Monday, December 25, 2006

2006 In Review

Departing from LAX in a few hours! I'm not sure if I will have Internet access while I'm at St. Louis so I suppose it would be good to post my end-of-the year entry now. I like how Jen used the idea of a photo book to share her stay in London for the last 8 months, and I thought I can share this year through my eyes in similar fashion.

I know...I realize that a lot of the notable moments took place @ Cal or with friends from Cal. But it's revitalizing when you're with people who walked with you in Christ. =)


January-February




(L) Woke up at 5:15am to watch the Rose Parade in Pasadena with Annie, Hannah, and her friend. The marching band had a tough day to say the least. (R) Had an unexpected reunion with family and friends at my second cousin Tim and Ruth's wedding. (B) Participated in my first broomball experience with Koinonia (over 30+ people!). SO much FUN.


March-April


(L) Koinonia had our service project for Teen Challenge. Girls were tidying the front while guys were tearing the junk in the back. Woohoo! (R) Took a tour around the Port of Los Angeles / Long Beach with my port engineering class. I really disliked the subject but at least I got an A! =) (B) Living up a day of spring break with fellow IV '06 friends in LA during their road trip through the country.


May-June



(L) Fellowshipping, growing, and bonding with my small group, Band of Brothers, over the past months. (R) Watch my sister walk across the stage and prepare to dive into college life. (B) Flew up to Cal to take part in IV's Senior Large Group by the Class of 2006.


July-August




(L) Celebrated my aunt's marriage @ Caltech. After many years (think back to when I counted Pluto as a planet), our family shot our first formal portrait. (R) Took a weekend fling to Sin City with the homeboys for some poker, sushi, and chilling in the pool. (B) Served on staff and as a counselor for our church's annual Youth Camp in the San Bernardino Mountains. One of the most blessed weekends of the year.


September-October



(L) Reunited with The Commissioned to catch-up and hang with other Cal buddies. (R) Participated in our church's Summer Retreat in UCSD for an inspiring message. (B) Going off to the crystal beaches of Santa Cruz for a weekend retreat with 25+ people from the IV Class of 2005 (my graduating class).


November-December




(L) Deciding out of a spur-of-the-moment to road trip and The Big Game in person . Rushing the field after victory was icing on the cake. (R) Participated in a crazy scavenger hunt with AOW for our Christmas party. (B) Flying out to Urbana 2006 to close out the year. I know it's gonna be awesome and God is going to reveal His greatness to us. I hope to get a glimpse of where He wants me to be in His plan.


Looking back on 2006, I realize how humbling of a year it has been. Not just in faults and failures (and I had my fair share of them), but in how God can take visions, refine them, and grow us in the process. And the amazing thing is that God love His people even more than visions and works for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28). I hope I can take the lessons learned this past year and make 2007 even more glorious for God.

Take care everyone and Happy New Year!!!


"BEGIN: Each new day is the masterpiece of God" - Anonymous

Sunday, December 24, 2006

Merry Christmas, everyone!!!!

Cute logo from Google. Crazy kangaroos. =)

Anyhow, just here to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Three days to Urbana. Woohoo!!!!

Friday, December 22, 2006

Card War

V.S.



I just finished writing and sending out my Christmas cards for this year. The big dilemma I face every year is choosing between the traditional cards and the E-cards to send to others. So I compiled a short list to compare the two mediums.

Traditional Cards

  • Postage costs and sometimes time-sensitive
  • Thoughtful impact to the receiver
  • Creativity flexibility (perhaps your own craft!)
  • Can be kept and stored for years to come
  • Need address, not e-mail

E-Cards

  • FREE
  • Easily customizable
  • Animated templates (some w/ song and dance too)
  • Sender can control send-out time and date
  • Need e-mail, not address

I try hard to send traditional cards out to loved ones and friends. When Christmas Day closes within 4-5 days, I resort to e-cards and phone calls.

But regardless of the materials used, when I speak to them of my life updates and the glories of Christmas, I try to write as if I am reaching through that card and giving them a touch - a handshake, a hug. I let them know that they have friends and are loved not only by me, but by our God in heaven, who demonstrated His own love by sending His son to us this holiday season. It is this amazing love that I hope they can take away and live to enjoy for this Christmas. =)

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Run, Throw, Hunt









It's been long enough and it's time to blog once more, especially this past weekend.

  1. After talking about running my discipler Marvin, I somehow became inspired to take up running once more. I got up at dawn on Saturday (you read it right) to run with Jesse, Tammy, and Eunice only to be stumbled and humbled by a sore knee finishing my fifth mile. [Sigh] It was my stupid sense of pride that made me push harder than I had to for my re-entrance into running.

  2. After taking a lot of the day to recover, I went on my first disc golf activity with Aldous, Cecilia, and Ted at Whittier Narrows park in El Monte. I had mixed thoughts walking onto the field for the first time, especially since the sport had the word "golf" in it. But it became a really fun afternoon, and it added to my sense of direction of how to throw a Frisbee disc. It's really a science (and an art if you care how you look when you toss it =) ).

  3. The best part came later that evening with AOW had our Christmas celebration..."The Amazing Race" style! No joke: our group was split into teams to go on a scavenger hunt that led us from the Target complex on Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena to an AOW member's house to a random Nativity scene in front of a Cold Stone's in Arcadia to a newspaper stand next to the Goldline train station in Fillmore St. (boarding it too!) and finally to our restaurant that night. Whew!! My team was THIS CLOSE to winning too, but my knee broke down from running that morning and the other team hit the restaurant a few seconds before us. =( Tough lesson learned but the dinner afterwards and team reuniting again raised my spirits and made my night.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Everybody Loves Peter

Emmy-Award winning actor Peter Boyle passed away yesterday at the tender age of 71 from heart disease.

After "Friends" finished its run, I got into "Everybody Loves Raymond" earlier this year and I love the show. The only character that would make me laugh with any line he said and would never annoy me was Peter's character: Frank Barone.

Here is to you, Mr. Boyle. HOLY CRAP we're gonna miss you. =)





Memorable quotes

  • "Holy crap!"
  • [to Ray] You're even dumber than I tell people.
  • [To his wife] "You're a trophy wife? What contest in hell did I win?"
  • [Commenting on Ray's TV appearance] "I could've eaten a box of Alpha Bits and crapped a better interview."
  • "You don't know a monkey wrench from a monkey's @$$, do you son?"
  • [To his sons] "Hello, ladies!"

Thursday, December 7, 2006

Workplace Discovery

Shortly after lunch yesterday, I ran into a fellow co-worker in the bullpen.

Him: Hey, can I ask you a question?
Me: Uh, sure. (He motioned for me to take a seat on a chair inside his cubicle and I sat down)
Him: So, uh, what's your faith?
Me: (I was a bit taken by surprised) Christianity.
Him: What denomination?
Me: Protestant. Along the lines of evangelist.
Him: Oh I see. (He then extended a hand to me) That's cool dude. Same here!
Me: (I smiled and returned the handshake.) Wow!! That IS cool, dude!
Him: Yeah. I saw that you always pray before you eat lunch. That's something I should do more often.

We entered a short conversation on our individual faiths and before getting back to work, he invited me to join him in the morning with a few others in the division for some devotional time.

God is good.

Tuesday, December 5, 2006

Sports Night

A couple days into the work week and I could already feel sorry for myself. As I pulled into my home about 10 1/2 hours after leaving it this morning, I needed a boost. A power-up. Just something. I knew there has got to be more to this life. After dinner, my friend Aldous called me up and suggested that we forgo our usual bowling night out @ ABC out and "mix it up a bit". Sure, I shrugged. Why not?

That little bit of mix up was an understatement.

In addition to going bowling elsewhere with less distractions, we teamed up for some doubles action in the tennis courts, taking on some "experts". When we were finished with them, we made off to the diamond and played some good ol' fashion baseball, and improved the timing of our batting to make some home runs. Golf came next, and despite some frustrating times, we were able to work on our swings and practice getting the ball onto the green. And heck, we even threw in a little boxing too!! (thankfully, no one was really hurt either... =) )

What a crazy night of fun and all of this within about 4 hours time! My thanks to Aldous for making the initiative and providing the equipment to do it.

Sunday, December 3, 2006

Big Game 2006






Half planned, half-spur-of-the-moment, Theresa (a fellow Cal CE) and I took a road trip up to San Francisco and Berkeley this past weekend to see THE BIG GAME!! =) It was kinda rushed and sort of crazy (5-6 hour drive one-way), but the annual rivalry sport made it all worth it. Big props and thanks to Theresa and her great connections (tickets @ the 20th row!) as well as her parents for letting us stay at their place for the short weekend. =)

Everyone was expecting a blow-out victory for Cal this year, making me doubt how much fun it can really be (let's face it - 42-0 is no fun to watch). But the Cardinals definitely gave a respectable performance and a "bear of a fight" to the finish. All emotions spilled over in the end, and I joined the crowd in rushing the field (my third time!) after our hard-fought victory. As the 4th quarter clock ticked to zero, I took off to the center of Memorial Stadium: leaping over railings, dodging slower fans, and pumping my fist in the air - all while yelling to the top of my lungs and high-fiveing as many fans along my way. And all of this with the same fervor as four years ago when I was a freshman at my first Big Game where Coach Tedford ended our losing streak to Stanford. Well, everything except for taking down our own goal posts and carrying them out of the stadium into streets...[sigh]...robbed of opportunities once more...=) Nonetheless, what a great way to end a largely successful football season!

Something I found online that I had to post as an ending to a hugely fun weekend:






































GO BEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!