Peter | Schuders | Matsuri

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2014-01-14: Cheers to a Prosperous 2014!

The Thoeny Family on top of the Empire State Building, New York City (2013-04-17)

Address: 1022 Belvedere Ln, San Jose, CA 95129, USA   phone +1-408-255-1477

From Peter

I know, I know, we are very late with this year's seasons greetings. I have been sick twice over the holidays, and Alexis and I have been out of town for three weekends in a row.

2013 was a busy and eventful year again. The kids grow up faster than a blink of an eye. Ladina moved to Hong Kong this summer to study at the University of Hong Kong. It was her first choice among all the applications she did. I am so happy for Ladina that she found her passion.

Alexis and I discovered archery in spring. We started slowly with an entry level bow. Alexis is getting serious with archery, he bought a high-end Olympic recurve bow, and is already competing at the California state level. The coaches say that he has potential. I think so too. Archery is 30% technique and 70% psychology. He has pretty much nailed the technique and is learning how to perform under pressure. He got the driving permit and is driving a car with a parent for a few month now. I like the system in the USA where kids can drive early on under supervision.

Shona's sister Iris and daughter came to visit us in early summer. We made a trip to Las Vegas, then a big tour around the Grand Canyon, then to Flagstaff, and finally to Los Angeles. See some of the album photos of this journey to amazing places, such as the Antelope Canyon in Arizona. Iris' son Ringo Leung finished his studies at UCLA.

The open source TWiki is progressing. We had a new TWiki-6.0 release in October. I am very happy that the community continues its quest on creating the best (cough!) collaboration platform for the enterprise. This release was again rock solid, a big change compared to the earlier years prior to the fork. The new dashboard feature lets you create appealing and useful dashboards for your teams. We are now working on a packaging standard for TWiki applications. My vision is to create a marketplace for TWiki app developers so that we can grow the whole open source ecosystem of TWiki. I invite you to join us!

My consulting business is also progressing. Summer was kind of slow, but then it picked up. I am now mainly creating TWiki applications based on customer needs. TWiki applications are really powerful because you are not confined to rows and columns like in a database - you still have the flexibility of a collaborative wiki.

In January I was invited to give a talk to executives of Siemens in Munich on addressing customer value using structured wikis - personas and kanban approach. I took this opportunity to visit my family in Switzerland.

Financially we are still trying to recover from the losses of the TWiki business and the hospital fees of a few years back. The health care system in the USA is tailored to care more for shareholders than patients.

I was always interested in photography. For some time I admired Trey Ratcliff's stunning work on HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography. Today's cameras, screens and printers cannot capture the dynamic range our eyes can see. HDR photography is a technology to create images that look more natural, in a way the human eyes perceive the world. In spring I bought a good mirror-less camera and took the plunge into creating HDR photos. I post exclusively HDR photos to my Flickr photo stream - I invite you to check it out!

I wish you good health, lots of success & luck, and tons of joy in 2014!

From Shona

Ladina went to Hong Kong to start her college life.

I started to dance on stage again after a ten year break taking care of my kids.

I enjoy my life very much. Having fun with bowling friends 2-3 times a week, good exercise with a Chinese dance group, sometimes enjoying Mahjong, and I like to organize parties.

Wishing all my friends to have good health and a happy life!

From Ladina (18 years)

Wishing everyone a wonderful 2014. Let's make this year a better one than the last!

From Alexis (almost 17 years)

I hope everybody had an amazing 2013, and further hope for a fantastic 2014!

Photos from 2013

Tip: Click on to start the slideshow, then use right-arrow and left-arrow to move around.

	View from the home of Peter's brother Christian in Oberägeri, Zug, Switzerland. (2013-01-19)

	Chur by night - Peter went to school here. (2013-01-19, HDR)

	Old tradition in the Prättigau region of Switzerland: Kids in "Trachten" travel in decorated sleds to the neighboring town. This tradition is done nowadays only in Fideris once every 6 years. (2013-01-20)

	A boy is pulling a sled. (2013-01-20)

	Dinner in Schiers with family: Peter, brother Jürg, Regula Baumgartner, Elke, Otto Müller. (2013-01-20)

	B&B of Peter's mom, Elke Thöny in Schuders, Switzerland. (2013-01-21, HDR)

	Porcelain in kitchen of B&B, painted by Elke Thöny. (2013-01-20)

	Elke Thöny in her studio where she teaches porcelain painting. (2013-01-21)

	Neighbor Simon Lötscher in Schuders on a snowy day. (2013-01-21, HDR)

	Neighbor's house in Schuders. (2013-01-21, HDR)

	The post bus is waiting in Schuders. (2013-01-22, HDR)

	Family & student at Stanford Shopping Center: Peter, Ladina, Shona, Alexis, Taka Nojima. (2013-02-10)

	Valentines dinner at Zeni, an Ethiopian restaurant in San Jose. (2013-02-14)

	Dinner at home with friends: Rachael, Anna Kong, Siew-Ming Tang, Alex Tan, Shona, Peter, Ming Li, Jin Li, Robert Cheng, Jason. (2013-02-16)

	Skiing on Mt. Rose: Brenda Li, Alexis, Ladina. (2013-02-20)

	Skiing on Mt. Rose: Alexis with ski resort owner Kurt Buser. (2013-03-17)

	Koraku Mikami-san at Hakone Gardens in Saratoga, California. (2013-03-26)

	Duck-duck-goose game at the Peninsula Swiss Club Easter event in Sunnyvale, California. (2013-03-31)

	The Thoeny family at the Peninsula Swiss Club dinner on Mt. Hamilton, overlooking the Silicon Valley. (2013-04-06)

	You can't get any better bagels than this, eve-rr. At Absolute Bagel in Manhattan, New York. (2013-04-14)

	Family dinner in New York: Connie Wong, Fanny Chan, Peter, Shona, Alexis, Ladina. (2013-04-14)

	The Scream, by Edvard Munch. With Alexis. At Museum of Modern Art in New York. (2013-04-15)

	The Scream, by Edvard Munch. With Peter. Museum of Modern Art in New York. (2013-04-15)

	Timeless architecture at Times Square, Manhattan, New York. The Hard Rock Cafe is in this building. (2013-04-15, HDR)

	Zoomwalk at Grand Central Terminal in New York City. (2013-04-16, HDR)

	Jammin'in the subway. We met these folks twice in the subway in New York City. They enter the subway, sit on stools they bring along, and start jamming on their drums. Very entertaining! (2013-04-17, HDR)

	Dinner in New York: Shona & Connie Wong. (2013-04-17)

	Peter meets Swiss psychiatrist and aeronaut Bertrand Piccard, who co-piloted the first balloon to circle the world non-stop, and is now piloting the Solar Impulse, a solar aircraft that will circle the globe on sun power alone. (2013-04-26)

	Peter with Bertrand Piccard and Vivian Li. (2013-04-26)

	Peninsula Swiss Club wine tasting at Fortino Winery in Gilroy: David & Maja Schleicher, Walter & Maya Gyger. (2013-05-05)

	Ladina at prom. (2013-05-18, HDR)

	Hike with friends on Mt. Diablo: Bailey Tan, Evelyn Tan, Jimmy Li, Alexis, Brenda Li, Ladina. (2013-05-27, HDR)

	Strawberries grow BIG in California. (2013-06-01)

	Kids serving food at Peninsula Swiss Club event. With Alexis. (2013-06-02)

	Temaki Sushi dinner with Dan Woods in our backyard. (2013-06-06, HDR)

	At Ladina's high school graduation: Alexis, Shona, Yuka Sugino, Ladina. (2013-06-07)

	At Golden Gate bridge: Mui Mui Leung, Iris Lai, Shona. (2013-06-08)

	After Ladina's last dance performance: Michelle Shieh, Ladina, Yuka Sugino. (2013-06-08)

	After Ladina's last dance performance: Alexis, Peter, Ladina, Shona. (2013-06-08)

	We make a big tour to Las Vegas, around the Grand Canyonn to Los Angeles and back. This is underwood at the Zion National Park. (2013-06-10, HDR)

	Our tour guide throws sand in the Antelope Canyon. (2013-06-11, HDR)

	Staged stage fight. Alexis and niece Mui Mui Leung had fun at the Desert View Watchtower at the Grand Canyon this summer. (2013-06-12)

	Meetup before Rino's graduation ceremony in Los Angeles: Philip Leung, Peter, Ringo Leung, Mui Mui Leung, Iris Lai, Shona, Alexis. (2013-06-14)

	Shanghai dumpling dinner: Shona, Mary & Michael Sun, Peter. (2013-06-16)

	BBQ dinner in backyard: Ladina, Elvin & Ryan Choy, Alexis, Charlie Sun, Nelson, Austin. (2013-06-19)

	At July 4th: Yoshi and James Humfeld. (2013-07-04)

	Ethiopian dinner with Chinese friends: Ming, Linda, Shona, Lucia, Julie, Miao. (2013-07-19, HDR)

	Chinese dance group is posing for photo. Shona is in upper row, second on the right. (2013-07-21)

	Stairway to heaven, at Point Lobos near Carmel, California. (2013-07-27, HDR)

	Marshmallows at Ladina's farewell party: Ryan Choy, Kyle Sun, Alexis, Jimmy Li. (2013-08-01)

	Alphorn and Talerschwingen at Peninsula Swiss Club event. Monika Ryser plays the Alphorn. (2013-08-03)

	Chinese dance group dinner after performance. Shona at the left. (2013-08-10)

	San Francisco Bay Bridge in early morning, long time exposure with ND filter. This is the most popular image on Peter's Flickr stream. (2013-08-24, HDR)

	Alexis got his permit to drive a car. (2013-09-01)

	Happy Shona at Dim Sum. (2013-09-01)

	Spectacular sunset at Mt. Hamilton overlooking the Silicon Valley. (2013-09-02, HDR)

	Alexis is getting serious with archery. Here he is competing in the rain at the California state tournament in Sacramento. He did pretty well. (2013-09-21, HDR)

	Haunted hotel in the old town of Sacramento. Not really, but a nice HDR photo. (2013-09-21, HDR)

	Shona exhausted & happy after the Chinese dance performance. (2013-10-05, HDR)

	Oktoberfest dinner in backyard with friends: Dan & Ariela Kikinis, Prof. Peter Fischer, Alex Kikinis, Nicholas Python & girlfriend, Norman Yeung, Jennie Yeung. (2013-10-12)

	Perfecting archery - Alexis is getting coached by Pascal Vin. (2013-10-19)

	Peter's creativity expressed in autumn leaves. (2013-10-31, HDR)

	Metzgete dinner at Peninsula Swiss Club event in Mountain View. (2013-11-02)

	The wife's favorite toy: Mahjong tiles. With Lily Honer, Celia Li, Athena Cheung, Shona. (2013-11-23)

	Dinner at Celia Li's home in Saratoga. (2013-11-23)

	Dim sum with Alex Tan family & grandma. (2013-11-28)

	Nice full feeling after Dim Sum: Shona, Alexis, Brenda Li, Jimmy Li, Jin Li. (2013-11-28)

	Waaah, Santa Claus! (2013-12-08, HDR)

	We visit old Sacramento on the way home from skying. (2013-12-23, HDR)

	Christmas dinner. (2013-12-24)

	Peter is stacking apples. (2013-12-25)

	At Mt. Rose ski lift: Peter, Alexis & friends. (2013-12-28)

	Sunset over Lake Tahoe. With Peter. (2013-12-29, HDR)

	New Year's fireworks in San Francisco. (2014-01-01, HDR)

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