1996 – The Year in Review

Well, it’s hard to believe the yearly odometer is turning over yet another digit. [1][9][9][7] We did not add any new members to the family - as we did in 1995 - we were working hard enough trying to keep up with the ones we already have!

Paul turned three this year. This was a big deal for him, not necessarily because it is a prime number (although he was quick to point that out) but because he had just spent the past year learning how to quickly hold up two fingers and say "I'm two". On the day of his birthday, mommy and daddy were telling him, "No, you're three!" (Yet another lesson about our wacky, irrational world: Just when you thought you had it down - you don't. For the next two weeks Paul struggled to loosen that ring finger from under the grip of his thumb and hold it up with his index and middle fingers while saying "I'm three".) Paul also started going to nursery school on a regular basis this year. He loves to sing his 'BCC's'. What's especially clever in his version of this perennial favorite is that the line 'L-M-N-O-P' has been changed to 'N-N-N-O-P'. Outlining a fact that we've known all along, that these letters are just a way of getting from K to P. Listen to the song sometime, you'll see what I mean. Over the past few months Paul has been busily going through catalogs, flipping to the toy section and saying 'I want this one, I want this one, I want this one, I want this one' (note: play the sound file over and over numerous times to get the full effect) as he frantically points to almost every picture on the page. I told him he could just say 'I want everything' - however, he feels he has to cover his bets. You shouldn't think that all of this wanton greed is one-sided and self-serving, since he actually skips over the ones he does not want (at which point he usually turns to Mayumi and says 'Mayumi, you want this one?').

Mayumi, taking a cue from her older brother, has now also learned how to say 'I want this one' (in English and in Japanese - again, she has to cover her bets). She is now one and a half although she thinks she is the same age as Paul (or maybe a little older. When you ask her 'What's your name' she responds with 'Mommy' or 'Mama' - although we think that's just her way of pronouncing her name). She loves to talk. The amazing thing is, we actually understand most of what she's saying. And if we don't, she makes sure we get the point - by doing such things as taking the TV hostage. She does this by turning off the TV and standing in front on the remote control infrared port until we come to grips with whatever it is that she is demanding. She is also a thrill-seeker. One of her favorite things to do is to grab a toy Paul is playing with and run for her life. But she and her brother love each other to death - or at least until someone gets hurt and comes crying to mom and dad.

I’ve had the thrill of my professional life this year helping to put CBS News on the World Wide Web. We were one of the first companies to do live audio and video over the Internet (during the conventions), and we had live interactive broadcasts during the debates. One of my contributions to this effort was a program which captured live transcripts of these events and instantly published them to the Web. The program was nicknamed Captain Text (pictured here) and this has since become my nickname in the Web unit. The election year effort culminated on election night when we worked all night to bring real-time vote totals of every state race to the Web - and afterward toasted a job well done with Dan Rather and the whole broadcast crew in Studio 47. Where do we go from here? Well, hopefully to some island in the Caribbean. After that, I may be heading to Nagano, Japan to work on the winter Olympics (which would be a great way to see some of the family whom we haven’t seen for almost three years).

Sugayo and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary this year by returning to the same place we took our honeymoon: New Jersey. Romantic, isn't it? Taking stock, a lot has happened over the five years: six new jobs between the two of us (not including parenthood), a new house, Paul, and Mayumi. Five years ago it was just the two of us in a one-room apartment in Osaka and now...well, if you were to chart the last five years they might look something like this:

Looking back on that chart again, and thinking of life as a river, you might re-label the y-axis to read 'breadth and depth of life'. Our life has certainly had its interesting twists turns and now - by God's grace - has grown wonderfully broad and deep.

Here's wishing you all a joyous Christmas, God's blessings in the coming year, and rivers which also run broad and deep.