Terry's Weekly Email Newsletter; 30 Aug 09

Hi all,

Not much new here this week. Today is very cool - about 60 F, and a
little rainy. Definitely feels like fall. I hope we have a few more
summer days yet!

Jenn worked her last day at Target on Friday and left after that to
drive to Long Island to stay with Andrew and his family for several
days. Then she'll stop at Binghamton on her way back home to see her
friends there. She leaves for Madrid on 9/9/09.

Mike has finished about half of his On Campus Interviews - he had 5
this past week and has 6 more to go. Unfortunately, he has not
received any callbacks yet, and one rejection. He's a little
discouraged.

Joe and I are still working - nothing really much new there. We have
decided to take a Basic Spanish class offered by our local adult
continuing education center. We wish we had taken a conversational
Japanese class before going to Tokyo, so when we saw this offering,
we decided it would be a fun thing to do. It runs from the middle of
October to early December - just in time for our trip to Madrid!

Tom, I really enjoyed your pictures - glad that you're having a good
time. And Jim, I think that you did a great job with all the ring
quotes - John, did you use any of Jim's suggestions for your talk?

Hope everyone is well.
Kind regards,
Terry

Terry's Weekly Email Newsletter; 23 Aug 09

Hi all,

The last day that we spent in Tokyo, Friday, 03 July, Mike had his

finals in the morning. He met us afterwards and we went to the Hotel

New Otani (a luxury hotel in Akasaka) for a traditional tea ceremony

(first picture). We strolled in the Japanese garden at the hotel

(second picture). Mike went out for dinner and drinks with his

classmates, and Jenn, Joe, and I went to the Toyokawa Inari Shrine

(or Myogon-ji) in Akasaka. It was an amazing place, a combination of

a Shinto shine and a Buddhist temple (third picture). Inari is the

Shinto Rice Diety and foxes are his traditional messengers. This

place has dozens of statues of foxes - you can see two in this

picture with the Buddhist temple. Shinto is the native Japanese

religion, but the Chinese brought Buddhism to Japan and it combined

with Shintoism uniquely and interestingly. We stopped at a wood-

fired pizza place for dinner on the walk back to our hotel. That

evening, Mike met us and we went out to a really neat bar in Akasaka

for our last evening together in Tokyo and shared a bottle of wine.

The next day, Saturday, 04 July, we had our last breakfast at our

hotel, packed up, took a taxi to a bigger hotel, and from there a bus

shuttle to the airport. We landed in New Jersey a couple of minutes

before we left Tokyo, had a several hour layover, and then flew to

Rochester - we were able to see many fireworks while in the air from

above them! Mike stayed in Tokyo for another four weeks of interning

at TMI Associates in the Mori Tower in Roppongi Hills. The end of

our summer vacation!

I really enjoyed Tokyo! Although I have no plans to go back at this

time, I definitely would consider another trip there if the timing

and purpose aligned and made it possible!

No too much is new here. Mike has started classes - he also has 11

interviews coming up for 2010 summer internships. He's been taking

some mock interviews for practice; the real ones start tomorrow.

Jenn has five more days to work at Target, then she plans to take a

road trip to visit Andrew in Long Island and friends at Binghamton

U. Then it's packing for her trip to Madrid on 09 September.

Joe and I are still working. The weather was fairly hot and humid

this past week, although it has cooled off a little bit over the

weekend.

I just finished reading "A Passage to India" - I miss reading

classics, and picked this up from the library. I really enjoyed it.

Now I'm ready a "cultural and literary companion" book on Madrid - it

gives some history and background of the city and the culture of the

people there. It's an interesting book.

That's about it. Hope everyone is well.

Kind regards,

Terry

Terry's Weekly Email Newsletter; 16 Aug 09

Hi all,

On Thursday, 02 July, it was another fairly rainy day - kind of on and
off most of the day. We went to see the Tokyo International Forum
(first picture), a very distinctive building that was completed in
1996. It is mainly used for business conferences and is very
interesting architecturally, with a curved glass atrium and glass
walkways. The ceiling in the atrium resembles a ship's hull. We
stopped at a bagel shop there for a quick lunch and then headed to the
Imperial Palace and the East Garden of the Imperial Palace. The
Imperial Palace is only open to the public twice a year: New Year and
on the emperor's birthday. The most famous landmark is the Nijubashi,
a double-arched stone bridge (second picture - you can see the Palace
in the distance (and Jenn in the foreground!)). The Garden was very
beautiful - very green, not many colored flowers - and there were some
interesting buildings such as the Hyakunin Basho where samurai lived
while standing guard in shifts, and a tea ceremony building (last
picture). After our sightseeing we met Mike and went to one of his
favorite Thai restaurants for dinner. This was Mike's last day of
classes - he had the final left to take on Friday.

It's been hot here this weekend - into the low 90's and very humid.
Yesterday I washed and waxed my car, and today I cleaned out the
inside of it. Jenn has been working the weekend, but she's off
tomorrow. Mike is starting classes tomorrow - he worked orientation
this past week. He's getting ready for the OCI's (on campus
interviews) - he applied for about 20 - so far he has been accepted
for 9 and rejected for 2. These interviews are for internships next
summer. There are less firms interviewing this year, but Mike is
hopeful that he can get something in the Bay Area. Jenn heads out for
Madrid on 09/09/09 - she's going to work 2 more weeks, and then visit
some friends before taking off.

Joe and I are pretty much the same - busy at work, which is good.

Hope everyone is well, and Happy Birthday to John and Congratulations
on the Humboldt Research Award!

Kind regards,
Terry

Terry's Weekly Email Newsletter; 09 August 09

Hi all,

On Wednesday, 01 July, Mike had classes and Joe, Jenn, and I decided to walk around the GInza, one of Tokyo's shopping districts. Before heading out there we decided to try a fast food noodle shop that was near our hotel, but we couldn't figure out how to order, so we went a few shops down to an Italian sandwich shop that was owned by a man with degrees on the wall from universities in Italy, spoke to us in English, and to his workers in Japanese. There were a couple of Italian businessmen drinking espressos and talking with him in Italian, but generally it was a very busy Japanese lunchtime spot. We were impressed with the food, and that we knew what we were ordering!

We then headed out to the Ginza where we walked around a lot and saw the Kabuki-za Theater (first picture). There were photographing a starlet on the steps outside, so we were highly discouraged from taking our own photos. That evening we met Mike and went to Roppongi Hills to have dinner and go to the contemporary art museum in Mori Tower, the building where Mike would be doing his internship. We did not have much luck finding a place to eat - we ended up at nice, but rather expensive place. Mike wasn't feeling well, so he headed back to his room, and we went to see the art museum. We bought tickets for three parts - the art museum itself, that had an interesting eclectic exhibit, and, fortunately, hand-held English-speaking recorded guides; the "Love Cub 50" exhibit, a showing of Honda 50cc mopeds -very popular in Tokyo for getting around the city - that were all painted differently with themes (this was one of my favorite things that we did - there was no English at this exhibit, so we weren't able to fully understand the background of it, and they wouldn't let anyone take pictures, but you can get a taste of it at www.lovecub50.com); and the observation deck at the top of the Mori Tower (second picture - that's the Tokyo Tower lit up in red). We also located Mike's internship law firm - TMI Associates - on the directory guide of the building (third picture).

Everything is going well here with us. Mike is enjoying being back "stateside" - he's been going to some baseball games and relaxing. He is going to work orientation this week at the university, and then next week he starts classes. Jenn is slaving away at Target - their generator blew on Tuesday and there was a small fire, so the store closed and the employees got to go home - highlight of her week! We made our arrangements for our trip to Madrid in December. Jenn's getting excited for her adventure there soon.

Joe and I both still have jobs - Kodak stock is up to $3 something, and GM is no longer in bankruptcy, so maybe things are turning around! Today is very humid and rainy, although yesterday was a pretty nice day. Overall, the summer has been cool and wet. Grace is back home from her short stay in the hospital after falling. She seems to be doing well.

Hope everyone is well.

Kind regards,

Terry

Terry's Weekly Email Newsletter; 2 Aug 09

Hi all,

On Tuesday, 29 June, Joe, Jenn, and I spent the day at Ueno Park. It
reminded me a lot of Central Park in NYC - there are several museums,
ponds, and temples, and Japan's oldest and best zoo is there. We went
to the Tokyo National Museum, stopped at a tea garden for tea and
green tea ice cream, and saw several performers, including two
guitarists from Peru singing "La Bamba" and a bagpiper (4th picture).
We saw the Great Buddhist Pagoda, where formerly stood a Buddha statue
- now only it's head remains (1st picture). We also spent time in the
Gojo shrine, which has several Inari fox statues and a series of red
torii (gates) (2nd & 3rd pictures). That evening we went with Mike to
Roppongi Hills to see the Mori Tower where the law firm that he would
be interning is. We were going to go to a modern art museum in the
Mori Tower, but they were closed on Tuesdays, so we decided to do that
Wednesday evening. We went back to Akasaka (our "home" base) and ate
a restaurant nearby - Pier 246 - that had really good pictures on the
menu and excellent food!

Everything here is going well. Mike got back to Santa Clara last
night - he's happy to be back! Jenn is working 38-40 hours/week at
Target. She's getting tired of it, but she's getting excited for
Spain, and she is happy to be making some money for the trip. She's
going to work to the end of August, and then have 9 days off before
she takes off to Madrid.

Work is pretty much the same for Joe and me. The weather has been
cool and very rainy - not much summer weather here in Rochester this
year. This year was the second coldest July on record for Rochester.

Grace is still in the nursing home at the hospital, but she is doing
well - walking around and getting stronger.

We are starting to plan our vacation in Madrid - it is looking like we
will be there December 20-28. So, my question to all: how about New
Year's here at the Sardina's again this year?! I've been thinking of
ways to have the food situation more under control, and we have been
collecting shot glasses for Shotzee! We would love to have everyone
here again starting December 30 - what does everyone think?

Hope everyone is well.
Kind regards,
Terry