Construction!

The Backyard transformation was finished! Happily with some diligence from Patrice, in February the landscape contractors wrapped up the work on the new pool patio. . Then Ian, John and Patrice put in a few hundred square feet of St. Augustine Sod.	BackYard 2019 (Patrice had to wait for the guy to turn around before she took the picture.)	BackYard 2020
Kitchen 2019	Kitchen 2020	We Finally (Almost) Finished the Immortal Kitchen Project. Before the tile contractor was scheduled in January, the backsplash tile needed to be chosen. Of course the interior designer advising on the project decided that the perfect tile was the one that had been discontinued, and the remaining ones in the U.S. needed to finish the large backsplash were scattered across the country. Hampered by hurricanes and floods, the tiles were finally shipped to Plano over a few months from 5 states. Next time, if there is one, we will go with a choice that is in stock, or at least in the same state. Patrice found some cool pendant lights for either side of the sink. John the PhD electrical engineer managed to install them but only after burning out the LEDs in one of them, resulting in another a delay. See the 2019 and 2020 photos. Patrice and John managed to finish off the trim work (see photo of Patrice caulking the crown moulding).	Zephyr waits patiently below.

Patrice Needing a break from the home remodeling projects, Patrice decided to do another painting. This was a big one. The Photo on the left provides some scale where the painting is finished and is being glued to its frame. The photo next to it is the finished painting on our den wall. John, on the other hand, with a plethora of vinyl albums that have not been digitized or chewed on by Zephyr (yet) decided to resurrect his old Dual turntable by buying parts from a company called "Organ Donor" and digitizing them for his listening pleasure. He got a couple of dozen albums done when he switched to making recordings of his attempts at playing the Alto Saxophone and some original compositions realized on Cakewalk software. If you are curious about what sort of music John plays and writes you can visit JRs-Recording Studio Astro-Photography! John and Patrice being science nerds bought a 6" Celestron Telescope and on Dec 21 captured an Image of Jupiter and Saturn being as close in the sky as they have been in 800 years.

John has continued to help run Zyvex Labs, mainly from home. Zyvex Labs has managed to continue to operate and is currently under contract with six different DOE programs, all centered on some aspect of Atomically Precise Manufacturing. We have done so by sending into our laboratory our chief technician Robin Santini who maintains and sets up our primary research tools for James Owen and several of (UT Dallas) Prof. Reza Moheimani's graduate students who can operate the tools remotely. At least that is the way we ran for the first several months of the pandemic. Currently. more people are going into the office part time with the rules: that if they are in the same room with anyone else, both should be wearing masks, and if they are touching anything that others might have touched, they are doing so with gloves. No one at Zyvex Labs has been infected.

John is trying to do too much. In addition to his duties at Zyvex Labs, he is also helping our spin-out biomedical device manufacturing company Teliatry. The progress at Teliatry under the leadership of the amazing Rahul Saini is gathering momentum and is very exciting. At Zyvex Labs John is Rahul's Boss. In Teliatry, Rahul is John's Boss. John is also active in another spin-out Rapid Molecular Diagnostics. While his duties are restricted to a short once a month Skype meeting with the CEO of Nano Retina, it is exciting to report that after more than 10 years of work that the artificial retina that Zyvex Labs helped develop started Human Trials in Belgium, in spite of the serious restrictions imposed by COVID-19, with three totally blind patients being implanted with promising results.

Let's get the bad/good news out of the way first. Ian was infected with Covid-19 but has recovered and Sarah, in spite of caring for Ian during his illness, managed to avoid infection. His symptoms were fairly mild. Ian claimed: "I felt sicker when I had the Flu." Both Ian and Sarah have continued to work through 2020. Sarah has worked mainly from home, but with some travel. Ian's job at Equinox as a personal trainer was significantly curtailed and so he picked up a couple of side jobs, one working at an indoor firing range and one working with his buddy Calvin at a restaurant. Ian also worked on his 350Z, with some help from John and Mitch (Sarah's Dad).

Picture of Ian's Refurbished and Sporterized 350Z

Ashley Update: Ashley and Ian Roettger (LA Ian) are doing well in California and in addition to all the fun of a pandemic have been dodging wild fires and waiting for the next earthquake. Ashley is now a full time Intimacy Coach and has hosted several popular workshops to further build her business. Ian's company finally landed a BIG contract they have been working on forever, and is now enjoying(?) the reward of a lot more work. On the right you see Ashley and Ian surrounding two of their favorite humans, Nicky and Justin. The group represents a quatrine Pod. Ashley has taken up camping (who'da thunk it) , sling-shot sharpshooting (with big ball bearings for self defense) and axe/knife throwing! Ash and Ian's pets, Senor Beau (seen in the picture), Gwen, and Mambo all seem to be well, though Senor Beau had recent respiratory problems that could have been something very serious, but turned out to be not such a big problem. While we talk to Ashley on a regular basis, we haven't seen her in person in a long time and miss our baby girl.

Trip back from Oklahoma

Chewing on Toys

Despondant: no chewing on albums

Charming Patrice

Aussie Shepard Thinks "Down-Under"

Running with the Pack

Big-Pup Lap-Dog

The Stepchinski Story In January, when it was safe to attend a motorcycle show, Nigel and Rhonda came to visit and Ian and Sarah joined them in our living room. Note that the fringe on our sofa indicates it was also before we got Zephyr. Patrice's older brother Patrick and wife Erica are empty nesters staying largely at home like the rest of us trying to wait until it is safe to go outside. Patrice's "Little" brother Nigel and wife Rhonda are still retired from the police department staying safe at home like the rest of us old folks, but at least they have some excitement in their lives protecting the homestead from large (500lb) feral hogs!