Having a Little Fun in Reno!

It's September! That means a weekend in Reno, NV for the annual trip to see the National Championship Air Races! This was the event's 51st year and for the AvGeek in me, it was great to see some Balls-to-the-Walls action, as usual! This year we had the military back in participation albeit, still lacking compared to previous years; it's clear that the effects from last year's sequester is still lingering in some places. But I had a great time at the races anyways. This year, my dad and I drove (through Oregon, into northern California and into Nevada) while my uncle flew in with his two boys, making for a small group this year. We still had fun because half the fun is about spending quality time with each other and pigging out with some of the best food Reno has to offer (Here's hoping to a slightly bigger group next year)!

View of Mt. Shasta just south of Weed (don't laugh!) as drove through northern California.

The home pylon at the Reno Air Races.

We made the drive Thursday morning after I got off work (that's right, I got a job working nights at a food processor in the Quality Control department) and arrived into Reno in the late-afternoon. After checking into the Cal-Neva hotel, our usual place to stay, we hit the town with some food from the Nugget for some wings and Reuben sandwiches!

Gotta love their wings!

Reuben sandwich with fries as well!

While we stuffed our faces, we played nickle Keno at the bar; as long as we played, we got free drinks! Yep, we know how to do things right in Reno...

Better yet, I walked away with some winnings with my four numbers! The new family-courtesy rule is that the one who hits the most four-spots (and wins money) must buy a member of their immediate family (namely, my dad!) breakfast the next day.

Friday morning, we had breakfast at the Top Deck Restaurant in the Cal-Neva. And as part of my courtesy for walking away with the most in winnings the night before, I bought my dad breakfast. We had steak and eggs:

No caption necessary here!

After breakfast, we drove down to Carson City to pick up my uncle and his twin boys from the airport there. Because it's air race weekend, most airports around the Reno-area are busier than usual with people flying in from all over. Now I normally don't post my aviation photos on here because I like to  reserve them for aviation blog, but I'm willing to make an exception this time. Here's my uncle as he landed in Carson City:

Last year, he cracked his exhaust pipe (yes, airplanes have exhaust pipes.) landing in Carson City. This year, he had to replace a battery AT Carson City because it went dead en route and was without radio or other electronics (thank goodness for cell phones!). The year before that... I can't remember what it was the year before last year, but the point is it's ALWAYS something when he flies into Carson City! (Maybe the yellow paint job on his plane is bad luck?)

After a morning in Nevada's tiny state capital city, we drove back up to Reno for lunch. We ate at the Sushi Saga at the Siena hotel!

Typical California rolls

My personal favorite nigiri sushi: Maguro (blue fin tuna), Salmon, and Unagi (eel).

While we were eating, we were in for a treat! The restaurant brought in a whole blue fin tuna fresh from the market and we got to see the chefs cut it up!

That's a BIG tuna!

The sushi chefs at the Siena are just awesome guys!

It doesn't get any fresher than sushi straight from the tuna. They gave us the fattiest part of the tuna and it's just melted in my mouth! Also, I had some Inari (tofu skin/curds). The Sushi Saga still stands as the best sushi place in my opinion here in the states.

For the evening, it was back to the Top Deck for some dinner.

I always loved the French Dip plate at the Top Deck.

Saturday was a day at the races! But you can read about that on my aviation blog when I get around to posting it. For breakfast, it was BACK to the Top Deck and I chowed down on some high-calorie Chicken and Waffles:

I don't who came up with the idea of putting fried chicken and waffles together but I think the combination of the two smeared in syrup has grown on me.

Dinner time after a great day at the races, it was back to the little Nugget casino for the one and only Awful Awful burger along with some more wings:

Because it's Awful Big & Awful Good!

Sunday was another day spent at the air races with a twist: my uncle scored box seating, which we would normally avoid but a kind gentleman with  quite a few vacancies offered them to us and we were enjoying the view with a cooler full of drinks!

View of the box-seating area.

And with that, the races came to a close as quickly as it started and my aviation passion for the event was satisfied with nearly 1,000 new photos! Another good year in Reno in the books! We enjoyed the evening afterwards and went our separate ways Monday morning, dropping off my uncle and his boys at Carson City Airport and me and my dad making the drive back to Oregon, just in time to go back to working the night shift later that evening!

View of downtown.

Can't forget the awesome Reno sign!

And this year's funny t-shirt that I ended up buying this time around:

Just makin' my statement regarding certain cliches and taboos about dating known! What can I say? I'm what you call an "Aerosexual!"

Update: Check out my recap of the Air Races on my aviation blog!

New Family Addition

My mom wanted a new cat because our third one, Hemingway (Hemi) disappeared after going outside one night. Yesterday, after our family lunch down in Albany, OR, we drove back up to Salem and went to the Willamate Humane Society to look at cats and kittens. One particular kitty caught my mother's eye and long story short, she adopted him... 

Little guy all tuckered out.

Personally, I was fine if we did not adopt a new cat but my mom insisted because she was going through some emotions that were the results of Hemi disappearing. But I eventually grew to like this little guy so we were fine with welcoming this part-Lynx (named Link) into our family. As for Hemi, well, wherever he is, dead or alive, rest in peace little buddy.

Whatta basket case!

The End of Another Long Semester

I had my last class on Monday and took my one and only testing center final exam the Saturday prior, so that means Spring Semester of my Sophomore year at BYU-Idaho has come to an end. After two semesters of having four days of classes per week, this recent semester definitely required some getting used to since I had to go back to a routine of five days of classes per week; I really could have used that extra day out of my week to unwind and spend time getting assignments done but beggars can't be choosers. A few of my classes felt non-stop all the way to the bitter end so naturally, I feel like I've been chewed up and spat back out. But that's life... And besides that, I finished the semester with straight A's for all my classes, which of course is a pretty great accomplishment.

This past Spring Semester was full of highs and lows; let's start with the lows so I can end this post on a high note (no pun intended!)... Classes and crazy assignments aside, one of the biggest frustrations I've had this semester was (believe it or not!) Church-related. I wrote about these frustrations here on my religion blog last month but to summarize, I was a Sunday school teacher and after the middle of June, I ended up not teaching for the rest of the semester because the class I was assigned to for the semester apparently got cancelled. To be honest, this felt like a big waste of my time and efforts I put into for the class. I was already worn out from my classes, the time I needed to study for them, as well as the commitments to volunteering at the Legacy Flight Museum but this whole debacle with my college ward Sunday School organization made things worse for me by adding unneeded stress. But the semester's done and I'm officially off from school so I can finally breathe easy from this!

Now for some semester highlights! I had great roommates this semester. What was even more nice was that there was only four of us in the six-man apartment this semester so there was room to spare amongst us. But I really enjoyed the company of my roommates this semester simply because I could easily relate to them due them being from the eastern part of the U.S., areas I once lived at and fondly familiar with. And let's not forget my relatives who conveniently live in the area. That means quality time spent with them and being able to turn to them in times of need. I said it before and I'll say it again and again: My family is awesome.

And last but not least, being an aviation geek (AvGeek for short), one of the biggest highlights I've had so far this year has to be volunteering at the Legacy Flight Museum located in the same town where I go to school to. The museum afforded me opportunities to be around what is to me, the greatest sources of inspiration in my life. It also gave me a place where I could "retreat" to in order to get away from the monotony and rigors of the school campus. Being a volunteer, I had a variety of tasks I could do so it was never boring. One minute, I was giving tours to visitors; the next minute I would be cleaning a vintage World War II-era aircraft. And sometimes, the museum was my quiet place to get some homework assignments done. Not only that, I met and got to know some incredible people who are part of the regular museum staff. What happened in the middle of the semester was the bi-annual air show hosted by the museum, which is held on even-numbered years. Once again, I got benefits of being a volunteer by getting to attend a V.I.P portion of the air show, which is held the day before the main event. This was perhaps the high point for me during this past semester. But then again, anything that has something to do with aviation is a high point for me!

Well, I'd say it was pretty great and interesting semester and a job well-done. But one thing's for sure: it is definitely time for me to head home for a well-deserved off-time from school and enjoy being around my immediate family for a change.

Things Start Heating Up

The month of June means summer is officially here, and I'm STILL in school. Oh, well, that's what I get for being on the Spring track here at BYU-Idaho. Honestly, I don't even know why they call it Spring Semester if it eats into half of summer... But their reasoning is apparently beyond me so I'm not even gonna ask. I figure if I can get an update a month (if you still read these things!) I'm doing relatively well. School is busy, as expected. It's been a busy month as well; volunteering at the Legacy Flight Museum for this month was especially busy because of the air show. I had a blast at the biennial Legacy Air Show because for me, it two days worth of air show buzz; first we had the V.I.P. exhibition the night before the air show and then actual show itself.

They gave me a media pass and V.I.P. parking pass! Perks of being a volunteer!

What I didn't realize is that the day of the air show was Flag Day, which would've been my grandmother's 85th birthday. It's been such a busy month that it's hard to think about the little things sometimes... The weekend after the air show, I had to attend one of my numerous cousin's wedding, which happened to be in the area. The main venue: a riverside view of the Snake River near Ashton! I kid you not, it was a beautiful day and the scene around the venue really complimented. Oh, and of course I enjoyed the company of my many relatives as well as the new in-laws. Now, I'm not that into wedding or hanging around for long periods of time but I certainly did enjoy the company of my extended family members and I suppose that's what counts.

Funny story related to this: My dad was going to ask one my aunts or uncles to get my cousin a wedding gift on our behalf only to realize that he has a son (that's me!) going to school in the area. I was like, "Thanks a lot dad!" Seriously, I feel like he's forgotten about me! Long story short, I was relegated to getting a gift for my cousin, which I was happy to do, but at the same time hated and that's because of what happened last year, when another one of my cousins got married. It was the day I flew home from my first year at college; I remember my arrival into Portland was mid-morning (which was nice) and I got picked up at airport by my sisters. Only, we didn't go directly home. We instead spent the subsequent hours looking for and picking out a wedding gift for my cousin and his soon-to-be wife (which in turn, cancelled out the nice mid-morning arrival factor from my flight!). And when I mean "we", I mean my two sisters. I was dead-dog tired from the getting up earlier that morning, the flight, and the bus ride the day before my flight and was just anxious to get home after being away from school. I didn't set foot into my home until about 3 PM that afternoon. My thoughts about that were, "People go through ALL this trouble for a wedding gift?!" Fast forward to today, and I still don't get all the trouble people go through. And THAT'S why I'm not really that big into weddings.

Other than that, things are going rather smoothly here. Just one more month and I'll be heading home for the off-track, which will be a welcome sight.

Do you see the kitty camouflaged with the carpet in this photo?

The Occasional Update...

I haven't updated in well over a month! Well, scratch that; I have been updating but it's all been on my aviation blog, since I'm so passionate about aviation and I have been involved with the Legacy Flight Museum... Needless to say, volunteering at the museum has been a huge benefit to me. Not only are there perks to working there (like free food and having fun) but it has helped to break the dull monotony going to school has become. The LFM has provided me a great place to get away from the apartment, and the campus so I could unwind and have a place of peace and quiet to get some homework done. Plus, I'm around the very things I love most and it's just a privilege and a source of inspiration.

Let's step back and tally up what's been happening: school. That's about it. I drove back to Idaho from Oregon after spending a few days at home; it's already been a month since the semester started so time is really flying right now (no pun intended with regards to the first paragraph I opened this blog post with!). This time on the long, lonely drive, I decided to make an extra stop and visit the Nampa Warhawk Air Museum in Nampa, Idaho. Again, you can read about that in my aviation blog! And of course school's been underway for a month already. What sucks about this Spring Semester is that I'm back to having classes five-days a week. I did not miss this routine one bit! But the one silver lining is that I only have one class on Fridays so I guess I shouldn't complain too much. Beggars can't be choosers... Actually, with this weekend being Memorial Day weekend, I'll have Monday off. Even better, I did NOT have class today so by a miracle, I got a four-day weekend!!!! I went back to the Legacy Flight Museum to work today and let me tell you, today was good day to be there! But you can read about it here. Something else I'm excited for is the air show happening here in Rexburg in two weeks. It's on Father's Day weekend; I have my calender marked!

What else has been going on? Once again I make my family proud by practicing one of my crafts for the first time in a while by cooking up some Japanese food this past Monday night:

Beef bowl stir-fry (a.k.a. Gyudon)

Potstickers (Gyoza)

The best part about this is that I got to share it with my roommates and some "lady friends:"

Yeah, that's me on the far right dressed in Japanese attire with the matching headband.
I might as well dress for the part!

With my gyoza that I cooked on Monday, I got a lot of surprise looks from the girls when they found out mine were homemade mostly from scratch. Yup, I still got my touch in making gyozas by hand! My parents have taught me well.

Life's good. I'm surviving school for the most part, although two of the classes I'm taking might be the death of me... Crazy stuff I'm learning in some of these classes (Why I am I talking like Yoda???)! Anyways, since it's Memorial Day weekend, I suppose I have a good enough excuse to update this weekend... We'll see; I don't know if anybody reads my blogs anymore and it depends on what I do that's worth mentioning.

Anyways, in the meantime, salivate over the pictures of Japanese food I made this past week. I know you're envious!

Home is Where New Beginnings Begin

Sorry about the cheesy titles; this hasn't been my most creative blog since I stopped with the ranting and stopped being critical about practically everything. I tend to save any creativity I can muster for my love of aviation, not to mention my aviation blog. Anyways, I spent all day yesterday driving home. After checking out of my apartment on Friday, I drove up to Ashton to spend the night at my uncle's home; I would drive home from there after getting an early start. I technically made the trip in under 12 hours (11 hours and 30 minutes to be exact), and that's my record; in the past this drive was longer and that's because you had to factor in multiple people and multiple stops for food and bathroom breaks and so on. When you're alone, you stop only when you need to, otherwise you just keep going. But that doesn't change the fact the drive was a lonely one. And there was a slight back-up in traffic towards the end of the trip due to construction, those dogs! That's the only factor that threw off my time. Other than that, it's just nice to be home. These furballs were especially happy to see me:

Hemingway, my "little buddy." Actually, he's fat as Garfield.

"Garfield" Hemingway with Heidi, my little old-lady and she is literally old; we've had her for a long time!

And this is Miko; she doesn't take flattering photos... We've had her just about as long as we've had Heidi... She's getting up there in age as well.

Aside from family, these three furballs are also a sight of home for me.

Another Winter Semester in the Books!

I took my last final exam for the Winter 2014 semester today and needless to say, this semester was hell! I had a rough start in January and even though things smoothed out as time went on, it was a few of my classes that kept me on my toes, but if there's a silver-lining to that, it's that it stretched my learning and thoughts beyond a few limits. I never said I was good at this "college stuff," at least not just yet... But I'm proud to say I finished the semester strong with final grades being one B and the rest A's; I must have done SOMETHING right. Well, to celebrate, I ate the following at my favorite in-land Japanese/Asian-fusion restaurant here in Rexburg, Da Pineapple Grill:

Yep, you guessed it: Sushi. And I just needed a light lunch today as well.

The plan now is to check out of my apartment for the semester tomorrow and drive home for a couple of days soon after; to be honest, I've been more homesick than usual and kind of longing for home since coming back out here so it'll be good to be home for a few days... I think that's the case because of what happened among our family last year when we had to cope with the deaths of my uncle (in which a year has already passed since) and more recently, my grandmother... The only reason I can think of regarding why this year has been tougher for me than usual is because I've started holding onto my family relationships a lot tighter in the wake of last year's events; I'm just a little bit more emotional about family and it's just a little bit tougher for me now being away from home. Other than that, I'm at a loss of words as to the "why." But I suppose what I'm feeling is natural. But I had fun this past semester as well because I got to spend time good friends:

Friends, roommates, former roommates, friends of roommates, it's just nice to have friends, new and old.

And this being Winter Semester, the weather wasn't so bad because this winter was pretty mild by my standards and I usually gauge that by how much "winter" driving time I got in; we got quite a few good days that were cold but no snow. The only thing that threw me off was snow on April Fools Day, which mind you is AFTER the first official day of spring:

Cruelest April Fools joke ever! But then again, Mother Nature was always a cruel and sadistic *****...

Well, I got another semester on my belt and it's time to push forward. But first, it'll be a well deserved week off.

The Great Utah(rd) Getaway

This past weekend, I drove down to Utah for several reasons. I stayed with my aunt in West Jordan in the Salt Lake-area while there, which is always nice; having family around to spend time with and have them take me in has always been a benefit. Anyways, the main reason why I spent this weekend in particular in Utah is because of a mission reunion being held in Provo with my former mission president. It was a nice little road trip and even though I'm not fond of how congested Utah has become, I got to do quite a few things after making the drive on Thursday afternoon after I got out of class. Also, Utah's Interstate speed limit went up from 75 mph to 80 mph:

80 miles per hour baby! In aviation, they call that "Balls to the walls!" 

First and foremost on Friday, I went to Provo for the mission reunion. My youngest sister also goes to school at Brigham Young University (the school I initially wanted to go to but got rejected!) located in Provo so I took the opportunity to spend "quality sibling time" with her as well. She was even gracious enough to accompany me as my guest at the mission reunion; she was I guess you can call my photographer at the mission reunion because I forgot to bring my camera! Nevertheless, I'm glad I got to share the moments at the mission reunion with my sister as well! We just had a good time enjoying each others' company and just catching up with the goings-on in our lives...

Sibling rivalry love!

The mission reunion was great too, but you can read about it on my other blog via the link I posted above. After the mission reunion, I parted ways and drove back up to the Salt Lake-area and spent the remainder of the weekend with my aunt. She accepted an offer in selling her house and was in the process of moving out so to her benefit, and as my way of repaying her for giving me a place to stay, I helped her out, especially with a lot of the heavy lifting. At one point, we had to drive out to a landfill to discard a few things you can't just dispose of in the regular trash due to environmental reasons and I kid you not, we saw THIS there:

23 1/2 miles per hour?! Who decided on that?!?!

What else did I do? Well, I can't go to Utah without eating Crown Burgers, right?

Regular ol' Crown Burger with pastrami and fries... And LOTS AND LOTS of Fry Sauce!

I also did some off-airport planespotting from my aunt's backyard as well. But you can read about that on my aviation blog. Speaking of my aviation blog, its pageviews surpassed this blog, not that you read any of these things... I think it's because of more frequent content updates on there from my time spent volunteering at the Legacy Flight Museum and whatnot. But most of the actual weekend was spent helping my aunt and I was happy to help out in any way. Aside from Crown Burger, we got to eat out a couple times as well and I even got back into fried shrimp:

Sizzler's fried shrimp and sweet potato fries

Sunday afternoon was when I drove back up to Rexburg. It was nice to get away but as I mentioned earlier, Utah is congested, especially in the urban areas. It's no surprise because the abundant Latter-day Saints population is mostly responsible for the congestion. In fact, I read somewhere that Utah was the only state in the entire country that was growing in population while the rest of the other 49 states was on the decline. But don't quote me on that! And even though part of me would've liked to stay, I still have another week of school; it's the last one for the semester before the week break between semesters. Better to finish strong.

Super Bowl Weekend and Fish

Okay, that's the most bizarre combination of words in a title for a blog post... What does this year's Super Bowl have to do with fish? Well, nothing. It just has something to do with this past weekend. I drove up to Ashton to spend time with my relatives for Super Bowl weekend. It was good to get away from Rexburg (and the school!) for a couple days. And of course there was food involved and I wasn't about to pass that opportunity up! Leading up to Super Bowl, I definitely had some fun over the weekend.

I drove up on Friday morning/early afternoon. I would've gone Thursday afternoon right after classes got out but it was snowing and I wasn't about to push my luck by driving in the snow... There was break in the weather on Friday so I jumped at that opportunity; and thankfully, it didn't snow much during the weekend so I had a relatively easy drive back to Rexburg on Sunday night. I arrived and immediately went to "work" by watching over my uncle Sam's store while he went out to do a few jobs for his customers; a pretty easy task for me considering that this time of year is the slow season for business. My dad always reminds me to make myself useful and helpful whenever I visit my relatives; I'd say my old man taught me well because I certainly love doing these things for my extended family in order to return the favor. It's a win-win situation.

I had a somewhat light lunch at the Five 11 Main in Ashton on Saturday; I was craving something with pastrami (possibly a pastrami Reuben sandwich) but I ended up eating a really tasty pastrami dog instead:

Back in the day, I probably would've eaten two of these. But considering how my eating habits have changed in the last few years, this plus a bag of chips was plenty to satisfy my appetite!

Later in the day, I accompanied my uncle Sam ice fishing out on the reservoir near the Snake River. It was a beautiful day and we did catch some fish:

Looking out towards the hill with the reservoir up ahead and down below in a little ravine.

Fish out of... nevermind.

We got three of these common rainbow trout.

And the pièce de résistance: Super Bowl Sunday! But first, here's the irony behind this year's Super Bowl:

Need I say more?

I was more excited for the food than the actual football game. Of course we watched the Seattle Seahawks beat the tar out of the Denver Broncos, which made for kind of a boring and one-sided game... This is the honest truth and I believe this; sports are most exciting when both teams bring their A-game and give it their all. The game would've been exciting if both teams kept the score really close to the very end. But like I said, Seahawks whupped the Broncos badly, not that I was cheering for a particular team. But for me, the most important aspect of this was spending quality time with loved ones and enjoying some good food for the occasion:

Mini-dogs wrapped in bacon. Homer Simpson would be proud!

Hot wings! And I got to bring home the leftovers!!!

White rice, chicken glazed in some kind of homemade sauce, and elk meat. Yes, there's a lot of meat...
My cousin Chris shot an elk recently and that's what he brought. It tasted different but it was good!

As far as American traditions are concerned, I think there are two times in the year where you're allowed to have a "food coma":

1.) Thanksgiving
2.) Super Bowl Sunday

With the amount of food involved, I'd say this was a good weekend!

College Blues

Gee, I haven't written anything at all this last month, not that you read these things anyways... It has been a busy year to start off... But then again, when am I not busy when I had to go back to school in January?!?! I am now a Sophomore at college and it has been busy, not that you were asking. Once again, I had to make preparations to go back to school... And before you ask, yes, I had an enjoyable Christmas/New Years celebration. I'll tell you though, I dread the winter holidays more now because I have to go back to school soon after! It's always hard to get out of that slump phase you go through during the holidays...

This year, I brought a car so that means I drove by myself all the way from Oregon to Idaho; if you don't include the change in time zones, I made the trip in 12 hours. Driving by myself for that long though, I certainly felt lonely and it didn't make it any easier since I was (naturally) already reluctant to leave home again, and that's for personal reasons. But home is where the start is, I suppose... I left when I did because at this time of year, the mountains you normally drive through is socked by winter conditions making the drive a little more dangerous. I had good weather all the through the mountains so I got lucky there. And as always, I can count on my Idaho relatives to take me in and help me out when I needed it upon arrival!

After last year, I learned to take and see everything with a silver-lining. And in most cases, there's usually a silver-lining in those less-desirable situations life tends to throw at you.

So what have I been up to since coming back to school? What do you think? School work, of course; not that I've been looking forward to it. There are things I hate about school, but then there are those parts about it that I love (it's typically a love-hate relationship).

Like the whole dating thing. (I just love this feature about blogger so I can hint a little bit of sarcasm!)

My first weekend in Idaho, before the semester began, I got talked into doing Gyoza:

Second weekend, after my first week of school, I just had to indulge on some food from Big Juds in Ashton:

Chicken strips and tots.

What else have I been up to? I started volunteering at the Legacy Flight Museum! Since I have a car to get around now, I paid a visit and they brought me on board! Needless to say, I've been enjoying every minute of volunteering there. Normally I would reserve my airplane photos for my aviation blog but this should give you an idea on what the museum is like:

Taken from my cell phone; all the planes are operational, meaning they still fly from time to time.

As for school itself, I'm taking five classes totaling 12 credits right now. More on that later, in a later update... It was somewhat a rough start to the semester early on because I ended up changing some of my classes in the first week and it was a little frustrating because I didn't know options I should pursue... On the bright side though, I managed to arrange my class schedule to the point where I only go to classes four days a week and have Fridays off like it was for me last Spring Semester. It's nice to have it that way because I have that extra day in the week to unwind a little or spend extra time on class assignments and whatnot. Again, I was reluctant to leave home too early on but things have smoothed out as the month progressed both in school life as well as at a personal level. The only other wild-card factor for me right now is that it's still winter time and I DO NOT consider myself experienced in driving in winter conditions.

But now that it's the turn of the month, I'm glad because it means time is starting to fly by; February is usually a fast month because it's less than 30 days long! Then it will be March and once that month is up, the semester is just about over after a week and a half into April. Then the cycle will repeat when I get into Spring Semester...