Leave it to my friend Jason to come up with the coolest pumpkin design I’ve seen in a while. He dubbed it a Pixkin because the character depicted is from a Pixar film.

I heard a statistic on the news this morning that disturbed me. Only 1 out of 9 people in the US vote. 1 in 9. That’s pathetic.  I have no stomach for politics or politicians but still make it a point to vote. Voting is our right as Americans. It’s a shame more of us don’t put it to use. If we did maybe we could enact some real, positive change instead of having to put up with the status quo that currently exists in Washington.

It’s official. Okiboy is getting hitched. I proposed to my girlfriend Saturday evening in the beautiful surroundings of the Memphis Botanical Gardens (specifically the Japanese Garden).

This has been in the works for a while but I finally mustered up the courage last week. I was nervous all day Saturday right up until the actual moment. Strangely enough though I was calm when I actually got down on one knee (my bad knee in fact) to pop the question. 

I chose the Japanese Garden for several reasons. 1) It’s one of the most beautiful spots in the city. 2) It reminds me of being back home in Japan. 3) I figured that would be the closest I’d be able to get K. to Japan for the foreseeable future.

We had the garden all to ourselves (with the exception of the carp in the pond and the geese around it). The sun was setting behind us and there was hardly a cloud in the sky. I don’t think God could have provided a more romantic setting if he had tried.

The best part of it all was… she said YES!!!