A Study Break

Gotta have 'em.

Squirt and I decided to go feed the seagulls at Sugarhouse Park.
On the way, we stopped at the store for a box of el-cheapo saltines and a bottle of water.
I spent a total of $2.00 for two hours of fun.
Good times.
Now I've got to get back to work.

Kyoo wa, benri toh ee deshita!

Well, lack of studying aside, the day turned out very well.
My buddy turned up with a pretty good excuse, so we studied for about two hours.

Afterwards, I went and picked up the Fam and we took the train Downtown to the Japanese Festival. It was a little hot, but still a good time.

The festival turned out a fairly big crowd. (Compared to the last two years.) It was located on the street behind the Salt Palace Conv Ctr and next to the Buddhist Temple.






Vince got a huge kick out of the Taiko Drum group.
Can't say I blame him. They were big, loud and perfectly timed.
The stage had pretty good acoustics, so they didn't need a lame sound system to amplify the drums.





We took a break in the shady driveway behind the Buddhist Temple.

The temple gym had a display set up about the Topaz Internment Camp in Southern Utah and the Japanese Americans that fought in WWII. It was all very interesting.
A little sad, but interesting.

Vince started to get a little punchy after about an hour.
To him, we were in a hot place with a ton of strange people.
He did pretty good, overall.
Lisa and I figured that he deserved a break.





And here it is!
After leaving the festival, Lis and I took Squirt to the olympic fountain at the Gateway.
We splashed around for a little bit and then topped the whole day off with some Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

All in all, a great day.

C'mon, man. Where the hell are you?

I'm at the library, waiting for my studymate to show up so we can hammer down some Alexander ID's. I hope he shows up soon. I'm giving him till 0945 before I split.
Eh, I'm not too mad. This guy's a pretty straight-shooter, so any absence on his part means something must have come up.

On another note, the Family and I will be going to the SLC Japanese festival today.
It should be a blast. I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures.

He can't get enough of it....

My kid's really taken a shine to the MASH theme song.
He jumps around all excited when he hears the opening riff.
He runs in place yelling "Run, run run!" as the orderlies and nurses haul butt towards the helipad.
He even duck-walks when the doctors head over to the patients on the helicopter.

What can I say? He's a MASH buff!




As for school, I've successfully wrapped up my Korean History and Asian American Politics class. Thankfully, my professor gave me a "by" on the final.
Now I can start boning up on my ancient history. The final is on Monday!

Alright, enough loafing.
Time to get back to work.

Our first blogged hike.

Vince and I have taken this hike plenty of times.
It's the Red Butte Skyline Trail behind the U.
On this leg, we took a side trail through the Red Butte Arboretum.
The canyon's so beautiful this time of year.


This first picture is of Squirt at the trailhead.
Incidentally, that's my walking stick.
I've engraved the names of the hikes Vince and I have taken together on it. Maybe when we get older, I'll let him have it.







That's my boy, mugging for the camera-phone.
This is in the lower part of the trail near the creek.










Here's the view from our "Lunch Rock."
It serves as a pretty good midpoint for a short hike.
From here, we shimmy through the deer gate into the Arboretum.








The trails in the Arboretum are beautiful.
I took this shot in the "Sleepy Hollow" woods.
Here, Vince is waiting impatiently for Daddy to quit messing with the phone.

I had to preserve the moment!
I couldn't help myself.





Gotta love the Red Butte shorty.
It's pretty, semi-challenging and short.
Two hours and voila! Back at the house.

<-- Yeah, that's my finger.

Our next hike is going to be Antelope Island on May 5th.
It'll be the longest hike we've ever done, but I think he can hack it.

Classes are over!

Finally.
All that's left are the finals.
I've got my Korean final due tomorrow and an "Age of Alexander" final on Monday.
My last test will be a Geography final on Tuesday.
After that, no class till late August. Awesome.

I had a pretty eventful last day.
It culminated with a panel discussion at the Hinckley Institute on the Asian American perspectives of the Virginia Tech shooting.
It started off pretty well, but I think one of the panel members might have been a bit too vocal for the audience's taste.
Once the Q&A started, it was go time. (I think I even heard a fight bell.)
Anyhow, the conversation got a little heated. But folks managed to keep their head.
...for the most part.

God, I'm so glad I study IR and not domestic issues.
I think it'll help me keep my hair a bit longer.

Violence on the Playground!

...or something like that.

Yesterday, my boy walked headlong into an Autism-induced "Idontwannaleavetheplayground" tantrum unleashed by one of his schoolmates.

I'm a little fuzzy on how it started (I think Vince just happened to be within reach), but the end result was this poor kid started flailing and scratched up Squirt's neck.

Yeah, I was a little concerned at first. (Understatement.)
But after consulting with the faculty, Lis and I are pretty sure that this was an isolated incident.
(Vigilance will be maintained, however.)

As for Vince, the trauma to his neck caused some severe reactions.
Actually, I think it might have itched a little. ;-)
He took the whole thing in stride, as usual.

Parents of Autistic kids tend to take these incidents a lot more seriously than their children.
I think I need to take a lesson from my son!

One class down, three to go.

The fall semester's starting to wrap up here at the U.
I've just completed a class on the history of Korea.
I still have a take-home final to accomplish, but it's nothing a couple days of effort can't fix.

I was sitting here trying to figure out what I should blog when my professor walked up to me out of the blue and expressed her gratitude for the hard work I put forth in her class.
She applauded my accomplishments in both my essays in light of the topic difficulty.
(The course required two 5-6 page papers on pre-modern and modern Korean history, respectively. I chose to write on Chang Po-Go and Yi Wanyong.)
And she gave me kudos for being insightful.

I must admit, it feels pretty darn good to get a pat on the back from an accomplished scholar.
Too bad this is her last semester. I would have loved to attend her "Two Koreas" course.

Best of luck at the University of Washington, Dr. Nam.
You'll be missed.

High Hopes

Where do I start?

I've got big plans for this place, but it all requires a modicum of user knowledge and whole heap of effort.

What do I want out of this blog?

I want to talk about how much I love my family.
I want to rejoice in the adventures of fatherhood.
I want to record the hikes Vince and I have shared.
I want to gripe about Autism.
I want to share my experiences in adult scholarship.
I want to reminisce on my old firefighting and army days.
I want to post pictures of people I know.
I want to track my friends as they travel around the world.
I want to display my scholarly writing.
I want to bellyache about growing fat, old and bald.
I want to muse about the world I'm forced to live in.
I want to preserve the important moments in my life.

Yeah, that's about it.
Here goes nothing.