MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The Rice family would like to wish all of our friends and family a Merry Christmas and a happy New Years!

O Christmas Tree....

Joo Lin and I went and got our Christmas tree last weekend. I have been slow to put up pictures so I thought that I would do that today. We decided to purchase our tree this year from a boy scouts troop, it was just to cold to go out into the forest to cut one down, but we are really happy about it. While we were deciding which one to get, a boy scout was telling us what trees were which and I thought that we picked out a spruce tree, so I called the tree that we picked out "Spruce Almighty" but when we went to pay for it, they told us that it was a noble. Instead of renaming the tree, I really liked Spruce Almighty, we kept it. Hopefully the tree will not have an identity crisis.

Here are some pictures of Joo Lin and I decorating the tree. I hope that everyone enjoys them and Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!

Bruce has a boo-boo!

I started work this past week at Symantec and during my lunch hour on my second day, I went to go get something from the store for lunch and when I came out I noticed a man was swearing. At first, I didn't understand why he was so upset but when I went to enter Bruce I noticed that he had hit my car. Usually I take Jasmine to work but that day I took Bruce because the wife was headed up to Portland for a meeting so luckily it didn't happen to her. Here are some pictures of Bruce...they are graphic so you have been warned!

I'm DONE!

I finished my last final yesterday! I am excited to be completely done with school. It feels like a 5,000 pound weight has been taken off my back. It's a great feeling! I have already gotten two of my final scores back and I did extremely well on them. I ended up with A's in both of those classes. I was hoping for a C- or better, I guess I did better.

Now I am just skanking out until I start work next week.

One Final to Go!

I completed two finals today and I only have one left. I am starting to realize that I am done with school. It is an amazing feeling and I can't wait to be done so that I can start "Video Gaming Week." I decided to get done with finals early so that I could take the rest of the week off and focus on fine tuning my video gaming skills. As I only have a week off before I start up work I am going to make the most of this week.

Civil War Football

"Who said war was civil?" This is one of my favorite slogans from the many civil war battles that I have witnessed in my life. I am excited that this weekend the Beavers are playing the Ucks in Eugene for this years Civil War. It is always a tense time of year when this game rolls around. I am feeling pretty confident that OS (Oregon State) will prevail this year. Here are a few photos that I love that shows the hatred that we Beavers have towards the Ucks.

Charlie Tuna!

I was looking through some pictures and found a cute picture of my wife and my mother with Charlie Tuna and I wanted to share it with everyone. The picture is after my little sisters wedding and we were heading back into town when I suddenly veered off the road when I saw the Tuna statue.

Symantec

The fourth interview looks to be my final interview with Symantec. It was an extension of the behavioral interview and it was a solo meeting between me and a lady in a room the size of our bathroom. I knew that my "ice breaker" of talking Beaver/Duck football wouldn't cut it, so I relied on the "How was your Turkey day?" instead. This interview wasn't as good as the main behavioral interview and it only lasted about half as long as the other. So I was beginning to worry.

So I lied and told Joo Lin that it went well. I didn't want to tell her the truth for some reason because I didn't want to stress her out more. Around 4:30 yesterday, I was studying and I got a call from Sue at Symantec. I was surprised to hear from her and I was getting a nasty feeling inside because I was expecting some bad news from her.

She asked me how it went and I told her that I thought the other behavioral interview went better. I told her that it was strange because the questions were similar and I felt strange about giving the same answers. She then proceeded to tell me that they're still really interested in me and that I was their top candidate for the position and then she proceeded to tell me that the manager wanted to do whatever it takes to get me on-board with them. I told her that I was excited about the offer and I am now waiting to hear from them to start the salary negotiation process.

I really don't know how to negotiate but I want to get a fair amount of money as my education and eight years of experience should allow. So today I talked to my strategic management professor and my brother in law to gather some helpful tips and ideas for negotiating with them. So hopefully we can get something put together soon. We will keep you posted.

Another Interview

Today will be the fourth interview (one phone and three on site interviews) with Symantec. I am starting to get really anxious about todays interview. It's at 2 pm today so I will not have to wait too much longer but I think that Joo Lin and I would love to find out if they are going to offer me a position with their company.

I played another mean trick on Joo Lin. Yesterday she was waiting to hear from me to tell her that if I had another interview set up with them. I didn't hear anything until about 4:30 and I didn't tell the wife about it until we were driving to dinner that night. I was avoiding the topic and then she eventually asked me if they had called to set up an interview, I said no. She got disappointed and that is when the Kelley grin came out. I am not sure if she saw it, I was driving and she was in the passenger seat but I knew that I couldn't hold it in any longer. After the grin, I told..."but they did email me!" She was relieved and was then mad at me for telling her that way. Silly monkey am I!

I did something funny today

So today I gave my wife a call and told her that I stopped by the College of Business (COB) to check on my graduation status. I proceeded to tell her that I had a dream last night and that they told me that I had some loose ends to tie up before I graduated. So I then told her not to get upset or mad but I that I stopped by the COB to check on my status and...(I paused for awhile)...and told her that nothing was wrong and that I am still on track to graduate this term.

She said that I was really mean for messing with her as she thought that I was going to tell her that I needed to take another class. I know that this was mean but sometimes I like to fool around with her to keep her on her toes. I got a great chuckle out of this.

Kelley's "baby fix"

Kelley is fun! Yesterday he wanted to see our friends Becky & Deryk. I was good with it... he usually plans our social events anyway. Come to find out he really just wanted to hold their little babies. [Look at those cuties over there - Violet and Elise (L-R)]. We had a great visit with Becky and Deryk, of course. They are doing well these days. He joined the Navy and they're anticipating traveling to their new "homes" once he graduates next year. It's such an exciting time for everyone...

We can't wait to have little babies of our own. We will definitely let you all know when the big news comes... no worries! Until then Kelley will get his "baby fix" with all our wonderful friends and their adorable children. Thanks :)

Pimping the New Suit!

Here are some pictures of me in my new pimping suit! I am not wearing my Beaver tie, so it isn't the Beaver suit in these pictures.

Second Interview with Symantec

I had my second interview (officially it has been my third, I had a phone interview also) with Symantec yesterday. I am trying to be modest but I did extremely well.

It was the behavioral interview, and they asked me to tell them information about my past work experiences that tied back into the questions that they had asked. I was well prepared and I was able to answer their questions quite confidently and easily using great examples of my past work experience. They believe that future successful work experiences can tie into how well someone is going to be in the future. I even answered their follow up questions to their main question as I described them. I think that they liked this too.

I think I even WOW'ed them when they asked a question, that they hadn't planned on asking but asked anyway, and I gave an answer that no one has ever given them. The question entailed an advanced scenario and they asked me what I would do after basic troubleshooting didn't find any cure for a clients problems with a computer on their network. I told them that the first thing I would do is to unplug the computer from the network. Before I could elaborate more they interrupted me and said that was correct and that no one has ever given that answer and that it was one of the interviewers pet peeves that he always drilled into the interviewees about the importance of this. He said that he was prepared to do the same thing this time around but I had answered correctly so I didn't have to listen to him go off about it. I also was able to recognize what they were referring to in the scenario and referred to it by name, a root kit, and they were impressed with that too. After we all regrouped I went off to tell them the importance of why unplugging the computer was important. The main reason why it is important is that you don't want what is affecting that computer to spread to other computers on their network.

I have already got a call back and they want to set up one more interview. With Thanksgiving this week, I am not sure if they will be able to fit me into their schedule but I am hoping so that I don't have to stress about the whole situation over the long weekend.

Thanks for everyones thoughts and prayers and I will make sure to keep everyone posted on the outcome.

My wife is silly!

On Saturday my wife read two books in one day. SHE'S A FREAKIN' SPEED READER!!!

The books were the first two books in the Harry Potter series. She says that they are easy reading but when I read the first one, it took me over a month to read it. I love that she is blessed with this talent and hopefully one day she will share more of her secrets to reading so fast. She has told me one and I have tried it but it didn't really help me much. She told me that she skips words that are not important but it takes me longer to realize which ones are not important.

I can't wait till she can teach our children to read. I have always struggled with reading, I read at a third grade level, so this will be a great blessing for them to spend time with her. I am blessed with the ability to play video games and I can't wait to share that talent with our children.

PT CRUISER!!

Here is a cute picture of the wife in front of a PT Cruiser that she rented this past summer.

Joo Lin and I love to play this game that we call "The PT Cruiser and Slug bug game." We are pretty competitive when it comes to this game and it has led to the majority of our domestic disputes.

We even have a score card for the game. I made it for the wife for a Mother's Day (Future Mother's Day) gift.

2nd Interview!

So remember I had an interview this past Monday? Well, I thought that it went horrible. It was a technical interview and I was expecting something more like a normal interview when I arrived there. I believe that if I would have know this that I would have been better prepared for this type of technical questions. They were drilling me with technical questions about networking and security questions and I knew about half of them, another quarter of the questions I knew but couldn't remember due to the added pressure and then the rest I wasn't able to answer

I was down in the dumps the next day because I really liked the company, Symantec, and I thought that I blew my opportunity to impress them. The following day, I got a call back and was and was terrified to hear what I thought was going to be some bad news. The lady that I have been in contact with during this whole process is located in San Francisco while the actual interview took place in Springfield. She called me on Tuesday and asked me how I thought it went and I told her straight up that I thought that I struggled big time! Then to my amazement she then said that they were impressed with me and wanted to continue the process. This was an amazing feeling.

So I filled out some more paper work and then got a call today and the lady said that they were still very interested in me and wanted to set up another interview with me for Monday. I accepted and now I have what they call a behavioral interview.

I wasn't sure what this was and had to google it so that I could be more prepared for it. To my surprise, it is a personal interview where they want me to tell them about my past experiences. To me, this is just another word for a personal interview but I guess like soda and pop, they have different meanings in different regions.

Wish me luck and keep your fingers crossed.

4 more weeks...

...until I am done with school!!! I am really excited to be done. It has taken me awhile but I can't wait to start referring myself as a college grad. It might take sometime to get use to it but I think it should have a nice ring to it.

I have two midterms this week and after that I am basically done until Finals week. This means that I should be able to start playing more video games! I have been addicted to a game called Warhawk lately. So I can't wait to fine tune my skills in that game. It's an online shootem up game.

Job Interview

We picked up my new suit on Wednesday and dang I look good! The wife also thinks that I look good in it so I am not being to self conceited. I wore the suit to church yesterday and a few of the girls in my Sunday school class said that I was sporting a Beavers Suit, since it was black and I had an orange tie on. I laughed and agreed with them that it was my new Beaver Suit.

So the suit is going to get its first run at an interview today. I have an interview with Symantec, you might have heard of them they are the leader in antivirus programs, today at 3:30. I am super excited and nervous at the same time. The wife keeps telling me to just act my normal self and I will do great. Hopefully she is correct! She is always correct so I better listen to her!

Wish me luck and keep your toes and fingers crossed for me!

New Suit

Joo Lin and I were able to go suit shopping this weekend for myself this past weekend. We went to the Men's Wearhouse and picked out a pimp suit for me. The reason behind spending the money on a suit is that I will be having some job interviews within the couple of weeks. I have been applying like crazy for jobs since I know that I will be done with school this December.

Some of the companies that I have applied for are Hitachi Consulting, Legrand/Vantage Controls, Symantec, and Lithia Motors. Things are slowing down this week in school so I am planning on applying for a bunch of jobs this week.

It is crazy to think that Joo Lin and I could be living somewhere else in the near future. We were talking about it the other night and we both seem excited to start something new. I mentioned it to my kids that I teach Sunday School, and they really want us to stay so I better start applying for some local jobs so that they do not get mad at me. I can at least tell them that I tried.

I will try to keep you posted on any new job prospects in the future. And I will try to get a photo of me and my new pimp suit on soon.

T-Dog and Coach Stephens!

Congratulations to Trevin (aka T-Dog) for leading his football team to an undefeated season for his 5th and 6th grade football team. T-Dog was even the stud the quarterback! We were able to see him play a couple of times this year and they always kicked butt. They won their last game 35 to 12. Can you say Mercy???

Congrats also goes to Coach Stephen's (aka Evan) for coaching his son's team to an undefeated mark.

Almost another fire...

...tonight Joo Lin and I were making a gourmet meal, Mac and Cheese, and I was having her help me pour the noodles in to the colander, and she grabbed the pot with a dish towel and the next thing I see is a flame coming from the towel. Luckily she didn't ruin the meal by panicking and throwing the pot to the ground. After she gently put the pot down she threw the towel on the counter and she extinguished the flame. Whew...close call! Luckily we are safe!

I am getting ready for bed right now and I am going to proceed to make fun of her for the whole incident. It should make for a fun night time experience. Hopefully I can get a laughing fit out of her.

Night!

Kelley and Momma Rice...

On Tuesday, October 2nd, my mother and I were able to visit the Portland Temple to do some much needed temple work for my father's side of the family. It was an awesome experience to be there with my mother and do their temple work. We have been meaning to do it for a long time but we finally were able to get together and accomplish some of it. The spirit was present for the whole time and I know that they are ecstatic that we started their work. I know that it will take awhile to get everything done but it will be a great excuse to go to the temple more often now. I think having names of family members makes it even more special and more desirable to attend a temple session.

I am glad that my mother has been haunted by family members to get the work rolling. Thanks mom for being a great example for me!

Kelley wins Fantasy Baseball League!

For the past six months I have been participating in the Beaver Roto Baseball League. Well...I should say that for the past eight months, since I started doing research back in February for my team. To my surprise, and the wife's, this past Monday I was crowned the champion. I was able to beat out 9 other teams to claim the 2007 Beaver Roto League Championship! The trophy that I adopted was a WWE Wrestling Championship belt, and I have been going around town like it was the Stanley Cup, I even brought it to bed one night, it made for a good laugh that night.


I would like to thank my wife for her patience and for her cunning comments about fantasy baseball. My favorite comment from her was in regards to doing research for my teams draft. She said that if I spent as much time as I did on baseball that I would get straight A's in my classes. I can't wait to spend some of my winnings on her!

the BIG THREE-ZERO (30)

I'd like to give a shout out to Kelley on his birthday.... this is one of his most favorite days of the whole year. The BIG THREE-ZERO (30) as he referred to it on his last post. Therefore, he's older and wiser so ask him anything you want! (I asked him about spiders – one of my many random questions)

His mom came up Tuesday to spend the day with him. They went to the Temple to do some family work, which was very exciting. Kelley actually baptized his mom for the names. Nice quality time with the Mom... doesn't happen often with busy schedules. Then we hooked up with our friends Tanner, Michelle and their niños Wyatt & Mia for dinner at The Olive Garden. Neverending Pasta Bowl… can’t go wrong with that and breadsticks! Bad service, but it’s the company that counts, right?? It was pouring rain on the drive home… Kelley & Sherril were together and I drove our car. A quick peek at the gas gauge showed a nearly empty tank so I drove home pretty slow to be most fuel efficient. (don't worry, everyone else was going slow because of the weather AND the stretch between Salem & Albany is desperately gas station-less). I was behind Kelley in the hot yellow mustang but he didn’t realize that so he didn't see me pull off for gas in Albany. Too bad my phone decided to be funky on this night. They got home, I wasn’t there, and apparently they saw a bajillion police cars speed past with lights flashing and sirens blaring so Kelley thought the worst…. Especially when he couldn’t get a hold of me on the phone. Poor guy, it was almost a REAL “heart attack”. But then I got home, explained the gas & phone situation and he sighed with relief :)

Kelley had to be out late Tuesday night studying and helping some friends so while he was gone I “heart attacked” the bathroom door with reasons why I love him and made a sign for our front door. Cheesy, but fun.

For the big day, our good friend Amy took us out for lunch to celebrate – Baja Fresh – yum! She’s just great! Kelley did attend both his classes today… good job him. Then after work per his request we had weiner wraps and tater tots for dinner.

[Have to give a shout out to the hilarious movie "Napoleon Dynamite":
Randy: Napoleon, give me some of your tots.
Napoleon: No, go find your own.]

Per request, we also watched a scary movie…. “1408”. Ya, pretty creepy psychologically… check it out sometime. Then we went out for Frosty Floats at Wendy’s to top it off.

Happy Birthday, Husband!

1/3 Life Crisis

My birthday is two days away!!! I am really excited for that but I want to pass along a funny story that happen to me the other day. On October 3rd, I will be turning the BIG THREE-ZERO (30). So I have been telling the wife that I am getting old and she keeps telling me that I am being silly. Then this happened...

We went to the Oregon State - UCLA Football game this past Saturday (OSU lost big time 14-40) but before we got into the game, a man that was taking the tickets acted surprised and confused that I was a student. He said "You're a student?". Once we got to our seats, I told Joo Lin that I was going to have a one-third life crisis (kinda like a midlife crisis) since I have already had a quarter life crisis. She laughed and said I was silly but she was excited to find out that I would be living to be 90. Hopefully I don't disappoint her!!!

Scrap Booking

If you weren't aware, I have been addicted to scrap booking lately and last night I was able to scrap book into the late hours with my beautiful wife. She has caught the scrap booking bug too! I love spending the time with her and sharing in both of our creativity.

We were able to do four pages last night, two are from the Oregon State Super Regional baseball tournament, and the other were from her sister's, Mindee, high school graduation and a day at the beach with some friends from way back in the year 2000. Joo Lin was so cute back in the day.

A Miracle

Kelley surprised me today with a Jamba Juice – yum! I don’t know what was in it, but whatever it was gave me some serious energy. After work I went jogging. The plan was to jog to the track, do 8 laps, and then jog home again. (Always lofty plans, but not always executed). Somehow, when I finished the 8 laps I still had energy so I kept going and ran 8 more. Then I jogged all the way home, even having the thought that I should keep jogging. Completely bizarre! 5 miles of jogging without stopping. I never thought I’d EVER be able to do it. Haha – not sure if I ever will again, but it gives me hope.

Kelley's work update

I have been getting use to working the third shift (graveyard) at the Lowe's Distribution Center. I have been training to operate a 8 thousand pound forklift called the Reach. It has a huge mast that will allow me to pick pallets up to 40 feet in the air. It's been fun.

In N Out

Joo Lin and I were able to eat at In N Out burgers this past weekend. We were in Redding, California for the weekend attending my grandfathers funeral and we were able to eat there twice during the weekend. It was delish!

Beside In N Out, we were able to introduce Joo Lin to my mother's side of the family. I think she has made a great showing and everyone loved her. Good job Joo Lin! We also got to hold one of our cousins baby, and everyone was asking when we were going to have one. Hopefully soon!

LOWE'S in the house!

I am almost done with my summer class schedule but before it ended I started working. I am now a team member for the new Lowe's Distribution Center in Lebanon, Oregon.

I went through their orientation this week and it looks like I am in their Building department. Basically what that means is that I will be cruisin' on a fork lift and moving box's from point A to point B. So far I like it but they had us do a scavenger hunt on Wednesday for six hours and I calculated that I walked over 25 miles that day. My feet are still hurting me!

Little Sister Gets Married

Well...my little sister got married! I still can't believe it. I am in awe but that is a good thing. Klorissa and AJ sitting in a tree...Here new last name is Sutherland. AJ and Klorissa Sutherland! It has a nice ring to it. Here are some pictures that I took from their beach ceremony that was held on June 29th.

Angry People

So we have received a few comments from people that are angry because we haven't updated our family blog lately. Well...here you go!

Joo Lin and I have been really busy lately. I just finished up three summer classes. I had a crash course in Finance, Perception, and Stress and Coping. Grades aren't out for the last two yet, but I got a B- in Finance. I still have an online class, Project Management, and so far I have an A in it.

Joo Lin just had a brief holiday. One of her friends got married in the L.A. Temple. Congrats to Amy and Dan!!! I wasn't able to attend because of test in my classes but from the pictures it looked like it was a beautiful wedding.

Joo Lin and I promise that we will be better at blogging!

International Business Update

I took my last quiz of the term, there isn't a final in this class, and I got a 92% on it! I ended up getting a B- in the class and I am really excited about that! I worked my butt of for that B- and it was very rewarding to get that grade. I had doubts that I wouldn't get that grade but I stepped it up towards the end and got the grade that I wanted.

Next up - Finance!

Scrap Booking

So I found a new hobby that I have been enjoying a lot lately. It may seem girly but I like doing it so if you make fun of me I will sock you in the throat! I have been scrap booking lately. I am working on my third page right now. It takes me about a week to get one done because I start them and then get busy with school and study.

I would like to thank the wife for humoring me with my new hobby and for allowing me to purchase my own black scrap book! Thanks for your support!

International Business Update

I got an 88% on my latest International Business quiz!

I have two midterms this week, one in Biological Psychology (Thursday) and one in Human Life Span Development (Friday). I also have another Intl Business quiz on Thursday. I can't wait to play some video games when all this studying is done!

Journals (& Flowers)

If you haven't started a journal yet in your life, go get one :) Besides the fact they are hilarious to read after the fact, they are good for the soul.

I wrote in my journal after 2 long months of blank pages, thanks to the urging of my sweet husband. He suggested I write about the flowers he got me last week (see photo), silly man! It was a great idea that must have worked because I now have a 6 page entry of the last 2 months of my life. By the way, Kelley wasn't "in trouble," he gets me flowers just for fun or because I am having a bad day. Unfortunately, I was having a bad day this time (which takes up its very own page in my 6 page entry!)

Back to the topic at hand, though, journals. Write in one. It is a release for all emotions whether sad, angry, or happy. It helps make me feel balanced in my life, and ready to move on through the next event. You also never know when you will have great advice to give yourself (or your posterity). We are all wise at one point and that should definitely be captured somewhere… hehe. Try it, you'll like it!

New Couch!

Joo Lin and I are excited to announce that we got rid of our ghetto couch and got a new (to us) couch. It is green and it is very comfortable. I have yet to fall asleep on it though, it will probably happen soon since I have been studying on it lately.

Thanks to Gwen, Amy, and Ed for making the new couch a reality and for letting us ditch our old couch in Halsey!

92% on International Business Quiz

I got a 92% on my first International Business quiz. I am really excited. I won't tell you what I got on the second one though. It wasn't as good. The 92%er is now on the fridge!

OSU Baseball

The wife and I went to an Oregon State baseball game on Saturday. They played the Evansville Purple Aces. Not sure why they are purple but it was comical to see them run around in purple. The Beavers, the National Champions, won 3 - 2. That was the final game in a three game series and they won all three of the games. We got to see the new additions to the stadium, new field turf in the infield, and the new scoreboard. They were both awesome to see finally in action.

I was even able to get to walk on the new infield as I participated in a student promotion during the fourth inning of the game. I got to play musical chairs and I lost when I decided to be nice and I gave up my spot after I totally took out some girl with my big booty. Luckily for her, her injuries where not life threating.

We have a few pictures of the game and I will post those shortly.

Happy Valentine's Day!

"Every day should be Valentine's Day," says Kelley. That is true - we both agree that it shouldn't be a completely abnormal day of affection. We're not into large gifts or huge celebrations... we like it low-key. We exchanged simple cards and then had heart-shaped pizza (compliments of Papa Murphy's), worked on a puzzle, and watched the movie Casablanca. Great planning by Kelley! In a busy world, quality time together is the best gift one can give or receive, I think.

Congrats to my little sister!!

My little sister made me proud the other day. She had informed me that she got an A on her midterm for her business class that she is taking this term. This is her first term at College and she was really nervous about the test. Great job Klorissa!!! Keep up the good work! We are proud of you!

Super Bowl Party!!! XLI Style

Joo Lin and I are hosting our first party at our apartment today. It's a Super Bowl XLI party. Hopefully everyone will have a great time. 42" HDTV and poker will head up the list of activities and we might even have a Janet Jackson impersonation contest too. I might not win that one. I think I am going to bust out my old 49er jersey for the occasion!

Week is Final Over!!

I did it! I made meals for a week and I didn't go crazy!!! I think Joo Lin missed out a lot during this past week because she kept commenting on how she loves cooking and preparing meals with me during the week. Part of me wants to believe her but I think she was just milking the whole "Kelley Cooking for a Week" thing. I had a fun time and I even came up with some new meals to add into our rotation. Next time I might think a little bit more before I decide to offer that again.

No Black Eye for Joo Lin

Last night Kelley was very restless. He hurt his back recently and had trouble getting comfortable enough to sleep. I woke up whenever he would move around. At one point I put my head up a little bit because he was shifting. Suddenly he had an arm spasm and popped me in the eye! It surprised me more than it hurt but I joked that I was going to have to explain my black eye to everyone. The funniest part about the whole situation was that Kelley thought it was hilarious. He jokes about me having laughing fits; this was his first and what a doozy! It was four solid minutes of nonstop, can't-catch-your-breath laughter, then a couple on and off minutes. Even now he chuckles thinking about it. What a nut!

Jasmine is Back

We got Jasmine back on Wednesday night. Freebird did a great job. Their silly commercial and hard work really paid off in making Jasmine beautiful again. Thanks Freebird!

tragedy

When we got home this evening, Kelley noticed something tragic at our apartment door. Our bikes were gone! At first I thought it was a joke, but it's very real :( We thought back to the last time someone saw them and determined they must have been stolen Tuesday sometime. We found the little piece of chain link they left behind as they committed the offense. I admit that I was devastated because I had planned on riding my bike to work as it gets lighter outside. I told Kelley (jokingly) that I had lost faith in humanity and my naiveté toward crime is gone.

Kelley did what any good husband would do. He attempted to call the police, but they said call back during the day. Then he drove us around the apartment complex looking in all the other million bike areas – why ours?! Finally he consoled me by taking me out to ColdStone to eat ice cream. I milked it and even got a waffle bowl. Yes, it did take away some of the pain.

free meals for a week + cookies!

Kelley, with all his good intentions, volunteered us to teach marrieds class this past Sunday at church. The week flew by, as usual. We had read the lesson during the week, but Saturday rolled around pretty quickly and it was crunch time. Kelley had to study so I read through the lesson again. It was a pretty short lesson so I was trying to figure out what kind of discussion could take up more time. Finally, Kelley offered to make dinner for the next week if I would take charge of the lesson. He said I had more experience because I teach Relief Society - I don't know so much about that :) However, an added bonus is that he made cookies for class... at 11 pm. As he finished the dough he woke me up (I was asleep on the couch) and reminded me it was Fast Sunday so no cookies to distract the people. Free dinner and cookies.... all for 40 minutes of lesson... what a deal!

Don't worry, Kelley did have input in the lesson, but I still get the meals... and cookies :) Lucky me!

Jasmine

Jasmine (our 2005 Honda Civic Hybrid car) is getting fixed today! She is having some body work done to her to fix the marks that were left after the accident that we were in from December. It will be great to have her looking pretty and new again. Thanks for being patient Jasmine!

The Streak is Over!

Joo Lin and I have been really good lately but the streak is finally over. We had made it TEN consecutive days without eating out for lunch or dinner. I think the longest streak before that was two days.

We ended the streak by getting dinner from Qdoba's, it's a local fresh-mex restaurant, last night. Our motivation behind this insanity is to be healthier, to lose weight, and to save money. Hopefully we can be stronger and go another ten days without eating out. Wish us luck!

Kelley and Joo Lin Rice

Christmas Pictures

I have created a website that Joo Lin and I can share photos with everyone. The first set of pictures is from Christmas 2006 at my mothers house. There will be more to come soon. Maybe even some wedding photos!

The link is Kelley and Joo Lin Photo's

ENJOY!

Kelley's talent

I wanted to share Kelley's beautiful picture with everyone. He took it on his digital camera. This is the first snow of the year in Corvallis, Oregon behind the building where we work overlooking the river. Could be a beautiful postcard, couldn't it?

Piggy Piggy

So, today I was a very bad wife. Amy brought donuts to work and of course I ate one. Later in the morning I was SO tempted to eat another. However, I held out because I knew I should be healthy and just eat the lunch I had brought. I did contemplate saving one for Kelley... I even discussed it with Amy. It was his favorite kind - regular with cinnamon and sugar coating. I decided not to put it aside, though, because I thought I'd be more tempted to eat it if I touched it. I kept close watch on it.... then after lunch it was sitting there... tempting me with its sugary goodness. So I took it and put it on the plate. Again, I thought about saving it for Kelley... and thought... then just took a nibble... and another one... and suddenly it was gone! Unfortunately, (the good wife that I am!) I was honest with Kelley about eating 2 donuts today. One thing led to another and he found out what kind and that I didn't save it for him. Good thing he's such a forgiving husband :) He even cleaned the apartment this afternoon and it would have been the perfect surprise. C'est la vie - ha!

Beaver Snowman

We received more snow in Corvallis the past two days. It has been great! I didn't get a chance to play in it as much as I wanted because OSU decided not to close down for the day but some silly kids had some fun without me and made this snow man. Go Beavs!

Back to School

Today is the first day of school for Winter Term for me. I am taking two Business classes (New Venture Finance and International Business), two Sociology classes (Juvenile Delinquency and Criminology and Penology), an Economics class (Intro to Microeconomics), and one P.A.C. class (Team Handball). It should be a fun and entertaining term. If anyone ever wants to challenge me to a game of handball after this term I will gladly accept.

Burning Down the House

Joo Lin and I had a close call last night. We were attempting to cook dinner, stir fry with rice noodles, and we were waiting for the oil to heat up in the wok. I started to notice a bad smell coming from the wok so I slowly lifted the lid on the wok to notice black smoke rising out of it. I inhaled a good portion of it and lowered the lid back on the wok. Joo Lin looked at me strangely and I lifted the lid up and more smoke came gushing out. I panicked and then Joo Lin tried to get the cover off the wok while I frantically went to open the doors and windows to get the smoke out of our apartment.

After she had gotten the cover off it started to flame up. We looked at each other like we were a deer stuck in headlights. I said to her that I didn't know what to do, so we covered it up again. Then we decided to open it up again, still flames. I told her that I didn't know what to do still and she told me to get the baking soda not the baking powder on it. So I grab the baking soda frantically and proceeded to toss some on the flames. BIG MISTAKE! As it just made the flames bigger. I looked at Joo Lin who was still holding on to the lid, and we decided to put the lid back on it.

So I grabbed the lid away from her and slowly put it back on. The apartment was covered in black smoke by now, and I decided that I didn't any explosions in the apartment so I took the wok outside and placed it in an empty parking spot that was far away from any cars. I took the lid off and more smoke came out but no flames this time. Joo Lin went and got me a class full of water and while she did this I decided to pour the hot oil onto our grass outside. I then decided to put water onto the grass with the oil, BIG MISTAKE, as it foamed. I thought to myself, that this was cool and then proceed to put some water in the wok which still had some oil in it. It foamed up again. I ran back to the parking spot with the wok in hand and placed it back in the same spot as before.

To finish off this story, you would think that someone with the last name of Rice would know how to cook rice noodles. But we don't.