The admission is that I think that my energy and inclination toward blogging has taken and will yet take a dive in recent times. Recently I don't have the energy for it and I don't have much that interests me enough right now to put forth the (yes, it's true) meager amount of energy that it takes to actually type something out and post on my blog. So I'm kind of self-announcing that I'm granting myself permission to blog less often now that we're back in the US, at least for a while.
I remember that, when I started this blog, I was really excited to write in it and post my analysis of stuff and opine and whine and announce our going to Japan. And I honestly enjoyed describing our experiences in Japan as well. But now my life has returned to American-style and I'll just be working a lot for a while.
So here's to lack of energy. Hopefully I'll get more ganas to post in the near future. If not, well, there's always the next time we go overseas (Lord willing).
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Cars
The Internet is finally installed in our apartment in Norman and we're kind of moved in. Several errands remain, including the one in-progress on the floor of the master bdrm, which is reinforcing the 90-degree joints of Aubrey's old bookshelf. It's a good shelf and it was made by Aubrey's dad for her mom, so it has great sentimental value. But it's been leaning alarmingly to either side when the full weight of many books is placed upon it. Fortunately, I am armed and dangerous w/ a power drill and some wood screws. Watch out - I kind of know what I'm doing!
Back to work, week 1, wasn't bad, really. It *was* boring, that's for sure. I don't like just listening in to other people's convos on the phone and not knowing quite what to do. And I don't like having a workstation PC that only kind of works. And I don't like kind of being in no-man's-land as to what I'm doing this afternoon or whatever. Also, lab training was kind of boring, just b/c it's like there's only so much you can do before you want to actually put what you did to use. But you can't - it's just formatting, configuring, and erasing hard drives, and then doing it again differently. And a few softwares to learn. So overall, it was getting old when 5 pm on Friday rolled around.
The car I bought (a 93 Infiniti G20) has several kind of minor problems w/ it. Chief among them is the A/C that blows hot air. I thought it was OK but I took it to the shop for an estimate. $1200 to repair the thing. Ouch. And that doesn't cover the driver's side window that doesn't roll down, the dashboard backlight that doesn't illuminate, and the stereo that sounds terrible. Guess I made kind of a bad choice in picking this car, sorry to say. I'm considering taking it back to try to get a refund but I'm not optimistic. Considering just doing the repair and eating the finance charges. Considering selling the car to a 3rd party and trying to find a new one. A bit stressful, to be sure.
But today at church, someone who is a friend but not among my close friends offered me a free car that his parents are giving to him but which he doesn't need. Well, I'm praising God for it right now b/c that's exactly what we need. And the A/C works too! So I think I'll end this post on a positive note, as opposed to many I do. Praise God for the way He provides for His children, and for the communion of saints!
Back to work, week 1, wasn't bad, really. It *was* boring, that's for sure. I don't like just listening in to other people's convos on the phone and not knowing quite what to do. And I don't like having a workstation PC that only kind of works. And I don't like kind of being in no-man's-land as to what I'm doing this afternoon or whatever. Also, lab training was kind of boring, just b/c it's like there's only so much you can do before you want to actually put what you did to use. But you can't - it's just formatting, configuring, and erasing hard drives, and then doing it again differently. And a few softwares to learn. So overall, it was getting old when 5 pm on Friday rolled around.
The car I bought (a 93 Infiniti G20) has several kind of minor problems w/ it. Chief among them is the A/C that blows hot air. I thought it was OK but I took it to the shop for an estimate. $1200 to repair the thing. Ouch. And that doesn't cover the driver's side window that doesn't roll down, the dashboard backlight that doesn't illuminate, and the stereo that sounds terrible. Guess I made kind of a bad choice in picking this car, sorry to say. I'm considering taking it back to try to get a refund but I'm not optimistic. Considering just doing the repair and eating the finance charges. Considering selling the car to a 3rd party and trying to find a new one. A bit stressful, to be sure.
But today at church, someone who is a friend but not among my close friends offered me a free car that his parents are giving to him but which he doesn't need. Well, I'm praising God for it right now b/c that's exactly what we need. And the A/C works too! So I think I'll end this post on a positive note, as opposed to many I do. Praise God for the way He provides for His children, and for the communion of saints!
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Postcard from Colorado Springs
I know, it seems like the blog is dying and winding down since I'm not in Japan anymore. Whilst it is true that I may not have so much to say or so many pix to post whilst living in the US, I don't intend to let the blog die just yet. But at the moment Internet access has been hard to come by. I expected to get some decent time in the Denver hotel but 1.5 hours on the phone w/ tech support and some frustrating convos w/ the hotel's front desk got me nowhere but not connected. So I'm now at the house of my parents' friends in Colo Springs and using their PC. I won't type much...
It's funny that what's been on my mind recently is Jehovah's Witnesses. I say funny b/c it appears that someone in my future workplace is a JW and I didn't really remember much about JW doctrine before about 2 months ago, when the Japanese JWs showed up at my door. But since that time I've been studying a fair amount and am much more ready now. It's also funny b/c I met a JW on the airplane from Oakland to Salt Lake and we talked about good stuff for about 40 minutes. She even pulled out her New World Translation of the Bible and we discussed mostly the Deity of Jesus Christ. But it turns out that, though she claims to hold God the Father (Jehovah) in higher regard than Christians do (given that they are supposedly unitarian monotheists), she didn't actually believe that God the Father is all-knowing as regards future events. Messed up, man. It's just amazing - one would think that a self-proclaimed strict monotheist would hold a very high notion of the One True God. And whaddaya know - it's the Trinitarian who believes that God knows the future exhaustively, not the unitarian. Very interesting.
Anywho, my time in San Fran was really fun. My time in Denver and Colo Spgs has also been fun though a little lower-key. It's been good to be w/ family and I've been able to have some good convos w/ them, and of course it was excellent to be w/ Aubrey 6 days earlier than originally planned since she drove w/ my parents and my brother from Oklahoma to meet my other brother and me in Denver. We had pricelined a hotel and got a pretty good nightly rate and stayed there, explored Denver, ate some good food, and today we went to Colo Spgs and went up Pike's Peak (which Pike never actually summited) and did other tourist-y things like drive thru the Garden of the Gods. We also drove by Glen Eyrie and I asked if we could do a driving tour. They said we only could if everyone in the car was a Baptist. No, not really; we couldn't go b/c they're open until 4 and we showed up at 4:40 or something. Oh well.
OK, tonight is Vietnamese food. Preparing stomach.
It's funny that what's been on my mind recently is Jehovah's Witnesses. I say funny b/c it appears that someone in my future workplace is a JW and I didn't really remember much about JW doctrine before about 2 months ago, when the Japanese JWs showed up at my door. But since that time I've been studying a fair amount and am much more ready now. It's also funny b/c I met a JW on the airplane from Oakland to Salt Lake and we talked about good stuff for about 40 minutes. She even pulled out her New World Translation of the Bible and we discussed mostly the Deity of Jesus Christ. But it turns out that, though she claims to hold God the Father (Jehovah) in higher regard than Christians do (given that they are supposedly unitarian monotheists), she didn't actually believe that God the Father is all-knowing as regards future events. Messed up, man. It's just amazing - one would think that a self-proclaimed strict monotheist would hold a very high notion of the One True God. And whaddaya know - it's the Trinitarian who believes that God knows the future exhaustively, not the unitarian. Very interesting.
Anywho, my time in San Fran was really fun. My time in Denver and Colo Spgs has also been fun though a little lower-key. It's been good to be w/ family and I've been able to have some good convos w/ them, and of course it was excellent to be w/ Aubrey 6 days earlier than originally planned since she drove w/ my parents and my brother from Oklahoma to meet my other brother and me in Denver. We had pricelined a hotel and got a pretty good nightly rate and stayed there, explored Denver, ate some good food, and today we went to Colo Spgs and went up Pike's Peak (which Pike never actually summited) and did other tourist-y things like drive thru the Garden of the Gods. We also drove by Glen Eyrie and I asked if we could do a driving tour. They said we only could if everyone in the car was a Baptist. No, not really; we couldn't go b/c they're open until 4 and we showed up at 4:40 or something. Oh well.
OK, tonight is Vietnamese food. Preparing stomach.