Records

I was stuck at work and miss the Powerhouse Potential seminar organized by the Texas Women's Initiative of Park Cities Republican Women at the SMU Meadows Museum. However, I did watch the presidential press conference live and I like what I saw. For one moment there, the president was angry about being asked of lawsuit suing his administration No Child Left Behind Act for insufficient funding. I've been contemplating on going back to law school, constitutional law to be exact or intellectual property, but maybe not being a lawyer is a good thing.

I saw there is $0.41 credit in my American Express account about some class action lawsuit settlement with or by BOEHR, not sure what it is. But this is exactly the point that state senator Kyle Janek was talking about when he talked about asbestos and silica reform, the consumers get a few pennies and lose the right to pursue any remedy later while the plaintiff trial lawyers get millions.

I am ready to head out to Washington DC later today after work for the 30th anniversary of April 30th on Saturday and VANG on Monday night.

Linda called me back this morning about planning a family retreat for our church at their Three Mountain Retreat facility. The price has gone up since we last talked but they are more than willing to work with us based on the lower price, which is great. I can't wait to ride the horse again. The last time I was down there was back in 1995. Time sure flies.

We went to SMU Caruth auditorium for a student jazz performance, then went to see The Interpreter, starring Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn. I really like it, much better compare to Sin City last week, which had too much violence and too much skin to the point of distaste, though I like how they did it in black and white so there wasn't much of blood.

This article just showed that the Hutchison's camp is getting nasty.

H.J.R. 6 has passed the Texas House of Representatives by a 101-29 with 8 present but not voting. Just as his chief of staff, Liz Zornes told me this morning, my state representative Rafael Anchia voted against the amendment but praise be to the sovereign Lord, the bill now goes to the Texas Senate.

I stopped by Costco to pick up a Whirlpool front loader washer for only $999.99 while the same model GHW9150PW is selling for $1079.99 over at Lowe's. I, my brother and my dad quickly hooked it up and let it run the first cycle to clean the machine before I and my brother head over to the Bob Eden park in Euless for our church's community/sport night, where a whole bunch of us and our friends just get together on a weekly basis to play tennis, throwing and catching football, just to jog or doing whatever you enjoy doing outdoor.

Went to the Dallas county GOP strategy meeting Saturday morning before headed to church to help out with our first annual spring cleaning day. We had crawfish afterward, all 70 lbs of them.

Today we had a little band practice after the service. We should do this more often so we can actually have a band playing at our Vietnamese Alliance Youth - Southwest region next springbreak.

We inteviewed congressman Pete Sessions about Social Security reform for a little over 20 minutes yesterday on our VPAC-DFW radio show.

3,420 miles showed up in my American Airline AAdvantage account today from signing up with Gexa Energy as my retail electric provider a couple months ago.

A reminder from Noah Webster: "Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom of Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States."

I wonder if the independent senator Jim Jeffords of Vermon finally was able to come to the realization that most people don't like a traitor and announced his decision not to seek re-election or was he forced by his friends the Democrats to clear the way so they can have a candidate who would have a better chance.

At the strong mayor forum organized by the Korean American Coalition tonight at the Sura Korean Bistro on Royal Ln. just west of I-35, I spoke in opposition to the city of Dallas proposed amendments for strong mayor, also known as the Blackwood petition because the petition drive was by Beth Ann Blackwood, a fellow Dallas County GOP precinct chair and her husband, both are attorneys. Keith Kwoh, who was on the steering committee for strong mayor spoke in support of the proposed amendments.

I reported to the George R. Brown Convention Center at 7:30 in the morning Saturday to volunteer. After coffee and a little breakfast with Danish and muffin, I checked in with Dennis and was assigned to the NRA store on the convention floor. I learned how to ring out stuffs with the cash register for the first time in my life. All through out college, though I was in the retail business, I was involved rather with purchase orders and finance reports, more on the backend instead of front end of the business. I pride myself on knowing a little bit of everything, being able to survive and being useful in any environment, now that will include being a cashier!

Starting in the morning, there were only 5 protesters, out of the city of 4 million. At the height of the day, right before the evening banquet with the majority leader Tom DeLay, there were around 20 protesters, cordoned off with barricade by police. I think there were as many police officers on horseback as there were protesters.

I met up with Vergel and Michael for dinner at Molinas, a great Mexican restaurant with a really relax atmosphere near the Galleria. We did a lot of catching up for over two hours since we last saw each others in New York at the Republican National Convention last August. We went to a nearby Starbuck for a little nightcap before saying bye just before midnight, so much things to talk about.

"Sandwiches prove that men do not live by bread alone" is what my brother saw on a church outdoor bulletin board on his way from work to our small group fellowship yesterday.

I am heading down to Houston after work today for the NRA annual convention, which has been going on and will continue through the weekend.

The Korean American Coalition and the Dallas/Fort Worth Asian American Citizens Council joined together and hosted a city of Carrollton candidate forum last night at the Korean Full Gospel Church of Dallas. We also heard from Jan Woody, candidate for Dallas County Schools Board of Trustees precinct 1 and Nancy Cline, who is a licensed professional civil engineer, an Aggie and a candidate for Carrollton - Farmers Branch ISD Board of Trustees Place 2. The one new thing I learned was something called the TCEQ, which regulates landfills among other things.

Tonight I got to meet the other three candidates for the Carrollton - Farmers Branch ISD Board of Trustees Place 2: Peggy Healey, who is an executive with UPS, Silvio Canto Jr., who is fluent in Spanish, and Rachel Lewis, who was a teacher for 20 some years. We didn't have the opportunity to ask all the candidates at the same time but I brought up the questions about the ratio of administrative staffs vs. the actual teachers in the classroom and the textbooks' content with Peggy and Rachel. I got all the contact info so I can call or email Nancy and Rachel later.

Ms. Margarita Martin-Hidalgo, a reporter with the Dallas Morning News was there so I hope to read her piece in the paper soon.

I just now heard Bill O'Reilly interviewed Mr. Tracy Hernlen, grandfather of that smart little 5-year old girl in Florida who called 911 after both of her parents were murdered. One thing I heard was that the girl's dad, Mr. Herlen's son did call him and ask for a weapon but he didn't give it to his son but told his son to rely on the sheriff's office. How wrong he was and now he has the rest of his life to live with, knowing that he could have, doesn't matter how remote the chance was, saved his son's life. I know the sheriff is doing everything he can but we must assume individual responsibility because ultimately we are the last line of defense for our own lives.

I once again picked the correct Miss USA. My prediction was either first choice Miss North Carolina Chelsea Cooley or second choice Miss Florida Melissa Witek. I attended the city of Carrollton government academy tonight, got home after 21:00 so I missed the evening gown competition and only got to see the part where they picked out the 5 finalists from the ten. My dad's choice was Miss California Brittany Hogan. Usually I based my prediction on the evening gown competition and the answer to the question in the final round. I think if Brittany Hogan didn't fumbled the question, she might have had the chance. Miss Kenntucky 2005 Kristen Lynn Johnson, though only 23, whoever did the makeup didn't do a very good job because she looked much older than both Brittany Hogan and Chelsea Cooley. Even worst, she looked older than Melissa Witek, who is 24. Miss Illinois Jill Gulsteth had beautiful eyes but other than that, she just couldn't beat the other candidates. I would have love to be able to see the whole thing but if you missed it, check this out.

I flew in to John Wayne (SNA) airport in the heart of Orange County Friday morning. Had lunch with Ysa, Kim, Jenny and Tung at Coffee Factory before picked up Hoang at the same airport and headed up I-405 to UCLA for the second day of ViFF. We were out for late night supper and I ran into Phuc, a highschool buddy of mine back in Vietnam 13 years ago who is now a biochem student at UCLA. He was in his third year of university in Vietnam but he started his undergrad all over when he came here.

Saturday, ViFF third day, was on UC Irvine campus.

I never realized there are that many Vietnamese out there who are writing, directing, producing films. Some very talented casts too. Films from full feature to short to animation; from New York to Minnesota to Australia to France ....

Went to the English worship at the Vietnamese Alliance Church right in the heart of little Saigon this morning. Rev. Van Dai preached at the service this morning.

I almost missed my flight out of Long Beach (LGB) because I tried to fill up the tank but couldn't get the door to the gas tank open. Got angry talking to the Hertz customer rep. because the guy was more concerned with the car than the fact that I may be missing my flight. I told him I was at an ARCO on the corner of Brookhurst and Slater in OC and told him to send a cab for me but he seemed to have a problem locating me, and keep me on the line for almost ten minutes until he slipped later said that he can send a cab but I will be held liable for the car. I took the risk and got back on I-405 and was able to get to Long Beach with close to a completely empty tank. The flight was packed.

United left a recorded message on Hoang's cell phone this morning told him they cancelled his flight. He had a hard time getting to an agent to rebook a flight back to Dallas. He ended spending another night tonight in OC and catch the first flight out of OC tomorrow at noon. I never like United and this only confirmed how bad they are treating their customers.

This Houston Chronicle article reported the final version of SB 747 being passed in the Texas senate 20-9 with all the necessary amendments to excluding Planned Parenthood and the likes from receiving state funding. Great victory for the grassroots!

Dallas County Linconln Day dinner was tonight at the Fairmont Dallas. Keynote speaker was Don Evans, friend of George W. for 30 years and the former secretary of commerce. One thing he said is really interesting: a leader is like a lady, if you have to tell people who you are, you are not much of a leader or lady. Governor Rick Perry was also on hand to address the faithfuls.

We had a long board of deacons meeting after Sunday service at church. Stopped by Rev. Dinh Le's house afterward and got a lot of backed up paperworks taken care of, getting ready for the district convention coming up July 8th through 12th.

They moved my office at work and lost my ethernet cable but the move help desk was pretty quick at locating one for me as well as a long telephone cord. I need them to add an additional power outlet and that seems to take longer.

Met Teresa Nguyen, co-founder of AsianLiveTV.com today at the luncheon organized by the US Chamber of Commerce with secretary of labor Elaine Chao today at the Fairmont Dallas downtown.

I and Cynthia went to check out Chain-O-Lakes for our VPS Dallas annual camping the second weekend of May this year.

I applaud president Bush for his unwavering support for abstinence education. Check out this new website: 4parents.gov.

I emailed and thanked State Representative Jim Dunnam of Waco for taking a stand against any expansion of gambling in the state of Texas. At the same time, I emailed Liz, chief of staff for my State Representative Rafael Anchia and urged him to join his fellow Democratic colleagues to take a stand for Texas families. He has previously indicated that he supported slot machines at horse racetracks because people there are already betting anyway. I hope he will re-consider and do what is good for the people of this great Lone Star state.

Earlier in the week I also called every state representatives on the House Criminal Jurisprudence who were not author or had not signed on to co-author HB823. It's good to see now that it has been voted out of committee with a 6 ayes, 0 nays, and 3 absent.