Vista is not a copy of OS X

I found a funny video explaining how Windows Vista is not a copy of OS X. I hope this will lighten your day.

Vista did not copy OS X

Chrismas Message 2

Rediscovering Christmas

Last year I wanted to make sure I didn't miss Christmas. I had found that often in previous years christmas would come and go so quickly that I would feel that I had missed Christmas. However, this year, I have slowed things down and have done an honest search for Christmas again.

I find you need to rediscover Christmas each year or again you may find that it has passed you by the same old Christmas you had last year. Here is what I have found in my own life.

I am certain, that there are some of you reading this message who have recently or are currently going through a tough time. Others of you may be filling up your December with so many ctivities, that if you were to slow down you would find something was missing. If you are any of these people I hope this message may be of encouragement to you.

Slightly before Jesus was born into the world the Jewish people were going through hard times. They were under an oppressive ruler named Herod, who seemed to have no issue with killing people. Not only did he kill various members of his family, but he also killed many innocent babies in Bethelem in order to get rid of Jesus (Mathew 2:16-18). The movie the Nativity showed the challenges faced by the Jews around the birth of Christ. So if you are facing difficult times this Christmas season, you are having a very authentic Christmas.

In the last few months I have gone through my own set of hardships. There have been some youth events, that haven't ended very well. There were stressful times in October and November where I was away for about three out of four weekends: For my Grandmothers funeral, a family reunion and for TEC (Teens Encounter Christ). I have also been there to support others in their sorrows.

There have also been some good things that have happened recently. Some of my youth have been totally transformed by the TEC weekend. Out of that I have had the blessing of being able to meet with some youth 3-4 times a week for prayer which is really awesome. However, I have also faced a new challenge that has come out of the weekend as well. It seems that during good times seem to also be mixed with difficult times. So as I go into this Christmas season, I go in as someone who has faced some challenges but has also had the burden over carrying other peoples hardships as well.

So what does the the birth of Christ offer to us going through difficult times? Here is the hope it offers me. Christmas shows me that God cares enough for us that he is willing to come into the world like one of us face the same problems we face. Jesus is a man who is familiar with sorrows. In fact it says

“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” Isaiah 53:3

However, there is another important part of Christmas and that is the element of miracles. Around 2006 years ago Jesus came into the world through a virgin birth to a young teenage girl. Even as Christ was born in a miraculous way 2006 years ago, I have seen miracles happen today as well.

One of my youth had many problems including getting into drugs, dropping out of school, dealing with a hard home life, getting into trouble and depression. This youth who had messed up his life has been transformed by God. Now he is working and finishing up high school, working part time and is taking on leadership role with the youth. He is full of Joy and is using his experiences to direct other youth on the right path to God. The strange thing is that he has grown so much in his faith, and made so much progress in his life that he is now teaching other youth who seemed further ahead of him in their faith and have lived a much better life.

Personally I'd love to see something amazing happen this Christmas. I'm sure some of you would like to see something amazing happen this Christmas as well. So I challenge you this Christmas to ask God for a miracle. Go ahead. Test God. See if he does not amaze you this Christmas with something you would not beleive could happen. See for yourself whether the Christmas story is true. This Christmas I'm asking God for a miracle.

Chrismas Email 2

Hello all,

I figured I would let you know what's been going on in the last year since I sent out my last Christmas email. Sorry for the length. I'm hopping that by dividing things up into sections you can read only what interests you about me. (Which should be everything because I'm so wonderful :) ). I've sent a Christmas message as an attachment so you can read it at a latter time if you wish (This is different then this email). I've also attached a list of my favourite Christmas carols.

Life summary,

Currently I am in my third year at UTStarcom doing full-time software development on the Mobile Switching Center (MSC). I am also in my third year of part-time youth-pastoring work at St Albans a church in Burnaby. In my "spare" time I've done some swing dancing, running, soccer and connecting with friends.

Out on my own

I've been out on my own in my apartment for about a year now. I've moved up from microwaving stuff (at my parents place) to craft dinner and from craft dinner to Chinese stir fry. Most recently I've been baking banana chocolate chip muffins. I've managed to get more comfortable chairs for my apartment as well as I've unpacked all my stuff that were in boxes. I've managed to meet some of the neighbours in my apartment building and I've gotten along great with the landlord. I've really enjoyed being out on my own. Between my youth work and computer work it is nice to be able to go home and have some space to myself.

Youth

This has been a very good but challenging year to work with youth. There have been a few really crazy times dealing with the youth in particular May was challenging time as was this September and October. However, it seems recently some amazing things have been happening. One of my youth who had dropped out of school has decided to go back to school and finish it up and also work part time. I've also been having
having some youth over my apartment regularly to pray for one another and the other youth. Some of the youth are even beginning to look after me which is really cool.

I've also gotten involved with TEC (Teens Encounter Christ) which has had a huge positive influence on my youth. All in all it's been a tiring but very rewarding year with the youth. I'm looking forward to have a week vacation from my work and youth work so I can be re-energized to go back to youth work and my Computer work.

UTStarcom work

My job at UTStarcom has gone quite well. I got a fairly large raise at the start of the year. I also recently got put in charge of projects involving packaging and installing our product. This is been the area I've wanted to work in since by doing this part well it should save people a lot of time setting up our system and patching it. This should also improve other parts of the product development life cycle. I'm
quite happy with my work at the moment.

Summer

My summer has been awesome. I got plenty of opportunities to go out dancing, catch up on old friendships, get away to Roberts Creek and even head down to Denver Colorado for a wedding with my family.

Significant Events this past year in my life

- Both my Grandmothers passed away this year
- Got involved with two TEC (Teens encounter Christ) weekends
- Went to a family wedding in the summer
- Went to the Overholt Family reunion with 160 people (and that's not
all of them)
- Was in a Jury for a trial happening in February
- Got raises for both my Youth work and my work at UTStarcom
- Gave two sermons in front of the church.

What's happening next year

- I'm giving a sermon on February 4th at 8:00am and 10:00am at Saint
Albans (7717 19th Ave Burnaby B.C.). You're welcome to drop by if you
want.

New Years resolutions

God
- Take one day a week off from all regular work to spend with God (A
Sabbath)
- Spend an hour a day in the morning in Prayer and Read the Bible
- Practice the presences of God in my life
- Go on some mini-missions trip and/or help with summer camps
Youth
- Grow the prayer/Bible study group
- Encourage youth leadership
- Connect 1 on 1 with more youth
- Get a woman leader to help connect with the girls
- Connect with the youth with the Church

Work
- Learn ClearCase
- Improve patching/packaging of our software
- Improve the testing process
- Look into Eclipse
- Get better Requirements for my work

Personal
- Learn speed cleaning
- Make good use of my organizer
- Keep up to date with finances
- Get a 50 minute race time for the sun run
- Update my blog (gardion.blogspot.com)

Relationships
- Connect with People in New/West Burnaby
- Maintain friendships
- Connect with Family

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year.

Update: I changed the service times to 8:00am and 10:00am. Also the attached Christmas message in pdf is not the same as this email. Rather it contains the message above this post.