city run

The city I live in, Laguna Hills, holds a yearly half-marathon and 5K run event on Memorial Day weekend over the past 10 years. I thought about participating in it a few times but never did. I finally did it this year: On the Sunday before the Memorial Monday, I went to the Laguna Hills Mall, where at the center court they had stands set up for the event's last minute registration. I filled out the application, paid the fee ($28), got the packet (a T-shirt, the "bib" and the electronic tag, some flyers and coupons), and went home.

The next morning, I woke up early and drove to Laguna Hills Mall, where the run was scheduled to start at 7:30 AM. It was a little before 7 AM, but plenty of cars and a crowd were gathering already at the mall's parking lot and the street nearby where the run would start, in a festive mood. Since this was my first time here (for the life of me, the only other time I had participated in an event like this was a few years back in Taipei city when I happened to be there and they happened to have a multi-national company sponsored half-marathon and 3K event with the city), I checked if my bib was pinned at the right place (it should be at the front side of the shirt, not the back), and if I were wearing the tracking tag correctly (circled underneath the shoe lace) like everyone else. Then I joined the crowd, waited behind the start line while stretching my limbs a bit for warm-up. I got my bib number at 2595, and I saw some people wearing 3-digit bib numbers, so I guessed there must be a couple thousand people registered for this event. As for the crowd's makeup, it's quite a toss-up: men and women, young and old, teens in team, kids with parents, boys with girl friends, mothers with babies in strollers.. athletic looking and weight challenged.. a lively sample of people of all kinds living here. (Not many Asians, though).

Then the time came, and after a short speech and a Memorial Day observance, the march started. Because of the crowd size, the start line stretched about 100 yards long, and I was at about the latter third of it. It was slow moving in the beginning, but pretty soon it spanned out, and everyone had plenty of room to move about (the thing I remember most about the Taipei run was the crowd was so dense from beginning till end I had no way of maneuvering during the whole run).

Right after we left the mall, we ran inside the city of Laguna Woods, the gated retirement community where youngsters like me are not allowed to enter, except today, and they even had amicable residents lining up on the curb cheering us on, and water stands where they handed you the water and you drank and then threw the cups away, just like the professionals did on TV. I took a few looks at the community, feeling pleasure and ease in the morning cool, and checked out a few of my fellow runners as I passed them by. I noticed many, especially the younger ones, were wearing their iPod earphones, probably the same way they did with their regular jogging. I also saw one woman running with a cell phone on a holster, must be quite serious about keeping in touch with people while on the run.

We came out of Laguna Woods after traversing a few blocks there and got back on the Laguna Hills city street Paseo de Valencia, where the police had cordoned it off so no cars could be on it except we runners. It came to my mind that I drive my car on this road almost daily, but this is the first time ever I had my feet solidly on the asphalt ground. That feels great.

From here on, we were working on our last one K of the run (an official stood at the checkpoint and announced the elapsed time to every passing runner). Now here we had a little uphill slope to overcome, which again in car you wouldn't feel a thing, but on feet the law of gravity did pull a drag on you. No big deal, I told myself, I exercise on my treadmill everyday with the maximum grade setting, just hang in there and it will pass in no time.

And in no time it did pass, and now I was trotting downhill, and I could see the end clearly, right at the corner of Valencia and Alicia Pkwy, where I just needed to turn right and then into the entrance of the community center where the run would end. Up till now, I had not thought about running for a ranking--all I wanted was to have some fun doing this--but now I recalled I seemed to have passed quite a few runners along the way, and as I looked up, I could see there were only about 50 people ahead of me.. so, who knew, maybe I'd got some chance of getting some good ranking (they pick the top 3 runners of each age group for awards) out of this. So I began to guard my place, tried passing a few more runners when I could.. Whoa, right before I turned the corner, a tall white guy sped past me.. A few seconds later, a young woman with her stroller whizzed right by me too.. Admirable last minute sprinters, I said to myself.. Seconds later, I turned into the community center entrance, and I saw a big timer panel flashing 27 minute something. I had made it!

There were a few booths and stands at the end line reception area, most touting sports related products and services. I was a bit exhausted, so I spared no time there and took the shuttle back to the mall, found my car, and drove home. It was not even past 9 AM, my wife was still sleeping. I took a shower, had my coffee, and felt never better before!

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A few after-words:

* I got the run's result a couple days later from the event's web site (see attached). It turns out there were a total of 1028 people participating in the run, and I was ranked 298th over all, 202th among all male runners, and 17th in my age group (50-54 years old). The number one runner finished with 15:43, (and I with 27:46), and there are many others in the below 20 minutes range. These "professional grade" runners probably zipped through the race long before I even had a chance to see their backs. Talk about "short-sightedness," those 50 or so people I saw in front of me before the finish line were only those a couple minutes ahead of me!

* I felt so great about the run I joined another 5K run within the same week, this time the Saddleback Community 5K Run sponsored by Saddleback Church, on Saturday. It was a much smaller crowd (about 200 runners, by my estimate), but as fun, or even more so, than the Laguna Hills': It had better after-the-run hosting--more free refreshments: cookies, yogurt, fruits, juice, coffee, and a gift raffle, and this time I did win a 3rd place award within my age group (pictures attached), due to the smaller participant pool!

Come join the fun next year!

dogs

Why Dogs Are Man's Best Friends:

Dogs love it when your friends come over.
Dogs don't care if you use their shampoo.
Dogs think you sing great.
Dogs don't expect you to call when you are running late.
The later you are, the more excited dogs are to see you.
Dogs will forgive you for playing with other dogs.
Dogs don't notice if you call them by another dog's name.
Dogs are excited by rough play.
Dogs understand that farts are funny.
Dogs can appreciate excessive body hair.
Anyone can get a good-looking dog.
If a dog is gorgeous, other dogs don't hate it.
Dogs like it when you leave lots of things on the floor.
Dogs never need to examine the relationship.
A dog's parents never visit.
Dogs love long car trips.
Dogs understand that instincts are better than asking for directions.
Dogs like beer.
Dogs don't cry.
Dogs don't hate their bodies.
Dogs don't shop.
No dog ever bought a Kenny G album.
Dogs never criticize.
Dogs agree that sometimes you have to raise your voice to get your point across.
Dogs never expect gifts.
Dogs don't worry about germs.
Dogs don't want to know about every other dog you ever had.
Dogs like to do their snooping outside as opposed to in your wallet, desk, and the back of your sock drawer.
Dogs don't let magazine articles guide their lives.
Dogs would rather have you buy them a hamburger dinner than a lobster one.
You never have to wait for a dog. They're ready to go 24 hours a day.
Dogs have no use for flowers, cards, or jewelry.
Dogs don't borrow your shirts.
Dogs never want foot-rubs.
Dogs enjoy heavy petting in public.
Dogs find you amusing when you're drunk.

I like that "Dogs think you sing great." :)
What's your favorite?

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This email serves as a reminder of a bi-weekly (1st and 3rd Saturdays of the month) men's group fellowship meeting, which usually takes place at my home in Laguna Hills. However, this Saturday we'll have a minor change of venue: Instead of meeting at my home, we will go out to a motel in Anaheim, serving breakfast to the people in need there, along with some Saddleback Church members. Please feel free to join us if your heart desires and schedule permits:  

Time: 8:30-11:30 AM
Place: Evergreen Royalle Motel, 1919 E Center St, Anaheim, CA 92805

You can find the map for the motel here:

http://www.google.com/calendar/event?action=VIEW&eid=cWF1OTU0cTdkc3RzOGluOXBuOXZlazhvNWcgZHNsaWFvODg4QGNveC5uZXQ&tok=MjUjaXJ2aW5lLm91dHJlYWNoQGdtYWlsLmNvbWViNGU4ZDg1Yjc5NzAzMDViYjRhYzRkODA1NDJmYWY2ZjFhNWM4MDE&ctz=America%2FLos_Angeles&hl=en

easter

Right next to Christmas, Easter probably is the second biggest day of the year for Christian churches. Here are some facts about it if you are interested: 

The Easter Date

A quick run-down on Jesus' last days on earth: On Sunday (Palm Sunday), he entered Jerusalem to attend the coming Jewish Passover holiday, on Thursday evening, he had the last supper with his disciples, on Friday (Good Friday, Passover Day), he was crucified, and on Sunday (Easter Sunday), he resurrected. 

Accordingly, Easter should be the first Sunday after the Jewish Passover holiday, which is 14 Nisan (the 7th month) in the Jewish calendar. However, this date (Passover) is linked to the spring harvest in Palestine and since the Jews were banished from Palestine by the Romans since their rebellion in AD 135, such date became unobtainable. Therefore, the early Christians figured out the Easter date this way: They reasoned that at the time of the Last Supper, the month Nisan began with the new moon after the spring equinox (春分, the day when the length of the day equals the length of the night), and the 14th day of Nisan is the day of full moon, therefore Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon that follows the spring equinox. 

However, since there was no standard way to calculate the spring equinox, it was still possible for different regions to celebrate Easter on different Sundays. In AD 325, the Council of Nicea ruled that all churches must celebrate Easter on the same day. This clearly implies that they instituted a standard method for calculating the date of the full moon after the spring equinox. As a matter of fact, some believe the mathematical formula we use today to fix the date of Easter came from that decree. 

The Easter Season

Though not observed by most Protestant churches since Reformation (宗教改革), Easter celebration according to Catholic liturgy calendar is much more than a single day event, but a near 100-day long season centering around Easter Sunday: 

* Ash Wednesday is the 46th day, or 40 weekdays, not counting the Sundays, before Easter Sunday. It is to commemorate Jesus' withdrawal into the wilderness for 40 days of spiritual reflection before beginning his ministry. It is called Ash Wednesday because the faithful place ashes on their foreheads as a sign of repentance.

* Ascension Day is the 40th day after Easter Sunday, when Jesus ascended into heaven after spending 40 days with his disciples on earth after his resurrection (Acts 1:3-11). It always falls on Thursday.

* Pentecost Sunday is the 50th day after Easter Sunday; it commemorates the day when the disciples gathering in Jerusalem per Jesus' instruction received Holy Spirit and spoke tongues in foreign languages (Acts 2). It is the birthday of the Church through the Holy Spirit.

Here are the actual dates of this year's Easter events:

Ash Wednesday           Easter Sunday          Ascension Day           Pentecost Sunday
February 25                   April 12                     May 21                        May 31


The Easter Name 

The English word "Easter" came from Anglo-Saxon (Germanic) origin that refers to an ancient goddess whose name is "Ishtar" in Assyrian, or "Astarte" in Babylonian. It is a goddess of spring and fertility and was worshiped in a festival that used rabbits as symbol of fertility and eggs painted with bright colors to represent the sunlight of spring. Easter, then, similar to Christmas, is quite a pagan influenced Christian holiday. Some Christian churches (e.g., Jehovah's Witnesses) actually refuse to celebrate them due to such reason.

Which is quite ironic, considering some contemporary Christians only go to church twice a year, on Christmas and on Easter.

Happy Easter!



* A little church joke for those of you who have patiently completed this Easter 101 class with me:

There were five country churches in a small Texas town: The Presbyterian Church, the Baptist Church, the Methodist Church, the Catholic Church and the Jewish Synagogue. Each church was overrun with pesky squirrels .

The Presbyterian Church called a meeting to decide what to do about the squirrels.

After much prayer and consideration they determined that the squirrels were predestined to be there and they shouldn't interfere with God's divine will.

In the Baptist Church the squirrels had taken up habitation in the baptistery. The deacons met and decided to put a cover on the baptistery and drown the squirrels in it. The squirrels escaped somehow and there were twice as many there the next week.

The Methodist Church got together and decided that they were not in a position to harm any of God's creations. So, they humanely trapped the squirrels and set them free a few miles outside of town. Three days later, the squirrels were back.

The Catholic Church came up with the best and most effective solution. They baptized the squirrels and registered them as members of the church. Now they only see them on Christmas and Easter.

Not much was heard about the Jewish Synagogue, but they took one squirrel and had a short service with him called circumcision and they haven't seen a squirrel on the property since.

brothers karamazov

I amazed myself by finishing up reading a 776-page English translation of a literary classic lately: "The Brothers Karamazov" by the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881). It's a story of crime and passion, murder mystery, court room drama, yet at the same time filled with rich religious and spiritual overtones from beginning till end.  

One interesting little side story mentioned in the book is this:

A wicked woman dies and is thrown into the lake of fire in hell by devils. Her guardian angel tries to think of one good deed of hers to tell God and save her from hell, and recalls that once she pulled up an onion and gave it to a beggar. God answers that the angel should take that same onion and offer it to her. If she takes hold of it and the angel can pull her out with it, she can go to paradise, but if the onion breaks, she must stay in the lake of fire. The angel offers the onion, the woman grabs it and he pulls carefully. Just as she is about to be pulled out completely, the other sinners in the lake hold onto her so as to be pulled out with her. The woman kicks them away, telling them that it is her onion, not theirs. The onion breaks and the woman falls back into the lake, where she remains.

I guess this means we are only as good as our last one good deed (or as bad as our last bad one) then.

One main character of the book, the father of the Karamazov brothers, is a "country buffoon," an obnoxious, ruthless, selfish and stingy old man who got murdered in the middle of the story. Here's some words said by a monastery sage about him:

"The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to such a pass that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love, and in order to occupy and distract himself without love he gives way to passions and coarse pleasures, and sinks to bestiality in his vices, all from continual lying to other men and to himself."

I guess this means keeping a clear and honest head above one's shoulders all the time is quite important.

Lastly,

"My friends, ask gladness from God. Be glad as children, as birds in the sky. And let man's sin not disturb you in your efforts, do not fear that it will dampen your endeavor and keep it from being fulfilled, do not say, 'Sin is strong, impiety is strong, the bad environment is strong, and we are lonely and powerless, the bad environment will dampen us and keep our good endeavor from being fulfilled.' Flee from such despondency, my children! There is only one salvation for you: take yourself up, and make yourself responsible for all the sins of men. For indeed it is so, my friend, and the moment you make yourself sincerely responsible for everything and everyone, you will see at once that it is really so, that it is you who are guilty on behalf of all and for all. Whereas by shifting your own laziness and powerlessness onto others, you will end by sharing in Satan's pride and murmuring against God." 

Sounds so lofty and unreachable?.. yet, not so..

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"Religion may be compared to a glass window. It remains dark unless it is lit from behind. The light itself is not visible, but in the window of religion it takes on a structure and becomes comprehensible to everyone. Although religion often tends to bind its followers to the structures of the window, the ultimate thing is not the window but the light that shines behind it. Only those who see the light of God behind all the structures can realize the meaning and goal of religion."  -- Willigis Jager, Search for the Meaning of Life: Essays and Reflections on the Mystical Experience 

monkeys

A little girl asked her mother: How did the human race appear?

The mother answered: God made Adam and Eve and they had children and so was all mankind made.

Two days later she asks her father the same question. The father answered:

Many years ago there were monkeys from which the human race was developed.

The confused girl returns to her mother and says: Mom how is it possible that you told me that the human race was created by God and Papa says they were developed from monkeys.

The mother answers: Well dear, it is very simple. I told you about the origin of my side of the family, while your father told you about his side…

See you monkeys Saturday :-)

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"What can we know? What are we all? Poor silly half-brained things peering out at the infinite, with the aspirations of angels and the instincts of beasts." -- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Stark Munro Letters

darwin

Now that we have survived it, my fellow Valentine's Day saints (sounds almost like "Latter Day Saints" :), we can talk about another big day last week, if you care, February 12. It was big because it was the 200th birthday of both President Lincoln and Charles Darwin, the natural scientist whose name with "ism" attaching to it equates to a revolutionary theory itself. This year also marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin's epic book "On the Origin of Species." 

Tons of books and arguments have been out there regarding Darwin's evolution theory and its opposing beliefs such as Creationism and Intelligent Design and I dare not even thinkof laying them out or rehashing them here or bringing up another lengthy debate that's plenty out there already as well. Instead, the following are just some simple thoughts and observations I have through the years to share with you. Please prefix each header below with the phrase "I think", as they are truly just my personal opinions: 

Darwin does not intend to take the Creator out of the grand picture.  
For starters, his book is titled "Origin of Species," not "Origin of Life," or "Origin of Universe." It just tries to explain the phenomena he observes that different species seem to have same traits therefore most likely they come from a same origin, and diverts later through the "natural selection" process. But he does not intend to explain how life itself all got started. As a matter of fact, he eventually brings the Creator into the picture in the concluding chapter of his book by saying this:

"There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved" (XLIX, 243)

Here he compares his theory to the law of gravity as another natural law that tries to explain what's happening in the universe we live in--the law of gravity explains physical behavior while his explains the biological world, and the Creator is the one that "breathed" life to all when this whole evolution process started, almost the same way Isaac Newton says that God is the one whose hand made the first push to have the world start moving around. 

Darwin never explains what that invisible, mysterious force that pushes all species to continue to evolve toward more sophisticated, superior form of existence is. 

Again, this is because all he tries to do is explain the phenomena, the process--the how, but not the why--of things. Personally I think the why is more important than the how, and thiswhy (mysterious force) is, pick your definition, what we may call God's Will, Spirit, Love, Intelligent Design, (or how about "Purpose Drive"). One can also argue that this mysterious force is an anti-natural law by itself: According to the second law of thermodynamics, all things in the world should go toward less order and more chaos (higher entropy), how in the world then can life continue to evolve towards better, more orderly, more sophisticated forms if left alone by itself? 

Darwin does not intend to have his theory applied to fields other than biologic science.

Once his theory gains popularity and becomes "accepted truth," people take the principles of his theory--survival of the fittest, natural selection, etc.--and apply them to areas of philosophies that suit their needs, e.g., Social Darwinism for human behavior, Universal Darwinism for cosmic development, or in some case it even becomes a new religion itself (George Bernard Shaw's "The New Theology"). "Applications" like these are out of the original scope of Darwin's and in general lack the serious diligence and scientific discipline Darwin shows in his research and the books he published.

Darwin came from a prestigious, "free thinking" family in England. He was baptized in the Anglican Church, but attended the Unitarian chapel with their mother when he was a child. His college education started at University of Edinburgh for medical studies, but once it turned out that Darwin lacked interest in such subjects, his father transferred him to Christ's College in Cambridge, for a Bachelor of Arts degree as the first step towards becoming an Anglican priest. He excelled in botany and other natural science studies there and graduated tenth out of a pass list of 178. He then went on to the Royal Navy gun-ship HMS Beagle for a 5-year "field trip" that inspired his evolution theory ideas.

He married his cousin Emma Wedgwood and had 10 children (2 died in infancy). He was a loving husband and devoted father who was uncommonly attentive to his children.Whenever they fell ill he feared that they might have inherited weaknesses from inbreeding due to the close family ties he shared with his wife and cousin. Despite his fears, most of the surviving children went on to have distinguished careers as notable members of the prominent Darwin-Wedgwood family.

Though his Christian faith continued to decline from the days when he believed Bible to be literally and historically correct when attending Christ's College in Cambridge, he refrained from expressing his religious view to the public, saying the question of religion was for theologians, not for scientists, and continued to play a leading part in the parish work of the local church. In a letter he wrote in1879 (three years before he died) he said that he had never been an atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God, and that generally "an Agnostic would be the more correct description of my state of mind."


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"An evolution that insists on deducing from continuous process the ascending movement which reaches the summit of consciousness and thought necessarily implies that that consciousness and that thought were there from the beginning."  -- Jaques Lacan, The Ethics of Psychoanalysis

obama

Now that we have Super Bowl out of the way, as well as the Chinese New Year (or more politically correct speaking, the Lunar New Year) recess ends, we are finally ready for work for year 2009 :-) Happy New Year again guys!

And we also have a new President in the White House, by the way. He's been there just a tad less than two weeks, so I think I can still slip in the following article I wrote the day after his inauguration without sounding trite:

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I must confess I didn't vote for Obama last November (though my wife did so under my auspice), but I also must admit once he got elected, I got affected by the jubilant atmosphere that culminated at the inauguration ceremony yesterday. So what's so special about this person who is now the 44th president of ours, besides the obvious (first black President, youth, inspiring speaker, etc.)?

First, how did he get his name, Barack Hussein Obama? (One common joke during his campaign is his parents probably wouldn't have given him that middle name Hussein if they knew he would be one day running for the US president.) It is exactly the same name as his father's--Barack Hussein Obama Sr. The name Barack is Arabic, meaning "blessed." As for the middle name Hussein, he got it from his grandfather, Hussein Onyango Obama, who converted from Christianity to Islam after having fought for the British in World War I and having traveled to Islamic Zanzibar (an island off east Africa). After this, he added Hussein to his name. As a consequence, Obama's father was raised a Muslim, but he became an atheist long before he met Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, who was not religious as well. The same goes for his mother's second husband – Obama's step father, Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian oil manager. 

Barack Obama himself became a Christian, as well as his wife Michelle. He joined the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago in 1988. In his inauguration speech yesterday, he paraphrased some verse from the Bible (1 Corinthians 13:11), saying "The time has come to set aside childish things.." By the way, though Obama didn't do it at his inauguration, some presidents had the Bible opened to a certain chapter and verse they favored during the oath taking, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the longest (4-term) president in US history, had it opened to the same 1 Corinthians Chapter 13 all four times during his swearing in, with emphasis on verse 13: "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

One interesting verse in the Old Testament, Judges 5:12: "Awake, awake, Deborah; Awake, awake, sing a song! Arise, Barak, and take away your captives, O son of Abinoam." regards a story of a woman prophet Deborah and a young man Barak together successfully fought the Canaanites who had been suppressing the Jews at that time. Notice the name "Barak" is almost the same as "Barack", hence some deeply religious black people believe this is the verse that foretells Barack Obama's rise and becoming the US president today--kind of like a "black Moses" that leads his people out of misery.

For all that much talk about the "blackness" of Obama, let's not forget biologically Obama is really half-white too, due to his white Caucasian mother from Kansas. You might be surprised, but through thorough research of his mother's ancestral tree, genealogists have determined that Winston Churchill, the World War II Prime Minister of Britain, and Obama are ninth cousins, three times removed; Lyndon Johnson, the US President during the Vietnam War, and Obama are fourth cousins, three times removed. And if this was not enough, ex-President Bush, the one Obama just took job from, is his cousin too, sharing with him the same great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents in 17th century Massachusetts.

Back to Kenya, the country where Obama's father came from: The government there has been dominated by a major tribe Kikuyu, while Obama's father was born Luo, a minor tribe whose people don't practice male circumcision. Since the Kikuyu and several other tribes believe that any real man must be circumcised, a Luo cannot be a real man and therefore cannot be President. The joke now running around Kenya, then, is that it's easier for a Luo to become President in the United States than in Kenya.

Isn't America the greatest country in the world?

 














"Help us work for that day when black will not be asked to give back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man, and when white will embrace what is right." -- This is the show stealer of Rev. Joseph Lowery's benediction speech at the end of the inauguration ceremony. It's about racial harmony but it rhymes so well it sounds so fun.