one hundred.

When this blog first started back in July of 2009, I had lingering concerns about what kind of blog this was going to end up being. From the beginning, I had stated that there was going to be no theme, no direction, just random rants and stuff that tickled me at the moment. I had fears that this was going to turn into some “I had cocoa puffs for breakfast and am now looking forward to lunch” kind of blog…you know…stuff that nobody remotely cares about (that’s what gchat and facebook statuses are for). Even though I kept this concern in mind, I still had no clue what to write.

So I experimented. Social commentaries, humorous experiences, dramatic prose, movie reviews, rants, cooking fails. I figured as long as I kept it random, no real direction would emerge. And it did. I’ve come to discover that no direction is my direction.

The joy of having this blog is that sheer freedom to write whatever the hell (heck) I want without some Sarah Lawrence grad telling me I need to “find myself” in my writing. Thanks for indulging in my creative fancy :) .

On to the next hundred!

picketers, pinkeye, and purell

Since moving to my new cubicle overlooking the park, I've been able to bear witness to various events and protests going on in the park downstairs. Recently the most notable protest i've seen is the one to keep the Kings in Sac. Apparently 15 guys in purple take time off work to solicit donations, raising 40k so far in their $200m quest to build the Kings a new stadium. Even though i laugh at the ridiculousness of trying to get that much $$ in donations from standing around in a park, i do have to admire those that do show this much passion about their team. I wonder what they can accomplish if they actually applied that passion towards something else.

On a completely unrelated note, recently there's been an unprecedented run of pinkeye going around the office. I'm not sure exactly what's going on and why people are rubbing each other's eyes and what not, but I'm now on my 2nd bottle of purell in 2 months (heck i don't even know if purell works in fighting pinkeye...), dousing my hands and keyboard/mouse every so often. I wonder if i'm gonna be OCD when this is all over...

in 500 or less

"Please provide a brief statement of your faith in Jesus Christ"

That was the last question on the form...I was so close to finishing... I looked around the computer screen hoping to see a place where I could upload a word doc. Nope. All that stared back at me was a grey text box. Character limit: 500 characters. That's only 100 5-letter words. And what if i like to use big words? Like "believe"? Yep...this is going to be a real doozy...

point by point to tel-aviv

Ok after the volunteer thing tonight, a few of us decided to head over to mikuni's a few streets down. simple enough right? Put mikuni's into the google maps and drive over...after all, when google asked for permission to access my current location, i'm assuming it's going to find the nearest one to me.

nope.

Since i'm in roseville, obviously the nearest Mikunis would be in Tel-Aviv. All that $$ google poured into their search engines and maps programs, and the "i'm feeling lucky" function mega-fails tonight. good thing i did "check destination" before hitting the road...otherwise i'd still be driving...

becker

Finally found some episodes of one of my favorite tv shows on youtube! yeah i know youtube has a lot of well known tv shows, but this is a pretty obscure one. ever heard of becker? not many people have, but it's one of the best, smartest shows i've seen in a while. I started watching this when i was home after my knee surgery. If you ever get a chance, definitely search for becker on youtube...you'll be pleasantly surprised. It's Ted Danson playing a grumpy doctor in NY...basically House without the limp (or blood/flesh eating worms). It's in a half hour sitcom format and will definitely surprise you.

seriously...check it out.

50 beans | RIP coffee email.

Sad, I never imagined this day would be here so soon. We started off with the four of us on the email. Over the last four years, we added people, took people off as they left, but the four of us always remained. By this time next month it'll be down to three. In two months, we'll be down to two.

Good luck in Stockton and Delaware guys.

Bob the cow

This past Sunday, Pastor Gee led a Sunday school lesson on natural disasters in the bible. He asked a question at the end. I don’t really remember the exact question but I think it went something along the lines of why does God allow these things to happen? I honestly didn’t have a decent answer to give, even though I’ve thought about this many times. Since I don’t have a good answer to give…I might as well tell a story.

This story is about a cow. The cow doesn’t really have a name, so we’ll call him Bob. Bob is a good cow. He behaves and obeys his master’s commands. We’ll call his master Tom. Bob the cow lives on a big farm with Tom, his two kids (we’ll call them Joe and Jim), and some other farm workers. Bob likes to wander around the farm eating grass and hanging out with the other farm animals. Bob also has a nodding acquaintance with the two kids, Joe and Jim.

One day Bob notices that the younger kid, Jim, isn’t there anymore. Not thinking too much of it, Bob goes about his business, eating grass and kicking it with the other farm animals. A few days go by, then months, then a year or two. Then one day, Bob the cow sees Jim off in the distance. Tom ran out to him and gave him a hug and stuff. He brings Jim back to the farmhouse and everyone seems to be in a good mood. Next thing you know, there’s a bunch of people arriving at the farmhouse. Then, Bob sees Tom walking towards him…and that’s the last thing Bob remembers.

I’ve always wondered about the story of the Prodigal Son from the perspective of the fatten calf. His life is so blissful, and one day, it’s over. Viewing the cow’s life by itself, and its death I suppose, it’s pretty much meaningless and slightly tragic; however, when viewed in the context of the whole story, I suppose it has more meaning, as it served a purpose within the story.

I’m not sure where I was going with this story, and if you’re still reading this and haven’t hit the back button yet then there’s a 50/50 chance you think I’m crazy. Meh…I don’t really care. I hope that at the very least it got you thinking about the often overlooked cow in the story.