Austin Cityworks Class

I am soooo behind on posting about my cityworks class! it's been so much fun and i've been learning tons so shame on me for not posting sooner.

lets rewind to how all this started. i read in the paper that the city of austin was putting on an academy so its citizens could learn more about their city government. being the nerd that i am, i immediately applied and probably spent a good 15 minutes on the application (when i probably should have spent 2 hours because it was comprised of 5 essay questions). i was surprised to find out that i was one of the 30 who was accepted out of the 300 applicants but later realized i was most likely accepted because of my ethnic background and gender, ha.

here's a quick run down of what we've covered so far. the class meets every tuesday and it comes with a free dinner!

1. met mayor, city manager, and some city council members to understand how the city is structured and receive a general overview of austin's govt

2. tour of austin convention center and airport. did you know the austin airport is named after the 1st austinite who died while in battle in WWII? did you know there's an age limit to work in the airport tower?

3. library services, economic growth & redevelopment services, small & minority business --> lots of resources available to austin citizens!

4. EMS and firefighter training (pictured above). these guys are everyday heroes! i got to break down a steel door, shoot a firehose, and watch a propoane tank blow up - super cool. i also tried talking to the cheif of the fire dept bc it's rare to see a female in this type of role but she was not interested in answering my questions :x.

5. communication center: where 911 calls are taken and homeland security and emergency management happens here too

6. municipal & community court (i hope i never have to return here) and austin police dept. i got to see the cop's helicopter, horses, bomb squad, and swat team. did you know just last week a pipe bomb was put on top of propane tanks at a nearby HEB!?

more to come as classes resume...

congrats david & annisa!

their wedding was at the beautiful villa antonia in austin, texas. yay for friends getting married :)

Los Angeles Angels

Made a quick trip to LA to celebrate miss laura's birthday...10/10, what an easy birthday to remember. this was my 2nd time visiting california within a 4 week timeframe, i'm either extremely spoiled or it's time for me to move to california (probably both)! highlights included beach bumming, spending time with some of my favorite people in this world, and celebrating laura's birthday with dorky event after dorky event (click here for pictures). laura is the queen of dorkiness and we love her so dearly for that :p.

 

we also went to LA to run our first half marathon! the most i trained for was 8 miles so i was super impressed with myself that i was able to run all 13 miles in 2:26:50! i even told my family to meet me at the finish line 3 hours after i started but i finished much earlier than previously predicted which also makes me smile.

run down of my race: mile 6 felt pretty good (surprising since i'm usually dying by then when i trained). mile 8 started getting a little painful but i gave myself the prize of listening to my ipod (since this was the furthest i trained for) which kept me motivated. mile 10 was extruciating. mile 11, someone please bring me a wheelchair. mile 12 is when the crowds start gathering to cheer you on and you feel like you can FINISH this thing. finish line, my feet and legs hated me so much that i had to sit down immediately and only stood up afterwards to take a quick picture with my family.

all in all, im really happy that i completed my first half marathon! never in my life would i have thought i could run 13 miles but I CAN. now i push myself to run further when i work out bc i know how far my body and spirit can go...

el palo alto

mark and i changed things up for the month of september and met up in palo alto, california to celebrate jen and matt's birthday and visit mr. matt liaw, who is still trucking thru his phd program (you can do it, matt!). timmy was also a trooper by driving all the way from LA to come hang out with us for a weekend.

the weekend was chill and i couldnt get over california's beautiful weather...is it time to move there yet? highlights were hanging out with great company, riding matt's harley (there is no protection to surround you!), delicious meal after delicious meal, and monterey bay. enjoy pictures here and go visit palo alto before matt, matt, and jen leave!

frontline: obama's war

i just finished watching this frontline episode about the war in afghanistan...it's about 1 hour long but definitely worth your time to watch. this war has been going on for 8 years, the longest war in american history and i definitely understand why it's such a long war after watching the video. it's soooo complicated with so many factors to think about. from the ground, the troops are trying to build relationships and trust with the afghan people while also fighting the taliban. politically, the country it filled with corruption and only 30% of the country is controlled by the government. with the failed election recently, it only complicates the war even more. furthermore, pakistan supposedly is an alli of america however pakistan is an alli with the taliban who america is fighting against. america wants to continue their alliance with pakistan so they fund pakistan with billions of dollars for military and civil use. it's odd that we're spending all this money to "support" pakistan while fighting against pakistan's alli, the taliban.

this seems like an overly complicated situation and i wont even pretend to understand everything that's going on with it. i DO think it's important for us to be somewhat aware of what's going on in afghanistan no matter how confusing all the names and places might be.

Theological Survey Class: Trinity

i'm trying to be a better blogger by writing down all the things i'm learning. i think it'll help me retain some of the info and force me to sit down and review all the things that are going through my head so bear with me as a jot down random things i'm learning and thinking about thru the theological survey class i'm taking thru austin stone. (hopefully, you can learn something too :).) come join me every sunday at 7pm if you're interested in learning more about theology! it's been super interesting so far!

this past week's topic was the trinity. honestly, i've never really cared to even think about my beliefs behind the trinity but i know it's important to know what you believe so you can worship the God of the scriptures and not a god that you've created in your head (thus making it idolatry). the class walked us through what the bible says about the idea of the trinity and summed up the trinity in 3 points: 1) God is 3 persons 2) Each person is fully God 3) There is one God. it's hard for me to say i completely understand the idea of the trinity but maybe it's one of those things where it's difficult for our limited minds to really grasp.

one of the highlights of the class was when we read 3 different quotes extracted from pentecostals', mormon's, and jehovah witnesses' doctrine and it was shocking to understand how different their doctrine was solely because of what they believed regarding the trinity. it was very surprising to me! before i could have never theologically explained how these religions were different from christianity but i can now.

we were also challenged to think about what our view is of the trinity. how is this even possible?? one suggestion is to analyze your prayer life. do you generally pray the majority of your time to only God the Father? Jesus? Holy Spirit? or do you pray to the Father, thru Jesus, and thru the power of the Holy Spirit?

bad habits

i've become more and more conscious of how i've started to stare down people on the road that have wronged me - from unnecessary honking to cutting me off to driving wayyy too slow. i pass them up with a really annoyed expression spread across my face and turn my body around so i can get a good look to see if they're talking on the phone or if they fulfill any of my previously established sterotypes regarding bad drivers. this is terrible! and i definitely dont want this to become a habitual reaction...it's a bad, bad habit. SO, my first step in recovery is just being more aware of my natural tendency to do this after being wronged. next step is controlling my desire to see and stare down who wronged me as i pass them by. so far, my journey in fixing this has been going pretty well! i find that not doing this eases my road rage, stops me from building up false notions about drivers, and i honk less.