...Went to Yosemite on Memorial Day weekend.  I already forgot about most of the pain while hiking up an elevation gain of 4800 ft and the last few miles in the dark with sharp pain in my feet with every step.  It was a beautiful 17 miles, 14 hours, 10 friends.

Noteworthy animals spotted: marmot, deer, bear, Henry Huang (oh wait, that's my friend).

This is at the start of the hike around 7am: we are clean, happy, naive and excited.

The first waterfall is Vernal Falls. 

Friends don't know what to expect, they think the hardest part of the hike is over, and it's only 9am.

Fast forward through 4 hours of sweat, toil, water, whining, and we get to the base of the rock.

Going up is the easy part, at least that's what experience taught me.  LA is Louisiana.

Finally at the top, and soaking it all in.  It is not a painting backdrop.

After kickin it for 1.5 hours at the top, we've taken hundreds of risk-my-life-at-the-edge-of-the-rock photos, and we take one group photo before our descent.

It looks scary when you're going down, facing downwards, but if you go down backwards, it's actually a lot of fun.

Pictures don't to justice: but this was the part of the rock without steps, and pretty steep.

The never-ending steps...

More deer.

The second waterfall, Neveda Falls, that we hiked up (you can make out the path on the left side of the waterfall, we hiked down a different trail).

By this time, many of us were using all-natural walking sticks.

The next day, from Glacier Point, a group photo with Henry's Canon xTi. 

You can see the two waterfalls we hiked past on the right side of the photo, and half dome on the left.  They look far apart, that's why the hike is 8.5 never-ending miles on the way up.

You can kind of see people on the top.  Crazy people.

And lastly, we were about 15 feet away from small bear #47.

 Weddings, weddings and more weddings, engagements, baptism and back in OC.

A race in the pouring rain...

Portland...

San Diego...

Done with the PE Exam... back to normal life.

Thoughts on ... Randomness

Since November, I've been doing wedding stuff for Heidi's wedding on January 6,

working in San Diego every now and then, running at the Rose Bowl with IT people,

planning the company holiday party...

studying for the PE Exam in April 07 (2-day, 8 hours/day engineering licensing exam)...

I left about ten CDs and a bunch of random papers in a rental car about two weeks ago.  I went by the rental car place yesterday with a glimmer of hope that my CDs were taken out of the car and waiting for me, but at the same time thinking that I'd be fine if no employee was going to take responsibilty for my personal items left behind.  I got all my CDs back and even the napkins I stuck in the glove compartment, all in a nice sealed envelope with some id number and my name.  Wow!  Some people can make you smile with something so simple.. Customer service comes so naturally when you are first happy doing what you do...  I love my job because... I enjoy working with the people in my office; peers, mentors, bosses, and everyone in between.  I needed something to give a lot of attention and effort to, and my career came by and took that role.  At the same time some things have "suffered" like a social life, but everyone has their 24 hours to choose how to spend, and it all comes down to what you value.

I hung out with Jim, Namhee, Brooke and Suzanne on Thursday, they made the evening a fun girls night out with one boy who was asked random questions and had to listen to our conversations.  What a trooper.

Today I went with my mum to Rose Hills.  Last Monday I went to the Rose Bowl.  So this week, who is going to get me Roses? 

Since the last posting, I've gotten more involved in extra-curricular work activities, such as organizing work events and going to Colorado for a conference.  That was probably one of the highlights of this year, as I was in a blizzard where 12 inches of snow fell over night.  I also had to give a presentation, and got some of the public speaking jitters out of me.  I think it gets easier the more often you practice.  Somehow I can't get my hands to stop shaking though.

It was exciting to see that my company works on projects in developing countries.  The risk is definitely higher to work on projects in some countries, but from a business perspective, the company still makes profit from this type of work. 

I met people from all over the world with cool accents. It always seemed to me that American English was the language around which all other accents were normalized, but it was strange to hear that from the UK perspective, I had an accent!  Bizarro!  To me the Brits and Kiwis sound sophisticated with their accents, and American English sounds plain and flat. 

I spent an extra day in Colorado Springs and went to New Life Church, and heard Pastor Ted Haggard speak.  It was quite the shock when I heard later that week about the news.

I want to spend less time at work.  That will be one of my goals next year.