courses and the Milwaukee business unit is in good shape. In his spare time he's coaching his daughter Jenny's volleyball team. Their family went on (yet another) trip to Disney World and then an interesting spontaneous visit to Hot Springs, Ark. You know the Ciriacs are big-time fishermen. Then there are always lots of travels around son Kevin's volleyball tournaments, including California, and Austin, Texas.

Brent Koehler and family are further north than Pat. They're enjoying the fun and sun of Minnesota. Brent is throwing his brain cells into a number of personal endeavors. He created and sold his stake in an electronic used-car exchange, then launched and sold another one shortly thereafter. More on Brent's work adventures soon. The Koehler's also visited Disney (Did you see Pat? It's a small place, easy to find people, right?), the Pacific Northwest for whale watching and Mount St. Helens.

Amy Wahlert Principi wrote that she continues her volunteer work at a couple of church schools, providing public relations expertise for both parishes. As a family, they went to Cedar Point (love that amusement park!). The kids (Molly 13, Nick, 10) enjoyed shopping at the world's largest candy warehouse.

Fred Nelson dropped a holiday note upon me. Fred finally is no longer a healthcare consultant (15 years!), as he's joined a start-up company called ImpactRx. The company is a 4-year-old firm with the mission to improve effectiveness and efficiency of the pharmaceutical industry's sales and marketing efforts. Check out the company — it's been cited by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune. His new job has put a damper on fishing and piano playing, though, as start-up life is really busy.

Tom and Diane MacDonald found themselves with four kids going to four different schools this year. I'll let all of you over-scheduled family leaders out there ponder that one! They have a proposal for a book called Your Third Child and Beyond: Driving and More Driving. Love it! Tom continues as GM of Intel's server and workstation chip set division, and is now a newly minted VP at the firm. Lots of Asia travels. Lots of noodles and rice. I, like Tom, know what it's like to battle the midsection (stomach), mid-life bulge. He and Diane are raising four kids: Sarah, 11; Todd, 9; Carissa, 7; and Kevin, 5. Diane is finally coming up for air with some free time now that Kevin is in school, too, so she's taking photography (she does have four small subjects to start on). The family plans its annual trip to Kona Village and then travels to Southern California and Chicago.

We ventured to Cancun for spring break, where Jamie and I learned about the benefits of getting a base tan before traveling, since we're both pretty nonstop-active-in-the-water types. I guess we'll do that next time, this time Š we burned. Jamie and Rosemary are finishing up another year of school — this summer will include trips to Colorado for Rosemary and the Pacific Northwest for both of them and hopefully me. At Christmas we're planning to give Jamie the Anime expert a chance to see Japan, mostly in Kyoto. Rosemary is still molding young minds, which, at this time of the year, have turned into minds made of mold. For my part, I'm having fun building on the success of Motorola's V3 Razr product. We're running fast to bring out a lot more of these for y'all to enjoy.