Yu Have Come to the Right Place.

Winter 2008: Mid-Season Report

12/8/08: Today is the first day it has snowed since the last time I posted. I guess snow days are blog days. It's been an extremely mild winter for Utah, especially in contrast to last year, which was the most snowy winter we've ever experienced in our 10 years here. (10 years!?!)

School: The first semester of school is done! I passed all my classes and will not get kicked out of the program this year. :) It's been interesting to learn about things that most companies hide from their engineers: accounting, marketing, leadership, and spreadsheets. Much of it is applicable and hopefully will help me become a more valuable employee. Update: I'm happy to report that I actually got some A's! This year, I experienced the same thing I experienced after a two-year break for the mission - "deer-in-the-headlights" syndrome. My first class on return from Australia was Calculus 113 and I almost biffed it. This time, I experienced the same thing in my Financial Accounting class. Luckily, I think I got my act together in time.

Work: The busiest two quarters of work since I started at L-3 happened to coincide with my first semester of school. Since school started, I've been in Seattle, DC, St. Louis, Orange, San Diego, and Orange again. It was a challenge trying to balance everything.

On the last trip to Orange/San Diego, I scheduled both of the trips together and got to take the family. I ended up putting in so many hours on that trip that I didn't see them for (awake) for several days, even though we slept in the same hotel room! They got to go to the beach and Disneyland while I was putting in lots of stressful overtime hours.


We rented a Mustang on the company's dime. It was fun, but I wasn't that impressed.
In the few hours before our plane departed, I got to squeeze in a quick trip to La Jolla so I could take some pictures and at least say I touched the water.
12/17/08: I'm finally finishing the post now. Whew - it's been a busy year so far!

Here are pictures of other fun things that we did when we all had time on the weekends:

Met the parents at Frank's place in Las Vegas for Thanksgiving. With gas prices suddenly so low, we were able to drive there and back for around 100$ - Amazing! Here's Taisei trying to hold baby Benny, and Brooke posing while she tries to keep Taisei away.Frank cooks up a storm as usual.Taisei got bit by Gunner, a Rott Weiler! Taisei cried, but luckily has been around so many dogs that he doesn't seem to be traumatized by it. It freaked me out - bite marks on both sides of his arm - and he's still got bumps and bruises now. But he can laugh about it now, so it can't be that bad. If you look closely, you can see that there are burn marks all over his right leg too. He had hot oil spilled all over him while we were visiting Yeon-ju and family in San Diego. Poor guy!

I'll try to be more consistent and thorough going forward - and even throw in some of my random posts about nothing that you all love so much. :) I've gotta go get ready for yet another busy day.

Merry Christmas to all of you and a happy New Year!!

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