Korean church

Today, I had the chance to visit the Korean Presbyterian Church of St. Louis with a friend of mine I met at school (who is, you guessed it, Korean).  It was a very interesting experience.  For starters, I was the only non-Korean at the church.  Secondly, the entire service was in Korean.  If something was printed in English, chances are it had something to do with the fire code.  I filled out a guest card, little to my knowledge, they had me stand up and introduce myself.  We at lunch at the church before the service started, and let me tell you, it was some good food.  My friend sang in the praise band, and they sounded really good.  One thing I noticed about Korean praise music is that its a lot like English praise music...its very repetitive.  There was a song with a repeating line in the course, and by the end of the song, I could sing it (even though I had no idea what I was saying).  Listening to the sermon, you would be thrown off if the pastor said anything in English.  There was one time where he through out an entire sentence in English.  This threw me off greatly because I was not expecting to understand anything he said while he was speaking, so the fact I understood something made me believe for a brief second I could understand Korean.  I love the opportunity to experience different cultures and try different things, and I feel very blessed to have had the chance to go to Korean church today.

Breaking stereotypes

Not having the NFL Sunday ticket, I often go to a restaurant which does to eat Sunday lunch and watch the Bears game.  This week, we beat the Cowboys in Dallas!  Always doing my best to multi task, I decided to bring my physics book in so I could work on come concepts while there was slow moments in the game.  My waitress, I found out, is a nursing student at SIUE, was very nice, and did a good job waiting my table.

In this picture, she is doing her best to break the stereotypes of Hooters girls.

Brown rice

I am a creature of habit, especially when it comes to the restaurants I frequent.  For instance, two roast beefs w/o butter and a small diet coke at the Lions Choice located on St. Charles Rock road cost exactly $7.27.  the point is that I tend to go to the same places and get the same things....I'm wild I know.

One of the restaurants I frequent is Sansai.  A friend at church asked if I was going there for lunch, and of course I was, because that is where I tend to go on Sundays after church.  I've been trying to spice my life up a bit and mix up my order at Sansai...I've been doing this by ordering brown rice with my chicken breast bowl instead of white.

Being aware of what I tend to pay for orders I make time and time again, I noticed I was charged a bit more than usual.  I asked and I was told it cost an extra $.50 for brown rice.

Lets think about this for a moment.  All rice starts off as brown.  In addition to the removal of  the husk found in brown rice, white rice has had its bran, and germ removed.

So when you think about it, I am paying more for a product that has been processed less.  Its true that white rice keeps longer than brown, but it seems backwards that I would have to pay an additional $.50 for rice that has actually gone under less processing, not to mention its healthier for you.

Smart Ones guy

Isn't it amazing how we fall into the same patterns day after day?  We, as humans, love routines and tend to dislike change or surprises.  This is met head-on by the fact that we are in a new year and many of us are out to "change" something about ourselves (often in the form of a resolution).  Why did this thought come to me today?

I was walking in the grocery store on my lunch break today to pick up my weekly supply of lunch.  Typically, I eat Weight Watchers Smart Ones for lunch.  I like them because they give me the amounts of sodium and preservatives I need to make it through the day.  Heck, I fully expect not to decompose for centuries after I'm dead because of all of the preservatives...but I digress.  As I was walking down the frozen food isle (before I made it to the freezer mind you), the guy restocking the freezer looked at me and said "Hey Smart Ones guy, I haven't seen you in awhile."  I have become so predictable in what I have for lunch that I'm simply known as "Smart Ones guy"

This also begs the question if routines are inherently good or bad.  I'm known as someone who buys low calorie lunches.  If I were called "gym guy", "running guy", "hot guy", or "climb up a tree to rescue a kitty guy" these would be names and routines I would like to be known for.  What is your routine?  What are you known for?  If you complain all the time, perhaps you are known as "complaining guy".  If you push old people down stairs, perhaps you are known as "democrat guy".  Regardless, figure out what makes you who you are, and if there is anything you don't like about yourself, chances are you have the power to change it.

To find out something I did for the first time this week, stay tuned for my next post.  I look forward to hearing if you think what I did is an "improvement"  (that is, what we call in the blogging business, a tease :) )

The bet

Ever since I have been with my girlfriend, I have reassessed my eating habits. In some ways, I'm not sure why I am doing this, as I have oft accused her of eating like a Democrat, but nonetheless, I have admired the way she can actually eat, survive, and enjoy vegetables. I have a hard time believing anyone would chose to love vegetables on their own. I believe a "like" of them is often drilled into us as children. In this case, my brother and I had a stronger will than our mother, and she finally concluded it would be easier to make food without including them in recipes. Now that I'm thirty, I wonder if it is too late in my life to learn how to like them. I was out on a date with my girlfriend the other night, and we went to Applebees for dinner. When our food came, there was a large (by my standards) side of cook vegetables that came with it. Now normally, I would consider these vegetables as worthless as garnish, but I decided to test my new and maturing adult ways of expanding my horizons. I made a bet with my girlfriend that I could eat all of my vegetables. Seeing that we are natural high rollers, we made the bet for a dollar. As I started eating the evil concoction of zucchini, broccoli, carrots, and who know what else, I for the first time in my life understood what true pain was. In an attempt to make the experience more bearable, I smothered all the vegetables in A1 steak sauce, but not even my old trusted friend A1 could take away all the pain. Using all that I had, I finished off my vegetables and stood over my defeated plate in triumph as I collected my dollar!

The onion

I am a slave to learning, but as of tonight, I will no longer be learning's guinea pig. I was in Bio lab tonight working on a sensory lab. We came to the lab dealing with taste, and it was my turn to be the test subject. I was blindfolded, and several things were put in my mouth. I tasted a fruit of some sort, then a potato. Then, against my will, an onion was placed in my mouth. I immediately gagged and spit it out, fighting my reflex to want to throw up in the lab trash can. The Ecuadorian TA Gonzalo was laughing pretty hard as he asked what happened to me. I told him that I hate onions, and he just started laughing harder. It took about 45 minutes for the taste to escape my mouth.

Why do I share this story? I hope my story of courage through struggles will inspire all who read it. I'd like to shine a light on the effectiveness of torture techniques. And I'd like to document the event, as I plan on complaining about it during my course evaluation.

One man's trash

I don't know what it is about "The Noodles Company" on Manchester in Des Peres that gives me experiences that are blogtastic (see here), but I had another one tonight. I had just taken a very important Biology test (and I think I did very well on the test btw), and I decided I needed a little celebration. I had already made plans to go to The Lodge in Des Peres for some hot tub and steam room time, and since I hadn't had dinner, I thought I'd go to The Noodles Co. It was pretty late in the evening, and I think they were starting to clean up in order to close down for the night. I was sitting there eating my green squiggly pasta, when one of the employees came from behind me and placed a large rice krispy treat at my table. He said "Here, we usually throw these out at the end of the night, so we thought you would like to have it." I looked at the day old rice krispy treat, and as he was walking away, I said to him "thank you for giving me your trash to eat". He laughed. Do you think I ate the rice krispy treat they were two seconds away from discarding? You bet I did, like the single scavenger man I am. Here is a picture of the rice krispy treat on top of my car before I ate it. Best almost trash I've ever consumed!

Resturants

I went into Fazolis tonght for dinner. I got to thinking about traits that make a resturant "fancy" verses traits that make a resturant "common" or "fast" or "down right skank". Here are some thoughts.

	Fancy	“common" or "fast" or "down right skank”
Pay After Dinner	+
Pay Before Dinner		+
Waiter has nametag		+
No Waiters		++
Glasses have straws		+
Wine List	+
Beer List		+
Reservations	+
Only Reservations are for birthday parties		++
Menu prices have no cents column	++
Menu is present above cash register		+
Maitre d' Announces your table is ready	++
Buzzer Announces your table is ready		+
Buzzer announces your food is ready		++
The ding of a bell announces your food is ready		+++
Menu is in French	+++
Menu only contains pictures		+++
Healthy and Trendy
Health Department involved		+++

Taco Bell, Jesus like

I was going through the drive through window at my local Taco Bell earlier today. I was on the phone with my dad, so I was ordering at the window and talking at the same time (the reason multi-tasking was invented). When I came around to the window, I realized I had left my wallet at home. Sadly, I could not scrape together the 96¢ needed to pay for my chicken burrito. At that moment, I needed from the drive-through guy what we all need from God; grace. I apoligized for not having my money and I asked him to cancel my order. He instead said that this one was on him and he allowed me to pass through and I drove to thes second window and picked up my burrito. After this, I went home and got my wallet, and 96¢ exact change. I returned to that Taco Bell and I paid off my burrito debt, even though I don't think they were expecting me to. What did I learn from this experience? I think my faith has been restored in humanity or something?

This guy was born to work for his company

I was at one of those restaurants that love business cards to the point they make them part of the table. After sliding my own card between the table and the glass (umhumm), I noticed this card. Between the company's name and the guy's name, I think it speaks for itself.

The art of the midnight snack

I am staying at my parents house right now, and one of the things I always marveled at is how much food they keep in the house. It is easy for me to be impressed by this since my fridge usually only contains an empty soda box, an empty milk jug, and a box of baking soda long past overdue (I should give that thing a stir at least). My mother gets tired of me opening the fridge and gazing into it, but what she doesn't realize is looking at all this food for a single man is more entertaining and unique than whatever happens to be on television. She also doesn't realize that while I may not be making anything at that moment with the ingredients in the fridge, I'm scouting it for what is one of the most time honored food traditions; the midnight snack. After an evening out with friends, there are few things I enjoy more than being able to have something to eat before I retire for the evening. My favorite of these is the coveted turkey sandwich. Knowing the ingredients are there but not wanting to wake the parents, I start up the stairs slowly as the Mission Impossible theme is playing in my head. I'm a veteran of this house, and I know all the spots in the floor to avoid stepping on that squeak (otherwise known as parent wake alarms). I make my way up the staircase and slip into the kitchen. I must be getting better at this because it has been quite some time since my mother commented on thinking she heard a reindeer coming up the stairs in the middle of the night. Using only the light from the fridge, I construct my turkey with Miracle Whip sandwich and place it on the small plate that looks like it was born to serve such a meal. Making sure to get all the Miracle Whip off the knife because my mom asked my nicely to do so one time, I then make my way back down the stairs, then out to the garage to the soda fridge we keep and I get myself a tasty cafeinated treat (always a great idea before bedtime). Let me tell you, it was a good sandwich, and a great way to finish off a night. This experience, duplicated hundreds of times before, is something I'll always associate with being home.

Ted Drews, a Run, and Tragedy

I went to Ted Drews for the first time...quite good. As good was pretending that it was summer for a night. All in all, it was an awesome night.

I ran a 10K in Forrest Park today with a friend after church. I really needed that run in order to kick my training in gear. I was blown along for a good part of the run since it was so windy.

This is going to be a very short posting. As per my usual, I have a lot on my mind this Sunday night. Of this, I'm thinking a lot about the shooting in Maryville today where a pastor was shot and killed during a church service. A link to the story can be found at the bottom of this posting. Please pray for the church and the family as they begin the near impossible task of healing.

http://www.fox2now.com/ktvi-church-shooting-maryville-030809,0,1093502

Here's a suggestion

I was at a local restaurant where you can get real Italian real fast, and I wanted to fill out a suggestion for the suggestion box. There was just one problem; there was no suggestion box. So, I took a piece of paper and labeled it "suggestions". I wrote underneath the title "get a suggestion box" and handed it to the manager. He said, "yeah, we need to get one of those" (I also wrote for the place to get wifi, because who doesn't love wifi?)

Lustful thoughts about a burrito

I am in a much better mood now, but I find myself unable to think about anything else other than going to Qdoba and getting a Chicken burrito. It looks like I'll be taking my second day off from my fast.