Records

Camp was very relax this year, I like it. The bonfire didn't start out very well. We had to build our own and the games I planned didn't work out. I am so glad Rev. PhucAnh was there to rescue.

Met and got to know: Jonathan Tu, Marie Tu's younger brother, who is currently finishing his undergrad at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS); Bach, an Army reservist who just finished his tour of duty in Kuwait in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom; and Quang, a microbiologist also from the same church. Also Rev. PhucAnh and his wife, cThao, their daughter, Tam.

Get to see all the Houston youths again: Hai, Vinh, KimAnh, Suong, Nhi, Nhu, Son, Chris, Long ...

The messages by Rev. PhucAnh were really good, practical, and of appropriate length. He does not seem to be suffering from the disease as most pastors (or public speakers in general) of dragging on once they got the microphone.

The movie Raising Helen received positive review from Chuck Colson of Breakpoint so I want to see it if I get a chance. I wanted to see "The Alamo" but it seems the theater has already stopped showing it. I am the type of person that rather spend 3 hours reading a book than watching a movie!

Got to see a couple of friends who are expats back here in the US for their summer vacation along with their children and grandchildren, and many other friends who are here but we don't get to see often. We all used to go to the same church.

Got to pack now for the trip out of town, a three hour drive early morning tomorrow.

Went ahead and put in a bulk order for the devotional "Discovery" by Scripture Union. Got a 40% discount so the one year membership costs only $12.

I need to try to open UDP port 500 and TCP 50,51 and 17 to see if my VPN would work. I tried and it didn't work.

Went to ThuyTrinh's highschool graduation tonight at Next Stage in Grand Prairie. Top ten gets to wear white gown instead of blue like the rest of the class, an interesting concept. On a differnt note, Nokia is doing very good PR with that facility.

Spent about 45 minutes with Hieu & Hoang on the radio, commenting on the president's speech this past Monday at the Army War College in Carlisle, PA. Was going to get some marshmallow for the bonfire this weekend but forgot, will have to do that tomorrow.

Project for a New American Century, a think tank of the conservative Republicans.

Precise description of the Vietnamese Heritage and Freedom flag: a flag of yellow background, the height of which is equal to two-thirds of its width. In the middle of the flag and along its entire width, there are three horizontal red bands. Each band has a height equal to one-fifteenth of the width. These three red bands are separated from one another by a space of the band's height.

Went out to visit Mr. S today and spent sometimes with him. He's had the cancer for a long time, over 12 years. We talked about all kind of stuffs. We each had a slide of pound cake and what he called float, ice cream on top of soda.

Can't seem to get my Contivity VPN Client working. NT4HELP told me to call the router's technical support. The company is so cheap, they do not have an 800 number. I emailed them just now. See when I could get this thing working. May the Lord have mercy on me.

A sitting Republican governor, Utah's Olene S. Walker, was eliminated in the 2004 primary, the first in 48 years in that increasingly conservative state. I wish Pennsylvania had done the same thing with the senator Arlen Spector.

Changed the shower head in my bathroom because the old one doesn't seem to allow the water to flow through all that much anymore. And that old showerhead wasn't that cheap when I bought it either. I'd love to have increased water pressure to the house. Maybe one of these days I will find a way to do so.

Called NT4HELP this morning and they told me something but apparent it didn't work. I have to call them again tomorrow. I do need the VPN connection to Nortel protected network.

It's interesting to note that every tree in the garden of Eden is "pleasing to the sight and good for food" (Genesis 2:9) but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, it "was desirable to make one wise" (Genesis 3:6). So wanting to be wise that started the trouble, not the other two parts of good for food and delight to the eyes. But as we all know, doubting the very Word of God that started it all.

Was later than usual getting to church for Sunday school at 09:00 this morning. It was a late party last night, celebrating Vincent and Christine's sixth wedding anniversary. Took off a little after the service to go home and changed, then headed to TD's son's first birthday party.

Starting with the book "Growing to maturity: A Messianic Jewish Guide" by Daniel C. Juster for membership at Baruch HaShem.

I couldn't postpone any longer and finally Comcast forced me to installed a router. Went and got a Hawking HBR49 Broadband Router, the cheapest I can find locally at MicroCenter. Installed went well but now I cannot establish VPN connection to work anymore. It seems the connection is not getting through on the way back to my machine from the Nortel server. Have to call NT4HELP tomorrow.

What a terrible accident at work for Dessi Espana, who was beautiful and only 32, came from a family of Bulgarian performers, married to fellow performer, Ivan Espana, who is from a Mexican family of performers. Their two children are studying to become circus performers also.

The problem of our small group meeting too long was brought up. We really need to limit the discussion to two hours or less from now on.

Just learned that a friend of mine for a long time, 17 years and counting, has left Vietnam, where he was a university professor, and gone on to Thailand for his Master degree, all expenses paid by a Japanese scholarship. However, the scholarship didn't pay for his wife's expenses if she came along.

Also got to see Chau & Quyen. They came down from Kentucky as they, Huy, Hung, Chau, and their wives, and Caroline, had a family get together to celebrate their mom's birthday.

There is going to be a reception with Cecilia and Greg Abbott, the Texas attorney general, on the Friday night of the convention as well as a brainstorming session on Thursday night of the convention for young Republican between 18 and 30: I'll be sure to make it to both.

Also received a confirmation letter for the District convention in July.

Got the prints of my DC trip pictures from Ofoto in the mail today. Still waiting for my polo shirt, a Republican Party of Texas RPT merchandise item for the convention this year.

I noticed that the service at the Toyota of Plano dealership improves since there is renewed competition from US automakers.

Heard from John MacArthur, Chuck Colson and many others: if I am a glorified baboon, a survivor of the fittest, why do we punish people when they kill? Why don't we put a lion on trial for killing? Why are we trying to intervene and make sure giant panda survives, because the giant panda, not like other bears, cannot survive on its own even without human encroachment?

The VPAC monthly radio show went well. Went to Starbuck, had coffee and chatted with aHieu and aQuang for a half hour. Walked back to the station and talked with aLoc, the radio station owner who is also the publisher of one of the Vietnamese newspaper for a few minutes before took off.

Went and spent some times with Mr. S. today. Also brought him a couple jars of scented candles for his birthday, which was last Tuesday, when he turned 74. Had some ice cream with him while we talked for about an hour and a half. Asked him about how they are treating him at the VA hospital and learned that his experiences have been good so far.

Shopping for one of those thing that allow a kid to have his hands and feet imprint for keepsake but Toy R Us said they don't carry it. Bought a backpack child carrier instead for the birthday party this Sunday afternoon.

Went home after work and changed to decent clothes to visit an acquaintance whose wife had just passed away this past Friday. Then went and had a good hour of workout.

The obsessive coverage of Iraqi prisoners abuse by the media really irritated me. Just saw on Drudge Report that male detainees forced to wear women's maxi-pads, I was like "so what?" I'll trade that anytime for being lower into an acid vat, hole being powered-drilled in my hands, my fingernails being pulled, my head being chopped off, being bombed or being shot ....

Finally got a chance to look at the sermon outlines for Memorial camp that is coming up and replied to Nam's email.

Went to a pool party at aDung & cHang's place today after the church service. It's more or less also a farewell party to them. He will be moving to Florence, South Carolina at the end of the month, she and the kids will follow at the end of June.

Went to Shabbat service at Baruch HaShem and then got the oil changed on my pickup today. aLoc, Tony, ThaoTrinh, my brother Quan and I sat down and worked out the plan for our youth group third quarter activities today at aLoc's place. We wait until having aTruong and aThanh to plan further for the fourth quarter of this year.

Arlington prayer group meeting went very well yesterday. We had almost everyone there.

This past Wednesday, Dallas county commissioner elect Maurine Dickey talked to us about changing the Parkland hospital system. I support her idea though I would make it clear that it must be efficiently implemented. Also spoke to Becky Miller and Ron Branson regarding the VHFF resolution.

On Tuesday, I woke up and went to see Senator John Cornyn at his weekly Tuesday coffee with constituents. After so many turn into and out of parking lots because of the lack of permit, I finally parked at the Union Station public parking and walk three blocked to the Hart Senate Office Building. Got in the wrong entrance and was sent off to the correct one. By the time I got to his office half an hour late, he has gone on to the Armed Services Committee that morning. Talked to his staffs, left him a note and then went back to the hotel. Guess I'll have to wait and see him at the state convention in a little over three weeks in San Antonio. JC, Binh and I checked out of the hotel and went to the WWI memorial, which was just dedicated two weeks earlier. I really liked what I saw. Binh taught me the 2/3 rule of photography while we were taking pictures there. Then we went to the International Spy Museum. The cost was a little stiff, $13 per person and it's not all that impressive inside. I would say anything more than $3 per person is a waste of money.

I then dropped off JC and Binh at Reagan National before heading to Baltimore myself. A couple of the DC native have told me that to stay on the safe side, I should give it a couple hours for that stretch of about 30 miles between DC and Baltimore. There wasn't all that much of traffic so I got to BWI a little early but time went by fast. Returned the rental car and took the shuttle to the terminals. The flight took off on time. We were originally going to fly over Arkansas and approach DFW from the East but because of the storms, we were re-routed to fly over Oklahoma and approach from the North. It was a smooth landing. I dozed off and didn't wake up until after the plane has landed.

On Sunday, I went to church for the worship service at 10:00. After the service I went back to hotel, went with JC and Binh to the Vietnam War memorial for the ceremony remembering the service men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice organized by Viet Heritage Society. Afterward, we hung around and took some pictures before went back to the hotel to change for the reception at the Capitol Hilton. Had a good time meeting people: Cung Le, a light heavyweight kickboxing champion, Khoa Nguyen, representing the US at 2004 Athen Olympic in table tennis, Dat Nguyen, #59 Dallas Cowboy linebacker, KieuChinh, a Vietnamese American actress who won the Emmy in 1996.

After the reception, we were invited back to Chau's house to hang out but we were tired and didn't want to drive that far so we were going out for dinner in Georgetown, on the Potomac riverfront with a new friend who is a Maryland native. But after she found out about the invitation to Chau's place, she wanted to go there. So just the three of us, me, JC and Binh went and had a wonderful time.

Monday morning, we met up with everyone at the Capitol Hilton lobby, made sure that we were all cleared by the White House for security purpose. We actually then walked to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building for a briefing. We had three speakers: Susan R., a Philipino American and the executive assistant to Karl Roves, Ed M., a Chinese American and the presidential advisor for all Asian American appoinments, and Meridith M., a State Department personnel on loan to work at the Asian office of the National Security Council.

After the briefing, we met a group of people back at the Hilton and went to Eden center in Virginia for lunch. Then we were dropped off at our hotel, rested a little bit, then changed into our tuxes and walked back to the Hilton for our black-tie dinner that night. Transportation secretary Mineta was the keynote speaker of the night. Met Becky Nguyen, Dat Nguyen's wife, Dr. Eugene Trinh, the first Vietnamese American astronaut, Hien Nguyen, a Vietnamese American councilman for the city of Clarkstown, GA ...

Landed in Baltimore-Washington airport on Saturday morning around 11:03 EST. Picked up the rental car and drove to downtown DC but got lost and kept driving around downtown for almost two hours before I could get to the hotel right at Scott's circle, crazy! The streets are complete blocked off all around the White House, the directions from MapQuest didn't say which exit number I should take from I-195 but just New York Ave. when it should have been highway 50 West.

Trung, a DC native and friend of Binh took us walking to eat at a Thai restaurant near Dupont circle. We then walked back to the hotel. We took my rental car and went hunting for a place to drop off a FedEx package for JC, then dropped off Thuan, a friend of Binh who happened to be landing at Reagan National at the same time as Binh at the Dupont Circle metro station. We then went on to the BBQ at Chau's house in Rockville and got lost on the way while trying to get to I-495 and also again in the neighborhood near his house. We ended up on I-495 East on our way back to the hotel instead of I-495 South as we should have. We ran around for a while, Binh called and asked Trung for direction, finally we found our way back onto I-495 South and then George Washington Parkway, crossed the Key bridge, went along M street back to the hotel.

Really cheap golf balls.

We went to Olive Garden to celebrate birthday for a couple of guys at work. The service was so bad, unlike anything I have ever seen before at this restaurant. The waitress was so rude, basically telling one of the guy that he lacked common sense when she was taking orders, yes, she said that. Then she brought the food and never even offered parmesan, never came back once to even ask how we like the food. And the worst part was that we were charged 18% gratuity automatically because our party had more than 8 people. One of the girls paid with cash and the waitress just assumed that she deserved all the loose changes and only gave back the amount of change round down to the dollar. The funny part is that one of the guys wrote on his credit card receipt for them where it say TIPS: "No way. She's lucky to get the 18%." I just let it go but one of the guys also spoke to the manager. Just an unbelievable waitress!

Checked in and printed the boarding pass for my flight to DC tomorrow, 07:03 in the morning. Boarding time is 06:33, which means that I have to wake up around 05:30. It's kind of bad to have to wake up that early but the next flight into Baltimore is much later and I want to be in Rockville, MD by 16:00 and not sure how bad the traffic jam will be so I would rather get in early and give myself plenty of time to drive in from Baltimore and check into my hotel in DC first before the drive to Rockville.

How do I suppose to work when the preparation for this annual Wild Flower Festival is going on outside? Their stage is 4 stories tall, erected right next to our building, less than 40 feet from the wall of the building, with the loud speakers going right now, making talking on the phone difficult, and everything is vibrating. And their music, argh, no comment. All the normal turns into our parking garage is blocked off, leaving only one way to get in and out it, really really sucks.

On a more contented note, I had a good lunch today at a family owned Thai restaurant with a couple of friends at work.

Also got details about the camp that is coming up this Memorial weekend. I was asked to help with the camp bonfire.

We had a good discussion at our Dallas small group discussion today even though we missed Tony (had to work), ThaoTrinh (not feeling well), Truong (out of town), Loan (babysit) and my brother Quan (out of town).

We had to cut short the prayer meeting at church today because power hasn't been restored since 1030h this morning.

I am really annoyed at myself because I bought a whole bunch of highlighters and now can't seem to find them anywhere. Have been meaning to but keep forgetting to take the clothes to the dry cleaner also.

Stopped by the Judaica store at Baruch HaShem and got me the 3 books that are required for membership today: "Growing to Maturity" by Daniel Juster, "Our Hands Are Stained with Blood" by Dr. Michael L. Brown and "Your People Shall Be My People" by Don Finto. Now I just have to finish reading them before the class starts on June 13th.

"Bridget Jones' Diary" by Helen Fielding is such trash, with using the name of the Lord in vain so much that I couldn't get pass the 2nd CD in the set of 8 CDs audiobook.

Had a good workout today and met a new friend there, who is also Vietnamese.

I had fun at our monthly meeting together for the second time with all the other volunteers with Grace Hospice today. Picked up a quilt made by the retired ladies of Plano for my assigned patient, Mr. S. I won't see him until next week or the week after. I need to remember to mail him a postcard from DC when I get there this Saturday and call him next Tuesday because that's his birthday.

There are so much half-truths being presented as facts in the background notes on Vietnam issued by the US State Department that I wish there could be a Vietnamese author with the level of popularity of Russian author Alexander Solzhenitsyn in the West.

Once in a while I just got bored so I went and took the IQ test again. This time, my score is 152. The website noted specifically that: "A higher IQ score is not a guarantee that an individual will achieve happiness, maintain sanity, or obtain spiritual growth." I once heard it said that genius only count for 1% of success, hard work and sweat count for the remaining 99%.

Free things to do in Washington DC.

VRBO Vacation Rentals By Owner, checking it out to see what's available in San Diego.

I have been so busy that most of my workout has been weight lifting. I am glad to have been able to put in 1.75 miles on the treadmill for my cardio workout today after a quick visit with Mr. S, my new friend and a patient with Grace Hospice.

Saw a little of CSI Miami, then the news, part of which showed the fatality of riding a car in reclined seat. I am going to tell everyone I know not to ride in a reclined seat.

Forgot to prepare the direction to the park to give out at church today. Had to draw up the direction during the service, made copies and made available after the service.

Had a good time playing ping pong for about an hour and a half with aLoc and my brother after the meeting of the board of deacons today. I and my brother were to go out and play some tennis since it's really nice outside but we got tired after ping pong so we didn't go. Had lunch and I watched a little TV of America Funniest Home video and also Cold Case while skimming through the latest edition of People magazine, the issue with the 50 most beautiful people. I agree that Nicole Kidman has beautiful skin, Catherine Zeta-Jones has the eyes, and Jennifer Garner is really cute. Also, just inside the cover they had Charlize Theron but I can't recall which movie I saw her in, very attractive.

Practiced my guitar today for about 40 minutes.

Saw on Drudge report that the pope called on the 10 new EU countries to rediscover their Christian roots if they were to preserve God's creation: great message. Also saw that John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee fell of his bike but this time, nobody bumped into him and he didn't call anyone an SOB like he did last time when he fell of his snowboard because a Secret Service agent, who was assigned to protect him, was willing and ready to take a bullet for him should it come his way, bumped into him on the slope.

We had a good small group discussion today, or last night actually in Arlington.

My 401K took a hit even though I do not have that much of Nortel stocks percentage wise.

Was going to have the oil change on my truck but the dealer closed at 1600h so that has to wait until next week.

I and my brother got to see a lot of old friends at a wedding reception we went to tonight.

Want to practice my guitar but have to prepare the financial statement for the board of deacons meeting tomorrow, first Sunday of every month.