tyler, texas

well after another day of roadtripping which was filled with roadkill and some concerned riding on my part (i ve been driving 2 shifts of 2 hrs everyday just because i dont trust other people to drive...i m definitely the most reliable driver)...we ve made it to tyler texas and tomorrow we ll be getting up extra early to leave for mississippi at 7 am...i had Chick-Fil-A and Sonic for the first time today and i must say that i thought they were both pretty good...especially Chick-Fil-A...they should definitely have some in the bay because i think it would do well...its amazing to think that i ve driven through colorado, new mexico and texas...and tomorrow...louisiana and mississippi...pretty cool things to cross off on my to-do list i must say...well...i gotta sleep now because i m getting up soon...call me sometime folks

amarillo, texas

well...we drove through colorado and new mexico running through many tumbleweeds along the way (yes...tumbleweeds!!!) to finally arrive in amarillo, texas where we re staying for the night only to drive another 8 hours tomorrow to reach the other end of texas...i guess thats how big it is...another update tomorrow

M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I

well folks...here's the word...my final team is Fire 3 and there are 9 of us all together not including the team leader...next monday feb 26 we will be driving for about 2-3 days to Pascagoula, Mississippi where we will be living until april 14!!!

isnt that crazy??? just look at the name of that place...pascagoula...hahaha...thats gotta be the deep south if i ever heard of a deep southern city name....we ll be living in a recreation center and cooking our own food...so far from what i understand we ll be doing needs assessments for people who have lost their homes and then we ll actually be writing them grants!!! AND after that we get to go help purchase the materials and actually build their houses...so its really cool that we get to witness the whole process...

just so you know how pascagoula is...let me copy and paste a couple of lines of description of the city...errrrr town

"The population was 26,200 at the 2000 census...Today, Pascagoula is home to the state’s largest employer, Ingalls Shipbuilding, owned by Northrop Grumman Ship Systems — "America’s Shipbuilder."
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina's 20-foot storm surge and 30-55 foot seawaves devastated Pascagoula,[1] much like Biloxi and Gulfport and the rest of the Mississippi Gulf Coast.[2] Katrina came ashore during the high tide of 6:12AM, 2.1 ft more.[3] Nearly 92% of Pascagoula was flooded. Most homes along Beach Boulevard were destroyed, and FEMA trailers are now an omnipresent sight. Due to the major media focus on the plight of New Orleans and Biloxi-Gulfport in the aftermath of Katrina, many Pascagoula citizens have expressed feeling neglected or even forgotten following the storm. Most Pascagoula residents did not possess flood insurance, and many were required to put their home on pilings before being given a permit to rebuild.
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 26,200 people, 9,878 households, and 6,726 families residing in the city. The population density was 666.4/km² (1,726.4/mi²). There were 10,931 housing units at an average density of 278.0/km² (720.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 67.15% White, 28.97% African American, 0.18% Native American, 0.97% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 1.67% from other races, and 1.04% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.89% of the population.
The median income for a household in the city was $32,042, and the median income for a family was $39,044. Males had a median income of $30,313 versus $22,594 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,891. About 18.1% of families and 20.7% of the population were below the poverty line,"

so yeah...thats where i m headed...by me just being there i should increase that 0.97% Asian rate right up hahahah...i keep trying to post more pictures so you guys can see but the connection here is so bad that it takes absolutely forever to get them up...but i will eventually...lets see what else is there that i can tell you...if you guys have any questions or want to know anything about what i do just leave a question in the comment section and i ll try to address it...i m not really sure how many of you read this but yeah...hopefully i ll talk to you all soon

hmmm...i went to see The Shins here in denver and it was really good show...much better then i expected...i got to see the little hipster scene down here in denver...

oooooh.,..someone actually came to visit me on sunday...I got to hang out with Jenna who i randomly met on the streets of SF like 6 months ago...she moved back to colorado so i got to see her...it was really cool seeing someone that i knew from back home...hopefully i ll be here in denver enough to chill some more

pitchers of beer here are only $5 at the bar we go to...so thats very nice...i usually just walk around the bar drinking straight out of the pitcher...its way more efficient...hahah...

there are just too many amazing things to highlight and i m getting tired...we had a talent show last nite and my team member is an amazing guitar player who has a couple of amazing songs...i have one of them on video that i ll attempt to put up some day...you will be amazed

i ll try to post one more time before i head to mississippi but i plan on bringing my laptop down there anyways...keep in touch people...feel free to call me sometime and i ll do the same...

this is it...

we re getting our final teams and the location of our first project in about 20 minutes and everyone is really nervous about the final teams because we ve all made certain friends and such...ahhhhhhh...the first project will definitely be in the gulf coast so i ll update right when i find out..

after the warriors lost to the nuggets...

baseline physical training...

so we just finished our baseline test for our physical training...basically its a way for us to try to improve our fitness over the course of the 10 months...we get timed for a 1.5 mile run which includes hills and then we do as many sit ups and push ups as we can in 1 minute...so here are my results...i did average for the run and i did pretty well in the sit ups and push ups in comparison to everyone else...for the run i ran it in 15:01 which i m pretty satisfied with since there were hills and this is denver which has really thin air...my throat was really burning...and i did 50 sit ups in a minute and 52 pushups in a minute...so yeah...they test us continually throughout the term...so i hope i do better...now i m off to our next workshop which is called "motor stables"...its where we all learn how to check oil, change tires, check the engine, etc for the 12-15 passenger vans we ll be driving...we just changed teams for the 3rd time today and we get our final teams next week...its been fun...its just so different then anything at home...even things here in america make you see how big the world really is...there are people from all walks of life here and its pretty amazing hearing all their different stories...its just that there are people from all over the country here...its hard to get this type of experience on your own...

the dorm experience i never got...

well...i m actually posting in the middle of the day...we just got done with our first aid and cpr certification today which was basically from 8 - 4 and now i m just waiting for our PT (physical training) which we have 3 times a week...it sounds bad but its not that bad because we just played organized sports for about an hour and today is water polo...so yeah...the demographics of all the people on the campus is hmmmm...lets see...there s supposededly around 250 people here...95% i would say are white...there s maybe 10 blacks...3-5 latinos...and 3-4 asians...there s 2 other asian guys here but i definitely stand out cuz i have the long hair and i think i m more sociable...so basically i m saying i m a lot cooler then them because they seem like they re awkward around everyone hahahhaah...i mean...i dont wanna sound cocky but thats the way it is...i fit in and adapt very nicely...so yeah...i noticed when i went to wal mart the other day how strange our group must look...because the guys that i was walking with....here was the lineup...a tall irish guy...a crippled guy in a wheelchair...a french guy...and an asian guy...hahah...very funny....but yeah...living in the dorms is really cool...thats the one thing i always regretted about college...but yeah...now i get to live here....it all works out in the end...its just cool being able to walk around whereever and find people who wanna hang out...but yeah...more to come

i ve been having incredible amounts of gas...

the title says a lot...i think the cafeteria has been giving me non stop gas...i swear i ve been like a farting factory....i just feel my stomach get bloated and bloated...so i finally asked all the other guys living near me and they say the same thing...so its gotta be the food...yesterday we had our first service project...we worked in a food distribution center and boxed up food and such...it was such a relief from sitting in classrooms all day...we boxed up probaly 600 boxes before we left...it was so awesome...i ve been really tired lately just with adjusting and doin stuff all day...so i ll have to update you more later...

waiting for the food boxing to start in the warehouse...

more of the warehouse...
pallets of food...

and last but not least...my face plants...i have been just jumping face first into huge lakes of snow and trying to get a good indentation...here is one of them...you can see my legs....my head...etc...i recommend doin that...its fun

the sun is out...

alright...the snow has finally stopped falling and the sun has finally come out...its actually pretty nice now...the last couple of days have just been more training...we learned about community service awards, campus standards, got our physicals and just plain hung out...for the physical we had to do a urine drug test which was the first time i actually had to pee in a cup...it was hard...i had to drink a bottle of water right before we got in the clinic. then i got my tetanus and tb shot...my arm is still a little sore from the tetanus shot...i m really tired right now and tomorrow is the first time we work a little with an outside organization...i think we re working with a food distribution center...let s see...initial impressions of denver...the city is HUGE, land wise...the cabs absolutely SUCK in the city...the streets are deserted...its cold...haha...i ll try to update more later...

this is abby chillin with me while we wait for our laundry to be done...

abby and andrea playing with our huge lint ball...


and here...

me...waiting...for th e laundry...
here s my impression i made when i jumped in the thick snow...as you can tell...thats my hand and head and body...

and this is abby and andreas imprint...

this is frenchie...he s from the bay area...

dead fly sitting next to me

getting tired in our workshop
a chair openin the window.....
abby again...she s from so cal

denver is nice...verrrry nice

so today was the first day we wore our uniforms and i guess it was pretty cool since all 250 of us looked the same...makes you really feel like you re part of something bigger than yourself...basically we learned the rules and stuff about driving 15 passenger vans and then we got to go drive...we stopped off and saw buffalo bills grave and this cool little gift shop...after that we just relaxed and chilled at the dorms where i was just meeting more people and playing taboo...pretty uneventful today but it was still fun...so here s some pics to keep you occupied

my hallway in our dorm building...walsh hall...this hall is filled with all fire unit guys...

this is my team for now...fire 3...in our van...shira...kim..chad...zach...

a cool little scene filled with snow covered trees while driving up to lookout mountain...

the sign on my door that told me what room and unit i m in...

a nice view with smoke coming out of the Coors brewery...

buffalo bill...dont know why...but i thought it was kinda cool

uhhhh...yeah...thats a stop sign...might help if you could see it better

the view from our cafeteria window...the rocky mountains just surround us...its cool

this is the Coors brewery...its huge...they supposedly give you 3 glasses of beer if you complete the tour...we re trying to plan a trip

some of denver...looks so nice now...but i wonder what it looks like when the snow is gone...

take care everyone...update me on how you all are doing...feels like i ve already been gone for awhile...ahhh ahhhh ahhhhhhh...storyme

when the world sleeps...we will listen

denver...the first post

well...after months of waiting, i ve finally made it...denver...

heres the view on my plane ride in...as you can tell...its super warm and wonderful...watch out denver, here comes the asian kid with the long hair...

this is my dorm room on the campus which is a university campus...its strange because you have to pull out the beds from underneath the drawer thingies...haha...my roommate s name is Larry Skidmore from Ohio...hes a cool guy who drives a sick wrangler...our heater only shoots out cool air so we had to get some more blankets...

another pic of the room with our desks...

another view from the plane...see how warm it is???

check out these views from the room where i did 2 hours of paperwork...

our sink in the dorm...

that s larry on the table and kelsey...i met her first on myspace...myspace rockss

this is River who s from montana with her cool socks on a piece of wood balancing on a big chunk of plastic pipe...that was pretty cool

and heres the lovely cafeteria...where they serve such small portions that if i dont lose weight here...i REALLY am fat

overall...there are just too many names being thrown at me now but i m trying to learn them all...i ve met a lot of people who recognize me from myspace...but thats probably because i m the only asian guy with long hair...there s supposed to be a snowstorm this weekend that s gonna dump 5 feet of snow...i m doing driver training tomorrow with my group to learn how to drive these 12 passenger vans...more updates to come...its just that the internet isnt great here and this site sucks when it comes to uploading pics...someone help me figure it out...time for bed...