FORE!!! never really works...

I never thought that I'd almost kill my best friend playing a round of golf. Golfing can really be competitive, but c'mon, would I really stoop that low? Perhaps...

Eric and I started to really get into golfing a couple of months ago. We even have our own set of golf clubs now. Here are a few pics of me wacking at the ball back on July 7th.

I'm driving off a tee in this sequence...
Here I am using a pitching wedge to get the ball up into the green...

Then of course here's putting...


I scored a 119 that day. Just a few more months of practice and I should be hitting the pro tour...yeah, right!!

Fast forward to August 18...

Eric, my brother Roman, and I were playing at a golf course in Cecil Field (the former Navy Base) . My brother took this picture of us from his cart.
Needless to say I was having a bad day and I was pretty frustrated from hole 1 onward. After a quick break, we set off to the 10th hole. Off the tee, both of our balls sailed to the right, with Eric's going through a little patch of woods onto the other fairway, and mine on our side but a little short in distance.

We drove the cart to my ball location. Eric took his club and started walking a distance to find his ball while I setup to hit my ball more into the fairway. At this point he is about 40-50 yards in front and about a 45 degree angle to the right of where I was attempting to hit, and was about to cross a bridge to get to the other fairway. I figured he was out of harms way, right?

Remember, I was frustrated already, and out of desperation I swung really hard at the ball with my 3 wood.

This is where Murphy's Law takes into effect.

I hit the ball with the side of my club and sliced it really bad...

...a line drive...

...at a 45 degree angle to the right of intended direction...

...right towards Eric.

My frustration turned to horror and just as I was yelling "FORE!!!" the damage was already done. Eric dropped like a bucket, sprawled on the golf course, in pain.

I thought OH GOD!!! I just killed my best friend!!!

Roman saw what happened and we both immediately ran to him. He laid motionless, with his face grimaced with pain. Eric couldn't talk at this point so my brother and I were trying to decide if he needed medical attention because it hit him right around his right kidney area. We weren't sure if any internal damage was done.

Roman went back to the 10th hole tee and told the group behind us to play through. They were in disbelief as to what happened after my brother recounted the incident to them.

As the pain subsided, Eric started to laugh and muttered, "Man, we're always making new memories, huh?" I was relieved to know that I didn't kill him after all, let alone his humor.

So what's the damage? Take a look for yourself...
Anyone want to challenge me to a round of golf?

Prayer of Many, Prayer of One

If anyone knows me, I love football. I jokingly prioritize football right after God and just before family. So what does prayer have to do with football? Well, when someone gets seriously injured, that situation usually puts football in the right perspective in life, and whether a team wins or loses doesn't seem so important anymore.

This past Sunday Buffalo Bills reserve tight end Kevin Everett sustained a catastrophic and life-threatening neck injury which required surgery. The doctor said afterwards “I believe there will be some permanent neurological paralysis. ... A full neurological recovery was bleak, dismal.” Everett was under sedation in ICU to allow the swelling to go down.

Usually an event like this would draw only sympathy from me, but for some dumb reason, after reading the prognosis yesterday (Monday), I decided to stop everything I was doing and pray for Kevin right then and there. I'm sure there were already thousands of prayers poured out throughout the nation, so one more couldn't hurt right? I poured out my heartfelt prayer to God, asking if it'd be His will that Kevin would be able to walk again. When I was done, I went on with my business.

Well, I just read the update today on Kevin's prognosis and was floored. It's nothing short of a minor miracle. Kevin voluntarily moved his arms and legs on Tuesday when partially awakened, prompting a neurosurgeon to say the Buffalo Bills' tight end would walk again -- contrary to the grim prognosis given a day before. I was thrilled to hear such good news!!!

Now I hope you don't think that I'd be naive enough to say that it was only my prayer that God answered. I'm sure the outcome would have been the same if I didn't think even once about praying for Kevin. God answered the many thousands of prayers on Kevin's behalf.

But it is the fact that He did answer my prayer that brings a minor miracle in my life, and I'm led more to believe that my impression to pray for Kevin was really God's way of bringing me closer to Him. For that, I am grateful for.

Best wishes to you, Kevin, for a speedy and full recovery.

Como?

I'm counting down the days of working with Dell, and thought I'd share with you an interesting encounter today with a Spanish speaking female customer who can barely speak English.

During our difficult dialogue, trying to understand each other, she was complaining about how she tried to call Dell but no one there spoke Spanish. Well, luck had it that while she was submitting an online application for Dell Financing, she had to call Dell for additional information.

She reluctantly agreed and was having trouble understanding the person on the phone. She asked to speak to a Spanish speaking representative, of which there was no option for that. Among the conversation (she eventually hung up), she was verbally showing her displeasure to me about why Dell didn't have Spanish speaking representatives while other companies did.

On the one hand, I was very sympathetic.

But on the other hand, I really was not.

I'll leave it at that before I get in trouble.

Kinda reminds me of an encounter on my church mission in Los Angeles where two of us were knocking at a door of an apartment complex. Through the screen, you can see a little Mexican boy come up to the door...."no entiendo" came the response from the boy, which means "I don't understand".

"What? No Nintendo?" was my smart-alec response.

"OK...well, no Playstation"

Career Path

Gosh, has it been that long since I've posted something on this blog? July 10th seems sooooo far away, and we're in September. I know that a lot has transpired since then...my dad's birthday, my niece's birthday, countless times at various golf courses (including a time I almost killed my best friend...stay tuned for that blog), but only one poker night at the house.

Anyway, I hit my year mark working for Dell in July and after much consideration, I decided I needed to move on. It wasn't a sudden decision. I've actually been slowly warming up to it. I've been looking a lot the past few months, to no avail. That includes the following:

• Interviewed to be a account manager for WOKV AM690 FM106.5 Talk Radio. The interview was in mid June...said he'd reply in a few weeks. I never got a response, BUT I didn't really care to follow up.
• Interviewed with Sprint to be a cellphone repairman in July. I was his #1 man, but needed to interview one more person. A week passed...then two...but ultimately the hiring manager stated that the position fell through.
• Was approached at church by a friend that stated that they were looking for a recruiter for FMU (Florida Metropolitan University). It was later noted that they were going to hire from within and that I would only be able to apply for an admission specialist.
  
• Got rejected from interviewing for a RF Engineer position for Clearwire....jeez, and I'm even a Clearwire customer.
• Got a call back for a possible Sales Engineer position in August, but didn't quite have the credentials for it...who ever thought knowledge on PLCs would be that important.
  
• Never heard from various other applications, like HP medical imaging technician.
• I thought about getting a CCNA certification so that I can enter the into the IT field. I even got invited to go to a CCNA bootcamp. No thanks.
  

So you can't fault me for trying. Was I suppose to stay at Dell, or was God saving me for the right opportunity for me.

Out of desperation I asked another friend from church to give me information on her company because she said that they were hiring like crazy, and to be honest with you, it's in a field that I've been intrigued in. So I sent in the application online August 17. I received an email the following Monday and got past the phone interview on August 24. I had an on-site interview on August 29, which included some nifty test (can't remember the name) that tests on how you think, I think.

One week passed and I was thinking They're hiring like crazy, but I'm sure I must have dropped the ball somewhere.

But I did get the call yesterday (while I was working at Dell, mind you). I was given an offer, and I accepted.

I will be a Financial Representative for Fidelity Investments, starting on Sept 24.

During the first few months, I will be studying for the Series 7 and Series 63 license examinations, after which (if I pass) I'll be able to do transactions in securities (stocks, mutual funds, etc). They even give us paid company time (even overtime) to study for them. And for those who don't know, the Series 7 exam is a six hour 250 question exam. If you don't pass, you pretty much get fired. No pressure, huh?

So this is my new career direction. And I'm pretty gung-ho about it.

"The One Shot" from The Wedding Photographer

As some of you know, I do photography on the side. One of the latest gigs I did was for a Mormon couple who got married at the Orlando Temple on June 30. I was privileged to be their wedding photographer, my 4th wedding gig of the year. Here are a few shots from their event (and as an aside, the picture with them with the temple as the backdrop was not the choice location for that shot, but the bride didn't feel like drudging through the grass in 100 degree temperature to get to the ideal location, so that was the best we could do). The happy couple is Jeremy and Kristi Shaw.



But during the festivities, there was one shot I took that is my all-time favorite, not that it was a great picture in of itself, but the realtime saga that was going on in order to take that picture. I think that sometimes the story behind the picture can paint a bigger picture than the picture itself.

It was at the end of their wedding reception and they were making a grand exit. I was beginning to realize that my flash was taking about 5+ seconds to recharge. I didn't have time to change the batteries. How was I going to capture their exit, in the dark, with a slowly recharging flash?

The family and guest were forming a human line from the church building to their getaway car. I positioned myself at their car facing the exit where the couple would...uh...exit. Normally I would be able to take about 3-4 shots as they walked through this path, but with only one flash opportunity, I had to wait for the right time. I had to make that one shot, or forever lose that moment in time.

Slowly the couple made their way through the line. People started throwing rose petals from the left and right...

wait for it...

wait for it...

NOW!!!

It wasn't the best composed picture in terms of color (I know, I'm picky, but you can't do much with an orange light in the background illuminating the evening with a bluish flash coming from my camera) but, in my mind, I don't think I would have been able to capture that moment any more perfectly...the father of the bride looking on from the left, with her brother and other family members filling out to the front, the rose petals flying in the air, neatly accentuating the expressions on their faces (especially hers).



Of the thousands of pictures I've taken this year, that is my favorite shot because it was my one shot.

Working Out IS Working Out (Update)

Remember that bet I had with my co-worker? If not, just scroll down. I haven't created tons of blog posts that I'd have to link it here. OK so I did anyway.

Well, the short story is that I won, and it was pretty much by default based on the fact that I lost weight, even if it was just two measley pounds. Isaiah ended up gaining a few pounds, but he blames his girlfriend for feeding him well. Hmmmmm...I kinda wish I was in that predicament.

Anyway, I won lunch out of it...or is it dinner?

I'll have pictures posted shortly of my progress...

We decided to to make up fake contest for the month of July since losing weight really wasn't painting the overall picture of our health, so we came up with the following "metrics" to gauge this months contest. In no particular order:

• amount of weight loss
• change in our body composition (% fat)
• change in blood pressure
  
• change in IQ
• number of times we have extra curricular activities at night (sorry, I had to censor that for people who have an adverse reaction to the mention of the word "SEX"...BTW, he wins in this department...until I get married, which isn't gonna happen by COB July 31)
• number of times we try not to say anything mean about our Nazi boss (we love you Ted :-P)
  

I think that about sums it up. I'll be sure to give a fake update at the end of the month.

Tender Mercies

This past Tuesday at my church religion class (institute for those of you who are LDS, which is pretty much everyone at this point), the instructor gave a great lesson on the "Tender Mercies" God has blessed us with. Towards the end of class, he gave us time to write down the "Tender Mercies" we've felt in our lives. I'm really grateful for that time in class to reflect on this past year of my life, which was a great transition from one of the biggest trials I've ever faced.

Earlier that day, we celebrated my brother's birthday at my parent's house. As I was reflecting during the celebration, I thought about all of the events that I was able to participate with my family this past year:

• First time in 10 years that I was home for Christmas AND Thanksgiving.
• First time my family came to my church service, which happened to be on Easter, to watch me sing a solo.
• First time in over a decade that my family watched me perform in a music group (First Coast Wind Ensemble)
• Countless times I've been able to visit with my Mom and keep her company while my Dad was away going about his daily business.
• I've been blessed to finally babysit my niece and be a part of her life.
• I've started a side business in photography with my brother.
• I feel like I'm a part of "family issues" again...
  

Besides my family, I've had numerous reunions of sorts, of both friends and extended family.

I didn't need Tuesday night to know of the love and mercy God has for me. It's always been line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little.

About a year ago, I abruptly moved "home"...broken, both spiritually and emotionally. I was questioning God on why the path I had set forth had been so vehemently diverted. It's been a slow and steady recovery. For all intentionally purposes, I have pretty much recovered, although I am still struggling in temporal things, like finding my new "career". For some reason, though, this has been a welcoming struggle.

But one of the great blessings, the "Tender Mercies", from God is that I am once again a part of my family's life. Each day, each event, just adds to the "happiness" in my life that I haven't had in a long time. My life now, at this point, revolves around them, in that I'm not looking for experiences or careers that will move me from Jacksonville. In a lot of way that has made my life easier. Besides, there have been numerous times I've been able to share my religious beliefs with my family (through words and deeds).

I'm so grateful for a thoughtful and loving God, that knows me personally, who has brought to me (again) this "Tender Mercy".

One Degree (of separation) of Napoleon Dynamite

I'll get straight to the point. I was roommates with Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite) from 1999-2000 when we attended BYU in Provo, UT. We were assigned to the same unit at Cinnamon Tree Apartments. And if anyone wants to check out the 2nd floor corner unit, the address is:

1285 N Freedom Blvd (200 W) Apt 30
Provo, UT 84604

BYU housing is unlike other college housing...off-campus housing is assigned like dorms (that's another topic). I had just returned from a two-year Mormon mission to Los Angeles California and made arrangements in the Fall of 1999 to room with another friend of mine that also went to Los Angeles. For the two-bedroom apartment that was assigned to us, they paired us up with Jon and Dan Heder, who both just got back from their church missions to Japan. They took one room, we took the other.

For two semesters, I witnessed Jon, uncut, speaking Japanese with his brother, making short films in the apartment, and I even heard those catch phrases like "Gosh!!!", "Luckeeeee!!!", and "You idiot!!!" whenever he decided to go in character of the future Napoleon Dynamite. Who would've thought I was that close to fame?

Dell Pride?

WARNING -- Controversial Material!!!

I've worked for several major companies (Northrop Grumman, Harris Corporation, Monsanto) and they each have their way of celebrating diversity in the workforce, mainly by adhering to and informing employees of anti-discrimination laws regarding race, religion, sexual orientation, etc, of an employee.

At Dell, my current employer, I received a corporate email with the following logo a few weeks back, celebrating Gay Pride Month. They had invited a famous and openly gay guest speaker to speak at the Austin, TX campus and was emailing everyone the days and times for the event.




Did Dell go too far to celebrate gay pride or do you think Dell had every right to promote this kind of diversity at the workplace? Because this is a controversial subject, feel free to leave anonymous comments.

She Said, He Said

I've been working at the mall for almost a year now, and "people watching" has been one of the things to do to pass time. On very very few occasions, my co-workers and I have difficulty identifying the gender of our patrons from behind, since some girls have masculine features and like to wear their hair short, and some guys like to wear their hair long. A couple of days ago, there was a person who had long curly dark hair, I believe of a islander decent, somewhat shorter than me (I am 5' 8"). Isaiah, my co-worker, challenged me to identify their gender. Unbeknownst to him, I had already identified this person before as a male, but from behind...it was really difficult NOT to say that he was a woman.

This brought back to my remembrance one incident a few years back in Sacramento California, playing volleyball with other young adults from my church, which happened every Thursday evening. There was a Polynesian girl that I had never met before, somewhat heavyset and had long hair, playing on the opposing team. After one of the plays, there was a discrepancy as to which team was awarded the point. As I voiced my opinion, I kept saying "She touched it last. She touched it last", pointing to this Polynesian girl. That was when everyone corrected me and said "You mean, HE touched it last."

In disbelief, I looked at one of my friends on my team, somewhat at a loss of words, somewhat puzzled, somewhat embarrassed. She looked back at me with the "Oh gosh, you just messed up bad!" look. That lasted a few more seconds, but we went just went back to playing the game like nothing happened.

You know it would have been MUCH worse if the genders were swapped...

SELL ON EBAY!!!!

I never thought I'd actually venture into Ebay. Countless times I've listened to that Ebay song by Weird "Al" sung to the tune of Backstreet Boy's "I Want It That Way". It's quite amusing. Little did I know that EVERYTHING he says on it is soooooooo TRUE.

Since I've been back in Jacksonville (wow over a year now), I kinda started out trying to buy and sell stuff. My first purchase was an all-in-one media card reader/floppy drive for a computer that I put together. The first item I ever sold was a wireless gaming router for a console game system. Since then, I've become somewhat of an expert at it now. I've sold a few cameras, a laptop with a broken LCD screen, a couple of cellphones, computer parts (computer case, CD read/writer, bluetooth keyboard and mouse, RAM sticks), my old Playstation 2, a used Xbox 360, and even a brand new Playstation 3 when it first came out last November.



I'm into photography and one of the hard to get lens (Nikon 18-200mm VR lens) have been selling for a premium since the beginning of 2006. Well, last August, I decided to see if I could could make a profit selling these lenses. Actually I just wanted to make enough profit to help pay for one of those lenses to keep for myself. I'd order a few of these lenses at $750 each, wait about two months or so for them to arrive, and then sell them for much higher price on Ebay....I was hooked. I pretty much made it a side business, so long as there's demand. I've sold roughly 130 of these babies. My "Buy-It-Now" price was as high as $949 around Christmas time, but the demand is dropping and they are currently listed at $849.



Feel free to check out my profile vladtech on Ebay.

Now I'm on the lookout for the next hot item to sell...

Working Out Is Sorta Working Out

Isaiah, one of my co-workers, and I have a friendly wager to see who can lose the most weight by the end of June. Since we made this bet (during the last week of May) I've joined a local gym and been doing some kind of exercise almost everyday. I would show you a before picture, but please, everyone already knows how awesome my physique is, so no need to make the girls drool and the guys jealous....OK, so I'm stretching it just a wee bit...but when I'm done, then I guess I can allow a modest peak.

I'm glad we made this wager. I think I've gone through my fifth (and counting) metabolic slowdown and my weight keeps going up...and up...and up. I weigh about 207 lbs. and I hope to be about 10+ pounds lighter by June 30th. I'm not sure if I gonna make it, but we'll see.

I've been doing pretty good so far...I'll keep you posted on this.

Welcome To My Blog

So, how do you start this thing? How about "Hi....welcome to my blog." I thought I'd go ahead and jump on the bandwagon and start a blog like everyone else. Actually this was a consequence of having someone close to me (well, she's not really close...in distance or even relationship...just someone I knew in California) create a blog to let her friends and family receive updated information on her new journey with cancer so she doesn't have to spend all day on the phone relaying the same information to everyone. Fortunately for her she's had a good prognosis, and the blog has added to the great support she already has that surrounds her.

In the mean time, I thought...wow...blogs can be very useful. And since then, I've enjoyed a few other blogs (see my list of blogs to NEVER read). So here I begin, with my very first blog, and my very first post.

So am I going to have a theme, a direction, a mantra, etc, for my blogspot? The short answer is "not really". Mostly I just wanted a place to share events that are happening in my life as well as the silly thoughts that go through my mind. I'm sure I'll pay for that later (like when I'm running for President of the United States). I promise...I didn't inhale.

If anything, I know this is going to be FUN for me!!!!! I'm excited to get started. And I hope you'll enjoy at least some parts of my blog. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy this blog!!!