me: F/28/SF, CA

AIM: venguyen
y!: slinkstar

Archives:
Feb 2002 - current
more? 1998-2002 archives
available by request

Elsewhere:
training log
50 in 365
joel
twobadapples
tammyloh
lgm
phase five

www.flickr.com More of venguyen's photos

Upcoming Runs:
Weekly DSE Runs
7/29 - SF 1/2 Marathon
10/14 - SJ Rock n Roll 1/2 M
Need to find some more races

curious?
my amazon wishlist

April 15, 2007, 8:55 pm

We got a new TV yesterday. However, there have been a few unforeseen costs so far. First, we spent all night reconfiguring our living room to accommodate the much larger TV (-time), which required a general spring cleaning, which resulted in many items donated to Goodwill or sold on Craigslist (+$160 so far). We had to buy a new bookshelf (-$30) and shoe rack (-$30) to accommodate the new space. In addition, we will need to upgrade our cable service (-$15 per month) and then upgrade our 40-hour Tivo since it will be recording in HD (-$200). Finally, we'll need a new DVD player (no idea how much it costs). Good thing the TV was a gift.

We all had studying to do this weekend. I think we did a great job of procrastinating. I think I'm going to sign up for the Austin Marathon in February.

April 13, 2007, 8:15 am

Confirmed! I got my tickets to Europe! After my week in the Netherlands, I'll be taking a short trip to Belgium (Brussels with a day trip to Brugge(s?), I think). Anyone have any tips or suggestions? This will be my first time traveling on my own--eep!

April 09, 2007, 5:01 pm

Pre-test passed! I'm heading to the Netherlands the 2nd week of May (with a 2-3 day side trip to Belgium). When I get home, I have 3 weeks to study for the GMATs. As soon as I finish the test, I'm on a plane to Providence, RI for a conference (hopefully J will come with me!), and then I'm back home for a few days before heading back to the Netherlands for the 2nd portion of my training. After that, I hope to tool around Europe for a week or two...which means I won't be around for much of June!

April 08, 2007, 9:19 pm

• I'm swimming in self-doubt as I study for the GMATs and my marketing manager certification. I had forgotten what uncertainty felt like. This is certainly a humbling experience--I've never had to study so hard in my life! Knowledge has always come pretty easily for me...until now. Hopefully it is just because my school brain is rusty and is not due to a gap or decline in my cognitive ability.
• Revisited my college stomping grounds to see John Legend perform at the Greek Theatre. What a great performance! As I walked the streets of Berkeley, I couldn't help but point out every personal landmark to my cousin. I'm sure she didn't care, but I was totally reliving my college glory! :) Hopefully I'll have some more fun school experiences in 18 months.
• Lots of sad news this week: my good friend is being sent back to Iraq for his third tour (even though he was discharged last year); J's coworker's unborn baby was diagnosed with Down's Syndrome; and a friend's sister passed away.
• Oh, I was taking notes today while reading a textbook, and then wondered...do people still take notes by hand or do they just type notes these days? My hand is cramping up and I still have 50 pages to read through before my test tomorrow. Ah, old forms of procrastination. Hello again, blog. Back then, your name was online journal.
• I received a sizeable bonus and small raise, resulting in a much larger than usual paycheck. The windfall is burning a hole in my pocket. On Friday, I got a black suit at BCBG (not a fun purchase, but necessary, and not cheap by any means), a sweater at H&M, and brown heels at Macy's. I got too hungry to drive to the Blues Jean Bar to try on jeans, and didn't feel like driving back after lunch. It is no fun to try on jeans with an after lunch belly. Instead, I picked up my glasses (ashamedly designed by JLo, but they fit my head/shape and were cheaper than the Prada ones) which cost a lot due to my incredibly poor eyesight. Without glasses, I'm like Velma from Scooby Doo. I've only met 2-3 people with eyesight as poor as mine. I kind of hate shopping, but I'm tired of my current wardrobe.

April 01, 2007, 9:16 pm

• My cousins just opened a Vietnamese ("with a twist") restaurant, Zadin in the Castro. Tuesday was their first day, so (like all new restaurants) the kinks are still being worked out. However, the food is fantastic! Truc has been cooking delicious meals for my family for as long as I can remember--now I have somewhere to go when I'm craving her claypot catfish.
  

• I've decided to postpone my GMATS to give myself an additional month to study. I have to study for a marketing certification that I'm taking in the Netherlands, which is kind of interfering with my GMAT studies. This will hopefully give me more time to speed up on the quantitative section. Right now, not only am I slow, I can't do a combination/permutation to save my life. However, I rock the geometry and annihilate the verbal. This decision means an additional month of self-imposed hibernation, which kind of stinks. Plus, I won't have a study break, because as soon as I take the GMATs (which I hopefully won't have to take again), I need to sign up for a math class. Blech!
• I got a Garmin Forerunner to help me with pacing for the SF Marathon training team. While I love the information and constant feedback it gives me, I haven't figured out how to wear the watch in a comfortable manner. Its large size means it bounces around on my little wrist...constantly bumping into my abnormally large (according to E & J) wristbone.
• Being a pace leader has definitely added a challenging element to my runs. Now, I'm not just worried about putting one foot in front of the other and finishing. I'm also worried about my pace (am I going the right speed?), how well my runners are doing (is this the correct pace for them?), making sure I don't miss any turns (which I did on Saturday), and encouraging my runners (since for many of them, its the first time they've trained for a marathon). It is a good challenge though, and makes my runs more fun. I get to talk running with a bunch of people who care! I never thought running would be a hobby of mine...that I could be classified as a runner, but here I am, four years later...still running...and leading a pack!
• My Mazda 3 is awesome. This morning, when I got into my car to run a few errands, it wouldn't stop beeping. The indicator light was warning me that my tire pressure was too low! That definitely wasn't a feature my trusty old Civic had! Sure enough, J found 2 nails in one of my front tires. That's $400 for just 2 new tires. OUCH. $400 would have bought me more than 4 tires for the Civic.