I aced my final paper, which secured me an "A" for my final course.  My final GPA is a 3.94.  Needless to say, I'm quite happy! 

We have had quite the bout of cold weather here.  Makes driving the new car impossible since rear wheel drive and 8" of snow don't mix.  This type of weather is quite odd for this time of year.  Looks like we are in for a rough winter. 

Weather Update:  As of 8:00pm I have 10" of snow.  I think this is the most I have seen in the 11 years I have lived in my house. 

December 20th marks the final day of my master's degree program at the University Of Illinois.  My final paper (a total of 80 pages) was turned in this evening.  If all goes well, I should be getting my diploma in the mail in the new year.  It sure feels great to be done!  Overall my experience was a positive one.  All classes which I took as part of my degree were interesting and relavent.  Wonder what I will do with my free time now? 

Year end deals were too good to pass up.  I decided to trade in the MDX for a new Infiniti G37s.  With 325 horsepower, it's a blast to drive. 

The evening before I was supposed to leave for Osaka, 2000 protestors took over the Bangkok airport.  The protest was lead in an attempt to remove the current Prime Minister of Thailand from power.  After waiting a few days in Bangkok and with no end in sight, I decided it would be best to go to Kuala Lumpur where I could possibly catch a flight to Japan, or at least back home.  I never did make it to Japan, however I was able to stay with a friend in Kuala Lumpur until I could catch a flight back home on the 7th of December. 

The protest at the airport lasted a total of 8 days, ending on December 5th.  During that time over 250,000 tourists were stranded.  It took almost a week for things to return to normal.  The Prime Minister did in fact step down, after the courts ruled against him.  While it was a shame I never made it to Japan, I still enjoyed my trip.

Yesterday I did a day tour of many of the sites around Chiang Mai.  One of the highlights was a stop at Tiger Kindom, a site where you can interact with tigers.   I spent some time with the 5-7 month old tigers.  It was a truely amazing experience.  All my pictures will be posted shortly. Until then, here are a couple of my favorites.

Today, I went on a trek through the jungle.  The first hour of the trip was spent on top of an elephant.  It was amazing to see such a large animal being able to navigate over such steep and slipery terrain.  Riding on top of an elephant isn't the most comfortable way to travel.  You really had to hold on tight to make sure you didn't fall off when you were going up or down hills.  It was an exciting experience to be so close to these massive animals. 

Second part of the trip was an hour hike to a waterfall and a visit to hillside tribes which live in the jungle.  The final part of the trip was a trip down the river on a bamboo raft.  Needless to say, the trip was quite an experience. 

Photos can be found HERE.

I'm currently in Chiang Mai, a city in Northern Thailand.  I rented a condo near the middle of town for 9 days.  For less than $45 a day, I couldn't be more happy with the accomidations.  The unit I rented is a studio on the 5th floor with a nice view of the pool.  

The city of Chiang Mai is quite nice, and it's feels good to escape from the traffic on mobs of people in Bangkok.  The weather here as also been extrodinarily nice, with most of the day saying in the high 70s, with little to no humidity. 

Last night I went to "walking street", which is open only on Sundays.  There must have been tens of thousands of people walking the streets.  Seems like the entire city was there, either selling from booths or buying from them.  In the next few days I will be doing an elephant trek into the jungle, visit the long-neck tribe, and take a cooking class.  Plenty to do here.  More pictures to come soon.  Photos can be found HERE.

Last night TJ, Big B and myself went to Chilliwack, Canada to watch the Seattle Thunderbirds play.  The flight was quite quick, about 30 minutes from Boeing field.  Short taxi ride later we were at Prospera center, a small but very nice ice rink.  Canadians love thier hockey.  We won the game in a overtme shootout.  By midnight we were back home after clearing customs.  Thanks again TJ for arranging the trip.  It's allways a blast. 

Pictures can be found HERE.

Last week Sugi and I went to Southern California.  I was there for a conference however we turned the trip into a short vacation.  We arrived on Saturday and after checking into the hotel, we went to Knott's Berry Farm.  They were having a special Halloween event which ran till 2am.  Wandering the park were over 700 ghosts and monsters.  You can see a some shots of a few of them in my gallery. 

On Sunday we went to Disneyland.  This was Sugi's first time seeing the Magic Kingdom.  By 9:30 we were quite tired from two days of rides and sightseeing.  Later in the week we went to Huntington Beach, were we walked the pier and put our feet in the water.   

Pictures from the trip can be found here.

Just got back from attending a GSM conference in Vienna. I flew from Seattle to Amsterdam, where I had a 10 hour (planned) topover.  I took a quick walking tour and grabbed a few nice shot of the city.  The canals of Amsterdam make for some beautiful shots. 

Photos of Amsterdam can be found here.

After Amsterdam I reached my final destination of Vienna.  The architecture of the city was quite impressive.  Most of my trip however was spent inside the conference.  On my last day I got time to shoot a few shots of Vienna. 

Photos of Vienna can be found here.

Steve, Chris and I just got back from our four night kayaking trip in the San Juans.  For Chris and I, it's been the 5th trip we have done as a group and the fourth one for Steve.  We really lucked out on the weather; it was absolutely perfect (low 70's).  Fortunately we did not go the week prior as we would have been rained out.  This time around we extended our trip from three to four nights. 

As usual the food on the trip was great.  A Dutch oven was provided by Chris, which lead to some excellent new additions to the menu; cobbler and pizzas.  The rest of our fellow campers were quite envious...  Pics of a few of the dishes have been posted in my gallery. 

Day 1:  Got an early start and headed to Monroe where we were to pick up our two kayaks, one single and a double.  Kayak company was 1.5 hours late dropping them off for us.  Not a great start.  After finally packing the boats on the top of Steve's car, we were off to Anacortes.  Packing went fast, and we were in the water by mid afternoon (we're beginning to be pros at this).  A relatively short paddle later, we arrived at James Island.  We were the only campers there.  Dinner, beef kabobs roasted on the fire. 

Day 2:  Chris' snoring can wake the dead.  I ended up moving my sleeping bag out of the tent to get some final hours of rest in before getting up for day 2.  By about 10:30 we had our kayaks packed for our next destination, Obstruction Pass campground on Orcas Island.  It was our longest paddle of the trip and we were all quite tired after we arrived.  Steve twisted my arm into making another 3 mile paddle (round trip) to Olga so we could pick up ice for the trip. Cocktails are always better with ice.  With an unloaded double kayak, the trip was pretty quick.  That evening we made quesadillas on coals, followed by peach cobbler.  The sunset that night was quite spectacular.  I slept on the other side of the tent that night... 

Day 3:  Following our long paddle on day 2, none of us were that interested in kayaking the next morning.  We decided that instead of heading to Pelican Beach on Cyprus Island, we would go to Strawberry Island for two days instead of just one.  I think we were all happy with the choice we made.  That night we made pizzas in the Dutch oven, followed by a pear cobbler.  Strawberry Island is a beautiful campground with only three sites on the whole island.  For both nights, total population on the island was six.  I slept outside to escape the lawn mower snoring which emanated from the tent...

Day 4:  Relaxation.  Our first day were we didn't have to get up early to pack.  The day was spent relaxing, reading and taking naps. 

Day 5:  By 11am we were in the water paddling back to Washington Park, where we had left the car.  We had a little bit of a tail wind which was helpful; however the ebb current did take us a little bit off course.  We had the kayaks unpacked in about 30 minutes.  Lunch was eaten in Anacortes before heading home.  All in all, a great trip. 

Pics have been posted HERE. 

Total Trip Approx. 25 miles

Well I haven't been too good lately about keeping my blog up to date.  Back in June Sugi and I went to Nassau.  Part of the trip was for work, but we took several extra days vacation as well.  A few of they days were spent at the beautiful Atlantis hotel on Paradise island.  The gounds were beautiful and the water park was amazing.  Of course I made it a point to do each slide at least once.  Two of the slides went thru shark tanks.  Pretty amazing...  

Picture of the trip have been posted here.