The Randalls are STILL Building a House. John is going to have to buy George Skidmore a 6 pack of beer. Earlier in the year he wagered that we would move in by Christmas. But as you can see, we have made progress and Patrice has not had to kill any sub-contractors (yet). The picture at left demonstrates an example of one of our many frustrations. Patrice stares at our water meter that has been broken twice now. This time by a bozo that ignored the 4 foot high orange warning structure seen in the dirt and backed over the meter. For our devoted followers, (close family and deranged friends) a (sort of) weekly pictorial history of our house construction is available online. See also the "Patrice Builds a House" section below.

The Randalls SELL a House. Well it took much longer than we thought but on Dec 15, 2004 the Randalls sold the 2906 Ambleside Lane house that they lived in for 19 years. We had four offers and were under contract twice before we finally closed. So where are we living now you might ask? Since the new house is not finished, where did you move to? The answer is simple my friends. We did not move. We are tenants, renting the house from its new owner, who is willing to let us live here until the new one is finished.

- Ian and Patrice gleefully remove the FOR SALE sign.

Ian at 15 in High School: Ian is now 15 years old. Patrice and I don't know how this happened. Just a little while ago there was a cute little kid running around playing with Pokey-Mon Cards and now there is this TEENAGER who spends his spare time playing paintball and joining anti-terrorist commandos on-line. Did I say spare time? He does not have much. Ian was accepted into Pre-IB at Williams High School (9th Grade) and he (under the ever vigilant eye of Patrice) spends the majority of his time doing homework and studying. While still an 8th Grader, Ian won a prize from Texas Instruments at the Dallas Regional Science Fair. One project that he did very well on recently was a biographical portrait of his Grandmother on John's side (Vee Randall). The project involved a taped interview of Grandma, who among other stories told her favorite joke, which made it into the paper and the tape was played for Ian's and other classes with Grandma reciting: "I keep my kitchen spic and span, I get my milk from a Carnation can. No tits to pull, or hay to pitch, Just punch a hole in the son of a bitch!"

Ashley a sophomore at UT Austin: Ashley, having scholastically "kicked ass" at the University of Texas at San Antonio, has transfered to UT Austin to become yet another Randall (Grandpa Bill and Uncle Mike are the others) that will be known as a Longhorn. Ashley is studying Psychology and bemoaning the fact that no clubs in Austin will play Techno. Ashley reports that Austin is a little more exotic than the outskirts of San Antonio. For instance, at her surprise birthday party there were fire-twirlers and belly-dancers. Ash's dorm room is grand central for a large number of friends including several guys who lie when their girl friends call and ask them where they are. Still "Straight Edge" Ashley is very popular as the designated driver with all of her drunk friends.

Ashley hangs out with fellow longhorns.

Patrice is STILL building a House:
Things have not gone entirely to plan. (#@%!!~@#@!! Plumbers) At the end of last year we fired the crew working on the AAC (Aerated Autoclaved Concrete) walls. Little did we know that it would take three months to get another crew to work on the job. Notice that I said work on the job, not finish the job. They still aren't finished!! After considering three types of stone and 147 different stucco colors Patrice narrowed the choices down to 2 different stone types and 47 stucco colors. John then helped with the process of elimination by selecting one type of stone and 46 stucco colors that were acceptable to him. After that the choice was easy for Patrice. The there is the never ending story of the plumbers. They showed up in April. After a promising start they lost our shower valves and didn't tell us for 2 months. We now have 3 months to finish. Pray for us!!

John
John is still at Zyvex which has prospered in spite of John's congressional testamony last year. In fact 2004 has been very very good for Zyvex. We have essentially doubled our revenue from last year and expect to do about 9M$ this year. Jim Von Ehr our founder was given outstanding alumni awards from the two colleges that he attended. Our President Tom Cellucci gave testamony at a senate hearing supporting Nanotechnology. George Skidmore was named "Inventor of the Year" by the Texas Bar Association (thats the association of attourneys NOT the dispensers of alcohol). John was featured in an article by the UH Engineering magazine Parameters (Fall 2004). John is still working on Matricism. John has also joined Ian in Saxophone lessons. Patrice and Max hide when John practices.

Pet Report:
Yes our cantankerous, carnivorous, canine Max is still around. In spite of his 9 years of age he still thinks he is a puppy. We just hope he lives long enough to move into his own room at our new house. (Special note: Max's health is fine. We just don't know how long it will take to build the house.)

The Relativity Report:
The Stepchinskis: Eddie and Anita (Patrice's parents) live in Houston. There is ample documentation to support the contention that Eddie is still retired from whatever they are calling Houston's Electrical Power Company these days. Anita is in amazingly good spirits for someone that claims to have only one leg (she really has 2). While we weren't looking all of our nieces and nephews got much bigger. Caitlin(13) and Kyle(10) seem to be attached to Patrice's brother Nigel and wife Rhonda. Leanne(11), and Alan(8) on the other hand are most often seen in the vicintity of Patrice's other brother Patrick and his wife wife Erica. For some odd reason they are all still in the greater Houston area.

The Randalls: Bill and Vee (John's Parents) are both in relatively good health. Vee does have a new knee. Brother Mike is done with his 12 month treatments with interferon to deal with Hep C and seems to be doing so much better that he has taken up bicycle racing. Sister Cindy's eldest, Shelly, married Matt Avery earlier this year, and we are happy to say she is still married. Cindy, Skip (significant other), and Kelsie(15) seem to be doing fine. Cindy has begun to take up the mantle of distributor of dirty jokes from her mother Vee. If you are not easily offended, sample some of Cindy's email jokes.