Today I was eating lunch in the cafeteria. I got the quarter chicken with 2 sides. This was nothing new. I've purchased this before. My two sides are usually the same as well. Stuffing and mixed vegetables. But today turned out to be slightly different. I finished the chicken and finished the stuffing. I was happily munching on my mixed vegetables when I bit into what I thought might've been asparagus. I guess I could've went and asked the cafeteria people if this was really asparagus, but I figured it probably wasn't and that maybe I tricked myself or something. So I continued to finish the mixed vegetables.
//begin sidenote.
I've been eating a TON of frozen mixed vegetables lately. I went out on a limb maybe half a year ago and purchased a bag of frozen green beans from Von's. I always enjoyed fresh green beans, but being the fairly lazy person that I am, I did not want to go through the hassle of washing, then cutting, then cooking the green beans. So frozen it was. I have not been eating bags of both frozen green beans AND frozen sugar snap peas. The Von's kind are much better than the Albertson's kind. I want to try other frozen vegetables to see if they are also good. Perhaps broccoli. Although broccoli doesn't sound like it would be that good frozen. I don't know why. Instead of cooking them on a stove like any normal human being, I "pseudo-steam" in the microwave. Put some vegetables in a bowl, add some garlic/salt/pepper, cover with another plate, and nuke it for like 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Out comes deliciousness. Or...close to deliciousness. Any recommendations on frozen vegetables?
//end sidenote.
I wonder if they sell the same type of mixed vegetables in the frozen aisle. Broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, zucchini, and maybe asparagus? Anyways, I was still curious about whether or not they put in asparagus. From what I remember, asparagus isn't that cheap so I wondered why it would be in there. I finished my lunch and didn't think more of it.
<<<<< fast forward 30 minutes later <<<<<
It was asparagus. How did I know? I went to the bathroom because I needed to pee. It smelled like asparagus. I'm glad no one was in the bathroom with me because I was definitely chuckling to myself. I left the bathroom with a smile on my face. Oh the simple pleasures of life.
Moral of the story: If you ever wonder if what you are eating is asparagus but feel like it's weird to ask, just have patience. You will know soon enough.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Flag Football: Dumb Play By Me
Flag football season started again last night! w00t w00t.
We came away with a win so that was pretty sweet.
The score was 28-26 and we were up. We had the ball with about 1 minute left and all we needed to do was get a first down. Then we could run out the clock and we'd win. The opposing team had 2 timeouts and was trying to stop us from getting the first down. We ran a few plays and it became 3rd and short and then we ran a play that got us to 4th and inches. However, there was some pushing on our line during that play so the opposing team had a decision to make. Accept penalty (3rd and longer) or decline penalty (4th and inches). They decided to decline the penalty and so it was 4th and inches. We call a play, line up, and execute...fairly decently. We get the first down.
Now there are maybe 15 seconds on the clock and we had a 1st down. We didn't need to do anything and we could've just won. Just like that. I could've just kept the ball and run around, I could've handed the ball off, I could've done just about anything. But I didn't. Brain fart happened and I decide to launch the ball straight up into the air... not really directed at anyone. I immediately regretted the decision. The play resulted in a turnover because they intercepted it. The entire team looked at me and started yelling. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!? YOU SHOULD'VE JUST KEPT IT." I laughed and shook my head saying, "whoops..." So now there were 7 second left on the clock and if the other team scored, they would win. They still had the entire field to go so I thought it was nearly impossible. But nevertheless my team wasn't the happiest with me. I guess I didn't make such a smart decision. I came off the field because I don't play defense and the last play of the game happens. I guess I built up this story a lot, but long story short, we still ended up winning. They tried a deep throw but we were able to knock it down.
After that play I said to my team, "I just wanted to get your hearts beating some, make you worry for a little!"
I don't think they enjoyed it. Dumb play by me. Oh well :)
We came away with a win so that was pretty sweet.
The score was 28-26 and we were up. We had the ball with about 1 minute left and all we needed to do was get a first down. Then we could run out the clock and we'd win. The opposing team had 2 timeouts and was trying to stop us from getting the first down. We ran a few plays and it became 3rd and short and then we ran a play that got us to 4th and inches. However, there was some pushing on our line during that play so the opposing team had a decision to make. Accept penalty (3rd and longer) or decline penalty (4th and inches). They decided to decline the penalty and so it was 4th and inches. We call a play, line up, and execute...fairly decently. We get the first down.
Now there are maybe 15 seconds on the clock and we had a 1st down. We didn't need to do anything and we could've just won. Just like that. I could've just kept the ball and run around, I could've handed the ball off, I could've done just about anything. But I didn't. Brain fart happened and I decide to launch the ball straight up into the air... not really directed at anyone. I immediately regretted the decision. The play resulted in a turnover because they intercepted it. The entire team looked at me and started yelling. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!? YOU SHOULD'VE JUST KEPT IT." I laughed and shook my head saying, "whoops..." So now there were 7 second left on the clock and if the other team scored, they would win. They still had the entire field to go so I thought it was nearly impossible. But nevertheless my team wasn't the happiest with me. I guess I didn't make such a smart decision. I came off the field because I don't play defense and the last play of the game happens. I guess I built up this story a lot, but long story short, we still ended up winning. They tried a deep throw but we were able to knock it down.
After that play I said to my team, "I just wanted to get your hearts beating some, make you worry for a little!"
I don't think they enjoyed it. Dumb play by me. Oh well :)
Hmm... Interesting Dream
Yesterday I had a weird dream...
I woke up at 6:55 AM when my alarm went off. I made the mistake of falling back asleep for the next 40 minutes and then ended up even more tired. However, during this time, I had a very weird dream.
//begin dream
Alfred and I had just finished eating at Sushi Teriyaki on 5th and PCH. We had crossed the street (PCH) and then I go, "crap, I forgot my wallet back at the restaurant." So I have to go back and get it. I decide to wait for no cars and then I bolt across the street. As soon as I get across the street, I hear sirens. Lame. Cops pull up to me and get me for jaywalking. The cops ask me for my license and I tell them I don't have it because I left it in the restaurant. So they tell me that we can go in and they ask me if I know that so and so teacher (forget name) lives there. I tell them that I don't know who that teacher is and we proceed to go inside the restaurant.
Once we get in the restaurant, I go to the line and ask them if they have seen my wallet. They say no and proceed to talk to the cops. Apparently the cops come here a lot and are good friends. Weird. The cops order some food and I'm still trying to talk to the cashier lady to see if she's found my wallet. She is busy and occupied. There are now a group of what appear to be 4 high school girls in line. The girls have a ton of these coupons and the cashier lady says that she can't accept them. The girls don't have enough money to pay for their meal so they bust out their report cards and ask the cashier lady if they can get a discount due to good grades. The cashier lady says no. She goes on to mention that maybe they could ask the teacher that lives upstairs to come down and help them out because the teacher gets a group discount. The high school girls ask each other if they have the teacher's number. The girl who seemed like she was the head of the group checked her phone and said yes she does. So they proceed to call him up.
Meanwhile, I am still standing there in line (mind you, the front of the line) waiting to see if I can find my wallet. I look over at the cops. They are eating and enjoying themselves. I need my wallet. I ask cashier lady and she point me to a stack of receipts and credit cards. For some reason there are just receipts and credit cards in a pile. I don't know why. I sift through that pile and of course, my wallet is right in the middle of it. I give the cashier lady a weird look, grabbed my wallet, and went to sit with the police officers.
I get to the table where the cops are sitting and they ask me for my license and I hand it to them. They look at it and then ask me if I knew what I was doing earlier [jaywalking]. I say yes and I apologize and tell them that I was just in a rush to get my wallet back. They tell me that I'll have to check in with them now. I ask them what they mean. They say "if you get into any sort of mix-ups, you will have to call us and let us know." I ask them to explain. The cops say "if you find yourself with llamas or elephants, you will need to call us." I was confused. I say to them "so if I were to drive down to San Diego and go to the Wild Animal Park and see llamas or elephants, I'd have to call you guys?" The cops look at me with this kind of pissed off look and say "No. If you get into trouble with the police, you will have to let us know." I say "oh... I understand." (but not really understanding because I didn't see the point of the llamas and elephants.
//end dream
I then woke up and had to go to work.
So the dream had 2 elements that I thought may have been relevant to real life. 1) rushing in life and 2) police officers. The first one is because I have a busy week. Monday night = flag football night. Tuesday night = basketball night. Wednesday night = work with team to get presentations/homework done. Thursday night = present the team projects on campus. Thursday night + Friday morning = work to get homework done for Friday afternoon. Friday night = relax. So maybe all of the things that were going on in my head caused the weird dream of mine? The second is police officers. On my way snowboarding on Saturday, I drove through the intersection when it was completely green. It was one of those intersections that has cameras and will snap a picture of you if you run the red light. I think the camera took a picture of me :(. I don't really know why though because it was completely green. It wasn't even yellow yet. So maybe I'm paranoid. Anyways, random dream and I don't even know why I just spent so much time writing about it. Oh well.
I have very vivid dreams. They are pretty cool.
I woke up at 6:55 AM when my alarm went off. I made the mistake of falling back asleep for the next 40 minutes and then ended up even more tired. However, during this time, I had a very weird dream.
//begin dream
Alfred and I had just finished eating at Sushi Teriyaki on 5th and PCH. We had crossed the street (PCH) and then I go, "crap, I forgot my wallet back at the restaurant." So I have to go back and get it. I decide to wait for no cars and then I bolt across the street. As soon as I get across the street, I hear sirens. Lame. Cops pull up to me and get me for jaywalking. The cops ask me for my license and I tell them I don't have it because I left it in the restaurant. So they tell me that we can go in and they ask me if I know that so and so teacher (forget name) lives there. I tell them that I don't know who that teacher is and we proceed to go inside the restaurant.
Once we get in the restaurant, I go to the line and ask them if they have seen my wallet. They say no and proceed to talk to the cops. Apparently the cops come here a lot and are good friends. Weird. The cops order some food and I'm still trying to talk to the cashier lady to see if she's found my wallet. She is busy and occupied. There are now a group of what appear to be 4 high school girls in line. The girls have a ton of these coupons and the cashier lady says that she can't accept them. The girls don't have enough money to pay for their meal so they bust out their report cards and ask the cashier lady if they can get a discount due to good grades. The cashier lady says no. She goes on to mention that maybe they could ask the teacher that lives upstairs to come down and help them out because the teacher gets a group discount. The high school girls ask each other if they have the teacher's number. The girl who seemed like she was the head of the group checked her phone and said yes she does. So they proceed to call him up.
Meanwhile, I am still standing there in line (mind you, the front of the line) waiting to see if I can find my wallet. I look over at the cops. They are eating and enjoying themselves. I need my wallet. I ask cashier lady and she point me to a stack of receipts and credit cards. For some reason there are just receipts and credit cards in a pile. I don't know why. I sift through that pile and of course, my wallet is right in the middle of it. I give the cashier lady a weird look, grabbed my wallet, and went to sit with the police officers.
I get to the table where the cops are sitting and they ask me for my license and I hand it to them. They look at it and then ask me if I knew what I was doing earlier [jaywalking]. I say yes and I apologize and tell them that I was just in a rush to get my wallet back. They tell me that I'll have to check in with them now. I ask them what they mean. They say "if you get into any sort of mix-ups, you will have to call us and let us know." I ask them to explain. The cops say "if you find yourself with llamas or elephants, you will need to call us." I was confused. I say to them "so if I were to drive down to San Diego and go to the Wild Animal Park and see llamas or elephants, I'd have to call you guys?" The cops look at me with this kind of pissed off look and say "No. If you get into trouble with the police, you will have to let us know." I say "oh... I understand." (but not really understanding because I didn't see the point of the llamas and elephants.
//end dream
I then woke up and had to go to work.
So the dream had 2 elements that I thought may have been relevant to real life. 1) rushing in life and 2) police officers. The first one is because I have a busy week. Monday night = flag football night. Tuesday night = basketball night. Wednesday night = work with team to get presentations/homework done. Thursday night = present the team projects on campus. Thursday night + Friday morning = work to get homework done for Friday afternoon. Friday night = relax. So maybe all of the things that were going on in my head caused the weird dream of mine? The second is police officers. On my way snowboarding on Saturday, I drove through the intersection when it was completely green. It was one of those intersections that has cameras and will snap a picture of you if you run the red light. I think the camera took a picture of me :(. I don't really know why though because it was completely green. It wasn't even yellow yet. So maybe I'm paranoid. Anyways, random dream and I don't even know why I just spent so much time writing about it. Oh well.
I have very vivid dreams. They are pretty cool.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
It's Not About Me...
There's kind of a weird joy when you realize that the lives here on this earth aren't really our lives. I mean sure, they seem like they are... we choose where we drive to in the morning, we decide where we're going to eat. I mean, we even have the choice to stay up all night and be completely tired at work tomorrow. But at the end of the day and at the end of our lives, all these choices that we make seem so meaningless, they all seem...."so what?"
There has been a lot going on in my life in the past few weeks and I'm now totally convinced that my life is not really mine, but it belongs to God. All the thoughts that I have, all the words that I say, and all the actions that I do... should be for the Maker of the universe, the Creator of the heavens and the earth. And so I ask the fundamental question of why? Why should our lives be for someone other than ourselves? We work hard throughout school to move onto the next grade, get into a decent college only to study more, to hopefully get that decent job where we can work and have "the good life." Society tells us that we should be who we want to be. We should do what we want to do and make our lives what we want to make of it. Is this how it was intended? I don't think so...
I've realized that everything about me (the way I look, my weird humor, odd personality, etc) all have come from my Creator. Before I was born, God knitted me in my mother's womb (Psalm 139) and He had a plan laid out for me. And in His infinite wisdom He created me for one sole purpose. And that's to glorify Him in all I do. Now often times I worry about that plan and I try to take things into my own hands. I want my own life to go a certain way because it's comfortable to be in control. Uncertainty is what we dislike. It makes us sick to our stomachs. So we put on our own crowns and we play king because it makes us feel powerful. Or... at least for the time being. But I take a step back and I think to myself, "Really? I'm going to put on my pseudo-crown and pretend to be king of my own life when I know that God not only created me, but also the entire universe?" I'm so small... I'm so insignificant... yet the Maker of the heavens and the earth loves me as if I were His own child. Now that is powerful. Now that is worthy to be praised. And who am I to do anything against what God wants me to do.
So God, I give You the crown. You deserve it. Take control of my life and lead me where You want me to go. I trust Your path is much better than mine.
p.s. Today is Valentine's Day. Thank You God for loving us first so that we know how to love others. Thank You for Your ultimate demonstration of love in sending Your Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins so that we may have a relationship with You.
:)
There has been a lot going on in my life in the past few weeks and I'm now totally convinced that my life is not really mine, but it belongs to God. All the thoughts that I have, all the words that I say, and all the actions that I do... should be for the Maker of the universe, the Creator of the heavens and the earth. And so I ask the fundamental question of why? Why should our lives be for someone other than ourselves? We work hard throughout school to move onto the next grade, get into a decent college only to study more, to hopefully get that decent job where we can work and have "the good life." Society tells us that we should be who we want to be. We should do what we want to do and make our lives what we want to make of it. Is this how it was intended? I don't think so...
I've realized that everything about me (the way I look, my weird humor, odd personality, etc) all have come from my Creator. Before I was born, God knitted me in my mother's womb (Psalm 139) and He had a plan laid out for me. And in His infinite wisdom He created me for one sole purpose. And that's to glorify Him in all I do. Now often times I worry about that plan and I try to take things into my own hands. I want my own life to go a certain way because it's comfortable to be in control. Uncertainty is what we dislike. It makes us sick to our stomachs. So we put on our own crowns and we play king because it makes us feel powerful. Or... at least for the time being. But I take a step back and I think to myself, "Really? I'm going to put on my pseudo-crown and pretend to be king of my own life when I know that God not only created me, but also the entire universe?" I'm so small... I'm so insignificant... yet the Maker of the heavens and the earth loves me as if I were His own child. Now that is powerful. Now that is worthy to be praised. And who am I to do anything against what God wants me to do.
So God, I give You the crown. You deserve it. Take control of my life and lead me where You want me to go. I trust Your path is much better than mine.
p.s. Today is Valentine's Day. Thank You God for loving us first so that we know how to love others. Thank You for Your ultimate demonstration of love in sending Your Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins so that we may have a relationship with You.
:)
Friday, February 5, 2010
Snowboard Repair: Forever Marked
Last week I wrote this huge sidenote post about how sweet it was to have my new snowboard. [This was the 155 cm Neversummer]. I was able to go again this past weekend to another local mountain. This place was known to be a little....rockier. You will soon see why
Stupid rocks. Now I have a giant gash on the back of my snowboard and as you can tell from the bottom picture, it brings a frown to my face. :(
Spiritual Lesson:
Consider the snowboard mankind. Consider the giant gash on the back of it our sinful nature in life. The more scratched up the back of the board gets, the poorer the performance of the board. The smooth ride that was once enjoyed before is likely to be rough and choppy now. Also, if the gashes get deep enough, it can begin to affect the core of the board, thus causing damage much deeper than just at the surface. Likewise, the more sin that we have in our life, the less capability we have to perform in our lives [up to God's standards]. Sin smothers us and makes it hard for us to enjoy life to the fullest. God never designed for our boards to be ridden with these flaws in them, yet we bring these gashes in on our own (me running over the dumb rock). Our lives begin to suffer due to our sinful nature and the deeper we get into sin, the more likely we are to never recover...
How do we fix this?
There are a lot of ways to potentially fill the gash in the snowboard. Maybe I could just coat the base of the snowboard in wax to fill in the gaps. Maybe I could use some type of glue or an epoxy type substance. Maybe I could put stickers over it to make it less noticeable (yeah right, I'd need like 1000 stickers :( ). All of these are valid methods, but none of them will make the board like new again. Well, except for one thing. P-tex. (google p-tex and you will see what it does). This p-tex candle will fill in the gaps in the base of the snowboard and will make it as if the gash was never there to begin with. However, it's not too easy of a process. Before the p-tex is applied, the base needs to be sanded so all the rough edges are taken out. After this, the p-tex can then be used. P-tex comes as a candle and it needs to be heated up before it is applied. Once the candle is heated up, small melted p-tex droplets will drip from the candle onto the board, filling the gaps. This needs to be done over all the areas that are scratched up. Once the gaps are filled, there needs to be a scraping phase. (There will be leftover p-tex that overflows the gaps that need to be scraped off.) Once the scraping off is complete, a fine sanding needs to happen. This will ensure that the bottom of the board is smooth just as it was before the scratches and gashes. The board can now be re-waxed. Now the board rides like new again! However, the cosmetic marks that were left behind from the scratches will always be there. Those the p-tex won't be able to hide.
In our own personal lives, it is fairly common to try and fix our own problems. We seek worldly means to make us happy (money, success, relationships, etc). But just like the snowboard, there is really only one way to fix the issue of our sin. This is through Jesus Christ. He is the one way that will cleanse us of our sin and restore us back to the way we were intended to be, allowing us to ride nice and smooth. However, much like the p-tex process, it is fairly intensive. When God cleanses us, it's never an easy process. Sometimes it's tough, sometimes it's hard, and often times it hurts. Nevertheless, God uses it for His glory. He doesn't promise that it'll be simple, but He does tell us that He'll never leave our side. And similarly, our lives should be marked forever due to the grace and mercy that God has shown us. The love that God displayed to us should be displayed to others as well. That we should not hide.
Check it. As it turns out, the fix was more than just a p-tex repair. It also required base weld. w00t.
Check it. As it turns out, the fix was more than just a p-tex repair. It also required base weld. w00t.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)