For some reason instead of answering people with a simple "yeah", I am saying "yeah yeah". What is this some kind of new nervous brain tick? I have no idea why I'm doing it. It must be anxiety related. I'm not really stressed, just busy busy busy. Anyways, there is this character in the movie, The Sandlot, called Yeah Yeah. That's a cool movie. Sorry, not much to write these days. I haven't had much free time to think, ha ha. I'm sure I'll have alot more to say once I'm on travel.

Work has been quite busy. I have to go to Mormonia (Utah) next week for the whole week. I won't be getting to leave early this time (sigh). Well, at least I know it will be pretty and it's been way hot here. I don't have A/C so when I get home it's hotter in my apartment than it is outside. This trip is worthwhile so I feel good about that. I have to gather all this equipment together and make sure I have everything down to the nuts and bolts. I don't even have all the right tools. I'll have to go to Home Depot. The other annoying thing is since I only take a carry-on for the flight, I need to ship my tools ahead of time since screwdrivers aren't allowed on the plane. Probably for a good reason but annoying just the same.

This weekend I saw Kill Bill Vol. 2. If you recall, I didn't give the first one a very good review, but I'm one of those people that has to see the whole story. Plus, the first movie makes you hate Bill so much, you really do want to see him killed. Anyways, this one is far less violent, but it peaks up quite a bit here and there. It's not a gorefest like the first one though. I'm wondering lately if Quentin Tarantino is really all he's cracked up to be. When you're labeled as a Hollywood genius, it's like the emperor's new clothes. It doesn't matter what he makes and people love it. I like his directing style and some of his dialogue, but if you take away extreme violence and swearing, could he really make a movie as good without those things? It's kinda like those comedians that are really popular, but they really don't tell jokes, they just cuss. Could that comedian be just as funny if he kept it clean? Probably not, cuz he's not that good, while Jerry Seinfeld, on the other hand, was very funny and never resorted to those tactics. So anyways, I'm not impressed with QT. Anyways, this one I liked better than the first one. I really liked the Kung Fu stuff. I also liked the old school Kung Fu movie cinematography too. Is QT really original? It seems like he just nods to everything he liked when he was growing up.

Have you heard of GMail? It's Google's approach to email. You get 1 Gigabyte of storage in your mail account. The only catch is it does scans of your emails and puts relevant ads relating to them around your email. Some people perceive this as an invasion of privacy. I don't care really. Any webmail is not really secure anyways. Besides, a computer does the scanning, not a person and with the sheer volume of email usage, who can really poke interest into a particular account. Anyways, it's worth a gig of online storage to me. Just think, if you had a GMail account, I could email you your very own copy of Signs of the Apocalypse. It's still in beta though so who knows what will happen with it. For now I'm going to keep using my Hotmail account even though I get like 30 junk mails or more a day on it. Plus I always tell people that is the for sure way to find me if we ever lose touch. I will always have that email address. Anyways, if you're wondering how you can get one, I got mine because I am an avid blogger (which is owned by Google). So there's another reason to blog. Set up your blog today and I'll link you fo sho!

Happy Birthday to me! I am 29. You would think by the time I reached this age, I would feel age creeping up on me, eh but not really. I actually don't feel any older (mentally or physically) from when I turned 23. I would say the only difference is I know more. Most of my friends are younger than me so they are always stunned to find out how old I really am. I'm sure this will be most shocking next year, ha ha. So my response to the question, "Do you feel any older?" is "You are about to see just how young 29 can be!". I've always felt I've matured very slowly. I'm not sure why that is. But it seems so obvious when I look back. I keep wondering if I've caught up yet, ha ha. Anyways, here are some others who share their birthdays with me:

Queen Elizabeth II
Tony Danza
Friedrich Froebel (the guy who invented kindergarten)
Robert Smith (the lead singer of The Cure)
John Muir (without him we would have alot less cool hikes)
Sean (a guy in my core group)

I just know that all those people (well at least the ones that are still alive) are thinking, "hey, it's also Kevin's birthday!", ha ha! Ok, maybe only Sean...for now. Anyways, thanks to all those people who sent emails, cards, and called (not all of you read this though, ha ha).

Oh, and Mark Twain died on this day...bummer.

Today was a pretty good day. I got my flight easy enough and then I arrived at 2pm in L.A. Now from here I could either go into work or go home. Since I flew out Sunday, I figured it was owed to me to take the rest of the day off. That's the good part about travel. If you get home early, you can go home early...in most cases anyway. So I got my car washed on the way home which it needed really bad. That's the one thing that stinks about having a black car. It doesn't take much for it to look really dirty, but it's so worth it when it's clean.

Anyways, I have some thoughts from being in immersed in Mormon culture the past couple days. I watched one of their sermons on TV while I was passing the time in my hotel room. It gave me some greater understanding of why Mormons cling so hard to their faith and are ultimately so lost because of it. I don't think their speaker intended for me to get that from his message, but here's the gist of it. The whole sermon was basically a defense for the Mormon faith and although Christians weren't brought up specifically, it was pretty much implied how we are the "disenlightened". I couldn't help but think that the purpose of this sermon was to reassure doubters in their church. I don't think I have ever experienced a sermon in any Christian church that's sole purpose was so defensive. I wonder if they are losing their grip. But basically, every point he made was out of the Book of Mormon. Another thing was they were saying that there are good books on God (implying the Bible), but the Book of Mormon is the "most correct and perfect book" and the final answer. He went on by saying that things that are confusing in the Bible are made clear by the Book of Mormon. I suppose any answer can make something clear if you make it up and then say that is the truth. That's why this cult is so deceptive. Another thing that he told me that I also found very helpful was that he was saying that Mormons have to be right because when two people disagree on the Bible they can still be friends, but when someone disagrees with the Book of Mormon, they react very hostile. So basically, he's telling this congregation, if people call you a blasphemer or a cultist or want to have nothing to do with what you have to say, then that is your medal of service for being faithful to the Mormon faith. I think that is a very effective deception.

I think it is quite a challenge for me because I can get so angry seeing God's word dragged through the mud and to see naive people being deceived by cult leaders. I just have to ask God for his guidance when I come into contact with a Mormon and have a spiritual discussion with one. These are lost people who need a Saviour. It's hard to balance that because most Mormons are false teachers because they are all required to go on a mission and need to be rebuked. I've ran into the Mormons a few times on my missions trips. They are always very friendly and want to strike up a conversation. The balance of how to deal with them is difficult in these situations because I believe there is no greater evil than them in the mission field. Their message is a damnable faith and they and the people who follow them will go to hell. Some of the missionaries I've talked to have told them just that when they've encountered them on the mission field. "Your faith is a damnable message and you need to repent. I will tell you the truth if you want to listen, but if not, you must leave." Now after hearing that message from that Mormon teacher, I know they will just receive that as a badge of honor and go to the next house. How do you get through to these people? I really don't know. I can only ask God to penetrate their hearts and put an end to this cult. This is truly an enemy we need to love.

I can't help but wonder what the Christian church looks like in the mind of a Mormon. I don't think the true church is really seen by many people. They see pedophiles in the Catholic church, they see gay pastors in various denominations, they see infidelity among pastors and it's members, and they see many people believe one thing and do another. I think that may seal in their minds that they are right because they see such a poor witness for Christ among "Christians". I can't change what other people do, I can only aim to be a good witness myself and trust God to do the work in people's hearts and be faithful to tell people what God has prompted me to say what they need to hear. I'm told I'll be going to Utah alot this summer. I have to be mindful and pray for God to prepare me to enter this mission field so that I am ready for whoever He brings my way.

That guy at the internet cafe said, "Yeah, I've had the same problem for the past two days. I think there is something wrong with Hotmail."

No, I think something is wrong with your internet cafe. So I finally got my remote access working here in the hotel. It is way slow. I better go, who knows how much this costs?

I was actually able to find an internet cafe in Utah, woohoo! Well, my remote access account with work kinda worked. I could get to internal stuff, but I couldn't get web access. I wish I had installed Netzero on my laptop. That would have saved alot of trouble. So now I can't even check my Hotmail. It's either a problem with this computer or with Hotmail. I can access the site, but I can't open any messages. It's kind of annoying especially when this costs $6 an hour. Well, I've only been here a half hour so we shall see.

Good news! I get to go home tomorrow instead of Friday. Anyways, Utah ended up being alot cooler than I expected. The mountains here are pretty big. I should have packed my snow stuff. I could have gone snowboarding one day this week. I should have also brought my camera. I didn't this time cuz I knew I was coming back, but I don't think the snow will be on the mountains by that time. Anyways, despite the fruitless trip, I did learn some stuff so that was good. I also got a nice hotel room with a great view, so it wasn't a total waste. I think the biggest bummer of the trip was I would have been here on my birthday. Nothing sucks more than being on travel for work on your birthday. I know cuz that's exactly what happened to me last year. I almost quit after that trip because it was such a waste of my time. Instead, I just switched jobs, hee hee. After that trip was probably the most up front I had ever been with management. I told them that going to trade shows was a waste of the company's money and resources and I listed all these reasons why. They agreed, but the real scheme was so they wouldn't send me to do sales stuff anymore. I didn't become an engineer to sell product. Make the suits go do that stuff or at least pay me what the suits make to do it for them. Anyways, they stopped sending me to shows after that. Anyways, more good news is I should be getting engineering help on my project. That is much needed. I'm glad my management noticed. I was wondering how I was going to do everything by myself. Now I only have to do half of it, I hope, ha ha.

Hmm, Hotmail still doesn't work. I'll have to ask the guy who works here.

I'm just about to leave for Utah. I have mixed feelings about this trip. When I have to make a trip for a useless purpose just so management can check a box, that is the closest I come to wanting to quit. I just keep reminding myself that it's just a project and not the whole job. However, this project will consume my time probably until the end of this year. I figure I could always go to my functional and tell him that I don't want to be on this project anymore, but I don't think someone being in my place is going to make things any better. Also, if you're going to complain every time something doesn't go your way that just makes you a difficult employee too. It's not an endless project so I will try to stick it out...for now, moo ha ha. I am happy that I don't have to go all the way to the east coast. Only one hour time difference, woohoo! I should have online access, but I've never tried accessing the corporate network through dialup before. We shall see.

The Apprentice is finally over. This is the only reality show I've ever liked. I think it stinks that Kwame lost, but I think Trump made the right choice. I was pretty shocked, too, that Kwame picked Omarosa so quickly. She's so crappy. What's worse is she gets so much positive attention for it. Anyways, I thought it was really cool after the words "you're hired", the whole room fell apart to reveal a studio audience. That was awesome! I kept hoping that as a surprise, Kwame would get the project that Bill didn't choose. It kinda stinks he got nothing in the end. I suppose he'll be able to get any job he wants though. I suppose alot of people will think it's unfair that Kwame had to lose because Omarosa was so crappy. But that's the real business world. You're accountable for the end result and you're accountable for the actions of people under you. If you fail to deal with them, that makes you look bad, and that makes the company look bad. That's why it's tough to be on top. I'm not really the type of person who wants to be on top. I look at the management in my own company and think how much I don't want to do that. What's weird about engineering is it appears that the people who are management are the people who couldn't hack it as engineers. But really good engineers always don't make the best leaders either. Some need to be micro-managed all the time. That's why I just say it's weird instead of unfair.

It's been a long week at work so far. I definitely am busy at work though. It was kinda slow today, but the slow days aren't bad and are actually refreshing when you're busy most of the time. I'm still getting used to having 10 emails and 5 voicemails to respond to when I arrive in the morning. I'll be in Utah next week for some testing. Hopefully, my remote access will be working properly so I can go online. I hate being cut off from the world when I travel. At least this time I get to travel and stay in the west as opposed to always going to the east coast.

I read this verse the other day. Proverbs 19:21 "There are many plans in a man's heart, Nevertheless the LORD's counsel--that will stand." I'm definitely a man of many plans as anyone who reads this blog can tell.

I had quite an electrifying experience at work today. I was putting away some gear because we had it in on evaluation so I was boxing it up to ship it back. One of the devices had a power cable that we made and wired the wires straight into the board. Yep, from the socket to the device. Anyways, rule #1 for any good electrical engineer is to make sure that the plug is not plugged in. So I looked under the table and the plug was not plugged in. Good. So I proceeded to unscrew the connectors holding the wires. I unscrewed the wires and pulled them out. Then I saw what I can only describe as a bolt of lightning striking one foot from my face. This followed by a huge pop and a plume of smoke as I check to make sure I still have my eyebrows. Upon second glance underneath the table, I noticed the plug is indeed unplugged...for a different device. So I just botched the first rule of any good EE. How embarrassing! Luckily the hardware (or me) wasn't damaged. I sure didn't want to own up to that mistake especially when I'm the only hardware engineer on the project. Anyways, God was very gracious to me today. I could have gotten quite a shock.

Yesterday I bought Futurama Season 3 at Best Buy. I love that show. While looking at the growing DVD selection at Best Buy, I noticed that there are ALOT of TV shows on DVD now. I really don't see much reason to own a TV series on DVD. I know this sounds ironic since I just bought one, but hear me out. Most TV shows aren't worth owning. If they are such good shows, then they are probably in syndication. For example, The Simpsons are on TV like 3 times a day. I don't need to own any of the DVDs. I can watch the Simpsons pretty much whenever I want. And how would I decide which episode to watch if given a choice? It would be impossible. But then there are the shows with the running storyline like Smallville or Alias. I can see renting those, but not owning them. Once you know how the story unfolds, are you really going to watch them again? Probably not. So what's left are the TV shows that are really great but completely stand alone in story as far as each episode goes and that aren't in syndication. I like Futurama alot, but it's only syndicated on Cartoon Network and the episodes are few enough so that I have a preference on which ones I want to see. They also have alot of humor that I can relate to. Really weird stuff. Plus it's a big scifi spoof which is awesome. The only other series I can imagine owning on DVD would be The Twilight Zone and maybe the Incredible Hulk. But the studios went nuts over these DVDs for their TV shows. It's just another source of income for them beyond syndication. I remember when there were only a few. What's next, I wonder.

Tonight I watched ER. I don't watch it very often, but it's a pretty cool show. When I haven't watched it for a while and I come back to it, everything has changed for all the characters. A couple of them died! Crazy. Anyways, today I realized how sad this show is. Every single character goes through crazy emotional stress at work and at home it seems. It shouldn't be called ER. It should be called Endless Suffering.

Today I came into work at 8am (actually a little bit before) for the first time in quite a long time. We were having this meeting from 8am to 3pm. That was really hard. Then the meeting went long and we didn't get out until 4:30, ugh. I was getting pretty antsy by the end of that meeting. I was having a hard time staying awake too. I've discovered it is possible to be antsy and tired at the same time. One of the things that annoys me most at my job is the talk of doing stuff as opposed to actually doing the stuff. Unlike most meetings, I do think this meeting was important, but I don't think I needed to be a part of the entire thing. I could have done some other stuff. Why does sitting all day make you so exhausted?

While in the meeting, I noticed that every one in there was at least 20 years older than me. This happens quite often at my work where I'm often "the kid" of the group. This is when I wonder where all the other people my age are. On one side I feel good about it cuz it makes me feel like I'm way ahead in my career. On the other side, I feel like I'm wasting my youth working a "family man" job. Anyways, I suppose it comes down to being a responsible individual. I know I would just be going nuts if I wasn't doing anything important for work.

Anyways, the good part was I got to leave at 4:30 instead of the usual time at 7pm. The traffic is usually lighter earlier in the week so it only took me an hour to get home. (I usually leave late because the traffic is much lighter and it only takes 30-45 minutes.) Anyways, I found that when I get home around 5pm, I had alot more energy to do stuff. Normally, I have very little energy and the night is over before I know it. I'm usually not very social on the weekdays because of it. I hope that when I move to Torrance this summer, things will be different and I will have more of an evening. I'll definitely be spending less time on the freeways. Anyways, the whole point of this post was that I never felt like I had enough time to do anything but work during the week until today. Anyways, it's late so I'll be starting work at the normal time tomorrow (10am), ha ha. The reason I work later hours is really because of the traffic. Alot of my friends who work the normal 8-5 think I'm lazy. I think I would much rather have a normal work day, but if I leave work at 6, I get home at 7:30. And if I leave at 7, I get home at 7:30. I would rather spend that extra hour anywhere but on the freeway. However, I am really used to this schedule and I think it will be hard to revert back on a job that doesn't care when I come in or when I leave as long as I put in 40 hours a week.

This weekend was Daylight Saving Time which if you didn't know that yesterday, you should know that by now. Notice that it is called Daylight Saving Time and not Daylight SavingS Time. This is a common misconception. However, I still say it the second way most of the time just cuz it feels more comfortable kinda like I prefer saying Tijuana like Tee-UH-wanna instead of Tee-hwanna or saying "me and joe" instead of "joe and I". I know the correct way, but sometimes I just gotta do it my way. Notice that the same goes in my writing as I always right "cuz" instead of "because", ha ha. Anyways, the big drawback to turning the clocks forward is losing an hour of sleep. To add to the problem is if you didn't know, you are an hour late to church. Losing an hour of sleep is the worst since I don't seem to get enough anyway. But there are positives to "springing forward":

1. You only have to hit the hour button once on your alarm clock as opposed to 23 times when "falling back".
2. If you're like me and you work later hours, you get to see the sun when you drive home (except today cuz I had to work later than normal (sigh)).
3. The days seem longer right away!

There should be more, but my brain hurts and I can't think of any right now, but that's what the Comments part is for! Woohoo!

Living in these modern times, I find that it is very difficult to have an adventure. In fact, I used to say that a missions trip was the only real modern adventure since it lets you encounter so many things you are not used to. If you go back 150 to 200 years ago, there were plenty of adventures to have in America. You could move to the wild west or go for the gold during the gold rush in California, or hike around and check stuff out like Lewis and Clark. Such adventures did have huge risks though. You had to move your entire livelihood. You could be killed by Indians or robbed by bandits. But I've thought about it some more and there are definitely more kinds of adventures. That reality show, The Amazing Race, is definitely an adventure. Even if it wasn't a race, just to travel through so many countries would be an adventure. Living in a foreign country is definitely an adventure (until you get used to it).

Anyways, I've thought long on this topic and I think about travelers before our modern conveniences. The apostles traveled all over Europe and Asia Minor with just boats and feet and maybe a donkey or horse. What was it like for a settler to travel from the East to the West coast in a covered wagon? Imagine all the stuff they saw and how long they saw it. It's not like a road trip where you just get desensitized to the surroundings in a short time. You really get to see every nook and cranny. Which leads me to my adventure propsoal. How cool would it be to ride a bike across the entire U.S.? Is it even possible? I looked online and I was surprised to see that alot of people have actually done it. People ranging from kids to elderly have made different paths across the U.S. Some go West to East, some go East to West, some stay to the North part, and others stick to the South. It's been done in every kind of weather. It doesn't discourage me that it's been done, but I guess it is possible. The stories that people have put on the web regarding their adventure have been very interesting. One guy encountered a man on foot who was walking across the whole U.S. He had caught up to him about 2/3 the way through and the man had been walking for 6 months! That didn't seem very appealing to me. Two older women in their 60s did it in 69 days along the 10 freeway pretty much. Another guy about my age did it from Virginia to Oregon in 60 days on the official Trans-America bike trail. I didn't know such a thing existed. But this one guy did it in 3 weeks from California to Florida. On one particular day, he biked 230 miles...nuts! Anyways, I'm not sure which route I'm going to take yet, but I'm in pretty good shape, so I think I could do it in 45 days. That's still too much time to take off work though. I'll have to do it in between jobs. I doubt I could take a leave of absence for such a thing.

Alot of people said they would never do that again, but they were so glad they did it. I can imagine. I have no idea when I'm going to do it, but if I plan to quit my job, then that's definitely what I'm doing next. This is something I hope I get to do one day. In the meantime, I'll have to keep my adventures down to two weeks.