Last Updated:  17 November 2001

Dear Family and Friends,

This is a periodic update of the happening for the family in the year 2001.

Strangely enough, the New Year's Day began where the Old Year ended - in a hotel room in Las Vegas. The mid-morning and early afternoon was spent cruising the major hotel along the strip. After a leisurely lunch at the one of the mall eateries, we thought we should head home. The 3 p.m. start from the Strip in Las Vegas took us until after 5 p.m. before exiting the Las Vegas area at a snail's pace - all this caused by the Southern California neighbors going to Las Vegas for the "true" millennium celebration. The New Year's activity ended when cousin Izumi returned to Japan and Sherry returned to her studies at UC Davis. January 's highlight may have been this event also.

February seem to be more active than January. Starla and her dance mates accompanied the Walnut High School Band for their annual performance at Disneyland. On President's Day weekend, the dance team took a trip to New York City to enrich themselves with with art and cultural education at the same time reducing the family treasury. Rick's Mathcounts activity with the Suzanne Middle School came to a close with the selection of the Suzanne Middle School team members after the School competition and participation of the team at the Chapter Competition at South Pointe Middle School in neighboring Diamond Bar.

In March, Rick was assigned as a coach to one of the two East San Gabriel Valley "All-Star" team to the State Mathcounts competition at UC Irvine.  He accompanied three Suzanne Middle School students and Walnut High School volunteers to the competition on March 17.  The competition turned out more competitive than last year as the Southern California  schools were shutout  my the Northern California schools - no national competition representative from Southern California.  The results of these competitions are at  this link.

End of  April - Beginning of May saw cousin Naoki Okui visit from Osaka, Japan when they observed their annual cluster of holidays called the Golden Week.  He was taken to various Southern California tourist spots and shopping malls that he had indicated earlier that he might want to see and go.  I hope we were accommodating enough as school and work was still in progress.

May was also the final act of the season for the dance team  - The Dance Production  at Walnut High School - for Starla where she performed in four dance routines.  Rick accompanied students that he coached for the Mathcounts Program to South Pointe Middle School in Diamond Bar for the Walnut  Valley Unified School District ' s Math Field Day Competition.  The 7th and 8th grade team came in first so they advanced to the  Los Angeles County Office of Education sponsored Math Field Day representing their respective grade for the Walnut Valley Unified School District.  The results are at this link.

June  - Rick accompanied the students with Mrs. Judy Arlotti of Suzanne Middle School to Edgewood Middle School in West Covina for the LA County Math Field Day Competition.  Follow the link for the result of this competition.  The teams did well enough to receive several plaques and ribbons for themselves.  June was also the return of Sherry to Southern California from UC Davis.

July - Tanya took some time off to visit her mother , brother, and sister in Japan.  July also was the month that Sherry began her first job out of college at UC Irvine - still in college??  Sherry's works in the Office of Admission and Relations with Schools with a very broad job classification of Student Affairs Officer.   Much closer to work, Sherry now calls Laguna Hills her home.   Starla attended summer school  most of this month taking two classes - Economics and Civic.  She also attended the mandatory Walnut High School Dance Team practice sessions.  The end of July was an announcement by Boeing's Human Space Flight and Exploration group that a significant number of Space Shuttle and Space Station employment will be transitioned from California to Houston, Texas and Kennedy Space Center, Florida as a cost-reduction measure.  The transition is scheduled to  occur early  in 2002.

August  - Perhaps a little later than most teenagers - with only a few months to go before her 18th birthday, Starla obtained her driving permit.  After a short week of break Starla and her Walnut High School Dance Team members began their practice in earnest along with the school band and the flag / pagentry  team for the upcoming fall football  and field competition season.  She also started taking some classes at Mount San Antonio Community College - host of the world famous Mount SAC Relays each April for world-class track and field athletes.

September - With the new school-year beginning after the Labor Day Holiday, Starla began her last and final year at Walnut  High School.  The September 11th terrorist attack was something we'll all remember.  On the Saturday of the same week, Sherry accepted a proposal for marriage by Paul Main, thus formaly becoming engaged.  Earlier than usual, Rick started the Mathcounts  activities with the students at Suzanne Middle School assisted by former mathletes from Walnut High School and UCLA.

October - This month Rick started commuting to Long Beach for a couple of month to help with the Boeing 717 work.  This month, 15 years after starting her lessons, Tanya received her Tea Name from Kyoto Headquarters.  She overcame several obstacles to finally reach this point.  This also qualifies her to teach the tea ceremony  related to her organization.

November - The first wave of candidates are being notified for exodus to Houston or Kennedy Space Center from Huntington Beach , California.  
 
 
 
 
 

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