Glorious Day.

The weather yesterday was the most amazing weather we've had in a while. It has been raining a number of days this week and some places were flooded. However, all of Friday and Saturday the sun was shining brightly and there was minimal humidity.

My plan was to go biking on Saturday which I did since the weather was downright spectacular. I biked up to Saylorville Dam and a little beyond it. The goal was the go all the way to Big Creek State Park and I was a couple of miles short of my target. However, I knew better than to push myself too hard. I still had the return leg left! All in all I probably biked close to 40 miles which is a lot. It took me a total of close to three hours to bike those miles. It was a lot of fun and I saw a good number of people mushroom hunting along the bike path.

I made a nice dinner after I got back and watched a movie called, "Hamburg Cell". The movie talked about the terrorist from 9/11. It was an intriguing movie to say the least. Kevin called me up and asked me if I wanted to come over since Colleen was in DC and Martha was in Arizona. He was a bachelor for the weekend. So, I headed over to his place and we sat and chatted while sitting out on the garden. Days like yesterday, it was a waste to be indoors. After dinner, we walked around his neighborhood and it was nice to see some of the houses in the neighborhood. I've driven around his neighborhood before, but you don't really get to spend time looking at houses while driving. After our evening walk, we came back to the house and played Scrabble. Overall, it was a wonderful way to spend the day.

After Mass today, I'll probably be headed to Barnes and Noble to catch up on some magazine reading. I'll also have to return some dvds that I borrowed from the library. Later this evening, I have my last RE class. We'll be discussing the movie, "The Mission" and I hope to elicit some good discussions from them.

Thursday is my birthday and I really have nothing out of this world planned. I've invited a number of people to the Chinese restaurant for dinner and had already placed an order for the food. I'm excited about it. The morning part of my birthday will be spent up in Ames at a senior expo. That will make the day go by pretty fast. By the time I make it back to the office in the afternoon, there won't be too many hours left of work. I may recruit a number of people to go out to a dance club/bar on Friday. We'll see how that goes. The older I get, the more I just want to spend quality time with people on my birthday. It's not about throwing a lavish party. I did however think that it's been quite some time since I had a birthday cake and I'll probably be ordering a birthday cake and bring it into the office to share. That should be fun!

That's the weekend in a nutshell.

Admissions Gathering.

Yesterday evening, Ann, Panom, Carrie and I went out for dinner. All of us used to work together in the Admission's office. The only person that was missing was Elane who is now living in San Francisco. Panom had sent an e mail inviting all of us to go out and we did.

We had a blast! There's nothing like reconnecting with everyone. I do see Ann on a somewhat regular basis since she invites me to her house for dinner. The last time I saw Panom was when Lisa came into town with Ryan and her baby, Matthew. I've seen Carrie a couple of times while waiting for the bus. So in many ways, it was just great to have the four of us together for dinner. If Elane would have been there it would have been better, but there's not a whole lot we can do about that. We did send her many wonderful thoughts while we were together.

I had to leave early, not because I wanted to, but because I had a speed networking event to go to. Thank goodness it was located two doors down from where we had dinner, so I did not have to bail out way early. I sent an e mail to all three of them inviting them over to my apartment three weeks from today for our next gathering. They've not seen my place so it will be nice to have them over. Carrie made the comment that we should make this gathering a somewhat regular gathering since we all just have fun catching up with one another. I think we all agreed on that.

It's just nice to be able to do something different during the work week. It adds variety to one's otherwise pretty mundane week. Moreover, it's just so invigorating and rejuvenating when we're able to spend time with one another.

A quiet weekend.

It's been a quiet weekend and after all the festivities of last weekend, it's just nice to not have to do anything this weekend. On Friday, I was at an all day conference up in Ames and after I got back, I went for a bike ride. The weather was perfect for a bike ride - it was sunny outside but not humid at all. There's nothing like biking when the weather is nice.

Saturday was a very lazy day. I really did not do a whole lot. I walked to the library and caught up on some magazines then took the bus to St. Kate's for Colleen Pokorny's piano recital. Before her recital, I walked over to Drake since it was street painting weekend. We (St. Kate's) were not supposed to have a square, but we ended up having one, and the person who designed it played off the infamous American Gothic painting and used Fr. Jim and Sr. Carola as the subjects. It turned out really well.

Colleen's recital went fine and the music she chose was very her. Colleen's a real bubbly and fun person so her pieces reflected that. Her brother, Matt was around so I got to catch up with him. Looks like he'll be getting his Master's Degree in Engineering at the University of Iowa. His girlfriend will be working on her Masters in Social Work at Iowa too so they'll be together.

After the recital, I pretty much spent the rest of the day in my apartment watching movies and not doing anything exciting at all. That's OK. Once in a while, you need to do something like that. It's good for the soul!

Today, Sunday, I'll be going to a new grocery store called Gateway Market (http://www.gatewaymarket.com) that is located not far at all from where I live. It's not scheduled to open for a number of days, but I had signed up for the soft opening and that's going on later this afternoon. I've invited Joel to tag along since he's excited about the market too. Later today, John and I will be going out for dinner. Not sure where we'll be going, but we'll figure that out later.

See, kind of ho hum weekend, but that's fine by my books!

The search goes on.

Misty and I went out on our second date and overall we had a blast. I'll spare you the details but I truly believed we had fun. I sent her an e mail this morning and below is the reply I received

Anthony,

I was going to call you but the next few days are really hectic so I know I won’t have the chance and since you sent this, I guess I will respond this way. I thought about this last night and this morning and I think I need to be totally honest with you.

I had a nice time last night and I appreciate everything, but it really was too much. Definitely way more than I felt comfortable with. The show would have been just about the right amount and even that was a little much for where I felt we were.

I appreciate the flattering email, but I just do not feel that we have potential for being more than friends. I am sorry. I appreciate your efforts and for wanting more, but it just is not there for me. I know that we do have a lot in common and I do enjoy visiting with you, but, for me, there has to be more to it than that and I just am not feeling that more. I am sorry.

Thank you again for everything.

Peace and Blessings,

Misty

So, when all is said and done, the search continues. I would really like to continue being friends with Misty if that is at all possible. That's something we'll talk about (hopefully) after she's done celebrating her birthday with her friends over the weekend.

Life can deal you some cruel blows at times, and the only thing you can do is to pick yourself up and keep going and NEVER give up. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel and no, it's not always an approaching train!

Dried Mango.

This is just a funny little thought I wanted to post on my blog. A week ago Wednesday, a group of us from the office went to Costco for our regular monthly trip. Quite some time ago, I saw that Costco is now carrying Dried Mango from Phillipines. For some reason I did not get it, but this time I did. So, I brought it to the office for people to try and it just blew my mind how many people just utterly loved it!

Now, I remember back in the days when dad would place orders of dried mango whenever someone we knew was going to Phllipines, but the notion that everyone was so taken by dried mango cracked me up. I guess what really came to mind was how blessed I was living in Malaysia and being spoilt with all these different fruits to choose from. It's things that one take for granted.

One of my colleagues even asked me to get her a packet the next time I was at Costco because she spent a couple of years in Mexico, and she remembered how amazing fresh tree ripened mango tasted and by golly, this was very close to it.

Some things should not surprise me at all, yet I'm still capable of being surprised by the most random things!

Passionate and mesmerizing.

Talk about a passionate and mesmerizing weekend. On Friday, I headed up to Ames to the last of my Ames concerts. The performer this time was Kremerata Baltica. It's a group that's comprised of classical musicians from the Baltic Region. Gidon Kremer, an accomplished violinist heads the group. What's really neat about this group is that they consist of young adults from three Baltic countries - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. You can say it's the best of the best young classical musicians in the region. Before the concert, I went to a Thai restaurant called "The Spice". A number of people from DM insisted that I try the food there since they all raved about it. I thought the food was fine, nothing too extravagant. I did not get the wow factor that everyone was talking about. However, I thought the ambience was very contemporary. The highlight of the meal was dessert. I had tiramisu and I can most certainly say it was one of the best I've ever had. I even asked one of the servers where they got the tiramisu, and they could not tell me. I would even go back there just for the tiramisu. It was that good.

With a full stomach from dinner, I sat back and thoroughly enjoyed the concert. They all played with so much passion and enthusiasm it was infectious! Too bad there weren't too many people in attendance. I guess a lot had to do with the fact that most people have never heard of the group before. It was their loss for sure. I normally do not buy cds at concerts because the mark up tends to be outrageous. However, I made an exception this time because one of the cds that was sold was a double cd that cost $20. The cheapest you would normally get a double cd would be $18 so I thought it was a pretty darn good deal. Boy was I glad I got the cd. Oh, I should share with you how during the last piece, there was a little panic with the second violinist because the pages on his music sheet was off and I could see a little fear in his eyes, but somehow he managed to pull through. If you did not play too close an attention, you would not have caught it. The music sounded fine so the mix-up was barely noticeable.

On Saturday morning, I was off to Ann's house to help her saw some tree limbs that had fallen a couple of months ago after the nasty ice storm. It was kind of scary just looking at the aftermath of the storm. Harley and I spent a couple of hours just sawing and bundling the tree limbs to be put outside. Weather wise it was perfect to be outside working on those tree limbs. I do have to say that we accomplished quite a lot. The next step is for their family friend to come over with a chainsaw and hack the larger tree limbs that the handsaw would have been futile.

After that was done, I came back to the apartment to clean up before heading to Maria's house to pick her up for a "date". Since Maria is no longer volunteering to help me file, I don't see her as often. She's on staff now and is working on the other side of the office. I do see her when I walk around the office, but it's different when you don't work together. So, I had asked her if she wanted to accompany me to a concert which I had an extra ticket since John could not make it. She said yes. We had dinner at Hessen Haus - the German Restaurant in Des Moines. She's never eaten there before so I thought it would be a good place to go. She was impressed with the food. Maria was born in Austria so she's somewhat familiar with German food. Oh, before dinner, we went to the I-Max movie, "Everest". That was definitely one of the better I-Max movies I've seen. The photography was amazing and there we scenes where you would get a little choked up because of some of the lives that were lost.

After dinner, we went to a classical concert at the DM Art Center. The group that was performing this time was Claremont Trio. These three young women met at Julliard. Two of them are twin sisters and the third was invited to make up the trio. I would say they were probably my age, but you could not tell that based on the way they played. I've never heard so much passion being played by a group before and they nailed all their pieces. There were times when I was just sucked into their performance and lost track of time. Talk about a wonderful evening to say the least. Maria too thought they were magnificent for such a young group.

That was my weekend. Later this morning, I'll be headed to Mass and then most probably off to the Art Center again to watch a documentary about the systematic destruction of art pieces during WWII and the efforts to recover them. The title of the documentary is "The Rape of Europa". Today is also the Holocaust Memorial Day so I think it's most appropriate to be showing the movie. It's free and sponsored by the Des Moines Jewish Federation. After the documentary, I have my prayer group with Joyce Rupp. That should be a lot of fun. I'll barely have time to grab dinner before RE at 6PM. This evening I'll be showing them the movie, "The Mission" - one of my all-time favorite movie. Most of them have not seen it so I think they'll be in for a very nice surprise.

It's kind of funny looking back at this weekend because I really did not plan on doing that much. It kind of worked out that way. Some weekends are busier than others and this would be one of the busier ones. I'm OK with that considering I have nothing planned for next weekend.

Amazing Race-Malaysia

On Easter Sunday, there was nothing good on the television so I pretty much channel surfed the different programs. Lo and behold, I found out that the Amazing Race All-Star episode would take place in Malaysia. Needless to say, I tuned in to watch it. It’s been quite some time since I’ve seen scenes of Malaysia so it was pretty heartwarming to say the very least.

The episode took the challengers from KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport) to Batu Caves to Kampung Baru to Sri Hartamas and finally to Carcosa Sri Negara. I had a whole heck a lot of fun just watching the episode. What cracked me up was one of the tasks the challengers had to perform at Sri Hartamas. They had to get as much recycled newspaper as possible with the help of as many people. It brought back memories of the old van that had one of those loudspeakers that blared “Old Newspaper” announcing its arrival. Now, I have family living in Sri Hartamas and I thought I would die of a heart attack if any of my family members made it onto the show. Sad to say that was not the case, but I just had a huge smile on my face looking at all the different places the scenes were shot.

After the challenge, they ended up spending the night at Carcosa Sri Negara which has an abundance of history. It’s also a grand place to spend the night. Lucky people!

Triduum.

The focus this week was definitely the Easter Triduum. Since I was a kid, I had always held the Triduum in high regard. I guess a lot of it had to do with growing up as an altar server. It's kind of the one season in the church's liturgical year where we got to put on a "show" and boy did we ever. The older I've gotten, the more I've really appreciated the Triduum.

This year more than any other year, it was extra special and a lot of it had to do with the fact that I was the RCIA Coodinator. Easter Vigil marked the day those who were involved in the program "graduated". I made it mandatory for all of them to attend all three services (Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Vigil) since it's all one big celebration. They were really glad they did because it made so much sense to be part of all of it. We all set together and I invited them to participate as much as they felt comfortable.

I had trouble sleeping the night before the Vigil so I got up much earlier than usual. I guess I was excited for all of them. I did speak to dad and mom to wish them Happy Easter so that was very nice. Mom's somewhat getting used to retirement life and neither have stepped on each other's toes (so far!) Later in the morning, I went to church to run through a couple of stuff with our parish priest and things were A OK.

John and I went for a nice steak dinner before Mass and that was just nice to be able to spend time with John before things got a little "crazy" with the Vigil service. Everyone was there half an hour before the service and I could sense the excitement and tension. I did something that was not quite planned, but I asked them to join me in our library. It was kind of funny because some of them thought they were in trouble. I basically told them to relax and more importantly have fun. I led them in some deep breathing exercises to calm their nerves and said a short prayer. They were thankful I did that because it helped calm them down a little. I emphasized to them the fact that it's a very important event for them, yet not to get so caught up in making sure that everything works out accordingly. They just needed to experience and take it all in - let God do the rest.

The Rite of Initiation could not have been any better when all was said and done. Everything turned out perfectly. There's not a whole lot more I could say about it. Oh, I should share with you that the offertory music was "Give Thanks" which is the Don Moen classic and truly, there was not a more appropriate song. We had a lot to be thankful for! Needless to say, I was beaming when the song was played. Few if any in the congregation knew the song, but I was definitely singing it in a very hushed tone!

At the end of the Vigil service a number of people came up and thanked me for a beautiful service and I told them that I really had nothing to do with it. I was just the RCIA coordinator leading the discussion and answering any questions they had for me. However, something that really touched me was when Joyce Rupp told me that she could sense how proud I was that they had "graduated". She said for me it felt like a proud parent witnessing the graduation of his kids. That really touched me hearing what she said. I guess I could take some credit, but I did not want to steal any spotlight from the group. It was so pleasing for me to see all of them after the service because they just shone so bright!

My "reward" to myself after everything was done was to go back to my apartment and spend the evening alone just reflecting on what took place. Sis did call up which was really nice since we've not spoken in ages. I also gave my priest friend a call since this was his first Triduum after being ordained in June. Just hearing his experience of the Triduum was so enlightening.

Today, our group sang at Mass and boy, did we sound good. God truly is alive and we could all feel God's presence with us while singing. I headed over to Joel and Kathy for Easter lunch and that was when I kind of "crashed" after being on the mountaintop for a number of days. Just spending time with Joel and Kathy in such a relaxed setting allowed me to let loose. I'm sure the alcohol played a small role in helping me relax. Any time I spend with the Olahs is just fun times!

Charlene gave me a call and mentioned that Sarah was headed to the Vietnamese restaurant for a late lunch and was wondering if I was able to join them. I excused myself from the Olahs, and headed over to the restaurant. Sarah's boyfriend, Heath was there and this was the first time I met him. A very nice guy and it was so neat to spend time with Charlene and Sarah. I've not seen Sarah since we went to Kansas City in September a couple of weeks after she started college. She's doing really well and is enjoying herself in college. I always feel all warm and fuzzy knowing that this "kid" is slowly but surely maturing into a young adult.

Well, that's kind of a long post from me, but there was quite a lot to share and write about. Christ has risen, Alleluia!

Date.

On Friday evening, I went on my first date in a very long time. Her name is Misty and we belong to the same prayer group led by Joyce Rupp. I finally found the courage to ask her out. If you remember, Misty joined Nora and I last Friday at the Soweto Gospel concert.

We went out for dinner at Bistro Montage, one of my favorite Des Moines Restaurants. It's probably the closest French restaurant DM has. Every time I've been there, I've never been disappointed. Since it was a Friday of Lent, we could not have meat but we managed to do fine. The dinner was very good and Misty was impressed with the restaurant.

After dinner, we walked around Gray's Lake. The last time I walked/biked around the lake was probably in the summer. The weather was a little cloudy but nice enough to be walking outside. It gave the both of us time to get to know one another better. Needless to say, we talked the entire time.

When we were done with walking, I had gotten tickets to the IMax theater. They were showing the movie "Hurricane on the Bayou" which was kind of a pre and post Katrina effect on New Orleans. Utter devastation would be a word to describe the effect Katrina had. However, the people are still hopeful that New Orleans will once again rise up from the ashes. Looking and the sheer grit and determination of the people, one can't help but to agree that in a number of years, New Orleans would be the city it once was if not better. That's kind of how the date went. We'll be talking on the phone to see where we're headed. I had a lot of fun with Misty and I hope we'll be able to pursue this.

I called up dad and mom on Saturday morning and it was nice chatting with them. Mom's officially retired now so I wanted to see how that was coming along. She has somewhat planned out what she'll be doing in her free time and it'll be interesting to see how she sticks with it. Actually, mom's not fully retired because the company wants her to come back three times a month for a year, but in many respects that's retirement in my books. I'm excited to see how dad and mom will cope with each other's company now that they're both spending time together.

Work wise things were a little crazy this past week through no fault of mine, so it was really nice to be able to go out for a nice meal, have a great company and conversation with Misty. I told her that too. This coming week things will be much more manageable. It's also Holy Week and definitely my most favorite season in the church's calendar. The RCIA group will be brought fully into the Church come Easter Vigil so that will be thoroughly exciting.

I should have quite a lot to write next week.