Should I Start Blogging Again?

Wow....I've let this blog kinda slip for the past four years. In a way it does seem that long, but not really. I feel like a whole world of things have changed since I first started my blog. Facebook is one of them. I'm amazed at all the new people that I've come in contact with, from grade school, to friends from other parts of the United States, to long lost relatives...well, I'm not sure if we're related, but we have the same family name.

Now that it is near the end of 2011, I am in the process of thinking of goals and resolutions going into 2012. Should I include the goal of blogging again? If so, will it just be on the topics that currently grab my attention? Politics? Religion? Football?

As of right now, I think 2012 will be a year of thanks. Each day, I will post one thing that I am thankful for, whether it is something general, or maybe something specific that happened on that day. I just hope that I can put something here that would be beneficial to both you and me.

We'll see...2012 is just over a month away.

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.