Goodbye and Good luck...

Went to Dale's farewell lunch today.

Dale was my 2nd manager at LM. He rescued me out of AI&T into design. He took me under his wings and showed me the ropes. Under his guidance, I've grown to become a better engineer, a better teamplayer and most importantly a better person.

We didn't see eye to eye on everything. There were nights when I got home and dreaded having such a boss. I'm sure he had evenings where he could not fathom how disrespect I can get. But through all the differences and arguments, Dale did a spectacular job stretching and challenging me.

He was a great manager. He was a great mentor. He was a trustworthy friend and a brother in Christ. I've met his family and he was at my wedding. We can talk about all kinds of things and we'd share with each other our trials, tribulations and triumphs.

Dale always protected me from the wraths of upper management. But was never shy in showing accolades for how I performed. I wouldn't say that was a completely selfless act - if I shine, he shines.

I still remember the day I told him I was leaving. His words were, "You raise 'em, you teach 'em and they grow up and fly away." Indeed, he was also a fatherly figure to me.

I'm not amazingly sad that he's moving away as I was when G, M and A moved back to Hong Kong. But indeed, I got a bit choked up as I made my speech and praise. Good luck Dale. Congratulations and have fun shoveling snow.

Mood: nostalgic

NCAA Brackets - Part II of perhaps one more to come?

It's over. I've lost my office NCAA Brackets. UCLA was my downfall. Some guy who watches zero college hoops will probably run away with it. And it's all because he picked the top seeds - kinda like how Joyce won last year. Until next year...

Nonetheless, March Madness got a little wilder with the recent surge of Michigan State support from people who don't even know what sport they're supporting!! I haven't been able to promote Giants or Niners to any of these people. But they're hopping on the Spartan bandwagon (or chariot) faster than lobster tails disappear at a Chinese buffet. If the Giants/Niners can start winning, things will be different!!

Mood: Stuffed

Spring Break

A little envious of our students for having Spring Break. A week of nothing to do but relax. Some of them are taking road trips to LA or Vegas. Some of them are just hanging around. One even just wants to go to the library and read. Sounds so relaxing...

Mood: tired

NCAA Brackets - Part I of many to come...

Not doing so well in my office brackets... ugghhh.... Currently in last place and I picked UCLA to be in the Final Four. Oops!

Tried to start an office pool to build some team spirit - but none of the ladies joined. One of them specifically emailed me saying, "Just wondering, is there a ladies-friendly competition to enter?" So I replied back... "I'll start a pool on Joyce's due date." And she replied, "HAHAHAHA... that's more like it."

Such it is...

Dream God's dream...

Everything went full circle today...

In the morning during intercession, the flow went to Jesus calling everyone to follow him - both the righteous and the unrighteous, most notably Levi/Matthew. (We're all unrighteous - c'mon....)

During the CS Sermon, Elder KC reminded us we're all called to be priests and our daily lives are our altars.

In the evening, over dinner, a brother mentioned how he use to "Dream God's dream." And it was a motto for him and his buds many years ago. But sadly, that motto has fallen to the wayside and remains nothing but a fond memory.

Shampa Rice once said, "I cook, I clean, I cook, I clean... and when I'm doing the dishes, I'm dream dreams that God is putting in me."

How are you dreaming God's dream today?

Intimacy - Season of Disclosure

Inspired by "Spiritual Intimacy" by Alice Smith...

Springtime. The beginnings of intmacy. Nothing quite captivates the Season of Disclosure quite as well as the surprise birthday party that C prepared for B. Time spent in preparation is one thing. But the minute thought going into every fine detail is the other. From the figurine on top of the cake, to the dinner plate matching the dinner tablecloth vs. appetizer plate matching the appetizer tablecloth, to C's insistance of not letting anyone help her with anything. That is definitely the epitome of the early stage or honeymoon stage of Intimacy.

In most romantic relationships - this is the sweetest time of the courtship. The other party is flawless during this stage. The couple almost refuses to move beyond this stage because the world as they know it is standing still. Nothing that you or your significant other can do will cause you to get into a fight. But of course, that first fight is inevitable. And it's making up from that first fight that will lead you into the next season... Summer time... the Season of Passion.

I am most honored to have been a witness of that display of affection. Happy Birthday B!!

Who says married people don't blog?!?!

A very topical issue this past weekend. Do married people blog?!? Before I give you my answer... I'll present some facts. Figure 1 is plotting the number of entries I've made per year since 2002.





From 2002 - 2004 I used Livejournal. Subsequently, I switched to Blogger (this existing blog). I got married in September of 2005, hence the two shades of gray. Based on raw, emperical data, it is conclusive that MARRIED PEOPLE DO INDEED BLOG - in fact, in my case, the frequency of blogging increased!!


2008 is an anomaly. I'm still trying to find an explanation...

The original graph was interesting (for me at least). But I got curious and did another plot. I tracked the frequency of my blogging by month througout the past 6 years.

Notice the trend of each year!! It's practically the same curve minus the shift in the +/- Y direction. Patterns worth noting:

a) January of every year is almost always the peak of the curve. This is probably due to annual year-end-reviews, new year resolutions, Superbowl, etc...

b) October is also a constant spike. I attribute this to baseball playoffs, the start of the NFL season and probably most importantly, Election Time!!

b) July is usually the low points of all the curves. One would think it's probably because there are better things to do during the summer than blog??

If you notice any other trends... leave a note!

This is just one sample out of a huge population. And I've been known to skew the curve on many occasions.

MSB vs. LSB

1000 or 0001. Which one is the MSB or LSB? You can read it one way or you can read it the other way and it can mean a successful mission or a fantastic failure.

But there are words, that no matter how you read it, backwards and forward, left to right or right to left... it withstands all misinterpretation, survives all scrutiny and withholds nothing but the tears behind those words... Those words... "we broke up..."

Slumdog Millionaire

A lot of people saw Slumdog Millionaire as a romance. Where Romeo defies all odds to try and find his Juliet. For me... the more flavorful storyline was the brotherly relationship - phileos - between Jamal and Salim.

Jamal and Latika falling in love is not at all credible. Nor is it "romantic." But what Jamal and Salim shared was real, bringing humanity onto silver screen. Locking in the bathroom, selling of the autograph picture, rescuing from imminent blindness...

Who was the true protagonist in the movie? Who was the one that took charge of all situations? Who was the one that made the ultimate sacrifice for the greater good? Who was the one that was martyred?

That dancing sequence at the end at the train station... that's how Titanic should've ended.

Finding comfort...

...the pain is very unbearable when one comes to you to share they need your comfort after having their heart and soul bruised and beaten. And there's nothing you can do...

Even then, it is well...with my soul.