One is the loneliest number...

1. I'm sitting all by myself in this empty house listening to Akon's "Lonely." hehe jk I'm listening to that song that goes, "All by myseeeeelf. Don't want to be all by myself..." jk. I'm listening to that donkey song from Shrek, "I'm all alone, there's nobody here beside me." hehe jk. Enough of that. But Esther is out of town and it is pretty boring being at home by myself. I've noticed that watching TV is not as fun by yourself (even if that means she's upstairs while I'm downstairs watching tv). After about 30 minutes, it gets kind of depressing. So, I'm back to blogging.

2. I was supposed to be on vacation in sunny California right now, but because of this cursed snow storm that hit us, I missed some work days. Therefore, I stayed behind to work some extra days during break to make up for the snow days. Oh, how I long for the school days where Christmas vacation was 3 weeks long.... 3 WEEKS LONG??!!!! That's absurd. Regardless, it was like 45 degrees today and I felt like running outside in my shorts and working on my tan. Compared to the 15 degree weather we were having, this seems like Palm Springs or something. In that spirit, I've decided to go golfing tomorrow. =) I've called everybody in my directory, but alas, there is only one dedicated enough to join me. Eric, you are greatly honored among the golf gods (lower case "g" therefore no blasphemy).

3. Anyhoo. A few months ago, we took a trip to the Oregon Coast with the young adults from our church. We found this amazing, 3 story house with beautiful ocean views. It was perfect for us. Unfortunately, I got a nasty case of food poisoning the night before we left and missed out on the first night's fun. We more than made up for it the rest of the trip. Thanks everybody for coming out!

I think the most important part of a house is the kitchen. Thus the picture.

OK. I was wrong. The view is the most important thing. The kitchen is second.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I love to sit and watch the ocean. I hate going near or in the ocean, but I love standing from afar and staring at it.

Breakfast time! These girls can eat!

Sabbath morning, we had a short worship thought by our very own Dr. David Paik.

I was proud of myself for getting David and the ocean in this picture. It was a very good worship thought. I remember it to this day (that's pretty rare).

Not sure how this game is played but I know it requires a lot of yelling and screaming.

AHA! Now that's a real game. =)

If I remeber correctly, David was bluffing on this hand and Kevin was stressed. Look at that poker face!

I think kev folded only to find out he had been bluffed.

Figures. The two Chinese guys come to the Korean party and take all the money.

Another perfect photo opportunity blown because Irene can't keep her eyes open in pictures.

The perfect end to any weekend retreat. Finish the leftover cereal.

Twas the night before Christmas...

1. Ok, so technically, it's the night before the night before Christmas. Whatever. The truth is, I'm pretty bored. I've already watched Sportscenter two times and there's nothing on the golf channel. What's a man to do?! I've would do the rounds on my websites (email, espn, golf.com, craigslist, ebay, seattletimes, facebook, yahoo news) but I did that like 3 times at work today already. Plus, it seems that every time I get surfing on Craigslist and Ebay, I just end up buying stuff because great deals are so easy to find these days. I even asked Esther if she wanted to go watch a movie (I hate watching movies). Her response? "Are you crazy?! It's ice out there!" Maybe if I read books, this would be a good time to sit down in front of the fireplace and read, but I don't read, so that's out the window. Maybe if I was into peak physical fitness, I'd do some pushups, use my rowing machine, and do some sets on my powerglide board, but I'm not really into that either. Usually, I would go to the golf range, but it's really hard to track a golf ball when the range is covered in snow (plus they're not open). So here I am. That's how bored I am. =)

2. Today, I got a gift from all the ladies at my office. A giftcard to Nordstrom. Is that a normal gift for a guy? Wouldn't you think they would get me a giftcard to a Home Depot or REI or somewhere like that? Nordstrom? They might as well have written Esther's name on the card, cuz I know I ain't seein that. They got the other doctor a giftcard to a steakhouse and got me a giftcard to Nordstrom. Should I be offended? =)

3. As you might have heard, we've had the worst snow storm in the last 40 years here in the NW. We only have one 4x4 car and my work is almost an hour away. Since Esther works relatively close to home, I dropped her off at work. She told me that if she got done early, she would just check the bus schedule and ride public transportation home. She got done at 2:30. I got done at 5:30. When I got in the car and called to see if Esther was already home safely, she answered the phone from the bus. She had walked about 2 miles in the snow to get to a bus stop only to have to wait about an hour in the 25 degree cold. She tried calling for a taxi, but was told there was a 3-4 hour wait. When she got on the bus, she found out that they didn't give change. She only had a dollar bill, some change and a twenty. She didn't want to pay $20 and get no change, so she used the dollar and change to get as far as she could (which was to the Vancouver mall), and I ended up picking her up there at about 6:30. When I got to the mall, I thought she would be inside shopping, but she was so cold and tired, she just sat there for an hour and waited for me. Understandably, the next day, she didn't want to go to work.

4. We had our family up here for Thanksgiving last month. We had a grand ol' time. I spent quite a bit of time trying to recruit my sister in law into moving up here. I'm not sure how successfull I was. Only time will tell. Here are a few pictures from that weekend.

At Heathman Lodge. We sat down, found out we were too early for the buffet brunch, took a picture, and left.

Three brothers. One G with a sideways wesssside.


The original Gansta trying to show how fit he is for a 60 year old.


John and Lills with local celebrity Ken of Ken's Artisan Pizza and Bakery.


Ken's masterpiece. I give you, Sopressata!


We hiked all the way up the hill from Brent's house to the hospital he works at. Surprisingly, not my idea. This is the bridge from the outside.


This is the bridge from the inside.


This is the air tram that we rode back down the hill.


One last group picture before boarding the tram. Open your eyes Irene!

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!!

Hello! Long time no see!

For about a week now, it's been snowing.
At first, it was very little. The snow would melt as soon as it touched the ground. But one day, we woke up and everything was covered in snow. One day this week, it was 14 degrees!

This morning was the worst. We woke up and the snow was mid-calf!

There was a knock on the door this morning. When I opened the door, we found our 4 neighborhood boys asking us if they could clear our driveway for some $. We said sure!

We felt kinda bad and really lazy so we put on our snow clothes and went outside to help.

Actually Dan helped. I walked around and took pictures.

I wanted to make the boys some hot chocolate, but I realized that I only had soy milk (read Skinny Bitch!). So Dan and I headed out to a local convenience store to buy some milk.

On our way, we found mistletoes! These are mistletoes...right?

This is a strawberry field near our house, completely covered in snow.

Almost there...

When we got back, the driveway was all clear of snow!

The boys and their hot chocolate.

These boys are phenomenal. In the summer, they would ask if they could mow our lawn, or pull our weeds. They're so...부지런해. I hope to have kids as hard working as these boys someday.

Stay warm!