Original Glory

I'm impressed by internet searching. I put the new google desktop search on my work PC, and found it's been really useful. We recently switched to Outlook, so now it's very convenient to search all my work email. From the search results, you can go directly to Outlook to reply, etc which is very handy. One of the more useful (or concerning) features is that it searches inside microsoft documents. For example, someone at work sent out a birthday list for everyone in the group, so all I have to do is search for "birthday NAME" and it brings up the document.
I'm also able to track the status of my brother on the internet, since Arizona has all their court cases online. I see a warrant was issued on the 21st, but that's all the news I have of him. (I also noticed a friend who spent some time in Arizona had a few minor traffic violations, but he seems to have complied with the conditions instead of running.)
As for the weekend, I was in Santa Monica (movie and cafe) , Hollywood (improv show), and Fullerton (jazz) with a new Irish friend (and some older non-Irish friends, although Ramon claims to be Irish.)
If you want something interesting to read, I enjoyed the article, "Different Worlds, Different Values" by a Lebanese Christian woman who had to live in a bomb shelter for 7 years before moving to Israel.

I've been thinking about crime in Los Angeles. A friend brought up the news of a 14 year old who was shot 19 times in LA recently. Our church has also been thinking about moving more towards the 'city'.
While looking at some of the crime statistics, I was wondering how they compare to war casualties. Luckily I found this nice article, since it's a bit early in the morning to do all the research myself.
"The average monthly death toll for US soldiers in Iraq is 55.6 deaths per month while the average reported murders per month in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City are 48.7, 51.9 and 49.3 deaths per month."

I just got word that my brother's on the run. He was recently sentenced to 4 yrs parole on some drug charges. Mr. Law came to his house today, but I hear he managed to elude him by jumping out a window. I remember he was chased out of Texas a few years ago for poaching, so he probably won't be going there. Let me know if you see him.

During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. -Heb 5:7

Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign LORD comes escape from death. -Ps 68:20

My company had it's yearly technical forum on Tuesday and Wednesday. They give awards for the best papers, and I was one of 3 people who tied for 2nd place with my paper "Gen 10.8: The Next Generation Mid-Voltage Trench FET Platform." I was competing with such papers as "New Silicon and Packaging Advances for Synchronous Rectification Improve Efficiency & Power Density in AC/DC Power Supplies" and "Gold Aluminum Intermetallic Characteristics on MOSFET Products." I'm not sure how much more my brain can take after listening to 32 presentations.
I did finally get my hot tub up and running this week, that should help release a bit of stress. It came with the house, but I haven't had any water in it for the past year. There are 3 jets that don't work yet, but the heater seems to function fine. Let me know if you're in the area!

Glory: Innate greatness brought to life.

Some colleagues from the UK are in town, so I took them mountain biking on the Paseo Miramar/Topanga Loop this weekend. I've never been to this area before, but was quite impressed. So close to Los Angeles, but it seemed worlds away. Unfortunately the review is correct in the section about "Aerobic difficulty: Very difficult; one of the most grueling climbs in the Santa Monicas" and the guys seemed to still have a bit of jet lag. We made it, though, and ended with a nice meal at a posh LA-style cafe (complete with a woman eating with a little dog in her lap, all done up with pink and silver bows.)
I did learn some interesting things from a bit of political discussion the guys had with a couple we met at a rest stop, I'll call it the Pacific Palisades Perspective:

• Our country is in grave danger
• Abortion will become Illegal
• All the nice Islamic countries won't be our friends any more
• Our freedoms will be taken away
• The clock will be turned back on civil rights and equalities
• The draft will be reinstated
• The environment will be neglected (they'll probably close our trail!)

"Can you believe there are actually people who think differently? That crazy religious right...born again..."

"How could you let your beliefs influence how you lead the country? I mean, Kerry's a Catholic, but he doesn't make his decisions based on that..."

I had no idea we were in such danger.