It's snowing!

It's snowing in Richmond, and will be for the entire weekend. I got out of work and it took me about 20 minutes to warm up my car and get all the snow off. Then the drive home took 3 times as long. Actually, I never made it home. Some guy had to help me push my car up a little hill on the way, so I was afraid to drive up the big hill to my house. I ended up parking in the CVS lot at the bottom of the hill, then trekked in shin-deep snow up the hill to get home. I was soaked to my socks. But boy, is it beautiful out! I just hope my car doesn't get snowed in because I still have to go to work in the morning.

This is what the street looks like right now. No way I could've made it up the hill.

My shoes and socks were soaked by the time I got home, not to mention my long underwear underneath.

U2 360°

Went to see the world's biggest band in Raleigh last weekend at NC State and I'd have to say it was one of the best shows I've seen! It helps that it was on the night of the full moon, and it was outdoors in a football stadium with 60,000 people. The stage set was spectacular. It was supposed to be a spaceship, and Bono sure did take us all on a journey. I had not been a huge fan of U2, but I liked them and always wanted to go to their concert. Now I can see why people are such big fans. They sure put on a good show, and everything was very inspiring. They had a lot of messages, and it seems as if Bono was always performing for a cause. I'm glad to see that he is using the power of his fame to do good. Maybe he feels that he has a responsibility to do so, but it makes him a very unselfish rock star! I have more appreciation for U2 now that I see what they are trying to do. The pictures do not fully capture the grandeur of the night.

We had pretty good seats with a clear view of the entire stage, although one of the legs of the spaceship was right in front of us.

60,000 People were there. Here are just some of the hands.

It's amazing to hear this many people sing along to the songs.

Here is the spaceship transformed with the screen stretched out over the center stage. The bridges also move over the crowd below as Bono walked along the outer ring.


The 360 degree screen made it easier for us to see what Bono was up to.

Perhaps you can get a better idea of how the night went with a more official report. Now back to reality.

Save the date!

TT & I have our wedding date set -- 15th of May 2010! We are getting married in Church Hill at St. Patrick Catholic Church and our reception is at the Colony Club in downtown Richmond. You can keep up to date on our wedding plans by going to our new wedding website.

St. Patrick Church

The Colony Club

Ken & Shan get married!

My little brother is all grown up! Ken & Shan got married on Aug 8, 2009 at Castle Green in Pasadena. The weather was perfect and the wedding was beautiful. I loved the thriller dance, and we all had a blast taking photos in the photobooth. Congratulations to my brother and new sister-in-law!

Pepper in Virginia

Pepper is settling into her new home. Here she is in her new bed. She likes it so much, she no longer sleeps on our bed!

And even though she has an automatic feeder that dispenses food 6 times a day, she still thinks that I have something to do with it so she still begs. This morning, she yelled for 10 minutes and woke me up because she heard the food come out and the door to the room was closed. I guess that makes her think that I still control whether or not she gets to eat. Hopefully she will soon learn that I have no control over when it will come out.

Doctor of Veterinary Medicine

On June 12, 2009, I graduated from the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. I am now officially a veterinarian. That's Dr. Hong to you! I did it! Thank you everyone for your support in the last 4 years! I couldn't have done it without you.

Facebook Profile

I looked at my facebook profile today without signing in, and felt that it maybe was a good summary of me for the moment. It included a mix of friends from past and present. Gave an overview of what I liked and disliked. In summary, I have a picture of me working with animals, I hate cigarettes, and you can see that I like pizza hut, basketball, and H&M, but also enjoy supporting non-profits and is liberal enough to listen to NPR. I enjoy a mix of music from pop to electronica (Beyonce and Bjork), and I value keeping up with the news (NYTimes). All in all, I would say that anyone who knows me would know that this is me if they happen to be searching! I could have gotten only one snippet of me that some people didn't know about, but instead, it was a very comprehensive overview of who I am. Or at least who I think I am.

Bread Pudding

I had some stale french bread the other day and it was still whole, so I felt bad throwing it away. I went searching for uses for rock-hard bread and found that you can make bread pudding with it. I've had some really good bread pudding in New Orleans and Virginia, so I decided to try making some. It was one of the best desserts I've ever had! I made it for the second time today, and it was just as good. I got the recipe from NYTimes, but changed it up a little because I didn't have all the ingredients. It's super easy to make, and just simply delicious! Before having my piece today, I even did a round of Hip-Hop Abs, although I'm not so sure it did much since the bread pudding has 5 tablespoons of butter in it.

Hip Hop Abs update

Yes, I have used the DVDS at least 5 times, twice with my roommates. They are really cheezy, but very entertaining so you don't get bored.

It's Official!

On 3.2.2009, TT proposed to me! We have been together for 12, almost 13 years now. Although TT had been planning for a while with the help of my family, I had no idea this was coming!I flew into Richmond on Monday around 6pm and TT picked me up from the airport. I wanted to change my flight to Saturday when I found out that I had the weekend off, but TT told me that he had to study on the weekend so that he could spend time with me when I got here. When I got in, I suggested that we go to the grocery store so that I could cook some dinner for us, but TT wanted to go out to dinner so we went out to Kobe, a pretty good Japanese restaurant. On the way home, I wanted to stop by CVS to get some nail polish remover, but TT insisted that we go home. Then I made him watch ABDC online because I really wanted him to see the most amazing dancers ever. All these things were taking up some time, and TT stopped the ABDC run and told me that he wasn't feeling well from the dinner. Then the music went off in the study room across the way from TT's bedroom. He told me that he set an alarm and forgot to turn it off and asked me to go turn it off for him. Since he wasn't feeling well, I got up and walked over there. When I opened the door, this was what I walked into (although no recording can capture the true feeling of this amazing experience):

I had no clue what was about to happen. Since it was match day and I just found out that I was moving to Richmond for my internship, I thought TT was doing this to celebrate. After looking around at the pictures of us, I realized I was stepping on rose petals. Then I noticed the poster on the wall of an arch in Utah turned out to be a mosaic of a bunch of pictures of us. I asked TT where he got it, and he told me that he made it for us. I was still confused and not suspecting anything. After all, I had thought none of this was supposed to happen until much later.
Then TT told me to sit down on a chair that also had rose petals on it. While I was still confused, TT took out a little box and got down on one knee. I was in disbelief and can't really remember what happened after that.

We spent the next hour just looking at pictures together. It was such a surreal experience that it took me a couple of days to process it. I love my ring. It fits me perfectly!I love you bebes!

Veterinary Emergency Center Internship

I matched! I am going to be doing an Emergency/Critical Care internship next year at Veterinary Emergency Center. $30,000 baby! May not sound like much, but most internships pay from $20,000 to $30,000, so I'm on the high end! TT and I will finally be living together! Come visit if you can!

My brother's Engagement!

My brother is engaged!!! Congratulations! I'm still waiting for pictures.

Hip-Hop Abs

I had a day of television today, which is a really bad thing for me. You see, I don't usually watch much TV anymore, but I felt like lounging around today since I have the day off. So I ended up making one of those as-seen-on-tv purchases from QVC. It looked like so much fun and I was reading all these great reviews online. I figured that I spend this much money on my fitness passes, so maybe I can just do this at home and learn some hip-hop moves at the same time. I hope it works out, but at least it seems like QVC will take it back if I don't like it.

The sad thing is, my phone is kinda broken (the speaker doesn't work sometimes) and I really need a new one. The other night I stayed up until 2 am looking at phones and decided not to buy any because the one I like is $170 and I didn't think it was really a "necessity" since I can still fix my phone by throwing it on the floor a couple of times. But instead, I made a rash purchase of these DVDs. It's funny how you talk yourself in and out of certain things. This better be good.

DMV Registration

I spent a few hours on hold a few weeks ago talking to people at the DMV, trying to explain that my registration was never mailed to me after I paid for it online. When I finally talked to someone that said it could be replaced, she said that I had to wait ONE more day because it had only been 29 days since they mailed it out, and they could not send a replacement until 30 days after.

So I had to get my sister involved because I did not have time to be on hold again the next day. Well, the replacement had finally come and it's already February, which is when my registration expires.

I got the sticker, which was mailed to my parents' house, then mailed to me, sometime earlier this week. I hadn't had time to put it on, and it was raining up until this morning. Finally, I thought it was time to go out there and do it.

I took a towel and a screw driver with me to clean and place the sticker under the frame. When I got out there with everything in hand I realized that there was already a 2010 sticker on my license plate!!!

I really couldn't remember when I would have put it on, and really thought that I had never received it. So my first thought was that the sticker was probably for another car at home, like the camry or avalon. Then I went to place my duplicate registration in my glove compartment when I found the REAL one! I also found on there a little yellow post-it note that had an address on Vermont Street written in my brother's handwriting. Now I know who had received my registration a long time ago, put my sticker on, and forgot all about it. Thanks K.

North American Veterinary Licensing Exam

I got my national board results today. Nevermind that they spelled California wrong on the report.
Now all I have to do is graduate!

Leftovers

Happy New Year! Well, it's not too late to say that since it's the New Lunar Year. Since I've last posted back in November, many things have happened. The problem is, I've been very lazy about documenting with photos, and don't really have anything to show for it.

I downloaded a bunch of pictures the other day, but they were all too old to post now. However, I did happen to scan a document that proves I passed the CA veterinary licensing exam back in December. Unfortunately, it bares a picture of me that is just a little less than flattering. If I had known that the picture they were taking was going to be printed on my certificate...

Anyway, Happy Year of the Ox everyone! May this year bring you all much luck and happiness!