10/15/2025 Wednesday
How AI sort out various English accents: This is a start. Quite interesting.
10/13/2025 Monday
There seems to be bed/clothing bug problem the last few days. This would be the first bug problem we have since moving from Brooklyn. We tried our best to sanitize all pertaining items by washing the bedsheets, washing clothes, spraying alcohol on clothes, etc. I think this may have come from the backyard shed. I noticed some itches after working on the wirings (camera PoE cable & 16 gauge power cable). I think some squirrels used to squat in between the walls of the shed by the door. They're probably gone now after I sprayed deer repellent into their hole. These critters may be carrying those bugs. Nadia told me she's gotten a bug bite itch on her leg today. I had sprayed alcohol on our beds this morning, so hopefully this won't spread. At least the Back camera is fixed, after I replaced the squirrel chewed wires with new ones, protected this time in PVC pipping I bought from HomeDepot. I've also shifted the wires, including the backyard hanging light string, from the neighbor's dead branch to a newly wooden pole I added to the side of the shed. Hopefully, though straining is slightly obvious, the wooden pole would not break. I've painted it in hope to preserve it.
After a full 90 min interview with Doug Wilson, the TYT now interviews the two women (Susie Forsey, Margaret Bronson) who "survived" the Wilson cult/homeschool program and speaking out against Wilson:
Apple Pencil Pro must know tips: This site has a video tutorial. I should go over it with the pencil in my hand:
Understanding how zip files work via HTTP method.
10/12/2025 Sunday
Because Nadia was feeling a cold coming since last night, we skipped Grace church today. And as Nadia laid in bed recuperating this morning, I took the long awaited chance to visit one of the churches I have on my queue list. Today, I visited OCM's branch, Jireh Church in Marlboro. For this week, I start with their Mandarin session.
Adult Sunday School starts at 9:30am-10:30am. Topic is on the book of Ruth, today's first of 11 lessons. A lady leading for the first few weeks before passing the torch to a guy named Ben (Software IT at Oracle). I was given some Japanese fish shaped bread in class by a couple from the Choir team (Jenny & Joey - who retired from IT - Video conferencing at Yorktel and now studying at Southern Baptist Seminary). The teacher led a thorough introduction on the book of Ruth and giving overview of the book's relations to other books. She's doing most of the lecturing from her notes, one guy on zoom, while there were about 11 of us in class, I was the youngest. The last 5 minutes were used for reflections from the class. About 3 of them spoke, from "us being the true Israel" to etc. I do find it interesting to make note that not only Ruth and Esther are the only two books in the Bible named after a woman, but also this interesting contrast: Ruth = Gentile enters Israel nation; Esther = Israel enters Gentile nation.
Then I attended the Chinese worship service at 11am. They were welcoming enough to make me fill out a welcome card and had me, the only new comer, do a short introduction of myself with a mic towards the end of the service. I was then given a meal ticket for a first timer's free meal for lunch (normally $8 I was told), which I chose rice with chicken string beans for. The pastor preached on 1 Corinthians 1:20-25. I wasn't impressed. Mediocre content. But he certainly had the spirit, even sang a couple of times during sermon, the last song was "Bring Him Home" from Les Miserables. He certainly wasn't professional singer but got to give it to him for his candor. During the sermon, this I would like to jot down while contemplating those verses (the larger section being verses 18-31 where some versions titled: Christ the Wisdom and Power of God): This whole passage is about God's power vs. the Jews' perceived miracles; God's wisdom vs. the Greeks' perceived wisdom. What is interesting is that the differences of these two (power & wisdom) between God and man aren't quantitative but qualitative. And not only is it not about how infinitely higher (quantitative) God's power and wisdom are than ours (verse 20d - is not God made lesser the wisdom of this world), it is also not about turning away (Anti-intellectual Fundamentalists) from wisdom and power (I purposely don't mention "...of God" here as a gotcha for the narrowminded ones). The qualitative difference in the Power of God here is the miracle of conversion, not of what we witness; the qualitative difference in the Wisdom of God here is the cross being the only way out for us.
At lunch, I talked with Jenny and Joey, Ben, Jason (also IT, software Architect I think), and Sam from the Cantonese group. The senior pastor Ben Lin also came to talk to me for a little. He leads the English service which I will check out next time. Jenny said that the senior pastor is leaning towards Reformed, as she is herself apparently. I noticed also they read John MacArthur, having seminars on Martin Luther recently. OCM, though non-denominational, I think, has always given me a good vibe as far as Reformed tradition goes, since Manhattan. They've generally all heard of Stephen Tong and seem to have an affinity for him. Some of them invited me to pickleball, though I would prefer pingpong (Weds 10am-1pm, according to website, but not sure in reality as they just keep talking about pickleball) which they did advertise on their website.
Of all the Chinese churches I've been in the vicinity, this is my ranking, starting from best/favorite:
- Jireh 中宣會澤恩堂
- CABC 華美聖經教會
- Monmouth MCCC 美門教會
- Rutgers RCCC 若歌教會 (I have more negative feedback than positive for this one)
