this is how i’m doing: in case you were wondering…

I just finished talking to my buddy Lee on facebook who happens to be stationed in Vicenza! I’m having him take lots of pictures for me.

Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if I had kept the scholarship…

Well I’m back from vacation — if you didn’t figure it out from the Will Smith reference in the title, I was in Miami last week.  Since UNT decided to cut out Spring Break for faculty and staff I took last week off to visit my family in Florida.  My dad is originally from Miami and most of his side of the family still lives in the south Florida area.  Here are the highlights (in bullet form) from my trip.

1.  I got to see family that I hadn’t seen in nearly 17 years.  The last time I was in Miami was in 1991 after my dad returned from the Gulf War.

2.  I met my biological grandfather for the first time — I hadn’t even seen a picture of him before this week.  My dad hadn’t seen him in nearly 20 years.

3.  My aunts can cook!  My auntie Deborah and auntie Rose kept us fed with fried foods, collard greens and seafood.  My Auntie Rose lives in Key West and drove up for a day to surprise my grandma.

4.  I ate cuban food.

5.  I learned a bit more about who I am and where I come from.

In unrelated news, the lady at a local restaurant told me I look like Lee Jung Jae, who is apparently a famous Korean actor.  I’m taking it as a compliment.

he’s definitely got more hair.

I got my first one when I was two months old. I’m now on my third passport and getting a bit bummed out that I haven’t left the country in almost 3 years. I need a vacation — I have until April of 2011…

Well, I’m back. In case you didn’t know I was in Baltimore since Thursday for work. Well, it was a conference — so I guess it was really for “work”. Here’s a summary:

I stayed here (and had a beer) — The Renaissance Harborplace hotel where I racked up major Marriott rewards points.
I ate fish and chips and drank beer here — the Wharf Rat English Pub.
I also ate seafood and drank beer here — M & S Grill
And I ate seafood and drank beer here — The Rusty Scupper
Oh, and I ate REALLY good seafood (but no beer) here — Legal Seafood.

Between eating great seafood and trying new beers I also went to a bunch of sessions on academic advising and stuff like that. The conference was actually really good — I learned a lot about my current profession and look forward to putting some of my newly acquired knowledge into practice. Well, that’s about it. I had a blast and now I’m going to bed because I’ve got to go back to work in the AM. I should have taken the day off…