The President and Our Bishop!

W thanked Bishop Paul--known to most of us as Anba Boulos--during a speech about HIV/AIDS relief and treatment in Africa. He specifically cited the Coptic Hope Center in Nairobi. A video of the president's speech is online, and you can read the transcript as well:

"You know, one good example of this good work is supported by — that the U.S. supports is called the Coptic Hope Center in Nairobi, Kenya. Three years ago, the center had a staff of four people, and resources to treat no more than five HIV/AIDS patients a day. Today, the staff consists of 40 people and 10 volunteers who provide care and treatment services to over 6,000 people. I want to thank the Director of the Hope Center, Bishop Paul, who’s with us today. I want to thank you for being here. I want to thank you for your leadership and for your care for your fellow human beings."

The best part was when Bush was calling a kid onto the stage and he said "Come on, Bishop...(uh I mean) Come on, Baron!"

Thanks to Nash for the video link!

Dear Diary, Here's What I Did Today, My Teacher is SOOOOO Lame, and Do You Think Runner Likes Me?

I really try hard to make sure that I don't write about my life on this site as if it was "AndrewsDiary.com"--no one cares what I ate for lunch today or how work was, except my mother--but allow me a n article today.

This past April 1 was Palm Sunday, and it signifies the start of a crazy five month period (crazy in a good way, of course):

We're currently in the midst of the busiest religious time of the year--Holy Week--which culminates with Easter Weekend, always a restless time in our house; family is in town from all over California, and I get to make pounds and pounds of meat. Easter is the only annual event the entire year when we can get most of our family together in one place.

Next Saturday is Picnic Day. If you are a UC Davis almuni or student, of course you'll be there. If not, check out that link. Then, Eddie and Irina are getting married the weekend after that in New Jersey. I'm more excited for that than anything else until August. After that, Criss is visiting the Bay Area on the weekend of April 27-29. The visit of a college roommate would be exciting in itself, but Criss has been in Kazakhstan since 2005! And he's gonna be there for two more years. I think we're gonna have to break out the indoor basketball hoop.

May is almost as busy as April. A few smaller events are happening, and our Sunnyvale basketball team will be in the middle of its schedule. We're going to Manhattan for Eddie's graduation mid-May, and we're also having the first annual Ishak Family Cookoff on May 19 (more details later). Also, it's likely that Heather and I will take a trip to Austin, TX or College Park, MD to take a look at housing. That reminds me: we'll be making that decision by April 15.

PCAL starts in June, which doesn't seem that important--it's not, really--bt it keeps me way busier than one would think. Nader is graduating, Heather is defending her thesis, and I think that wedding preparation will really start to get into full swing in June. July is more of the same--wedding prep, finding a place to move in to, wherever we go. I'm excited about that.

And then August would be here. The month starts with Blake and Stacy's wedding and ends with ours. Actually, to be accurate, it ends with us moving to Texas or Maryland. Blake and Stacy's wedding is going to be awesome, and then our wedding should be around the same level of awesomeness but with a hint of brown.