GMATs: How this blog got her groove back

So to practice my verbal and writing skills for the GMAT, I thought, what better way to do that than to start blogging again! Hopefully during the course of the next 6months-1year, my discipline of blogging regularly will help to improve my score. My goal? To get a perfect 800.

Shoot for the moon, if you miss, at least you land among the stars right?

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Going Green

After spending the past 6 years of my life living in Austin, I've noticed that the Austinites have a thing for going green. I'm not too sure how this trend got started but it seems like everywhere you go, you'll find businesses 'going green.' I guess having the world's first Whole Foods in your city helps that.

So, as I start a new year, I will find my ways to serve the environment.

I resolve to use only printed paper when I cannot use electronic documents.
Save paper and get 250gb worth of virtual space free.

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The Birth of a Salesman

What is the American Dream? To many people, it means different things. However, I think at the basis of the American Dream lies this: hard work, dedication, high morals lead to success in life. I think many people in our society exhibits these qualities but why does the American Dream often escape their grasp? Is it really just -- a dream? To those who have entered the "real world," we truly realize how real this world can be and how it's not a dream but can become a nightmare. Many of us during these troubled times have seen co-workers laid off or even worse, having that happen to a family member or yourself. And then you hear horror stories of those who spend their entire lives working 9-5 Monday through Friday and when it's all said and done, finally at the ripe age of 65, they can live out their American Dream. Hard work, dedication, morals paid off finally. Is this really what we imagined it would be like when we first stepped out into the working world? Why is the American Dream so elusive?

But maybe we need to ask a better question. Maybe we need to ask ourselves, what is success in life?

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God's working in China

It's no surprise that the Beijing Olympics have helped to reinforce the truth that China is a growing and dominant power in the world today. From the first sparks of the Opening Ceremony, the world saw with its own eyes that China has come a long way since opening its borders back in 1984. The grandiose architecture of the Bird's Nest and Water Cube only highlights the tremendous power of the Chinese people. As I watch these games, there is a great sense of pride that comes from seeing my home country exhibit such great precision and technique in preparing for the games and also a dominance in many of the Olympic events. In a way, the games have also helped many to put aside their ignorance in believing that China is still a 'Marx-Mussolini-Castro-Stalin' communist society. By and large, China is in essence a totalitarianism, but much have changed, ie. The Tianan Men Square, once the site of the infamous 1989 Massacre where tanks ran over college students is now the center of the 2008 Olympics where over 205 nations gather to compete in the peaceful Olympic games.

But with all the growth and change, many large issues still affect the world's negative perception of China: human rights issues, Muslim groups in XinJiang, Buddhist groups in Tibet, China-Taiwan relations, organ harvesting, and lack of religious freedom. It's obvious that there is still work to be done, and China's far from becoming a nation known for her integrity, fairness, and peace. But I think that's the beauty of it. There's no doubt in my mind that God's getting His hands dirty in China. And we (I'm assuming you're Chinese or of some Asian ancestry) are living in this age and time and bearing witness to a growing world superpower that has a great potential to be molded and transformed by God's love.

In a recent article of missionaries working in Beijing during Olympics:

One outreach success came ahead of the Olympics, when a U.S. team was in China for an exhibition match. The U.S. team and the Chinese team — Britton wouldn't name the sport — gathered in a hotel room the night before the match for a 30-minute prayer meeting arranged by a foreigner who had access to the Chinese team.
"It was very powerful," said Britton, who said he had seen photos of the meeting, where members of both teams prayed and sang. "God pulled it together."

- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26334578/

I can't help but get excited about how God can use those of us who are willing to serve to change the next generation of the Chinese people in China. The opportunities are boundless, and people are more willing than ever.

The ephemeral magnificence and glamour of the Beijing Olympics will fade away, and the chinese people will resume their hard-working lifestyles but one thing is for certain, God's glory will continue to shine in China if we answer His call.

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Help Wanted

If you or someone you know is jobless and looking for a great experience in an IT position, please let me know. I've worked for ACS almost 1/2 a year now and they are still hiring many positions. There are quite a few positions available, and we are mainly searching for software/engineering types of people. ACS has some nice benefits and is a growing fortune 500 company with over 60,000 employees (only about 120 in Austin). It also pays very well. Please pass this to your friends who have graduated/jobless or laid-off. Thanks!

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Purity

A great message about purity and holiness from Matt Carter at Austin Stone.

http://www.austinstone.org/audio/mp3/2008/06_08_2008_mc.mp3

and a great boundless article...

http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0001753.cfm

...and a great blog entry from boundless to go along with it :D

http://www.boundlessline.org/2008/06/flee-sexual-imm.html



Enjoy.

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Purposeful Singleness Part 1

Disclaimer: I don't claim to have this all figured out so I hope you do your share of research into other resources and scripture. Also, bear with me as I'm still learning.

If you haven't been to boundless then you are seriously missing out on a great Christian resource for young adults. Through my times of surfing through the site, I've noticed that there are quite a few great articles on dating/relationships and the term "purposeful singleness" comes up quite often. Initially, this term was pretty foreign to me but now I've come to understand that for those of us who are in the season of singleness (un-married), we need to be purposeful in preparing for marriage. Now it doesn't mean you need to start taking cooking classes or start looking at real estate, but it does mean that God's designed this very time for those of us to grow. Many of us can feel like we're in no man's land -- on the verge of finally "growing up." But our attitude should absolutely change if we don't want to miss out on the great things God wants to do in us now. If we don't take the time to grow and allow God to mold us, it can only spell trouble for the future. Maybe I'll go more into detail as I finish my research in one of my later posts.

For now, I do want to address that our time of singleness is vital to God's plan and will in our lives. Why? He wants to reform our minds and that takes time. Many of us who are single fall into the trap thinking that we need to find that someone now. Who do we have good chemistry with? Who do we connect with? How much do I have in common with him/her? Those are some great questions and valid questions to ask. Just flip on the tv and we can probably see a reality tv show like The Bachelor, Bachelorette, Flavor of Love, Tila Tequila just to name a few. Now sure as Christians we watch those shows but brush them off because we know we're better than that. We're not that shallow. That could be true but there's no doubt in my mind that our worldly generation's perception of love has tainted us and God's image of love just a little. And if we were to commit to a marriage relationship with that image tainted, imagine the consequence! We all know that divorce is as common between nonchristian couples and christian couples. Why is that? I mean, I'm sure all those couples had "chemistry" and "things in common" but why did they end the same way? We have to dig deeper and when we do, we will find that God wants to give us more than what the world tells us. To be continued...

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Day 4

Only in California do you see street signs like this one. I guess skateboarding is really that popular. So as I near the end of my first business trip, I can see why some people are turned off by traveling for their job. Living out of a suitcase, eating out every meal, not sleeping on your own bed, and just getting familiar with a new surrounding can be draining at times. And with all the eating out, it does take its toll on your body. That's why for dinner tonight, I'm eating these.

As if California wasn't already amazing...They have the best strawberries I've ever had. Normally when you buy a pack of strawberries in Texas, you have to wash all the dirt off of it and pick out the mushy ones. But man, I don't know if it was shear luck but every strawberry in this box was perfectly ripe and clean. I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to the strawberries in Texas :(

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