Records

For a better way to carry your piece, check out the passport holster or the anytimer.


Looking back this past year, I thank God for He's been too good to me:

1. My faith.

2. My family: mom, dad and my younger brother.

3. I still have a job and am glad to be now in my 5th year with Nortel.

4. No traffic accident though I came close a few times, a crazy and fast driver that I am.

5. Went to my first Texas Republican State Convention and from there was elected to be an alternate delegate to my first Republican National Convention, my first time ever in the Big Apple. This is a great deal consider that I have only become a citizen in June of 2001, which only happened after then majority leader of the House Dick Armey shepherded my naturalization application through the INS bureaucracy.

6. Re-elected to another 2-year term on the board of deacons at my church.

7. Appointed for a 2-year term on the City of Carrollton Library Advisory Board.

8. A 240% return on my Roth IRA account. No, I am not yet a millionaire but rather still a very long way from it.

9. A raise, yes, not much but still a raise nonetheless.

10. An even greater appreciation for life after I had an opportunity to volunteer with hospice care for people dealing with terminal disease.

My new year resolution:

1. Save up to have the 20% for my first house so that I don't have to worry about PMI.

2. Move up my time of coming to work earlier, like 08:00 or maybe even 07:30. That way, I can have time to work out everyday and then go to a lot of functions in the evening.

3. Get me a real good safe and a good long gun now that the "assault" weapon ban has expired.

4. Play a few songs with my guitar, maybe even some classical pieces.

Long term things I want to do here before going home to my Lord, Savior and Creator:

1. Get my private pilot license, first single engine VFR, and eventually multi-engine IFR.

2. Learn how to play the piano.

3. Speak Spanish fluently.

4. Read and write at least another language: German, Chinese or Russian.

Got my New Hampshire pistol/revolver license in the mail today. Pretty efficient processing I must say.

I have always like MapQuest but there have been multiple instances where Yahoo! Maps has better driving direction or more up to date map data, especially on all those county roads. Maybe it's time to ditch MapQuest?

I know it's way past due to come in for a donation with Carter Bloodcare but didn't find the right time until today.

I called one of the commercial laundry place near my house and they told me it's $21 to wash my comforter. I thought they were nuts because my other comforter which required dry cleaning and I had it done at a place near work that cost me less than $20. So, I decided to go to a commercial laundromat to wash the comforter myself while trying to finish up a book I've started a while back. I just slept too much staying home and couldn't get much reading done. I like the commercial washer I saw at the laundromat, a stainless IPSO that can take 50lbs. There are also smaller sizes of 35lbs and 18lbs by the same manufacturer. While I was there, I saw the owner of the place went around and collected all the quarters from the washers and dryers and from the look of the place, he's doing pretty well so I went home and check out to see how much one of those cost. Then I run into conversion between cubic feet and liter and found this great site. Anyway, they do have distributors right here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, which is great but the prices are not listed on the site. I wonder if they even do retail sale? The biggest washer at Lowe's is 3.8 cubic feet, which is about 107 liters. The IPSO model that can take 50lbs is 234 liters, which must be around 8.3 cubic feet.

Among those in active service and especially those who have seen the worst of it all the longest, support is high according to this new poll. That tells you what we are doing is right, not only about the objective, but the strategy and the support for the war against the terrorists.

I was just reading on Drudge Report about the tsunami that hit various beaches all along the shores of the Indian Ocean when I ran across her majesty the queen's website. I read a little bit about the queen and duke, but found it all rather confusing about the duke's line of lineage and marital affinity. I guessed I am not a British subject and thus never really know much about the royal history anyway. Maybe I should ask some of my Canadian or British friends and they can tell me more.

On the way home today, my brother tuned to ESPN Radio and we heard that Reggie White has passed away at his home in North Carolina. From little of what I know about him, he's such a wonderful Christian model of a man in the sport world.

Check out this interesting publishing company: College Tree Publishing. One of the co-founders, Dean Robbins, is a College Republican at Gonzaga University.

I heard about this story by Karin Shaw Anderson of an amazing young lady Cassandra Hayes on KLIF on my way to our church's annual Christmas Eve service with my brother yesterday evening. However you can help, a family in Garland has agreed to forward correspondence to Ms. Hayes. Send letters to: Cassandra Hayes, c/o Terri Mowles, 631 W. Ridgewood Drive, Garland, Texas 75041. She said when interviewed on the show that she works at the Cheddar's on Hwy 635 and Greenville in Dallas.

I also heard that the city of Dallas had verified that there at at least 20,000 valid signatures on the Blackwood petition, which means the requirement by the city charter is met and that the strong mayor form of government will be on the ballot for the May 7th, 2005 municipal election in Dallas.

The youth group had our white elephant gift exchange yesterday after the service. We partied late last night; I and my brother didn't get home until like 4:00 this morning. Therefore, when my uncle called from Germany and woke me up this morning at around 10:30, I was understandably pretty grouchy. He and I talked and talked and just out of curiousity, I asked him about the gas price in socialist Germany and he told me it's about €1.10 a liter, which is about €4.40 per gallon. With the current exchange rate of $1.3519 per Euro according to Yahoo!, that works out to be $4.948 per gallon. No wonder they all drive those little itty bitty cars. A couple years back, when I first got my new Toyota Tacoma pickup truck and told my uncle that it drives 18 miles per gallon, which works out to be roughly about 7 to 8 kilometers per liter, he thought I was nuts to buy a car like that.

This has been brewing for a while but if you haven't done so, please send a message to governor Perry and other state officials opposing making Hwy 121 a toll road since it has been built with public fund, your tax dollars: http://stop121tolls.com/.

The December 24th, 2004 Religious Freedom Coalition update commented that this year Presidential Christmas Card was the first to include a Bible verse: Psalm 95:2 (NIV). However, as far back as I can tell, governor then and now president George W. Bush and Mrs. Bush have always included Bible verses in their Christmas cards:

2000: And you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all of your heart - Jeremiah 29:13

2001: Thy face, Lord, do I seek: I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! - Psalm 27:8, 13 (RSV)

2002: "For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations." - Psalm 100:5

2003: You have granted me life and loving kindness; and Your care has preserved my spirit - Job 10:12 (NASB)

I finally had an opportunity to read the book The Bush Boom that I purchased back in April of this year by Jerry Bowyer. From all the uproars I expected a lot more bashing of Democrats than found in the book. He was just stating the statistics and proved his points.

It's a free country so people have every right to protest anything, anywhere and anytime but be practical and get a life, be a productive citizen for once. Work harder next time for your candidate, get better at presenting your solutions to the various problems next time, .... The problem I have is that these angry and frustrated people sometimes can be very uncivilized and violate others' rights as they were in New York during the Republican National Convention.

It's 29F outside again now but there's also the white flurry stuffs coming down, the first this season.

Have you ever wondered, if this world is only getting more evil everyday up until the second coming of Christ the Messiah, what is the point of us trying to do good? Well, the answer could be found in II Thessalonians 2:7. We are like the brakes on a car that is careening down a steep slope toward its own destruction. Maybe God is using us to restrain the evil in this world, to lengthen the duration of that dive so more people could have the opportunity to hear of the Good News and be saved as it is said in II Peter 3:9.

Take a look at this funniest article of the day by David Brooks of the New York Times.

Did you know that Tim Roemer, a prolife former congressman from Indiana, is backed by both the new Senate Democratic Chief Harry Reid and House minority leader Nancy Pelosi to become the next DNC chairman?

Check out this comparison of two proposals of flat and fair tax against the current income tax structure. I am personally would love for the fair tax, basically national sales tax with exemption for food and medicine and other basic necessities, to be adopted. It would encourage savings and investments since you would only be taxed if you spend. It would abolish the IRS. It would keep the people constantly reminded of the tax being taken away from them to finance the bloated government beaucracy everytime they buy anything.

I could not agree more with this article urging reform at NASA.

We went out to Rockfish to celebrate Amy's birthday. The place is famous for all the roasted peanuts we could possibly eat.

Got myself a real nice pair of crocodile western boots yesterday from Boot City. They are quite comfortable and I really like them.

VPS Dallas had their Christmas party last night. It was fun meeting new friends and catching up with old ones. Like always, white elephant gift exchange was the most exciting and hilarious part.

The DFWAACC had their quarterly board meeting today at the Oakridge Country Club today follow by another white elephant gift exchange.

I don't doubt that we have an independent press in these great United States of America, but hope and pray that for the sake of freedom and of their own, eventually the press would have the sense to try to have balanced coverage of issues. This article about the heroic action of Marine Sgt. Rafael Peralta pointed out that imbalance.

Check out this list of candidates: Samuel Alito, Jr., Janice R. Brown, Miguel Estrada, Emilio Garza, Edith Jones, Jon Kyl, J. Michael Luttig, Michael W. McConnell, Theodore B. Olson, and J. Harvie Wilkinson, should there be a opening on the US Supreme Court.

If you can understand Vietnamese, check out this interview of the CEO of Vietnam Airlines by the BBC. The man had not an idea how to conduct himself in an interview, nor any real knowledge regarding free market economy. It's just hilarious. I and a few friends cannot help but laugh until it hurts.

Got fingerprinted yesterday at the Plano PD. They offer the service five days a week, much better than Richardson, Carrollton or Addison. Will mail in my Florida CHL application today. It said 90 days to process so I expect the state of Florida to issue my license sometimes in March of 2005.

The city of Carrollton had its orientation meeting for all members of its boards and commissions yesterday. I looked and looked but didn't see any of my fellow Library Advisory Board members. The city attorney told us all we need to know about accepting gifts more than $50 in value, the Open Meeting Act, and litigation.

In the announcement late yesterday, my company Nortel stated that they have $3.4 billion cash balance, revenues of $2.3 billion or a net loss of $0.06 per share for the third quarter of 2004 and that they will wrap up the layoff of 3,250 employees by June of 2005. The stock NT is trading down $0.24 this morning. I have confidence in the new CEO Bill Owens, who used to be the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

It's 29F right now outside. I think it's the coldest morning so far this season that I have seen.

An interesting piece by Tony Blankley appeared today in the Washington Times.

We need more people like Hume Horan (1934-2004).

I learned a new big word today: schadenfreude.

Catching up on my emails, I came across this story of Yale students pulling a good one on Harvard. The video is available at HarvardSucks.org.

The city of Dallas is currently working to certify what is known as the Blackwood petition, which is a city charter amendment proposal that would give the mayor a whole lot more power than the mayor has in the current structure refered to as the 14/1 system of 14 council members plus the mayor. I went to the debate last night between the current mayor Laura Miller who favors the petition and the deputy mayor pro tem, district 5 councilman Donald W. Hill. The debate was moderated by district 13 councilman Mitchell Rasansky. I came into this debate with no predisposition regarding either form of government other than the Republican principle of limited government, which Henry David Thoreau said it best: "that government is best which governs least." I am aware that this quote is also attributed to Thomas Paine. If you know which is more accurate, let me know.

Deputy mayor pro-tem Don Hill did a pretty good job chewing up the Blackwood city charter amendment proposal, particularly on two concerns:

1. Money will play a very big part in the mayoral race, $800,000 for the last Dallas mayoral election vs. 3 million for Houston, with all of the city boards and commissions be appointed by the mayor other than the planning and zoning commission. Mayor Miller said she would let the council members continue to make appointments to the city boards and commissions if the amendment passes in May, which effectively gave ammo to the other side that Blackwood is a bad proposal.
2. The mayor will have authority to hire and fire all 13,000 people employed by the city, including other council members' assistants and secretaries, which is a rather sore point if any council member would need help to have legislative preparation that goes against the mayor's position.

Not to be outdone, on the part of the mayor, Laura Miller pointed out all the ineffectiveness of the current system and its slow response to citizen's concerns, particularly the code enforcement department but that's old news as we have heard so many times. However, I agree that entrenched beaucrats need to be dislodged. People need to work and be performance-measured instead of just getting paid and raises all the time. I would love for each of those departments to be sub-contracted out to private sector companies. Throughout the debate, Laura just fumbled and left a lot of gaping holes for the deputy mayor pro tem to attack. Particularly, she continued to agree with Don Hill one after another that various sections of the proposal are bad by saying that it it passes, she wouldn't do that. What about future mayors? Don Hill did a rather good job returning fire when Laura Miller said there are people on the city's payroll apparently just planning on when their pension is going to vest rather than the city's future, obviously refering to the former city manager and the likes, but the deputy mayor pro tem turned it on her with the fire fighters and police officers.

If I were a citizen of the city of Dallas, I would vote against the Blackwood proposal in its current form. But mayor Miller has gotten a point. I would entertain another city charter amendment to make the city government, especially the office of city manager, more efficient and responsive to citizens' needs and concerns. It should not take 11 of the 15 on the council to fire the city manager.

An alert I received from the Austin American-Stateman about 3Com (COMS) acquiring of TippingPoint Technologies, Inc. (TPTI) is a single piece of positive news I have heard for a long while that enforces my belief that 3Com will survive and make a comeback. The details of the deal can be found here.

The 2006 Senate races are now up on the National Republican Senatorial Committee website. There is no open Democratic and Republican seat at the moment though things will change rather quick regarding Texas if the senior senator from the Lone Star state, Kay Bailey Hutchison, decides to jump into the governor's race in 2006. One very interesting fact one cannot miss is the green color state of Vermont with the elected Republican but turned "independent" senator Jim Jeffords, who caucuses and votes with the Democrats, infamously handed the majority control of the US Senate to the Democratic party on May 24th, 2001, less than 6 months into the 107th congress.

I take time to review my porfolio today and just put down my thoughts. I cannot be held accountable in any fashion or manner for any loss you incur as a result of reading this. If you believe in technical analysis like me, but don't care about dividend as much as I do, this Vympel Communicatii (VIP) looks like the stock to buy, even though JP Morgan downgraded it from Overweight to Neutral. For me, I want something that has decent dividend in case I have to hold on to it. I focus a lot on the REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) these days. One of them in particular is Amerivest Properties Inc (AMV).

Got my Christmas card from governor Rick Perry yesterday. The Bible verse is Isaiah 11:6.

I love these couple sentences in an article by Peggy Noonan that appeared in today's Wall Street Journal Editorial Page: Always remember what Bill Clinton did after he lost re-election to the governorship in 1980. He joined the choir in the only local church whose services were broadcast on television throughout Arkansas every Sunday morning. You could turn in every Sunday and see him in his robe, with his music book, singing spirituals.

Jim, my next door neighbor, is a justice of the peace for Dallas County and he officially retires today and so I stop by to celebrate his retirement with his wife and all the supporters.

I also attended an informal debate hosted by the World Affairs Council of Greater Dallas on the policies of the Bush's administration, whether they have made America safer, at the SMU Meadows Art Museum. The two panelists were Baker Spring of the Heritage Foundation and Mel Goodman of the Center for International Policy.

Not only can you download sights and sounds, now you can also download smells.

The Dallas County Young Republicans had their Christmas party last night at the Dralion. The hors d'oeuvres was delicious. Music, ok. The space was a little cram for the group our size.

Found a great reminder in I Thessalonians 1:3: work produced by faith, labor prompted by love and endurance inspired by hope.

The Metrocrest Republican club had their Christmas party today. Again, as I have been doing, was able to practice what I gleamed from Hugh Hewitt's book In, But Not Of. Basically in consersation with new people, try to detect what is the person's area of expertise, then within tact, highjack the conversation and interrogate the person so you can harvest his knowledge. The person would be more than happy to share his learnings and experiences for which you won't have to spend time doing what he already did.

It was a great game last night between the Cowboys and the Seahawks. It kept us on our toes to the very last few minutes of the game. The onside kick will be remembered. I couldn't understand why Vinny Testaverde continued to pass even after so many interceptions and for sure #81 Quincy Morgan could not catch but kept getting the ball. Number 59 Dat Nguyen played decent as always. If for nothing else, this game gave us the standings necessary to be in contention for the playoff another week.

I've read through the Bible a couple times from cover to cover but the more I read, the more great gems I found, like this couple of verses from the book of Jude: (22) Be merciful to those who doubt; (23) snatch others from the fire and save them; ....

A possible Social Security reform plan?

We went out to eat at Pappadeaux to celebrate Thanh's birthday today.

We are testing out our products today at the Trader Village in Grand Prairie.

Osama and company, here comes your buddy . A fearless robot who has no family to write home to, equipped with four cameras and a pair of night-vision binoculars to operate at all times of the day, has a range of about a half-mile in urban areas, more in the open desert, and the ability to carry four 66-mm rockets or six 40-mm grenades, as well as an M240 or M249 machine gun.

Here is a pretty good site if you need to brush up on your Spanish, with this dictionary.

Though I like history, first for no reason other than what happened when and why, then motivated further by the quote that those who do not learn history are bound to repeat its mistakes, I am not really knowledgeable on Turkish history. This commentary really spurs my interests.

Check out this article regarding the race for Louisiana 3rd Congressional District seat. If you are like me not knowing what kind of animal a nutria is, here is the explanation.

Only until yesterday did I learn that Iris Chang, the famous author of Chinese descent appeared to have shot herself in the head south of Los Gatos, Santa Clara county, California on November 9th, 2004. She was only 36 and her works include: "The rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II," "Thread of the silkworm," and most recently, "The Chinese in America: A Narrative History."

I love this article by senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota, a member of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, especially the conclusion: "It's time for Kofi Annan to step down. The massive scope of this debacle demands nothing less. If this widespread corruption had occurred in any legitimate organization around the world, its CEO would have been ousted long ago, in disgrace. Why is the U.N. different?"

The Dallas County Republican Party had their holiday reception tonight at Prestonwood Country Club. Had fun catching up with a lot of folks, some I haven't seen since election night.