Records

Republicans like senator Ted Stevens of Alaska are the ones that give the GOP a bad name and thus losing seats this November. What a shame!

We had a great worship service, with testimonies about God's work in Vietnam and a great sermon on the necessity to give thanks to God in all circumstances. I went out as part of our EE ministry. The gospel was presented to our elderly lady but she was not ready to accept the gift of eternal life. She would like to take time to consider carefully what we had shared with her.

Went to Hoang's going away party in the evening before we had our VPS Dallas staff hangout at Zander's House lounge.

We went to Banana Leaf for a group lunch to celebrate the August birthdays. I really like the color scheme there, green. Everything has a different shade of green and really pleasant to the eye. It was especially cool in the Texas August heat. While we were en route, Roy pointed out that Chaat Cafe, an Indian cuisine place on the corner of Preston and Frankfort, serves really great lamb dishes.

It didn't dawn on me that Baylor is on I-35 and getting to Woodlake would be off of I-45. We were glad pastor Bruce brought along a printed copy of Mapquest directions. We however didn't use the step by step directions because we had no idea where the Barnard street was. Rather we looked at the second page of the directions, looked at the map and fortunately was able to take Highway 6 south to the town of Marlin, then Highway 7 east past Centerville to the town of Crockett. We were good from there, taking Loop 304 south then 287 south to the town of Groveton and just a few miles south of Groveton on highway 287 lays the Pineywoods Baptist Encampment. We got there a little after midnight and both Houston and Austin folks were already there. We had a pretty productive day today discussing and preparing for Springbreak camp 2007, which will be from Friday night, March 9th to Monday noon, March 12th, 2007.

Check out my friend Katie Luong's website: baby photogrpahy.

We had our small group gathering last night at Thuan and Hanh's place. Great food and great fellowship. I am so grateful for the friends, Christian brothers and sisters, that God has blessed me with.

I am leaving town after work for our Vietnamese Alliance Youth - Southwest region staff retreat this weekend at the Pineywoods Baptist Camp in Woodlake, about a three hours drive from Dallas. Will pick up Oanh at Baylor in Waco on our way down to camp.

Discovered Christian News Wire and love it.

Picked up my truck from Service King today. They did a great job and had the vehicle ready for pickup right on time as they estimated. Dropped off the rental Huyndai Accent at the same time. Enterprise charged by calendar day and not 24 hours day. I had to pay for 3 days instead of two even though I picked up at 15:30 on August 22nd and return 13:30 on August 24th. I noticed a sticker on the Accent, which stated that Enterprise had a certificate of self-insured issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety. Interesting, I wonder if they have to have $50K deposit per vehicle for that.

We went out for some "bun bo Hue" at Tay Do today at lunch.

Lother, Margaret, Zeming and I worked on the DFWAACC program book final edited copy today before sending it off for mass print.

Dropped off my truck at Service King and picked up a rental car, a Huyndai Accent, from Enterprise Rent-A-Car, which is right next to the Service King located on southbound Central Expressway just south of Springcreek.

Congressman Kenny Marchant spoke at tonight Greater Irving Republican Club meeting. Followed his remarks was a lively discussion about various issues: ILLEGAL immigrations, the midterm election, 2008 president candidates, ....

I was once again reminded of the worst of human nature this week. Last Thursday morning, I pulled into the driveway of the house across from my house so I can back out and turn my truck around to go to work as I parked on the street alongside the curb in front of my house. As I was backing out at no more than 5 mph, the right rear bumper of my truck collided with the front left fender of a Jeep Liberty driven by a Mrs. G coming from my left. The speed limit on the residential street is 30 mph. I got out, made sure Mrs. G was ok, and then proceeded to exchange information with her. I offered her my insurance info and she started copying it. I asked for her insurance and she refused to give it to me until her husband got to the scene. That's ok, I silently told myself, she probably has never gotten into an accident. When Mr. G got to the scene, he asked whether I had called the police. I told him no since there were no injury but if he would like to, please go ahead. He made the call but no officer came. He told his wife to give me her insurance information and driver license. They spoke to each other in Spanish. We exchanged info. I would like to go to work after we finished exchanging information but he wanted me to wait until he could file the claim with his insurance. I accommodated him. From the very first get-go, I had determined to act in a manner that would reflect well upon my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Accident happened. It would be just an event in my whole life when I look back years from now. I know that God is more interested in the process of my character development, and that God allows things to happen in my life for that purpose. Mrs. G opened and closed the driver door at least three times, getting in and out of the car. There was no damaged to the door at all. The damage was just the fender and the plastic casing that attaches to the frame and surrounds the front left tire.

Mr. G called my cell phone and office number to harass me the afternoon of the next day, Friday, threatened to talk to his lawyer and sue me because he had called my insurance adjuster and she hadn't been able to return his call by then. He probably thought that I didn't know any better. Being involved in politics, I know more attorneys and judges than he could imagine. Today, when I was able to speak with my insurance adjuster after trading a couple of voicemails with her Thursday and Friday last week, I found out that Mr. G had claimed that his wife was driving at 20 mph but she had all kind of injury and the door to the SUV was damaged. That he couldn't close the door and couldn't roll up the windows. I wish I had gone into the house, taken my camera and taken the pictures of the damage.

I learned the lesson to drive more careful and take picture of the damage if possible next time. May God be the perfect judge between me and Mr. G. May God bless Mr. G and Mrs. G with the virtue of honesty since they are obviously lacking it.

I had board meeting today and didn't go out as part of our EE ministry but one team did go out, faithful in the little thing, praise God!

Cato Tax and Budget Bulletin No. 38 supplied the various databases that provide info on where the federal tax money goes:

• Federal Assistance Award Data System


• Federal Audit Clearing House


• Federal Procurement Data System


• RAND Database of Research and Development


• National Endowment for the Arts

Youth EE training at church from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm today. Skipped out during lunch for the DFWAACC board meeting.

Went shopping for a little bit before I went home, got changed and headed to Cosmo Rouge for dinner celebrating Bao's and Nam's birthday. I don't drink so BC suggested the Cosmo Rouge tea while we were waiting at the bar. The plan called for Ghostbar hangout after dinner. However, we had a late dinner and so by the time we were ready to come over, the wait time was about an hour to get in the bar. The bar is on the 32nd floor of the new W hotel with great view, which is why I wanted to hangout. The guys and gals decided to go to go somewhere else. I was beat so I called it a night.

We are looking at John Duong, who in all likelihood will be elected the first Vietnamese descent mayor of Irvine.

Got out of work, went to help build yardsign for judge Jay Patterson before headed to Bob Eden park to play some sand volleyball.

I didn't exactly have a very smooth day today. You see, I parked alongside the curb, facing north on my street. I pulled into the driveway in order to turn around to go south to go to work. The street was clear. All the sudden, the back of my truck collided with another SUV, a Jeep Liberty. The lady who drove the car didn't want to exchange info until her husband got to the scene. So, I had to spend more than half an hour waiting.

Got off work, went to work out at Bally. The moment I snapped the lock, I realized I had locked my key in the locker. Well, I had to borrow the cutter from the staff at the front desk, brought it from the front desk all the way to the back to the men's locker room, cut the lock with the help of another guy to get my stuff after I finished working out.

I can still thank God that was it. Things could have been worse. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 said to "give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
NIV at IBS International Bible Society NIV at Zondervan Zondervan

I got to meet a couple of the newly elected councilmembers: Laura Perkins Cox and Doug Athas at the Garland Open Dialog Dinner at Arc-en-Ciel tonight. I haven't seen Larry Jeffus since he was elected either so it was good to see him. First met Larry during the 2004 Pete Sessions campaign and then got to know him and his wife during the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York.

Second day off work. Went to the emergency room at the Las Colinas Medical Center. They checked me out thoroughly for complaint of chest pain, with EKG, the blood works including cardio enzyme. No trouble whatsoever with my heart, just very severe case of heartburn. Thank God! Got a prescription for it.

Very bad case of heartburn last night, couldn't sleep until 6:30 am this morning. Late to church this morning, completely forgot that it was my turn to lead the worship service. I refused to give up and went out with the EE ministry team today, after not going out for at least two weeks. It felt great to be doing what you know is right.

We heard from state senator Florence Shapiro and senator Kay Bailey Hutchison in the morning before the first general session. Then we heard from state senator Todd Staples who is running for Agriculture Commissioner during lunch. And finally we heard from Texas secretary of state Roger Williams at the blacktie optional gala. Secretary Williams was introduced by George P. Bush, the president's nephew and son of Florida governor Jeb Bush. The secretary was a great speaker, couldn't have had a more inspirational speech. Afterward, we adjourned to the Spike bar one block south at the Mockingbird station for the after party. Here is me making a deal with the secretary:


Karl Ninh with Texas secretary of state William Rogers

This morning, went to Sam's Club, got me a new battery and put it in. Now everything is working like a charm, thank God. However, when the battery was disconnected, all my CD and tape popped out, and I lost all my radio stations memory. Thank God the battery died when it did because should it have happened tonight, it would have been a lot more of a hassle for me since it's the Texas Young Republican Federation annual state convention open night.

The TYRF convention kicked off to a great start. After the opening cocktail reception with congressman Pete Sessions, we went into committee meetings, then adjourned to the Trinity Hall Irish Pub and Restaurant right next to the Angelika to hang out for the rest of the night.

Got out of work, went to Bally, worked out a little and then I was on my way over to Josh and Lora's place to hang out with them, Dennis and Linda when I stopped in Tom Thumb to pick up something for desserts. When I got out of Tom Thumb, my battery decided to die and I couldn't get to lovely Tacoma to start. Called my brother, who was also on his way over to Josh and Lora's, he came by and jumpstarted. I was able to get to Josh and Lora's in my own wheels. Later, from Josh and Lora's place, I started fine and got home. Ok, so it's not the starter because otherwise, my brother jumpstart would not have helped nor would I have been able to start the engine at Josh and Lora's to get home. It's not the alternator because once the engine started, it can run and run, even when the battery is disconnected, because the current from the alternator can get to all the spark plugs. Plus, the battery itself is four and a half years old, ever since I bought the truck brand new in April of 2002.

Went to see my doctor and he gave me an allergy shot, plus a prescription for allergy medicine.

Came to the Metrocrest Republican Club meeting tonight. I haven't been to in a while because somehow it got removed from my Outlook calendar and thus I didn't get the reminder.

We are in the final stretch of preparation for the Texas Young Republican Federation annual convention this weekend, August 11th to 13th, hosted by the Dallas YRs this year.

Two hours of back to back Krav Maga. The advance class is not too bad, not so much of cardio in it like the basic one. Just a lot more techniques, you have to be more careful as far as partner preservation goes.

A group of VPS Dallas members and friends came out to build with Dallas Habitat today at 1911 Gallagher, Dallas, TX 75212.

Got home from the build site, showered and headed down to the Magnolia theater to see Journey from the Fall with a group of friends. After a whole day on the roof, I just didn't have much strength left to go to the pool party at Vincent's place.

Met Eric Hanes, the Creative Director for the Asian Film Festival Dallas. Eric introduced me to AFFD Executive Director Chiho Mori and one of AFFD founders Mye Hoang.

Finished The Lost Boy by David J. Pelzer, which provided a very interesting perspective of a fostered child. Also, sometimes we forgot as an adult that kids don't have all the concepts and vocabularies that we do.

We heard from professor Dr. Ram Rao at the 4th session of the Dallas/Fort Worth Asian American Citizens Council leadership training today. He addressed the various aspect of the differences between a leader and a manager. A couple comments I really liked:

1. From the Dean of School of Management, Dr. Rao's boss: "There are no bad employee, we just haven't found the right job for them."

2. First rate people hire first rate people, second rate people hire third rate people. Real leader seeks talent. Insecured boss seeks people who they can boss over.

I went to work out at Bally before heading over to Bob Eden Park in Euless to play some sand volleyball. We all then came by Steve's house and jumped into the pool. It felt good.

Reading Best Life Magazine about Helio Gracie this morning. He founded Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. Not only that, he trained all his sons, and grandsons to follow the discipline. Two things that stood out are:

1. You do what is right, not what feels good. You eat what is right for your body, not what tastes good.
2. It's a way of life, to stay fit and train to be ready to fight at any moment.

They are the same two points of a consistent message when you look at all the people who define true success. Check my May 14th entry on Julio Franco, same message.

I see and hear the same message with Evangelism Explosion, and with the Institute in Basic Life Principles, which is the same as what Christ commanded: you are saved by grace, but not taking that as a license to go on sinning, ie. doing whatever you want, but live a life of obedient and be ready any moment for Christ's second coming. Same with your phsical body, it's your body but don't do as you like and destroy it. Rather, stay fit and train to be ready to fight at any moment.

One of the thing in Krav Maga, and I suspect in all other martial art discipline, is to train under stress, and to have the persistent and enduring mindset of "staying in the fight, don't give up." How true this is to leading a Christian life, the stress in our life are meant to be for training, stay in the fight, with every ounce of strength you have. A two minute drill in Krav Maga may seem like an eternity while you are doing it, but it's only two minutes. Whether it's a period of a few months or a few years drill in life, it's only a drill for the life eternal to come, stay in the fight, with every ounce of strength you have, dont' give up. You will grow if you persevere through it. What is even better is that God will give you grace to go through it, just like your Krav Maga instructor exhorting you to "come on, stay in the fight, kick, punch, elbow, knee, or whatever that you know you are suppose to be doing at that moment."

Judge Brenda Green was at the Dallas YRs meeting tonight. We had an informative meeting tonight with at least three or four new members. The topic is the Texas Young Republican Federation annual convention in two weeks, August 11th through 13th.