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.