leehljp
Member Liaison
I want to thank everyone who have been concerned for us. We are safe and back in the US. We arrived back on December 20 and have not stopped going since then.
I want to get back into pen turning and will as soon as we get some free time. I haven't really experienced that (free time) in over a year! :frown: We had a 20 ft container full of freight shipped from Japan and it arrived about a month ago. We have not unpacked but about 30 of 300 boxes due to work schedules, speaking engagements and travel.
I had to take my lathe apart in order to fit it into a heavy duty plastic utility trunk. It will be late spring or early summer before I can get that done. I do have a grand nephew and two grandsons that want me teach them how to make pens and duck calls, so I am being pushed to get that lathe back to working. However, my shop and my storage space are filled with unopened boxes.
Going back since I was last on here (over a year ago) LOML and I were putting in 60 to 70 hours a week with our work - every week. Japan has been very slow in response to the kind of work that we do, but LOML and I were having quite a bit of success, including those that we were training, both nationals and co-workers on our team. As a result, we were given more responsibilities in our last year and it really ate our time. We enjoyed our work immensely, so while it was tiring, it was not stressful. Even now, back in the States, our schedule seems to control us.
In spite of this, I do spend any free moments working on our 80 year old house. Several rooms had paint peeling off of the walls due to the fact that the unused rooms were not heated for the past 5 years. I have been on the woodworking forum quite a bit trying to find out how to fix all that is wrong with this old house.
JAPAN EARTHQUAKE: We have three friends in Sendai and I heard from one (a Japanese friend) within hours of the quake and just heard moments ago from a co-worker couple with 4 young children. LOML and I were located about 500 miles southwest of the quake. Our organization has an emergency contingency in place that is more than just redundant, so that we know every hospital within a few kilometers, every park and every emergency center within several kilometers, so that when communication lines and transportation lines open, we can have quick access to finding our personnel. It worked well in this case. Our friends are safe and doing basically a "camp out" inside of safe places. Both of our friends homes came through the quake intact but there are no utilities. Both had the presence of mind to immediately fill pots, pans and bathtubs with water in the matter of minutes of when the quake stopped. This is the water that they are now rationing.
Again, thanks for your concern. I will be back more in the next few days and try to stay in contact on a regular basis. We still have a heavy travel and speaking engagement for the next couple of months, but I will be checking in regularly.
Hank
I want to get back into pen turning and will as soon as we get some free time. I haven't really experienced that (free time) in over a year! :frown: We had a 20 ft container full of freight shipped from Japan and it arrived about a month ago. We have not unpacked but about 30 of 300 boxes due to work schedules, speaking engagements and travel.
I had to take my lathe apart in order to fit it into a heavy duty plastic utility trunk. It will be late spring or early summer before I can get that done. I do have a grand nephew and two grandsons that want me teach them how to make pens and duck calls, so I am being pushed to get that lathe back to working. However, my shop and my storage space are filled with unopened boxes.
Going back since I was last on here (over a year ago) LOML and I were putting in 60 to 70 hours a week with our work - every week. Japan has been very slow in response to the kind of work that we do, but LOML and I were having quite a bit of success, including those that we were training, both nationals and co-workers on our team. As a result, we were given more responsibilities in our last year and it really ate our time. We enjoyed our work immensely, so while it was tiring, it was not stressful. Even now, back in the States, our schedule seems to control us.
In spite of this, I do spend any free moments working on our 80 year old house. Several rooms had paint peeling off of the walls due to the fact that the unused rooms were not heated for the past 5 years. I have been on the woodworking forum quite a bit trying to find out how to fix all that is wrong with this old house.
JAPAN EARTHQUAKE: We have three friends in Sendai and I heard from one (a Japanese friend) within hours of the quake and just heard moments ago from a co-worker couple with 4 young children. LOML and I were located about 500 miles southwest of the quake. Our organization has an emergency contingency in place that is more than just redundant, so that we know every hospital within a few kilometers, every park and every emergency center within several kilometers, so that when communication lines and transportation lines open, we can have quick access to finding our personnel. It worked well in this case. Our friends are safe and doing basically a "camp out" inside of safe places. Both of our friends homes came through the quake intact but there are no utilities. Both had the presence of mind to immediately fill pots, pans and bathtubs with water in the matter of minutes of when the quake stopped. This is the water that they are now rationing.
Again, thanks for your concern. I will be back more in the next few days and try to stay in contact on a regular basis. We still have a heavy travel and speaking engagement for the next couple of months, but I will be checking in regularly.
Hank
