Went to a Mountain View gas station and found a piece of English tradition!

Today at the gas station, we discovered a man filling the tires of his original Mini. If I could replace the engine with a Honda V-tec, this would totally be my dream car. It's small, it's cute, and it's English. ;) I asked Francis to take my photo beside it. The owner of the vehicle turned out to be a super swell guy. He even let me get inside. It was so cool! Mini's do not have much in the way of a dashboard. Literally just three pedals, a manual shift, a speedometer, and a mileage gauge. That's it.

Go speed racer!
In this shot, I'm having my pit crew check the tire pressure.

Lunch with Po-Po

Francis's maternal grandmother is, as we used to say in the 90's, the bomb diggity. She treated us to lunch in San Mateo this afternoon. Po-Po was raised during WWII China. She lived through the brutal Japanese occupation of her country and came out of the experience with a high tolerance for pain, unmatched perseverance, and an almost psychotic obsession with not wasting food. Even though we don't even remotely speak the same language, we communicate with each other by giving the thumbs up sign. I am happy to report that I received many thumbs up today. Po-Po is totally on my good side because she likes to give Francis marriage advice, such as "Be sure to show her affection" or "Don't eat too much hot sauce and white pepper or you'll get hemorrhoids". You know, good, sound, grandmotherly advice.

Here she is, after donning her USC baseball cap. A whopping four feet tall. You rock Po-Po!

For when you simply must have a burger while on the pot...

Wow. Just wow.

My "niece" Sophie. Aka, the most beautiful baby ever!

An old high school friend from Pennridge comes to visit the Bay.

My old friend from high school, Andrew "Gerb" Gerber, came to visit this weekend. We used to travel in the same circles during junior year. He was in Vancouver for a family reunion. After the reunion, he made his way down to Oregon to see my old locker neighbor Kelly Hardcastle, the girl who broke the news of Kurt Cobain's death to me when we were 13 years old. After spending some time with Kelly, he rented a Harley Davidson and drove down to the Bay to hang out with me. I took him to some of my favorite SF haunts and some new places I'd never been to, including lunch in Chinatown, a walk across the Golden Gate Bridge, a drive past the monolithic Castro flag, and the view from the top of Twin Peaks. Andrew is currently working for the Obama campaign, so we had some lively discussions that day. After touring the city, we hung out with my friends and had game night. Always a good sport, he chatted with strangers, played Apples to Apples and charades, and generally made himself at home. The next morning, Francis and I took him to the San Jose Amtrak station, where he boarded a train to Fresno and headed off for a few days of hiking and climbing in Yosemite. Keep up the great work, Andrew! Go Obama!

Inside joke for Lisa Healy: "That seat reclines." Hahaha.

Vic and Briana Ishida's wedding

I'm gonna use a lot of Christian "jargon" to describe this wedding, so beware. But it is all truth, no matter what the language sounds like...

Our good friends and fellow Twenties group leaders Vic and Briana got married today! They have a very similar story to me and Francis in that Vic was not a believer in Jesus Christ when they first started dating. Briana had been raised at CPC, but had fallen away from her walk with God during college. After they broke up for various reasons, Vic began seeking God and studying the book of John with Briana's dad. Her father has a heart for young men from rough backgrounds, so Vic and him bonded easily. I remember when Vic first started attending Twenties with us. He looked suspicious of everyone, much like I did. He thought everyone was perfect except for him, but that certainly is not true. God was calling him though. Soon he and Briana reconciled and decided to base their relationship on Him. Now Vic is one of the most joyful and God-centered men I know, a true leader and husband. He is just one of the reasons I believe in a God who changes people beyond what they could change on their own.

So, naturally, their wedding was a celebration of their enduring love and God's faithfulness to Briana's prayers. It basically turned into a CPC dance party. I was dancing with Francis when I happened to glance over and see our senior pastor Mark, two of our church elders, and Justin, together with their wives, getting down to 70's music. It was so much fun! And of course, the flowers were to die for. ;)

The bride was delivered in a horse and carriage!

The hotties of Twenties!

Small business according to Dilbert

On Tuesday, a local commercial real estate firm with five branches in the Bay Area finally paid their six month overdue invoice. Francis and I made many personal visits to the office over the course of six months, hassled the poor receptionist, sent past due notices, and eventually, I directly e-mailed the president of the company. Apparently, they have felt the effects of the economic downturn and did not think paying for their 72", fully decorated holiday wreath in June sounded very appealing. I can't blame them. After assuring me the check was finally in the mail, the president of the company told me, "It is hard to believe, but we are a small business too." That may technically be true according to the definition of small business, but I am certainly more dependent on their $800 payment than they are in keeping it! In any case, we settled the matter on good terms and will most likely continue to do business with them in the future, only with advanced payment required. Francis found this appropriate Dilbert cartoon that summed up the whole experience.