Dear Friends and Family,
This past year has been an incredible journey. COVID won the most headlines and contributed the most disruptions, but fires, economic recession, and election tribulations were not far behind. We are fortunate that our extended family managed to avoid COVID illnesses and most were minimally impacted by the recession. Our sympathies and hearts go out to those who couldn’t stay on the sidelines. Steve did lose a brother-in-law at a way too young of age due to unrelated issues.
For most of the world, 2020 will be considered the year of COVID; to us, it will always be the Year of the Jet. Long-anticipated, we finally completed our training and accepted delivery of our new Cirrus Vision Jet (link), affectionally named Malcolm. It also is the only jet with a full-airplane parachute and the only one with passenger operated emergency autoland capabilities.
Although it’s a baby jet and is about the same size as our previous planes and about the same performance as our previous TBM turboprop, being a jet required each of us to earn a Type Rating. We had to demonstrate knowledge and flying skills similar to an Airline Transport Rating and pass a half-day checkride.
Much of the winter was spent studying the books and videos of all the specifications, procedures, and memorization items that we would be required to know to even start our training. June and July were spent in our getting our actual jet type rating in the full-motion simulator at Cirrus in Knoxville, TN.
In early September, our jet was finally delivered, and we started our in-person training with a Cirrus instructor. As Steve required 15 hours, and Nancy required 25 hours, and the jet flies well over 300 miles per hour, we covered a lot of territory during our mentorship training! Nancy’s friend Marcie also completed the training, so she and Nancy can fly more together. Steve also completed the sale of both his motorglider and the SR22T, so the new jet can and will occupy all our flying focus.
Steve’s business, Seeq (link), literally zoomed. It is organized as a remote-only business with its own virtual office software built upon Zoom.us. As such, COVID restrictions did not impact his business operations and they just doubled down on using Zoom. Additionally, they were able to navigate the industry slowdowns to double their business receipts again in 2020 compared to 2019. He says they need a couple more of such doublings to be in a position to make investors and employees happy with the upside.
Nancy did not do any teaching at church this year due to COVID (and her dedication to jet training), but she has stayed busy with flying, and with the usual management of the houses, the cars, and the biennial relocation activities. She had been scheduled to take a trip to Chile and Argentina this December, but the trip was unfortunately canceled.
Rich and Tabitha continue to do well. Rich left his position at SheerID and now offers Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) consulting for a number of companies (Seeq is one of his clients). In addition to working part-time for Seeq on various culture projects, Tabitha has stopped her Barre3 teaching due to COVID but has expanded her beauty business. She has renamed it from Pearl and Blush to Tabitha Colie Artistry (link) and continues her summer wedding make-up activities for brides and bridesmaids. She is also expanding into a beauty tea business, Tea for Tabitha (link), an herbal blend that renews skin beauty from the inside out. They have been outfitting a new Sprinter van for camping, and to accommodate their surfing and mountain-biking gear. They plan to take a major road trip with it in the new year.
Brandy (the Standard Poodle) and Beckett (the Mini Goldendoodle) have just turned 4 and continue to be healthy and mostly well-behaved. Steve takes them for extended walks, usually twice a day, so they are in good form. They are cute, cuddly, and playful, a true delight.
We hope the new year brings love and joy to you and yours.
Love,
Steve (steve@sliwa.com)
Nancy (nancy@sliwa.com)
Websites: Family Blog; Steve’s Business Advice Blog
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