Living Like A Rock Star!

My company has been planning the rebranding and renaming of itself for the past 4 months and they've been teasing us with clues for the past month and building hype and momentum for the change. I have to admit that if they hadn't gone to such extraordinary lengths to build the hype I probably wouldn't have really cared, but they did a really great job in getting everyone excited about it.

They began with setting up a website where they would release video clues every day for a week. Each revealed a clue to the new name and they even got some famous local personalities to be in the videos. They also had hidden easter eggs on the site that made it fun to discover and figure out. On top of that, they mailed out phony recruiting letters from a company that basically stood for everything my company didn't. Then they sent out decoy and funny emails that tried to mislead everyone into thinking the new name was some other name.

But the finale was the brand launch party which was just held last night. We were told that it was a "red carpet attire" event and everyone was very excited to see what the company had planned for us. The night started at a very unusual location. We were told to meet at small unknown menswear store downtown. When we got there we were told to look around and accessorize as we wanted to and the company would pay for it. Since it was a mens store, mostly it was just the guys that got to have fun. Some got funky hats and shoes and some got snazzy new ties.

Then we were told to go across the street where limos were picking people up to take us to the party location. We got into the limo and were driven a few blocks away to a bar/club that had been reserved for the night. There were spotlights in front with a policeman and security guards and of course the red carpet. We got out of the limo and literally walked the red carpet. Immediately after entering through the doors, we were greeted by a crowd of fanatic students that were all wearing t-shirts with our new name and yelling for autographs and basically treating us like stars. There were photographers too and we had fun being "famous" and signing their shirts and papers. After the crowd of fans we were individually announced as we walked down the stairs to the party. It was a pretty wild scene and experience.

The party itself was pretty top notch too...open bar, buffet lines, sushi bar, cigars a live band. There were also other unusual "treats" like a room to pamper yourself with make-up artists, color experts and tattoo (paint) artists. There was also a store wher the company gave everyone $200 to order company apparel with the new name.

Overall it was a pretty fun night, and while I'm not usually into the whole company party thing, I'm really glad I went to this one. It was fun to live like a rock star for one night!

Whistler is Amazing!

I seriously love Whistler. It's probably been about 5 years since I last went there, but as soon as we got there I knew the weekend was going to rock. It just blows my mind that we can cover miles of mountain and snow all on a little board or a pair of sticks. It's so exhilarating and amazing to play in God's creation like we did. We definitely have to make this a yearly trip (or even more often than that).

Note to self: Blackcomb is definitely more boarder friendly than Whistler. But I like Whistler too.

My first post by cell phone.

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The Blessing of Accountability

Wow! I can't believe I'm blogging again. Well sort of...I've created a new blog as an accountability experiment. It's not a new idea, I borrowed it from the guys CG, but without the "punishment". Basically it's an open blog for people to post their daily observations or share what God showed them in their bible reading.

God's really been working in this area of my life where I've always struggled ever since becoming a Christian. I've never been able to have consistent quiet times and spend time with Him daily in His word. I would always try, but fall short due to my lack of discipline and old habits which puts other daily things ahead in the priority list than time with God. In fact since last year I'd pretty much stopped meeting with God at all on my own. I was at a very low point in my journey with God.

But God saw me and met me where I was at. He saw that I did have a desire to turn things around and come back to meeting with Him, but he knew I lacked the strength to do it on my own (the spirit is willing, but the body is weak mark 14:38b). So God brought a new friend into my life that immediately suggested we start reading the bible together, and that very day we started. we began reading a chapter each day and then since we worked together we would take 15-30 min each day to talk about what we read with each other. it's an extra special blessing b/c we work together and even on the same project so it wasn't hard to do it every single day. we even made it a point to call each other on the weekends to talk about our reading. this accountability really helped me in getting started and from there God took over by really meeting with me in my times in His word.

I'm just totally amazed that I've been able to meet with Him and be in His word every day for almost 2 months now, and I can definitely see how my life has changed b/c of it. I totally praise God for just knowing where and how to meet me where i'm at and for blessing me with such an awesome accountability partner.

So that's why I've started this new accountability blog for reading the bible. I'm hoping others can also experience how amazing it can be when God really speaks thru His word and meet us right where we're at.

Food Fest in L.A.

My first blog entry back will have to be about my awesome "food fest" weekend in L.A. this past weekend. It's been several years since I last visited SoCal and my friends who have traded the beautiful PNW scenery for the traffic and smog...oh yeah and sun.

The weekend started out with brunch at Doughboys which is a great bakery/cafe that has some breakfast foods with a twist. i had the french toast pie and my friends had a breakfast bbq pork burrito and a chilli omelette. they are also known for their red velvet cake which was delicious!

That night we went to an all-you-can-eat korean bbq place where you grill your own meat. needless to say, we left that place never wanting to eat meat again...well at least for a long while. we made the mistake of order a second round of meat from 2 waitresses and end up with way more meat than we could consume and we feared being charged for the uneaten meat. so we resorted to hiding meat under finished dishes and hanging out until they gave us our bill.

the next day we headed out to manhattan beach to meet up with steph and her friends. i've never been to an L.A. beach and was pleasantly surprised. i was impressed with the number of beach v-ball courts set-up for anyone to use..why don't they have things like that on hawaii beaches?

it was a super nice day too...a little too nice as we were told to buy some socks on our way to the beach b/c we were told that the sand was too hot to play on without socks. wearing socks at the beach was definitely a first, but it wasn't too bad a price to pay to play beach v-ball. it was a great day at the beach...we played v-ball, splashed in the cool water and just hanging out in the sun. on the way back to the cars we walked by all of the amazing beach front properties...i wonder if i'll ever be able to own a place like that.

that night we headed to The Loft to eat some hawaiian food. good stuff...kalua pig and island style fried chicken. i even had a lava flow...my favorite! after dinner we went down to hermosa beach to "walk around" but ended up hanging out at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and having some laughs with a super friendly barista named Star.

next morning we went to the pasadena mosaic church service and then to Din Tai Fung Dumpling House where we had to wait an hour, but got to eat some of the best dumplings ever!!! so yummy! later that afternoon i went with steph to her church, The Exodus, and got to hear some awesome sharing by steph and several other congregation members.

that night we ate light after a weekend of heavy eating, but still managed to squeeze in a visit to Diddy Riese for a cheap and yummy snack!

the trip wrapped up with a final meal at BJ's Restaurant/Brewery where they have the best Chicago style pizza outside of Chicago!

that was my "food fest" weekend of fun down in L.A... what was the best part of it all? hanging out with my friends, of course! thanks steph, susan and jerm for making my weekend awesome...i miss hanging out with you gals! shan, thanks for letting me crash with you!

Return of the Blog

i've been toying with the idea of returning to my blog. i've had passing thoughts of blogging...strange, since it's been almost a year since i left the blogging world.

hmm, i don't know...maybe i'll ease back into it and see how it goes...not sure who still visits this out-dated blog...anyways stay tuned...but don't hold your breath...

Finally Here!

after a week of intense packing and trying to figure out how to get rid of all the junk i've accumulated....after many "free" postings on craigslist and dealing with flaky people...after very little sleep and much understanding from faithful and supportive friends...after a mix-up of going to the wrong truck rental location and then dealing with a lost truck reservation...after about 3 hours of moving and then creating a large "free" pile of stuff in front of the old house...i'm finally here in my new place spending my very first night here!

it feels so good to know that this moving process is almost done and that i will once again get to return to semi-normal life...hopefully. it's been a really stressful and tiring moving process and i've been finding myself daily asking God for strength and energy and receiving it; just enough for that day.

ok, it's time to get on to my first night's sleep here and then my first morning here...yay! =o)