Archive for the ‘Mississippi Life’ Category

Reality…………

February 23, 2010
The kitchen table overtaken.

The kitchen table overtaken.

This is the center of operations.  JJ and I have taken over the breakfest room as our office.  She is busy studying for the GRE and TOEFL and I am busy dealing with everything else.

The main project right now is to find an apartment.  There are plenty of apartments in Hattiesburg and we could easily move somewhere tomorrow if we were willing to settle.  We are trying to find an apartment that allows pets, is not run down, and is not too expensive.  JJ really wants to get a cat but the best apartment on our list does not allow pets so maybe no feline for us.

The second item on my list is finding a job.  I am in the process of reactivating my teaching license.  While I was in Korea, I didn’t keep up with my CEU’s and since I was on an alternative route license; I will probably have to take a couple of classes this summer to reactivate it.  I am currently trying to pick up any part-time work that is available.  I really don’t want to use up all of our savings.  I take the census test in a couple of weeks so I hope that I will be able to do that for a few weeks.

Not actually driving this taxi

Not actually driving this taxi

I also just found out that my brother, Brent and I will be running our friend’s taxi service for the next couple of months while he goes home to Ghana.  We have been joking about going out and getting driving hats and gloves.  The taxi service really doesn’t do that much business and we won’t be picking people up off the streets.  It will mainly involve taking people to the airport on the Coast which is about an hour  away.  I am sure that we will also get the occasional call from someone who has too much to drink. It should be interesting. Brent and I are going to take some portraits in front of the taxi later when we have some time.  I will be sure and post them!~

I am also in the process of starting my recruiting business.  My best friends in Korea are English teacher recruiters and I have already signed a contract with them to provide teachers from Mississippi and the rest of the Southeast.  I am working on getting a new website online and have started doing research/brainstorming on how to market it/meet potential teachers.

I am also studying for the GRE.  I haven’t really gotten into studying that hard but have been trying to study a little bit in the evenings.  I did have a great meeting with my Grad School adviser who gave me a lot of encouragement and some great information.  I still need to decide if I am going to join the program this summer or wait until the fall.

Project 55 Weigh-in 246  _ I gotta new scale..Don’t think I lost 4 pounds in a week. maybe a pound or two.

Mississippi Snow

February 14, 2010

To my Korean Family and readers 새해 복 많이 받으세요!! Enjoy your New Year and have some good food for me!!!! I got to speak to a few of my Korean family members tonight and really should have called them back after watching the short track competition.  I know that they were upset over the Men’s result tonight.  Korea should have taken all three medals but only ended up taking the gold due to a crash between the 2nd and 3rd place Korean racers.

We don’t get that much snow in South Mississippi and when we do, it is a huge deal.  We really only got about 4 inches but you would have thought we had had a blizzard. A few pictures from the past couple of days:

Don't see this every winter.

Don't see this every winter.

Moose seemed to enjoy the snow!

Moose seemed to enjoy the snow!

My nephew had a great time playing in the snow.

My nephew had a great time playing in the snow.

Is he a poser or what?

Is he a poser or what?

Try to get his bone......I dare you~!

Try to get his bone......I dare you~!

The outside cat that JJ let move into our room!!

The outside cat that JJ let move into our room!!

Who Dat????

February 12, 2010

I have been cheering for the Saints for over 23 years now. My parents gave me a Saints helmet when I was 10 years old. When my family moved to Hattiesburg, everyone in my family really adopted the Saints since they are only an hour and a half away. I will never forget the feeling of knowing that the Saints had won the Superbowl! Here are a few photos from our Superbowl Party:

My Parent's house.

My Parent's house.

JJ and Molly

JJ and Molly

Dwayne lost his seat!

Dwayne lost his seat!

Outside enjoying a cold one!  Who Dat!

Outside enjoying a cold one! Who Dat!

Jason cooked up some great ribs!

Jason cooked up some great ribs!

I just watched the Tracy Porter interception for the 100th time. I could watch that play on a loop for hours and hours. JJ and I went to Petal to view the game with some friends of ours. We ate way too much and had a great time~! When Porter intercepted the ball, my heart froze. I gasped for air. I just knew that the Saints were going to win their first Super Bowl. I will never forget that feeling. The following are not my videos but the reaction was similar at the party I was attending.

Also check out the NFL’s sounds of the game here.

Happy New Year!

January 1, 2010

I hope that everyone had a great New Year~  JJ and I are starting the new year off with a trip to Kentucky to visit my grandparents. We will be in New Concord KY for little over a month.  I have a lot of work to do helping my grandfather with some maintence around his house and I hope to be able to get some great landscape shots of Ketucky Lake and some of the older tobaco barns. It also sounds like we will visit a couple of the distillers while we are in KY.  I am looking forward to visiting Jim Beam.

We played around with some sparkles tonight but pretty much had a quiet New Year’s Eve.  We spent most of the night packing for our trip!  We will leave as soon as we get up in the morning!

2010

love

Happy 2010

Merry Christmas!~

December 26, 2009

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!

thankful

I 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

The Quartet warming up the crowd

Father Tommy talking about Christmas

Father Tommy talking about Christmas

Cross at the back of the Convention Center

Cross at the back of the Convention Center

Santa paid a visit after Mass

Santa paid a visit after Mass

Merry Christmas!!!

My 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

Youn and JJ

Mom, Dad, and Mary

Mom, Dad, and Mary

Father Tommy Ready his Irish Poem.

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

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.

Enjoying the party.

c-

Everyone enjoying themselves

Everyone enjoying themselves

Sister Carmelita

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.

Grand 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.

maryandjoesph

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!!

Add to Technorati Favorites Photo Blog blogs & blog posts Travel Blogs - Blog Catalog Blog Directory blogarama - the blog directory