happy birthday hiroko!

Hiroko's birthday, so to celebrate I let her sleep in while I went to cutting practice in the morning.
Came by about lunch time and showed her the new iMac and iPod. I will now spend all my waking hours ripping our CDs into the iPod so that we never have to change CDs again. One thing Apple definitely got right: this sucker is so simple to use. OS X is a huge improvement over OS 9, and doesn't even compare to Windows. Take it outta the box, set it up, plug it in, turn it on. It just works.

We spent the afternoon in Ginza. Ostensibly we were these to pick up our repaired shoes from Camui, but ended up swinging through Zara and GAP, doing our part to save the economy by being good consumers.

About 7:30 Kevin and Z came by and we had a fabulous dinner a t Piola. Of course, all dinners at Piola are by definition fabulous. Once the owner found out it was Hiroko's birthday, she gave Hiroko a nice plant and we got free dessert and lots of smiles. Gotta love that place.

niina-gosoke

Niina-gosoke is the man. Brutal practice, but that's mostly because I suck so badly.
After practice we went and got sushi and talked about the organization. Ohtsuka-san is now in charge of dealing with new members and those who want to become members, so he bought a Clie in order to check his email all the time. Niina-gosoke bought an eBook, and so did Ohtsuka-san, so Sekido-san has been spending all his time setting up their computers for them.

new schedule

So I'm no longer teaching the Tuesday night student's practice, and as of next week I'll be teaching the regular practice on Thursday in Iidabashi.
So basically I help teach on Monday in Shibuya, have Tuesday off for work-related conference calls, run the warmup and basics on Wednesday, and usually end up teaching any beginners (at least the last extra hour I can practice with everyone else who stays late), Thursday teaching Iidabashi, Friday Niina-gosoke's practice in Shinbashi, Saturday mornings cutting practice in Akabane once a month, and Sunday there's usually a seminar or something a couple times a month in Shinbashi or Toritsudai.

kev and z in asia

Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Nice. Get that whiteboy some sunscreen!

lily calvert

Jeff & Ericka's little Lily packs some attitude. She got mom's nose and dad's goofy expressions!


You talkin' to me?!

stealth disco

Who says we geeks don't got the moves? It's all about a video phone and the will to get down:Stealth Disco!

we're all newbies

Helped instruct for the beginner's seminar. We had three young Japanese women in the class -- nice to see young females doing traditional martial arts. And I don't mean that in a sexist way. Truth is there aren't enough young people in Japan interested in the traditions and history of their own country enough to bother with martial arts and other traditional endeavours. And for women, even if they are interested they tend to be lead to tea or calligraphy or flower arranging. So it was cool to see these young chicks swinging swords, and then after class they donned their Sunday styles, which for some reason included bell bottom (sorry I mean 'boot cut') cords and frumpy hats.