Teenagers to fight Terrorism?

What in the world the Boy Scouts of America are doing? They have created this platform to train teenagers as early as 13 years old to combat terrorism. These boys have no clue what will be the effect of this program to them in the future. Their brains are gonna be wired with the illusion of adventure but in reality its violence that they are trying to experience. Teens and Violence are a bad combination. This organization is building a bomb right in the heart of these young ones.

It just shocks me that this program existed and has been running for couple of years now and evidently not a single parent have made comments on it. These kids for sure will build up addiction for guns.  If their head is not straight, upon reaching their adulthood, I hope that they won't end up in school, or stores, or church's pulling the trigger as if everybody is a target.

I wish Boys Scouts of America will shape the values and morals of these kids first and let them come in for an anti-terrorism program once they are emotionally and intellectually stable.

Chris Allen Made It To The Finals!

I have not voted for Chris Allennot even once but my fiancee does... and he made it to the American Idol Finale! I think he deserves it. He'd tried hard to be competitive and has immensely improved! I knew Danny would be in trouble since he's just been sounding the same everytime. Adam on the other hand, no doubt, has great talent even when it comes to doing make up and dressing up.

I feel bad though for Danny. But the three of them are all good. If you would ask me who to vote for in the finals, I would go for Chris.

US Immigration Law is only an option?

My blood starts boiling when I see illegal immigrants/aliens marching on the streets protesting for the need of "amnesty". I believe in the laws of the land. If you break it, it will judge you. But while politics is packed with hidden agenda, immigration law becomes a shaded area. I do not agree that illegal aliens brings good business to the nation, which alot thinks become a defense to keep them in place. 

My grandfather who is a native of the Philippines came to USA in the late 70's as a permanent resident and 5 years after he got his citizenship he applied for his children permanent residency, and there were 21 of them. I was 7 years old then and our family was looking forward to it. We've waited for almost 14 years till our priority date came. Everybody was ecstatic....except me because I was over 21 years old and the INS law says that if a previous applicant was under that age and the priority date came but was now over 21 then that application is now voided. My immigration application was scratched. It was a big disappointment. My family tried to talk to the consulate about my situation but they stick to the rule. So they all came here and I stayed in the Philippines while at the same time finishing college. My sisters made it worse when they tell stories about their life here and made me feel really, extremely jealous and drove me insane. 

I finally had the chance to come to USA after 8 years and I took it. But not the chance an immigration can give me but for advancing my schooling to an MS in Computer Science and the school sponsored me as an international student though my mom filed for a re-application of my permanent residency years ago (1998) which is still in process. I am now here on H1B. I'm with my family. I got a decent job. I'm getting married soon. I'm happy.

My situation is not unique. Alot of people are still in their home countries waiting for their immigration application approval and some may end up having their application voided because of age limit which doesn't make any sense at all! Why would they void? I don't understand it. And here come's the illegal aliens asking for amnesty. There are alot of working professionals here on H1B and are living the pain of waiting for their permanent residency approval. Some of them get unlucky and have to go home since their H1B got exhausted (valid for 6 years only). They work hard. They contribute to the national economy. They get paid lower than their citizen counter parts. The only drag on H1B is that you are only tied to one company. If they kick you out and nobody can sponsor you in a month or two then you have to go back to your home country. That sucks. How can the smart politicians at the white house get really illogical and bias with helping illegals get naturalized automatically?? Crazy.

Hear this. Some people wait for decades before they can come here legaly. A friend of mine was sponsored by his dad for his immigration application. His dad died before his priority date and his application was voided. Of course people at the INS just followed the rule and he's just one of the numbers in the paper. Not even mercy can step in and bend the law for the illegals at this point in comparison. 

Venetian Plaster Painting

I have this master's bathroom which I started painting with Venetian Plaster March of 2008. My curiosity kicked in when I saw how wickedly beautiful this paint looked after a finished product. So my adventure and attitue of never say die led me to try it out to my bathroom. I bought several gallons of Behr Venetian Plaster of Bacchus Red color.
Following all the directions from the paint can and from several watched youtube videos I started with the small toilet room. The instructions looked very easy but the real application process was a nightmare for a first timer! It's like building a sand castle while the tide continuously hammers on it and start over again. It was all new to me. I have two steel trowel and a plaster that hardens really fast. The first coat was a mess, I saw alot of bubbles and some areas cracking. I didn't give up so I went ahead and bought a sanding machine. Yea, sanding machine so I can cleanup the surfaces and at least make it smooth and almost even. My problem was I put too much plaster on the wall. The plaster is heavy enough that gravity pulls them while at the same time they are drying. Even though I followed the recommendations, experience always teaches you something people won't tell you. They suggested to do the following:
1. First coat - put enough plaster on the trowel and apply to wall at 20 degree angle.
2. Second coat - put enough plaster on the trowel and apply to wall between 40-60 degree angle.
3. Third coat - put less plaster on the trowel and apply to wall at 90 degree angle.
4. Apply more coats to make elevation effects more obvious.
5. Seal it with wax using the same trowel to prevent the plaster from building molds/mildew.
I followed all of them but what drove me nuts was that the plaster had higher viscosity and quickly dries out that it's so hard to re-spread them on the wall once they are applied. Also, what I found out was that the bigger the trowel the better and faster the application process is.
My small toilet room has a total of 10 coats. I sweat blood on it. I was curious how it looks so I did it but it came out really nice. I actually used an electric buffer that would polish the finished wall after applying the wax. That served as my motivation to tackle the humungous bathroom which after a year I'm still doing it. Some of my friends called me crazy since I never had any experience doing this. But at least I tried and I think its paying off.
Here's what I'm currently painting. A shot I took from my iPhone 1st generation.



And here's the completed painting of the plaster from my small toilet room attached to the master's bathroom.



As of this writing, I had just finished the 4th coat on the bathroom. I have another 3 at least more to do. The bias side of my brain is insisting to just call somebody and have it finished. I'm not listening to it so I'm gonna finish it myself. I will post an update on this blog as soon as I'm done with the rest of the bathroom painting.
No pain. No gain.

Update as of 02/19/2011.

Finally finished the entire master's bathroom, all i have to do is mount the light fixture on the wall. Will post more pictures once all furnitures are up! As per Michae's request below I'm attaching the small toilet's look after 10 coats.

Synthetic Oil Myth?

I've read a couple of articles saying that Synthetic Oil is better for oil change than the regular ones. Synthetic Oild definitely has lower viscosity than the mineral oil and therefore ditsributes heat within the engine better and helps maintains a cool temperature. The myth is that when you start using synthetic oil you have better gas mileage and car performance. With my experience it wasn't.

I switched to synthetic oil 6 months ago and been monitoring it on a regular basis. While I was still using mineral oil my gas mileage was between 17 to 18.9 mpg. Just yesterday my car had 20.13 mpg. So my car was more gas efficient. I had an extra 1.23 mpg and since my car can contain 23 gal (full tank)  I gained an extra 28.29 miles. I'm not sure why it took 6 months to finally get value out of this wonderful oil. Maybe my car was still in the process of adjusting to the new oil. But it worked for me. My car is an Infinit FX 35 V6 2004.

I'm gonna continue using Synthetic Oil till my car finally give up the ghost.

Pulled Over by A Cop Just Two Hours Ago

I drove to my friend's place in Lawrenceville this evening to get my 4BG USB Stick and meet his kid and his lovely wife. Then went to eat at Bonefish close to their house and drove back home. Finally headed out to I-85S and just when I passed exit 113 I decided to hit 80MPH on a 70MPH speed limit so I can make some phone calls and schedule a visit for some church members this week. Within a minute, I saw this flashing lights behind me and I knew I will be getting a ticket. Dang.

The officer walked on the passenger side and ask me "Guess how fast you were driving?". I said 80. He responded, "At least you were honest". Which I knew I was driving that fast. He later followed it with "Do you have to do something that's why you are driving that fast?". I said yes, I needed to make some phone calls to schedule a visit to some of our church members just to see how they're doing and understand if they need anything. He took my license and registration. Waited for 5 minutes. Then he came up and was holding only my driver's license and registration. Urged me to renew my license since it will be expiring before this end of May. My verdict - "Verbal Warning". Whew.... That was comforting! In this recession, Insurance companies will always find a way to charge you more on your premium once they see a hole in your driving record. I'm glad I didn't get the ticket!

The cop told me to take my time and bid me goodnight. He did look intimidating at first just like that Mercury Guy from one of the Terminator Movie Series but was kind enough to let me go for free.

LDS Community Service Project

Yesterday was just one of those community service projects that our church got involved into. Our church annualy participates in community service projects that involves helping schools put up their picnic tables, pain them and plant and prune trees. Others will go to somebody's home and help them paint their house or any organization or family or individual who needs help. We all bring our own tools to do the work. I invited my nephew Alex and explained to him that we will be planting, putting pine straws and barks at the River Trail Middle School in Johns Creek, GA. We had fun working. We started at 9AM and finished around 11AM.

My nephew learned how to use the shovel and proper procedure in planting when the soil is full of clay. I was so happy to see him participate at this kind of activities. I hope he did understand the value of true service. Nothing is more rewarding than seeing people smile and sincerely express their thank you for a community service.

Our church globally, at the same day, reach out to those in need at least twice a year. We are better known as the Mormons. But the real name of our church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.