New Year's Eve with the lakers and the 76ers

Abigail's uncle, Greg, scored us some sweet seats to the Lakers-76ers game at the Staples Center. Not many of our pics of the players turned out as the arena is a big place and we didn't have a big flash. But, it was a fun game. One thing that is really amazing to see with these athletes is their speed. Kobe, for example, at 6'6" and 220 pounds looks like he's just casually sauntering down the court...only to nearly instantaneously be dunking over some 7-footer. I guess since I've been playing a lot of basketball the past few years and discovering my own physical limitations, it's particularly amazing to see someone taller and heavier than me move SO MUCH faster and jump SO MUCH higher. I highly suggest taking in an NBA at some point as it's really different in person.

Here is the recap of the game

San Diego Zoo Pictures

Zebras lined up in their stalls. I like the play between the zebras' lines and the lines of the wire fence. Abigail did a nice job altering this photo.

The meerkats are pretty cool animals. They're very social and are full of character. I like these photos because the sunlight coming through the fur looks great, especially in the first photo. Here is some more info on meerkats.



This orangutan spent most its time sitting in the sun chewing on this pea. She looked really relaxed and comfortable. I know a lot of people don't like zoos for ethical reasons, but it seems as if San Diego Zoo (and others) do a lot of work to protect highly endangered species from areas of the world where conservation is a luxury way beyond basic human needs. Maybe someday, when these places have peace, the animals can slowly be reintroduced into their original lands.

The flamingo shot turned out really nice. I used the telephoto lens from about 10 feet away. As a result, If you zoom in on the original image, you can see some really exquisite detail. Notice the water drop on the birds wing. He had just been preening in the water.

This zoo is definitely worth a visit.

California Beach Pictures

Big Abigail, Jesse, Liz, Bradley, Benjamin, Lil' Abigail, Alison, and Leah: the DeYoung grandchildren jumping.


Palms on Coronado Island, outside of San Diego.


Jesse and Abigail at Huntington Beach (pier in the background).


Tire tracks at Huntington Beach

Happy New Year

Well, needless to say, it's been a while since I've posted a blog entry. Exams, travel, and Abigail's failure to do ANY work on this blog are all excuses. So, a little about the past few weeks...

First, I made it through my first semester at SIS including giving and grading exams and final essays for my writers' workshop. It was a lot of work and I'll be changing a few things before next semester. Other than that, not to many interesting events out of Seoul in the last month other than the fact that we had some nice snow right before the winter break. here are a few pictures:

Right now, Abigail and I are visiting relatives in California, including my mom's entire family (who live in LA) Abigail's parents (Toronto) who are visiting her aunt (Irvine), etc.... It has NOT been the most relaxing of vacations what with massive amounts of the usual family visitations/holiday activities times two. Wow! It's been a bit exhausting, even to the point that I can say that school is (maybe) more relaxing. But, we've done some fun things like visit the zoo in San Diego and see the sights there, attend a Lakers-76ers game on New Year's Eve, and see some long lost friends.


Next, on Thursday, we head out to Honolulu to visit Leah and do some serious relaxation before the school year starts up again. If you're a teacher, you know how semester two feels as if it's twice as fast as semester one, so I'm ready to hold on tight.

As far as travel plans for the near future, over the spring break we'll probably make a visit to Singapore to visit Abigail's cousin, her husband, and their new baby. We'll be in Vancouver/Bellingham/Seattle area for the the last two weeks of June, Toronto for the first two weeks of July, and Michigan for the second two weeks of July.

After this summer, though, we'll be doing a lot of traveling and we'll probably make it to the states or Canada only once every year. We live overseas after all and we want to see the rest of the world while we're there, you know? So, for the summer of '08, we're going to try to rent a place in Thailand for a few weeks. We'll keep you posted on the dates. Maybe you can come out to Koh Pi Pi or Phuket for a visit.

Talk to you later, and stay tuned for more photos.