Right now it is Christmas Eve, so I guess it is time to send out my electronic christmas letters… So here it is. At this point I really should wish everyone a safe and merry christmas, and a productive new year… I write a letter like this each year, but this is the first time it has appeared online… I might try to put some old ones online at some stage, but not today. Anyway, here goes the letter…

The first thing I should say is Merry Christmas to all… I guess that is the one thing I forgot to say in the first draft of this Christmas letter, with so much to tell you about. With that out of the way, lets’ start with the real content.

As is normal I tried to start this letter quite early… Some of it was actually started on the 25th of July, a date commonly connected with ‘Christmas In July’ parties. At the time I thought about sending out a letter mid-way through the year in addition to my normal ‘Christmas Letter’. So much had happened since my last letter, but work caught up on me. So in the end I did not get a chance to get the letter out then.

Some people might be wondering why I have been quiet at times recently. Let me take you back to last years letter where it was noted that I was dating someone. At the time I said that I had no idea what the future would bring. I had my ideas, but as much as they were right, they were also wrong.

Just after I wrote my Christmas letter and put it into the letter box last year, we got engaged. We were both so happy about this, and were really excited as to what the future would bring. This made the entire festive season far more meaningful for me than it had been for many years. And Christmas became such a special celebration for us both.

Unfortunately, things were not that simple, with the breakup of the relationship in the second half of January. We decided that going our separate ways was the best thing for both of us. This was a really hard decision, but in retrospect I believe it was the right decision.

The first couple of months were really hard for me, but things were made easier by my family and friends. Their support was invaluable, allowing me to go through the process of getting over the split. But it is amazing how things happen so perfectly at times. When I made the split public, I sent an email to a friend in New Zealand saying that the engagement was off, and that I was planning escaping for a few days, probably finding a beach somewhere.

Within a few minutes the wife of my friend in New Zealand had seen the email and invited me to stay in the guesthouse of their hobby farm just north of Auckland. How could I turn that down. It was so peaceful over there, and it was just what I needed. A serene farm in the New Zealand countryside with broadband access! The farm is just around the corner from where they shot the outdoor scenes to the new Narnia movie.

On top of the fantastic location I also got several Steinway piano recitals daily during my break. And had the chance to once again go riding on some beautiful horses, an offer I needed to turn down thanks to my inability to be able to actually ride a horse.

To be totally honest, much of the rest of the beginning of 2005 is a blur for me. Recovering from the breakup took much time and effort, and heartache. Following the distraction of my mother’s cancer last year, the distraction of the breakup was something I could have done without.

Professionally, I have been further developing my TeamTrack product into a more professional software package. I have also completed an advanced GPRS based tracking unit – both doing the hardware design and the software as well. Of course there have been the occasional issue with it, but generally things are going really well with it, with hundreds of my unit out in the world.

In the first half of the year I set up a business to commercialize the technology that is being developed by my business. This is now starting to come online and pay some dividends.

September took me to the USA once more for the TAPR Digital Communications Conference. With work commitments, I decided to only stay in the USA for a week, but I made sure that I made the most of this week. The conference was in Santa Ana which is just south of Los Angeles, which meant that I was able to visit Disneyland whilst I worked off the jetlag. Well, that is my official justification.

Disneyland was great, particularly since this was the 50th anniversary of the opening of the park, meaning that they were celebrating more than normal [Disney has turned their theme parks into a constant party, and will celebrate what they can in order to make their guests feel special. So they have continual anniversaries. 100th Anniversary of Disney’s birth. 25 years of Walt Disney World. 75 Years of Mickey Mouse. You get the idea]. And being September, there were no long lines of people waiting to get in. This really is an amazing time to visit the place. Not too hot and not too cold, although I did get sun burnt my first day.

The conference in Santa Ana was brilliant. I was there for the TAPR board meeting, the DCC Conference, and to meet on of my resellers. I ended up giving two talks/lectures and did a lot of talking. The downside was that I had picked up a mild cold and so I did not enjoy this as much as I could have. My travel diary is available on my Blog if anyone missed it.

October and November I did some work on a collision avoidance system for gliders. This was a challenge at times, but was actually really interesting. It has been good to do some good for the world at large. You see Gliders are somewhat prone to fly into each other, and anything that can make them safer is a godsend. In November I went up to the NSW Glider Championships at Lake Keepit, and we tested the hardware and software successfully. There were some minor issues, but generally things went really well. And I managed to get a flight in a Jabiru light plane, as well as a two seat glider.

To be honest the glider did scare me a bit. Not the fact that there was no engine, but the fact that there were so many other gliders so close. I was glad to be back on the ground.

In my spare time I have been busy working on ‘The Plane’ with my friend Richard. We now have both wings essentially finished, and the fuselage is slowly getting put together. Richard is hoping for a first flight at the beginning of July 2007, subject to time commitments of course. I actually find the work on the plane quite relaxing and stimulating at the same time. It is something different, and I am enjoying building the plane.

Richard and I often joke that he is going to have to help me build a four seat version of this plane once we get his running. Whilst this would be a bigger project, it would probably take less time than this plane thanks to the experience of building this plane. I would never start such a project without a pilots license, and this is something that I have not yet decided to do.

Anyway, that is my life in a nutshell for the last year. There is more of course, but I think this makes a nice summary. So, what is tomorrow going to bring for me? I have no idea. The Chinese have a saying that goes

‘May you live in interesting times’

The one thing that I am sure of is that I my life will be full of interesting times. Merry Christmas to all, and God bless.

Darryl