Excerpt of an email sent to me.

Want to move to Australia?

What part of this is unfair?.....

Every now and then a good idea comes along. Share it with your family and
friends, and elected representatives.

Subject: Want to move to Australia?

Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law were told on Wednesday
to get out of Australia, as the government targeted radicals in a bid to
head off potential terror attacks.

A day after a group of mainstream Muslim leaders pledged loyalty to
Australia and her Queen at a special meeting with Prime Minister John
Howard, he and his Ministers made it clear that extremists would face a
crackdown. Treasurer Peter Costello, seen as heir apparent to Howard, hinted
that some radical clerics could be asked to leave the country if they did
not accept that Australia was a secular state, and its laws were made by
parliament. "If those are not your values, if you want a country which has
Sharia law or a theocratic state, then Australia is not for you", he said on
national television.

"I'd be saying to clerics who are teaching that there are two laws
governing people in Australia: one the Australian law and another, the
Islamic law, that is false. If you can't agree with parliamentary law,
independent courts, democracy, and would prefer Sharia law and have the
opportunity to go to another country, which practices it, perhaps, then,
that's a better option", Costello said.

Asked whether he meant radical clerics would be forced to leave, he said
those with dual citizenship could possibly be asked to move to the other
country. Education Minister Brendan Nelson later told reporters that Muslims
who did not want to accept local values should "clear off. Basically people
who don't want to be Australians, and who don't want to live by Australian
values and understand them, well then, they can basically clear off", he
said.

Separately, Howard angered some Australian Muslims on Wednesday by saying
he supported spy agencies monitoring the nation's mosques Quote:
"IMMIGRANTS, NOT AUSTRALIANS, MUST ADAPT. Take It Or Leave it. I am tired of
this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their
culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Bali, we have experienced a surge in
patriotism by the majority of Australians." "However, the dust from the
attacks had barely settled when the politically correct' crowd began
complaining about the possibility that our patriotism was offending others.
I am not against immigration, nor do I hold a grudge against anyone who is
seeking a better life by coming to Australia."

"However, there are a few things that those who have recently com to our
country, and apparently some born here, need to understand." "This idea of
Australia being a multicultural community has served only to dilute our
sovereignty and our national identity. As Australians, we have our own
culture, our own society, our own language and our own lifestyle."

"This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles, trials
and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom"

"We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese,
Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become
part of our society, Learn the language!"

"Most Australians believe in God. This is not some Christian right wing,
political push, but a fact, because Christian men and women, on Christian
principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is
certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. If God
offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your
new home, because God is part of our culture."

"We will accept your beliefs, and will not question why. All we ask is
that you accept ours, and live in harmony and peaceful enjoyment with us."

"If the Southern Cross offends you, or you don't like "A Fair Go", then
you should seriously consider a move to another part of this planet. We are
happy with our culture and have no desire to change, and we really don't
care how you did things where you came from. By all means, keep your
culture, but do not force it on others.

"This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow you
every opportunity to enjoy all this. But once you are done complaining,
whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christian beliefs, or
Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great
Australian freedom, 'THE RIGHT TO LEAVE'."

"If you aren't happy here then LEAVE. We didn't force you to come here.
You asked to be here. So accept the country YOU accepted."

Maybe if we circulate this amongst ourselves, American citizens will find
the BACKBONE to start speaking and voting the same truths!!

Guess Who

For all Likha and KP members. Can you guess who that is in the picture (third from the left)?

Day three

Today was an exciting day, not only have I gone through two days of training and my trainer hasn't given up on me, I get to pull a double combination today. What's that you ask, well in plain english, I will be pulling two trailers that are connected by a dolly.
At first it seemed like a daunting task, I was nervous as I never have driven something that had an overall length of 70 feet, let alone one that has 2 pivot points. Talk about freaking out, I was never this nervous since the sixth grade when I met a girll named.......oops, thats another story for another time.

Anyways, so I proceeded to go around downtown Rohnert Park, through Petaluma and then got on the 101 freeway towing these trailers. After a while, it didn't even feel like I was towing anything, I was driving along and nothing was fazing me, until it was time to downshift, then my head started playing tricks on me, I started to panic a little bit and ended up rushing through the whole process that I douldn't get iti into the right gear. Talk about frustration. After the ride, my trainer asked me what happened to my down shifting he said that at the first half of the ride I was doing it well (I didn't even realized that I was) then he said towards the end I ended up not paying attention to the tachometer and that's what screwed me up. Oh well, at least he hasn't thrown the towel in for me.

Tomorrow, I work on my backing skills, which according to a lot of drivers is the one thing that will test your patience and will frustrate the heck out of you (unless you're a natural at it, which I'm not)

Truckin' On!

Day two

Today I got to drive around Petaluma towing a 28ft trailer. It was daunting at first but eventually I got the hang of it. I'm still having problems downshifting as you have to do what seems like a thousand things just to get it down 1 gear. I mean you have to watch your tachometer, then take it out of gear, get the tachometer 400 rpms higher than where you took it out and then shift down, oh you're also double clutching and controlling the speed with your brakes all at the same time. Time span for all this to happen you ask, oh about 2 seconds. I tell ya it aint easy.

Oh it also took me 10 minutes to back up the trailer to a dock, at this rate I think my trainer might throw me out unto the curb.
Or I might throw myself out unto the curb.

Anyways tomorrow should be fun, I get to pull 2 trailers instead of one. Now really pray for me that I get through it unscathed.
UPS training is really accelerated, they expect me to learn this job in 10 days, when there are trucking schools out there that train people for about 6 months. I have got to be crazy to be doing this, but oh well that's the price to pay if you want a big bump in pay I guess.

Truckin' on!

uuuggghhh

I started training today, for my class A certification. Can I just say double clutching, partnered with low/gear shifting and tachometer matching is very difficult and downright frustrating. I was struggling so bad today that I think I might've burnt out the clutch on the tractor that I was training on. We shall see how tomorrow goes when I hook up a trailer on the tractor and go for a spin around town. Pray for me (that I don't hit anything or worse, anyone)

Step 1 complete

Woo Hoo, I went to the DMV (Dept. of Motor Vehicles) today to take 4 written tests for my class A classification license. After sweating the last two days, cramming all kinds of info into my head, I passed all the tests. All I have to do now is wait for the UPS clinic to release my drug test results so I can hand over the medical forms to DMV and then pick up my permit.

After that, I get 10 days of training, and if I pass without a hitch, UPS will then endorse my permit and I will be holding an official class A license.

Then it will be a world of air brakes, double clutching, stab braking, double trailer pulling. Should be a lot of fun, I can't wait.

Hopefully

In about 2-3 weeks, and pending if I pass the 10 day training period (ie: not hit anything or anyone and not be late) This will be my new ride. I know I turned this job down before, but you know what, the package division is just getting a little too hard for me to deal with physically. Only thing is I will be working nights and some weekends, but the pay is better. Truck On!

Sucks

Last saturday nite, while chilling at home, the power goes out. It was out 'til about 11:30 pm.
then as soon as the power went back on, I smelled something burning, as I look around I noticed that one of my external hard drives has smoke coming out from behind it. Next thing I know, the dang thing won't turn on and I believe it's fried. I don't know how it happened, all my computer stuff are plugged into surge protectors, but for some reason the power supple on this particular drive burnt out.

I'm hoping that it's just the power supply and that the hard drive is still intact. It contains a LOT of my pictures and movies and some MP3's. I could care less about all the stuff except for my pictures. Those things I can't get back anymore if they are ever lost.

Crossing my fingers.

Two more weeks before Likha has its show. One word-SCARY! (I don't mean it lightheartedly)

Can you find me?

This is my class picture from my old school in the Philippines. I went to an all boys catholic school called Aquinas High School.
This was my last picture prior to leaving the country in order to reside here in the United States.

More Pictures

Intramuros


My parents house as seen from across the street


Me messing around with Chili, my sister's chinese sharpei.


My god daughter/niece in Tagaytay

WOW.....Philippines

Here's some of the pictures I took from my last trip.




A kalesa in the walled city of Intramuros


A view of Manila Bay from the back end of the Mall of Asia


One of the bldgs. in Intramuros


Taal volcano, if I'm not mistaken I believe it's the world's smallest volcano.


The historic San Agustin Church in Manila, two centuries strong.