A quiet spring

Last Saturday, I spent the day with Auntie Janice. We ran errands and just hung out. We had lunch at Ivar's, which is a fish 'n' chips place that also has good clam chowder. Then we went for a walk on the University of Washington campus, because the cherry blossoms were in bloom. Janice said that the blossoms seemed to have faded in color since she was a student, years ago. Sure enough, in another part of campus we saw some cherry blossoms that were a much brighter pink. (I did not take a picture of them, however.)

From Day with Janice

Otherwise, things have been calm. I have been trying to keep life simple, not sleep so much, and program more.

Regardless, everything should get busier soon. Several people are visiting in May, the weather is getting nicer, and I plan to visit California again in June (LA, 6/6 - 6/15) and July (LA/SD, 7/1 - 7/14).

I feel very fortunate to have this time. Prayers appreciated that I will use it wisely.

Back in Seattle.

From Beach with Stephanie

Well, I had a wonderful time in California. A quick summary:

Seattle (dr. w/two from Craigslist) -> Sacramento (dr. w/Grandma) -> Fresno (Uncle Ron and Auntie Muriel) -> Los Angeles (friends from Anime Expo, Caltech, the GDC, and high school) -> San Diego (friends from high school, Caltech, Genentech, Urbana; Uncle Well's birthday party; dr. w/friend from GDC) -> Los Angeles (dr. w/friends from GDC) -> San Francisco (GDC: Game Developers Conference; old landlord; friends from Genentech, two churches, Stanford; cousin Danielle) -> Sacramento (Mom, friends from high school, namesake, neighbors) -> Corvallis (friend from high school) -> Seattle.

The top picture is from a beach in San Diego.

From Aleck Lin

Breakfast with Aleck Lin, a friend from Urbana. (My hair always sticks out on the left....)







At the Game Developers Conference: friends just having fun playing "witch hunt" (mafia).

Also, Wednesday was my birthday; I am now 32. Working on my taxes. Grandma returns on Saturday. Mom also visiting. Reading some books.

Sadly, I have not done any "work" since I got back. However, I know that great flexibility comes with great accountability.

From GDC 2009

Road trip!

I just realized that I have not left Washington State since I arrived last August. It is a little scary to me to think about how much time has passed (7+ months). Then again, only 8 months ago, I was living in California with a totally different job/career, and my relatives in Seattle seemed more like fond memories from my youth, rather than people living and working every day just like me. So, yes, I am definitely glad that I have come this far.

From At Mars Hill

But, now it is vacation time! On Tuesday, I am driving to California for two events: my Uncle Well's 80th birthday in San Diego, and the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. I will also be visiting my hometown (Sacramento), my Auntie Muriel and Uncle Ron (Fresno), and my old lab at Caltech (Los Angeles). I will be gone for a total of three weeks, but that includes a lot of driving, and the conference is a full week. Because of the timing, I will not get to see everyone. However, I hope to visit again in June.

From GDC 2008

This picture is from last year's conference. My friends are playing a game called "Witchhunt," also known as "Mafia."

Since I prefer driving long distances with company, I am driving with some people who answered my post on Craigslist's rideshare. (I also did this going from Minnesota to Seattle, and from Sacramento to Seattle. Both times it was great.)

From Pet store with Jubilee and family

Last weekend, I got to spend time with my cousin Chris, his wife Olivia, and their special baby, Jubilee. We went to a nearby pet store. Jubilee loves rabbits. (Or, I should say, "bunnies.")

"Aladdin, Jr."

From Aladdin Jr.

I went to an elementary school musical. It is an annual event, and a family friend is one of the co-directors. (She is a teacher at the school.) Auntie Nancy organized a whole group to go.

The musical was "Aladdin, Jr." It was basically an abridged version of Disney's Aladdin; many of the same songs were in it. I really enjoyed it. The cast was entirely 5th and 6th graders, and the 3rd and 4th graders helped make all the props and sets!

The last elementary school musical that I remember is when I was in 5th or 6th grade. Our teacher, Ms. McCoy, directed an elaborate musical about world music. I was not in the musical, but I remember four guys got to be The Beatles, and one girl did a memorable job of screaming and pretending to faint.

My sister was in a musical when she was in 4th grade. (Or was I in 4th and she in 6th?) She was a jungle explorer captured by cannibals. My mom and dad had to help put together the appropriate explorer costume, of course.

The picture shown is from the flying carpet scene in Aladdin in which Prince Ali and Princess Jasmine sing "A Whole New World." They are sitting on a cart that Uncle Paul made. The two kids in black "magically" move the cart around the stage, and of course to Ali and Jasmine they are invisible. A girl behind them represents the actual magic carpet and provided a nice background. It was kind of a classy implementation.

Time for a haircut

A couple of weeks ago, my relatives thought I should get a haircut. (Or as a friend once said, I should get "many hairs cut." :-) This was not the first time that such a suggestion had been made, but they even went so far as to put money on the table.





Six relatives chipped in for a total of $11. That was perfect, because near our home is a simple "salon" which charges $9 for a men's cut.

That Thursday, I found myself actually awake during the daytime. So, I put in my contacts and took some "Before" pictures.

From Haircut

Then, I got many hairs cut, paid $9 + $2 tip, took a shower, and took some "After" pictures. I always feel I need a shower right after a haircut, because I always seem to have little bits of hair everywhere. Does this happen to other people?

To all my relatives who chipped in, financially or otherwise, thank you!

A money miracle?

From Nintendo Customer Service Center

My last post was "A flat-tire miracle?" I know: two miracles in a row? Well, I simply had a very peculiar experience with money, and I want to share it. I considered telling this story without numbers, but I think the specifics are important. The story starts over two years ago.

In late 2006, when I was in San Francisco, I was attending a church called GrX ("Great Exchange"). GrX is a mobile church, but they started a capital campaign to buy their own permanent building. At that time, I was developing a new sense of what it means to give: that giving can be an obligation, but that giving can also be a challenge, an opportunity, and a privilege. (More on that below.) In the end, I decided to pledge ~$11,000/year for each of the next 3 years.

Why $11,000/year? In my case, I had done a quick estimate based on breaking even: my salary (~$45,000) minus taxes, rent, food, etc. I added a little more as a bit of a push, and also because I knew I would get a slight raise each year. So it was a bit of a sacrifice, but I knew I had money in the bank to fall back on.

In 2007, I fulfilled my pledge for the year.

In 2008, I was routinely fulfilling my pledge monthly, but in July I quit my job. Since then, I have dipped into my bank accounts but have continued monthly pledges. However, I know I have more in the bank than the average American family, which has $3,800.

2009 was approaching. On the plus side, my parents had long ago bought me stock in a company called Fiserv, which had done well over the years. I had 200 shares of Fiserv, and, in September 2008, Fiserv stock was $50/share = $10,000! I could donate that and fulfill almost an entire year of my pledge! (Donating the stock, rather than selling it first and donating cash later, would yield a better tax deduction.) However, I was greedy and wanted to wait, to see if the stock would go up even more.

Instead, the stock dropped ... quickly. By the end of October, the stock was less than $35/share = $7,000. Now I would have to take an extra $3,000 out of the bank! However, there was an expectation that Fiserv stock would recover eventually, perhaps by late 2009. I could wait a few months, even up to the last month my pledge was due (December 2009).

But essentially, I was holding back on giving now, just so it would cost me less. Somewhere, I had lost the spirit of giving, the reasons for giving! At the end of 2008, I did a complete review of all of my assets, and I knew I could afford to fulfill my pledge either way. So, after some hedging back and forth, in mid-January 2009, I transferred my 200 shares to GrX. Because the transfer would take a couple of days to process, and because the stock market fluctuates, I would have to wait to see exactly how much the shares (and my donation) would be worth. Hopefully, Fiserv stock would not go down in the meantime.

A couple of days later, I got a letter in the mail from my broker, Charles Schwab: my transfer was proceeding. Good. In the same day's mail, I also got an unexpected letter: it was from a bank in Utah, telling me that I had a certificate of deposit (CD) there. The CD was about to mature, and it was worth almost $7,000!

Remember, I had just performed a review of all of my assets! Or at least I thought I had. I consider myself to be relatively well-organized, but somehow I had missed this.

Isn't that strange? I had fought back and forth with my conscience, but I had finally given in and donated a large sum of money. Then a couple of days later, I find that I had almost the same amount of money "hidden away"!

To be more precise, the letter from the bank said that the CD was currently worth $6,868.

A couple of days later, I got an e-mail from GrX. The e-mail told me the exact value of my donation, which was calculated by using the average price for Fiserv stock on the day of the actual transfer.

The amount: $6,869.

--------

Similar to my last post, I like how the true story above is different from a lot of fiction, much of which seems designed to manipulate our emotions, at the expense of truth. In this case, the amounts are not exactly the same. Technically, I already had the CD. I still have money in the bank. And in my circumstances and in my heart, I am not like the poor widow who gave her last two pennies to God (Luke 21). This was a miracle in reality.

Earlier, I said that giving can be a challenge, an opportunity, and a privilege. In my case, I had promised to give someone $11,000 within the next year, I had stock that had recently dropped to $7,000, and I had some money in the bank. A challenge: not to trust in my own calculating mind. An opportunity: to put faith in God. A privilege: experiencing the miracle, and being able to testify about it.

I used to be very mechanical and calculating in my donations: exactly 10%. I still have struggles to be truly generous, but I am very grateful for the times that I have been able to see things in a different light. It is like everything flips upside-down. An old pastor friend in LA spoke of "seeing in light of eternity." When a man gets a chance to see the world from a totally different perspective, and it takes him from a begrudger to a joyful giver, perhaps that is the true miracle?

--------

By the way, the picture of me and Pikachu has nothing to do with the story, although I know Pokemon can also be considered a "money miracle" of a different kind. I recently went to visit the Nintendo Customer Service Center, which is just east of Seattle. I splurged and bought the "Ghost Mario" in my hand. Isn't he cute?

A flat-tire miracle?

The new year is shifting quickly. Mary, Mom, Grandma, and Amy (cousin Jason's girlfriend) have all left Seattle. Jason is set to be deployed in the beginning of February, and then we will not see him for 400 days. And after taking a break from programming for a couple of weeks, I am hoping to re-commit myself starting today.

I did have an unusual slow-down moment, however. On New Year's Day, I thought it would be nice to take Mom et al. out to dinner. After some back and forth, we postponed until Friday lunch, because Grandma was tired.

So on Friday, I was driving Mom and Grandma on I-5 in my Scion xB. A car slows down next to us and starts yelling at us. He said we had a flat tire! I slowed down and hoped to make the nearest exit. (We were on the bridge near the U.) The xB starts going *bump* *bump* *bump*, but there was an empty school parking lot right off the exit.

I had never changed a flat tire, especially on my own, but I knew the xB was supposed to have everything I needed: spare tire, jack, tools, etc. The owner's manual seemed to have all the steps, except the first one: I did not know how to take off my hubcaps! At some point, I called AAA to come assist us; they said they would send someone, but it would be a 1-2 hour wait.

It turns out that one just has to pull hard to remove the xB's hubcaps, so the next step was to loosen the lug nuts. I tried and tried to pull any of the four nuts loose, but nothing would budge. In the meantime, I was worried about Grandma and Mom freezing. The weather was cold but thankfully sunny, and at the same time we had a very strange "hail": soft, slowly descending. Grandma called it "pearls."

After maybe an hour, I had not made any progress. AAA had not arrived. I was not able to get any of the four nuts to budge. To top it off, Grandma had to go to the bathroom! Thankfully, Mom got the school janitor's permission and took Grandma to the restroom.

So there I was, waiting alone. I must have been thinking about my parking brake--how we release it by pulling it up first--because suddenly I had an idea: instead of just trying to pull the wrench counter-clockwise right away, what if I first tried to go clockwise a smidge, and maybe that would help loosen it?

Then I had another ... epiphany: prayer. I knew Grandma and Mom had been praying that everything would be okay, and I even remember telling Grandma, "Yeah Grandma, keep praying." However, I realized that I had not asked God for help. I had been relying on my own strength, literally.

So, I put the wrench on one of the lug nuts. I prayed quietly to God. And I tried pushing down a bit before pulling up. And it moved!

The three other lug nuts also moved on the next try! (To be clear, they moved on the upswing: so I was always trying to pull it in the correct direction: counter-clockwise. "Righty tighty, lefty loosey!") The rest happened relatively quickly: Mom and Grandma came back from the bathroom, my Auntie Nancy (whom we had called her earlier) arrived to take Mom and Grandma home, I finished changing my tire, and AAA arrived belatedly (but at least they did not count the service call against my account).

From Flat tire

So ... does God exist? Was it really a miracle? What I like about this event is that one can interpret it either way. One can even attribute "blame" to different people, if that is important. I feel that way sometimes, but what seems most important to me right now is to have real faith in at least the possibility of a real miracle. Christians talk about a real miracle in history: a man died, was buried in a tomb, and then on the third day came back to life. (And, he raised other people from the dead, multiplied fish and bread, healed blind people instantly, et al.) Some truly believe that. And some essentially believe it to be impossible. And some are still in between.


General note: I was updating this blog weekly, but now I am going to try updating only bi-weekly. So the next update should be ~1/24.

Christmas in Seattle

Well, I had my first White Christmas! Mary and Mom flew in, too. Here is Mary making a snow angel in front of Grandma's garage.

This was also my first year sending out Christmas cards/newsletters. I liked writing in the cards and the way they came out, but I was distraught by the process of narrowing down whom to send them to. If you did not receive a Christmas card, I apologize. I am happy to send a PDF (electronic) version of the card to each person who asks me via e-mail. It has the benefit of being scalable, and it will not fade in sunlight!

Everyone said this was the most snow they had seen in Seattle, and some people have lived here 30+ years! Outside of my Auntie Nancy's house, crazy icicles formed. The ones shown were at least 2 feet long.

When I was a kid, I was very into receiving presents. Well, only particular presents, i.e., things on my wish-list to Santa. Usually this included money, Transformers, G.I. Joe, GoBots, and/or He-Man. I remember one year when I must have had ~20 presents, and I wanted them ASAP. I probably asked if I could open them all on Christmas at midnight. While that did not work, I somehow got my parents to agree to let me open one present every hour, starting at midnight. While I was unsupervised (because they were sleeping, duh), I stuck to this "honorable" agreement. So I was spoiled ... and no doubt ungrateful ... but at least I had honor ....

From Christmastime

This year, Christmas was very low-key. In Sacramento, we would visit my dad's grave in the morning; this time we just did our own thing. The annual Christmas dinner here is hosted by Uncle Paul and Auntie Nancy. Unfortunately, a couple of relatives could not make it in the snow. After dinner, we opened up presents. The most presents probably were for Baby Jubilee. Mary also had us perform a reading of part of the play "The Man who would be King," by Dorothy Sayers.

On Saturday, Mary and I made Christmas cookies with a spritzer cookie gun. When we were kids, we used to do that every year.

From Icicles, snow angel, snow melt

Now the snow has mostly melted, but it was a bit messy. I think my car got stuck in the snow/ice/mud about six times over three days. But each time we were able to get it out after not too long. And I learned a lot.

More snow! More snow! More snow!

So last time I thought it had snowed an inch or more. This time it was more like six inches!

Compare this picture to one from last time. See how the street is now invisible?

The snow was nice and crunchy. It had a very thin icy layer on top, which made it fun to walk on. It reminded me of several foods: the crunchy top layer of a custard mochi if it is cooked long enough, creme brulee, some meringue, and marshmallows cooked on a campfire. Tasty.

I was so excited by all the snow that I kept listening for the person in our building who shovels the snow. When I heard him, I ran outside and asked if I could do it! He let me shovel the entire walkway, which was totally fun (and a good workout) for me. Someone should make a Wii game like that: "Wii House Chores."

Sunday, a couple from church had their wedding! My Uncle Paul and company went. Thankfully, everyone was okay.

From More snow!

There has been so much snow that, only a few hours ago, a big branch from one of our pine trees broke under the weight. For scale, you can see a 4-door car on the right side of the picture! Thankfully, no one had parked directly under the tree.

I know the snow must eventually melt, and I am not looking forward to that. It seems like everything will get muddy, dirty, and wet.

But wouldn't that be a good Hemingway title? "The Snow Also Melts." It would be a total chick-flick.

Snow! Snow! Snow!

The first pic may look like rain, but it is snow!

It snowed on Sunday! I think it was at least an inch!

This was the first time in my life that I remember seeing snow fall, except in Lake Tahoe. And Tahoe was different, because there was already lots of snow on the ground.





In the morning, the snow looked really nice. I really like the way the snow looks on bushes and trees, and even on my car. It was an adventure for me to figure out how to clean off my car so I could visit Grandma. And then to drive slowly and watch out for ice on the roads. And I find it fascinating how the snow stays on the cars and bushes for days, even if it is sunny outside.

From First snow of winter!

The snow on my car makes it look like I got a new roof, Mini-Cooper style!

It is supposed to snow even more today and get even colder. I am very grateful to live in a warm apartment.

Apple's Photo Booth

If you have a Mac or know someone who has one, have you ever tried "Photo Booth"? I think it is one of the hidden gems of OS X.

For those not familiar with Photo Booth, it is a simple way to take pictures using a Mac's built-in camera. Photo Booth has been around for at least a couple of years, and it comes pre-installed in all new Macs. You click on the camera icon, then it counts down 3-2-1-*CLICK*, and you've got your photo! Just like a real photo booth.

However, I suspect there are some who have used Photo Booth and not realized its full potential: the effects! Photo Booth uses the computer to manipulate an image in real-time, so you can easily set up and take some really interesting pictures.

Why do I think some people may have used Photo Booth but not used the effects? It is because of a user interface problem, in my opinion. If you were a new Photo Booth user, you might try this: open Photo Booth, click on the camera icon, and take a picture. Then click on the picture you just took. Now I've told you that you can make cool effects with Photo Booth, so you might look for the Effects button to set up your next photo. But the Effects button is not there! You have to click on the camera icon to enter live mode, and then the "Effects" button will show up. You might not think this is an issue, but I was totally frustrated with this a couple of years ago, and earlier this month, my cousin had the same problem. They have improved things in the latest version by letting you select Effects from the menus, but they also could have simply had the Effects button always visible; clicking on the button would then switch the camera to live mode.

From Photo Booth

One of the new effects in Photo Booth is to put a custom scene behind you. Here, I am riding a roller coaster! One more reason I never have to leave home!

A Fong Thanksgiving

So I had my first Thanksgiving with my Seattle relatives. I was warned beforehand that they like to eat a lot for Thanksgiving. "That's strange," I thought. "We seem to eat well already for regular family events."

From David, Wai, Sophie, Mae

Anyway, they were right. I don't think we had any more food than the average American Thanksgiving, but we ate together the entire week! Several events culminated this week: Mom visited, Uncle David flew up from Los Angeles, Uncle Wai closed his sub sandwich shop for Thanksgiving weekend, and Jubilee, my first-cousin-once-removed, had her first birthday! This resulted in really nice meals the entire week: Sunday night (church Thanksgiving), Sunday night again (Wai's birthday), Tuesday night (David's birthday), Wednesday lunch (Wai's subs) and dinner (fancy burgers and wine with David and Mae), Thursday lunch (Wai's dim sum) and dinner (Thanksgiving), Friday lunch (Wai's dim sum) and dinner (turkey jook/porridge), and Sunday dinner (Jubilee's birthday).

From Thanksgiving!

Of course, I feel undeservedly lucky. (Is that like grace?) However, I am really happy that I again got to know some of my relatives better. Many aren't even my blood relatives, but they still have been very kind to me.

From Wii Fit

My Wii Fit helped quantify this week's feasting: I gained 4.6 pounds since Tuesday! On the other hand, before this week I was worried that I was losing too much weight. Silly me.

Notice that my Mii says, "I ate too much . . ."

Thanksgiving

Quick weekly summary: Monday, I saw Shira Jacobson, an old friend from Minnesota and Caltech, and her brother Natan. Wednesday, talked to Uncle Gordon for almost an hour. Thursday, had dinner with my cousin Brian at a restaurant/bar called Joey's. Friday, Uncle Paul took me to Round Table, and he and Auntie Nancy later told me some stories. Saturday morning, I took Grandma to a hospice in Chinatown, where she volunteers every week to help patients learn more about Jesus.

This Thursday will be my first Thanksgiving in Seattle. Mom is flying up.

From Empty fridge: win!

When I was growing up, Dad had an unconventional take on Thanksgiving: we shouldn't have a feast, but rather a fast. His thinking was that we appreciate things more when we don't have them, which is true, isn't it?

Ours was not a true fast: we had oatmeal/broth for breakfast, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch, and I think maybe more PB&J for dinner. I guess the bar for Thanksgiving was set so high that PB&J seemed like deprivation.

Of course, as a kid, I wanted a big feast, like all my friends seemed to have. Imagine being at school Wednesday and having all the kids and teachers talk about the fancy food they would be eating on Thursday (turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy, pumpkin pie, "fixings," green bean casserole, cranberries . . . ), and also all the relatives they would visit. (None of our relatives were close by.) Imagine eating PB&J on Thursday night *knowing* that all the other kids were breaking wishbones and getting all their wishes granted! No wishes?!! That was the most important part!

But for at least some of our Thanksgivings, the feast was merely delayed. Thursday was a fasting day, but Wednesday and Friday were fair game. I remember waiting until midnight Friday to dig into some ice cream. And we might have turkey on Friday.

In the end, I really appreciate Dad's efforts. It did make me think, and now I have fond memories of it.

Maybe those Thanksgivings laid the seed for my current eating habits. The picture above is of the fridge that Jason and I share. My half has a bottle of lemon juice, some reconstituted frozen orange juice (with calcium), and an unseen apple. Jason's half has baking soda, some peppers, and one remaining Slim Fast shake.

Both Jason and I can afford to stock more food in the fridge, but we don't. And neither of us goes out to eat very often. (This week was a nice exception for me.) Jason may have his own reasons (like he's actually in Ohio right now). For my part, I guess I am trying to simplify things. I am also reminded of how manufacturers (like computer companies like Dell and Apple) strive to the keep a small inventory. Since I still have plenty of non-perishable food (white rice, oatmeal, cereal, ramen, sardines, peanut butter, multi-vitamins), I want to use that up more before buying more food. And once I finish my apple, I will probably buy some bananas, and I should probably get some broccoli. But I don't think our fridge will ever be full, which actually makes me very happy. :-)

11th-hour sunset

I was wondering what picture I would post this week. I meant to take one of Auntie Muriel and Uncle Ron before they went back to Fresno, but I forgot.

From Gorditos

On Thursday, I had dinner with a couple of friends from grad school: Ryan (and his wife Stephanie) and Possu. We ate at an inexpensive Mexican restaurant called Gorditos. The burritos at Gorditos are so big that people compare them to babies. They even have pictures there.

The baby vs. burrito picture was funny, but I wanted something less staged. On Saturday, I took Grandma to church for a class. Outside her porch was this bok-choy plant; I like how you can tell that it has been harvested several times.

From Sunset, Seattle CBC

The partially eaten bok-choy plant was nice, but there was something better in store. The church (Seattle Chinese Baptist Church) is on a hill, and I love the view. Even though there was lots of rain early in the week, Saturday was sunny! We arrived at church to witness a sunset and a potpourri of clouds. Yes!

Will the last person leaving Seattle . . .

So Uncle Ron, Auntie Nancy and I were hanging out in her house. We were talking about the current economic crisis and how it is different from previous ones. Ron and Nancy mentioned that, once in the 1970s, Boeing laid off so many people that stores were closing all over Seattle and it felt like everyone was moving away. Someone put this billboard up in 1971, near the Seattle airport:

"Will the last person leaving SEATTLE - Turn out the lights."

It is kind of sad, but also kind of funny. And people still remember it 37 years later! (I found the picture at the Seattle Times.)

At least I haven't seen a billboard like this yet.

Auntie Muriel and Uncle Ron visit. (Also: Vote on Tuesday!)

On Wednesday, my mom flew up to visit, along with my Auntie Muriel and Uncle Ron. Muriel and Ron live in Fresno. They came to help celebrate a trio of birthdays: my Uncle Gordon's, my mom's, and my mom's mom (i.e., Grandma Fong)! My mom and Grandma actually share the same birthday, at least as far as we can tell. (Grandma was born in China before 1920, but I don't know if we have an official birth certificate for her.)

From Vegas (Video poker, Ron & Muriel)

We had a birthday party at my Uncle Paul's home, but I didn't take any pictures. The picture shown is from 2001, when Auntie Muriel, Uncle Ron, and I went to Las Vegas. They still look the same. :-)

For Daylight Savings Time (DST), I only had to change 4 clocks: Jason's microwave, range, and stereo, and my car. My cell and laptop were automatic. For some reason, I remember DST being more of a burden when I was a kid!

Election Day, including the Presidential Election, is this Tuesday, November 4. Here in Washington State, I think people are even more aware of the importance of voting and that "every vote counts." That is because the 2004 election for Governor of Washington was REALLY, *REALLY* close. The main two candidates had 48.873% and 48.869% of the vote: the difference was only 129 votes across the entire state! What if this year's election is that close?

Whatever happens in the Presidential election this year, it seems like one group will feel like a winner and one will feel like a loser. That seems very tragic to me, since everyone tries so hard, and a small difference in percent is amplified, well, infinitely. (If we compare two movies, and 54% like one better and 46% like another better, what does that really tell us?) However, the end result will be precisely what the system was designed to produce: winner take all.

At this point, my old pastor would probably remind me that God is bigger than politics.

Emerald City Search!

From Emerald City Search

This was a fairly eventful week: I finished "The Seven-Day Miracle Detox" (I'll blog about that another time), "Wii Music" came out, Auntie Nancy and I helped feed some homeless people, and I even did some computer programming. But the highlight was something called the "Emerald City Search."

The Emerald City Search is a treasure hunt amongst the parks and other public places of Seattle. A medallion is hidden somewhere in the city, and each day a clue is given in the newspaper. Because a good clue can be interpreted in many ways, people end up looking all over Seattle. Some people spend almost every waking hour of an entire week searching!

Fortunately for me, I don't hear about the Emerald City Search until Wednesday. I go to sleep ~8:30 am, and my cell rings at ~11 am. It is my Uncle Gordon. He tells me about the search and that he thinks he knows where the medallion is hidden: Discovery Park! However, Uncle Gordon can't check it out until after work. So that gives me time to check out the clues (8 of 10 have been posted by then).

I spend a few hours reading the clues, reading what other obsessed searchers are thinking, researching frogs (this year's theme), and learning about the many different parks and sights in Seattle. (It was a very good way to get me excited about exploring the city! Did you know that 5% of Seattle's land is reserved for parks and other green areas?)

In the evening, Uncle Gordon and I drive to Discovery Park, armed with flashlights and walkie-talkies. It becomes dark very quickly, but we make it to a scenic ridge where I take the attached photo. Discovery Park is huge, and we explore the park for awhile, but we don't see anything that clicks. We also disagree on where in the park the clues are pointing.

We take a break for dinner at Wendy's, then we explore some other nooks and crannies near Discovery Park. It is good exercise for me, and it is totally fun trying to figure out the clues with Uncle Gordon. I also see some parts of the city that I'm sure I wouldn't see otherwise.

We go back home a little discouraged, but we are also excited to wait until midnight for the 9th clue, which is bound to be helpful. Will we go out at midnight, or wait until dawn? Or might someone have already found the medallion that night?

It turns out that someone does find the medallion shortly before midnight. (There was a minor but moot scandal about how that happened.) And Uncle Gordon and I are totally wrong on the medallion's location: it was miles away in some other park!

Overall, I had a great time: learning about the city, exploring, exercise, free food, humility, and bonding with Uncle Gordon. And, I had an honest chance at finding the medallion, but it cost me only a day rather than a whole week. (Poor Uncle Gordon! But I know it was fun for him. :-)

I know Minneapolis has a similar annual search, and I imagine other cities do as well. For those in SF, there's always the Chinese New Year Treasure Hunt!

Voting, roots

I just finished filling out my absentee ballot for the upcoming elections . . . as a Washington resident! Even though I don't know how long I will be in Seattle, I didn't want to be here with the mindset of a wanderer. The basis is a sermon I heard, during grad school, based on Jeremiah 29:4-7:

This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."

At that time I recall doing the opposite of the above verses: I was mostly ignoring the people I would encounter every day, the vast majority of whom were students like I was. I was just there to do research, get my degree, and yes have idle fun, but really it was a stepping stone. Not a cornerstone. I definitely was not trying to put down roots, either physically or relationally. The reality was that school was a temporary place for me and most of the others. Every year, most students seemed to leave and new students replaced them.

Long story short, I found my attitude and perspective changing. And I was much happier. Not only was I getting to know a lot more people--some better than others, some still friends and some I've lost touch with--but I was less of an overanalyzing, selfish person. I hated how my mind would think, "It would be better for you to get to know this person instead of that person, because of such-and-such." Or how I would go places for a week and put up these walls because I didn't think it would be worth really getting to know people there.

This attitude check transformed my actions at Caltech, in Minnesota, in SF, and now in Seattle. And I am very grateful, even though I have continued to move around frequently. So, even though I might leave Seattle in any given month, I have updated all my personal info to here, including my car and voter registration. And I want to get to know my neighbors better.

FYI, if you want to know whom I voted for, anyone should feel free to e-mail me.

Mary and Mom visit!

From Mary and Mom visiting!

My sister, Mary, came all the way from England to visit for an extended weekend! (I think she had frequent flyer miles that needed to be used.) Mom flew in from Seattle, so it was the first time in several years that the relatives here got to see all three of us at once.

In a couple of months, Mary will get her Ph.D. from Cambridge University. (The emphasis is on the Old Testament, I think.) I haven't yet heard what Mary will do afterward or where she will go. Stay tuned!

Car hopping

So I am renting a room in my cousin Jason's condo. It seems like a good setup so far, and we both are learning more about each other. Jason is in the Army Reserve, and he left today for a month of training and vacation.

The condo complex has 17 units but only 6 assigned parking spaces. However, there is ample street parking. What is really funny is that Jason's condo has 2 assigned spaces! Jason has only one car, but I think he doesn't want to deal with the hassle/liability of renting out his other space. Anyway, every day Jason parks so as to occupy both of his spaces:

From Jason's car

Can you imagine parking that way at work or in SF? :-) One might get a ticket and many dirty looks. Of course, the work and SF spaces don't belong to us. And Jason would want me to point out that he can back out of the parking garage more quickly this way.

Jason did offer to rent me his second parking space (I guess 'cause we're cousins :-), but I declined because I need to watch my budget.

Also, on the freeway this week, Jason and I witnessed a strange accident:

From Accident on freeway

Yes, the red Corvette has somehow slipped underneath the Mercedes! A bunch of cars had stopped suddenly, but the red Corvette was a little late. We saw its hood fly off; it is on the ground on the right side. I can only imagine how scary the accident was for both the guys in the Corvette, and for the woman in the Mercedes! Thankfully, it looked like no one was seriously hurt.