www.yorkfamily.info

In order to help stay in contact with everyone after we move, I started our website again. We are going to try and keep it updated this time. All the kids have been given email addresses so they can email friends and family. We will also put our new address and phone numbers on here as well.

We have a house!

We are under contract and should close on December 28th. We are planning to move that week. I am posting a couple other photos of the house.


Kitchen


Here's a shot of the backyard. That rock river bed actually has a pond on the other end and a pump that allows water to run through the rocksand pump back through underground to the pond. So we will have a little stream going through our backyard. The black circle on the back patio is a fire pit built into the patio.


Here's a view from the entryway into the living room.


View from upstairs on the landing between the Master bedroom and the other bedrooms.


This is a shot standing in the living room looking into kitchen

Dude!

Almost done

All,
Yesterday was the last day of my senior project. My team ran a business for six weeks. We sold Krispy Kreme doughnuts, imported from the island of Maui, and we made just under $6,000. We won the competition by having the highest profit out of all eight teams. Also, I only have two weeks left of school, and then finals. President Gordon B. Hinckley is going to be at the graduation ceremony on December 11, as will Mom and Dad.
Aloha

We are Moving to Boulder, CO!

I know the rumor has been around for a few weeks, but's its official now. I was offered a job promotion at my company that requires me to relocate to Boulder, Colorado. While this is a difficult move for us having been in San Diego for so long, this is a great opportunity for me to advance my career. We are going to be moving as soon as we find a convenient time to move with everyone's schedules. Plus Tim wanted his favorite brother closer to him, he missed me.

This is a Photo of the "Flatirons". This is probably going to be a view from my backyard. The Flatirons is right next to the area we are looking to move to.

Typhoon Last Night in Tokyo

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20041010a1.htm

I decided to head out for Dinner around 6:00pm. It was pooring down rain so I selected a restaurant that was right next to a subway station. My hotel is also right next to a subway station. So I thought I was pretty safe from getting wet.

Crossing the street to the subway station left my umbrella broken and the bottom half of me drenched. I made it to the Subway OK. I then walked up the steps from the other staion to head to the restaurant and standing at the top of the stairs a gust of wind hit me and knocked me off my feet. Luckily I grabbed the railing just in time to keep from falling down the flight of stairs.

The restaurant I was heading to was right there so I darted indoors.

I was the only one in the entire restaurant. The food was great though. Indian.

I also experienced a 5.7 Earthquake this week as well. Not the best week to travel to Tokyo.

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000101&sid=afwf3HaPj3Mk&refer=japan

Thief Caught in The Act

I came home last night about 11:15 to find a thief in my doorway, zipping up a backpack. I started yelling at the top of my lungs, threw my skateboard down, and ran at him. He was startled, dropped the backpack, and began running down the beach. I chased him a little bit, but I was worried there might be others in the house. I came back and no one else was here, and I couldn't see anything missing. I found the backpack on the beach--it was my roommates. Later when my roommates came home, two of them discovered their wallets were gone. I'm also missing my shampoo. If I had come home five minutes later, he probably would have taken everything--computers, cameras, guitars, etc.

View of Yosemite Valley and Half Dome Mountain

This is a picture we took leaving Yosemite. This is taken at the top of the road after leaving the valley and driving up a windy mountain road. It was shortly after this photo that Zachary decided to get car sick and threw up all over the back seat of the car. He kept telling us his throat hurt. We didn't know that meant he was getting car sick. Lesson learned.

Yosemite

My family and I just got back from a week in Yosemite National Park. This was our first time there and we had a great experience. I have to say that it is probably the most beautiful place I have camped. The mountains are amazing there. We saw lots of wildlife and the kids had a great time exploring the sequoia forests. We all had bikes and spent a lot of time biking through the valley.

My highlight for the week was climbing to the top of "Half Dome". The hike took me 10 hours to complete. 17 miles consisting of 5000 vertical feet of elevation gain. The last 1000 feet was a 50% grade of slope on slick granite. There was a metal cable that you had to pull yourself up with to make it to the top. During the hike, I passed 2 waterfalls. One of them I had to climb granite steps up almost 1000 feet alongside of the waterfall. After climbing those steps my legs felt like rubber! Even today they are a little sore.

I highly recommend Yosemite for a great camping experience. its a 7-8 hour drive from San Diego but its well worth it.

I will post pictures as soon as I download them off my camera.

My Business

Family,
This semester I am creating a business with a team of my classmates. Mind you that we only have six weeks to operate, and we only start with a few hundred dollars. But here's our idea. In Hawaii, there's only one Krispy Kreme store, and it's on Maui. Now, their donuts are a big hit on the Mainland, but Polynesians are probably twice as fanatic about them. On my flight out here a few weeks ago, I had a layover in Maui and on the flight to Oahu, half of the people had bags of boxes of donuts. Anyway, my team has found a businessman who ships out to the other islands every day and comes back to Honolulu with an empty plane. We met with him yesterday and he agreed to work with us by having his truck pick up anywhere from 100-300 dozen donuts a day at the bakery, flying them to Oahu, and then distributing them wherever we need them. A huge bonus for us is that he will do it all for FREE, so that he can get a tax write-off for donating to a charitable cause (all of our profits go to scholarships). In the history of this business competition, the record profit was $7,000. We plan to blow that away with something more like $12,000. We hope to sell the donuts to hotels, gas stations, grocery stores, Starbucks?, etc.

Living off the Fat of the Sea

My roomates and I live on Oahu's premier spearfishing beach. Yesterday, we went out and caught a couple medium sized goat fish, but my friend caught an octopus! We brought him in still on the spear and every time we tried to get him off he would spray thick black ink. I looked up some recipes on the internet and so we immediately boiled him. After he cooked for about twenty minutes, the skin, eyeballs, and viscera came right out. We cut it up, coated it in an egg mixture, and fried it along with some peppers. The taste...well, let's just say that I'm glad I did it once, but don't ever want to eat octopus again. Incredibly chewy, tastes kinda like chicken, but the texture of the tentacles was too much.

How to Post a new Blog

I have received several emails from people wondering how to post a new blog. Here's how:

There are 3 ways to post.

Option 1:
You can go to http://www.blogger.com

I usually go there by clicking on the blogger icon on the left side of the header while looking at the YorkFamily Blog. Once there, there is a "Plus" button that will open the new post page.

Option 2:
you can send an email to yorkchris.post@blogger.com . The subject in the email becomes the title of the blog post, and the body of the email becomes the body of the blog post.

Option 3:
If you use the google toolbar (http://toolbar.google.com/), there is an option to install the "Blog This" button on the toolbar. After this is installed, you can click this button on any web page and it automatically opens up a new post window with the link to the web page in it. You can continue to post on a specific web page or you can delete the html link and write your own text.

Phishing

Warning: For those of you not aware of the latest security threats in cyberspace, there is a new threat going around called "Phishing".

Basically Phishing is a fake email that looks like it comes from your bank. They trick you into putting in your bank information on a website then use the information to electronically take all your money. It's a major problem right now.

I received my 1st Phishing email today. Here is a copy of it in case you wanted to see what it looks like. It looks very real. I have forwarded it onto the fraud division at citibank to investigate.

To read more about Phishing, click here: http://www.antiphishing.org/

here is the email I got:

------------

Phishing

'Tis Official

Family,
Dad said earlier that I was "vasilating" on the idea of graduating in December, but as of today, I am registered to do so. Again, the ceremony is Saturday, December 11th and it could be a great vacation oppurtunity for all.

This is for Emily. She wanted to know about the Sushi in Japan.

McDonalds in Japan

So last night I am strolling around town looking for someplace to eat dinner. After a week of eating Fish, Rice, and using chopsticks at every meal I was really craving some good ol' American Cuisine. So after passing about a dozen noodle shops, sushi bars, and starbucks, I was about to give up and just eat some Japanese when all of a sudden I turned a corner and there it was....The Golden Arches of McDonalds. My heart almost skipped a beat.

Normally I can't stand McDonalds, but last night it was a little piece of heaven. I got inside and the staff didn't speak english and the menu was in Japanese so I had to rely on the International communication tool that I have frequently used on this trip. I pointed. I pointed at a Quarter Pounder with Fries and coke. Of Course, this is McDonalds (even though it is on the other side of the world), so I didn't get my Quarter Pounder, instead I got a Big Mac. But that was OK. A Big Greasy burger that I didn't have to use Chopticks on was my goal and that goal was accomplished.

I finally have a full time job!!!

Hey guys,

I was offered a full time position here at Scripps Memorial La Jolla. I will be working in the Medical Staff Department. Basically it's HR but for the MD's. I'm really excited about it. I start doing that on Monday. I finally will have health insurance again and job stability. Just thought you guys might want to here that.

I am in Tokyo

I just arrived at my hotel in Tokyo. Man what a long day!! It's 2:45am San Diego time, and 6:45pm Tokyo time. I left my house at 9:30am. I am so tired b ut I do not want to go to bed because I will wake up in 8 hours and it will be 3:00 in the morning. I need to stay up as long as I can so I can get used to the time zone quickly.

Here's a picture of a public toilet in Switzerland that's made entirely out of one-way glass. No one can see you in there, but when you are inside, it looks like you're sitting in a clear glass box. Would you use it?


From Inside

From Outside

Just for Chris

I have to post something because Chris said I am a "Peeping Blogger". So I just want to say that I think I really like blogging. What a great way to stay in touch with everyone! Good Job Chris!

Graduation

Family,
I am graduating from college. The ceremony is on Saturday, December 11, 2004 in Laie, Hawaii. I know it is far away and I surely won't be offended if no one comes. But, it is Hawaii and you could make a vacation out of it! Talk amongst yourselves about the possibilities. I know Mom and dad will come. I have finals up until that Friday the 1oth, but I'm not leaving until Monday the 13th and that could easily be extended depending on when and if people come.

New project in Japan

I just got my new assignment. It looks like I will be heading overseas to Japan. It's a short 6 week project. I will probably spend half of that in Tokyo and the rest working from San Diego.

Corporate Information: "NTT Communications Corporation"

Digital Camcorder

Robyn and I want to buy a Digital Camcorder. I am just starting to do research. If anybody has experience in this area, I would appreciate some guidance. There are lots of models and features out there to select from.

e-bills Rock!

I just wanted to say that e-bills and online bill paying are pretty cool. I just got an email from SBC containing the bill amount. I clicked on the link and paid it within 30 seconds. No paper bill delivered to my house, no stamps, no envelope, no trash. Just 30 seconds to receive and pay a bill all electronically. I wish more companies offered e-bills.

Movie Review - Bourne Supremacy

I saw Bourne Supremacy last night. I don't want to ruin anything for anybody so I will just give some brief comments. I thought it was just OK. You really need to see the first movie to thoroughly enjoy this one. There were a lot of references to the original that didn't make sense unless you watched it. I also did not like all the jerky camera movements. During all the action scenes, the camera jerked all over the place intentionally and it really bothered me. some advice for the director. Buy a tripod!

Overall it was fun. Lots of action scenes (although jerky), no really bad content. I think the ending was good in some ways, but really stinks in others. Kind of open ended. Almost like it was trying to setup for a third movie. The sequel was barely good enough for a sequel let alone a third movie in the series, so I hope they don't come out with a 3rd.

Up in Orange County

I am up in Orange County today working onsite at Ameriquest. This is most likely my last week on this project. It will be nice not to drive up here every week. Most of the time traffic is not too bad and it takes me 1.5 hours to get here, but every once in awhile, it takes up to 3 hours each way.

4th of July Camping Trip

This is the snake that decided to sleep in our tent while we were camping. The white thing you see on the left of the photo is the mattress that Zachary was sleeping on. His head was about 3 feet from the snake.