Christmas week.

Where should I begin my writing? Well, I guess I’ll just go day by day and see where that leads. On Thursday I dropped Ann and Harley off at the airport. They were spending it with their daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter down in sunny Arizona. It was nice dropping them off at the airport. Later that evening, John and I went to Centro for dinner before a Christmas concert by Tonic-Sol-Fa. Last year we saw the group, “Blenders” and this year we saw Tonic-Sol-Fa. Both groups sing A Cappella and they are pretty big especially in the Midwest. Tonic-Sol-Fa singers tend to be younger than Blenders but both groups definitely sing well. All in all we enjoyed the concert, but I would rather see the Blenders again before going to Tonic-Sol-Fa. At the end of the day, listening to their music definitely got me into the Christmas mood.

At both the residences, the residents opened their Christmas presents from the company and other presents that were bought by church members. I was told that the residents would write a Christmas wish list and either the company of the church members would try their very best to get the presents for the residents. For me, it was fun looking at them open their presents especially when they got what they wished for. You could see just a little spark in their eye as they were opening their presents.

Snow really came down on Saturday and I pretty much spent the entire afternoon and evening in my apartment watching the snow fall. This was the first time in quite some time where I literally spent a good amount of time in my apartment just catching up on dvds which was a lot of fun.

Christmas Eve was very nice because I got to really clean my apartment – something I’ve not done for a number of weeks. It’s nice to have a clean apartment. Actually, my former religious education students would be coming over on Thursday for a mini-reunion so I figured what better time to get things cleaned before they arrived?! Once the apartment was spick and span, I spent a number of hours on the Internet looking for accommodation in Sydney for our family vacation next year. I did manage to find a couple of places but everything really is dependent on whether I’ll be able to get tickets to the Sydney Orchestra which goes on sale January 1st. I got ready for Mass at 4PM and it was a packed service. Two thirds of the people in attendance were not regular church goers. I’m always tickled that people think that it’s OK to go Mass once or twice a year and call themselves Catholic! Oh well. After Mass, I trooped over to Fleming’s for my annual steak dinner and my oh my, was it an amazing meal. The best part about it, the waiter was the same person I had last year – I remembered him. No, I did not make reservations for next Christmas, but the thought did cross my mind and I did ask the hostess how soon I should make reservations for Christmas Eve dinner since it surprised me that they were not accepting walk-in because they were fully booked. After dinner, I called a number of people to wish them Merry Christmas and it was nice just chatting and catching up with them. Talk about a great way to spend Christmas Eve.

I got up at 6:30AM on Christmas Day because there was soccer highlights on the television and I was not going to miss it. Once I got my soccer fix, I got ready for the annual Christmas meal delivery. This year, my task was pretty simple. I was to staple the cold meal sack – there was only roughly 480 of them! Once that was done, I would be checking the names off the people who would be picking up the meals to be delivered. I do have to say that we were a little backed up and one guy – just one person expressed his displeasure to me and there was nothing I could do about it but apologize profusely and said we were trying our best to get things moving to the best of our ability. He was hearing none of it and it proves to show that Grinches do exist even on Christmas Day. All the other people were very appreciative of the fact that we were volunteering our time to such a worthy cause. I told myself that I would not allow that yahoo to spoil my Christmas and he did not but I truly wished that people could get off their high horse and get with the program. It is Christmas Day. Geez. After the meal delivery got taken care of, I headed to Joel and Kathy for a very nice but quick Christmas brunch as I would be working at the residential facility at 2PM. Joel prepared a very nice lamb and it was yummy to say the least. Oh, roughly a month ago John came over my apartment and while we were chatting, I was getting some dishes cleaned and I broke three – yes three wine glasses and I was extremely bummed about it. I told Joel about it the next day at work and guess what Santa bought me this year? He got me wine glasses and mind you these were really good wine glasses. Talk about a cool couple! I mentioned to Joel and Kathy that I should learn to keep my big mouth shut or next time to ask for a Ferrari!

When I arrived at the residence, I was comforted to know that there were only four residents who were there. It basically meant that ten of them were spending Christmas with either friends and/or family and that really made me feel good. I’ve told a couple of people that it sickens me that some family would not spend Christmas with their loved one because they have a mental illness. The way I look at it, just for one day a year, you could at the very least suck it up and spend the day with your family member. Heck, you don’t even have to spend an entire day with them – just a couple of hours will do but I guess for some people that’s just too much to ask. I’m a firm believer that what goes around comes around. All in all, it was a pretty quiet evening at the facility. I even had time to watch the best 100 songs of the 80s with some of the residents. They were tickled silly that I knew almost all the songs!

That’s how the week went and I guess the next big thing would be New Year’s Day and then things will definitely quiet down. I can guarantee that it’ll be a very quick week ahead and I’m OK with that.

A good week.

So, what kind of fun stuff did I do over the week? Well, on Tuesday the office closed because of an ice and snow storm that swept through the Midwest. I was already on the bus when Joel called to let me know that the office was closed. Since I was already there, I worked for a couple of hours then went back to my apartment to watch the Liverpool’s must-win game in order for them to progress to the next round of the Champion’s League. They won the game convincingly and I was a very happy camper. Later that evening, I went to the performance of Rockettes. This is the first time they made it to Des Moines and I must say that the choreography was mighty impressive. They ended the performance with a live nativity scene with some lives animals that were on stage. It was definitely one of the most awe-inspiring scenes I’ve seen in quite some time. All in all, it made for a very good day.

On Thursday the office held the holiday party at the community room in my building and I think we all had a good time. They all liked the community room and there was more than ample space in the room for all. I would say half the staff came and some of them brought their spouse which was nice because it was the first time seeing their spouse. Joel and Kathy came later as they had a prior engagement and after that the three of us hung around the apartment and just chatted. It was a nice way to end the evening.

Saturday was a busy day as I went to two holiday parties. The first one was the annual 2nd Sunday Christmas party. There were a good number of singer/musicians who were there and it was just nice to see everyone and celebrate the season. Parties are fun when make it fun and stress free. We all know how stressful some parties can get and this one was not a stressful one at all. I left a littler earlier than I wanted to because I had to drive a little north to the second party. Anna, who is part of the young adults group organized the party with her sister, Gretchen who when I first came to Drake many moons ago, got me involved in St. Catherine and as they saying goes, the rest is history. I’ve not seen Gretchen since we graduated in 1999 so it was nice to be invited to the party. It was a mix of people who were at the party – Anna’s colleagues, Gretchen’s friends and family and some from the young adults group. We had a good time just celebrating the season. I was the last to leave and it was my intention to help Anna clean up a little but she said she was planning on getting everything done the next day. By the time I went to bed, it was 2:30AM which was a little late for me, but I did not have to be up early the next day.

After Mass yesterday, I gave the RCIA group a tour of St. Catherine’s and explained to them some of the different Catholic “things” found in the church. It was a pretty fun tour for them I guess, and at the least they know what most of the stuff are.

That’s kind of how the week ended. Work wise it’s been pretty quiet on all fronts which is a good thing. Reports are going to be sent to the state on Friday which is a couple of days earlier due to the office closing for Christmas and it looks like we’ll be able to get it done without a problem. It’s kind of hard to believe that Christmas is almost here – literally right around the corner. That’s all from me for the week.

Never a dull moment.

What happened this week? Not a whole lot really. The interesting story to share would be one of the staff was almost stabbed on her neck with a sharpened pencil by a resident. This took place during the day when I was not there and informed of it when I came in the evening. This resident has been battling/struggling with many issues for a number of years and only recently was she discharged from the psychiatric ward. Needless to say the cops were called and she was arrested and sent to jail. To the best of my knowledge, she’s now back in the psychiatric ward seeking treatment. Because of the potential assault, she was emergency discharged from the facility and her parents took her stuff out of room the very next day. I’ve said this before, you never know what to expect from the residents and you do the best you can to protect yourself. Anyone can snap at any moment and you just hope and pray when that happens, nothing is done to another resident and/or staff. Something else that I went through my mind was the fact that some staff are on a power trip and talk down to the residents and don’t treat them with respect. In my most humble opinion, that’s the worst thing that could happen. I do my very best to treat the residents the way I want to be treated and I’m not saying that’s going to keep me from getting assaulted, but at the very least, I’m not burning any bridges along the way with the residents.

On a much more positive note, I had dinner at Ann’s on Saturday evening and it was an amazing meal and conversation. We caught up with one another and her birthday is Wednesday so I was able to celebrate it albeit a couple of days earlier. It was such a fun evening and I always look forward to dinner and conversation with Ann.

The week and days go by much faster because of my second job which is a good thing I guess. This week, there will be three holiday parties that I’ll be attending. On Thursday, the office will have our holiday party in my building’s community room. It should be a fun evening. Since I’m on the committee, a number of us will leave the office early that day to decorate the room and make it all festive. There are two parties to attend on Saturday. The 2nd Sunday will have its annual Christmas party and we normally have a blast then later that evening, I’m headed over to a friend’s place for her party. We both went to Drake at the same time and her older sister was one of the people who recruited me many moons ago to be an active member at St. Catherine’s. As the saying goes, the rest is history. She’ll be at the party so it’ll be great to catch up and meet her again.

That’s the week ahead for me. It’ll definitely be more eventful than this past week.

2007 Year End E mail

It’s that time of the year again to send out my end of the year e mail to all of you. Not too much took place this year, and overall it’s been a good year.

1) Young Adults Group – I’m the coordinator of St. Kate’s Young Adults Catholic Group and we meet once every three weeks for a meal and socializing. It’s fun and a good way to keep young adults connected with one another through our faith.
2) Hillary Clinton – “Good Morning America” came to DM and I was one of the guests who got to hear her speak. She’s pretty impressive and it’ll be interesting to see if she wins the Democratic Presidential Nominee.
3) Carol/Omaha/Chicago – Carol, a friend from elementary school came to the US for a conference and we managed to spend time together catching up and visiting Omaha and Chicago. We had fun reminiscing.
4) Colorado/Silent Retreat – My big trip this year took me to Colorado for the very first time, and my word, talk about a great vacation! I did a bunch of hiking and had the time of my life hanging out in and with nature. I also went on a weeklong silent retreat while in Colorado and it was definitely good for my soul and spiritual nourishment.
5) Norazlan Termuzi – Not too long after I came back from my Colorado trip, I found out that a friend from high school died in a helicopter crash. He was a helicopter pilot, and his death kind of shook me up a little. Life is precious, and never take it for granted because you just never know when your time is up.
6) Approval of Green Card – The happiest, biggest and most important news by far was when I found out that my Green Card application was approved. I am now a permanent legal resident of the USA and trust me, it’s a great feeling. Lots of sweat and tears went into the process, and the fact that I have my Green Card now makes it all worthwhile. Joel even organized a Green Card party! It was a fun evening.
7) Westminster House/Linda Nebbe – With the approval of my Green Card I’m able to work a second job, and I’m working as a Human Service Counselor at a residential care facility for persons with mental illness. Most of them have some sort of psychological disorder and trust me, there’s never a dull moment at the facility. No two days are ever the same. I also reconnected with my counseling mentor who is now working at the University of Northern Iowa.

I’m already looking forward to a couple of major events taking place next year. Three weddings and I’ll be in my first wedding party at one of them. I’ll also be attending a priesthood ordination of a dear friend from Drake that will take place in Osh Kosh, Wisconsin.

I wish you nothing but the very best as the year comes to a close, and if for some reason this past year did not live up to your personal expectations, don’t fret too much because life’s too short to let minor things like that bog you down. Remember, there’s always 2008 which is right around the corner. Have a great Christmas and/or New Year celebration.

Handel's "Messiah".

The highlight this week has got to be Handel's "Messiah" at the Civic Center. John and I went to it yesterday evening and it was a mighty good performance. I've head Messiah before on a cd, but not in its entirety. There were four soloist and the DM Choral Society joined the symphony. All in all, it was an inspiring performance to say the least and what better time to go see it than right before the First Sunday of Advent?

We had the Rite of Acceptance at St. Kate's today and the candidates were introduced to the parish. One of the candidates teared up as it was a very moving and emotional rite for her. After the dismissal, we had a good discussion.

Work wise, there's nothing really new to report. It was a little trying at one of the houses because one of the residents was acting up, but it was nothing the cops and the mobile crisis team could not handle. Thank goodness the rest of the residents did not play off him. If they did, it would have been a very long and emotionally draining work day.

The agency's Christmas party will take place at the community room located in my apartment building and it should be a pretty fun evening. We'll be having it on Thursday, December 13th since we were pretty limited to the amount of evenings that would work because of my other job. Due to the Christmas Holiday season, we are planning on sending the reports to the state on Friday, December 21st. A memo was sent out to all providers letting them know that we need to get the reports in one time and they can't take their time getting it to us because if they do, they'll only be paid after the new year. That should get them to take note.

Not too sure what my Christmas plans are but I know I'll be going to Flemings for my traditional Christmas Eve Steak dinner. I've not been there in such a long time and just the thought of having a steak there is making my mouth water! Joel and Kathy invited me over to their place after we get done coordinating the Christmas meal delivery and I'll most probably take them up on their offer. Later that day, I did sign up to work at one of the houses and it'll be fine. It'll be interesting to see how many of the residents will spend it with family. After all, it is Christmas.

I guess that's all the news from me for the week.

Thanksgiving Weekend.

Well, talk about a whirlwind Thanksgiving weekend for me. I’ll start by saying we were supposed to get our reports sent to the state on Wednesday (day before Thanksgiving), but that did not happen. I was a little stressed out about it and before my supervisor left, she told me not to worry about it and we’ll just sent it on Monday which is when the reports were due. She was going to be gone on Monday which is why her goal was to send the reports on Wednesday. Oh well, at least we tried to get it done. Wednesday was also our first snow fall. The weather people predicted very little accumulation, but they were wrong as there were close to five inches of snow. It was really neat looking out the window and seeing the snow fall. I also got fitted for a wedding in May where I’ll be in the wedding party (my first involvement as part of the wedding party and I’m definitely looking forward to it.) I think I’ll look really snazzy that day.

Thanksgiving day, I coordinated meal delivery for thirty two home bound older adults and I managed to deliver one meal as one of the volunteers did not show up. He did however, “chased” me down and caught up with me and delivered the final two meals. Initially I was a little disappointed when he did not show up to pick up the meals for delivery, but when he made the effort to trek me down, that said a lot about him. I’m guessing some other people would have just blown off the delivery, but he did not do it and kudos to him. After that was done, I headed over to Joel and Kathy for the Thanksgiving meal which was scrumptious as usual. Later that day, I worked at the house and brought over pecan pie for the residents and they thoroughly enjoyed it. Some of the guys did manage to spend Thanksgiving with friends and family which made me feel good, but the rest pretty much spent the day at the house. Since it was a pretty quiet night, I invited a number of the guys to join me in playing Monopoly and we had a blast. Even the guys who did not play were watching up play. All in all, it was a fine evening for all involved.

The day after Thanksgiving also known as Black Friday because of the crazy shopping that takes place throughout the day was pretty mundane for me. It dawned on me that if I was a shopping person, I could have gone right from work to the mall because one of the malls opened at 12:01AM. Can you believe that? Sheer insanity in my books. I soon found out that 35,000 made it to the mall during those wee morning hours. Ann’s daughter and grandkids were town and she asked me to call her at 10AM to find out what their plans were and if they did not have too much going on, I could have met up with them. When I called, Ann informed me that the youngest kid was sick and the last thing she wanted was for me to fall sick. So, I did not get to meet up with the kids which was a bummer but there will be other times. I decided to spend some time in the library close to my apartment just catching up on magazines as I figured most people would be out shopping and I was right. I went in to work at the other house and it was a pretty mundane day. Nothing too much happened. I did invite a number of the ladies to join me in a game of Scrabble and two of them did. We had fun, and good times were shared by all involved.

Saturday was another working day again and my plan was to go to the movies after I was done working. I went to the library to check my e mail and find out the scores for Liverpool’s game and found out that Liverpool won and the game would be replayed on the TV later that evening. Movies took a backseat for today, and I went back to my apartment not before buying a couple of DVDs from a DVD rental place. They had three movies I did not see in the theater for sale at $7 a pop which I thought was a good deal. So, with my DVDs in hand, I snuggled up in my apartment and watched the Liverpool game which was a very good game and then proceeded to watch one of the movies (The Shooter) which definitely was action packed. Oh, I forgot to mention that I made tuna casserole for the residents and it turned out much better than I thought it would have turned out. The other staff commented that I can’t really mess up tuna casserole and I guess she was right!

Sunday the young adults were responsible for serving coffee and donuts and it was also Sr. Carola’s farewell. She’ll be retiring from St. Kate’s, and will be going on an Advent retreat then take classes in the spring semester in Minnesota. She’s looking forward to the new stage and challenges in her life and we all wished her nothing but the very best. I told her a number of times that I’ll definitely miss her as she’s a very special person to me. It’s not goodbye but rather until we meet again. The rest of the day was spent working at the house. The women who played Scrabble with me played it again and we once again, we had a good time. Hey, the way I look at it, anything I can do to break the monotony and get them to socialize with one another, I’m up for it.

That’s pretty much how the weekend went. It was a pretty fast one no doubt, and a lot of it had to do with me working those extra shifts. I figured it made more sense for me to work on Thanksgiving and the day after since most people would much rather spend it with family since it is a major American holiday. I really did not have too much going on so I might as well work. Things will quiet down a lot more work wise in December at the houses because I’m not planning on adding any extra days except for Christmas and New Year’s Day. I guess this is it from me for this week.

Avenue Q and Immigration Dialogue.

I'm writing this earlier than usual because after Mass today, I'm planning on spending some time at Barnes and Noble before heading to work. I've not been there for some time and there are a number of magazines I'm looking to catch up on.

The highlight of the week has got to be the musical "Avenue Q" and the best way to describe it would be to say that it's a puppet musical with adult themes. It was hilarious and I had a great time. I now know why it won best musical in 2004. What really drew my attention was the amount of publicity it got letting people know that this is definitely not a musical for kids and I saw the reason why.

Work wise it was a very laid back week. Nothing too much happened. This coming week will be a little busy in a good way because I'll be working on Thanksgiving Day in the afternoon after I volunteer with the coordination of the Thanksgiving meal delivery program for the agency. Joel and Kathy invited me over to their place once I'm done coordinating and that's where I'll have my meal before heading to work. I'm planning on buying a huge pumpkin pie for the residents as most of them will be at the facility because for some reason or another they won't be spending it with family. I think it's kind of sad, so whatever I can do to make them feel better (like eating a nice pumpkin pie!), I'll try to do it.

Tomorrow (Monday), I'll be presenting my capstone paper to the agency and a number of invited guests. It'll be a power point presentation lasting roughly thirty minutes and once that's done, I'll submit my paper to the internship coordinator. After she approves it, I'll finally be done with my Certificate in Gerontology Program. It's taken quite some time to get done with it but no fault of mine for sure.

Oh, I forgot to mention that on Tuesday, Kevin and I went to a dialogue where I was invited to be one of the "experts" on immigration issues. The dialogue was organized by the Wallace Foundation and held at the Wallace House here in Des Moines. Kevin told me about the dinner and asked me to contact a lady to see if I was able to make the dinner. As I spoke to her, she figured it would be better for me to be on the panel. That's how it worked out. The talk was very informal and there were different people at the dinner. The best part about it was the fact that I got to meet Lori Chesser who is the head of the immigration department for Davis Brown Law firm - the firm that worked on my Green Card. All these years, I've heard of her and have even e mailed her but never met her face to face so it was pleasure. The other people at the table were tickled silly that it was the first time we met. She is a very bright and articulate individual and very passionate when it comes to immigration issues. All in all, it was a great evening.

That's pretty much the week in a nutshell. Before we know it, Christmas will be upon us. Geez!

A busy work week.

Talk about a busy week. I ended up working every day of the week which was a little crazy but I'm surviving it thus far. It'll be nice to have my regular schedule this coming week. There's really not too much to talk about pertaining to work or rather there's so much to talk about I don't even know where to begin. Let's just say there's never a dull moment while I'm working. You just never know what the residents are going to say or act.

One highlight of the week is definitely the annual auction for the student El Salvador trip. As I mentioned last week, I had offered to cook a Malaysian dinner. I honestly did not know how much people were planning to bid on. The bid started at $250 and ended up at $900! Yup, people for some reason or another were willing to pay that much for a Malaysian dinner. I was approached by one of the auction organizer and asked if I would be willing to double the dinner and I said why not. So, two families ended up with Malaysian dinners worth $800 each. Talk about raising some serious dough for the students. I'm definitely excited because I know both the people who won the dinner and we'll have a blast for sure.

After the dinner, I was supposed to meet up with Joel at a concert at Drake. For some reason or another, I thought the concert was at 8PM. It was 7:30PM! So, I missed a good 25 minutes of the concert which kind of bummed me out, BUT it was truly an amazing concert. Talk about one of the most talented string quartet around. Now I know why the group won a Grammy last year. I will most certainly pay to go see the Turtle Island String Quartet play again. Individually, they are accomplished musicians in their own right, but to see them play together was outstanding. Joel and I agreed that it was the best concert of the season so far.

Today (Sunday), I sang with the 2nd Sunday Group and Dan preached as the deacon. We did a fine job singing but I was most impressed with Dan's homily. Dan has always been an engaging individual and it showed in his homily. There was a good mix of humor and theology in his homily. I'm so very happy and proud of Dan after knowing him and seeing him mature all these years. His ordination next year will be a blast for sure. In addition to John and I, Sr. Carola may be joining us. Regardless of who goes to his ordination, we'll all have good time celebrating his ordination.

I guess that's pretty much all the news from me. We'll see what next week holds for me.

Work, Beer & Cookies.

The week has gone by so fast and it tends to be that way especially when one works evenings. Well, my work schedule has been finalized by my supervisor. I'll be working on Wednesday evenings from 4PM-11:30PM, Friday from 4PM-10PM, Saturday from 7AM-3PM and Sunday from 2PM-10PM. In total, I'll be working 29 1/2 hours. Trust me, the work goes by really fast because there's so much to accomplish while you're there.

On Friday, I spent my first day at the regular house and like I mentioned before, it's coed and there are more women than men. In total, there are fourteen residents at this house and each of them has a their own unique personality. The person I work with has been there for a number of years and she has been around the block a few times. It's good that I'll be working with her as she'll be able to give me a many pointers. Since I went back to the house on Saturday morning, the residents are definitely familiarizing themselves with me. I'm so proud of the fact that I've remembered all their names and that says alot. There's nothing more important than calling someone by their name. It tells them thay they are important.

After work on Friday, Brian had his fourth Beer and Cookies party and I told him that I'll be late because of work. I kind of expected more people, but oh well. Those of us who were there had a great time. I'm not a big beer fan, but since it was a Beer and Cookies party, I bought myself a six-pack of German beer which I had before. Instead of buying cookies, I had some leftover Thin Mints girls scout cookies in the freezer and I brought it with me to the party. How was the combination? Splendid! I would have stayed longer, but I had to work in the morning the next day. That's was fine by me.

Ann invited me over for dinner after work on Saturday and there was no way I was going to turn down dinner at the Martin house. I told Ann that she would be sick and tired of seeing me since it would be three weeks in a row I made it to their place! We had a feast and I mean a feast. We started out with salad, green bean casserole and instead of Ann's world famous rolls, we had Texas Toast which was delectable. For the main course, we had hamloaf which was downright amazing. Later that evening for dinner, we had an apple cake which was good although Ann did not care too much for it. It was such a nice evening spending it with Ann just shooting the breeze. Daylight Savings Time ended so the clock was turned back an extra hour which meant an extra hour of sleep.

Next weekend will be a fun weekend because a friend from Drake, Dan Schuster who is currently a deacon studying at Mundelein, will be spending the weekend here. He'll be the deacon at the Sunday Mass and I believe he'll be preaching too. I've not seen Dan in quite some time and I'm sure we'll be able to catch up with one another. There's also a classical concert by the Turtle Island String Quartet that Joel and I will be going to and St. Kate's will be having it's annual fund raiser for the students to go to El Salvador. I've donated a 6-7 course Malaysian dinner for 8-10 people and I'm excited to find out who will be bidding for it and end up winning it.

That's pretty much all the news from me for this week.

Westminster House.

Looks like my life is going to get a lot busier now with my second job. More on that later. It was a pretty fast but good week. On Tuesday, I went to the musical “Camelot” which is a remake of the classic musical that came out some years ago. I really went to it not knowing what to expect and overall it was an OK musical. Lou Diamond Phillip played the role of King Arthur and unbeknownst to me, before becoming an actor his background was in theater and I have to say that he did a mighty fine job as the lead and he has a good singing voice. I also did not expect the musical to have some humorous dialogues. The acts that took place after the intermission went by really fast and I thought that was a little disappointing because it just seemed rushed. I’m glad I saw it and I’ll be looking forward to the other musicals that will be coming.

Joel and I went to a concert by this baritone named Nathan Gunn who is reputed to be one of the premier baritones in the country. Now, I’m not an opera fan and I think a lot of it boils down to me not being exposed to it, but I do appreciate someone who has an amazing singing voice and let me tell you, his was remarkable. The first part of his concert was songs from different German operas and he did a marvelous job. The second part was songs from different English operas and I should say that he was out of this world amazing. I have been told that I should at the very least make it to an opera and I probably will. The one thing that really struck me while listening to Nathan sing in German was the fact that I had no idea what he was singing about, yet you could feel and see his passion in the songs. Talk about a way to captivate the audience. I’m really glad I went.

So, the big question on your mind is probably where is my second job and what does my job entail. Well, I’m working at Westminster House which is a residential facility for adults with psychological disorders. The goal is to teach these adults life skills with the hope that they will be able to “graduate” and live on their own. Alas, I found out that with some of the residents, that will never be the case which is sad in so many ways. There are classes during the day for them taught by people who work in the agency and one person has a job mowing lawns and removing snow. All in all there are fifteen residents at the house where I worked over the weekend which is not going to be my regular location. There are two houses in total and the one where I’ll be working is a coed facility. So much can be said about the residents, but overall they are a really neat bunch of guys. My orientation was over the weekend, and trust me there’s a lot to be oriented specifically because of the population that we’re dealing with. Because I worked two days in a row, I got to know some of the residents pretty well and I have to say that I’ll be missing them when I start at the other house. I won’t be surprise if I have one or two shifts at this house which will be fine by me. It takes a special someone to work with these residents and overall, I got the feeling that they will treat and respect you the way you treat and respect them. Eight hours go by pretty fast especially when you have to go through the different duties while you’re there. Part of my job is to prepare meals for them and I made a pork roast last night which was pretty good. Each facility has a huge menu book with menus that are prepared by the nutritionist, and that’s how you figure out what they are eating. I get to eat with them if I so choose, but I did not over the weekend. Once I’ve gotten my feet on the ground, I truly believe that this will be a very enriching experience for me and the residents and I’m definitely looking forward to starting at the my regular house. As I get more accustomed to my job and the residents I’m almost certain and that I’ll have stories to share with you.

That’s pretty much how the week and weekend went. It was a fast one, but a very good one for sure.

Green Card Party

Well, on Thursday evening, I had my Green Card Party. I was actually the guest of honor and Joel and Kathy organized it. It was a fun, relaxing and just amazing evening spent with close and dear friends. In addition to Joel and Kathy, John, Steve, Kevin and Charlene were there. It was an intimate group but these are the people who mean the world to me and who definitely walked with me every step of the way throughout the whole green card process. If not for their love and support of these years, I'm not sure where I would be. Joel made this amazing tenderloin and I brought the wine. Since it was a special occasion, I brought a special bottle of wine which I got from Chicago and it was very well received. Charlene and Kevin brought salad and coleslaw respectively. Kathy baked her famous derby pie and I so hoping she would. Joel had asked me if there was a special dessert I was craving and I said nothing in particular, but I was secretly hoping that Kathy would make her derby pie. It was such a memorable evening and I took photos of those in attendance.

Oh, I forgot to mention that on Monday, I went for an interview as a human service counselor where I would be working as a direct care worker at a 24 hour live in facility where the residents are adult with some psychological disorder. If I get the job, I'll be working mostly evening and weekend hours. I should hear back by Monday if I got the job. I actually know the CEO of the agency and he referred me to the administrator. It will be a neat job if I get it.

Friday evening, Kevin and I went out for dinner and a movie. Martha is visiting her sister in NY so Kevin is home alone. It's been some time since we spent time together so it was nice to just hang out with him. We had dinner at India Star which is a restaurant I've not been to for a very long time as I tend to frequent Tandoor. The food was good and it was close to where the theater is located. We ended up watching the movie "Final Season" which is based on a true story of an Iowa high school baseball team that dealt with the issue of merging with another high school and impact it had on the team and the community. It was a very good independent movie that was filled entirely in Iowa.

I got up early on Saturday morning to watch Liverpool vs. Everton and talk about an exciting game. It was a good game played in true derby fashion and at the end of the day, I was a very happy camper because Liverpool got all three points. Later that day, a number of us from the singing group sang at the jubilee celebration of two religious sisters who are members of the parish. One has been a sister for fifty years and the other fifty one years. Amazing isn't it?! We were more than honored to sing at their Mass of Thanksgiving. It was the least we could have done for all their years of service. Talk about a nice way to spend an afternoon filled with celebration. After Mass, Scott (the leader of the group) and I had dinner at Continental since I had a buy one-get one free coupon. I've not been to Continental in a very long time because I thought the food was definitely over priced. In many ways, it still is but the coupon made a difference. More than anything else, it was good to chat with Scott to find out stuff about the group and where we're headed in the future. Later that evening, I went to the DM Symphony with Sr. Carola and by golly talk about an amazing concert. They did a splendid job especially with "Pictures at an Exhibition" which is a very well known piece for people who are familiar with classical music. They nailed that piece big time. After the performance, the maestro said that if people wanted to stay and ask him questions, he would be more than happy to answer them. Carola and I stayed and they were some very good questions asked by the audience.

Today, we did not have Mass but a Communion Service. Jim and a number of people from the parish are in El Salvador for a week so Sr. JoAnne was the presider. It was a very nice service and it got me thinking that is this what's going to happen in the not too distant future with the priest shortage? I guess time will tell. Oh, we now have Sunday bus service and I took the bus to Mass and back to my apartment. It's great that they have the Sunday service. Not quite sure what I'll be doing later today as Kristi bailed out on me for dinner - she had softball. We actually had dinner on Wednesday as it's been a very long time since we caught up with one another.

Well, I guess that's all the news from me. Until next week!

Ten Year Anniversary.

Today was an extremely special day because St. Catherine Of Siena Catholic Student Center celebrated its ten year anniversary. Our group sang and during one of the songs entitled "In This Place", I almost broke down and cried. I started thinking about stuff from ten years ago when I arrived as a transfer student at Drake. So much has happened over the years - many ups and downs yet here I am and I would not be anywhere else. The culmination of my ten years was the approval of my green card. I should just tell myself that I should not let my mind wander off too much when I'm singing because some people in the congregation may wonder what in the world is Anthony up to this time! It was just a very emotional experience.

I had quite a lot going on this past week/weekend. On Friday evening, I headed up to Ames for the MOMIX (www.momix.com) performance. The best way to describe the performance which in so many ways is indescribable would be to say it was modern dancing incorporated with optical illusions. There were a number of acts in the performance where I was downright speechless, in a trance and in awe of what they were doing. If you even get to see it, don't bat an eye and go see it. It's definitely one of the most memorable experiences ever and in so many ways, words can't really describe it. You just have to experience it for yourself.

On Saturday morning, Dan Schutte led a workshop. As part of the ten year anniversary celebration, we invited Dan to present a workshop and have a concert. I could not attend the concert because I was at MOMIX, but I did make it to the workshop and it was a very good workshop. We talked about the different types of people who make up the congregation and how we could best accommodate them. Needless to say, we can't accommodate everyone, but the goal is to be hospitable to as many people as possible. I even spoke to Dan and told him how his most famous song, "Here I Am" was a theme song at a youth conference attended by close to 3500 in Malaysia. One can't fathom 3500 Catholic youth singing "Here I Am" at the top of their lungs! The thought still brings chills to me.

Later that evening, Maria and Susan - a friend from St. Kate's accompanied me to the second On Stage Classical concert. This time they performers were Jacque Thibaud String Trio and they are from Germany. Talk about an accomplished group. The pieces they played were technically difficult and they nailed all of it beautifully. It was such a wonderful evening and all three of us were glad we made it.

I'll be heading to Ann's place for dinner later this evening and am definitely looking forward to it. It's been quite some time since we both touched base with one another. She and Harley spent last weekend with the grandkids up in Minnesota and it sounded like they had a blast. I can't wait to see the photos.

That's pretty much all the news from me for this week. I have a couple of stuff going on this week/weekend so I'll write more next week.

Another week, more activities.

After all the festivities from last week/weekend, it was just nice to not do anything this week/weekend. On Tuesday, John and I went to the DM Symphone opening night gala and Joshua Bell was the soloist. If you remember, I was most impressed with him last year when I saw him up in Ames and I have to say that he did not disappoint one bit. I've yet to see anyone who is as technically gifted as he is. Perlman comes to mind, but he's in a world of his own. I was very family with the piece that Bell played and he made it sound so alive. He played a piece from the Red Violin soundtrack and it was a short, yet mesmerizing piece. Needless to say, he earned and deserved his standing ovation. What a great way to get the year started!

On Friday, Maria and I went to the World Food Festival that took place at the East Village. I went there two years ago and it was a good festival. This year I dragged Maria along with me. We went at a time when most people were still at work so there was not a big crowd which was fine by me. I had some Bosian, Ecuadorian and Greek food. I was surprised there weren't that many food vendors there. One would think that a food festival should have a plethora of food vendors but that was not the case. A would say half the vendors had shops in the greater DM area and I did not patronize them since I would much rather go to their restaurant. After the food festival, we had gelato. Can you believe that it's pretty much fall and this is the first time I had gelato? I normally have gelato when it's the summer season, but for some reason or another, I've not had any.

Saturday was a pretty mellow day. I watched two dvds then was off to the library to return them. I borrowed more dvds then spent some time in the library. I also went window shopping for a grill for the church. The grill we have it pretty much dead so I offered to do some research and price shop for our new grill. Now's kind of the season to buy grills since it's not in season and most places are looking for get rid of whatever grills they have onsite. I looked in the consumer report guide and found a couple that were ranked pretty high and were within the price range.

Sunday was a nice day because after Mass, I went out for brunch with Ginny Pearson. Ginny moved back to DM after spending some time in Kansas City and realized that she missed DM so she moved back here. Ginny has been a widow some years now and I've always liked Ginny so whenever I get to spend time with her, it's always nice. She showed me her new condo where she's living and it's a nice condo. I got a haircut after that and watched my Broncos play. I've yet to see them play this whole year so it was a good was to spend the day.

That's pretty much how the week/weekend went. Next weekend will be a busy one too because St. Kate's has its 10 year anniversary celebration and as much as I would like to be present at all of the festivities, I won't be able to do that. I'm headed up to Ames for a performance on Friday and on Saturday night there's a classical performance. I will however be able to make it to a Dan Schutte workshop next Saturday morning and it should be a very good worshop. Schutte is the famous composer for many familiar songs that are sung at church.

Wow.

Well, talk about a pretty packed week/weekend for me. It all started with the Bucksbaum talk at Drake on Tuesday evening. It's an annual talk that takes place twice a year and the university invites world renowed people to speak. The guy who spoke was Nicholas D. Kristof, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The New York Times. He spoke about the situation in Darfur, Sudan. Talk about a very tragic situation. It was a very good talk and he had some gut wrenching images from Darfur. If you want to learn more about the situation in Darfur, check out www.savedarfur.org. On Thursday, I went up to Ames for the musical Evita. I'm familiar with Evita from the movie and the music is well known. However, I was surprised how good the musical was. I had a good time watching the musical. Friday was a pretty laid back day as I did not do a whole lot which was nice. I had something or another going on every evening of the week.

Saturday was another eventful day. It started with the Alzheimer Walk around Waterworks Park. There's a colleague who has been part of the walk for a number of years and when I realized that I did not have anything going on Saturday morning, I figured it would be a good way to get the morning started. I biked to the park from my apartment and that got my blood pumping. The walk was a very leisurely walk and there were quite a lot of people there. A number of those walking were there in memory of someone they knew. After the walk, I biked to the farmers market and it's been quite some time since I've been at the market. I did not get anything, but it was just nice to walk around. I took a shower and headed to the downtown library. Later that day, I was off to Ames again and this time it was for a jazz concert by an up and coming jazz artist named Rachel Price. She's just 22 years old, but she has an amazing voice and I won be surprised if she wins a number of grammy awards in the not too distant future. All of us in attendance thought that it was a great concert. She's not released any cd yet, but she did inform us that it will be coming out soon. Talk about a great day to end a Saturday night.

Today, the young adults served coffee and donuts and there were a good number of us there which made the job so much easier. We had fun and it was nice for the congregation to get to meet other young adults. In the afternoon, I was off to Joel and Kathy's place before heading to Costco to get food for student supper. The 2nd Sunday Group served supper this evening and as always we had a fun time. However, the grill was not working properly and that was a little disappointing, but we survived. We ended up boiling then broiling the brats and the students thought it was very tasty.

Once in a while I have a pretty packed weekend and this was definitely one of them. I really do not mind it as long as there's some down time. I guess my downtime was this evening. I believe next weekend will be a much calmer and manageable weekend. However, life has a way of providing a number of surprises. We'll just have to see what the coming week brings.

Can Life Get Any Better?!

I'm kind of still on a high with the whole Green Card situation and I definitely celebrated over the weekend. On Friday, I went up to Ames for a comedy play entititled, "Wonder Bread Years" and it was hilarious. The premise was really simple - the guy brought the audience back to the wonder bread year where in so many ways, life was so much simpler and toys were non electronic. Granted, the the audience that would relate most to the play would be people 50 years and older, but there were a number of things that I could relate to. I had dinner with Nora, Colleen, Nora's roommate and cousin. It was nice to hang out with the four of them. We had a nice dinner at this Italian restaurant located right next to the Thai restaurant that we had planned on going. The food was good.

On Saturday, I got up to watch the Liverpool game which was really disappointed because Liverpool did not play well at all. Oh, well. It's still early in the season and there are many more games left. However, it would have been nice if they had won. Later that afternoon, I went to Drake's Football game. It was billed as Drake's game of the season because we played the University of Northern Iowa and whoever won go to claim the right to be the "best" football team in the state. Drake was basically ran out of the stadium. The game was a blowout in UNI's favor. The saving grace was that the weather was immaculate. There's not going to be many more sunny days left since it's already fall. Some of the leaves are already changing color. Later that evening, I went to a farewell party for Ashley Templeton who was a RCIA candidate last year. She's going to El Salvador to work for at least a year. My hunch is that she'll be there a number of years. Ashley belongs to the young adults group too. The farewell was held at Drake and it was nice to walk on campus again. One of the former dining halls has been changed in to a social lounge.

After Mass today, I hung around Drake's campus - the library specifically catching up the news and some magazines because at 3PM there was a classical concert. The group that performed was the Borealis Wind Quintet and they were very, very good. Talk about a great way to enjoy a Sunday. Pretty much all the pieces they played I've never heard before. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever attended a wind quintet performance. It was fun and anything to expose me to more classical music, I'm game. The rest of the evening was spent in the apartment just relaxing and winding.

Can life get any better than the weekend I had? I don't think so! This coming week will be pretty eventful too. Stay tuned to the blog!

This day in history - Green Card.

Today will go down in history for me as I got the approval for my US permanent residency. Yay! When I got up this morning, I just had a funny feeling about the day. I just could not pinpoint what it was but went with the flow. Work wise, nothing really stood out and I was busy helping a colleague with reports, but throughout the day, the funny feeling kept gnawing at me. I took half the day off to watch soccer and thirty minutes before I left, I received a voicmail from the lawyer's office asking me to give them a call. Here I was thinking it was going to be more bad news regarding my immigration status. Lo and behold I was told that I my green card application was approved. As excited as I was, I was still a little cautious and asked her if it just meant that they received my approval notice and not the card. She told me that she had both and it was ready to be picked up later that day. You can't imagine the joy that went through my entire being! I shared the news with the office staff and they all congratulated me which was touching. Joel was out of the office, but I called him on his cellphone and told him about the good news. He was exhilarated for me and said it's time to pop open the good wine. That's for sure.

So, after the soccer game, I trooped over to the law firm and the lawyer handed me my green card without any major fan fare. In case you're wondering, the green card is not even green in color. It's the size of a credit card and pretty much looks like a driver's license. You can't fathom what the card means to me especially after all the hoops I've been through over the years. It's definitely the culmination of many years of ups and downs dealing with the immigration department.

I went to Mass and for me, it was most definitely a Mass of Thanksgiving and shared the news with the regular crowd and they were so happy for me. I then headed over to John's apartment so he too could share my joy. John and I chatted for a while before he had to meet some people for dinner. Instead of celebrating, I went back to my apartment, warmed up some leftovers and called my parents. Dad was out walking and mom answered the phone. From the tone of her voice, I could tell she was excited and happy for me as any mom would be. We talked for quite some time and she even texted my sis who sent a congratulatory text back to mom for me. Dad got back from his walk and mom did not say anything so I broke the news to him. Needless to say he too was happy and excited for me.

Later that evening, I sent out a mass e mail letting people know about the good news, and it was wonderful to hear back from them all congratulating me. That got me thinking how truly blessed I've been to have such dear friends who mean the world to me. They sincerely shared my joy and knew how monumental this day meant for me. Deep down I know I could not have done this myself and I have many people to thank especially Joel and the Board of Directors at Aging Resources who got the ball rolling. My only hope and wish is that in the future, I'll have the opportunity to pass it on to someone else. Joel told me a number of times that he's had people help/mentor him over the years and he's taken it upon himself to do the same if and when the opportunity arises. That's a pivotal life lesson I've learned from him.

In addition to Aging Resources, where would I be if not for the community of Saint Catherine of Siena Catholic Student Center? They welcomed me back with open arms after I left the seminary and were there to provide support in every way shape or form during one of my most enduring and trying times when I did not know where life was headed. St. Kate's is not just a community, but one big family in my books. Even if they don't know it, I've adopted them whether they like it or not!

Today truly is a very special day in so many way and I'm not sure if words can even describe it, and I'm sure things will really sink in over the coming days. Where will all of us be if not for friends and loved one who are they for you through thick and thin no matter what? I am truly blessed and there's no other way to say/describe it.

Another Nice weekend.

It's Sunday and I'm currently typing this from the library. I just had brunch with the Skidmores - Sarah was back for the weekend which was nice. I was supposed to have dinner with her before she went back to college, but that did not happen so it was nice to catch up with her and see how things are going. She seems to be doing well at the Kansas City Art Institute and maybe if I have some free weekend, I'll make it over to visit her in October. Later this afternoon, I'll be helping Charlene with student supper. She had signed up with a couple of people and I guess they need to get some tables moved and ready for the students. I do not have anything going on today so I volunteered. That's kind of one of the reasons why I'm at the library instead of being back in my apartment. Since I'm already out, it does not make sense to go back and forth.

I have to say that overall I had a pretty good weekend. After work on Friday, I watched a couple of movies that I borrowed from the library. I finally watched Schindler's List in its entirety. Talk about a moving movie and a powerful soundtrack. That's a classic for sure. There were other movies I saw but Schindler's List stood out for me.

I was planning on getting up early to watch Liverpool on the TV, but was awakened by my neighbor blasting his music at 5AM. You got that right - 5AM. Normally, I would be unhappy, but because I had planned on getting up at 5:30AM, it really did not bother me too much. What was disappointing is that the Liverpool game was not shown. Instead, they showed Australian football. Aargh ... talk about frustrating. So, I had planned on waxing the car after the Liverpool game but ended up getting that started at 7:30AM. It was a cool and crisp morning and for me, just perfect weather to be waxing. It took me an hour and a half to get it all waxed and I was happy with how it turned out. By the time I got done, the sun was just beginning to shine on the car so talk about perfect timing. I then went to the library and caught up on some reading materials. Nothing too exciting. Later in the afternoon, I watched some football on tv - both American College Football and British Football. They ended up showing the delayed telecast of the Liverpool game so I caught a little of that. That evening was the opening of the On Stage Classical Concert Series at the Art Center. I was pumped for that and the group that performed was the Mozaique Chamber Orchestra. Most of the people who made up the chamber were faculty at Drake and DM Symphony players. It was a very good concert and one of the pieces they played at the same piece that was played at the Drake faculty concert last Monday. I did not mind listening to it twice because I liked that piece. That was definitely a great way to end a Saturday evening.

Don't have too much going on this week. I'll be headed up to Ames for a play on Friday and I hope to meet up with two of my former religious education students. One of them is Kevin's daughter Colleen who just started her Freshmen year at Iowa State. I'll be fun to see how she's doing there. Next Sunday, another classical/jazz concert series begin so I'll be looking forward to that too. During the week, I don't think there's too much going on. Oh, the young adults will be going out for dinner at this tapas restaurant and most of them have not been there before so it'll be nice for a big group of us to go there.

That's pretty much all the news from me. It was a nice weekend and I can't wait to see what this coming week/weekend holds.

A Nice Weekend.

Ah, it's a gorgeous Sunday afternoon and I have to different curries cooking right now (Kurma and Rendang). Life could not be any better. I came back from the Olahs not too long ago. Joel called me right after Mass and told me to come over for brunch if I did not have anything going on because he made some turkey and both he and Kathy do not eat dark meat and they figured I would be interested in the meat. So, I motored over there for brunch which was really nice. It's been quite some time since I made it to their place. Since the weather is close to perfect, I'll be headed back there again later in the evening and this time there will be another couple joining us. Kathy will get the fire going in the grill and we'll just sit around the fire and shoot some breeze. That's the life I tell you. In case you're wondering why I have two different curries cooking right now, I figured since I'm in the mood to cook I might as well cook as much as I can. Needless to say the curry will last me for some time. I also have some spaghetti sauce in the freezer so I'm pretty much set with food for quite some time.

I hung out with Kristi, Brian and a few friends on Friday evening which was nice. Kristi knew I needed to be around people and just have a good laugh. Before that, I went to Drake for a free music faculty concert which was really neat. I fell in love with a Flute, Oboe and Piano Trio by Madeleine Dring. Something about it was very moving and I was not the only person who felt that way. I may even use the balance of the Barnes & Noble gift card to get the CD of the music. That's how highly I thought of the piece.

The weather was perfect for biking and I went on a pretty long bike ride on Saturday. When I need to clear my head or think about other things, I usually bike and it would have been a travesty if I did not bike yesterday. I even bumped into Sonia and David while I was biking. Charlene told me at Mass today that they are training for a marathon. She too was there at Gray's Lake, but she was reading.

Next weekend will be the first of many classicial concerts that I'll be going to. I think it ends up being one concert almost every other week which is nice. I've been looking forward to the start of all my concerts for some time and I can't believe the day is almost here. Yay! I don't think there's other stuff to report. It's just been a nice weekend for me to clear my mind and to start the week afresh. I'm looking forward to the reports slowly arriving over the week. Work is always good because then, I can focus on the job. That's pretty much it for this week.

Twin Cities

Well, what can I say about the weekend? It was a pretty fun filled and enjoyable weekend to say the least. I left at 6AM on Saturday morning and arrived at Alyssa’s place at around 9:30AM. We chatted a little before she took me around and showed me different places in the Twin Cities. We walked around the Sculptor Garden which was really impressive. All the times I’ve been to the Twin Cities, I’ve never even heard of the Sculptor Gardens. There were some amazing sculptors in and around the gardens. After that we took a peek into the basilica in Minneapolis. It would have been nice to walk around it, but there was a wedding. Oh, I should say that the weather was most perfect over the weekend. The humidity level was low and the actual weather never did hit 90 which made for a pleasant walk. Alyssa then drove me around the different neighborhoods within Minneapolis and I got to see how they all differ. We had lunch at an Indian restaurant and the food was good and authentic. Once lunch got done, we walked to where the new Guthrie Theater is located. Talk about a primo spot to build the theater. It’s located right next to the Mississippi river and also next to the Old Mill site. There’s a couple of really neat paths around the Guthrie. From there we saw where the 35W bridge collapsed and just looking at the rubble brought back some memories of Highland Towers. We made a quick stop in the apartment before going to Mass. Alyssa’s parish is definitely a liberal parish and it was a good Mass experience. We had dinner at a Malaysian restaurant called Peninsula and I was very impressed with the food. We had a couple of appetizers – Popiah, Lobak and Roti Canai. For my entrée, I had Asam Laksa while she had sizzling tofu. I had a bite of her entrée and it was very good. For dessert, I had Ice Kacang and also ordered the peanut pancake. I definitely got my Malaysian fix for sure. After dinner, we had tickets to Comedy Sportz which was an improvisational comedy “battle” between two teams. It was laugh out loud funny and it was the first time I saw something like that. At Comedy Sportz, Marie and Alex, Alyssa’s friends joined us. We then grabbed a bite at Old Chicago and stayed till around 1:30AM.

On Sunday, Alyssa drove to Hastings, where she’s from to let the dog out. I got to see where she grew up and the neighborhood. Oh, in Hastings, they had this huge Catholic Church the dwarfed everything surrounding it and it was mighty impressive. We had breakfast at the neighborhood diner which had an excellent meal. The rest of the day was spent at the Minnesota State Fair. You know how much I love state fairs and I do have to say that the Minnesota State Fair was a better fair than Iowa (I can’t believe I wrote that in my blog! But credit has to be given when credit it due). Everything is much more spread out and even though there were several hundred thousand people there you never really felt too claustrophobic. I had a great time at the fair and spent a lot of time at the fine at building looking at the different art exhibits. They were mighty impressive to say the least. It was such a neat experience at the state fair. Alyssa was volunteering at the Red Cross while I was walking around at the fair. The biggest, neatest surprise was me bumping into three Drake friends who were a couple of years my junior who lived on my floor and who majored in Psychology. The chances of something like that happening are so minute. We were all excited to see one another and exchanged e mail address and I gave them my card. Talk about a small world. After Alyssa was done volunteering, we walked around the fair together and grabbed a quick bite to eat. The rest of the evening was spent chatting in the apartment.

I headed back to DM the next day and while I was in the Twin Cities, John called me and wondered what I was doing. I told him that I was headed back to DM and would drop by once I got into town. We chatted and caught up with one another then watched a delightful French movie called, “My Best Friend”. We had dinner at the Drake Diner before watching another movie. This time, it was entitled, “No End in Sight” which is a documentary about the war in Iraq and how the Bush Administration got it wrong big time. Go see it if you can because it was a very well made documentary and it kind of scary when you think about the different decisions that’s being made by a select few people without the consultation of others. Needless to say it was a pretty long day for me yesterday and I’m still kind of recovering from it. Overall, it was a good weekend. Don’t think I’ll be driving or going on any short trips in the foreseeable future.

Quite an eventful week for sure.

The week started well. I invited Maria over to my apartment for dinner on Monday. I've not hung out with her for some time and since she's working on the other side of the building, we don't really get to catch up with one another that much. It was nice to just chat with her and hear how things are going in her neck of the woods.

On Wednesday, I had my annual review and aced it. I got a mini pay increase which is always nice. Overall, everyone is happy with me and basically, I was told to keep doing what I'm doing. I did bring up the fact the since I "lost" Maria to the case management department, I don't have anyone to help me file and the stack is getting to be pretty high because of all the reregistrations that are coming in. Margaret said she'll she'll speak to Carol who is Maria's supervisor and figure something out. I told Margaret that if push comes to shove, I'll come in over the weekend to clear some of the stuff, but I know the agency does not really want people to comp their hours. I'll leave it for the supervisors to hash it out among themselves.

Thursday was fun because it was the first day of the Iowa State Fair and the young adults group were to meet there and just hang out. I left for the fairgrounds right after work which gave me more than enough time to see some of the things I wanted to see like the art and photography exhibits. It's pretty amazing when you see some of the skills/talents people have when it comes to art and photography. All in all there were four people who came and that was fine by me. We watched the "Vocal Trash" performance which was really good. The best way to describe this group would be to call them "Stomp" but add singing to their act. It was a lot of fun. Oh, I should say that one of the people in the group who came was a Moslem and she was a headscarf and what I would call a very traditional/conservative dress. Needless to say, the people at the fair kept looking at her. She was at the fair two years ago and felt very uncomfortable because people kept staring at her. I told her that people are bound to stare at our group because here's this Asian guy walking next to Moslem girl and in front of us were two Americans! As the day went on, she felt more comfortable but some yahoo did yell something to the effect that there's a terrorist in our midt. She laughed but I could tell it was a little uncomfortable. It's amazing how ignorant some people are. She was born in Jordan and migrated to the US some years ago. She even told me that her mom's Catholic! All in all, I have to say we had a good time walking the fair and just people watching. The last group we saw was the "Nadas". They are a local band who have a pretty large following. I've heard of them before but have never listened to their music. It was a good opportunity for me to hear them. Needless to say there were quiet a lot of people at their performance and the people up front were most definitely huge Nadas fan. I can see their appeal. I can't really classify their music but would say it's close to rock/adult contemporary. It was a good way to end the day at the fair.

Did not do a whole lot on Friday and Saturday. I stayed in the apartment for the most part as it was hot and very humid. I did walk over to the library and read some magazines and newspaper. Today (Sunday) as I stepped into my car, I found a huge crack on my windshield and it's definitely from the contruction that's takinng place right next to the parking lot. I remember the former manager sending all residents a note saying that during the contruction period, if something were to fall and cause a crack/dent, to let her know. I called the manager right after Mass and told her about it. I even called my insurance agent just to be on the safe side. It'll be interesting to see what happens and how it will be taken care of. I'm very certain nothing is going to come out of my pocket, but I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

That's pretty much how the week has been for me. John just got back from his cruise to the Baltic region so I'm fairly certain we'll be meeting up so I can see photos of his vacation. Apart from that, there's not a whole lot going on this coming week. I'm kind of getting a little sick and tired of the hot weather, but there's nothing I can do about it.

Loft/Condo tour.

On Saturday, Kathy and I went on the downtown loft/condo tour. There's been a number of new development taking place downtown and it was interesting to see some of these places. I've been curious to see the inside of some of these places and was not disappointed. Needless to say, some were nicer than others. We ended up touring six development and the one that really jumped out to me was located just south of the Gateway Market. There's something about that condo that just stuck with me. The tours normally take place the first Saturday of each month. However, there will not be a tour next month as it's Labor Day weekend. The next tour will be in October and this time I'll be touring the lofts/condo located on the east side of downtown DM. Having lived in downtown DM, I see myself living her for the long term. At the same time, some of these places cost a bomb. We'll see what the East Village has to offer.

Later in the day, I went to David and Panom's house for a summer party. They invited me over together with a bunch of their friends/colleagues just to grill and have fun. It was a fun time. I got to see Aiden and Keegan. It's been quite some time since I've seen their kids and they are adorable as ever. Keegan's talking quite a lot now and it was really fun trying to figure out what he was saying. He's two and Aiden is five. I spent a good part of the evening chatting with Panom's brother in law. He's a neat guy and we just connected. After everyone left, I stayed around to clean up although Panom insisted I not do it. As with all Asian households, she gave me a ton of food to take home with me. She made the comment it's the Asian thing to do! The next time, Panom said she'll cook some pho while I volunteered to cook some Malaysian curry. It's a date.

After Mass today, I got a haircut which felt good since I've not gotten my hair cut in roughly two months. There was the Republican Presidential Candidate Debate that took place on Drake's campus right around Mass time but surprisingly, parking was not a problem. Needless to say there were a lot of people in and around the Drake area, but that did not bother me.

It's been extremely hot and humid these past couple of days which makes me want to stay in my apartment and not go outside. The Iowa State Fair begins on Thursday and the young adults group will be going there for our get together. I'll actually be going there before most people since I get off work much earlier than most people. That way I can get started on the food before others make it there! It will also give me the opportunity to see some things that I want to see and am not sure if others would be interested in seeing. I'm really excited for some of the free performances because there are a number of groups that will be performing who I've not heard before. I'm not quite sure how many times I'll make it to the state fair, but I'm sure it's going to be more than twice! It's definitely one of my most favorite times of the year. Let's just hope the weather is not too hot and humid. Even if it is, it won't keep me away!

A mundane week/weekend.

It's definitely been a quiet week which is nice for a change. On Friday night, I went out for dinner with three priests. All of them celebrated their ordination anniversary over the week so it was only appropriate to ring in their ordination celebration. We had a nice meal at Azalea which is a restaurant that I've really come to enjoy. The best part about it is the fact that it's located downtown so definitely within walking distance from my apartment. The che/owner used to run my most favorite restaurant (Bistro 43) which closed a number of years ago. Right across from Azalea is another of his restaurants and that's more of a sushi place. It opened a couple of weeks ago and I'll be going there to try the sushi in a couple of weeks. I want to give them some time to work out the kinks before I make it there.
Saturday was nice because I dropped Joel and Kathy off at the airport. They are in San Francisco for the National Area Agency on Aging Conference for a week. After I dropped them off, I got to spend some time in my apartment. Since I've been housesitting this past week, I've not spent any time in my apartment and I've missed it. The family gets back on Tuesday night for two weeks then they'll be off for another two weeks. Later Saturday night, I went to the 515Alive concert which is the annual electronics music free outdoor concert. I was looking forward to the headliner because he was one of the founding members of an amazing group called Rabbit In The Moon. He did a pretty good job with his set but I kind of wished he did not jumped around the different genres of music and just stuck to one. Oh, well. There were a good number of people at the concert and I think the organizers were happy with the turnout.
After Mass today, I spent the entire day in the house reading the papers, magazines and watching some tv. That's the way to enjoy a Sunday in my opinion.

An emotional week.

Talk about feeling the highs and lows of emotions within a week. Just last week, I got back from one of the most memorable and amazing vacations. Also, within a couple of days of getting back, I found out that a dear friend from high school died in a helicopter crash. Life is truly full of surprises and I once again reiterate the fact that we should all savor every moment of life and live it to the fullest because you just do not know when your time is up.

I did go the musical "Spamalot" on Wednesday, and that helped me laugh out loud and get my mind off things for a while. If you get the opportunity to see it, don't miss it because it was downright laugh out loud funny. I've never seen a Wednesday performance that packed at the Civic Center.

On Saturday, I went to the Farmers Market and John and I went to see the latest Harry Potter movie on the Imax screen. Talk about a movie experience. Fun times! I'm also house-sitting this week and it's the same house that I usually house sit. Dylan (the dog) recognized me and we're going to have some fun hanging out with one another. That evening, I took my RE students out for dinner at the Chinese restaurant and all but one of them thoroughly enjoyed the meal. The one person who did not enjoy the meal was so fluterred when the saw the fish with the head it was kind of funny. He ate so little and kept apologizing to me for not being to eat the food. Hey, that did not offend me at all. I kind of felt bad for him. After dinner we headed back to my apartment and hung out there. While in my apartment, we saw a cop car stop a car and before we knew it, there were five more patrol cars. Teenager being teenager, just had to see what was going on so we stoof on the skywalk and found out that it was a drug bust. The guy was arrested for some serious possession on marijuana. Talk about the fast and exciting times in downtown Des Moines.

Later today, I'll be headed to Ann's place for our monthly dinner. They'll most certainly be a lot to catch up on. Both of us were on vacation and there's always tons of stories to share especially after a vacation.

Tomorrow will be a busy day at work because the end of the year reports are due to the state and all of us will be breathing a huge sigh of relief once that's been taken care of. It's kind of scary to think that August is almost upon us. Geez, where does time fly to?

A sad day.

Today I received confirmation that my friend from high school, Norazlan was killed together with five other people in a helicopter crash. Norazlan was a captain in the Malaysian Air Force and has been flying for a number of years. He came to MBSSKL (my old high school) as a transfer student. He was a smart guy and definitely made a name for himself because he was a mighty talented athlete. It also helped that he had such a fun, jovial, happy-go-lucky and engaging personality. I remember that year a number of new guys arrived in our class and they kind of stuck to themselves initially. However, once we got to know them and vice versa, we all mixed and became really close.

You can ask anyone about Norazlan and they'll all pretty much tell you that he was a joker who always had a smile on his face. I remember his motocycle and car as he gave me numerous rides here and there. It was a lot of fun hanging out with him.

As with most guys from high school, we kind of went our separate ways after graduating, but Norazlan and I did stay in touch. One of my fondest memories of Norazlan was the last day I was back in Malaysia before leaving for the US. I'm pretty sure it was the second time I was home in Malaysia. He came over at night and what was supposed to be a short visit to say goodbye ended up being a very long visit reminiscing the good and innocent old times. He kept me up all night and I distinctly remember telling my friends that very early morning that since all of them kept me up, they'll have to be responsible when it came time for me to get ready to head over to the airport for my flight back to the US. Boy, did we have a blast that day.

When death hits, I tend to think of the good times I had with the person who died, and with Azlan (which is what I always called him), we always had a great time. There was just something about him. In some ways, there was justice in his death because he loved being a pilot and God, did he love flying. He loved sharing with me all about the different trainings he had to go through and it always culminated in flying. I could always sense his anticipation and excitement when it came to flying.

What's left now are just fond memories of times spent with Azlan. I know he made me a better person having known him, and like one of my friends said, "God loved him more which is why God called him back". I do not find that hard to believe at all. So, my dear friend, may God bless your soul, may you rest in peace, and thanks for the honor of being able to know you and to call you a dear friend. The world is definitely going to miss your presence - I know I will.

Colorado Vacation.

June 23rd

Today marked the first day of my vacation. As planned, I left DM at 5AM and started my supposedly 11 hour drive to Estes Park. The drive in and of itself was not bad at all. Everyone kept telling me that driving through Nebraska was treacherous because there’s just not a whole lot to see. I really did not think it was that bad at all. I stopped twice to get gas and both places were in Nebraska as I figured gas in Colorado would not be cheap. I guessed right. The route I took to get to Estes Park brought me to Cheyenne, Wyoming. I’ve never been to Wyoming before so I figured it would be nice to drive through that state. As I was driving south towards Estes Park, I could see the Rockies to my right. It was truly an awesome sight to behold. In order to get to Estes Park, you have to drive through two cities. Traffic was a little slow, but that was fine by me. It was really neat driving on the mountain because it was not a straight drive. I finally made it at Estes Park at 2:30PM. The first place I stopped at was a gelato shop right in the heart of downtown. A couple of people who have been to Colorado advised me to get acclimated to the altitude and I figured getting some food and walking around town would help. After the gelato, I crossed the street to the Visitor Center and got a couple of brochures that I did not have. Then it was off to the B&B where I was going to spend the next five days. I was ten minutes early before check in but that did not matter. They were ready for me. The innkeeper is a German couple. He used to be a physics professor and retired in 1992. After he retired, they moved to Colorado and the B&B was opened in 1994. We chatted a little and he gave me the layout of the land which was really nice. There is a Catholic church right near downtown and I figured I might as well go to Mass today instead of tomorrow. That way I can get started with my hiking bright and early. The church is a quaint little place and the congregation is a little older. What was really funny, the people right in front of me were from Altoona and Ankeny (both very near DM)! What were the chances of that happening? I even asked the people in Ankeny if they knew Fr. Steve who was the priest at St. Kate’s for a year and that’s where he is now. They most certainly know him and think very highly of him. It really is a small world. After Mass, I had dinner at a restaurant called “The Other Side”. The innkeeper recommended it together with a colleague of mine. It was a nice little restaurant that had a stunning view of the mountains. I had elk meat for the very first time in my life and the meat was by no means gamey. After dinner, I trooped back to the B&B and then proceeded to walk around downtown Estes Park. I doubt I’ll be spending any significant amount of time downtown because it’s more of a shopper’s neighborhood. There are a number of quaint little shops that would appeal to women. I on the other hand had no interest whatsoever in those shops. I know I will be going downtown for dinner a couple of nights but I’m fine with that. From the B&B, it took me roughly fifteen minutes to walk downtown. There’s no reason to drive there for sure. After my walk, I started typing in my journal. After the last major trip, I figured it’s best to bring along my laptop and type in it at night before I go to bed. That will save me some time and I won’t need to enter it twice. One learns from experience I guess.

June 24th.

I was up pretty early this morning because I was excited about the day that was to come. Those of us who stayed at the B&B were served an amazing German omelet with applesauce. There was also yoghurt, coffee and orange juice. Talk about food to get me ready for my hike. My hiking plan today was to head to Emerald Lake from the Bear Lake trailhead. As I hiked to Emerald Lake, I passed three other lakes. I figured I would work backwards instead of stopping on my way to Emerald. There were parts of the trail that were pretty steep and it was funny because there came a time when I was ready to call it quits. I’m glad I didn’t because I’m ¬sure it was my body telling me that it needed time to adjust to the altitude. When I arrived at Emerald Lake, it was truly a sight to behold. There were a couple of people there but I managed to find a spot to rest and just take it all in. It’s amazing the sense of peace and tranquility that embraces one as you just sit in the presence of nature. I probably spent a good 45 minutes at the spot then decided to work my way back to the other lakes. The next lake I encountered was Dream Lake and it’s different compared to Emerald Lake because Dream Lake was narrower. Nymph Lake was next and the name says it all. It was a pretty small lake but still a lake. The next lake was Bear Lake and it’s a huge lake that has a nice walk around which I did not go on. There were quite a lot of people at this lake and I just did not want to be around the people. I then proceeded to hike to Bierstadt Lake. There was a trail leading to Bierstadt from Bear. It was a nice hike which did not last too long. Bierstadt was amazing and the view was downright awe-inspiring. I spent a good amount of time there just taking it all in. Oh, I forgot to mention that as I hiked I could see all the different Colorado Mountains. Words can’t really describe the views I encountered. A picture can only say so much. After Bierstadt, I had planned on making a loop around Sprague Lake but it had gotten really hot and the sun was scorching. I was not used to this. So, I did the smart thing by calling it a day. Before heading back to the B&B I stopped by the Rocky Mountain National Park Visitor Center to see what they offered there. There was a 23 minutes video that was shown and it was pretty good. I may be tempted to get a DVD of Rocky Mountain as a keepsake after the vacation is over. I still have a couple of days to decide on that. The first thing I did when I got back to the B&B was to take a nice cold shower. I had sweat a lot and there was nothing better than a cold shower. It was then time for dinner and I walked to an Italian Restaurant called “Sweet Basilico” located five minutes from the B&B. The food was good. I had calamari as an appetizer and had seafood angel hair pasta as an entrée. The preparation was simple but it was very good. It definitely filled me up for sure. After dinner, I spent the rest of the evening at the B&B reading and typing in my journal. I also downloaded the photos from the days’ adventure. It’ll be most interesting to see how they turn out. The plan for tomorrow is to hike a couple of trails leading to waterfalls. There’s nothing more spectacular than waterfalls!

June 25th.

As planned, today was the day I made it to Ouzel Falls which is one of many waterfalls that can be found in the Rockies. I had an earlier breakfast which allowed me to get on the trail a little earlier and that was very nice. There were probably five cars parked at the lot and that was a good sign. The trail really was not too difficult. There were parts where it was steep and as you looked up you could see how steep it was going to get. My motivation was hearing the waterfalls and like the guidebooks said, once you arrived at the waterfall, you can’t help but think that the trek was more than worthwhile. I spent some good amount of time there just admiring the sounds from the waters falling. Needless to say, I took a number of different shots of the waterfall. When it was time to go back down, I really took my time as I was in no rush whatsoever to head to another trail. I really did not plan on hiking the rest of the day. On my way back, I did see this very pretty lake that was part of the Rocky Mountain National Park System. The lake was called Lily Lake and it’s pretty much a lake surrounded by some amazing views of mountains. I stopped the car and trekked around the lake. It was a very easy hike around the lake. After that was done, I drove to downtown and spent the rest of the afternoon in the public library reading. It was a nice way to cool off and to give my legs some much needed rest. Before I knew it, it was time to take a shower and find some grub. I was hungry for a nice piece of steak and the B&B people recommended Nicky’s Steakhouse. To be real honest, the steak was only so-so. I may have to rethink the whole idea of having steak while I’m in Colorado. At the very least, dinner filled me up. I did not know what else to do so I motored back downtown and once again spent some time in the library. I could have walked around downtown again, but just did not feel like it. The plan for tomorrow is to hike the most. I’ll be going to a small waterfall on the way to a nice picturesque lake. As I follow this trail, it branches off to another lake and the goal is to visit that lake too. We’ll see how my feet hold up. I really do think it’ll be fine. It’s kind of hard to believe that I’ve been here three days now and have two more days of hiking before I continue on to my next adventure in Denver. On a side note, it’s amazing how many Caucasians there are visiting Estes Park. Everywhere I turn, it’s nothing but blonde haired and blue-eyed people! Talk about a lack of diversity. Oh well, it’s just an observation from me.

June 26th.

Today was definitely the longest hiking day, but it was well worth it. I was at the trailhead by 8:30AM and arrived at Loch Lake in roughly an hour. I have to say that this was definitely one of the best, most amazing lakes I’ve seen. It rivals Emerald Lake. I took some pretty good shots of the lake and one can only hope it turns out A OK. I was lucky because I made it there before most people and I got to savor the tranquility of the lake. By the time the other people arrived, I had taken all the photos I wanted to take. Next stop was Mills Lake which was another big lake. It was a very nice lake too but not as nice as Loch. I guess one of the reasons why I liked Loch was because the hike to the lake was pretty challenging and there were times when I was just about ready to quit. I kept telling myself that there was no way I was going to quit and I’m glad I did not. For me, whenever I’m hiking up a steep trail, it’s really mind over matter. On the way back, there was a small waterfall which was very accessible to many people because it was not even a mile hike. A number of people brought their little kids with them and needless to say, the kids had a blast. Once those two hikes were over, I made it back to the car and decided to drop by the Visitor Center to get a couple of souvenirs. Just as I arrived at the visitor center, it started raining. Actually, from Mills Lake, I could see the grey clouds and something told me that it was going to rain. I’m so glad I got all my hiking done before the rain fell. I would not have wanted to be up on the mountain with the lightning and all. I got a nice souvenir book with a DVD and am planning on getting a couple of more DVDs from Amazon just so I can commemorate my Rockies vacation. I took a shower and once again went to the library in town and then had dinner. This time I went to an Italian Restaurant called Dunraven. The food was pretty good especially the appetizer. I had Prince Edward Mussels and they were yummy. For my entrée, I had veal Marsala which was fine. They had tiramisu for dessert and there was no way I was going to turn that down. It was pretty good. Definitely one of the better tiramisus I’ve had in quite some time. After dinner I walked around downtown and still don’t really like it. That’s just my personal opinion. It definitely caters to all the tourists that swarm there during the summer months. Tomorrow will be a pretty relaxing day. I’m planning on going to Bridal Veil Falls which is the last waterfalls that I’m interested in seeing and that is pretty much it. I may make it back to Bear Lake again; we’ll just have to see how I feel after the hike up to Bridal Veil. I’m not really stressing out about my plans for tomorrow. Who knows, it might rain and if it does, that will throw my plans out the window. I’m just glad that I’ve been able to get as much hiking done as I wanted to. There is a benefit concert at the visitor center and I may go to that depending on my mood. The money goes towards the national park and I think that’s a very good cause. Something I’ve observed that I have not written is the fact that it’s so neat to see so many families taking their kids hiking. I’ve encountered numerous parents with pretty young kids hiking and I think it’s most wonderful. These kids are not staying at home watching the television or playing video games. They are learning about nature and are presumably having a blast. That’s very comforting to see for sure.

June 27th.

Today is my last day at Estes Park/Rockies. It’s really kind of a bittersweet day really. My Rockies experience comes to a close, but my Denver experience begins. As planned I set out for Bridal Veil Falls and after all the hiking from the prior days, this was one of the easier ones. It was by no means the easiest hike, but definitely not the most strenuous. The falls itself was beautiful and there were quite a lot of water gushing down. I managed to find a spot literally next to the waterfalls which gave me a couple of good camera shots. I sat there for some time taking it all in. The weather was a little misty/grey today but all the time I was hiking, it never once rained. It did rain later in the afternoon after I showered and was reading out on the patio. The hike back to the car was a little sad because I knew this was the last hike at the Rockies for me. However, I looked back at all the different hikes I’ve been on and could not help but be thankful for the opportunity to experience nature the way nature should be experienced. Before heading back to the B&B, I stopped by the library to read the papers. It was my last time at the library which served me very well all the times I was there in the afternoon. After my shower, I was reading up a little about the scenic route I’ll be taking to Denver tomorrow. I’ll be driving on Trail Ridge Road and there are a number of stops on this road that will allow one the opportunity to stop and just admire the beauty of Rocky Mountain National Park. My goal is to be on the road by 6AM and hopefully at that time, there will not be many cars and I’ll have the luxury of stopping at the different spots without the crowd of people. The B&B people had packed me a breakfast/lunch to go since I won’t be having breakfast tomorrow. How very nice of them. Hans and Miriam really are such wonderful B&B hosts. If I know of people looking for a place to stay while visiting Estes Park/Rocky Mountain, I’ll most certainly recommend this B&B. For dinner, per Miriam’s suggestion, since I’ve not had buffalo steak before, I went to this restaurant that served it. Who could turn down a wild game appetizer of wild boar, elk and buffalo sausage? Not me. That’s what I ordered. All the sausages tasted delicious and you can definitely tell the difference in taste. When I bit into the buffalo steak, the one thing that struck me was how much it tasted like beef. The main difference is the fact the buffalo steak was a little leaner and coarser than regular steak. It most certainly did not taste gamey at all. Well, I’m glad I had my first buffalo experience. I’m sure it won’t be my last. After such a hearty meal, I decided to walk around Spruce Lake in the Rockies. It’s a really easy walk around the lake. It’s a very nice lake but too bad the weather was a little grey. Normally, one would be able to see the Continental Divide from Spruce Lake. Oh, I should share with you how on my drive to Spruce Lake, I saw an elk literally standing right next to the road. That animal took my by surprise because I was not looking out for it. It’s a pretty big animal when you see it up close and personal. While walking around Spruce Lake, I took a number of photos of squirrels eating. I was amazed how close I managed to get to them. That was pretty neat to say the least. The walk around lake helped settle the food. When I was at the visitor center yesterday, I saw a note saying that there will be a concert there this evening. So, I made my way there after Spruce. It was kind of conservation, sustainability talk cum concert. Some time during the concert, it really hit me how very appropriate it was for me to be at this talk/concert because what better way to end my experience by talking about sustainability and the things I can do to make the world a better place to live for the future generations? This is one of the reasons why I refuse to go to zoos because I just do not believe in seeing animals all locked up in cages. That’s not their natural habitat and we think we’re doing kids a favor by “showing” these animals off. I’ll get off my soapbox now. After the concert, I just could not resist stopping by the gelato shop once again. It was a little treat to myself. God, I love gelato! I got two flavors – tiramisu and another flavor that just escapes me right now. Let’s just say the combination was amazing. I could not think of a better way to end the evening. Before calling it a night, I chatted with Hans and Miriam and took some photos with them. It’s my keepsake from my time vacationing at the Rockies. Tomorrow, a whole new and different adventure begins. This time it’s the big city of Denver.

June 28th

The drive on Trail Ridge Road was breathtaking to say the least. I left early enough that there were not that many cars on the road. I stopped a number of times where there were elk by the side of the road and managed to take photos. Driving through the mountains and just taking in the views were just breathtaking. I made it in Denver by 9:30AM. The one museum I wanted to visit was only going to open at 10AM. So I basically, hung outside waiting for the place to open. The Colorado Historical Museum had some very good information and I learned a lot about Colorado’s history and the role American Indians played. After visiting the museum, I dropped by the Denver Public Library located across the street from historical museum. It’s a huge library and it was pretty packed with people. Once I was done with the library, I drove to the hotel to check in and freshened up for dinner. Instead of driving back to downtown Denver, I actually took the light rail. I’m all about public transportation whenever possible. The park and ride is located a mile from the hotel and that just worked out perfectly. Dinner was at this restaurant called Mizuna and my oh my was the food delectable. I had the seven course tasting menu and it was a great way to experience a restaurant. The restaurant was a good fourteen blocks from the light rail stop so one could say that I walked for my dinner and it was all worth it. On my way back to the light rail stop, I saw a jazz club I was supposed to go for a jazz concert on Saturday but silly me I had something else going on that evening. So, I cancelled my reservation and asked them what other jazz music opportunities would be available to me. They have a Sunday brunch with a live jazz performance and that truly sounds good. I believe that’s what I’ll be doing. It’s so convenient whenever one is able to commute using public transportation.

June 29th.

I got up a little later than normal since the Denver Art Museum (DAM) was only going to open at 10AM. I was most impressed with its collection and when comparing it to some of the other art museums that I’ve been to, this definitely ranks as one of the best. There were a number of interactive displays that downright drew my attention. DAM probably has the most impressive if not one of the most impressive Native American displays. I spent the entire day at the museum and that tells you how impressed I was with it. Dinner was at Restaurant Kevin Taylor which was voted one of the top 50 restaurants in the USA. Dinner was impressive to say the least and that would be an understatement. Once again, I had the tasting menu and this was the first time ever where I got to choose the different courses. Oh, they had Kobe Beef tartare as an appetizer and would you think I was going to turn that down? No way, Jose! This may be my one and only time to ever try Kobe Beef. What do I think about it? Well, it’s all it’s cracked up to be. Melt in your mouth and utterly heavenly beef would be the best way to describe it. I was a very, very happy person at the end of the meal. I went to Jazz at Jack’s for a jazz performance. Actually, there were a couple of standup comics who got the crowd all pumped up before the house band, Dotsero came on stage. I was very impressed with the house band, and probably will end up getting some of their cds. The leader of the group was extremely talented, but whenever he spoke and tried to get the crowd going, it failed miserably. The music on the other hand was sumptuous for all at the club. We all had a great time and as much as I wanted to stay until the club closed, I was a tired but I told my waitress that I’d be back on Sunday. There’s no cover for the Sunday performance and they have a group coming that’s going to be jamming for fun. The group supposedly brings in some world famous artist whenever they jam. It’ll be interesting see who the guest artist is/are. What I love about this jazz club is that it’s non-smoking. Heck, all the restaurant and bars in Colorado are non-smoking. Gosh, how I wish those places in Iowa would be smoke free. I’m sure it’ll happen in time. There’s nothing like enjoying great jazz music in a club that’s non-smoking. After the leaving the club, I was in a little panic because I thought I had missed the last train getting me back to the hotel. Alas, all I needed to do was take a train to another station and transfer. The train that would get me back to the hotel ran till 2:30AM which was not going to be a problem at all for me. Talk about a great way to spend the day.

June 30th.

Talk about a day that was full of surprises. By the time I got up, it was kind of late because of the time I slept. I really took things easy today. The only thing I really did was to drive to the town of Morrison where the concert was going to take place. I’m glad I decided to leave early because there were quite a lot of people already at the venue close to four hours before the start of the concert. They were there to tailgate which is tradition for many people at concerts. I bought the papers and read it in my car. It was kind of hot to be reading outside. Before I knew it, people started piling into the car park. Let’s just say it was a very eclectic mix of people. Now, here comes the fun part. When I entered the venue which was spectacular because it was a natural outdoor amphitheater, I really saw what kind of a crowd it was. People were not supposed to be smoking, but they really did not care. Cigarette smoke really bothers me and people were not supposed to be standing but they did. That bothered me too and there was no way they were going to be sitting down. People started smoking marijuana out in the open and that bugged the heck out of me. Call me naïve, but I just don’t condone it. I’m pretty sure I would have enjoyed the concert if not for the different types of smoke emanating from the crowd. There were more and more people arriving and I could predict that things were going to get wild in every sense of the word. I did not want nor did I have the need to stay any longer so I left. This was probably the first time in a very long time where I felt very uncomfortable with a group of people. Now, they were all a “happy” bunch of people and there was no trouble, but I just did not feel comfortable with them. As a looked back at what I got myself into, I could not help but laugh at myself. It was pretty funny. I don’t normally get surprised by much, but this time I truly was taken by surprise. Oh, when I left the person at the gate told me that there was no reentry and I told her not to worry about that because I for sure would not be coming back! I definitely have a funny memory that I won’t be forgetting for quite some time. For dinner, I went to a sushi restaurant quite close to the hotel and it was pretty good. Actually, it was very good. That was most certainly a good way to end a pretty eventful day wouldn’t you say? Tomorrow will definitely be more laid back. I’ll be going to possibly two jazz performances and a musical. Talk about a packed day ahead for me.

July 1st.

It ended up being a very laid back kind of day. By the time I got up, it was a little too late to go to the jazz performance at 9AM. So, I decided to go to REI which is an outdoor sports place. I’ve gotten a couple of hiking pants and t-shirts from REI online. Let’s just say the shop itself was huge. It’s located in a former warehouse and it’s four storey high. I ended up not getting anything but it was definitely nice to see the shop. After REI, I went to the Denver Center for Performing Arts. At this center, there was no less than six different stages/auditorium etc. each with different size and levels. I went to the musical “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”. It’s a hilarious musical that just brought tons of laughter to all. The best part of it, I got the ticket for $10 by showing my student ID. How cool is that? It was such a neat way to spend the afternoon. For dinner, I went to Le Central which touts itself as the “affordable French restaurant” and affordable it truly was. The pre-fix menu cost $28 which was a bargain for French food. I’ve read that the mussels were out of this world so I had to order them. There were at least eight different ways to prepare the mussels and I ordered it the one way I’m most familiar with – white wine, garlic, basil, tomato and butter. It was outstanding. The only other place I’ve had mussels this good was during my vacation at San Juan Islands at Backdoor Kitchen Restaurant. I even went as far as to order two types of wine at Le Centrel. One red and the other white. Both complemented the food very well. I was ready to call it a day by the end of dinner so I headed back to the hotel to have some R&R. You can probably tell that I’m not doing a whole heck of a lot in Denver, but that’s totally A OK with me. That’s what a vacation is all about. You do whatever you want to do.

July 2nd.

Another very relaxing day today. I went to the library located very near the hotel and caught up with the papers. As I read the papers, I found out that Maria’s (my former volunteer) uncle passed away. Before I left for my vacation, she told me that her cousin was going to be calling Hospice so he may end up passing away while I’m on vacation. From the papers, I found out that he died on Friday. I called Maria and sent my condolences. She told me that the funeral would be tomorrow. Her sister made it into town today for the funeral. I went to watch two movies at the theater. I watched “Die Hard” and “A Mighty Heart” which is based on the capture and death of Daniel Pearl – the Washington Post journalist. It was a very moving movie and I won’t be surprised if Angelina Jolie is nominated for best supporting actress. Die Hard was pure adrenaline and it was nice to see Bruce Willis in an action packed movie after quite an absence. It was nice to watch two movies after not watching movies (remember, I’ll be going on a silent retreat and I’m positive I won’t be able to watch any movies then!) “Transformers – The Movie” opens tomorrow and I’ll definitely be headed back to the theater before starting the retreat. I asked the staff at the theater what time they’ll be showing Transformers and she told me that it’ll be shown pretty much all day starting at around 10AM which would be perfect for me. I’ll watch the movie before driving to the retreat center.

July 3rd.

I left the hotel early enough that I was able to make it to the library to read the papers and find out what time Transformers was showing. I went to the 10AM showing. What did I think of the movie? Let’s just say as a kid who grew up watching Transformer, I could not have asked for more. It was a very well produced and directed movie. The robots were unbelievable when you saw it in the movie. Granted, some scenes were downright corny, but at the end of the day, I would say that any fan of Transformers would be happy with the movie. I proceeded to watch the animated movie, “Ratatouille” which was such a fun movie. As someone who loves cooking and food, the movie definitely appealed to me. I had a great time watching it. Before I knew it, it was time to head over to Sedalia for the start of the retreat. I had dinner not in Sedalia but in a suburb nearest to Sedalia. For the firs time during this trip, I had Indian food. The way the shrimp curry was prepared, it was delicious. Talk about a good nice meal before the start of the retreat! I made it up to the retreat center with more than enough time to spare so I called dad. We chatted for some time as mom was with her trainer. I called really to check in with them letting them know that I’m fine and that the vacation is going well. After I settled in before Mass, I saw someone who I thought was a priest from Mundelein and true enough, it was him. Fr. Kevin Feeney is the formation director at Mundelein Seminary and he will be on the same silent retreat as me. Talk about a small world. I was told later that Fr. Canary who was the rector of Mundelein when I was there was just at the retreat center a week ago. What a small world we live in. Before Mass began we all introduced ourselves and I would say a little more than half the participants were religious (either priests, deacons, or sisters) and the rest of us were laity and most of us were active laity. To set us all in the mood, they played one of my all time favorite church songs – Hosea. How appropriate. Today is also the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle so the homilist talked about him a little about how we could look at St. Thomas kind of as a guide during this retreat journey/experience. There was a little social hour to get to know the other retreatants and that’s when I caught up with Kevin. He told me that latest news with Mundelein and I updated him with a number of guys who left the seminary that I’m still in touch with. I also spoke to a guy named Gene Koch from Iowa whom I initially thought was a priest from DM that I know pretty well. It was not him, but it would have been a hoot if he was the Gene I know. Gene and I talked quite a lot about being on retreats and other stuff. He’s been to this place a number of times and told me that I’ll really like my spiritual director. We’ll when I arrived in my room, there was already a note from my spiritual director, Vince Hovley saying that we’ll meet tomorrow at 2:15PM. The time works for me. The silence officially began after the social hour. Time to call it quits for the night.

July 4th.

Independence Day. Today is officially the first day of the silent retreat. The daily schedule is pretty simple. Breakfast at 8AM, Mass at 11:30AM followed by lunch at noon. Then it’s dinner at 6PM. During the rest of the time, you do whatever you want to do to embrace the silence or to be one with the silence. Something that struck me even from yesterday evening was how many of these people are what I would call season silent retreatant – no, it’s not as if we all like to self inflict pain onto ourselves, but there’s something about the silence that keeps bringing all of us back. After breakfast, I took a stroll along the grounds and it’s a really amazinglocation. There are a number of chairs and swings scattered all around the grounds for one to meditate or just be. In the brochure that was sent to me, I saw a remarkable gazebo that gave one a 360 degrees view of the grounds and I made it my goal to seek and find it. One actually had to walk through a gate and follow the path to the gazebo. Once there, it was a sight to behold. There were three chairs and I sat on one and pretty much took all of nature in. Since it was the fourth, there were two fighter jets that flew somewhat low enough to make its presence felt. I’m a sucker for planes. As my eyes were closed, I could hear at least five different birds chirping all around me. It’s things like this that one will find a little difficult to appreciate when you’re not in/with the silence. I started reading a book entitled “Priestly Sins’ by the famous Chicago priest/author, Andrew Greeley. It’s fiction that talked about sexual abuse and the cover up that took place. Even though it’s fiction, anyone who is familiar with the sexual abuse crisis could relate to what Andrew wrote. I found it tough to put down and finished it by the afternoon. My next book is entitled, “Father Joe” by Tony Hendra that made the NY Times Bestseller list not too long ago. It’s really neat to be able to read and not feel guilty about getting pretty much nothing done. Ah, the joys of retreat! I was supposed to meet Vince at 2:15PM but he was not there. During dinner, he stopped and told me to come by his office at 7:45PM. I did and this was the first meeting we had. I told him a little about me, and my experiences with retreats. Vince was recently appointed director of the retreat center. He’s been a spiritual director and retreat leader for at least twenty-five years. I did share with Vince that during my previous silent retreat, my director did not allow me to read because he felt that reading for me was a form of escapism. He wanted me to dive fully into the silence and all it’s glory. Vince did not do that to me, at least not yet since we’re still in the “getting to know one another phase”. He did however give me an article which he wrote to read. It was mine to keep and we would be talking about it tomorrow during direction. The reason why he did give me the article is because he wanted me to know what was important to him and where he was coming from. The article was entitled, “A Rock to Build On” and there were two questions he asked early on in the article. “In what way does the Eucharist symbolize the life we are living and our live symbolize the Eucharist?” Or, “Is Eucharist the spiritual exercise giving direction to our life?” The article tackled those questions and in true Jesuit form, it was not a black and white answer. I spent some time reading the article and digesting it and will continue doing so tomorrow to see if I can get more from it. That’s pretty much how the first day went. Oh, I did get to see a forty five minutes fireworks display from the grounds of the retreat center. One of the neat things about the location of the retreat center is the fact that it’s one a hill. So, when those fireworks started exploding, you got a front row view of it. It was a pretty neat display, not the best, but pretty good.

July 5th.

I got up at 4:30AM this morning so I could see the sun rise. It was an OK sunrise, nothing too spectacular, but it was kind of neat to be up early in the morning just to be with one with nature and all its glories. After breakfast, I once again trudged over to the gazebo and finished reading Father Joe. It turned out to be a very good read. I could most definitely relate with the author concerning having a priest friend who is there for me no matter what. There’s something to be said about that type of a friendship. There were parts of the book that brought tears to my eyes. After Fr. Joe, I came across the book, “Holy Longing” by Ron Rolheiser who is an accomplished Catholic spiritual writer. A friend had told me to read this book if I got the chance and I duly did so. The crux of the book talked about Christian Spirituality and overall it was a good read. I was pretty familiar with most of his stuff, yet it was refreshing to read something written by Ron. My meeting with Vince went well and my task/homework for tomorrow is pretty elaborate in a very good way because it’s something I’ve never done before. The gist of it had to do with reflecting on my in gratitude for God in reference to where I am now (“Now” is used kind of loosely). I get to jot down words that come to mind as I think of where I am right now and I also am able to write/talk about my different connections. I’ll be most anxious to work on this activity after breakfast tomorrow when I’m fresh. I thought about doing the activity this evening, but figured I’m a little drained from all the reading. Since I’m a morning person, I may even see if I’ll do the activity before breakfast – if the spirit moves me!

July 6th

Today is definitely the first day I’m feeling good about the whole silent retreat. I’m not saying that it’s been a total loss the past couple of days, but it does take you some time to get into the groove. I do believe part of it had to do with my assignment. I had a blast working on my answers for the questions that were posed to me by Vince. After breakfast, I went to my favorite spot which would be the gazebo and worked on my answers. It was a lot of fun and I definitely embraced the assignment. Part of the reason why I’m feeling good about the retreat is because I’m taking things a lot easier by not stressing myself out. For example, when I was at Creighton for my first silent retreat, there was always a part of me that made sure I followed the rule and did everything right so the retreat would work out fine. This time however, I’m just letting myself relax more. For example, after Mass, I drove to town to buy a bunch of newspaper to read. In a sense that was nice to be able to just go outside. There’s really no major hard and fast rule when it comes to silent retreats, but at the same time, the change in scenery was good for me. I spent a good amount of time just catching up with the news that’s been going on in and around the world before spiritual direction. I shared with Vince how things were going and that I’m definitely “digging it” today. The assignment for today is going to be another fun one because in some ways it’s similar to the one from the previous day. However, the main difference is the fact that I’ll be looking at my entire history going back to the time of my first memory. Oh, I’m definitely going to have some fun with this tomorrow! When I was done with the papers, I lay it on the table for all to share and just over the course of the evening, I could tell that there were a number of happy people who were able to read their papers. There’s something about us who like reading the papers. Evening came and went pretty fast so there was not a whole lot to share. I did finish reading the book entitled “The New Faithful“ which talked about Christian Orthodoxism and young adults and why they are drawn to it. It was an interesting read to say the least. I did find a De Mello book that I’ve not read and I started reading it this evening.

July 7th,

It was a very good day today. I worked on my assignment and really had a good time with it. It’s kind of a little daunting when you try to write stuff that’s taken place in your life for the past twenty nine years. However, I did get it done and it’s pretty amazing to see all the different things that jumped out especially all the significant events be it good or bad. Some would say that there’s really no such thing as a bad event because every event gives one the opportunity to learn. After Mass, I actually drove to get some gas for my car and while there, I got myself a magazine, “Food and Wine”. Now, one may wonder why in the world did I get that magazine? Well, for one they always have some really neat articles and secondly, an American chef went to Malaysia and he shared his experience of Malaysian cuisine. Now, how can I not buy the magazine after seeing that?! I once again had a good meeting with Vince and I shared with him why I think things are going great. I truly believe a lot of it has to do with the fact that I’m so much more relaxed and not stressing myself out with what I can or can’t do. What’s really funny is that when the retreat started, we were basically wished a good retreat without any do’s or don’ts. How cool is that? Vince agreed with me. After sharing my assignment with Vince, we were at a crossroad albeit a good one because I got to choose where I wanted to go with the next task. I decided that it was time I spent more time with the Gospel of John and Vince being a Johanine scholar, gave me a couple of routes to start with. I’m excited to be reading John and to see how Scripture will speak to me. After dinner, I grabbed my camera and took a number of shots of the center and the grounds. It was a somewhat grey evening and I could tell in the distance it was storming because I could see the rain and lightning. It’s really kind of weird because one side of it was all dark and grey and the other side was all blue sky and bright. That’s Colorado weather for you. I finished De Mello’s book and will be starting on Merton’s “No Man is an Island”. I love reading Merton’s stuff so it’ll be fun to see how he speaks to me. On a totally different subject, this morning, I had the most delicious apple for as long as I can remember. It was crunchy, just the way I like it but also not too sweet. Boy, did I savor that apple! Trust me, it’s not often you can get an apple that’s just right and by some stroke of luck, I got it. The funny thing is that I normally don’t grab an apple, but for one reason or another, I grabbed one this morning. Now, what do you think the chances of me grabbing another apple after dinner and having the same experience? Nada. It just was not quite there. Oh well, I’ll just have to lean on the memory of the apple from this morning. Trust me, it was that good!

July 8th.

For some reason or another, I had trouble sleeping last night. I’ve no idea why. I was up till probably 1AM which is not a good thing. Thank goodness I’m on vacation. I thought I would catch a nap later in the afternoon which ended up not happening at all. After breakfast, I spent quite some time with John’s Gospel and let’s just say that there’s some pretty heavy stuff going on. Some of the things I never realized took place in John’s Gospel. I guess I’m just more familiar with the other gospels. It was really fun though to work through John. The meeting with Vince went really well and he recommended two books that have a good discourse on John. I’ll probably end up getting it. The first book is entitled, “The Mystical Way in the Fourth Gospel” by L. William Countryman. The second is, “A Mystical Portrait of Jesus” by Demitrius Dumm. After meeting with Vince, I actually drove to Office Depot to get a 1G Flash Drive because I just had a sudden fear that all this writing will be a goner if my computer dies on me. I’ve been having some problem with the laptop so the last thing I want to do is chance it. By saving my stuff on the Flash Drive, I know I’ll have it with me. I got a third of the way through with “No Man is an Island” and decided to put it down. I’ve been reading some pretty heavy stuff the past couple of days and there’s only so much my brain can take. So instead, I grabbed a copy of the book entitled “Best Spiritual Writings 2002” which was a much lighter read. I can definitely deal with that. After dinner, I grabbed my camera and took some shots and the cloud formations were pretty spectacular. Not even five minutes after I got back in, a rain shower took place and it poured for a good thirty minutes. We needed it because it’s been way too dry here out west. We’ve been setting some records because of how hot it’s been. I finished Spiritual Writing and before going to bed tonight, I’ll read up more on John and will continue tomorrow. It’s hard to believe that tomorrow is my last day. I leave for Colorado Springs on Tuesday, July 10th for the last leg of my vacation. The time spent on retreat has been a blessing indeed. Soon, the real world beckons.

July 9th.

Well, it’s definitely a bittersweet day for sure. It’s the last day of the retreat. In many ways, I’m thankful and grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to go on a silent retreat. I’ve learned a lot and one of the most important lessons I’ve learned is to really take things easy and not be concerned with all the little nitty gritty stuff that can overwhelm you. The whole goal of a retreat is to take time off to center oneself and to hopefully be closer to God. I know I accomplished this. For our final spiritual direction today, we actually got into a car and drove to get some prescription for a religious sister who is having some major health issues. Vince was very apologetic about the whole experience but I told him that this by far is the best spiritual direction I’ve had because a lot of it has just been flying by the seat of our pants (in a good way). I got to experience direction in a whole new and different light. It’s nice to have a director who is not uptight about stuff. Like Vince said, he’s been doing spiritual direction for quite some time now so over the years, you learn a thing or two. What was neat about driving around is that I got to see a side of Colorado that I’ve never seen before. There’s a lot of people with a lot of money who live in Colorado just by the sheer size of the houses I saw. Vince was sharing with me how there’s this older couple who are building a 35,000 square feet house on top of a hill and to top it off, they have a 18 hole golf course of their property! Sheer insanity in my books for sure. I guess when you have that kind of money it’s all about shouting out to the world and letting people know what you are able to do. I’m sure if you were to ask them why, the answer would most probably be because we can. Sad, very sad. After dinner I took a nice walk around the property again and will be doing that for the very last time tomorrow. I’m planning on leaving after Mass. I think it’s only right that the retreat started with Mass and ends with Mass. I’ve no agenda tomorrow. I’ll be driving to Colorado Springs which is probably 45 mins from Sedalia. If time allows it, I’ll stop by the US Air Force Academy. It’s supposed to be a sight to behold and the chapel onsite it out of this world. We’ll see what happens. That’s it for today. My adventure in Colorado Springs begins tomorrow.

July 10th.

Well, my plan to walk around the grounds were stifled because of rain. In a sense the rain was much needed so there was no complaints from me whatsoever. I ended up grabbing a book by Ed Hays and read it before Mass. I said goodbye to Kevin and told him to send my regards to the people at Mundelein. After Mass, I drove south to Colorado Springs. I did stop by the Air Force Academy and that place is huge. I did not encounter any problem getting inside. The guy at the entrance asked for my driver’s license and told me to pop the trunk so he could have a look. He gave me the all clear and I was off into the academy. Talk about a great location. The academy itself is located right in the heart of prime land and there were tons of trees surrounding it. I parked at the visitor center and walked to the chapel. Trust me, the chapel was amazing. It’s two levels and the first level has the Catholic and Jewish Chapel. The second level is all Protestant Chapel. I took quite a lot of photos because I could not help it. It was truly a sight to behold. Right outside the chapel, there were a number of new cadets marching and I just had to take photos of them. In many ways, the whole experience reminded me of the time when dad was in the army and we visited family friends who lived on the base. Talk about going back some years! After the stop, I was off on my merry way to Colorado Springs. It was not far at all and found the hotel without much problem. It’s located right off the freeway which was most convenient. The hotel had a business center and with that two computers and free Internet access. I checked my e-mail and I ONLY had 135 e-mails. Only thirty were valid e-mails, thank goodness. Having access to e-mail lets me have a handle on things so I don’t have to spend an inordinate amount of time checking it when I’m back in DM. I had dinner at La Petite Maison, a French restaurant that got rave reviews and I was not disappointed. The food was very good and I truly enjoy French cuisine. There’s something about its simplicity yet amazing taste and flavor. What a nice way to get started on my Colorado Springs vacation. After dinner, I went back to the hotel to chill. Tomorrow is going to be an exciting day because I’ll be whitewater rafting for a full day starting at 8:15AM. I’m sure there will be quite a lot to write.

July 11th.

Today was definitely one of the most memorable days ever. For the first time in my life I went whitewater rafting and let me tell you that I’ve been bitten by the bug. Canon City is located roughly 45 mins from Colorado Springs. I left “Springs” (as it’s referred to by the locals) early enough that I made it to Canon City with ample time to spare. I had no difficulty finding the place. Initially, I had signed up for a full day trip. However, after I checked in, I found out that I was on the only person who signed up for it. So, instead of being by the river a whole day, I would be bussed back to headquarters, have lunch there and then follow another group to continue the second leg of my trip. It was all fine by me. My rafting guide for both trips was named Jeremy and he’s an awesome guy with five years of experience. He’s been guiding lots of rafting trips over the years and I got to know him better over the day. The first leg of the rafting trip was a pretty simple trip through Big Horn which is rated a category II and III at the most. Category VI would be the most severe. II and III pretty much meant a somewhat choppy river, but nothing to really be concerned about. All of us rafters were bussed to the place where we sat on a school bus which was fun. It was cool to sit on a school bus. In total, there were six of us including Jeremy on our raft. I joined a family from Illinois who were on their way to New Mexico. He’s in the army and he and his wife have two teenage daughters. This was the first time all of us were rafting. Overall, we had a jolly great time maneuvering through the rapids with Jeremy’s help. On the ride over, all of us were briefed about the different worst case scenarios that could happen and what we were to do. In some ways, it kind of hits you that this is real life and people do die from whitewater rafting. I soon realized that all I needed to do was pay attention to Jeremy since he was our guide. When the first leg of the rafting was done, it was a nice preview/warm up for what’s to come in the afternoon. The second leg of my rafting trip was a category III and IV which meant that things would definitely get choppier, and all us were to paddle more. After I got back from the first trip, I had a cold cut sandwich buffet and that’s when Jeremy and I got to know one another pretty well. During winter, he’s a ski instructor at Winter Park and he’s been all over the country and even to Australia and Thailand. Talk about a guy with lots of travel experience. He’s whitewater rafted at some of the most dangerous rivers and lived to share his stories. Needless to say, he’s an adrenaline junkie yet really down to earth. On the second leg, in total there were five of us, but this time I joined a party of three and another guide joined our guide for the heck of it. This portion of the river was much more exciting because we needed to paddle a lot more and just really pay attention to Jeremy. The other thing that really caught my attention was how gorgeous the gorge was. The natural wonder was just out of this world and really, the only way you could see these sites were either rafting or taking a train. There were numerous spots where all of us got soaked but we were all just having a blast. Then, it came to a point when Jeremy asked me if I wanted to jump off a rock into the river. I said, “Heck ya!” and two other people from our raft joined me. So, we reached a point where we “parked” the raft and the four of us swam across the river onto the other side with some pretty strong currents. Talk about an adrenaline rush. After swimming across, all of us, led by Jeremy climbed up some rocks that were close to thirty feet above the river and Jeremy told me where to jump. I was the first and what a rush! After I jumped, the rapids pretty much guided me back to the same spot where we started climbing. After the three of us jumped into the water, we climbed up some other rocks and this time to a different spot where after we jumped once again into the river, we were to swim to the raft. I was the last to jump this time and swam back to the raft. There’s nothing like a huge adrenaline rush and that’s what all three of us felt. I could sense that Jeremy was glad he proposed the idea to us. After we got back to the boat, we went through a couple more rapids, then it started to hail on us. Yes, as we were rafting down the river, it hailed! Talk about a great experience. We were told that it normally hails for not more than five minutes but it ended up hailing a good hour. Part of the appeal of this second leg of rafting had to do with rafting below the Royal Gorge Bridge. There came a point when we were literally right under the bridge and to see the second longest suspension bridge in the world above our heads was out of this world. No words could really describe the experience. Trust me, this bridge was at least a thousand feet above our heads and we could see people standing on the bridge looking down on us. How cool! All in all, the whole experience was unforgettable. I’ve never done anything like that ever in my life and would definitely go whitewater rafting again – no questions asked. The rush you get is beyond comprehension. After the whole experience, I thanked Jeremy and gave him a pretty good tip. I also took a photo with him and told him that I’ll definitely recommend the Raftmaster Company to anyone who’s looking for a whitewater adventure in Canon City. They should also ask for Jeremy because when all is said and done, it’s the guide that makes all the difference. The drive back to Springs was pretty uneventful. I came back to the hotel and took a shower. Needless to say, I was hungry beyond belief. I had dinner at “The Blue Star” which is a Mediterranean/Tapas restaurant. The food was unbelievable. I had three tapas and an entrée. All were excellent. One could say that I thought the food was excellent because of how hungry I was, but I beg to differ. The food was really that good. After dinner, I came back to the hotel to crash. It was definitely a tiring day, but a most memorable day.

July 12th.

I got up pretty late because I was tired from yesterday. The plan today was to drive up Pikes Peak on the highway instead of taking the cog railway. I’m glad I drove up because the view as you drove up the winding road to the top of Pikes Peak was beyond any words. When I reached the top, the temperate was at least 25 degrees below what it was below. It was pretty windy too. At the top of Pikes Peak, I was 14,100 feet above sea level. That’s pretty high! The view was amazing and it would have been more amazing if it was not a little cloudy. I took as many photos as I could from the peak but like I said, it was quite cloudy. Not even five minutes after I left, it started raining really hard and hailing again. The rain lasted pretty much all day. I had wanted to go to the cave of the winds but because of the rain, I cancelled that idea. I ended up visiting the Colorado Springs Museum which was located in the former county courthouse. It’s a gorgeous old building and the exhibits were very impressive. I learned quite a lot about the history of Colorado Springs. After the Pioneer’s museum I trekked across to street to the new Fine Art Museum and it’s special exhibit – Frida Kahlo. Talk about a very impressive artist. That was a nice little exhibit. In the museum shop, of all the things one could buy were a couple of Dale Chihuly art pieces. Who would have thought that this art museum was selling Dale Chihuly’s stuff? All the art pieces cost at least a thousand dollars or more but it was really neat to see them up close and personal. After the museum, I drove to Manitou Springs and walked around that neat little town and got some souvenirs for the office – fudge and chocolate. Yeah I know, I’m a nice guy! I then had dinner at Craftwood Inn which specializes in game meat. I had caribou steak for the first time in my life and it tasted like lamb, exactly like what the waitress told me. Oh, for the appetizer, I had blue crab and artichoke bisque. Who would have thought that adding some sherry to the bisque added a whole different flavor to the experience?! Something I’ll remember if I ever make some bisque. For dessert, they had a bittersweet chocolate which was delectable and decadent. It was so good I took some back with me to the hotel. It was that good. That’s pretty much the day. Tomorrow, I’m planning on visiting Cave of the Winds, Garden of the Gods and Seven Falls. All of it really depends on the weather. If it rains the whole day again, I’ll have to rethink what I’ll be doing. We’ll see how much the weather cooperates with me. It will be my last day in Springs since I’ll be leaving real early on Saturday morning to make it back to DM at a decent hour.

July 13th

Last day in the Springs. Once again, it’s a bittersweet day because it’s the last day of my vacation. At the same time, I’m looking forward to going home. A three week long vacation is more than enough for me. Believe it or not, I accomplished all I sought to do today and then some. I started with Cave of the Winds. The tour of the caves lasted roughly forty five minutes and it was very educational especially when you start looking at the different natural wonders taking place in the caves. It’s also pretty scary when you think of how much of an impact people can have when they start touching these natural wonders. Who would have thought that the oils on your hands can change nature? Also, It’s pretty scary how dark the caves are. The paths were lit and the when the guide turned off the light, I could not even see my hands right in front of me. Talk about a good way to get the day’s adventures started. After caves, I went to Cliff Dwellings. That’s pretty much what it was. Ancient Indians used to live there years ago. Really neat when you look at the ancient dwellings. After all these years, these dwellings were still intact. Granted, it was a very touristy spot, but it was still interesting no doubt. There was also a Native American dance performance. I’m sorry to say this, but it was kind of cheesy. I’ve seen other Native American dance performances that were definitely not geared to tourist, but a dance is a dance and it’s still pretty cool to look at one. I was then off to Garden of the Gods which is a huge attraction because you get to see these huge rock formations that were out of this world. The way I look at it, it’s nature at its best. Some of the rock formations, if you look closely have different images that were downright impressive. In the garden was a couple of walkways and as you walked looking at the rocks the designs/images kind of speak to you because it changes depending on how and where you look. I was most certainly impressed by it and took quite a lot of photos. One of the neatest design looked like two camels kissing! Yup, camels kissing – how cool is that? The last and final stop was Seven Falls which was a waterfall. I love waterfalls and this was one mighty impressive waterfall. You had to trek up some real steep iron steps to make it to the top of the falls. The view from the top was spectacular to say the least. However, I realize that you get the most satisfaction when you hike to find a waterfall. That’s just me. I took numerous shots of and from the waterfall and we’ll see if it turns out OK. After getting done with Seven Falls, it hit me that all the things I wanted to see and do, I did. I also managed to snap a couple of photos of the one and only Broadmoor Hotel. Yes, the world famous Broadmoor Hotel. So once that was done, there really was nothing left to do but have dinner. For dinner, I went to Walter’s Bistro. It was a nice meal and a good way to end the whole Colorado experience. I was told that I should try Colorado Rainbow Trout which I did and it was good. What a nice way to end my Colorado experience. After dinner, I went back to the hotel and packed up for my early morning drive back to DM tomorrow. In many ways, I’m looking forward to the drive home. The vacation was great but it’ll be good to be back home and go back to the real life. Monday will be a busy day at work, but I’m definitely looking forward to it for sure. Heck, it’ll be a very busy week ahead, but busyness is good because time flies when I’m busy with work.