Filipino Thanksgiving Dinner in the USA

Our simple Thanksgiving Dinner.  Most were prepared by 3rd-born, 21 year old daughter.  Such a hard worker.  So proud of her!

Almonds, candied pecans, wasabi peas

Traditional turkey

Spicy Chicken & Mushroom Soup

for soup: lime, green onion, cilantro

Spring Rolls with shrimp + peanut butter sauce

sweet potatoes with pecans/marshmellow

Asparagus with parmesan cheese

freshly-baked bread

Muffins and Cookies

for dipping in chocolate

fruit salad in trifle bowl

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While I was Driving, 2: Car Plates and Stickers

More interesting-looking license plates that I've managed to capture on camera  (without causing a car accident), thank God.

I bet I know your name!

huh??

someone became a doctor in '97

a fan of  M & M candy

there's a monkey on his back!

do all 7 of you fit in the Volvo?!!

US Electoral College: Who will be the 45th President of the United States?

As the date of the Electoral College's voting approaches (December 19th 2016), here is one of the saner/clearer FB posts on why the EC members are not likely to be swayed to change their votes from Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton:

I understand that many people are afraid, hurt, confused, and sorrowful following the results of Tuesday's election. I do not seek to invalidate those feelings, But there is a reality that needs to be faced:

Donald J. Trump will be the 45th President of the United States.

It is time to stop coming up with these pipe dreams of somehow preventing this. Our democracy has spoken. These are the results.

There are two things which are not going to happen that are circulating all over social media with little to no research involved, prompting thousands of petition signatures and shares. If you took high school Civics you learned about all this, and ought to know better.

1. You will not sway the Electoral College by signing a petition encouraging "Faithless Electors". Each state has two slates of electors, chosen in advance by each campaign via their State Party. You become an elector by essentially being a "Super Volunteer". When a candidate wins a state, it's their slate of electors that go to the Electoral College meetings. Meaning the Electors voting for Trump are among his most diehard supporters. They spent hundreds of hours campaigning for him and were honored with being selected as an elector, what makes anyone think they'll change their mind now? If nothing that he said before changed their opinion of him, what do you think he'll do between now and December 19th that would actually cause his biggest fans to turn away?

2. Trump will not be impeached or impeded from taking office. The lawsuits against him, including the rape case, are civil. He faces no criminal charges. This doesn't necessarily prevent impeachment, but it does make it harder. There is some legal debate about what is an impeachable offense. If there were an effort to impeach him on the Trump University or Trump Foundation case, it could go to the Supreme Court to determine whether that even is "Impeachable", but it would be after he tilts the court to the right. and look, even if Chief Justice Roberts ruled with the Liberals on the bench and they rule that Congress CAN impeach Trump, think about who controls congress...

Like it or not, Donald Trump IS your President now. Hash-tagging and protesting that he isn't only intensifies the divide that got us here today. If Trump terrifies you, your energy ought to be focused on rebuilding. If we had listened to our fellow citizens, maybe we would have had a better understanding of Trump's strength. Maybe we would have known to work harder in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Iowa. Where people are hurting and fearful for their future.

We need to get out of our bubbles and dialogue with our fellow Americans to learn why they voted for Trump. Maybe we can learn where we went wrong, and build Parties that work for them and include their narratives, rather than silencing them.

Don't unfriend them, instead get coffee with your family member who voted for Trump, learn why they are hurting, why they mistrust Washington and start organizing and running for offices up and down the ballot with the same vigor with which you supported Clinton, Bernie, or another Republican. That is how we move forward, that is how we unite, that is how we begin to address the racism, nationalism, sexism, and xenophobia of Donald Trump.

We need to begin the process of moving forward as Americans.

Just like Secretary Clinton asked us to.
Just like President Obama asked us to.
-- Nate R, November 10th 2016

image: metrocosm

 Because the USA is a Constitutional Republic (Rule by Law) and not a Democracy (Rule by Majority) ... And each State is a Sovereign State and part of the United States of America, the Electoral College is important to maintain -- Melissa Lybbert

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.  James 3:17

Do You Support Patriotic Bikers Protecting Trumps Inauguration?

I had not known about these bikers till recently.  Does the President-elect truly need this kind of "protection" from Liberals?  I would much rather pray for Mr Trump and Mr Pence; and encourage other Christians to do likewise. 

POLL: Do You Support Patriotic Bikers Protecting Trumps Inauguration?: 

An estimated 2 million bikers will descend on Washington D.C. for Donald J. Trump’s Inauguration as the 45th President of the United States of America. These patriotic bikers have protected Trump and his supporters throughout the election process and are planning to do the same for his inauguration.  The bikers want to prevent “the libtards” from ruining the welcoming event. 

Let your choice be known by clicking on the green poll link above.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Ephesians 6:12

Donald Trump and our Hyundai Sedan

The election of Mr Trump as President of the United States  and our new-to-us HYUNDAI car each entered our lives within a short span of time of each other.

Each situation  evokes  HOPE.  

We are thrilled Mr Trump hit  the goal of 270 electoral votes. We have not felt this excited in 8 years.  Likewise, though our  used car is older, and has logged many miles, and does not have every gadget, it does have predominantly good reviews.  May our lemony-years be behind us.

Not very many XG350Ls are on the road as it was made by Hyundai for only  two years some time ago. However, we managed to catch a glimpse of one in our neck of the woods, though not the luxury version that we own,  just before it very quickly accelerated and disappeared from view. Yep, this model moves rather quickly compared to our former American-made car.   

a rare sighting of a Hyundai XG350

Mr Trump is supposedly very wealthy.  We can partake of that lifestyle with our LUXURIOUS ("the poor man/woman's Mercedes") albeit lacking-in-gadgets automobile when compared to our other car: a spartan, cookie-cutter yet ever-popular, Toyota. 

Hyundai XG350L leather interior

Toyota Corolla

Hyundai automatic sunroof

So, the car's rarity (will there be replacement parts available as the years go by?) and Mr Trump's lack of political experience nag us a little. But with risks come potential for great rewards. We'll take the unknown over same ol' same ol' -- be it our choice of car, or for whom we vote. However, we will pray -- harder than ever, and more  often than ever. 

Electoral College for Dummies

Do You Understand the Electoral College?

Luv this short video!  It's yet another reason why I -- a "deplorable" minority (legal) immigrant  -- continues to love being a citizen of the Good Ol' U.S. of A. (Just felt a little disappointed that my state's electoral college votes went to Mrs Clinton).    


Some comments on the above video from a poster named Virgil G:

"Look at it this way, for instance, take the electoral map and look at how many counties Clinton won vs Trump. Trump blew her out of the water in rural areas of the states and where she got most of her votes were in the big inner cities because of the diverse demographic. In Illinois for example Trump lost the total popular vote obviously so Clinton won the state and electoral votes, but when you break it down Trump won about 90 counties vs Clinton's 12 counties. But the urban communities decided who won the state because of the diverse nature of the areas. She had more black and Hispanic support and it showed and she won by a large margin in Illinois nearly 1 million votes. Out of all the Counties in Illinois that Trump won (90 out of 102) she had plenty of support from 12 counties that made the choice for the whole state who clearly voted for Trump. She won 20 electoral votes for Illinois. You can kind of see why a national popular vote is a little unfair. The people in widespread rural Illinois wanted Trump and they were overtaken by the high population in their own geographically smaller area cities." "... if only geographically small cities with high population had the majority say in the election it would be far too unbalanced and unfair. Cook County is roughly 1,635 square miles Chicago (234 square miles) and the entire United States is roughly 3.7 million square miles. That's the urban areas in which Clinton won and had a vast more amount of votes. Illinois' population is 12.8 million and just over 5 million people voted in Illinois and Clinton won Cook County (population 5.2 million) and the 5 surrounding counties. That just goes to show how small geographically but large population areas can affect a majority in just one state. And we know That particular area is (northeast Illinois) vastly diverse in ethnicity and ethnicity was the target for Clinton." "Everyone's vote counts as just 1 equally. The idea is that there are so many more people in and around urbanized cites they out number rural areas. It wouldnt make any sense to vote more for one candidate in your state but a couple highly populated cities on the other side of the country with opposite views and beliefs decide who your president will be. Even with the electoral college Trump still lost Illinois even though he won 90 counties out 102. Why? Because Clinton accumulated most of her votes in and around Chicago and Cook county and other cities that have very high population. Though there were other counties she won but he won most of the counties by far and it still wasn't enough to win Illinois. Now just think if the election was based on the national popular vote, the largely populated states and cities would basically decide who our Country's President would be no matter if every single person in your state voted for the other candidate. That's not fair is it? Your state wouldn't have any say so. So with the electoral college it encourages the candidates to travel to every single state instead of just going to a few big cities to clinch masses of voters to win. With electoral college they have to strategically win every states majority approval to win their electoral votes and then move on to win majority approval in another state until they collect 270 electoral votes to win the presidency. Every state has a set amount of electoral votes based on how many representatives they have for their state in the house of congress. The amount of representatives in a state is based on population, California has the highest population and thus has the most representatives (House reps 53, Senate reps 2) 55 and that corresponds to how many electoral votes they have. If the election was based off a popular vote California, Texas, and New York state could basically elect the president for the other 47 states based off of population alone."

US Presidential Election 2016: He is not a Statistician, however ...

Now I can comfortably post this. Below is my friend's FB electoral college/election prediction  that he had made on November 5, 2016 --- 3 days before the US General Elections.  I thought him supremely overconfident, though I secretly hoped that he was accurate. Still, I was doubtful enough to deliberately not "like" it.  No one did.  

He was not 100% accurate (he missed on  his home-state of Colorado, and Nevada).  Nonetheless,  his Mensa-like mind served him well.  

I do not want to play Post Office

 I usually answer with a quick and honest "No" to a US postal worker's rote question of whether I am mailing anything that is restricted, liquid, perishable, hazardous, or prohibited.  Recently, I felt compelled to add more detail to my answer.  To my utter surprise and horror, the USPS clerk said that my little  item was considered a hazardous material. It is  mailable --  but has specific restrictions. 

 It can be transported, but only via domestic surface transportation (read: very, very slow truck). So, after my $10 loss on its sale on eBay, I had to shell-out even more money to mail it to my buyer. However, scripture reminds me that in everything I must give thanks. If I had been unthinking or dishonest in my response  and the item had ended up as the source of an explosion or damage on a plane, I  would have personally been fined thousand of dollars.  Shiver-me-timbers. Honesty truly is the best policy.  I have also made up my mind that I will never sell this type of item again, no matter how high end the designer name nor how limited the edition.

ETA:  After this recent experience, I was not at all surprised by  the recent ban on Samsung Galaxy Note7 devices'  on all flights.  

Providing for honest things,

 not only in the sight of the Lord, 

but also in the sight of men.  

2 Corinthians 8:21

USPS List: Restricted, Hazardous, Perishable Items

June 30, 2016

15.12.28.17

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