My PT told me I have smooth skin

So... I went to PT today and I was laying there and she was going to perform some stretches on my shoulder and when she grabbed my arm she said wow you have smooth skin.

haha I laughed and proceeded to tell her how she's not the first person to tell me that... and I proceeded to explain to her shiseido and how my mom emphasize on taking care of your skin... however I believe it has a large part due to genetics...

anyway... yes the first person I thought of was Deborah... she always asked everyone to feel my skin haha anyway please don't. -_- I mean unless you really want to but don't sneak up on me and do it. haha

anyway it was comforting to hear that nyc/stress/fast-paced/studying/TAin/etc has not deteriorated my skin =)

midterm tomorrow and then flying back to LA for Pedro's wedding. This is the last wedding I am flying back for... unless I'm in the wedding party... I won't be going... red-eye flights are killer and I have class on Monday at 11AM -_-

kevin

New York City vs Southern California

So one thing I love about New York is that it is efficient.

When I go to the bank and deposit money, they do just that. No questions asked.

In so cal, when they look at my bank balance... they always ask oh do you want to put this into a CD or blah blah blah etc. Usually I'm okay with those questions... I just go no thank you.

Until today. Today I decided to deposit a check I got some liquidating my stock options. The teller was an Asian lady... typical Asian old lady who thinks she knows everything I didn't like the way she handle the previous customer... I hoped that I wouldn't get her... but lo and behold she became free and I walked up... and I hoped that it would be a short and quick transaction.

I swipe the card... the ATM card reader doesn't work... she then proceeds to take my card out of my hand and swipe it her self.

Pause right there. Mistake number one. You do not rudely take my card without asking me.

Then I took it back out of her hand and swiped it myself one more time and it went through.

She then decides to take the card out of my hand again and places it above her keyboard. Just in case she needs to use it again...

Pause right there. Mistake number two. You do not keep my debit card on your side of the counter... I have never experienced that before. I usually swipe and put it BACK into my wallet.

She then punches in my deposit amount and then she hesitantly holds onto the receipt and puts it down on her end of the table. She then asks her supervisor who is standing behind her to come over and says do you know why he has such a high balance? AND THEN she proceeds to asks me you do know your balance right?

Pause right there. Mistake number three. This is fatal. You do not question your customer's balance. When she placed the receipt on her side of the table... I felt as if she is retaining me to question me. The transaction is done so why are you not giving me my receipt? I felt interrogated as if this balance is not legit. Why did you ask your supervisor about my balance before you even asked me about it?! I also felt as if she's asking me "Are you stupid? for having such a balance?" Now why would you want your customer to feel that way? I did not go to the bank to feel interrogated and stupid. Yes my balance might be more than you have ever seen in real life but hey... some people save money and some people don't. Maybe you should start trying to save some money?

The supervisor then proceeds to ask oh are you buying a house soon? I'm like yes, it is liquid...chuckle chuckle... then the teller goes ohh here you go have a nice day and hands me the receipt. I then took the receipt and reached my hand over across the counter to take my card back and said you too and quickly left the bank.

Pause right there. Mistake number four. Don't give me the receipt without giving me my card. I could have just left without it.

Let's contrast this with the experience I had in NYC... I deposited twice in NYC. Both times went something like this...

The lady says hi, I say hi. I give her the deposit slip and swipe the card. I put the card back in my wallet. She then proceeds to punch in my deposit amount. She then gives me my receipt. I walk out. El fin.

Now you tell me which was more efficient... and tell me which place I felt questioned and stupid?

nyc. ftw.

kevin

Life is but a mist

Today in lab, my colleague asked if I heard of the news recently about the body found in Yale.

I looked up CNN and found this.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/14/missing.yale.student/index.html

She was planning her biggest event of her life... her wedding... when all of a sudden some evil ruthless murderer decided to end her life.

I pray for justice to prevail and that God would ultimately bring punishment upon the wicked. This is quite sad... It is so sad that sometimes I deal with the sadness by not thinking about it. However, I don't think that is the right decision.

How do I deal with this? I try to reflect on God's word and one thing comes into my mind...

"What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes."

Life is so short. I could be planning to do all these things... get my MS/PhD... travel the world... get married... raise kids... etc etc. However, who knows if any of these will come. What am I doing for the Lord today? How am I giving God glory... How is His name made magnified?

I think this incident has definitely sobered me up.

The other thing that comes into my mind... is anger. I hope it is godly anger. This is so injust. A precious life that God has created... was just taken away by another person. How do I deal with this?
It is quite sad... the husband to be is actually a graduate student at Columbia in the physics department...

I hope and pray that He would grant the friends and families who are grieving to know the love of Christ... I pray that God would continue to intervene on this dying sin-cursed earth to give the people who don't know Him the grace to believe and that by believing... they would be comforted by the love of Christ.

I'll dwell on this more later... for now... dinner and class.

kevin

vlog post #1

I did my first video blog... it's uploaded onto youtube. Here is the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCV72hISXek

it is almost the same update as the previous blog post... except you get to see me! haha =D maybe I'll do more of those later... it's time consuming to record and edit... =D

kevin

New Beginning

So I went to Boston this past weekend to help my friend Lauren move in. It was quite hectic... we went to target, trader joes, ace hardware, etc. I help her build a dresser and a desk while she cooked for me haha. We also ran around harvard square for about 45 minutes...

I saw my high school friend Angela and Antonia... I haven't seen them both in ages. It was definitely good catching up with them.

I also saw Paul J... it was really good catching up with him. I hope he moves to NYC after business school... haha

Tuesday I had a full day of orientation. I met some random engineers at a social. It was pretty cool.

On Wednesday, I got my Columbia ID.... I also got my desk space and a computer and account set up. I also signed up for classes.

I also got a mac. Yes. That's all I have to say. (student discount, so macbook pro + ipod touch + printer)

Thursday, I found out what class I have to TA. I also met up with Anna who also came to Columbia from Berkeley. She drove cross country... yes. california to nyc... I only know one other person who did that... Alice Li but then Alice is crazy enough to do something like that...

Friday, I ran Riverside Park, cooked dinner, and went to a small group. I am still checking out small groups... I wish I can plug in fast but I believe God has His timing so I must be patience with it...

Saturday, I went to a cal bar in east village to watch the cal vs maryland game... i saw so many of my old friends from college that i haven't see in ages... esp michelle and alice... who were so gracious in giving me and my friends some table space... anyway it was an awesome victory... go bears! i took the subway at 2AM back to harlem... i thought it would be bad but it wasn't bad at all.

Sunday, went to emmanuel church. it was a good service. a good reminder about patience and prayer... esp prayer. i need to pray more.

Today, went to target to buy some cleaning supplies and TP... and getting ready for class tomorrow... wooot woot... it's about to begin!

oh yeah! im still doing PT exercises... and all them push ups and sit ups for jeff. i saw the primary care doctor not too long ago... and im going to schedule a PT appointment soon... but yeah my medical insurance is now crap... i miss my broadcom benefits... =/

i'll post more later...

kevin