Down with Macy*s

Let the Chrsitmas shopping insanity begin...

My mom and I went out for early shopping yesterday morning. We hit up Mervyn's first and then made our way over to Valley Fair. After some successful shoe and jewerly shopping at one Macy's, we trekked across the mall to the other Macy's. We were delayed with some pastry shopping first (we can never pass those up).

Since the bag we had was heavy (mom had put everything we bought in one macy's plastic bag, including the pastries she bought for Dad), Mom carried the left handle and I carried the right. As we entered the Macy's, we were discussing which direction to head to get chair pads. Then it happened: mom was falling, the bag was tearing, and I went to the ground after her. We were both in so much shock. It looked like someone had spilled their iced coffee on the floor and left it. Several people stopped to see if we were alright. One man came over and said that he had just reported the spill to one of the clerks. So we waited for someone to show up. And waited. And waited. And waited... for about 5 more minutes, which is a ridiculously long time. We were all appalled that nobody had shown up yet. The guy (Raymond) went back to the clerk to remind them about the spill and the poor lady who had fallen in it. Raymond had commented that with all the cameras around you think someone would have been there right there. You know they would if it were someone shoplifting. Raymond came back with a clerk who said her manager was on the way. One minute later, a manger showed up. Cleaning people too. Then another person to take the accident report. My mom had coffee all over her and I had it on my shoulder and in my hair. The woman who took the report was polite but not very sympathetic or empathetic. Raymond stayed as the witness. When my mom pointed out that our expensive pastries were ruined, she said she would mail us a $25 gift certificate. My mom was really upset and shaken up after all this.

I have to say that what makes me the most angry is the lack of concern and no sign of urgency. There was spilled coffee on the walkway, which they knew about and did nothing to take care of it. They had two of their customers fall in it and did nothing for at least five minutes!!!! What in the world are they thinking!!??!! I just don't get it. I always imagined that if someone fell in a store like Macys due in some way to their inadequacy, there would be a rushing of help and concern. We did not get any. Of course, my mom and I are not scene people. In other words, we just took it. We did not yell, we did not scream, or even saying anything at all with anger. We were just polite. I can't help but wonder if that caused them to be unconcerned? It kinds of ticks me off that you would have to make a big scene in order to get proper care.

Okay enough rambling. I bet Nordstroms and even Mervyns would have treated us better...

I LOve myspace music!!!

It's super fabulous! I can look up musicians, listen to their music and decide if I want to spring the 7-12 dollars for their CD. Or I can just play favorite songs over and over again for free (confession: love Christina's Hurt song, can't get enough of it). Also I can learn that I have actually heard that singer/band before (ex., James Blunt). Now I know the name of the song by Nickelback that I like so much (Far away). Sarah McLachlan's Christmas songs lean me towards buying her Christmas CD.

The only minor problem is that it can play jumpy or choppy, so it doesn't really work for the long term. In other words, if I am listening to a song that much, I should just buy the song from iTunes or the album from BMG.

So that's my peace on that.

Just a little picture I like

Jeffra and Jenn

Babies on the Way

Just wanted to say that my two best friends' sisters are having babies and both have a due date in January. However, Karen's sister, Liza, just went into labor this morning around 1am. Karen called me at 7am to tell me. She is so excited. The baby (little Tyler) is one month early but I am sure all will go well. Karen cannot wait to be an aunt. If I remember correctly (which of course, I always do), the first thing Karen told me after telling me that her sister was getting married was, "I can't wait til Liza gets pregnant and I get to be an aunt!!!" Well, she may start being Aunty Karen today. I am very very happy for her and her family.

My other best friend, Amanda, has a twin sister, Katie who is also due in January. I was blessed to be down in Orange County to go to Katie's baby shower. She has quite the baby belly but she is so beautifully happy. Amanda's other sister, Elizabeth is also expecting to be a mommy but not until June. And of course, Amanda herself is hoping to have their adopted Ethiopian baby by February. Just babies all around.

Eventful Last Weekend!

So the official First Day of Instruction for SJSU starts on Wednesday, August 23rd. This means that this last weekend was my last hurrah before the insanity begins. Fortunately, it was a fabulous weekend. My best friend, Amanda, came into town on Thursday afternoon. We had girl time together as her husband wasn't flying in until Friday evening. It is great how you can meet up with your best friends and it is just like old times.
Friday I took off from work and decided we needed to go on a little adventure. I wanted to hike but because my toes is healing really well, I didn't want to spoil that. Nonetheless, I still wanted to enjoy God's nature outside of the city. I remembered that there is a little road off from Almaden Expressway that takes you out of the city and into the hills. So I told Amanda we were going to explore this wild area of terrain. As we rumbled our way along in my boat of a vehicle, we came upon a little park called Calero county park, which is a 3,476 acre park with horse stables. It was gorgeous out there. Truly a lovely place to pray in, so we did. Later that afternoon I spent time with Amanda's family members in Los Altos. They have really adopted me into their family. I thank God for that. Finally, the night ended with seeing an old black-and-white silent Harold Lloyd film, called "Safety Last!" They even had a person there to play the organ that accompanied the movie. It was all very impressive. I loved it and can't wait to go back to the theatre.
Saturday was more mellow. Amanda, Andrew, and I spent some time together talking about we have recently learned about God and he helped me to answer a question I had. Then we went to the International Rose Market to eat my favorite food, Persian. Yummy. After they left to go to a wedding, I did some reading for school.
Today (Sunday) I didn't feel so well but at church, I had a heart-felt moment with God about some stuff going on in my heart right now. We have been having small group meetings during the church service, which has been a delightful way to get to know my brothers and sisters at NewLife covenant church. After lunch, I went to one of my newest friend's housewarming party. I love these people. They are fun, genuine, caring, and faithful people. I hope God provides me with more opportunities to spend time with them.
Now it is time for me to start getting ready for bed because tomorrow I must be at work at 7:30am as we have a Math Placement Exam. Woot woot!

P.S. Tiger won!!!!

Good Heavens!

So I am starting to drive myself crazy by catching myself saying the above exclamation all the time. I don't know why but I sure say it a lot.

My biggest "Good heavens!" moment recently was on Friday when I discovered that I am going to have to put together an electronic portfolio as my culminating experience (or the last final project) to earn my Master's degree in Library and Information Science. In theory, I think it sounds pretty cool to have a collection of all my coursework that I have done in the process of earning the degree. My dilemma comes from the fact that I lost my hard drive this last March and I had NOTHING backed up! *sigh* Yes, I learned a valuable lesson from the experience, "There are two types of people in the world: those who have lost their hard drive and those who will." So said the Mac guy who was trying to help me troubleshoot my computer as it was on its deathbed. Whoops, enough of a digression. All this is to say that I am missing a lot of the coursework that I did. In particular, three of my classes (dating back to Spring 2004) I completed and submitted my schoolwork through the Internet. And I never bothered to print up any of this work (planning to do it later, of course).

I emailed the professors in hopes they might still have my assignments. I heard back from one today. She does not keep student files anymore. I sadly realized this would mean I would have no evidence of what I learned about online searching: no exercises, no quizzes, and no essay. *sad frown* Another professor said that she has my cataloging assignments on her computer and she would get them to me in a couple of days. Yay! *smile* Then I was sad again as I really wished I had done some sort of back-up of the online searching class. Maybe I could at least include the greensheet from the class... I went back to my SLIS email account, which I generally avoid because it has usually has 800-1200 unread messages-hate that, and stared at the inbox for a bit in contemplation. That is when I saw it: LIBR 244. A folder. Perhaps my assignments were there? With great hope, I clicked on the link for this promising folder. And lo and behold, they were all there!!!!! Yippeee!

Now I just have to get my external hard drive up and running, any volunteers to help me?

Note: Perhaps I could have avoided some of this hassle if I had paid to have my computer data retrieved, but you know what? I don't regret my decision to use this money instead to provide a village with a milking cow and give 6 children a year of school. God has provided me with many many blessings and I am humbled.

My Tale of the Itsy Bitsy Spider

To learn a little bit more about me, I have a story for you.

So I was taking a shower the other night and I noticed a spider in there with me. My reaction is probably not the same as yours. I felt concern. The little spider was trying to climb up the side of the bathtub but to no avail because of the water from my shower splashing around him. So I bent over and used my index finger to sort of slide him up to ledge on the side of the bathtub. Now I should mention that I don't wear my glasses or contacts in the shower, so I can't see great and my depth perception is a little off. I looked at his crumpled little body and legs and was pertt certain that I had just squashed instead of saving him. I sighed and felt bad. A few minutes later after a few more sad thoughts about crumpled spider bodies, I noticed he was in the water at my feet. I couldn't be certain but it looked like he was alive and trying get out. So this time I crouched down and scooped him up and placed him farther away from the tub, so hopefully he wouldn't fall in again. Again he looked rather dead.

When I got out of the shower, he was still looking unfixable. I tried to move his body so he was positioned in a more upright position. Then for some reason, I thought to blow on him. With the first blow, his body moved a little and he looked to be standing more upright. The next blow, one of his legs wiggled a little. The last blow he seemed to have firmly planted himself. Yay! He was alive.

After getting dressed I checked back on the spider. Oye! He was back in the bathtub trying to crawl up the wall again. Okay, so spiders just aren't the smartest. I somehow managed to get him on my right index finger but he began to make his way towards my wrist. I quickly hurried over the counter where I had a cup. I tried to sort of rub him off but he wouldn't let go and quite frankly, I starting to get a little creeped out by the feeling of his legs crawling on me. I shook him off onto the counter and speedily covered him with the cup. Then I used stiff paper to cover the cup and take the spider outside. Finally, the itsy bitsy (actually he about an inch in size - is that itsy bitsy?) spider was dropped into a plant on our front porch and hopefully, he lived to tell his tale of the scary bathroom lady.

Am I weird or what?

I'm sad

It was a rough morning, leaving the house, knowing that I don't know when I will see Salena next. We had our final time of prayer on my bed before I left for work, thanking God for so divinely bringing about our friendship. It is amazing to think about how he brought us together. We met in LIBR 204, had lunch one time, I invited her to the Wednesday night Bible Study, soon she was coming to Night Life, hanging out at the Crusade House, and then living in the next bedroom over from mine. He definitely had His plan for us and for that, we can be eternally grateful, truly.

I will miss her greatly but I pray that God would use what she has learned here in San Jose to bless her community, friends, and family back in Spokane. May she continue to grow abundantly in His love and walk as His vessel on Earth with a faithful and joyful heart. Amen.

Check out her photos at flickr.

My Couch Potato Story

On Sunday night I had a bad tummy night (there is no need for more details than that). Needless to say, I did not go into work on Monday. I had a true couch potato day instead.

Started the morning off with a black and white movie "A Letter to Three Wives"about three young women who receive a letter saying that one of their husbands ran away with her. Each contemplates whether or not it was her husband. I have to admit I did not pay as much as attention to this movie as I could have since I did not know any of the actors.

Then watched first episode of Jeeves and Wooster (given to me by Jonathan) with my dad. Bertie is being engaged to Honoria but fortunately his new valet (Jeeves) gets him out of that pickle. Stephen Fry is GREAT as Jeeves and Hugh Laurie has such a clayface that that you are never certain what expression he will make next.

Second black and white movie: We’re Not Married! with Ginger Rogers and Marilyn Monroe. Basically 5 different stories about 5 couples who learn that they are not married and the distinct ways each handles it. Most touching is the young soldier who goes to great length to make sure he and his pregnant wife become legally married before he leaves for the war.

Episode of The Cosby Show was next. Vanessa surprises Dr. and Mrs. Huxtable with news that she has been secretly engaged for 6 months! If you have ever watched this show, then you can imagine all the funny stares/glares they give Vanessa and her fiancé (Dabnis) as they recount their story. Dr. Huxtable compares Vanessa’s presentation of her fiancé to presenting a fine slab of steak and mashed potatoes on a garbage lid. It doesn’t matter how good the steak is because it is coming on a garbage lid. I think they got the point after this.

Unfortunately I fell into a Lifetime movie at this point. Wife/Mother is kidnapped and ransomed for a million dollars. When she tries to escape fearing that she will be killed instead of returned, her female captor dies. The male captor blames her and starts to destroy all aspects of her family’s life. In the end, the bad guy gets caught and the family is all back together and happy again.

I took a break here to study Mark 10, definitely the best part of the day.

Watched an episode and a half of “Road to Avonlea,” the last two episodes of season 4. Neither particularly interesting but I always feel very nostalgic when I watch this show. I used to watch every day during the summer in 1999 and I think also 1995 summer.

Next Dad, Mom, and I watched parts 1 and 2 of the Pilot for Lost. It was far more scary than I had anticipated. The show itself is usually intriguing but does not normally scare me. However, I must admit that I have only watched the second season. Perhaps the first season is a bit more rough.

After this I watched a Superman special on A&E. I have always enjoyed the stories and tales of Superman. I grew up reading the comic books from the 1950s and 1960s. Clearly, this show was set up as an advertisement for the new Superman movie but the movie itself was only really discussed in the last 10 minutes. The rest of the time showed the various ways that Superman had been popularly presented to the world, including several TV shows: The Adventures of Superman; Lois & Clark; and Smallville.

After all this, I finally went to bed.

Little note about something very yummy

So when I visited Amanda in Scotland (March 2003), I had for the first time oatmeal with fresh pears and apple juice. I was surprised at how tasty it was. After that, it wasn't uncommon to see me eating oatmeal with fresh apples and apple juice. The apples in our backyard were my particular favorite because although they were small and dense, their flavor was extremely strong. Now I have discovered a new fruit/oatmeal combo: fresh olallieberries and boysenberries. YUM YUM YUM. If you would like to taste this delightful treat, give me a call or send an email, and we can have some oatmeal together. However, this is a limited time offer since berry season only lasts for another couple of weeks. :^P

Not Just a Driver's Helmet

So I don't know if you have heard the analogy of letting God be the driver in your life. You know, as opposed to you being the driver and occasionally consulting Him for advice. Well, this morning while I ate breakfast (the yummy trail mix grape nuts), I guess I was in a pensive mood. What I thought was a brief rumination about this image turned into something more when I thought another component to the illustration. Maybe you have heard this before but I don't think I have. So to continue with the analogy, it is good to let God be the driver but it seems to me that that is not enough. You have to give him the map, too. In other words, you can't always know where you are going, what the end destination will be (well, other than where ever it is, He will be with you). I have to trust Him and that He knows me so well that where ever He is taking me, it is the best place possible. Oddly, I find that this is most challenging to me.

I can accept that God is my driver, though not always perfectly. And I can accept that He isn't always going to tell whether we are going to make a left turn or right, though sometimes I might tell Him my preference. But to not know the end pointer of our Google map is something really hard for me to deal with. I tried coming up with an area of my life where I can accept this as a way of taking it from a small perspective to help me deal with it in the larger perspective. I couldn't. I always want to know the final destination and this grieves me because I know that it robs me of a deeper faith in God. Anyway I still need to reflect some more on this and spend some time listening to God. I haven't had time yet to find in the Word of God passages that complement these thoughts. When I do, I will post them.

It's Official

On Friday, the Twenty-eighth of April, the Leadership Honor Society at San Jose State University became an official circle of Omicron Delta Kappa, the national leadership honor society. I am so honored to be a part of this organization. God has truly blessed me with the diverse and inspirational people that I have been able to meet through my association with ODK. All the members of ODK are so committed to being leaders and servants. They are active and they are passionate.

Through the Holy Spirit, I strive to grow in my walk as a leader and as a servant.

"From everyone who has been given much, much will be required, and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be asked." (Luke 12:48)

What's better than being in the Math Dept at 7am?

Being in the Math Dept at 7am because your computer, which just recently lost its entire hard drive containing five years of digital photos, undergraduate schoolwork, almost 4,ooo iTunes songs, and significant graduate schoolwork, has no Word-type-document-producing program on it to do a Library class assignment on it, and thus have to use your work computer.

Woot! Woot!

Last 20 Minutes before Sleep

I love the last twenty minutes before REM fully kicks into gear. During those twenty minutes, amazing things happen. I become the finest dancer and can choreograph dance routines that are perfectly blended with music. I can write beautifully, articlulating all my deepest thoughts in wonderful poems, essays, and letters. I fight like Jason Bourne and all those bad guys are toast from my right upper-cut. I paint true expressions of how I see trees and people. I create new recipes of delectible and savory foods of all kinds. My hands can play Mozart with determination and a passion. My detective skills outmatch Barbara Gordon's and I can solve the mysteries that stump even Adrian Monk. I design and engineer the most galatical spaceship in the Universe, warping my way through the stars.

Creativity flows so freely, I only wish it would last. Even now I feel that my words above are a poor respresentation of those special minutes between waking and sleeping.

Lessons in Singlehood

When you are approaching your 26th birthday (and now having passed it) without ever having been on a date, you really feel like the odd one out in this fast-paced dating society. You begin to wonder if this is maybe the way it will always be, watching from the outside, destined to be single? Then you adapt by determining that it must be and that in fact marriage and dating must be a bad thing for you, something that should be kept away. You become careful, protective, and perhaps even overguarding your heart.

Somehow my thoughts formed in this way. Only recently has God brought all this into question. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, God forced me re-evaluate my views on marriage and singleness and thus, sort of face my fears. I began to read articles and books, talk to friends and mentors, anything to help me get a better perspective on how God views these "murky" waters.

I began to see that I had a lot of wrong ideas swimming around in my head. Can I even find the words to describe all the changes? To start with, I have to say that most of these thoughts were not so consciously recognized as they were just present. God helped me to realize that they were there and they needed to be transformed into a more Godly perspective. I had this odd notion that people who were married, were doing it for selfish reasons, that marriage itself was selfish, and that to be single was truly selfless. Ha! How wrong. To be in a committed married state actually requires continual acts of selflessness. You must think of your spouse now when you make decisions. It is no longer about what is best for ME but instead about what is best for US.

My readings also made me realize that God just might actually intend for me to marry! That this might be the best thing for me. Craziness! That most of us are created to walk through this life in pairs and there is nothing wrong with desiring this companionship. It is so surreal to me that I still cannot fully grasp that I could be married someday.

Now I have read some articles and listened to some talks that say that if you really want to be married, you have to pursue it like you would any other ambition. Go to the functions that singles go to, make sure you are putting yourself "out there," but of course in all these intentional interactions, your dependency should still be ultimately on God. Actually, I don't fully agree with this point of view in the sense that I value the diversity of life. I love to be around people of all ages and all lifestyles. I do not want close my life off to only being surrounded by singles whose main objective is scouting out a husband/wife. I am more of a "commit myself fully to God and He will take me to the one I am supposed to be with" kind of person.

So anyway these are some thoughts of mine. I promised Megan I would eventually post them.

Anne of California

Some days I feel like Anne Shirley. I want to put a screeching halt to change of any kind. I miss my days in SLO with my good old Cal Poly friends. And I know that someday I will be missing my friends from SJSU. We grow up and move away, seeing each other once a year if we are so fortunate. It is easy for me to sit in this sadness because my times with these people are so precious to me.

I know I hated leaving SLO and I felt so lonely when I moved back to San Jose. But now here I am loving living here and loving all the people who surround me. I guess this gives me hope for the future and for whereever it is that God moves me to. Though it will be hard to once again be separated, I know that He will provide me with many wonderful new people to love and serve.

How Great is Our God.

At least the parents could make it!

As I was walking to work on campus this morning and passing by these two football players (I know this because they were wearing sweatshirts that said, "SJSU Spartan Football"). I heard one of them say, "At least the parents could make it." (I just realized that you could read this statement in two ways. He sounded like he meant that at the very least the parents should come to this thing, whatever it is.) Without even knowing what he was talking about, I was in total consensus. I mean if your son wants you to come to something, why would you miss that opportunity? So I thought about this a little bit as I finished my walk to work.

Maybe the parents would have travel from far away. Maybe they don't have the time. Maybe it is because they have to work very hard to support their son through college. Maybe it is because they are trying to raise five other kids. Maybe they financially cannot afford the trip. Maybe they don't understand the importance of attending. Maybe the [parents just plain aren't interested.

In the end I decided to look on this as a positive experience where college students were hoping that their parents would be supporting them by attendance. Personally, I hope to attend every one of my children's events. Rather aspirational, I know, but my children will never doubt my interest in their lives.

From the Positive Side

I love sunny mornings. I love sunny evenings. Yesterday as I was walking home and this morning as I walked to work, I suddenly appreciated how beautiful it was outside and how I privileged I am to be able to walk to work. Avoiding traffic on a daily basis is more than enough to be praising God every day. On these walks, I realized there is a freshness and a hope I perceive as the sun rises on the buildings and trees. And in the evening, it feels like a soft setting to the end of the day. As I think upon this now, it seems that I like it when the suns hits the buildings and trees at horizontal angle. Why do I react so strongly to the way the sun shines downs? I don't know. I guess it is just one of the mysterious ways that God speaks to my heart through nature.

Someday maybe I will let you in on my thoughts about trees. ;D

Psalm 148:1-6
1Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD from the heavens;
Praise Him in the heights!
2Praise Him, all His angels;
Praise Him, all His hosts!
3Praise Him, sun and moon;
Praise Him, all stars of light!
4Praise Him, highest heavens,
And the waters that are above the heavens!
5Let them praise the name of the LORD,
For He commanded and they were created.
6He has also established them forever and ever;
He has made a decree which will not pass away.

SJSU Leadership Today 2006 Retreat: Creating Community in a Diverse World

Here is something that will be sort of published in Campus Crusade for Christ Metro Team Newsletter. Maybe I will add more to it later but for now here is a quick blurb about LT 06.

So many words run threw my mind as I try to quickly give you a sense of why this retreat was so amazing. Genuine. Tears. Sobs. Compassion. Intense. Love. Laughter. Shock. Smiles. Transformation. Hope.

The fours days in Asilimar led us 37 SJSU students through various exercises, activities, and discussions that really brought into the light all the issues that relate to prejudice, privilege, racial/ethnic/cultural identities, segregation, gender, disabilities (including those not seen), and sexual orientation.

We often talk about the difference between knowing about God and experiencing God. For me, this retreat was similar in that though I have known about the challenges people face in this world, this was the first time I had an overwhelming sense of them. Through LT, I have been reminded that we are surrounded by people who are hurting and who need God’s unconditional love. It is time to step up and be the one to demonstrate it.

God is Sovereign

Every once in a while I meditate on the attributes of God as I learned them once in discipleship training: omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, eternal, righteous, sovereign, immutable, love, just, and veracity (absolute truth).

Last Thursday morning as I was reflecting during my quiet time, I began to realize that I had been living the last few days growing in anxiety about all the "stuff" that's going on in my life right now. This caused me to wonder why it was so overwhelming. I remembered a study I did on the attributes of God and it became clear to me that I had forgotten about the sovereignty of God. He is the King of this universe He created. Jesus is seated on His throne in all His majesty and glory. He is the King of my life. I don't need to worry about all the "stuff" in my life because He gives me everything I need: the air to breathe and the heart to believe.

"The LORD has established His throne in the heavens; and His sovereignty rules over all" (Psalms 103:19, NASB).