PATENT? YAYYYY

One day last year Marcel came home saying, "Yan, I have to meet with the patent lawyer tomorrow."


Yanny, "Ohhh ok.  What for?  Is it bad?"
Marcel, "No, not bad.  I think he wants to process my patent filing."
Yanny, "You have a patent?"
Marcel, "Well, I don't yet.  But I might.  It's from my old project."
Yanny, "Ohh yayyy, congratulations, Baby!!!"
Marcel, "Well, not yet though.  I still yet to speak with the lawyer."


Fast forward over a year later ... that would be tonight.  He came home with a cool puzzle piece.  I asked, "What's that?"


Marcel, "Ohhh, the company gave me this as a thank you for my patent."
Yanny, "Ahhh?  You got the patent?" (already almost forgot about it)
Marcel, "Yeah."
Yanny, "So, what's the patent about?"
Marcel, "Hmmm, it's hard to explain.  Do you want to read the patent document instead?"
Yanny, "I guess that's my only option now."
[Marcel's pulling it online]
Marcel, "OK ... here you go."


So Marcel along with 6 of his coworkers received the patent for Modular Workflow Management.  Yepppp, after reading the document, I still don't understand what that's for.  LOL.  But I'm so happy for him.  Great job, Baby!  Congratulations!!!

[Click to enlarge]

The puzzle piece - an acknowledgement from the company

It says, "Modular Workflow Management"

I guess I do have a geeky hubby!
   

MAXIE, "UNCLE MARCELLLL"

We've been enjoying Maxie's new trick lately.  The way he calls Marcel has been evolving from "Acel" (for Marcel) to "Akel" (for Uncle) and finally to the perfect, "Uncle Marcel."  Enjoy this short video we took of him the other day.





May this turn your frown upside down!

YANNY'S REWARD TRACKER

Two weeks ago, I went to a retreat without Marcel.  Marcel got nothing to do that weekend and decided to make this ... my reward tracker.    

I came home to find an empty board and an "m" tin (m for Marcel???)

Since Marcel wasn't home when I came back, I totally had no clue what the board and tin were for.  Interestingly, I found a bunch of yellow and green hearts (my favorite colors) along with some colorful push pins inside the tin.

I couldn't wait for Marcel to come home and explain to me what these are for.  Later that night, he explained to me the "rules."  Basically, the green hearts are worth 1 point each and for me to track exercises I do for more than 30 minutes each day.  Whereas the yellow hearts are worth 2 points each and for him to give to me when he catches me making conscious healthy decisions such as sleeping early, controlling my food intake, turning down fries for a healthier snack, etc.

With 10 points, I can redeem them for a treat at a restaurant of my choice including In-N-Out Burger HAHAHAH.  With 50 points, I can redeem them for a getaway with Marcel.

So after 2 weeks, here is how my tracker looks like.  I'm at 11 points already.  

One of my new favorite exercises is hula hooping.  I got this Weighted Sports Hula Hoop for Weight Loss - Acu Hoop 4 lb. Boxed from Amazon for my birthday.  It's fantastic!!!  Love it.  It has added a little variation to my exercise routine.

Even though I have the option to redeem my 10 points now, I think I will work a little harder to get to the 50 points and redeem them for a getaway ... which will be nicer since we had to cancel our New Zealand trip this year.    

I loooooooove Marcel's idea of the reward tracker.  Pretty creative for a geek!!!  :-)

May this be a blessing!

CREATIVE LITTLE WHITE LIES

I was reading this article on CNN the other day.  At first I was like, "What are white lies?"  Then I found out that those are statements that parents tell to produce a favorable result without harming the children.  Hmmmmmmm, I scratched my head a bit reading the last part about "without harming the children."  It surely rang my bells by now.


So to share a little giggle with you, here are some of my favorites from the article:

• Ice cream truck is actually a music truck that plays music for people to enjoy during summer.
• Fortune cookies at the Chinese restaurants say things that the parents would say like, "Your bedtime tonight is 15 minutes earlier."
• Certain toys "live" at the store and there for visitation only.  Hmm, can I use this on Marcel?  
• Veggies can make you strong.  At the end of the meal, let the child lift your arm with one finger.  Hmmm, can I also use this on Marcel?
• The cookies are kinda spicy (so that the parent can have them all for herself LOL).  HAHAHA, such a liar!!!
• The vacuum cleaner will suck up all the toys (so that they clean up after themselves).  This is kind of note to self, Yanny!!!!  Marcel would really LOVE to use this on me.

But, like I said, it kinda rang my bell too.  Growing up as the youngest of four with 14 years difference between me and my oldest sibling, I was always the constant victim of white lies.  For example:

• My mom said, "Do not sit on a pillow or your butt will have a boil (a.k.a. bisul)!"  Believing in this got me and Marcel a little "conversation" when I saw him sitting on a pillow to give an extra padding while sitting on the carpet.  What my mom really meant was that it's impolite to put your butt where you place your head on.  But Marcel couldn't believe that I still bought that lie even when I'm already in my mid 20's.  HEY, some stuff you learned when you're little just stick around for good you know.  So I'm not sure when they say that white lies will do no harm to the children.  Boooooooo them!  
• My grandma said, "Don't drink water while lying on the bed or your head will be big and you will look like a mushroom ... small body with big head!"  Yeah, what she meant was good.  She didn't want me to choke.  But ......
• My older sisters went to Bandung for high school.  One day, they came home talking like this, "Ipinipi apadepek kipitapa kopoq ipidupungnyapa pepesepek pipisapan!"  And they were laughing so hard after that.  I was amazed at that and asked, "Cici, what are you guys talking about?"  And my sisters said, "Oh, we're speaking English!!!!  Wanna learn it too?"  Yeah, and for awhile, I believe that that's English.  You couldn't believe how proud I was to be one of the youngest kids in Sukabumi to be able to "speak English."  And living in a secluded tiny village didn't really help me there.  HAHAHA.

I could go on and on with my list here.  But I'll stop here to avoid further embarrassment.  HAHA.

Now, let's switch gear to the present time.  Having read the definition of white lies and hearing examples, I must confess that I have been unconsciously doing white lies too.  

• The other day Maxie refused to put on his new swimsuit before swimming.  We asked, "Maxie, do you want to swim?"  He answered, "Yaaaa."  But when we're trying to put the swimsuit on, he wiggled his whole body that the swimsuit kept coming off.  Then, a black squirrel was hopping around the pool.  Fortunately, Maxie's new swimsuit is also black.  And I said, "Ohh Maxie, look at the squirrel!!!  See, he has black fur on to play around the pool.  And look at Akel and Ani, we're both wearing black swimsuit too.  Maxie wants to put on your black swimsuit now?"  Phewwwwwwwwwww, that solved the issue.  We were able to play and swim joyfully for the next 1.5 hours.  :-)  
• Last time, Maxie couldn't stop playing in the elevator at a mall.  When Marcel carried him to head out to the car, Maxie would crawl down and ran back to the elevator (which he calls as "on please" hahha).  We tried to talk him through, "Three more times, OK?" but it didn't work.  Finally, we decided to play scavenger hunt with him.  "Maxie, let's race to find the door!"  "Maxie, let's race to find the stairs."  "Maxie, how about let's find another door?"  Now that we were outside of the mall already, "Maxie, let's go find Akel's car!"  Whoaaaaaaa, it was so much fun with the small tippie toes inside the mall.  And finally we're able to head out to the next destination with Maxie's still giggling inside the car of the fun he had from the scavenger hunt game.

Ayy yaaa yaaa.  I guess I have to be more careful so that the white lies I tell are really for the good of the kids instead of for my own selfishness.

Have you been a victim of white lies like me?  Do you have white lies you often tell (to kids, your boss, parents, spouse, friends, teacher) to talk your way out?  Share 'em!!!  Would love to hear 'em.

May this turn your frown upside down!

BLESSING OF PATIENCE

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." -- Psalm 139:23-24

During family prayer time last night, I shared with Marcel that God has made Himself really clear to me this year.  He wants me to grow into a more PATIENT and MERCIFUL person.


I don't think I'm ready to share about mercy as yet.  If you would please keep me in your prayer through this struggle, I would really appreciate that.  I'm hopeful that one day I will be sharing with you the blessing of being merciful.  Until then, please lift me up in your prayer.


So please allow me to share with you about patience first.  


Yesterday was a great milestone in His teaching of patience to me.  After nine months of waiting and wondering, I finally received an update on the company re-org.  It was announced yesterday that our California office will be closed by the end of this year and moved to New York.  This means that everyone who is working in the CA office and those who are working remotely for the CA-based groups will either have to relocate to NY or find a new job within these 3 months.  Of course for me relocation is not an option.  Though the news was very devastating to hear, it really had brought a closure to me.  Now I can move on to plan the next step.  Now everything has been confirmed.  No more rumor or hijacked mind.  No more dragging my feet to work every morning fearing another person couldn't stand the wait and leave the company (we've had too many of these in the past 2 months alone) :-)


After the announcement, we were called to have a one-on-one with the President.  As I entered the room, the President asked me, "How do you feel?"


I explained to her that I was really looking forward to the meeting (where she made the announcement) because it's been a long wait.  I went on to say that when I came in to work in the morning, I was prepared for this kind of news.  Of course, a part of me was still hoping that the company would keep the West Coast office.  But I have faith in the direction that the upper management has taken to make the company more scalable.


I want to give all the credit to God for being patient in teaching me patience.  I realize it's not an easy decision for the company to make.  Nine months seemed to be so long for me.  I was hoping God would give me some hints along the way.  Every day I prayed, "God, did you hear anything yet???"  So annoying, I know HAHHA.  But 9 months was probably like 1 month for the management.  And I praise God for teaching me the right attitude of waiting, being patient, and embracing the news.


As for the next step for me?  Friends and family members have been suggesting some great idea of what I should do.  But I would like to hear what God wants me to do next year.  Exciting exciting!!!!!!!  God's perfect timing is exciting exciting!!!!!! 


And just to keep a running list of blessing of patience:

• After 3 months of waiting, my biking glasses were finally manufactured and shipped for the lenses installation yesterday.  YAYYY.  It's been back-ordered since June.  I'm excited to pick these up in 2 weeks.
• After 2.5 months of learning, I was brave enough yesterday to bike on the street without supervision while having my bike shoes on.  Praise the Lord for not falling.  Yayyyy!!!
• After 4 months of waiting, my work authorization card finally arrived.  I've been back to working again since last Thursday.  I praise God for the 2.5-week productive leave and the new card.
• After one week back to work, my network account is finally re-activated.  It's really nice to be able to do the work while at work.

I can go on and on and on here.  HAHAHA.  All the "Why can't I have it now?  Why can't I know it now?  Why can't I do it now?" are all to teach me patience.  My NOW's needed to be processed a little bit :-) . 

But to close, I believe that there's a plan for everything that happens.  And I know that God is teaching me patience to prepare me for the next challenge in my growth.  To lead me in the way that is everlasting.  Soooo ... I'm really looking forward to it, Lord!

May this be a blessing!

BRAIN JOKE

Marcel's co-worker said this the other day:


"You know how we have the left and right brains?  Well, I think my left brain has nothing right.  And my right brain has nothing left."


HAHAHAHA.  It's totally random but made me laugh good!!!!

MT. EDEN - PIERCE ROAD (ATTEMPT #1)

Our training team was down to 3 from 4 members this past weekend.  :-(  As always, we tried to hit the road as early as possible so that our friend could make it home by noon.


Initially, we wanted to try Old La Honda route on Saturday.  So Marcel and I went to survey the route on Friday by car.  However, the downhill was too dangerous for an amateur like me.  It was a 2-way winding busy highway (CA 84) with some 180 degree right turns (yeah, they're more like u-turns to me).  I don't think I'm ready yet for that kind of route.  So for everyone's safety, we cancelled Old La Honda and did Mt. Eden - Pierce Rd.


Marcel and I were attempting Mt. Eden - Pierce Rd. back in early July 2010.  But we couldn't slow down enough to make a safe left turn to Mt. Eden; and Marcel's chain was broken.  So we ended up heading home.  Praise the Lord, this time the traffic was really light; and we're able to finish the route.


There were 3 hills with the average of 12% grade (elevation).  I must say, this route - by far - is the most torturous one for me.  The guys were so fast.  I think the training and the biking shoes really helped them to be efficient.  I still didn't have my biking shoes on.  I need to train more to wear those.  So I ended up slowing the team down.  The guys literally had to wait for me at the hill top for a good 5 - 7 minutes each time. 


Anyway, below are our recorded map and climbing profile.  If the weather and my stamina permit, I would love to do this route again before the year ends.

Ride map

The climb profile

Anyone (preferably a female companion) wants to join me for training?