Nisei Ski Club
San Francisco Bay Area Skiers and Snowboarders
www.niseiskiclub.org

August 2008
News
Help Support NSC
Search Now:
In Association with Amazon.com

A percentage of all purchases made as a result of clicking the above Amazon link or using the above search box will go toward supporting the Nisei Ski Club. If you are planning a purchase from Amazon anyway, please consider helping the club by using the link or search box to start your shopping. Thanks!

President's Message by Joel Hayashida

Many wise and famous people have stated when commencing a daunting challenge that “…a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step…” While no one here is claiming to be wise or famous, I can personally vouch that your board and other NSC members have started the journey of this new NSC year off right with that first step of planning, reviewing, and approving many unique and exciting activities that you will be participating in this year. The agenda of this long July 15, 2008 board meeting was filled with much good discussion and rapport all with the aim of approving many of the new activities you will see here.

As winter-sports enthusiasts need to use the off-season months to increase overall conditioning, our hiking events are a fun social way of getting to know other members as well as a means to actively explore our world-class Bay Area sights. Our recent Tomales Point Hike is reviewed here by Celeste Rogers. Join us on August 24 as Angie Fong leads us on an Angel Island excursion. In September, we now have Hoyt Nelson leading us on his latest “SF Stairways Hike” (9/7). Also, Dick Wong will lead a hike in the Cupertino foothills in October (10/19). We will scatter more hikes in the schedule in upcoming months.

Karen Soo is leading the “NSC Raiders Event” which will center around the Raiders-Chiefs game on November 30th. Karen has arranged a great price which includes the game, one of her gourmet sandwiches, and some Raiders trinkets. Please sign up soon so you don’t miss out!

The “Four Tenors of NSC Fun and Cooking,” consisting of Judy Hom, Angie Fong, Angela Cheung, and Amy Tsuhako, are leading the charge to our annual preseason event this year entitled “La Vida Loca” with an obvious Mexican theme. Please mark your calendars for November 1, 2008 and read the kickoff article by Judy Hom.

Much of the meeting was concerned with pouring over the details of the Telluride 2009 weeklong trip led by Curtis Otaguro. As we all are all-too familiar with the rise in the price of gas and airline travel lately, the board has worked hard to keep costs down for this early-February trip to this premiere Rocky Mountain resort which the NSC last visited in 1995. All of your hard efforts during the year in volunteer service and fund raising events such as the Nikkei Matsuri, and the Palo Alto Obon, and Mountain View Obon helps the board to either generate funds or defray costs in other areas so that we can subsidize the annual weeklong trip and the weekend bus trips. Please see the flyer in this issue for details on this exciting upcoming trip.

As our just finished 50th Anniversary “Golden Memories” event is still in our warm recent memories, we need to recognize an individual that was inadvertently forgotten when we honored our members that have served NSC for ten or more years. So please recognize Judy Hom with our belated thanks on serving us so much in the past years and we look forward to her continued service for a long time to come. Also, on the Golden Memories thread, thank you to Karen Soo and Jason Ng for their great efforts to churn out the professional-looking Golden Memories brochure.

In the next board meeting on August 13, we will review and approve the reprise of the Bunco dice event led by Sandie McGregor which was a big hit last year. Also, a mid-October Kayak activity led by David Ly is in the works. Finally, we will be closer if not finished with the details on our bus trips as a result of this meeting. Please drop us a line and get involved while giving us more ideas on what you want to do this year. After all, the NSC is YOUR club!

50th Anniversary Golden Memories Chair Message: June 7, 2008 by Alice Horio, 50th Anniversary Chair

For those who got a chance to participate in the 50th anniversary events, you were lucky to receive a memory you won’t forget!

The celebration started with golf at Los Lagos. Hi Fuji did a great job to let 44 golfers try their skill on the golf course. Big thanks to Pam Koo and Gordon Koo for donating the prizes. Spam musubi was donated by Tengu Sushi.

If golf wasn’t your thing, Curtis Otaguro hosted a fun bowling at Fourth Street Bowl. This friendly competition was enjoyed by nine bowlers. We bowled regular bowling rules, no tap handicap, and poker bowling. Most of the bowlers aimed to score over 100. Dick Horio bowled two games over 200. Thanks to Curtis for putting on the event, feeding us lunch, and awarding us with great prizes.

In the evening, the big 50th Anniversary “Golden Memories” event finally arrived. Our committee had been planning this event since February of this year. We have worked long hours, very long hours to make our 50th gala event extra special. Sandie McGregor took care of the hotel correspondence. Decorating our room was done by Hoyt Nelson and his committee. There were a lot of complements on the mural which highlighted many members’ faces stuck on cartoon ski bodies in a winter wonderland setting. We had 29 past presidents attended the 50th anniversary dinner. Thanks goes to Armand Gutierrez and others who worked hard to contact the presidents. Many of the guests were very pleased to see so many presidents attend this special celebration. The picture board that Gordon Koo put together brought back many memories. Also thanks for showing the slides Gordon! Thanks to Curtis Otaguro for ordering the memento pins. Randy Hirai was nice enough to design the 50th anniversary logo. Joe Feng was very organized in setting up the registration and keeping track of ticket sales. Our advertising was printed in the Japanese and local newspapers which was coordinated by Pam Yoshida. Brian Hess suggested a DJ from Music Plus. Boy, Leonard, DJ was awesome. Curtis did a fine job making the arrangements with Leonard.

Everyone enjoyed reading the program that was designed by Karen Soo and printed by Jason Ng. We got a slow start in gathering prizes for the silent auction and raffle. By Saturday, we received all kinds of donations. NSC thanks everyone who was kind enough to make their donation. Brian Hess should be proud of organizing a very successful silent auction. Also thank you for getting donations for the raffle drawing. I was happy that Curtis took the initiative to print the raffle tickets. Thank you for everyone who helped clean up. I left the Holiday Inn at midnight to get ready for the picnic the next day (see short article elsewhere in this issue). Thanks to my husband Dick for loading the car and truck. Barbara Yee had a lot of energy left and helped me set up. David Tom reserved Mitchell Park. I remember having picnics here, but since it was a while since we came here I forget the location of Mitchell Park. My trusty GPS got me there. This is a nice park. Curtis was a great BBQ chef. We barbequed link sausages and hamburgers. Dick Horio brought homemade chili. For our entertainment, we had a donut eating contest, balloon chase, and bingo, Thank you for those who participated.

The whole weekend was very memorable. We did it as a group with young and old all participating. Chairing this event was an honor. Thank you.

50th Anniversary Golden Memories Picnic: June 8, 2008 by Alice Horio, 50th Anniversary Chair

The 50th Anniversary Picnic was held on the very next morning after all of the festivities of the previous day.

The location of Mitchell Park brought back memories of when we use to come here for our NSC volunteer thank you picnics. We had 25 members and guests enjoy the nice weather and excellent BBQ lunch. Hamburgers and sausages were barbequed by chef Curtis Otaguro. Dick Horio made some homemade chili that went great with the burgers and sausages. The food was as usual great and plentiful.

For fun we held a donut eating contest. Dick Wong had the best strategy and won the contest. I wonder where he picked up his technique! Our best entertainment was watching David Tom hopping around during the balloon chase. This mortal competition is where you tie three balloons around your ankle and try to pop your opponent’s balloons. As usual with the competitive NSC crowd, everyone was playing for keeps. We wrapped up the day playing bingo in the park. Thanks to Carol Henri for calling the numbers. Everyone had a great time and now we will remember Mitchell Park as our Golden Memories park!

50th Anniversary Silent Auction: June 7, 2008 by Brian Hess, Membership Chair
DonationDonorWinner
Carry-On LuggageTravelsmith/Karen SooMichelle Suwabe
Cat Glass Photo FrameShiro DesignJeanne Nakamura
Custom Photography (Flowers)Alesh JancarikDick Horio
Custom Photography (Sailboat)Alesh JancarikDick Horio
Custom Photography (Sunset)Alesh JancarikMorgan Hua
Dinner for Two at SilksMandarin Oriental HotelJadine tom
Krypton BackpackCalifornia Ski CompanyMartha Fong
New Zealand Wine (2)Fred MillerJoel Hayashida
Nikkei Traditions Fun SetNikkei TraditionsCarl Yanari
Ocean FishingEmeryville Sports FishingHi Fuji
Pet CarrierTravelsmith/Karen SooWinston Fong
Relax PackageKaren SooJudy Hom
Shiseido SetKay’s ShiseidoYuri Oda
Shiseido Set & pillowcaseKay’s Shiseido & Brian HessVivian Joe
Shiseido Set & TsuzuriKay’s Shiseido & Nichi BeiMichelle Suwabe
Ski Boot Custom InsolesCalifornia Ski CompanyMorgan Hua
Ski Package #1California Ski Company & OthersMargaret Wong
Ski Package #2California Ski Company & Sarah LoweAlice Horio
Taste Soo Good Southern ComfortKaren SooJanet Gee
Taste Soo Good ThaiKaren SooJennifer Kaneda
Traders Joe’s Fun BagTrader Joe’sPam Yoshida
White Pearl Necklace & BraceletClassic RockMike McGregor
Lap-top bag packageCalifornia Ski/Sports Basementn/a
50th Anniversary Raffle Winners: June 7, 2008 by Brian Hess, Membership Chair Winners
WinnersPrizes
Haruko NagaishiBackgammon
Dick and Alice HorioTakahashi Market gift certificate
Jim TanakaRevolution Laser Mouse
Joyce Kakinami$25 Okayama restaurant gift certificate
Tom RyugoSuperfeet insole
Barbara KitagawaTengu Restaurant gift certificate
Jadine TomParty platter gift certificate
Gary Kitagawa$10 hot wax and ski tune up
Ida KooSuperfeet insole
Sarah LoweT-shirt from Calif Ski Company
Michele Suwabe2 Northstar lift tickets and Everlast bandana
Sandie McGregorGym bag with water bottle, t-shirt from Sports Basement
Curtis OtaguroHigh Sierra jacket
Ken and Nancy MatsuuraLCD Digital Photo frame
Donna and Bob KikuchiSuperfeet insole and ski socks
Haruko NagaishiSuperfeet insole and Minato Restaurant gift certificate
Elaine Yu2 Mt. Rose lift tickets
Michelle SuwabeSuperfeet insole and ski tune up
Willie Lee 2Sugar Bowl lift tickets
Bev LeeSuperfeet insole and hot wax
Irv and Kathy HaradaCustom insoles
Willie LeeHoliday Inn Weekend Night and Breakfast for 2
Tom Ryugo5 day lift tickets at Telluride

Congratulations to the winners. This time there were a lot of prizes donated to us. Thank you for your generosity!