June 2015

I started the month doing more auto body work (putting primer paint) , which I would work on it for the first 2 days. On Wednesday (3rd), my workplace took some clients to Benson for our annual movie outing. I never heard of the movie, but it was great. I ended up “searching” it online and found out the movie didn't do as well in the “big screens”. I personally thought it was such a good movie, I even made a blog (Movie: Musical-What was Your Favorite Song or Scene in "Strange Magic"? creativemusicartsy.wordpress.com) to remember the songs (soundtrack list) and twittered it.

It was the first of four of the weekly “Morris Kiwanis Talent Show” on Thursday (4th). I went to watch the remaining of the 6 performances after my local church “worship team” practice. I'm not playing our men' summer softball team again this year for the 2nd year in a row due to “physical injury”. My right arm is “healing” after arm wrestling with a “friend” that made an illegal move (stood up and used both arms to “try” to put down my arm, which made a “tearing” noise :( ). However, I wrote down on (Friday 5th) that I was able to curl 25 lbs, which is the 1st time to doing any type of this arm exercise since prior to my injury.

On Saturday (6th), I made my every other month trip to St. Cloud to pick-up a “friend” to visit our “friend” in Moose Lake. Unfortunately, it had to be canceled, which I wouldn't know till the “last minute” when I got to my “friend's” house and he told me he thought he contacted me by phone that he wasn't feeling good (e.g. stroke recovery). I took advantage of my time in St. Cloud by visiting my favorite eatery (N.Y. Gyro). I then went to Menards to pick-up more landscaping material.

I continued my on-going driveway project (rubber pavers) on Monday (8th). I'm buying a bunch a little at a time as I was hoping the price will go down, which it has (almost $1-2 cheaper now). On Thursday (11th) after picking-up the Morris Talent Show signs , I went to Willies and didn't realize I lost my wallet until a guy (Kermit, who told me he has seen me around when he used to drive the Morris Transit) came to my front door to drop it off. I was very surprised and was very thankful (Praise God)!. May God bless him :). He told me he found it in the parking lot of the grocery store. This is the 2nd time that a guy in Morris found my wallet since I've lived here, which shows the blessings of living in a small town like this one :)

On the 12th, I went home (St. Paul) for my monthly weekend trip, which is the first of my “Friday-off” 3-day weekend. My parents took me to their favorite restaurant (Cambodian) and then I went biking around Battle Creek Park. The next day, on our (mom and I) way to downtown St. Paul, a car was driving in the wrong lane (our turn lane) and nearly had a “head-on” collision. Thank God, that drive swerve backed to his own lane...thank God! I did my regular outing with my mom to the Asian grocery store (Dragon Star) and while driving, I saw a U.S. Postal Service “mailman” and I drove to catch-up with him and handed him my postcard I was going to drive further away to a postal office. Talking about..God's timing, huh?! :) After going to the St. Paul Cathedral with parents, I went bike riding again in the evening before sun set. I then did my longest bike ride since this local-national competition the next day (Sunday 14th). First, I went around the path by the pet park at Battle Creek Park before church and then to Battle Creek Mountain Bike Trail - Mounds Park after wards. I was hoping to go all the way to downtown, but the path was detoured due to a bridge construction on Warner Road.

On Monday (15th), I released another parody on youtube called "Rip It" (“Push It” by Salt N' Pepa). I had Mohr plumbing come to my house (Tuesday 16th of June) to clean my sewer pipe and use a camera to see the condition of it too. I had a "good" report, which made me decide to finish my landscape project after hints for me to finish it now instead of next year. This was big savings for me too! I had a funny incident at work too when I was “trying” to help a client by bringing her “safety belt”. I asked her if I can help her put it on, but she replied -”I'm going to have a staff help me” as she walked away ;).

On my Friday (19th) off, I also took advantage of my day off by working on my kitchen siding and driveway paving project. The following day, I went with "family friend" to visit his son at Moose Lake. It was supposed to be our last visit in this every other month long drive, so we were happy this could be the last. As I write this, the certainty of his situation is not fully known yet..please keep praying! We then stopped at Molitor's Quarry to watch the Minnesota Twins game and had my favorite sweet potato fries..yumm!

I continued on Sunday (21st) adding to my bike challenge by going 5.4 miles around the local (Morris) bike trails. Then I finished my rubber siding project in my kitchen. The next day, I went to the driving range with a friend (Micah), which I would have probably my best golf driving in terms of hitting it far and close to the flag number of times (w/ the help of the wind) ;)..

I practiced more of my lines for the up-coming performance (Kiwanis Talent Show) throughout the week as a "last minute" decision to enter in the local competition. I wanted to sing another song (Alladin's "I Can Show You the World"), but my duet partner didn't know this song. She suggested this other song, which was Disney also. I told her I'll do it depending how well I can memorize it. I decided to go all out on Tuesday (23rd). Wished we did this during the "adult competitive" round last week, but the number of participants (#14) made it more fun and meaningful (wider and larger audience) on Thursday, June 25th 2015...

On Friday (26th), I met with my local pastor at his house as he wanted to show me the newest bathroom project. We were about to go biking to Starbuck, but was postponed due to this project. While I was there, I saw a song bird (Cardinal)! I would bike 6 miles on Friday (26th) despite the postponement of our bike ride to Starbuck. I did more of the rubber paver project (2 rows at a time after a sale of $2.99). The following day, I decided to finish connecting the drain pipes in front of my house after waiting since last fall. It felt good to finish filling the hole with dirt.

I would continue the landscaping project for the next week as I did little by little. I was able to put mulch that I stored from last fall on top finally on Tuesday (30th). Praise the Lord..thank you for giving me the strength to finish!

October 2014

I started the month by donating blood as the American Red Cross Bloodmobile was in campus. I missed the last opportunity when I was in the Twin Cities during the summer due to miscommunication. I try to do this regularly as I feel a cleansing in my body and plus it benefits someone too medically. The next day, I went to worship practice at my local church. I also made a video of the song "Come Lord to Morris" as part of my recent songs inspired by God since the Storm of the Planet Conference.

The 1st weekend of the month was UMM Homecoming, which my friend Joey P. came to visit all the way from Jacksonville, Florida. It was the first year that our friend Shannon couldn't make it due to personal reasons. It was a great homecoming as I met old college friends, one from Louisiana.

On Monday (6th), I finally found the "water line" (just 2 inches or so next to the "sewer line") after getting some leads/advice from some local experts (e.g. utility guy that marks them and city engineer guy). This was such a relief as it helped me know where I can finally put the drain pipes in and what area to target whenever we dig to replace the sewer line. I also did another video "Don't be Afraid to Step in Faith".

On Friday (10th), I was so thankful to God for an answer to prayer (A "friend" that was in a vehicle accident late this summer is getting "better" and will be coming "home" soon after being in the hospital for awhile).

The following day, a friend visiting Morris from the Cities called me up to hangout with him and his family. It was a beautiful day to hangout at the WCROC Hort Gardens. Earlier in the day, I did Zumba with a friend/co-worker, so this got me "energized" for the day. On Sunday (12th), it was awesome to see a couple come to church for two Sundays in a row. What makes this exciting is this couple hasn't been to our "local church" for years. It's such a blessing to know how God has been working on them and never gave-up! Just like the story of the Prodigal Son. After church, I joined a "friend" for lunch at Don's Cafe as she shared about her trip this past summer to Honduras. Later in the afternoon, the worship team from my local church got together for a bonfire hangout at one of the family's place out in the country. We had a great time playing soccer and football before our "potluck" prior to the bonfire chat.

On Monday (13th), I was relieved to hear another prayer answered after sharing a facebook post on praying for friends in Japan. There was a forecast for the "world's largest storm" to hit this island country, but I believe many prayers (mine included) were answered as the storm downgraded-Praise the Lord!

After some dialogue on the "bullying" issue, I decided to write a blog about it-> "Ways to deal with Bullying as a “former” victim and bully too"

When I went to my part-time (overnight) job, I was asked by my co-worker for prayer (health issue), which I told him I'll gladly pray. The next day, he would tell me that he feels better, which was an answer to his prayer-healed! On the 16th, a friend I've been praying for almost a year declared that he's "cancer free". This was such a faith builder as another friend shared recently online declared this too.

I took my 1st week of vacation from October 18th-26th from both jobs, so I decided to head to St. Paul to visit family for a week or so on Friday (17th) after work. I enjoyed taking pics of the Fall color changes along I-94, particularly during a long traffic delay (1 lane only) around Rockville Minnesota. I'm always thankful to God for the safe drive home every time when I drive from Morris. The 1st full-day of my vacation, my parents and I went to this Vietnamese restaurant, which I like the soup. Unfortunately, my parents thought the sodium or MSG was too high (Seafood) for them as they didn't feel good afterwards. In the afternoon, I drove by Mounds Park to take pics of the fall colors around downtown St. Paul. I would end up taking more pics throughout my vacation of the fall colors as I drove around the Twin Cities. On Sunday (19th), I decided to check out this church (Church of Acts) along White Bear Avenue I've frequently drove by every time I'm visiting the area. It took awhile to start as the 1st service (8am) was just finishing and the 2nd service (10:30am) didn't start a little after 10:45am. It was a great service as the worship was rock music and there was a lot of dancing and interaction. The people were very welcoming as almost every member came to welcome me. I didn't get out of the service till a little after 1:30pm, which I decided not to stay for the potluck with time.

It was nice to stay in the cities during the weekdays as I was able to hangout with my niece and nephew after school. I would play soccer out in the back (Battle Creek Middle School Playground) a couple of days during the week as it was a warm fall week. It was still chilly as I had pants, but moving around kept both of us warm. On Wednesday (22nd), I took my mom to the Mall of America after picking-up my smart phone to a techy to diagnose the problem of my smartphone that stopped working, which I ended-up paying $40 to find out the "SIM card portal had some H20 and is not fixable" (found out a month later I just needed a working SIM card from my network service since it expired). Prior to driving up to M.O.A., we stopped over at the new outlet mall in Eagan, which I wasn't really pleased as there wasn't much compared to Albertville.

On Thursday (23rd), I decided to attend at least one of the three days of this conference on Islam at Grace Church in Eden Prairie. There was high security due to the prominent speakers (e.g. former Muslims that became Christians) sharing. I left the conference early so I can pick-up my niece and nephew from school. We had a great time later in the evening watching Veggie Tales videos and skyping with their parents (vacation and work related trip in Las Vegas, Nevada). My niece would end-up doing my hair, which I didn't realize what she did until afterwards. I thought it was so funny, that I had to take a selfie->

On Friday (24th), I rode my new used bike for the first time around Battle Creek Park. I brought my nephew to this school's carnival fundraiser. It was fun to see him having fun and playing all these games. The past two days has been great picking-up and dropping off both my niece and nephew to and from their individual schools. I told my co-worker the following week that this was great training to be a father...someday!

I left to go back to Morris the next day for a friend's pre-wedding party get together at the local bowling alley, which would be cancelled. It was good to be back "early" still as I had to do some yard work (mulch leaves before the coming winter). I was blessed to have a former neighbor (Craig) mow part of my yard. I also came back early for the 2-day conference Passion for Jesus w/ Bob Sorge: Day #1-Oct 25th 2014 "Covenant", which would be another faith-challenge-builder in my life!

I would come back to work on the 27th after a week long vacation. It was great to be back as many from work showed how much they missed me. I would follow the World Series and the Kansas City Royals lost a close one (2-3) against now 3x World Series Champions (the last 5 years or so) San Francisco Giants. I was a little disappointed as I was rooting for the Royals (hasn't won a World Series Championship in 29 years). On Thursday (30th), I attended a community gathering called "Estar in el Prairie Reception and Artist's Talk in Morris at the local art gallery (PRCA). It was great to see some people from various parts of the community and a friend (former resident) too...

It's been awesome to see the Spanish community slowly becoming more integrated here in Morris, Minnesota!

August 2014

I started the first day of the month with my drain pipe trench project. I was in the "mood" after finishing a similar project for Jost Construction last month. I did other projects around and outside of the house the next day. I finished screwing the gutters I put on my garage for better stableness with the potential heavy snow on top of the garage during the long Minnesota winters. I also worked on my downstairs bathroom shelf (make it more stable too).

The 2nd weekend of the month, I went down to the Cities for a high school buddy's wedding. In fact, he had two weddings (traditional-Vietnamese & Cambodian and regular the next day). It was a great cultural experience and fun overall to celebrate a long time friend's BIG DAY! I also took advantaged of that weekend to help my older sister and her boyfriend "move" on Sunday. It was a productive and fun weekend!

On the 15th (Friday), I attended a friend's concert "October Ocean - FREE Debut show" at our new local church building. It was a great time to hangout with friends on a Friday night.

During this month long digging trench project, I was able to chat with many passer-bys. It was a great opportunity to chat with neighbors and community members that I haven't had time to chat with.

On Wednesday (20th), I was able to go the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre with my workplace to see "The Little Mermaid".

On Friday (22nd), my family and I went to the annual "great together"-> Minnesota State Fair . It was almost the perfect weather as it wasn't too hot and partly cloudy. It much more comfortable compared to last year as this year was less humid.

On Sunday (31st), my local church hosted a picnic and water baptism at Glacial State Park in Starbuck, Minnesota.