December 2017

Time to take a deep breath and dive right into the 24th annual Janz Christmas Letter. It involved 1 dive trip (2 were planned), almost near completion of the bathroom remodel, a personal plumbing refurbishment, and choreographing a Christmas light show for enjoyment of the neighborhood!

We rebooted the Main Bath remodel (on pause since last Christmas). The wall tile, with recessed mosaic for shampoo and soap were lovingly cut, leveled and set into place. The glass surround and door were installed in early March before we hit pause again with just trim paint and toe-kicks as the only items remaining to call this project done (it is that last 5%!) (see next paragraph)

Health wise, to say we had an unexpected, interesting experience, is an understatement. After having some "winter cold" symptoms that didn't resolve, Mike visited the doc and proceeded to phenomenally fail his stress test. He was diagnosed with Exercised Induced Angina, which led to an angiogram. Given the location of the blockage, the stenting was not to be. OK, what is Plan B? Coronary Artery Bypass Graph (CABG) surgery, or, in layman's terms, open-heart surgery! WHOAH! Wait! What??? His cardiologist's observation was this is just a simple plumbing repair, nothing difficult like treating cancer. With that "wonderful" news, we met with the surgeon, who calmly said "I'm really going to hurt you" in her best surgeon's bedside manner. So, 5 days after his 49th birthday, Mike had major, open heart (quadruple bypass) surgery. His surgery lasted 4 1/2 very long hours (to Lori). Aside from the one nerve that keeps piping up, recovery has been good. Some interesting education from this experience:

• We were very impressed with the care provided by El Camino hospital
• Mike's sign language is significantly better when on heavy anesthesia
• Micronaps make people instantaneously transport around the room
• Mike insists Lori is a speed demon (driving Mike home at 300 MPH!) or it could have been residual anesthesia...
• Recent studies have shown high correlation between early onset heart disease and Chemo, Radiation, and familial heart disease (thanks mom and dad!). It's good to be so far past Cancer that long-term studies now exist
• Take lingering/recurring discomfort (not just pain) in the chest seriously. Mike's symptoms felt more "lungish" (cold-heartburn) and cleared with a 30 second break. Be aware of other apparently non-related issues. When shoulder pain was added to the Google search, it became apparent what we were dealing with. We are very fortunate Mike had symptoms (only 20% of people do), otherwise, Lori would be writing a very different letter, this year...

As a result of the 2017 Snowmageddon, our Tahoe shed roof collapse coincident with Mike's surgery. We spent the July 4th week gutting and rebuilding the entire shed confirming Mike's new rerouted plumbing is ready for diving. We were able to re-use the foundation and siding, and changed the roof from metal to composition to better blend with the cabin. It's certainly not underbuilt like the old one. Multiple neighbors a planning on moving when the next Snowpocalypse occurs.

Six months & 1wk after surgery (but, who is counting), we headed back to Bonaire - it was great to be back under water! We limited our diving to 19 dives, found a couple new dive sites we need to go back and revisit, and love the changes the new owners made to Coral Paradise. It is so relaxing to be able to dive on our own schedule - both above and below water. Who can say they dove a 1 hour, 45min night dive, and still have plenty of air remaining?

Work keeps us busy and (more importantly) pays for our dive vacations. Mike's job has gotten busier, and we are learning to deal with the weird hours and lack of predictableness that brings. Lori is officially transitioning to a new job within Intel - a Product Lifecycle Management Director position that focuses on Planning and Requirements. Given that the team is new, you (and her) will have to wait for Christmas letter 2018 to see how the new position is panning out.

The boys, Marleau and Murray, turn 13 this year. They try to convince us that dinner time is at 1pm, when they know it really at 5. They also start trying to get us to go to bed at 9pm, even though bedtime is closer to 11pm....

We did a little tweak to our Christmas display. We added a lightshow synchronized to music. For the techies, we have 17,735 exterior lights (12,500 LED, 4,825 incandescent) on 64 individual channels, using 3,500' of wire, and consuming just over 20.55A (but who's counting). Next year we go big(ger)! It's worth a drive by if you're in the area - FM 89.1.

Mike's CABG surgery reinforces our philosophy of "work to live", don't hoard vacation hours, and enjoy every day. Next year we are planning two dive trips - in April we go back to the Philippines (really, this time); October-ish is still TBD. We will also celebrate Mike's big x-0 this year (AARP discounts here we come!) (seems a little more significant, given 2017...)

We hope you had a safe, healthy, and wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year! Feel free to email us at or visit us (inluding dive pictures!) at http://www.mljanz.com/.