2005-04-03, 11:42 a.m.
Hey! Look what I made:
But the best part is what's inside...
...polka dots!!
It has been quite a busy week. I've been bogged down with learning PHP and brushing up on my HTML--yikes!
But I'm heading to Vegas in a few hours for my cousin's bachelorette party. We're staying at Mandalay Bay--I've never stayed there before and am looking forward to laying out by the wave pool.
And finally, a picture of SF Chinatown:
Because of my proximity to the "other Chinatown" (Clement St. in the Richmond), I never go to the "original" Chinatown. Last Saturday, after stopping at The Universe Within exhibit, we walked down the hill and into Chinatown and explored the streets and alleys. In my head, I had filed it away as a tourist trap. However, it is still the thriving Chinese neighborhood I'd gone to every weekend as a kid. In the late 70s/early 80s, before every Safeway had the ubiquitous Asian food aisle, we went to Chinatown to buy produce for the week. I vividly remember the smells of fresh fish, rotting trash, cigarettes, and medicinal herbs.
One alley we went down, all you heard was mah jong tiles. At the park, there were a bunch of grandmas and grandpas gambling on overturned produce boxes. I did notice that Chinatowns pigeons are the dirtiest and mangiest around. I've lived here all my life but every weekend, as we explore more and more of SF on foot, I discover something new.
After two months of semi-diligence, I finally finished reading Tolstoy's Anna Karenina a few days ago. So many people whose reading opinion I respect, both male and female, have raved about this book! Me? My main disappointment was that yet another heroine has killed herself. I went to an all girls high school and for English class, they always assigned us books about/written by women in an attempt to empower us. However, I never felt empowered because these women all killed themselves! What's empowering about THAT? High school was over ten years ago, but I remember that in The Awakening the main character throws herself into the ocean. I remember a lot of other suicides, fires, and children hanging themselves--what book had a kid named Father Time? He hung himself and killed his brothers and sisters.
Aside from that point, I think I could have shaved the novel by 500 pages and made it a more fun soap opera-like read by taking out all the stuff about Russian politics, agriculture, and religion. Apparently, I missed the point of this book. Now, on to lighter fare: Ultramarathon Man
Weekend in a (bulleted) nutshell:- Ran my first 10k (training run, not a race) through Golden Gate Park on Thursday. My lungs and legs were fine, but I got some mean blisters. I was planning to run a 10k race on Sunday, but I forgot that we were hosting a party on Saturday night!
- After years of waffling (due to price and need), I've finally bought the New Balance 991s. Although I haven't run in them yet, I have walked over 6 miles in them and they feel awesome!!
- Saturday morning, worked at the St. Anthony de Padua soup kitchen in Redwood City with my mom (I was the gravy scooper, she was the raisin lady). We served over 450 people in about two hours. It was a great way to spend some time with my mom and serve the community at the same time. I don't have any Saturdays free for a while, but it is definitely something I'd like to continue doing in the future.
- Saturday night, celebrated Jem & Tania's birthday at our house.
- Sunday is often "urban hiking" day for J & I. Sometimes we walk westward to the beach, north through Pacific Heights to Crissy Field, or South to the Mission. It is a great way to get outside, explore the city, and get some exercise. On Sunday, we walked east to Yank Sing, had a late lunch with my cousins (banquet tasting for their upcoming wedding!), and then walked towards home. On the way back, we stopped along Polk St., the Toyota dealership, and the AMC 1000 (for a showing of Robots).
- Sunny weather is good for the soul. I'm heading to Vegas in two weeks and am totally looking forward to sitting by the wave pool at Mandalay Bay. I thought my tans stuck longer, but my Dominican tan is fading!
Yikes...getting to Philly is going to be expensive. Seems I've already spent my bonus/raise, so no special surprises for me! Too many plane tickets and hotels to account for...
I finally got my iTunes off of my iPod and onto my laptop using CopyPod (which I found at iPodlounge.com). My only gripe is that this was advertised as freeware...but after offloading 100 songs from my iPod, I got a pop-up telling me if I wanted to load all my songs at once, I'd have to pay $20...or continue to load 100 songs at a time (That's 420 clicks)...sneaky bastards!! But I sucked it up and just bought it.
So now that my iTunes are fully loaded onto my laptop, music requests can be fulfilled. Send me some of your music and I'll send you mine (you don't get to choose what you get though...I'm just sending whatever I'm listening to that moment). Email me.
I've been soooo stoked (this word reminds me of Willo) all day today. SOOOO stoked, in fact, that I've had stomach butterflies and the permanent feeling that I'm gonna puke all day long. Of course, it could be the coffee I drank. I'm not sure if I've ever been this completely excited! Why?- Very successful trip to Chicago.
- Ran my longest race distance so far on Sunday (4 miles) AND improved my personal best split time by six seconds.
- Got a glowing review, promotion AND a good raise!
- VIP seating and being THREE FEET away from U2 ALL NIGHT!!
Never winning
raffles and lotteries for the last twenty-six years is FINALLY paying off! Last week,
J and I both won bottles of wine that were raffled off at the end of the race.
Last night, there were a million stops where my U2 ticket had to be scanned for authenticity.
At the fifth stop, I'd already received my General Admissions (floor) wristband, so I asked
the guy if I could finally put my ticket away and head on in. He looked at me and said I
should probably wait a few seconds for my friend to finish checking through. A second later,
a guy tapped me on the shoulder saying that we were the lucky winners! Our tickets had been
randomly tagged for access to the roped off front section! So we were given another wristband
and happy danced all the way to the front of the auditorium. Off the main stage is a semicircular
walkway where the band would walk around during the performance...AND I WAS INSIDE THIS SEMICIRCLE!! No jostling for position,
no head squashed into some sweaty guy's armpit, and the ENTIRE show, I was three people back from
the stage!
What a way to see U2 for the first time! I'm glad I spent the money. I had the most
foolish grin plastered on the entire time and jumped around to the music like an idiot. At one point, Adam (bass player) looked at me and smiled because I'm sure I looked like a big giant smiling dork. It was
absolutely awesome!! I didn't bring my camera, but here are some images I found of the show online...like a dork,
I circled myself so you can see just how close I was (click to enlarge)! I was so close, I could see sweat dripping, wrinkles,
platform shoes...everything! Great performance, great set!
What am I doing awake this early on a Sunday morning? I have a 4-mile group run. Because I walked 10 miles yesterday (first to a running store in Noe Valley, and then 30-or-so blocks to dinner), my left shin is a little sore. Not sure how I'll do, but I took some Aleve to reduce whatever inflammation may be going on. I'll certainly take tomorrow off or just cross-train.
* * *
I was in Chicago on Thursday and Friday. The sad thing about business travel is that you come to these cities but never get to see much beyond your hotel room (which had plasma screens!) and the conference rooms. I made it out for dinner Thursday night (but for business). I wouldn't recommend Capital Grille, but we didn't make our reservations in time and everything else was booked. In Chicago, I'd rather have Japonais, or at least try Frontera Grill (Rick Bayless' restaurant). I also had an hour to shop before catching a cab to the airport, so of course I ran over to H&M for a quick peek. For some reason, the Chicago one never inspires me to buy anything.
Of course, sometimes the GOOD thing about business travel is that you don't see much of the city around you. In June, I'll be in Orlando. I can't tell you how much that city sucks. At least I'm racking up miles. I should get a free ticket to Hawaii pretty soon.
Known destinations coming up in Q2: Las Vegas (pleasure), Detroit, Ann Arbor, NYC (maybe), Orlando, Philadelphia (pleasure). Perhaps it is time to buy my own luggage rather than always borrowing my cousins' or brother's.
* * *
Going to see U2 tonight--hooray!!
June 1981 - The top image is my very favorite picture of me and my grandma. A few weeks ago, my mom gave me some of the pictures that they (her and her five sisters) had taped on my grandma's wall in an attempt to cheer her up during the six years she was dying.
Last week, I saw a small Asian woman pushing a shopping cart full of cans up a small hill. I couldn't see her face, but she carried herself just like my aunt.
Yikes! I think I'm getting sick. Everyone else in my house has been sick these last few weeks, but I thought I'd missed the boat. I'm getting a tickle in my throat, feel a little nauseous (but it could just be the water/vitamins I've been jamming down my throat in an attempt to flush it out before it becomes worse), and my head is a bit stuffy. So, instead of going into the office after my doctor's appointment this morning (where I got a tetanus booster and had blood drawn--yick), I'm working from home for the rest of the afternoon. Hopefully, this won't turn into a full-blown cold, as I'm supposed to be in Chicago (where it is supposed to rain!) on Thursday and Friday. OOOOH! And U2 on Sunday night.
Daylight savings time! Hooray for not leaving the office after dark, not running after work in the dark, and more light overall!
Yesterday morning, we woke up bright and early for the Carneros Vineyard run in Napa. J placed 16th overall, 4th in his age group--WOW! As for myself, I didn't do quite as well as I'd hoped (81st overall, 10th in my age group)--I went over my target time by 20 seconds (I run to beat myself, rather than those around me). Not training on vacation hurt me a little. However, just like last time, I passed the most people on the uphills, which worked to my advantage since the last mile was straight uphill. Skipping the race next week since I'll be seeing U2, but more 5Ks coming soon...am I ready for a 10k? Maybe I'll push it back to June or July. We'll see. I need to learn to pace myself out the starting gates. Perhaps running with my iPod will teach me to ignore the runners around me rather than chasing them down and running beyond my own pace.
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