The new Dell Mini 9 is coming with me to Korea.

I’ll be blogging, videocapturing, and picture uploading through this super light weight machine.

For those that really care… specs and a post-mortem boxing video after the jump.

The New Dell Mini 9 from John on Vimeo.

It’s black, it’s got the cool Intel Atom CPU, a gig of RAM (will be upgraded to 2 in a bit), running Windows XP SP3, and I did NOT get a webcam with mine.  This is because I already have a nice logitech which can record at a much higher rate with better quality.

Sweet.

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It’s a funny thing to think that this woman, whom I’ve never met, is actually my mother.

But I’d love to meet her… and I’d like to have your help.  More info after the jump.

You see, I’m adopted.

Twice, actually (if you want to get all technical on me), but I’ll get to that later.

The first time was when I was but 11 months old. My mother had made some poor decisions at a very young age with another very young man.

There was little choice, she had to give us up for adoption.

(The above 2 lines were actually re-written… I realized that what I had wrote was extremely sensitive and emotional subject… and that I still have a lot of issues that are unresolved.  Prayer, perhaps, is the only remedy.)

Apparently she also remarried and had 2 other sons (2 half-brothers…!!! Can you imagine waking up and one day being told you have two more brothers…?)  Even though I do not know their names, I do know mine.

I carry, to this day, my original Korean last name “Lee” as my middle name: John Lee Saddington.  It was (or still is…?) Lee Joon Han.

But I’m not thankful just for the name (it’s a great one too, mind you) but I’m also thankful for her ability to make a choice that is, for all intents and purposes, one step down in difficulty from sending one’s own Son to die for filthy and undeserving people.

She gave me a shot at Adoption #2, or my Second Adoption, an opportunity to have a relationship with Jesus Christ and be adopted as a son of God.

Lee Sung Han and I were given new names and new parents.  Two loving parents that gave us everything.  They raised us “right” and helped us grow.

Our new parents watched us take our first steps.  They watched us as we went off to school for the first time.  They watched and nurtured and loved us through our many (and I say many) bad choices.  They took us to countless sporting events and watched us become world-class athletes.  They gave guidance and counsel when we we’re choosing our college majors and saw one become a computer 3l1te hax0r (programmer, for you non-techies) and the other a business process nut job that made far too much money too fast.  They saw us through all of our failed relationships and mentored us on the ones that worked.  They watched us both come to the saving faith of Jesus Christ (all those sunday school classes that they “forced” us to, at times, paid off!). They stood before an Almighty God when one of them left them to be joined to another in Marriage.  They were there during the dedication ceremony of their first grand daughter. They were there there to see both find value and joy in taking their faith journey’s farther, and seeing them graduate seminary (one with 3 degrees and one still struggling)! They were there when one left an insanely lucrative fortune 50 job as an executive for full time ministry. And they will be there when the other (finally) gets married next year.

All of these things, crucial and poignant moments of time for myself and my brother, were witnessed and shared with our new parents.

But our first ones, our biological, never heard a single word.

That is, until, Peter began the “hunt” nearly 8 years ago.  Through various un-ending paperwork, trial and error, a butt load of prayer and a touch of luck he had managed to find her, and through a translator was able to communicate to her life-saving words of redemption.

He told her that we forgave her.  He told her that we loved her.

And to think that the very people that she threw away would be the ones that love her the most.  It’s Holy Spirit-driven, a God-initiated movement, and a Savior’s enabled possibility.

But for all the communique that occured, and all the communication back and forth, it still lacks one thing, the opportunity to give her a big whopping hug.

But God provides, right?

Through no action on my part (and I wasn’t even aware this program existed!) I’ve been given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have a “all expenses paid” trip back to Korea to visit her.  The OKF (Overseas Koreans Foundation) with G.O.A.L. (Global Oversees Adoptees’ Link) has chosen my brother and I to be a part of a group that will have the chance to meet their birth mothers.  44 fellow adoptees will join us on this trek around the globe, affectionately called “The First Trip Home”.

Not only have they offered to finance the large portion of the traveling and hotel stay, they have been able to “open” all the adoption case files for those chosen participants.  This is often extremely difficult.

But not every expense is covered.

And that’s where I’m humbly asking for your help, in two ways:

Prayer

This may quite possibly be the most emotional experience of my life, save my extremely emotional marriage ceremony and salvation episode.

I’d love you to become a prayer partner with me and my brother as we prepare to travel and meet my mother, and especially for the big day.  Pray for safe travels, and that fear and anxiety would not beat us down.

Financial Support

I’m in need of approximately $500 to $800 dollars to cover additional expenses for the trip.  This is almost nothing compared to when I had to raise $20,000+ for a Campus Crusade mission to Bosnia back in ‘03… but I also had months and months to raise it.

I’ve got only 17 days.

Flight’s out on the 5th of December and I’ll be there for a week, flying back on the 14th of December.

Call me crazy, but in Faith, we’ve already said that we’d go and my amazingly graceful team @ North Point Ministries has given me the green light to go, even despite the crazy number of project launches coming up (HEART me some NPM!).

And, if I raise more than the required amount listed above, the excess will be donated to a family who’s trying to pay for adoption (adoptions these days can cost close to $20,000 dollars).

So, please, prayerfully consider it and check out the donation widget on the right sidebar.

And feel free to blog about it, tweet it up, pass it along… This could be epic.

Oh, and don’t worry, I’ll be blogging and (hopefully) vlogging the entire trip.  Stay tuned.

Human3rror Goes to Korea - Needs Your Help! from John on Vimeo.

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Minority Report was one of those movies that was, for the geek, pretty freaking cool.

Tom Cruise… eh.  whatever.  But the technology employed was outstanding, and I couldn’t wait for the day for it to be a reality (although the eye-tracking thing was a bit too 1984-ish).

Well, it’s here, or closer.  Check this vid after the break.  It’s crazy.

g-speak overview 1828121108 from john underkoffler on Vimeo.

But it’s gotten me thinking: Really… REALLY why do things like new technology give me such a buzz?  Why do I get all jittery and excited about “the next big thing”?

And… do I get as excited when I open up the Word?

Ouch. Self-pwned.

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Image courtesy of the man himself, Sullied.org.

I had a healthy reality check yesterday when I casually tweeted yesterday how someone (not just anyone though… THE Esther Havens…!) had found a blurb about Gospelr.com in the newest mag-release by Collide Magazine.

And the Sully Michael answered the call.  More thoughts after the break.

But, what was so neat was that I didn’t ask specifically for anything: It was a casual rambling thought about how I never was actually pinged for an interview by Collide and how I was never actually notified about the print.

I was more intrigued than upset.

But what Sully did was go above and beyond and the guy freaking typed out the whole article for me, emailed it to me, and then offered to ship his own copy of Collide to me at no charge.

I mean… who does that?

Which got me to thinking… when was the last time that I actually used Twitter to help someone else out?

If you look at the last couple (more than a couple, perhaps) of my tweets, it’s your normal run-of-the-mill ego-tweets and updates about my rather mundane existence as I try to save the world from IT and web disaster.

…

So, I challenge all of you to ask the hard question… is Twitter more than just a rampant ego-fest?  Or are you using it as a medium to reach, respond and resuscitate relationships?

I’ve since sent Collide Magazine a request for a physical copy to save Sully some gas money… we’ll see if they get back to me.

But, if not, I know that Sully’s offer still stands… and that rocks.

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Thanks to Carlos for starting the your-life-in-90-seconds movement, Chris took it to a whole other level when he crept up on me in the early AM.

Both @loswhit and @dewde’s vids after the jump.

My Day Yesterday (11.12.08) In 90 Seconds from Carlos Whittaker on Vimeo.

and…

My Day, Yesterday in 90 Seconds from dewde on Vimeo.

It’s making me wanna do one too… how about you?

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I’ve decided, at this point (right now, sitting here in my chair) that I’m going to go Super Saiyan with my hair.  THE question is whether I should rock the full blonde thingy.

Can I get some peer pressure?

Don’t get it twisted… I’ve done this before (I can’t believe she dated me…).  Some pictures through the years after the jump.

So, what say you?  Super Saiyan style… again?

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I do call my mother “mammy”.

I can’t remember when and how it all got started, but it’s one of those “affectionate” terms.

I do love my mammy, alot.

But, last night I came close to getting very very upset with my mammy.

My wife was sitting next to me as we were both tap-tap-tapping away at our respective keyboards and suddenly…

SILENCE…

… “John…?”

“Yes?” I mutter.

“Did you know that your mom was on Facebook?  She friended me…”

SILENCE…

“NO!?!?!?  OMG she didn’t tell me… wah…! I didn’t get an friend-request…!!!111111″ I yelled as I strained my neck over to see her screen.

And yes, she had created a Facebook account without making her son a friend.  I was heartbroken.

So, what else was I supposed to do?  I GooChatted her up and the image on the left is what transpired.

I sent her a friend request… but she hasn’t accepted.

DOH!

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Obviously, with the financial woes of the economy, we’re all trying to skinny down our expenses and spending.

North Point Ministries is no exception.  But I think they went too far.  Catastrophic damage may ensue as a result of this loss.

Picture after the jump.

You see, this office runs on the cup’o'joe.

Or, maybe that’s my perception.

But regardless if I’m wrong or right, the Flavia Creation 400 machine is a godsend.  I mean, with a name with “creation”, it’s gotta be one of God’s finest works of Genesis, right?

The loss is going to be epic. (from the perspective of our wallets, people!)

What “signs of the apocalypse” are you seeing during this time of slim?

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I have a problem: I’m asian.

But you see, that shouldn’t be a problem.  But it apparently is.  And it makes me very, very sad.

And… angry… … just kidding.  A “story” after the jump.

My family just moved into a new neighborhood and we’re going through the typical “meet your neighbors” stuff.  One of the coolest things is that we were actually prayerful (this time) about where we wanted to live and part of the location was so that we could be as missional as possible with our neighbors.

Sure, we wanted some good amenities, a good price, etc, but those were not actually at the top of the list.  We wanted to be impactful, and we want to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.

So, we chose a place 3 miles away from where I worked so that invitations to goto our Church wouldn’t cost an arm-and-a-leg in gas.

We’ve found that this particular community is what I would consider a “I am about to head to the geriatric-ward for management and support” community (gosh, that sounds mean, but it’s true).  Most of our neighbors are the elderly because this neighborhood has been around for a long time.

So………  Enter the-old-lady-who-drives-a-ford-taurus (tolwdaft for short).

I was walking to get my mail yesterday when I spotted her.  She had just gotten out of her car to get her mail.  Then, she saw me.  Visibly frozen for a second, I could see the mental cogs begin to turn as she began to calculate if she could get to the box, open it, grab the contents, and then run back before this ninja thug would loot her for all she’s got and her puppy in the back seat.

She made the call and dashed as only a true tolwdaft could.

I slowed down a bit but called out: “Hello!”

No response.  I tried again: “Hi!”

Nothing but a cold shoulder and apparently a renewed fervor to get her mail and bolt.

I thought I’d throw her a question (because I did actually have one): “Excuse me Miss? I have a quick question…?”

She, at this time, had managed to get one foot back into the car, peered over her shoulder with a look of paralyzed fear.  She, obviously out of breath, managed to snort: “I don’t have time, have to go, don’t have time.”

I asked anyway: “Excuse me, has the zipcode here in Alpharetta always been 30004?  or 30009?”

tolwdaft said: “Always 4″ and with that she hopped in her ford and drove like a bat out of h-e-double-hockeystick.

“WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED?!?” was all that I could muster.

And then it dawned on me.  Perhaps I’ve just been a victim of the asian/ninja stereotype.  I say “perhaps,” because it’s quite possible that I’m dead wrong and that I’m being oversensitive…

But that’s what happened.  Lesson learned.  But what to do now?  How shall I overcome this “potential” stereotype as being a scary asian man when I come in peace to deliver the best news on the planet?

Prayer is probably the best place to start (and some good old strategeryyyyy).

So, if you could pray for tolwdaft and that we can engage her wisely (for she is our neighbor) that would be great.

Have you ever been profiled, or something similar happen to you?  What did you do?

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