Greg Mortenson speaking in Seattle on 12/15.

I sometimes get confused about why I write this blog. I usually look for a fun picture of something I did recently, to convey that to my friends and family that I may not have spoken with in awhile. But at the same time, I am not sure if this is the right time or place for that.

This time I will talk about a nonfiction book that I read earlier this year: "Three Cups of Tea." It is the true story of Greg Mortenson, an American who has been building schools in poor villages in Pakistan (and now Afghanistan).

What I love about Greg's story is how unbelievable it is--and yet how simple it is. I feel like many of us are so afraid of trying to help the world, to really give ourselves. But with Greg, here is a man who at one time was arguably less educated than us, had less money than us, had less connections than us, was less computer-savvy than us, had less to gain, and was even more self-absorbed than us. But, he made a commitment out of love, and he kept trying until he finished it. And through the process, Greg found himself transformed, and now he is transforming the world.

Nowadays, I would guess that Greg is less healthy than many of us (40+, overworked, and stressed), has way less time, has family commitments just like many of you (two young kids and a wife), and he has already done so much to help others. He should just quit, play it safe, not risk his life over in Pakistan/Afghanistan, and manage the front office. But he doesn't. He keeps running his race.

As far as I know, Greg Mortenson doesn't profess any religion (although his parents with Christian missionaries). But I see in him more of Jesus than I see in, well, almost any of us.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. (James 1:27)

I was surprised and delighted to learn that Greg has a new book coming out on December 1, "Stones into Schools." It tells what has been happening since "Three Cups of Tea." Even better, Greg will be speaking in Seattle on 12/15 (no tickets, first come, first served). I think he spends half the year speaking across America and other places, then half the year in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Anyway, if you have trouble believing that someone in today's society--especially an American--could model Jesus' love, his servanthood and his sacrifice, then read "Three Cups of Tea." (There is even a children's version.) I think you will come to admire Greg Mortenson, especially because of his imperfections. But just like with Jesus, we need to move beyond admiration and on to imitation.

Let's go!

Vacation summary: Penny Arcade Expo (PAX)

The Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) was September 4 - 6. It is a convention which combines video games and board games. They go together surprisingly well. :-)

The prince from Katamari Damacy.











The PC Freeplay room. PAX provides all of these computers for people to play PC games! It may be hard to see all the rows of computers, but there were probably 256 computers available. And this was just one half. Another ~256 spaces were reserved to "Bring Your Own Computer" (BYOC), for mostly hardcore gamers.

The Peregrine gaming glove. That's the black glove that each person is wearing. They can use that as an input device to the computer, while still being able to type with both hands. It certainly looks cool/geeky.

"The Emissary" dining and gaming table. It is expensive ($2000 - $3000), but it's also a cool idea: if you don't finish a board game, you can just cover it up and save it for later! IKEA should make one of these.

A shop had these cute Super Mario Pepsi caps. Isn't it cool how the characters are all pixelated? Presumably, these caps were available in Japan on Pepsi bottles, for free! (And even $5 for just the cap seems reasonable.)

The guy in the foreground is Reggie Fils-Aime, President and Chief Operating Officer of Nintendo of America! He was playing Wii Sports Resort, and he asked me if I wanted to play him! We played table tennis.






A normal match is to 6 points, but we went into multiple tiebreakers. I finally won, something like 11 - 9. Reggie plays with intensity!




Setting the Guiness World Record for most people playing the Nintendo DS in one room. I played Puzzle Quest. (Thank-you to Joel G. for letting me borrow it!) I think there were less than 1000 people, so there is a lot of room to grow.

An artist was paid to make this "Bioshock 2" mural on the floor of the convention center! You could watch him work on it each day of the convention.



The board-game checkout room. Hundreds of board games. Best of all, there were thousands of people available to play with!




The chalk artist has made a lot of progress on the mural. Very beautiful.






Giant Connect Four. This was part of the Omegathon, which is sort of a wacky/epic elimination tournament.

From Penny Arcade Expo (PAX)

Joe Cochran and I had an epic game of Dominion. I think the final score was 78 - 77.







Of course, the best part of PAX was hanging out with old friends and making new ones . . . even if one turned out to be a Cylon! (From the board game for Battlestar Galactica.)

The God of coin flips.

In my life, I have had at least three experiences that I consider . . . supernatural. The first was my move to Minnesota and my time there. (Click here for one entry.) The third was when I donated a large sum of money and later received almost exactly the same amount of money. And the second? That is below.

---

It was January, 2008. I was living in the San Francisco Bay Area and working at Genentech. I was also trying to find God, to know if he really existed.

I had a pamphlet entitled, "How Can I Know What God Wants Me To Do?"; it was from May 2006, when I was deciding if I should leave Minnesota and return to California. The pamphlet mentions a story about Francis Schaeffer, a well-respected Christian pastor and author. When he was 19, Francis had a crucial life decision to make. Francis prayed and wept, but he was still unsure of God's will.

Finally, in desperation he took out a coin and said, "Heads, I'll go."

It was heads.

Then he pleaded, "God, be patient with me. If it comes up tails this time, I'll go."

It was tails.

"Once more, God. Please let it be heads again."

It was heads.

And Francis Schaeffer went.

That story was frightening to me. After all, it was just a coin! What if it had flipped the other way?

Schaeffer later said that he would never advise anyone else to use the same method of finding God's will. My first reaction was, "Of course! Don't put your fate in the hands of a coin! Schaeffer sure was lucky!"

However, at some point I began to think, "Why do I assume that it was simply luck? What if it really was God?" Schaeffer's God was the God of the Bible--an all-powerful, all-knowing God. If God were really out there, then he could make a coin flip heads or tails three times in a row. God could make a coin flip heads ten times in a row, if he wanted . . . .

I had read in the Bible that we are not to test God. Nevertheless, God had had mercy on Gideon when he asked for a sign, and God had had mercy on Francis Schaeffer. Maybe "testing God" and "asking God" were qualitatively different? Maybe the former is done with a poisonous heart, but the latter can be done with a humble heart?

So, I decided to ask God for a sign, like Gideon and Schaeffer had done. I asked God to show me if he was really there. I asked God to be merciful.

And, I asked God to make a coin flip heads, ten times in a row.

I had a pen and a piece of paper to record each flip as it happened. I had a quarter. I promised to do all ten flips and record them, whatever the result. For each flip, I would place the quarter over my thumb, flip the quarter into the air, let it land on the ground, and record that result.

Of course, even if God were there, he might not answer. One could argue that I had nothing to lose: if the flips looked random in the end, then maybe God had just declined to do anything.

I can only say that I tried not to have that mindset. I was trying not to test God, but rather to sincerely ask him, beg him, for help. However, I naturally braced myself for any "bad news."

I put the quarter over my thumb. I think I was trembling a little. And I held my breath.

<flip>

Heads.

"Heads!" I thought. "Maybe I should just stop here?" However, I had promised to do ten flips, so I kept going.

<flip>

Heads! That's two.

<flip>

Heads! Three.

<flip>

Heads! Four.

<flip>

Heads! Five.

<flip>

Heads! Six.

<flip>

Heads! Seven.

<flip>

Heads! Eight.

<flip>

Tails.

Tails. After eight heads in a row, the ninth flip was . . . tails. What?!

I paused briefly. I would have paused longer, but I had already decided to do all ten flips. I could wait until after that to think about what this meant.

<flip>

Heads! Nine heads and one tails.

It was heads, one last time.

Or was it the last?

"What if I keep going?" I thought.

<11th flip>

Heads!

<12th flip>

Heads!

<13th flip>

Heads!

<14th flip>

Heads!

<15th flip>

Tails.

<16th flip>

Tails.

Two tails in a row. I decided to stop . . . .

---

A recap of what had happened: I had asked God for ten heads in a row, as a sign that he exists. I flipped eight heads, then one tails, then five heads, then two tails:

HHHHHHHH-T-HHHHH-TT

So, I had really asked for one thing to happen, and technically it didn't. But a strangely similar thing happened instead. What do I think this all meant?

First, I feel that God truly answered my request: He exists! (Or, more honestly, at least something God-like exists, or some things.)

Second, God can indeed flip coins. Whether it is three flips in a row, eight, fourteen, or fourteen thousand, God is in control. He is stronger than the laws of probability, the laws of physics.

Third, God is paying attention. I was only one person, in my room alone, out of a world of 5+ billion. Is it more likely that he just happened to be passing by as I was making my request, or that he is actually aware of everything everywhere?

Fourth, God is relational. I am not sure how to explain this. Assuming that God would reply, I sort of expected one of two responses: a clear "no" (randomness), or a clear "yes" (ten heads in a row). However, God knew me enough and cared enough to give me what I personally needed. Again, I don't know how to express the personal nature of my request or the personal nature of his response, and there are some things that I have not mentioned. But, I will say that what he gave me was more than I had asked for, and more than I had even imagined. (See Ephesians 3:20.)

I close with a clarification: Almost two years after this event, I am still seeking God, and asking him to find me. I believe there is someone out there, and he is incredible. However, is he the God of the Bible? And what does that really mean, since millions or billions of people believe in the same Bible but interpret it differently? I am still trying to figure that out.

Whatever the truth is, I at least believe in a God of coin flips, and I am grateful that he is here.

I hope this will help you know that you are not alone.

Vacation summary: pre-Penny Arcade Expo (PAX).

The Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) was September 4 - 6. I had a lot of fun there, but I also had fun hanging out with friends beforehand.

Several friends from the Game Developers Conference (GDC) were in town for PAX. The day before PAX, I explored Seattle with two of these friends, Joel and Adam. We visited a famous bakery, the Essential Bakery Cafe. They helped us find the house that inspired the movie "Up"!

From House from "Up"

The story behind this house and its owner is, well, enough to inspire a Pixar movie. And my pictures do not do it justice. Check out this story from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. A more recent picture than that is here. Finally, the latest chapter on this story is here; it explains the banner on the house.

Incidentally, the development surrounding the house contains a Trader Joe's, which I like. I am glad that the owner got to live this life out as she wanted.

Next, we checked out Gas Works Park. If you check out the official site for the park, it doesn't look special. However, I think it is awesome! Here, Joel raises the "ring of triumph" atop the hill at Gas Works Park.

Joel and Adam look out at Downtown Seattle. The strange pipes in the background are the old gas works.




Here I am!

From Gas Works Park

Gas Works Park juts out into the water of Puget Sound, leaving a clear view of downtown.







We also visited Green Lake Park, which is also very pretty.

Then, on the freeway, we were eyewitnesses to an accident! Two cars bumped into each other on the side, and one went careening off the freeway and into a ditch. Thankfully, no one was hurt.

Finally, a dozen of us gathered at my place to hang out and to eat pizza and Ezell's Famous Fried Chicken. It was a great way to end an eventful day and to prepare for three days of video games, board games, and friends at PAX!

Remembering September 11.

I had an extremely fun time at PAX 2009.

However, for this entry, I want to take time to remember 9/11. It does not seem like it was 8 years ago. I still remember what I was doing at the time: I was in lab, because I had been working overnight to analyze a protein that I had made. I needed some liquid nitrogen for the CD (circular dichroism) machine, and when I called the chemistry supply center to deliver it, the guy on the phone told me what had happened. I am a bit ashamed to admit it, but I did not even know what the Twin Towers or the World Trade Center were. (I have never been to New York, and to the East Coast only sparingly.) Of course, Caltech soon cancelled all work for that day, and some of us gathered at a friend's apartment to watch the news for hours upon hours.

About 3000 people died in the 9/11 attacks.

I will close with part of a speech by President George W. Bush, delivered on 9/20/01:

"Presidents come to this chamber to report on the state of the Union. Tonight, no such report is needed. It has already been delivered by the American people. . . . My fellow citizens, for the last nine days, the entire world has seen for itself the state of our Union -- and it is strong."

I always liked that turn of phrase.

Next Tuesday, I fly to Los Angeles for a week. Two friends from Caltech are getting married (Ryan and Vi), and the reception will be at my old dorm/House, Avery House. It promises to be a joyful time, a festival.