To make this initial post easier on me, I'm going to modify an email that I wrote recently. Warning: my life is not always interesting, so read at your own risk! I'll start with our trip to Ireland from last November. I was still in school and taking a 10-day vacation just before the end of the term was a bit stressful. Being a business major, classes always require some element of group work. This being my final marketing class, myself and 6 other people (though only 2 other people really pulled their weight) had to write a 120 page marketing proposal and give a 20 minute class presentation. I spent many late nights/ early mornings working on this paper while on vacation. Internet access was slow and rarely available (aside from internet cafe's, but we never stayed still long enough to utilize these). My dad was kind enough to put the family up at the Radisson one night because they could guarantee internet access. That night I was up until 5am working on the paper--and went to a wedding--correction, a LONG wedding the next day. I'm sure I looked pretty pathetic napping in the bar of the hotel in which the reception was held. The wedding was very nice and I met some new people. The woman I was sitting next to had such a strong Irish accent that I had to listen really hard to keep up with the conversation. Our visit was awesome and included most of the counties of both Ireland and Northern Ireland. We traveled nearly 1500 miles (with 5 of us and luggage in a small LandRover!) on the 10-day trip. We visited some places suggested by a wonderful couple (Peter & Rosemary) that we met on our Honeymoon who are originally from Ireland. It was great to visit the Cave House and some of the areas that they spoke of so fondly. The overcast weather made for great diffused lighting for photos. I think some of our best photos were from Giant's Causeway. We ended up giving our families framed photographs from the trip for Christmas. We finally returned to Dublin, flew to Copenhagen, RAN to catch our connecting flight, and then on to Seattle. A three hour drive from there and I was dropped off at a 10pm group meeting to put the finishing touches on our presentation. The next day (and only 3 hours of sleep later) we gave our final presentation and I even got an A. Being my final class, I now have a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration: Marketing and Management. (Side note: We sent Peter & Rosemary a postcard from Ireland to their home in Canada. A month later, just two days before Christmas, they finally received it. Talk about SNAIL MAIL!) Christmas was nice but hectic as well. My dad's parents flew up here from Wichita, Kansas. Daniel & I did well dividing our time between families as well as combining the two on several occassions. We also got about 8 inches of snow in January, which is always awesome. In January, I tried to get used to being out of school and looking for a job. The job market is very bad in our area, so I wasn't having any luck. I finally decided that I wanted to go back to school, though I was torn between an MBA or an MIM (Masters of International Management) degree. I researched and debated for the next month and a half and finally decided to apply for the MIM program. There are 45 total positions in the program, 23 of which must go to international students, leaving only 22 positions for U.S. students. I fretted over my application essays and finally sent them in with my app a week and a half ago. This past Tuesday, I received a letter offering me a position in the program. I am so excited now. The focus of the program is the Pacific Rim business and includes a three week trip to Tokyo, Beijing, and Shanghai next March. I will start studying in August and will complete the accelerated program in August of 2005. Spring break (the last week of March), was spent on the island of Hawaii with Daniel, his mom, dad and sister. The one week trip was incredibly relaxing for all of us. It was great to be in the warm weather, snorkeling, taking photos, and enjoying the island at our leisure (even if I did get stung by a yellow jacket on the first day). I have now been to all 50 states. I'll have to work on catching Daniel up to that too. At the beginning of the year, my dad was still on unassigned time and beginning to wonder if they were going to push him into retirement. So when they offered him a month long job in Italy (near Milan), he jumped on it. I think he really enjoyed getting back into work. After that job, he got in the same rut of unassigned time until the beginning of March. He ended up going to the Philipines for 5 weeks, living in a remodeled cargo container. The experience was interesting to say the least. He finally boarded a plane at 6am (with the temperature already at 85 degrees) two weekends ago. He left again this past Wednesday to fly to New York for a week of meetings, then it's on to Italy again, this time for a job near Naples through September of 2005. My mom should be moving over there with him in the next month or two. I hope to go over there and visit before the job is up. I will also be going back to Ireland in late June. My mom's mother, who is 85, has always wanted to go. So my mom and I are taking her. I'm going partially for helping out my mom, partially for the experience with my grandma, but mainly to take pictures and record the experience for them. My grandmother will even get to see her grandfather's store in Waterford (John Hearne's Ironmonger). We decided on a tour package to make trip planning easier and make the trip more comfortable for my grandma. Daniel is still the assistant manager at the camera store that we both work at. We are good friends with most of the people we work with, so the environment is great even if the pay isn't. He played softball last year with some of his co-workers and had a blast. This year, the spouses convinced them to have a co-ed team too. So I get to play as well. Daniel is happy that I am going to get my Master's degree and has even said that we can get an apartment in downtown Portland in August to make the situation easier (I currently commute 1 hour each way). He will be going back to school when I am done with my Master's. His interest du jour is Physical Therapy. I am trying to encourage him to do whatever it is that he will enjoy doing. So if that wasn't long-winded enough for you, you must be dying to hear more from me. So keep your eyes open for more posts. Also, please feel free to comment or ask questions on this site.