Two Generations of Pastors

Article

I wanted to show my pride in the two generations of pastors in our family.  My father had sent me this article where he and my younger brother were featured in Korean Christian Daily newspaper.  Loosely translated, my brother Paul states that he had become a pastor “from watching our father’s faithfulness in pastoring… not focusing on tough life of now but focusing on the eternal importance of the future.”  Good stuff… I wanted to show my pride in two people that have dedicated their lives to serving God.

Star Trek Movie: The Bittersweet Review

I grew up on scifi.  It started with Mazinger Z.  Galaxy Express 999.  Future Boy Conan.  Gundam.  Robotech.

Then I discovered Star Trek.  The original TV series with Capt. James T. Kirk.  Spock and others made the show rather enjoyable.  And then the Next Generation came!  Capt. Jean-Luc Picard is da man!  He made Star Trek cool!  I didn’t care much for Deep Space Nine and the Voyager series… but then Star Trek: Enterprise returned and it was awesome again!  However, it wasn’t popular enough and they pulled the plug.

The movies weren’t great most of the time and Star Trek seemed to disappear… until this movie came around!  The reason why the review is bittersweet is because of what the movie is doing to the entire Star Trek license!  Just like “Dark Knight” did to the original (and lame) Batman from the ’60s, this movie kickstarted the Star Trek into the 21st century, so to speak.  The movie was good.  Lots of action and effects with a decent plot, it gave what the license needed to enter the mainstream.  It was great if you weren’t a fan of the original.

So to someone like me who has been a fan, but not a fanatic, it was rather… bitter to swallow.  The plot threw the entire history upside down, like Chung had warned me yesterday.  The original series and some of the movies had always done one thing and one thing right:  addressing a load of ethical and cultural issues and differences.  It had its own … traditions and history of sorts.  Now, it was all thrown away for the sake of making the series popular again.

It still was a good movie and the twist was… intriguing.  I suppose it was a necessary evil of sorts.  I mean, I’d rather have it back this way than to have lost it forever.  Bittersweet, indeed.  Bittersweet.

Save “Chuck”!

CNN News

One of the cool shows of the recent years (unlike the stoopid “Lost”) is my new favorite, Chuck.  It’s a slightly comedic show on a nerd guy who becomes a CIA agent and carries the Intersect, the super secret data supercomputer, in his brain.

Even Soojin has been getting into the show.  It’s funny and it’s got the romance for the female audience.  Well, the show may get cancelled and not return from the second season.  All I have to say to that is “BOOOO!!”.  So with the power of the Internet and network sites, people have been rallying to save the show!!  Go do whatever you have to do to save the show!!  Please!!

Windows 7’s “XP Mode”

CNET News

Of all the bad stunts that Microsoft has done in the past and present, this suprised even the likes of me by making me say things like “Wow… Microsoft is doing THIS?!  What happened?! They are actually doing stuff that seems *gasp* productive!”

The new and upcoming Windows 7, the successor to the-now-just-blah of Windows Vista, will have a very nice feature.  It’s called “XP Mode”!  This will actually run Windows XP.  This is great for gamers like me who still have loads of games that run only in XP.  This is great for people who use softwares that are pre-Vista years.  However, it’s not entirely “free”.  Here are some potential deal breakers…

  • Must have at least 2 GB of memory and a processor that is capable of virtualization
  • This add-on is available only to those with Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate variations

But still, this seems like a doable choice and a tempting way to entice people like me into it more.  Go Microsoft for once!!

Bankless/ATM-less Check Deposit

Gizmodo’s Article

Can you imagine depositing the check directly to your bank account… from your home?!  It just may happen as a new way of optical recognition technology improves!  My own bank, Chase, has implemented ability to scan the checks you deposit into the ATMs and thus have ridden of having to itemize and write the deposit slips.  But this goes beyond that by allowing you to use your cell phone’s camera (at least 2.0 MP) to take picture of the check you wish to deposit and then be done with it!

This would save so much time in traffic and driving!  I sure hope it gets adopted by other banks but for now, only NCR is doing this.

Things that make me MAD: Children taken away from illegal immigrants

NY Times Article

Warning!  You may become way too mad after reading the article!  I know I am!!    Illegal immigration is a hot issue.  Yes, I understand that.  And deporting back home is one thing but to take their children away from them while they are in jail?!  Who the hell gave these stupid judges the right?!

As a parent myself, I can NOT imagine anything worse than my kids being taken away from my against my will!  Yet, that’s what some of these judges (you know who you are, Judge David C. Dally and others) doing exactly!  Ok.. so they are put in jail for being here illegally but it does NOT give us the right to take their kids away and place them elsewhere!

The kids are happiest when they are with their parents.  And so are the parents ourselves!  I am really flabbergasted right now!  That judge is sooo lucky that I don’t live in North Carolina ’cause I’d be petitioning for his impeachment!  If we are going to deport them, do it completely and send the kids back with them!  Unless the parents are harming the kids, the right to the caring for the kids lies with the parents!!  I feel soo bad for the parents… My prayers go with them…  Someone with the power PLEASE make this right!!

Pirates of the Somalia

Yahoo News

This is 21st century, right?  Or am I still living in the old days of yore when pirates with eye patches roamed free?!!  What in the blazes is going on here?  This problem of Somalian pirates goin further and further out to the Indian Sea to hijack ships and crews for ransom is beyond going out of control!  What the heck is everyone doing about it?!  NOTHING!!  NADA!!

This is ONE war that we can end quickly if anyone gave a crap!  Some people better wake up before the pirates become even bigger threat!