Another link:
Ethnic churches drawing crowds

Check this out - if you get a chance.... Its an article titled

"For Asian-American Churches, Integration Proves Complicated"

It doesn't look like there are any fast 'n easy solution to this, I guess we're kind of stuck in a generation that goes through it. However, I think this is an important issue - because whatever trend that we set right now might have huge impacts for the future generations. Do you guys think so too?

Well, I welcome any feedback. Please e-mail me at walnutchen@yahoo.com and share your thoughts on this issue with me!

-confused nut...

Here's an interesting question that has been on my mind today.....

As you know, I am chinese. Now, lets just assume that I get married and have kids. Do I want to raise my kids in a 'chinese' church or a 'Asian American' church? Or more of an 'American' church? I see advantages and disadvantages for each one, but as I thought deeper, there seems to be a struggle between 'culture' and 'diversity'... I haven't formed my conclusions yet, as it will require some more thinking....

'Diversity' is something we celebrate. Especially here in California, I think diversity is very important - because it teaches tolerance. Just take a look around here in California - we have all sorts of different ethnic resturants and stores, 'asian' towns everywhere. Not only that, we're able to goto Morroccan resturants, Ethopian resturants, eating all sorts of different food. I work with Iranians, Iraqis, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Caucasian, British, Indian...etc. All sorts of people. Because of this mixed society, I am able to learn about different cultures, what their society values, what sorts of activities they'd like to do...etc.

However, I am 'chinese'. As most of the people know, the 'Chinese' are rich in culture. Fong Shui, acupuncture, pressure points, the aroma of Chinese food, Moon Cake Festivals...etc. are all parts of the chinese culture. I definitely want my kids to not only learn english but also Chinese, to understand the chinese culture, and also to possess some of the Chinese traits such as Filial Duty, respect of the elders, and hard working traits. I hope my kid can learn the art of calligraphy, dizi (chinese flute), and other forms of ancient chinese culture.

However, I can't seem to see a balance. Rather, I see a struggle of being pulled one way or the other. In a chinese church, with the advant of chinese school and everything, the kid may be more pulled towards the Chinese culture side. But I don't want him or her to forget diversity - i.e. eventhough there are alot of chinese people out there, one should also learn about the other cultures and see the different people that are out there, the way they live and carry on....

hmm. interesting question. I will have to give it some more thought. stay tuned...
john

Well, if you haven't heard, we went to Death Valley this weekend. There were a total of 12 of us there. We went to all sorts of different places - places where there is one theme in common - desolation. Thus, the name, Death Valley...

1st off, the logistics. It took 8 hours to get there - me and Liz hopped in her Trooper and headed down at around 11:45AM. Stopped by split pea Anderson's along the way, and just kept driving and driving.... It took the whole 8 hours to get there. Then we had really expensive-and-not-worth-it salad bar and then went to find the campsite and pitched the tent. The rest of the gang arrived at 3AM to find the tents pitched and air mattress inflated (Courtesy of Me and Liz)!!!!

Saturday morning, we went to Dante's view for a grandview of the salt flats, Zabriskie Point to see the golden rolling hills, then to Furnace Creek Inn for lunch (which had rattlesnake meat!!!) then drove down to see the salts at the Devil's golf course, played in the salt marshes, stopped by Badwater to check out some 'bad' water, and drove back through the Artists palette, and back. Sunday morning we went trekked along the sand dunes before we headed back....

Boy. Lessons I learned: 1) its soo nice to have a house and a toilet within walking distance. 2) Its nice to have a kitchen to put stuff. 3) I can't believe how dependent humans are on 'stuff' to survive (pots, pans, lamps, heater, air mattress...etc.) 4) Going to Death Valley definitely makes me appreciate what God has given me already! Praise God.

john

I've always liked Apples. Both the computer variety and the fruity variety. Here's an article about the 2 men, and how they think. I've included the two parts that I really really like. I've always wanted a mac. But its just too darn expensive... *sigh*

Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates: Excerpt taken from
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20020110.html


I especially like the last 2 paragraphs....
"But Gates is still right, that no matter how cool these new computers and their software are, they won't be enough for Apple to "win." And here is where we have to understand the difference between winning in Gatespeak and Jobspeak. When Gates speaks about winning he means WINNING, the whole enchilada, mastery of the universe. At this point in his career, every thought that comes out of Bill Gates' mind is grandly strategic. Steve Jobs, on the other hand, thinks solely in terms of tactics, not strategy. His wins are today, tomorrow, next week, next quarter. He revels in every little chance to push people around and make things the way he wants them to be. He can't help it. It was a bad strategy, for example, to snub Gates with Vanity Fair, but in the tactical mind of Steve Jobs, it was brilliant.

In Steve Jobs' mind, he has already won. Those of us who last for a few decades in this business find our own kind of peace and Steve Jobs' is best exemplified by the George Herbert quote, "Living well is the best revenge." Apple's future as a boutique computer company is secure. He dominates Apple completely. When he doesn't feel like being a high tech mogul, he can be a movie mogul, something Gates will never be. In Steve's mind, he has the best of everything. Apple software is cooler than Windows will ever be. Palo Alto, where Jobs lives, is trendier than Seattle. Even Jobs' plane, a Gulfstream V, is cooler than Gates' Challenger 604. It goes on and on. Gates has never even considered this latter point, but I'll guarantee you that Jobs has, and he revels in it. "

What is 'winning'? How do you define 'winning'? In the sports world, we humans make up all sorts of rules to determine who 'wins'. But that is only 'winning' in the sense of that particular sport. How about the people that had to overcome many many difficulties (injuries..etc) and are mediocore atheletes? Do they 'win'? Of course! They 'win' because they've beaten the injury or the disease that they are fighting for. This article has made me realize that 'winning' is really a relative term. Therefore, maybe that is why God called us to be humble, because when you win you've only won in one sense of the word - maybe, in another sense, you didn't win at all.....

Took a leap of faith yesterday. It wasn't easy! I decided to help out my friend financially with her intervarsity campus ministry in NY. I pledged to support her $200/quarter, on top of my contributions to the church and everything. Its scary!!!! I feel really convicted by God to support her, but my conscience is telling me that I should be more careful with my money with the way the economy is. Anyways, I prayed about it, and mailed out the letter. I'm still a bit anxious about it, but I feel that I know that is what God wants me to do. I've decided to overcome my comfort zones and really rely on Him to pull me through times like this. I think this is a good start. Next time, it'll be better!
john

Ordered some parts for my sick Altima yesterday. A power steering pump + all drive belts + valve gasket = $236. Not bad at all. That includes the core charge for the power steering pump. So when I mail the core of the power steering pump back to tony at PartsAMillion.com then I get another $45 refund for the core. I guess now I just have to figure out how to take all the belts off and remove the old power steering pump, and put the new one on. yikes! Still dunno where its leaking. Maybe its the pump itself. We'll see when I rip everything apart.

I was so excited yesterday that I found a wiring diagram in my manual for the cruise control that stopped working since 2 years ago. Now that I have a schematic I should be able to fix it. hehehe :-) It was cool! I was up until 2AM last night studying the chart. Now all I need is a ohm meter and an oscilloscope.... -nutster.

Friday Five - Thanks for the tip, Beej

1. What's your favorite vacation spot? I don't go on vacation enough to know, but I'd like to goto Australia and New Zealand

2. Where do you consider to be the biggest hell-hole on earth? Hell, of course. What else?

3. What would be your dream vacation? 5-day golf trip on a presonal jet from Mauna Kea to Pebble Beach, then Spanish Bay to Banff Springs and ending in Chesapeak Bay Country Club. *sigh* it'll never come true...

4. If you could go on a road-trip with anyone, who would it be and why? Lizzy bear - she can keep me company and also we get to spend more time together....

5. What are your plans for this weekend? Going to Junko concert at Tri-Valley Chinese Bible Church, help Liz buy a bible for her brother, sort out all the camping equiptment gear for next weekend, watch TV, help Liz buy a car, eat dinner with my parents, watch a movie.

Read an interesting article today, it was in the Argus this morning. I read it while I was at the red light on Montague and Scott (yeah, its a loooong light...)

Its a story about 2 guys that are roommates at Stanford Hospital that are both waiting for a heart transplant. One guy was a father who owns a successful catering business in Newark. Another was a 2 time convicted robber from Los Angeles. The first guy's family visits him every day. The other guy only has security guards by his side 24-7.

A new heart came in, and the father had some other surgery done, so he was temporarily unavailable for the heart transplant. They gave the heart to the 2 time convicted robber.

How would you feel? I was really mad as I read up to that part. Why? The robber is in jail at the hospital. The operation costs upwards of a million dollars of taxpayers money. That doesn't make any sense. Why not give the heart to someone more deserving?

Then, as I read on, I realized how selfish I was. Who is to say who is more deserving? God has a plan for all of us, and maybe he has great plans for the robber, and thus letting him live. Is one life worth more than the other? I thought to myself. (No, not really) and no one knows what is going to happen in the future. Maybe this near-death experience will change the robber. Who knows? If I was in the father's shoes, would I be at peace with what happened? The father in the article put himself in the hands of God, and trusted God's decision. Am I able to do that?

What a humbling experience! I realized how un-deserving I am of God's grace. God had such a compassion for the human kind, and that He send His son to die for us, so that we can receive God's grace. Isn't that awesome? Also, it makes me realize that I need to fully trust in God's plan. To not worry about the future and do the best I can and put myself in His hands.

john

Hmmm. I had a pretty good weekend. Albeit it was a bit busy, but it was really good.

We started off Friday night with small group at our house, and there are just six of us. Its was nice because it was sort of an interesting setting, and we sat in a circle and sang songs and shared and prayed. It was a good time of fellowshipping, and I feel that I was calm and had a good night of sleep.

Then, Saturday morning, I fixed Liz's brake handle cover (that was chewed up by Cody the dog), and then we went to the Toyota dealer to check out their new Highlanders. They're really cool cars. Really popular, too. Its hard to get one because they're all still on order. Anyhow, we drove one and I think Liz is gonna get one, I guess its just a matter of price and the model. The highlander, eventhough it has a 4 cylinder engine, is much much more spirited than the Subaru was. It does look very nice, too.

The guy at the dealership tried to sell us a 4Runner as well. We drove it, and wasn't very impressed. Its an old design and needs a complete interior overhaul. The V6 was definitely more powerful, but the interior was just too plain.

Then we had dinner in the city at Luna Park (Great resturant!!!! and cheap, too!) and went to the Harmony Sweepstakes Acappella competition. The singings by the groups were incredible. They all had such beautiful voices... I wish I can sing like that. The highlight though, was running into my friend Lily. I haven't seen her since 1995! It was such an interesting situation. i was so glad that I ran into her. I've sorta been looking for her since we graduated, but was never able to. She was really glad to see me too, and she met Liz as well. It was neat to see how after all these years we can still talk like there is no tomorrow. Hahaha.

Sunday was church day, and Noel came back for a week cuz her hubby is in the bay area for training. Pretty cool that we got to see her and hang out a bit. We had yummy Thai food to end the evening. Hmmm. can't ask for a better weekend than that!

:-)
john

Had a good relaxing weekend....

We went test driving for Liz's new car, so we went to the Subaru dealer in San Jose to test drive the 2002 Outback. Boy was I disappointed. Maybe I am a bit spoiled, but I couldn't really feel the kick out of that engine. It was pretty sluggish. I felt the engine in my 93 Altima had more kick than the Subaru had. We're going to go around and test drive some more cars. Hopefully, there will be something both economical and nice our there.

You know, I've always liked wagons, for some reason. Outback is probably the nicest looking wagon out on the road these days. It looks rugged. And its not a SUV. I'm not a big fan of those SUVs. I think wagons look great, and they can haul lots and lots of stuff. Its practical, and I think the Outback looks really elegant, too. Its just a nice car over all. I wonder what the V6 LL Bean Edition feels like.... ?!?!?

k. back 2 work. :-)
john

Haven't blogged all week. hehehe :-)
Vegas was fun! We spend our time walking around all the casinos, going on the New Tork, New York roller coaster, went to the M&M Store (boring) and the Coca Cola store. It was a neat-o experience. I really enjoyed spending the time with Liz, and also I like the Star Trek Experience. That was awesome. That, and we had some Romulan Ale and a Core Breach, and sang Klingon battle songs with some friendly Klingons. yeah!

The lesson I learned from Vegas is that humans are very weak. Well, I guess I shouldn't generalize, but I am very weak. I couldn't stay away from the tables, and even though I won on the first day I lost it all on the 2nd and 3rd day. I guess I keep thinking that my luck can't be that bad, but Maybe it is that bad. Just gotta learn how to control myself. Usually, I try to avoid those places so I don't even have a chance to tempt myself...

This has been a long week. working very hard to get our board issues resolved. Still no luck. Well, we'll see what happens.

Got plane tickets to goto Orlando for $250 for 2 roundtrip from San Jose. Not bad at all. That will happen in May, as we goto DisneyWorld. I've never been there! should be fun.

My roommate has been in a car accident. Fell asleep at the wheel. Been praying for him and hope that he gets better soon.

Valentine's Day was fun! I went up to Lizzy's place and gave her a little Precious Moments Figurine titled "I will Never Let You Down". It was pretty neat, with the boy on the bottom and the girl on his shoulders. I thought it was appropriate because hopefully, I will never let Liz down. I want to be there to carry her through everything... Anyhow, she gave me a bear that she "made" and it was really cute. And it has a heart in it!

:-) nuts

Some break through today. Finally, I was able to trigger on the error of my PC Board and was able to take a look at the parity error. There seems to be some timing issues, but I can't tell what. I guess I will just wait until our hardware engineer comes back and let him figure it out. :-)

Today is a nice day. Only 1 more day of work before I am off to Vegas. I'm not terribly excited about Vegas, but VERY excited about going on vacation... And, with my favorite person too. :-)

You know, I realized that when you are stressed and under pressure, you often don't get a lot done. When I was debugging this parity error problem, I kept thinking about when it needs to be done and how little time I have to do it, and then I stress myself out and doesn't let my 2 brain cells do its work. However, I took a step back yesterday and stopped worring about when it was going to be done and all, and look how much progress I made! Yikes! Another lesson in life - "NO STRESS!" Its another one of those easy to say, hard to do, phrases. But its neat to discover one of the "true" meanings behind no stress - i.e. you productivity really goes up when you are not stressed!

nuts

*sigh*
I don't think I'm very smart. I've been trying to fix this PC board at work that has some timing issues for at least 3 weeks now. YIKES! Its just not so easy. I guess I wish I could be a miracle worker, but I am not.

Pinched a nerve the other day, or so I thought I did. Anyways, I have this sharp pain when I turn my head to a certain position. It was really bad on Saturday, a bit better today, and it still feels pretty bad today. Oh well....

Liz and I, along with my parents and my grandpa went to see the Peking Acrobats on Saturday. It was AWESOME! There were incredible acts of balance, and some incredibly soft bodies of the contortionists. It was incredible. I especially like the act with a girl riding a unicycle on a turning umbrella, and the 8 layers of chairs that are stacked with the guy balancing on it, and also the lady that juggled a big vase with her feet. Boy. The were scary! It was really really neat-o.

*sigh* back to work now. :-)
nuts

There appears to be some controversy over Friday night small groups.
At our church, we have a 'young adult' group. This group is made up of people that are in the mid-late 20s and early 30s. We meet on Friday nights to talk about how our work week was, and to do a little bible study...etc. Fellowship stuff.

Someone recently brought up a notion that we should meet 2x a month instead of every week. I'm very distraught by this. I don't understand. To me, meeting 2x a month is not considered a 'fellowship'. Its merely a 'gathering'. I guess in a sense I'm afraid of 'losing' the group that I goto for support.

Why would we want to meet 2x a week? Well, here are they reasons that were discussed through e-mail and my responses:
1. Its a chore to have to host small group at our house on Friday nights?
My response: Don't host it unless you want to.
2. I want my Friday nights to be free to relax after a hard working week?
My response: Don't need to come if you don't feel like coming. I goto the fellowship to relax....
3. Not enough people wants to go every week anyways?
My response: Why are we having small group again? its to support each other in the kingdom of God. So whether its 2 people or 20 people, its still fellowship, right?

I dunno. To me, these seem to be very simple questions, with very simple answers. I don't understand what the crying is all about.

What is a fellowship that meets 2x a month? Not much of one. To me, that means if something comes up on the week that we have small group then I won't get to see everyone for another whole month. It doesn't make any sense. Why do we goto church every week? Why not every other week? I know I don't have a perfect attendance record at small groups, cuz a lot of times my friends come up from LA and I don't get to see them very often.... But, no matter, small group should not discontinued because of that! It should be there for people to come and have a shoulder to lean on, a place for people to come and chat and share about the hardships of the working environment. Its tough enough working in the world by yourself.... Therefore, I signed up to host small group at my house. We'll see how things go from here!

john

Hmmm. Liz posed an interesting question to me the other day. Er, rather, it was our friend Brian who asked us this question. I don't quite have an answer, but it did make me realize that I need to maybe spend some more 'quality' time with Liz.

Well, our friend Brian asked us, as Liz was walking on the treadmill and I was bursting my vains trying to lift some weights... "What do you guys do together?"

I hate these damn simple, yet complicated questions. I couldn't quite tell Brian what we do together other than that we 'hang out'. The thing is, that Liz and I spend precious little time together as is. We try to spend our weekend together, whether it is going to hang out with friends or dinners..etc. But when it comes down to it, we don't really spend quality time just hanging out and talking with each other. On weekends, either she would come down or I would go up and we'd always go visit friends, goto friend's parties, go out with friends...etc. Its fun and all, but I feel like I am beginning to miss her. Take last weekend, for example. Saturday morning Liz drove down to my house, we went to D&B's for our friend's brithday party, then we drove back up to the city to have dinner at a Moroccan resturant for another friend's birthday. Then we dropped her off at home and I went home. Sunday we went to church, bible study, and then she went home and I had to go help out at the other church. Sunday night we had dinner with my parents, and then both her and I went home.

What a hectic schedule! Through this whole time we were hanging out with all our friends, and yet no time were we alone together. I think she misses that, and I do too. Granted, we don't want to be hanging out all the time and get sick of one another, but I don't think we're hanging out with each other enough. I guess its a balancing act, and I'm just not quite sure where the balance point is yet.

Anyways, so, today's goal, hopefully, is to get out of work early and go up and surprise her. Then I'm going to simply sit down with her and maybe have dinner and just chat with her. That's my projected evening. That is, provided, that I can get out of work early. *sigh*.

:-)
john

Here's something I read thats interesting. Its so true that ever since I realized God's grace and how my life has just been filled with joy since I've believed in Him, this is just a really neat-o summary.....


God's Boxes
I have in my hands two boxes Which God gave me to hold.
He said, "Put all your sorrows in the black box,
And all your joys in the gold."
I heeded His words, and in the two boxes
Both my joys and sorrows I stored,
But though the gold became heavier each day
The black was as light as before.
With curiosity, I opened the black,
I wanted to find out why,
And I saw, in the base of the box, a hole
Which my sorrows had fallen out by.
I showed the hole to God, and mused,
"I wonder where my sorrows could be."
He smiled a gentle smile and said,
"My child, they're all here with me."
I asked God, why He gave me the boxes,
Why the gold, and the black with the hole?
"My child, the gold is for you to count your blessings,
The black is for you to let go."

Well, l did a bad thing last weekend.
As my friend and I are getting off the lift at Donner Ski Ranch, we both fell and I hit her over the head with my snowboard and make her goto the hospital and get 8 or so staples in her scalp. Yikes.
Lesson learned? well, either 1) I'm going to try to find a titanium helmet for her so she will NEVER hurt her head again or 2) just never get on a ski lift with me.

Yikes, I feel really bad. She says its ok but I still feel pretty bad. yikes
j

Also, today I exchanged knuckle sandwichs with Sprint PCS.

So last night, I called in to activate the 2nd phone line for my parents. Both phone lines will be billed to me, but I wanted 2 seperate phone numbers. So, anyhow, I called in, got the 2nd line, and this morning found out that my origional line was dead. YIKES!

So I called in this morning at 9AM, and after waiting for 30 minutes on hold, the Sprint service rep told me that there is an outage in Northern California in general. So I said OK and went back to work. But it was bugging me. So I called back at lunch time, and finally, after argueing with them for about half an hour, someone told me my account was suspended! Finally, at around 4PM my phone service was restored. yikes!

Anyways. well, maybe I shouldn't change my plan as much. Then they'd have no reason to much with my account.
:-)
john

Hey! Look! 2 days in a row of blogging!

I took some performance measurements of my experiment today, and the data seems to be coming out correctly. So, I'm getting a little breather, and just reflecting upon all the work that I have done and day-dream a bit....

1st thing that came to mind was my junior year in college, when I learned the quote "Love God and do as you please". I thought that was such a neat-o quote. It's a simple quote by St. Augustine (sp?) and it encompasses sooo much! I've always felt you'd have to be sooo in tuned with God to be able to live up to the "do as you please" part of the quote. Its so important for us to "Love God" first. That's the most important part. And, as you "Love" God, God will instill in you the things that you "want" to do and take away the desire to do the evil things. Therefore, you'd be "do as you please" in God's kingdom. How awesome would that be?

Anyhow. Back to work.
:-)
john