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January 25, 2007
Mark Osborne's More
I stumbled upon this... its a insightful take on consumerism.
I love it! The sound track is just what was needed to convey the boredom, shallowness, unhappyness of the character's life.
You can see The official website
And someone on has posted it on youtube too:
A must watch!
Posted by ma at 4:18 PM in Funny / Insightful | TrackBack
January 22, 2007
That's why you need to keep your computer patched
Just watch the video and you'll understand why I'm studying in my field...
Posted by ma at 7:42 PM in Funny / Insightful | TrackBack
Two Intense Weeks
Let me try to summarize...
On the 9th and 10th, I had the chance to spend time with Mike Fontenot, who's leading a great church in Virginia Beach. He exhorted the leaders, then lead a Bible talk on campus, and then preached for the mid-week service. He gave us specific challenges and its clear that this year will be make or break.
On the 12th, I presented an English version of the presentation I did at UQAM in december with a few trimmings. I presented it at CCF. The Q&A was intense, as many people in the crowd did respond to the part where I showed that early Christians believed in baptism for salvation. Sidenote, did you know that a person who studies the Bible before baptism was called a catechumen? He was a believer only after being baptized.
That weekend, we welcomed a few singles from the Lowell (MA) church. It was a nice experience and I had the chance to get to know some really nice disciples too.
I'll try to see if there is a way to go support their Campus ministry and reverse.
The week was boring, as I was doing non-research work for my supervisor. Some things just need to be done.
On Friday, we had a devotional with a lot of guests and Mexican food. Yuuuuuuum! I also had a study with a guy on the topic of baptism who was really open and humble. This is a rare and delightful occurence.
Afterwards, a few brothers and I did a night of prayer. It was my first one. And the first coffee in many years...
On Saturday, I had another study with two Haitian guys who have quite a few unorthodox beliefs. Very interesting discussion nevertheless.
The campus ministry is doing good. People are sharing their faith, dating their sister (only one in the campus), bringing guests to the devotionals, etc. And I have faith that it'll get better. The best part is that I don't have to do it all, delegation is JUST WORKING!!!! yiiiiiiiiiiihhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
P.S. I've finally settled on gym, badmiton and pilates for my training program this semester. Pray for my discipline!
Posted by ma at 7:24 PM in Life | TrackBack
January 8, 2007
No Spring Convocation
After looking at the semester ahead of me, researchwise, and discussing with my supervisor, I won't go for the Spring convocation... that required that I submit my thesis in March, which looks unrealistic right now.
But we did however decide to target early May for my thesis submission, meaning I'll finish the whole process in June (at best in May). That's not as early as I'd like it, but we'll see how things unfold.
Posted by ma at 4:59 PM in Life | TrackBack
January 6, 2007
The "Vacation" Itself
I was with my parents for the 1st week, and in Montreal the second.
I mostly was recovering for the first week, and doing ministry-related stuff the other.
I did ski once with my dad. The rest of the time I shopped (boxing day sales... and yes, I shop something like once or twice a year), slept and recovered from some back pain. I'm thinking of getting one of those "tens" devices prescribed by my doctor. I watched lots of TV. I ate way too much. I was very worldly overall. And that didn't really give me the energy I needed.
The second week, things got interesting. I have been invited by a big software company to have an interview at their corporate site in the USA and I spent time brushing up my resumé and taking care of the logistics of that. I spent some time planning for the campus ministry activities this semester. I did follow-up with some folks to see where they're at.
Some interesting things happened: a sister from Bangalore is visiting us, and my evangelist told me that we'd focus to support the Indian mission in Bangalore. So... I'm taking advantage of her insider knowledge!
Also, I had the chance to witness a miracle. My uncle seriously upset my mom a day before they had to leave to travel together, and our new year's party was over before it started. Prayer was effective, and God used me to help them see the issue. After a few minutes of observations from me, they were working it out by themselves without any help. And things turned well. They were laughing about it and we ended up having a good evening too. That's really awesome!
If you know me, you know that I'm not supposed to have the skills of a counselor. Give credit to the Spirit.
Anyway, my week passed by too quickly, and I didn't do some of the important things I wanted to do. I did take care of some issues, but this is annoying.
Oh, and I'm 3 years in the faith now. My birthday was on the 4th. I'm having a mini celebration this Sunday with the Campus group.
Posted by ma at 11:47 PM in Life | TrackBack
Pre-"Vacation" Rush
I didn't update about my life too much what happened to me recently, so lets do that.
In the week before Christmas, I was working hard with a colleague in order to finish a paper. Once we did that, we had to translate it to French for submittal to that French conference. I did most of that translation work. We identified some counter-cases and we had to lower our claims accordingly. Far from a universal practical solution... anyway.
I shared my faith a bit in the shopping mall... that was fun. Its crazy how people are conscious of the commercialization of Christmas, but don't react. I guess that its the same as being conscious of the environment while driving a SUV.
I was very tired and felt at the extent of my energy. I just NEEDED to take a break.
Posted by ma at 11:42 PM in Life | TrackBack
Global Warming is Worst Than You Think
It looks like that our pollution had a cooldown effect that wasn't accounted for, so global warming is in fact worst than generally believed. This BBC documentary, added on top of an Inconvenient Truth packs a lot of punch. We need to fix our lifestyles NOW.
Posted by ma at 11:40 PM in Funny / Insightful | TrackBack
January 3, 2007
Authoritarian Figures in Conservative Politics
I'm tempted to read that book, especially if it is as academically strong as they claim it is.
Posted by ma at 5:27 PM in Funny / Insightful | TrackBack