2017 Year in Reflection

January

"Shine your "light" through each of us"
https://youtu.be/v1oZtN7HBag

Sal w/fam at Afton Alps Snowboarding (Hastings, Minnesota) https://youtu.be/6VfZOqZ-SyU

I also went with my family to Mall of America to celebrate my younger brother's birthday. We went out to eat at Bubba Gump Shrimp Restaurant and walked a little around the mall. For work, we did our 2nd annual BINGO game with the kids at St. Mary's Elementary School. It was nice to see folks I work with mingle with the local kids. Great exposure for both sides of our diverse community.

February

I wore shorts on February 10th of 2017 as it was an unusual "above average" warm winter day. We had our annual "Valentine Dance" at Clinton, MN with my workplace. Usually, it's single digits or below zero each year during the dance.

"This Child is Yours" https://youtu.be/q8FCrCQwMME

March

I went to the cities on my birthday weekend to attend my older sister's future brother in -law's "Bachelor's Party". We did geocaching in Bloomington and did various activities in downtown Minneapolis. We had a unique encounter with a guy begging for money as we were heading to our car in the parking ramp...

"Satelite Guy" asking for money in streets of Downtown Minneapolis-What would you do?
https://youtu.be/R6ie5W0jg7M

Went to the annual "Philippine Day" at Aldrich Arena in Maplewood, Minnesota. This event grew out of the St. Paul Landmark Center, so they started this in a bigger venue at it's current location 2 years ago...

I saw a former college friend, Andre and a high school friend, Sean (no picture).

Music: New Song-“Deliverance”
https://youtu.be/uUNLVK9EuvY

April

The biggest highlight of the year was being part of my older sister's wedding with James in Chanhassen Dinner Thetre in Chanhassen, Minnesota..

Pictures are personal, so not posting it here. However, I'll post this selfie snapshot (click on pic for video) when I visited Prince's Paisley Park Studios in the same city.

I just wanted "thank God" for an awesome wedding and to see the whole family present, which was an answer to prayer!

Music: Karaoke-“Unforgiven” (originally by Metallica) by Crazy lil’ Sal creativemusicartsy.wordpress.com

May

The Minnesota Vikings (several current players) visited our town of Morris, Minnesota on May 3rd..

"MN Vikings @BigCatStadium -Kai Forbath Personal Interview

https://youtu.be/wPwug0MYMm8

"Stop F'n & Start Prayin' for the World" by Crazy lil' Sal youtube.com

June

I created a blog on installing a ceiling fan for the first time, which I hope viewers/readers can learn from some of my installing mistakes-> Home: Installing a Ceiling Fan Step by Step autohomeandgarden.wordpress.com

Praise the Lord, I won tickets to this annual family music concert festival. I never ever been to this annual event in Blaine, MN. I won a pair of tickets (via Minnesota Gospel Twin Cities that ministers and feeds the "poor"), so I even bought extra as a gift to some family members I took..

Joyful Noise 2017: "Life Challenge" to All by Nick Hall from youtube.com

Please prayfully consider donating, giving your time or blessings to the "poor" or the "least" amongst you throughout 2018 and beyond!

I took a day off from work to attend one of the 2 day Morris Local Flavors Celebration -Rural Arts & Culture Summit Conference hosted by my local college alma mater .

I visited my sister and her husband in Mahnomen and then we drove together to watch a baseball game in Fargo..

North Dakota: Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks vs Gary Railcats Baseball Game

https://youtu.be/T5tnLaFwAl8

Here is another Praise God report: We were walking to the ball park to buy tickets when a couple in a motorcycle (I saw this as a "symbol" and reminder of this book a college friend wrote called-"About Face", which was my first book to read in it's entirety in one setting!) came by offering their tickets for FREE! They said they weren't able to watch the game and just wanted to give it away! What a blessing from the Lord!

I would later doing my annual visit to the North Shore by going to Duluth, Two Harbors, and the surrounding area with some college students that one was my renter at the time...

Minnesota: Duluth-Lift Bridge Visit youtube.com

We visited this place called "Fitzgers Brewhouse, which we found via "google map" as my friend Wahid was looking particularly for "good root beer" (see foodsofallkinds.wordpress.com blog I wrote afterwards.

Minnesota: Jay Cooke State Park Visit-Drive https://youtu.be/NDdicRpP-KU

"Let Your Kingdom Fall"

July

Minneapolis: Boom Island Park-Bridge "Chillin'"
https://youtu.be/FrWFoSUB47E

I had a week off during July 4th, so I took advantage of that time spending with family down in St. Paul. We rode bikes around Minneapolis. Afterwards, we went to see fireworks at Maplewood Light It Up Fireworks

I then biked more by going towards the St. Paul Bike Trails (Battle Creek-Pigs Eye-Mounds Park), but they were closed by the Highway 61 underpass bridge.

I work part time for a company called Prairie Community Services, which I started full-time back in the summer of 1999 after graduating from the local university. I was asked to fill-in and work a weekend as they were short staff. It was probably my funnest time of my job as I got paid to supervise the "developmentally disabled clients" (young kids-teens-adults) at this annual camp they attend called Camp Confidence Learning Center in Brainerd, MN. Awesome place as a resort "escape away" for this particular population. Please consider donating your time and and money to see what this place is all about and how you can make a difference!

August

“Smiley Face” (originally “Poker Face” by Lady Gaga) by Crazy lil’ Sal

I went to the cities several times this month, which was the most of all year. I drove my renter a couple of different weekends to the UofM TC Campus looking for his new "home". I then went to the Minnesota State Fair with family, which we went to our favorite area-"Midway: Games"..

My parents rode the Sky Ride for the first time since we were "kids". I would also go to Red Lobster twice with the family to celebrate my dad's birthday and another time with just my parents...lots of seafood this month!

September

I started the month with my only softball game(s), which my friends from my former softball days decided to do a "last minute" weekend tournament. Unfortunately, we were double eliminated , which I felt very bad as I had a poor batting average (1-2 hits out of 10 or so???).

I then celebrated "Ramadan" with my renter and friends by going to Alexandria to a former ESL (English as a Second Language) student of mine.

I drove my work 15-passenger mini-bus to Chanhassen Dinner Theater to watch "Grease". It was great weather and the whole trip went well..thank God!

The Minnesota Twins baseball team were getting hot, so I wanted to watch as many games at Target Field..

First game was on 9.15.17

Second game was on 9.30.17 with a friend (Chris, who doesn't like pictures), which I left in the middle of UMM Coming Weekend (despite friends came all the way from Florida and St. Paul). This is how HUGE of Minnesota Twins fan I am.

Unfortunately, the Minnesota Twins didn't make it past the Wild Card (against the Yankees) :(, which I watched with some friends at the local bar in Morris, MN.

October

I went through a drawing streak during fall, which here is one of my favorites

I attended "Grandparents Day" with my parents at Capitol Hill in St. Paul, which my niece and nephew showed us around. It was nice to see the school where my younger brother went to when he was growing up.

November

For work (ft-job), I was asked to drive some clients to the annual regional Special Olympics Bowling tournament in Moorhead, MN. It was very windy driving back, which I'm thankful to God for getting us safely home!

“The Stand” (originally by Hillsong) by Crazy lil’ Sal


https://youtu.be/krtlwd17gPQ

I went home for Thanksgiving (every we should be thankful and grateful!) and did some "family time" (e.g. went out to eat at a Vietnamese restaurant, walking around Como Park/Lake, and "window shopping" at Rosedale Mall)..

During the weekend, my sister wanted to workout, so we decided to go to Maplewood Community Center..

Fitness: Plyometric-Jumping Exercise w/ "HealthFitnessLifeGuy"

*this is the launch of my youtube channel focusing on health, fitness, and lifer overall as my instagram account is named after-> #healthfitnesslifeguy

Fitness: Various Plyometric Training Exercises goodnewshealthandfitness.wordpress.com

December

Fitness: Warm-up Stretches while Standing Up to Psalm 33 Reading Pt. 1

I went with some friends "early" Saturday morning to watch "Star Wars: The Last Jedi"..

It was actually not that bad as I didn't bother to read/watch any reviews-> Movie: Star Wars -“The Last Jedi” Reflection goodnewseverybodycom.wordpress.com

But, a "better" movie I went to see later in the month down in the Twin Cities with my younger brother's family was...

Movie: “Jumanji-Welcome to the Jungle” Reflection goodnewseverybodycom.wordpress.com
This movie ended up beating Star Wars the 3rd week I believe??

Karaoke="Hark the Herald Angels" (originally by Charles Wesley)

This is just some of my reflections from 2017, how about yours? What were some of your highlights? What are you looking forward to in 2018?

more coming soon!

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 :(!

Gratitude: November 2011

I took the same guys that were over at my house for Halloween to a tour of Alexandria. We checked out some "tourist spots" (e.g. Kensington Runestone original location, Carlos Creek Winery, etc..). It's always fun taking "new" people around West-Central Minnesota!

On Tuesday, November 8th , I went bowling with some friends at the local bowling alley. While bowling, I accidentally slipped but was able to get some pins down. This would've been a great "funniest video"!

The following day, the group home (Driftwood) I've been newly scheduled at did a "Staff Appreciation" meal at Buddies Bar & Grill (Hancock, Minnesota). I started working at this particular P.C.S group home (developmentally challenged)last month when they needed a "last-minute" fill-in. Due to some "financial challenges", I decided to accept the invitation to be on the "regular schedule" (God's financial provision!). I also want to take this time to give all my co-workers (both my pt-ft job) my personal appreciation to work this "common cause" (see Caregiver Appreciation Month).

The day after, I went to my first swim meet with Hafiz. My niece (7yrs. old) has been taking lessons too, so I've been enjoying watching her "progress" since the summer since I started watching her lessons when I come to the cities. The weekend (following) I went to the cities this month was actually her last swimming lesson (at my old high school). She is far ahead when I was at her age!!

On Sunday, November 13th-my local church in Morris had their every other month potluck. I love cooking, but there are others better than me. I brought some snacks (e.g. chips) and a drink as my contribution, but I contributed more by helping with the clean-up afterwards.

The once a month "Community Meal" was on the 2nd Monday instead of the 4th of the month due to the Thanksgiving holiday. As "active" participant of the Tuesday night Jane Adams Project (see Espanol Services), we volunteered some shifts for 2 days in preparing, helping at, and cleaning after this monthly meal. I helped out with the cleaning part, which working as a "team" made it very successful.

I'm very blessed to have some "paid-vacation" time, so I used 2 days of it during the 3rd weekend of the month. I drove to the cities on Thursday (November 17th) morning and immediately played soccer-football with my 4 yr. old nephew outside. It was pretty cold, so I had him wear my winter gloves. I then had more Mexican food for the week at a restaurant called Pineda Tacos in West St. Paul with a former housemate of mine. I love keeping in touch with my friends (e.g. housemates), which this one was a special get-together as I had a unique "prophetic" dream about him and his family.

The following day, I joined my brother's family to go "window shopping" at Maplewood Mall in Maplewood, Minnesota. It was the first "significant" snowfall of the winter season, which it was very slippery...

1st Significant Snow Fall of the Season (11'-12') on Sat. Nov 19th 2011



On my last day in the cities, I hung out with my sister and her boyfriend (early birthday present) at Target Field for a tour...



On Tuesday, November 22nd-we had our annual Thanksgiving dinner at my workplace. I would interview several or more of my co-workers (clients) asking what they are thankful to God for. I was then blessed with the extra "leftovers" (e.g. green bean casserole, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, etc..) to bless my friends I'll be hanging out this Thanksgiving weekend since I wasn't going to St. Paul since I had to work my 2nd job. It was a week of eating as the same day, the weekly Jane Adams (see Espanol Services) sponsored the 1st community potluck (at the Morris Public Library), which I brought my famous "Filipino Chicken Adobo" to share with the others. Then the following day, "we" continued to eat as we had a "Thanksgiving" theme party (along with a student's b-day and a farewell for a student from Brazil leaving for another training project in Wisconsin) for our weekly (ESL-GED) classes.

On Thanksgiving Day, I had to work the "overnight" (sleep) earlier and started cooking my small "oven roasted" (mini-size that takes only 3 hours) turkey for my housemate (Kazu from Japan) and his friend/former UMM Int'l student of mine last year. I then warmed up the extra leftovers from work and cooked a yummy ("my favorite") blueberry pie for dessert. We ate so much , so we would eat the pie after our short nap. It was so nice outside (50's) to stay inside rest of the day, so I invited the guys to play outside (e.g. playground, baseball with a tennis ball, basketball, etc..). I would continue using the "leftover" 4 days later as I hosted another friend as we (my housemate also) ate ham-roast beef (substitute of turkey).

The Thanksgiving weekend was just a small sample of what I do this in this blog as I celebrate "what I'm thankful" are year round!



more coming...

Gratitude: Many Blessings-What I'm thankful for on Wednesday, September 16th of 2009

I spend the last 1+ hour trying to catch-up on the blogs the past several days. I'm thankful today that the Minnesota Twins (Major League Baseball team) won their 4th straight game to keep close behind the first place (Central Division-American League) Detroit Tigers. Unfortunately, the Tigers defeated the Kansas City Royals 4-3, to keep the 4 1/2 game lead.

I'm also thankful for another beautiful sunny warm (80's) day. Unfortunately, I had to spend the "later" part of the day indoors. However, it was for a "good cause"-teaching GED to the large number (around 8) of students. I'm blessed to have 2 great volunteers (Chris G. & Jen )to help with the busy evening!

I had the opportunity to chat with my cousin online on Facebook unexpectedly! She's all the way from the Philippines, which I didn't really have the opportunity to see her when I was last there in October of 2001. At the same time I was chatting with her, my older sister called about her too! Talking about perfect timing!

Lastly, I'm thankful for a great "girl-friend" (Ry L.) from California as she has been a blessing in many ways (e.g. prayer partner, giving me good advice, etc...)!

Ok, it's past 1am and I need to go to bed! May you all have a good night sleep and don't forget to count your blessings.



Q: Have you counted your blessing for today? What are they?

more...
http://bless.goodnewseverybody.com/thanksgiving.html