oh, for a thousand tongues to sing.

i think one of the main reasons God kept me awake last night was to remind me that i can't do any of this on my own strength. i can't even fall asleep on my own strength! i was listening to the dcb version of Oh, for a Thousand Tongues to Sing while i was contemplating flow scheduling algorithms for the hose model in a fat-tree topology (not kidding) and i've decided it is my favorite hymn. 

Oh, for a Thousand Tongues to Sing
By: Charles Wesley

Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing
My great Redeemer’s praise,
The glories of my god and King,
The triumphs of his grace!


My gracious Master and my God,
Assist me to proclaim,
To spread through all the earth abroad
The honors of your name.

The name of Jesus charms our fears
And bids our sorrows cease,
Sings music in the sinner’s ears,
Brings life and health and peace.


He breaks the power of canceled sin;
He sets the prisoner free.
His blood can make the foulest clean;
His blood avails for me.


Look to the Lord, who did atone
For sin, O fallen race.
Look and be saved through faith alone,
Be justified by grace.


See all our sins on Jesus laid;
The Lamb has made us whole.
His soul was once an offering made
For every human soul.


To God all glory, praise, and love
Be now and ever given
By saints below and saints above
The Church in earth and heaven.

these verses cover some basics i don't want to forget:

verse 1. a goal of seeing many come to know Jesus

verse 2. asks for help in doing it because the strength and ability comes from Him

verse 3. talks about how and why the fears and sorrows in life won't deter us

verse 4. speaks of the power of the gospel

verse 5. reminds us of His sacrifice

verse 6. gives us perspective

wow!

the thing about microsoft (love it or hate it kathryn :) is that there are so many brilliant researchers here creating what will be in the future. this attracts a lot of other smart people both in the business and academic fields that want to present their ideas and dialogue. as a result, there are many "talks" throughout the week in different conference rooms that people can attend (including interns) during the work day. i attended a talk today on haptics which is touch feedback from the technology you use. (like sounds or vibrations when you use touchscreens on cell phones for example). it was given by the Chief Technology Officer of Immersion Corporation  named Dr. Christophe Ramstein. In 2009, Christophe Ramstein was named as one of the Top 100 (ranked 51) most influential people in Tech by T3 magazine. (In the Top 100 list, Google founders are the No.1,  Apple’s Steve Jobs is No 7,  Microsoft’s CEO is No10,  Bill Gates is No.27, Amazon’s CEO is No 63, Yahoo’s CEO is No.66, Founder of Wikipedia is No.83) it was a really cool talk and i'm looking forward to going to as many of these as possible. plus, it is a break from work!

today i used my new ping pong paddle for the first time and it is so sticky! i played fu and he beat me. he plays chinese style with awesome spin. so my dilemma is: should i get a hard paddle and play like i usually do or should i stick with the sticky paddle and learn how to control my spin? let me know if you have an opinion. sean set up a ladder on some website and i "challenged" him so we are playing tomorrow at lunch.

the food here is so hit or miss. today was a miss kind of day. here's to tomorrow!