Event: Nursing home.

Location: Potomac Center Nursing Home.
Time: 1:30 - 2:30 pm EST.

I was finally able to do some volunteer work this weekend.

For those of you who don't know, I was recently received in to the Catholic Church. Converting to Catholicism is a process; adults wishing to enter the Church must go through a process called the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA). I started the process in November and was baptized and confirmed on Easter. That's pretty much why I haven't updated this website since March; most of March and April was spent preparing for my baptism on Easter.

Now that RCIA is over, I have time to resume my volunteer goals. Luckily for me, the Catholic Church has an organization that can help me with my spiritual and volunteer goals. The Legion of Mary is an organization of people that performs certain necessary functions for the Church, and the Our Lady of Lourdes praesidium (chapter) is currently visiting nursing homes.

That's what I did today: two other members of the group and myself visited a nursing home to visit the residents, and to pray with them. It was one of those moments that was both fulfilling and saddening at the same time. The residents there were happy that we visited them, but to see people in such conditions was heart wrenching. Those poor people have to rely on a board in the cafeteria to tell them what the weather is like outside.

This looks like it'll be a regular thing for me, and I'm looking forward to doing more work with the Legion of Mary.

Upcoming website changes.

I am in the process of designing a completely new website. The address will be the same, but the goal is to make the site more visually appealing and interactive.

Up until now, I've used this website as a kind of personal journal to track my volunteer goals. I have decided to try and "branch out" and see how many regular visitors I can attract. This is not for self-serving interests (I don't want pats on the back), but to try and encourage others to maybe sacrifice an hour of their time for others. This current website really doesn't do that.

I will try to make the transition as unnoticeable as possible (does anyone read this thing anyways?), but if you happen to visit the site during a downtime, please know that it's temporary.

Event: Basketball.

Location: Park Lawn Elementary.
Time: 7pm - 9pm. (2 hours)

Well, the Pitbulls played their last game tonight, and we got stomped. The score was something like 36 - 14. I have many complaints about the game that are being addressed, but I'm going to let them go. I just wanted the kids to have fun and it seems like they did, so I'm happy. Well, not completely; losing still hurts.

I haven't decided if I'm going to come back and coach next year. I enjoyed the experience but I'm not a very good coach. I know the game, but relaying that information to others is a difficult task. My hat goes off to all coaches out there. You have a tough job!

We are planning a laser tag get together in the next few weekends. I'm really looking forward to kicking their butts in that!

Event: Basketball game.

Location: Glasgow Middle School
Time: 2pm - 3pm. (1 hour)

I am so embarrassed.

Games are played at either 2pm or 3pm, and I was told last night that our game was at 3pm. Around 2pm, I was running some errands and was near the school when I was finished, so I figured I'd just hang out there and watch the first game. When I arrived, at about 2:10, I was surprised to see my team on the court and a parent sitting on the sidelines with the kids! It seems all of the kids had the right schedule and I was given the wrong one. I apologized profusely, but I still feel so bad.

By the way, we won 29 - 14. One more game to go, and it's a tough one.

Event: Practice.

Location: Park Lawn Elementary.
Time: 7pm - 9pm. (2 hours)

The Pitbull's last practice was last night. We have one game today and our last game is Friday evening (we do not have any other practices). It was a good practice but it was kind of sad; I'm going to miss basketball practice.

We're planning to have a dinner and bowling night for the kids (the two teams I work with), so that will be fun. I have to go bowl before then because it's been a few years since I've done it, and these kids will probably harass me if I stink!

Event: AFAC.

Location: Arlington Food Assistance Center
Time: 9pm - 10pm. (1 hour)

I just finished my last Trader Joe's run for the Arlington Food Assistance Center. Even though the commitment was only one hour every other Monday, I found that the recent scheduling change at school made it difficult to volunteer Monday evenings and do my school work.

I'm really bummed about it too; AFAC does a great thing for the community and I'm glad I was able to help them out a little. I wish I could continue to volunteer for them.

I would like to thank everyone at AFAC for giving me the opportunity to volunteer with them, especially Puwen (Volunteer Coordinator).

Event: Practice.

Location: Park Lawn Elementary.
Time: 7pm - 9pm. (2 hours)

Practice was pretty good. The kids told me that they still felt sick from the loss last weekend, and they worked their butts off. I'm really proud of them. We actually don't play a game this week, so after the hard work was done, I lowered the hoops so that they could try and dunk during a game. Most of them couldn't do it, but they had fun.

I think we're ready for our next game.