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 :(!

January 2014

I started the first the next several days after the New Year's Holiday by working out as my 2014 "new year's" getting fit goal. I joined Body Pump for the first time since last winter on Saturday (4th) to do something "different" from my normal workout routine. Also, it was a great way to keep warm in this chilly start of the new year. I recorded close to 50 below zero wind chills on the 6th (Monday) and 3 feet of "new" snow. We had a 2 hour late start on either the 6th/7th. I took advantage of this weather by watching some movies, which my housemate (Yuu from Japan) and I watched some World War II footage on youtube (e.g. Japanese of the Philippines). He was very remorseful by actually "apologizing" "out of nowhere" for the actions his country did towards the Philippines, which I was very caught by surprised and thought it was very thoughtful. Even though this didn't happen in our generation, it was actually humbling of him to do that as he already knew I was a WWII "history buff" (e.g. particularly the Phiippine arena). On the 9th, I finally finished a video project (interview of my Uncle Totoy about his life during World War II) I started back in the beginning of 2013. Later in the day, my housemates and I were invited to this supper "Welcoming New UMM International Students" at the La Fave House. A weather note on Friday (10th), the temperatures went up to 20F, which melted enough snow to cause some fog as I went to the RFC to workout after dropping off a client at the P.E. Center (UMM Cougar's basketball game) from the group home I work at.

With this cold weather, it's a great time to do house cleaning. I did more cleaning in my attic on Saturday (11th), which I'm hoping to get rid of as many unnecessary "stuff" before the winter season ends to enjoy the up-coming "much-appreciated" Spring weather. I also caught up on my video production of my trip to the Philippines in November of 2012. I was able to get 10+ videos alone of my 1st 2-3 day of the 14-day vacation there.

The weather warmed up to 39F as a high on the 12th, so my housemates and I took advantaged of the nicer weather by skiing and snowboarding at Cougar -Tiger Hill..

On Monday (13th), my housemate (Yuu) and I played some racquetball, which is a great "cardio" exercise alternative to running the treadmill or any machines all the time during the cold winter days. Then on the 15th (Wednesday), I went swimming as another great cardio activity.

We had another "snow" day (Thursday 16th) due to a blizzard. I took advantage of this by doing more cleaning (e.g. kitchen. If you can't "beat" the cold, might as well have fun in it. On Saturday (18th), my housemates (Yuu & Rai), Eric, and I went to Wilmar to get some shopping done and to explore a different town outside of Morris besides Alexandria. Afterwards, we drove to Spicer for their annual "Winter Fest" month-long celebration. We just got their just in time with an open parking spot to view the fireworks show over Green Lake! I call it God's blessed timing! The next day (Sunday 19th), I went snowboarding with several of my friends (Chris, Oray, and Olga) at Andes Tower Hills (Kensington-30 minutes NE of Morris). It was ideal snowboarding weather (32-39 F), but it was cut short (2 hours only) as my screw came off from one of my snowboard. Next time, I should bring extra screws! I ended-up watching 2 plus hours of the NFL playoff (Seahawks vs. 49ners).

On Monday (20th), I attend the 1st monthly "Community Meal" at Faith Lutheran Church, which was the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday theme. On Wednesday (22nd), we had another snow day due to another blizzard. I took advantage of this day-off by cutting my hair and then ran 1.5 miles on the treadmill at the RFC.

I did my 2nd body pump of the year on Saturday (25th) and then went to Benson with a couple of friends (Yuu and Chris) to "Mi Mexico" (great "authentic" Mexican food). I wanted to "get outside" of town with our "small window of opportunity" of nice weather before the up-coming forecast of more "bad" weather. We did have one as Monday (27th) there was no work again at my full-time job. I took advantage of the "snow day" by starting on my taxes. We finally had nice weather on a Wednesday (since the 8th), but the ESL/GED classes had to be cancelled due to a rescheduled Adult Basic Education (ABE)-GED Diploma Ceremony for last year's GED recipients. It was nice to bring my housemate (Yuu) along with me as we went shopping afterwards before going back to Morris.