Happy Holidays

Dear KosNet Friends

It is hard to believe it is already December. 2012 has been a good year for me in many ways. I would like to inform you good news. Kos Ishii Graduate Fellowship Fund at Stanford is now supporting two students in ME department in this year. I received lovely letters from two recipients. That was a great gift to me!! 

So, at the end of the year, I would like to share my goal statement with you. Using ME 317 Design Tools, following is my goal statement.

TO Design the Best and the Happiest Life System that brings mental, physical, and financial happiness to me

BY living each moment to the fullest, being open in choosing the most value added action

USING ME317 design methods with “Receiving Theory” as an operating system

WHILE also exploring other methods

AS MEASURED BY the quality of my situational emotional state of being and the length of it

TO exceed beyond my own expectation

“Receiving Theory” is my best friend Dr. Jeannie Kahwajy’s theory. I hope I will have another chance to share her theory with you, but if I do not have such a chance, following is her web site and you can google her to see many presentations she made.  And indeed, this year has been “beyond my own expectation”. Have a wonderful holiday season!! Thank you for your friendship.

Naomi

http://www.effectiveinteractions.com/

Visit to Japan

Dear KosNet Friends

I spent October in Japan. It started with very hot days and ended with beautiful fall days. I had great time meeting many friends and family members. This time I traveled to Kyushu to visit Kos's friend and my cousin, then visited Hiroshima for the first time. I have to confess that I never fully realized the magnitude of atomic bomb until I visited peace memorial museum. My head may have collected a lot of knowledge about atomic bomb but my heart has not really understood. I have to say that I am still digesting what I saw and learned. I also visited Osaka and went to Expo park. Let me share the picture of Taiyo-no To I took in Japan. I also enjoyed attending MML VIA Alumni luncheon. It was really heart warming to know that Kos's spirit is still alive in many people.

Summer went by quickly

Hi KosNet Friend

Again, sorry for the long silence. It was not that I have not done anything, but rather I did so much and too busy to organize myself to update Blog.

From mid June, I spent one month in Sydney Australia, visiting John's family. John is Kos's best friend from high school. We went to his wedding and John and Robyn came to our wedding. They have four wonderful boys and I had no problem finding my date for jogging, hiking, shopping and various other activities. John's hobby is Kayaking, and I fell in love with it!! Kayaking is a wonderful sport to enjoy beautiful nature. Only thing is that it was winter in Australia, so it was COLD!! I visited many memorable places; Kos's school, Kos's house where he grew up and various other places we went together in 2006.... I have to admit that it was not easy. Tears came out without reason. At the same time, I am grateful that Kos left me so many great memories and great friends. Let me share with you couple pictures from Australia.

Then after I came back, I had another MML student wedding. It was wonderful to catch up with other MMLers. Summer was busy with parties, visitors, golf etc. Most memorable visitor was my best friend Akko from Sophia and her daughter. We felt like we were still teens, but the reality is that we met each other at her daughter's age!! So, I had wonderful summer.

Now, I am spending October in Japan. I will share with you about this trip in couple weeks!!

Naomi

It's almost August!!

Hi KosNet Friends

Before I noticed, it is almost August!! Wow, more than two months have passed since I reported winning the golf tournament. Well, I am playing a lot of golf in summer, but my score is not really good these days. I guess I got one chance and I took it.

The biggest news is that I gave a talk in ME317B class on June 4th. The title of my talk was "How to build the best and the happiest life system using ME317 design tools". Bold title, right? I wanted to share with students how I am using design tools Kos taught to maximize the value of my life. Yes, I use goal statement, customer value chain analysis (CVCA), structure tree, function tree, priority matrix, voice of customers (VOC) and other tools every day to choose the most value added action to enhance the value of my life. After all, who is the customer of my life? Me, right? So, I need to use design tools to listen to the voice of me, in other words, what my heart really wants.  I also thank to my friend Jeannie for her "receiving theory", which I use as my operating system. I made power point slides for the first time in my life by myself!! I am most grateful that students liked my talk. Yes, I now firmly believe that design tools exist not only to make good products, but also to make good life. I enjoyed the final presentation by students on June 6th and dinner afterwards!!  Now the quarter is over, I am trying to catch up with many administrative things we have been ignoring. One of the projects is to digitize Kos's library, and I am working on that!!  Well, I also had good trip to visit my friends.

So, I was not in cave and did a lot in past two months, and I am grateful for that.

Naomi

I love Golf

Hi KosNet Friends

I would like to share a great news with you. I won the Handicap Tournament at Stanford Women's Golf Club on May 12th. This really means a lot to me, since my name will be engraved on the glass board in Golf Club. It was a three day match tournament and my opponent at the final was D, who is my best friend at golf club. She, her husband, Kos and I went to Hawaii together in 2006. So, I felt that either she wins or I win, I would be happy. Well... I should be honest. I really wanted!!  But more than anything, I am happy that I was able to do my best. It was a really close match and I was always behind and finally caught up on 16th hole, tied on 17th.  On 18th hole, I was very lucky to sink a long put. I am grateful to D for such a great friend and a great competitor. She and I actually are taking lessons together, so we both are thankful to our coach.  I thank Kos for teaching me how to play golf and grateful that university gave me widow survivorship for membership. Initially, golf was such a frustrating sport for me and I did not like it.  I now love playing golf. It helps me to learn humility, though it will take a long way. I shot 89 two weeks ago, but yesterday, I shot 104!! So it comes and goes. I will keep on practicing!!  

Naomi

Visit by VIA

Hi KosNet Friends

 On Wednesday 2nd, we had a surprise visitor to ME317B. Sam!! He was a VIA (visiting industrial associate)  from N company in 2005 to 2006. He came JIT (just in time) to rescue me for changing the wipers. I did not know how to change it, so I have been using the original one for 6 years!!  No wonder it had squeaky sound. And where did we go? Of course, it is ZOTTS. Kos loved this hamberger place. When we were students, we went there many times by bicycle. It is famous for rectangular shape berger. Of course we had boat of fried potatoes, too. Sam then helped me with book project. Since we no longer have laboratory space, we are intending to digitize books so that we can save space. We have more than 30 boxes of books, you know. I found the company called 1$scan, that scan 100 pages for $1. But in order to bring books to this place, I need to go over each book to take out any post-it and erase pencil marks. Well, we went through about 100 books together. It was interesting to see what kind of books Kos liked. It seems numerical formulas were not his favorite. His favorites are more for ideas, design and inspirations. Thank you Sam for helping me. Without you, it would have been a very boring work.  

http://1dollarscan.com/index.php

Kos Ishii Fellowhip

Dear KosNet Friends

I met the first student who received Kos Ishii fellowship. He is a ME student with emphasis on design of Robot. I was able to visit his laboratory and see the work he is currently working. He is designing Human Friendly Robot with professors in Computer Science department and ME department. I am happy to find that he is interested in adding human element to the robot. I am sure Kos is happy to have him as the first recipient.

Spring Break

Hi KosNet Friends

Well, before I realized, Spring break is about to end. We had final presentation of ME317A on March 14th, followed by the get together at Dutch Goose, one of Kos's favorite places. During Spring break, I tried Bikram Yoga for the first time. Wow, what an experience!!  It is so difficult. I am so bad at balancing myself and my body is so stiff. I sweat like horse, but great to have shower after that. So, even though I am not good at this, I intend to continue. Another great thing I did was short visit to Yosemite. It was truly beautiful there. I would like to share some of the pictures. Kos climbed Half Dome while he was doing his Master's degree. I was fortunate to have great weather and it was the time for beautiful wild poppies.

Wedding

Dear KosNet Friends

Today, I went to Memorial Church to attend the wedding of one of Kos's former PhD students. It is always so wonderful to see young couple full of love and dream. Yes, I do admit I got a bit emotional, but it really uplifted me. I am grateful that Kos's students still invite me to wedding. I have another wedding to attend this year.  Well, that means I have to keep my shape!!

 

Three years since Kos passed away

Dear KosNet Friends

Kos with Phil at Graduation in 1987

It is hard to believe that three years has passed since Kos passed away. It is still hard and I miss him very much, but I am grateful that I can do more things than last year and definitely far more than two years ago (including writing this Blog). So, I am making a progress. I am using every design tool Kos taught to enhance the value of my life. CVCA, Priority Matrix, Value Graph, Functional Diagram, Structure Tree etc, etc. It is true that these tools are universal. These are the tools made to design for X, including design for life. So, I am grateful that Kos left me many precious gifts.

Naomi

Kos in Death Valley in 1986

Kos in Australia in 2006

Valentine's day

Dear KosNet Friends

Valentine's day without Valentine is not easy. In fact I have to admit entire February is not easy for me. It reminds me of last of many things. So, this is the last Valentine gift from Kos. He gave me these coffee warmers and left for Japan for one week business trip. Yes, it is a very "romantic" gift (I am smiling). Well I appreciate the part the he made coffee himself and poured into these warmers. I cannot quite remember how I spent last two Valentine days, but this year I had good Valentine's day. I was reconnected to our old friend from U Mass days who came to our wedding in Japan 27 years ago. We lost touch for the past couple years and got reconnected. She and I had good ShabuShabu dinner. So memories won't fade away as long as we remember. Hope you all had good Valentine's day.

Naomi

White Birch Tree

Dear KosNet Friends

On February 3rd, I planted white birch tree in our backyard. Thank you George and May for helping me to find the beautiful tree. Kos liked this tree and so do I. Actually, this is the tree Japanese Empress Michiko chose as her symbol. I love slender white trunk with gentle and delicate branches. For me, this tree represents grace, kindness, purity and dignity. I am not sure how big this tree becomes before I leave this house, but will see. Though I have brown thumbs, I will do my best to take care of this tree!!  So, wish me good luck.

Naomi

Parasailing

Hi KosNet Friends

Naomi in air

Yes, I tried parasailing!!  It was my first time!!  Since I have high anxiety, I was a bit nervous, but I tried!!  And it was so wonderful. It was so beautiful, so saline, and so peaceful. I wish I could take pictures from up there, but may be next time. I brought Kos's picture in my pocket, so I flew with him. I felt like becoming a bird.

ME317A starts

Dear KosNet Friends

Good afternoon, this is ME317A!!  Yes, class started on January 9th. We have 8 enthusiastic on-campus students and 40+ off-campus students. Classroom is renovated in a nice way. We have three very interesting projects this year. So, I am looking forward to the progress of the class.  I am very impressed with the first active learning session of the class on 18th. Students were so eager at tackling the issues and so quick at grasping the concepts in visualized way. 

So, this week, I was suposed to be in the class, but instead enjoying the time in Florida. Our long time friends (actually, Kos's sponsor in Ohio days) who live in Florida invited me to their home, and I am enjoying sunshine. Sorry, I escaped California just in time to avoid the rain. Wow, it will be difficult to go back to reality after this vacation. We watched playoffs on the deck overlooking the canal, watching boats and in shorts!!

Dear KosNet Friends

A Happy New Year!! Hope you all are having good holidays. I am enjoying quiet yet quality holiday time with my friends. It is nice that I do not have to do any cooking yet I can enjoy traditional delicious Japanese "Osechi" (special dish for New Year).  I just need to be careful not to eat too much. Omochi (rice cake) is so good, too!!

I would like to show you the gift which my girl friend gave to me. Yes, this is a hammer and plus/minus screwdrivers and tiny screwdriver for eye-glass!!  Isn't this cute and smart? I wish I could have shown this to Kos. I would say "you know you said in your lecture now we got hammer so let's find nails, but actually you may be able to get more out from hammer itself!!" Anyway, this hammer is too cute to use!! Definitely girl's hammer.

So, in ME317, I am looking forward to finding the opportunities to find nails with hammer. Take care.

Naomi