OK, 2008 is staring us in the face- presidential election (Thank God!)
and the Olympics in Beijing (Oh, God!).

 Oh, but first, you have to do the annual festivities.   Strain your brain, edit the photos, write some <pithy> text and then kill some trees and dead dinosaurs by printing it out and sending it all over the planet by snail mail, UPS, Downs & USPS.  Yes, the dreaded annual Christmas letter.  Am just getting started on ours.  We have already received cards and letters from Uncle Tim & Auntie Hilda (empty nesters- too much time on their hands... ;-) Okaasan (Mayumi's Mom had a great time in San Jose, Santa Barbara, LA, San Diego, Mohave, Las Vegas, Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon (BY HELICOPTER!)  Yosemite and all the other  places we visited during her stay in America) and friends near and far. 

2007 started with a bang- literally.  Winter storms and power outages (this is California?) greeted the year, and the global warming trend continued, bringing little rain and lots of fires- but earthquakes provided seismic relief.  (Ah, this really IS California!).  Quote of the year goes to (probably ex-) FEMA official who surveyed the San Diego  wildfires and said, "Nobody does disasters like California."  - Whoa, thanks, dude- we feel better already!

 Though we spent a quiet Christmas and New Years (aside from the thunderstorms and lightning) 2007 arrived like a tornado at home as well.   Teresa's LEGO League robotics team- which had finished second in our district in Dec. 06- had spent the long winter's break forgetting about nanotechnolgy, pink ribbons and robotic programming, as second just wasn't good enough to get into the N. Cal state finals.   They were ranked 65th in a field of 64.  End of year, nice try guys.

 But--- team number 64 was an international invitation.  It went to a team from Amman, Jordan.  In January, the Bush Administration astutely identified those students and parents in the Amman Robotic LEGO League as, in fact, Jordanian- so, all of their entry visas were denied at the last minute.    Yes, thanks to the W fanatics, America averted an invasion of one Jordanian robot, several short, smart kids and their doting parents.  Wow.  Don't you feel safer, too?

 Jordan's loss turned into Tivo's challenge- on 36 hours notice, her LEGO team was invited to the N. California State Championships.   You can read all about it in my blog post, or watch it in the video (the final cut is on YouTube and Google Video, the one on  Picasaweb has a unforgivable no-no, because I misspelled "know" - oops.) for all the details.  In the end, Teresa's team ranked high- but not high enough- in each of the judges categories. The judges knew that the Nomads from Knowhere were competing on just 36 hours notice, so they awarded them the Judges' Award for "Against All Odds."  The trophy is the first non-athletics award the school has ever earned and Teresa is the only yourng lady from her school to have an academic trophy to hoist when she graduated from middle school in June.

Naomi completed fourth grade at the same time- but scored higher on the standardized tests than her sister did- in the sixth grade!   She loves reading- and manga & anime, like her sister- and is a great student.  Even though their time in Japan last summer was short- just about one month- Naomi again attended the local public school in Hofu, Yamaguchi.  She has so many friends from the school and neighborhood that her sister was always annoyed and the Tokudomi house was never quiet when Naomi was there.  The girls and their grandparents met in Osaka this year and toured Kyoto together.  They saw the Golden Pavillion, the Movie Village ("Samurai Studios") and so much more in the ancient capital.

The Beirne ladies then brought Okaasan back to America for a month long visit.  My "fujitsu" jeep was on its last legs, so we traded it in for a newer Honda Passport in anticipation of Okaasan's visit.  At year's end, I'll be trading it in again, but the Honda's leather seats and other amenities were truly appreciated on our trips with mom-in-law to all the locations we visted in CA, AZ and NV.  Our apologies to family and friends in WA and OR, as we were not able to visit the Northwest on this trip.   We did fulfull Okaasan's lifelong dream of visiting the Grand Canyon- by helicopter at that!  The M&M Museum, Hoover Dam and Area 57 (We saw DRONES!!!) and a close encounter with a bear at Yosemite - were other highlights. 

In the fall, Teresa made the jump from our tiny, private school to a really big CA public school.  Far from being intimidated by a population of freshmen that is five times the size of her previous (and Naomi's current) school- Teresa is thriving.  She loves the social aspects of the school and is handling the academics with ease.   Thanks to Teresa, her Mother now knows the English expression "four point OH!"  (Yeah, I never did that.  Am so proud!)  Teresa also started college this year, as her courses in Japanese are taught by a local community college- she is earning both double HS credits and full college credits.  Even though there are upper classmen and college students in the class, Teresa is the tutor for the study sessions at the library and definitely the one to call at night when you don't understand the Nihongo homework.  Mayumi and I are both kept busy with the two school schedule now, but I am truly enjoying the one-on-one time that I have with both girls in the mornings and afternoons that we spend together during the school week

Like most companies, Fujitsu is cutting back on some of the perks that we used to enjoy.  As of 12/31 this year, we will say goodbye to our beloved Condo program.   We have enjoyed the condos so much over the last nine years in California- they hve allowed us to visit, relax and truly appreciate Lake Tahoe, Monterey Bay and Yosemite.  Luckily, I won the online lottery for the second to the last reservations at Yosemite, so we plan to be up in bear / snow country for a few days, before returning home to San Jose on Christmas Eve. We look forward to a quiet Christmas and New Years- hopefully with snow!  

Wishing you and yours a very joyous holiday & happy New Year-

Mike, Mayumi, Teresa & Naomi