I had a dream the other night that I'm still thinking about. That's rather rare. I don't remember some of the details (very normal for a dream, in my experience), but since I subconsciously invented the whole thing, I'll fill in the details the way I represent it in my mind now.

I was in a state of existence in a dim world. I existed on a type of plateau with a steep drop hundreds of feet down to an ocean splashing against the dark rock cliff. The top of the plateau stretched beyond my sight and was rather barren - a few rocks and a single thin, dark, ancient, and sturdy tree with only a few leaves.

I existed in this place for a long time - serene and almost in a meditative mindset. Then, one evening, I stood near the cliff edge and saw far in the distance, a dark (nearly black) wave of extraordinary height was coming my direction. It was beyond panic or fear - it was so immense and grand that the danger was a puny concept. It was simply awe inspiring. It was 'awesome' in the word's truest sense. It immeasurably high. The picture above is not even a ripple in comparison.

It swooped towards me and in a moment I was submerged - inside the towering wall of water. It was not cold or hot. It would have been wet, except that the word lost its meaning since 'dry' was inconceivable in this new underwater existence.

The force of the water tore past me, but I found my arms wrapped around the stout tree. The wave had unbelievable force that nothing could oppose and yet I was secure because I was part of the tree, the tree was part of the cliff, and the cliff was immovable.

I remained submerged in the rushing water for a long time. I opened my eyes and watched the water race by. I breathed somehow in a very natural way. The wave was powerful, angry, and had no sympathy for me, but I remained calm and in a state of awe. I was where I belonged in spite of the chaos around me.

The dream ended.

Once more (the same night), I dreamed the same entire dream. Once more the dream ended.

A third time, I dreamed the same thing. But this time, I let go of the tree. I found myself a mere particle in the raging wave as is swept over everything. I lost all orientation and no action I was capable of mattered in the slightest. I fell unconscious - not worried, but still under water and very lost. Darkness.

I became conscious, floating on the open sea. Lost and alone in a way I hadn't felt on the plateau. I was still calm, but knew my future consisted of drifting forever. No control. Nothing. Only floating. I sensed a deep remorse for ever choosing to let go of the tree...

Then I woke up.

This dream struck me as a deeply symbolic experience. Very ethereal and yet purely sensory. The only things close to this dream were the surreal moments in "The Fountain".

What does it all mean? Is each wave a school year - overwhelming me every time? Is the tree my values? Is the tree a person that keeps me sane? Does the last wave foretell my doom? Did I simply need to go to the bathroom really bad? I have no idea.

So maybe "soon" was a bit unrealistic. Not much has happened in the last two weeks besides the usual outpouring of homework and Michelle's birthday! Sadly she's lined up to work 3 weekends in a row, which makes it difficult to spend much time together.

My best friend in Thailand is starting a teaching job at an orphanage which is pretty cool. Most of the people I know are either graduating this year or starting new jobs. I suppose I'll have to do all that soon enough. I might be working with a team of graduate students at Washington State University next summer as an internship. I also have a potential option to work at Los Alamos National Laboratories over the summer. As part of all that, I should pull a resume together soon. Any suggestions?

Not a whole lot to talk about right now, really. Just a bit overwhelmed with school and looking forward to Thanksgiving break already!

P.S. Thanks for the prodding to post more - I needed it!

Just when you least expected, I finally post! In the above picture, I'm about to climb a cliff. That cliff = school and I will try to conquer it. My safety rope = friends.

It's been a long time, but not a whole lot has happened. I'm back in Walla Walla diligently attending class and learning a lot. I officially added a history degree in the mix for fun. Michelle is up here working crazy night-shift hours as a brand new RN - it's so nice to have her close by!!

More posting soon! No, really!

I was walking home from class after a very long day of classes and it was one of those moments that just lifted my spirits.  I saw this on the elementary school wall in San Jose, Costa Rica.  I couldn't help but smile.

So, remember this when you are having a hard day.  Somebody always loves you!

Recovery took longer than I anticipated. However, I can confidently say that I am almost back to full health now.

Manuel Antonio was great last weekend in spite of rain on Saturday. There were loads of monkeys, sloths, and other fascinating animals as well as gorgeous beaches.

Classes seem to be going well. Tomorrow (my last day), I´ll be learning the imperative tense. Finally I´ll be able to tell other people what to do in Spanish and English!

My plans to blog regularly in Costa Rica have pretty much been squashed... However, I am here on the outskirts of San Jose studying Spanish, meeting people, and visiting various places. Pictures will be posted when I return most likely.

I´m staying with a great host family (along with two other students). I walk 30 minutes to and from school every day, I´m in class for about 6 hours a day, and it rains practically every afternoon here. In the evenings and weekends, I´ve managed to meet new people, go dancing, and visit Monteverde (and Manuel Antonio this coming weekend).

I was dreadfully sick yesterday, but I am quickly recovering today. My friend theorizes that it was a result of me not finishing homework before I went out to have fun Tuesday night. I would blame the food, but it´s so tasty that it just doesn´t seem possible...

I'm back home!  I've been working in Atlanta the last week or two and right now I'm crunching through history homework before I leave for Costa Rica on Sunday.  Enjoy the blog posts though - Europe pictures and posts will sporadically appear over the next months, I'm sure.

Welcome to the White Cliffs of Dover, one of my top five fav's from England.  Dover played an important role in English history as the point of contact with the rest of Europe.  The short, safe link to French mainland (particularly the port of Calais) was heavily used and is still used in conjunction with the Chunnel to transfer goods between England and France.  Calais was a defensible stronghold traditionally held by the English until the French regained control (late 1550's) during Mary Tudor's reign.

In more modern times, Dover was heavily fortified as the point of first contact with German air raids in World War 2.  In fact, my friend Michael and I found a bunker carved into the side of the cliffs.  It's almost eery to be in history like this.

The best part of Dover, however, is the nature.  Majestic chalk cliffs, beautiful water, French mainland visible across the channel, sweeping wheat fields, and endless hikes along the cliff ridges.  I would love to go back some day with a backpack and just wander for several days, sleeping in the abandoned bunkers and absorbing the costal serenity.

As Bev (my literature teacher explained), you only stay sane on trips to England by planning what to see next time.  There really is just too much to do and see.  The Dover trip was a great Sabbath hike after a brief pilgrimage to Canterbury on a beautiful summer day.  Highly recommended for potential visitors to England.

I'm in Geneva, Switzerland (actually just across the border in France) and loving it! No pictures for now because my friend's laptop is having fits. I'm right next to a grand mountain and have a beautiful overlook on Geneva.

Rome was pretty nice - saw most of the big stuff, but it's much dirtier than most places I've been in recently. Good food, good people, and good experiences all over.

Will write more soon!

Leaving Oxford today (all too soon), but it's been fun! I'll have to put up new pictures soon, but in the meantime, here are some older ones.
A beautiful Lotus Elise - just one of the many exotic and beautiful cars I've seen here in England. I saw an Audi R8 and even a Mclaren at Stonehenge.

One of the most photographed and painted views in England, seen from the Bishops Garden in Wells (near Bath). Really lovely place!

Wells cathedral, I believe, with an amazing pipe organ.

Me, Mike, Yong (he's really not drunk), and David up on the Tor overlooking Glastonbury. T'was such a good hike with good friends.

Oxford's History of Natural Science museum. This particular piece from the enlightenment period reminds me of the complex astronomical machinery in movies. I would love to have one of these in my room...

Time to get back to studying and reading! Ttfn.

Huzzah, picture time!! Send requests :)

Here is Bath Abbey lit up at night (our first night in Bath). Several friends at Glastonbury Tor - a beautiful tower on a massive hill that overlooks the town. Highly recommended although the hike is a little intense.

Here is one of the creepy sculptures I found in a cathedral. It still weirds me out. Especially the eyes.

Here's me at Prior Gardens near Bath. It's a lovely landscape originally owned by a rich gentleman in Bath who bought out the stone mining industry around Bath and also revolutionized England's postal system.

Oxford is pretty great - took a tour of Duke Humphry's library (part of the Bodleian Library with about 7.5 million books and 20 miles of shelving) and the Ashmolean museum. Ashmole (a lawyer) tricked his friend into giving away a large collection of 'things' upon his death. After his friend died, the widow took possession and she "accidentally drowned" in her backyard in a puddle - after years of legal nastiness with Ashmole. Pretty clear what actually happened eh?

Anyway it's only appropriate since the Ashmole is mostly filled with plundered goods from the British Empire's expansion. Lots of great sculptures, paintings, treasures, and all that jazz.

I'm living at Queen's College (one of the 41 colleges in Oxford) and enjoying it thouroughly! More news soon...

I have deeply saddening news. We are leaving Bath tomorrow morning. I really love this city (even with it's ungraceful nightlife) and I'm looking foward to visiting again...

Winchester was amazing - we packed so much in that I'll have to share later. I went on the Dole for an afternoon (only my Aussie friends will pick up on that I suspect).

I'll be in Oxford tomorrow - hopefully the internet will be better and I can actually put some pictures up! Take care and make sure to send recommendations my way ;)

Many good things are still happening in England! Stonehenge (not that big of deal, surprisingly), cathedrals (amazing - very big deal), and other odds and ends around Bath and nearby areas. Tomorrow is Winchester and Southhampton. We are on our own to explore, so we'll see what happens.

I've been running around bath every morning at 6:30 and it's been quite pleasant. The nightlife is really busy - too bad I'm not a big clubber :P

No pictures for a few more days at least - the firewall here is apparently a bit too strict. Lo siento.

Lots of interesting stuff going on but no time to write about it all. Until then, here's a picture! Edit: no luck uploading - slow connection. Will upload when I can! Currently in Bath and heading to Oxford beginning of the month.

Hey everybody, I'm at Brighton beach in England! I made is safely and met up with 2 college friends. VERY tired but hopoing to stay up late enough that jet lag won't mess up my life for the next few days.

It's really good to eat fish 'n chips again! Everything is expensive, it seems, but that's only because the exchange rate is so bad right now. Oh well. I'll try to post pictures when I get the opportunity.

Here is my itinerary for those interested:

UK08 - ENGLISH/HISTORY TOUR
June 24 – July 15, 2008

Tue. 24 Fly from U.S. to Heathrow/Gatwick
Wed. 25 Arrive in London, Meet Group at Paddington Station, Travel to Bath
Thur. 26 Bath—explore Bath, baths, pump room, Cathedral.
Fri. 27 Salisbury – Stonehenge
Sat. 28 Gloucester Cathedral and Monastery. Gloucester Folk Museum
Sun. 29 Open Day – Optional trip to Exeter and Morebath
Mon. 30 Wells Cathedral. Glastonbury Abbey.

Tues. 01 Travel to Oxford – Walking tour of Oxford
Wed. 02 Bodleian Library. Oxford Science Museum. Ashmolean Museum
Thur. 03 C.S. Lewis House, Natural History Museum
Fri. 04 Stratford on Avon
Sab. 05 Oxford Parks. Punting. Evensong.
Sun. 06 Open Day – Optional Places: Cotswolds, Warwick Castle, Blenheim


Mon. 07 Travel to London, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Museum of London
Tues. 08 Tower of London. Exploring London*
Wed. 09 York
Thur. 10 Exploring London*
7:30pm The Globe: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Fri. 11 Hampton Court
Sat. 12 Canterbury and Dover
Sun. 13 Hastings
Mon. 14 Greenwich
Exploring London*
Tues. 15 Tour is finished



Exploring London* =
Required London Sites: British Library, British Museum, Westminster Abbey, National Gallery.
Optional London Sites: Banquet Hall, Tate Britain Gallery
National Trust Sites: Eastbury Manor House, Fenton House, Ham House, Osterley Park and House, Sutton House
Also choose sites to explore from Amateur Historians Guide book




Leave lots of comments about places I should try to explore!

Quick update: I survived finals.  Barely.  Much closer and more stressful than previous quarters.

However, I'm alive and working crazy hard back in Atlanta.  Probably a lot of 14-16 hour days this week.

On the plus side, I'm going to be in England a week from today!  I haven't even really figured out how I'll get my 600+ pages of reading in before the history tour starts...

I had a birthday.  It would have been crap (studying and working on school projects all day) except for numerous myspace/facebook notes from friends, a lovely little party (with tasty lasagna to boot), and a package from one of the most memorable people I've met: Ben.

I wish I'd taken pictures before I packed up.  One of the presents is an adorable little bear with an All-Blacks jersey!  The other is disturbing enough that I probably won't post a picture... ever... :)  I just shook my head and laughed - so weird and yet not strange coming from Ben.  Thanks, my kiwi friend!

Off to eat, work, and sleep.

Dead(ly) Week is just around the corner and finals loom in the distance. I'm actually more concerned about the projects than finals right now, however.

A few recent events:

Math club hike. I'm not sure where exactly we went, but it made for an enjoyable hike up a steep hill in very hot weather. To finish off the afternoon, we fired a cannon (huzzah for eccentric math professors).

Rock climbing. Mikey and I went out Sunday for a full day of climbing at Spring Mountain. The morning was a little drizzly which meant nobody else was out climbing. On the upside, we had unrestricted access to any climb we wanted. On the downside, the rock was mossy, damp and we had to be extra careful since we were far away from any help. Very scary climbing, but also quite good. I led a couple nice trad routes too :)
School. I found out I should get two big grants next year for school which takes off a bit of financial pressure. Chuck and I got our radio working this week which was a huge relief (the major project for Electronics 2). I'm also all geared up for my UK Tour! All the tickets are bought and we had our last meeting. Next time we are all together will be at Paddington station in 4 weeks!

Other news: I updated my links (removed some old ones and added new ones). Mum started a blog! Check out Musings by Melody under blogs to the right - expect pictures from Costa Rica soon. As long as you are looking over there, take a look at other blogs and sites. For example:
Black Heart Glitter Moments
Couch Surfing
Toothpaste for Dinner

Friends and family, I'm behind on blogging yet again. It seems rather common these days, unfortunately.

Several weeks ago, I had a surprise visit from Renee, Devon, and Shanna! She's an adorable little kid as you might guess from the picture below. Apparently she was rather docile after being awake for an unusually long time (not too unlike fellow classmates I know). Behind us, you can see the aftermath of some Putnam study sessions. Speaking of math, I added a math degree to my education which means I will graduate in December '09 if all goes well.

The BIGGEST news is that Michelle graduated from nursing school!! I was fortunate enough to fly out for the weekend and witness it all in person. We celebrated with family, ate out several times, and helped move her out of the dorm housing. I also got to say hi to some old friends as well as Claudia, Shelley, Jon, Chris, and a few others. I wasn't so keen on flying back to school - especially with a backlog of homework, grading, and projects.
Here is Michelle's awesome family (Jenny, Kris, Michelle, David, Michael) and the prized diploma. I'll get one too eventually, from what I'm told. Jenny is due in a few months which will be pretty exciting. Michelle and I will both have nieces it sounds like.
After the hectic day of ceremonies, family, and moving furniture, Michelle and I had a few hours to escape for a short ice cream date in Lincoln. We explored a nearby train station and got some photos near sunset. The shadows are a bit extreme, but I think the photo turned out well anyway.
We watched a movie and barely had time for a nap before leaving for the airport at 4ish AM. As usual, it was not pleasant saying goodbye but I'm thankful for the time I did get to celebrate a milestone with a great friend. Not just a great friend - an amazing girlfriend that I adore (and miss already)!

Hey everybody - I'm still alive and well. I'm over my head in work and classes (with surprisingly little homework, actually) but it's spring and I feel more capable of achieving the impossible!

I got results back for my Putnam test last fall - I'm another statistic with a score of 0. Better luck next time.

I did get a pleasant break recently up at Rosario with the math and biology clubs. I ate and slept for most of the weekend, but managed to squeeze in a bit of rockclimbing as well. I'm looking forward to a relaxing Sabbath and an absolutely packed week coming up.

I'm also anxiously anticipating my visit to Nebraska to spend time with my amazing girlfriend, Michelle! It sucks being so far away...

Huzzah it's Friday! I was going to have a pleasant break from school, but ended up getting 40 hours of grounds work - shoveling bark, weeding, raking leaves, edging, sweeping, etc. It was nice to get some exercise, sunshine, and extra money.

Last quarter was a wild sprint to the finish line - late nights of finishing projects and scrambling to study for finals. Oddly enough my grades turned out better than I expected... Here you can see one of my projects for Embedded System Design. Michael and I made an RLC meter including a cool case with the university's rapid prototyping machine (big thanks to Josh for helping us design it in ProE)!

The brand name spawned as an amusing parody of Fluke which makes high quality electrical measuring devices.


Electronics proved to be the hardest class. Here you can see my lab partner, Chuck, working with me on an audio power amplifier. On the oscilloscope, you can see the waveform for Jack Johnson playing through my MP3 player. It actually works! It's a small part of next quarter's project - to design and build a radio.

Aside from school, I had a fantastic time with Michelle and David! Michelle came to investigate nearby hospitals and apartments with her dad. Fingers crossed, she'll be able to move out this way around July.

She showed up just in time to distract me from finals and we had a great time watching movies, celebrating Pi day (3/14/08), going Contra dancing, and visiting the park. David was kind enough to make great food during a stressful finals week - cheers!

This is one of the few pictures we actually took while she visited. Somehow we keep reminding ourselves to take lots of pictures and it doesn't seem to actually happen...

In other random news China is planning on controlling the weather during the Beijing Olympics with artillery and supercomputers! Pretty cool techniques in my opinion.

In a second piece of random news, Moby will be releasing Last Night in a few days. From what I've heard, it's quite an enjoyable chill/dance album...

This quarter has been rather challenging, but I'm still alive... Michelle is coming to visit in a matter of days, finals are next week, Sharona is engaged, and my sister is having another kid! Quite a bit since my last post I suppose.

Of course, I only have pictures of the cool, fun, exciting stuff. Not the hours of studying and struggling through lab write-ups. That would only be interesting to a small handful of you.Finally made it out rockclimbing on REAL rock for the first time in ages! You can see Kirk modeling while a friend does all the hard work of climbing :PHere is me out snowboarding again. I went two days over the long weekend and had a blast! The board I rented was brand new (pulled straight out of the plastic while I watched) and I'm still recovering from a few crashes :D
Here is just an artsy photo to polish this short update off. Enjoy!

It's been more than a month since my last post (thanks for reminding me!), so it's time for new pictures! It's been rather cold and snowy in the past weeks and I've made the most of it. Here you can see me and a bunch of friends relaxing at a hot springs in Oregon. I saw a couple friends I'd made at Avondale which was a nice surprise.
A group of friends went snowboarding/skiing 2 weekends ago at Bluewood. You can see Max, Chuck, and Yong here (all engineering students). The powder was amazing and we all had a great time!

A college group CABL sponsored a weekend of cabining and cross country skiing/snowshoeing. It was great fun and my first experience on cross country skis was not a disaster... Here you can see Erin (a great friend of mine) and me (below) trekking through the woods on a beautiful morning.
The last picture here is from a birthday party at Erin and Amy's apartment. Ironically, the actual birthday'ee was not present. However, we had great fun eating anyway. You can see me, Erin, Amy, Kirk, and Kristin here. They are all rather amazing people.
Aside from that, I've been plowing through homework and test. Learning all about Gibbs Free Energy, MOSFET biasing, BJT saturation, Legendre transforms, and capacitor measuring algorithms. Great stuff!

It's been quite a while since the last post. Finals are a thing of the past and I'm already one week into new classes...

Between these two times, I flew back home to spend time with my family, friends, and girlfriend for a few weeks. Here is a quick summary:


I worked 2 weeks a few small projects. It turned out to be a good learning experience and provided some extra money... This is a prototype I built and tested. It's so colorful!

Michelle visited for a week and we had a great time going out on dates, finishing a bit of Christmas shopping, playing tennis/frisbee, and generally relaxing from school.
Michelle and I went to the aquarium for a day and it was rather stunning! I took a heap of photos and a few of them even turned out alright. I'll be posting a few more from the trip over the next few weeks. It reminds me of the Disney song "Under the Sea."

We also managed to create a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. I was rather proud of it. It's not such a bad tree really... All it needed was a little love!

Most recently, I got a haircut, moved into a new apartment, and started a full quarter at Walla Walla taking the following classes:
Feedback and Control
Electronics 1
Thermodynamics
Embedded System Design

In the picture, you can see me, my roommate Michael, and my friend Amy sitting down at our new kitchen table.