Sunday, March 26, 2006
Alone Again
Took my W to the airport Thur, 3/23. She left for Manila in preparation for her clients' visit. She'll be gone for almost two weeks and that includes a vacation tour with her parents and siblings. Guess I'm now a temp bachelor :)..."All by myself, don't wanna be...."
Home Front
W started packing things at home in preparation for open house once we put it up for sale. Recommendation is to have few personal items displayed and minimize clutter. Even drawers should only contain minimal items. W was able to fill four "balikbayan" boxes (one was for the DVD collection alone and there are still some left for display) , seven big plastic bins and five medium sized and we're not even scratching the surface. W also donated bags of clothing to Goodwill. We had to move back our time table for another week because of her trip. Had our furnace and air ducts cleaned Fri, 3/24 by Groen's and it made me $245.00 poorer. It took them more than an hour to complete the job.
$ 20,000.00
What would you do if you had $20,000.00 or rather found $20G in cash? That was the buzz in our store when I came back to work Sun, 03/26, since I had Fri-Sat off. Apparently one of our cart guys found a cash bag in one of the carts he was taking in from the parking lot on Sat. Lo and behold when he opened the bag it had oodles of cash. He turned it over to our Manager. When they were done counting it amounted to $20G. You could not help but admire the cart guy for his integrity. Somehow your belief that man is inherently good has been reinforced. Sad to say, you still hear comments like:"If I was the one who found it, it's finders keepers". I'd like to believe they were saying it in jest. But who knows, will we also pass the test especially if we're in dire need? I'll still stick to my belief. I think the majority will pass. The owner of the money tried to give some cash reward to the cart guy but our manager refused the generosity since it's against company's policy to accept any kind of gratuity from customers or vendors. We'll just have to wait and see how the company will recognize the good deed. I'll keep you posted. Abangan!!
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Camera on self-timer, posed before shoveling snow on Monday. End up using the snow blower because it was thicker and heavier than I thought. Besides I still have to report for work. Evening news would report that a 75 year old man died while shoveling snow.
Front street during Monday's snow storm
Front door during Monday's snow storm. Wet heavy snow falling.
Grey feather stem with ice on top and icicle below two days after the storm. Nature's wonder how an inch or two of ice would form on top of a bent stem no thicker than a pen while icicles were able to "hang on" to it.
Winter's Last Hurrah?
According to the calendar Spring officially begins on 3/20 so in just 7 days or so I thought we'll be done with winter. But old man winter had other things in mind. He decided to have a last hurrah this week. A double whammy. Monday 3/13 he delivered the baddest snow storm of the season. It's not your flaky light snow but the heavy mushy wet snow. Then Thursday 3/16 was another snow storm. Though not as bad as Monday's it still caused major inconvenience. Our speed at Hi-way 77 was 10 mph. It took me 30 min from Apple Valley to MN River Bridge when normally it would only be 5 min.
Housing Project
Another step forward. Wednesday, 3/15, met with Jerry the realtor and Laurie the agent that would be selling the house. Reviewed with us the requirements and procedures in selling the house. Signed some documents or was that our life we just signed away??? We were also informed that in a week or so the pre-final plan for the new home will be done. We have to go over it before it can be finalized. A home inspector will be going over our home to make sure everything is in order and the required disclosures are made e.g. presence of molds, major repairs undertaken, if the house has been a meth lab!!!???
Max and Eileen
We invited friends from church, Filipino couple Max and Eileen, Saturday, 3/18, for lunch at home before we finally move out if ever. We had a nice afternoon and got to know more of each other. I still can't understand why some people have a knack for math while I'm clueless. That's what their daughter is finishing in NY, a PhD in Math. We adjourned past 6 pm. That was a long lunch date and you don't mind if you're enjoying each others company.
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Another Despedida and BirthdaySaturday, 03/11 was another despedida and birthday celebration. The festivity was in the new staff house being rented for the boys. Hopefully business will remain lucrative to give these kids another opportunity of coming back in the near future for another rotation. If not in MN in another state or country.
Jen, one of the despedida girls leaving on 3/18.
Pearl, the other despedida girl also leaving on 3/18.
Birthday boy BJ blowing his candles together with his very good friend (read as:vGF)
Birthday celeb BJ: "It's Miller Time"...kampai
"Now let's see if I can improve my score this time"...look into our eyes, seriously stared the two; just joking laughed the other; who cares sang the one singing....uhh, I'm just listening here grinned another.
Housing Project
Sunday, 03/12 was meeting with our realtor after hearing mass at St Michael's. Discussed floor plans prior to its finalization and handed him a check for our "earnest money" so we took another step forward towards the construction of a new home. There's still tons of things that must be done. Selling the existing home is not that simple especially now that it's a buyers market and we NEED to sell it pronto but not at a giveaway price. Sometimes I ask myself why are we doing this? Looking at the things we have accumulated and the thought of packing them....now, remind me again, why are we doing this?....just because...better place...better investment...work your behind to pay the mortgage...life has never been so real at this stage.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Moving On
A college brod is moving from sunny CA to gloomy Seattle. He's one of those affected by their bank's streamlining and outsourcing. They offered him four options where he can transfer: 1) San Antonio, Texas but he'll be stepping down; 2) Albion, NY but he can't stand five months of cold and snow; 3) Jacksonville, FL but it's way too far for him to drive the 3,000 miles from west to east to relocate, 4) Bothell,WA his pick. It is 16 miles north of Seattle and 1,150 miles north of LA. The clincher why he chose the fourth option? He saw in the internet while doing his research that there's a place nearby that "specializes in kilawen and papaitan". A true blue Ilocano. He''ll be at home. Yes, even I miss those fare and the camaraderie that goes with it while imbibing ice cold San Mig Pale Pilsen.
Author of Letters To My Son: A Father's Wisdom on Manhood, Life and Love published in 1999. I'd say I was late by seven years in taking hold of this book. Or if I ever did came across his work earlier I just didn't give notice.The man is also from MN in Bemidji about 280 miles north from where I live. I came across an excerpt from his work in a peculiar way. A friend forwarded an e-mail about a ADMU professor who wrote an "exceptional" essay when he was a still a student at ADMU under a professor who was known for being a perfectionist. He got an "A" on this essay of which the whole text was part of the e-mail. Curious, I did a name search at yahoo on the professor. True enough he is now in the roster of distinguished professors at ADMU with a PhD attached to his name. But there were also other related entries in my search and one was about the e-mail being circulated that he wrote the essay. To make a long story short, that "essay" was Chapter 26: Partners and Marriage of Nerburn's book mentioned above. I have no idea how it came about that this professor from ADMU is being given credit in writing that essay. Perhaps a "misguided-disgruntled" student of his circulated that e-mail complete with the trimmings of an urban legend tale to put the professor in bad light for allegedly "submitting" an essay that was not his. But it was my gain. It introduced me to the author's work which I find very insightful. I borrowed the book from the County library this week and thinking of buying a copy of my own. Here's an excerpt from Chapter 22: Falling In Love: (to all those who cannot fathom love and to a blogfriend askalfreak who wrote an article in PDI about love on 2/14. You're right it's a mystery) It is a mystery why we fall in love. It is a mystery how it happens. It is a nystery when it comes. It is a mystery why some love grow and it is a mystery why some love fail.
You can analyze this mystery and look for reasons and causes, but you will never do any more than take the life out of the experience. Just as life itself is something more than the sum of the bones and muscles and electrical impulses in the body, love is something more than the sum of interests and attractions and commonalities that two people share. And just as life itself is a gift that comes and goes in its own time, so too, the coming of love must be taken as an unfathomable gift that cannot be questioned in its ways.
...More often, it will come and take hold of you, celebrate you for a brief moment, then move on.
When this happens to young people they too often try to grasp the love and hold it to them, refusing to see that it is a gift freely given and a gift that just as freely moves away. When they fall out of love, or the person they love feels the spirit of love leaving, they try desperately to reclaim the love that is lost rather than accepting the gift for what it was, then moving on.
They want answers where there are no answers. They want to know what is wrong with them that makes the other person no longer love them...They blame their circumstances and say that if they go far away and start a new life together their love will grow.
They try anything to give meaning to what has happened. But there is no meaning beyond the love itself, and until they accept its mysterious ways they live in a sea of misery.
You need to know this about love, and to accept it. You need to treat what it brings you with kindness. If you find yourself in love with someone who does not love you, be gentle with yourself. There is nothing wrong with you. Love just didn't choose to rest in the other person's heart.
If you find someone else in love with you and you don't love her, feel honored that love came and called at your door but gently refuse the gift you cannot return. Do not take advantage, do not cause pain. How you deal with love is how love will deal with you, and all our hearts feel the same pains and joys, even if our lives and ways are very different.
If you fall in love with another, and she falls in love with you, and then love chooses to leave, do not try to reclaim it or to assess blame. Let it go. There is a reason and there is a meaning. You will know it in time, but time itself will choose the moment.
Remember that you don't choose love. Love chooses you.
...Remember this, and keep it in your heart. Love has its own time, its own season, and its own reason for coming and going. You cannot bribe it or coerce it or reason it into staying. You can only embrace it when it arrives and give it away when it comes to you. But if it chooses to leave, from your heart or from the heart of your lover, there is nothing you can do and nothing you should do. Love always has been and always will be a mystery. Be glad that it came to live for a moment in your life. If you keep your heart open, it will come again.
