I got into the MBA program at my school. Can you believe I'm going for my MBA? I was a friggin Psych major. Anyways, it's pretty cool because I get free tuition since I am an employee of Dominican University. It's a good benefit considering it's $795 per unit.
It's also cool, because I can earn my degree at my own pace. I'll probably take a class or two a semester, so it will most likely take me 3 years to finish. First class is tonight from 6-9PM. Wish me luck.
Carpe Diem.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Solomon
1 Kings 3 Solomon Asks for Wisdom
10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. 11 So God said to him, "Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, 12 I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.
29 God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. 30 Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the men of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 He was wiser than any other man, including Ethan the Ezrahite—wiser than Heman, Calcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations. 32 He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. 33 He described plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. 34 Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon's wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.
If Solomon was the wisest man that has ever lived and there was no one before him or after him smarter. Then how come he didn't invent the light bulb, the telephone, or even gunpowder/explosives? I guess I am playing the devil's advocate, but he should have made a lot of great discoveries and inventions during his lifetime, way more than Thomas Edison if he was that smart. You feel me?
10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. 11 So God said to him, "Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, 12 I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.
29 God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. 30 Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the men of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 He was wiser than any other man, including Ethan the Ezrahite—wiser than Heman, Calcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations. 32 He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. 33 He described plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. 34 Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon's wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.
If Solomon was the wisest man that has ever lived and there was no one before him or after him smarter. Then how come he didn't invent the light bulb, the telephone, or even gunpowder/explosives? I guess I am playing the devil's advocate, but he should have made a lot of great discoveries and inventions during his lifetime, way more than Thomas Edison if he was that smart. You feel me?
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Am I a Pharisee?
Man! How do you respond when one of your good friends tells you that they don't feel close to you anymore because you went back to church? That they don't like hanging out with you because you are always hanging out with your friends from church and they make him feel uncomfortable. He feels he can't be himself. He can't drink, can't swear, just feels uptight I guess.
I really felt disappointed and although we are boys for life, I can't help but feel divided.
I told him our church is not very judgmental. I told him that he doesn’t need to feel uncomfortable, a lot of the guys drink, and a lot swear too. We are all just sinners hanging out together.
This makes me think, how are we supposed to reach out to the unchurched if we act all churched? I remember several years ago, Mary brought a couple of her friends from work to one of our bowling nights and they felt very uncomfortable. First because they didn’t know anybody, but second they bought some beer and they were the only ones drinking. They asked me, "Is it ok if we drink?" And I was like "Of course it is." Funny right, we were all acting like a bunch of Pharisees. Most of us drink, but when we hang with a certain group under a "church event" umbrella, people act differently then they would normally act. Basically more pious.
I understand that everything has its place and sometimes alcohol at a certain "church event" is just weird. Like at a retreat or a prayer meeting. But when we invite our non-churched friends I feel we should try to make them feel as comfortable as we can.
What about swearing? I've pretty much tried to cut swearing out of my life, mainly cuz I just started to dislike the way I sound when I swear. But my wife and kid have a lot to do with it as well. I know that a lot of people in our church swear and for some reason when they are around me they feel free to swear. Do I bring that out in people? Maybe I do. I admit I still swear occasionally. Granted there are several verses in the Bible where it puts swearing in a bad light, but the only thing it forbids is not to take the Lord's name in vain. But people swear, most of our non-churched friends swear. There's a lot of fuck and shit words being thrown around. Are we to freeze up when we hear these words at a "church event" pretending like we've never heard the words before?
It's definitely open to debate and I definitely need to chew on it some more. But I really welcome any comments. I'm throwing it out there because of my friend and I think it's a relevant topic for Christians to discuss, especially in a church whose purpose is to reach out to the unchurched.
I really felt disappointed and although we are boys for life, I can't help but feel divided.
I told him our church is not very judgmental. I told him that he doesn’t need to feel uncomfortable, a lot of the guys drink, and a lot swear too. We are all just sinners hanging out together.
This makes me think, how are we supposed to reach out to the unchurched if we act all churched? I remember several years ago, Mary brought a couple of her friends from work to one of our bowling nights and they felt very uncomfortable. First because they didn’t know anybody, but second they bought some beer and they were the only ones drinking. They asked me, "Is it ok if we drink?" And I was like "Of course it is." Funny right, we were all acting like a bunch of Pharisees. Most of us drink, but when we hang with a certain group under a "church event" umbrella, people act differently then they would normally act. Basically more pious.
I understand that everything has its place and sometimes alcohol at a certain "church event" is just weird. Like at a retreat or a prayer meeting. But when we invite our non-churched friends I feel we should try to make them feel as comfortable as we can.
What about swearing? I've pretty much tried to cut swearing out of my life, mainly cuz I just started to dislike the way I sound when I swear. But my wife and kid have a lot to do with it as well. I know that a lot of people in our church swear and for some reason when they are around me they feel free to swear. Do I bring that out in people? Maybe I do. I admit I still swear occasionally. Granted there are several verses in the Bible where it puts swearing in a bad light, but the only thing it forbids is not to take the Lord's name in vain. But people swear, most of our non-churched friends swear. There's a lot of fuck and shit words being thrown around. Are we to freeze up when we hear these words at a "church event" pretending like we've never heard the words before?
It's definitely open to debate and I definitely need to chew on it some more. But I really welcome any comments. I'm throwing it out there because of my friend and I think it's a relevant topic for Christians to discuss, especially in a church whose purpose is to reach out to the unchurched.
Monday, May 21, 2007
GIJoes vs. Transformers
My friend James' most recent blog today caused me to have a childhood flashback. I didn't have a spectacular childhood, but I did have a lot of awesome toys. That's one thing my dad spoiled me with. Every weekend when he visited me he would take me to ToysRUs and get me a new toy. My fixation? GIJoes. I had like almost every single GIJoe character and lot of the vehicles as well.
When I was a kid the two competing toys were GIJoes and Transformers. You either played with one or the other. Some played with both. I did have a few Transformers, but I never got into it. It was too hard to play. Because every time you had a battle you had to stop your imagination and transform all of them. It was too much work.
When I was a kid the two competing toys were GIJoes and Transformers. You either played with one or the other. Some played with both. I did have a few Transformers, but I never got into it. It was too hard to play. Because every time you had a battle you had to stop your imagination and transform all of them. It was too much work.
That makes me wonder if the kids who grew up playing Transformers had a certain kind of personality vs. the kids who grew up playing GIJoes. I definitely think the kids who grew up playing with Transformers were more techy. They are the kids who like science fiction, space, Astronomy, robots (obviously), and probably grew up to become Trekkies (Next Generation only) and work in some computer related field. And these kids were probably in the top 5% of their class since elementary school. Is that too much of a generalization or was I just describing my friend James?
The Joes on the other hand were non technical, a lot of them were probably jocks, kids without the patience or the quick hand eye coordination to transform all their toys in a split second. They probably love war and all types of hand to hand combat in general, more lazy, not into science fiction, hate Star Trek TNG, and every time they touch a computer it breaks or malfunctions. These are the guys who are always calling IT at a moments notice when all they really had to do was reboot their computer. Is that too much of a generalization or did I just describe myself?
In either case my friend's blog did transport me back for a split second to a time when I would escape for hours into a fantasy world full of Ninjas, a guy with a metal head, a snake commander, and the All American blonde hero Duke, who none of us should be able to relate to.
I do have to say that the Transformers did have a better cartoon than GIJoe. When I came home from school in Elementary school, it would be Thundercats, GIJoe, then Transformers. It was the ultimate line up. Transformers the movie was also way cooler than GIJoe the movie. There really wasn't any comparison. I mean Optimus Prime died for goodness sake! What kind of sick twisted person wrote that into the script! So many kids cried.
On a tangent, I did also play with He-Man Master of the Universe for awhile. I had a pretty good collection of those as well.
His body looks Korean cuz he has short legs.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
You Reap What You Sow
There is this guy who runs laps around our school and he always passes by my window. When he first started running like a year ago he was really fat. I'd say 5' 7" 250lbs. But I saw him the other day and he has really trimmed down. I'd say he lost about 90 pounds. He looked like a different person.
In a strange way I was really proud of this guy. I've watched him run diligently by my office for over a year now. And when I first saw him run I was thinking in my head, "That's not gonna help you bro." But he kept trodding along, his pace getting quicker, and now he has accomplished what he set out to do.
Then all of a sudden I kept thinking you reap what you sow. Or you get out of things what you put in. Like time in the gym. I see people go to the gym day after day, month after month, year after year, and they don't get stronger or bigger. Then you see other people who go in the gym and get down to business and after some time they start to look different. It's all about what you put in during the time you are there. If you go in there and just half ass it and waste time talking, your body won't change much. But if you go in there focused and lift with a lot of intensity, even a short 30 minute workout, couple days a week will change the way your body looks.
I think you can apply this philosophy to pretty much everything. Why do relationships seem so passionate at the beginning? Because the two people involved put so much time and effort into it. And because they put so much into it, they get a lot out of it. But overtime, the passion starts to fizzle, because neither are trying or putting much effort into their relationship anymore.
I've been thinking a lot about our church and why it doesn't grow. And I think it is for this same reason, because people aren't putting a lot into it. I think all of us are guilty of just doing the bare minimum. I know that in my own life, I've always done just the bare minimum. In high school, I did the bare minimum to get good grades. Usually putting everything off till the last moment and cramming tons of information into my head just to take a test, then quickly losing all the information right after. I did the same in college, and into my adult life. That's why I really haven't succeeded in much of anything.
In my spiritual life as well, I feel like I just barely get by. Doing the bare minimum QT, short prayers, Sunday ritual, and that's why I'm not growing. I admit that I'm being hard on myself, because I'm closer to God then I was 5 years ago, and maybe even a year ago. But it's pretty slow going.
It's funny it took this fat guy running around my office to wake me up and realize this. I really want to live life more focused and determined. I want to put more into all my relationships, I want to put more into church, more into my spiritual life, and more into just bettering myself. My life motto throughout my life was to just chill. But life is too short to just chill all the time. Don't get me wrong, I love chilling, and I 'm an extremely lazy person (just ask my wife) and this is not something that is going to change overnight. It's something that's ingrained deep into my personality. But I want to start living with more intensity and purpose. I want to take my mentality for working out into other facets of my life.
Thank you fat guy.
In a strange way I was really proud of this guy. I've watched him run diligently by my office for over a year now. And when I first saw him run I was thinking in my head, "That's not gonna help you bro." But he kept trodding along, his pace getting quicker, and now he has accomplished what he set out to do.
Then all of a sudden I kept thinking you reap what you sow. Or you get out of things what you put in. Like time in the gym. I see people go to the gym day after day, month after month, year after year, and they don't get stronger or bigger. Then you see other people who go in the gym and get down to business and after some time they start to look different. It's all about what you put in during the time you are there. If you go in there and just half ass it and waste time talking, your body won't change much. But if you go in there focused and lift with a lot of intensity, even a short 30 minute workout, couple days a week will change the way your body looks.
I think you can apply this philosophy to pretty much everything. Why do relationships seem so passionate at the beginning? Because the two people involved put so much time and effort into it. And because they put so much into it, they get a lot out of it. But overtime, the passion starts to fizzle, because neither are trying or putting much effort into their relationship anymore.
I've been thinking a lot about our church and why it doesn't grow. And I think it is for this same reason, because people aren't putting a lot into it. I think all of us are guilty of just doing the bare minimum. I know that in my own life, I've always done just the bare minimum. In high school, I did the bare minimum to get good grades. Usually putting everything off till the last moment and cramming tons of information into my head just to take a test, then quickly losing all the information right after. I did the same in college, and into my adult life. That's why I really haven't succeeded in much of anything.
In my spiritual life as well, I feel like I just barely get by. Doing the bare minimum QT, short prayers, Sunday ritual, and that's why I'm not growing. I admit that I'm being hard on myself, because I'm closer to God then I was 5 years ago, and maybe even a year ago. But it's pretty slow going.
It's funny it took this fat guy running around my office to wake me up and realize this. I really want to live life more focused and determined. I want to put more into all my relationships, I want to put more into church, more into my spiritual life, and more into just bettering myself. My life motto throughout my life was to just chill. But life is too short to just chill all the time. Don't get me wrong, I love chilling, and I 'm an extremely lazy person (just ask my wife) and this is not something that is going to change overnight. It's something that's ingrained deep into my personality. But I want to start living with more intensity and purpose. I want to take my mentality for working out into other facets of my life.
Thank you fat guy.
Friday, May 11, 2007
No Reply
Is e-mail not a good method of communication. Every time I send out a mass e-mail and ask for a reply, nobody does. Then when I send out a second one saying I haven't heard back from anyone please reply, then a couple replies trickle in, but majority still no answer.
Is it that in today's callous too many mass e-mails culture, that it gets too easy to just read an e-mail real quick and delete it? Do people feel that they don't really need to respond? Or are people too lame to commit to something so they wait till the last minute and just show up? Or am I to come to the conclusion that people just don't care?
I really hope it's not the last one, because that would just be sad.
I know people check their e-mails because whenever the topic is about something stupid and frivolous like a movie or something funny on Youtube, the threads get ridiculously long. Maybe that's our culture these days. Let's talk about stupid frivolous things, but if it gets too serious then I'm going to get back behind my little wall.
Maybe I don't understand this generation's culture. Generation gaps really do exist. I think that you get along with people your age for a reason, because you were influenced by the same youth culture. Listened to the same music, watched the same shows, heard the same social messages, grew up with the same technology. Maybe it's just a generational thing, expecting a response. Maybe people don't do that anymore. Maybe they want you to hound them and make them feel wanted. Maybe they are afraid to be the first one to respond lest they be the only ones to show up. They want to know who else is going first so they can make a decision as to whether or not it's worth going. Far be it for someone to just take a stand and do something because they want to do it, instead of waiting around to see who else signs up.
I don't know I'm just saying. What the hell do I know?
Is it that in today's callous too many mass e-mails culture, that it gets too easy to just read an e-mail real quick and delete it? Do people feel that they don't really need to respond? Or are people too lame to commit to something so they wait till the last minute and just show up? Or am I to come to the conclusion that people just don't care?
I really hope it's not the last one, because that would just be sad.
I know people check their e-mails because whenever the topic is about something stupid and frivolous like a movie or something funny on Youtube, the threads get ridiculously long. Maybe that's our culture these days. Let's talk about stupid frivolous things, but if it gets too serious then I'm going to get back behind my little wall.
Maybe I don't understand this generation's culture. Generation gaps really do exist. I think that you get along with people your age for a reason, because you were influenced by the same youth culture. Listened to the same music, watched the same shows, heard the same social messages, grew up with the same technology. Maybe it's just a generational thing, expecting a response. Maybe people don't do that anymore. Maybe they want you to hound them and make them feel wanted. Maybe they are afraid to be the first one to respond lest they be the only ones to show up. They want to know who else is going first so they can make a decision as to whether or not it's worth going. Far be it for someone to just take a stand and do something because they want to do it, instead of waiting around to see who else signs up.
I don't know I'm just saying. What the hell do I know?
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
What the Heck!
Just when I post my car for sale it breaks down. On my way back from lunch my clutch broke. I was stuck in the middle of a pretty busy road. I had to drive with the car in 2nd gear to make it to a safe place. It's funny because since I couldn't stop, I was running through all these stop signs. Thankfully it wasn't that busy.
Car had to be towed to my mechanic friend Herbert's garage. Oh well, I guess it's better that it happened to me then the person I sell it to.
I'm going to modify my ad and include new clutch!
Car had to be towed to my mechanic friend Herbert's garage. Oh well, I guess it's better that it happened to me then the person I sell it to.
I'm going to modify my ad and include new clutch!
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