2012

So I missed last week. A combination of being lazy and at home and not really having a computer with me since I was traveling all added up to not getting a post written. I left Hawaii on the red eye flight on the 21st and got into Denver the 22nd. It was a pretty nice flight. Newer Continental plane compared to the overused and horrible United planes that I'm used to. The only bad thing (but also was a blessing) was that the TV monitor was broken for my seat. Well I got to sleep instead, so I think that was better.

My sister got me a massage for Christmas so I actually used it that Friday since I wasn't sure what I would be doing after Christmas. It was pretty good, not the best, nor the worst that I have had. I then traveled to San Diego with my family to spend Christmas with my grandparents and to celebrate their anniversary (Christmas Eve). I had a great time down in San Diego, although we had some problems with the hotel. Now when you make a reservation, do you not notify people when you make a change to the reservation? Well that's what happened to us. I guess the assistant manager at the Residence Inn extended the room for the people staying in the room we were going to have and then changed our reservation to two separate rooms right next together without regard to call and let us know that that was happening. It was horrible when we found out since it was like 9pm when we were trying to check in. The poor guy had to call around to find us an equivalent room.

Christmas day was nice and relaxing. My grandparents and Uncle, Aunt and cousins came over to the hotel room to eat dinner and to celebrate Christmas. My aunt makes some excellent food. Ahh, I could eat pretty much anything she cooks.

The day after Christmas we went to Sea World. I have a pass that I can go pretty much all of 2012, so I might have to make a stop in San Diego to go next year. Also, I also try to get a military discount but the lady at the ticket window actually read the card and said it was only for active military. So, I have a beef with that. Granted I am thankful that military people sacrifice their time and their lives to keep our freedom, but I think if you have a goven't ID that says you work in an affiliation with the armed services, we should also be eligible for benefits that the military people get. One we keep everything working in tip top order so they can do their job. If we didn't do the work, they wouldn't be able to effectively serve.

So Sea World, ever since the Shamu accident at the Florida Sea World, the shows have lost its glamour and awesomeness. The trainers don't really interact with the animals in the tanks like they used to, such as riding the animals, and then also getting thrown into the air by the animals. It really is quite sad. It's more like a theatrical story with more video pre done than any actual animal training. Another thing is that the shows all look sexist since most of the trainers that are seen are women. Nothing wrong with women, but in the past there used to be an equal amount of men and women that did each show. The prices for food though were not outrageous at all surprisingly. There are still good deals that can be found if you look for them. My sister went around the park collecting different smash pennies (well ones she liked at least).

I will have to add pictures of the shows later when I can download the pictures from my camera to the computer.

I did get to go skiing once when I was here in Colorado. I went with my friend David Do and his brothers to Winter Park. It's been sad on the amount of snow though that the mountains have seen. For some reason, this year, Denver has seen more snow than the mountains. Oh side note before I forget again, when I landed in Denver from Hawaii, it was snowing and 21 degrees. We had a "white Christmas" in Denver this year. Back to skiing. The snow was alright, though it was icy and most of Mary Jane wasn't open at all which was a shame. I had a good time though and I would say we skied for about 6 hours. A good amount of time. I did get a military discount at Winter Park.

While I was here, I also got to catch up with some friends that I haven't seen in a long time. I met up with Pearl Shields, a friend from high school, for breakfast one day. I also got to catch up with some friends at church and just see what's new with them and their lives. It was also interesting to note that there were a fair amount of my friends that got engaged in the last few weeks. Great for them.

I went downtown for New Years Eve. It was pretty crazy down there. It was pretty cold too. Good thing the 35+ mph winds stopped by the time it was night. I took the light rail from over by my house (my dad and sister dropped me off after going to church) down into town. I didn't realize that there was a concert at the convention center either which I guess kept people from getting too drunk and on the roads. I met up with my friend that was at Denver Christmas Conference (Chris Bostic) and got to catch up with him before he went to the final session for the night and the New Years party that they were having. I ended up walking 16th street mall a few times from end to end and trying to stay warm and awake till midnight. They had a TV and camera set up at 16th and Champa and I ended up down there before ringing in the New Year. I made it onto the big screen a few time when we were all waiting for the new year. After ringing in the new year, fireworks went off at both ends of the mall. I do have to say the fireworks were a bit lame.....I guess I've just been spoiled by awesome firework shows when I was in college. I did have an interesting and random thing happen to me after the fireworks were done and everyone was dispersing. So while I was getting ready to leave, someone came up and asked if my name was Josh, and I said yes. She then asked if my last name was Lau and I was like yes. Anyways, she remembered me from a conference that we had met at like 4 years ago, which is pretty cool. Amanda went to Northern Arizona. Anyways that was my random occurrence within the first hour of the new year.

Like I said, I got dropped off at the light rail station, so I decided to stay with friends who were at DCC instead of trying to battle my way onto the light rail back home and wait for my sister to pick me up at the station. I ended up going to the dance and party at DCC for a while with my friend Karman, who I was going to stay with. I saw some of the Mines people. I do have to comment that there were a lot less than in previous years that were at the conference. I also saw Michael Ehrenfried there, who I met my freshmen year and he is the volunteer staff person at Mines for Cru. Anyways, we had about as much interaction that I have had after the first year with him. So very comforting that he doesn't care to catch up. Anyways, I got really close to the speakers at one point and my ears were ringing for a while after.

I had breakfast with Karman in the morning before my dad picked me up and Karman going to the last sessions of DCC. It was great catching up with him and Bostic while I was able to at DCC. Now to today, Monday, I ended up going to Golden to hang out and meet with people there. I met David and Evan at Chipotle for lunch, although I had to wait like 30 min for them to show up. I think they were playing video games and lost track of time. I also got to see Steven Bates and my friend Jeff. I wasn't planning on seeing Jeff, but he came to pick up some food for his wife who was working. I got to catch up with both of them briefly. I was going to climb South Table as well with some other friends, but I ended up staying at Chipotle talking longer than I was expecting.

I got a tour of the new expansion fo the Brown Building, it's a pretty nice building actually. I also saw the new center connecting building of Weaver Towers. Personally, the new connection is the only thing awesome about Weaver Towers now (besides the new windows that you can open in Weaver). I think that they should tear down each tower and build something modern to go with the new center piece that they are building. It would be a better investment and use of the land. I also went around campus to see the construction and anyone that was around. I found out that they are doing "class" photos now either when they do the M climb or sometime with CSM101 gathered. All the freshmen are "marched" into the year that they are suppose to graduate in. A Pizza Hut Express is also being put into the Digger Den. The new petroleum hall is coming along though. My guess it should be done in time for next school year. Petroleum will finally get out of Alderson!!! I went back to the His House with David and Evan and watched some music videos. I was going to see my friend Chris, but he and his wife was still up in Idaho Springs, so I wasn't going to be able to see them at all. I did end up seeing Karma, DStew, Drew, Drew's new gf and his cousin. Wes also ended up showing up at the house right before I was about to leave, so I ended up staying longer than I was planning. I also saw Preston while I was walking around campus.

Overall, I had a great break and was glad that I got to come back to Colorado to visit family and friends. I don't know if I will come back next year though, only time will tell. I'm thinking about going to Asia sometime this year, so if you want to come, I'd be happy to have you along.