Hey!

Welcome to the 2nd annual Christmas letter from Dan & Sheryl!  While this year wasn't quite as eventful as last year, (it's hard to top getting married) we still do have some interesting(*) news to pass on.
	
We're both now in our 5th (and final) year at MIT.  We are in a program which awards a BS and MEng degree simultaneously at the end of 5 years, so we will (Lord willing) both graduate this June, at which time we will be commissioned as 2nd lieutenants in the Air Force.  Of course, in order to graduate, we both have to actually get our Master's theses done, which will be a big part of next term for us.

Sheryl's thesis project is developing interactive learning software for pilots of the T-37 Tweet, which incidentally, will be first airframe she will get to fly when she goes to pilot training.  She didn't get much work done on it this past term, because she was busy as a teaching assistant for 6.041 (probability and statistics). For my thesis, I'm developing a programing language and compiler for the supercomputer that was designed and built by my research group.

We were quite happy to celebrate our 1st anniversary this August.  We spent it camping on Pettock's Island, which is one of the small state-park islands in the Boston Harbor.  We also managed to go travelling in Colorado for spring break and visited my parents in California over the summer.

The really interesting travelling, though, was the USAF training programs that we took part in over the summer.  I went out to the Air Force Academy in Colo Springs to spend 10 days flying gliders, and Sheryl got to go to England as part of an exchange program for British and American pilot candidates.  While I had a lot of fun flying Schweitzer 233 sailplanes, I'm sure Sheryl had even more fun flying several different kinds of British planes, jets, and helicopters.  She even got to see the Queen!

The final bits of flying-related news are that Sheryl finally finished up her private pilot's license, (I got to be her first passenger!) and we also recently found out that she was accepted to ENJJPT (Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training), which is a special, competitive version of pilot training that is conducted at Sheppard AFB in conjunction with our NATO allies.

Just so we can each have our own expensive hobby, I took up scuba diving, and managed to get my NAUI scuba diving certification.  Unfortunately, the water in New England isn't the best for scuba; it's usually a little too cold for comfort, even with a wet suit, so I haven't done much diving yet.  I'm planning to start building radio-controlled planes, to make sure I have an expensive hobby for the cold weather months.

Our cat Clubird continues to rule us with an iron fist, (or paw, as the case may be) but we love him anyway.

That's about all the news we want to force on you this year.  Have a merry Christmas and a great New Year!



(*) Well, _I_ think it's interesting, anyway.