Business Trips and a Pregnant Wife

In yet another strong showing in my bid to become "husband of the year", I spent last week in San Francisco attending a global sales conference with my company, while Shelley was only weeks away from giving birth to our second child. Nothing like cutting it too close. Needless to say I kept the Blackberry close at hand...while Shelley made contingency plans with various friends from our church congregation just in case. I knew that if I missed this birth I would never live it down. Luckily everything worked out fine. No baby was born while I was gone.

The decision to go was made at the last minute, only after the doctor seemed pretty sure that our baby wasn't about to be born. But sometimes doctors can be wrong. My brother-in-law left for a medical school interview after receiving such assurances and his wife had the baby with him listening in on the phone.

Business trips are much more difficult now than they were when we lived in LA. First of all, Shelley would always say that she would miss me whenever I would leave for a trip. But now she's also envious - and I don't blame her one bit. I've been back to the U.S. twice since our move in January. I've tried to make it up to her, though. I have a "honey-buy" list and I lug Sure-Jell, canned pumpkin filling and corn masa, etc., in an extra bag back to Japan for the family. Secondly, it's harder on Anthon. He had to be pried from my arms so I could board my train. I could hear him crying all the way onto the train platform. That makes me feel good to know I'm giving my son abandonment issues! And it's harder on me. For a variety of reasons, it's just harder to be away from family now. Business travel can be fun, but it is lonely and I'm missing my family much more.

On the bright side, I have to say that I was glad to get to come to this conference. I saw my 90 year old Grandmother, my parents, my sister from New York and her new little baby girl, and I had a ton of opportunities to shoot pictures...a rarity. The meetings were productive.

You know the cheesy cliche, 'home is where the heart is'? I think it's true. Though we've been in Japan only three months, it feels like home to me. Having been in LA twice now since the move, I felt myself that home was with my family back in Tokyo. And that I couldn't wait to get back there to see them.

I took some pictures of my time there. Click on any of the pictures to take you there.

Family Night

One of my goals for 2008 has been to have family night (or just some family time) - something where we can have fun, even if it's just for a short period of time before Anthon has to go to bed. I think it's having the desired effect, certainly on me. I think I naturally fall into the mode of parenting Anthon, which means limiting what he does because I'm tired or annoyed or whatever. Certainly that doesn't make for a fun Dad. But in the context of family time I find myself being more patient, tolerant of Anthon being a little boy and the result is we all just have a lot of fun.

Our family outings have consisted of trips to the zoo, trips to cultural spots within Tokyo, dinners out and letting Anthon run around. We have a Mac and we decided to have fun with the Photo Booth application.

I broke the bed

I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but I broke our bed twice last week. All I know is that when Shelley's on the bed, everything's cool. But when Tubby Tubberson (me) gets on, everything breaks down. Twice. The last time was in the middle of the night and I didn't do anything. Yet, it was my side that broke. The only real explanation is that my brain must be getting bigger...because I'm sure that I'm a getting a lot smarter. Either that, or it's large quantities of Korean BBQ that I'm eating.

Here's a nice picture of our bed in the corner of the room and the broken frame. Anyone know a good carpenter in the Tokyo area?

The yakitori truck...the new taco truck?

Our family was taking a walk around our neighborhood when we happened upon a guy selling yakitori. What's yakitori? Well, if you ask Shelley, she'd say that it is simply burnt meat on a stick. More on her disdain later. Yakitori is literally translated to mean "grilled chicken". Think of them as small Japanese shish-kabobs with chicken (all sorts of parts of the chicken!) and vegetables.

By the way, if you're reading this and you live in LA, then you should run, not walk, to Little Tokyo and go to a place called Kokekokko which quite possibly could serve the best yakitori in all the world. I'm dead serious about this. Of course, it is because of Kokekokko that Shelley, and my Mom for that matter, don't like yakitori. You have to sit on these hard stools and the food comes out stick by stick, you have a minimum order and it takes a long while to get your food. The owner is a bit of a Soup Nazi to his staff, but it's worth the wait. The yakitori is wonderful. No reservations, get there early, and order right away. My Dad and I go there when our wives are out of town or otherwise indisposed. So maybe this a guy thing.

So, yes,I love yakitori, I see this small truck and I have to stop and get one. Anthon sees a chicken meatball stick and starts screaming, "meatball...MEATBALL!" So we get him one and this kid who really is ambivalent about eating in general eats, no devours like the most voracious carnivore, the four meatballs in about 30 seconds. And he's screaming for more while his mouth if full of meatball. So we hurry back to the truck for one more. I have only seen this level of crazed passion towards a food a few times before. Tacos comes to mind!

If you know me, you know that I also love the taco truck, a small catering truck in Pasadena that our family has been going to for years...more than 15 to be exact. And seeing Anthon go ga-ga for not only the taco truck as well as the yakitori truck is more solid than, I think, DNA evidence that Anthon is my child. So, being in Japan I know that I am not going to be able to visit the taco truck but a few times a year. I will have to have a substitute go-to place for my late night food cravings. Maybe this yakitori truck will be it.

To my friends in LA and Pasadena, please do think of me when you go to the taco truck. And for those who haven't been to the taco truck, it's on Fair Oaks, just above California in Pasadena. Don't be fooled by the one just above it. The real taco truck is in the Nishikawa Auto Parts parking lot.

School's out...forever!

Far be it from me to quote Alice Cooper's most famous song, but truer words have never been spoken this day. I finished my last class of formal education, completing the requirements for my MBA at the University of Southern California. I envisioned leaving class with fanfare in the background as I walked out of class in slow motion high fiving classmates as I passed. But it was really anticlimactic...imagine that! I celebrated finishing my last night in school by sitting in traffic heading to my family. I was rewarded by my son wanting to put on all 13 new pair of underwear.

It's been a two and a half year process going part time two or three nights a week - and by so doing winning no husband or father of the year awards. But it's been worth it for me as this has been a life long goal.

Anyway, so I'm open for any suggestions on how to best fill my time. I plan to spend more time at home and finally get back to reading for fun. Any other ideas?

Father's Day 2007

It's reassuring to me as a Father to know that my son is learning to pull his own weight in this world. For Father's Day, I received two pairs of cuff links, a pair from Shelley and a pair from Anthon. Shelley purchased them online from the same retailer on Ebay. The first pair came at a reasonable retail price, but the second pair came via an auction with no reserve and no bidders. The opening price was $0.01. Shelley happened upon the auction with 30 seconds remaining and the cuff links were cool, so she decided to bid $0.01 and she won it.

My proud father moment came later that day when Anthon and Shelley were walking and found a penny on the sidewalk. A penny doesn't go very far in this world, but in this instance it was enough for Anthon to buy my Father's Day gift. Shelley had him pick it up and give it to her, thus allowing him to earn enough to buy me a gift. So sweet.

Here is a picture of me opening up the cuff links with Anthon looking on. Gotta love the expression on his face.

Three generations of Anthon

I never really knew my Dad's Dad...the first Anthon. From what I hear, he was an amazing man. He served in the FBI during World War II, then ended up being a Sociology and Criminology Professor at the University of Utah. He even taught a marriage and family relationship class to my Mom before she married my Dad. He died, however, before I could remember him.

Anthon IV, my son, has a great relationship with my Dad, which makes me very happy. It's pictures like these that I know one day will be a great memory for me and my son. It's not often that you can get three generations of Anthons together! This picture was taken at the Dodger game a few days ago.

Twins!

For Father's Day, Shelley's Mom, Sally, bought Anthon and me matching Polo button downs. Anthon's now just able to fit into his. I think we make a pretty good looking twosome.