THIS VOICE MAIL MESSAGE IS FOR MR. CHAN...

"Mr. Chan, this is your cardiologist's office. We have received the results of your MRI and I was asked to pass this message on to you. Your cardiologist says that you have an athletic heart and that you can run in your marathon. I'm not sure what that means but she says that you would understand. I don't suspect that we will hear from you unless there are other concerns. Have a nice day."

Voice mail received on October 14, 2 days before the marathon.

Thanks to the one who downloaded a digital copy of my MRI and report for me!

FIRST CHURCH EXPERIENCE IN CALGARY

I attended Westside King's Church last night with Joyce and Pete. It sits on a fairly large plot of land that, I understand, will be developed one day to include a community of affordable apartments and integrated retail units. Their Saturday night service is meant to be seeker-friendly, as the main meeting hall is set up cafe style. In fact, there is an area where you can grab different beverages, baked goods and ice cream! The stage is fairly impressive: a couple rows of par can lighting, 2 projection screens flanking the stage and 2 screens thrown about 30 feet back, 2 remotely-controlled cameras off to the side. The worship was good, delivered by a full band (including 5 backup singers) in a distinctly rock flavour. I also hope to check out EPIC, a church that follows a model similar to The Meeting House which my friend Ray told me about before I left Toronto.

After pointing out the "puke verse" found in Revelations 3:16 (many English translations use the phrase "to spit out", but the Greek word has a stronger, more revolting meaning) the guest speaker from Dayton, Ohio boldly stated that the church today has become far too safe. Too safe to take risks, especially when it comes to taking steps to healing the world. He pointed us to the Israelites' crossing of the Red Sea in Exodus 14. I love it when someone points out something new from an old, familiar passage. This point is lost in the NIV but other translations actually indicate that there were two groups of people crossing the Red Sea. The first group were the ones who crossed through the sea on dry ground; the second group are those who crossed on dry ground, through the sea. This often overlooked detail illustrates 2 types of people: those who are willing to take risk by stepping out in faith "into the sea" and those who wait until there is dry ground before stepping through the sea. The second group characterizes those who refuse to take risks. What was Jesus' response to His disciples after being rudely waken up because of their reaction to the fierce storm? YOU COWARDS!! He never promised that we would find peace from not having to face storms. Rather, He empowers us to find peace in the midst of storms.

I had an amazing sushi dinner last night, also another first since moving to Calgary. Well, I have to admit that I've never seen pieces as large as the ones we had from TOWA Sushi - and it was because of the generous sizes of the fish not more rice being packed into the roll! We're going to work off this meal by going for a Sunday hike!

ALBERTA IS THE BEEF CAPITAL...

I've discovered that the people in my office are really into beef burgers. On Thursday, one of the directors announced that the new price of natural gas transmission was being released in about 10 minutes. He made a guess at what this price would be and invited everyone (all 18 people that were in the pit that morning) to make a call (over or under). Most of us guessed over and he took down the "bets". Well, the price came out and was higher than he predicted. So, then he went around taking burger orders! So, at 8:30 in the morning, a colleauge and I (since I'm the new peon, I get to go do the burger run) trek through the "+15" (which is an indoor network of connected pathways - similar to the underground PATH in T.O.) to Burger Burger, where I picked up 18 Texas burgers and juice. The next day, one of the V.P.'s had a craving for burgers at another joint (Pete's) and did another burger order. This time, we also got milkshakes and onion rings or fries. At 9 in the morning!! I passed on the fries but had a single cheesburger, which consisted of one and a half patties. Most of the others in the office ordered double or triple burgers. Man, I need to pick up my workout routine if this keeps up (I was told not to turn down free food!).

END OF THE FIRST WEEK
My brain hasn't been so sore since MBA. Every day, I've been introduced to many new trading concepts. I'm learning about reserves, outages, dispatches, syndicates and hedges, just to name a few. Each concept has complex calculations, formulas and graphs associated with it. Every night, so far, has been spent studying these things, and I've got homework for the weekend as well. At times, I almost panic that I won't be able to comprehend these concepts but after more review, it's coming to me.

SWEET HOME CALGARY?!

In the same 24 hour block, I have packed my clothes and unpacked my clothes. I have ridden in a Chrysler 300 taxi cab, a Boeing 737 Westjet airbus, and a Toyota Forerunner with a babyseat in the rear. I have checked out of a 2 storey, double car garaged suburban home in Mississauga and checked into an executive suite in Calgary, in a building called, I kid not, THE EXEC SUITE. Exiting the elevator on the 10th floor leads me around the corner to my room which, unlike most modern day hotels, doesn't have a card entry system but a good, old-fashioned dead-bolt. I walk in past double sliding mirror doors that discretely cover a closet and into a spacious living area, decked out with a sofa, a love seat and a matching ottoman. The room is anchored by a 32" TV, equipped with a DVD player. To the side, is the dining area, which has a diner-style table that is held up by one leg (one edge is fastened to the wall), guarded by 2 rustic chairs. Straight ahead is a humble balcony that looks right into the office building next door. The kitchen is small, but usable, being home to a fridge, an electric stove, a dishwasher. The kitchen is stocked with enough to prepare and serve a meal for 4 people. A little basket containing a bottle of water, some cookies, and a granola bar bears a welcome message. The name of my maid is Sandy and he or she (I do know of a guy named Sandy) comes in everyday to go about the house cleaning services. Beyond the kitchen is the washroom. It is small, but bright and clean. A new bathrobe invites me to put it on, but I have never been a bathrobe fan. The bedroom is ridiculously huge. Well, it would have to be to fit a king sized bed in there. I've never been a fan of these either, always opting to sleep on one edge of the behemoth, not even bothering to disturb the centre and outside pillows. There is a walk in closet which is guarded by another set of sliding mirror doors. Inside, an ironing board, an iron and a laundry basket with a complimentary box of Tide. There is a CD player in the living area, so I throw on the new Chris Tomlin CD that was given to me by Steve and Noreen this past weekend. I crank it as I begin unpacking...

FIRST DAY AT WORK
I suddenly bolt up in my bed, thinking that I've slept through both alarms because I feel way too alert. I look over and my glasses-less eyes tell me it's 3 a.m. I don't believe it and grope in the dark for my Ironman which I remember setting on the bedside table. It comes alive with an eerie green glow and confirms that it is in fact a God-forsaken hour. I curse my body for not knowing that I've skipped through 2 time zones as I try to fall back asleep.

Welcome to the PIT! This is the area where all the real time trading occurs. Each person sits at a station which is equipped with 4 17" LCD flatscreens stacked in a 2 x 2 matrix to form one big mother of a screen! The idea is that you have so many windows open, you need to have THAT MUCH desktop space to see everything. There are about 20 of these stations arranged in an oval and on a wall near the centre of the pit hangs a beautiful 50 inch plasma screen which is, at that moment, tuned into ROB TV. Every so often you hear different sound bites coming from different workstations: Homer Simpson screaming "Doh!", someone else screaming "Bow to your sensei!", yet someone else screaming "I bet you I can throw this football over that mountain!" (I guess you have to be a movie buff to know where each of these come from - ask Brian Lim). Basically, these are the equivalent of sirens, warning the team that power generation or market prices have changed beyond a certain threshold. Because the success of this office depends on reaction to quickly changing market landscapes, these sirens always draw attention. This tidbit alone should give an idea of the type of people that work here. I honestly thought that each person was coming from or about to go clubbing. Well, more like a jazz club because it was a tasteful fashion sense. It's a young crowd, each person pretty laid back, but sharp as a whip especially when it comes to energy financial analysis and transactions. Our office alone was responsible for a quarter of company's financial success last year. So, yeah, it can be stressful but there is also a lot of yourthful energy. For once in a very long while, I am now finding work challenging. I was bombarded with a lot of new concepts and applications. One of the biggest fears I had prior to starting was what if I was a complete failure at this, despite having uprooted and moved my whole life out of Ontario? What if they fired me, made me pay for all the relocation expenses and I had no other work contacts out here? Well, as the day progressed, I found that I grasped a lot of the ideas quickly, despite the exhaustive amount of material that was thrown at me. I've got lots of homework which is reading over corporate risk management policies. But, I feel very enthusiastic (are you allowed to use that word to describe work?) about the learning ahead. It's hard but doable. OK, gotta stop procastinating by blogging instead of reading!

CATCH UP AND PURGE!

Though these past 2 weeks have been especially crazy, it has been productive, atypical of what my work environment has been like for the past half year or so. I like prioritizing tasks, juggling multiple activities that all have pressing time constraints. Yet, being able to finally sit down, purge my thoughts and impressions, and reflect on what a crazy journey this has been so far is a nice way to round it off.

Calgary house hunting trip
A brief weekend separated my last day in the Toronto office and the start of my relocation journey to Calgary. Grateful that most of the move details are being looked after by my company, I was whisked away to Calgary to find permanent housing. After arriving in Calgary, I was greeted by Joyce and Ella who offered to pick me up from the airport. But, being on the tight schedule that I was, I only got to spend the car ride with them, as an agent was already waiting for me by the time I arrived at their house (all downtown hotels were fully booked, so the Tangs graciously welcomed me to stay in their home). The first day gave me a chance to get to know the different parts of Calgary. We saw 12 different properties in the 4 different quadrants of Calgary proper. Some were nice, some not so nice. Actually, nothing really stuck out from that first day. I was a little overwhelmed at the end of the first day, barely remembering any of the units that I saw. Luckily, I brought my parents' camera with me and was able to take a video of all the units I saw. The second day was more productive, focusing on fewer locations and layouts. When I left Calgary 2 days later, I had one particular unit in mind. Funny how the prospect of a long weekend makes people easily defer work, so it wouldn't be until after Thanksgiving that I would find out if I had a place to live or not. The morning after I landed back in Toronto, I met up with a rep from AMJ Campbell to do an informal walk-through to get a sense of how what is being moved. They are also going to throw my car onto a train and ship it to Calgary. Since that meeting, I set aside as much as I could to minimize the chance that some of my parents' things might accidentally get moved to Calgary! All the while, I wasn't even sure if there was even a place to move to!

By accident, Tammy took both sets of keys to work!
This gave me a chance to have lunch with Clinton at their new downtown place. This worked out great because I could finally return wine and pop from the wedding banquet that I was guarding. I also wanted to hand off my tent in preparation of the camping trip to Frontenac, since I was heading into the interior a day later than the rest of the group.

Remember, vegetarian means “BAD HUNTER”! My meat fest at Kevin's…
My friends from Queen's thought that it would be nice to have one last meat filled meal before I left for Calgary, very fitting for someone who is a big fan of protein. But nothing prepared me for the jaw-dropping spread that awaited me: a full roasted suckling pig, an amazing roast, meat loaf, and meat lasagna. Someone thought it would be funny to bring a salad and was almost kicked out of the house! We ate and ate and it didn't even feel like we made a dent. We also played some poker. Until 3:30 that morning. It was very memorable.

The ordination of my friend, Tim.
As I continue in my own professional development, it's also great to see others reach milestones in their respective careers. We often take for granted the people that hold different positions within our society: someone is a pharmacist, another is an engineer, yet another is a lawyer. What is often not visible is the journey traveled to arrive there. I first met Tim almost 20 years ago when we were on the same Teen's Conference team. I've gotten to know him quite well over these years, especially from serving together in the John 4:24 ministry. He is a talented musician, public speaker and is someone who can whoop anyone’s butt in Madden. Well, now he is Reverend Timothy Tang, a title which is a simple testament to the amazing ministry that he is spearheading at East Toronto Chinese Baptist Church. I've always known Tim as a visionary, one who has these radical, yet sensible, ideas. It was only fitting that his ordination service was an encouragement to me, from the amazing worship that we had to the genuine words given by the roster of "all star" pastors that were in attendance. The service was capped off nicely by a celebration dinner at Spring Villa where my friend Brian did an amazing job emceeing the evening, in both Mandarin and English. I sat beside Tim's cousin Vivian, who is a fellow marathoner. So, we spent most of the night chatting about running, nutrition and training!

Camping in the interiors of Frontenac Park…
Having discovered in New Zealand that an important part of my worship experience is engaging creation, I could not pass up the chance to go interior camping, perhaps for the last time in 2005. I had a very memorable experience last year backpacking with Clinton in Frontenac and learned that I knew very little about efficient packing and camping technique. Thus, I was determined to pack lighter and be generally more prepared this time round. With Tammy and Clinton just having returned from Pakaswa for their honeymoon, I felt even more honoured to be able to camp with such a seasoned crew. Camping in October is great: you see amazing colours, there are no bugs and generally it's not as busy on the trail. Since the group was one day ahead of me, my plan was to hike in and meet them en route to their next campsite. So, I threw on my pack, plugged in my tunes, topped off my Nalgene and jumped onto the trail. It was such a peaceful trek, having both visual and aural stimuli creating an amazing experience. I thought to myself that the sight of a deer would absolutely top it off, but I had no such luck. I met up with the rest of the group about 3 hours in and we headed together to the next campsite, stopping at a couple of picturesque lookouts along the way. When we got to camp, we had our Thanksgiving "turkey" meal which consisted of powdered mash potatoes with gravy and reconstituted turkey. We then set up camp and gathered firewood. Normally, I think that campfire is not necessary because it involves picking up deadwood which may already serve as habitat for other creatures, the inherent risk of forest fires, and the fact that traditional uses of fires (cooking, heat) can now be substituted with light weight technology (such as a gas stove and synthetic clothing). However, it was really windy at our campsite and it was getting cold. Plus, the threat of rain made us all agree that a campfire would be a good idea for the night. We called it a night after most of the wood we gathered was burned. Clinton placed his wet glove liners on the edge of the campfire to try to dry them out. A strong gust of wind suddenly blew one of them into the fire. I quickly retrieved it for him, but I think that he was secretly trying to have an excuse to buy a new pair! After extinguishing the pretty embers, we made our way to the tents. Unfortunately, the girls' tent was a little flooded and they had to sleep strategically so as not to be sleeping in a puddle of water. We made it through the night and headed back out the next morning. As we were trekking, we all of a sudden saw a deer. Not just one, but a family of three, grazing on some nearby shrubs. What an amazing sight! I took out my camera and took a close up shot of one of them. Finally, I thought, a trophy I can bring home! But it just wasn't meant to be, because during the transfer of the pictures, I somehow accidentally erased it! We ended up eating lunch at A&W's in Kingston and made our slow way back to Toronto. We finished off the trip with a warm shower at Brenda’s gym and a fine meal at Korean BBQ.

Dim sum with Kelvin and Adah and Michael
Thanksgiving also gives out of town friends an excuse to return to visit family and friends. I shared lunch with Adah, Kelvin and their son Michael at Summit Garden. It was a great time catching up! I suspect that the next meal that we will share together will be out on the western part of the continent. Michael is growing so fast!

Lunch with the EPCOR Ontario gang at Pho 66
For old time sake, I had “fire bum” soup with some of the folks still left at the Toronto office. I feel bad for them because the office is really quiet now and I know that they are looking elsewhere. But it was nice recalling some of the good times we had together at the office.

The car is feeling good – IT BETTER BE!
I figured that it would be a good idea to service car before it got shipped to Calgary. I did the front rotors, front pads, rear stabilizer links, and changed the all-seasons to winters. This whole exercise cost me $509.

Small group meeting at Jen/Chun's
After a hearty turkey soup and chili dinner, our small group dived into the book of Obadiah. We also spent time sharing and catching up. What was really touching about this evening was when the group prayed for me, as a sendoff, and gave me a going-away present: a 2 person tent! Somehow, they suspected that I would be heading off to the backcountry of the Rockies to do some exploring! This token is very fitting because this small group has been a shelter of sorts for the past year and a half, giving me a safe and supportive environment to go to every week. I learned so much about community and social justice. I really am going to miss this.

Inevitably, downtown chores…
Had to pick up my race kit for marathon at the Holiday Inn. Doh! They didn’t have the technical shirts (given to the first 1,000 who registered online) available. I also dragged shoes that I have collected over the past decade and brought them down to Nike town in Yorkville, to their Reuse-A-Shoe drop off.

French toast at Fran's...
I had brunch with Sam, Tim, Jo, and Tobin, the newest member of John 4:24 (I have a really cute picture of him playing the drums!). Aside from the delicious french toast feast I had, my time with these dear friends was even more savouring. Having first served with Tim and Jo in 1993 on the TC worship team, we have continued our spiritual journies together in and around music ministry. I hold these 3 very dear to my heart and, ironically, will be moving to a place where I can spend time with their siblings (Tim's brother and Sam's sister). Tim and Jo and Tobin are in HK right now, so I'm sure they're having a blast!

Serenity at Richmond Hill Silver City, Sushi dinner at Aji Sa...
...ummm, good movie, good food. Nuff said.

Gwi Ling Goh (boiled turtle shell)...
I went for Chinese desserts with Tammy and Clinton at Times Square. Actually, they had the boiled turtle jelly, but I did try some. Apparently, it's very good for "hot air", the (literally translated) Chinese term for someone who is dehydrated due to consuming deep fried, oily foods. I used to suffer from this a lot as a little kid, as I would devour bags of potato chips and french fries whenever I could. My nose would start to bleed a lot and my throat would always be dry. So, my mom would force me to drink all this weird Chinese stuff. But, the Gwi Ling Goh is pretty good.

Toronto International Marathon 2005 and Pho lunch with Noreen and Steve...
I ran the 2005 Toronto International Marathon on a windy, yet rain-restrained Sunday morning. Near the end of this run, as I was approaching the finish line, I looked up as I heard my name being shouted. I saw this BIG, JUICY STEAK being waved back and forth, raised high above the crowds. Had I died and gone to heaven? I have never seen such a large piece of meat before - must've been 144 oz at least! I had to snap myself out of this delirium as I almost decided not to cross the finish and make a b-line for this much more desirable trophy. It was actually a steak shaped bath mat fixed to a pole, being waved by my friend Sam with his sidekick Anna who was sporting a beef beret! What a neat way to finish off a marathon. After this experience, I met up with a whole bunch of my Queen's friends, particularly Noreen and Steve who were in town from Ottawa. Never has an extra large bowl of Pho tasted so good. We then rode the streetcar and subway back uptown - stopping to do a headcount at each exit! Steve gave me the new Chris Tomlin CD, which I currently have in my CD player in Calgary. I was also so delighted to have seen my friend Doret cheering me on as I mounted the difficult uphill stretch along University Avenue leading to the finish line!

Dinner with family at mom and dad's
One of the things I will miss most about not being in Toronto is my mom's amazing home cooking. So, it was only fitting that my last dinner before flying out was a family gathering at my parents' place. Like always, I was not disappointed. But what made the meal even more enjoyable was being with my family. Three different generations and 1 yellow labrador shared time, space and conversation. Yes, I will miss them, but I also know that the ties are strong. For some time, my mom was separated from her sisters by great distances, but they remained strong and this is evident every time they gather together.

A separate entry will cover my marathon experience, as well as an interesting message I received from my cardiologist...

EYE OF THE STORM...

LAST DAY AT 2 LANSING SQUARE
It didn't take too long for some of my colleauges to have recovered from the previous night's festivities. For once, the chicken wings were "hot" enough for Maddy, my fellow-departing colleauge who has no taste buds (due to acquiring a taste for bell peppers at the age of 4). One last meal was shared with most of the T Dot office at Red Lobster and final handshakes were exchanged. For me, it wasn't that "sad" because most are still going to be my colleauges, albeit remotely. Still, it was somewhat sentimental going down the elevator one last time. I was told that my laptop, being 2 years old, would cost the company more to take back and redeploy. So, they made me an offer to keep this 'obsolete' laptop if I was willing to also take its docking station and laptop bag. Uh, okay.

PROJECT CONTEMPO
A conference that brought Chinese Christian professionals together should be an encouragement and a good chance to network with like minded people. The keynote speaker, Ken Fong, shared some interesting ideals, the same ones that he is using to steer his congregation towards a missiological church model (instead of the well-established, stale institutional model). However, many times throughout the day, I found myself irritated that the definition (by some of the leaders) of doing "God's will" was somehow validated by receiving material success. Some of the career track leaders spent way too much time talking about how to zip up the promotion ladder, yet in a way that preserves the ethos that the Christian label is supposed to impose. I wish that there was more of the focus on how to make an impact on the work world, not how to be good in it (as if being a Christian was a crutch and we needed extra 'training' to compensate). Really, what I got most out of this conference was the times spent talking and dialoguing with others that are at various stages of their professional and spiritual journies. This was the inaugral meeting and I'm sure that it will continue to grow and improve.

THE MEETING HOUSE
It is only fitting that my last visit to the Meeting House involved serving on the set up and tear down team. It meant being one of the first ones there on Sunday and one of the last to leave after ensuring that 'church' was properly packed up into the truck. It's encouraging to see others stepping up to volunteer for this oft thankless task, despite having half of our team cannibalized by the soft launch at the downtown location. An interesting message this Sunday: should a church be spending millions of dollars on a building (as they are right now) when problems like poverty and sickness are still rampant in this world?

BUMP, SET, SPIKE
I played beach volleyball, probably, for the last time this year. The weather has been unusually warm as of late. But, alas, all good things must come to an end. I was getting the sense that most people that were there on Sunday were also reaching the end of their vb addiction, cured at least until next summer.

JESUS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD
I often think about how opportunities to help others come up when we least expect it. I was reminded how this has yet to become second nature, and that certain instincts still inhibit me from wanting to help unconditionally. While driving to a family dinner, I happened to be driving on a side street after turning off a major artery. I noticed a man in the middle of the road who appeared to be crossing the street at an unusually slow pace. I slowed down to let him finish crossing, but he did not. I waved him on, but he did not cross. Instead, he approached my door. I rolled down the window, half expecting him to chastise me for driving too fast (?) but then he muttered something about needing to get somewhere. What happened next completely shocked and I didn't react until after realizing that he was reaching for the back passenger door. Habit, I guess, ensured that I always lock my doors and he wasn't able to get in. I recall yelling out "NO!" and said something about having an appointment to keep as I zoomed off. Really, I was more frightened than anything else to think about what had just happened. I glanced in my rear view mirror and saw that he was just about to flag down a BMW...

PEKING DUCK
Unbelievable Sunday traffic congestion meant that I couldn't shower before dinner with my family, so I quickly towelled off any loose sand that was still on me as I arrived at the restaurant. No matter, because sharing an amazing Peking duck dinner with my family was more than enough to take my mind off the uncomfortable feeling of having sand in every possible orfice of the body! And man did we have lots of food!

SPIDER'S REVENGE
After years of practice, I've become a proficient spider killer. Especially at this time of year as the weather starts cooling down, more and more spiders seek refuge in the warmth of human homes. In the past, this meant ample opportunities for me to perfect spider assasination techniques. Only recently have I made made the realization that spiders are also part of the creation that I am to help steward, and thus killing them for sport is wrong. Still, retribution for years and years of spidercide needed to be carried out. Probably the worst thing to happen is to catch the sight of a spider sprinting across the car's dash board as you're whizzing down the highway. Worst, is to watch this same spider dropping down to the area below the steering wheel, where your legs are situated while driving said car. Much worst is that you are wearing shorts and that the mind can sometimes play nasty tricks on you, making you think you feel something when there's nothing there. Let's just say I couldn't wait to get out of the car. Somewhere, a spider is laughing his butt off at me...