Wow...another year gone by.  It sure doesn't seem like a year since I wrote my first birthday blog, but there it is.  I'm sure this has been written millions of times before, but I never claimed to have an original thought: did you ever notice how the older you get the shorter time seems?  For my two teenagers the twelve days we just spent in Beijing must have seemed like an eternity.  To my wife and me they passed in a blur.

My staff did it again, this time while we were in Beijing, throwing me not one but two birthday parties a few days early.  Yes, even in Beijing you can get a nice chocolate cake and a decent bottle of champagne.  Thanks once again to my fantastic team for making my job so much fun!

As for time flying, let alone me, this week will go by even faster, as I try futilely to recover from my jet lag only to turn around and fly back to Tokyo next week.  Haven't abused my body this much in a while, if ever.

Happy birthday, indeed.