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Friday, May 21, 2010

First Post

This week was a good week filled with two interesting experiences and two great opportunities. The first experience occurred as my family and I were heading to Barney’s Beanery in Santa Monica. We heard they serve good chili and eating a bowl of chili is one of my wife’s things on her 30 Before 30 list.

On our way there, we witnessed a three-car crash on PCH. The first car rear-ended the second car causing them to swerve into a third car. The second and third cars both hit telephone poles on the side of the road and pretty much totaled their cars. The first car pulled into oncoming traffic and barely missed a head on collision. Amazingly, the first car had no damage. If we left a few seconds earlier, we would have been one of those cars.

Being that close and seeing it occur, we pulled off to help. Luckily, no one was seriously injured. The driver of the third car was an older man. My wife quickly befriended him. We learned he was transporting a tabletop he made to give to his daughter in Santa Monica. Seeing he could not drive his car, we offered to transport the tabletop. He obliged and was very grateful for our willingness to help. As we were leaving, he had tears in his eyes.

The second experience occurred when I went to work out at Pepperdine’s gym on Friday. As I usually do, I left my phone in the car. When I checked it after, I noticed my wife had called several times. I thought this was odd because I had not been gone very long. As I talked with her, I understood why she was calling. My son had been playing with one of his friends at church the previous Sunday and we later found out this boy had Scarlet Fever. Some of the symptoms of Scarlet Fever are a cough, stomach pain, a rash all over the body especially in the groin and armpits, and a fever.

My son had a cough and woke up a couple times in the middle of the night saying his stomach hurt. However, we thought nothing of it. He had been sick many times before and this was nothing compared to some other illnesses he had. On Friday, he developed a rash all over his body. It appeared worse in his groin and armpits. His temperature also started to rise. My wife called the doctor. The doctor said it sounds like my son had Scarlet Fever. The doctor’s office was about to close and they referred us to the emergency room. I volunteered in an emergency room for a long time and knew that if we went, it would take hours for the doctor to see us. My son would be a very low priority.

However, in this situation, something did not feel right. Each time he has been sick in the past, we could tell. He gets lethargic and whiny. This time he was whiny but he was definitely not lethargic. We decided to pray for him to get better and for us to know how to help him and then waited through the night. That was what he needed. His rash was all gone in the morning as was his fever. Lucky for us, we avoided a trip to the ER and all the bills that go along with it.

Now let’s get onto my great opportunities. For the first great opportunity, I have a friend who works for Price Waterhouse Cooper (PwC) in San Francisco. Recently, he passed on my resume to their recruiter. She contacted me and we swapped emails.


The internships they have open right now do not match what I eventually want to do. She offered to set me up with some of their Operations Professionals and I accepted that offer and am meeting with them in two weeks to discuss what it is like to work at PwC.

The second great opportunity is a chance to do some consulting work with a local non-profit, the Born to Act Players (BTAP). I came across this opportunity as I was searching for an internship. I met with them on Saturday and spent some time watching what they do. The basis of BTAP is bringing in people with disabilities and teaching them self-awareness and social skills through acting. Everyone was very nice and welcoming to my family and me. They were very excited to hear I was interested in helping them and said they did not expect anyone to respond until at least the fall. While I have not previously taken on an opportunity like this by myself, I am confident in my ability to help BTAP with their business operations.