2018 Year in Reflection

January

Below are just "some" of the highlights that I can remember through pics I've taken and went through recently. I thank God for the many blessings for being able to do all this..

Went geocaching with my sister and her husband in Fergus Falls..

Minnesota Vikings "Parody (Twins) Theme Song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi6CeVVESs0#action=share
*a little fun parody I made after another video I made of the "Minneapolis Miracle"

I didn't have tickets to the Super Bowl, but I was able to checkout some of the activities :

Sal reporting from St. Paul's Winter Ice Palce (1.28.18) https://youtu.be/HKeoZAfB_Rs more... USA: Minnesota-Super Bowl 52 Experience Visit smiletravelingblog.wordpress.com

February

My younger brother visiting Morris..

As he drove through before going to Fargo for a work-related trip.

The Winter Olympics going on in South Korea inspired me to go ice skating at the local rink..

I was able to snowboard only once (February 24th) the entire season during a winter storm as I love fresh snow..

March

Parody-"Walk Like a Minnesotan" (originally "Walk Like An Egyptian" by Bangles) by Crazy lil' Sal https://youtu.be/qsoxwacSYtw

Some of the challenges of the year were my sewer back-up..

I tried to rent this machine at the local hardware store, but it broke. I ended up calling a local plumber and got it taken care of.

I visited family down in St. Paul for my birthday, which my dad treated all of us to Brasa Restaurant (found by googling)..

Before heading back to Morris, I watched my niece's volleyball game with family..

April

It was an "April Fools" Cold Day, which I was in St. Paul to celebrate my Mom's b-day ..

Went to play some piano after getting inspired by watching a "friend's" performance at the campus..

During the celebration of my sister and mom (again)'s birthday together, some of us played the "big version" of Jenga!

We would later go out to eat (same restaurant-Brasa, where we went earlier this monht) and then go for a walk along downtown St. Paul's riverfront...

I also worked on car maintenance projects-spraying rustoleum (black) underneath my car to maintain the exterior protection and color from the "winter" elements of Minnesota.

May

My sump pumped started acting up, so I ordered a replacement

My co-worker and I took some clients to this annual "Special Olympics Track Meet" in Moorhead, MN..

My friend Chris and I drove to Minneapolis for one night to check out "Pulse Twin Cities"..

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Aftermath after taking part of the “worlds biggest pillow fight” at #pulsetwincities at #usbankstadium #minneapolismn @goodnewsminnesota last Friday @salphotobiz

A post shared by Saldapal (@saldapal18) on May 26, 2018 at 7:55am PDT

It was our first time at US Bank Stadium too!

I worked on my summer project early as we had some nice "early" summer-like weather..

Helped record the local high musical called Legally Blonde.

"Fill me Up" (originally by Will Reagan) by Crazy lil' Sal
https://youtu.be/N0Y88Zi0qEE

June

Hungout with some co-workers , friends, etc.. at Old #1 's cool patio view after watching Jurassic World..

It has been a rainy season and year overall after, so I left these tarps in the back and front part of my house to collect rainwater coming down my metal roof and sliding it a way as far from my house..

This prevents my sump pump working overload and keeps my basement "dryer"!

"Can You Feel the Love Tonight" ("Lion King" Disney Movie Soundtrack) by Crazy lil' Sal

https://youtu.be/ZBJmc-CKXyU July

I walked the entire lake of Nokomis (Minneapolis, MN) with an "old" friend that used to attend the University of Minnesota-Morris, which we were just "catching-up" on how we are both have been doing since (several years) we last "hung out" together..

I would later go check out Minnehaha Falls Regional Park, which I haven't visited for year and remember going to earlier as a kid too..

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A post shared by Saldapal (@saldapal18) on Jul 11, 2018 at 9:07am PDT

I then visited another friend that went to UMM, but we both went to school together. We also caught up on what we've been up to since we graduated (different years). We saw each other years ago when a "close friend" (faculty) passed away :( in Morris..

When I first bought my house, I would use a "manual" (non-gas powered) grass cutter. It would take a longer time, but less noise and more environmentally friendly, plus a great workout! Life got busier and I started using my "gas powered" lawnmower that the previous owner of the house left and gave me. That was back in 2006 and it finally died! :( I decided to invest on a long term (when I get older and don't have the "energy" to keep pulling that string/wire to start it up!) "battery powered" lawnmower..

So many benefits, which I highly recommend!

I love swimming, so I joined some friends (co-workers) one hot day to Glacial Lakes State Park, which I would show a picture hanging up of an "old school" pic of our local church "MCC Softball Team" parade float back in the days...

I also had a great workout kayaking (*see #saldapal8 , pic taken by Paul J...thanks!)

I continued my summer project of painting some "spots" underneath my metal roof ..

Also, did on-going car maintenance by re-doing my windshield repair..

"Wavin' Flag" (originally by K'naan) Dance w/ Crazy lil' Sal

https://youtu.be/M6qPg2vx90M

August

We (family & I) celebrated Alysa's (my niece turned "teenager") birthday at Olive Garden

I took one of my ESL (English as a Second Language) students (from Brasil) to the Douglas Country Fair..

I took some time to volunteer for my workplace to "table" at the Stevens County Fair

As we were promoting our Open House fundraiser for our renovated building project.

I had my own personal house building renovation issue with my roof with this roof "sky window" leak..

I met some cool people while helping out with the annual Feed my Starving Children..

September

I started my own "moving" business-just for a weekend! :) I helped my sister and her husband move somewhat across the state by renting this U-Haul truck in Alexandria..

It was fun driving it, but the most difficult part was one area where I was trying to cross this double state highway. I was tempted to cross to the "medium", but there wasn't much space. Fortunately, I saw the news prior of a car accident that did the same thing and I learned from it. I decided to NOT take the chance and wait a little longer for a more "clear" traffic despite some "pressure" (car behind me). Let this be anyone's lesson!

Thanks to a couple of several friends that helped move (unload and load).! It was fun riding in the trunk from Pizza Ranch as we had a packed car of helpers.

I then went to the cities to drive one of my renters to the airport as he left for "home" :( We were able to hangout a little at the crowded Minnesota State Fair..

Minnesota: State Fair 2018-Scenes of Big Crowds (Sun. 9.2.18) https://youtu.be/MPlUZd2g6pY

I went to the cities again , but to celebrate my nephew's birthday. I gave this gift (children's Bible) to him...

We then went on a boat ride at Lake Elmo..

Thanks Chris and Paul for keeping me safe and helping with my needed to be done "sky window" caulking..

Metal Roof: Climbing for Maintenance Repairs-Caulking Circular Skywindow https://youtu.be/ip7W5LS-zqk

We (Morris Community Church) had our "last church fellowship service gathering" the church building..

We'll be meeting in rental and other places afterwards..

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A post shared by Creativemusicartsy (@creativemusicartsy) on Oct 1, 2018 at 8:49pm PDT

October

Donated blood at this sports bar in downtown St. Paul while I was there for one weekend..

Got this gift from facebook..

(click on pic for description)

November

Harvest season brought a lot of "produce", so I'm thankful to God for my co-workers for giving me some healthy foods:

(thanks Nicole) and
(thanks Patty)

I went to Hmong New Year with family after Thanksgiving..

Minnesota: Hmong New Year (Nov. 24th 18')-Dance 1 https://youtu.be/UQnlgwuLm6

I would work on my parent's bathroom sink..

Learned new skills and applying what I've learned in the past too from past plumbing projects from my own home.

Karaoke-"Give me Your eyes" (originally by Brandon Heath) by Crazy lil' Sal

https://youtu.be/UKt1j24TnN8

December

I was a "last minute" fill-in as a client wasn't able to come to the annual ARC Christmas Program..

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I played one of the "prophets" during this "Christmas Story"

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A post shared by Healthfitnessguru (@healthfitnesslifeguy) on Dec 30, 2018 at 1:05pm PST

Karaoke -"First Noel" (Hymn) by Crazy lil' Sal

https://youtu.be/P-qZCw5p-mY

Thanks for checking out my 2018 reflection, which I've been doing this for the past year now (used to do it monthly). It's an opportunity to "take a break" before "life gets too busy after the "holiday season"-reflecting on God's blessings !

July 2014

The month of July started with "fall-like" (60's) weather as I recorded on my "praise book". On Thursday (3rd), we had worship practice. I had to work July 4th weekend, so on Friday I took advantage of our "day off" by cleaning my attic . I also did my blogs for both April and May as I've been so busy (just like right now on September 13th-I'm finally doing this and hope to do August too). On Saturday (5th), I attended the "Real Ministries" worship time (1st Saturdays of every month), which our (Morris Community Church) local church family hosted this. For this being a holiday weekend, it was a pretty good turnout. Most importantly, we were there for God! Please pray for this particular ministry led by college students as their hearts are to see God's family come together in unity (John 17).

I was grateful for a friend (Tony F.) paying my lunch at Pizza Ranch after church on Sunday (6th). We would later attend the Spanish service (Nueva Vida Iglesia) that evening together, which another friend (Pat) would bring his co-worker. It was awesome to see "others" join this Spanish church service that I've been attending now for the past 3-4 years.

On July 8th (Tuesday), I started a side landscaping job for some friends. They knew I dug a trench for drain pipes in my backyard years ago and they needed someone to do a house they plan to sell. It was an area between a nearby house, so they couldn't get a backhoe. I decided to take on the job as a great workout, which I finished within a week. However, he asked me to do remedial jobs (e.g. landscaping), which I would work several hours after my full-time job throughout the month of July. It was a great side-job and workout (instead of going to the local fitness center)! In the end, I calculated close to 23 (10 hours digging) hours!

During the second weekend of the month, I went to do my annual once a weekend visit to the Twin Cities. I took advantage of MLB (baseball) All-Star Weekend as Minneapolis hosted this year's national event. Prior to heading to the cities, I stopped over at Hometown Bakery as it was it's last days (closed the next day), which I had to get at least some items (pie for friends and cinnamon bread) for the "last time". On Saturday, I hung out with some friends at Square Lake (Stillwater, Minnesota) for a picnic. It wasn't the best weather as it was cloudy and sometimes they had to close the beach due to a forecast storm (never happened). It was a fun time hanging out with my buddy's family that I haven't seen for a long time. The next day (Sunday), I went to MLB Fan Fest 2014, which was a great time to see the different booths and activities all under one roof (Minneapolis Convention Center). On my way to this event from where I parked (next to the Target Center), I had the opportunity to share God's love with a homeless man. This made my time for this event more meaningful and worthwhile! I then walked back to the area by Target Field and had another interesting encounter. This time, I was eating my lunch at Barnes & Noble along Nicollet Avenue when a guy got arrested in front of me. He was taken by handcuff inside a squad car and would later be released. It appeared that he had some issue inside one of the MTC buses and the cops had to talk with each other before letting him go. I then walked around Target Field for some outdoor events before going in when the doors open for the Futures Game...

"I got a pic of the field during batting practice prior to the Futures Game

I found some great seats (behind homeplate), which cost only $37 at a retail price of $100. Following the game, I saw part of the MLB Celebrity Softball Game 2014 that was played 30 minutes or so after the game prior. I had to work the overnight, so I had to leave after the introduction of the "celebrities".

I would watch the rest of the All-Star week activities from home in Morris. It was nice to see our state in the "national" spot light during this annual baseball celebration event. I did a little organizing of my garage on Monday (14th) prior to coming down in my basement to watch the Home Run Derby via online (Satelite Direct).

On Friday (25th), I watched the last music concert (Word Will Spread (screamo rock genre music)by friends from church.

On Saturday (26th), I went to Moose Lake for my every other month visit of a friend that's sentence there for 7 years at the state prison. As I drove back to Morris, I stopped in Glenwood for their annual "Waterama Ski-Show". It was beautiful weather, as I wanted to soak the sun and enjoy the summer weather before I called it a day.

On Tuesday (29th), I attended my first and only softball game (Accelerated Chiopractic) of the season due to knee complications. I ended up scoring towards the end of the second game that night and I played catch with one of my teammate's kid. I wished I could've played :(!

November 2013

I started the first weekend of the month by visiting family in St. Paul. I helped a family member move into her new place in the Twin Cities. The weather was great for moving. I spent some quality time with my sister while putting up her new dining room table. It was Daylights Savings time (Fall back), so we gained an hour of extra sleep! James' family treated all of us movers at Perkins in Roseville before I headed back home. Along my way home, I went to get windows in Menards in Alexandria. I took the "chance/risk" by putting one of the large windows on top of my car with the strong 20-30mph winds. Well, I was so focused on not wanting my window to come off from the "well secured" (bungee ropes) roof that I lost focus on the up-coming stop sign just 1/4 mile north of Menards on the back roads that I went through the stop sign!...nearly hitting an up-coming vehicle going east on the stop sign. I just swirved in front of the car and turned right going east too. THANK GOD I didn't hit the vehicle avoiding a near serious car accident!..weh!

On the 4th (Monday), I did more raking (after arriving from my Benson route) in my yard before heading out to the weekly ESL classes at the local campus to join some friends there.

On Friday (8th), my housemates and I hosted a sushi party again. It cool to invite friends of ours from the college. The following day, I took some friends to Don's Café after the recent award for "best grilled cheese sandwich", which I had to try my self..

On Sunday (10th), my local church hosted a guest musician (Tim Daniels from North Carolina). See photo-videography-> Tim Daniels in Concert.

After close to 2 weeks, I finally found (a client from my workplace was being sleazy-joking around and took it off from my jacket pocket when I wasn't aware...lol) my nearly broken cell phone. Fortunately, I was in the process of ordering a replacement (smart phone instead) prior to "losing" it, but I wanted to take out the smart card from the "old" phone and put it in my "new" smart phone. It was International week at the campus, so I would attend several events: Fashion Show, International Country Spotlight, and a movie-"American in China.

On Thursday, November 14th-I brought my housemate (Yuu) to his 1st parade in Morris->

Annual Parade of Lights (November 2013) Part 1

The weather was fairly warm-compared to previous parades!

On Saturday (16th), I went to Alexandria for my quarterly teacher's training. I picked-up some items for our "Japanese-theme" food party my housemates and I hosted to some friends (Marta, Bailey, etc..). The next day, there was a church potluck at my local church. The guest speaker (Jim M.) shared about the story of Baal (false god) in the Bible and how people can "call-upon" the "real" God through His answered prayers. During the service, pastor Pat led prayers for a young couple in our church that lost a newborn :( and also the tsunami in the Philippines. I would make a couple of tribute videos for this historical natural disaster-> Philippine Typhoon Haiyan-Yolanda 2013 Awareness Video & Philippine Typhoon Haiyan-Yolanda Relief Thank You-Salamat to show my prayers and support living this far in this part of the world.

I wrote down "snow" on the 21st (Thursday), so this was probably our 1st "significant" snow fall. I remember going to the local library to do some errands and then I rode my bike to Subway to meet a friend (Eric) that I haven't had the time to "sit down and talk" for a long time. It was good catching up!

On Saturday (23rd), I went to a "friend's" jazz concert to support her as she's been a faithful volunteer in the weekly ESL classes on Wednesday nights at the local school. I then went back to my house to join another weekend party my housemates were hostingn(w/sushi).

On Sunday (24th), I had to attend a "make-up" inservice meeting with my 2nd job about "Fire Safety". I was somewhat "angered" about having to attend on a Sunday and miss church service. However, I was going to missed it if I was able to have friends join me to drive to St. Paul for a "Haiyan Typhoon Fundraiser" sponsored by the local Filipino community in the Twin Cities. Unfortunately, my friends were too busy with school work, so I decided to go to this inservice meeting that lasted only 15 minutes or so in Wheaton (40 minute drive NW of here). On our way back, my co-worker and I continued our "small-talk". I then had that "Holy Spirit" touch, which I felt this trip can't be wasted. There needs to be something more "worthwhile" of this trip. I felt the need to share the "Good News" with this co-worker of mine since I couldn't go to church. I ended up sharing my personal testimony with him after he shared about some of his own "personal battles" (which we all have). The lesson from this is "God is in control of all your circumstances" no matter if it's not going "your" way; as long you let Him have "His" way!

On Tuesday, November 26th-I attended the weekly Jane Adams community gathering, which they had a Japanese theme. I invited my housemates, which Yuu was able to go. We learned how to do oragami, which I've done already in the past. On Hanukkah (Wednesday 27th), I attended my weekly Bible Study gathering, but the host wasn't available. Thus, we met at Neil & Ruth's house for breakfast. The following day, I would go to the cities with my housemate (Yuu) for Thanksgiving after I got off my pt-job (overnight shift). Traffic was pretty bad as many were traveling to different holiday destinations, but we were thankful to get to St. Paul safely. We arrived at my parent's home before going to my younger brother's family's house for a Thanksgiving family (over 40+ relatives of my brother's in-laws were there) gathering (e.g. great Hmong food, football on t.v. with the guys, etc...). After our great time with family-friends, I refused to participate in the "early" Black Friday. Instead I took Yuu a drive around the Twin Cities, which we would drive by Target to show him the crazy lines (see The Short-Long Lines of "Black Thursday". The next day (Friday 29th), I took Yuu (1st time visit) with my nephew (Stefan) to the Mall of America. It was pretty crowded, which we had to drive to the the top (about less than 10 cars) floor (East Parking Lot side) because I didn't want to waste my time driving around looking for a spot. On Saturday (30th), we drove to Seed of Abraham (Messianic service-Jewish believers of Christ) in St. Louis Park. It was my second time there as I wanted to show Yuu since he has an interest in this particular religion. We then went to Lake Street in Minneapolis to visit several cultural places. I then took Yuu to one of my favorite eateries in East St. Paul-> Pappy's. By evening time, we walked around downtown St. Paul to see the holiday festivities (e.g. Hmong New Year, Rice Park, etc...).

Gratitude: December 2011

I began the last month of the year by working out for the first two days. I renewed my annual membership at the local fitness center and won 10% off, which is lower than my friend (Hafiz) who won %50 off!!

On Saturday, December 3rd I took a couple of "new" Morris residents to Alexandria for the weekend. We first stopped at Glenwood along the way to visit the local county museum as it was FREE, which was part of an open house fundraiser.



After the open house, we drove just 15 minutes north to Alexandria to attend the annual theater performance every Christmas holiday season of "Gospel According to Scrooge". ..



*I ended up writing a blog on this play's plot after a recent conversation regarding family gatherings during the "holidays" (see Restoring Relationships on goodnewseverybodycom.wordpress.com


The following day was the annual Christmas Program that many of the clients I work with at the DAC performed. This year, it was held at Firth Lutheran Church.



"Santa and Mrs. Claus handing gifts and posing with clients for pictures after the Christmas program"


Sport Update: The Minnesota Vikings continued to add to their losing season by getting defeated (on Sunday, December 4th of 2011) by the Denver Broncos (Tim Tebow, who was born and raised in the Philippines to American missionaries).

On Tuesday, December 6th my friend (Hafiz) and I attended our last Jane Adams Project (see espanol services) get-together. It was "muy" (very) festive (Feliz Navidad)...



The year is coming to an end, so I had to use the remainder of my vacation time from my full-time job. I took a 4-day weekend the 2nd week of the month to finish some "stuff" (e.g. house projects). I celebrated a ESL student of mine's birthday at Don's Cafe for a late breakfast and continued to celebrate with my closest friends the next day with her at Bella Cucina.



I spent my last day of the 4-day weekend by attending the monthly gathering (learning more about applying our spiritual gifts) at my pastor's house. We had a guest (Stu) that shared on "knowledge" and "prophecy" (see MCC December 2011 Newsletter by Jan N.). I personally got a word of encouragement on "restoring relationships" (see blog above), which was just a confirmation! Praise God!

We did more "end of the year" holiday celebrations as we had our "last" day (Wednesday, December 14th 2011) of our weekly (Wednesday's) ESL-GED classes..

The following day (Thursday, December 15th 2011), we had our annual "Christmas Tea Party" (had a record over 120 recorded guest-families, friends, etc.. of our 70 or so clients)...




My co-worker continued our tradition from last year by ringing the bell for Salvation Army. This year, we added a reindeer with us and did it for 2 hours at Pamida. One thing I really noticed compared to last year was the customers weren't as "smiley" (see Is it really the "Most Wonderful Time Of The Year ?" blog I wrote afterwards)




The third weekend of the month, I took more hours from my vacation time by having a 3-day weekend. I spend it in the cities with Hafiz as I wanted to show him my hometown where I grew up. We went to several big popular tourist places..

Friday, December 16th (Downtown Minneapolis)

Macys 8th Floor A Day in the Life of an Elf


Holidazzle Parade in Minneapolis

Saturday, December 17th (Mall of America in Bloomington, MN)




"Hafiz and my mom taking a break during our 3 mile walk around the 3rd largest mall in the world"

The last day of this weekend, I showed Hafiz the popular Summit Avenue (west of downtown St. Paul) and then more of downtown Minneapolis before dropping him off at the bus stop (Megabus-cheaper than Greyhound). Ironically, it was located across the Metrodome where the Vikings had a game with the defending 2010 Champions (Saints). They were tailgating across the street. I wanted to spend time with my niece and nephew, so I ended up playing soccer outside (40's) with him for awhile before playing games at Maplewood Mall. I then headed back to Morris for another short-week.

It was another week with more Christmas parties at both of my jobs as I didn't eat supper several times this week because of the supper-like snacks at the parties! On Tuesday, December 20th-I took a former student (Int'l student from China) along with his friends and mine on a drive through Morris to look at the various Holiday lights (the most spectacular display was the mobile homes along Lake Crystal)!

My 10-day vacation from my full-time job started Friday, December 22nd till tomorrow (Sunday, January 1st of 2012), which I would spend it "occupied". I got 42 hours right away within 3+ days (28 hours straight at one group home) with much of it "holiday pay" to help fill in the hours of co-workers that wanted the holiday off to spend time with their families. I didn't mind as I "try" celebrate Christmas "every day". I'm currently finishing my "end of the year" stuff (e.g. photos, videos, blogs, etc..) at my mom's house. It's been a great remainder 6-day vacation from both jobs as I spend it with family (e.g. open gifts late this past Tuesday when I arrived from Morris after dropping off Krishna-from Nepal-at the Greyhound bus station, watched "Soul Surfer" and other "family videos" with family (including my 7yr. old niece and 4 yr. old nephew) Wednesday, rode along with my bro's family around the Lights Display at Phalen in St. Paul, drove my mom to do various errands, etc..) and friends (will be spending time with them New Year's Eve tonight as Hafiz arrives from Ohio by bus, my housemate/renter arrived last night from S. Carolina after a 6 hour delay, etc..).

more coming & have a blessed New Year!!!!