OK Erin you can check off the book part. My unkosher requests
some sort of good sturdy durable note pad (line preferably)
Origami paper or book would be great.
Jacob, Sam hinted that he wanted a sweater but i have no clue how serious that actually was

Peace on Earth...

Okay, Matt & Jacob -
Erin and I'll post the first un-kosher gimme list. These are all things that would be nice and would get used -- but we won't be disapointed if we don't get them. Stay creative.

I would like
* A red, business-like tie
* A subscription to the New York Times or Wall Street Journal (online or paper)
* Printer cartridges and paper for an HP DeskJet 5940. (I go through a lot of black ink; our current cartridge has a big "96" on it.)
* A new pair of dress shoes
(These are really boring. They make me sound like a stock broker.)
* A new deck of playing cards
* Swing / Jazz music for piano, trombone, alto saxamaphone, etc. (Get any one piece and we'll adapt it for the others)

Erin wants
* Socks
* A jump drive
* A rolling pin
* A book. Any book.
* A Nora Jones CD
* Snowpants
* Winter boots
* Running shoes
(Erin is much more fun than me, apparently.)

That's all we can think of right now. Please everybody else post their wishlists as well so we can choose good presents.

Thanks
-Abe & Erin

Yah, I'm kinda stuck

It's not very kosher but I think Matt's idea is a little helpful. I got Sam as my recipient and I'm am very very stuck on what to give him. A little help. Email me at imeditate@gmail.com if you have any helpful ideas and are feeling nice.

christmas wish lists

aside form the forum slowing down quite a bit what else is new? All of you probably know about the christmas at hobble creek. it would be very helpful if people posted what they wanted so that the person who has your name would have the faintest idea of what you would be hoping for.

Post-Christmas Planning

This is an echo and response to Chris' post a couple weeks ago: What are we going to do at Hobble Creek after Christmas?

Let me register three votes: music, sports (indoor and out), and letters and pictures to Gloria. Like always with family reunions, I think we should guard against getting overprogrammed--there needs to be time for everyone to do their own thing.

I'd suggest we all get together as a family for two meals and one activity each day, and then have an ongoing project on the side. That way we solve the family reunion collective action problem, and the spontaneous stuff can stay spontaneous. "Music" would be a good base for an all-family activity. "Sports" could probably be spontaneous. Letters to Gloria would make a good ongoing project.

Thoughts?

Weigh in soon if you want your opinion heard.
-Abe

Happy halloween from provo

This year we have it all actual costumes, impressionist pumpkins, Vampire Goths(ask Chris for the Picture)
This halloweem we actually did stuff this year. the ward hosted a spook ally in our back yard which I missed due to my Fall concert.
the first and third pumpkins are carved to resemble Chris(note the smile and the headband)
the second and fourth ones are supposed to be Sam (I hope you can see the brush and beret)




Abe and Erin's are still in the works

Happy Halloween from Ann Arbor

Happy Halloween!

Here's a quick update on the Michigan branch of the Gong clan: We're getting towards the end of an autumn worthy of Bill Watterson. It's been windy, colorful, and gorgeous. Ann Arbor is a great place for seasons.

I'm getting along well in classes, feeling out options for campus work next semester, internships next summer, and PhD and grant applications after that. The staff and faculty are very supportive; grades look good. Economics and research keep beckoning me back into TJ realms of math and nerdiness.

Erin is working as a program coordinator at a chaotic community center -- a job somewhere between "Stand and Deliver" and "Lord of the Flies." She's also applied to a couple of masters programs for January; we're waiting to hear back about funding.

The neighborhood is very quiet, but we're starting to make friends in my program and at church, and we both have callings in the ward. We're both on the activities committee and Erin just got called as secretary in the stake primary presidency. So I'll be in the supporting role for the next little while at least.

Here's us














































Abe is Traffic, Erin is a Domino, and our cast iron ant is Elvis.

GONGFEST 2006! WOOTWOOTWOOT!

Hello Everyone!

This has been a particularly successful semester for me at BYU, other than being bludgeoned to death by economics midterms. But I am doing particularly well in my Unassisted Flying class. I aced my levitation midterm last week. It's an honors section, so it covers credit for that and counts as one of my GE's. It's just one of the many cool classes offered at BYU, so if you haven't gone to college yet, or are thinking about going back, you should come.

Also, on the Harvest ful moon, we had PaganFest up in the mountians overlooking Sundance resort. We had drums, chanting, fire, more fire, tribal dancing and cold.

Plus, there is GONGFEST 2006 at the Chateau Gong in Provo after Christmas this year. Everyone is invited. Show up on the 25th 26th 27th ish. Stay as long as you want. Seriously. RSVP and start buying tickets and stuff. We'll go snowboarding and knit scarves. If you have any other ideas, post them on the blog.


See you all soon,
Christopher Gong

So, Im liking this Gong Dynasty

TOtally! We are a Gong Dynasty! There is even a Gong Dynasty here at the academy. Totally rocking! People say my last name more than my first. I am proud.

hello world

helo gong world
if this works i'll submit a real update soon.

hey yall long time no talk. not much has gone on here just eat, school, sleep repeat. except that i've been practising my origami some and i have reverse engineered something amazing.http://www.derudas.com/origami/cobra.htm
enjoy.
sayonara
p.s. my emai lhas changed from Saberchipmunk@yahoo.com to Matthew.l.gong@gmail.com for all those who didn't know

And Two Weeks of Classes...

You know what? If you've been doing your homework and saying your prayers, graduate classes aren't too bad. Above and beyond the four classes I listed a few weeks ago, I signed up for a month-long macroeconomics class starting this last Tuesday. That brings me to 13.5 credit hours; twelve is a full load. So far I've been busy, but not stressed. There's nothing here that Drs. Christiansen and Showalter didn't prepare me for.

And I'm enjoying every single one of those five classes -- no filler electives or GE's or subjectively graded abominations. (Having only turned in two assignments, I'm leaning on some faith for that last stipulation.) This is a first for me: for all my effort picking courses, I've always seemed to end up with at least one dud.

We'll see how it goes once I start working. My first job started on Friday, when I went in for teacher training at the local Kaplan. Erin and I are in the same cohort. We're also looking variously at jobs translating for recent immigrants, doing research on campus, working at the local library, etc.

Finally, I should mention that Erin spent the last week with her parents and sisters in Decatur, city of corn. Boy is it good to have her back.

yoroshiku
-Abe

Looks a lot like the old place. That should make the adjustment easier. Thanks for sharing the video.
-mom
Wow, it's like massive de javu like living 10 minutes in the future wow. Did you go into the twilight zone or did you exit into a slightly better parallel dimension? you have shelves

Video of Apartment

Here's a video of an apartment walk-through in Michigan. This is about two weeks ago, before our stuff came.

Enjoy.

testing testing

Three Days of School

4:47 PM
me: Hey
gongerin: halo
me: Coming home soon.
4:48 PM
Not much luck on the job search.
But I am in the right micro class.
4:49 PM
gongerin: So you couldn't get the work study?
me: Probably not.
Apparently the deadline was March.
The financial aid secretary said that's a hard deadline.
Some of the folks in the department here said it's a recommended deadline.
4:50 PM
But the financial aid people are the ones who do the processing and make the decision. ... I hadn't even decided for sure to come to Michigan in March!
4:51 PM
gongerin: Was is part of the whole application for financial aid thing?
me: The school and the university have different applications. I did the school application, but not the university app.
4:52 PM
gongerin: oh
me: Even if I had I'm not sure I would have know to check the "work study" box, or whatever.
know
known
gongerin: yeah
4:53 PM
financial aid always seems to be a big mess
me: ... especially with me.
Oh, well. I can probably find a local job if I have to.
gongerin: You'll be able to work more hours for Kaplan, if that works out
me: True.
4:54 PM
Not getting the work-study job leaves me more flexible.
We'll see.
gongerin: Maybe you'll still get a GSI spot
me: Fingers crossed.
It still won't pay bills this semester...
gongerin: yeah
4:55 PM
Although Kaplan could...
Anyway, I'm going to go knock one more door then come home.
Love ya.
gongerin: love you too
see you soon
me: PS - What's for dinner?
gongerin: taco salad
?
me: yum. Ok, bye.
4:56 PM
gongerin: bye


First week of classes; they all look great. Erin is looking at programs to apply to for January. I'm looking for jobs, preferably on campus. One job in particular -- doing communications and outreach for the public policy school -- looked very promising. The director seemed to like my portfolio and the interviews had gone very well. The very last question she asked wasn't even really a question, "You're approved for work-study, right?"

Work-study?

It turns out work-study is a federally mandated financial aid program. Because it's subsidized, you have to be approved to hold a work-study position. Approval has to go through the university financial aid office, and the financial aid cycle ends in March. Before many grad students (including me) accept offers. (See my chat with Erin on the subject, above.)

So I'm not approved for work study and therefore probably won't get that particular job. A shame, really, because I was excited about it and probably as well qualified as anyone applying.

Tomorrow I'm planning on visiting the financial aid office for a counseling session. Maybe there's a loophole in the March application deadline. But my experience with that office so far has not made me optimistic. So I'm out looking for other positions. I applied with Kaplan on Thursday. Tuesday I'll hit up the Institute for Social Research to see if anyone needs a programmer/number cruncher research assistant.

All you Gong kids at BYU ought to be really thankful for an excellent education at bargain-basement prices. I know I am, increasingly.

yoroshiku
-Abe

Posting Bugs

Erin was having trouble posting earlier -- maybe you've had the same problem. I think I figured out the solution. First I had to register everyone as "admin" instead of "guest." Now you should be able to post by doing the following:

1. Log in to gmail.
2. Open the gong dynasty blog in a separate window.
3. Click "Sign in" in the upper-right corner.
4. Click the "Posting" tab to get a screen where you can start a post.

Let me know if this still gives you problems.

Moving Out Moving In

There are still more than a handful of boxes left to unpack, but we're closer to the finish line of our moving marathon. Abe declared the walk-in bedroom closet a "no mess zone" on Friday and you can now successfully sit on any of the living room chairs without moving a box first. The squeak of packing tape still hurts my ears.

Overall, the apartment will work out for us this year. It's about the same as our last one, maybe a little smaller. We've had a hard time with shelf space. Part of me wishes our possessions would have burned en route.

This coming week I'll hit the job search and grad school applications. I'm trying not to think about it until after Labor Day.

Abe and I substituted for nursery at church today. I tried to act dumb so they wouldn't call us as full-time nursery-ers next week. Not that I don't like nursery. Kids are preciously funny. But it is hard to get to know people in the ward if you only see them as you stick their dirty-diapered kid on their laps in the middle of the Sunday School lesson.

Dinner's ready. Chicken mushy something. I miss eating Sunday dinners at the Gongs'.

(L to R) Front yard of our apartment. Abe in the makeshift living room.

Abe's Classes and Classmates

(I think I'll make writing on Sundays a habit for the next while.)

Orientation was on Thursday. Almost the whole entering class of 85 MPP and MPA students gathered in the Michigan Union to eat two meals; meet each other and the Ford School faculty and staff; and get some advice for navigating the coming months. Afterwards, I went for a self-guided tour of brand-new Weill Hall (Aside: every time I move into a new department, that department seems to get a new building.), registration on the school's eRecruiting system, and a math test to get me out of the standard first-year calculus course. It was a day of name tags, where-are-you-froms, and folders filled with multicolored handouts.

My classmates are a genuinely interesting crowd. Having spent two years on a mission, I had expected to be older than most of them, but that's not actually the case. Many of the others have been working at non-profits, doing extended internships for government, or otherwise kicking around for at least as long as I have. I'm probably just a little younger than average.

Like me, many of the other students don't really know what they're planning on doing, careerwise. The common denominator among public policy grad students seems to consist of two factors: 1) a scarcely bounded sense of idealism and personal responsibility for improving the world at large, and 2) no solid idea about where to start. It's an unusual kind of ambition.

My classes reflect that. I'm signed up for four three-credit classes starting next week. Later, I may add a half-credit seminar on China or macroeconomics, but for now, the lineup is:

• accelerated microeconomics
• program evaluation
• issues in education policy
• elections and campaigns

All of them look like genuinely interesting classes. I'll let you know how they go.

yoroshiku
-Abe

Michigan

After two full days on the road, Erin and I got into Ann Arbor late Friday evening. Yesterday we stocked our cupboards, bought some news clothes, picked up a campus parking pass, hooked up our Internet connection (hence this posting), registered for classes, helped some neighbors unload their truck, baked cookies, and both got library cards. Erin also picked up at least 100 paint swatches at a hardware store -- as soon as the furniture gets here we're planning on painting a couple of the rooms.

Like Ann Arbor, the apartment is somewhat bigger and damper than we had expected. For those of you who've visited us in Provo, the apartment is laid out on almost exactly the same floor plan, plus an additional 20% bonus in floor space. After the blurry and imprecise pictures and measurements ("Kitchen - 4x3"?!) on the Umich housing site, we were very relieved to find it so livable. We'll post pictures as soon as we're fully moved in.

Today we'll go to church. Tomorrow we'll hit campus. With a little luck our stuff will arrive on Tuesday and we'll be well settled before the semester starts.

yoroshiku
- Abe

Calling all Gongs!

Calling all Gongs!

This is a family blog for friends and relatives of the extended Walter & Jean Gong family. I'm hoping this site can help everyone keep in touch and a little more up to date with each other. Specifically, I'm hoping that Grandma and Gloria will be able to log in once in a while to see what everyone is up to.

Right now we're hosting on Google's blogger site -- which means all content is online and public for anyone and everyone to see. I'm going to take advantage of that by refering friends here for news, but it also means that I'm not going to post anything too personal. Hopefully that will keep the stalkers and creditors at bay.