Records

Dallas mayoral candidate Sam Coats went on the record tonight, saying he supports bringing legal status to all illegal aliens in this country, at the mayoral candidate forum put together by the Greater Dallas Asian American Chamber of Commerce, and the DFW Asian American Citizens Council.

Finally went and took my CHL renewal class and range proficiency test today. Now I got to send all the paperworks in and hopefully I'll get my new license before the end of May, when my current license expires. If not, I'll be carrying with my Florida CWL, which isn't expired until 2010.

I spent the day at the Asian American Forum 2007 Leadership Institute. Great speakers on diverse topics with the theme of Revitalize: Career & Community.

There were two general sessions. Attendees then got to pick one out of four breakout sessions in the morning and one out of four sessions in the afternoon. Each of the sessions lasted two hours. The presenters in the ones I went to were pretty good at holding everyone's attention for the entire two hours, which is not easy.

I went to the Paradigm Shifters: "Cracking the Code" presented by Sanjeev Venkatesan, Software Director at Raytheon. This would be the fourth in his series on being successful. First is the Personal Branding, then Networking, and third is Visible Performance. The fifth one he is preparing for next year would be Fish Needs Not Smell. He covered a great deal of materials, mostly in the context of the corporate world. There are three kinds of people: the dwellers, the blockers and the shifters. Dwellers are those who are content as long as they are getting a paycheck and not a pink slip. Blockers are those "tried that, done it, didn't work, don't waste your time." And shifters are the likes of Moses, Gandhi, Mandela, Gates, and Jobs of the world. It is mentioned that successful CEOs on average read about 60 books a year. Magazine like People, US, are defined as knowledge poison. It is like the Coke and Pepsi, giving you a high sugar boost but actually it is poison for your body. Then we have newspapers, which are defined as knowledge appetizers. And the hard cover books are the real protein. Sanjeev made use of scrambling one word to another, ie. DEALER becomes LEADER, REACTING becomes CREATING, ARMED becomes DREAM, .... A lot of tips like opportunies are not given, you have to create it, put yourself in position at the right time; be purposeful in every step you take; play devil advocate to yourself; try new things and expand your vision .... Paradigm shifters are creative, persistent and risk takers, who stick to the essentials, break all the rules as long as you are ethical, have the integrity and follow all policies. They are people who overcome the fear of change, and master of the art of negotiation. They utilize both ears but half a tongue. People who make vigorous case so that they are heard but once the decision is made, quickly fall in line and align themselves with the business strategy. They understand the mental models regarding individual and social psychology, sociology of organization and change. It is ok to sidestep to get around the blockers. It is ok to take one step back to gather momentum for two steps forward. Always be aware of your supporters, those that stay on the sideline, and those who are absolute against you. Keep your friends close but keep your enemy closer, ie. know what they are thinking. Build your advocates. You will need to master and demonstrate a skill many times over for people to believe you got it. Book recommendations: Love Is the Killer App by Tim Sanders, Good to Great by Jim Collins, and Leadership books by Peter Drucker.

The afternoon session I chose Leveraging Your Horsepower by John C. Nguyen, Ph.D.. Performance is defined as Capacity minus the Interferences. Run all four pistons to maximize your performance. The first piston is Image, ie. Personal Branding. Dress for success, keep your hair neat, ... because appearance does matter. Combine the right attitude with inherent talents. Second piston is strength. Now, Discover Your Strengths, and operate on them to double your productivity and effectiveness. Don't focus on your weaknesses, just manage them. According to the book First, Break All the Rules by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, research indicated that of the 80,000 interviewed, a decisive number of successful managers consistently used their strengths. Over 1,000 interviews, extraordinary executives worked their way up by playing on their strengths and following their passion. The 3rd piston is leadership. Here we are talking about influence, the five types of power: Position, Coercive, Reward, Expert, and Referent, and the five practices of exemplary leadership: (M)odel the way, (I)nspire a shared vision, (C)hallenge the process, (E)nable others to act, (E)ncourage the heart. Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner is recommended. The 4th piston is Impact. You are the one responsible to manage your career, not your manager, not the company, nor anyone else. Find a mentor, who is at least two job grades above you so there's no problem of him worrying about your competition if you get promoted. Search for a coach, preferably one that is certified by the International Coaching Federation. Research indicated that those managers with coaches have 50% higher earnings and performance in the 93rd percentile compare to 50th of those without.

Got my fax refund and already spent it paying for the emergency cost of my ski accident in Breckenridge this year. I just wonder what president George W. & Mrs. Laura Bush is doing with their $19,361 tax refund?

We had 9 people showed up but only two ladies so had only two teams went out on EE tonight. Gospel presentation were made to two people. Praise God!

Great article! I couldn't have said it better.

If you are a conservative Republican or Independent, and support Rudy Giuliani, read this and think again.

I attended the Carrollton - Farmers Branch ISD Trustee and Farmers Branch City Council candidate forum tonight. I will be voting for Frank Shor for place 6 on the CFBISD board of trustees. It's an open seat vacated by Mrs. Nancy Strickland retiring.

I am not a Farmers Branch resident but if I were, I would be voting for Tim Scott for place 1 and David Koch for place 4 for the Farmers Branch city council.

On the ballot is also a proposed constitutional amendment that would authorize the legislature to provide reduction in property tax for the elderly and disabled.

Election is on Saturday May 12th, with early voting begins on Monday, April 30th through Tuesday, May 8th. Don't forget to get out and vote.

Response by my alma mater, the University of Texas at Dallas.

The shooting today at Virginia Tech that left 33 people dead, including the shooter, is a tragedy that we cannot understand. We can only pray that God will comfort the families and love ones of those who were killed. Senator John McCain is right however, that the right to keep and bear arms of law abiding citizens should not have anything to do with this tragedy. I admire the senator for separating the principle from the emotions. I only wonder if there had been a concealed carry license holder among the students, could the casualty have been less?

Here is a case that Attorney General Roberto Gonzales could have some US attorneys start working on.

Exactly 30 days to go before Dallas residents pick their mayor, Gary Griffith is my guy in the race. As far as fund raising, he's been pretty good but my sources told me that he'll be even better with the next campaign finance report. He's aligning himself with America's mayor Rudy Giuliani in the most recent campaign literature that I've seen. I believe he can do for Dallas what Rudy did for New York City while respecting law abiding citizens' constitutional right to keep and bear arms.

Dallas County Republican Party had their Reagan Day Dinner tonight with Mitt Romney as keynote speaker. He's my candidate but I have to admit his speech was not really captivating. But he was great handling the questions from the floor afterward. And with senator Hutchison voted for federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, I am a little subdue on my Romney/Hutchison ticket.


Karl Ninh and governor Mitt Romney

On Friday, while helping to pass out wafers and grape juice for communion, I was convicted by the Holy Spirit of how we, I included, can be so petty sometimes. I meant at the foot of the cross, everything is so pale and trivial in comparison. I was reminded then and there to overlook things that other people do that annoy you. It's not for no reason that Proverbs 12:16 and Proverbs 19:11 remind us to overlook an insult/offense.

Our church has a tradition of the young adults cooking and serving breakfast after the Easter sunrise service and before the regular Sunday service. So that's what we did this morning.

On my way home, my brother was driving so I am reading news on Reuters with my blackberry and saw this article. It's so disgusting. I personally know two people at work, a white guy and a Vietnamese guy who do not wash their hands after they've gone to the bathroom. It's just nasty. I mean what do you tell your kids?

It's so refreshing to hear from former Majority Leader Dick Armey tonight at the Dallas County GOP executive committee meeting.

Mitt Romney is leading the pack, raised $21.7 millions for the first quarter, Rudy Giuliani in second with $14 million, and John McCain rounded out with $12.5 million. Will wait and see what each campaign cash on hand numbers will be. My candidate is still looking the best. With senator Kay Bailey Hutchison introducing the senate version of the House bill that restores second amendment right to Washington, D.C. residents, the Romney/Hutchison ticket is in the best position to get an NRA endorsement. Hopefully that translates into 4 million votes nationwide.