Today was my birthday. I'm not 21 (as Jerm claims), or 23/24 as many people believe. I'm 22. A palindromic year (as Wayne noted). It was a pretty nice day. I don't usually like getting so much attention, but today, I got a bunch. The people around me are all very nice and considerate like that. I wanted to say thanks to all of those who sang "Happy Birthday" during the fellowship time after Sunday service, as well as those people who showed up for dinner at fellowship hall.
Thanks Jerm for gathering the people together.
Thanks goes out to (in no particular order, and please forgive me if I left you out..it's not intentional at all) for coming to dinner: Quen, James, Jeanne, Christy, Mel, Fiona, Bryan, Christine, Derek, Carson, JennHwang, AnnieTran, Sean, Josh, Jenny, Angel, Harvard, Frances, Eileen, Chia, Winston, Moses, Jason, Chris, Justin, Brendan, Amy, Kat, Purple, Melody, Wayne, DaveChow, Nancy, Kevin, and Jeremy.
Thanks for calling me: Dorothy (my sis), JohnWoo, Helen, Cindy, and Elaine Wu.
Thanks for the cards: Amy/Kat/Purple, JaneHahn, and Dorothy.
Yesterday, after worship practice, Winston and I were messing around (notice I said "messing," not "fooling" around, which would be yag) on Prince Street outside of church. I busted on my rollerblades (they are actually Nike brand in-line skates with some sort of air in the boot somewhere...they were very much underused during my time in Berkeley, since the campus is on such a slant as to make it dangerous to travel using in-line skates because stopping is a problem, and when one doesn't stop, they continue to move, perhaps into bushes, people, buildings, etc). Strapping them on tight, I grabbed on to the back of Winston's car and he dragged me up and down the street. At one point, I reached 45 mph on my skates..that's pretty darn fast! It was really fun, but I felt like if I wavered too much, I would totally wipe out. Quoted Winston, "That's the best use I've ever had for that spoiler." (referring to the spoiler on his grandma's Chevy Malibu) 9:06 PM Albert
A couple of unrelated posts coming up... 9:01 PM Albert
Friday, September 27, 2002
So, I missed the Friends season premiere yesterday because of LSF large group. (I'm a really big Friends fan..I have every episode on my computer, including the specials..you can even quiz me on Friends trivia!) But it's OK. Thanks to the #DownloadFriends channel on mIRC, I was able to get the episode and am about to enjoy watching it while I eat dinner. =) I hope it's good... 5:20 PM Albert
I'm dumb. This morning, I was talking to Nancy and deciding whether I should attend this symposium at Stanford on "Addiction and the Brain." The reasons to go: the information could be useful, my boss would like it, and I'm getting paid for that time anyway. The reasons not to go: parking at Stanford is not easy, the lectures could be boring, it'd be nice to be in the office without my boss there (because she would be at the symposium). After debating it in my mind, I decided to go. When I got to Stanford, I was looking around for the place, and I came across a publicity poster for the event. And guess what? The symposium is actually not until next Friday. So, finding that out, I left Stanford to go to work. I got to work late, wasting gas, time, and a quarter (I only put in a quarter into the meter when I parked at Stanford, suspecting that something might be up). Moral of the story: I'm dumb. 10:33 AM Albert
Thursday, September 26, 2002
How much does it take to feed the LSF Joint Young Adult Group (JYAG)? A lot. I figure 15 pounds of chicken, 5 pounds of potatoes, 4 pounds of carrots, and 3 pounds of onions should do it. Add to that a 10 pound bag of rice, and you've got a meal. Consequently, it is 7am and I just spent the past 3.5 hours washing, peeling, chopping, and cooking enough chicken curry and rice to feed about 40+ people.
My original plan was to do all of this last night, but I fell asleep (my bad) around 7pm (which is really early) and woke up at 3am (also early, but in a different way), realizing that I would need to prepare the food for large group tonight. After a quick trip to Safeway (thank goodness they are open 24 hours) to buy 5 huge aluminum roasting pans to put the food in, I got started cooking around 3:30am.
Anyway, I need to take a shower now and go to work soon. It's gonna be a long day. 6:51 AM Albert
Wednesday, September 25, 2002
I am soooo tired..dead tiiiiiired. I need sleeeeeep. 2:42 PM Albert
Chilled with the Hwang sisters (Jenn and Julie) yesterday night in Stanford. We had some tasty Thai cuisine at the "Siam Royal" (notice it's not "Royale," as it should be, since the "Royal" is coming after the word "Siam") on University, only one of several restaurants in the Thai district (I'm just kidding about there being a Thai district). It was good. Thai restaurants generally have strange names..such as "Thai Basil" (probably an indication of their favorite herb), "Pearl of Siam" (not too weird), "Plern" (what is that??), and the royal "King Krung" (a very dominating name). The decor, food, and even the plates that the dishes were served in were strikingly similar to the Thai House in Berkeley. I conjectured that all Thai restaurants got their recipes and equipment from a single Thai restaurant supply company, allowing the Thai dining experience to be uniform and consistent, no matter which restaurant you choose to eat at. It's those renegade Thai restaurants which end up having a different taste; occasionally it's better, but in most cases, it's worse. 12:10 PM Albert
Tuesday, September 24, 2002
The vision BMW has with the styling of their new cars has disappointed many loyal BMW drivers. To the dismay of supporters, the new look is a step in the wrong direction for the company.
Water is a heavy entity. We have this special machine that makes "Nanopure" water, which is ultra-filtered to be extra extra clean. The machine works really slow, though. To fill up this big jug (it turns out, it's a Nalgene brand jug..the same brand as those quality water jugs people usually carry around), it takes about 15 minutes. And when that jug is full, it can take about 25 liters of water. For those of you not familiar with the metric system, 15 liters is about 6 gallons of water. Each gallon of water weighs 8.33 pounds. If you do the math, you'll see that the jug ends up holding about 50 pounds of water. One could get a pretty decent work-out just by transporting jugs of water. 3:20 PM Albert
Work is a funny thing. We have special seminars, presentations, and meetings several times a week. Perhaps it's their resemblance to being in lecture, but I always am so sleepy. Sitting on the ground didn't help much either. Since I got there late, all of the seats in this conference room were taken. My recollection of what was actually said at the seminars I have attended is spotty at best. It'd be pretty embarassing if I was to be asked anything about what I listened to because I would have to resort to making stuff up, which would probably embarass me even more. 3:11 PM Albert
Monday, September 23, 2002
Props to Wayne, the official sponsor of my lunch today, because he gave me a coupon for a free extra value meal at McDonald's. =) I still haven't decided which meal to get, but I have a whole bunch of choices, including..
Good stuff, huh?
UPDATE: I ended up going with the Quarter Pounder with cheese meal. Since the meal didn't quite fill me up, I ended up getting a hot fudge sundae (with nuts) as well. 11:50 AM Albert
Saturday, September 21, 2002
A popular saying is that "the best things in life are free." Ironically, so are the worst things. The only difference is that the worst things come in abundance while the best things are quite rare. By my count, I'm long overdue for a "best thing." 10:59 AM Albert
Friday, September 20, 2002
Is "bloodied" a word? Dictionary.com has an entry for it. And Microsoft Word's spell-checker doesn't catch it. I just don't think it sounds right. It's a word that's only used in cheesy scary stories or video games entitled "Barbarian." Don't agree? Well, don't make me make you regret making me make your shirt intensely bloodied. (I told you so..it's the word "bloodied" which has made that sentence sound all strange.) 2:42 PM Albert
I have eaten lunch at Wendy's for the past 6 weekdays. I order roughly the same thing each time. You'd think that they'd recognize me by now, but they don't. Oh well, it's not like they're my friends or anything. 2:35 PM Albert
Remember "arts and crafts" time during classes in elementary school? I just spent the morning doing crafts. We used a whole bunch of tools to handmake these little swivel drippers. All it took was some syringes, some wire, some epoxy, and a bit of time. These will eventually be hooked up to a pump and a mouse (I work in a lab, and we work with animals). Apparently, the stuff that we are constructing are things that we could buy from a lab supplier. It's just that they would cost like hundreds of dollars more to buy (I work at a non-profit research place, and we are NON-profit).
ADVERTISEMENT: Check out the blogs of other cool people..
Angel, a FOB and proud of it (sadly, her blog has been closed to the public!)
Carson, an EECS b-baller from Jersey
Chia, a traveling bond broker, who is a snappy dresser
Fiona, a funny girl with a (recent) flair for current events
Helen, a girl who plays Starcraft (and enjoys it!)
James, a musical maestro and a cool guy
Jenn, a Cal grad turned red by attending Stanford for a masters degree
John, a funny guy who's gonna be a cop (so watch out!)
Kevin, a man with his head in the clouds
These links can also be found in the frame on the left. 1:49 PM Albert
I went with a pretty big group of LSFers to the Oakland A's game last night at the coliseum. (Sidenote: Naming stadiums after companies has become a popular trend, especially for bay area tech companies. The problem with this is that you end up with lame names like the "Network Associates Coliseum" or "3COM Park," neither of which bear any relevance to the team or sport that belongs to that particular venue.) Being a "Dollar Wednesday," the tickets were only $1, and you could get hot dogs for $1, too (limit 10). Between the two of us, Jeremy and I must've had about 15 hot dogs, an order of garlic fries, and a large tainted pepsi (tainted because a napkin fell into it in the beginning). Even though the hot dogs were only $1, the fries were $5 and the drink was $4. Taking into consideration the $1 tickets and the $10 parking per car, you can see how quickly the "Dollar Wednesday" became a "(Twenty) Dollar Wednesday." I haven't watched a baseball game live since high school. Overall, it was a fun experience.
Bathroom etiquette for guys..when you go bathroom in a trough (the common replacement for a real urinal at stadiums), make sure you stay facing forward the entire time (for politeness), but also, don't turn to the side until after you have finished zipping your pants. Yesterday, a middle-aged man failed to the latter and it ended up splashing a drop or two of tinkle onto the guy next to him (who was me). It was nasty. Advice for guys..watch out for the middle-aged (or whatever age) man who may splash on you.
Oh yeah, in case you were wondering, the A's scored 7 runs, won the game, and the Yankees suck (I don't think that the Yankees suck, but that's what people kept yelling in the parking lot after the game. The Yankees are actually a very good team.) 1:45 PM Albert
Wednesday, September 18, 2002
You can tell a lot about a person by what car they drive. Take me, for example. I drive a white, 1995 Ford Taurus GL. If you didn't know anything about me, an analysis of my car could get you started. First of all, it's American, just like me. It's smooth, powerful, and built-tough, also like me. And look, it's a family car..well I'm a family man!
Let's try doing this with Nancy Shieh. She drives a Mazda Protege. Let me tell you, it's no coincidence that Shieh rhymes with Protege. Her car is of the compact Asian variety, just like her. And check out those sporty white hub-caps (on all four wheels except the front right one..that one fell off) Guess what? Nancy wears a baseball cap, too, sometimes.
This analysis rarely fails, but it can. Based on his car, you might conclude that Jeremy was a 15 year-old, turbo-charged German guy with a really big woofer (use your imagination). But we know better than that..Jeremy is actually 22. 2:53 PM Albert
I realize that it is already Wednesday, and I have just posted the "Verse of the week" and "Quote of the week." No matter, they are still good thoughts to bear in mind. (I also realize that a verse is essentially a quote, just one taken from the Bible, but I separated them because I liked them both.) 12:04 PM Albert
Verse of the week: "For nothing is impossible with God." ~Luke 1:37 11:55 AM Albert
Quote of the week: "Friendship is a game that two can play...and both can win!" (taken from a Hallmark card) 11:36 AM Albert
Tuesday, September 17, 2002
For you polo shirt fans out there, here's a tip: the next time you wear one, try putting it backwards (as in have the buttons facing backwards), and leave all of the buttons undone. I'm telling you, you'll look so cool and trendy, just like the fob-by guy that John and I saw at 99 Ranch. =P 3:47 AM Albert
Monday, September 16, 2002
For those of you who don't know, right now I'm living in Union City (Union City is 25 miles south of Berkeley on the I-880), and working in Sunnyvale (which is 22 miles south-west of Union City). Due to traffic issues, my commute can range anywhere between half an hour up to almost an hour and a half (depending on what time I leave, what day it is, etc). And while driving is fun, I don't want to end up spending 2-3 hours in my car everyday just driving to and from work. This brings us to my "commuting adventure." It's really more of an exploration than anything else. Pretty much, I've been trying to take different roads in an attempt to find the best possible route.
"Best" doesn't necessarily mean fastest, though. It also encompasses the categories of fuel economy, driving excitement, and overall, enjoyability. Some routes simply require more stop-and-go, which is not cool for getting good fuel economy. If a route includes narrow, wind-y roads, it can be more exciting (especially in my sporty Ford Taurus, which drives just like a Formula 1 race car). Enjoyability is measured by such things as the smell of the air as I drive through an area, or if there are trees along the path to provide greenery and shade, or if the drivers just happen to be nicer on that road ("what?" you ask..but it's true! people driving on lesser known paths are usually nicer, like they'll use their turn signal when they are changing lanes, or better yet, they "zipper" fairly when your lane is merging with theirs.)
Anyway, the adventure continues this afternoon when I try a new route to get home today. I will try to avoid the CA-237/I-880 merging point, which is a real bottle-neck. Essentially, THREE freeway lanes from the eastbound CA-237 and ONE freeway exit off-ramp from the southbound I-880 merge into a SINGLE lane. Not a very good design, but they are doing construction on the area, so improvement should be coming at some point. 2:09 PM Albert
Sunday, September 15, 2002
How I've been feeling lately...:
Here are the lyrics. The song is called "Luna's Boat Song," and it's from some old video game.
"Wishing on a dream that seems far off
Hoping it will come today.
Into the starlit night,
Foolish dreamers turn their gaze,
Waiting on a shooting star.
But, what if that star is not to come?
Will their dreams fade to nothing?
When the horizon darkens most,
We all need to believe there is hope.
Is an angel watching closely over me?
Can there be a guiding light I've yet to see?
I know my heart should guide me, but,
There's a hole within my soul.
What will fill this emptiness inside of me?
Am I to be satisfied without knowing?
I wish, then, for a chance to see,
Now all I need,
Is my star to come..."
I, too, am waiting for my star to come. 11:51 PM Albert
Since being accepted into an out-of-state PhD program for clinical psychology, we all knew this day would come. Cindy, who's lived at Josh's house (also called the Chesapeake Manor), for quite some time left this afternoon to go to Oregon. She and Harvard will be driving for about 10 hours to get there (they should probably be arriving right about now actually). They rented a really large U-Haul (so large in fact that her boxes and stuff could almost fit in a single layer on the ground of the truck without much stacking) and attached a car transporter to the back (for Cindy's Civic). Over the summer, Cindy was always very nice about cooking dinner for people when she was home and when others were hungry.
Good-bye, Cindy...we'll miss you! =) 11:36 PM Albert
Today has been a day full of worship. Had worship practice in the morning (because I am serving on the worship team), then worshiped during the worship service, then later in the afternoon had worship before the Asian American Church Plant co-workers meeting, and finally another set of worship before the Asian American Church Plant community meeting. Lots of songs of praise and thanks.
Funny note..one of the songs we sang during Sunday service was called "Forever." It's a really great song, but quite hard to sing. It essentially spans a range in excess of two octaves. That's tough. We spent a while during worship practice on Saturday just trying to figure out what key to sing it in..I don't even really know what James ended up playing it in (he's really awesome because he can transpose music on the spot from key to key, as well as add transitions and intros and embellishments to songs).
Quote of the day: "Yobo, I'm really impressed how you can sing like a girl." (from Winston, talking about how I had to sing falsetto during the chorus of the song "Forever.") 11:24 PM Albert
Friday, September 13, 2002
On Wednesday, Dave cooked up a storm for LSF. There were biscuits, mashed potatoes with gravy, salad (two kinds!), and seasoned rib-eye steaks. My compliments to the chef..it was delicious. =)
For the Friday LSF group tonight, I'm responsible for preparing dinner. I won't be going as all out as Dave did (who prepared a lot, but at a hefty price), but it will be some good home cooking (which I don't even very much these days...I've become a fast food junkie again). The menu for tonight will include some fish, beef, and vegetables (for the ladies), all served over rice. I'm planning to just stir fry everything..a wok-style meal as I like to call it.
I'm aiming to spend about $25 to feed the 8 or so people that will be there. $3 per person isn't bad..it's cheaper than eating out (unless you're talking about the $1 noodle place in Fremont). The king of low cost meals is Jeremy, with his renowned baked chicken meal costing about $10, and serving 8-10 people. We'd be glad to have people come and visit us in Union City. Yes, you too, can enjoy the not-so-slim pickings available at the Chesapeake Manor. 12:40 PM Albert
Thursday, September 12, 2002
During the summer, one of my prayer requests to a close friend was that she help me pray for the impossible to happen. Not exactly a miracle per se, but stemming more from the desire to experience something wonderful and unexpected. But as I thought about it, I realized that my outlook on it wasn't exactly correct. Nothing is impossible for God. I am reminded of a song, "God Will Make A Way."
I was reminded by a couple of brothers late last night that I should be confident and take a risk by putting myself on the line. It's hard, but I know in my heart that I can trust in Him to extend his hand of provision, grace, mercy, love, and kindness to me. No matter what happens, I am confident that things will turn out ok. =) 1:56 PM Albert
One of my favorite shows is The Simpsons. The writers are really quite talented..check out these quotes from good ol' Homer Simpson:
"Bart, with $10,000, we'd be millionaires! We could buy all kinds of useful things like...love!"
"Marge, it takes two to lie. One to lie and one to listen."
"You tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is 'never try'."
"I'm in a place where I don't know where I am!"
"I am so smart, I am so smart, s-m-r-t....I mean s-m-A-r-t."
"Don't let Krusty's death get you down, boy. People die all the time, just like that. Why, you could wake up dead tomorrow! Well, good night."
"Oh, people can come up with statistics to prove anything, Kent. 14% of people know that."
"Me lose brain? Uh, oh! Ha ha ha! Why I laugh?"
"Well, I'm tired of being a wannabe league bowler. I wanna be a league bowler!"
"They have the Internet on computers, now?"
"Dear Baby, Welcome to Dumpsville. Population: You"
"Lisa honey, are you saying you're never going to eat any animal again? What about bacon?"
"All normal people love meat. If I went to a barbeque and there was no meat, I would say 'Yo Goober! Where's the meat!?'. I'm trying to impress people here Lisa. You don't win friends with salad."
Last night, Harvard came over and brought the DVD for "The Count of Monte Cristo," a movie based on the book by Alexandre Dumas. An excellent movie I must say. John thinks it's the best movie of all time. I wouldn't say it was THAT good, but I really enjoyed watching it. It was full of adventure and was pretty funny, too. Another notable feature is that the girl's character in the movie is quite honorable and upstanding. Here's a quote from the movie:
Edmond: So what are you doing?
Pirate: I wish to bury one of my men alive because he stole some gold for himself on our last expedition, but the others wish that I show mercy. Yet I cannot show mercy or I will lose all control of the crew. I know. You will fight him in a knife fight. If he wins, I'll let him go free. If you win then you'll join us with a life of cutthroats and pirates.
Edmond: But what if I don't want to be a pirate or a cutthroat.
Pirate: Then we slit you throat and are done with you.
Edmond: I think that the life of a pirate is the one for me.
If you haven't seen this movie, I would totally recommend watching it. 11:29 AM Albert
Tuesday, September 10, 2002
Take a look at this old-style tennis racquet. It doesn't look so old until you compare it to the newer racquets out on the market. I play with the old-style racquet and really like it a lot. Apparently, some guy is selling TWO of them for $10 on Ebay. It originally sold for almost $200 in the 1980's. Crazy! (I'm referring to the low price, not the fact that I use a 20-year old racquet from the 80's.) 5:34 PM Albert
I just started work last week, but I'm already in the mood for a break. Know where you're going for your next vacation? Jeremy's cousin just got married in a place called Carmel. It's a really beautiful place. I'd really like to go there sometime. Here's what I'm talking about. 5:18 PM Albert
Growing up, I used to love climbing things. Being born in the year of the monkey (along with millions of other people around the world), I was good at it. But knowing how to climb up is only half the story. Naturally, it follows that you'll have to learn how to get back down (otherwise I'd still be in a tree somewhere in Michigan). With respect to this, you pretty much have two choices: either climb back down (which is tricky), or just jump down. Yesterday night, I was star-gazing while sitting on this decently tall wall near my house. When I was a kid, I used to be a lot lighter and gravity treated me gently, so jumping down was ok. But I'm not a kid anymore. It seems that gravity is out to get me, and jumping down from stuff hurts. 4:54 PM Albert
Monday, September 09, 2002
Check out this super-cute stuffed animal puppy..I think it'll make a great gift for a special someone. =) Get it at FAO Schwarz..there's a whole variety of different cuddly toys. And as a bonus, your purchase will help support the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. 4:48 PM Albert
Here are some of my favorite verses:
''God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.'' ~1 John 4:16b
''And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.'' ~Romans 8:28
If you couldn't tell, I'm big on love (notice I said "on," not "in"..but that could change)..in fact, one of my favorite songs is "Testify to Love" by Avalon. 4:41 PM Albert
In the wake of sitting here bored for (pretty much) the entire day, I've decided to catalog some of my thoughts and experiences. This is mostly for my own reflection purposes (my memory lets me down sometimes), but feel free to peruse this for your amusement as well. I can't guarantee that the entries will be entertaining, but I will try to keep them interesting. Thanks for reading..enjoy! 3:44 PM Albert
..a life in DUO
