I have concluded that I will not do a "newsletter" at the traditional Christmas/New Years. That means shifting a time-consuming endeavour to a less busy time of the year AND it avoids the traditional flood of newsletters that plagues some of us like the overdose of candy on Halloween.

Instead, let me give the typical quick update on my recent life experiences.

Dining. Holy cow. I've eaten out at more restaurants in the past two weeks than the rest of the year combined. I feel like a restaurant reviewer or something. Italian, Chinese, Mexican, American - you name it. Gourmet to all-you-can-eat buffet... The whole break seems to have centered around dining. Here, I must digress and point out a major difference between eating and dining. As a child, I could not recognize a difference.

Eating is a personal and core part of our existence as humans. Dining is sharing that life-core with other people. It is sacred in the same style as bathing or sleeping. I've come to truly appreciate the magic of dining. That being said, I had the BEST dish at the Getty the other night: Venison in a red currant sauce with cashew puree and carrots. Incredible - I can still taste it :)

Michelle! I was soooo happy to spend time with my awesome girlfriend again! We only had about 10 days, but we made the best of our time: sledding and hot tubbing (big thanks to Bob and Susan up in the mountains), shopping, visiting Hollywood, dining, hanging out with Sharona, touring the Getty, tromping around Disneyland, practicing Salsa, watching movies, hugging, and yes, even kissing. Sadly it looks as though I won't see her for quite a while, but that's the way the cookie crumbles at this point in life. Whooha for love!

More later ;) For now, I'm headed to bed high up in the mountain air above the L.A. smog...

Many of you know that I'm a very hug-friendly sort of person. In fact, I LOVE hugs! That's why Free Hugs Campaign caught my eye with an awesome video that has been seen by almost 8 million people...

I spent the better part of an hour at www.freehugscampaign.org watching a dozen videos of people in Korea, NYC, Mexico, Japan, Moscow, and Australia making the world a happier place by simply giving hugs! This is something I would love to get involved in...

So hugs from me to you - whoever you may be!

I've got finals! (sounds like a disease ... which isn't too far off perhaps) Yes, I'm running through the gauntlet. First, I duked it out with Calc 4. The battle was fierce and line integrals drew some blood, but I hobbled on past to the lurking Mechanics. A scary looking creature indeed, but not as tough.

After a moment of soaking in a hot tub and a brief rest, it was on to the surprisingly weak Physics final. Motivated by this success, I wrestled quite effectively against Digital Logic - once again, surviving relatively unscathed.

Sadly, the most treacherous and powerful beast of them all lies waiting ... waiting as I fall into a false sense of security. Circuit Analysis is going to throw everything it has at me - complex power, differential equations, and phasors (almost like phasers in Star Trek). I only hope I can make it through alive.

On the bright side, it is the last obstacle before Christmas break when I'll get to see many, many awesome people I've missed!

Aside from finals, I've been quite good - wearing crazy hats, hiking around Southforks, playing the occasional game, cooking with/for friends, and generally making the most of my college experience.

So I came across this web comic from my roommate Mikey and my great friend Kristin (she wants to be famous)... Some very clever stuff here - check it out if you've got a few minutes to burn: Toothpaste for Dinner

This quarter, I'm starting to actually feel like an engineer. I'm out of the "intro engineering" classes and into some of the core subjects. For example, just this quarter, I've learned how to:

Extract next-state-logic from state diagrams and Karnaugh maps.
Analyze structures by taking moments around the body-extended.
Find the characteristic equations for first-order linear homogeneous ordinary differential equations in circuits.
Analyze rolling objects using torque, inertia, and angular acceleration/velocity.
Find the curl of a non-conservative vecor field in space using gradients, cross products, and partial derivatives.

Now, I probably won't use most of it in my career, but hey - who wouldn't want to know cool stuff like that?!

In addition, I'm getting more and more interested in the Putnam math challenge. I sat in on the training class for it this quarter and might take the test next year... 6 hours, 12 math problems, 10 points per problem. A score of 1 out of 120 is considered "good" and places the person around the 50th percentile... The test is actually taking place today, as I write this. It just seems like a fun challenge to tackle once I get a few more math classes under my belt...

Ahhhh, I'm so happy :) Christmas break is coming up in just 2 weeks and I'll see Michelle, most of my family, and a few close friends! I'm reall loving the aura that Christmas brings. Last night I watched the soft glow of lights on a small Christmas tree for hours with great friends and Cypris - just relaxing and soaking it all up. It felt like a family somehow... Earlier last night I had a great time at a History club dinner last night with taco salad and an interesting talk about Robert Baxter and Erasmus - two amazing men in England's reformation period. It reminded me how much I really do love history. I'll have to make more progress on that minor sometime soon.

In my desperate need to be cool, I've been wearing a santa hat to class every day! It keeps me from taking life too seriously amid the projects, homework, and tests. It also makes people smile, which counts for a lot. The social activites are going through the roof for the next couple weeks: history club events, cross country races, an engineering party, the midnight breakfast, boxer run, open house, rockclimbing, a jump start party, drama productions, etc. I'm so glad I freed up a little time by doing some homework over Thanksgiving break!