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Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Update Your Links

Hello all, I have moved to wordpress! The URL should be the same (http://blog.becksterslaboratory.com), but if you come via internal Blogger links (you are currently viewing romans5three.blogspot.com), please note the change and follow me to the blog's new resting place (hmm...that makes it sound dead...i promise this is more of a revitalization).

Monday, November 30, 2009

Christmas Gripes Again

Why...

1. Do people complain about christmas music/decorations before thanksgiving?
I welcome it if it's something I would like after thanksgiving, such as the music and eggnog. I'm never a fan of oversized baubles or blowup snowman or santa. But I love the greenery and listen to christmas music all year long.

2. Do people throw such a fit over people saying "happy holidays"?
I understand not everyone celebrates christmas. Even if everyone did, thanksgiving and new years are holidays that should be happy too.

3. Does calling christmas christmas even change that it's been totally/commercialized?
I think many christians don't have a problem with all the materialism as long as it's called christmas.

4. Do people stress the true meaning of christmas?
What defines truth? This winter holiday is ever evolving, in name, practice, and all included in that. The Bible is the first way to find Truth. But what about for man-made traditions? At what point do we look to for the true meaning? Seems everyone starts at the part they like, be it christ's birth or kindness to others.

5. Do christians fight so hard for christmas and nativity?
If christmas is about presents and the nativity scene is missing from public displays, does that change the fact that the Messiah did arrive? The nativity scene is inaccurate anyway. Aren't there other things more worth fighting for?

6. Do protestants celbrate advent?
I thought it was a catholic thing. I'll have to look into that this year. Maybe it's a substitution/supplement to keep religion in our December festivities.

7. Is there no War on Easter?
I think that's the most important holiday of the Christian religion. Anyone can be born, but only One died for our sins and rose again to sit at the right hand of the Father forever.

Thoughts?

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Gots Some Learnins?

I need to "interview" more people before writing the post I have in mind.

1) What is your education level (if some college, give units or a percentage)?
2) Are you at a job that requires/utilizes your education level?
If no, why not?
3) Do you plan on continuing your education? Why or why not?
4) If you have a degree and a career to match, did you jump in right after graduating, take a long time to find a job, and/or got training/experience while still in school.
5) Is money or passion your incentive?
6) Anything you wish someone would've told you before you entered the real world (if you aren't in the real world yet, pay attention to others' comments!
7) What role (influence) did your parents play in your education and job/career choices?

Please answer these. I appreciate all answers, short or essay!

Friday, May 1, 2009

How to Be an Obessive Fan

So I found this essay on an old tripod site (i didn't even know they were still around, much less than my account was still intact). It was for English 1A at RCC. I don't remember my grade, or what I got overall in that class. I just remember that my 1B teacher probably fit this description for LotR (all the required texts were Tolkien's).

How to Be an Obsessive Fanatic
Author:Becky Grove
Date completed: October 7, 2002


When it’s your birthday, no one ever knows what to give you. You are being featured in something, but the writer -- a close friend -- doesn’t know what to put under “interests.” Is any of this sounding familiar? Then this is just what you should be reading. Sure, you have lots of interests, but no one ever seems to know what they are. This is because you don’t show it; you aren’t that enthusiastic about it. Reading this will help you show the world your love, because everyone has to be obsessive about at least one thing.

Before you start you need to choose something to obsess about. It can be practically anything, such as movies, music groups, singers, bands, TV shows, actor/actresses, or books. To make things simple, I am going to be talking about movie obsessions, but these steps apply to anything. When choosing a movie, make sure it’s a movie that you already love, or else it won’t be fun. Once you choose a movie its time to start on the journey to obsession.

The first and most obvious step is to watch the movie repeatedly. If you get an eye roll from someone around you when you turn on the movie for the hundredth time, then good job; you are on your way to obsession. One very important part is that you must own, if nothing else, a copy of the movie. The DVD, if available, is most desirable because of the special features. It is good to have a back-up copy on video just in case you lose your first video or the DVD, or if you leave it at someone else’s house. The back up copy can be something that you taped off the TV since it’s only going to be used in case of emergencies.

When just watching the movie doesn’t satisfy you anymore it is time to move on to the second step. The second step is to go online. There is a lot to do on the Internet, but at this point you are only doing two. One is to find all the pictures you can of scenes and actors from the movie and, print these out, set them as your computer’s wallpaper and screensaver, and save them for later use. Put the pictures you printed out in your notebook, on your walls, or wherever you would like them. The other is to find out all the information you can on the movie. This includes the names of all the actors, the other movies they were in, and official and fan web sites. Also, if it's not included on the DVD, find out about bloopers, background information, and comments of fans or the director. List and print out everything you found. Save the links on your computer for future reference.

The third step is to buy the movie’s products. There are three different sets of merchandise to buy from. These are electronics, apparel, and miscellaneous. Electronics consists of copies of other movies the actors have been in, the soundtrack, and games that have been made from the movie, if any. Apparel consists of clothes, jewelry, buttons, patches, and backpacks. Miscellaneous consists of commodities to put in your car or room, such as: dolls, stickers, stuffed animals, board games, and key chains. Note from modern-day Becky: haha i'm such a girl. What about action figures and whatever else fanboys get?? Guess that falls under dolls... Some movies have a fourth set, which consists of trading cards. You should get these if the movie does offer them. They offer amusement and fun facts.

The fourth step is to attempt contact. Enter all the contests and sweepstakes you can that involve the movie. Be on the look out for local events involving actors from the movie. These two does not guarantee contact, but writing letters does. Write letters to the actors, and request an autograph. Since you are in the mood for writing letters, then write letters to the company (Disney, Columbia, etc.) asking for them to release the director’s cut of the movie.

The fifth and final step is to share your fondness of the movie. You do this by making web sites, screen names, and email addresses that has to do with the movie. Use the pictures and information from step two for your web sites. You also do this by joining numerous fan clubs, online groups, mailing lists, message boards, and street teams. That way, you can talk about the movie all the time with others who love it.

Now that you are an official obsessive fanatic there are some rules you need to follow. Those are to keep executing all that you learned, and make sure you annoy your friends and family by sleeping, eating, and breathing your obsession. You’re not going to get just gift certificates now that people know what you like.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Nathaniel's New Job

Nathaniel got the job! He found out right away. He went this morning to the corporat office to do the drug testing, background check, etc. Once all that is complete, he will have training, and then be an official Community Manager! Next week he's going to start temping there and in the meantime, he's going to continue temping where he's at right now. So it all works out nicely. Except for the fact that we wil be breaking our current lease, which isn't up until August, but maybe we can work something out. Hopefully.

On top of salary, we get free rent and utilities. Medical insurance for $10/pay period. I'm not quite sure on the details of that, like if or how I would be covered. An additional $10? Full price? I have possible coverage I'm not even using at work. My boss will cover a portion. I don't have a lot of motivation to search for a plan when I have a pretty good, free one through my mom. Even though i'm not a dependent, so i really should get my own.

There's been some confusion about what the apartment is, because Nathaniel's friend used to work/live there, and said it'sa 3bdrm. His boss called it a 2 with a walk-in closet. We have it figured out that the latter is correct, but the closet has been converted into a bedroom. I don't know how that works, but I don't care. Our current place is a spacious 1bdrm with a walk-in closet and i've gotten really attached and don't want to go back to a broom closet.

We can have pets here! There is a white cat that has been following Nathaniel around at the property he's currently at. He says that he's been getting complaints from the residents about it meowing at their doors all the time. He keeps asking if he can keep it. I'm down as long as he is POSITIVE it doesn't belong to anyone. How sad would that be if we took someone else's pet. He says he is sure it's a stray/abandoned. I also want to go to the pet store and see if this one beautiful gray Lynx/Siamese cat named Kiki is still there. We were there looking at rats and didn't even know there was a cat shelter there, but there he was, staring at us with his big blue eyes and it was love at first site. We are also going to get a rat, which i'm most excited about. ;)

So i'm not sure when we are moving in, just some time next month. Once that happens, our only regular expenses would be gas and groceries. We are going to upgrade our car insurance from the state minimum, but besides that, we'll still be trying to live frugally to build up savings because we have no emergency funds or anything. Although we know that if something were to happen, the Lord will provide, and we have a spare credit card. ^__^

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Praise Him

I've been a little brat. The economy is spiraling and here we are, still doing fine. Yet we read Scriptures together for the first time in months the other day, and we already missed last night! I've never been good about a personal daily devotion, but i used to have a little morning routine. Then i slacked off and i've been so bad about even gettin up at a reasonable time for work. I don't even eat cereal anymore, but just grab a bagel or muffin (that Nathaniel toasts) for the car! Not only do we both have full-time jobs (he's a temp and was getting no work for a while, and was unemployed before that), but he gets overtime, i have vacation and sick pay, got a bonus this week, and my salary (also a blessing to be off of hourly because now i get paid holidays) is up for review for an increase next month.

PLUS Nathaniel has an interview this afternoon for position as manager with the company he has regularly been sent to. He made friends with the manager at another property, who help the person who is quitting get her job! So when this opened up, he faxed Nathaniel's resume to his boss, who is going to Nathaniel at work today. So not only does he have an interview, but he is getting PAID for it. This job would be great because it's a free apartment on top of salary plus insurance and benefits.

So dude. It's not like we aren't grateful, but i feel we aren't grateful enough. I feel like we better make sure we aren't materialistic and remember to rely on Him or God will take it all away and force us to. Not that by relying on Him we are somehow earning any of this. It's all solely by His grace that we have anything but death.

So that's where i'm at. How are YOU doing economically and/or spiritually?

Monday, April 20, 2009

Making My Home a Haven

First, I forgot to post this follow-up to the post "Bye-bye Hanukkah"
Thanks for the post about the camera on your blog.  We found it!  It was in my duffel bag...which I looked in twice and Fred once...found it on the fourth search after asking St. Anthony for help.  By the way, it was Uncle Ken and Uncle Dave, neither had it.  Now there are pictures of Grandma's view and some funny Annabelle/magnifying  pictures on the camera. - Auntie M
And
After finding such a prized object there was much rejoicing! - Steven
ANYWAY

I've been having the blogging itch but in between work (and how tired it makes me), a web design project, and keeping the house somewhat in order, I haven't had much time, although i've been reading here and there. Mostly skimming for deals. Hey, now that the economy's down, i'm not so crazy, am i? I've got things to do tonight also, but it's so hot i'm going to wait until the sun goes down. It was 97 in Long Beach. I seriously felt like i was going to pass out at work. Is it fall yet?

I'm working harder on trying to save money, but, believe it or not, I'm not very disciplined for that. Pretty much, our budget is "don't spend." I started using Quicken Online, and set goals based on average. I went over in groceries already but I'm hoping that I stocked up pretty good and have enough so that we don't have to eat out (not so much with me, but Nathaniel is a big fast food grabber). I made a bunch of burritos, only to find out that Nathaniel doesn't like the texture of the celery in them. Yet i'm happy to report i think they cost about thirty cents each. Tina's are $0.25 but they are smaller and not as good. I got 10lbs of ground beef for $7.98 at Staters. ^__^

Neither creamer nor milk has been quite hitting the spot for me in coffee, so I tried soy milk and i think I found a winner! Esp since I got a 64oz carton of 8th Continent for $2.75, which spit out a $2 off for Silk at the register. Then I got a 12oz can of Don Francisco's for $4.99. So even though i spent nearly a hundred, I saved over $40 and am pretty stockpiled. So it was a good trip. Even though i couldn't find spring roll wrappers. Which blows my mind, considering that i live in Little Saigon.

Making Your Home a Haven

Morning Routine: Make coffee & get ready. That's all i have time for. Nathaniel takes care of breakfast and lunch since he leaves after me and is faster at getting ready.

Bedtime: It's supposed to be 10p to read Scriptures, but the internet is distracting so we've been ignoring the alarms Nathaniel set on his phone and going to bed at 12 or 1a. Also skipping reading...yeah, so not good. We gotta pick up on that. I hope he doesn't get home too late tonight. He's at some sort of planning meeting with the worship team leaders at church.

Choosing Love: I have been trying to be organized and prioritize so that i'm not working on a website for hours and making Nathaniel do the dishes all the time. I pass on onions, pork, and other foods he doesn't like in recipes. I'm keeping my eyes open for times when i don't choose love.

Evening Routine: Clean up kitchen, shower, read the Bible. Not sure how much to count as evening. Everything from getting home? Make dinner, eat it while watching tv, internet time. As long as we don't spend to long on the internet, it's okay for me to browse Facebook and read blogs while Nathaniel looks at lolcats, comics, and guns/boats/apartments/whatever his main interest is that week. That's what we do, but is that a routine? I don't think we need to set one. I think as long as we make sure the dishes are done before doing anything else, we are accomplished. I used to think one must never rest, but I eventually learned that a little R&R is good for the body. A time to replenish energy for the next day. I just wish i could do more with that energy than just go to work, but at least it brings in money and i have my weekends. I don't dislike work. It's a good job and i have more energy in general than i did at Knott's.

Waking Up: This is where we struggle. I used to not have a problem getting up (i'm a morning person) but Nathaniel's fondness for sleep has rubbed off on me. I too have realized how comfy a pillow is in the morning. Not a good thing! It takes three alarms with all snoozes to get us up. I like to get up at 6:30a. I try and try but then just end up dreaming about it instead. I need something to get me up...you know how fast a person can bolt if they are late or going somewhere exciting? I just have to think about not being stressed because of rushing. Hmm...not enough. I need to set my personal time with the Lord in the morning. That will get me up. I hope. Marriage has been a blessing because we can help each other get ready in the morning by splitting up tasks. So why is it still taking so long to get out the door? Probably because before i never drank coffee daily or ate breakfast and i hardly ever made my lunch. I think i was a morning person at some point...just so long ago i can't remember. I need to get up when i wake up!