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 :)

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!

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!

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.

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!

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:

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.

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

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