IPOD NANO Scratches

For those who have bought or are considering buying a Nano...beware! It scratches easily. There's been a couple of posts/sites detailing what happens.

Apple's own discussion board.

www.nanoscratch.com (url tells it all.)

"iPod Nano screen" Chris Wheatley 4:43 AM

Vinny's Nut House

I found this while walking to church this morning. No explanation necessary. You know who I'm thinking of.

GRX Church in Sunnyvale

So last week when I was out in SF, I visited a church recommended by Andrew Au, the Great Exchange Convenant Church or GRX for short. The first impression was that I had walked into an Asian American Passion event, from the songs to the overall look and feel of the sanctuary. I was in this huge area and heard some hip hop music. Naturally I gravitated to where it was blasting from...it was their Dance Ministry. Definitely different from what we've done at our church.

The sermon was the first of their "Making a Difference" series. One of their pastors from their plant church in SF shared and the pastor shared some points on how we as a church can make a difference (based on Matt. 28:16-20). What was meaningful for me was the illustration he use of who played a critical role in Billy Graham's conversion. Basically ( I couldn't get all the names) it started with an unknown and regular salesman in Chicago who impacted DL Moody and through a series people eventually impacted Billy Graham. Kind of like a chain reaction.

Well here are some pics. First the huge welcome/networking area.

The sanctuary...




Video clip of their worship service...taken from my Treo


Click on picture for video clip. Again, this seems to work better on Macs.

Pebble Beach and San Fran Pics

UPDATE: For Mac users, if you use Safari, some of the pics may not show up. But if you use Firefox, it should work fine.

OK. It's finally here, a photo record of my trip to Pebble Beach and San Fran! (Pardon the low quality of the photos. They were all taken with my Treo 650).

The hotel room @ Pebble Beach

The golf course!

the 4th hole

the 18th @ night...lit up

the 18th during the day

the famous 7th hole that looks out to the bay

the famous lone cypress of pebble beach. i'm sure i could write something deep...but nah...

Cuppertino

This is Joyful Melodies, founded by Carol Liu, former worship team member of OCM and sister-in-law of Vinny Liu.


And the greatest thing is...she is literally around the corner from the Apple headquarters in Cuppertino! haha.


This is Jen Huang(Carol's younger sister and former Cana member) and me @ a mall in Cuppertino. Why? I was attempting to get an iPod nano two days after it was introduced. Man I use to drive her around NYC...now a couple of years later she's driving me around CA.

San Fran!



C-town SF. It's crowded at any C-town in the world!


The famous Lombard Street, the most crooked street in the world.

In San Fran and more reflections

San Francisco
9/10/05

Wow. I haven’t walk so much in a long time. I think I must have walked at least 10 miles today! First I went to the Apple Store to check out the Ipod Nano. Now I know some people have already posted their criticisms. But having touched it, I must say the Nano is beautiful, possibly the best Ipod yet. I predict that it’s gonna be a hit.

I then checked out some stores around that area and proceeded to walk uphill, yes uphill to Chinatown where I had lunch. Then I walked uphill and down and up and down again to Fisherman’s Wharf. Went to the Ghirardelli Square to check out their chocolate fair and then went to see Lombard Street, “the most crooked street” in the world. Walked back to my hotel, took a nap and went back to Chinatown for dinner. Will post pics later.

Reflections @ Summer Conference 05

So while waiting for dinner on Saturday, a father of a Zion member sat next to me and to chat. He asked me whether I got tired and discouraged with so many people having graduated from Cana and Zion but don’t end up coming back to OCM. I told him of course it gets discouraging, especially when you hope that people who have gone to college will contribute back to the church and fellowship. But I also told him that I am reminded that ultimately the big picture is that these young men and women will be faithful and strong testimonies for God, which may or may not include our church. My role to is contribute to their development in being young men and women of God. That is what keeps me going on. I have some more thoughts on this that I will share later.

Well tomorrow I am going to visit GFX church and then spend the afternoon with Hau and Carol before flying back.

What are your memories?

San Francisco, 11:30 PM, 9/9/05

So in my last entry I mentioned that I had mixed feelings about Summer Conference 05. Now that I have some down time in SF, I’ve been reflecting. (Updates on Pebble Beach and SF to come in a different post.)

This could possibly be the last time we are at Canedensis, which made me think of things that have happened there.

1. “Lights out” patrol with Rich Carey.
2. “Lights out” patrol with Ephod Shang.
3. Being thrown into the lake.
4. Out in the lake in the rowboat with someone I can’t seem to remember now.
5. The Korean youth speaker who didn’t like us.
6. Jamie George
7. Sleeping in the shed next to the youth meeting hall.
8. The good food at conference.
9. The bad food at conference.
10. Testimony night, testimony night, testimony night…
11. Mr. Zs.
12. Walmart Runs.
13. Capture the flag at night.
14. Leading worship.
15. Midnight forays to the foam pit.
16. Closing ceremonies.


What are your memories?

summer conference 05

Just got back from a one day trip to Summer Conference 05. Mixed feelings. More later. In the meantime here's a clip of tonight's worship (as recorded on a cell phone). Sorry this seems to work better on a Mac for now.