Records

Wow, here it is the last day of 2008, how did time fly so fast?

I have so much to be thankful for this year. Starting with the most significant change this year, I started law school in August. Not only did the Lord open the door for me to be able to work during the day and go to law school in the evening, He provided a study partner as well. Chuck and I took turn driving each week and while commuting, we discussed the materials we read, the things we heard in classes, almost everything law school related, and of course, politics as well. We are both committed born again Christians, both Republicans, and both starting law school mid-career in the IT industry, couldn't ask for a better like minded study partner.

The second most significant thing I must give thanks is that the Lord had provided and I have been to Israel (check my May entries). I've made it to Jerusalem. I stood on the temple mound. I stood looking toward Syria from the Golan Heights. I stood at the most northern point of Israel, looking toward Lebanon. I've been baptized in the Jordan river. I was on a boat cruising the sea of Galilee. I've prayed at the Western wall. I visited the tunnel under the Western wall, prayed at the point in the tunnel that is closest to the Holy of Holies. I walked and prayed in the garden of Gethsemane. I've walked the Via Dolorosa. I've walked through the old city and all its gates. I've visited the Knesset. I've been to the Israeli Supreme Court, even sat listening in on a case of prosecution of Hamas member. I've had my rental car towed in Tel Aviv, an experience not many first time visitors to Israel had.

Got to see my uncle who lived in Frankfurt, Germany, whom I have not seen since 1987 when he left Vietnam for Czechslovakia. Got to meet his wife and kids for the very first time.

And it goes without saying that I am tremendously thankful for my family, parents and brother. I am thankful that my dad has been doing well, no trip to the emergency room. Except for my dad who retired at the end of last year, everyone in the family has a job and doing well financially. I love my job, love what I am doing, and on top of that great boss and great colleagues.

Thank God I've been healthy. My allergy went away too, thanks to my mom for all her fervent prayers on my behalf. I ran the Dallas YMCA 8-mile Turkey Trot in 82 minutes. If it were not for the cramp in both of my legs, it would have been better results. I am taking magnesium supplement and hope that will help ease the cramp if not eliminating it. I should be able to post much better result for the half marathon this coming February.

The balance in my 401(k) dropped about 29% but that's expected. Anything that goes up has to eventually come down. This is the time to buy and I've scraped together as much cash as I can afford to buy, and buy, and buy some more of the stocks that folks are dumping. I am thankful that I still have plenty of time ahead of me for my retirement account value to go up before I need to withdraw.

My new year resolution for 2009:
1. Continue to focus and do well in law school.
2. Get back on the band wagon every time I fall off in memorizing Scriptures.
3. Train for and run the Cowtown half marathon in February and then go for a marathon either in 2010 or 2011.
4. Run the 2009 Dallas YMCA 8-mile Turkey Trot at faster pace, hopefully under 9 min/mile.
5. Saving up for the next car, which in all likelihood will be the X5.

Long term things I want to do here before going home to my Lord, Savior and Creator:

1. Speak Spanish fluently.
2. Get my private pilot license, first single engine VFR, and eventually multi-engine IFR.
3. Continue to practice my guitar, and hopefully I'll be able to play some classical pieces eventually.
4. Learn how to play the piano.
5. Read and write at least another language: French, German, Chinese or Russian.

Just finished watching and I have to say White, the middle of Krzysztof Kieslowski's trilogy "Three Colors" is one of my favorite movies of all time.

This is funny but this is serious.

I got me an IOGear GCS1782 KVMP switch today. Plugged it in and got my Mac mini up and running in no time but found out that my openSUSE box won't output to the DVI. Spent a couple hour searching the net until I found this simple fix.

A great article by the Texas Lawyer. I believe what can be taken from the ruling by the Texas Supreme Court is this: "the government cannot assume people are doing things bad, take away their children, and make them prove that they are not." The burden is on the state to provide sufficient evidence to prove that people are doing things badly enough to warrant removal of children from parents. Thank God for the justices on our Supreme Court. This goes back to before this past November election, when the Democrats running for the Texas Supreme Court ran an ad accusing the Republican justices of overturning the trial courts' decisions a majority of the time. The fact that the Supreme Court reversed the trial courts' decision a majority of the time is not bad in and of itself though that was exactly what the ad implied: undoing the will of the people as expressed through the juries. In this case thank God they did. It's hard enough to raise kids these days, we don't need anymore government intrusion unless the state can justify it with sufficient evidence.

So my first semester of law school was over as of last Wednesday night, when the Torts final exam ended at 10:30 pm. I was not so sure I could do it at the beginning of the semester, full time job and evening school. Hearing from a few part time evening students that I met, they all said it was manageable but one of them said by the time October was rolling around, he quit his job to concentrate on studying since he didn't have enough time with a full time job. Well, I am here to tell you that it is manageable, if you are discipline and stick to it. Don't have to worry too much about elaborate scheduling like I was told by some but as long as you keep up with the reading assignments, updating your outlines, and keep up with a study aid of your choice, week after week, you should be just fine. My study aid of choice is the Examples and Explanations series, recommended to me by Josh Andor, who made it to law review. I found the books to be thorough, very relevant and really help you understand the subject matters. Because my Torts professor chose to test us on a final exam that is an even mix of multiple choice questions, short answers, and long essay, I had to buy the Finals series to practice multiple choice for Torts but I imagine if the professor only do short answers or long essay, like my Contract professor, the Examples and Explanations would be sufficient.