I’m going to be breaking this entry into days since much has happened. Lets start with

Thursday (Turkey Day)
Today was a very nice and relaxing day. We planned on starting our black Friday shopping at 10PM tonight so we relaxed for most of the day. For Thanksgiving dinner we went to Jenny Yeh’s house and had Thanksgiving with her family. This included her two sons and their wives. , her husband, brothers, and their littles one and spouses / boyfriends. My family was the only non blood relatives there. However, it was very fun. The Yeh’s have been a long time family friend and it was great to catch up with them. Like I said before, our plan is to start shopping at 10PM. After dinner and after we picked up Kana’s friend we drove down to Camarillo Premium Outlets. Some of their stores opened at 10PM, but most opened at 12AM.



Wednesday (Black Friday)
We started Black Friday on Thursday. We were already on a roll with the shopping. When I say we I am talking about Me, Hiroko, Kana, and her friend. Though I didn’t buy anything at Camarillo, Hiroko bought some stuff, Kana’s friends bought some stuff, and Kana bought everything. She was on a spending spree. We hit up many different stores, but Kate Spade must have been the worst. After lining up to get in, we stood, or should I say “I Stood”, in line for over an hour just to check out. We didn’t even get home until 6AM.
Hiroko was scheduled to have eye surgery at 1PM so I wanted to make sure she gets adequate rest before the visit. Since I got my Lasik done, Hiroko has been wanting it. We arrived at Laserpro and after about 30 minutes we were out. The Lasik surgery only took 10 minutes max.


For the rest of the day Hiroko needed to rest her eyes. Though she needed to rest them no one ever said anything about shopping. So we went to Marshall’;s and did some shopping for Hiroko. I picked out clothes for her. She wasn’t allowed to open her eyes and see. So it was a fun shopping for her and a good surprise for her to see what I picked out for her.
Today I bought Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 since Hiroko just slept when we got back to rest her eyes.



Saturday
We woke up early morning to meet up with a guy in Huntington Beach to check out a Camp Chef Grill I saw on Craigslist. We’ve been wanting to purchase one, but they are quite pricy. So when we found one on Craigslist for $100 that comes with 3 BBQ accessories we were excited. We drove down, picked up the grill, walked the dogs at the beach (very short walk) we headed home. Hiroko was excited to use her new 20/20 eyes. She keeps thinking she is wearing contacts, but then realizes that she is not. Later that night we went to PACT and had left over dinner.. came home and watched lost world.
Oh yes.. I beat Modern Warefare 2 today.

Sunday
Today was almost a typical Sunday. Wake up, church, then home. However, Hiroko and I wanted to test out the Camp Chef, so we invited Erich and Resolva to come and carne asada BBQ. We ended up having a great time eating, chatting, then watching Hang Over.

There are few things I am absolutely captured by. One of them are watches. There is something special about the beauty and precision of high end watches that I really love. It is like art to me. I found this video off of Audemars Piguet's site which I belive will show you a little of what I mean. Hopefully one day I'll be able to afford one.

Hans Meier,SCS, Audemars-Piguet corporate movie 2009 from Hans Meier SCS on Vimeo.

This last satruday (11/14/09) I climbed at the Riverside Quarry with Young, Marty and Kenny. Everytime I'm out there I am reminded of the accident that happend a few years back when Eric Shum fell and cracked his head open. 2 weeks or so of coma and many days of rehab followed. Riverside Quarry has a odd feel to it. It is very trashy, however the climbing is very good. There was so many people out there it was almost like a gym. We even saw a few base jumpers hucking themselves off the top.


Young Chu and Kenny Suh working out the moves in their minds while Marty Galang ropes up.


Marty Galang working his way up.


Toffee Hsieh


Teddy Hsieh

AORE stands for Association of Outdoor Recreation Education, it is also the name of a large outdoor ed conference at the end of every year. Many coordinators and student guides of outdoor rec programs come out and learn from each other. This year I had the pleasure to attend the confrenece. However, not as a participant, but as a vendor for Mad Rock. I enjoyed it still. AORE was held at Minneapolis, Minnesota. I've never been thre and had a great time exploring the citi on foot and public transporation. It was also the furthest east I've been. I had the chance to meet many new poeple and catch up with some friends from before.

Radisson was located right on campus. 5 nights here


I found this tree on the west bank of the Mississipii, between the east and west campus. Look at all um shoes.


The Mississippi


The bridge aross the Mississipi. It was acutally pretty long.


A view of the city from U of M's Coffman Center


An art museum located on campus.

As the day winds down people step away ffrom the academic aspect of the confrence and move toward the social aspect. The nights are spent in parts of town called "Dinky Town". This is where all the bars and lounges are found.

Start of Dinky Town


At the Kitty Kat Klub - a nice lounge bar

The last day. I had the chance to check out the Mall of America. I got to say it was HUGE.. so many shop.. so many things to do. I literally spend the whole day there. I was able to probably walk the mall 6 times or so. However, I didn't see all the stores. In the middle of the mall there is an amusement park. As you can see below.


Check out the roller coaster at MOA


The Lego Shop at the MOA


The East entrance of the mall.


There was also this Aquarium in the Mall. Actually its under the mall.


Apparently they have the largest variety of sharks in the US or something.

The first weekend of November we traveled to Bishop, CA to get some climbing in. There was many climbers there cause the temps are cooling down making friction ideal. As winter comes closer I feel like that this will be my last chace to go to Bishop. If it starts snowing I'll be heading up to Mammoth instead. Though it was a short weekend trip we had a great time. This is also Toffee's first long trip in a car and she did well. We packed the car with 5 peopel and 2 dogs and drove up to wrestle some large pebbles.


Morning at our camp site, Teddy Hsieh in the backgound


Toffee Hsieh taking a morning stroll around the campground

The weather in Bishop was beautiful. Not too hot and not too cold. They sky was as blue as it can be. We met many other climbers that we know. First day we climbed at the Buttermilks then we moved to the Happies the second day.


Lou Lou above it all.


Me on the famous South West Arete of Grandma Pea Body


Kenny Suh up the arete.


Seeking shade from the sun, Kenny Suh and Mike Wang


Jessica working a boulder problem in the Happies.


My Baby, Hiroko Otsuka, working on Solstice.