37wks
38wks, last day of work :-)
What I usually wear at work, because there's no A/C
38wks, after the Incognito concert in Seoul (I'm sure Will is planning to post about that soon!)
Lizzie's Age!
5.26.2008
Baby Bumps, by request :-)
36wks, my crazy stretch marks.
37wks
38wks, last day of work :-)
What I usually wear at work, because there's no A/C
38wks, after the Incognito concert in Seoul (I'm sure Will is planning to post about that soon!)
37wks
38wks, last day of work :-)
What I usually wear at work, because there's no A/C
38wks, after the Incognito concert in Seoul (I'm sure Will is planning to post about that soon!)
5.08.2008
Our Cars in Korea Revisted
So, for the past year we have been making our home here in Korea, and initially started with the bare minimum cars. However, lots has changed since then. I didn't want the Corolla to sit around back in the states and kinda get abused or what not, and no one wanted to buy it from the family (It had my car computer still in it, so I didn't want to sell it to just anyone) cause they were either not in the market, or not the kind of vehicle they wanted to get. So, after a little pondering, Cara and I realized that she never shipped a car from the US. So, when I went home for Ty Russell's Wedding, I took the car and got it shipped to Korea. 
Its cool having the Corolla here. The first car I had, the Hyundai Accent was quite the small car with a small engine. I would go about 100km/h (approx 60mph) and the engine would already be running at about 3000+ RPM. I would think about how the corolla was a lot better at going fast than the accent was. After the Corolla arrived, and I was on my way back home from the port, I noticed how much smoother and nicer my car felt than my original car (pink car). The funny thing is, its only a Corolla, so there are plenty of cars that feel even nicer out there. But who cares? I had the Corolla back and I could drive it, and work on the car computer. Once I left the states, I had totally let go, and had assumed that my little car computer project was finished and I wouldn't be working on it any longer. I had even labeled my Lab Book to say that the project ended once I left LA. Well, it seems the Lord is letting me work on it longer. Yay! So, in an effort to have a car that works and can be used by anyone, I'm putting some finishing touches on it this project so that there is little hardware / car modification, but mostly software modification that will be easy to update on the fly. Should be exciting :-D.
Now, as we all may (or may not) recall, Cara had a Volvo 940GL that she got for a pretty good deal. They were a few things wrong with it (No driver side mirror, non functional door handle, bad fuel relay, etc.) that we fixed, and it worked great. Then Cara got pregnant. (Yay!) Then we tried to fit Lizzie's infant seat in the Corolla, and it was then we realized that my Corolla is very small when you want to fit two parents and a rear facing seat in the car. So we figured we'd move it to the Volvo. I didn't like that much though. The lights on the Volvo aren't quite aimed correctly, so low beams act more like fog lights, and high beams are more like high beams. In the winter time, cold air leaks in from somewhere (never figured that out). So I didn't feel the car was too safe. So, Cara and I decided to look for a good car (<$5K) that would be newer and still be safe
enough. One evening we're out at an apartment of our friends' and they mention that they are eying a $1000 minivan. I was quite happy that they found a deal like that, but wished that I could have found it as well. But they only were allowed to have one car, so, I'd live. But as it turned out, they had bought a smaller car, and like it more (it fit better everywhere) and so, they decided not to buy it. So, guess what cara and I bought... thats right a minivan. Funny thing was, we were wondering how good a $1000 minvan could be. I mean, its only $1000... As we look at it, we find that its awesome. So awesome we would make an offer later. And it was cheaper than we thought it would be too. It fits Lizzie right where we wanted to originally, and we can take out the back row of chairs and just put the stroller there. The only thing we have to do is get a new compressor for the AC. It nearly seized why the previous owners were using it, but they caught it before it happened, and just skipped the pulley and got a smaller serpentine belt. Even with that pending repair, it's price was perfect for what we wanted. So, we sold the Volvo, and now have a very nice (for being a GI in Korea) Minivan, and a great Corolla. :-D. So the Lord has blessed us a lot, and I am very grateful for it.
Its cool having the Corolla here. The first car I had, the Hyundai Accent was quite the small car with a small engine. I would go about 100km/h (approx 60mph) and the engine would already be running at about 3000+ RPM. I would think about how the corolla was a lot better at going fast than the accent was. After the Corolla arrived, and I was on my way back home from the port, I noticed how much smoother and nicer my car felt than my original car (pink car). The funny thing is, its only a Corolla, so there are plenty of cars that feel even nicer out there. But who cares? I had the Corolla back and I could drive it, and work on the car computer. Once I left the states, I had totally let go, and had assumed that my little car computer project was finished and I wouldn't be working on it any longer. I had even labeled my Lab Book to say that the project ended once I left LA. Well, it seems the Lord is letting me work on it longer. Yay! So, in an effort to have a car that works and can be used by anyone, I'm putting some finishing touches on it this project so that there is little hardware / car modification, but mostly software modification that will be easy to update on the fly. Should be exciting :-D.Now, as we all may (or may not) recall, Cara had a Volvo 940GL that she got for a pretty good deal. They were a few things wrong with it (No driver side mirror, non functional door handle, bad fuel relay, etc.) that we fixed, and it worked great. Then Cara got pregnant. (Yay!) Then we tried to fit Lizzie's infant seat in the Corolla, and it was then we realized that my Corolla is very small when you want to fit two parents and a rear facing seat in the car. So we figured we'd move it to the Volvo. I didn't like that much though. The lights on the Volvo aren't quite aimed correctly, so low beams act more like fog lights, and high beams are more like high beams. In the winter time, cold air leaks in from somewhere (never figured that out). So I didn't feel the car was too safe. So, Cara and I decided to look for a good car (<$5K) that would be newer and still be safe
enough. One evening we're out at an apartment of our friends' and they mention that they are eying a $1000 minivan. I was quite happy that they found a deal like that, but wished that I could have found it as well. But they only were allowed to have one car, so, I'd live. But as it turned out, they had bought a smaller car, and like it more (it fit better everywhere) and so, they decided not to buy it. So, guess what cara and I bought... thats right a minivan. Funny thing was, we were wondering how good a $1000 minvan could be. I mean, its only $1000... As we look at it, we find that its awesome. So awesome we would make an offer later. And it was cheaper than we thought it would be too. It fits Lizzie right where we wanted to originally, and we can take out the back row of chairs and just put the stroller there. The only thing we have to do is get a new compressor for the AC. It nearly seized why the previous owners were using it, but they caught it before it happened, and just skipped the pulley and got a smaller serpentine belt. Even with that pending repair, it's price was perfect for what we wanted. So, we sold the Volvo, and now have a very nice (for being a GI in Korea) Minivan, and a great Corolla. :-D. So the Lord has blessed us a lot, and I am very grateful for it.
4.14.2008
Picking up a friend's lost cell phone
So last Wednesday, Cara and I were invited to some of our friends' (Jamie & Bekah) house for dinner. On Sunday, when they invited us, we told them that Cara works until around 6:00pm, so we'd get there as soon as we could. Well, when Wednesday evening rolls around, its about 6:25ish, and I call Cara's cell, and she's on her way home. At this point I decide to tell our friends that we'll be late. When I call their cell phone, I initially think it's Bekah, but then I realized its a Filipino woman on the phone. She explains that she found this phone, and that she'd be at the Loft (a club/bar off base) between 9-10pm that night. So, I write this info down, and head to eat dinner with our friends. We get there and I tell them that their phone turned up, and I mention where it is, and offer to go with Jamie after dinner to find the club so that I wouldn't send on a wild goose chase. After dinner, we all decide to watch a movie with Doris Day in it. (Its the one where her Hubby thinks she's dead 5 years after a plane crash and marries some obnoxious woman) Well, in the middle of the movie, 9 o'clock rolls around so Jamie and I head out to 'Aragon Alley' (named that way because at the end of the alley is a restaurant called 'Aragon'... clever eh?). After calling the Filipino woman again to make sure we were headed in the right direction, we find the club and go ahead and walk in, and that's when it happened...
You know how in movies and cartoons when people walk into a bar, everyone stops, stares and the music comes to a halt? That's basically what happened. I felt like I was on a movie set cause literally everyone stopped what they were doing and looked in our direction. The music kept playing though. ;-) Had it been a bar full of Koreans, I would have just wrote it off as 'they've never seen a black guy in real life'. But this was an American bar, so it definitely made things a little awkward. To make matters worse, it seemed like the bartender wanted us to have a drink, because she kept telling us that getting the cell phone back wasn't free... Now, nothing is wrong with a drink here or there, but seeing as how our wives were at home expecting us back (to some, that is lousy reason not to drink....), and I don't think Jamie drinks alcohol anyway, we leave promptly and head back to the car. We were so thankful that it didn't take that long, or, for that matter, that much, to get the cellphone back.
Once we get back to Jamie & Beckah's apateu...er apartment, we get asked "Where did we lose it, where did they find it, etc..." The women seemed surprised that we didn't try and find out more, but we explain to them the awkwardness of the situation, and they understood.
Wow, that was an interesting experience...
You know how in movies and cartoons when people walk into a bar, everyone stops, stares and the music comes to a halt? That's basically what happened. I felt like I was on a movie set cause literally everyone stopped what they were doing and looked in our direction. The music kept playing though. ;-) Had it been a bar full of Koreans, I would have just wrote it off as 'they've never seen a black guy in real life'. But this was an American bar, so it definitely made things a little awkward. To make matters worse, it seemed like the bartender wanted us to have a drink, because she kept telling us that getting the cell phone back wasn't free... Now, nothing is wrong with a drink here or there, but seeing as how our wives were at home expecting us back (to some, that is lousy reason not to drink....), and I don't think Jamie drinks alcohol anyway, we leave promptly and head back to the car. We were so thankful that it didn't take that long, or, for that matter, that much, to get the cellphone back.
Once we get back to Jamie & Beckah's apateu...er apartment, we get asked "Where did we lose it, where did they find it, etc..." The women seemed surprised that we didn't try and find out more, but we explain to them the awkwardness of the situation, and they understood.
Wow, that was an interesting experience...
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