slow and steady finishes the race!

I did it! Saturday morning I was so nervous I woke up WITHOUT AN ALARM CLOCK at 6:50 AM. Can I just say ridiculous?? That was WAY too early. I couldn't sleep so I walked around the apartment and read a book. I have no idea why I was so antsy and nervous but my behavior was completely silly as I was trying to get ready. Kelley finally said he was going to drive me because he didn't trust me to get there on my own (he was planning on coming when the race started, not the early registration time). Off we went!

It's all for a good cause!

I was so full of nervous energy it was ridiculous... just bouncing around! Good thing I didn't run out of juice when the running was supposed to happen!Stretching... and thinking "Really? Can I do this?"

Kiss for luck!

Group photo when we're fresh and ready to go! Joo Lin, Amy, Rebecca, Ron (L-R)

Don't mind my form... I'm the girl in the back... both pictures... but dang my hair looks cute :)
Go Amy Go!Finished!!
Amy & I were successful and met our goal! We rock!

Results for the 5K (3.1 mi):
Joo Lin - 30:28
Amy - 30:51

So, this was a great experience and it feels super good to meet a goal! My goal was to jog the entire thing without walking or stopping. Amy and I did the Couch-to-5K Running Plan and it works really well. Please don't get confused that I love running, far from it... I do it to keep in shape and meet my goal of running a 5K one day. Sure, I'll run more of them but nope, never a marathon :) I think I'll max out at 5 miles...

Shout out to my mom for coming down to Corvallis to support me! Then we all went to breakfast at Elmer's. Yum!

5k Run

I am so excited for tomorrow (Saturday). My wife has been training for a 5k run and all of her hard work will come together tomorrow as she participates in this years CARDV 5K run. For people that don't understand the metric system, that is 3.1 miles. I am so proud of her and I know that she will do great! Plus, I can't wait for her to get her tshirt, I think she is more excited about getting a shirt than she is about running.

Happy Easter

This is obviously long overdue... Kelley assigned it to me and I slacked... so here it is!

Easter was fabulous! We invited our families down to our place to host our first holiday. Although we were a bit nervous, I think it turned out splendid thanks to Kelley. He attempted to do dinner all by himself but gave in when it came to the deviled eggs - silly him! Fortunately we were able to get the clubhouse so we had plenty of room for all. The spread was delicious... loads of ham, au gratin potatoes, funeral potatoes, homemade rolls, green bean casserole, asparagus, stuffing, veggie tray, deviled eggs, and sparkling cider... yum!

Here is Kelley hard at work slicing up the yummy ham so we can get started eating!

What a lovely table we had... complete with a pink hyacinth and golden bunny rabbits for the centerpiece, compliments of my dad.

My mom added to the festivities with her traditional easter egg bread - braided bread with actual colored eggs baked in. Delish!









After some good feasting we sat around and enjoyed one another's company. Guests: Dale, Ruth, Sherril, David & Ashley, Mindee, Tanner & Michelle & their kids Wyatt and Maya.

We missed Evan & Dana & their kids Trevin, Amanda & Ella, Kendy & Ken, and Klorissa & AJ! Next time!










Mindee and Wyatt became coloring buddies while the rest of us cleaned up. Mindee provided the colors for Wyatt to do his masterpiece... which is...? I never saw the finished product :)












Look how adorable little Maya is! She had the cutest little easter dress, but of course got down to the basics for the feasting :) I love babies!











So, it was a wonderful day! I have to give thanks to everyone who came and helped. We love all of you and appreciate all you do for us! We have fabulous family and friends!

This is also a day especially to remember Jesus Christ - his sacrifice for us and his life for us. Without Him we wouldn't have eternal friends and family. Happy Easter!!

The Myth behind Four Twenty (420)

I was trying to do some research about 420 (the stoner holiday) but I could never find the real reason behind it. I found lots of evidence on how to celebrate this day but I wanted to find out the truth behind this day because my mother was born on April 20th (420) and I wanted to make sure that she wasn't the real reason behind this day. Lets just say that I didn't find any evidence that tied her into this holiday.

Joo Lin and I were able to visit her on her birthday. It was a fun trip and we got to eat at my mother's favorite restaurant. I don't really like her favorite restaurant though so it was a lot of sacrifice on my part. Her birthday was a bit sad though, her daughter Klorissa (my sister) was not able to attend because she lives in another state now. Besides that it was a fun time. Happy Birthday MOM!! We love you!

Here is a link to the photos for our little adventure.

My favorite photo is this one:

Flowers on I5

On Monday Joo Lin and I took a trip to Eugene to eat at the Olive Garden. On our way down I got a little adventurous and pulled off the highway to go grab some lily's for my wife. She had no clue why I had randomly pulled off the road. I told her that I wanted to grab some flowers for her and then she lit up. As we were walking down the highway looking for safe passage to the patch of flowers a random car pulled off to see if we need assistance. I went to talk to him and told him that we had just pulled off to get flowers. I was quite surprised to see that someone would pull off and ask. He thought that we had ran out of gas and he just laughed at us when he found out what we were doing. Here are some photos of the event. If you want to go grab your own flowers you can find them located near milepost marker 226.

Happy Birthday Maya

Our friend Maya had her first birthday yesterday. We decided to make her a cake and here it is. We ran out of frosting so we were able to cover the whole cake though.

First Photo!

Here is the first photo from our new camera. It's a picture of me!!

New Camera

We finally decided to buy a new camera. I had won some money from playing Fantasy Baseball last year so we had some extra money burning in our pockets. We had numerous ideas of what we could get but I finally decided to get a camera when I went to Costco and I saw it. It was RED and I realized that this was a sign to get it. Plus they didn't have Rock Band for the PS3. I was going to take a photo of the camera but I thought that it would be easier to grab one of the net.

March Madness = Kelley Madness

The other day I tried to convince my wife to fill out a NCAA 2008 March Madness bracket. At first she didn't want to do it but then I told her that it was a tradition and that she had to do it. She looked at me funny and said "What tradition?" I then informed her that I was being silly like my mother because she always says that things are traditions when I think they otherwise not traditions. Finally Joo Lin laughed and she broke down and filled out a bracket yesterday. I thought that it would be fun to post the results on our blog.

Link to March Madness Bracket

P.S. The overall loser has to make dinner for a week!

March Madness is gone. The games were fun to watch and the wife and I had a nail biter with our bracket challenge. I thought that I had won for a couple of weeks. The funny thing is that I scored my bracket one way and the wife scored hers another way so that added some confusion. I thought that I had our challenge won, the wife only had one Final Four team and she only had one win in the last three days of the tournament. I had the wife make dinner the last two nights in a row. They were great meals too! Then I was cleaning up my office last night and I tried to give her bracket back to her and she said "Can you please find out what my final score was?" I told her I could but that it would be a pain because of the way that she scored it. We fought, no punches were thrown though. I rescored our brackets and the final score was 71-69. The wife had won!!!! :(

I contemplated whether or not I should tell her or if I should add a few points to mine. She had already made two meals and I thought that she would be hysterical at me. I decided that I had to tell her the truth. I went to tell her and she was mad, she started yelling at me...ok...can anyone picture Joo Lin yelling at cute little me? She just laughed...and now I have to make dinner for a week. I wonder what she will have me make?

BABY!!!

This title is a little misleading...Joo Lin and I are not having a baby but my little sister, Klorissa is pregnant!!! How exciting is that??

Easter Dinner

The Rice's are hosting Easter dinner this year. We are extremely excited as we have never hosted an event like this before. We are having bits and pieces of each of our families over and we are also having a one of our close friends family coming over too. I think we have over 11 or so people coming. So far we have bought 15 pounds of ham. Hopefully that will be enough, I think it should be. Since our apartment is extremely small, we are having it at our complexes club house. It's extremely large and it should be more comfortable for all of us. We will have to take some photos of the event.

To everyone: MERRY EASTER!

as the days go by...

Whew! We are into March already and life is grand. Kelley loves his job at Symantec and has funny stories on a daily basis. He is so good at what he does and has gotten high scores on his surveys. Besides the commute (he is a champ for the good attitude!), he looks forward to going to work everyday... his co-workers, the weekly treats work provides, and helping others. His weekends consist of Sundays and Mondays, which is different but he enjoys the "Kelley time" on Mondays. These days he spends his free time on his fantasy baseball database. It's intense and very cool!

CLAIR Company is still treating me well. I enjoy keeping busy and my friends at work. One of my favorite "tasks" at work is organizing various areas with Amy. During my "Joo Lin time" on Saturdays I read (don't laugh!) my old Sweet Valley books (Sweet Valley Twins & Sweet Valley High). It's dorky, I know - ha! On the non-dorky side of my leisure time I jog - see the next entry.

Life is fabulous. We love each other. The days go by....

jogging... love it... try it...

Amy and I are planning on jogging in the CARDV Mother's Day Run for Safe Families [Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence]. I have to give a shout out to Amy because she is my example and motivator - woohoo!! It's a 5K and the goal is to jog the entire thing. We are doing an 8 week couch-to-5K program and I feel good about it. I'm pretty excited to do this with Amy :) Wish us luck!

I have to give a plug for working out. I love it and I feel soooo good once I'm done. Ironic that I am saying this because I used to be convinced I couldn't jog any length of time. I hated track in high school (still can't figure out why I did it for 2 years!). When I started I felt like I was dying after just 1 lap. Now look at me! If you don't exercise, try it... even if it's just walking... life will seem better...

A Perfect 10.0

Kelley surprised me by taking me to a women's gymnastics meet between OSU and BYU last night. It was really fun. Those girls amaze me with the things they can do athletically. OSU is ranked 8th and BYU isn't ranked and I have to admit that it showed last night. The level of competitiveness was very clear. The highlight was Tasha Smith from OSU scoring a perfect 10.0 on the floor exercise. The performance was outstanding and was a lot of fun as a spectator.

Kelley and I both sported BYU apparel although Kelley wore his OSU jacket and was very clearly a Beaver at heart. The security guy was supposedly talking trash to me when we walked in by asking me what BYU stood for. Naive girl that I am, I didn't pick up on the clue and Kelley thought it was funny when I actually responded with "Brigham Young University - the other team here tonight." Fun times!

Late Night Scare

Wednesday night... about 11:15 pm...

Background: Since Kelley has to be at work by 7 am every day he goes to bed early (about 10:30 pm). I tend to stay up a little later since I am a night person and I don't have to get up so early. Most nights Kelley is sawing logs when I crawl into bed. The same scenario tonight: I crawl into bed while Kelley is sound asleep.

Then picture this....
Kelley is dead to the world... in his new favorite spot: the middle of the bed. I don't have much room and it's pretty warm so I lean up to open the window. I did this last night and Kelley briefly woke up to the noise of the blinds, leaned over, gave me a kiss then went back to sleep. Tonight when I touched the blinds (are you picturing this??) he half sat up, gave a (manly) little yell then sat up, really yelled, and grabbed his pillow to either attack me or shield himself. It definitely startled me and I didn't know what to do so I started talking.. "Hello, it's me. What are you doing? I'm just opening the window. Are you ok??" He calmed down a bit and told me I scared him (obviously), that he was sorry and then lay down and was completely out again. I had to then open the window - yep, wasn't successful the first attempt - then laid down trying to analyze what just happened. Then it struck me as FUNNY so I started giggling. This is the beginning of what Kelley calls my "laughing fits" and I can't stop. Then it turns into full blown laughter because I realize I am shaking the bed by laughing and thinking Kelley will get mad if I wake him up yet again. So I quiet down and then really wonder.... was Kelley going to attack me with the pillow or was he really just protecting himself from little ol' me....

Couch

Back in January, Joo Lin and I decided to purchase a new couch as a treat instead of going on a trip together. We thought that we would get more enjoyment out of a new couch. We did run into one problem, what to do with our old couch??? Here is a funny picture of what we decided to do with it. Luckily that night we were able to find a new home of our other couch and it didn't have to stay like this for too long
.

Bravo Zulu!

I had some free time today so I thought that I would give everyone an update on my new job. It has been over two months, so I guess I can still call it a new job.

For the past two months I have been working as a Technical Support Engineer for Symantec's Priority Support group. Symantec is the industry leader in antivirus and security software market and their software is used in 99% of the Fortune 500 company. They provide over 150 different software applications to these company's. You might be familiar with Norton Antivirus, this is antivirus software suite that is provided for home users while Symantec antivirus is mainly their antivirus suite for corporate users. I am providing support for these corporations or for anyone else that provides them with big bucks for English speaking technical support.

The colleagues that I work with are the best and it makes for a fun and entertaining work environment. I believe that I am make a nice addition to their group and have been accepted quite easily among them. It must be my charming/quirky personality that they like.

From the beginning, I was thrown into the line of fire and I think I have been holding up my own. They randomly survey customers that call in and so far I have had three survey's report back. Two of them were top scores 7 out of 7's and the other was a 6 out of 7. When you get all 7's they call it a Bravo Zulu which is a naval signal that means "Well Done". The flags at the beginning of this post represent the Bravo Zulu.

I have also had one of my calls recorded and graded. Out of a score of 5, I got a 4.61. I got marked down for saying "Cool" during the conversation. I will have to work on not saying cool for future callers.

The commute to Springfield does get tiresome at times but when I get to work I am excited to help customers and work on challenging situations that are always changing day by day. Basically, I love my job!

Klorissa and AJ Farewell

My sister and her husband are off to Arizona to start their new life together. AJ is in the Air Force and has been stationed in Tucson. A couple of weeks back we met up in North Bend and had a farewell dinner for them. It was a great time to get together as a family and to hang out with AJ's family and get to know them better. It was sad and fun event when all was said and done. Here is a picture of the event, check out the hat that my mother is wearing. I dig it. Best wishes to Klorissa and AJ as they start their new life together in sunny Arizona!!!

Bruce is back!!

Bruce, our car, got back from the autobody shop this week. We are so glad to have him back and I know that Joo Lin is excited that she doesn't have to crawl through the passenger side door anymore.

Thanks for being patient wife! You are the best!

It's "KETCHUP" time!

In grade school my teacher used to have "ketchup" day.... a day to get things in order and get caught up on old stuff. So here I am doing the same:

Dec 10 - Kelley started his new job at Symantec!! We are both extremely excited for this opportunity.

Dec 14 - We had dinner with some old friends at Bishop French's place. Friends, both old and new, are fabulous. We saw "I Am Legend" and enjoyed it. Who doesn't like Will Smith? Plus the storyline was interesting.

Dec 16 - Christmas at the Stephens House! It was a great day of visiting, laughing, eating, and exchanging gifts. Thanks to everyone for their thoughtfulness!! My Dad got new pigeons... Bonnie & Clyde.... they're a nice addition to the family.

Dec 17 - HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO THE RICE'S! Two whole years and we're still going. We enjoyed a nice dinner out. Kelley got me 14 long stemmed red roses and I got him a box of LIFE cereal. We are cute! The coming year holds more exciting memories for us.

Dec 19 - Happy early Christmas to us. We opened our gifts to each other (we tend not to wait until Christmas.... that will change when we have kids, don't worry!). I got Kelley a PlayStation Portable and the book "Baseball Between the Numbers". He got me a beautiful red cashmere sweater and a pedometer. Lucky us!

Dec 24 & 25 - Merry Christmas!! We headed to North Bend for Christmas with Mama Rice and the fam. It was traditional pizza for Christmas Eve and just visiting with family. Christmas brought some exciting oooh's and aaahhh's. Thanks everyone for their generosity!

Dec 31 - Happy New Years Eve! Kelley and I both worked today. We did our traditional dinner and a movie... Applebee's and "PS I love you". I love that movie... Kelley loves it because I love it. What a sweetie!
Please note Kelley got his first paycheck - exciting times!

2008
Can you believe it?! Another year come and gone... this one brings some VERY exciting things!

Jan 1 - Kelley worked to make some extra bucks. I lazed at home and it was fabulous. I slept in, woke up to Mindee calling over and over. Then I read and watched re-runs of "Charmed" and paid our bills. It was very relaxing and much needed.

Jan 2 - We have a new addition to the family. Nope, not what you're thinking.... a new COUCH! It's luxurious!! We got it into the apartment and get to re-arrange the living room tomorrow. Woohoo - Kelley & I are both looking forward to it.
Please note we FINALLY get Bruce fixed next week!! No more climbing in and out of the passenger side for me!

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.