I think we're finally getting past the major ICC Profile issues here at work. It's starting to come into focus and become more understandable and manageable. For awhile there the color just wasn't coming out consistently from the computer file to the printed file. We created a few media files using Onyx and the i1, mainly on our banner and glossy files, as well as a fabric file. But today the prints were looking very nice, both on banner and our glossy calendar vinyl.
I read a tutorial today on Color Adjustment and how to use the profiles. Although the info was pretty basic, it gives a good foundation on profile usage. From my understanding now, the embedded profile in the file should always be used for accurate output on a printer. If you're not sure what profile to use, then just turn all ICC Profiles ON. This should allow for the best possible color output. Again I say it should be, but sometimes it's just a case by case thing. Sometimes the blue, for instance, might be right on, but the yellow comes out more greenish. We've had this problem more than once and are working to correct that. I'm sure after many tests and trials we will have many issues ironed out. =)
As a side note, I can't believe how bad these fires are down here! I've never had to go through so much smoke before on the way to work. The 241 Toll is open, thank God, but you can see all the smoke passing over so it's not over yet. Down South towards Laguna Niguel it looked pretty black, almost like it does when it's ready to rain, but I imagine it's from all the smoke. I just pray everyone gets out okay and that this all ends pretty soon. These fires definitely make it hotter as well. But this is an emergency so I'm not going to sit and complain about the heat. lol =)
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Smoother than gradients
Today was rather smooth regarding work, only a few prints and designs to work on today along with some inhouse work. The colors were coming out very nice, hardly any reprints needed to be done. I think one of our profiles, the 3001 media profile, is working well even for the fabric print! Odd. We need to get those worked out sometime next week.
I sent a logo to Fixbadart.com because it was way too pixelated to use. Well see how good they are! lol Well, if the saying is true that 'you get what you pay for' then maybe I shouldn't expect impressive work, cause this service is pretty cheap. And if they just try to recreate it by using Livetrace or something, then no, I might have to recreate it myself then. Our client gave the logo to us, which was really meant to be used on the web, not for print. This isn't anything new; we get this all the time. If a customer requests a logo or logos on their banner or print, they just download an internet logo they've dug up on Yahoo image search or something. They don't realize that these logos are very small images for the web, small so they can upload faster when you open the page. On screen they look great. But as a print...not. They need to be much larger. Some logos can 'get by'. I think that this is one very misunderstood subject, perhaps something that should be required to know if anyone is in a position to contract work out that needs to be printed. Things would go alot smoother that way. But then again, as they say, that's what were here for. lol
On a side note...I'm tired. Praise God that I've been waking up ealier cause if I hadn't this morning, I would have either been late or just made it to work! Apparently a rig jackknifed on the 71 fwy right by the 91 entrance. Had I not been aware of this, I would have been sitting there, for awhile. So I made a little detour through Carbon Canyon to Imperial, then to the 91 and onto the 241. And I was still a half an hour early and was able to take my time without rushing. That needs to be my motivation too, just knowing the benefits of leaving early and not having to rush like I have for so many years in the past! So now if I get into RSM an hour early or so, I just go to Starbucks and read or do some work on my laptop. It gets my mind going and ready for the day, rather than coming in at the last minute or late and thinking 'I hope I don't get in trouble'. So yeah...it's good.
I also started a small class called Christians at Work last Monday. It's a class focusing on applying workplace ethics from a Christian perspective. I'm not sure exactly what we'll learn so it's hard to really explain what it's going to teach us. On Monday we learned about committment in different areas of work. I have to be honest, I didn't really get alot out of the teaching. Maybe I just need to delve into it and understand it more simply perhaps. Maybe I'm looking for more of a strategy to put into motion, or simple steps to apply at work. It didn't seem real focused for me. Maybe my expectations were too high? Not sure. I like getting feedback, so I could ask others in the class what they got out of it. Maybe I'm missing something so simple here, expecting too much. Well, I'll just hope for the best. It has something like 3 five week sessions so there's plenty to learn still. Ahhh...patience, patience. =)
I sent a logo to Fixbadart.com because it was way too pixelated to use. Well see how good they are! lol Well, if the saying is true that 'you get what you pay for' then maybe I shouldn't expect impressive work, cause this service is pretty cheap. And if they just try to recreate it by using Livetrace or something, then no, I might have to recreate it myself then. Our client gave the logo to us, which was really meant to be used on the web, not for print. This isn't anything new; we get this all the time. If a customer requests a logo or logos on their banner or print, they just download an internet logo they've dug up on Yahoo image search or something. They don't realize that these logos are very small images for the web, small so they can upload faster when you open the page. On screen they look great. But as a print...not. They need to be much larger. Some logos can 'get by'. I think that this is one very misunderstood subject, perhaps something that should be required to know if anyone is in a position to contract work out that needs to be printed. Things would go alot smoother that way. But then again, as they say, that's what were here for. lol
On a side note...I'm tired. Praise God that I've been waking up ealier cause if I hadn't this morning, I would have either been late or just made it to work! Apparently a rig jackknifed on the 71 fwy right by the 91 entrance. Had I not been aware of this, I would have been sitting there, for awhile. So I made a little detour through Carbon Canyon to Imperial, then to the 91 and onto the 241. And I was still a half an hour early and was able to take my time without rushing. That needs to be my motivation too, just knowing the benefits of leaving early and not having to rush like I have for so many years in the past! So now if I get into RSM an hour early or so, I just go to Starbucks and read or do some work on my laptop. It gets my mind going and ready for the day, rather than coming in at the last minute or late and thinking 'I hope I don't get in trouble'. So yeah...it's good.
I also started a small class called Christians at Work last Monday. It's a class focusing on applying workplace ethics from a Christian perspective. I'm not sure exactly what we'll learn so it's hard to really explain what it's going to teach us. On Monday we learned about committment in different areas of work. I have to be honest, I didn't really get alot out of the teaching. Maybe I just need to delve into it and understand it more simply perhaps. Maybe I'm looking for more of a strategy to put into motion, or simple steps to apply at work. It didn't seem real focused for me. Maybe my expectations were too high? Not sure. I like getting feedback, so I could ask others in the class what they got out of it. Maybe I'm missing something so simple here, expecting too much. Well, I'll just hope for the best. It has something like 3 five week sessions so there's plenty to learn still. Ahhh...patience, patience. =)
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Rush Hour 1
The end of my workday was interesting to say the least. It went from bad, to what I thought would be worse, to...everything is okay. lol Seriously, I thought at one point one of my coworker was gonna hear some nasty words from my boss. Basically, we're installing some pretty large graphics on a van tomorrow morning. We needed to laminate the graphics and lately it hasn't been going so well. So we went forward with that this afternoon and sure enough, it wrinkled up! We were all discouraged cause when you print the graphic, you have to give it a day to dry, then you can laminate it. Well, a call came from our client all ready to come down tomorrow and anxious before we could see how the laminate was going to go, so I just told him to stick to the plan and come down. My coworker told my boss what happened, then I talked to him and convinved him to set up the cut vinyl for the van since we had the colors. It wouldn't exactly match the digital graphics but it was getter than nothing! He agreed and I went forward in setting up the design for cutting.
Soon after, my coworker actually called the client himself and told him what was going on, without my boss's consent. This is where it got scary! lol Cause now the client is going to here from both of them and at that point I thought 'he's going to hear from my boss for going behind his back on this.' Suddenly he asks me to talk to the client about what we're planning to do, cause I guess he wasn't understanding my coworker (he has a bit of an accent and tends to stutter a bit when he talks, so when he tries to explain something, 10 words turn into 50, if you get what I'm saying). So I explained it to him and he finally understood. What's funny is, he wanted the cut vinyl in the first place rather than the digital print with all the white space around it. Personally, I agree with him. But...it was my boss's call on that one. But honestly, having white blocks of graphics on your car...can look very tacky! Having clean cut letters on your car is much cleaner, so I've been doing a bit of thinking as to how to resolve this issue, and I have some ideas. I do hope that my boss becomes more open to cut vinyl. It's the franchise that's pushing the digital graphics so much, so that's why he insists on using it, but let's use it on applications where the end result it at least aesthetically nice to look at! Honestly, it just doesn't look good, and I think we need to have a meeting about this soon.
So anyhow, after I hang up with the client, I proceed to finish setting up the graphics. Meanwhile, my coworker is printing another set of the graphics, thinking the cut vinyl isn't a great idea, but I'm working according to boss's orders, not his. lol Well, when I'm about finished, I decided not to print anything until the morning, and thank God cause minutes later my boss called his cell phone and told us to hold off on cutting the vinyl: we're going to apply the graphics WITHOUT laminate. Okaaay. Well, at least this is just a temporary solution until we find out what's wrong with our laminator. Apparently my boss convinced him to stay with the graphics. But see, what's gets me is, why would you convince your customer to stay with an application he doesn't like?! That's just wrong! That same customer told me he actually wanted to cut vinyl in the first place, and that people were making remarks about how bad the graphics looked with all that white space around it. So...I'm wondering what was said, and I'm sure I'll hear it tomorrow. But I do admit one thing: I was actually relieved when he told us that, cause at that moment the pressure was off. We would have had one busy morning weeding and taping all that vinyl, that's for sure. Nevertheless, I was all ready to tackle this! lol I was.
well, one nice reward from all this drama was getting a few hours of OT, which I could definitely use. Overall, today wasn't too busy. At the same time, I was a little grieved cause I feel like the work isn't being done as effiently as it could be. For instance, a few small banners were only half finished when she came in to pick them up. I couldn't help but shake my head knowing it didn't get done, cause we had plenty of time to do it. (When I say 'we' I mean my coworkers. lol This might sound selfish, but we have a system going and that was their responsibility) I think we're going to have to have a end-of-the-week summary of how the sytem has been working. It's been a little sluggish from what I can tell so far. I hate to point any fingers and I even want to say 'we' need to pick up the pace, and sure I can always use a little improvement on my part. But the fact is, that's not the issue, and I or we need to address these issues of inefficiency soon or none of us will be working cause there won't be a business to work at. I know that sounds drastic, and yeah...it's probably not that bad. But this isn't the kind of business where you can sit and talk while you're on the computer. It's run by being productive, and it's hard to be productive when to much talking is going on, especially when it's being directed at you! So...all I can say is, it'll be interesting to see how things play out in the next few months, and to see if this can be a reality. I hope so. I really do.
We're all learning from each other, and that is a huge plus! So I'm confident that this CAN work well if we're willing to work together as a team.
Well...hope all goes well tomorrow. I'm interested in knowing what was said behind the scenes! hehe I'll soon find out.
Nite =)
Soon after, my coworker actually called the client himself and told him what was going on, without my boss's consent. This is where it got scary! lol Cause now the client is going to here from both of them and at that point I thought 'he's going to hear from my boss for going behind his back on this.' Suddenly he asks me to talk to the client about what we're planning to do, cause I guess he wasn't understanding my coworker (he has a bit of an accent and tends to stutter a bit when he talks, so when he tries to explain something, 10 words turn into 50, if you get what I'm saying). So I explained it to him and he finally understood. What's funny is, he wanted the cut vinyl in the first place rather than the digital print with all the white space around it. Personally, I agree with him. But...it was my boss's call on that one. But honestly, having white blocks of graphics on your car...can look very tacky! Having clean cut letters on your car is much cleaner, so I've been doing a bit of thinking as to how to resolve this issue, and I have some ideas. I do hope that my boss becomes more open to cut vinyl. It's the franchise that's pushing the digital graphics so much, so that's why he insists on using it, but let's use it on applications where the end result it at least aesthetically nice to look at! Honestly, it just doesn't look good, and I think we need to have a meeting about this soon.
So anyhow, after I hang up with the client, I proceed to finish setting up the graphics. Meanwhile, my coworker is printing another set of the graphics, thinking the cut vinyl isn't a great idea, but I'm working according to boss's orders, not his. lol Well, when I'm about finished, I decided not to print anything until the morning, and thank God cause minutes later my boss called his cell phone and told us to hold off on cutting the vinyl: we're going to apply the graphics WITHOUT laminate. Okaaay. Well, at least this is just a temporary solution until we find out what's wrong with our laminator. Apparently my boss convinced him to stay with the graphics. But see, what's gets me is, why would you convince your customer to stay with an application he doesn't like?! That's just wrong! That same customer told me he actually wanted to cut vinyl in the first place, and that people were making remarks about how bad the graphics looked with all that white space around it. So...I'm wondering what was said, and I'm sure I'll hear it tomorrow. But I do admit one thing: I was actually relieved when he told us that, cause at that moment the pressure was off. We would have had one busy morning weeding and taping all that vinyl, that's for sure. Nevertheless, I was all ready to tackle this! lol I was.
well, one nice reward from all this drama was getting a few hours of OT, which I could definitely use. Overall, today wasn't too busy. At the same time, I was a little grieved cause I feel like the work isn't being done as effiently as it could be. For instance, a few small banners were only half finished when she came in to pick them up. I couldn't help but shake my head knowing it didn't get done, cause we had plenty of time to do it. (When I say 'we' I mean my coworkers. lol This might sound selfish, but we have a system going and that was their responsibility) I think we're going to have to have a end-of-the-week summary of how the sytem has been working. It's been a little sluggish from what I can tell so far. I hate to point any fingers and I even want to say 'we' need to pick up the pace, and sure I can always use a little improvement on my part. But the fact is, that's not the issue, and I or we need to address these issues of inefficiency soon or none of us will be working cause there won't be a business to work at. I know that sounds drastic, and yeah...it's probably not that bad. But this isn't the kind of business where you can sit and talk while you're on the computer. It's run by being productive, and it's hard to be productive when to much talking is going on, especially when it's being directed at you! So...all I can say is, it'll be interesting to see how things play out in the next few months, and to see if this can be a reality. I hope so. I really do.
We're all learning from each other, and that is a huge plus! So I'm confident that this CAN work well if we're willing to work together as a team.
Well...hope all goes well tomorrow. I'm interested in knowing what was said behind the scenes! hehe I'll soon find out.
Nite =)
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Rainy Days are Here Again
I woke up to the sound of rain this morning. It was nice to hear after all that heat we had for awhile, and today is the first day I actually wore my sweater to work cause it was still sprinkling when I left for work. Ahhh...so refreshing. :) I just love the rain and cool weather, it's just so nice and refreshing. Later on it did clear up a bit and the sun came out for awhile, but it was still cool outside.
Today we weren't concentrating so much on the ICC Profiles, mainly because our printer was down. The lever that locks the media into place pretty much broke down finally. It sounded like it kept slipping and grinding the wheels for awhile. I think it all started when some banner material got jammed one day. When we tried to get it out by lifting the lever, I heard it 'crack' when trying to do so but I was hoping it would be okay. So much for that. The tech guy was supposed to come this morning and fix it but was delayed until tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, we got the new parts for the lever today. So...tomorrow morning will be interesting. I know everyone will pretty much be watching him closely cause that's just the kind of people I work with: they're all love to learn new things and meticulously at that! I'll probably just finish up some designs and not worry about it. lol Cause we got some new orders in this afternoon so I'll be busy enough.
I got to hear my boss and coworker go at it for awhile about the phone systems. Like I said before, my coworker likes to try and figure every aspect out himself very meticulously without resorting to getting 'outside help'. He kinda sorta reminds me of myself not too long ago, cause I would never ask for anyone else's help in the past. I'd just try to figure it out myself, which caused all kinds of problems. I had to realize that I can't do it ALL myself, that there are other people with other skills that I need to depend on or rely on. It goes alot smoother that way. But yeah, after hearing the whole analysis, I could tell that even my boss, who has a background in Engineering and knows how to be meticulous himself, was getting tired of hearing all the details. I was getting tired of hearing all the details! lol So he told him to just cut to the chase, and get some answers from the phone company who can answer those unknowns for him. And whenever he said this he would just reply with "Well this..." or "Well that...". Yes, it was getting irritating. So I finally grabbed the phone and said "I'll call them for crying out loud! geeez!" lol I'm kidding. I wouldn't get that drastic about it. But honestly I almost stepped out of the room for a sec just to get some peace while they discussed that whole issue.
lol I just had a thought: I should record these discussions, post them, or something. lol
Anyhow, other than that I just spent the evening cleaning up my small piles of paper that lie here and there. I may use my MSN Live Space to help promote Onoma, but not as aggressively. A friend of mine Im'ed me this week and wanted to get together this week and get my site going for me, which would be very nice, and just catch up on things in general. Haven't talked to him for some time.
*You know how I have all my links here on this site and use this site as a kind of 'base' for my other sites? It would be nice to have a site intended for that sort of thing. A site that truly links all your sites in such a way where you can see your daily activity that's going on, where it's all interactive and works in a synchronized way, like how MSN Money works with a person's bank account and updates it constantly. I've been even thinking of designing such a site. I should ask my friend, he used to be a web designer so he would be the right person to do such a project with. But that would be such a coool site, cause honestly, between Blogger, MySpace, Ringo and other personal sites, there's not one that I prefer over another so much. It would be nice to combine some of the aspects of one with another, and even be able to set the interface the way you like, whether having just a blog upfront, or your profile, or friends or whatever: you're in charge of it and have many options to display it the way you want. And like I said, it's all interactive and linked to any other sites you have, whether MySpace, a business site, Blogger, Ringo, Yahoo 360, MSN Live Space...whatever, it's all about who you are and what's going on in your life, kind of like a 3D picture of your life in one space, you see what I'm saying?
And this site wouldn't be just another site with links to sites. I mean, this would be THE site to have, almost like a must for all people, almost like having Windows is a must to run a PC. I would even venture to say that this site is, how can I put this...like, and just open your mind for a sec...a site where you log on with your thumbprint to get in, a totally secure site that's screen-activated even, or you'll need to verify yourself to get in, cause in it is also your personal stuff like bank acct info and other information. See...it's kind of like a me, but a web-me, that's very interactive, and very secure. So you might be thinking 'are you crazy! Putting all your info on one site? Yeah right!' But see, you can't even access your site without valid, physical info. A hacker can only break into a site with numbers. He can't break into a site without physical info like a thumbprint or eye-scan. We need to have security parameters that go beyond digital encyption, and the site needs to take great care in verifying each piece of info. AND...if someone is trying to hack it and one piece is missing, he's done! Cause when you log in, your location is noted, the webcam is on, and it's all on record and recorded in real time. Geeez...this is almost sounding like Orwell's 1984.
But this might also be sounding like Minority Report as well. But I believe what they portrayed about ID recognition and how it will be in the future will also be the way to find better security online. Cause no one else has your thumbprint. No one else has your eye pattern. There's ONE you, and no one else is. We need to find a security system that enables such recognition whenever someone tries to steal someone else's identity, and honestly I'm surprised they haven't yet! I can't believe that if someone uses your identity that when it's entered into the system that a red flag doesn't goes up. Either they're bypassing the system, or our system is sorely lacking still in ID recognition. Or...it's all a conspiracy. lol Well...I believe such a system is rapidly coming because of all this chaos.
For now, however, it would be nice to have a simplified site of this...web-me. Or E-me. Or Eme. lol MyWeb would be boring. Something catchy but also has a tone of importance, of professionalism. The interface alone will speak for itself and will command a very serious and interactive tone. It will ask for you to log in in the likes of logging into your computer, but this is for online logging, not computer. An OnlineLog, or OneLog. I love making up words! lol Or maybe just OL. Oh wait, that means Organizational Leadership. Darn! haha See, Blogger is for blogging mainly and showing pics, MySpace and LiveSpace are mostly for friends and pics as well and fun. What about a professional space for serious users, who are willing to pay for such a site?! In fact, the way it's set up would be worth paying for. Hmmm...not totally sure how that would go over, the paying part I mean. It could just be free and maintained by Advertisers I suppose. Oh...and it would have an awesome help mechanism similar to MSN's Spleak, but alot more advanced. Instead of sitting there searching for something online for hrs, this helper would search the databases for you very specifically and would understand your question. I tried doing that with Spleak...doesn't work. She understands key words and seems to respond to them in with predetermined answers. But I think they're working on improving her.
Anyhow my mind needs a rest. Oh...one more thing and I think this is a great idea, just to put out there. We're working with a Reflexologist and doing her window graphics and also doing her car doors as well. Her thing is, she realizes that people can't afford 100's of dollars on a chiropractic or massage therapist or even for what she does. The pricetag alone stops people from going. So...she thought of making it more affordable by bringing down the price to just $49/month! And she's liscenced and a specialist, so for her to do that is just awesome. I would even go for that price! And I might cause my tail bone is still bothering me. But I just thought, that's awesome, and I'm sure she will get more clients that way.
Alright it's that time. Nite for now. =)
Today we weren't concentrating so much on the ICC Profiles, mainly because our printer was down. The lever that locks the media into place pretty much broke down finally. It sounded like it kept slipping and grinding the wheels for awhile. I think it all started when some banner material got jammed one day. When we tried to get it out by lifting the lever, I heard it 'crack' when trying to do so but I was hoping it would be okay. So much for that. The tech guy was supposed to come this morning and fix it but was delayed until tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, we got the new parts for the lever today. So...tomorrow morning will be interesting. I know everyone will pretty much be watching him closely cause that's just the kind of people I work with: they're all love to learn new things and meticulously at that! I'll probably just finish up some designs and not worry about it. lol Cause we got some new orders in this afternoon so I'll be busy enough.
I got to hear my boss and coworker go at it for awhile about the phone systems. Like I said before, my coworker likes to try and figure every aspect out himself very meticulously without resorting to getting 'outside help'. He kinda sorta reminds me of myself not too long ago, cause I would never ask for anyone else's help in the past. I'd just try to figure it out myself, which caused all kinds of problems. I had to realize that I can't do it ALL myself, that there are other people with other skills that I need to depend on or rely on. It goes alot smoother that way. But yeah, after hearing the whole analysis, I could tell that even my boss, who has a background in Engineering and knows how to be meticulous himself, was getting tired of hearing all the details. I was getting tired of hearing all the details! lol So he told him to just cut to the chase, and get some answers from the phone company who can answer those unknowns for him. And whenever he said this he would just reply with "Well this..." or "Well that...". Yes, it was getting irritating. So I finally grabbed the phone and said "I'll call them for crying out loud! geeez!" lol I'm kidding. I wouldn't get that drastic about it. But honestly I almost stepped out of the room for a sec just to get some peace while they discussed that whole issue.
lol I just had a thought: I should record these discussions, post them, or something. lol
Anyhow, other than that I just spent the evening cleaning up my small piles of paper that lie here and there. I may use my MSN Live Space to help promote Onoma, but not as aggressively. A friend of mine Im'ed me this week and wanted to get together this week and get my site going for me, which would be very nice, and just catch up on things in general. Haven't talked to him for some time.
*You know how I have all my links here on this site and use this site as a kind of 'base' for my other sites? It would be nice to have a site intended for that sort of thing. A site that truly links all your sites in such a way where you can see your daily activity that's going on, where it's all interactive and works in a synchronized way, like how MSN Money works with a person's bank account and updates it constantly. I've been even thinking of designing such a site. I should ask my friend, he used to be a web designer so he would be the right person to do such a project with. But that would be such a coool site, cause honestly, between Blogger, MySpace, Ringo and other personal sites, there's not one that I prefer over another so much. It would be nice to combine some of the aspects of one with another, and even be able to set the interface the way you like, whether having just a blog upfront, or your profile, or friends or whatever: you're in charge of it and have many options to display it the way you want. And like I said, it's all interactive and linked to any other sites you have, whether MySpace, a business site, Blogger, Ringo, Yahoo 360, MSN Live Space...whatever, it's all about who you are and what's going on in your life, kind of like a 3D picture of your life in one space, you see what I'm saying?
And this site wouldn't be just another site with links to sites. I mean, this would be THE site to have, almost like a must for all people, almost like having Windows is a must to run a PC. I would even venture to say that this site is, how can I put this...like, and just open your mind for a sec...a site where you log on with your thumbprint to get in, a totally secure site that's screen-activated even, or you'll need to verify yourself to get in, cause in it is also your personal stuff like bank acct info and other information. See...it's kind of like a me, but a web-me, that's very interactive, and very secure. So you might be thinking 'are you crazy! Putting all your info on one site? Yeah right!' But see, you can't even access your site without valid, physical info. A hacker can only break into a site with numbers. He can't break into a site without physical info like a thumbprint or eye-scan. We need to have security parameters that go beyond digital encyption, and the site needs to take great care in verifying each piece of info. AND...if someone is trying to hack it and one piece is missing, he's done! Cause when you log in, your location is noted, the webcam is on, and it's all on record and recorded in real time. Geeez...this is almost sounding like Orwell's 1984.
But this might also be sounding like Minority Report as well. But I believe what they portrayed about ID recognition and how it will be in the future will also be the way to find better security online. Cause no one else has your thumbprint. No one else has your eye pattern. There's ONE you, and no one else is. We need to find a security system that enables such recognition whenever someone tries to steal someone else's identity, and honestly I'm surprised they haven't yet! I can't believe that if someone uses your identity that when it's entered into the system that a red flag doesn't goes up. Either they're bypassing the system, or our system is sorely lacking still in ID recognition. Or...it's all a conspiracy. lol Well...I believe such a system is rapidly coming because of all this chaos.
For now, however, it would be nice to have a simplified site of this...web-me. Or E-me. Or Eme. lol MyWeb would be boring. Something catchy but also has a tone of importance, of professionalism. The interface alone will speak for itself and will command a very serious and interactive tone. It will ask for you to log in in the likes of logging into your computer, but this is for online logging, not computer. An OnlineLog, or OneLog. I love making up words! lol Or maybe just OL. Oh wait, that means Organizational Leadership. Darn! haha See, Blogger is for blogging mainly and showing pics, MySpace and LiveSpace are mostly for friends and pics as well and fun. What about a professional space for serious users, who are willing to pay for such a site?! In fact, the way it's set up would be worth paying for. Hmmm...not totally sure how that would go over, the paying part I mean. It could just be free and maintained by Advertisers I suppose. Oh...and it would have an awesome help mechanism similar to MSN's Spleak, but alot more advanced. Instead of sitting there searching for something online for hrs, this helper would search the databases for you very specifically and would understand your question. I tried doing that with Spleak...doesn't work. She understands key words and seems to respond to them in with predetermined answers. But I think they're working on improving her.
Anyhow my mind needs a rest. Oh...one more thing and I think this is a great idea, just to put out there. We're working with a Reflexologist and doing her window graphics and also doing her car doors as well. Her thing is, she realizes that people can't afford 100's of dollars on a chiropractic or massage therapist or even for what she does. The pricetag alone stops people from going. So...she thought of making it more affordable by bringing down the price to just $49/month! And she's liscenced and a specialist, so for her to do that is just awesome. I would even go for that price! And I might cause my tail bone is still bothering me. But I just thought, that's awesome, and I'm sure she will get more clients that way.
Alright it's that time. Nite for now. =)
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Fun with ICC Profiles!
I didn't realize how fun building color profiles could be until I started working here! lol I'm kidding of course. Today, when I was on lunch, (I usually take my lunch to this lake a few miles away that's situated between homes, condos and a shopping center. Pretty nice.) I was thinking about where I was working before and where I am working now. When I was at America's Instant Signs, I was learning alot about the production/installation aspect of signs and hoping to get in alot of experience while there. Well, that was cut short because of the accident. And now, I'm getting into an area that I have very little knowledge of, mainly digital printing and application. See, at AIS I was fairly confident working with Flexisign, cutting, weeding & taping and applying vinyl on pretty much every substrate. Now, at SignsNow, it's pretty much all digital prints, which is a whole new area, cause the printing and application and setting up are pretty different. With regular vinyl, setting it up for application is very easy and manageable. With digital vinyl, setting up is a little trickier for application in order to line it up straight, PLUS getting the colors right is whole 'nother ball game! And that's what were doing at work right now, creating new profiles for the media we have and fine tuning the color linearization and everything. My coworker is all into it, he's more a techie than I am and likes to get pretty meticulous. But today when work was done, he was still talking about this stuff and inside I was thinking 'okay, enough already, too much info today, I just want to take a break from this stuff!' Seriously, after 5pm, I was done! lol Yeah, I still stayed a bit to finish up, but it's a little hard to wrap up your day when someone is talking to you at the same time about technicalities. But, I tried to make an effort cause it IS important, yeah.
Anyhow, all that to say I'm really being challenged with this new system of production. But at the same time, I'm growing, and that's what I'm stoked about! I admit, I'm thankful that I'm not just doing the same 'ole every day and learning nothing new. These challenges are helping me, indeed God is helping me, get to where I want to be: in a management position. That's ultimately my plan and desire. I believe He knew that when He put me in the Organizational Leadership program at Biola. He knows what He's doing. :) So I knew it wasn't a coincidence when my boss, the owner, told me he wanted me to be in charge of the production part of the morning meetings. I basically have to let everyone know what's on the agenda for the day. Believe me, at first it was hard to hear, but I knew this was a much needed step I needed to take.
Speaking of ICC profiles, I've been learning quite a bit about profiling a new media from scratch, which we're doing right now. We're using the Onyx Postershop RIP application along with the HP 8000s printer. I downloaded the instructions from our SignsNow site, which is actually on the Onyx site. While going through it we realized that it isn't very thorough. For example, if after doing a scan of the Advanced grayscale chart, the linearization has all kinds of spikes and such and cannot be built, there are no instructions on what to do at that point. Do we start all over again or what? So we had to do some research on these things. We have plenty of support with SignsNow on these issues, but...my cooworker is just very adament about solving this problem by himself! But my thought is, instead of trying to figure out every single corner before we get it right and spending hrs doing it, why not call for support and get it right with someone who knows what they're talking about! Seriously, he's almost...stubborn about it. But he's the kind of guy who just wont give in. But...we need to get this figured out or we're going to be on this ALL WEEK! Anyhow, notwithstanding the venting here, it's actually been both a challenging as well as a good learning experience.
Tomorrow will be an interesting day and I hope we get at least one media profile finished and ready to go, that would be nice in itself.
A quick side note: today was actually the coldest day since Summer now! I'm not sure what the temp was, but when I left this morning for work it was nice and cool for the first time in awhile, and tonite it's been windy and actually COLD. Most of today was overcast so I think that helped to cool it down. But it seems to me that after that scalding Labor Day which seemed like the hottest day of the year so far, it's been cooling down, which is just...wonderful. =)
Anyhow, all that to say I'm really being challenged with this new system of production. But at the same time, I'm growing, and that's what I'm stoked about! I admit, I'm thankful that I'm not just doing the same 'ole every day and learning nothing new. These challenges are helping me, indeed God is helping me, get to where I want to be: in a management position. That's ultimately my plan and desire. I believe He knew that when He put me in the Organizational Leadership program at Biola. He knows what He's doing. :) So I knew it wasn't a coincidence when my boss, the owner, told me he wanted me to be in charge of the production part of the morning meetings. I basically have to let everyone know what's on the agenda for the day. Believe me, at first it was hard to hear, but I knew this was a much needed step I needed to take.
Speaking of ICC profiles, I've been learning quite a bit about profiling a new media from scratch, which we're doing right now. We're using the Onyx Postershop RIP application along with the HP 8000s printer. I downloaded the instructions from our SignsNow site, which is actually on the Onyx site. While going through it we realized that it isn't very thorough. For example, if after doing a scan of the Advanced grayscale chart, the linearization has all kinds of spikes and such and cannot be built, there are no instructions on what to do at that point. Do we start all over again or what? So we had to do some research on these things. We have plenty of support with SignsNow on these issues, but...my cooworker is just very adament about solving this problem by himself! But my thought is, instead of trying to figure out every single corner before we get it right and spending hrs doing it, why not call for support and get it right with someone who knows what they're talking about! Seriously, he's almost...stubborn about it. But he's the kind of guy who just wont give in. But...we need to get this figured out or we're going to be on this ALL WEEK! Anyhow, notwithstanding the venting here, it's actually been both a challenging as well as a good learning experience.
Tomorrow will be an interesting day and I hope we get at least one media profile finished and ready to go, that would be nice in itself.
A quick side note: today was actually the coldest day since Summer now! I'm not sure what the temp was, but when I left this morning for work it was nice and cool for the first time in awhile, and tonite it's been windy and actually COLD. Most of today was overcast so I think that helped to cool it down. But it seems to me that after that scalding Labor Day which seemed like the hottest day of the year so far, it's been cooling down, which is just...wonderful. =)
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Cats have teddy bears too! =)
I saw this on my Devabulator (a widget that shows random images from DeviantArt on my desktop) and just had to post it! It's sooo cute! (Just don't tell anyone I said that lol) Ahhhh...I miss my cat. :( I actually had a dream the other day that there were alot of cats around me, and when I knelt down, one of them just climbed in my arms and layed there. So so nice to dream something like that. I told a friend of mine my dream and she was like 'eww...scary.' lol Well...not everyone is a cat lover unfortunately. hehe =)
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Weekend workout
So today I decided to just relax from all the work I continually stress about, mainly the side projects that I'm trying to finish up so I can concentrate on Onoma more. So I got out and read for a bit, then decided to actually ride my bike at this park where they have a dirt trail going around it. It's a pretty decent workout too cause there are parts that go uphill. I got a little ambitious and decided to tackle one of the hills going from Chino Hills to Diamond Bar. It was just one hill but man...I had to get off and walk for a good 50 yds cause it was a little too much for me! lol But I did okay for not working out for some time now. I tend to overdue it when I start working out again, which is not a good idea since I could burn myself out quickly and get tired of working out anymore. As soon as I get back on track financially, I think I'm going to pay the $25 fee to work out in the apts. They have a pretty decent workout room up front. Plus, I could use it to rehabilitate my arm.
Anyhow, need to get to bed. Think I'm gonna wake up for first service tomorrow, mainly cause, when I go to third service, it's already warm outside, and having hot coffee in warm weather doesn't quite cut it for me. lol No...it's not quite as good when it's hot outside and the sun is beating down on you.
As a side note, I'm thinking that working at Starbucks PT may not be the best idea. I don't know, I just got this uneasy feeling the day I was filling the app out, so I might nix that idear and just concentrate on one job and definitely school. Yeah, that's prolly the best option as of now.
Welp, time for bed. *sigh* I know it will be good for me in the morning. Nite. =)
Anyhow, need to get to bed. Think I'm gonna wake up for first service tomorrow, mainly cause, when I go to third service, it's already warm outside, and having hot coffee in warm weather doesn't quite cut it for me. lol No...it's not quite as good when it's hot outside and the sun is beating down on you.
As a side note, I'm thinking that working at Starbucks PT may not be the best idea. I don't know, I just got this uneasy feeling the day I was filling the app out, so I might nix that idear and just concentrate on one job and definitely school. Yeah, that's prolly the best option as of now.
Welp, time for bed. *sigh* I know it will be good for me in the morning. Nite. =)
Friday, August 10, 2007
Day 5: Last Day of Training
Well, today was the last day of training with a few guys who showed us how to run all of the equipment in the shop. One of the guys was actually from the SignsNow headquarters, who actually stayed the whole week to set up alot of the shop for us regarding how it should look and all, cause it's actually a franchise. Today was probably the most productive day so far. It almost felt like a work day today! lol The week has been very slow cause there hasn't been much to print, but now that the printers are up and running, we're starting to print more, mostly things for the shop to get it ready for business next week. Next week I'm sure we'll be printing more samples for the store on different substrates, or materials, which will finally be nice cause I'll actually be busy being productive. I hate standing around wondering what to do, although I just try to find things to do when that happens.
One thing I'm looking forward to is learning how to do a vehicle wrap. We're going to be offering that, so the owner told me he's probably going to send me to a class to learn how to do that, since the rest of them need to be in the office. It's all hands on training and supposed to be a good class, so yeah, I'm looking forward to that, especially since I have zero experience doing that kind of stuff! Then I suppose I'll be showing everyone back at the shop how to do that as well...maybe, I'm not sure, maybe I'll be the one doing all that stuff. We'll see I guess.
Man I'm tired. I used to stay up so late just a week ago, but now I'm just ready to lay down. I feel like I'm thinking too hard about what to write! lol I may go to a wedding tomorrow night but it's kind of up in the air. I'm definitely going to need to work on finishing up a few designs this weekend, especially so I can work more on Onoma and get things moving a little more. My tees are STILL in the process of getting, well, reprinted, cause the sizes were too big for the guy to print. He has a small setup in his garage to silkscreen shirts, but I'm thinking this might not have been a good idea cause it's taking twice as long as I thought. I'm even thinking of just taking my shirts to an actual shop to get them made. I think this may be too much for him timewise, since he already works and is involved with a band, so, again, we'll see. I'm trying hard to be patient and work with him.
Well, I'm tired. More later. nite. =)
One thing I'm looking forward to is learning how to do a vehicle wrap. We're going to be offering that, so the owner told me he's probably going to send me to a class to learn how to do that, since the rest of them need to be in the office. It's all hands on training and supposed to be a good class, so yeah, I'm looking forward to that, especially since I have zero experience doing that kind of stuff! Then I suppose I'll be showing everyone back at the shop how to do that as well...maybe, I'm not sure, maybe I'll be the one doing all that stuff. We'll see I guess.
Man I'm tired. I used to stay up so late just a week ago, but now I'm just ready to lay down. I feel like I'm thinking too hard about what to write! lol I may go to a wedding tomorrow night but it's kind of up in the air. I'm definitely going to need to work on finishing up a few designs this weekend, especially so I can work more on Onoma and get things moving a little more. My tees are STILL in the process of getting, well, reprinted, cause the sizes were too big for the guy to print. He has a small setup in his garage to silkscreen shirts, but I'm thinking this might not have been a good idea cause it's taking twice as long as I thought. I'm even thinking of just taking my shirts to an actual shop to get them made. I think this may be too much for him timewise, since he already works and is involved with a band, so, again, we'll see. I'm trying hard to be patient and work with him.
Well, I'm tired. More later. nite. =)
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Day 3: New Route
Things are going good albeit slow still. I got to print one whole banner today for the Grand Opening! yay! lol *sigh* I can't wait until we get things rolling and we start seeing customers coming in and out and having things to do. I hate being bored. The good news is, I found a route off the 241 that goes right down to RSM, which is great cause it saves me some money on the toll road, about $2.25 a day! So now I can go to work and back home on the toll road and get reimbursed for the total amount instead of just half, which in nice, cause the owner said he would pay $5/day, which only covers one way, but still that pretty nice of him. I'm just a little hesitant at leaving right after work cause I know it's backed up at the 91 fwy, so I've been taking side streets up through Orange County, which isn't too bad, actually.
Wow, I feel like I hardly have any time at all after work now, er maybe I'm just not using my time wisely. lol Gotta get back into that routine! The owner has been paying for my lunches lately cause we have 'company' at work, mainly guys setting up our equipment and such, but just for this week, which is nice but man...I'm trying to eat better lately so this eating out thing is killing me! lol I've been eating fruit on the drive there, so that's a start. I'm sure next week will be better. I hate eating big meals when I'm working production cause it weighs me down, so I've learned to eat lighter and healthier. I guess I shouldn't complain too much cause it is a nice gesture. I've never had a boss treat me to lunch the first week! I guess my bod can hold out til then. lol =)
Wow, I feel like I hardly have any time at all after work now, er maybe I'm just not using my time wisely. lol Gotta get back into that routine! The owner has been paying for my lunches lately cause we have 'company' at work, mainly guys setting up our equipment and such, but just for this week, which is nice but man...I'm trying to eat better lately so this eating out thing is killing me! lol I've been eating fruit on the drive there, so that's a start. I'm sure next week will be better. I hate eating big meals when I'm working production cause it weighs me down, so I've learned to eat lighter and healthier. I guess I shouldn't complain too much cause it is a nice gesture. I've never had a boss treat me to lunch the first week! I guess my bod can hold out til then. lol =)
Monday, August 06, 2007
Day 1: Unwrapping gifts
My first day at work was good actually. It was pretty slow, however, since this shop is brand-spanking new. The morning was especially slow and I was a little sleepy. I'm not used to getting up at 5:30 am! lol In fact, to be honest, I'm used to almost staying up that late. I know...bad. But things are changing, thank God, for the better. And I'm making the effort to change that. Plus, my body is going to naturally be tired earlier so that's a plus.
Anyhow, yeah, it was quite slow, and all we really did was unwrap our two new printers and the laminater. What's cool is that all three of these pieces of machinery are the largest I've ever worked with, serious. And tomorrow the guy who set up the digital printer today is going to go over them with us, so tomorrow will be more like a training day, so I'm looking forward to that. Also, it's becoming clear to me now that I will be doing the sign-making training for the owner, his wife, his brother, and probably anyone else he hires at this point. Well, that's basically what they hired me for, both to be the sign maker/designer and to train them as well, since they are all new to the company. The owner and his brother are more experienced with computers and sales & marketing, which I plan on learning from them. hehe See...they think they hired me as their designer, when in reality, I decided to join them to get sales & marketing experience. mmhmm...it's all a part of my graaaand plan. Waaahahahaha!!! lol No, actually I think we'll be learning from each other so that's a plus.
Man...this chicken I'm eating, that I cooked last night...I think I over-cooked it cause it's a little tough to chew! Ugh I hate that! I can never get it just right. For some reason I have this fear of under-cooking any meat, whether it be fish, hamburger or chicken, so I cook it a little longer, which pretty much destroys the tenderness after refrigerating the leftovers. I mean it tastes fine the day I cook it, but the leftovers...blah. lol It's okay actually, but not really. That's why whenever I can, I'll just buy the pre-cooked chicken at Staters cause it's nice and tender, and good! I buy that small whole chicken, not the fried chicken. Man, whoever cooks that chicken is awesome! And it lasts almost a week, too.
Anyways, I need to look for some alternate routes right now to see if I can save money on that toll road cause it can add up. Yes, the owner is reimbursing me for a one-way trip, but I could sure save the money this week! Plus, it'll be good to get to know the different routes going down there in case of any major traffic. So until tomorrow...nite. =)
Anyhow, yeah, it was quite slow, and all we really did was unwrap our two new printers and the laminater. What's cool is that all three of these pieces of machinery are the largest I've ever worked with, serious. And tomorrow the guy who set up the digital printer today is going to go over them with us, so tomorrow will be more like a training day, so I'm looking forward to that. Also, it's becoming clear to me now that I will be doing the sign-making training for the owner, his wife, his brother, and probably anyone else he hires at this point. Well, that's basically what they hired me for, both to be the sign maker/designer and to train them as well, since they are all new to the company. The owner and his brother are more experienced with computers and sales & marketing, which I plan on learning from them. hehe See...they think they hired me as their designer, when in reality, I decided to join them to get sales & marketing experience. mmhmm...it's all a part of my graaaand plan. Waaahahahaha!!! lol No, actually I think we'll be learning from each other so that's a plus.
Man...this chicken I'm eating, that I cooked last night...I think I over-cooked it cause it's a little tough to chew! Ugh I hate that! I can never get it just right. For some reason I have this fear of under-cooking any meat, whether it be fish, hamburger or chicken, so I cook it a little longer, which pretty much destroys the tenderness after refrigerating the leftovers. I mean it tastes fine the day I cook it, but the leftovers...blah. lol It's okay actually, but not really. That's why whenever I can, I'll just buy the pre-cooked chicken at Staters cause it's nice and tender, and good! I buy that small whole chicken, not the fried chicken. Man, whoever cooks that chicken is awesome! And it lasts almost a week, too.
Anyways, I need to look for some alternate routes right now to see if I can save money on that toll road cause it can add up. Yes, the owner is reimbursing me for a one-way trip, but I could sure save the money this week! Plus, it'll be good to get to know the different routes going down there in case of any major traffic. So until tomorrow...nite. =)
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Back to work...but somewhere else...
Yes, I'm finally back to work starting on Monday! But, not at America's Signs, as I've probably mentioned. I interviewed with a new sign company in Rancho Santa Margarita a few weeks back, then they called me a week later to offer me the position. The pay is good, the location is nice, and they will reimburse me for the toll road, so I told them 'yes, definitely!' So I start this Monday. Ahhh...I'm actually looking forward to getting back into the routine. I was getting a little lazy there with my time. Plus, weekends just aren't the same when you have every single day off anyways. lol They're just...another day. So yes, definitely looking forward to starting. This is going to be a good place to continue growing in my field while I finish up my Bachelor's, hopefully by next Spring. I just finished my speech class up last week so, I'm getting close!
As I was looking for things to do with Isaiah this weekend and found out online that this was the last weekend of the OC Fair! So I took him on Saturday, just me and him and had a pretty good time. We went into one of those tents that said 'The largest bull' on it and decided to take a look. I wasn't sure if it was just a hoax or something, but when I went inside, oh my gosh! That bull was HUGE! I would post the pics on here if possible, but they didn't really capture how huge this beast was, but let me tell you, it's back stood higher than my head! And it must have been about...at least 15' long, at least. I've never, ever seen a bull that huge, I was pretty much in awe. lol They said it came from a breed of bulls in Italy. There was a guy brushing it the whole time we were there, and it was pretty calm the whole time. I'd imagine if he wasn't brushing it and calming it, that bull might begin to find other things to do, like crush the bars that confined him and tear the tent to shreds! lol I don't doubt it could do that either. Amazing. We also saw a pretty huge horse that was also impressive when I saw it, but after seeing the bull after the horse, the horse really wasn't that impressive...all I could think of was 'that bull was huge!' lol So we had fun, yeah.
I'm telling you, it was HUGE!!!
In other news, I'm finally getting all these side jobs done and out of the way so I can concentrate more on work and my business. I'm actually seriously thinking of taking a PT job at night for awhile, just so I can clean up some debts, especially the Ambulance bill. So I'm just going to apply and see what happens. If not, I'll just continue getting my classes knocked out. I need to call BOLD to see what would happen to F.A. if I wait about 6 months to use it cause I'm not sure. Now that I took Speech, I should qualify for F.A. so...we'll see what happens.
As a side note...uhhh I need to get my wash, that's all I could think of. So away I go! lol =)
As I was looking for things to do with Isaiah this weekend and found out online that this was the last weekend of the OC Fair! So I took him on Saturday, just me and him and had a pretty good time. We went into one of those tents that said 'The largest bull' on it and decided to take a look. I wasn't sure if it was just a hoax or something, but when I went inside, oh my gosh! That bull was HUGE! I would post the pics on here if possible, but they didn't really capture how huge this beast was, but let me tell you, it's back stood higher than my head! And it must have been about...at least 15' long, at least. I've never, ever seen a bull that huge, I was pretty much in awe. lol They said it came from a breed of bulls in Italy. There was a guy brushing it the whole time we were there, and it was pretty calm the whole time. I'd imagine if he wasn't brushing it and calming it, that bull might begin to find other things to do, like crush the bars that confined him and tear the tent to shreds! lol I don't doubt it could do that either. Amazing. We also saw a pretty huge horse that was also impressive when I saw it, but after seeing the bull after the horse, the horse really wasn't that impressive...all I could think of was 'that bull was huge!' lol So we had fun, yeah.
I'm telling you, it was HUGE!!!
In other news, I'm finally getting all these side jobs done and out of the way so I can concentrate more on work and my business. I'm actually seriously thinking of taking a PT job at night for awhile, just so I can clean up some debts, especially the Ambulance bill. So I'm just going to apply and see what happens. If not, I'll just continue getting my classes knocked out. I need to call BOLD to see what would happen to F.A. if I wait about 6 months to use it cause I'm not sure. Now that I took Speech, I should qualify for F.A. so...we'll see what happens.
As a side note...uhhh I need to get my wash, that's all I could think of. So away I go! lol =)
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
That wasn't so bad now was it?
I don't know how, but I actually got some great comments after I presented my speech! That...had to be the Lord, I'm telling you! lol Cause I went up totally unprepared. Basically, I was rushing to get done today (or yesterday, Tuesday) by 6:30pm. My printer needed ink so I had to get out and grab some. I knew that my printer had been acting up for awhile and printing some bad prints, but I was hoping for the best! But nope...I got the WORST prints ever! I couldn't even recognize them they were so bad! And if there's one thing that absolutely ALWAYS happens when I need to get something printed at the last minute...I'm totally serious...it absolutely NEVER FAILS...the printer decides to act up at that very moment! What's with that!? It's like one of those anomolies where the whole town practically shows up at the same time at Starbucks. Why does that happen? And why does my printer or ANY printer for that matter start acting up when you need something desperately!? Anyways, I don't want to drag that out.
So my printer acts up, and I'm heading to class without an outline or visual aid and note cards I barely wrote on. And I'm just praying that the Prof will be ever so kind and let me off the hook today because of my darn printer. But...alas...it was just one of those days where the pressure NEVER lets up! lol So...I just had to make the best of it. I was third to speak, so I wrote down what I retained on those cards, practiced outside while I waited, and what do ya know...I actually did okay, and amazingly I got good feedback. I can't tell you how good that felt! I even told one girl sitting next to me I was totally unprepared, and later she said 'You didn't seem unprepared, you did fine!' All I could say was 'I love you! and give her this huge hug! lol Okay, actually I just said thanks. hehe Ahhh...only in the movies. But yeah, I was sooo relieved after that and even now, it's gonna be nice to go tomorrow and just listen to speeches and drink my coffee. Yes!!!
So now I get to think about a topic for my persuasive speech next week. And believe you me, I WILL be better prepared for that! I'm not going through that again! lol Those are like...grey hair moments. I'm pretty sure I'm seeing more around the front and sides from just all the stress this year alone. Or...maybe I'm just gettin' old. hehe Ummm...I think it's the stress. But yeah, we have a persuasive speech and a demonstration speech left. I was actually thinking, in my own weird-thinking world, of demonstrating how to act like Napolean Dynamite. lol I think that would be hilarious! Grab a wig and some glasses, those 80's pant-things lol and use some words from the movie like 'sweeet' and 'whatever I feel like, gosh!' and jerk my head to the right. lol Eh...maybe if I had lighter skin, I might do that. Well see I guess.
Man, I LOVE this autosave feature! I was all excited a minute ago, cause for some reason nothing was connecting for some reason so I had to close everything and restart, but I was able to cut and paste what I wrote. So when I got back on, I suddenly realized that it had that autosave feature, and lo and behold, it was there as a draft! I was like 'Yes! Thank you autosave! I looove you!' lol Okay I wasn't THAT excited. But I was pretty stoked.
So...I gotta admit here, since no one even reads this except maaaaybe one person...or two, who knows, that there's someone in class I absolutely adore. She sits right in front of me most of the time. I noticed her the first day actually, but I got the feeling that maybe I wouldn't be able to connect with her. But boy was I wrong, cause we talk all the time, which is nice. But...she does have a bf, and she tends to walk out and wait for this guy in class, who, if I remember correctly was already her friend. The thing is...I think he's...gay. His voice is very soft and the way he talks kind of gives it away along with his gestures. But you know what, I've been able to talk to her lately even after class while she waits for him, cause before I would walk with her to the parking lot cause he used to park somewhere else, but now he parks where we do, so I'm still grateful I get to talk with her. I guess I should just accept she's with someone, but it's hard not to think of her cause she's sooo gentle and easy to talk to and yes, she's pretty! lol Well...the Lord knows, and I just need to be patient about that. In fact, it's probably better that I don't get involved right now with everything that's going on. I seem so busy all the time. Maybe I just choose to be busy. lol
I heard it's raining in Oregon right now. I hope it moves down here! I miss it so much. :( God, pleeease bring it! =)
So my printer acts up, and I'm heading to class without an outline or visual aid and note cards I barely wrote on. And I'm just praying that the Prof will be ever so kind and let me off the hook today because of my darn printer. But...alas...it was just one of those days where the pressure NEVER lets up! lol So...I just had to make the best of it. I was third to speak, so I wrote down what I retained on those cards, practiced outside while I waited, and what do ya know...I actually did okay, and amazingly I got good feedback. I can't tell you how good that felt! I even told one girl sitting next to me I was totally unprepared, and later she said 'You didn't seem unprepared, you did fine!' All I could say was 'I love you! and give her this huge hug! lol Okay, actually I just said thanks. hehe Ahhh...only in the movies. But yeah, I was sooo relieved after that and even now, it's gonna be nice to go tomorrow and just listen to speeches and drink my coffee. Yes!!!
So now I get to think about a topic for my persuasive speech next week. And believe you me, I WILL be better prepared for that! I'm not going through that again! lol Those are like...grey hair moments. I'm pretty sure I'm seeing more around the front and sides from just all the stress this year alone. Or...maybe I'm just gettin' old. hehe Ummm...I think it's the stress. But yeah, we have a persuasive speech and a demonstration speech left. I was actually thinking, in my own weird-thinking world, of demonstrating how to act like Napolean Dynamite. lol I think that would be hilarious! Grab a wig and some glasses, those 80's pant-things lol and use some words from the movie like 'sweeet' and 'whatever I feel like, gosh!' and jerk my head to the right. lol Eh...maybe if I had lighter skin, I might do that. Well see I guess.
Man, I LOVE this autosave feature! I was all excited a minute ago, cause for some reason nothing was connecting for some reason so I had to close everything and restart, but I was able to cut and paste what I wrote. So when I got back on, I suddenly realized that it had that autosave feature, and lo and behold, it was there as a draft! I was like 'Yes! Thank you autosave! I looove you!' lol Okay I wasn't THAT excited. But I was pretty stoked.
So...I gotta admit here, since no one even reads this except maaaaybe one person...or two, who knows, that there's someone in class I absolutely adore. She sits right in front of me most of the time. I noticed her the first day actually, but I got the feeling that maybe I wouldn't be able to connect with her. But boy was I wrong, cause we talk all the time, which is nice. But...she does have a bf, and she tends to walk out and wait for this guy in class, who, if I remember correctly was already her friend. The thing is...I think he's...gay. His voice is very soft and the way he talks kind of gives it away along with his gestures. But you know what, I've been able to talk to her lately even after class while she waits for him, cause before I would walk with her to the parking lot cause he used to park somewhere else, but now he parks where we do, so I'm still grateful I get to talk with her. I guess I should just accept she's with someone, but it's hard not to think of her cause she's sooo gentle and easy to talk to and yes, she's pretty! lol Well...the Lord knows, and I just need to be patient about that. In fact, it's probably better that I don't get involved right now with everything that's going on. I seem so busy all the time. Maybe I just choose to be busy. lol
I heard it's raining in Oregon right now. I hope it moves down here! I miss it so much. :( God, pleeease bring it! =)
Monday, July 16, 2007
Trendspotting
I'm actually seeing a little trend here on my blog. I tend to write about ONE post per month! lol Which isn't bad if it's my intention to just write a monthly summary of my life. To be honest, I spread my blogs out among a few other sites as well. The other blogs are more 'site-specific' rather than just about life in general. Like for my clothing co., the blog is more about the business and any other related issues, topics or announcements. Yeah...so that was my little observation for the day.
Well...back to my wonderful organic project! =)
Well...back to my wonderful organic project! =)
Busy Bee Am I
Wow, where do I even start after 1 1/2 months of absence? lol Uhhh...I think you should just start the blog you doofus! Okay okay...sheesh I think sometimes it's a good exercise to put yourself down in the meanest way, that way when you're boss or some jerk does, I'll be like 'eh...that wasn't so bad. That was nothing, man! That was weak!' LOL Okay don't actually say that out loud.
So...by the way that was my attention-getter. When preparing a speech, you gotta have an attention-getter cause naturally we're pretty lazy when it comes to listening, so if I can start out getting attention, I should do fine. Yep, I'm in speech class. I have an Informational speech on Tuesday, which I'm totally looking forward to! Yes!
Okay, I'm not that excited about it. I'm only excited insomuch that I'm gaining the knowledge & experience of making speeches. Actually, I love this class compared to the one I took at Platt. At Platt it was waaay too rushed and NOT informative! In this class I'm actually learning how to gather info on the speech, the do's and don'ts of speech and so much more so yes, it's excited in that manner.
Remember I was on disability? Well...I made the mistake of thinking I would have a job still! Yeah...silly me. What was I thinking!? Yeah they let me go cause apparently, my boss started feeling 'uneasy' about the whole situation of me being gone so long and needed someone 100% asap. That, along with changes of roles going on within the company in my absence pretty much clinched it. So we 'agreed' to part ways. Ugh Well...later I found out that this sort of practice which was not unheard of is actually illegal. But...I didn't feel like fighting it. I mean, what's the use? Get a lawyer, fight for my rights and get my job back or get compensated. It's not really worth all that. Plus, I'm on disability. I reeeally don't have money to hire attorneys right now. lol So...I'm on the job hunt again, which isn't going to bad actually. I had one interview last Monday with a sign co. in Placentia, and he will be letting me know tomorrow what the verdict is. I was a pretty good match for that. Also, another sign co. will be calling tomorrow as well to talk more to me. He already saw my resume and likes what he sees so...we'll see! We'll see what God has for me. I hope it's gooood. Job hunts are cool! Especially when it takes months to find a job and all your cash is depleted. That totally rocks!
Hey...I might use that one. hmmm...
Anyways I saw Evan Almighty today. Very amusing I thought. It actually had alot of good points regarding our faith in God and trusting Him when we don't understand. I thought that was very cool.
So, my informational speech is going to be on Organic foods. Fun stuff! I'm actually learning alot about the whole process and history or organic foods, including farming processes and organic living in general. It sounds very sensible to me. I think I'm gonna go Organic! But if I do, I mean, should I just keep this on the 'down-low' for now cause, I don't know, people might think I'm weird or something and be like 'Whaaat? When did this happen!?' omg then people will ask them 'Did you suspect that he was...you know...organic?' and they'll be like 'I didn't even see this coming. It was...shocking to me. It was shocking to us all.' But then I might find more of my kind...yeah...which will encourage me more to 'come out'...and they'll start saying 'hey, this is okay, this 'organic lifestyle'. They're just people like you and me, really.' And activists will come out of the woodwork to aid us in our stance, so much so, in fact, that even if people don't accept our organicity, it'll mean little to us anymore, cause we're strong now, we're one. But to reeeally make my point valid that I've gone Organic so that no one makes the mistake of calling me 'weird' anymore, we're pushing for lawmakers to write a Bill that states that anyone who stands against my right to be Organic will be punished to the fullest extent of the law and be labeled as Organiphobic! And not only that, but the mere suggestion that the Organic lifestyle is wrong would be labeled as hate speech! Yeah...I'm seeing the process now...
Ya know, it's funny but...this vaguely reminds of me something...vaguely...
I believe that, forcing someone to accept you...doesn't result in acceptance. It results in mere tolerance. Forcing me to 'buy' something...doesn't mean I'll be happy with the 'product'. The cornerstone of marketing is finding a way to make people believe that they need that 'thing', and deceitfulness is the cry of desperation of a salesman. This isn't from a book. I'm beginning to realize that getting people to 'buy' into your agenda is a clever mix of marketing & sales, and some people know this all too well. And when they're desperate enough, they might even add a little deception in the picture, a method that's even accepted now on both sides of the fence. And what a sad day it is when deception becomes both the norm and the hype, while truth becomes a laughing stock. How much more blind are we willing to be?
If a 'product' can't sell itself, it's not worth 'buying', I say. It's one thing to let people know that the product exists and is for sale. It's another thing to try and convince people that the product is worth their money. Anyhow...enough said.
Okay, this is waaaay too long! I thought about cutting some of this out but...it really wouldn't make sense. Cause if you think about it, it's virtually impossible to make verbal edits when we communicate, right? We can only re-verbalize what we're saying so much, if that's even a word. So if I'm writing down my thoughts, hey...it's the same thing. I need to allow my written thoughts to stand rather than constantly edit them. So, there you go.
**INTERMISSION**
So, right now I'm listening to Pet Shop Boys and drinking English Breakfast Tea with cream and sugar. How come we don't have those options to post here, huh!? That just pisses me off! Cause I absolutely need people to know A)what I'm listening to, and B)what I'm drinking at the moment. Oh, and mood...I need the mood indicator. I mean, without the mood indicator, there's no point. I mean, the mood indicator says it all, people. Says...it all. Not to mention what I'm reading at the moment. People gotta know what I'm reading while I'm posting this blog! Why isn't that in here? Who wrote this program, for crying out loud! lol Actually, nix the reading. That option is in my Deviantart journaling, which I do not understand...at all. I don't know, maybe...they're trying to say 'what were you reading before you started journaling that you will continue to read once you're done journaling for the night. But I mean, those options to me are saying 'what are you doing NOW while you're journaling?' Eating, drinking, I can relate. Reading? No. I mean, I'm reading what I wrote people! Hello? lol hello So you see my point? Unnecessary.
You know, do they have blogs you can just record AND where people can listen to the recording? I mean, that might be funner. Then you can actually hear the uhhh...nuances of speech and things like that, that are hard to relate to on...screen. I was going to say paper but...it's a screen. Do you realize that everyting we write on this blog can be obliterated like...that! Seriously. All the blogs and info and daily activities we share here, if they're not being copied or printed, will be nada if the host server decides to crash. It's almost scary to think about. It reminds me of Revelation where it says 'in one hour the city will come to nothing.' You can be assured that the internet, this world wide web, when it is totally incapacitated by worldwide destruction, will bring to a halt the entire global market that depends on it, which at that time, I'm guessing will be pretty much every business alive, since it's so vital even today.
Ooooh...Flock of Seagulls! Coool!
Okay...what was I talking about? Oh yeah...worldwide destruction of the internet. Yeah, you know what, I reeally don't want to miss this song cause...it was my favorite growing up so...we'll, you know, discuss this later on k. lol I'd love to see that happen at some huge conventional speech.
Geek conversational starter: "Excuse me, but...do you have any idea what the normal final number for registry keys scanned would be, cause like, last night mine came out to 36,043 scanned by Mcafee. Is that...pretty normal?"
Ooooh...now it's Take On Me by A-ha! Ahhhh...brings back memories.
Now that's what they need! Not 'song' listening to, but 'songs' listened to while typing blog. yeah. So listen, cause I'm coming up on another intermission. lol What kind of space can be created...that internet users would love to be a part of? Blogger, taken. MySpace, taken. MSN, Yahoo spaces, done. Now, how about this! How about a space with just a huuuge picture of the person's face on it! That's it, just this huuuge picture of their face that fills the screen, and their name of top: Sally's...Space. "Okaaay...and then what?" Well...that's it! Just a huuuge picture of their face and their name on top! "Okay, I'm not really seeing...the purpose." Well, it has no purpose. Well, other than to identify that it's Sally's Space with a huuuge picture of her face on the screen! "And...you think people will buy into this." Yeah...yeah I think so! Cause all it is is.."Is a huuuge picture of their face...and their name. Yeah. I get it." You don't think that'll work? "Well...here's the thing. You can't just have a huuuge picture of someone's face on the screen...with just their name on top. People don't want a huuuge picture of their face on the screen!" Well...why? "Why? I'll tell you why. Cause it's scary, Naasson. And frankly, you're beginning to scare me as well! So...no. The answer is no." Wow.
=)
So...by the way that was my attention-getter. When preparing a speech, you gotta have an attention-getter cause naturally we're pretty lazy when it comes to listening, so if I can start out getting attention, I should do fine. Yep, I'm in speech class. I have an Informational speech on Tuesday, which I'm totally looking forward to! Yes!
Okay, I'm not that excited about it. I'm only excited insomuch that I'm gaining the knowledge & experience of making speeches. Actually, I love this class compared to the one I took at Platt. At Platt it was waaay too rushed and NOT informative! In this class I'm actually learning how to gather info on the speech, the do's and don'ts of speech and so much more so yes, it's excited in that manner.
Remember I was on disability? Well...I made the mistake of thinking I would have a job still! Yeah...silly me. What was I thinking!? Yeah they let me go cause apparently, my boss started feeling 'uneasy' about the whole situation of me being gone so long and needed someone 100% asap. That, along with changes of roles going on within the company in my absence pretty much clinched it. So we 'agreed' to part ways. Ugh Well...later I found out that this sort of practice which was not unheard of is actually illegal. But...I didn't feel like fighting it. I mean, what's the use? Get a lawyer, fight for my rights and get my job back or get compensated. It's not really worth all that. Plus, I'm on disability. I reeeally don't have money to hire attorneys right now. lol So...I'm on the job hunt again, which isn't going to bad actually. I had one interview last Monday with a sign co. in Placentia, and he will be letting me know tomorrow what the verdict is. I was a pretty good match for that. Also, another sign co. will be calling tomorrow as well to talk more to me. He already saw my resume and likes what he sees so...we'll see! We'll see what God has for me. I hope it's gooood. Job hunts are cool! Especially when it takes months to find a job and all your cash is depleted. That totally rocks!
Hey...I might use that one. hmmm...
Anyways I saw Evan Almighty today. Very amusing I thought. It actually had alot of good points regarding our faith in God and trusting Him when we don't understand. I thought that was very cool.
So, my informational speech is going to be on Organic foods. Fun stuff! I'm actually learning alot about the whole process and history or organic foods, including farming processes and organic living in general. It sounds very sensible to me. I think I'm gonna go Organic! But if I do, I mean, should I just keep this on the 'down-low' for now cause, I don't know, people might think I'm weird or something and be like 'Whaaat? When did this happen!?' omg then people will ask them 'Did you suspect that he was...you know...organic?' and they'll be like 'I didn't even see this coming. It was...shocking to me. It was shocking to us all.' But then I might find more of my kind...yeah...which will encourage me more to 'come out'...and they'll start saying 'hey, this is okay, this 'organic lifestyle'. They're just people like you and me, really.' And activists will come out of the woodwork to aid us in our stance, so much so, in fact, that even if people don't accept our organicity, it'll mean little to us anymore, cause we're strong now, we're one. But to reeeally make my point valid that I've gone Organic so that no one makes the mistake of calling me 'weird' anymore, we're pushing for lawmakers to write a Bill that states that anyone who stands against my right to be Organic will be punished to the fullest extent of the law and be labeled as Organiphobic! And not only that, but the mere suggestion that the Organic lifestyle is wrong would be labeled as hate speech! Yeah...I'm seeing the process now...
Ya know, it's funny but...this vaguely reminds of me something...vaguely...
I believe that, forcing someone to accept you...doesn't result in acceptance. It results in mere tolerance. Forcing me to 'buy' something...doesn't mean I'll be happy with the 'product'. The cornerstone of marketing is finding a way to make people believe that they need that 'thing', and deceitfulness is the cry of desperation of a salesman. This isn't from a book. I'm beginning to realize that getting people to 'buy' into your agenda is a clever mix of marketing & sales, and some people know this all too well. And when they're desperate enough, they might even add a little deception in the picture, a method that's even accepted now on both sides of the fence. And what a sad day it is when deception becomes both the norm and the hype, while truth becomes a laughing stock. How much more blind are we willing to be?
If a 'product' can't sell itself, it's not worth 'buying', I say. It's one thing to let people know that the product exists and is for sale. It's another thing to try and convince people that the product is worth their money. Anyhow...enough said.
Okay, this is waaaay too long! I thought about cutting some of this out but...it really wouldn't make sense. Cause if you think about it, it's virtually impossible to make verbal edits when we communicate, right? We can only re-verbalize what we're saying so much, if that's even a word. So if I'm writing down my thoughts, hey...it's the same thing. I need to allow my written thoughts to stand rather than constantly edit them. So, there you go.
**INTERMISSION**
So, right now I'm listening to Pet Shop Boys and drinking English Breakfast Tea with cream and sugar. How come we don't have those options to post here, huh!? That just pisses me off! Cause I absolutely need people to know A)what I'm listening to, and B)what I'm drinking at the moment. Oh, and mood...I need the mood indicator. I mean, without the mood indicator, there's no point. I mean, the mood indicator says it all, people. Says...it all. Not to mention what I'm reading at the moment. People gotta know what I'm reading while I'm posting this blog! Why isn't that in here? Who wrote this program, for crying out loud! lol Actually, nix the reading. That option is in my Deviantart journaling, which I do not understand...at all. I don't know, maybe...they're trying to say 'what were you reading before you started journaling that you will continue to read once you're done journaling for the night. But I mean, those options to me are saying 'what are you doing NOW while you're journaling?' Eating, drinking, I can relate. Reading? No. I mean, I'm reading what I wrote people! Hello? lol hello So you see my point? Unnecessary.
You know, do they have blogs you can just record AND where people can listen to the recording? I mean, that might be funner. Then you can actually hear the uhhh...nuances of speech and things like that, that are hard to relate to on...screen. I was going to say paper but...it's a screen. Do you realize that everyting we write on this blog can be obliterated like...that! Seriously. All the blogs and info and daily activities we share here, if they're not being copied or printed, will be nada if the host server decides to crash. It's almost scary to think about. It reminds me of Revelation where it says 'in one hour the city will come to nothing.' You can be assured that the internet, this world wide web, when it is totally incapacitated by worldwide destruction, will bring to a halt the entire global market that depends on it, which at that time, I'm guessing will be pretty much every business alive, since it's so vital even today.
Ooooh...Flock of Seagulls! Coool!
Okay...what was I talking about? Oh yeah...worldwide destruction of the internet. Yeah, you know what, I reeally don't want to miss this song cause...it was my favorite growing up so...we'll, you know, discuss this later on k. lol I'd love to see that happen at some huge conventional speech.
Geek conversational starter: "Excuse me, but...do you have any idea what the normal final number for registry keys scanned would be, cause like, last night mine came out to 36,043 scanned by Mcafee. Is that...pretty normal?"
Ooooh...now it's Take On Me by A-ha! Ahhhh...brings back memories.
Now that's what they need! Not 'song' listening to, but 'songs' listened to while typing blog. yeah. So listen, cause I'm coming up on another intermission. lol What kind of space can be created...that internet users would love to be a part of? Blogger, taken. MySpace, taken. MSN, Yahoo spaces, done. Now, how about this! How about a space with just a huuuge picture of the person's face on it! That's it, just this huuuge picture of their face that fills the screen, and their name of top: Sally's...Space. "Okaaay...and then what?" Well...that's it! Just a huuuge picture of their face and their name on top! "Okay, I'm not really seeing...the purpose." Well, it has no purpose. Well, other than to identify that it's Sally's Space with a huuuge picture of her face on the screen! "And...you think people will buy into this." Yeah...yeah I think so! Cause all it is is.."Is a huuuge picture of their face...and their name. Yeah. I get it." You don't think that'll work? "Well...here's the thing. You can't just have a huuuge picture of someone's face on the screen...with just their name on top. People don't want a huuuge picture of their face on the screen!" Well...why? "Why? I'll tell you why. Cause it's scary, Naasson. And frankly, you're beginning to scare me as well! So...no. The answer is no." Wow.
=)
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Disturbing Dream about a Bombing
I had a dream last night about a bombing that woke me up about 7:30am this morning. I couldn't go back to sleep very easily because of some of the images I remembered because it was so thorough and some of it disturbing. I wasn't sure who to tell or where to post this so I just decided to post it here. I'm sure I will talk to someone sooner or later but for now, this is what happened:
I was standing outside of some building, kind of wandering about. They were large buildings, not small. I suddenly noticed a man walking to a building with his wife and child in a stroller across from where I was. There wasn't a street dividing the buildings, just cement. Well, he started looking around the building very suspiciously. I pulled out some small binoculars from my pocket to get a closer look, but for some reason never really looked through them. I knew something was up. Then I saw another man standing nearby the building where I was, looking a little suspicious as well.
At that point, I decided to go into the building where I was standing initially. I was met by a security guard who told me to come with him. My first thought was that maybe he suspected that I was up to something! But I went along with him. He led me to a large group of people not far from there, one of which was my mom. She was standing on my left. I didn't recognize anyone else. The next thing that happened was, we all got down on our knees as if to pray, getting ourselves prepared for something. I knew that something was going to happen at that point. I remember somebody saying "It's going to get very hot now." Right after he said that, I heard a loud explosion, and just as he said, it started to heat up around us. I remember taking a quick glance just before that. Along with the heat was this sound like a powerful wind going over us. I remember lifting up my right hand to pray that God would protect us! It was pretty intense from what I remember!
After about a good minute of that, it calmed down and everyone turned out okay. We all got up and just looked at each other with great relief and even hugged and held on to one another. I don't remember anyone screaming or yelling or even crying, we were all okay. It was done and we were all relieved.
While the first part was intense, this next part was a bit disturbing.
After this, I wanted to know what happened out there. I remember going outside and looking around. On the other side, all I saw were large rocks and boulders all around. I walked closer to the building to get a better look. I couldn’t see very much so I walked over to what seemed like a sliding door made of metal, kind of like a large shed door. I slid it opened, took one look and shut it instantly! All I saw inside were body parts lying on the ground. Right after I shut it, I noticed a little girl, maybe 8 yrs old, sitting in the corner by the door. She immediately got up and led me into that same room. This time, however, the scene was more bearable yet still a bit gruesome. After looking around for a good minute, it became apparent what was going on in there. The scene was one of people caught up in sexual immorality, or as the world would put it, an orgy. However there was nothing explicit that was in view. All the bodies were charred, and some of the bodies were even kneeling or sitting in a ‘frozen’ position, almost like mannequins.
Now the weird thing is, along with these normal people were other smaller people in a pile on my right side. They were the size of dolls, but they had the appearance of real people. The little girl explained to me that the people were using them in some sort of idolatrous way, as if they were bowing down to them. She was trying to show me by going through the motions as well as explaining it to me. I didn’t totally understand what she meant.
After she explained this to me, the dream ended.
I woke up feeling very uneasy and couldn’t go back to sleep. Those images were still in my mind, so I got into prayer for our nation and those caught up in immorality. Eventually I fell back asleep. I had another dream that was a kind of the aftermath, but I can’t for the life of me remember what happened! I don’t think it was anything of significance.
Well, this indeed was a rare dream. I wasn’t sure what to make of it exactly. But as I got into the Word later, it seemed to speak to me, or interpret, the dream I had. I read Hebrews 10, which basically describes the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who’s sacrifice was able to forgive sin once and for all, whereas the blood of bulls and goats was not. It’s a great chapter! But it also speaks of those who make His sacrifice seem like no big deal. These verses spoke to me directly about the dream. Starting in verse 26 it says:
26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.
28 Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.”
31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!
35 Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has a great reward.
36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:
37 “For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry.
38 Now the just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.”
39 But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.
The message was clear to me: for those who understand what Christ did for them, and reject Him and continue in sin without regard to God will be devoured by the wrath of God. But for those who live by faith and continue to put their trust in God and in the work of Christ who shed his blood for us, will be under His protection and receive the promise of eternal life!
Amen! =)
*NOTE: DREAM ACTUALLY OCCURRED ON JUNE 6 BUT POSTED JUNE 7.*
I was standing outside of some building, kind of wandering about. They were large buildings, not small. I suddenly noticed a man walking to a building with his wife and child in a stroller across from where I was. There wasn't a street dividing the buildings, just cement. Well, he started looking around the building very suspiciously. I pulled out some small binoculars from my pocket to get a closer look, but for some reason never really looked through them. I knew something was up. Then I saw another man standing nearby the building where I was, looking a little suspicious as well.
At that point, I decided to go into the building where I was standing initially. I was met by a security guard who told me to come with him. My first thought was that maybe he suspected that I was up to something! But I went along with him. He led me to a large group of people not far from there, one of which was my mom. She was standing on my left. I didn't recognize anyone else. The next thing that happened was, we all got down on our knees as if to pray, getting ourselves prepared for something. I knew that something was going to happen at that point. I remember somebody saying "It's going to get very hot now." Right after he said that, I heard a loud explosion, and just as he said, it started to heat up around us. I remember taking a quick glance just before that. Along with the heat was this sound like a powerful wind going over us. I remember lifting up my right hand to pray that God would protect us! It was pretty intense from what I remember!
After about a good minute of that, it calmed down and everyone turned out okay. We all got up and just looked at each other with great relief and even hugged and held on to one another. I don't remember anyone screaming or yelling or even crying, we were all okay. It was done and we were all relieved.
While the first part was intense, this next part was a bit disturbing.
After this, I wanted to know what happened out there. I remember going outside and looking around. On the other side, all I saw were large rocks and boulders all around. I walked closer to the building to get a better look. I couldn’t see very much so I walked over to what seemed like a sliding door made of metal, kind of like a large shed door. I slid it opened, took one look and shut it instantly! All I saw inside were body parts lying on the ground. Right after I shut it, I noticed a little girl, maybe 8 yrs old, sitting in the corner by the door. She immediately got up and led me into that same room. This time, however, the scene was more bearable yet still a bit gruesome. After looking around for a good minute, it became apparent what was going on in there. The scene was one of people caught up in sexual immorality, or as the world would put it, an orgy. However there was nothing explicit that was in view. All the bodies were charred, and some of the bodies were even kneeling or sitting in a ‘frozen’ position, almost like mannequins.
Now the weird thing is, along with these normal people were other smaller people in a pile on my right side. They were the size of dolls, but they had the appearance of real people. The little girl explained to me that the people were using them in some sort of idolatrous way, as if they were bowing down to them. She was trying to show me by going through the motions as well as explaining it to me. I didn’t totally understand what she meant.
After she explained this to me, the dream ended.
I woke up feeling very uneasy and couldn’t go back to sleep. Those images were still in my mind, so I got into prayer for our nation and those caught up in immorality. Eventually I fell back asleep. I had another dream that was a kind of the aftermath, but I can’t for the life of me remember what happened! I don’t think it was anything of significance.
Well, this indeed was a rare dream. I wasn’t sure what to make of it exactly. But as I got into the Word later, it seemed to speak to me, or interpret, the dream I had. I read Hebrews 10, which basically describes the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who’s sacrifice was able to forgive sin once and for all, whereas the blood of bulls and goats was not. It’s a great chapter! But it also speaks of those who make His sacrifice seem like no big deal. These verses spoke to me directly about the dream. Starting in verse 26 it says:
26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.
28 Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.”
31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!
35 Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has a great reward.
36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:
37 “For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry.
38 Now the just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.”
39 But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.
The message was clear to me: for those who understand what Christ did for them, and reject Him and continue in sin without regard to God will be devoured by the wrath of God. But for those who live by faith and continue to put their trust in God and in the work of Christ who shed his blood for us, will be under His protection and receive the promise of eternal life!
Amen! =)
*NOTE: DREAM ACTUALLY OCCURRED ON JUNE 6 BUT POSTED JUNE 7.*
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Being Stretched
Well, this time off of work has been interesting to say the least. I've had my hands full getting Onoma up and running, networking, sponsoring, getting new designs printed, trying to decide the best course of action as to how to sell the shirts online, and registering at Mt. SAC for Speech class. Man it seems everyday I have a list of things to do. But, I'm hoping that by the time I get back to work, this list will be managable! Well...it has to be, that's the bottom line.
I decided to take a break today and focus on other things, like cleaning my mess of papers. lol And I got alot cleaned actually. Then I decided to take time to blog tonite to write down some thoughts of mine. Maybe this will help relieve a little stress.
So, this business has been a great challenge in the area of decision-making, an area that I've always struggled with. There are times I know what I want right away, but when I don't know, oh boy! I'll be pacing back & forth forever analyzing the situation, which has taken most of my time lately. But you know, I thought that this is actually good for me, because I DO want to make good decisions, and good decisions should not be hasty but thought out and weighed carefully right? So this has helped me to do just that. I tend to get ancy and want to just make the decision and be done with it, but the decisions I'm making will affect the company and I can't afford to just makes hasty decisions, so I'm learning that as well. It's been tough, though, and trying.
Right now, for instance, I'm trying to decide whether I should: A) Sell my shirts at an online store where they print all my shirts, provide the site and take care of all the shipping and customer service, or B) Get my own site (like Yahoo commerce site or other), print my shirts locally, and ship them out myself. There are adv/disadv to both sides. Doing this myself, I have more control over it as well as the experience of fully running the business. When I get my tees printed locally I can simply take what I need out for sponsorees, friends, etc., and there's no min order I need to fulfill. And I like working with someone personally when they go to print to sort out details. On the other hand, letting someone else do it takes that off my hands. When I run low on inventory, they'll just replenish it (with a min. 24 shirt order, which is a tad high). I can then focus on the website and marketing of my company. But if I need extra shirts I'll need to get them shipped to me. Also, I wanted to send out stickers with each order, and I'm not sure if another company would even do that for me.
Now, one thing about doing it myself was, I wouldn't have anywhere to store the tees, so I thought the answer was obvious, until...one day I came home to find out that my mom (yes I still live at home, I know) had cleared the top shelf of the closet I use in the hallway. Later, that got me thinking. I realized that if I folded the tees nicely enough, I could fit them all side by side on that shelf and store a good deal of them there, while keeping the rest in the storage! I though 'perfect!' So that may just work out fine. So my other thought is, what if I DO get busy and I find I don't have time for all this shipping stuff, then what? But seriously, how much time does it take to check for orders, grab the tees, package them and take it to the post office? Maybe I'm worrying unnecessarily. Anyhow, if I do get to the point where I'm shipping tees on a regular basis, maybe that means it's time to let someone else like PrintMojo to do the printing/shipping for me. For now, I think I'll be okay, and again, this will give me some experience regarding this side of the business, so maybe I should take advantage of it while it's still new!
By saying that, yes, I do have this amazing confidence that Onoma WILL grow. It must be the Lord, cause from time to time I look at where I'm at and think 'What am I doing? Should I even be doing this, should I just let this go? Maybe I'm getting in over my head.' And I'll feel very unsure and incapable all of a sudden. Then I'll remember why I wanted to do this in the first place (to use the gift He's given me, to create a business to provide for missionary work, the poor, etc. and be fully involved with the company) and realize that this is good, and He has gotten me here, not me. He reminds me of that when I see so much happening with this company, and I look at other clothing co.'s and don't see much happening with them, and I start to wonder if I should have started much simpler like them! But the Lord reminds me that I wanted to do so much with this company, so being 'simple' is NOT in the equation! lol In order to get the company where I'd like, I've got to keep pushing forward, which seems to be all that's happening, and NOT look behind.
It reminds me of Peter when he walked on water to meet the Lord. He started out fine, right, but what happened? When he stopped and noticed what was going on, he started sinking. That's how I can feel from time to time, like I'm gonna sink instead of succeed! But when I get my focus back on Him, he rejuvenates me and encourages me to go forward with the momentum of a jaguar and the grace of a doe and the...okay maybe He wasn't that detailed. lol Just couldn't resist. But he does encourage me to move forward and to keep my trust in Him.
Wow long post. So last Thursday I saw the Ortho, who instructed me to start doing some strengthening exercises so I can go back to work soon. My arm is very close to having a full range of motion, almost. He gave me four weeks to see him again, but told me if I feel capable to go back to just let him know and he will release me, so I'm hoping maybe in two weeks or so, we'll see.
So right now, I'm feeling very good about option B, running everything myself for now. If it gets busier, I'm sure I can transfer that work over fairly smoothly, since I'd own the domain name. So I just might go with this option. *pause* Yeah, just might.
I do have another brand called HBC (Hummingbird Concepts) that I'm working on as well. I brought that up because for THAT company, the decision was easy! lol I just used a print-on-demand site where I can send in all my designs, have a site, and sell shirts as the orders come in. Very simple concept. I like that! So I'm pretty stoked about that. I have about four designs total I'm presently posting so they should be out soon. The new designs for Onoma should be out soon as well, and as soon as I get the shirts printed, I'm going to do a little photo shoot with a couple of people, then post those to my site. It's so close...I can taste it! hehe
In other news, I recently saw Apocolypto on DVD. Freaky man! It was intense for me and kept my attention for sure. I couldn't stop watching til the end cause I had to see what was going to happen to Jaguar Paw! lol Yeah it was intense, it reminded me of the part on King Kong where they came face to face with that tribe on the island. That was also pretty freaky. But this movie was more bloody and barbaric. I'll tell you, when you put your faith in anything but a loving God who wants your life to be a blessing, you'll start believing the strangest things, not unlike the people in Apocolypto.
Okay I can't end like that.
Ummm...sweet thoughts...sweet thoughts. Draft autosaved at 2:16 AM. lol Quote from Night at the Museum: "Someone's gotta pay!" "Why does someone have to pay?" "I don't know! Look...stop whining and take it like a man!" lol Loved that movie.
Okay, now I have to go it's getting a tad bit late. Nite. =)
I decided to take a break today and focus on other things, like cleaning my mess of papers. lol And I got alot cleaned actually. Then I decided to take time to blog tonite to write down some thoughts of mine. Maybe this will help relieve a little stress.
So, this business has been a great challenge in the area of decision-making, an area that I've always struggled with. There are times I know what I want right away, but when I don't know, oh boy! I'll be pacing back & forth forever analyzing the situation, which has taken most of my time lately. But you know, I thought that this is actually good for me, because I DO want to make good decisions, and good decisions should not be hasty but thought out and weighed carefully right? So this has helped me to do just that. I tend to get ancy and want to just make the decision and be done with it, but the decisions I'm making will affect the company and I can't afford to just makes hasty decisions, so I'm learning that as well. It's been tough, though, and trying.
Right now, for instance, I'm trying to decide whether I should: A) Sell my shirts at an online store where they print all my shirts, provide the site and take care of all the shipping and customer service, or B) Get my own site (like Yahoo commerce site or other), print my shirts locally, and ship them out myself. There are adv/disadv to both sides. Doing this myself, I have more control over it as well as the experience of fully running the business. When I get my tees printed locally I can simply take what I need out for sponsorees, friends, etc., and there's no min order I need to fulfill. And I like working with someone personally when they go to print to sort out details. On the other hand, letting someone else do it takes that off my hands. When I run low on inventory, they'll just replenish it (with a min. 24 shirt order, which is a tad high). I can then focus on the website and marketing of my company. But if I need extra shirts I'll need to get them shipped to me. Also, I wanted to send out stickers with each order, and I'm not sure if another company would even do that for me.
Now, one thing about doing it myself was, I wouldn't have anywhere to store the tees, so I thought the answer was obvious, until...one day I came home to find out that my mom (yes I still live at home, I know) had cleared the top shelf of the closet I use in the hallway. Later, that got me thinking. I realized that if I folded the tees nicely enough, I could fit them all side by side on that shelf and store a good deal of them there, while keeping the rest in the storage! I though 'perfect!' So that may just work out fine. So my other thought is, what if I DO get busy and I find I don't have time for all this shipping stuff, then what? But seriously, how much time does it take to check for orders, grab the tees, package them and take it to the post office? Maybe I'm worrying unnecessarily. Anyhow, if I do get to the point where I'm shipping tees on a regular basis, maybe that means it's time to let someone else like PrintMojo to do the printing/shipping for me. For now, I think I'll be okay, and again, this will give me some experience regarding this side of the business, so maybe I should take advantage of it while it's still new!
By saying that, yes, I do have this amazing confidence that Onoma WILL grow. It must be the Lord, cause from time to time I look at where I'm at and think 'What am I doing? Should I even be doing this, should I just let this go? Maybe I'm getting in over my head.' And I'll feel very unsure and incapable all of a sudden. Then I'll remember why I wanted to do this in the first place (to use the gift He's given me, to create a business to provide for missionary work, the poor, etc. and be fully involved with the company) and realize that this is good, and He has gotten me here, not me. He reminds me of that when I see so much happening with this company, and I look at other clothing co.'s and don't see much happening with them, and I start to wonder if I should have started much simpler like them! But the Lord reminds me that I wanted to do so much with this company, so being 'simple' is NOT in the equation! lol In order to get the company where I'd like, I've got to keep pushing forward, which seems to be all that's happening, and NOT look behind.
It reminds me of Peter when he walked on water to meet the Lord. He started out fine, right, but what happened? When he stopped and noticed what was going on, he started sinking. That's how I can feel from time to time, like I'm gonna sink instead of succeed! But when I get my focus back on Him, he rejuvenates me and encourages me to go forward with the momentum of a jaguar and the grace of a doe and the...okay maybe He wasn't that detailed. lol Just couldn't resist. But he does encourage me to move forward and to keep my trust in Him.
Wow long post. So last Thursday I saw the Ortho, who instructed me to start doing some strengthening exercises so I can go back to work soon. My arm is very close to having a full range of motion, almost. He gave me four weeks to see him again, but told me if I feel capable to go back to just let him know and he will release me, so I'm hoping maybe in two weeks or so, we'll see.
So right now, I'm feeling very good about option B, running everything myself for now. If it gets busier, I'm sure I can transfer that work over fairly smoothly, since I'd own the domain name. So I just might go with this option. *pause* Yeah, just might.
I do have another brand called HBC (Hummingbird Concepts) that I'm working on as well. I brought that up because for THAT company, the decision was easy! lol I just used a print-on-demand site where I can send in all my designs, have a site, and sell shirts as the orders come in. Very simple concept. I like that! So I'm pretty stoked about that. I have about four designs total I'm presently posting so they should be out soon. The new designs for Onoma should be out soon as well, and as soon as I get the shirts printed, I'm going to do a little photo shoot with a couple of people, then post those to my site. It's so close...I can taste it! hehe
In other news, I recently saw Apocolypto on DVD. Freaky man! It was intense for me and kept my attention for sure. I couldn't stop watching til the end cause I had to see what was going to happen to Jaguar Paw! lol Yeah it was intense, it reminded me of the part on King Kong where they came face to face with that tribe on the island. That was also pretty freaky. But this movie was more bloody and barbaric. I'll tell you, when you put your faith in anything but a loving God who wants your life to be a blessing, you'll start believing the strangest things, not unlike the people in Apocolypto.
Okay I can't end like that.
Ummm...sweet thoughts...sweet thoughts. Draft autosaved at 2:16 AM. lol Quote from Night at the Museum: "Someone's gotta pay!" "Why does someone have to pay?" "I don't know! Look...stop whining and take it like a man!" lol Loved that movie.
Okay, now I have to go it's getting a tad bit late. Nite. =)
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Still off but busy enough!
Wow has it been a month? sheesh Well doesn't surprise me. I actually meant to post a few offline blogs I wrote on my laptop but never happened, and I'm not about to post a novel here. lol Cause I easily could with everything that's been going on lately while on disability! Sheesh I never thought being off work would lead to being so involved with Onoma! I totally didn't expect for this much to happen while I was off. All I can say is that the Lord has me totally engaged with this company, and He's been opening some awesome doors along the way.
Whoa...blogger autosaves my blogs now? I just saw that. Cool!
Anyhow, it's like 4:30am now so...yeah...maybe I'll get into this tomorrow. If that doesn't tell you how much I've been doing then...you get the picture. I've actually been blogging at my DeviantArt site, mostly about marketing though. I should keep this alive so I can write about my own personal thoughts and growth with Onoma. Hmmm...think I will. Anyhow, time for a little rest. nite. =)
Whoa...blogger autosaves my blogs now? I just saw that. Cool!
Anyhow, it's like 4:30am now so...yeah...maybe I'll get into this tomorrow. If that doesn't tell you how much I've been doing then...you get the picture. I've actually been blogging at my DeviantArt site, mostly about marketing though. I should keep this alive so I can write about my own personal thoughts and growth with Onoma. Hmmm...think I will. Anyhow, time for a little rest. nite. =)
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Not working yet busy
I guess it's a good sign when, even though I'm not working, I have plenty of side jobs to keep me busy! lol I'm actually in the middle of three logo design jobs, one of which is for a clothing company called Naarai whom I'm also designing designs for their tees. That right there was all God! I was going into Calvary Chapel bookstore to ask if I could set up a meeting with the Mgr to show my tees and stickers when I met the founder(?) of Naarai clothing, and the rest is history. Didn't see that one coming! lol So I've been busy both researching alot of designing styles from other companies such as Volcom and Lost to get an idea of what's out there. My creativity has been challenged as of late, but it's a good challenge and I'm growing and learning more about design, esp. tee design. Of course, I've been working on my own stuff as well for Onoma but I can easily forget the obligations I have with these other clients, so I design here and there when I can.
I'll be getting this hard cast off next Thurs. thank God. It's been challenging using my left hand for pretty much everything, with a little help from my right at times. Writing with my left hand has been the most challenging thing so far! You should try it! lol But I'm getting around okay, day by day. One big bummer as a result of this injury is I had to drop my NT class because it was in La Mirada, and driving was not an option for me at that point! I was so bummed, I was like 'Lord, why? Why now??' This injury has been one big mountain that has caused a few setbacks in my life. I just pray that the Lord brings me through it! =)
I'll be getting this hard cast off next Thurs. thank God. It's been challenging using my left hand for pretty much everything, with a little help from my right at times. Writing with my left hand has been the most challenging thing so far! You should try it! lol But I'm getting around okay, day by day. One big bummer as a result of this injury is I had to drop my NT class because it was in La Mirada, and driving was not an option for me at that point! I was so bummed, I was like 'Lord, why? Why now??' This injury has been one big mountain that has caused a few setbacks in my life. I just pray that the Lord brings me through it! =)
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Little Kenadie
While I was home today on account of my injury, I happened to catch the beginning of Montel just after watching I Love Lucy, which i usually don't watch. But what caught my attention and had me watching was this tiny girl they started showing who had what they call Dwarfism. I couldn't believe how small she was not to mention sooo adorable! She looked like a little fairy honestly. Her name is Kenadie, and she was only 2 yrs old at the time of the show, but i found some sites showing her at 4 yrs old at both littlekenadie.com and garyparker.com. Very cute! =)
Monday, March 26, 2007
Homebound
This last Sunday as I was rollerblading with Isaiah, I took a nasty fall on my right arm and dislocated my elbow! ugh I don't remember the last time I was in so much pain! I tried to break the fall with my arm as I was falling backwards, and I fell on my arm or hand with a locked elbow and heard a pop, and I was down in total agony. What's weird about this whole thing is that Annamarie ended up coming to the park to join us about an hour later to hang out, and thank God for that cause she helped out tremendously, calling the ambulance and her dad to come pick up the boys. And she ended up coming with me to the hospital and staying with me throughout the procedure. After taking X-rays they said it was dislocated with a few small fragments loose, but they said they shouldn't bother me. They ended up sedating me soon after and the procedure took no longer than 10 minutes actually, so it wasn't too bad, thank God.
So lucky me I get to stay home this week and practice using my left hand for practically everything, including typing! lol The bad news is, I wasn't yet covered by my medical, which starts in a week, so that's gonna hurt! My brother's gf works at a place where I guess they deal with issues like that, so she's gonna see what she can do to help. That would be good.
Anyhow, the pain is almost nonexistent...I just have to deal with this sling around my neck and sleeping on my back, which is a pain. Other than that, I'm just in the Word and trying to stay busy with my site and other reading. Man...I hope I'll be okay by the time class starts! yikes...I just thought of that, too. Oh Lord...I pray for a quick healing! =)
So lucky me I get to stay home this week and practice using my left hand for practically everything, including typing! lol The bad news is, I wasn't yet covered by my medical, which starts in a week, so that's gonna hurt! My brother's gf works at a place where I guess they deal with issues like that, so she's gonna see what she can do to help. That would be good.
Anyhow, the pain is almost nonexistent...I just have to deal with this sling around my neck and sleeping on my back, which is a pain. Other than that, I'm just in the Word and trying to stay busy with my site and other reading. Man...I hope I'll be okay by the time class starts! yikes...I just thought of that, too. Oh Lord...I pray for a quick healing! =)
Saturday, March 24, 2007
::Stripped::
I haven't heard too many good remakes of Depeche songs, but this is one that I came across tonite that is excellent by a band called Shiny Toy Guns. Very good I thought. They also have a good dance song called Le Disco but the video is a little racy. I was looking for some electronic bands and was browsing their songs. I never even heard of this band before! Weird. Where the heck was I?
Other than that, been busy enough with logo designs for some different clients. The most recent logo design I'm doing is for a clothing company called Naarai, who wants me to redo their logo. This was definitely the Lord the way we met and all. The Lord has really been opening doors in that area of my life and helping me to network with others in the clothing industry. Originally he was just going to pay me for doing to logo, but I've been thinking and praying as to whether he would be willing to sell my shirts at SWC this year instead! That would be awesome if he was willing to do that. But we'll see.
My mom had a meeting with some ladies regarding a company called Arbonne. It's more or les like Usana I'd say. I looked into it and they actually have the same concepts and networking system. Even they're products have the same name! lol Like Essentials and AM/PM vitamins. Interesting. Speaking of Usana, I've decided after seeking the Lord to go forward with Usana. I got in contact with Ted and he apologized for not being there for me, and said he would like to take me under his wing so to speak and train me properly, so hmmm, this may be the beginning of something great, Lord willing. =)
Other than that, been busy enough with logo designs for some different clients. The most recent logo design I'm doing is for a clothing company called Naarai, who wants me to redo their logo. This was definitely the Lord the way we met and all. The Lord has really been opening doors in that area of my life and helping me to network with others in the clothing industry. Originally he was just going to pay me for doing to logo, but I've been thinking and praying as to whether he would be willing to sell my shirts at SWC this year instead! That would be awesome if he was willing to do that. But we'll see.
My mom had a meeting with some ladies regarding a company called Arbonne. It's more or les like Usana I'd say. I looked into it and they actually have the same concepts and networking system. Even they're products have the same name! lol Like Essentials and AM/PM vitamins. Interesting. Speaking of Usana, I've decided after seeking the Lord to go forward with Usana. I got in contact with Ted and he apologized for not being there for me, and said he would like to take me under his wing so to speak and train me properly, so hmmm, this may be the beginning of something great, Lord willing. =)
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Fashion Island & Rollerblading
I definitely had a full weekend, working OT for a few hours and having Isaiah overnight. I usually end up sleeping in ‘til about 10 or 11 on Saturdays, so having to get up early to go to work made my day fuller, which is good actually. I’ve been wanting to go down to Newport for awhile now, but restraining myself only because I’ve been trying to be careful how I spend my money while paying off this debt of mine. But this week I have a little room so I decided to head down to Fashion Island after I picked up Isaiah. We walked around for a bit and ate dinner down there. He’s been asking me if I can buy him one of those pirate hooks you wear on your hand for awhile, so I told him we can look inside Toy Boat to see if they have anything. Well, lo and behold, there was a small corner full of pirate things, including the hook, and I couldn’t believe that this small kit with the hook, eye patch, sword and knife was only $6.00! I mean, for a toy store in Newport, I was pretty amazed. It could have easily cost $10 and it almost seems like it should have. But hey, I was happy and so was Isaiah so I’m not complaining. Overall, it was nice just to get down there for the evening and get some cool air.
Also, Annamarie bought him a small guitar just right for his size, just out of the blue, so now he has a guitar to play around with. We were playing together for a bit Sunday night. I’ll need to start showing him how to play so he can really put it to use. I mean, my dad started playing when he was four years old, so I know he’s teachable! But still I think he’s still so young, I wonder if he would even be interested in playing so young. It’s going to take patience and discipline on his part, but if he wants to play, I’m willing to take the time to show him…definitely. I think my dad will be both surprised and blessed to know that his grandson wants to learn guitar at his age. I’ll have to send him some pics!
Saturday, we went to church as usual. I like to get there during 2nd service and just hang out by the fountain with him, then go into 3rd service. Afterwards, we went to the park with my mom, and went rollerblading! I was blessed doing that with him because we never have. He brought his rollerblades with him, and I had some already, so I got them out of the storage and we rollerbladed for a few hours, so I got a pretty good workout! lol I know I’m gonna feel it tomorrow…all over probably. I started wondering if I should start rollerblading a few times a week after work to get a small workout, especially since the sun is going to be up longer, it would give me time before the sun went down. Hmmm…I’m thinking about it…not sure yet. I’m even thinking about going down to that new baseball park they just built in Chino Hills. They actually just moved it down the street because they’re building a shopping center where the old one was. They’re also building a new Civic Center on that same street to replace the one they had right next door to the old park, so they’re doing a lot new things there. I already know it’s going to get pretty congested once all that is done, because that street already has a high school, two churches and a post office. After the Civic Center and shopping center are done, oh boy. Well, the good news for me is that I can go around all that both going to work and going home, so I can avoid all the traffic around there. And I usually shop in the Chino Spectrum. But I wonder what they’re planning to build there. Just the usual outdoor mall we have in the Spectrum with the same shops, or some new stuff that are lacking, like a music store like Sam Ash, or something like that? I hope there’s some new stuff. Hmmm…maybe I shouldn’t be saying that. I don’t need new stuff to spend money on! lol I’m trying to pay debt off here. So yes, I hope it’s the same old boring shops we have in Chino…yes, definitely. lol
Well, it seems like we’re caught up at work. I wasn’t asked to come in early on Monday. I wouldn’t mind at all working a few more hours of overtime, cause that would help tremendously in bringing down more debt. What’s awesome about all this OT from last week is that I’ll be able to bring down Creditcard #1 a good amount, since without this OT I was barely going to make a difference, cause I had a few other debts I needed to get cleared, so I thank the Lord for allowing all this OT to come in at this time! Thank you Lord! It helps so much! I’m also going to have to owe the IRS about $250 in April, so I’m trying to decide whether to just pay it and get it out of the way in April, or make payments so I can continue to bring down my creditcards. Not sure yet. Well see... =)
Also, Annamarie bought him a small guitar just right for his size, just out of the blue, so now he has a guitar to play around with. We were playing together for a bit Sunday night. I’ll need to start showing him how to play so he can really put it to use. I mean, my dad started playing when he was four years old, so I know he’s teachable! But still I think he’s still so young, I wonder if he would even be interested in playing so young. It’s going to take patience and discipline on his part, but if he wants to play, I’m willing to take the time to show him…definitely. I think my dad will be both surprised and blessed to know that his grandson wants to learn guitar at his age. I’ll have to send him some pics!
Saturday, we went to church as usual. I like to get there during 2nd service and just hang out by the fountain with him, then go into 3rd service. Afterwards, we went to the park with my mom, and went rollerblading! I was blessed doing that with him because we never have. He brought his rollerblades with him, and I had some already, so I got them out of the storage and we rollerbladed for a few hours, so I got a pretty good workout! lol I know I’m gonna feel it tomorrow…all over probably. I started wondering if I should start rollerblading a few times a week after work to get a small workout, especially since the sun is going to be up longer, it would give me time before the sun went down. Hmmm…I’m thinking about it…not sure yet. I’m even thinking about going down to that new baseball park they just built in Chino Hills. They actually just moved it down the street because they’re building a shopping center where the old one was. They’re also building a new Civic Center on that same street to replace the one they had right next door to the old park, so they’re doing a lot new things there. I already know it’s going to get pretty congested once all that is done, because that street already has a high school, two churches and a post office. After the Civic Center and shopping center are done, oh boy. Well, the good news for me is that I can go around all that both going to work and going home, so I can avoid all the traffic around there. And I usually shop in the Chino Spectrum. But I wonder what they’re planning to build there. Just the usual outdoor mall we have in the Spectrum with the same shops, or some new stuff that are lacking, like a music store like Sam Ash, or something like that? I hope there’s some new stuff. Hmmm…maybe I shouldn’t be saying that. I don’t need new stuff to spend money on! lol I’m trying to pay debt off here. So yes, I hope it’s the same old boring shops we have in Chino…yes, definitely. lol
Well, it seems like we’re caught up at work. I wasn’t asked to come in early on Monday. I wouldn’t mind at all working a few more hours of overtime, cause that would help tremendously in bringing down more debt. What’s awesome about all this OT from last week is that I’ll be able to bring down Creditcard #1 a good amount, since without this OT I was barely going to make a difference, cause I had a few other debts I needed to get cleared, so I thank the Lord for allowing all this OT to come in at this time! Thank you Lord! It helps so much! I’m also going to have to owe the IRS about $250 in April, so I’m trying to decide whether to just pay it and get it out of the way in April, or make payments so I can continue to bring down my creditcards. Not sure yet. Well see... =)
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Muy Tired but mucho OT :)
I've been having to work OT every day this week, including tomorrow, so I've been going to bed earlier and feeling like I don't have much time to do alot at night lately. It's been a bit hard to adjust to, but when you HAVE to get to bed early to get up at 5:30am everyday so you can rest enough for the next day, it's both motivating in my desire to get to bed earlier and also forces me to be more critical as to what to do with my time at night and use it on those things that are a priority. I have more time since I'm not in school right now, so I've been using that time to do a few side projects to earn a little extra dinero for now. I emailed a few designs to one of the clients but haven't heard from him, and I need to call Benny to show him the concepts I have so far. Hmmm...maybe tomorrow I'll give him a call. But yes, the OT will definitely help clear a few more debts next paycheck plus be able to bring one of my creditcards down, too! So I'm excited about that part.
I got an email from someone who's list I'm on, which was mainly for my clothing co. to go to events and such, saying he needed 20 volunteers to help set up for the Newsboys concert in March. So I thought I'd let him know I'm interested, but I was kind of skeptical cause I thought for sure it would be filled up already. So I was shocked when he emailed me back and said he would add me to the list of volunteers and said he still needed 15 more volunteers! Well, I was excited to know there was still room. So I'll be volunteering to set up, see the concert and tear down everything. It will be a looong day there but I'm sure it will be worth it. =)
I got an email from someone who's list I'm on, which was mainly for my clothing co. to go to events and such, saying he needed 20 volunteers to help set up for the Newsboys concert in March. So I thought I'd let him know I'm interested, but I was kind of skeptical cause I thought for sure it would be filled up already. So I was shocked when he emailed me back and said he would add me to the list of volunteers and said he still needed 15 more volunteers! Well, I was excited to know there was still room. So I'll be volunteering to set up, see the concert and tear down everything. It will be a looong day there but I'm sure it will be worth it. =)
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Do Not Be Deceived!
I'm realizing that in these last days, the enemy will do whatever he can in his conniving, sneaky, ever so subtle ways to take our eyes off of God and His Word and start falling away and believing garbage. The intensity with which Jesus Christ and the Bible are being attacked these days are actually proof to me that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life and the Light of the world and likewise His Word is Truth. How else can we explain why Christianity and Jesus and everything about Him is the only 'religion' that is attacked from every possible side? It really does increase my faith in Him! Because through this I can clearly see that the enemy, or Satan, is as the Word says 'like a roaring lion' deceving the nations and keeping people in bondage, accusing the brethren day and night. There is no truth in him; he is a liar and the father of lies. He speaks from his own resources. He knows that Jesus is the Son of God and will do everything in his power (and blindness) to draw people away from Him, blaspheme Him, turn against Him, and fight Him, Him meaning God.
Having said this, we have to be so careful these days, and I say this as a reminder to myself! If we don't stay close to the Word while being mindful of what we hear and what we watch, we are going to fall for some weird, demonic doctrine and find ourselves lukewarm and indifferent to God and His Word. Or we will be watching something on T.V. or video or whatever which will lead us towards temptation and sin. The enemy knows where we're weak and will use what he can to lead us astray. No wonder Jesus said 'If you love mother, brother, wife, husband, children more than me, you are not worthy of me.' You know why? (And I'm just realizing this myself lol) Because if we get caught up trying to please them more than God, you can be sure we won't be doing what pleases God...we will be doing what pleases those around us more, and whatever that 'thing ' is might be hurting us and leading us away from God. God has to be our number one love. We have to be willing to do what He desires, even at the cost of hurting someone that is resisting it. If we get caught up in the emotions, our faith will dwindle. And without faith, it's impossible to please God.
I learned some hard lessons in my last relationship regarding this very issue. I realize now that disobeying God can start leading me to make the wrong decisions and become indifferent to Him and His voice. He eventually rebuked me, yes, and it was at a shameful price. I let my love for someone else take precedence. I let the enemy sway me by trusting my emotions. I let the flesh lead the way. And the last few days have opened my eyes more to the reality that every day is a battle, a spiritual battle, against the enemy and against the flesh. And I told the Lord 'Father, I'm so tired of fighting this battle every single day! Why? I'm so tired of the sin, so tired of the pain, so tired of this corrupt world feeding me lies and lust! I want to be FREE! Free from it all, once and for all!' And I do want to be free...and I will be! And I can be, but being free is dependent on my being dependent on Him and yes, fighting the good fight every single day! And after I've endured, when my time has come, I will finally be totally free!
But while I'm here...while we're here...we must fight. Don't be deceived by the world. Stand firm, keep your guard up and follow Him and love Him with ALL your heart, mind and strength. =)
Having said this, we have to be so careful these days, and I say this as a reminder to myself! If we don't stay close to the Word while being mindful of what we hear and what we watch, we are going to fall for some weird, demonic doctrine and find ourselves lukewarm and indifferent to God and His Word. Or we will be watching something on T.V. or video or whatever which will lead us towards temptation and sin. The enemy knows where we're weak and will use what he can to lead us astray. No wonder Jesus said 'If you love mother, brother, wife, husband, children more than me, you are not worthy of me.' You know why? (And I'm just realizing this myself lol) Because if we get caught up trying to please them more than God, you can be sure we won't be doing what pleases God...we will be doing what pleases those around us more, and whatever that 'thing ' is might be hurting us and leading us away from God. God has to be our number one love. We have to be willing to do what He desires, even at the cost of hurting someone that is resisting it. If we get caught up in the emotions, our faith will dwindle. And without faith, it's impossible to please God.
I learned some hard lessons in my last relationship regarding this very issue. I realize now that disobeying God can start leading me to make the wrong decisions and become indifferent to Him and His voice. He eventually rebuked me, yes, and it was at a shameful price. I let my love for someone else take precedence. I let the enemy sway me by trusting my emotions. I let the flesh lead the way. And the last few days have opened my eyes more to the reality that every day is a battle, a spiritual battle, against the enemy and against the flesh. And I told the Lord 'Father, I'm so tired of fighting this battle every single day! Why? I'm so tired of the sin, so tired of the pain, so tired of this corrupt world feeding me lies and lust! I want to be FREE! Free from it all, once and for all!' And I do want to be free...and I will be! And I can be, but being free is dependent on my being dependent on Him and yes, fighting the good fight every single day! And after I've endured, when my time has come, I will finally be totally free!
But while I'm here...while we're here...we must fight. Don't be deceived by the world. Stand firm, keep your guard up and follow Him and love Him with ALL your heart, mind and strength. =)
Thursday, February 22, 2007
The Rapture: An Old Hope, A New Hope
In John Courson's sermon regarding the trumpets of God earlier this week, he related the trumps of God in Numbers to the trumps of God mentioned in both 1 Cor. 15:52 and 1 Thess. 4:16 that pertain to the Rapture of the Church. At one point, he pointed to the argument that some make against the Rapture, saying that this whole idea was only started last Century in the 1920's by a well-known pastor. To prove this story to be wrong, he mentioned a pastor who lived during the year 300 AD, a Bishop named Ephriam of Misibis. In the year 306, he wrote a book called The End of the World, in which he wrote the following statement:
"Why therefore do we not reject every care of earthly action and prepare ourselves for the meeting of the Lord Christ, so that He may draw us from the confusion which overwhelms this world? All the Saints and the Elect of God are gathered together before the tribulation which is to come, and are gathered to the Lord in order that they may not see the confusion which overwhelms the world because of sin."
Well...I think it's pretty clear what this man is referring to. This hope was alive and well during the 3rd Century. And 1700 yrs later, it is still the hope of many who keep their eyes on Christ and await His eminent return and Rapture of the Church. =)
"Why therefore do we not reject every care of earthly action and prepare ourselves for the meeting of the Lord Christ, so that He may draw us from the confusion which overwhelms this world? All the Saints and the Elect of God are gathered together before the tribulation which is to come, and are gathered to the Lord in order that they may not see the confusion which overwhelms the world because of sin."
Well...I think it's pretty clear what this man is referring to. This hope was alive and well during the 3rd Century. And 1700 yrs later, it is still the hope of many who keep their eyes on Christ and await His eminent return and Rapture of the Church. =)
Monday, February 19, 2007
Nice Bday surprise and more news:)
I had a nice early birthday last Sunday with my mom, Isaiah, my bro and Marcella. They took me to one of my favorite restaurants, Rainforest Cafe, which alone was nice. They then told me they pitched in and payed my way to go to the Men's Retreat in March! That was definitely a nice gift, since I was hoping to go but felt I needed to take care of my debts first before I start spending money, so I was very thankful. :) Then I spent the rest of the afternoon with Isaiah and mom at the park for awhile.
Well... today was the usual Monday…always hard to get up and get going. I actually set my alarm to wake up at 5am this morning to get up before the sun did, because lately when I leave at 7:30 it seems like it should be like 10 am already according to the sun’s position. So I decided I wanted to wake up a lot earlier to beat that sunrise! Lol But like I said, Mondays are always the hardest and I just ended up getting up at the usual time of 6:30. Oh well. I still had time to stop at Starbucks and pick something up, so it wasn’t a total loss. And there was no traffic, which made it a nice drive. But I’m still determined to get up earlier and overcome that blasted habit of rising so late, and actually it’s coming along well. I even got into bed at 10:30 last night, which is unheard of in my case! I can’t even remember the last time I got to bed that early. So I figure if I just keep this up, eventually my body will adjust to it and give in around that time. IF I keep this up. Lol I suppose I’ll slip up here and there only because I’ve been doing this forever now, meaning staying up too late and trying to get up early in spite of that. But the last time I remember being encouraged to get up earlier and be a little more realistic about my situation was reading someone’s answer to a question on the Yahoo Answers site. Someone mentioned the fact that she’s online every night answering questions, thinking she’s going to get enough sleep the next day, only to be faced with the real consequences the next day of being incredibly tired because she stayed up too late, and she mentioned she did this pretty much every night. And all I could think was ‘I do the exact same thing!’ lol And it made me think and wisen up to the fact that I can’t pretend anymore that getting six hours of sleep every night is going to do it for me. It’s just not! So I’ve been changing that around and getting at least seven hrs of sleep every night, and believe me, it’s no easy feat! I admit…I still tend to cut it close and pretend I’m going to be okay, suffering the consequences every morning I do it. And that’s what motivates me to get to bed early is not wanting to face the consequences of being too tired to rise. It’s getting there…slowly but surely.
I’ve been working on two logo projects right now while I have the time, and it came at a perfect time, thank God, because it will help to clear a few past debts that I owe. I actually just paid for one of them. On my next paycheck I should be able to clear the other one, so my debt reduction plan is going well. It’s actually going a little slower than expected because I had a few other debts I needed to clear that I was trying to put on the backburner, but I new that they needed to be dealt with. I guess I was too anxious to start paying off my credit cards and be done with them! But the good news is that with these two projects, I should be able to use that money to get those past debts clear and start paying off large amounts starting next month, so I’m happy about that!
Sheesh I’m saying a lot. I need to break up my blogs a little more. I hate saying so much in one blog.
So, Onoma is still progressing, just a little slowly these days. I think what was slowing it down was not so much the money, but the idea of just waiting for the money to buy postcards to mail out to various Christian stores. I was going to go forward with that in March, but talking with a friend (Benny) made me change my mind about that. He encouraged me to make an appt. and speak to the owners about my clothing face to face and to take some samples with me, which I have. I’ve made appts before in the past but never really followed through. Plus, I didn’t really have any shirts to show, either. If there’s even one element missing in my plans, I won’t go forward with anything, which can be a hindrance in my life. I think some people are better at sales and know how to make the pitch, even without everything in their hands. Me…I have to have everything ready to lay out and show and present. I guess in a good way, I like to prepare for a good presentation and let it speak for itself. At the same time, I know it would be to my advantage to either become a better speaker/salesperson, or bring someone into my company who would be the salesperson, a sort of partner I suppose. Maybe that’s what I need…a partner. I don’t know why I’m going at this alone. I know that success is really dependent on me being dependent on the expertise of others and not just my own knowledge and ability. Hmmm…I’ll have to pray about this.
Other than that, my next class won’t be until around April, New Testament, mainly because I failed to complete the deficit units I signed up, and that was due to a little mixup and communication problem! Argg I’m not going to blame anyone here, because I suppose it was my fault for not just following through on something I knew I needed to take. But I was told something else by someone else, only to find out that that class was absolutely necessary to take in order to keep my F.A., and now, I pretty much lost it! Ugh! And believe me, I wanted to start pointing the finger and justify why I was wronged regarding this, but again, I should have just stuck with the original plan. And I did email Accting and explain my situation, but I think explanations are going to help here. I only hope that this incident may have given them a little insight into the problems that can arise when promises are made and not followed through on, as well as being misinformed and not having the correct information.
Anyhow, all is not lost here. I have enough to retake N.T., and I’ve decided to just take the rest of my G.E.’s at Mt. SAC where I can afford it. I did get one G.E. done at Biola, so that’s good, so I’m not totally bummed out.
Well, enough said for now. I don’t want to write a book here. lol More another day. =)
Well... today was the usual Monday…always hard to get up and get going. I actually set my alarm to wake up at 5am this morning to get up before the sun did, because lately when I leave at 7:30 it seems like it should be like 10 am already according to the sun’s position. So I decided I wanted to wake up a lot earlier to beat that sunrise! Lol But like I said, Mondays are always the hardest and I just ended up getting up at the usual time of 6:30. Oh well. I still had time to stop at Starbucks and pick something up, so it wasn’t a total loss. And there was no traffic, which made it a nice drive. But I’m still determined to get up earlier and overcome that blasted habit of rising so late, and actually it’s coming along well. I even got into bed at 10:30 last night, which is unheard of in my case! I can’t even remember the last time I got to bed that early. So I figure if I just keep this up, eventually my body will adjust to it and give in around that time. IF I keep this up. Lol I suppose I’ll slip up here and there only because I’ve been doing this forever now, meaning staying up too late and trying to get up early in spite of that. But the last time I remember being encouraged to get up earlier and be a little more realistic about my situation was reading someone’s answer to a question on the Yahoo Answers site. Someone mentioned the fact that she’s online every night answering questions, thinking she’s going to get enough sleep the next day, only to be faced with the real consequences the next day of being incredibly tired because she stayed up too late, and she mentioned she did this pretty much every night. And all I could think was ‘I do the exact same thing!’ lol And it made me think and wisen up to the fact that I can’t pretend anymore that getting six hours of sleep every night is going to do it for me. It’s just not! So I’ve been changing that around and getting at least seven hrs of sleep every night, and believe me, it’s no easy feat! I admit…I still tend to cut it close and pretend I’m going to be okay, suffering the consequences every morning I do it. And that’s what motivates me to get to bed early is not wanting to face the consequences of being too tired to rise. It’s getting there…slowly but surely.
I’ve been working on two logo projects right now while I have the time, and it came at a perfect time, thank God, because it will help to clear a few past debts that I owe. I actually just paid for one of them. On my next paycheck I should be able to clear the other one, so my debt reduction plan is going well. It’s actually going a little slower than expected because I had a few other debts I needed to clear that I was trying to put on the backburner, but I new that they needed to be dealt with. I guess I was too anxious to start paying off my credit cards and be done with them! But the good news is that with these two projects, I should be able to use that money to get those past debts clear and start paying off large amounts starting next month, so I’m happy about that!
Sheesh I’m saying a lot. I need to break up my blogs a little more. I hate saying so much in one blog.
So, Onoma is still progressing, just a little slowly these days. I think what was slowing it down was not so much the money, but the idea of just waiting for the money to buy postcards to mail out to various Christian stores. I was going to go forward with that in March, but talking with a friend (Benny) made me change my mind about that. He encouraged me to make an appt. and speak to the owners about my clothing face to face and to take some samples with me, which I have. I’ve made appts before in the past but never really followed through. Plus, I didn’t really have any shirts to show, either. If there’s even one element missing in my plans, I won’t go forward with anything, which can be a hindrance in my life. I think some people are better at sales and know how to make the pitch, even without everything in their hands. Me…I have to have everything ready to lay out and show and present. I guess in a good way, I like to prepare for a good presentation and let it speak for itself. At the same time, I know it would be to my advantage to either become a better speaker/salesperson, or bring someone into my company who would be the salesperson, a sort of partner I suppose. Maybe that’s what I need…a partner. I don’t know why I’m going at this alone. I know that success is really dependent on me being dependent on the expertise of others and not just my own knowledge and ability. Hmmm…I’ll have to pray about this.
Other than that, my next class won’t be until around April, New Testament, mainly because I failed to complete the deficit units I signed up, and that was due to a little mixup and communication problem! Argg I’m not going to blame anyone here, because I suppose it was my fault for not just following through on something I knew I needed to take. But I was told something else by someone else, only to find out that that class was absolutely necessary to take in order to keep my F.A., and now, I pretty much lost it! Ugh! And believe me, I wanted to start pointing the finger and justify why I was wronged regarding this, but again, I should have just stuck with the original plan. And I did email Accting and explain my situation, but I think explanations are going to help here. I only hope that this incident may have given them a little insight into the problems that can arise when promises are made and not followed through on, as well as being misinformed and not having the correct information.
Anyhow, all is not lost here. I have enough to retake N.T., and I’ve decided to just take the rest of my G.E.’s at Mt. SAC where I can afford it. I did get one G.E. done at Biola, so that’s good, so I’m not totally bummed out.
Well, enough said for now. I don’t want to write a book here. lol More another day. =)
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Toothache gone...so is tooth. =(
I got one of my back teeth extracted on Tuesday cause it was causing alot of pain. Sadly, I had to have it removed because almost the whole tooth was one of those old metal fillings that was only decaying so they had to remove it. After I got home I pretty much couldn't focus on anything cause the pain was just bugging me, not really agonizing pain but just an annoying pain, almost just like having a toothache again. Tonite is much better, I can actually focus on some stuff I need to get done, thank God.
In other news, my laptop has been unable to connect to my wireless. Mainly, it can't find my IP address or something like that and it's been so annoying! So I just totally disconnected it and resorted to using the desktop for now. Hopefully I'll get some answers regarding that soon. It was so convenient being able to move around the apt. and going online. Ho-hum.
I got to sleep in this morning a little cause I had to change out some lettering at Golden Spoon here in Chino at 9:30am, which was very nice. :) But actually, since last week I've been getting to bed earlier and getting up earlier, about 5:30am. That's been my prayer for so long -to end that bad, bad habit of staying up so late! I think the Lord has been working to make that happen, cause I admire people in my life who are able to wake up early, and I just love it when I have the opportunity to be up early and it's cool and fresh in the air. So I think the Lord recently put on my heart, 'If you enjoy the mornings so much, then change your thinking: desire to be up early rather than desiring to stay up late. Instead of enjoying the night, enjoy the morning!' When that sunk in, I took action and made it happen! And I'm continuing to make it happen with prayer and diligence. Yes it can still be a challenge, but I'm going to change this around once and for all cause I'm so tired of this old habit. Plus I hate having to cringe whenever some event is early in the morning or they ask me to come in early. I don't want to cringe...I want to invite it. So far, so good.
I also just recently signed up to be someone's prayer partner for The Call at CCCH, and in a nutshell, it became more of a blessing than I would have ever thought! We're both designers and creatives and want to do so much with it, so we're going to lay down some idears and see what happens. But yes, I'm very excited to see what the Lord may do with this new friendship we have and the ideas that are floating around up there. Thank you Lord! :)
Ahhh, now on to getting some bills in order, then on to bed. Nite =)
In other news, my laptop has been unable to connect to my wireless. Mainly, it can't find my IP address or something like that and it's been so annoying! So I just totally disconnected it and resorted to using the desktop for now. Hopefully I'll get some answers regarding that soon. It was so convenient being able to move around the apt. and going online. Ho-hum.
I got to sleep in this morning a little cause I had to change out some lettering at Golden Spoon here in Chino at 9:30am, which was very nice. :) But actually, since last week I've been getting to bed earlier and getting up earlier, about 5:30am. That's been my prayer for so long -to end that bad, bad habit of staying up so late! I think the Lord has been working to make that happen, cause I admire people in my life who are able to wake up early, and I just love it when I have the opportunity to be up early and it's cool and fresh in the air. So I think the Lord recently put on my heart, 'If you enjoy the mornings so much, then change your thinking: desire to be up early rather than desiring to stay up late. Instead of enjoying the night, enjoy the morning!' When that sunk in, I took action and made it happen! And I'm continuing to make it happen with prayer and diligence. Yes it can still be a challenge, but I'm going to change this around once and for all cause I'm so tired of this old habit. Plus I hate having to cringe whenever some event is early in the morning or they ask me to come in early. I don't want to cringe...I want to invite it. So far, so good.
I also just recently signed up to be someone's prayer partner for The Call at CCCH, and in a nutshell, it became more of a blessing than I would have ever thought! We're both designers and creatives and want to do so much with it, so we're going to lay down some idears and see what happens. But yes, I'm very excited to see what the Lord may do with this new friendship we have and the ideas that are floating around up there. Thank you Lord! :)
Ahhh, now on to getting some bills in order, then on to bed. Nite =)
Sunday, January 21, 2007
In other words...tights!
Fashion insiders claim this model's outfit from the waist down is the must-have for men. Wha? Are you freakin' kiddin' me?? a must-have? Oh my! Yes, I must have these new trend-setting leggings! Forget the sweat pants...I want some tight fitting leggings man! I gotta just have 'em you know, cause, after all, it's from a woman designer who knows what men want! lol Yes, Castiglioni, one of several 'smart' women setting the fashion agenda in Milan, has decided that this is the new trend setting fashion for men. Well Casti, I hate to break it to you but, this may be the big trend in Milan, Italy, where the culture and fashion sense for men have been more feminine and sleek (no offense guys), but here in America the opposite is true: men definitely want more masculine-looking outfits. I might say maybe among more contemporary men or even queers (I can say that right?) that may be the case, but among most middle class men...I don't think so. Although, funny enough, I do see somewhat of a small trend of sleeker-type pants among the punk/gothic crowd, so hey, that might be your market right there! lolAs for me, I'm doing just fine with my nice, comfortable sweat pants. They fit comfortably and perfectly and on cold nights do just the trick to warm me up. Besides, I don't know if it's just me or if this is true with all men but, I can't stand shirts or pants that are too clingy or tight. I get extremely fussy when my clothes are too tight. And as far as leggings, the only time I've ever worn tight leggings of any kind were when I used to work out years back, and those were men's tights/shorts or whatever they're called.. But in more recent times I've just worn shorts, which are just fine with me.
Anyhow...we just celebrated my brother's birthday today. It was actually yesterday but his girlfriend took him out that day, so my mom, me and Isaiah spent the day with him today, mainly at home because he was actually sick. Poor bro. Hope he feels better. It was kind of nice, actually just staying in for a bit, cause I'm usually just rarin' to get out! So we sat and watched Star Wars 3 and just relaxed.
I also just finished my MIS class last Thursday so I have some time off until my next class, which should start next month, most likely Literature class. I'm hoping to concentrate a little on my business and some personal reading. Speaking of that, I need to send my CRC's tonight, then probably get to bed. Yes, I NEED to start getting to bed earlier. Of course, I've been saying that for the past...hmmm...long time. Looong time. But I just can't seem to break that darned habit of staying up late and thinking I can get by on 5-6 hrs of sleep. But that's the thing: I need to get realistic and stop thinking I can do it when I CAN'T! My body keeps telling me I need more but i guess I'm too stubborn and unrealistic to listen to it. But I know when I need to stop living in lala land and get real so, I will go ahead and wrap this up!
As a quick side note, the Lord is doing amazing things to help me stick to my debt reduction plan! I've gotten help from both my mom and brother with some car issues, which would have really set me back, and been able to pay off Sprint and catch up on an overdue creditcard! In the past it's been things like car problems or other problems that have kept me trapped in debt. But the good Lord has kept me on track and things are going perfectly. Thank you Lord! =)
Saturday, January 13, 2007
In Memory of Shadow
Last Friday, January 5th, we took Shadow to the vet to get an x-ray of his jaw. We noticed something wrong with him when he wasn't closing his mouth all the way, as if he couldn't breathe through his nose correctly or as if he had a cold. We finally took him in and got some blood samples and such, got some antibiotics to help in case of any infection and brought him back. He seemed to be getting better, but after about a week, we noticed he was getting worse. He seemed very picky about what he wanted to eat, and I observed that he wasn't eating quite right either and acting kind of bratty. I told my mom 'something is really wrong with him!' That's when she decided to get those x-rays, which was about the same time the vet told us to come back. Well it didn't look good at all. He told us he had a tumor on his jaw that had already caused alot of deterioration, which confirmed why he wasn't eating right. He said at this point, there wasn't much he could do, and advised putting him to sleep. It was a hard call, but my mom, who was with him at that time, decided it was best. So she spent a little time with him before she said goodbye (he was still trying to wake up from the anasthesia and not fully aware). Then they took him, and layed him to rest. =(
It's still sad to even write this, cause he was a part of our family so to speak. We had him for over 10 years and have so many memories of him. We had him since he was a baby. I even remember feeding him with a small bottle! lol I've never had a pet put to sleep, neither had my mom. When I got home that day, my mom had just gotten there, too, and she was very broken up about it. She said she was glad I got home when I did. Well, I'm glad I got to be there for her. I was a little broken up myself hearing the news. Even today I still think of him from time to time and get a little broken up because like I said, we had him for so long and it takes time to forget that he's no longer around when you get home, or when you leave, or even when you're just walking around the apartment! Sometimes I even make a 'tsk tsk' sound just because I was so used to doing that with him, even though he's gone. It can be sad, but it's actually healing.
I don't think we'll get another cat too soon. I think it will take time. I think for now we still think of Shadow as almost being around. In time I'm sure my mom will, since in time I'm not sure where I'll be, whether still here or out of the house. Well see. Even today I was going through some of the pics of him in my computer. That's where I found this one. I definitely want to print these and put them into my photo album. I have a nice black one that I started pretty recently. I think those can still be valuable and easily accessible. I couldn't think of just storing them all in my computer or drive and that's it! It's not very practical to me if you or someone else just wants to browse through your photos. I think of the pics on my computer as more of a storage device for them, not a 'picture time' moment thing, unless it's just me, of course.
Anyhow, I will definitely miss our little guy. He was a part of us for quite some time. I don't know exactly where he is, but I hope that he is at rest with the Lord even as we will be soon! The Lord knows that he was with us and that we took care of His creature. I pray that for all that, there is something special awaiting us that will bring much joy!
I will miss you Shadow. I will always remember you my little friend. =)
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