snow!

It feels so good to be home. Real food, Real toilet paper and real sleep. it is amazing.

I worked really hard finals week. I did the math (with my sister) and I put out about 45 hours on a single project (A nintendo ds case) in my engineering class during finals week. This does not include time spent on the project prior. It wouldn't really bother me except I had finals to study for and it was only a 3 credit class. The fruits of my labor are below. And a mouse trap car I drew in CATIA.

and after all that work I got a C in the class. why? i honestly have no idea. gets me a little mad

Otherwise I got a B in physics; a B- in art history (eastern asia); and A in Philosophy (intro to logic)

Long time no blog

This blog has no cohesive plot. Shards and fragments of ideas are merely vomitted onto my screen (for a lack of a better analagy). You may find that two consecutive sentences don't even relate to one another. Do not let poor grammer halt your mission. You must carry on. See this blog to end.














I'm currently in the middle of dead week. My tests shouldn't be to hard. I'm not worried.





My Thanksgiving break was awesome. Traffic wasn't to bad. I love going home. Two ply never felt sooooo good. I love seeing my family and friends. They are all to good to me.





Life here at Western is fun, but boring. I could tell you that today I got to sleep in til 8:00 but that wouldn't be exciting. I could tell you that there was enough frost on the gound today to make some bricks slippery and that my shoe came untied twice on my way back to my dorm; I could tell you that two days ago I went to dairy queen and shared a toast with Thomas Kempers; that yesterday for two and a half hours I played pool with Danny; that yesterday Danny felt like gambling and that I left the pool table one dollar and one quarter richer than when I started; that I'm on episode 17 of Lost; that I'm designing a waterproof DS lite case with a constant shell thickness of .100 inches or 2.54 mm, that's drop resistant, and will carry up to 4 game cartridges and hopefully the power cable; that next quarter i'm going to seattle to test a recumbant faired bicycle; that there's a Christmas party i'll be attending this friday; that I forgot my keys at my house and my wonderful mother shipped them to me; that I hung up Christmas lights in my dorm; that those Christmas lights convinced Danny to put up his Mojito Burrito poster; that sometimes I feel extremely rich, that sometimes I feel extremely broke; that sometimes I daydream I own an Aston Martin; that I had a dream Dan Neihl was at Western and had a girlfriend; that I'm mad that my Art history class had a whole day devoted to anime; that a few weeks ago I was geniounly scared that my printer was sentient; that I am no longer scared of my printer; that I really enjoy going to the rec center; that I can't get my bedsheet to stay on my bed; that yesterday there were two really old men playing ping pong by the pool tables, one asian one caucasian, that were scary good and reminded me of Danny playing Tomoki(my suitemate); that I think it would bore an audience to tears if I listed all the mundane things in my life; and that I'm on the verge of discovering a cure for the common cold; But that would be all to boring.

I can't wait to get back home.

danny=MAN!

Danny is the epitome of man. (Period).

Week in past

Overall this week didn't go so well. I allowed myself to get stressed out about midterms. But beyond this I can't complain.

I joined a small bible study or "core." Apparently the leader knows a guy who owns a paintball field. We only have to pay for the paint. $yes$! next weekend i guess i'm going on a retreat with the same group.

I also joined a speedbike team. And no that does not mean I will ride fast bikes. I am part of a club that is going to design and produce a preformance bicycle. one that looks a little like this...

Actually there was talk of throwing out the whole human powered thing and switching to more of an electric motorcycle. Either way I am stoked to play around with carbon fiber.



I am leaving you with this... A danny original. (Possibly more to come)

This Last Week

So the past week has been pretty good.

Work's pretty smooth except. They (they being the "MAN") started making me do janitorial work. While I dislike cleaning windows and sweeping floors I understand their reasoning. I can't really complain. And overall I still like my job. It's not to complicated. And I get to make people smile. (_8^().


I tried out a church here on campus. Thanks in no small part to my parents, Justin, and two older friends I met here. I was amazed at how such a low budget, night could attract so many (about 300) people. They (CCF) have a huge emphasis on family and openness. At the end they kinda have a prayer.share.chair. thing goin on. At the end of the night people are given the chance to talk inbetween the final songs. And as I said earlier I was pleasently suprised at the openess and sense of family. It was kinda cool witnessing 300 people embrace the 1 person exposing themselves up on stage. And hopefully I'll be going to Haiti this spring break. Money will definately be tighter this time around.

In other news I got an A- on my first test. I been playing pool and excersizing (sorta) at the rec center. I downloaded skype... but my family doesn't have a webcam. Danny is having me watch tv shows including but not limited to Hereos, Chuck, the Unit, The Mentalist, My Name is Earl, Lost, Life, and Knight Rider. I took a trip to the Bellis Fair Mall where I got a haircut.

That's all I feel like typing for now.

HA!

and the news is...

Come one; Come all! i just got a flickr acount! As you may have guessed I really enjoy photos and I find myself adding way to many pictures to blogger. So Instead of sharing them thru blogger You can now access my photos on flickr. I know I'm a bit behind the times but I didn't used to have a digital camera.

and on to the next story:

I'm enjoying college here in beautiful Bellingham. my books were crazy expensive (i'm actually irked about how much they cost). My physics class is slightly difficult; philosophy is supposed to get hard but for now it's just completing proofs; Engineering Technology (ETEC) I am absolutely loving; and i'm slightly disappointed that Art History 271 (eastern asia) is only covering China, Korea, and Japan. What about Russia? How about Mongolia?

the food is pretty decent. and if you account for the fact that each dining hall is serving over 1000 people per meal it's pretty darn impressive... and they have sobe on tap! and I honestly enjoyed their Mongolian beef (even though they painfully Americanized it).

I do believe I'm getting along with danny and my other suite mates... But in the end I guess you'd have to ask them about it.

My dorm challenged another dorm (Buchanan Towers) to a game of capture the flag in the dark. and we dominated. I also played some late nite soccer; which was surprisingly enjoyable. I performed ok until I got tired. Then I wasn't to much help for my team (I'm so out of shape).

My grammar, perhaps, has been so poor you're all wondering how I made it into college. and the answer is that it doesn't matter.

I do miss that crappy town that I came from and all of its inhabitants.

That's all I got for now.

Mi Familia

So today... as most (or more likely all) of you know I left my home.





I am now living at WWU.








(consider this that stupid speech)





And on this life altering day I would like to thank my family. I can honestly say I didn't deserve to have such a wonderful loving/caring family. Mom and Dad would always ask me if I ever thought to myself 'when i'm a parent I won't make my kid do _____(random chore/punishment)' The complaints are so far and few between that they are irrelevant to the 18 years of teaching and caring they have given me. And I don't believe that I have ever been able to give back... though once or twice I do believe I worked hard enough to justify living. Even today they transported me, fed me, and bought me school supplies. It would be impossible to ever express the amount of gratitude I have towards these two awesome people.





my sister on the other hand... well she taught me more than I will ever know. She is more mature than me (likely most women are) and therefore has led me through example. I treat it almost like a competition. While I was working at Johnny Rockets she did so many of my dreaded dishnights. I don't remember a single complaint. As she has been working I did the dishes but the whole time I was complaining and feeling self pity. I must have resemble a two year old. She is probably the most giving person i know. Almost everytime one of our family members speaks badly of somebody she was there to give said person the benefit of the doubt; when my brother and I slack, she completes our work for us. The only tru question I have for here is... What do you do in your room??!





Stephen. he's the oddball, and completely in a non-negative way. My whole family is made of introverts and he's the exception. He's not often afraid to talk or put himself into awkward situations. But really I must say I am sorry. He put up with a lot of crap from me and took it. Chuck Norris would've cracked before Stephen did. That dude is a rock. Not to mention an all around spaz. Stephen looks life in the face and makes it turn it's head away in shame. That is courage. Stephen I think you'll go far. Further than me.





To all remaining relatives (if any of you ever read this): You would have been better off investing in AIG than in me. Thank you Jerry for masterfully teaching and guiding my flyfishing efforts. Grandma, your quite voice and incite has been very motivational to me. And Noma, your unwavering action (skiing, bicycling, throwing parties, fixing up you house, etc. etc.) has personified many virtues for me; you have shown me what it takes to live. Sue and Kirk, though I rarely saw you two I was amazed at your insight. It really cool that sometimes you understood me more than the rest of my family. Cathy and Todd; wow, you are the most easy going and happy people I know. Though it's really corny, it's brutally honest, and it's not because I couldn't think of anything else, it was truly a pleasure to be with you.





last but not least my friends. Aj, though i doubt you would ever admit it your kinda emotional. But I am jealous of you for that. Most of my funnest memories have been with you. And 95% of those has been under your lead thanks for including me (and thanks for sacrificing your sleep to hang with me last night) Justin you taught me, through example and talk, the one thing no one ever could have hoped to. Put some action behind my beliefs. thanks. Adam (I know your not reading this) in the short time I have gotten to know you this past year, you have shown me what it means to live for God. you don't compromise. To the rest of the MOB: I don't understand how you put up with my superior(sarcasm) mind for so long. thanks for listening and playing. and looking back now I can say for real "we done good"





That's it. I'm leaving with some of my favorite pictures (my collection isn't very large however)

It's just simply amazing!

Disney Lab Unveils Its Latest Line Of Genetically Engineered Child Stars

Pay no attention to whatever commercial might be playing

The paid Vacation

So... I took a road trip with the aj. But this wasn't your average road trip. I got paid to drive to L.A. Pretty much I had a great time and I learned a lot. Santa Monica, for example, had a beach, a pier, and a shopping center. A beach is a beach no matter where you go; it's like if you been to one, you've been to them all. This one happened to be crowded. The pier was kinda fun and after thirty minutes on the pier we were done. We then proceeded to enjoy looking around all the stores and we consumed some amazing pizza. When all was said and done it was just after 12:00. The majority of the day was ahead of us. So we got lost in the Beverly Hills area for around 2 maybe 3 hours, while driving a butt ugly van.



So finally, to end the day we took a pretty awesome short cut and found ourselves in Universal Studios. And we didn't have enough time to do much of anything. The city walk was fun though and AJ managed to get some shopping done.






p.s. we stopped in some crazy awesome/scary/(fill in the blank)hole towns.
Patterson California looks just like that creepy town from tim burtons Edward Scissorhands.
we filled up our gas tank in (no joke) Los Banos. And we stopped in Weed.

nice.

This places third in my list of cool things one can do from/in the back of a truck. and yes this is a real picture.

Summer Start

Well it's a dumb name.

I got home yesterday from Western's new student orientation. I was very impressed with the campus. It's beautiful. I liked the food they served. I was probably most impressed with the Sobe on tap.

I'm planning on getting my Bachelors of Science in Industrial Design. Thing is though, there are just above 4,000 students attending the school. 12 get excepted into the program. I am confident of my ability to complete the program. I'm not so sure about actually getting into it. I need to create an art portfolio.... and I threw away all my art from last year.

ironic.

In other news, the room I stayed in is in the same building as mine. And it felt like prison. The once firm beds are now visibly sunken in the middle. The room smells like commercial cleaners and paint. They clean everyting but the white florescent lights. It creates a dirty white appearence on the poorly painted walls. There is absolutely no soundproofing. from the second floor I could hear every time someone on the floor above me or below me open or close a door.
Ahh... the finer pieces of dorm life.

Besides the rooms I really had nothing to complain about. Their rec. facility was about the size of First Baptist. I look forward to attending the school.

...(continued)

Any way I have been having technical troubles with youtube so this post is late in coming.

My Grandma had hip surgery so we went up to her house on Whidbey Island. I always have fun at her house. And once again I was allowed to practice my photography skillz.

I took some pictures of Seattle. It was nearly dark, the car was bumpy, and I was hungry. A combination that usually makes for crapy blurry pictures. And that's what happened here. But I found with about 30 seconds of editing I could resurrect the photo from an absolute failure into something decent.

The rest are unedited.

I like to do this every time I go up.

...

cuil (its pronounced cool)

well, one of googles own has gone and created her own google competitor.







presenting I like the different format instead of the list google uses. But Google has a monoply on search engines so just like Ask this will probably go by the wayside.

Leavenworth

Well I went on a family vacation to Leavenworth. Aunts & Uncles+Grandma+my immediate family were all there. We stayed at this nice house on the Wenatchee river. I actually had a great time.

I didn't get around to taking pictures until almost the last day but my uncle got ahold of my camera and took these pictures of squirrels.

We went whitewater rafting. Actually my father and I went kayaking. Kayaking is WAY better than rafting. The closer you are to the water the better. Of course it is much more difficult to stay afloat. So we swam threw the last rapids. That was exciting.

I finally got around to taking pictures and practicing my photography skillz on a hike to Twin Lakes.

I also managed to go fly fishing with my uncle. I only caught three fish but I had a ton of bites (bites don't count I know). I was doing catch and release but while in the proccess of releasing one fish it managed to escape my grasp and effectively killed itself. It fell into crack in a rock. And I couldn't reach it. So after much struggling my uncle came over and grabbed the fish and tonight I am planning on eating it.

One of the things I remember most from a previous trip to leavenworth was all the nice cars. This time I wasn't seeing any and then BAM! on the last day I found one.

For those who don't know it's an Aston Martin. The base price is somewhere around 200,000 big ones. and its the latest James Bond car.

Thats all folks.

Games

I pretty much sold all my PS2 games for $20.84 today. It's part of my cleaning/packing up for college.

The Dark Knight: A brief review

This movie was quite a bit darker than the first. And it has much stronger violence. But that's all ok. And unfortunately the movie theater was just about sold out so I pretty much had the worst seat, so I can't really write about graphics and cinematography.

Batman Begins sold me because the action and violence seemed to play a secondary role (or revolved around) to the philosophical arguments, morals, and character development. This movie had some of the same. It seemed to me that the directors/writers tried to recreate the feeling from Apocalypse Now, the feeling one might get from witnessing a murder or the feeling of being simply and utterly shocked by a large amount of violence. Unfortunately Apocalypse Now didn't quite do it for me so I struggled a little to stay connected to the movie. Actually The Dark Knight did a better job of creating this emotion by funneling it into the character "The Joker."

What I really didn't like about this movie was that it felt like it would never end. It's possible that I felt this way because it was around 0'dark thirty at night when I watched. But it seemed like every time the movie felt like it was going to end it didn't. The movie had a few to many climaxes.

The movie kinda left with a deconstructionist take on the situation. But to please the crowd the threw in a narrative at the end. The two rarely work out together. Yet this movie seemed to accomplish putting the two together because while narrative was going on the film showed a very nice montage of Batman running from the cops.

Anyway I liked the movie and got to see my Uncles Godkid act (he played the cops son)

I love camping

Steaks... Are a necessity. Seriously, How can one go that long without meat?

speed cameras tisk tisk

Point Defiance

Yesterday we (my family) went to the Point Defiance Zoo with our family friends, from the big AZ, the Oviedo's.

here are some pictures.