I'm Rich! สวัสดีครับ

Today, Saturday, was just one of those really good days. As most of my friends know, I’m really into volunteering. Today I brought Sarah (my daughter) with me to both Asian Youth Services and the Lincoln Park community center in Chicago. She needs volunteer hours for High School and given that I do so much volunteering; she will have no problems reaching her 50 hour goal by senior year.

Our day started at AYS where I had Sarah clean the refrigerator. Sound easy? HA! Stuff was spilled all over, things were not well organized and some boxes were stuck to the shelves so bad, that I was not able to get them off without destroying the box. It took awhile, but she did an awesome job. After that, she organized some of the book shelves until it was time to go. That was at 11am.

We left AYS, took the Brown Line to Lincoln Park (Chicago), about a 20 minute ride. We had a little time to spare and walked round looking at all the awesome architecture that these very fancy houses have in the area. We arrive at the Community Center about noon and met up with the other volunteers who were there. The group that helps cook is part of a Korean Church from the suburbs. As many times as I have done this, the volunteers from there are just so friendly and always a very fun group to work it. As the main organizer was unable to make it, today’s lunch was sloppy Joes, baked fries, a spinage salad with strawberries and nuts and a very good Cherry Cobbler for dessert. I helped a little, but I make sure Sarah does all she can to earn those volunteer hours.

We left at 3:15, took the train back to Lincoln Square and drove home.  Sarah had a very good time and she always enjoys working with the volunteers there at the community center.

As I sit here, enjoying a glass of Casillero del Diablo (a 2007 Merlot) and reflecting on my day, I am happy and wishing I could make a living at volunteering. J

This weekend I took Sarah to start her volunteer work that she needs for High school. By senior year, she needs 50 hours of volunteer work. Since we have not done any yet, I took her this weekend for three volunteer events.

1)      We started at Asian Youth Services on Saturday morning. We got there around 9am and Sarah cleaned the center and arranged the books for 2 hours. We got to see some of the kids that come to the center but we had to leave at 11am.

2)      We left the center and arrived in Lincoln Park (Chicago) just before noon at the Lincoln Park Community Center where we met up with a group from a Korean church. Sarah and I cooked dinner lunch with them. Lunch was stuffed chicken breasts, mixed vegetables, mashed potatoes and lemon bars. I love doing this because I learn a little more about cooking each time.

3)      In the evening, I had Sarah volunteer at a pumpkin farm close to us. Sarah and three of her friends did face painting for the kids that came to the farm. For two hours, they painted faces of the kids and they really had a good time.

That brings me to “Cooking with Rich”. Tonight I made garlic mashed potatoes. You take a few pounds of red potatoes, cut them up and cook them. While they are cooking, you take two bulbs of garlic and put them in half and cook them in olive oil in the oven until soft. You mix the garlic, a butter and cream mixture you cook on the stove and the potatoes in a mixer until well mixed. Yum! They turned out so good! For the vegetables, you prepare two large onions, four large carrots, two large zucchini, and about one pound of green beans. You cook them in olive oil with chopped up garlic until soft. Yum! (Again). Hehe. It was so good and Sarah loved them.

Yep, it was a good night of cooking with Rich. Oh, and a little wine while cooking is always a good thing.

This past Saturday I helped out at Chicago’s 4^th annual Windy City Wine Festival. This was my 10^th volunteer event with onebrick.org. The event was held right next to Millennium Park in a place called Daily Bicentennial plaza. It was very crowded that day with lots of other events going on in the city – I found a parking space in the underground parking nearby. I arrived a few minutes early and met up with my group. I signed in and got a free t-shirt that would identify us as volunteers helping out. I was assigned to the Beer and Wine tent. I worked with one employee there and another volunteer. I sold beer, which really fun that evening. Most of the people there used the tickets they purchased to sample wine from different vendors. There were 2 beer tents for those that wanted to enjoy a cold beer. The first 2 hours were pretty slow but it really picked up around 5pm. We had to stay until 6pm and at that time; we met as a group to get our wine tickets. The lines were pretty long, so I went back to help more in the beer tent and worked until 8:30. It was a lot of fun and had a few people who kept coming back for another beer. Since I was off duty at that time, I got to enjoy one myself. Since I was close to the main stage, I got to hear a talk about French wine, then a band played, then a few cooking demonstrations. When I was leaving, I walked by the band shell and the place was packed. I could hear opera being sung. The weather was perfect and it was so cool being right there in that part of the city.

Windy City Wine Festival Home Page

This weekend Phun and I volunteered at the Evanston Art Festival. This is part of the OneBrick.org volunteer organization that I love working with. Evanston is about 1 hour north of me and we arrived very early so we could have coffee and breakfast and then take a walk along the lake front by Northwestern University. It is a very beautiful campus with walking/running trails along the lake front. We arrived early for our volunteer time at the Art Fair. Our group was going to be working in the children’s art tent. For Phun and I, what is the best place to help out. I was helping the kids make “Dream Catchers” and Phun helped there to and with some other things. While helping the kids, I was able to make three Dream Catches for myself. I have not done this is a very long time, so it was fun to try again. They came out pretty good. We did this for a few hours and it was such a perfect day out – even a bit cool by the lake. This was one of more fun volunteer activates that we have both done together.

A very meaningful excerpt from Sam's blog (from Malaysia) about her Father and the part she wrote to me there:

By the way, here I'm also take a chance to blessing my best friend-Rich."Happy Father's day".
First time I chat with  Rich is at ICQ, I'm remember the situations I chat with him is I have some personal problems, and I was very sad and give up, I'm also lost my confident. I was the person seldom shared difficult position, I'm just sharing my happiness to others, I didn't hope they will worry about me.
And Rich, you are the first person I'm feel comfortable to shared, you are so kindness and friendly, you are caring and understand me. Your support to me is very useful and important, I'm always thanks God, cos I'm find you, you are my angel, you are precious for me. I'm so proud and lucky to be your friends.
I'm know my English is poor, as you said my "Samlish" English, hahaha..but I'm really sincerity, here to thanks to you. I'm appreciate you. You are my best friend and you also a very great and amazing daddy for your daughter. You are sunshine for everyone around you.
Wish all the best to you, joy and happiness, healthy and take good care always.

And a very nice email from my friend Beth, who is a teacher in Kunming China:

My Weekend

Once again, I had that amazing weekend totally filled with volunteer activities. Yep, I might be a bit addicted to volunteering, but its fun and it helps other people and really good organizations.

Friday: I volunteered at the American Cancer Society’s “Relay for life”. This event raises money for the AMC and many people, who are there, are cancer survivors and those who have lots family or friends due to cancer. This event was held at my Sarah’s High school so there were a lot of kids who also volunteered to help setup at this event. I was just there to help on what needed to be done but I ended up supervising groups of high school kids which was great for me. I get the task organized and they do the work. Haha. But it was important they do the work because they learn from it and do they get credit for it. Some of the tasks I had them do were putting up banners along a fence, putting up signs around the foot ball field and many smaller tasks. When m group of about 10 kids was getting the signs ready to put along the track on the outside of the foot ball field, one student counted the signs and very quickly did the math in his head on what spacing would be needed to circle the track, which is what was required. SO, I put him in charge and I walked along with my group and directed questions from the other students to him. What I love is giving kids a chance and being in charge – making mistakes – learning what it takes to be in charge and hopefully taking away an appreciate of this responsibility. Kids will always exceed your expectations when given the chance and guidance when leading others. This student was no exception. I left when the event was underway. Today – 7 hours.

Saturday: I volunteered at the Chicago “4^th annual Chalk Festival”. This was a pretty awesome event and probably one of the most FUN events I have helped at. The purpose of this event is to provide mental health services to children and teenagers with limited or no access to help. Companies sponsor sections of the sidewalk in “OZ Park” in Chicago where artist draw wonderful and creative drawings from chalk. This is a huge kid’s event with high school choir groups singing and other forms of entertainment for kids. I helped at the “Bounce” event. That is a very large, air filled, structure where kids get to go inside and jump around and have fun. I did that for about 1 hour. It was great seeing all the little kids there and the fun they would have. I love working with kids J  after that, I helped take tickets with the Clown, who was making animals from balloons. She was a great clown who, from our conversation, turned out to be a grade school teacher. When this was done, the group I was with got to see the AMAZING works of art that were drawn on the sidewalk. Please take a look at: http://www.arttherapyconnection.org/ChalkFestival2007.htm

To see what was done last year. Amazing pictures!!!

When it was over, my group went out to a late lunch. Fun and relaxing. I always meet such wonderful people who give of their time for great events. Today – 4 hours.

Sunday: Today’s event was the “Ride for AIDS”. This event was a 2 day, 180-mile event, and today was the closing ceremony held at Northwestern University in Evanston.  The group I was with, onebrick.org, was there to help on a number of things. I and another person where there to greet and cheer on the riders when they arrived back from the trip and direct them where to go. Other people helped with getting them food and providing any assistance they needed to get ready for the afternoon event. Once all the riders were in, we went to a different part of the campus to help direct those who rode to the closing ceremony. Afterwards, five of us in the group went out for a nice and relaxing dinner. Today – 4 hours.

This was one of those weekends where I get to do fun things Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I’ll just do the housework some other time J Friday I took a Kayak lesson on the Chicago River. I was with a group of about 15 and after a short lesson; we took a 1 hour trip up the Chicago River towards the city. With one 1 hour, we could not paddle that far, but it was very cool being down in the river with trees and lots of wild life on either side. You are in these big neighborhoods but yes, with many trees on either side of the river, it’s a great feeling of being some other place. Padding a Kayak was a learning experience for sure, but a lot of fun.

Saturday was the annual Fine Arts Festival at Sarah’s high school. I arrived around 9am and met my parents and my brother there. Sarah had to be there early for her performance time. We look at all the art from 7 elementary schools, 3 middle school and finally from the high school. It’s just amazing what kids can do. Sarah’s performance was at 10 am and as always the performance was amazing given the skill these kids have at their age. We stayed for a few more performances from other kids. Everybody left around 12:30pm and I stayed as I was going to be volunteering later that day. I spend the afternoon watching different performances from many different bands. At 3pm was my time to help. I was the cashier for people buying food and drinks. I did that for about an hour and a half then helped up with “clean up” actives. I finally left at 5:15.

My Sunday started when I woke at 5am because I had to leave by 5:30am to get to Chicago where I had volunteered to help at the American Cancer Society “Walk and Roll”. I arrived in Chicago by AYS about 6:15am, I took the Brown Line Train at 6:30 and arrived in the Loop (main downtown section) about 7:10, and then it was a 20 minute walk to where the event was to take place. I had volunteered to help register people who would participate in the event. That did not start until 9:30 so I enjoyed some free bagels and coffee. It was a very bright and sunny, but cold breezy morning. I was dressed for it so I really enjoyed being very close to the lake. It was very busy registering people and the 1.5 hours really fly by. After that, I helped clean up and then met some people I met there to get our free lunch for helping. You really do meet the most amazing people at these events and today was no expectation. I enjoyed lunch while talking with a wonderful volunteer that I worked next to in registration. One of the highlights was when a girl came up to me when I was doing the registration. I think she must have been about 15 and told me she was walking by and saw all the activates and wanted to donate money and participate. She had a 20 but could only donate 10 because that was all the money she had with her. She found a place to get change, came back, I got her registered and she walked. It is people like this who I find so amazing and even inspiring to me. The walk back to the train station, and then drive home was good.

Yeah, this was a good weekend.

That is how many kilometers I hiked today, which is 9.5 miles.

Today was a great day for a hike. It was cool and cloudy which for me is the perfect hiking weather. I went to a state park (Starved Rock State Park) which is about 1 hour from me. I met up with a group of other hikers from an adventure group that I belong to from meetup.com. This is the second event I have done with them and they are always the nicest people. It’s great to meet others who have a passion for outdoor activities as I do. The group was broken up into 2 groups, the short hikers (about 5 miles) and the long hikers (goal was 11 miles). Everybody has a difference endurance level so it’s make the hike more enjoyable if you find a hiking distance that fits your ability. My group started out first and the hike though the trees and then very high bluffs were very cool. We saw about 5 (very small) waterfalls. The group would rest every now and then. When we were about 2.5 hours out, it was getting late so we started to head back. We took a different way so the hike back was 1.5 hours. No resting on the way back, just a fast passed hike back and we met up with the rest of the groups. This happen to be the last hike for the founder of the group. He is getting married and moving to Singapore. So, with a little speech of appreciate from one member and then “cheers” with sparkling grape juice, we wished them well and good luck. Yes, it was a great day for a hike, and yes, my feet and legs are pretty tired.

Photos will come later when I develop the pics I took.