Serengeti Trek - WOW!!

VBS 2005 - Serengeti Trek. I had the luxury of taking part in one of the holiest and exciting event of my life. Really need to thank G and C for recommending me. If not, I probably wouldn't have volunteered this year. All those kids have so much energy and love for God it's crazily contagious - and encouraging. Did I ever live a life that allowed me to be as energetic? Today simply reinforced how much I love kids, how much I love serving kids, and most importantly, how I'm a kid trapped inside an adult's body.

Insane in the membrane...

Michael Jacksion acquitted on all charges?! If it smells like a duck, acts like a duck, looks like a duck - chances are it's a dog-gone DUCK!!! Must've slipped a couple of benjamins here and there to buy out certain individuals.

Went to Macy's on Sunday to start our registry. We stood in front of the flatware section for 30 minutes trying to figure out why there were over a dozen different kinds of spoons/forks/knives. The prices were so outrageous that our friends can't possibly afford those things. Wasn't till Macy's was closing did we wander upon the cheap section. Heh....not cheap, but economical. The pots and pans section also looked really nice. But realistically, I don't think we'll use a 20-piece set. We'll use a sauce pan for Doll Noodles, one for spam and eggs, one for porkchops (maybe) and the big one for pasta. Realistically, 4-piece set is enough. Ah...then there were cutlery sets. A million different arrangements of knives...for an insane amount of money. Goodness.

Funny factoid of the week, I guess. Henckels Knives
claim to "never needing sharpening." But what do they sell with their knife set? A knife sharpener.

Another quarter bites the dust...

The end of yet another quarter at Santa Clara. This totals up to 2 years or 6 quarters worth of graduate studies. But realisitically, thi is the end of my second quarter going towards my degree. Once again, I'm on the edge of my seat begging for a B- or above just to get reimbursed. This shouldn't be the way I approach a Master's degree. I should be striving to learn as much as possible and become an industry specialist in one form or another. Instead, I'm just "getting-by" like they say. Sigh....One week of freedom then it's back to books again for summer school. Hopefully we can finish beautying up the house by then.

Grass in the backyard is dead - all dead. But I think I finally figured out how to turn on the sprinklers.

Is San Diego coming up in the near future? Sea World, San Diego Zoo, Wild Life Animal Park, Petco Park....Donavan's Steakhouse.....they all add up to $$$$

Whaddup?

Just got back from my morning dump. I've been avoiding taking dumps at home, especially if I know the package to be delivered is going to be mountainess. Don't want to deal with the plumbing - don't want to swim in my own sh-tuff. I'm still kind of skeptical about my home plumbing. The water comes out slow, the hot water takes a few seconds to "get-there." The flush isn't the all-powerful WHOOSH!!! There's gotta be some simple solution - simple meaning not replacing galvanized with copper.

Finally figured out how to turn on the sprinkler system for the backyard. For the past two weeks, the backyard has been sitting out there dry. Luckily the weather's been still semi-wet in the evenings. But I can see my grass out in the backyard is dehydrating. Hopefully I can save the grass out there - hopefully.

Went up to Napa on Saturday with Uncle and Aunt from New York. Spent a lot of time talking to these two characters who are, supposedly, very close to me whom I've seen for nothing more than 5 minutes back in 1992 at a train station in Canton. We discussed a lot of things - from the meaning of life, to politics, to education, to child raising?! CHILD-RAISING!? Then we had an hour or so worth of MahJong playing - which was probably the best part of the trip. Dad hit the nail on the head when he wanted a picture of that moment - that moment in time probably meant more to him than the entire trip combined. Cuz that's how they spent their raging 20's. Nights, weekends, holidays = Mahjong. Have a beer here and there, run down to the local noodleshop for a cheap snack, then back upstairs for more Mahjong. Mahvelous.

It's impressive how my dad and Uncle are so close. I guess family to them is more important than family to us. From my perspective, family equates to mom, dad and bro. That's how I was raised. We didn't have relatives, grandparents, cousins, second cousins. But I bet back in their days, their best friends WERE their family members.

After church yesterday, headed over to school to meet up with my friend. I intended to let him photocopy my classnotes - I was there to do him a favor. First thing he says to me is, "You have to promise not to show this to anyone. Here's a copy of last year's final." It turns out they a have a friend who auditted the class last year and someone snuck the final out with him. My friend and his little clique wants to keep this under wraps cuz they're average a B...and they need the final to pull them up to an A. Makes me feel good to hear this guy say, "They didn't want you to have it, but I told them that you helped me last quarter." Thinking back, I didn't really help him last quarter except shared with him my answers from the practice midterm. I guess to some people, that's very rare. Charity only comes on a two-way street.

Gotta be nice to everyone around you. No telling when the favor will be returned.