Catching Up

I wanted to do a little catch up before I started a new series of adventures.  I got to go see one of my favorite artist, Carrie Underwood,  perform last weekend and she didn’t disappoint!  My good friend Tina, came along with me for the show.  It was so fun to hang out with Tina and let her experience country music.

Cool stage – just before Carrie came up from below

Carrie rocking out on her guitar

Weak camera and long distance, sigh…

High flying act.  Carrie was singing from the bed of a truck suspend over the crowd.

It was definitely a highlight concert for me and what was even cooler was that every artist (opening acts and Carrie) all made sure to talk about Jesus and they even sang a couple of hymns.

This was a nice way to end May 2010.

The Weekend

The weekend was one of the most fun I’ve had in a while.  I reconnected with some old friends in person and online and the weekend marked my 10 year anniversary with my company (which is in its 10th year of existence as well).

I am really blessed to be able to celebrate a huge milestone in my life and in the life of the company I work for.  It is the longest job I’ve ever held and it has had such a huge impact on my life.  As with every job, there are moments of tension and moments of growth, but I do enjoy what I do and work with good people.  I am thankful as I reflect this weekend.

We went to a nice Italian restaurant in Ballard called Volterra and I had the Veal Chop with Wild Mushrooms (Costoletta di Vitella alla Griglia) - 16 oz. veal rib chop grilled and served with a Parma prosciutto, wild mushroom and truffle scented demiglaze sauce, Volterra mashed potatoes and asparagus.  Very delicious!

Here’s the core of my company Matrix Transportation – L to R:  Jackson Fuiten and his wife Sarah, Sandi and Tim Bransford (my boss), myself and Rick Venables.  Our company started with Tim and I for about year before we brought on Jackson and after another year Rick.  Tim and I had previously worked as the logistics arm of another trucking company before we launched Matrix.  We had fun reminiscing about how we started till where we are today and it has been quite the journey.  We are looking forward to the next 10 years!

My weekend ended with a nice dinner with my good friend Tina Timbang.  I had not seen Tina since last summer and so I was excited to reconnect with her.  She had recently moved back to my side of town and so it was much closer to meet up.  Tina and I have been friends for quite a while now and is one of my few Asian American friends here.  It is always so much fun to catch up and encourage each other – we barely skip a beat.

My homie (as I call her) Tina

Tina and I after our 4 hour meal.  It was a great way to end the evening and a fun weekend.  I truly thank God for the friends he has given me and also for providing me with a good job.

Summer Weekends

This past two summer weekends have been pretty entertaining.  I got to play music to a pretty large audience with some really fine musicians and I also got to go to a Mariner’s baseball game (last minute plan).

Here’s a recap:

Here’s my view from the stage as people were gathering and we were getting to ready to play at the Bite of Seattle.  The Bite is an annual food festival in Seattle where restaurants from all over come and set up booths to sell their food.  It was quite a treat to be able to play in a band for the festival.

I am waiting on some pictures of the performance; in the meantime here is what the stage looked from the audience:

My friends Tina, Lindsey & Dave, along with my boss Tim and his wife Sandi were very nice to come and watch me play.

While we were setting up, the MC brought up this couple and the dude proposed on stage in front of the crowd.  She said Yes.

Here’s Tina, whose family is from the Philippines, posing in front of the Philippine food stand

Hanging with my homie, Tina Timbang

Then, thanks to a hook up, Jarron and I got to go and see the Mariner’s play at Safeco Field.  It had been a while since I went to a game so it was a fun opportunity to go hang out at the old ballpark.

A not so clean shot of baseball superstar Ichiro Suzuki.  He is the man!  We got to sit slightly to the left of the man.  It was quite fun!

Jarron & me

This shot didn’t do justice to how beautiful downtown Seattle was; blue skies and sunshine.  It has been a fun filled couple of weekends.  I am glad I got to enjoy these activities.  I guess I will update more when I get more pictures.

The Puyallup Fair/Carrie Underwood Concert

This weekend I got to "Do the Puyallup" and watch one of my favorite country music artist in concert.  The weather had changed quite drastically from the beginning of the week so I was a bit worried that it would be a rained out day but I am glad that it held out for the day.

Going to the fair has not been a big part of my life, so it is fun to have an opportunity to go.  Growing up in Singapore, we used to have fairs similar to what we have here, but we never really went to them.  This is the second time I have gone to the fair to watch Carrie Underwood perform but this year I decided that I would actually take time off from work to go the part of the fair, especially since the price of the concert tickets included admittance to the fair.

I invited my friend Fay to hang out with me at the fair and watch the concert which she was gracious to do.  It had been a while since we had hung out so it was a blast to get to do it.

The fair is a great place to people watch if you are into doing that - and I am.  You have a huge cross section of people that come out and it is intriguing to watch people in that environment.  There are also a lot of interesting "items" on display and for sale at the fair for example, this was winning "entry" for the largest pumpkin, weighing over 1000 pounds!

 

Fay and I began our quest to find things that would "wow" us and possibly make us want to buy it.  We were rather disappointed as we were unable to find anything that stuck out to us.  However, we got to enjoy some fair food that probably isn't the best for you but "when in Rome."  We started with corn dog on a stick and went on to funnel cake, kettle corn and the some ice-cream later on.  I think we managed to walk it off though.

Not only are there interesting things and people to look at, or buy, there are farm/exotic animals to view as well.  Here are some:

 

 

 

 

A zebra and a donkey-zebra hybrid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is Sugar - some kind of deer I think.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roxanne - the Guard Lama.

 

It was definitely fun to walk around and enjoy these sights but we were excited and looking forward to the concert.  Carrie Underwood is one of my favorite country music artist and the girl can sing.  I managed to get great seats this year right in the middle on the floor and I was stoked to get to see her up close.

Carrie didn't disappoint at all.  She put on a great show, the music was great and she sang!  What a fun night!  Here are some highlights:

Carrie rocked and I am looking to when she comes again!

After the concert, we met up with some of our friends who were also at the fair and concert.  I realized I was the only guy, so I thought I would take a all girls picture.

 

 

 

 

(L to R) Tina, Corey, Lindsey, Camie & Fay.

 

 

Good times, great memories.