Gratitude: August 2012

I started the first weekend of August to this "pump-up men" telecast (via satelite) conference at a local church in town on being more "Courageous " (just like that movie) as men. It taught me to put away "boyish" (childish) stuff (e.g. behaviors) to be more of a "Godly-man"!

On Thursday, August 9th-I took a friend (former UMM Alumn) to the local Stevens County Fair to "catch-up" on things since he was going to school here. Despite the smallness of his event, it was a good environment to socialize and "chill"!

Second weekend of the month, I went to the cities for a variety of commitments. I drove a friend (int'l student from Korea) with me, which made the trip more enjoyable. We went to this Korean restaurant (Sole Korea), which I highly recommend. Then we went to visit my family in St. Paul, where I helped lay carpet at my parent's house (one bedroom only). This was the first time I ever did such a house project, so it was a great learning experience for me. The following day (Saturday), I helped my dad bring some stuff to my uncle's new place. Then I took my friend from Korea for a tour of my hometown of St. Paul. We stopped at this annual "India Fest"...

... I met up with my housemate/friend who took a vacation, at the airport. From there, I brought him to meet several friends (UMM Alumns) to mainly see a close friend (along with her husband) visiting from Texas. It was a great UMM Reunion! Lastly, this weekend in the cities meant a lot to me as my family and I celebrated my dad's 75th birthday. We did a small party for him as my brother and I contributed a small potluck (along with my friends from UMM-Morris)! Our softball team advanced "a little" in the softball tournament again this season, Despite our regular "rough" season, we started the tournament with 2 wins in a row (lost the 1st one in a "forfeit" because of the "lack" of enough players, which was due to the Stevens County Fair. Lot of our players were invovled in a botth and commitment to be there.) The first game was probably the best game of my softball career (production wise) as I went 2 for 4 (2 RBI double, and 1 RBI triple), which I caught a shutout (won 20-0). It was my first time playing catcher since my "nose fracture" accident last season. We ended-up losing the 4th game of the tournament (won the 3rd 13-5), which I sadly went 0 for 3. I ended-up going back to the Twin Cities (Wednesday, August 15th 2012), but I didn't have to drive this time as I rode a coach bus with my workplace to Chanhassan Dinner Theatre to see the play "Xanadu". It was a great performance and nice treat from work! We went back to Morris in rough weather as there was a "hail storm", which many came back to see some damages (see pics and video)! It wasn't as bad as it could've been worse-Thank God! I would play pick-up baseball with a couple of other friends the following-day because it was a beautiful day. We would play more pick-up baseball several more times before summer ended. The 4th weekend of the month, I went to the Twin Cities for part of my 1 1/2 week vacation from the DAC. I had to work my part-time job the 2nd half of my vacation from my full-time job. I would go to the Minnesota State Fair with family on Friday, August 24th 2012. It was a farily warm day, so we brought bottle water. The kids (my nephew and niece) got really tired, so we stayed there for about 3 hours or so. I was also in the cities to do my first videography gig. I was invited to video taped a beauty pagent, which I'm still currently (Saturday, September 29th of 2012) finishing editing the project. I was able to do other family time (e.g. play Tennis with my sister, fix the toilet in the upstairs bathroom, with my dad, etc..) and close-friend time (e.g. help paint my new friend's house) during my 5-day visit. During the rest of my 1 1/2 week vacation, I was able to accomplish a lot of work (e.g. put new landscapging bricks for a side-sidewalk along my garage, multi-media projects, etc..) while in Morris. I brought a "little-friend" to help out with the annual community "humanitarian" event-"Feed My Starving Children" (see GoodnewsEverybody.com Social Issues: Homeless, Needy, Poverty, Poor, etc... ...