Posting from Taipei

This is the second official post from Taipei, Taiwan (I wrote the last post about Christmas from here too). I just ate a interesting but tasty breakfast here at the Taipei office of one of the Chang family companies. The pic her shows what I ate-a doughy onion pancake wrapped around eggs and bacon. It is pretty good, much better than an Egg McMuffin.

We just got here about 2 hours ago after a long 13 hour flight. I am very much aware of the fact that Asian airlines do not use seat arrangements to suit a 300+ pound guy. 13 hours of sitting in a small metal seat made for a 150 lb chinese man is motivation for a stringent diet & exercise program, or, at least the program Randy recommends: "get some pills man, take some pills."

Tonight we hope to go to Taipei 101, currently the tallest building in the world, for the New Year's celebration. I am pretty excited about it, since it dwarfs any stupid falling ball that NYC uses for New Year's.

What a week..more to follow

Just an update. Ellen and I had a WONDERFUL time with all of my family in Wyoming and Utah. It was probably the last time in a long time that all of my brothers and sister can be together for Christmas. The big news is that there should be 3 newcomers (literally) and a new Costner by next Christmas. There were 4 officially pregnant women at the Newcomer compound in Evanston, and everyone was still able to coexist in peaceful harmony. A job well done. A BIG thanks goes out to the Ryan newcomer family, who cooked nearly every meal, and each one was gourmet delicious. The Ryan Costner clan gets a big thank you for Lacey's wonderful planning/cooking, and Ryan's incomprable comic book characteristics! The Randy Newcomer fam provided some funny moments with Dallin and Kailey, and Randy opening up his present on Christmas morning caused my Mom to have the most shocked look on her face. Sam and Cathy made custom travel pillows for Ellen and I, and I received the coveted Jason Bourne DVD set from them, so I have much gratitude in my media loving heart. D-Bone provided the ever-present sounds of the SNL cast version of Air Supply..whch I still cannot remove completely from my brain. Anyway, a Merry Christmas it was. Let's hope for Christmas 2008 Myrtle Beach! (hint hint Randy)

The pics above are of Ellen shooting a handgun for the first time and of the whole family in front of the Christmas tree.

Just a Sunday Night post

I am just posting for the sake of posting. Sunday is my one day break from studying and working, and so I truly relax. I always get a good 2-3 hour nap in. Of course, Ellen and I are able to really relax sans children. We need to hurry up and have some kids though, I figure I will be in my mid 50's when our first child goes on a mission or gets married. I'd rather not be so into the latter stages of life when that happens, so c'mon Ellen, lets get going!

The busy R.S. prez
So I'm sitting behind the R.S. president today in gospel doctrine, and I notice this weird object sticking out from the back of her neck, through her hair. As I look a little closer, I realize it is a pretty large sales tag for the necklace she is wearing. I went up and told her discreetly about it, and she was so embarrassed. She said she just bought the necklace yesterday, and must have tried it on this morning with the tag, and simply forgot to take it off. I sure hope she wasn't planning on returning the thing tomorrow, because she ripped the tag off after I told her about it.

MIDTERMS
Anyone who has taken tests in college, and thought those were difficult, needs to experience a law school exam. It will take too long to explain the process, but its like being given a Globe in August, and told to study it. Then, in December, although you have tried to memorize most countries and capitals, the question asks which village near the widest spot of the Amazon river has the biggest library. IT IS CRAZY