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.

I bought a new car stereo today. Judging by the shape of my old one, this was a long time coming. My car is 10 years old and I've been using the original cassette deck and speakers this whole time. All the buttons on the old deck were melted and all the dials were cracked in half. To even hear the audio at a normal level, I had to crank the volume to maximum. The left speaker was about 50% of what the right speaker could do and sometimes the right speaker would go out completely, but if I hit the volume knob, it would usually come back. (I guess it is sad that I'm an electrical engineer and I resort to this method to fixing my radio.) My car doesn't have rear speakers. The tape player played tapes, but I could no longer hear them, which didn't matter too much since I only have like 5 tapes anyways. So I'm usually the guy who wants the best possible thing for my money, but over the years I have become somewhat minimalist (probably all those missions trips I went on). I wanted to play CDs and hear them. I think the guy at the store never encountered a customer like me. I walked in the store with the part numbers and prices for the speakers and head unit that I wanted. The first thing he asked was "where did you get these prices?". I found them on the internet with my brother's help. I wasn't there to haggle. I was just going to take whatever he had, but he cut his prices a little bit to give me a deal. I'm not sure if it was a real deal or not. I don't think I got ripped off either. Anyways, I don't think anyone goes into a car stereo store and says "give me the minimum". He says, "you only want one pair of speakers?". Yep. "For the front only?" Yep. My car is so small the front speakers serve as the back speakers too, ha ha. The other guy at the store asks me, "you want this head unit?" Yep. "Are you sure?" Yep. One thing that surprised me when I was looking at car stereos over the past few months was how complicated they have become. They are almost like CD-ROM drives on a computer. One head unit actually had a tray come out like a CD-ROM. They have these cool LCD cartoons that play on the display. They are XM capable. Blah blah blah. They are so complicated. I can't imagine driving and changing the radio station without getting into an accident. They have more buttons and menus than my cell phone. I just want to play CDs and hear them. I told the guy, "I want the most simple thing." "Well, you got it," he said. Anyways, I'm quite pleased with my new radio. I can take the face plate off which was a requirement since my parking isn't very secure. It can also pick up radio stations way better. The thing is so ugly. It's got the 80's chrome look with fluorescent red buttons and a fluorescent blue display. Man it looks bad in my dark gray dashboard. But the best thing about my new car stereo is that it has a clock. I have not had a clock in my car for 10 years. My parents bought the car without the clock thinking there would be one on the radio. Well, there wasn't. When I bought the car from them, I went to Honda for my scheduled maintenance and asked how much it would be to plug in the clock that was made for the car. Wow, $180!!! My new deck cost less than that and it can also play CDs. Anyways, the new stereo is alot better than the old one ever was, but I recognize that other people got something way over me. But I'm content that when I turn up the bass, the doors on my car vibrate. As a sidenote, you ever notice how the people with the best stereos have the worst taste in music?

Today when I woke up this morning, the sky was all orange and it cast this orange light all over the city. It looked like sunset, but it was morning. I found out it was because of this major fire that is happening in Orange County. There were many homes in danger of being consumed. The smoke was defracting the sunlight all over my part of the city. It was really weird. Anyways, I was reminded of the time when I was about 10 years old and there was this major fire near my house. I lived in Camarillo outside of town in the boonies. So there was alot of brush between the homes. Our property was actually on fire, and the flames were about 50 feet from the house. It was really scary. I remember I was in the back seat of the car down the street watching this happen. I don't think I was ever more terrified in my entire life. My dad was up there with the garden hose dowsing everything around the house that could burn. A photographer from the local newspaper was taking pictures of him. My dad was annoyed because the man wouldn't help him, but just kept taking pictures. That is annoying.

Anyways, I had my fellowship group tonight at church. I really enjoy it. It's called The Foundation. It's the Friday night version of The Foundry. Anyways, afterwards I always go to Wendy's and get a frosty (cuz they are so good). Well, last week something unusual happened. I go through the drive-thru like normal. I order politely like I normally do and drive up to the window. The lady hands me my frosty and my change and I put the frosty down and put my change in my wallet. While I was doing this, the lady was speaking Spanish to another lady. I didn't think much of it cuz I live in L.A. and this happens all the time. Once I got my things in order, I looked up and was ready to take off, but I noticed that the ladies weren't facing each other. They were both leaning on the window and looking at me while they were talking. I wish I had paid more attention to what they were saying. All I could pick up was "me gusta". I said "bye" to them to which they both waved in unison and said "bye" in a way that I can only describe as "swoony". Well, tonight I had my friends, Harrison and Justin, in the car. I told them the story and then after Foundation tonight, we went to Wendy's. I thought for sure this wouldn't happen again. There was a line this time at the drive-thru and a man took my order. When I pulled up to pay though it was the same two ladies. The second lady was busy this time though so she didn't hang out at the window. So I took my frosty and my change and I put it in my wallet. I put my wallet back in my pocket thinking she isn't going to say anything because they are busy and I have a couple guys in the car this time. I look up to leave and just as I do, I notice she's leaning on the window looking at me, and she says something directly to me in Spanish very quickly. I didn't recognize a single word. I said "bye", and she does the same wave and says "bye" in the swoony fashion. I kept my composure as I pulled away, but we didn't get far when we all burst out laughing. It happened just the way I told them it would. Now it's killing me to know what she said. So next time I'm grabbing Giovanni and we're going to get a frosty at Wendy's. Giovanni is black, but he's from Colombia so Spanish is his native language. Anyways, if she did it with two other guys in the car, she'll do it again when Gio is with me. I won't be at Foundation next week though so I'll have to wait two weeks to find out.

Anyways, I have to work tomorrow even though it's Saturday. Today, around 3pm, one of my coworkers said there was nothing more we could do that day since something was wrong with the software, but it would be fixed in time for us to test on Saturday (dang). So I figured if there is nothing to do, I'm just going to leave since I have to work tomorrow anyways. I wasn't so frustrated today though. You see, I contacted a former manager of mine. I was on loan to his project prior to working on this one. They do alot of cool video stuff and they are quite starved for people with strong video backgrounds like me. When I was told by my management to work on the project I am on now, he offered me a raise and a promotion to get me to switch to his organization, nothing specific, just anything to keep my interest. I declined because I felt his organization wasn't as stable in spite of the merger. But now that I'm so discontent with what I do now and there is nothing interesting in my organization, I figure I might as well take the risk since I want to quit anyways. If I do get laid off, at least I'll get the severance package. I'm not so worried about layoffs anyways because the organization does have business coming down the pipe and it is most likely that there will not be layoffs. It is true that the percentage for layoffs is higher though. Anyways, I shot off an email to this former manager and told him things weren't working out for me here as I had hoped and was wondering if he had any opportunities that could use my expertise. He replied and said "Absolutely!" and I have an informal interview set up this Monday. Things are looking up. I hope I can still get the raise, but more importantly, I just hope I enjoy working on whatever is in store.

Harrison just showed me this website. It asks you a bunch of questions and then tells you what city you are most suited for. According to this site my top 3 are Denver, Tuscon, and Salt Lake City, ha ha. Austin didn't even make the list. Anyways, I'm not making any decisions based on this. It's kinda fun though.

Sometimes when you've been travelling for a long time, you forget where you came from, and the burden of the journey has made you focus on the final destination, but you forget why you were going there. I think that best describes my thought process so far, ha ha. I had to go back to the beginning again to figure out what really needs to be changed and why do I think moving is going to be a good thing. The first time I felt like moving away was because my old roommate decided to move back home to Indiana which kind of left me in a tight spot to find a new place to live since I wasn't about to hold the rent for a 2 bedroom apartment in West L.A. on my own. So I jumped into an apartment back in Westwood and went back to sharing a room again just like the old days. This was something I never really wanted. I had to share space again and I had to live in crowded Westwood again. It just never felt like home to me. In fact, most of my stuff is still packed from the move and I've been there for 16 months now. I think that's when I first desired to live in my own place so I could control where I lived, but California cost way too much, so I knew I couldn't own anything here for awhile. So at least I was content saving money by sharing a room. But things worked out ok. Sharing a room with Bobby wasn't so bad cuz he went home on the weekends and he was fun to crack jokes with. But now Bobby is gone and we got two new roommates and things are bit more crowded. We only had 3 people last year. Now we have 4. I'm just too old to live like this. The place is so trashy most of the time.

Anyways, so I've gone back to the beginning. There are two things I'm sure of at this point. I need to quit my job and I need a new place to live. So both of those may be close by or far away, I'm not sure. But at least coming to that conclusion has made things easier. I talked to my buddy, Harrison, today and we're going to live together next year. I think that's going to be cool. When you like your home life, it makes everything alot easier. I think moving out of California is inevitable, but I have some good reasons for staying a little longer. I really enjoy my church's new singles ministry, The Foundry. I'm plugged into a small group now and I'm enjoying the new friendships I'm making. A couple of these guys really fuel my creative side so we may also write something together which is something I've always wanted to do. It's also nice to have more friends my age after being in the college ministry for 8 years and being the "older" guy. At a time when you're making new friends, it seems strange to take off just as those relationships are growing. Another reason is my family won't be living in Texas again for another 2 years so it's not like I can visit them so soon. It would be easier to make a move like that when the family is back. Granted my grandparents do live there, but they travel alot.

I was reminded by my mom that real peace is knowing Christ, not any of these other things. This I always knew, but it helps to hear it from someone else. I recall Jeremiah 29:11, Matthew 6:25-34, and James 4:13-17. It's strange when I think about my life and all the times I was disappointed or hurt by someone, Christ had never failed me, and yet sometimes it doesn't even occur to me to go to Him first or to trust that He will take care of it. So I think this is what I really need to focus on more than the next steps for my life. I am a faithful believer, but I don't feel like I've really been striving lately. I think I need to work on this before I move anywhere. Thanks for praying, and if you didn't, you still can.

I was just asked if I could work Saturday this week. Well, that makes sense. Spend the whole week being idle so I can work Saturday and do tedious tasks. I am so going to quit, ha ha.

Amy's blog has a good argument for what I said in my last post. I was actually aware that race is a big issue where you live and California is the most tolerant especially when it comes to interracial relationships. I didn't bring it up yesterday because I know that there are many people who struggle where this doesn't apply. But now that it has been brought up, I'll put in my 2 cents on the subject. I'm quite sympathetic to race/interracial dating since my last girlfriend was Vietnamese. Her mom was not to thrilled that she was dating me, but she thought it was more because I was Christian than cuz I was white. Fair enough, it still stinks to be judged before you can even make an impression. So I know exactly how someone of a different race would feel in a place like Texas. I think racism is really dumb because we all came from Noah. So the only thing that really separates us is our cultures. Actually, many people wonder how the races exist in terms of creation. If there was only one man and one woman that started it all, how can we have such a diverse population in appearance. I like John MacArthur's answer to the question except for the last paragraph. I'm not totally convinced that it was an active creation process that made the races, but I guess it's not totally unbelievable that God controls everything even which genetics go where, so maybe I am convinced. It doesn't really matter. The point is that all the races came from one source. Anyways, it's easy to have all the races come about because genes were very diverse back then so when people groups were isolated then the common genes became more prominent while in other areas other genes become more prominent. Same reason why there are so many different dogs and so many other kinds of animals. There is actually only a small fraction of 1 percent that makes a person different from one race to another at the DNA level. So, it really stinks that people are so discriminating because of race. I think the other races are very beautiful. I was once accused of having an Asian fetish, but this isn't true. It just so happens that I am surrounded by alot of Asian people so there are more options there. Plus I never liked an Asian girl prior to going to UCLA. I do like brunettes though. But I think the most beautiful people are combos especially Lana. She's half Chinese and half Dutch. Hmm, maybe I'll move to Canada instead, ha ha.

I once heard an argument at UCLA that if everyone married a different race, then all the races would disappear and we would have no identity. First of all, I don't care because that would end the racism problem (but knowing man's sinful nature, they would find another way to discriminate) and second, people have more identity from their culture than their race I think. A common race doesn't mean a common culture. I don't have much in common with the white people in the midwest. Why would it be any different if there was only one race?

Anyways, I had small group last night. These are a bunch of great guys that I get to hang out with on a weekly basis. They are so sharp. I wish I knew Scripture like they did. I know alot of Scripture, but I always have trouble referencing it. Anyways, for prayer requests I told them about all my plans I've been mulling over in this blog about getting a new job, moving vs. not moving, going to back to school vs. working, etc. It may sound exciting to you guys, but it's a real burden for me, one I would rather not have. I've thought about this for almost two years now and have never felt totally sure it was the right idea. The only thing I am certain of is quitting my job and moving out of Westwood, but I would sure like some clarity in the other areas. Pray for me.

Blog Day 1! I admit that I am excited about starting a blog. Props to Amy Hernandez for inspiring me although it took me about a month to get around to it. Now I hope people actually read it otherwise I can save time by just talking to myself. Anyways, my first complaint with this site is that the default templates are way lame. No interesting use of color or fonts or anything. I hope you don't fall asleep reading this. I suppose I could make my own, but that would take more time and considering it took me a month to do this much, don't count on it any time soon.