My name is Randy Tajima.  I've been growing orchids since about 1984, but I've been around Orchids all my life.  I lived with my grandparents when I was born and they raised orchids.  After we moved away, we moved their collection to our house and cared for them for a while.  As a young adult, I became interested in Orchids and began working with my Grandfather on his meager collection.   My affliction soon took off and I began to visit other orchid growers and my collection grew.   I began buying, growing and blooming out compots, mainly Cattleya species and hybrids, and soon began breeding.  My interest changed from Dendrobiums  to Cattleyas to Phalaenopsis.  I still love Phalies and Catts, and now have a serious interest in Paphs.  In the meantime, I became an AOS Judge and am now an Accredited Senior Judge and am still very active in judging.  I continue to grow and  breed orchids.  I've been fortunate to have won two AOS Show Trophies, the Masatoshi Miyamoto Award for the most beautiful Cattleya awarded by the Americal Orchid Society in 2005 and have been privileged to have judged orchids across the USA and abroad.