My Summer

Renovation started yesterday at Brilliant Star School, and I’m leading the construction management of this project, along with Shazam’s Rob, and another of the school’s parents. We have forty days to renovate two of these old buildings and turn them into an upper elementary classroom and a primary (3-6 year old) classroom by August 3.

We're turning two of these:

Into a couple of these:

It may seem strange that I’m doing construction management, but I’ve done it before. I spent my summer doing the same thing six years ago, when we moved the school up to its Navy Hill campus. Mara and I started this school through a series of fortuitous events, never imagining that what started as a Toddler Enrichment Program for Nava when she was a year old, would become a world-class school with 100 students representing some 14 ethnicities, programs for kids from 18 months to 12 years old, a magnificent campus, six classroom buildings with 7500 square feet of space, a seven member Board of Trustees and something like 15 faculty and staff. We just learned along the way, and for many years now, we've been in the background, letting all the other talented people lead the institution.

Here are some of the Trustees at the last Board meeting.

My other primary activity of the summer will be driving. Too bad these guys can't drive yet.

Take tomorrow for example. I’m transporting my kids to or from events at the following times: 9 AM, 10 AM, 12 PM, 1 PM, 3 PM, 4 PM and 5 PM. They need to get to

Art classes





Eco Camp




And tennis lessons.

With gas at $3.54 a gallon now, I’m glad I drive a Prius.

The big, huge, humongous, stupendous event of the summer is that Mara’s mother, Carol, is moving to Saipan from Tucson. Mara is in Hawaii right now, awaiting her mom’s arrival from LA. They get to Saipan via Narita and Nagoya on Wednesday night. Mara has spent the better part of the last six months coordinating this move, which involves five dogs, two cats and a lifetime of personal effects. It’s a big move for Carol, and one taking a lot of courage. Here’s to family!

I'm looking forward to the start of the soccer season as a member of the acclaimed "Buns and Hoses" co-ed team. I haven't played since medical school, so I imagine I'll spend a fair bit of time just trying to breath. If you haven't joined a team yet, I think our team is still looking for some members. This is a laid back way to play on a fun team.

Oh, yeah, and I’ll be doing some eye surgery and stuff this summer too.