I've survived the week, yay! So I've been researching cars alot lately. I still think the Acura RSX Type S is the best car. It would be a very fun car to have, but reality is starting to set in. At $24K, the price of the car is definitely affordable for what you get. It's a great sporty car, but for that reason, it would double my insurance. I'm not sure I want to take that hit every month. So then I was thinking I should check out the Accord Coupes again because I liked those except I thought the back looked big. But I checked out the 2004 models and they look alot better than the 2003. So now I'm thinking about Accords again. Even if I got the EX V6, the insurance would be cheaper than the Acura, but it would still be more than I pay now. However, the cost of the EX V6 is more than I want to spend (almost $27K). I would get the LX V6, but I want a manual and it doesn't come in manual, so I would have to settle for the LX. The good news about the LX is it is a bit cheaper plus the insurance would be much more affordable since the car is not considered a sporty vehicle. It's alot more powerful than my Civic, but it's also heavier. I think a test drive is in order. I could also imagine getting the regular RSX. It wouldn't have the whiz bang features, but when I think about it, would I really take advantage of the whiz bang features? The regular RSX has 160 hp just like the Accord LX, but the RSX is lighter. I think a test drive is in order. The Type S has 200 hp. It's definitely a performance vehicle. I think it would be really cool to have tight shifting and quick acceleration, but since I don't drive over 100 mph, I don't know how useful that kind of engine would be for me. No matter what car I choose, it will be far better than my Civic so that may be all I need. Oh, and of course the color will be black.

Some people have told me that they can't imagine me driving any other car besides my red Civic. It was a good car, but there were always a couple things I never liked about it. My car has a big butt. It looks cool from the front, but I never liked the back. The car is also manual everything. Manual windows, manual locks, no power steering, no cruise control, and manual mirror adjustment, etc. The only manual thing I like is manual transmission. I learned how to drive stick on that car. The car also has NO CLOCK...AGAIN! There's no armrest that you can store cool stuff inside like CDs or your sunglasses so my glove box is packed to the rim. It's like a jack-in-the-box when I open it. The ladies always complain that there is no mirror on the passenger side visor. (Probably the hugest sin of all, ha ha!) I always liked the car's quick pick up and my next car must definitely have this as well. The engine is only 100 hp, but it's so light, that's really all it needs. I like that I could store alot of stuff in it when I put the seats down. I could store every thing I own in that car (though not all at one time of course). That's very convenient for moving. The interior held up really well, probably because 95% of the time only I was in the car, but even my seat held up pretty good. Anyways, kudos to Honda for building such great cars. I think I'm going to buy Hondas for life.

Anyways, today is my last day of work before vacation. It kinda feels like the last day of school before Christmas break. You're there, but you don't really get any work done. The day totally drags even though you're taking a half day. Tonight I'm watching the last installment of the greatest trilogy ever made. Yes, better than Star Wars. Especially since Star Wars has been cheapened lately by the recent prequels. Most trilogies usually have one (cough, cough, Matrix) or two (ahem, Indiana Jones) good movies, but there is always one you don't like as much as the others or one that just plain stinks. Lord of the Rings will not disappoint. Every film is excellent. It's hard to tell which one I like better because they are so dynamic yet contain all the things that I like. I also know it will be good if everyone I've talked to has seen it twice already. I still can't wait for the extended version. That's the real movie as far as I'm concerned.

Today was a good day. I didn't get robbed, kill any animals, or suffer further damage to my vehicle. The variety of responses I've gotten concerning the events of the past two days is pretty funny. The most common one concerning the dog was, "Where? On the freeway?". I guess because citizens of L.A. spend many of their waking hours on the freeway, they have come to this conclusion. However, I think if I had encountered this dog on the freeway, it would have had a much better chance since I rarely get up to 40mph on the freeway. The response from my male friends indicates my experience is pure comedy. The response from my female friends has been total compassion. One friend of mine (possibly more) forwarded my story to all his friends. Who knows how much of the world has read my story at this point. I wonder if it will ever come back my way. I wonder how the story will change as it passes through so many people's email inboxes.

Today, I was having lunch with one of my coworkers. After I told him my story, he said he talked to a man a couple weeks ago in the same area (it was right near work). He had a dog and he said he takes it there cuz it likes to chase the rabbits. "Was it a man with a beard?", I asked. Yes. "Was it a brown medium sized dog?", I asked. Yes. Man, that was probably the same guy. My friend laughed. There is definitely a fine line between comedy and tragedy. People will never see it the way I did (at least the men won't). I suppose it is a funny story if you don't think about the people involved specifically. Sad.

Anyways, I've been thinking that instead of fixing my old car, maybe I should just buy a new one. My car is 10 years old. It has 175,000 miles on it. For years people have been telling me to buy a new car. I thought it was silly to buy a new car when I just paid off a car that works just fine. Well, I've been driving payment free for about 5 years now. The paint is worn a bit. There a couple dents and a few scratches (thanks to other people who don't respect my property). The engine rattles quite alot and has for a while. In fact, that probably means I'm about due to pay for a huge repair. The alarm really doesn't work that well. I stopped using it 5 years ago. The alarm kept going off randomly. I figure it was more likely to encourage people to vandalize my car than to protect it from theft. There is no point in buying a new alarm. The cost of an alarm is worth 4 or 5 more stereos. I'm supposed to get a new timing belt every 90,000 miles, so I'm due for that very soon. That's expensive, but if you ignore it and it breaks, it will cost even more. I'll probably have to buy new tires sometime this year. I'm due for a new battery. It still has its original transmission. Those days have got to be numbered. The panel on the outside of the passenger door is coming off. And now I need a new stereo and I need to fix the bumper, wheel well, and the right light. It seems it would be wiser to invest all this money into a down payment for a new car instead. Another good reason to buy is the interest rates are low so I could get a pretty good loan. Also if I buy in January, I can get a better deal on the '03 models as they try to clear them out. The only problem with that is you have less selection. I'm pretty set on what I want to get. I'll have to see how my insurance rates will change though. At least the new car tax law was repealed. In retrospect, Hondas are great cars. The engine survived most of the fixtures. That's how it should be. I just no longer feel like it is secure. Not that any car is really secure, but everyone I know who has ever had their car broken into was because they didn't have an alarm or their alarm wasn't set. My car has only been broken into twice. The first time caused me to get an alarm. The second time caused me to get a new car, ha ha. Alarms are standard these days anyway. Two times in 10 years isn't bad especially if you live in L.A.

Anyways, now a different topic. Today is Trilogy Tuesday. What is Trilogy Tuesday, you ask? Well, Trilogy Tuesday was your opportunity to see the extended Fellowship of the Ring, extended Two Towers, and the theatrical release of Return of the King all in one sitting at your local theater. For me personally, this did not have huge appeal. Sitting through one of those films is a journey. I can't imagine watching the whole thing in one sitting. I think if you do this, you will age a whole year in one day. The total screen time is about 10 1/2 hours. I wonder how many intermissions there will be. Do they give you time to go get food somewhere at meal times? I think the experience would not be unlike a transatlantic flight. Sitting down for over 10 hours is not my idea of a good time. I think that would be a cool thing to do for an overnight party in the comfort of someone's home, but not at some theater. Anyways, others disagree since the event sold out the day tickets went on sale (at least at all the theaters around here).

I finished my Christmas shopping today. I'm convinced that Best Buy in Westwood is the best place to go. No crowds at all. I waited in a line of about 2 people. Once the students are gone, the whole town is empty. I still need to buy some other items for my trip like an umbrella and gloves (two things I've never really needed in Southern California). I leave this Saturday. I hope I can make it without further damage to my car.

Unfortunately, today wasn't any better. I had nearly arrived to work driving on the street with warehouses on both sides when I see a rabbit come out of no where running right towards me. It then darted across the street cuz it saw me coming. Note to self: When you see an insignificant animal running towards your car, slow down anyways. The rabbit was being chased by a dog that belonged to one of the people who worked at the warehouse. I didn't even have a chance to hit the brakes. I hit that dog at 40mph. I was so stunned by what happened it took me about 200 yards before I stopped. I reversed back to the scene. By then the owner was there. He was obviously in distress and very upset. All I could say was that I was sorry and it came out of nowhere, I had no chance to stop. He said, "Help me put her in the car." I was surprised that the dog was still alive. I helped the man put the dog in the car. I knew this dog wouldn't survive. The man was determined though so I did what I could to help. Once the dog was placed in the car, he began to give the dog CPR. All I could say was, "Sir, I'm very sorry. I had a dog die the same way." The man looked at me. He was obviously in shock. There was blood on his face from the dog. He said he was going to take her to a vet even though she will probably die. I looked in the car before he closed the door. The dog was already dead. Before he drove off, the man said, "I know it wasn't your fault and I'm really sorry about your car." That's when I noticed that my car had a bit of damage from this accident. The right headlight was hanging out. The bumper was all scratched from the dog's collar. And that hard plastic that is inside the wheel well was torn out. I wedged the light back into the car. It seemed secure even though some of the clips had broken. Surprisingly the light and blinker still worked.

I arrived at work pretty shaken up. I don't feel any guilt about what happened. I know it was only an accident. I don't feel compelled to buy this man a new dog. I think the repairs on my car will be more so I think I will call it even. I never thought to get his information anyways. I just hope he didn't get into a car accident trying to find a vet. Even though I don't feel guilty, I do feel pretty rotten. My car is thrashed inside and out now. I got wires hanging out of my dash and stuff missing from the outside. At least this may justify my deductible for my insurance claim. I feel really sorry for the man. He reacted to that dog as if it were his only friend. I understand that some people get really attached to their pets. My first dog died the exact same way when I was 10 or 11 years old. We also took her to the vet, but she died later.

I don't believe in luck. I believe every event is providential. God knows everything that is going to happen to me no matter how insignificant it may be. He knew my entire life before the foundation of the world. I am not angry about these events. I am a bit frustrated though. I hope the rest of the week turns out better. I'm looking forward to vacation more than ever. Then when I get back, I'll fix all this mess. In the meantime, I need to call my insurance company...again.

Today I saw The Last Samurai. It's a pretty good movie. I definitely recommend it. I decided to watch it in the valley near church because it's cheaper and the crowds are less. Well, that's the last time I'll go there. Upon coming out of the theater, I noticed my brand new car stereo was stolen. Many thoughts come to mind when you realize you've been robbed. The first one was that I'm in the wrong car cuz why would anyone want to steal my radio? The second thought was a little more rational, I've been robbed? The third thought was, how was I robbed? It was definitely the work of a pro. There was no physical damage done to the car itself and I was positive the doors were locked. There are only a couple scratches on the dash that are hardly noticeable from when they ripped it out of my car. I'm thankful nothing else was taken. I had $100 pair of sunglasses in the glove compartment that were still there. It was professional and quick. They wanted only one thing, got it, and left. I can't help but be concerned about how easy it was for them to get in my car. I had one of those removeable face plates, but I only take it off when I park my car for the night. I thought that would be the least secure place. I guess I was wrong. I guess the theater was a good place to steal stereos even though it was in a good area. It was a huge movie theater parking lot. There was no security on duty there. There were no other stores for shopping so people are in the parking lot at specific times. You could see someone park there and know they won't be back for a couple hours. The parking lot is so big that no one from the theater could see anything. So I filed a police report and let my insurance company know. I doubt I'll file a claim though since the deductible is probably more than getting another stereo. At least the speakers I bought weren't stolen as well. So it looks like that's another $120-150 I'm going to be spending. I figure I won't do anything about it until after I get back from Europe. Why risk having it stolen again while my car is sitting in my garage for two weeks? Well, I'm thankful that I still have the car and the loss was minimal. This could have been alot worse. I'm still annoyed though. Argh.

One more day and then all the UCLA students go home, yay! Westwood will be like a normal place to live for a brief yet cherished time. I'll be missing most of it since I'll be going on vacation as well, but at least for that one week I'm here, I will enjoy it. I can't get too fed up with the crowds here. Nobody made me live in Westwood. It was the best opportunity to save money. I'm definitely not considering another year here when my lease expires in August though. Until then I must still tolerate the daily peel out at the intersection outside my window, the monthly car accident that occurs outside at the same intersection due to too much guts and not enough skill, and of course the noises from the drunken mob that passes by every weekend. I know that one day I won't be able to imagine how I endured these conditions for so long. I'll say to myself, "I can't believe I lived like that!". Ha ha.

I was thinking of my previous post. I still agree with what I said, but having said that, I must say that the song "It's Not Unusual" is quite catchy. But maybe that's because I first heard it in the film Mars Attacks!. It's like a 25 year old song, sheesh!

There were lasagnas at Ralph's tonight. Woohoo! I stocked up.

Oh yeah, one of the things I am constantly challenged by I was reminded of today when I saw Tom Jones on The Tonight Show. What is the allure of Tom Jones? He can't dance. He can't really sing. He doesn't seem to be a good looking man. Yet he's had this huge successful singing career for the past 30 years. (???)

I've missed writing in my blog. I haven't been faithful to it lately. I have been sick for quite a while so usually I'm too tired after work. I used to have lots of free time at work to blog, but the new job has proven to be busier. I'm thankful that things are busier at work. My managers keep checking on me to see if I have enough to do. I keep telling them no, ha ha. They keep giving me these one day jobs and then are surprised that I complete them in one day. (???) They seem kinda jumpy that I might quit any minute or something like that. Anyways, busy work is still better than no work. I'm confident things will still get better. We shall see.

This weekend I finally met our church's minister of music, Clayton Erb, face to face. He came up to a group of us after church and asked us to move the piano for him. It's quite a large piano, but we had alot of guys. Clayton is very detailed about moving the piano. "Move it one foot this way, now 2 feet back, ok now 2 more inches to the right..." Ha ha! I kid you not. After that he asked me and two of my friends to help him move music stands. He is quite a character. I had a feeling he could talk to us all day. He had lots of interesting stories about our church. He's been the minister of music for 25-30 years. I forget exactly.

I've been planning for my trip to Europe this Christmas. I'm definitely excited to be going "home". I've also been checking out all the things online that I want to see. I hope I don't exhaust myself. You want to make the most of every day while you're there. I will be seeing three cities while I'm there which are London, Paris, and Normandy. London is my favorite city in Europe. Paris is my second. I've never been to Normandy, but I'm looking forward to it.

Yesterday, I went to the grocery store. The strike is really becoming a problem for consumers now. The store is half full with stock. One of the things I must survive on is Stouffer's lasagna (ah, the bachelor's secret), but they have been out for a month. I may be good at improvising, but not when it comes to food. I bought some chicken pot pies, but they aren't nearly as good as the lasagna. I hope this strike ends soon.

On the way to the grocery store, I noticed they were having the Return of the King world premiere in Westwood. Why do they call it a world premiere when they have world premieres in other parts of the world? Shouldn't it be a U.S. premiere? Of course they do another one in New York, so maybe it should just be a west coast premiere. I've only went star gazing once at one of these premieres. It was for Batman and Robin and I only did it so I could see Arnold Schwarzenegger. So I saw all these other stars too like George Clooney, Danny DeVito, and Lou Ferrigno (you know, the Hulk!). It was cool to do once for an experience, but I never wanted to do it again. I had to wait there almost all day to see those people. So not worth it. Anyways, yesterday's premiere was the first time I was a little bit interested in checking out, but I resisted. I'd rather acknowledge the movie than the actors. One time there was a premiere for this crappy horror movie called House on Haunted Hill. I was just walking around in Westwood with a couple of friends when it was happening. I guess they didn't have a very good turnout because this lady asked me if I wanted to go into the premiere and watch the movie. I said, sure why not, just cuz I've never been to a world premiere before, even if it was a lame movie. She scribbles this illegible thing on a scrap of paper and told me to give it to the large bouncer at the door. It came to mind that this was just a crazy lady and that guy was going to throw me out once I showed him that piece of paper. But he let me in. It was so weird. So I went in and I got free popcorn and soda and everything. They reserved the best seats for the people involved with making the movie, but my seat wasn't too bad. Then after about a half hour, my friend wanted to leave. I wasn't really enjoying the movie either, so all those people that worked on that movie saw me and my friends walk right out through the exit door. Ha ha. Oh well, at least I got some free snacks.

Played around some more with my new camera. I wish I didn't have to work all day so I could go around and take pictures instead, ha ha. I would bring my camera to work, but I'm not allowed (that whole national security thing). Anyways, now that I've joined the digital club, I feel like I can do more stuff online. One thing I hated about taking pictures on film was you had to be sparing with the pictures you took and if you wanted your pictures as soon as you were done, you had to either make sure you had used all the film up at the end or just take the hit and get a partial roll developed. Then you had to wait for the pictures to be developed while fearing that the photo place might lose or ruin your pictures. Then you had to dig through that bin hoping no one else walked off with your pictures. Then finally, you get your pictures and you have to spend a ton of money for getting them developed especially if you got doubles. Every time I go on a trip, I end up spending about $80-$100 on developing pictures. And after all that, you have to scan them so you can put them online and show them to your friends. Also you are bummed because some of those "great" pictures you thought you had turned out really crappy. My film camera took terrible night photos. They always turned out so grainy. But the most heart breaking photo I ever took was of London Bridge. My camera case was partially covering the lens so when I got the picture, half of it was black, doh!!! Well, I will remedy that this time around since I'm taking a small excursion to London when I visit my family in France this Christmas. Oh, and film just isn't as sharp as digital nor is the color as good. After you have your pictures, you have to spend all that painstaking time to scan each one to share with others. Another plus for digital is storage. I'm not really the scrapbook type of guy and all my photos are sitting in a box. That box is full. Just think how many CDs of photos would fit in that box. I can add a caption to the digital photo, too. Yep, this digital camera will pay for itself very soon.

Anyways, being the engineer that I am, I've been trying to learn as much as I can about my camera by testing its limits. I've been taking pictures in the dark, in the light, different resolutions, different compressions, etc. One funny quirk about taking digital photos of people is you don't want high resolution with low compression. Nobody wants to see the veins in your eyeballs. You can make the most beautiful people look so ugly that way, ha ha.

My camera also makes movies. They are pretty good videos at 15 fps, but the limit is only 3 minutes per video. I don't think I'll make too many of these on my trip though. They are such memory hogs. But who knows, I'm with Nate Roth, sometimes you just got to have audio. Oh, but my camera can do audio annotations on the still pictures as well, yay! The other cool thing about the camera is I can upload sound effects for the different functions. So you can have the conventional shutter sound when you take a picture or how about a wolf howling or Strong Bad saying "oh holy crap!". The possibilities are endless.

Anyways, I'm thinking about getting some online storage so I can share the pictures I take. Maybe I'll pay Blogger the monthly so I can put pictures with my blogs. I'll have to think about it for a bit. One of my favorite sites for online photos is A Day in the Life. There are featured photographers every week from all over the world. I would volunteer, but there have been so many L.A. photographers featured already. The site is not being updated until the holidays are over, but check out the archive.

Wow, no blogging for a whole week...and I'm still sick, argh! Well, let's give a quick recap of the Thanksgiving weekend.

Wednesday...after a slow day at work before the holiday weekend, I had dinner with my aunt and uncle and her family in OC. My uncle just recently came back from Paris and showed me some pictures of my family and other stuff. (I have less than 20 days before I leave for Paris, woohoo!) I also got to see my youngest cousin, Cameron, who is 2 years old. I am the oldest of our generation. I've never really felt close to any of my cousins primarily because they are all still children, ha ha.

Thursday...went to the Hays family's house for Thanksgiving who have pretty much adopted me for all holidays I don't go home for. The funny thing about Thanksgiving is it is a major pig out holiday, but I don't have the appetite like I did when I was in high school. I eat more than normal for one meal and then I'm not hungry for the rest of the day which means I actually eat the least on Thanksgiving out of all the days of the year. Still, it was a good meal. I sure don't eat that well very often.

Friday...went to the big sale at Best Buy to see if there were any good deals. The cool thing about Best Buy in Westwood is nobody is there during the holidays so the huge sale goes pretty much unnoticed. There was plenty of parking and plenty of room to walk around in the store. I didn't mind that at all. I was already planning on buying a digital camera. I knew it would cut a huge chink in my cash flow. Unfortunately, the sale didn't help me on the camera, but I did get a 256 MB memory card for it for half price. I got a Canon Elph S400. It's a really good camera. Then I went to Simi Valley to hang out with my friends, Dave and Esther. I took some pictures of the fire damage all over the hills with my new camera. This camera takes excellent pictures. I'm definitely satisfied with my purchase. We saw the movie, The Haunted Mansion. I wanted it to do well, but it was pretty mediocre. Dave said it was the worst movie of all time. I wouldn't say that, it's just forgettable in my opinion. It's not nearly as good as Pirates of the Carribean. I did enjoy the nods to the ride, but the plot was not very deep nor interesting. It seemed like this would have been a better TV movie than a theatrical release. I wonder what's going to happen to Eddie Murphy. He's made alot of stinkers lately.

Saturday...Giovanni asked me if I could help one of his friends move in Santa Clarita. I figured I've had plenty of time on the weekend to relax and have fun and the sacrifice would be no different to anyone else helping. I'd sure would want the help if it were me. So I decided to help. It's always nice to meet a member of our enormous church outside of our fellowship group anyways. This guy was a man from Italy by the name of Adamo. He is a hair stylist and chef and actually cuts John MacArthur's hair. We had alot of hands, but it was a hard day. We made three trips in a fairly good sized U-haul truck. The last trip was the hardest where we had to move about 20 very large potted plants. Adamo grows his own ingredients for his spaghetti sauce. It took about 8 hours to do all the moving. I felt sicker after that. I got home at 7pm and fell asleep right away. I woke up for church the next morning. 12 hours!!! I felt alot better though.

Throughout the weekend I watched the mega-documentary of The Two Towers DVD. It's 6 hours long. Although it's an epic, I enjoyed it very much. I can't wait for the next movie. It's too bad it's going to be another year before the Return of the King extended DVD comes out. Then all of this trilogy craziness will be over. Just watching the sheer complexity involved in making any of these LOTR movies is enough for me to never want to make a movie. It's way easier just to be an actor. But even they had alot of trouble because of the makeup and prosthetics they had to wear and also the injuries they sustained while working. I like all the little stories they tell about certain things in the filming process or how they came up with a certain idea or what things happened by accident. It makes me wonder about all the other movies that were made that probably have stories just as good, but never made it to a DVD. This movie was definitely made with DVDs in mind. That's why the content is so good.

Ugh, I've been sick. Sick enough to feel miserable, but not sick enough to miss work. Actually, I'd love to call in sick except I used all my sick days to go to Belarus this summer and I need the vacation time I have left to go to Europe this Christmas. Yeah, I bet you feel really sorry for me now. Anyways, I got it from Mexico cuz everyone I shared the car with has been sick too. We think it was the popsicles we got at the border on the way home. Note to self: Never get the popsicles! I was 20 minutes from leaving the country and avoided getting sick even after eating at a taco stand twice. The popsicles did me in. I guess they don't use Evian for the ice...go figure.

Well since I'm sick, I haven't been to the gym which freed up my evenings to watch more of the Lord of the Rings extended DVD. I watched the second disc. I really like the extended version of this film. There were alot of Merry and Pippin scenes that were cut that I really enjoyed. It also makes more sense why Faramir acts the way he does and why Gollum felt so betrayed by his master. I also watched some of the 6 hour documentary on the film. Out of all the documentaries that are made for DVD, these extended version documentaries are the best I have ever seen. I actually enjoy watching them. Even the boring stuff about designing the costumes and sets. I like hearing all the stories of trouble that they came across and how they solved their problems and how they lucked out other times. They talked a bit about C.S. Lewis in this documentary because he was a friend of Tolkien's. What I didn't like is the shoddy work they did telling us about C.S. Lewis. They said he was an atheist. WAS is the key word here. They completely ignored that he became a Christian yet still acknowledged that he wrote the Chronicles of Narnia which is a biblical allegory. Shoddy work peoples! They did it to emphasize that Tolkien and Lewis were good friends yet they were opposites because Tolkien was a devout Catholic while Lewis WAS an atheist. I also liked the comparisons made to Lord of the Rings and Tolkien's experience in WWI. The comparison to Saruman speaking to his army to Hitler doing the same was also quite interesting. Another thing I liked about the documentary is they explain why they took artistic license in changing the story for the film. It seemed to stupid when I saw the movie, but since I don't remember the book that well (I read it in junior high), it made alot of sense when they explained why they chose to do it that way.

The Mexico trip was fantastic. This was my 4th time down to Mexico for a missions trip. This one stands out though because I got to spend more time with the people who live there and learn more about what life in Mexico is like. I'll start from the beginning...

I've only done missions in two cities in Mexico, Ensenada and Tijuana (pronounced Tee-Hwana not Tee-UH-wanna). This trip was to Tijuana. We arrived at the orphanage well after midnight on Friday night so we went right to sleep and got up at 7am the next morning. I was a bit tired, but I was ready for the day's work. Another church was there as well and had about 30 people to add to our 10. There were a few projects that needed our help. One was building a cement block wall, another building needed painting, playing with the children, and other small projects here and there. We were blessed to have so many workers since each project was a huge task, but because of the huge number of people, it only took a few hours. Most of the work was finished by lunch time. Since we had so many people, I floated from project to project since I wasn't always needed where I was at. I ended up helping one of the ladies wash dishes after the kids' lunch. She would only let me dry though (???). While we worked outside, alot of people walked by and watched us work. I thought of the irony of this picture. Normally in the U.S., you see a bunch of Mexicans working, but here in Mexico, these people were watching a bunch of white people working.

The founder of the orphanage is an amazing man named Sergio Gomez. He is a strong man of faith and his storytelling of ministry in Tijuana is very ear-catching. You can read about and see pictures of the orphanage here. Most of the children at the orphanage actually have parents or at least a mother. These kids were born out of prostitution and were locked up in their homes while their mothers went to work. Many children have died because of this since fires have consumed the homes with the kids trapped inside. Sergio actually visits the brothels in Tijuana and offers the prostitutes a home for their children where they can be raised by loving people in a healthy environment. He tells them that the children will always be their children and they can visit them any time (as long as they come to visit dressed like mothers and not prostitutes). Many of the women opt for this because they do love their children and worry about them while they are at work. Other kids in the orphanage come from abusive and drug addicted parents and are persuaded to give their children up for their best interests. Sergio also came from a background like this.

On Saturday afternoon, we went to a village of Lomas outside of Tijuana. This location is on the hills overlooking the beach. A home in a location like this would have cost a million dollars or more in California, but the people who lived here were among the poorest in Tijuana. Many of the children there are starving and usually only get one small meal a day. We were brought there by a South African man named Marcos. You can read about his ministry here. When we arrived there, we went out in groups and invited people in the village to a free dinner that we were preparing in the center of their village. I felt kind of useless here since I don't speak Spanish well enough to carry on a conversation, but I guess my appearance attracted attention. Many people were very kind to us. I love how Mexican people are so friendly to strangers. We could use more of that here in California. About 150-200 people showed up. There was enough food for people to get seconds. It was alot of fun playing with the village kids. They all wanted piggy back rides. The first kid jumped on my back and started whacking me in the butt yelling "Andale! Andale!", ha ha! "You are my horse and I am a cowboy!", he said in Spanish. Once the kids saw that, they would all do it. The next kid I put on my shoulders. Aha, you can't hit me in the butt now, you're too high, I thought. Well, true, so he decided to smack me in the face instead. (sigh) You just can't win, ha ha. Anyways, I do know a few words in Spanish, but "Hey, stop hitting me!" was not in my vocabulary unfortunately. This kid persuaded me to give him a ride to his home. When we got outside his house, he yelled to his mother inside "Mom, come out and see my friend!" His mom replied from inside the house, but she didn't come out, and then the kid pointed me to go somewhere else. I guess she wasn't interested, ha ha. Anyways, I definitely got my exercise for the day.

That evening, some of us visited a battered womens shelter that Sergio also started. Six women and 15 children lived there. It was amazing to hear all of their stories. All of the women had abusive husbands that were either alcoholic or addicted to drugs. They would beat the women and children. Their husbands don't know they are living at the shelter and don't even know that the shelters exist. They are safe there. This is where the women also hear the gospel and learn the Bible. We went back to the orphanage after that and I slept really well after the long day.

On Sunday, we drove to Costco. I was surprised they actually have a Costco in Tijuana. It's really big, too. The orphanage is not doing well financially. The fridge and cupboards were pretty bare. They also owe a huge water bill that they haven't paid in two years. If that wasn't bad enough, the orphanage was robbed four times in the past month by drug addicts. The kids' uniforms were stolen as well as much of the food stores. So we went to Costco to load up some supplies for them. We had about 10 people on this chore so we each were tasked with finding items and bringing them to the cart. I found my experience at the Mexican Costco was no different than my experience at the Costco in L.A. I can't find anything and I'm surrounded by people speaking Spanish. The food bill ended up being about $400, but it's enough food to last the kids for a couple months. We went home after that.

I learned a few things on this trip. One interesting fact is that a huge animosity towards religion has grown in Mexico. The interest in Catholicism has dropped from 95% to 5% in the past 25 years. This is due to the raging pedophilia that has occurred in the church. I was told that all the Catholic priests that get into trouble in other countries are sent to Mexico to cover up their deeds in their own country. As a result, Mexico has passed some very strict laws concerning children. You can get 15 years in prison for having a child in your car. You can get 6 months in prison for taking a picture of a child with his shirt off. Pretty bad considering when it's hot, nobody wears a shirt.

I also made an observation of people in general. I noticed in third world countries like this, people do horrible things to each other that we would never see people do in America. It would give the appearance that America has better people in general by comparison, but I don't believe this is true. I think Americans would do just as horrible things if they were desperate for food like the people in Mexico. Morality can fade quite easily when you are starving. It can be quite deceptive for people to consider others generally good as long as they are prosperous. It's just another example that man is inherently evil without God's grace.

I bought the extended Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers DVD yesterday. I only had time to watch one disc though. I think the Lord of the Rings DVDs are the only DVDs that have interesting deleted scenes and documentaries. I was really hooked on the 6 hour DVD documentary on the last DVD. They do a really good job with these so they are automatically my favorite DVDs in my collection. When all three movies are on DVD, that is going to be one mega long movie. I hear the Return of the King uncut is 4 hours. So that makes the whole uncut movie to be 11 hours and 15 minutes. That's quite a commitment! I think the best part of these Lord of the Rings movies is that the makers really desired to create something true to the story and something that everyone would enjoy. Sure, the studio execs just see it as cash flow, but I get the feeling that the director and actors really wanted to make a great film so that people could enjoy it and that they could be a part of something great. I don't get that feeling from any other movie I've ever seen.

A small group of Foundry people are going to Mexico this weekend to help out at an orphanage. We don't know what we're doing when we get there, but I hear there is always lots to do. I'm sure I'll have much to write about when I get back. Pray for us!

Balancing pros and cons of new job:

Pro: Cool sunsets every day from the comfort of my cubicle.
Con: Sun beating down on me all afternoon thus giving two reasons to enjoy the sunset. It's good that I have blinds.

Pro: Left a job where I had little to do and felt micromanaged by my boss.
Con: Currently have a job with little do and being supervised by no one. (Some would consider that a pro.)

Con: The bathroom and the vending machine were a long walk from my cubicle at my old job.
Pro: The bathroom and vending machine are right across the hall from my cubicle at my new job.

Con: My last job environment was really noisy because of people chatting all the time and annoying cell phone rings everywhere.
Pro: New environment is so quiet that even my typing on the keyboard seems disruptive.

Con: Old job - little cubicle, no window (I also got this after having a big cubicle)
Pro: New job - big cubicle, window (biggest cubicle ever, a new personal record)

Anyways, some other nuances of the new cube is that when I moved here there were 4 chairs in here. People come by and ask why I have so many chairs and tease me about it. I respond in a couple ways.

The obvious answer: Yeah, they were here when I moved in. Facilities is picking them up on Friday.
The witty response: Yeah, I work so fast that people like to come and watch me work.
The Christian response: Do you need one? (Usually that scares them away...odd?)

Anyways, it's funny that I have this really big cube, but I tossed all my junk at the last job. I have all this space, but nothing to fill it with so it looks really bare in here. I get alot of comments about that too, ha ha. Anyways, it's slow this week cuz my boss is out the whole week. So I got assigned a task by another manager. That task is pretty simple and doesn't take alot of time though. It's quite tedious too. I ran into my functional manager (the one who hired me) today in the hallway. He asked if I was busy enough. I said no and that the thing I was working on was more of a side task than a main task. So he said, ok I'll get right on it. I think that's cool. It's a good sign to me when management wants me to be busy. I don't think my prior management cared too much about that. When I told my last functional manager I was bored, he said that most people would be happy with a job where they could just surf the internet all day and still look good. I think I would have rather delivered mail. At least they looked busy. Anyways, our division just won a big contract so I'm not worried about things being slow around here for too long. It will take a little patience though.

Anyways, if you're into Star Wars, Cartoon Network has a really cool series of Star Wars cartoons that take place between Episodes 2 and 3. You can watch all the episodes online. They are only about 3 minutes per episode. Really cool stuff.

Smallville last night was pretty cool. I like it when the episodes are focused on the main plotline. I can't believe that the first 30 minutes had no Lana appearance. Anyways, I'm bummed that there are no new episodes until January. I guess that means my Wednesday nights are free for a bit.

I saw this today. All I can think of when I see a watch with some sort of communications device built in is Knight Rider. Now you too can be Michael Knight! These would probably be pretty cool if the idea didn't come from an 80's TV show. I wonder what other made up things from 80's TV shows will be available as consumer products. Perhaps a talking Trans Am? Or a cool red light that goes back and forth that you can put on the front of your car? (That would be cool actually.) When I was a kid, every time I saw a black Trans Am, I had to look at the front for the red light just to make sure that it wasn't the Knight Rider car. Every time I was so disappointed. "How many black Trans Ams can there be?" I wondered. Apparently, there are many. Now that I think about it, what purpose did that red light serve? It was pretty cool though. I guess that was the purpose.

Since I'm talking about Knight Rider, the pilot episode had the main character being played by a different actor and then he got shot or something. Then they change his face with plastic surgery so that he looks like David Hasselhoff and give him the name Michael Knight. No problem except a few years later they introduced Michael Knight's evil twin, Garth, who also is played by David Hasselhoff except he has a goatee. So did his evil twin brother have plastic surgery too or was he a fraternal twin and they used him as a model to make the face of Michael Knight? You got to love the simplicity of 80's TV.

This weekend I went to Magic Mountain. I bought a season pass at the beginning of the summer and have only been once so far. I figured I better use it since it expires at the end of December. The cool thing about having a pass is it really doesn't matter which day you go because you can always come back for free. This was a pretty good day to go because the park wasn't that busy. All the lines were way short except for Goliath which was an hour. The other thing that was cool is we were only there for four hours and still did everything we wanted. This all brings me to the amazing realization that going to a theme park in the summer is a huge waste of time and money. The extended hours in the summer still can't accomodate for the huge crowds so you still wouldn't be able to ride as many rides. Not only that, but because the off-season hours are shorter (they close at 6pm), you never need to spend any money to eat there. I was at Magic Mountain and literally spent no money and still had a good time. Also, there are few places in the world hotter than Magic Mountain in the summer. The heat had me feeling sick for the rest of the evening when I went last summer, but this time it was nice and cool. It even rained a bit, but I didn't mind. The cool thing about the weather being bad was they shut down that annoying Superman ride that is soooooo loud. Plus when you buy a season pass, you get coupons for things like free parking. You also get a coupon for a free admission to bring a friend. The other weird thing was while we were in line some guy had an extra ticket and just gave it to my friend.

Anyways, I'm all Magic Mountained out, but I'm going one more time when my brother is in town. I don't want that free admission to go to waste. I don't know if I'm older and I notice these things now, or if the park has seriously gone downhill, but the place is a rundown pile now. Sure the rides are good, but it's so dirty around there. It's also ridiculous to see in the summer how many people make out in line. I wonder if these couples ever talk. I was truly annoyed by this one couple because they were right behind me. The guy was really tall and the girl was really short and she was crawling all over him to make out with him. At first, I was really shocked because out of the corner of my eye, I thought it was like a 12 year old kid, but then I saw she had an old face. Anyways, I was annoyed cuz in her climbing on her boyfriend like a monkey, she kept slipping and bumping into me. This time I noticed that nobody was making out in line. So I have a theory, either all the relationships have broken up by this time of the year thus ending their summer flings and Magic Mountain is such a bad memory for them or they are all broke by this time in the year that they can't afford to come back until next summer. Either way, I was glad I didn't have to watch that. I'm curious as to why people have no problem seeing a couple kiss on the movie screen, but when it happens in person, it's really gross. When I'm like 85 years old, me and my wife are going to Magic Mountain and we're going to make out in the line and gross out everybody to teach them a lesson. That'll show'em! Ha ha! Well...maybe not, but it sure is funny to think about.

I started my new job today. There isn't much to say. It took me about 6 weeks to realize that my last job was bogus. I already have a better feeling about this one though. I think they weren't really ready for me to come onboard. They made up a position so they could hire me cuz they really wanted me to work for them. That's ok, I expected this. Things will pick up when the new year starts. The thing I like best about the new job so far is my new cubicle. It's twice as big as my last one and it's got a window. The window faces the best direction too so I can see the city of Redondo Beach as well as the sunset. Not too shabby. I like this deal a whole lot better even if the work is mediocre. The other cool thing is a couple of my friends from another project I worked on sit in the same bay as me. So I have a killer cube and I'm surrounded by friends. That makes a pretty good first day even if I didn't have much to do. The funny thing is the work I did today was still more than I did any other day on my last project. I have a good feeling about working here and at this point I'd rather have a positive ignorant feeling than a negative ignorant feeling. Now I just hope they come through on the promotion they promised me when it comes to performance review time.

Today was my busiest day in the last two weeks. I packed up my cubicle. I threw away pretty much everything. I started with the project stuff, but I didn't stop there. I didn't see the need to keep the other stuff I was bringing around either from old projects so I threw all that away too. So I'm really traveling light right now. It's like my next project will be my first one, no baggage, woohoo!

Lunch with my coworkers was cool. It was a small group, but my manager came and she was kind. I'm thankful that the last day ended like this. No hard feelings. One of my coworkers was sorry to see me go. I think she liked to talk to me because she felt I was genuine to her. I got to share the gospel with her about a month ago and she was very friendly towards me ever since even though she didn't want to commit her life to Christ. She believes in all religions and takes what she likes from each one and believes that. She says that people who believe something have a good heart, but people who believe nothing are evil. Interesting perspective. Anyways, she said more than once that she would miss me. She asked me today if I had anything for her to remember me by. I couldn't think of anything, but later on I grabbed a gospel tract that I found rummaging through all my stuff and gave it to her. "What's this?" she said. "Something to remember me by.", I said. "But this doesn't have your picture on it or anything.", she said. I told her, "It's what I believe and every time you read it, it will remind you of me." I hope more that it will bring her to Christ though. I told her everything in that tract on that time before, but the tract is clear and concise and I hope she will understand what it says. In the past five months, I consider explaining my faith to her to be the only worthwhile thing I have done on this project. Perhaps that was the Lord's plan from the beginning.

I didn't go to the lab today. This is the 2nd or 3rd day I haven't gone to the lab. So which is it? The 2nd or 3rd day? I really can't remember. It's amazing what you can't remember when you don't need to think about anything. Sometimes I'm just sitting here and I can't even remember how long I've been here. I'm looking at a website, but I'm not really reading it, nor do I know how long I've been looking at it. Anyways, I feel like I should go to the lab because I feel guilty for not doing anything. All of my coworkers are there for most of the day, but when I go there, they never need help and most of the time they are just chatting anyway. I could pretend I'm working by doing the same redundant tests that I do everyday, but this got old last week. My document was accepted with no further updates, so I don't even have that to do. The tension has subsided a little bit. I've been forgotten here, but people are friendly when they see me. I can't wait to leave this place. One more day!!! The only problem is I have to wait until Monday for my stuff to get moved to my new cubicle. The secretary for my new job sent me all these cardboard boxes to move my stuff. I store all my stuff in one file cabinet so I don't need them. I try to travel as light as possible. It's easy to let your office accumulate with worthless junk or old papers from old projects. I'm going to throw away everything I have from this project. There is nothing here of value and nothing here I ever want to remember. Aside from that, I am thankful that I get to move on. There is no guarantee that the next job is golden. It is only my prayer that I will be content with what I'm given. I've realized it does me no good to agonize over these things in the short term, but instead I should patiently plan my next move. I am confident the next job will be better, but I'm not expecting very much so that I'm not disappointed. I have a very good imagination and I tend to get disappointed quite often as a result.

Anyways, we got 5.5 inches last night because of that storm. Crazy! There was even hail in some parts. The power went out in some neighborhoods. It was really odd that this storm only occurred in one part of L.A. It was like the wrath of God was unleashed on that part of the city. I don't believe it was really the wrath of God though because people were only inconvenienced. There was no damage and no death and no hardship. God's wrath is pretty obvious and impossible to ignore. Still, nothing happens without Him knowing about it.

The location of where I work is kind of in the boonies. When I first started working here, we were the only office building surrounded by vacant fields. Over the past two years, all these warehouses have been folding up on all these vacant fields. One area is particularly interesting though. All these buildings look the same so the process is repeated over and over in constructing them. They dig for the foundation, lay the concrete, and fold up the building like legos. Well, this one lot started the digging, then I noticed one day that there were men walking around dressed in bunny suits and gas masks. There was tape surrounding the area labeled "asbestos". I thought that was weird considering nothing was built there, so why is there asbestos? The next day after that, a temporary chain link fence was put up around the field. The day after that, a tarp was put on the fence so nobody could see in. ??? A couple weeks later, the fence was taken away and building resumed, now the bunny suit guys are in the adjacent field. I can't help but think this is an X-Files moment. The other thing I can't help but think is do I need a bunny suit and gas mask? If guys are walking around in the open air but need air tight clothes and have to breathe through a filter, what difference does it make on the other side of the fence where I am??? I don't think it's asbestos. It all looks fishy to me.

Today when I left work, there was this torrential rainstorm at a level I haven't seen in California since the real El Nino. There were big fat blue bolts of lightning too. They were so close. I could hear the thunder over my stereo. On top of that, the streets were all flooded. The water line was already above the curb. I was worried that my car would stall. My brakes were already not responding so well since they were underwater. Anyways, when I finally got on the freeway, the traffic was moving, it was slow, but it was still a constant 30 mph which is better than most dry days anyway. As I got closer to home, the rain was getting lighter until everything was totally dry and the sky was clear. It's so weird that I encountered such opposite forces of weather within 30 miles. My parents would say, this is every day in Texas. Yeah, I know. Such weather is strange to us in California though. I can't remember the last time I saw lightning. I think I was in Texas. Anyways, I'm just thankful to be home safe (and in time for Smallville).

I thought I'd jump online before my favorite show started. I saw that the trailer for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban leaked onto the net prematurely. Usually when I see news like this, all the links are taken offline before I get to see anything, but this one was still up. This movie looks way cool. I'm really looking forward to it. The different vision of a new director is obvious even in the trailer. I like the changes. The new Dumbledore also looks like a good fit. I still would have preferred Peter O'Toole, but I'm sure Michael Gambon will do a good job. I approve.

I forgot to mention what I discovered yesterday. Stick out your tongue and to the left and close your right eye. Then, as quickly as you can, switch your tongue over to the right, open your right eye, and close your left eye. Try alternating back and forth. It's very hard to do. If you're like me, you end up blinking both eyes rapidly and your tongue is wagging back and forth (and this when I try to do it slow). My apologies to anyone who tries this and gets caught.

I know you're probably wondering how I came up with this or even why. Well, I'll just leave it to your imagination.

I read alot of stuff today. I turned in my document early this afternoon. So I went from one task to no tasks until it gets sent back to me, then I'll have one task again. Hopefully, it's done now though. So when I'm down to no tasks, I usually went to the lab to see what I could do there. I've given up on the lab though. Every time I go there, people are just talking and nobody is working it seems. So I just read the web. I've read so much today, I feel like I just need to write to balance it out, ha ha. I saw this link for this one article called "10 Most Patriotic Sites". Upon clicking on the link, I was totally sure that this meant the 10 most patriotic websites, but it actually meant locations. Just goes to show you how the times have changed. The word "site" only means one thing to me now, ha ha.

Amy pointed out to me that earlier this afternoon, my blog was advertising a website called I Work With Fools.com. So I checked it out. It's alot different than the stuff I write about. Sure there are some stories about inefficiency, but most of them are just about really bad people. I'm glad I don't work with bad people like these. It just shows that there are blessings in trials and there is always a reason to be thankful. Anyways, most of the people who write on that site, you can tell they are just really mad and upset. So check out the link if you want, but don't stay there too long. It's probably not healthy to read all that negative stuff. I also took a look at this website on Urban Legends that Amy talked about on her blog. I couldn't believe how many stories I read on there that were proven false that I believed were true. I also couldn't believe some of the randomest things that are actually true. Did you know there's a basketball court in the Matterhorn at Disneyland?

I also read alot of Bible topics today. I like reading the answers to people's questions. I'm a person who normally doesn't ask many questions. Sometimes I feel like this is something I need to work on. I've always had the habit of trying to figure stuff out on my own. Sometimes that's good and sometimes that's bad. I've received comments on both ends of the spectrum. Well, I'm calling it a day. Only 3 days left!!!

This weekend I saw two movies. On Saturday, I saw The Matrix Revolutions. I ended up seeing it in Westwood with a few friends. Westwood is definitely not my choice for a place to see a movie. That used to be THE place when I was a college student, but now I'm more annoyed watching movies there than anywhere else. The stadium seating theaters that have popped up everywhere are far better, I think. They are cheaper too. Did you know Mann Westwood theaters do not have matinee prices anymore? So I paid $10 to see a movie at 3:45 in the afternoon. (sigh) Anyways, I'm glad I waited to see that movie cuz I think I would have hated it had I lost sleep to see it, but since I waited, instead I was indifferent coming out of the theater. I think the visual effects were better than most movies and I even had a stronger liking for the characters than I typically do for movies, but I think they just tried to do too much. They were trying to make a movie with a cool story, awesome action, and deep philosophical meaning. I think they should have dropped the philosophy. Like Reloaded, this movie was way too into itself to make any real sense. It was also annoying how they felt they needed to explain multiple times how the Oracle is played by a different actress while some of the "profound" twisted philosophy in the movie was only mentioned once and you're just supposed to get it at face value. I don't even think the creators get their own philosophy in this movie. I figure that they just grabbed as much philosophy from around the world as they could and jammed it all in the story to please everybody. I did like Agent Smith's take on providence when he was talking to the Oracle. I chuckled a bit there, I admit. Anyways, I think most people agree that if the original was the only movie that was made, we would all have been satisfied. I'm still wondering whether I'll get the DVDs or not. I probably will just cuz the effects were cool and I'm into that kind of stuff.

Well, after that movie, I was really tired for some reason. So I just fell into a comatose sleep around 7pm. I woke up a couple times during the night, but I still felt so groggy. I ended up waking the next morning. Crazy, huh? I got like 12 hours sleep. That happens to me every once in a while where my body just demands the extra rest and I have no choice. Every time that happens, I wake up wondering if I'm missing a rib, ha ha. Hey, it could happen. God never promised he wouldn't do that again.

Anyways, the movie Elf also opened this weekend. I have been excited to see this movie for awhile. Will Farrell is one of my favorite comedy actors. (I hear he works out at my gym, but I've never seen him there.) He was awesome in Zoolander. Alot of people think that movie is dumb, but it totally rules. Anyways, I felt like I had to see a movie that made me happy after seeing something so dark the day before. Elf is a great movie and it's also something the whole family can see, just like School of Rock which is another great film. Anyways, I definitely recommend Elf. It's a must-see, especially if you like silly.

Anyways, since I saw two movies, I saw lots of trailers. Troy, Return of the King, Day After Tomorrow, and Shrek 2 all look really good. I can't wait.

WORK UPDATE: Well, I'm still working on my agonizing last task. I don't think my manager will be happy with my document until my last day. I just keep doing what she asks and she keeps coming up with more stuff to add to it. I just smile and oblige as best as I can. It's not like I have anything else better to do anyways. The really odd thing about this task is I'm writing a document for a system I've never used. The direction I'm getting is really vague because I don't think anyone really knows how to use it including the people who wrote the code for it. When I ask questions, my manager just gets frustrated with me, but she doesn't give me any answers. I think she knows as much as I do, but she doesn't want to admit it. Well, I'm just trying to keep a positive attitude. I think I succeed most of the time, but not all the time. I do talk about my frustrations with some people. One thing I don't like about leaving is when people put words in my mouth when they greet me. For example, "Hey, I bet you're counting the days." Yes, I am, but it's not like I go around telling people that. In fact, I've told no one that because it's insulting to the people who still work on the project. It also makes listeners think that I'm too good to work with them. I'm not too good to work with anyone, I just want something better. It's unbelievable how few people understand this work ethic. On a positive note, my manager and the team are taking me to lunch on Friday. It's a surprise to me. Although this is customary, I still didn't expect it. I feel like you need to stay with a group for longer than 5 months to earn this, at least a year. I wouldn't have felt bad at all if they didn't give it to me. I can't help but feel awkward for getting this. Well hopefully it will be an opportunity to preserve my testimony.

Tonight was Friday night and I went to Wendy's as usual. I didn't have Gio with me though. This time though I didn't need too much help. As soon as I pulled up, she calls back to her coworkers in Spanish and they all come up to the window and look at me. As I'm putting my change away she says something to the girl next to her. The only word I caught was "casado". I didn't know what that word meant, but I looked it up. It means "married". Ha ha. I had no idea this was so serious. I'm guessing she said, "I wonder if he's married?". Anyways, whatever she said, I waved goodbye and drove off. I don't know why I just don't ask her what she says. My natural reaction is to just pretend like I understood her, but I think the blank look on my face clearly shows that I don't. Well, at least it's comforting to know she's not saying something like "hey, spit in this guy's frosty".

It's a slow day today. This is not unusual though since it has basically been slow for the past 5 months, but this week is exceptionally slow. Why? Well, it's no secret now that I'm leaving and I'm shocked to see how people have reacted to my leaving. You would think since I have so little to do, it would be easy to let me go to the new position right away, ah but not so. Let's start from the beginning...

I notified my supervisor of my new position on Wednesday (10/29) and she seemed to be well wishing and positive about the decisions I made. I never criticized her leadership and only spoke positively about the people I worked with. I told her my reasons for leaving were based solely on my interests and that I'm a unique person who needs to be challenged to be satisfied. Where I'm going also offers more opportunities in the areas that I'm strong mainly video technologies. The upper management had high hopes for me, but told me before I took this job (the one I currently work) that I would have to do Comm (Communications) work if I wanted to work for them. So my main reason for leaving is I realized I don't want to do Comm work. There is much truth in that reason and I felt it was a good reason to share without smearing by saying how lame everything was and how poorly managed our budget is to allow so many people to do so little work. You never want to burn your bridges, even if you can't fathom ever crossing them again. It was the whole "it's not you, it's me" speech. I was being totally truthful and honest. Well, it's just sad what it turned into.

When you have a project that has little work and alot of people, it produces alot of gossip. People have nothing better to do than to talk, I guess. There are whole other areas of the building full of people that I don't even know that are just dumbfounded as to why I'm leaving such a "great" and stable position. I have heard that I am even "stupid" for leaving. Most people have responded very negatively for my move. It turns out my supervisor who seemed so well wishing now feels the need to cover her own reputation by making me look bad. I think it started when she heard about a month ago that I was bored on the project. She found out from her upper management. Because I have friends in high places, they were trying to find me something better so I wouldn't leave the company, but that effort caused the information to leak back to my supervisor from her superiors. I guess it doesn't make her look good. So she called me in her office to accuse me of being bored. I thought it was an unusual tactic considering last time I checked, being bored was not a crime. It's also not a violation of company policy either. So I was quite honest with her. I told her I'm trying to do my best in enjoying the work that has been given to me, but I don't see where I really fit here. I also told her that I feel like too many of the tasks are shared and that I feel like I'm sharing one job with 3 other people. She didn't like that, but she didn't argue with me either. I honestly had nothing against her, and my comments were only made to help my situation, but I guess she took it differently.

Now instead of assigning tasks to me, she's telling my coworkers to keep an eye on me, as if I'm doing something wrong. She's going to make it look like I do nothing and ignoring the tasks that are given to me. She actually hasn't spoken to me since I've informed her of my new job. So I don't see how she can expect me to be led by her if she isn't taking leadership. Not everyone I work with is so harsh. Some people are worried for me and ask me what I'm going to do and they hope my new job works out ok. I don't know what they've heard, but no doubt they heard it from her. I assure them there is nothing to worry about. There really isn't. I have a very good reputation with many people in this company. This is the first time in 5 years where I've encountered someone so negative. Many people above her know what I'm capable of and they will probably be disappointed to find out I left the organization. Well, I don't need to bad mouth her to the upper management. She's digging her own grave. People know this is a lame project and people also know that I do good work. If I leave after just getting here and all she has to say is bad stuff about me, how is that going to make her look? I'll just let things run their course. Where I'm going, people are looking forward to having me and they were glad to see me stop wasting away here. So I'm not really worried and I'm not angry either.

The other puzzling thing is that my transition date is 11/17. That's two and a half weeks since I gave notice. Pretty odd considering that I have so little to do. My new manager was also confused because he knew of my situation. He was told by her that she absolutely needs me until that day. Really odd since she's given me nothing to do nor spoken to me since I gave notice. I think it's just so that things can look busier than they actually are. She doesn't want people to think that her people are lax. I also wonder if she wanted as many people under her as she could get to make herself feel more important. I guess for the sake of peace, it's just better to go along with the transition date. My new manager agrees, but he is already annoyed with her because of it. So I'm not really concerned about what she says to him either.

I don't expect anything bad will happen to me or to my supervisor though because nothing ever happens on this project. I'm sure it's hard to find people that are so content with such little productivity. One thing I am sure of, I definitely made the right decision to leave. These circumstances didn't change who I worked with, it only revealed what they were really like. You can only be as good as the people you work for. Upper management only sees how good people are by what they accomplish and how good their management is. I think I'm definitely better off not being associated with this project. It would seem my bridge to this project is burning, but at least I didn't do anything wrong to cause it. It's really sad that a manager would take it so personally. I just wanted to be active in my career growth and that's all. But I don't feel too bad, after all, who needs a bridge when all that's on the other side is heaping pile of burning garbage?

But it's not all bad. A few people have wished me well and I've appreciated that. It definitely shows you that people cared that they got to work with you. Some people have also confided in me that they don't enjoy the project either and also don't like the management. Alot of people think I'm leaving because of management. I never said that to anyone, so I keep telling them my reasons for leaving. They know management is being mean behind my back. I tell them that I don't know why they've responded that way. I never wanted it to be personal. Anyways, I think I've inspired some people to leave which gives me another perspective on management. Management wants everyone to believe that this is the best place to work so that no one will go looking anywhere else. I've moved around alot within the company so I know better, but alot of these people have only worked this project for many years and don't know of anything else. The situation kind of reminds me of Communist Albania where the people were told that they lived in the best country in the world and the whole world wants what they have. When the government fell, the people found out they were the poorest nation in Europe.

And some people are just clueless as to why I would leave. These are the people that are content earning money and doing nothing. Here's my favorite story involving that:

Them: I hear you're leaving us?
Me: Yes, that's true.
Them: What are you going to be working on?
Me: I'm going to be helping with some of the video projects over there. My background is in video. I was told when I came here that if I wanted to work for this management, I would have to learn Comm work. I decided that I didn't want to do Comm work and would rather go back to video work.
Them: Comm? I don't believe I know of any projects that do Comm.
Me: Um, that's what we do here.
Them: (silence...and then leaves to talk to someone else)

I don't believe that this person is actually this stupid, but the years and years of being on this project and not thinking has probably caused some sort of brain damage. I hope it's not permanent.

Every week I check out the Generation Belarus website. It's the ministry that I was involved with on my last two missions trips. (I guess my ads are going to be locked in at missions for sure now that I'm talking about it again.) Anyways, every week, they update it with pictures. It's really cool to see my friends on something that is updated so often especially since they are so far away. Today I was extra excited though cuz I saw Andre in one of the pictures. Andre was a young guy I met over the summer. I asked him one day if there was anything about the teaching he didn't understand. He told me that he prayed to receive Christ, but he never felt any different since then, so then he didn't believe that it was true. I asked him if he ever read the Bible, or prayed, or went to church? He said no to all of those. So I spent about a half hour explaining to him how important these things were for the Christian growth. These things don't secure our salvation, but they are things we should want to do because we are saved. After explaining to him, I asked him if he was willing to do those things. He said "nyet". I'll have to admit, it was a bit annoying to hear my translator say "no" after I heard that. I know what "nyet" means, I thought. It's one of the few Russian words I know. ("Cacashka" is another. It means "poop".) Anyways, I was a bit frustrated, but this is a very common response where the gospel is new to people. People often receive white washed preaching focusing on being saved. They hear that if they just pray a prayer then they will be saved. Everyone wants to be saved. Nobody wants to go to hell. They aren't told to count the cost of their salvation. That being a Christian could make you an enemy of your family or government. But it's not the prayer that brings salvation. It's not the prayer that saved you, but the belief in your heart that God died for your sins so that you don't have to and your submission to follow Him. You were saved from being a slave to sin, but that makes you a slave to righteousness. That is the true gospel, to be saved from sin and follow Christ, not just to be saved from hell. Anyways, I was discouraged when Andre told me that he wasn't willing to follow Christ. He thought that prayer would change his life, but his heart was always the same. But today, I am encouraged because he is still a part of that ministry which means he is still learning. I remember praying that he would keep coming to the meetings so that he could understand what it means to be saved. So I'm happy to see that he's there. I'll have to ask Gleb how he's doing. If you clicked on the link, Andre is in the lower left picture wearing the black sweatshirt.

The Matrix Revolutions opened today. The first show was at 6am this morning. Why 6am? The studio thought it would be a great idea to release the movie worldwide at exactly the same time. So my burning question is this: Why did Los Angeles get the 6am time slot??? Most people would agree that 7pm is probably the most ideal time to watch a movie. It's not too early and it's not too late. So who gets the 7pm slot? None other than Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan...basically all the Stans! I'm wondering if this was intentional. Even a 5pm show in L.A. wouldn't be bad, but no, Moscow got that one. I thought the movie business revolved around us so why did we get such a lousy time slot? I guess it's so it can be released on Nov. 5 worldwide. Eh, who cares?

Anyways, I had the opportunity to see it this morning. Last night, less than a third of the tickets were sold for the 6am show this morning. I was surprised since it was Westwood. I figured there would easily be 1000 college students that worship this franchise so much that they would be the first to see it. Apparently not. Anyways, I opted not to see the movie this morning for one reason. The last movie I did this kind of thing for was Star Wars Episode 2. I saw a 4am show. I even took the morning off of work so I could sleep after the movie for a few hours. So I saw this movie and I was tired the whole time. Then on the way home I was grouchy. After I slept, I forgot half the movie, but I did remember it wasn't good enough to be worth all that pain. So when this opportunity came, I just thought is this movie worth all this pain? Then I thought, is any movie worth all this pain? I couldn't think of a single movie. I would say the only drive to see a movie this soon is if you're surrounded by people who will talk about the movie, but everyone I work with doesn't really watch movies. So I think I'll catch it this weekend. Hopefully someone will want to see it with me that hasn't already, but I guess there are people that always want to see a movie twice (or more). Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the Matrix franchise, but I'd rather enjoy it under better conditions.

As a sidenote, I think the names Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions were dumb names for the movies. I think I just would have preferred Matrix 2 and 3. I think it would have been better to call it the Matrix Rebooted or the Matrix Overdone, ha ha.

This article made me chuckle. So AT&T is getting fined. When I saw this, the first thing I thought was how often I got harrassed by AT&T. I wouldn't even answer the phone, they called every morning at 8:50am. It was always 10 minutes before my alarm went off. Finally after a month, I answered the phone. When I was given a chance to speak, I told them to put me on their no call list. The lady seemed offended that I would equate her with an average telemarketer. I guess she figured she was on a higher level of annoying people and should be treated differently. She said she needed my address to confirm my request. So there was an awkward silence until I finally asked, so are you going to confirm it or do you need it from me so you can write it down? So I guess for AT&T to confirm my request they need to have my address so they can badger me a different way. BTW, the law says I need to give them 30 days to process the request. The law says nothing about them requiring my address. Anyways, the calls stopped after that. This is just my personal belief, but I don't need people to come to me to give me ways to spend my money. I like to make that decision for myself. And as far as phone service goes, I have the lowest rate, and I know no one can beat it since they wouldn't make any money. I love it when they try to offer me long distance service now...

Them: You can get long distance service for as low as 5 cents a minute.
Me: I don't have long distance at all. Can you beat 0 cents a minute? (My cell phone has a free long distance plan.)

Or when they try to offer me a loan to get rid of my debt?

Them: We can offer you an introductory 4.99% APR loan to get you out of credit card debt!
Me: I don't have any credit card debt.
Them: What?
Me: Bye.

Living with 3 other adults, the responsibility of head of the household has always been somewhat ambiguous...

Them: Are you the head of the household?
Me: Uh, no.
Them: Can I speak with the head of the household?
Me: Um, no.
Them: (awkward pause) Ok, well...thank you. (I think it was the first time she ever got that response.)

But the best are when UCLA Alumni Association calls me. I don't know why they think I'm super rich now that I have a UCLA degree and can afford to just give them more money. What about the $20K I spent in tuition over 5 years? Haven't they got enough from me?

Them: A donation of $100 or more would really help out the school.
Me: Sorry, I can't.
Them: I understand that the times are tough, a donation of $50 or more could really help specialized programs at the school.
Me: Sorry, I can't.
Them: I understand, sir, even a donation of $25 will help. We are in need of alumni that can donate funds to helping our cause.
Me: Well, best of luck with that.
Them: Huh?
Me: Bye.

Anyways, I suppose the best way to deal with them is to hang up before they even call. There is a period of 1 or 2 seconds when you answer the phone where there is just silence on the other end. You know it's them, but you wait just in case it's someone you know. Just hang up. Then you don't even have to tell them you're not interested and their autodialer connects them to someone else. If it's someone you know, they'll call right back. I also hear those call zappers you can get at Radio Shack work pretty good, too. Our apartment doesn't really get those annoying calls that much. I think it all depends what credit card you have. My roommate gets all the telemarketer calls in our apartment. But his name is also on the phone bill.

Oh one more fact, did you know it's illegal for telemarketers to call your cell phone? I want to just get rid of my regular phone altogether and just use my cell phone. The only problem with that is you can't sign up for a credit card using a cell phone number. Hmm, maybe when I move I won't get a new phone. I already have a credit card. People might say, you can't get on the internet then. Oh well, I spend enough time on the internet at work. I really don't need it at home.

Oh BTW, my Wendy's plan didn't work out. She wasn't there. I'll keep you posted on new developments (if any), but I doubt Gio will want to go with me every Friday night. Ha ha.

I forgot it was Halloween. I don't know what to make of Halloween these days. Is it wrong for a Christian family to let their kids go trick or treating? It's really a holiday that worships the occult and evil. There is nothing good about the history of it. Kids just want the candy though. That's what Halloween means to them. I like it when churches hold carnivals on Halloween night and kids can get just as much candy that way. When I was a kid, we lived on a really short street that was a cul-de-sack. My mom would take me and my brother trick or treating on just that street. I think there were about 10 houses. When we moved to Camarillo, my new friends told me that they go out trick or treating for hours and get pillow cases full of candy. I was quite content in my ignorance before I heard that news. I thought you were only allowed to trick or treat on the street you lived on. Well, after that I was a marathon trick or treater. I think the last year I did it was 8th grade. Nobody ever came to our house to trick or treat. We had a really long driveway and the houses were few and far between where I lived. You never know though cuz some houses like that had a big payoff if you made the hike. Nobody took the chance at our house. Nobody comes by our apartment for trick or treating either. I don't think any kids live in Westwood. And if there are, there are so many strange people that live here, I know I wouldn't take my kid trick or treating around here, especially when Bel Air is only a mile away.

I just read about this service that will shoot your cremated remains into space. There are four options. You can be shot into lower Earth orbit, upper Earth orbit, to the Moon, or into deep space. The Earth orbit options will eventually return you back to the Earth and you'll burn up (again) on re-entry in a couple hundred years or so. So most people would probably say, "who really cares?". But I just keep thinking that this is crazy! I keep thinking in context to the resurrection. Both the righteous and the unrighteous will be resurrected. So do these people all of a sudden appear with a body in deep space, or do they supernaturally get transported back to Earth? And then I think about all the people who get cremated and have their ashes thrown into the ocean. Will a bunch of people just start rising from the water at the beach? Sounds creepy. What if you had your organs donated? Would a person just burst out of someone else's body? Will the resurrected bodies have clothes? Well, I guess it doesn't really matter because God is in control over all these things and no one will be missed. Every soul will be accounted for. I still can't help wondering how though. Well, I'll just categorize that with "What kind of stuff does God laugh out loud about?".

Anyways, I was reading End Times prophecy yesterday after making my comments about the AntiChrist. Alot of people think the Second Coming will be our generation. It is an interesting thing to ponder. I bet the Christians during WWII thought Hitler was the AntiChrist. He was a charismatic speaker that came out of Europe. He was probably possessed by Satan himself too. Scary. Anyways, it's interesting to read people's theories, but ultimately we don't need to analyze our current events for this. Evangelizing the lost is more important than waiting for Christ to return. Christ will come regardless, we should be busy when he does. But it is exciting to think that He could come back in my generation. The Bible says that once the signs start, this generation will not pass away until they have all come to pass. I once made a movie called Signs of the Apocalypse. It had nothing to do with Scripture though. It was actually made to spoof those Fox TV specials like Alien Autopsy and Nostradamus Prophecies, etc. We showed it after Bible study. The funny thing was the teaching that day was about the signs of the End Times and to be ready. Our Bible study shepherd had no idea what our movie was about, ha ha. So before we showed it, I had to preface it with a disclaimer saying it wasn't a spoof of the Bible.

Well, I sold my tickets to Phantom so it looks like I'm going to Foundation tonight afterall. So we'll see what that Wendy's girl is saying to me.

The Homestar Runner Halloween cartoon came out today. Check it out! If you haven't seen this site yet, it's got some really funny stuff. It's updated weekly. The Halloween cartoons are pretty funny. My favorite is still The House That Gave Sucky Treats.

I just read in this article that Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Danny DeVito, Rhea Perlman, Edward Norton, and Jason Alexander have committed themselves to stopping the violence in the Middle East. Did you know the Bible says that the AntiChrist will bring peace to the Middle East? I always have my suspicions of who the AntiChrist is, but I never considered it to be one of these 6 people. I don't think people realize that this conflict has been raging for thousands of years. It's going to take a little more than star power to put an end to the violence I think. Actually after reading further on their website, they aren't mentioned very much at all. I think they are just the zazz to bring in the crowds. It cracks me up how celebrities think they know more than regular people just because they have fame and wealth. Anyways, I suppose I shouldn't dog their effort for peace. I'm just saying, if you want to be the AntiChrist, go ahead. I don't think people understand that the conflict goes back before the 1940's with the reinstatement of the Israel nation. People believe that the terrorists hate us because of our capitalism not because we support Israel. People actually scoff at me when I tell them that's the reason. This is a battle over an inheritance. The Arab nations are illegitimate. The land belongs to Israel and God will restore it to them.

I informed my manager yesterday that I'll be transitioning to a new job (yay!). It should be no longer than a couple weeks. There is no promise that the new job will be exactly what I'm looking for, but I do believe I'll be busier and using my brain more. Anyways, she wasn't very surprised. She probably saw it coming ever since she called me into her office last month and told me she heard I was bored. Heh heh. I just told her I was trying to figure out if I really fit on this project or not. So it turns out I don't. Anyways, there are no hard feelings there. I wasn't so worried about her anyways. The upper management has yet to find out and when that happens, I have a feeling I'm going to get called in. I don't mind telling them how I feel because I didn't do anything wrong. I feel I can do that without speaking bad about anyone else. I just hope they don't try to throw stuff at me to get me to stay cuz it doesn't matter. There is nothing in this organization that I want to work on. The management here said they were going to give me a promotion, but they never did. That was 10 months ago. That's not the issue though. I don't have any hard feelings about that. I don't think I've been doing any work that is worthy of a raise or promotion. Anyways, hopefully they will let me go without any hard feelings. I wouldn't totally be surprised if they tried to offer that promotion to me now to get me to stay. They'll probably tell me that they have new work coming down the pipe that I would be perfect for. Nah. I don't want to do it. Army communications isn't my thing. So hopefully I won't be called in so that I can just refuse them over and over. That might burn my bridge, but the way I see it, I was going to quit anyways, so if something bad happens in the new organization, it's no loss really.

The fires are still raging becoming the hugest disaster in Southern California in a long time. I've been looking at pictures of it online. Where I live, I am totally isolated from the fires. I don't even see the smoke anymore. In fact, this morning was the first clear day I've seen since the fires started. It would appear that things are getting better, but that isn't true. It's supposed to rain on Friday and Saturday. Let's pray that it does. I don't think it has rained in October in quite a long time. I think it is an answer to prayer.

Customer: "Why didn't you tell me I have call waiting?"
Tech Support: "Sir, we have no way of knowing if you have call waiting."
Customer: "Well, you should ask everybody!"
Tech Support: "Do you have call waiting?"
Customer: "What's that?"

It's comforting to know that there are jobs more frustrating than mine. However, I worked in tech support during the summers in college so I've had that experience already. My brother shared this site with me. It's definitely worth reading if you're bored. I think my best tech support story was when a lady called me and told me she needed a tech right away because she had a dead computer. I asked what kind of computer was it. She said a Macintosh. I asked her if she tried pressing the power button on the keyboard. She said, "what button?". "It's on the top right corner of the keyboard." I hear a musical BONG. She says, "Um...thank you." and hangs up. I proceed to laugh for the next 5 minutes.

Have you ever heard of the World Beard and Moustache Championships? Well, let me tell you, it is just plain amazing! This is the first one in the U.S. in a long time and who knows when it will be here again. All I can say is, who's free this weekend? Ok, but seriously, I'm amazed at the serious level of growth that these guys have accomplished. Simply unbelievable! I wonder if they use some kind of hair growing hormone or something and if such a thing existed, would that be cheating??? I can't believe all these people from all over the world are coming to Carson City, Nevada to participate in this. I didn't even know there were individual beard and moustache clubs. I noticed there weren't any Asian people participating (hee hee).

Yesterday was a bit of an adventure. I had to drive to Simi Valley to pick up something from a friend's house. He calls me and tells me there is only one way into Simi because all the freeways are closed due to the fires. Simi Valley was surrounded by fires. Crazy. Anyways, I had to go there this weekend so I prepared for the trek by taking some of my favorite CDs. Time to put that new stereo to use! Anyways, I was surprised there wasn't that much traffic. I was also wondering if it was wise to enter a city surrounded by fire. I figured it was a pretty big city though so I'd be ok. Anyways, I had to drive on side streets through Thousand Oaks. I actually drove by my old neighborhood. When I lived there, there weren't any streets to Simi Valley. It was pretty cool seeing how the neighborhood changed. Anyways, going to Simi was crazy. There were dark clouds everywhere, flames on the horizon, and the sun was blood red. It was like going into Mordor. I hung out there for a bit hoping the freeways would open so I wouldn't have to take the long way home, but no luck. They are still closed even as I type this. When I went to my car, it was totally covered in ash. The air was pretty thick too. I was glad to get out of there. But the air is thick everywhere in So Cal. I'm just glad I work indoors.

Anyways, over 800 homes are lost and 13 people are dead. It's really sad that people are losing their homes and it is even more sad that the people who died were killed because they were trying to save their possessions. It's really scary to see those flames approach your house and there is nothing you can do but pray. Pray that the wind will change, pray that the fire department will finish where they are and come to your house next. I was thinking which of my things would I rescue if I knew I was going to lose my home. I figure I would just take my photos and my souveniers from my travels and probably those things from your childhood you just can't replace. Everything else can be bought again. But who knows? You can be frantically running in your home and each time you see something else you can't bear the thought of being destroyed. It's a difficult thing. As a Christian, it can be somewhat of a relief to lose everything you own. You know you can't take it with you after you die anyways and sometimes you get caught up in your material possessions. I don't have that much stuff in life right now so it's easy for me to say that. Especially since I move every year or so and have to cart all that stuff around. If I do move out of state, I'm not taking any of my furniture, it would be cheaper to buy it all again than to move it. My desk that I've had for the past 5 years cost only $100. It's kinda funny cuz it works so well. Thank you, IKEA. Anyways, let's pray for these fires to end soon.

My interview went well today. I was told that I always have a job in the other organization if I want it. After talking for a few minutes, I decided that switching organizations is something I should do before I leave the company. I was told about the things that this other organization was doing and it raised my interest. The new organization primarily focuses on anti-terrorism and involves a lot of video stuff where my background is strong. I told him that I really need a job where I can grow in my career. He asked if that meant more money, a promotion, or more skills. I said yes. He knows I'm undervalued here so this could be a good step for me to catch up. He didn't argue with me and said he would try and work out something for me. He knows I won't switch to his organization if he can't offer me anything in those three areas. I can tell he really wants me to work for him. That UCLA degree does matter. The sad thing is my job sucks so bad, I would probably switch anyways just so I don't have to do this. Anyways, I think I might upset some upper management for leaving the organization, but I've given it plenty of time for it to work. I don't believe I'm a good fit here. Hopefully they will understand that.