RemyOmar

Kimberly's Art

2012-01-26T21:43:00.001-08:00

Camera Roll-677, a photo by RemyOmar on Flickr.

One of the amazing things about having kids is watching them grow and develop. Kimberly has taken a liking to drawing, painting and other artistic endeavors of late, and we've been amazed at every new picture she brings home....however, that also means that we have a growing pile of "art" that will soon bury our house. Then I got this great idea to scan in the drawings and keep them that way for posterity. Anyway, this piece is of Aladdin, Jasmine and the Genie (as a bee).

Happy Holidays

2011-12-07T13:52:00.001-08:00

Saved Photos-106
Originally uploaded by RemyOmar

Happy Holidays from the Hiramotos

We took this shot this past saturday, 12/3/2011, while we were at California Adventure to celebrate Kimberly's 4th Birthday.

R&B

2011-08-21T15:29:00.001-07:00

HIP_335144672.897049
Originally uploaded by RemyOmar

Out walking the dogs...self portrait.

Branden is now 5 months old.

Mona Lisa Smile

2011-03-09T22:20:00.001-08:00

Mona Lisa Smile
Originally uploaded by RemyOmar

Branden Keijiro Hiramoto
Born: 7th March 2011
9 pounds 1 ounce
21 inches long

Happy New Year

2011-01-08T00:21:00.001-08:00

Nani at the Dog park 1.1.11
Originally uploaded by RemyOmar

This is Nani at the dog park on Jan 1, 2011.

Happy New Year Everyone!!

Kimberly at 3

2010-12-13T18:47:00.001-08:00

Kimberly164_resize
Originally uploaded by RemyOmar

Princess Kimberly

2010-11-03T23:40:00.001-07:00

Princess Kimberly
Originally uploaded by RemyOmar

Kimberly's Halloween costume...

Going for a Ride

2010-07-07T23:35:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Nani

2010-05-20T14:43:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Nani
Originally uploaded by RemyOmar

Nani turns 6 today.

Congratulations Katrina!!!

2010-05-06T00:02:00.001-07:00

IMG_0412
Originally uploaded by RemyOmar

3:57.19

Kimberly in Boston

2010-05-05T23:58:00.001-07:00

IMG_0485, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

This is a shot from our recent trip to Boston, where Katrina ran (and kicked butt) the Boston Marathon, finishing in 3:57. This particular shot is from the Mayflower II, in Plymouth, MA. It is a working replica of the original Mayflower, and actually made the voyage from Plymouth, England to Plymouth, MA. Kimberly is sporting her new Hello Kitty purse that we got for her in Boston, where she kept her loose change, a number of random cards she picked up, and a some fruit snacks.

She's growing up so fast.

Kimberly's first school pic

2010-02-21T13:52:00.000-08:00

Kimberly is a little over 2 years old now, and has been in pre-school since January. I'm not sure how they got her to hold this pose....there must have been a lot of glue or tie straps involved.

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-10T23:25:00.001-08:00

img103, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

The Hiramotos

Happy 2nd Birthday Kimberly

2009-12-08T23:24:00.001-08:00

img098, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Her birthday was actually December 4th. Hard to believe 2 years went by so quickly.

Kimberly loves Spam Musubi

2009-09-26T13:23:00.000-07:00

Dwarf Mongoose Pups at the Bronx Zoo

2009-09-06T12:42:00.001-07:00

Just thought I would share this video of a some very cute mongoose pups. Have a great Labor Day weekend!

Time Lapse Footage of the Fires in Los Angeles

2009-08-31T16:46:00.000-07:00

This is some amazing time lapse footage of the fires burning in the Angeles forest in North East Los Angeles. We are not in any danger where we live, but the fires are still burning out of control.

Trekking in the Everest Region of Nepal

2009-08-27T21:44:00.001-07:00

For those of you who remember, I was in Nepal and Tibet for a couple of months in 2001. I found this video recently which chronicles almost the exact routes we took in Nepal. It's a bit long, but I love it....I really do miss Nepal. One day, I plan to take Katrina and Kimberly there, to show them this magical place that changed my life.

beep beep

2009-08-11T14:42:00.001-07:00

IMG_1045, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Old Friends

2009-07-11T12:54:00.001-07:00

Aunty Cindy and Aunty Momi with Katrina and Kimberly, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

After a fun trip back to Utah to visit Katrina's family (all good except for a horrible sunburn I suffered at the water park and neglecting to reapply sunscreen), my friend from high school Cindy Nishida was visiting with her daughter Maya. She was in Los Angeles the same time that we were in Utah, but luckily there was one day that overlapped. I called our other friend from high school Momi Coloretti, who lives in Sherman Oaks, who hadn't seen Cindy in 15 years, and we were all able to get together for a few hours. It's times like these that I am reminded how lucky I am that I have such wonderful friends that time and distance can't break. It was like no time had passed. There were other shots with me in them, but in this one, Kimberly looked just too cute.

17 months

2009-05-15T19:42:00.000-07:00

Kimberly is 17 months old, and she is growing so quickly. I know it is cliche, but they really do grow up so fast. She has been saying a whole host of words now, and is able to identify all the parts of her head and face as well as differentiating between her nose, and daddy's nose and mommy's nose. Really, cute! I'm trying to get her to learn the name, Ankhesenpa'aten, who was the wife of King Tutankhamun. How cool would that be? I can say daddy, mommy, kitty, doggy, ruf ruf, meow, and Ankhesenpaaten.

I think she likes me...

2009-04-02T22:50:00.001-07:00

DSCN1536, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Luckiest Guy in the World

2009-03-24T14:02:00.001-07:00

img081, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

I think the picture pretty much explains the title.

Yesterday, Katrina took Kimberly to get a blood test. She has been a bit anemic and we have been giving her iron supplements, so she was just getting tested. She was brave little trooper, so after the doctor appointment, Katrina took her to the balloon store and then to the picture place at the mall. Of course I see her every day, but when I look at these pictures, I really see how much she has grown. And I also realize that I am indeed the luckiest guy in the world. Click here to view the rest of the photos from the shoot.

Wildflowers of Anza Borrego

2009-03-23T22:15:00.001-07:00

IMG_0194, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

This past weekend, Katrina, KImberly and I took a drive with our good friends Leimomi and Steven to Anza Borrego to check out the wildflowers. It has been a decent year for the wildflowers, and we were treated to a wonderful display of oranges, yellows, reds, blues, purples and a number of other colors that this color-blind blogger can't distinguish.

We only did a couple of rather short hikes, but we had a great time taking Kimberly hiking. We had really great weather on saturday, and we didn't know how lucky we were with the weather until sunday when there were 60 mile/hour gusts blowing in the high desert, destroying the fragile wildflowers (don't worry they come back) and kicking up so much sand and dust, the trip would have been miserable.

Happy Spring Everyone!!

Kimberly Making Faces

2009-03-20T23:19:00.000-07:00

Kimberly is now 15 months old, and she is becoming more expressive every day. I was just taking a video of her making baby noises, when she decided to ham it up about half way through the video.

I apologize to those who have been checking this blog regularly for updates only to find that there weren't any updates, at least for a while. Things have been pretty busy for me at work, and school was taking up what remaining free time I had between work and Kimberly. And well, because of all that, I was running on about 3-4 hours of sleep per day, and got a flu/cold bug that I couldn't kick for about 2.5 months. I finally got some medications and am on the mend, just in time to study for my final. Anyway, I finished my finals today, and hope to get some updates uploaded here.

Kimberly loves Nani

2009-02-09T22:30:00.000-08:00

Kimberly is now 14 months old now, and seems to be at a point of rapid development. She has been walking just over a week now, and recently she has been very "huggy". She wants to hug her stuffed animals, Nani, Oscar and of course Mom and Dad. It really is quite endearing. What's more amazing, is that Nani and Oscar are incredibly patient with her, and she with them. And we really never had to be overly protective of the dogs or Kimberly and how they treat each other, nor have we had to ever reprimand them for being too rough, just some periodic coaching. And keep in mind, Kimberly tosses and bangs her toys about with reckless abandon, but she seems to be very gentle with the dogs, as you can see in the video.

Congratulations Katrina! You're going to Boston!

2009-02-02T13:19:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Katrina ran the Surf City USA Marathon in Huntington Beach, CA, and achieved one of her life goals; to qualify for the Boston Marathon. 3:45 qualifies for Boston for her age group, and as you can see from her certificate she was at 3:44:39. Kimberly and I were able to greet her at the finish line. Congratulations Katrina, we are so proud of you!

Congratulations to Lindsey Hayes (made her personal best), Sara Bennett (also qualified for Boston), Adam Bennett, Lorraine Johannes and Krista Carlson as well for finishing the marathon and half-marathons (pictured: Lindsey, Lorraine, and Katrina).

Reducing our carbon footprint

2009-01-13T19:52:00.000-08:00

Well, sort of. We just bought a new Toyota Prius last night. My lease on my Audi A4 was up and I needed a new car. We still haven't decided what to do about replacing Katrina's Xterra that was totaled in an accident over the holidays (see previous post), but in the search process we both decided that we needed to have a Prius in the household. We talk about being "green" and we try to be as much as we can, and we thought getting a Prius to replace the Audi was a good move. The 47 mpg isn't too shabby as well. Oddly enough, what finally sold me on the car was how big the interior is. The car is deceptively large. And the beautiful Spectra Blue Mica (new in 2009) was a huge selling point for me as well. Here's a pic from Toyota:

Happy New Year!

2009-01-10T20:27:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone!

It's been a while since my last blog, so this one might seem a little rambling. Suffice to say we had a very memorable holiday season.

It all started out a little off balance. Katrina and I are having dinner on the evening of December 18, thinking we were going to get a phone call from my mom. You know those, "hey, are you guys ready for me to come visit!?" Right around 8:50pm, Katrina calls my parents house and my dad answers the phone. Katrina asks if mom is around, and my dad responds that she is in Los Angeles already. I over hear them talking and already I'm getting my sweater and shoes on and head to the airport. Katrina and I had made the reservations and we mistakenly thought she was coming in on the 19th. As luck would have it, we called right about the time that mom was landing. I was driving into LAX when my cell phone rang with a strange number. It was my mom who had borrowed a fellow passenger's cell phone. After I finally found her, she was a little shaken, but doing fine. I should have known at this point we were in for some trip.

After a couple of days of relaxing, we packed up the Xterra and headed to Vegas. We spent a couple of days at the Luxor hotel, and while we had a good time since we all enjoy going to Vegas, I will say now, in hindsight, it was the smoothest as the trip was going to be.

Monday morning, I packed up the Xterra, and I do mean PACKED. We had Thule soft roof rack and a net that had a bunch of stuff on the roof of the truck and the interior cargo space was completely solid. I'll explain later why my mentioning the packing of the truck is noteworthy. And we headed to Salt Lake City. This was going to be one of the longer drives of the trip so it was important that we got on the road as quickly as possible.

There were storms moving in, and Salt Lake was scheduled to get a bunch of snow over the next few days, so we were definitely trying to get to Katrina's parents house as quickly as possible before things got too sketchy. As luck would have it, we were able to avoid most of the weather heading up there, and got to Salt Lake at about 8pm. But it was cold, and the weather definitely looked like snow was coming.

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with Katrina's immediate and extended family, and we all had a wonderful time. It was fun for my mom to meet all of Katrina's family that she hadn't met before.

As much fun as we were having we were really looking forward to the day after Christmas because we were going to drive down to Matt and Steph's (Katrina's sister and brother in law) house and see the dinosaur museum together and then get together for movie night at their house. Well, we didn't get very far because we hit some horrible road conditions driving there, and with my mom, Katrina and Kimberly in the car, we lost control of the Xterra on some ice and slush, and smashed into the median wall. Both air bags deployed, but we all walked away shaken, but not injured. The picture doesn't seem that bad, but the brush guard in the front of the car took a lot of damage, and it's bolted to the frame, hence there was also frame damage. Factor a number of other things in, the car is a total loss. AAA came to tow the car to a collision center, but unfortunately the place we took it wasn't open on friday, and wasn't going to be open until monday, and we were scheduled to leave Salt Lake on sunday. But, again, no one got hurt, and there was no other cars involved, so there was a lot to be thankful for.

After dropping the car off at the collision center, Matt picked me up, and we headed back to their house, since we had movie night planned there that night. This was definitely the highlight of the day. Over the past 12-18 months, Matt has been talking about, planning and doing a bit of work here and there on a home theatre in the basement of their home. Now, many people have "home theatres" in their house, but it's a little more than a TV and a stereo system with 5 speakers or something like that. Matt has definitely taken it to another level...scratch that, another planet. Many movie stars and professional athletes don't have what Matt built in their homes. It really is something to behold. But what was even more fun was that my mom was just thrilled in the theatre. Matt had Planet Earth in high definition running for her, and she was commenting that she could live in there.

With the evening ending on a bit of a high note at the Johnston's, we headed back to Katrina's parent's house and were looking forward to saturday when we were going sledding, Kimberly and my mom's first time! Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day in terms of the weather and when we got to the park, it was a perfect size for everyone. Kimberly seemed to really enjoy herself, but of course she couldn't really tell us. Someone that could tell us that they were enjoying the sledding was my mom. She was having the time of her life. My mom is 72, and after a couple of runs down the hill and slogging back up with the sled, I thought she might be getting a little tired. She decided to wait down at the bottom of the hill until everyone else was done. After talking to her later, she was telling us how much fun she was having at that she wanted to go down more times. We said that we understood that she must have been getting tired, and she looked at me and said, "no, I could have gone up more times. My hands were just frozen." Coming from Hawaii, my mom wasn't exactly prepared for the cold and had a pair of cotton gloves that would have served her fine on a chilly day in Hawaii, not a cold day in Utah.

After sledding, we all headed to Katrina's grandparents house for hot chocolate and to figure out where to go for dinner. There seems to be an unwritten rule that once you get to be 70, the only option for dinner in Utah is a buffet. There are two fairly popular places, one called the Golden Corral and the other is called (and I'm not joking) Chuck-o-Rama. Of course, there are running jokes for both places, but I'll try not to offend those who love them. Anyway, after some discussion, we decided to go to Chuck-o-Rama, since we had about 16 people, and buffet places like that accomodate larger groups a lot easier than other "sit down" restaurants. And besides, it's a buffet, I'm sure everyone can find something that they will like. Well, as expected, they were able to seat all of us together, and the food was pretty tasty. At this point it seemed that going to Chuck-o-Bucket, I mean, Chuck-o-Rama, was a good idea. When we got home, Katrina asked if I could take care of Kimberly until her bedtime because she wasn't feeling that well, and wanted to lay down. I told her no problem, although, I wasn't feeling all that great either, but coming from an all you can eat place, I expected to feel a little lousy. Well, to cut to the chase, Kimberly, Katrina and I all got food poisoning...bad. In the bathroom constantly, bad. Nice follow up to totaling your vehicle out of state on vacation.

24 hours of in and out of the bathroom, all three of us were better. Oddly enough, my mom or any of the other 16 people that joined us got sick. At this point, I was glad that we weren't leaving on sunday, since there's only one thing worse than having food poisoning...it's having food poisoning while driving long distances.

After finally finding a rental agency that would rent us an SUV (keep in mind that it is dumping snow in one of the world ski capitals, so SUVs are in high demand), we packed up on monday, and headed down to Kanab, on our way to the Grand Canyon. We had decided that the only option was to leave our Xterra in Utah, and have the body repair shop and AAA work out the details. We tried to leave as early as we could on monday, but we were still an hour away from Kanab in the dark on icy roads. I was driving really slowly for obvious reasons, and semi-trucks and the snow drifts were passing me on either side.

After a day visiting Katrina's other brother and his family in Kanab, we drove to the Grand Canyon, and it was beautiful day. I really wanted to show my mom the Grand Canyon on this trip since she spoke about it a number of times over the years. My mom is still in relatively good health but at 72, you really want to take advantage of the opportunities you have.

From the Grand Canyon, we drove to Sedona and spent New Years there, browsing the shops and admiring the incredible scenary there. If you've never been, it's definitely worth a weekend trip there. Upon leaving Sedona, we decided to stop at an ancient Indian cliff dwelling called Montezuma's Castle. It was built and inhabited by the Sinagua Indians around 1100 AD. We were all glad that we stopped because 1) it's an incredible archaeological site and 2) it is very accessable. My mom had no problems getting around the 1/3 mile loop trail with her walker.

We finally got back to Los Angeles on friday, January 2. But to add insult to injury, I wasn't able to rent the SUV one way to Los Angeles. The Jeep needed to be back in Salt Lake City on sunday. Earlier in the week, I had made arrangements for Katrina's sister and boyfriend to fly to Las Vegas, and I was going to drive there and hand off the car to them to drive back the following day. I got them a room for a couple of nights, so hopefully they didn't think the drive back to Salt Lake from Vegas was a bad trade for a weekend in Vegas. In any case, I'm very, very grateful to them for helping me out. And given everything that happened, we are grateful to everyone in Katrina's family for helping us out when we needed it. And we needed it often.

One last note, about the packing of the Xterra that I had mentioned. The reason I made a point of it was that when we rented to the Jeep Liberty, we were astonished at how much LESS storage capacity the Jeep had compared to the Xterra. We had to leave a number of things in Salt Lake simply because there was no room to put it.

Well, thanks for bearing with me on the rambling "catch up" post to the blog. Happy New Year everyone!

Congratulations Katrina!

2008-12-09T11:13:00.001-08:00

43FB4313, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Many of you know that Katrina loves to run, and has completed a number of marathons. Since having Kimberly, she has been working on getting back into marathon form. This past weekend, she ran the City of Angels Half Marathon, and had her best half-marathon time ever! Congratulations Katrina!
(I don't have any pictures of her from this half-marathon, so the picture you see above is of her and her friend Cindy Young finishing the Death Valley Marathon a couple of years ago).

UPDATE. Now there are photos from the event, and you can see pics of Katrina here.

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-25T20:07:00.001-08:00

0811_1772LR, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Once again, I would like to thank Gilbert Yu for taking a wonderful set of photos for us. Like me, he is an avid photographer, but unlike me, Gilbert possesses a skill, patience and passion for capturing such wonderful portraits. Shots that, while they seem "candid", in that the capture such a natural smiles and expressions, are incredibly complicated (in terms of lighting and exposure) and challenging because you're dealing with so many variables with your subject (movement and expression). With children, it is even more arduous, but it is particularly with children that Gilbert excels. If you live in the Los Angeles area, and are in need of a photographer, I can suggest no one better then Gilbert (you can contact him via his website).

Have a wonderful holiday week everyone!

Hapa Baby

2008-11-19T16:17:00.001-08:00

Hapa Baby, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Hapa is Hawaiian term meaning someone of mixed Asian decent, like me, and by definition, Kimberly.

Kimberly has very long hair, and we have been reluctant to have it cut because she looks so cute in pigtails and pony tails. However, it has now gotten to the point where her bangs hang below her chin, and she seems to pull off the rubber bands and/or clips that we put in her hair, which often end up in her mouth. So, this friday, we are taking her to a salon that specializes in infant and toddler hair cuts.

The other day, when I picked her up from day care, I need to stop by the super market, and found an old Japanese wood block "do-rag" in my car that I had forgotten about. So rather than people thinking that I was raising some feral animal (that only had a small body and a huge mess of hair), I put the do-rag on Kimberly...instant cuteness!

another milestone falls

2008-11-17T13:51:00.001-08:00

IMG_1652, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Another big milestone fell yesterday, unfortunately no body saw it actually happen.

Yesterday, Katrina was out running some errands and I was home with Kimberly. She usually goes down for a nap around 9:30am. At around 10am, she was still wide awake, and having fun (i.e.: she wasn't fussing or rubbing her eyes). Around 10:30, I gave her a bottle, and she finally started showing signs that she might fall asleep.

After the bottle, I carried her to her crib, and put her down with her favorite blanket, turned the lights down, and closed the blinds. She has been able to get up to a sitting position from lying down for quite sometime now, but she does it much more frequently lately. After a couple of minutes, I came back to the room to check on her and found her sitting up playing with a stuff animal in the crib. I laughed, and played with her for another 20 minutes or so, hoping to tire her out even more. She was tired, but seemed to be more enamored by the fact that she could get up so easily into a "play" position.

11:15am rolls around, and I think she surely is going to fall asleep now. She's yawning and rubbing her eyes. I carry her back to her crib, give her her blanket, and tip toe out of the room. About 10 minutes later, I sneak a peak into the room, and I see her, staring back at me, STANDING UP in her crib! She has gotten close to standing with my or Katrina's help, but she has not done it by herself before. The minute she saw me she started doing her little pattycakes and smiled. While I was so proud that she was standing, I realized that I needed to lower the crib so that she wouldn't fall out if she was to stand up again.

I lifted her out of the crib, and set up some of her toys on the floor, and got the tools to lower the crib. About 20 minutes later, the crib was lowered, and I finally got her back into the crib. She still wasn't that interested in sleeping, but I stayed there and gently stroked her hair, and she eventually fell asleep. 5 minutes later, so was I.

Growing up fast....

2008-11-09T18:05:00.001-08:00

IMG_1401, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Our little Kimberly is growing so fast, which is what any parent tells other new parents. But I suppose until you actually have a little one of your own, you never realize how time flies. You're so busy taking care of little things and big things, and your whole world revolves around her, that time seems to just fly by. Kimberly is now 11 months old, she's started crawling, she's been chatting up a storm, and has 8 teeth (you can see a few of them here). It seems like only yesterday, when Katrina and I were living at Torrance Memorial for a week. But as folks say, it is the best thing that you'll ever do, so enjoy it. And enjoying it we are. We have been blessed with a daughter with such a wonderful disposition. I have joked that she is perhaps the re-incarnation of a very high lama, since she seems to be at such peace with her surroundings that really belies her age. And as fast as she is growing, I am in awe of her future. I only hope that I can be as supportive to her as she has inspired me.

Yes we can...

2008-11-05T16:25:00.001-08:00

UT_SLT, originally uploaded by Barack Obama.

I am, and have always been, a proud American. However, I am more hopeful today than I have been in a very long time. Whether you supported Sen. Obama or not, it is my most profound hope that we can come together as one nation and heal this bitter divide that has split families, split friends, and split the nation. For those of you that know me and my family well, know that this election has been fraught with tragedy and difficulty for me personally. But also, for those that know me, know that while it is no secret who I supported, tried (not always successfully) to be compassionate and to listen to everyone's point of view.

While it may be cliche at this point, it is worth mentioning, because it is something that President-elect Obama has said many times, although I know we are not there yet...."we are not a collection of red states and blue states, we are the United States of America."

I also wanted to share the clip below of Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice reacting to last nights election. Secretary Rice has held political views vastly different from mine, but I have always respected her, for her abilities and her personal story. I found it very moving to hear her reaction to the election.

Look into my eyes....

2008-10-21T17:13:00.001-07:00

, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

I love my daughter. Like any parent, when I look at my daughter, all other problems seem to drift into the ether...releasing you from those superficial bonds that hold you. You realize that you will do nothing more important than loving that child. Kimberly has reached a number of milestones recently, she now has 7 teeth, with an eighth on the way. She's almost standing on her own. But the most important milestone (in my opinion), which I just noticed the other day, is that she has started to hug me. She's done it for some time now, but recently she has seemed to hug for security and comfort, as opposed to just holding on. She'll give me a hug, and then lean back, look at me with those eyes, and then give me another hug. I love my daughter.

Go Bruins!

2008-10-16T00:25:00.001-07:00

Go Bruins!
Originally uploaded by RemyOmar

This is the follow up video from the "Future Bruin" post from a couple of days ago. I think you'll find the video sufficiently cute.

In search of the perfect pumpkin...

2008-10-13T14:39:00.001-07:00

IMG_1035, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

This past weekend, Katrina, Kimberly and I drove up to Sausalito, California to attend our friends Lance Hershman and Shirley Truong get married at the beautiful Spinnaker restaurant in Sausalito. They were blessed with amazing weather, a stunning location, and even had the blue angels buzz by a number of times apparently performing nearby.

Crammed into a couple of days, we visited the incredible Point Reyes National Seashore, went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but I think the highlight for little Kimberly was on the way home we stopped at this pumpkin patch in Salinas. Salinas is famous for being the fruit and vegetable capital of the world and the home of John Steinbeck (and setting for his novel, The Grapes of Wrath).

I choo choo choose you...

2008-10-09T07:23:00.001-07:00

Almost walking....almost

2008-10-07T22:20:00.001-07:00

hi, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Future Bruin

2008-10-07T22:01:00.001-07:00

Future Bruin, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Okay, I couldn't help it. I saw this outfit soon after she was born when I was on campus at UCLA and had to get it. We're thinking that this will be her outfit for Halloween this year. Cute, huh?

Lessons I have learned...

2008-09-24T20:47:00.000-07:00

Doesn't Kimberly look so happy here? On monday, we returned from our vacation to Hawaii. While we had a great time, BUT we had (and are still having) a serious family crisis, that made me think a lot over the past week or so about what is really important in life. I learned a number of things that I really wanted to share about life on this trip.

1) Make sure your religion, your politics, your finances, your [insert your prefered ideology] DOES NOT out prioritize you and your loved ones happiness. Many people make all kinds of excuses about how important their ideologies are (me included) that some times you don't realize that you are making those around you miserable (even though you think your ideologies are important to your and your loved ones happiness).

2) Tell your family how much you love them. Not just a habitual "I love you", but one that requires you to sit down, have coffee or whatever, with your family member and tell them not only that you love them, but why. Think about why they are so important to you, and why their happiness is literally your happiness.

3) This one might be harder, and I still struggle with it because depending on the person, it might be awkward...but tell your friends that you love them. I was reminded on this trip in particular how blessed I am that I have such wonderful friends. They are your friends for a reason, and never should be taken for granted.

4) Whatever your theology might be, we must agree that "hell" can manifest itself on earth, and no one should have to live in it. Be it, poverty, domestic violence, or whatever.... If you're in it seek help....if you see someone you love in it, intervene, regardless of the percieved ramifications. And when asked for help, don't turn away.

5) Live life moving forward....the past should be your foundation, not somewhere to dwell in. Make sure you are enjoying your life and your loved ones today. Do something to make them happy today if for nothing else but selfish reasons....when you make your loved ones happy, there is no greater joy you will recieve.

Camper Kimberly

2008-08-26T21:53:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, Katrina and I took Kimberly and our Italian Greyhounds, Nani and Oscar, camping in Idyllwild, California. Camping with Kimberly AND our two dogs can be a challenge, but so rewarding. We were joined by our friends Sara and Adam, their two sons, Spencer and Hunter and Gilbert and Mabel, and their two children, Ethan and Audrey. Now, I love photography and have been privileged to have taken some wonderful photos. But as a piece of advice, if at all possible, when taking trips, bring your camera and bring an even better photographer. I'm lucky in that Gilbert is a good friend and is fond of taking pictures of Kimberly and our dogs, and we get some wonderful shots in the process.

But back to the camping... About a month ago, Katrina was getting everything ready for our camping trip to Bryce Canyon, Utah. And one cannot "get ready" for a camping trip without one or two or seven trips to REI (www.rei.com, outdoor equipments store). We picked up some of the latest and greatest in car camping gear. We got a new Hobbitat (Hobbit + Habitat, because it has a round door) tent, two stow away cots, new stove, new ultra bright LED headlamps with dimmers...yeah, we were going in "style". Now that I think about it, I wish I had taken some photos of our set up, it was something to behold. I even brought one of my mom's custom, Hawaiian print, floor mats for the tent to make it really "home"y.

Now over the years, I may have been a bit of a car camping snob. In other words, I used to back pack and looked down my nose on car camping...I'm ashamed to say. The point here was that I enjoyed the fact that some of the most wonderful places in the world could only be visited on foot, carrying a 40-50 pound pack on your back...that you had to work to get there, and there was no "Hilton" at the end of the trail, just more work. But the rewards were great. A new peak, a vista uncorrupted by parking lots and "scenic" points marked by signs, loud tourists, and a Starbucks. My snobbery stemmed from this notion that people who didn't back pack, but car camped didn't want to work hard enough to get to those wonderful places in the backcountry.

I now realize that that wasn't it at all. But before I get to my epiphany, I'll share another facet of my ignorance. People often say, "wait until you have kids..." or something to that effect, or "if you haven't had kids, you just don't know..." What's funny, I used to think, "sure I know. I'm very empathetic, I get it. Things take a little longer with kids, blah, blah, blah..." And at 38, I reverted to that 16 year old, that always said, "I know, I know." When in fact, I didn't.

So the epiphany. After two, nearly back to back, camping trips, I've realized a few things. One, I love the outdoors, always have, and I suppose I always will. And with school, and Kimberly and everything else going on, what these past two trips have given me back is that thirst to explore more and to share it with Kimberly and Katrina. To find the time to get out and explore because it is as important as anything else going on in our lives. And that you really don't know until you have kids how rewarding it is to watch them grow and see the world through their eyes. But of course, there is really no way of fully comprehending how much slower things move when you have kids. I was going to say that you don't know how much work they (kids) are until you have kids, but I think that "work" connotes a sense of "dread", rightly or wrongly. But nonetheless, however you want to phrase it, things indeed move much more slowly. And probably the most important lesson that I've learned thus far, is that your focus needs to be on making those around you happy. That should always remain crystal clear in your mind. Forget about what you want to do or what will make you happy. I'm not trying to sound like the martyr, but sometimes one forgets the fact that your happiness is entirely based on the happiness of those around you. If Kimberly is not happy, Katrina is not happy, then Remy is not happy. Straightforward, simple, but so often we forget. But as we saw during these two camping trips, I've never felt more joy than watching Kimberly laugh and Katrina having a wonderful time. And if that happiness means that we "car camp" so that we can attend to everyone's needs....then, well, I'm a car camper. My hope is that I can evangelize the outdoors and the environment to Kimberly gradually and hopefully by the time she can carry her own pack, she'll be begging to head out to the backcountry, the trek in Nepal, and explore Africa, camp in the Amazon.

Alana: 1993-2008

2008-07-30T08:49:00.001-07:00

Alana loving the tunes, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

My mom and dad lost Alana, their spunky Jack Russell, yesterday. She had been very tired and sick the past week or so, and was just not eating. She had lived a long and energetic life, and helped both of my parents get their exercise.

We'll miss you Alana!!!

1 bazillion dollars = 1 loaf of bread

2008-07-25T17:03:00.001-07:00

Currency from Zimbabwe, originally uploaded by courtneyleighdenney.

By now, most of you should have heard about the million(s) percent inflation rate in Zimbabwe. At what point, do these numbers cease to make any sense at all? Last I checked Zimbabwe has begun issuing 10 billion dollar notes, which would basically buy you a loaf of bread, if there was any bread to buy. Under Mugabe, Zimbabwe hurtling headlong into oblivion (or is already there) with inflation that goes way beyond absurd and life threatening food shortages. When Katrina and I were in Tanzania, Zambia and Malawi, we became friends with a guy from Zimbabwe. He was our driver and cook, even though he had gone to university, and he had aspirations of opening his own travel company. His family was/is still Zimbabwe's capital Harare, but he dared not take any money back into the country. He would keep the money he made in Lusaka, Zambia, and would only bring back food, clothing, and other supplies to his family. He did this for a number of reasons. US or other currencies are often stolen or confiscated at the border or by bandits, and converting to Zimbabwe money, again, makes little to no sense. You're much better off just using your money as kindling. What is often forgotten in these days of highly partisan debates, in which people only want to see black and white, right and wrong, is that Robert Mugabe was hailed as a savior and hero in Zimbabwe in the early 80s when he took power. He was an intellectual, and brilliant politician, and was overwhelmingly elected to office. But, like so many others, he suffered from severe paranoia, and felt that his opposition was always plotting his demise, so over the years, he has come down with an iron fist on any descent. We can only hope, for everyone in Southern Africa and Zimbabwe (and our Zimbabwean friend, Chris) that Mugabe and opposition leader, Mr. Tsvangirai can work out a peaceful end to this madness.

Love is...

2008-07-16T10:37:00.001-07:00

Love is..., originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

I may have another post called, "Love is...", but oh well...that's what I think of when I saw this pic I took of Kimberly. She is now 7 months old, and her personality is really starting to take shape. She seems to have taken a bit from both Katrina and myself. She is very determined (Katrina trait), but is perfectly happy just sitting by herself thinking and imagining (Remy trait). She also seems quick to laugh (Katrina), but also, thankfully, almost never cries (Remy circa 1970s, I had some rough patches between then and now). But she is so beautiful (Katrina), and seems to have such a wonderful disposition on life (Nani).

Okay, I'm a dork...

2008-06-22T22:43:00.000-07:00

Well, maybe not as much as the guy to the right (took this shot of a guy on the I-405 in Los Angeles), but I am an avid/rabid fan of the Star Wars saga, albeit, I've felt that I've been betrayed by Jedi Lucus on the last few films, but I suppose I'll get over Vader's Episode III ending, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!", which was oddly reminiscent of Young Frankenstein and Jar Jar Binks like I got over those rejects from Fraggle Rock, the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi. Having said that, for those of you who haven't been following the series might know that in August of this year, a new Star Wars movie is being released, a CGI version of the Clone Wars, the time period between Episode II and Episode III. Here's the trailer:

Get ready for the cuteness... =)

2008-06-18T22:29:00.000-07:00

Since Kimberly has never had a shortage of hair, we've been able to put a bow in her hair pretty much at day 1. However, the other day I noticed that her hair was long enough to put into little pigtails. Here's a little video Katrina took while she was having her dinner. And prior to my seeing the video, Katrina had said, "get ready for the cuteness..." Well, you can decide for yourself.

Tiger, Rocco and brushes with greatness

2008-06-16T21:11:00.000-07:00

It was the summer of 1982, and Phil Mickelson was already making waves in the golf world. After 2 days of the 54 hole Junior World tournament, Phil Mickelson was a couple of strokes off the lead, and tied with a relative unknown who managed two great rounds including a 1 under par second round that put him into contention. The final round began, and with the last two groups ready to tee off, Phil was getting to know this unknown player who managed to keep pace with him for two rounds. Phil had already did his homework, and had watched this player on the practice range and on the few holes he saw him play. He walked up to the boy, already knew his name, shook his hand, flashed that smile that is so famous for, and said, "you hit your long irons better than anyone I've seen out here!" This was indeed high praise for the young boy who idolized Jack Nicklaus, because Jack, with all of his strong points was known for hitting his long irons better than anyone.

To this young boy who was holding his own with the likes of Phil Mickelson, already famous around the world, and certainly in his home town of San Diego, it was an absolute thrill. What was he doing tied with Phil Mickelson? How did he already know this young boy's name? Phil Mickelson is an amazingly friendly character, but he is a competitor, and he does his homework. After a few holes on the final day, all of his homework was paying off, not only because he was playing well, but his confidence was palpable to his competitors, and that young boy began to feel the pressure. To walk and compete along side someone who is that good, and knows that he is "that good" is intimidating.

Today, Tiger Woods defeated a 40-something, nice guy, journeyman golfer Rocco Mediate. It reminds me of a quote about Jack Nicklaus when he was in his prime. Someone asked Tom Weiskopf (an accomplished professional and contemporary of Jack) when Jack won most of his tournaments in his prime, when Jack, like Tiger today, seemed unbeatable. Tom replied that Jack won most of his tournaments on practice round wednesday before the tournament even started in the parking lot. Weiskopf explained that "when you got to the tournament and you saw Jack in the parking lot, he knew he was going to win, you knew he was going to win, and then he would see you, and he knew that you knew that he was going to win, and then we were all playing for second place."

Tiger's ability to win defies all logic. Never have I seen anyone do anything with such confidence and with a track record that boggles the mind. He shouldn't be able to do what he does, he simply shouldn't. But...he does, over and over again. He is simply the best the world has ever seen, and perhaps the best the world will ever see. Not just in golf, but in sports.

The young golfer playing against Phil Mickelson that I was telling you about was like Rocco Mediate or any other golfer out there. When young junior golfers go out and practice, they all imagine sinking that putt to win the US Open. In our dreams, in our childhood, we are not nervous, we are simply excited about winning. We are filled with that joy of achieving greatness out there on the field, out there on the course. But when faced with actually the prospect of winning the US Open, or in the case of the young boy trying to beat Phil Mickelson, that excitement, while still very much there gets magnified to near terror. That is not unusual, and to play at the level, you have to care that much about winning to generate that kind of emotional response.

However, Tiger is playing a game that no one is familiar with. Again, that's from a quote describing Jack Nicklaus, but it has never been more appropriate than today describing Tiger Woods. Tiger is the sun and the worlds best are just planets orbiting his greatness. Rocco is indeed a great golfer, he wouldn't have been there if he wasn't. But, it seemed that, like so many times before, Tiger cannot be beat. He tried to hold his own, and did for most of the 5 days, until the very last, when Rocco realized that he was completely out of gas, completely out of shots, Tiger simply shifts into second. There is no metaphor that is so hyperbolic that it doesn't describe Tiger. He is greatness personified.

It was like that young boy, all those years ago, playing against Phil Mickelson, who was at that time as big a name in golf as he is today. That young boy, while talented, didn't have a chance against the likes of Phil. He kept it close for most of the day, but in the end, Phil shifted gears and left the "journeyman" junior golfer in his shadow.

Today (and over the weekend), I watched some of Tiger and Rocco, and as I have already described, I am in awe of Tiger. But, I also know that Rocco must be devastated. If you haven't been there before, you might say, "hey, he wasn't supposed to be there anyway?" or "he still made a lot of money" or a million other consolation points. But, he still lost, and he will always think it was in his grasp. Don't get me wrong, in time, he will look back fondly at the run, and the near vanquishing of the giant, and friends and family will always call Rocco the best golfer that they knew, but alas, Tiger is not playing the same game as he. He is not playing the same game as anyone. There is no shame in finishing second to someone with supernatural powers. But alas, it was tantalizingly close. And one might always wonder what might have been had that putt on 18 dropped... Or if that young boy in 1982 had managed to beat Phil Mickelson that balmy July afternoon in San Diego? But then again, if he did beat Phil, perhaps he wouldn't be writing this blog...

Al Gore Endoress Barack Obama

2008-06-16T12:42:00.000-07:00

Ying and Yang

2008-06-16T09:32:00.001-07:00

Ying and Yang, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Last week wednesday, June 11, Katrina and I adopted an 8 year old Italian Greyhound named Oscar that was rescued from a backyard breeder that decided that they had no more use for him. He has basically spent that last few years tied outside to a tree. Not the most ideal of circumstances for a short haired dog that tends to get cold, and almost always wants to cuddle with another dog or a person. The first night Oscar spent with us was a little tiring, since he was quite scared of his new surroundings and also because both Katrina and Kimberly were sick from a bout with the flu or a cold. However, after a day or so, Oscar has been adjusting quite nicely to life as a Hiramoto. And, as you can see from the picture, he seems to getting along well with Nani.

Have a Nice Day!

2008-06-09T08:35:00.000-07:00

This video showed up recently on ABC News. Here's the full length video.

Have a nice day at the office.

Obokuri-Eemui

2008-06-08T20:45:00.000-07:00

For those of you that know me know how much I love music from around the world. Music that is not only beautiful, but conveys a sense of the culture that it arises from. I suppose this is linked to my love of traveling and experiencing not just the place, but the people and the culture. To not just to tour a place and see the exhibits, but to go behind the curtains, and to meet the people that make the a place unique.

Having said that, there are certain places in the world, that have captured my imagination like no other. Tibet, Egypt, and Japan to name a few. I have always felt a strong affinity and love for Japan, because 1) my family is Japanese, 2) I am of Japanese decent and 3) there are few places in the world that have been able to rocket headlong into the 21st Century, while still holding ancient cultures and traditions so closely to their hearts. Below is a song by an older Japanese woman named Ikue Asazaki. The song is called Obokuri-Eemui. It is a beautiful and haunting song, and the clip with images of Japan (including one of the artist at 0:41) really conveys a sense of melancholy beauty, that seems to be a very romantic view, in my mind, of Japan. Enjoy.

Insanity!

2008-05-31T20:46:00.001-07:00

what the %&*@, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

I took this picture with my cameraphone a couple of days ago, and the price has actually gone up since then. This gas station which is pretty close to where I work in El Segundo has regular unleaded at $4.25!

From a news conference, February 28, 2008

During a White House news conference Thursday morning, President Bush said the country is not headed into a recession, noting that the government has acted "robustly." His view of the economy, however, is far more chipper than that of many economists, who fear the country is entering a recession (or may even already be in one. In fact, when asked by a reporter about what advice he'd given an average American, who is faced by the prospect of $4 gallon gas, the President responded: "That's interesting. I hadn't heard that. ... I know it's high now."

Credit where credit is due...

2008-05-23T23:39:00.000-07:00

Many of you who read this blog of ours have seen my post from last year with some video I took in Zanzibar, Tanzania in January, 2007. It's of a guy climbing a ridiculously tall coconut tree, and once he's on top, starts singing a really cool song that you hear everywhere in East Africa, "Hakuna Matata". You know, that phrase from the Lion King? Well, obviously the phrase and this song pre-date Pumba's Disney rendition.

I had done some research and found the lyrics for the song that I wanted to include in a book I was doing chronicling our trip. I found a whole slew of renditions of the song on itunes and on various websites on the web. Some good, some not.

Well, after a year or so on youtube, the composer of the original song, "Hakuna Matata", Teddy Kalanda (pictured to the right) sent me this e-mail:

Jambo Bwana, I watched the video you made of that guy in Zanzibar,singing his version of my song,HAKUNA MATATA and i was very amused.The guy is quite creative in his own way. Here is the original version which i first recorded way back in February 1980.I hope you like it.If you do,please go to www.teddykalanda.altpro.net and you'll get to know more about me. I wish you all the very best in life.You are doing a great job for AFRICA. Kwaheri. TEDDY KALANDA HARRISON author,composer HAKUNA MATATA

How's that for cool? He still performs regularly in Kenya, you can learn more info on his website listed. If you go to the site, you'll hear his original version of the song.

I have to say, however, I am not the least surprised that I got such a nice e-mail from him. He seems to exemplify what I loved about Kenya and East Africa, and the people there. They are amazingly friendly and disarmingly humble.

If you're ever in Mombasa, Kenya, check him out every thursday night at the Flordia Night Club.

Thanks Teddy!

Have you seen anything cuter?

2008-05-21T21:50:00.001-07:00

Kimberly and Jazzy, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Here's a shot of Kimberly and her cousin Jasmine (or Jazzy). We were visiting Katrina's family in Utah this past weekend, and had a wonderful time with everyone. Katrina is the oldest of seven siblings, and for the first time in a few years, they were all together at the same time.

It was also the first time for Kimberly on a plane, which I would give the experience a B+. Going out there was a breeze, since she slept the whole way there. Coming back to Los Angeles was a little more of a challenge since it seemed the her ears were bothering her due to the change in cabin pressure. I think the thing that I was most concerned about was just getting through security with a whole bunch of baby crap. Stroller, car seat, car seat base, diaper bag, breast milk (you know the whole 3 oz. of liquid thing)... Then the potential for crying, fear of big poopy blowout while cramped in center seats in between super grouchy overweight business types who think that their poop don't stink.

But in the end it all worked out. Going out to Utah, we had three seats because the plane was about half full, so we could really spread out, and as I said, she slept the whole way. And aside from a bit of crankiness coming back, she was fine.

It was also nice to have had her first flight only be 1.5 hours, which gave us a good idea of what to prepare for when we go to Hawaii to see my family in September.

Ukulele God

2008-05-05T21:03:00.000-07:00

For those of you who read this blog regularly, you might remember that I posted a video of my best friend Beez and Katrina playing the Ukulele at my mom and dad's house in Aina Haina, playing Ka Uluwehi O Ke Kai. Now to be clear this is not a knock on my friend or my wife's playing of the ukulele, but you gotta see how a true master plays this four stringed Hawaiian instrument imported from Portugal. Below is fellow local boy, Jake Shimabukuro, playing a version of George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," or in this case, ukulele. He is truly a god on this instrument. Enjoy!

Check out Hulu!

2008-05-01T21:48:00.000-07:00

Since the amazing success of youtube (and the billions that those two guys made selling the site to Google), there have been a number of sites that have popped up of late doing very similar things. Hulu is a site that basically hosts professional (network stuff) content that you can watch, e-mail or embed (like I did below) into your website, with minimal commercial interference. Below is one of my all time favorite Saturday Night Live "Fake Commercial"s. Pretty hilarious.

Tough times for mommy....

2008-04-28T23:39:00.001-07:00

IMG_8198, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Well, sort of. Last week was Katrina's first week back at work, and Kimberly's first week at daycare. What's nice is that we know the woman who is watching Kimberly, she also watches our friend's two boys, she really is wonderful, and we have no concerns about her being there....but that first day away for Katrina was hard. After carrying her for 9 months and being at home for 6 months, there is undoubtedly a certain amount of separation anxiety that one gets. Kimberly on the other hand is, and has been such an easy going baby, and is taking everything in stride.

The good news is that Katrina has worked her schedule such that she gets fridays off, so it is something that she definitely looks forward to.

Spring Flowers at Disneyland

2008-04-20T20:21:00.001-07:00

Spring Flowers at Disneyland, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Days are getting warmer and longer, and the propane tank on the grill is full. Life is good.

Happy Spring Everyone!

Spring Break

2008-04-06T23:16:00.001-07:00

Remy and Kimberly, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Wow, what a week!

On 3/27, I had surgery on my head (see previous post). I had planned on taking the following week off for bonding time with Kimberly and Katrina, but was afraid that my "head wound" would have kept me from doing anything. For the next couple of days, i was a bit out of it, due to the narcotics that were prescribed for the pain.

But as the pain began to wear off, I really wanted to get out and start doing stuff, and helping Katrina around the house. I mean the whole idea of taking FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) is to bond with the new child and help the new mom who has been busting butt around the house for the past 4 months. Instead, Katrina was tending to both me and Kimberly. What complicated things further was that I was starting up againl at UCLA this past week (I had originally thought I was planning my leave during spring break, but miscalculated by a week, I know I'm an idiot).

Anyway, once we finally started getting out of the house, there was no stopping us! First, Kimberly and Katrina allowed me to drag them down to Santa Ana to the Bower Cultural Museum to view the last day of the "Mummies: Egyptian Treasures from the British Museum".

We then took Kimberly to her first visit to Disneyland! Now you're going to think that we're nuts, but we actually took her on one ride. Not one of the "kiddie" rides, but Pirates of the Caribbean! She actually LOVED it! Including those first two drops and all the pirates dancing and singing around!

Next up was the Los Angeles Zoo. The L.A. Zoo isn't the largest zoo I've been to, and it's not the most comprehensive, but it is a great zoo. Particularly to walk around and enjoy the scenery. They are currently renovating a few of the exhibits, mainly the elephant exhibit. They are greatly reducing the area for the elephants to create more of a "habitat" rather than an enclosure.

On saturday, we went to the South Coast Botanical Garden in Rancho Palos Verdes, near where we live. It's a large botanical garden of primarily California native plants, and a few exotics. But it is on a large plot of land with a lake that is very well maintained. A wonderful place for a long walk and picnic. Kimberly really enjoyed pulling out the flowers that we're supposed to be picked. Like father like daughter.

And today, we went to Disney's California Adventure, where Kimberly got to meet Miney for the first time. We got a decent picture out of it, but we were just glad that Kimberly didn't completely lose it when she saw Miney, like the kid in front of us. It was as if he saw Freddy Kruger or something.

Head Wound Remy

2008-04-01T16:14:00.000-07:00

"A cyst is a closed sac- or bladder-like structure that is not a normal part of the tissue where it is found. Cysts are common and can occur anywhere in the body in persons of any age. Cysts usually contain a gaseous, liquid, or semisolid substance. Cysts vary in size; they may be detectable only under a microscope or they can grow so large that they displace normal organs and tissues. The outer wall of a cyst is called the capsule." from www.webmd.com

Last thursday, after 25 years, I had a large cyst removed from the top of my head. Most people never knew that I had it there, except for a few folks close to me. Last summer, when Katrina was in the late stages of the 2nd trimester, early 3rd, she became the chief foreman of the Hiramoto household. She got our roof replaced, our furnace cleaned, our air ducts cleaned, our carpets shampooed, and she looked at me one day scratching the lump on my head, and demanded that I go to the doctor and have it removed. I went to the my primary care physician thinking that it would be a simple in office visit. It was not. I first had to go through a series of blood tests, then a CT scan, and then I was referred to a specialist. I went to see him in November and we scheduled to have the lump removed. After seeing the results of the tests, it was concluded that it wasn't a tumor and didn't have any ventricular growth (have it's own blood supply) and it was not attached to the skull.

Anyway, I went to the doctor's (the surgeon) office on 12/1/2007 for the procedure. He had a small operating room and had me lie down on the table, and they were prepping my head with alcohol. He was just about the inject me with some local and decided that it was far too large, and really required me to go to the hospital and have the procedure done under general anesthesia. Well, because, I couldn't just go to the hospital that day because my insurance had to be re-authorized for a more complicated medical procedure, I told him that it would probably be a while before I could have it done because my wife was about to give birth.

Well, four months went by and I finally had the lump removed, and I now have a bunch of stitches on my head, but no lump. I went back to the doctor yesterday for a post-op check-up and all the tests on the mass removed came back negative. It was merely a large cyst (a little larger than a golf ball).

Since I don't want to get my blog labeled offensive, I have elected not to post a picture of my head post-op or the mass that was removed.

Thanks for your e-mails and concern!

Remy

Kimberly at the Aquarium

2008-03-17T20:52:00.000-07:00

Our friend and guide from Africa, Linda, was in town visiting this past weekend, and we decided to take her to one of our favorite places, the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach of California. We've taken Kimberly to the aquarium once before, but this time, we got her out of her stroller, and she had a great time. She was so entranced by all the fish and coral. We didn't think that she would be so attentive at only 3 months.

Major Milestone!

2008-03-13T15:23:00.001-07:00

DSCN0780, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

On tuesday night we achieved a major milestone...Kimberly slept through the night!! I still got up to check on her, but after a couple more nights of the same behavior, we are happy to report that tuesday wasn't a fluke.

She is still having some lingering issues with her excema but overall is the condition seems to be improving.

With every new milestone achieved, you can see how parents turn into bragging monsters.
"Oh, our little one was sleeping through the night at 2 months."
"Our son was turning over at 3 months, that's in the 99%tile."
"Our daughter was walking at 12 months and reading at 15 months."
"Oh, that's nothing, our little girl can levitate small objects and solve complex differential equations."

What's funny, is that whenever parents make these assertions, they don't seem to be conscious of the way it comes across to
1) non-parents: they don't really care anyway, unless they are already part of your political campaign (i.e.: family members)
2) other parents: they don't want to hear how their child is inferior in anyway.

And beware, these minor comparisons of your children can quickly escalate to a full scale cold war between parties. The next thing you know, your child will need her own blackberry to keep track of all her piano, violin, soccer, hula, language immersion classes mom has signed her up for.

Star Wars...to a 3 year old

2008-03-05T08:03:00.000-08:00

This is pretty funny. Since having our daughter, somehow people have been sending me these videos of really cute kids. Enjoy this one!

Lost in thought....

2008-03-03T11:28:00.001-08:00

k, originally uploaded by .Photo Gil..

This was a shot taken by our friend Gilbert Yu. He's a semi-professional photographer, and I've been able to sucker him in taking shots of Kimberly under the guise that we're helping him with his photography assignments. Thanks again Gil!!

Kimberly is 13 weeks old now and she has now officially outgrew all of her 0-3month and some of her 3-6 month clothes!

She has been such a joy for both Katrina and I, but it has been not without some worry. Kimberly has been suffering from a severe bout of infant excema. After a week of itching and scratching and trying some over the counter remedies from the internet, we went back to the doctor (she initially told us it was nothing and not to worry about it, but it had since gotten much worse since that visit) and she prescribed some very mild cortizone creams, as well as another cream to use more regularly. And they worked! As you can see from this picture, she looks almost back to normal with just a few dry patches here and there. We're still having to be careful about what we put on her face, but so far so good.

Not ours, but pretty darned cute

2008-02-25T15:55:00.000-08:00

iBaby

2008-02-22T22:59:00.001-08:00

iBaby, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Katrina bought me a new iPod Touch for my 38th birthday last month and I love it!!! Of course it is now filled with pictures of Kimberly and Katrina. I'm not the biggest new gadget nut, but I love this thing. I wasn't looking for a new phone, so she didn't get me the iPhone, and I didn't want the hassle of a new service agreement. But with this thing, with it's built in WiFi internet capability, I can browse the internet (full resolution webpages) wherever there's a hotspot around or in our house. The other wonderful thing is that with Handbrake software, I can convert our DVDs into movies that can be played on the iPod. You would think that watching a TV show or a movie on a tiny screen isn't that great, but let me tell you it is wonderful when you're on a plane or waiting at the airport or wherever you have a spare moment. I'm not converting video I took in Africa and of Kimberly to be played on the iPod Touch so that I can show people videos anywhere. Okay, that's my testimonial for the iPod touch.
Thank you Katrina!! =)

This is INSANE!

2008-02-20T23:30:00.001-08:00

Coming from Hawaii, I have to tell you that I'm personally offended by this commercial. No one that I know in Hawaii would be so, as we say in Hawaii, LOLO to use this product. Having said that, the commercial is pretty darned funny.

Happy 11 Weeks!!

2008-02-20T23:18:00.001-08:00

DSCN0702, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Time is a funny thing. Depending on your perspective, 11 weeks is either an eternity or a mere moment. And more often than not, it's both. Kimberly celebrated 11 weeks in this world this past tuesday, and she is doing wonderfully. As you can see, she's a looker, and seems to know it. Takes after her mom. Gotta love those cheeks though... =) When my mom was visiting last week, the thing she kept saying when she was holding her was, "I can't believe it. A blue eyed Hiramoto."

Smile!

2008-02-11T19:47:00.001-08:00

IMG_0051, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

I just dropped off my mom, sister and niece at the airport today after a week long visit. While we had a great time, it's always seems that the trips are far too short. Here's a shot of my niece, Christa, and Kimberly.

Kenya in Crisis

2008-01-28T20:16:00.001-08:00

What a difference a year makes...one year ago, Katrina and I were standing atop a large rock outcropping in the middle of Lake Nakuru National Park, just north of Nairobi. From the image to the right you can see Lake Nakuru in the background, and beyond that is Lake Naivasha. The parks were magnificent and Kenya was a peaceful and welcoming place. Today, this shot would be utterly impossible.

Recently, after an election in December, where the outcome was called into question, supporters of president elect Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga began a bloody conflict that has left about 800 Kenyans dead thus far. Kenya has been a model of a successful, stable country in a volatile East Africa until now, and has thrust the entire country into turmoil. Recently, violence has spilled into the Naivasha and Nakuru area where Katrina and I camped last year, around this time. When we returned from Africa, we were always quick to comment how peaceful and friendly everyone in Kenya was. This conflict doesn't change how I feel about Kenyans, but it pains me to watch this tragedy unfold. When I was planning our trip to Africa, I was thinking about extending our journey to parks in the North of Kenya, but decided to pass because of issues with border issues with refugees coming into Kenya from Sudan and Somalia. The areas that we were, again up till now, were relative havens of peace. Of course the real victims in all of this are the Kenyans themselves, and hopefully now that former UN chief, Kofi Annan is in Kenya to help with peace talks, Kenya will once again be a model for the rest of East Africa. It's just that today, that doesn't seem likely in the near term. You can read more about the conflict on the BBC Africa Desk Website.

=)

2008-01-22T00:37:00.001-08:00

=), originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Our little Kimberly Malia is 7 weeks old! She seems to grow a little every day, and seems to already have a sense of her surroundings. What's been really cool is that she has started smiling and laughing.

Somehow this looks familiar...

2008-01-14T06:55:00.000-08:00

***WARNING****
The little guy in the video is very cute. You have been warned.

I was planning on posting a picture of our little Kimberly Malia sleeping, when she does her cute kicks and facial expressions. Well, I still haven't edited our video of Kimberly, so this will have to do. Oddly enough, this little guy's behavior seems oddly familiar to our little Kimberly. Enjoy.

Polar Bear profile from National Geographic.

Like father like daughter?

2008-01-12T20:04:00.001-08:00

mosaic1670638, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

I got an e-mail from my cousin Avis telling me that I should post a picture of me as a baby for comparison.

Here's a shot of my mom holding me and Katrina holding Kimberly. People keep saying Kimberly looks like me when I was a baby. What do you think?

waiting for her bath...

2008-01-09T11:01:00.001-08:00

DSCN0398.JPG, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Kimberly has been getting more and more alert every day. She's still not sleeping through the night, but she has certainly developed a fairly reliable eating and sleeping routine.

You can't tell from this picture, but Kimberly has dark blue eyes. This past weekend, she has started smiling. She has been such a joy, and been very happy and content baby.

Happy Holidays

2007-12-26T21:25:00.001-08:00

Happy Holidays, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Mele Kalikimaka Haoli Makahiki Hou!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!

Remy, Katrina, Nani and Kimberly

Nani loves her little sister

2007-12-18T20:48:00.001-08:00

0712_0956a nx.jpg, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Well, little Kimberly is just over 2 weeks old now, and is doing very well. Katrina is also recovering nicely. She has transitioned off the Vicadin on to Motrin, which is a pretty big step in terms of how much pain she has. We're slowly starting to develop a rhythm with her sleeping, eating and when she just wants to play. We just have to figure out when we're supposed to sleep.

The photo was taken during a photo shoot with our friend Gilbert Yu. He is a co-worker of ours who also happens to be a gifted photographer. Drop me a line if you're local in the Los Angeles area and need a great photographer. You can check out his other amazing photos at the link on his name above.

home...

2007-12-13T09:56:00.001-08:00

home..., originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Kimberly and Katrina have been home now for a few days, and things are going well. Katrina's health has been improving everyday as well. While we're still up almost 24 hours a day, we're developing a rhythm now, where I'll sleep for a couple of hours and Katrina will sleep for a couple of hours. When people used to tell me about the lack of sleep when you have a new born, I used to think how difficult it must be. And while I'm not saying that it isn't difficult, somehow when it's your own daughter, your own baby, and your own wife, there seems to be an untapped reserve of energy and desire that makes all the work not seem so taxing.

We were also very lucky to have a couple of friends come over and stay with us, help us prepare dinner, and help Katrina while I was trying to finish a research paper and prepare for a final exam. There are indeed angels in our midst. =) Thank you all so much!

sisters

2007-12-09T11:51:00.001-08:00

sisters, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Well, we made it through our first night home in one piece. Yesterday afternoon, I picked up Nani from day care and brought her home to meet her sister for the first time. I think it was love at first sight. She was very curious at first, and now she is just protective. I don't want to read into animal behavior too much, but Nani has been able to sense (or smell) when little Kimberly needs a diaper change or is hungry before she starts crying. Nani also will follow me (even in the middle of the night) to the baby room if Kimberly needs to be fed or have her diaper change.

on the way home

2007-12-08T15:32:00.001-08:00

on the way home, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Hi Everyone!

Well, we finally made it home. Both Katrina and Kimberly got a clean bill of health to go home this morning. Katrina has been recovering quite well, even though it still is very difficult for her to move around due to the c-section surgery, but is resting comfortably now in her own bed as I write this.

The first few days after birth, Kimberly lost quite a bit of weight (about 12% of her total body weight), but has since gained some of it back. We were told that this is normal, but at around 12 - 15%, they start to watch her very closely. However, since Katrina's milk came in quite well, we were able to bottle supplement her with mommy's milk, and got her back on a positive weight gain trajectory.

Our whole world...

2007-12-06T12:48:00.001-08:00

IMG_7386.JPG, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Hello Again,

This is a shot from earlier today. Katrina is progressing in her recovery well. She is still in a lot of pain, but just looking at our little daughter eases her pain more than any amount of vicadin. She will be staying in the hospital through saturday, which is good for a number of reasons. Not only is she getting great care during this very important (and painful) recovery time, but she had a lactation consultant come in for two days to help her get started on breast feeding.

Thank you to you all for all of your kind words, support and all the strength you give to Katrina and myself.

Much Love,
Remy, Katrina and Kimberly

Family Photo

2007-12-05T10:20:00.001-08:00

IMG_7331.JPG, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Hi again everyone!

Wow, what an amazing 48 hours (or so, I've lost track of time). Katrina is progressing well at the hospital recovering from the surgery. And Kimberly is already nursing from Katrina, and we couldn't be more thrilled with all that has transpired.

As an additional side note from that last post. As I already told you, Katrina had an anesthesiologist who was from Hawaii, and was playing Hawaiian music while she was in surgery. And as luck would have it, right when Kimberly was being born, Ka Uluwehi O Ke Kai was playing, Katrina's favorite song! For those of you not from Hawaii, this is the song that Katrina is singing here.

The picture above is about 1 minute after Kimberly was born. Not a dry eye in the room.

Hello World!

2007-12-04T17:55:00.001-08:00

IMG_7346.JPG, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Kimberly Malia Hiramoto was born on December 4, 2007 at 1:13pm at Torrance Memorial Hospital via C-Section. She was 9 pounds and 21 inches long. Katrina and Kimberly are both doing well, but will remain in the hospital for 3-5 days recovering.

It was an incredibly arduous experience for Katrina. She went into labor at 9:30pm on Monday, December 3. And after suffering an incredibly painful (pitosin induced) and long (over 15 hours) labor, the doctors decided that it would be too dangerous to continue with the vaginal birth, and decided at 12:30pm to do a c-section.

We were lucky to have Dr. Kobayashi as a anesthesiologist who had an i-pod going in the surgery room playing one of our favorite Hawaiian bands, Hapa, while Katrina was having her c-section.

Thanks to all the doctors (Dr. Singh and her assistants) and nurses (and especially Alyce and Mercy who were Katrina's nurses) at Torrance Memorial that helped Katrina get through a very difficult delivery.

Well, I'm headed back to the hospital, and I'll post more pictures when I have a little more time at home.

Much Love and Aloha,
Remy, Katrina and Kimberly Hiramoto

any day/moment now...

2007-12-02T21:38:00.001-08:00

Love, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Hi Everyone!
As of this writing, Katrina hasn't given birth yet. Katrina is definitely ready to be "not pregnant" as she is now complaining about her feet swelling to the point that none of her shoes fit comfortably anymore.

A couple of days ago, Katrina started to have periodic contractions (1 minute long, 5 minutes apart for over a couple of hours) so we decided to head to the hospital at about 2 am. After watching her for a couple hours, they decided to let us go home since she wasn't dilated yet.

We are scheduled to go see our doctor tomorrow, and they told us last week to think about inducing labor since Kimberly is already full term.

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-24T20:23:00.001-08:00

IMG_7271.JPG, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving (or if you're not in the US, we hope you had a wonderful thursday and friday). =)

Katrina and I had Thanksgiving dinner at our neighbor's (Pat and Claudia) house with our friends Theresa and Judy (her very first Thanksgiving!).

And in case you're wondering, Katrina has not given birth yet. She's doing well, and little Kimberly Maila could come any day now (although her due date is 12/4).

Oh, and before I forget, Pat and Claudia have a Nintendo Wii game console and we ended up playing a little Nintendo bowling. Take a look below.

Platform 9 3/4

2007-11-20T19:24:00.001-08:00

Platform 9 3/4, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Katrina around the World! I've decided to start a new series, photos of Katrina around the world. Hey, it's my blog, and I can post what I feel like.

This is shot from King's Cross Station in London. If you walk down the toward the middle of the station, just a ways from the tracks 9, 10 and 11, you find this wall. Something about a Henry Potter or Harry Putnam, I can't remember the name. At times they have a luggage trolley half sticking out of the wall, but when we were there, it wasn't there. Looks like we missed the Hogwart's Express. But for all you fans out there, there actually is a platform 9 3/4.

The photo is from December of 2004, when we were visiting Katrina's sister Tennille and her family who were living just outside of London at the time.

Katrina sings the classics

2007-11-13T21:32:00.000-08:00

Ka Uluwehi o ke kai, or plants of the sea, is a classic traditional Hawaiian song, that was made famous once again to a younger generation of Hawaiian music fans by the band Hapa. If you haven't heard of them, check them out, they are among Hawaii's finest musicians.

When Katrina and I first started dating, Katrina was intrigued by my collection of music from back home in Hawaii. And the song that she gravitated to was Ka Uluwehi o ke Kai, the version by Hapa. At the time Katrina was training for her first marathon, which was going to be the Honolulu Marathon, and by the time she got to the race, she could sing the entire song, in Hawaiian from start to finish. Well, fast forward a few years, and we're back home at my mom and dad's house in Aina Haina, and my sister, brother-in-law, their kids, my best friend Beez and his wife, Cindy all start playing with the karaoke machine. After that got a little old, the ukuleles came out and Beez and Katrina decided to serenade us with none other than Ka Uluwehi o ke Kai.

After checking out Katrina, check out another local boy teaching us how it's done, slack key style.

Who Killed the Electric Car?

2007-11-10T21:26:00.000-08:00

At what point will we begin to say, "hey, you know, $9.39 for a gallon of gas seems a little steep?"

Please don't bombard me with hate e-mails if you happen to be supportive of big oil or have some strong religious affiliation with the church of the internal combustion engine.

Below is the trailer for the film, "Who Killed the Electric Car?". Add it to your netflix list. See the movie. Then ask yourself again, "why are we paying $3.89/gallon? and what's the company that just made $9billion in PROFIT (revenue was around $87.4B) in just 3 months this year?"

Thank you

2007-11-06T06:36:00.001-08:00

3+1, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

To all our friends and family,

Katrina and I truly live charmed lives to have such wonderful families and friends. We wanted to extend our deepest heartfelt thanks for always supporting us, and specifically, most recently, getting us so many of the things that we needed and wanted at Katrina's showers. To our friends and family in Hawaii, Utah, Los Angeles and around the world. Thank you!

Katrina's last day at work is this friday, and we have just under 4 weeks to go. As you can see from the picture, Katrina is just radiant, and is feeling quite well considering she is carrying Kimberly around every where she goes.

We look forward to sharing our joy (and pictures) with all of you when Kimberly finally arrives on scene.

Much Love and Aloha,
Remy and Katrina (and Nani)

Happy Halloween from Nani

2007-10-31T23:12:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloween from Nani, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

We didn't really get a chance to do much for Halloween this year since we've been so busy with baby things, school and work, so the only one in our family that got dressed up was Nani. We went more "Paris Hilton" with Nani rather than Dracula.

The Worst I've Seen

2007-10-23T21:07:00.000-07:00

A number of friends and family have called concerned about Katrina and I, so I thought I would add a post on the blog to let everyone know that we're okay, and our home isn't in danger. However, this is the worst I have ever seen in nearly 20 years in Los Angeles, in terms of fire.

As some of you might know, I work at Boeing in El Segundo, California, however about once a week, I have another office at a research lab in Malibu just above Pepperdine University. On sunday, when the Malibu fire broke out, the fires got very close to the labs, singeing some of the outer buildings. The fire then jumped over the road and burned a church right across the street to the ground. The labs are still closed and without power and Pacific Coast Highway is also closed, so I couldn't get up there if I wanted to.

That fire has since slowed, and it should be 100% contained by friday according to various news reports. What's more scary right now are the fires in San Diego County, that are far from being contained. I'm very concerned about good friends of ours that live in Encinitas that were part of the evacuation map. It's hard to believe that a half a million people have been forced to evacuate.

As I indicted before, our house and where we live are not in the danger zone, but in the afternoon yesterday and today, the sky turns are very hazy orange.

Anyway, thank you to everyone who has been calling or e-mailing. We're fine, but certainly keep California in your thoughts, thousands of homes are still in critical danger.

NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center.

Almost there...

2007-10-20T17:08:00.001-07:00

KIMBERLY_25.JPG, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Today Katrina and I went to a place in Westwood, California to get a 3/4D sonagraphy of our baby. They basically have a very sophisticated ultra-sound machine that is able to map the data generated by the transducer into a three dimensional image (the fourth dimension is time, where we get a real time video of her moving around). It was a really cool experience, and we were able to see her move around, suck her thumb, kick, etc.. And confirm that she is indeed a girl.

Katrina is doing well, and as of this week we have 6 more weeks to go. We just finished our birthing class, which turned out to be well worth the time and money. Just being able to see what we're going to encounter during the birth, and post-partum, and getting a tour of the hospital really helped us better prepare ourselves mentally for what's in store in the next couple of months.

And as you might have noticed from the file name, we are planning on naming her Kimberly Malia Hiramoto.

Congratulations to HH the 14th Dalai Lama!

2007-10-18T08:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama was in Washington D.C. was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, our nation's highest civilian honor. "The award is in recognition of the Dalai Lama's advocacy of religious harmony, non-violence, and human rights throughout the world and for his efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Tibet issue through dialogue with the Chinese leadership."

You can read the "Fourteenth Dalai Lama Congressional Gold Medal Act, of the 109th Congress, 2nd Session: Senate Resolution 2784. May 25, 2006" here. During the congressional hearings in 2006, many senators and congressmen spoke out in support of the Dalai Lama and his being given this honor.

Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): "For millions around the world, His Holiness the Dalai Lama is a source of spiritual refuge and a connection to inner peace and harmony. He has traveled the world, building bridges between and among the different faiths. He has used his position to promote wisdom, compassion, and non-violence as a solution -- not only in Tibet -- but to other world conflicts.

"The Dalai Lama has been a unifying voice for global peace, asking for international support for his non-violent efforts to engage the Chinese government in the struggle for Tibetan freedom. By awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to the Dalai Lama, Congress is sending a crucial signal of support for the ongoing discussions. The United States must continue to be committed to meeting the challenge that Tibet makes to the conscience of the world."

Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (principal Republican sponsor in the House, member of the International Relations Committee): "The 14th Dalai Lama is very deserving of the Congressional Gold Medal. His moral courage and unifying vision is an example for all peace-loving peoples. I am privileged to lead a bipartisan action in the House that honors this man of peace with such a marvelous recognition of his continuing work on behalf of his fellow man."

Yesterday, October 17, President Bush and the congressional sponsors presented His Holiness with this great award. Prior to the award, President Bush said, "I congratulate His Holiness on this recognition. I'm so honored to be here with you, sir. Laura and I join all Americans in offering the people of Tibet our fervent prayer that they may find days of prosperity and peace."

You can read the rest of President Bush's speech here.
You can read the Dalai Lama's acceptance speech her e.

"Some people would say, and I think with justice, that the Dalai Lama's message, on one level, is a rigorous optimism. Others would just point to his kindness - the equivalent of the Buddha holding up a flower and saying nothing.But on this particular summer morning in Japan, I thought that his lesson - one of them, at least - might be just his life: one long, unbroken trail of separation and tragedy, and yet to look at him, to listen to him you would think that every moment was lit up with pure gold." - Author Pico Iyer describing his friend, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. You can read his whole interview here.

I was lucky enough to attend the California Governor's Conference last year in Long Beach, and the Dalai Lama was the invited speaker. You can read my report and see the video I shot from last year here.

Mountain Gorillas in Danger

2007-10-08T11:27:00.000-07:00

Continued fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has already taken a huge toll in human life (over 4 million people were killed in the genocide the spread across the countries of Uganda, the DRC, Rwanda, and Burundi). While much of the genocide has been suppressed, the situation there is still quite fluid, and as rebel fighters seek to gain refuge in the jungles of Virunga National Park in the DRC, the critically endangered Mountain Gorillas are becoming the latest casualties. Virunga National Park is home to over half of the under 700 mountain gorillas that still live in the wild. Since 1996, 10 of the great apes have been murdered by armed gunmen or poachers, and two of the great apes are still missing.

The BBC has been posting updates provided by two brave Congolese rangers named "Innocent" and "Diddy", and you can read their updates here.

Wildlifedirect.org is an organization based in the UK, headed by famed archaeologist and conservationist, Richard Leakey, that is committed to protecting the endangered wildlife in Africa. The maintain a blog that is currently chronicling the ongoing tragedy in the Congo. You can also find out how you can help the situation through action and donations.

The video below was taken by one of the volunteers at wildlifedirect.org that shows Congolese rangers taking care of two young orphaned mountain gorillas. These rangers are truly among the bravest and most committed people, and it is not without great risk. Since the conflict started in 1996, over 97 rangers have been killed protecting these great animals.

"I can see you..."

2007-10-07T23:35:00.001-07:00

I see you, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

This little beauty is a rockfish, part of the angler fish family, that relies on stealth and surprise to snare his dinner. The Rockfish (or sometimes referred to as Stonefish, because of their appearance) are very venomous (their dorsal spine is loaded with venom), but only uses it for protection, not capturing prey. As you can imagine, the Japanese have figured out a way to prepare this fish for sashimi (Okoze), but in the west they are mostly imported as aquarium pets due to their durability and strange appearance. Oddly enough, this fish can survive out of water for up to a day!

Katrina, our friend Leimomi and I went to the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific today to enjoy a beautiful day in Southern California. Momi had never been to this Aquarium before, and it was a real treat for her, since the Long Beach Aquarium is truly a world class facility. The picture to the right is of Momi and Katrina at the stingray petting pool. There are about three species of rays in the pool that you can "pet" with "two fingers only!" as the employees always remind you.

Baby Hiramoto's Safari Room

2007-09-28T14:05:00.001-07:00

Baby Room, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

Thanks to Matt (Katrina's brother in law), we were able to get our wall mural up in the baby's room. Katrina and I were talking about how we wanted to decorate the room, and early on, we had decided on a African Safari room (even though Toucans and Macaws are South American). I had found a site that had wonderful wall murals and decals, and found this one that Katrina thought was perfect.

As luck would have it, Matt and Katrina's sister, Stephanie (and their two boys) were visiting for a week, and the mural came while they were here. Matt, who is amazingly gifted at all things D.I.Y., graciously offered to help me put up the mural. While it was relatively easy, it was definitely a two person job, and there were about 10 little things that I would have surely screwed up had Matt not been there to help. Thanks Matt!!!

Katrina has about 9 weeks to go, and she is doing well. Our daughter has been particularly active kicking and shoving Katrina's insides around, and while it is undoubtedly uncomfortable, you can imagine how thrilled we are.

Baby Hiramoto

2007-09-06T15:07:00.001-07:00

Baby Hiramoto, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

The first of what I'm sure will be many baby pictures. This ultra sound is a couple of months old, and we're schedule for another one in a few weeks. Katrina is doing well, and our little girl is really starting to kick. We've been able to feel her move for about 3 weeks now, but over the last few days it has been considerably more noticeable. Since our first little girl, our dog Nani, sleeps with us, I'm waiting for the day/night when she starts to feel her kick. Sometimes, Nani, sleeps with her head up against Katrina's belly, with her arm around Katrina. It's really cute.

Jambo Africa

2007-08-18T12:17:00.001-07:00

We've all taken trips that have meant to something...meant something to you, the traveler, or to those who you visited. My most meaningful trips often are visiting my family in Hawaii with Katrina and visiting my grandmother, who is in her mid-90s. I try to take as many pictures as I can, but I am not unlike many other folks, where the pictures lie on the computer (or in boxes in years past as slides or prints), where I take a look at them from time to time, and then...nothing. Lately (in the past couple of years) I have been trying to do something with those pictures, something that will 1) help extend the high you get when traveling and 2) help others enjoy the photos as well. For the most people, however, those vacation photos or whatever really don't mean anything to anyone besides yourself, those who traveled with you and perhaps some very close friends and family who are willing to be feign excitement about seeing your pictures and hearing your stories. We're not all Ansel Adams or Spalding Grey.

Which leads me to the topic of the post. Do something with your photos! I have found a number of services that help you do wonderful things with your photos. The first is Blurb. For those of you with a Mac, you have iPhoto, and you can make photo books with that software and order a very nice book from Apple. And there are other services like Shutterfly, Kodakgallery.com, etc.. They all have the ability to make photo books. However, if you are serious about making a bookstore quality book, whether it's a photo book, a novel you always wanted to have published, a cookbook of all of your mom's recipes or whatever, Blurb is the way to go. I put together the book you see above, Jambo Africa, which is a chronicle of our overland journey through East and Southern Africa. And the quality of the printing and the binding is as good as any coffee table you might buy at a bookstore. And if you're so inclined, you can buy a copy of the book yourself (a little shameless self-promotion)! But it's also nice that you are able to publish the book so that your friends and family can get their own copy of that family reunion or family vacation or baby shower or whatever. Anyway, check it out through the links on this post, or the link on the sidebar.

The other service is Zazzle. This is a really fun site to play around with. What I've done with it so far is make T-shirts from our trip to Egypt and East Africa. Sure you can do that with other sites, but the flexibility and the quality and variety of shirts available is staggering. You can choose from something like 200 different types of shirts, including long sleeve shirts and sweaters, fashionable ringer t-shirts, and womens, toddler and infant clothing. What's also nice is that you can add text and have artwork on the front and back of the t-shirt. You can check out some of the shirts I've made, buy one, or make one of your own. We've got a couple back from Zazzle already, and they are great!

Now that I've wrote this post, it does sound like one big advertisement, but I think you'll find the sites worth checking out. So get out, travel, take pictures, and do something with it fun!

Friendship

2007-08-02T17:55:00.001-07:00

four honu, originally uploaded by RemyOmar.

So often in our busy, hectic lives, we take our friends for granted. The cosmic coincidence that brought us together in the first place, the sheer luck that our personalities would gel, and the joy each others company brings...this is indeed the magic granted to us. And yet, all to often, we allow our friends to drift away, because of our own troubles, our own busy lives, our own laziness, because perhaps we have moved to different places in the world, and it is proving too difficult to remain in contact. Paths rarely cross again, and when they do, sometimes the link has weakened, the compatibility lost.

I am (and have been) guilty of allowing some of my friends to drift farther and farther away, because of those reasons I had mentioned. And it is not because I did not love those friends, it was because I was lazy, it was because I was selfish. Now, I'm not trying to beat myself up over this, just to point out how easy it is for something that brings so much joy to our lives is lost when we're not paying attention.

I have said in this blog before, and many who know me have heard me say this, I have led a very charmed life. I have been arrested, I have been kicked out of high school, I have ruined friendships, I have done very bad things, and yet...I am lucky. It was not my intention to do any of those things, but yet they happened. I have been critically ill, I have been homeless, I have been too fat, I have been too skinny, I made my grandmother cry, I have made my parents cry, and I have made friends cry, and yet...I am lucky. It was not my intention to do any of those things, but they happened, nonetheless. And through it all, I have such wonderful friends, such a wonderful family, and I have Katrina. I do not deserve them, I am not entitled to them, I am just lucky.

This past short trip to Hawaii reminded me of friendship, and prompted me to write this post. While we were there, we met two friends. One that we had just met earlier this year, the other I had known for over 20 years, but had been out of touch for something like 15 years. In both cases, these friends meant a lot to me and to Katrina, but could have easily have disappeared into the vapors of "people that we once knew" for one reason or another.

In the first case, this was a friend, Cheryl, that we met in Egypt of all places, lives in Switzerland, and has family in Toronto. So, this was a geographically challenging friendship to begin with, but as luck would have it, Katrina and I kept in touch with Cheryl, and we were in Hawaii the same time Cheryl and her boyfriend were there. We took them around the island and went on a couple of hikes. Katrina and I had a wonderful time with them, getting to meet Cheryl's boyfriend, chatting about Egypt and traveling, and just catching up. It's a small world after all.

Our second friend is a class mate from high school. We were very close in high school. I went off to college, and we would get together once and a while when I came home in the summer, but as time went on. We saw less and less of each other, until, we were both memories to each other. By sheer luck, we were able to hook up again a couple of years ago finding out that Leimomi was living in Los Angeles, and Katrina and I couldn't have been more thrilled to have her back in our lives. Plus, Katrina had a new roller skating partner! The past few months or so have been very busy for both Katrina and I with the first trimester of Katrina's pregnancy, and Leimomi with helping her sister move back to Hawaii after recently having a baby as well as spending time with her boyfriend. So, again, as luck would have it, Leimomi was home in Hawaii for a few days the same time we were there last week, and we were able to hook up for a hike down to the Makapu'u tide pools and get some lunch afterwards.

Take some time to think about how much your friends and family mean to you. Tell them that they are important, because they are. If they have drifted away, do your best to find them again. And if they float back into your life, take some time to catch up...you have been given a second chance.

Mahalo (thank you) to all our friends and family!
Remy and Katrina