Archive for February, 2009
April 15th is the ‘Big Day’!
Saturday, February 28th, 2009Well, Sharon and I have been engaged for a long time, but whenever anyone asks us ‘When is the big day?’ we always had to reply ‘We don’t know yet, we are still waiting for the Visa’. Well, the time has now come (finally) where we can say that April 15th is the day that we are going to get Married, Sealed for Time and All Eternity in the Bountiful Temple. We are way excited about it and have been planning everything out. We’ve been ordering a lot of things online since we are still in Malaysia.
Sharon’s interview date at the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur is on March 26th, and we should get the Visa the next day. We are planning on returning to the USA in the first week of April. Then we will waste no time in tying the knot. Sharon’s sister and mom are flying in to see the wedding as well, so that is exciting. Doreen, one of Sharon’s best friends, is also flying in. We are planning the days leading up to and following the wedding as well. The Reception will be that Saturday (April 18th) at the Lichfield Pond House.
This is officially the call to all my relatives and friends who wish to attend to start clearing your calendar. We are planning on sending out invites soon, so if you don’t get one and think you should have, then be sure to email me so I can tell you personally that you didn’t make the list (haha, j/k ^^)
In other news, this is my 100th post on my blog! I’ve been writing now for over two years, and it’s kinda sad I’m only at 100. I’ve decided to start posting things for my Web Design business in another section, the Wildkatana Design section. I will post tutorials, portfolio entries, remarks about projects, and anything else that would be too boring for you the ‘once-a-week-reader’ of my blog. Don’t worry, you won’t see those posts on the main page, they are well hidden and can only easily be found by searching on google.
I’m thinking about doing the same thing for my study journal, but am too lazy right now and besides I only have a couple posts about my study journal.
Sharon and I went to see The Pink Panther 2 at the theater last night. We wanted to see Bride Wars but it was only playing in the afternoons, so we bought Pink Panther instead. It was hilarious! Steve Martin did an excellent job and Sharon and I couldn’t help but laugh hysterically the entire time. It’s good to get a good laugh from time to time.
I’ve been working hard on a new project this week, and it’s almost done. This site is my nicest one yet, and I am quite pleased with how it turned out. It’s a culmination of everything I’ve learned over the past 6 months of doing this.
My portfolio will officially be posted in a portfolio category on this blog, which is not made yet. But I promise to make that this week, including screenshots and commentary.
Drupal – Including Browser-Specific CSS Dynamically
Saturday, February 28th, 2009Content has been moved to www.WildKatana.com/blog
Drupal: Embedding Nodes, Views and Blocks into .tpl files or nodes
Thursday, February 26th, 2009Content has been moved to www.WildKatana.com/blog
Wildkatana Design Blog
Sunday, February 22nd, 2009Well, I’ve been thinking about doing this for quite some time, so today is the day to start my Wildkatana Design Blog! This blog will be a place I can post lessons on programming and/or designing which I have learned the hard way, which I think may be useful to others out there. This blog will also showcase some of my projects I have done and be used as a rebounder for my (future) portfolio. Welcome to Wildkatana Design Blog!
Save the Cereal, Save the World!
Sunday, February 22nd, 2009Well, another week has gone by, and I’ve procrastinated until it is {almost} everlastingly too late to write on my blog. I can’t lose the habit, so here is my mandatory post. I actually have some cool things to write about this week. First cool thing is: TYLER IS BACK FROM FRANCE!
I am really excited about this one. It is crazy how fast time flies by. Tyler flew in to St. George Thursday night (Friday morning for me) and was so tired he went right to bed. I spoke to him the next day on msn and then called him. It was really cool to hear his voice again. It is really nice to have him home, and I can’t wait to see him again once I get back. I am really proud of him – he returned with honor.
Another thing that happened that I haven’t really written about is Valentines. Sharon and I kinda celebrated Valentines all last week. Sharon made me a card in her Art class (seriously, it’s her class, she teaches it) and gave it to me. I was really excited when she gave it to me since it looked so carefully made. I hurriedly opened to read the sweet message that was inside but… it was empty? Well, what do you do if life gives you an empty card? You give it back a couple days later after writing in it. Haha, this is probably the reason she gave it to me empty anyways. Sharon is the coolest girl ever and we have a lot of fun, and I love her very much. Can’t wait til we get the Visa and can return to the US (crossing our fingers*).
So, what have we been up to all week? Well, we helped the missionaries teach a lady and we’ve been trying to be better at reading the scriptures and praying together every night, and it’s been good so far (well, maybe we need to read more often still). But if you ask either of us what we’ve really been up to, we’ll tell you we’ve been binging on Heroes. We watched all of Season 1 (23 episodes) last week, and then this week we watched all of season two and we aren’t stopping tonight until we’ve watched til episode 8 of Season 3. Yeah, we’re obsessed. But we can’t help it, it always ends at such a strategic point to make Sharon always without fail say ‘Ness One!!!’ even if it is already 1 am in the morning. I usually have to make her stop, or else we’d stay up all night. We went and bought the Season 2 and 3 dvds at the local pirated movie store, since the internet has been going slow and we couldn’t download all of them fast enough. But we’ve watched all of them now just in the past 24 hours… Crazy.
Anyways, that’s it for this week, oh and my portfolio is still the same as it was two weeks ago >< dangit I need to really do that. Sorry for all you people out there who I know are just dying to see it (*insert cricket chirping here*)
Oh, some pics for this week:
Electric Relationship
Light and Dark...
Our secret...
Wedding Looming…
Saturday, February 14th, 2009Okay, I know that sounds a bit foreboding, but it’s the word that came to mind. I usually don’t think about the title of a post until I click in the box to type and then usually just type the first thing that comes to my head. I make it a goal to write every Sunday, so whether I have something incredible or not, I know there will BE a post, I just don’t always know what it will be ABOUT. Anyways, this week flew by as well, just like last week. I took extra care to keep track of the days but I was still surprised at how fast it went. My visa here in Malaysia expires on the 16th, so I had to go to Brunei yesterday and get it renewed. I can now legally stay in Malaysia for another 90 days (yay!). I could probably stay here indefinitely, since the Brunei/Malaysia border is only 30 minutes away and I get 90 days every time I cross over. So I would have to make a thirty minute drive 4 times a year to stay in Malaysia for a year. Nice…
Well, we are also involved in getting Sharon’s K-1 Fiancee Visa. We have everything now and are just waiting for the Embassy to contact us for an interview date so we can go to KL. We are anxious to hear when the interview is so we can get a better idea of when our wedding will be. Right now we are looking around Mid-April, in fact I made a mock-up of a wedding invitation for Sharon’s sister to use when she goes to get her Visa. The date (April 15th) is more of a goal and not set in stone, but for anyone out there reading this, check your calendars and see if you can make it or not. I won’t post the picture since it may cause misunderstanding (DISCLAIMER: We will not be held responsible for incorrectly scheduled airfare hah).
Anyways, Sharon has been really and I mean REALLY busy planning out the reception. It is hard since we are here and aren’t sure exactly how the place will look or what the weather will be like, but she has made extensive plans and it is pretty impressive. We are shooting for an outdoor reception, but I guess that’s all I should say for now. Suffice it to say that the theme will be ******. (censored)
In other news… well I guess there isn’t any other news… I promised to have my portfolio done but well it hasn’t happened yet, although I did make the site for it, just need to add things to it now.
PS We’ve been watching Heroes Season 1, and it is really cool. We keep having the ‘watch one more’ reaction after the episode is done, so we’ve watched I think 16 episodes this week alone. Crazy. This leads us to the question: If you could have a super power, what would it be? I think I would probably choose the power of Telekinesys (SP?). The other powers are really cool but I’ve always been a Star Wars fan and want something like the force haha. Plus I think you could use it to fly if you mastered it. Okay that sounded really geeky, but well, it is what it is. Haha. Another power I would like but they didn’t mention is the ability to save and load times, kind of like a video game. You can save at a save point, then go back if you screw up. Think how cool that would be, to save just before you ask some really cute girl to go on a date with you, then if she says no, just load it! Or save before doing something crazy like jumping off a building. So many different applications for a power like that. Reminds me of Groundhog Day but only able to be controlled.
Okay, one more thing I just remembered. Yesterday was Valentines day and I got to go out and eat with Sharon to Soho’s. It was nice and we got a delicious meal. Sharon got me a nice shirt for Valentines day, and I got her some lip gloss from Paris, some Lancome thing that she really likes. It looks good on her. I can’t wait til we get married!
Oh and one more thing. My brother gets home THIS WEEK! Crazy how fast time flies by. I wish I could be there. I love you Tyler.
Oh yeah, and some more random pics for this week:
Me in St George with my Sword and Long Hair. This was over 4 years ago, when I was attending Dixie.
Sharon and I at the Beach in Hawaii. Good times…
Two Years Ago Yesterday, Tyler Entered the MTC
I want my Friday back!
Saturday, February 7th, 2009Okay, this week went by WAY too fast. It went pretty normal-y, Sharon goes to teach at school and I stay home. Then Thursday night I wanted to watch a movie with Sharon, and she said she didn’t have school tomorrow so I asked, “Oh, you get a holiday eh?” and she said she had to teach on Saturday. So I said well let’s watch the movie then (Blast from the Past) and we stayed up late 
. The next day, I went to work while Sharon watched Canada’s Next Top Model 10 episodes in a row (okay, maybe not ten, but it seemed like that much). Okay so maybe I watched a couple too, but that was just to scoff and sneer (as is my custom when watching these reality-competition type shows.) Anyways, about halfway through the afternoon, Sharon asked me where we should eat that night. I was thinking, strange that she wants to go out and eat on a Friday night, since it is usually our custom to eat on a Saturday night. But I didn’t say anything, cause I don’t mind going out no matter what night it is. Anyways, I finished up my work and then we went out to eat. At the restaurant, we were talking and she mentioned we have church tomorrow, and I was like, no, it’s Friday. And then she said no, it’s Saturday, why else do you think I didn’t go to School today? She had to prove it to me that it really was Saturday. In the end I felt somehow cheated as if someone had stolen a day of my life. I don’t know how I could have missed a day. Sigh… Guess I’m getting old.
As a side note, more and more often Sharon will say something that I laugh at and say is wrong, only to be proven wrong by her. Like last night, she was grading papers and she remarked how one student misspelled ‘hamster’ as ‘hampster’. I laughed at her and said ‘Actually that’s right, it does have a p’. She said it didn’t, so she looked it up and soon it was evidenced that I had been spelling HAMSTER wrong my whole life ><. Haha. Well, I guess it’s always a good thing to marry someone smarter than you, she was the one who got the short end of the deal here.
Last night I also taught her how to play ‘Go-Fish’ and she beat me all three rounds we played ><. I even developed a system of how to hold my cards to improve my chances, but she is just too lucky! Haha. Speaking of games, Sharon and I learned how to play Mahjong (not to be confused with Solitaire Mahjong, which still confuses me) during Chinese New Year at her cousin’s house. Their 10-year old kid taught us in Chinese (so I pretty much learned by trial and error, playing a domino and seeing whether or not people laughed at me ><). But in the end Sharon and I each won a round, so we are now semi-pro. We want to buy a set here in Miri, supposedly Sharon’s Mom used to be the Mahjong Queen. I think we can play with 3 players but it is better to have 4.
Another cool thing that happened this week was the letter from the embassy came (albeit smashed up by the postman, much to Sharon’s chagrin). It gives instructions on what forms we need to send in and so we got started on all of that. Sharon needs to go renew her passport first since it expires this November. We both filled out a few forms though so progress was made.
My visa is about to expire (February 16th) so I will need to go to Brunei soon to do a Visa run again. I am also planning on going back to Bintulu this week, since I’ve been promising my friends there that I would come. I’m excited, I think I’ll go while Sharon is at school, on a weekday, and then be back in time for the weekend.
Work has been good, I’ve gotten caught up on a number of things that I was constantly behind on. I can breathe a bit easier now and I can also spend some time on my personal project. I may start looking for more clients next week as well, we’ll see how that goes. I need to work on my portfolio first, however. I think my portfolio will be hosted at http://portfolio.leightonwhiting.com , so you guys can check that in a week if you want.
On a side (and geeky) note, I made a bot last week for <a game I play> which made me tons of in-game money. I did it for the stats though, and I made a web site to display the stats. It wasn’t just a complete waste of time, since I learned how to make flash charts that are dynamic (something I will be using for my personal work project mentioned above).
Tyler gets home on February 19th, which is literally less than two weeks away, so I am excited about that. Wish I could be there to see, but I really do wish him all the best and a safe flight home.
Sharon and I (okay mostly just Sharon) have been making plans for the reception, talking about food, decorations, place, what we will do, etc. I am really excited about getting married to such a wonderful woman soon.
Random Photos of the day:
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| From Kendo |
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| From Kendo |
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| From Family and Home |
Chinese New Year Continued
Sunday, February 1st, 2009Well, I promised I’d post some more about Chinese New Year, so since pictures say a thousand words, here goes:
Sharon was sad I was taller
Sharon’s Cousins
The fireworks I bought for 80 RM (about 25 USD)
A firework. There were so stinking many of them that night.
I burned myself while shooting off a bottle rocket from my hand. That wasn’t such a great idea. Sparks flew up my sleeve and I got burned all down my right side. Now I see why they are illegal in the USA, haha.
Sharon posted a really great post about CNY and she posted some cool pics, so to hear more about what I did, go check it out: Sharon’s Blog: Chinese New Year
I had a lot of fun, ate a lot of Chinese Food, and experienced a lot of new traditions. Gong Xi Fa Cai!