CA fires November 18, 2008

Hi Everyone!

I assume most of you guys know about the wildfires happening all over California.  There was a particular one near Westmont that occurred.  I think they call it the “Tea Fire”.  Thursday night, I was at campus in class, when another professor rushed in and told us we had to leave because the fire was about a few hundred yards away from the highest point on campus.  I was able to drive off campus before the roads closed and back to my apartment.  The apartment I live in is owned by the school so we still have an RD and RAs.  Around 9pm they issued an evacuation warning so my roommate and I packed our things and drove down to MPK.  We stayed the weekend and she left on Sunday to go back to our apt.  Luckily, nothing major happened to the apt.  However, at school, 3 freshman buildings burned down along with our physics building, psychology building, two quonset huts from WWII that were going to be torn down anyway and an old math building that was also going to be torn down.  There were other random places on campus that were burned.  Everyone that was on campus at the time were kept in the gym where they stayed over night.  People who had cars parked in the gym were able to leave and more students were able to get off campus the next day. 

I have to say, after thinking about it for awhile, God really does work miracles.  That weekend we had a bunch of preview students who were going to stay on campus.  In order to compensate for all the cars along with construction, a majority of the students had to park their cars on lower campus near the gym.  Another thing was the old math building which houses two professor’s offices and mice for a genetics research.  These things were moved before the fire occurred into a modular building.  Plus two of the buildings were going to be torn down anyway.  All in all, these seem somewhat minor and not enough to cover the rest of the damage that was done to the campus, but I think it still shows that God worked through this.

Oh yes, I almost forgot, there were about 15 professors who lost their homes to the fire as well.  One of the homes belong to professors who are away on Europe Semester as faculty.  Please pray for all the displaced people and for the administration of Westmont as they continue to decide what’s best for Westmont.  Classes will not resume until December 1st so the professors are trying to alter their syllabi to compensate for the time lost.  I just wanted to give you all an update if you read this.  If you have any questions, let me know!  you can also go to www.westmont.edu for updates as well.  Thanks everyone for your prayers and support!

Kelsey

Fall in Nashville November 14, 2008

Hey Cousins-

I don’t know who has been reading the blog but I encourage you all to post things that have been going on.  Well, I have 1 more week until Thanksgiving break-we get 1 week off here. The parents are coming to visit for a week so maybe I won’t have to cook during their visit or rather Darren won’t have to cook. The trees have been turning orange, red and yellow-it’s so pretty! Jeff has been studying a lot, his finals are around the corner. After this, 3 more semesters to go!!!! YEAH!

Let’s have a Gin cousin get together when we get back.

ML

China Trip October 7, 2008

On October 31st, Ngng, Yeh Yeh, U. Bob, Bri, and I will be heading to Guangzhou, China. Dad and D will be leaving a week early to visit Beijing, Shanghai, and Xian. I am excited to be on vacation but, this planning process has been very unpleasant. First, I had to find the least expensive travel agent. Of course, Ngng looks int the Chinese newspaper and finds the most annoying, unprofessional, jackass travel agent. He didn’t want to answer my questions and just yelled. Well, maybe he was using a loud voice.=) I inquired about business class and different options…all he said was “it’s too expensive”. Geez, thought this agent would like to make an extra buck or two. Next, dad wanted to go visit around China and that was a headache! Sit back, it gets jucier…I pay this guy thousands of dollars in cash/check and he asks me to write it out to China Southern. I owed this guy money for the upgraded airline seats. Can you believe he wanted me to deposit the funds into his bank account???? Thank goodness, my days of dealing with him will be over very soon!

This morning, dad and I went to apply for the VISAS. It was a zoo! When we arrived at 10am, they were only on ticket number 54 and our number was 196! 3.5 hours later, I walked out in utter disgust. I sat in a silver metal chair for many hours answering e-mails and taking calls on my BlackBerry. And get this, Bri’s passport almost didn’t go through since she no longer looks like a teenager! I told the lady that the photo was taken 8-9 years ago…duh, we do “mature and age”!

Your Thoughts… October 7, 2008

I was thinking about Christmas and realized that we are all so blessed.  We have more than enough of the basic necessities. I know of so many families who are struggling just to make ends meet…they have to decide whether to eat or to buy gas.  We have the luxury of never having to experience that. So… in the spirit of Christmas, I was thinking that we give gifts to college students and under (Kevin, Kyle, Kelsey and the babies) but the rest of us really don’t need gifts.  What do you think of contributing to a charitable organization instead of exchanging gifts (the older ones).  We could decide on one organization and a dollar amount.  Many of us have jobs now and can afford to donate a few bucks.  I would like your feed back on this!

ML

Peach Pies and Nashville September 29, 2008

I recently purchased a new camera to take photos and now I take photos of random everything. I hate to say it but I am becoming more like my dad. ESHHH!  ……Just one more picture everyone!!!! One picture becomes ten.

Before i went out to play I decided to make a fresh peach pie. The filling was scrumptious, however the frozen pie crust was not.

Here are a few shot I took from Downtown Nashville connecting bridge to the LP field where the Titans play.

My attempt to take shots of symmetry. I never knew how difficult it was to take pictures with out the tripod.

LP Field, where the Titans play

Downtown Nashville, the tall building (att building)is called the batman building because of the 2 lighting towers.

Downtown Nashville, 3rd and Broadway

-Darren

Crazy in Nashville! September 21, 2008

Hey Hey Everyone–

I hope all is well where ever you may be!!! Nashville went really crazy this weekend!!! First of all, because of hurricane Ike, the gasoline lines were damaged in the Gulf Coast  so gas wasn’t being pumped up to us as fast as usual.  So there was a limited supply.  Then someone smart sent a rumor about having gas shortage in Nashville. That caused a panic and people went really crazy!  I had a 1/4 tank and went out to look for gas.  I had thought that I would be ok…I went to 5 gas stations and they were all out of gas. The one station that had gas had a really long line. There was several cars stranded on the side of the road.  So I went home. Later on that evening, on the way to dinner we drove by Costco…another long line! The “E” light was not on yet so Jeff said that we could get home.  The next day, I stayed home and did some research on where to get gas!  I finally found a place nearby and I didn’t get stranded on the side of the road.  God was watching us.  I really didn’t have anything to be nervous about because Darren had a lot of gas in his car.  I just hate having a gallon or two left!  So, the moral of this story is…never let your gas tank go empty!!! You just never know.

ML

Hi Everyone!! September 12, 2008

Okay, so I finally figured out how to post on this thing.  I’m not much of a blogger (obviously).  I’m glad to see people are writing.  Anywho, I’m back at Westmont and am already busy with my first two weeks!  I’m taking Biochemistry, Earth Science, Ecology, Seminar in Bioethics, and SCUBA.   It’s been a rough two weeks since I live off campus with two of my friends so we’re trying to get used to each other and living off campus.  I should be studying Biochem now, but I became inspired to write after reading everyone’s post. 

My schedule at school is great except for Mondays because I have to stay at school until 9pm.  My Tuesdays and Wednesdays consist of one class.  On Thursdays, my last class ends at 6:30 and then Fridays I never know when I have Ecology lab which is from 2-5.  Fun stuff being back in school.  I’m also trying to help establish an Eastern Asian Studies Track on Campus.  A girl who went on the China program before me approached me to help out.  We decided that I would take care of the language component so I’ve been busy meeting with professors to see what they think and how they can help out.  I’m looking forward to this project and am hoping it’ll eventually become its own legitimate major in the future. 

What else is new?  Uhm, I have three jobs right now.  I work at the switchboard, so I just answer calls and transfer them.  It’s been slow, but I don’t mind.  I can do homework or just play on the computer when I’m not answering the phone.  My other job is my old one before I left for China which is Phon-a-thon.  I call up the Alums and ask for money.  My other one is the Co-chair of iGIve which is our senior class’s gift back to Westmont.  We raise money from the senior class and give it to a junior who needs it for his/her last year.  There’s an anonymous donor who will match the gift.  The higher the percentage of students that give, the higher our match will be, but the donor is only willing to match $5 to 1 if we reach 75%.  It’ll be a busy year for me, but I’m excited on the things I’m working on.  I can’t wait for Biochemistry to end. 

I hope everyone is doing well and I’ll try to write less in my next post.

Kelsey

Let the madness begin August 31, 2008

Hey Everyone….

Bill and I finally have started getting things in gear and are looking at wedding sites. It’s tough!!!! Trying to find the time to spend driving to these places and even knowing where to go takes so much effort, especially since Bill is at the hospital the majority of the time. I know it will be even harder since we have a specific date since his schedule is not so flexible. I don’t think he quite gets the concept that our family is BIG just yet. So Pray for us!

Residency life at Stanford is not as hard as UCSD since I don’t have to deal with all the extraneous stuff and can just focus on critical care. But I am learning alot, it was an adjustment coming from another institution though and learning what they do here. Other than that not much else is new. Bill got me a kitten we named Thrasher (I tried uploading a pic but not sure if it actually got done), there are days where he lives up to his name. It’s nice having another living creature around here. Anyways, that’s all for now. Will keep you updated on everything!

- Denise

A Pillow With Our Name August 25, 2008

We are famous! Well, sort of…I stayed at the Parker Palm Spring for some R&R with some of my girlfriends. e

Dim Sum in Nashville August 23, 2008

Ok Gin Cousins–

Dim Sum has arrived in Nashville…we went to try it our last week. It’s really a Chinese Buffet but there’s an area off to the side which serves Dim Sum.  I didn’t have a lot of expectations but almost everything was over cooked.  They had the regular food items…but no “white stuff.”  The item that tasted the best to be was the Lo Bok Go.  Well, since it’s new here, I think it will take some time to improve.  The chef is from Hong Kong and there’s only one of him!!!!! Maybe I should give them a pointer or two. So, count your blessings over there in MPK. We are now determined to make our own Dim Sum… One more thing, I have been giving talks about China and about our family heritage at work and a 1st grade student asked me,” Is there bubble gum in China?” and another student asked, “Can I ride my bike to China?”

ML