I'm overdue...

...For a post. But I have a good excuse!!!

I've been busy with fellowship applications (which are like grad school apps times three) just in case I end up staying here for the fffffuuuudd (Ph.D). It's my backup plan :). Plus, school picked up, and I started doing research in the Soft Tissue Mechanics Lab here. I'll be looking at mechanical properties of knee meniscus tissue to increase understanding of tearing/degeneration mechanisms. I really like my lab group, and I already feel like I fit in.

Fun stuff. And yes, I'm still happy here. Bible studies on campus, dinners at Jeff's and Phoebe's (a dear believer couple's home), and the fact the Camilo moved here have helped.

I promise that there will be more detail after this app and midterms are done.

Back to hiding under the rock.

Home

First of all, I wanna make/eat this soooo bad. Haha.

Second of all, it's kinda weird being back home for the weekend. My room doesn't quite feel like my room anymore, and I think it's mainly because my pillow and blanket are in Palo Alto. That was a mistake. One thing that was really nice was that my dog was super excited to see me when I came home. I wish I could bring her to school.

Third of all, I spent way too much today. I don't usually shop, but stuff in PA is really expensive and I've just been kinda saving my money. I needed a jacket, warm clothes, and groceries, so I took advantage of the cheap Pleasant Hill prices. Go Grocery Outlet.

Lastly, I just remembered a dream I had last night, which is why I blogged in the first place. I was in a building going down an escalator, and there was a mom with her toddler beside her at the bottom of the escalator. The kid tripped and fell, and I remember thinking something along the lines of "Pick up your kid or else he's gonna get a shoelace or sleeve stuck!" What happened next was pretty weird, though. Instead of getting an article of clothing stuck in the escalator, the bottom stair kinda rolled into the floor and the kid got sucked into/eaten up by the escalator. People were screaming, but a security guard at the bottom was like, "It's okay, Ma'am," (to the mom), "You can pick up your son at the basement."

Uhh....yeah. No comment.

"What do you tell someone with two black eyes?"

-Nothing. You already told his punk@$$ twice.

Bwahahahaha! That was random, I know, but I heard it in a song and had to share it.

Amazon, Continued...

This is a continuation of my previous post:

So I had my mom return the double copy of my linear algebra book to Amazon, and a few days later I got an email from Amazon asking to reply with the total of the shipping charges. Amazon was going to refund them, no questions asked and without receipt proof.

Nice, right?

So I replied with the amount and thought that was the end of this whole issue.

Two weeks later (today) I got another email from Amazon saying that they had received the returned package and had processed a refund to my bank account for the entire amount of the order, plus their estimated shipping costs (total: $158.90).

"Uh..." I thought. "What should I do now?"

Actually, I was a little confused thinking that I was charged for two copies of the book and that I should take the refund, but I checked my bank account and credit card history and I was only charged once. So basically, I could have gotten this linear algebra book for free.

I called Amazon back *sigh* and explained the situation (again). The guy seemed surprised that I called, didn't really know how to process the reversal, and ended up charging me for the cost of the book, without shipping (reversing the refund). So if you were keeping track, I pretty much got a book from Amazon with one day shipping and I didn't have to pay for it. I don't have a prime account.

They realllly do care for their customers.

On the other hand, I think the Lord's testing me. I basically had two chances to get the book for free (or even make a profit off the one I wasn't using). I hope this is the end of the whole fiasco. I'm pretty susceptible to temptation.

<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. :)

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!

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.

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. :)

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.

Lord, You are My Only Goal

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

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.

:(