Success! Found an eyeglass store who took some quick measurements and after a 1/2 hour, voila! I have glasses again. Quite reasonable too, especially considering that I'm buying without my insurance (about $105 including the exam, frame, and lenses and I chose thin lenses too).

However, not so much success with finding a prepaid cell phone ... I need a Japanese cell phone because Japan's cell network isn't compatible with ours. Unfortunately, every place I've gone to so far has been sold out - apparently, it's quite the hot item. So I may not have much luck with this ...

Pam - Marika is with Amanda's folks. They are going to fly up with her to Shanghai and meet us there when PANDA gets there. So everybody on PANDA will get a chance to meet her either in Shanghai or Hong Kong. We were going to take her with us on PANDA but since Regent was going to charge her 1/2 the cruise fare, we decided that it didn't make much sense financially. :( We miss her terribly though.

I've been taking pictures ... the running joke so far is that I remember to take the picture 1/2 way through the meal so all my pictures are of half eaten food, LOL

Masaki