Anna's back!

It was a pretty fun filled week/weekend for me.

I took my volunteer out for lunch on Friday. Her husband has Alzheimer’s disease and she is his caregiver which means the only time she has some time for herself would be when he is at adult daycare. So, I told her that one of these days instead of coming in to help volunteer, we’ll go out for lunch. Can you believe this is something that was due from Christmas?! She thought that I would forget about it. Not me. We went to a restaurant that’s been around for ages that serves some pretty good food. I’ve not been there in years so it ended up being very nice. We got to chat a little and I know she definitely enjoyed her lunch.

It’s interesting how excited I was to see Anna. Actually, my friends got to see her before me because I met up with her at my friend’s place. He had a wine and cheese party and invited us. I only made it after I left the facility at 10PM. I can’t believe we both stayed till close to 1AM! I had to work the next day at 6AM. Oh, the crazy things I do sometimes. She had a grand time in AZ and spoke to her parents about more wedding plans and looks like all of us are on the same page. They are seriously considering making it to Malaysia for the reception, and I think that would just be wonderful. Since her dad is an avid golfer, I told her that my Uncle Ray would be more than willing to go golfing with him and that would be another selling point for them to make the trip. Also, it’s a great opportunity for them to experience our family. Yes, I used the word experience because we all know that our family can be a little crazy and rowdy at times!

On Saturday evening, we met up with a friend from Drake who is now living and working in Seattle. He was back in town for a bachelor’s party. It was good to meet up with him and to see how things were going. He looked good and it sounds like things are well. Before dinner, we watched the movie, “Taken”. It was a good action packed movie and we both thought it was a well made movie. Once in a while we just need some action to get the adrenaline going and the movie definitely provided us with that.

After Mass on Sunday, I had a craving for Dim Sum so I dragged Anna to have Dim Sum. She did not eat a lot because she was kind of full and I told her that when we go to Malaysia, we’ll most probably be eating it at least once because I just love Dim Sum. The facility that evening was quiet and that was most definitely nice. It kept my stress level at a minimum and we all know how important that is.

That’s kind of how the week went really. Nothing too eventful yet it wasn’t overly mundane to the point that I was bored out of my mind.

Sucks to be ill.

So, here I am on a Monday resting in my apartment. I took the day off from work because I'm sick. I had dinner at Ann's on Saturday night and my tummy was not feeling the greatest. I was supposed to head over to Brian's for a party, but ended up not going. When I got up on Sunday, I had a terrible sore throat and called in at the facility. I came home and napped for four hours which is something I do not do unless I'm sick. I barely ate anything for dinner and went to bed after pumping myself with as much medication as possible.

I did not go in to work this morning so I could rest up. It's funny how a number of people said I'm not feeling well because I'm missing Anna. She made it to Arizona A OK. I spoke to her on the phone yesterday and she's having a good time there. Good for her.

Not too much really took place last week. A couple of us from the office went to Iowa State University for a presentation which was good because we managed to get the students thinking about the area of gerontology.

That really was the week. Nothing too hip and happening on my end, really. It's spring break this week so things are pretty quiet, but that's to be expected. Before we know it, it'll be Holy Week once again. It's the one time in the church's calendar when I get pumped up.

That's the news from me this week.

Pretty mundane week.

Well, this is probably going to be a short note from me. As much as I would like to report about all the excitements that took place over the week, sad to say, not a whole heck of a lot happened.

I did have to meet with my supervisor at the facility to acknowledge a written warning that was given to me for not showing up on the day that I had picked up a shift to work. That was the evening I proposed to Anna. I had told the person who does the scheduling that any other time, I would have come straight to work, but there was no way I was changing my plans for that evening. I think you’re allowed to written warnings before you’re fired from the job. I don’t foresee myself getting another written warning so I’m really not losing sleep over it.

On Tuesday, I attended a talk at Drake by a Holocaust survivors and it was very moving to say the least. The atrocities that took place during the Holocaust are just unimaginable. Words can and will never fully describe what took place. Hearing it from a survivor definitely put a face to the monstrosities human beings committed to one another. Powerful, very powerful indeed.

Anna and I went to the Symphony performance on Saturday and talk about two different extremes. The first half was all modern pieces and when I say modern, I mean pieces that were composed in the last ten years! After the intermission, the Symphony played Beethoven’s 7th symphony which is a glorious piece. Overall, we had a good time. Early on that evening, there was a workshop at St. Kate’s for liturgical ministers and when we broke up into small groups, instead of joining the musicians, I joined the group as an RCIA coordinator. The musicians got to play and sing during the 4PM Mass. Needless to say that’s the group Anna went to. Oh, after Mass, we visiting Paul and Heidi Kraus who were at Mass and they brought Catherine along. We’ve not visited them since she was born the day after Thanksgiving. It was definitely good to catch up with them.

That’s kind of how the week went really. Nothing too much to report yet not too mundane.

Legally Blonde.

On Tuesday, I attended a talk at Drake by this person who works at the National Holocaust Museum in D.C. talking about the holocaust and the role or the lack of it played by the media. That was a pretty eye popping talk for all of us in attendance. The young adults met for dinner at Le Jardin restaurant which mean “The Garden” in French. It’s a restaurant I’ve been meaning to try for some time and came away more than pleased. They served some very good French food at a very affordable price. There were only three of us, but we all thoroughly enjoyed the meal. After dinner, Anna and I went to the musical, “Legally Blonde”. The best way to sum it would be to say that it was a cutesy, feel good movie that had a number of great lines and brought lots of laughter. We both thought it was just a fun musical. It’s based on the movie by the same title starring Reese Witherspoon.

Anna’s student had a festival at a high school just west of West Des Moines and I went to the festival to see them perform. They did a pretty good job and considering how practice went the day before, Anna was more than happy with their performance. Someone was flown in from California to provide guidance, critique and overall assist them so they could do a better job. I’m glad I went. I got to meet her students and they go to meet me. After the festival, I came back to the apartment for dinner before meeting up with Joel at a jazz concert. The musician was Byron Stripling and he did a marvelous job. He’s a trumpeter and singer. Talk about a grand concert.

After work on Saturday, I headed to the Cathedral for the Rite of Election where two of my Candidates were going through the Rite. It was a good experience for them and thought it was pretty neat. One of the guys had never been to the Cathedral so it was a nice visit for him. After the rite, the bishop was supposed to come and visit each table at the reception, but for some reason we missed him. Oh well. Once the Rite was over with, I headed over to a bar where Anna and her band were performing. This was the same bar I celebrated my 21st birthday many moons ago. Overall, the group did well considering the pretty bad acoustics. The band members had not seen me since I proposed and when they did see me a number of them sincerely congratulated me which was really nice. I felt like they accepted me and I know it was important for Anna. As usual, Faculty Lounge has a knack for drawing people and the place was pretty darn packed. I did meet up with a couple of people there so that was nice. By the time they got done and the trailer was packed with the equipment, it was around 2AM. Talk about a long day for me. I was up since 5:15AM. That’s OK.

Nothing else really happened over the weekend especially on Sunday. It was a quiet day which was nice. More importantly, there was no drama at the facility.

That’s all the news from me for this week.