I went golfing yesterday with my dad and had a great time, even though it was really really muddy.  Just before we started to play I got a phonecall from some unknown number.  They said something about needing to talk to me and that they were from some company named "Iozzi", so I told her I was golfing and she said they would have somebody call me tomorrow morning.  Now my cousin gave me a tour of Moog the day before, and I had a semi-interview with a guy named Paul and gave him my resume, but this phone call would have been a little early for a response and Iozzi sounds nothing at all like Moog.  I spent the rest of the day coming up with all the possibilities of what that phone call could have been.  At first I was thinking that maybe I applied to some company last quarter and forgot their name since I did go to the job fair and all.  Then my mom and her paranoid ways (I really do love my mom even though I bash her a lot) suggested that somebody was scamming me and trying to steal my identity, and she kept warning me not to give out any personal information.  "Okaaay mom, thanks for the heads up, but I really think I would have figured out something fishy was going on if they started to drill my personal information," was my reply.  Then I talked to my brother on the phone later and he thought it might be a survey, and that seemed reasonable to me.  At this point I'm thinking... well it's either an annoying phone survey, a stalker, or a phone interview from some company I don't even remember applying to.  I was playing the conversation in my head... "Oh hi... ahhemm... so you want to interview me... ummm.. what did you say your company name was? ... and ... what do you guys do?"  Needless to say I wasn't thrilled about waking up at ten in the morning for either of those possibilities, but I decided it would be worth it just in case. 

 The next morning I woke up at just about ten, and I had to go to the bathroom.  For some odd reason I brought my phone in there with me thinking that maybe the call really was important and I better have my phone with me just in case.  So I'm sitting there taking a dump and sure enough the phone rings.  It might be important.... so I answered it (please don't think I do this all the time).  HER: "Excuse me Eric, but would you mind if we took about twenty minutes of your time?" At this point I'm thinking great, all that fuss for a survey... I knew that's what it was. HER: "This is blah blah from Moog calling, we just want to see what kind of communication skills you have and ask some basic questions before we consider you for a professional interview."  I was taken aback... ME: "ahem.. did you say that you're from Moog?"  HER: "Yes, didn't you receive our call yesterday?"  ME: "Well ya, but it was a little windy out... I didn't quite catch the name."  HER: "I see.. so I just wanted to start by asking you why you chose mechanical engineering."  ME: "Well, at first I was undecided between electrical and mechanical (I paused)" And sure enough I could hear her typing in the background... every single word I was saying was being typed! I couldn't help but chuckle to myself at this point.  Here I am sitting on the john, totally unprepared for a phone interview, I had to do a double take on the company name, and this women from some big shot company is "testing my communication skills", and typing basically everything I said as I said it.  But surprisingly the rest of our conversation was just peachy, and I think I have a good shot at getting called back for an interview.

Something rather amusing happened this evening.  First of all, it's just downright awesome to have a conversation about God's Word during a thunderstorm (you really gotta watch what you say ) Somehow Khanh and I got to talking about the suffering servant concept (that Christ had to suffer before he became Lord--would you really want a Lord that didn't fully understand what it means to suffer?)  Related to this is the idea that -- good things coming from God initially involve trial and discipline, but result in lasting good fruit.  While "good" things coming from Satan involve initial pleasure and result in long-term pain and suffering.  A classic example of this is comparing a one-night stand to a healthy marriage.  Another example of this happened shortly after our conversation.  The rain was coming down really really hard, and my poison ivy was bothering me and continuing to spread in random places.  So I thought it would be a good idea to get some ointment at Wegmans.  I was hesitant at first but then I remembered the concept we had just talked about, and decided to endure the rain.  Sure enough, within a few seconds after we got in the car, terrential downpooring turned into stillness, and a beautiful rainbow.  So after getting soaked I said to Khanh... wow, God's really got some sick sense of humor, and we both started cracking up...  Then these words came to me, hehe:  The key to enjoying life is realizing that God has a sense of humor and laughing with Him.