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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A post shared by Creativemusicartsy (@creativemusicartsy) on Dec 3, 2018 at 9:02pm PST

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 !

December 2015

The last month of 2015 started with a presentation (Sal's Presentation on the Philippines: Spanish Connection) I was invited to do at the Jane Addams Project, which I have been attending since it started 3-4+ years ago at the local university..

It was an interactive presentation I wanted to do to bridge the diverse attendees. The karaoke idea would ended up being part of the end of the semester's party too (Friday, December 4th). I bought this microphone at the local Radio Shack and just attached it to my electric guitar speakers, which made an easy "homemade" karaoke machine that I can use for the future.

Going back, I would attend the local college campus IVCF service as a friend came back to lead a "healing service", which was just a faith builder for all. He would lead a bunch of other college students to do a "Treasure Hunt" the following day, but I wouldn't be able to come since our local church had our once a month group worship practice.

On Saturday, December 5th-I went snowboarding (my friend Chris came along, but he skied) for the first time in 2 years. I wasn't able to go to Andes Tower Hills earlier this year because it was just too cold. When it warmed up in March, all the snow melted quickly :( I had to warm my self up, so I went on the bunny hill first. After awhile, I would end up going on all the hills that were open and ended-up in the biggest hill! :)

I would spend most of the 2nd week by working on the videos for the recent musical I videotaped for the local high school-> The Addams Family Musical .

During the 2nd weekend, some long-time friends that moved out of Morris came back to visit. We would hangout at the newest Mexican restaurant in town..

It was good to catch-up and to know my friend Eric is doing a lot better since his surgery. The following day (Sunday 13th), I played a video (Spoken Word: “Who Am I….”...

... I previously recorded with a short -testimony at church during the annual "Christmas Program".

The month of December has many great holiday parties and one of them is the annual "Tea Party" at my workplace. On Wednesday (16th), the weather was "horrible". In fact, many schools around the area cut out early, but we kept going. We thought the numbers were going to be really down, but we had a better turn out than expected with the weather. The next day, I would play some indoor soccer with a couple of friends (Michael & Chris), which was my cardio workout for the week! :)

On the 18th (Friday), some co-workers (Paul, Oray, and Olga) and I went to see the highly anticipated movie "Star Wars: . I was so pumped up after the movie that I ended up making a whistling video of the theme afterwards-> Music: “Star Wars” movie theme (whistling). The next day, I went to Andes Tower Hills again and took a friend/co-worker (Oray) and "tried" to teach him to snowboard..

It was a little colder than 2 weekends ago, so I actually wore my heavy winter jacket instead of my fall one.

The day before Christmas Eve, I was invited to videotape the Christmas program of St. Mary's School at the Assumption Church. Prior to videotaping, I went to a co-worker's party she hosted for us. Unfortunately, I parked on the side of the road and got stuck. This caused me to be late and ended up having some technical problems with my camcorder. Fortunately (thank God), I was able to correct it in-time, but missed several performers (kids playing piano) :( .

My work (pt-job) called me the day before Christmas Eve that I didn't have to work the over night, but I ended up staying in Morris (instead of going to St. Paul early) to work on the recent Christmas Program video and other "catching-up" projects (e.g. cleaning my house). It was actually a great start of my 1 1/2 week vacation. I would end up going "home" (St. Paul) to visit family during Christmas vacation-weekend. It was good to see family and help my aging parents out.

I ended up coming back to Morris to deal with some home appliance issues (water heater got old and was done) after my housemate/renter emailed me the problem. I came home to find a "leak" around the water heater, which was sign it was definitely finished and "NOT" fixable. Prior, I stopped at Menards to scout out the available water heaters, but didn't pick one yet as I didn't have the dimensions. I look back and wished I just took the chance and got one, IF a friend/Morris resident (I saw there) that happened to be there could've been able to load it back to Morris. Anyways, I ended up paying this plumber (Chris from Elbow Lake) to do the job after a couple of friends weren't able to.

I was thankful to God that I got it fixed and replaced as soon as possible (within 3-days). Couldn't find a perfect time for this to happen. I would have to work my pt-job (overnight) once this last week of the month before I went back to the cities to watch a theatrical performance at St. Paul's Ordway Center -> Sound of Music. I've been anticipating in seeing this since I first heard about it coming to St. Paul back in August/early September. It was all God's provision as I tried to buy these tickets for last week's performance, but couldn't find any "good seats". I even was about to purchase some "bad seats", but the computer wouldn't let me charge it to my credit card. I look back at this and feel it was definitely ad "Divine" work of God as it's rare that my credit card payment didn't go through when purchasing online. I happened to be playing on the computer to check out other performance days later and found a date (31st) of an "added show" that was "last minute" added...Praise the Lord! I ended up inviting my parents and nephew. My sister ended up tagging along with her fiance (James), but couldn't get closer seats because they bought it later even though I emailed my sister the "last minute show added" the day I purchased it, but she didn't want to take the chance with the weather. I ended up taking a risk as I saw this as an opportunity that might not be open again!

My highlights of 2015..

February 2015

I started the month by going to a friend’s house for a Super Bowl (football ) party. It was good to get together in this national “holiday-like” special occasion. I never watched a full football game this season and this was the closest as I watched the first half only. The game can get too long, so I watched the first half as I wanted to just hangout over "great food" (chips and salsa dip) with friends. I wasn’t interested in watching the half-time performance, so I left and decided to "last minute" workout at the local fitness gym. I would catch glimpses of the half-time show at the fitness center and would leave after a good short 30-minute workout!

The following day (2nd), I had to drive to Alexandria for our quarterly consortium training-meeting with my GED-ESL teaching. It was good to see several folks from the Morris area helping with our program at the meeting.

On Tuesday (3rd), it was that time of the year to donate blood, which is always a great cause. I also feel an need of a new replenishing of my blood in my body, so this is one of the reasons why I love doing this too.

Despite the below zero weather on Wednesday (3rd), we still had several ESL students that came to class at the local elementary school. It was good to see some students we haven’t seen for awhile due to the cold weather.

On Thursday (4th), I had my first meeting with my voice lesson instructor (Kurtis) as we talked about my goals and expectations I want to learn for the next 4 weeks. I’m looking forward to learning new tips as I haven’t had voice lessons for several years or so when I took it with another person (Bethany) in our church, but I did it for only 2 -30 minutes. I plan to do 4 weeks -recommended by Kurtis himself to get more effective. I then would come back to the church building for worship practice as it was my turn this weekend for my once a month worship team cycle.

On Friday (6th), we started our every other Friday fitness class with some clients from my workplace. This is the one of best parts of my job! :) It was more focus on watching the safety of the clients or assistance (e.g. wheelchair clients needed help getting some exercise equipment) during the 30 minute class. It was very fun to watch them participate and have fun!

I would do my "lower body" workout the next day at the local gym after playing basketball as part of my cardio workout too. As part of my singing leisure fun, I did a karaoke song to Backstreet Boy’s “I Want it That Way (Karaoke by Sal on 2.14.15)

On Sunday (8th), I was part of the worship team and one of the songs ("Jon Thurlow Mighty Hand".....Ring in my finger") would stick out to me (usually comes after singing a particular song many times after numerous practice). This comes an ironic time as I was currently working on a wedding video project for a friend/former co-worker. One of the pics was this "ring" on the finger, which is very symbolic of a committed relationship.

I would pray for one of the people I work with at the group home and his back wasn’t feeling good. Well, the next day, he was moving around (sometimes too much and got in trouble) and didn’t have any back problems! Wow…praise the Lord for God’s healing!!

On Tuesday (10th), we had a winter storm , so work was 2 hours late due to the ice and slippery road conditions. I took advantage of the 2-hour late start by cleaning my basement apartment. Later in the day, I went to this "Black Lives Matter" forum at the local college which was a huge turnout. They had to divide into 2 separate groups to be able to better hear everyone’s voices on the latest national issue of Racism and law enforcement (e.g. Ferguson in Missouri and N.Y.C.). I couldn't stay longer as I had to leave for another event going on that same night-Spaghetti Feed Fundraiser for local UMM-IVCF mission trip to Arizona.

On Wednesday (11th), I met with my financial adviser (Allan from Thrivent), which was a good meeting on future finances!

The next day was my first of four voice lessons, which I learned some great exercise tips for my voice. The great comparison Kurtis shared is , as an athlete needs to stretch before his/her competition, they need to "exercise/stretch" to get their muscles ready-similar to our voices !

On Friday the 13th, I would drive the workplace bus to the annual Valentine "theme" dance at Ortonville. It was sunny, but cold and windy-just like it has been almost every year lately. The dance was fun and it was always great to get out of the workplace and our routine. I thank God for getting use to and from the dance venue safety as it was pretty windy (kept moving the bus as driving the flat prairie land does that around these parts of the state).

It was cold on "Valentine’s Day" (Saturday), so I spent indoors at home finishing some errands (house rental stuff) and projects (wedding video). I manage to go to the local fitness center to do my tricep workout.

On Sunday (15th), we had our 1st church potluck in our very new building (opened last summer)...for indoors! We had a potluck like event during the Storm the Planet Conference early September last year, but it was outdoors in the spacious green yard along the side of the church building along California Avenue.

We had President’s Day (Monday the 16th) off for the first time since I started at the DAC, so I took advantage of this day-off by doing taxes. I don’t want to procrastinate like 2 years ago when I finished the day of the deadline..I think I had to apply for an extension since it took longer than I expected. I learned my lesson and try to do it during a winter storm day. It’s too nice to do it when it becomes Spring in April. I would finish filing after days working on it, which I finished late Tuesday/Wednesday morning (2ish). I wanted to finish it so I stayed up late and wasn’t able to attend the weekly Wednesday bible-fellowship group I attend at Neil & Ruth’s.

I went to the cities the 3rd weekend of this month (20th-22nd), which was great weather for driving. On the day I arrived, I hung out with my brother and his kids. My niece gave me her favorite "hair dew" style. The the next day, I took my car to the shop to try to fix this on-going issue with my car stopping (engine shuts off at the stop intersection or just when I’m leaving my garage). I've taken it to the local shop in Morris and they couldn't figure it out. I even had a tune-up many years ago. I finally got it fixed after the folks in St. Paul looked at it. I found the solution after watching several videos on You Tube, which I credit the Holy Spirit (Counselor) giving me this "ah ha" moment! I had another encounter with "Folks with Signs Along the Highway Exit Ramps Part 2" as I was walking to the local auto shop to pick-up my car, but it wasn’t ready at the time. I feel like this area (East St. Paul) is a great place to "reach out". Later on Saturday, I went to visit my nephew and niece to "hang out" with them. I had some great quality time with them as Uncle Sal! :) The next day, I would order pizza (chicken pizza online (Dominoes) for my parents before heading out back to Morris in the 25-35 below zero wind chill advisory. I was prepared as I got my car ready in case I got stranded, but forgot to leave a sleeping bag due to the up and down winter season (warm and cold temp change). Thankful to God that I was able to get home safely! :)

On Monday (23rd), I attended the monthly Community Meal at Faith Lutheran Church, which I always look forward to a great "home cook" nutritious meal and getting to know my “neighbors” in the community. I had a great chat with a lady that I see at the local library all the time and her friend (who is the mother of a guy I know around town too)...small town!

I would eat out again the next day (24th) as I joined a couple of friends from work at Taco John. I lost a “friendly bet” on the Super Bowl, so I had to treat this friend a meal at Taco John. It was a good time to hangout! :)

On Thursday (26th), I attended a small workshop on "prophetic worship, which Cherish from that Storm the Planet conference equipped some worship team members from church and I. It was awesome. I hope to share some songs that God lays in my heart in future blogs as I’ve shared in the past already as God is always doing a “new thang” baby..Halleluah!

On the last day of the month (28th), I attended a ESL student of mine’s wedding at my local church, which was the first wedding of it’s kind at our local “very” newly remodeled church. It was a blessing!