October 2016

We continued our weekly soccer in October, which the weather remained beautiful most of the month. My local college where I graduated had their homecoming, which my friends (Joey & Shannon) came again for another consecutive "countless" year. They weren't able to arrive till later (Friday) due to personal reasons. I picked them up and greeted them at the Student Center after a KUMM (local radio station) concert. Unfortunately, my car wouldn't start. After countless tries with the factory alarm going on late at night (10:45ish pm), the local campus police officer was successfully able to to stop the alarm after I handed him one of my wrenches in my tool box that was in my trunk of my car. I decided to leave my car there and follow the suggestion of the campus officer to replace the battery the next day when there will be daylight. I gave up fixing it after I wasn't successful getting a response via text from friends to help as it was late! My friends ended up calling the Morris Taxi service and I just walked home.

The next day, I got up early to get a new battery and replace it myself as my friend (Tim, the mechanic) still hasn't replied. I carried my new "expensive" battery ($160!, which Tim called it a rip off) via bicycle and was able to fix it. Tim finally came after I put the new battery and was able to drive to my house. Unfortunately, the car shut off as it remained idle in my driveway. It started up again after contacting Tim to check it out again, which we test drove it around town and couldn't diagnose the problem-probably just had to warm the battery more by letting it run.

I was thankful to God that this car was able to start and run, but was still weary it wouldn't start again. I told my friends that my car isn't 100% working, so I suggested them to use their Morris taxi pass the remainder of the weekend of Homecoming if they need a ride. I would later get my car working with no problems...praise the Lord! This car issue came along with other 2 challenges at the time ("comes in 3 saying" :( ). I was already having problems with my desktop computer, which I wouldn't get running for the most of the month of October. I ended up replacing my hard drive with a $300 Samsung solid state drive, which I never heard about until after doing some research. Tim spoke highly about it, so it was actually a blessing to purchase this and haven't had any problems since replacing it sometime the last week of October. It was such a blessing as it got my computer to start quicker and run smoother too! I was able to upload one of the songs I recorded the previous month...

During Homecoming, I was able to see my former mentor (who motivated me to ready my Bible daily) Stu F...

...who I passed by on my bike with my new car battery, but wasn't able to chat as I was going down a small decline. I would meet him at my local church, which we were able to catch-up and share what God has been doing in our lives in this small group fellowship activity during our monthly community "communion" fellowship.

The third "challenge" during the beginning of October was my bike, which I had 2 flats within a week time. I ended up buying a new bike "back" ($70) wheel after taking it to the bike shop (Eul's Hardware), which they suggested me replacing it as the bearings were worn out (probably caused by me going over the curb too many times and my weight was too much for the thin back tire). Fortunately, I got it fixed and was thankful to God for all these challenges to be taken care of....Praise the Lord!

A former co-worker invited me to meet with her friend about this potential business at Old #1 on Tuesday (11th), which ended up being one of those "make money quick" pyramid scheme business. I learned from my mistakes in the past (e.g. Equinox International, Quickstar, Powermall, etc..), so I wasn't able to get tempted by their fancy presentation.

I went to the cities the 3rd weekend (14th-16h) as my renters' younger brother (Saad) needed a ride to the airport early Saturday morning (@6am on the 15th). I took advantage of that weekend doing family time (e.g. watched my niece and nephew during swimming practice). My younger brother invited us (mom, kids, and I) to a spontaneous road trip -Southeastern: Great River Road-Scenic Hwy 61. The weather was cloudy, but still nice and warm to enjoy the beautiful fall colors!

I attended the annual health expo in town , which the local hospital featured a key note speaker that was a former NFL Super Bowl Champion. I shared with him a little how I had some health brain concussion like symptoms too, which I would encourage him via instagram with my blog

We had our annual dance during this time at my workplace on Friday (28th), which I dressed up as a baseball player. I would do my monthly singing with my local church worship team on the 30th. I attended 2 funeral-memorial services on the 29th & 31st, which is always a good time to self-evaluate's ones' own life of purpose , gratefulness, and goal-setting.

October 2015

It was the annual UMM Homecoming the first weekend of October. It was another year that a couple of friends came up to visit, which one of them didn't make it for the first time last year. It was good to see both of them again as we caught up on how each of us have been doing. I would "try" to meet all of them at the Tailgate Party by Big Cat Stadium, but they ended up coming late as I left. However, I would try to keep occupied and do some wall climbing...

..before I left. This year, my friend Shannon brought up his girlfriend, which was the first time for her to visit. We would take her to one of the newest restaurants in town-Mi Mexico...

..., which we decided "last minute" as we walked by the popular crowded "Don's Cafe". Unfortunately, they had to leave early Sunday morning, so they weren't able to attend some other events going on around town on Sunday (4th): I had my monthly worship team service and then I attended the annual "Options for Women" Banquet at the Morris Evangelical Free Church. There was a guest speaker that encouraged us supporters to not just wait for this annual banquet to support this organization, but we should try to support them all year round.

The following day (5th), I would get a chance to catch up with a married couple that I haven't seen for a long time (since their wedding earlier this year). We would meet at Common Cup, which I ended up doing a fundraiser video to encourage friends to come to their "spaghetti feed" (help cover medical expenses for his scoliosis) later this month while I'm at Hawaii. I then went to meet with my pastor to catch-up for a dinner at Old #1 before our weekly "Focus Prayer" (church prayer group).

I would take the day off on Friday (9th) from my ft-job, so I can get on the road to visit family in St. Paul before heading to Waseca for a friend's (former housemate/renter) wedding. Yuu just got back with his wife (coming to America for an American wedding after being married in Japan last year) from Japan a week or so ago. It was nice to explore some new towns I went through along the way as I was thankful to God for a beautiful drive.

I arrived around 1ish in time for the wedding rehearsals, which I would meet friend of both the groom and bride. It was such a great bonding time and I had the most fun with the wedding reception (karaoke party)!...

I ended up leaving right after the reception and would get home a little past midnight.

I woke up early Sunday (11th) morning in St. Paul to ride my bike along the newest open bridge trail (Warner to Shepherd road)...

Biking along the "newest" Warner-Shepherd Road Trail Bridge (Oct. 11th 2015)

...I've been waiting all summer long for this to open. I had a tight schedule, so I wasn't able to ride all the way to downtown like I wanted to. However, I got pretty far, which it was an hour round trip. I ended up meeting this "stranger" who would share about some interesting "sights" (e.g. deer carcass eating up to the bones-possible creature???) and stories of the caves nearby (Mounds Park).

I had about 5 days in Morris before heading back to the Twin Cities in preparation of my trip to Hawaii with family. I was able to visit a friend (Steve) who was somewhat going downhill health wise. I'm glad I took the time to see him as he would pass away 5 days or so later. I've learned to really take advantage of the time you have with family, friends, etc..-love ones period.

I got to St. Paul on the 17th (Saturday), so I can have some day of preparation before heading out of the state early next (Sunday 18th) morning (around 6ish). I was looking forward to a week-plus spending time with family and just enjoying this much to say vacation island destination. When I got to St. Paul, I went to visit my uncle at a senior living center. It seems like my work follows me. While visiting my uncle, I can hear one of his neighbors screaming. My uncle told me to not worry as she does this at times. I would find out later that she was screaming because she fell from her wheel chair. I felt bad as I could've helped her get back on. I could hear the commotion of some staff helping her up on her wheelchair. When I arrived home, I checked my luggage for additional items to pack. I went online to look-up surf videos as I wanted to find the cheapest way possible to learn before paying the expensive rates. The next morning, we got up early and were thankful to Khua's side of the family for taking us to the airport. Yes, my work continued to follow me as I went on the plane. I would meet this interesting lady that would share some of her interesting life story-> Flight Passenger Travel Stories: Round Trip Minneapolis-St. Paul to Seattle-Tacoma to Honolulu (my first blog on my travel adventures!). We had a 12 hour delay in Seattle along our flight to Hawaii from Minnesota. My brother and his wife already scheduled a rental car to drive around Seattle, which was a very beautiful city despite the rainy cloudy afternoon.

“Sleepless in Seattle” Downtown Visit 2015 smiletravelingblog.wordpress.com

We still had several hours to "kill", so we drove out of Seattle and looked for a popular attraction. Seattle is surrounded by many high mountain ranges and one of the closest popular one was Mount Rainier. Unfortunately, the cloudy weather prevented us seeing the mountain, but we did see the base.

It was getting close to departure, so we went back to the Seattle-Tacoma Int'l Airport and were anticipating for our 5-hour flight to Hawaii. We arrived in Honululu Int'l Airport around 11ish at night and had to drive an additional hour to our hotel in Laie (North Shore). We were all tired and I remember asking the lady in the front desk about the nearest place to surf. I would sleep pretty good in the room I shared with my parents. I would get up early and was excited to walk the town to see what we couldn't see in the dark last night. I walked to the nearest grocery store in Laie after googling. It was a humid-muggy morning already, which was nice! When I got back to the hotel with some grocery items (e.g. gallon of water since the hotel charged a-lot!), my brother shared about our road trip along the North Shore. It was a beautiful day for a scenic drive along the shore! We stopped by one of the beaches and I would just marvel the scenery..

Hawaii Visit: Oahu’s North Shore Drive Tour smiletravelingblog.wordpress.com

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!

September 2013

I started the month with Labor Day weekend, which was a nice time to "rest" before my full schedule (M-F) started next week. My friends (Ed & Aisanne) invited my housemates and I over for supper on Sunday (1st) as it was great weather. It was a 1/2 day when I and my co-workers went back to work on Tuesday (3rd), but the other 1/2 of the "work day" was our annual inservice training-good refresher course to remind ourselves the "mission" of why we work ("serve our clients and train them to be as independent as they are capable to "succeed" in life-paraphrase). After work, I continued more of the ongoing roof project (put screws on the panels to hold them down).

On Wednesday (4th), I helped out at our weekly ESL-GED classes. My housemates hosted a sushi get-together as a farewell party for my housemate (Adnan) who will be leaving this coming weekend :(. The next day, his supervisor from work invited my housemate (Kazu) and I over for a BBQ potluck with his co-workers. We continued the farewell celebration with a BBQ in our backyard on Friday night (6th). It was excellent weather as we had over 10+ friends over. I did a "Bollywood" music slideshow of some pictures taken to reflect his short 6-month time with us. I took Adnan the following day with more goodbyes and left Morris to the Twin Cities. We met up with his cousin (Manan) as he took a bus all the way from Madison, Wisconsin. He would hang out with us for the weekend (e.g. Rosedale Mall, Holy Land , etc..)

After dropping Adnan and Manan (just waited to say good bye) at the MSP International Airport, I went to visit the nearby Fort Snelling State Park for the 1st time...

...It's a great place (when it's open) to visit/park while waiting for folks at the airport (arriving/departing).

On Wednesday (11th), I learned how to fix a bike for the 1st time. My housemate taught me how to replaced my flat tire, which I wished I knew how to do this long ago. If you would like to know yourself, feel free to join our facebook group (Good News Financial), which I started to help friends save and budget their money with everyday life tips.

I spend most of the 2nd week of the month screwing various parts of my metal roof after work. I wanted to get as much done until the missing parts arrived that I ordered last month. It was great weather to do so.

I took a break the 2nd weekend by going to Alexandria with housemates (Jin & Yuu). I had my quarterly inservice teaching training (ESL & GED), so I dropped my housemates off at Walmart as I went to my 3+ hour training. After the training, I picked-up my housemates and then did some "running-around" the town. We 1st went to Ron's Warehouse, but didn't buy much since my housemates already got most of their stuff already shopping this morning at Walmart. We then went to Carlos Creek Winery for the "Grape Stomp". Unfortunately, it was raining and we didn't want to get wet. We decided to just leave, so I took them to the local bowling alley and showed them this "cool" place (e.g. played some games). We decided to head back home in the rain. Along the way, my wheels started to make squealing noises. When I got home, I would realize I would need new brakes. This project would last almost a month! I'm just thankful to God that I didn't have any accidents and this break issue didn't happen in a much longer road trip.

I took one of my newest ESL student (Gaetan from France) to a rock concert with my housemate (Yuu) on Sunday at the campus. It was part of a KUMM (local campus radio) weekend concert.

My brake project started on the 16th and would last till the next month. The 1st phase was getting my front brakes redone (just changed it 2 years ago-> see both 2011 & 2013 pics), which my friend "mechanic" (Ed) told me it was due to the brake system in the engine. I would then do the front brakes a week or so later, which I decided to record the process-> Toyota Corolla 2000 Rear Brake Project

My rear brake project finished by the 20th in time for my every other month or so trip to Moose Lake. I feel this was a God-timing blessing as I got everything done in time before the 21st when I visited a friend in Moose Lake Prison. I brought my housemate (Yuu) with me, which I dropped him off at Crosstown Mall: Scheels, where he would wait for 5+ hours until I got back to St. Cloud. Before leaving, we toured around the city and went to a great Somali Restaurant.

I spent the last full-week of the month finishing my roof ridge project, which I finally found a way to get on the slippery roof (see Equipment for Climbing A Metal Roof) video). I thank God for His protection, which I prayed a lot for wisdom and protection-safety despite having a harness. On Friday (26th), I was able to workout (lift weights) for the 1st time since my wrist injury. It still was in pain, but felling much a lot better. I finished in time before friends came over for 2013 UMM Homecoming Weekend. I spent some time with Shannon battling cancer, who has taught me more about the fragility of how life can be and to not take anything (God's blessings each day) for granted! Please keep him in your prayers for healing!

Talking about healing, my month ended with a great healing service at my local church. See some of God's everyday testimonies=> Good News Thankful-what are you thankful for?