Records

We heard from all three candidates: Vic Cunningham, Toby Shook and Dan Wyde, in the Republican Primary for the Dallas County District Attorney Office at today's lunch meeting of the Greater Dallas Pachyderm.

Tony and I went to the reception State Senator Florence Shapiro had at the
Addison Conference Center after work today. Traffic was particularly bad on the Dallas North Tollway as well as on Beltline Rd.

I was also able to cramp in the Krav Maga class at 8:00. We did 360 defense tonight and my forearm hurts. We also did straight punches defense.

Met Trung & Loan, who came from New York City for the grand opening of Zander's House restaurant today. Kirk's family had a great restaurant in NYC before they moved here. Kirk's dad and brother did a great job with the renovation of the place, 2300 N. Central Expressway in Plano, what used to be August Moon. They served buffet at lunch and the food was great, not oily as a lot of the buffet places.

A whole bunch of us came for dinner tonight, which is a sit down menu dinner, not buffet. The food was just exquisite, authentically Vietnamese.

I was late to church this morning, again. Shame on me. That cannot continue next week.

Anthony got a beautiful house in Frisco, just south of Paul and Sharon, where we had small group gathering all the time. Met a few new friends and see a whole bunch of old ones.

Had a great fund raiser for Dallas County Judge Margaret Keliher tonight at May Dragon, with mayor Joe Chow shouldering all the cost of the dinner and drinks. Great help from my friends Cynthia, Lillian, and Mylinh.

Friday morning, I woke up, turned on my monitor, moved my mouse and expected my desktop computer to come to life but nothing happened. All I got was a black screen, with the message "No Input Signal." Rebooting, turning the computer off and back on did nothing. No BIOS startup message from the computer, not even those annoying beeps you heard when something is wrong. However, the power indicator and the hard disk indicator were lighted. Still haven't had time to diagnose it yet so I am blogging from my laptop now.

Woke up this morning, had my quiet time with the Lord, then went to my Krav Maga class. Went home, had a quick lunch before came by to help John move. Then went shopping for a gift for Lindsey, Anthony's daughter, for her one month birthday party tomorrow. Finally, a get together for combined fellowship and Bible study with my church youth, singles and young couples at Tony's house tonight.

I ordered a whole bunch of nametag plastic holders for my upcoming spring break camp and FedEx really messed up and returned my package to the sender. It's not like my house is new and they have trouble locating it. They delivered more than a few packages to the same address so many time before.

I am glad that there are now 500 scientists declaring their doubts of Darwinism. People who still believe in evolution should read the book Darwin's blackbox by biochemist Michael Behe. Michael Behe as far as I know is not a Christian nor a creationist. He's only arguing that evolution is no longer a feasible theory. The concept of irreducibly complex system totally destroy the very basis of evolution.

Tony and I attended the reception Vic Cunningham had tonight at the home of David and Jean Dean.

The honorable David Dean is the former Texas secretary of state, who is a political powerhouse, a lawyer at the firm Dean and Associates, and also has his own consulting outfit David Dean International Inc. The house was wonderfully decorated with a lot of paintings of every style. Also, I loved the way the house is all wired up with audio and video.

Got to meet everyone of the Cunninghams, his wife Donna, mom and dad, Mina and Bulldog, two of Vic's brothers, Greg and Bill, except for Ross who is having a civil trial in south Texas and couldn't be there.

I wholeheartedly and enthusiastically endorsing Vic Cunningham for Dallas County District Attorney.

A rather interesting concoction by a company named the Butterfly LLC. I am surprise the FAA has nothing to do with it and it is legally licensed as a motorcycle.

I have never seen so many people being so careful on icy roads as I was late on my way to church this morning.

Learned a lot about Indy Car Racing last night from talking to Matt, Rachel's co-worker. He's the front-left tire and wing guy of the pit crew. I didn't know that all the cars are limited to engine of no more than 3.0 litters, below 10,300 rpm, and below 670 hp. The down force generated by the wings on those cars are upward of 5,000 lbs, amazing, isn't it. Also, beginning 2006, all the cars are running on ethanol (C₂H₅OH). They were previously run on methanol (2CH₃OH + 3 O₂ → 2CO₂ + 4H₂O) which has a not too pleasant smell according to Matt. It's also much easier to put out a fire of methanol or ethanol using water since water will dilute either substance, both of which are just concentrated alcohol. The same case cannot be said for gasoline.

I hung out at the happy hour with Saul Albom, his wife Rachel and a bunch of his friends at the Crockett's bar inside the Hilton Dallas Lincoln Center before going out for dinner with my dad and brother at the Bon Mua (that's four seasons in Vietnamese) tonight.

At the Ruth Jackson Center in Grand Prairie tonight, the American Engineering Association hosted Bay Buchanan, sister of presidential candidate Pat Buchanan and chairman of the Team America PAC, who is on a speaking tour to rally the grassroots to stop any attempt to grant amnesty to the 15 million illegal immigrants who are currently in this country. Amanda was there representing congressman Kenny Marchant. Amanda told me something I didn't know, there's no cap for H1B visa if you are a nurse coming into this country, which is a good thing because we have been in such a severe shortage of nurses.

Met Michele Connole, UNT chapter chairman of the Young Conservatives of Texas.

I agreed with most of what was being said: secure the border, enforce current law that are in the book, mandate businesses to verify immigration status of the people they hire, not creating a subclass of people to do work that Americans refuse to do for the extreme low pay, .... I don't agree however of running ads targeting incumbent Republican senators such as Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania or Mike DeWine of Ohio for defeat only because they are not pushing hard for a few items on the conservative agenda. I don't see how helping to elect an amoral ultra liberal left winger to office is going to help advance the conservative agenda.

Agriculture commissioner Susan Combs spoke at today's Greater Dallas Pachyderm lunch meeting. All the candidates each got one minute afterward to make their pitch and then Wilson Aurbach and Amir Omar, the two Republican candidates vying to unseat Eddie Bernice Johnson in November general election, each got 5 minutes to make their pitches.

Got back to Krav Maga after more than 2 weeks. It wasn't too hard of a workout since we only do some punches, kneeings, and getting out of a bear hug.

A friend sent me this link. I really like the way she sounds even when I first heard it and had no idea what she was singing in French. I found the Vietnamese and English translations later and though I don't necessarily agree with the lyrics, I still enjoy listening to her singing it. QuynhAnh Pham is an 18 year old Vietnamse descent living in Belgium.

Back from my ski trip in Park City, Utah. Had a great time. The elevation was just below 10,000 feet so high altitude sickness wasn't severe compare to Breckenridge, CO, which is close to 13,000 feet from sea level. I only fell a couple times, all on flat terrain for no apparent reason. One of those falls, I crushed my glass case in which I carried my regular pair of glasses but the glasses were OK. I wore my ski goggle over my sun glasses, one with prescription for my nearsightedness, while skiing. Met a whole bunch more of new friends this year but also got to see Brian and Kaitlin again. Park City has the longest green run I've seen. The first time we took the Eagle lift up, skied down Temptation, took the King Con lift up, then skied down Rose Bud and Claim Jumper before taking the Silverlode lift up to the top and going down Homerun. It took me 35 minutes to get down the first run but I got down faster in the following runs. Once we got it figured out, we took the PayDay lift up and then Bonanza lift up higher to go Homerun trail all the way down.

Finished the website for judge Lisa Fox on Monday evening.

The Dallas County Young Republicans hosted a candidate forum tonight for two candidates running to challenge Eddie Bernice Johnson in November: Wilson Aurbach and Amir Omar. The group adjourned to the nearby Dave and Buster's but I had to go home to pack since I am flying out to Park City directly after work tomorrow for a three days skiing.

We went to see Rodelinda last night at the Music Hall at Fair Park. The piece's music is composed by George Frideric Handel before he wrote the famous Messiah.

I first became aware of the Souper Bowl project when I was at Calvary Chapel last Sunday. Focus on the Family also mentioned it in yesterday email update.

“Toodely doo”

Dr. Francis Dixon, a Baptist pastor in England during the early 20th century, was well known for his revival ministry in New Zealand and Australia.

One Sunday evening he asked a man named Peter to give his personal testimony of salvation.

“I was in the Royal Navy stationed in Sydney, Australia. One night I was walking down George Street when suddenly out popped this little old grey-haired man who said:

“Excuse me, sir, could I ask you a question? I hope you won’t be offended! But if you were to die tonight, do you know where you would spend eternity?
The Bible says that it will be either in Hell or in Heaven! Would you think about that please? Thank you! And God bless you! Toodely doo!” And he left!

And Peter said, “I had never been asked that question before, and I couldn’t get it out of my mind! When I got back to England I sought out a pastor and was converted to Christ!”

Seven weeks later there was a Gospel campaign at Dr. Dixon’s church. He asked one of the Evangelistic Team member to share how he got saved.

“A number of years ago I was in the Royal Navy stationed in Sydney, Australia. One night on George Street a little old grey-haired man stopped me and said:

“Excuse me, sir, ... a question ... if you died ... the Bible says ... would you think about ... God bless ... Toodely doo!”

“I went back to England and sought out a Christian business man and accepted Christ aas my Saviour and Lord!”

Several months later Dr. Dixon was in Perth, Australia conducting a gospel meeting. He said, “I have to share something with you all – and he told them about Peter and the other man. A man in the audience began waving his arms! What is it? Asked Dr. Dixon. “I’m another! I was in Sydney ... George Street ... Toodely doo! I accepted Christ!”

Dr. Dixon came home to his church in England and shared these stories with his congregation. A woman stood up and said: “Dr. Dixon, I’m another! Sydney ... Toodely doo! Trusted Christ!”

Later Dr. Dixon was at the Keswick Pastor’s Conference and shared these stories. A pastor stood up ... “I’m another! ... Sydney ... Toodely doo! ... Trusted Christ!”

One year later Dr. Dixon was at a Mission Conference in India and shared these accounts and a missionary stood up: “I’m another! ... Sydney ... Toodely doo! Converted!”

Months later Dr. Dixon was at a Christian Businessmen’s Convention in Jamaica and he shared these accounts. A businessman stood up ... “I’m another! ..... Toodely doo!”

Where do you think Dr. Dixon went next? He traveled to Sydney, Australia before going back to England and sopke to a Christian businessman. He told him the story and asked, “Do you know this old man?”

“Oh, sure!” was the reply! “Everyone knows Mr. Jenner! He’s been doing this for over twenty years! He’s very feeble now since he just came out of the hospital, and he’s almost blind.”

Dr. Dixon asked, “Would you take me to him?”

“Of course!” the businessman said.

Dr. Dixon introduced himself and began to tell the story of one conversion after another.

The little grey-haired man began to weep uncontrollably.

Dr. Dixon was concerned and said: “Excuse me, sir! What’s the matter?”

The little old grey-haired man said: “This is the first time in 23 years that I have ever known of someone coming to Christ through my testimony!”

He was FAITHFUL!

(As told by Dr. David Epstein at The Peoples Church, Sunday, August 20th, 2000)

I said goodbye Erik and Sharon, my host for the last 6 days, last night before going to bed because we had to leave around 4:00 am this morning for the airport. Three of us were scheduled to fly out at 6:25 am. The other three were scheduled to fly out later but were able to go on standby and all got seats on our flight. Erik is a diver/ocean rescue lifeguard, and Sharon is an airline stewardess, were just the most beautiful couple and the sweetest host possible.