Friday, December 07, 2007


As you might suspect from this picture, I had a very happy Thanksgiving break!

Life's been more than insane recently. I finished my last class of the quarter a mere 10 hours ago with only 3 looming finals ahead.

Not many truly remarkable things have happened recently, so here are a few of the unremarkable things:
-lots of ultimate frisbee on Friday (in the snow for the past 2 weeks).
-sushi dinner for the last 2 nights - SO tasty!
-really enjoying Advanced Calculus homework. I've gained so much mathematical maturity in the past 2 months
-considering moving off campus next quarter if I can find a reasonable option.
-getting far too little sleep
-planning on going to England for 3 weeks this summer on a history trip (sure beats sitting in a classroom)
-Hurled myself at the annual Putnam exam (an all day event with math people, followed by a 6 hour math test Saturday night!). Probably didn't get any points, but it was great fun :)
-attended my niece's baby dedication in Portland
-spend a fantastic week with Michelle and her family in Missouri for Thanksgiving. Huzzah for hugs and kisses!

All up, life is good. Especially since I am about to sleep for a solid 10 hours :)

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Our mission is finished. We successfully torched the evil traitor. God save the King! Next year will be even better - perhaps a full bonfire :) Kudos to the History Club!

Monday, November 05, 2007



This video is long, but worth your time. Kudos to Charles for sharing this with me! It's about Daniel Tammet - a savant with extraordinary math and memory gifts. You don't need to know anything about math to enjoy this.

In other news, I've been climbing more - this time at Whitman's outdoor bouldering wall...

I caught a cold quite some time ago, but with all the late nights to finish homework, it drug out to nearly 3 weeks. I think I've shaken it off now - hopefully for good.

Tonight I'm off to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day.
Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The gunpowder, treason and plot,
I know of no reason
Why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.”
We will be burning an effigy among other activities. Should be fantastic!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007


I couldn't pass up the opportunity to post this. It was found randomly while scouring the internet and I can't seem to locate the original source. However, it does highly resemble the Demotivator posters by Despair, Inc.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Happy Birthday, Amy!

I've been waiting for great bloggy material to fall into my lap. I waited for a month and nothing really jumped out at me. Therefore, I've decided my methodology is bad (or at least uninteresting). Time for more random, unimportant posts.

To catch everyone up, I'm in the full swing of school. Lots of tutoring, tests, and homework around every corner. I'm recovering from a fairly nasty cold (probably made worse by my odd sleeping hours).

Tonight, I'll be running a rockclimbing small group with my friend Tyler (a fellow engineering student). Should be quite fun.

That's the quick version of me. Oh and I finally have a ticket to go spend time with my amazing girlfriend, Michelle, for Thanksgiving!

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Mikey (my roommate), Amy, and I went on an awesome rockclimbing trip to Smith Rocks, Oregon - a Mecca for climbers in the northwest! Here are a few photos from the trip:

Mikey on his first trad lead (climbing without pre-placed bolts to anchor the rope into). Quite a fun climb called Mines of Moria (chimney up cave in the dark)

Me climbing an easy 5.8 sport route - last move was a challenging 5.10a though :P
The legendary Monkey Face rock formation. The mouth is tall enough to stand in and it just looks like an amazing climb. Maybe some day...
The trio of climbers! We climbed Monday - Thursday before school started.Setting out our gear and preparing to climb 5-Gallon Buckets (5.9 and a 5.10a)
It was just a lot of fun, good weather, and I got to use a lot of my new gear (hurrah for birthday gifts)!
OK, so I've been really slack about updating my blog recently. Here's the newest scoop:

I'm up at Walla Walla University (note the status change) in my 3rd day of classes. 17 credits of:

Advanced Calculus
Honors Research Writing
Probability and Statistics
Linear Network Analysis
Engineering Economy

Exciting stuff, eh?! I signed up for the IEEE, History, Math, and Asian/PI clubs this year - should be loads of fun.

Speaking of fun, I had quite an excellent summer. I came back to Atlanta working full time, but got away for a weekend here and there. I also made it to Portland a week before classes to do research, hang out with Amy, see my niece, and generally relax for a short while. Here are some photos!

Rockclimbing near Amy's cabin (Amy climbing, Mikey belaying):My new 4month old niece Shanna!Me and sis in Portland:

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Third annual trip to Cumberland Island! This amazing island is located just off the southern Georgia coastline. It's a great place to meditate, talk with friends, swim in the ocean, and just relax. It is run by the National Parks Service, so it has a much more rustic/wild feel than resort islands. There are wild horses, deer, turkeys, raccoons, armadillos, alligators, and ... mosquitoes.
Unfortunately, this year we came during the hottest few weeks of summer. The sand dunes (with heat index) were 112 F according to one of the rangers. We were also told that the mosquitoes were like a plague "of Biblical proportions." Even layering on pure deet repellent didn't save me. Still it was a great getaway to spend time with Jason and catch up on the last year of insight as well as discussing plans for the future.The last morning on the island, I took an amazing hike up the beach and then through the middle of the island. Not only do I like like walks on the beach, I like long walks on the beach... at sunrise... with wild horses :) It turned out to be a 20 mile walk which was a bit more than I had anticipated. Still, a great experience. I definitely have a greater appreciation for air conditioning now!
After the salmon fishing, I was in a hurry to get to Missouri to see a particularly special person! I spent a great 2 weeks with my amazing girlfriend Michelle. She was working at a local nursing home, so we snuck out for dates on her days off to Kansas City, St. Louis, and Columbia.
I had a great time with the whole family and really had a chance to relax. 7 months is way too long to be away... (oh and that's a hair dying adventure above - maybe I should move into hairdressing)
While she was working, I researched and ordered parts for my new computer. I've been living with my trusty Dell laptop for almost 5 years now and it has served me well. However, the fan sounds asthmatic, it's reliability has gone downhill, and it's just not powerful enough anymore. Thus a new beast was born. Big kudos to Eric, Daniel, and NewEgg.com for guiding me towards excellent parts. For those who care, the specs can be found here.

Saturday, July 28, 2007

A video a put on MySpace to illustrate one part of the true fishing experience:
Salmon picking

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Tuesday, July 24, 2007

I suppose you could say "no news is good news." That doesn't work forever though. My apologies for the lack of new bloggish material.

Salmon fishing in Alaska was every bit the grand adventure I hoped it would be. There were good days and not-so-good days, but on the whole, I really enjoyed the experience. I couldn't ask for more amiable companions as captain and crew, my living space was nice, and 3 huge meals every day kept me running even with insufficient sleep.

In the photo above, you can see a seagull nesting near our cabin. I have a new hatred for seagulls after fishing (they peck eyes and gills out of fish) but I can't deny their beauty. We had awesome sunsets quite frequently and since we were so far north during the summer, sunset started around midnight and sunrise started about 3 am. 20+ hours of light every day took some getting used to ;)

Here is a photo of me with the largest King (chinook salmon) that we caught - 42 pounds! Neoprenes, gloves, raincoat, and hat were a necessity to avoid fish slime.
Here you can see part of the equipment before we went out fishing: webbing + lead line + cork line = one net ready for fish.

Here you can see the 2 cabins we stayed in (plus the luxury outhouse). No running water, no electricity, and surrounded by bogs/mud/mosquitoes. What more could anyone ask for? It was a great place though - awesome weather a very cozy home. I'm still a little puzzled about the smoke. Either another cabin is on fire or someone is burning trash.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Friends, I am off to go fishing in Alaska. I have no idea what it will be like, but plenty of pictures will be taken. I just hope I don't drown :D

Finals went really well - so glad to have that out of the way. Time to check out of the dorm and be on my merry way! My summer reading list contains:
Tao Te Ching
Bhagavad Gita
Selections from the Qur'an
Readings in the Philosophy of Science
and about 6 quantum physics books

(not to mention full blown research for next year's writing class). Time is going to fly!

Sunday, June 03, 2007

I'm an uncle - what a scary thought... On the upside, it should be a lot of fun - I can spoil my niece, Shanna, rotten! I won't get to to see her in person for month or two, unfortunately, but from the pictures she looks pretty human ;)

I'm under a tough load at the moment, but in 3 days I'll be free and done with finals! Leaving for Alaska a week from Tuesday as well, so that's cool!

Friday, May 25, 2007

So I haven't posted anything substantial in a good long while. I'm one week from finals and life is getting "interesting" you might say. Classes are good but challenging and I've been playing soccer, ultimate frisbee, and doing a bit of climbing. Here's a photo or two from a recent rockclimbing trip:


Aside from climbing, I've been up to the usual mischief. Oh and I'm leaving for Alaska in 2 weeks!

Now for something completely different, I did some research on liquid dance and popping recently. Check out this video - best part is about half way through!

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

I'm not dead yet. More news soon. Sleeeeeeeep...

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

This quarter looks as scary as any before it. It's largely responsible for my lack of posting, actually.

My plan at the beginning was to get to bed by 11pm every night, get up at 6am to exercise, practice dancing and rock climbing, and generally do everything!

I think it only happened two days so far - not a great track record. I'm hanging in there. Here's my lineup:
Ordinary Differential Equations
Physics (3rd quarter)
Dynamics (3rd quarter)
World Religions
Honor's Writing 2
Philosophy of Science
Rock climbing 2

Fortunately, there are other things to keep me busy in all my spare time: math tutoring, rock climbing, soccer inter murals, and yes (I hesitate to admit it) some computer games with friends.

Oh yeah, I also spend my time practicing the algorithm march!
So it's been a long while since I've posted anything - it's not for lack of stuff happening though... I had a funtastic spring break with these excellent friends of mine! We went hiking in the hills of Walla Walla, had a St. Patty's party, visited Tillamook, drove the Washington coast, explored a rainforest, went Salsa dancing in Seattle, and generally enjoyed good company. Huzzah for roadtrips! There were many "you had to be there" moments that just won't work as a blog post. I had a great time - we'll leave it at that.
A sweet fire we got going with chocolatey-marshmallowy-banannas in foil - the new "smore" substitute!
Two of my great friends Janelle and Jen - as seen from underneath a sidewalk!
Green mashed potatoes are awesome!

Wednesday, March 14, 2007


I went on a sweet scuba trip this quarter. We had our share of unfortunate circumstances, but it all worked out alright!

We drove out Wednesday afternoon, but a huge wreck in the mountain passes kept us from arriving at Rosario until 1:30 in the morning! We slept in our cabins until late morning and then started our training. Lots of talking and then time to gear up! Sadly, there were not enough wetsuits in my size, so we went to a nearby dive shop to rent. They didn't have enough either. Thus, I ended up wearing a small woman's suit. It didn't quite fit right and after about 20 minutes it flat out hurt, but I did look pretty sexy :)

The second day was a lot better - more fish, plants, and we hit 50ft instead of just 20 from the first day. I even got to borrow a fancy underwater camera (eventually I get those pictures)! Now that it is warm and sunny outside, it's easy to forget that it was snowing as we got into the frigid water.

Anyways, I loved the experience and it only gets better from here - better visibility, warmer water, more wildlife, etc.

Monday, March 12, 2007

My good friend Yong just cooked up a beautiful Korean meal Sat. night for some friends! Hot Kimchi, rice, soups, and tea - lots of fun! So that's Mexican, German, and Korean. I think African and South American are next on the list...

Sunday, March 11, 2007

I'd had my eye on the movie "300" for a while. It caught my interest because it was based on a graphic novel and it was historical. I didn't have high expectations, but went to the midnight showing last Thursday. I was quite pleasantly surprised - a solid entertaining movie that got some of the main facts right! Even better, a bunch of crazy college students were dressed up, driving around the parking lot at the cinema, and yelling. Basically being macho. Almost as entertaining as the movie.
300 is a retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae where 300 Spartans held a pivotal pass through the mountains for several days against Xerxes and his Persian army. There are a wide range of estimates on the size of the army - Herodotus claimed 2.6 million, but even at modern conservative estimates of more than 200,000 the odds weren't pretty. King Leonidas and his small group of soldiers delayed long enough for the rest of Sparta and Greece to assemble forces and effectively defend against the Persians. An epic story to say the least.
I love Friday. It's the end of homework for the week, it's the beginning of Sabbath, and it means Ultimate Frisbee! From 2 - 5, a few dozen of us play some hardcore frisbee. I've played few other games with such a positive, upbeat, team attitude the whole time. Everyone is out to have fun and get some fresh air.Enough of me talking. Here are some pictures as well as a link to more (thanks to Adam White).Aside from Frisbee, it was also a lot of fun playing games at Amy's apartment as well as geocaching at 2 in the morning around town ;)

Sunday, March 04, 2007


More on the scuba trip later, but I've gotta put up a nice shot or two from Rosario where we stayed... Such a great sunset!

There was also an amazing moonrise last night up in the hills near Walla Walla - I had some fun with a long shutter speed! No photoshop.