Finally back at home...

I guess my lack of vacation from January to August has finally paid off, and I've been blessed to take off on a number of different trips with different people...

Seattle and Vancouver

Got to go with Patty to visit a number of old CCF'ers in the west coast. Seattle is a quiet city that sleeps early, so not many things are open past say, 9pm. So instead, we got to hang out at our friend's houses. It really reminded me of the community that was there in Waterloo, largely enhanced by the fact that everything is a five-minute walk away -- and since we all lived in student housing, we could invite whomever over and just practice hospitality and enjoy one another's company.

It was great to see some people in Vancouver again, to catch up. Unfortunately the city and its suburbs span a large area and it was somewhat difficult to find consensus on a meeting place, but in the end, it all worked out (hopefully people were awake the next day at work =p).

New York City and ECBC

In case you didn't see the site, Janey and I visited Ina in Connecticut and went around New York City in addition to attending the Eastern Chinese Bible Conference (ECBC).

New York City is fun -- I haven't been there since I went a long time ago with my parents on a family trip... so that doesn't really count. It was cool to experience the character of the city, including watch Chicago on Broadway! [Oh... Bob Fosse... haha] We covered pretty good area in two days!

The ECBC was a nice retreat in upstate New York [we drove by Poughkeepsie! John Cage on Ally McBeal always uses that name to control his stutter... everything goes back to Ally McBeal. =p But apparently it was the subject of a Friends episode too...]. The retreat facilities were amazing compared to many other retreats. The main reason being that they attract corporate sponsors for every room. The retreat itself was... *okay*... I didn't get a lot out of the speaker because he wasn't clear on his point and seemed to circle around a lot. The workshops were pretty short to present the suggested material, although I admit I'm pretty critical for course delivery... it's difficult to conduct a workshop that is entirely lecture style, so the workshop leaders struggled through it. But worship and quiet reflection time on my own was very refreshing and always needed...

Lincoln, Nebraska

Just a three day business trip... really hope to watch a football game!

CBV: Certified Business Valuators

It was yet another exam that I thought that I'd do for fun... This wasn't a professional exam or anything, it was just like a university course final, so it wasn't too big of a deal. The main reason why I wrote it was because I would get an exemption from another exam. Anyway, it's just something to do, although this particular one wasn't too strenuous: I only studied for maybe 2.5 weeks in the evening or on the weekends. It helped to study with Janey, anyway...

The exam was this Thursday and turned out okay, I think. Hopefully, I'll pass, unlike my CFA. Oh well...

Originally, I thought my exam was this coming Monday (27th). But after finally checking my exam ticket (which had been sitting at home for a few weeks), I realized my exam was actually on the 23rd... right in the middle of my trip to Lincoln! So after much prayer, I tried the different solutions that I could take to work around it. In the end, it turned out okay, as always -- we just cut the trip short so that I could come home on Thursday to write it. So after two hours of sleep, I woke up at 4am on Thursday to fly back... came home... sleep a bit... and then went downtown to write the exam. Crazy day...

Camping

Got to go camping this weekend with a bunch of friends from church. I haven't gone "real" camping before: "What? no electricity?" Haha... the last time I went camping was probably with my family during elementary school. This time, we went to Awenda Provincial Park. The weather was absolutely beautiful: not warm, so no mosquitoes! And although it was somewhat cool last night, we all survived okay. =p Well, I brought both my winter jackets up in case, so I slept well. Haha...

And we had SO much food! We had an amazing dinner last night with BBQ chicken legs and much other varieyt on the grill, including perfect 'smores! At ECBC we made smores on the campfire, but they never turned out "perfect" since the chocolate was never melted. That, actually, was my first time making smores... after wondering many years what they were from reading about them in stories like the Babysitters' club. Well, I appreciated finally experiencing that tidbit of North American culture...

The timing of the exam also worked well because I don't have to cram now in order to write the exam on Sunday... and I got to really relax this weekend in Penetanguishene.

So this week, I think I will like to relax at home and spend time with family... before I leave again on Saturday...