Just a quick update…

…because I’m tired of looking at the stupid post about Pauly what’s his name. I should have just kept that to myself, really.

Tony, Andy & I spent about two weeks in the US visiting my family in Pennsylvania. I’m proud to report that Andy (the six year old) now speaks English. You would not believe what a difference just a few days in an all-English environment made on both of them. I did speak more Japanese with them just to make them feel more comfortable, but they both held their own in English the entire time. My sister has two daughters of the same ages, and the four of them got along far, far better than my sister and I did growing up. My mother loved playing host to four grandchildren, although she was looking pretty wilted towards the end there.

The end result of the trip is that the three of us are closer than ever now. The number of unsolicited daily hugs I get from both of them is up about 1200%. And since my wife stayed home because she had to work, we came back to an absolutely spotlessly clean house. It looked like the interior home photos you see in Better Homes & Gardens.

As soon as I figure out where I left my iRiver MP3 player & recorder, I’ll record a podcast. I have a sinking feeling thought that I might have forgotten it in my sister’s minivan…