Thanksgiving/Grand Canyon

After Thanksgiving with family, we trekked off to the desert to see the Grand Canyon. Check out our pictures.

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Chicago

We had a great time! Check out our pictures! Or if you want to see them bigger and at your own pace, just click on the "View Album" link.

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The Punchlist

It's been awhile (how many entries on this blog start like that, haha). Well the lack of blogging can only be attributed to having more work to do which really is a good thing. So here's the punchlist of what I've been up to since I don't really have time for a real post.

1. I like my new job alot. Could I say I love it? Not sure if I'm capable of loving a job, but I sure enjoy immensely compared to my last one. I definitely made the right move.

2. Our first anniversary is coming up in less than a month! We're going to Chicago for an extended weekend. People always ask who do we know in Chicago or why Chicago? The only real reason is cuz it's a cool city and we've never been there before. What other reason do you need?

3. We went to San Diego a few weeks ago to check out Sea World and the Wild Animal Park. I can't remember the last time I went to Sea World. I'll never forget the last time I went to the Wild Animal Park. I think I was about 9 years old and I was running and it turned out there were some trainers moving a leopard by a leash and it lunged at me and growled as I ran by. That was pretty freaky. I thought I was in so much trouble and now looking back I'm thinking they should have been in so much trouble. What were they taking a leopard for a walk around children? Anyways, it was super hot this time, like 107. It was even too hot for the animals and they were from Africa! I'll never go back there in the summer again. No leopards this time.

4. My 4 year old neice just realized I'm not Asian. She was noticing my hands were a different color than hers ("red" as she calls it). It went something like this:

Taylor: Why are your hands all red?
Me: Cuz I'm not Chinese.
Taylor: You're not??? (pause) Are you Korean?
Me: No.
Taylor: Japanese?
Me: No.
Taylor: Hmm, English???
Me: Haha, close enough.

How funny. Well that's all for now.

Unemployed

I can't remember the last time I was not working and not in school. It's been more than 10 years at least. Well, now that I'm no longer there, I wanted to share a total blogworthy story. If you've read the beginning of this blog, I blogged quite more often than I do now. I really hated my job back then and so it became a constant topic for my blog. I'm not proud of everything I said, but I never deleted it off the blog cuz I want to keep a history of how things really were and not how I remember them. Anyways, the project I was on at that time was a real test of my patience to say the least. If you'd like any idea just skim through the posts in 2003. All that frustration was due to the project I was working. I never felt so useless on a project and no one seemed to care that I had nothing to do and my manager only seemed concerned that it would make her look bad that I was unhappy with the situation. I spent 5 months on that project and I couldn't get off quick enough. I always said after that I would rather be laid off or fired than to go back to that project again.

Back in January, my current assignment had wrapped up and somehow that old project caught wind that me and some of my coworkers were available. HR assured me that they would find something else for me to do, but somehow they found out anyway. I was waiting to hear from some other projects and luckily I wasn't near the phone when that old project called and wanted me to come in for an interview. Alot of the management had changed around but it was still the same dead project. So they didn't know I had worked on it before, but I honestly think, if I had went to that interview, I would make things pretty bad with me and the management on that project. Management will always be management in some form or another in the future. You don't need to make a bad impression just because of a bad situation, and I would have made a bad impression just from being honest, even holding back some of that honesty. So I didn't call them back, haha. Since we have caller ID on the phones, that project kept calling and I never answered it. For two days they called me every hour or two while I heard nothing from other projects. It was seriously stressful.

Then the stakes increased when the program manager stopped by our office area and I had to duck out of my cubicle and hide from her. It reminded me of that scene in The Matrix where Neo hides from the bad guys in his office while talking on the phone to Morpheus. Ok, it wasn't that spectacular, but it still reminded me of it. Then I called one of my coworkers from another area to see if she was still around, haha. She came by there twice. Man, that project was desperate for some people. No thanks. Luckily after the second day of dodging, I got on another project. Then I finally returned that project's phone call and told them thanks for their interest, but I got on another project. Moohaha! I still can't believe I did that, haha. That's a pretty loser project when someone doesn't even want to interview for it, but there was no way I was going back to that. Hopefully I won't find myself in another situation like that again.

Anyways, my last day was a strange feeling. You can really get attached to your job even if you don't like it at times or even if you don't like it most of the time. You spend more time at your job than doing anything else. It's weird to think that such a big part of my life the last 10 years is now over. I'm both happy and sad about it. It's like moving and going to a new school except there are no bullies (hopefully, haha). I'm looking forward to starting my new job on Monday. I have a feeling it will be very different. In the meantime, I'm pretty much living my extended weekend of unemployment like summer vacation after high school. It will go by too quick I'm sure.

A Bittersweet Departure

This March would have marked my 10th anniversary at NG. Oh man, how I wanted to write about all the stuff that had been going on at work and my efforts to find something new, but being that blogs are much more in the open now, I thought I'd keep it off the internet. Now it is safe to say though since I've already served notice, that I'm leaving my first job since college to start working for D i r e c T V.

I can't believe I've been here this long. It's a bittersweet feeling. When I first came here, I just needed a job. I had no significant experience to speak of. This was my very first interview and then I was offered the job before anyone else could call me. Since I was pretty poor at the time, I took it. Even then, I never expected to be here this long. I figured the max would be 5 years since I would be fully vested at that point.

Over the years I got to work on a couple of cool things, my favorite being a project that involved working with compressed video and film/TV production. Unfortunately, that came to a close rather abruptly. I don't think I ever got over that. I was really crushed when it was cut. Since then I worked on many different military projects. Some were fun and others were really, really boring. If you're curious about how bad it can be, just check out the beginning of this blog where it seemed all I could write about was how I hated working here (more about that in a later post). It seemed though that the fun stuff was always short lived and even though it was fun, it still didn't compare to the old days of working on a product for the entertainment industry. That was real fun.

So I decided a little over a year ago that it was time to leave. I really needed a break from defense work. I just didn't care for it at all anymore and that really hurt my motivation. So why didn't I quit back then? Well, being engaged during that time meant I needed a certain block of time off relatively soon. I didn't want to get a new job and automatically start working out vacation with the hiring manager. Also I didn't want all my negotiating power to be focused towards getting time off for my honeymoon. It also didn't look good to my future in-laws to be unemployed when I got married either so that option was out as well. In January, I applied for a job with D i r e c T V and got an interview. The process took about two months and finally they gave it to an internal candidate after having like 3 interviews. So we decided to take our awesome Mediterranean vacation instead and I'd resume the job hunt when I got back. I honestly didn't like much of what I saw in the job market. The cool jobs never pay enough and the well paying jobs require too much travel. Then D i r e c T V contacted me and wants to know if I want to interview for another position. Anyways, long story short, I got the job and I like the opportunities in this one much better than the last one I interviewed for. Despite all those disappointments to get here, I trusted in God's plan and He provided this job instead. Awesome!

It's so crazy to think of leaving to work at another company. This is the only job culture I've ever known. I've become so comfortable here. There were periods of years that I was miserable cuz I didn't like what I worked on, but that comfort of being around so long was still greater than my desire to leave. Then it became the curiosity of working somewhere else in a different job culture for a different purpose was too great to stay for the comfort factor. I really hope the next job has a good work/life balance. I think that's the best thing about working where I was, but even if it isn't, I'll at least be happier working on stuff that I like. My last day is July 18 and it sure is coming fast!

I just can't believe it...

I QUIT!!!

Who needs the Kwik-E-Mart?...I Doooooooooo



7-11 converted about 10 stores of theirs to look like Kwik-E-Marts for the upcoming Simpsons movie. Being that there were so few in the country, and there happened to be one of them right down the street from us, we decided to check it out.



Unfortunately most of the cool Simpsons food items were already sold out like Krusty O's and Buzz Cola (no Duff Beer), but they did have Squishees left which we took full advantage of.



The store even feautured some Simpsons characters. Here is me with Apu.



Here's J with Chief Wiggum.



The Squishee machine was manned by a real live Apu. In fact, there were a few of them at the store. His nametag even said "Apu". Too bad I just missed it for the photo. There was a line to get in the store and then another line to get a Squishee. The whole thing took about 30 minutes. That's probably the longest time I've ever spent in a convenient store. Maybe equal to the total time I've spent in convenient stores for my whole life! It was anything but convenient for this day, but it was still worth it.



Ah, Squishee!

Grandma Went Home

This is long overdue. About two months ago, my grandma died. I wanted to write this sooner, but it just wasn't a good time and I wanted to take a little time to think about this one. I feel fortunate to have had a grandparent for 32 years (actually 4 grandparents!). I think that's a pretty rare thing. She was diagnosed with ALS about two years ago and so we knew that it would take her pretty quickly at her age. It gave her plenty of time to say goodbye to everyone. I was thankful that her passing was not quick so that I could see her one last time.

The last time I saw her was about 6 months ago. J and I went up to visit her and Grandpa and show them pictures from our wedding since she was too sick to come. She had deteriorated quite a bit at this point and I knew it was probably the last time I was going to see her. As bad as her suffering was though, her spirit remained the same. She said she could go on because of all the people praying for her. She didn't care much to live anymore, but she meant that for every day she had left, she could endure the suffering because of other people's prayers for her. My grandma's greatest legacy to me was her example of love for the Lord. I don't think there was a single time I had a conversation with her that she didn't mention some amazing way that God answered prayer or provided for someone or even saved someone. She had a heart for the lost greater than anyone I know. She really loved people, even people who didn't like Christians, and some of those people became Christians because of it. Amen!

Her funeral was really a blessing. The gospel was presented probably 3 or 4 times. It didn't really surprise me to hear it so much for her funeral. I know that's the way she wanted it. There was some stuff I learned about her at the funeral that I never knew before. One, that her middle name was Ann, haha. The second was that she was depressed when she was a young mom. I thought it was amazing how much God had changed her over the years conforming her to the likeness of the Lord Jesus. It was really encouraging.

Grandma only had one prayer request about her illness. It wasn't that she would get better or that she would feel little discomfort or that she would die quickly. She only wanted to glorify God during her last trial. Isn't that awesome? I could tell she was excited to meet the Lord and my grandpa was happy for her, too. I can only hope to die as well as she did.

The Bible says that for the Christian, death is really going home. Our home is not on earth, but with the Lord. He has promised to prepare a place for us. There is hope in death that only the Lord Jesus can offer. Thank you, Grandma, for being a light to those in darkness. Thank you for being an example of love for the lost. Thank you for showing me how to die in a way that gives God glory. I'll miss your stories and your laugh, but we'll see each other again.

Countries I've Visited

I thought I'd update this. I've been to 18 countries (counting my own) which is roughly 8% of the world. Two of those countries are the size of a dime being Vatican City and Monaco. Having been to one city in Russia (Moscow) makes it look like I've covered a good portion of the world, haha. One day I'll have to explore the Southern Hemisphere.



create your own visited country map

The Amazing Race

I haven't watch the show that much, but if you're not familiar with it, it's this race all over the world where teams of 2 go from place to place. That's the best description of what our vacation was like. We took a Mediterranean cruise and saw a ton of stuff. The added pressure from taking a cruise is sometimes the port city is not near what you want to see, so you have to take a train or a taxi or bus to get there and get back before the ship leaves. If you miss the boat, it's up to you to meet up at the next port. Crazy!



Luckily, we made it back every time although some days it was really close. It was pretty crazy getting off the ship and not knowing how we were going to get to where we wanted to go. Of course there was always the excursion the cruise ship offered, but at $150 per person per excursion, no thanks.



We did it ourselves at a fraction of the cost and the experience only added to our adventure. You can check out the pictures here! Check them out and see Italy, Monaco, Greece, and Turkey.

More African Paintings!!!

As promised, here are the African painting photos from my birthday. For some background on the story, click on the "African painting" label.

First is my sister-in-law, Amy.




And then...Chane! I told you I wouldn't give up on trying to get him to do it. Success!


Here's John.


Here's Stevanus and Shinyi. Actually, they both thought they were doing a different one so neither of the ones they did really matched. But then I found this one that looked like a better interpretation of their efforts.


Even my nephew, Jared, wanted to give it a try. This was the best match to compare to his unsolicited interpretation.


And who can beat Harrison?


I have a couple more, but I'll save them for another time.

6 Months!

Happy 6 months to my beautiful bride! Yeah, 6 months already. Can you believe it?

No, this is not the post I promised, haha. This weekend it should pop up.

I have 3 labels on this blog:

1. African painting
2. Two Are Better Than One
3. Random Thoughts

For some reason, the last one doesn't appear as a label. I have no idea why. I even tried republishing the post. Is there an anti-"random thoughts" labeling movement out there? Anyone know how I can fix it? Anyways, a real post is coming soon. Your patience shall be richly rewarded...

32

Hey! I turned 32 this past weekend. If you look at my previous posts from the last couple years concerning this day, I usually have something "witty" to say. I don't think I have anything for the number 32. Perhaps this is the age where wit takes a break for a bit, haha. I'll have to say I'm still enjoying the thirties. They have been pretty good to me. It may also have something to do with being in the early part of a decade. Cuz then you're thinking "well, it's sure a long way from 40" and then when you're 40 you could think "well, it's sure a long way from 50". It just keeps going. There's a certain carefreeness to being in the early part of a decade. There are things you should be doing, but you haven't dealt with them quite yet and are kinda putting them off for your older self to figure out. I've broken it down:

Age 2: "I should be thinking about talking more and getting potty trained, but instead I'm going to poop in my pants and drool a bit. Whoa, cartoons are on!!"
Age 12: "I should be doing my homework. I need to get good grades so I can get into a good college, but instead I'll wait until high school to worry about that. Whoa, cartoons are on!!"
Age 22: "I should be finishing college. Maybe I should declare a major at this point. College is fun. Whoa, cartoons are on!!"
Age 32: "I'm still at the same job since college. It's not that bad, but it's not that good either. I'm so bored. Hey! There's cartoons on YouTube!!"
Age 42: "I should be getting that prostate exam, but hey that's what my fifties are for!"
Age 52: "I was supposed to do something at this point, but I can't remember what it is."
Age 62: "Only 5 more years until retirement. I can almost afford a house in California!"
Age 72: "I'm going to poop in my pants and drool a bit. Hey, cartoons!!"

Ah yes, the carefreeness of being in the early part of your decade. Anyways, we had a nice little game night with some friends from church which led to a whole new bunch of African painting photos! I'll put them up soon.

Two are Better than One

"9Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 11Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 12And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him--a threefold cord is not quickly broken." - Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

I learned this verse in premarital counseling. I decided that we did not apply this nearly enough in our marriage which brings us to Operation Speedy Grocery Shopping. Typically we go grocery shopping after church on Sunday. It takes about 30 minutes. However, we did everything together so I pushed the cart while J grabbed the things. I thought that this was probably an inefficient use of resources. We could accomplish this task much quicker with two grocery lists. So last Sunday, we executed the operation. We finished the shopping in 10 minutes! But then I picked the wrong line so we clocked out of the grocery store in...............30 minutes. I haven't given up yet. I'm convinced this is a better way to go grocery shopping. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: We did it in 15 minutes last weekend! I don't think we can top that unless there is no line. J is just glad I have found a way to enjoy grocery shopping.

Testing new comments feature.

The Tomb of Jesus

There has been a lot of publicity lately that the tomb of Jesus Christ has been found. When I first heard the news, I just shook my head. Such a finding would contradict so many things. For those that believe that this could indeed be the tomb of Christ must answer all these questions as well.

1. How is it there are written accounts by eye witnesses seeing the empty tomb of Jesus and seeing His resurrected body in the flesh in the books of Matthew, Mark, and John (and Luke by interview)?
2. How is it that 500 people saw the resurrected Christ at one time?
3. How is it that the Apostle Paul, writer of many of the books of the New Testament, once a persecutor and murderer of Christians, became a follower of Christ if he hadn't met the risen Christ?
4. How is it that Jesus' disciples all scattered, hidden, and afraid after His crucifixion were later able to do die boldly for His name and continue a ministry that has lasted for 2000 years?

For someone pursuing the truth in this matter, they can't discount these things. The Bible exists and it proclaims otherwise. Its words have lasted throughout the ages and it has proven accurate with the oldest manuscripts discovered. It is ironic that the world is so preoccupied with a dead man's bones when eternal life can be found in the very thing they discount, the Bible.

I suppose doubters will always say that the Bible is a lie made up to further the cause of the church, but the church was very different back then. It wasn't cultural or acceptable in its first days. It was very counter cultural actually and those that led it, paid for it with their lives. There were no riches or power to be gained by duping the public. These men were in hiding, in prison, beaten, and poor. What did these men have to gain by proclaiming something they knew was a lie? What would motivate them to keep going? The truth is they saw the risen Christ with their own eyes and they wrote about it.

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Anyways, it's been a while since I wrote. I've been wanting to write before now, but I have been busy. I think my blog hiatus is over for now though.