Ray & Ashley

To celebrate our 1 year anniversary on a very geeky level:

1. I increased the width of the blog by 100 pixels, creating more room for larger pictures and taking advantage of the ubiquitous 1024 resolution. Another great reason for increasing the width of the middle column is now I can post pictures directly from flickr, thereby reducing the need to edit photos and upload them on wordpress.
2. I also fixed the annoying formatting issue with the “Category” in the post heading area. whoohoo!
3. And I changed out the call out module to Atlanta, times have changed
4. I am doing this of course for the throngs of readers out there… Actually there is only one super fan and her name is Ashley.

Here’s a picture of the new look:

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It’s been a nice start to the summer. Ashley and I seem to have gone concert crazy in the past months.

Just recently we went to two concerts, Lifehouse and Colbie Caillat. We played Lifehouse’s You and Me song at our wedding so it was nice seeing them live. We didn’t get there early enough and were stuck at the back so the view was not as good but we bumped into my co-workers from Sapient Suyog and Anu.

Ashley likes Colbie Caillat’s songs a lot and although I thought it was going to be horrible with teeny boppers all over the place it turned out ok. There was teeny boppers all over but we got up close to the stage, I got some really great shots of her and the music was really nice and soothing.

Earlier this summar, we saw Stephen Marley at the Center Stage in Midtown thanks to Kirk who told me about it. Stephen was awesome, sounded just like Bob Marley. Then Arang visited earlier in June and we went to the Masquerade to see a few Punk Rock bands, one called the Bastard Suns. The venue was awesome a old factory. The crowd was definitely rowdy, I got punched in the back as I was right in front of the mosh pit. We had a great time though and it was very nice chilling with Tang.

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This past weekend, I went home to Boston to spend some time with Mom. It’s always so nice to go back, my parents treat me like a king and feel like I am in college again. Taking the train from the airport back to Newton reminded me of how different Atlanta is from Boston. The “T’ is a way of life in Boston, where MARTA in Atlanta often gets forgotten. Also I really miss Boston’s ethnic diversity.

A few great things about being home: Hanging with my parents, seeing Bean, eating my mom’s cooking, lounging around a real house, going out with old friends from college and high school. If Boston wasn’t so cold, I might be tempted talk to Ash about seriously moving back!

Here’s some pics of the weekend.

My favorite picture of Mom and Dad.  This was taken on the porch steps in our back yard.

Mom looks so young in this picture.  She has so much energy these days.

Steps towards our front door.  Taken from our driveway.

Our house is so nice now.  Since Dad did all  the work, it’s almost unrecognizable from what it was when we first bought it.  It’s so comfortable staying home.   Dad did such a great job, I hope I can take some really great set of photos one day to capture his handy work.

Ah, the food.  This is batter fried carrots and onions.  It’s awesome, sort of like tempura sweet fries.

My mom’s cooking is so good.  See how happy Dad is

This is what I miss living away from the hometown.   We hung out at Our House, Arang (left), Wan (Center), Simon (not in picture) and Marilon (not in picture) drinking and catching up.  Proud to say I was the Connect Four champion that night.

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About a year and half ago, I tried convincing Ash to run with me.  She groaned and told me how much she disliked running.   Despite it all, she stuck with it and even after I stopped she continued.  On March 30th, Ash ran the Atlanta half marathon, 13.1 miles through midtown, downtown and the Georgia Tech campus.  She ran it in 2 hour and 12 minutes.  Awesome job huney!!!

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I have absolutely nothing to complain about being a student again. I never thought I’d have another Spring Break again after undergrad. But thank goodness… my dream came true… Spring Break 2008!! Going back to Hawaii to see my grandma, parents and friends was such a treat. It was a lot of fun and I loaded up on papaya and pok’e. That was pretty much my staple throughout the stay. Everytime I go home, I try to take my grandma somewhere she hasn’t been to before to try new food. This time, it was Kakaako Kitchen, near Ward Center and Ala Moana. I think she liked it since it was her type of food, fried, fried, and more fried. It’s amazing that she’s in good health after all the fried food she’s digested over the years. I’m thankful for that. Aside from her foot problem, she’s in great shape, especially for a lady who is going to turn 90 this year! I also spent some time with my parents which was cool and of course, hung out with Cathy. She is my going-out-partying buddy everytime I go home. I also saw some friends who I’ve lost touch with over the years and hung out with them too. It was really nice. It’s always good to be home. I really do miss Hawaii and hope to go back there and live there someday.

On my way back to Atlanta, I stopped by L.A. for a day and a half and stayed with my sister’s family. We took my niece Meagan and nephew, Dylan to Disneyland!!!! My niece, of course, loveeeddd it. She was smiles ear to ear all day there and was filled with energy.

It’s tough keeping up with her! I had a great time there and was so happy to see them. We rode most of the rides at Disneyland and the lines weren’t so bad. Too bad the ride “Small World” was closed due to renovation until later this year. That’s my favorite ride since childhood. Meagan loved all the rides and Dylan was busy looking at girls. Haha, just kidding. He does like to charm the ladies, though. He’s a great baby. He’s not fussy or hard to deal with at all. He’s usually a pretty happy baby overall. I can’t wait to see them again!

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