Home in the Islands

Amanda and I flew in to Hawaii on thursday night to come and spend with my family for my fathers one year anniversary of his passing.  Today we had a get together to honor him.  We had kids in the pool ranging in age from 3 to 60+.  It was a blast from noon till night.

I love my wife.  She was so amazing today!  She has been all over the place today, from cleaning to running errands to being an extrovert with my family.  I could not have even dreamed of marring the woman that I did.

So today was a great time to hang out and holo holo around with the family.

My brother handed me his business card and it had his title of CAPTAIN on it.  I am so proud of you!  So if you ever are in need of a Captain just let me know I kind of have the hook ups.

This is the update.  Amanda and I have done a few things that have been exciting and I have just been too busy to write. I am sorry but hopefully I will catch you up in the next week or so.

More from Hawaii in a few!

Aloha,

In Hiding

I know I have been lost in the world of blah and have not been posting.  I have been doing a bunch of things and I plan and say okay tonight I will blog.  But to no avail.  I have been busy and just out of it.  But I am back and will bring you up to date with what has been going on with my daily experiences.

One thing that I am going to tell you about will be my up all night experience at Disneyland.

Will be back.

Mike

Settlers, Cities, and Knights!!

So tonight my wife was amazing and said, “I want to play settlers of Catan with your.”  I said okay can we go over to Eddie’s?  And she said “yes.”

So we went over to Eddie’s and played Settlers of Catan with the expansion of Cities and nights.  And now we are in the process of making shakes.

God is good!

The games ended in a win for myself Barely.

Me: 13, Eddie: 12, Amanda: 5.

Now when Mrs. Culin gets home we are going to play the card game called, Guillotine.

As you can tell we are a group that loves to play games.  so if you like to play games, Bring it.  But watch out for my wife she can be a intense competitor.

James and Alyssa we miss you very much on nights like tonight.  maybe we can play a game using ichat.  How fun would that be?

Well here is a lasting impression of my wife and her intensity of playing games!

Aloha!

Single again

As of tomorrow about 2:30 pm I am going to be a single man.  My wife will be at a conference in Texas for the next 4 days.  I am free, free as a bird.  I think I am going to run amuck!  Anyone up for running with me?

I think that the first thing I am going to do will…. Amanda is sitting right here.  I have to save it for a later blog.

Peace!

Free show?! Heck Yes!

So Yesterday Amanda and I were blessed with a pair of tickets to the Michael Buble concert.  It was AMAZING.  The stage and effects were awesome.  It was a great date for me and my wife.  Plus some of the things that we saw were really funny.  In the row right in front of us there was an old man (approx. 60’s) and his date that he was so excited about, looked young (approx. 20’s).  I first thought it was a father daughter combo but then we saw some sweet lovin’.  Blahhhhh!!!  Then you had the 12 yr old in the front rows that Buble was talking to that didn’t smile. They put her picture on the big screens. There was other fun that happened onscreen as well.

But the show was amazing.  Now the group before blew my mind when they performed. There are a 7 piece vocal group that didn’t use an instruments or tracks. Everything was done vocally. Every beat, every sound, every silky smooth lyric. You should check them out. They’re called Naturally 7.

Thank you Jesus (and of course, Rebecca) for the free tickets. Awesome night. Would highly recommend it.

Master’s

Can you believe it?  I did it!  I have taken all of the classes, walked across the stage, been hooded, taken a picture, and shook the hand of Dr Ellis (President of CBU) and took a picture with him as he handed me a Gold cylinder for my degree to go in I guess.  And yes sat through the entire ceremony.  Thank goodness it was at night and not in the morning.  Anyway all this to say I was still waiting on the results of my Comp’s.

So tonight I did not go tho church.  I am sorry friends and family, but I went to my master’s class dinner where I discussed my comp’s and final portfolio project that I need to do.  When talking to the department chair we discussed my comps and then he said congratulations you passed.  I took a long deep breath and then took a sigh of relief and then was able to relax.  I want to thank all of my family and friends that have been there for me along this long rough road from this past summer.  You have all been an encouragement and blessing on keeping me sane.  I especially want the thank my girlfriend at the time and now WIFE, Amanda for supporting me in this process and telling me that I can do this.  Also my friend and professor Dr. Sullivan, You have been an encouragement to me educationally and helped me to learn about what it is to be a true man of God.  Crystal, if it wasn’t for you I don’t know what I would have done.  From keeping me focused in class (most of the time) to keeping me from freaking out you have helped me to get this degree.  And to all my family that I saw and talked to you daily, Much Mahalo’s.  I love you all.  Da Zimbardi’s Mahalo’s for letting me stay with you, you have blessed me with more than you can ever imagine, and PA sorry we didn’t get to hang out as much as planned, I do think you are the coolest.  I mean you are an amazing artist, I loved the jean book covers,  I would sport all your stuff.  And Gracie you make me smile all the time.  James and Alyssa,  Thank you for allowing me to invade your home and stay over every once and a while!    You are my family and I can’t wait to go eat at the waffle house in ATL with you!  I miss you guy’s sooooo much.  It is not the same with out you.  Eddie and Cheryl for the love and support, you are amazing family.  I am sorry if I missed you.  I love you all.  Lastly, Mom and Dad (I hope you have been surfing in Heaven with God) Stacy, Kainoa, Matt, Brooke, and Tim thank you for loving me.  I could not have asked for a better family.  God has blessed me.

So there is is folks,  I have a Master in Science, in Pedagogy.  Graduation pictures to come soon.

Aloha

Kids???

Aloha to all of my friends and family and who ever else if reading my Blog.

I am writing to ask you about kids. Whether you have them or not I would still love to hear your answer.

1. When do you think a married couple should have them?
2. Is it better early in the relationship, or later?
3. Do you raise them like you were raised, or how your spouse was raised?
4. Do you spank your kids like you were spanked?
5. Allowance? (what is that, I had a JOB!

Thank you. I was just curious on what my friends, family and people in general think.twins?

Check out da threads!

COMPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday afternoon at 4 pm I stepped into a room that had a sense of authority.  Before getting into the room I had to collect my thoughts, calm my nerves, and not try to lose the nutrition I had partaken of 45 minutes earlier.  So much for the food.  Before I was able to begin to climb the stairs of my fate, I swiftly exited out the back/side door of the gym and fertilized the grass with my nutrition from just a bit earlier.  Yes people I threw up.  Jeez.  Anyway, I collected my self enough to begin my climb up the stairs.  It wasn’t hard just as long as I kept my eyes on the finish and told myself, “you can do it Tongg!”  And I did, I made it.  Too bad that wasn’t all I had to do.

I continued my journey at the top of the stairs through a door and down a long dark and dingy hall way. (okay maybe it wasn’t so dark or dingy but it helps in the ohh and ahh.)  Till I got to the place.  It was filed with tables and chairs and the chair of the Kinesiology Department. AHHHHHHHH, it was the time and the place.  Everyman for themselves, because it wasn’t a group test.  This was going to be a three hour battle between me and my brain.  It is a time where I ask my brain, “Brain, could you please think back to the classes that I took this past year and allow me to access the knowledge that was given to me by my amazing professors?” of course my brain replied, “what knowledge, what classes, you are smoking some serious stuff Tongg, there is nothing of that sort up in here.”  Then the battle begun between me and my brain.

I have to tell you it was an amazing battle.  waves were caught, moves were made, and best of all no one died.  YET!

Well I have to say COMP’s are an experience I hope to never have to do again.  Three hours stomach twisting and nerve collecting to answer questions on material that I have been learning.  I wish that there was a way to sell this feeling to people in which wll help them to build a tolerance and be able to relax in situations like these.  On the other hand this experience would not have been the same with out it.

Thank you to all who were praying for me during this time.  I am still alive, so far and hope to be for a long time.  I just got married three months ago and I want to enjoy the beauty and love that God ahas blessed me with for a long long long long long long long time.  Well unless God comes back before then.

Love you all, have a blessed night.

My New Phone!!!

Due to my last adventure with my cell in the jacuzzi I have been to the sprint phone store with Amanda and she helped me pick and chose which phone I should get.  I am grateful she went, because if she didn’t then I might have come home with a $500 phone.  They are amazing pieces of technology.

Here is my old phone sad!

Here is my new Phone! Happy!!

If you think I have your phone number I am sorry I don’t.  Because it was on my old phone and I can’t even turn it on!  So when you call me can you leave me a detailed message so I will know you and your number.  Thank you.  Yes I lost everything.

If you don’t hear from me in a while that means I lost your number and I need your help in getting it so I can love on you and communicate with you in the future.  So hit me up.

My wife is amazing, thank you for allowing me to get this phone.

Jacuzzis Meant for people NOT Cell Phones!

So this past weekend I spent with my wife and the groups team up in the mountains.  It was a blast, until I found myself using a blow dryer on my life line to my family, friends, and the outside world.

The story begins friday night.  Andrew, Neal and myself decided we were going to be rebels and attempt to go into the hot tub for a relaxing time.  The time was about midnight and the temperature was approximately 40 Degrees.  So we froze over to the gate and wouldn’t you know, it was locked from the outside.  but when the handle was turned on the inside the door opened.  This was an amazing concept to the three of us.  Getting in and then to the hot tub we were excited and cold.  then we step in, ???, we thought why is it that we are not getting warmed up?  Wait, ahh yes the hot tub was about 90 degrees hot, or should I say COLD! AHHHHHHH.  What a waist, so we decided to test the kiddie pool.  we hung out for a few minutes in a semi warmer temp. pool up to our calves till we couldn’t handle the coldness of the night anymore.  Getting into the condo we venged that we would get in to the hot tub in the morning for its warmth.

Morning came and we got up and headed to the “HOT” tub  it was warmer. but not to where it should have been. We hung out for about 30 minutes taking turns at sitting in front of the hot jet.  Then Neal decided it was time to get out.
He left and we stayed for a few more minutes, which was the precise time in which the hot tub decided to get back at us for sneaking in at an odd hour.  I reached for my towel and pulled it to my now freezing body due to the weather being about 45-50 degrees in the mountains.  Next I hear the bounce of a key card on the ground and a ker-plunk of another object falling into the hot tub.  Realizing that I had put my phone on my towel and it not on the chair, I thought get it out and take off the battery before it breaks.  in a flash I find and take my phone out f the water.  I dry it off as quick as possible.  Luckily we were headed back to the room.  When we got there I put my phone infront of a hair drer to help in the drying process.  But looking back, I feel the only think I may have done was melt the circuits in my phone.

Thus the moral to the story is: Leave ones cell phone eitehr in the room or on the side of any belongings that may go in or over the pool.  Pictures of old phone to come.

The one awesome thing s that I did get a new phone, and it has a Camera.  I am stoked.  Pictures of my new phone to come as well.  Oh yeah, I lost ALL of my numbers so if you could call me and leave me a message with your number or a text that would be great.  If not you may not get a call from me until I get your phone number.

Aloha and Mahalo,

M