Hello everyone. Good to hear that Dad hasn't waivered in his opinions. I love it and totally agree, but maybe not with the red face and increased HR. As you can kind of see from the picture, we are getting another typhoon. However, this is different than all the others, because it is hitting just to our west, which brings us the strongest winds. The one last week went pretty much directly over us but petered (no offense Peter) out upon landfall. This one puts on the side where the winds plus the movement of the storm equals a pretty good typhoon. They say it'll be the worse winds in 60 years here. And, the howling outside is proving it. Very strong winds and gusting. Again, I am thankful that I don't live out in the cho (Japanese community), because their houses are made of cardboard and I feel there will be a lot of damage. Here, we are in reinforced concrete and can barely hear the wind. Very comforting. This typhoon was not supposed to come anywhere near us. It was supposed to go directly to China, but did a 90 degree turn and is nailing us. Another day off!
Adina's brother, Ray, is coming to visit us (At least some family is coming to visit us...Marnie excluded from that one) the day after tomorrow. He'll be here for 2 weeks and we are going to give him a good introduction into japanese culture, history, and cuisine. Should be fun. He just got home from his mission in Ecuador about a month ago or so.
Isaac ran/swam in his first Duathlon on Monday right before the storm came. It was a 50m swim with a 1.0k run. There were 8 kids in his division and he took 3rd. He is not a very strong swimmer, although he could be with some practice. He has big flippers and a slim body. His strength comes in running. He really has a long stride and some good endurance. He can run forever. Even though he is really thin, he is solid muscle, not a lick of fat on his body no matter how much crap we feed him. When I was that age, I am sure I was chunkier than he.
Marnie, good to see that you are enjoying school. I hope this advertising class gets you some exposure and hopefully a job doing what you love to do.
And just to let everyone know, we will be coming back to visit the states from 28 January - 18 February. We will mostly be with mom and dad, but we will visit the Archuleta's as well. But, my primary reason for coming is to secure employment for August 2005, since my papers are in to be released from active duty.
Hope everyone is safe, happy, and healthy!
Dave

Typhoon Songda