A night to remember

This day has just cruised on by. I gotta get ready soon to head over to Winston's, Scott's brother, house. They only live a few minutes away. I already dropped Hyunjoo off around 3PM.

We're all headed over there to pay respects to Scott and Winston's mother. Koreans remember their deceased relatives on the anniversary of their deaths. Unfortunately their parents passed away at a very young age.

So, there'll be a ceremony of sorts this evening and then we'll have a traditional Korean meal there.

I've been pretty busy with my Electronic Village Online session for the year. I've returned to co-moderate the 2008 Teaching with PowerPoint session. Things haven't even really heated up yet, the session begins on the 14th.

I also just found out when my presentation will be at TESOL this year. I'll have to be in NYC around the start of April to give a quick series of presentations on our EVO session.

I was supposed to finish my cover letter for Penn State, but that might take another day. It's easy to get side tracked with seemingly important tasks, but I really need to prioritize.

They've finally started to build up the graded lots behind Scott's house. I fear his wonderful view of Red Rock Canyon will evaporate faster than I had originally imagined. With the poor housing situation every where, I'm surprised they're bothering to build new homes.

I'm still holding out on picking up an iPhone that "everyone" pitched in to get me. Thank you Mom & Dad, and Mom and Dad in Korea, Hyunjoo, Scott, Nayoung, Winston and Julia! Macworld in SF is next week and it would be extremely hasty to buy almost any Apple product right now.

Some folks speculate that Steve has so much to announce that he's getting some of the hardware upgrades out of the way now, like the Mac Pro. I'm not expecting the iPhone with 3G - I just want 16GB of storage (or more). So, I'm crossing my fingers.

I haven't really been watching much football, but I'll be keeping my eyes on the Patriots this Saturday after the wildcards are in. I can still remember the painful beating we took from "The Refrigerator" Perry back in the 80's.

Messin' with Photoshop

Well, I thought a good way to break in Photoshop CS3 would be to make a collage of the day's events. It made sense at the time since my camera is busted and I can't add new pix. So, I logically thought that I'd take old ones and make an account of the day. Knowing this would take a little time, I gave myself an hour and whatever I was left with I would post. Well... I doubt I'll do this again. I didn't even finish.

Been too long... the big update

Well, things are going to look a little drab around here (the blog) for a little while. My Canon digicam kinda died on me a month ago or so. I had been having memory card errors and had attributed it to the less-than-optimal CompactFlash format that it uses. The camera is almost 5 years old and has seen extensive use. I shot about 5500 images with it and over 400 movie clips. Once I get a new job, house... life basically, I'll look into getting a new compact.

So, Happy Holidays!

We had a nice Christmas here in Vegas. We sent out presents and cards early, which was something new for me. It was well worth it. It made the holiday season much less stressful and we were able to sit back and enjoy.

Household update: sorry, "we" sometimes refers to Hyunjoo and I and other times it includes the entire household to include Scott (my brother-in-law) and Nayoung (Hyunjoo's younger sister). Hyunjoo's older sister, Hyunjung, and Kongkong (aka. Ryan, Scott and Hyunjung's baby son) are back in Seoul awaiting their immigration visas.

So, we (the household) went out for a nice Japanese meal Christmas Eve and Hyunjoo made up a wonderful Christmas dinner the next night.

I am currently working on more job applications and preparing for the next Electronic Village Online session. I'm a co-moderator again this year with the Teaching with PowerPoint 2008 session. I haven't been asked to a single interview yet and it's getting a little stressful. I'm working my "network" more and more. Something I should have been strong on from the start, well stronger perhaps.

I even have some info posted on another blog about the positions I'm currently pursuing, as a reference for folks I'm asking for help.

Hyunjoo has been knitting like a sweat-shop over here. She's made a lot of wonderful things for the holidays. I scored a beautiful new hat!

Overall, we're doing well. Best wishes and Happy New Year!

Horseback riding near Red Rocks

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A late update

It's been such a long time since I've written. I guess I feel like there should be some big news to report on, but there isn't any as of yet. Of course I'm thinking of my next job, but more on that later.

Sadly, it feels like an empty home with only the three of us here. Hyunjoo and I only see Nayoung for a few hours of the day since she has classes in the mornings and often spends time with her friends in the afternoons and evenings. Scott, Hyunjung, and Kong kong (Ryan) are back in Korea. They left about a week ago and we've been missing Ryan. So, we're basically house sitting for them while they're gone. UPDATE: We just heard that their petitions were accepted and now they can go ahead with the police and medical checks and pick and interview date. They might be able to return before the New Year if things keep going well for them.

I am going to start working on another job application today. This one is for a local university. They've posted a position that sounds just like what I'm looking for. This is the second position I've applied for locally. The majority of them have been in PA with the rest scattered through out CO, VT, OR, and other places around the US. I still haven't heard back from anyone, except for a position that was canceled a few weeks ago. My Uncle said to beware that a number of these positions might have been posted out of formality with people in mind to fill those positions already in waiting. I can't say that my morale is very high right now. I'm thinking of looking for totally different work or perhaps something temporary just to get some money while we're waiting on these schools. I don't like the idea of compromising, but I can't wait forever.

Other news is that my Uncle and Aunt from Honolulu are visiting Vegas right now. They were here to spend time with friends. It was great seeing them. Even though we saw them last year, I didn't have much time to talk with them because of the wedding. We had a day out together yesterday. We went to Treasure Island to watch Mystére, a Cirque du Soleil show. I found front row tickets, but aside from one segment, it would have been better to sit further back. The majority of the performance is pretty high above the stage and my neck got pretty stiff. If you've never seen a show like this, it's well worth the time and money. There are incredible feats of balance, acrobatics, strength, and even a perfect amount of comedy thrown in to keep things going. Unfortunately we weren't able to take any pictures for obvious reasons, but you can find a lot of images online.

I also got an email from my brother, Lee. He and his fiancee have chosen a location for their upcoming wedding. Next year, they're planning on having the ceremony at the Essex Conference Center north of Boston. It looks like a beautiful place that offers some cool hiking options.

It must get pretty cool in the evenings around here because I'm "freezing" when I wake up in the mornings. I'm gonna have to fish out some sweaters very soon. I like the climate here though. I'll have to endure a full summer here before I can say that I'd be happy living here if it came to that.

Ryan Choi - my nephew

I can't believe I've forgotten to add some pix of my newest nephew. Since we've arrived here in Las Vegas, he's gotten really good at or learned how to:

• stand up and move around the perimeter of his play pen
• cruise around in his walker
• crawl with great speed for very short distances
  
• climb the stairs
• eat Cheerios on his own
• wear sunglasses
• demand that people pick him up
• ride on Uncle Kent's shoulders
• make a lot more noise
• stuff everything in sight into his mouth

That's no small list for such a little dude. I'm pretty impressed how quickly he learns things.

Is it really the weekend?

I've sorta lost track of the days. The upside to being jobless. That's about it. I'm ready to get working again. Anyone wanna give me a job (that I'm looking for)?
:-)

Still working on getting more applications out. They're taking quite a long time. The current one requires me to write an essay addressing a number of points. It'll be good for eventual interviews, but it's a lot of work. Applying for positions over the internet isn't as straight forward as sending in a resume and cover letter. It's pretty cool actually to see what different schools are doing to hire folks. I just hope I start getting a few hits.


We put a deposit on a 2008 Honda Fit Sport as of yesterday morning. We'll have to wait for it to arrive. It could be up to a month! It didn't seem like too long at first, but it's starting to sink in. Hopefully it'll be much sooner and I was reassured that it might very well be. We'll just have to wait and see at this point.

We had a real nice evening over at Scott's (my brother-in-law) brother's house last night. They live only about a 5 min drive from here. They have a beautiful place right on one of the local golf courses. We had a fantastic Korean meal and eventually made plans to meet up again this evening. Us guys even decided that we'll look for tickets to the Ultimate Fighting Championship fight coming up soon. That is if we can even buy tickets.

Happy Labor Day!

I hope everyone is enjoying a great day off. I'm just resting up now that I'm back from Dallas.


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I flew up to Salt Lake City last week to help my sister, Lynn, move down to Dallas. I had a chance to spend two short days hanging out with Chase and Cole. They're very well. I got to see Chase's football practice and Cole's Cub Scout meeting. I was a pretty proud Uncle.

Last Thursday at 9:15 AM, Lynn and I took off with a 6'x12' U-Haul trailer on the back of Lynn's new Volvo XC90. Thankfully, driving forward and turning with the trailer is pretty easy. Reverse is another story. Lynn and I took turns driving 3-hour shifts covering a little over 1400 miles to get to Dallas. We drove through Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, and Oklahoma before we arrived at Lynn's apartment two and a half days later.

Dallas wasn't anything like I expected. It was far more residential than I would have figured. There are some very nice areas to drive through only a few minutes outside the concrete high rises.

Best wishes to Lynn in her new beginning down in Dallas! Take care Lynn!

Back from Korea

We just returned from a quick - five day - trip to Seoul. It was really nice to see Hyunjoo's parents, and her younger sister again. Nayoung is headed to Las Vegas to study for a year beginning this fall. She seemed really excited to be going. She is also excited to spend time with her nephew, Ryan, who's already in Las Vegas.

Unfortunately I was possessed by a stomach demon who had its way with my digestive system for a couple of days. I was outta the picture for a while recovering. I'm basically back to normal, but it was a pretty nasty part of the trip.

Tsurugi Insect Museum

This place is always a great time.
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Kickin' it in Kanazawa

Here are some pix from Lee and Elise's stay in Kanazawa.
Click on the scrolling banner to see a larger version of the slideshow. I highly recommend it!

Hanging around Mt. Fuji after the hike

We spend a few days at an awesome hostel in after we hiked Mt. Fuji. It was a great time to relax, if even for a couple of days.
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Finished Fuji

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We just woke up from our post-hike nap. Yikes it's midnight and we haven't even eaten yet.

So, we went up together and we returned together and had a great experience. It was a fantastic trip and well worth the effort.

We hiked the mountain within a 24 hour period from the "regular" Kawaguchiko 5th station trail-head and back. It was mostly cloudy and misty and we barely managed to miss the most recent "Number 4" typhoon.

It was a blast. I'll update the entry later with better details.

Takin Tokyo by storm

Today is my brother's (and mother) birthday... Happy Birthday!

Lee and Elise landed in Tokyo without a hitch a couple of days ago and we've been having a great time kicking around.

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This morning we went to the Tsukiji Fish Market for a killer breakfast. We've never had such a fanastic morning meal (besides all the home cooked ones from mom).

We'll be heading out for a special dinner for Lee in a little while.

Tomorrow, we head off for Mt. Fuji. Keep your fingers crossed fo us. A typhoon just swept through here and the weather is still a bit cloudy. We're hoping the rains stay clear for our summit attempt.

The plan is that we'll hike tomorrow to the 8th station and then sleep for a few hours before hitting the summit early on the 18th of July.

Wish us luck!

Some long due pix of Ryan

Hyunjoo's older sister, Hyunjung, and her husband Scott were very happy to announce the birth of their new son, Ryan, back in January. We can't wait to meet him this summer!

Pig out!

While I was chillin' in "Bean Town" with my brother. A group of us headed over to a Dominican Republic-style birthday party for one of my brother's co-workers. She said that a D.R. birthday was all about the food, lots of drinking, and plenty of dancing. She also said that I was disrespecting by not staying to have some of this pig. I had to promise that I'd try to make one of her future birthdays, just to get back to Princeton on time.

The pig was something else. They prepared this pig for a whole day, the day before. She had to use her bathtub to wash it down and season the sucker. The firepit was started at 8:30 am and they had the pig on a "skewer" that was about an inch in diameter and featured a steering wheel for the ultimate driving control. By the way, this pig roast is an annual event. Damn!

The guys in Moab

Chase and Cole Hikin'

The latest pix from Carter. I'm envious!

Soccer-man: Cole

Cole-dude playing soccer. Hey Cole, what position are you playing? Check out those beautiful Uinta Mountains in the background too!

New photos from Carter

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