Records

Finally I was able to make it out to the driving range for the very first time this year, signing up for the Player Development Program at the Indian Creek Golf Club.

It was a breeze to upgrade my Redhat 9.0 box to Fedora Core release 3 using a DVD ISO image burn onto a DVD+R disk. The only problem I ran into was when I moved the old DVD drive from my Windows box to my Linux box, it seems to eclipse the 2nd hard drive on my primary slave channel even though the DVD drive itself is on the secondary slave. At first, I put the DVD drive on the SCSI controller but the machine seems not to be able to boot from the DVD drive even though I told it to boot from SCSI. I moved it to the main IDE controller on the secondary slave and it was able to boot with the DVD, I went ahead even BIOS reported only one drive. It upgraded and once Linux was upgraded, I saw both of my hard drives now. Praise God!

I was glad to hear that the nationalists in France had won yesterday with a resounding 55% to 45% NO against ratifying the European Union constitution. At 72, it's time for Chirac to retire and relax.

If I have about $1,000 to waste, I should put it down for a new build-it-your-way laptop from United Micro to replace my Toshiba laptop. It would set me back a total of $1,014 with the laptop itself costs $994 and an additional $20 shipping insured ground: Notebook N755SI4 15inch, Intel P4 Prescott FSB800, SIS 661FX Video, Lan IEEE1394, CD-RW , SD/MMC/memory Card Reader, CPU Intel P4 3.4 GHz 1MB PRESCOTT SC478 800MHz FSB OEM, Memory 512MB DDR333 PC2700 200 pin SO-DIMM, Hard Drives TOSHIBA 80GB 9.5MM 4200RPM Notebook Drive.

Dung and Hang have moved back from Florence so I helped them moved their stuffs they had stored at Thanh's place back to their house before going to congressman Pete Sessions' annual Memorial Day BBQ, this year hosted by Dallas County Commissioner Maurine Dickey and her husband, Roland, owner of the Dickey's BBQ restaurant chain.

I usually don't pay much attention to car races, other than Joe Gibbs because I read his autobiography, but certainly Danica Patrick, the only female among the 32 drivers in the Indy 500, is a really cute driver if you ask me! But why does a girl who is already famous have to go all over the newspaper with all the racy pictures? Any other girls can do that, should leave that to the kind of Pamela Anderson or Carmen Electra.

We woke up early this morning and headed down to Lakeview Methodist Conference Center for the 22nd annual Memorial Day family camp for all Vietnamese Christians in Texas. Had a lot of fun playing volleyball after lunch. I was able to do 90-95 mph all the way both way without getting a ticket, without a radar or laser detector. God loves me, now I just need to remember not to take it for granted and abuse it.

It's not a good idea to bring a DVD with close to 5,000 pictures on it, each taken from a 5-megapixel camera, to a Costco store to upload and print them there. I waited and waited and finally cancelled the application and went shopping instead. I guess will have to try to fix whatever is wrong with my computer that prevents the uploading of pictures to Costco.com. Didn't think I bought that much but it cost me $200 at the checkout. I picked up a Seville Classics 8-cube set storage shelf.

Got my 3 CDs of Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 beta 2 in the mail today.

I and Larry went to the Wells Fargo branch on highway 121 and Josey to add Larry as an additional signer on our church's accounts before had breakfast together at the IHOP next door. Chatted with our banker and learned that this young man is really someone with conviction. He would not shop at Walmart because of the cut-throat business practice that they have with their vendors, most of who basically have a 5-year contract with Walmart but only make profit the first three years and selling products to Walmart at 30% of cost the last of their 5-year contract. The numbers sound really bad but I could certainly believe it. I myself wouldn't encourage that kind of business practice, if it is true, but that's free market. I would encourage the consumers who certainly have every right to exercise their freedom and act upon their convictions the way this banker is doing. Anyway, he shops Target, which I do no longer since they kicked out the Salvation Army bell ringer last Christmas. I found out that he also boycotts Starbucks because the company would not allow franchise.

Got an oil change on my truck afterward and then headed to the Farmers Branch Manske Library to return and pick up some books. While I was there, we had a power loss because of the storm outside and there was this one lady, who lost her works and then kept sitting there, mumbling louderly all the curse words you can ever imagine. First, you were stupid enough not to save your work often, then you acted as discourteous as possible to the people around you, what a loser! And we are not talking about someone who is young and didn't know any better. This lady was in either her later 50s or early 60s.

It's ironic what I heard on Fox News this morning: Carrie Underwood may have gotten more votes than George W. Bush. This nation is in trouble if its citizens care more about something as inconsequential as American Idol than the presidency. On the flipside, maybe it's not that bad since the race for the presidency is not all purely a popular contest.

Helped to play host at the newly elected Addison mayor Joe Chow's victory party tonight.

Got to meet and chat a little bit with Carolyn Bradley Garon, a retired employee of the Dallas County Clerk office and candidate for Dallas County Clerk in the upcoming 2006 Republican Primary against incumbent and fellow Republican Cynthia Calhoun.

If you follow the upcoming Ohio governor race between current Ohio secretary of state Ken Blackwell, state auditor Betty Montgomery and attorney general Jim Petro, check out this poll analysis.

I came across this blog and really like the May 19th entry by Don Marsh, especially the last paragraph and particularly the last sentence: "If you can, run. If you can't, help someone who will."

Went to lunch at the Eddie Deen's Ranch in downtown Dallas. Special Prosecutor David B. Lewis spoke at our regular Greater Dallas Pachyderm Club meeting today about the fake drug scandel involving former DPD narcotic detective Mark De La Paz and his confidential informants.

Went to the range to practice after work today with Cynthia. Today was his day off so DPD officer John joined us there also.

Went to the Asian Heritage Month Celebration luncheon at DART office building downtown. The luncheon is organized by the Dart Asian Employeee Association. Lysabelle, who put together a fashion show of the Vietnamese traditional dress, the Ao Dai, told a few of us about it last week. It was a great show, very well put together.

Our government academy class heard from the Parks and Recreation department tonight as well as from the Assistant City Manager, and the general manager of the Indian Creek Golf Club. The golf club is privately managed by a professional golf course management company who has a contract with the city of Carrollton. They've got a great Player Development program, for $29 a month you can have unlimited range balls, and $15 green fee with cart after 2:00 pm seven days. Even better, family member can be added for only $10. They've also got the Eagl Card program as well as 15% off green fees for resident and 10% off the twilight rate after 2:00 pm. They have all kind of deals, for which you should check out their website.

They finally reach a deal in the US Senate, which I am not sure if I should be glad or not. I am glad however that Priscilla Owen, Janice Rogers Brown and William Pryor will now receive an up or down vote.

Something was wrong with the second AC at church this morning. We had a rather hot service.

Went to the Film Festival meeting at Irina's place and then head over to the VPS Dallas technical team meeting. Came out and played a little volleyball at the Cisco sand court.

We had fun playing tennis at the Boys Ranch in Bedford last night. It was so hot, probably the hottest day this year. We all sweat profusely.

This morning the Carrollton Government Academy class met at the Metrocrest Social Services Gravley Center. We heard more details about Transit Oriented Development, from infrastructure preparation to urban planning. Cesar Molina told us a lot about the depression of Beltline under I-35 and the railroad. Regarding my concern about eminent domain and private property, John Webb told me that city charter prohibits city from declaring eminent domain and condemning private property, which basically resolved my concern. We had a bus tour of commercial and residential property development with Brett King, who explained and answered all questions about building permits and the likes. I learned a lot of interesting little bits of information. One rather intersting bit of information was that the Huffines family bought out a car dealership right on the north bound service road of I-35 before their grand opening to avoid competition and right now just kept the facility empty, all the while paying tax on that property to the city.

Went on to Celebration Park in Allen for a birthday celebration for Stephen.

This is Washington, DC, arguably having the strictest gun control policy in the entire US:

* Homicide at 69 S Streeet, NE
* Homicide in the 2700 Block of Martin Luther King Avenue, SE
* Missing Person: Meklit Abebe
* Death of Vehicle Driver on Suitland Parkway, SE, Investigated
* Detectives Seek Clues in Homicide at Benning Road, SE, Gas Station

I finally ran into the limit with my addressbook on my old phone so I ordered the new Blackberry 7290 from Cingular. Got it yesterday and migrated over to Cingular from AT&T Wireless today.

The same people that want sex education in school now are campaigning against gun safety class in school?

VPAC-DFW radio show went well last night. We talked a lot about the filibuster that is going on in the US Senate right now on judicial nominees, particularly Patricia Owens and Janice Brown.

Had some really good BBQ over at Henry's and Taylor's place afterward.

This is a cool site, where you can generate maps of states and countries you have visited.

I haven't had a need for a DVD-Writer until recently when all the pictures I am taking at one event is more than a couple CDs can contain, plus allowing time for all the dust to settle as far as DVD formating standard is concerned. I am happy to report that I am getting my LG GSA 4081B 8x8 Double Format DVD+/-RW/RAM today according to FedEx tracking.

A great quote from Thomas Jefferson: "Men of energy of character must have enemies; because there are two sides to every question, and taking one with decision, and acting on it with effect, those who take the other will of course be hostile in proportion as they feel that effect."

Highway gasoline tax by states. Check out this article by the Cato Institute to understand the history of the federal gasoline tax and where the collected dollars go.

Just finish the audio book Success Is a Choice by former New York Knicks basketball coach Rick Pitino. A great book about working hard and paying your dues.

A great quote by George Neumayr, wouldn't you say? "The Supreme Court's judicial activists are cutting off the branch on which they sit. By rejecting the law and putting their personal opinions in its place, the justices invite the people to imitate them and disregard their decrees with the same willfulness they disregard the Constitution. If Anthony Kennedy isn't bound by the framers' words, why are the people bound by his?"

We got introduced to a lot of the equipments use by the city of Carrollton fire fighters, EMS, police and rescue at the government academy class tonight, including the K9 unit. The dog goes for about $8,000, could you believe that? The dog, some kind of Belgium breed, at different specific commands can search for drug, a person, a specific article like knife, clothing, pen ....

America lost 156 peace officers in the line of duty last year. The 24th annual peace officers memorial service took place yesterday on the west front of the capitol to honor them, for their calling is noble and their service is honorable in the words of senator Frist. Texas lost 16 officers.

Duc called me early Sunday morning about having to fly out for business and canceled the get together in the afternoon at his place. Pastor Dinh had us come over to his house instead and we had a great time BBQ'ing the already marinated, frozen leftover beef from last week Mother's Day picnic and watching a little Korean comedy, My Tutor Friend, before we switched to the movie Phantom of the Opera in the interest of time.

Had a good time playing tennis with a few friends from church at the Tarrant County Community College - Northeast campus.

Went out and walked for Tony Fleo, who is in a run-off with Ron Natinsky for city of Dallas Council District 12, this morning before headed to the block party in Tibor and Pamela's neighborhood. Then went on to the DFW gun range for my practice as well as introducing a friend from church to handgun shooting, both a revolver and a pistol.

Mozilla Firefox 1.0.4 with the security update is available, be sure to update yours.

I applauded Massachusett governor Mitt Romney for his stand for a culture of life and not making human a commodity to be produced and traded like cattles.

Finally senator Bill Frist (R-TN) has issued this press release which in my opinion makes it clear that he is fully prepared to force an up or down vote next week and not allowing filibuster to block judicial nominations anymore.

At the regular monthly Metrocrest Republican club meeting yesterday I learned that the run-off election for Carrollton city council has been moved to June 11th to coincide with the Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD run-off election. Also, Brad Mink, city of Carrollton Economic Development director spoke to us about what he has been able to do to enhance the tax base for the city of Carrollton and the challenges we will face going forward.

Check out Patricia's account of what happened yesterday in Washington DC.

H.R. 418, the realID act has passed the House 261-161 with 11 not voting on February 10th, 2005. It got included in Conference in H.R. 1268, which originally passed the Senate 99-0 on April 21st, 2005. The conference report was agreed to by the House 368-58 with one present and 6 not voting on May 6th, 2005 and also agreed to by the Senate 100-0 yesterday. Some are calling this national ID, which I disagree because it only sets out a certain federal standards but leaves issuing control with the states, but gives the Secretary of Homeland Security the power to declare if certain state's ID card, generally understood to be the driver license, is not in compliant with the federal standards. This will prevent states like the People's Republic of California to issue driver license to illegal immigrants. Among many other improvements, it also ties in temporary driver license's expiration date with foreigner's visa expiration date.

I support our president and our troops. I prayed this day and everyday that God watch over our troops, bless, protect and deliver them. I honor their sacrifices and this day I also pray for comfort for the families and friends of:

1. Staff Sergeant Anthony L. Goodwin, 33, of Mount Holly, NJ, who was assigned to 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

2. Lance Corporal Nicholas C. Kirven, 21, of Richmond, VA, who was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

Everything you ever want to know about dog breed. What sparks the interest? Yesterday, animal control staffs came and talked to us, Carrollton Government Academy class.

We had a good Mother's Day service at the Jackson Pavilion on the shore of Grapevine lake today following by a picnic.

This is the one time that I am glad to learn I have been wrong. There will be no run-off for Jan Woody, the highest vote getter wins, even if it were not a majority of the votes cast. The installation will be at 13:00 on May 18th.

It's a rather disappointing night after a long 14-hour day working as an election judge at the poll. My friend Matthew Marchant lost the city of Carrollton mayoral race by 151 votes out of 4705 votes cast.

Another friend, Bill Burch lost the city of Arlington council district 3.

However, it's not all bad. Another friend, Joe Chow has been elected mayor of Addison with 56.95% of the vote.

Randall Dunning, a great friend, a fellow conservative and believer in Yeshua the Messiah, beat back the challenger with a decisive 65.21% of the vote.

Ron Branson beat back a challenger with also a decisive 62.03% of the vote.

The Dallas Strong Mayor proposed city charter amendments has been soundly defeated at 61.62% of the vote.

There appears to be a few run-offs: Jan Woody for Dallas County Schools Board of Trustees, Carrollton Council Place 2 between John Mahalik and Jack Dicoskey, and Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD Board of Trustees place 2 between Nancy Cline and Rachel Lewis, city of Dallas Council district 12 between Tony Fleo and Ron Natinsky.

Vietnam is currently one of 8 countries being listed as a CPC, Country of Particular Concern, for Religious Freedom under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. I, as Dallas chapter chair, join with fellow members of the Vietnamese American Public Affairs Committee urging the State Department taking apppropriate measure per recommendations by the independent US Commission on International Religious Freedom to ensure Vietnam respects religious freedom.

Dallas County Commissioner Maurine Dickey and Dallas County GOP Chairman Nate Crain hosted the 13th annual precinct chair's BBQ yesterday at the Mayfair. I was eating my Dickey BBQ ribs, and boys are they good! when I turned around and saw senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. She only hung around a little bit before headed off to Houston for an ice cream event down there.

I was late in meeting up with the group Friday after work at Cynthia's work place to carpool to the airport on Friday because I had a hard time getting there from Kenny's district office in Irving due to difficulty in finding one of the roads. Our flight ran into a little turbulence as we descended into the DC area for landing at Dulles International Airport. We got free upgrade to two minivans because they didn't have any fullsize available. We met up with Hoang and Kaitlin, a friend of Cynthia from Biloxi at the hotel and then drove up to Rockville for dinner at Chau's place. Chau had really good crabs but nothing else other than that.

Saturday, we met up at Dung's sister's place and Hoang brief the whole team regarding what our functions were and what we needed to do as volunteers for the Vietnam Freedom March event later in the day before heading out for Dim Sum at a restaurant called New Fortune near the Eden mall. We had to go and buy ponchos before heading back to downtown DC for the march. The march went great, though it started to rain cats and dogs at about 20:30, thirty minutes before the scheduled event closing. Duy and the organizing committee had to jump through a lot of hoops to get permits for the march from three different government agencies: the National Park Service Police who had jurisdiction over the John Marshall park, where we gathered to begin the march, the Metropolitan Police who had jurisdiction over and authority to cordon off traffic on the sections of streets between John Marshall park and the Capitol lawn, basically Pennsylvania between 4th and 1st street, NW, and the Capitol Police who had jurisdiction over the capitol lawn where most of the event was held from 18:00 to 21:00.

I went to church by myself on Sunday after dropping of a couple of families in DC at the World War II Memorial for them to tour DC on their own. I met up with the rest of the group at Chau's place at 13:00 after church for the mandatory BBQ luncheon with all the other VANG volunteers. The group went to tour DC aftwards. I was supposed to meet Patricia for dinner but she overslept and didn't call me back in time so I went out for dinner with the big group at Cafe Asia.

Monday, I dropped off Amy at the Renaissance Mayflower before heading over to the hill to make congressional visits on my own. After I was done with the Senate side, I went over to the Rayburn House Office Building for a congressional luncheon sponsored by the Viet Heritage Society before continuing with my visits on the House side. The rest of the group tour DC some more and we met back at the Renaissance Mayflower around 16:00 to get ready for the gala. Had a really good time and meeting a lot of military officers and enlisted personnels of Vietnamese descent from every branch of the armed services. Met with Mr. ThaiTang, the designer for the 40th anniversary model of the Ford Mustang. Also got to see a lot of the film makers and actresses whom I met a couple weeks ago at the ViFF in Orange County.

We were almost late for our flight out of Dulles this morning. We woke up late, got to the airport late, the lines at the security checkpoints were long. We had to run to catch the shuttle from the main terminal to the G terminal and got on the plane less than 5 minutes before take off. God had mercy on me because I dropped my boarding pass along the way but Tam picked up for me.