(As of September 25, 2000)
Hi, All! My summer was pretty exciting.
My backpacking trip to High Sierras / south end of John Muir Trail to Mt. Whitney was gorgeous, even though it was a tough trip for me, maybe more than I expected. It was a 6-day 52.4-mile trip, mostly over 10,000 foot elevation, to the summit of Mt. Whitney (14,496 ft), the tallest peak in lower 48 States of USA. I went to this trip with my friends from San Diego, Steve, Thor, Anne, and Neda from July 18 to 24. Because of being out of shape from working hard on the premature baby CT scanner proposal, my heavy backpack, and altitude headache/sickness, I was the slowest hiker throughout the trip. Even though these difficulties, senaries were breath-taking. (Photo at the peak of Mt. Whitney) We met some very nice people on the way, and it was a gorgeous trip
I was planning on going backpacking to Ansel Adams Wilderness with Regina, but we unfortunately had to cancel it because I hurt my back a little bit. (I am okay now.) Instead, I went for a flyfishing trip to Hot Creek in Mammoth Lakes Area with my friend Gene and James from San Diego from September 16 to 18. I really love fly fishing in this stream, as it is in a high desert overlooking tall mountains. The fish were fat and plentiful. Fishing itself was not as great as we would liked, but it was very enjoyable and relaxing trip.
My truck is literary falling apart. So, I am thinking of buying a new car. I am thinking of buying Nissan Xterra (http://www.nissan-usa.com/frameset_xterra.html for details). The process of buying a new vehicle is more time consuming than I expected, and I have been lazy about shopping for it. Hopefully, I will get it very soon.
My work is going okay. We have submitted the premature baby CT scanner proposal in the beginning of August. We will hear about funding in 6 to 9 months. The small animal imaging proposal we (mainly my boss Bruce and a little bit of me) submitted in the beginning of the year is very close to be funded. It will be nice if it does, as it may include 5 years of my salary. My promotion paper work is all in. There is a conference in Lyon, France, in October, and I was supposed to give a talk, but I decided not to go because of an immigration complication.
Hopefully, I will get to surf more often this fall. I also plan to take a few trips with my Xterra, possibly to Death Valley National Park.
Love! Koji
Praises, comments, suggestions to [email protected].
