We had a great Christmas! I think this photo of my nephew thanking my dad for his new bike pretty much sums up the day!
Archive for December, 2009
Merry Christmas!~
December 26, 2009St. Thomas Hattiesburg Christmas Eve
December 25, 2009I hope that everyone is able to spend time with their families this Christmas. This really is a magical time of the year. My heart goes out to those who are away from their families at this time of the year.
My whole family ,minus my youngest brother who is working, gathered for Christmas Eve Mass at the Convention Center here in Hattiesburg. We came back after Mass and sat around enjoyed some egg-nogg and watched National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. JJ and I had to wait till everyone went to sleep to wrap our packages. Everyone will come to the house tomorrow to open presents and then we will have a big family dinner.
The Quartet warming up the crowd
Father Tommy talking about Christmas
Cross at the back of the Convention Center
Santa paid a visit after Mass
Merry Christmas!!!
New Orleans Bowl
December 24, 2009
Enjoying our first round of Hurricaines.
It has been a little over two years since I have been to a football game. When I heard that the University of Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles would be playing in the New Orleans bowl, I jumped at the chance to go. There were about eight of us that bought tickets and went to the game. We started the day off driving to New Orleans at around lunch time. JJ and I checked in to the Pavillion Hotel which we got on Hotwire.com for $63. Steven, Katye, and Dwayne met us at the hotel and we walked to Bourbon Street. We started off at the Cat’s Meow where our friend Carr was recruiting fellow USM fans to come enjoy the fun.
Carr working the door!
We stayed here for a few hours enjoying the 3 for 1 happy hour and Karoke and then moved over to Pat O’ Briens to enjoy a few hurricaines. We made it to the game and watched as our Golden Eagles got beat by Middle Tennessee State. We went back to Pat O’Briens to drown our sorrows. At around 3AM, JJ and I found ourselves at Harrahs playing cards. After winning a couple of hundred dollars we got back to our room around 4………. I didn’t bring my DSLR but did bring the Canon S3. It is much lighter and smaller and easy to carry around. I thought the shots came out okay.
Carr, Katye, and JJ having fun at Cats Meow
Damion Fletcher carrying the ball. Not bad for my small camera.
Enjoying the game
St. Thomas Catholic Christmas Party | Hattiesburg
December 19, 2009My mom asked me this morning to come and take a few photos of the Christmas party at St Thomas in Hattiesburg. We were already planning on attending but I really didn’t want to break out the camera as I knew that there would be a lot of people that I hadn’t seen since the wedding. I was still able to get a few shots in but spent more time catching up with old and new friends. We enjoyed great food and drinks and an all round good time. The church’s secretary’s son recently married a Korean lady and she and JJ hit it off. I think they were both happy to be able to speak in Korean. It was nice for them to be able to compare stories and experiences about being married to Americans. We will definitely meet up with them once we get settled into Hattiesburg after returning from Kentucky.
Youn and JJ
Mom, Dad, and Mary
Father Tommy reading his Irish Poem.Crystal and Husband and friends
If you have never met Father Tommy, you are really missing out. Not only is he a great priest but he goes out of his way to make you feel at home. He did a wonderful job at our wedding. Not only did he make JJ feel very comfortable but even helped out with serving food at our reception~
Mr. Wilbur getting ready to sing
Wilbur has a great voice! His wife played the organ and the piano for our wedding. They are both great~
Enjoying the party.
Everyone enjoying themselves
Sister Carmelita
The lady above is one of my favorite people in the world. She works tireless for those that don’t have anything. I really can’t put in to words how much she cares about other people. Also, she is the kind of person that truly listens when you are talking to her. She was so thrilled to hear that JJ has been saving cans for collection. I really need to give her a call and see if I can donate some time to help her out with one of her many projects.
Casino Run, Christmas Cheer, Plans, and Report Card #1
December 18, 2009Grand Casino
JJ was at library on Monday afternoon studying. I was running around taking care of some errands. The weather was horrible. I had been thinking about sitting around at home and just decided that I wanted to get out of the house. At the last second, we choose to go to Biloxi and stay at the Grand Casino. Because of the crazy weather, it took us over 2 hours to get there. At one point we were driving about 30mph with our hazards on. We finally arrived and happily gave the keys to the valet. The price for the room was nice, but we will definitely be choosing a different casino next time. The gaming area was very small and they had problems opening tables for us to play and there are casinos that are actually closer to us here in Hattiesburg. We did have a great burger from the pub since the buffett was closed.(We were so looking forward to some crab legs) We didn’t win anything but we did have a good time and it was nice to get away for just one night.
Christmas Spirit
Last night we had the pleasure of attending a Chrismas pagent at Oak Grove Methodist Church. My good friend’s children were performing and we went to support them. It definitely put us in the Christmas spirit and the kids did a great job.
Plans
- Today Find an apartment for March. We are going to start looking. We probably won’t sign a lease until we get back from Kentucky in February.
- Christmas Shopping. I have no idea what to get my parents or grand parents.
- Friday night is the St. Thomas Christmas Party. It should be fun.
- Saturday night we are having dinner and watching the Saints game with some friends.
- Sunday we are driving to New Orleans for the New Orleans Bowl and cheering on the Southern Miss Golden Eagles. SMTTT It has been along time since I have been on Bourbon Street!
Report Card
Here are my grades for the week! Hopefully, this will become a weekly installment.
A+ Goes to Hotwire.com. I booked a room for the New Orleans Bowl last week. They got me into the Le Pavillion for $60.
A+ Goes to Grand Casino Biloxi for their hotel price mid-week $39.
A+ To the UPS lady who saw me driving away about 100 yards from my house, recognized JJ or myself and flagged us down to give us a package. (Probably JJ, not that many Koreans on our street in Hattiesburg)
A+ To the photographer who took our picture for the St. Thomas directory. You took a nice shot and made my wife’s day when you exclaimed that I came back with gold from Korea.
A+ to Adorama Camera store. You got my tripod and ball head delivered exactly when you said it would arrive!
A+ to the New Orleans Saints! Who Dat?
F to the auditors for my car insurance. You need evidence that I was not in the country for 4 years and were not sure that a complete copy of my passport would work. Also, you need proof that my wife is my wife and didn’t allow a marriage certificate to work???
A+ to my insurance agent at Nation Wide for sorting all the above mess out without driving me crazy. You guys are great.
B to the security guard at the casino. You had never seen a permanent resident card before. You really didn’t know what to think. You were much nicer after your superior told you that it was a valid ID.
F To the pitbosses at the Grand Casino Biloxi. You had 3 tables that were empty and the dealers were just hanging out. You still wouldn’t open up a Let it Ride table for us??? I asked on Monday night and Tuesday morning to have a table opened. We didn’t even have a chance to give you our money!
F to Lady Luck. Give me at least one small jackpot!!
Family Day
December 14, 2009I think a part of me is missing Korea although I do enjoy our life in Hattiesburg…I find myself still checking out my regular Korean blogs and friend’s Facebook pages who are still in Korea. JJ and I both realize that our lives have changed and that we are now living in the States. We are both going through culture shock. The convenience factor of Korea is still my number one reason for enjoying life there. I really forgot how nice it was to have everything so close to you.
I still have a list of things to do that need to be done before we leave for Kentucky but are getting pushed further and further back. Luckily, they are all personal projects that really don’t have a firm deadline.
We did make it to early Mass at St. Thomas here in Hattiesburg today. We all came back to my parent’s house and put up the tree and started the process of decorating from Christmas. My brother and his family came out and we ended up taking a bunch of photos. I told my brother that I would send my photographer bill to him in 3 years when he finishes law school.
Extreme Makeover Hattiesburg, MS
December 11, 2009My brother lives right down from the latest Extreme Makeover home. The construction has been ongoing for past week. I have never seen the show, but it has been a huge deal around Hattiesburg. My brother and his wife were sitting at home one night when the part of the crew knocked on their door and apologized for the mess and the noise. They invited them to walk down to the tents for their meals for the rest of the week. My sister-in-law has been taking full advantage of that:) I have been wanting to get down to the site and check out the house. I worked at the Sheriff’s Office with the winner of the makeover many years ago. His name is Sherman Heathcock and although we were not close, I always remember him being a good guy. I do know that he was flown back from Iraq to be involved in the show. For more information you can check out the Extreme Hattiesburg Website.
We walked down there today to see the moving of the bus. Well, we actually saw them move the bus in practice but they were taking so long that we decided to head back to my brother’s house for some warmth! We did run into a couple of celebrities. Christian Slater who helped with construction and Ty Pennington ,the host of the show were on the scene. I was able to get a few photos. There were people everywhere and we were able to slip past security and get pretty close to the action. We actually made two trips to the site today. The second time we went there were way too many people and were not able to see anything, so we headed back after getting cold.
The house seen on the left looks great. I am glad that they did not build something huge that would stick out in a neighborhood of somewhat smaller houses.
This is what it looked like when we arrived the second time. You could really see anything.
We can’t wait to see what it looks like on the inside and are looking forward to seeing the episode when it airs in March.
Study Day Hattiesburg Library
December 10, 2009JJ and I made our way to the Hattiesburg Library today to get some studying time in. JJ studied for a few hours and I walked over to the cemetery next door to get some shots of a tree that I have been wanting to take for awhile now.
I wish that I could say that the library was a great place to study, but there were way to0 many distractions too study peacefully. Two guys were playing a computer game on their laptop right next to us. They even had brought their own controllers. They were cheering at every chance and it got old fast. There was also a guy across from us that was dipping and using a bottle has a spit cup. Thankfully, he was asked to leave. Next time, I will ask them to unlock one of the private study rooms, which I should have done today.
Here are a few shots that I got from the cemetery
I don’t know what holiday the Stars and Bars are out for or for how long, but many of them had been destroyed. I was curious if they were torn down or had just been damaged from the weather that we have been having recently. The father must have fought in the Civil war as he would have been about 30 when war broke out. After seeing this photo and seeing the work by Marty Kittrell and Robert Walker (a couple of great photographers by the way), it makes me realize that I really need to get over to Vicksburg to take some photos around the battlefield.
Korean Words of the day:
- 부지런하다-to be diligent/hard working
- 중요하다- to be important
- 사업하다- to do business
- (-이/가) 막히다-to be blocked
