April/May: Picnic Day, The Other Side and Car Maintenance

Some highlights from April and May this year:

April 26 was Picnic Day! Picnic Day is an annual event at UC Davis. It's a family-friendly open house of the entire university. Every department plans fun activities and demonstrations, from the English department to Entymology (insects).

Here, my friend Steph pretends to be a cockroach.

I grew up in Sacramento, and Picnic Day has happened every year for about a century. However, this was basically my first time going. It was so much fun! There are literally hundreds of things to see and do, and I honestly enjoyed every single one. In fact, the only sad thing about Picnic Day is that you have only one day to do everything, and you can't do everything. It would be like having a one-day pass to heaven: great, but not nearly enough time to see your loved ones.

From Picnic Day

The physics department had cool science demos. As a former scientist, I was a little jaded and didn't think these "kid" demos would be interesting to me. I was wrong. Each one was awesome! Here, I'm holding two phone books that have had their pages interleaved. (Some poor grad student probably had that job.) The idea is to try to pull the phone books apart: It's practically impossible! The TV show MythBusters actually showed this. (Click here for more info.)

I should have taken more photos. Two especially funny things we saw: a horse (artificial) insemination, and the Battle of the Bands with my cousin Beth. The former I won't try to describe in words, and the latter is eight hours of college marching bands duking it out. I wish I could just sit under a tree, bring a Nintendo DS, and just play video games for hours while listening to them.

Thank you, UC Davis! I look forward to next year's Picnic Day!

From The other side

May 2: Here is a photo of the Sacramento River from my car. And the person in the photo? Auntie Muriel. Seems ordinary enough. But I love this photo, because it's taken from the other side of the river.

You see, I'm now living again in the house I grew up in. And it's close to a park with a levee along the Sacramento River. I'd been to that part of the river, right next to the park, dozens of times. And each time, I'd look across the river and see the levee on the other side and wonder what was there. Sometimes I'd see people fishing. Sometimes I'd imagine making a raft, Tom Sawyer-style, and crossing the river. Or just jumping in and trying to swim it. (FYI, that's a bad idea. People have drowned in the river that way.) But I never went to the other side. I didn't know how to get there, and I didn't really pursue it.

Then one day I looked on Google Maps. And I realized that it was a relatively short drive to get to the bridge that would let you cross the river. Auntie Muriel was helping take care of Grandma that day, so the three of us got in the car and headed out for an adventure.

We had a quiet but scenic drive. As I learned in Minnesota, there's nothing like a river road. =) We crossed the river, worked our way back up, and eventually came to the part I was looking for: Where I could see across the river to the park I always visited. There are some concrete steps there, and it was like I could see myself on them, like I was looking across time back at myself. It was surreal and awesome.

In hindsight, I feel silly that it took me 20 years of driving to finally get to the other side. Then again, I've always been a late bloomer. =) And that chicken joke? I appreciate it a lot more now.

From Car maintenance

May 19: My friend Joe helped fix my car. Actually, we were just doing routine maintenance. I took this photo for two reasons.

One, I like the way the four circles are arranged. (They're a tire, a hubcap, the underside of a hubcap, and the air-compressor cable rolled up. Totally by accident!)

Two, I've had my car since 2006; bought it new. I'm not really into cars, and I can't stand how much people pay for them or try to make the outside shiny when it's a tool meant to be exposed to the elements. However, for the maintenance, we jacked my car up and had all four tires off at one time. My car looked so helpless, and I felt so bad for it! My baby!

4 months later: updates coming!

My last post was at the start of May. Since then, there have been several times when I've meant to write, but somehow I didn't. But now I'm back. =)

In this post, I'll give a quick update of the big questions you may have had since May. Soon after, I'll post again to update in more detail, chronologically.

In May, Grandma entered hospice care. She's my last grandparent. Thankfully, she's still alive. Today, Mary and Mom took her to the Sacramento Zoo.




Over the summer, Mary took a 50-day trip to Africa! Since then, she's mostly moved back home to help take care of Mom and Grandma.

(Yes, I believe that's my sister with a lion. In this case, I agree my sister is more fearless than I.)

From iD Tech

I'm still not employed. However, I had a 7-week summer job with iD Tech Camps. I taught kids and teens about game design. Besides that, I'm still working on my own iPhone and iPad apps. I may also try to get a part-time job. (Full-time may be a stretch with taking care of Grandma, but we'll see.)

From Build Pizzeria

For fun, I mostly hang out with old high-school friends. We play board games and video games, go out to eat, and, once in a while, I even drink a beer. =)

(Actually, what's strangely fun for me is being productive. Meaningfully productive.)

From Relaxing

I'm still single. For a few months, I was purposely not open to dating anyone else. Now I'm more open to going on dates, but I need to be careful with my finances. Thankfully, I feel pretty content and secure.


I still pray and read the Bible each day. But I don't go to church in the same way. I usually go to church, but I've been wary of connecting there. (For example, by volunteering or by joining a Bible study group.)

So, that's my update. I hope that answers the big questions: family, job/money, friends, fun, relationships, faith, feelings. Well, maybe I'll expound a little more on the last few:

Ever heard of a MOOC? It stands for "Massive Open Online Course." Basically, you can go to a website like Coursera or Stanford Online, and there you can take college-level courses for free! It's a fascinating future for learning.

I started taking a MOOC called "How to Learn Math." It's really about "How to Teach Math" so that people don't get traumatized by math. (It happens!) Anyway, the course has taught me more than just math or how to teach …

The instructor, Jo Boaler, spoke about the importance of not just what we teach or how we teach. She spoke about the importance of one's mindset, i.e., attitude. For example, do you tend to have an attitude that people are fixed, or that people can grow? Is a person (like yourself) simply good or bad at math? Or can a person grow and become better—even truly great—at math? Jo said the former attitude is called a "fixed mindset." To put it bluntly, a fixed mindset is bad. It leads one to hate to fail, to fear failure, and to avoid challenging work. The latter attitude is called a "growth mindset." A growth mindset is good. It leads one to be persistent, to learn from mistakes, and to be encouraged by other people's success.

What's interesting is that the question isn't which attitude is correct or right. The bottom line is that a person with a fixed mindset will tend to stay fixed, and a person with a growth mindset will tend to grow. They are both self-fulfilling prophecies. However, wouldn't we all rather grow?

So I've been thinking about that recently: "Don't be afraid to try. To fail. It's okay to challenge oneself."

Earlier, I said I'll try to get a part-time job. I'll be applying to a Grocery Outlet opening near me. I'm not afraid of getting a job that doesn't fit me, of being grossly underpaid for my educational level, of doing manual labor, or even of being rejected for being overqualified (or too old, or not having enough real work experience). It might be awesome! Either way, I'll learn.

On the other hand, I haven't asked any girls out lately, nor signed up for anything like eHarmony. I'm not afraid of people. However, I'm a little afraid of spending money I don't have, or asking a girl out while trying to explain that I can afford to do only certain things, like jogging. Or maybe I am simply afraid of something else?

And then there's church. Why don't I get more involved at church? Am I afraid of being hurt? Being misled? Being misjudged? Here, I don't think "fear" is the right word. I don't fear the church, the people in it or them getting to know me or vice versa. A better word is "faith." I simply don't have faith in "church" anymore: Faith that the people in church are any better, or more loving, or good to be with, or more generous than any random person outside of church.

I guess I'm learning to treat people one at a time, independent of where I meet them, or who they say they are. Actually, I feel pretty good about that.

Next time: Random things I did in April/May. They'll be nice, I promise!