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?

August 2013

I started the month with continuing my Metal Roof Project. We (Ed & Adnan) did the north side of the roof, which we got 2/3 of the shingles off. Fortunately, we get Fridays off, so the next day (2nd) I finished taking 1/3 of the shingles by myself early in the morning. I then clean-up the yard of shingles by throwing it in the rented dumpster. I took a break during noon lunch by going to the 1st "Community Meal" of the 2013-2014 academic UMM season. I then worked on the garage, which I was able to take all the shingles within 2 hours by myself. I then started putting black tarp, which I wished I bought more as I was able to patch some holes of the previous old tarp. Ed then came over around 4ish to help put the circular sky window in the north side of the roof. He would help me finish tarping the garage roof before calling it a day. I decided to clean as much of the scattered "old" shingles on the ground until sun set as I wanted to prepare for tomorrow. It was a long day, which I slept good (overnight) at my other job.
The following day (Saturday-3rd), I started early preparing the garage roof for the metal sheets. Ed would help me later in the morning, which I had a slight accident (fell from the unstable ladder, which I took the risk before climbing it. I landed hard on the concrete sidewalk with my right elbow. I found out later after an expensive $250 X-ray that it wasn't broken...thank God!). My housemate (Adnan) would help me do the east side of the roof. We did pretty good overall (wo/ Ed's help) despite a slant angle as we did our best placing the the first sheet, but didn't know how to use my balancer tool right. We did this within 1 hour and a half as we wanted to check out the annual "Flekkefest" parade 30 minutes north-Elbow Lake. We were running late, so I drove towards the end of the parade route to catch as much of it

On Tuesday, August 6th-We had another hail storm. Some parts of town had softball size. Ironically, I was doing my metal roof (1/2 of north side already done), which it was replacing the damaged roof shingles from last summer's storm. Well, this hail storm did some damage on my new metal roof. I decided to cancel my claim to my home insurance because it wasn't worth it. We would finish (I was trying to get it done after 2 rain storms and didn't want to tarp it again before another forecast rain the next day, which never happened) doing the last half the following day (7th) , which we had some challenges (Ed had a hard time seeing the screws, so I had my lamp light on-hand. He almost slid down the slippery newly "oiled" panel, but Adnan caught him as he was going down-thank God!) as it got dark (9:45pm). Once we got the last panel, we celebrated with pizza (Casey's). Hallelluah!

On the 8th (Thursday), I took Adnan to the Steven's County Fair, which was his 1st time. On our way there, I popped my bike by accidentally putting too much air from the gas station. Earlier, I thought of just using my regular pump, which I should've followed my gut earlier! We live and learn! On Friday, we (Ed and Adnan) did some last finishing touches (put sides, which we ran out-short ordered. I would wait for another month or so to continue this as the parts took awhile to be delivered-due to custom order) of the metal roof for the "major paneling" part.
On the 10th (Saturday), I went to the cities and attended a couple of cultural ethnic events-Indian Fest & Irish Fest-both in St. Paul. It was great time hanging out with family. It was my dad's birthday on the 13th, so we did an early family celebration while I was in the cities.
On the 14th, Ed and Aisanne invited Adnan and I over for a BBQ with other friends (Elena & Plamen), We would do some Bollywood dancing! The next day (sorry-it was moved to the following Thursday, so the 22nd), I attended another BBQ, which my softball team hosted. Despite an "ok" season, it was a great way to end the season with a picnic. I had the 16th off, so I spend most of this day and part of the following morning to help Ed with his work as my gratitude for helping me with my metal roof project. Ed's been teaching me a lot about carpentry, gaining handi-work skills!
It was that time of the year-State Fair! I would go hangout with family on the 24th, which we decided this date because it would be the "less hottest" of the rest of the fair while I was in the cities. We went 9ish in the morning and stayed till 1ish in the afternoon. I'm glad we went because the rest of the fair the entire last week of August had temps around the 90's, which had low attendance. Good timing!
Even though I had 1+ week vacation from my full-time job, I had to go back to Morris on the 27th because of work (pt-job) the next evening and I was going to bring my newest housemate (Yuu-referred by my current housemate-Kazu-also from Japan) from MSP-International Airport to Morris. I would "last minute" bring another UMM International Student (Hannah-from S. Korea). I spent my less than a week of vacation (from my ft-job) doing some errands and community stuff (e.g. annual "Feed my Starving Children" & "Welcome UMM Community Picnic" on Thursday 29th).