Clam Chowder, NASCAR, and Air Show!

Had been real lazy keeping up with the blogs lately..., but not being too lazy with life though... for example, my goal of learning to cook my favorite American soups from scratch is now complete! After chicken soup, my clam chowder is pretty good! I surprise even myself! ;)



And for the first time in my life, I've attended a NASCAR race. I didn't really like NASCAR all that much, but hey, with free tickets, I'm there! I like fast and loud machines! Whenever they restart the race after some sort of accident... when all the cars going full throttle passing us with thunderous sound: 'zoom, zoom, zomm...' What an awesome feeling. But wife's ear drums were probably close to being popped even with ear plugs! ;)





Speaking of loud and speedy machines, we also went to the annual airshow at Edwards Air Force Base. Here's a simulated attach from the Japanese! ;)


Here's a picture with America's newest fighter, F-35. It's so new that it's not really flying in service yet! ;)


The most exciting part of the show has to be the next-newest fighter, F-22:


Anyway, watching these things are fun, but I think I enjoy doing things more than just being a spectator watching things... Just found out in a recent personality test that I'm a 'craftsman'. So I guess it all makes sense. I'm also continuing on my projects too... To build another stuff animal kitty cat for wife... to build an automatic feeder for our cat... and to continue to build myself to become a better husband too... So many ongoing projects, so much fun... hey, gotta live my life to the full, right? ;)

(1 Tim 4-6, 174.0 lbs, $3.199)

Arduino Tests

One small step for mankind, one giant leap for ME!

Yes, I've been in a creating mood for a while. Can't say that I've been very creative yet... as in creating cool new things, but just trying to create stuffs in general and gather up more experiences. With these newly gained experiences..., hopefully after some tinkering around, I could possibly create some cool new things in the future! Who knows? ;)

So anyway, I managed to prepare and cook one of my favorite soups from scratch over the weekend for the very first time! The Chicken Noodle soup can really take a lot of ingredients and time than I originally thought, some herbs and spices which I haven't even heard of..., but anyway, the end product was worth it! Maybe I'll try the Clam Chowder next time when we have another weekend with not much to do! ;)



I'm also slowly progressing regarding my robotic project! I actually hit a road block on that one and just couldn't build it from 'scratch' so far as I hoped I could... either I fried my micro-chip or has some other defective part or just didn't follow the instructions right or something... :(

Anyway, so I 'cheated' a bit... thanks to the Arduino Board, I've been able to get up to speed pretty easily quickly... finally able to turn on some lights when I program 'let there be light'... or when I say, 'let there be movements...' and then there were movements! ;) After I learned all the basics using Arduino, hopefully my actual 'robot' will begin to take shape and then become more fruitful and multiply as time goes on... ;)

(See above entry for video...)

Oh, another achievement which I'm pretty proud of myself was that I was able to tie my wife in a game of carrying conversations! ;) Yeah, not a very good talker... or conversationalist. This new game of ours requires us to not to drop the ball in a conversation within 45 mins of time... whoever drops it... loses!!! Well, hopefully I can beat her tonite... ;)

(Romans 7-9, 175.0 lbs, $3.279)

Mt. Rushmore and Lobster Fest!

Wife got some free tickets accumulated with the soon to be gone NW airlines... so we figured why not go some place where we probably wouldn't spend our own money going... like to the middle of nowhere in South Dakota!

So Mt Rushmore, here we come! ;)

We actually went on 9-11, so they actually lit up the presidents all night long in remembrance of that sad day in history....


Although these great American presidents were immortalized, one of the mountain sculptors who worked on Mt. Rushmore actually dedicated his life to pay tribute to one of the great American Indians- Crazy Horse! This guy started the project all by himself by the request of local Indian chiefs... and after decades, only Crazy horse's face is finished. They say perhaps in 7 more years, the horse's face can be done... we'll see. The story is very inspirational that's for sure. Although the guy is now dead, a number of his children continue on as their life mission... to finish this huge mountain sculpture... all funded by tourists like us! ;)



Oh, and last weekend we attended the world's largest lobster festival! We didn't like the amount of people who were there, but the lobsters were really good... and the price is really good too! Yum!!!!

Back to two of us again!

Yes, the little bros have all returned to Taiwan. Apartment will be emptier now... was actually hoping to put the little bros into good use to help us move and paint our new condo or something like that... too bad that didn't work out. I hope they at least had a good time over the summer here in America. It's also nice to get a chance to get to know them better.

Anyway, the hunt for a new place is still on..., we can only hope that God is still preparing for us something good! With low inventory and lots of folks trying to qualify for the 1st time buyer deal from the government, housing prices have actually gone up a bit recently! Pastor Jim did teach us to "SEEEEEEEE?" with faith! ;) Yes, may the Lord of Hosts help open our eys so that we can 'see' better and not to be too discouraged with our house hunting!

Last week, Pastor Dawn actually encouraged us to pray risky prayers such as the one David prayed in Psalm 139:

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

So I actually followed thru... and interestingly, God answered! Buying a house, God seems to be taking His sweet time, but testing me and showing me what I'm doing wrong... God answered pretty quickly! ;) Yeah, I'm usually a pretty mild manner person, but sometimes when I see idiot drivers on the road, I tend to want to teach them lessons by doing whatever they're doing to me or others! I'm actually okay with old ladies driving slow, but I can get real pissed at seeing people driving like idiots deliberately. So one day last week when I was returning home, I saw one such idiot driving on the road who cut me off. So I returned the favor by racing him and then cutting him off!!!

And then the interesting thing happend... that car was equipped with flashing lights and siren!!! It was an undercover police car!!! So I got pulled over... almost got a ticket, but I suspect undercover cops don't really have any tickets to write on! Anyway, the point is that I think God has answered my 'prayer' by teaching me a lesson instead. I think I'm going to think twice or 3 times or more before trying to teach other drivers lessons anytime soon! I know road rage isn't good, but sometimes it isn't that easy to control the 'rage'! May God help me deal with that better...

Another interesting revelation from last week due to the risky prayer was that I think God really wants me to get my act together!!! Yes, I've often complained that wife is too picky and she needs to learn to be more merciful..., but I think God has let me known that perhaps I should just get my act together better first! Before I want to help remove the toothpick out of wife's eye, why not take out the telephone pole in my eye first? Yes..., so thanks to God that I'm trying to focus more on myself and trying change myself by getting my 'act' together more. I haven't attained perfection yet, but at least so far this week, wife and I haven't really fought yet... fingers crossed! ;) My strategy so far is to get my act together so good and eventually wife will be the one end up screwing up more... and THEN I can properly show and teach her what 'mercy' really is! ;) Will I really become that good? I personally kinda doubt it, but by the Spirit of God, anything is possible, right? Can you "SEEEEEEEE" the new Billy? YES I CAN!

(John 19-21, 176.0 lbs, $3.159)

Long time no post!!!

Had been quite busy with wife's bros around lately... but luckily work has been kinda slow this week so I have some time to collect my thoughts for the past few days.

It's kinda funny to see a bunch of my older posts talking about how I pissed my wife off... well, I'm sure it's not that funny to the wife! ;) Anyway, even for the past month, the story really hasn't changed much. There were still fights. Well, actually not fights, just mainly wife pissing offs at me! Yeah, there's really not that much for me to fight about when I'm the one screwing up... of course sometimes occasionally I will 'fight back' when I think I'm not wrong, but I have to admit that those are rare occasions. ;) Anyway, wife seems to be pissed of against either me or her little bro..., the two of us is sorta on a rotating schedule to receive the wrath of WTF! ;)

Of course to prove that wife is not just an unreasonable person, the older bro had been able to stay on her good side most of the time! So this proves wife's theory that she just cannot get along with the irresponsible youngest siblings of the family... and interestingly most of her friends and even her students are usually the youngest siblings of the family! Yikes!

So moral of the story? We younger siblings really need to learn to act more justly... and wife also needs to learn how to be merciful with us irresponsible younger siblings... , but most importantly, we all must humbly follow God instead of each of us sticking to our 'old selves'. That's the commitment we all have to make.

Anyway, so I have been trying and demanding myself to change lately. Trying hard to do the things that wife appreciates and minimize the stuffs that she might find annoying! I'm also trying to learn to build new things by completing more sewing or robotics projects... I think I also need to be a better employee at work too!

So may God change me for the better. I will also try hard doing whatever that needs to be done... Hopefully the collaborative effort will show some real results! ;)

(John 1-3, $3.199, 175.4 lbs)

Better week!

The long July 4th weekend was relaxing and pleasant... except that at Ontario Mills, I was distracted by 'magic' that I ended up pissing wife off a bit... ;) She was tired and I wanted to see magic! So naturally things didn't end that pleasantly. But thank God the un-pleasantry didn't last very long though. I must be getting better at talking and comforting my wife! ;)

A bit of some more good news is that the condo we originally wanted to buy ended back on market again. So here's a 2nd shot, but I think the seller is really reluctant at selling to us at such a cheap price though... well, to us, it ain't that cheap, but compared to the previous offer, I can understand why the seller is a bit more hesitant. So far we still don't have a yes or no regarding our offer. I kinda like the place, it wasn't our most ideal nor 1st choice, but it is pretty nice. Hopefully we'll get it, but may God do what He thinks is best for us when it comes to such a big purchase!

Anyway, also finally saw the move UP. Pixar films surely have never failed to impress me. Not only are they masters of computer animation, but also master storytellers. It has the same old ingredients of how there's a battle to fight, and adventure to live and a beauty... or somebody to rescue..., but even with the same formula, I really love how they mixed everything up. I think the moral of the story is that we should all have dreams, but then we shouldn't get too focused on those dreams and completely lose sight of the journey along the way. And most importantly, I'm sure often times we don't 'feel' very loving at times, thinking that other people can be quite annoying..., but true love is really a 'choice'. When we choose to do loving things even against our natural 'feeling', surely only good can come out of it! I think this is for sure one of the ways we can harness the Spirit of the Lord behind our sails! May God continue to breath and blow on us... so that we can have an even better week next week! ;)

'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.
不 是 倚 靠 勢 力 ， 不 是 倚 靠 才 能 ， 乃 是 倚 靠 我 的 靈 方 能 成 事 。

(Zech 4-6, 176.6 lbs, $3.099)