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

The World's Best Apple Pie

So, for Thanksgiving Ellen and I decided to share with some MANK friends of ours (Married And No Kids) since we didn't want to cook a bunch of food for just the two of us. We were in charge of Desserts, and Wednesday night Ellen made an apple pie that looked weird and tasted kinda funny. I told her to make a different one, to use more sugar, and to see if she could make it look prettier. She did some research, shunned me from the kitchen for a while, then busted out the AMAZING pie you see in the picture here. As anyone who has seen my physical presence knows, I have put down my share of pie wedges over the years..well, who are we kidding, I have put down my share of whole pies over the years, and BY FAR, this pie that Ellen made was THE BEST APPLE PIE I HAVE EVER EATEN IN MY LIFE!!! Yes, a Taiwanese woman made the all-American pie that tasted better than any pie by my mom, grandma, aunt, or any other known being who walks the earth has ever made. I hope she can duplicate it when the family gathers together at Christmas. Did I tell you how much I love Ellen's apple pie??

I never realized what shopping really is...

Saturday night, 9 P.M., Rancho Cordova Wal-Mart: So we go to Wal-mart because we needed to buy 1 item, a cheapy cd player for Ellen when she teaches her primary class. I go in, and I see that they have a special edition "Princess Bride" DVD on sale..in the cart it goes. "But you didn't buy clothes?" "No, but I think I'll look some more." "Because your in the store?" "No more rhyming and I mean it!" "Anybody want a peanut?"

Anyway, so after we continue and get the CD player, I'm thinking that we are done, and I slowly start back to the checkout stand. Then I notice my beloved is gone. "Hmm...I thought we were just here to get a CD player and then go...where could Ellen be...?" Ellen and I have this little whistle we do to locate each other in a store. Kind of like a mama beaver slapping her tail to warn her young, only I just do the whistle thing. I give the signal, and out of an aisle WAY at the other end of the store peers my wife, with a kind of embarrassing grin on her face. There she is, holding some duck-themed bathroom rug. It was then that I realized how different shopping is for me versus for Ellen. I go to the store with a purpose. I never go to best buy or or anywhere just to "look around" at stuff. If I don't have something to buy, I don't go. Ellen, on the other hand, enjoys shopping just for the sheer activity of strolling around looking at stuff. Last night, she determined that her bathroom needed to be redecorated in a ducky theme. So, for the next hour, you know what I was doing-helping her choose duck towels, duck rugs, a duck waste basket. I had to stop her before we did the duck shower curtain rings. I mean, we have to set a limit. After we get out of wal-mart, with much more than just a CD player, I asked Ellen about what she thinks shopping is. Then she told me that in Mandarin, the word for shopping is "to look at things and buy" and that she was doing exactly that at Wal-mart. That was my chinese lesson for the day. No complaints here, I love spending time with Ellen...I just need to plan on trips to Wal-mart, Target, or Costco taking MUCH longer than I think.

My cousin's wedding

There were many pics from the wedding, too many to post, so I created a web album where you can see them. Click here

These are pics from the BYU-UCLA football game we went to in September. I am slooow at getting the pics up, I know. It was cool to go to the Rose Bowl, one of the oldest stadiums in the U.S., and one of the biggest. It seats around 100,000 people. Ellen reluctantly wore her "Fully Invested" T-shirt. She never went to BYU, and never attended a game in Provo, but she is slowly catching the BYU bug.

HDTV is AMAZING

So, last spring, actually winter to be exact, I convinced Ellen to let me buy a 42 inch Sony High Def Television. It has been great for DVDs, because we also got a HDTV enabled DVD player with an HDMI input. You have to have HDMI to get that crystal clear picture. Maybe down the road, after I graduate law school, I'll get a HD-DVD player, which look great, but cost around 500 bones right now. ANYWAY, we never had cable until last month, when I got Ellen some mandarin channels. This week, I broke down and upgraded to an HDTV signal from Comcast. I know, Comcast stinks compared to Dish, but we have broadband internet too, and all of it is cheaper with Comcast. Well, I upgraded to the HDTV signal today, and the picture clarity is AMAZING. I was watching a little bit of the USC(thats South Carolina) versus Kentucky game, and it was like being at the game! I could see individual blades of grass on the field, the pores on people's faces. It is crazy how clear and smooth an HDTV picture is. The only problem is, there are only so many HD channels right now, so the programming available is somewhat limited..but if you are able to do it, I highly recommend HDTV. I don't know if I can ever watch non-HDTV again!!!

Ok, some people have complained about my lack of posts on this blog (namely LACEY), so I promise to get something up this weekend. Right now, however, I am studying hard getting ready for a criminal law midterm exam, (besides watching a half-hour of HDTV :) so I haven't had time. Be patient people, and I'll get some pics of our recent travels, including the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Universal Studios, and Rhiannon and Jud's wedding on the Cali coast.
Ta-ta for now.

Dark Chocolate M&Ms

Anyone tried those new dark chocolate M&Ms (DC M&M)? Of course I am referring to the peanut variety, since getting the non-peanut ones would be stupid-they both cost the same, so why not get the ones that include a personal peanut for your eating pleasure??
Anyway, at first I hated the DC M&M. It tasted just like cheap chocolate chips you get that are too bitter and take away from what should be a good chocolate chip cookie. Then, I realized that I shouldn't treat the DC M&M like the normal Peanut M&M, because the normal one is milk chocolate, and is satisfying when popped in the mouth and quickly crunched into oblivion. The DC M&M, I realized, must be massaged in the mouth, allowed to melt patiently, until the candy-coated shell's sweetness melds with the bitter chocolate, undressing the peanut from its candy/chocolate clothes until it crunches satisfyingly in your mouth. THAT IS HOW YOU ENJOY THE NEW DARK CHOCOLATE M&Ms!

Doctor Strangehate

We changed Ellen's doctor last week after a strange experience. We originally chose this Doc because he was Taiwanese like Ellen, but grew up in Japan and spoke Japanese. This is kind of the lingua franca for Ellen and I, although we primarily use English now.
We met this Doc, and I explained that Ellen was using some herbal supplements she bought from a Chinese medicine shop. The doctor looked at me (Trevor) with complete disgust and said: "Why did you let her use Chinese medicine? Chinese are the dumbest, stinkiest, dirtiest people in the world!" He then looked at me and said "You are supposed to know this, YOU ARE AMERICAN! I CAN"T BELIEVE YOU WERE SO STUPID TO USE CHINESE MEDICINE!!!"
Well, after this rather shocking episode, we promptly changed doctors. I have never been to China, but I know some Chinese, and they are smart, intelligent, kind people. I was surprised that the learned doctor said something which indicates he is not so learned.

New Ellen-isms!!

My lovely wife Ellen sometimes says some funny things in English-phrases that kind of get lost in translation. I will periodically post them as new ones are created. So, please enjoy these little Ellen-isms!


Where is the cirantro?!!!   (Where is the cilantro)
There is a died mouse in the backyard (dead)
Maple sauce for the pancakes (syrup)

There are a ton more, but I always forget, and Ellen doesn't help me remember!


"Your belly improved"-this is what Ellen said when she meant to say "your belly got bigger". I'm not sure I would call this an improvement, but it made me laugh nontheless.

"Subten" -this one took me about 5 mnutes to figure out, finally I learned the intented word-"sabbath"

"rop the benbu leaves" =wrap the bamboo leaves

"The Final Dinner"-this is the name of the picture on our living room wall (We all know it as "The Last Supper")

Byron Sessions Statue Event

Ellen, Dad, and Grandma






The veiled statue of Byron Sessions, my great-great-great grandpa. He lead a team of Mormon settlers to the Soshone river valley in the Big Horn basin of Northern Wyoming. He was instrumental in organizing a colony there, and in building a vital canal for the settlements. The town of Byron, named after him, is where this statue was laid. If you happen to visit there, the statue is located on the eastern end of Byon, the right side of main street.
Ellen and I

The Dream Reborn

It has been an interesting few months, as I have gone from hating law school and feeling SURE that I was not meant to be an attorney, to the past 2 weeks where I have come to LOVE law school and really enjoy my part time job working as a legal assistant. A year ago, I was overwhelmed with the amount of work, the forced style of learning (the Socratic method and having to read through more than a forest worth of paper), and my complete inability to manage my time wisely. Now, I am still struggling but am making VAST improvements in how I manage my time. I make sure my reading gets done, and remarkably, I am understanding the material much better. Hopefully, I can continue this trend for the next 4 years and finally become an attorney down the road.