Mumper here!

It's been such a long time since I've contributed anything and as a result, I couldn't remember my password especially after that incident where I ended up in England stuck in a hotel as a result of being mugged and unable to subsequently pay my hotel bills.

What happened! Somebody was phishing and I bit. I got an email from "Yahoo" saying that they were reviewing all email accounts and that if I didn't want my account to be cancelled, I should respond within two weeks. I responded. They asked for my password number and I figured that they being Yahoo must know it already so I provided it to them again. Surprise!!!....within an hour I was getting calls from the East Coast telling me that my email had been compromised.

So.....new account, new password and I forgot the old one.

Marvelous visit with Arthur Akina. So good to see him after 49 years. A definitely marvelous job by Mike Chun posting the photos and videos and keeping this blog going! A spectacular job of organizing this fine event by Morris Lai and Dick Tsuda , two of our take charge classmates.

So far, a busy summer. As I watched all the history channel shows on the American Revolution during the 4th of July weekend telling of all the sacrifice and difficulty that our country went through trying to win the war.....as I recall 1/3 were loyalists, 1/3 didn't want to get involved leaving a minority that pushed this war to a successful ending with all the trials of maintaining an Army and winning, all the trouble with the Articles of Confederation and writing a new constitution and all the problems with getting the states on board with the new national government....sometimes, I wonder, wouldn't it have been easier just to have paid the freaking tax on the tea?

Just joking!!! But just a glancing thought! But with all the problems that our country went through, maybe we shouldn't expect so much so soon in Iraq and Afghaganistan. We had a hundred years of turmoil from the our founding to the end of the civil war just to get our "stuff" together.

Regarding the World Cup, I believe that the USA did a good job. We made it out of the first round. What more can be expected in a country where our best athletes go into baseball, football and basketball? To the best of my knowledge, the annual pay of one basketball player would be more than enough to cover the entire annual budget of one soccer team.

So, Coach Bob Bradley, I hope you come back! You did good!

Incidently, my experience with AYSO soccer for 12 years indicates that we may have a long way to improve in player development. There was always a big emphasis on winning at the lowest levels and sometimes, the only way to win was to yell at the kids to "kick the ball out of the middle" so the other team didn't score on you, to "kick it down the field" and to "kick it out of bounds" to keep the ball from being taken away from you. As a result, kids were not encouraged to practice their skills under game conditions for fear of making mistakes and passing was taught at too young an age before individual skills were even learned.

From what I've read, kids from other countries learn many of their individual skills playing unorganized "street soccer" and they master their individual skills of dribbling and controlling the ball before they get into organized play and before they are even taught passing and tactics. My recommendation is that parents and coaches be banned from youth soccer so that kids can just play, develop their skills and not worry about being afraid to make mistakes for fear of being yelled at by coaches and parents.

Of course, I haven't coached in about 8 years. Things must be changing but you can watch soccer at the highest levels and note the sophisticated skill levels of the non-American players with exceptions of course especially around their own goal.

On another note, we've attended a number of funerals in the last couple of years for fellow classmates. I think that a memorial ceremony at Iolani's St. Albans Chapel is really cool with a reception being provided in the student cafeteria (does this building have a name?) by the food caterers under contract at Iolani. I've often wondered who one would call to make it easier for your family when it's time to transition over to the other side. It would be cool if Iolani had a plan for their alumni. I would be interested....just in case anybody from Iolani is reading this.

Meanwhile....keep up the good work if you haven't made the list yet....keep moving to keep the numbers (cholesterol, weight, blood sugar and blood pressure) down....and stay married....it's better for your life span in the long run from what I've read.