Home Coming Weekend!

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Out fishing

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Hyunjoo and I have recently taken up fishing. It's nice because it takes us outside and it's a great motivation to see rural PA. My nephews will one day come fishing with us, so I figured that it'd be nice if I knew a thing of two before we took them out. Now, keep in mind that it's been something like twenty-five years since I've last fished. I think the fish have gotten a lot smarter in that time.

Our first time out we went to Coyler Lake and caught a small sunfish and some kind of pickerel. All the fishing excitement came in the first hour. We didn't get another hit the rest of the day.

Our second outing to Black Moshannon was last weekend in questionable conditions. We spent most of our time boating around than casting for fish. Hyunjoo nearly had a bite near the surface, but that one go away. We weren't out long before it started to rain, so we just packed up early. It was still nice to get out.

I think we'll keep heading back to Black Moshannon until we catch more. I've heard there's nice bass out there and it'd be nice to get a fight on our hands.

Ahoy!

We just picked up a sweet boat just in time for the Labor Day Weekend. If the weather holds, we'll be out to enjoy the water at one of the nearby lakes or rivers. We're planning on bringing our fishing rods and cooler along of course. We might just get lucky!

Memorial Day in Boalsburg

HJ and I went to Boalsburg today for their Memorial Day celebration. Apparently, Boalsburg is the birthplace of the holiday. The federal government doesn't recognize it, but Boalsburg has the documents to prove it.

We enjoyed Civil War era reenactments, festival food, craft shops, folk music, and some incredibly well kept cars.

House is almost finished

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Sunny Day at McKivison

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It has been such a blast heading to 127 McKivison every weekend to see the progress. There were new appliances, toilets, heaters, and additions to the outside of the house. Things are coming along very nicely and may even be on track to completion in the middle of May. We're working on the papers to get the closing set for June 30th at 11 am.

I'm still looking for a bike route to work from the new house. I can't find a straight forward path from the satellite photos. We love our Honda Fit, but we're going to need another car in the next year or so and I'm at a loss for what to get. I'd love to go small and electric, and under $20K. I'll have to keep looking around.

A new bike, a new kitchen

We went to a local bike shop today and picked a nice Trek out for Hyunjoo. She was a little hesitant at first about the color, but I think she has grown to like it.

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Things are continuing very nicely at our new house. We dropped by today while the weather was good to drop off a ceiling fan that we chose for the living room. It's the one item that we're providing the builder to install in the house before we move in.

Rainy day visit to McKivison

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Hyunjoo and I went out to 127 McKivison again today, this time by ourselves, to see what was new with "our" new home. The big additions were (1) the exterior vent for the gas range in the kitchen and (2) the doors and framing upstairs. Things are definitely coming together and it's great to see the progress.

5 min outside of State College

Hyunjoo and I had a great Saturday and spent it leisurely driving around and running errands. We love it out here. I'll have to investigate the mountain biking scene sometime soon. Oh, wait, I need a workspace to fix-up my bike first. :-(

House-hunting

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This is the house we've just made an offer on.

Work at Penn State Week One

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Week One at State College, PA

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OGE crew in town

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Marc, Mike, Josh, and Audrey from The Outdoor Gear Exchange came into Las Vegas a couple days ago to climb at Red Rock Canyon before the Outdoor Retailer trade show in Salt Lake City. I joined them on their first day out climbing. We drove out to the first pullout: Calico 1 and hiked about 40 minutes to the Ultraman Wall at about 4100 ft.

It was a mostly cloudy day and the temps were in the high 30's. It was pretty cold standing around and I'm sure it got quite chilly on the longer routes. There are some long climbs there, well beyond the reach of a single 60M rope. It's good to bring extras with you in case you get too high to rap off the anchors.

It has been great to hang with the crew again. Lots of old and new stories to swap. Even though I'm not really climbing anymore, it's great to rekindle my past life.

We went out for a sushi buffet last night and they're off climbing again today. I don't know where they are today. I suppose I could drive around looking for their white Hyundai (?) they've rented, but I'd still have a considerable hike to find them. I guess we'll have to rely on more SMS texting.

Happy Halloween!

Hyunjoo has never carved a pumpkin before and I haven't done one myself in at least 7 or 8 years so we decided to have some fun this year.
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We're not expecting a lot of trick-o-treaters this year. It's a gated community and we're kind of on the western edge of Vegas so I don't think we'll hand out a lot of candy, but I could be very wrong.

No costumes or parties this year. That might be a shame, maybe we'll catch a scary movie this evening! Who knows?

Horseback riding near Red Rocks

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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.

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!

KIT's Electric Car to Race at Suzuka tomorrow

I am very proud of this project because one of my students, Tomonori, is responsible for the electric motors on the car. He built all of them! Let's wish them luck tomorrow.
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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.
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