Browse Author: beakatude

So many Islanders

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On Friday, we grubbed on Korean BBQ with Yong, Helen, Eric, and Annie. There was so much meat that we all rolled out of there stuffed and happy. We later met up with the Tranandos who were celebrating Thilan’s birthday at Mai Tai Bar. Victor, Susie, and Dayantha pretty much came by as soon as they got off their planes and Huy arrived on Thursday night. The best part of weddings is having your friends back in town. The bar/restaurant was surprisingly crowded and bumpin’. I’ve only gone on a Tuesday evening before going to the aquarium and I’m used to having the whole place to myself. Well, on this evening it was packed with lots of large islanders…Samoans, Hawaiians, Filipinos, you name it. It was as if the restaurant really wanted to stick with the theme and imported a bunch of “locals” to give it an authentic feel.  Here are photos from that evening.

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Holly and Roy’s wedding rehearsal and dinner was last night. Bowers Museum is pretty nice. It’s one of those places you pass by on the freeway and say, “I should visit that some day” and never do. Anyway, the rehearsal went smoothly and it was a nice preview of tomorrow evening. Holly and Roy looked so happy and excited for their big day. I had to practice walking on brick and grass in my heels and I’m a little nervous about doing it for real. Wouldn’t it be great to see me fall on my face in front of everyone?! I can just hear the courtesy golf clap coming from Jes in the audience.

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Well, the rehearsal dinner was a yummy 10-course Chinese dinner complete with orange wedges at the end. They all exchanged gifts including a really fancy box that Holly received from Roy’s mom containing family jewels and a piece of paper with Roy’s birthday on it. You just gotta love tradition.

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Tonight, friends from all over the place will be arriving. We’re going out for Korean BBQ after picking up Yong and Helen from the airport and then meeting people for drinks at Mai Tai Bar in Long Beach. Let the party begin!

stayin’ afloat

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. You can say that I’m in survival mode at this point. Summer school is in full swing with plenty of work to do. Holly’s wedding is this Saturday and I’m running around getting my bridesmaid dress fixed, shopping for shoes, and getting the house ready for guests. Yong, Helen, and Yoon are campin’ out in our little birdhouse and it needs to at least have room to walk in. I’m also busy with Camp stuff. I was supposed to attend an evening orientation meeting in Torrance tomorrow night but it’s the same time as Holly’s rehearsal and dinner. I can’t miss THAT!

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Anyway, just wanted to let you all know that I’m still alive but barely hangin’ on. I woke up this morning with a splitting headache and this nauseating feeling that I usually get when I pull an all-nighter. I got about 7 hours of sleep but it really didn’t feel like it. With a quick snooze on the couch this morning until 8 and a couple Motrins, I was back in action. When is summer-fun going to begin?!

Yellowstone Photos

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I took about 643 photos with the Nikon and Jes took about another 40 with the Canon. I ended up weeding most of them and uploaded 177. Along with Michelle’s Nikon and the Bangs’ Canon, we collected even more. It’s fun to see photos from the same trip taken by different people. You’ll find some very similar photos and you’ll also see different perspectives of the same sites. Here they are…
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Silly National Bird

Tuesday (07.04.06)
We spent our July 4th in the Grand Teton National Park. After an awesome brunch of fajitas and fried rice that was prepared with all our leftover perishables, we took the campsite apart, packed up the minivan, and headed south to our destination. On our way there, we made a stop at the Mud Volcano Area where we almost got gored two days prior. There was no buffalo in sight but lots of stinky mud volcanos. We took the boardwalk path up the mountain side to find several of our big brown friends getting sulphur facials. It was mighty stinky there and I couldn’t stand how itchy all my mosquito bites had gotten!
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Once we arrived in Grand Teton NP, we had some drinks at Jackson Lodge, enjoyed the view, and then headed out on a bus that took us to our “Meal Float”. For a whoppin’ $60 per person, Bang said that he’s better be sharding himself from the spectacular food and view. Well, the bus ride was extra fun since I had two “special” lemonades on an empty stomach. We rode in a vintage bus with no A/C but plenty of open windows. At the meal site, we had steak and trout with all the fixins including beans, corn, and salad. We later dunked our dirty feet into the chilly waters of the Snake River and attempted to skip rocks. How sad…everytime someone would pick up “the ultimate skipping rock”, it would go “DOONG” into the water with no skip in sight.
Then it was pontoon time. We all had to learn how to properly don a life vest from a girl whose delivery was hilarious. Once on the pontoon, we floated 10 miles along the Snake River where we saw a bald eagle, osprey, ducks, Canada geese, and elk. Speaking of the bald eagle…I just have to say that it must be the most retarded national bird ever. I learned that they can’t see very well so they don’t fish very well, often have to be scavengers to the more superior osprey, and have poor parenting skills. If the mama eagle finds food for her eaglettes, she will just drop it off and the babies have to fight for it resulting in one of them starving to death. Awesome. Anyway, it seems appropriate now that I’ve met so many horrible parents in my line of work. Perhaps the Bald Eagle is representative of American people…basically retarded.OK. Let me step off my soapbox now. Back to the river float. The trip down the river was cool and our guide was cool. We also got to see a couple beaver lodges and witness an osprey dive from a five-story-high tree into the river to catch a fish. Overall it wasn’t spectacular enough to make Bang shard himself but it was still worth it.
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The drive home was a tiring one. We stopped in Jackson to figure out our route home and we got to see a bunch of home-based fireworks along the road. We also got caught in the July 4th traffic in Idaho Falls at midnight, which was rather annoying. With minimal stops for gas and potty breaks, we made it to Sacramento Airport 9 hours early. So, Jes and I caught the 10:30 am flight and home by noon. What a great trip…but I think I’ll fly straight to Jackson Hole next time.

$3.25 well-spent

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Monday (07.03.06)
This was our hiking day. Each time we go camping there’s one day that we all take a little stroll up a mountain. With our “Best Hikes” book in hand, we took the South Rim Trail, which was just next door and rated 2 out of 5 on the difficulty scale. Alas, Ryan was still a hater but he went anyway. The trail started at the Upper Falls, went along the river, then to Lower Falls, the Grand Canyon, and out to a parking lot that we visited just the day before. On our hike, I saw a rainbow, elk, and a yellow-bellied marmot. The walk was rather easy with a couple steep ascents but it was nothing compared to the hike we did in Big Sur. We had a mini-swamp band this year but they were just as complainey. At the end of the hike, Ryan attempted to hitchhike back to the car but no one was willing to pick up his stinky ass so he ended up walking all the way back to the car with his thumb sticking out. The rest of us melters sat around and waited for him to pick us up with no idea how long it would take him to return.
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Once we returned to the campsite, we had brats for lunch and the girls went to the registration office for a hot shower. Ah…that was the most amazing shower ever and the best $3.25 I had spent in a while. It was clean, the water pressure was great, and they were like dorm showers where you get your own stall with a seperate changing section.
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Oh yeah, early in the morning, the park ranger came by to be on bear alert. Apparently there was a bear hanging out in Loop A, which is just two streets away from us in Loop C. I guess Yogi was hungry for another picanic basket.