2012 Summer Olympic Games Bids

It looks like we will find out the host city for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games (on July 6). Paris and London seem to be out in front, while New York City almost was out of the race because NY's Olympic stadium plan was rejected. Still 7 years away, but interesting to think about.

Edit: BBC's website about the 2012 Summer Olympic Games bid is here.

The truth about contact lens cleaning

So I got my annual contact lens/glasses exam today. The big surprise during this exam is that he found I was beginning to develop an allergic reaction to wearing contacts. Apparently he discovered this while checking the insides of my upper eyelids. The problem may be because I don't clean my contacts thoroughly enough. If you wear contacts, you may have noticed that a lot of the contact lens solution companies advertise a "no-rub" formula, so you don't have to rub your contacts to clean them properly. So I stopped rubbing them before I put them away. My optometrist told me this "no-rub" formula is just a gimmick; you still need to clean them thoroughly with a good rubbing; like for 20-30 seconds per lens.

I'm getting new glasses. Gotta use those benefits before I lose them.

Lenovo Thinkpad

My laptop shipped today. Interesting that the tracking says shipment type is UPS Ground, but it is being sent from Kowloon Bay, HK. Also just goes to show you that Thinkpads are no longer IBM.

Weekend update

This summer looks to be filled with BBQs, parties, weddings and beach trips. California's weather lends itself to such events in this particular season.

Saturday, Laura and I went to a friend's (Dave) "surprise" birthday party. I say "surprise" because he wasn't surprised at all, as his girlfriend left the Evite logged on on his computer, so he found out way in advance. The only unusual characteristic of this party is that we got to peg the birthday boy with quite a number of water balloons. (This stems from history; Dave has done quite a number of hazing-type activities on other people's birthdays over the years, so it was payback time.)

After the group games, I felt incredibly sick because my asthma started acting up. It's a slight case, so I don't have an inhaler. One of my other friends suggested that I should keep a (standard prescription) inhaler around for such occasions. I wonder if that's a good idea; I thought you needed to have a certain prescription to use an inhaler.

Cult testing using Myers-Briggs

While reading about the history of the International Church of Christ at REVEAL, I came across a section where this doctor used the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) test to determine if the Boston Church of Christ (now ICC) movement was cultic or not. This section is particularly interesting:

Upon the request of Al Baird, who had studied at his college, Abilene Christian College, in 1986, a supporter of the Boston Church of Christ, a mainline Church of Christ minister and church growth researcher (the Director of Church Growth Studies at Abilene), Dr. Flavil Yeakley, Jr. was asked to study the phenomenal growth of the Boston Movement. Al Baird and other movement leaders did not know that Yeakly had studied both mainline denominations and what are considered "cultic" groups, and noted that in cultic groups, a simple psychological test known as the MBTI (Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator) revealed that cult members' personalities would converge on a single type, usually the group norm, or the image of the cult leader. Thus, Yeakley ran this psychological test on a large number of disciples from the Boston Church of Christ, and on a control group of members from mainline Churches of Christ and some other denominations. Dr. Yeakley believed that the increasing accusations that the ICC was a cult were wrong, due largely to jealousy at Boston's phenomenol growth rates, and wanted to defend them.

Dr. Yeakley is also an honest man. When his test results showed an extreme level of "personality shift" in the members of the Boston Church of Christ from their normal orientation toward the orientation of the group norm, he realized that the accusations had a significant level of truth in them, and after seeing no changes in the Boston Movement, which had promised to curb its abuses, reluctantly published his results. (Personality shift is one of the most accurate measures of whether an organization is using mind control.) The Boston Church of Christ reacted by "marking" Dr. Yeakley, proclaiming him an enemy of the church and forbidding its members from speaking to him or reading his work.

Take note that initially Dr. Yeakley was trying to use this test to prove that the movement was NOT cultic, but could not deny the results.

The most interesting part though, is that you can use the MBTI psychological test to determine cult groups by checking if their members personalities shift toward the group norm.

Buying a laptop

Since I'll be leaving IBM soon, I'm going to have to return my work laptop. Which will leave me laptop-less, and since I "need" a laptop for school, I've been doing some research in buying a new one.

For a while, I was seriously considering an Apple iBook, but then once the announcement came out that they would be switching to Intel chips, I was warned to stay away from them until the ones with the new chips came out.

So I decided to buy an IBM Thinkpad (T42). With my employee discount, amazingly it's about the same price as a similarly equipped Dell Inspiron laptop. I considered the Dell for a moment, since it was about $100 cheaper, but then the T42 reviews online generally seem better than the 600m ones.

Isn't it interesting that an IBM employee was considering buying an Apple AND a Dell?

The Settlers of Catan

Been really hooked on this game the last few weeks. So much that I bought my own copy. It's a very well-made game. I'm one of those strange people who can see a certain beauty in things like this game. There's a certain amount of luck to it so that each play has not already been predetermined, but enough strategy that if you're good at it, you can win on a consistent basis. The board configuration is completely different every time so that each time you play, you'll have a different game. There are no cheap ways to win, no loopholes. There is a good balance in all elements of play. And the best part is the memorable interaction between players while trying to barter and trade.

I think games have a certain appeal to them because they allow you a chance to succeed in a simplified universe. There are only a few rules to remember, generally only one goal to achieve, and a limited amount of obstacles (and opponents) keeping you from the goal. Life is much more difficult. And while the struggle of life is what makes it interesting, sometimes it's nice to take a breather and do something easier.

Love despite, not love because

The other day, Laura and I were having dinner with one of our pastors and his wife, and they were asking about our relationship. And he mentioned something he heard from a Korean soap opera "Winter Sonata". It went something like this:

When you truly love someone, you can't explain why.

He was saying that as he thought more and more about, he believed it to be very true. And I think there is at least some truth to the statement as well.

I remember several months ago, talking to some of my good friends about how I will know when I love someone. "You'll just know" is nice, but it didn't help me too much. And maybe my question is hard to answer because truly loving someone doesn't come about "because" of this or that, but "despite" this or that. Perhaps the "because love" is a shallower type of love because it fades when the reasons are gone, whereas the "despite love" continues to be there no matter the circumstances. If I love someone because she's sweet or a wonderful singer, does that mean I stop loving her when she doesn't have those characteristics anymore? But if I love her despite her being rude at times, or better than me at Scrabble, then the love is more unconditional.

An Affair of the Mind

Been reading this book, and it's really helped me to see things in the right perspective. Pornography destroys lives.

The Man Who Planted Trees

A very inspiring true story about a man doing work "worthy of God". Found the link here.

Edit: Not sure if it's actually true; seems to be a parable instead.

What's your theological worldview?

You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan. You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists. Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 86% Neo orthodox 68% Emergent/Postmodern 64% Reformed Evangelical 64% Roman Catholic 46% Charismatic/Pentecostal 43% Classical Liberal 39% Fundamentalist 32% Modern Liberal 18% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

May need to do some research to answer all of the questions. I had to look up Karl Barth and Bishop Spong and their theologies to know if I agreed with them.

The saints among us

I remember watching the Rich Mullins video "Homeless Man" and one of the people was talking about a quote which went something like this:

You can tell a saint, not by how much he shows you, but by how little he conceals.

I went to prayer meeting about a week and a half ago (the 8th), and the pastor's wife was sharing about preparations for Blue Jean Sunday. Now Blue Jean Sunday is an annual event my church has where everyone comes in casual attire (hence the "blue jean" part), and after service at church, the entire English congregation goes to a local park and has fun eating, talking, playing games, etc.. It's a time where all of us at the church, young and old, can come together and fellowship. So she was sharing about reserving a picnic spot for the BBQ. Apparently because we had planned for Blue Jean Sunday so late, it was near impossible to find a spot that still had open reservations. Finally she had found one, but she described the grass and brush around the picnic area as "wild".

Now my pastor's wife is one of the nicest, sweetest, gracious, loving people I have ever met in my life. And I've met quite a number of good people. But here she was, just sharing her struggles about being worried we might not be able to reserve a spot for the picnic, and being angry at herself for planning so late that the only picnic area we could reserve was less than satisfactory. But then she shared with us that she rejected the ideas in her mind that this would turn out badly. Instead she chose to believe that God would work through, and indeed, use these circumstances to bless Blue Jean Sunday even more. After she shared, we prayed according to that belief. As it turned out, the BBQ turned out to be a wonderful time for all of the people who attended.

As I listened to my pastor's wife share about her difficulty in being joyful about the preparations, I saw how true the quote was. Saints aren't saints because they teach you things, but because they live transparently, seeking after holiness.

Tentatively a new beginning

Started a new blog here, as I am no longer using freeshell.org actively.