We have posted pictures from London for all to enjoy. Also some older pictures ... from Utah and from when we were dating.
http://amandatsu.dell.shutterfly.com/
Enjoy! And don't expect a real post soon because life is a mess here for the next couple of weeks.
Amanda
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
London
We are in London right now - surprising I know that I would take time to update our blog, but Katsu is watching a futbol (soccer) game right now that I am not really even mildly interested in with his brother and his brother:s roommate full of their Japanese interjections. So, an update is in order.
We have been having a blast (despite the cold I seem to have). It has already been a lot of fun and action packed. And I promise to post pictures when we are home. This is what we have done
Saturday - arrive. Go to Chelsea (futbol) store to buy Katsu the team stuff. See Tate Modern and the sights (St Paul and Westminster) at night.
Sunday - church in Britania ward. Then afternoon with Kiyo and girlfriend Hiroko at Victoria and Albert (decorative art museum) and the Natural History Museum.
Monday - day bus tour of Windsor castle, Stonehenge, and Bath - my absolute favorite so far.
Tuesday - See Tate Britain (British art museum), Celtic concert at a church downtown, National Gallery (art museum), and then evensong at St Pauls (that is the evening service - they sing the entire thing ... the cute little 9 and 10 year old boys and adults).
Wednesday - visit friends (Domikes) who live in village outside of Cambridge. Visit Cambridge - including King:s College Church and the Fitzwilliam (?) museum. Visit British Library.
So, you can see we are having fun. The weather is cold ... it actually snowed a bit today but sunny and not wet at all. So, it really is delightful touring weather. The English countryside is so beautiful - all green, even in the winter with cute little villages and lots of sheep everywhere. In fact, believe it or not, we actually saw a fox running across the street in the middle of London which is quite rare I am sure. London is very big and quite crowded but is so cute with little shops and restaurants everywhere and enough sights to keep anyone busy. Bath was especially lovely - I am sure my parents would love it.
So, here is our cute little travel update! Enjoy! We will be back soon ... but not without more fun!
We have been having a blast (despite the cold I seem to have). It has already been a lot of fun and action packed. And I promise to post pictures when we are home. This is what we have done
Saturday - arrive. Go to Chelsea (futbol) store to buy Katsu the team stuff. See Tate Modern and the sights (St Paul and Westminster) at night.
Sunday - church in Britania ward. Then afternoon with Kiyo and girlfriend Hiroko at Victoria and Albert (decorative art museum) and the Natural History Museum.
Monday - day bus tour of Windsor castle, Stonehenge, and Bath - my absolute favorite so far.
Tuesday - See Tate Britain (British art museum), Celtic concert at a church downtown, National Gallery (art museum), and then evensong at St Pauls (that is the evening service - they sing the entire thing ... the cute little 9 and 10 year old boys and adults).
Wednesday - visit friends (Domikes) who live in village outside of Cambridge. Visit Cambridge - including King:s College Church and the Fitzwilliam (?) museum. Visit British Library.
So, you can see we are having fun. The weather is cold ... it actually snowed a bit today but sunny and not wet at all. So, it really is delightful touring weather. The English countryside is so beautiful - all green, even in the winter with cute little villages and lots of sheep everywhere. In fact, believe it or not, we actually saw a fox running across the street in the middle of London which is quite rare I am sure. London is very big and quite crowded but is so cute with little shops and restaurants everywhere and enough sights to keep anyone busy. Bath was especially lovely - I am sure my parents would love it.
So, here is our cute little travel update! Enjoy! We will be back soon ... but not without more fun!
Friday, February 17, 2006
Tired
You would think after ... let's see ... at least 17 years of taking tests, I would no longer get nervous or anxious over tests. Especially tests that I think will not be too hard or even worth worry about. Apparently, my brain hasn't gotten the memo about that one.
Instead of watching the rest of the Men's Figure skating competition last night - which was great based on the part I saw - I went to bed early at 10 to be ready for my test today. And yet, I tossed and turned worried that my alarm clock - actually 2 alarm clocks wouldn't go off. Silly, silly.
When I got to school today after walking through the freezing cold which will just colder (could they really be using the Fahrenheit scale when they projected the a low of 5 tonight or a high of 12 tomorrow!), I was tired. I felt like I had jag lag. Which is just ridiculous. It reminded me of the first few days we were in Japan. No matter how hard I tried, I would be wide awake at about 4 or 5 in the morning. We'd walk over to the Funai's apartment by 6. It was ridiculous. And though you are wide awake - it's fuzzy ... the whole world feels fuzzy. Like how the world sounds different when you yawn really wide because you can hear the sound in your body. Just like that, exactly the whole world feels that way - bathed in a weird light. I'm hoping it's not like that to or from London. I don't think I had jetlag in Paris ... and when we came home ... well, I was way too sick to remember.
Instead of watching the rest of the Men's Figure skating competition last night - which was great based on the part I saw - I went to bed early at 10 to be ready for my test today. And yet, I tossed and turned worried that my alarm clock - actually 2 alarm clocks wouldn't go off. Silly, silly.
When I got to school today after walking through the freezing cold which will just colder (could they really be using the Fahrenheit scale when they projected the a low of 5 tonight or a high of 12 tomorrow!), I was tired. I felt like I had jag lag. Which is just ridiculous. It reminded me of the first few days we were in Japan. No matter how hard I tried, I would be wide awake at about 4 or 5 in the morning. We'd walk over to the Funai's apartment by 6. It was ridiculous. And though you are wide awake - it's fuzzy ... the whole world feels fuzzy. Like how the world sounds different when you yawn really wide because you can hear the sound in your body. Just like that, exactly the whole world feels that way - bathed in a weird light. I'm hoping it's not like that to or from London. I don't think I had jetlag in Paris ... and when we came home ... well, I was way too sick to remember.
Thursday, February 09, 2006
February
January was nice and beautiful ... warm all the time, no need for coats and lots of sunshine (opposed to the 7 minutes of sunshine in the previous month or something like that). Alas - it could not last and February has come. The month when it's cold outside and dark and you wake up and just want to keep sleeping and never get out of bed. So, there doesn't seem much to report. Katsu and I are both really busy. We seem to have something going on all the time. And I'm kind of tired of it. When we get back from spring break, I want to limit our social obligations to the most possible. We need more "us" time. And who can believe that spring break is so soon! We are excited about that.
And of course, our kitty Joe is still lots of fun!!! He cracks us up, mostly. He always wants to play - brings his toys over to you and just gives you this look.
That's us.
And of course, our kitty Joe is still lots of fun!!! He cracks us up, mostly. He always wants to play - brings his toys over to you and just gives you this look.
That's us.
Third way into the semester
Hi. This is Katsu and this is my first post in this blog. I'd check this blog once in a while to see what secrets of our lives Amanda have been revealing to the public.
It's been busy for both of us, but that's not a news to anybody. We don't intend to be busy, but the world sometimes forces us to. Amanda and I try not to conform to the way world sees how we should be/appear successful, and since the world makes us work harder than what we think we really have to, we usually get away with not doing as much as others may. For example, neither of us have ever studied overnight. We are not lazy, we just don't do it unless it's worth it. Anyway, even then, right now we are busy.
At the end of this month, we have a research grant that is going to be submitted from my lab, so I decided that I am going to halt my project for a week and help get data for the grant. For a reason I rather not explain, today I find myself not much to do until 2pm. Thus I write this post.
I report that Amanda has been busy, mainly because her lecturers are retarded. Well, at least one of them is. As I explained before, we are both hooked into not submitting to being busy, and one way of doing this, is by doing the assignments right away. Amanda does her homeworks right away, too, but basically her lecturer (by the way this lecturer is a professor by title but by intelligence not one, therefore I classify him/her a lecturer) makes mistakes in the questions that makes the homework incomprehensible that even post-docs of Nobel Prize Winner (remember that Nobel Prize Winners don't actually do their work) cannot solve. For example, this moron made 9 corrections in 8 days. Do you know what this means? This means that probably your email box was filled more with his emails than the numbers of spams when you get back from your visit to China. I can't believe this incompetent moron is allowed to teach in psuedo-prestigious institution. On top of it, he gives her take home midterm over the weekend. It is going to be posted on Friday night and is due on Monday morning. Hallo~? What happen to some of us keeping sabbath day holy and use Saturday to run errands, spend time with family, prepare for sabbath? In fact we are performing service that Saturday to local middle school as Science fair judges. You can let us know that these things are happening maybe at least one month in advance? I think these professors (by this I mean, not just this moron but all professors) assume that when a student is a student, he/she is always student. We have commitments, too? I am going to shoot Cuban missile to them next time I see them pull out this crap. Oh sorry, not PC.
I used to post on livejournal, and my posts were long. You can stop reading here if you want to. I had a final this Monday and I think I did okay. The class was a female dog, and they made us come to the class on MLK day by saying "you are not required to come, but it is very important that you do", given that there were several African American students in the class. Of course everybody shows up, and the professors decides to go half an hour over, because she knows that nobody has a class on MLK day. The class content was good, and I learned a lot about things you will never care about in million years, but are useful in my currently non-existent career. That class is now finished, but now a second modules started yesterday and go till the end of March and third module go to the end of semester. I hate that word now, "module", oh, wow you are so smart, next time I am going to register for a class I am going to bring my blue encyclopedia just in case I am going to encounter some ambigiuos terminology.
We are going to London in 2 weeks and we are certainly excited. I am mostly excited to see my brother, chill out and have a good time watching Amanda excited to see all kinds of places, and buy Chelsea souvenirs. I have been saving my fun-cash for last several months (our fun-cash is $20/mos) so that I can spend it on Chelsea shirt. If you don't know what Chelsea is, go away. Anyway, I think we are going to Bath and perhaps Cambridge, too. Because we just have an abundancy of money that we don't know what to do with. Oh, and we are also planning to go to a pub and get into a fist fight with bloody hooligans about how Liverpool fans are all criminals. Amanda doesn't know about this plan yet.
In contrast to what I have said in my second paragraph, I am too lazy to correct the old link to my website on the right, so here it is: http://sitemaker.umich.edu/kfunai
It's been busy for both of us, but that's not a news to anybody. We don't intend to be busy, but the world sometimes forces us to. Amanda and I try not to conform to the way world sees how we should be/appear successful, and since the world makes us work harder than what we think we really have to, we usually get away with not doing as much as others may. For example, neither of us have ever studied overnight. We are not lazy, we just don't do it unless it's worth it. Anyway, even then, right now we are busy.
At the end of this month, we have a research grant that is going to be submitted from my lab, so I decided that I am going to halt my project for a week and help get data for the grant. For a reason I rather not explain, today I find myself not much to do until 2pm. Thus I write this post.
I report that Amanda has been busy, mainly because her lecturers are retarded. Well, at least one of them is. As I explained before, we are both hooked into not submitting to being busy, and one way of doing this, is by doing the assignments right away. Amanda does her homeworks right away, too, but basically her lecturer (by the way this lecturer is a professor by title but by intelligence not one, therefore I classify him/her a lecturer) makes mistakes in the questions that makes the homework incomprehensible that even post-docs of Nobel Prize Winner (remember that Nobel Prize Winners don't actually do their work) cannot solve. For example, this moron made 9 corrections in 8 days. Do you know what this means? This means that probably your email box was filled more with his emails than the numbers of spams when you get back from your visit to China. I can't believe this incompetent moron is allowed to teach in psuedo-prestigious institution. On top of it, he gives her take home midterm over the weekend. It is going to be posted on Friday night and is due on Monday morning. Hallo~? What happen to some of us keeping sabbath day holy and use Saturday to run errands, spend time with family, prepare for sabbath? In fact we are performing service that Saturday to local middle school as Science fair judges. You can let us know that these things are happening maybe at least one month in advance? I think these professors (by this I mean, not just this moron but all professors) assume that when a student is a student, he/she is always student. We have commitments, too? I am going to shoot Cuban missile to them next time I see them pull out this crap. Oh sorry, not PC.
I used to post on livejournal, and my posts were long. You can stop reading here if you want to. I had a final this Monday and I think I did okay. The class was a female dog, and they made us come to the class on MLK day by saying "you are not required to come, but it is very important that you do", given that there were several African American students in the class. Of course everybody shows up, and the professors decides to go half an hour over, because she knows that nobody has a class on MLK day. The class content was good, and I learned a lot about things you will never care about in million years, but are useful in my currently non-existent career. That class is now finished, but now a second modules started yesterday and go till the end of March and third module go to the end of semester. I hate that word now, "module", oh, wow you are so smart, next time I am going to register for a class I am going to bring my blue encyclopedia just in case I am going to encounter some ambigiuos terminology.
We are going to London in 2 weeks and we are certainly excited. I am mostly excited to see my brother, chill out and have a good time watching Amanda excited to see all kinds of places, and buy Chelsea souvenirs. I have been saving my fun-cash for last several months (our fun-cash is $20/mos) so that I can spend it on Chelsea shirt. If you don't know what Chelsea is, go away. Anyway, I think we are going to Bath and perhaps Cambridge, too. Because we just have an abundancy of money that we don't know what to do with. Oh, and we are also planning to go to a pub and get into a fist fight with bloody hooligans about how Liverpool fans are all criminals. Amanda doesn't know about this plan yet.
In contrast to what I have said in my second paragraph, I am too lazy to correct the old link to my website on the right, so here it is: http://sitemaker.umich.edu/kfunai
Friday, January 20, 2006
This semester
Grad school seems so much bearable this semester. I guess it's just the learning curve getting into it. I am taking 3 classes and a seminar this semester. So far, they seem interesting and not too hard. Lab can be a huge commitment - more so than I thought. I am taking a Medical Imaging Lab. We meet for one lecture a week (1 hour) followed by a 4 or more hour lab then writing up a 20+ page lab report with our group plus pre-lab questions, etc. It's pretty nice though because we are really learning how to use all of the medical imaging modalities. Right now, we are working on MRI. Now, we are not taking MRI's of ourselves ... he he he ... though that would be fun. Unfortunately it is just a vial of water, but it's still fun learning how to program and work all those really big magnets and magnetic fields. Later, ultrasound, xray, computer tomography (CT), and nuclear medicine. It should be fun! Besides, I have decided the best way to do school is to take each class twice, sort of. This is my second round of medical imaging. And Image processing is sort of a second round of medical imaging and DSP - which I really need to review before quals. And estimation and detection is sort of a second round of probability - at least it reviews it. So, hopefully, I can pass quals in May ... eek... not to mention finding an advisor.
But besides grad school, we are having fun.
We love our cat Joe - he is so much fun to play with. We just got to figure out what to do with him while we are in London .... I just want him to not miss us too much, but I'm afraid it will be inevitable.
We also have been ushering again - we went and did Take 6 on Monday for MLK day. We really enjoyed them. The UM Gospel Chorale performed before them and I really liked them, too. It was a fun way to spend a day off.
We are planning to go to see the Plymouth Ice Sculpture Festival and the Detroit car show this weekend, so that should be fun. I still am not sure about actually paying to see cars ... but it is like a huge North American show and we live in Detroit so I guess we better get used to it. Seriously, I had no idea how car-centric life is out here. The news, even the TV shows on PBS are all about cars!
So, we're good.
But besides grad school, we are having fun.
We love our cat Joe - he is so much fun to play with. We just got to figure out what to do with him while we are in London .... I just want him to not miss us too much, but I'm afraid it will be inevitable.
We also have been ushering again - we went and did Take 6 on Monday for MLK day. We really enjoyed them. The UM Gospel Chorale performed before them and I really liked them, too. It was a fun way to spend a day off.
We are planning to go to see the Plymouth Ice Sculpture Festival and the Detroit car show this weekend, so that should be fun. I still am not sure about actually paying to see cars ... but it is like a huge North American show and we live in Detroit so I guess we better get used to it. Seriously, I had no idea how car-centric life is out here. The news, even the TV shows on PBS are all about cars!
So, we're good.
Sunday, January 08, 2006
And We're Home Again
Back to ol' Ann Arbor with all our Christmas presents in tow.
We came back on Tuesday and already we have a new cat and have started classes - it's been a busy week.
We love our new cat, Joe Black. He is mostly black and about 1 1/2 years old. He is a cutie. He was a little shy when we first got him, but has really warmed up to us. He wants lots of attention though. He is always following you around, bringing you his toys to play with, laying around and rolling around to get you to pet him. We both love him! He has a few infuriating tricks up his paw ... like instead of drinking his water, using it to splash and wash himself with ... and crying when we won't let him into our room at night. But all in all, we love him.
I have been reading a new book the past couple days - Tolstoy's Anna Karenina which I am really enjoying, oddly enough.
Sunday, December 25, 2005
Merry Christmas
We are here in Texas having so much fun! This has been a fabulously fun Christmas with family and meeting Michael's fiance Meghan. And I got my grades - A, A, A-! Hallelujuah - I won't lose my fellowship after all.
Merry Christmas to everyone!
Merry Christmas to everyone!
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Finals are done!
As of 12:30 today my finals are done. Thank heavens. I think I did relatively well on at least two of my finals. My Medical Imaging grade is out - A- and I am happy for it. I was worried that I would go down, but I got a 51/60 on the final which I am very very pleased with. Especially considering my 75 percent average on the homework ... he he he.
Katsu already got both his grades - an A- and an A!!! Yeah, for Katsu! I think he will probably have a higher GPA than me.
We are so excited for Christmas and to see the family!
Katsu already got both his grades - an A- and an A!!! Yeah, for Katsu! I think he will probably have a higher GPA than me.
We are so excited for Christmas and to see the family!
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Snowy Day Thoughts
Yesterday, I was just minding my own business, studying, when a guy from my Medical Imaging class started talking to me. After a few minutes of homework related questions, he said, point-blank, "Are you Mormon". To which I responded yes, followed by him asserting that he was also Mormon and he had figured I was because 1) I had a wedding ring and I was a young woman, 2) I always wore modest clothes (this baffled me as it has been winter/fall for a while here and as far as I can tell, cold-weather clothes are always modest), and 3) I just kind of had that look about me (ha - me! the girl who is quiet and rarely ever talks to anyone in this class and just tries to pay attention during class). So, it turns out he is a Masters student about to graduate with a wife and a baby who is in the Ann Arbor 2nd ward. He asked me wheat I was doing. Of course, I have no clue, so I said I wasn't sure ... masters or PhD. I said I would take qualifying exams and see from there. And he asked about my husband, etc. When he found out that a) I might just end up getting a Masters and 2) we would be here a long time because of Katsu's schooling, he said there are lots of places to work here - he recommended a place that he was going to work out ... for one of the auto companies, or he said I could be a nanny - his wife was one and made almost $25 an hour. This is perhaps what I found funniest(?) of all. I am sure he was just being well-meaning, but I found it hilarious. What if I suggested that after receiving his Master's degree, instead of that well-paying job in AZ that he was going to take, he be a nanny! Ha ha ha. What a conundrum, but perhaps expresses the feelings I feel quite nicely. I really fell stuck between a few different worlds here. On one hand ... I am a Mormon, I do wnat to have children, and ideally I want to stay home with them. On the other hand, I am in a masters/doctoral program in electrical engineering at a top university with a full fellowship and am doing well. And these two seem often contradictory at times, especially now when I know people who are in both places - Mormon and in engineering graduate school, albeit they are all men. I think they see me as a sort of misfit. Not quite sure how I belong - but then, again, am I really sure of this either. Anyways, I should go study for my quiz that is in half an hour.
Bye!
Bye!
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