Hi all -

Year 2000 was just as eventful for us as the last decade of the 20^th Century. We had a year filled with lots of travel, discoveries, and a few changes. As in 1999, we chronicled the year on our web site at www.rizbee.com/2000/2000.htm .

We are all well. Jon and Care celebrated their 14^th wedding anniversary on November 29^th by having dinner with our respective work colleagues. However, the following evening we had dinner together at Manka Inverness Lodge located near Point Reyes Seashore. Jon's family -- parents, sisters, nieces, nephew, and grandmother, are all doing fine.

Trout and Rizbee, our 14 and 13 year old Siberian Huskies respectively, are slowing down more every year due to arthritis and a number of other doggie geriatric ailments; however, they are in reasonably good shape.

In order to keep them youthful, in April Care talked Jon into adopting a blue-eyed Siberian Husky puppy rescued by the owner of our kennel. For those of you counting, that is 3 headstrong independent Siberians living under our roof.

Asia, our newest addition, is quite a handful and she does keep the activity level elevated for the older dogs. Care is re-learning (or discovering??) long-lost puppy training skills. We continue to enjoy the bay area and pursue such favorites as hiking and tennis We also traveled a lot this year.

At the time of our respective four year anniversaries at Autodesk we were both eligible for a 6-week sabbatical. In March and April, we wasted no time and embarked on a trip to China and Australia for six weeks. We began our adventure `down under' in Australia where we made a giant air loop beginning in Sydney, continuing westerly to Kangaroo Island, north through the middle of the continent to Ayer's Rock and Alice Springs, then up to `Crocodile Dundee' territory- Arnheimland, lastly the Great Barrier Reef of Queensland, and returning to Sydney.

Our weeks in Australia went by so quickly. We saw all the usual suspects of Australian lore: kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, echidnas, crocodiles, dingos, flying foxes, emus, kookaburra, galahs, lorikeets and sea lions. More of Australia...

We then spent three weeks in China visiting Beijing, Xian, the Yellow River, Shanghai, the Yellow Mountains, Guilin, and Hong Kong as well as cruising the Yantsze.

More of China...

In China Jon obtained a certain amount of popularity through the use of his digital camera. Children especially shed their normal shyness to perform for us so that they could immediately see pictures of their antics.

It was fabulous to visit these countries but we could not see everything so Care immediately planned a return trip to Australia.

In August Jon visited his sisters, Jane and Sara, in Irvine and then we sharpened up our tennis skills at a camp in Lake Tahoe. The following month, we spent a week on the big island of Hawaii where we played lots of tennis, visited the volcanos by helicopter and relaxed. Later in the fall we did some hiking at Lake Tahoe, visited Jon's parents in North Carolina and completed the celebration of our wedding anniversary by means of a weekend trip to Santa Fe.

Care continues to work with Discreet, the multimedia division of Autodesk. However, her role has changed and she is now   Director of Business Development. She still uses her legal background and also her business skills and experience in Computer Graphics. Jon continues to run Autodesk Ventures, Autodesk's investment and corporate development division. In May, he was promoted to Vice President of Autodesk Ventures.

One new vehicle this year. Jon bought an Audi TT Roadster this summer. It is a fun car for touring around the California coast and wine country. It is pretty small (especially the trunk) and not very practical, so we kept the Jeep for dog and grocery transport.

We are looking forward to a quiet Christmas at home. Our big project for the spring of 2001 is painting and renovation of our family room, kitchen, and living room.

Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for 2001

Jon, Care, Rizbee, Trout, and Asia