Geez...leave my car alone.

Ugh. My car had super bad luck during this spring break. First of all, a rock hit my windshield, so I had to get that repaired - I didn't want it to spread and have to get the whole thing replaced. Fracture mechanics, anyone?

I was thinking about fixing it myself, so I went to automotive stores in the area to look for windshield repair kits. They were selling them at ACE Hardware for around 20 bucks (a pretty good deal - it costs about $200 to replace Toyota windshields), so I bought one and started to head out the door.

An old man stopped me as I was leaving, and told me that a local car wash place repaired cracks professionally for about $50. "Hmm," I thought. "I think I'm going to check the reviews of this repair kit online and see if they're good. If not, I'll listen to the old man." The reviews were baaaddd, so I took my car to the car wash. To get the window repaired.

They did a really good job! There's a tiny, almost undetectable dent where the rock hit the glass, but the cracks that emanated from the origin are gone. $55. Car wash on the corner of N. Main St. and Treat Blvd (across from the Bev Mo) in Walnut Creek.

The guys (Richard and Salva) who took care of it were really cool! They were Christians, too, so I gave them cards to order free study bibles (check this site out http://www.biblesforamerica.org/). I hope they enjoy that bible as much as I do.

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This is what happened today:

Notice anything missing?

This is more for me (so that I have documentation from the incident while it's fresh in my mind), so there might be a little more detail than you'd care for. I was driving on 680-S at around 6:20 PM, on the way to meet good friends for dinner (review will be posted on yelp.com for Meridian restaurant). Here's a little foretaste, though:

Crawfish Po Boy Sandwich with Fries. Drooollll....

Back to the car. That's pretty much the extent of the damage, by the way. Scratched passenger side windows and body, scratched rims, and missing side view mirror. Good thing you only need two mirrors on a car to drive legally.

This is what happened:

I was in the lane marked with the gray oval on 680-S driving straight (I had been in that lane for about 1 mile, so it's not like we changed lanes at the same time), when a man in the lane to the right of me (entering the freeway) changed lanes into my car. It was a pretty quick impact, which is why I think the damage wasn't that extensive. Both of us were under speed limit because there were still a lot of cars on the road and we were in the right lanes.

We pulled over here at the spot right before the yellow traffic sign:

and exchanged info after I got out of the car on the passenger's side (didn't want to get out on the freeway side). The lady (passenger) in the car got out to take pictures of the damage to our vehicles, which was pretty dangerous of her - the damage was on the driver's side of her vehicle, so she was right next to the lane where cars were going 50-60 MPH. I tapped her on the shoulder and suggested that we pull off the freeway and find a parking lot off the N. Main exit.

We drove to this Motel 6 off of N. Main street, finished taking pictures (good thing I had my digital camera), and then parted ways.

I filed the claim with AAA here in the parking lot, and then went off to Berkeley to wind down with my best CAL friends. It was much needed at that point.

The person who hit my car and his passenger seemed nice, but I sure hope they're honest. It'd be pretty messed up if they tried anything shifty. The things that makes me a little nervous are that they didn't apologize (I guess that's standard in these situations), and that the lady said that she didn't feel anything (regarding the impact of the accident). The accident was strange, too. The way both of our cars were damaged makes it seem like we were almost side-by-side upon impact. He should have seen me if he was planning on changing lanes. I guess I just have to leave this one up to God. He is the "Righteous Judge" or something.

One thing I've been experiencing is that you're a lot less anxious when you let things go and leave the major decisions up to God. Philippians 4:6-7 "In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses every man's understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus."

In any case, this is a hassle. I hope everything goes smoothly *crossing fingers*. I don't like wasted time.

I guess I should thank God that I'm okay (and that the other people are too). Bad things can happen with cars on the freeway. And there were a lot of cars on the freeway when I was driving. So thank you, Lord, for taking care of me.

It's Magic!

Rubber shoe parts are hard to clean. I tried almost everything to get mud/rain stains off of my Pumas (Darn you El Nino!) from biking and walking around in the wet weather, but nothing worked! Even after scrubbing my shoes with a toothbrush and lemon juice/vinegar, they still looked like the picture up top.

That all changed with this little revolutionary product:

Sure, he creeped me out as a kid, BUT he got my shoes clean when nothing else could:



It really is magic.

Lies.

Did your parents ever tell you flat-out lies that you still believe as an adult? I'm not talking about things like the tooth fairy or Santa Claus. The most believable lies are the subtle ones that come in the form of advice.

As I was peeling an apple (I usually eat something right before I go to sleep), I remembered this bit of fatherly wisdom from my dad: "Eating an apple is as good as brushing your teeth."

This makes no sense on so many levels.

I brushed my teeth before I ate that apple just now. And thanks to you, Dad, I have no desire to brush my teeth again. Maybe this is why I had so many cavities growing up.

Doctor, doctor, give me the news

Frightening? Yes, I know. Don't search "bad doctor" on Google, by the way. you'll get some shaddddyyy results.

I made an appointment Monday with the medical center on campus. I started breaking out again - nothing as bad as Freshman year or last year - but I'm paying for school health insurance so I might as well use it, right?

The system is kind of weird. Students need to see not-a-doctor at the student health center on campus first, who either try to treat them, or refer them to doctors at Stanford or nearby hospitals. I guess it saves the school a little money if they don't need to send every student to a doctor, who only needs the treatment of a NP or PA. Anyway, here's what happened:

I was initially pretty impressed by the efficiency of the system - I made an appointment online the night before on a Sunday, got a Monday morning appointment, went in 20 minutes early, and had no wait time. Woot.

The nurse sat me in the room, asked me what I was there for, and then told me that the "doctor" would be with me shortly. He came in, and asked me the same questions. It's been a while since I've gone to a doctor, so I don't remember if this is standard or not. Still, I was a little annoyed because the nurse had already entered the info on the computer.

He checked out my face, which was admittedly awkward, and basically told me that I had a few options: use a lot of topical stuff (He said the more the better, usually. "Uh huh..." I thought), go on antibiotics for 3 months (uh...), or take a referral to see a dermatologist. The antibiotics option sounded shifty, so I asked the not-a-doctor if there were any risks to being on antibiotics for that long of a period of time. In a nutshell, this is how he responded:

"With any treatment there are risks. You could be more susceptible to bacterial infections like pneumonia, and there's a chance the bacteria could become resistant to the antibiotics. I think of it like this." Then he went into a story about how people fight against deforestation, but the rainforests will still be destroyed as long as people need to expand and use tree-products.

"Hmm...Think you can refer me to a dermatologist?" I said.

I hope I didn't offend him, but that was a little too much. Plus, I didn't follow the logic with the rainforest anecdote. The appointment with the dermatologist is this monday. Hope it goes well.

The retreat was good this weekend. I'll share later.

Sigh.

I dunno why, but I just got a wave of homesickness. But for Europe.

I'm gonna sleep to make it go away.

I'm Back!!!

I can't believe it's been over two months since I've posted to this thing. However, my friends (pull a twitter: @jbendo and @kristinedavid) have starting blogging again as part of their yearly tradition around lent, so I caught the blogging bug again too.

Things have been good, but I've been realizing how much I get affected by the weather. I was soooo happy this week when the weather hit 70F at Stanfurd, but I noticed that my mood soured with the arrival of rain this weekend. Boo.

Still, it was awesome seeing good Cal friends while chasing down a MoGo truck on Friday and chillin' afterward at Santana Row. I like how we've kept in contact since graduation.

Research and grad life are still going well - I'm really fitting in with my lab, and we're starting to hang out which is nice. One thing we all got in common is that we like to eat!

Work-wise, I'm going to be starting a project pretty soon involving bonding of meniscus tissue with lasers (photochemically). Currently, torn menisci are stabilized using sutures, thermal methods (which basically melt the tissue), and fibrin glues, which are inadequate because they don't bond the tissue well and/or cause significant tissue damage. A hand surgeon here is also interested in the application, so there's some good potential in this research. So I'm going to be playing with lasers pretty soon. Hope I don't blind myself any worse.



This is going to be a tangent, but it keeps coming up so I'm gonna mention it - it seems like everybody and their mother is trying to hook me up with their daughter or friend! Don't get me wrong - I appreciate it - but I'm in no rush. And I don't think it's because I'm shy either (hence the reference). I just really don't want to mess this up seeing how bad a lot of relationships in my family have turned out. Still, part of me realizes how fortunate some of my friends are to have found perfect matches. I'm just gonna give it a few years before I even start looking. Shouldn't be too hard after I have my Stanford degree, right? JK :p

On another side note, I just got this in the mail the other day. I ordered it because I thought it was kinda cool:

Not for the kiddies, though. Let's just say that it graphically portrays parts like the story of Lot's nasty daughters. I'm still not sure if I should hold onto this, but I caved when I saw it on eBay for 5 bucks.

...Which brings me to another tangent: I thought something was pretty interesting when I was reading my bible. This is from a note in my study bible, paraphrased: In the genealogy of Adam no women are mentioned, but in the genealogy of Christ in Matthew, five are: Mary, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. Only Mary was "pure," while the rest came from sinful backgrounds. Ruth belonged to the tribe of Moab, the fruit of Lot's incestuous relationship with his daughter, yet she was still included in the genealogy of Christ. The note in my bible says that "Regardless of who we are and what our background is, as long as we have a heart that seeks God and His people, we are in a position to be accepted into the birthright of Christ." Cool, huh.

In case you were curious, Tamar committed incest (Gen. 38:6-30), Rahab was a prostitute (Josh. 2), and Bathsheba was an adulteress (2 Sam. 11).

On that happy note, G'night!

Prayer

I hate hearing that people I love are going into surgery. Lord, I know you love this one, but please don't take him yet.

Thankful

I am thankful that my family did not end up fighting at Thanksgiving this year.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY!!!

Save the best for last?

So I've been noticing something I do every morning:

I'll eat oatmeal with brown sugar, and instead of stirring it in I'll let the sugar sit on the top and eat around it. Then when I'm almost finished, I'll start eating the sugary parts and be like, "Ew...this is too sweet" and just throw it away...

So basically I just put sugar on my oatmeal to make it look appetizing.

Week 7 Reflection

Hmm...I wasn't expecting this post to turn out like this, but it looks like it's gonna be another "God-post."

I'm over halfway through my first quarter here, and I'm really liking it. I'm taking classes I want to take, I've made some pretty good friends, I fit in with my lab group, I'm doing cool research looking at the mechanical properties of the knee mensicus, I did really well on my midterms, my advisor's cool, etc...

However, at least twice every week this thought comes to me: "What am I here for?" It's louder than my normal thoughts, so I'm pretty sure it's from the Lord. It's funny because so far the thought has come when I've had accomplishments (I'm going to be co-authoring a paper, for example), when I'm near that point of being stressed about a midterm, or even at random times like when I'm biking home from the gym. I'm still working hard in my classes and on my project because I have to take care of my responsibilities here, but it's kind of interesting to have this new perspective. I never had strong feelings like this when I was at Cal.

On a related note, I just got back yesterday from a retreat for the Christian Students club I joined on campus. The focus was on the heavenly vision the Apostle Paul saw in the book of Acts:

Acts 9:3-6 and as he went, he drew near to Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. And he fell on the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul Saul, why are you persecuting Me? And he said, Who are You, Lord? And He said, I am Jesus, whom you persecute. But rise up and enter into the city, and it will be told to you what you must do.

In just three verses Paul received a revelation of the Lord and His body that governed the rest of his life. That might need a little explanation: Paul (who was called Saul) was a persecutor of the followers of the Lord - he was present at Stephen's stoning - but when he was struck down by the light, the Lord first told him that He was Jesus, and that Paul was persecuting HIM. This shows that the believers are actually the Lord (but not in the Godhead), and that persecuting a believer is the same as persecuting the Lord. If someone keeps punching you on the arm, you'd typically say, "Stop hitting ME," right?

That wasn't even the point that impressed me the most. If you look at Acts 26:13-16, you can read Paul's recounting of the experience to King Agrippa. The way he tells it seems like it happened that day - the account is almost exactly the same as it was in Acts 9 - but the amount of time that passed between Acts 9 and 26 was 25 years. This vision really had an impact on him, and you can see its effect in the way he greets individual believers in his Epistles - he went from someone who killed believers to someone who greeted them by name and blessed them.

These messages brought me to realize that I want significant experiences of the Lord to be burned into me in this way. And I want to keep having new experiences. I know I won't be satisfied with life if I slip back to how I was only a short while ago. It's kind of scary, but it's also motivating me to keep going forward.

Looking back, I'm really glad I went through the things I went through during the last four years - things I haven't told a lot of people - and over this past summer summer. Some things were awful when they were happening (and some things still aren't resolved), but if I didn't go through them, I think I'd be living a meaningless life here at Stanford. I could totally picture a scenario where I got a M.S. degree, landed a good job, worked my butt off for 20 years, and realized at 50 that I wasn't happy. Thank you God.

This is getting a little heavier than I wanted it to be, so I'll stop here.

Random, and a little lighter: Check out this new blog my friends and I started!

bachelor-ette-food.blogspot.com

We'll be posting our recipes there because we're all at that stage where we're experimenting with cooking. Some of us are pretty darn good cooks, too. Stay tuned!