Mid July check point

With Midori back from Japan our lives are getting back to a normal routine. We will be going to Tokyo on Aug 10th for our annual family trip. I will be there until the 19th and Midori and Emili will come back about a week later. While we are there we plan to visit Midori's father's grave site and go to her parent's home town for a visit. It will be the first summertime visit for us in 8 years. It will be hot and humid and the Semi (cicada) will be in full voice. I will try to get many pictures, and may in fact go a little camera crazy since summer in Tokyo is a very colorful affair.

Emili is in The Wiz on Village Theatre's kid stage. She is playing the role of Auntie Em. I have not heard or seen any of it yet but I know she has a big number at the very beginning of the show then fades into the chorus. The show opens on Aug 1 and then goes until the next Sunday. (Monday we head to Tokyo)

I continue to work as a QA Manager at Drugstore.com. It is a good job with a lot of cool people. We have a sister site called Beauty.com that sells cosmetics and other beauty related items.

Midori is still working as a Senior Manager at KPMG in Seattle. That keeps her very busy. I am hoping the time in Tokyo will be a chance to unwind and have a little fun for her as well.



Emili and I just took our Karate Exams for our purple belts. I think we did pretty good, and feel pretty confident in saying that by this time next week we will have our purple belts. In our style (Shudokan) the belts go: white, yellow, blue, orange, purple, green, brown, red, then black. The Karate West organization is full of very friendly people and we are really enjoying our time there.