1997 – The Year in Review

Well it’s that time of year again, the time when I try to purge myself of the guilt of not keeping in touch with people by dashing through the snow – er – I mean – by dashing off the CHRISTMAS LETTER.

The big news for me this year is, essentially, that there is no big news. That is to say, I am still at the same company (CBS) and it has not gone bankrupt yet (in fact, we’re doing pretty well and have some pretty good shows. Check out “Everybody Loves Raymond”, Monday’s at 8:30 pm. Yes this plug is obviously a ploy to help my stock options, but if you are married and have young kids – which more and more of you are [but more on that later] – then you will enjoy this show). I have, however, changed departments – I now work for CBS New Media (which just means that I now am officially devoted to putting CBS on the internet, as opposed to doing it on weekends at the kitchen table on a laptop over a bowl of cheerios). Keep your eyes open for a big offering by CBS on the internet with all of our local affiliates - coming to a browser near you at the end of January (check out www.cbs.com or the URL of your local CBS station).

Paul turned four this year, and Mayumi is two-and-a-half (though, two weeks ago I asked her “How old are you?” “I’m twenty-six”, she said. And she thinks she is.) Paul is heavy in to LEGOs and Mayumi is heavy into whatever Paul is heavy in to. She is – as Sugayo likes to put it – “Paul’s disciple”. The two of them have taken over the second floor of the house (this after I spent a bit of time and money fixing up a room in the basement to be their playroom!). They now call the second floor of the house “Mayumi’s house”. “Daddy, you want to come to my house?” “Er, sure, I mean, a lot of MY stuff IS there.” Including my books, which I had all organized neatly on my bookshelves (emphasis here on “HAD”). The last time I “visited Mayumi’s house” I found that Paul and Mayumi have come up with a new way of filing books. Apparently they believe that the Dewey decimal system is too boring. Their system is much more – how shall we put it? – serendipitous. Instead of books being neatly on a shelf where you can easily get to them, they have taken every book I had and put them into every pocket and hidden compartment of every bag and every suitcase we own. The two of them have found pockets and compartments that I did not know existed! I guess choosing a book is more fun their way, I’ll just need to find something new to put on my bare bookshelves.

They are also becoming quickly culturally acclimatized. I felt this was the case, but to test it out the other day I came home and said “Hey Paul – na-na na-na na-na na-na na-na na-na na-na na-na…” He responded, promptly “Batman!”. Mayumi quickly chimed in – though she does a shortened version: “na-na na-na na-na na-na – Batman!” They also know everything there is to know about Disney, Star Wars, Power Rangers, Arthur, the Rugrats, and dinosaurs. They don’t know everything yet, though. They still do not respond to “ma-na-ma-nop” (to which, of course, the answer is: “dee dee dee-dee-dee”). It’s just a matter of time, though.

Sugayo is keeping very busy with all of this. On top of that, she still is one of the coordinator’s of our church’s “Japanese in US culture” program – which helps the many Japanese in our area become familiar with US culture and traditions (though they have yet to do a unit on “ma-na-ma-nop”). In fact, the program she’s doing was written up in a big Japanese newspaper which interviewed her for the article. She has also taken up flower arrangement – to the consternation of our neighbors who will come home and say “Didn’t I just plant the marigolds THERE and the petunias THERE?” Actually, her arrangements are quite beautiful and usually confine themselves to strategic places around our house.

Come to think of it, the biggest news this year comes from all the people we know: Weddings – Ned Gulley and Wendy James, Bonnie Kortrey and Bob Kozachek; and a gaggle of kids! Lou and Mary Adler had their first: Samuel; Matt and Lisa Beale also have a boy they named Samuel; Eric and Emily Bezar will have their first; Surekha and Shaun Cohen had a boy: Benjamin; Pete and Mary Virginia Coffman have a second daughter: Emma; Jennifer and Tim Kirk had their second: Matthew; Mike and Crystal Kjelsberg have a boy: Gustaf; Bill and Juliet McClure had a girl: Katherine; and my brother Mark and his wife Kara had their first: Gavin. Most of our baby gifts are still on back order!

Well, between the time I started writing this and now my boss informed me that he was leaving CBS a week before we launch our new site! What was I saying about no changes? Ah well, it looks like 1998 is off to an interesting start. Wishing you a wonderful Christmas and God’s blessings in the New Year.