We are Margaret Catherine Caldwell-Ott (Peg) and Derek Christoph-James Ott, usually referred to in the singular simply as “PegNDerek”. We met in New Brunswick, NJ in 1990 at Rutgers University while we were both working on our PhD degrees in Anthropology, and married on Valentine’s Day 1993.  We live on the Upper East Side of Manhattan with our two cats, Pemberton and Ebenezer.  (Our beloved Amaretto died in April 2007 and our sweet little Alino died in December 2009.)  We take cruise vacations twice a year (once in the summer and once in the winter), and snorkeling is always our “shore excursion” of choice. Our cruising back ground includes:

Peg is the daughter of a Foreign Service Officer.  With three children each separated from the other by 5 years of age, traveling by ship from one post to another was the rule in the Caldwell family to keep all of us entertained and happy, including Peg’s Mom and Dad.  Peg’s first ship was the Gripsholm in 1958 when she was 2.  From 1958 through 1978 she traveled on 15 voyages, the vast majority of them “crossings” rather than cruises.  She grew up in Copenhagen (Denmark), Karachi (Pakistan), Washington, D.C. (USA) where her father was the Ceylonese (now Sri Lanka) Desk Officer, Madras (India), Kensington, Maryland (USA), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), and Ankara (Turkey). Other frequent travel destinations during those early days included Cairo (Egypt) where her parents met, Athens (Greece) where her parents were married, and Dublin (Ireland) where her middle brother was born. Peg was educated at the American Community School, Addis Ababa (Ethiopia—Class of 1975), Cornell University (B.A. cum laude in Anthropology, Class of 1979), and Arizona State University (M.A. in Anthropology, Class of 1981).  Peg was the Consulting Forensic Anthropologist for the City of New York from 1983 through 2001.  Concurrent with her professional work, she also earned her living as a Science Teacher at The Brearley School (1982-1988), Rutgers Preparatory School (1988-1991) and currently at St. Bernard’s School (1992 to Date). In her free time (when she has any), Peg enjoys hand work projects such as latch-hooking and appliqué quilt work.

Derek’s background centers on Cleveland, Ohio, where he was born and grew up. His family also lived in Venezuela (1977 to 1979), the home land of his mother.  During his senior year in high school (1982), Derek lived in Rubbestadnes, Bomlo, Norway as an exchange student on the AFS program. In February, 1993 (2 days after our wedding-!-), Derek returned to Norway to attend a Common Property conference at Nyvaagar,  Lofoten Islands, and spent 6 months as a guest researcher at the Agricultural University in Aas working on a volume of proceedings from the conference.  Derek was educated at Cleveland Heights High School (1983), and Case Western Reserve University (B.A 1988 and M.A. 1990). Derek currently works in the Group Air Department of Gate1 Travel in White Plains, N.Y.  In his spare time, Derek is an avid participant in on-line gaming and a founding member of the AIA Clan, fondly known on line as “Cannon Fodder”.