Thursday, September 24, 2009

<3 Amazon


Cool experience:

I ordered a text book from Amazon, but accidentally shipped it to my parents house in Pleasant Hill. Realizing my mistake a day before the scheduled delivery, I called Amazon's customer service center, where I was told that it was too late to reroute the delivery. They kindly informed me that once a delivery attempt was made I could call UPS to have them reship the package to my Stanford address and Amazon would cover the costs. "Wow," I thought. "That's pretty cool."

Today, I called home and told them what was going down with my package and later in the day my mom called back to tell me that UPS had delivered the book. I called UPS, who told me to call Amazon and have them contact UPS directly. So then I called Amazon back to explain the situation. The lady on the phone told me that once a package is delivered, they can't really do anything about it, but that she would ship another text book to my Stanford address at no charge with one-day delivery. I checked my Amazon account just now, and sure enough, my book is scheduled to come tomorrow and the order balance is $0.00.

That's what I call service.

I plan to try to return the extra copy of the book (the one at my parent's house) to Amazon once I get the chance, but it's really surprising to me that Amazon would go to such lengths to satisfy their customers. Some awful awful people could take advantage of this, but I'm not one of them - consider me a loyal Amazon customer. :)

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Routine

Some things are pretty routine around here. These are two that just popped into my head:

1) The sprinklers in the park outside my window go off at 11:30 PM.
2) The neighbor's baby starts crying for 10-20 minutes pretty much when the sprinklers come on.

I don't know if the baby doesn't like the sound of the sprinklers, or if the neighbors beat their baby every night at 11:30 to toughen him/her up.

You know what's funny? The week before school starts I usually have these nightmares where I can't find my classes or where things keep coming up so I never make it to school. I didn't get them this year, and I don't know if that's a good or bad thing.

This week HAS been busy, though. Orientations all week, went home for a half day, sister's birthday, got a bike, went to the Stanford-SJSU game, and read The Lost Symbol.

This post has been another episode of Ivan's Thought Diarrhea. Wish me luck for my first day at a new school!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Culture Shock


I mentioned how my roommates flew in from India a week ago, and that this is their first time in the US. They do speak perfect English (with an accent -cue Russel Peter's joke), and our conversations have been pretty interesting. Apparently, Stanford has programs to prepare international graduate students for assimilation into the US, giving advice on local slang, etiquette, etc...Some of the things are pretty hilarious:

"'Sick' is a term that can be used in a positive way: 'Man, that car looks so sick!'"
* If you see someone on the street, it's ok to smile and say "Hi."
* Do not eat your roommate's food. Food that is for everyone will be clearly marked.
* Replace the toilet paper roll if it's empty.

There were more, but I can't remember them right now. They do have handouts, though, so I'll try to get them and post some more.

Honestly, I've always seen myself as a tolerant person, but I didn't realize how many false concepts I had about Indian people until I found out who my roommates were. I guess it's a terrible result of hearing jokingly racist comments from the older generation about Indian people. I wouldn't consider my family to be racist because they don't treat people of other races as inferiors, but my Dad and Aunts and Uncles used to make jokes about everyone from Black people to Mexican people to Indian people at "dinner table" settings.

Fortunately, pretty much every preconception I had about Indian people has been destroyed over the past couple days. It's been really sweet living with Jithun and Vivek. I'll ask them about stuff in India, and they'll ask me about things in the US. Like road rules, advice on where to buy things, etc...Plus, we share all our food, so I've been trying the Indian food that they make and they try the Asian/American food that I make. In the words of my sociology professor at CAL, "Everyone is a closet racist, but some of us are recovering."

It's crazy to think that there's a good possibility that I'll be in their situation in a few years. That is, if my dream of living/working/studying in Europe ever comes to pass. I'd be in their situation exactly - able to speak the language somewhat, but immersed in a totally new environment with a different culture, rules, and customs. It's a pretty exciting thought, and I hope the Lord lets it happen.

Culture Shock: "the anxiety and feelings (of surprise, disorientation, uncertainty, confusion, etc.) felt when people have to operate within a different and unknown cultural or social environment, such as a foreign country."

Coming to Stanford is a bit of a culture shock, by the way. It seems like it's its own little bubble, and everything is too "perfect." I don't miss my problems (they're still there, but further in the back of my mind), but I do miss the real, raw environment of Berkeley. I'll admit that Berkeley is its own little bubble, but it seems more genuine than Stanford. Don't ever change, Ivan. I don't want to get too comfortable here.

On a side note, I looked up Stanford's Gospel Choir and they practice on Fridays during my small group meeting time. WAAAAAAA X'(. I miss CAL Gospel Choir.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

It happened

I guess I have to grow up now. I have car payments, rent, health insurance, and I just cooked myself dinner.


Yeah, it's a pretty lame Saturday but I was too tired to do anything after losing sleep to watch the lightning, moving in the morning, getting groceries, driving around the area, and going to the gym. My mom and sister helped me get groceries at a Korean market, so that was pretty cool. It would have been a lot cooler if my sister didn't complain the whole time. I couldn't yell at her, though, because she gave me $100 bucks of her bonus earlier in the day. Love you, Channon!

It's different here (compared to Berkeley), but there are some nice things about the area. There's a lot of green and it's safe to bike, and I have some friends who live/work in the area (you know who you are). Plus, my sister (the complaining nice one I mentioned earlier) is close by and she works like 10 minutes away. One thing I do NOT like, however, is the fact that a lot of the food joints close early here. I just drove for a while and I swear - the only food place open that didn't have a bar-ish element to it was JITB. I don't really do fast food so this could be an issue.

There's an awesome all you can eat Korean BBQ place about 15 minutes away. It's a little pricy, but I definitely want to go sometime: http://www.yelp.com/biz/palace-bbq-buffet-sunnyvale#hrid:P7UBSIsotzZ9bItih04Lqw/src:search/query:korean bbq buffet

On to the room/roommates: It's a little small, and I got a little jacked because I was the last person here. The other two roommates are friends who flew in from India three days ago (hence, the jacked room situation). That alone had the potential to create weird roommate dynamics, but the one I met was pretty nice. The other one is visiting some family in Sunnyvale over the weekend. I'll let you know how things are once we're all here. They're both engineers, by the way - one is EE and the other is MSE.


The bed IS small, but I got a memory foam mattress topper and I brought my old comfy blanket so the sleep should be fine. I set up my room like it was at home:



Wow. I sound really boring. And like a fatty because all I talked about was food for the first half.

Tomorrow my goal is to find/steal a bike. And some new friends who don't have a hope of being as cool as the ones I already have. :)

Friday, September 11, 2009

Ready, Set, Go.

I move to Palo Alto tomorrow. This is going to be a short post, but I just wanted to write something here because I feel great right now. The Lord's really been cherishing me through my friends, family, small group, etc...and I feel like this time at Stanford is going to be really special. Thank you all for everything and being yourself.

I will update after I move there and send you all my address so you can visit me!

I hope my roommates are cool.

Peace.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Lord, You are My Only Goal

Singing session tonight was good. Tested out the mic and audacity's noise removal stuff


Friday, September 4, 2009

I'm really going to miss my dog

My sister's watching her this weekend, but as of next week, I'm really not going to have a dog. Darn Stanford grad housing and its no-pets rule.

I realized it when I came home today and she wasn't there to greet me. She wasn't sitting on the couch, watching for me from the window as I got out of my car, she wasn't at the door waiting as I walked up the steps to my house, and she wasn't jumping around and whining when I got inside.

It was even sadder when I opened a fresh box of cereal after I got home from the gym and she didn't come running out of my room, expecting to get some. Usually she's asleep at this time anyway, but if she hears the cues of my post-gym cereal time, she comes to the kitchen because I always give her some of my Cheerios.


:(

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Bits

So I said that I'd post some things from the Training:

Class 1: The Full Ministry of Christ

The Lord's work to accomplish God's eternal purpose consists of three stages:

1) Incarnation (Most people know about this one) - God became a man, lived a human life for 33 1/2 years, and then died on the cross to redeem us. This was so that we would not be lost in our sins (John 3:16 - "...would not perish, but have eternal life). However, if there was only this stage, then at most we would only be a group of forgiven, cleansed, and justified believers. We could praise and worship God, but not be joined to Him in life and nature. This is why we need the next stage:

2) Inclusion: Here, the Lord operates in our being to make us the same as He is in life and nature. After He resurrected, He breathed into the disciples and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit (John 20:22)." 1 Cor. 15:45 says that the Last Adam became a Life Giving Spirit. This stage enables us to receive the life of the Lord, which allows us to abide in Him and Him to abide in us (John 15:5). This is the fulfillment of John 12:24, which says that the grain of wheat fell into the ground to produce many grains. 2 Cor. 3:18 "But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit."

3) Intensification: At the end of the age, the Lord's work as the Spirit is intensified to fight against the degraded situation. This is why in the book of revelation there are many references to "Seven Spirits (Rev. 3:1)," which can also be translated Seven-Fold Intensified. As the situation in the world gets worse, the Lord intensifies His work so that the Church can shine brighter as His expression on the Earth.

Wednesday Meeting: Stewards of the Mysteries of God - Christ in the Fulfillment of the Old Testament Prophecies

Psalm 102:25-27 "Of old You laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You endure; Indeed all of them will wear out like a garment, like clothing You will change them and they will be changed. But You are the same, and your years are without end."

The fulfillment of this is in Heb. 1:8-12 "But of the Son,...You in the beginning, Lord laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Your hands; They will perish, but You remain perpetually; and they will become old like a garment...but You are the same and Your years will not fail."

One thing I liked about the message is that the focus wasn't on the fulfillment of the prophecy, but on the fact that the Lord is the eternal One. One thing the speaker said was that this word is so encouraging because it shows that we have Someone who is eternal and unchanging. " Persons may change, disappointments may come, dreams may be broken, yet there is the eternal One who is the eternal Life in us, and we can know Him in a subjective way." In a way, it's kind of nice to know that nothing in our circumstances, whether it's good or bad, will last forever. Christ is the only eternal one. If you get a chance, read Isa. 53:1-12. Crazy that that was written about 800 years before the Lord came.

*Interesting fact: Job is probably the oldest book of the bible, written before the Pentateuch ("First" Five books of the bible written by Moses). Evidence: It was definitely written before the Law given in Exodus because of the way Job offered a burnt offering for his children (Job 1:5, compared with Genesis 22:13). Job also had a nomadic lifestyle (Job 1:3), similar to the way in which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived (From the class, The Triune God revealed in His Word).

That's it for now. But there were a lot of riches from the Training so I might put some more things down.