Manila Envelopes and More Work

It's official! I've received my first Manila Envelope from my dad since I've been in Hawaii and it's chocked-full of great observations and ideas! I feel much better now...

I also received some other good news today. I've been asked to start coaching all the remaining Black Belts and Green Belts under our contract in Hawaii (possibly Japan for a while). My boss has been trying to coach despite his increasing workload. We meet at Schofield Barracks tomorrow to transition the work over to me. Now my coaching load will be closer to 35 belts... up from 25 belts.

This may sound like a lot, but indeed, these people are doing all the work. The hard part is scheduling. For the most part, I've been meeting people in their offices. Now, most people will have to come to me so I'm not walking or driving so much. That's OK though... it gives me a chance to tidy up our place and arrange our 'coaching room' which will serve as a brainstorming and training room as well.

Here's a neat story from last weekend. While looking for a place to snorkel, Chad and I ran across a Chinese man named Khamtoun. Khamtoun was unsuccessfully trying to take a self portrait in front of the island called "The Chinese Hat", so I offered to take his picture for him. He was very cheery, so I had him do some silly poses.

We laughed and then Khamtoun asked if he could take our picture, so Chad and I did the same poses. Khamtoun said he'd e-mail me the pictures and I gave him my e-mail address. Since none of us had a pen or paper, I didn't expect to ever hear from Khamtoun again, but he rememberd and today, I got the pictures! Here's Chad and I posing in front of the Chinese Hat island in Kaneohe Bay:


Clearly, I need to update my beach wardrobe...